Well, good morning. If you would, open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 2. As you're turning, I have a good
report to give on our brother Gary Holbeck. He's still in ICU,
but he's off the ventilator and responding to commands and talking
and things. We're very thankful for that. I also talked with Winnie Groover
yesterday. She wanted to pass her greeting
on to the whole congregation. We had such a good talk, and
it was good to hear from her. She said, everyone at Lincolnwood
is doing well. They've been very, very little
affected in the congregation there by the virus, and it's
going well. So she wanted me to give you
her greeting. All right, 1 Timothy chapter
2, we'll read the first eight verses. I exhort, therefore, that first
of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, 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, who will have all men to be saved
and to come into a knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God and one mediator between God and men. the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
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. I will, therefore, that men pray
everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Thank
God for his word. Let's bow together. Our God and our Father, we bow
before your throne this morning. We bow with hearts of reverence. We bow with hearts that are full
of thanksgiving. How thankful we are to know,
to believe by your grace, to truly believe that you are God
alone, ruling and reigning, always accomplishing your eternal purpose. What a comfort it is to the hearts
of your people to know why this world seems so crazy around us. You're on the throne, in control,
accomplishing your eternal decree and purpose. Father, we're thankful. And how thankful we are that
by your grace, you've made your people your sons and daughters.
You're our father. How thankful we are for your
mercy that saves the most miserable, for your grace that clears the
account of the most guilty, the most vile sinner. Father, how
we thank you. And Father, it is our earnest
plea this morning that you would enable us to worship you in spirit
and in truth. Enable us to have a true worship
service where Christ is preached and adored and believed. Father,
reveal to us your glory this morning, your glory and your
redemption of your people. and give us the heart of faith
to believe, to see and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
we're thankful for the many gifts that you've so abundantly, richly
given this congregation. We're thankful, knowing everything
we have has come from your hand. Father, we pray your continued
provision and leadership upon us. Continue, Father, to bless
your word as it's preached here. Enable us to support it and be
about this ministry, preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ to our generation. Father, we pray for our country
at this time. It's so divided and so much turmoil. Father, we pray that you would
grant peace. We pray that you would be with
our leaders and give them wisdom turn their hearts to wisdom,
to lead this country wisely for the good and welfare and peace
of the people, that your people may be able to get up in the
morning and go to work in peace and provide for their families
and come home and enjoy the fruits of their labors in peace and
tranquility. And Father, for the sick and
the afflicted, those who are brokenhearted and in deep waters,
Father, we pray for them. How thankful we are, again, that
you're God. That we can bring these cares
of those we love and care about to your feet and leave them there,
knowing that thou doest all things well. Not only can you heal,
can you comfort, can you lead and guide, but Father, you do
it wisely. And we pray for them. And we're
thankful for the good rapport we've had on many who've been
so sick and hurting. We thank you, Father. Again,
bless us. Father, bless us in this hour.
Let us hear a word from thee. For it's in the precious name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, the title of my message
this morning is a question. It's a good question, I think.
Does God will that all men be saved? Does he? Well, the answer
to the question is yes. Yes, God does will that all men
be saved. Now before you run off and don't
listen to me, stay with me here a minute. In order to understand
the answer to the question, we first have to understand the
question. We have to understand the words of the question. God
does not will that all sons of Adam, God does not will that
everybody who has ever lived be saved. If that were God's
will, to save every man, woman, boy, and girl that ever lived,
then there'd be no need for God to create a place called hell,
would there? If it was God's will to save everybody, there'd
be no need for hell. And we know from Scripture, sadly,
that hell exists and there are people in hell right now. Well,
I know this, God Almighty did not will the salvation of anybody
in hell. I know that. If Paul means here, look at should
have read the verse. Look here at verse four. This
is where my questions come from. Who will have all men to be saved
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Now, if Paul means
here that it's God's will that everyone without exception be
saved, well, there's people that aren't saved. Then God's will
is frustrated and God is a failure. Now that just can't be so. If
God willed to save a people and then he couldn't save them, then
God's not God. That's all there is to it. Now we need to remember
this when you read scripture. This verse is a very good example.
You can't just take a verse out of scripture and pull it out
by itself and say, this is what that means. No scripture is of
any private interpretation. You know, one person may pull
that out and says, well, who will have all men to be saved
and say, well, it means this to me and somebody else says
it means something different to me. No scripture is of any private
interpretation. It doesn't mean one thing to
me and one thing to you. because scripture has one meaning
and one message always. Every verse of scripture does.
