First Timothy Lesson 10 Continued

All right, we are in, let me get up, it's Lesson 10, I believe. I didn't even know it. Lesson 10 in 1 Timothy. Do you guys want, you want to grab a question? So we, our verses really are, 4, 5, and 6, 1 Timothy 2. But I always like to get the context. So I'm going to read again, beginning at verse 1 through verse 6.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of our God and God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. I did want to go through one additional thing. We were in question two about how verses four and one tie together on behalf of all men. There was, I think, a great discussion last week about how God desires this.

God desires that all men come to a saving knowledge. And it's his desire. That's what he wants. And when you think about it, it's the God of the universe desiring that. I don't think you have a better position than God desiring that all men come to a knowledge of Christ and salvation through Christ. And so as I was thinking about it, I forgot to ask the question last week. How does that impact you? in your prayer life and your thoughts. God desires that all men come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, salvation through Jesus Christ. So how does that impact you? Does that mean anything to you? Does that change you? Does that do anything in how you approach life or your prayer life? How does that impact you? If God desires it, what about you?

I know we have a neighbor here we've been praying for for quite some time, an elderly woman who doesn't know the Lord, and we would like her to be saved. And I think sometimes we forget that infinitely more than we would like her to be saved, the Lord desires that for her. And so I think that changes somewhat your approach to your mindset about evangelism and so forth.

It's the Lord who's the one who works through us. We don't need to be afraid that God doesn't want this person saved or something like that, or that it all rests on us or something. He's the one who's actively drawing people to himself, and we can be vessels of that gospel message. You know, it doesn't really rest on our shoulders. This is his desire to have this person saved.

I guess the translation is, we should have the same desire, and if that's God's desire, and I fall into that. How many times am I thinking about people who are unsaved, and do I really desire them? Is my desire really to bring the gospel to them? I go back to Sam Dalton. the best evangelist I've ever known.

He always used to carry a straw, and then he changed it to a tube. I think I've told you this. He said, if you have a straw, that's much too rigid. We're to be vessels. All we are is to be a tube to bring forth the gospel to people and be flexible. He always carried that around. This guy, he could have a conversation. Suddenly, you're talking about the Lord in two seconds. At the grocery store, at the line somewhere, just out on the street, he would immediately be able to talk to people about the Lord. We should all have that. I tend to think that we are more the meat and we're not as evangelistic. But individually though, as we travel and as we go in the circles that we meet people, that's where we should still have that same desire.

Camp Elam has been associated with, and they have 100-200 professions or whatever during a camping season. It's awesome that 200 people's lives have been changed for eternity. I tell the staff down there. You got to understand what they're doing is potentially being used. It's ultimately the spirit and they're by faith accepting it, but they're having the ability to work in something that can have eternal results. that don't take it as just a job or a summertime gig, but you're actually being used by God to potentially change a person's life for eternity, their outcome. We're all going to be eternal, whether in where you don't want to be or where you want to be with the Lord. So I try to encourage them that. Just don't take it for granted that you're just out there doing a summer job, because you can have an eternal effect on somebody.

Are you going to talk about the second part of the verse? I'm getting back to it. I was going to ask after we talked that the desire was for all men, God's desire. I want to get to the point that we should have that same desire. You know how, especially if you've been walking with the Lord for a long time, there's a lot of things you hear over and over and over again. And this is definitely one of those concepts where, you know, the word desires this. Do I? Or oftentimes it makes me complacent. Do I actually desire the same thing? Do I actually pray for this?

It's like, you know, I guess I'll get to that tomorrow kind of a thing. I think it can make us very complacent. Like you said, if we're focusing more on the meat, it's like we're focusing more on after you've gone through that gateway, but this is the gateway.

