The Word of Truth is sponsored in part by Paul Rents. Visit paulrents.com for party and equipment rentals. Welcome to the Word of Truth, a ministry of Pastor Lars Larson and the First Baptist Church of Leominster, Massachusetts. It is our desire that our Lord use this broadcast to instruct, encourage, and strengthen both Christians and local churches in the New England region. Pastor Lars is always available to assist you. You may reach him at 978-660-8869. May today's message from our pastor be blessed by our Lord to instruct and encourage you through the Holy Scriptures, the Word of Truth. Greetings, and thank you for tuning in today. Last time we began to introduce a new topic in our effort to set before you the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints, as described in Jude 3. which is Jesus Christ the mediator of salvation. We began to address the context of the passage in which the mediatorial role of our Lord Jesus is stated forthrightly and this is 1st Timothy 2 verses 1-7 and we will continue here today after we pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for so loving us, although we are sinners deserving of your everlasting wrath, that you should send your Son to do for us that which we could in no way do for ourselves. Thank you for sending your Son to be the mediator between yourself and us, that we may be redeemed and may stand in your favor, we who believe in Jesus. We may stand in a state of peace before you. Help us to understand better the nature and glory of Christ and His mediatorial role as Prophet, Priest, and King who has brought South Asian to us. May you illuminate our minds that we may see more clearly His glory. And then may you enlarge our hearts so that we might better value all that you have done for us and promised to us through Him. We commit this time and ourselves to you, for I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. The Apostle Paul wrote these inspired words of Holy Scripture when he wrote this letter to Timothy, instructing him in the nature and performance of the Gospel ministry. He wrote these words in 1 Timothy 2, verse 1 and following. Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." Now that's one single paragraph, 1 Timothy 2, 1-7, and this paragraph contains three sentences, The first sentence is verses 1 and 2, in which we are exhorted to pray for all men. The second sentence in verses 3 and 4, we are told why we are to pray for all men. And then the third sentence in verses 5 through 7, We are informed about the design and desire of God to bring salvation through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last time we covered the verses leading up to our text, which is verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Before us in verse 5 is a claim to the exclusive nature of Christianity. It is a message that would not be popular in the town square in a community gathering. It would not even be welcomed in many so-called churches, this exclusive claim for the reality and truth of Christianity as the only true religion. It is a declaration that there is only one God and there's only one way to know God and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. This is the declaration. for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Now in this third sentence we are told that God has purposed to save his people through the preaching of the exclusive gospel of Jesus Christ. And we have before us essential statements about the need and nature of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. In order to know the true God, you must come to Him who is true, and you may only come to Him in the manner that He has prescribed. Now let us consider these essential elements of the Christian faith. First we see that there is but one God, for there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There are not many gods, there is but one God over all creation. And this one true God had revealed Himself in a special manner to the nation of Israel. The Bible tells us this. This truth is reflected in the great creedal statement of Israel found in Deuteronomy 6.4 which reads, Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Now this statement in the Hebrew Bible is referred to by Jews as the Shema. which is the initial Hebrew word translated here. Devout Jews every morning and every evening recite this verse. The Lord Jesus himself spoke of the Shema when the question was posed to him by a Jewish scribe, which is the first commandment of all, and Jesus responded, quoting Deuteronomy 6.4. The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. This one God is the God that revealed Himself to Israel and through His Son Jesus Christ. All other gods are no gods, they do not exist. When the Lord Jesus engaged in conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, He stressed the uniqueness and exclusive truthfulness of the God of Israel, stating very plainly that she did not know Him. And we read of that account beginning in John 4.20 The woman said to Jesus, Sir, I perceive that you are our prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." And so here our Lord told the woman, though she was a religious person, she was an ignorant person. She was ignorant to the one true God and how to know and worship Him. You worship what you do not know. as if he were saying, all your religion is false and futile because the God whom you worship does not exist. The Apostle Paul before a group of worshipers in Athens said virtually the same thing. We read in Acts 17.22 and following the account, Then Paul stood in the midst of the Oropagus, and that would have been the high hill in Athens, and said, Man of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God. Therefore the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you, God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives life to all breath and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own prophets have said, for we are all His offsprings. And therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now God commands all men everywhere to repent." That's Acts 17, 22-30. Note the Athenians were very religious. They were worshippers of many gods. They were not sure that they knew them all, so they erected a statue to a