Transcript
Greetings everyone
It’s time to begin our service this evening. I am thankful you are with us, and I send my love to you all. I ask today that you pray for the saints in the Philippines. Things are moving forward there, and I know the ones on the ground are going to face some opposition. So just pray for them that God will help to open the eyes of the people.
I ask for those around the world to also pray for the ones here in the Jeffersonville area. More and more people are slowly coming to the knowledge of the truth, and it is a difficult journey. So please just lift them up in prayer. Some of them have a very hard road to travel, and I know they appreciate your love and prayers.
If this is the first time you are joining us today, my name is Charles Paisley, and I assume most of our listeners here were formerly part of the cult following of William Branham known as The Message. I am formerly the associate pastor of the second oldest message church in the world, the original sister church of the Branham Tabernacle here in Jeffersonville. This is a small mission we run as an outreach to help those who have left the Message cult.
Today, we are continuing our study in the book of Ephesians, and we are here in the second half of chapter 2. This is our fifth lesson looking at these verses. There is just so much here in the ten or so verses in the middle of chapter 2. I have tried to avoid putting too much into one lesson. I try to keep the lessons around 45 minutes long. You know where we come from; it was nothing for me to preach twice that long, and I could still do that now. It’s not like there is a lack of material. It’s not hard to make a two-hour sermon, but I have tried very hard to break some of those patterns. Not because I think there is anything wrong with listening to someone speak for two hours, but because I have wanted to break things down into smaller pieces and give you time to consider each part.
And today, as we come back to these same scriptures, I want to point out to you one final aspect in these verses. After this lesson, I think we will be able to finally move down to start looking at the end of chapter 2. Let me read to you, starting in verse 13. Paul writes:
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him, we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2 English Standard Version
Lord God, we worship your great and mighty name. You are holy and true and just and good. And you have shared the truth with us through the Bible. The truth is Jesus Christ: he is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our one and only mediator. And through him, we have access to many great and wonderful blessings and promises. Bless our study today. Open our understanding. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.
Introduction
Well, brothers and sisters, we are diving into a wonderful topic today, and the title of our lesson is The One True Mediator. Before we examine that topic, let me remind you, as I often do, of the broader context of these verses so you can understand how this fits into the large picture that the Apostle Paul is painting here in the book of Ephesians.
Here in the second half of chapter 2, Paul has been emphasizing the fact that Jesus Christ has brought us all together. Jesus Christ has made us all one. Paul is talking about unity, and that unity created by Jesus has also brought us peace with God and peace with each other in the body of Christ. Paul has described in these verses the means by which Jesus did that for us.
What Paul is describing here, the means by which Jesus did this, can all be filed under the heading of the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ. And that is a big word, Mediatorial. But that just means that Jesus is our Mediator.
Christ’s ability to mediate on our behalf is closely connected to our union with him. As we have been reading, and pointing out in some of our prior lessons, it is because we are in union with Christ that all of these things become a reality for us. It is because we are in Christ that our old man is crucified. It is because we are in Christ that we have been raised to new life. It is because we are in Christ that we are seated in the heavenly places.
All of these sorts of things are true because we are in Christ or because we have a union with him, which is unity.
And along that same line, it is because of our union with Christ that he is able to mediate on our behalf. And Paul is describing that here in these verses.
Union with the Mediator
Let me point that out to you in these verses. And, it may be that you think this is something technical and it’s not all that important. Truth is, if we had not all escaped from a doomsday cult that had so badly twisted up all these things, I would probably agree with you. I would probably not see a need to make all these points if it were not for our background. But I think, if you will look at these things honestly, it will help you see the depth to which our leaders deceived us about these things.
So let me point this out to you in these verses, and I will just start reading again at verse 13.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
Paul tells us there in verse 13 that we are brought near by the blood of Christ. Now that we are in Christ.
And what Paul is describing there is the mediatorial work of Christ. Jesus Christ was our mediator. Through his mediation, he brought us near by his blood. He restored a broken relationship through his own blood.
And what is a mediator? What does that word mediator mean?
It means someone who negotiates peace between two hostile parties. Someone who works to negotiate an end to a problem. And Jesus Christ did just that. He negotiated a resolution to the problem between us and God. The problem between us and God was sin. We were sinners, and that put us on the wrong side of the fence from God.
