A Better Mediator

0:00Morning. In many ways, this 1130 on a Sunday morning, this Sunday morning could not have come quick enough. Because I was so anxious to and excited to deliver this message this morning. And in another way, it's a little bit uh terrifying in that the point of the message this morning is so real and so good. Um I don't want to mess it up. Um so we'll ask the Lord to pray us and guide us through that. The the section that we're in here in Hebrews, this week and next week, is in many ways the culmination of all that we've been talking about to this point in the book of Hebrews. And even more than that, it's a culmination of the entirety of. I'll warn you beforehand. I'm sorry, I'm going to get emotional this morning. Um I hope and pray that my my emotions aren't a hindrance to the message. But um a culmination of all that's been done in redemptive history to this to this point is summarized in this idea of covenant and the mediation of Christ and his blood. So um so that's kind of where we're going. Uh to start this morning, I want us to turn to Genesis chapter 3. We're gonna be in Hebrews 9. So if you if you're already there and you want to put your f keep your finger on that spot, but turn real quick to Genesis chapter 3, and this is gonna be kind of what we're doing as a way of introduction. This section in Genesis 3 is titled for all of you who have a Bible with titles, is the fall. All of Genesis chapter 3 explains this whole idea of the fall. Uh specifically verse 20 is following the uh the fall itself and the curses that come as a result of the fall. We know that God cursed the serpent, he cursed the woman, and then he cursed Adam. And if we rewrite rewind a little bit before that, when the sin happened and Adam and Eve realized that they were naked, they clothed themselves with fig leaves. And we've we've made this analogy before with respect to God covering them properly after they had tried to cover themselves with the fig leaves. But we're going to tie this this morning with some passages later in Genesis, with Jeremiah, and then of course all the way up to Hebrews and to the atonement of Christ. Um let me read real quick. This is Genesis chapter 3, verse 20. The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living, and the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, skins, and clothed them. After this promise has been given, um this is a little mini-sermon, by the way, so just for the record. After this promise has been given that the seed of a woman will crush the head of a serpent, uh that uh that gospel is given to Adam, and he receives it such that he calls his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living things. This is Adam by faith saying that he is trusting in the promise of God that through him and Eve will come this deliverer. Prior to that also, one other thing I'll note is that they, Adam and Eve did not eat animals. There was no death prior to sin. They were vegetarians, and they did not eat animals, so there was no death there. And now here we see in Genesis, after the curses has been given, after they tried to cover themselves, cover their own shame, the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Where did he get those skins, if not from the Lord Himself, sacrificing animals? Uh there was shedding of blood for their covering. This is the first death recorded for us in Scripture, the death of animals by which God uses to clothe the shame of Adam and Eve. This is the foreshadowing given to us, as we will see in Hebrews. So I want to bring that to light to say from the beginning this idea of shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins and for the covering of shame, God Himself instituted on the day of the fall. And we will see ultimately fulfilled that in Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. This is a theme that is going to reoccur. And that all of the coverings of shame as a result of the shedding of blood prior to the final shedding of blood in Christ Jesus were only temporary. Okay? If you're taking notes, our our our title this morning is Christ or a Better Mediator, the supremacy of Christ's mediation. And we will look at Christ as our necessary mediator, uh, Christ as our necessary lawkeeper, and Christ as our necessary covenant maker or will maker, as our text, my translation notes today, as we'll see. So that's all the introduction, that's kind of a longer introduction than normal, but you can now flip back over to Hebrews 9. And with you, will you stand with me, please, as we read, starting in verse 15? Hebrews 9 and verse 15. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. This is the word of the Lord. Lord, I thank you for your word. I pray and ask, Lord, that you would now speak in and through your word and through the proclamation of your word, Lord, to change hearts and to refresh us in your gospel truths. Lord, speak now for Christ's sake. It is in his name that I pray. Amen. I want you to imagine this, and this is a completely made-up story. Could it have happened? Sure, it will happen. But imagine with me for just a minute that some grandparents pass away, and shortly after their death, their grandkids receive a couple letters in the mail shortly after their grandparents' death. The first of those letters is from their lawyer or a lawyer, and in that the lawyer is explaining the will to their grandkids, and included in that is a letter