that already work. Now you know in the Bible a mystery
is something that if we ever know what it is, God must reveal
it. That's what a mystery is. It's
not a mystery like we think of a mystery book or a mystery movie
where you gotta find clues and put them all together and then
find the, no. This is something that unless
God reveals it to our hearts, our minds, we won't know it.
And so he's talking about an iniquity that man by nature does
not recognize to be iniquity. Well, what is iniquity? Well,
it's one of the most common words for sin in the Bible. But literally
what it means is it doesn't balance out. It's uneven. It's sort of
like what I think of is the Persian king back in Daniel's day. where the handwriting on the
wall came, and it says, you are weighed in the balance and found
lacking. And so when we talk about iniquity,
what are we talking about? We're talking about something
that doesn't balance with some required weight, and the weight
is the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the mystery of iniquity.
God reveals to us that our best efforts at religion, at morality,
do not even compare with the perfection of righteousness that
we can only find in Christ. So that if we appear before God
in our best, what are we gonna find? We're gonna be found wanting.
lacking. God's gonna judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained in that he has
given assurance unto all men and he has raised him from the
dead. In other words, if what I do or what I try to do or what
I think to do doesn't equal or balance out with the perfection
of Christ, it's iniquity. And what are some of the things
in the Bible that the Lord has called iniquity? Well, you remember
Matthew 7, 21, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name? I'm
preaching in his name tonight. But my preaching doesn't equal
the perfection of righteousness that I can only find in Christ.
It's wanting. My righteousness is not my preaching.
My righteousness is Christ, that's what I preach. He said, they
said, haven't we done many wonderful works? Haven't we cast out demons?
And he said, depart from me ye that work what? Iniquity. And that's an iniquity that deceives
the natural man. It's religion. It's human morality. It's sincerity. And then there's
another phrase here. Look at verse 10. He talks about
the deceivableness of unrighteousness. But what is that? Well, that's
an unrighteousness that is deceptive. It fools people. It makes people
think that they've done enough or are enabled to do enough to
make it in the end before holy God. But you see, the Bible teaches
us that we can never do enough and we can never be enabled to
do enough to qualify ourselves to inner glory. You see, our
only qualification is one who has done enough, more than enough,
Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. And anything else
is deceptive. And what defense do we have against
this mystery of iniquity, this deceptiveness of unrighteousness? And he tells us in verse 10,
he talks about, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth. that they might be saved. What
is that truth that they receive? Not, it's the truth of salvation.
It's the truth of the gospel, how God justifies the ungodly. It's the truth of Jesus Christ
crucified, who he is and what he's accomplished. How he alone
as the surety, the substitute The representative, the redeemer
of his people did everything. Now listen to this, did everything
that God requires to ensure the complete salvation and final
glory of every sinner for whom he died and was buried and arose
again. He did it all. There's no such
thing as he did his part and now you do yours. And I don't
care what kind of sliding scale you use. to say, well, he did
99% of it. That 1% would sink a world to
hell. Isn't that right? No way. And because of rejection of the
truth, God judges those, sending them strong delusion that they
should believe a lie. Verse 12 says that they all might
be damned who believe not the truth. Listen, we don't really
grasp sometimes how much the truth of God, the doctrine of
Christ, is vital in our salvation. People say, well, salvation is
more than a doctrine. Well, it is, but without doctrine,
what do we have? Without truth. Christ said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. Now, in all of that, what is
our comfort? How can we get any, there's so
much false religion. In fact, the Bible, Christ himself
taught in Matthew 23 and Mark 13 that the greatest sign of
the nearness of his coming would be false Christianity. Did you
know that? Not just false religion, there's
enough of that. But it would be exactly false
Christianity. He said they'll come saying,
here's Christ, there he is. But don't listen to him. He said
some would be so close that if it were possible they could deceive
the very elect. How close you have to be to deceive
one of God's elect. Thank God that even though we
all start out deceived, God doesn't leave us in that deception, does
he? He brings us out. So what comfort do we have? Well,
look at verse 13. Well, we're bound to give thanks,
are we, to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. There's electing
grace. Election is a doctrine of comfort
for God's people. It's not a doctrine of debate.
