Well, let's turn to 1 Timothy
chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. I like that song. That's the
only way for that spirit to move, that breath of God that goes
where it will. We don't know where it's going
or where it's coming from. For Him to breathe on us is the only
way we're going to love what He loves. That's the only way
we're going to like what He likes. And I don't really care what
somebody else wants. I want to want what His will
is. I want to like what the Lord
likes. And if it's important to Him, I want it to be important
to me. I do. It was a weird way I got to this
text. It's weird to me. The Lord purchased it from full
time. But this is the message for the hour. Oh, Brother Don
says that. You know, I always tell you, Brother Henry, you
say, this is going to be good. And then Brother Don, you say,
I have a message from God to your souls. And that's true.
He might, he might not, but he prayed so. And I guess I have
to have something to say. It's better than bull yawn. But
this bully only make you mad, glad, or sad, or you'll just
sleep on all sluggard. Dead men don't hear much, and
dead men don't get angry, and dead men and women don't get
sad. So either it's going to make you mad, sad, or glad, or
none of the above. I take mad. My dad used to say,
if I made you mad, that's good, son. That means you's listening
to me. I mean, I was paying, as a teenager, I mean, I was
paying attention, huh? I think this will make us, make many
of us glad. Here in 1 Timothy chapter two. Now let's remember who, who is
writing to whom? That's important. If we get a
letter in the mail that's not addressed to us, guess what?
That letter ain't addressed to you. This is for the Lord's people,
but Paul was writing to Timothy. And so there's some things that's
a given there between those two. So we have to compare scriptures
with scriptures to understand these things. But Paul says in
1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1, I exhort therefore that first
of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men. Ain't that a good place to start?
especially come November this year, especially come election
time. You want a bit mad? All right,
let's start with this. Let's give thanks for all men,
because everybody that's here is purposed by God, and everybody
that's in the position that they're in is purposed by God, and everything
that's going on is purposed by Him. Let's give thanks for that.
That sets the good tone, doesn't it? I don't want to dwell there.
Verse two, for kings and for all that are in authority, that
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all goodliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have all men. Now remember,
he's writing to Timothy, and it doesn't say all man. Man typically
means mankind. This is a people who will have
all men be saved, and it says will. Nothing that he would,
or he'd really pretty please like. This is God's will we're
speaking of, we're about to learn of that. God's will, he will
have all of his men and women, his beloved, his sons of Jacob,
be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. And he's
saying that to Timothy, and he said, you pray for those kings,
and those governors, and those sheriffs, and those code enforcement
officials in your county, whatever, pick one. Managers at Costco,
you pray for them, because that just might be your brother or
your sister. Give thanks for them, because they're still breathing.
God might save them. Just as David wept and mourned
over his son, there's life in them. God may still save them.
Pray for them. And here's what they need. Here's
what those that's been regenerated by God, that's called saved,
Christians, I don't like using that term, but those in Christ,
And that's what they need. That's what you need. And that's
what all mankind needs. People that don't even know it.
Here's their need. And this is the only thing that'll
save. Verse five. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. What a statement. The Lord could say so much with
so little. I guess if someone was the inventor of all language,
he'd be very concise if he wanted to be. Or what he can say. What
a poet he was. What words of comfort. And he
can speak those to the heart, can't he? This is a very short
verse here. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. There's
one God. That's a bold statement. What
do you mean by that? There's one mediator between
God and men. What's meant by that? I know
that's what it says. We know what the scriptures say,
but do we understand what the scriptures say? The man Christ
Jesus. I know what that says. What's
that mean? What's that mean? I don't need just knowledge.
