In the sermon 'Mediator of Joy' by Scott Brown, the speaker emphasizes the mediatorial role of Jesus Christ and the divine purpose behind it. He explains that God sent His Son as a mediator to bring everlasting joy and happiness to His creatures, stemming from God's own nature of eternal happiness. Brown divides his message into three parts: the reason God sent His Son, case studies of historical figures who sought God's glory, and the effects of beholding Jesus's glory. He highlights that Jesus's mediatorial role is distinct from His substitutionary role, focusing on the joy and happiness derived from beholding God's glory. Citing John Owen, Brown outlines four effects of beholding Jesus's glory: refuge, encouragement, satisfaction, and transformation. Through examples of Moses and David, he shows their longing for God's glory and the fulfillment found in it. Brown concludes that beholding the glory of Jesus is essential for a believer's transformation and ultimate joy, aligning with the eternal purpose and happiness of God.

Let's pray. Lord, we're so thankful for your glory that is so good to our sight. We Thank you for putting praises in our mouths, delivering us from our own dispositions and taking us into such good things. I pray now, Lord, that you would give us a greater vision of your glory, a desire, a hunger, a love for it all. Amen.

I've entitled this session, He is a Mediator of Joy. As I've been meditating on the glory of Jesus Christ all year long to get ready for this conference that we're having next week, I've been meditating particularly on his mediatorial role. I've come to believe that the supreme reason that God calls us to behold His glory is for something maybe unexpected. The reason he calls us to behold his glory is wrapped up in who God is and his objectives for mankind. And his objective for mankind is that we would be consumed in his nature, and in his nature and in his primary motive for salvation is everlasting happiness in himself.

Everlasting happiness is his objective for his creatures. And everlasting happiness is his objective for his creatures because that is his everlasting existence. And he brings us into his kingdom. And so I'm saying this, He is a mediator of joy. I've divided this into three sections that I think are related.

First of all, why God sent His Son as mediator, and I want to say that He sent His Son as mediator to be a mediator of joy, of the joy of God. And secondly, some quick case studies of men who long to experience the joy that is in God. And they all have one thing in common, that is that they desire the joys of God. And the third are the effects. And I want to identify four effects of beholding the glory of Jesus Christ from John Owen, because John Owen describes a very diverse constellation of benefits of beholding the glory of Jesus Christ.

You know, you can read a long book or a short book by John Owen on the glory of Jesus Christ. Here's the short one right here, The Glory of Jesus Christ. Probably, you know, the premier Puritan writer on the glory of Jesus Christ. And so it's hard to talk about that subject without somehow quoting John Owen, so I'm going to do that at the very end of this. Why?

To increase our joy. That's why. So, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ is our mediator, and we talked a while back about what is a mediator, and I think we should distinguish between the substitutionary role of Jesus Christ and the mediatorial role. Those are two different things. As our substitute, He stood in our place for the punishments we deserved from our Father.

But in his mediatorial role, it's very different. A mediator stands between us and the father. He is literally the man in the middle and a mediator does four things. He protects from the wrath of God, he brings you close to God, he sympathizes and intercedes with, he intercedes for you, and he speaks and acts in behalf of God. So that's what a mediator does.

But why God sent his son as a mediator, I think we need to really understand. It's tied up in the happiness that comes from beholding the glory of God. It's a direct result of the happiness that God has in himself, which he desires to share with his creatures. Now the reason that God sent his son as a mediator is actually stated really succinctly in the Baptist Confession of 1689, and it's stated the exact same way in the Westminster Confession of Faith. And the question that is answered is why did God the Father ordain Jesus Christ to be the mediator and sacrifice for sin and in the confession it makes it clear that it was out of his out of his own happiness out of his own desire for his own happiness was the reason he sent the Son.

And I'll read it to you. It pleased God—that's the key phrase—it pleased God in his eternal purpose to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the mediator between God and man." Notice the words, Now notice the words, it pleased God. And this makes it very clear that salvation began somewhere. And where did it begin? It began in God's pleasure.

