Please turn back to 1 Timothy
chapter 2. Sometimes I feel like Esther of old when she had to go before the
king and Mordecai said, Who knows why you're called into the kingdom
for such a time as this?" And her resolve by the grace of God
was simply this, I'll go in, I'll say what has to be said,
and if I perish, I perish. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Many years ago, there was a preacher
by the name of Augustus Toplady." And there aren't very many people
in our day who know him as a preacher, or who have any idea of what
he preached. They simply know that he's the
author of that hymn we sang, Rock of Ages. But he was a great
defender of the faith. one of those preachers of righteousness. And I read recently where he
said of the Romans, the Romans, you know, had all of these Israelites
for the most part in bondage when the New Testament is written.
But he said that the Romans, with all of their wisdom, and
with all their learning and with all their accomplishments," he
said, they were still yet very foolish and superstitious. And when an eclipse would take
place and there would be no light, he said, they had a practice
of taking brass vessels and beating on brass vessels to try to wake
up the moon. And they would also hold up their
torches and throw firebrands up in the sky in order to get
the moon to give back light. But he said this, he said, just
as much efficacy have human reason and human works to discover the
way of salvation and to reconcile lost man to the favor of God."
In other words, it was just as effectual for them to beat the
brass vessels and hold up the torches so far as making the
moon to give light again, as it is for human reason and human
works to know the way of salvation and how to reconcile lost men
to the favor of God." If you remember this same apostle
when he was at Athens, and he saw all of their idols on every
hand, He said to them, I perceive that you are too superstitious. And actually what that means
is basically this. He says, I perceive that you
are too religious. And it is the same in our day. It is the same at this present
hour. And it's almost as if religion
in our day takes in hand the brass pots and the firebrands
and torches and tries to give men and women light as to how
God saves sinners. I know that one of the most blasphemous
things that can be said or taught or preached is that God can't
do what He wants to do. And yet, that's what religion
most of all in our day says, that God can't do what He wants
to do. But God brought even that King
Nebuchadnezzar to know better than that. And he was forced
to confess this. He said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? We read differently from that
in one verse in Job, where he says, "...he is in one mind,
and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even
that he doeth." That's the God of the Bible. Or even some say
that what he wants to do, And what he can do, those are two
different things. As a matter of fact, they even
make that disharmony to be within the persons of the Godhead. The
Father would like to do something, the Son makes something available,
the Spirit tries. That cannot be true. And most preach, And most believe
that God's desire, that God's will is to save every person,
every single person. And they use a number of texts
to try to support it, all by the way out of context. They try to use these texts to
try to prove it. Most often with half verses. One such verse is 2 Peter 3 and
verse 9, where the Apostle Peter says, The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to us, were not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. They only use part of that verse. They say, the Bible says that
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. That's not what that verse says.
First of all, the Apostle Peter in his letter, he directs it
to these that he describes as the elect of God. He's talking
to those who, it says, have like precious faith. And then he says
in that verse, God is longsuffering to usward. These he writes to. These people of God. These elect
ones scattered throughout all the world. He's long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any of these usward should perish,
but that they all should come to repentance. And then they
also use the fourth verse in our text this morning. 1 Timothy
chapter 2 and verse 4. where Paul says, "...who will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of
the truth." They say that that means that God wants to save
everybody. But this cannot be. This is a
misuse. This is an error. And all you
really have to do to know that is to just look at the context. Go back to that first verse,
because he's been talking about praying for all kinds of people. Verse 1, he says, "...I exhort
therefore that first of all supplications, intercessions, and giving thanks
be made for all men." And to show us that He is talking about
all different kinds of men, the next statement is this, "...for
kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior." We pray for all. We pray for
kings, we pray for rulers, we pray for all these things, all
kinds of people, even a persecuting wicked king. And I guess we would
have to make that application to the politicians and the rulers
and the elected officials even of our day. We pray for all kinds. of people. And the reason why
is, Paul tells us in the book of Romans, he says, let every
soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power
but of God. And the powers that be are ordained
of God. Mark it down, for blessing or
for judgment, the powers that be, they every one, if they have
power, no matter what degree or authority, it's because they're
ordained of God. Pray for all. But mainly because the heirs
of God, these elect of God, His church, His people, are from
among those people. And we don't know who they are.