I need knowledge and understanding, don't you? Many would agree on
this. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. A lot of folks
would say that's right. That's what that says. And if
it's in there, it's probably right. And they will keep just
skipping their heels all the way to hell. to an eternity of
damnation. We must define our terms. There's some things that mean
something on that side of the Mississippi that mean something
totally different on this side of the Mississippi. Non-denominational
means something totally different in eastern Kentucky than it does
in California, I can tell you that. That ain't what I meant. Same word, totally different
thing. Sometimes you have the same thing with two totally different
words, don't you? I love Hellman's mayonnaise. They don't have that
out here. The exact same thing as Best
Mayonnaise. You know that? Ain't no difference. Not one lick difference. It's
the same thing, two different names. But we have to know what we're
talking about. We have to define our terms. A lot of people say
things, and I mean a bunch, and it sounds right. And on the surface,
it seems to agree. And we think we're in the same
boat. We think we're fellows in the same ship. We think we're
having fellowship. But it's not necessarily what people say that
I'm concerned about. What do you mean by that? What
do you mean? We all say dumb things. We all
say things backwards or wrong or whatever. What do they mean?
What's the tenor of that? What do you mean? It says here,
for there is one God. Okay. Common in our day. Well, we all call him by different
names, but we all go to God. His name's Allah or his name's
Buddha or his name's whatever. No. No. That's just what's said. That's not true. That's not my
God. That's not the God of the Bible.
Absolutely, hands down, is not. Now, we have brethren in Mexico.
That's two different things called by the same name. Now, we have
the same thing called by two different names. Our brethren
in Mexico call him Jesus Cristo. We say Jesus Christ. It ain't
what we say, it's what they mean. Do you get that? It's who they're
talking about. It's who they're talking about.
There is one God. People say, well, I believe in
one God. So what? That's a harsh response. No,
it's not. How did James respond? Thou believest there is one God,
thou doest well. Good job, buddy. The devils believe
that there's one God. Demons believe that there's only
one God. And you know what else they do above you and they're
still demons? They tremble. They actually fear him. You walk
through this life thinking he owes you something. Well, God wouldn't do that to
me. I'm a good person. The devil's got enough sense
to tremble. They believe there's one God, so us believing that
there is one God on the surface of what we say don't mean deadly,
does it? Many believe in one God. What's that? The God of
their imagination. The God that has no resemblance
whatsoever to the God of the Bible. And I'll tell you what
else, it's a God they will not bow to and they will not honor.
You can't honor something. You won't bow to something that's
not supreme. That's a peer. That's somebody you negotiate
with. That's what the word God means.
Our old Marie said, our God is God. And I thought, that's right. Seems so simple. God has to reveal
that. He has to reveal that. for us to bow to Him, honor Him,
and be thankful to Him, to the one true and living God, and
to believe on Him, not to believe in Him, that all of our belief,
all of our faith came from Him. It's Him. Well, you had strong
faith. No, I didn't. I had a strong Christ is what
I had. That's believing there's one God. That's belief. Well, it's mine! Take it all
the way to Satan. Take it all the way to the gate
to hell. It's Christ or it's nothing. If he didn't make it,
he didn't sustain it, he didn't preserve it, it ain't worth nothing.
God said it's gonna burn. Well, I don't think so. It don't
matter what you think. It matters what God says. There's one God. I've seen people embroider on
their Bibles, Jesus is God. Jesus is Lord. Well, okay. He is. Now you say that, what
do you mean by that? What are you talking about? Are
you talking about the one that shall save his people? Not gonna try, not my, pretty
please someday, if you'll do something else, he'll negotiate
with you. He shall save his people. And not that that's a doctrinal
fact, from something. They're sins. Why do I have sins? I am sin. He's got to save me,
not help me, not throw me a life preserver, not help lift me up
the ladder of life. He has to save to the uttermost,
has to get down underneath me and pick me up and carry me out
of that mire pit. One God, there's one God and
He's Lord. He's Lord. He's God. That's his
name. You know what goes synonymous
with that? Sovereign. Sovereign. I like that in England.
They call their queen, now king, the sovereign. That might remind
us of something. That's the boss. That's what
they mean by it. They say it. It's a whole other thing. They
use the same terms. God's sovereign. We have a sovereign
God. I hear people around the state, and I've heard people
around this world, and they say that, well, God's sovereign.
But what do you mean by that? I hear people say that, it comes
out their mouth. They've regurgitated something
pretty that grandma and grandpa might've said one time or they
heard on TV. What do you mean by that? What do you rest on
in that? I don't know what they mean.
