We sang this song last week,
titled, Crown Him With Many Crowns. Our Lord and Savior is a man
of many, many different hats. He's a king. He's king of kings,
is he not? Does not the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ rule over everything? Are not all things in heaven
and in earth and below the earth put in the hands of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Absolutely. He's King of kings.
He's Lord of lords. He wears the hat of judge. He wears the hat of jury. He wears the hat of sacrifice. He wears the hat of the altar
that the sacrifice is put on. He wears the hat of manna, bread
from heaven. He wears the hat of living water. And he holds the hat and wears
the hat of priest. I'd like to, I'm sure there's
many more hats too. I'm sure we could go through
and find many more hats that you could lay on our Lord Jesus.
He wears all kinds of crowns. But I'd like to consider this
morning the position as priest. Turn to Exodus 28 if you would
please. The 28th chapter of Exodus. What does a priest do? Now here
in the Baptist church, we don't have
priests as far as what the world sees as a priest. I'm not a priest.
I'm a pastor. I preach the word of God. I do
some of the things that a priest might be considered to do, but
I'm not the priest. So let me share with you what
goes through my mind when I think of priest. I think of that guy
they call the pope. I think of all the wonderful
robes that they put on him, and this wonderful place that he
lives in, and he walks around. Some of them walk around with
their hands like this, and they're so meek, and they're so this. They're kind of pious, I think is the word for
it. Pappus. Pappus, I think, is the
word for it. I think I said the wrong word. I did say the right word? You
know what I'm getting at, though? You think of this guy who's all
dressed up nice and neat, and he's supposed to go around and
make everybody feel good in their religious beliefs. In most cases,
when I think of a priest, I think about somebody who's standing
between the people and God Almighty. That's kind of where the priests
were in old Israel, are they not? They were a special people
that would go between, stand between. A priest is one who
stands before God, representing the people. They go between as
it is. And this is a very important
position to be in, because the people need somebody to go between
them. You see, sin entered into the
world When Adam said, I'm not going to do it God's way. I'm
going to do it my way. And my way is, well, I've just
watched my wife eat of that apple. And I'm going to eat of the same
apple because I don't want her to die alone. Adam took that
apple and ate of it when God told him not to. And from that
day on, every person who has ever walked this earth has been
spiritually dead. Full of sin. Even you and I,
no matter how good we think we are, at times we have been full
of sin. From the top of our heads to
the bottom of our feet. Throughout scripture, the Lord
gives us examples of that. Leprosy. Leprosy is an example
of sin. Another example of it is Egypt. Egypt took Israel in and made
them slaves. Slaves to Egypt. Egypt is a picture
of sin. They were in bondage to that
sin. God who is so holy, holy in every
aspect, so holy that you and I can't even get a grasp on how
holy that is. We see little pictures of it.
We see it dimly. But He is so holy, He cannot
even look upon what you and I are without somebody, without a priest
to stand between us. It's a very special position
indeed. It's so important that the dress,
the very dress that they must wear, a true priest of God must
be extravagant. In fact, if you're with me in
Exodus chapter 28, let's read about how the Lord says these
ones who are to be priests should be. And take thou unto thee Aaron,
and thy brother, and his sons with him from among the children
of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office,
even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's
sons. And thou shalt make holy garments
for Aaron thy brother, for glory, and for beauty, And thou shalt
speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit
of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate
him. I'll get that right in a minute.
That he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these
are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, and an ephod,
and a robe, and a broided coat, and a miter, and a girdle, and
they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his
sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And
they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet of fine
linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold, and of blue, and
the purple of scarlet, and the fine twined linen with cunning
work. These priests who went before
God, they not only went before God between God and the people,
it was their job to bring the blood, to bring the sacrifice. You see, God only allowed one
priest to go into that holiest of holies every year. And he
went in by himself, but he did not go in without blood. Our Lord is so holy that He had
the innermost of the holy places, it was called the Shaniah glory,
the holiest of holy, the place in the temple where they would
take blood, a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people once
per year. These priests who went before God with the blood of
animals, they were representing the people. And they had to do
this over and over. It was never ceasing. Once every
year they would go into the hidden room that was cloaked in thick
curtains, so thick that none could see in. And they would go in bringing blood,
which is the price for sin. Scriptures tell us that there
is no remission. There is no turning from what
you and I are without blood. There is no payment without blood. There is no atonement. They met with God, these priests.
