Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / God’s Desire, Man’s Debt, Christ’s Payment │ Msg 510 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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God’s Desire, Man’s Debt, Christ’s Payment │ Msg 510 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: It sounds pretty blunt to say it this way, but
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Speaker 1: we're living in a pluralistic post modern era where people
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Speaker 1: don't really care who are what your God is. As
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Speaker 1: long as you're sincere, that's the key word. Just as
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Speaker 1: long as you're sincere. I know a great Hebrew word
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Speaker 1: for that way of thinking called whsh It does matter
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Speaker 1: in whom you believe. Let's be very very clear about that.
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Speaker 1: Through Jesus Christ we came to know the Living God.
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Speaker 1: Salvation is by faith alone, through Christ alone. Jesus is
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Speaker 1: why we have peace in our hearts. Jesus is the
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Speaker 1: reason we're ready to live, and also, when necessary, we're
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Speaker 1: ready to die. Jesus is why we can worship the
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Speaker 1: Living God. Now is that politically correct, not at all,
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Speaker 1: But it is biblically accurate, and that's what matters. The
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ is the only mediator between the Holy
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Speaker 1: God and sinful people. Make no mistake, the means of
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Speaker 1: salvation is narrow. Jesus said that the gate is small
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Speaker 1: and the way is narrow that leads to life. Clearly,
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Speaker 1: Jesus is that way. Come to think of it. The
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Speaker 1: fact that there is a way to God at all
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Speaker 1: is because of his amazing grace.
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Speaker 2: I like how the apostle Paul expressed.
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Speaker 1: It in One Timothy chapter two, verses three through seven.
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Speaker 1: Once again, that's One Timothy chapter two, beginning with verse three.
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Speaker 1: This is good and acceptable in the sight of God,
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Speaker 1: our Savior, who desires all men to be said and
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Speaker 1: to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there
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Speaker 1: is one God and one mediator also between God and men,
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Speaker 1: the man Christ, Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom
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Speaker 1: for all the testimony given at the proper time. For
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Speaker 1: this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I
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Speaker 1: am telling the truth.
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Speaker 2: I am not lying.
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Speaker 1: As a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.
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Speaker 1: In a world that is in continued conflict and dealing
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Speaker 1: with injustice, the role of a mediator is terribly important.
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Speaker 1: Take for example, when labor and management cannot come to
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Speaker 1: terms with one another, there is the need for some
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Speaker 1: kind of arbitrator to come in and to be a
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Speaker 1: mediator between the opposing parties. I remember years ago, when
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Speaker 1: I was working my way through school at a machine shop.
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Speaker 1: There came the threat of a strike, and we were
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Speaker 1: faced as members of a union with the battle to
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Speaker 1: come to terms and to negotiate the dealings with management.
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Speaker 1: And I will never forget how threatening it got, and
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Speaker 1: the longer we spent waiting for the mediator to come
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Speaker 1: and help bridge the gap, the further apart we became.
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Speaker 1: When this arbiter came in. It was just a matter
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Speaker 1: of really of hours before changes came and the sides
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Speaker 1: were brought together. This is true not only in a
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Speaker 1: steel mill, but it's true in a bus driver's union
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Speaker 1: as well. It's also true in the National Football League.
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Speaker 1: When management and labor can't get together, there needs to
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Speaker 1: be someone who serves as a go between. I was
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Speaker 1: watching the game this afternoon, and I thought the referees
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Speaker 1: constantly a meet between two opposing parties. Frequently one side
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Speaker 1: won't agree with the decision. But if it weren't for
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Speaker 1: the mediator, the game would turn into absolute chaos. And
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Speaker 1: it's doubtful that any game would be ended without somebody
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Speaker 1: murdering somebody else. What's true on this earth is especially
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Speaker 1: true between Earth and Heaven. Because we are so terribly,
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Speaker 1: terribly depraved and sinful, and because God is on the
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Speaker 1: opposite extremes, so absolutely holy, imperfect, the two parties could
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Speaker 1: never come together if there were not a mediator, an arbiter,
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Speaker 1: someone to stand as a go between, so that there
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Speaker 1: might be an acceptance, a negotiation drawing together of the
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Speaker 1: two sides.
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Speaker 2: You know, this is not a new truth. It goes
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Speaker 2: way back to the days of the patriarchs. I was
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Speaker 2: interested in finding.
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Speaker 1: In Job chapter eight, an accusation brought against the man
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Speaker 1: who was suffering. You remember, Job, covered from head to
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Speaker 1: toe with sores and really unable to go on physically.
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Speaker 1: He lost everything, and then on top of all of that,
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Speaker 1: he lost his health. And then on top of that,
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Speaker 1: some alleged friends came and instead of counseling, they accused
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Speaker 1: you have maybe had alleged friends do that with you too,
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Speaker 1: when you really needed counsel you were given accusation. Job
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Speaker 1: had that happened to him, And one of the men
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Speaker 1: who accused him was a man named Bill Dad. Chapter eight,
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Speaker 1: verse one of the book entitled Job, Bill Dad speaks
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Speaker 1: to the suffering man Job, and he says, in verse two,
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Speaker 1: how long will you say these things? And the words
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Speaker 1: of your mouth be a mighty one wind? Does God
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Speaker 1: pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
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Speaker 1: Rhetorical questions, The answer is obvious. If your son sinned
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Speaker 1: against him and he delivered them into the power of
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Speaker 1: their transgressions. If you would seek God and implore the
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Speaker 1: compassion of the Almighty, if you are pure and upright,
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Speaker 1: surely now he would rouse himself for you and restore
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Speaker 1: your righteous estate. The point is, Job, you're in sin,
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Speaker 1: and the suffering that you're experiencing has come as a
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Speaker 1: direct result of your iniquity. Now, if you'd clean up
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Speaker 1: your life, God would come back on your side, and
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Speaker 1: he'd wipe away the sores, and he'd bring back your health.
