My text this morning is found
in 1 Timothy chapter 2, if you would turn there with me. 1 Timothy
chapter 2. In verse one, Paul writes to
Timothy and he says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all
supplications and prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks
be made for all men. For kings and for all that are
in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God, our Savior. who will have all men to be saved
and to come into the knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due
time. Now we live in a day where religion
calls for sinners to smile because God loves you. Some say God loves
the sinner, but hates the sin. But without the sinner, there
wouldn't be any sin. Well, what is sin? Well, it's
not something that you can touch or put your hand on to love or
to hate. Sin is not really what we do,
it's what we are. Sin's a result of what we are. We sin because we are sinners.
And sin is truly one of the things, the only thing that man can call
his own. And sin is man's invention. It's the only thing that truly
originated with us, the sons and daughters of Adam, that we
are. The scripture doesn't say that the carnal mind is at enmity
with God. The scriptures say the carnal
mind is enmity against God, Romans 8, 7. In Jeremiah, we read in
the 17th chapter, verse 9, that the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. And your heart is you, my heart
is me. By nature, mankind is, every
man and woman by nature is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. And that's not a popular message
today, I know. Preachers everywhere tell sinners
that God loves everybody and Christ died for everyone. And
they tell people that man is basically good. Not perfect,
but basically good. But I'm telling you, if that
were true, it still wouldn't help us. And by the way, it's
not true. We're not basically good. The
scriptures are very plain, that there's none that doeth good.
No, not one. That all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. But even if we were good, it
wouldn't help us because God requires perfection. And then
men shame sinners by telling them that it's the reasonable
thing to do because God loves them and Christ died for them. It's the reasonable thing to
do to give Him your heart, your time, and your money. And I received
an email again this week from a man whose advice to others
was to let go and to let God have His way in their lives.
If man thinks that he can let go and let God, then in his mind
he is God. There can only be one supreme
being. We can't let God do anything. And sadly, men use this very
passage of scripture that we just read to prove their error. Though the gospel in our text,
I believe, is found mainly in verse five, which reads, for
there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. Unfortunately, the average religionist
is more familiar with verse four, which speaks of God our savior
is one who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge
of the truth. Men ought to be more concerned
with the one and only true God and the one mediator that stands
between us, sinful as we are, and a holy God. That should be
our main concern. That should be fallen mankind's
chief interest and concern. But false religion would rather
teach that they're the master of their own salvation and controller
of their own destiny in the matter of eternal life. So I wanna quickly
deal with this error before I get into the real heart, the real
gospel and truth of the passage before us. In verse one, Paul
says, I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications,
prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for
all men. In verse four, Paul speaking
of God writes, who will have all men to be saved and come
into the knowledge of the truth. And then in verse six, speaking
of Christ, Paul says, who gave himself a ransom and atonement
for all to be testified in due time. Now, does all in these
verses mean all men and all women without exception? Does God will
that all, everybody born into this world be saved? If that's
what these verses are saying, then when we compare Scripture
with Scripture, we're gonna run into some difficulties. Now Paul
in verse one, as I said, is exhorting and admonishing the church to
indiscriminately pray without exception for every man and woman. If that is what he's asking,
then what are we to think of our perfect Lord and Savior who
didn't? Christ didn't pray for everyone. Matter of fact, in
John 17, nine, you're very familiar with the passage of scripture.
The Lord praying to his heavenly father said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them, which thou hast given me. He distinguishes those here
that he prays for. He said, I pray for them, not
the world, but for them that you gave me, for they are thine.
Then he went on to say, and all mine are thine, and thine are
mine, and I'm glorified in them. So the question is, who are the
all that Christ speaks of here? Is it all those for whom he's
praying for? All those for whom God gave to
Christ? All those that God keeps by His
power? Absolutely, that's who He's praying
for. Not the world, but them. Christ said, I pray for them,
those that thou has given me. Is Paul talking about all sinners
without exception in verse four? Does God will for every man and
every woman born of Adam to be saved and come to the knowledge
of the truth? Well, if God wills for all to
be saved, and all are not saved, then God's will means nothing.
Nothing. And God's purpose is defeated
and God is a failure. But you see, that can't be so.