They stood between God and the people they were a go-between.
A mediator. One who mediates between two
parties. In other words, one who brings
the two parties together. A holy God and a sinful man. Now look at our text in 1 Timothy,
if you would please. We've been looking at Timothy,
expounding in the Scriptures the things that are of the Lord. We left off last week in verse
17. I'd like to pick up in verse
18 this morning. This charge I, this is Paul writing
to his son Timothy. This charge I commit unto thee,
son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before
on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare. holding faith and a good conscience,
which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck. And
he mentions the two that had done that, of whom is Hymenaeus
and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn
not to blaspheme me. Continuing on in chapter 2, he
says, I exhort, therefore, 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, 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 unto the knowledge
of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus." There is one mediator between
God and men, Christ Jesus. My title this morning is, One
Mediator. In that Old Testament view that
we saw, the different priests you saw, it was Aaron and his
sons, and the brother of Moses. I may have that wrong. I know
it was Aaron and his sons. So there were many priests there,
wasn't there? There were many who were mediators, you might
say. But there is only one mediator according to God. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
10, if you would, please. Those priests of the Old Testament,
they were nothing special. Yeah, they wore nice clothes,
they put on a nice suit, you know, dressed up kind of nice. Heard you say to me a couple
times there, those of you who've seen me in my leathers, look
at you, John, you dress up all nice and everything, don't you?
That's all those guys were doing. They were putting on the ephod,
the breastplate, the robe, underneath. Underneath all that is just exactly
what you see right here before you. The same is all of us. There's no difference in those
men. That's why there were many. Their sacrifices never did anything. They were merely pictures, types,
and shadows of the one mediator. The one mediator who not only
mediates, but accepts the mediation also.
God Almighty in the flesh. Our Lord and Savior. That's the
one mediator that we saw back there in 1 Timothy. Christ Jesus the Lord. One mediator. Those priests of the Old Testament,
they were nothing special. They were men, just as any were
at that time. They had the same faults as anyone
else. They were sinners. That's why they continued their
work. That's why their work was never good enough. Their works
were filled with the impurities of the flesh. The blood that
they brought was the blood of the impurities of this world.
There was no power in the blood of an animal. In truth, their
sacrifices never did anything. It never did anything except
to point the people to the only true sacrifice, the only pure
and sinless sacrifice, the one who provided Himself as the spotless
sacrifice for sin, and that's our Lord Jesus Christ. Our text
tells us that there is only one mediator between God and men,
not many, but one. The priests of old could never
sit down because their work continued. It was never enough. It never
satisfied the judgment of God, but the blood of Jesus Christ
satisfied the Lord completely. That's how we rest. That's the
rest that we have. In Bible study, I quoted this,
"'Take my yoke upon you,' the Lord says, for I am meek and
lowly. My yoke is easy. There's nothing for us to do. If we exercised our will, we
would run out those doors and go the other direction, wouldn't
we? And many, many do. But thank
God for His will. Thank God for His purpose, that
He has purpose to save a people and to Himself. And despite what
you and I have thought of ourselves at one time, our Lord came and
arrested us. Cut that old stony heart out,
the one that said, I will not have this one to rule over me.
And He showed us that He rules over us whether we like it or
not. And the thing about it is, when
the Lord shows you that He rules, you like it. If you don't like it, then He
didn't show you. Plain and simple. I like the fact that I don't
have to exercise my will. I know what that would get me.
It would get me exactly what I deserve.
I like the fact that it was His purpose and His will that called
me out of the darkness and brought me into the loving light that
my Savior has for His people. The love. The love that drove Him. Drove
Him to provide Himself. Not just the mediator, but the
means for why He could mediate between us and God. The means
of sacrificing Himself, providing Himself, providing His pure and
precious blood as our atonement. Love doesn't get any better than
that. Oh! Don Fortner wrote this, he said,
The most amazing thing in all the world is the fact that the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should condescend to become
a man. That He might live and die in
the place of sinful men, as our substitute upon the cursed tree.
He says, I hope I never get over the wonder of redeeming love.
