God’s Provision For All to Be Saved

Transcript

GR1757
03/02/2014
God’s Provision for all to be Saved
I Timothy 2:4-6
Gil Rugh

We are considering Paul’s letter to Timothy together and we are in chapter 2 so if you would turn there in your Bibles, 1 Timothy and the second chapter. In some of your Bibles this chapter is titled “A Call to Prayer,” but the major focus of what Paul is saying particularly in the first seven verses where he talks about prayer and he will mention in verse 8 as well, is not on the subject of prayer specifically, it is on the subject he was talking about in chapter 1 you remember, on the salvation of the lost, the carrying of the Gospel, the purity of the Gospel to those who need to hear, the protection of the purity of the Gospel from the false teachers who had infiltrated among the church at Ephesus; God’s desire to bring His salvation to all men.

So the instruction to prayer here, we don’t want to minimize that, but it’s not a general instruction on prayer. It is an encouragement to pray so that God’s purposes and plans in salvation will be carried out.

The chapter opened up: “First of all, then… (in light of what He has been saying and remember in chapter 1 Paul gave his own testimony of how the Gospel had transformed his life and as great a sinner as he was, the power of the Gospel was greater and brought salvation to his life.) “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men.” And that word “all” is going to be used repeatedly. You may have it marked in your Bible from our previous study. Twice in verse 1; twice in verse 2, once in verse 4; once in verse 6, all, all, all and that all encompassing purpose and plan of God. So be praying for all men and be praying on behalf of kings and those in authority and we noted this letter to Timothy was written somewhere in the middle sixties, 63, 64, 65, 66 in there. Their king or Caesar at this time was a man named Nero as we mentioned. He ruled the Roman Empire from 54 A.D. to 68 A.D. so we are in the latter years of his reign where the vileness of his character became more evident in his opposition to Christianity was intensified.

The instruction here is to pray for men like that, those who are in authority. They are to be a part of our prayer life and we look for the opportunity to have a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. As we noted, this is not just praying so we don’t have much trouble but it is praying for the kind of context where there is greater freedom and liberty and opportunity to present the Gospel. We’ve looked at this section. We are just reviewing. You know, like we have in our country. In some parts of the world these days, to try to proclaim Christ and meet like this, we don’t know but that someone would come through the door and begin to cause great chaos.

We have great freedom. We talk about evangelism and as the weather warms we have the freedom to go out and knock on doors to share the Gospel. That’s the kind of thing that Paul is saying here. We pray for a tranquil and quiet life. Nothing is said here about trying to change the political situation. The only concern with the political situation is those in authority be used of God to create the kind of setting where we have opportunity. Paul had benefited from that. The Roman Empire with its control and development of roads and so on provided opportunity for Paul to cross barriers and move to different places and carry the Gospel. So we should be praying for those in authority and we live our lives in all godliness and dignity.

“This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” What he is primarily referring to in prayer is entreaties and to be made on behalf of all men. This is what is pleasing to God because God is our Savior.

Verse 3: “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” That is the way that Paul started the letter in chapter 1, verse 1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Savior and of Jesus Christ.” Sometimes we noted the Father is identified as the Savior; sometimes the Son because they work together in the accomplishing of salvation for sinful human beings. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.”

The emphasis on the saving work of God transitions to verse 4: “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” We pray on behalf of all men and pray for the kind of environment and opportunities that we will be able to present the Gospel most fully and freely because God desires all men to be saved. We come into a very crucial portion of this letter. When it says “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” this ought not to be limited. We are familiar with the discussions about limited atonement and unlimited atonement and there are things that I appreciate from the reformers going back to the 16th century and some of the developments that came out of the reformation and things that were done there but there were things they were just flat out wrong on and the development of reformed theology has created very difficult situations because certain of the things they developed are not a result of the exegesis of Scripture. They are the development of an intellectually reasoned theological position.

I think the Scripture is clear here. He is not talking about He desires all kinds of men to be saved or all classes of men to be saved. He desires all men to be saved. I don’t think there is a restriction on that. I think this is consistent with the Old and New Testament. God desires all to be saved. He desires everyone to be saved.

Come back to Ezekiel chapter 18. Look at verse 23: “Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord, rather than that he should turn from this ways and live?” What is His desire for the wicked? Not destruction, their salvation, that they might turn from their sinful ways to Him as the Savior and live.

Down in verse 32: “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord. “Therefore, repent and live.” He is a gracious and merciful God who desires salvation of all people.

