for our devotional this morning.
It's in a previous bulletin. You'll have to listen and you'll
have to listen fast. Just kidding. This is written by Pastor Gene
Harmon and he writes, The Word of God plainly declares that
the Holy Spirit of God is every believer's divine teacher. who
will guide his children into all truth. That's what we read
in John 16, verse 13 and 14. He goes on to write, when God
sends the Spirit, the One who teaches us into all truth, of
His Son into the hearts of His blood-bought children, the first
truth that is revealed to this person is His need of God's sovereign
mercy. God the Holy Spirit makes the
convicted sinner so painfully aware of his lost, spiritually
bankrupt condition, he knows he has nothing to offer God in
exchange for his soul. He sees his total depravity,
his total helplessness, his total hopelessness, his self-deserving
situation, hell-deserving situation, The convicted sinner renounces
all works of the flesh, embraces the sin-atoning sacrifice his
Savior made for him, and cries out to God for mercy in the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Just those few biblical truths
stated in the short paragraph above exposes the lies of the
false preachers in this modern so-called Christian world. They
can't teach the total depravity of man, the totally depraved
condition of the natural man, because that would completely
destroy their false doctrine of man's free will and salvation. God the Holy Spirit would never
teach any of his elect that man's so-called free will is more powerful
than God's sovereign will. He would never teach any that
puny man can resist the irresistible drawing power of God the Holy
Spirit. Our Master, our Master teaches every believer that salvation
is of the Lord and of the Lord alone. That's in John 2.9. God
Himself teaches us that man contributes absolutely nothing to salvation. what we believe reveals who our
teacher is. Amen? I'd like to ask you to open your
Bibles once again to the book of Colossians chapter 1. A couple of weeks back, I began
a series of messages, and we began with verse 23 of chapter
1, in hopes to encourage you, as
Paul was encouraging the saints at Colossae, writing to them, encouraging
them to keep themselves, to keep ourselves. An encouragement for
God's children throughout of all time. I once called into a radio station
of a question and answer. I was driving around somewhere,
I don't remember where it was now, but I called into one of those
stations where people were invited to call in and ask questions.
And this is in the early days when the Lord first saved me.
And they were talking about predestination. They were putting down the fact
that God has chosen a people unto himself, and they said,
yes, but it is up to you to make a decision whether to accept
him or not. And I called in and I said, I'll
take your answer on the air, instead of staying on the phone
with him, but how can you explain what you're saying reading Ephesians
1, where it says we are predestinated before the world began? And I
hung up. And then the guy went about telling
me what kind of a weakling I was for not staying on the phone
with him so that he could talk to me personally. And he began
to explain how that is meant only to the Ephesians. And I
thought to myself, wait a minute, what are you talking about? God
is only speaking to the Ephesians there? Folks, this is God's love
letter to you and I. Everything in this book that
God inspired men to write is for the benefit of His people.
For our benefit. For our admonition. For our learning. Just as Paul was writing to inspire
these Colossians to stay firm in the faith, as we read in verse
23, if you continue in the faith grounded, Meaning firm. Settled. And be not moved away
from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which
ye have preached, so every creature which is under the heaven, where
I, Paul, am a minister." And then we went back on that first
message, and we looked in these first verses of chapter 1 here,
and I believe it was 9 through 23, where the gospel is clearly
preached. And then last week we went back
and we talked about who this gospel is preached to, and we
read in the second verse there, to the saints and the faithful
brethren who are in Christ, the faithful brethren in Christ. Folks, it is my prayer. My desire
at that time was to preach these words that God might give you.
