When you turn back to 1 Timothy
2, this Sunday morning, Bruce Crabtree is going to be preaching
for us. That's going to be a real treat. He's going to come and
participate in the preacher's class, and he's going to preach
for us this Sunday morning. So I know we'll all look forward
to that. I've entitled this message, Lifting Up Holy Hands. lifting up holy hands. Now we
just sang two hymns and we heard a special. What would you all
think if I would have been going like this? What would you think? You've
probably seen that done on TV. Maybe you've been in services
where it took place. For one thing, you would have
been looking at me. You wouldn't have been thinking about the
words to the songs we just sang. You'd be looking at me. Perhaps
you would have felt bad that you don't have the same amount
of spirituality that I do where I can do that and you didn't.
There would be a bad feeling. I wish I did that. Perhaps you would just go ahead
and do it to be like me or to be like everybody else and everybody
would start doing it. Everybody would be, you've seen
that. Lifting up holy hands. Lifting up holy hands. Now lifting
up your hands is mentioned several times in the scriptures. And
the verse of scripture that I just read is used as a justification
for this practice of lifting up holy hands. Now let me make three or four
comments about that before we look at this passage of scripture,
what it's actually saying. First, remember that the Bible
is a spiritual book. It's a spiritual book. Lifting
up holy hands is symbolic of lifting up your heart to God. We read in Lamentations chapter
three, verse 41, let us lift up our heart with our hands to
the God of heaven. We're lifting up our heart to
him as we hear the gospel. Number two, there is absolutely
no instruction about doing this publicly. He said, let men pray
everywhere, lifting up holy hands. Where is the place of prayer?
Is it not the closet? If I'm lifting up these hands
publicly, You're going to be looking at me. I'm going to be
looking at you and you're going to see how spiritual I am. I could not do that without me
thinking about you looking at me. I couldn't do it. It would
be impossible. Thirdly, whenever and wherever
I've seen this practice, I've never heard the gospel. Not even
once. I've seen these movements. I've
seen it a lot. And I have never heard the gospel
when I saw that type of thing taking place. So what is this
thing of lifting up holy hands? The Bible says to do it. What
does it mean? What is lifting up holy hands? And let me say this. If somebody's
in prayer in their closet, if they lift up their hands, Wonderful. If you feel led to do that, if
you feel led to lay on your face and not make a move, wonderful. You're in your closet. This is
not a thing of public worship. Prayer is in the closet. That's
why I don't like when I go into a restaurant, you know, people
think particularly with the preacher, you know, you ought to pray before
meal. You know, I'll pray silently. I'll pray silently. I don't want
to try to prove to people how spiritual I am. I want to, I'm
thankful. I'm thankful and I do not like
this thing of public prayer in a restaurant or something like
that just to show people how spiritual I am. What is this
thing of lifting up holy hands? And notice in our text in verse
eight, he says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting
up holy hands. Now what's the, therefore, therefore,
every time we see, therefore, in the scripture, we ought to
see what it's there for. I will therefore, based upon
what I've said previously, I look in verse five, where 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. Now, what is a mediator? That's
the key. What is a mediator? Well, a mediator
means two things in the New Testament. First, it means a go-between.
And then it means a guarantee, a go between. Now turn to Galatians
chapter three for a moment. Galatians chapter three. Verse 20. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one. What's that mean? You have to
have two contending parties to be a mediator. I don't need a
mediator with myself. There has to be two contending
parties. Christ Jesus is the mediator. He's the go-between between God
and man. He's someone who God can hear,
who God can accept, who God can be pleased with. And if He represents
me before the Father, the Father hears Him. He's also someone
who can be merciful toward me and compassionate toward me in
my ignorance and in my sin and my out of the way. He's God,
pleasing God. He's man with all that man needs. He's the one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. He's the go-between. He's
the one who brings God to man. He is God. He's the one who brings
men to God. He's the go-between. He's the
mediator. Now, not only does that mean
a go-between, one who brings two parties together in reconciliation,
it also means he's the guarantee. Turn to Hebrews chapter eight. Well, I need a mediator, don't
you? I can't come into God's presence on my own. I'm sinful.
