Romans 11. We're going to be
looking at verse 25 tonight and try to make our way through the
conclusion of chapter 11. And we're going to start right
there in your outline. At the top of the outline, I
have the word mystery there, and this is what the Apostle
wants us to deal with now. And there are two things I want
you to remember. This was the title. And I didn't
get a chance to put it in there. And so all Israel shall be saved. And so all Israel
shall be saved. That's verse 26, I believe. And so, verse 26, and so all
Israel shall be saved. Verse 25 says, For I would not,
brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest
you should be wise in your own conceit. And then he begins to
explain, I want to start right there. The Apostle Paul often
says in the epistles, I don't want you to be ignorant. I don't
want you to be without knowledge. I don't want you to be uninformed
or misinformed. Both of them are bad to be misinformed
is bad and to be uninformed is bad. And so when he says, I don't
want you to be ignorant, he says, I don't want you to be agnostic.
That's the Greek term. I don't want you to be agnostic
without knowledge. I don't want you to be like people
who who have the right to say, I don't know, because they were
never told. And that's that's not a position
for the believer. The believer is given to understand
all things in Christ. That's what the Bible says. And
you have an anointing and by which you understand all things.
That's what the scripture says. 1 John chapter 2. So he's saying
to the church at Rome, Jews and Gentiles, I want to make sure
that you're not ignorant of the mystery. I want to exercise our
senses on that term, the mystery. When he uses that term mystery,
the Greek word, it's almost a transliteration. Mastery on moose theory on and
it simply means to shut the eyes To shut the eyes And the eyes
that he's talking about are not your physical eyes He's talking
about the eyes of your understanding when God speaks to us in mysteries
He's talking to us in a language that requires different eyes
To understand when God speaks to us in mysteries it requires
another set of lens to comprehend what's being said. And I want
to make sure that we understand this in a very simple way. Whenever
the New Testament uses the word mystery, Mysterion is using it
in the same way in which the Old Testament uses it. And I
want to make sure that you don't fall prey to the pagan interpretation
of mystery. The word mystery is not the same
as the secret, OK? I just want to make sure you
understand that when we use the word mystery, we're not dealing
with a concept that says that we have to be initiated into
some type of esoteric body of information before we can comprehend
the truth. In essence, the mystery that
Paul is talking about, it's used all through the scriptures, is
the mystery of the gospel. It's the mystery
The gospel I want to exercise your senses on that tonight so
that you can grasp this reality The concept of a mystery means
that you and I cannot understand this particular subject or concept
with human reasoning That's what the concept of a mystery is in
other words There are a lot of things you can you and I can
understand humanly and rationally but when the Lord brings something
to us in a mystery and It will never be understood until he
gives us the proper eyes and the proper heart to comprehend
it. Does that make some sense? I
want to make sure I do two things. I want to make sure you understand
that the term mystery is simply God saying, I'm doing something
in such a way that unless I let you know how I do it, you'll
never understand it. You'll never understand it. So
as we go through several verses in the New Testament, you're
going to see a symmetry and a continuity of this concept. But what I want
to make sure we avoid is this pagan secular notion that we
are dealing with some type of super esoteric knowledge that
only a special group of people get to comprehend. Now, it is
true that when we are dealing with spiritual things and we've
talked about that for the last couple of weeks, haven't we?
1st Corinthians chapter 2 now we brethren have not received
the spirit of the world But the spirit which is of God that we
might freely know the things that God has given unto us which
things we speak and Paul says in 1st Corinthians 2 in a mystery
even the hidden wisdom which has not been made known unto
the sons of men. And so when he uses the term
mystery, Paul is simply talking about there is a certain veil
over the redemptive scheme of God that until God gives you
eyes to see and ears to hear, even though he tells it to us,
we will never understand it. But the word mystery can be used,
its synonym can be used as the gospel, the gospel. See, the
gospel is something that God does. The gospel is something
that God has purposed, and the gospel is something that God
is accomplishing. Therefore, to understand the
gospel, God has to reveal it to you. As opposed to natural
creation and natural science and physical things, the gospel
is only comprehended by revelation. So be sure that in a very general
sense, the word mystery is synonymous to the word what? In fact, the
Bible talks about the mystery The gospel so now what I want
you to do is start with me and your Bibles go with me to mark
chapter 11 We're gonna do a little Bible searching so we can get
our senses exercise before we start honing in on why Paul says
I don't want you to be ignorant mark chapter 11 verse 4 listen
to the way the Lord Jesus uses this phrase in Mark chapter 11
and in fact, you won't find if you were to do research in your
concordance that the word Mystery is even used in the Old Testament
The parallel world word in the Old Testament to mystery is the
word parable. The parallel word in the Old
Testament to the word mystery is the word parable. And one
of the key verses in the Old Testament is Psalm 78. I will
open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of
all which your fathers have heard and have known. What the psalmist
is saying under inspiration of the spirit is that God had revealed
the gospel to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the people of Israel
and the people of Israel understood the gospel. God calls it a parable.
Not everybody understands the parable. Isn't that right? When
Jesus spoke, he preached and he taught and he always used
what? Parables. And so the Bible says without
a parable, he did not teach. The word parable means to take
a story and to cast it alongside of a set of principles that you're
trying to teach. It becomes a means of illustration
or development of the very principles that you're teaching. In a very
crass way, people say that the term parable is an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning. That's not a legitimate definition. I've told people to be careful
about that. A parable can be an earthly story with an earthly
meaning. So be very careful. The Lord Jesus uses a lot of
earthly accounts to deal with earthly realities. A parable
is simply the Greek word parabola means to cast alongside of or
throw alongside of. Para is a preposition. Bole means
to throw or to cast. And when you tell a story and
then you use an illustration in order to develop your point,
you are doing what Jesus called casting alongside of or giving
a parable. In the Old Testament, the mystery
was the parable of how God worked through the historical events
that took place in the life of the patriarchs and the nation
of Israel to weave in and out of those historical events God's
redeeming purpose. And when God gives you understanding,
you can see the mystery in the Old Testament, can't you? So
the Bible tells us, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book is
written of me, to do thy will. Isn't that what the Bible says?
Psalm 40, verse 7 and 8. And when you understand the mystery,
you can go back and see Jesus. in the Cain and Abel account,
can't you? You can see Jesus in the Ark of the Covenant, right?
You can see Jesus in the Law and in the Prophets. You can
see Jesus in the ceremonies of the worship of the Old Testament.
