A Mediator
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 23, 1890,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." Galatians
3:20.
THE text does not strike you as difficult, but it is exceedingly
perplexing to the interpreter. I was looking at one very old
commentator who is a great favorite of mine and I noticed that he said
that there were 250 different meanings given by expositors to this
verse. John Prime, in 1587, called it, "an endless labyrinth." "Oh," I
thought, "here is a nice wood to lose oneself in! Two hundred and fifty
meanings!" Turning to a more modern author–a great reader, however–he
said he believed that more than 400 different interpretations had been
put upon the passage. This was getting from a wood into a forest–a
black forest, where one might lose himself hopelessly! Should I preach
from such a text? Yes, but I must not worry you with these many
interpretations. Some of them cannot be correct. Some of them are, no
doubt, nearly accurate. What does the passage mean? I will not venture
to say that I know, but I will venture to say that I know how to use it
for a practical purpose. If the Spirit of God will help us, we shall
find our way, by a very simple clue, to the practical meaning and make
use of the words for our soul's profit.
A mediator! What is a mediator? A mediator is a middleman, a
go-between–one who comes in between two parties who otherwise could
not commune with each other. Take the case of Moses. God's voice was
very terrible and the people could not bear it, so Moses came in and
spoke on the behalf of God. The Presence of Jehovah upon the mountain
was so glorious that men could not climb the hill and endure that great
sight–so Moses went up for men to God. He was a mediator, speaking for
the Lord, and making intercession for the people. This is what Paul
alludes to when he speaks of the Law being, "ordained by angels in the
hand of a mediator." And here the Apostle lets slip a sort of general
statement–a Truth of God which does not seem to be in connection with
anything that goes before, or anything that follows after.
He lays this down as a general rule–"A mediator is not a mediator of
one, but God is one." Paul has gold dust– his every thought is
precious. He is looking at one object, and talking about it, and
meanwhile he strikes a stone with his foot and lays bare a vein of
gold! As if he did not notice the treasure, he passes on and leaves
that vein of gold for you and for me. He is very fond of digression. It
is the style of Paul and the style of every man who is very full and
running over. He keeps to one argument, but he sees many others. While
he is running towards the goal, he lets fall golden apples in the form
of general principles which occur to him at the time.
I understand Paul here, not as going on with any argument, but as
letting fall a general principle which I–taking it out of its
connection–hope to use for our profit tonight. A mediator, a
go-between, an interposer, is not a mediator of one, that is clear–but
God is one. What shall we learn from this?
I. First, A MEDIATOR IS NOT FOR GOD ALONE. A mediator deals with two
persons–with God and man. A mediator does not come because God needs,
Himself, any kind of mediator. He is eternally One and if you view Him
as the sacred Trinity, yet He is a Trinity in Unity. God is One. Some
persons call themselves Unitarians who have no exclusive right to the
name. All Trinitarians are Unitarians–though we believe that the
Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, yet we
confess that there are not three gods, but one God. Now, between the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit there is no difference, no ground
for contention–and therefore no mediator is needed to reconcile the
Divine Persons. God is One–therefore our God does not need the
mediator for Himself.
Who is the mediator needed for, then? Why, for somebody else! That
somebody else is here tonight and I want to find him out. A mediator!
Blessed be God, there is a Mediator, but God does not need Him for His
personal purposes! There is another person for whom the Mediator is
required. Where is that other person? In the very gift of Christ as a
Mediator, in the sending of Him in His Divine and Human Nature–in
Christ's life, in Christ's death–God had an eye to another
party. God, looking out beyond Himself to somebody else, provided a
Mediator. That ought to be a great thought to you, for if God is
looking out of Himself, why should He not look at you? If God has so
looked out of Himself as to provide a Mediator, that must mean that He
is thinking of a creature who needs one. O my Soul, may He not be
thinking of you? Though you have wandered from Him and lived for many
years without Him, may it not be that as there is a Mediator and that
Mediator cannot be for God alone–for God is One–that Mediator may be
intended to meet my need and bring me back to God?