I think the point from these verses is we're trying to make the point that God desires us. We went into what that desire is, how intense that is. That's God's desire. And then you look at, you know, John 3, 16 and others. And this is where, you know, he wants no one to perish. That's his desire. That's the God of the universe desiring that. We should have that same desire. Here's the question. Go ahead, Mike. Was it me or Mike? Okay. Oh, yeah. Sorry. I can't see. I have to.

I think we put a lot of emphasis on contemporary Christianity on the salvation aspects, but this verse says, the second part of it says, it's got the same desire, the same energy, the same fervor for men to come to the knowledge of the truth. And I think if there's anything missing in Christianity today, it's that. And what's interesting here is the knowledge of the truth, definite article, who is the truth?

I'll get to it. You're getting ahead. I'll let you go. My next question is that. We got into it. I'm curious about that scripture that says, you'll know them by his love. You'll know us by his love. The unsaved need to see this love. Yeah, I think if you're manifesting Christ, you'll manifest love. I use this sometimes, and not that I'm a great example, but I'm on drill rigs all the time. These people are usually not Christians and usually don't have anything, but I don't engage in their course talk or their whatever and this kind of stuff. And after a while, it's like, what's wrong? What's different about you? And they know something's different. And they'll ask questions. And that gives me both.

I'm a Christian. But a lot of times, the church will just give another handout, whether the food lines or whatever, which God uses. Yeah, because I'm going to qualify that in that God uses a zillion different ways. It could be a handout. Starts it. It could be a million way. It could be just the way you talk. Could be you have to be in the location and the person's down and you lend a helping hand.

God can use a million different ways. He doesn't have to have a set way. And so, I mean, it could be a helping hand, could be giving something, you know, but it's always, you know, in love or they see something different in you or they, why did you do that? Well, love of Christ. He can use a thousand different ways. I don't ever want to limit it. I think, though, that the problem that we have is that that's too simple of an answer.

And the reason that God says in His Word, I want you to come to the knowledge of the truth. Miles Stanford made the point that it isn't that we give the truth, we need to be qualified to give it. And so, that's what I mean. If I don't know the Lord Jesus Christ to some point intimately, I can't introduce Him to somebody else, because I can't introduce you to somebody I don't know who is life, who is the Savior.

And I can, without making a big emotional deal, just say, here are the facts. Well, it's the Son of God and forward. And especially, once a person is saved, we drop them. I'm not disputing that, but I will dispute something else. You came to a knowledge. Whatever knowledge you had, you can share with the person. That's as much knowledge as you know, and you can share. If you came to know the Lord. Yeah, but I didn't stop there. But no, I'm saying, I wouldn't limit it to that. I have to be a Bible scholar in order to, or not a scholar, but to know Christ intimately before I can share with somebody. Well, we'll take Sam Dalton as an example.

I've met him a few times and had conversations with him. That guy was really knowledgeable. Oh, I don't doubt it. A lot of time with the Lord and learning of him. And so God prepared him. for the ministry that he had. And I think every single believer is being prepared by the Lord with this personal intimate knowledge of Christ to actually manifest Him without having to get up in a microphone or revert back to some one-time experience they've had in their life that they're qualified. But see, I get nervous that I have to have so much knowledge before I can share.

What is that tipping point? It's intimacy. But when is that? as the Lord would provide. But I can't share until what time? Well, I'm not saying you can't share. Well, that's what I'm getting at here. We're going to get to the knowledge part for all of it. He desires that too.

But salvation can be, you came to know the Lord. Now, I didn't know very much when I came to know the Lord. I didn't either. I didn't know him that intimately, but I was wanting to share him every time I could. And so that's half of where we're getting to the second half, which we keep trying to get to, which he desires that every bit as much as salvation. But I don't want to put a qualifier in that I have to have so much intimate knowledge with Christ before I can share it.

I guess my point is that Brian and I were having a discussion this morning about motivation. About motivation. What motivates me to live the Christian life? Is it because, oh, I should be out evangelizing? No. It's what motivates me is to know the love of Christ because He first loved me. Yeah. Okay. We're going to get to this because you keep jumping to the second half. Salvation is a first habit.

