of the book of Romans, 1125. For I would not, brethren, that
ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye 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, as it is written, that it shall come out of Zion
to and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Now, I'm interested,
not necessarily in expounding those three verses in the light
of the eschatological context, but picking up that word mystery
right there. But I will say this, that much
has been said in respect to that first verse, the 11th verse,
and that is that blindness in part has happened to Israel until
the fullness of the Gentiles become in, many are the interpreters
of that verse when they preach back to you concerning the verse,
instead of in part, in time. They say, well, that's just for
a time, but the verse says in part. Now, you notice that. That'll
help you. I ran a circle around that years ago. And then he says,
and so all Israel shall be saved. Whatever that verse says, 11,
is telling you that in this manner shall all Israel be saved. It
will give you a little light on who is all Israel and how
God will save them and so on and so forth, if you study that.
My subject matter is tied into that word mystery right there.
So I want you to turn, if you will, to 2 Thessalonians 2 and
familiar ground here in respect to what's often spoken of. as
the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, eschatological
views in respect to the Scripture. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, and
let's read for just a moment here, beginning with verse 1.
Now, we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. and by our gathering together
unto him," I trust that's what we're doing here today, "...that
ye be not soon shaken in mind, or to be troubled, neither by
spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of
Christ is at hand." Paul said, I didn't write any letter like
that. I didn't preach anything like that. And you be careful
that you're listening to something as it was from us. Somebody else
signing my name to it as it was, saying that's what he preached.
I didn't preach that. Let no man deceive you. One of
the greatest deceptions that we'll ever come in contact with
is not that of angels and devils, but man. He's deceived, and he
deceives others. And that's the folk we come in
contact with. Let no man deceive you by any means, any means,
whatever he uses. For that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God,
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was
yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time." Here comes
the word mystery this time, and to it is added the word iniquity.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now
letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. And then
shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders. and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause, or this reason, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. And then he changes with the
conjunction there. You heard a message in that just
recently. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved to the Lord. because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth." Now, I read verse 13
to turn your thinking capacity backwards for just a moment to
tell you that when he injects this conjunction here, that the
folk he's speaking to in those verses prior to that are not
people beloved of the Lord. They are not those who God chose
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the
truth, but they are people who God did not set His love and
affection upon, and He brings them to a place in life where
He will send them some things also. It doesn't say the devil
will do that. It says God will send them a
strong delusion that they believe a lie. Now, God is going to do
one thing with every human being. This you need to get here. First,
he's going to do right by everybody. No man can accuse his maker when
it's over and say, you mistreated me. But there's one thing he's
going to do with every human being, he's going to dispose
of every man. He is a great disposer. He's
not the person you hear so much about. Now, let's make a proposition
to God. Maybe He'll make another proposition
of some kind. That's not it. God's going to
dispose of every human being as seemeth good in His own sight.
These folks that's under this searchlight this morning here
are men who He set out to dispose of by not giving them the love
of the truth. Now, I know the accusation against
them. They love not the truth. But a man can't love the truth.
unless God loves him who is truth. And it's just plain preaching.
You hear so much today in the circle that we belong to keep
easing in just a little bit, just making a little dimension
somewhere where you can give big man a little hold. It's got
to be now that God's giving everybody a chance. God don't give anybody
a chance. He either gives a man a strong
delusion and he's bound to believe a lie, or he gives him the truth
as it is in Christ Jesus and he believes it. One to two. And of all these things we hear
about, you know, it's a God-making proposition. We make no proposition
and proposals, we do that. But he has a proclamation of
his own purpose, and that's the gospel. And the good news, the
word concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here
we are this morning faced with one subject, and that is the
mystery of iniquity. Now, in the days of Apostle Paul,
when this was penned, the mystery of iniquity was already working. We say, well, those days, there's
no difference in the days of the apostles and the days in
which we live. Well, somebody adds to that and
says, history just repeats itself. We just run in a cycle. And when
we finish that cycle, we run in another cycle. I grant you
that to a great measure. That's so. But the apostle Paul,
as he left the scene, told a young preacher by the name of Timothy,
he said, Timothy, I fought a good fight. I finished the course,
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me at that
day, and not only to me, but to everyone that loves his appearing."