It's not up for grabs. It's not up for your vote. And
any preacher who denies it or ignores it is preaching that
which would send sinners into utter damnation. Now, how do
you know we've been chosen to salvation? Well, he says, through
or by means of sanctification of the spirit, that's regeneration,
and belief of the truth, that's conversion. You put them together
and what do you have? The new birth. You've been born
again by the spirit. How do you know you've been born
again? You believe the truth. You believe Christ. You rest
in Christ. You're looking to Christ. And
it says in verse 14, whereunto he called you by our gospel.
The gospel is the power of God and the salvation. To everyone
that believeth, the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written. The justified shall live by faith
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not
just a part of the way, but the whole way. Therefore, verse 15,
brethren, stand fast, stand firm in this truth. Don't bend, don't
budge, don't compromise, don't confuse it, don't deny it, don't
leave it. Stand fast. No matter who tries
to tweak it, no matter who tries to confuse it, no matter who
they are, no matter what their reputation is, no matter what
they've said a thousand years before that, stand fast. Now you know and I know, that
the only way that sinners like us are gonna stand fast is if
the Lord won't let us go. Isn't that right? He'll keep
us. Stand fast, brethren, and hold
the traditions which you've been taught, whether by word, whether
we spoke it to you, or whether we wrote it to you, or an epistle.
Paul preached, Paul wrote. And he says in verse 16, now
our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God Even our Father, which
hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation, comfort,
assurance, good hope, expectation, through grace, comfort your hearts
and establish you in every good word and work. Even our Father. Now think about these things.
Do we realize what an awesome privilege it is? An awesome privilege
of God's mercy and grace that we, such sinners as we are, can
honestly and rightfully call God our father. You know, everybody calls God
their father, don't they? Do we take that for granted?
Do we ever use it casually, without thought, or even without reverence
in the fear of the Lord? Here's a good question. Can I,
can you, really call God our father? Is he truly my father? Somebody comes along and they
says, well, isn't he everybody's father? He's every person's creator,
I know that. Paul wrote about that in Acts
17. He preached in Mars Hill and he said, I'm gonna preach
unto you the unknown God. He created us all. Wasn't he
everybody's father? Well, he's the creator of all
people and the determiner of all things. That's what he is
according to the scripture. But here's the problem, all people
created by God fell away from God in Adam, didn't we? We fell in Adam, ruined by the
fall. We turned against God, our creator. In Adam, we sold ourselves out
to another father, an evil father. And it's like the Lord who looked
the Pharisees square in the eye. In John chapter eight and verse
44, he said, you call Abraham your father, but Abraham's not
your father. He is physically, but not spiritually. You call God your father, but
he said in John 8, 44, he says, you are of your father, the devil. The works of your father you
do. And he was a liar from the beginning. And when he spoke, he spoke on
his own. And that's what you do. You're
preaching a false gospel. Look over at 1 John. Turn over
there with me. 1 John 3. Now there's some difficult
language in this 1 John 3 passage, but I'm not gonna certainly preach
a whole message tonight on this, but when he talks about this,
listen to verse nine. 1 John 3, verse nine. Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. Now what he's talking about,
and you have to read the whole context here, we're all sinners. We're either sinners lost in
our sins or sinners saved by the grace of God. But when he
says whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, what he's
talking about is they don't fall away from Christ. They don't
apostatize. They don't reject Christ. That's the context of it. That
committing sin there means rejecting Christ because if we reject Christ,
we have no forgiveness of our sins. We have no way of salvation
from sin. So whosoever is born of God,
they don't reject Christ. His seed, that is his offspring,
his children, his generation, the ones for whom Christ died,
remaineth in him. They stay with Christ. If you're
born of God, if God chose you, if Christ died for you, and if
the Holy Spirit has given you spiritual life, you're gonna
stay with Christ. You're not gonna leave him totally.
Now you may stray away for a while, but God's got, as Brother Mahan
used to say, God's got you on a leash. and he's not gonna let
you go. No man can pluck him out of his
father's hand, he said. So his seed, his children, God's
children, of whom God is their father. They remain in him and
he cannot sin. He cannot leave Christ. You cannot
apostatize. You cannot totally turn against
the Lord of glory because you're born of God. You have the spirit
of God. Now he says in verse 10, now
look at this, in this the children of God are manifest and the children
of the devil. The children of the devil reject
Christ. The children of the devil, they
turn against Christ. They fall away, they never knew
him to begin with. John says in 1 John 2, 19, he
said, if they'd been of us, they'd stay with us. But they went out
from us so that it's manifest who they are. They're not children
of God, they're children of the devil. And that's how it's manifest. Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God. What is it to do righteousness?