So, the first is in question five, in question three, explain why the phrase saved and come to the knowledge of truth is more than salvation. So again, this is good and acceptable inside of God or Savior, who desires all men to be saved, one, and to come to the knowledge of truth. So the first was the desire for all men to come to the saving knowledge. And again, we had a good discussion, I think, about free will and election, selection, whatever you want to call it, that God doesn't just choose people and A, B, C, D. It's ultimately your will He gave you will just to decide. That's the greatest thing he gave to you is to decide, to understand and accept Christ as your Savior and all that's there or not. But his desire is that every single person come to the saving knowledge, to salvation. Second, what is God's perspective? Or the third, actually. I had the first was that God desires it. Second, that all men be saved. And the third, what's the third aspect?

You want me to answer? Yes, I want you to answer that. No, I want you, because we're now there. We're there. So what is it, Mike? It's interesting, the full knowledge of the truth. Yes. And the issue is, what's the truth? Which we'll get to. Well, I'm going to get to that. So I'm going to break it down. Can an unsaved person understand the full knowledge of truth? Unsaved? Unsaved.

No. No, and I went to 1 Corinthians 1.18, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. So to an unbeliever, they don't know the full knowledge of truth.

You have to have some knowledge to come to salvation, that you're a sinner and that you need a savior. Minimum knowledge, just that part. It's great if we have a lot more. If you're led with the identification truths and all that, it's wonderful. Salvation is as simple as a child to understand. And then, so you have to have some knowledge. But then we're going to get to, well, I also said, from verse 4, God's desire for all men to be saved and then come to the knowledge of truth.

The Greek word for come is the aorist tense, active, and infinitive voice. You know what the infinitive mood is? You know what that means in the Greek? It means infinitive mood means an action that has a purpose. So this is a purpose. God's intent or purpose is that the believer come to the knowledge of truth. So his purpose is for us to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. So that's what he desires, and that's what the purpose of it is, to come to the knowledge of truth. Salvation and then to knowledge.

So now the next one is, what does knowledge mean? I'm going to break it down as we go. What does knowledge mean? What's the word? For knowledge. Yeah. It is epigenesis. I never pronounce it. So my favorite, whenever we do this. Look it up in Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Yeah, I got to figure that out. Let's see what the English translation.

So Merriam, the fact or condition of being aware of something, the range of one's information or understanding, the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning, cognition. So the fact of cognition or having information or being learned. Those weren't bad, as far as maybe definition of what knowledge is. So the Greek word is epiknosis, advanced or full knowledge.

So this isn't just a sort of, kind of, know it. This is full knowledge. So he's desiring you to have the full knowledge. Full understanding. All of it. He wants you to know all of this. So it's an important word. Yeah, go ahead, Mike. Another way to look at this word with the epi on the front is it's a meaningful knowledge. Yeah. Again, it's not a superficial knowledge. This is you know it. This isn't just something you kind of read by and we'll kind of get this. It's not just factual. Yeah. It's more than that.

In New Testament, it's always used in knowledge of things ethical and divine, and it's never ascribed to God, is kind of another one. So, reiterating, God's desire is not satisfied merely with the salvation of men. God's desire is that all come to the knowledge of the truth. So, next one, what is truth?

You're supposed to know it. Jesus Christ, okay. Knowledge of truth. Any others? Silence. Looking unto Jesus. Okay. You basically hit it. The Lord Jesus said, I'm the way. Actually, there wasn't a definite article there. He said, I'm way, I am truth, and I am life. which is John 14, 6. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me. But I also, John 1, 17, for the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. So truth is realized through Jesus Christ. So your answer is correct. Truth is synonymous with Jesus Christ. Grace and truth were realized through him.

