May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Epistle of Paul to the Colossians chapter 1 and we'll read verses
25, 26 and 27. The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians
chapter 1 and reading verses 25, 26 and 27. Whereof I am made
a minister, according to the dispensation
of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God
even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations
but now is made manifest to his saints to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." It is very evident from the Word
of God that the Apostle Paul was an honest man and he didn't
make any false statements, he didn't pretend not to be what
he was. And he's able to say here, whereof
I am made a minister. He didn't hedge it at all. It
was right clear. And it's good, you know, if people
are honest and don't kind of hide under some image of mock
humility, pretending they don't really know. But it's good, isn't
it, when the Holy Spirit moves us to be honest in the sight
of God. Well, the Apostle was that. With regard to his personal
life and with regard to his hope of glory, we have a glorious
example in the Apostle Paul and how precious was the Saviour
to him. It wasn't in his life just a
theoretical consideration. It was very real. It was very
precious. And we should be very thankful,
therefore, that the Holy Spirit has granted us, through the Apostle
Paul, an account of those things which, by the Spirit, he was
able to write. Well, he tells us then, whereof
I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which
is given to me for you to fulfil the Word of God. Then of course
what he is directing us then to really is told us in the next
verses where he says, even the mystery which hath been hid from
ages and from generations. Well, I expect we know what a
mystery is, you young people. I wonder if you know what a mystery
is. It's something you don't understand
and perhaps it's something you can't find out. And it's just
a mystery to you, you don't understand it. Well, we have here the statement
from the Apostle who says, even the mystery which hath been hid
from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to his
saints. We can ponder the position that
existed before the Lord Jesus came into this world and it was
evident who he was. Prior to that, the Church of
God, few in number. And the Church of God generally
just kept to those who were Israelites or Jews, with just one or two
exceptions, and of course many of those Jews were not true believers. They did not understand the mystery
of God. It wasn't revealed to them. So
as we look back in the history of the world, we can conclude
there were really but few who were blessed with the knowledge
of the mystery. But of course the Apostle Paul,
ordained by Almighty God, to have studied under Gamaliel and
to have learnt very well the Old Testament laws and ceremonies
in, again, a theoretical way. But it was to be a wonderful
benefit for the Church of God. Sometimes we should think of
that in our lives. You may wonder why we're having
to do certain things. Well, what a blessing if it's
for the honour and glory of God, perhaps in time to come. The
children of God do not walk in an unknown way, in a wrong way.
The psalmist tells us he led them forth by the right way and
that's true today in all the lives of every true child of
God. They're led forth by the right
way, and it is to bring them to that glorious city of habitation. So what a mercy it is if we have
the evidence that God's hand is upon us. God's hand was upon
the Apostle Paul in a very remarkable way, remembering how he was called
on that Damascus road, going about to do that which was against
the law of Jesus Christ. fully committed to that work. And yet you see God in His grace
and glory came and struck him down on that Damascus road. And he was a changed character. And what was the result? He began
to preach Christ, the one who he had belittled, the one who
he'd spoken against, the power of God. We're thankful to know
today the power of God is still exerted. What a wonderful blessing
it is. We don't deserve it, we don't
deserve to observe it. What a mercy when we do. What
it was in the Apostle Paul's life used for such great wonderful
effect. As we know he went into the desert
then for those three years and no doubt the Holy Ghost was his
teacher and explain to him here a little there a little all the
great truths contained in all that ceremonial law which he'd
been privileged to learn so well and so we're thankful therefore
that the apostle is able to come now and tell us even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations and the
mystery of the glory of Christ really had been hidden. Again,
ponder the position. Imagine you were a child of Israel. Imagine you were in the wilderness
and year by year there was this Day of Atonement when the High
Priest went into the Holy of Holies, not without blood, and
there was that sacrifice. Would we have realised what it
meant? Would we have wondered what it
meant? Would we have been blessed with insight? Or would the mystery
have remained a mystery? Well, it did remain a mystery
to many people. Their eyes were never opened to observe the glory
of those ceremonies. But there were some, of course,
that rejoiced in such situations and we know of course amongst
those Abraham was one because we're told the saviour tells
us Abraham saw my day and was glad he was given living faith
to view the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world
well even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations
so it was but now the apostle comes and says but now is made
manifest to his saints. That tells us, doesn't it, that
if we are a true believer, if we are one who has been born
again in the Spirit of God, then we are a saint. That may be very hard to appreciate. We may feel we're very unsaint-like,
but nonetheless, such are enumerated as saints. And the blessing is