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Speaker 1: Job is sort of at wits end Verse twenty. Bill
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Speaker 1: Dad sort of concludes his.
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Speaker 2: His searing rebuke.
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Speaker 1: Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, implied,
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Speaker 1: and you are not such a man. Nor will he
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Speaker 1: support the evildoers implied, and you're one of them. So
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Speaker 1: Job Verse one of chapter nine answers Bill Dad. Notice
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Speaker 1: how the conversation takes place. He responds, in truth, I
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Speaker 1: know that this is so, But how can a man
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Speaker 1: be in the.
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Speaker 2: Right before God? Bill Dad?
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Speaker 1: You've pointed out the obvious. There is, of course sin
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Speaker 1: in my past. There is in my life a marked iniquity?
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Speaker 2: What can I do? How can I be right before God?
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Speaker 2: Verse three?
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Speaker 1: If one wished to dispute with God, he could not
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Speaker 1: answer him once in a thousand times. Because God is
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Speaker 1: wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has defied.
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Speaker 2: Him without harm?
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Speaker 1: There's a name for people who stand toe to toe
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Speaker 1: against God.
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Speaker 2: Victim. You don't live to tell the story.
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Speaker 1: If you stand against God in your so called righteousness,
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Speaker 1: you don't live through the experience. Job is saying here
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Speaker 1: it is God who removes mountains. They know not how
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Speaker 1: when he overturns them in his anger. Now, the chapter
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Speaker 1: continues as Job pleads his case before Bildad, his accuser.
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Speaker 1: Down in verse thirty two, he says, God is not
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Speaker 1: a man, that I may am a man as I am,
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Speaker 1: that I may answer him.
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Speaker 2: That we may go to court together. See Job is.
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Speaker 1: Saying, if I were in conflict with another individual on
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Speaker 1: this earth, I could go to court with him, and
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Speaker 1: if no other way were possible, we could settle in court.
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Speaker 1: The God isn't a mann't allow me that audience to
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Speaker 1: come before him. Next verse, there is no umpire between us.
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Speaker 2: Yakhak. The Hebrew word is a verb that means to decide,
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Speaker 2: to prove, to convince, and even it means to reason
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Speaker 2: or argue. I have no umpire.
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Speaker 1: Who could argue my case before my God? Would that
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Speaker 1: there were an umpire between us? Would that there were
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Speaker 1: a mediator, a go between the old King James calls
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Speaker 1: it a daysman. Would that there were someone to stand
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Speaker 1: between the Holy God and unholy man and give me
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Speaker 1: a chance to have my voice heard? Would that there
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Speaker 1: were such a one? The Amplified Bible says, there is
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Speaker 1: no umpire between us, who may lay his hand upon
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Speaker 1: us both? Would that there were exclamation point? Would that
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Speaker 1: there were? Now leaving that scene way back in the
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Speaker 1: days of the Old Testament, turned to Hebrews chapter five.
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Speaker 1: In the intervening period of centuries, God established a whole
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Speaker 1: order of umpires. He set in motion a plan whereby
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Speaker 1: unholy men and women could make contact with and have
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Speaker 1: their case represented before a holy God. This order was
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Speaker 1: called the priesthood Hebrews five. The writer in the first
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Speaker 1: four verses does a beautiful job of describing the role
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Speaker 1: of the of the priest the umpire. It's a splendid
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Speaker 1: summary of the priestly scene for every high priest taken
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Speaker 1: from among men is appointed on behalf of men in
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Speaker 1: things pertaining to God. It isn't that wonderful we now
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Speaker 1: have that, says the writer, in order to offer both
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Speaker 1: gifts and sacrifices for sins. Job longed for such a person,
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Speaker 1: He said, would that there were such a one. This
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Speaker 1: writer says, there is such a one. There is a priest.
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Speaker 1: There are priests who represent our case before God.
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Speaker 2: But notice verse two. They have limitations.
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Speaker 1: They can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, because
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Speaker 1: every priest is also beset with weaknesses, and because of it,
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Speaker 1: he the priest himself, is obligated to offer sacrifices for
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Speaker 1: his own sins.
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Speaker 2: As well as for the people.
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Speaker 1: So for himself he must come before God, and being
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Speaker 1: a sinner himself, he must represent his own needs. And
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Speaker 1: no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it
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Speaker 1: when he is called by God, even as Eron was.
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Speaker 1: You know the story. We've looked at length into the
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Speaker 1: book of Hebrews. Now the writer is saying, in answer
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Speaker 1: to job Oh, that there were someone to stand between us.
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Speaker 1: The writer says, there is someone, And in the midst
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Speaker 1: of it, he admits that even the priests and this
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Speaker 1: earth have their limitations. And that's why the major subject
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Speaker 1: of the whole letter to the Hebrews is the Great
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Speaker 1: High Priest Christ Jesus, who is not beset with weaknesses,
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Speaker 1: who is not marked by sin, who comes as the
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Speaker 1: perfect umpire, the perfect go between see the previous chapter,
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Speaker 1: verse fourteen of chapter four. Since then we have a
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Speaker 1: great high priest who's passed through the heavens. Then he
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Speaker 1: identifies of Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold
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Speaker 1: fast our confession.
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Speaker 2: We don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with
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Speaker 2: our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all
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Speaker 2: things as we are, yet without sin. Now that's a
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Speaker 2: great truth.
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Speaker 1: And our lips tend to move when we read a
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Speaker 1: verse like that, because it's so familiar to us. This
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Speaker 1: is basic foundational information that every child of God gives
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Speaker 1: thanks for because it is this truth that drew us
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Speaker 1: to God. If it were not for the presence of
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Speaker 1: the Great High Priest Jesus Christ, we would have no hope,
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Speaker 1: no mercy, no ground of negotiation, no contact, no bridge.
