1 Timothy 2:1-6

[0:00] Good evening. Good evening. I appreciate another opportunity to be here.! Another opportunity to stand and present the Word of God.

[0:11] ! One of the pastoral epistles, what's commonly referred to as a pastoral epistle.

[0:35] One of a few in the New Testament. And I believe you all heard me say before, there's folks out there that say that those aren't meant for the church.

[0:47] The pastoral epistles aren't. They're meant for pastors, elders, and deacons to read through. And folks, if that was the case, God would have had a separate Bible written for those folks. But this is part of the 66 books of the closed canon of Scripture.

[1:02] So it's for us as well as for them. Paul writing to Timothy here in 1 Timothy. And there's a stark contrast between 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy.

[1:16] 2 Timothy, you can tell that there's a sense of urgency. All throughout that epistle that Paul writes to Timothy. But here in 1 Timothy, it's more what we would commonly call, I guess nowadays, laid back.

[1:33] Not nearly as urgent. And the reason for that is because while there was Christian persecution going on, it was mostly coming from the side of Judaism at this time.

[1:46] Something we need to keep in mind is when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy. He wrote it while Nero was on the throne. Nero come to power in about 54 A.D.

[1:59] and reigned until 68 A.D. And the common date frame for 1 Timothy is 62 to 64 A.D. Somewhere around in there now in 64 A.D.

[2:11] is when the true Christian persecution, the state-sanctioned persecution of Christians came from Rome. This is when you started, if you go back in church history, you can read about some of the atrocities and some of the martyrdom that happened at that time while Nero was on the throne.

[2:31] Nero was an evil, wicked man. He would take Christians and dip them in oil or tar and set them on fire to light his rose garden.

[2:44] While they were alive, he would do this. He started having what they called beast hunts. Now, this wasn't in the Colosseum.

[2:55] The Colosseum wasn't built until after Nero was dead. But he had his own amphitheater built. And you can read about all this in extra-biblical text. None of this is in Scripture.

[3:06] But the reason I'm telling you all this is that Paul was writing to Timothy while Nero was in power. But at this time in 1 Timothy, obviously, if you read through it, those things, those kinds of happenings had not begun just yet.

[3:26] But they had by the time 2 Timothy was written. In fact, Nero is the very one that had Paul's head chopped off. He's the very one that had Peter crucified.

[3:39] Emperor Nero did. So, with all that said, in the first chapter of 1 Timothy, Paul is exhorting Timothy to cling to the Gospel.

[3:52] He's thankful that Timothy has done this. He tells him that the reason that he left him in Ephesus, left Timothy in Ephesus, was to combat people that were coming into the church with their strange fables.

[4:07] People that were teaching speculative things. And they were depending upon genealogies. And all these other things. You read about all this in the first chapter of 1 Timothy.

[4:20] And he ends that chapter with an exhortation to Timothy to cling tight to the Gospel. Don't make a shipwreck of your faith, such as Alexander did.

[4:32] And Hymenaeus did. And these are the two names of men that Paul says that he delivered over to Satan. So, hopefully they wouldn't blaspheme anymore.

[4:43] And you read about that at the very end of the first chapter of 1 Timothy. So, all that being said, we're going to read the first few verses of the second chapter of 1 Timothy this evening.

[4:54] So, 1 Timothy 2, beginning at verse 1. He says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

[5:15] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

[5:37] Back to verse 1. I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. In the first line of verse 2, for kings and for all that are in authority.

[5:51] So, Paul here is exhorting Timothy to something. He has already established the need of the gospel in the first chapter.

[6:01] He has already established the glory of the gospel, the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. He has already written about that in the first chapter. But here he says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, that is not first of all before anything.

[6:17] Remember, the gospel has already been established in the first chapter. And its preeminence has already been made toward Timothy. So when he says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, this is after the gospel has been established.