For the scripture is clear that all things are predestinated
according to the purpose of Him, Him being God. All things are
predetermined by God. according to the purpose of him
who works all things after the counsel of his own will. If God
wills for a man to be saved, that man will be saved. But it
says in another place that you will not come to Christ that
you might have life. Well, God gonna make you willing.
You're not gonna come to Christ kicking and screaming and not
wanting to come. He's gonna make you willing to come in the day
of his power. Scripture is so clear about these
things. This is the same God, the Lord
of hosts, who hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall
it stand. And this is the God of the Bible.
The God that has mercy on whom He will. The God that has compassion
on whom He will. The God that hardens whom He
will. The Son who quickens whom He
wills. That's the language of Scripture.
And then in verse 6, is Paul saying that Christ became a ransom
and atonement for every man and woman in the world without exception?
Did Christ shed His blood for all the world? If He did, then
I'm telling you, nobody's going to hell. Absolutely be nobody
in hell if Christ shed His blood for all the world. Everyone will
be saved without exception. That's exactly what Elihu said
to Job. If God is gracious to a man,
the gospel message from God to him is deliver him from going
down to the pit because I have found a ransom. If Christ paid
the ransom for a sinner, that sinner is gonna be saved. If
a ransom's paid by Christ for every sinner in the world, then
every sinner in the world will be saved. They can't be delivered
down to the pit. Why? Because a ransom's been
paid for them. God is too just for that not
to be so. And what about those to whom
God says, bind them hand and foot and cast them into outer
darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth?
What about those? Did Christ pay a ransom for them? What about those who are appointed
their portion with the hypocrites who work iniquity? Did God provide
a ransom for them? Is His ransom effectual? Does
His redemption redeem? If Christ paid the ransom for
all, and if all are not saved, then Christ failed in what He
came to do, and that's impossible. Hold your place here and turn
with me to 2 Peter 1. I think that this might help
those who think that all here means everyone. In 2 Peter 1,
verse 20, Peter says, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Now, we know
that no man can privately interpret Scripture. God, the Holy Spirit,
is the one who reveals Scripture to His people, but that's not
what Peter's talking about here. Peter is letting us know that
no portion of Scripture, no portion of the Word of God can stand
alone without the support of the rest of Scripture. That's
what he's talking about. You can't just take a verse here
and there out of the Bible. If you do, you can just about
prove anything and everything. You can't take a sentence from
Paul, Peter, James, or John's letters and make them mean or
say something that the rest of scripture does not support. We
must compare scripture with scripture. No portion of scripture stands
alone. And I've heard it said, and I've
come to know that it's true. Someone told me a long time ago,
an older fella that knew what he was talking about. He said
that the best commentary on the scriptures is scripture. And
that is so true. And that's what Paul is telling,
is saying in 1 Timothy 2. Turn back there with me. What Paul is saying in verse
one is this. He said, we pray for all sorts
of men. All sorts of men. We pray for
all sorts of folks. We pray for Jews. We pray for
Gentiles. We pray for rich and we pray
for poor. We pray for smart and ignorant
men. We pray for black men and white
men. We pray for kings and peasants. In verse four, Paul is saying
that God saves all sorts of men and women. God wills that all
sorts of men and women come to the knowledge of the truth. In
1 John 2, verse two, the beloved John wrote, and he, Christ Jesus,
is the propitiation for our sins. And then he said, and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now John
was a Jew, and John is saying that Christ didn't just die for
Jews, but that He died for the Gentiles also. Nothing is more
common in Jewish writings than to refer to Gentiles as the world. For God so loved the world, He
loved certain Gentiles the same as He loved certain Jews. And
scripture, I'm telling you, it's very, very clear about who Christ
came to save. In Romans 8, it says, for whom
God did foreknow, He also did predestinate. Those that God
knew before they ever were. Those that God predetermined. He predetermined them, those
that He knew before the foundation of the world, to be conformed
to His Son. Who? Them, His elect, His chosen,
those whom He foreknew. He determined beforehand for
them to be like Christ. Romans 8 verse 30 doesn't say
that He foreknew everyone. It doesn't say that God foreknew
the whole world. Scripture distinguishes them
by saying for whom. It's a particular group. It's
a particular people. This is a particular redemption. It's not universal. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And those whom
He affectionately called, them He also justified. Christ said,
I pray for them. For whom did Christ pray? For
all that the Father gave me. Now, Ephesians 1.11 says this,
having predestinated us, having predestinated us into the adoption
of children. Who is the us? Why, Ephesians
1.1 says, to the faithful in Christ Jesus, that's the us.
