Come, let us adore him, Christ
the Lord. Thank you, Sherry and John. Let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter
3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy 3, read verses 14 through
16. These things write I unto thee,
hoping to come unto thee shortly, but if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth, and without controversy. Gray 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. The title, the subject here is
found in that one line, seen of angels. That's what really
caught my I, and I heard, or I read, that is, a message by
John Newton on this. It was a great blessing to me.
A scene of angels. That means witnessed, observed,
beheld. They beheld God manifest in the
flesh. God on earth. Now notice, first
of all, verse 15. He's writing to a young preacher,
and yet this is the Word of God to all of us. It says that you
may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God. How to conduct ourselves. The
true church of God is known by how they behave in God's house. This is important. You'll see
why it all goes together. When you think of all that's
going on today in religion, in these places called the house
of God, you see signs up in front of these places, a Christmas
plan. We're not playing. This is real. How we ought to behave ourselves
in the house of God, the church of God is known by the fear and
the reverence that they have for the Word of God, for the
house of God. The way we conduct ourselves,
from the way we dress, to the way we sing, to the message we bring, everything.
Fear and reverence. It's not fun and games. It's
not a pretend. This is not a play. It's not
frivolity. There's no room for levity and
frivolity. We're not here to be seen or
see. We're here to hear God's Word.
We're not here for entertainment, but we're here to worship God.
We're not here for political or social causes, but we're here
for the cause of God and truth for us and our children. He says
the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. The
church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. The pillar
is something that holds something up. A pillar is something that
undergirds, or that is, lifts up and keeps lifted up something. The purpose of the church is
to hold up, to lift up, to declare the truth. Now, who is the truth? Christ is the truth. Christ said,
if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men, I'll draw all of my
people to myself. This is where the church This
is what the church does, and this is where Christ is. The
word of truth, the gospel, Christ is the truth. Church is not a
kitchen, a restaurant, a gymnasium, a place of entertainment, a concert
hall. It's a house of worship. And
our Lord said the house of prayer. Now, that's important. You know
how few people are hearing that. Well, we do. Bless God. Now,
here is the truth. This is why he says he follows
this. It doesn't seem to be a connection.
Oh, yes, it is. The church is the pillar and
the ground of truth. Now, here's the truth. And it's
without controversy. This is the truth. Pilate one
time said, what is truth? So the Lord had hidden the truth
from him because the truth was standing in front of him and
he couldn't see it. Now here's the truth, and it's
without controversy, though it controversial. Though everyone
everywhere is, you know, debating what is truth, saying what is
truth, and though the truth is despised and rejected, still
despised and rejected, conspired against. Everywhere this way
is still spoken again. This is the truth, without controversy. It's irrefutable, it's undeniable,
but it's a mystery, he said. Verse 16, great is the mystery
of godliness. Great is the mystery. It's hidden
to the wise and prudent. It's a mystery. But God has revealed
these things to some. Babes, He's revealed these things
unto us and our children, thank God, that God was manifest in
the flesh. Here it is. Here's the truth. God became a man. God was manifest
in the flesh. God, who made the heavens and
the earth, walked on this earth. God, whom no man hath seen or
can see, was seen of angels and men. God, who is a consuming
fire, took a body so that we would not be consumed, so that
we could touch Him and handle Him. He's a consuming fire, so
He took a body. so that we could touch Him and
handle Him. John said that. He who dwells in what light which
no man can approach unto. They approached Him. He came
to them. He spoke to them. He spoke to
them. God. Why? Well, the answer is
given in the rest of this verse. How He came and why He came.
It answers that question. It says in verse 16, He was justified
in the Spirit. God became a man, manifest in
the flesh, Immanuel, God with us, and he was justified in the
Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of God, who he had without measure, justified
him, declared him to be the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit
of God, whom no man hath seen or can see, but who bears witness
of Christ. He proved Him to all men and
women to be the just one. He proved Him to be the just
one. See, Scripture says there's not a just man on earth that
doeth good and sinneth not. Not one. There's not one until
this man came. This proves who he is, he said.