Now, Timothy, I'm going on. I'm leaving. And by the way,
you better inject that right there. He didn't say, it'll just
be a few days now before the rapture takes place, and I'm
not vilifying some of the teachings. I simply believe that this thing
of a secret occasion when the children of God leave is not
clear in the Word of God, my estimation. He didn't say, now
I'm going this way, I'm going like the escalator goes, and
you go into the grave. He didn't say that. He said,
I'm going by the way of the grave. He said, I know which way I'm
going, I'm leaving, and you're left here. We're not all going
together in some imminent occasion, just right at hand, we're not
doing that. I have light on the subject, Timothy, that you're
going to stay here. And he said, there's a time coming in your
day that I've never witnessed it. So when we speak of progressiveness,
yes. When we speak of history repeating
itself, yes. But we speak of the end of the
time, when really we're coming down to a cataclysmic occasion
that no other generation of people have ever come to, then it's
going to be somewhat different. That's where we are today, I
fairly believe. I don't know. that we're coming
to the end of the way in our day and time, but things sure
point to that direction. And one of the things that points
to that is a mystery of iniquity already working in Paul's day
and time is sure facing the acquisition that God gave to the Amorites
when he said their cup wasn't quite full yet. It looked like
it was pretty well filled up. Now, I don't know how much longer
We'll be around, but the scriptures I want to bring to your attention
here this morning will not induce us to believe that we're just
going, don't worry about that, we'll be gone, and things are
going to continue to get worse and worse, and they are getting
worse fast, and all of the What shall I say? The moral conservative
influence that sticks a generation of people together just slips
out from under us and through our fingers if somebody says,
well, I believe that God's working all things after the account
of His own will. That'll be all right. That is
so. But the people of God may suffer through a situation while
He works things after the account of His own will. For God sees
to it that the righteous suffer with the wicked. And now we're
faced, as you just heard a few moments ago, talking about in
the home, rearing the children, in the street, everywhere. We're faced with what the Scriptures
speak of as a lawless situation. And it's seen to be here in this
second chapter of the book of Thessalonians. I want to study
this one. I don't know how deep I'll get into the subject here
as to expounding these verses of Scripture. And much of it
I'm not... enlightened enough to give you
the light that you hear so much, I'm sure, across the country.
But if we can, we'll get some of it. And that by studying the
word mystery, for example. Now back here in Romans 11, don't
need to turn back there, but back there in Romans 11, Paul
said, now I would not have you ignorant of this mystery. I don't
want you to be ignorant of this mystery. A mystery is not necessarily
something that remains a mystery because of the fact that it is
not revealed. It can remain a mystery and be
revealed as a mystery. Paul says this is a mystery,
and he goes ahead to say it's a mystery hidden in God. So many
times the scriptures just teach us, now, I'm dealing with a mystery.
I'm not going to leave you with all of the light that can possibly
be given on this mystery. I'm just telling you this is
it. And we're living in a very mysterious age. Mystery age. You can't figure anything out.
Now, everybody feels just recently that they made a good move, and
possibly in the political realm that we can maybe change men
in the White House. And it may be that the change
will come, I don't know. And it may be that it won't.
I don't want to be smart about it and just say, well, it doesn't
make a whole lot of difference to me. But I'm going to tell
you something, and we need to get this once and forever, that
the King's heart's in the hands of the Lord. You go preach Christ. and preach history at the same
time, you better preach Christ. He is the one who actually makes
history so. So the king's heart is in the
hand of the Lord, whoever he is, whether he's in a position
of kingship or whether he's just the small person under the king.
The whole thing is in the hand of the Lord. But he speaks of
the king. He says, the king's heart is
in the hand of the Lord. He turns it with whatever way
he will. It's like a water. of the river
is turned. Well, there isn't a whole lot
I can do about that. Well, now, God doesn't leave you out of it,
I'm not saying that, but keep in mind that the whole disposing
of the lot is God's disposing of it. And this is the only thing
that will comfort us through this hour that we're in, for
it will be worse tomorrow. The situation is desperate today.