that those will understand the mystery of God. The wonderful
mystery. And it's only as it is revealed
to us personally. And those who are born again
in the Spirit will understand what that means. What it means
is this, until that time comes, we are blind. We're deaf in a
spiritual sense. We may have natural eyes, we
have natural ears, but it's only when the Holy Spirit comes and
touches our heart and gives us life, eternal life, then we begin
to understand the glorious mysteries of the Gospel. Now it is then
made manifest to his saints and the common view of all those
who have been blessed like this is to respond and say well I'm
surprised I never understood these things before but it's
because our eyes have been blinded. But bless God tonight if the
Holy Spirit has come and opened our spiritual eyes to behold
the mystery, the mystery of godliness, the mystery of the Trinity, the
mystery of all that was ordained for the salvation of unworthy
souls. It's a great and glorious plan
which you and I can never fathom and you and I can never really
understand in a natural way. What a blessing it is if God
has given us faith. Oh, it's a blessing to possess
the faith of God, to believe these great mysteries, to believe
what they mean and how important they are to bow down before God
and to acknowledge His great goodness to unworthy sinners. And it will be a time of amazement. And as we, by His grace, grow
spiritually, we will have more to wonder at and more to be amazed
at than the Lord's great, wonderful favor and goodness in manifesting
to us the mystery of his great and glorious truth when the Apostle
wrote to Timothy and in the first epistle and in the third chapter
and the 16th verse the last verse in the third chapter the first
epistle the Apostle in writing to Timothy says this and without
controversy there's no argument 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. That's a very succinct statement
in just a few words and yet how gloriously true it is and it
is a mystery, the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in
the flesh, that Lord Jesus Christ took upon Him our human form. And you may wonder why that was. Why did Jesus have to come into
this world as a human person? Just like you and just like me,
no different. Well it was because It was ordained
that he should be the one who would pay the price needed to
redeem us from all our sins. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. This was the
God, the God-Man. It's a very amazing consideration,
hard for us to really understand. The Lord Jesus Christ, the second
person in the Trinity, should so gloriously condescend to take
on Himself our form and to come into this sinful world and live
that perfect life for 33 years without the least vestige of
any sin. He was not contaminated by any
sin. He was spotless. He was pure. He was perfect. Now the mystery
is this, that the Lord Jesus Christ had to be perfect in everything
otherwise his sacrifice when he gave himself to atone for
the sins of his church would not have been acceptable. And
again look back to think of the mystery it was depicted in the
Old Testament when they had to select a lamb or an animal which
had to be without blemish. As far as possible perfect. Well of course there was no perfection. But as far as possible, it had
to be perfect. Well, the Lord Jesus came and
he was perfect. There was no sin in him. And this, you see, is really
the glorious mystery. The Lord Jesus Christ should
come into this sinful world and should live that perfect life
with the great requirement of the Father that he should keep
the holy law of God in everything, not fail at all. And don't forget,
we're told, the Saviour was tempted in all points like as we are,
not without sin. Try and imagine that. Wonderful
mystery. As you and I are tempted often,
no doubt, with sinful thoughts, perhaps sinful words, perhaps
sinful actions, and how hard it is sometimes to turn our back
on such things. And yet you see the Lord Jesus
Christ had to endure all those things. We're told in all points,
tempted like as we are, there's no temptation which comes into
our life which a blessed Saviour has not had to face, yet without
sin. This was the ordained path that
God had agreed in eternity past, that was to be the way whereby
undone, lost and ruined sinners should be saved. So to think
of the glory of this man, Christ Jesus, who lived that perfect
life in order to redeem ourselves, the mystery which has been made
manifest to his saints. Well, my friends, tonight is
such a great truth, precious to us, to have a humble hope and a realisation
that the great God condescended to come and to stand in our place. We who were guilty, we who were
deserved endless punishment for our sins, we who could never
justify ourselves, the gracious, glorious Saviour was willing
to stand in our place. and to bear the punishment instead. What a Saviour, what a glorious
Saviour we have, so willing to suffer for such an unworthy sinner. And the Apostle Paul realised
how unworthy he was. The Church of God, convinced
by the Holy Spirit, understand how unworthy they are. You and I will never be able
to stand and reckon that we are worthy of any salvation. We're not worthy of any notice.
The Word of God tells us all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. We ought to realize tonight that
we have such a wonderful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. even the mystery which hath been
hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his
saints. Can we tonight praise God if
this mystery has been revealed to us so that it is no longer
a mystery. We're thankful to recognize the
wonderful favor and mercy of Almighty God toward us. When
the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians and in the third chapter,
we read from verse 8, we read these words, Unto me, who am
less than the least of all saints. That's the learned Apostle Paul.
