A Call to Pray for the Salvation of All

Transcript

GR1255
10/26/2003
A Call to Pray for the Salvation of All
1 Timothy 2:1-4
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy. We are coming to the second chapter as we move through this book. Chapter 1 was really taken up with Paul encouraging Timothy to deal with false teachers who had infiltrated the church at Ephesus. At stake in this conflict is the Gospel itself. These false teachers were saying that faith in Christ is not enough; but along with believing in Jesus Christ, you in effect must convert to Judaism--for remember, Jesus was a Jew. He lived under the Mosaic Law, and the Mosaic Law was given to the Jews. And so in addition to believing in the Jewish Messiah and His death to pay the penalty for your sins, you must submit to the Mosaic Law and thus in effect convert to Judaism. They saw that salvation was limited to the Jews and those who would become Jewish. This background will permeate the rest of the letter, and you'll appreciate Paul's emphasis that God's work of salvation is for all men.
It's not limited to the Jews. It's not limited to a portion. But He has a gracious salvation that He offers freely to all who will believe in His Son.

In chapter 1 verse 18 Paul wrote to Timothy, "This command I entrust to you Timothy, my son." The command he's referring to is the command from verse 3 of chapter 1 to put an end to the false teachers teaching and to stand and promote a pure Gospel. You understand if you are not teaching a pure Gospel, you are not teaching the Gospel at all. Galatians 1 makes clear if you add or take away from the Gospel in any way, you no longer have the Gospel. The Gospel is God's message of salvation by faith alone in the death and resurrection of His Son as the payment for sin. Any additions to that-- circumcision, baptism, church membership, good works of any kind--are a corruption that no longer allows it to be called the Gospel. Paul said it's not another Gospel at all, but it's a message that brings condemnation to the preacher and the hearer as well.

In chapter 1 verse 18 Paul at the end of the verse encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience. He reminds Timothy this is not a single battle or a series of individual battles. But the word for fight at the end of verse 18 is literally the word for a war or a campaign. War the good warfare. Campaign the good campaign, a military campaign. This is an ongoing endless struggle and battle for the truth that God has given to us. It's fought ultimately not against other human beings but it's fought against Satan and his forces. It involves human beings because the followers of Satan join with him in opposing the work of God. The followers of God, those who belong to Him, join together as His servants in defending and promoting His truth.

Turn back to the book of 2 Corinthians 10. I want to review a few passages with you that will lead us to where Paul is in our study this morning. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians and the 10th chapter. A little bit toward the front of your New Testament there from the book of 1 Timothy. 2 Corinthians 10:3, “For though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh.” So we live in these fleshly physical bodies, but we don’t conduct our warfare with physical means or weapons. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” The key to remember in this battle that we are talking about is that physical means and methods and weapons will not get the job done. Even though we are living in physical bodies, we cannot successfully wage this war with physical means. We need the weapons of God that are divinely powerful.

Keep this passage in mind as we proceed in our study later, because the Church is often tempted to fall back on human ingenuity to accomplish what can be done only by the power of God.

Back up to 2 Corinthians 4. Paul has talked about the glorious ministry of the message of Christ in chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians. Then he says in chapter 4 verse 1, "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness of adulterating the Word of God.” There's no adjustment in the truth that God has entrusted to us in the carrying out of our ministry. "But by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Remember Paul told Timothy, fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience. Paul says here, "By the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Paul maintained a good conscience and those who examined Paul's ministry in light of the Word of God would say that he cannot be charged in any way with violating the truth and thus violating conscience.

"And even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord." Now you note here--it is a spiritual warfare. We present the Gospel and it seems we don't get response. If we have presented the Gospel in its purity as God gave it and there is no response, there is a good spiritual reason. Our enemy is at work, the god of this world, small "g,” Satan has blinded the hearts and minds of people so they will not see the Gospel. They have a veil over their eyes. They have a bag over their head. They don't see. Now if you don't understand this is a spiritual warfare, you begin to think we should make adjustments in the message. That's what Paul was referring to in verse 2 when he says we're not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God, making changes in the Word of God to make it more appealing, more acceptable, more effective. No. That corruption does not accomplish God's purposes. We manifest the truth and understand there is a spiritual warfare going on. We are doing battle against Satan. He does not want people to understand the truth of the Gospel and the glorious message they can be forgiven their sins; the darkness of their soul can turn to light as Jesus Christ brings His salvation.