Come over to Ezekiel 33 while you are here in the book of Ezekiel. Look at verse 11, instruction here for Ezekiel’s responsibility as God’s spokesman, God’s watchman and to call the wicked to salvation. Verse 7: “As for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth, and give them (the message, the warning about the serious of their sin and the necessity to turn from their sin).” Verse 11: “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?” God’s invitation, His desire is not to destroy people but He is a just God who will bring destruction on the wicked but His desire for them is to turn from their wickedness to His salvation.

Come over to the New Testament to 2 Peter and that’s after the book of Hebrews and James in your Bible almost to the book of Revelation back in those few shorter books before you get to the book of Revelation; 2 Peter written by the Apostle Peter, the second of his letters. In 2 Peter chapter 3 in the context of why God has not yet done what is promised when He will bring destruction on the wicked and the ultimate salvation to those who have come to believe in Him and His Son. In verse 9: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

He is a God of graciousness. He is a God of salvation. He desires the wicked to be saved. Think about it. Think when you were saved. What if God had come and brought destruction on the wicked and the ultimate salvation before you heard the truth and believed? Aren’t you glad that He was patient and waited? I’m glad He was patient so I would have time to hear and believe the truth by His grace. So that’s what He says, “why these times?” It’s not that God is slow, He is dragging His feet, He’s giving opportunity to turn from their sin and believe in His Son.

In John chapter 5, you don’t need to turn there. Don’t leave Peter. We will stop someplace here, another place in a moment. Jesus said to the people of His day in John chapter 5, verse 40: “You were unwilling to come to Me that you might have life.” There is the issue. We are all sinners. We have a God who offers His salvation. We will see that more fully in coming verses here but people are unwilling to come to Him that they might be saved. “God desires all men to be saved,” we are reading in Timothy “and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Now while you are in Peter, back up to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2 we will pick this up while we are here. He desires them to come to the knowledge of the truth. This truth refers to His Word, particularly His Word concerning salvation in His Son. Note verse 18 of 1 Peter 1: “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Verse 22: “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God.” He wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word” concerning Christ, Romans 10:17 says. Now you have to hear the truth of God’s salvation so that you might respond and believe it but hearing the truth doesn’t save you. There were people who would come week after week and hear the truth but they are unwilling to come to Christ that they might be saved. There are family members that you might share the Gospel with many times but they are unwilling to come. But you know, those who never hear cannot respond. They are guilty. They are sinners by choice but we bring the Gospel to them so they might hear the message of God’s gracious salvation and believe it because you are born-again by the living and abiding Word of God because the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. There is the dividing line where you believe in the Son of God and the salvation He provided for you. Some hear the message and will not. Some hear it and believe.

Come back to 1 Timothy. What I just referenced is in verse 4: “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and those verses we just talked about, the knowledge of the truth.

This is Paul’s concern with the danger of the false teachers that had infiltrated among the church at Ephesus. Keep in mind we are not talking about the false teaching that comes in the world out there. We are talking about false teaching that infiltrates the church and corrupts and distorts and undermines the Gospel.

Look over in 1 Timothy chapter 6. We saw an example of these false teachers in chapter 1 of 1Timothy. Come over to chapter 6, verse 3: “If any one advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words.” It only creates conflict.

Note verse 5: “Constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth.” These men come claiming to be bringing greater insights even from God’s Word but they do not understand the truth themselves. We have talked about they are counterfeits.

In 2 Timothy, Paul’s second letter to Timothy chapter 4, verse 4, he is talking about a time Timothy is to preach the Word faithfully in season and out of season when there is a response to it, when there is not. The terrible thing happening in the church is if people aren’t responding they decide they ought to come up with a little different message. The message doesn’t change; basically the methods don’t either. We just keep proclaiming truth.

Verse 3: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth.” God desires all men to come to the knowledge of truth for their salvation but he says, “There is coming a time Timothy when the people even in the church aren’t going to want to hear the truth. They turn their ears away from the truth.

He writes to Titus in chapter 1, verse 14. Titus is to encourage the believers the Island of Crete not to pay attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. The measure must always be the truth. It’s not a question well they seem like nice men; they seem like capable teachers, they seem to know a lot about the Word except their doctrine is not true to the Word. God’s desire is that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

That’s what the church is to be, the pillar and support of the truth in this darkened world. The world is not open to the truth and in our desire to be a popular and successful church we compromise truth because that’s the dividing line. The world is not unreligious as we have talked about. The world is just opposed to truth, God’s truth, true truth as Frances Schaeffer said a number of years ago.

