Three. First, Timothy, chapter three. Let's read our text, verse 16,
first Timothy, chapter three, verse 16. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the believed on in the world received
up into glory. A great mystery. The scripture says, Hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Nowhere is man's foolishness
and ignorance more revealed or more prevalent
than in his thoughts of God. What men and women say about
God Almighty. I'm talking about religion now
mostly. Man talks about the incomprehensible
God and his ways in his works he reduces. This great. Being this great one. He reduces
knowing him down to three easy steps. Or kind of a repeat after
me the ABCs of salvation. When the scriptures calls this
thing of salvation a great mystery. And we read a few things in Ephesians
and Colossians, a few of those times that he refers to it as
a mystery. But more than a dozen times,
it's called a mystery, a great mystery. And so I say to you,
the minute you hear a man say, this is how to be saved, you
write him off. The minute you hear a man say,
or talk about how to be born again. You write him off as a
heretic. Preachers kind of remind me of
weather forecasters weathermen you know. They try to predict what is controlled
by the wind. The reason weather forecasters
are wrong so much of the time is because all weather is controlled
by the wind. A little puff of wind and it
blows their forecast plum out the window, doesn't it? I think
we'd be better off to have a man standing in a fire tower to hear
the rain coming. The rain's coming. But preachers
about the same way. The Holy Spirit is called, he's
likened them to the wind, isn't he? Wind blows where it lives,
you can't tell the sound thereof. Even so, as everyone is born
of the Spirit. That's what Christ said in John
3. Now let me tell you something
about this thing of salvation. The salvation of a human soul,
salvation of a soul, is in the infinitely wise and eternal and
unfathomably deep mind and will of God Almighty. And it's completely
in his own sovereign power and discretion. It's unfathomable. It's infinitely wise and eternal
and glorious, and it's in God's own sovereign power and discretion.
You can't figure it out. Our text calls it, in verse sixteen,
without controversy. Without controversy, it is a
great mystery. of great mystery. It's great,
number one, because it's about God. It's about God. Listen to these verses of Scripture
that talk about God's greatness. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised. The righteous, O God, thy righteousness,
O God, is very high. Who has done great things, O
God? Who is like unto Thy way, O God,
is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art great and doest wondrous
things. Thou art God alone." Another, "'O Lord, how great
are thy works, and thy thoughts are very deep!' The Lord is a
great God and a great King above all gods." Listen to this, Psalm
145, "'Great is the Lord, Greatly to be praised is greatness is
unsearchable. This is a great mystery because
it's about the great God and it came from the great God. So
it's great because it's about God and it's a great mystery
because it's about God's dealings with man. It's about God's dealings with
man. This is a great thing. David said it in the Psalms.
He says when when I consider your head. the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars which you've ordained? I'm made to
ask this question, and it's a great mystery. What is man that you're
mindful of him? Surely you've got better things
to do, O God, than to stop and pay attention to this crawling
creature called man. You know, for me to stop in my
yard one day while working feverishly in my yard. For me to stop and
consider the plight of an anthill in my yard, to stoop down and
to help them out, that would be a wonder, wouldn't it? Wouldn't
that be great condescension? Not nearly so great as what the
Scripture says about God, that God became a man. God became a man. Look at it
again. Great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in
the flesh. Now this is a mystery of all
mysteries. Anybody like to read mysteries?
You just read one, it'll never be figured out. It'll never be
explained. Never. Fool it to our total comprehension. It's a mystery of all mysteries.
God was manifest in the flesh. The author of life became a fetus
in a woman. The infinite one became an infant. Now wait a minute, you mean to
tell me that God was still, he never ceased to be God? When
he got in the body of this baby, this fetus, that he's still controlling
things, but yet he's, what's going on here? How? When did
he enter that body? What's the, it's a mystery. He was manifest in the flesh.
