There is in the Scriptures many
passages that at first glance, when you first read them, seem to declare a universal love
of God for all men and God's willingness for all men to be
saved. I'm going to give you a few of
them this morning. and talk to you about it. In John 3, verse 16, you all
are familiar with this. You don't need to turn to it.
It says, For God so loved the world, W-O-R-L-D, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. Now, this particular passage,
the Apostle John uses the word world for a good reason. He uses that word world as opposed
to God's elect because of the Jews or the Jewish prejudice
of the day. Every nation under the sun in
that day when they accounted Jehovah God and Israel as synonymous
one with the other. There was no salvation outside
of Israel. There was no salvation outside
the Jews. But now, that great hidden mystery
of the Gentiles, you can read about it over in Ephesians chapter
3, where Paul describes his ministry and that dispensation of the
Gentiles that's now being brought into the picture, now being revealed,
hidden by God for whatever reason he deemed necessary. But now
he's going to bring it to light, going to bring it to light. And
He's going to show us that this salvation is not for the Jew
only, but He's going to take His people out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and people under heaven. You can read about that
over in the book of Revelations. He uses those 12 tribes of Israel
to describe His people, and then immediately after that, talks
about this People of every tribe, nation, kindred, and tongue in
heaven, they're both the same people. They're both the same
people. All nations were of the understanding
that Jehovah was synonymous with the Jew. And now this was a new
era. And so, and the Jews believed
that. Only. Only believed that. And the reason John's using this
word world is in opposition to that Jewish prejudice that was
just rampant in that day. And then he tells you this over in 2 Corinthians
5, along those same lines. Defining the ministry of reconciliation,
he said, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself. not imputing their trespasses
unto them. Well, we know that can't possibly
be to every man, woman, and child that he didn't impute sin, or
else they'd all be saved. They'd all be saved. There'd
be no reason to have hell. There'd be no reason to have
preaching, and there'd be no reason to manifest unbelief and
all these things or judgment. If he didn't impute sin to anybody,
then everybody's saved. So that's obviously It's the
same reason there as it was in John 3. And then over in 1 John
2, verse 2, he gives us another sense in which this word world
can be attached to gospel promises. He says in 1 John 2, 2, and he
is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world. Does that mean Christ died for
every man, woman, and child? No, that's not what he's saying.
In this passage, he's not saying that Christ offered Himself for
the sins of the whole world. He's saying that there's only
one way in which anyone in this world can have their sins put
away. There's just one propitiation
set before this world. It's not just set for the propitiation
of the Jews and everybody else can work out their own way. There's
just one way. He is the propitiation for our
sins. But not for ours only, but for
anybody else. There's just one propitiation
declaring how God can be just and justifier. Just one foundation
and only one name under heaven. That's how they preached it to
the early church. Only one name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. And then if you'll turn
to me with 1 Timothy chapter 2. Here's another one of those
troublesome passages that religious men rest to their own destruction. 1 Timothy 2, verses 3 and 4. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior. What is? What's good and acceptable?
Praying for all kinds of men. Praying for kings and people
in authority civil magistrates and all these things because
God has set them in place to minister to us. So it's good
and acceptable to God to do that. Good and acceptable in the sight
of God our Savior, now listen, who will have all men to be saved
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Now I read, I'm
not going to mention his name, but he's one of the most well-known grace commentators and preachers
of all time. And he missed this so far. I
mean, he just totally missed this passage. What he said about
this passage was that it was God's wish and desire that all
men be saved. I'm going to tell you something.
When you come to know who God is, you know God don't sit around
and wish for things. If God desires a thing, He has
it. He has it. He doeth, David said,
our God is in the heavens. He doeth whatsoever He please. And He does it in the seas, and
He does it in the skies, and He does it with the floods, He
does it with in all deep places, and He does it with you, and
He does it with me. God's not like us. Now, I sit around and I have
wishes. I wish the sun would come out.
I'm getting tired of this cold, damp weather. I'm ready for the
sun to come out. But God don't wish for things.
