All right. Chapter 1 of Don's book, The Mysteries of
God, I broke up into three parts. As you know, we've already done
Part A and B. We began chapter 1 on Don Kortner's
book, The Mysteries of God, two weeks ago. And as a reminder,
this chapter is about the mysteries of God that bind the elect to
Christ. The mysteries that God speaks
about in His Word that hold us to our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
We can't find it anywhere out in the world. We can't find it
anywhere within ourselves, but we see it clearly, these mysteries
spoken of in God's Word. These mentories are mentioned
in the scripture. And the first one that we looked
at was that without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
And we spent some time on that in the first week. Secondly,
the mystery of faith, holding the mystery of faith in a pure
conscience is what we read. And what a mystery that God would
grant a sinner the gift of faith. And we also considered the mystery
of the spiritual union, where we read in Ephesians 5, verse
30 through 32, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, of
his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery But I
speak right Paul to the Ephesians concerning Christ and the church
So and I got to be honest with you that the mystery that really
grabbed a hold of me was that one last week the mystery that
we Sinners, I mean we're born sinners. We we still walk in
sin in this flesh yet our Lord loved us so much so that he made
us one with himself. We looked at that. Remember in
John chapter 17 in his great priestly prayer of how we are
in Christ and Christ is in us. We are one with him. And we looked
at several different verses for that. And I'm not going to go
over that all again. So this morning, we're going
to finish chapter 1 And the first mystery we're going to talk about
is spoken of in Revelation chapter 1 verse 20. If you want to turn
over to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1. And the Lord has inspired the
Apostle John to write these words, the mystery of the seven stars. which thou sawest in my right
hand, and the seven golden candlesticks." The seven stars, it says, are
the angels of the seven churches. And the seven candlesticks which
thou sawest are the seven churches. Now this speaks of gospel preachers
and of churches where, and the churches where they pastor. The
seven golden candlesticks are the churches of Christ. There
are seven of them. That means that there's enough,
that it's fulfilled, it's complete. Christ is in the midst of them
listen to the words of Matthew 18 verse 20 for there were for
where two or three are gathered together in my name There am
I in the midst of them? And I thought about that as as
I was speaking with her brother Mike earlier for those of you
who? Didn't hear the conversation.
I was thanking him last week We were talking about the fellowship
of the Saints coming together fellers on the same ship in my
main message and We're just a small group here.
There's five of us here this morning, plus those who are online.
It's just a small group. Mike sent me a message last week
afterward that said, John, you know, it's not those who couldn't
be here. It's those who are here. That's
the number that we should be concerned about. That's the number
that's a blessing. There's five people here this
morning. That's wonderful. There could
be nobody. It could be just Kathy and I.
But God has his sheep in the world today, folks. What good
news for us. You know my son is going through
some terrible troubles. They flooded out. His place flooded
out last week, out there in Kentucky. He was one of the ones that was
on national TV, Paducah, who's underwater. He's going through some pretty
serious stuff with what happened in his private life as well as
that and I'm just, I'm praying that these troubles that are
coming his way will be for his good. I have good reason to hope
that they will be. God's sheep are still in the
world. There's still one or two more to be called out of darkness.
It doesn't matter if there's two people in the room, or five,
or 10, or 20, or 30. Everybody who God had planned
on being here today is right here today. You know that? Our Lord is not going to have
one thing that he purposed not come to pass. Not one thing. Where two or three are gathered
in my name. There am I in the midst of them.
As our Lord walks in the midst of his churches, he sends out
his word. The churches are established
by him, provided by him, and ruled by him. The seven stars
are the pastors of those churches. Pastors are God's messengers,
angels to his churches. It is Christ who puts his messengers
in his churches. You know, I was listening to
a Bible study by Pastor Gabe Stonerker this morning. Kathy
and I tuned into him. Thankfully, they're three hours
ahead of us, so we could listen to him while we were eating breakfast.
And I gotta tell you something. I don't know what the title of
it was. But if you can go into today's sermon audio, and pick
up, or YouTube, and pick up, uh, Dave Stoniker's Bible study
this morning, whoo! He was on fire! You heard him
too? Yeah! Roger's sitting there shaking
his head, he tuned in as well. He was on fire with it! I mean,
it was just, it was an excellent Bible study. And it was all about
this, that God's preachers, He was a warning that God was given
about false teachers. And Gabe brought out how God's
preachers do one thing and one thing only. It's that very same
thing that I do every week, Lord willing, and Lord keep me doing,
and the same thing Gabe is doing every week, Lord willing, keep
him doing, and that is preaching Christ. You try to mix anything else
with that, well, you know, there's Christ, plus you've got to start
being a better person. You try to mix anything with
that, you are a false preacher adding a little bit of leaven
into the loaf, causing the whole lump to be bad. Our Lord walks in the midst of
His church. Do you know what the Spirit speaks
of? The Spirit of God speaks of Christ. and only of Christ. He never speaks of himself. Pastors
are God's messengers to his churches, and this is who he puts in the
churches. Those who are Christ's messengers
are in his hand. Look with me over at 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, if you would. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. This is our next mystery. I want
you to read this as well. Where am I at here? Oh, I'm going
the wrong direction. You're probably going to beat
me there today. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Look at verses 7-12
with me if you would. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work, only he who now letteth will let until he be
taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,
even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivables of unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved. For this cause God shall
send them a strong delusion, that they shall believe a lie,
that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. The mystery of iniquity is called
the mystery of Babylon in Revelation 17 verse 5. You can read that
in your own time if you want to note it in your notes there.