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Speaker 2: But because Christ.
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Speaker 1: Has become the high priest between sinful mankind and Holy God,
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Speaker 1: we now have a point of contact. There is now
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Speaker 1: a bridge built, there's now a channel of hope. Now
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Speaker 1: it's that very subject that the apostle Paul directs his
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Speaker 1: attention to in the second chapter of the First Timothy.
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Speaker 1: And as we work our way through One Timothy, we've
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Speaker 1: come to this, this vignette of doctrinal truth that really
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Speaker 1: I think Paul slips into almost inadvertently, of course, led
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Speaker 1: by the spirit of God. But since it isn't a
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Speaker 1: major part of the context, at least from the beginning
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Speaker 1: to the end of the chapter, it doesn't seem to be.
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Speaker 1: It's as though Paul, slipping into it doesn't want to
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Speaker 1: leave it until he covers it thoroughly enough to go on.
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Speaker 2: I love that about the writings of Paul.
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Speaker 1: He never leaves a subject that is significant without giving
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Speaker 1: enough information to give the reader of thoughts to hang
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Speaker 1: on to as he moves through that letter. And here's
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Speaker 1: a case in point. What we have in chapter two
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Speaker 1: of One Timothy is a whole context on prayer. That
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Speaker 1: is the context of the passage you see in verse one,
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Speaker 1: he's on his knees before Young Timothy, as it were,
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Speaker 1: he's saying, I would first of all Timothy as a pastor,
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Speaker 1: that you be a good preacher. No, he doesn't say that,
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Speaker 1: and you be a good counselor, doesn't say that. I
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Speaker 1: would that, first of all, you be a person who
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Speaker 1: highlights the importance of evangelism.
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Speaker 2: Doesn't say that.
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Speaker 1: He says, first and foremost, I urge you that you
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Speaker 1: would be a man of prayer, that there be entreaties
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Speaker 1: and prayers and petitions and thanksgivings made on behalf. I
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Speaker 1: hope you have your pencil out, because I want you
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Speaker 1: to circle a word that you use no less than
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Speaker 1: four times in the first six verses, and it's the
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Speaker 1: next word we're getting ready to read on behalf of
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Speaker 1: all men, all mankind, not all male engender. But this
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Speaker 1: is the word anthropos from which we get the word anthropology.
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Speaker 1: I would, Timothy, that you, when you pray, pray on
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Speaker 1: behalf of all mankind. The context is a context of prayer.
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Speaker 1: This word all becomes a terribly significant term. You'll see
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Speaker 1: it mentioned in verse one, all mankind, verse two for
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Speaker 1: the kings and all in authority. There it is again
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Speaker 1: circle it. Verse four, God desires all.
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Speaker 2: Men to be saved.
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Speaker 1: Circle it there verse six, who gave himself a ransom
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Speaker 1: for all. There it is again. Now let's turn our
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Speaker 1: attention from the context to the motive behind Paul's statement.
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Speaker 1: Why would he encourage Timothy to pray for all mankind,
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Speaker 1: for all who are in authority verse two? Well, initially
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Speaker 1: in order that we may lead a quiet, tranquil life
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Speaker 1: in godliness and dignity. There's an immediate motive, but the
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Speaker 1: ultimate motive is revealed in verse four. This is good
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Speaker 1: and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior, who
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Speaker 1: desires all men to be saved. The word again is
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Speaker 1: anthropos all mankind. The heart of God is revealed in
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Speaker 1: verse four. The keyword is desires. It's the same thought
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Speaker 1: as appears in Second Peter chapter three, verse nine. If
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Speaker 1: you want to turn, you may. If not, you can
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Speaker 1: just hear the familiar words. The Lord is not slow
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Speaker 1: about his promise, as some count slowness, but his patient
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Speaker 1: toward you. Not wishing there's the keyword, for any to perish,
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Speaker 1: but for all to come to repentance. God wishes that
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Speaker 1: none would perish, but that all would come to repentance.
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Speaker 1: Second Peter three nine. It's the same thought here. God
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Speaker 1: desires that all men be saved and come to a
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Speaker 1: knowledge of the truth. That's why we are to pray
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Speaker 1: for all mankind. The word desires could better be rendered wishes,
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Speaker 1: and it is so rendered in verse nine of two
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Speaker 1: Peter Chapter three. God wishes that all would be saved
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Speaker 1: and would come to a knowledge of the truth. One
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Speaker 1: man writes these words well meaning. The meaning of the
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Speaker 1: term desires is totally void of the idea of determination
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Speaker 1: or fixity. The basic meaning floats in the area of
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Speaker 1: something a person would like to see happen, hence a longing,
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Speaker 1: a craving wishing for something to take place. It is
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Speaker 1: an expression of the sympathetic heart of God, compassionately reaching
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Speaker 1: out to all those who continue to rebel in Adam,
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Speaker 1: Cynthia and I have taught our children all through the
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Speaker 1: young and adolescent lives that what they own they should
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Speaker 1: take care of. We have a wish that they would
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Speaker 1: be responsible adults when they reach the age of adulthood
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Speaker 1: and move off on their own.
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Speaker 2: That's our wish.
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Speaker 1: We have no way of determining that that will happen,
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Speaker 1: because then they move into the realm of their own
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Speaker 1: lives to live their own lives. Apart from our oversight
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Speaker 1: but our wish is that they would be responsible adults.
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Speaker 1: When our daughter in law told us that she was
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Speaker 1: going to have a baby in December of nineteen eighty three,
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Speaker 1: Cynthia and I quietly and secretly wished it would be
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Speaker 1: a little.
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Speaker 2: Boy, but we didn't say anything.
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Speaker 1: We got our wish, but we had no way of
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Speaker 1: making it a little boy, or determining it, or having
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Speaker 1: any kind of of fixity on causing it to happen.