The glorious God became a gooing baby. Goo, that little baby in
that manger in Bethlehem, gooed and slobbered and dribbled just
like babies do. It was God. It's a mystery. It's no wonder angels by the
thousands, by the ten thousand, crowded around that little Bethlehem
cow stall to take a look at this holy thing. It's no wonder that they proclaimed
it on the highest hill. Y'all shepherds, y'all gotta
come and take a look at this. Y'all come see this. This holy
thing. We're not even sure what it is.
And they crowded by the thousands. And he was mysterious in his
birth. Wasn't that mysterious? And he
was mysterious, this thing of God being manifest in the flesh.
is mysterious. He was mysterious in his life.
This this one this baby grew up to be a young man a Jewish
man. Yes a dark haired curly headed
dark skin dark eyed perhaps a long nose thin gaunt Jewish boy twelve
years old. Running around walking around
the streets of Nazareth and Jerusalem and places just a boy twelve
years old age of one of our young people. Just a boy. God. He went in the temple at times
didn't he Joe and talked to those doctors and lawyers and baffled
them amazed them amazed them. He was mysterious in his life
the God of miracles called a man of sorrows. Creator of the oceans,
the One who created all the bodies of water upon the face of this
planet, sat on a well one day, thirsty. He said, I need a drink. Think about that. He made the
ocean. He made the crystal clear water that runs through the rivers
and the creeks and the streams. He said, I'm thirsty. I need
a drink. God, the Son of the Highest,
He said, I'm meek and lowly. The Lord over devils. Do you
remember the story over there in Job where the devils had to
come and present themselves to God? Do you remember that when
Satan had to come and present himself before the Lord to get
his marching order, to be able to do what he could do? Do you
remember that? Do you know who that was sitting on that throne?
Do you know who Satan had to appear before that day? Jesus
Christ. That's who it was. And now we
behold him as a man on the planet Earth, and the devil's tempting
him. If you'd be the Son of God, he
wouldn't have dared talk like that a couple of millenniums
before that, would he? He wouldn't have dared say, If
you'd be the Son of God, O Most Holy One, what will you allow
me to do? But now we see him tempting the
Son of God. Is that a mystery? A great a mystery. And mysterious
in his death, mysterious in his death, I wonder
while I'm in the course of preaching this message, I wonder what other
fellows are preaching this morning. I wonder what other preachers
are preaching all over the world this morning. I tell you, I think they've taken
the wrong text if they didn't take 1 Timothy 3, 16. There's men standing up this
morning going to talk about abortion. There's men standing up this
morning going to give great glory and homage to the fact that Bill
Clinton's sitting in their congregation, or Congressman so-and-so, or
this noteworthy person. And I'm telling you about great
mysteries that have been kept hid from the foundation of the
world. But now, in these last days, right now, Sunday morning,
January 10th, 1993, is being revealed to you through the preaching
of the gospel. things that angels desire to
look into, and could be you're listening to right now. Do you
believe that? The judge of the universe, think
about his death, think about that. The judge of the universe
standing, the judge of the universe now, before whom all flesh will
someday stand and give an account of themselves, the judge of the
universe standing before a kangaroo court of men saying, what are
we going to do with him? That's the reason he never said
anything, Henry. He kept silent, number one, because he was us.
He was representing us, and we were guilty. And number two,
if he'd opened his mouth, he'd have consumed them with his breath. The one who had the keys of hell
and death at his side, even then, he had the keys of hell and death
dangling from his earthly body, even, was condemned to die. We find him guilty. He deserves
to die. The Lord of life, and think about
this, the Lord of life in whom we live and move and have our
being, the Lord of life hanging dead on a cross. Dead. That's a mystery. A mystery. What's this all about, hmm? What's
this all about? What's this mystery all about?
Why did he come? He's talking about mysteries.