Turn over to the book of Ephesians. You are in 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. So just move toward the back of your Bible to the book of Galatians and then the book of Ephesians and the 6th chapter. Paul says in verse 10 of Ephesians 6, "Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the Devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood." It's not against other human beings. "But against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies." This goes beyond just convincing human beings. This is a spiritual warfare for the souls of men. "Therefore take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm therefore . . . . " And he goes on to talk about the various pieces of armor that God has provided for us in this spiritual warfare. We are not going to go through those but come down to verse 18. "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit and with this in view be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." I want you to be praying all the time and be praying for other believers. "Be on the alert. Your adversary the Devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour," as Peter wrote.

And then verse 19, "Pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that in proclaiming I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." When Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians, he was a Roman prisoner and he wants believers to be praying and he wants them to pray for him and note what his desire is. "That utterance may be given to me." That I ought to know what to say and when to say it. "That I might make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel." And he repeats that at the end of verse 20, "That I may speak the Gospel boldly as I ought to speak." I have more people giving cautions about being too bold with the Gospel. Don't be too blunt. When we look at the apostle Paul's ministry, we might say you know, Paul might be praying--pray that the Lord will give me wisdom that I shouldn't say too much, that I shouldn't speak it too harshly, too boldly, too bluntly. I mean, he's in prison for preaching the Gospel. He's had a life of turmoil and trouble because everywhere he went people reacted against him for preaching the Gospel. And now he's asking people to pray that he'll be bold. And he'll speak the Gospel as he should.

Reminder of the ministry we have. Not to in any way alter the message, soften the message but to present the Gospel in its clarity, boldly, in its beauty. I want you to note that Paul's concern is that prayer be a vital part of the believers in the warfare in which they are engaged. We don't do war against flesh and blood. I want you to be "praying at all times," verse 18, "in the Spirit." That connects to where we are in 1 Timothy. So come to 1 Timothy 2.

Paul's now going to turn attention at the beginning of chapter 2 to the subject of prayer. He's not encouraging believers here to be praying for other believers. He's not even going to be encouraging believers to pray for boldness in preaching the Gospel. He's going to say, "Of first importance be praying for the salvation of all men." The first 8 verses are really concerned with the subject of what we pray for and why. You note verse 1 begins, "First of all then I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men." Then verse 8, "Therefore I want the men in every place to pray." So verses 1 to 8 are bracketed with this emphasis on prayer. I want you to pray and here are the reasons. Then let me wrap this up again. I want you to pray in every place. So we are talking about the responsibility of the Church to be at prayer and in this context there's going to be a strong emphasis on all men. Note the end of verse 2. This prayer is to be made on behalf of all men. In verse 2, "For kings and all who are in authority." That was the end of verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2. Then verse 4. He desires all men to come to a knowledge of the truth. Verse 6, "He gave himself as a ransom for all." So we are to be praying for the lost and we are to be praying for all of the lost. It's what he says is necessary. In chapter 1 verse 18, "Fight the good fight," war the good warfare. First of all, Timothy, the church needs to be at prayer for the salvation of the lost.

"First of all then." That word "then" most often translated therefore in the New Testament builds on what he just said in chapter 1. In light of the opposition to the Gospel we face, in light of the fact that the Gospel brings salvation . . . In chapter 1 verse 15 he said Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. In light of the fact that there is a war going on with the enemy of men's souls . . . We saw in his letter to the Corinthians where the god of this world blinds the minds of the unbelieving. "Of first importance [of prime importance], therefore, I urge that all kinds of prayers be made for all men." Jump to the end of that verse. These prayers are to be made on behalf of all men. And I take it the “all men” refers to all men. And that's going to become even more clear as we move through this section. And it's a reaction to those who wanted to make salvation exclusive. If you'll not only believe in Christ but convert to Judaism by submitting yourself to the Mosaic law, you can be saved--which is saying salvation is limited to the Jews and those who convert to Judaism. Not so. Salvation is not limited by any barriers. It is for all men. Every person is the subject of God's salvation, the object of that salvation. The provision is made for all men. He'll say in verse 4 God desires all men to be saved. If that's God's desire, who should we pray to be saved? All men. Pray for all men because God desires all men to be saved and he's made provision for all men to be saved is the thrust of what he is saying.