You can see Him in the Kings. You can see Him in the Tithes
and the Shadows and the Metaphors. And you can see Him in that larger
redemptive scheme that runs through Scripture. We call it theologically
the meta-narrative. The meta-narrative. The narrative
that runs alongside of the storyline. It's a meta-narrative. Often
when people write scripts for movies, the movie has a very
clear and surface illustration or story, but there's a subtext
to the movie. And if you are sensitive, you
can pick up the subtext. Isn't that right? Same thing
with the gospel. Same thing with the gospel. So
we're in Mark chapter 11. Notice what Jesus says. Is it Mark 11? I can't see it. Not in verse 4. Let me see. Verse 14, nope. So it must be
Matthew 11, 14. Matthew 11, 4, let me see. I'm
starting off on the wrong verse. We might get there. Let me see. I'm sure this is it. Matthew
4, 11. Nope, that's not it either. That ain't it. So let's go on
to the next one. First Corinthians chapter two seven. I don't know
how I got Mark 11 four. I must've been eating something
while I was writing down. First Corinthians two seven.
This is a text that I actually, uh, well, you know why I would, I
would, I would agree with you on that because I just told somebody
that I'm dyslexic and I get the numbers flipped around. I should
have, uh, yeah, there you go. See, I have
to overcome myself sometimes. And that really is true. People
like today, I got some folks bringing some some furniture
to my house, and I'm really worried that I gave them the wrong number
because I get these numbers flipped around all the time. So Mark
four eleven, listen to what Jesus said. And he said unto them,
unto you, it is given to know. The mystery of the kingdom of
God. But unto them that are without all these things are done in
what? That's right. So he's correlating parable with
mysteries. He's saying to God's elect, to
those who are who are believers, to those who have the spirit
is for you to know the mysteries for those who are without on
the outside of the kingdom. These things are done in parables.
The mystery remains a mystery. All right. Go with me now to
First Corinthians, Chapter two. Obviously, you're going to find
that in the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke 2 because
there's a rendition of that But listen to how Paul uses it in
1st Corinthians chapter 2 We're going to go through several verses
just to permeate our thoughts with this in your own time You
can go go back and forth this in your own Understanding to
that the mystery really has to do with the gospel now the Apostle
Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 I'm going to start
at Verse six, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Do you see that phrase? That's
a derivative of the word teleos, which means complete. And simply
what it means is when you become a true believer, you are part
of the perfect because Christ is your perfection. And so now
you are qualified to hear the gospel. So when he says in verse
six how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect yet
not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world
that come to not now listen to this but we speak the wisdom
of God in a what now he said in chapter one verse thirty what
wisdom was who knows what the wisdom of God is Christ that's
right. It's the gospel, but it's Christ.
See no you aren't wrong. It's the gospel He says it in
first Corinthians chapter 118 and 21 that Christ is the power
of God and the wisdom of God and the gospel is the wisdom
of God But you see the gospel is about who it's about Christ
So those terms are all legitimate and he's teaching us here that
we have a conversation about that is that constitutes a a
mystery which is also the wisdom of God the believer therefore
is allowed to understand some things that can only be comprehended
by revelation verse seven but we speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world unto our glory now you can you can chew on that for
a long time first of all it's called hidden wisdom God ordained
it He ordained it before the world began, and it's for our
glory. So the man or the woman that
has the privilege of comprehending the mystery is the man or woman
who has the privilege of hearing about something God purposed
before He created this world, and it will ultimately redound
to your glory. Go with me to 1 Corinthians 15.
You've heard this one before, too, 1 Corinthians 15. This has
to do with the resurrection. But meditate on it because it's
very important to understand what paul is saying here We'll
be able to give you back to our text and build on it He's dealing
with the resurrection of the body. Remember first corinthians
15 is about the resurrection of the body But within first
corinthians 15, he teaches us a lot of things about creation
the first order the fall Uh, and the glory that should follow
for those who are in christ and here's what he says in verse
51 Behold, I show you a what? Now remember what I said, a mystery
is not a secret, esoteric set of doctrines that only the special
elite group of people can enter into. A mystery is something
that God does that cannot be understood with the human brain
because it's something that God is doing. The human mind cannot
rationally deduce things that are only done by the infinite
God. So it constitutes or is qualified
to be a mystery because until God tells us, we can't understand
it. Does that make some sense? Therefore,
when we use the word mystery, we're not saying that we are
talking about something that remains hid. Often in cults and
in sectarian groups and in your sort of Gnostic type teachings,
the idea of a mystery is that there's something taking place
that's still hid from everybody. With regards to the gospel, God
is plainly telling us that the gospel is not hid. It's plainly
declared, but it's only comprehended by those with whom God has given
an understanding. Am I making some sense? So there's
a plain declaration of the light, but the light can't be seen unless
God qualifies you to see the light. All right. So that's what
he means by mystery. Now, listen to what he says.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. What
does he mean? We all sleep, don't we? The word
sleep is a metaphor for what? That's right. We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be what? Metamorphosis is the word. Metamorphosis,
we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in other
words when Jesus comes we shall not all be dead Some of us will
be living There are some of us who will be dead in our bodies.
Our spirits will have already gone to be with Christ in glory
when the great transformation takes place there will be a Combination
of the spirit which is going to heaven to be absent from the
bodies to be what present with the Lord immediately But the
body goes into the ground and it disintegrates in a state of
what the Bible calls sleep. Your soul is not sleep. We don't
believe in soul sleep. The Bible doesn't teach soul
sleep. Nowhere. You have to make a distinction
between the body going into the ground and sleeping in that metaphorical
language, meaning that there's a day when the body is going
to wake up again at the last call during the resurrection,
where we will be reunited with our soul and we will stand before
the Lord Jesus Christ. Only those of us who are elect
will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ glorified. You guys got
that? And so that's what he's teaching
here. He calls it a mystery because you and I could never figure
that out, even though it's told to us. And even though we agree
with it and we love it and we know it's necessary for us to
have fellowship with God, you know that, right? There will
be no fellowship with God until he changes this whole thing.
Until our vile bodies be made like unto his glorious spiritual
body there will not be that full fellowship that God Anticipated
in purpose before the world began for us with him for all eternity
until the great transformation, but it's a mystery So we only
declare it we don't explain it There's a lot about the gospel
you have to understand that you never explain you simply declare
And to declare it is to simply take what the Bible has plainly
set forth and tell it. Because God is going to qualify
some folk to just believe it. Not try to investigate it, analyze
it, break it down, exegete it, parse it, and figure it all out. You guys got that? Because it's
a mystery. It's a mystery. So let's go on to another one.
Go with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9.
Ephesians 1 9 Paul talks about it here. He talks about it several
places I want to make sure that you understand that there's a
plethora of places that these things are spoken about So when
we go back to Romans we can start developing the argument in its
context Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9 now what I love about the book
of Ephesians and the book of Colossians these two churches
were together in Asia Minor and one of the battles that they
fought was Gnosticism and And narcissism is something that
we'll be dealing with in our systematic theology class under
heresies. But the Gnostics definitely taught
a system of perfection that was based on knowledge rather than
relationship. In other words, they said mankind
could attain unto a status of perfection, not only perfection,
but Godhood. If he were to A sin these different
what were called eons of revelation given to them by different angels
different gods these gods were a pantheon of gods that would
Reveal themselves to the initiated to the person that would enter
into these deep so-called aero esoteric teachings and this was
nothing but demonism this was prior to Christ this was during
Christ's day and this was after Christ's day and And this doctrine
of Gnosticism is prevalent in two categories. One is the Mormon
Church. The Mormon Church is definitely
a Gnostic system because it believes in deification of the human body.
