Let us turn to God's Word in
the portion we were reading in the first epistle of Paul to
Timothy and in that second chapter directing you to words that we
have at verse 5. 1 Timothy 2.5 For there is one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. To say something then with the
Lord's help of Christ's mediatorial office. Just two points this
morning, first of all, the one God, and then secondly the one
mediator. There is one God, we read, and
we have the same truth of course also declared in that portion
that we were reading in Galatians 3. Now God is not a mediator
of one but God is one. God is one. One God in unity
in all that he is in the divine essence. What a mystery is the
doctrine of God in the Old Testament, that word that is spoken to the
children of Israel. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God
is one Lord. And our God is forever reminding
the children of Israel of the vanity of the nations about them
and the multitude of their gods, their many idols. And yet time
and again Alas, how the children of Israel are tempted to follow
the ways of those ungodly nations. We see Isaiah, for example, repeatedly
rebuking them because of their idols and reminding them of him
who is the only living and true God. Many times in the book of
Isaiah, there in Isaiah 46 and verse 9 remember the former
things of old for I am God and there is none else I am God and
there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure and this remarkable
verse that we find at the end of the Old Testament in the prophecy
of Zechariah and there in Zechariah 14 9 it says in that day shall
there be one Lord and his name one. In that day, what is the
day that is being spoken of? Of course it is The Gospel Day,
it's a period after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
Old Testament. God might wink at the idols of
the nations about Israel. He only knows Israel. You only
have I known of all the families of the earth. He leaves the Gentile
nations to their own devices. But, there's Zechariah there
in that day. The Gospel Day. there shall be one Lord and His
name one. And so now the nations are to
recognize who that living and true God is. And the great mystery
that is revealed to us when we come to the fullness of the revelation
that we have in the New Testament Scriptures. There are three persons in the
one living and true God And isn't it a truth that at the beginning
of any public profession of faith we have to acknowledge and confess
the Trinity in unity. The formula that is there when
we baptize a person, the instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
comes to the end of his earthly ministry. Go ye therefore and
teach all nations. Baptizing them he says in the
name. of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost the name is in the singular although there
are three persons that bear that name God the Father, God the
Son and God the Holy Ghost or to comprehend the Great Three
One is more than highest angels can or what the Trinity has done
from death and how to rescue man But all true Christians is
my boast the truth from nature never learned that Father, Son
and Holy Ghost to save our souls are all concerned. For there
is but one God and He is the only Savior of sinners. Salvation
we know is of the Lord. But turning to this portion and
the word that I have announced as our text this morning Here
in the second chapter in that first letter of Paul to Timothy,
he says, for there is one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus. Observe the opening words of
the text, the word for. It indicates a connection with
things that he has been saying previously. were to take account
then of the context and he is speaking here of God in respect
to man because he is exhorting Timothy to pray and to pray for
who? I exhort therefore he says that
first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks
be made for all men for kings and for all that are in authority
for there is one God and this one God is the creator of all
men he is the creator they are his creatures and it is appropriate
then to pray for all sorts of men because God is sovereign
over all his creatures And it is God who has appointed the
various stratagems, or stratas we should say, of the relationships
between different peoples. We know from what we are told
back in the book of Proverbs that God is sovereign over all
those who bear rule amongst the nations. that great eighth chapter
of Proverbs that speaks of him who is the wisdom of God. What
does he say there at verse 15? By me kings reign, and princes
decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles,
even all the judges of the earth. All the powers that be. are ordained
of God. Again there the wise man tells
us in chapter 21 of Proverbs, the king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord like the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever
he would. What then are we to make of the
language here? There is to be prayer for all
different types, strata of men, whatever their relationships
are in life, God is the one who is sovereign over all his creatures. But interestingly, what do we
have here at the end of verse 4? or the whole of that verse really,
he will have all men to be saved it says and to come to a knowledge
of the truth how are we to interpret this
expression that God will have all men all men to be saved well
isn't the reference here to be understood again in the context
when we look at the opening words of the chapter where prayer is
to be made really for all sorts of men. I exhort therefore that
first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks
be made for all men. But then it is evident from the
way in which he continues in the second verse that all men
doesn't necessarily mean every individual on the face of the
earth or every individual who has ever lived on the face of
the earth because he goes on to speak of different categories
kings all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and
a peaceable life surely here we're to understand
the language as we would understand the same Apostle Paul when he
is writing there in the epistle to the Hebrews. Remember that
