Articles 10 & 11 Jesus our Mediator

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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May 13, 2021

00:00: Come before our God and ask his blessing on our thoughts and on our words Our father in God again, we thank you for who you are.
00:09: We thank you for who we are because of Christ We pray father tonight that even in these few minutes together that you would bless us that you would come down and visit us Holy Spirit in a way in which You would transform our lives You would make us more like the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us Lord May we never take for granted opening your word considering the things that are of eternity, but may we Look at your word and truth and ask you to guide our thoughts and our minds and ultimately Our lives that we might again bring glory and honor to your name So we ask these things now in Christ's name for his sake and for our own eternal good.
00:53: Amen Okay, so as I said if we want to go back to the confession It's Article 10 and article 11 is my task tonight Well, I want to read the two articles Article 10 and 11 and I'll just say this and as me and brother Keith talked about it originally I was gonna do 10 11 and 12 and their brother Keith was gonna do 13 and 14, but as we talked It seems like article 12 is better Paired up with article 13 or 14 because it's really dealing with the different aspects of Christ as mediator But nevertheless, let's read.
01:36: I'm gonna read article 10 and article 11 together.
01:39: They're short, but they're powerful and so Let's just see what the brothers had laid out as far as Christ it says Jesus Christ article 10 Jesus Christ is Made the mediator of the new and everlasting covenant of grace between God and man Ever to be perfectly and fully the prophet priest and king of the Church of God forevermore After this office, he was appointed by God from everlasting and in respect to his manhood from the womb called Separated and anointed most fully and abundantly with all gifts necessary God having without measure poured out his spirit upon him So I really want to just if you will take a high Look at this and the reason why I say that is if you think that 30 minutes is sufficient to look at one article We're gonna look at two articles No problem, right? Just just whiz right through it I mean this if you would have just look at the scriptural references that they give under these two articles alone There's 14 different scriptural references, which I would suggest are some of the most powerful in all of the Bible and so again to take To take a shot at this in 30 minutes is is far beyond my ability I think it's far beyond anyone's ability So what I'd like to do is rather to try to lay some groundwork for what follows and it's interesting for what follows because you'll see as You go from article 12 all the way through article 20 It deals with the different aspects of what is laid out in article 10 which is that Christ is the mediator in those offices of prophet priest and king and those are the three great offices that Christ holds and So the next nine articles Really will will drill down on what I believe is laid out in article 10 and 11 and so again that being the reason I want to at least try to give us a 30,000 foot view of it and I hope that it will build some Wasn't too long in my own studies that I began to realize that the Bible really has At least is the way I thought of it at that time that the Bible really has only two characters or two persons that it really speaks about And and I thought of it That the Bible really speaks about God And the God the Bible really speaks about man And I'm not neglecting the fact that there's many many characters in between now, but if you think about it the overall On Unraveling or revealing of the scriptures God reveals himself to us and and God also reveals man And again, those two persons seem to be the the main characters throughout all scriptures Well, you know when I when I came to that thought I said man, I'm really spiritual That sounds that sounds great to me.
04:56: I Come to this glorious conclusion And I went along with that for quite some time and then as I studied more I Began to think about my thought that the Bible really only has God in man of you and I began to realize something was missing So I was missing something and what I was missing Was what I want to look at tonight.
05:20: What I was missing was How you how you get from here to here or how you get from here to here And I began to think that the Bible really has three persons That is the main characters throughout its revelation and the third character is none other than the God-man And when I came to that it opened the scriptures up to me in a way that I had never seen them before Because again, I was I was thinking about how really it's God and man But really without the God-man or as the brothers lay out in that sense without the mediator It really could never be a connection rightfully between these two and as I said when I came to that understanding the scriptures opened up in a in a way that I had never seen before and That's really what I want to consider tonight.
06:15: I Want to consider how the brothers lay out for us In a very short but powerful way Christ as mediator if you think about it when we read article one And I'm not going backwards.
06:30: But when you read article one, where is the where does the confession start? It starts in the same way to scriptures start in the beginning God right.
06:40: So the scriptures open the confession opens up with With God Okay, and then as you read through the confession not very far just come to article four.
06:51: What's that? What's article four about? We looked at it article four is about the fall of man.
06:56: And so man is brought into the picture.
