If you would, turn in your Bibles
to 1 Timothy chapter 3. I'm just going to read one verse, here anyway, and try to hold forth on it.
1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. I like this verse. It's got just
about everything I need right there in one little thing. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles,
wrote this. And he wrote this to the brethren,
to Timothy, a young preacher. But he is the apostle to the
Gentiles, and that's us. He starts off this statement
with these three words, and without controversy. What does that mean? Well, that
means there is no controversy about what Paul is fixing to
write, about what Paul wrote here. There's no disputing, there's
no disagreement, there's no room for discussion, there's no vagueness
here. There's no gray areas. There's
no gray areas in the gospel, period. There's no gray areas
in the scripture. Now, we're plumbed full of gray
areas and black areas, too. But there's nothing here that
is controversial. It's without controversy. Confessedly, I will say this. There actually
is nothing that the Apostle Paul wrote that has controversy. It's all without controversy. The Apostle Peter himself wrote
that what Paul wrote was scripture. He compared the writing of Paul
to the other scriptures, meaning the Old Testament scriptures.
Just like those holy men of old wrote, written, things were written
as were inspired by the Spirit of God, by the Holy Spirit. Men
moved and wrote. That's what the Apostle Paul
is doing right here. And there are those who will
take these things and rest them to their own destruction. They
always have. Even the writings of Moses, Walter, Those Jews in Jesus' time was
looking to the writings of Moses. And Moses, whom you trust. But
Moses wrote of me, is what Christ said. In this verse, though, Paul introduces
this verse with this statement of what he is fixing to write,
what he is going to write, is totally and completely without
controversy. There is no doubt of any word
here. There's another one, I'm gonna
back up. He does this every now and then. I was listening to
Lloyd Jones this morning on the way up here, and he's talking
about the apostle Paul, and he said Paul is about to pull out
his adjectives. And then he said he ran out of
superlatives later, which is easy to do when you're talking
about Christ. In chapter one and verse 15 of
Timothy, He says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. He'll introduce a verse like
that sometimes. And here he starts off without
controversy and without controversy. So what's without controversy?
Great is the mystery of godliness. That is without controversy.
Great is the mystery of godliness This is without controversy According to the Apostle Paul Literally the word means big Big mega is the Greek word from
where we get our English word mega millions if you listen to
the lottery people. Big in mass, big in weight, big
in size, big as in length, height, or breadth, big in stature, big
in age, big in quantity, big in intensity, is what it means
figuratively. Great. Huge. Humongous. Enormous. Greatest the mystery of godliness
Paul called it a mystery It's called hidden a Mystery is not
something that cannot be known, but a mystery is something that
some people do not know Paul knew it. He's writing it
here But if our gospel be hid It is
hid to them which are lost. I said it before. I'll say it again.
I will repeat it ad infinitum. There is nothing wrong with the
gospel. The gospel is perfect. The gospel
is holy. The gospel is the word of God
concerning His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The problem is,
was, and always shall be with man. But great is this mystery of
godliness. Paul stated in Ephesians 6 and
19 that he wanted to open his mouth boldly. What? To make known the mystery of
the gospel. This is what bothers some people. Last night, CNN had it on TV. They're finding Jesus series.
They had the Gospel of Judas on. It was horrible. If you want to know the truth
about it, it was horrible. The amazing thing to me is how
they will not take anything in the scriptures as having any
truth in it. But then they'll say, oh, we
found this, and this means all this is going to change. No,
it doesn't. No, it doesn't. I heard what
they talked about. What they found was a lie. OK? There is no secret gospel of
Jesus. There is no gospel of Judas. There is the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And that's the only gospel. Paul also wrote that. put a few
things in front of that. Though I or an angel from heaven
preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed. There's
only one gospel. Paul calls it the mystery, but
he wanted to open his mouth boldly to state it. But man of himself
will not have it. Even though great is that mystery
of godliness. Great is the mystery of the gospel. But a mystery is known to them
to whom it has been revealed. But it's still a mystery to others. Now, I looked at this word godliness
because he says, great is the mystery of godliness. And the
meaning of that word is piety. I had to look that up to make
sure. Well, it's not a word you use
anymore. And I'll tell you this right
now, from what I learned, it's not a word that's used correctly
anywhere, I don't think. Oh, he's a pious man. Have you
heard that before? I know some of y'all are as old
as I am and older. It's an old word. It's an old
word. Well, the literal meaning of
piety is acting well in worship. It's not just that you walk around
and you don't do anything bad. It's not that you go out and
you give money to charities. That's nice. There's nothing
wrong with it. That's not piety. That's not
godliness. What Paul was writing here, great
is the mystery of acting well in worship. All of a sudden, this thing just
got more profound because worship is something
this world knows absolutely nothing about. On this day, Above all
days, except possibly Christmas, there's gonna be more people
and more churches that have no idea who Jesus Christ is that
ever do all year long. And there's gonna be preachers
up there doing their best to convince these people to come
back every Sunday. And they'll put on a show and
they'll put up purple crosses outside the thing, inflatable
ones. That's not the mystery of godliness. It's not even close. There are
many mysteries written of in the New Testament. The mystery
of the kingdom of God. Christ told his disciples, unto
you is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. He didn't stop there though.
