Welcome to the Westminster Pulpit, an extension of the worship ministry at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Please contact us for permission before reproducing this message in any format, and may this sermon nurture your life in a meaningful way as we proclaim our Savior. It's good to welcome to our pulpit tonight the Reverend John Hayward as a face, a name many of you know. As John grew up here at Westminster, we were reminiscing beforehand that it was 15 years ago that he and I met each other at Veritas Academy. And younger versions of ourselves, I think I at least ate a lot more and ran a lot more back then. But John now is the senior pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg. We've kept him at least within 45 minutes, and we are delighted to have him come and bring God's Word to us tonight. It is a privilege to be here with you and to sit under God's Word together. The text for this evening, Meditating Upon the Glory of Christ as Mediator, is from Paul's letter to Timothy. We're going to look at chapter 2, verses 5 and 6. But before we do, will you please pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Would you open our hearts to receive your word, that we might know you better and be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, we ask it. Amen. Listen carefully. These are the words of God. 1 Timothy 2, 5 and 6. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for many, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Thus far, God's word. Do people really need to know Jesus? Do people really need to know Jesus? Is it truly the case that Jesus does things for people that they can't get anywhere else in the whole world, from anyone else in the whole world? That question was thrust upon middle school and high school students under my care while I worked at a school. They were listening with intense interest to the stories of a Holocaust survivor. This elderly woman, still full of life and passion, told stories of life before and then during the systematic oppression and horror that her and her family faced. She evocatively told of the fear, the confusion, the cruelty of what she went through. And at one point, after she spoke of everything that her father specifically went through, leading up to and including his murder, She said with steely conviction, and that's why I know that my father is in heaven, because he went through hell here on earth. And the students kept listening politely, but it was that sentence that latched onto their minds. Their compassion meant that they wanted to agree. feeling her tell these stories of the horrors that she had gone through. They wanted to agree with this thoughtful, kind Jewish woman, but they know what they had been taught, that it is only through collapsing into the arms of Christ, Jesus, the Messiah, that people are reconciled to God. But for them, it pressed this question, is knowing Jesus really that important? Is it really that important? And whether it's a story like that or something more personal, most of us have had moments when the exclusivity of Christ hits home. And that exclusivity is because Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. He's the only one. The one and only. There is no other. And we must grow confidently in believing that and even loving that, that Jesus is our mediator. And in context, Paul has a Holy Spirit-inspired agenda with this text that should hit us, too. The agenda of this text, as Paul writes to Timothy, and as we receive it as the Word of God, is that the glory of Christ as mediator would drive us to pray. because Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The glory of Christ as mediator drives us to pray because Jesus, the one and only mediator, came into the world to save sinners. Let's start. What does it mean that Jesus is the only mediator between God and men? Well, the fact that he is the mediator is one angle on all that Jesus is to us and does for us. But let's just start with the word, mediator. It's someone who stands between. It's a middleman, someone who brings together two people or two parties. Sometimes those are hostile parties, but the word's much larger than just that. If we think of it, an ambassador is a kind of mediator. An ambassador is a kind of mediator. So think of the ambassador of the USA walks into a meeting with the president of, I don't know, the Republic of Malta. The ambassador of the USA walks into that meeting, he's a mediator. The ambassador is bringing the United States of America to that tiny Mediterranean island. Or maybe in a more mundane way, if you've experienced having someone intervene in an intense conflict, who can bring people together and helps them listen to each other, and listen and draws them out so there might be restoration. He's brought them together. A mediator's a middleman. A mediator connects people, puts them into contact with each other for the sake of communion. Mediator connects people for the sake of communion. And that's just the word mediator. But Jesus is a mediator, and his glory as a mediator consists in that the two parties that he brings together are God and man. That's the glory of Christ as a mediator, that the two people that he is connecting for communion is God and man. Just start with God. Just take a basic statement of the one true God. God is a spirit. He's not of this earth. He's infinite. No limits in his being, in his glory, in his perfection. God is all-sufficient. He doesn't need anything. He doesn't even need anything to make everything out of. He's all-sufficient. He's eternal. He's unchangeable. He's incomprehensible. Everywhere present, God is almighty. He's long-suffering, most wise, knowing all things, most merciful, abundant in goodness and truth. Christ connects humans eating, sleeping, birthing, breathing, needy, finite, creaturely humans to God for communion with God. That connection is the glory of Christ as mediator. Well, it's part of it. And unless we consider God and man, unless we consider that grand distance, we're not going to consider the glory. We're not going to be struck by the glory that the creature is now connected to the all-powerful Creator. We won't be struck by the glory unless we think of that distance. Jesus connects God, the Creator, to the creature. And I know I'm repeating myself, but I don't know if you're like me, but to really get some of these things, you just need to chew on it for a while. To really sense the glory that Paul is conveying, you just want to chew on it. So just think of this. Think of a couple of mediating examples. Think of two people who need to be connected to each other, but they speak completely different languages. Completely different languages. They need to be connected to each other. Imagine it's by phone, right? Because as humans, we with like pointing and we can do a lot of communication. But just imagine it's people who speak entirely different languages and they're stuck on the phone. No video calls allowed, right? For the sake of this analogy, right? They're stuck on the phone. They do not speak the same language. And they need to be connected to each other. Think of the joy, the relief when you find a translator, a bilingual mediator. fully knowing all the words, all the right concepts. It makes all the difference. But Christ as mediator is so much greater than that. Right? Think of that same mediator wasn't just bilingual, but somehow also was truly bicultural. It doesn't seem even really possible for humans, but just imagine that it's possible. Bicultural, right? Knowing all the nuances, the subtleties, the habits, the unwritten customs, laws, social cues, so they could completely connect And yet the glory of Christ as a mediator is much greater than that. He has all of that. Jesus knows. Jesus knows the intricacies of living as a human in a cursed, fallen, distorted, broken world. as the God-man, as God in flesh, truly God and truly man, and one personal mediator. He knows that, and he also knows the glories of God, the perfect glories of the holiness of the grandeur of God. He is a bi-natural mediator. Clunky word, I know, but he's a bi-natural. He is the mediator in nature, fully God, fully man, met in Jesus Christ. He's the mediator that we need, right? In the midst of Job's pain and torment and his questions about God, God, what is going on with my life? He says, Oh, that there was someone who could stand between us and put a hand on both me and God and bring us together. Jesus is that. Jesus is the mediator that all the inadequate mediators of the Old Testament pointed to. All of those mediators, the prophets, the priests, the kings, they all just pointed to Jesus. And this isn't unique to Christianity. All religions and worldviews embody the concept of a mediator somehow. Because everyone knows the power, eternal, and divine nature of such a creator, of such a grand world. Everyone knows that it's just so far beyond us, so we need a mediator. And that's true even if today in our context, we just diminish the glory. Because we're constantly shown a domesticated God and a glorified humanity. But that's a deceit, because between God and man, there is a metaphysical chasm, a distance of unfathomable measure. But that's not just the only glory. That's only part of the glory of Jesus as mediator. Because yes, there is a metaphysical chasm, but there's more than that. There is also man's guilt, because man has rebelled against his God and his maker, every one of us. I don't know all of you. I know some of you. Some of you have watched me grow up. But every single one of us has in our hearts said that we want to do life our own way. Somehow in our lives we have communicated that we demand that we do life our own way. Maybe even that God be a God to us in our own way. So there is a distance that separates our nature from the divine nature, but there is also guilt. And that guilt corrupts and pollutes us so we are far from God. And if you don't feel that guilt, that corruption and that pollution, you will not feel the glory of Jesus Christ as mediator. Let's lean into that. There will come a day when you have to give an accounting to God for your life, every single second of it, according to God's law and God's nature, God's character, When you have to come to that day, when your life comes under divine scrutiny according to His values, will you be able to say with full truth and confidence that every thought, every word, every deed, every action, every choice, every feeling, can you say, innocent, blameless, guiltless, perfect? If you cannot say that in the face of divine scrutiny, you need a mediator. And the glory of Jesus Christ is that he is that mediator. He himself says, I am the door. I am the door back to God. He himself says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus says, I am the way back to God. He says that I am the vine, and apart from me you can do nothing. Jesus connects us to God, not just across the distance of our natures, but across the distance of our guilt and our shame. And he connects us for communion with God, communion with God. Jesus makes us in communion with God guiltless, clean, accepted, loved, and safe. The glory of Jesus Christ as mediator is the good news of the gospel. As one author summarizes, the gospel is not the news that you're okay. It's not the news that God is love. It's not the news that Jesus wants to be our friend. It's not the news that he has a wonderful plan or purpose for our life. The gospel is the news that Jesus Christ died