1 Timothy 3 verse 9. Last week we began, we're studying
in the book of, a book written by Brother Don Fortner titled
The Mysteries of God. And we're in chapter 3, and we
spent last week in part A of chapter 3 considering these words
that we read in 1 Timothy 3 verse 9. Now I remind you, Paul is
addressing Timothy in regards to the raising up of preachers,
pastors, deacons, ministers, ministers of Christ. Don takes
his original thoughts for this book from 1 Corinthians 4 verse
1 where it says, let a man so account us. Let men account us. as of the ministers of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God. And here in Timothy 3
verse 9, Paul is addressing this very thing where he tells Timothy,
holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Speaking of deacons, speaking
of ministers mysteries of the faith are. Let
me just remind you of what that is. The mystery of faith is the
Gospel of Christ. Folks, the Word of God, the Gospel,
the Word of Christ and Him crucified according to Scriptures is a
mystery to natural man. It was a mystery to us. We were all in that same boat
as all mankind when we came into this world lost in sin and degradation. The Word of God was enmity to
us. We couldn't know it. And that's what the mystery of
faith is. Faith, true faith in Christ. That true faith The mystery of
faith that are taught in scriptures, this faith is a complete mystery
to natural man. As we read in, wait a minute. Why do I have a seven there?
I lost myself for a moment. So our first point that we looked
at last week of this mystery of faith was sin. Faith about
what sin is. Believing what sin isn't. It's the depth of our depravity. And the first thing made known
in the mystery of faith is sin. Folks, you can't come to the
Lord Jesus if you don't know you need Him. You can't believe
in the Lord God if you don't believe in the sinner that you
are. Until men and women know their sin, they will never seek
a Savior, writes Don. Until we know our sin, we do
not know our need of Christ, and we will not trust Him. And
that was what we covered last week, so I don't want to go too
much over that again, but let's look at the second point that
Don brings out, and that is the mystery of faith in God's sovereignty. Oh, men will say they believe
in the mystery of God's sovereignty, but then when it comes to them,
they say, now wait a minute now. I have a will, you know. I have an ability to make my
own choice. And they deny. They deny the
power of God, they deny the power of Christ in His sovereignty.
That's what Jude is talking about in denying the power of God.
Those who turn the Word of God into lasciviousness. So the mystery
of faith is the revelation of the one true and living God in
the sovereignty of His character. All men, by creation and conscience,
know that God is that God is powerful, and that God is holy,
and that God is good. But the sovereignty of God in
the exercise of His providence, His grace, is something revealed
only in the Word of God. Listen to this. God Almighty
is absolutely sovereign in the universality of His providence. And I want to show you that.
Turn over to Psalms 115, if you would. Turn over to the 115th
Psalm. Psalm 115. Our Lord is absolutely sovereign
in His providence. Here in Psalm 115, look at verse
3. is in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. Now look at one more if you would.
Go to the right to Psalm 135. Go over to Psalm 135. Look at one verse over there
with me if you would. 135 verse 6 we read these words.
Whatsoever the Lord pleased All deep places. Turn now over
to Proverbs. Keep going to the right. Proverbs.
Go to Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, verse 4, we read
these words. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked. for the day of evil. Again, I
repeat, God Almighty is absolutely sovereign in the universality
of His providence. One more, if you would. Go to
the right again. Isaiah 45. Go over to Isaiah 45. And let's look at one verse over
there. Verse 7. Isaiah 45. Look what the Lord
has inspired prophet to right here, the prophet Isaiah to right
here in verse 7. I form the light, saith the Lord.
First off, back in verse 6 it says, I am the Lord and there
is none else. I form the light, verse 7, and
create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. So our Lord is sovereign in everything.
He rules over all that is. He is almighty and He is absolute
sovereign in purpose as well. Turn to Romans chapter 8, if
you would. Romans chapter 8. He is absolutely
sovereign in the purpose of His grace. The purpose of His grace. Romans chapter 8, beginning at
verse 28, we read this. I just mentioned it a moment
ago in my prayer, and we know that all things work together
for good to them, to love God, to them that are called according
to His purpose. See there? His purpose in grace. You could say afterward that
if you wanted to, but it would go just fine. It wouldn't change
the Word of God one bit. Look at verse 9, for whom He
did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Verse 30, moreover, whom He did
predestinate Them He also called." Now this is the purpose that
we're talking about. God is sovereign in the purpose
of His grace. He predestinated, He also called,
and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified,
them He also glorified. Our Lord is also completely and
absolutely sovereign in the exercise of His grace. Look over, go to
the right one page over to Romans chapter 9 verse 16. You cannot deny this. You cannot
misread this. In Romans 9 verse 16 it says,
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. So we see He is absolute in His
sovereignty in exercising His grace. Thirdly, we see that the
mystery of faith has to do with substitution. The mystery of
faith gives us the revelation of the gospel doctrine of substitution
in Galatians chapter 3. Go to the right a little further
from Romans there, you'll see Galatians right after 2 Corinthians. And look at chapter
1 verses 3-6. Our Lord, the mystery of God
substituting Himself for His people is part of that mystery
of faith. This is what it's our responsibility
to teach. It's our responsibility to teach
that you can't learn these just by sitting down and reading God's
Word. He has to reveal this to the hearts of His people. A new
heart. That's what the removing of the
stony heart is all about. giving us a new heart that loves
Him and bows beneath Him. Look at verse 3 through 6 here
of Galatians chapter 1. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself
for our sins that He might deliver us. This is the substitution.