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Speaker 1: It's the same thought right here. God, seeing the whole world,
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Speaker 1: desires that the whole of humanity come to a knowledge
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Speaker 1: of the truth.
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Speaker 2: He wishes that that would be true. There are some
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Speaker 2: who don't teach this.
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Speaker 1: God wishes that all would be saved, that all would
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Speaker 1: come to a knowledge of the truth. But the fact
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Speaker 1: is only some will Hold your place here and go
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Speaker 1: back to First Corinthians, chapter nine. While we're digging into
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Speaker 1: the subject for a moment, I want you to see
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Speaker 1: that even the apostle Paul writes of such when he
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Speaker 1: talks about his evangelistic style First Corinthians nine, verse nineteen,
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Speaker 1: and following it's over there towards the end of the chapter,
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Speaker 1: First Corinthians nine, though I am free from all men.
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Speaker 1: I have made myself a slave to all, that I
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Speaker 1: might win the more. Note carefully now his goal is
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Speaker 1: to win as many as possible to the knowledge of
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Speaker 1: the Savior, and so he he adapts his lifestyle to
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Speaker 1: fit wherever he may be. To the Jews, I became
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Speaker 1: as a Jew that I might win Jews to those
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Speaker 1: under the law, as under the law, though not being
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Speaker 1: myself under the law, that I might win those under
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Speaker 1: the law. Keep reading to the week I became weak
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Speaker 1: that I might win the week I had become all
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Speaker 1: things to all men, that I might, by all means
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Speaker 1: save all. No realism steps in. Some take a good
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Speaker 1: look at that passage. That's the same thought as Peter
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Speaker 1: is talking about. And Paul is writing to Timothy all
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Speaker 1: things to all men, that by all means.
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Speaker 2: Some might respond. Now back to First Timothy, chapter two.
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Speaker 1: The offer is an unlimited offer. It's a universe versal
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Speaker 1: offer that anyone in this church building, that anyone in
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Speaker 1: any street, or any church building, or any building any
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Speaker 1: place around this vast globe might hear the gospel pray
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Speaker 1: for all because Timothy, at the heart of the gospel
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Speaker 1: is the goal of God that they would all hear
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Speaker 1: that they would all believe, but alas.
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Speaker 2: They will not all believe, only some.
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Speaker 1: He desires, however, that all be saved and come to
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Speaker 1: the knowledge of the truth. Now it's time for us
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Speaker 1: to do a little doctrinal thinking, not that we haven't already,
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Speaker 1: But Paul doesn't leave it right there, to a knowledge
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Speaker 1: of the truth. And when he writes that, he adds
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Speaker 1: in the next couple of verses five and six, some
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Speaker 1: of the truth of the Gospel. It's very foundational, but
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Speaker 1: it's wonderful to dig into it again, marvelous truths that
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Speaker 1: we just hang our thoughts on when we come back
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Speaker 1: to the gospel. Note, there is one God that makes
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Speaker 1: it very, very simple. The people in Paul's day who
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Speaker 1: were the cult of the day were called the Gnostics,
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Speaker 1: and the gnostics taught that there were two gods at
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Speaker 1: odds with one another, and this immediately complicated the message
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Speaker 1: of salvation more than one god. Paul lived in a
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Speaker 1: Roman world, and you who know Roman history know that
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Speaker 1: the Romans were pantheists. There were many gods, Paul says
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Speaker 1: to the Athenians as he walks the streets in Acts seventeen.
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Speaker 1: Luke records it here is a city wholly given to idolatry.
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Speaker 1: And when Paul speaks to these eggheads on the areopagus
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Speaker 1: there at Mars Hill, he says, I see that you're
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Speaker 1: very religious people. There are gods all up and down
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Speaker 1: all of the streets of Athens. And even there's a
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Speaker 1: statue that's given to the unknown God in case you
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Speaker 1: missed one. You've got gods that you haven't even named yet.
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Speaker 1: How complicated it becomes when there are many gods in
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Speaker 1: many mission fields across the seas. In the bush there
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Speaker 1: are people who believe in tribes that there are many
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Speaker 1: gods to placate, many gods to satisfy. Most of them
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Speaker 1: are angry at them, and somehow they must win the
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Speaker 1: favor of the many gods. And it is a it
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Speaker 1: is a maddening, maddening pursuit in life. It's the job
25:41
Speaker 1: of the of the of the gospel messenger to convince
25:48
Speaker 1: the person, through the assistance of the spirit of God,
25:52
Speaker 1: that there is one God.
25:54
Speaker 2: One God of heaven. That simplifies it. That's the truth,
25:59
Speaker 2: one God.
26:01
Speaker 1: And if you'll allow me to skip the mediator for
26:03
Speaker 1: a moment, go further along between God and men. There
26:08
Speaker 1: is a whole humanity, all mankind, one God and all mankind.
26:17
Speaker 2: Separated by this great gulf called sin.
26:23
Speaker 1: And how can the two ever come together? Well, we're
26:28
Speaker 1: back to the umpire. There is one mediator the verse five.
26:33
Speaker 1: There's one God. Don't complicate it. There's a hole of humanity,
26:38
Speaker 1: all of them under sin, all of them born in
26:40
Speaker 1: the same fashion, without hope in themselves. So there is
26:45
Speaker 1: in between one mediator. There's someone to bring the opposing
26:52
Speaker 1: sides together. Now, this mediator must be a unique individual.
26:58
Speaker 1: This mediator must perfectly represent the Godhead and must perfectly
27:03
Speaker 1: represent humanity.
27:06
Speaker 2: There is no other one but Jesus who qualifies.
27:13
Speaker 1: The theologians call this individual the theanthropic person, theos God,
27:19
Speaker 1: anthropos man, the god Man. In other words, it is
27:24
Speaker 1: called the hypostatic union that is occurring in the person
27:29
Speaker 1: of Christ. In him, there are two distinct natures, undiminished
27:35
Speaker 1: deity and true humanity. These two natures are there forever,
27:41
Speaker 1: and they are permanently fixed in Him and in no other.