He's talking about mysteries. And here again I'm made to ask,
what are men preaching this morning? You want to talk about a mystery,
you want to look into something glorious, the riches of the glory
of this mystery, you want to look into something glorious
and most mysterious, you talk about, you talk about the eternal
covenant a little bit. Let's go back about one hundred
and five, no that's not far enough, one million a zillion, trillion
years ago. And let's talk about this eternal
covenant that was planned in the mind and the heart of Almighty
God, conceived in the eternal wise mind and will of God Almighty,
to triune God in a council hall with the greatest demind of the
universe, from which all wisdom and all knowledge comes from,
conceiving of this glorious plan. been perfectly, during the course
of time, something that was conceived a million, billion, trillion
years ago, millenniums ago, fulfilled in time in every minute detail
down to the exact words he was going to say, down to every step
he would take, to every move he would make, to every move
and step and word that everybody else would take regarding him
to fulfill this divine, all-wise purpose that he thought of years
ago. And not one jot or tittle And finally ratified, you don't
talk about a mysterious statement, ratified by the blood of the
everlasting covenant. What is that? Somebody somewhere
pitched on the blood of the everlasting covenant. They ain't doing nothing. Talk about meeting mama in heaven. Man, I want to sit at the feet
of the the Lord of glory himself. Tell me about the riches of the
glory of this mystery of the blood of the everlasting covenant. It is infinite. It's infinite,
infinitely deep and mysterious. The Bible calls it so great salvation. Oh, if I had the tongue and the
mind and the heart to deliver this this morning. But briefly,
what this is all about is God Almighty in mercy and love and
grace, willing to save some men, some men, some women, some young
people, willing to save them, willing to save them because
they needed saving. They failed terribly. He determined the way
to do it, the only way it could be done. It wasn't like God looked
through heaven and tried to find out a way. There was only one
way whereby God could be just and yet justified. Ungodly, hell-deserving
sin. Only one way. How's that? It's
a mystery, really, but it can be explained a little bit. God
came down. God became a man. He was manifest
in the flesh. Why? Why'd he have to come? Teach
us how to live? Yeah, but that's not why he came.
He said he came not to show us how to live, but that we might
have life. You can't tell a dead man how to live. You can't tell
a dead man, one who hasn't been born, how to be born. Try telling
that to a fetus in the womb. Now, this is what you're going
to have to do. It comes out. You're going to have to kick and wiggle
and wallow, and you're going to have to come out. It has to
be done to them, doesn't it? And God, the author of life,
came down to do this to some people, to give life. And He
came down, and He took the form of a man, manifesting the flesh.
A man. Because God said, man's going
to have to live holy before me. A man's going to live with me,
he's going to have to be holy. Christ did. You understand that? Christ did. He lived a holy life.
And God looked at him and said, now there's a holy man. I can
have him with me. He can come in and be with me.
A man. A man. A man approved of God.
But something else happened there. And this is the mystery of all
mystery. And I can tell you, the words impute the biblical
word I can tell you imputed righteousness but I can't explain it really
can you explain what happened when that happened how it happened
that God took this life this man lived and took it from him
and put it on you Henry so an old sinner I know no good wretched
sinner put it on you and God looks at you like you were Jesus
Christ like you have never seen and all you just as if you had
never seen just that It's a mystery, isn't it? How? When? Why? And
he took your sin and the sin of all of his people and put
it on Christ. And he looked at Christ hanging
on that cross as if he was sinning his own. And the worst of sinners,
all of his chosen sinners, and killed him. The soul that sins
must die. And by that shed blood, he offered
up this sacrifice that God demanded. By the shedding of blood, there's
no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. This is a
mystery. Listen, if you can understand these words that I'm about to
say in my great profundity of speech, if you can understand
these words, you might even touch the hem of the garment of this
great mystery. It is inexplicably mysterious and glorious in its
conception. It is masterfully and marvelously
complex in its execution. It is unspeakably wondrous and
astonishingly and marvelous in its consummation. It's a mystery. Can thou, by searching, find
out God unto perfection, as Scripture says? I spent eight hours on
this sermon. I haven't touched the hem of
the garment. Can thou, by searching, find out God unto perfection?
I know, Doctor, and I'm a Calvinist. He ain't touched the hem of the
garment. Great is the mystery of Godlessness.
God became a man. Let's preach on that the next
fifteen Sundays in a row. What do you say? Now look at this, another mystery.