I don't know, it changes person to person. There's areas, they'll
say, well, God's sovereign in my job. If I get that next job,
I've asked him a whole bunch and I got all my friends together
and we ganged up on him and we're just gonna pray till this comes
through and I'm gonna get that job. And God's sovereign, he can give
me that job if he wants to, okay? You have cancer eating you up
from head to toe. I can't believe that. He's not sovereign over
cancer? He's not sovereign over killing
your children? I haven't lost a child. If he did it, is he
sovereign in that or did he make a mistake? Sovereign, sovereign. I don't know what other people
mean, but I know what I mean. And I know what these scriptures
mean. I believe it because that's what the scriptures say. He's
on his throne. He's ruling and reigning, and
what he does is right, and he controls everything from the
big stuff that we think all the way down to the electrons orbiting
a nucleus and whatever that stuff's made up of. And the hearts of
the kings are turned just like a river's water. If there's evil
in a city, he's done it and he'll restrain whatever doesn't glorify
him. That's what this book means. That's what I mean. I don't know
what other people mean. God trying to do something. You
gotta let God. You don't know him. He needs
to reveal himself to you. That's not God. Ah, you can let
me into your house or not let me in your house. Not the Lord. Not the Lord. In creation, he's
sovereign over all things. There's one God. That means the
birds and the trees and the climate and the skies and the clouds
in the air and whatever else is floating up there. It's his
skies. He does what he wants with it.
It's his creation. This earth, he owns it. If there's oil underneath
the ground, he put it there and there's as much as he wants to
be there. The fullness thereof, it's his. A cat on a thousand
hills is his. That's not 999 plus one. That
means everything. You can't count that many. In
creation, He's God. That means He does what He wants
and everything. In Providence, whether this building collapses
on us, or I live to 119 years old, or I'm loved, or I'm hated,
or I'm in the dry, or I'm in the wet, or I'm in the cold,
or I'm in the hot, or I'm sick, or I'm healthy, or I'm happy,
or sad, or whatever it is, in Providence, throughout time,
anything that happens, He's the God of it, or He ain't God at
all. Either He's on His throne or
He ain't. Well, if that leaves us in creation, everything that's
made, and that leaves us in providence, everything that took place, what
else does that mean He's God of? That affects us. Salvation. You
didn't figure Him out. He wasn't lost and you wasn't
finding Him. He found you if He found you. You didn't determine
He was right. He is right. He revealed it to
you and it crushed you. And it changed your life. You
ain't the same because there's a new creation in you. Well,
that's drastic. Yeah, it is. It's called going
from death to life. We don't see it happen too much.
It's a rare thing. It's a very rare thing. He's
a God of creation. There's one God of providence,
one God of salvation, and he does what he pleases with whom
he pleases in the manner that he pleases, not because that's
the right thing to do, but because he did it, that makes it right. We've been looking at Moses,
right? They were casting babies in the sea. Every male child,
throw it in the river. Chuck every one of them in the
ocean. One made it. The Lord kill all them babies
on purpose? You better believe he did. What about when Christ
came? Because that was a picture of Christ, right? Herod said,
if they're two years old or under, go find an 18-month-old and cut
its head off. That's still happening in other
parts of this world, but we just think we're so refined in this nation. God
of the Bible kills people. Now, I have full confidence they're
His children that He sent the glory right then and we'll meet
them because they'll grow up. But I don't know, I can't see
how that's right. It don't matter how I see it.
The Lord did it and it's right because He did it and it glorifies
Him. And because He did it, that means it's right. He doesn't
do what's right, what He does is right. Because he's a holy God. He's a holy sovereign. He's the
monarch. He's Lord. There's only one. Ain't none
beside him. Well, this other one's kind of
like him. No, it ain't. Ain't nothing. Him and him alone.
He kills and he makes alive physically. He conducts the affairs of this
earth in a manner that glorifies His Son and Himself. He quickens
whom He will. He saves to the uttermost any
clay pot, any earthen vessel, any child of Adam that He wants
to, that He pleases. And He doesn't have to answer
to anybody because of it. They get mad at me, stoned throughout
time. Moses is about to get it, left, right, and center. And
he has to keep taking 40 days at a time to go up and talk to
the Lord. I wonder how many times me and Kareem was talking about
this, reading through Deuteronomy. He went up again to talk to the
Lord for 40 days. I remember, I gotta go talk to the Lord for 40 days.