27:46
Speaker 1: And they are unmixed, unconfused. Listen to John One in
27:51
Speaker 1: the beginning was the word, The word was with God.
27:54
Speaker 1: The word was God, a statement of deity concerning Christ
27:59
Speaker 1: verse fourteen. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
28:04
Speaker 1: and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only
28:07
Speaker 1: begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He
28:10
Speaker 1: is God, He became flesh, the God Man, joined together
28:16
Speaker 1: in one great person forever. You maybe haven't thought about this,
28:20
Speaker 1: But before the incarnation, not a member of the Trinity
28:24
Speaker 1: had a body. But at the time of that birth
28:28
Speaker 1: and the manger for the first time, and from then on,
28:32
Speaker 1: the body that Christ took upon himself was his forever.
28:38
Speaker 1: He is the only visible member of the Trinity. And
28:41
Speaker 1: the visible member of the Trinity is the bridge, the mediator,
28:46
Speaker 1: the goal between between God and man. Now, if you
28:51
Speaker 1: look back in one Timothy two, you see how valuable
28:54
Speaker 1: that is. There is one God verse five, one mediator
28:58
Speaker 1: between God and man, the man and Christ, Jesus, who
29:01
Speaker 1: did what he gave himself. There's voluntary there's a voluntariness
29:09
Speaker 1: in that he gave himself.
29:13
Speaker 3: For all.
29:13
Speaker 1: There's that universal provision. Again, a ransom. Interesting word. At
29:22
Speaker 1: the root of this word, ransom is the Greek term
29:26
Speaker 1: that means to loose or to free someone. Jesus Christ
29:31
Speaker 1: in his death at Calvary, paid the payment that God
29:37
Speaker 1: demanded for sin, and that payment was, of course his
29:43
Speaker 1: own life blood, the perfect.
29:48
Speaker 2: Payment, the only payment that.
29:50
Speaker 1: God would accept. You see how it all ties together.
29:53
Speaker 1: God is holy, God is holy, Man is sinful. In
29:57
Speaker 1: order for God and Man to come together, there must
30:00
Speaker 1: be some kind of bridge built by blood, and this
30:04
Speaker 1: blood must be provided by a unique kind of individual,
30:08
Speaker 1: one who represents God and man. No other person qualifies,
30:12
Speaker 1: no matter how great he or she may be, but
30:14
Speaker 1: the person of Jesus. And by dying on the cross
30:18
Speaker 1: for our sins, he laid out before God the ransom,
30:23
Speaker 1: the payment. He thereby freed us from that which had
30:28
Speaker 1: entrapped us throughout our lives. There is an old song
30:33
Speaker 1: that I began to hum in my study last Thursday,
30:37
Speaker 1: and I couldn't think of the name of it, and
30:39
Speaker 1: I talked about it with a couple of three folks,
30:42
Speaker 1: and we finally found it. I even I asked Margaret
30:46
Speaker 1: to play it in the organ this evening, and you
30:48
Speaker 1: may have heard.
30:49
Speaker 2: It and hummed along with it. It's called Why.
30:53
Speaker 1: It's a song that came out in the mid nineteen fifties.
30:56
Speaker 1: Why did they nail him to Calvary's tree. Why tell
31:02
Speaker 1: me why was he there? Jesus, the helper, the healer,
31:07
Speaker 1: the friend. Why tell me why was he there? Why
31:14
Speaker 1: should he love me, a sinner undone? Why tell me
31:17
Speaker 1: why should he care? I do not merit the love
31:21
Speaker 1: he has shown. Why tell me why should he care?
31:27
Speaker 1: All My iniquities on him were laying. He nailed him
31:33
Speaker 1: all to the tree. Jesus, the debt of my sin
31:40
Speaker 1: fully paid. He paid the ransom for me. Superb doctrine
31:48
Speaker 1: in that song, Jesus, the debt of my sin fully paid.
31:54
Speaker 2: He paid the ransom. Sin kidnapped me and.
31:58
Speaker 1: I was enslaved it, I was stuck, I was lost,
32:06
Speaker 1: and Jesus paid the ransom for me. It's a great
32:12
Speaker 1: verse in Second Corinthians that says he God the Father,
32:17
Speaker 1: made him God the Son, to be sin for us,
32:22
Speaker 1: he who knew no sin, that we might be made
32:26
Speaker 1: the righteousness of God in him. I like the way
32:30
Speaker 1: Ian Thomas has put it.
32:31
Speaker 2: The life that he lived qualified.
32:33
Speaker 1: Him for the death that he died, and the death
32:36
Speaker 1: that he died qualifies.
32:38
Speaker 2: Us for the life that he lived.
32:41
Speaker 1: I agree his perfect life qualified him for a perfect death,
32:46
Speaker 1: and that perfect atonement, that perfect ransom gave me hope,
32:51
Speaker 1: lifted me from the slave market, and has given me
32:54
Speaker 1: new life to live like he lived, and new power
32:58
Speaker 1: that I haven't in myself. Now, what about this great message?
33:07
Speaker 1: Verse seven concludes our thoughts. Verse seven brings the responsibility
33:12
Speaker 1: on our shoulders again. He says, for this very thing,
33:18
Speaker 1: for this message, for this word of hope, for this
33:23
Speaker 1: body of truth, for this gospel I was appointed. Note
33:28
Speaker 1: his rules. There are three of them. A preacher, an apostle.
33:36
Speaker 1: I'm telling the truth. I am not lying. And as
33:38
Speaker 1: a teacher, let's look at each one, just for a moment.
33:42
Speaker 1: The word preacher means a public herald. When a king
33:47
Speaker 1: in those days wanted to get the word out, he
33:50
Speaker 1: didn't run it off on xerox and mail.