This proves who he is. He was declared to be the Son
of God, Romans 1 says, by the Spirit of holiness. The only
holy man, the only just man, the only righteous man to ever
live. And the Holy Spirit came down
at his baptism when he commenced his public ministry as a 30-year-old
man. He kept hidden. He was kept hidden
for 30 years until he became man, according to the Jewish
law, 30 years old. And he came at his baptism, at
the commencement of his public ministry as a man. The Holy Spirit
came down, not in the form of a dove. I'm mistaken on that. Like a dove. But landed on him,
and everybody didn't see this. Everybody didn't see the dove
land on his shoulder. John did. John saw the Holy Spirit
come down on him and land on him and anoint him, saying, this
is He. God told John, the one you see
the Holy Spirit anointing, you'll know that's Him. And always,
all the people of God, the Holy Spirit, John takes the things
of Christ and shows them unto us. We see clearly by the Spirit
of God, He's been justified by the Spirit. He's been declared
by the Holy Spirit of God to be the Son of God. I've seen
it, and I think it. Sinless, faultless, unblameable,
unreprovable in the sight of God, the just One, the Holy One
of Israel. This is our God, Isaiah said. It will be said in that day,
this is our God and He'll save us. God manifest and fled. The Holy Spirit said so and bears
witness to all His people. And Christ said, No one comes
unto the Father but by me. He's the just one. And we are
justified through the just one. There's just one by whom we are
justified. The Holy Spirit tells us that.
By His righteousness you're covered. By His blood, your sins are gone. He was just that we might be
justified. Is this important? Our salvation
hangs on it. We don't get to heaven by what
we do. We get to heaven by what He did. Justified from all things by
Him by which you cannot be justified by the law. Then it says, He
was seen of angels. Now here's where I want to dwell.
It says he was justified in the Spirit, declared to be who he
was, and angels beheld him. Angels observed this. Angels
witnessed him. Angels gazed upon him. From the
time he was born, the announcement of his birth, till the time he
died, these angelic creatures, these seraphic creatures, these
strange, mysterious creatures, beheld Him, gazed on Him with
wonder and amazement, attended to Him, worshipped Him, hovered
about Him all His life, all around, though men couldn't see Him. Now, this is not a message on
angels. That's what most people would
like to hear. But we're not here to worship angels. We're here
to worship Him whom angels worship. Alright? And Peter said this,
he said in his letter, he said, these are the things, speaking
of the gospel that he was preaching and declaring, he said, these
are the things which angels desire to look into. Angels desire to look into. Justify. Justification. How sinful creatures
can be made holy in God's sight. How can these filthy creatures
dwell in God's sight? Why would God have anything to
do with it? Why doesn't He destroy them all like He did the angels
that kept not their first estate? Why doesn't He just destroy this
filthy place like He did these angels He's got kept in chains? And Paul wrote in Ephesians,
he said, these things are made known by the church. I heard
Brother Donnie preach on this, how the angels are listening
to the gospel, because they don't know. That's what he said in
Ephesians 5, I believe it is. These things are made known by
Ephesians 3, made known by the church. It's an angel's land.
Marvel at it. You think about that. Angels
listening to the gospel, and men don't care. Don't care. Is that not depravity? which
things angels desire to look into. What does that say about
man's foolish desires and his total disinterest in that which
he needs more than anything? All right? It says he was seen
by angels. Before the creation, before the
creation of the world, angels were created. Angels were created
before the world began. This is what Colossians says
about him. He's the image of the invisible
God, not Christ. He's the firstborn of every creature.
