Book of Mourning. It's so good
to see you all here. We come and not able to meet
in person and just do a recording. No offense to Brady and Janet
who have been here, but I miss you all. It's so good to see
you. Be back together again. If you would, open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter
2. I told Jana on the way over here
this morning, I am so looking forward to preaching through
this chapter in a very unusual circumstance for me. I kind of
have messages in mind already all the way through this chapter.
I'm looking forward to studying it. Let me also make this announcement
of our folks who have contracted the virus. As far as I can tell,
everybody is recovering very well, with the exception of Brother
Gary Holback. I recorded the message for Wednesday
night. I misunderstood something. Gary was not in ICU at the time,
but he is now and the situation is serious. So he's in the hospital
there in Nashville. And every time the Lord brings
him and that family to mind, let's remember them in prayer
before our Lord. All right, first Timothy chapter
two, 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 our God and Savior, who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the 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. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
that out of your goodness and grace to your people that you
have allowed us another opportunity to meet together with our brothers
and sisters and to worship you, to praise and magnify the name
of God, our Savior. And Father, I beg of you that
This morning you'd send your spirit upon us and enable us
to truly worship thee, to worship in spirit and in truth, to worship
with hearts that are full of praise and awe and wonder and
thanksgiving with a heart of faith that would hear the gospel
preached and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. He's
worthy. of our trust. He's worthy of
our praise. He's worthy of our adoration.
Father, I pray that everything that is said and done here this
morning be done to the praise and honor and glory of the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank you for
this day that you've given us. Thank you for a place that you've
given us where we can meet together in peace and unity and love. Father, I pray you'd give each
one of us wisdom. wisdom to protect, seek ways
to protect the unity and peace that we have here, that your
gospel might be preached in power and peace, that your people would
be saved, fed and comforted and instructed out of thy word. Father,
I thank you for this congregation. I thank you for your blessing
on us all these many years, how abundantly and richly you have
blessed this congregation. And Father, we're humbled. There's
no reason at all that you would bless a people in the way that
you blessed us, other than your grace and your mercy. We know
it's not of any goodness found in us at all. And Father, we're
thankful and pray you'd not take your hand of mercy and leadership
away from us, that this might continue to be a place where
your gospels preached, where your sheep can gather together
to be fed. Father, we thank you for the good report we've had
on so many who've been sick and hurting. And Father, at this
time, we pray a special blessing on our brother Gary and his whole
family. Father, we pray you'd undertake
on his behalf to touch and heal his body and raise him back up
and come worship with us and be at his family, comfort their
hearts with your presence. And Father, we pray for our country
at this time, this time is so full of unrest and division. Father, we pray. We pray that
you would be with our leaders, that you'd give them wisdom.
We know that their heart is in your hand. And Father, we pray
that you'd turn their heart to lead wisely and well, to protect
the peace of this country, the freedom of this country. Father, we pray for this virus. We know that thou art able. We
beg of you that you give the world some relief from this thing,
that there be some cure of the vaccine, something would enable
people to go back to their normal lives and enable us to continue
to worship Thee. All these things we ask. And
Father, I beg that you forgive me for my much asking. But whom do we have to turn to
but Thee? Father, we do praise and thank
your matchless name. Ask that you bless us for Christ's
sake. It's in his blessed name we pray
and give thanks. In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this
solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What
heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled,
when strivings cease My Comforter, my All in All Here in the love
of Christ I stand In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of
God and helpless babe, this gift of love and righteousness, scorned
by the ones he came to save, Till on that cross, as Jesus
died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid,
here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground his body
lay Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in
glorious day Up from the grave he rose again And as he stands
in victory Sin's curse has lost its grip on me, for I am his
and he is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in
death. This is the power of Christ in
me. From life's first cry to final
breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power in heaven. No scheme of man can ever pluck
Me from his hand till he returns Or calls me home Here in the
power of Christ I'll stand Just outstanding Brady, anytime you're
wondering, what should I sing? Sing that. That was just outstanding. Thank you. Alright, if you would, open your
Bibles with me again to 1 Timothy chapter 2. I have a title this
morning that I suspect will get your attention. How to have a
happier life. Is anybody here, would you like
to have a happier life? God's Word gives us instruction
on how to do that. In this chapter, first Timothy
chapter two, primarily the apostle is talking to us, giving us instruction
on public worship. And this instruction applies
to our private lives as well. You know, this Lord's not only
worship publicly on Sundays and Wednesdays. Believers live a
life of worship. We live a life of worship by
living, depending upon the Lord, by, by reading his word, by being
taught from his word, by, by, organizing our lives around the
public worship of the Lord. And here the Lord gives us this
instruction. The Holy Spirit gave it to the
Apostle Paul. If the Lord will enable us now
to hear and follow these instructions, I promise you we'll have a more
happy life because we'll be more content. Somebody that's content
has got a happy life. You know, we'll be happier if
we're not constantly complaining about the authority that God
put over us. but instead praying for them.