Before we look at what he says about prayer and the different words he uses for prayer, just stop and think of how we are doing--and the way we have to evaluate how we are doing as a church is stop and think in our minds. How much time did you spend this past week in serious prayer for the salvation of the lost? And not just your immediate family, your kids or your parents or relatives or those you are very close to. But how much time did you really spend in prayer . . . Stop and think. Now through your week if your schedule was going to be put up, what would it look like? Did you really spend serious time praying for the salvation of the lost? Paul's serious about this. He says this is of first importance. And look he says "I urge," and he uses four words for prayer here.
Now these are not four different kinds of prayers but these are four aspects of prayer. All four of these things will be part of all of our prayers. But they do give us a flavor, if you will, of prayer.

Let me just mention the words and a sentence or two about them. "I urge that entreaties." This is a word for prayer. It's a word that refers . . . that comes from a word that basically means to have a lack, and it signifies prayer that comes from a sense of your need and it might be your own need or the need of others. We come before God because of the sense of our own need and because of the need of others. Here we sense what? People need the Lord. They are lost and without hope in the world. They are under condemnation and on their way to hell. They have great need. And we come before the throne of grace on their behalf because of such great need.

Prayers. These other words translated entreaties, petitions, thanksgiving can be used in human to human relationships. Because sometimes you'll come to another human being because you have a need and you ask them to help meet the need. This second word used here, "prayers," is only used in the Bible of coming to God for something. It's a word that carries the context of reverence and worship. When we come to God no matter what the reason, we must always come with a sense of reverence, of fear, of awe, of respect, worship.

There's a word here we are coming to next. We come with petitions. This comes from a verb that means--related to a verb that means--to draw near with someone. Draw near so that you can have familiar conversation. It would be like we say we get close to someone to talk to them in an intimate way, a close way, a familiar way. There's a relationship here. When you talk to a stranger--you know we like our space. We've all heard of the studies they do where people keep backing up because people keep getting too close in the conversation. But we are not like that with people we have a close relationship with. You may even come up, put your arm around their shoulder and talk in their ear. There is a closeness there, a familiarity there. This word conveys that. So we come with that reverence and awe, that respect and fear of the Lord, but we come in a relationship of closeness and intimacy to talk to the One who is our Father. So it denotes that confident closeness we have in prayer to our God.

And then thanksgiving. Can we ever come to God with our hearts filled with gratitude that we can come, no matter how great the burden of my heart I must always be in awe and thankful that I can come before the throne of grace and speak to the living God and bring to Him the burdens and desires of my heart. Philippians 4:6 says that thanksgivings are always included with our prayers. So here you see these aren't different kinds of prayers but what he is saying is prayers in all of its facets, in all of its dimensions, are to be made on behalf of all men. Everyone. In the context we are going to be talking about prayer that focuses on salvation as it's mentioned down in verse 4, because God desires all men to be saved. So this particular emphasis in the prayers that we're bringing to God pertains to salvation of those who do not know the Savior.

In verse 2 it's sort of a parenthesis to make clear. When I say all men, I mean all men. I mean kings and those who are in authority. So these aren't just people you know. Most of these in the church at Ephesus would have no contact, never have a personal word, would never have opportunity to see the emperor of Rome but they should be praying for him. And not only the supreme ruler but those who are arranged under him, all of those who have authority all the way down to local officials. In our situation we'd talk about praying for the President, Congressmen and Senators and Supreme Court justices and come down to governors and mayors and local officials of various kinds. I want you to be praying for kings and all who are in authority.

You know who . . . As an aside--do you know who the Roman emperor is at this time? He's the man who will be responsible for the coming execution of the apostle Paul who wrote this. The man is Nero. Not someone you would think of as worthy of great respect and honor humanly speaking. But the concern that Paul has here is not to point out the flaws, the sinful character, the despicable aspects of rulers and leaders and those in authority. His concern is you understand you must be praying for them. They need the Lord as others do. Their sins may be put on display in some ways because of the visibility of their positions, but you understand they are lost sinners like others. We are praying for their salvation. We are praying for them so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and all dignity. When we pray for their salvation, we pray that God will so work in and through them that the result will be that in our society it will be possible for us to lead tranquil and quiet lives. And I think: wow, that almost seems a little bit out of step. He's talking about warring and going to warfare and talking about the battle of the Gospel and the concern for the salvation of men and now he talked about wanting a relaxing, easy life. Obviously, that wouldn't fit the context at all. We want to pray for rulers. We want their salvation and we want God to work so that we can lead a tranquil and quiet life, not so that our lives as believers are more pleasant, easier, more enjoyable, but so that we will have opportunity for the ministry of the Gospel to reach more people.

