Let us turn to God's Word. I
want to direct you once again to the works that we've been
considering these past few occasions in 1 Timothy 3.16 1 Timothy 3.16
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. And I said last, Lord's Day,
and again on Thursday evening, how I have been somewhat taken
these past number of days with those opening words of the verse,
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. And what are we to understand
by such an expression, the mystery of godliness? And it is, I believe,
a reference to that religion that is real, that that is wrought
of God. Remember how we said last week
that the apostle goes on in the next chapter to speak of godliness. In chapter 4 and verse 7, exercise
thyself rather unto godliness, for bodily exercise profiteth
little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise
of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. He speaks in a bodily exercise
reading with the margin he says it is profitable for a little
time and there are those I suppose who in the coming days will be
concerned to do some bodily exercise after the excesses of these past
days. We were only saying yesterday,
in the coming week, doubtless there'll be many out jogging
and wanting to run off that they've been indulging themselves with
over the past days. And there's nothing wrong about
that. Bodily exercise is good and right
and proper. We should care for our physical
condition. But how much more important it
is that we address the concerns of our souls. What is a man profited,
says Christ, if he gains the whole world and loses his own
soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange? for his soul. And alas, how few are concerned
about spiritual exercise in comparison with bodily exercise. Well, I
trust with those who do see the importance of addressing souls'
needs, spiritual exercise. Paul says, that godliness is
profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now
is and of that which is to come. It's not just for a time. If
we will but address the needs of our souls, we will be addressing
that that concerns eternity. We are in possession, are we
not, of never-dying souls. When it comes to that solemn
events that must really come into all of our lives, that solemn
hour of death. then the body returns to the
earth as it was and the spirit to God who gave it. How important
then is that spiritual exercise. Godliness is profitable unto
all things having promise of the life that now is and of that
which is to come. And this is the great end, is
it not? of real religion, whom God foreknew,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, and whom he did predestinate, them he also justified, whom
he called rather then He also justified, and whom He justified
them, He also glorified. It's the end of that golden chain
that we have there in Romans chapter 8, the glorification
of the people of God. And here, in this 16th verse,
in the 3rd chapter of 1 Timothy, the Apostle concludes with the
glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. The great mystery of
godliness ultimately comes to this that Christ is now glorified
and that is to be the end of all those who have a true and
a living relationship with him, those who have anything of a
real religion that has been wrought of God in their souls. And so
This evening, as we continue, as it were, with this theme of
the mystery of godliness, I want us to consider something of the
glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. And two things I want
us to consider. First of all, here we see what,
in many ways, is Christ's reward the reward of all that he endured,
all that he suffered, the reward of all that obedience that he
rendered unto God in terms of accomplishing all those covenant
engagements, but also in his glorification he is also still
that one who is the representative of his people, he is their surety.
It was for them that He came, for them that He lived, for them
that He died, for them that He rose and ascended and is now
glorified. But first of all, let us consider
how the glorification is in many ways the reward of all His sufferings. Look at the language that is
used down here at the end of the verse. It says, received
up into glory. And the verb here is in the passive
voice. The verb is in the passive voice. In other words, the subject of
the verb does not act himself. The subject of the verb here
is one who is acted upon. In other words, the Lord Jesus
Christ did not glorify himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who was glorified. He was glorified. He was received
up into glory. Now, we remember of course that
Christ is equal with the Father. This is the great mystery of
godliness. that the one who was manifest
in the flesh, as we were considering only last Lord's Day, the one
manifest in the flesh was none other than God. And we referred then to that
great passage concerning the doctrine of Christ, the person
and work of Christ, in Philippians chapter 2. Remember the words
of verse 6? concerning him who, being in
the form of gods, thought it not robbery to be equal with
gods, and made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant and so forth. who being in the
form of God. And we said there with regards
to the word that he used, the word form, it is a reference
to his inner and his essential manner of being. He is God in
other words. To be in the form of God is simply
a statement that he is God. and He is God the Eternal Son. We confess that great doctrine
of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. And in the language of the great
Athanasian Creed, it is stated in the Trinity, none is a four
or after other, none is greater or less than another. The three
divine persons in that great mystery, and we made some remarks
with regards to that first and greatest of all the mysteries,
which is the doctrine of God, that God is one, And yet God
subsists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And the three divine persons
are co-equal and co-eternal. There is no superiority, no inferiority
in the relationship between those three persons. And so, the person
spoken of here, God's manifest in the flesh, that is not a reference
to God the Father, nor is that a reference to God the Holy Spirit. It is clearly a reference to
God the Son. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son. His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law And this one who is God and God manifest in
the flesh is a man. As I said last time, the expression
in the flesh is a reference to the reality of his human nature,
a true body and a reasonable soul. Here is the other great
mysteries. There is the mystery of God. One God in three persons is the
mystery of God incarnate in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
One person and two natures. He is both God and He is man. And in all that He does as a
man He is never anything less than God. What a mystery it is
without controversy. great is the mystery of godliness. And now when we read the Gospels
we see quite clearly that the Jews of the Lord's own day understood
so much the significance of the things that he was saying and
doing as he was manifest in his public ministry. Remember the
miracle that he performs in John chapter 5 where the lame man He's healed and told to take
up his bed and to walk, and it was the Sabbath day. And there
in that chapter, in John 5 and verse 18, we see the reaction
of the Jews, how they sought the Moor to kill him, it says.
