The Bible Baptist Church, located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky, would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor, David Edmondson. A few weeks back, we spent our
time together considering the subject of divine intervention. Summed up quickly, we saw some
very important things. These are crucial to understand. God is a thrice holy God. God's holy law requires perfection. God's holy justice demands satisfaction. And by being holy and by being
just, God justly and God rightly declares that the wages of sin
is death, the soul that sins, it shall surely die, and that
he, the thrice holy God that he is, can and will by no means
clear the guilty. How then can any sinner be saved?
Guilty is what we are. Sin is what we are. In order
for the holy justice of God to be satisfied, God must divinely
intervene. God's gotta butt in. God's gotta
come between. If a sinner's to be saved, the
Lord is gonna interrupt. He's gonna involve himself. He's
gonna mediate, intercede, and he is gonna show mercy. That's
what divine intervention is. It's the divine one, that being
God Almighty, intervening. Now this morning I want to follow
up that glorious truth, divine intervention, with another gospel
truth that it can't be separated from. They go hand in hand. And
that is God's divine revelation. Jesus Christ is God's divine
intervention. He's the one that comes between,
stands between. He's the one mediator between
God and man. The man Christ Jesus. And Jesus
Christ is God's divine revelation. Salvation is in knowing Him. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ. You see, a divine intervention
is God making us to differ, and a divine revelation is God showing
us that He did. God's revelation can't come without
God's intervention. God's intervention is the cause
of God's revelation. God's gonna first give a sinner
life before that sinner can or will see, hear, or understand
anything. You see, one who is dead understands
nothing. A dead man can't understand anything. God intervenes and gives life.
Then God reveals how he does so, and it's a divine revelation. You can't have one without the
other. Sometimes preachers, myself included, have made statements
like, our message is not hard to understand, and it's not.
Our message is a simple message. After all, we're told not to
allow Satan to beguile us as he did Eve through his subtlety
that our mind should be corrupted from the what? Simplicity that's
in Christ Jesus. It's simple in the fact that
Christ is the only one who can save us from our sins. There's
not a hundred saviors to choose from. There's only one that makes
it simple. It's simple in the sense that
it's accomplished and finished in Christ alone. Simple in the
sense that there's not a hundred ways to be saved, only one. The
message is simple. There's only one place to get
grace. No man comes to the Father, but by me, said the Lord Jesus. And I'll admit, the doctrine,
the teaching, the principle of substitution is somewhat straightforward
and easy to understand. In sports, we have substitutes.
We have a player who takes the place of another after the game
has begun, and he's called a substitute. That's pretty easy to follow.
But the act of Almighty God becoming a man and substituting himself
in the place of sinners to put away their sin, well, that's
impossible to perceive, fathom, or in any way understand apart
from a divine revelation from God, which is called a divine
intervention. And if our gospel is so simple,
then why can't a natural man understand it? Paul said, the
carnal man, the natural man, the fleshly man, receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness unto
him. Neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned. Hidden. Spiritually hidden. God's gotta divinely reveal them. And I don't know, maybe we've
oversimplified the teaching of Scripture. It seems as though
everybody today's an authority on the Bible. Doctors study for
eight to 10 years, some longer. About eight years or more for
a lawyer. An electrician will study four
or five years. A plumber, a mechanic, an airplane
pilot. All these things take time. But
in five minutes, men and women become experts concerning the
word of God and preaching. And the truth is, men and women
today have an unholy familiarity with the holy God. And what do
I mean by that? Well, to most, God is the man
upstairs. God is everybody's buddy. He's
their partner. He's their co-pilot. Them and
Jesus have a good thing going. And there's no reverence, no
fear of God before men's eyes. Men have brought God down to
their level. And I think men and women have
made salvation about what they do for God and no longer what
God does for sinners. And harling preachers have convinced
sinners of just that. The problem is no one has convinced
God that's the case. God still saves sinners the way
he always has, in, by, and through the finished work of Christ.
Men and women today have gotten too smart. Paul told the Colossians
he said Christ in use the hope of glory. There's no hope of
heaven's glory apart from him. He told the Ephesians, I preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ. Not Paul, not Apollos, who are
they, but ministers of the gospel. Paul told the Philippians, he
said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Well, Jesus
Christ is the gospel. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There's no man or woman that has ever lived that can fully
understand the mystery of godliness. Can't do it. It's a mystery. A mystery is something that is
difficult, if not impossible, to understand or explain. A mystery
is the condition and quality of being secret. A mystery is
someone or something whose identity or their nature is puzzling or
unknown. And divine revelation is seeing
and having these mysteries revealed to you enough so that you see
your need of Christ and it causes you to cry out for him. You'll
never see Christ perfectly, not in this life, not in this body
of sin. We only see dimly through a glass,
darkly. We never fully understand the
depths of God. His ways are past finding now.