So that's not what this passage is talking about. And if you'll
go back just a few verses to the beginning of this chapter,
you'll see that his subject here is prayer. And he tells us in
verse 1 to pray for all men, that is all kinds of men, all
kinds of men, for kings, for men in authority, for all kinds
of men, presidents and kings and governors and mayors and
law enforcement and governmental powers Congress, in the House
of Representatives, legislature. That's what he's talking about.
You can pray for all kinds of men. Pray for all kinds of men
so we can live, he said, a peaceable life. A peaceable life. We pray for all kinds of men
because our God has purposed to save all kinds of men and
bring them to the knowledge of the truth. You understand what that passage
is saying now? He's going to bring all kinds
of men to the knowledge of the truth. He's going to have all
kinds of men to be saved. All kinds. Not just paupers. Some of them are kings. One of
the queens of England said she thanked God for an M. She said,
I thank God for an M. It didn't say not any noble. It said not many. Not many. And now if you'll turn with me
to where I directed you at the beginning, to 1 Timothy 4, verse
10. This is my text, and that from
which also I've taken the title of the message this morning.
Savior of all, especially of those that believe. There's two statements made in
the verse, and what I want to do this morning is to take these
two things and look at them one at a time. First of all, Paul
tells us that the God in whom we trust is the Savior of all
men. That's what he said. He's the
Savior of all men. I can't tell you how many religious
men, Armenian preachers, and different people had sat there
with their finger and tapped on that and showed that to them
in trying to prove to me that particular redemption is a farce. How is He the Savior of all men? He says He is. We can't deny
that. Well, how is He the Savior of
all men? Well, He's the Savior of all
men as He is the Mediator King of creation, providence, and
salvation. Jesus Christ is the only reason
why all men were not annihilated in the garden. He's the Savior of all men in
that when Adam sinned, he wasn't annihilated on the spot. He wasn't
burnt to a cinder. He wasn't cast into hell. There'd
be no posterity if God judged Adam in strict justice personally. There'd be no posterity. There'd
be no me and you. So in that sense, he is the savior
of all men. You see that? He's just and righteous. He'll
by no means clear the guilty. So why didn't God kill Adam and
Eve? Why is Adam and Eve wandering
around in the garden reasoning out in their ignorance about
hiding their nakedness behind fig leaf aprons? Why didn't God
just kill them on the spot? A few years later, he sends a
flood upon the earth. Well, first of all, he permitted
this first couple to bear a son knowing that he's going to despise
God. Be an enemy to God. Going to
kill his brother and run off to the land of Nod and start
his own city and his own religion. Why God permit that? Why does
he save some in the ark that he knows when the ark lands are
going to be his enemies? Why did he do that? Why did he
do that? Why is it that our God is still
preserving mankind in 2013, though their wickedness and evil imaginations
rival any past generation? Why is that? Because God our
Savior has a purpose of grace and preserves this present evil
world to accomplish it. That's why. And in that sense,
He is the Savior of the world. So He's the Savior of the world
in that they've been given over to Him to preserve and to use
as He sees fit to accomplish this purpose of grace. He tells
us over in Romans chapter 13, He said, none of us liveth to
himself. I used to think I did, didn't
you? I thought I did. I was the maker of my own destiny. I thought I was the one who it
was all up to me, all up to my will. I could do this or not
do it. It was all up to me. I sovereign over my own person. But he tells us here that none
of us live it to himself and no man doth to himself. Whether
we live, we live unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's. We're permitted to exist in this
world and kept alive to this very moment because God has a
purpose of grace in Christ. And he's accomplishing it. And Peter said, I'll tell you
this. He said, you better count the long suffering of God's salvation. That's how you better look at
it. That's how you better look at
it. You better not look at it as just another day for me to
sin and do what I want to do and accomplish what I want to
accomplish. You better look at it as salvation. Salvation. Because that's why it's here.
