Dakota Community Church
November 15, 2009
Christ is Sole Mediator
Series: Incomparable Christ 4
Adapted from a Sermon by C.H. Spurgeon
From “The First Sermon in the Tabernacle” - Delivered on Monday Afternoon, March 25th, 1861
Acts 5:42
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
They never stopped… proclaiming… that Jesus is the Christ.
1. Christ is fully God.
2. Christ is fully man.
3. Christ is the only mediator between God and man.
It is absolutely necessary we should preach him as the only mediator between God and man.
Acts 4:1-12
1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
5The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest’s family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is " ’the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
This is not a popular truth! It is exclusionary; many Christians in 2009 have departed from the truth and now deny this fact – even some who occupy pulpits have bowed to secular pressure and human reasoning on this front. Listen to these prophetic words from C.H. Spurgeon:
And the day will come, and there are sundry traces of it here and there, in which in some churches the atonement shall be utterly denied, and yet men shall call themselves Christians, while they have broken themselves against the corner-stone of the entire system. WOW!!
Wait there is more:
I have no kith nor kin, nor friendship, nor Christian amity, with any man whatever who claims to be a Christian and yet denies the atonement. There is a limit to the charity of Christians, and there can be none whatever entertained to the man who is dishonest enough to occupy a Christian pulpit and to deny Christ. It is only in the Christian church that such a thing can be tolerated. I appeal to you. Was there ever known a Buddhist acknowledged in the temple of Buddha who denied the basis doctrine of the sect? Was there ever known a Mahomadan Imaum who was sanctioned in the mosque while he cried down the Prophet? It remains for Christian churches only to have in their midst men who can bear the name of Christian, who can even venture to be Christian teachers, while they slander the Deity of him who is the Christian’s God, and speak lightly of the efficacy of his blood who is the Christian’s atonement. May this deadly cancer be cut out root and branch; and whatever tearing of the flesh there may be, better cut it out with a jagged knife than suffer to exist because no lancet is to be found to do it daintily. We must have, then, Christ in the efficacy of his precious blood as the only Redeemer of the souls of men, and as the only mediator, who, without assistance of ours, has brought us to God and made reconciliation through his blood.
The Christian Christ is not one of many doors through whom men may approach God.
He is the one and only door.
He is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father accept through him.
Let’s review what the scriptures have to say about our sole mediator:
Hebrews 9:15
15For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
1Timothy 2:3-6
3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
Galatians 3:19-20 (Read vs. 15-29)
19What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
A mediator! What is a mediator? A mediator is a middleman, a go-between—one who comes in between two parties who otherwise could not commune with each other.
Take the case of Moses: The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.
Exodus 20:18-19
18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."
God’s voice was very terrible and the people could not bear it, so Moses came in and spoke on the behalf of God.
The Presence of Jehovah upon the mountain was so glorious that men could not climb the hill and endure that great sight—so Moses went up for men to God.
He was a mediator, speaking for the Lord, and making intercession for the people.
This is what Paul alludes to when he speaks of the Law being, “ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” And here the Apostle lets slip a sort of general statement—a Truth of God which does not seem to be in connection with anything that goes before, or anything that follows after.
He lays this down as a general rule –
“A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.”
(A.) A mediator is not for God alone.
A mediator deals with two persons – with God and man.
A mediator does not come because God needs, Himself, any kind of mediator.
He is eternally One and yet we view Him as the sacred Trinity, yet He is a Trinity in Unity.
God is One. Some persons call themselves Unitarians who have no exclusive right to the name. All Trinitarians are Unitarians—though we believe that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, yet we confess that there are not three gods, but one God.
Now, between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit there is no difference, no ground for contention—and therefore no mediator is needed to reconcile the Divine Persons. God is One—therefore our God does not need the mediator for Himself.
James 2:19
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
This is a most unusual thing to say about the demons who do not question if God exists, having seen Him with their own eyes. Instead, this verse is saying that the demons understand that the three persons of the Trinity are in perfect unity, without difference of opinion, plan or authority. The unity between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is what makes the demons shudder, not the fact that God exists.
The most important verse Jews memorized in the Bible was Deut 6:4: "Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one [Echad]!" There are a few words in Hebrew that the Holy Spirit could have used as a word that has one exclusive meaning: the numeric, solitary oneness of God ("yachid" or "bad").
Instead the Holy Spirit chose to use the Hebrew word, "echad" which is used most often as a unified one, and sometimes as numeric oneness. For example, when God said in Genesis 2:24 "the two shall become one [echad] flesh" it is the same word for "one" that was used in Deut 6:4.
God is One—unified - therefore our God does not need the mediator for Himself.
Who is the mediator needed for, then? Why, for somebody else! That somebody else is here today and I want to find him out.
A mediator! Blessed be God, there is a Mediator, but God does not need Him for His personal purposes! There is another person for whom the Mediator is required. Where is that other person? In the very gift of Christ as a Mediator, in the sending of Him in His Divine and Human Nature—in Christ’s life, in Christ’s death—God had an eye to another party.
God, looking out beyond Himself to somebody else, provided a Mediator. That ought to be a great thought to you, for if God is looking out of Himself, why should He not look at you? If God has so looked out of Himself as to provide a Mediator that must mean that He is thinking of a creature who needs one. O my Soul, may He not be thinking of you?
Though you have wandered from Him and lived for many years without Him, may it not be that as there is a Mediator and that Mediator cannot be for God alone—for God is One—that Mediator may be intended to meet my need and bring me back to God?
Next Week:
(B.) A mediator is not needed when there is agreement.
Benediction
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