We don't need a God that we can understand though. We need God. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed,
the mysteries that God does show us, that we see darkly and dimly,
but long unto us and to our children forever." For how long? Forever.
That we may do all the words of this law. Now, the only way
any sinner can do all the words of God's law is to be in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who kept God's law perfectly. In Him, I've kept
the law of God perfectly. In Him, I'm not guilty of one
single commandment. I'm innocent of the whole law.
God's law and God's holy justice has no claim on me because I,
in the eyes of justice, am free. God satisfied. But now that has
to be divinely revealed. To his people, God's going to
divinely reveal some truths that has to do with the mystery of
godliness. That's what we're talking about,
the mystery of godliness, and it's by divine revelation. Now,
1 Timothy 3, verse 16, I'm gonna read this verse. First nine words
says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Now, two things that we immediately
see. The mystery of godliness is great. Great is the mystery of godliness. And the mystery of godliness
is without controversy. That's what Paul said here. Without
controversy, great is the mystery of God. And what Paul is telling
Timothy here is this. Now, one thing that Paul declares
in verse 16 is controversial. It's without controversy. And
the reason it is, is because they're of God. God's not a God
of controversy. God is a sovereign God. God is
a solitary God. He's God. He's not affected by
any one or anything else. He's sovereign. He's without
controversy. We see dimly, but we see the
King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God to whom be
honor and glory forever. To the believer, none of these
things are controversial. They're revealed truths that
stand for eternity. And men and women see God with
controversy because they believe themselves to be altogether like
Him. And when you preach a sovereign
God, when you tell men who God really is, well, they they don't
know what to think. Men preach controversially to
the truth of scripture because they will not bow to truth that
God declares Christ to be the blessed and only potentate. He's the King of kings and the
Lord of lords who has mercy on whom he'll have mercy. In order
to believe that, men and women must give up on having any hope
of having any righteousness of their own or be saved by any
doing and acceptable work that they themselves do. The salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. Now don't overcomplicate that.
That doesn't mean that you've got to cooperate and help God
to save you. That's not what it means at all. Salvation of the righteous is
of the Lord. Jonah said salvation is of the
Lord. That means of Him completely,
totally, without any cooperation from us. He makes us willing
in the day of His power. We would not come to Him that
we might have life. We cannot come, we would not
come, and God made us willing. Salvation's of the Lord. God
gets all the glory. God's the only one who can forgive
sin. He's the only one who can give
righteousness. He's the only one that can pay the wages of
sin. And God did all these things
in the person of His Son. And God, the Father, Son, and
Spirit get all the glory. And it's without controversy.
Great is the mystery of godliness. And then Paul gives us six things
that divinely reveal some things concerning the mystery of godliness. The first thing is this, God
was manifest in the flesh. Now that word manifest means
revealed. God is made manifest. God is revealed. God has appeared
in the flesh. God was literally made flesh
and blood. And what a great mystery. It's
a mystery of godliness. And you talking about something
profound and you talk about something beyond understanding, God manifest
in the flesh. God becoming a man, God condescending,
God humbling himself. God sending forth his own son
who was and is God to be born of a woman. made under the law,
that he might redeem his people who were under the law, that
they might be adopted as sons and daughters. And you talk about
a mystery. You talk about being past understanding. God, who always was and is and
is to come, the omnipotent, the omniscient, the omnipresent,
omnipotent, all-powerful, omniscient, all-knowing, omnipresent, everywhere,
all the time, actually condescended, actually came down, humbled himself,
made himself of no reputation, and veiled himself in the garments
of flesh. God sent his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh. He didn't know any sin. He knew
no sin. He did know sin. And for sin,
he condemned sin in the flesh, Romans 8.3. You think about this. The Infinite One became an infant. The Sovereign Savior became a
submissive Son. He who knew no sin was made sin
so that sinners who were nothing but sin could be made perfectly
holy and righteous. God was manifest in the flesh. He who wrote the law was made
under the law. He who was innocent of the law
became guilty of the law. Why? Well, it's a great mystery. It has to be divinely revealed.