In John 17 too, it tells us that God the Father has given Christ
power, that is authority over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him. And then
secondly, the God in whom we trust is the Savior of all men
by the long-suffering and mercy of His providence. In all temporal blessings, He
is the Savior of all men. He saves from disease and from
dread plagues and catastrophes and disasters. He saves from
mass destruction. Don't you know if God removed
his hand from this world, we'd kill one another? We'd kill one
another. I believe the fact that nuclear
war on a mass scale has not yet come to pass is a prime example
of his being the savior of this world. The fact that massive doses of
deadly Chemicals and diseases have not wiped out whole nations. Further evidence of this same
kind of salvation. And then thirdly, God saves this
world from moral ruin and total corruption. Men and women are
not as evil as they could be. Boy, we like to look down our
nose. I'm as guilty as the next one. I catch myself doing it,
though. And I get angry with myself. Look down your nose and,
boy, I'd never do that. I don't see how they'd do that.
I'd never do that. Oh, yes, you would. You'd jump
in that like a duck in a dough pile. You sure would. All God has to do is remove his
restraining hand just a little bit. Right in there, you'd be. Men and women are not nearly
as evil as they could be. They've not yet manifested their
full potential of evil. Well, how does God do this? He
does this by ordaining relationships, wives and husbands, children
and fathers, and so on in this world. Friends, even the relationship
of a friend is a deterrent from evil. A good friend will put
his arm around you and say, Buddy, you're going to hurt yourself.
You're doing wrong here. You need to turn. A father will
insist on it with his children. And a husband will insist on
it with his wife and her to him. Same thing. These are restraining
relationships that God has. And He does it also by maintaining
governmental authority and civil law. You read the book of Romans,
chapter 13, and you'll see that. And then He leaves in us. He
restrains us this way. He has put within us a conscience. And this conscience restrains
us from evil. Unless we harden our hearts and
it becomes seared as with a hot iron. But our conscience, especially
you young ones that are in here, you do something wrong, you know
it's wrong. Some of you done wrong in here
this morning, and your daddy's cut his eyes down at you. But
you know you was wrong, didn't you? I didn't see anybody. I just know it so. I've had my
daddy cut his eyes down at me too many times. And I knew it
was wrong, even though I didn't like it. Conscience restrains
men. He leaves in us a testimony of
right and wrong, and then Also, He gives us a testimony of His
power and His right to rule. Now, brothers, people deny the
sovereignty of God are fools. All you have to do to know the
sovereignty of God is walk out the front door and look up. Look
around you. Look at the order. Who's controlling
this thing? Who's running this thing? Who
designed this thing? Who's preserving this thing?
God is. He must be sovereign now. Because
I can't do nothing about it. Kings can't do nothing about
it. Scientists can't do nothing about it. But God can. He can
order that sun to stand still. And has. He can order that iron
to float up out of that water. Iron don't float. It did that
day. He's sovereign. He can cause a flood to cover
all the land and the mountains on this earth, and has. I read to you in Psalm 24, He
said He established it on the floods. What did He establish?
That the world is His, and everybody in it. It's not a debatable point. It's already been established.
It's already been established. It was established in creation. And then he restrains men and
is the savior of this world by churches scattered all over this
world and their influence upon it. Can you imagine what this
world would be today if God had pulled away his testimony when
Cain killed Abel? Can you imagine what it would
be? And then fourthly, He's the Savior
of this world as He's preached to it and set before it in all
of His glory. There's no other Savior. No other
Savior. And Paul said, if somebody else
comes along, I don't care if he's an angel from heaven, comes
along and preaches another Jesus, another Savior, of which I haven't
preached, let him be accursed. He's the Savior of all men. All right, here's the second
part of my text. This God in whom we trust, he's
the Savior of all men, as I've just shown you from Scripture.
