Since there is one God, He has the exclusive right to our worship, and He has the right to be jealous when our affections go somewhere else. Welcome to Search the Scriptures. The Bible Teaching Ministry of Dr. Carl Broge. Senior Pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina.
We are in a study of 1 Timothy, and we cracked the door last Friday on chapter 2, where the first eight verses encourage the reader to pray for kings and for those in authority.
Now, some might ask whether this means that we ought to pray for the leaders of a godless society.
Well as we'll see today, The answer is an emphatic yes. God calls for the church to pray for the state's leaders regardless of who is in charge. Let's rejoin Dr. Broge now as he reminds us that although we may live in a society that tries to push God out of the marketplace. We have the power to effect change through the privilege of voting.
Verse 2 informs us that we're to pray for kings. And for all who are in authority, and by the way, Sometimes you ought to put some feet to those prayers and get out and vote. God has called us as Christians. to be salt and light. And as salt, we are to rub it into a decaying, rotting society.
And as light, we are to dispel darkness. And we have the opportunity in this republic to do that by voting our consciences. God has not called his people to live in a stained glass prison. He has called for our voice to be heard. And it's inconceivable to me that the God who instituted human government has then told his people to stay out of it.
Now some people say, well politics are dirty. That's like saying to a doctor, germs are dirty, so you shouldn't go into the hospital. No, we are to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God. And in our government, our Caesar is a government of the people, for the people, by the people. And for you not to vote is not to render to Caesar that which belongs to him.
Now it is a major problem. It's a widespread problem in the church. I don't think it is in our church. But it is a sad truth that many of God's people aren't even registered to vote. It's not a matter of party, it's not a matter of persons, it's not a matter of policies, it's a matter of principle and the fact that this country was founded on Bible-believing, God-fearing people.
It's our responsibility to pray and to vote. And so he mentions here the priority of prayer, the diversity of prayer, the scope of prayer. But now he goes on to instruct Timothy as to the results of prayer. What are the eventual results of praying for all men?
Well, we read further into verse 2 for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we. May he lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness. indignity. The purpose of praying for these rulers, for those who are in authority, is that we, that is the church, the body of Christ, May lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
Now, this is a remarkable admonition when you recall the fact that it was written around the early 60s. when there was not a single Roman King or ruler who is a Christian. In fact, in this point in the Roman Empire's history, Christianity is illegal. And of course, Emperor Nero is in power when he writes this letter, who is incredibly hostile to the Christian faith. Persecution had already begun to break out spasmodically throughout the empire.
But Paul nevertheless commands Christians to pray for those who are in authority.
Now this is also a very important verse because it throws a great deal of light. On the relationship between the government, between the state, and the church. You know, there are only three institutions that God ever established. The first, of course, was the family, the second was the state. The third is the church.
And the state's fundamental responsibility It is to keep peace. And so we are to pray for kings and presidents and governors and senators. We are to pray for all who are in authority in order that we may live a tranquil and quiet life. We pray for the authorities, even the pagan and secular authorities, that they might be enabled by God to do that for which they were established.
Now it's interesting to me that when you read even the Old Testament, Jeremiah 29, that incredible letter that he wrote to the exiles in Babylon. That he asks those believers to pray for the welfare of Babylon. He told them first, don't listen to those false prophets. Who's going to tell you that this is not for 70 years, that it's for a short time, that you're going to be released and go back to Jerusalem? It's not going to happen.
God is going to do it just like He said: you're going to be in exile for 70 long years in that pagan country.
So he told them in Jeremiah 29, to build your houses and live in them. and plant gardens. and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and do not decrease. And then he instructed them, and seek the welfare of this city where I have sent you into exile, and to pray to the Lord on its behalf for its welfare, for in its welfare you will have welfare.
Did you catch that? For in its welfare you will have welfare. Again, it's a secular power. But God asks the people of God, To pray for its welfare. And so the fundamental duty of the state is to keep law and order.
Now, there are these people today. Who argues that man is intrinsically good, and the Bible's teaching that man is inherently evil is false. I want to tell you, they live in a dream world. Who would want to live in a city where there were no police? Who would want to live in a nation that did not have a secure national defense?
No, God established the state, among other reasons. Paul says it is a minister, it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil. The state is required by God to keep law and order, and the church is required by God to pray for the state.
