If you will turn back to the
scripture which Brother Wilson read, 1 Timothy 2, I don't usually do this, but
I'm going to read just one text, one verse, and preach from that
one verse. We're going to leave the context
alone for the time being and read just one verse of scripture.
And I don't want you to be bogged down on the verse preceding this
verse or the one following this verse. who will have all men
to be saved. We're not going to talk about
who gave himself a ransom for all. We're going to talk about
verse 5. Verse 5. You say you shouldn't have mentioned
those verses. We wouldn't have thought about them. But I do
want you to zero in on verse 5, because this is the sum and
substance of faith. I verily believe, my friends,
this is the essence of godliness. I believe tonight, Joe prayed
a moment ago, that the pastor would be able to one more time
preach the glorious gospel of Christ. Well, I sincerely want
to do that, and I'm going to make it as plain tonight as I
can make it, one more time, the glorious gospel of Christ. And
if you would understand the glorious gospel of Christ, you'll have
to understand verse 5 of 1 Timothy 2. It says here there's one God,
there's one God, the one true and living God. David said, My
heart panteth for thee, the only true and living God. Our Lord
Jesus Christ said, This is eternal life, that they might know thee,
the only true and living God. There's one God. One God of heaven
and earth. One God of creation, providence,
and salvation. One God. There's one living God. Now I know among men there are
God's many and Lord's many, but in this universe there's one
God. There's one God. We're going to dwell on that
in a few moments. Secondly, and there's one mediator, there's
one great high priest, just one. There is one representative between
men and God. There's one advocate, there's
one intercessor, there's one sacrifice, just one. Just one. Miss the knowledge of the true
God and miss eternal life. Miss the knowledge of this one
mediator and miss the knowledge of that one God. That's so. One mediator. What's the next
statement? He's between God and men. Scott Richardson makes some profound
statements. If you'll listen to Scott preach,
if you'll get one main key thought which he's presenting, it'll
be worth the whole message. And some time ago he spoke here
and he made this statement. He said, God will neither speak
to nor be spoken to." In other words, there's no communication
from heaven in any shape, form, or fashion. God will not speak
to nor will he be spoken to. In other words, there's no feedback
from down there. God will not hear, God will not
attend to, God will not communicate with. God will neither speak
to nor be spoken to by any creature except through a mediator. Now,
you better learn that. I know this. People don't believe
that. I know they don't believe that. I know they say God is
the God of all men and God is the God of this world. In a sense,
that's true. God is the God of all men. He's
the Lord of the living and the dead. He hath all power over
all flesh. But being God over men and communicating
in mercy with men is two different things. Being the creator of
all men and the father of a man is two different things. And
God, I can say this emphatically and truthfully and challenge
any man to question it, God will not speak to nor will he be spoken
to by any creature except through a mediator. Now you'll go through
the Old Testament, you'll find that's true. Men cannot look
on God and live. Men cannot speak to God and live.
God will not deal with men except through a mediator, that is in
mercy. He deals in common grace. I know that. It rains on the
just and the unjust. Sun shines on the just and the
unjust. Men many times mistake common grace for special blessings,
and it's not at all. Men mistake common grace, they
mistake prosperity as being a special blessing from God, special favor. It's not necessarily true. So
he, this one God, one mediator between God and men, Now watch
this. He's the man. He's the man. And this is very important. He's
the man. He's man. He's bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. I don't know how to say this.
I hear people saying it this way. Jesus Christ is as much
man as though he were never God. And he's as much God as though
he were never man. That's all right, I suppose.
There's a lot of truth in that. It is dangerous. The Lord Jesus
Christ is a man. He never ceased to be God. He
never ceased to be God. He is God. I can't understand
this. I know there's a lot of arguments going on today about
whether or not Christ could have seen the impeccability of Christ
and so forth. There's books written on it.
There's sermons preached on it. There's arguments and debates.
It'll never be answered until we get to glory. But I do know
this. Our Lord was truly a man. He
came into this world born of a woman. Born of a woman. He was born naturally just as
much as you were. I know he was conceived of the
Holy Ghost. in a virgin's womb. I know he was born without the
aid of a man, but not without the aid of a woman. And he was
born as a little child, his cord was cut, he drank from his mother's
breast, he was diapered, he was cared for just exactly like you
and me. He grew up in a carpenter's shop,
and he worked just like you work. He sweated, he wearied, He grew
weary and tired. He thirsted. He hungered. He
ate. He slept. He knew pain. He bled. He died. He's a man, just like you and
me. But Jesus Christ is God Almighty. God Almighty. He never ceased
to be God. He's very God of very God. He
is man. He is God. And He's the man Christ
Jesus, Christ by divine appointment. and Jesus Christ by physical
and natural birth. Now, I want you to turn to some
scripture here. Now, that's what we're going
to deal with. There's one God, and there's one mediator between
God and men, the man, the man, Jesus Christ. Now, this is no
new message. This is not something that was
born in Bethlehem. His body was born in Bethlehem.