Great is the mystery of godliness. God was made a man. God was made
manifest in the flesh and justified in the spirit. Justified in the
spirit. This word justified means he
was confirmed. He was testified. He was proven. He was declared to be the son
of God. He was declared by the Holy Spirit.
by a resurrection from the dead. He was declared to be the Son
of God with power, Scripture says, at his birth. Now, the Holy Spirit did this.
Just like it's the Holy Spirit's job to take the things of Christ
and show them unto us, He did that from the very time that
Christ walked this planet. The Holy Spirit did this. He
took the things of Christ and showed them unto men. The Holy
Spirit came upon Mary when she had conceived and said, now that
holy thing in you, Mary, is not going to be a mere mortal. The
Holy Spirit came upon her, justified him, testified of who Christ,
declared him, this is God, this is going to be Mary, that baby,
you feel it wiggling? That's a son of God. And she didn't understand that,
did she? Even though she had an angel speak to her, even though
she saw all these miracles of his life growing up and saw his
marvelous character and his marvelous personage growing up, she still
didn't see it. She still didn't see it. And then at his baptism, remember
that day when he was with John the Baptist and he said, it behooves
us to fulfill all righteousness, I need to be baptized. He's a
man, Henry. You and I are men. Everyone that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Christ said to be baptized.
That's a mystery, isn't it? Why do you have to be baptized? Well, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit
descended upon him in the form of a dove that day. A dove. I don't know what that was all
about. I don't know what that looked like. John saw him, beheld his glory. And then, at his grave, the Spirit
raised him from the grave, and I already quoted that, declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. And then the Holy Spirit
takes the things of Christ, as I said, and chose them or manifests
them to all of God's chosen people in their hearts by faith. If
you understand anything of this, The Holy Spirit did it. He justified
him to you. He proved him to you, John. Now,
that's a mystery. That's a mystery. Why on earth
would God Almighty stop to prove anything to me? Do you think about that? Huh? The things that have been kept
hid from the foundation of the world, God in these last days
has made known unto you. The prophets didn't understand
it all, John. Moses didn't understand what
you understand. John Sheasley works at the mill, an everyday,
ordinary, no count man. God Almighty says, I'm going
to reveal the mysteries of the universe to this man. Not his
brother, not his sister, not his neighbor, him. That's a mystery. Isn't that a mystery? So this
is a great mystery. God was made a man, and he was
justified in the Spirit or by the Spirit. Now look at this.
Look at it. This is glorious now. You're
going to see some glory here. If the Holy Spirit will help
you, if you're in the Spirit right here on the Lord's Day,
you're going to hear and see some glorious things. The riches
of the glory of this mystery. It says that this great mystery
is that he was seen of angels. seeing the bank. I want you to
turn with me to Hebrews chapter one Hebrews one. Scene of angels
what does that mean seeing the bank. Well it's not talking about
preachers he's talking about. He's talking about those mysterious
and mystical heavenly creatures called angels they called many
different names in the scripture angel seraphs cherubs. Seraphim. You know, the whole time that
our Lord was on this planet Earth, angels were everywhere. Everywhere. I'm not going to this, but you
know, you're you have angels and ministering spirits to you
who should be heirs of the glory of God, of this eternal life,
you know. And I said that a while ago,
and I'm not trying to be mystical or mysterious, but it's so. Angels
are present at this very site. But the whole time our Lord was
on this planet, angels were everywhere to be seen. If they are ministering
spirits to us, what about their Lord and Master? Oh, they were
waiting at His beckoning call. Mysterious everywhere to be found
upon His stage. Look at Hebrews 1. Let's read
this glorious passage. Verse 1, God at sundry time and
at different manners spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets. He hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, in son-language, in whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom even he made the world. Who, Christ,
being the brightness of his glory, expressed exact image of his
person, upholding all things by the word of his power, when
he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high. That is, when he rose from the
grave and went back to heaven, he was made so much or declared
to be so much better than the angel. He wasn't made. This is
what the Jehovah, so-called Jehovah Witnesses say. They use this
to declare that Christ was a made or created being. No, so much
being declared so much better than the angel. As he had by
inheritance obtained a much more excellent name than they. Under
which of the angels did he say at any time? Even Michael the
archangel. You're my son. this day of thy
begotten day." Oh no, and again, he says, I'll be to this one
a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he
bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, Let
the angel of God worship him. All you angels, heavenly hosts,
cherubs, cherubs, angels, worship him. Fall down at the feet of
this one. Amen? Yeah. Amen. Worship him. worship him. And oh, how they
worshiped this marvelous and mysterious one called Jesus. Let me show you a few ways how
that they were marveled and wondered which things an angel desired
to look into. Let me show you a few things.