Not me, not in what I say to you. I'm just a man. Isn't it
the most ridiculous thing that there are men who will climb
into a box, let somebody else climb into a box, and say, tell
me all your sins and I'll forgive you. What a ridiculous thought. But
that's the imagination of men. We come up with all kinds of
gods in our own imagination. They have in all times. Think
of the Aztecs who sacrificed virgins just to appease their
gods. Ridiculous to you and I. Ridiculous
to most of the people in the world at that time. But it worked
for them, or at least they thought it did. Stand fast. Stand firm in the
gospel of Christ Jesus and Him crucified. There's only one rock to stand
on, folks. There was only one rock that brought water to the
children of Israel in the wilderness. You know, this is what we live
in today. We live in a wilderness. Yeah, we drive cars through it,
and we have Google that shows us maps of it and everything,
but it's a dry desert when it comes to spiritual things. Very
few places have the water of life, which is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Matthew 16, we read about where
Jesus is talking to Peter and the apostles. and more disciples,
and he says, who do you think I am? And Peter says to him,
why thou art the son of the living God. And the Lord tells him,
well Peter, you know, blessed are you, because flesh and blood
haven't revealed that to you. The man standing up talking to
you today hasn't revealed anything to you, but my Father which is
in heaven. This is important. I want you
to take this point and run with it for the whole message. is
God the Father who reveals the rock of salvation, and Jesus
Christ must be revealed by Him and by Him alone. On Christ the
solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. We live in troubled times, but
just as all mankind have, these troubled times may be different,
but it's the same thing. Ever since Adam sinned and mankind
fell into sin, it has always been troubled. Cain killed his
brother Abel. For what reason? Because of jealousy. Try to tell me today's different
than then? No, it's the same. Sin is sin. Men think that there is peace
in the world around them. There is no peace with the wicked. But a child of the true and living
God will see more than what the world will see. We are brought
to see the truths of His Word. We who once walked in the darkness
of our desires have been given the gift to believe,
the gift to see the mysterious, unknown God. Paul was walking
through a Roman city and there were all these gods lined up
on the street, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, all the way down,
and he got to the very end of the street, and down at the very
end of the street, some fool just so they wouldn't miss anything,
made a statue to something, and they said, this is the unknown
God, just in case we forgot somebody. Did you know that Paul pointed
that sign out and then began to preach about the unknown God? The Lord Jesus Christ, whom the
world does not know? You can say, how can you say
that? Many, many, you go to the Church of Jesus Christ, right
across the street I think it is. Many know of this one called
the Christ. Everybody has heard about this
one called Jesus, even those who worship a God called Allah,
Muslims. They know about Jesus. Did you
know that? It's mentioned in their Bible. How can you say that they do
not know this God, this mysterious, unknown God? Everybody's heard
about Jesus. No. No, they have not. For 40 years I grew up in a family
that so-called preached God. I know my dad, my stepfather,
I've heard him preach after the Lord called me out of darkness,
and I know he preached about the Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign
God of all creation. I know he preached about sovereign
grace, but I never heard it. No, it wasn't until the day of
God's love and His power that He brought John under the preaching
of His gospel to hear it for the first time. So, no. No, they
have not. You see, there are many who come
in sheep's clothing. Many come dressed in false, self-righteous
preaching. We read about these very ones
who creep into the church in the book of Jude. We're studying
the book of Jude in our Friday night Bible study. And we're
in verses 4, I think it is, through 8, is what we covered last Friday
night. The Lord God Almighty inspired
Jude to warn us about these people. These ones who come in wolves'
clothing. Our Lord even tells us that the
devil himself comes as a minister dressed in white raiment. That
means the devil comes dressed as though he's Christ. As though
he's the Lord Jesus, but he preaches a different Jesus than the Jesus
of Scriptures. So no! I want to stress that
because by grace we hear the Word of God. Does that not move your soul?
Does that not move your soul, your heart, to know that God
has had grace on you to hear His Word of truth? It moves me. Folks, our pride. Cheryl mentioned
something, I believe it was in Friday night's Bible study. Our pride. is our blindness. We are born in spiritual deadness,
yet we think there is some good in us, don't we? There's a little
good in everybody, isn't there? All you got to do is fan the
flame. Isn't that what you've heard?
A little good in everybody? Fan that flame and they'll be
good again. We think that there is some good
in us because of something that we do. We cannot understand our
true nature, not until God himself reveals this to a lost soul. You are dead in trespasses and
sin. I saved you by my grace, is what
he says. The truths of God remain a mystery
to the natural man. Yet God has chosen to reveal
this mystery to some. Look, if you will, at our text
in Colossians chapter 1 verses 23 through 26. If ye continue
in the faith, grounded, set firm, and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have
heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven. Wherefore, I, Paul, am a minister, who now rejoice in
my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the
afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is
the church, Wherefore, 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." Even the mystery. which had been hid from the ages
and from the generations, but is now made manifest unto you. My title this morning is The
Mystery Made Known. Hold your place here, if you
would. Oh, wait a minute. There I go, jumping
ahead of myself. Sorry about that. The mystery
hid. Did you notice that? Who hid it? Is this a book in secret? Can anybody get one of these?
Can anybody go into a church and hear somebody read from it?