John 18, 37. Therefore Pilate said to him, so you're a king. Jesus answered, you say correctly that I'm king. For this I've been born, and for this I've come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. So he was to testify of the truth, which is basically a manifestation of himself and God. That's truth.

And so God's desire is the salvation, and then I say the maturity of all men, growing in the grace and knowledge, 2 Peter 3.18, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because as you do that, you come to the knowledge of truth, because truth is realized through Christ. So, the question I also have, does God force us in either salvation or in the knowledge of truth? Does he force us? No. No. No, in salvation he doesn't force us.

I think, as we were talking last week, the Holy Spirit is working on every single human being. Every single human being. The unbelievers reject what the Holy Spirit is providing or directing. They reject it. But they're working on everyone, because remember, what's God's desire? all men come to salvation. So if that's it, does he just leave you out there as an unbeliever? Just rando? He's got to be the Holy Spirit working on every single human being. But they are willfully rejecting what the Holy Spirit is bringing to them, until there's such a time that he convinces them of the truth, and then by faith they believe.

I think too that Maybe put it this way, if I, like when I met Donna, and I got to like her a little bit, I wanted to find out everything I could about her. And the only way I could do that was to hang out with her and be with her all the time so I could learn who she was. And I think that through God's word, is the revelation of the Lord Jesus to us of who He is. And that's where the motivation is, as opposed to being in a law-based system where they are believers, but they've been taught that they have to continue to do something to be more pleasing to this one that they call their Savior, but they don't really know Him. They don't know that He's a God of love and mercy, and that in their mind, He's a God of Retribution, really, if they don't perform.

Yeah. You know, and a couple of things. Actually, there's one song, I forget, I think it's Olivia Lane, it's not Who I Thought You Were. Yeah. And she thought, in her song, expresses, I thought you were a guy with a big stick. God was a big stick and hated me. And I wasn't good enough. And thankfully, you're not who I thought you were.

And I think a lot of people have that. And it's when you suddenly start realizing that he desires you. And he loves you. And you don't have to change anything about yourself. to come to salvation. Joanne Lockwood is a great example of this. If you ask everybody that knew her, do you think she loved the Lord? It's a knockdown. Why? Because she knew Him.

I think the other thing is, and we've talked about this a bunch, without the identification truths, I think you have one leg tied and one arm tied. You're always struggling with the flesh, not knowing why, trying to improve it, trying to think you can make yourself better. All those things are hamstringing you to growth and maturity. Unfortunately, and the Lord's chosen that, but not everybody knows that you're crucified. Old man taking that. You're now, God sees you in Christ. That's who he sees. And if you understand that, that frees you up immensely. You don't have to worry about all the blemishes that you have on you. Well, and speaking of freedom, I love that analogy because, you know, thinking of like Romans 8, 29, you know, he wants to conform us to his image, but he can't do that if you're not a believer. Oh yeah. You can't come to the knowledge of him the meaningful knowledge of him, unless you're through the gate, right? Well, yeah, that's what I was saying, for foolishness. It's foolish to an unbeliever.

His goal doesn't stop at the salvation. His goal doesn't stop right there. But he can't do it until that happens, right? Right, and that's why I mean, this is an important thing. That's why I'm jumping to it all. It's salvation first, but he wants more than that. And that's why he's stressing God's desire. This is his desire. This is the God of the universe desiring this. He wants salvation, number one. That's first.

But the second is he wants you to grow in the knowledge of truth. What is truth? Truth is Jesus Christ. So his desire is for you not only to be saved, that's great, but it's to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that's not only that, it's of God.

I've been looking at Matthew 11, 27, all things have been entrusted to me by my father. No one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son desires to reveal him, which is everybody. So it's a reciprocation of love. But he's expressing that to everyone. Right. And again, that's again what I keep harping back. His desire is everybody's. So there's not a human being out there that the Holy Spirit isn't working on. There's not one. Because God desires everyone to come to the knowledge. He doesn't want anyone to perish.