33:52
Speaker 2: It to everybody.
33:54
Speaker 1: His xerox, as it were, was a public keroux, a herald,
33:58
Speaker 1: and he would give them message to the herald, and
34:01
Speaker 1: the herald would go through the streets, or would stand
34:04
Speaker 1: on a pinnacle and the city square, and he would
34:07
Speaker 1: announce the famous here ye hear ye message. And the
34:12
Speaker 1: herald didn't originate his message, nor did he alter his message.
34:17
Speaker 2: He got it from the king.
34:18
Speaker 1: The king gave it to him in his own ears,
34:21
Speaker 1: and he stood, as it were, as the King's mouthpiece
34:25
Speaker 1: to the public.
34:26
Speaker 2: That's the word preacher.
34:29
Speaker 1: The preacher doesn't originate, nor does he alter the message
34:33
Speaker 1: of God. He simply publicly proclaims the message. If I
34:38
Speaker 1: understand the word correctly, I believe it is invariably an
34:42
Speaker 1: appeal to the will to believe, to accept, to change,
34:51
Speaker 1: to fix one's life according to God's standard.
34:54
Speaker 2: That's the role of the herald. But that's not the
34:57
Speaker 2: role of the teacher. See. Paul also says, I am
35:01
Speaker 2: an apostle.
35:02
Speaker 1: I'm a teacher. So let's look at the next word.
35:05
Speaker 1: Apostle literally means one sent forth. By the very nature
35:10
Speaker 1: of the term, an apostle was on the move. Apostles
35:16
Speaker 1: didn't simply stay in one locale. They were on the move.
35:19
Speaker 1: They were sent forth. It was disobedient for them to
35:23
Speaker 1: keep it.
35:24
Speaker 2: In one place or one locale. They carried it on.
35:28
Speaker 1: Paul says, I am a keroux, I am an announcer.
35:31
Speaker 1: I am a public proclaimer. I appeal to the will,
35:36
Speaker 1: and so that means I'm on the move. I'm establishing
35:40
Speaker 1: these ministries that God has called into being and I'm
35:44
Speaker 1: in the process of taking it from place to place,
35:47
Speaker 1: and while doing so, there are raised up a body
35:49
Speaker 1: of believers. And that's why he must be a teacher.
35:53
Speaker 1: Observe in verse seven, I am a teacher. The term
35:57
Speaker 1: comes from a word that means to learn. The teacher,
36:01
Speaker 1: obviously is one who instructs individuals so that learning occurs.
36:06
Speaker 1: A teacher is different from a preacher. Ideally, the one
36:11
Speaker 1: who pastors a church is both proclaimer and teacher, is
36:17
Speaker 1: both a herald and instructor.
36:22
Speaker 2: Pastor and teacher, so.
36:25
Speaker 1: That when the sheep gather for worship and for the
36:29
Speaker 1: time of the instruction of the scriptures, there is an
36:33
Speaker 1: explanation of the truth, so it can be learned and
36:37
Speaker 1: growth can begin to happen within. To put these terms together,
36:43
Speaker 1: preaching would be the declaration of the truth directed to
36:47
Speaker 1: the will. Teaching would be the explanation of the truth
36:52
Speaker 1: directed to the mind, so that we gather information upon
36:58
Speaker 1: which we build our thoughts and through which we act.
37:02
Speaker 1: All of those are terribly important. And Paul says he
37:06
Speaker 1: happens to be a teacher of the gentiles. We can't
37:09
Speaker 1: appreciate that because we don't have Jewish blood in our veins.
37:13
Speaker 1: Most of us don't who hear this message today. We
37:19
Speaker 1: are also of gentile stock, most of us. But Paul
37:23
Speaker 1: is a Jew, is he ever? But God says to Paul,
37:27
Speaker 1: I want to use you as an instructor.
37:30
Speaker 2: Among of all things. Gentiles.
37:35
Speaker 1: You know what's really at the heart of the whole
37:36
Speaker 1: message is evangelism of the world. That's at the heart
37:41
Speaker 1: of this passage. There is one God, and that God
37:46
Speaker 1: desires that all come to a knowledge of the truth, all,
37:49
Speaker 1: not just those that live in our area. All. And
37:53
Speaker 1: so in order for the truth to be declared, there
37:55
Speaker 1: has to be a way proclaimed. And that's the mediator.
37:58
Speaker 1: He has drawn men and go odd together. Now, Paul says,
38:01
Speaker 1: our job is to be one who instructs, one who heralds,
38:06
Speaker 1: and on occasion Jews who take the message to gentiles,
38:10
Speaker 1: and gentiles who take the message to Jews. There be, indeed,
38:14
Speaker 1: a cross cultural presentation of the gospel. We don't stay
38:18
Speaker 1: with our own kind, but we carry it to the ends.
38:21
Speaker 2: Of the earth.
38:23
Speaker 1: The heart of this is a pulsating missionary message. Now
38:29
Speaker 1: I can think of at least three reasons why we
38:32
Speaker 1: would value these truths. We've gone over each one. First
38:38
Speaker 1: of all, because they reveal the heart of God. It's
38:42
Speaker 1: easy for some people to believe that God plays favorites,
38:46
Speaker 1: that God has a special place in his heart just
38:49
Speaker 1: for the Jew. But I read in this passage that
38:53
Speaker 1: it's for all men, for all women, for all of
38:56
Speaker 1: all ages. He's not some distant, cruel despot who takes
39:04
Speaker 1: delight in watching people squirm and die in their sins.