God that they knew they did not know. And Paul declared to them that all their other gods were no gods. The one true God was the God they did not know. But their times of ignorance were no longer. Paul was proclaiming in the Gospel to them the true God, and therefore they were to repent of their idolatry, their ignorance, and their error. The God or gods of cults of other religions do not exist. And we do not say that they worship the same God as we do, but under different names. Their worship is rendered to a God or gods that do not exist. They are in ignorance. They worship that which they do not know, as the Lord Jesus told that woman. Although we acknowledge and affirm their right to believe as they do, and we desire the same for ourselves, we must not affirm them in what it is they believe. We should not value their opinion of who God is, lest we find ourselves denying the one true God, who alone is. There is one God, and this is the God who revealed himself to Israel. This is the God that Christians know and acknowledge. All other gods are no-gods. Now this is an essential tenet to the Christian faith, and it may seem needless to say, but frankly we cannot assume anything these days. One who comes to the one and true God must believe that He is the one true God. Hebrews 11.6 reads, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. We are to affirm that the God of Christianity is alone the God of the universe. All other gods are no-gods. Now in the light of what we have seen, let me make this important point. In bringing people to salvation, the first matter that needs to be understood and embraced as true is that there is but one God and that He is the God as He has revealed Himself to Israel. Now what does this mean? Or rather, how has God revealed Himself to Israel? Well, first of all, understand the one true God is the creator of all things. Genesis 1 and 2 that describes creation was written for and preserved by the Jews. At the heart of Israel's understanding of God was the understanding that God has made all that is. This has many implications, of which we do not have time to deal with in detail today, but at the heart of the matter are these points. First, that God is our Creator and reveals that He is the sovereign ruler of all the works of His hands. Second, that God as our Creator suggests that He has a purpose for us, His creatures. Third, the fact that God is our Creator means that He has a right to rule over us, and we have a responsibility to know Him and serve Him. Israel's commandment to observe the Sabbath day was based on the fact, and to proclaim the fact, that God is the Creator of all that is. We read in Exodus 20, 9-11, 6 days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. And then here is the reason that Moses gives. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Well, not only is the One True God the Creator of all things, but secondly, the One True God is One who enters into covenant relationship with His people. And we've been emphasizing this for several broadcasts now. God revealed to Israel that He can be known and that His creatures can and should walk with Him. Of God it is said in Deuteronomy 7.9, Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him. And related to this is the understanding that, third, the one true God is the one who sets the terms upon which a covenant relationship with him may be experienced and maintained. There is more to Deuteronomy 7.9 than we read a moment ago. The verse reads further, Know therefore the Lord thy God, he is God the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. God has not given people the right to worship him as they see fit. All worship that has not been prescribed by God is false worship. The priests of Israel could not come before God in a manner that they saw as proper or suitable. They were only permitted to approach God in the manner that He prescribed, and any deviation from that prescription incurred God's wrath. Idolatry was expressly forbidden in Israel. And what is idolatry but an attempt to worship as God, that which is no God, or to worship God in a manner that He is not prescribed? The second commandment, of course, reveals this prohibition, and it speaks of God's wrath upon violators. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God and a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them who hate me, with showing mercy to thousands to those who love me, and keep my commandments." That's Exodus 20, verses 4 through 6. Fourthly, The one true God is a holy and just God who judges all of His creatures according to His laws that He has established over His creatures. We now read the full sentence that begins in Deuteronomy 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keepeth commandments to a thousand generations, and then it concludes, and repays them that hate him to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack to him that hates him. He will repay him face to face. Deuteronomy 32.4 reads, God is the Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. The fact is there is only one God and He has revealed Himself, and we are responsible to know Him, love Him, and serve Him, and He holds us accountable that we do so. Now let's look at this second statement of our text in 1 Timothy 2.5. Not only is there one God, but there is one mediator between God and men. The second statement of 1 Timothy 2.5 declares that there is only one way that the one God can be known, and that is through a mediator. What is a mediator? A mediator is one who brings about a connection or a reconciliation between two persons or two parties. When a Mediator mediates, he takes up an intermediate position between the warring factions and through his efforts an agreement or settlement is achieved and then a state of peace and cooperation may exist. A Mediator settles the differences between the two parties so that a relationship may be established and maintained. John Gill, the Baptist pastor and theologian of the 18th century, described the Lord Jesus as our Mediator. A mediator is more than one and has to do with two parties, and these at variance among themselves, between whom he stands as a middle person. His business is to bring them together and make peace between them, and such