And no scripture is of any private interpretation also means this,
that no verse of scripture stands alone. You can't just read a
verse of scripture without reading the rest of the word of God and
say, well, this is what that means. No, you can't do that
until you see, does what I think this means match with the rest
of scripture? Because no verse of scripture
ever contradicts another verse of scripture. Every verse of
scripture always has the same meaning, always has the same
message, and that message is Christ. Now, look back at Isaiah
chapter 46. We see what Paul says here, who
will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth. Let's see now what that means
by looking at the rest of scripture. See if God might be pleased to
show us something here. What does this mean? Isaiah chapter
46, verse nine. Now this is how Almighty God
describes himself. Isaiah 46, verse nine. Remember
the former things of old, for I'm God and there is none else. I'm God and there's none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times
are the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall
stand. I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country.
Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have
purposed it, I will also do it. Now this is what God says, everything
he wills to do shall be done. Whoever it is that God willed
to save shall be saved. That's what he says there. Isaiah
did not contradict Paul. Now let's look at Ephesians chapter
one. Here the apostle Paul is writing again. Paul's not going
to contradict himself here. You know, he writing these under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit did not contradict
himself, did he? No. Ephesians 1 verse 11. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. God's will is always done. Nebuchadnezzar learned that in
a very dramatic fashion, didn't he? God's will is always done.
He'd do it, his will, in the armies of heaven, among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay his hand. None can stop his will.
None can frustrate his will and ask God, what are you doing?
Nobody can. God's will shall be done. Now whatever it is God
wills is going to happen just exactly like God decreed it. God never wills something that
does not happen. So whoever it is that God willed
to save shall be saved, right? Then we know this from scripture.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to try to save every son
and daughter of Adam. God said he hated Esau. Well,
he didn't send his son to redeem somebody he hates. This just
didn't happen. In John 10, our Lord said he
laid down his life for the sheep. Not everyone, the sheep. In John
17, the Savior clearly said, I pray not for the world. He
wasn't praying for everybody in the world, because he wasn't
getting ready to die for everybody in the world. He said he prayed
for those only that the Father gave him to save. So we know
that the Lord Jesus did not come to try to save everybody, because
it was not his Father's will that he tried to save everybody.
The Lord Jesus did not come to give everybody a chance to be
saved. If that were the case, that Christ came to give you
and me a chance to be saved, if that's what he did, why he
came, brother, nobody's gonna be saved. If he came to give
us a chance now, nobody will be saved because man's will is
depraved. It's captive by sin and will
never choose anything good or holy or right. It's incapable
of it because it's dead. See, God has to save sinners
by God's will and not man's will. or else nobody will ever be saved.
Now, Scripture, like I said a moment ago, never contradicts itself.
So the all in our text cannot mean every son of Adam, can it?
We've seen from Scripture the Father did not will to save every
son of Adam. Whatever God's will is shall
be done. Christ did not come to save every
son of Adam. So if we think the Scripture
is contradicting itself, or we like Brother Henry say, pop off,
we need to just close our mouth and stop for a minute. and pray
that maybe the Lord show us what these verses really mean. Because
if we think scripture contradicts itself, the problem is in the
way we're looking at it, not the way God said it. You just
write that down. So who does the all in our text
refer to? Well, it has to mean all sorts
of people. Sinners from every nation, from
every language, from every tribe, from every background. Jew and
Gentile, religious and heathen, all different sorts of people.
Now, if you apply that meaning to that word all, it matches
every other verse of scripture you ever find. The all is all
that the Father gave to Christ to save. That's who they are.
The all is all for whom Christ died. It's all for whom Christ
prayed. The all is all who will believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ when they see him lifted up and the
Spirit draws them to Christ. That's who the all is. Now, aren't
you thankful? You know, if I told you God willed
to save everybody, I actually heard a man say this this week.