Jesus Christ negotiated an end to that division and separation, and he did it by offering his own blood. He offered his life. He stood in our place, and he received the death penalty, the death penalty which you and I deserved. He stood in our place, and he died in our place. And with his own blood, he healed the rift between us and God.
And now, our sins have been punished. Don’t think that you will get away with sin. Your sin absolutely must be punished. Every bad thing you ever did, there is a judgment from God that must be carried out because of those bad things you did. God is a God of justice, and sin must be punished. There is no way around it. And the penalty for sin is death. Either you are going to receive the death penalty, or you let Jesus be your mediator.
Those are the two options. Either you are punished, or Jesus is punished on our behalf. There is not a third option.
And for those of us who have faith in Christ, he served as our mediator. He offered up his life to die in our place. That reconciled us to God.
And that act of mediation is what Paul is describing here in verse 13.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
Now, did you notice how this verse started out? It started out saying, “In Christ.” In Christ. Jesus brought us near, and he was able to mediate between us and God because we are In Him.
This ability for him to mediate on our behalf is possible because we have union with Christ. I am talking about the unity of the faith here. I am talking about the prayer Jesus Christ prayed in John 17, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may all be made perfect in one.” It is because we are in Jesus Christ that he is able to mediate on our behalf.
If you are not In Christ, he is not your mediator. If you do not have union with Christ, he did not mediate for you. If you are not in unity, you are lost.
Do you see there how unity is a critical component of salvation itself? Do you see there how you cannot even possibly be saved if you are not in union with Christ?
This unity, this union with Christ, is not some advanced thing you achieve after you have been saved. It is something you have from the moment you come to saving faith in Jesus. This unity is something that is a fundamental part of salvation itself.
13 But now in Christ Jesus (unity) you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
Let me read on, and I want to keep pointing out to you how this mediation of Christ is all dependent on us being united with him.
Verse 14 says,
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.
The very means by which peace is made and the very means by which our relationship with God is restored are something that is in Jesus Christ. It is something that is in Jesus Christ.
He did this thing, in his flesh
The act of reconciliation is internal to Jesus Christ.
And so, for us to be part of that thing he did in himself, we have to be in union with him. I must be in union with Christ to be connected to this saving work he did. I must be bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. And if I am bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, then in his flesh, the division between me and God has been eliminated. And he is, personally, himself, my peace and your peace.
This is applied to us because we are IN HIM. If you are not IN HIM, you have no connection to what he did. If you are not bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, if you are not united with him, then you have no connection to the work of reconciliation he performed. But if you are IN HIM, then you were with him on the cross. You were with him in his act of reconciliation. He was mediating for you. And all these things Paul is speaking about here are true for you because you are In Christ, because you are united with him.
This is not rocket science; it’s not complicated. In fact, it is plain as day in what Paul is writing here. And Christians have believed this for thousands of years. But somewhere, our message forefathers abandoned this understanding of unity in their pursuit of deeper revelations.
But praise be to God! The treasure was dug up in the field. The pearl of great price was found in the merchant’s cart. The Lord God knows how to deliver us from false understanding and the leavened ideas that men added to the word of God.
And in passages of scripture like this, we can actually read what real unity is and how it works.
Let me keep reading.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself (so this is in and through union with him) [that he might create in himself] one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
So, there you see it. In those verses, Paul is describing the act that created the unity of the body of Christ and how, through that unity, Christ reconciled us all to God. It was through one body on the cross that he made peace. We must be in union with him to be saved, just like he prayed in John 17, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may all be made perfect in one.”
We must be in union with him, and if we are, then we were all crucified with Christ on the cross in one body.
If I have union with Christ, my old man, and my sin, was crucified on the cross with Christ.
And that is possible for each and every one of us because we are In Him, because we are in union with him.
And what is this I am talking about? I am talking about the unity of the faith, union with Christ, unity with Christ. That is what I am talking about. That is what Paul is writing about.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both [you and I both, Jew and Gentile both, Paul and his readers both] have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
Now here again, we get another clear statement showing this mediatorial work of Christ. Paul is starting how we have access to the Father, and it is very clear that this access to the father operates as a function of our union with Christ. It says through him, we have access to the Father, through Jesus Christ, not through me, not through you, not through a preacher, not through a church, not through a religious system, not through a special revelation, not through keeping special rules, not through living a special lifestyle. None of that. “Through Him,” through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. And through him, in a quiet literal way, “Through him, we both,” that both you and me, both Jew and Gentile, “Through him, we both have access” to the Father. This access is through him. Again I say, not through any other thing. This access to the Father is only through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no way to the Father, but through him. “Through him, we both have access in one Spirit to the father.” Now there is the unity again. There is one spirit, the Holy Spirit.