It refers to the delusions of the Antichrist, the delusions
of the Armenian free will works religion. One might wonder why
God allows so much perverse religion in the world. Why is that religion
of Antichrist so prevalent in the world today? Folks, do not
allow these things to disturb you. This, too, is according
to the purpose of God. When men and women will not receive
the love of the truth, God sends them a strong delusion, as we
just read there, and he gives them over to the reprobate mind
that they might be damned. 2 Thessalonians, look at verse
12, 11 and 12 again. Oh no, we just read that. The heresies of this age must
abound so that God's elect might be distinguished from the reprobate. And he refers to 1 Corinthians
chapter 11. If you want to turn over there
real quick, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And in reference to that, look
at verse 9. Wait a minute. 1 Corinthians 11 verse
9 has nothing to do with what Don has said there. How did I
miss that? I thought I read over that pretty
closely. I apologize for that. Let's go on. Christ's sheep hear
his voice. A stranger will they not allow.
And that's in 1 John 2.19. The only reason God's elect are
not engulfed in the perverse religion of Antichrist is their
eternal election to salvation in Christ by his grace. Look
again, if you would, over at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, this
time verses 13 and 14. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses
13 and 14. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren. Now remember, we just read about
the warning and how in verse 11 it says, and for this cause,
God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe
a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth.
How is it that we don't fall into that very same picture?
But for the pleasure and unto the righteousness, We are bound
to give thanks always, verse 13, to give for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. That's why. Through sanctification
in the spirit and belief of the truth, we are to be called by
our gospel to the obtaining of the glory. of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I asked Brother Gabe this morning
a question. I sent him a text telling him
how much I was blessed with Bible study. I asked him this question. I said, you know, I have a question
for you to contemplate and we'll talk about it at another time.
Why do we have so many warnings? All for whom God the Son, and
I don't have an answer for you at this time, but I'm going to
give you the question so you can think about it and ponder
it as well. If all that God the Son laid down his life for, I'm
not putting it correctly, Taking into consideration that he shed
his blood for an elect people, those elect, why is he in this
love letter having to warn us about those certain things, those
false gospels? We're going to talk about that
a little bit later. Gabe's immediate response to me was this, because
it pleased God, because he has made our wisdom,
We may not have the answer to that question. I don't have it
right now. And I may not have it until the day the Lord takes
me out of this world. Why would He have to give me a warning?
If I'm assured salvation through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which His people are assured of, then why give us a warning
about false religions? I think Don hit the answer right
there just a moment ago. that God's elect might be distinguished
from the reprobate. We might be able to distinguish
ourselves from reprobates, from what we are from the reprobate
world. Look here, 2 Thessalonians, we
already read this. God's judgment upon his generation
is not immorality, drugs, abortion, age. God's greatest judgment
upon the world in which we live is the perverse free will works
religion, man being turned over to their own will. The so-called universal acceptance
of free willism has brought degeneracy upon this age. Wherever and whenever
men embrace a religion of works, salvation, degeneracy, and immorality
follow. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and this
will be our last mystery for this morning. Next week we'll
go on to chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Look at 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. This mystery, the mystery of
the resurrection, is the blessed hope that is set before us. Scoffers
may laugh at us. Skeptics may ridicule us. The
religious world derides us for what they call our old-fashioned,
unintellectual beliefs. But all believers walk in the
old paths of divine truth, believing exactly what they are ridiculed
for believing. We believe the literal bodily
resurrection of the dead and the triumph of God's elect over
death, hell, and the grave. We shall not all sleep, is what
we read. We will not all die. Some will
still be living in faith when Christ comes again, but we shall
be changed in a moment. Both those who have died in the
Lord and those who are yet upon the earth, when he comes again,
shall be transformed into the likeness of Christ in the glorious
immortality and perfect holiness. We shall all triumph at last. And Don closes his study, the
first chapter, with these words. Lord willing, we'll take a closer
look at these mysteries on an individual basis in our future
studies.