First Timothy for the life..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. What we're going to do is we're going to read the whole chapter from verse 1 through to verse 15, just for context, and then we'll come back and we'll read verses 5 and 6, and then we'll start our study from that point by the grace of God. So, 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1.

First of all, then I urge the supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am telling the truth.

I am not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire then that in every place the men should pray. lifting holy hands without anger and quarrelling, likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness, with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man.

Rather, she is to remain silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet, she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in the faith and love and holiness with self-control. Amen.

Let's go back to verses 5 and 6, and that's where we'll be spending our time this evening. Verses 5 and 6. For there is one God, and there is one Mediator. between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. As I said earlier, we've just been reminded in these two verses of the glorious truth that the world or the most glorious truth that this world could ever come to know and understand. Truths that are the rock and the foundations of what we Christians believe. The Christian faith stands or falls on the veracity, the correctness of the claims made by the Apostle Paul in verses 5 and in verses 6. Because these words, beloved, have the power of life and death.

And if we are careful to read them properly, we would recognize that they are presented to us as absolute and exclusive, and therefore they are in no way up for negotiation or compromise. Now, you know that this sort of objective truth and exclusivity is rejected by the world. And people like us who believe these exclusive claims are considered by the world as small-minded and lacking the intelligence to see the big picture, they would say. And sometimes we're even labeled as haters because we don't support the views of others. You see, the philosophical beliefs and strongholds of the system of the world supports and promotes what we call subjective relativism.

See, relativism is simply a philosophical construct that upholds the validity of all points of view. Everyone is encouraged to believe in whatever they believe. After all, there are no universal absolute truths, they would say. Truth is simply in the eyes of the beholder, and the individual is the one who determines what really truth is. So, depending on a person's beliefs and experiences, truth and morality differs.

It differs from one person to the other. There's no rights, And there's no wrongs. Sins you may consider as depraved and evil are considered acceptable to others because they hold a different point of view. This is the reality of our world, beloved. To think that there's an objective truth and we Bible-believing Christians know what that truth is?

Well, that's considered the height of arrogance. How dare you, how dare you say that you are right and I am wrong, they would say. This view is certainly not what the Apostle Paul is announcing in the first or to the first century church and by the providence of God to every church or the church of Jesus Christ since. With his God-given apostolic authority, Paul declares in these verses these words, There is but one God, and there is but one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. You cannot read these words without feeling the authority of a determined apostle who will not, under any circumstances, compromise on these truths.

So this evening, let's have a look at what these words mean and why they matter. I'll start with some context. The last couple of weeks, we examined preceding verses in chapter 2. In them, Paul encourages Timothy and, of course, the Ephesian church to be actively praying for all types of people beyond their immediate vicinity. The church is to have a global view.

and a concern for the salvation of souls for all classes of people in all places. Emphasis for prayer is given to the rulers and the authorities, he calls them, he says kings and those in authorities or power. Those who have power and authority to rule and make decisions that we said last week could impact people everywhere and especially the church. we looked at the possible negative effects of an anti-Christian government towards God's people. And we said last week that the church would be persuaded, would be persecuted and oppressed.

Gathering as we do weekly would become hard and dangerous, and the gospel would no longer be preached openly with the freedom that we so enjoy today, at least for now. So if God deserves or desires the salvation of all people without any distinction, then we ought to desire the same thing also. Our hearts ought to be a reflection of God's own heart. Therefore we, that's the church, ought to pray for the circumstances conducive with a peaceful proclamation of the gospel for all people all over the world. Now in verses 5 and 6, the Apostle Paul will tell us why our prayers should be global, and why we should have a concern for all people.

Verse 5, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Note the first word. Whenever you see it, you need to pay attention to what comes before the word for. Its use is to assign a reason or give an explanation for what is previous in the text. And here it gives us a reason why Christians, that is the church, ought to be praying and concerned for all types of people both locally and globally.

It's because we all have the same God, and we all have the same mediator between God and man. It doesn't matter what class or category you fit into. It's the same God for all. There is not one God for Jews and another for Gentiles. It's not one God for one nation and another God for another.

No. One supreme God exists, and He rules over all without exception, and He desires to reconcile all peoples, all types of people, all classes of people, without distinction, to Himself. When we acknowledge this truth, the church should be as concerned with the gospel proclamation in foreign land as it is here in our own city. And if you find yourself being concerned for others, Paul says, then you need to start praying for others. Let's take a closer look at these two verses.