But this message wasn't born in Bethlehem. He is the divine
mediator and always has been. Now turn to Luke 24, and this
you must realize that this is one of the most misunderstood
things in the world, that God made some choices and
decisions when certain requirements arose. This seems to be popular
with the average person, that when God made man and put him
in the garden, that there was an innocent creature. And God
sort of sat back and waited to see what would happen, and it
happened, and then he made some decisions. And he came to this
man, he said, what have you done? And the man told him he'd eaten
of the tree and he'd fallen, and God began to figure out ways
that he could get him straightened out. And he sort of left him
in a state of conscience that he would do right. And that didn't
work, so God came up with the plan of sending some judges,
having men to rule over men and decide for them. And that didn't
work. God came up with some prophets and then he came up with a complicated
Levitical law system in which he gave some feast days and holy
days and Sabbath days and some laws and rules and told man to
walk according to these laws and he'd be accepted. And that
was a total failure. And then God came up with this
Christ business. And Jesus Christ came into the
world, was born in Bethlehem, and God's changed, you see. God
tried law, and conscience, and innocence, and judge, and judges,
and things like that, and now he's trying the Jesus business.
And now we're no longer under works, but we're under grace.
Now let me tell you something. The message of redemption, which
we have today, is the same message of redemption the apostles preached.
Well, the Reformers and the apostles. And the apostles preached the
same message of redemption that Hosea and Amos and Micah and
Isaiah preached. And those men preached the same
message of redemption that Abraham rejoiced in, that David declared,
that Moses wrote about. In other words, this mediator,
this divine mediator we're talking about is the message of the everlasting
covenant. Any covenant that was devised,
any covenant that was manifested, any covenant that was revealed
in time was a follow-up of that original covenant. In other words,
that was the first covenant. The everlasting covenant. And
this divine mediator, the message of the divine mediator is the
message of every promise, of every prophecy, of every picture.
It's the message of the gospel. Now let me show you that in Luke
24, verse 27. Christ is speaking to these disciples,
and it says, beginning at Moses. Now if you were beginning at
Moses, where would you begin? You know where you'd begin? Genesis
1-1. And beginning at Moses, the Lord
Jesus Christ has been crucified and risen from the tomb, and
he is talking to his disciples, talking to these men on the way
to Emmaus. That was with his disciples,
rather. He was speaking with the disciples. And beginning
at Moses, in other words, the Lord Jesus went back here to
Genesis 1.1. That's where he started. Moses
is given credit. for the first five books of the
Bible. Moses wrote the first five. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Moses wrote. So when our Lord
Jesus Christ started preaching the gospel, the things concerning
himself to his disciples, he started Genesis 1-1. Look at
it. In beginning, at Moses and all
the prophets. Now what prophets are we talking
about? We're talking about Joshua. We're talking about Moses. We're
talking about David. We're talking about Isaiah. All
the prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
I have no doubt, took his disciples back to the Garden of Eden when
God clothed Adam and Eve. I'm sure he took them to Egypt
to the Passover. I'm sure he took them out into
the wilderness to the tabernacle. I'm sure he took them to the
brazen serpent. I'm sure he took them to the
rock that gave forth water. He took them all the way through
the scriptures. Look at verse 44. And he said
to them, Luke 24, 44, These are the words which I have spoken
to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses, that's Genesis through
Deuteronomy, in the prophets, in the Psalms concerning me.
Concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. I tremble when somebody
refers to the Old Bible. It just makes me tremble. I say
to myself, that person is displaying their rank, gross ignorance. Or that you quote something and
say, well, that's in the old Bible, you know. There's just
one Bible, John. One Bible. One Bible. And this Old Testament reveals
Christ in picture, in promise, in prophecy, in type, in symbol,
in sacrifice. It presents Christ. This New
Testament presents Christ manifested, revealed, coming in the flesh.
But it's all the same message. Moses, Christ said, wrote of
me. That's what the old Pharisees said. They said, we have Moses.
He said, if you'd believe Moses, you'd believe me. Moses wrote
of me. And I'll tell you something else. He took them back to Abraham.