That is one of the primary teachings of this passage of scripture.
And I think that it is especially applicable at this time in our
nation's history when there's such division, there's such political
unrest. I mean, you disagree with somebody
on the slightest thing and buddy, you got to go. I mean, there's
just, you know, there can be no compromise. There can be no
agreeing to disagree. And this teaching, I believe,
will help us at this time in our country's history. I pray
to be helpful. Now, in verse 1, chapter 2, verse
Timothy, the apostle says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made
for all men. Now, Paul says, first of all,
prayer is to be made. And prayer is so important in
the life of a believer. God's people must be people of
prayer. That's the way we talk to our
Heavenly Father. We must be people of prayer.
Prayer is of the utmost importance in public worship. We begin by
reading the Word, but then immediately after that, we pray. Prayer is
very important in public worship. You can't worship without it.
Paul says, first of all, prayer is to be made. That tells me
that it is very, very important, prayer is. And Paul lists four
things that are to be in our prayers. First of all, he says
supplication. The word means asking, begging
God for our needs. This is something that comes
naturally to us in our prayers, isn't it? That we make supplication.
When the Lord lays upon you a great need, what's the first thing
you do? Go to Him in prayer. Ask your brothers to pray for
you. And in prayer, we make our needs known to God, don't we?
And we should. But physical and spiritual, we
make our needs known to God. Who else would you ask to meet
your needs? Except the Creator, who owns everything. Your physical
needs. Who else would you ask but God?
The Creator owns everything. Your spiritual needs. Who else
would you ask but God? Rich in mercy. Our God richly
meets the spiritual needs of His people. And we worship God
when we acknowledge how much we need Him. We need Him to meet
all of our needs. Second, Paul says prayers. Now
this word prayer means prayer addressed to God. It's praising
the Lord for who He is. That should be in all of our
prayers. I found this definition of prayer this week. I believe
you'll like it. is telling the Lord who He is. Isn't that good? Prayer is telling the Lord who
He is. That's the way we worship and
praise our God, by just saying who He is. And we only pray to
God. We only pray about things we
have no control over. And prayer is part of worshiping
God because it recognizes God's sovereignty, who He is. God is
sovereign over all. He's in control of everything. He is the one who gives every
good and perfect gift. And prayer is part of worship
because prayer is saying who God is. Then third, Paul says
in our prayers, there must be intercessions, intercessions
for others. The word, I thought this was
interesting, actually means falling in with someone, falling in with
them, becoming one with them. And we make intercession for
others when we ask the Lord to bless them. And you know, when
the Lord blesses our brothers and sisters, when the Lord blesses
you, He blesses me. I feel that blessing when the
Lord blesses you. I hear some good news about you
and I just feel so happy. When the Lord blesses you, He
blesses me. He blesses the whole body. And
we make intercession for others by identifying with Him. By falling in with Him. Isn't
that the way our Savior makes intercession for His people?
He identifies with His people. He fell in with them and came
in their flesh, in their nature. And our Lord makes intercession
for His people because He's one with them. And that's the way
we make intercession for each other, because we're one with
each other. And you know, when we ask the Lord to bless others,
that's worshiping the Lord. We ask Him to bless others. The
message from Wednesday night, Psalm 134. This is one way to
bless the Lord. If you want to bless the Lord,
here's a way to do it. Ask the Lord to bless others. To bless
and help your brothers and sisters by making intercession for them.
