Word of Salvation – Vol.50 No.44 – November 2005

 

Here's the One!

 

A Sermon by Rev S Bajema on Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 6

Scripture Reading:  Hebrews 7:11-28

 

Congregation...

The Lord Jesus Christ identifies with us in a very special way, even right down to the pits. The Bible says, "...we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin."

Because Jesus has been here and knows exactly whatever we're going through, anyone can go to Him with anything at all, and He'll understand. The whole Easter event proves just how true this is. This Jesus was so close to our needs that He suffered, died, was buried, rose in victory, and from that triumphant position He sent His Spirit to guide us until He returns. In fact, Jesus so identifies with us that right now He is making up for us with God Himself!

It was Lord's Day 5 which pointed out from the Bible that the only way we can avoid God's righteous judgment is, if our sins are made up for, by a person who can satisfy God's holy standard. That person had to be someone who is, on the one hand truly human, and on the other hand, truly righteous. So he had to be human - one of us - and had to be perfect.

Phew! That's quite a job description. And while I've seen some incredible job descriptions in my time, with the most long and intricate list of skills required, this in a word beats the lot! It's beyond even the best of us!

I can hear you thinking now: "Only God can do this!" That's exactly what the Bible tells us. All the scriptural evidence points to the need for a God-man to make up for that huge gap between God and man - a gap we just simply cannot cross.

This is how we come to the position about our Lord Jesus Christ. Question 18 points us in this direction, when it asks, "And who is this Mediator - True God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous?" The Answer is clear cut. Who is this Mediator? Why... it's... "Our Lord Jesus Christ who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God."

This type of mediator, though, is quite different from our modern idea of a mediator. The kind of mediator we're used to is someone who gets the two opposing people, or groups, together, and works out how they can get on together, based on what they do and how they can compromise and share together.

We've see this in industrial relations. When a union calls its members to go out on strike, arbitration is meant to begin between the employees and the employers. There is mediation because both share the need for labour.

Yet, Jesus as THE MEDIATOR is totally different! You see, God and we people had nothing in common. There's no basis for negotiations to even begin! The contrast that Scripture so clearly shows is that of a Most Holy God, far above sinful, completely depraved people.

So, then, what kind of mediator was Jesus? Christ Jesus was and is God come down to earth. It was only God giving of Himself who could establish a real link between God and mankind. For God is up there and we are a way down here, separated by the gulf of sin. But in Jesus, God has come all the way down and around, to be right there beside us.

Congregation, Jesus Christ is our only Mediator. And He is this because, firstly... JESUS CHRIST IS TRULY ONE OF US.

This is what Question 16 considers, when it asks, "Why must He be truly human and truly righteous?" The Answer of our Confession follows on from Lord's Day 5, as it says, "God's justice demands it: man has sinned, man must pay for his sin, but a sinner cannot pay for others."

So our Substitute, whoever it is that takes our place, has to have our human nature, and yet not have our sinful nature. He couldn't be just another descendant of Adam. For in Adam all are sinners. 1 Corinthians 15:22 acknowledges, "In Adam all die".

Congregation, the human race could never have produced the sinless man - Jesus Christ. So, how did He turn up? The answer is in Matthew 1, vss 20 & 21. There the angel told Joseph, "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 'Jesus', because he will save his people from their sins."

Jesus was conceived in a virgin, by the Holy Spirit. In this way His human nature was preserved from the guilt and corruption of Adam's sin. Yet, Christ was born of the virgin in the usual way, and so He was truly human. Because He was conceived in a special way He was sinless, and so able to pay for the sin of others. For it was a man who had to pay that price. And He had to be sinless. So it was that Christ was truly human and truly righteous.

Now we come to the second point. You see... JESUS CHRIST IS YET APART FROM US.

We may wonder, if He is already truly human and truly righteous, why must He also be true God? That's what Question 17 indeed asks. And so we have Answer 17. There we confess that Christ had to be true God, "So that, by the power of His divinity, He might bear the weight of God's anger in His humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life."

It's not enough that our Substitute and our Saviour was a human, even though sinless. As a human he could barely have borne the weight of sin of one man, let alone the crushing burden of God's awful anger against all mankind! Our Mediator had to be something more.