He said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was
glad. What day did Abraham see? He
saw the cross. He saw the open tomb. He saw the Redeemer. That's who
he saw. And David wrote of me. He testified of me. Turn to Acts
chapter 10. Acts the 10th chapter. Now listen
to this scripture here. Acts chapter 10 verse 43. It
says to him. To whom? To Christ. To him give
all the prophets witness. that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sin." What prophets
is he talking about there? Who are these prophets? Old Testament
prophets. Now that's enough of that. We'll
go to Romans 1, if you will, just a moment. Romans chapter
1. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm saying this, that
there never has been a soul redeemed, there never has been a participant,
a recipient of the grace of God except in Christ. If it's Abel,
if Abel is accepted of God, he's accepted in the beloved. If it's
Jeremiah, if it's Isaiah, if it's Enoch, the seventh from
Adam, if it's Noah, they're accepted of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Either the coming, believing
in the coming Lord, or believing in the Lord who has come. Now
that is so, Romans 1, look at this, Paul said he was a servant,
a bond slave of Jesus Christ. He's called to be an apostle,
and he's separated unto the gospel of God, which is the gospel that
he promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. That's
what it's all about. So this gospel of Christ the
Mediator, there's one God and there's one Mediator. Moses was
never a Mediator. The law was never a Mediator.
The sacrifices, the blood sacrifices, the incense, the tabernacle was
never a Mediator. There never has been, is not
now, and never will be any mediator except Jesus Christ. Between
God and any man. Between God and Moses, or God
and Abraham, or God and Enoch, or God and Abel, or God and Adam,
or God and David, or God and you. There's one mediator. One mediator between God and
me, and that's the man Christ Jesus. Let's look back at our
text. Now I want you to consider something else. You say, well,
why was God so long in revealing him? I want to show you something
here that I think I got a hold of that will be helpful in this
matter right here. In considering the preparation
for the coming of Christ, the Mediator, now, Christ is coming. There is a righteousness to be
manifested. There is a redemption to be manifested. There is a mediator and a high
priest to be revealed, the One, Christ Jesus. Consider the preparation
for his coming. And this is what one writer said,
and I think it's very good. And you know, I made this statement
this morning. The higher that a man intends to build, the deeper the foundation works.
If you're going to build a doghouse, you don't put any foundation.
because it's quickly built and usually quickly destroyed. But
if you're going to build a 110-story skyscraper, you go deep, deep,
deep, deep, deep, and lay the foundation. Now consider the
second. This is what I want to say tonight. The greater the
work, the greater the work, the more magnificent the work, the
more magnificent and astounding the work. Not only the deeper
the foundation work, but the longer and more involved the
preparation. You see what I'm saying? The
longer the preparation. Now, the man who's going to build
the doghouse, dismiss the foundation and consider this, he's going
to build a doghouse, how long is he in preparation? an hour,
he'll sit down and take out his pen, and his wife says, our dog
needs a place in the winter, and so he gets out his pen, and
most of us wouldn't even do that, we'd just go out and get some
boards and start hammering, but he draws a little sketch. Takes
him about 45 minutes or an hour, and he puts it in his overall
pocket and heads for the barn to get some wood and builds it.
But now, when men are going to build bridges, skyscrapers and
great complexes. You know how long they're in
preparation for that? Years. The architects, the contractors,
the planners, they are years in preparation. They spend years
in drawing plans, years in study, years for stress and strength
and all of these different things that are involved. Every detail,
the plumbing, the electric, the wiring, the support, the foundation,
all these things, they spend years in preparation. When God
would let David and Solomon build a temple, how many years was
it in preparation? You watch David as he prepares
for the temple. God didn't let him build it.
He was a man of war, a man of blood. But how long did David
spend in accumulating that material with which Solomon would build
the temple? He heaped together gold and silver
and brass and other material. You watch his men design and
plan and prepare and go out on these long journeys to bring
in the material, and as you see this all accumulated, you see
it all brought together, and you are led to say, this is going
to be one magnificent temple. This is going to be one magnificent
temple. And yet I say unto you, that
was nothing. And all our preparation for what
we are doing is nothing compared to the preparation. and planning
that went on and took place in sending forth that one mediator,
that great high priest, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. If you want to
talk about, God, 4,000 years of time, human history, and then
think of the years prior to that, turn with me, if you will, to
Proverbs 8. Let's look at something here.
I'm saying that the more magnificent the work, the greater the work,
the longer the preparation, the planning, the time of purpose,
the promise, looking forward to it, the more magnificent the
work. This is talking about wisdom.
This is talking about our Lord Jesus Christ, Proverbs 8, verse
24, when there were no debts, I was brought forth. when there
were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were
settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet
God had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part
of the dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was
there. When he set a compass on the face of the depth, when
he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains
of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters
should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations
of the earth, I was by him as one brought up with him, I was
daily his delight, rejoicing always before." That's Christ.