My friends, what a blessing when we feel the same. Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints. Is this grace given? that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. It really follows on the same
pattern that we have here in our text tonight. And then the
ninth verse, and to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been
hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ. to the intent
that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
the faith of him. If it was not for the Blessed
Saviour, we would have no access in prayer unto the Father. Now
we should realise again, looking back in the Old Testament, there
was of course that way whereby the High Priest went into the
most holy place on that Day of Atonement. And remember, not
without blood. He would not be received. unless
there was the blood and the significance was the blood showed that the
lamb or the animal had been slain and that was so important and
so necessary so without the shedding of blood there was no remission
or no forgiveness and so it is today with us as we are sinners
of the earth to realise there's no forgiveness, there's no salvation,
unless we are under the blood. Now we can view it, can we not,
as the Saviour. We know He shed His blood upon
the cross at Calvary. And yet looking back in the Old
Testament, there was the mystery set before them. Few there were that were blessed
with that spiritual understanding. And still today, relatively,
there are few that understand the spiritual significance of
such an event. What a mercy if you and I have
been blessed to understand this great and glorious mystery of
the high priesthood of our Saviour. To know that we can only, only
come to a holy God for the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
he stands between us and a holy God in diamonds dyed in blood. What a mercy then if it has been
revealed, made manifest to us, we're told here, but is now made
manifest to his saints and therefore We must tremble really, because
we want to know that we are amongst the saints, that we are amongst
those whom these mysteries are being revealed to, so that we
do understand something of the blessed counsel of God. Because
if we are ignorant of them, in a saving way that means having
been made over to us in our innermost being, the great truth of these
statements and to realize that we have an interest in them,
that we have an interest in the death and resurrection and ascension
and intercession of the Saviour. My friends, if we don't know
we have an interest, then we're lost. There's no hope. the evil one would ever try and
deceive us. Oh, let us be found within the
compass of these words that by the grace of God we do know this
mystery which is now being made manifest to his saints. And the apostle goes on, to whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery." Well, has God made it known to you
and me? Do we understand it? The riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, and here it is spelt out, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's a very humbling statement,
isn't it? It's a tremendous statement, isn't it? It's a true statement. My friends, all of us need to
know that we are in Christ and that Christ is in us. And because of that, our hope
of glory is dependent upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has done
for us. These things are vital. These
things are so necessary. Without them, remember we carry
on, it won't matter what we look like, it will matter how we appear
before God. And if we have these great and
glorious mysteries reveals to us, as he says here, the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Without Christ, no hope of glory. Without a knowledge of Christ,
no hope of glory. See how vital it is that you
and I are blessed with a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
and that means that we have a personal knowledge by his grace the Lord
Jesus Christ has died for us he has removed all our sins what
a mercy it is then if we have a spiritual understanding we
don't want to be left do we without this knowledge So the devil would
pretend that it's not very important and we can put things off and
in any case it will be alright in the end. You know many people,
if you ask them, Christian people, so called, if you ask them about
their hope of eternal life, many would say, well, I hope
it will be alright in the end. My friends, don't rest on that
ground. You and I must know Christ. You and I must know Christ as
our great and glorious Saviour, that One who has indeed died
for us upon the cross at Calvary. Nothing less than this will do. Again, the Apostle, when he wrote
to the Corinthians, he says, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light to the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. 2nd Corinthians the 4th chapter
and that's the 6th verse and the 7th verse goes on, but we
have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. So the Lord has ordained that
such unworthy sinners should possess this treasure and as
such they would then recognize that it's not in them not in
themselves it is the grace of God and it is of course the love
of God the love of God upon them to realize what a favor that
is we have this treasure in earthen vessels to know the Lord Jesus
Christ loved us so much unworthy of the least notice, that he's
given us the excellency of the power may be of God and not of
us. And the Apostle goes on, we are
troubled on every side, the Church of God are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed. Why? because our confidence is
in our God. And we have that good hope that
the Lord has revealed to us these great and glorious mysteries
of Himself. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. It's
only to those who are blessed with that Spirit of God, troubled
on every side, yet not distressed, perplexed but not in despair,
persecuted, yes the Church of God are persecuted but not forsaken,
cast down but not destroyed, confidence in our God, resting
upon the promises of God because the mystery of God has been revealed
to us And we can rejoice, therefore, in the great plan of salvation. And then he goes on, always bearing
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Again, Christ in
you, the hope of glory, you see. What a wonderful truth it is.
