Only One - [1 Timothy 2:4-7]

Coexist, Religious Pluralism, and the Claim That There Is Only One Way

Well, I think I warned you last week that, you know, when we got into this whole bumper sticker thing, what was last week? Oh, yeah, Pray for Peace. That this week I might just pop a little Coexist on you.

So I went to the Coexist Foundation website, and they exist, quote, to promote for the benefit of the public religious harmony between Jews, Christians, and Muslims by encouraging them, among them, a greater understanding and appreciation of each other's distinctive faith, beliefs, and practices, and their common ground.

And to this end, also, to promote friendship, goodwill, and mutual trust among them. That's working out pretty well. Well, I thought, well, you know, what about Christians? How do they view the world?

And so I, you know, you can find all kinds of polls. But I thought, well, here's one done by LifeWay, which is a Southern Baptist organization. And they asked how many believed, this is all kinds of people that they surveyed, but how many believed that there was only one way to heaven, one truth?

And among those who said that they were evangelicals, that they had evangelical beliefs, 80 agreed with that, that there was one way to heaven. Among those who said that they were born-again Christians, only 61 agreed with that.

Of those who attended an evangelical church, 49%, so close to half. And among those who did not indicate evangelical beliefs, 27%. 27%. Pretty sad numbers. But I think that just goes along with the cheap label that people slap on themselves when they say they're a Christian.

It means a lot less than it should mean. We've been walking through 1 Timothy, and last week, we were in 2 Timothy 2, verses 1 -4, but I want to give you a quick recap of where we are. 1 Timothy is written to give Timothy kind of a blueprint, a pastoral manual, as it were, on how the church ought to be run, and how he ought to conduct himself while leading that church.

In chapter 1, Paul commanded Timothy to stop false teachers, and even named a couple of them. And Paul made it plain to Timothy that this was warfare. He said, war the good war. But it was warfare not of a physical and violent sort, but of a spiritual sort.

The church at Ephesus, where Timothy was, was under assault from within. Within the walls of the church, so to speak. Within the community of so-called believers. And he gave instruction on what to do about that.

Paul also wanted to protect the church from external pressures. And so he stresses prayer, corporate prayer, beginning in chapter 2. And last week, we talked about the necessity and centrality of corporate prayer.

That's why Elder Pradeep prayed this morning. We pray together as a body. Specifically, we talked about praying for peace for all men. Even for your enemies and enemies of the church, like Hymenaeus and Alexander.

We also talked about praying for peace with our leaders. You say, that's really kind of an odd thing to pray for. Well, it's not really. Not when you think about the absolute power that rulers had back then.

And about how difficult they could and would make life for Christians. It makes sense to pray for our leaders. Thirdly, pray for peace in our own lives. Lives free from persecution. How do we get that?

Firstly, by praying for our leaders. But secondly, by leading lives that don't draw governmental attention to us. Fourthly, pray to have peace with God. We should always seek to please the one who has saved us.

We say that we love God. We should seek to please Him. And fifthly, we should pray that God would grant peace with Him to others. Salvation. We want others to be saved. Now, let's go to our text this morning.

The One God of Deuteronomy 6 and Isaiah 43

We're in 1 Timothy again. Chapter 2, verses 5 to 7. And my challenge this morning, for the young people. Let's say, if you are, I don't know, what's young? If you're 10 or younger? If you're 9 or younger?

Count how many times this morning I say the word, one. It's going to be numerous, voluminous, a lot. 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 5 to 7. 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, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am telling the truth. I am not lying. A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Now, this morning, as we look at this text, I want you to see six ones.

Each one of these is going to be a one. So we're going to hear one a lot. Six ones in our passage, so that you will focus like a laser beam on what the one truth is in a world that pushes many truths, in a world that accepts many truths, in a world that tries to coexist.

Paul gives us six absolutes in our passage that ought to make it impossible for you to have a pluralistic worldview with regard to the truth. That is to say, the truth is not multiple choice. It's not A and C and E and there's one truth.

Let's look at first at verse 5, one God. Our first one is one God. It says that right in the text, for there is one God. And this is a central truth of the Christian faith. It echoes Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, the Shema of Israel, the Lord your God, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.