But specially, specially of those that believe, specially. And keeping with the context
here, what he's saying here is that as this world enjoys much
of God's goodness and forbearance, it is especially true of the
believer. God orders his providence especially
for those who believe. The whole world benefits from
it, but it's ordered with a particular people in mind. You might call
it the spilling over of God's blessings upon His people. It
spills over on this world. All of these things are actually
ordered and given for them and because of them. Civil authority
from which all men are saved from this world and saved from
its terror and crimes And all of these things are ordained
for the good of God's elect. That's what he says there in
Romans 13. It is the minister to thee, he
said, for good. He tells us in Romans 8, 28,
we know that all things, what things? All things, work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. And like this world, we're saved
from the immediate destruction in Adam. And in Christ, we live
and move and have our being. And I stand here today and have
whatever life I have yet to live, whatever number of days that
He's ordained, because Jesus Christ, God's Son, was appointed
as my Mediator. That's why I have these days. But these things are especially
so of the believer because he's the object of Christ's mediation. Didn't he save all Egypt from
the famine? Sure did. He sent Joseph down
to Egypt. He didn't send him down there
to save Egypt. He sent him down there to prepare a place for
Israel to be preserved from this famine. And he saved all Egypt. But that ain't why he did it.
He especially saved his people. Especially saved his people. Did he feed every man, woman,
and child in the wilderness? Huh? He fed Kordathin and Abiram
in the wilderness. He sure did. Preserved them.
Did he do it for them? No, he did it for those who would
one day walk into that land and take that inheritance given to
them of God. But the others enjoyed the benefits,
didn't they? He's special, special. The good providence that this
world receives of God is but the spilling over of that which
was given to his people. And what of disease and medication? I'm going to tell you a little
story. Our current president has the
most controversial medical insurance legislation to ever be presented
before this country. It's debated and despised and
people hate it, and they've arranged committees and people to go up
there and and campaign against it. And they've elected councils
and things to go up there. They've called their legislators. They've done everything under
the sun to keep this insurance from coming to pay. But in spite
of everything everybody's done, he put in place an insurance. And he said, I'll leave it to
you, the states, to decide whether you want it or not. And Arkansas
said, well, we want it. We want it. You know, without
that insurance policy, my wife couldn't have got treated for
her cancer. I'm telling you the truth. Oh,
preacher, you don't really believe God ordered all of those things
just for your wife. My God would sink this nation
into hell for one of His. Just for one. Just for one. He'd do it just to make them
more comfortable. He said, the nations to me are
but a drop of the bucket, not even worth shaking out. It's
like the small dust on the balances. It doesn't affect the outcome.
The isles are nothing before me. I sit on the circle of the
earth, and all the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. Specially. Let that sink down
into your soul. Especially is He the Savior of
those that believe. He makes His Son to shine on
the just and the unjust, but not one time for the unjust did
He ever cause His Son to stand still, but He did for His elect. I believe he'd do that and more. I believe he'd sacrifice this
whole nation for one of his own. Everything in God's providence
is specially designed and ordered for his elect. But he is the
savior, especially of those that believe in another sense. He
is the savior of those that believe from sin. from sin. He saves them from
their sin. Oh, He don't do that for the
rest of the world. He don't do that for the rest
of the world. He does that for His own. Well, now wait a minute,
preacher. How do we know who's His own?
They believe. They believe. Ain't that what
they said? He didn't say, especially for
my list. He said, especially for those that believe. They're
the same people. They're the same people. This
is the work. What must we do to work the works
of God? This is the work of God that
you believe. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life believe. Ain't that what He says? When our Savior appeared in this
world as a man, it was specially to save His elect from their
sin. Scripture said, once in the end of the world hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's
Hebrews 9, verse 26. And verse 27 said, and as it
was appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. What's he talking about there?
Well, it was appointed unto him to die as the result of Adam's
fall. In Adam, all die. That's what
the Scripture says. Sin entered into this world by
one man, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men. It was appointed to him as a
result of Adam's fall. And sin entered, and so death
passed. And it's appointed because of
our personal sin. All have sinned, Paul said, and
come short of the glory of God. And it was appointed because
of our rebellion against light. Light came into this world, and
men loved darkness rather than light. It was appointed because
of divine justice and righteousness. He said, the soul that's in it
shall surely die. You see what he's saying over
there in Hebrews? It was appointed as it was appointed unto men
wants to die. And after this, the judgment.