He said unto them, it's not given. Therefore, I speak to them in
parables. There are going to be people
preaching parables today. And they're going to say, Jesus
wanted everybody to understand. That's why he preached in parables.
Isn't that what Jesus said? That's not what Christ God Almighty
manifests in the flesh said. He never said that. He said,
unto you it's given, and unto them it's not. I'm sorry. I mean,
I'm not sorry. He put the difference there.
I'm just repeating what he said. There's the mystery of the kingdom.
There's the wisdom of God in a mystery. There's the mystery
of believers being changed at the second coming of Jesus Christ
in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. There's the mystery of
God's will. It's a mystery to this world.
There's the mystery of Christ. There's the mystery of the gospel.
There's the mystery of faith. What? Faith's easy, isn't it? People think it is. They're wrong. But they think faith is the gift
of God. Faith is a miracle. Faith comes
only to those whom the Holy Spirit has given life. Oh, it's a mystery to this world. And here, Paul gives us the mystery
of godliness. All godliness, all piety, all
worship is in Jesus Christ, the Son, and nowhere else. There is no worship outside of
Christ. There are none who worship outside
of Jesus Christ. There's a difference between
being in Christ and outside of Christ. There's plenty of lip service,
oh my. But Christ said this too, they
honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." He put a difference between some
people. He came to set at variance families
with each other. That's what he said. And guess
what? That's what he meant! Great is the mystery of godliness. There's plenty of talk, but it's
not the gospel being preached. The mystery of godliness is that
all knowledge, all faith, all wisdom, all worship is only in
the Son of God. There is no worship outside of
Jesus Christ. None? None. None. Absolutely none. If you know Jesus Christ, you'll
know the Father. If you know Jesus Christ, you'll
know the Spirit. Only in seeing Him can you see
the Father. Only in seeing Him will you know
the Spirit. This is a mystery. It is unknown
to the world. Even though the world thinks
it knows it, they're wrong. Because they don't understand
that there is no godliness outside of Christ. There is nothing outside of the
revelation of God's dear son in the gospel. nothing the true worship of God
is in his son and True godliness is to believe that Jesus Christ
is he If you believe not that I am
he what's gonna happen Christ said it he told some Jews this
if you believe not that I am he and Ye shall die in your sins. Now I know that's hardly the
uplifting Easter message of the day, but it's the truth of God
spoken by the Son of God to people who needed to hear it and it
was written down for us to hear and for us to read and for us
to believe. This is great as the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ is God. The Father, the Son, the Spirit,
these three are one. There is one God, one Father
above us all. There's one Son, the Eternal
Son. There is one Spirit, the Holy
Spirit. These three are one but Jesus
Christ was the one who came the eternal son was manifest in the
flesh He was manifested on this earth
now This was not the creation of Jesus This was not the creation
of the son. The son is the eternal son This
is where he is manifested in the flesh shown, revealed, made
known, appeared. Jesus did not begin with the
virgin birth. He was the Word that was with
God and that was God from the beginning. He's the Word who
spoke everything into being. There was nothing that was created
that was not created by him. But he was manifest in the flesh
here on earth. God was made known in the flesh. God was shown. The invisible
God is now visible in Christ and only in Christ. No man has seen God at any time.