And that's kind of the astounding thing is that people have rejected that. But I don't have to look in the mirror. How long did I reject it? You know, until the Holy Spirit made it abundantly clear. And I, by faith, believed. But he's working on every single human being. Think about that. So when you go up to talk to somebody, the Holy Spirit's already working on them. You know, and that, you know, and he brings in situations and this, but every single human being is being worked on.

So you don't have to worry, like, if I'm going to bring it to Fred, you know, well, guess what? God puts you two together. Spirit's already working on Fred. Maybe he's actively rejecting it and will always reject it. But God's working on it. Maybe he's working on you. And he's right. Well, this is what I always say.

We've gotten into this before, you know, it's the finger pointing. Like I'm here to, I think when you said you were in early Christian, you were going and you're going down there and telling the right people wrong. And I always say, God may not be for salvation for those people, but he got three fingers working on you, Mike. When you're doing this and you're pointing, there are three fingers working. So maybe you think you're their witness. That's why I lost one. Yeah, that's right. You're only half point now. God's always working on Mike. Yeah, I know. I know. We'll get started. But I mean, that's it. He used to say that it's the wrong thing.

No, God was working on you that day. And God uses all things, remember that, all things. And you think you're there to do something, well, God may have you there to work on you. I think that's one of the things that we learn as we As God puts this desire to know Christ in us, we begin to find out that God doesn't work on a basis of what we know in the world. He works totally different than that, and that's what makes it hard. He's a gracious God. He's not vindictive. Harsh. How does Grace work?

I think it was this morning's Hungry Heart. I think it was on that very topic, I think, about worldly things. It's kind of like, what's that song? grow faintly dim in the light of, you know, I think I was saying that when I was like, you know, when we start focusing on him, all this worldly stuff falls away. Yeah. And, and, but you're focusing on him and worldly things disappear.

Um, so anyway, self knowledge of the truth, Jesus Christ is truth. So as you know him, you know, truth. And that's, you know, grace and truth were realized through him. And as you know him, who do you know also? The father. And then as we do, we get to be conformed. Because we are, his life, his very life is in us. And as we understand who he is, we understand who we are. And that's a critical issue.

And I think, again, from the identification truths, I think if you don't know that, you're struggling. You're always, why am I? And I was there until the identification truths. I said I had the flat forehead, hitting the wall so many times with J.I. Packard and knowing God or all these things to do. And it's like, no, that is not it. It is coming to know Jesus Christ. That's where trials come in. A lot of times we get into situations where God couldn't be in this. He's in everything. He uses all things. When I fall on my face, He uses that. So, all right, let's go on to question four, unless you have something else on this. What does the word one before the word God tell us about salvation? So in Paul and Timothy's time, what was the contemporary conclusion about God? Was there only one God at this time? Yeah. Which one was it?

Ephesus or Corinth with Artemis? Athens. Was it Athens? Ephesus. I think it was Ephesus. Yeah. They have a temple for Artemis. And then all these different gods went into a different town. There was a different god. They ended up burning their books. Well, some of them, yes. Oh, you don't want to go to Florida then.

So, you know, the contemporary time with Paul and Timothy's time, the current thought at the time was a conscious of many saviors. In contrast to these, Paul emphasized the uniqueness of the Savior and God worshipped by Christians. The oneness of God has a bearing on the practical question of man's salvation.

This is a question. What if there were many gods? How would that work? I can tell you how it works. It's a Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has God somewhere hidden. Then they have Jesus's mother. And so she's really important because he's a Jewish mom and she always has the ear of the son. And then they have all of these, what they call patron saints. And each one of them has to do a specific problem that you have. And if, you know, if I have this problem and I pray to the saint, that saint will intercede for me and I'll get what I wish.

It's the same program. Yeah. It's just idol worship. Yeah. We could say that if there's many gods, there are many truths as well. Exactly, that's right. Truth was realized through who? Jesus Christ. The other is, how does that work in salvation, if there are many gods?

