Articles 12 to 14 Jesus our Mediator

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Fr.
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Andy has already begun the conversation tonight on the subject of Christ as mediator, and so my goal is to simply, as he said, dig a little deeper into what the Confession says about that.
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He has already explained a mediator is one who goes between, a mediator is usually intended to resolve a dispute.
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That's something to sort of think about as I was writing down a few thoughts, preparing my lesson.
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One of the most dangerous things that people can think is that they have the right to go to God on their own without a mediator.
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And how many people do you know that think that? Well, God will accept me just the way that I am.
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I don't need anyone to stand in the gap, as Fr.
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Andy said.
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I don't need anyone to exercise a mediator relationship between God and I.
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And the passage that came to me as I was preparing this and I got to thinking about Scripture was Exodus 33, verse 20.
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You don't have to turn there, but you probably remember this.
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When Moses was on the mountain and God said to him, you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and what? Live.
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Now why would God make such a proclamation? Well, because it's true.
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That's the simple side of it.
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God says that because it's true, but he's also saying something about the divide between he and us.
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No man shall look upon me and live.
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And I realize there are some places where the Scripture seems to be at conflict because, I mean, Abraham spoke to God and ate with God and Adam walked with God in the garden, and so there are times where people seem to say, well, what about this? God was with this person.
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I believe in my heart of hearts, and I think I said this Sunday, that every time we see God in a human form, what we would call a theophany, I believe that is actually a Christophany.
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I believe Christ is the one who is there.
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In fact, I think the incident with Moses stands as really the one lone time that God says no one can see me.
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I think he's referring in that sense to the father because in that sense, he doesn't show himself.
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He shows the hinder parts, and we can talk another time about what that means, but the point of it is God in his fullness, God in his glory cannot be seen by us.
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We need the mediator.
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We need someone to go between.
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If we were to have a glimpse of the glory of God as Isaiah did in Isaiah chapter 6, what did he do? He said, woe is me, for I am undone.
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I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, for I am undone.
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Just that phrase, I am undone.
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Woe is me.
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So just that passage in Exodus 33, no one can see God, so that tells us right there the need of a mediator.
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It gives us the idea someone, if we're going to get to God, it won't be on our own.
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It won't be by our own laurels.
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It won't be pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps, and the Bible goes to great lengths to remind us that Christ is the only mediator between God and man.
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Now, we are going to read the confessional statements, but I want to make a few preliminary statements before we do.
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Brother Andy already read 1 Timothy 2.5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, but there's another passage that I think is, it doesn't say that, but it says it in a different way, and actually he's talked about it today, because today I did a funeral.
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I do funerals a lot as you know.
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I did a funeral today for a family this morning.
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I got the call yesterday.
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Can you do the funeral today? So it was a quick turnaround.
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And so I went in this morning very, you know, not unprepared, but just having had to stay up late to prepare, walk in, and I read this verse.
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I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No man comes to the Father except how? Through me.
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That is another statement of Christ's mediator relationship with us.
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No one comes to the Father except through me.
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I am the avenue.
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I am the way.
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I am the door of the sheep.
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No one comes in.
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Anyone who comes in another way is a thief and a robber, Jesus said, right? I am the only way.
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In fact, this is one of my, and I know, I don't mean to be hard on the Catholics, but for a moment, I just want to reference one of the main concerns I have with Roman Catholicism.
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And honestly, as I was thinking about the confession, I can't help but to be reminded that this confession is only 140 years, not even 140 years, you know, of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517, Martin Luther, you know, if we count that as the start of the Protestant Reformation, you know, this confession, 1646, this is only 120 some odd years later.
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And so the idea of Christ being the only mediator, I think, there's a lot, I was wondering, why so much stress on this? Well, think about what the church has, what has the Reformation come out of? It's come out of a false view of Christ as the priest is the mediator with Christ, and Mary is the mediator with Christ, and the Pope is the mediator with Christ.
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And I just had to do it.
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I looked up today, just a few little quotes.
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Here's one on Mary.
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This is from the Catholic Catechism, paragraph 969, if you want to check up on my scholarship.
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And this is what it says regarding Mary.
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Mary's motherhood with regard to the church, actually, that's the title, Mary's motherhood with regard to the church, and this is the statement in the catechism, quote, this motherhood of Mary and the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the annunciation in which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect.
