"OUR MEDIATOR"
I. FOR THERE IS ONE GOD.
A. That is, one true and living God, the eternal creator who sustains the universe.
1. There are many false gods.
2. The gods of the heathen are many.
3. All roads do not lead to the true and living God.
4. Only one road leads to Him, Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man cometh to the Father but by Me."
5. That means that all religions are not good, if fact, I concur with Marx that religion is the opiate of the people.
6. Religion is the struggle of finite man to reach the infinite God.
7. Starting with an earth base, you can never build a bridge that will reach to heaven.
8. Every man has a god whom he serves, for whatever is the master passion of a man's life, is his god.
B. In a mystery that is beyond the capacity of man to fully comprehend this one God exists in three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
1TI 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
C. The Father is God; Jesus is God; the Holy Spirit is God.
1. Paul's typical salutation is "Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
2. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
3. When Ananias sought to deceive the leadership of the early church Peter said to him, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. You have not lied to man but to God."
a. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Ti 3:16
b. Holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
II Pet. 1:21.
c. In
Mark 12:36 Jesus said, For David himself said by the Holy Spirit as He then quoted a passage from Psalms.
4. Jesus commanded the disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
5. In the creation of the Universe and all of the life forms, we read, "And God (Elohim) said, let us make man after our image and after our likeness."
a. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
b. Speaking of Jesus, John said, "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made."
c. In
Colossians 1 Paul said of Jesus, "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and in earth."
D. God is infinite, the heavens of heavens cannot contain Him. He meted out the heavens with His span. He transcends the universe and time.
E. This one true God wills that all men should be saved.
1. Peter tells us that God is not willing that any should perish but that all might come to repentance.
2. He also desires that all men come to the knowledge of truth.
3. Jesus not only declared that He was the only way to the Father, but that He was the truth.
II. CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT GOD IS INFINITE AND MAN IS FINITE CREATES A DIFFICULTY, HOW CAN FINITE MAN EVER HOPE TO TOUCH THE INFINITE GOD?
A. That is basically what Job asked when he said, "How can man be just with God?"
1. He became conscious of the vastness of God.
a. He is wise in heart.
b. Mighty in strength.
c. How could man contend with Him and ever win?
d. He removes mountains.
e. He shakes the earth out of its place.
f. He commands the sun and it rises not.
g. He spread out the heavens.
h. He made the stars and constellations.
i. He is invisible and imperceptible.
B. Having come to a true concept of the eternal God, recognizing that He is infinite, Job saw correctly the impossibility of man ever reaching this eternal God. He is not a man as I am that we should come together in judgment.
C. Neither is there a daysman between us that could lay his hand on us both.
D. The only possible solution that Job could perceive was for some kind of daysman, a mediator if you please, who could lay his hand on us both.
E. Jesus is the answer to the dilemma that Job perceived.
III. FOR THERE IS ONE GOD AND ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN, CHRIST JESUS.
A. Jesus is the Daysman, the mediator.
1. He can lay His hand on the Father for He declared that He proceeded from the Father and that He and the Father were One.
2. He can lay His hand on us, for He became a man.
3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God and all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
4. I John
1. John writes:
1JO 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
1JO 1:2 For the life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and manifested unto us.
B. There is only one mediator.
1. That means that the saints are not able to mediate for you.
2. That means that Mary cannot mediate for you.
3. No other man can mediate for you, only one mediator, the man Christ Jesus.
C. It is hard to imagine the arrogance of man to think that He could come to God directly.
1. Not only do you have the problem of the gap between the finite and the infinite.
2. You have the problem of a absolutely holy pure God, and sinful man.
3. How dare sinful man try to approach the holy God?
D. How then can I a sinful man come to God?
1. Only through the mediator Jesus Christ.
III. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? THAT SINFUL MAN COULD EVER APPROACH A GOD OF ABSOLUTE HOLINESS? ONLY THROUGH THE MEDIATOR WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL.
A. That is the good news that we have to share with the lost world.
Jesus Christ our Lord, opened up the way,
The way to heaven's gate.
When He died on the cross, to redeem all the lost,
He prepared a road that leads to His abode,
It's a road marked by blood,
But it leads us home to God.
B. Jesus paid the price to redeem us from our sin.
1. God's justice declared, "The soul that sinneth shall surely die."
2. Jesus died in our place.
C. Now you a guilty sinner can through Him come into fellowship with the Eternal God who created you, and loves you.
D. In Hebrews we read, "Wherefore He is able also to save to the uttermost, all who will come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