[6:32] First of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks. He's talking about four different types or four different categories of prayer here that he's exhorting Timothy to continue in and to make on behalf of all men for kings and for all that are in authority.

[6:52] The supplications, these are pleas to God. These are pleas that are made to God when we are in dire need. That is what a supplication is.

[7:02] A supplication is different from a regular prayer. He says supplications and prayers. Obviously, there's a difference there. Because he's not saying prayers, comma, and then prayers again.

[7:13] So prayers would be communal worship that we are having with God. This is when we go to God and we are worshiping Him in communion with Him. We are talking with Him.

[7:24] We are relishing the presence of Almighty God. And this is prayer. Then we have intercessions. And we all know or should know what intercessions is. Intercessions is precisely what Jesus Christ does on behalf of us, those that have believed in the gospel and repent of their ways.

[7:42] He is our intercessor. He is our mediator. He is the one that stands between God and man. That's why he says over in verse 5, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

[7:56] An intercessor is one that goes, He is the go-between. He or she is the go-between. An intercessor, in this case, folks, we intercess on behalf of lost people.

[8:08] We intercess on behalf of the sick. Every time you pray for a sick loved one, you are intercessing on their behalf. You are pleading to God to heal them. You are pleading to God to make them better.

[8:18] Pleading to God that the fever might go away. You are pleading to God that they might get better so that they can just attend a church service. So they can get back home from the hospital. What are the cases? You are intercessing on behalf of that other person that may not be in a spot where they can pray for themselves.

[8:35] Folks, I've been in that spot many times myself. Not because I was sick. Not because I was weary or anything. But because the world had come down so heavy on me. Because things had happened in my life.

[8:47] The sadness had set in. Depression had set in. All these things can happen. But I praise God Almighty for people that were intercessing on my behalf. People were saying, God, if you'll just move in the life of Spencer, if you'll remove these things from his life, if you'll help him, if you'll encourage him, help me to be an encouragement for him.

[9:08] That is an example of someone making intercessory prayer on behalf of one of God's children. And I praise God for the intercessories that I have in my life.

[9:19] And Paul here is exhorting Timothy to be an intercessor, to make intercessory prayer. And there's many different types of intercessory that can be made. But he says, and giving of thanks.

[9:31] Folks, sometimes we wrap all these things up into one big prayer with God. We need to give God thanks. And the prayers that I hear here in this church, we give God thanks all the time for many different things.

[9:44] We thank God just for allowing us to gather together. We thank God for what He has done on Calvary. We thank God for the bloodshed of Jesus Christ. We thank God for the washing away of our sins, for the regeneration of our souls, for taking out our stony heart and placing it in our heart of flesh.

[10:02] We thank God for all of these things. And many times, one single prayer can include every one of these things. And just tonight, the prayers that I heard tonight, one single prayer encapsulated every one of these things.

[10:17] We prayed for the sick and the shut-in. We prayed on behalf of them. That was an intercessory prayer. We gave God for the thanks for the day that He had granted us.

[10:28] And thanks for allowing us to come here together this evening. We gave God thanks for His Word. We gave, we done all these things. All wrapped up into one single prayer.

[10:40] But in the second verse, Paul gets more specific. At the end of the first verse, he says that we should do all these things. We should make all these supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving Him thanks be made for all men.

[10:54] Why for all men? Again, keep in mind there was a Roman emperor on the throne right now. And Rome had control over Jerusalem. Rome had control over the Jewish state.

[11:05] Rome had control over basically everything. Rome pretty much was a picture of what Egypt was in the Old Testament. They ruled the world at this time. And Paul says, make all these supplications and these prayers and intercession and giving of thanks for all men.

[11:24] Why for all men? One reason is because not all men can do it themselves. Folks, if we are lost, if someone is out there lost, anybody in this world is lost, they cannot pray any of these things and God hear them.

[11:38] God will not hear the prayer of a lost man until He has come to faith and repentance. He comes to faith in Jesus Christ and His glorious gospel and He repents of His ways, then and only then will God hear the prayer of someone.