Because he not only had broken the Sabbath day, but said that
God was his Father, making himself equal with God. When he said
that God was his Father, when he said that he was the Son of
God, they understood that he was simply asserting the truth
of his own deity. And this it was that so enraged
them and caused them to desire his death and they would have
killed him. They would have killed him many times. In John chapter
10 and verse 33, The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work
we stoned in art, but for blasphemy, and because of thou being a man,
makest thyself God. And then, when the opportunity
does come, when the time has arisen wherein he is to make
the great sacrifice, what is the accusation that they make
before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor? In John 19.7 the Jews
answered him, we have a law, by our law he ought to die because
he made himself the Son of God. He made himself the Son of God.
They were accusing him of blasphemy. That's why they said he was worthy
of death. He is equal. Equal to the Father. He is the Eternal Son. He is
God's manifest in the flesh. And again, remember the language
that we find him using himself as he comes to that final prayer
in the 17th chapter of John. That great high priestly prayer.
We see him speaking to his father and what does he do? He speaks
of his relationship. Look at the language in verse
5 of that chapter. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
me, it says, with Thine own self, with the glory that I had with
Thee before the world was. What language is this? Glorify
Thou me with Thine own self. It is the nearest personal conjunction
that is possible. The glory of the Father is the
same as the glory of the Son, is the same as the glory of the
Holy Spirit. No man has seen God, at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared him. And the guy in the language is
so emphatic, so remarkable, the language that is used there in
that opening chapter of John, in verse 18, those familiar words. No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in, or more literally, which
is into the bosom of the Father, which is into the bosom of the
Father. He hath declared Him. Here is one, you see, who has
a glory that is equal to that of the Father. And so in Zechariah,
there in the prophecy of Zechariah, chapter 13 and verse 7, how does
God speak of Him? He refers to Him there as the
Man that is my Pharaoh. Oh, here is a man, you see, who
is the very fellow of God. This man is God. God manifests
in the flesh. He has an equal glory to the
glory that belongs unto God, the Father. As the Son of God,
He never ceased to be equal to the Father. and equal to the
Holy Spirit. But during the days of His humiliation
here upon the earth, that glory that belonged to Him as the Eternal
Son of God was of course concealed. It was concealed from the eyes
of men except that particular occasion when he goes
into the Mount and takes with him Peter and James and John,
the Mount of Transfiguration, where those three favoured disciples
are permitted to see something of the glory of his deity through
the veil of his humanity. Oh, it is a mystery, is it not?
Without controversy Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. We read of God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And you think of Christ
coming. He's coming into this world.
It was all a voluntary act. He undertakes this quite willingly,
he humbles himself. Isn't that the language that
we have there in Philippians chapter 2? Being in the form
of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but mark
the words, he made himself of no reputation. He made himself
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant. and was
made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man,
what does it say? He humbled himself. He humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. It is all a voluntary act on
his part. He willingly, he willingly lays
aside his glory, he humbles himself. And when he comes to his obedience
unto death, This is also a voluntary act, is it not? He comes to give
his life, as he says there in John chapter 10. No man taketh
it from me. I have power, I have authority
to lay it down. I have authority to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He willingly, voluntarily undertakes
this work. However, and this is the point
I want to make, the Lord Jesus Christ did not exalt himself. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
glorify himself. He was received up into glory. And remember what we said at
the outset here, concerning the verb, it is in the passive voice. The subject of the verb does
not act himself. The subject of the verb here
is the one who is being acted upon. It is God who exalts him. All this is the reward of all
his willing obedience. And we see it in that second
chapter of Philippians, verse 9. Wherefore, and the word that
we have means, on which accounts, wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue
confess. that He is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. What we have there in that ninth
verse is the consequence of what has been said in the previous
passage, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, took upon him
the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, on this
account, because of His willing humiliation, God is highly exalted. And this, friends, is the reward
of all that He did in the course of His earthly ministry to please
His Father. Christ, of course, is that sinless
one. Christ is that perfect man. The first man was perfect Adam
and Eve coming from the hand of their Creator God in their
pristine condition there was nothing of sin there but Adam
and Eve sinned. We have the record there in Genesis
3 the sad account of man's falling to sin. We're all the children
of Adam and Eve. We sinned in them, and from them
we have received sinful natures. But here is one, you see, the
