The sermon by Mike Davenport focuses on Christ the Mediator, as outlined in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, specifically chapters 8:3-6. It emphasizes the dual nature of Christ, being both fully divine and fully human, and how He was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit to execute His role as the mediator. The sermon highlights that Christ did not take on this role by Himself but was appointed by the Father, who endowed Him with all power and judgment. It explains the necessity of Jesus having the Holy Spirit despite His divine nature, to fully experience human weaknesses and to rely on God's Word and Spirit like His brethren. The sermon elaborates on Christ's perfect obedience to the law and His sacrificial death, which together fully satisfied God's justice, procured reconciliation, and secured an eternal inheritance for the elect. The mediatorial role required Christ to endure both physical and spiritual sufferings, culminating in His crucifixion and resurrection. The sermon concludes by highlighting the ongoing application of redemption and urges listeners to seek salvation through Christ, the only mediator between God and humanity.

We get to do just that during this time. We get to glory in our Redeemer, as once again this week we consider our confession as it deals with, of Christ the Mediator, of Christ the Mediator. And so again, we're looking at chapter 8, and tonight we'll begin with paragraph 3, picking up in paragraph 3. The Lord Jesus, in His human nature, thus united to the divine in the person of the Son, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure, having in Him all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell. To the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of mediator and surety, which office he took not upon himself, but was thereunto called by his Father, who also put all power and judgment in his hand, and gave Him commandment to execute the same." Well, as we noted last week, this paragraph speaks to the qualifications of Christ that were present and sufficient in the taking up of this role that His Father had given Him.

Again reiterating the joining of the two natures in his one person, the writers now draw attention to the fact that he was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit. And that above measure, for by the measure of the Spirit he received, he was then endowed, as it says, with all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. Do you recall our time in Isaiah, particularly chapter 11, verses 1 and 2? We read there, there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Or how about Isaiah 42 verse 1, God the Father speaking, behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. And so we see the Lord Jesus in His human nature thus united to the divine in that one person of the Son was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure. Now, was it necessary for Jesus to have the Holy Spirit? I mean, He's the second person of the Godhead.

Well, for one, to be made like His brethren, to understand and enter into our weaknesses and liabilities, the manhood of Christ relied upon God's Word and the Holy Spirit just as we must rely on them. Luke 2 52 says, and Jesus increased, He increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Again, I will draw your attention back to our study in Isaiah. Isaiah 50 verses 4 and 5. This, Jesus speaking these words, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.

He, that is my Father, awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away." So Jesus was given the Holy Spirit without measure, something that we know not of. He was given the Spirit without measure such that He was full of wisdom and knowledge. Next we are told that it pleased the Father that all the fullness of deity should dwell in him." This, again, is why we oppose any notion that Christ laid aside his deity or any of his attributes in any form, fashion, or measure in order to take on flesh.

Colossians 1, 19 and 20 holds forth that Christ's office as mediator as the context of the Father's pleasure that all the fullness should dwell in Him. There it says, for it pleased the Father that in Christ should all the fullness dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, that is by this mediator whom he had ordained, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross." So what is this fullness of which it speaks? It pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell in Him. Well Colossians 2.9 helps us grasp what the apostle Paul is referring to in terms of this fullness. It says therefore in Him, that is in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

All the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In this body, and remember we talked about it last week that Christ has existed as God from all eternity. Here's this dot with an arrow reaching back into eternity. He has always existed as God but there was in time the giving of a body he says a body oh father you have given me and he took on a body and so he continues now through all eternity from that point two arrows moving forward full deity full humanity but just one person and so in this body Christ had all the fullness of the Godhead It was only with this fullness of the Godhead in relation to His deity and the work of the Spirit in conjunction with His humanity that Jesus would be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of mediator and surety, an office that as we see would require Him to be holy, to be harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth." So there again, it was with the fullness of this Godhead and with that with conjunction of the Spirit working in conjunction with His humanity that Jesus would be furnished for this office. Now, they remind us that Christ was chosen and ordained to this office by his father.