[11:54] So we are to make the prayer. Folks, if they can't do it themselves, we are to make prayer on their behalf. How many times have you prayed for a lost person to be saved? How many times have you prayed for an evil person?

[12:06] For God to just get a hold of that heart? For God to crush that heart? For God to show them their way and show them His way that they might repent, believe, and be saved.

[12:17] This is why we need to pray for all men. But in verse 2 he gets more specific. He says for the kings. Verse 2, for kings and for all that are in authority.

[12:28] Folks, that's hard to do sometimes. How many of y'all to be honest with me and I ain't trying to start any riots in here tonight? How many of y'all prayed for Barack Obama when he was in office? How many of y'all prayed for Joe Biden when he was in office?

[12:42] How many of y'all prayed for any president that you didn't like when he was in office? I hope that we all did. It's a hard thing to do. It's a very difficult thing to do.

[12:54] Now, how many of you prayed for Ronald Reagan when he was in office? How many of you prayed for Donald Trump since he's been in office the first time and this time? We should pray for all men everywhere including kings and all of those that are in authority.

[13:12] Folks, that is one of the hardest things to do when someone's agenda, when someone's policies, when someone's thoughts are completely and totally against what thus saith the Word of God.

[13:28] It is a difficult thing for us to pray for them, but why? Why is it difficult for us to pray for them? Just because they have different thoughts than what we do just because they have different politics than what we do.

[13:42] Why is it difficult for us to pray? God get a hold of them. Obviously, they're lost when they start saying that homosexuality is okay. Obviously, they're lost when they start saying a man can marry his horse or his dog or anything else that he wants to marry.

[13:57] Obviously, they are lost when any of these things come into the picture. We need to pray for these people that God will grant some believing faith unto them and salvation can be given to them.

[14:10] I would love, I would love for all the politicians out there to be on my side of the fence. The side of the fence that I'm on, I should say, because it's God's side of the fence. But I would love for every one of them to be on that side.

[14:24] I would love for every ruler, every mayor, every governor that I have ought with because of their policies to be on my side. I would love to call them brothers and sisters in Christ.

[14:37] But until salvation is granted, I cannot do that, but I can still pray for them and we are commanded in this scripture. You might say this was Paul writing to Timothy. It wasn't to me, folks.

[14:47] It's a command in scripture and if it was from Paul to Timothy to do so, you and I as the church need to do so. It is a command to us just as it was from Paul to Timothy.

[15:00] We are to pray for all kings and for all of those who are in authority. It says, for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

[15:13] He gives the reason why we should do this here. Not only are we praying for salvation for people that are obviously lost, but we are also praying for the church. We are praying for ourselves.

[15:25] He says to do this that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Folks, Paul is not telling Timothy here you need to pray for a moral society.

[15:36] He is not saying here you need to pray for political victory. He is saying you need to pray for these leaders that God softened their heart. You need to pray for these leaders that God changed their mind so that the church can move forward and the gospel can move forward unhindered.

[15:53] That is what Paul is trying to get across to Timothy. We are not in this thing for political gain, folks. We are in this thing because of the gospel. We are not called of God to go out and win people to the Republican or the Democrat side of politics.

[16:10] We are not called to win people to the independent side of politics or anything to do with that. And that is not what Paul is getting at here. He is getting at that God would move these rules and God can do that.

[16:24] God, hey, all over the Old Testament, God moved pagan kings on behalf of his people. Folks, Pharaoh didn't have to let those people go but because of the mighty right hand of Almighty God, Pharaoh let those people go.

[16:39] He let them go, yes. He didn't want to but he did. God got his people out of there with his strong mighty right arm. He parted the Red Sea. They left out of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land.

[16:51] Folks, it is done over and over and over. Ahasuerus in the Old Testament was moved on behalf of the people of God. Our Xerxes in the Old Testament was moved on behalf of the people of God.