He does everything out of his own pleasure and of course he saves sinners for his own pleasure, but he sent his Son because of the pleasures that exist in his own nature. And he desires to bring us in to those pleasures, everlastingly. That's the purpose of salvation. You know, the purpose of salvation isn't primarily get your life cleaned up. If you're saved, your life is going to get cleaned up.

But that's not his primary purpose. His primary purpose is for everlasting pleasure and happiness of his children. That is God's will for you. Isn't that good? Aren't you so thankful for that?

You know, the Apostle Paul spoke of the kind intentions of his will in Ephesians, chapter 1. I can't get over that phraseology, but he wants to bring us into his pleasures in a world where there's so many things to steal your pleasure. There's one being in this universe that wants to take you somewhere else. Isn't that good? God is so kind that way.

Now Colossians 1.9 speaks of this. 1.19 speaks of this. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross. So in Colossians 1 19, salvation is a function of God's pleasure. It pleased the Father that the fullness should dwell in his Son that he might reconcile all things.

In other words, bring close all things. So it was God's pleasure that moved him. He came as a result of the pleasure and joy of God the Father. That's why in Isaiah 42 verse 1 We read these words, Behold my servant whom I uphold. This is God the Father speaking about his Son.

My elect one in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit on him to bring forth justice to the Gentiles. Jesus Christ came for joy, and he was the exact representation of his father whose very nature is summarized by everlasting happiness. And he sent his son to redeem sinners. That's why in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 We we learn of the motivation of Jesus Why why did Jesus Christ go to the cross and there's really only one reason that he went to the cross, for the joy set before him. His greatest happiness was to bring sinners who have lost their joy and bring them into his joy.

How easy it is in this world to lose your joy. You have a Savior who wants to rescue you from that. I'm so thankful for that. God ordained him and gave him to be the only mediator between God and man. By the way, also the father delights in the son's appointment as mediator.

He delights in the supremacy of his servanthood, which is culminated and manifested in his work on the cross. But this is what Isaiah 53 verse 10 says, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. That sounds strange, doesn't it? It pleased the Lord to bruise him, why? Because His objective, everlastingly, is to bring sinners into his pleasure.

It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. In 1 Timothy 1, 11 we learn that God is happy, that he's actually infinitely happy, everlastingly happy, that he is blessed as it says in 1 Timothy 1.11. When the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth, Jesus was the happiest of all the disciples he was in Hebrews 1 9 You know you might have to listen to that like 50 50 hundred more times You know if I'm still alive, But he was the happiest of all the disciples. In Hebrews 1.9, it says, he was anointed with the oil of gladness above all his companions.

He was the happiest of them all. This is why we should have a happy church. This is why pastors should be concerned when people aren't happy, but they have to be happy in the right thing, in Jesus. And by the way, the Lord Jesus says that, in Hebrews 1.9, Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above all your companions.

It was his love for righteousness. It was his hatred of evil that brought him to happiness. And so this is all part of this scheme of God to bring people into his happiness. When you enter the presence of God, what are the first words you're going to hear? Enter into the joy.

Whose joy? The joy of your master. You're going to enter into a joy you've never had, everlastingly. Here on earth we don't have joy everlastingly. It comes and goes, but it won't be that way forever.

But God desires that for us, that it would be. This is so because the Spirit of God produces joy, and His household and the place where he dwells is the joy of the whole earth. That's what Psalm says. It is Mount Zion on the side of the north, the city of the great king. It is the joy of the whole earth.

You know, God wants to attract mankind into this everlasting joy, this Mount Zion. So it was out of God's pleasure which he desired to pass on to his creatures, which was the motive for his sending the mediator. You know, John, of course, the gospel writer in chapter 15 verse 11 understood this he says I write these things so that your joy might be made full okay I have like an extra page of references to this very subject, but I'm not going to read them. I think you get the idea. God sent his son as a mediator to wrap his children into the eternal joy of his own nature, and he ordained his son, Jesus Christ.