But if you've seen Christ, you've seen the Father. Now, is that what they call a
paradox? I don't care. It's true. It's true. If you've seen Christ,
if you know Christ, you know the Father because they're one. We don't understand that kind
of union because we can't have that kind of union here. The
closest we come to it is our union with Christ. And that still
falls far short of the union between the Father, the Son,
and the Spirit. They are one. The only way God could be made
visible is to be what manifests in the flesh. He came in the
likeness sinful flesh I state this categorically he did not
come in sinful flesh he came in the likeness of sinful flesh
there's a world of difference between those two statements Jesus Christ did not have sinful
flesh but he came in the likeness of sinful flesh Isaiah put it
this way he said he had no beauty that we should desire him There
was no visual treat for the eyes when you looked at Jesus Christ.
I know whenever they put him in a movie, it's some pretty
boy. It's some guy. It looks like, I don't know who.
I have no idea. I don't watch those movies. I'm
not going to start either, but I've seen the commercials. No,
Jesus Christ was not a charismatic leader. Oh, that's funny. Yeah. Yeah. Judas was the only
one that understood it. That's what it said in the gospel
of Judas. Go figure. If I ever wrote the
gospel of Joe, it's going to say I'm very flattering, very
flattering things about me. But it's not going to happen.
And our Lord was manifest in the flesh and every single person
he spoke to, he spoke the truth. whether they understood it or
not. And he explained himself to exactly
whom he wanted to explain himself. He told his disciples some things
he didn't tell other people. It's written down in here. To
you, it's given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to
others, it's not given. But He was manifest in the flesh. He took upon the form of a servant,
even though as the Eternal Son, He's still the Lord of all flesh.
He's the God. He's God. God manifest in the flesh is
still God manifest in the flesh. He's still God by nature, even
while he walked on this earth. Not just by office. He didn't
abdicate his godhood when he came down. That's what some teach. And it ain't so. No, God was
manifest in the flesh. He was God before he came here.
He was God while he's here. You ever notice that anything
he said happened? Everything he said happened. Lazarus, come forth. And what happened? A dead man
came to life and came forth. Still bound in his grave clothes,
but he came alive and he came forth. Why? Christ spoke it. He was God manifest in the flesh. You were in a storm, on a boat,
and he said, peace, be still. What happened? There was peace,
the wind ceased, and it was still. This is God manifest in the flesh. Why would God do such a thing?
Why did the Word become flesh and dwell among us? Well, Paul
already told us in that, I read the beginning of that statement.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief. Now, that's exactly what Christ
came for. from our point of view. From his point of view, he came
for the glory of the Father. And part of the glory of the
Father is in bringing many sons to glory. But from our point of view, from
our perspective, he came to save sinners of whom I am chief. The
angel told Joseph, call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save
his people from their sins. God was manifest in the flesh. And in the flesh, God could become
the perfect sacrifice for sin. Sin must be punished, sin will
be punished. And that punishment is death.
And Christ bore in His body, which was flesh, our sins and
took the punishment we so truly deserved. He was made of a woman, made
under the law. Why? To redeem those that were
under the law. Redemption. And there is no redemption
without blood being shed. There is no redemption without
blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. He died in the flesh. It's not a metaphor. It's not
a shadow. It's not a type. The Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest
in the flesh, literally died. suffered and died, and rose again the third day. He made his offering to the Father,
and by that one offering, one time, one offering, he sanctified. By that one offering, he perfected
forever his people that he chose from before the
foundation of the world. By that one offering. And it says, justified in the
spirit. There seems to be some argument.
I don't understand why. whether this means Christ Spirit
or the Holy Spirit. And to that question I say, yes. They are one. He was justified in the Spirit,
perfectly acceptable to the Father, perfect in word, perfect in deed,
perfect in truth. The Holy Spirit did come down
and descend upon him in the form of a dove. And it said, an abode
there. John saw it. I saw the spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. Justified in the spirit. Perfect
in every way. Scene of angels. I've got to
hurry up. You ever wonder about that part?
Why is seeing of angels in here with this list? The angels have
seen it before. Not like this. Not as God manifest
in the flesh. Jesus created the angels. The
Word that was with God was God and by Him all things were created.
