Praying and Living for the Gospel

We're going to be talking about prayer, specifically prayer for those who don't know Jesus. That is something that we'll read soon. Paul commends to the church and to Timothy when he writes to them. You would have heard John pray for our family and friends that don't know Jesus, our neighbours, and for the mission, the ministry that we have as Christians to the lost. Those prayers, and the example of John and how he prays, is something that I hope all of us take note of.

That it influences and teaches us how to pray. That we don't pray narrow prayers, we don't pray selfish prayers, but prayers that are big and audacious with eyes to the world. And we're going to be encouraged to do that through our reading this morning. Let's turn to First Timothy, and we're going to read from the second chapter. First Timothy 2:1-7.

Paul writes to Timothy, first of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people. For kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle.

I tell you the truth, I am not lying. A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. So far, our reading. Now if you've been listening to the talks over the last two weeks, you would have understood Paul beginning in chapter one, to encourage Timothy to guard the deposit of the gospel of grace that he had been given. And he is called to guard this gospel because there are false teachers in Timothy's church of which he is the pastor.

These teachers, these influential men have, in some way, started teaching old Jewish myths, special unique interpretations of the law, that was taking the attention away of the Christians from the free gift of Christ and his salvation, somehow back to the law. We saw, last week, that great statement that that absolute core is essential preaching of Paul, which was that Jesus Christ has come to save sinners, of which Paul professes, I am the worst. Salvation, therefore, Paul says, is through Jesus Christ alone. Now Paul has been very careful in that opening chapter to lay these foundations very well, because now he starts moving into the implications of the gospel. What it means for Christians to understand that, what Christian life will look like in response.

He says in our chapter, in chapter two, that gospel empowered Christians will not only live a certain way, they will pray a certain way. So firstly, we see that Paul calls Christians to have audacious prayers for salvation. Paul begins with the instruction that prayer is to be made on behalf of who? Everyone, for all people. I urge that prayers and supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings, and all who are in high positions.

What this means is Paul is asking the Christians in Ephesus to be praying big, generous, gospel centred prayers for all people, including the rulers over them. Now commentators point out that this is probably because this exclusive select group within the church were probably anti-authoritarian, anti-authority, and probably very focused on the Jewish people. And Paul says against that, to pray for their leaders and to pray for everyone. In fact, Paul wants to so stress that the gospel has been sent by God for all people, that he says in verse seven that he has been appointed by God as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in truth. He says, I am not lying about that.

This is the truth God has given me to the Gentiles. And so when Paul encourages the Ephesian Christians to pray for all people, he's probably pressing home the point that the church should be praying for the non-Jews as well as for the Jews. And what should they be praying for specifically? Well, he mentions kings and people in high positions. And is this, therefore, a prayer for these kings and these position leaders of position, to have healthy, wealthy, and wise lives?

Is that the cause for this prayer? No. Specifically, Paul is urging prayer for their salvation. Verse three, this is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our saviour who desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. That is what Paul is wanting Christians to be praying for, for their leaders.

Certain commentators, strangely, have said that First Timothy is a very middle class document. It is written to keep Christians complacent, to keep them under wraps, to pray for the authority so that they will never uprise against them, and to keep them sort of in this state of boredom, having good lives so that they can be good citizens. But Paul urges Christians to pray for their leaders. Well, like verse two says, to have peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way, but that is not a complacency. Paul is actually stirring up red hot spiritual vitality.

Because Paul wants the world to be reached by the gospel. This is not some safe pursuit. Paul says, and he will say soon, that there will be push back. There is always push back to the gospel. People hate the gospel.

Satan hates the gospel. And so as Satan loses his ground, and powerful people lose their power, even the Christian aim of living a quiet and godly life is sometimes not possible. Godly living does not always guarantee peaceful lives. In fact, in Paul's second letter to Timothy that he would write after this, he says this in 2 Timothy 3:12, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And so what Paul is getting at here is that Christians can never be accused, they must never be accused of inciting unrest.

They must never be accused of being divisive or desiring corruption, because they hold out the gospel of truth. Paul wants Christians to pray for all people, including our leaders, so that we may have the peaceful conditions in our country, in our state, in which we live, that the gospel may advance. That there won't be resistance to the gospel and its work. This is not complacency. This is not to keep us quiet.

This is pragmatism that the gospel may go out. And so Paul is saying, we must, as Christians, pray big, generous, gospel centred prayers, not simply for ourselves. And not even for just our families, we must be regularly praying for our friends, for our nation, and for our government, and that is thankfully what John prayed this morning again. And it is that there may be a goodwill towards us, not for our comfort. Paul's command here is to pray for us to be able to live quiet, peaceful lives, that the gospel may bear fruit.

