If you would open again your
Bibles to 1 Timothy and the third chapter where we read, Paul had hoped, if it was God's will, to come
again to where Timothy was. But he wrote all these things to teach and to remind him and
them all how they were to conduct themselves in the church of the
living God. Verse 14, he says, These things
write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God." Every week on the cover of our
bulletin, I have that fifteenth verse in
the last part printed on it. It says, which is the church
of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The pillar, the foundation of
the truth. God has entrusted His church
with the truth. And we in this world are to set
forth the truth. As a matter of fact, the true
church is characterized by the truth. Where there is no truth,
there is no church. And so he tells us this, and
then he speaks that truth as it is summed up in verse 16. He says, and 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." When he begins that last statement,
he does so saying, without controversy. or confessedly. Great is the
mystery of godliness. In other words, he's not talking
simply about something that was or used to be. In every age,
the truth is still the same, and great is this mystery. And this mystery is set in contrast
to all of the mysteries of the heathens over the generations. They had great mysteries and
lesser mysteries. But the word mystery has something
to do with that which is sacred. and secret. But it has to do
here with God's purpose of grace and that salvation which is in
Christ. And he sets this mystery in contrast
to all others as being before all others and above all others. And meaning simply that this
is that which has always been, has always been God's purpose
and will, has always been God's salvation, but is only now revealed
and made manifest. And what he's talking about here
is the truth of the gospel, the truth that is in Christ Jesus,
the truth that is now proclaimed by those sent of God to declare
the revelation of this mystery. Paul, writing to the Corinthians,
he expressed it like this. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the world unto our glory. This is the mystery of godliness. that is in direct opposition
to and contrast to what is elsewhere called the mystery of iniquity. And this is said also in contrast
to what Paul will describe further in that fourth chapter. And it is basically this, that
all our salvation depends on Jesus Christ. It depends on what
He did in His life and His death. But it is necessary that what
He did and what He accomplished totally and completely depends
on who he was and is. In other words, if he is not
something unique, if he is not someone to be revealed above
and beyond all others, then what he did really means nothing. So what this has to do is with
the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And not simply that He became
a man, but that He is the one who is described in this book
as the Man Christ Jesus. There is one Mediator, between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And this very mystery was cloaked,
in a sense, in the prophecies of many of the Old Testament
prophecies in one way or another. But maybe Isaiah was enabled
of God to speak the very clearest. He says in Isaiah 7, Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. What a prophecy! He says a virgin. A woman who has never known a
man, never had a child before, never knew the natural method
of child conception, a virgin shall conceive and bear a child
and shall call his name Emmanuel. And then he goes further in the
ninth chapter of Isaiah saying this, "'For unto us a child is
born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
and of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order
it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
even for ever, The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this." This is something done by God. And even the angel of the Lord
spoke to Joseph in that dream and said this to him. He said,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth
a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us." God with us. And it is here in that sixteenth
verse that the Apostle Paul restates and confirms and says one more
time to remind Timothy and all who might read his words, he
says, God was manifest in the flesh. Now, what is this great
mystery of godliness? In other words, what was it that
always was the purpose of God to be? What was it that was cloaked
and foreshadowed in the words of the prophets and in the types
of the Old Testament? And what is it that makes up
this central theme of the gospel which is the wisdom of God? He says, first of all, God was
manifest in the flesh. I remember hearing an old preacher
a long time ago make this statement, and he was just exactly right. He said there is nobody but a
fool or a Christian that could ever believe this. That is, that
the infinite and almighty and eternal and invisible God, the
Spirit, was made manifest, came into this world in human flesh,
in a human body. And I know of nothing that will
tax the poor, feeble brains of such as we are than to think
about the divine nature being brought forth in human flesh,
the infinite who knows no boundary that cannot inhabit the greatest
places made by man, but inhabits eternity, and yet he walks on
this earth in a human body. God was manifest in the flesh. And so when John begins his gospel,
He begins with this great mystery of godliness and says, In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And he says further on that same
thought, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." And then listen to what he says
in the next verse. He speaks of John the Baptist. He says, John, bear witness of
