This verse, in its essence, where
we read verse 16, 1 Timothy verse 16, and without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
and we spent some time looking at that. In our first two parts
of chapter 2, we covered the detail of the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, and
seen of angels, and this morning we're going to complete this
mystery of godliness spoken of here in 1 Timothy 3.16. So we
go on and it says, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, and received into glory. Now this next part
of chapter Two, we read is that our Savior was preached unto
the Gentiles. Aren't you thankful for that?
I don't know about you, but I don't think there's a drop of Jew in
my blood. I don't think I have a Jewish drop in the entire body. But I know there's a whole lot
of Gentile in me. I'm one of those mutts. You go
down the list there and probably fill out 15 different forms of
what the Reeves family is from. So this is good news to a Gentile. If you look at the word Gentile,
it means outside of the camp. If we take it in a spiritual
sense, we have been outside until God adopted us and made us sons
and daughters of Christ by his power. We were outside the camp
of Israel. What is Israel? God's loved people. The chosen people of God that
He chose in this world to favor, to show grace to. Folks, you
couldn't think of anybody more deserving in this world that
didn't deserve grace than the people of Israel. Yet our Lord
was gracious to them. So it says here that he was preached
unto the Gentiles. And this indeed, as Don writes,
is a great mystery. The Jews who had despised him
never dreamed that God would reject them and send his grace
out into the world to the Gentiles. They were like, oh, God's ours.
We don't have to worry about anything. We can do anything
we want. They did not understand the prophets
or the gracious purpose of God revealed in them. Certainly the
Gentiles, lost in pagan darkness and idolatry and superstition,
they must have never thought such a thing, yet God had from
eternity purpose to gather his church and his kingdom his spiritual
Israel out of every nation, every kindred, every tribe, and every
tongue. Therefore, when the fullness
of time had come, writes Don, the gospel of redemption and
the grace of Christ Jesus, the God-man was preached to the Gentiles,
chosen Gentiles, hearing of God's purpose of grace towards them,
hearing of the redemption accomplished by the Son of God, hearing of
the free and full forgiveness of sin by His blood, and they
believed. Isn't that what we read over
in Acts 13 verse 48? Let me read it for you. We'll
turn to some other scripture in a moment. When the Gentiles
heard this, it says, they were glad and glorified the word of
the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Now the Son of God will continue
to be preached among the Gentiles until all of God's elect have
been saved. And when the fullness of the
Gentiles has been brought in, when the number of the saved
equals the number of the elect, then all of Israel shall be saved,
as it says in Romans 11, 26. As a result of Christ being preached
unto the Gentiles, He was and is believed on in the world. Isn't that the next part of our
verse there? He was preached unto the Gentiles and believed
on in the world. God could call on his elect by
any means, any means that he desired. He had been in his pleasure
to do so. If it had been his pleasure to
do so, he could have called them without any intermediary means,
as Don puts it. Had it been His pleasure, He
could have sent angels to proclaim the gospel to them. He could
have spoken to the Word of Grace by a donkey if it had been His
desire, or the rocks if it had been His desire. Folks, this
is God. Nothing impedes Him. Yet what
graciousness that God has determined people to come to know Him through
the preaching And he uses sinners to preach it. You know, I may not be a well-learned man, as some. I
may be one of the weakest when it comes to studying. But I can
tell you this with assurity. I know who my Lord is. I know
who the God of all creation is according to His Word. And it's
not from something that John has done. It's not from the learning
or the studying as I mentioned a moment ago. It's because of
His grace. Because of His grace revealing
Himself to me over all the years, sitting under the preaching of
His gospel through Gene Harmon. Another sinner! Wow, look at
that! Another man who's just a man! Our Lord could cause a rock to
speak if it had been His pleasure. Yet it says in 1 Corinthians
1 verse 21, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. The preaching of the gospel is
God's ordained means of grace to chosen sinners. Turn, if you
would, over to Romans. We're going to look at a couple
of verses here. We're going to begin at Romans. Go to the left, if
you would. Romans chapter 10. Familiar words. Look at verse 17. We'll just
look at the one. Before this verse, our Lord talks
about how Whosoever shall call upon him in the name shall be
saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have
not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Look
at verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Now turn over to James. James
is right after Hebrews. Turn over to James. And look
at chapter 1, verse 18 with me if you would. Oh, this is a good verse I could
use for the main message, but I've already got my verses for
that. I might refer to this anyway.
Look at verse 18 of James chapter 1. Of His own will begat He us,
now look what it says here, with the word of truth. that we should be kind of first
fruits of His creature. So we see it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. Look at one
more if you would over at 1 Peter. Continue to the right. Revelation. Look at 1 Peter chapter
1. 1 Peter chapter 1. Beginning at verse 33, 1 Peter
chapter 1 verse 33, being born again not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible. And here we see by the Word of
God, by the preaching, by the preaching of the Word, by the
Word of God which liveth and abideth forever for all flesh
is as grass and all the glory of men is the flower of the grass,
the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falls away, but
the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. Here is a great act
of mercy, writes Don, a condescension towards us. And not only has
God chosen to save sinners, he's chosen to allow saved sinners
to be the instruments in his hands by which other chosen sinners
Hear the gospel of His grace, and believe on His Son unto everlasting
life. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
1 again, if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Again, very familiar verses,
but let's read them through anyway. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, looking
at verse 26-31. For ye see your calling, brethren.