Probably many different requirements. Yeah, I mean, today I'm going to get salvation from God B. Well, he only requires that I pray once a month, and that's all he required. But I get kind of tired with him, so I'm going to go for salvation in God C. Because God C, he really has a good program. All you have to do is sleep eight hours a day. What are the requirements of multi-gods? And how do they conflict? If you have salvation in one, does that mean there are many heavens or places where these gods reside? And then how do you come to a meaningful knowledge?

Yeah. I mean, you know, so they, all these, you know, like I said, the Garden of Artemis and some others that were called that, you know, and it's like, okay, so is there a salvation in that, in Artemis? I don't really know. all about Artemis, that's just one I had thought about. What are the requirements? Is that just worship? I don't think there's salvation, I think it was just, you come and bring your tithes and your food and you know.

That's the same thing with Caesar, he was a god. Yeah, so again, Paul is emphasizing one way. And you know, this is where you get into, that's not fair, there's only one way? You know, there's one way. And truth is realized through one person, Jesus Christ. And so Paul's being real specific here as to it's one, there's one God. He's now slaying all the other gods that the believers here were maybe subject to.

And think about that. Think about if you were in a town, Ephesus with Artemis, and Paul comes to town and says, no, there's only one God. How do you think that was received? No, not really. Yeah, that's why he was beaten. So, you know, contemporary, I've put in contemporary terms for him, you know, he's now saying there's one God. How is that received?

And Timothy, you go and tell people there's one God. See, and I think that the Jews were a one God people. Yeah, Jews. But the problem was, like with the Apostle Paul, he didn't realize that the Messiah was also God and was a man and had come to save us. Met him on the road. That's right. And it's personal. Who are you? He said, I'm the one you're persecuting. Yeah. Now, so again, I was just going to say, almost everywhere you look in the New Testament, God is preceded by the definite article, the God, identifying him as unique and individual.

And just thinking about that, the fact, you know, compared to the seven billion little gods that we have running around the world today, everyone's seeking their own best interest. I mean, what peace is there in knowing that there's one god and knowing that we have peace with him? And that there's not another pantheon of gods and goddesses who are out to get us or conflict with this god. We have incredible peace. you know, into one true God. We have peace, but I also think when you say that, I think of how does the flesh react to knowing only one God?

Does the flesh like the thought of many gods and all sorts of... Well, we have the same attitude that Pharaoh had. Well, who is he? I'm Pharaoh. Well, but I mean, does the flesh like the thought of one God and people knowing that there's one God? That's why we have a million different, as you said, seven billion gods. The flesh doesn't want you anywhere near this truth. Because he knows that is the one thing. Oh, shoot. We're way late. Yeah.

So Paul emphasizing this one God, again, with all the people who live there, they're going, what do you mean? I'm over here. I've been worshiping and throwing my money and my whatever over here for the last 40 years. You're telling me that I've been wasting my time? So again, we have to put it in perspective. You know, this is a major, a major thing that he is telling these people.

So anyway, here's leaving on the music. So we're hearing the music. It's time to pray. So Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you again for this time. We thank you again just for your word. And we just are so just moved by the thought that you desire that all men, all people, come to know your son.

And not only that for salvation. That's just the gateway. That's in where you placed into your son. But that's not where you want us to reside only, or just in that one knowledge. Through the word you're saying, knowledge of truth, the full knowledge of Jesus Christ and who he is. And as we know your son, Father, we get to know you, and we get to know who we are in Christ. And what a joy that is, realizing where you've placed us. You've placed us into your son.

Again, we just thank you for all these truths that you have, and we just thank you for your plans of salvation, saved by grace through faith. What a plan that is. Simple, non-meritorious act of faith, and then we have an eternal relationship, face-to-face, with you. We just can't thank you enough for all that you do for us, moment by moment. We just thank you for this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.