for that. If you will open your
Bibles to 1st Timothy chapter 3. 1st Timothy chapter 3. We do indeed rejoice that some
2,000 years ago Our God veiled his deity in flesh
and entered into this world. He grew up under the eyes of
God who beheld his every move, his
every word, his every action. He lived a life of perfection. It's one that they call Jesus
of Nazareth. We do indeed rejoice in this
noble birth and his life of absolute perfection. But while we are thankful that
he did come into this world. It is necessary that we understand
the reason for his coming. Scripture says, and our brother
read it to us in Matthew 1.21, the instruction was given to
Joseph, thou shalt call his name. Jesus, a pretty common name,
an ordinary name in Israel. And it comes from the Old Testament. Joshua, Jehovah who saves or
Jehovah is our savior. But that which was unusual about
this one named Jesus was that it was what He was going to do,
what His mission was. Thou shalt call His name Jesus
for He shall save His people from their sins. The ones for whom he entered
into this world have a common problem, and it is sin. But he came to do something about
it. This thing called sin had alienated us from God. The Lord said to Israel, He said,
your sins and your iniquities have separated you from God. It was like a great gulf was
fixed. And God just would not admit
us into His presence. And we didn't even want His presence.
In Adam, ran from God. We transgressed God's law and
we sought to avoid any kind of contact with God. And Adam in
the garden, he tried to hide from God. We've been doing that
ever since. But our Lord Jesus, He came to
do something about this situation. He didn't come to endeavor to
do something, He came to do something. He came to save, to deliver,
to rescue His people. Who are His people? Well, those
that the Father gave Him before He made the world. He said, the
Father said, these are My people, I entrust them to you. You save
them. You rescue them because they're
going to fall in Adam into a miserable state of ungodliness. And they won't come to me and
they cannot come. You must do something for them.
And in that covenant of grace, before the foundation of the
world, our Lord Jesus received, He accepted full responsibility
for the salvation, for the deliverance, for the salvation, for the rescue
of His people, those people entrusted to Him. And this is what was
involved. He had to leave the glories of
heaven and enter into this world. And he was born of a virgin,
as we shall see from this passage of scripture, and lived that
life of perfection. But here's what I want to also
say. If that's all that had happened, big if there, but if that's all
that had happened, if he had only been born, and if it only
lived and then gone back to heaven, he couldn't have saved anybody.
And the reason He could not have saved anybody was because those
He came to save are lawbreakers. That's what we are. We're lawbreakers. We are indeed criminals against
God. And we all agree what must be
done with criminals. They should be punished. We're
worthy of death. We're deserving of death. The
Bible says the soul that sinneth shall die. The wages of sin is
death. That's what's going to happen
to us if justice deals strictly with each of us. But our Lord
Jesus, He came into the world to do something about this situation.
You see, that's why He died. Listen, that God might be just,
and holy, and righteous in all His ways, and yet reach out in forgiveness
to each of us, to each of His people. through the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He died to be the Savior. He couldn't save anybody unless
He laid down His life, a ransom for us. And God said, release
them from going down to the pit, release all of those in whose
stead He died. I have found a ransom. That's what God said. And if
God says, release them, keep them from going down to the pit,
you can rest assured, all those in whose stead Christ died will
never go down into the pit. You see, we read, there is therefore
now no condemnation. What does that mean? No judgment. No judgment. There's nothing
in the heart of God that is vindictive or full of vengeance toward those
in whose stead Christ Jesus laid down His life. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. And you know how long we've been
in Christ Jesus? Since before the world was made.