for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus
sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh we live on this earth as mortal beings but if
we are to be found in glory at last we would have the wonderful
evidence that Christ dwells within us he is with us he helps us
He's our strength. He's our support. As the Apostle
said, I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me. He wasn't depending on himself. He wasn't depending on his own
knowledge. And you and I won't be able to depend on our own
knowledge. It's that which the Lord reveals
to us. It's that which the Lord has
given to us, to whom God would make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. It is a rich knowledge and it
far exceeds all the wealth of this poor world. The wealth of
this world perishes. The riches which are to be found
in the knowledge of Christ are beyond all our ability to calculate. because it brings with them an
eternal blessing and how thankful we should be for such truths
to rest upon the promises of God. You know the Apostle tells
us with regard to these mysteries and explains it a little when
he wrote to the Hebrews in the 10th chapter he tells us for
the law having a shadow of good things to come No doubt we know
what a shadow is. If you see a shadow, if you see
the sun shining, perhaps, onto a tree and you see a shadow,
all you see in the shadow is the outline. You don't see any
of the detail. You don't see any of the colour.
You don't see any of the truth of the depth of what is involved. You just see the outline. For
the law having a shadow, of good things to come. That mystery
just showed a shadow and not the very image of the things
which can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would
they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshippers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices There
is remembrance again made of sins every year. Well, the wonderful blessing
was when the Lord Jesus Christ came. Because we read further
on in this 10th chapter of the Hebrews, verse 9, Then said he,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,
sanctified, made holy in the things of God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. The riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. So do these things appear glorious? to our understanding
of the things that we love to hear about, we love to speak
about, we love to read about, because we recognise that they
are eternal realities, because our eyes have been opened to
behold something of this great and glorious mystery, and how
thankful we should be to know that the Holy Spirit has come
and touched our eyes and granted us this spiritual sight, the hope of glory. Well, are we anticipating the
day of our death? People say, well, don't be so
morbid. I want to live my life upon the
earth. The people of God want to live
their life and go to glory. And their life, by comparison,
bears little value. The great desire is to be found
with Christ. The great hope is to be found
in glory. We won't be found in glory without
Christ. And we won't be found in glory
without the knowledge of Christ. And we won't be found in glory
without the mystery of Christ being revealed to us, so that
we do come and rejoice in what has occurred. And we praise God
for what He's done for us, for unworthy sinners. The praise
of the children of God doesn't begin in glory. The praise of
the children of God begins on this earth. And we have much
to glorify God for, don't we? We have much to praise God for
if we are amongst those who are enumerated here, but now is made
manifest to his saints, to whom he would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery. What do we consider the value
of this knowledge? How valuable is it, this knowledge
of Christ? My friends, it will land us in
glory. Without it, we shall perish in our sins. What a mercy, therefore,
if we do have this good hope through grace that the Saviour
came into this world to die that we might receive life and it's
because of his love, of his love. It's a mystery, isn't it? And you and I must stand amazed
as we ponder this, the riches of his glory, to think that almighty
God should have loved such an unworthy sinners. Does it not
humble us? Does it not make us cry out? in praise unto our God? Well,
the Apostle rejoiced in it. The love of God is rich and free. My friends, we never earned it.
Surely that makes it far more valuable to meditate upon it. It's a theme which will never
wear out. It's a theme which the Church
of God must carry with them. Because without the love of God,
without His love to us and our love to Him, there is no evidence
that we are amongst those who are made manifest to His saints. The love of Christ to sinners,
His love to His chosen ones, is only known by those who are
redeemed The others may speak about it but they don't understand
it, they don't appreciate it because it's a love which exceeds
all other loves and ponder such love that came, that brought
the Saviour from above to die on Calvary's cross and to endure
all that agony with strength enough and none to spare. He bore the curse for you and
me." Oh, friends, rejoice tonight in the love of God. Rejoice tonight
if you and I are possessors of the understanding of this mystery,
which hath been hid from the ages and from generations, but
is now made manifest to us saints. Do you come and say tonight?
once i was blind but now i see the lord has given me spiritual
sight and i rejoice in this mystery and i rejoice to have the evidence
that i am amongst those for whom the savior came to redeem oh
what salvation oh what glory oh what wonder Go on your way
tonight praising God if you have been blessed with spiritual sight
to understand some of these great mysteries which were hidden from
billions of people and revealed to those utterly unworthy. Let us truly praise God from
whom all blessings flow if we possess the blessed knowledge
of Christ in us, the hope of glory. Amen.