We want to lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity, not just to fulfill our selfish desires. Godliness - a life that is lived honoring to God. It's reverence and respect for God. It's a life that honors Him. Dignity has a human-to-human perspective. Dignity refers to a life that's worthy of respect. Brings the idea of seriousness. One Greek writer said moral earnestness-- dignity, seriousness, moral earnestness. We don't have a tranquil and quiet life so that we can kick back and enjoy all the blessings God's given us. God, by His grace, and do we not all look at the news and so on and see the turmoil in so much of the world and say wow, we are blessed? And we have major things to pray about and show concern about. Should we pay more for our house or less? Buy a bigger car or a smaller car? Go to this restaurant or that restaurant? Things of tremendous consequence. But that's not what he's concerned about. You know what's got to characterize us? Godliness and seriousness. It doesn't mean gloominess. Let me know Christians. Yeah, they are the ones who never smile. They never have a good time. But you know our world lives for entertainment. I was watching a program yesterday for a little bit of time. It was talking about the development of a major entertainment industry in our country and how it's boomed and mushroomed and risen beyond what anybody could imagine. And that was followed by another program, and I look at the paper and here they are.
Our society is about entertainment, enjoying life. Believers are to enjoy life and God has given us all good things to enjoy, but we need to be careful our lives are concerned with godliness, seriousness, moral earnestness. Life that's worthy of respect.

We use our Supreme Court justices in our country. If they could take the cameras in there--maybe this is why they are not allowed into the supreme court--and you find out they were just playing games all the time. Having a good time, partying up, laughing and deciding who's responsible for games when we get together tomorrow. Who's responsible for refreshments. Who's going to bring the new jokes. You say I expected more dignity and seriousness about individuals in their position. We are not saying we don't think they ought to ever laugh or relax and so on, but nonetheless there ought to be a recognition of who they are and the responsibility they carry and the life they are to live accordingly.

And that's what we are talking about here. So believers are desirous that the governing authorities provide the kind of environment where we have more opportunity to present the character of God and the message of God before the world. So Paul was aware. He wrote in 2 Timothy 3:12, "But all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." But he also was aware that when governing authorities maintained order in society, it provided a much clearer opportunity for believers to live out their Christianity and proclaim their message. We are an example. There are places in the world today because of the turmoil in their society, the breakdown of authority, that we would be afraid to meet like this. But here we are with great liberty. We live tranquil and quiet lives, not holding our breath that people are going to come breaking through the doors to arrest us, to take our children from us and so on. What a great opportunity it is. Places in the world they have to huddle in small groups to talk about the Bible. When I was in China years ago, believers there didn't want to talk publicly, in public places. We had to walk in the park where we could talk one-to-one. Don't talk in hotels. Somebody might listen. Walls might be bugged. What a different society. Doesn't mean God doesn't work.

Paul knew what it was like when he preached the Gospel at Ephesus. Do you know what happened? The authorities lost control. The place turned into a riot and in the end Paul left the city. That happened place after place. When he's praying for tranquil and quiet lives he knows what it means to be in places where the authorities lose control and don't have order. We are greatly blessed in this country. We talk about all the problems, all the deterioration. We are blessed with tranquil and quiet lives in ways that go beyond even what Paul would have experienced in the good situations. But it's so we can live godly lives, lives of seriousness and dignity so the Gospel can be presented to more people.

