The Mediator, Our Lord Jesus Christ

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: I Timothy 2; Lord's Day 6
Psalters: 131, 141, 116, 81
  1. What He must be
    1. Deliverance from our sins and miseries comes from the "Mediator".
    2. Our Mediator/Substitute must be a perfectly righteous human (q. 15).
      1. First, He must have the same human nature all sinners have (Hebrews 2:14-17).
      2. Second, He must be perfectly righteous, without any corruption or any actual sin.
    3. And our Mediator must be very God (for three reasons).
  2. God Himself provided the "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5).
    1. The Mediator is provided by God Himself, not by us, nor by a joint effort of God and man (cf. Gen. 15).
    2. Jesus Christ met the qualifications to be Mediator.
      1. Jesus took upon Himself our flesh and blood (14) and of the seed of Abraham (15).
      2. Also He was free from Adam's sinfulness, because He was conceived by the holy Spirit, not by a sinful man.
      3. And He is "true God" (I Tim. 3:16; I John 5:20).
    3. The union of these Divine and human natures of Jesus is called the "incarnation" (coming in flesh).
      1. For the first few centuries the Christian Church fought against several errors about the two natures of the Mediator.
      2. The Belgic Confession (Article 19) speaks well to the union of Jesus’ two natures in the person of God the Son.
      3. And the Counsel of Chalcedon, 451 A.D. (p. 84 of Psalter) concluded that Jesus is two natures united in One Person.
  3. Of this Mediator we learn in the Gospel.
    1. The Gospel is God’s good news about Christ and His perfect work of reconciliation.
      1. This good news God has published through-out the ages, beginning with the protevangel of Genesis 3:15.
      2. Since that time God has revealed it with increasing clarity.
      3. This Gospel is incorporated by God in the inspired Scriptures.
    2. This Gospel is preached by the Church into all the world (John 3:16-18).
      1. It is the power of God unto salvation to the elect, while others find it to be foolishness.
      2. Faith embraces the Redeemer spoken of in the Gospel.