Gospel-shaped living in God's House

Preacher: Shaun Hurrie

Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Transcript

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Good morning everyone. Today's scripture reading is taken from 1 Timothy verse 2. Yeah, if you don't have a Bible, please can you kindly raise up your hand and someone will pass it to you. So I'm gonna start reading. So it's first Timothy, verse 2, or verse 1 to 7. Um, pray for all people. First of all, then I urge that 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 does 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, Jesus Christ, 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'm not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

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Paul is going to explain in this chapter how the gospel ought to shape three areas of life. Three areas of life. The prayer, their prayers, their priorities, and their relationships. And our focus this morning is going to be, as you guessed, on the first one, their prayers, their prayers, and the prayers of the church. And so to encapsulate uh the uh the message for this morning in our hearts and minds, my title is simply Gospel Shaped Living in God's House. Gospel Shaped Living in God's House. And it's gonna flow into the two main points, the key emphases that I have for us this morning. I ask, have your Bible open. Folks, have your Bible open as we submit to God's word to us today. Before we continue, though, join me in a word of prayer. Father, give us ears to hear what you would speak to each one of us this day. Whether we're longtime believers, whether we're non-believers who happen to be visiting today, or anywhere in between. Lord, give us hearts to receive the instruction found in this passage for what it truly is. The Creator God's word to us, his creatures. And Lord, won't you then help us to believe the gospel or to believe the gospel more so that we may trust and obey you out of a greater love for you than before we entered today into this room? We ask it all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen.

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Amen.

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Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. When God breathed out these words for the apostle Peter to pen, guess who the emperor of the Roman Empire was? Nero, Claudius, Caesar, Augustus, Germanicus. We'll just call him Nero from now on. In fact, he was in the last years of his reign, one that was begun in the year 54 AD. His first five years were pretty uneventful, pretty sound, pretty orderly in their administration, and this was largely because he wasn't running the show. Seneca, a philosopher, and Burus, the Praetorian guard commander, were given functional role. But then, four years later, in 58 AD, trouble began. A woman named Papea set her sights on Nero and became his mistress. Tacitus, the Roman historian, describes her as follows: quote, having every gift of nature except an honorable mind, end quote. Under her influence, Nero gradually threw off all restraint, ignoring his counselor's advice and plunging into immorality and into crime. And so first she induced Nero to murder his own mother. Then she forced Seneca to retire from the imperial court just after Burus, that other guy that I mentioned, died in 62. And so basically all traces of orderly rule were done and dusted, gone. Next, Papea persuaded Nero to divorce his wife and marry her, after which the first wife was murdered and her head brought to Papea. This sounds vaguely familiar to another Bible story you may be aware of. Hint hint, John the Baptist, okay? Nero's evil continued as he surrounded himself with greedy, arrogant men who helped drain the Roman treasury and to begin the empire's decline into bankruptcy. Rapid deterioration then followed in 64 AD when a fire destroyed half of the city of Rome. Amid rumors that he, Nero, had started the fire to free up space for his very grandiose building plans, he blamed the Roman Christians to whom Paul had written his letter about seven years before that. Many were arrested and subjected to horrific atrocities. Let me just quote Tacitus again. Some were covered with the skins of wild animals and then torn apart by dogs. Some were crucified, some were burned as torches to light at night. There's good evidence that both the apostles Peter and Paul died and were martyred during this first systematic persecution of Christians carried out by Nero. There were other emperors who would follow, but this was the first systematic. And then tragically and perhaps ironically, Papea herself was killed in 65 AD when an enraged Nero kicked her while she was pregnant in her belly. Consumed by despotism, sensuality, and delusions of grandeur, he barely recognized the increasing demands by the Roman public and the provinces to have him removed as Caesar. In fact, he went to Greece to even compete in their games. And of course, because he was Caesar, they just allowed him to win every contest. Friends, you cannot make this stuff up. History truly is greater than fiction in a real sense. Well, all of that to say this big question confronts us this morning. How on earth could