Why did God become a man? That he might redeem sinners
like me, sinners who have offended God's justice in every single
point. Christ became a servant so that
we would no more be servants to sin, but sons and daughters.
And if sons and daughters, then heirs, heirs of God through Jesus
Christ. And what a mystery that is. It's
got to be divinely revealed. God was manifest in the flesh.
God was revealed in the flesh. And in God becoming a man, we
see who God is. Oh, we see that he's a merciful
God. He's a gracious God. What a compassionate God. We
see that he is a forgiving God. He came to do for sinners what
they could not do for themselves. What a mystery of godliness.
The earth is his footstool. The nations is a drop of the
bucket. Earth's inhabitants, nothing
but grasshoppers. and his own nation crucified
and killed the only perfect man that ever lived, the God-man,
the only one who could save sinners from their sin, they took and
they nailed to a tree. What a mystery of godliness that
is. God was manifest in the flesh.
Secondly, God in the person of Jesus Christ was justified in
the spirit. What a great mystery. It's gotta
be divinely revealed. Sin so clouds our seeing. Matter
of fact, our seeing is more than clouded because by nature we're
blind. And sin keeps us from hearing.
Sin makes us deaf and dumb and mute, unable to hear, unable
to say anything, unable to clear ourselves from the guilt of sin.
Because of sin, we have no understanding. There's none that understand
it. Jesus Christ must be made into us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. We have none. Christ's incarnation
was of the Holy Spirit. Christ is that holy thing that
must be born. The angel said, Mary, the Holy
Ghost shall come upon you, the power of the Most High shall
overshadow thee, and you shall bear a son. This is God manifest
in the flesh. At the baptismal waters of Jordan,
the Holy Spirit descended on the Lord as a dove. The Spirit
was always with him. The Holy Spirit was always in
him. Our Lord was raised from the
dead by the Holy Spirit. Well, you can visit the graves
of Buddha and Muhammad and Confucius, but you can't the Lord Jesus.
He's not there. God raised him from the dead.
Did you notice from the text that Christ was not justified
by the Spirit? He was justified in the Spirit. Jesus Christ was divine. He was
God. And Jesus Christ is God, is one
with the Holy Spirit. He's justified in the Spirit. God is the Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And Christ was punished as a
sinner. He was put to death as a malefactor. But He was raised
by the Spirit. And that very Spirit that was
in Him, His sacrifice was accepted by that Spirit of God. And we're
all accepted in Him, the Beloved. And I love what Paul said about
the believer's justification in Romans chapter four. Verse
20 says, Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being
fully persuaded by divine revelation, I might add, that what he, God,
had promised, now listen, he, God, was able to perform, and
therefore it was imputed to him, charged to his account. That's
what it was. It was righteousness was charged
to Abraham's account because he believed God. And it's not
written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him. And I
love the next four words, but for us also, oh my, you can write
that down, for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who being
Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
It was our sin and our offenses that put Christ our Lord to death
and in the grave. And it was His perfect righteousness
and obedience that delivered us and justified us. And having the Spirit in Him,
the Spirit being one with Him, Christ by His own power finished
the work that He undertook, and He died in the room in the stead
of His people, and by dying, He made full satisfaction for
their sin. And it's because of who he is,
he's God. It's because he knew no sin.
He was raised by the Spirit of God because he was God. Justified in the Spirit, legally
discharged, justly acquitted. What a mystery of godliness this
is. He was raised by the Spirit of
God. God was manifest in the flesh.
Deity is united with humanity. God cannot suffer. God cannot
die. Man cannot satisfy God's demands. But the God-man can. And God,
as a man, has suffered and died, and he was justified in the Spirit.
Nicodemus told the Lord Jesus, he said, no man can do the works
you do except God, the Holy Spirit, be with him. Christ has the witness
of the Scriptures, the witness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit justifies his claims, greats the mystery of godliness.
The Holy Spirit proves he's justified, because Christ rose from the
dead, and death and hell and the grave can't hold him, because
he was justified in the Spirit. Now I've got to move on quickly.
Third, the mystery of godliness is God the Son was seen of angels. You see that in 1 Corinthians
3, verse 16. These inhabitants of heaven saw
Christ at his birth, and they as the heavenly host praised
God, saying, Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth.