I can't imagine. I can't imagine ever getting
over that. Knowing what I am, knowing what I deserve. And knowing that He loved me
from before the world was. Knowing that He created everything
that we see for our sakes. that we would be exactly where
we are. A brother called me and he said,
John, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't be there today.
I've missed a few weeks. I've been so busy. And some things
came up. I just can't walk away and leave
this man who fell yesterday to himself. And I've said this to some others
who have said they're sorry for not being here. Don't ever be
sorry to me. You've got nothing to be sorry
for. You're exactly where God would have you to be. There's
a purpose for this young man not to be here today. And it's
God's purpose. Everything has been purposed
in this world for the sake of His loved ones. And who knows,
that 90 year old man who fell yesterday may be one of God's
people. And today he may be on the cross as that thief did,
and it may be his day to go with God. I sent Garrett a little note.
I said, you know what, maybe that 90 year old man needs to
see how you and your wife worship the Lord. Do it right there where
you're at. You don't have to be here. God has everybody here exactly
how we should be here. If it was just Kathy and I, then
that would be the purpose of God as far as I'm concerned. All things are for the good of
God's people. Hortner goes on to write a poem,
he says, could we with ink the oceans fill, and were the skies
of parchment made, were every stock on earth a quill, and every
man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain
the oceans dry. Nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though it might stretch from sky to sky." How can we
describe the love of God that He has for His people? For God
so loved the world. Right? For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should have everlasting life. What love our Lord has
for you and I. Yet, Faulkner goes on to say,
when I meditate upon this great and stupendous fact, the fact
that the Lord of Glory came here to live and to die for me, to
be made sin for me, to bring in everlasting righteousness
for me, to put away my sin by being made sin, to give me life
by laying down His own life, that He came here to save me,
I am compelled to ask this with reverent astonishment, why? Why
did Christ come? This question is answered in
many ways and in many places in Holy Scripture, but it is
not answered more fully, more clearly in any single passage
than it is right here in Hebrews chapter 10. Here the Holy Spirit
tells us specifically why the Lord Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world and he died in our room instead at Calvary,
end of quote. Look at verse 1 of chapter 10,
shall we? For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, remember we talked a moment ago about
the types and the figures. The law, having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of things, can never with
those sacrifices which they offered year by year, we're speaking
of the priest, we're speaking of the mediator, the one who
goes between God and men, those priests, those who were just
a picture, Those who are fulfilling the ceremonial law. We're not talking about the law,
thou shalt not this, thou shalt not that. We're talking about
the ceremonial law. You need to have one man, one
priest go into the holiest of holies, the Shania Glory, with
blood, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. There's another hat. Another hat our Lord and Savior
wears, the mercy seat. All mercy comes from Him. All grace comes from our Lord
and Savior. The image of things can never,
with those sacrifices which they offer year by year, continually
make the comers thereunto perfect. The blood of goats and heifers
never made anyone perfect. What a picture it shows us of
the One who shed His blood for us. The perfect blood that is
spread on the doorpost of our hearts. Verse 2, for then they
would not have ceased to be offered if it would. If those bloods
of that animal would have been what they said they were supposed
to be, they would have ceased. It would have been done, right? But they didn't. They had to
go back every year. Every day or so, some sacrifice
had to go. I heard one say that, could you
imagine how much blood was spread around? Have you ever smelled
blood after it's dried and stuff like that? It don't smell very
good. I can only imagine that it didn't smell that great. They
didn't have perfume like we have today. I mean, they had some
perfume. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, because the worshippers once purged should
have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices,
there is a remembrance again made of sin every year. For it
is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins." Oh, we're talking about a mediator. We're talking about a priest.
We're talking about One who can come between our sin and the
Holy God. Wherefore, when He cometh into
the world, He saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared Me. Oh, isn't that wonderful? For so God so loved the world
that He sent His only Son? A body was prepared for Him.