So back in 1 Timothy chapter 2 so we pray for all men because God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now he is going to explain the fact that there is one God and one Mediator. Now we need to understand this truth for there is one God and one Mediator also between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all. There is one God. We would all agree on that I would assume here. We agree, there is one God but crucial to put this in its context here and as we will look at some other passages, there is only one God so there is only one way of salvation and just as He is the God of all, He is the savior of all which does not mean that all will be saved but the fact that there is only one God and there is only one way of salvation if there is only one God and He is God over all He is also Savior for all. That does not mean that all will be saved but that’s the position He has relating to men.

Let’s go back to the beginning of our Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4. We will see the emphasis on there is only one God. We will see that it is often connected with the fact that He is the Savior. So Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 35: “For to you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.” There is only one God; there is no other. Come down to verse 39: “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”

Come over to chapter 6, a well-known portion, verse 4: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” He is the only God. The God who had revealed Himself to Israel is the God of heaven, the God of earth, the God who calls Israel to devotion to Him with all of their being.

Come over to Isaiah chapter 43 and we are just going to pick up parts of verses for time. Look at the end of verse 10: “Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.” Now note this: “I, even I, am the Lord; and there is no savior besides Me.” There is only God in heaven above and on earth below and that God is also the only Savior. Verse 13: “Even from eternity I am He; and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it,” because He alone is God. He competes with no one so to speak, if you will.

Come over to chapter 44, verse 6: “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer,” now His work of salvation. “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.” The end of verse 8: “Is there any other God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none.” That is God’s statement. He is the only God anywhere in the universes, in heaven, on earth, He alone is God.

Come down to verse 24: “Thus says the Lord, our Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb; I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone.”

Chapter 45, verse 5: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God.” The last statement in verse 6: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” And His sovereignty means when things happen in the world He is sovereign over it. That means the calamities, that means the zero temperatures, that means the burning heat, that means the tornadoes that bring destruction and the earthquakes and the tsunamis.

Verse 7: “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.” He is the sovereign God. He created everything.

Down in verse 18: “Thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it); I am the Lord, and there is none else.”

Down at the end of verse 21: “And there is no other God besides Me, (now note this) a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

Important in light of the context we are in in I Timothy chapter 2. “I am the only God and I am the only Savior. All the earth must turn to me for salvation.” And He desires that. Now that won’t happen because men and women are sinners and unwilling to turn but the greatness of the statement here and its clarity – there is one God, there is one Savior. And just as He is God over all, He is the Savior over all.

Chapter 46, verse 9: “I am God, there is no other. I am God; there is no one like Me.”

Come over to the New Testament, Acts chapter 17, verse 22. Paul in Athens at Mars Hill and He says, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.” And then they pass because the Athenians were very religious and very superstitious and they had a multiplicity of gods but they are always afraid they had left one god out and that one god who didn’t get a statue and didn’t get worshipped would be offended and then he would bring disaster on them so they have a statue to an unknown god in case we left someone out. Paul says at the end of verse 2e: “Therefore what you worship in ignorance this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it; since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything” because He created everything and He gave life to the people on the earth. What would He need from them? He made from one man, Adam, every nation to mankind to live on the face of the earth and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries for them that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us: for in Him we live and move and exist and have our being. Even one of your pagan poets noted that, we are His children, not that they belonged to Him in a saving sense but He is the God of all. He created everything. He created everyone. “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or anything; therefore God is now declaring that all everywhere should repent.” “All everywhere should repent because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Keep going back to Romans chapter 3, verse 29 for the context. He is talking about salvation. Verse 28: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also: Yes, of Gentiles also.” That is crucial. There is only one God. There is only one Savior, God.
Then verse 30. This verse is awkwardly translated: “Since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” Really this verse starts out, they broke it up as one, starts out: “Since indeed God is one,” we would translate it. “Since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcision by faith, the Jews and the uncircumcised, the Gentiles by faith.” Now the point is there is one God. There can only be one Savior and since the one God is the only Savior we must be saved His way which is by faith. So establishing there is one God and thus one Savior for all men there can only be one way of salvation which is where we are going in a moment in Timothy.

So what does he do in chapter 4? He goes back to find an example of how God saved a man and he quotes from Genesis 15:6. Chapter 4, verse 3: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness.” There is only one God; there is only one Savior. He is the God and Savior of Jew and Gentile alike and since He saved this man, Abraham by faith alone, Abraham was declared righteous. That’s how God has always and will always save men and the only way He will save them, by faith. The fact that there is one God and one Savior for all men and there is only one way of salvation, the way this God who is the Savior. This is all encompassing. He is the God and Savior of all men.

You can jot down I Corinthians 8 verse 3-6. There are many gods in the world but for us as believers we understand there is only one true and living God.

