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I invite you to turn again to the book of Job, chapter nine. We want to read those same verses that we read this morning. We want to again consider Christ our mediator. Job chapter nine, verse twenty five, where Job says, Now my days are swifter than a post. They flee away. They see no good. They are passed away as a swift eagle, as the eagle that hasteth to the prayer.
If I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself, I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. If I be wicked, Why then labor I in vain? If I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean, yet thou shalt plunge me in the ditch, and my known clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any day's man betwixt us that might lay his hands upon us both.
And that verse from First Timothy chapter two verse five. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And we want to read also from Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five and we want to begin our reading at verse twelve. Romans five and verse twelve. Where we read wherefore. As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed, where there is no law.
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned there to the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. but not as the offense, so also is a free gift. For if the offense are one, for if through the offense are one, many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one the condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justifications. For if by one man's offense doth reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men the condemnation. Even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord bless his word.
Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you tonight for the word of God. for the revelation it has given to us of the man Christ Jesus the one who is the mediator between God and men we thank you for who he is we thank you for what he has accomplished and we thank you for his relationship to his people help us our father to grasp this truth tonight that we may not mourn as Job did that there is no Today's man, no mediator, but tonight we know that there is a mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Reveal yourself to us in all the glory of the gospel, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. We must remember our definition that we previously learned this morning concerning the mediator. A mediator is one who intervenes between two parties who are at variance with each other and thus makes peace. And the two parties, the offended party is God. The offenders are all men who are rebelled against God. And the mediator who came between is none other than Christ Jesus the Lord.
And we are examining the qualities or the qualifications that were necessary for the Lord Jesus to come between us and God and to effectually bring us together to reconcile us to himself. Now we read in Colossians one twenty three that he made peace for us through the blood of his cross whereby to reconcile all things to himself. And in second Corinthians five and about verse nineteen we read that God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.
This morning we noted four qualifications that were necessary for the mediator. Number one, the mediator must be a man. And first Timothy two five says there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man of Christ Jesus. He must be a man. And the mediator must be sinless. A sinner cannot provide redemption for himself, let alone anybody else. Then the mediator must be holy. And the son of God, it is written of him that he is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
And the mediator must act voluntarily, which he did. He could say, lo, I come in the volume of the book. He says that in the fortieth psalm. And he says the same thing in Hebrews chapter ten. It's what he said when he came into the world. Lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written to me. I delight to do thy will, O God. Now tonight. From the fifth chapter of Romans, in particular, we want to notice that the mediator must be federally united to his people. Now, three kinds of union are known in human relationships, which justify the imputation of sin from one to another.
First of all, there's a natural union. That's between a father and a son. Then there's a moral and political union. That's between a king and a subject. But there's a voluntary union. That's between friends. But Christ's union with his people surpasses all these. When we talk about Christ being federally united to his people, his union with his people is a covenant union. We sing sometimes that the Lord suffer mine by covenant, mine forever.
We belong to him by covenant union. Now, we can only understand the redemptive work of Christ when we have a knowledge of the everlasting covenant and our connection with that everlasting covenant. When we read Hebrews chapter thirteen and verse twenty, those words, now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. And I believe the everlasting covenant and the new covenant are synonymous because he speaks of the blood of the everlasting covenant and its relationship with Christ.
And it was when our blessed Lord instituted the Lord's Supper that he said to his own disciples, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. And the new covenant spoken of in Jeremiah thirty-one in Hebrews chapter eight. And in Hebrews chapter ten is that blessed everlasting covenant. Now Christ in the word of God is called the last Adam. I Corinthians fifteen and verse forty-five here in the book of Romans he is called the figure of him that was to come in verse fourteen the end of the verse Adam was a figure of him that was to come the word of God basically revolves around two men Adam and Christ.
And both of these two men, they are both federally united to us. Adam and by federal we simply mean the one acting for the many. Adam acted for all of us. For we read in verse twelve of Romans five by one man sin entered into the world. Now you and I can't say like the man did, oh Adam, oh Adam. If he hadn't done what he did, we wouldn't be in the shape we're in.