Now watch this, verse 28. Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many, and unto them who look for Him shall He appear
the second time without sin unto salvation. He is especially the
Savior of those that believe, because they know and understand
and believe that He's put away their sins by His sacrifice on
the cross. The Scripture said they were
laid on Him, charged to His account, and that He was made to be sin
for us. That His very soul was made an
offering for sin is what Isaiah tells us. And as our God's appointed
substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ took our place before the holy
justice of God and bore our righteous judgment in His own body on the
tree. You tell me, what does this world
know of this divine substitution? Huh? What can you tell me? I believe
this is this young man's first time being here. If I were to ask him that question,
he'd be doing this. I guarantee it. And I'm not just
picking on him. You go out here, go house to
house, you'll find the same thing. What does this world know about
this divine substitution? What does this world know of
an eternal union with Christ and His church? I went to church
all my life and never knew anything about it. What does this world
know of an everlasting covenant of grace? I never heard of such
a thing. I never heard the word covenant
ever mentioned from the pulpit. What does this world know of
the oneness of Christ and His church or of His representative
offices or of His priestly intercession? Nobody ever told me I had a high
priest in heaven interceding on my behalf. Nobody ever told
me that. I didn't know anything at all
about that. What does this world know of the King of glory who
must reign? until he hath put all enemies
under his feet." What does this world know about
life and immortality being brought to light through the gospel?
What does this world know about the crushing of Satan's head
or the exposing of all his evil ways? They are ever learning,
Paul said, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth searching for life eternal in the Scriptures but never coming
to Christ that they might be saved. He is the Savior especially
of those that believe. Especially. This world knows nothing about
these things. Will you listen to me for just
a few more minutes? He is the Savior especially of
those that believe. Well, if God has an elect people
and Christ is their representative and substitute, then they're
going to be saved no matter what. Is that what you're preaching?
No, that's not what this verse says. This verse says of those
that believe. It doesn't say no matter what.
It said of those that believe. The Word of God says that God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Can you conceive such a God who
works in His own both to will and to do of His good pleasure?
Can you even conceive of such a thing? That's what he said he does over
in Philippians chapter 2 verse 12. He tells them with good conscience,
let every man work out his own salvation. What's he talking
about there? He's talking about that man reading, that man listening,
that man understanding. Let him work out his own salvation
in fear and tremor, for it's God who worketh in him, both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. And I guarantee you
they'll both come up with the same answer. He sure will. Can you conceive of a God who
sets apart some by the holy sanctification of His Spirit to both begin and
finish His work in them? Can you conceive of such a thing?
That God Himself selects a man or a woman, a boy or a girl,
and He comes into their hearts and sanctifies them, sets them
apart from everybody else, and gives them gifts and abilities
to do things that nobody else in this world can do? Can you
conceive of such a thing? And then, that good work that
he begins, he continues to perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
Can you conceive of such a thing? Well, that's what Paul said he
does over in Philippians 1, verse 6. Can you conceive of a God who
worketh all things in an eternal predestination so as to specially
save His elect? That's what it says over in Ephesians
1 verse 11. It says, the same God who works
for us in Christ works in us. His people are made willing in
the day of His power. His people are drawn unto Him
by divine influence. Blessed, David said, is the man
whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. That's
a blessed man. Our Lord said, don't murmur.
He said, no man can come to Me except the Father which has sent
Me. Draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. Now, hear me. hearing and feeling
and understanding and being in the right place at the right
time, wrestling within, being able to weigh what you hear from
the heart, being able to understand what you hear in the heart, and the will, the will in you,
all of these things of the Lord, and yet of you." Huh? He is the Savior especially of
them that believe. And then let me give you one
more thing and I'll wind this up. He's the Savior especially
of those that believe in that He sends them a faithful preacher
to tell them the truth. I found this to be so. Maybe these things will seem
offensive to you. I hope they don't. But the man
who's never been shut up to a gospel preacher is a man who's never
been put under the authority of Christ. He don't know what
it is to be shut up by the Lord. He shuts a man up. What do I
mean by that? He shuts him up. He doesn't leave
him options. He doesn't leave him to figure
things out on his own. He arranges his providence and
sends his man and sends his Spirit with him. Now, if you can't find that in
the New Testament Scriptures, you don't have eyes to see. Because
it's all the way through. All the way through. The man
who's never been shut up to a gospel preacher is a man who cannot
be taught. You can't teach him. He don't
see the value of it. He don't see the graciousness
of it. He don't see the gift of it.