In fact, He had to be no less than the Second Person of the Almighty Eternal Trinity - equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit! This was the only way that he was able to bear up to that suffering which we deserved. This was the only way He would be able to meet all our needs - by being holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

That's what we read in Hebrews 7:28. The law of Moses appointed as high priests men who are weak, but God has appointed the Son as our Great High Priest, who is perfect forever. The deity of Christ is a vital part of the Gospel message. To deny this is to go against the Bible, or to water it down into nothing. Wasn't it the apostle John who began his Gospel with the words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" ?

In the same first chapter, John goes on further in verse 14 to declare, "The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came down from the Father, full of grace and truth." But let's see this, for a moment, from a different angle. Let's ask three questions.

The first question is this: How can you tell if someone is a Christian? It's not such a strange question. Many talk about Jesus. Many value His teaching and His life. But that can still be miles away from believing in Him. Just think of that door-knocking Jehovah's Witness or Mormon!

The second question is this: How are we able to know whether a theologian, or a minister, or any other person, is actually Bible-believing? Don't be fooled! They may have the right confessions in the constitution of their denomination. It doesn't mean they believe it.

We can answer both these questions by seeing what position Christ holds in their theology. I mean, do they teach that our Lord is the One Person of the Son of God? Is it taught that He has two distinct natures? Do they believe that these two natures consist of one being the nature of the Son of God, and the other being the nature of a perfect human being?

You might wonder how there could ever be anyone who doesn't believe these doctrines. Just meet one and you'll see! Then you'll begin to understand the real battlefield the Person of Jesus Christ has been in the Church's history.

But there was still a third question, wasn't there? A question which may have come into your mind. And that question is: Can I really understand this? Do I realise how Jesus Christ could have these two natures?

No, you don't fully comprehend it, do you? It is a mystery. But we believe this is so, because that's what the Bible teaches us about our Lord Jesus Christ.

This brings us straight into Question & Answer 19. For there it's asked, "How do you come to know this?" In other words, "Where is that knowledge of what Christ did for us, as our Mediator?"

The Answer is clear. I know this because, "The holy gospel tells me. God Himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later, He proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; finally, he fulfilled it through His own dear Son."

Congregation... JESUS CHRIST IS TRULY THE WAY FOR US; here is the third part to this teaching. Here we're shown how the flow of Scriptures goes straight to the Lord Jesus. The whole Bible speaks about Him.

Already in Genesis 3:15, when mankind was receiving the punishment due to him for his sin, God told the serpent, "...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Then in Genesis 49:10 Jacob prophesies, "The sceptre won't depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his."

Later the Old Testament tells of various sacrifices and ceremonial laws that the Israelites were required to do for their Lord God. They all pointed to the same inevitable flow - to the doing and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what the apostle John points out in his gospel, chapter 20 verse 31. In relation to the miracles he had recorded, he wrote, "...these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

The Bible speaks to us clearly about Jesus Christ, and what He has done for the believer. But unless Christ Himself opens our minds and hearts, we can't understand a word of it!

The Bible tells us that Jesus is THE Mediator. God's Word tells us He was truly human and truly righteous. And it says that He was and is true God. But all this doesn't mean a thing unless Christ's Spirit Himself guides us to it.

And He does, congregation, He does! Praise the Lord, we have Christ's Spirit among us. We are believers.

What a tremendous privilege - that we are shown this great love. A great privilege that also has great responsibility. You see, we have to strengthen and build ourselves up in this faith. The Easter event and the rest of the church year confirms our faith through remembering what our Lord did on our behalf.

But, congregation, every Sunday we need to hear God's Word proclaiming what Christ has done, and the ultimate difference it makes in our lives today. And it needs to be God's people - yes, that's us - who are moved by God's Word, to not only sit up, pay attention and listen to what's being said, but to do it!

We have to keep in step with the Spirit of this Christ! The Spirit which the apostle tells us to keep in step with, because it is the Spirit which joins us with Jesus. Then we, too, may be truly human and truly righteous.

But only in Christ. And only in Him alone. No one and nothing else will do! Easter proves it. And you show it - every day!

AMEN.

PRAYER:

Let's pray...

O most loving God, in your dear Son you took all our sin upon yourself! He suffered and died the most unjust death, so that we might be guided and blessed by you. And that lasts to all eternity!

May your Name be ever glorified - by and through us, now and always. Please move your Spirit so that all your people will be showing Jesus Christ is the One!

In the name of your Son, we pray.

Amen.