This is the mediatorial work of Christ. With his death, the veil was torn open, opening the way into the holy of holies. The way to God is no longer blocked. Jesus is the door to the father, and it’s open now. And that way was opened, as Paul mentioned back in verse 14, through sacrificing his flesh on the cross. It was Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that opens up this access. And it is our union with him, in one spirit, “I in them, and though in me, that we may all be made perfect in one.” It is through that union with Christ that we can come to the father. Christ’s mediatorial work functions only through our union with him. Christ’s mediatorial work only applies to those who have union with him, in one body and in one spirit.
And I want you to again notice in verse 18, it is impossible for you actually to be saved without also having union with Christ.
And this once again proves to us that the unity and union with Christ are actually part and parcel of salvation itself. If you are saved, you had to pass through verse 18. And today, if you have saving faith in Christ, then you have indeed passed through verse 18. If you are a believer in the saving work of Christ today, then verse 18 is true about you.
And brothers and sisters, I know as I mentioned when I started this lesson, maybe these things seem very technical to you, and I agree, we are looking at these verses in a very technical way. But I feel it necessary to go to this level so I can clearly point out to you that unity is part and parcel of salvation itself. Unity is not something you add to your experience after you are already saved. Unity is something you have from the moment of salvation.
In One Spirit
18 For through him, we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
If you have faith in Christ as your savior, if you have faith in the saving work he did on the cross, then through him, you have access, in one Spirit, with all the other believers, to the Father. You didn’t get access to the Father through a different spirit. You didn’t get access to the Father some other way. The only way you gained access to the Father and the salvation he offers was to access it in the one Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. We had to have unity with Christ to get to the Father.
And I want to point out another thing there in verse 18. It says we have access in One Spirit. And that implies something to us. It implies that you must have the Holy Spirit to get access to the Father. The act of salvation requires the Holy Spirit in your life. It requires us to come through Christ in the Holy Spirit.
18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
The Holy Spirit is part of this thing too. You also had to have the Holy Spirit. You didn’t get justified, and now you are saved, and then later you got sanctified, and then later you got the Holy Spirit, and then later you got the message for your hour, and then, finally at last, you got access to the father. No, it’s a package deal. You were saved, and from the moment you were saved, you had union with Christ, and you had unity with each other, and you had the Holy Spirit, and you had access to the father—all at once. It’s a package deal. It’s not different levels. You are not working your way up a ladder. It’s all part and parcel of salvation itself.
It’s all together because it takes all those things working together for you to have salvation. It takes union with Christ to be saved. It takes the Holy Spirit to be saved. And that, in a passive sense, puts you into unity with the body of Christ. There is nothing you actively do to come into unity with the rest of the body of Christ. But you are passively in unity with the body of Christ, as a product of union with Christ.
And I know, perhaps I am belaboring these points, but I really want to drive this home. When you get to chapter 4, and Paul starts talking about the unity of the faith, he is talking about what we are reading right here in these verses. And you have the very unity Paul is speaking about here in the book of Ephesians from the very moment you come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
As Paul talks about unity here on out in this book, I want you to realize he is talking about something that is not a higher level that you have to work your way up to. It’s not an advanced level of salvation. But when he talks about unity, he is talking about a union with Christ and his body that has been active in your life from the first moment you had saving faith.
And people who think unity is something you get after you are saved or it’s a higher level after salvation, those are people who do not understand the plan of salvation.
And I have said before, and I will continue to say it: All you need to tear apart the teachings of the doomsday cult we come from is an understanding of the gospel message, just an understanding of the basics. Because the things we believed in that cult, they were mistaken at a very basic, fundamental level.
They want to argue about the three woes and the seven thunders and all that sort of stuff, but you don’t even need to get in the weeds with them on those things. They fall down on the most basic things. They have gotten so far into the weeds that they can’t see the forest for the trees. They have lost the understanding of the most basic and elementary doctrines of the Christian faith.