He just went camping. I don't know what he, I'm sure
he prayed. The rough on him, often he said, Lord, they're
gonna kill me. They're gonna stone me to death. And he said, they ain't
mad at you, they're mad at me. He don't answer to nobody. Now we're
starting to deal with God, not the vain God of our imaginations,
or the vain God that our horrible grandparents and stuff passed
down to us. And if we don't meet him now, we're gonna meet him
in judgment. There's one God. That's too simple. Oh, he said
it, it's everything. We can't stand on it long enough.
Anyone that is saved is saved by God's grace and his discretion
through his son by an almighty God, or they ain't saved. and I want to stand on this as
hard as I can, too. If you don't mean that the same way I mean
it, we don't worship the same God. We don't. We ain't in the same
ship. Well, you're splitting hairs. No, I ain't. God is. Hear
me. I hear a multitude of people
say, and they preach, I've heard preachers say this, man's dead
in trespasses and sins. What do you mean by that? I know
what you say. That's what it says. I know what
it says. What do you mean by that? They normally mean mankind's
slightly wounded. Well, you gotta try a little
harder. You're gonna limp your way there, but slow and steady
wins the race, right? Keep leaning on the 51%. There's
scales. As long as you tip that scale
on the good, you'll be fine. Words like lost come out of their
mouth. Man's lost. Okay, what do you mean by that?
Mankind's sinners, babies and old people and sweet people and
mean people. Everybody's, they're heathens. They get thrown around
a whole lot. Sometimes folks mean that they're
hurt real bad. They're not just kind of wounded,
they're real wounded. They're gonna need a whole lot
of help. A whole lot of help. God's really gonna have to help
them, be their co-pilot. That's what natural man means.
Hang with me. Sometimes they mean, well, God
made you alive. Christ died for you. He gave
you life. Now you have to keep alive. Or you have to polish
up that outside and make yourself set apart, anointed. You have to sanctify yourself.
I have to warn people, this is dangerous. It's eternal life
and death. It ain't just life and death,
it's eternal life and death. Here's what I mean by it. that mankind's
sinful, that we're all lost. Here's what scriptures mean by
it. That's why I mean it. We're graveyard dead. I'm in like a
cold room temperature corpse. Spiritually, that's what everybody
is. Everybody, apart from Christ, everybody. Well, I like them,
everybody. They can't wash, they can't walk,
they can't pray, they can't live by faith, they can't think, they
can't sing, they can't do anything but rot because they're dead.
All they're gonna do is stink, that's me. Born of Adam, outside
of Christ, that's all I am, that's all anybody is, and the ones
I love most. If we're wrong on the fall, we're wrong on it all.
And if we don't get a good handle on this, we're in a mess of trouble,
a mess. We died in that garden. When
Eve was tricked, and she went to her husband, and Adam believed
his wife over believing God, and willfully ate of that fruit
of the tree. Right then, the DNA from him
on, what comes from Adam, ain't nothing but Adam. in imputation
and impartation and inaction, this guy, any way you cut it,
it's me. What if I start with a clean slate? I was conceived
in sin. I come from the womb lying when I was crying and when
I didn't need nothing. Lies. That's what I mean. Whenever
I say men's lost, that's what the scriptures mean. Paul wrote
about that. He said, as it's written, there's
none righteous, comma, no, comma, not one. Catching rebuttals,
isn't it? There's none that understandeth.
Well, I got a handle on this. There's none that seeketh. I
was looking for God. I remember when I was being so diligent
and I take time off of work, I'd call in sick just so I could
sit down and read the scriptures. You wasn't looking for God. He
was looking for you a God, but not the God, not there's one
God. You didn't know him. How could you look for him? Nobody
come told you. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way, they're all become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
Well, remember grandpa? No! What about grandma? Not one. The scriptures are absolute crystal
clear on this. A clean thing can't come from
an unclean thing, and we're born Adam. And there's one God. That's who we sinned against.
Do we get that? I've offended everybody in here.