Thus has it ever been. And that separated Israel from all its neighboring countries, from all its neighbors, all the neighboring people who had many gods. But if there is only one God who exists, then what is true of every other object of worship, of every other so-called God?

They are nothing but figments of imagination. They are the inventions of sinful men. They are idols, false gods. If there is only one God, then there is only one God to whom all men will one day give an account.

If there is only one God, then there is only one God to whom men can turn for help. If there is only one God, then there is only one revelation, one source of information to know this one God. There are many, many implications from this simple truth that there is one God.

And unless this God is an author of confusion or chaos, which Scripture assures us He is not, there can be no conflict in what He reveals about Himself. And there can be no one else like Him. You don't have to turn there, but Isaiah 43, verses 10 and 11, the Lord says this, You are My witnesses, declares the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.

Before Me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after Me. I am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior. These truths are presented over and over again in the Bible. Why? Because every age, every time, every generation of mankind wants some form of religious tolerance.

If not tolerance, then they want to promote something new, another way, a new truth. The implication of there being only one God cannot be more plain. Every other so-called God is no God at all. And then, of course, we have those who say, There is no God.

Life is an accident. Life is meaningless. And if we are able to travel out into space, which doesn't seem to be NASA's mission anymore, but I digress, if we travel out into space, we will find other accidents of life.

And this will further prove, this will further demonstrate that there is no God. If you read the news at all, you know that atheists have become more bellicose, that is, more full of themselves, more willing to debate and to argue and to proclaim this and to declare Christianity and every religion evil.

Why? Because it's the outpouring of what's in their hearts. They hate God. They do not wish to have Him reign over them, so they deny the evidence that surrounds them of this Creator. Romans 1 makes that plain in verses 18 and 20.

It talks about how just by viewing creation, we can tell that there's a Creator. There's order to the creation, not chaos. But they look at the order and they scream. These atheists scream chaos. And the more and more they carry on, the less and less common sense they seem to have.

The more and more foolishness they display. And it all has its root in the denial of one truth, that there is one God who created all things, holds them all together, establishes what is good and right, and will one day judge all men.

Whether they are rulers, whether they are rich or poor, CEOs or peasants, Gentiles, Jews, blacks, whites, browns, it doesn't matter. They hate Him. But the Bible says very clearly, plainly, unmistakable language, there is one God.

One Mediator and the Holiness of God

Our second one, one mediator. Again in verse 5, there is one mediator. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men. Well, what is a mediator? If you've ever been to court, if you've ever been sued, if you've ever had any legal issues, a mediator is an impartial person.

Someone who would attempt to resolve a dispute between two parties. And in fact, in ancient Greece, the mediator would often hold whatever the object of dispute was. Let's say, I don't know, let's say you were fighting over a library book.

The mediator would hold the library book until the situation was resolved. He was trusted by both sides. Well, why would there be a need for a mediator? And what is this mediator to do? There is one God and there is one mediator between God and men.

Well, why would there need to be a mediator between God and men? What dispute has arisen? Well, there are many spiritual people, many people who say they're seeking holiness or goodness or whatever it is they're seeking.

And they speak of God as nice and gentle and loving, horrified by what is going on in the world and yet either incapable or unable, unwilling to do anything about it. And they wonder, well, why would we need a mediator?

Because what could God possibly have against us? We're good people. Well, there is one God and he is indeed loving, gracious, and eager to forgive. There's a but coming. But he hates sinners. Hates sinners.

And you say, that's not right. God hates sin but loves the sinners. No. No. Psalm 5. Let's just turn there for a minute. Psalm 5 verses 4 and 5. Psalm 5 verses 4 and 5. The psalmist writes,. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness.

Evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. Listen. You hate all evildoers. Who are evildoers? It's a participle. It means those who habitually sin, who are marked by a lifestyle of indifference to God.

And those folks cannot hope for the mercy of God on the day of judgment. They will not dwell with God, it tells us here. That means they cannot enter heaven. They will not enter into his rest. They will spend eternity facing the wrath of a holy God.