the Apostle Peter expect his fellow believers to honor and respect a man of such despicable character? I believe our passage from Paul in 1 Timothy helps us to answer that difficult question, as well as other questions that may arise that the natural man, the world that lives by sight and not by faith, might ask. And it does so by painting to a life conformed to the mold of the good news of Jesus Christ. That is gospel-shaped living, that is countercultural, that goes against the flow, that is utterly opposed to our flesh, to our fallen human nature. And I submit that our passage presents gospel-shaped living in two key ways. Firstly, by prayer for all people, by prayer for all people, and secondly, through the one mediator for all people. And so let's begin with looking at how the church individually and corporately demonstrates gospel-shaped living. I'll be in verses one through four now, by prayer for all people. That'll be our key point here, by prayer for all people. I want you to notice in verse one that phrase, first of all. First of all, this is a Greek idiom and an expression that means of first priority, of first importance. And then it's followed by the word then. Some of your translations, if you don't have the ESV, may have the word therefore. You know, and always when you see the word therefore, what do you say? What's that therefore? Okay, I don't know. Sounds dumb, but it's it's there literally. Okay, but it clearly ties this section to what has come just before. In other words, the context demands that what follows on from the phrase, first of all, is meant to control and to limit the effect of the teaching in chapter one, the effect, the influence of the false teachers. This is part of how Paul in chapter 1, verse 18, says that we're to wage the good warfare, to fight the good fight against both healthy teaching and the practice that flows from it. Now, since the Apostle Paul urges Timothy to make prayer a priority again, it seems evident that the Ephesian church had stopped praying for all people. This would include praying for the unbelieving world, praying for the lost. The false teachers at Ephesus were likely Judaizers or of the Judaizing type. That is, they perverted the gospel by teaching that only Jews and only Gentiles that were proselytes or who converted to Judaism could be saved. This was religious exclusivism, salvation only for a particular group. And this, friends, if that's your mindset, that is certainly going to put a damper on evangelistic prayer for the lost. There's no need. And so, in order for Timothy and the church to be steadfast in gospel purity and committed to the proclamation of the gospel, they had to devote themselves, friends, to expansive, to universal, to inclusive prayer. And why? Why? Well, because prayer is the premium weapon that God has given to his church to slash the damnable lies of false doctrine and the perverse schemes of the evil one. Do you believe in an evil one this morning? There is an evil one. Satan. There is. And I know he's got good stuff to work with, our own hearts, which are deceitful above all things, but there is an evil one. Friends, no fruitful ongoing ministry can take place that is not bathed in prayer. And that's why we pray so much as we gather as God's people on a Sunday. In a real sense, we can't overpray. Because prayer is the mark of God's people and is a channel, a means of God's grace to us. You remember, uh, you may remember in Acts 1, just before Jesus ascended to his father, he tells his disciples to wait. Wait for the promise of the Father. Friends, this waiting wasn't to be passive. Guys, you know, disciples, it's been a rough three and a half years of ministry. It's been an even rougher last few weeks, you know, what with me dying and being buried and rising again from the dead. Go to Jerusalem and just chill. No. Waiting in scripture almost always includes God's people giving themselves over to prayer. And that's what we see the early disciples doing. This is from Acts 1, Acts 1, 12 through 14. Let me read it for us. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath-day journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Elpheus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James. Here it is. All these were with one accord and were devoting themselves to prayer. And I love this little add-on reminding us. This isn't just sort of an apostolic gentleman's club. No, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Okay, this is the disciples gathering to do what disciples do. I'll always uh remember what one of my seminary professors said. He was the pastor of a fairly small little church in rural South Carolina. He said something to the effect of if your church has nothing but Sunday worship and a midweek, he said midweek, doesn't really matter when it is, but a midweek prayer time. Your church is fulfilling its calling to be what God wants it to be. Sunday worship, prayer. That's it. Of course, you can have all of this other stuff, but if you have those, you're doing well. Well, I've come to value the wisdom in that statement. You see, the early church wasn't so much about having a prayer meeting, rather, the early church was a prayer meeting. Prayer was wrapped up in their identity