I'm fleshly. I can't see him. I can't come
into contact with him. I need someone to represent me. I need a mediator to come into
God's presence for me. And I need a mediator to bring
God to me. I couldn't handle him on my own.
He's holy. I couldn't see his face. I need
a mediator. Now he's also a mediator in this
sense. Look in verse 6 of Hebrews chapter 8. But now hath he obtained
a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant. He's the guarantee, he's the
surety of a better covenant, which was established upon better
promises. For if the first covenant had
been faultless, the covenant of works, It wasn't faultless. The problem wasn't with it, it
was with us. It couldn't save us. Problems with us. Then should
no place have been sought for the second, for finding fault
with them. He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in
my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. See, in
this covenant, We had to do something. We had to do our part. And the
problem with this covenant is they continued not. If any part
of salvation is dependent upon me or you, we won't be saved. You believe that? Any part. They continued not. Now that
covenant won't do me any good. Verse 10, for this is the covenant
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord
and remember the Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of this covenant
He's the guarantee of this covenant because of what he did I will
put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts and
I'll be to them a God and they shall be to me a people I Love
the I wills and the they shalls of the Bible. I will I And they
shall. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For
I will be merciful, be propitious is the word, to their unrighteousness. I'll be propitious. I will be
satisfied through the blood of my son, through his sacrifice.
And I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now he is the guarantee
of this glorious covenant. God's going to look at me and
he's going to say, what sin? There's nothing there. I don't
remember it. The reason I don't remember it,
it's not because I forgot. It's because there's nothing
there to remember. Now that is the glory of our
Lord Jesus as a mediator. He's a go-between and he's a
guarantee. Now, since we have this mediator,
the man Christ Jesus, I will that men pray everywhere. Now remember, when you were called
upon to pray in the Old Testament, what were you supposed to do?
Look to Jerusalem. Look to the temple. You had to
be in a specific direction, looking in a certain way, which represented
the Lord Jesus Christ. But he said, that's all done
away with. I will that men pray everywhere. There's no fixed
place. We pray, calling upon his name
wherever we are, lifting up holy hands. And we're going to get
back to that in a moment, what that means when we pray, lifting
up holy hands without wrath and without doubting. But notice
he says, I will that men pray everywhere. lifting up holy hands
without wrath and without doubting. I think of what James said, let
every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, slow
to anger. For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Now don't be angry with God. Somebody says, well, I'm not
angry with God. If you're angry, you're angry with God. It really
is that simple. If you're bitter, you're bitter
toward God. If you're resentful, you're resentful toward God because
he is the first cause behind everything. Everything that happens,
He is in control of. And if I grow angry and bitter
and resentful, I'm growing angry and bitter and resentful toward
Him. And there's not one of us that
hasn't done that. We don't get what we want. We don't get our
way. We get mad. Why didn't the Lord answer my
prayers? Why didn't the Lord do this? Why didn't the Lord do
that? That's so contrary to faith. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? May God give us grace to bow
to His will in all things, whatever He does best. It's right. It's holy, just, and true. No wrath. No resentment. And don't be angry with men.
Turn to Mark chapter 11. Remember, he's talking about
prayer. Now look what he says with regard to prayer and our attitude
toward men. Mark chapter 11. Verse 25, and when you stand praying, forgive
if you have ought against any, if you have a reason to be angry
or upset against any, if anybody's offended you. When you're standing
in prayer, forgive. It doesn't say forgive if they
come up and ask for forgiveness. It says, forgive that your father
also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your father, which is in
heaven, forgive your trespasses. Now that's what the Lord says.
So be not angry. Don't be angry at the Lord, whatever
he does. Isn't it wonderful to know that he's on the throne
right now. He's on the throne controlling everything. Whatever
happened to you today, he's the first cause behind it. Whatever
will happen to you tomorrow, he's the first cause behind it.
He rules, he reigns, and whatever he does is right, and we're glad.
Aren't you glad he's sovereign? Don't be angry. And don't be
angry at your brother. He's just as sinful as you are.