It says the mystery hid. Hid from ages and from generations. But now is made manifest. Is made known. Now, this mysterious God is being
made known to His people. Hold your place here and now
turn to the book of Luke chapter 10 please. We'll come back to
collections. Luke chapter 10. The good news, the gospel that
Paul was talking about is the message of Christ and Him crucified
for His chosen people. It's the gospel message of salvation
is of the Lord. Yet not all have this revelation
given to them. Look with me, if you would, at
Luke chapter 10, verse 21. And in that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in Spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, father, for it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me
of my Father, and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father,
and who the Father is, but the Son, and He to whom the Son will
reveal Him." And he turned him unto his disciples and said privately,
Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see. Blessed are the eyes who look
into God's truth and see it for what it is. For I tell you, in verse 24,
continuing on, that many prophets and kings have desired to see
those things which thou see, which ye see, and have not seen
them, and to hear those things which
ye hear and have not heard them. Now look with me if you would
over at the 10th chapter of John. Wait a minute. We just did that, didn't we? Oh, that was 6. Now look over
at the 10th chapter if you would. Wait a minute, what? Did I read
the wrong stuff here? Were you folks reading along
with me? Oh, we were in the book of Luke. When you get to be my age, Polly
Mary, when you get as old as I am, these things just might
happen. Look over, if you will, at the
book of John, chapter 10. John chapter 10. We're talking about the revelation
of God. We're talking about the revelation
of Jesus Christ and how it's only revealed to some. We just
read about in Luke how God the Father had hid these things from
the wise and the prudent and had revealed them unto babes. And here in John chapter 10,
verse 22, we read this. And it was at Jerusalem, the
feast and the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked
in the temple of Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
Him and said unto Him, How long dost Thou make? How long dost Thou make us to
doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus said unto them, I told
you, and ye believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not. Why? Why? Because you're not my sheep.
As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them,
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." And
when the world hears these words right here that we just read,
they do this, exactly what you see in verse 31. Then the Jews
took up stones again to stone Him. How dare you tell Me I don't
have a will? How dare you tell me that it's
not my responsibility, my choice in which way I want to walk?
How dare you tell me it's not my way? I'll have it my way. That's what we all did at one
time, until the Lord arrested our hearts, cut that old stony
heart that says, I will not have this one rule over me, and gave
us a heart that lovingly and willingly bends to our need of
Him. Do you know every knee is going
to bow? Every knee is going to bow. Aren't
you thankful that we bow right now? I'm here to tell you if you bow
after you die, there is no salvation for you. It's by God's grace that we know
these things. It is by His revelation Not John,
not some wise man who stands before you and preaches. Not
one of these men who are going to preach at the conference next
week. But God Almighty, the Spirit of God who teaches men. It is by His revelation that we
know these things. You see the grace flowing from
God for us. He doesn't have to reveal these
things to us. He doesn't have to give us this
knowledge of Him. But because He has loved us from
before the world began, He gives us this knowledge of who he is,
what he has done, and where he is right now. Now back to our text in Colossians,
if you would please. While you're turning back there,
allow me to read from Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9. Very familiar
words. For by grace are ye saved, through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Look again with me at verse 26. Even the mystery which hath been
hid from ages and from generations, and here's what I want you to
see, but now is made manifest. That word manifest means to be
known. Many know of Jesus. Many know
of the name of Jesus. But do you know Jesus? Do you
know Him as your Lord? Do you know Him as your Savior?
Do you know Him as all power for you? Do you know Him personally, intimately? Now is made known to His saints. Notice this mystery which is
his is now made known not to all the world, but unto who? What is that last word? Last two words. His saints. Why didn't he say it was made
known unto all the world? No, he specifically said it was
made known unto his saints. You see where we're going with
the revelation? You see where we're going with Scripture this
morning? Made known. Oh, the grace of God in making
known His Word unto you and I. This mystery revealed, this mystery
made known is Jesus Christ as God in the flesh. The God-man. The very one who walked perfectly
on this earth, fulfilling every dot of the law. Because you and
I couldn't. Because none of us could. This mystery revealed is God
in His perfect, in being perfect in all that He does. Why would
God allow men to ride airplanes and drive
them right into buildings and kill thousands of people, innocent
people who knew nothing about what was about to happen. Why
would God do that? I don't know. No man knows the will of God,
the hidden will of God. We know the revealed will of
God through his word, but there are things that happen in this
world that we just have no idea for. Maybe one of those children
who was survived by one of the dead parents turned to God. Maybe one of the widows whose
husbands were killed in that building brought to her knees
and turned to God. Maybe the Lord used that very
scene to break a heart. of just one. Would it be worth
it? Absolutely. You see, everything
God does is perfect. Even the fact that we got this
virus floating around in our world today, it's all perfectly
purposed by God. The God we worship is either
sovereign over everything, or He's not worth worshiping, is
He? He's either all-powerful over
everything, or he's not worth worshiping. And the mystery that
is revealed, which is manifest, made known to the saints of God,
is that the blood of God was shed on the cross over 2,000
years ago for His people, for you and I. That brings comfort to this poor
sinner. How about you? The mystery revealed is the bloodshed
accomplished what it was purposed for. He didn't just shed His
blood for us, it accomplished why it was shed. It washed us
clean. We are now looked upon by God
the Father as God the Son. Perfect. In Him. Aren't you thankful
for that? knowing the sin that still plagues
this body of flesh? Knowing the sin that still plagues
our walk in this world? Is it not good news to know that
Christ shed His blood for us and washed us clean, washed us
white as snow? This mystery that was revealed,
that was made manifest to God's saints is that He is the God-Man
who laid down His life and as God, He had the power to take
it up again. This mystery that is revealed
to the saints of God is that He is as our substitute, the
substitute of His chosen people, having the sins of all those
for whom the Father has given Him, laid upon Him. Our standing
is perfect as He is Himself. We have perfect righteousness
in Him. And it all comes down to this. Grace. We deserve what the world is
going to get. We deserve. We have earned exactly
what the world is going to get. Yet God has loved us so much
so that He gave His only begotten Son. that whosoever believeth
on Him should have everlasting life. Are you one of those that
believe on Him according to Scriptures? According as it is written in
this book? It's called unmerited favor.