39:08
Speaker 1: I find this passage reveals the heart of God. He
39:12
Speaker 1: genuinely has them all on his heart. The second reason
39:17
Speaker 1: it's important is because this passage nance announces the plan
39:21
Speaker 1: of salvation. Do you have any idea how few people
39:28
Speaker 1: know just the basics of what you've heard in the
39:31
Speaker 1: last twenty five or so minutes, You have any idea
39:36
Speaker 1: how few there are if you stop to think, how
39:40
Speaker 1: many there are who don't understand there's one God and
39:45
Speaker 1: there's one mediator. You know, that simple truth, that evangelical
39:51
Speaker 1: message of salvation is so familiar to us. If we're
39:55
Speaker 1: not careful, we think everybody understands that. If you think
40:00
Speaker 1: think that, you obviously are not in the mainstream of
40:03
Speaker 1: the lost world. They are miles away from that message.
40:10
Speaker 2: They have been raised in schools.
40:11
Speaker 1: That have complicated it. They have been told that there
40:14
Speaker 1: are many gods, or they have been told that there
40:18
Speaker 1: is no God. They have been raised by parents who
40:22
Speaker 1: have said, sort of find out on your own. We
40:24
Speaker 1: can't figure it out either, So you know, good luck,
40:28
Speaker 1: And they're thrust out into a world. Maybe some of them,
40:31
Speaker 1: perhaps with several degrees behind their names, and heady and
40:35
Speaker 1: bright and competent in the technicalities of their career, but
40:40
Speaker 1: they know nothing of the simple message of one God
40:43
Speaker 1: and one mediator between God and mankind. Don't assume that
40:47
Speaker 1: the people who pump gas into your car, or deliver
40:52
Speaker 1: the dry cleaning across the counter, or punch you not
40:56
Speaker 1: punch you out, but punch out the food that you
40:58
Speaker 1: check out at the counter when you leave the grocery store.
41:02
Speaker 1: Don't assume, for example, the person you do business with,
41:05
Speaker 1: or go to school with, or play on the same
41:07
Speaker 1: team with, understands even the basics of this message. Most
41:11
Speaker 1: businessmen and women are at a loss if you ask
41:14
Speaker 1: them what is the gospel? Businessmen and women believe that
41:20
Speaker 1: the reason we hold these truths dear is because they
41:23
Speaker 1: present the plan of salvation in such a way that
41:26
Speaker 1: even the little child that's running the streets of Los
41:29
Speaker 1: Angeles tonight would understand are the most brilliant person you know.
41:36
Speaker 1: Could understand. I'll never forget sending across the table from
41:39
Speaker 1: a medical doctor with whom I had established a fairly
41:42
Speaker 1: good relationship way back in the nineteen sixties, and I
41:47
Speaker 1: really did admire his scholarship. He was a graduate of
41:51
Speaker 1: one of the finer schools, one of the best medical schools.
41:55
Speaker 1: He had done his internship and specialty, and one of
41:59
Speaker 1: the places was made was another one was an excellent school,
42:02
Speaker 1: and I really respected the way he practiced medicine. And
42:05
Speaker 1: he and I had met together for week after week
42:08
Speaker 1: every Friday would have lunch together, and for various reasons
42:12
Speaker 1: we would we would meet, and he became interested in
42:18
Speaker 1: my world, my my profession.
42:21
Speaker 2: As it were, as he called it.
42:23
Speaker 1: And I decided one day I would I would just
42:25
Speaker 1: simply present the Gospel to this person. And with a
42:30
Speaker 1: little simple chart, I drew on one side of the
42:32
Speaker 1: page a circle God, and then I drew on the
42:39
Speaker 1: other side of the page the world mankind. And I
42:45
Speaker 1: wrote under the under the name God in this circle Holy.
42:50
Speaker 1: And I wrote under the circle under the name of
42:54
Speaker 1: mankind unholy or sinful. And then I built a bridge
43:01
Speaker 1: between God and mankind with a cross, and I wrote
43:06
Speaker 1: the name of Christ across the horizontal bar of the cross.
43:12
Speaker 1: I was so careful to keep it simple, and I
43:16
Speaker 1: slid it across the table at that restaurant. My heart
43:19
Speaker 1: was just in my throat. I thought, he's going to believe.
43:22
Speaker 1: He's going to love this. He looked at that, studied
43:27
Speaker 1: it for a few seconds, and he smiled, and he said,
43:30
Speaker 1: in a thousand years, I could never believe. That couldn't
43:39
Speaker 1: have been more clear or simple. But he couldn't have
43:43
Speaker 1: been further from interest in that truth. And I said,
43:49
Speaker 1: have you ever seen that before? He said, no, never
43:53
Speaker 1: in my life, never never seen it. And I'm not interested.
44:01
Speaker 1: The last thing I want to do is to give
44:02
Speaker 1: you an idea that all you've got to do is
44:04
Speaker 1: make it simple and.
44:05
Speaker 2: They'll just believe.
44:06
Speaker 1: Of the thousands, they'll just come all over you believing it.
44:10
Speaker 1: But the matter of fact is, more believe then don't
44:15
Speaker 1: believe it. When you present it like that, there will
44:18
Speaker 1: be some who won't.
44:20
Speaker 2: And I purposely chose that illustration.
44:22
Speaker 1: Lest you think I'm leading the cheerleading formation for evangelism.
44:26
Speaker 1: I'm a realist about it. I know that there'll be
44:28
Speaker 1: some who won't believe, but I wish we had the
44:31
Speaker 1: time for us to talk about it. How many times
44:34
Speaker 1: we presented the gospel and they've right there said I
44:37
Speaker 1: want that. That's what I've looked for all my life.
44:41
Speaker 1: You see, my medical doctor friend loses because he doesn't
44:45
Speaker 1: believe the truth, but I still take the message to him.
44:52
Speaker 1: That's the third reason that we value this truth, because
44:56
Speaker 1: these truths verify the validity of God's world program all men,
45:03
Speaker 1: that all might believe, that all.
45:06
Speaker 2: Might come to a knowledge of the truth.