At his birth, and I've already said it, but at his birth, a
multitude of heavenly hosts appeared in the sky. A multitude of heavenly
hosts herald His coming. Hark! The herald angels sing. And they said, if you look it
up, a multitude of heavenly hosts declared singing with a loud
voice, Glory to God in the highest! Glory! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! They were saying
the whole time. God's here! Emmanuel! Come look at this! Glory to God in the highest!
Peace on earth! Peace on earth! With these maggots,
these filthy, these wretched, rebellious, vile creatures that
God ought to snuff out and put in there. Peace! God's having
peace on them. Goodwill! Can you imagine their dismay
when people are unconcerned? Eh, not interested. What? The angels didn't need this,
but they marveled at it. Emmanuel's here. God's here. At his birth, they marveled.
Scene of angels. At his temptation. You remember
when Satan tempted him? I've already mentioned this,
but do you remember when he was being tempted? Didn't they watch
with awe and wonder and amazement? Don't you know what was running
through their minds? to go on. Why is he allowing this to go
on? And the judgment hall, what about
that? You ever think about this? In
the judgment hall, as the Pharisees, you know, the whited sepulchers
of Christ God, they were all dressed up in their Sunday go-to-meet
and vests, you know, with their silly pious smiles on their face
and their hands folded in a certain way with a cross around their
neck and a fish hat on their head, had the Son of God before
them, trying Him, trying Him. And then the Roman soldiers, These were men who were good
at this saving. They made a living out of beating people to a pulp.
And they took the Lord of Glory and pummeled him to a bloody
piece of meat. What do you think the angels
were thinking? Huh? Why? Huh? You know it. Which things
the angels desired. And look, the scene of angels.
They saw this. Say the word, Lord. He could
have called 10,000 angels. Snap out planet Earth. Look what
they're doing to our Lord. Speak, Lord, speak the word.
Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pilate, don't you know I've got power? I hear a laugh in heaven. I hear
a slurk. He upholds the world by the word
of his power. All he has to do is say, Begone,
man! Come, angels! Die, earth! And it's done. Power! Is this a mystery or what? Angels
thought it was a mystery. I think it's a mystery. I marvel
at this right now. on the cross, hanging on the cross. Now, it
was enough for them to see these men spit on the Lord of Glory,
beat Him in the face, pluck out His beard, strip Him naked before
whom angels praise. That's enough. But then to hang
His body and nail it on a tree and hang it up and drop it in
a pole and stand back and jeer Him in all His pain, and suffering,
and even his prayers that he called on the thrice-holy God,
men to stand back and jeer him, he'd pray it. He'd call it on
Elijah. Let's see if he'll have him now.
The angels. What do you think the angels
had in mind? A scene of angels. Surely God had to restrain them.
No, this has got to be. If their wings could have been
heard, it would sound like a squadron of B-57 bombers. Hold back. Not yet. A couple of thousand
years, I'm going to turn you loose, and you'll give planet
Earth what's coming to it. But not now. He must die. Why? And in his death, they watched
in horror and wonder and amazement and mystery. He died. Their Lord died. I mean, he dropped
his head and he said, Into thy hands I commit my... and he died.