from their grandparents. And in that letter, it says something to the effect of we have loved you since before we even knew you. And from the time you were born, we decided and wanted so desperately to store up for you an inheritance. Not only to just leave you with memories and the love that we have for you, but to leave you with a tangible inheritance, a blessing. Something that you can have. And that will bless you. The other letter contains another copy of the will and a check for a large amount of money. Imagine those that grandkids or those grandkids feeling when they opened that. The feeling of knowing that their grandparents were thoughtful, patient, diligent, they they sacrificed. There was a bit of foreknowledge put in place and foresight. Could anybody imagine a situation in which those grandkids would not say, how was I blessed with such thoughtful grandparents? I bring that up not to say that's what we should do as grandparents. If you do, fine. But more importantly, uh to demonstrate the true inheritance that we receive, and the true giver and the maker of a will and riches that he is bestowing upon us. So put a pin in that, and we're going to come back to that thought a little bit more as we get going. Verse 15 from our text as it began says that Christ is a mediator of a new covenant. A mediator of a new covenant. So I want to first, as we flesh this out, and let me say from the beginning here, just like we're in Hebrews chapter 7 going through all this Melchizedekian thing, all those order of Melchizedek, there is going to be a little bit of thought. So I need to engage your mind a little bit this morning as we go through through these points. But what is a mediator? If Christ is a mediator of a new covenant, what really is a mediator? A mediator is a representative between two parties. One who is standing in between two parties for reconciliation, to reconcile two parties together. This is a mediator. The other point that we can need to consider from our text is not only that Christ is a mediator, but that in order to be a mediator, he had to die. Christ needed to die, to shed his blood in order that he may be this mediator between God and man that we need. He had to die. So why did we need a mediator? If he was a mediator and he had to die to mediate, why did we need a mediator and what exactly was he mediating? The first covenant, and when I say first covenant, I'll say the Mosaic covenant, and the Hebrews is calling it the first covenant, but the Mosaic covenant required obedience, and it demanded punishment for transgressions. The first covenant required obedience, and it demanded punishment for transgressions. If we were to turn, and I'm not going to turn there right now, but Deuteronomy 27 and 28, we get a picture of this idea. There were two mountains, there was Ebal and Gerizim, and the Jewish people would split half on each side of them, or half on each mountain, and they would read, they would read the curses that were given to anyone who disobeys the law. This was on Mount Ebal. And after each of those curses, all the people would say, Amen, confirming that if they broke those laws, they would receive that curse. And on the other side, on Gerizim, they would do the same thing, but with the blessings. If we obey God, we receive these blessings. So we have blessings on one side and cursings on another. And really the whole of the New Testament record, as we have seen in 1 Samuel even now as well, the whole of the Old Testament record, starting from the fall to Christ, is how well humanity is faring with that covenant. How are we faring with obedience to receive blessings? And how are we dealing with curses for disobedience? Okay, but when we talk about the first covenant, then that was not really the first covenant. The Mosaic covenant was not the first covenant. Remember when we were in Genesis, and this is why I'm asking you to engage your mind. The first covenant, apart from that which was given with Adam, was with Abraham. Right? This covenant with Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant, and that covenant was not conditioned on obedience, was it? God pulled Abraham out from a people. He chose him. And he did not condition that upon obedience. It was purely on Abraham's belief, faith, right? This is what the point that the Apostle Paul makes in Romans. So the first covenant then with Abraham was not conditioned upon obedience like the Mosaic covenant was. Turn, I want you to turn here to Genesis Genesis 15. Genesis 15, this is the covenant that God is making with Abraham. And in verse 7, he says to Abraham, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans, and I will give to you this land to possess. But he said, Oh Lord God, how am I sh how am I going to possess it? And the Lord said to him, Bring me a heifer three years old, and a female goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he brought them all to these. He cut them in half, and he laid them over against each side, but he did not cut the birds in half. And when the birds of prey came down in the carcasses, Abraham drove them away. So to certify this covenant that is not based upon works, but is based upon this promise, God asks Abraham to bring these all these animals and to cut them to half and lay them on the sides. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between those pieces. Flip forward just a little bit in your Bible to Jeremiah. I know that's a big flip, and I'm sorry that I'm asking you to flip a long ways. Okay. So this idea of covenant keeping or covenant security comes from the cutting of animals, the shedding of blood, and the passing through them. This is the signifying that we will keep this covenant, and if we do not keep this covenant, we will be like these animals who are cut in half. In Abraham's case, though, who passes through those animals? It is not Abraham. It is God. God passes through the severed pieces of the animals. He guarantees the covenant on himself. Essentially saying that if he breaks the covenant, he will be like those cut in half animals. The people is on him, he is saying. So what we see then, okay, engage your mind here. What we're seeing then is that with Abraham, God is putting all of the onus upon the covenant and the promises on himself. He is taking it all upon himself. He pays passing through the animal. But then in the second covenant, he is making it conditioned upon man's obedience. It seems like this God has put himself in a bit of a conundrum here. How is it that he can withhold a covenant that is solely based upon him and his promises, but now he is conditioned upon man and man's obedience? This is why we needed a mediator. According to the justice of God, both of those things had to be fulfilled and were required. But as we have seen all throughout the Old Testament, man could not do that which God required. And God was not going to let his promises fail. So a mediator is required. A secondary question, and you can flip back to Hebrews then now. Sorry that I'm making you flip around. A secondary question then is why was the law given to begin with? If that was the case, and this mediator is only required because God put in place a law that puts onus upon us, upon man, why was the law given to begin with? The law exists and was given, and it reveals that our only hope exists outside of ourselves. The law was given to expose our corruption, to expose our need for a savior. The law was given with the plan of Christ already in place. The mediator already called. Because we're foolish. From Adam on, we think we can be like God. We think we are like God. We think that we can build towers to reach him. We think that we can be wise like him. The law reminds us that we can't. That we won't. We need that promise of God. We need his intercession. We need his mediation. Because we cannot do that which he requires. So enter Christ then. He secures that promise. Christ as our mediator then fixes that conundrum. He connects the promise of the new, that is the gospel, with that original covenant given to Abraham that God will do it himself. Christ bridges that gap. That's why he is a required mediator. And this is why he is our required lawkeeper. So that he may now call his own to himself, having fully secured that promise of eternal inheritance. And that's a long way to get us back to our text this morning. Sorry about that. But no, I'm not sorry. Verse 15 again. We might be here a while, sorry. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant. So that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. And how was the how did he capture for us and give to us that eternal inheritance? It was by a death, his death, that redeems us from our transgressions committed under that first covenant that we all have continually committed. And he has done that through his mediation, through his blood, and by a will, an inheritance. For whether, this is verse 16. For a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only after death, since it is not enforced as the one who made it is alive. This is legal language from him, signifying that there is a will that has been made for us. A covenant, a promise that has been made for us. And Christ's mission was to secure that and to give that to us. Turn, you don't have to turn around if you want to. Romans. I'm turning to Romans very quickly. I'm asking you to turn a lot this morning. Romans 8, verse 29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. The death of Christ, he died to enact the will, as Hebrews says. To call those for an eternal inheritance. So Christ shed his blood then. Not to keep everything for himself, but so that he might share his inheritance with you. So that he might store up those treasures and then give them to you, the inheritors of his will. And that act of shedding of his blood, as we have seen so much now throughout Hebrews and all the songs that we sing, this act of redemption, this act of mediation, this act of shedding of his blood did not make salvation possible. It made it sure. It made it secure. He purchased us with his blood. He secured our eternal inheritance. As we read a few verses ago last week, he secured our eternal redemption. He made it sure. Not possible. But sure. I'm turning back to Deuteronomy 28 very quickly. And I'm going to read the blessings now that come as a result of this mediation from Christ, this shedding of his blood on your behalf. What does that mean? And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, which Christ has done for us, praise be to God. Being careful to do all his commandments that I command to you today, the Lord will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all the blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall you be in the fruit of your womb and the fruit of the ground and the fruit of your cattle, and