Turn to John 17. Let me show you this. John 17. Our Lord Jesus Christ's great
priestly prayer. John chapter 17, verse 5. Glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I turn to Revelation chapter
13, verse 8. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of
life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I'm
saying this, when that angel came to the shepherds on those
Judean hillsides, and they said, look at that star, God has sent
his son, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
Christ the Lord, that that announcement of that event was planned back
yonder before the world ever began. Before God ever laid the
foundations of the earth or set the bounds of the sea, Christ
Jesus was planned and purposed to be the Redeemer of sinners.
That's how long our redemption was in the plan, back before
the world began. Now consider, if you will, the
creation itself. Turn, if you will, to Colossians.
Colossians chapter 1. Colossians, the first chapter.
My friends, what I'm trying to make plain to you is this. That
God never changes. The gifts and calling of God
are without change. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not concerned. What God,
what our Lord God does today, He planned from all eternity.
In the redemption of His people, in the glory of His Son, in the
glory of His grace, the planning of it, the purposing of it, is
old as Goes back before the foundation, our Colossians 1, 16. Now listen
to this, he's talking about Christ who is the image of the invisible
God. And the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all
things created that are in heaven, that are in the earth, visible
and invisible. Now who are we talking about?
We're talking about Christ, that Mediator. Whether they're thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created
by him and for him. He's before all things, by him
all things consist, and he's the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and in all things
he might have the preeminence. And I come on down leaving the
foundation of the world back in the councils of eternity and
come to creation, and then I consider the costly and elaborate types
of Christ. When Adam and Eve sinned in the
garden, God himself, the scripture says God slew an animal and clothed
Adam and Eve. There is God himself coming in
type, in picture. He made the announcement to Adam
and Eve that the seed of woman would bruise the serpent's heel,
but here is God very personally and elaborately setting forth
redemption by the blood, redemption by sacrifice, the covering of
sin by the death of another. And then watch this. God permits
things. You know, that which is great
and that which is magnificent is revealed in a great, magnificent
fashion. If you're going to prepare for
the visit of a beggar, you wouldn't make much preparation. But if
you're going to prepare for the visit of a president or king,
they're great, elaborate preparations. There's some folks, in other
words, if he's coming over a certain trail, there's some folks whose
houses may have to be torn down. The high place is brought low
and the low place is made high and the place cleared. There's
some folks that may have to pay. But according to the prestige
of the person, the glory of the person is whether or not the
cost is worth it. A city or a county or a country
may spend thousands of dollars for the coming of a great person.
Well, let me tell you this, and I may shock you here. But God
allowed a brother to kill his brother to set forth a picture
of the coming Redeemer. That's so. These things are not
accidents. I know that the wrath of man
will praise the Lord. But what I'm saying to you and
what I'm setting forth here is that the greater the work, the
more elaborate and longer the preparation. The greater the
work, the more elaborate the revelation. The greater the work,
the more costly the preparation and the presentation. It's an
elaborate thing. And here God himself has come
down and clothed Adam and Eve, and then the Lord God gives us
another picture of his son. They're two brothers. One of them brings the lamb and
one of them brings his own works. And that's the picture of the
two religions today. You have salvation by grace and
salvation by works. You have approaching God through
the blood sacrifice. You have approaching God through
our own merit. You have approaching God by the sacrifice of another.
You have approaching God by the fruits of our own endeavors.
And the Lord set this forth for the whole world to look upon.
He's preserved the picture. He's preserved the whole, the
details of what went on in that moment. And this brother rose
up in wrath and anger against that believer and slew him. Now
think of the agony of heart it brought to Mary, not to Mary
but to Eve. Think of the agony of heart it
brought to Adam. Think of the loss. Think of the
suffering. Think of the grief it brought
even to King's heart. My punishment is greater than
I can bear. But God is saying to the whole world. This is the
way men will be saved. You see what I'm saying? This
is the way men will be saved. Your house may have to be razed,
R-A-Z-E-D. It may have to be destroyed,
but God's going to let this world know how he saved the Senate.
God's going to let this world. Tell you something else. You
think this is something. When Almighty God destroyed a
world and set an ark up on top of a flood, And it took 120 years
for that art to be built. That art is a picture of Christ.
God will portray, He will portray to this world, He will reveal
to this world in an elaborate fashion that rediction, that
deliverance from judgment and wrath is in Christ. And that's
where it is. And God Almighty took a chosen
people. There were 70 souls, there were
70 of them at this time. He sent a famine throughout all
the land that forced them to Egypt to find food. And 70 of
them went down into Egypt. They stayed there 400 years.
400 years in slavery. I know this, that they merged
with those Egyptian people, some of them took their gods, they
forgot the Lord God, they lived in idolatry and all this sort
of thing. I know the human heart was allowed
to do what it would do, the human flesh to do what it would do,
but God Almighty will deliver a people as a picture of deliverance
of his true Israel. That's right. It's this coming
of Christ. This one mediator is no game. It's an elaborate. The preparation
of it is breathtaking. It's beyond human understanding.