We can't say that. Because we would have done the same thing. You heard about the man who the servants who had to pull weeds. And that every weed he pulled, he said, Oh, Adam, oh, Adam. And his master heard him. He said, What do you mean? Well, he said, It's all because of Adam that we have weeds. And who likes to pull weeds? He said, You would have done the same thing. No, no, not me.
I wouldn't have done the same thing. Well, he said, we'll see you. So he came to him a few days later and he said, called him by name, and he said, I'm going away on a trip. And I'm going to give you the privilege of eating in the big house. You can sit at my dining room table. You can have everything that's in the refrigerator. You can have everything. except there's one dish on the table. It has a silver cover. I'm going to show it to you. I don't want you to even touch it.
And I don't want you to look into it. You know, as that man sat at his master's table, there's only one thing he could think about. And that was that one dish. that he was told not to touch. So after a couple days, he just put his hand across it. Ah, he said it's cold anyway. It's not hot. It's not a hot dish. See, that made it more interesting. Finally, he took the lid and put it off and put it back on again.
But it was too late. Our Lord is called the last Adam. I bet you'd like to know what was in that dish. See, you're just like Adam. You're just like that man. See, it was filled with feathers. And when he opened the dish, they all came up. And you see, when Adam sinned, God told him in the day that thou eatest the rod, thou shalt surely die. And all the feathers came out when Adam sinned.
For God said to Adam, who told you you were naked? Adam knew it. Who told you that? No one had a telling. He knew it. And God says, have you eaten of the tree? And Adam had to admit that he did. And Adam acted for every one of us, the federal head. and the federal head acted for everyone in the old creation. And you and I are all by virtue of being children of Adam, descendants of Adam, we are born sinners. But there's someone who acted federally for everyone in the new creation.
And that is our Lord Jesus Christ. And he is called in Scripture... The last Adam. There won't be another one. As Adam acted for everyone in the old, our blessed Lord acted for everyone in the new. So we have to ask a question. And the question is this. What did the mediator do under the terms of the everlasting covenant? What did he do? Well, let me say this. Our blessed Lord. Our mediator did not come to procure a people for himself. Our mediator came to secure a people who were already his.
For in eternity past we were given to Christ by God the Father. And in the seventeenth chapter of John, our Lord praised time and again for those who the Father had given to the Son. This is a blessed truth, beloved. Ephesians chapter one, verse four says, According as he hath chosen us in him before the world was, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. I like, while J.M. Darby has to say about that verse, Jan Darby in his synopsis of the books of the Bible says, God chose us before the foundation of the world so that when living in the world, we would realize we are not of the world.
He chose us that we might be holy and without blame before him in love. Matthew chapter one in verse twenty one says, thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people from their sins, a people given to him by God the Father. In John chapter six and verse thirty-seventh, our Lord Jesus said, All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that of those whom thou hast given me, I should lose nothing but raise them up again at the last day. He came to secure a people already his. So we ask another question. And the question is this. What is the legal identification of the mediator to his people? What is a legal identification? Well, let me just say there are four. Romans five, verse nineteen. To the obedience of one, many are made righteous. You and I have become the very righteousness of God in Christ.
That's what we're made. Ah, how do you obedience to one? See the federal headship? The one? acting for the other. Furthermore, Ephesians chapter one and verse four, that we might behold him and without blame before him. So he chose us in Christ. Ephesians chapter two, verse ten, the emphasis is on the word created. We are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephesians chapter four verse thirty a fourth thing we are sealed with that Holy Spirit and promise see there are four things here whereby we are can be identified legally to the federal head of the new creation.
We're righteous. We're holy. We're created. And we're sealed. Who can break the seal? No one. The seal cannot be broken. We are sealed until the day of redemption. This morning as I stood with Betty Allison There in the room, I said, I've been thinking of a verse coming over here, and the verse is very simple. The gifts and the callings of God, Romans, verse twenty-nine, are without repentance.
When God saves a man, he doesn't change his mind about it. You see, I watched this many times. when I was the director of the Youth Congress at Greenwood Hill. These were all senior high and college students. And Dick would be dating Arlene or Betsy or somebody. And they'd be sitting together the first couple nights. Uh-oh. I'd be sitting on the platform watching. And here Betsy comes in with George and... somebody else comes in with dick and they're sitting together and then you say uh-uh somebody repented all right that's what I think you know somebody changed their mind but not God the gifts and callings of God are without repentance and when God chose me in Christ and when God chose you in Christ he knew every little detail of your life he knew every time you'd fail He knew every time you'd be ashamed to really own him as Lord.