as Christians. And so she's not here today, but Nom Pilo keep telling us that uh prayer is the engine room because that's exactly what it is. It's the engine room. Everything starts and happens there. Well, let's now unpack uh Paul's description in verses one and two of what this prayer involves. Do you see it there? Supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving. And so you have this general term prayers, but it also includes requests made with a sense of urgency. That's what a supplication is. You add to this prayers on behalf of others, intercession, as well as the offering up of our praise and thanks to God, that would be your thanksgivings. Friends, what do you have in that in that four-part statement? You have a charge, you have an imperative to offer up to God all kinds of prayers. You may have heard the saying, variety is the spice of life. Ever heard that before? Variety is the spice of life. Well, it can be badly used, but rightly understood and applied. I say amen to that. Okay, we don't all want fried chicken and chips every night, okay? Boring. I want something else, you know. Variety in prayer is a beautiful display of Christian unity through diverse sorts of prayer. And friends, we're not lacking in Johannesburg for diverse sorts of problems, are we? No, many problems, load shedding, general crime, gender-based violence, unemployment, uh, xenophobic tensions that we have now, water shortages, service delivery, protests, corruption. Should I go on? It's easy to despair. It's either easy to despair, or on the other hand, you know, just bad mouth our leaders online. What are they doing? What are they not doing? Paul gives a third way here: diverse prayer. Diverse prayer. Well, besides different kinds of prayers, I think there's wrapped up in here a second element that I think is, and it's our our focus really, uh, even more important. And it's this prayer for all people. Now, the word all is a very slippery term, isn't it? Very slippery. It's like a tomato seed. You think you just got hold of it and it just slips through your hands. You're like, what does all mean? Does all does all mean all of all things, all of some things, some of all things? It's quite a slippery term. You know, if I said to us all now, let's go to McDonald's and I will buy you a McFlurry, would I expect all of Rosebank to come or all of Johannesburg to come? No, I would expect all of us here within earshot to come with me. So it really depends on the context. From the context, and as we'll see in verses four and verses six, I understand this to mean prayer for all people without distinction, not all people without exception. And there is an important difference. So, prayer, all kinds of people are to be prayed for, not just believers, okay, uh, but the lost in general, regardless of their ethnicity, regardless of their social status, regardless of their educational background, their sex, male, female, whatever. Since God does not discriminate between persons on the basis of these things, neither should the believers at Ephesus, neither should us by extension here at Mtlengi City. And of course, Jesus would stress that this even includes our enemies. Luke chapter 6, verse 27, he says as much. But I tell you who hear me, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Brothers and sisters, it probably goes without saying that this requires the spirit of the living God. This is supernaturally empowered prayer. It does not come naturally to us. I don't wake up in the morning and say, which enemy can I pray for? Okay. Prayer that runs against the very grain of our flesh and yet which displays the heart of God for sinners like little else can. Friends, may we be such a praying church here at Mtlengi. And if last week was anything to go by, I think we're on the right track. Well, Paul gives a significant example uh in verse 2. He says, this kind of prayer includes kings and all who are in high positions. You know, I doubt it would take us uh long to come up with a list of names, past and presence, present of influential uh political rulers who are hostile to God. Okay, I think you'd agree with me there. I've already mentioned Nero, a blasphemer, a cruel man, a persecutor of the faith. But I think we'd be here a little bit longer if we actually put our heads together and we systematically compile the list from even the past 500 years of hostile political rulers to God. And yet Paul is urging believers to pray that just such leaders might rule wisely and for the common good. But he's not just saying pray because pray and just do it. He's not, he's given a purpose. Why, he's giving a why. Do you see it in the text? That we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. You see, in a political and social atmosphere of peaceful and a quiet life, there is freedom to pursue the kinds of activities that God's people do that is consistent with their life. Things like raising children in the Lord, serving the communities needy, taking the gospel out into the world locally as well as as globally. On top of this, while the church is called to remain uncompromising in its commitment to the truth, she is not called to agitate or disrupt the national life. Rather, when we display love and goodness to all