A perfect body. One who would perfectly fulfill
every point of the law for our sakes where we could not. One whose perfect blood would
pay the redemptive price where ours could not. That's why hell is an eternity
place. You can spend eternity in hell
and your blood will never cover the cost. But a body hast thou prepared
in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book, it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Do you know when we go places,
we're not supposed to say we're going to be going there unless
it's the will of God? If I go this afternoon and get
on my Harley and go for a ride, Lord willing. If I'm going to tell you I'm
going to go do some shopping maybe this afternoon, that's
Lord willing. If it's the Lord's will, because
if it's the Lord's will, that's what will happen. If it's not
His will, that's not going to happen. Plain and simple. He's God. I come to do Thy will,
O God. Our Lord and Savior always did
what pleased the Father. This is My Son in whom I am well
pleased, said God. Everything He did was perfect.
Righteous. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hath pleasure therein, which were offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he might establish the second." The first covenant, the covenant
of works. It was never meant to work in the first place. but
it was to bring us to the one covenant, the actual covenant
of old, where all the law is fulfilled
in that second covenant in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
He taketh away the first that He might establish, the second
by the witch will. We are sanctified. We are set
apart. We are made holy. Through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Through
our Lord and Savior, that one mediator between men and God.
The very one who sits on his throne today and says, this is
mine. No, he's coming with me. She's
coming with me. This one's coming with me. I
bought and paid for him. My blood has paid the price for
these. They are mine. They shall be
mine forever and eternity. Verse 11, every priest standeth
daily ministering and offering sometimes the same sacrifices
which he can never take away sins, but this man, this one
Jesus Christ the Lord, the one who offered His body once, Because
that's all it took. That's all it took was His one
offering for us. A perfect offering. He who had
no sin in Him. He never sinned. Took our sins upon Himself. He was made sin for us. The Father laid all our sins
on His soul. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Those who have been set apart
from the world. Those whose names were written
in the book of life before the world ever began. Those for whom the Son came to
save. By one offering. We have been
perfected forever. My little puny brain can't even
comprehend that. But God Almighty says it. And
if He says it, it's true. And even though there's times
when I can't see it, even though there's times when my faith turns
away from my Savior and looks to myself for things. I'm brought back to know the
knowledge of knowing that He rules it all. And to trust in
what He says. Don't trust in John's feelings.
Don't trust in John's actions. Don't trust in what you see of
this flesh, but trust in what He has said. And He has said,
By one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereup the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, for after that He had said before, this is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their
minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more." In verse 2 we read, purged. For then would they not have
peace to be offered because the worshippers once purged. That
word purged means to be cleansed, washed, When a person had leprosy and
the leprosy was gone, they had to go wash in the river. And
then they had to go before the priests and show that they were
washed. Our Lord sees everything. And
He sees that we are washed in His blood. And as our mediator,
He stands between us and God and says, this one is mine. This
one is mine. Look at Hebrews chapter 1 verse
3. who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down in the right hand of the majesty on high." When he by himself. When he by himself. Put your works away, folks. Don't ever trust in what you
think you see in your own works, in your own flesh. And that includes
feelings. We're warned not to trust our
feelings, but to trust the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. We
can trust His Word, for it is true. He says He purged us. He purged us, making us perfect
in Him. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we would be righteous. Not in us, but in Him, right? He is our righteousness. We can
come to God boldly. We can come before God and say,
Father, Abba, Father, because we have been brought into the
family of God by our Lord and Savior, our Mediator, the One
who has gone between our sin and the holiness of God and made
us as holy as He is, right this minute. Now if you would look at verse
15 of chapter 9 and I'll bring this to a close. Actually I want to start with
verse 11. But Christ being calm, and high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Past tense. Obtained. That means when He went and shed
His blood, that was it. After being raised again to sit
on His crown, to sit on His throne right now, He's entered into
the holy place with His own blood and obtained eternal redemption
for you and I. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and ashes of heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifyeth to the
purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot
to God, Purge. Cleanse. Wash away. Completely wipe out. Our Father
doesn't see any of our sins anymore. He can't look upon those. He
looks upon the blood of His Son. And He sees the perfection of
that. And He sees you and I in that perfection. In our mediator. Purge. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? And for this cause, because of
that, for that cause, all that we just read, He is the mediator
of the New Testament. That by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament,
that which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
Because of our Mediator, because of the One who gave Himself for
us, because He sits on His throne right now, declaring who are
His, declaring the price that was paid for you and I, we have
an internal inheritance in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that good news? That's why they call it the gospel.
Good news indeed, right? Stand with me if you would please
and let's turn in our hymn books