Now remember, the Bible teaches that God responds to the prayer of His people. There's not a single verse in all the word of God, not one where God ever promises to answer the prayer of a non-Christian, where God gives them a promise to answer prayer with the one exception. Of God responding to their prayer to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. All of the promises in the Word of God are given to God's people.
Now if that's the case And we think about all the church people in America, many of whom are religious and lost. We, as the people of God, who've been born from above, who know Him personally, who've been given promises from God, if we don't pray, who will? The only prayer that God promises to respond to is the prayer of the believer. And if God's people don't pray for this state, then who will?
So, Paul urges us to pray especially for those who are in authority. And again, do not forget, Emperor Nero is in power, he's on the throne. He's the one who in a few short years will blame the Christians for what he did burning down Rome. He'll dip them in oil and make them human examples by lighting his gardens and cities with their own human flesh. And we are to pray even for such men as that.
And it's for our own good that we do so. He says, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life.
Now, the church has always been subject to opposition and persecution, so it's very wise for us to pray for those in authority. The state is required to maintain law and order to enable the church, the body of Christ, to live undisturbed. That we might carry out that which God has called us to do in the context of leading a tranquil and quiet life.
Now, the word tranquil is an interesting Greek word. It refers to circumstances on the outside, whereas the Greek word for quiet refers to a peaceful calm within. And since we as Christians are to be subject to rulers who may in turn persecute us, Paul is saying we can overrule them by our prayer. We can help hold back some of the negative circumstances without, and we can help hold back some of the unrest within by prayer. And why does God desire for his people to experience such an internal and external peace?
So that we can serve me, myself, and I, so that we can be consumed with our own personal peace and prosperity, where the rest of the world goes to hell? No, he says, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness. indignity. It's our witness for the living God that is at stake. God calls us to live godly, to live holy, to live with dignity, to live honorably according to the dictates of His Word.
And God is only interested in your happiness as it relates to your holiness. And if Christians were to live this kind of life in response to prayer, we would have much more of an ear with a lost world. And so we see here the dual responsibility between church and state. God has ordained the state to maintain law and order and peace in order that the church may maintain high standards of godliness and holiness. That's the fundamental duty of the state.
And in addition, it's the fundamental duty of the church to pray for that state. We need to pray that they will be given wisdom and courage to make the kinds of decisions they need to make as they seek to enforce law and order in the society, be they Christians or not. In addition, We're told that we are to, with that prayer, give thanks. Prayer is to be made on behalf of all men with thanksgiving. We ought to thank God for good government and the good gift of His common grace that restrains evil through government.
It's not the will of God that there be anarchy in a society. And God has given the state to hold that back. And we see here the reciprocal responsibilities between God's people and the government. It's the duty of the state to protect the church, but it's the duty of the church. to pray for this state.
So, Christians need to recognize that both are divinely ordered, and so we have a responsibility.
Now, think about this. When God looks at this world, He looked at this world with an eye upon eternity. And so the divine purpose of the state to maintain law and order is that the church might carry out its divine witness. Why is the church to make prayer on behalf of all men, especially for those who are in authority?
Well, Paul goes further to spell it out in verses 3 and 4. Look at it. This is good. That is praying and the result of the praying. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now notice again the repetition of the phrase all man. Both the church and the state are to have a concern for all men because God Himself has a concern for all men. And so we pray for all men because it's the will of God that all men to come to a knowledge of the truth. Through faith in Jesus Christ. God the Father loved all men.
He sent the Son to come to the world. Jesus Christ, God the Son, died for the whole world. He died for all men. And His desire by the work of the Holy Spirit is when He is lifted up to draw all men to Himself. You see, prayer is not some selfish thing simply done to promote the peace and prosperity of the body of Christ.
James is very clear in the fourth chapter of his epistle that God doesn't like selfish prayer. No, the purpose of prayer is not to get the will of man done in heaven, but to get the will of God done on earth. And what is God's will?
Well, among other things, it's that lost souls might be saved. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved. and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Of course, the question is always often asked. If God doesn't want All men to perish.
Then why do so many die lost?
Well, different people answer it in different ways. The Calvinists, at least the hyper-Calvinists. who says that Christ did not die for all men. is the solution to this verse. You know, I hope you understand it.
If you haven't met such people already, you will meet them. Certain Calvinistic members in the body of Christ who say that Jesus did not die for all people. They say his atonement, the blood that he shed was limited. It was what they call a particular atonement. That when the Bible says, for God so loved the world, he was not speaking of every single person in the world, but the world of the elect.