But God will say to this world, redemption is by grace. Deliverance
is by grace. And it's God's mercy it does,
not by human works. And God left them down there
400 years. Think how Moses came to be. The king would destroy,
get rid of these Hebrew babies, and God protected his servant
Moses. He wanted him in the palace.
How's he going to get him in the palace? Just wait. He let
a king kill hundreds of babies to get Moses in the palace. You
see, Almighty God, he answers to no man. He's not subject to
our little sentimental, emotional ways of doing things. God, you
and I would have got Moses there, but we'd done it a whole lot
different. God did it this way. And blood flowed, and babies
died, and mamas cried, and daddies lost their composure, but God
got his servant in the past. We're not playing games. I wish
I could impress on you what I feel in my heart about this thing.
and the elaborate preparation. And then that man stayed. Moses
stayed in that education, that society, those politics, that
pagan heathenism for 40 years. 40 years he stayed there. We'd have brought him out when
he was 19. You know, David started young, 40 years. And then that
wasn't enough. God humiliated Moses, made him
a laughing stock. He turned the Hebrews against
him and the Egyptians against him. And turned him out, John,
on the back side of a desert and let him sit there for 40
more years and take care of some sheep. And let him marry and
have a son and get tied down with all sorts of strings attached
and this sort of thing. And came to him and said, I'm
ready to deliver my people. And God Almighty came down there
and wrecked the nation. He sent plague after plague after
plague after plague. Pharaoh hardened his heart, but
God let him harden his heart. And then finally, our God will
set forth in plain terms the death of his Son on the cross.
And that's with the Passover. And I'm telling you this, the
Passover lamb wasn't the only blood shed that night. The blood
of thousands of firstborn sons was shed that night. That was
a night of joy for Israel and sadness for Egypt. That was a
night when praise went up from the hearts of some and cursing
went up from the hearts of others. That was a night that God Almighty
showed the death of his son in terms the world can never forget.
A wail and cry went up from the palace in every home in Egypt,
my son is dead. You see what I'm saying? You
see, the Lord God's not going to just watch man fall down here
in the Garden of Eden and then suddenly slip Jesus Christ into
this world in a way where he wouldn't be known or recognized
or understood. He's going to plant it in all
eternity through the counsels of heaven itself, the angels
being witnesses. And he's going to impress on
this world in unmistakable terms with blood and agony and suffering
and triumph and failure and success and death and victory and defeat
and nations crumbling and nations rising. God's going to impress
on this world the importance and beauty and glory of Jesus
Christ. That's what I'm saying. And then he'll set that nation
out there in the wilderness. And he'll show them again and
again with a rock. He'll show them with a brazen
serpent. He'll show them with manna and the bread from heaven.
That's Christ. He'll show them with all of these
others, with the priest. God will raise up a whole tribe
of men to be priests. He'll have the most elaborate
tabernacle built. He'll go through the most elaborate
ceremonies of circumcision and the morning sacrifice, noon sacrifice,
evening sacrifice. This is Christ! It's the elaborate
planning and blueprints and purposing of Christ's coming. And he set
that nation out there and show them all these things, and through
their hard-heartedness and uncircumcised hearts and stiff necks, he'll
kill every blessed one of them and lay their carcasses in the
wilderness for the birds to eat, because they can't see his message.
Won't see it, I should say. Out of those, that three million
that left Egypt, all in that crowd that were 20 years old
and upwards, Ever blessed one of them died in the wilderness,
and their bones were bleached under the burning sun, and their
flesh was plucked off the bones by the birds except two men."
Now you think about that. And he said they could not enter
in because of unbelief. Unbelief in whom? In Jesus Christ. You say, no, Christ wasn't. Yes,
he was. Christ is that rock. Christ is
that place over. But they didn't believe in the
mercy of God through Christ. They didn't believe in the grace
of God through Christ. Take the birth of Isaac. Isaac's
a picture of Christ. He can't come in just an ordinary
fashion. He has to be born to a daddy
who's 100 years old and a mama who's 90 years old. That's God's
elaborate way of doing it. Supernatural. And God can't let
Isaac just grow up here with that other boy. He said, you
think about this. Abraham had one son. His name
was Ishmael. He loved him. He was his boy. Only son he had. God came to him and said, that
boy is a son of the bondwoman. Isaac's son is a free woman.
That boy is not the child of promise, that he is. And they're
not going to grow together. Grace and work's not going to
live on the same roof. Salvation by grace and works is not going
to abide together. The son of promise and the son
of the law is not going to live together. Now Abraham, give him
and his mother a bottle of water and get rid of them. Boy, I tell you, the Lord's...