I'm sure at one point or another, and you may have offended me,
and we may have hurt somebody's feelings. I tried to get somebody
at work. This girl just didn't have enough
money to come to work, and I went to hand her 20 bucks one time.
I said, here, you can get your gas money. I can't take it. I
went, oh, oh, oh. And they said, what's wrong?
What's wrong? I said, you hurt my feelings. It ain't that we hurt one another's
feelings, we've sinned against a holy God. Mankind's in trouble. And there's a mandatory outcome
from sinning against a holy God. It says, the soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil. That's what the prodigal
says. I've sinned against heaven and you watched it. How are we going to get alive?
She got to a graveyard and said, hey, get up. I'll forgive everything. I ain't gonna do you no good. Just as that prophet went to
go preach, there's dry bones, not even like brown bones with
a little bit of meat left on them. Maybe we can, you know,
patch it up and get a good surgeon in here. It's dry. No hope for
him. He said, live. They said, what do I do now?
They said, tell the spirit to breathe on them. Spirit, breathe
on them. And then the Lord put sinews
on them and stuck them up. And then they said, we're going to die.
He just was dead. Why are you so worried about
dying? Dead men don't worry about being dead. God has to do that. That's what
Paul said in Ephesians 2. You hath he quickened. That means
made alive. Who were dead? Well, to be alive, to be made
alive, you must be something else before, right? You were
dead in trespasses and sins from way back when. For as the Father
raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, gives them life, even so
the Son quickeneth whom He will." He's a sovereign God. He gives
life to whom He wants to. It ain't hard to understand,
we just don't want to understand it. Our old nature don't. But then when God puts life in
us, we say, well, I couldn't have no other way. It's got to
be that way or none. And I'm going to cling to it.
I ain't going to cling to it once every three months. I'm
going to cling to it as often as I can get a hold of it and
beg for him when I ain't around him. Though he's there and hides
his face. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. For us to live, something's got
to die. That's, uh, Paul Mahan tried
being a vegetarian one time. He said, the only problem with
it was I was starving to death. I wasn't satisfied with no meat.
And I've thought about that a lot recently. I was like, well, I
could live on beans and rice, probably. It'd save a lot of money. And then
I think Paul told, or the Lord told Peter, he said, rice kill
and eat. And I'm like, OK, well, I'll go kill and eat. Maybe I'll
hunt rabbits or something. Something's got to die for us
to live. I had the girls out there butchering ducks one time.
They wanted to be there. And I said, this would be a good
opportunity. I said, something's got to die. Blood must be shed for you to
have life. Arterial bleeding took place. That's good. We got
away from that in this nation. Something has to die for us to
live. And we can't die and live to ourselves. Our blood ain't
worth nothing. Outside of Christ it is correct. It is right It's just for the
Lord to send me and every other child of Adam into an eternity
of judgment damnation Apart from his blood it he's right He's
right. I'm wrong. He's right Text there in verse 5 says there's
one God and and one mediator between God and men, the man,
Christ Jesus. I have to have a go-between.
I have to have blood in between me and him. I have to have an
advocate. I have to have someone speak
on my behalf. I have to have someone like we read there in
Psalm 106. Somebody's gonna have to remember on my behalf, because
I ain't gonna remember. Well, the Lord's gonna send you
remembrancers on the walls of Jerusalem to say, remember? Look
here, remember? Remember what we looked at Wednesday?
Wednesday night's report. Remember Wednesday night? Do
that, huh? How am I going to remember? He's going to have
to remember for me and tell me. Send one to me too, isn't he? There's
one God, a holy God, and we were born at war with him. What are
we going to do? There's one mediator. Well, you
can pick and choose from the top three that you like. Nope
or one? One. What's that word mediator mean?
The literal translation, I hope these young people carry this
with them as they get older, and you old folks, a go-between. A mediator is a go-between. That
is a reconciler. That's one who negotiates between
two offended parties. It's one who satisfies opposed
parties. Not just one party, both parties. You get that? A mediator. This
one that mediates must be able to mediate. To satisfy that party
and satisfy this party. And that one that's the representative
that's in between must be willing to do it. Not that this is a
cold dead letter doctrine fact that this is how it takes place.
