Jesus Christ Is Our Mediator

CHRIST IS OUR MEDIATOR

Hebrews 12:18-24 - Sept. 14, 2003

HEBREWS 12:18-24

18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time"(1 TIMOTHY 2:5,6).

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

This morning our text tells us that Jesus is our mediator. That is one of those long words Very simply; it means that Jesus is our go-between. He goes between our Heavenly Father and us to plead on our behalf because of our sinfulness. Our text describes that so that we as believers would enjoy the comfort that comes from knowing that our sins have been paid for. There is only one mediator. Paul writes to Timothy: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time"(1 TIMOTHY 2:5,6). You and I as Christians on the other side of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead have seen and heard and know and believe this testimony given at its proper time. For the people of the Old Testament, they were always looking ahead to that mediator who was yet to come. Their focus was very often on God’s commandments. That is what our text talks about to us today. Our text reminds us that:

JESUS CHRIST IS OUR MEDIATOR

I. Not on Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments

II. But from Mount Zion with God’s Gospel

I. Not on Mount Sinai

Did you notice the difference in our text, how it started with fear and trembling, but how it ended up with joy and thanksgiving? In our text the writer describes very accurately Mount Sinai. You may remember that Mount Sinai was on the way as the children of Israel were wondering in the wilderness for forty years. They came to Mount Sinai before they came to the Promised Land. It was on Mount Sinai that Moses received the Ten Commandments written on stone by God’s own finger. Listen to how that event is described: 8You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast. If you turn back into the Old Testament to Exodus 19 and read verse 16 it says just about the same thing. It was on Mount Sinai that there was gloom and a cloud and a sound like the blast of a trumpet. It was into that cloud, that gloom, and that storm that Moses went, because God had called him there. What happens? Moses spends a good amount of time there. People were wondering whether he was ever going to come back down or maybe the glory of the Lord had consumed Moses. In their own thinking they listened to the brother of Moses, Aaron who gathers together all their gold and throws it into a fire. Then he says out of that fire came the golden calf. This was his excuse, and they began worshipping a false god that they made with their own hands at the very time that Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God’s own hand.

The writer to the Hebrews describes that in our text today: 18You have not come to a mountain to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them. Moses came down and saw the idolatry and the first time broke those tablets of stone. But the children of Israel did not want to hear any more of the commandments of God that said, "You shall not have any other gods." They did not want to hear the commandments of God that said that they were doing wrong and deserved to be condemned. They begged that the voice of the Lord would stop.