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FBC Travelers Rest sermon from October 20, 2024 by Pastor Rhett Burns.
Your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. As we continue to go through this letter from Paul to Timothy, we're going to rewind a little bit. We skipped ahead to chapter 3 for deacon ordination last week and we're going to be back in chapter 2 verses 5 through 7 this morning.
You'll remember in verses 1 through 4 from several weeks ago that Paul instructs the church to pray for all men and for kings. The reason for this is that it is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, verse 3, and that our God and Savior desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.
We see that in verse 4. And so we pray for all men and we pray for those in positions of governing authority like we just did and we do every week during our pastoral prayer. We do that because when those in governing authority govern justly and rightly such that we can lead a quiet and peaceful life, godly and dignified in every way with reverence, those are the conditions that are most conducive for gospel proclamation and for conversion.
And so we do this because of God's desire for all men to be saved and our desire for others to be saved. And so today we come to verses 5 through 7 and here we see the ground of that instruction. That instruction for prayer and for that statement of God's desires, we see the ground of that in verses 5 through 7.
So let me read those verses now. God's word says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as 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. Amen. This is God's word to us and in this passage we see just a wonderful summary of the good news. We see a wonderful summary of the gospel in these verses.
And so I don't intend to cover much new ground this morning. In other words, you're likely not to leave here impressed by learning some new insight into the Bible this morning. Instead, I intend for us to exalt, to delight, to glory in some very well-trod ground.
I want to remind you of some simple yet foundational truths, the type of truths, that we never graduate from but we return to often. I want to lead us to delight in them. And so the first of those truths that we see there in verse 5 is that there is one God.
There are not many gods. There is one God. Now you might object here on semantic grounds for the Bible does speak of other lowercase g gods and certainly if you're aware of world religions then you'll find that there are other gods that people worship, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, and so on.
But when I say that there are not many gods, I mean that with a capital G. God. And so that means that we need to explore what we mean when we say that there is one capital G God. Because yes, there are other spiritual beings, lowercase g gods, and there are other beings or ideas that people worship as God, but they are not God.
Because when we say God, we're talking about the Creator. The one who brought everything that exists into being. From nothing into a whole world, a whole universe. We're talking about the Creator. We're talking about the one with ultimate authority.
The one whose word goes. What he says is. Talking about ultimate authority. We're talking about the one who determines what is good and what is bad, what is righteous and what is evil, what is true and what is false, what is beautiful and what is ugly, what is glorious and what is shameful, what is holy and what is profane.
Who is the one who determines that? That one is God. We're talking about the one who upholds all things in the universe. We're talking about the one to whom each one of us will give an account. And this God must necessarily be one.
Because you can't have two creators or twelve. You can't have two ultimates. That's kind of in the word ultimate. You can't have two ultimates. You can't have two or more beings upholding all things. The very nature of godness, so to speak, carries with it the idea of singularity and exclusivity.
There is one God. And so the question then is, which God is God? Here's the thing. Modern people are very uncomfortable with the idea of exclusivity. We have a problem saying this thing is right and this one is wrong.
We're uncomfortable with that idea. And so one mistake that people make is thinking that there are many gods. And that people are just free to choose from the smorgasbord of religion. That the important thing is to have faith in the abstract.
To believe in something. To believe in knowledge and recognize a higher power of some sort. I noticed this back during the presidential primary process. There was a guy running for the GOP nomination named Vivek Ramaswamy.
Now Vivek is a very gifted communicator if you've seen him on television. He's a very gifted politician. He has very many good ideas about government and policy that I happen to agree with in large part.
He's very good at talking about these things. And so he had this list of ten truths that were kind of the bedrock of his campaign. And if you ever listen to him, he would talk about these ten truths. And he always started with number one, which is that God is real.
And he would always talk about faith, but he would do so in the abstract. He would always talk about that you've got to believe in a higher power. But the problem is Vivek Ramaswamy is Hindu. And he's openly so.
Now most of the GOP base is Christian, at least on paper. And so he would try to kind of paper over the massive differences between Christianity and Hinduism by appealing to a generic faith. A generic belief in a higher power.
In his thinking, the particulars of that faith and belief are not so important. The important thing is to believe. The important thing is to have faith of some variety and believe in some higher power than yourself.
But here's the thing, generic faith is not good enough. Generic faith will not save you. And to put it more straightforwardly, generic faith, faith in something, well that will send you straight to hell.
Why? Oh, verse 5. Because there is one God. There's not an idea of God. And so long as you acknowledge something that you call God, then you're fine. And there's not many gods and so long as you follow just one of them, you're fine.
