Paul writes to Timothy, I exhort
therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercession, giving
of thanks be made for all men, for kings, he meant really all
kinds of men, all stations of 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 Saviour, who will have all men to be saved,
and come unto the knowledge of the truth. Verse 5, 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 verse 5 sends us on our way. For one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. from their sin and doom. First of all, let's notice three
things that are said in this verse of the scripture, our text. One, there is a mediator. Literally, one mediator. There
is one mediator. Secondly, we read in this verse
of scripture that that one mediator is a mediator between God and
man. That is, the sphere of his mediation
is between God and man. It is not between God and angels, or men and angels,
it is not between God and devils, it is between God and men that
Christ stands as a mediator. Now thirdly, there is one mediator
between God and men, And that mediator is none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. Or as Paul calls him, and look
at that, the man Christ Jesus. Not Mary, not an angel, not a
prophet of God, not a pope, not a preacher. The man Christ Jesus
is that one mediator between God and man. Now, in order to
knit this truth together, make it all to fit in place as a perfect
puzzle, it is absolutely necessary for us to make a vital connection
at this point. And that is that Christ is a
mediator in connection with an everlasting covenant. He is a mediator between God
and man, yes, but it is in connection or relation to an everlasting
covenant. John Gill pointed out in a chapter
on the mediator in his great work, The Body of Divinity, that
three times in the Hebrew epistle, three times in Hebrews, Christ
is called a mediator of a new or a better covenant or testament. They are Hebrews chapter 8 and
verse 6, again in chapter 9 and verse 15, and in chapter 12,
and verse 24 and in all three of those places Christ is called
a mediator of a covenant or of a testament and of course we
could add Hebrews 13 and verse 20 where Christ's blood is called
the blood of the everlasting covenant. Thus, there is a covenant
or a testament. It is called everlasting, it
is called new, it is called better, and it is called second in the
New Testament and particularly in Hebrew. Now, this covenant
stands between the three members of the Godhead, the Father, and
the Son and the Holy Spirit, as we recently studied and saw
their part in the salvation of the elect, that all three of
them, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have their unique and particular
part in the covenant arrangement and that the main object of this
covenant is the salvation, is the saving, is the redeeming
of the elect, and reconciling them again unto God. And the
administration of this covenant required a mediator, and not
just any old mediator, but a very unique mediator, for said mediator
is not to mediate between man and man, or between man and wife,
or employer and employee, or business and labor, or the government
and the citizenry, or between one nation and another. But this mediator stands between
God and men, and the outstanding purpose of this Mediator is to
redeem and reconcile sinful human beings unto a just and all-holy
God. And to accomplish this, the Mediator
must make a proper sacrifice to the justice of God that he
might be free and just in the forgiving of sin, overcome the
enmity that dwells in the fallen elect even against their God,
so that they, God and the elect, come together as friends, reconciled
no longer at enmity. Now here is a truth that we want
to emphasize before we go any further, and that is that no
fallen sinner No sinner, man or woman, no sinner Jew or Gentile,
is able to treat with God directly. No sinner is able to treat directly
with God Himself, dealing with God. That is, they cannot negotiate
their settlement with God, they cannot come to God, in their
own name, ability, or person. They cannot set the terms of
their salvation and of their faith and of their conversion. They must have a proper sponsor
to bring them to God. They must have a surety who is
known to God and who is able to pacify the wrath of God against
the sin of man. Now, to prove that point, all
we need do is to remember the words of our Mediator Himself
in John chapter 14 and verse 6. I am the way and the truth
and the life. No man comes unto the Father
but by Me. Did we get it? No man comes unto
the Father but by me. On an earlier occasion, when
speaking of the shepherds of the sheep, in John's Gospel chapter
10, in verse 9, our Lord said, I am the door, by me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. By me, through me, as the one
and only door. There's a great statement in
1 Peter 3 and verse 18, For Christ hath once suffered the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God. The purpose of his
suffering, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. That he might present us unblameable
unto God and in the sight of God. Now this covenant that we
speak about is a covenant of grace. And by this covenant arrangement,
the fallen elect are brought out of their sin and are saved. And it is the saving of sinners
that requires a mediator of the covenant be appointed to act
as a mediator between God and men. John Brown of Haddington
wrote long ago that if God had not intended to redeem and save
a part of the human race, then some things are inevitable. Number one, there had never been
a covenant made had not God intended to save some of the race of men. Consider, God had no saving intention
toward the angels that sinned and that fell, none at all. God had no saving intention or
purpose, so no covenant was made concerning them, no mediator
was given between them and God. Now the second thing about it,
the eternal Son of God had never become incarnate, had never become
man, had never needed to assume flesh and blood, the word had
never been made flesh apart from this covenant and God's design
to save sinners through the mediation of Jesus Christ. Here's what
the preacher of Haddington wrote, born in 1722. This goes back