[17:06] All of these were pagan kings. They were heathens not believing in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but their hearts and their lives and their souls were in the hand of Almighty God.

[17:18] And he in his sovereignty could do whatever he wished. Anything that he wished. And he chose in his sovereignty to move those kings and those rulers on behalf of his people.

[17:31] We pray for them that we can do our job. We can call what we are or we can do what we are called to do which is to go into the world and preach the gospel to every living creature.

[17:42] We are called as the church to bring glory to God. That is our main focus. That is our main job here on this planet is to bring glory to Almighty God.

[17:55] You say, Spencer, I thought it was to get souls saved. Folks, when souls are saved it brings glory to God. When the gospel is proclaimed that is the only way that souls can be saved is if people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[18:08] That is why he gives that charge unto men to go forth and to preach the gospel. When those people hear and believe and repent they are saved.

[18:19] They are saved and that brings glory unto God. So, we pray for all men including kings and all those in authority. All those in authority.

[18:30] Whether we like them or not, folks. Whether we like them or not. I don't care what sins they've committed. You think about what sins you've committed. I don't care what they've done where they've been.

[18:42] You think about what you've done and where you've been. You think about whether you deserve salvation or not and I can assure you you do not. And nor do I. But God has granted that to us. And my hope and my prayer is that people like that repent and believe.

[18:57] I think of my wickedness. I think of my darkness. I think of my sin. And I think about God Almighty pulling me up out of all that. And if He can do it for them or for me He can do it for them.

[19:08] If He could save Saul of Tarsus. Saul in chapter 1 of 1 Timothy He recounts his conversion experience and recites it in a very condensed form to Timothy.

[19:22] And he says this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Of whom I am chief is what Paul said.

[19:34] So if God could save the chief of sinners Paul I promise you you can save anybody else. Pray for these people. Pray for these people. Pray for brothers and sisters in Christ by all means.

[19:45] Yes! But pray for the kings and the authorities that are in power that the gospel can move forth unhindered. Verse 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

[19:58] This is why we need to do it. That souls can be saved we've already established that. This is why we need to pray for all men and kings and authorities. That souls can be saved but because this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

[20:14] God our Savior is how Paul writes it to Timothy here. He is directly correlating the attribute and the fact that God is our Savior.

[20:29] Our Savior is not our works. Our Savior is not our deeds. Our Savior is not our religion. Our Savior is not our tithes. Our Savior is not our offerings. Our Savior is none of these things.

[20:41] Our Savior is God. And this is acceptable and good in the sight of God that we make prayers and supplications and intercessories and thanksgiving for all men including the kings and authorities.

[20:55] This is acceptable and good unto God. He is our Savior and He can be their Savior. He can be the world's Savior. Jesus Christ when He gave Himself upon Calvary's cross when He voluntarily and vicariously laid down His life on behalf of sinners.

[21:15] That was enough to save everyone on planet earth. I'm not preaching universalism. I'm not saying that everyone's going to heaven. The Bible doesn't say that everyone's going to heaven.

[21:27] But what Christ did was good for all and it was done for all according to what I read in the Scriptures. Verse 4 who will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth again.

[21:40] Paul is not getting at universalism here and nor will I get at universalism. God did not send His only Son into the world to save sinners that are not repentant.

[21:53] It will not happen. It cannot happen. God commands men everywhere to repent. Who will have now remember in verse 3 we're talking about God our Savior.

[22:06] He says who will have all men to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the truth again we have to go back to verse 1 and verse 2 that we are to make these prayers for all men including kings and authorities.

[22:20] Here in verse 4 it says who will have all men to be saved. Folks it's not saying that God is saving everyone. God will save everyone that comes to Him in faith and repentance.

[22:33] God will save everyone that believes in the gospel. God will save everyone that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and has believed in His heart that God has raised Him from the dead.