If you do what's right, you can attain to a Godhood status. In
fact, you can have your own planet. Brothers, you can have your own
planet, and you can have your own wives, and you can have hundreds
and thousands of children. You don't believe me? Check their
system out. They're doing better than the
Muslim. With the Muslims, you just get 72 virgins. How earthly and carnal is that
whole supposition? How earthly and carnal it is,
and yet that's what they teach. And they teach it on the basis
of an esoteric knowledge that's given to the initiated and those
who reach a certain status in the Mormon system. And we have
ex-Mormons among us who will affirm What I'm saying Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 9 will tell you notice what he says. I'm gonna
start at verse No verse 9 to work it starts off on its own
saying this have he made known unto us The mystery do you see
that now watch this of his will? Got it. I Kind of want to slow
down because it's so important to actually get it I don't I
want to make sure that we don't run through 12 15 verses and
miss the point 1st Corinthians he talked about the mystery of
the hidden wisdom of God in 1st Corinthians 15 He talked about
the mystery of our glorification at the resurrection Here he talks
about the mystery now watch this of his will What that means is
God's will Cannot be understood by human beings until God reveals
it Are you hearing me? In other words, not any person
can walk up to God and figure out his will unless God qualifies
him to understand his will by revelation. Even reading the
Bible does not unfold for us the will of God, because as you
and I have already learned, we're walking in darkness because the
God of this world has blinded the minds of those that believe
not until the light of the glorious gospel of Christ is shining to
our hearts. Isn't that true? But so here's what Paul says.
Even God's will is a mystery. But watch this. He's made it
known to us. Now, that is a powerful position
to be in. The believer. Assumedly knows
the will of God. He hath made known unto us the
mystery of his will. Now watch what he says here.
According to his good pleasure which he purposed, where? Now
look, if God purposed his will in himself, it's definitely a
mystery, isn't it? Because you can't know anything
about God until he starts talking to you. You know how you have
thoughts in your mind? Nobody knows what you're thinking.
That's going back to 1 Corinthians 2. Who knows the things of a
man save the spirit of the man that's in him? Even so, no man
knows anything about God Except the Spirit of God and to those
to whom he will reveal those things So you and I cannot enter
into the mind of God. He has to speak to us and For
him to speak to us then avails us the ability to know his will
this takes us back to John 1 18 No man has seen God at any time
only he who is in the bosom of the father. He hath revealed
him Am I making some sense? And what I'm getting at is that
everything about God is a mystery until he begins to share himself
with us. And what's profound about verse
11 is this God contained within himself his own counsel before
the world began. And in the unfolding of human
history, as we have known it now, God has kept secret his
own purpose and only shared it with those who were made partakers
of his inheritance. Gradually, systematically, we
call this progressive revelation, where God would speak to us what
his purposes are and his will is, such as with Adam. Adam learned
a part of God's will concerning the offering of sacrifices and
right worship. That will was enlarged with Noah
and it was enlarged with Enoch. It was further expanded with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was brought into a full-blown
system with Moses and the temple, and it was consummated and perfected
in Jesus Christ. Am I making some sense? But men
and women would not know what God has purposed unless he spoke
to us. And so Paul is plainly saying
that he has revealed to us his will, which in his own good pleasure
he hid within himself. Now, when it says he hid it within
himself, be sure to know that we are talking about the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost all three persons knew the will of
God you guys got that all right go with me now in your Bibles
to Ephesians chapter 3 verse 4 now this is going to take us
to ground zero in relationship to our Romans text which when
we get back there it'll start to open up to us Paul is making
a very declarative statement in verses 1 through 4 concerning
his call and this thing called the mystery for For this cause,
I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if
you have heard of the dispensation or the stewardship or the ministry
of the grace of God, which is given to me for you, you guys
see that? Verse three, how, now I want
you to hear it now, because this is saying in a capsulated form
everything I've been saying. How, that by what? Revelation. He made known unto
me what the mystery now parking right there. That's what I'm
saying The mystery is only made known by what that's it. That's it how that by revelation
God made known unto me the mystery of The mystery as I wrote a four
time in few words we're in a When you read you may understand My
knowledge in the what mystery of christ See what paul understood
was the gospel's a mystery And he understood that every category
and every facet of the gospel Was part of god's eternal purpose
which he purposed in himself And the only way we're going
to know it is if he imparts it to us by revelation Paul says
God gave it to me fully in order for me to give it to the Gentiles
by which when you read my teachings you understand The mystery which
is in Christ. So it's in Ephesians chapter
3 verse 4. It's called the mystery of Christ
and look at verse 9 The mystery of Christ he said and to make
all men see this is the purpose of preaching What is the fellowship
of the what? See so there's a sense in which
Every true believer enters into koinonia, that's what the word
fellowship means, around the mystery. You guys got that? But the mystery is not the secret.
It's not some esoteric knowledge. It's not some profound conundrum. The mystery is the gospel. The
mystery is Christ. The mystery is the will of God
unveiled to us in the gospel, which is all about who? Now watch
this now. If you understand that the gospel
and the mystery are rather the gospel, which is about Christ
is the mystery, then you understand that every one of us who trust
Christ and rest in Christ and rejoice in Christ and are learning
about Christ are in fellowship. We are in fellowship. I was thinking
about this statement today. I'm glad I'm right here. I want
to say this. You can have this for your own ears. Fellowship
is not sitting around eating dressing and potato salad and
Talking about you know, whatever we talk about that's not fellowship.
I mean, that's that's having a good time Don't get me wrong.
I enjoy my dressing in my potato salad Give me some sweet potatoes
and in a few other accoutrements and that's that's cool, too But
the Bible calls fellowship that which we do is Around the person
and work of Jesus Christ right now. We are fellowshipping Am
I making some sense? We are fellowshipping when the
subject matter is about the things of God Concerning Christ in our
salvation as soon as the subject matter changes is just socialism
Am I making some sense and you know, the devil creeps in around
socialism social issues is where he comes in at right? But he
has no room around the gospel When you and I are talking about
the things of Christ, I'm talking about a husband and a wife. I'm
talking about a brother and a sister. I'm talking about a sister and
a sister, a brother and a brother. When our mind is set on Christ
and our words are about Christ and our fellowship is around
Him, you notice how sweet it is? Because there's an anointing
in the fellowship when Christ is exalted. And there is a minimal
conflict, if there's any conflict at all, when our conversation
is about Christ and Him crucified. That's why Paul said to the church
at Corinth, who was going through all kind of trouble, having been
invaded by all kinds of false doctrine and false teaching,
When I came to you, I didn't come to you in the wisdom of
man's words, nor in the sophistry and eloquence of human learning.