For there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself for a ransom for all. So run to the most satisfying, comforting mediator available in this world. You know, a while back I asked, who is your mediator? I hope it's Jesus Christ because he's a mediator of joy. And then I'd like to just give very briefly some case studies of men who longed to see the glory of God.

They had one thing in common and that is that they desired something. They desired the joys and the refreshments and the happinesses that come from the presence of God. And Let's first of all take Moses. Moses desired to see the glory of God. In Exodus chapter 33, verse 18, Moses said to the Lord, please show me your glory.

Show me your glory. He wanted to see God's glory. Moses believed that God's glory was the most beneficial thing that he could he could gaze at. But do you remember what God did in an because God did answer that prayer? He answered it in his own way.

God said, I will cause my goodness to pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." When Moses asked for the glory of the Lord he got one sliver of it, God's goodness. That's what God wanted to show him, of his glory. Nobody should ever be afraid of the glory of God unless they hate God. Then they should be afraid of the glory of God.

But if your heart turns to God, it should be the sweetest, most compelling thing you've ever thought of. I will make all my goodness pass before you." That is the kind of glory that you get when you behold the glory of Jesus Christ. And then we have David. David longed to see God's glory and there's so many places in the Psalms especially that we could go but let's go to Psalm 63 and verse 12 we see David's hunger for the glory of God but before we get to verse 12 he seeks God early oh God you're my God early will I seek you? From the very beginning of the day and then in a dry and thirsty land in this wasteland of the world where everything's going wrong My soul thirsts for you my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water." He's talking about life where there's a lot of bad stuff going on.

That's the world we live in. It's the real world. And then he speaks of the sanctuary. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. Why?

Because your loving-kindness is better than life. That's why he wanted to seek God's glory. He believed that God's loving-kindness was better than everything else. So David is one who sought the glory. John also speaks of this in the life of Jesus because Jesus desired his children to behold his glory.

In John 17 verse 24, the Lord Jesus Christ, get ready for this now, The Lord Jesus Christ expresses what is His greatest desire. This is His greatest desire for me. This is the greatest desire for you all day long. Are you ready? It's in his high priestly prayer, verse 24.

Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me. That is the supreme goal of Jesus Christ for his children. And God the Father, of course, shares this supreme vision for your life to wrap you up in his glory and his beauty. That's why David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. This was David's desire.

And Beholding the glory of Jesus Christ is the most important matter in our lives. Beholding His glory is a gateway to encouragement, strength, satisfaction, blessedness, rest, peace, beauty, transformation, and everlasting blessedness in the enjoyment of God. Now, I said that the way I said that because I've been reading John Owen. That's why. Well, of course, I believe that.

I've always believed that. But Owen puts in language—very beautiful—to explain how good the glory of Jesus Christ is. I'm going to read you some things that John Owen wrote. You can find them in this book and you can also find them in the Big Monster book as well on The Glory of Jesus Christ. What John Owen does more than anything else it seems to me it's on every page.

He's always extolling the brightness of Jesus Christ's glory and the treasures that exist in beholding his glory. And when you read him it makes you wonder why do I ever turn my face away from him? And so I'm going to give you four effects of beholding the glory of Jesus Christ from John Owen because Owen describes a very diverse constellation of benefits that beholding the glory of Jesus Christ brings to our lives. Owen thought very much about the glory of Jesus Christ. He thought it was the greatest opportunity in your life.

He says, one of the greatest privileges a believer has both in this world and in eternity is to behold the glory of Christ. So Christ prays that they may behold my glory. Oh, and believe that Jesus, you know, who is the all-wise creator, fully God and fully man, had this one desire that I referenced before. He said it like this, "'The greatest desire Christ expressed in prayer was that his people might be with him to behold his glory. So that's John John Owen's orientation on the glory of God.