And whatever he's done to offend you, you've done worse to the
Lord. Forgive him. Forgive him. Oh, be a forgiving
people. Let's pray without wrath. And without doubting, the word
means inward reasoning, unspoken objections. It goes with murmuring,
murmuring and doubting. Now, when I'm doubting, what
I'm doing is I'm sitting in judgment on God. I'm saying, I don't agree
with this. I don't agree with this. Why
is he doing this? Now, remember this. Who are you
to reply against God? Who are you to set in judgment
on God and say, I wouldn't do it this way? Who are you? He's God. You are a sinful, I
am a sinful, we are sinful, frail, ignorant human beings. And for
us to sit in judgment upon God. Know when we pray, may the Lord
enable us to pray without wrath and without doubting. Lifting
up holy hands. That says that. Lifting up holy
hands. Now the first requirement to
lift up holy hands is to have holy hands. That's the first
requirement. You can't lift up holy hands
if you do not have holy hands. So how is it that these hands
can be holy? These hands that have been used
in the commission of sin, how can these hands be holy? Can you look at your hands and
these are holy hands. What does that mean? Well, let's
see what the scripture says. Turn to Psalm 24 verse three. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy
place? Notice what it doesn't say. It
doesn't say he that's been forgiven of his sins, or he that's repented,
or he that's turned things around. What does it say? Who's going
to stand in the hill of the Lord and His holy place? Verse four,
he that hath clean hands. And that same word is translated,
guiltless, pure, and innocent. That's a hand that's never done
anything wrong. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. A heart that's without sin, a
heart that's without a bad motive, a heart that's without a bad
thought, a heart that loves God completely. A pure heart who
has not lifted up his soul unto vanity. You can't do it even
one time. Lifting up your soul to vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully, you can never tell a lie. The only way
someone can come into God's presence is if he has these clean hands.
and a pure heart. And he's never, not even once,
lifted up his soul to vanity, and he's never sworn deceitfully.
He's never told a lie. Those are the only people who
will be in heaven. Now, are you saying that the
only people who will be in heaven are people like that? Perfect
people? That's exactly what I'm saying.
That's exactly what I'm saying. The Lord said, except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
You shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. In order to
enter heaven, I must be perfect. I must have holy hands. Now somebody says, well, nobody's
ever lived like that. One did. One did. The Lord Jesus Christ
had clean hands. And he has a pure heart. And
he never lifted up his soul to vanity. And no, not once did
he ever swear deceitfully. Not once. And what he did, he
did as a representative man. When he kept the law, he kept
the law for somebody. When he died, he died for somebody. When he was raised from the dead,
he was raised from the dead for somebody. His clean hands are my clean
hands. His pure heart is my pure heart. When he never lifted up his soul
to vanity, I didn't either. Because I was in him and what
he did, he did for me. You see what he did? He did as
a representative man. He represented the elect. He represented those the father
gave him. When he kept the law, they did.
When he died under the judgment of God, they did. When he was
raised from the dead, they were. As he's seated at the right hand
of the Father, they are. And now I have clean hands and
a pure heart. 1 John 4, 17 says, for as he
is, so are we in the world. Does he have clean hands? So
do we. Does he have a pure heart? So
do I. Did he ever lift up his soul
to vanity? Neither did I. Did he ever swear
deceitfully? Neither did I. Really? Really. Really. Now, let's see what's going on
when believers lift up these holy hands. Here's the first
time this was ever mentioned in the scripture. Turn to Genesis
chapter 14. This is when Lot was captured. Verse 11, the five Kings in Genesis
chapter 14, verse 11, they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah
and all their vittles and went their way. And they took Lot,
Abraham's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and departed.
And there came one that had escaped, and told Abraham the Hebrew,
for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of
Eschol, and brother of Aner. And these were confederate with
Abram. And when Abraham heard that his brother was taken captive,
he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and
pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smoked them, and pursued
them into Hoba, which is in the left hand of Damascus. And he
brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother
Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. He brought
back everything. And the king of Sodom went out
to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedulemer.