This man claims to be a Calvinist, and he made this statement. The
elect and only the elect will be saved. Now, I wish there was
a way that we could teach people to put a period at the end of
the sentence and close the book and not say anything else. But
he didn't. He went on. And he said, now clearly God wills to
save all men. So there are times God's will
does not happen. There are times God will something
and it does not come to pass. He actually said that. Now, if
I told you that, Would you bother coming back Wednesday? Honestly,
would you bother coming back Sunday? I mean, why worship a
God that wills to do something and can't? Would you want to
worship a God that wills to save you and can't? That wills to
save your loved ones and can't? No, of course not. But aren't
you thankful? Doesn't it fill your heart with
hope and joy that it is the Father's will and Christ came to save
all sorts Eric, if he came to save all
sorts of people, there's hope for me and you. Isn't that good
news? Now, if God wills that all of
his people will be saved, and that's what he wills, all of
his people will be saved. Here's my question. How will
they be saved? If God wills to save you and
me, how will we be saved? How will God save us? I want
to give you one answer in five parts from our text. Number one,
first Timothy chapter two, God saves his people through the
knowledge of the truth. Verse four, first Timothy chapter
two, who will have all men, all sorts of men to be saved and
to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Now, salvation is
a hard work, but there's some knowledge involved in this thing.
Salvation is a knowledge of the truth. Now it's not a knowledge
of facts and doctrines and figures. Salvation is a knowledge of the
truth. Knowing and loving a person.
Knowing the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth. He is the truth. There's not a bunch of different
truths. There's one truth, and that truth is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Salvation is knowing a person. And the Lord Jesus
Christ is the truth. He's the truth, first of all,
about God. The Lord Jesus is the truth about what God is like
and who God is. God is holy, and you see that
in the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he come to do? He came
to bring in eternal, everlasting righteousness. God can only accept
perfect holiness, and that's what Christ came to establish.
Perfect holiness, perfect righteousness by his obedience. And God is
just, and you don't see this truth that God is just any more
clearly than you do in the Lord Jesus Christ. The perfect holy
son of God was made sin for his people. What happened? God poured
out justice upon him. His father poured out unmitigated
wrath upon him until he died when that sin was put away. God
is just. You can't question that if you
see God punished even his own son when his son was made sin.
See, God provided what God will accept. holiness and righteousness. That truth is seen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is also
the truth about man, who we are and what we're like. A man is
lost in sin. Man is incapable of producing
anything holy or anything righteous. Man is incapable of paying for
any of our sin. Man can't do anything to deserve
salvation. We can't do anything to get God
to save us. That includes you and that includes
me, everybody. If you and I could do anything
to save ourselves, Christ wouldn't have had to come. But he can,
because the truth about you and me is we're sinners who need
a Savior, who need a Savior to do all the saving for us. That's
the truth about us. And then Christ is the truth
about salvation. Salvation is only possible through
the obedience and the sacrifice of Christ. And anything that
adds to that, anything that takes anything away from that is not
salvation. It's not true salvation. It's not salvation that satisfies
God and satisfies the need of sin. No, salvation is only possible
through the obedience and through the sacrifice of Christ. There's
salvation in no other name, in no other righteousness, in no
other blood than the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the truth.
And salvation comes from knowing and loving and trusting that
person who is the truth of God. Our Lord said, John 17, verse
three, this is life eternal, that they might know thee. That
they might know thee. The only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Salvation is knowing God. It's knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if you know Christ, you'll trust him. You'll trust your
all to him. That's why the apostle Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. The apostle knew a lot of what?
He knew a lot of doctrine, didn't he? But it all stemmed from one
thing. I know whom I have believed. And that's salvation. Salvation
is knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. And unfortunately this needs
to be said. Now salvation is not found in knowing just anybody
named Jesus. Now be careful now, because men
do preach another Jesus. They preach a Jesus who cannot
save. They preach a Jesus who wills to save somebody and can't.
That's another Jesus. There's no salvation and trust
in that fellow. But if you know the Lord Jesus Christ of the
discipline, the truth, the truth will set you free. That's where
you find salvation is in knowing Christ. All right, number two,
God saves his people by one mediator, verse five. For there is one
God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Now salvation, this is, I'm just
gonna repeat this as long as the Lord gives me breath and
opportunity to say it. Salvation is only in the Lord
Jesus Christ, only. Don't trust your soul to anything
other than Christ alone, Christ alone. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only mediator. between God and sinful men. Now
if we need a mediator, that tells me there is a conflict. I used to work for a company
and some of the workers in that company, a section of them, wanted
to go on strike and it got to be so ugly, there was no talking,
there was no reasoning. They were just, I mean, both
sides just, I mean, it's a good thing nobody brought a gun. They
shot each other. I mean, it was just, it was really, really,
really ugly. And the only thing that they knew to do is bring
in an outsider, bring in a mediator. There was a conflict and you
don't need a mediator unless there's conflict between two
parties. They cannot work out themselves. That's why this company
I worked for, they brought in a mediator. And I tell you with
this conflict, why we need this one mediator between God and
me. The conflict has been caused by man. We're the problem. We've
caused this conflict by our sin. Our sin has offended God. Our sin is not just something
that's wrong, or you shouldn't have done, that can be overlooked.