[22:44] That's the scripture. That's the way of salvation. Christ has ever been the way of salvation and there will be no other way of it. He is the only way.

[22:55] But God will have all men to be saved. It doesn't matter their social status. It doesn't matter whether they're the president or whether they're the janitor.

[23:07] It doesn't matter if they're the queen or if they're the pauper. It doesn't matter who they are. It doesn't matter what they've done. It doesn't matter what family they are born into.

[23:19] None of these things matter. None of these things matter. What matters is that the gospel goes forth unhindered by the world. We proclaim the gospel to the world.

[23:30] And God wills that every man will be saved. It is God's will that every man be saved. But we know from the scripture that not everyone will be saved.

[23:41] It's made very plain in the book of Revelation. Made very plain. All those whose names are not found written in the Lamb's book of life are cast into the lake of fire. Folks, that is not salvation.

[23:52] The Bible describes that as the second death. And it goes on forever and forever and forever. The Bible describes hell as a place of outer darkness. It describes hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[24:03] It describes hell as a place where the worm doth not. It describes hell in so many different ways and none of them come close to salvation. Salvation is everlasting life.

[24:16] The second death is just that. Everlasting death. You will die forever and forever and forever. There will be no end to your death. The Bible also describes hell as a bottomless pit.

[24:30] You will fall in a free fall state forever and forever. You will burn. You will be in misery. And you will be outside of the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ at that point.

[24:43] That's why we plead with the world. That's why we plead with lost souls. That's why we go into all four corners of the world and preach the gospel. Because there is a literal hell and literal people are going there every day.

[24:58] But if we preach the gospel, if we preach the gospel and people hear it and they see themselves as sinners and they see God as the marvelous Savior that He is and they repent of their ways believing on Jesus Christ they can be saved.

[25:14] He will have all men to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the truth. Folks, salvation is inseparable from the truth. And Paul makes that plain here.

[25:26] Who will have all men to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the truth. What is the truth that we're talking about here? We're talking about the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[25:38] The truth that Jesus Christ came here. He lived a life that you couldn't live. He died the death that you couldn't die. He resurrected like you couldn't do. Hey, we're guaranteed a resurrection one day after a while.

[25:50] His resurrection was the first fruit and is the guarantee of the fruit that is to come. After He ascended to the Father, He forever makes intercession on behalf of all of those that have repented and believed.

[26:04] Hallelujah. Amen. And come to the knowledge of the truth. Have you come to the knowledge of the truth? The truth is there's two sides to the truth coin.

[26:15] One of those sides is you're a sinner in need of a Savior. The other side to that is Christ came, lived a perfect life, died a vicarious death, was resurrected the third and appointed in glorious mourning, has since ascended to the Father, and He's coming back again as Judge.

[26:33] That's the other side of the truth coin. Have you come to the realization of both of those truths? If you've never realized that you're a sinner, if you've never realized you have need to repent, you're still lost.

[26:45] if you don't realize, if you don't realize that you have offended the thrice holy God of the universe, that we are nothing but specks of dirt in this universe as compared with the vastness of it, as compared with all the stars and the sun and the moon and the planets and all of their moons and everything else that's out there, you and I are nothing but specks of dirt, but God has chosen, God has chosen man as His crown creation to redeem man and bring him into communion with Him.

[27:21] What a glorious God and what a good God that is to do such a thing. He could have chosen anything that He wanted to, but He chose man, He chose us to come into the knowledge of the truth.

[27:34] Verse 5, For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Again, this is why we pray for all men and for the kings and for the authorities, because there is one God.

[27:50] Again, in verse 3, God our Savior. Again, in verse 4, who will have all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth. Verse 5, For there is one God.

[28:01] There is not many gods. There is one God. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And I've got news for you tonight, that mediator is not Moses, that mediator is not Mary, it is not Saint Paul, it is not Saint Peter, it is not Saint John, that mediator is crossed and crossed alone.