And if the kings were with him at the valley of Sheba, which
is in the Kingsdale, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth
bread and wine. I have no doubt this is the Lord
Jesus. And he was the priest of the most high God. And he
blessed it. and said, blessed be Abram of
the most high God possessor of heaven and earth. Remember, the
less is always blessed the better. This is the Lord Jesus blessing
him. And he blessed the most high God, which hath delivered
thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
Abraham gave Melchizedek tithes of all. And the king of Sodom
said unto Abraham, well, give me the persons and you take the
goods to yourself. You did all the work, you got it all coming.
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I've lift up my hand unto
the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
that I will not take from a thread, even to a shoelatchet, that I'll
not take anything that's thine, lest thou should say, I have
made Abram rich. He said, I've lift up my hand
to the Lord, and I'm not gonna take a thing from you. You see, when we lift up holy
hands, we refuse to give credit to anyone or anything but the
Lord himself. We won't take a thread or a shoelatch
unless anybody other than the Lord would say, I've made him
rich. The Lord did it all. We really
believe salvation is of the Lord. Now, when I lift up holy hands,
here's what I'm saying. The Lord did it all and I won't
let, I won't take credit. For myself, or I won't give anybody
else credit, the Lord did it all. Salvation is of the Lord.
You see, we really believe. We talk about the doctrine of
grace. But I really believe that I am, in and of myself, totally
depraved. I believe that. I know it about
myself. I don't just believe it, I know
it. I know it from the word of God, and I know it because I
know it. And because of what I know, in that sense, I know
the only hope I have is for God to elect me and choose me. The only hope I have is for Christ
to die for me and actually put away my sins. The only hope I
have is for God the Holy Spirit, invincibly and irresistibly,
to give me life and cause me to persevere. He gets all the
credit. And you want to give him all
the credit. We won't take a shoelace, not even a thread from anybody
else. Now that's what it is to lift up holy hands to the Lord. Turn with me to Psalm 63. Psalm
63. Verse four. Thus will I bless thee while
I live, I will lift up my hands in thy name. There's an understanding, wherever
someone is lifting up holy hands, lifting up their heart to the
Lord, there's an understanding that they're only saved for His
name's sake. There's a heart understanding
of that. I know that I'm not saved because
I did anything or because I intend to do anything. I'm saved for
Christ's sake. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His name's sake. When I lift up holy hands, I
call upon His name. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now that's not just giving the
audible name, Jehovah or Jesus. No, His name is who He is. When
I call upon His name, I'm calling upon Him, save me by Your justice. Save me by Your sovereignty as
an act of Your will. Save me by Your holiness. Save me by Your grace. Save me
by Your wisdom. Save me by Your power. I'm calling
upon all He is to save me. Why, I pray in His name. When
I pray in His name, I'm saying, Lord, hear this prayer. as your
son presents it to you. I don't present this prayer in
my own name. I know I'd be sent to hell for
this prayer. Hear this prayer in the name of thy son. We glory
in his holy name. We lift up holy hands in his
name. Turn to Psalm 141. I love this. Love them all, but
this was a blessing to think about this. Verse two, let my prayer be set
forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening sacrifice. Let the lifting up of my hands
be as the evening sacrifice. Now, do you remember there was
a continual sacrifice every morning and every evening. You began
the day with the sacrifice. You ended the day with the sacrifice. Everything was centered around
the sacrifice. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Exodus chapter 29? This is when the Lord is giving instructions
regarding the morning and evening sacrifice. We read beginning in verse 38.
Well, let's begin in verse 35. And on the eighth
day you shall have a solemn assembly, You shall do no servile work
therein, but you shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice
made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord, one bullock, one
ram, seven lambs at the first year without blemish. Their meat
offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram,
and for the lambs shall be according to their number after the manor,
one goat for sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering.
I'm in the wrong, let me see. In chapter 29, somewhere, there's
about the, oh, let's see, let's, let's, there a meat offering
there, and one can, I'm sorry, it's in here somewhere. It's
in, it's in Exodus 29. I think, that's what, where? One goat for a sin offering besides
the continual burden offering, and his meat offering, and his
drink offering, and these, well, I'm not, it's in here. I can't,
I can't see it. I know it's there, huh? I'm not? Yeah, I am. I'm in numbers. That's my problem. I'm in numbers. OK, I'm sorry. I was thinking, what? He's not here? What's with him?