and when we pray passionately for the lost, including our leaders, the church might just experience periods of peace, periods of religious freedom, which I think is a present blessing in South Africa that we we enjoy. Who knows how long it'll go on for? Persecution should only be the result of righteous living, not civil disobedience. Citizens of God's kingdom ought to be the best kingdom, uh best citizens down here on this kingdom on earth. Well, notice the pair in verse 2 there. Godly and dignified. Godly or godliness, it's a key word that we often find in this first letter to Timothy. It shows that there needed to be a call back to holy living. Something negatively affected by the false teaching. It was making inroads, apparently. So he calls for this godliness. Godliness refers to having the proper attitude, the proper conduct before God in everything. A life of integrity. What's happening when no one else is looking? A life to use the fancy term quorum deo before the face of God. As though God was with you when you were doing or saying or thinking those things, because he is. And that boy, gosh, that scares the bejeebis out of me sometimes. God is there. What am I doing? What am I thinking? What on earth am I saying? And I just say, Thank you, Jesus. Thank you that your obedience stands in my place. Well, godliness pairs well with dignified, also translated as holy as obedience. Honest, as reverent. Brothers and sisters, again, grace empowered calling to moral earnestness and dignity that is worthy of respect to a watching world. Holy behavior before people that draws attention for positive reasons, not for negative reasons. Now, of course, such godly and dignified living may turn out as the Apostle Peter describes in 1 Peter 4, where he says the following This is 1 Peter 4, 14 through 16. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed. Because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Any meddlers among us busybodies that always are in other people's business. Okay? Verse 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. I love that. All of that said, these kinds of prayers also refer to praying that our leaders might repent, that they might turn from their sins and embrace the gospel. And so we're certainly to pray for the church, we're to pray for one another within the body of Christ, but our prayer must include the dimension of evangelism, of being outwardly focused and motivated by a deep desire to see people come to the knowledge of Christ. How do I know this? Verse three and four. God, our Savior, desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. What does this mean? That is a big statement, isn't it? Okay, benediction time, I'm done. Toby, I'm gonna leave them hanging. You can pick up the pieces next week. Is that okay? No. Okay, no, let's continue. Let me let me uh let me submit to you what I don't think it means, what that statement means. I submit that it doesn't mean that God desires every single human being who has ever lived to be saved, but that somehow he's unable to actually accomplish this. You know, as if God the Father has his thumbs crossed up in heaven, you know, he's like, oh, you know, my son has done all he can, and now the ball is in their court. That is not the picture that we're given of God in the scriptures. That said, even though the context clearly constrains our understanding of the word all, I also don't believe that it only means that God wants all kinds of people to be saved. That is helpful. And so bear with me here. On the one hand, this understanding of all kinds of people is very helpful here and in other verses you may have read. For example, 2 Peter 3 9, 2 Peter 3 9, where Peter is speaking to God's elect, scattered throughout Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, the following is said. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any, by implication, of you should perish, but that all of you should come to repentance. Okay, uh, it doesn't include those words of you. I'm I'm I'm I'm putting those in because it seems as though the context demands it. So you've got that on the one hand. On the other hand, even in our same book, 1 Timothy 4, verse 10, you have this phrase, God our Savior. God our Savior, and it locates the source of the saving gospel in the very heart of our triune God. This is the eternal disposition of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is who God is. God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. We're seeing that in the prophets, we're seeing that in Hosea. Ezekiel says as much. Ezekiel 18, 23, 33, 11. God is pleased when they turn. The wicked turn from their ways and they live. He doesn't take pleasure in it. You see, by articulating this, Paul is clearly assaulting the ethnic and religious exclusivism that was being taught by some of the false teachers in Ephesus. Again, only Jews, only converted Gentiles can be saved. No. Now I want to be clear, as hopefully we learned when we walked through uh the recent series in Ephesians, the script the scripture explicitly teaches unconditional divine election. God will certainly save a people for his name from every tribe and nation and tongue and people based on nothing that he foresees in them, but simply