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Taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside the saving office, her office is a saving office, but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.
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Therefore, the blessed virgin is invoked in the church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, Mediatrix.
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That is four titles given to Mary in Roman Catholic produced literature.
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This is not something in a book from, you know, some random author.
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This is in the catechism of the Roman Catholic Church.
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She has four titles, Advocate and Helper.
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Those are two titles given to the Holy Spirit.
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Benefactress and Mediatrix.
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Benefactor, one who blesses.
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Mediatrix, one who mediates.
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Yeah, well, it's funny you say that because the other title that's not in this statement, the other title that's been given to her is Co-Redemptrix.
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Co-Redemptrix is actually from Pope Leo VIII's encyclical entitled Lecunda Semper Expectio.
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I think I'm saying that correctly.
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And he dedicated to the rosary these words, quote, in the rosary, all the part that Mary took as our Co-Redemptrix comes to us.
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Such teaching about Mary is without biblical warrant and it borders on idolatry, if not is idolatry.
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But this goes also to the priests, not just to Mary herself.
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A Catholic priest, according to the Society of St.
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Pius X, quote, Catholic priests serve primarily as mediators between God and man, linking the human and divine realms through the person of Christ.
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So Christ is the mediator between you and God.
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The priest is the mediator between you and Christ.
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Pope Boniface VIII, speaking of the Roman office of Pope, said this.
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He said, the Roman pontiff judges all men but is judged by no one.
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We declare, assert, define, and pronounce to be the subject, to be subject to the Roman Pope is to every human creature altogether necessary for salvation.
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That which was spoken of Christ, thou hast subdued all things under his feet may well seem verified in me.
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I have the authority of the King of Kings.
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I am all in all and above all so that God himself and I, the vicar of God, have but one consistory and I am able to do almost all that God can do.
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What therefore can you make of me but God? End quote.
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That was written in 1302.
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It was written, it's called the Unum Sanctum and it's considered by some historians to be the most extreme statement of papal authority.
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I am God.
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Oh indeed.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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Anything like that.
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Anything like that.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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So and there are others.
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Pope Leo VIII, we hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty, speaking of the papacy.
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Pope Pius X, the Pope is not simply the representative of Jesus Christ.
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On the contrary, he is Jesus Christ himself under the veil of the flesh.
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So those are some Roman heresies that make us take a step back and say, why spend so much time on the mediatorship of Christ or the mediating work of Christ? This is one.
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Not the only reason, but certainly one of the reasons.
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Men cannot be their own mediators and men need not seek out another mediator.
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That's the point of the confession.
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There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
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And if we seek out another, we have failed to understand the uniqueness of the Savior.
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And in Article 10, I do want to, I do want to, I just, this was in my notes.
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Interestingly enough, Andy, you didn't mention too much about it, but I do want to step back to one thing.
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It says that he's a mediator of, of the new covenant.
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And what's interesting about that is the new covenant is actually what he mediates.
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And I just, in my mind, as I'm reading that, I'm thinking that's beautiful.
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It calls it the covenant of grace because it is the covenant that God has given by his grace.
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And it's interesting the between Baptists and Presbyterians, there has been a historic difference about how they understand the covenant of grace.
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Presbyterians have argued that the covenant of grace actually began in the garden with Adam and every covenant after that is a re-administration of that covenant of grace.
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But Baptists have seen the covenant of grace as being unique to the new covenant.
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We see that here, the new and everlasting covenant of grace.
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And this is, this is just a, just a point of historic distinction between the Presbyterians and the Baptists.
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And so we see this here, that is what he is the mediator of.
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In fact, we know that from Hebrews 9.15.
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Hebrews 9.15 tells us he is the mediator of a new covenant.
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That's what Christ is the mediator of.
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How does he mediate the new covenant? In three offices, he mediates it as the prophet of the new covenant.
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Christ is the prophet of the new covenant.
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We can talk about Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the others.
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They are the prophets of the old covenant.
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Now, do they have new covenant value? Of course, because they point to the new covenant.
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But who is the prophet of the new covenant? Christ.
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Who is the priest of the new covenant? You know, the old covenant had the Levitical priesthood and all those priests every year and all the sacrifices.
