Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Almost everyone enjoys a good
story which keeps them in suspense, waiting for the unveiling of
a mystery, keeping them occupied with anticipation as they dwell
on various solutions to the riddle in their own mind. The best of
these mysteries cannot be fully solved apart from the author's
full explanation as he masterfully plays out the sequences of events
which work together to make the solution so clear that when it
is finally revealed, one wonders why they could not solve the
conundrum before the finale. Paul declares to the Corinthians
that he was sent into the world to set forth a mystery which
the Lord had kept hidden from the beginning of the world. In
a measure, the whole of the gospel is a mystery, since man by nature
cannot comprehend it, nor receive it apart from divine revelation.
As the Lord told Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Thus it is true that unless men
are given the ability to grasp and desire the message set forth
in the preaching of the gospel of the glory of the blessed God,
then they cannot and will not receive it, nor can they believe
it. The Lord explained to his disciples
why he taught in parables. And he said, unto you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others
in parables that seeing they might not see, and hearing they
might not understand. Men in their natural pride believe
that they can arrive at the truth of God through their own efforts,
philosophy, and study of the scriptures. This is illustrated
by those Jews whom Paul describes as going about to establish their
own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God. Religious men are convinced that
they can not only follow the way of Christ, but that they
possess the power to teach other men to do the same. They are
quite proud of their efforts in this endeavor and often publish
various statistics which demonstrate their effectiveness. These published
results are used to build followings and raise the much-needed cash
to keep their various enterprises rolling. The psalmist said, except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
The Lord must reveal His truth to a man and give him a love
for it in order that the man might receive it. The mystery
of which Paul speaks of contains many mysteries, each of which
cannot be discerned apart from the work of the Spirit of God
in a man. As a point of beginning, we would
consider the very mystery of God Himself. Any man who thinks
that he has a complete knowledge of God in all of his ways and
purposes is foolish. Then there is the mystery of
the kingdom. This is a kingdom which is not inherited by flesh
and blood. It is not bound by any geographical
borders, nor inhabited by any particular nationality. Its king
sits upon no earthly throne, nor has any limitations. There
is the mystery of the Jew and Gentile being gathered together
in Christ. It is now apparent that the natural
descendants of Abraham in the Old Testament were but the foreshadowing
of that elect people which were hidden in Christ from the foundation
of the world. Then there is the mystery of
marriage. While marriage between a man and a woman was indeed
ordained for the benefit of the human race, The greater purpose
of marriage was to illustrate the everlasting, perfect, and
unbreakable love which the Redeemer has for His elect bride, the
Church of Christ. For her He came, and for her
He died and rose again. Then we read of the mystery of
the faith. How could any man ever possess
faith were it not the gift of God? Or how could any man delight
in the mystery of the faith if the Lord did not cause the man
to love the gospel and desire to remain faithful to it? Then
the ultimate embodiment of all mysteries which are revealed
to the awakened sons of God is wrapped up in Paul's declaration
to Timothy. And without controversy, great
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, and received up into glory. This is the very basis of the
faith which we profess. Herein we stand and magnify the
glory of His grace and the blessing of His mercy revealed to sinners. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at 4the4 at windstream dot net.