Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I invite you to turn with me
this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 3, and our text is going to be
verse 16, which says this, 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. Our subject this morning is the
mystery of godliness. A mystery is an unknown thing. It's a secret thing. And Deuteronomy 29 says this,
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God. Secret things. In Judges 13, the Lord said,
Why askest thou thus after my name? Why do you ask what my
name is? seeing it is secret, secret. Romans 16 says this though, but
now this secret is made manifest by the scriptures. This mystery
of godliness is now made manifest by the scriptures, by the word
of God. Our text begins by saying, and
without controversy, Great is this mystery without controversy. That's interesting because godliness
or what the world calls religion is full of controversy, full
of debate, and it's full of dispute. It's the subject nobody wants
to bring up because everybody has a different opinion about
it. It's full of argument, controversy. But our text here says, and without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. The truth, the
truth, this word is the truth. It's the word of God and the
truth about who God is, the truth about what he's like, the truth
about what he has done. is actually without controversy. If we would all bow to the Word
of God, there would be no controversy, because the Lord has revealed
through His Word the mystery of His will. And the gospel is
something that we do not argue. It's only something we declare. If something is the truth, why
argue it? It's true. The gospel, the true
gospel of God is without controversy. It's to be declared only. And
if the spirit moves, that's of the spirit. If not, that's of
the spirit. But the truth of this mystery
is not to be argued, only declared. Our text says, and without controversy,
Great is the mystery of godliness. Until the Lord reveals this mystery
to men and women, it remains a mystery to them. Many people
think they have the answers. They think they have it figured
out. Scientists search for the answers, but a lot of people
ask this question. Why are we here? Where did we
come from, really? Turn on the TV, you'll find a
documentary on subjects like this. What is the origin of life? Did man evolve? How was the earth
formed? Is there a God? Who is God? Who was, as they say, Jesus Christ? Did He rise from the grave? How
does that affect man? What is going to happen to man? These things are a complete mystery
to the world. But they are not a mystery to
those whom the Lord has opened their eyes, opened their ears,
opened their understanding, opened their heart, revealed Himself
to. revealed his word to, and revealed
the mystery of his will. Let me repeat these questions.
What is the origin of life? Well, it's not a what, it's a
who. Did man evolve? No. Well, wait a minute, let's argue
that for a minute. No. How was the earth formed? Jesus Christ spoke it into existence. Is there a God? Yes. Who is God? Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ? Who is
Jesus Christ? God. God. Did He rise from the grave? Absolutely. How does that affect man? It's
the center of His universe. His life depends on the fact
that Jesus Christ rose from the grave. Our hope is built on the
fact that Jesus Christ rose from the grave. This is without controversy. Someone is going to say, prove
that. Prove that to me. You say it, prove it. Well, the
Lord God already has. Look at our text. 1 Timothy 3,
verse 16 says this. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Who is God? Well, I can tell
you this. He was manifest in the flesh.
If you have your Bibles open, turn with me to Revelation 19. Now in Genesis 1.1, the scripture
says, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. God
created it. And then it goes on to expound
that God created everything in the heaven and everything in
the earth. Is there a God? Yes. Who is God? Well, whoever was in the beginning,
the first one, and created everything in heaven and in earth, That's
God. Okay, Revelation 19 verse 1 says
this, And after these things I heard a great voice of much
people in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. Now verse 11 says, And I saw
heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him
was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. And his eyes were as a flame
of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name
written that no man knew but he himself. It was a mystery. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word
of God. The Word of God. Now turn with me over to John
1. John 1 says this, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM. HIM. God is not female. God is male. ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM. The Word. AND WITHOUT HIM WAS
NOT ANYTHING MADE THAT WAS MADE. IN HIM WAS LIFE. Where does life come from? What
is the origin of life? Well, John 1, verse 4 says, In
Him was life, and the life was the light of man. Now, verse
14 says, And the Word, God, was made flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory. We saw His glory. We saw the
glory of God. And this is what God looked like,
the glory of God looked like. It says, We beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." God looks like
the Son of God, the only begotten. The Son of God is God. God the Father said to God the
Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. You know, people will accept
anybody being God but Jesus Christ. Really. They'll allow anybody
in their mind to be God except for Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God and He was manifest in the flesh. And our text says
back in 1 Timothy 3 16, without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit. God was justified in the Spirit. Now, Matthew chapter 3 says this. Matthew 3 and verse 13 says,
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized
of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus, answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now,
for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered
him. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from
heaven saying, This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased."
Well pleased. The gates of heaven were opened
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And God the Father in heaven
sent God the Spirit to him to prove, I'm well pleased with
all his works. Everything he's done. Perfection. No sin. No wrong. Psalm 24 says this, 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 deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. God the Father
said, sinless, perfect, And he sent his spirit to justify him. And John said, I saw it happen.
I saw it happen. Now think about this. The spirit
is like the wind. It bloweth where it listeth.
Nobody knows where it's coming from. Nobody knows where it's
going. You cannot see the wind. The wind is invisible. You can
see the effects of the wind, you can see leaves blowing across
the yard, but you cannot see the wind. So it is with the Spirit,
the invisible Spirit of God. You cannot see the Spirit, but
God allowed one man, John, to actually see the invisible Spirit
of God. John said, I saw it. It descended
from heaven like a dove. and it landed on Jesus Christ.
