Adrian Rogers: Jesus Is The Mediator Between God and Man

Many of us wonder why bad things happen to good people. But the real question is: How can good things happen to bad people? In this message, Adrian Rogers examines the story of Job and his three friends to show our need for Jesus Christ, the God-man, our Mediator.

Why do bad things happen to good people?
But that’s only one of the questions that the book of Job answers.
The book of Job answers another question, and there’s another real theme in the book of Job.
Not only why do bad things happen to good people, but listen carefully.
How can good things happen to bad people?
That also is a theme in the book of Job.
How sinners like we can be forgiven and go to heaven.
How can good things happen to bad people? Man is so sinful and God is so holy.
How can you get a holy God and sinful man together? That’s what the book of Job is about.
Not only why the bad things happen to good people, but how can good things happen to bad people?
How can man be just with God?
Profound truth simply stated. This is love worth finding with pastor, teacher, and author, Adrian Rogers.
What you find in God’s word, the book of Job chapter 9?
We’re thinking on this subject, the God man, our mediator.
The God man, our mediator. Job chapter 9.
Now if you’re familiar with the book of Job, you know that the book of Job is the story of a good man who suffered.
And people study the book of Job and they get help and, uh, wisdom from the book of Job because the book of Job helps to answer this question, why do bad things happen to good people?
But that’s only one of the questions that the book of Job answers.
The book of Job answers another question, and there’s another real theme in the book of Job.
Not only why do bad things happen to good people, but listen carefully.
How can good things happen to bad people?
That also is a theme in the book of Job.
How sinners like we can be forgiven and go to heaven.
How can good things happen to bad people?
Look, if you will now, in Job chapter 9 verses 1 and 2.
Then Job answered and said, I know this over truth, but how should man be just with God?
That is a big question. Is it not?
How can sinners, such as we, be just and righteous and holy with God?
You see, the problem is this, that God is so holy and we are so sinful.
You might just fast forward to, uh, Job chapter 15, for example, and see what Eliphaz had to say about, uh, your sinfulness and my sinfulness.
Beginning in verse 14, he says, uh, what is man that he should be clean?
And he, which is born of a woman that he should be righteous.
Behold, he, that is God, put it no trust in his saints. Yea.
The heavens are not clean in his sight.
How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water?
Abominable, filthy, man drinks iniquity like he drinks water. Is that not true? Now, that’s a problem.
That is the problem. Uh, the book of Habakkuk says that God is of pure eyes than to behold inequity.
So you have the problem. Now, in the book of Job, Job had 3 friends and these three friends tried to answer Job’s question.
How can man be just with God?
And the question is a good question, but they give the wrong answer to the right question.
So you have 3 of Job’s friends who were false prophets, who tried to answer that question.
And I wanna show you how they tried to answer that question.
The first was a man named Eliphaz, and you find his answer in Job chapter 4.
Go back to Job chapter 4 and look if you will, please. Beginning in verse 12.
Here’s what Eliphaz had to say about this, uh, this question.
Now he says in verse 12, now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my need to receive a little thereof.
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me and trembling, which made my bones to shake.
Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up.
It, that is the spirit, stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof.
An image was before mine eyes.
There was silence And I heard a voice saying, and I’m gonna leave off what the voice said because that’s not a part of my purpose at this point.
Eliphaz says, Joe, let me tell you what happened to me.
Let me give you my experience, maybe it will help you, Joe.
He says the other night, when I was in my bedroom, he said, I was aware of a presence in the room.
He said, I I was moved with fear. I was in the middle of my sleep.
I woke up, and someone or something was in that room with me.
There was a spirit in that room. I opened my eyes.
I I looked at this thing.
As it materialized, I I could not quite make the form out of it.
And this being, this thing that came into the room, it spoke to me.
It revealed some things to me.
It gave me some inside information.
And, Job, I’m gonna pass that on to you.
Maybe that’ll help answer the question, how can you be just with God?
Now I don’t know about you, but folks, I don’t wanna wake up in the middle of the night and find somebody or something like that in my bedroom.
I’m like that man said he was walking through the cemetery and he thought he saw a ghost.
And he said he put out his hand to see if the ghost was there and the ghost wasn’t there.
Then he said the ghost put out his hand to see if he was there.
He said I wasn’t there either. That’s the way I would be to be in this kind of a situation.
Some weird, eerie, spooky thing was in the bedroom where the life has.
But what does he do?
He takes what this thing, the spirit says and he passes it on to Job as bona fide religious information.
Now, folks, that’s the way of demonism.
What was in this bedroom was a demon spirit. Now I I you say, pastor, you sure wasn’t God?
Yes. Because later on in the book, uh, God says these men have not spoken that which was of me.
It wasn’t of God. Listen to what the Bible says in 1st John chapter 4 verse 1, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try or test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are going out into the world.
And, you know, you and I believe we’re living in the latter days.
And first Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1 says, now the spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
That’s what happened here. Eliphaz meets a seducing spirit who gives out doctrines of devils.
Now what is happening today is this, we’re seeing a fulfillment of that passage that says in the latter days, some shall depart from the faith.
Hell is having a holiday, and Satan is like a caged animal.
He’s in a corner and he’s letting loose with all of the artillery of hell, and we’re seeing more new age demonism than we’ve ever had before.
We’re seeing cults. As doctor Lee, the former pastor of this church said isms that ought to be wasms.
Cults. David Wilkerson, who has worked with, uh, drug addicts and and devil worshipers for many years.
I don’t agree with everything David Wilkerson says. He’s my brother in Christ, however, but here’s what he did say.
He has he said, I have yet to see a person who is into devil worship or demon worship, who did not, first of all, open his mind to mystical experiences through the use of drugs.
I have yet to see a man who is into devil worship, demon worship, who did not, first of all, open his mind up to mystical experiences through the use of drugs.
It is instant heaven that leads to everlasting hell, as as that is one way.
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Now now now, of course, not everybody’s gonna buy into demonism and satanic revelation. So the devil’s very clever.
So he he gets another one of Job’s friends to give to Job and answers how the man can be just with God.
Not only life has, but Bildad. Go to chapter 8 now and hear what Bildad had to say.
In chapter 8, Job chapter 8.
Now I’m gonna cut to the chase and just give you the heart of what he had to say in verse 8.
He says, for inquire, I pray thee of the former age, that is of our forefathers, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers.
For we are but of yesterday and know nothing because our days on earth upon earth are a shadow.
That is, we just got here. We’re not dry behind the ears.
We haven’t had a chance, uh, to, uh, know all that we ought to know.
So he says, go back to the former age.
Go back and blow the dust off some of those volumes in the library and begin to read the accumulated wisdom of the ages.
Notice in verse 10, shall not they teach thee and tell thee and utter words out of their heart?
Now, what is the appeal here? The appeal here is not to demonism and satanic revelation.
The appeal here is to humanism and sophisticated reason. Humanism.
What what what what is this man saying?
He’s saying, Job, if you want to learn the answer, you need to go and study the accumulated wisdom of the ages.
Look to the ancients. Look to the philosophers. Look to the wise, the high, the mighty.
We just got here. Our days are but a shadow.
What you need to do is to go back and go to those big volumes of wisdom.
Blow the dust off. Get educated. How can man be just with God?
Eliphaz says demonism. Bildad says humanism.
Zophar says legalism. Go back, look if you will in chapter 11 now.
Here’s here’s another one of these false answers. How can man be right with God? Beginning in verse 13.
Here’s what Zophar says to old Job.
Job’s heart wants to know how can I, a sinner, be right with God?
Here’s what Zophar says, if thou prepare thine heart and stretch out thine hands toward him.
If iniquity be found in thine hand, put it far away. And let not wickedness dwell in my tabernacles.
For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot. Thou shalt be steadfast and shall not fear.
Now, what he’s simply saying is this, uh, Job, what you need is religion.
What you need is to do good.
You see, some people are not gonna be caught up in satanic revelation.
Other people are not gonna be caught up in sophisticated reason, But a great number of people are gonna be caught up in sterile ritualism.
Sterile ritualism. Ritual, religion, legalism.
What are you saying to this man is this, he says, uh, Job, what you need is the religion of form and self effort.
What you need to do is to prepare your heart. That’s meditation.
What you need to do is stretch out your hands. That’s ceremony.
What you need to do is to put away sin. That is reformation.
Meditation, ceremony, reformation. Meditation, ceremony, reformation.
May I submit to you that in America today, 1,000,000 are trudging to churches doing those three things and will leave with empty hearts.
They’re not into demonism. Uh, they they are not into rationalism.
They’re into ritualism. I mean, they have a form of godliness, but they do not have the power thereof.
Augustus, top lady, well, said it when he said, could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no languor know. These for sin could not atone.
Thou must save and thou alone.
Well, old Job old Job won’t buy any of this. Go back to Job chapter 9.
Job was a man after God’s heart And so in Job chapter 9, look again in verse 1.
Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how shall man be just with God?
For if he will contend with him, he cannot answer him, 1 of a 1000.
He said, I couldn’t answer one out of every 1,000 questions god asked me. He’s god.
I’m a man. And then skip on down, if you will, and look at at verse 32.
Here’s what he says, for he, God, holy, holy God.
He, for he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him and we should come together in judgment.
Neither is there any days man betwixt us that he might lay his hand upon us both?
Now, if you have a different translation, you may read the word, umpire, or you may read the word, middleman, or you may read the word arbiter, or you may read the word, mediator.
I prefer the word mediator as the best.
And neither is there any mediator between us, that he might lay his hand upon us both.
You know what Job says? Job says, oh, God. You’re holy. I’m sinful. I need you.
God, I can’t argue with you.
God, if you bring me into court, I can’t answer 1 out of a 1000 questions.
I’m a sinner. I need somebody to go between. I need somebody to bring me to you.
I need somebody who can lay his hands upon us both.
I need an arbiter. I need a middle man. I need a daysman.
I need a mediator. Do you know who he was crying for?
Do you know who he was longing for? You know his name, don’t you say it? Jesus. Jesus.
Listen. Take your Bible and turn to first Timothy chapter 2 verses 56. Listen to it.
Listen to it. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men.
The man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.
Neither is there a days man between us that he might lay his hand upon us both.
I need a mediator. And let me tell you what a mediator must be.
Number 1, a mediator has to be qualified.
Not just any mediator would do. Now, here’s God, here’s man.
Suppose a king and a beggar were in a controversy And the king is bringing the beggar into lawsuit.
And the beggar says, I need somebody to speak. I need a mediator.
And the king says, alright. I’ll get another king. And the beggar says, no.
I don’t want you 2 kings to try to determine my fate.
And the beggar says, I’ll tell you what I’ll do.
I’ll get another beggar and let him be a mediator.
The king says, you 2 beggars are not gonna gain up on me. I need a mediator.
I need somebody who can lay his hands upon us both. Who is that?
That, my friend, is the one mediator between God and man given to us in first Timothy 2 chapter 5, uh, chapter 2 verse 5, and his name is Jesus.
And how is Jesus qualified? Because Jesus is both God and man at the same time.
God sent forth his son made of a woman.
God sent forth His Son, but made of a woman. Listen, this is the miracle of Christmas.
Jesus did not have his beginning at Bethlehem, he had his birth at Bethlehem.
He existed forever. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.
Co equal and co eternal with God the father, but he stepped out of heaven and came to this earth.
He became a mediator and he became a man. Don’t get the idea that Jesus was not a man.
He was he wasn’t just masquerading as a man. He wasn’t just wearing a man suit. He became a man.
As much a man as any mother’s child in this building is a man.
He wept, he slept, he hungered, he cried, he hurt. He was a man, a man. Why?
Because the Bible tells us in 1st Corinthians, since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.
As in animal all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Our dominion was lost by a man, legally lost. It must be legally regained by a man.
No spirit can die. A man must die. The wages of sin is death.
Christ became a man that he might die upon that cross, but he had to be a sinless man.
He could not have been a son of Adam because in Adam all die.
He had to be the son of God.
So, therefore, he had to be born of a virgin because a slave of slaves is a son of slaves is a slave himself.
And Adam was a slave to Satan.
But Jesus was the son of God and he stepped out of heaven. Listen to me.
Listen to me. He was man, a very man.
He could lay his hand upon Job, but he was God of very God.
He could lay his hand upon the father. He was as much God as God the father.
Everything that God has, says and does, Jesus has, says, and does. And yet everything that Job felt, Jesus felt.
He was the days man who could lay his hand upon us both.
You see, between God and man, there is a chasm eroded by sin.
Over here is holy God. Over here is sinful man. Here is the chasm between the 2.
The Lord Jesus Christ says, I am going to bridge that chasm.
And so over here, he puts down the foundation of his deity. Very God of very God.
Over here, he puts down the foundation of his humanity. Very man of very man.
As much man as if not God at all. As much God as if not man at all.
Not half God and half man, but all God and all man. Never another like him. The god man.
The god man. And having put down a foundation here and put down a foundation there, then the God man builds a bridge between God and man and man and God and that bridge is made of the rough hewn timbers of a cross.
Listen to this. There is one God and one mediator between God and man himself, man, the Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.
By the way, the hypercalvinist have difficulty with this. A ransom for all. He died for all.
People say, am I one of the elect? Let me tell you something, friend.
The elect or whosoever will. And people have been arguing about that for 2 millenniums, and I settled in 3 seconds.
Whosoever will you wanna be saved, come.
And Jesus said, him that cometh on me, I’ll in no wise cast out.
And with the blood of his cross, he bridged the chasm between holy God and sinful man.
And he, the mediator, the God man, build a bridge that demonism and humanism and ritualism cannot build.
Because all those bridges fall under their own weight. Do you know Jesus?
Let me tell you something. A mediator must be accepted by both parties.
A mediator must be given absolute authority.
A mediator must have both parties in mind.
He must be totally just.
Do you know anybody else other than Jesus who can fit that bill?
I don’t. How can man be just with god? His name is Jesus.
No wonder the angel said, thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin.
If I had a 1,000 lives, I’d give every one of them to Jesus, and I want you to know him.
Bow your heads and pray. Heads about.
Why don’t you say, Lord, I cannot lift myself to you in my sinful state, and you cannot come down to me until something is done with my sin.
So now now I believe that there’s one who can bridge the gap between me and you, and his name is Jesus.
Pray like this. Lord Jesus, come into my heart today.
Give me the courage not only to receive you, but to make it public.
In your name, I pray.
Amen.