And then fourthly, Paul says, the giving of thanks. Now remember,
Paul's instruction to us here is first the supplications is
what he listed first. We ask the Lord for the things
that we need. And then we thank the Lord for giving us everything
we have. Everything we have, the Lord has given to us freely. So prayer must include Thanksgiving. We can pray without asking for
anything. I don't know if I've ever done
that. If I've done it, it's rare. I wish I'd do it more. You can
pray without asking for anything, but you cannot pray without Thanksgiving. It's impossible. You cannot pray
without praise to our God. And we worship God when we thank
Him. We thank Him for everything that
He is and everything that He's done for us. That recognizes
we've never earned a thing. We've never deserved a thing.
Everything we have, physically and spiritually, we haven't earned
a bit of it. God's given it all to us freely. And that's worship. Now Paul then says here that
he will, Prayer be made for all men, all men. Now, when you see
this phrase in scripture, it almost never means all men without
exception. And that's certainly not what
it means here. We are not to pray for all men
without exception. We know that. We have several
examples of that from scripture. John 17, our Lord's great high
priestly prayer. He said, I pray not for the world.
I'm not praying for every son of Adam. I pray for them which
thou hast given me. He prayed for the elect. He did
not pray for all men without exception. Eric, if he did, all
men would be saved. He didn't pray for, he prayed
for all, all that the Father had given him. The Apostle John
tells us we're not to pray for those who've sinned against the
Holy Ghost. Now sinning against the Holy Ghost is apostasy. It's at one time claiming to
believe the gospel, claiming to believe Christ, and then later
on saying, now I believe it's something else. It's Christ plus
something else. That's the sin of apostasy. We're
not to pray for people like that. But Paul says we're to pray for
all sorts of people. Look at verse four. Here's that
phrase that's used again. Who will have all men to be saved
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. That means the
same thing Paul means up there in verse one. It doesn't mean
that the will of God is that every son of Adam be saved. If
that's God's will, every son of Adam would be saved. And we
know that's not so. We know from scripture there
are people in hell right now. I promise you this, it was not
God's will for those people to be saved, or they would have
been. No, this means all sorts of people. We're to pray for
all sorts of different people. It's God's will that all sorts
of different people be saved. That's God's will. And we're
to pray for all sorts of people, and get a hold of this now, all
sorts, even our enemies, even our enemies. Go back to Matthew
chapter 5. Now I know that this flies in the face of human logic,
but we would have a happier, more peaceful life if we prayed
for all sorts of men, even our enemies. Maybe I should say,
especially our enemies. Matthew chapter 5, verse 43. Our Lord says, you have heard
that hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies. Bless them that
curse you. Don't curse them that curse you,
bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you
and pray for them. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you that, here's why you do that, that
ye may be children of your father, which is in heaven. For he maketh
his son to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on
the just and on the unjust. You know, we would be happier
if we'd follow the Lord's teaching here and pray for all sorts of
men, even our enemies have been mean to us. I'll touch on that
again here in just a minute, but look back over here now at
first Timothy two, verse two, Paul says, we're to pray for
all sorts of men. Specifically. He mentions here
are political rulers. He says for Kings and for all
that are in authority, that you may lead a quiet and peaceable
life. Now we're to pray. for our political
leaders. We're to pray for all those who
are rulers over us, who have authority over us. We're to pray
for those rulers, whether you agree with them or not. You're
to pray for those rulers, whether they're in your political party
or not. And let me ask you this, why
wouldn't you pray for them? Huh? Why wouldn't you pray for
them? You think how much they affect
our lives. Oh, we should pray for them. We should pray to the
Lord, give them wisdom. to rule well, because that will
make our life better, more peaceable, won't it? We should pray that
the Lord bless our rulers. Now, you know that the heart
and the mind of all of our rulers is in the hand of the Lord. He
can turn it whichever way He will. Shouldn't we pray He turn
it towards good so that they rule well, so they rule to protect
our freedoms and the peace that we have in this country. Who
cares whether Republican or Democrat gets credit for it? I just want
them to rule where we have peace. Don't you? They rule for good. And I'll tell you this, we should
pray that the Lord save them. I mean, how often have you prayed
the Lord save a president or a senator or someone like that?