[28:22] He alone is the mediator between God and man. He is the only one that is qualified to do so. He is the one that was the sacrifice. He is the one that was the altar.

[28:34] He is the one that was the priest that made the offering. He has done it all. Hallelujah. That's why He is the one that is the mediator and the only one.

[28:44] The world will tell you there are many paths to God. The Bible tells you differently. The Bible tells me differently. There is one path to God that is through faith and repentance.

[28:55] It is in faith in Jesus Christ and repentance of your sin. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man. That's why we pray for these folks.

[29:07] Because they think, if I go to church at Christmas time, if I go to church on Mother's Day, if I go to church at Easter, I'm good. I'll repent then.

[29:19] No, folks, repentance is a continual process in the life of somebody that's been saved. It is a continual thing. We repent daily. We crucify the flesh daily.

[29:29] We mortify the deeds of the flesh daily. We do these things. Repentance is a constant thing. It's not a once and once in a lifetime thing. You don't repent the moment you get saved and never have to worry about it again.

[29:42] If that's what you've done, I question if you were even saved or not. Repentance is a continual thing. There's one God, one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus.

[29:55] Don't let anybody convince you otherwise. Don't let anybody convince you you can get to God on your own or that you have gotten to God on your own or that they have gotten to God on their own.

[30:06] The Bible makes it very plain that the only way into God is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said that himself in John 14, 16. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[30:17] No man cometh unto the Father but by me. and he also said no man can come unto me except the Father draws him. In other words, we can't get saved in the old time that we want to.

[30:28] If we're not drawn by the Spirit, if we're not drawn by the Father to Christ, we can't get saved. It is on God's terms and it is in God's timing.

[30:40] There's a very well known preacher in this general area that says that his wife woke each of their children up at separate times, separate years, and told them it was time to get saved and took them to the couch in the living room.

[30:58] And they made a prayer and that's when they got saved. And I question that. I really do. And he's a very well known, very well respected preacher in this area. I won't name any names. But I question that and I question that hard.

[31:12] It's not up to his wife. It's not up to their mama. It's not up to him, that preacher, when they get saved. Now, can God do that? 100% God can do that.

[31:24] Did God do that? I don't see that in Scripture anywhere. I'll just leave it at that. Verse 6, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

[31:37] Again, we're talking about the mediator, Jesus Christ. Again, in verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus, who gave himself.

[31:49] Folks, again, Jesus Christ. Yes, I understand the Roman guards are the ones that nailed him to the tree. I understand that. I understand the Jews are the ones that were screaming, crucify him, crucify him.

[32:03] His blood be upon us and upon our children. I get all of that. But the Bible makes it plain. Praise God. the Bible makes it plain. Who gave himself.

[32:15] He gave himself. If those guards hadn't have been there, Christ would have still given himself one way, shape, form, or fashion. But the scripture had to be fulfilled from the Old Testament as to how he would be killed.

[32:31] The scripture makes it plain. The prophecies make it plain that he would be crucified, that he would die a brutal death, that he would suffer on behalf of sinners. He gave himself.

[32:43] I understand that the Romans did their thing. I understand that the Jews did their thing. And it has ever been that the Jews blame the Gentiles, and the Gentiles blame the Jews.

[32:54] And I understand that a certain sect of the Gentiles will blame another certain sect of the Gentiles. In the same way with Messianic Jews. The Bible makes it plain.

[33:07] He wasn't made to go there. nobody forced him. Nobody held a gun to his head. Nobody twisted his arm.

[33:19] He gave himself for us. He gave himself for me a rotten, good for nothing, low down, stinky, smelly, malevolent, wicked, evil, mean, nasty, sinner.

[33:33] That's who he gave himself for. I used this as an illustration in a sermon one time. actually preaching a funeral. That Jesus, the thief, the two malefactors hanging on either side of him, one of them repented, one of them believed, one of them didn't.