section that we have in Hebrews chapter 2 where we read of every man. There in verse 9 of that second
chapter Paul says we see Jesus who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and
honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every
man. Again, how are we to understand
that expression? Does every man mean every individual
that has ever lived or is living on the face of the earth? Again,
we have to take account of the context because he goes on to
explain just who every man is. he says at verse 10 it became
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings so every man now is spoken of as
many sons and then he says both he that sanctifies and they that
are sanctified are all of one so these many sons are the sanctified
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, they are
brethren, there is brethren saying I will declare my name unto my
brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto
them so every man we see here quite clearly is being now specified
more particularly every man is to be understood then in terms
of those who are sons, and the sanctified, and the Lord's brethren,
and the church. And then he goes on at verse
13, Again I will put my trust in him, and again behold I and
the children which God hath given me. And so we see in the context
that the expression every man is being described and I would
assert that it is the same here in the second chapter of Timothy
all men is to be understood not in terms of a universality every
man that is living or ever has lived on the face of the earth
but rather to be understood in terms of all the various categories
of man. Not every individual, but all
sorts, and all types, and all classes of the people. That's the interpretation, although
I would acknowledge that there are some who see it somewhat
differently. and they would argue in their
interpretation that the expression God our Saviour isn't to be understood
in terms of the blessing of salvation, in terms of the grace of God,
but rather it's a reference to the general benevolence of God. For he maketh his Son to rise
on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the good and the evil amongst
men. There's a general benevolence in God, in Him we all live and
move and have our being. And so in praying for all sorts
of men we we remember that God is kind to all his creatures
there is that benevolence in God and that's what's being spoken
of here that's how some would understand and interpret it but
I personally would prefer that other interpretation that we
to understand it more particularly in terms of God saving men from
all the various categories that we know in our lives here upon
the earth Whichever way we come and we address God as that one
who is sovereign, who is sovereign over all his creatures. He is the only living, he is
the only true God. And that's our comfort. And again,
do we not see it so clearly in the language that the Prophet
uses there in Isaiah chapter 14? Time and again we see him
having to address the children of Israel and dismiss from their
minds any idea of the idols of those nations round about. In
that chapter 40 and verse 21, have you not known, have you
not heard, have it not been told you from the beginning, have
you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth
upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the
princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted,
yea, they shall not be sown, yea, their stalks shall not take
root in the earth, and he shall also blow upon them, and they
shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
To whom then will ye liken me? or shall I be equal saith the
Holy One lift up your eyes on high and behold who has created
these things that bringeth out their host by number he calleth
them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong
in power not one faileth looking at the starry skies there why
sayest thou O Jacob and speakest thou Israel my way is hid from
the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God here is the
comfort you see of God's people that there is one God there is
but one God and he is that God who is sovereign over all his
creation and he looks upon his people and he beholds them continually
as the apple of his eye for there is one God says the Apostle. And then he goes on, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So turning to our
second point, the matter of the one mediator. Although in Providence
God is sustaining all men and ruling over all his creation,
Christ is not the mediator of all. Many times, I would say,
this verse is misquoted. I think it's misquoted more often
than it's correctly quoted. Because so many people, when
they repeat this word, would say that Christ is the
mediator for man. One God, and one mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus. That's
the way in which I would say most people, when they would
speak that word and speak it from memory, that's how they
would, that's how they would quote it, as if Christ is the
mediator for all mankind. But it doesn't say that, it is
a plural noun that we have here. Quite clearly it says, doesn't
it? He is the mediator between God
and men. In other words, certain men are
being spoken of and not all men. We know that Christ does not
pray for the world. He himself says as much. Remember
what we have in that remarkable 17th chapter of John, the Lord's
high priestly prayer. I pray for them, he says, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine. He does go on later in that prayer
to say something more, neither pray I for these alone, he says,
but for them who shall believe on me through their words. It
is evident from the Lord's own lips who it is that he mediates
for, who it is that he prays for. He prays for his church. those that we read of just now
in that second chapter of Hebrews. They are his church, they are
his brethren. They are the children which God gave to him. And these are the ones that he
prays for. These are the same ones, of course,
that he died for. And when we think of the Lord
Jesus Christ in his office as the mediator, when we think of
him as that one who is the the high priest of his people, he
has made a sacrifice. That is the business of the priest,
is it not? They are offering sacrifices.