Our text says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels. Now, if you have your Bibles
open, turn with me to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28 says this. Verse 1, In the end of the Sabbath,
as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary
Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulcher. And behold,
there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,
and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning,
and His raiment white as snow. And for fear of Him the keepers
did shake, and become as dead men they passed out. And the
angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I
know that you seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here,
for He is risen as He said. Come see the place where the
Lord lay. and go quickly and tell His disciples
that He is risen from the dead, and behold, He goeth before you
into Galilee. There shall you see Him, lo,
I have told you." The angel said, we were given our orders from
God the Father, and we flew swiftly, as hard as we could, and we landed
on the earth. And we came to this sepulcher,
and we rolled back the stone, And inside this tomb was the
Lord of glory. And we watched him walk out of
his own grave. He didn't walk out and nobody
saw it. They said we were the first ones to see his accomplishment. Now they asked, why do you seek
the living among the dead? He's not here. Did Jesus Christ
rise from the grave? Absolutely. THE GOD OF HEAVEN
CAME TO THIS EARTH. HE LIVED AS A MAN PERFECTLY FOR
HIS PEOPLE. HE DIED AS A MAN PERFECTLY FOR
HIS PEOPLE. THEN HE AROSE FROM THAT GRAVE
AND THE ANGEL SAID, WE SAW IT ALL HAPPEN. WE SAW IT. OUR TEXT 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." Our God is called the God of Israel. He's called
the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the King of the Jews. But the Lord is good. The Lord
is good. His mercy endureth to all generations. He's chosen a people out of every
nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue. And he told Paul to write in
Romans chapter two, he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly.
Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.
But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. Thanks be to God he was
preached to the Gentiles, for it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Must a person hear preaching
to be saved? Well, let's turn to Romans chapter
1, verse 16 says this, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Must a person hear
the preaching of the true gospel to be saved? The answer is yes. It's the power of God. It didn't
please God to use an all-song service. It didn't please God
to use a rock concert. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. A man cannot go meditate
by himself on a hill and find out God. You know, many people
think, I don't see why I can't just read my Bible at home. I
can worship God that way. Why do I have to go to a building
and meet with other people? Well, there's two reasons. The
first one is the Lord. God did not say where one person
is gathered by himself. I'm there. He said, we're two
or three. And the second reason is he said,
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You're not
hearing anything when you're alone. That thief on the cross,
somebody can say, well, he never attended a worship service. He
never heard the preaching. Oh, he heard preaching all right.
He heard the Word of God directly from the mouth of God. Romans
10 says this, Romans 10 verse 1 says, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge." Verse 13 says, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How can they
call on somebody they've never believed in? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? How can you believe
in somebody you've never heard about? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? What is this man to preach? Anything? Paul said, I am determined to
know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. I Timothy 3.16 says, 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. What is it to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? It says, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What is it to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? First of all, it's to know Him.
It's to know Him, who He really is. Paul said, I know whom I
have believed. It's to have a relationship with
Him. Also, it's to trust Him, truly trust Him. It's hard to
trust a person you don't know, but the more you know a person,
the more trust that ought to build. It's to deny ourselves
and confess Him. It's to acknowledge Him as our
only hope of salvation, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians
2 says, by grace are you saved through faith. Faith is believing
God. And then it says, that is not
of yourself. It's the gift of God. Even that
is the gift of God. It's a present. We don't even
choose whether or not to believe. We must believe, but believing
is a gift of God. We must beg for that gift because
there's going to come a day when every single person will believe.
Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, but at that point it'll be too late. It'll be too
late. Salvation is believing on Him
in the world today. Today. Today is the day of salvation. Well, it says, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. I want to give you a few scriptures
and then we'll close. The first one is John chapter
14. Verse 1 says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, if you
see me go, if you see me ascend up into heaven and prepare a
place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also." Now listen to John
chapter 16. Verse 16 says, A little while,
and ye shall not see me, and again a little while, and ye
shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of
his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto
us? A little while, and ye shall
not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me, and
because I go to the Father. They said therefore, What is
this that he saith? A little while, we cannot tell
what he is saying. It's a mystery. It's a mystery
of godliness. Verse 19 goes on to say, Now
Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him, and said unto them,
Do you inquire among yourselves of that I said a little while,
and ye shall not see me, and again a little while, and ye
shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, that you shall
weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. And you shall
be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman,
when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come.
But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth
no more the anguish for the joy that a man is born into the world.
And you now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again. And your heart shall rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you." Nobody is going to be able
to take it from you. Now listen to Luke chapter 24.
Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the
Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus
it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the
promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem
until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them
out as far as to Bethany. And he lifted up his hands and
blessed them. And it came to pass, while he
blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned
to Jerusalem with great joy. Now let me give you one more.
Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1 says this. The
former treaty have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both
to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up after
that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the
apostles whom He had chosen. Verse 9 says, And when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and
a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked
steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood
by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen Him go into heaven." He's coming back exactly the
same way you've seen Him go up. Is the world going to end? Yes. But it's not going to end because
of any comet or any asteroid or any so-called accident in
space. The earth is going to end because
Jesus Christ is coming back. This is what will happen. The
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. with the
voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." It
says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. 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, and received up into glory. Until next Sunday, may the Lord
bless His Word. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning at 10.30
a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m. Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.