This is the substitution that people just can't understand
in their natural state. In our natural state, we want
to do something to save ourselves, don't we? But God tells us that
He must be the one who does it. He reveals this. That's why it's
a mystery to natural man, who gave Himself for our sins, that
He might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. I marvel, writes Paul, that you
are so soon removed from Him that called you into grace of
Christ unto another gospel. Go back to Isaiah again if you
would. Let's look at a couple of verses
in Isaiah 53 about the mystery of faith in regards to substitution. In Isaiah 53, Beginning at verse 4, Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows. This is substitution. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Do you see the substitution here? The subject of substitution?
He was bruised for our iniquities. He had none of his own. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
Verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal
Son of God, assumed human nature, lived and died in the place of
His people, and by His obedience He obtained eternal redemption,
salvation, and everlasting glory for us. Look at one verse with
me if you would, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Go over to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. For He, God Almighty, God the
Father hath made Him, God the Son, to be sin for us. Who knew no sin, speaking of
God the Son. He was perfect in every way.
He was the one that God the Father said in our Friday night Bible
study, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased. He said, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. Not of men, but of God. in Him. There has never been a time when
Christ did not stand as our substitute. We were talking last night in
the home of our neighbors across the parking lot and I made the
statement of when the Lord saved me and then I corrected myself
and actually, when did the Lord save me? When did He save any
of His people? He saved us before the world
was ever created. He saved us before a star was
ever hung in the sky. Our Lord was known as the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. The eternal covenant
that God made with His Son was made before anything was ever
created. There's never been a time, ever, when Christ did not stand
for us as our substitute, as our surety. There has never been
a time and accepted of Him in Christ
Jesus. And there never shall be such
a time. He is our surety in the covenant
of grace before the world began. That's what we read in Ephesians
1, verses 3-6. And I'll leave that for you to
read in your own time. He was our representative while we lived
upon the earth as a man, obeying the law and the will of God in
all things, Romans chapter 5 verse 19, we
read these words, For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. He was our substitute when he
died in our place at Calvary. We read that over in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 as well, verse 21, where it says, Did I back up too far? He hath
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. And He's still our substitute
in heaven, this very day, representing us on the throne of grace, on
the throne of our God, as our all-sufficient Advocate and High
Priest. Turn over to 1 John chapter 2.
1 John, just before Revelation chapter 2. Look at verses 1 and 2, my little
children. 1 John, chapter 2, verse 1. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And
He is the propitiation for our sins. He's the payment, the expiation. He expiated the sins of His people
by the giving of Himself. He shall be our substitute till
the day of judgment, just as He stood condemned in our place
before the bar of God, bearing our sins imputed to Him, He shall
stand accepted and blessed before the bar of God, being redeemed
of all sin, and having His righteousness imputed to us. Fourthly, we see the mystery
of God in sanctification. The mystery of faith reveals
and assures us of satisfaction for sin made by our Redeemer. Look over Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. The mystery of faith reveals
and assures us of sanctification for sin made by our Redeemer. Look at verse 24 through 26 of
Romans chapter 3. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation. There's that expiation of us,
the expiation of our sins through faith. in His blood to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus." A holy, just, and true God could
never save sinners without the satisfaction of His justice.
If He just swept His justice under the rug and said, oh, I
just don't see it anymore, then He wouldn't be a just God. For
Him to be a just God, satisfaction had to be made. And that's what
Christ did in sanctifying His people, and it's a mystery to
natural man. It only can be revealed by God
Himself. Christ, our substitute, has fully
and perfectly satisfied all the claims of God's law and justice
by His life, by His death, by His obedience. He brought in
our everlasting righteousness, the righteousness of God that
we read about and that we just read about in 2 Corinthians 5. Look over at John 17, verse 4. John 17, verse 4. Our Lord says in His priestly
prayer, I have glorified Thee, speaking to the Father on behalf
of His people. He says, I have glorified Thee.
I have finished. I have finished the work. which thou gavest me to do."
