Prayer for All
Notes
Transcript
vv. 1-4
Paul had just finished calling out two blasphemous false teachers, and he continues his thought here.
He is urging prayer for everyone.
This is important, because that prayer can make a difference.
Maybe it will be the turning point for someone who might have ended up like Hymenaeus and Alexander.
When I was at another church, we had a neighbor who was a constant thorn in our side.
He would call and the county and complain everytime we had an outdoor event and the band was playing.
He would call whenever a member left a vehicle parked at the church for more than a day, even if it was parked in back and out of sight.
He would complain over every petty thing he could think of, but we prayed for him.
for months this went on, and we prayed for him. That man is now saved and a very faithful member of that church.
Maybe that prayer will open the eyes of someone else, so that they won’t be swept away by a false teacher.
The point is, we are to pray, and this command includes everyone.
Paul specifically mentions kings and all who are in authority.
Politics can be a nasty thing. When it comes to our elected officials, people seem to either love or hate them, with no middle ground.
When you love someone, it’s easy to pray for them, but what about when you utterly despise someone?
How many of us pray for those we hold in such contempt?
The truth of the matter is, we should be praying for them.
There are a couple of reasons in our text as to why we should do so.
To live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. (v.2)
Because it is good and acceptable to God. (v.3)
Because God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (v.4)
Prayer brings peace:
Prayer brings peace:
Philippians 4:6-7
Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
James 5:13
James 5:13
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Isaiah 26:12
Isaiah 26:12
Lord, You will establish peace for us, For You have also done all our works in us.
Prayer pleases God:
The words pray and pray appear 259 times in 239 separate verses in the NKJV.
In many instances it is a record of people crying out to God for help, which provides an example for us to follow.
There are a number of occurrences where we are being told to pray.
In a few instances, we are being instructed in how to pray.
So, 259 times God provides example, commandment, and instruction for prayer.
Suffice it to say that it is God’s will for us to pray, and when we do His will, it pleases Him.
God desires that people be saved:
God desires that people be saved:
2 Peter 3:9
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Ezekiel 18:32
Ezekiel 18:32
For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”
v. 5:
False teachers will come in and try to divert you away from Christ.
They may insist that you pray to Mary or to saints.
They may focus your attention to themselves, or to yourself instead of Christ.
There are plenty of people who would say that there are many ways to God.
The reality is that each person must, at some point, choose just one way.
We could be standing at the edge of large canyon and discuss many ways to get across.
However, at some point you must choose a single path, or you’ll never cross it.
Likewise, we don’t need to enlist anyone’s help in order to gain access to the Lord. To do so would be foolish, because there is only one way.
We are told to come boldly to His throne, and that is done only through Jesus Christ.
We are told to come boldly to His throne, and that is done only through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:16
Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
John 14:6
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
When we pray, it is for God’s glory, in His name, and according to His will.
When we pray, it is for God’s glory, in His name, and according to His will.
Psalm 115:1
Psalm 115:1
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth.
John 14:13-14
John 14:13-14
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
1 John 5:14-15
1 John 5:14-15
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
James 4:3
James 4:3
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
vv.6-7:
This is key. Your soul is being held hostage by the consequences of your own sin.
Sin demands a ransom, and that ransom payment is death.
Sin demands a ransom, and that ransom payment is death.
Romans 6:23
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you were to pay the ransom yourself, when death comes, you would spend eternity in hell.
This is because when you decide to pay on your own, you are rejecting Jesus Christ.
If you die having rejected Christ, the result is an eternity in hell.
If you die having rejected Christ, the result is an eternity in hell.
John 3:17-18
John 3:17-18
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The good news is that Jesus paid that ransom by His death on the cross.
All we have to do to be saved is accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
All we have to do to be saved is accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
Romans 10:9
Romans 10:9
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
When we do that, we become a testimony to Jesus Christ, and our job is now to share the Gospel.
This is exactly what Paul was talking about, when he said he was appointed a preacher and apostle.
Not all will be appointed preachers, and apostles no longer exist (despite what some people may call themselves).
We may all have different callings, but one thing remains the same:
We are to speak the truth in Christ.
God’s word is truth, and if we lie, we cannot be speaking God’s word, because God cannot lie.
God’s word is truth, and if we lie, we cannot be speaking God’s word, because God cannot lie.
Psalm 119:160
Psalm 119:160
The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
Numbers 23:19
Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Hebrews 6:17-18
Hebrews 6:17-18
Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
Because God cannot lie, we can have absolute confidence in His word and His salvation.
Faith and truth:
Faith in Jesus Christ and the absolute truth of His word is a Christian’s foundation.
We should never fail to defend it, protect it, and profess it to the glory of God.
Through that, we are working toward God’s will that none should perish and all would come to repentance.