Now, according to the run of the text and according to the run of
Scripture, that other party, for whom a Mediator is sent, is man. Man
has fallen out with God. Man is at enmity with God and God is
necessarily angry with man, for He cannot but hate sin and He must
punish evil. God, therefore, is looking out on man–and here am I
tonight, sitting in the House of Prayer–is He looking on me? God
desires fellowship with men! God would have men brought near to
Him–why should not I, then, be brought near? Why should I live at a
distance? Here is a Mediator–that Mediator cannot be for God alone,
for God is One–He must be meant for a second person. May not I be that
person?
Let me lift my eyes to Heaven, and say, "O gracious Lord, grant that I
may be that other person for whom this Mediator is concerned!" For a
mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is One, and would have me to
be the second, that there may be work for a Mediator to do! That is
clear enough.
II. Now go a step further. In the second place, A MEDIATOR IS NOT FOR
PERSONS WHO ARE AGREED
WITH EACH OTHER. A mediator is not needed for persons of one heart and
of one soul. I need no mediator between myself and my brother, between
myself and my son, between myself and my wife. We are perfectly at one
already and no mediator is needed. So, then, it is clear that if there
is a mediator, it is for two persons between whom there is some ground
of difference. Mark well this Truth of God and understand it. I am not
going to say pretty things, or use fine words, yet I say to those of
you who long to be saved–Understand what I am saying, for it will help
you!
A Mediator! That must be for persons between whom them and God there is
ground of quarrel. Sinner! Sinner, this is good news for you! A
Mediator is not for a man who is perfectly at one with God, but for
you, who has by many sins provoked God! For you who by the sinfulness
of your nature stand at a distance from Him! There is need of a
Mediator between you and the thrice-holy God–and it is for such as you
that a Mediator has appeared! Do you understand this Truth of God? A
mediator is not a mediator between those who are at one. He is a
mediator between persons who differ–and that is the case with you as
to your God!
III. A mediator also comes when THERE IS A GROUND OF DIFFERENCE WHICH
CANNOT READILY BE
RESOLVED, for if the ground of difference is trivial and the two
parties are willing to be agreed, they soon settle the matter. A
mediator, an arbitrator, is brought in when the case is hard. Such is
your case and mine by nature. We have sinned. God is just. He is full
of compassion and willing to forgive as far as the slight is against
His Person, but He is also King and Judge of all the earth and He must
punish sin. If He does not punish sin, He will be unjust and the
injustice which does not punish sin is cruelty to all righteous men.
If our judges were tomorrow to say to every thief, housebreaker,
murderer, "Go your way, you are forgiven," it would be kindness to
them, but it would be cruelty to us. It would not be true mercy on the
part of God to pass by sin without punishment. He could not occupy His
Throne as the Guardian of right and the Protector of virtue if He did
not execute judgment upon sin. Here, then, we perceive a barrier
between God and the guilty–God must punish offenders–and man has
offended. How can these two be brought together? Here steps in the
Mediator, one of a thousand, who can lay His hand upon both–settle
this deadly feud and make eternal peace! A mediator is not for those
who are at one, but for those who have a ground of difference which
cannot be readily removed.
IV. In this case, if there is any wish on the part of the offending one
to be reconciled, it may be done, for the offended
God is willing to be at peace. THERE WOULD BE NO USE IN A MEDIATOR
UNLESS THE PARTIES WERE BOTH WILLING TO BE RECONCILED TO EACH OTHER. A
mediator who comes in between two who have a
continued hatred simply wastes his time. But in our case God is willing
to be reconciled. "Fury is not in Me," He says. But man is not willing
to be reconciled to God until Divine Grace changes his heart. If there
is, on your part, a wish to end your quarrel and to be friends with
God, you will be happy to know that there is a Mediator. Jesus stands
waiting to remove the barrier that divides you from God and to
reconcile you to God by His own death.
There must, however, in order for a mediator, an umpire, be a
willingness on both sides to leave the matter in his hands. There must
be a difference which they cannot remove, a difference which they wish
to have removed and a difference which they are willing to leave in the
umpire's hands. God is willing to leave our matter with Christ. He has
done so. He has laid help on One that is mighty. He has qualified and
commissioned Him to come as an Ambassador and make peace between Him
and guilty men. On your part, are you willing to hand the matter over
to Christ entirely, to do what He bids you, to admit to what He would
have you confess, to repent wherein He tells you you are wrong, to seek
to be right wherein He warns you that you have failed? Will you give
your case over to the Mediator and make Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
to be your Representative in the business?