No, there is one God. He is Creator. Therefore, he has what we call creator rights over His creation. So He determines what we are for, what we ought to do, how we ought to think, because He has creator rights over us.
So think about it. If you're a potter and you take a lump of clay, you have rights as the artist, as the potter. Does that become a bowl? Does that become a plate? Does that become a cup? It's yours to choose.
You get to choose that. God is creator. He created us. He created the world. He has creator rights over all of us. He has ultimate authority. He determines those things we talked about earlier, good, bad, true, false, beautiful, ugly, shameful, glorious, all of those things, holy, profane.
He is the one who determines it. His word determines that. He's the one who upholds all things. He's the one to whom each of you, each of us, will give an account at the end of our days. To say that there are many gods and that it's just important to pick one and be sincere with it, that's to actually set oneself up as God.
For in that case, that person becomes the ultimate arbiter of truth and in fact becomes the ultimate arbiter of ultimate things. That's idolatry. It's also very arrogant. There is one God, the Bible tells us, and also the Bible tells us who that God is.
He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. He is absolutely holy. There is no trace of evil in Him. He is all powerful. Nothing is too hard for God and no one can thwart His purposes and His will.
He sits in the heavens and does all that He pleases. He is all knowing. God knows all things about all peoples and places and events. He knows them past and present and future. He knows counterfactuals.
He knows what would have happened had this other thing happened. He has all knowledge. He is all present. There's nowhere you can go to escape God. God is love. God is gracious. God is merciful. God is just.
God is wrathful. God is eternal. God is sovereign and we're just scratching the surface on who God is. But there is one God and He is the only God. And in that statement we find both exclusivity and we find universality.
So we see exclusivity, there's only one. This one, not that one. This one, true God, living God, one God, no God. There's exclusivity. That means there's only one true God. There's only one true religion.
There's only one path to walk. There's only one right being to worship. That means every other religion is false and demonic. There's only one true way to live. And that's the way that the one true and living God tells us to in His holy word.
We're not free to choose other paths and other ways to live. There is exclusivity. This way, not that way. But there's also universality. There is one God and He is God over all. He is God over Jew and Gentile.
He is God over all peoples, everywhere. There is one God but He's not just reserved for one group of people, for one type of person. No, God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.
As we saw several weeks ago that word all and all men is referring to all kinds of men, both rich and poor, both this ethnicity and that ethnicity, both man and woman, both white collar and blue collar, urban and rural, first world and third world, all peoples, every tribe, tongue, people and nation.
He calls all men unto Himself and the grace that is available to one is available to all. And so the exclusivity of Christianity is not in reference to ourselves. It's not that we are so special. But it's in reference to God.
That He is so special. Because He is the one true God. Let's keep reading there in verse 5. There is one God and one mediator between God and men. There is one God and one mediator. Now, first thing we see there is that this implies that we're in a situation in which we need a mediator.
That something has gone horribly wrong between God and man. That there's enmity and hostility between God and man. Of course the Bible tells us exactly what happened. God had placed the first man into the garden to work it and to keep it, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth, to worship and obey and fill the world with worshipers and those who obey God.
Of course this is not what God, this is not what Adam did. Though God had given him all the trees of the garden for food, He reserved one tree, the tree of the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and said, Do not eat from that tree.
On the day you eat of that tree, you shall surely die. And still, Adam ate. He rebelled against God's word in favor of the word of the serpent. And in that moment sin entered into the world. And in Adam, who was the head of the human race, in Adam we all fell.
Every son of Adam then, every daughter of Adam then, would be born with this corruption of sin inherited from his first father. Every person is born a sinner. Here's the thing, we are, we're not sinners first because we sin, rather we sin because we're sinners.
That is, because of Adam's fall, every person is born with a corrupt sin nature that necessarily produces sin in the person's life and actions. And because of that sin, people are alienated from God. They exist in a state of rebellion and a state of hostility, not peace with God.
Yet, the things we desire, peace, love, blessing, security, hope, grace, strength, wisdom, fellowship, rest, all of those things are found in God. And so the story of humanity is one of grappling with this situation of who we are in our nature and what we desire.
We exist in this state of conflict with God, with each other, with ourselves, with nature, and yet we also exist desiring the good life, desiring eternal life, but not quite able to obtain it. And so man goes looking for ways to resolve this tension.
People come up with all sorts of self-salvation projects. They turn to various religions, thinking that devoting themselves to Allah or Buddha or Krishna will secure for them that which their heart desires.
Others turn to less formally religious means of salvation, but they're still religious conquests nonetheless. Quests for money, sex, and power. If I could just earn enough money, I will find true happiness and meaning.