06:59: So you think about it The confession runs similar to that in that it opens up When a revelation was that narration of God And then you move into article four as they begin to move through and they talk about God's decrees and some of the the attributes of God, but then it moves into in article four man in the fall and Now we've come to the point Where we are going to spend a good deal of time right here at the guard man And rightfully so and again, it helped me to solidify my thinking that unless we really understand those three Persons in the scriptures.
07:41: We're going to miss a lot of what God intends for us to know You need to know God you need to know man and we need to know the one who mediates Between God and man who as I will show you Shortly, and again, I want to read a good number of scriptures as much as my time will allow me to show you How important it is for us to understand? that Jesus is Not only the God man, but he is the mediator that Brings God and man together so with that again mainly want to read some scriptures tonight, maybe a little bit longer passages, but It's human if you look at the article 10 and article 11 There are a couple of key words right and certainly one of it is in article 10 that Jesus Christ is made the mediator And I don't want to deal with the with the Covenant right now But I want to focus on the fact that he is the mediator and then the other keyword that I would Focus on if we had a greater amount of time is that he was Appointed by God as the mediator and so those two key words play a vital Part of our understanding that then not only is is God The Supreme being and man his creature, but but the God man Christ Jesus is the appointed mediator between God and man therefore Therefore there could be what? No other mediator, right? So again, it puts the focus rightfully where it should be and then the other articles in his brother Keith will bring up Begins to drill down and then you'll see it in article 12 sacrificial mediator Article 13 fully qualified mediator necessary mediator and then it goes forward it talks about his offices prophet priest and king so If you can follow in the scriptures, that's fine I'll write them down just in case anybody wanted to as we look at him So I'm gonna ask you to look at a couple past the first ones in the book of Job Then you could turn to Job chapter 9 I want you to look at it again I'm gonna wind up in the New Testament at probably the one scripture in the New Testament that lays it out.
10:07: So clearly But I first want to look at Job 9 Forgot where I wanted to start but Job 9 and we're gonna pick it up in verse 25 And not able to really explain the whole context but nevertheless this is Job's Speaking and he's talking about his situation and we all know the situation of Job in verse 25 as Job speaks He says this He says now my days are swifter than a runner and they flee away and they see no good and they pass They pass by like swift ships and like an eagle swooping on its prey And if I say I will forget my complaint I will put up I will Put off my sad face and wear a smile I Am afraid of all my sufferings.
11:06: I know that you will not hold me innocent For I am condemned Why then do I labor in vain if I wash myself with snow and water and cleanse my hands with soap? Yet you will plunge me into the pit and my clothes will also upon me Now then it says for he is not a man as I am That I may answer him and that we should go to court together Nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both? Let him take his rod away from me and let him not let not the dread of him terrify me Then I would speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me and in the verse I want you to key in on his verse 33 Neither is there a mediator that can can go lay his hand on both of us and you see that's where that's where this understanding of Christ as the mediator He is the only one who can lay hands on both of us right because he's fully God And again, these did many other doctrines are tied into this process.
12:16: This is right We're not just talking about Some some mediator in a sense.
12:21: So again, very essential for us to think about Okay, if you would and if you can go to Ezekiel for a minute Ezekiel 32 I just want to get through some of these scriptures.
12:33: And again, this is just a quick Opening shot if you will at what we'll see as we go forward in Ezekiel 22 and we'll start at Verse 23 I'll just write it down in case you want to go back.
12:53: Okay, Ezekiel chapter 22 verse 23 and again in this context, this is where God is If you will pronounce a judgment on those leaders of Israel who are False prophets false priests false teachers.
13:12: They're not teaching the way of God.
13:13: They're leading the people astray They're not fulfilling the role that they were assigned to they're not acting as The mediator between God and man as they were appointed to and so that's the context here in verse 23 it says this and The Word of the Lord came to me saying son of man Say to her under the thought of of Jerusalem and Judah in that sense you you are a land that is not cleansed or Rained on in the day of indignation and the conspiracy of her prophets in her mist is like a roaring lion tearing the prey They have devoured people.