for the praise of his glorious grace. But I think Paul here is nailing in, he's honing in on a complementary truth. Not a contradictory one, but a one that fits together. He wants us to understand that God retains love for all people that he has made, despite their willful rejection of him. The Greek word for desires, in fact, I think bears this out in verse 4. I won't say the Greek, but it's it's this word for desires that is not the usual word that is used to express God's will of decree or God's eternal purpose. It's a different term. In other words, I think there really is a distinction between God's will of desire and God's will of eternal saving purpose. I mean, does God want people to sin? Not that I'm aware of. Okay, he hates sin with every fiber of his being. Okay, homework today, when you go home, have lunch, have a nap, whatever. Pull out Psalm 5.4. You can read around there, Psalm 5.4, uh, Psalm 45.7. There's a number of other places. Those are just two examples, okay, to wake you from your slumber about God's disposition towards sin. Friends, he hates sin, and he hates sin's ultimate consequence, eternal unrepentant wickedness in hell. And yet, in the divine mysteries of salvation, in which a sovereign God does no violence to the will of his moral creatures, there remains a merciful inclination, a merciful disposition to all. This, even as God allows the unrepentant to have their own way, and that's what he sometimes does. We see this in Romans 1:24. Therefore, God gave them up, he gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. That's a lot there, you're like, gee, man, fire hose. Gosh. But it's here in the text. Friends, we have here in 1 Timothy an expression of the expansiveness of God's desire that brought about the incarnation, the coming in the flesh of God, the Son. He lived the obedient life I should be living. He died the unjust death on the cross. Of the complementary truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. I say good luck with that in this time. The church has taken 2,000 years and is still talking about it. Let's keep talking about it. It's great. But this divine desire and the universal offer of the gospel are meant to inform our prayerful evangelism. That is our responsibility. That is our capability as God's weak vessels, but his people nonetheless. A prayer such as, Lord, that all peoples might be saved, that Johannesburg, you know, this the city that is among the most diverse in Africa, 200 plus nationalities living here, that she might be saved. Won't you help me to be your saving agent? To my Zulu colleague, to my Nigerian shop owner, to the Afrikaner neighbor, to the Muslim landlord, for you desire them to come to the knowledge of the truth. This is gospel-shaped living in God's house. Calls for us to pray for all people. That's the only reason you and I are in, folks, this morning. If you're in Christ, there is therefore now, as we said earlier, no condemnation. That's good news this morning. There's a second related call and manner in which the gospel is to be lived out in God's house. And it's this through the one mediator for all people. It's my second key observation for us. I'll be in verses five through seven, through the one mediator of all people. Mediation is built into many African cultures as a powerful tool for resolving conflicts. For example, many, many would say most traditionally African marriages were arranged in the presence of godparents. These are people, a third party, and I know I'm preaching to the choir, many of you know this, but that would, you know, there's someone that the couple could go to in the event of needing intervention. They would then mediate between the two parties who are in conflict to help them restore harmony and peace in their relationship. The success of mediation often depended and depends on the mediator. They must be a person that both parties respect. They should have knowledge about the conflict. They should be known for their wisdom, their wise application of knowledge. Also, both sides in the conflict must be willing to submit to the authority of this mediator. Mediators can be likened to a midwife. You know what a midwife does? She doesn't coerce, she encourages, she negotiates birth. And so a mediator negotiates the birth of peace. Typically, they're not part of the conflict either. That said, if the conflict is between a very powerful person and a less powerful person, the mediator will often stand for the less powerful. In other words, when the powerful one looks at the less powerful and in their direction, they they will actually see the mediator. The mediator standing there. I want you to think about this this morning. I put you know the word every, maybe some would say almost, but I'm not aware of any. Every major religion of the world acknowledges evil. Evil of some kind. There is some great valley, great chasm between the religion's conception of God and humanity. But Christianity is unique. To bridge the chasm between God and his creation. And so, for instance, you have these stunning words from the Apostle Paul to the church at Colossae in Colossians 1, 19 through 20. Allow me to read it for us. Colossians 1, 19 through 20. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, that is Jesus, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood. Shed on the cross. Any wows this morning? Any amens? Our evil actions provoked God's just wrath so much so that you and I can no longer approach him. We can't walk with him in the cool of the day as Adam did. We cannot approach him on our own terms and by ourselves to bring any reconciliation. And this reality makes verses five and six of our passage all the more poignant, all the more astonishing. Let me read them for us again. 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. This phrase one God is interesting. It probably alludes to the Jewish prayer known as the Shema back in Deuteronomy chapter 6, 4. You've heard that before. Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is, is one. God's one of a kindness is an axiom. It is a non-negotiable truth of the Old Testament and of early Christian belief. In fact, we see in Paul's one of his earliest letters, Galatians to the Galatians, Galatians 3, he writes about this, assuming off the bat, God is one. By contrast, the Roman world was saturated in gods and religions. Much like today, where most of the world denies that the living God and his Christ, his chosen one, revealed in the scripture, is the only way to be saved. But the teaching here is emphatic. Friends, it is absolute. There is but one God and one mediator. Jesus alone mediates. Jesus alone serves as the bridge between the invisible God and people who seek Him. What's our huge problem? What is our huge problem? It is our fallen nature, our natural conception of God. We prefer to deal with him, her, it on our own terms. We prefer to deal with God directly. I've heard actually people say that before, you know. Then I'm going to stand before God and make my case. Bad idea. Bad idea. What kind of case will you make before the living God? There's no there's a there's a gap to be bridged. Paul is assaulting here, and by articulating this in this in this words that he's using, he's clearly assaulting the ethnic and religious exclusivism that was being taught by some of the false teachers in uh in Ephesus. Excuse me a second here. Continue. That's our problem. You want to approach God, friends, you you you must come to a realization. You must come to a realization that there is one, there must be someone, a God man, Jesus Christ, who is the singular answer to this conundrum that has been raised since the beginning of time. Any of you know the book of Job? It's probably one of the oldest books in the Bible, 4,000 years old. Listen to what he says in Job 9, Job 9, 32 and 33. For he, God, is not a man as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both. It's a very interesting passage. I encourage you to read further. But friends, I think even that early on, it speaks to the scandal of the exclusivity of the gospel. That there is one who can lay his hand on holy God and on sinful man. One. And friends, this is a truth which seems out of place in our age of tolerance, right? Our age of no absolutes. Because again, it's not our natural disposition to humbly access God through through Christ. Now, there have been ages like this before, it's not unique to our age, this tolerance. You know, one example, uh, the mid-1700s, you had the dawning of a period in Europe and in the West, and it and it spread to other parts of the world as well, known as the Enlightenment. I sometimes call it the Endarkenment, but it's called the Enlightenment in history. But this period was known for its deeply man-centered religious and political contemplation. Man's reason, man's knowledge became the measure of all things. And yet I want you to listen to this contemporary advice of Blaise Pascal. Anyone heard of Blaise Pascal? If you've done any physics, you've heard of Pascal's. Okay, the unit of pressure is named after this guy. He was a French philosophical, mathematical, physics genius by any standard, who came to know Jesus by grace through faith. Listen to what he says. Quote Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. Now let me say that again, and I'm going to insert something in there. Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established that unless we love the truth, I would argue Jesus Christ, okay, a person, not a mere notion or an idea, we cannot know it. Do you love Jesus today, the one who said, I am the way and the truth and the life? No one comes to the Father but through me. You see, if the Bible is God's self-revelation and it is, then believers must affirm this exclusivism. Jesus Christ is the alone mediator who is able, who packs the gear to restore peace between God and any and all sinners. And don't hear me this morning say that it's only one Christian denomination, you know, that is the way to God. Even though I'm partial, I think it's pretty solid. Elder-led, context, connectional churches, aka Presbyterianism, it's pretty solid, but no, hear me say this that faith and trust in Jesus is the only way to God. And so you have the words of the author to the Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9, 15. Therefore, he, Christ, 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. There's another whole sermon in that passage. But this this word mediator has priestly