He was ordained by God for this office. And this is the clear teaching of Scripture. The government of this kingdom was placed upon His shoulder. And of the increase of this government and of this peace, there will be no end. Because of this mediatorial role of Christ, Because of it, the Father has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

And we see as this paragraph closes that because Jesus Christ, the God-man, who thought it not a thing to be held onto, to be equal with God, but remember as we stated last week, he became poor not by setting aside, not by subtracting, but by adding, by taking on the form of a servant. And he came in the likeness of man and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. And because of this, God has highly exalted Him. And that's why we see here at the end, who also, that is the Father, put all power and judgment in His hand and gave Him, that is Christ, commandment to execute the same. So that's paragraph three on to paragraph four.

The office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake which that he might discharge he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfill it, and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered, being made sin and a curse for us. Enduring most grievous sorrows in his soul and most painful sufferings in his body, was crucified and died and remained in the state of the dead, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he arose from the dead with the same body in which he suffered, with which he also ascended into heaven, and there sits at the right hand of his Father, making intercession, and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world." of the world. Having been chosen and ordained by the Father, Jesus undertook the office of mediator not grudgingly but most willingly. Again I said last week the words that really just weighed heavy on my soul is it pleased God.

It pleased God to do this to ordain to choose and ordain the mediator for us that we might be reconciled to him. And then this week to see that this office, the Lord Jesus, did most willingly, most willingly undertake. The writer of the Hebrews says the following in chapter 10 verses 5 through 10, therefore when he that is Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body, a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God.

Previously saying, sacrifice in offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin you did not desire nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Unlike most duties a mediator may have need to take upon himself.

This office of Christ necessitated much more from his office. Drawing attention once again back to chapter 7, paragraph 1, reread, the distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to him as their creator yet they could never never never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part. It required condescension on God's part and so this office of mediator, we have mediators in our day as well, but this office that Christ undertook demanded much more of him than the normal office that a mediator would take up. We read here that this office of mediator necessitated that he be made under the law. Be made under the law.

What does this mean? It means that he was subject to the law, that he had a duty to keep the law. Now as God, as God, he was above the law. The principles of the law find their perfection in the Godhead. Yet the God who said, You shall not kill, asked Abraham to offer his only son Isaac on the altar.

Was this sin on God's part? To require something of Abraham that was clear he didn't approve of, even though the law came after him, that was the law of God. You shall not kill because we are image bearers. Did God sin? Absolutely not.

God cannot sin. He cannot. But God is not under the law, but the law is a reflection of His perfections and His will. But Christ coming in the flesh, being made like us, was made under that very law. And we see next that he did perfectly fulfill that law.

He fulfilled it perfectly. And God's justice demanded this. It demanded it. Had Christ not been made under the law, and had he not kept it perfectly, we would be without hope of salvation or reconciliation. It'd be over, done.

Though he was perfect, he still had to pay the wages of sin. If he obeyed this law perfectly, why must he die? Death is the wages of sin. Well, it was because he underwent that punishment due to us. Due to us.

A punishment we should have borne and suffered. As Charles Wesley put it in his hymn that I think many of us love so dearly, died he for me, For me who caused his pain, for me who him to death pursued. And so he who knew no sin became sin for us and was made a curse on account of our sin. No normal role as a mediator, but this is our Savior. This is our Savior.

Now this mediatorial role necessitated not only painful sufferings in his body, For this he could have endured without the agony of spirit even demonstrated in the Garden of Gethsemane. Read the history of the martyrs. There were many who suffered physically, some praying, some preaching, some singing. But it was not just these sufferings of his body. His role as mediator necessitated the grievous sorrows of his very soul.

Of his very soul. Think about it. To have been the pleasure of his father in heaven from all eternity And then to have that one turn his face away. To have known such unity and communion from all eternity and to have his soul shrouded in darkness much deeper than the darkness experienced by those in Jerusalem on that day when the sun went out between the sixth and the ninth hour. Flower, the darkness of his soul as his father turned his face away as wounds which marred this Holy One lead many sons to glory.

