1 Timothy chapter 3. And because
we have visitors this morning, I want to make a statement. We're
studying right now the mysteries of God. That's the title of the
book that Don Fortner wrote. It's not out in paperback or
hardback as far as I know. As far as I know, it's only out
on ebook form. And I thought, what a great thing
to study out of God's Word, mysteries, the mysteries of God. And I'm
not ashamed, I'm not ashamed to lean on my brother Don Fortner. I'm not, I'm not a learned man. I didn't finish high school because
I didn't like studying. Yet the Lord, and Don knew this,
by the way, I have his permission to use whatever he wrote anything
we do in any of our services. He personally gave it to me before
he died. He called me up. He knew what
kind of man I am. He knew I was a high school dropout. And he
knew why. And he said, John, when you're
hunting deer, they don't care what's on the back of that bullet,
whether it be Remington or anything else. All they know is that something
just hit them head on in the chest. And that's all that matters. I'm here with the Gospel. I'm
here with the Gospel to bring, and that's what God's sheep feed
on, is we feed on the Gospel. So, I'm not ashamed of using
Don's, and we're going word for word in his book this time, titled,
The Mysteries of God, and he takes his thoughts for that title
from 1 Corinthians 4, verse 1, where we read these words, Let
a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards
of the mysteries of God. Now we're in chapter three. Chapter
one was a summary of the whole book. Chapter two was a summary
of the mystery, greatest of the mystery of godliness, as you
may remember us looking at in the last three weeks. Great is
the mystery of godliness. That's chapter 3, verse 16. Without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. And we spent some time looking at that. I do have
copies. Mitch, if you want to go back
and look at that sometime, I'd be happy to provide those for
you. So, this morning we come to the mystery of the faith,
which is in 1 Timothy 3, verse 9. Look at 1 Timothy 3, verse
9. the mystery of the faith in pure
conscience. Now, Paul is writing to his son
Timothy, and he's writing about pastors, and he's writing about
deacons, and it's our responsibility to preach the faith that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what we preach, to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's our Our purpose, that's our goal,
is to lead people to Christ, that Christ may give them faith
in Him. So, that's what this is talking
about. Holding the mystery of the faith
in pure conscience. In other words, not mixing works
with grace. That's just a small example of
what this is talking about. Now, I begin here writes Don,
he says, in 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul gives us the qualifications
of men for the offices of pastor and deacon. These are characteristics
of grace that a man must possess before he is considered for the
ordination as a pastor or a deacon. Now in verses 1 through 7, he
tells us that the work of the pastor is a good work and one
to be desired, as well as what kind of a man a pastor must be.
And in verses 8 through 13, he tells us that the work of the
deacon is also a good, noble work in the kingdom of God. And
that a deacon must be a man of faithful, godly character. Both pastors and deacons must
be men who hold, what we read here in verse 9, the mystery
of the faith in pure conscience. Now notice the language carefully,
if you would here, writes Don. He says, the Holy Spirit does of faith. Do you notice that? No, it says, but the mystery
of the faith. That means that it's not your
faith, it's not this person's faith, it's the faith, one faith. One faith, one gospel, one God,
one Christ, one spirit. That definite article, writes
Don, The word, the, identifies the faith He is talking about.
He's not talking about our faith toward God. He's not talking
about the gift of faith that God gives His elect. He's not
talking about the grace of faith. He's talking about the doctrine,
the teaching of faith. The doctrine of the Gospel. Listen
to these words from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7. For we walk by faith. That's what it's talking about.
We walk through this It is called the mystery of Christ
over in Ephesians chapter 3. Turn over there, if you would,
please. Ephesians chapter 3. Just a couple of books to the
left. And look at Ephesians chapter 3, just a couple of verses with
me over there, verses 3 and 4. Ephesians 3, beginning at verse
3. How that by revelation, He made
known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in a few words,
whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ." That's talking about this mystery of faith,
this mystery of belief. A man by the name of William
Hendrickson wrote these words. He said, one can say that this
mystery is in a sense Christ Himself. That is Christ in all
of His glorious riches, actually dwelling through His Spirit in
the hearts and the lives of both Jews and Gentiles, united in
one body called the Church. The mystery of the faith is the
mystery of Christ. It is also called the mystery
of the gospel over in Ephesians chapter 6. Turn over there if
you would. Just a couple of pages to the
right. Ephesians chapter 6. This is talking about the very
same thing in verse 19. Ephesians 6 verse 19. And for me, writes Paul, that
utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of The gospel. What is the mystery
of the gospel? The gospel is called a mystery
because it cannot be known, writes Don. It cannot be known apart
from divine revelation. No human eye can see the things
of God. No finite mind can grasp spiritual
truths. No amount of wisdom Learning
and reason in a man can discover divine truth. Listen to these
words. The things of God knoweth no
man. They must be revealed. That's
in 1 Corinthians 2 verses 7 through 16. In fact, let's turn over
and look at that. 1 Corinthians. Go to the left
of Ephesians there. And look at chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Beginning at verse 7, we read,
but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our The very mystery of the gospel
of Christ Jesus is what we speak of. Now, verse 8. Which none
of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it
is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered
into the heart of man the things of God, the things which God
hath prepared for them to love him. But God hath revealed them
unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him.
Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that
we freely that are freely given to us of God, which things also
we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself judgeth no man. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him, but we have
the mind of Christ? Now, this mystery, the mystery
of the gospel, is the blessed truth of full, free salvation
in Christ for all who trust him, both Jew and Gentile. The message
of grace is called the mystery of the faith and the mystery
of the gospel because the mysteries, as John Gill puts it, doctrines
of it, the mysterious doctrines of it, such as the doctrines
of the trinity of persons, of the union of the two natures
in Christ, justification by His righteousness, regeneration by
His Spirit, and grace and the saints' union in Christ to Christ
and union with Him and the resurrection of the dead. So we see that all
of that is a mystery to natural men. It is the responsibility,
writes Don, of every pastor to proclaim this mystery of the
faith faithfully to his own generation and the responsibility of every
deacon to assist his pastor in the good works. And you can read
about that yourselves in your own time in Ephesians 6, verse
19 through 20. It is the responsibility of every
man called of God to the work of the gospel ministry, to give
himself wholly to the task of proclaiming this mystery of the
faith. Faithfully teaching the doctrines
of the gospel, proving the mystery of the faith of the word by the
Word of God and protecting the mystery of the faith from those
who may oppose it. Now in this study, and we're
only going to look at one this morning, but in this study we
will look at seven things revealed in the Word of God concerning
the mystery of faith. There are seven aspects of the
Gospel truth that no man could ever know except by divine revelation. At the risk of oversimplifying
the subject, Don says this, he says, I'll give you these seven
things in one word headings so that they may be easily remembered. Now, if you have a pen, you may
want to write this down. The very first one is sin. Sin. That's the first mystery
of the faith that we want to look at. And Don writes this,
he says, the first thing made known in the mystery of faith
is sin. Until men and women know their
sin, they will never seek a Savior. Until they know, until we know
our sin, we do not know our need of Christ and will not trust
Him. So when God the Holy Spirit comes
to save, He convinces men of sin first. You may think, well
Pastor, everyone knows what sin is. If you do, Don writes, you
are mistaken. Not everybody does. There are
those who believe that they can put their sins away by their
own good works. Now, do they know what sin truly
is? He says, if you do, you're mistaken.
The fact is, very few people know what sin truly is, where
sin is found, or how we became sinners. As long as we think
of sin in terms of what men and women do and don't do, in terms
of acts and deeds, we are missing the mark. Boy, is that true. Paul tells us that even his good
works, he sees the sin of his own members in it. When men and women are enlightened
and made to know the mystery of the faith, They are taught
three things about sin that no man can know and acknowledge
about himself unless he is taught of God. The first one is this,
that sin is not so much what I do as it is what I am by nature. I love it. I hear the amens come
in from brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm not the only one
who agrees with that statement, Don. He says, of man toward God that is manifest
in rebellion and unbelief. And we can look at that. Turn
over to Romans chapter 8 for just a moment. Romans chapter
8. Go to the left again of Corinthians there. Just a couple of pages. And you'll see in Romans chapter
8, one verse if you would with me. Look at what our Lord tells
us about natural men. And you can't tell this to men, I've accepted Christ in my heart
and I don't do those things anymore. Look what the Lord inspired Paul
to write here in Romans chapter 8 verse 7. Because the carnal
mind, that's the natural mind, that's the mind that we all come
into this world, the mind that is a hatred against God, it is
enmity. That word enmity means more than
just hatred, it means the complete opposite. That means our natural
mind is opposite of the things of God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. Here, let's look at one more.
Go to the right over to 1 John, over towards Revelation. Go over
to the book of 1 John. Let's look at that one real quick. Chapter 5. This is natural men. He that
believeth, verse 10, he that believeth on the Son of God hath
the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. So we see the first thing here,
sin is not so much what I do, but it is what I am by nature. Secondly, sin is not a corruption
that invades a man's heart, but a corruption that is found in
a man's heart. Look over at Matthew 15. Go over to Matthew chapter 15. Sin is a corruption that invades
man's heart. Or it's not a corruption that
invades man's heart, but a corruption that is found Look at verse 17
through 20 of Matthew 15. Do not ye yet understand that
whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and
is cast out in the drought? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the
man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murderers, adulterers, fornicators, to defile a man, but to eat with
unwashed hands defiles a man not." Folks, the heart of a man
by nature is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
That's what we read in Jeremiah 17, verse 9. And you can, for
the sake of time, I'll let you read it on your own. You can
write this down, Romans 3, verses 9-14. That's a description of
every man who's come into this world. And then thirdly, Sinfulness,
writes Don, is not a nature that is acquired and learned, but
a state and a condition of birth. Now before I read what Don wrote
about that, I'd love to bring this up. Who taught you how to
lie? Did your parents teach you how
to lie when they asked you? Did you take that cookie from
the cookie book? From the cookie jar? I don't know about you folks,
but I didn't have to be taught how to lie about that. I didn't
want to get whipped. That's our nature. Don wrote
this about that. He said, Adam's sin was imputed
to us by God, as we read in Romans 5, verse 18. And it was imparted
to us by natural generation. So that all are born in spiritual
death and spiritual sin. Look over at Psalms number 51
with me if you would. Turn all the way over to the
Old Testament. Go to Psalm 51. The other side of Isaiah is Proverbs
and then the Psalms. Psalm 51. And look with me there at just
a couple of verses. Verse 5 in Psalm 51, Behold,
I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. One more, if you would, turn
to the right and go over to Psalm 58 now. We got one verse over
there I want to read with you as well. Verse 3, Psalm 58 verse
3, The wicked are estranged from the womb, They go astray as soon
as they be born, speaking lies. The nature of man, writes Don,
from his birth is depraved. We call it total depravity, complete
depravity. There is nothing in us that could
merit anything. Natural man is incapable of doing
good and of ceasing to do evil.