You think how blessed this nation would be if Lord save our rulers,
that they'd be somebody that trust Christ and follow the Lord,
oh, we'd be blessed, wouldn't we? That's why we should pray
for our leaders. Now look at Romans chapter 13.
You know, there are two things that scripture constantly, many,
many places teaches us about the believer's role as a citizen
in our nation, or to pray for our rulers, and where to be obedient
to them. These two things go hand in hand. Romans 13 verse one, let every
soul be subject unto the higher powers for there's no power,
but of God, the powers that be or ordained of God, who serve,
therefore resisted the power, resisted the ordinance of God.
And they that resist are received to themselves. Damnation punishment
for rulers are not a tear to good works, but to the evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is
good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he's the minister
of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword
in vain, for he's the minister of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject,
not only for wrath, not because you're just afraid he'll punish
you, but for conscience sake, For your conscience, the believer's
conscience tells you, be obedient. Or for this cause, pay ye tribute
also, for they're God's ministers, attending continually upon this
very thing. Render therefore to all their
dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor, owe no man anything but
to love one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. Now, you know exactly what the
apostles is teaching us there. Be obedient to these authorities
that are over us. God's put them in that position
of authority. They're God's minister to society
in that way. And when we resist them, you're
not just resisting them, you're resisting God. And this, I promise
you, you know this, don't you? You'll have a happier life if
you don't resist God. Isn't that so? All right, now
look at Titus chapter three. As I looked at this this week,
I thought this is as important in our day, as much as of a problem
in our day, as it was when Paul was writing these epistles. And
Rome was in authority over about all the world. Look what he says
here and tells Titus in his preaching, Titus chapter three, verse one.
He says, put them in mind to be subject to principalities
and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
to speak evil of no man, but to be no brawlers, but gentle,
showing all meekness unto all men." He said, now you be subject. Don't always be just spoiling
for a fight. Be subject, be obedient, be easy
to get along with. If you're easy to get along with,
you'll have more peace. Now again, 1 Peter, another passage,
1 Peter 2. I was going to say verse 13.
Look at verse 12. First Peter 2 verse 12. Having
your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they
speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Now submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's
sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors
as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers.
and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of
God. This is the will of God that
you do this. That with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men. Now it is the will of God that
we be obedient. And if we do that, we'll have
a happier life because we'll have less trouble, less consternation
with people around us. All right, now look at Acts chapter
five. We're to pray for our leaders, were to be obedient to them,
unless, unless they tell us what we can and cannot preach. Acts
chapter five, verse 28. Well, verse 27, and when they had brought
them and set them before the council and the high priest asked
them saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not
teach in this name? And behold, you filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon
us." Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we
ought to obey God rather than men. Now, Peter, you know, in
his epistle said, you obey the magistrates, didn't you? Here,
no, he says, we're not going to do that because you're telling
us not to preach Christ. Now we've got a problem. Now
we've got a problem. But otherwise, be obedient. We
saw the same thing in the Old Testament. Those three Hebrew
children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they obeyed that
heathen king in all things, didn't they? They rose to positions
of power in his reign. They obeyed him in all things
until he told them to bow down to an idol. Now we're not going
to do that. Now we're not going to do that.
But otherwise, otherwise, we're to obey. Now does that mean,
look at Matthew chapter 12, does that mean then that we're just
to obey those rulers that we agree with? No, it doesn't mean
that at all. I said Matthew 22. Matthew chapter
22, verse 15. You know, the way the world that
we see now says, well, you know, I'll be obedient and I'll pray
for the president as long as he's in my particular party,
but otherwise I won't pray against him. Is that what scripture says
that you just just obey him if you agree with them? Matthew
12 verse 15. Then went the Pharisees and took
counsel how they might entangle him in his talk, and they sent
out unto him their disciples with the Herodians saying, Master,
we know that thou art true and teach us the way of God in truth.
Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person
of men. You don't change your teaching
depending on who's listening to you. That's what they're saying.