As Martin Luther was meditating upon those words in the gospel, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? After a long period of meditation, He came out very sober and shaking his head saying, God, forsaken by God, who can contemplate it? Who can contemplate it, the sorrows of his very soul. Yet it was due to his office as mediator that he had to be crucified to die and be buried. But the writers remind us he did not see corruption.

That was the promise from the Psalms, you will not let my body see corruption. He arose from the grave, he ascended into heaven, and there he sits at God's right hand mediating or interceding on our behalf. And because of what he suffered, the Father hears His intercessions on our behalf and responds with favor. We're not deserving of favor. It's Because Christ, our mediator, stood in the gap, swallowed up all the wrath of God that we were storing up.

He swallowed it up. It's gone. And he even now sits at God's right hand mediating for us, interceding for us, saying that one was born in Jerusalem, that one was born in Zion. The Lord rebuke you, Satan. That is a brand plucked from the fire.

He's mine. He's mine. This is our mediator, Jesus Christ. Fifth paragraph, the Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up to God, has fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven for all those whom the Father has given unto him." Now this, I'm going to call it short by means of all that we see written by these men, it's short. This short, concise sentence is packed full.

I mean it is packed full of so much doctrinal truth. But at the heart of it, at the heart of this paragraph lie three dogmatic and definitive truths. Number one, the Lord Jesus has fully satisfied the justice of God. The Lord Jesus has fully satisfied the justice of God. The Lord Jesus has fully satisfied the justice of God.

Number two, the Lord Jesus has procured reconciliation. He's procured reconciliation. And number three, the Lord Jesus has purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. So number one, the Lord Jesus has fully satisfied the justice of God. Let those words sink in, fully satisfied, fully satisfied.

God's justice, that fully satisfied. God's justice, that justice that demands from you, holy perfection. It looks upon Christ, His perfect obedience and the sacrifice of Himself and that justice asks no more. You children, do you understand that? Do you understand that as God looks at you, He demands perfection?

Don't dare ever, don't dare ever disobey your mom or dad. Don't you ever lie. Don't you ever say you're going to do something, yeah, I'm going to be there at the table when dinner's ready tonight at 6 o'clock mom and you come at 601 don't ever do that why because God's justice demands perfection you must be without sin You know in your heart that you aren't, right? You know that you sin. I sin.

We as adults sin. God's justice demands perfection, no sin. What hope do we have? That's it right there. That Christ has fully satisfied the justice of God.

Why? Because He was made under the law and he kept it perfectly. He obeyed his mom and dad all the time. If he said he would do something, he did it all the time. He never lied, he never stole, He never had evil thoughts come across his mind.

He never hit his brothers or sisters. He never got angry with his brothers or his sisters. He kept the law perfectly. And because of his obedience and because of his sacrificial death he has fully satisfied the justice of God. So when God looks upon us And we say look at Christ don't look at me.

My soul is hidden in him He looks at Christ and he says satisfied and he asks no more Secondly the Lord Jesus has procured reconciliation There is nothing left for man to do. Nothing. He procured that reconciliation with God. Redemption, reconciliation, justification have all been procured. The debt's been paid.

Jesus has not issued a check in your name in the amount of the full reconciliation and just sits there waiting for you to endorse the back so that the transactions complete. No. No. These were his words. It is finished.

It's finished. Second Corinthians 5 18 to 19 say, now all things are of God. All things are of God. Who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself while Christ was dying.

God was in him Reconciling the entire of his people to himself not imputing their trespasses to them Because it was fully satisfied in Christ Reconciliation procured by him Thirdly the Lord Jesus has purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. Peter writes this in the opening of his first epistle, chapter 1 verses 3 to 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Another verse that we touched upon last week was Hebrews 9.15, and for this reason Christ is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Promise of the eternal inheritance.

Well did the hymn writer John Newton pen the following words to one of my favorite hymns. Favorite hymns. Let us love and sing and wonder. Let us praise the Savior's name. He has hushed the law's loud thunder.

He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame. He has washed us with His blood. He has brought us nigh to God. Let us love the Lord who bought us, pitied us when enemies called us by His grace and taught us, gave us ears and gave us eyes. He has washed us with His blood.