He's got to be willing to do it and then he's got to do it.
What if love was in just a vase up on a mantel? What good is
that going to do you? I don't want to say that's love, and
I'd be right. I'd be accurate, wouldn't I? I don't need to be
accurate. I need to experience that love.
Don't I? I don't need to just observe
that city of refuge. I need to be in that city of
refuge. I don't need to talk about there being a mediator.
I need that one mediator to mediate. I need him to do something, to
reconcile, to satisfy. First thing, there's one. He's
singular. Singular. This is the man. The man. Not
a multitude of people working together as a co-effort with
God. Get that. The man. He's the only one. Turn
over to, and he does something. Turn over to Job chapter 9. I
thought this was just lovely. Just before Psalms. You get to
Psalms, turn left one book. Job chapter 9. How can this mediation take place? Bill Dadd was speaking. Had some accurate things to say.
Those measurable comforters actually had some accurate things to say,
didn't they? They didn't know God from a hole in the ground
and they were making our brother more confused and miserable as
they went on. With partial truth, wasn't it?
A little bit of leaven in it. Bildad spoke to Job, and Job
replies here in chapter 9, verse 1. Then Job answered and said,
I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God? I see these things. I know there's
one God. I know we're sinners, and I know that something's got
to take place. How can I be just before a holy God I've sinned
against? chronologically, and time that
we live in. This was written before anything
else, they believe, but predates Moses. This is an age-old question,
and it's a question we ought to be asking in our day. There's
this Jesus stuff, and this churchy stuff, and these doctrine stuff,
but how can a sinner be just before a holy God we've offended? Job said, I know all such stuff's
true, but how? Well, look down in verse 32,
chapter 9, verse 32. He's speaking to the Lord. And
he says, for he is not a man as I am. He ain't a man like
me. Now he's a man, but he ain't
like me. He's a man, he's born of a woman,
born of a virgin. He wasn't born of Adam like I
am. For he's not a man as I am, that I should answer him. And
we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any dazeman,
mediator is what the word means. Dazeman means mediator. Neither
is there any daisman, any mediator betwixt us. Job didn't see anything between
him and a holy God that ain't like him. He saw his sin. And that's what must be revealed
to us. Not agreed with, not wrote down
on a piece of paper somewhere, but seared in our hearts that
Christ is the one mediator, the only mediator that might lay his hand upon
us both. Job's here in this trial and
he don't see Christ in it, does he? But he sees a need for Christ.
He's got to lay his hand on God. How can that happen? He'd have
to be God. He'd have to be God. And he's
going to have to touch us. He's going to have to lay his
hand on us. How's that going to happen? I'm unclean. I can't
be in his presence. He's a man. How much each? Go off to a seminary and knock
yourself out and bow to him. That's what I'm going to do.
That's what I need, one mediator that can reconcile two parties
that are offended and make atonement, atonement. He can touch man,
he's born of a woman, and he can touch God because he is God.
That's what, there in 1 John, we read in 1 John 4, John was
writing against those Gnostics in that day, spelled with a G,
silent G, the Gnostics. They said, well, because they
had to have a head knowledge, they didn't have a heart knowledge,
because they didn't know God, they didn't have any life in them. And they
said, well, he couldn't have really come to earth to be a
physical man, because he would have been defiled, and they thought
they understood everything. They didn't know nothing. And
John said, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits,
whether they're of God. They don't mean him pick a preacher
that's faithful, but go read that. You go see if that's what
that says. That's what it says. You try the spirits, see if the
preachers, whether they be of God, because many false prophets
are gone out in the world. Did he say some? He said many.
That's a lot. Hereby we know you are the Spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God." That this really
happened. That's who he was talking about.
This really happened. This ain't just an idea of a
mediator. This mediator had to take place. He had to be God
and be man and touch me and touch him and make intercession. It
had to happen. Now in Hebrews 4, it says, seeing
then that we have a great high priest that's passed into the
heavens, he that descends the same one that ascended, right?