Our sin is rebellion against God. Man, by our sin, has declared
war on God. And man can't do one thing about
the problem. We can't stop sinning. We can't
put away one's sin. We can't pay for one's sin. We
can't do anything to pay the price that God's justice demands
against our sin so that God's not angry anymore. And furthermore,
God's angry. God's angry with the wicked every
day. God will by no means clear the
guilty. Sin must be paid for. Buddy,
we're at an impasse, aren't we? I mean, neither side can budge
or will budge. So we need a mediator. And you
know what God did? God sent one. I mean, we can't
even come up with a mediator. We can't even think of a way
to have a mediator. So God sent one. And he sent
one he could trust. He sent his own son. Now, a mediator
is a go-between. It's somebody that can talk to,
that can touch, that can satisfy both of these two warring parties
who will not budge. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
both God and His man. So He can touch, He can talk
to, He can satisfy both God and man. See, the Lord Jesus is God
in human flesh. He's the God-man. He is both
God and man. He's the Son of God and He's
the Son of man. And since He's God, the Lord
Jesus can touch God. He can satisfy God's holy demand. And since He's man, He can reach
way down and He can touch sinful men and He can satisfy our need. He can satisfy our need for righteousness
by giving it to us. He can satisfy our need for mercy
and grace by purchasing it for us with His precious blood. He
can satisfy our need for life by being our life. See, He can
touch sinful man and satisfy us At the same time, since he's
God, he can touch God and he can satisfy God's holiness and
God's righteousness, God's perfection. Now there's only one mediator. Thank God there's a mediator,
but now there's just one. There's just one. Don't try to
go to God your own way. Don't think that you can earn
your way to God by your law keeping. Don't think you can earn your
way to God by your straight doctrine or religion or your morality.
It won't work. Now it won't work. You cannot
earn your way into God's favor, but you can come to God in Christ.
He's the mediator. He is the way to the Father. He's the mediator of a better
covenant. Now, I'll grant you, if you could
keep the law perfectly, if you could keep the covenant of the
law perfectly, you could come to God and be accepted, but you
can't do it. You can't keep that covenant.
You can't fulfill that covenant. Well, Christ is the mediator
of a better covenant, a covenant of grace. and a covenant of grace
opens the door for sinners like you and me to come to God. In
the mediator, in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only way to
the Father. Now you come to God in Christ
and you'll be accepted in this one mediator. So a mediator is
a go-between and a mediator is also one that makes intercession
for people. And Christ our mediator makes
intercession for his people. Not by asking his Father for
faith, Not saying, well, Father, they didn't mean it. Just overlook
it. They'll do better next time,
because everybody knows better than that. Christ makes intercession
for his people by pleading his blood, his sacrifice. He pleads,
he asks for forgiveness for his people, and he pleads his blood,
and the Father says, I'll accept it, forgive me. Always. He pleads that they be accepted
in his sacrifice, and the Father says always. Accept it in the
beloved. Now, what a mediator. What do
you mean? You only need one mediator when this mediator is as perfect
and as glorious and as wonderful as the Lord Jesus Christ, whose
blood and righteousness satisfies both God and me. Gives God the
perfection that he needs and gives you and me the righteousness,
the forgiveness, the peace with God that we need. What a mediator
through his sacrifice. Well, that brings me to my third
point. God saves his people by one sacrifice. Verse six, who
gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
so glorious and he's so perfect. All it took for him to save all,
all men, all that the father elected and gave to Christ to
redeem. All it took for him to save all, a number that no man
can number is one sacrifice. He offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, and the transaction was done. Eternally, he sat down. Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering,
he had perfected forever. There's one offering. It's all it took to make them
all perfect. And here, Paul calls that sacrifice a ransom. Now, everybody knows what a ransom
is. I was reading a book recently. Couple bad guys came in, they
kidnapped this rich man's granddaughter and they demanded a ransom. He
paid it. He didn't get his granddaughter
back. They waited about a year, made another ransom demand. He
paid it, didn't get the granddaughter back. But that's the idea of
a ransom. You're supposed to pay your money
and get something back in return. This ransom, just let your soul rest at ease.