Somebody said one time, God dealing with human flesh in a revelation
of his son and his son's glory is ruthless. I do with that what
you won't do, that's so ruthless. Because he will not share his
glory, that's what I'm saying. You're going to see Christ, you're
going to bow to Christ, you're going to submit to Christ, you're
going to look to Christ, or you're going to feel the wrath of God
like creatures have never felt it. Now that's so. I've tried
to show you that already. Joshua. Joshua takes those people. God gave them a land, and Joshua
led them over. Moses couldn't lead them over.
Moses is the law. Joshua led them over, took that
land, and slew literally thousands of people for God's people to
enjoy their home He gave them. The greater the work, the more
elaborate the preparation. The greater the revelation, the
more involved the preparation. That's so. And I'll tell you
that day that those angels stood on that hillside and they said,
this day, in the city of David, there's a Savior. They were announcing
the fulfillment of what God had purposed and planned and pictured
and promised and prophesied and told this world about for thousands
of years. He's come! He's here! He's here! He's here. He's here. Now let's look at something in
this text here a moment. There's one God and one Mediator. One Mediator. Brother, the good
news, here are five things I want you to remember. And I'll tell
you this, when it begins to dawn on us, when it begins to get
through this, and there's a lot of thickness up here, when it
begins to get through this glorious, miraculous, astonishing, supernatural
work of mediation between God and me. I tell you, it'll be
a matter of eternal admiration. It'll be a matter of eternal
obsession. You'll become obsessed with this
glorious truth, this glorious gospel, like nothing and no one
you've ever known. I know there are a lot of people
playing, a lot of preachers are playing with religion and playing
church and one preacher said, well I just don't have anything
else to preach, they've heard everything I've got to say. Now
wait a minute. I expect to praise Jesus Christ throughout eternity.
How can I get weary of praising him now? How can I run out of adjectives? How can I run out
of of thanksgiving. How can I run out of gratitude?
I tell you, I discover something new every day. Every day about
Christ and his glory and his gospel and something to pass
on to you. Something new and glorious and
great and grand that I've just never considered. I've never
before in my ministry of 35 years ever thought about this point
I'm dwelling on right now. The greater the work, the more
elaborate the preparation. This is just on the... Joe, I
sat and looked at this and I could spend the rest of the night talking
about every little detail. You take the building of that
tabernacle, every little detail, every nail meant something. And
that's God in his... He said, build it just like I
tell you, Moses, precisely, accurately, just like I say, because this
is Christ. And we don't want any slip-ups. But there is a
mediator. It says here in our text, there
is a mediator. There's a fit person. There's
an equal person to make reconciliation between enemies. There is a mediator,
one that can communicate with God. I thank God there is a mediator. There is a mediator. Turn, if
you will, over to Exodus 20. I was supposed to make this message
shorter tonight, and I apologize, but this is so grand and glorious.
It's so breathtaking. I just want you to see some of
this. Look at Exodus 20 just a moment. The giving of the law. And the people saw in verse 18
of Exodus 20, the people saw the thunderings and lightnings
and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. The
people saw that they were moved and stood afar off. And they
said to Moses, speak thou with us and we'll hear, but let not
God speak with us lest we die. That's a picture of the mediator.
Brethren, I stand and see God's holiness. His Immaculate Holiness,
His Infinite Holiness. I'm just not talking about ten
word laws that go, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt
not. But I see the principle of His Holiness, the essence
of His Holiness, the glory of His Holiness, and I feel my wickedness
and sin, and I don't want to run putting arms around God.
I want to go the other way. And anybody who ever sees his
holiness and sees themselves and their sin, they won't go
running into that awesome light. They'll run the other way. They'll
run the other way. That's the reason it's necessary
to have a mediator with God is because of the breach between
God and man. God hates the workers of iniquity. Sorry, but that's so. God's angry
with the wicked. I'm sorry, but that's just so.
Folks can get all upset and go bang their heads against the
wall if they want to, but that's what the Bible says. God is angry
with the wicked every day. He that believeth not on the
Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. I'll tell you something
else. Men aren't in love with God. They're in love with their
gods, their idea of God. But the natural mind is enmity
against God. You know what Scripture said?
Romans 1.30 says the natural man is a hater of God. There's a breach between us and
heaven. We need somebody in here. It's essential. It's imperative.
There's got to be somebody, a fit person, an equal person. There's
got to be an accepted person to make reconciliation. Well,
he said there's a mediator, but look at the Romans 5 again, or
1 Timothy 2, 5 again, our text. There's only one. There's only
one mediator. He says there's one God and there's
one mediator. I wish I could make this clear.
Only one mediator. Now let's ask the question just
about why. Why one? Why one mediator? Will you bear with me a moment?