He's the head, we're the body. And ever since God joined us
to the Lord Jesus, He being the spouse of His bride. And we're one in Him ever since
we were joined to the Son of God in old eternity, that means
from everlasting. We've been in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He came for His people. He came to rescue us. He came
to make us whole. That's what He did. We're diseased. We're polluted. He came to purify
us. Can you imagine that? To make
us pure. to make us without blemish, without
spot before God. That's why He came. That was the reason for our Lord's
birth. He came to save. And here in
1 Timothy chapter 3, we have a marvelous statement. in the
last verse of 1 Timothy 3. And really, there's a body of
divinity here. I enjoy reading Robert Hawker,
and I know some of the rest of you do. He said, here's a cluster
of grapes. He said, and you can just draw
from this cluster of grapes. Here are six wonderful grapes,
full of the juice of the wine of the gospel. He said, here
we can dwell, here we can abide, here we can study, here we can
learn more about our glorious Savior. Here's the statement,
1 Timothy 3 and verse 16. And without controversy, That means this is beyond debate,
what He's going to say. Now, there's a lot of controversy
among the people of the world, but among the people of God,
among those who love the message of grace, among those who love
the Lord Jesus Christ, among those who build all their hopes
for salvation on the Lord Jesus alone, There is no controversy
with us. When we're brought to hear something
from the Word of God about our Lord Jesus and His great work
of redemption, when we're brought, when we're confronted with truths
about God, about the gospel, about salvation, predestination,
election, redemption, effectual calling. When we're brought to
see something in the Word of God by a man who's speaking by
the anointing of the Spirit of grace who inhabits us, there
will be no controversy among the people of God. There will
be no debate. Every once in a while I've been
asked, would you be willing to debate so-and-so? I'm not a debater. I'm a preacher. and that which
we deal with, this glorious Gospel of God, the things of God, God
the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the message
of redemption by the bloody death of Christ Jesus, the message
of the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to us, this is
a message beyond debate and all of the people of God are in unison
in believing what thus saith the Lord. So without controversy, you get
no argument. Years ago, when I began to pastor
in Rocky Mount, and I brought a message on John chapter 10,
and I had a Sunday school teacher called me up and said, you know,
I think I'm beginning to understand what the Scriptures say and what
you're preaching. You're saying salvation is all
of God. Is that right? I said, that's
right. And you know what the Sanskrit
teacher said? You'll get no argument from me. You'll get no argument
from me. There's no controversy among
the people of God when we read the Word of God and we say the
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. There's no controversy,
there's no debate, there'll be no argument among the people
of God when we say Jonah's doctrine, which was salvation, is of the
Lord. So this is what the great apostle
Paul says, and without controversy. Without controversy. Now I know
the gospel is the most controversial message in the world, but not
among the people of God. You say, well, this denomination
believes this, and this denomination believes that, and this church
over here, they preach this message, and you preach this message. Why, this is so much of a controversy
here, preacher. Not among the people of God.
Because we're all in agreement. We're in agreement of who God
is. In His attributes, as He sets
Himself forth in this glorious book, And as He reveals to us our awful
dilemma, you get no argument from me. Any argument from you
when the Scripture says all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God? Anybody in here going to argue
with that? When it says we're dead in trespasses
and sins, would you argue with that? Is that debatable? When it says, no man understands
God, is that debatable? When it says, no man can approach
unto God, is that debatable? You say, well, that's very controversial,
preacher. Not among those who believe the
Word of God. Lay down your devotional books
and pick up the Word of God. And see what God Almighty has
to say. When it says the Lord Jesus died,
He gave Himself a ransom, that He redeemed His people by His
blood, that He actually made His people righteous by His substitutionary
death. Is that debatable? That's beyond
controversy. among those whose hearts have
been opened by the Spirit of God to receive the scriptures.
So he says, and without controversy. Well, what is without controversy?