connotations. You see, under the old covenant, a priest would stand between a needy people and a holy God. In fact, once a year a high priest would stand between God and the entire nation of Israel as they as they stood before their awesome king. I asked this morning, are you needy? Are you needy this morning? Do you find yourself drawn to the to the temporal gold of Egoli, this city of gold? More so perhaps than the true gold that we see in our passage. What is the true everlasting gold? People. People are the gold. For God's treasure is all people saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. You and I can't fix Johannesburg's infrastructure. Now don't hear me say don't vote. If you have an opportunity to vote, do your responsibility, do your due diligence and vote. But we can't just fix things, but we can bend the knee and bow our knee for Johannesburg's souls. In a real sense, the church that prays for its city becomes the church that God uses to save its city. And so today, whether you have professed faith in Christ or not, I implore you, come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. He is the spotless mediator of a better covenant. He is the unmatched high priest. Notice that last verse, verse 7, where Paul actually speaks of this being the message. This is the message in faith and truth that I, Paul, was appointed to preach and teach in the world. That's what he was, his life was for. Yes, he preached to Jews, but he was a he was an apostle to the Gentiles. That was his mission to call all people. And friends, it's the same message I announced before you today. Be reconciled to the holy, holy, holy God through the one mediator of all people. June 9th, AD 68, Nero ended his own tragic life by committing suicide. It appears that in the end he had lost all will to live, did nothing to stop the growing rebellion against his rule. And yet, no matter how bad his rule got, and that's how basically psychotic the guy got towards the end, Christians were called to be responsible citizens of the empire. The same goes for us. I asked you this morning, how are you doing at honoring your elected officials? Even those with whom you strongly disagree. Are you showing honor and respect for them by praying for them? And by being a responsible citizen of your community, of your province, and indeed as we think of this nation as a whole. I'm not saying condone everything they do. Don't hear me say that. But you do have to respect the office that they hold. Listen again to Peter. He would remind us of this in his first letter, 1 Peter 2, 13 and 14. Be subject, and I love this, for the Lord's sake. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. There's a reason why God in his providence has rulers in for a particular time for however long he has them in a particular time and place. Let us trust him. Well, I hope you have found so far that gospel-shaped living in God's house is not for the faint-hearted. It's not. Nor can it be stirred up, jimmied up. It can't be sort of practiced in our own natural strength and wisdom. Can't do it. It's fueled by supernatural free grace, by that which we have received from Jesus Christ. It's carried out by trusting in his past work and by his present work. Friends, Jesus is not busy doing nothing in heaven. Okay? He is active. Our passage has shown two vital ways for how we don't conform to this world. Instead, we're being molded by the good news of Jesus Christ as we prioritize prayer for all people. And you know what? We then, as we pray, we begin in truth and love and in our daily vocations and wherever we are during the week, leading up even to the Sunday, we show God's heart by sharing the gospel of salvation through the one mediator of all people. Friends, that's love. That's love. Let's go, church, because we've got a way. We've got a way. You know, if you were if you were stuck, imagine, you know, just you were you were stuck in a in a subway, you know, under, I've been in London subways, and I tell you, you don't want to get stuck in those things. As they're trundling along, all of a sudden the lights go out and you're in the middle of a tunnel, nowhere to get out. Imagine that happened and there was a fire on the one end, and and and someone came to you and said, Here, I I think I can help you here. Do you know the way out? Yeah, I know about a hundred ways out here. Sure, just grab my hand. If someone comes to you and then says, Uh, can I help you get out of here? And says, I know the way out, whose hand are you more likely to take? I want to know the person who knows the way out, not a hundred ways out. That may or may not happen. Pray with me. Father, thank you for sending us your one and only Son, mediator, substitute, redeemer, high priest, to demonstrate your character like nothing and nobody else possibly could. Don't you help each one of us here today to be a living testimony of your covenant faithfulness? Even as we'll see, Lord, uh, in your covenant table this morning through these ordinary elements of bread and wine or grape juice. Lord, so that we may attract many into your kingdom. Lord, we ask this all for your glory, for our good, for our neighbor's best. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

unknown 46:58

Amen.