This is 1 Corinthians chapter 1. For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world,
and the things which are despised have God chosen, yea, and things
which are not. to bring to naught the things
that are. That no flesh should glory in his presence, but of
him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. One
more, if you would, turn over to the right, Ephesians chapter
three. Ephesians chapter three. One verse there, if you would,
verse 8. But we're talking about the Lord
using sinful men as tools to preach to chosen sinners, to
hear the gospel of His grace and believe on His Son and to
everlasting life. Look at verse 8 here of Ephesians
chapter 3. Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints, is this grace given, Paul speaking of
himself here. Remember Paul says, oh wretched
man that I am, not that I was, that I am now. If he had said,
oh wretched man that I was, he'd have been holier than now, wouldn't
he? Oh, look how much holier I am than I was then. Folks, we're not any holier than
we were before, but we know the one who is holy. By His revelation
into our heart, He's given us a heart to know Him. That's what
Paul's saying here, the least of all saints, given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Christ lifted up upon the cursed
tree accomplished redemption, and Christ lifted up by the preaching
of the gospel is the means by which God calls chosen sinners
unto himself. And we can read about that over
in John chapter 3, if you'd like. Turn over to John chapter 3. Familiar words, once again, look
at verse 14. John chapter 3, beginning at
verse 14, and as Moses Lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Look
at one more verse over in the 12th chapter of John. Go to the
right, over to John chapter 12. And look here with me at one
verse over there, verse 32. John chapter 12, verse 32. This is what the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified is all about. This is what it is
for a preacher to stand before God's people. I thought we were
going to have some guests here today, but I guess we're not
now. Plan's changed. My sister's going to leave. They're
going to go. A good friend of the family was going to be here
today, and I was really hoping so, but this is what the pastor
does. This is what God uses to save
his people. This is what you and I heard
when we came here and heard the gospel for the first time. We
heard about Christ. Look at verse 32 here. And if
I be lifted up from earth, and I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me. So we see how this one who was
preached about, who was cursed and hung on a tree and accomplished
in the redemption of his people, how the Lord uses that, Christ
and him crucified, to call his people. And then lastly in this
verse, this verse that we see back in 1 Timothy 16, not only
was he preached unto the Gentiles and believed on in the world,
Our great incarnate God and Savior, having accomplished eternal redemption
for us, was received up into glory, as it says in that last
part of the verse there. You realize there's a man in
heaven right now, in his flesh. He's still got the holes in his
hands, folks. He still has the hole in the
side where his where he was pierced by the sword. It wouldn't surprise me if he
still has the holes in his head from the thorn crown that was
set on his head. But there's a man who's sitting
in heaven right now on his throne. He's sitting in glory today,
and he's the God of all flesh, the God of all creation. and
he was manifest in the flesh, as it says in John chapter one.
Once his work of redemption was finished, he sat down at the
right hand of God the Father, and he took possession of heaven
as the representative of his people forever for God's elect. He is our advocate, our high
priest, making unceasing intercession for us That's what it tells us
over in Hebrews chapter 7, if you want to turn over there for
just a moment and read with me. Hebrews chapter 7. In verse 24 we read these words,
Hebrews 7 verse 24, but this man, speaking of Christ, because
He continueth forever, Christ our High Priest, He hath an unchangeable
priesthood, verse 25, wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became
us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. who needeth not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself." Now, look at one more verse if you would
here over at 1 John. Continue to the right towards
Revelation, 1 John chapter 2. In 1 John chapter 2, we read
in verse 1, My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not, for if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. And he
is the propitiation, the expiation, the payment for our sins, and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Therefore, because of that, Because of our Lord's sacrifice, because
of his laying down his life, believers may confidently raise
those great challenges of faith found in Romans 8, verse 33 through
34, where we read this, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? Or how about this, who is he
that condemns? You can lay those two questions
at the feet of Jesus. Not only does He intercede for
us, the God-Man, our Savior, holds the reins of the universe
in His hands, ruling the world. We're talking about great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
This very One who walked this earth rules the whole world and
all things in it for the salvation of eternal and eternal spiritual
good for His elect. God the Father has invested His
Son as our mediator, our Savior, with all power, all dominion,
all authority over all flesh to give eternal life to His many,
to the chosen, redeemed sinners. And that's what we read over
in John chapter 17. Let me read that for you real
quick here. John 17 in verses 1 and 2. Verse
2. As thou hast given him power,
speaking of God the Father to God the Son, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. Every child of God ought to seek
grace from God to live every day in the constant, confident
awareness of this fact. It would comfort our souls, writes
Don, in the midst of every trial, heartache, and trouble we are
constrained by God's providence to endure. God's purpose in all
things is our everlasting salvation and the salvation of all of his
chosen people. At the end of our brief time
in this world of woe, we will still confess, like those mentioned
in Mark 737, who beheld his works upon the earth, he has done all
things well. Amen to that. Lord willing, we'll
pick up in chapter three of Don's book, The Mysteries of God, next
Sunday. Brother Mike, would you lead
us in closing prayer? Father in heaven,