We pray for men and women. because God commands us to do
so. We preach the gospel to all people
because God tells us to do so, and because His people are numbered
among them. And though we don't know who
they are, We know He has a people and we know that they have been
and that they will be sanctified or set apart or separated from
all of mankind. And when the Apostle John describes
them in the Revelation, He says, "...these are they which are
not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed
from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." He
is talking about all kinds of people. And most especially here,
as in most every case where these passages are dealt with, he is
mainly tearing down that division that had been so long even ordained
by God Himself in the beginning, and that is the difference between
Jew and Gentile. You see so many of these. like
Paul himself were Jews. And this is now the revelation
that God has a remnant according to the election of grace, and
they are not only from among the Jews, but they are also from
among the Gentiles. They were not to look at that
Gentile king or that Gentile ruler or that person, that Gentile
in authority, and hate them and despise them. Rather, they were
to pray for them because God had some people amongst these
Gentiles. You see, His people, He says,
are not of this world. They are in the world, but they
are not of the world. And John again, when he describes
them in the Revelation, he says, "...and they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof, for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."
They were redeemed out of all of these peoples and nations,
Jew and Gentile, and Paul here describes himself as a preacher
and teacher of the Gentiles. But I want you to notice something
else this morning particularly. I want you to notice that fourth
verse again, where he says, "...who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." Now, if there
was no other verse, although there are many in the New Testament,
but if there was no other verse in the Scriptures we would have
to know that salvation has something to do with coming to the knowledge
of the truth in our experience. These, he describes here, they
are not born knowing the truth. These, he describes here, they
do not learn or come to the knowledge of the truth by themselves or
of themselves. And most especially, false religion
with all its pot-banging and torch-waving, trying to give
men and women light, they do not come to the truth by these
means. God does not use error to save
His people. And I know, I know without a
shadow of a doubt, that salvation is the big word maybe in the
New Testament. Because it is used of God, the
Spirit, to speak of our being saved. In other words, salvation
is spoken of as past tense. He hath saved us. We are saved
from old eternity in the great sense, the Father doing all necessary
to assure our salvation. And we are saved on the cross
when Christ dies. We know that. It tells us in
Scripture. It says also, we are being saved. And then it says also, we shall
be saved. This has to do with our experience. This has to do with our being
brought from some place we were to another place, brought from
darkness into His marvelous light, brought from error into His truth. And those that God saves. Salvation obviously, evidently
having to do with truth. Those He saves, He brings to
the knowledge of the truth. But how are they naturally? How
was I naturally? How were you naturally maybe?
Well, we're just like those that Paul describes. Even in this
same epistle, he describes them in this way. Not only those who
teach them, but those who follow them. He says, this is characteristic
of the age in which we live in, the last days. He said, they're
ever learning. Oh, they're ever learning. They
know a lot. They know some things that they
think is the gospel. But the apostles said even the
devil believes this. They say they believe in God.
They believe in Jesus. I assure you, he says, the devils
believe in this and they tremble. But they're ever learning and
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. That's right. But God sends His servants. They
may be pitiful, they may be weak, they may be unlearned, they may
be almost personally obnoxious, I guess you might say. He sends
his servants to preach the truth. He sends those he calls to preach
the gospel which is described as the word of the truth. We preach the gospel to every
person. We declare a salvation accomplished
by Christ. When the angel was describing
John the Baptist, before he ever opened his mouth. He is described
to his parents. And this is the description of
that one that was in his mother's womb. And thou, child, shall
be called the prophet of the highest. What's a prophet? Somebody that speaks for God.