on a cross outside of Jerusalem long ago as a sacrificial substitute for sinners and that he rose again. making a way for us to be reconciled to God. It's the news that the judge will become the father if only we repent and believe. The glory of Jesus Christ as mediator makes that the good news to bank our lives upon, and the glory of Jesus Christ as mediator is that all repentant sinners regardless of how guilty or polluted they are in their distance from God. The glory of Jesus as the mediator is that all such sinners can collapse into the arms of their Savior and sing, before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea. The great high priest the mediator, whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me, my name is written on his hands. My name is graven on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands as that mediator, no tongue can bid me thence depart. And the glory of Jesus Christ as the mediator is that the Christian can with confidence go on to sing, when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within. Satan loves to diminish the glory of Jesus as a mediator. He loves to say, you're too far from God. You cannot, in your sin and your filth, be connected to God. Can Christ's blood atone for you? Can the Holy Spirit bring you back? Satan loves to diminish the glory of Jesus as a mediator. When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see Him there who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. The glory of the mediator is behold him there, the risen lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness. At the same time, the lamb of God slain and the great unchangeable I am, the king of glory and of grace. We have only just begun to sing of the glory of the one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. Now for those of you really paying attention, you may have noticed that we have only covered one third of my sermon sentence. That the glory of Christ as mediator drives us to pray because Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. The glory of Christ as mediator drives us to pray because Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Why do I say that? Well, in exegetical humility, I say it because Paul says it. Right? Paul is saying here, in context, the foundation of everything that Paul is saying is grounded in chapter 1, verse 15. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. Right? And after addressing that to Timothy, Paul's big, so what, is found in chapter 2, verse 1. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, and intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. for kings and all who are in authority in the high places that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good. This is good. It's talking about the prayers. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. Pray, for Christ is the one and only mediator. Pray because of the exclusivity of Jesus being the only way back to God. So pray for all people. When Paul says, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of which I am the foremost. He's not being polite or folksy. He's not saying, well, we're all imperfect, aren't we? Paul was a self-righteous murderer of Christians. While he was watching Stephen be slowly stoned to death, Paul felt self-righteous about how good he was for approving of that. So using himself as an example, and using the kings and rulers as an example, he's saying, listen, pray for the salvation of the kings, of those in high authority. There weren't nice kings in Paul's day. They weren't nice, understandable people. Paul is using himself and the kings and rulers as examples of why we should pray for everyone. Politicians still don't seem to be very popular. Pray for the salvation of everyone, even the politician you despise the most. the absolute most. Pray for the salvation of everyone. Do not count anyone out. Do not count anyone out of praying for their salvation. The glory of Jesus Christ as mediator means that we will pray for absolutely everyone to be saved. We need to have hope and we need to know God's will to truly be driven to pray. And so we need the glory of Jesus Christ as mediator to be the nuclear reactor of prayer. The glory of Jesus Christ as mediator to shine a light on our hearts for who are those people that we have written out of God's mercy? Because of how wicked, despicable, and disgusting their sin is. Even if that person is yourself. We need the glory of Jesus Christ as mediator to enliven our eyes so it would shine upon those that we must pray for, for it is God's desire that all should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, and he gave himself as a ransom for all. Let us pray right now. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the way the Holy Spirit has made Paul's writing here to a fellow pastor, your word to us. Lord, would you bless us in believing it? Lord, that the glory of Jesus Christ as mediator might shine in our minds even now, someone that we are tempted to write off and not pray for anymore. Lord, we thank you for rescuing us from the dominion of darkness and bringing us into the kingdom of Jesus, your son, whom you love, our only mediator. You've given us redemption and forgiveness from our sins. So would you hear our prayer for absolutely everyone who is far away from you? enemies in their minds and because of their evil behavior, that they might come to believe in the hope held out to them in the gospel. Spread this to every land and in every heart here. And we ask these things, Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to you through him. Amen. The Westminster Pulpit is courtesy of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 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