He knew every little fault about you. And you know, he'll never change his mind about you. Aren't you glad that after you've been in glory ten thousand years, there isn't a skeleton going to come tumbling out of the closet that will embarrass either God or you. God knows me better than anybody else. And in spite of it, he loves me. And he'll never change his mind about it. See, this is the legal identification of the federal head that the mediator is to his people. So the mediator must not only be a man.
He not only must be sinless and holy and act voluntarily, he must be federally united to us. But more than that, The mediator must be divine. He must be God as well as man. Because he must, he's required to present to God satisfaction that possesses infinite merits. Which procured infinite blessings for his people. You see, our Lord, we're told in the first epistle of John. He was manifested to disintegrate, to destroy the works of the devil.
And that takes an infinite being to do that, to make total satisfaction to God on our behalf. In other words, He must be divine because He has to endure the full weight of God's odd-poured wrath. Upon all the sins of his people, as they're concentrated on him, the surety for his people. And we sing sometimes that the Lord suffer. All our sins were laid upon him. Jesus bore them on the tree. God who knew them laid them on him.
And believing I am free. Beloved, You can't even remember all your sins. But God knows every one of them. And all my sins were laid upon him. Jesus bore them on the tree. And the full wrath. The divine holy wrath of God. He must bear them. The wrath of God. As it was shorted. For me. Because of my sins. He has to do more than that. He has to overcome the devil as well.
And he must deliver his captives. For I was a child of wrath. And I was obedient to Satan. So we read in Ephesians chapter two. You hath he made alive. Who were dead in trespasses and sins. Who once walked according to the course of this world. According to the A prince of the power of the air. Satan, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. And Christ not only had to overcome the devil, he had to deliver his captives. And Hebrews chapter two tells us that through death, he delivered them who were all their lifetimes subject to bondage.
The captives have been delivered. As we read in Colossians one and thirteen, who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. But more than that, he not only has to overcome the devil and deliver his captives, he must overcome sin so that the sting of sin will be destroyed. And we usually hear at the graveside when a believer is buried, those words from First Corinthians, fifteen, the sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the law.
And our God has taken the sting out of death. How do I know? A gracious, twenty-third Psalm says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. For the child of God, death is only a shadow. I know I've told this story before, when Dr. Barnhouse, when his first wife died, Dr. Barnhouse was left with four children, and they were going to the funeral. And as they were driving down to Philadelphia, to Center City, to Tenth Presbyterian Church, for the funeral.
The largest tractor-trailer truck he had ever seen made a turn in front of them. They were waiting on a traffic light and this truck turned in front of them. And they remarked about how large the truck was. And he said to the children, now if you were going to be run over by that truck, would you sooner be run over by the truck or by its shadow. And the four children said its shadow. Yes, he said, the scripture says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
For mother, it was only the shadow. The blow was dealt to the Lord Jesus when he died for our sins. He explained that truth to his children. And when I read that, I couldn't help but rejoice as a father being able to deliver truth in such a way to his children at such a time. This man was immersed in the word of God and in the thoughts of God. But more than that, He was divine for he was going to swallow up death and give eternal life to all that the Father had given him.
Only a divine person can do that. You see, more than that, he was going to give the Holy Spirit to his people and the Holy Spirit would apply to his people that great redemption. that he wrought at Calvary's cross. So we have to cry out another question. Who but a divine person is competent for such an undertaking? Who but a divine person could do all this? You see, and if any mere creature however exalted, You know, and there are a lot of exalted creatures in the universe.
Michael the Archangel. Gabriel. The cherubim or seraphim. Who attend the throne of God. But they're all creatures. If a mere creature, no matter how highly exalted they were, had redeemed us. we would become the personal property of that creature. He who sets us free makes a purchase of us and we become his possession. That's what I Corinthians six, verse nineteen says.
What? Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which you have of God and you are not your own for you are bought with a price. But in becoming his possession, he says in John chapter eight and verse thirty-six, if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. O the freedom into which we have been brought, now Satan would tempt to tell us that it's not freedom, it's bondage, but the real freedom is in Christ. It's the only place of real freedom.
And if the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John eight, verse thirty-six. In Hebrews chapter ten, verse four says, it's impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sin. Why? Why is it impossible? You see, they could never magnify the precepts of the law. And our blessed Lord, living among sinful men for approximately thirty years, he magnified in his earthly life the precept of the law.
He obeyed the law perfectly. He did no sin. Why cannot the blood of bulls and goats satisfy God? You see, they could not endure the heavy penalty of the law. They could only be a temporary substitute until the time of restitution. Beloved, the mediator is worthy of our praise, for there's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Two applications tonight. Christ entered into covenant union with his people as their mediator.
As such, he stands as our federal head and in all the blessings of the everlasting covenant. You can't think of a blessing that you have had or that you expect as a child of God. that isn't centered in the everlasting covenant. I often ask the question when I'm around charismatics because they like to ask it and I beat them to the cross. I usually say, is healing in the atonement?
You know, they make a big ado about bodily healing. I always come out is healing in the atonement. You see, eventually it gets around to that. And when they hinge, when I ask the question, I say, I have a second question. Can you name anything that is not in the atonement for God's people? And you see, the answer again, yes, it's in the atonement. Healing is in the atonement.
It has to be. But remember one thing. The time element. See, this is not the time of healing. Basically, for what? For all believers die. You see, we are waiting for suffering. we are waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body. And when the body is redeemed, I want to tell you something. And that's only going to be at the coming of the Lord. There will be no death. And all tears will be wiped away from our eyes. Yesterday I pulled out my little New Testament and I read the Greta Howard Revelation twenty-one.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. And there was no more seas. And I, John, saw the holy city descending from God out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband. And then in that text it says, He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more curse. No more crying. No more sin. No more death. And what's the foundation of it all? I'll tell you, the atonement. But let's put things in its proper order.
You see, if healing's in the atonement, why do I have to wear these things? I guess you do that when you're seventy. Some of us have to do it before. You know, I won't say what's on my mind. But the federal head, beloved, Christ entered a covenant and covenant union with these people as their mediator. In the sixty-nine Psalm in the fourth verse, we read concerning Christ at Calvary, when he said, I sink in deep mire where there is no standing.
I'm come to the water floods where the floods overflow me. Then I restored that which I took not away. And in all the blessed eternal union that we have with Christ as our federal head, he restored that which he took not away. By faith we see it all restored in the person of God's dear son. That brings me to application number two. The mediator had to be what he was in order to do what he did. That's not a play on words.
He had to be what he was to do what he did. What was he? He was both God and man. The mediator must be a man we noticed this morning. The night we've emphasized the mediator must be divine. Did you notice I said the word must be must? And there's a reason for that. What do you have that didn't come out of the ground? What do you have?
What do you possess that didn't come out of Mother Earth? The car you drive, the gold you wear, your very body came out of the earth, the clothes you wear, all came out of the earth. The hops you live in, you have nothing that didn't come out of the earth. And God said to Adam, and Adam said, and Adam's our federal head, He said, Cursed be the ground for thy sake. No matter what you have, it's under the curse.
And if anybody can come and make peace between me, the offender, the rebel, and a holy God, that person has to be from outside of planet Earth. And in First Corinthians, fifteen, our blessed Lord is called the Lord from heaven. He had to be who he was to do what he did. And thanks be unto God. Because he's God, he knows all the requirements of God's holy throne. And because he's a man, he's touched.
with a feeling of our infirmity, and he meets all the requirements. There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man of Christ Jesus. Let's pray together. Our Father, how can we thank you properly for thy dear son? for what he means to us and for what he is to us and for thy wondrous grace we thank you for the work of Calvary's cross whereby the river of grace is unrestrained now in its flowing as the hymn rather put it grace is flowing from Calvary we thank you for that mighty ocean of divine love seen in thy grace made known unto us in the gospel.
Now we ask you that you would take this word and bless it to every heart. We thank you for the privilege of just being together tonight and rejoicing in thy sovereign mercy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.