And they took his lifeless body down from a tree and threw it
in a cave and put a stone on it. And where he went, nobody
knows. It's a mystery. But the angels
said, What is going on? But three days later, God said,
two of you angels, I've got a job for you to do. You and you. I want you to go down to that
tomb. The Son of God is coming forth. He's going to rise. They went. And a stone roll back
in here, he walks out. Immanuel. Scene of angels. He's the Lord. He's risen. And
that's what he said to the men and the women. He's risen just
like he said. You can't keep our Lord down.
Look, there he is. He's risen. He's Lord over life
and death. And I'm still not sure to this
day that the angels understand why, you know. Peter said it
after the fact, Peter said, which things the angels desire to look
into, they still desire to look into it. Now, look at this mystery back
in the text, this great mystery, look at it. Is there a greater mystery than
this? Well, he goes on. He preached on the Gentiles. He preached on the Gentiles.
Now, you are Gentiles. You see, God Almighty came down
to the planet as a man, and he came, and he was a Jew. I mean
that little bitty kidney-shaped country over in the Middle East.
so far removed from us. I don't think probably anybody
in here has been there. Have you? I don't see any pictures
of it. Maybe you have. Maybe you haven't. That little
place over in the middle of nowhere, you have to look real hard on
the map to find it. He said, I didn't come because
you were the greatest of people. You were the fewest. He's going
to get the greatest glory out of the fewest, like Gideon and
his arm. He went to that little planet over there in the middle,
far, the middle of the east. Middle east. Over there, the
smallest of all those Middle Eastern countries. and he became
a Jew and he said to that woman member of the woman at the well
he said salvation of the Jews. Now they should do tabernacle
and he gave a tabernacle and all of the ordinances of what
advantage has the Jew chief many ways. They have all of these
things here I am in Rocky Mountain Virginia. And you know if you were to ask
a Jew in Jerusalem about Rocky Mount Virginia. He'd say what? Who? Virginia. He didn't know what Virginia
is. And here I am, a Gentile. Now you've got to get a load
of this now. A Gentile. The Jews thought of them as dogs. Dogs. And they are, down through
the ages, God had his hand, laid his hand upon the Jewish people
and restrained them, unlike he did other people. He left Gentiles,
people all around the Jews, left them to themselves, and they
became filthy and wicked and vile Romans. Doing those things
which are not convenient. Men burning in lust toward one
another. This was typical of Roman society. The Babylonian society. Gentile
society is known for homosexuality. The Jews, you see, had the law
of God. They were restrained. And this
is the reason the Jews were incredulous when they heard that the gospel
was... Even Peter. When Peter heard it, the gospel
was going to go to the Gentiles. What? The who? Gentiles? Dogs? You're going
to preach the gospel? They need it. See, this is a faithful saying,
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. But that wretched... Dog breath? Old dog breath? A Gentile? Yeah. Go preach the
gospel. Go preach the gospel to Charles
Hudson in Rocky Mount Virginia born in Podunk Holler. Go preach
the gospel to him. He needs to hear it and I'm going
to change him into a son of God, a son of God like Jesus Christ
and exalt him all the way to the throne of heaven itself someday. But if you ain't interested in
that, you just, I don't know what you're interested in. That's
a mystery, isn't it? And you heard it. And you became a follower of
this man. Now, wait a minute. I got some
more here for you. Look on. He preached unto the
Gentiles and believed on them in the world. He was a priest, but not only
was he a priest, but they believed him. thousands upon thousands of miles
two thousand years later and preach to this little group of
people in the midst of the foothill Piedmont foothills of the Blue
Ridge Mountain preach the gospel to them about this one who lives
two thousand years ago to believe love and follow a
man they've never seen. based upon the words of illiterate
fishermen, written in a foreign language they don't even know,
fall in love with a man they've never seen, fall out of love
with the habits that they've spent a lifetime forming, developing,
forsake houses, lands, family, and friends, To die even for
the sake of this one they've never seen, to hear things unspoken,
see things that can't be seen, believe the unbelievable, and
understand the mystery. And they believe it. They believe it. You mean
to tell me you're going to invest your soul, your life, you're
going to spend all your time on planet Earth looking into
taken up with, in love with, somebody you've never met, somebody's
voice you've never heard, who lived 2,000 years ago, and the
story is handed down from the years by illiterate... Yeah. You're either a nut or a believer.