I came to you determined to know nothing among you except Christ
and Him crucified. He understood that the only way
that a bunch of people who are sinners by nature would have
successful fellowship is that they all look to one place, and
that's Christ. As soon as we stop looking to
Christ, we're all in trouble. Am I making some sense as soon
as we get off Christ on the other things? Well, your opinion is
just as good as my opinion And why should you let me take your
opinion away just because of who I am now hold on to your
opinion Because I'm gonna hold on to mine But your opinion in
my opinion means nothing Compared to Christ and if we really want
to be unified We would all keep our eyes on the point man and
that point man is Christ. You guys got that All right,
then we'll move on Ephesians 3 for now look at Ephesians 532
I like this one too and again Paul uses the term mystery several
times in Ephesians because what he wanted to do with the church
at Colossian emphasis is to De-mesmerize them Deconstruct their thinking
Removed from their brains the notion that somehow among the
Gnostics that there was a great greater revelation of God that
if they would just enter into that surreptitious labor of Demonic
teachings that they would know more about God than they do through
the gospel He plainly set forth Christ as the mystery if you
know Christ, you know the mystery It's simple pastor. That's right.
That's how God wanted to make it very simple If you got Christ,
you've got the mystery So here he talks about another mystery.
But this is not a hidden mystery. We know about this. Listen to
what he says in Chapter 5, verse 30. He says, for we are members
of his body and of his flesh and of his bone. Who is that?
Christ in the church. But he's using the language of
Genesis Chapter 2, verse 23. When God put Adam to sleep, he
took out of Adam's side a rib. And he clothed that rib with
a body and that body was Adam's wife which God brought to Adam
and Adam looked at her and he said bone of my bone flesh of
my flesh she shall be called woman and for this call shall
a man leave his father and his mother cleave unto his wife and
the twain shall become what one flesh Paul said Genesis chapter
2 verse 23 through 25 is not talking about Adam and Eve it's
talking about Jesus and the church Adam and Eve were merely a parable
they were real but they were only foreshadows of God's eternal
purpose which he purposed in himself before the world began
concerning that body who would be his bride along with his son
who left his father and came down to this earth to pay the
dowry to purchase to himself a bride that he would have for
all eternity. That's the mystery. Now listen to the language how
it goes. This is beautiful. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and his mother Shall be joined unto his wife and they
shall be one flesh. This is a great what? But I speak
concerning Christ and the church got it. You know what? He's saying
you and I are a mystery Man, that's so true See now I'm gonna
start just capping on you now Do you know you are a mystery? For the man, the woman is a mystery
for the woman. The man is a mystery. It's just
true, isn't it? Christ is a mystery to us, right?
We're not a mystery to him, but we're a mystery to one another.
Do you know our safe center is a mystery? Oh, you didn't get
that one. A safe center is a mystery. Because. He is what he does not appear
to be. Got it. A safe center is a mystery
because he is what he does not appear to be much like our Savior
when he walked this earth for 37 years was what he did not
appear to be. He was in the world, the world
was made by him, but the world didn't know him. Why? Because he was a mystery. Am
I making some sense? So is the believer. The believer
is a mystery because we are right now called the sons of God. But
it does not yet appear what we shall be But we do know that
when he shall come We shall be like him because we're gonna
see him just as he is and we're gonna be made just like him.
So we are Something that we yet do not appear to be that's called
a mystery. Am I making some sense? It's very interesting. So he
calls us a mystery because we're in Christ one more verse in Ephesians
619 Ephesians 619 Love the way Paul addresses this in Ephesians
619 as he closes out the epistle to the Ephesians Having dealt
with the family after having laid down the gospel He tells
us about the warfare the unavoidable warfare from verses 10 through
verse 17 how to fight that warfare Putting on the whole armor of
God and he closes out in verses 18 and 19 this way praying always
with all prayer That is all kinds of prayer every form of prayer
every form of biblical prayer you pray and supplication in
the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and
supplication for all the saints that means all saints are in
danger on this earth while as yet we are not in the presence
of god in the crown room of glory we are in danger so all saints
need to be prayed for is that true and for me verse 19 That's
Paul preaching. See, I like Paul because Paul,
every time he wrote to folks, he said, pray for me. Make sure
you pray for me. And here's what he asked to be
prayed for. Now notice this. And for me, that utterance may
be given unto me, that I may open my mouth. Do you know what
that is? That's to declare the mystery.
Confidently, boldly, that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mystery the gospel That's what I was saying So I
could have just said it but I wanted to make sure we went through
the verses so that you could get it The gospel is a mystery that
has to be made known It has to be brought by revelation and
that revelation is through preaching and teaching I want to make sure
you get this only on our way back to Romans 11 Go with me
to Titus the book of Titus. I want you to see this is this
is profound This will if you're sensitive raise your level of
importance to this thing called preaching Preaching is critical
to revelation Preaching is critical to salvation Preaching is critical
to restoration Preaching is critical to reconciliation Preaching is
critical to sanctification Preaching is critical to transformation
God ordained preaching To knit you and I together with him what
that means is He didn't ordain dialoguing. He didn't ordain
social conversation. What do you think about it? Let
me hear your opinion. Let me hear your view. That's
not how God saves, sanctifies, or glorifies. We can dialogue.
We can talk. You hear what I'm saying? But
when you are in a church where all the pastor is doing is having
a social conversation with you, a dialogue, he isn't called to
do anything for your eternity bound soul. Preaching is the
authoritative proclamation of God's unalterable word absolute
truth Necessary for the changing of your soul. How many of you
know that sometimes unless God just comes just Raw and uncut
by his spirit in your heart. You won't stop doing some of
the stuff you're doing. Am I telling the truth? And so
you go to church that Sunday, sneaking church on that Sunday,
thinking you're going to get away from God. And the message comes right
at you. Isn't that true? And the preacher
just seemed to just be bent on preaching to you alone. And all
of a sudden, ain't nobody else in the room but you and the preacher. And you're stuck in your seat.
You want to leave, but you can't leave. You go through all the
ranges of emotion to surprise and shock. You get mad. You cry. You weep. You say, Lord, I'm
sorry. OK, this is enough of this. I'm ready to go. But see
what's happening. The spirit's changing you under the ministry
of the word. He's changing you. Isn't that
true? Now, listen to it. This is interesting.