What's a false prophet? Somebody who does not say what
God says. He says, you are called to be
the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face
of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation
unto His people by the remission of their sins. What's He going
to give to them? What's His preaching going to
be used to do? To give to them the knowledge
of salvation. Not the knowledge of how to save
themselves, the knowledge of salvation. And who is he really
sent to? The knowledge of salvation unto
his people, God's people. And how that salvation is accomplished? By the remission, the forgiveness
of their sins, the putting away of their sins through the precious
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they go forth,
when I go forth, when any preacher of the gospel goes forth, we
preach this knowledge and declare this knowledge of God our Savior,
and we wait on God to reveal it. I could convince you in your
head. I could tell you a lot of true
things that you would gladly acknowledge. But we preach the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus. We declare the word of truth
knowing that only God can convince you of it. Only God can give
you what Paul called the love of the truth. And so Paul instructs
this young preacher Timothy. He says, "...and the servant
of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth." and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him
at his will." He said, God, we preach. We preach the truth. And we wait upon God. We pray
for those we preach to. We declare the truth. And we
wait upon God. If peradventure, He will give
them repentance. You see, repentance is just like
faith. It is the gift of God. He has
to give a sinner repentance. You don't repent of your own
self. And I hear all these people talking about repenting of all
their sins. You don't even know all your
sins. You see, repentance is toward
God. And it has to do with this. It
is repentance to the acknowledging. It is repentance to being brought
to agree with the truth as it is in Christ. Repentance toward
God. It's a turning away from all
of our false views of God. All our false ideas and thoughts
and teachings about God. It's repentance toward God. It's
the given repentance that brings us to acknowledge the truth. Because His sheep, Christ said,
will hear His voice. And they will all come to the
knowledge of the truth because He'll bring them. I remember
reading my Bible. I had a red Bible, by the means
that meant you were more holy or more something, I guess. I
had a red Bible, stood for the blood, you know. And I would
take my red Bible and any passage it seemed like that showed God
in control or God's sovereignty or sovereign grace or anything,
and at that time I didn't even know what sovereign grace was.
But anything that had to do with God being in control instead
of it being man's being in control, I just kind of make a little
mark to let myself know that that couldn't be right. It doesn't
mean what it sounds like it means. I remember writing in one passage,
probably this very passage we're looking at this morning, I remember
writing in that Bible, this kills the full predestination theory.
Because I thought I knew something. I thought I was a Christian.
I thought being a preacher surely assured me that I was. But I
didn't know the truth. I didn't know the truth. And
the Lord Jesus Christ says in John 17, where we've been looking
so much lately on Wednesday, He says of these people that
were given to Him by the Father out of the world, they were thine,
He says, and you gave them to Me, He says, sanctify them, set
them apart, distinguish them through thy truth, thy Word is
truth. I hear all these people. They
believe in work salvation. They say they believe in salvation
by grace. But they say things like this.
They say, a real Christian would never do something like that.
A real Christian would never do that. Well, you name what
you want to name. And God's already showed us somebody
in the Old Testament and in the New Testament that did just exactly
that. And guess what? They were real
Christians. He shows us that to show us our
weakness and our frailty, and the strength of His salvation,
the grace of His salvation, the fact that He saves and keeps
His people to Himself. And then there are those also
who say this, in a way trying to avoid these issues. They say,
well, Jesus Himself is the truth. He says that in John 14. Yes,
He does. And yes, He is. He is the truth
incarnate. He is the truth embodied. The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. But let me ask you this, how
is the true Jesus distinguished from all these antichrists? John said, writing in his epistle,
even in his day, He said, there are already many antichrists
gone out from us. Paul said, the mystery of iniquity
does already work. And somebody says, well, I know
it's a bad time we live in. homosexuality, all this blatant
ungodliness and filthiness and thievery and lying and all this
stuff. Well, let me tell you this, the
devil doesn't advertise that way. That's just man's unrestrained
flesh. He's much more cunning. changed into the form of a prostitute
or a drug addict or any such, it says His ministers are transformed
as angels of light. We've got the truth. We've got the truth. Listen to
us. God loves you. Christ died for
you. And the Spirit of God is trying
to save you if you'll let Him. He's the author of the lie. If
you were counterfeiting, You wouldn't print $13 bills, would
you? You'd come as close as you could
to the truth without it being the truth. You see, in their
experience in time, God brings all His elect to the knowledge
of the truth. All of them. And He does so through
the gospel of the truth. He exposes man's false god. And through the truth He exposes
our real condition as sinners. And through the truth He reveals
the Christ that He gives faith to believe on and to trust in. He doesn't bring you to the truth.