It's to cling to Christ who is our righteousness. That's what
it is. I have no righteousness but him,
and whoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that
loveth not his brother. And he uses Cain and Abel as
an example. Abel, a child of God, who along with all of God's
children can say, even our father. And then Cain, who was of the
devil. You see that? So here's the question. How can
we who are so sinful, and we are, who are by nature, as we
are born, we fell in Adam, we're born spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins, serving the devil and his wiles, serving the flesh. So how can we who are so sinful,
who are by nature children of the devil, how in the world can
it be that we can at any time call God our father? Well, To truly, rightfully call
God our Father, there must first be a right relationship with
God established between God and ourselves. And we cannot establish
that right relationship. We can't even contribute to the
establishment of that right relationship. It's all of God. The right relationship
with God is the foundation of everything we are as children
of God, and that gives us a right to call God our Father. Our salvation,
our approach to God, our prayers. How did the Lord teach the disciples
to pray? Our Father, which art in heaven. How in the world can we have
a right relationship with God, and rightfully, truly, assuredly
know that he's our father. Well, there's two things required. The first thing required is a
legal matter. There's a legal matter that has
to be settled. And that's the foundation and
the ground of our right relationship with God. And then secondly,
there's a spiritual matter that must be settled. and that's the
fruit and the result of a right relationship with God. Let me
just explain that briefly, and then what I wanna do is give
you a couple of scriptures where this is proven out to be the
case. First of all, that legal matter. Think of it in terms
of adoption. We who are the children of God,
we're God's children by electing grace, he chose us before the
foundation of the world, in Christ, We're the children of God by
justifying grace. He gave us a right standing by
his grace through the blood of his son. We're children of God
by redeeming grace. Christ shed his blood as the
complete and final and full payment for all our sins. And we're children
of God by the adoption of grace. God adopted us. But you know what? Adoption is
first and foremost a legal matter. If a man and a woman choose to
adopt a particular child, they choose the child they want to
adopt, and then it must be decided if there is any legal barrier
to that adoption. Anything that would prevent them
from adopting the child of their choice legally, isn't that right?
I mean, if I wanted to adopt a child, I couldn't just come
up to you and say, I'm going to adopt your little girl. There's
a big legal barrier there. She belongs to you. If I took her, it'd be kidnapping.
There's got to be no legal barrier. And adoption is first and foremost
a legal action, a legal issue. Before you can adopt a child,
all legal requirements must first be met. Now, who met those legal
requirements? Did I? Did you? No, Christ has
met those legal requirements. That's why he said, I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. So keep that in mind now. The
second thing is a spiritual matter, and that has two parts. First
of all, it has to do with spiritual blessings. If I'm going to adopt
a child and all legal barriers are removed, the next thing that
comes up, can I afford this child? Can I take care of this child?
Can I provide for this child all that the child needs to be
healthy and to grow into adulthood? Can I do that? If I can't do
that, then I have no right to adopt that child. And I'm not
gonna say, well, now I hope the child will bring his own wherewithal. No, you adopt a child, you take
responsibility to provide everything that that child needs. That falls
under the heading of spiritual blessings. Turn to Ephesians
chapter one. Listen to this, verse three of
Ephesians chapter one. It says, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this, who hath
blessed us with what? All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Not just some spiritual blessings.
He didn't say now, I'll provide some of what the child needs,
but the child has to provide the rest of it. It's not a matter
of Christ doing all that he did, now the rest is up to you. No,
sir. That's deadly. That's the mystery
of iniquity. That's the deceivableness of
unrighteousness. No, before the foundation of
the world, look at it, verse four, according as he had chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, God's already provided
everything that he requires and everything that his children
need, that we should be holy without blame before him in love,
having predestinated us unto what? the adoption of children. By whom? By Jesus Christ, to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence. Think about it. God is the source, the fullness
in Christ of everything that his adopted children require
and need. And then the second part of this
spiritual matter is spiritual life itself. Turn over to John
chapter one. Spiritual life itself. Listen
to this. Verse 11 of John chapter one. He says, he came unto his own
and his own received him not. That's man by nature. Verse 12,
but as many as received him, to them gave he power. Now that
word power there does not mean ability. That word power means
the right. And that's what I'm talking about.