You're consistent in your teaching. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness
and said, why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute
money. And they brought unto him a penny.
And he said unto them, whose is the image and the superscription?
They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, render
therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And unto God,
the things that are God's. You know, the Lord told Peter
in another place, Peter, pay your taxes, pay your taxes. That
we don't offend, that we don't offend the rulers, that we don't
offend the society in which we live. Now that Roman tax, do
you reckon that tax was fair? Do you reckon people were just
protesting and waving banners and complaining and saying, you
know, trying to find a way not to, we worship God. We shouldn't
have to pay this tax. You reckon people thought this
tax was fair? It probably wasn't. It probably
wasn't. But you know what the Lord said?
The Lord said, pay it. Pay it. Be obedient. And you'll
have a happier life because you'll have a life that's free of contention. One more scripture, Jeremiah
chapter 29. This is a striking, striking example. of what scripture
is teaching us here about this matter of praying for our rulers
and being obedient to them. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse four,
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel and all that
are carried away captives whom I have caused to be carried away
from Jerusalem unto Babylon. This isn't something some Babylonian
heathen king did. God said, I've caused thee to
be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon. And here's God's
instruction to the captives. Verse five, build ye houses and
dwell in them, plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Take
you wives and begat sons and daughters and take wives for
your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear
sons and daughters that you may be increased there and not diminished.
and seek the peace of the city, whether I've caused you to be
carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it." Pray that
the Lord bless this city. Pray that the Lord give this
city peace. These people have taken you captives. You pray
that the Lord bless them. For in the peace thereof shall
ye have peace. Now you reckon that that captivity
was fair? That that captivity was hard
and brutal? You can bet you it was. You can
bet you it was. It's not fair at all. But our
Lord's instruction is, pray for that city that holds you captive.
Pray that the Lord give these, your captors, pray the Lord give
them peace and bless the city. That's the Lord's instruction
to us. So it's clear, we're to pray for those who are in positions
of authority over us. That applies to political leaders,
to policemen, the health department, whatever. Just remember, these
folks, these civil servants, buddy, they got hard jobs. I mean, their job is hard. Pray
for them. Pray for them. And don't make
their job harder. A believer's not to do that.
Don't make their job harder than it has to be. Make it easier.
But this praying for those who are in authority over us, It's
not limited to political authority. That includes bosses on the job.
That includes teachers in the classroom. You know, you parents
teach your children to be obedient to teachers in the classroom.
It's so important. I'm telling the truth, aren't
I, Sean? Won't it be better for them to have a more peaceful
life? I'm telling you the truth. That includes parents in the
home. Children, don't be disobedient. Don't be rebellious against your
parents. You have a more peaceable life
if you don't. I remember our girls were growing up. Buddy,
they did it mama's way. They had a more peaceful life. That includes pastors and elders
in the church. Pray for them. Pray for them. I can't tell you how much I covet
your prayers. Pray for them. Pray for them.
And not just your pastor. Pray for each other. Make intercession
for each other. Pray for each other. Why is this obedience and this
praying for others, all men and for those in authority, why is
that so important? You know, praying for all men,
praying for our leaders, those who are in authority over us,
it directly affects our happiness. It's important to us. Praying
for all men and praying for our leaders directly affects our
ability to worship in peace. It directly affects our ability
to preach the gospel so that God's sheep are saved, so that
God's sheep are fed and encouraged. That's exactly right. These two,
these, these things are tied together. Now that's kind of
a long introduction, but quickly, let me give you these four reasons
that we, from our text, we are to pray for all men and especially
those in authority over us. And if the Lord will enable us
to do this, all of us will have a happier life because we'll
have a more peaceful life. So number one, pray for all men,
pray for those who are in authority over us so we have peace with
people who live around us. In verse two, the apostle says,
for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Now
that word quiet means tranquility, tranquility within. We're to
pray for all men, especially those who are in authority over
us and be obedient to them for our own sake, for our own sake. I mean, that sounds selfish,
but that's what we're saying here. Pray for all men, pray
for these rulers and be obedient to them so we'll have peace,
peace with people around us. I gave you the wrong definition
of that word quiet. It means tranquility without,
without tranquility with people around us, we'll get to within
in a minute. Tranquility without. Ask the
Lord to bless all men, to bless the people around you, to bless
those who rule over you and to give them wisdom so our society
enjoys more peace. All of us would be happier if
our society would have more peace. And if you have enemies, pray
for them. Honestly, pray for them. The
best way you can have peace with your enemy is we've got to bless
them, we've got to turn them, that make your life easier. Pray
for others so that you'll have peace between them and you. Why
don't you listen to what Brother Henry said about this. He said
you cannot be mad at somebody if you're praying for them. He
said it's nigh near impossible. You just, you can't be mad at
somebody if you're praying for them, can you? You can't have
peace in your life when you're constantly causing division and
seeking division and just looking for reasons to be angry at everybody
with all men, with all sorts of men, particularly with our
rulers. And I'm not saying you're not
going to disagree with them, but don't be looking for reasons
to be angry and be disobedient with them. You know, if you'd
be obedient and know that those rulers who are over us are accomplishing
God's will, we'd be a whole lot less likely to look for a fight
with them and seek peace. Whatever it is they're doing,
whether we think it's good or bad, they're God's ruler and
they're accomplishing God's will. I promise you they're not accomplishing
their will. They're accomplishing God's will.