He who is truth by error, by lies, and by half-truths. Years ago I read where somebody
said that a lie is just a half-truth in most cases. Just a half-truth. Because that's what a counterfeit
is. But it always brings us back to this issue and this question. And that is, can a person be
saved apart from or before hearing the truth? Now, we by nature want to think
so. And in my early days, I don't
think there was anybody who struggled with this any more than me. Can
a person be saved apart from or before hearing the truth? Well, the same man that wrote
this epistle that we're looking at, he wrote most of the New
Testament led by the Spirit of God. And if you'll turn over
to, I guess, maybe one of the most popular of his epistles,
that epistle to the church at Ephesus, to the Ephesians, and guess what? They were mostly
Gentiles. They were mostly Gentiles. And
they were great worshippers. They had many temples. And their
chief idol was the goddess Diana. It's called the goddess of the
Ephesians, Diana. wanted to make sure that they
did not in any way try to blend what they believed, what they
experienced, what they participated in in their idolatry with true
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright? Look at what he says
here. in Ephesians 1 and that twelfth
verse. He said that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. And then verse 13, in whom you
also trusted. The trust here is added by the
translators, but it's actually understood as we use grammar. That you trusted in Christ just
as we trusted in Christ. What's the next word? After. after that you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."
That assuring work of God's Spirit. Not before then. Not apart from
then. but after that you heard the
word of truth." Now, I heard a lot of true things, but I didn't
hear the truth. Because the word of the truth
is what? The gospel of your salvation. I heard preachers stand and say,
well, if you'll do this or that or the other, you'll be saved.
If you'll be baptized, if you'll make a public profession, if
you'll walk down this aisle and shake the preacher's hand, if
you'll repeat this little prayer, if you'll follow this road, this
Roman's road to salvation. There's not a road to salvation.
Salvation is in the person and work of Christ. And the gospel
of salvation is the word of the truth which declares that He
hath saved us and not we ourselves. You see, that's the only time
you can rest, is when you believe that. That's the only time you
can glorify God, when you find out it's all of God. So on what basis is it to be
determined whether or not we're lost or saved? I'll tell you what the chief
one is in our day. And this among people who claim
to believe grace. But their issue, their evidence,
is their morality. They say this, they say, you
need to examine yourself and see if you see any fruit. I have,
and it's rotten. But he's not actually saying
there, examine yourselves to see if you can find any reason
to hope that you're saved, see if you can find any evidence
He says, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. The faith. The gospel. The truth. Is the basis of determining that
our religiousness? Oh, I know so-and-so must be
a Christian. Why? Because they go to church every
day. Is it to be based on our Reformation? I had a lot of those. I was afraid Betty might walk
out on me one day, because I spent about as much time at home as
a garbage collector. Twice a week maybe. Oh, I reformed. I did straighten up. I didn't
want to lose that prize. But I still lost. Not reformation. Not decision. Did you ever make
a decision? I'm like the man who was being
interviewed by Billy Graham's magazine, which is called Decision. He's always calling for decisions.