God trusts His honor in the hands of His Son Jesus. He is not afraid to
leave everything that concerns His moral government and His royal
Character in the hands of the Well-Beloved. Will you trust your soul's
eternal interests in those same dear pierced hands? If so, rejoice that
there is a Mediator between two parties that have long been alienated–
a Mediator between God and you! Take Him to your heart tonight!
V. Now we will go a step further. A mediator is not a mediator of one,
but HE STUDIES THE INTERESTS OF BOTH PARTIES. Such is our Lord Jesus
Christ. Coming here on earth, did He come to save men? Yes. Did He come
to glorify His Father's name? Yes. For which of these two purposes did
He chiefly come? I will not say. He came for both and He blends the
two. He looks after the interests of man and pleads the causes of his
soul–He looks after the interests of God and vindicates the honor of
God even unto death. Is He obedient that He might magnify the Law of
God and make it honorable? Yes, but He is Mediator that He may deliver
us from the curse of the Law.
Beloved, our blessed Mediator is not a Mediator for one! An umpire must
not take sides, and a mediator that did not understand more than one
side and was not concerned for but one side, would be unworthy of the
name. Our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, has both Natures. Is He God?
Verily, He is very God of very God. Is He Man? Assuredly, of the
substance of His mother, as truly Man as any man among us! Is He more
God, or is He more Man? This is a question not to be asked, and,
therefore, not to be answered. He is my Brother. He is God's Son. Yes,
He is Himself, God. What better Umpire can we want than this Divine
Human Being who can lay His hands upon us both?
He counts it not robbery to be equal with God and yet calls man His
brother! Our Mediator is not a Mediator of one since He wears both
Natures and espouses both causes. Oh, how dear to the heart of Christ
is the Glory of God! He lives, He dies, He rises again to glorify the
Father! Oh, how dear to Christ is the salvation of men! He lives, He
dies, He rises again and pleads for the salvation of sinners! He has
the enthusiasm of humanity, but He has the enthusiasm of Divinity as
well. God must be glorified–our Mediator will die to do it! Man must
be saved–He will die to do it! What a splendid Mediator, who is not a
Mediator of one, but a Mediator who takes up the cause of both sides!
VI. In this capacity, OUR BLESSED MEDIATOR PLEADS FOR BOTH WITH
BOTH–for He is not a Mediator
of one. A mediator, when he would make peace, goes to this one and he
states the case. And he urges him and pleads with him. When he has done
that, he returns to the other party and states the other side. He
pleads with the one on the behalf of the other. Even so our Lord Jesus
Christ comes in between God and man. Oh, how wonderful! He pleads with
God for sinners, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
do." And then he turns round and pleads with sinners for God and bids
them turn to Him and be reconciled to Him, since He is their Father and
their Friend!
A mediator is not a mediator of one. He who should come in and pretend
to be a mediator and then throw all the blame on one party, and care
only for the interests of the other party, would not be a mediator, but
a partisan! But, in this case, here is One who has something to say,
not in vindication, or excuse for sin, but in pleading for mercy to the
sinner! He has something to say to magnify the justice of God and yet
He cries for mercy. He prays, "Have mercy, O God! Have mercy upon the
guilty!" I think that I have got the run of this text, somehow, if I
cannot give you the exact meaning of the words. This meaning lies
hidden within the words–a mediator is not for one, but he studies the
interests of both.
VII. It is, then, most clear that A MEDIATOR MUST HAVE TWO PARTIES TO
DEAL WITH or else his office is a mere name. An umpire is chosen to
keep order between two sets of people, but if only one set shall put in
an appearance, you may go home, Mr. Umpire. There is evidently nothing
for you to do. "A mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one."