Do I have the right to call God my father? Well, but as many
as received him, to them gave he the right to become or to
be called the sons of God, children of God, our father. Even to them
that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, that
is not a physical heritage, nor the will of the flesh, which
I believe is the works of the flesh, nor the will of man, it's
not of the free will of man. It's not your choice. You go
in and adopt a child, an infant, it's not the infant's choice,
it's your choice. And that's the way it is of God
in His choice of us. It's not our will, but of God,
they're born of God. And that's the two things. Now
let me show you two passages where all these are put together.
Turn to Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four. Here's what we're going to see.
We're gonna see the legal issue that God himself takes care of
for his children and the spiritual matters so that Christ is not
ashamed to call us his brethren, and we have the right to call
God our father. Listen to it, verse four. Now
listen to each phrase. These verses are packed full
of truth that'll give you comfort. When the fullness of the time
was come. What's the fullness of the time? That's God's appointed
time. When did God appoint that time? Before the foundation of
the world. And when that time came, God
sent forth his son. Now that's the deity of Christ. God sent forth his son. That's
his deity. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God,
the second person of the Trinity. God the son. And then there it
says, made of a woman. That's his sinless humanity,
the seed of woman. He's God and man in one person. That's who Jesus Christ is. You
wanna call God your father and know that it's so? What think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? He's God's son,
and he's David's son. He's God, man in one person,
without sin. And then here's the legal issue,
made under the law. You know, I know preachers who
make fun of this legal, you know, they say this legal matter, or
some of them confuse it, some of them deny it. Let me tell
you something. When Christ was made of a woman,
he was made under the law. What does that mean? That means
he himself, as the surety of his people, was made responsible
to satisfy the law for them. He was made under it. He was
obligated to it. Our sins, the sins of all of
his people whom God chose and gave to him were charged, accounted,
imputed to him. That's what it means when it
says he was made sin, to be an offering. And he was made of
a woman to be our substitute, to take our place under the law. And what did he do under the
law? Look at verse five, to redeem them that were under the law.
That's the legal issue is taken care of now. He redeemed us. He paid the price. He bought
us lock, stock, and barrel, not one farthing to be paid. It's
all done. It's finished. That's what he
said. By one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. It's finished, he said. What
was finished, sins put away. Sins put away. God cannot charge
his children with sin. Why? Because he charged it to
Christ. And Christ satisfied justice. He took care of that
legal issue. Righteousness has been established. We have a righteousness that
answers the demands of God's law and justice. It's imputed
to us. That's how we get it. God justifies
us, declares us so. The legal matter that stood between
God and his children is now removed. And look at verse five, to redeem
them that were not, that we might receive what? The adoption of
sons. You see it? But what about that
spiritual matter? Well, when God sent Christ to
redeem us from our sins, he provided in Christ everything we need
for spiritual, eternal, glorified life. He who spared not his own
son, how shall he not with him freely, unconditionally, without
cost, give us all things? But look on, verse six, and because
you are sons, now you notice that? It doesn't say in order
for you to be sons. It says because you are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father, Papa, Papa, even our Father. That's the work of the spirit
in sanctification, in regeneration, in conversion, in the new birth.
He gives us a heart, a new heart, new life, new minds, new knowledge
to where we see God is our Father. You see that? In that one little
scripture there, it's all of it right there taken care of.
And he says in verse seven, wherefore thou art no more a servant, that
is a forced slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Let me show you one more. Turn
to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. This whole passage, this whole
chapter, really relates to these truths that I'm telling you.
But look at verse one. He says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Why is there
no condemnation? Because the legal issue's being
taken care of. God cannot charge us. Look across
the page. when he says in verse 33, who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? You realize that? God says their sins and iniquities
I will remember no more. What does that mean? That means
God will not hold them against us. He will not bring them back
up. He will not charge us with our sins. He charged them to
Christ. It would be unjust for God to
charge us with sins of whom he charged Christ with. and for
which Christ died. So there's therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. You see, the law cannot condemn me. The legal matters
removed. Verse three, for what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and forcing condemned
sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. You
see there, that's the legal matter. Christ took care of it on the
cross. He took care of it all. He fulfilled it all. And then
look down at verse 12. He says, therefore, brethren,
we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For
if you live after the flesh, you'll die. But if you through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you'll live. How
do you mortify the deeds of the body? You recognize that Christ
died for our sins. Even those things which before
I was really impressed with, thought, recommended me to God.