OK. Makes me feel better. I hate
those. Well, the Lord's in that for some reason. I'm not real
sure if I know why, but I feel quite sure he was in it. Look
in verse 38 of Exodus 29. Now this is that which thou shalt
offer upon the altar two lambs of the first year day by day
continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer
in the morning and the other lamb thou shalt offer at evening.
There it is. And with the one lamb, a tenth
deal of flour, mingled with the fourth part of a hint of beet
and oil, and the fourth part of a hint of wine for a drink
offering, and the other lamb thou shalt offer it even, and
shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning,
and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an
offering made by fire unto the Lord. This shall be a continual
burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation for the Lord, where I'll meet
you. to speak there unto thee, and I'll meet with the children
of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory."
Now, he speaks of these two separate sacrifices, the morning and the
evening sacrifices. Now, three things are mentioned
about these sacrifices. First, a lamb for a sweet savor. Now, what's that mean? Literally,
a savor of rest and satisfaction. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ, both morning and evening, God finds rest in his sacrifice. And I do too. That's the only thing I rest
in. God finds satisfaction in the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do too. There was a meat offering, flour
mingled with oil. Oil always represents the work
of the Holy Spirit. We're conscious of our utter
dependence upon Him. Don't you know you can't worship
without the Holy Spirit? Don't you know you can't believe
without the Holy Spirit? Don't you know you can't persevere,
you can't repent, you can't do anything without God the Holy
Spirit. We are the circumcision, Paul
said, which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And then the drink
offering, Paul said, I'm ready to be offered like a drink offering
poured out in consecration to God, and at the end of the day,
the evenings after all the things we've done, the evening sacrifice,
all that matters is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. At
the end of the day, when it's all said and done, I lift up
my hands as the evening sacrifice. I rest my head on my pillow. knowing that the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ is all that's needed to make me holy, clean,
and pure before God. I lift up my hands as to the
evening sacrifice. One last scripture turned to
lamentations too, right after the book of Jeremiah. Now these are the scriptures
that deal with the lifting up of hands. Verse 18, their heart cried unto
the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like
a river day and night. Give thyself no rest, let not
the apple of thine eye cease. Arise, cry out in the night,
in the beginning of the watches, pour out thine heart like water
before the face of the Lord. Lift up thy hands toward Him
for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the
top of every street. Lift up your hands in need. Now,
was it Monday night? Paul's granddaughter was over
our house, Josie. And somehow Josie thought Lynn
was Leanne. I guess the voice, she really
did. It was amazing. Well, I mean, did you see, I
don't know if you saw, but she just kept, but she just kept coming
up like this, you know, pick me up, pick me up like a, like
a child does a spirit. Lord, pick me up. Pick me up. When we lift up hands, we're
saying, Lord, pick me up. Love me. Accept me. Receive me. Do something for me. If you don't,
nothing can be done for me. I'm completely dependent upon
you. Pick me up. I'm praying that right now. Lord,
pick me up. I'm lifting up my hands to Thee. The hands of Christ. are our
actual hands. Those are the holy hands we lift
up. His hands. We don't see these
hands as holy hands. We see his hands as holy hands
and his hands are our hands. You see, we are the body of Christ. Hands that give God all the credit. and refuse to take a thread of
credit from any other source. Hands that call upon and believe
on and look to his name. Hands that never leave the evening
sacrifice. When it's all said and done,
my only hope is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing
else. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And hands that look up to Him
and depend upon Him as a child does its parents, putting their
hands up. Now is this to be done publicly? Well, it doesn't say anything
about doing it publicly. Like I said, if I started doing all this kind
of stuff, everybody would just be looking at me. They'd be thinking,
how come I'm not this spiritual, or what's he doing, is he trying
to show off, or all the different things. No, no. If you do it in your
closet, That's fine if you don't do it in your closet, that's
fine. But it's symbolic of what it means. It's lifting up the
heart to God. I will therefore that men pray
because of the mediator that we have, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I will that men pray everywhere without wrath, without doubting,
lifting up holy hands. Let's pray.