And it really doesn’t matter what they say about the rest. It doesn’t matter if they understand the three woes and the seven thunders the right way or not because they have the plan of salvation wrong, which means they are not going to make it—certainly not the ones who have their hopes of salvation in something besides Jesus Christ.
Unity cannot possibly be some higher level of something you have to attain to in order to keep from burning up in the tribulation because the Bible tells us we are in unity from the moment we are saved. We are immediately in union with Christ from the get-go of salvation.
Can we grow in our walk with Christ? We sure can, and we sure will. But you have enough unity from the moment you are saved to make it all the way to the end.
There is really no other way to read what Paul is saying here in chapter 1 and chapter 2.
One Mediator and One Spirit
Now there is something else here I want to draw your attention to. Let me read verse 18 to you again.
18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
Who is my access to the Father through? And let me ask you this. Is it through a preacher? Was it through Paul? Did you need Paul to be saved? Did you need Paul to make it? Is there anything Paul has written in these verses to make us think that he is part of this formula? The answer is no. There is no way you can insert a preacher into this formula.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and he is the only one you need to go through to get to the Father. He is the only true mediator between you and God, and no one else can insert themselves into that role.
A good preacher does have a role to play, but the role of the preacher is not to take the place of your Savior. Their role of the preacher is to point you to the Savior.
John the Baptist explained it really well. When they asked him who he was, what did he do? Did John say, well don’t you know I am the greatest prophet there ever was? He could have given them a long answer, and talked all about himself. But when they asked John the Baptist who he was, he made himself small, and he said, “I am just a voice crying out. I am just a road sign. I am pointing you to something; it is the Savior.” And that is what a good preacher is. He is not pointing you to himself; he is pointing you to the Savior. Because the preacher needs the Savior just as much as you do. The preacher can’t save you; the preacher can’t even save himself. A good preacher points you to Jesus.
A good preacher tells you Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
Now, a bad preacher won’t do that. A bad preacher will spend half his sermon talking about himself. A bad preacher will tell you that he has the truth, and you can only get it from him and his friends. He will never tell you that you can just go get the truth from Jesus yourself. A bad preacher will rebuke you for trusting in Christ. “Oh, that is just milk. That is not good enough. You won’t make it just trusting in Christ.”
A bad preacher will tell you the right way is to follow the preacher, and that he and his friends are the only ones who know the way. He won’t tell you to follow Jesus. He won’t tell you that Jesus is the way. He will tell you he knows the way, and you got to follow him.
There are a lot of bad preachers, and what they do is they confuse the people, and instead of looking to Jesus as the way, they look to the preacher. Instead of looking to Jesus as the truth, they look to the preacher. And they get to the point that the preacher takes the place of the Savior. Their people are no longer going through Jesus to get to the Father; they are going through the preacher.
And when you let someone besides Jesus take the role of Savior in your life, you are in trouble.
The same with the church. Some people make the church their Savior. But the church can’t save you. The church is what is being saved. Other people look to special rules, or special revelations, or all kinds of other things, and they hope those things will save them. But it’s not Jesus.
“Through him we have access in one spirit.” You get the spirit through him.
And again, the preacher is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is your teacher. The Holy Spirit leads and guides your life. That doesn’t mean a preacher doesn’t have a role to play. Of course, they do. But a good preacher is going to encourage you in your relationship with Christ. A good preacher is going to teach you to rely on the Holy Spirit.
A good preacher is not going to try and take over the place of the Holy Spirit in your life. If you have got to the point where your life is guided by the preacher, rather than the Holy Spirit, then you are so far away from what Paul is talking about.
When we get to chapter 4, Paul talks about this in more detail. We will look at that when we get there, but there is a maturity that we should grow into as believers. And a key part of that maturity actually requires us to be fully equipped to walk and talk with the Lord on our own. Not such that we abandon community or the church, but such that we are independent in our walk with Christ. That we are not relying on Christ indirectly; we are relying on the leadership of the Holy Spirit directly, not on a bunch of middle men.
And that is not something you spend fifty years working at. If it takes 50 years to become mature in that way, then there is something wrong with the people coaching you.
A preacher who takes ten, twenty, thirty years trying to show you maturity in your Christian walk, and after all those years, you still haven’t got it, something is wrong.