And so Paul urges us to have a fire in our bellies that will cause us to plead with God that the gospel may be proclaimed without limitations. Firstly, Christians, we are called to pray audacious prayers for all people. Secondly, God's deep desire is displayed. Paul is attacking the exclusivism of these certain men for what they were holding and teaching in Timothy's church. There seems to be this spiritual elite, this club that claimed that only those with a special understanding could truly call themselves followers of God.

And against this spiritual elitism, Paul says, let me tell you what God's true desire is. His desire has been shown in his action. God's desire, he says, is for all mankind to be saved, and he showed this by sending Jesus. Now, it's also very important when we say that and when we hear that, to know what Paul is not saying. Paul writes to Timothy that God desires all to be saved, but he's not here introducing the heresy of universalism.

This is the idea that exists even in churches today, that claims that Christ has died for all, and therefore, all are saved. That is regardless of whether they put their trust in Christ as Lord. Whether they trust him with their hearts and make him their saviour through faith. Paul states in many places throughout his writings, many many places, that the work of Christ is only available to those who believe. Famously, and we heard that quoted by Rick in our lecture this week as well.

Romans 1:16, I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to who? Everyone who believes. To what extent? Well, first to the Jew, but then also to the Gentile. For all who believe.

So even there, you see the salvation that is available to all, Jew and non-Jew alike, but this is received by trust in faith in Christ alone. Paul does not hold out universalism when he says, we pray for all to be saved, and God's desire is that all must be saved. Neither is the text proving that Paul holds to the Arminian position, as opposed to the Calvinist position, that the plan of God's salvation is completely open ended. And that if only all mankind could desire themselves to believe in Christ, all could be saved, because God has no say in the decision making processes of man. Paul cannot be saying those things because he also firmly teaches that God is the one who chooses us and draws us to himself.

2 Thessalonians 2:13, but we ought always to give thanks to you, Thessalonians, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved. This big one, Ephesians 1:4-5. God chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. And then Romans 8:30.

And those whom God predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. But here we see Paul describing the love behind God's electing grace. This is where God where Paul talks about the desire of God.

It is God's desire. It is God's desire for all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It is God's divine will that brought about the incarnation of the Son of God, and the atoning sacrifice of that Son. So what we find here actually is Paul's version of John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

And notice how hard God had to work in that regard. Notice the extent that his desire and love had to go to for mankind. Verse five, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Verse six, who gave himself as a ransom for all. Friends, it is true that God so loved the world that he did not give us the option to mess it up.

To mess up that salvation. See how everything in this passage rests on God's work. Firstly, it rests on his unity. He is one God. There is only one God.

This crushes the exclusive claims of these false teachers who have claimed that, well, this God is ours. The Gentiles, they believe in their God. This is our God. Nobody, he doesn't belong to anyone else but the Jews. But the fact that God is the one and only God supports the universal applicability of the gospel.

If there is only one God, then he must be the God of the Jew and the Gentile. And so even when Christians are accused of being exclusive for saying there is one God and there is no other, the reality is that that claim necessarily drives us towards inclusive mission. This one God deserves the praise of all people. We just began by saying, Psalm 100, Thanksgiving is to come from all the earth. This one God deserves the praise of all people, and therefore, all must hear and be saved.

Likewise, this one and only God has given us a one and only mediator. A mediator, if you don't know, is someone that is a go-between, someone that stands between two people. And God, without any input from mankind, sends his Son, Jesus Christ, to, so to speak, lay hold of God and lay hold of man. This mediator stands between us and God, and he connects us. And in this position of connecting us, he completes God's sovereign plan.

He becomes the payment for sin. Verse six says, Jesus Christ gave himself as a ransom for all. And notice again, who did the work? Jesus. Jesus is the one that gave himself as a ransom.

We can read in the accounts of Matthew and Luke, and we can see that the violence that was perpetrated against Jesus, and the injustice. We can see the beatings. We can see the horrors that he experienced, and yet, Jesus was the one that gave himself over for that. It wasn't man's will that placed him on the cross. The final element of God's salvation that proves his desire and his love is the infinite ransom paid by God the Son, the mediator, who stood with one hand on the Father and with one hand on us.

And this is the point. God's goodwill towards humanity, his desire for all to be saved is seen most clearly in the fact that he gave none of us any role in that saving work. So yes, both these truths stand side by side that on the one hand, God desires all to come to the knowledge of him, yet on the other, only his grace can cause anyone to believe in that knowledge. It was all of God and none of us. There is only one God.

There is only one saviour, Jesus Christ. And because it was all his work and not one single bit ours, even in the actions of man that put the Son of God on the cross, Jesus, the great mediator, gave himself as a ransom. And if that was all God's work, friends, listen to this, if that was all God's work, then it remains completely his privilege to draw whoever he wishes into his great salvation. For us, however, it is not our responsibility nor is it even within our capability to explain God's mind behind who he saves and why. All we need to know is that God saves people through faith in Jesus.