a way. Quote, without this gracious
design, God had no other end worthy of such a marvelous work
as the incarnation of his son." No other need for the son to
become incarnate except in connection with the covenant and the saving
of the elect. On the other hand, If God intended
to redeem fallen persons, then it was necessary that a divine
person should become man, that is, become incarnate, and not
by turning into a man, not by one of the divine persons turning
or morphing into a mere man. becoming incarnate, not by turning
into a man, but by assuming human nature in union with the divine
nature, constituting the theanthropic person of Christ, what we call
the hypostatic union in theology. And the fittest person, the fittest
person in the Godhead to do that was the eternal Son of the Father
of the Living God. Now, first and foremost, because
He is very God. The Son, the Second Person, the
Lord Jesus Christ is very God. He has full deity in every sense
of the word. He possesses the fullness of
the divine essence. None less than that could act
in the capacity of a Mediator. No mere man could be this Mediator. For no mere man is able to assume
unto himself a divine nature. Then the Son is best fitted to
be mediator since He knows the Father. He knows the Father's
will. He is committed to the good pleasure
and the purpose of the Father in that eternal decree. He was
slain from the foundation of the world, Revelation 13 and
verse 8. Yea, 1 Peter 1 and verse 20 was
ordained before the foundation of the world. What's more, Paul
says in Colossians 2 and verse 9 that in Him dwelled the fullness
of the Godhead, listen, bodily. In him dwell the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, the incarnate Son of God. Thomas Goodwin wrote,
of the three persons in the Godhead, the Son is best fitted to be
the mediator. This because of the distinction
made in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For not only is he the eternal
son of God, but as to his humanity, he was the son of woman. And one of the more frequent
ways in which our Lord referred to himself And you'll find it
seem like dozens if not hundreds of times in the gospel is he
referred to himself as the son of man. The son of man goeth. The son of man doeth it. When
the son of man is lifted up. And the Lord spoke of himself
continually as the son of man. Now concerning the mediator,
There are a couple or three points to summarize the fullness and
the fitness of the Son as the Mediator of the Covenant. There are three things that are
necessary for the Mediator of the Covenant. Number one, the
Mediator must be God. He must be a divine person. No mere mortal or even the highest
or the brightest angel could serve in this blessed and necessary
office. The Mediator must be God on the
one hand. Secondly, the Mediator also must
be man. The Mediator must be real and
true man. A man in every meaning and every
sense of the word, yet not a sinful man, for this would spoil his
fitness to act as a mediator between God and men. So he must
be God, he must be man, and the third point to cap it off is,
The mediator must be both God and man, having the natures of
both in one person. Now, this is a very reasonable
conclusion since he is a mediator between whom? God and man. And therefore, he must have the
nature of both. Paul says, In Galatians chapter
3 and verse 20, a mediator is not one or of one, but God is
one. This Paul says in connection
with the mention of a mediator in the previous verse, that is
Galatians 3 and verse 19. And the thought is that a single
person, One person needs no mediator, and especially if that one person
is God. J.J. Lightfoot wrote, The idea
of a mediator supposes at least two persons between whom the
mediator or mediation is carried on." And so it was at the giving
of the law, as in every mediation, there must be two parties that
are mediated between, and there was. At Sinai, there was God
and the Jewish nation. So the Lord ordained the law
in the hands of a mediator, Paul says here in Galatians chapter
3. Now this is taking me a bit off
course and away from our subject, but let's notice the context
there in Galatians chapter 3. It seems to make this contrast
which Paul wants us to catch. And that is, while the law was
ordained in the hands of a mediator, the promise to Abraham was given
directly unto him by God. There was no mediator between
God and Abraham. In the giving of the promise,
God gave it directly. But we return to the point. The
mediator of the covenant must be both God and man, having the
natures of them both and in one single person. Two natures, one
person. that he must be God in man is
evident in that, as we said, he carries on his mediation between
God and men. As for example, if he were a
mediator, between God and angels, then he must assume the nature
of angels, which he did not. Hebrews 2 and verse 16, you ought
to look at that. But it behooved him to be made
like unto his brethren, that he might do his work in their
behalf. He partook of flesh and of blood,
as in Hebrews 2 and verse 17, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining unto God, and making
reconciliation for the sins of the people. Now, in studying
and researching for this message on Christ as Mediator, I read
from two authors, principally, from bygone years and what they
had to say on the subject. And those two authors are the
Puritan Thomas Goodwin and the aforementioned John Brown. And they both made some very,
very good points which I thought well to mix into our study of
the morning. John Brown, for example, said,
in order that Christ be and that Christ act as mediator of the
covenant, three things are or were necessary. In order that
he be, that he act as a mediator, three things are necessary. Number one, he must occupy the
office. of mediator. That is, he must
be authorized by God to act as a mediator. John Brown put it
this way, quote, to manage for us toward God and from God toward
us, end quote. Having the authority, being fully
qualified to do everything needed to heal the breach between God
and His elect, to make reconciliation, to remove the enmity and restore
fellowship with God. That's the first thing. He must