[33:53] Luke gives us the only account of that. Back in those days, back in the Old Testament days and in the New Testament days, one of the greatest trophies things that a king could bring back home to him, bring back to his hometown, his home city, his home country with him, was the king or the army of another nation.

[34:18] Then what did Christ bring with him? What did Christ tell that malefactor? Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. the world would bring back kings as their trophy and their prize.

[34:33] But Christ brought back a thief and said, this is mine, this is my trophy, this is one that I have won, this is one that is believed on me.

[34:44] That's the trophy he brought back. He gave himself a ransom for that malefactor. He gave himself a ransom for you. He gave himself a ransom for me. He gave himself a ransom for the murderer, for the alcoholic, for the rapist, for the druggie.

[34:59] He gave himself a ransom for the prostitute. He gave himself a ransom for the pornographer, for the liar, for the thief, for them all. He gave himself over into the hands of sinful men, the scripture says.

[35:14] He was spit upon by his own people. He was beat by his own people. Then he was spit upon by the Gentiles and he was beat by the Gentiles. And he was hung upon a tree to die.

[35:26] He gave himself a ransom. He gave himself a ransom for us who gave himself a ransom for all. But that again, again, this is not universalism.

[35:39] What Christ did was enough to cover the sins of the entire world and enough to wash away the sins of the entire world. But it is only for those that repent and believe.

[35:51] Gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Folks, that is what we are to do as the church. We are not to worry about our programs.

[36:02] We are not to worry about our strategies. We are not to worry about this and that. Folks, we are charged by the word of Almighty God to testify of Jesus Christ, to testify of what he has done on behalf of rebel sinners.

[36:19] We can have all the programs in the world. We can have programs for toddlers, for youth, for teens, for married couples, for young people, for old people. But folks, that doesn't get anyone saved.

[36:32] But what does? Testifying of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Folks, that's what the early church did. That's what the apostles did.

[36:44] That's why they were killed. It's because they testified of Jesus Christ. The early church does. it. The martyrs done it. Most of them were testifying of the goodness of Christ and the gospel of Christ with their dying breath.

[37:00] Why do we have a problem speaking of Jesus waiting in line at Food City? Why do we have a problem with that? When people have been martyred. People have been burned at stakes.

[37:13] William Tyndale, a man that had the Bible translated into English. was burned at the stake.

[37:23] He was strangled and burned at the stake for doing nothing more than having the Bible translated into English. The Catholic church is the one that done that because the Catholic church didn't want the people to know what the Bible said.

[37:38] But he translated it into English and they burned him at the stake. Martin Luther, God bless Martin Luther, said, here I stand.

[37:51] I can do no other. When he come before the Deut of Worms and they were accusing him of treason against the church and blasphemy and all these other things because he nailed the 95 theses to the door of the Catholic church.

[38:11] Fixing their theology is exactly what he was doing. he come before the Deut of Worms and he said, here I stand. I can do no other. So help me God.

[38:23] And before that he was saying his conscience, I can't go against my conscience. He said, the Word of God is what's ruling my conscience, what's ruling my life.

[38:35] I cannot go against that. And that's when he said, here I stand. I can do no other. So help me God. And he was martyred. He was killed because of that.

[38:48] Where's our conviction, church? Where's our conviction? Help us to have that kind of conviction, God. Help us to have that kind of conviction. Help us to testify of Christ and to testify of the Gospel.

[39:01] We can testify of all kinds of things. We can go out to work tomorrow or wherever we want to go and we can say, you know, we sung these songs at church. We did this at church.

[39:12] I fellowshiped with this many people at church. I shook hands, I hugged, I kissed, I done this and done that. And all that's all great and fine and well, but none of that will get anybody saved. You can testify of your own salvation experience and that's all good and fine and well, but your salvation experience won't get anyone saved.

[39:30] The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. That is what will get people saved. That's tonight's message. God bless you all. I appreciate your attention.

[39:41] God help us all. God help us all.