Titus chapter one, verses one through three. Paul, a servant
of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith,
God's elect. Do you believe in election? You
better God does Now watch this Paul a servant
of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according in relation
to ratio relationship to with regards to the faith of God's
elect and the Acknowledging of the what pocket right there see
and he's going to develop this. How do I know that I'm elect? Because when God's through dealing
with me through preaching and teaching I acknowledge the truth Did you hear what I just said
This is how I know I'm elect. I acknowledge the truth when
the truth comes and cuts me and breaks me down and And convinces
me. I simply acknowledge it God's
true. Let every man be a liar That's
how I know I'm elect and this is what is meant when the Bible
says my sheep hear my voice another they will not follow When the
preaching comes in power, you acknowledge the truth. You don't
argue. You don't debate. You don't vacillate. You don't hop between two opinions.
You say that's the plain naked, honest truth. I may not like
it is just the truth. Now, all of God's elect talk
like that. You guys got that? Listen to it. He says God made
him an apostle with regards to the faith of God's elect. And
the acknowledging of the truth which is after what godliness
Who is the godly person the person that acknowledges the truth?
I like that How can you how do you know you got it? Because
you just you acknowledge the truth now, this is interesting
because um godliness is merely Thinking god's thoughts after
him and responding accordingly All godliness is, is thinking
God's thoughts after him and responding accordingly. Godliness
is not you grabbing the world by the tail on a downhill slide,
or walking in such a way as your feet don't touch the ground,
or as if somehow you're holier than anyone else. Godliness is
not religious hypocrisy or self-righteousness or arrogating to yourself certain
virtues and divine qualities that are not there. Godliness
is not you being the anointed one. Godliness is you acknowledging
that Christ is the anointed one. Did you guys get that? This is
so very important. God knows who godly folks are.
Godly folks are saved sinners who know that they're saved sinners. And they talk Like God talks
with regards to himself now look at verse 2 These folks who acknowledge
the truth, which is after godliness Is in hope of eternal life. Do
you see that? In hope i'm hoping for eternal
life, aren't you? Now the reason why we hope in eternal life because
there's nothing about you and me personally That evidence is
eternal life nothing If we're hoping in eternal life, we're
hoping in something that we have not yet realized. Haven't we
talked about that? That's what it means to walk by what? That's
right. Live by faith and die in what?
Faith. When we die, we die hoping in
eternal life. In eternal life. That's what
the gospel deposits in your soul. A hope for eternal life. Now
notice what it goes on to say. Which God, who cannot what? Promised before the world began. Man, this is wild. He promised
this before the world began eternal life through Christ But now what
nobody around before the world began who he promised that to
Jesus Did you get that? He promised it to Jesus. That's
wonderful, isn't it? He promised it to Jesus and Jesus
came down here and told us the father promised That where I
am you would be also when did he promise you that love way
before the world began? Isn't that good now watch what
he says? This is very important He promised this before the world
began but he in due time Has manifested his word. Do you see
that? That's called revelation folks.
He hath manifested his word now watch this through preaching
See it through preaching God has purposed to make his word
known through preaching Through preaching, he makes his word
known. Through the authoritative proclamation and utterance of
those who are called, he makes his word known to us. This raises,
again, the importance of preaching exponentially because you and
I are constantly listening to people, aren't we? We're constantly
listening to people, and we will tell the world, because the concept
of preaching actually goes back to God. Did you know that God
was the first preacher? In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit
of God moved upon the waters and he separated the waters.
He separated the firmaments from above and below. And God called
the daylight and he called the darkness night. God preached
this world into existence. You guys know that, right? That's
why it says in John chapter 1 in the beginning was the what and
the word was with God and the word was God and Everything that
was made was made by the what the word God is the first preacher
he preached this world into existence and therefore the ministry of
preaching is connected to a vital aspect of God's being as God
speaks this world into existence. So God speaks into sinners new
life through the gospel He makes manifest his word through preaching
Which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our
what you know what that means Jesus is God Isn't that what
it says? All right, go back with me to
Romans chapter 10 11. Let's work through this a little
bit that was just an aside to help us understand the the plenary
nature of the concept of of of the mystery in the scriptures
particularly in the new testament now i want us to run in the context
and understand what paul is doing with you and i know that paul
has been for a long time now working with the jews and the
gentiles in trying to explain to the jews and the gentiles
What God is doing and that's where this term the mystery comes
in He's saying I don't want you to be ignorant in what God is
doing. So he's he's going to now do
what we call Some capitulating he's going to actually be explaining
what God is doing in the subsequent verses call the mystery I don't
want you to be ignorant of the mystery as to what God is doing.
So I want you to hear this now This is what he says For I would
not, brother, that you should be ignorant of the mystery, lest
you should be wise in your own conceit. Now he goes on to explain
it. Now listen to it. Verse 25. That
blindness, in part, is happened to Israel. You guys see that?
So, this here now is part of what he calls the mystery. Blindness, in part, to who? Israel He calls that a mystery
Here's what he's saying what happened to national Israel with
respect to their inability That is the larger preponderance of
Israel, sir. We've already learned that when
we learned that when he he's talking about Israel He's not
talking about absolutely every individual in Israel, but the
larger portion the larger portion of Israel did not Apprehend Christ
for who he was And they were blind, weren't they? So he's
saying this. This is part of the mystery.
In other words, God purposed their blindness. Are you guys
hearing me? This is part of the mystery of
the gospel, that God purposed the blindness of Israel in what?
Part. Now I want you to get this now.
In part, does it have to do with chronology? That is, he only
blinded them for a period of time. In part, it has to do with
measure. That is the larger portion, let's
say 80% of Israel were blinded, 20% believed, that's what that means,
that Israel was blinded in part of the nation while another part
of the nation got the message. Will you please hear that? That's
what he said. I want to make sure you get that. I'm not going
to stay here long, but I want you to understand we're not dealing
with a partial timetable of blindness, but a partial category of the
whole, a portion of the whole has been blinded. In fact, this
is obvious, is it? When Jesus came, the majority
didn't receive it, but there were always the remnant. The
remnant. Go back to, I think, verses 10
and 11. It's in your outline. This will
help you. We can stay contextual with this. Verses 9 and 10 of
Romans chapter 11 listen to what it says again. He's simply recapitulating
what he's already said I want to make sure we understand that
as we unfold these verses that are very controversially set
I'm gonna start back at verse Verse 7 are we there what then? Israel hath not obtained that
which it seeks for now. What was it seeking for does
anybody remember? righteousness You got it Righteousness Israel
has not obtained that which it seeks for but the election hat
obtained it 80% missed it 20% got it Israel have
not obtained it but the election did and Are you guys hearing
me? Israel has not attained it as
a whole, but the elect did. Mary did. Martha did. John did. Matthew did. Luke did. That band of believers that believed
Jesus all the way through, the ones he called his sheep, they
got it. They got it. And so Paul is explaining
this to us. Now notice what he goes on to
say. And the rest were what? See, we're not dealing with chronology.
