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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brody-thibodeau/one-mediator/
Let's turn please for one last reading this time in 1st Timothy chapter 2, it's 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse number 1. 1st Timothy 2 verse 1 says. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men.
For kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Who will? Have all men to be saved and to come on 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. Or unto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and lie not the teacher of the Gentiles in faith and Verity or faith and truth.
Paul was exhorting these believers through Timothy to do something very specific in 1st Timothy chapter 2. That is to pray pray he says for kings and For all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.
He says to pray for all men. I would take it that Paul is exhorting Timothy to tell others to pray so that all men would be saved. He was exhorting them to pray so that The Kings would be saved. Pray so that the policemen will be saved pray for that.
The congressmen will be saved. All of those terms may not have been used. But he's saying all of those that are in authority now. I find that to be remarkable because at the time that the Apostle Paul wrote 1st Timothy There was a man on the throne in Rome.
That was anything but a friend of the gospel. Nero had ascended to the emperorship in Rome. He was a man who eventually would burn down the city or half of the city. He's a man who would kill his own mother.
He was a man who was a womanizer. He was a man who persecuted the Christians he was a man who eventually would take the life of Peter and Paul the Apostles and yet Against the background in the backdrop of a man of that much wickedness.
Paul says pray for him pray for him. Because Paul knew this and this is what I want to get to. Paul knew this if That man were to be saved. He would be changed. Paul was not going to protest the policies of Rome.
That's not what he was there for. Paul was not going to lead some kind of a march to the capital. That wasn't his prerogative nor was it his mandate? Paul was engaged in the preaching of the gospel and through the power of prayer and the power of the preaching of the gospel he knew that every man could be saved all men could be saved and he knew that every man who is saved will be Changed and if that man was saved and he was changed then his policies would be different the way he enforced.
Those policies would be different and everyone would it would be a trickle-down effect so that the entire Nation or the entire Can I say it Empire of Rome would be changed how through the preaching of the gospel and I am convinced that in 2022 even right here in Highland, Wisconsin.
That there's someone listening tonight and someone's praying for you praying That you'll be saved and They know they know that through the power of the Word of God as we've been hearing in the power of the Spirit of God.
That you could be saved tonight and your life would be changed. And it would change everything. Now it's not going to make you perfect. I don't want you to get different expectations here and it's not going to mean your life is a cakewalk.
There are many believers who have many difficulties, but it will mean that you will be changed. And I find it remarkable. And standing behind a little platform like this with the Word of God in front of us.
We are preaching a life-changing message and God desires That all men would be saved. There is no limit to the scope of our gospel. We're going to get into the phrase for there is one God. Oftentimes we take that as focusing solely on God.
But the reason that Paul uses the term one God is not just to highlight the singularity of God. But to highlight that there's only one God no matter how many different nations there are. No matter how many different peoples there are at the time there was a big division between Jews and Gentiles as we have all already heard in the first part of our gospel meeting and Paul says when it comes to the nations.
When it comes to mankind, there's only one. You can go to all the corners of the earth and you can see people of different culture. You can see people of different color. You can see people with different backgrounds people who speak different languages and God just sees all one mankind and all can be saved and God looks down upon this one human race and he sees and individuals who he loves.
Those individuals whom he loves. He desires that they will be saved. Now just in case you get from my preaching that he is selected. Individuals to love that's not what we are saying. What we are saying is based on the Bible and its entire teaching that God loves every single Individual and God loves every single individual so much that he desires with all of his heart if you will that they would be saved.
So if you leave this room tonight, remember this. Not say it's your decision because God wants to save you. He does. We go down further and we find that Paul is about to say a verse that almost every one of us here tonight would have memorized.
Perhaps in Sunday school, maybe you haven't we're going to focus on it. And it may just be that by the end of my message you will have it memorized, but I want you to get it for there is one God and One mediator between God and men the man or himself a man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time for there is one God.
That is not commonly accepted in our society. Is it? It's not commonly accepted that there is only one God. It is commonly accepted that we as North America generally have worshipped and served the Christian God.
The Jews have generous generally worshipped and served the Jewish God. The Muslims have generally worshipped and served Allah. If you were born in India, it is very likely that you may have been pagan who is Worshipping many different gods.
If you were born in Africa, perhaps you have a tribal religion. If you were born in South America, it could just be that you're a worshipper in a temple. It there's a lot of different gods the world says right?
Now the Bible does not deny this fact. There are many different objects of worship. There are you can go all over the world and you could probably find millions of different Verified objects of worship.
Sometimes people will take you into their home and they have their little idol set up in their living room. It's even in my part of Canada. There are people who do that there. They are that those are our objects of worship and they say those are our gods.
If the Bible acknowledges many different objects of worship, then we have to understand that there are many different objects of worship. But just because something or someone is an object of worship doesn't mean that they're God.
Because there's only one God. And when the Bible makes this statement it is making a claim of exclusivity, you know what that means. It means that there is only one God. He is the God of the Bible. He is Jehovah from all eternity and that excludes the existence of any other God.
Now I can say that with conviction and I can say that with the authority of the Word of God behind me there are no other gods only one. Now everyone in this room tonight May be very ready to confess that.
Yes only one God. Where we begin to differ Is when we begin to discuss what that God is like. Or what is the character of this one God? It may be that we walk up and down the streets of Highland. I'm not sure how many streets are here quite sure.
It's a little larger than Mount Sterling where I was last week. But we could walk up and down the streets of Highland. We could knock on doors and ask them. What is God like? You may be surprised of what you hear.
