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Colin Smith: There is one God that is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And that means that he is the mediator for you. And God wants people like you to be saved. And Christ gave his life as a ransom for people like you. If you will come to him, you have this promise: he will never, never turn you away.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, from time to time, I hear people talk about the fact that the gospel is so exclusive. But I hear you saying, no, the gospel is actually inclusive. It's available for everyone.

Colin Smith: It absolutely is. And we're looking together at 1 Timothy and chapter 2 where we read that God our Savior wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and that Jesus Christ gave himself as a ransom for all.

So, I've met folks, Steve, over the years who say, "Well, but it's not for me." And it's easy to get the idea that you are somehow outside of the boundaries of people who are loved by the Lord, people who would be welcomed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

But here we're looking at a wonderful verse of scripture that says you cannot be outside the circle. There is no boundary. There is a love of God that is extended towards every single person. And there is a sacrifice that has been made by the Lord Jesus Christ that can be yours. Grace can be yours through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, here's what I hope and pray you're going to hear through the message today: There is love in the heart of God for you. There is grace from the Lord Jesus Christ that you can receive today.

Steve Hiller: Well, if you can, I hope you'll grab your Bible and join us in the book of 1 Timothy. We're in chapter 2 as we continue to look at this good news. Here's Pastor Colin with Gospel Ministry.

Colin Smith: There's a very important discussion about what Paul means when he says that God wants all men to be saved, and when he says that Christ gave himself as a ransom, that is one who pays the price, for all men. When he says "all," does he mean every single person? Or does he mean all kinds of people?

Now, people come to different conclusions about this, but I am convinced that the "all" here means all kinds of people. And I want to show you its wonderful application in just a moment. But I believe this for three reasons. First, that is what "all" means in verse one and two when we're called to pray for all. It's everyone in the NIV, but it's the same word. God is not expecting us to pray for every single person in the world. God is calling us to pray for all kinds of people in the world. That's what "all" means in verse one. Therefore, it seems reasonable that it's what it means later in the passage.

Second, the Bible never suggests that every single person will be saved. But it clearly proclaims that all kinds of people will be saved and that on the last day, there will be people from every tribe and every language and every nation group gathered before the throne of grace.

Third, the word "ransom" in verse 6 means the payment of a price. If Christ paid the price for every single person, would that not mean then that hell was filled with people for whom the price of their sins had already been paid? Clearly, that is impossible. And that is a third reason why I believe that when Paul says "all" here, he means all kinds of people and not every single person.

And that leads to this wonderful application. God wants all kinds of people to be saved. More than that, Jesus Christ gave his life to ransom all kinds of people. From every background imaginable, in this service right now, God wants to save people like you.

Listen, in heaven, there will be people with the highest degrees and the most brilliant minds, and there will be people who never learned to read or write. There will be in heaven people who have earned and spent millions of dollars. There will be people who all their lives have scratched a living only in poverty.

In heaven, there will be people from stable families, and there will be folks from the most dysfunctional families. The salvation of Jesus Christ does not belong to a particular type. He has come into the world to redeem all kinds of people, and it is the purpose of God to redeem from across the swath of humanity.

Folks, there will be people in heaven of your personality type, so why not you? There will be people in heaven from your language group, your ethnic background, so why not you? There will be people who were once caught in the sins that have enslaved you but have been redeemed by Christ, so why should that not also include you?

There is one God. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And that means that he is the mediator for you. And that God wants people like you to be saved. And Christ gave his life as a ransom for people like you.

So, why would you not come to Jesus Christ? And why would you not trust him when others like you, others in the same position as you, are doing so? For if you will come to him, you have this promise: he will never, never turn you away. That is good news.

And the church is called to a ministry of this word and prayer on a global scale because Jesus Christ died for all. That's what Paul is teaching us here. Folks, that's what it means to be a gospel-centered church: grasping the one mediator, Jesus Christ, and the glory of what he has accomplished in his cross, driving a global vision and a passion that the gospel will not end with us, but that we'll become conduits of it wherever he places us for the advance of the gospel around the world.

Now, if that's our distinct calling, if that's our ministry, an obvious question is what might stop that from happening? Or if we're to put it more positively, how are we to advance the gospel? And it seems to me that in the second part of the chapter, that's precisely what Paul is still engaged with. He's looking at the advance of gospel ministry through prayer, and he's looking at the advance of gospel ministry through the preaching of the word, which is the calling that we share as the body of Christ.

So, let's look at these two particular applications in these remaining moments. First, how we advance the gospel through prayer. He says, "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger and disputing." Now, obviously, in the New Testament, the ministry of prayer is given to both men and women. But Paul is calling distinctively on men to take the lead here.

This is very practical for us. How often are womenfolk, to their great credit, have taken the lead and have excelled in this ministry of prayer? And I suspect it was the same in the early church. And Paul is saying to the men, "Now look, don't you be passive here. Why is your wife praying more than you are? Why is it that she has developed the ability to lead others in prayer in her small group, and you're sitting there silent?"