And the reason they say that is they say, well, you know, for Christ to shed his blood for all men. Then not for all men to be saved. Number one, Christ's blood is wasted. And number two, God is no longer sovereign. Sheer folly and heresy.
I don't know how else to say it, and I don't know how. Else God could put it than the way he put it.
Some men have educated themselves out of the truth. God says all men and he doesn't mean as they say from this verse all classes of men or all types of men that is not only you know kings and rulers but anybody that's not what the verse is talking about Now, understand, Christ's blood was not wasted even for those who disbelieve. His blood that saved me will condemn others. No one in the judgment will be able to say, well, Lord Jesus. You didn't even shed your blood for me.
I didn't have a ghost of a chance. There was no provision made for me. No, the same blood that saved me will condemn those who reject that blood. But I think it's very important that we make a distinction between God's determinative will and God's moral will. God's determinative will.
Refers to that dimension of what he is going to accomplish, regardless of what man thinks. God spoke the world into existence in six literal 24-hour days and no one was going to object. And when Jesus comes again, he's going to speak it out of existence by burning ultimately the whole world, the Bible says, with fire. And then he's going to speak in a moment's time a whole new world and a whole new heaven into existence. And man won't have anything to do with it because it's God's determinative will.
But in addition to his determinative will, there's God's moral will, and God's moral will is not always done. For instance, it's God's moral will that man shall not commit murder, but men commit murder. That does not mean that God is frustrated, that God is any less than sovereign. That man can choose to commit murder. It simply means that under the sovereignty of an all-omnipotent God, He has given man the freedom to make a choice.
And we can take that same principle and apply it to God's salvific will. God desires all men to be saved, but not all men will be saved because they go against God's will. Jesus said, for whoever does the will of my Father who's in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother. In this context, Jesus said, one of the marks That you've been born from above, that you've received the free gift of salvation, is you will do the will of God, thus, you are a child of God. But the clear implication of this verse is that some choose not to do the will of God.
Man is free to choose, though he's not free of course to escape the consequences of his choice. But what I want you to see is that God's moral will and God's salvific will is not like a bulldozer that goes over man where he has no part in it. For that matter, neither is this verse, as some liberal Protestants will often use, teaching universalism, that all men will be saved because God desires all men to be saved. Jesus plainly said, Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide, and the way is broad, that leads to destruction.
And many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow, that leads to life. And few are those who find it. The scriptures do not teach universalism. Jesus clearly taught that many would not be saved.
But neither is God's sovereign will frustrated by that fact. Paul says, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires. All men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now this word desires is the Greek word thelo. It speaks of something that one delights in, one wishes, one desires earnestly. It is God's delight not that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It is God's delight that all men be saved. It is God's delight that men respond.
But salvation, Paul in this verse tells me, depends upon a knowledge of the truth. And of course, not everyone has heard the truth. And so the church has a mission to preach the gospel to every person under creation. And many who have heard the truth have rejected it or ignored it. But what Paul is describing here is God's heart, God's desire, and certainly the mission for his church.
God is not simply content with our salvation, neither should we simply be content with our salvation. You know what a lot of churches become? A holy huddle. I'm glad I'm saved and I'm going to heaven and I'm here today to worship God, but the rest of the world can hang itself and go to hell. I want to tell you, our God is concerned with all men.
He is the Savior of all men. And so we are to be concerned with all men.
So, having described the priority of prayer, Namely, it is to be of first importance in the church because it is prayer that puts power to preaching and everything else that we do as Christians. And having mentioned the diversity of prayer, spelling out its various kinds, and having reminded us of the scope of prayer, that it extends to all men, even those who are in authority, and having instructed us on the results of prayer, namely that we might live in peace, that we might have freedom to share the gospel and carry out the will of God.
Now, Paul concludes by telling us about the basis of prayer. Look in verse 5. For there is one God. And one mediator also between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.
Now, again, that little word for should get your attention. because it connects it to the statement that precedes it. Paul is giving us the basis, the reason, the rationale as to why prayer is to be made to God for the salvation and the blessing of all men. And first he mentions, because there is one God.
Now he's making a clear and deliberate contrast between all men and one God. Paul is saying the reason God desires all men to be saved is because there's only one God.
Now follow his logic. If there were many gods, Then it would be left up to man to choose the God of their preference, and there would be no need for you and I to pray for them. But we are to make prayer for all men because there is just one God.