have the office of a mediator. And I want you to listen carefully
to the second point. The Constitution, the establishing
of a mediatorial person is what was needed in the second place. And this is required that he
have the natures of both God and men. Have the natures of
both parties between whom he is to be a mediator. And again, Brown put it this
way, having the nature of both, quote, he might be a middle person,
between God and men qualified to lay his hand upon both in
order to make reconciliation." Thirdly, he must enter in, experience
a mediatorial state There is office, there is person, and
now there is state by which real reconciliation is made. Or as Brown put it, that his
condition might correspond with that necessary for purchasing
and preserving reconciliation between God and us. Now, the last two of these required
the incarnation. to make him a mediatorial person
and to enter into a mediatorial state where he can actually mediate
and bring about effects. Mediation was his business, so
having the office and the state, he is official. He is the one
and only mediator between God and man, there is no other that
can be found. Goodwin liked to refer to Christ
as Mediator by this distinction, that the Son became a middle
person and also a Mediator, by which he meant Christ became
a middle person by participation in the two nature, the one and
only of that kind, none other, the only one with a divine and
a human nature, and he is mediator in that by reason of his dual
nature, divine and human, he is able to reconcile God and
men. Now while this would not be possible,
apart from his having the natures of both God and men, for his
mediation arises out of both natures, as both natures have
an influence on this office and on this work as our mediator. In that, Christ being mediator,
He is only between God and us, the only one. but is one with
both God and us. He is God and he is man. Goodwin wrote, he is of equal
distance and difference from both between whom he is mediator. As he is God, he differs from
us. As he is man, he differs from
God. For God is not a man, neither
the Son of man, Numbers 23 and verse 19, and He is not subject
to perform human action. We are not God that we can perform
divine acts of our own. So that is mediation between
God and men is founded upon His person. whereby he partakes of
the natures of those that he mediates between. Now to repeat
what Brown wrote, this authorized him to manage for us toward God
and from God toward us, to be a full total mediator in every
sense of the word. And let us say it this way and
make a valid point, which I think we ought not to dismiss without
carefully considering the implication of this truth, which is, as mediator
he fully protects the interests of both parties. are both natures,
God and the elect. Say it this way, he does not
have a bias toward or against either party so as to act partially
against or for one or the other. And as an expositor put it, ready
to distribute to both. This is founded upon the constitution
of his mediatorial person. That he is God allows him to
act in the name and the behalf of God. That he is man allows
him to act in the behalf of the elect person, that is, of men
and women. And unlike human mediators, the
estrangement is not breached by a series of compromises. That's how things are usually
settled, men to men, and so forth. both sides giving in a little,
both sides giving here and giving there, by give and by take, by
settling for less than was originally demanded. Human mediators, we
hear of them all the time, human mediators sometimes go and present
a proposal to see if it is acceptable to both sides. In other words,
trying to find a happy medium that both sides can live with
or agree to. But let's go back to the dual
natures of Christ. What one called, had you ever
heard this phrase, his double genealogy, unquote, so necessary
to the constitution of the mediatorial purpose of Christ, that he is
God and man in one and the same person, that while his divine
nature is eternal and had no beginning, he is uncreated but
he is the only begotten Son of God as to his divine nature. His humanity was given its substance
by being conceived in the womb of the virgin woman named Mary. His humanity was neither created
grown like that of Adam, nor was it brought down from heaven
with him as some have taught in the past. But in the incarnation,
true humanity was conceived by the Spirit of God in the womb
of a virgin. Then here is a point that we
may not have thought about or might not have given a lot of
thought to, that the Son not only assumed a real and a true
body, but also a real human soul. Think of that and put it in our
mind. Not a divine soul, that He received
in the Incarnation, but a real human soul had our Lord. You know, every once in a while
you hear somebody speak of the divine soul of Christ, and some
even speak of the divine blood that Christ shed upon the cross. Think about that for a moment.
the divine soul of Christ, the divine blood shed by Christ upon
the cross. This issue of the soul of Christ
is one that comes up from time to time. It was a real issue
further back in history, whether Christ had a human soul or a
divine soul. In a little small booklet by
a writer that I really like, William Huntington, and the title
of the little book is The Soul of Christ. He writes on page
6, and I quote, The Son of God took a whole human nature unto
himself in union with his divine person, unquote. Then again,
a little further over in the article, On page 21, quote, The
Lord from heaven took upon Him the whole of man's nature, consisting
of a human body and a reasonable soul, end of quote. Now if that gives you a start,
think or remember that both the Lord Himself and the scriptures
speak of the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ and attribute unto
it feelings and experiences which divinity itself is not capable
of. Consider the words of the Lord
on the eve of His crucifixion in Matthew's Gospel, chapter
26, verse 38. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful
even unto death. That was the human soul of our
Lord. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful
unto death. Again in John 12, in verse 27.