One God, Of course, scriptural backing for this fact is widespread. And if you start looking for proof, you'll find it absolutely everywhere in the Bible. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 6. The Shema, the people of God were to declare this truth and pray it daily. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart." The oneness of God is all over this passage. And this is why God demands all, all your heart and all your soul and all your might. Not a single part of you should be reserved for another.

There is no other. God has no rivals and He knows it. I know the people in this room don't need to be convinced. that God is one but it's important to see how clear throughout scripture that this truth is conveyed and I think that Isaiah conveys it beautifully and clearly and in particular Isaiah chapter 44 through 46 is a prime example how dominant this truth is in the Bible. And the best way to show it, I think, is to allow Scripture to speak for itself.

So let's open our Bibles and we'll open them up to Isaiah 44. We're going to have a bit of a marathon through these three chapters, but we'll start in Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44. This portion of God's Word is written over 100 years before the people of Israel, of the southern kingdom of Judah, were exiled into Babylon. Isaiah can be divided into three sections.

The whole book was written by the prophet Isaiah, the prophet who bears its name. But prophetically, there are three sections addressing different stages in the life of Israel. You have chapters 1 through 39 and they're warning chapters. The Jews were still in the land but they were steeped in idolatry and God continually warned them of the impending judgment to come. Chapters 40 to 55 is addressed mainly to the displaced people now exiled in Babylon.

And I want to make clear this is prophetic. So Isaiah wrote this well before the people were displaced, about a hundred years before they were exiled, but it's addressed to a particular people in a particular time. So 40-55 is addressed to the people who are now exiled into Babylon. The chapters are a reminder of the glorious attributes of God that they have abandoned. And it's coupled with words of consolation and comfort because he remains faithful to his people despite their unfaithfulness.

And then you have chapters 56 through 66, and they speak to a people who have returned back to the promised land. So this section that we're looking at this evening, It's prophetically addressed towards an exiled people in a foreign land, a people who have lost their homes, they've lost their city, and they've lost their temple. The manifest presence of God is no longer in their grasp, and they're in a foreign pagan land, Babylon. But this predicament that they're in is precisely because they abandoned Yahweh. They abandoned the one true God and they exchanged Him for the false gods of the surrounding nations.

So let's start our reading from chapter 44 and we'll read from verse 6. By the way, I'm not going to give much commentary to these verses that we read because, honestly, it's so clear that the Bible speaks for itself here. So let's start with verses 6 through 8. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last.

Besides me, besides me, there is no God who is like me. Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appoint an ancient people. Let them declare what it is, what is to come and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid.

Have I not told you from old and declared it? And you are my witness. Is there a God besides me? There is no rock. I know not any.

And then over the page to verses, chapter 45, and we're reading from verses five through seven. So over the page to Isaiah 45, and we'll read from verses five through seven. Now these verses speak to the oneness of God, but also His sovereignty. I am the Lord, and there is no other. Besides me there is no God.

I equip you, though you do not know me. The people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity.

I am the Lord who does all these things. And a little further in the same chapter to verses 21 through 23. A little further in the same chapter 21 through 23. And it reads, declare and present your case. Let them take counsel together.

Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? and there is no other God besides me. A righteous God and a Savior, there is none besides me.

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. by myself I have sworn from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return to me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear allegiance every knee and every tongue confess. You see what this means? The people are not divided. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance.

It's not as though one deity gets some people to worship Him, and another deity gets a different group of people, like the Greeks and the Romans and the Hindus believe. The God of the Bible is worshipped exclusively as the only God, and He demands all people all people to bend their knee in allegiance to Him and Him alone. I think we all get the point, but we'll read one more, one more passage in the very next chapter, chapter 46, and we're reading from verses 8 through 10. Remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors.

Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the ends from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. Any rational person, whether they believe the Bible or not, after reading these passages, cannot conclude anything other than the Bible speaks of one God. Not many. One.