If Christ paid the ransom for your soul, he's gonna have it. This is not a work of fiction
now. If he paid a ransom for your soul, he's gonna have it.
And this ransom, the word that Paul uses here, ransom, it means
a payment, but it's a very personal, personal. It means a payment,
but it has to do with the substitute. This ransom, the word Paul uses
here means giving oneself in exchange for someone else. It
doesn't mean just paying money. It means giving oneself in exchange
for someone else. Now that's the very heart of
the gospel. It's substitution. Substitution
and satisfaction. Christ offered himself without
spot to God as ransom, payment for the sin of his people, and
the ransom is paid. It's paid in full. The redemption
price has been fully paid by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. is how holy, how just and how
merciful that the father is. He willed to save his people
by the sacrifice of his own son. Now that's the only sacrifice
that could be holy. It's the only sacrifice that
could bring in righteousness, but also how merciful, how gracious
that the father would will to save a people, a sinful people
who have rebelled and sinned against Him whose carnal mind
hates Almighty God, God still yet will to save them by slaughtering
His Son in their place as their substitute. That's grace. That's
mercy. And all, all, all that the Father
gave to Christ, all for whom He died are saved in justice. The price is paid. The law has
no more demand upon them. And they're saved in mercy and
grace because they're ransomed. Christ for their sin was paid
by the blood of God's own Son. That's a holy, a just, and a
merciful salvation. You only find that in one sacrifice. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. False prophets will tell you
to sacrifice something. Quit doing this, start doing
that. And it's always quit doing something you like and start
doing something you don't like. That's a sacrifice, isn't it? It's not just. It's not gracious. It's not just because you're
not going to satisfy God's holiness by it. And it's not gracious
because now you're earning something. The only sacrifice for sin that
is both just and holy, satisfies God and merciful to sinners is
the one sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how God
saved his people. One sacrifice. All right, number
four, God saves his people through the preaching of Christ. Now
Paul says in verse five or verse six, who gave himself a ransom
for all to be testified in due time, to be preached, to be somebody
that got testified and tell people about this sacrifice. He says,
we're in two verse seven. 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 in faith
and truth. Now God saves his people through
preaching and preaching. What? What we do here on Sundays
and Wednesdays, the importance of it just almost can't be overstated.
Almighty God saves his people through preaching, through preaching
of the gospel. Now, not just any preaching,
not just anybody in a suit and stand up behind a lectern and
have a Bible open or something. No, God saves his people through
the preaching of the gospel, God's gospel. Nobody's saved
by man's edited version of the gospel. The only thing that saves
sinners is the pure, unadulterated gospel, the message, the good
news of Christ. The only message that saves a
sinner is the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in the
Son of God. It's the preaching of truth,
verity, and preaching of faith in Christ. That's what saves
sinners. Not just preaching some man-made Jesus and man-made gospel
that uses words like grace and heaven and hell and Jesus. No,
it's a preaching of truth, verity, and faith in Christ. And nobody
will ever be saved apart from the preaching of the gospel.
They just won't. And that, you know, I thought about making
that statement and I'm not exalting the preacher in any way when
I say that. Saint making this statement that
no sinner will ever be saved, apart from the preaching of the
gospel, exalts the preaching of Christ. Not the preacher,
exalts the preaching, exalts the person that we preach. You
see, God willed to save a people through the sacrifice of Christ.
That was the Father's will. Well, then that will is done,
isn't it? It's finished. God willed it, it's finished.
It'll happen. But the way that God has been
pleased to let his people in on what he's done for them is
through the preaching of the gospel. Yes, God willed the salvation
of all, all his people. Well, then I just know this.
I mean, I just have such absolute utter confidence in this and
that it's what enables me to keep preaching week after week
after week after week through disappointment and resistance
and trouble and heartache. The thing that gives me confidence
to keep preaching is this. God willed the salvation of his
people. then they're going to be saved. They're going to be
saved. I know that. No question about it. But God's
people, when we hear that, they don't just sit idly by waiting
for God's will to be done. I mean, this congregation, I'd
say everybody here believes that, don't you? That God's will shall
be done. God willed the salvation of his people. Those people will
be saved. You believe that, don't you? Then you parents, why do
you pray for your children? Why do you bring them here every
week? Huh? Why do you? We have classes for
our children after the service. Why do you hang around out there
in the cold waiting for your children to have a lesson? Why
bother? This congregation gives so generously
of your money and your talents and your time to support this
ministry so that the gospel is preached. Why do you bother?