him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, he that
cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before
me." He's not only greater than me,
far greater than me, He's not only the one that I spoke to
you about. He's not only the one I'm to
herald and announce, but He was before me. Why? Because He was
God. And he is God manifest in the
flesh. As a matter of fact, this is
what Paul says in Colossians 2.9. He says, for in him, that
is, in the man Jesus Christ, in him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Can you imagine that? the fullness
of God in His power, the fullness of God in His authority, in His
holiness, in His grace, in His love, in His mercy, the fullness
of God in all He has to give, all of His spiritual blessing
in the man Jesus Christ. Hold your place there and turn
over to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 2,
he says that, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the world. And then listen in verse 3, "...who
being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high." In other words, the Spirit of God directs
the Apostle here, even before he tells us what Christ did for
us. He tells us who he is. And he shows us how it was that
he could, by himself, purge our sins. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2, and listen
to the Apostle in verse 14. He says, For as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself
took part of the same." He who? He the Son. He the Eternal Son. He the One who is God. And he
did so, he says, he also himself likewise took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. In other words, he
not only had to take upon himself this body, he had not only to
assume this humanity and that in order to die and to destroy
death for his people, but he had to be more than that. He
had to be God in that flesh. I know there are a lot of people
And they sit back contemplating what they hear in the gospel,
and they say, well, that's about the most foolish thing I've ever
heard. That one man could die in one
place in one time, and that death accomplished the salvation of
a multitude of sinners. But I'll tell you what the difference
is. He is God manifest in the flesh. Absolutely. Verse 16 of Hebrews 2 says, For
verily, for truly, he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." He's made like unto his brethren. He bears this body. He said long
before, and it's quoted right here in Hebrews. He said long
before, sacrifice an offering, Father, you'd not have but a
body thou hast prepared for me. Because He came to do the will
of Him that sent Him. And in order to accomplish that
will and do that will, He had to take this body upon Himself,
and there will not be any person who ever sees God except they
see Him in Jesus Christ. That's what he said. He says, no man has seen God
at any time. The only begotten Son which is
in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." It's my understanding that you
can't hardly in the English get a grip on what's being manifested
or said there in that statement. He hath declared. He has told him out. He has said all that can be said
of God to sinners such as we are. He has manifested all that
will be manifested of God in His saving mercy and grace. And Paul says the reason that
the God of this world so blinds men and women so holds a shield
and a veil over their face. It is so that they will not be
enabled to behold the man. He says, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ. He says, you look to Him. We look to this man, Christ Jesus,
and we live. And we cannot look at, we cannot
behold God in any other way because outside of God in Christ, He
is a consuming fire. God was manifest in the flesh. And there are those, and I suppose
it is the most often denied truth of God. In other words, even
the multitude of those who try to make something of Jesus Christ, The one thing that they deny
is the fact that He is God manifest in the flesh. The very enemies of Christ, when He walked among them, and
He did so many great and glorious miracles which could not ever
be denied except they be of God. And they acknowledge of Christ
what men and women in our day refuse to even acknowledge about
Him. He said, for which of these miracles
would you stone me? And they said, we don't stone
you for doing any miracles. We're just going to stone you
because you're a blasphemer. We're going to stone you because
you make yourself to be God. But he didn't just make himself
to be God. He is God manifest in the flesh. And if he is not, He cannot and
must not be worshipped. If He is not, He absolutely cannot
save. If He is not, He lied and was
obviously an imposter, but most of all, if He's not God, His
sacrifice is of no value. One sinner cannot even die to
save himself. The best man that has ever lived
of Adam's race could not even by his best, on his best day,
redeem even himself. And so God has revealed Himself
and His grace and His mercy and His salvation only through that
God-man mediator, the man Christ Jesus. And that's why we are
to believe Him, and that's why we are to believe on Him. And
that's why we can believe on him. He is God manifest in the
flesh. And then Paul says something
else about him. He says he was justified in the
Spirit. God, who looks on the heart of
men, who knows everything there is to know about every person
who's ever lived in this world, their thoughts, their motives,
their intentions, their words, their deeds. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. You ever think about that? Can we be well pleased, thoroughly
pleased with the Lord Jesus Christ? We can if God is well pleased. And one time, and
maybe the most important time that he ever said that concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, is while he's hanging there on that cross. Surely he's not pleased with