Let me say something here. You know what our responsibility is with rulers and those in authority? Be praying for them. What believers desire are tranquil and quiet lives in that context. Not to be in conflict, in battle with the governing authorities. I take it we can do nothing if the Gospel causes unrest, and it will at different times and in different ways; but believers ought not to be bringing unrest and turmoil in the political situation. We are not to be a political force. I cringe when I listen to people talk about the political power of the evangelical right. What is that biblically? I receive mail as I'm sure many of you do from the political right, and as we get toward elections it multiplies because now we can make a difference and believers get noted . . . evangelicals get noted as a political force, which means what? We're for the conservatives but against the liberals and we're willing to go to battle over those things and we really get the church stirred up when an abortion issue is coming up or the marriage amendment is coming up or homosexual issue is coming up. Then we are going to fight and if these politicians don't vote the way the way they should, they'll pay the price at the poles the next time because they need to know the size of the evangelical movement in this country, and they'll come out to vote, and I'm disgusted when I get this material in the mail to want to help me guide our congregation in how they should vote. Did Paul not say that the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly; they are divinely powerful. How is the evangelical right any different than the liberal left? Well, let me become a political force and if we get the right President in, he will appoint the right Supreme Court justices, and if we can just tilt the balance of power in congress a little more, what? We are going to win the war? So the Bible was wrong--the weapons of our warfare are fleshly and are physical and are human and we are going to win this war just like anybody else does. Who wins the war?
Political maneuvering and political might?

We are going to get our lobbies in Washington. And I get letters here. Give these to the congregation, individuals send them in. We are going to sway this. You know the future of our country does not depend on the marriage amendment. I don't care who says so. It doesn't depend on all these other things either. It depends on the work of the Gospel in the lives of the lost. Oh, I believe that too. It's a lot easier to get Christians all roused up and out marching over abortion than it is to go out and share the Gospel. It's a lot easier to get believers together to talk about political issues; and boy, they really get passionate about it, but let's get together and pray for the lost. Oh boy, you know, I would love to, but I got a full week. We are drawn into it even more easily today. In Paul's day they didn't turn on the news and find out what Nero was doing. We turn it on and we're drawn into it. There we are. And boy, all of a sudden we're passionate about it. We can get the discussion going and these things really stir us up. Is anybody passionate about praying for the lost? Oh, we get to prayer. The only time I read about prayer for evangelicals is in the political arena and they are kneeling and praying over the issue of abortion. They are kneeling and praying over the issue of the marriage amendment. They are kneeling and praying over the issue of homosexuality. Who's praying for the politicians? Well,
I'm praying God will open their blinded eyes so they vote right on this. Beats legislation. That's not what we're praying about. God desires all men to be saved. That's why I don't want this church identified in any way as a political force. It's not. Liberal politicians ought to be just as comfortable with us as conservative politicians because it’s not about politics. They ought to know we're praying just as passionately for the conservatives as we are for the liberals and just as passionately for the liberals as we are for the conservatives because our praying is not motivated by politics. It's motivated by the spiritual need. It's motivated by the work of grace that our God has done in providing a Savior for all men because He desires all men to be saved. How sad that some liberal politicians would think that Christians would pray for them and have a concern because they don't like them. With our last President I was appalled at the evangelicals who thought they should storm out, try to reveal every sin they thought was his life and show him to be a vile man and do all of this. For what? Anybody ever read 1 Timothy 2? You think Nero was the kind of guy you want your kids to model their lives after? I mean he was repulsive to his own people, repulsive to pagan Romans. What do you do? Pray for them.

Turn over to Titus 1. Titus 3, I'm sorry, verse 1. Just after Timothy is Titus. We don't have time to look at all the passages where Paul focuses on political things. But look at Titus 3. This is in the context of what we know as the pastoral epistles. Verse 1,
"Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. You know what Paul writes when he talks about warring a good war? We are fighting to preserve the truth and to preach the truth. When he wrote to the Corinthians about bringing discipline, he said judge those in the church. Those outside the Church God will judge. I find the Church today satisfied with a mixture of all kinds of theology, accepting all kinds of corrupted practices in its midst; but the, oh the Church, we unite together with all kinds of Protestants and Catholics and everybody else for a social cause or political cause or a moral cause. Have we turned things on their head? We ignore judging the Church but we want to judge the world. Why would we show this kind of consideration? Be peaceable, gentle and so on. "For we ourselves once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another."

You hear what some . . . I'm using their own claim. Those who claim to be evangelicals are saying about some politicians. And you get the idea these people never sin. The world sees that. We've got our goal to point out any sin we think the President's committed. What do I expect of the President? He's a sinner. What do I expect politicians to be? They are unregenerate people. I don't think it's good that people be moral.? Of course I do. The ministry of the Church is not to try to bring about moral reformation. The ministry of the church is to preach a message of regeneration. What do you expect? We were like this. We get the idea after we've been believers awhile, I don't know how they could do that. I can't work with them. They are so sinful. I don't like to be around sinners. And just what are you? What am I? Remember what Paul said? I am the chief of sinners, redeemed by grace. We become so self-righteous and arrogant in our self-righteousness that we wouldn't stoop to reach the lost because we're sort of glad they're lost, they deserve it. And we forget we were just like them. Stupid, foolish, enslaved to sin.

