THE ONE MEDIATOR
‘One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.’
1 Timothy 2:5
St. Paul here describes not a creed but an experience. These words are not the utterance of an apostolic dogma, but the utterance of the Apostle’s feeling. He is not insisting on something to be held as belief, but he is telling us something he has found the Man Christ Jesus to be, his consciousness of Him.
No one ever mediated between God and man as Christ did.
I. He is remarkable, for the heavenly and the earthly meet in Him with no difficulty—they mingle in Him. How wonderfully entire He is! There is no defect in His character, no neglect of the minor things of life—no imperfection in the human side because of His Divine side. There is no onesidedness in Christ Jesus, like as we find in most reformers. He was a Man intensely spiritual, yet full of everything human. This meeting and blending is unique.
II. Christ is unique in what He mediates.
( a) In what He brings down and presents to us. His vision of God the Father, which He gave to us, is unique. Who ever made men think about God as He did?
( b) A mediator to God of our humanity. In Him we are brought near to the Father.
III. Christ is the One and only Mediator.—‘If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the Propitiation for our sins.’ When thus we think of ‘the Man Christ Jesus,’ and hear the exhortation, ‘Lift up your hearts,’ the voice of humble love and faith replies, ‘We lift them up unto the Lord.’

‘PRAY, ALWAYS PRAY’
‘I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.’
1 Timothy 2:8
If there be one feeling more strongly fixed in man than another it is that of dependence. Pride may exist, but one still feels dependent. One objection heard against prayer is that God has fixed all things. So He has, but not absolutely; e.g. farmer must sow wheat or no harvest. The object of prayer is not to make God acquainted with our needs, but to deepen our feeling of dependence. In prayer we are obeying God’s command. He knows our need, but says, ‘For this I will be inquired of,’ etc.
I. The nature of prayer.
( a) It is directed to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit.
( b) It is the expression of a need which is felt.
II. Characteristics of prayer (see text),
( a) Purity of motive.
( b) It must be the expression of the heart.
( c) It must be offered in a spirit of charity.
( d) There must be confidence. ‘He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.’
III. Universality of prayer.
( a) Always. In need, danger, world, family, home, abroad.
( b) In all places. In consecrated places and unconsecrated places. ‘Where two or three,’ etc.
Illustration
‘A man of learning, but an unbeliever, was once travelling in Manilla on a scientific expedition. He was escorted by a native of rank. When about to start, the native requested the white stranger to pray to his God. He declined, because he was not a man of prayer. The native then said, “Well, some God must be prayed to, so you will excuse me if I pray to mine.” The unbeliever was thus rebuked by the heathen. Its effect was that the man who went in search of curiosities returned a child of God, and having found the pearl of great price. His next visit is to be as a missionary to preach Christ.’