him. He's well pleased with him. You see, in Acts 20, Paul instructs
these Ephesian elders and he says, Take heed therefore unto
yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God. which he hath purchased with
his own blood." Who purchased the church? Who purchased the
church of God? God did. And He did so with His
own blood in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says that He received the
Spirit without measure. And when John was baptizing him,
the Bible says that the Spirit of God descended on him as a
witness, as a testimony. This is the Christ. That word sometimes means, vindicated. Who vindicated Him? God vindicated
Him. You think about all that he did. All the miracles that he did
in the power of the Spirit proved him to be such. All the words
that he spoke, they declared him, they proved him, they witnessed
that he is the righteous one. And even at his resurrection
from the dead, that very resurrection, justify him as being exactly
who he said he was. Paul says in Romans 1, he's declared
to thee, or declared the Son of God with power according to
the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. And in the body, In this body
he was manifested and put to death for the sins of his people,
and they were all imputed to him and borne away by him and
put away by him, and therefore the Spirit quickened him and
declared his death to be a sacrifice of success and acquitted all
the sins of His people through and by His death. And when He
raised up from the dead, He was justified. You know, the
Bible uses that word justified in another sense because it says,
but it basically means the same thing. It says on one occasion
when things were done, and the gospel was preached, and some
believed, and even if some didn't believe, it says that they justified
God. Men justifying God? They declared Him to be exactly
what He was. They declared what was done to
have been done by God alone. And they declared that God was
righteous in the doing of it. And that is what takes place
in the heart of every person that the Spirit of God comes
to indwell. Every one that He gives faith
to, they justify Jesus Christ. He is the One. There's no need of debating
with them. There's no need of trying to
explain Him away. There's no need to bring twenty
volumes of man's works to convince them that He is this, or to try
and convince them that He isn't this. They've been taught of God. And
they justify Him. And they know that He is the
Savior. All right? Then Paul says this,
he was seen of angels. I remember the first time I ever
tried to look at that and tried to figure out what in the world
did that mean by that? Seen of angels. Well, even the angels had not seen
God. They had seen the evidences of
His holiness, of His sovereignty, of His justice, of His power
in the angels that fell. But in Christ. They saw that
great mystery of His love and His grace and His eternal purpose
and His mercy and the mystery of redemption. They saw it all
when they saw Christ. They saw Him at His birth. You
know, the Scriptures record this revelation that none would ever
know of if God had not revealed it, and that is that the angels
rejoiced at the birth of Jesus Christ. They had never seen God. They announced His birth. They
praised Him at His birth. They ministered to Him when He
was there in the wilderness. When He rose from the dead, they
announced it, and they stand at the right hand of the Majesty
on high to do His every bidding. In other words, sitting there
at the throne of God is a man who bids angels to do all His
will, so that they are described as ministering spirits to those
that are the heirs of His salvation. But the wonder of it all The
wonder of these angels in the highest is their wonder of his
redemptive work for fallen men. Johe didn't redeem any fallen
angels. When they fell, they fell. But Peter said that many of those who wrote, moved of God. It says, 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, which the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
the things, which things the angels desire to look into. Isn't it amazing? Can't even
gather enough people this morning in this world to hear the gospel
of Jesus Christ, and yet the Bible says that these are the
things that the angels desire to look into. They're in wonder. And then Paul says this, he's
preached unto the Gentiles. What this literally means is
he's preached unto the nations. The nations that never had one
prophet sent to them. The nations that never had the
tabernacle or the temple, who never had the law, But now, he's preached among
the Gentiles. That is, he's proclaimed. He's
not acted in a play, he's not sung, or he's not presented in
a picture of a statue or any such thing as that. He's preached
freely among the nations. Sometimes men think they shut
the door. God just opens it. He tells us,
I read this again this week, I think I need it for my own
encouragement. He said that the word that he
sins for shall not return unto him void, but it will accomplish
the thing and it will prosper in the thing whereunto he sinneth. And it's amazing. It's a mystery in the things
that are preached to men. It's a mystery in the ones he
uses to preach them. He describes them as the base
and the foolish and the things that are not. He said that's
who preaches the gospel. To people who don't deserve to
hear it, to people who in themselves despise it, But notice what the next thing
is. He said, it's believed on in the world. Paul, he said, the world hates
me. He said, the natural mind is
enmity against God. And yet here in a world where
all naturally hate him and reject him, where all are naturally
unbelievers, here and there and in the other
place, somebody believes on them. You stop and think about this.