And he presented the sacrifice, he offered himself for the sins
of his people. He died, the just for the unjust. He is the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world, that is the world of the elect. And as he is a sacrificing priest,
so he is also an interceding priest. And there in that 17th
chapter of John, as we've seen, he is quite definite and specific
with regards to those for whom he is praying. They're the same
as those for whom he laid down his life. But considering the
Lord Jesus Christ in this office as the mediator, For there is
one God and one Mediator, it says. And when we think of Christ
as the Mediator, we think of His two natures. And here, of course, the emphasis
is very much upon the reality of His human nature. The one
Mediator is the Man. The Man, Christ, Jesus. all the reality of his human
nature. A man there is, a real man, with
wounds still gaping. Why? From which rich streams
of blood once ran in hands and feet and sides, says the hymn
writer. How true it is. He is now exalted
to glory in that same human body in which he suffered and bled
and died. He's glorified. even in his manhood
there in heaven and the reality of that human nature he was born
a little boy and like little babes he grew, he grew into a
child, into a man we read of how he increased in stature and
in wisdom we are told aren't we that he
had a human will although he is God and of course as God there
is the divine will but the reality of the human nature when we see
him in all the agonies of the garden of Gethsemane he prays
not my will but thy will be done oh he is a real man but he's
not merely man he's also God that's the mystery and we have
it later in this same Epistle to Timothy, there in chapter
3 and verse 16, without controversy, Paul says. Great is the mystery
of godliness, the mystery of our religion. God was manifest
in the flesh. And remember when Paul is giving
charge to those Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 taking his
final leave of them the church at Ephesus he calls the elders
to himself and gives them a charge and in that charge he utters
those remarkable words he speaks of the church of God which he
has purchased with his own blood the church of God which he has
purchased with his own blood well of course we know that God
is a spirit God doesn't have veins and arteries. God doesn't have a body like
we have. God cannot bleed. Well, of course, although he
speaks of God, he's speaking really of the God-man. He's speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ there. It's that deity, the fact that
he is God, as well as man, that gives worth and value and efficacy. to that precious blood that the
Lord Jesus Christ shed upon the cross how he came to satisfy
the divine justice when he died as the substitute for his people
in their room and in their stead in dying he is God-man as he
is in every part of his human life we can't separate the the
two natures we think always, or we should think in terms of
the one person the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in everything
that he does here upon earth he is God, man oh what a mystery it is but by his
life and by his death he has satisfied all the justice of
God He has made the great sin atoning sacrifice. But not only
that, He has established a righteousness by the obedience of that sinless
life. Remember how Paul is continually
speaking of these things in his various epistles. This is the
truth that he asserts time and time again. the great truth of
justification there in Romans Romans 3.24 being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom
God has set forth to be our propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that have
passed through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this
time His righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of him that believeth in Jesus. All faith in the Lord Jesus,
you see, ensures the forgiveness of sins and ensures a righteousness
before God. The righteousness of faith by
looking to that One who is the Lord our righteousness. How He
has vanquished all the the enemies of the people of God, how he
has conquered every enemy. And Paul of course reminds us
at the end of that great 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law, but
thanks be to God. which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that one then who is God,
but he is also man. He is God-man. And as I said
here in the text today, the emphasis really is very much on the blessed
truth of the reality of his human nature. one mediator between God and
men the man or the man Christ Jesus the man Christ Jesus he is that
one who comes and stands then in the Lord place of his people he is their shorter in his life
he is their substitute in his death and so we read that when
the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son made
of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law or the coming of Christ God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and condemned sin
in the flesh this is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and
as a man of course we know he's able to to sympathize with those
that he has come to live and die and rise again for he's touched
with the feeling of all our infirmities oh we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin
Therefore we are to come boldly to the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of
need. This is the mediator. This is
the mediator. And although there are the two
natures, I emphasize again, we must always think in terms of
the one person. Our salvation is as much in the
person of Christ as it is in the work of the Lord Jesus. He
goes on here, doesn't he, in the following verse, verse 6,
to speak of the work. He gave himself a ransom for
all, says Paul, to be testified in due time. And often we speak
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is right and
proper. but we're never to lose sight of the person who he is and when we think of his person
we're to think of him in terms of this office as the one who
is the mediator isn't this that one that Job so longed for a
daisman? remember how there in Job 9 he
speaks of that, his longing for a daisman betwixt us that might
put his hand upon us both this is how he pleads with God in
the midst of all the trials and troubles of his life he wants
a mediator that's what the daisman is and he can put his hand upon
us both and the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who can do that of
course because as we've said he is God and yet he's also man The great wonder of that, what
they call the hypostatic union, the two natures in the one person,
the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we see them so wonderfully
when we think of him in this office as the mediator. But then also, here in this verse,
besides recognizing the two natures, in the one person of the mediator.