"But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of what we have done in righteousness but according to His mercy." These words kindness, love, mercy. "So that being," verse 7, "justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." That's the beauty of the message. We have a God who desires to show His kindness, His love, His mercy and His grace to vile, sinful people. Pray for those in authority that you may lead a peaceful and tranquil life in all godliness, seriousness.

Why? Come back to verse 3, chapter 2 of 1 Timothy. "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior." If there is no other reason and stop right there, that would be it. You want to do what pleases God? Do what I just told you. Pray for all men. This goes back to what he had just said in verse 1. Pray on behalf of all men. Verse 2 just gives you a little bit of an elaboration. So when you understand I say all men, I mean all men. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God. This is what God wants. We always talk about oh I wish I knew the will of God. Here it is. How much time did you spend doing the will of God this week? How much time did you spend doing the will of God this week? How much time did I spend doing the will of God this week? He said pray for all men, their salvation. Oh, I want to do the will of God. How much did you do it this week? We like to talk more about the will of God than do the will of God. Do I want to do it so badly that I readjust my schedule so that I can pour out my soul for the salvation of the lost? Everywhere I go. I walk the malls and as I'm walking there, "Lord, I'm surrounded by the lost. By Your grace bring them to Yourself." Drive through different sections of the city and I'm praying, "Lord, by Your grace save people on this street. Bring the testimony of the Gospel to them." Our own neighborhood. Is that where we are taking it? At work. "Lord, this is a big company. Many people . . . they need the Lord. God, by Your grace, save them." Lord you desire their salvation. I desire their salvation. That's the starting point. Pray for all men. Everywhere we go we ought to know something will happen. The lost have been prayed for there. "Lord, save people in this business. Lord, the people that work here. By Your grace, open their blinded eyes. I want to bring them before You. I know they have to hear the Gospel, but God, You can work that out. Bring salvation to these people." We could saturate the city with prayers for the lost. Not only when we are closed up in our home praying but when we are out and about everywhere we're going. Driving down the street, "Lord, look at all these cars. The idiot that just pulled in front of me. He needs saved. Save him. Maybe he won't do that again." You know, we pray for the lost. This is of first importance. If I won't do what God says is of first importance, is it any wonder everything else begins to unravel?

Paul said, "First of all—all--then." Prime urgency. Pray for the lost. "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior." God is a Savior. We are going to talk more about this in our next study. We won't go into that any further. In chapter 1 verse 1 God was called our Savior. Salvation originates in God. This is man's struggle. Man wants to make salvation originate in himself, and his good works is what he brings to God, and his best efforts. You understand, no. True salvation starts with God our Savior.

"Who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." We pray for the salvation of all men very simply because God desires all men to be saved. It means everyone. Doesn't mean just all classes of people, all kinds of people. It means all people. God desires all people to be saved. That doesn't mean everyone will be saved. It doesn't mean there's universalism. But is does mean the desire of the heart of God is for the salvation of all men. The word translated "desire" here is the word for "will." A couple different words for will but they overlap in meaning. It's not that there is a different Greek word for "will" used here. It's simply that there is a recognition that's God's will in certain contexts means something that He determines and in other cases it means something He desires. You know God's will is not always done. That was a true or false question. The will of God is always done, true or false? Did you sin this week? Was it the will of God that you sinned? In other words, God's will wasn't done in your life when you sinned. Because it's never God's will that people sin. So when they sin they are violating the will of God. So God's will is not accomplished in that.