That is, he's the first body, bodily image of anything, anything. Before there was any image of
anything, the Son of God had an image. That's why he said,
let us make man in our own image, and Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, the Son of God. He's the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, and by Him,
Jesus Christ, were all things created that are in heaven and
earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities,
or powers, all things were created by Jesus Christ. The angels were
created by Jesus Christ. and for him, for his glory. And when he created them, the
first thing they saw was him, like Adam, like Adam, in the
garden, in the creation. The angels watched. They saw
him come down into the garden and take clay. It says that God
spoke the light. God spoke and it happened. But
it says about man, He formed him. Made him with His hand,
Jesus Christ. Came down and took that clay
and formed this glorious creature like a master architect, an artist. And formed this glorious creature
and then put His mouth on that creature of clay. But in this
being lived, the man, the woman, the angels are watching us. They're
watching us. Glory to God. He looks like his
master. He looks like our Lord. What a glorious creature. You ever thought about that?
That happened. At the creation. Oh, that's what
John said, didn't he? God, all things were created
by Him and for Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. And then He appeared unto men.
The angels watched down through, back in history, watched as our
Lord Jesus Christ appeared to men and women on earth. Adam and Eve in the garden after
He made them, and we don't know how long They lived in a sinless
state, but they did sin against Him. And they watched as our Lord
came down to that garden. Don't you know they thought He
was going to wipe them out? Well, He began
to talk to them. See, His delights were with the
sons of men. He delighted and rejoiced in
the habitable parts of the earth. His delights were the sons of
men. He came down to talk to Enoch. Enoch walked with God. Who's that? Jesus Christ. Noah
walked with God. Someone told Noah how to make
an ark. It was Jesus Christ. Abraham
talked with our Lord. Jacob wrestled with the man.
The angels watched the Lord go down and wrestle with Jacob. Moses, Gideon, all of them. Angels. You know what the angels
must have been thinking? And I'm not speculating at all.
Because it says here, this scene of angels. He was beheld. He
was marveled at, amazed, watching their Lord do this. You know
what they must have thought? What a merciful Lord this is.
What an amazing Lord to condescend to come down from His glorious
high throne into this awful place and even talk with these creatures.
What an amazing Lord this is. What is man that he would be
mindful of Him? You know they were thinking that. Get his hands dirty. Then there
is birth. And it came in time. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the
law. They watch this and they don't
understand. They don't understand what is
happening. They watched Him enter a womb.
In some way, somehow, they watched Him enter a womb or something
I don't know when they were aware of this, but they did. They beheld
it. A scene of angels. A baby in a barn. The Son of
God, you know, they must have thought, if He's going to come
to this earth in a body that He was born in the finest place
and be received, surely everyone on earth will receive. Surely
we're to go and tell everyone on earth, gather together at
the royal palace, The Son of the Most High God is kept in
a barn. In a cow stall. In a manger. And God said, go, there's a few
shepherds. There's a few shepherds on the
side of the hill. Go tell them. Go tell those few fellas. Good
news. Now, if that isn't a picture
of the Gospel, If that isn't who Christ reveals Himself to,
isn't that the truth? He's hidden these things from
the wise and the prudent. His birth was announced. And
I don't think they knew what He was doing. According to those
Scriptures in Ephesians and 1 Peter, I don't think they knew why He
had come. I don't. They're going to see. Then they
saw Him as a boy in a carpenter's shop. the eternal God, a 12-year-old
boy. Does that amaze you as much as anything? Son of God, the most high God,
was a 12-year-old boy. Sinless 12-year-old boy. That's
amazing, a 13-year-old. That's not possible. But he was. He was in a carpenter's shop,
and he's working, he's sweating. Did they remember what He said
to Adam 4,000 years before that? And watch Him in that garden.
They're hovering all around. I'm not making this up. And He's
sweating profusely. Did they think about what He
said to Adam in that garden by the sweat of your brow? You'll
earn your living. You'll earn your bread. There
He is sweating. Yeah. That must have been a bear
mine. Sweating. Sweat. I watched him
work. And then he became a man. Shrouded
in mystery the next 18 years of his life. You can be sure
he's not living for himself. And he's doing nothing but helping
others. Then when he became 30 years old at his baptism. Now you think about this. Brother
Newton brought this out to me. I've never seen it like this.