Does everybody here believe all things work together for good,
the demon above God, the demon of the called according to his
purpose? Does anybody not believe that? Well, then what are we mad about?
What are we mad? Whatever it is these rulers are
doing, what all men are doing around us, whatever it is they're
doing, God's working it together for good. What am I mad for?
If it's good, what are we mad about it for? If I truly believe
that God saw them, he works all things after the counsel of his
own will. Do you believe that? Every person in this room believes
that, that God is working all things after the counsel of his
own will. Then why should I be mad at what our rulers are doing? All they're doing is God's will.
Just be quiet about it. Just be quiet. As Americans,
you can protest, you know, peacefully, peacefully. Please, peacefully.
I was teaching a Harris class a few weeks ago, and I told him,
you know, you can protest and things. I said, don't go off
to college and let me see you on TV throwing a Molotov cocktail
at somebody, you know, and protest. Don't do that. Don't do that.
You'll have more peace if you don't. I promise you, you will.
Pray for others, so you'll have more peace. Again, I know that
sounds selfish, but you'll have a happier life, won't you? And
number two, pray for all men, and especially those in authority
over us, so that you'll have peace of heart, peace within. Now we get this peace within.
This word peaceable that Paul uses means peace within, peace
of heart, peace of conscience. Now, we read about that, or Paul
talked about that to us in Romans, but do this for conscience sake,
for the peace of your conscience. Just do this for your own self.
If you don't want to pray, if you don't want the Lord to bless
others, pray that the Lord bless them anyway. Pray that, so that
your conscience won't bother you. If you're a believer, your
conscience is gonna bother you if you live in rebellion against
this now. The new man's just not gonna give you rest about
it. The believer's got a new man, a conscience that tells
us be obedient, pray for others. Don't be so selfish. Don't be
so self-centered, pray for others. And praying for all sorts of
men and for all of our rulers, you know that's a very good way
to live in godliness and honesty. That's what Paul says, in godliness
and honesty. Godliness is reverence toward
God. Now we've seen a couple times
where scripture tells us this is God's will. Boy, it's reverence
towards God to obey what He said and pray for all rulers. To pray
for all men. That's godliness. And it's honesty. Live in honesty
toward men. Be honest in your business dealings. Let your yes be yes and your
no be no. And live in honesty before God. Now, I'll tell you what. You go home today and you try
this on for size. praying for your enemies. You
think of those that despitefully use you. When I just made that
statement, think of those that despitefully use you. Somebody
popped into everybody, a face popped into every mind here.
That face just popped into your mind, go home and pray for them.
I mean, you pray that the Lord bless you, just like you pray
the Lord bless you. And I bet you're like me, it's
kind of hard to do. I mean, to do it honestly, aren't
you? Well, live in honesty before God. I honestly need God's grace. I honestly need God's grace to
save me. I honestly need God's mercy to
forgive me. And I honestly need God's grace
to enable me to pray for all men. The same way I pray for
Frank. You just try that on for size
and you find this honesty business. I need God's grace. Praying for
all sorts of people. and praying for our rulers, being
obedient to them, for the believer, that'll give you a quiet conscience.