I know many a person like that. They’ve been in church 20, 30, 40 years, and they have never got to the point of confidence in their salvation. They have never been taught a gospel message that sets their soul free. They have never been taught that they can walk and talk with the Lord, that they can follow him, and that the Holy Spirit will lead and guide them, and they don’t need anyone else to do it for them.
God is with them; their salvation is secure, and the Holy Spirit will lead and guide. Instead, what tends to happen is bad preachers trap their people. They tell them they can’t make it without their cult leader preacher. They tell them they can’t make it without their local cult church. They tell them they are lost and doomed and not even saved if they even think about leaving. They scare them with fear tactics, tell them they will miss the rapture and burn up in the tribulation unless they have their special preacher and the special things which only he can teach them.
You see, that is not a real church; that is a cult. That is not Bible-based Christianity; that is a preacher putting himself into the role of Savior and Holy Spirit. It is a preacher making himself the mediator rather than pointing you to the true mediator, and don’t make it anything less than that, because that is exactly what it is.
And Jesus said there will arise false Christs, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. But be not troubled; the end is not yet. It can be hard to see and understand what they are doing to you when you are under their delusion. Some call it delusion, some call it brainwashing. Call it whatever you want, but when you are under that thing, it’s very hard to realize that you are following a false Christ, you are following a false preacher who has put himself into the seat of the Savior, you are following a false preacher who has taken over the role of the Holy Spirit in your life, and that preacher is showing you the very signs of a false Christ that Jesus warned you about.
That can be hard to see when you are under their delusion, but if you can break your mind free, it is there to see plain as day.
But brothers and sisters, there is only one true mediator, there is only one true Savior, and your doomsday preacher can’t save you, but he can doom you.
Encouragement
Let me read verse 18 again, and then I will end this lesson.
18 For through [Jesus Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
Isn’t it wonderful to know that verse 18 is the truth? Isn’t it wonderful to be able to read that verse and know Jesus is enough? To know he is the way, the truth, and the life.
And if you are listening today, and you are getting tired of following false preachers who are always pointing you to themselves, who are always putting themselves into the place of the Savior, who don’t know the difference between their own flesh and the Holy Spirit, if you are tired of that, I want to invite you to try a different way—the true way, and his name is Jesus. And through him, you and I both have access in one Spirit to the Father. He is our true mediator, not some preacher who is acting like a false Christ. Today, you can put your full faith and trust in Jesus; he will save you, and being justified by his blood, we shall be delivered from all the wrath to come.
Be encouraged. Jesus is enough. Following him is the only way you need to go. Believing in him is the only truth you need to believe. And patterning yourself after him is the only life you need to live. It’s no more complicated than that.
18 For through [Jesus Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2
English Standard Version
It’s for both of us. It’s not just for me, but it’s for you too. And you can have it today too; just believe in Christ. Amen. If you are not following Christ today, I want to invite you to come along. Come see what a difference it will make in your life to lay down a false doomsday cult religion and put your faith in something real. Jesus is waiting, and it doesn’t matter what mountain you worship on. You might have to worship on Mount Zion with the Pharisees; you might have to worship on Mount Ephraim with the Samaritans. It’s not the mountain that matters; it’s that you worship in spirit and in truth—and you can do that anywhere. You might even be stuck in Babylon, but God can even be found there. You can throw off the yoke of false doomsday preachers, and you can start following Jesus, right now, wherever you are. Amen.
Let me close in prayer.
Prayer
Lord God, we love you. We thank you for the deliverance you have granted us. You have delivered us from ignorance; you have delivered us from false Christs who added themselves to the formula for salvation. You have delivered us from false preachers who usurped the role of the Holy Spirit. You have delivered us unto the glorious light of the gospel, that we may know that Jesus is our Savior and that he is Savior enough. And that your Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide. Thank you for the faithful servants you have called who point us to Jesus, who have been good stewards, who have served meat in due season, rather than the slow and steady gruel of doomsday.
Lord, deliver our friends and family who are trapped in the cult. Help those who this day wish to escape, but have no exit available. Change the hearts of the leaders in power in the cult and bring them to an understanding of the gospel. And Lord, we pray that they too turn to the truth and bring as many with them as they can. But Lord, if they turn not, we ask again that you bring swift judgment against the wicked so that those who are being raped, tortured, and molested may be delivered from that evil cult. We ask this of you, the just judge, in Jesus’ name. Amen.