By His obedience in death, He put away our sin, paying for
us all the debt that we owed in divine justice. Look over
a couple of pages to John 19. John chapter 19, verse 30. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, He said, and this is what He was speaking of, is
finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Fifthly, our Lord, I'm sorry,
not our Lord, Don tells us that the mystery of faith is the gospel
of Christ and it is the revelation of full, free salvation in Christ
by grace. All men, he says, by nature are
self-righteous Arminians All men by nature believe that salvation
is in some measure is conditional upon the free will of men and
the works of them. That is the reason you will find
the teachings of free will and works religion incorporated in
every false religion. Yet that's not the case. Salvation
is not the way of men think it is. It's not something natural
men can conjure up. It takes only a casual reading
of Holy Scriptures and only a very basic knowledge of spiritual
truth to see that salvation is in Christ alone. Read Ephesians
1, verse 3-6. Salvation is by grace alone,
Ephesians 2, 8-9. Salvation is free and unconditional,
Romans 9, 11-16. Salvation in Christ is full,
complete, and perfect. Colossians 2, 9 and 10. And lastly,
salvation is obtained by faith alone, as we read in Acts 16,
verse 31. The sixth theme that Don tells us
is a mystery of the faith shows us that faith in Christ is more
than an acceptance Matthew, Mark, Luke. Luke chapter
14, beginning at verse 25. We're talking about the surrender. Remember when Adam and Eve were
in the garden and they stand and the Eve told her, she rebuked
the devil, nay, we're not supposed to eat of that fruit. Remember
what the devil said to her? He said, nay, you will not die. You shall be as gods, knowing. You know what, I'm going to have
to turn there and read it. I don't like quoting it wrong
off of memory, and you know my memory! And the serpent said in verse
4 of chapter 3, he shall not surely die, for God does know
that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. There you go.
That's the proper way to say it. The way it's written in the
book, right? Well, that's what we come into this
world thinking of ourselves as. That's what free willism is.
It's men thinking they're above God in the power to determine
their own destiny when all things are purposed by God Himself.
Surrendering to God is not something that we can do naturally. Surrendering
to God, look here at Luke chapter 14 verses 25-33. And there were great multitudes
with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to
me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of
you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth
the cost, whereof he hath sufficient to finish it? Lest happily after
he hath laid the foundation, and he is not able to finish
it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying this man
began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king,
going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first,
and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet
him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while
the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassador
and desires conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my
disciple." So surrendering to Christ in this life fully to God. Faith in Christ is neither more
nor less than the commitment of my life, the commitment of
my body, the commitment of everything that is me, my spirit, for time
and eternity to the rule and dominion and disposal of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then lastly, lastly, Don
writes, he says, the mystery of faith reveals and compels
a real everlasting solidarity of saved sinners in Christ. Turn
over to Colossians chapter 3 if you would. Colossians right after
Ephesians. Colossians chapter 3. Look with me at two verses here.
We're talking about a solidarity between God's people. How can
you explain? I think I was sharing with Mitch
and Carla. When we saw Larry and Rob and
Chris, when we went to pick them up at the airport, we were waiting
for them down at the bottom of the escalator. And we just couldn't
wait to see them. And an escalator that disappears
above the ceiling of the building You see their feet first. And
we'd be looking up there, is that them? Oh, no, that's not
them. No, no, is that them? And finally, we saw his face. And it's like, oh, there he is.
I introduced him like that here at the conference a couple years
back. And he turned to me, he turned to the folks, and he says,
you know what? We were looking down, trying to see who was down
below, waiting to see if your face could see it as well. What
brings us? But I couldn't wait till you
got here. I was so excited. I don't know if you could tell
that on the phone when you talked with me or texted with me. I
was so excited to see you. When we go to other places in
the country to visit other churches, I'm so excited to see them. What
brings us all together? I have nothing else in common
with these folks other than one thing, and that is our Lord.
This is what dawned bringing me out here. This is a mystery.
Faith in Christ brings us together. brings us together as sinners.
Sinners saved by grace. Don says this, Colossians chapter
3. Let's read that real quick before
I get too far away from it. 10 and 11. And having put on
a new man. This is that new faith. This
is the mystery of believing in Christ. A new man. Which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him. Verse
11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian or syphian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in
all. Isn't that good? Isn't that great? This is the mystery that we go
out into the world and we teach and preach. And this is the duty
of the church the minister of God to stand before people and
talk about this mystery to those who've never heard it. To those
who this very mystery is new. Mercies are new every day. In Christ, men and women, writes
Don, who are natural enemies, men and women from diverse and
opposing cultures, races, and social classes are united and
in purpose as one family, one body, for the glory of our God. For the glory of our God, that's
what. We seek a mutual goal. We seek
the will and the glory of our God that makes us submit to and
serve one another. Folks, everything about God's Word was
a mystery to every one of us at one time in our lives. Aren't
you thankful that the Lord has revealed these things to us and
has not left us to ourselves?