************ Sermon on 1 Timothy 2:3-6 ************
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on June 14, 1998
1 Timothy 2
1 Timothy 2:3-6
"Jesus Gave Himself as a Ransom"
I Man's Need for Salvation
A I always stand amazed at what Scripture tells us about life in the Garden of Eden. There, way back at the beginning of human history, man lived with God, glorified God, and fully enjoyed God. Scripture presents a picture of God "walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Gen 3:8) as a normal occurrence.
Just as amazing is the picture Scripture draws of life in the new heaven and new earth. There,
(Rev 21:3) ... the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
I stand amazed at this because of the huge difference between God and man, the divine and human, the supernatural and natural. God is the almighty Creator; man is but one of the works of His hand. God is infinite and eternal; man is but a finite creature bound by space and time. God is so mighty, so glorious, so holy; how can mere man stand and live in His presence?
We have to remember, though, that man is made in the "image of God," that God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Gen 1:26,27; 2:7). Nothing else in all creation has this privilege. On this account, man is no stranger to God's presence and glory.
B In spite of this, Scripture also presents to us a picture of a mankind who dares not live in God's presence, of a mankind who is estranged from God, of a mankind who fears God and hides from God. There is a great separation between man and God.
This yawning chasm between God and man exists because of only one reason: man's fall into sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, the human nature was so corrupted that man now produces every sort of sin against God:
Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin.
"First the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood."
"Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait he licks it, tasting the fresh, frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the Arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf doesn't notice the razor sharp sting of the naked blade on his tongue nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more -- until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!"
This is what sin is like in the life of man – man craves more and more until he is consumed by his own lusts and desires.
The result of man's sinful lusts and desires?: unholy man cannot and dares not look upon the holy God; and, man no longer wishes to approach God or have communion with Him.
C Yet, tonight ours is the privilege of having communion with God at the Lord's Table. Tonight, we can eat the bread and drink the wine of the Lord's Supper. How is this possible? On what basis can we sinful, unholy creatures have this blessed fellowship with God?
II A Seeking and a Saving God
A We have this privilege and opportunity because our God is a seeking and a saving God. He is
(1 Tim 2:3-4) ... God our Savior, (4) who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Or, as Peter puts it,
(2 Pt 3:9) He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
The message of Scripture is that God does not want any man to perish. God takes no pleasure in the death of wicked men – rather, He waits for the wicked to turn from their ways and live. Through the prophet Ezekiel the Lord asks,
(Ezek 18:23) Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? ... Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
Our God is a covenanting God. Just as a parent cannot renounce a wayward son or daughter so the Lord cannot abandon His sinful people. Rather, He loves His people, He seeks them out, He wants to save them from their sins.
Over and over again this theme is sounded forth in Scripture: that our God is a seeking and a saving God. In the Garden, when man first fell into sin, then already God came seeking: "Where are you?" He called to Adam (Gen 3:9). He is a Father looking and waiting for a lost son to come home. He is a Shepherd who leaves the 99 in order to search for the one lost sheep.
It is because God seeks the salvation of all and the destruction of none that He commands the church to make redemptive or kingdom "requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving" for everyone (1 Tim 2:1). It is only because God wants to seek out and save all men that the church can offer these sort of prayers.
B Yet, because of sin, people resist this seeking and saving action of God. They are so lost in sin, so consumed by their lusts, that they resist God's pursuit. Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden: when God comes seeking they go hiding.
Topic: God
Subtopic: Flee From
Index:
Date: 6/1998.101
Title: Running from the wrong person
Several years ago a woman was driving home when she noticed a huge truck behind her that was driving uncomfortably close. She stepped on the gas to gain some distance from the truck, but when she sped up, the truck did too. The faster she drove, the faster the truck did.
Now scared, she exited the freeway. But the truck stayed with her. The woman then turned up a main street, hoping to lose her pursuer in traffic. But the truck ran a red light and continued the chase.
Reaching the point of panic, the woman whipped her car into a service station and bolted out of her car screaming for help. The truck driver sprang from his truck and ran toward her car. Yanking open the back door, the driver pulled out a man hidden in the back seat.
The woman was running from the wrong person. From his high vantage point, the truck driver had spotted a would-be rapist in the woman's car. The chase was not his effort to hurt her but to save her even at the cost of his own safety. Likewise, many people run from God, fearing what He might do to them. But His plans are for good, not evil – to rescue us from all our sins.
III The Mediator
A God, then, reaches down for man. And man, he hides or flees from God.
How can the two get together? Who can bridge that chasm, that gulf, between man and God?
The only solution is a Mediator. You all know what our text says:
(1 Tim 2:5-6) For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, (6) who gave himself as a ransom for all men ...
Yes, Jesus is the Mediator. He is the one in-between God and man. He is the God-man: being human He represents man before God; being divine He represents God before man.
B As Mediator, what does Jesus do to bring God and man together? What does He do so that man can again fellowship with God, live with Him, and enjoy Him forever? Jesus, says our text, "gave himself as a ransom for all men" (vs 6a).
Jesus gave Himself as a "ransom." We read that word "ransom" in the newspaper when someone has been kidnaped. "The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of $200,000.00. If they don't get it, they will kill the banker's daughter," says the news report.
A ransom is the price to be paid to set a prisoner free – usually a prisoner who is doomed to die unless it is paid. In return for the payment of the ransom, the captive receives both life and freedom.
Because of sin, my brothers and sisters, we are doomed to die unless the ransom is paid. The ransom, the price, paid by Jesus Christ is His blood shed upon the cross. Christ's death is an "exchange price" on behalf of and in the place of those who believe in Him. In our place He went to the cross, suffered its death and shame, and was buried in a grave.
Topic: Christ
Subtopic: Bore the Sins of Many
Index: 3362
Date: 6/1998.101
Title: Grenade in Viet Nam
During the Viet Nam war a hand grenade was thrown onto a truck full of American soldiers. Just before it exploded, one of the soldiers threw himself on the bomb. He caught all the fury of the bomb in his own body, and he was killed. This soldier gave his life as a ransom for his fellow soldiers.
Upon the cross Jesus caught all the fury of God against our sin. He gave Himself as a ransom.
The Good News of the Gospel is that since Christ Jesus has given His life as a ransom for those who believe in Him we can again fellowship with God, live with Him, and enjoy Him forever.
Conclusion
Tonight ours is the privilege to have communion with God. Tonight we can eat the bread and drink the wine of the Lord's Supper. Do you know what this means? It means that we can have a taste of the fellowship man once enjoyed with God in the Garden of Eden; and, we can have a foretaste of the fellowship that we will enjoy with God in the new heaven and new earth.