I mean, it's a sacrifice. You could do something else with
that money, I reckon, if you wanted to. Why do you do it?
because the preaching of the gospel is vital. It's vital. God's people don't say, oh, well,
you know, God's will's gonna be done, doesn't matter what
I do. No, sir. We who believe on Christ, we
get busy preaching. How shall they believe on him
and who have they not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? We get busy preaching because
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, the preaching of
salvation in Christ alone to save them that believe. We preach
knowing this, that when they all hear it, they're going to
believe. They're going to be blessed.
They're going to be comforted. They're going to be edified. All right,
here's the last thing. God saves his people through
prayer. Verse eight, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting
up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Now from the word of
God, let me just tell you how God works. God has willed what
he will do. from eternity. And that is exactly
what's going to happen. God's willed what he's going
to do from eternity and God will do that and only that. The unfolding
of human time, all that is is the revelation of what God willed
to do from eternity. Everything that happens today,
God willed it to happen just exactly the way it's happening
from eternity. But when the time draws near,
for God to bring to pass His will that He purposed in eternity,
that He purposed before time began, that He purposed before
He created the garden, put man in it. Before it comes time for
God to bring His will to pass, He puts it in the heart of His
people to pray. He puts it in the heart of His
people to pray for what God has already determined before to
be done. God puts it in the heart of His people to pray for what
God already willed, and then God does what He willed in answer
to the prayer of his people. Only God could do something like
that. Only God would do something like that. So where does that
leave you and me? It leaves us where we should
have this attitude that we should go about our life with this attitude.
Pray about whatever it is that's on your heart. Don't try to figure
it out and rationalize it. Whatever it is that's on your
heart, pray about it. Could be God put it there so
you pray about it. I mentioned it before, you parents,
you love your children. It's your heart's desire that
God be merciful to your children and pray for them. You have loved
ones that don't know the Lord, pray for them. Pray for them,
never feel guilty about it, pray for them. Because whatever it
is that God is going to do, He puts it in the hearts of His
people to pray for them first. Whenever it is God saves somebody,
He always puts it in the hearts of somebody to pray for them
first. Just always. And Paul says here, I need to
deal with this, he says to pray lifting up holy hands. Now, we
don't do that, you know, lift up our hands while we pray because
Prayer is a heart matter. It's not an outward show of religion.
And if we did that, we raised our hands, you know, while we
were praying, that's all it would be is a show. And if I was up
here doing that while I was praying earlier, you all think, well,
how, you know, overcome with the spirit. Frankie, look how,
you know, religious he is. He's there, you know, doing this. It's like, you know, I see people
just like they're lifting up an antenna, you know, trying
to get a better reception from God or something, you know. If
that was really what was on somebody's heart, I reckon that'd be fine,
but my suspicion is 999 times out of a thousand, that's a religious
show. God hears prayer from the heart. He hears the cry from the heart,
the praise of the heart. And when we do truly pray, we're
praying with holy hands lifted up to God, inwardly, inwardly. If you want to do that, you know,
privately, you know, that's fine. I mean, you know, if you're doing
it privately, I don't think you're making a show of religion, are
you, if you want to do that privately. But when we truly pray, we do
this inwardly. Because you know what lifting
up the hand means? It means to pray in dependence
upon God. I thought of this illustration.
I remember our daughter Savannah was a little thing. And she loved
her poppy. I mean, she loved that poppy. I mean, oh. And there were times
she just, little, you know, she'd toddle up to you and she'd have
that poppy. She'd just work on that thing, you know. Well, you
know, you can't really talk and use that poppy at the same time.
She kind of found a way to do it later before Janet took it
away from her. But, you know, you get my point. Here's how she would communicate
her desire. It worked every time. Every time. That was dependence. I need you. I need you. It's dependence. And I can make good on that from
the Word of God. You remember after the slaughter of the kings
in Genesis chapter 14. You know, they took all these
people hostage. Lot was one of them. And Abraham
got his men and he went down and he slaughtered them. And
took all the people, all the spoiled And those kings that
he had gone down, he took everybody back. You know, those, those
kings said, Abraham, give us the people and you take all the
spoil. And Abraham said this, I've lift
up my hand to God. Very first time the phrase is
used in scripture, the law first mentioned, whatever it means
the first time something's in scripture is what it means all
the way through. Abraham said, I've lift up my hand to God.