Now these Old Testament truths are also very well supported throughout the New Testament also. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes in chapter 8, there is no god but one for although there are there may be many there may be my apologies for although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth as indeed there are many gods small g and there are many lords small l yet for us there is one god one god the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. And in Romans chapter 3, the apostle also reiterates the oneness of God by following his argument to demonstrate that all have sinned, and salvation is not by works but through faith alone. He goes on to affirm one and the same God for both Jew and Gentile. Beloved, in the New Testament, there's only two categories.

You're either a Jew, and if you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. So what is Paul saying? He's saying there is one God for all, with no exceptions. And of course, here in verse five of the passage that we're reading here this evening, Paul makes it abundantly clear that God is one. There is one and only one God.

He exists in three persons, but He is only one God. I know all of us in this room totally agree with that truth, but beloved, we must understand that this doctrine is in stark contrast to the beliefs of the people in the first century under the Roman Empire. And that's the context this letter was written. The Gentiles, of course, not the Jews. The Jews, after they returned from exile, they abandoned idol worship because, as they had done before, and they were convinced truly that God is one and He is the only true God.

So, after returning from exile from Babylon, they didn't go back to their pagan idol worship, but unfortunately, For the most part, it was only superficial and intellectual belief, even when they came back, it was devoid of heart knowledge. We know this in the New Testament, but that's a different topic. Nonetheless, the pagan Gentiles in the first century, they believed in a pantheon of many gods and goddesses. Apart from the deification, that is, that Caesar was made to be a God as well. So once the Caesars died, they were seen and made to be God and they were worshipped in the Roman Empire.

But apart from that, they had hundreds of false deities. And we're made aware of this as we read through the Book of Acts. You see, as Paul and his companions make their way through the known world in different regions and into different cities, some of these gods start to emerge. Different gods in different places, different deities, different shrines and places and temples are mentioned throughout the book of Acts. The Greeks came first, we know that in history, the Greek Empire, then the Roman Empire.

So the Greeks had their own gods, you know, the Mount of Olympus had 12 gods. And then when the Romans came afterwards, they continued to worship the same gods, but they gave them different names. In Ephesus, it was the goddess of Artemis to the Greeks or Diana to the Romans. In Lystra, modern day Turkey, as we know it, we're told in Acts 14 that the citizens of that city, they thought Barnabas was Zeus and Paul was Hermes, both gods. And boy, were they happy to see them both.

You see, that misunderstanding came about because Hermes is the messenger god, the one who brings the messages, and he's well-spoken. And of course, Paul being as well-spoken as he is, they thought him to be Hermes. Many in that city, at the horror of these missionaries, began to worship them. They were eventually stopped. and they end up stoning Paul.

Talk about weak convictions, right? At one point they think he's a god to be worshipped and then a few moments later they stone him. And remember what happens when Paul enters into Athens in Acts chapter 17? The text tells us, now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he's waiting for Silas and Timothy to come down from Berea, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city was full of idols. Then a little further in that passage, we're told Paul makes a speech to the people in Athens, and this is what he says.

He says, or here, this is how he begins. He says, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are religious. For as I pass through and I observe the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, to an unknown God. Pagan worship was so rampant in the first century Roman Empire that the people of Athens had erected an altar to an unknown God just to cover their bases. Let's throw in another God into the mix.

Why not? Another one among hundreds can't hurt, right? Just to make sure. The spiritual deception was incredible and the gods they worshipped weren't all pleasant. They were depicted as powerful beings with a temperamental human emotions.

Anger, envy, lust, just to name a few, naturally with so much power and emotional instability It was best to have these gods on your side and not make them angry. And that was the mindset of the first century Roman Empire citizen. So the people appeased the gods with sacrifices and tributes. The goal was to keep the gods happy at all costs so they would bestow blessing and provide protection and not smite them. There was a local loyalty to particular deities in many regions, but most people acknowledged all the gods.

And again, they had to, just in case they missed one, and that god became angry with them and cursed them. This is the backdrop. This is the backdrop of the religious setting of the Ephesian church. But Paul makes it clear that despite what the Christians had been taught in their earlier pre-conversion years, there is but one God. And as we've seen, this God has given testimony of His oneness throughout the text of sacred scripture.

Okay, so we've established biblically that God is one, but we all already know this truth. The church in Ephesus was planted by Paul, so no doubt they too understood and were taught this apostolic truth, and they would have had the same convictions as we do today. But the acknowledgement of the oneness of God is good, but it's not enough. You see, James reminds us that even the demons believe that God is one, and they shudder. And that's why Paul doesn't end the verse there.

Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he continues. You see, this one God is holy, and He's righteous, and He's just. He dwells in unapproachable light. He is a consuming fire that cannot look upon sin. Our sin is infinitely offensive to this one God.

Therefore, anything short of pure and holy will be immediately consumed and destroyed in his presence. And herein lies the problem for the first century pagan, which many of the Christians in Ephesus once were. The pagan worldview would not allow for them to comprehend this truth. That's the non-Christians we're talking about, of course. You see, the mindset had this view, that with the right actions, being generous towards the gods, they could be placed in the gods' good books.

They were taught that if they offered sacrifices and gave honor and praise to the many gods, they would appease them and hopefully earn their favor. That favor would equate to many desired blessings, protection over sea and land, fertility for their women, healthy harvest for their fields, and victory in times of war. But now, now Paul is presenting all those deities as false counterfeits. They're phony figments of the imagination, because there is one true God over the whole universe, and He is not easily appeased. In fact, the only thing that can enter into the presence of this one and only true God is that which is pure and holy and perfect and sinless.

No gift, no offering, nothing that a sinful man or woman can give has the ability to appease a good and holy God. He doesn't look at the value of your offering and think, I can do with that. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The whole earth is His. He needs nothing.

The tributes offered to the pantheon of gods and goddesses will only ignite his righteous fury because he clearly says in his word, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. As the only true God, he is rightly jealous for his own glory. And beloved, as the only true God, he deserves it all. So the question needs to be asked. How?

How is a sinful man or woman to approach this one and only true God? If we can't appease Him with sacrifices, offerings or tributes, and since our hands are stained with the stench and the stink of sin, Then even our works that we offer are seen as an abomination in His pure and holy eyes, and they will be rejected. Then how? How can we approach this God? The answer is you can't.

You can't! The chasm is too wide and the void is too high. He is too transcendent and we are too lowly. But God has made a way and that way is before us in verse 5 through the one mediator between God and men. The man, Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, is this not the best news? If this verse was cut short and it ended with, there is but one God, without what comes next, then you and I are doomed under the destruction of God's virtuous punishment. But that's not the case. Christ, the mediator, was God's plan from before time began. By the way, Mediator, that word mediator simply means the one who stands in the middle.

He stands in between. He reaches to God and he reaches to man and he reconciles one to another. We'll have a look at how that reconciliation takes place this evening by the grace of God. But to be clear, the mediatory work of Christ goes well beyond, hear me beloved, it goes well beyond what is highlighted in these few verses. It's a vast topic encompassing his work before and after salvation.

But this evening, for the sake of time, we'll limit our study to define Christ's specific mediatory work emphasized in this passage only, and that work is the reconciliation to reconcile God to man. See, reconciliation is necessary because the creature-creator relationship was broken in Adam. He's the federal head of all humanity. As a consequence of Adam's sin, without a mediator, that relationship remains broken for every single human being since. Isaiah makes this point clear when he writes to the people of Israel and he writes these words.

He says, but your iniquity has made a separation between you and your God. Sin separates. Sin breaks apart. Sin destroys the relationship that man has with God. And Adam sinned in the garden and destroyed that relationship for everyone who comes after him also.

The Apostle Paul uses the words alienated in Colossians and we are in enmity with God in Romans to describe the spiritual relationship that we have with God. It's not good, beloved. And the only remedy, the only way to reconcile, to make men's, is to have a qualified, hear this, a qualified mediator to stand between us and make men's to what was once broken. Now we're told at the end of the verse that one mediator is the man, Christ Jesus. So what makes Jesus Christ?

What makes Christ uniquely worthy and qualified to be the only mediator between God and mankind? Well, I want to briefly mention three. Three essential attributes to qualify one to be that mediator and beloved. Christ fulfills them all. Firstly, he needs to be, as our text tells us, a man.

Because that's what our text says, right? Media is Christ the man, Christ Jesus. He needs to be fully man. In order to be our human representative, he would necessarily need to be fully human. You see, as I said before, Adam, as the federal head of all humanity, sinned and pledged all people into the corruption of sin with him.

Paul tells us in Romans 5, Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so sin spread to all men, because all sinned. You see, to be a federal head, the mediator would need to be just like Adam. a real human being in every sense of the word. This is the only way. This is the only way he could genuinely represent his own kind.