Now both Judaism and Christianity has always affirmed that there is one God. We as Christians affirm something that's not unique to the New Testament. It's in kernel form in the Old Testament, the doctrine of the Trinity, the triunity of God. We don't believe in three gods, but one God manifests in three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But we have always acknowledged with Judaism that there is one God to whom we are to give ourselves to fully.
And that is why the greatest of all the commandments in the Word of God is to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength, because God doesn't want any competition, because there is no competition.
Now it's interesting to me as I read through the scriptures That repeatedly, when God affirms His oneness, and it's not unique to the Old Testament. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one. James also likewise affirms, even the demons believe Orthodox. Truth, namely that God is one. They shudder, but they believe what's right.
God is one. It's an affirmation found in both Testaments. And repeatedly, when God affirms that truth, it's accompanied by the fact that not only is God one, but he is a jealous God. For instance, in the second commandment in the Decalogue, Exodus 20, You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or on earth beneath, or in the water, under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
Now, I would repeatedly read statements like that as a new Christian, and I would scratch my head and sometimes be bothered by them. Because on the one hand, I would read that love is not jealous. On the other hand, I would read that God is a jealous God, God who is love. On the one hand, I would read that God is jealous. On the other hand, I would read in Galatians 5 that jealousy is a work of the flesh.
But much like anger, there is both a righteous and an unrighteous expression of jealousy. By definition, jealousy is the resentment of a rival. That's what it is. It's the resentment of a rival. And whether your jealousy is legitimate or not depends whether or not your rival is legitimate or not.
For example, You have no right to be jealous over another person in the realm of academics because they outshine you. Because you don't have a monopoly on the realm of academics. You have no right to be jealous over a person in the realm of athletics who outperforms you. Because you don't have a monopoly in that field. There is such a thing as legitimate competition.
Now yesterday I married two people sitting right there. They stood right here. They were divorced to each other some years ago, but in the grace of God, they found Christ and they got married back to each other yesterday. And I asked Bobby, Bobby, will you forsake all others? Will you cleave unto her and to her only as long as life shall live?
And he said, I will. What was he saying? He was affirming. that there is an exclusiveness in the marriage covenant. And if a third party enters into your marriage, You, as a man, if someone tries to woo away the affections of your bride, you have every reason to be jealous, and you're right for it.
So, very often, when God's jealousy is spoken of in Scripture, it's spoken in terms of covenant, even a marriage covenant. But my point is this. Since there is one God, He has the exclusive right to our worship, and He has the right to be jealous when our affections go somewhere else. Elijah the prophet acknowledged this in 1 Kings 19 when he said, For I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. He was jealous because the children of Israel had forsaken their covenant with God.
They had torn down God's altars, and they were worshiping the false gods of Baal. Elijah longed for the people of God to give themselves to the one true God. Likewise, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I'm afraid.
Bless as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. Your mind should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Paul is saying to the Corinthians, When I shared the gospel with you, you got saved and I betrothed you to Jesus Christ. And now I fear that there are some rivals in your life, the world is ended in, that you're giving your devotion to some other things, and you are deserting the one to whom you are betrothed. You are abandoning the simplicity of one whole heart to Jesus Christ.
Now, I emphasize this among other reasons because one of the great incentives that is given in the Bible for soul winning. is that God is one. And he deserves no rivals because he is a jealous God. Jealousy is to be for the glory of God, for the name of God, and is the principal and foundational motivation in the Word of God for evangelism. And yet very rarely if I've ever been to a missions conference or heard people speak on evangelism, is it even mentioned?
But Paul mentions it in his opening verses of Romans. He said that he preached the gospel to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name's sake. Or again, the Apostle John writes in his third letter when he speaks of missionaries who went out for the sake of the name. They went out for Christ's name and His glory, that the glory deserving of His name might be above every other name. That's what it means to be jealous for God, and since there is one God, we are to give Him exclusive allegiance.
Our God is a jealous God. and he wants believers who are jealous for him. Are you jealous for God? Are you willing to commit yourself exclusively to the one true God? Are you willing to preach the gospel for the name and glory of Jesus Christ?
God is jealous when our affections go elsewhere. To listen again to today's message, please call 877-787-477-777-777- 7478 and request program 1 Timothy 003. You can also listen online at searchthescriptures.org. Or by using the Search Scriptures app found in the iTunes and Google Play Store. We hope that you will join us tomorrow.
as we continue to search the scriptures.