I'm not going to take a shoelace from you fellas, lest you say
we made Abraham rich. Now I lift up my hand in dependence
to God. You take all the spoil, God will supply my need. So when
we pray, we pray in complete dependence on God to supply all
of our need. That's true spiritually, and
that's true physically. It's complete dependence, not
because we deserve it, in complete dependence on God's grace. To
lift up holy hands to God in prayer is to pray to God as a
beggar. That's exactly what it means. Then look back at Psalm
24. Lifting up holy hands also means
this. It means praying for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. Psalm 24.
To pray with holy hands lifted up is daring only approach God
in the Lord Jesus Christ for Christ's sake. Look what David
says here. Psalm 24 verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? For who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, holy hands, a pure heart, hath
not lifted up his soul into vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He shall
receive the blessing from the Lord, the righteousness from
the God of his salvation. Now that can only be talking
about one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one who
had clean hands. He's the only one who has a pure heart. He
can come into the presence of God. He can ascend into the holy
hill, come right into the presence of God, but that's his people
too. Look at verse six. This is the
generation, that word is description. This is the description, the
generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob,
O God of Jacob. See, this is describing God's
people. They have been made one with
Christ. Through union with Christ, they have holy hands. They have
a pure heart. because Christ made them pure.
He gave them a pure heart. So when we pray with holy hands
lifted up, we're praying for Christ's sake, knowing that I
would only be heard for Christ's sake. Now you come to God praying
like that and you'll be heard. Now if you're asking to be heard
for your own sake, he won't hear you. But to pray and ask for
Christ's sake, God will hear that prayer. And Paul says this
too, I thought this was very interesting. He says, pray without
wrath. Without wrath. Don't pray with
wrath. Don't pray that the Lord destroy
your enemies and punish your enemies and make them suffer,
because that's not the will of God. We're to pray for our enemies. Isn't that what scripture says?
Pray for our enemies. Don't pray with wrath. Don't
pray that God will punish them. God will deal with them in His
time. I say this all the time. If you've got an enemy, pray
for them. Pray for them. The best way to
get rid of that enemy is God to be merciful to them and save
them. They won't be your enemy no more. Pray with a tender heart. And pray with a believing heart.
Paul says pray without doubting. Pray without doubting that God
is able. Pray without doubting God will
accomplish His will. Pray without doubting the promises
of God. Pray in faith. Pray with a tender
heart and in faith. Pray. Whatever it is that God's
put on your heart, pray. And this is praying without doubting.
Say, I will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And if we
pray that way, the Lord just might hear us and he'll save
all. He'll save all his people, all
of them. Now this is what I want you to see. I hope that there
hasn't been too many points and too, you know, kind of confusing
to remember. This is what I want you to remember
from our text this morning. Christ is all we need. Christ
is all we need to be saved. God's people are saved by knowing
Christ, by coming to God and the one mediator between God
and man, the man, Christ Jesus. God's people are saved by the
sacrifice of Christ. They're saved through the preaching
of Christ. They're saved through prayer for Christ's sake. It's
all Christ, isn't it? And Christ is all we need. My
prayer is God to give us the grace and the faith to preach
Christ, to need Christ, and to trust Christ. He's all God's
people need. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for the simplicity
of your gospel. It's Christ alone. Christ is
all we need. He's all we need to know. He's
all we need to hear. He's all we need to believe.
He's all we need in our heart. He's all we need to look to.
The simplicity of the gospel is it's Christ alone. Father,
we're thankful to make your gospel so simple so it can be plain
to ignorant sinners such as we are. Father, I pray you bless
your word. Reveal your glory to the hearts
of your people through the preaching of your word this morning. Let
these things take root in our heart. Let us take them back
out with us into the world. It's so full of darkness, sin,
and rebellion. Let's take these things in our
heart out into the world that we might be rooted and grounded
and settled in our Lord Jesus Christ and not be easily swayed
and moved away from the glorious truth of redemption in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, these things we ask and
we pray In the precious name of and for the sake of our Lord
Jesus Christ, amen.