He don't see the love of God in it. He's self-taught. He's self-taught. Now, there's a difference. There's
a difference. He's his own teacher and his
own ruler. And he cannot and will not submit
himself to God's ordained means. He won't do it. A man who's never
been shut up to a gospel preacher knows nothing of the providential
favor of God in effectual calling. God effectually called them. Paul said, I thank God for you,
brethren, because when you heard me, you heard it not as the word
of men. but as it is in truth the Word
of God, which effectually worketh also in you." Because of God's sovereign decrees
concerning the work of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of faith,
Paul said, whereunto he called you by our gospel. And then the
Holy Ghost says in Romans 10, 14 through 15, You can't call
on an unrevealed Savior, and you can't believe what you've
never heard, and you can't hear without a preacher, and he can't
preach except he be sent. Now, I want you to hear this
last thing. It is the experience of every man who's ever been
shut up to a gospel preacher. The cry of his heart will be,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace. It's their cry. It's the cry
of their heart. They don't have to be taught to cry that. It's
the natural experience of their heart. They would never have
come to the knowledge of the truth if God hadn't sent them
somebody to tell them the truth. Well, I just learned it from
the Scriptures. Well, then you did something that the eunuch
couldn't do. Because he read the Scriptures all the way over
to Jerusalem. He listened to the Scriptures
being read in Jerusalem all through the feast. And he was reading
the Scriptures coming home. And Philip came up beside him
and said, Do you understand what you're reading? Here's what he
said, How can I except some man tell me what they mean? Huh? God showed him up to a preacher. Our Lord said this, He equipped and enabled the 70
to go out and preach. And He said, you go out, and
he that heareth you, heareth Me. Ain't that what He said? He that heareth you, heareth
Me. When He gave them the Great Commission,
He said, all power is given to Me in heaven and earth. All power.
Power over property, creation, all that. All power has been
given. Now you go preach. You go preach. And here's what he told those
Jews who were preached to. He preached to them. His disciples
preached to them. The 70 preached to them. They
went out and heard everything that was being said. And they
said, if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I did. I did. But you believe not because
you're not My sheep. You're not My sheep. God saves men. I want you to
hear me. God saves men on purpose. This
thing is not circumstantial. It's providential. Things to me are circumstantial. Everything is. Things that happen. I get a bill in the mail. This
comes. I get a call that I'm not expecting. William called
me a couple weeks ago and was telling me about that article
that I preached on last week. That's circumstantial to me,
but it ain't to God. It's providential. It's providential. And this thing of preaching and
hearing is providential. It's providential. Now, I'm not
saying you can't go over here and find some man like John the
Baptist and say, well, look here. God covered him in his mother's
womb with the Holy Spirit. And Winston and I was talking
about this going into town, and I told him this. Was you any more able to receive
the Holy Spirit when He gave it to you? Was you any better
equipped to receive it than that baby? Huh? You wasn't, was you? Age ain't
got nothing to do with it. Well, you say, that baby didn't
know nothing, didn't it? I thought that baby kicked when
he heard the prophecy of the Lord. Huh? That baby understood. He understood. We say that's
just ridiculous. You need to go back and read
the Scriptures again. You need to go back and look
at them again. Now I'm telling you, we don't
want to come over here and find the exception and make it the
rule. We want to go over here where it's plainly taught. Plainly
taught. Look at it there. And then that's
where we want to seek the Lord. That's where we want ourselves
to be. May God add His blessing to the preaching of the Gospel.
Thank you.