Make your decision. And the interviewer asked the
man, he said, when did you make your decision for Christ? And
the man wisely told him, he said, I didn't. I was decided upon. You see, if you can decide to
be in Christ, you can decide to be out of Christ. Is it by
baptism? And here's the biggest one, experience. Oh, I can tell you I had an experience. I've had a lot of them. And I
wasn't saved by any of them, and neither you. You say, I know
it was real. It was real, but it wasn't true. Can I use my worn out illustration
one more time? When I was a young boy, Walt
Disney put out that movie, Old Yeller, and I went to see it. And when Old Yeller got killed,
I bawled like a baby. My emotions were real. My tears
were real. I was kind of hanging my head
so nobody would see me. But Old Yeller wasn't real. It
was just a movie. An acting. Just something that
wasn't true. Men and women can and they do
make many decisions and professions and reformations of life and
commitments to false gods, but this is not salvation. Not a
confession of true salvation. All their confessions begin with,
I. Are you a Christian? I was baptized
when I was young. Are you a Christian? I remember
that night I walked down the aisle. It's always I. And in most cases, it's always
a looking back. Believers don't look back. They
look to Christ. They look to Christ. And the
sad thing is, I'm afraid that what we allow in others is what
we ourselves are trusting in. How can one believe on Christ
without hearing the truth about Christ? And that's why Paul warns. He said, I'm afraid. I'm always
fearful that somebody will come along preaching another gospel
and talking about another Jesus, and being led by another spirit,
and you'll be deceived by it. We're not saved by another Jesus.
We're not saved by another gospel. We're not saved by another spirit.
were saved by the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, the truth
of Christ in Him crucified as it is revealed from the written
Word of truth by the Spirit of truth." Saul of Tarsus. That's who this
man really was in the beginning. The man that became known was
named such by Christ as the Apostle Paul. He was first known as Saul
of Tarsus. And he was a very religious man.
And he was a very zealous man. And he was a very dedicated man. And he was a very well-taught
man. A very knowledgeable man. But
he was lost. He knew a lot more about God
than most believe in our day. No. He knew a lot. But he didn't
know God. He was one of God's elect? Yes. He was a chosen child of God? Yes. But until Christ revealed Himself
in truth to him, Before that, he was just an idolater. You know that word idolater or
idolatry in the Greek means phantom. Phantom. Or a likeness. Not real. And I hear men and
women talking about Jesus. You can hear a lot about somebody
called Jesus in our day. But he, if you know anything
about this book, The one they're talking about, he's just a phantom.
He's just an unreal likeness. And Paul, just like Isaiah, who
said, they pray to a God who cannot save, Paul says in the
first chapter, he said, I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor
and injurious but I obtained mercy." What was the only reason
that he wasn't still the exact same thing? Because God showed
mercy to him. Sovereign mercy. God who will
have mercy on whom He will have mercy was merciful to him. And he was not looking for God. He was on his way to Damascus
what he thought was in the service of God, to hail men and women
into prison for believing on the true God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so when he comes down to
his confession in Philippians 3, I can't read everything this
morning, I'd love to, but in Philippians 3, beginning in verse
1, he begins to describe He said, you beware of the circumcision. You beware of these who, like
the Jews, look to God as being saved by something they do. And
he said, I'm the great example and I'm the great warning. He
said, if anybody, humanly speaking, had something to glory in, it
was me. born of a Jew, circumcised the
eighth day, keeper of the law, sat at the feet of Gamaliel,
the greatest of the Jewish teachers, all these things. But he said,
I count it all but loss. I count it all as done, that
I may know Him. That I may know Him in truth. that I may possess His righteousness
rather than one of my own." And you see, that's what it's all
about, righteousness. This same man said, writing in
the first chapter of Romans, he said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. I'm ready to preach it to Jew
or Gentile. For therein, is the righteousness
of God revealed. The fact that God is righteous. The fact that God requires righteousness. The fact that you and I are not
righteous, nor can produce it of ourselves. The fact that He
gives it as a gift. He makes His people righteous
by imputing to them the very righteousness of Himself in Christ. He gives them faith to believe,
to look outside of themselves to Him who is the Lord our righteousness. You see, the truth distinguishes
the true God from the false. The truth reveals what our true
state and condition is in ourselves. The truth says forth the object
of true faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all you have to do
is compare the Jesus that Paul preached to the Jesus of men
and women in religion today, and there is a whopping difference. Jesus in our day is described
as one who tried, who wants to, who will fail, who needs this,
who needs that. That's not Him. Paul writing to the Thessalonians,
he said, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. But he didn't end there, did
he? He said, "...through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth." What is the truth? "...Whereunto He called you by
our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Paul distinguished what he calls our gospel from their gospel. The same in John 6. Christ says,
"...all that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him
that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." But there's a
problem naturally. What is that? No man can come
to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him, and I'll
raise him up at the last day. What's all this drawing about?