That means he would need to be born of a woman, with a human body and a human soul, have human emotions and human needs. The author of Hebrews makes the point of expressing that exact truth when he writes, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, speaking of Christ, likewise partook of the same things, flesh and blood. As a real man, he would also need to be born under the same conditions as those that he would come to represent. In other words, he would be required to be born under the law. Paul tells us in Galatians 4, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.

Being born under the law brings us necessarily to the second essential attribute of the mediator who stands between God and mankind. He needs to be 100% righteous. In other words, a worthy mediator who qualifies to be a mediator between God and man must be necessarily without sin and perfect in his active and his passive obedience to God. On the very first point of sinlessness, I said before, anything short of pure and holy and perfection could not stand before God. He or she would be consumed in an instant when they stand before a God who is a consuming fire.

Who dare even think of standing in the presence of the thrice holy God unless he is without sin. The prophet Isaiah tells us that even the seraphim, even the seraphim, cover their eyes with their wings when they are in the presence of God. All the sacrifices are old. We're depicting the sinlessness on the purity of this mediator. This is why the lamb offered to God was required to be without what spot or blemish.

This being a picture of purity. It was pointing towards the one who would come who would be the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Everything about the mediator depicts purity. Being born of a virgin would mean that he is not affected by the corruption of original sin. He never once lied.

He never stole anything. He never committed adultery, not even in his heart. He never had a bad thought in his mind, and he always loved his father with all his heart, soul, strength, mind he indeed is the sinless one Hebrews 4 tells us he is one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet what yet without sin John first John 3 5 tells us you know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is a no sin. And the Apostle Paul writes in his second letter to the church in Corinth, for our sake he made him to be seen who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. not only sinlessness in Christ, but perfect righteousness.

The verse I read just a moment earlier speaks of the sin accounted, our sin, accounted to the sinless one, and his perfect righteousness accounted as our righteousness. That perfect righteousness is an essential attribute of the mediator. You see, he needed to be everything a man was originally, or everything man was originally meant to be. Created and placed in the garden, Adam was given a command to obey God. The Creator God has a standard for his creatures and that standard is 100% perfect obedience.

Where Adam failed, Christ succeeded. Being sinless means he perfectly and actively obeyed the law of God. but he also needed to be perfect in his passive obedience. This is the obedience of Christ that made him willing to be led to the cross and to be crucified. Philippians 2 speaks of this essential obedience.

And there we read, and being found in human form, speaking of Christ of course, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death and even death on the cross. Obedient to the Father, even unto death, even the cursed death on the cross, for it is written, cursed is he who is hung on the tree. Jesus' righteousness. is his active and passive. Jesus' righteousness in his active and passive obedience is why the Apostle Paul is able to write, therefore, as one trespass led to the condemnation of all men, so one act of righteousness leads to the justification and life for all men.

So how is it that one man is able to atone for the sins of millions? This leads us to the third essential attribute of the mediator. We've seen already that He must be fully man, and we've also concluded that He needs to be, must be, 100% righteous, to qualify as the stand-in between God, perfect, holy, just, consuming fire, lives in unapproachable light, nothing apart from purity can enter His presence, and between man who has sinned, who has rebelled against God, and is depraved. We've seen those two things. sinless and perfect in obedience he needed to be.

But now the third essential attribute for Christ to qualify as a worthy mediator between God and man is he also needed to be God. Beloved, no rational thinking human being would ever possibly think, even for a mere moment, that a mere man, even a perfect man, is able to atone for the sins of many. The wages of sin is death." Romans 6. Therefore, every human being who has sinned is required to suffer an everlasting death as a just penalty before a good and holy just judge.

So it would be the epitome of arrogance for any mere man to assume that he is able to absorb the penalty of God's wrath upon millions of people merely by offering his own single life as a substitute for theirs. Beloved, not only is this unbiblical, it cannot be comprehended with the rational mind. But if this mediator is both man and God, then this is another story. Admittedly, it bends our minds because we don't have a category in our brain to be able to support this idea, nor do we have anything in our human existence that is analogous to what is being proposed. In other words, there is nothing we can point to as an example of this.