Listen what Matthew Henry said. He said, wicked people hate God. Justly, therefore, they are hated of him. And it will be their endless misery and ruin. Evil may not dwell with him. The boastful shall not stand before his eyes.

Work on your self-esteem. It's very important. So you can recite all of your accomplishments before God. Wrong. And some people say, well, you know what? That's just the God of the Old Testament. That God is so mean.

I mean, look what he did. He brought Israel in. He displaced the people who were there. And he told them to kill everybody. And what a mean, horrible God that is. The God of the New Testament is kind and loving and would never hurt anyone.

Listen to Revelation 21. You can go back to 1 Timothy. But listen to Revelation 21, verse 27. John the Apostle writes this. See if this sounds familiar. But nothing unclean will enter heaven, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

To be unclean means something of little value because it is common, ordinary, profane. The Lord himself, thank you, the Lord himself has said that it takes perfection, perfection to get into heaven. Pastor Mike often asks people that.

Do you have to be perfect to get into heaven? People are like, oh no. Nobody's perfect. You can't get into heaven. That's what Jesus said. There is one God and one standard. God sets the standard. We don't.

Scripture teaches us that every one of us falls short of the required perfection, that even one sin would be enough to send us to hell forever. Mankind has a sin problem. We all sin and God hates sinners.

And yet, Scripture would tell us that he loves them. And you say, well, how can that be? How can God love sinners and hate them at the same time? God is able to use modern vernacular. He multitasks. He's not just one or the other.

The glory of God is that he manifests all of his attributes at one time. But the one God sent one mediator to bring two enemies. And by the way, we are enemies. You read Romans 5 and it says we were at enmity with God.

We were his enemies. The picture there is we were at war with him. We did not love him. God sent one mediator to bring two enemies, two irreconcilable parties together to reconcile us. And Jesus is the one, the mediator who represents God to mankind and mankind to God.

And he is the perfect mediator because he represents each party very well. As our text tells us, Jesus is a man. The man Christ Jesus. There's no doubt about his humanity. He was born in a natural way, although not conceived in a natural way, born in a natural way, lived a natural life.

The writer of Hebrews tells us this in Hebrews 4 .15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

In other words, he knows what it's like to be one of us. He had to go through everything that we went through. He had to suffer sorrow. He had periods of happiness. He had to deal with the weather, the heat, the cold.

He got hungry. He suffered pain. He learned. He physically grew. He suffered betrayal and temptation. Every aspect of human life and yet never sinned. He never failed to honor God in anything that he did or said.

Now, if Jesus were merely a mortal who never sinned, which would be incredible. In fact, the Bible would say it would be impossible if you were merely mortal to never sin. But if he were, then his life could satisfy God's demand for whom?

For him alone. His life would have no value to extend beyond himself, and he would not be qualified to mediate the great dispute, the great war that exists between God and man. But the Gospel of John tells us how Jesus always existed as God and took on an additional nature as a man.

He alone being fully God and fully man could be the mediator between God and men. He's the only one who could do this. And yet, guess what? There are other proposals, other candidates. Listen to what Roman Catholic apologist Carl Keating writes.

He says, Mary is the mediatrix of all graces because of her intercession for us in heaven. What this means is that no grace accrues to us, we don't get any grace, without her intercession. And this is much like the teaching of other popes, and one is quoted here, every grace granted to man.

Let me repeat that. Every grace granted to man has three degrees in order. For by God it is communicated to Christ, from Christ it passes to the Virgin, Mary, and from the Virgin it descends to us. Grace goes from God the Father to God the Son to Mary to us.

A man that Pope John Paul II spoke highly of said this, speaking of the union of Mary and the Holy Spirit, he said this, still their union is so inexpressible and so perfect that the Holy Spirit acts only by the Immaculata Mary, his spouse, he says, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, never took flesh, still our human word spouse is far too weak to express the reality of the relationship between the Immaculata and the Holy Spirit.

We can affirm that she, Mary, is in a certain sense the incarnation of the Holy Spirit. The union between the Immaculata and the Holy Spirit is so inexpressible yet so perfect that the Holy Spirit acts only by the Most Blessed Virgin, his spouse.