He says, great is the mystery of godliness. What is a mystery? New Testament speaks frequently
of mysteries. A mystery is that which was hidden
in the heart of God, which has to be revealed to the sons of
men. Otherwise, we'll never receive
it. A mystery, a mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of godlikeness. Great is the mystery of deity
revealed. Great is this mystery of godliness. And then he begins to speak of different phases or statements
concerning this mystery. He says, first of all, God was manifest in the flesh. One of the greatest mysteries
of all time is the mystery of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's stated this way. Turn back
a few pages to Galatians chapter 4. Here's how it's presented
back here in Galatians chapter 4. It says, God was manifest
in the flesh. God. Over all, glorious forever. God. Maker of all things. Sustainer of all things. God. God was manifest. God was revealed. in the flesh. This is the way
it's put back in Galatians chapter 4. Look at verse 4. Galatians
4 verse 4, but when the fullness of the time was come. When time
was filled to the full. See, the Lord Jesus, He didn't
die when men wanted Him to die. He died when God ordained that
He die. In fact, the Scripture says that
the chief priests and rulers, they all got together planning
His death. They said, but we don't want
this to happen at the feast time. Too many people, too many witnesses. We don't want it to happen then.
But that's exactly the time that God ordained for His Son to die,
the time of the Passover. I told our Sunday School class
this morning, our Lord Jesus on Monday, He entered into Jerusalem
Monday. That was typically, traditionally
the day the Jews would pick out their Passover lamb. Tenth day
of the month. A male of the first year, without
spot, without blemish. And here our Lord Jesus on Monday,
the tenth day of the month, He enters into Jerusalem. God's
Lamb. The fullness of time had come.
Time had been filled up. God ordained when the Lord Jesus
would die. Not at man's will, not on man's
timetable, but God's. And everything from old eternity
has been pointing to this time, the fullness of time, when He
would die. He'd be set apart on the 10th
day of the month, and on the 14th day of the month, he'd die.
God's Lamb, without spot, without blemish. Watch it. But when the
fullness of the time was calm, God sent forth His Son. Who sent
forth His Son? God did. We didn't send for Him. We didn't ask for Him. In fact,
we didn't want Him. When men found out who He was,
and that He had not come to be a war-like Messiah, who would
make war with the Romans, they didn't want Him. And so when
the question was put to them, what shall I do with Jesus who
is called the Christ? Crucify Him. That's what we say.
Crucify Him. God sent forth His Son. He sent
forth His Son to suffer, bleed, and die for the sins of His people. Watch it. Made of a woman. The seed of the woman, it says
in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. Not the seed of man. He wasn't in any way, never was
He in any way, polluted with our sin. One of the things about the Old
Testament sacrifices, and specifically the Passover lambs that were
set aside on the 10th day of the month, they had to be without
spot and without blemish. As our Lord Jesus was, made of
a woman. He wasn't from the seed of man,
he was made of the seed of the woman. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive. Let's sound that out. Not a young
woman, but a virgin who never knew a man. This is our God clothed
in human flesh. And He was conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost. This is beyond our understanding. This is a spiritual truth defying
all human logic. Made of a woman. Made under the
law. Under the dominion of the law.
Under the authority of the law. He who wrote the law with his
own finger on tablets of stone is made under the law. For what
reason? Well, read on in verse 5. To
redeem them that were under the law. To redeem. You know what
that means? To buy back. to buy from divine
justice. You see, justice held us captive
and would not let us go. Justice said, you must pay to
the last farthing everything you owe to a holy God. We will
not let you go. All the laws of God said, we
won't let you go. But our Lord Jesus came and He
bought us. From the law. He didn't buy us
from the devil. The devil wasn't due any price.
And he didn't buy us from ourselves. That glorious price of redemption,
it's not offered to you. Why would it be offered to a
sinner? It was offered to God. You read in the book of Numbers
when Aaron the high priest would bless Israel. The Lord bless
thee and keep thee and so forth and so on. Before that, he waved
a sacrifice before the Lord as if to say, this is for you! This
is for you! Now bless these people. You see, God had to do something
for Himself before He could do something for us. That's why
He sent His Son into this world. That's why the Lord Jesus was
born 2,000 years ago to grow up to be the Savior of sinners. To redeem. To redeem. To redeem them that were under
the law, under the authority of the law. under the dominion
of the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, that we
might receive full sonship and enjoy all the privileges to which
we were predestinated. And he says in verse six, and
because you're sons, God had sent forth the spirit of his
son into your hearts. crying, Abba, Father. Our Lord Jesus sent forth from
the Father on a mission of mercy. So go back to our text then.