13:54: They have taken treasure and precious things and they have made many widows in her mist Her priests have violated my law profaned my holy things and they have not distinguished between the holy and the unholy Nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean and They've hidden their eyes from my Sabbath so that I go profaned among them her princes in her mist are like wolves tearing the prey to shed blood to destroy people to get dishonest gain a Prophets plastered them with untempered mortar seeing false visions divining lies for them Saying thus sayeth the Lord God when the Lord had not spoken and the people of the land have used oppressions and committed robbery and mistreated the poor and Needy and they have wrongfully oppressed the stranger So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me On behalf of the land that I should not destroy it But I found none and then God says therefore I have poured out my indignation on them I've consumed them with the fire in my wrath.
15:10: I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads Says the Lord God now I'm suggesting to you that in this passage we again can see the the essential the necessity of The one to bridge the gap again standing the breach to be the mediator or And I looked it up in in job.
15:34: You could rightfully say some of the translations will actually say umpire To be the umpire to to if you will join man back to God again man having sinned against God God not being the The criminal man being the criminal and Think of it that way.
15:57: Okay real quick.
15:58: I get just a couple more minutes if you will familiar passage Isaiah chapter 9 And again, all I'm seeking to show us tonight is as we work through these articles about the mediator And it's all it's different aspects prophet priest and King That is so essential for us to understand that this is an absolute essential for us for all Because as we will close with that scripture in Timothy There is no other way because there is no love of deviator which excludes everything else, right? So it excludes Buddha and Allah Mohammed it excludes everyone but in Isaiah chapter 9 a very familiar passage, right? We can almost quote it without having to look at it in verse 6 run to us The child is born unto us The Son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful counsel of the mighty God the everlasting father Prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace There will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom To order it and establish it with justice with judgment and justice from this this time forward Even forever and the zeal of the water the host will performance again In this in these words, we see not only do we see the offices of Christ And you could rightfully look at that and spend a great deal of time on that especially as as the king But also again the start of Christ Standing in the gap Filling the breach and uniting again What was lost when man? Disobeyed God and while you're in Isaiah Isaiah 42 Just two more Isaiah chapter 42.
17:49: I'm just going to read again I'll make this suggestion to you Sometimes when you read the scriptures and particularly when you read the Old Testament Sometimes it's good to have a theme in mind In other words, I think there's times we should just read and ask God to show us something whatever God is pleased to show but I think at times we should ask God to show us certain things But what I'm trying to say is maybe we should read Isaiah and ask God every time we open the book of Isaiah shows Christ Shows the mediator So sometimes I think we can actually ask God to to give us certain truths To help us as we study along.
18:34: So in Isaiah 42 Verse 1 behold my servant whom I uphold my elect My elect one in whom my soul delights.
18:45: I have put my spirit upon him He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
18:51: He will not cry out No, raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street a bruised reed.
18:57: He will not break smoking flax He will not quench.
18:59: He will bring forth justice for truth.
19:01: He will not fail nor be discouraged Till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands shall wait for his law And thus says the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it who gives breath to the people on and spirit to those who walk on it I the Lord have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles They open the eyes of the blind to bring out Prisoners from the prison those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
19:34: I am the Lord that is my name my glory I will not give to another no more praise to graven images Behold the former things have come to pass and new things.
19:43: I declare before they spring forth.
19:44: I tell you of them again There is who? Christ in what way? in in a thousand different ways But also as the one who stands in the gap and is the mediator between an Offended God and an offensive man, if you will.
20:05: All right There's a couple others that we could read but I'll just end it with this because my time is running out Just go to first Timothy chapter 2 and this is probably as I said the one that many many people know first Timothy 2 5 so in In verse 4 it says that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth For look there is one God and one mediator between God and man The man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time There is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus.
21:05: You see how essential our understanding of Christ is in his deity and in his humanity And if you get either one of these wrong, I don't know how you bridge the gap Right.
21:22: He's not fully God.
21:23: I don't know how you bridge the gap from an infinite God To a finite man, but he's not fully man I don't know how he becomes the the one who takes the place for sinful man to be reconciled to an infinite God So again as we go through the confession On these following and subsequent articles, it's essential for us to see at first and I think that's why they laid it out this way They laid out if you will He is Christ and now as brother Keith comes and as we do in the next couple of sessions He's gonna we're gonna break it down even further and we're gonna see him again as prophet priest and king in those three great offices Which he holds And I will add this he holds them at the same time And the reason why I say that is because there are some people who believe that Christ as prophet priest and king that is sequential that That he was first a prophet When he came and then he's a priest in heaven and that when he comes again, he becomes the king.
22:28: Believe me.