This is why she is the mediatrix of all graces given by the Holy Spirit. That is blasphemous. How about Muhammad? One Islamic theologian said this, if we deny the Prophet Muhammad's mediation, claiming that he is dead and inactive by equating him with sinful human beings, the entire structure of our Islamic faith will fall apart.

How about Joseph Smith? This is straight out of the preface of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith, the Prophet and seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world than any other man that ever lived in it.

Well, at least he's not trying to take Jesus' place, he's just kind of, there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So we've seen two ones, one God, one mediator, and now one Christ.

The One Christ, the Messiah, and the Prophecies of Scripture

Again, verse 5. It says, there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He is the only one. What does Christ mean? The word simply means that he is the fulfiller, he's the chosen one, the anointed one, the fulfiller of Israelite expectations of a deliverer, the Messiah.

It's interesting to me that this word, meaning anointed, Christos, outside of the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament and the New Testament itself, this Greek word is never used in reference to a person.

Ever. The concept wasn't Greek, it was Jewish. And all of history, all of recorded history pointed to his coming. After the fall, God pronounced judgment on the serpent and told him that Eve's offspring would bruise his head.

Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise, in addition to God cursing Satan, he was also the fulfillment of God's promise to David, that one of his descendants would reign from David's throne. A promise that Jesus will fulfill during the millennium.

Jesus himself said that the entire Old Testament testified of him. And ultimately it was this title, and this is interesting, it is this title, that sealed his conviction while he was on trial. Listen to Matthew 26, verses 63 -68.

He's on trial, but Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you, I command you, by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, tell us if you are the anointed one, the fulfillment of all we have been longing for, all we have been promised.

Verse 64. Jesus said to him, you have said so, but I tell you from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. High priest didn't take that very well.

Verse 65. Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, he deserves death.

Verse 67. Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him saying, prophesied to us, you Christ, who is it that struck you? That he was the very fulfillment of this, ultimately condemned him to death.

And that term anointed was applied in the Old Testament to three categories of persons, to prophets, priests, and kings. You ever heard Jesus called prophet, priest, and king? There's a reason why. New Testament calls him all three.

In John 6, verse 14, after feeding the multitude, we read this, when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who has come into the world. He's also called a priest.

Hebrews 4, verse 14. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. He's also a king. Revelation 17, verse 14. There are other passages we could go to, but I just chose this one.

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And those with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. One Christ. Our fourth one. One ransom.

The One Ransom and Christ's Substitutionary Work

Verse 6. This gets to the heart of the mediatorial work, the intercessory work of the one Christ. How did he bring these two antagonists, God and man, together? In other words, how did he reconcile them?

How did Jesus make peace between the one God and, as we studied last week, all sorts of men, no matter what their rank, no matter what their race, no matter where they were in society, and even if they were in poor standing with the church, we could pray for their salvation.

How did he do that? First, I think it's important that we notice in verse 6 that no one forced him into this role. Who gave himself? Who gave himself? He chose to do it. And this is in keeping with his own words.

In John 10, verses 17 and 18, Jesus said this,. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father, this responsibility, this work I have received from my Father. A ransom is literally a price paid or a means used to set someone free from captivity or bondage.

We understand this. When someone is kidnapped, there is often a ransom demand. Jesus was that ransom. Listen, even in his first sermon in his synagogue, he said this after he read a passage of scripture.

In Luke 4 .18, he said this, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

To do what? To be the ransom. He could only set them free by paying the price in their place. In fact, one theologian said that a better understanding of this, because of prefixes on there, would be not just ransom but substitute ransom.

In other words, a price had to be paid and Jesus gladly took the place of those who should have paid it. In effect, Jesus asked the Father to accept his life as payment for that of every believer. He willingly took the punishment that we deserved upon himself.

It is as though every believer has been taken hostage and the price for their freedom is one perfectly obedient life and one perfectly obedient death in their place by this perfect God-man. And Jesus accomplished that.

Again in verse 6, we see that Jesus was a ransom for all. Well, how so? Did he redeem? Did he pay the price? Did he free every single person from the bondage of sin? Did he satisfy the wrath of God for every single person who ever lived?