That's what it's talking about. Jesus, the son of God, let us
hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But he was
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He's
experienced everything I have. I don't know how that's possible,
but it's so. yet without sin. I don't want to talk to somebody
that, you want to sit down and have a long conversation about the
Iraq war and your experiences in Fallujah 20 years ago? No,
because I can. Other people can't. I need somebody
to talk my language, who's been through what I've been through.
He has. It's the same one that touched God, because he is God.
Let us therefore, because of that, come boldly. We get the
context now? To the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy and find grace and help in time of need. There's
one God we offended, we need a mediator. Who's this for? Men, not man. Not all of mankind
or it's on a shelf, come get it if you want it. This is for
a particular people, a chosen people. What do I mean by that?
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated? A particular people. Lord said, I pray not for the
world, I pray for them. I pray for my people. For I am the Lord,
and I change not. Therefore, because the Lord changes
not, therefore, that's the only reason he's God. This ain't gonna
vary. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Not anybody that had me, I'm
just wringing my hands and wanting somebody to do something for
me. My children, my covenant people that I remember my covenant
towards. Speaking of those sons of Jacob
and the Lord electing a people, some people talk in circles better
than a politician can. I think politicians take notes off of
them. I heard a man here in California talk about sanctification for
50 minutes, and if you put a pistol in my mouth, I couldn't tell
you what he meant. I knew what he said. He didn't say much of
nothing. He said so much without saying anything. I don't know
what he means. I have no idea. God loved the
people. that were unlovable. Not everybody,
and that's the miracle. It's not the miracle that he
hated some, it's the miracle that he loved some. And that's
the mediation for them. I heard a man preach one time
on unlimited, limited atonement. I was cross-eyed. I thought,
well, for those that Lord gave his blood for that limited atonement,
it's unlimited. You ain't gonna ruin it. Look
at that, saved you 45 minutes. That's better, isn't it? It said,
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. There's one God. There's one mediator between
God and his people, the man, Christ Jesus. Now I got a question
for you. If I lost you up to now, this question ought to scare
you to death. I'm sorry, I'll explain it later
if I need to. Do you need a mediator? Do we need one? This is all talked
to right now, isn't it? Let's put it in shoe leather.
Do we need him? Have we really sinned against
the Holy God? As he said we did, or are we calling him a liar?
Did he really seek us and we didn't seek him, and I didn't
even know who he was to seek him, or are we calling him a
liar? Now once that we're guilty, and he's our righteousness, do
you need a mediator? Do I need a mediator? Or can
we handle things on our own? I'll figure this out. Give me
two more weeks. I need a mediator. When do we
need it? Right now. Right now. Back in our text there in 1 Timothy,
chapter 2, verse 5. says, for there is one God and
one mediator between God and man, the man cross Jesus. There's a semicolon there. a
continuation of thought, who gave himself a ransom for all
to be testified in due time. He gave himself. As he gave himself
to me, as he revealed himself to me, as he gave, do you need
him? And as he testified of his person and his work in your heart,
that's going to happen. Lock, stock, and barrel, that
means a whole shooting match, every knee and every tongue will confess
that he's Lord. That's gonna happen, I'll say
it, that's what, he did it. He did it, didn't he? At the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow, and things of heaven, and things
on earth, and things under the earth, that's everything. That's
fish, and elements, and I don't know what. It's gonna testify
of him. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. A-double-l. All. Everybody's gonna bow, isn't
it? Life is gonna take place if God does these things now.
That's called eternal life. That's called salvation. That
day of judgment will come, and people cast their crowns, and
like those seven, they'll, hey, don't... Can I get some good
stuff, too? Everybody's gonna bow, everybody's
gonna see his worth. that his people will do it now. He'll
come to them. We'll see who we sinned against. And he said,
you're convicted of sin because you believe not me. You believe
not me. Of righteousness, because I go
to the Father. And of judgment, because Princess World destroyed
it. I've done it all. I've killed them all. I pray
the Lord will do it for us now. And not just, I don't want to
talk about it. I don't want to talk about doing stuff, I want
to do stuff. Ain't that right? I don't want to just speak of
these things. I don't want to just have oratory of the Lord
saving His people. I want Him to come into our hearts
and slay us and make us bow to Him and cry out for mercy. Because
that's where mercy is found. It's a good place to be.