SECOND LONDON BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH 8.1, 10
Truth for Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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-The conflict rages on in Israel as the Israelis push forward their ground assault to continue their hunt for the Hamas terrorists who brought about a devastating attack on Israel several weeks ago. Prime Minister Netanyahu, when pressed, has said that he will not agree to a ceasefire. There does not seem to be any close end to the conflict between enemies. In fact, fighting might increase as another terrorist organization, Hezbollah, took advantage of the conflict with some attacks of their own, possibly pushing Israel forward to a two-front war.
-When enemies like this are such at odds, it would seem impossible for anyone to be able to step in and intervene to broker peace between the parties. It has happened in the past that a third-party was able to step in and bring parties to a plan of peace, but for now it does not seem anyone in the world has that leverage in the Middle East.
-While this is a great conflict of enemies, there was an even greater conflict beginning at the dawn of time. When mankind rebelled against its Creator, they in essence set themselves at war with God. But if there was to be any peace brought between God and humanity, who would be able to complete such a fete, representing both parties in bringing about an agreement? No other creature would be able to do such a thing, so would that leave humanity doomed? No, because God Himself provided the One who would broker peace between Him and a rebellious humanity.
-As we’ve been studying important doctrine through creeds and confession, the section we begin this evening in the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith talks about the only Mediator who would be able to represent God and Man and broker a peace between the two. The first paragraph reads:
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (VIII. Christ the Mediator)
God was pleased, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them, to be the mediator between God and humanity. God chose Him to be prophet, priest and king, and to be head and savior of the church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world. From all eternity, God gave to the Son a people to be His offspring. In time these people would be redeemed, called, justified, sanctified and glorified by Him.
-It is encouraging to think that God was pleased to make the way of peace with humanity. God did not begrudgingly make a way to tolerate humans. God lovingly opened a pathway for ceasefire for men and women to take advantage of. In a plan that was decided in eternity within the Godhead, the Trinity had made the way of peace. The paragraph says that it is according to covenant. Some theologians describe this as the covenant of redemption, where in eternity past the persons of the Godhead had determined before the foundation of the world what role each would fulfill in redeeming a remnant of humanity.
-This chapter emphasizes the role of Christ—He is the mediator of the covenant between God and man. In the previous chapters we have seen humanity’s sin and need of salvation, and how God dealt with humanity through covenant. Now, in the eternal covenant that would bring salvation to those who believe, Jesus Christ and He alone mediates this covenant—He is the only One to broker peace between God and mankind.
-The word mediator refers to someone who comes between two parties to arbitrate and remove the enmity between the two. We see that Jesus has this role. Paul told us:
5 For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human,
-In the wars between nations or tribes or factions, both sides are human, so a merely human mediator is able to do the work. But when there is such a gap between the natures and existence of beings such as God and humanity, a mere human is not able to get the job done, and yet humanity must be represented. And herein lies the great wonder and mystery of Christ’s nature and existence. To mediate for God, the mediator must be God. To mediate for man, the mediator must be man. So it pleased God to send such a mediator—Jesus Christ, God the Son, became human to broker the peace between God and man.
-We could say that with His two natures, Jesus Christ was able to represent the interests of both parties. Jesus was able to appease the justice of our holy God through His death on the cross—as man to take on man’s sins, as God so as to bear the eternal weight of God’s wrath. And now:
34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.
-Jesus is the only one able to intercede as mediator, and His work is eternal—He intercedes for us with the Father for all of eternity, meaning that we are secure for all eternity because His mediating work never ends.
-The paragraph I read speaks about how Christ mediates between God and man—He does so as a prophet, priest, and king. The confession does not expound on this until the last paragraph of the chapter, but it summarizes it this way:
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (VIII. Christ the Mediator)
The number and character of these offices is essential. Because we are ignorant, we need His prophetic office. Because we are alienated from God and imperfect in the best of our service, we need His priestly office to reconcile us and present us to God as acceptable. Because we are hostile and utterly unable to return to God, and so that we can be rescued and made secure from our spiritual enemies, we need His kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, sustain, deliver and preserve us for His heavenly kingdom.
-His being mediator relied on Him being a prophet to make known God’s will and purposes—to reveal God to the people, to reveal their sin, and to reveal God’s plan of redemption so that they may believe. Moses had told the people:
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him.
-This prophet would make God known in ways no one else could because He Himself is God. And so John, in the prologue of his gospel, tells us that Jesus, the Word, is God, and that:
18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.
-Jesus, being the Word of God, not only speaks for God, but He Himself is the revelation of God to humanity. Through Him God can be truly known by humanity (as much as their finite brains are able to understand). He is able to communicate and represent God’s expectations to mankind.
-Jesus is also the priest. Priests serves as mediators between humanity and God. It was the priests who offered sacrifices on behalf of the people. We are told:
5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, who said to him, “You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,”
6 as also in another place God says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
-Jesus is the ultimate High Priest, who offered the sacrifice of Himself for there to be peace between God and humanity. As Paul said:
21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds,
22 but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him—
-But Jesus is also King. He is the fulfillment of promise and covenant to David. He is the king that would reign forevermore. God had promised in the Old Testament:
6 “I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
-The angel told Mary about the child that she would bear:
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
-As our king, He rescues us from the enemies of sin and death, and He will reign over us forevermore.
-And because Jesus is our mediator as prophet, priest, and king, the first paragraph summarizes that He is the head and savior of the church—who is His chosen people.
22 And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things.
23 Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
-He is also heir to everything—all authority is given to Him in heaven and earth.
2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.
-It was prophesied of Him:
7 The king says, “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ‘You are my son. This very day I have become your father.
8 Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your personal property.
-And because He is the mediator, the prophet, the priest, the king, the head, and the heir, He is given the power and authority to be the ultimate judge of all things and all people.
31 because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
-And because of the mediatorial role, we receive the spiritual benefits of being the redeemed, the called, the justified, the sanctified, and the glorified by Him, in Him, and for Him.
30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
-For the Christian, Jesus’ role as mediator ought to give us comfort because we are secure in His hands. When we fail and falter, Jesus does not quit interceding for us as mediator. In fact, it is exactly because we fail and falter that He continues to intercede—representing us before the Father, granting to us mercy, grace, and forgiveness. If you ever feel downhearted because of your sin, take comfort in knowing that once you belong to Jesus, He is forever your mediator and you have peace with God forever and ever.
-But if you have never trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior, if you have never trusted that He died and rose for you, He is not your mediator, He is your judge. And you stand naked in front of the judge with no one pleading your case and nothing covering your sin. Without Christ, you are on your own, and you have no plea before God, and you have no chance of making peace with God—God will forever be your enemy. So, I implore you to believe in Jesus so that He may be your mediator, the only way to broker peace with an eternal God....