Those blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
that's the us that he's talking about. Those accepted in the
beloved, Ephesians 1.6, that's who he's talking about. That's
the us that he refers to. Those chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. But preacher, God loves everybody,
doesn't He? He said, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. So I'd have to say, no, he doesn't
love everybody. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. Now I wanna spend the rest of
our time on verse five. I hope that you see that, that
Christ didn't die for everybody. If he did, everybody'd be saved.
There'd be no need for hell. Now the main question is, is
am I saved? Am I one of his believing children?
Here we have the heart of the gospel, and it's such a simple
truth. When I hear others preach, it's
not to hear enticing words of man's wisdom. I hear a man preach
to hear simple divine truth. I want you to tell me how Christ
came into the world to save sinners. I want you to give me some hope
that I, the sinner that I am, might have life. When I preach,
I want to break the bread of life. I want to give you something
that will comfort your soul. I wanna make it easy for you
to digest. So here in verse five, we read,
for there is one God. Now that's a number that I understand,
one. Never was too good in math, but
I understand one. There's one God, just one, and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's nothing hard about that.
Nothing at all hard about that. On the front of our bulletin,
for nearly 30 years now, if not longer, we have John 17.3. If you've got it, you can look
at the front of it. It says, and this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God. Just one. The only true God. Life eternal
is found in knowing the one and the only true God and Jesus Christ,
whom that one God sent. This one God is the only true
God. If Christ himself distinguishes
God as the only true God, then there must be others who are
proclaimed to be God that are not God. If He has to distinguish
that His Father is the only true God, then doesn't that imply
at least that there are other little g-gods who are not God
at all? There's only one God that is true God, just one. All
others who are proclaimed to be God are false gods. How does
God describe Himself? How does God's Word describe
God? You do believe this is God's Word, don't you? What does God
say about Himself? What does this book say about
God? He says, I am the Lord and there is none else. He says the
same thing that Paul told Timothy. There's just one God. He said,
I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside
me. That's what God said. about Himself. Who hath declared these things
from ancient times? Who hath told it from that time?
Hath not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
Me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside Me. Now
do you believe what God says about Himself? Deuteronomy 10.17
says, For the Lord your God is God, capital G, of God's, little
g, and the Lord, capital L, of Lord's, little l. And then it
says, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not
persons, nor taketh reward. And I found it very interesting
that that word reward there actually means donation. It actually means
bribe. God regardeth not persons, nor
does he take bribes. He doesn't take donations. Men
say things like, well, you can't out give God. I've heard preachers
say, oh, give until it hurts. God's not dependent on man. And
God can't be bribed. Preachers tell men and women
that God will return some 30, some 60, some 100 fold. Well,
that's not the God of the Bible. You're not going to bribe him. He doesn't bless on the basis
of donations and bribes. Men give unto the Lord because
they want to. They're concerned about the furtherance
of the gospel. They don't have to preach messages
on giving. God's people will give. This one God, this only
true God, is holy. What's this book called? It's
called the Holy Bible. His angels are called holy angels. Holy. God's holy. He's a holy
God. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord,
and glorify thy name? For thou art holy. God is light
and in him is no darkness at all. God's holy. Holiness is
the very excellency of his divine nature. The great God is glorious
and holiness. Exodus 15, 11. Therefore we do
read, thou are pure than eyes to behold evil and canst not
look upon iniquity. Habakkuk 1, 13. The Lord is righteous
in all his ways and holy in all his works. God is holy. This one God, this one and only
true God is holy. By nature, our thoughts of God
are too human. God complained to apostate Israel. He said, thou thought that I
was altogether such a one as thyself. But He's not. He's not. He's holy. We're sinful
and depraved. We're unholy. He's omnipotent,
all-powerful. We're without strength. He's
omniscient, all-knowing. We're ignorant and know nothing
except what God reveals to us. He's immutable, unchanging. We
change like the weather. He's righteous and just. We're
unholy, unrighteous, and without equity. That's what that word
just means, equity. He's eternal, infinite, and unlimited. He can do anything and everything,
but we're finite, restricted, and bound by sin. Paul said soul
under sin. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere
at all times. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. We thought we were all together
such a one as He is. Yeah, we're pretty much all together
the exact opposite. God is sovereign, independent,
and in control, and we're pathetic, dependent, and out of control.