And again, as we discussed last week, we run into difficulties. When Jesus died, billions were already in hell. Did he die for their sins? Did he pay the ransom for their sins? Did he in effect bail them out?

Did he die for the sins of those who reject him now? And if so, on what basis would the Father reject that payment? On the Day of Judgment, will Jesus be saying, I'll pay for that one, I'll pay for that one, I'll pay for that one, and God going, yes, yes, no, no, no?

The Father does not reject the payment of the Son. We never see that sort of language in the New Testament. In Hebrews 2, verse 17, again speaking of the Lord, it says,. In other words, we're at war with God.

His disfavor, his hatred is on us. But Jesus Christ made propitiation for the sins of the people. God was not possibly pleased with the sacrifice of Christ. He was actually and perfectly pleased with his sacrifice, with his ransom, with his payment.

This entire section of 1 Timothy, beginning in chapter 2, has emphasized the different types of men we are to pray for. And Jesus died for each of those different types, all sorts of men. And the great news then is that there is hope for everyone.

No one is outside the value of the ransom Christ paid. R .L. Dabney, Civil War officer and theologian, said this,. Had there been, and I love this, had there been but one sinner, Seth, after Cain and Abel, Seth the next son, had there been but one sinner, Seth, elected of God, this whole divine sacrifice would have been needed to expiate, that is to pay for his guilt.

Seth needed his sins removed and so do you. On the other end of the spectrum, if there were billions of worlds, as these atheists would like to try and find out, with trillions of people, the death of Christ was sufficient for all of them.

The value of the life of God is infinite. And again, only Christ could pay for the sins of others. Only God in the flesh could do that. But Jesus did not die for some nebulous group of people, for some unnamed group of people.

It's throughout scripture that he died for those chosen by the Father. The sheep, the elect, even the Old Testament, Isaiah 53, verses 5 and 6. Let me just emphasize a few words as I read these verses.

But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus himself, in Mark 10, verse 45, said, The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The ransom paid by the Son is never refused by the Father. He approved, the Father approved, and still does approve of the work of Christ. The finished work of Christ is perfect. It is perfect payment.

The payment of the ransom on our behalf results in the forgiveness of sins, which then what? Results in obedience and sonship in this life, an eternal life with God the Father. So thus far we've seen one God.

Second one is one mediator. Third one is one Christ. Fourth one is one ransom. Our fifth one is one testimony. Look again at verse 6, which is the testimony given at the proper time. The ransom Christ paid is a testimony, which is an objective act, circumstance, or statement that serves as a means of proof.

The ransom is a means of proof. Well, what sort of evidence is his substitutionary work on behalf of his people? Well, it is evidence that God our Savior desires all kinds of men to be saved, because he did the work to save them.

It is evidence, it is proof, it is trustworthy testimony that Jesus Christ is the risen Savior. We see that in Romans chapter 1. As Paul's writing the Roman church, he says concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, his humanity, and was declared to be the Son of God, was shown to be deity in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.

Jesus Christ our Lord, the evidence is plain. Jesus Christ is not in the tomb. His work was accepted by God. That's the testimony. It was valid. That ransom was accepted. None other but the Son of God, the one Christ, could have paid the one ransom, which is proven by the fact that God raised him from the dead, signifying the acceptance of this ransom.

Now, the proper time, that interesting phrase there, is evidence of God's sovereign decree. Nothing takes place outside of what God has ordained. It happened at the perfect moment in history, exactly as God designed it.

Everything is unfolding just as He ordained. There are no contingencies, no alternate histories, except for if you go to the bookstore, and no missed deadlines. What are we to do with this testimony, with this perfect work of Christ, with this one testimony that actually redeems all sorts of people, that actually satisfies the wrath of God on their behalf?

What do we do with this sort of information, this sure piece of evidence? We proclaim it. We shout it. And that leads us right into our final one. One messenger. Look at verse 7. For this I was appointed.

Paul, talking about this one testimony. He was appointed. To do what with it? He tells us. He was given three specific responsibilities. First, he says that he was a preacher. Literally a herald who would be an official who represented the king and was charged with making public declarations of the king's message.