last Adam, the second man, the Lord from heaven, that one who
in his very conception is preserved from all taint of sin, conceived by the Holy Ghost in
the womb of the Virgin Mary and that holy thing, says the angel,
that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. Oh, he is the sinless one. The
sinless man. Perfect. And he's spoken of,
is he not? He's spoken of of course in prophecy,
he's there in so many of the Psalms, those remarkable Messianic
Psalms. For example, Remember the language
that we have in the 24th Psalm, and the question that's put there
in verse 3, "...who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or
who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitful." Who is this man? Who is this man of whom
David is speaking? It is his greatest son. And see
how he is exalted. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory, the
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle? Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? the Lord of hosts, He is the
King of glory. It's the same person that He's
spoken of in the previous part of the Psalm, He that hath clean
hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfulness. It is this man, it is God's manifest
in the flesh, and He is the sinless one, and He is spoken of as God's
servant, is He not? You're familiar with the servant
passages in Isaiah's prophecy, and there particularly in Isaiah
53, when we come to the end of that great chapter, we read of
him as God's righteous servant. My righteous servant, says God. All he was ever obedient, and
he receives the reward of all that obedience that he rendered. when he comes to the end of his
life and we see him there in prayer in that 17th chapter of
John, how he pleads in terms of how he had executed all those
engagements that he had undertaken in terms of the eternal covenant. I have glorified thee on the
earth, he says. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was." And now his prayer is heard and his prayer is answered. God exalts him. Oh, God exalts
him. At every step of His glorification
we see the hand of God, we see the work of God. Think of His
resurrection from the dead. What does it say? Peter there
in Acts chapter 10 and verse 40 says, Him, God, raised up
the third day. God raised Him from the dead.
He is declared to be the Son of God with power according to
the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. God raised Him. Again, at His
ascension in Mark chapter 16 and verse 19, He was received
up into heaven. or how God received him into
heaven. We've just read those words at
the end of the 24th Psalm concerning his entrance at his ascension. And now, what do we read concerning
him? God has set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places. God set him there. That is his mediatorial reign
in heaven. All power is given unto me, he
says, in heaven and in earth. He is the one who reigns in his
mediatorial kingdom. And then what do we read in Peter's
preaching on the day of Pentecost concerning the coming of the
Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Ghost? Being by the right
hand of God exalted, says Peter, he has shed forth this which
ye now see and hear. He is the one who gives the Holy
Spirit. And to that end he was exalted. And then again in Acts chapter
5 and verse 31. What does he give? Him hath God
exalted to give repentance to Israel. and the forgiveness of
sins. At every step of his glorification
we see the activity of God. He is the one who is acted upon. He does not glorify himself but
he is glorified. It's the reward, it's the consequence
of all his obedience. But then in all of this we must
observe that this man is a representative person. The Lord Jesus Christ
is exalted as a representative person. He is the surety of all
those who are the election of grace. Now when we think of Him as a
man, let us recognize this truth that human nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that body and soul of the Lord Jesus Christ was
never in heaven until his resurrection and his ascension. He was never in heaven as the
God-man until he had executed all the work. And when he came
into the world, he was made of a woman, he was made under the
law. He came to stand in that low place of his people, to be
their shorty, to be their representative. And He would, in their room and
in their stead, He would honour and He would magnify that Holy
Lord of God and He would do it by His obedience, by His obedience
in living and by His obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. How He honours and magnifies
the Law in respect to both its precepts, all its commandments.
What a life He lives, a righteous life. the righteous servant of
God, the end of the law for righteousness. We read in Romans chapter 10,
to everyone the believers, but then also in dying, that very
selfsame law that he had so honored in its precepts, he now honors
and magnifies it in all its terrible penalty. He bears the punishment,
he dies as a substitute, in the room and stead of his people
and in that very selfsame body in which he had so executed the
great work of salvation in that very same body he was received
of that's the mystery without controversy God was manifest
in the flesh received up into glory the one who descended is the
same one that has now ascended the language of Paul there in
Ephesians chapter 4 and verses 9 and 10 he says In these verses, which are a
sort of parenthesis, you'll observe they're bracketed. Ephesians
4, 9 and 10 know that He ascended. What is it? But that He also
descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended
He's the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that
he might fill all things. He descended. He descended, it
says, into the lower parts of the earth. And what are we to
understand by that? Isn't the reference here to his
descending into the very womb of Mer, the lowest parts of the
earth? Again, look at the language.