It will. And if you don't, your conscience
will bother you. And living in that way, not only
does it give you a quiet conscience, it lets you live in a way that
honors our God. And for the believer, nothing
will make you happier than that, to live in a way that honors
our God. All right, thirdly, we're to pray for all men and
pray for our rulers, because this is the will of God for us.
Verse three, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Savior. Now it is God's will, it's good,
it's acceptable to him that we pray for all men, that we pray
for our leaders, we be obedient to them. And we've sinned against
God if we don't. Remember Samuel gathered Israel
together? They didn't want Samuel to rule
over them, they said give us the king. And this is one of the
things Samuel told to him. After they'd done that to him,
this is what Samuel said. God forbid that I'd sin against
the Lord and cease Him to pray for me. When I cease to pray
for you, if I ever just refuse to pray for you, if I refuse
to pray for all sorts of different men, I've sinned against God. Because it's God's will I pray
for all men. Enough said. Isn't that enough
said? That's all the believer needs to hear. This is God's
will. But let me say a little more. Romans chapter 14. Romans
14. Verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. For he that in these things serveth
Christ is accepted is acceptable to God and approved of men. It is the will of God that we
follow after things that promote peace. Not our own agenda, not
fussing and fighting and contention. It's the will of God we follow
after these things. These things are pleasing to
God and men will count you worthy of honor if you do them too.
They really will. I promise you this. You'll have
more peace and hence you'll have a happier life If you do things
God's way, not the way the logic of man. And the logic of man
says, you know, overthrow the leader that you don't like. Don't
pray for a leader that you like, pray for the one that you do.
God's way says pray for all men, all sorts of men. Pray for those
that rule over you. You'll have a happier life if
you do it God's way. You really will. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Pray for all men, all sorts of
men. Pray for our leaders because
it is the will of God that His people be saved. And that ties
to praying for all men. Verse 4, 1 Timothy chapter 2.
Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth? Now I'm going to deal more with these verses in
the coming weeks, but let me just make a couple comments and
see how this is tied to praying for all men and for our rulers. The Lord will have all men. And
you know that doesn't mean every son of Adam. The Lord will that
all different sorts of sinners be saved. All of his elect people
will be saved. That is the will of the Lord. Sean, that's going to happen.
God's people will be saved. I know it. But now don't be fatalistic
about that. Don't be and say, well, then
God's people will be saved. It doesn't matter what I do.
Oh, yes, it does matter what you do too. Yes, it does. God's
people will never be saved apart from prayer and preaching. That's
the means that God has chosen to use to save His people. Prayer
and preaching. Anytime the Lord reveals Himself
to one of His sheep, and they come and they ask, they come
and ask me, I'd like to be baptized. I'll almost always find this
out. Somebody's been praying for them in particular. The Lord
laid it on their heart to pray for this person. And then God
saves them, does prayer. and because somebody preached
to them. God's people will never be saved apart from both of those
two things. See, both is true. God's will
shall be accomplished. God's people shall be saved and
they're going to be saved through prayer and preaching. Both are
true. You know, the gospel just can't be preached if we're fussing
and we're fighting about everything in this world. I could get up
here three times a week and preach to you about Preach is not the
right word. Talk, rail, about stuff that's
wrong in this world. I mean, I would never run out
of a topic if I just want to get up here and talk to you about
stuff that's wrong in this world. But that's not preaching the
gospel. And if all we're doing is looking at what everybody
else is doing wrong, pointing out what everybody else is doing
wrong, how horrible that is, Christ won't be preached. And
if Christ is not preached, his people won't be saved. They'll
be saved somewhere else, but they ain't gonna be saved here
under that kind of preaching. It's just impossible. It's impossible
to worship God if we're always fighting amongst each other and
not having peace. God can't be worshiped that way.