I want men to step up in the local church to this ministry of prayer that Paul has already established is critical to the advance of the gospel in the world. I want the men to take the lead here. Not to the exclusion of the women, I'm sure he's saying you guys have got to step up and get alongside the women. And I think there's the need for that call today.

And he says, "I want you to lift up holy hands." Now, the emphasis here, whatever our posture, and there are many different postures in the Bible for prayer, this is clearly one of them. But the emphasis here is on holy hands. Holy hands. Because remember, the Bible says that the prayer of a righteous man is what? Powerful and effective.

And Paul is saying something similar here. He's saying, "Look, remember guys, you can't pray effectively as long as you are holding onto a sin or a grudge that you refuse to give up." The only way for you to pray, the only way for us to pray, the only way for me to pray is that we come before God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the name of Christ alone. He alone has clean hands and a pure heart. But because he is at the right hand of the Father, when we come repentantly and believingly before him, we can pray because of him.

And Paul is saying, "I want the men to step up to this. I want to hear the men in the local church praying when the church is gathered for prayer. Not only the men, but I want to hear the men. I really do." And notice he says something else. He says, "I want that praying to be without anger." In other words, he's reminding us what's everywhere in the New Testament. Remember Peter says, "Husbands, you treat your wives with gentleness and respect." Why? So that nothing will hinder your prayers.

You being a bear at home, don't think that your public prayers are going to count for very much in the church. That's what he's saying. Same as the Lord Jesus said. Do you remember? If you're coming to worship and you remember that there's something between you and your brother, go away, sort that out first, then come back. Let there be reality here.

And then pray with faith. I think that's the meaning of "without disputing." The word is *dialogismos*, from which of course we get our word "dialogue," which is two voices. And you can see where the meaning of that then goes. Don't pray with another voice. Don't pray with two voices. In other words, don't pray saying one thing to God but another thing at the back of your mind that's saying, "I don't really believe this anyway, I'm not really sure I can trust him." No, you pray with faith. Not with two voices, with one voice.

Men, this is what Paul says I'm calling you to in the church. I want you to step up to the ministry of prayer privately, publicly, out of hands cleansed by the blood of Christ, out of relationships that, to the best of your ability, are healthy, and with faith, not with a load of second-guessing in the back of your mind. Because advancing the gospel around the world is dependent on the ministry of prayer. Do you see the call that he's making here?

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Gospel Ministry. Now, we're going to pause here, but we'll get back to the message in just a moment. If you ever miss a broadcast, join us later or have to leave early, or you want to go back and listen to a program again, you can do that when you visit our website, openthebible.org.

You can download an MP3 for free or you can stream the program through your computer or mobile device. You can also listen through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your App Store. All right, we've been looking at how to advance gospel ministry through prayer as we get back to the message. We look at how to advance gospel ministry through the word. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Second, advancing the ministry of the gospel through the word. Now, here we have in a section that is often discussed and debated, both an affirmation and a prohibition. Notice first the affirmation in verse 11. Paul says, "A woman should learn." Now, folks, this is wonderful. Remember that Paul was writing in a culture where education was designed exclusively for men. It was thought in the early world barely to be worth educating women. Thank God for the change that the gospel in significant part has brought to that.

So, when Paul says in the early world, "A woman should learn," he is making a radically wonderfully counter-cultural statement. Christian women in the early church became students of the Bible alongside the men, and Paul affirms it here. It is wonderfully liberating. Don't miss that.

And then he says, he speaks about learning in quietness and submission. Now, it's very clear it's not unique to women. Of course, that's the only way to learn. As someone's put it, "I do not learn a single thing while I am speaking. I only learn when I am listening." Because when I'm speaking, I'm merely producing what I've already learned. So, if I'm to learn, I have to listen.

And learning the life of the gospel involves a quietness of spirit that is undistracted, a humility that is ready to receive, a teachable spirit. It's important for every one of us. So, here's this wonderful affirmation, and it's for men and for women, but particularly it was glorious as a statement with regards to women: learning, brothers and sisters together, in humility before the word of God.

Then there's a prohibition in verse 12. Notice Paul says there, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." Now, quite clearly, Paul is prohibiting something here. And the question is, what is it that Paul does not permit? Let me make three observations and then a conclusion.

Number one, Paul is talking about the church. In other words, his words here about teaching do not apply in education. They do not apply in a school or in a seminary or even in pioneer evangelism. They are specifically words that are spoken to the particular order that God has in the church. That's the first observation.

Second observation: Paul is talking here about the church gathered for worship. That is the context. He's been talking about public prayer in worship, and now he is speaking still about the context of public gathered worship of the church. So, it seems to me that his words do not apply, for example, to a small group or to a Sunday school class or to one of many other settings that we may think about that are not the gathered worship of the church.