We also have two names. It's the man, Christ Jesus. It's the man, Christ Jesus. These are the two names. The
human name. What is the human name? Well,
that's the name Jesus, isn't it? that's the name that was
given to him at the instruction of the angel when he was born
Joseph is told there in Matthew 1.21 they shall call his name
Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins parents give names to their children And we
think of that then very much as the name that belongs to him
as a child who is born into this world. And you know the significance
of the name Jesus is simply the Greek form of the Hebrew name
Joshua. And it reminds us very much that
salvation is of the Lord and that's why He was given that
particular name, as was made so clear in the instruction that
the angel gave. Why is He to be called Jesus?
Because He shall save His people from their sins. He has come
not only to make salvation as a mere possibility, or He has
come to establish a full salvation, a free salvation. Salvation in its entirety is
found in Him and so it is by grace that the sinner is saved
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have here the human
name but also here we have what we might term the official name
Christ which is of course always associated with his office, in
the sense he has that threefold office, he is the Lord's prophet,
he is the fulfillment of the prophetic office, he is the very
spirit of prophecy in the Old Testament, he is the last and
the greatest of all prophets, we know that Mohammed is no prophet
at all, he's a false prophet. The prophetic office is finalized
in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's also a priest and
we've spoken of his priestly work and in many ways of course
when we think of him as a mediator we might say that's part of his
of his priestly office, because as a priest we said he sacrifices
yet, but as a priest he also intercedes. He stands there in the presence
of God and speaks for his people. That's where he has ascended,
heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence
of God for us, says the Apostle. And he ever lives to make intercession.
but then also he is that one who is king he is the king of
kings he is the lord of lords and as we said here in the context
of course we we come to God we pray to God who is sovereign
over all and we pray in the name of this man the one to whom God
has committed all judgment in this world there is in his official name And that is the Christ. And what
does it mean? What it means is the Anointed
One. In the Old Testament, all those three officers, be they
the kings, they were anointed. Be they the priests, they were
anointed. The prophets, they were anointed. But here is the
fulfillment of all that threefold office. Psalm 45 and verse 7,
God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness, above thy fellows."
Well, God has anointed him. He's the Lord's servant. He says,
Behold, My servant whom I uphold, Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. I have put My Spirit upon him. He's anointed with the oil of
gladness. He's anointed with the Holy Spirit. And God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. O God, give us not the Spirit
by measure unto Him. What an effusion of the Spirit
came upon the Lord Jesus there at His baptizing. And now in
His human life, throughout His human life, we see Him as one
who lives in complete and utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there at the
beginning. in the Incarnation. Mary is told as much. The Holy
Ghost shall come upon them. The power of the higher shall
overshadow them. She's with child and she's with
child of the Holy Ghost. He's so dependent, you see, for
his very human life upon the Holy Spirit. And then, of course,
at his baptism the spirit again descending in the form of a dove
anointing him now for his great work the spirit there in the
miracles that he performs it's through the spirit that he is
casting out demons and then at the end of that life when he
comes to die through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spots to God says the apostle writing to the Hebrews all the
Spirit is there in his dying the Spirit is there in his resurrection
he lives his life in dependence upon the Spirit he is the Christ
the Christ of God but it's interesting isn't it the word order here
in the text it isn't Jesus Christ but it is Christ Jesus and you
know the word order is significant because it's God's word and all
of it is inspired even the syntax the word order why Christ Jesus? well isn't that a descending
scale? from his official name to his
human name. You see, he doesn't simply mediate
between man and God, but in a sense we have to recognize that he
mediates between God and man. We can only know God in and through
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man hath seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. He is the
Word of God. He is that One by and through
whom God communicates with us. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning all things were made by him without
him was not anything made that was made and the word was made
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory
as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth
or we behold God only in him God comes through this mediator
and we come to God only through this mediator there's no other
mediator not the Virgin Mary, that blessed woman, and she is
blessed. Oh, let us not despise the Mother
of our Lord, because the Romanists make her a mediatrix. She rejoices in God her Saviour
in the Magnificat. She knew who this Son was. She
was saved. by him, just as any sinner is
saved by him but she's no mediator and the saints are no mediators
and the church is no mediator Rome is the great mystery of
iniquity is it not? it comes so near to the truth
and yet really denies all the truth that centers in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the only mediator between
God and men or that we might know him in this blessed office
as he said before us here in the text there is one God one
God one mediator between gods and men the man Christ Jesus
and what a mediator this is he is able to save he is able to
save to the uttermost we are told all that come to God by
Him. Oh, we only have to come to God,
by and through this Mediator, and there is salvation to the
uttermost. Oh, God, grant us in grace that
we might delight in all that He is, all that He is in His
blessed Person, God, Man, and all that He has done. For there
is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Amen.