an one is Christ. The two parties are God and His elect, who in their natural state are at a distance from God and at enmity to God, and who have broken His law, affronted His justice. Christ stands as a middle person, a daysman between them, and lays His hands upon them both. and has to do things pertaining to the glory of God, and makes reconciliation for the sins of the people, brings them that were afar off nigh to God, and makes peace for them by the blood of His cross, by fulfilling the law, satisfying justice for them, and in consequence of this he appears for them in the court of heaven, intercedes and pleads for them, is their advocate, and sees that all covenant blessings of which he is the Mediator are applied unto them, and preserves their persons which are committed to his care and charge, safe to everlasting happiness." Now there is a good, all-encompassing statement of Jesus Christ as the one Mediator. Now consider these matters. First, the fact that there is the need of a mediator suggests that apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, a state of hostility exists between God and His creatures. God and the human race are opposed to one another. We are enemies to one another outside of Christ. Romans 5.10 reveals this truth. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Outside of Jesus Christ, people are God's enemies. They do not acknowledge Him. They break His laws. They are opposed to His rule over them. And it is not only that fallen man is an enemy toward God, but God is an enemy toward sinful man. James 4.4 reads, You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Unless one can be found to represent us as sinners before the One Holy God, we will not be able to stand before Him, yet alone be the recipient of God's favor and blessing. Secondly, the fact that there is one Mediator reinforces what we asserted earlier, the exclusive nature of true Christianity. Biblical Christianity is the only true legitimate religion. All other religions are false religions. And I know fully well how narrow and bigoted this sounds in today's multicultural world. But to say otherwise would be to deny what the Scriptures claim and what the Lord Jesus and his apostles declared. No other religion than Christianity has a legitimate mediator to represent their people before the one true God. Thirdly, the fact that there is one mediator repudiates any and all efforts to put forward other mediators. And this has been an error that has existed down through church history. In the first several centuries there were those who corrupted the church by making angels mediators. These heretics taught that the Lord Jesus was too far removed from sinners in his character to represent them to the Father. And so angels were seen to be mediators between men and Jesus as well as God the Father. There is but one legitimate mediator, Jesus Christ. And then later in church history, godly Christians who died were set up as mediators between sinners and God. Saints, as they are called, will represent us, it was said. They are more holy than we, and because they are now in the presence of the Father, they can be our mediators. No, the Scriptures say there is only one mediator between God and men, and that is Jesus Christ. The one mediator is not the holy angels, is not Jesus' apostles or other godly men or women, it's certainly not Jesus' mother, that is heresy. God has established there is only one to whom He will show regard when He comes to the Father to represent sinners, and that is His Son Jesus Christ only. There is one mediator between God and man, and it's not Mary. It's Jesus Christ, Mary's Son. And so we have the one mediator is the man Christ Jesus as declared by Paul. Only one person in history has been qualified to bring reconciliation between God and sinners and this is the man Christ Jesus. Now the description by Paul of Jesus Christ as man does not in any way denigrate Jesus. Rather it speaks to his qualifications to represent us. He is not a mere man, he is the Son of God, but he is fully a man, he is fully like us, except without sin. As such, he himself was one of us who could properly represent us before the Father. Had He not been the Son of God, He could not have represented God to us. Had He not been man, He could not have represented us before His Heavenly Father. He is a man so that He might be able to represent us. He was, as we are capable of, as one put it, obeying suffering and dying, and so of making satisfaction in the nature that had sinned. But then, had he not been God, he could not have drawn nigh to God on behalf of men, and undertook for them, and much lesser performed, nor would his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice have been available to cleanse from sin, to procure the pardon of it, justify from it, make atonement for it, or make peace with God," wrote John Gill. In conclusion, we affirm what we stated in the beginning we have set before us in these few verses in 1 Timothy 2, the fact that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. He alone could pay the debt that we owe to God's justice for having broken His laws. He alone is the Savior of the world. Now folks, we all know intuitively how the world reacts to the things that I have said today. But that is what we are called to proclaim. This is the truth, and we will not shrink from declaring it. And may He give us grace to be able to stand strong and proclaim faithfully His gospel. We trust that God has blessed you from listening to Dr. Lars Larsen. Today's program, as well as previously recorded messages, are available through our website. We invite you to visit the word of truth dot net. The First Baptist Church of Leominster and Concerned Friends have sponsored this broadcast of the word of truth. If we may assist you by directing you to a sound, reformed church near you, please contact us. If Pastor Larson can assist you further or answer a question that you may have about today's subject, he would be pleased to speak with you. You may reach him at 978-660-8869. Until our next time together, may our God bless you richly through our Lord Jesus Christ. Today's The Word of Truth program was sponsored in part by Paul Rents. Visit paulrents.com for party and equipment rentals.