And that's just a fact. Beloved, there's one God, only
one true God, and He's the one with whom we have to do. Since
He's holy and He requires perfection, how can we who are unholy be
reconciled to Him? That's the issue. How can I,
the sinner that I am, be reconciled into a thrice holy God? I got
to find that out. I've got to know because I want
to be reconciled to God. I don't want to die in my sin.
Well, that's what Paul's telling us here. There is a way that
God can be just and still justify the ungodly. Are you interested?
Again, verse five, for there is one God and, oh, don't you
love those little words? And, but, there's one God and,
oh, what a blessed word that is. There's one God, holy, just,
and righteous. He will by no means clear the
guilty. Then what am I gonna do? Because
I'm guilty. He's not gonna clear the guilty. How am I gonna be
cleared then? And there's one mediator. One mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. Now there's your gospel. There's
your good news. Good news for unholy sinners.
We've talked many times about what a mediator is. A mediator
is one who is qualified to stand between two parties who are at
odds. A mediator is one who is selected
by both sides to endeavor to resolve irreconcilable differences. We need to call in a mediator
to work this thing out. However, what's different about
our mediator and us is in our situation, we don't have any
rights. We forfeited all our rights when we sinned against
God. Our mediator, the one who stands between God, a holy God,
and ourselves has been appointed by God. And I'm telling you,
that's what makes this grace. That's what makes this grace.
God provided a mediator for those who didn't deserve one. Our mediator
has the good of both parties at heart. He has the glory of
God at heart, and he has the salvation of his elect at heart.
There's a great need for a mediator. We need a mediator because of
our sin. Our sin has alienated us from
God. Our sin has made us enemies of
God. Enemies. We're alienated and
enemies in our mind, the scripture says, by wicked works. Yet now
hath he reconciled. Now that's what a mediator does. He reconciles. Colossians 121. There's one mediator. I understand
one. One mediator between God and
men. Do you know what the definition
of between is? It means the space separating.
Between means the space separating. The Word of God says, but your
iniquities have separated you. They have separated between you
and your God. And your sins have hid His face
from you that He will not hear. Isaiah 59.2. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid
His face from you that He will not hear. I need a mediator that
God will hear. I need a mediator that God will
listen to. I need a mediator who can and
who will stand in that space between me and God. There's a
space separating me from God. I need someone who can bridge
that great gulf. You remember what Abraham told
that rich man? He said, between us is a great
gulf fixed. Between us and God is a great
space separating us. How are we going to be reconciled
to Him? Jesus Christ is that one and only mediator who can
bridge that space between God and us. Hold your place here
again in 1 Timothy and turn to Ephesians chapter 2 with me if
you would. Ephesians chapter 2. Let's take the time here, I'm
almost finished. Look at verse 12. Paul here speaking to the elect
of God, those predestinated according to His purpose and the eternal
counsel of His will. He says that at that time you
were without Christ. There was a time when God's people
were without Christ. He says being aliens, alienated
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers. from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. Now
look, verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were
far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. How's that great
gulf gonna be bridged? Made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, now watch, and
hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and
that he might what? Reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Friends,
Jesus Christ is that one mediator between God and man. What are the qualifications of
a mediator? Not just anyone can be a mediator. He must be qualified to represent
mankind. To do so, he has to be a man. Our mediator, the one mediator,
is none other than the man, Christ Jesus. He's the man, Christ Jesus. He's not said to be the savior
of Christ Jesus, though he is. He's not said to be the king,
Christ Jesus, though he most certainly is. Though he's both
Savior and King, in order to be our mediator, he must be a
man. Now through one man, Adam, sin
entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death passed
or spread to all men because all sinned in Adam and also in
and of themselves. And also, for by one man's offense,
death reigned. Therefore, through one man's
offense, judgment came upon all men. For by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. The consequences of Adam's sin
is shared by all mankind. But it is then necessary for
our mediator to be a man so that he might serve as man's representative. That's what Paul talks about
so plainly in the Scriptures. Adam represented man as the first
man. He's referred to as the first
man. Christ Jesus is the second Adam, the second man. The man
Christ Jesus was already one with the Father and He Himself
said that. He said, I and my Father are
one. John 10, 20. So our Lord Jesus is both the
Son of God and the Son of Man. He's the God-man. Though born
of a woman, he was the image of the invisible God, Galatians
4.4 and Colossians 1.15. So what am I saying? The man,
Christ Jesus, is the only one qualified to be the mediator
between God and man. Why? Because he's both God and
man. He has the good of both parties
at heart. That thrills my soul. I'm telling
you, that absolutely thrills my soul. How can we be sure that
Christ is the one mediator? He's the only one spoken of throughout
the scriptures. The only one spoken of. You start
at Genesis 3.15. He was the seed of the woman.