Now is my soul troubled as he faced the appointed hour. While nothing, nothing at all
would trouble divinity or make it exceedingly sorrowful. In Hebrews 2 and 18, for in that
he himself suffered also being tempted. Hebrews 4 and 15, was
in all points tempted like as we are, without or apart from
sin, with the exception of sin. While his humanity was impeccable
in both body and soul, yet the Lord's humanity was capable of
such things as hunger and of thirst, of weariness, of sleeping,
of sorrow, and of weeping, of pain, and even of dying. The humanity of our Lord was
capable of all of those. And he took upon himself what
commentators generally refer to as our, quote, sinless infirmities,
unquote. Then again, think about how the
Scriptures speak of the soul of the humanity of our Lord Jesus. As in Psalms 16, 8 through 10,
referenced in Acts chapter 2 and verse 27, Leave my soul in hell. Isaiah 53 verse 10, 11, and 12. Verse 10, When his soul
shall make an offering for sin, he shall see his seed and be
satisfied. In verse 11, he shall see of
the travail of his soul. Verse 12, he poured out his soul
unto death. And if Christ took nothing of
human nature but flesh, how then was he fully and absolutely human,
without or apart from a true human soul? For remember what
James said, the body without the spirit is a corpse. The body without the spirit is
dead. Besides, we lay this point about
Christ's human soul to rest, that we might go on our way to
the rest of the study by remembering a truth that is supported by
Scripture. And that is that the most agonizing
and painful and suffering which the Lord endured were not restricted
unto the bodily sufferings inflicted upon him by wicked hands, though
they were very painful. The beating, the flogging, the
crown of thorns, the nails, the sword in his side, but his most
intense sufferings were those endured in his soul. And these
came directly from the hand of God, as the sword of divine justice
was awakened against Christ. Zechariah 13 and verse 7, And
sent to smiting Jehovah's fellow, he is called, making his soul
exceedingly sorrowful, and exacting satisfaction for the sin of many,
giving himself a ransom in their behalf, but is having being a
mediator between God and man means that he manages the affairs
of both God and men. As the cause of both, God and
the elect, is put into his hand, and he
can do so because he is very God and very man. And therefore, his death had
a most profound effect upon or toward both God and the elect,
in reconciling God and the elect. As Goodwin the Puritan wrote,
that which he was, mediator, and that which he was to do,
reconcile God and man, required that he should be both God and
man, that what he did did not become the one nature the other
might do. What was not fitting or could
not be done by one nature, could be done by the other nature of
our Lord. As an example, he had not had
a sacrifice to give or to be able to die unless he were a
man, unless he took a body that God prepared him. Hebrews 10
and verse 5 said, for the Godhead itself essentially cannot suffer
and cannot die. As if he were not very God, there
could have been no merit in his death if he were not also a divine
person, except he be born of a woman. He could not be made
under the law. And except He become man, He
could not die. Except He be God's Holy One,
He could not overcome death and walk out of the grave and break
and shake off the cords of death. and Hades forever and forever. He couldn't have done that unless
he were divine. Now concerning this mediatorial
person who is both God and man, has both a human and a divine
nature, yet it is what one called, listen to this, compounding union. Let's look at that a minute.
Meaning that the two natures are not merged. are amalgamated
into one so that the essential quality of each one is lost. That's not the case. It is an uncompounding union. And that means that the two natures
keep their essential essences in the person and the work of
Christ. And how many have not realized
the hypostatic union is not only permanent, but is also indissoluble. And we think about that. Then
our first text Paul gives us the ground why we may pray. for sinners. Why? We may pray
for persons and God would have sinners to be saved and come
to the knowledge of the truth. And the reason is because there
is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. We may pray for sinners. Sinners
may be saved because there is a legitimate mediator between
God and men. Notice who that mediator is?
The man, Christ Jesus. He does not just say Christ Jesus,
but he emphasizes the man, Christ Jesus, because There's one mediator
between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. There's his humanity,
there is his deity in that verse or passage of the scripture.
Thank God for a worthy mediator to mediate between God and men
that he might bring them to a peaceable resolution and reconcile them
again one to another as friends, and this required a mediator
of grand standing and stature, the Lord Jesus Christ, the very
Son of God. Thank you for your attention.
If we might stand