You can't buy it. You can't work for it. You can't
earn it. It comes to you. Grace comes
to you. The people of God, not for any
reason that you have done, but for the reason of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. If it could be by works, then
we could boast, you see. We would take pride in ourselves. See what good I have done? See
what I've been doing all these years? I walked down to the aisle
and made a confession of Jesus at the age of 12. And since then,
I've always walked straight. Since then, I've always helped
the poor. Since then, I, I, I, I, I. That's what the religions of
the world will teach you. Look at the first part of verse
27 once again of Colossians 2. To whom God would make known. The very saints that this gospel, this hope of the gospel
is made to, that made manifest to His saints, to whom God would
make known. What is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles? What are these mysterious riches
of His glory? 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 31. You don't need to turn there.
Allow me to read this for you. What are these mysteries? these riches
of His glory. That according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. All glory will belong to our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at the last part of
verse 27 of Colossians chapter 1. which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Christ in us, the hope of glory. I want to close with this, turn
back to Luke again, this time to chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Will you read with me verses
9 through 14 of Luke chapter 18. And he spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves. Notice what it said. Our Lord is speaking to those
who trusted in themselves. The very ones that I talked about
a moment ago who think it's by works, the ones who call themselves
I, I, I, I, I, and do not see the grace of God in it. He would
speak this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and were despised others. The Lord spoke. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this Publican. I fast twice in a week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Then our Lord says this, I tell
you, this man, speaking of the publican, the one who would not
even lift up his head, not even lift up his eyes, but understood
that he had nothing, that he was broke, that he was dead.
And he cried upon the Lord, have mercy upon me. I tell you that
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted." Which one of these two examples
am I? That's me asking myself, don't
you look at me. I'm afraid you'll see ugliness.
Ugliness of my heart. Ask yourselves this question,
which one am I? Am I a proud Pharisee? Look what
I have done. You know, the publican didn't
change. He stayed on his knees crying out to the Lord for the
rest of his life. That's what we do. We know that
we are only kept by the mercy and the grace of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. I don't mean walking around on
your knees through life, beating yourself like some people think
you have to. Pride. Pride will bring us sin
every time. It'll puff us up. As a saved sinner, I know this,
that my pride is my worst sin, a battle that I must continually
fight, a battle that I must continually be on my knees, crying out, Lord,
have mercy on me. There is no worthiness in my
flesh to claim why I should be saved. My only hope is that God
would be merciful to me, a sinner. But what a hope I have. If I
be in Christ, then I can stand firm. I can stand solid on that
rock. The rock that the Lord is ruler
over everything. I can stand firm on all He has
said, all He has promised, all He has done. Our Lord spoke these words. He
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Will you come
to Him this day? Will you come to Him standing
tall in what you have done? Or will you come to Him understanding His mercy for you
and not giving you what you deserve? If you come to Him this morning
as the publican came to our Lord, the praise will be His. Psalms 110 verse 3, it says this,
Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power. See what I mean about Him getting
the glory for it? I know whose power it is that brought me here
that day. I know whose power it is that
keeps me coming to His Word over and over again for peace. I know
whose power it is that keeps me from going out into the world
and continuing in sin. All the glory goes to Him. It's not anything I'm doing.
There's still no good in this flesh, which is why I have no
confidence in this flesh. But I have all the confidence
in the world in my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. May God be
pleased to be merciful to you and I this day. Amen.