He was Abel's sacrifice. Cain brought a sacrifice by the
work of his own hands, but Abel brought a blood sacrifice. That
picture's Christ. He was the ark of Noah. God's
wrath fell on the world. It fell on Noah and his family
too. But they was in the ark. They were in Christ. They were
in the refuge. They found refuge in Christ.
Well, he's the Passover? That blood spread over the lentils
of the doors? God passed over? That's Christ.
He's the tabernacle. He's that brazen serpent that
Moses lifted high up on the pole. It's all talking about Him. Well,
He's the manna. He was the smitten rock. He was
the priesthood. He was the atonement. He was
the sacrifices. He was the city of refuge. Beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He showed them in the scriptures
Himself. All these things point to and
picture one mediator. He said, search the scripture.
They testify of me. Only he is capable of the work
that the office demands. That's why there's only one.
God demands perfection. Christ is our perfection. God
demanded a death that satisfies infinite holiness and justice.
Christ's death was a perfect death. Perfect. It satisfied
the holy justice of God. Well, how do you know it did?
God raised Him from the dead. Death and hell had no claim on
Him. Why? Because He was the spotless Lamb
of God. That shows God's acceptance of
His sacrifice for sin. That's the proof that His work
is finished. God raised Him up from the dead
and He's sitting on the right hand of God making intercession
for you, dear sinner. This is the work of the mediator.
The mediator, the man Christ Jesus, verse six, gave himself
a ransom for all, all being all that the Father giveth me. All
them shall come to me. That's the all that's talking
about, Julie. It's not talking about all the world. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me and I'll no wise cast him
out. Oh, I'm safe and I'm secure in
that ark, Christ Jesus. Let the reins of God's wrath
fall. I'm safe. I'm safe. According to Matthew chapter
20, verse 28, the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but
to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Throughout
the centuries, theologians have speculated But to whom did Jesus
pay the ransom since he's God? You'd be amazed at the forums
and the discussions on the internet over that question. Well, who
did he pay the ransom to? It's a foolish question. Christ
didn't pay a ransom to anyone. The word ransom means a sum of
money or other payment demanded or paid for the release of a
prisoner. The word ransom in the scripture
is a metaphor expressing the tremendous cost of our redemption. In giving Himself, we've been
redeemed, we've been bought with a price, 1 Corinthians chapter
6, and our redemption has come at a great price, and that's
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We just read that.
Now let me ask you a question, as seriously as I can in closing. How serious is it, how crucial
is it to know and to trust in Christ alone? How important,
how critical, how crucial is it to know and trust in Christ
alone? Well, let me answer that with
another question. How many mediators are there?
Just one. There's only one mediator between
God and men. Not two, not three, not many,
just one. He's the man, Christ Jesus. What
think ye of Christ? He's my only mediator. He's the
only one. If He don't stand between me
and God, I'm a goner. I'm done for. I'll perish forever
in my sin. Sinful man can only come to God
through his son. He's the only way. That's what,
you remember what he said? I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the life. And no one
comes to the Father except or but by me. Now the question is, will you
trust in him alone? May God enable you to do so.