If I can express myself in whatever way I want to sexually, then I'll be happy. If I can just accrue enough power, then I will be a God unto myself and I can find fulfillment and happiness. People are always looking for a way to relieve the tension.
They're always looking for a way of salvation, a way to relieve the tensions of life and find a state of rest and happiness. But the truth is, one can only find that rest and happiness in God. And there's only one way to get there.
There's only one mediator between God and man. There's only one way to the Father. Now maybe you've heard this illustration about climbing a mountain. Talking about in the context of world religions. You know, that all people are trying to get to God.
God's on the mountain. That state of rest for your soul and happiness is on the mountain. And everybody's trying to get there. One person climbs from the north end, following the path of Islam. Another climbs from the south end, follows the path of Hinduism.
Another climbs from the east, follows the path of Buddhism. Another from the west, Christianity. Others from different base camps. Atheism, Zoroastrianism, various eastern religions, African tribal religions, Judaism.
And they're all just different ways to get to God. All different paths to get to the top of the mountain where you find rest for your soul and happiness forever. And they're all valid. So who's to condemn anyone?
They're all just climbing the same mountain by different paths. That's the illustration. I believe this is pure cope for weak men who cannot stomach the reality of the world that we live in. And that reality is that there is actually only one God and one mediator between God and man.
There is only one way to the Father. And all those other religions, whether formal religions or informal religious devotion to worldly means of self-salvation, none actually lead to rest for your soul and happiness forever.
They all lead straight to hell. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Narrow is the way that leads to life, Jesus said. There's one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. Jesus said it in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
And no one comes to the Father except through me. One mediator. No other so-called God, lowercase g, God will get you there. One mediator. No departed saint or priest or Mary, like the Catholics will tell you, will get you there.
One mediator. Not even something good like the church will get you there. Church membership and attendance in and of itself will not save you. One mediator. Your grandmother may have been a very godly lady, but her faith will not save you.
Only the man, Christ Jesus can save you, and everyone must have personal and living faith in Jesus. Let's take a look at that phrase, the man, Christ Jesus. There's one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus.
Here we see both the divinity and the humanity of Jesus Christ. We believe and we confess that Jesus Christ is the God-man, that he is fully man and fully God. And we see both of these here, he is named as the man, the man, Christ Jesus.
Jesus is, we know elsewhere from scripture, he is the Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb. This is important by the way, going back to when we talked about the fall earlier, that every person, every son of Adam inherits his corrupt sin nature.
Jesus was not a son of Adam, he was born of a woman, he was conceived of the Holy Spirit, therefore he did not inherit that corrupt sin nature that the rest of us have. He was perfectly sinless. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who has always existed in perfect fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and he took on human flesh, and John 1 tells us, and he dwelled among us.
He is the God-man. This is important. Because man sinned, a man had to save us. It had to be a man who paid for our sins because men sin, people, humanity sin, it had to be a human. Because all men were sinners, it had to be the God-man who saved us.
Because he could have no spot or blemish. If you go back and read all about the sacrifices in the Old Testament that are pointing to the true and perfect sacrifice of Christ, you could have a spot or a blemish on there.
It has to be perfect. In other words, it had to be a sinless man who could offer himself as a sacrifice to save sinful man. And so God became a man. And he lived perfect, sinless in every respect. Though he has tempted and tried in every way that we are, he did not sin ever.
And he died sacrificially, offering himself as the perfect sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. Offering himself as the Lamb of God. And he did both of these things in our place. It's important.
The substitutionary aspect of the atonement of Jesus' work on the cross is of vital importance for us. That is, just as Adam was the head of the human race and when he sinned, we all sinned in him because he was our representative.
He acted in our place. So you can think about it like the U .S. ambassador to another country. Ambassador goes to another country. He represents our U .S. national government. He represents U .S. citizens.
And what he does, it counts for what America does. He's the representative. Well, Adam was our representative as head of the human race. And Jesus came to be a new head, a second Adam, a new head of a new human race, for those who would believe.
And so for those who are united to Christ by faith, he is our new representative. And so what he did counts for us. He died for our sins and so our sins are paid for as if we had died. Because he's our head and our representative.
And so he lived perfectly, he died sacrificially, and then he was raised on the third day. Raised from the dead. And all who are united to Christ by faith are raised to both new life and everlasting life.
New life now. We are new creations. That's the present reality for all who are in Christ. You are a new creation in Christ. You are able now to obey from the heart, to keep God's commandments. You are not enslaved to sin as you once were, but you are a new creation in Christ.
You are able to be holy as he is holy, as we're instructed to be in 1 Peter 1 .16. So we have new life now and we have everlasting life to come. Living forever in fellowship with God. Jesus is the God-man who is the mediator between God and man, who secures for us that new and everlasting life.