They're on the cross. He put them on the cross and
died for them. In verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. Now this is the spiritual
matter. For you've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, you see, everything
provided. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. All the legal obstacles are removed. All the spiritual matters are
provided. All spiritual blessings in Christ,
spiritual life given from him to his people were born again
by the Spirit of God. He gives us a heart. And we cry
what? Now let me conclude with this.
Turn to the book of John chapter six. How is this accomplished in our
lives? Well, the legal matters were
taken care of with Christ on the cross. That's the ground,
the foundation of our salvation, our justification. And that's
the source of our spiritual blessings and our spiritual life. You understand
that? People wonder why I all the time
preach about the imputed righteousness of Christ. Well, I'll tell you
why. Because number one, it's the ground of our justification. And number two, it's the source
of all spiritual blessings and all spiritual life. That's why. And how does God apply that to
us? When I look at verse 44 of John
chapter six, he says, no man can. Now this does speak of ability. One of the great true, Brother
Jim preached about this this morning. One of the great truths
of the gospel is the total depravity, total inability of man. We have
no desire to come to God in Christ. No man can come to me. except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. If God chose us before
the foundation of the world and adopted us into his family, if
Christ died for us, redeemed us by his blood, God at some
point in time, he's gonna draw us. And I'll raise him up at
the last day. He's gonna glorify us. Now how
does God draw us? Now listen to this, verse 45.
It is written in the prophets. Now this comes from Isaiah. Isaiah
54. They shall be all taught of God. God's gonna teach us. This is
how he draws us. How's he gonna teach us? Well,
the Bible says it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching.
He's gonna use old, broken, sinful clay pots like me and Brother
Jim and other preachers of the gospel to communicate this gospel
in the power of the Spirit to his people. And he's gonna teach
us. I'm teaching tonight, but if
it gets to where it needs to be in your heart, it's God who
does the teaching. Isn't that right? He's gonna teach us. Now, how
does he teach us? Well, look at it. Every man therefore
that hath heard. Now, he's not just talking about
hearing any message here, or hearing anything. He's talking
about the hearing of faith, which is the gift of God. Faith comes
by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. Do
you have ears to hear? Do you have eyes to see? Everyone
who has heard, if you hear this with the hearing of faith, it's
because God gave you that hearing. And what do we hear? Now look
at it. Every man therefore that effort and hath learned by the
teaching of God, by the hearing of the gospel of the Father. Well, don't we just know about
the Father naturally? No. We're of our father the devil,
naturally, but we learn of the father. How do we learn of the
father? Look at the next line, cometh
unto me through Christ. That's how we learn of the father.
Brother Chuck read back in the study a while ago, Isaiah 45,
one of my favorite passages because I'll never forget the day that
Brother Mahan, back in the late 70s, probably around 78, preached
a message from there called A Just God and a Savior. And his point
was this, he said, how in the world can God be both a righteous
judge, a just God, which he must be, as well as a loving father? We don't know that by nature.
False religion won't teach us that. We have to hear that from
God in the preaching of the gospel. How can God be both a just God
and be true to himself and honor himself, his holiness, his righteousness,
his justice, and still save sinners like us in mercy and grace and
love? There's not but one way. In the
Lord have I righteousness. That's what he says in Isaiah.
And who is our righteousness? Christ is. That's his name, the
Lord our righteousness. That's our name, isn't it? The Lord our righteousness. He's
the bridegroom, we're the bride. He's the elder brother, we're
his brethren. God is our father. Now when all
this religious mystery and iniquity that's going around in our day
and it'll continue to go around, grab hold of the truth. Love
that. I love to hear that preached.
I don't want to fool with it as far as trying to change it.
I don't want to get up and tell you I've got some new light on
that. I don't want to tell you that. I just want to preach it
because that's all that God has for his people. He is even our
father. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
how awesome it is to be able to call you our Father and know
it's true and be confident because we come to you in the name and
in the merits of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by whose
blood our sins are washed away, by whose righteousness we are
justified. We stand before thee as your
adopted, chosen, redeemed children in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, accepted in the beloved. Make this message, dear Lord,
to be part of our very hearts and our fiber, that we rest and
find comfort in a lost and dying world. And let us be witnesses
of your glory as it is in Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen.