Jesus: The Only Mediator - by Rick Holland

If you go to Resolved.org, you can click on each sermon that was preached at the 2010 conference on the right-hand side of the website. I thought I would share with you the notes I took while listening to these preachers and share with you my understanding of the messages.
It was Friday night, June 25, and the weather was around 107 degrees. Our first session was to take place at 8:00 and Rick Holland was going to be preaching. Approx. 4,000 people stood waiting at the doors to enter the auditorium. The room buzzed with excitement and when the doors finally entered, a cheer arose and we were swept through the doors like a wave. People ran to their seats and placed their Bibles on the chairs surrounding them to save for friends who got caught in the crowd. Once everyone was seated and people started getting aquainted with the people around them, the music and slideshow started and the lights were dimmed. It felt amazing. Almost as though we were the only people in the room. Our eyes were fixed on the words of the music and when everyone started singing, it was a thrilling moment as thousands of voices lifted up praises to God, the sound echoeing off the walls and through the speakers.
The words of the songs we sang were so impactful because they were deep in theology, deep in truth, and full of praise to God. There was no distractions of people jumping up and down. There was no screaming or flashing lights around the crowds. It was completely focused on worshipping Christ and the band who was leading, Enfield, was singing only to Christ and not putting on any show or self-glory. It was amazing and because there was so many people singing so loudly, you could sing as loud as your voice allowed and no one would hear you. Worshipping God in that setting was so breath-taking and it made me think of what heaven will be like with the multitudes of angels are singing hallelujah to our Saviour.
Rick Holland preached the first sermon and his was titled, "Jesus: The Only Mediator". He introduced to us the famous preacher, Jonathan Edwards, who was the man the conference was held in honour of. When Jonanthan Edwards was 19, he wrote down 70 resolutions for his life. Rick Holland read us two of Edwards resolutions, which I will give below. I do not have the exact wording but here is the just of what he stated.
1. Resolved to improve every opportunity when I'm in a happy state of mind to put my mind completely on Christ, to consecrate myself wholly to Him.
2. Resolved constantly to be looking into the state of my soul to whether I have a true interest in Christ so that when I die, I have no guilty heart.
Christianity is about Jesus. Nothing should be more interesting to a believer than Jesus. Jesus is our life!
Rick Holland asked us, "What comes into your mind when you think about God?". When I think about God, I think about Jesus. I think about Who saved me, Who saves lost souls, Who is in control of my life, Who gives me my every breath, Who knitted me in my mother's womb, Who is constantly at work in my life, Who created the world I live in, and Who sent His Son to die for my sin. Rick Holland took us to a number of passages: John 14, Psalm 10:1;13:1;22:1;139:7, Jeremiah 23:24, Deuteronomy 4:39, Joshua 2:11, and Ephesians 4:4-6.
Rick Holland gave us 3 ways to understand man's problem of God:
1. the distance of divine transcendence
2. the nearness of divine eminense
3. the mystery of divine incarnation
He said that God is so far away you can't reach Him, but so close you can't esacpe Him. If you are a believer, Christ lives in you and there is no one who can separate you from His love.
Jesus bore the wrath. Jesus bore death. Jesus received the reward. Jesus understands us, our joy and pain, because He experienced it Himself when He was on earth. This brings to my mind the song, And Can it Be. The chorus says, "Amazing Love, How Can it Be, That Thou my God Shouldst Die for Me." This is so true of our Lord and Saviour. He loved us so much that He died for us. He bought us to set us free from sin.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time."
The man, Jesus, died for the sins for all those who will believe! We should never become familiar with this miracle of grace shown to us and we should never become familiar with how great our God is!