the increase of your herds and the young and the young of your flock. Blessed shall your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies to rise against you, that rise against you to be defeated. They shall come against you one way, but they will flee seven ways. The Lord will command the blessings on you in your barns, and in all that you undertake. He will bless your land, as he is giving you. He will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. The Lord will make you abound in prosperity in the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground within the land that the Lord has sworn to your fathers to give. Those are the blessings that Christ has purchased for us, has redeemed for us, and is giving to us, both presently in some respects, but eternally, because we are talking about an eternal redemption and an eternal inheritance. So by the blood of Christ receive those blessings this morning. And those blessings that we read, those are ours eternally because of the bloodshed. Because of the death of Christ for us. Because of his mediation for us. And this will be the last thing, and I'll try to close it out here. Psalm 51. Psalm 51, if you want to turn. If not, I'll just read starting in verse 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear the joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice, hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew in a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. David gives us those words right after his fall, sin with Bathsheba. He is in the midst of transgressions. He is in the midst of sin. He is in the midst of the revelation that he has failed to do that which God has commanded. And what is David's cry? Purge me with the hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. In our text this morning from Hebrews. We read of Moses that he took the blood of the calves and the goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and he sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. Back in Psalms then, this is the revelation of David realizing and foreseeing by the power of the Spirit that it will be the blood of another who will cleanse him. Despite all of his transgressions, all of his failures, David did not say, Oh Lord, I will do better, I will be better, I'll act right from this point forward. He says, Purge me with hyssop, cover me in blood, and then I'll be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. He needs a cleansing outside of himself. And he looked forward to that cleansing. David, in a sense, is saying what we can say this morning and what we say many times this morning. Though we are sinners, cover me in the blood of Christ. Cover me in the mediating blood of Christ. Then I will be clean. Only then will I be white as snow. So I know I'm running behind, but a few points of application. Salvation is a gift from God. It's not earned. It is not merited. It is received by the cleansing flow of Christ's blood. When we are in those times of disobedience, failure, revelation that we will never measure up to God's standards, what we need is not to try harder, thinking that that will do it. What we need is to be covered in the blood of Christ, to receive his mediation. Not earned, not merited, but freely given. This covering of blood from Christ is not just a temporal thing that makes us feel better or gets us through life or whatever. This covering of blood opens up blessings. Yes, blessings now and for all eternity. And it opens up to us riches in glory, an eternal inheritance given to us. Namely, salvation and the presence of our God. Finally, this must result in our praise. It has to result in praise. The revelation of this mediation, this covering, this eternal redemption given to us by the blood of Christ must result in our praise. Imagine then, going back to that original illustration, imagine the joy from receiving that inheritance, that blessing. Imagine what a refreshment that would be, what a weight that would be lifted. What joy would come from that. You have been given that and much more. By the power of Christ and in his blood, you have been given an eternal inheritance, forgiveness of sins. That is all from the love of Christ and the love of God, and we sing love so amazing, so divine. What's the rest of it? Demands my soul, my life, my all. This is our response from the reality of Christ's mediation, from the covering of his blood. The realization of the love that he has for us. May we give him our soul, our life, and our all. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the blood of Christ. I thank you for your promises. Lord. That you have all the way back when this first sin was committed, Lord, promised to rescue us. You have committed to be the one to do that rescue. When I'm buying through your law, you have shown us that we can never measure up to what you require. And all the more you sent Christ to do that for us, that which we could never do. May we receive that this morning, Lord. May you open our hearts to hear that good news. May we turn to you, Lord, now repentance and faith once again. We're so thankful for the blood of Christ, for his mediation, for his sacrifice, for his redemption, and for the inheritance eternally that has been given to us in him. We give ourselves to you, Lord. And await the day when we will see you face to face. Ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Let's stand as we sing.