Now I'm going to give you four benefits of beholding his glory that John Owen brings out in his book. There are probably 400 in this book, but I'm going to bring four. First of all, refuge. He maintains that the glory of Jesus Christ is the greatest refuge for our souls. Here's how he says it.

Christ is a sanctuary, a sure refuge to all that put their trust in him. And what would a troubled man fleeing to a safe place be looking for? He would look for all his needs to be met, to be delivered from his fears, to be protected from all dangers. Such is the Lord Christ to all sin-distressed souls. Christ is a refuge to us in all of our spiritual sorrows and troubles.

Are you burdened with a sense of sin? Are you weighed down under the oppression of any spiritual enemy? Do we, as a result of these many things, walk in darkness and have no light? One look at Christ will strengthen and comfort us. One look.

Look to him. Refuge. Secondly, encouragement. Oh, and believe that beholding the glory of Jesus Christ was your greatest source of encouragement. Anybody lacking in encouragement?

I've had my days. But if anybody's lacking in encouragement, There is the only true healing wall in your life. You know, here locally they put up a Vietnam War wall. They call it the wall that heals. Well, It doesn't heal that much, but this wall of God's glory does heal.

Here's what he said. The Lord Jesus was not concerned that his disciples should merely see how glorious he was, but that the beholding of his glory might bring encouragement, strength, satisfaction, and blessedness to his disciples. This was the whole reason why his mediatory glory was given to him. It was to encourage his children. He came to encourage us.

And The means of that encouragement is beholding his glory. Here's the third, satisfaction. Owen believed that one could only find satisfaction of the soul through beholding the glory of Jesus. Here's how he said it. Only a sight of his glory and nothing else will truly satisfy God's people.

The hearts of believers are like a magnetized needle, which cannot rest until it is pointing north. So also a believer, magnetized by the love of Christ, will always be restless until he or she comes to Christ and beholds his glory." Beholding the glory of Jesus is the only place for satisfaction of your soul, so stop looking anywhere else. Number four, transformation. Owen believed that beholding the glory of Jesus Christ was the center point of any transformation that we really need in our journey in sanctification. And he said it like this, Indeed it is by beholding the glory of Christ that believers are gradually transformed into his image and then brought to the eternal enjoyment of it because they shall be forever like him for they shall see him as he is." Transformation.

Everybody in this room needs a lot of transformation going on. There's really only one way. Beholding the glory of Jesus Christ. Now, of course, Owen got this from the Apostle Paul, who made this very clear in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, when he said to the Corinthian church, But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Owen said, No man will ever become like him by trying to imitate his behavior and his life if they know nothing of the transforming power of beholding his glory.

Like you can just try to be like him as much as you want. It'll get you very little. But to become like him, you will by beholding His glory. So in conclusion, behold his glory, enter into the everlasting joy of your Father in heaven, and remember the Baptist confession, it pleased God in His eternal purpose because God is chiefly concerned about His own happiness and He wants you to be there in it. Secondly, that we should See how our elder brothers in the faith, Moses and David, and our Lord Jesus Christ, longed for the glory of God.

And they saw His goodness in it. They saw everything good in it. And then finally, find yourself experiencing the effects of beholding His glory, His refuge, His encouragement, His satisfaction, and Your transformation. The glory of Jesus Christ is what we need the most. Would you pray with me?

Lord we thank you that you have given such great gifts to us—the finest of wheat, the very best bread, the very best water. Lord, you have given such good things. We are grateful to know you, the fountain of everlasting happiness. We are thankful that you, in the kind intentions of your will, have designed to take us up into your glory, that our glory would diminish and your glory would increase, that we would find ourselves becoming more like you as we behold you. Lord, I pray that all of us here in this church, beginning today, would have a greater longing for the sweetest thing that can ever happen to a human soul.

Amen.