I don't want to make this more complicated than it is. Let me read you a few verses. We won't turn there because of time. You can jot them down. You might want to read them yourself. Ezekiel 18:23 listen carefully, "'Do I have any pleasure in the death of the
wicked,' declares the Lord God, 'rather than that he should turn from his ways and live.'"
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Some people's view is God is up there and He gets great pleasure out of the salvation of the elect and He gets great pleasure out of the damnation of the lost. God says I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Ezekiel 18:32, "For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies declares the Lord God. Therefore, repent and live. Ezekiel 33:11, "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, oh house of Israel." I don't want you to die. I don't want to destroy the wicked. I want you to be saved. Why won't you turn from your sin to me as your Savior. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is not lax and slow about fulfilling His promises, but He's patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

That's the heart of our God. He desires the salvation of every single man, woman and child. Could that not be a good thing? Of course. About good things . . . those things which are consistent with the character of God and He desires the salvation of the wicked. God's desires are not always carried out. Jesus said to the people of His day in John's Gospel chapter 5 verse 40, "You are unwilling to come to me that you may have life. You search the Scriptures. In them you think you have eternal life and it's the scriptures that testify of men, and you are unwilling to come to me that you may have life. God is willing. He desires them to come. They are unwilling to come. Jesus came to Jerusalem at the close of His ministry. He said, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I wanted to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks but you were unwilling, unwilling." Here's gracious God continually saying, turn from your sin, turn from your sin. I don't want to destroy you. I want to save you. Man says I won't. I will do it my way.

God will bring destruction on the wicked but the desire of the heart of God is their salvation. Is that our desire? That's why we should be praying for all men. That's the desire of the heart of God. Is that our desire? That they be saved? Do we desire so much that we make that the priority of our life to pray for the salvation of the lost? No matter what else happens, what else I do, I am going to pray for the salvation of the lost." Paul writes that is of first importance for this church. Otherwise they've got a twisted theology. And the theology of the Gospel and the praying for the lost go together and that's what he's going to be developing in these verses.

He desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God," according to Romans 10:17. The truth refers to the message of salvation. You'll see this as we move through the pastoral epistles.
The truth is a reference to the Gospel. People rej ect the truth. You must hear the truth. This is not a feeling. This is not an emotion. This is hearing the truth and entering into the truth by faith that you are a sinner. You are a sinner. You are guilty before God but God is a Savior who has provided His Son to pay the penalty for your sin, which is death. You are invited to come to Him, turn from your sin and believe in Him, repent. And when you turn from your sin and place your faith in Him, you will be saved. He is a Savior. There's a point in chapter 1 where Paul said God saved me, the chief of sinners. He can save you too and He will. But if you are unwilling, then you will be lost.
This God who is our Savior is also a judge. This God who has manifested His kindness, His love, His mercy, His grace is also a God of holiness, of righteousness and wrath and judgment . And God says it makes no sense. Why will you not turn? Later in Isaiah . . . "Turn to Me all the ends of the earth and be saved." Those of you who have nothing, come to Me. Partake of food and water, the water and food of salvation at no cost and be saved. Should we not be praying for the lost?

I sometimes want to just go and share the Gospel with someone. And we have to share the Gospel because they must come to the knowledge of the truth. But you know, have we saturated that work with prayer? One thing that every person in this congregation no matter what their physical condition, no matter what their physical health, no matter what their limitations can do is they can pray. I can pray for the salvation of the lost in a hospital bed. I can pray for the salvation of the lost confined to a room some place.
That's the first thing we have to do. So whatever else we do we need to begin as a Church to be sure we are saturating the world with our prayers. People we know and people we don't know. I can pray for the whole city. They had to pray for rulers, kings, authorities, the emperor and they didn't know them personally, they had no contact.
Some of you are here because people have prayed for you. You have yet to turn from your sin and believe in the Savior, but people are praying for you. They cannot save you. They can pray for you. Pray that God will graciously show His mercy to you and you will turn from your sin and trust Him alone. But if you are unwilling, you will not be saved. But you have heard the truth and if you believe the truth, you will be saved.

He is a Savior. He is God our Savior. He will save any and all if you turn to Him. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for the greatness of Your grace. Sometimes in our minds and hearts we are very limited, very closed. Lord, we don't even think about the salvation of many people, let alone desire and long for it. Lord, may it be the passion of our heart that the lost come to know the Savior. May it be evident that we serve the God who desires all men to be saved because we share that same desire and passion. Lord, may it be evident before Your throne that this is our passion as we come and beseech you and desire with the longing of our heart the salvation of the lost. Lord, may this characterize us as a church in all that we do. May we have an overwhelming burden for the salvation of friends and family members but beyond that to the people of this city and this state and this country and the lost of the world--that they might come to know our God who is our Savior. Thank you for Jesus Christ who loved us and died for us. We come in His name, amen.