Baptism for us. He said to every one of us, repent
and be baptized. Every single son of Adam that
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is to repent, confess their sin,
and here's the ultimate confession, baptism. Baptism is a confession
of sin. Baptism is saying, I deserve
to die. I deserve to be buried. The punishment,
the wages of sin is death. I deserve to die. Baptism is
to show that we need washed from our sins. Baptism is to show
that we need to be sanctified. That's what baptism is. It's
a confession of sin, of guilt, a public confession of guilt,
that we need to be washed from our sins. Why was he baptized? This is humiliating to him. He
doesn't need to be baptized. You remember John said that,
didn't he? Lord, when he came to be baptized as John, didn't
he say that? Lord, I need you to baptize me. You know what he's doing? Jeanette,
he's going to be made sin for us. He's going to be made sin for
us, John. that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
He said, for their sake I sanctify myself, but they also might be
sanctified. Baptism. The righteous one is
going to be made sin. Now what does this say about
our need? Our Lord said it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness.
Every sinner must be baptized. Well, he knew no sin, but he's
mean. And he publicly humiliates himself,
humbles himself, goes down under that water, baptized by a man,
humbling, raised up to show there's going to be a man that does that
to us by him. By Him. Baptism. And baptism
is commitment. Our Lord did not preach one word
until He was baptized. Our Lord didn't do one thing
publicly. Our Lord made this public confession,
this public commitment, this public avowal and declaration. Here I am, O God, the sinner's
substitute. Take me in their stead. I'll
die on their behalf. Let me be raised again. And he
committed himself to God, gave himself for his people. And what
does that say about us? He says, now you, why would anyone
be ashamed? Those that love him won't. They'll
be baptized. And when he came out of the water,
that's when John saw the Holy Spirit. When he came out of the
water, that's when the Holy Spirit of God came down upon him and
said, this is Him. Now, this is He, the Son of God,
the Christ. And that's how the Spirit reveals
Christ to us. Then the angels saw him tempted
by Satan. The next thing our Lord did,
the angels watched as he left that battle at Jordan, and they
watched as Satan, their arch enemy, Lucifer, they saw like an angel
fall from heaven. And they saw how God allowed
him to take their Lord up on a mountain for 40 days and begin
to assault Him, begin to try Him and test Him. What do you think they were thinking?
As they saw Satan, his vile person confronting the Holy Son of God,
what do you think they thought? He'll snuff him out. He's not
going to put up with this. Why is he allowing this? Why
is he allowing Satan to hurl things at him like that? I know. Don't you? Because
I suffer these things. Because that's my enemy. Because
he's my adversary. He's your adversary. He's the
one that tempts you with the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eye, and the pride of the mind. He's your chief arch-enemy. And this is our captain, you
see. This is our Lord, but he doesn't defeat him. He doesn't
defeat him like they thought he would. You know, snuff him
out right now. Just take a blast of his nostrils. Right there,
he's gone. Don't put up with it. Oh no,
that's not how it's going to be done. Well, we don't understand. Just wait. You'll see. Then in the garden of Gethsemane,
the place that he often resorted to to pray, And they witnessed
Him praying always and heard His voice. And they saw Him at
this time go leave His disciples and go off by Himself. And the
Scripture says He began to be in great agony. It says He began
to be in great agony. And it says He began to sweat. They're watching Him sweat again. Blood is coming out of his pores.
Sweating blood. The angels are watching him. Scene of angels. Not trying to be dramatic. I want us to see. I want us to
see what they saw. Sweating blood. He's in great
agony and he's crying unto God. He's crying unto God, asking
God, if it be possible, let this pass from me. I'm going to die
right here. And they can't understand that. They can't understand that. And
then the mob came. All these Pharisees and scribes
and the people were angry. A mob, a huge mob came with staves
and swords. And they watched as, you know,
they saw him go out in front of the disciples and say, Whom
seek ye? And they said, Jesus. And one last display, I am. And they all fell to the ground.