The context here is as always key. In chapter 2, Paul is talking about instructions for the public worship of the church. Public worship of the church, chapter 2. In chapter 3, as God willing we'll see next week, he goes on to speak about the qualifications of elders to lead the church.

Now, putting these two things together, the context, I think, gives us clarity about what Paul is saying: that the prohibition that is quite clearly here in this 12th verse relates to the teaching of the word to the congregation gathered for public worship and the authority of elders over the spiritual life of the church.

And if you have wondered, that is how our church understands this teaching. That is why our elders are chosen from among godly men. That is why the preaching of the word in our gathered worship, in our public services, is trusted to pastors who are men. And I just want you to notice one more thing here, that the reason Paul gives for this is not that men do a better job. That's not the debate he's engaging in. He never says that. He doesn't even go there. It's not a question of ability. He simply says it is God's order in relation to creation. That's what he says.

So, two particular applications of the advance of the ministry of the word and the advance of the ministry of prayer. Folks, I wonder why did the Holy Spirit move Paul particularly in this place to write these things? Why is it that men need to be called to pray? Why is it that so much of world mission historically has been carried by godly women?

We need to hear again the calling of God that a gospel-centered church is given a ministry of the word and prayer on a global scale because Jesus Christ died for all. Now, one more thing and then we're through. Almost exactly a hundred years ago, there was a massive conference of world missions that was held in my home city of Edinburgh: the Edinburgh Conference 1910. It was an unprecedented gathering of missions leaders from all over the globe. And it was thought, as this great massive organization was put together, that this would lead to the evangelization of the world as the early years of the 20th century were dawning.

Folks, if you want to know what came of it, visit the archives of Union Theological Seminary in New York, where you can find all the papers. It'll take you a long time to read. There are 33 boxes and they occupy 15.5 linear feet of shelf space. I remember studying this as a student. I had a particular interest because I came from Edinburgh.

Throughout the history of the world, there have been massive efforts to galvanize the church for world mission. And the question is, what really moves God's people to have a heart for the world? Because I can tell you this for sure, it's not putting together some massive worldwide organization or some massive structure or program. That will not do it.

When I was studying the Edinburgh Conference 1910, in my own devotional reading, I happened to be going through a book of sermons by one of my heroes of the faith, a man by the name of James Denney. James Denney lived at the same time as the Edinburgh Conference, and the following year, 1911, he was asked to be the speaker in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the annual meetings of the Baptist Missionary Society.

And I want you to imagine that after this worldwide extravaganza has taken place, setting up all these world committees, massive expense and all the rest of it, one year later after all the talk that has been about galvanizing world mission, here's Denney and he gets up to speak in the same city the next year at the annual conference of the Baptist Missionary Society. And let me read to you from what he said.

He said, "Within the last 12 months, foreign missions have been more talked about in the church than at any time I can remember in my life." He described the appeals, the urgency of the need, the vastness of the need, and he said, "And what has been the result?" Standing there on the platform, he said, "As far as I can see, it is neither here nor there. An immense proportion of people in our churches care very little about the matter. There is no sensible increase either of contributions or of gifted men."

At the end of all this, how much more money is being given? At the end of all this, how many more people are laying down their lives and going to the ends of the earth for the advance of the gospel? What difference has it actually made? Then he gets to his point.

He says, "It is not interest in missions that we want in our churches at this moment," he said, "but it is interest in the gospel." Apart from an interest in the gospel, he says, "I believe we will look in vain for a response to missionary appeals. But there is something in the gospel itself which immediately creates missionary interest because there is no proper correlative to the gospel but the universe."

You see what he grasped? If there is one mediator and only one, and that has grasped the passion of our hearts and it's firing our prayers, if we have really grasped that there is one mediator for all, that has got to fire lives devoted to global impact around the world, dollars given to global impact around the world. It's the gospel that does it. It's exactly here.

So folks, the cry of my heart in this message today, as we're trying to define what is critical for the life of the church, is that God by his Spirit would breathe upon us such a conviction of the gospel of Jesus Christ who died for all men, that we would be renewed in the ministry of prayer, reinvigorated in every opportunity for proclamation, and that we would see with joy that God has given us the immense privilege of global ministry for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one mediator who died for all.

Steve Hiller: Pastor Colin Smith with the powerful conclusion to our message Gospel Ministry, part of a larger series where we're taking a look at 10 distinctives of a gospel-centered church. And if you missed any of the broadcasts in the series, you can always come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can also listen by podcasting the program or you can listen through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your App Store.

Well, Open the Bible is able to be on the station and make Pastor Colin's teaching available because of your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book that Colin has picked out. It's written by John Stott called *The Incomparable Christ*. It's one of Pastor Colin's favorite authors and favorite books, and it's a deep dive on who Jesus is. We'd love to send you a copy of this book, *The Incomparable Christ*, as our thanks for your gift of any amount this month.

You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or again, openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in.

Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf. Everyone, please stay tuned. God bless.