Jesus is the answer to Job's cry in Job 9 .33 where he says, nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both. And Jesus, as the God-man, is able to lay his hand on God and lay his hand on man.
He bridges the gap. He reconciles us. He makes peace where there was once hostility. Union where there was once a great divide. Life where there was once death. And he presents our souls to God. He is the one mediator.
He is the one way to God. He is the one way of salvation. And he was able to do this by giving himself as a ransom for all. That is by giving himself, he paid the price. There was a price for our salvation.
There was a price for our redemption. He paid the price for our sin. He paid the price to set men free from the bondage to Satan, sin, and death. And what that means is you're free. If you are in Christ, you are free from Satan, sin, and death.
You don't have to sin anymore. You can obey God. You don't serve Satan anymore. You serve God. You're not subject to death anymore. You will be raised from the dead. Death has no grip on you. The man Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all, meaning he took upon himself that price of redemption.
And what is that price? You remember from Romans, for the wages of sin is death. He paid that price. He died in your place. You'll remember from Hebrews, for where there is no shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
And Jesus shed his blood in your place so you wouldn't have to shed yours. That you might be free. That you might live. Now I said at the beginning of this sermon that I wanted us to exult in this simple gospel message.
I think we find some reason for exultation in those two words in verse six. He gave himself a ransom for all. Jesus did not come for a small salvation project. Jesus came to save the whole world. He came to gather to himself a people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
He came to set the world free from bondage to Satan, sin, and death. And when Jesus stepped out of the grave on that first Easter morning, a new era of world history began. Satan was bound. Christ was king.
Satan was defeated. And Christ reigned. He had paid the price and he had bought the world with his blood. And there's no remote part of the world that you can go to where you'll find people who are too far gone that the blood of Jesus can't spare them because he gave his life as a ransom for all.
For all peoples. And that gospel message is going out into the world. The word of the Lord, to quote 1 Thessalonians, is speeding forth and triumphing. The gospel is conquering the world and people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
On every continent of the globe there are people who are confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We might say that Aslan is on the move and that Satan's winter is warming and that his icy grips on the hearts of men is thawing and it will soon be eternal summer when the light of the sun shall never set.
Because the man Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all. I want to end with an excerpt from the Exhortation to Personal Exhortation. If the man Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all, then that means he gave his life as a ransom for you.
So I want you to think about it. If you are a Christian, I want you to take a moment and exult and delight in the fact that Christ has saved you. That Christ gave his life for you. That you were once alienated from God, but he brought you near.
That you were once in a state of hostility with God, but he made peace between you. That you were once headed for eternal death and torment and hell, but he has prepared for you a place in heaven. There is one mediator between God and man and you know him.
And you are united to him by faith, the man Christ Jesus. And so rejoice, delight, revel in that glorious truth that is applied personally to you. And if you're here and you're not a Christian, maybe you have been in church all your life and just kind of play in that game of social norms and customs and southern religiosity.
Or maybe church has never been your thing and for some reason you ended up in church today, even though you wouldn't identify as a Christian at all. But if that's you in some way, you know you're not united to Christ by faith, you know you're not born again in Christ Jesus.
I want this gospel message to lead you to true delight in knowing God. Because the truth is, you are alienated from God, but Christ Jesus will bring you near. You are in a state of hostility with God because of your sin, both your corrupt sinful nature and your actual sinful actions that you have committed.
But Christ Jesus offers you peace with God. You are headed for an eternal death and torment in hell, but Christ Jesus will prepare for you a place in heaven and usher you there. There is one mediator between the one God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And so turn to Christ today friend. Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus in faith. For he is who he said he is. The way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes unto the Father except by him. There is no other way.
Nothing and no one else can save you, only Christ. And that is the word of the one true and living God. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for these very foundational truths. That there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Lord I pray that you will encourage us and strengthen us to have confidence in the exclusivity of the gospel. To have hope in the universality of the gospel. That we would delight knowing that Christ gave himself as a ransom for me, for each one of us.
Because he gave himself as a ransom for all. If there are any Christians with weakened faith right now, we strengthen them with this truth. If there are any in here who are not believers, Lord I pray that your spirit will work in their hearts right now to give them a new heart.
That they would be born again. That they would have repentance from sin, turning towards you and having faith in Jesus. Pledging their allegiance and loyalty to him. Submitting to him as Lord. Confessing with their mouth and believing in their heart that Jesus Christ is Lord.
To the glory of God the Father. I pray that you would work now. That you would bless us. That you would keep us. And that you would make your face to shine upon us. And give us peace through our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.
Amen.