The angels thought, There! There! You can't touch our Lord. But
no. They watched as he allowed them
to lay their filthy hands on him. They didn't know. You know, emotions. It says we'll know as we've been
known. If we knew the future now, we wouldn't
worry. We wouldn't get mad. We wouldn't
if we knew. And I don't know what they knew,
but surely they are thinking as they laid hold of their Lord. We don't understand this. And
they took Him into the judgment hall, and in horror the angels watched
as they began to beat him in the face and clear their throats and spit
in the face of the Creator of the world. Knowing him now, how does it
make you feel? Just think about it. Does anger
rise up in you? It ought to. Amazement rise up
in you that he allowed this to happen? They didn't take him. He said, no man takes my life
from me. The disciples were always worried
about his welfare. Don't go there, they'll kill
you. No man takes my life from me. I lay it down. I submit. I bow to this. They can't touch me. And that's
the same with us, folks. All His people. But they watched
in horror and amazement as they began to beat and mock and spit
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And they lied on Him. All these
false witnesses were brought in and hurled lies and accusations
against the holy, faultless, unblameable, unreprovable Son
of the Most High God, which was a pain to the ears of these holy
angels who worshipped Him in His holiness. In his spotlessness? In his purity? And listen as
these despicable worms begin to hurl these accusations against
him? What does that say about what men and women are saying
about him today? Oh, isn't God merciful that he
doesn't come right now and wipe this place out? He's merciful. He's still showing
mercy to the undeserving. The worms. And then that kangaroo
court led by that puppet prince named Herod and Pilate got in
front of him and said, don't you know I have the power to
crucify you. And these angels are hearing
this. Power. And they don't know. They don't
know. They don't know. Like men today,
don't know. And all they think about is Jesus was a martyr.
Poor Jesus. Everybody's feeling sorry for
Jesus. And when He's going on His way to the cross, and He's
carrying that cross, they watched Him carry that cross on His bleeding
back. He turned to the people who were
crying, didn't He? And said, don't weep for me. Oh, don't weep for me. I'm not
a helpless martyr here. Men didn't do this to me. God
damn it. Don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves
and for your children. If I don't do this, there's no
hope for you. You're an archenemy. It's going
to destroy you. And they watched him go to the
cross and watched men take nails and drive them in his hands and
his feet. And he hung there. What would
a normal man, a normal person would have died within an hour
from loss of blood. He didn't die a natural death.
He died a supernatural death. Loss of blood didn't kill him.
Congestive heart failure didn't kill him. He laid down his life. God killed him. But they watched
in horror as they nailed Him to that cross, and He hung there
for six hours, three hours of which the sun didn't shine. Darkness over all the land. And
you know, they thought. But you know what? And He's hanging there, and they
heard Him utter all those wonderful sayings. The first words out
of his mouth after being treated like that, the first words out
of their Lord God's mouth hanging on that cross in agony and pain
were, Father forgive them, they know not what they did. The angels heard that. What an
amazing Lord. What an amazing Lord. Then they
heard Him in His agony and His pain and His suffering hanging
there, not thinking of Himself, but He looks down at that woman
that was weeping and in such agony and pain over His own agony. And He said, Woman, hold your
son. Took care of that one. Son, hold
your mother. Take care of her. A lot of others. And He said, I
thirst. I thirst." And they watched as
they took a sponge filled with vinegar and stuck it to his parchment. And they watched him. There were
two thieves. Two thieves hanging beside him.
One on his right hand and one on the left. And they're both
cussing him. They're both cursing him. The angels heard it. I saw that. He was saying, I
saw that. And they both are cursing it. And all of a sudden, one
of them stops cursing. He starts crying. He starts confessing. He said, we're getting what we
deserve. He looks over and says, we're getting what we deserve.