We're dealing with measure. We're dealing with the portion
who were blinded were the ones who were not what? What's the
word? Elect. Do you know what the text is
saying? The text is plainly saying that isn't it? I want to make
sure you get it because one of the battles we are fighting and
I've been saying this for a long time is the battle of Common
parlance theology that you have heard over and over and over
again That doesn't necessarily square with the plain teaching
of scripture But now when the plain teaching of scripture emerges
out of the text it speaks to you plainly now you and I are
without excuse the text says Israel did not obtain it But
the election did and the rest were what that's what paul is
saying is called a mystery Why is he saying that's a mystery
because that was part of god's eternal purpose That was part
of the purpose that god talked about all through the old testament
You guys remember I started in in the book of deuteronomy chapter
29 I will blind them. He says to this day. I have been
giving you ears to hear our eyes to see or a heart to perceive
And then we jumped over to the book of Isaiah chapter 6 when
Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord and he heard the angel saying,
go to this people. And Isaiah said, here I am, I'll
go. And God said to Isaiah, now,
when you go, this is what I want you to do. I want you to close
their eyes. I want you to put them to sleep.
I want you to make the heart of this people heavy by telling
the truth and I'll come through By my spirit and I will cause
the people to go to sleep because they are living in rebellious
idolatry against me That's isaiah 6 and then we went to isaiah
29 because in isaiah 29 he said the same thing So by the time
jesus came They did not recognize the lord of glory. Am I making
some sense good so we can go on because this is part of what
paul calls the mystery The blinding of the blinding of national Israel
versus 1911. Let's see. Did we reverse 11? Verse 89. OK, I'll leave that
alone. The second one is the revelation
given to the Gentiles and the consequent provocation. The revelation
given to the Gentiles and the consequent provocation, look
at verse 11 and 12. Say then have they stumbled that
they should fall God forbid but rather that through their fall
Salvation has come unto the Gentiles right in order to do what? Now go to verse 30 and 31 we're
going to come back here in a moment. I Want you to see this I'm in
verse 30 of chapter 11. Are we there for as you Gentiles
in Time past have not believed God Yet have now obtained what? Through their what? Even so have
these also now not what? That through your what? They
may also obtain what? Do you see it? The other part
of the mystery is this. God allowed blindness to happen
to the nation, the nation of Israel, so that the gospel would
go to the Gentiles. That's a mystery, God says. That
would have never been understood with the human intellect, with
the rational mind. Still the question is raised
by us who dare to question the righteousness of God. Why would
God do such a thing? Don't we do that? Why would God
do such a thing? Well, whenever we go, why would
God do such a thing? We are actually inquiring into
a what? Mystery. The humble will stop
right at the front door. When he sees on the door a mystery,
he won't go in that door. He'll say, oh, that's a mystery.
I'll leave that alone. God knows what he's doing, right? So what
the apostle is saying, be careful now that you don't become conceited. There are things about this scheme
of redemption that's taking place in the mechanism that God has
determined in his own economy that are part of the mystery
of the scheme. Why God blinded Israel, he knows why. Why he
allowed their blindness to be a precipice or a premise upon
which the gospel would come to you and I as Gentiles, God knows
why. And this is why it's very important children of God that
in relationship to what God does You and I must know who God is
by nature Because in order to trust God For what he is doing. You got to know him And you got
to know he's trustworthy And you got to know that whatever
the lord does is right Because he's a righteous god and he's
a holy god and he's a just god you and I will never be satisfied
Intellectually or emotionally inquiring into the mysteries
of what god is doing God only deems for us to be able to rest
in what he's doing because we know him And that's why when
jesus said in matthew chapter 11 verse 25 This this is just
remarkable. This is the son of god. Now,
you know, the son knows the father, right? In fact, jesus said don't
nobody know the father but me But he said this in Matthew's
11. He said in Matthew's 11 verse 25. He says father. I thank you. I thank you now listen to this
father. The Bible says he spoke to God
audibly Lord. I thank you that you have hid
these things from the wise and the prudent and have made them
known under Bain. You know what Jesus was doing.
He was acknowledging the mysterious work of God in blinding and giving
revelation In blinding and giving revelation and god did it because
he wanted to do it because what jesus said in matthews 11 26
Is this for so it seemed good in your sight? What theology
derives from that statement from the only begotten son concerning
the father Here it is. Jesus was pleased with whatever
the father determined to do See this is what I was saying to
you a couple of weeks ago. I think it was last week. I love whatever
god does God can do whatever he wants you the more he reveals
himself to me the more I'm happy with God being God just like
God is I Wouldn't want God to change one thing about his program
Not just one thing God do whatever you want to do because what I'm
learning in my walk with God is father knows best Are you
hearing me? What I'm learning is God knows
best I'm learning that if God allows me to move the table a
little bit the whole thing is off course and The Son of God
taught me this Here he is walking among his own people, seeking
to draw them into his bosom, but he knows his father is blinding
some and revealing Christ's glory to others, and Jesus is happy
with it. See, now that's not the attitude
of so-called religious folk today. Folk are arguing and getting
upset and denying doctrines that are very plainly set forth in
Scripture because they have the audacity to bring God into judgment. Well, when you do that, it tells
me you don't know God. Because if you knew God, even
if you didn't understand why he did it, you could trust him.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? I don't know why he chose some
and didn't choose others. I don't care. God did it. I love him
for it. But I really love him because
he chose me. You better get on in that. I really love him because
he chose me. That's what David said. I'm telling
you. David coming back from the war and finally got the Ark of
the Covenant home. After his buddy Uzzah got killed.
Remember that? But he was gonna try to uphold
the art God can uphold himself But who's the thought he better
reach over there and uphold the art first of all they were carrying
that art on human works religion Instead of doing it like God
said doing God doesn't need any help and so who's the reach over
there just dark because he thought he was just anointed enough to
help God and God killed him and David was just struck with utter
utter grief God David couldn't believe God would just kill a
brother like that and God just killed him in the ark. Stop right
there. David said, stop right here.
Y'all go home. I'm going home. And we all went
home. They all went home. And David prayed and begged God,
God, what am I doing wrong? See, God had to show David, even
the king can't do whatever he wants to do. He got to do it
according to the due order. You got to worship God according
to the scriptures. If not, God will never be pleased with your
worship. I wish this generation would get it. Just because you
feel good doesn't mean God feels good. Whoo, that one goes deep
doesn't it? Finally the priest told David
how to get the ark home on the staves of faith and obedience
Two long golden poles running through the rings on either side
of the ark of the covenant were to be carried by the priest On
the staves of faith and obedience. That's what pleases God faith
and obedience So they took it home and when David got it home
David behind our when he saw it go in the Jerusalem David
starts stripping himself of all his garments and start dancing
and rejoicing, happy. Wasn't he happy? Twirling and
jumping like the brothers be doing, spinning on his head and
going between his legs and flipping. David was getting down, dancing,
dancing with the stars. No, not dancing with the stars.