He presents our souls to God. Let us sing, Though fierce temptation threaten hard to bear us down, for the Lord, our strong salvation, holds in view the conqueror's crown. He who washed us with his blood soon will bring us home to God. Let us wonder, grace and justice join and point to mercy's store. When through grace in Christ our trust is, justice smiles and asks No more.

He who washed us with his blood has secured our way to God. Let us praise and join the chorus of the saints enthroned on high. Here they trusted Him before us. Now their praises fill the sky. Thou hast washed us with Thy blood.

Thou art worthy Lamb of God." Another doctrinal truth that jumps out at us from this paragraph is that it was both the obedience as well as the death of Christ that satisfies God's justice and procures reconciliation and purchases this eternal inheritance. Had there been no perfect obedience, the substitutionary death would have accomplished nothing. He not only died the death that we dare not die, but he lived the life that we could not live. Paul tells us in Romans 5 19, for as by one man's disobedience, that being Adam's, by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous." We also see in here the truth of the reality of the Trinity. We see the reality of the Trinity here, that Jesus through the eternal Spirit once offered up to God, through the eternal Spirit once offered up to the Father.

And last but not least, we see the doctrine of particular redemption, particular redemption that Jesus did satisfy justice, procure reconciliation, and purchase an inheritance for a certain group of people, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him. Think of it. If justice has already been satisfied, if reconciliation has already been procured, If an eternal inheritance has already been purchased, then of necessity a people would have had to have been chosen, ordained, and elected. And so we see here that the redemption of Christ was particular. The Holy Spirit first opened my eyes and ears to this wonderful doctrines of grace by means of bringing this particular doctrine of particular redemption to my attention and it was through Paul's simple statement in Ephesians 525, Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.

And then sixthly and quickly, paragraph 6, although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ until after His incarnation, Yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages successfully from the beginning of the world and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein he was revealed and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent's head and the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, being the same yesterday and today and forever." So what this paragraph is seeking to set before us is the fact that even though Christ came into the world some 4, 000 or so years after creation, and even though multiple generations had passed from the scene and entered their final rest, and even though it wasn't until he came that the price for redemption was actually paid. In spite of all these realities, even Adam received all of the virtue, efficacy, and benefit of Christ's death as though Christ had been slain from the foundations of the world. Such is the nature of our mediator. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the immutable or unchanging one, and so sure are the decrees and providence of our God, and so secure is our election in Him that all the blessings of Christ's obedience and death were communicated to all who came before Him by means of the sure promises of God, by the shadows and types instituted by God in the Old Covenant, and by the sacrifices that spoke of the need for the shedding of blood and did what they pointed to that one who would come, that seed of the woman who would come and by His blood one time, once for all, bring this redemption to pass.

So we speak of redemption both accomplished and redemption applied. Redemption was accomplished through the obedience and the suffering of our mediator. It was a once-for-all accomplishment as noted throughout the book of Hebrews. But the application, the actual application of this redemption has been going on ever since God provided clothing to cover Adam and Eve through the sacrifice and shedding of blood, and this application of redemption is still going on even today. So has this accomplished work of redemption been applied to your soul?

Has it been applied to your soul my friend? Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Is Jesus Christ precious to you? Come to the waters of life, you who thirst. Come unto Him, all you who labor and are heavy laden.

Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation, just as in the days of the Passover it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough that the lamb was slain. The blood had to be applied to the lentil and to the doorposts. Oh, dear children, flee to Christ.

Flee to Christ. He alone has fully satisfied the justice of God. He alone has brought about true reconciliation and He alone has purchased an inheritance that is eternal. There is but One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Cast yourselves upon Him tonight.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the wisdom contained in this confession. We ask for grace to understand it and Lord may as it echoes everything that we see in Scripture, oh Father may we just love your word more and more for this is telling us nothing just organizing everything that you tell us in your word. Thank you for your word. Make us a people of your word.

And oh, may Jesus Christ be more and more precious to us. Amen.