And he looks at the Lord and says, Lord, you're coming into
a kingdom. Would you remember me? And the
blessed Lord looks at him and says, today, you'll be with me
in paradise. They heard this. He's coming
home. He's coming home. And then he said, My God. They heard this. My God. Why? I was now forsaken. And then he cried with a loud
voice. It is finished. And they didn't know what he'd
come for, or what he'd done, or what he'd finished, did they? We know. Right there, right there
and then, when Christ said it's finished, it says the veil of
the temple was ran in twain. Access to a holy God by sinful
men. The handwriting of ordinances
that were against us. All the law. that everyone is
guilty of every jot and tittle fulfilled, accomplished, finished,
fulfilled. No more law to be kept. All the sins of all of God's
people, all the charges against them, past, present, and future,
nailed to His cross. Paid. Finished. Punishment made. Satisfaction. Justified. Sanctified. Unblameable. Unreprovable. And God said, it's
finished. We know. All the forces of evil, Satan,
hell, death, sin, Taken captive by him. Taken captive on the cross. And
then he said, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. And
he died. And they saw him. And he died. He died. That it might be fulfilled. And
here is the best commentary on all that. These words say infinitely
more than I just tried to. Who hath believed our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall grow up before
God as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, and hath no
form nor comeliness. When we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him. He despised and rejected
of men, man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, We hid, as it were,
our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he had borne our grief
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray,
but we've turned every one to his own way. But the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as
a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so he openeth not his mouth. He's taken from prison, from
judgment. Who shall declare his generation, his offspring? He
was cut off out of the land of the living. He died. for the
transgression of my people was he stricken. He made his grave
with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
And it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief.
And when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
will see his sin. He shall prolong his days. The
angels watched three days later. And as one of them was sent to
tell Mary who that child was, this holy thing, a multitude
of them were sent to tell the angels. Two of them were sent. My son is coming out of the grave,
God said. Your Lord and Master, whom you
saw die, is coming out of the grave. Gabriel. Michael. Go tell them. And they sat. They rolled back
the door, the stone. And they sat on that stone as
their Lord came walking out. They saw this. Don't you know they couldn't
wait to tell Mary and Martha and all of them. He's not here. He's risen, like He told you. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands." What was
this man doing? Why was he born? Why did he live?
Why did he suffer? Why did he bleed? Why did he
die? Why did he go to the cross? He was made sin, but there was
no sin, just that we might be justified. The sin payment. You see, he shall see of the
travail of his soul. God shall see of the travail
of his son's soul and be satisfied. God said, that's payment enough. No one can suffer like that.
And I'm satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. He'll bear their iniquity. Therefore,
God says, I'll divide with him a portion with the greats, give
him a name above every name, and he'll divide the spoil with
the strong. He'll divide it all with him,
joint heirs with Christ, because he had poured out his soul unto
death and was numbered with the transgressors and bear the sin
of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Oh, it's
a mystery, and most people don't understand it. They know a man came here named
Jesus. They really don't know why. Some
believe He's Jesus. Some believe He's born of a virgin.
They don't know why. Most don't believe that. Do they? They just don't. They don't know
why He came. We do know why. God hath revealed
these things unto us. And we see clearly, don't we? We see clearly. Alright, we're going to sing
in closing a wonderful hymn. No. 89. Angels we have heard
on high. No. 89. I'll leave this, John.
You can keep seated. No. 89. This is what the angels
said at His birth. Glory to God in the highest.
In excelsia Deo. That's Latin for glory to God.
Let's stand and sing. No. 89. Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plain And the mountains in reply Echoing
their joyous strain Gloria in excelsis Deo Gloria
in excelsis Deo Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong? What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song? Gloria in excelsis Deo Gloria
in excelsis Deo