You see, with us, by nature, everything is a feeling. Next
statement, it is written in the prophets, and they shall be all
taught of God. He is still talking about those
that the Father gives Him and that will come to Him. Though
they cannot of themselves, He will bring them. And how will
He do it? He says, and they shall be all
taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." How can
a sinner like you come to a God like He is? You see, that's the
question of the ages. That was Job's question. How
can man be just with God? Well, I know what religion says
mostly. They say, well, we believe Christ
died for everybody. That means he'll be totally unjust. Because we know that there are
already men and women in hell. How can man be just with God?
How can man, who drinks iniquity like water, be pure in the sight
of God, who cannot even behold iniquity? How can he be, how
he describes himself in Isaiah, a just God and a Savior? Only in Christ who lays down
His life for the sins of His people and so washes them away. Christ who by Himself, the Apostle
says, purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of God. How are our sins purged? By Himself. Not a cooperative effort. Not
salvation participation. by Himself. And when do you believe on such
a Savior like that? When you really hear the truth. That's the truth. He didn't try. He didn't make us savable. He
didn't make salvation possible. This same man, the Apostle Paul
in Romans 10, though this was the truth, he believed the sovereignty
of God's grace and mercy to a people that he chose and gave to Christ.
Did that dampen his enthusiasm to preach the truth? Did it make
cold any desire he might have for men and women who are lost? He didn't know who they were.
There's one place where he says, "'Knowing, brethren beloved,
your election of God.'" And how does he define that? He said,
"'Because the Word came to you, not in word only, but in power
and much assurance.'" No, he prayed this, "'Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. And he says, for I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God. They talk about God. They're engaged in religious
rituals. They do all these things. They
have a zeal of a kind toward God. What's the next statement? But not according to what? Knowledge. Knowledge. Sad to
say, It's a day in which men almost belittle biblical knowledge. The Roman Catholics have for
centuries and centuries done everything possible to keep men
and women from the Scriptures. God is not paying a bounty on
ignorance. He's saving His people through the truth. He's giving
them knowledge. He says, the evidence of this
is this, for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness, they have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ
is the end of the law, the Mosaic law, and every principle of doing. For Christ is the end of the
law for everyone that believeth. And then he goes on later, That
same chapter, Romans 10, he says, but what saith it? The Word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the
Word of faith, which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation." You don't believe what you don't confess. You don't
believe what you don't identify with. You don't believe what
you don't love. You don't believe what you don't
have an absolute necessity to hear. I can tell you this, if
I weren't here this morning preaching, if this congregation wasn't here,
I would be hunting somewhere to hear the gospel. Not to go
to church. As men say, but I'd be hunting
somewhere to be fed. If I'm one of His sheep, I'm
looking for somebody to lead me in the green pastures of His
truth. If I'm the bride of Christ, I
don't want to hear somebody insulting my bridegroom. Paul continues, he says, "...for
the Scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto
all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved." That's another one of
their verses. The Bible says, "...whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That verse
doesn't stand alone. Next statement, he says, "...how then shall they
call on Him of whom they have not heard, they have not believed? And how shall they believe on
Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent?" How beautiful, as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. And that's
not the gospel of make your peace with God. That's the gospel that
declares that Christ made peace with God by the blood of His
cross. How shall they preach except
they be sent? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God." You can't believe what you don't
know. You can't trust one that you don't know. John says, and we know. He uses
that phrase a lot. We know. We have knowledge of. We have assurance that it is
true. And we love that it's true. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in
His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life." And the next statement comes out of his mouth, comes
out of his pen. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Don't be deceived by the phantoms.