So the herald would come into the town and boldly proclaim whatever it was the king wanted his people to know. And isn't that a perfect illustration, a perfect description of what a preacher is to be?

I listened to a sermon this week from another church, and I was appalled. Because the man took a transcendent passage which declared the deity and the power of Jesus Christ. And he turned it into some kind of lesson about how Jesus wants your help.

He missed the entire, I mean, he didn't just miss the point of the passage, he submerged the point of the passage. He put it under water and drowned that thing. And it really made me angry. It was utterly shameful.

The man was not proclaiming the king's message. He was not a faithful herald. He did not stand before the people and say, thus says your king. He was appealing to their emotions, to their felt needs. I want you to imagine for a moment what would happen if you were the earthly herald, if your job was to go forth and say what an earthly king had told you to say.

And you gave some other message. What would happen to you? I don't think the results would be pretty. I'm reminded where James says that not many should be teachers. Why? Because there's a stricter judgment.

If there's a judgment on human beings who misrepresent a human king, how much more if you misrepresent God? If you stand up and say, this is God's message for you and it's not his message, heralding the Bible, heralding the word of God, heralding the gospel is serious business and it is no small thing to be appointed to the ministry.

Paul was a preacher, but he was also appointed an apostle. He received the calling. He was at home lounging. No, he was on the road to Damascus going to persecute the church and Jesus interrupted that and gave him a charge, took hold of his life, made him an apostle.

He was specifically designated as an apostle. He was a messenger who had the very authority of Christ himself. Think about how often he and his letters would say, Paul an apostle, Paul an apostle, Paul an apostle.

And here in 1 Timothy he says, I'm telling the truth, I'm not lying. That's a curious thing to say. Why would he say that? Because his apostleship was always under attack. Churches of Galatia, Corinth, had people who were questioning and trying to undermine him.

So he just kind of cuts that off of the knees here in Ephesus. He says, listen, I'm telling the truth, I'm not lying. I have a specific apostleship. I am a messenger of Christ, authorized to speak on his behalf.

Certainly Timothy wouldn't doubt that. Timothy had spent a good amount of time with him on the missionary journeys. Thirdly, Paul said that he was not only a preacher and an apostle, but he was appointed a teacher of the Gentiles.

Again, emphasizing that the gospel was for all people. It wasn't for Jews only. He was a teacher of the Gentiles, to take the gospel to all the corners of the earth. The gospel would come to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles, and Paul heralded the gospel.

He taught in synagogues and in public places, like the Areopagus, also known as Mars Hill. He served as an apostle, putting out doctrinal fires, and establishing men like Timothy and Titus to run churches because of his authority.

He taught, he exhorted believers in the truths of scriptures. Paul exhausted himself in the work of the ministry. He was first, last, and only about serving the Lord, and proclaiming and explaining the truth.

What did he say even in 1 Corinthians? That he determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified. So we have one God, one mediator, one Christ, and one ransom, one testimony, and one messenger. Now what have you?

What have you done with the series of ones, these exclusive truths? There is but one God. He has always existed. He created and sustains everything that is. Everything is his. The Bible says that the earth is the Lord's and all it contains, and that includes you.

Because everything is his, God sets the standard. He determines what is right and wrong. There aren't many truths. There aren't many paths to him. There is one path. There is one way. And the sad reality is that you, like every human being since Adam and Eve, were cast from the Garden of Eden.

You were born with a sin nature. In fact, you were born, Ephesians would tell us, spiritually dead. From the time you could form coherent thoughts, you have served yourself and your own interests. You did not seek to honor God but to please yourself.

Scripture says that failing to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is sin. And one sin, even as I said before, is enough to send you to hell to face the eternal wrath of Almighty God forever.

Unlike the bumper sticker, you can't coexist with God. But the good news that we herald is that Christ Jesus is the one mediator. Being fully God, Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. He lived a perfect life, died, and was raised on the third day so that everyone who would believe in him, that is, would fully invest themselves in his finished work and not their own works, would be saved from the wrath of God.