It says here, God was manifest in the flesh. And by the way,
let me show you a couple of references here in 1 Timothy quickly. Look
back in the first chapter Look at verse 17. For the sake of time, I'll read
one verse. 1 Timothy 1 verse 17. Now unto
the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and
glory forever and ever. What does it say about God? He's
invisible. He's invisible. But you behold with the eye of
faith two thousand years ago, that babe lying in a manger,
that dear firstborn son of Mary, you look into His face, the invisible
God is now visible. Visible. And I'll tell you something
else about Him. Go over to 1 Timothy chapter
6. You see, God was manifest in the flesh. God is now visible. No eye could see Him before.
For He inhabits eternity. The Lord said, the heaven's my
throne. The earth is my footstool. I'm
invisible. Oh, but in Jesus of Nazareth,
He's very visible. He's very visible. And watch
this in chapter 6 of 1 Timothy. Speaking about our Lord Jesus
Christ in verse 15, which in his times, 1 Timothy 6.15, which
in his time he shall show, who is the blessed, and only potentate,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality,
dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom
no man hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting."
Listen, God is invisible and unapproachable. Did you get that? God is invisible and unapproachable. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he is both visible and approachable. Approachable. You can go to God
through Christ Jesus. In fact, look at 1 Timothy 2
and verse 5. This is what he says, 1 Timothy
2 and 5. For there is one God. How many
gods? One. And one Mediator. How many Mediators? One. Don't tell me there are
two or three. The Bible says there is one.
Just like there is one God, there is one Mediator. Between God
and man. The man, Christ Jesus. God is
invisible and unapproachable except in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is both visible and approachable. We come to God through Christ
the Lord. Well, look back in our text then.
So it says, God was manifest in the flesh. You see, it was
necessary that our Redeemer be a man. Man has sinned and man
must suffer for sin. The Scripture says in 1 Timothy
chapter 15, since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection
from the dead. Since by man came the disease,
By man also must come the remedy. Since by man came the condemnation,
by man must also come righteousness unto life. Since by man came
the malady, by another man must come the
cure. Since by one man we were made
sinners, there must be another man to come in whom we're made
righteous. Our Lord Jesus had to be a man.
A man got us in this mess to begin with. Gonna take another
man to get us out of it. But oh, what a man. Because this
is the God man. The God-man. Because Jesus Christ
was man, He was able to suffer, bleed, and die for us. And because
He's God, He's able to satisfy God because He knows everything
that God demands. Every requirement of God. We
don't have an inkling of any idea of what God demands, but
He does. We just have little vague ideas. Vague notions as we look through
a glass darkly. Vague notions of what God demands. But our Lord Jesus Christ, He
knew fully well what God demanded. And He met every requirement
to set His people free. Because He's God, He's able to
satisfy God's offended justice. You see, the sufferings of this
God-man unto death were substitutionary sufferings of infinite value
because of who it was that suffered. You say, preacher, you talk about
the substitutionary death of Christ Jesus. I don't understand
how the death of one man could avail to the salvation to the
everlasting life of the millions in whose stead he died. It's
because of who it was who died. If it was just another man, as
it says in Romans 5, peradventure for a good man, some would dare
to die. If he was just a mere man dying
in the stead of somebody else, well, it helped Barabbas, But
if that's the extent of it, if that's as far as it goes, Pilate
said, you want me to release Barabbas to you? Release Jesus.
Release Barabbas. Let him go. Well, it benefited
Barabbas. But if he was only a mere man,
the releasing of Barabbas was of a temporary nature. I don't know whether Barabbas
was one of the elect of God or not. It's not my business. I
can't say. But if He was, the death of the
Lord Jesus availed for Him forever. Forever. The sufferings of the God-man
unto death were substitutionary, and they were of infinite, unusual,
perpetual merit and worth. Then it says, Justified in or by the Spirit. Justified in or by the Spirit. We have the Lord's incarnation.