Paul says in one place, he said, my great fear is that you would
be moved away from that simplicity or that singularity that is in
Christ Jesus. Through the truth we learn that
God chose us. Through the truth we learn that
He purposed and that He saves us by His grace alone. Through
the truth we read that Christ by Himself accomplished our salvation,
that He wrought that perfect righteousness. We learn that
He sought us, that He gave His life for us, that He gave us
faith to see and believe on Him, and that He keeps us. that His
salvation is a finished work, that His work in this world was
a successful work, that not dependent on my works or my will or my
worth. And chiefly, that God gets all the glory, all to the praise of the glory
of His grace. God saves all kinds of men and
women and He brings them to the knowledge of the truth, the knowledge
of the true Christ. And He brings them to repent
of every other hope, what He calls repenting of those dead
works. Why are they called dead works?
Because the end of them, the result of them is eternal death. You see Paul writing to those
Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, before he gets down
and says, but we give thanks to God for you, brethren, before
then. He says, Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our
gathering together unto Him, that ye not be soon shaken in
mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let
no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away." That's an apostasy. A falling away from what? The
truth. The true Christ. And if that's
the case, we are here. He said, day shall not come,
except there first come a falling away, that that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition, who exposes and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God, Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told
you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth
that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of
iniquity doth already work, and only he who now letteth will
let until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that
wicked be revealed. whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness
of His coming. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power, and signs, and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness." False religion is all unrighteousness. But look how many have pleasure
in it. It's their hope. It's their life. Men who jump out of an airplane
holding onto a parachute, they have a firm grip on it. Their hope is in it that it'll
open when they pull that cord. But what if there's no parachute
in it? Would their hope be real? It'd
be real, but it wouldn't be justified. Would their expectation be real?
Yes, but it wouldn't come to pass. You see, Paul, I do not
believe is talking about any one individual here. He's talking about all these
who look and believe this mystery of iniquity. And all that is, is they believe
in these things to save them that are not equal to God. And
they'll live, and they'll go, and they'll stand one day before
Him. They've been believers, followers
of this mystery of iniquity rather than the mystery of godliness,
and they'll say, Lord, Lord, Lord. But he says, Not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you. I never knew you in
this covenant relationship. I never loved you with an everlasting
love. I never approved of what you
call righteousness. I'm not the one you talked about.
Ye that work iniquity. Iniquity. I love what the Lord Jesus Christ
is. John 8 says, Then said Jesus
to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free." You see, Paul says here in this
7th verse, he said, Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and
an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not, a teacher
of the Gentiles in faith and verity. What is verity? Truth. Unchanging truth. Objective truth, that by which
everything is to be measured and determined. He said, I preach
verity. All these things that God sets
forth in His Word to show us what we are, show us our need,
And to show us that salvation in that one Savior. Because here
He says, right in the midst of our text, where there's one Mediator
between God and men. Not one for the Jews, one for
the Gentiles. God and men. The man, Christ
Jesus. He's going to save all these
men. It's going to be manifested, he says, when they're all gathered
together, just who He gave Himself a ransom for. He paid a particular
price, and He's going to have a particular people. God help
us, and may we be found among them. Father, this day we praise
You and give You thanks and pray that You'd bless Your Word to
the hearts of Your people in the glory of Your name. All in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.