The language of David in the 139th Psalm. David is not simply
speaking of himself, he's speaking here prophetically of his greatest
son, he's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 139 verse
15, My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in
secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
the lowest part of the earth how he descended the eternal
son of God descended into the very womb of the virgin Mary
and he partook of her human nature that's the wonder of it he received his human nature
from his mother that holy thing she was so wrought upon by the
Holy Ghost that though herself a sinful woman who rejoices in
God her Saviour, yet what is conceived is that holy thing,
that human nature that is joined to the Eternal Son of God. As the Eternal Son, of course,
He always has been. Always has been. He is God. the
eternal son of the eternal father as a man as a man he came to
be and the wonder is his friend he is now glorified and he is
glorified as God's man he has entered into heaven as
the God man there is a man at God's right hand even tonight
As we meet in this chapel, there's a man in heaven. Even the man Christ Jesus. That's
the wonder, is it not? All this, friends, is the great
mystery of godliness. And He is there, of course, for
His people. He is there as their surety.
He is there as their advocate. He is there as their great High Priest. He is forever bone of their bone
and flesh of their flesh. Oh, how real, how real is the
humanity of the glorified Christ. Now we see it, of course, in
that portion of Scripture that we were reading, that great concluding
chapter of Luke's Gospel. And look at what is recorded
there. Luke 24 and verse 39. Here is Christ appearing to them
in the upper room. And what does He say? Behold My hands and My feet,
that it is I Myself or the language of the authorised version, how
it brings out the force of what is written in the original. He
doesn't just say, behold my hands and my feet, that it is I. No, he says it is I myself, it's
the real me. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them,
Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of
a broiled fish and of an honeycomb, and he took it, and he did eat
it before them. He quite deliberately partakes
of that food before them in their sights, so that they can see
that this is not a phantom, this is not a spirit, this is a man,
a glorified man. And then what do we read at the
end of the chapter? He led them out as far as to
Bethany and lifted up his hands and blessed them and he came
to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried
up into heaven. Oh, in that selfsame glorified
humanity He ascends, and they witness His ascent into heaven. Oh friends, consider, consider
what all of this means for poor sinners. What all of this must
mean for those helpless sinners. These are the ones for whom He
has been exalted. who feel themselves to be nothing
but weakness, nothing but sin, who feel that they can do nothing
for themselves. This is the one who is made higher
than the heavens, remember. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee must bow and every tongue confess
that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What has God
done? He has put all things under His
feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church
which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. He is exalted for His church.
He is still one with his people. He is the head. The church is
his body. He is ever mindful of his people,
is he not? When that arch-persecutor, Saul
of Tartus, is murdering Christian believers
on every hand, he is there at the martyrdom of Stephen, the
first Christian martyr, is he not? He's creating havoc. And now he's received letters
from the high priest to go from Jerusalem to Damascus and to
bring these Christians back to Jerusalem. And the Lord meets
him, arrests him there at the very gate of the city of Damascus. And what does Christ say? Saul, Saul, why persecute us
thou mayest? oh here is one you see in heaven
and he feels for his body in all their affliction says Isaiah
he was afflicted he feels for his people and he is the head
over all things to his people everything is under his hand
that's our comfort is it not? or that's our comfort in a world
that's full of confusion the world in which Christians are
constantly being persecuted, yet Christ is the head of the
church. And He has said, the gates of
hell shall not prevail against His church. I will build my church,
He says. And He will, this is our comfort.
He has ascended on high. He has received gifts for men,
yea, for the rebellious also. For a rebellious man such as
Saul of Tarsus can be saved and become the Great Apostle to the
Gentiles. This is the Christ you see that we have to do with.
He is a glorified Savior. Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior to give repentance to
Israel and the forgiveness of sins. Do you believe it? Do I
really believe this? that He is able to save to the
uttermost all that come to God by Him. Or do we come to Him? Do you ever come to Him? Do you
desire to come to Him? Is this what you want, above
all things, to be able to come to Him? And to have that assurance
that He is able to save, to save to the uttermost He is the Saviour,
He's a mighty Saviour, He's a glorified Saviour. And here is our comfort. Paul says to the Ephesians concerning
this one, God hath raised us up together. That's what God has done when
He raised Him, He raised His people with Him. And they're
made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh God,
grant, friends, that we might be those who desire to be in
the heavenly places. To be in the heavenly places. It was said, was it not, of one of the Puritans, and I
can't recall at the moment which one it was. was probably more
than one of them it was said of a man that that man was in
heaven because heaven was in him isn't
that our comfort friends to be those who know what it is to
be sitting together in the heavenly places before we're in heaven
even to know that heaven is in us because we're those who believe
on Him. That's what we read of in the
text, He was preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory, or the great mystery. Without
controversy, says Paul, great is the mystery of godliness. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us.