Who was Peter, Simon Peter? He was a ragtag fisherman. He was an unlettered man, as
we might say. He was a man who had no earthly
credentials. He stood up on the day of Pentecost.
and told them just exactly the opposite of what they, by nature,
would have wanted to hear. You, by wicked hands, have taken
and slain the Messiah, the Christ. He's the one. You know what happened? Some
3,000 souls believed Him. They believed Him. And the great majority of all
that made up those original twelve apostles, they were just like
Him. And yet, when they went out,
sin of God, to preach the gospel, when they went out preaching
Christ, this great mystery of godliness, that He had come in,
sin of God, into this world to bear the sins of His own people
in His own body on that tree, to lay down His life for the
sheep, and His death is their salvation. They believed
Him. Sometimes I get so down, I get
to thinking, you know, not only will there not be anybody to
hear what I've got to say, but when I say it, they may not even
believe it. Probably won't. I'm sorry I get
like that. But the Bible says he's believed
on in the world. That's a miracle of grace. He's
the one who gives the faith. And the truth is, His power attends
the preaching of Christ crucified. And even in this day, amazingly,
in this life with all its problems, the gospel message comes to the
people of God and gives them peace and rest with the greatest
problem of all. We've got lots of problems, don't
we? We've got health problems. We've got financial problems. We've got political problems. We've got all these problems.
But the message of the gospel is that's your biggest problem. the absolute biggest problem,
which is the problem of our sins, of our relationship with the
living God. We don't have a problem there
in Christ and Him crucified. Oh, I know how we are. I know
how I am in a measure. I'm like that man, I say, Lord,
I believe, but help my unbelief. I believe,
but it's not my believing that saves me, it's your shed blood. It's not whether I can always
see so clearly or feel so powerfully your salvation, it's the fact
that when you see the blood, You pass over me." And then here's the last thing.
It says, "...received up into glory." Now, what we have to remember
is, first of all, He left glory. And He ascends back. You can
go back and read Psalm 24. talking about the very gates
of glory. Lift up ye gates. Who can come in? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart. Who comes in? The Lord of glory. But this is not just his heavenly
glory, or even his essential glory as God. But this is His redemptive glory. This is His glory as the mediator. This is what we might call added
glory. Even greater glory. More glory. Because for what He has done,
His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross as a the
man. Paul says he has given him a
name above all others. He has highly exalted him. That at the name of Jesus, not
just the name of God, But that earthly, humanly name of Jesus. But at the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord
to the glory of God. He's crowned with that glory
and honor because He finished the work. And God received him,
and in doing so, received all who are in him. God accepted him, and all believers
being accepted in the Beloved, in the man, Christ Jesus. So that Jude says, now unto him, now unto him, that is able to keep you from
falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. To him be glory, power, dominion
forever. and ever. This is the great 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. That's the only good news there
is. That's the only gospel there
is. It's the man Christ Jesus and
Him crucified. Our Father, this day we give
You praise and thanksgiving. May you be pleased in this hour,
if nothing else, but to take the words that we read, these glorious verses and portions
of that living Word, and bring them powerfully into
our hearts. enable us to believe on this
unique person, to trust that work that he has accomplished,
to rest in him who has done all things well. May all glory and all praise
be to you in the salvation and bringing of all your people unto
yourself. For we pray and we thank you
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.