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We have one prophet who is Christ.
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What does Hebrews tell us at the very beginning? In times past, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets, but now has spoken to us through his son.
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Christ is the prophet, he is the priest, the only one we need, and he is king.
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That's how he ministers his covenant.
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It's through this mediatorial work.
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So that was all prefaced to the three.
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I'm going to read them one at a time, and I'm going to make a few comments on each one.
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The first it references, and you know the titles were not part of the original.
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The titles were added by the author of this book, but I do think they're very helpful, so we'll use them.
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A sacrificial mediator.
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Concerning his mediatorship, the scripture holds forth Christ's call to his office.
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For none takes this honor upon him, but that he is called of God, as was Aaron, it being an action of God, whereby a special promise being made, he ordains his son to this office, which promise is that Christ should be made a sacrifice for sin, that he should see his seed and prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands, all of mere free and absolute grace towards God's elect, and without any condition foreseen in them to procure it.
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Note with me first that it references Christ's call.
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I think that's an interesting language, because we often talk about ministers and their call, right? You know, people ask me sometimes, I just had lunch yesterday with a pastor, getting to know a new friend and new pastor friend, and we talked about our, how we were saved, how did God save us, and then we talked about how did God call us into ministry, what circumstances did God use to bring us to understand that he called us to preach and bring us to ordination and those things, and that was part of our conversation, was how did God call us into ministry? And the Bible talks about for the minister having calls that are external and internal.
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There's the internal call, where the unction or the feeling that the desire to do it, any man who desires to be an overseer must desire it, you know, that's an internal call.
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But there's also the external call, that's the church recognizing that man for that office, right? The church recognizing that a man's been called to do that thing.
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Well, Christ here, it talks about his call to this office was from God himself, and he compares it, the brothers compare it to the call of Aaron.
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Now, why Aaron? Because Aaron was the priest of Israel, he was the beginning of the Levitical priesthood, began with Aaron, and he says that was something God ordained.
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God ordained Aaron and the Levites to be the priestly class.
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Well, God in a sense did the same with Christ.
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He ordained him, as Brother Andy pointed out earlier, it was appointed by God.
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The mediator is appointed, and God was the one who did the appointing, and he was, in a sense, ordained to ministry, God having been the one who ordained him.
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And it goes on to say what he was ordained to, he's ordained to be a sacrifice.
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Says that Christ should be made a sacrifice for sin.
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His mediation includes his sacrifice.
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See, his ordination, his ordination to prophet, ordination to priest, ordination to king, but in this reference, it's referencing his ordination as a sacrifice.
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He's called to do that thing.
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And notice it also says the reason behind it.
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After the semicolon at the last sentence, it says all of mere, free, and absolute grace.
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I posted something earlier on my page, my media page, because it just came to me as I was reading that and I was thinking about tonight.
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Christ does not mediate for the deserving.
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Christ mediates for the undeserving.
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Notice what it says.
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All of mere, free, and absolute grace toward God's elect.
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How do you become God's elect? It's God's choice.
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We don't elect ourselves.
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God chooses.
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That is an act of grace.
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If I got what I deserved, well, I wouldn't even be alive.
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What's that? Amen.
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Death, hell, and the grave is what I deserve.
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And it reminds us.
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I love the fact that the brothers felt the need to put that in because they've already said that in other articles beforehand.
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They've already stressed the free grace, but they stress again, this act of mediating that Christ is doing is by the mere act of grace.
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The free and absolute grace of God without any condition foreseen in them to procure it.
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It's awesome.
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It's awesome for him.
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To him, it's mere.
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Just mere, free, and absolute grace.
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That's right.
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So that's his sacrificial mediator.
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Then we look at number 13, the fully qualified mediator.
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This office to be mediator, that is to be prophet, priest, and king of the church of God is so proper to Christ that neither in whole or any part thereof, it cannot be transferred from him to any other.
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It was actually that one that made me think of the Roman Catholic Church.
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As I was preparing and reading and trying to think of how I wanted to express the truth and dig out the truth of this, I got to thinking, well, why would they feel the need to stress that Christ's mediator position cannot be shared? Well, maybe it's because for so long it had been improperly shared.