They saw him tempted by Satan in the wilderness. And when the
devil left him, behold, angels came and ministered to him. In
Gethsemane's garden, that garden of agony, where he sweat as it
were great drops of blood, and there appeared an angel unto
him and strengthened him there, Luke 22, 43. At the resurrection,
an angel rolled away the stone and announced that the Lord Jesus
was risen from the dead, and at His ascension on high, the
angels attended Christ in His triumph. And now in heaven, the
angels worship Him, their ministering spirits sent to do His pleasure.
Oh, in the ministry of God's gospel, the angels take pleasure
and delight in the saving of a single soul. They had sung
His praise in eternity past, but they never saw Him in this
wondrous capacity of Savior. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and what a mystery of godliness this
is as it's revealed in time. Faith is believing what we don't
see. Faith is trusting what we don't
understand. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Fourthly, the mystery of godliness
that must be divinely revealed to us is Christ preached among
the Gentiles. You see that? What assurance
and what hope is found for the sinner in this great mystery?
Has God revealed it to you? Do you want him to? He's never
turned down a sinner yet. Christ was preached unto the
Gentiles. Christ was preached unto the
worst of men. God came into the world to save
sinners. Christ came to save his people
from their sin. And God is no respecter of persons. God doesn't prefer or despise
men because they're Jew or Gentile. Circumcised or not, it makes
no difference. Rich or poor, doesn't matter.
Educated or ignorant, bond or free, male nor female. God is
sovereign. He's not moved by anything within
the creature. the nearest thing to God's, an
angel, and the Lord didn't come to redeem fallen angels. Christ
came into the world to save sinners, to redeem those who were furthest
from Him, while He came to save Gentile dogs. Christ died for
the Gentiles. What a mystery of godliness.
He came to save aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers
who were without hope and without God in this world. What a mystery
that is. I certainly don't understand
it. Do you? Seriously, do you understand that? It's a mystery.
It's got to be divinely revealed. But I don't have to understand
it to believe it. And that's what faith is, the
evidence of things not seen and the evidence of things not understood. God gives substance to things
that we hope for. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God. Paul said, I go into the Gentiles.
When the scriptures talk about dying for the sins of the world,
that's what it's talking about. God going into the world and
saving all types of men. John said Christ died not for
our sins only, but for the sins of the world. Not only Jews,
but Gentiles too. That's what it's talking about.
If Christ died for the whole world, why did he pray a few
chapters later, I pray not for the world? He said, I pray for
those that thou father has given me. Christ came and died for
the worst of the worst. Christ died for the ungodly.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now that's the gospel
to me because I'm a Gentile dog. What a mystery hid from the ages
by the virtue of electing grace. I'm saved in a way of righteousness,
and I'm saved agreeable to the holy law, and I'm saved in agreement
to the strict justice of God. And our Lord said, it's not meat,
it's not right to give the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And
dear Lord, I agree, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from the master's table. The master sees to it. Now, fifthly,
and perhaps the most confounding part of this great mystery of
godliness is that Christ is believed on in this world. For a rebel
who hates God with every fiber of his being go from hating God
to loving him with all their heart. You tell me that ain't
a mystery. It's much more than just a simple
plan. It's much more than just mental
ascent to some facts. Well, it's nothing short of a
great mystery. It's nothing short of sovereign
grace. It's nothing less than a divine intervention. It's nothing
less than a divine revelation. Great is the mystery of godliness
that Christ is believed on in the world. What a mystery that
God would intervene in the life of a man or a woman that deserves
hell. And we'll never suggest that
God is unfair to save those whom He's pleased to save when we
see that every sinner, everyone deserves eternal wrath, condemnation,
and hell. If sinners only believe because
God divinely intervenes, then why does God yet find fault?
Because Their fault, their sin, their guilt's already there.
Men and women are born condemned. Men and women love darkness rather
than light, and men and women will not come that they might
have life. The natural man receives not. The natural man does not,
cannot, and will not believe the things of the Spirit of God.
The gospel of Christ is foolishness to him. His natural mind is enmity. It's hostile against God. But what wondrous news! What
a mystery of godliness! Christ is believed on in the
world. And the last thing, the sixth thing, is the mystery of
godliness has to do with Christ being received up into glory.
I hope you see the importance of that. His ascension has to
do with his acceptance. Why was such a one, after suffering
so for sin, being esteemed as stricken and smitten of God,
afflicted and being forsaken by the Father, after dying a
death reserved for the worst of humanity, why was he received
up into glory? The answer is, He earned it. By his successful finished work,
he earned it and he sat down at the right hand of God on high. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.