Nobody can worship God when they're focused on getting their own
way. So do whatever it takes to have
peace. I mean, whatever it is you've
got to swallow, whatever it is you've got to put up with, put
up with it so the gospel can Nothing can be more important
than that. Verse 5, for there's one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Now you all know this. There's
one true and living God. There's one Savior. There's one
Savior of sinners. There's one mediator sitting
at the right hand of God who makes intercession for his people.
He ever lives to do that. That's just so. You know that. But you know, many people don't.
Many people don't. And the only way they're going
to know Him, the only true and living God, the only Savior,
the only mediator, the only way they're going to know Him is
by the church preaching Him, preaching Christ. And that preaching
is going to be far more effective if it's done in peace, when we're
focused on Christ. Can you focus on being mad at
one another and being mad at somebody else or being upset
about this? Can you really focus on Christ when you're thinking
about that stuff? but God will enable you to let it go. You
can focus on Christ. The preaching of Christ is much
more effective when we do it in peace and we're not fussing
and fighting about stuff that just don't matter. It just doesn't
matter. God's in control of it. Just
leave it with Him. Verse six, who gave Himself a
ransom for all to be testified in due time. There's one Savior
and He died for all. all of the sin of all of his
people. And buddy, he put it away. Their
sin's gone forever because of who died. Now the only way people
can know that good news is if we're preaching Christ. And that
preaching will be far more effective if it's done in peace. So we're
focusing on Christ and not fussing and fighting about things that
just don't matter. And I hope you see this in these
verses, this connection between obedience prayer for all men,
obedience to our leaders, and the success of the gospel, and
the blessedness of our worship. See, doing this is the will of
God. And again, that ought to be all
the reasoning anybody needs, any believer needs. But it's
also in your best interest, in my best interest, that the gospel
of our Savior be preached in peace, so that all of his people
will be blessed by it. Now, if you're a believer, this
is a true statement about you. You have a happier life when
the gospel is preached in power. You have a happier life. Jan and I think back over our
life together, the years that we have been married. And there
have been years that tough, I mean, stuff was tough. I mean, you
have tough materially, job-wise and things. But we look back
on those times and they were such blessed times because the
gospel was being preached to us in such power. Isn't your
life happier or peaceful or blessed when the gospel is being preached
in power? Do whatever you can do to enable that to be preached
in peace. Do it. I don't care what you
got to give up. I don't care what you got to
put up with. Do it for yourself. What if those that God will be
pleased to say the preaching of the gospel of your children,
or your grandchildren, or your loved ones. Everybody here has
loved ones that don't know the Lord. What have God to say for
them? He's going to do it through the preaching of the gospel.
He's going to do it through you praying for them. Whatever it
is you've got to do so that they might hear the gospel, do it. Whatever it is, do it. I hope
that strongly motivates us to pray for all men and to pray
for our leaders. And I want to close with this,
a statement from Matthew Henry. I read this statement, I was
trying to decide where to put it in the message, and I think
it's a good way for us to close. This is what he said. The summit
of the ambition of a good Christian is to lead a quiet and peaceable
life and to get through the world unmolested in a low, private
station. just fly under the radar and
seek to have a peaceful life. That's the summit of the ambition
of God's children. Per Matthew, Henry, and I have
to say, I agree with him, don't you? I agree with him. Let's
bow together in prayer. Father, we're so thankful. How can the human tongue express
our thanksgiving? our thanksgiving for our Lord
Jesus Christ, that we have peace in him. He promised my peace,
my peace I give unto you. Father, how we thank you. How
we thank you for the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
that made peace for his people between God the Father and your
people. Oh, how thankful we are. And
Father, we pray that you give us peace. with each other, that
you'd give us the wisdom to seek peace and to pursue it, to pray
for one another, to pray for all men, to pray for all sorts
of men, that by the preaching of your gospel, Father, you'd
save your people, that you'd call out your sheep, and by the
preaching of the gospel, that you'd feed your sheep, that you'd
comfort the hearts of your sheep, that you'd instruct us and cause
us to grow in grace and the knowledge, the dependence upon our Lord
Jesus Christ, Father, we do ask this for our good. We ask that
you give us wisdom and grace for our good, but Father, also
for the glory, most importantly, for the glory of Christ our Savior. We pray and give thanks. Amen. Mahalo. You're dismissed.