So come back to Timothy. Since there is only one God for everyone He is also the Savior for everyone. If He is the God over all He is the Savior over all as well; crucial teaching here. This is what He is talking about in Timothy here to understand this truth. “There is one God,” verse 5 of I Timothy 2: “One God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The one God and the One who stands between God and men to intervene and bring the two into relationship if you will.

Let me just read you Job and Job’s desire from Job chapter 9, verses 32 and 33. Job referring to God says, “For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, that we may go to court together. There is no umpire between us, who may lay His hand on us both.” What Job desires has been provided by God. “There is one God and One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” And His position as a man to identify this man that He is also God so He is able to connect man and God and bring reconciliation in the plan of God; so a Mediator, someone who intervenes between two people. You are familiar with the concept of a mediator and those who will mediate between perhaps two parties, restore relationships; bring peace in the relationship. Christ isn’t one Mediator among many. Some like Roman Catholicism have created a whole order of mediators and well we go to them because Christ wouldn’t turn away His mother so if we go and pray to Mother Mary then she will go to her Son and intervene. And you can create the saints that you can pray to and what do you say? You realize the depravity of man that they grab onto such foolishness. Looking at a bumper sticker the other day regarding making Pope John a saint and then you will be able to pray to him so in heaven they are waiting for people down here to stir up enough sentiment so that the magisterium of the church would declare, “yes, he’s a saint, now you can pray to him.” Can you imagine in heaven everybody is scurrying around assuming he’s there. Now you can receive prayers.


We replace the Scripture with the ideas of men. “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus;” nothing between man and God except Jesus Christ. A false teaching that has infiltrated among the church in the broad sense of the word is the kind of teaching that says there are other mediators. There is no other mediator. There is no go-between between you and God except Jesus Christ. There is no one between you and Christ and anyone who believes such a thing is denying the truth and rejecting the salvation that is only found in the truth that God has revealed. It’s sad that people are deceived and deluded. I have read through the Roman Catholic Catechism. It’s not just true of Roman Catholics but they are someone familiar with all of us and they use so much Scripture but in it all they are denying the truth; corrupting the truth. That is happening in the Protestant churches. “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”

John wrote about this in his Gospel. John chapter 1 opens up: “In the beginning was the Word (referring to Christ) and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Then we come down to verse 14: “And the Word became flesh.” So now we have the God-Man who can be the Mediator between man because He is man and God, because He is God and He has provided the salvation that we need and so as He said in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” He is the Mediator. Verse 6 says: “He gave Himself as a ransom for all.” “He gave Himself as a ransom for all.” God is the God over all. There is only one God. He is the Savior of all. His Son gave His life as a ransom for all.

I think it’s time for many to quit worshipping at the feet of the reformers and understand that they were men with feet of clay. I appreciate what some of the reformers did and how they focused attention on salvation and justification by faith but they also brought much confusion and things end; their misunderstanding of the Biblical teaching about future things of a coming kingdom.

This whole doctrine of limited atonement that Christ only provided salvation for the elect so we develop a theological system and then we come back and see if we can change what the clarity of the Word of God is. He gave Himself a ransom for all. Homiletic professor would say, “All means all. That’s all all means.” That’s the point. Is God not the God of all? His being the Savior is inseparably linked to His being God; He desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Anything else would be contrary to His character. He doesn’t desire them to sin. They do sin. Now His sovereign plan is included in that but He is not the cause of their sin. He is not the cause of their rejection of the revelation He’s given in creation and He’s not the cause of their rejection of the salvation He has provided through the death and resurrection of His Son. We have one who gave Himself as a ransom for all.

To be the mediator between God and men there had to be the satisfying of the penalty for our sin. For us to be reconciled to God the issue of our sin and guilt had to be dealt with. Come back to Romans chapter 5. I have it written down here but you ought to see these verses for yourself. Romans chapter 5, verse 10: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” How did reconciliation take place? Verse 8: “God demonstrates His own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Verse 6: “While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly;” so that work of reconciliation making possible for us to be brought into the right relationship with God. God didn’t need to be reconciled but we did. We were sinners and rebelling against Him. He is a God who is holy; who must exact the required penalty for sin. It is in accord with His justice and that’s what He did. Down in verse 15: “By the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” He has provided a salvation by His death for us. Back in chapter 3, verse 24: “Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, 2 Corinthians 5:19. He was reconciling the world; not that all the world is reconciled but the provision for their reconciliation is there but the benefit is only applied to those who will believe in Him. Turn from your sin. Why will you die? Calls all the ends of the earth to His salvation. He is the saving God. This is not an empty promise. Well now I didn’t have any salvation for you. Of course He does. His Son gave Himself as a ransom for all. The word here is an unusual word. It’s the word ransom with a preposition on the front to make the required payment instead of someone. Christ said in Mark chapter 10, verse 45 during His earthy ministry: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many,” for all, to pay the penalty for all. A ransom indicates a penalty has been paid for someone, instead of someone, on behalf of someone. It was instead of them and on behalf of them. Two prepositions , the anti, “latron” for some of you who have taken some Greek and “hupear,” the preposition of the atonement, anti, instead of, “hupear,” on behalf of. It was instead of us, on behalf of us that provision has been made but it must be appropriated by faith. It’s not that God hasn’t done everything; it’s that man in his stubborn sinfulness rejects it.

Come over to Hebrews chapter 10 since we have been in Hebrews for some time and recently in chapter 10. We read earlier in our study today verse 26 is a reminder: “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” In other words if you reject Christ and continue to refuse to believe in Him there is no other place to go for salvation. There is one God who is the one Savior and one Mediator, the man Christ Jesus. So if you reject that there is no other sacrifice that can pay the penalty for your sin. All you have to look forward to is to certain sure terrifying expectation of judgment. That is the alternative.

Look at the seriousness of it under Moses law. There was the penalty for disobedience. Verse 29: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under-foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” you see that work of Christ and its provision was for the world and in rejecting that provision that God made at the cost of the death of His Son on the cross refusing to believe just like “you treat My Son as nothing, as worthless.” And the picture is still today – if you want to show your disdain for something you might take something, a piece of paper that had things on it and you know who just throw it down and stamp all over it just showing how absolutely you disrespect it and reject it and count it nothing. That’s what God says. “I gave My Son as a ransom for all for you and you refused to believe in Him.” That is insulting the Spirit of grace who has brought the message of salvation to you. Think of the punishment for those who treat the Son of God with such disdain.


Just after Hebrews in James, come over to 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1: “False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them.” He’s God’s provision. He gave Himself as a ransom for all but these false teachers infiltrate the church and deny the Master who bought them. They reject the salvation He died to provide for them and they will bring swift destruction upon themselves.

Come back to Timothy. That’s why we pray for all men, for their salvation for the kind of context where we might carry the Word of God to them. We claim to believe this but we don’t want to be bothered to tell people. They probably don’t want to hear it anyway. Again, I better be careful about not letting God do what God does. One thing is sure. We have the treasure of the Gospel in these earthen vessels and the only way anyone is ever saved in the world is if they hear the truth of the redemption that God provided in His Son, Jesus Christ and believe it. I can’t make them believe it but I can be one of those who help them hear it which is true for us. We are to be lights in the darkness. Verse 6 says that Christ “gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” The point being Galatians 4:4: “In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son.” There came the fullness of how God would deal with the issue of man’s sin. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. The foundation for redemption had to be in the death of God’s Son who was also Son of Man as well as Son of God and this is a continuing testimony Paul will say over in Titus chapter 1, verse 3: “At the proper time (God’s work in Christ was) manifested, His Word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior.” It is ongoing. Christ came, died was buried, raised from the dead and now we are taking this message out, taking it out, taking it out; talking to those in our family. Telling those that we work with; telling those in our neighborhood. What a beautiful message it is. It’s great to be able to tell someone you know, “God had His Son die to pay the penalty for your sin. Stop and think about that. Did you ever think how great God’s love is that He would have His Son die for you to give you the opportunity to turn away from your sin and place your faith in God and His Son and the salvation He has provided? That will bring you cleansing.” Oh, I am already religious. Yes, but that won’t get you to heaven. The penalty for sin is not being religious. The penalty for sin is death. God doesn’t call us to be religious. He calls us to believe in His Son; so the great provision here. This truth has to have a grip on us.

The danger of the church at Ephesus is they were tolerating teachers who corrupted this, made adjustments that destroyed its effectiveness. We must be jealous for the truth and zealous for the truth that God has given in Christ.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord, for Your Word. Thank You for the riches of Your truth. Thank You for the precious truth that was brought to us that we are privileged to hear and believe by Your grace. Thank You Lord for entrusting this truth to us, frail earthen vessels but it does not depend on us. It depends upon You, the power of Your Gospel and the power of Your Spirit who indwells us. How awesome it is that we can bring the message that brings eternal life to those lost without hope in the world that they might have the opportunity to believe and enter into the beauty of the salvation that we have come into through faith in Christ. Use us to this end in the days of the week before us we pray in Christ’s name, amen.