That's the other one. What's the other one where the
youngsters just doing all those flips and stuff? Is that what
it's called? Break dancing? I thought break
dancing was old. Is it break dancing? No. I'm very impressed by some of
these youngsters flipping around like they're doing, aren't you?
That's what David was doing anyway. He was going home, and Micah,
his wife, was hanging out the kitchen window on the third floor
of the condo they had. And she said, look at David.
Look at David. Now, he the king in Israel. Now,
you know kings ought to exercise a little bit more decorum than
that. Now you've been taught that in etiquette school. Kings
aren't to be that kind of undignified individual. David comes in the
house, what's wrong with you? Y'all brothers, y'all know you
when you go in the house and it's all twisted. So what's wrong
with you? What's wrong with you? Oh, so
the king is to just be out all naked and just do it like ain't
nobody looking. You know what David says, let
me tell you something Micah the Lord God Almighty chose me Over
your father, that's why I did it That's what he said David
rejoiced in the fact that he was an undeserving Hell-bound
sinner that had no reason to be king in Israel God not only
chose him God anointed him God used him and God honored him
For that you should rejoice see folk that are saved are saved
because God chose you in Christ And you ought not be ashamed
of the fact that God chose you in Christ. You better rejoice
in it Jesus did All right, we can go on a little bit further
wrap this up. I'm Looking at the third aspect of this not
only is is God's purpose was to use the Gentiles to provoke
the children of Israel to jealousy that they might Come to understand
the gospel, but it was in order to constitute the ultimate fullness
Look again at the latter part of verse 26 Let me read the whole
of verse 20 No, the whole of verse 25 here Here's what it
says for I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of
this mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceit that
blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles Become in do you see that? until the fullness
of the Gentiles become in here is where the Controversy begins
to develop and I want to see if we can work through this So
one part is that Israel was blinded the other part was the Gentiles
received the gospel They received it and by that Jews also received
it. Isn't that what we're learning?
Until the fullness or the completion of the Gentiles. You guys see
that? All right. So now, what happens
when the Gentiles enter into their fullness is the argument. Until the fullness of the gentiles
the fullness of the gentile simply means that when all of god's
elect among all the people groups of the world all the different
nations hindered tribes and tongues whom god had purposed to save
the people out of Please understand because we've been dealing with
this at length. God's not saving everybody He's not he never intended
to save everybody He merely meant to save people out of every people
group nation kindred tribe in tongue That's what is what is
meant to be redeemed Go with me in your bible to revelation
5 verse 9. I want you to see this the folks
in heaven understand this We don't down here on earth. We
haven't figured it out yet, but the folks in heaven understand
that god purposed to save a people out of Every nation kindred tribe
in tongue. He didn't purpose to save every
nation kindred tribe in tongue Let's see if we can make that
good. I'm in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9. Are we there and They
sung a new song These are the 24 elders that fall down before
the throne of God worship him day and night You know the 24
elders are they are the Old Testament Saints represented by the Old
Testament what we called the 12 tribes the spiritual government
in the Old Testament and The New Testament Saints represented
by the 12 apostles the spiritual government in the new in the
New Testament The 24 elders represent the whole of god's elect who
die and go to glory We are part of that eldership when we get
there. You can develop that in your own time. You're an elder
when you get the glory Down here you just a son, but when you
get the glory, you're an elder. This is man and female male and
female We're all before the throne of god and we are worshiping
god and we are thanking god and here's what we articulate in
verse 9 and they sung new song saying you are worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof now watch this because
you were slain and you have redeemed us to God by thy blood watch
this out of every kindred tongue people and nation got it out
of. That means when you go to the
store and you pick some oranges, you take some oranges out of
the bunch of oranges. So God has an elect that he takes
out of every nation, out of every kindred, out of every people,
out of every tongue for his own namesake. Am I making some sense?
They are called the elect. They are the ones who are redeemed
by God's blood and they are brought to God and they rejoice in it
when they get the glory. Listen, when you get the glory,
all you're gonna do is be rejoicing. You won't be arguing You hear
these folk talking about when I get to heaven. I got a lot
of questions. I'm gonna ask god I said man, you better hope you
get to heaven the way you talking The way you talking I got a lot
of questions i'm gonna ask god Do you do you know when you drop
this veil of flesh and you put on a glorified body? That means
your mind is also perfectly renewed God ain't gonna bring you in
his in his presence to be asking unending numbers of questions
He's qualifying you to worship Him. There will be an instantaneous
knowing when we are perfected, an instantaneous knowing. Immediately, you will know things
that you don't know now. The mystery will be removed.
Man, we up there asking God, God, you know, I never really
could figure out what, and God said, now, did you get translated
on your way up here? The way you talking, you didn't
get translated. All right, go back to Romans
chapter 11. Let's see if we can work this through. I'm going to ask God some questions
when I get to heaven. The way you're talking, you better
make sure you get to heaven. I'm not asking nothing. I want
to be a doorkeeper. I want to be a glorified doorkeeper.
I want to just usher the saints on in. Come on in. Come on in. Glad to have you.
Glad to have you. Come on in. I'm through preaching.
Come on in. The Lord's preaching today. He'll
get it right. All right. Now, this is going to be a very
interesting portion of consideration. I hope that God gives us some
understanding. I'm at verse 26, and this is critical. I'm going
to be dealing with what we call the controversial clause here.
And I'm going to open it up tonight, then we'll deal with the rest
of it next week. I can see that's necessary. For I would not brethren
that you should be ignorant of this mystery lest you should
be wise in your own conceit that blindness in part is happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and
so all Israel shall be saved You see that and so all Israel
shall be saved. That's the way I opened up our
study, right? I really meant to put that as the title in your
outline but somehow as I was printing out the initial copy
I Missed that title. And so I want to put this up
here so that it'll marinate in your mind We're going to deal
with this portion briefly Tonight and so all Israel Shall be saved Here's the problem in theology
is the end so and so the The majority of your
contemporary interpreters interpret that phrase and so as to mean
this. After this, after this, Israel,
all Israel shall be saved. Now I want you to think with
me for a moment. If any of you have been taught
how this so-called scheme of redemption should go, The argument
is that God is operating right now in what we call an age of
grace, the New Testament period in the church age. God is saving
Gentiles and he's saving a few Jews. But when he's done saving
all the Gentiles, then the church age is overwritten and God's
going to go back to save the rest of his Jewish people. Have
you heard that? That's the predominant interpretation.