I'll give you three things. Number one, he's the only one
revealed by God to be the mediator. Nobody else occupies that office.
Nobody else. He said, this is my son. Hear
ye him. He says, there's none other name
under heaven given among men. Other foundations can no man
lay. Christ said, no man cometh to the Father but by me, one
mediator, only one revealed by God. Secondly, he's the only
one capable of that office. He's the only one capable. He
and no other is capable of that office. Why, you say? Because
who else has both the divine and the human nature? Search
through heaven, earth, and hell, and you'll find no other with
the two natures, divine and human, but Christ. Got to be the only
mediator. He and no other has done the
work that is sufficient to honor the law and satisfy God's justice. He and no other has done that
work. So there is a mediator between God and men. And that
mediator is Jesus Christ. He's the only mediator. And look
at this. He's between God and men. Why? Because God's divine law must
be honored. God's holy justice must be satisfied. It must be. And next of all,
he is the man, Christ Jesus. Now I want to give you something
here John Flavel wrote years ago about the man. He says the
man, Jesus Christ. Now watch this. Here, I'll give
them quickly. The Lord God was actually made
flesh. I know that's difficult for a
human mind to comprehend, but it's so. And he was brought into
the rank and order of the creature. Christ became a man. You know,
Solomon said, will God indeed dwell on earth? Will God indeed
dwell in this temple? Well, it's a greater wonder when
we begin to consider, will God dwell in human flesh? But not
only that, he became a creature, but he became an inferior creature,
not an angel, but a man. He took not on himself the nature
of angels, but men. And not only that, but thirdly,
he became a man after sin had blotted out our original glory.
He became a man in the likeness of a fallen creature. He was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh. And not only that, but
he became not a king among men, but a loaded servant among men.
He said, I'm a worm and no man. And not only that, but he lowered
himself to death, even the death of the cross. So the humiliation
of Christ, not only that he became a man or became a creature or
became flesh, but he became the flesh that he became, a servant,
a lowly servant, subject even to the death of the cross. Here's
what one of our preachers said in class Saturday in one of his
articles, and this is important. There is one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Why did Christ become a man?
The nature that sinned must suffer the consequences of that sin.
The nature that sinned must also satisfy the law. Now I know we're
always using this illustration and preachers all over the world
have used the story of Willie Lear. Back during the Civil War,
it was supposed to be permitted for a fellow to take somebody
else's place and go to war. In other words, if you were drafted
or if you were brought into the service, you could send somebody
in your place. You could send somebody to volunteer. And the
story goes that Willie Lear volunteered to go for another man because
he was unmarried and had no family and so forth. And Willie Lear
was killed. And they put a tombstone up, he died in my place. Sacred
to the memory of Willie Lear, he died in my place. Well, that's
all well and good, but let me tell you something. The holy
justice and righteousness of God is required of a human being,
man. Now, the only way that that holy
justice and righteousness can be satisfied is for the person
or persons upon whom it is placed and who are obligated for them
themselves to fulfill it. You see what I'm saying? That's
the reason that the animal sacrifices couldn't put away sin. In other
words, if I commit a crime and I go to prison, you can't come
down there and go to jail for me because the law has no claim
on you, the claim's on me. And the justice, the death penalty
has no claim on you. The justice can't be satisfied
when the innocent dies for the guilty. Can't be. So this is the astounding thing,
but this is what the gospel is saying. Jesus Christ came down
here with bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, numbered were the
transgressors. He actually identified himself
before God's justice and holiness with us in such a way that he
is this sinner right here, and this sinner is he. That's so. So when Jesus Christ, walking
in the flesh, obeyed the law, I literally actually obeyed the
law in him. That's what Scripture teaches.
And when Jesus Christ, God's Son, went to the cross and died,
I went to the cross and died. And justice is fully, completely
satisfied and it has no claim on me because I'm dead in Christ.
Now, Joe, is that correct? Is that right, Bill? These men
studied to God. That's identification. That's
identification. That's representation. But more
than representation, it's actually identification. Now, if you can
get hold of this, you can get some assurance. You can get some
peace. I know some of you, you feel
a sense of guilt over your thoughts, and all our thoughts need cleaning
up. I know that. He said think on things that
are pure and lovely, of good report and so forth. All of them
need cleaning up. But I'm telling you this, my
thoughts before God in Christ are holy. That's so. I know that, and I don't know
exactly how to explain this to you, and I know that our sins,
we grieve over our sins, David said my sins ever before me,
but God said I remember them no more. He said they blotted
out, didn't he? He said they're cast into the
depths of the sea, they're behind God's back, they remember no
more. According to the word of God, and this is what Paul preached
that got folks so upset, and they said that Well, if salvation
is all by grace and by the representation of Christ and the death of Christ,
then let's just go ahead and sin. And Paul said, God forbid.