Now, tonight my Lord is here to be a Mediator. God is willing to be
reconciled to men, but if there is nobody here to be reconciled–if the
preaching of tonight has no relation to anybody here–then it is quite
clear that the office of Christ
cannot be exercised. He cannot be a Mediator unless there is a sinner
here to be reconciled. Where is he? My Lord the Mediator holds His
court, tonight, and sits here as an Ambassador–but what can He do
unless there is another party? Unless I can discover the offender, the
guilty one–and unless, discovering him, the Spirit of God shall bring
him to say, "I wish to be reconciled to God and I put my case into the
hands of the great Interposer"–if there is no sinner in the world,
then there is no Savior in the world!
How can He save if men are not guilty and do not need saving? I tell
you, Sinner, you are necessary to Christ's doing any business! A man is
a surgeon and puts a brass plate outside his door. Go and tell him that
there is nobody ill in the parish. Prove to him that within 10 miles
there is nobody who has so much as a cold or a toothache–the good man
may take down his brass plate and go and spend a month in the country!
It breaks a doctor up if everybody remains healthy! Now, if tonight
everybody here has kept God's Law and is innocent, guiltless and fully
at one with God, my Master has no mission here, nor have I. I have no
need to speak of Him to you, for, "they that are whole need not a
physician; but they that are sick."
Therefore I come forth in the name of the Mediator to ask whether there
is not some sinner here who will confess his guilt–some enemy of God
who will ask for peace! Is there not here some giddy young man who has
lived without God, until now, who will pray to be reconciled to Him? If
so, you make work for my Master! You give Him something to do in that
Divine office of Mediator in which He takes such a delight. And mark
you this–in the case of a mediator, or umpire, the more difficult the
case, the greater is the honor that comes to him if he can settle it.
If there is a very stiff quarrel between you and God, I commend to you
my Lord as Mediator, for He never failed yet to settle any dispute and
at this time He says, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast
out."
Solomon was great in handling hard matters, but a greater than Solomon
is here! If your life is all in a tangle and a snarl, He can put it
straight! If your differences with God are too solemn and weighty to be
stated in words. If they press your life out of you. If they rob you of
sleep. If they bring you down to Hell's door–yet still my Lord the
Mediator can settle every difference and make peace between your soul
and God! Are you willing that He should exercise His office for you? If
so, the worse your case the greater will be the credit that will come
to my Lord as Mediator when He has removed every difficulty for you!
Do not be afraid because there are so many sinful ones here and such
great numbers of you are still the enemies of God! I do not only invite
one of you to come, but I would say–Come all, and the more the
merrier! My Lord will have the greater honor if He composes this
quarrel in hundreds of cases, all varying and all grievous! You may
come, the whole of you, and He will not shut His door against you! If
you go to see some eminent doctors of this city, you must get there
early in the morning and wait almost till night before your turn comes
round–but there will be no waiting with my Lord and Master! If you
wish to be friends with God, the Mediator is ready to settle the
difference and to send you away happy in the love of the Most High.
"But may I come?" asks one. May you come? When Christ sets up to be a
Mediator, why should you not use Him as a Mediator? I do not ask the
doctor's pardon when, feeling ill, I knock at his door! He has put up
his name as one that is willing to deal with the sick and therefore I
seek him. I take no liberty in coming. If he has undertaken an office,
let him do his office. Poor guilty Wretch, afraid to come to God?
Behold Christ puts up the name of Mediator with intent that He should
be used as such! He is the way of access to the Father! Come and use
Him for what He professes to be. Believe that He is able to do what, by
His name and His official title, He claims to do! Now come and be
reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, His Son the Mediator!
I have been nearly 40 years now trying to preach. I cannot get at it
yet. Oh, that I knew how to put this so as to move every soul to come
to God and sue for peace! How willing must God be to be at peace with
men when He provides a Mediator between Himself and them! How readily
ought you to come when Christ's honor and Glory depend upon men's
trusting their problems in His hands! I ask again, what is a mediator
if no case is trusted to him? A king without a crown, a shepherd
without a flock, a farmer without land, a physician without sick
people–these are all in a poor plight. And Christ without sinners,
where is He? His name is an empty thing and His Glory gone! Come, then,
you chief of sinners, come to Christ and leave your problems with Him!