That God sent Jesus to save people by his death and his resurrection, a ransom payment for my sin. And all of this was done. All of this was done because God's great heart is grieved that humanity has fallen, and he wants people to hear the good news that salvation is here, so that some may be saved. God has genuine goodwill towards the world, and he bids all mankind to lay down their weapons against him to receive him. Then finally, Paul puts all this within a very urgent time frame.

He places all of that with this final phrase. He says in verse six, Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all, which is, he says, the testimony given at the proper time. The testimony given at the proper time. The NIV puts it this way, this has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And so the urgency with which Paul urges the church to pray for all people, the big audacious prayers which will allow the gospel to spread freely, the urgency of that gospel is free and available to all mankind, and it is put against the backdrop of the now.

Now is the time. We only have today, therefore, to call upon the one true and living God. We only have today to plead for forgiveness by the blood of the mediator, Jesus Christ. In God's gracious wisdom, he has ordained this period in history for you to live in. He has given you, two thousand years after Jesus Christ, the opportunity to, at the corner of the world in Australia, to hear the good news.

But only you and I have that opportunity to act upon today. What does that mean? It means that we cannot linger. We cannot wait. God is intentional about the proper time.

Paul was appointed to his time. He was a preacher and an apostle to be sent to the Gentiles in faith and in truth. And today, I come to you as a preacher of the gospel to tell you that today is your day. This is the proper time. There will be no second chance when we stand at the coming of Christ.

There will be no long and gentle revelation of Jesus reigning from some sort of earthly throne in Jerusalem as the king of some sort of earthly kingdom. He comes in the twinkling of an eye, the Bible says. He comes like a thief in the night. And in that moment, he will be revealed as the rightful King and Judge who has all authority to judge the deeds of man. And for many, there will have been time to have made that decision.

But today, today is our time. This is the proper appointed time for you and me to make a decision. There is no other time. There is no other saviour. There is only one God and one mediator.

And there is no guarantee for another day. If you know, friends, anyone here, anyone watching at home, if you know that you have never made that decision, or if you know that you've made a decision once upon a time that was false, that was half-hearted, that was pretentious, please receive the Lord Jesus as your saviour. But if you know this Jesus, if you know this Jesus as your King, and you know him as your saviour, then as we read First Timothy 2, can you understand the urgency by which we are called to pray with all intercession, with all supplications for all mankind? Because all those people around us have only today as well. It is their time, and they must hear, and they must believe.

John Knox, the famous Scottish reformer who grew up in the sixteenth century, in the time of the great European Reformation, who, through his life, led the instigation of the Presbyterian church, as we know it. Knox lived during a time of great persecution by Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Bloody Mary, who was renowned for her persecution of Protestants of the Reformation. Knox was a ferocious preacher, preaching the free grace of God available to all who believe. But in his unwavering preaching of the gospel, the most enduring phrases of the life of John Knox was in the content not of his preaching, but of a prayer. The story goes that John Knox spent hours every day praying for the salvation of his countrymen.

Even when he knew that it might lead to his death to pray for them. And famously, Knox was overheard to have prayed with tears streaming down his face. The simple, urgent, but compelling prayer. Lord, give me Scotland or I die. Lord, give me Scotland.

Friends, we only have this time. We only have these neighbours. We only have these friends. Make it count. Let prayers and supplications be made for all people, from the least to the greatest, so that all mankind will know the great desire of our God, shown in Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for us.

May Open House be a church who really prays for the lost. A church who raises up preachers of the gospel, who sends out missionaries to the ends of the earth, to call the lost back home. That we may pray, that we may pray, Lord, give us Australia or we die. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that through your word, we may understand your heart.

And we thank you, Lord, that first of all, you did not allow, because of your great love, you did not allow us to mess things up. It had to be all of you and none of us. Thank you, Lord, that we may know this salvation through Jesus Christ. Thank you that he did become the mediator between us. Thank you that his life was given as a ransom for mine.

Now, Lord, we do pray that this message of eternal worth will smoothly and in an unhindered fashion move across this land. Lord, that those in authority, those in positions of power, Lord, from the greatest to the least, may be so moved, Lord, that firstly, they may be saved, that they may be pulled into the team of gospel proclaimers. Oh, but Lord, if not that, that through our gracious, quiet, godly lives, in some way they may trust us. In some way, they may not hinder the work that must be done. Lord, raise an Open House church men who will preach this word.

Church members who will support that work. Missionaries, couples, families that will go to the ends of the earth with this message. Lord God, we pray that you will give us Australia, that you may give us the world, that the ends of this world may give their thanks and their praise to the God of ten thousand blessings. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.