Now I think we're looking at His death. Because you see, our
Lord Jesus, in a mysterious way, all the iniquities of all of
the people of God were by the Father laid on Him. That is,
they were made to meet on Him. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned. everyone to his
own way. And the Lord Jehovah hath laid
on him, made to meet on him the iniquities of us all. The likeness of that or the typical
event that pointed to that is back on the day of atonement
when two goats were selected by Aaron, one for the Lord to
cast lots and one was for the Lord to die and one was to be
the scapegoat. The death of that first goat
pictured the death of the Lord Jesus. And then Aaron laid his
hands upon the head of what they called the scapegoat. And there
was a transference in an emblematic way, a symbolic way, to the goat,
a transference of the guilt of all of Israel, didn't have anything
to do with the Egyptians, the Syrians, or anybody else. This
was only in the Israelites for a specific people. Transferred to the goat. That
pictured the sins of God's people imputed to Christ Jesus. Who
did that? Sometimes, perhaps you've sung
the song, I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God. Actually,
you can't do that. You can't do that. Only God could
do that. He laid our sins on the spotless
Lamb of God. They were made to meet on Him.
He was charged. He was charged. The Scripture
says it was imputed to Him. All of the iniquities, all of
the sins, all of the transgressions of all of His people. And God
the Father dealt with His Son in vengeance and in anger over
our sins. And the wrath of God fell on
Him. It can't fall on us. It fell
on Him. Aaron laid his hands on the head
of that scapegoat, and then he looked for a fit man, a worthy
man. He said, you come up here. He
called a man up. That's typical of the Lord Jesus
there. The whole thing was. And Aaron
said, you take this goat. You take him out of the camp. out of sight, take him into a
land uninhabited, and let him go. Now that first goat in dying,
that pictured the death of Christ. But that second goat, that scapegoat,
who in a sense bore the sins of Israel, When that goat was
led into a land uninhabited, that pictured the results of
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took our sins away. 1 John 3 verse 5 says, He was
manifested to take our sin away. That's why He came. He came to
do something about our sins. He came to satisfy God. And He
came to save His people. So what must He do? Deal with
this sin issue. So all of our transgressions,
they were charged to Him. He took the blame. And He paid the price. He died. And in his death, he
took all of the sins of his people into a land uninhabited." Go
back to the story now. That man who led that goat out
of town, all of Israel watched. They didn't dismiss. They didn't
say, we're going to have an intermission until he gets back. They were
all quiet. Hey, this is serious business.
And in a little bit, they saw the figure. They saw the top
of that man's head. Then He came clear into the picture. He came back. And they said,
He doesn't have the goat. Oh, He doesn't have the goat!
Our sins are put away for a year! But the blood of bulls and goats
and all that sort of stuff could never put sins away. But our
Lord Jesus, He died. Listen. He came back from the
dead by the power of the Holy Spirit who justified Him, who
justified Him, and all of His people are justified in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Savior was fully acquitted
of all of the guilt charged to His account. And when He was
fully acquitted, listen, we were. There's our salvation. There
is our redemption. There is our reconciliation.
You want to talk about righteousness brought in? It was brought in
right then and there by the Savior Himself. And as He was justified by the
Spirit, so were we. So were we. He was acquitted
from all guilt. Think about that. All the charges
put to His account. He paid it in full. He paid my
debt. That's the reason why we delight
to sing Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow. White as snow. He was manifest
in the flesh and justified by the Spirit. My time's gone. I'll save the
last ones till tonight. Hope you'll come back. If you
can't come back tonight, watch on the internet. Can't watch
on the internet, can't be here. It'll be available on CD or DVD,
the Lord willing. But this is our great Savior
here. Here He is. Here's the mystery
of godliness. No controversy among the people
of God on these things. Not at all. We rejoice in the
Son of God. Let's sing a