But beloved, this is the Christ of the Bible. The only mediator who stands in between God and mankind must be fully God and fully man. And the Bible is full of texts proving that Jesus is indeed God. Both explicitly, like in John 1.14, or implicitly when Jesus is recognised as having the attributes that belong to God alone.

See, if you need a refresher on these passages, then maybe listen to the recorded sermons on the first few verses of the Gospel according to John that I preached a few months back. But here, here, apart from recognizing the truth in verse six, in first Timothy, apart from recognizing that truth, that Jesus is both God and man, both fully God and both fully man, then we can't make sense of this passage. For it says here, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. This means if the father considered Christ as a worthy ransom, then Christ must be of infinite worth. Brothers and sisters, our sins are of infinite offense before God.

This is why unbelievers will pay for their offense in eternal punishment, as Jesus himself says in Matthew 25. Jesus Christ is of infinite worth because He is God. And He is able, as God, to bear the wrath of all those who would trust in Him. Now to be clear, two misconceptions that we need to clear up about what it means that Jesus is indeed the ransom for all. And the passage tells us Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all.

The first misconception that we have to just clear out quickly is that the all is not every single individual. The theme still continues from verse 1 and then verse 4 and now verse 6. The all is every type or every class of people without distinction. We don't need to spend too much time on that point because we already addressed that point in previous weeks and we unpacked it in some detail. But the other misconception is the meaning of the word ransom.

Some have suggested since the sinner is held in bondage to sin, then Christ paid the ransom to Satan. Beloved, there's nothing further from the truth. This is giving Satan way too much credit. He's a created being and he is under the sovereignty of this one God. He has some freedom for now.

But that freedom is only as far as the leash that God has given him goes. One day he too will be cast into the eternal fires of hell to suffer and to be tormented in eternal punishment, not as lord of hell, but as a prisoner in hell. No, the ransom in the New Testament language simply means the cost of the rescue or release of a prisoner. It's the cost that was paid by Christ to rescue his own people. That cost was the bearing of the wrath and the punishment of God in our place.

Excuse me. Excuse me. and dying a sinner's death, even though he committed no sin. It's the cost that Paul speaks of when he writes, you are not your own. You were bought at a price.

And the cost that Peter speaks of in the letter that our brother has been preaching and teaching to us for the last several months, there it reads, knowing that you were ransomed, that same word again, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. You see how beautifully consistent the Bible is. The ransom price that Christ paid came at a great cost. His own shed blood. So that through him, people like you and I, people who have come to trust in him, can be reconciled to God.

How did he do this? Well, the one mediator is also our Great High Priest. because with his own blood he entered into the real heavenly presence of the one true God. Not the manifested presence as in the tabernacle or the temple, for they were types and shadows, but the real presence of God. And this one worthy mediator and our great high priest offered his own blood, the blood of the perfect, sinless God-man for the atonement of the sins of all his people from every generation.

And now he sits at the right hand of the Father, continuing his work as our mediator, always interceding for his own people. Beloved, Jews and Gentiles, males and females with no distinction to class, gender, color or race, one God, one mediator, the man Jesus Christ for all. This was God's plan all along. It's not a strategy that he concocted as a reaction to the fall of man. Beloved, God created the whole universe with this salvation in mind.

It was always in the mind of God, but revealed in the proper time as verse six tells us, 2000 years ago when the word became man. The fullness of time had come and God unfolded the events that took place, climaxing with his own son on that cross, bearing the sins of all his people in his body. The Old Testament saints look forward to the glorious time, but we as New Testament Christians have the privilege of looking back to the substance of our salvation. Beloved, if there is anything we need to take away from this study this evening, my prayer and my hope it is. that our faith, that we will take away the fact that our faith is exclusive and it's absolute.

There is one God, Paul says. Whoever says otherwise is sorely mistaken. And there is one mediator, the man, Jesus Christ, who stands between man and God and mediates He's both man and God, he's sinless and he's pure, and he is the only one qualified to reconcile God to sinful, wretched man. If anyone espouses or promotes another way to God, then he is sorely mistaken, because there is only one way to God. Beloved, the Bible is full of truths that are profitable to us Christians.

But these truths that we find in verses 5 and 6 are hills that every Christian must be willing to die upon. Because our salvation, as I said at the beginning, and indeed the whole Christian faith, stands or falls on these truths. This is the gospel. There is absolutely no room for compromise, beloved, on this rock we stand. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.

Amen.