45:09
Speaker 1: The repetitive use of the word all, as well as
45:12
Speaker 1: Paul saying I am a teacher of the gentiles, pulsates
45:17
Speaker 1: with the missionary mandate taking the message to all peoples.
45:25
Speaker 1: Perhaps we are asked this too much. I wish it
45:29
Speaker 1: weren't so, but maybe it's taken the edge off the message.
45:35
Speaker 1: Are you engaged in the Christian's most basic task? Thinking
45:43
Speaker 1: back over this past year, have you modeled evangelism and
45:50
Speaker 1: world missions? Isn't it remarkable how easy it is to
45:59
Speaker 1: miss the mark of our basic reason for living? Isn't
46:02
Speaker 1: it amazing? Caught up in the mainstream of life. It
46:09
Speaker 1: is very, very simple to think we are.
46:14
Speaker 2: Doing the job.
46:15
Speaker 1: Of evangelizing, when in fact, those with whom we spend
46:20
Speaker 1: our time and whose paths we cross, all to seldom
46:23
Speaker 1: even here of a simple message of one God, one mediator,
46:30
Speaker 1: the man Christ Jesus, and that God loves them and
46:34
Speaker 1: desires that they come to a knowledge of the truth.
46:39
Speaker 1: I challenge all of us in a very quiet and
46:43
Speaker 1: mellow manner, because realistically, the passion will die if all
46:53
Speaker 1: it is is just a.
46:54
Speaker 2: Big cheering session when we gather at church. But somehow.
47:00
Speaker 1: I desire is that it might affect you more deeply
47:03
Speaker 1: tomorrow than right now, that it might make an impact.
47:08
Speaker 2: That you might realize there's more to do than just have.
47:10
Speaker 1: A little friendship with a fellow professional or with somebody
47:15
Speaker 1: at the other desk at the office. There's something far
47:19
Speaker 1: more significant than just establishing a business contact so you
47:22
Speaker 1: can get a deal going. There's eternity at stake, and
47:28
Speaker 1: in this year there are some by the end of
47:30
Speaker 1: it will be who will who will have stepped from
47:33
Speaker 1: time into eternity. And you are the most significant Christian
47:40
Speaker 1: that this person knows. And I suggest to you. It's
47:43
Speaker 1: your move. Make it known, graciously, carefully, tactfully, yes, but
47:50
Speaker 1: make it known. Take the risk, tell the truth, complete
47:56
Speaker 1: the circle. You will be wonderfully in encouraged to know
48:01
Speaker 1: that most with whom you share that.
48:03
Speaker 2: With will want to believe it. They need to hear it.
48:09
Speaker 2: That's bow shall we?
48:12
Speaker 1: Have you believed the message? Have you turned your life
48:15
Speaker 1: over to Jesus Christ? Have you come to realize in
48:22
Speaker 1: recent days that you are trapped, enslaved in a market,
48:26
Speaker 1: as it were, a slave market of sin, and you
48:33
Speaker 1: cannot get yourself out. You've been kidnapped. The freedom and
48:40
Speaker 1: the liberty and joy of your life has been robbed.
48:46
Speaker 1: And without your coming to know Christ, you will never
48:49
Speaker 1: know that kind of freedom that you long to have,
48:52
Speaker 1: freedom to live as He plans for you to live,
48:55
Speaker 1: and the joy of life eternal. I wonder if you'd
49:01
Speaker 1: pray right now, if you do know the Savior, that
49:03
Speaker 1: God would give you a very sensitive heart this particular
49:09
Speaker 1: week to step just yet further with at least an
49:15
Speaker 1: individual or two, and to bridge the gap of silence
49:20
Speaker 1: regarding the gospel. For some of you, it's time to believe.
49:29
Speaker 1: For many, many more of you, it's a time for decision, commitment,
49:35
Speaker 1: to move from a passive to an active realm in
49:39
Speaker 1: the process of evangelism. Thank you so much, Father, for
49:45
Speaker 1: telling us the truth. Thank you for giving us word
49:50
Speaker 1: diagrams and word pictures and repetitive terms and significant statements,
49:57
Speaker 1: and for saying it like no one else has ever
49:59
Speaker 1: said it, And for proving yourself our very best friend,
50:05
Speaker 1: for freeing us from the lies and the.
50:14
Speaker 2: Fog and the smoke.
50:15
Speaker 1: Screen of a world that uses words that often mean nothing.
50:23
Speaker 1: Thank you for the body of truth, the gospel that
50:26
Speaker 1: has come to our attention that we have embraced, that
50:30
Speaker 1: someone faithfully and graciously gave to us and risked our
50:37
Speaker 1: rejection by telling.
50:39
Speaker 2: Us the truth.
50:43
Speaker 1: We are grateful for your grace. We say with that
50:46
Speaker 1: song writer, why did he die? Why did he take
50:53
Speaker 1: my place? And we respond with the same voice of praise, Jesus,
50:59
Speaker 1: my debt fully paid.
51:01
Speaker 2: He paid the ransom for me.
51:04
Speaker 1: For the love that that reveals, and for the grace
51:08
Speaker 1: it has provided, we will be eternally grateful. Use the
51:13
Speaker 1: truths that we have uncovered from your word to motivate
51:17
Speaker 1: us this very week, to loosen our tongues to speak,
51:24
Speaker 1: to show us again the world program that you have
51:29
Speaker 1: in mind, which takes us across the street as well
51:34
Speaker 1: as across the seas, with the message in the name
51:38
Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus, we pray Amen.
51:45
Speaker 3: The preceding message, God's Desire, Man's Debt, Christ's Payment was
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Speaker 3: copyrighted in nineteen eighty four and the sound recording was
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Speaker 3: copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
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Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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Speaker 3: Is grateful for permission to quote the lyrics of Why
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Speaker 3: by John M. Moore, copyrighted in nineteen fifty three by
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Speaker 3: New Spring Publishing