He was preaching so clearly identification with Christ and substitution
and satisfaction that the people with the wrong understanding
misused it. But my friends, I'm saying to
you now that Jesus Christ, the man Jesus Christ, came into this
world and met that law and obeyed it for me, and I have in God's
sight a perfect righteousness. I'm holy without blame before
him." Isn't that what Scripture says? That's right. And when he went to the cross
and died, he died for every one of my sins. He paid for them.
Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that
condemneth? In Christ we're complete. That's
what Scripture says. I'm not going to be sanctified,
I am sanctified. Now, I want to grow in grace. I want to be more like Christ
because of his mercies to me and because of my love for him.
But I'm telling you this, before the law of God, I have a holiness
that's unquestionable. And before the justice of God,
I have a deliverance and a satisfaction that can't be taken away from
and can't be added to. It's complete. Now, I'll give
you some comfort. I know some of you, and I do
too, we're all cut out of the same clay, we're made out of
the same mud or something, but we have high points and low points
and we don't have assurance, we have doubts and fears and
all of these things, but it's like Brother Scott preached here
the other night, on Thursday night. The sacrifice to be accepted
must be perfect, and I have a perfect sacrifice, I have a perfect righteousness,
it's accepted, and in Christ I'm accepted. Now then, if that
takes you to the place where you don't care how you act or
how you live or what you do, then that's between you and God.
You'll have to deal with Him on that matter. I'm not your
conscience and I'm not your judge. I'm not your father and I'm not
going to whip God's children. I'm simply saying you've got
something wrong in your mind somewhere. You've got something
wrong in your mind. But what I'm trying to do is
I'm trying to give some comfort and assurance to folks who are
struggling with guilt and with depression and with despondency
and with despair. They're trying to live according
to somebody else's rules and trying to please this person
and please that person and denying their human passions and denying
their humanity and denying the failures of the flesh and denying
the infirmities and afflictions of the flesh and trying to be
Trying to be what they're not. Just be yourself. Because Christ
is himself. Just be yourself. And be honest
and truthful. Quit... You don't need to put
on a veneer if you have a righteousness. You don't have to need... You
don't need to put on a holier-than-thou attitude to try to deceive someone
else. You don't need that. Christ is
your righteousness. Just be what you are and who
you are. Before God, God looks at the
heart. We're not subject to man's judgment. We're not subject to man's approval
or disapproval. What do I care what men think?
Men are not going to judge me. I'm not going to stand before
their councils or bar or judgment seats. God's my witness and my
judge. He knows my heart. You see what
I'm saying? But we put ourselves in a I don't
know, we put ourselves in some kind of strange, twisted vice
of pressure from our peers and pressure from other churches
and pressure from religionists and pressure from Pharisees to
be what we are not, to try to please them and convince them
we're Christians and convince ourselves that we're saying,
God's already convinced Christ, Christ's already convinced God,
I'm alright. It's already taken place. Is that clear what I'm
saying? It's already been decided. And it wasn't decided here, and
it wasn't decided here, it was decided at Calvary. That's where
it's decided. The man Jesus Christ. I hope
that'll help you. I hope it'll give you some comfort,
some assurance. Let's look at the text. Now,
I'm going to wind this thing up. Somebody says, he says, looks
at his watch, doesn't mean a thing. I'm getting a lot of flack from
some of these fellows. One of them said, I asked Ronnie,
how long is this morning's message? 52 minutes. John Grice said,
52 minutes. Because I tell them don't preach
for 30. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. Christ
God, anointed, appointed, Jesus man. of full, complete satisfaction. And I make no apologies for what
I've preached tonight. I declare it loud and clear that
this sinner before the living God has one high priest and one
sacrifice and one substitute, that's Christ Jesus, and he is
sufficient. And what he's done has cleared
the way for me to be received because my debt's paid, my sins
are punished, and I have a righteousness. And Jesus Christ actually took
my place. And God dealt with him, and when
he dealt with him, he dealt with me. And the guilty died for the
guilty. That's right. He bore my guilt. My sins were laid on him, literally,
some way. Our Father, bless the word. Oh,
how we long to declare the beauty and glory and truth of the Lord
Jesus Christ. How we long in our hearts. to
preach Christ's sufficient, the satisfying Redeemer, the sin
offering that's complete, acceptable substitute, the great high priest
in such a way that men may literally shout with joy, throw up their
hands in gratitude and thanksgiving, thank you, Lord. I commit it
to Christ. I receive Christ. Christ is my
Lord and my Savior. Lord, cleanse me of my sin. Make me more like Christ. But
He's my hope and my refuge, my strength, my life, my all in
it all. In His blessed name we pray.
Amen.