Right? You're either a fool or a believer.
Well, I'm willing to be called a fool, for Christ's sake. for
Christ's sake. And the fact y'all are looking
at a mystery now, you're looking at a mystery. I was 18, 19, 20 years old. I'd
have got the biggest laugh I'd ever had. That's funny. Tell me another
one. Yeah, you're going to be preaching the gospel. You're
going to love this. You're going to love the things you once hated. You're
going to hate the things you once loved. You're going to be
totally, totally different. You're going to be all your old
cronies and buddies and friends are going to be gone. You're
going to be friends with 50 and 60-year-old people. You're going
to run around with 50 and 60-year-old people. Why? What could we get into? He's
too old to get into anything. Yeah, you are. You're going to
like it. You're going to sit and have tea with him. And all
you're going to do is talk about the Bible. Why? That's funny. No, it's a mystery. It's glorious. It's true. I believe. I believe. And then he says, finally, believed
on in the world and received up into glory. Oh my, received up in the glory. You know, just as the angels
marveled and wondered at Christ's birth, and at His life, marveled and
wondered, God in the person of a twelve-year-old boy, God the
size of Andrew. And they marveled and wondered
at his crucifixion, men taunting him. And they marveled at his
death as they watched his lifeless body being put. And they marveled
as he walked out of that tomb, Lord over life. One day, the Son of God, forty days after
that resurrection, forty days later, the Son of God walked
into the portals of glory. Walked into heaven. What do you
think his reception was? I wish I could say it like it
was probably said then. He's back. The Son of God is
home. Didn't they give him a standing
ovation? Standing ovation, a bowing ovation, a prostrate ovation
of ovation. is like the son of God, like
a son who was killed in battle but rose from the dead and came
home from the war victorious and went up to a mighty throne
that was waiting on him and sat down, sat down where he's sitting now. And someday we're going to be
received up we're going to be received up in the glory and
we'll go on we're going to say this and listen this first quote
of our scripture we're going to say like sheba you remember
the queen of sheba when she went to see Solomon listen to this
sheba came a long way from a foreign country to see the beauty and
the glory and the magnificence of Solomon And it says that she
came to prove him to try him with hard questions. And like
I said last Sunday, I get tired of questions. I tell you what,
when we get before his presence, we're going to stop asking questions. But if we ever see his glory,
I've heard of you over the period of a year, and now my eyes say,
I'm poor myself. I'm going to be quiet. When you
see the gospel, when you hear, when you see his glory finally,
you shut up. Oh, we're going to ask questions,
but I think we're going to spend about a thousand years with our mouths
wide open gaping at the Son of God. Gaping at everything about
him. Well, she came a long way to
see Solomon and to hear his wisdom and try him with hard questions,
prove him, and says, listen to this, it says, when she watched
the king ascend up to his throne. Now, we don't see this anymore. We're going to see someday a
coronation of Prince Charles one day to the king and I mean
that's child's play that's like. Kids play and play in games compared
to the coronation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And compared to
Solomon he walked up those temple steps arrayed in all his beauty
and his. Attendance and his train is glory
walking up those steps getting going to his throne to sit down
and make judgment It says, when she watched the king ascend up
to his throne, there's no more spirit in her. She thought she was somebody,
said Henry. And she came to him. I asked him a few questions.
And she saw and heard everything. Saw him go up to the ceiling.
What am I going to ask him? And here's what she said. So
he sat down and said, now I'll have an audience with thee. And
she said, it was true, what I heard in my own land of your acts and
your wisdom. How be it? I believed not the
words until I came, and mine eyes have seen it. And behold,
the half was not told unto me. Oh, my preacher preached a good
message one Sunday morning. But he didn't tell me half of
it. Behold, a half was not told him.
Thy wisdom and thy prosperity exceedeth the thing which I heard." What a mystery. What a mystery. And he's made it known unto us.
A little old Central Baptist church. No count to be a former railroad
bridge. Brother Joe. Please.