There may be many people that will tell you God is love and you could tell them from the Bible my friend. You're absolutely correct because the Bible says God is Love. They may say God is merciful and I would say absolutely because God is rich in mercy.
They may say that God is gracious and I would say yes God is gracious the exceeding richness of his grace. God is kind. Absolutely his kindness toward us and you could go over all of those different attributes of God and they would be accurate and correct based on the scripture.
But you know what you're more likely to find. You're more likely to find people who would confess that there's one God Who has changed with the times now I look in the Bible and I see a God of absolute righteousness and holiness who from the beginning of Creation from the beginning of time if you will has never bent in his righteousness.
Has never wavered in his holiness has never even had a shadow of turning when it comes to his consistent character and man wants a malleable God a God that will change when we change a God that will change to suit our preferences, you know.
Some of the children here are familiar with Plato, right? I Used to like late. I almost said I used to like Plato. I still don't mind playing with Plato a little bit right with the kids. But you know what you can do with that, right?
Here it is. It's a green lump. You make what you want. You can form it into a dog. That's what you want. You can form it into a cat if you're really skilled you can make some make it look like a person.
You can do a lot of things with that Plato. You don't like the color of it you mix it with another color and now that particular thing that you have made is in your favorite color. Now believe it or not.
Some people think about that when they think about God. Right. Well, I know the God of the Bible he spoke out against the immorality in Sodom. But look at what's happened all down through the years. We have become enlightened as a society in the Enlightenment we have decided that certain behaviors are not can I say as Taboo as they used to be and that has led to the opening up of immorality in our society.
And then when more people get on side with the immorality in society because we live in a democratic nation. We are able to vote people in who will change policies to reflect our new mindset. What am I saying?
I'm saying that as society's outlook on morality changes the laws of society change, but God never changes and If you are trying to change God to suit your immoral preferences, it'll never work. Because there is one God on Changing on bending and holiness and righteousness and thank God he never changes.
That's the God you were dealing with. A God of holy Justice a God that you must meet. You see we heard today about Isaiah's vision in chapter 6. I saw also the Lord high and lifted up His train filled the temple.
Above them stood a pair of seraphims and They cry holy Holy Holy. Is the Lord God of hope. When you stand before God you are not going to be standing before Your grandfather in the sky to be absolutely blunt.
You are going to stand before one whose entire radiant brilliant light fills the entire earth. You will be standing before one who will be holy holy Holy. To where every one of your sins. Even if you call them those little white lies like you tell to your mother.
Every one of your sins stands out against the backdrop of his absolute white holiness. That's the one God That the Bible speaks of you have to meet him. But we are also told that there's one mediator between God and men when it says men here.
It really means mankind if you would it is the human race. We've heard about the Garden of Eden from our brother he was talking about what happened there and what the results were how man was dispelled or man was expelled from the Garden of Eden put out the moment man sinned.
The connection that man had with God was disconnected and if I could say this based on the Bible what happened was a separation came between Mankind and God. Now at the time that happened mankind the entire human race was only two people at the time I'm speaking to you now the entire human race living and breathing on earth is over seven billion people.
But the fact remains sin is still a separation between you and God. Sin is a weight that weighs you down. Sin is a stain that defiles you and makes you dirty. But sin is a separation and Sometimes I think about this separation as as that which which Causes a gap between you and God that which causes a chasm between mankind and their sin and God and his holiness.
Other times I have likened it to what I used to do when I was a child. I used to have magnets and. And I'm not. I'm not a scientist and I'm not very good at science. But I do remember taking the magnets and if the poles were the same and I tried to meet the magnets together.
One magnet kept pushing away. Right you turn it so that the poles are opposite and click they come together. But you try it you put this poles the same like this and you try and push this magnet closer to that one and Closer and closer and every time you think you're getting close enough.
There's something in between there a force that will not allow them to come together. And I'm not sure if you thought about sin in terms of how the Bible speaks of it. But there is something between you and God that will not allow you both to come together.
There is something that is disjointed that union and harmony that should exist and that something is sin. Because of God's holiness, he can't partake in sin. Because of God's holiness, he can't take you in with your sin on you.
And now we are faced with the conundrum. With the problem and that is how can a holy God who loves you and wants to see you saved. Ever take you close to him with your defiling separating sin. Remember there is one God holy and just.
There is one mankind. Sinful and at a distance from God, but we read there is one mediator between God and man that is someone who comes to bring the two together a mediator on earth is one who develops or procures a Compromise right?
So if two people were having a disagreement and I was the mediator I would go to one of them and I would say can you change a little bit and I will go to the other one. I'll say can you change a little bit and if they both change a little bit then I can bring them together.
That's what a mediator does in our society or on earth. But when it comes to God, remember he doesn't change. So there's not going to be a negotiation for compromise with this mediator. But still something must be done if you are to be brought to a holy God something must be done.
And that's something must be done about the problem and that problem is sin. There is one God. There is one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus, but what did he do about the problem of sin?
He gave himself. He gave himself and the time is gone. But he gave himself a ransom substitutionary payment. For all to be testified in due time. In order to bring man to God the Lord Jesus dealt righteously with sin when he gave himself.
In order to bring man to God the Lord Jesus dealt completely. With sin when he gave himself and in order to bring you to God the Lord Jesus reaches out tonight and he says I have given myself a ransom for you.
Will you take him? Have your sins forgiven and know for sure that you'll be in heaven should we pray.