And and the phrase and so therefore is meant to be and after this
after the fullness of the Gentiles come in all Israel shall be saved
You guys see that all Israel shall be saved. The problem is
this phrase and so Can never be interpreted after this There
is no advancement of the subject in Romans chapter 11 with regards
to the mystery of verse 26. Verse 26 isn't closing out with
one purpose and then opening up, verse 25 rather, and then
opening up in verse 26 with another subject. Now after we have had
the fullness of the Gentiles come in, now we'll go back and
bring all the rest of Israel in. And that is the popular interpretation
that falls within the category of eschatology called premillennial
dispensational theology. Isn't that right? That's the
general hermeneutical implication, but the text won't bear that
interpretation by any stretch of the imagination. Now, there
are a number of ways to interpret scripture, and one of them is
to interpret scripture grammatically. Grammatically. Grammatically
meaning you look at the grammar and you determine by the grammar
the significance of the meaning that phrase and so is the Greek
word who to and It's a very prominent. It's a very prominent word in
our Bibles and I'm just going to take you to some of the places
who to HOU TOU the H is silent in the Greek as it is in Spanish
and in Latin who to or who to and it's never translated after
this. It's never translated after this. It's never ever implied that
subsequent to this, that will happen. For those of you who
are part of other churches and you love your pastor, have your
pastor check this out and then get back with me. It is never
translated after this. And once the fullness of the
Gentiles come in, then after this, all of national Israel
will be saved. It's never translated this way.
Here is the way that it's translated several times in your Bible.
It's in your outline. I want you to see it. In your
outline under verse 26, you see down in the bracketed portion
under the many verses that I've given you in verse 26. And so
it's always translated in this fashion. You got that? Or in
this way. or in this manner, or on this
wise, or likewise. You guys got that? In other words,
what we have here in the phrase and so is what is called a parallel
clause. A parallel clause. A parallel
clause is a word or a couple of words that connects what was
said with what's about to be said with the purpose of striking
a similarity between what was said and what's about to be said. You guys understand what I mean
by a parallel clause? A parallel clause is a clause
that establishes a parallel between what was said prior and what's
said afterwards. Let me see if I can help you.
The same clause is used In the gospel of Matthew, go with me
to Matthew chapter one, verse 18. I want to go to three or
four verses. I'm going to close. I want you to see this and then we're going
to come back here. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter one, we're
going to go through several verses. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter
one, verse 18, it just opens up by using this clause in the
first the first portion of the sentence by saying this now the
birth Jesus Christ was what on this wise you can translate that
in this manner or in this fashion you guys got that in this manner
or in this fashion then what happens is the narrator begins
to explain the bird so what he has just done is made a connection
between the previous statement and what's about to take place
becomes an explanatory commentary on the previous statement. You
guys see that? There's no advancement of the
subject. It's simply an explanation of what was previously said.
Now, Jesus Christ was born in this way. Then he begins to say,
now Mary was with child, dah, dah, dah. You got the narrative.
He's not advancing a thought. It didn't say, now Jesus Christ
was born and after this. Am I making some sense? All right,
I want to go on a little bit further, because did somebody
say no? I thought I want to make sure no one misses this go with
me now in your Bible to the gospel of Matthew's chapter 6 Matthew's
chapter 6 I want you to see about four or five places You can read
all these verses that I've given you if you have a Greek concordance
You can search this out yourself. We'll come back and we will look
at this next week Matthew chapter 6 now This will help us is very
clear in Matthew 6. Are we there? Jesus is speaking
to the church out as to how it ought to behave itself And in
Matthew chapter six, the question is asked about prayer. And this
is what Jesus says over in verse nine. This is the same Greek
clause in verse nine of Matthew six after this manner. Do you see that? Therefore pray
ye. The subject is what? Prayer.
The clause is a parallel clause and he's about now to explain
how to pray. He's not advancing the subject.
He hasn't concluded the subject. He's not moving on He's simply
about to explain what it means to pray you guys got that After
this manner same Greek word after this manner therefore pray ye
our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name again Go
with me in your Bible now to Matthew chapter 6 verse 30 Are we there Matthew chapter
6 verse 30. I'm gonna actually have to start
at verse 29. I And yet I say unto you that
even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
One of the what? The lilies. You guys know the
context, right? Jesus is talking about how God
has glorified himself in creation over in verse 28 and why take
ye thought for? Raymond considered the lilies
of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin
and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these that these is antecedent to what
the Lily is that true now watch verse 30 wherefore if God So
see the word so that's our word so in Romans chapter 11, that's
the same phrase likewise are in this manner likewise if God
in this manner Clothed the grass of the field which today is and
tomorrow is cast into the oven Shall not shall he not much more
clothed ye. Oh ye of little faith You guys
see what I'm saying the word soul in Revelation Romans chapter
11 verse 26 is the same word so here and can be translated
in this manner Are on this wise or likewise now i'm going to
give you a very common verse hold on with me a few more minutes
Go with me in your bible to john 3 16. You heard this before But
I just want you to hear how it's phrased So that you understand
it and then I want to go to a couple more and we're going to close
it down and we'll pick This up next week in john 3 16 now In
order to understand john 3 16 You've got to understand john
3 verse 13 through 15 Because John 3 16
is a response to Jesus telling Nicodemus What must happen for
men to be born again? verse 12 if I have told you earthly
things and you believe not how shall you believe if I tell you
of heavenly things and No man hath ascended to heaven but he
that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven
and as Moses Lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so there's
your word again It's a parallel conjunction must the Son of Man
be lifted up. Do you see that? That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life now
look at verse 16 for God in this manner Got it For God in this
manner in this way Love the world. Got it. So he's making a parallelism
between the serpent being raised up in the wilderness and Christ
being raised up on Calvary as the manner in which God loves
the world. See, for most people, the word
so is this big old emotional and God's soul. Isn't that true? No, Jesus said God loved the
world this way In the same manner in which Moses lifted up the
serpent Jesus must be lifted up. Jesus is the love of God
to sinners Am I making some sense and I could take to you take
you to dozens of verses So going back to Romans chapter 11 26,
you don't have to go there. We're gonna close now when we
come back next week We're gonna actually deal with what that
phrase means and so all Israel shall be saved Let's close in
prayer father. We thank you for your time. We
thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth As it is in
jesus. We thank you for knitting our
hearts together with you in love. We thank you for your spirit
We thank you for your purpose and your decree. We thank you
for your faithfulness and your glory. We thank you for your
majesty We thank you for your awesome nature We thank you for
condescending to save a people such as us from all portions
of the world To redound to your glory for all eternity We can
never imagine it. We could never thank you enough.
But we thank you. We thank you. We thank you. As
we go our way, give us traveling mercies, Lord. Keep us. Watch
over us, Lord. Lay our heads down upon our pillows
and give us rest. Raise us up tomorrow to do your
will. Prepare our hearts to worship you as your people all around
the world on Sunday. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. God bless you.