VIII. But I close by noticing that, although it is necessary, when the
mediator begins, that there should be two parties–for he is not a
mediator of one, and God is one–yet when the case ends, A MEDIATOR
MUST MAKE THE
TWO ONE OR HE HAS NOT SUCCEEDED. Our Lord Jesus has broken down the
middle wall of partition. He has really reconciled those who stood
apart. Christ has done this for so many that I should like you, sitting
in the gallery to ask, "Why should not He do it for me?" Hung up in
Christ's private chamber there is a record of millions of quarrels
between men and God that He has settled. Why should He not have your
name among them? Why should He not end the quarrel between you and God?
Why should He not reconcile you to the Father so that the Father should
give you the kiss of peace? He has never failed in a case yet!
Some of the very worst cases have been submitted to His arbitration and
He has always succeeded. They know not in Heaven of a single defeat of
our Lord–and the gloomy shades of Hell cannot reveal a single failure
on the part of Christ, in the case of one poor, condemned, guilty soul,
that came to Him and said, "Make my peace with God." He was never
obliged to say, "I cannot do it." There is no such instance! Come, my
Friend, if you have lived to be 80, an enemy to God, you may yet become
His friend through this Mediator! Come, my Hearer, if you are young and
full of vigor, and if your passions have led you far away from purity
so that God may well quarrel with you, you may come at once, just as
you are, and Christ will make up the quarrel between you and God!
His pardoning blood can take away the guilt that angers God and the
water which flowed with the blood from His dear pierced side can take
away the propensity to rebellion within your own bosom! Surely I ought,
by such words as these, to comfort some souls and lead them to Jesus!
Reconciliation, worked out by Christ, is absolutely perfect! It means
eternal life! O my Hearer, if Jesus reconciles you to God now, you will
never quarrel with God again, nor God with you! If the Mediator takes
away the ground of feud–your sin and sinfulness–He will take it away
forever! He will cast your iniquities into the depths of the sea,
blotting out your sins like a cloud and like a thick cloud your
transgressions. He will make such peace between you and God that He
will love you forever and you will love Him forever–and nothing shall
separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I have heard of some mend-all which so puts the pieces of broken plates
together that the articles are said to be stronger than they were
before they were broken. I know not how that may be. This I know–the
union between God and the sinner reconciled by the blood of Jesus–is
closer and stronger than the union between God and unfallen Adam! That
was broken by a single stroke–but if Christ joins you to the Father by
His own precious blood, He will keep you there by the inflowing of His
Divine Grace into your soul–for who shall separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?
One thing more I have to say. Remember, if you refuse the Mediator whom
God appoints, you do peremptorily refuse to be at peace with God. You
could not have found a mediator–you cannot discover another now. There
can be no other so every way suitable to come between us and God as the
God-Man, Christ Jesus bleeding on the Cross to put away our sin and
risen from the dead to proclaim that we are justified! Now, if God
takes out of His own bosom His own Son, and gives Him up to die that He
may make peace with us–and we refuse Him–we mean endless war with
God! That is what it comes to. If you will not have Christ, you are
baring your arms for an eternal conflict with the Almighty God! You are
putting on your helmet and girding your sword to fight with your Maker.
You are rejecting peace when you reject Christ. I am sure that it is
so. You are choosing war with the Lord of Hosts. Well, Sirs, if you
will have it, you must have it–but I would implore you to repent at
once of your insane choice! HOW can you fight with God? WHY should you
fight with God? To battle with God is to battle against your own best
interests and to ruin your soul! Heaven, the only Heaven that a
creature can have, is to be at peace with his Creator. There is no
peace unto the wicked. HOW can there be? The only hope that we can have
is to be agreed with God. If He has made me, He has made me for a
purpose. If I fulfill that purpose, I shall answer the end of my being
and I shall be happy.
If I do not fulfill that purpose, I must be unhappy–and in choosing to
be the foe of God I have chosen my own eternal damnation! God help us
to repent of such a choice and may we now lay hold on Christ the
Mediator and trust ourselves with Him, that He may make peace between
us and God–and to His name shall be glory forever and ever! Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Galatians 3.