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And again, I don't have the accompanying works of these men to prove that thesis.
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Basically, it's just a hypothesis.
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I think that could be one of the reasons.
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Another reason, of course, is because it's true.
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Christ doesn't share this position with anyone.
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It says here, it is so proper to Christ.
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I love that phrase.
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It's so proper to him.
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Christ is the only one worthy of it.
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And it says it cannot be transferred.
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You guys, you probably remember this, but we have a document, one of our founding documents of the United States.
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It says, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.
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What does inalienable mean? It means it cannot be taken away and cannot be given away.
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Inalienable means it cannot be taken, can't be given.
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I can't give them up and no one can take them from me.
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They are natural to me.
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And I honestly think that idea of inalienable is what the brothers are getting at when they say it can't be transferred.
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Christ can't stop being the mediator and he can't give it to someone else because it only is his.
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He is the only one, as brother Andy so eloquently said, he is the only God man.
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He's the only one that can can touch both sides.
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He's the only one who can join the hands on both sides of that equation.
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And one thing Christ cannot do, and people say God can do anything, one thing Christ cannot do is make someone else man's mediator.
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He can't give it up and give it to somebody else because he's the only one that qualifies.
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All right, number 14.
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As necessary mediator, the office, excuse me, this office to which Christ is called is threefold.
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A prophet, priest, and king.
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And I want to, I do want to point this out.
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And brother Andy, I'm going to just flip it.
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I'm going to write out a thought because here's the way that the way the confession is breaking down this truth.
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Christ is mediator.
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And what does it mean to be mediator? Mediator is first prophet, second priest, third king.
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Now as brother Andy said, and he's right, this isn't like either or, and it's not sequential.
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He's all these things at the same time.
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The point of the confession though is all, when we say Christ, when we say Christ is prophet, priest, and king, what we're saying is he's mediator.
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And when we say he's mediator, what we're saying is that he's prophet, priest, and king, because these three ways are how he exercises that.
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So if you said Christ is a mediator of the new covenant, you say, well, how is he a mediator? First, he's a mediator by being the prophet of the new covenant.
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That's how he mediates it.
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He proclaims it.
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That's what a prophet does.
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He brings God's message to the people.
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He's the priest.
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What does a priest do? He brings the people to God, right? He exercises that role.
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And he's king, king in exercising, and I want to point this out, his sovereignty.
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Note what it says.
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It says, the office to which Christ is called is threefold, prophet, priest, and king.
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This number and order of offices is necessary for in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of his prophetical office.
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In respect of our great alienation from God, we need his priestly office to reconcile us.
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And in respect of our aversiveness and utter inability to return to God, we need his kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom.
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Oh, mercy.
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One day I'm gonna preach that.
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I mean, really, because he just gave a three point sermon.
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He says, one, you're ignorant, and you need a prophet.
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Two, you're alienated, and you need a priest.
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And three, you're unable, and you need a king.
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That's, I mean, that's the three points of that sermon.
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He says, he says, because of our ignorance, we needed Christ to, to prophesy, to speak God's truth to us.
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Because of our alienation, we needed Christ to be our priest and bring us back.
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And the last one, because of our inability, and notice the way it says it, it says our aversiveness and utter inability.
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Because of that, we needed his kingly, or it says here, kingly office.
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And I wrote in my notes, sovereign, because when we talk about sovereignty in regard to God, we often are referring to his salvation, right? God is sovereign over salvation.
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How? He convinces us, he subdues us, he draws us, he upholds us, and he preserves us.
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All the things that a king who is sovereign is able to do.
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So I just love it.
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For our ignorance, Christ is prophet.
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For our alienation, Christ is priest.
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And for our inability, Christ is king.
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What a blessing it is.
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He is the necessary mediator because we are so, so dependent upon him.
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If it ever be asked, why do you believe Christ is necessary for salvation? We often want to use John 14, 6, the one I quoted earlier.
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Somebody asks you, why do you think you have to believe in Jesus to be saved? You might say, well, the Bible says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.
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But might I add to you tonight a thought, that the next time someone asks you that question, the next time someone says, why is it that I need Jesus to be saved, that you might point to them Exodus 33 and verse 20.
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No one can see God and live.
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Why do we need a savior? Because he's the only one and can go to God on our behalf.