Angels are created beings. He created the angels. He was
there as the Eternal Son with the Father. But when He came
here, I looked at that word seen of angels. Walter, it means gaze
in wonder. And it also means to see something
remarkable. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God manifest in the flesh is something remarkable to be seen
by angels. These angels who see with better
eyes than we have saw the king of glory. who they knew, come
down and become flesh. They saw Him leave His place
in glory from the heights of heaven, and they not only saw
Him come down to be born in a body of flesh, but they saw Him stay
here, live here, preach here. publicly speak the complete and
utter truth of God to men who hated him and loved darkness. And the angels gazed in wonder
at this. Peter said, unto whom it was
revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister
the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. and the angel's desire to see
this, to gaze and wonder at the creator coming down to dwell
with his creation and giving his life for it, voluntarily. They didn't take his life. They couldn't take his life.
Not even close. They tried. It didn't work, but
they tried. The angels desire to see this. Preached unto the Gentiles and
believed on in the world. I am so glad Paul put this in
here because this is a part of the mystery of godliness. That
it was preached to the Gentiles. Salvation is of the Jews, ain't
it? Somebody said that. I remember hearing that somewhere.
It's in here somewhere. God didn't leave out the Gentiles.
That's us. Right here, right now, that's
us. He is still preached under the Gentiles. The Messiah was a Jew. Christ, Jesus, is a Jew. You wouldn't know that listening
to most Baptist churches. They kind of leave that part
out. and bring up big purple crosses, you know, inflatable
ones. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles,
was a Jew. Not only that, he was a former
Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews. Great is the mystery of godliness
preached unto the Gentiles. Believed on in the world now
very carefully very closely This is not believed by the world
Okay, not even close This is believed on in the world, and
there's a big difference in those two statements Jesus Christ God
manifest in the flesh is believed on in the world Now the world
as an entity has no idea, no hint, who God is, who Christ
is, or who the Spirit is. But God manifest in the flesh
is believed on in the world by those who have been saved by
grace, through faith, and that not of themselves. It's the gift
of God. He is believed on in the world.
His gospel is received by those he has given life and given faith. That's the way he's chose to
do it. Great is the mystery of godliness. He could have just
planted it in our heads and in our heart, but he didn't. He said, do it this way. And
the Spirit does it this way. Jesus told His disciples, you're
in the world, but you're not of the world. And the same goes
for every single believer in Jesus Christ. You're in the world,
you're not of the world. He is believed on in the world. While we're here, we are to believe
on Him. Not just later. Received up in
the glory. Bodily. Bodily. I was reading in Acts
1 this morning at the house. You men of Galilee. Why you stand
up here gazing? This same Jesus that you saw
go up is coming back. But they did see Him go up. He
was received up into glory. Peter preached it after Pentecost
in Acts chapter two. This Jesus hath God made both
Lord and Christ. And before that he was quoting
the words of David when he said he's gonna be seated at the right
hand until his enemies be made his footstool. He was received
up into glory. God manifest in the flesh has
now sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Earl
said it, and I believe he was probably the first person I ever
remember saying it, but I've never forgot it. There is a man
seated in heaven, the man Christ Jesus. He's the God man. But there's a man seated in the
presence of God where there never was a man seated before. And
he's the only one who is to sit at the right hand of the Father.
He was received up, what? Into glory. He wasn't changed. He has not
changed. He is still God manifest in the
flesh in heaven. And the angels still gaze in
wonder. And so do I. If I can think about it. It's a mystery, the mystery of
godliness, the worship of God manifest in the flesh. It's a
mystery because the world doesn't know it. The princes of this
world didn't know him, otherwise they wouldn't have crucified
him. It's a mystery. because he, he
cannot be known by the natural man. It's a mystery because it must
be revealed to a man and not a natural man. The Spirit of God must reveal
this. The Spirit of God reveals him. No man can see him or the mystery of godliness, except by divine life and divine
light. That light, that candlestick
in the tabernacle, that's one of the few things that wasn't
part wood and part gold. That candlestick's pure gold,
because the light that the priest need was from pure divinity. It has to be the light from above.
It has to be the light of God or you're not gonna see any light. It's pure light. His light. Christ Jesus as he truly is is
unknown to this world but he's believed on in this world. By
the Holy Spirit Life and faith come by grace to those whom he
has chosen, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. That's what it says in Acts. Great is the mystery of godliness. Believe him. Worship him. Love him. Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time, this place. But most of all, thankful for
you. You have given us everything. We deserve nothing, and yet you've
given to your people everything they need and more than they
could ever ask for. Thank you. In Christ's name we
pray, amen.