When you try to think anything through, you say, well, now,
what's the best route for me to go? There isn't any best route
for you to go. No use to fuss about the best
route. Which is the worst of two evils? The best way to settle
it? Say, I see nothing good about
this matter other than the fact that it's just a way through
this thing. And we're living in the day when God seems to
have reserved evil workers and evil communicators for the day
of evil. He does tell us to redeem the
time for the day of evil. So you know this. You say, well,
I'm just in a predicament. I listened to a man's voice. That's what's said, men will
deceive you. I listened to a man's voice and I listened to the news
media and I heard this and I turned right straight around and I listened
again and I heard something else. Well, you can't figure things
out, just simple things, just like all these pollution control
majors, just simple things that we've been confronted with. When
you figure the whole thing through, you get right back to where you
started and say, didn't gain a thing, except spent a fortune or something
of the kind like that and made it hard on somebody. You can't
figure things out. We're just living in a mysterious
age as never before. And I'll tell you what, the folk
who apparently have the reins in their hand are just as confused
as everybody else. They know that. Well, let's see
what it's all about then. Turn back, if you will, to 1
Corinthians 2 and verse 7 of that chapter. Let's look at some
places where this word mystery is used. 1 Corinthians 2. in
verse 7 of that chapter. I think I'll read some of these
scriptures this morning, try to take the time with you, which
is almost impossible for me to do, and I beg your pardon for
that trait I have. But in the second chapter of
1 Corinthians, beginning with this verse 1, "'And I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with the excellency of speech
and of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.'" Paul,
what did you preach? I preached God's testimony, not
mine. "'For I determined not to know
anything among you, as the whole lot I did know. I was well-read
and well-learned, but I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. Why? That your faith should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Well, Paul,
what did you speak? Howbeit 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 naught, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. Paul, do you mean you spoke in
a mystery and then you turn around and tell somebody? Now, I wouldn't
have you ignorant of this mystery. That's what I'm saying a few
moments ago. A mystery, when unfolded in the Word of God,
still leaves you in mysterious grants. Go back to the prophecies
of Daniel or some of those mysterious revelations that God gave one
of those times. Now, here it is. I'm going to give you light
on the subject. But you're still left with much to learn. We just
don't attain. Like I've often said, as God
teaches me something, it's like a cloudburst. I see something
unusual, and then on beyond that, when the sky clears, I see something
else. It leaves me just as much in a mysterious situation as
I ever was. So he says, I speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world and to our glory. which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. But it is written, but as it
is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him." And that's we. That's not the folk who are unregenerate,
that's the children of God. But listen to this, "...but God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God." Now, that sounds like
a contradictory statement right here, but the Spirit of God reveals
those things to you, and revealing the mystery of God to you reveals
it as a mystery and leaves it as a mystery. We're living in
a mysterious hour. You'll find that out tomorrow,
more so than you did yesterday and today, that nothing can be
figured out, until we make four anymore. And the language that
we one time used, you pick up a word and first thing you know,
well, I don't know what I'm talking about here. We're living in a
mysterious generation. And it is a fact that the mysteriousness
of it is the mystery of iniquity that's already worked. It is
a state of lawlessness and anarchy and mass mannerism where a little
nation, we might as well come down to current events, a little
nation like Iran can stand off the most powerful nation in the
world. Well, what shall we do about this? And one man says,
well, I'd do this. Why don't you go do it? The best
thing to do is you get in trouble like that and just settle them.
That's why I know what I'd do, I'd go get them then. Somebody else
said, I'd do this and I'd do that. How are you going to handle
a situation like that? Very mysterious situation. It is something that
apparently history and days past and gone wasn't confronted with
too much. And what's it all about? Because you've got a little place
surrounded with a bunch of so-called religionists, militants who are
mad and wild, and you can't face the issue with anybody like that
today, as though there were people that could be reasoned with.
What is it? It's a state of anarchy. It's a state of iniquity, lawlessness,
and mysterious manner in which men work. And you say, what shall
we do? How shall I blame anybody? You
can't blame anybody for the situation except, I look back and I say,
is there one thing sure that God is going to punish sin? And
in punishing sin, and in punishing the righteous, and punishing
the wicked. He always gets the righteous
somewhere in the middle. You say, Lord, God, deal with
this person like they are everything else but a child of God. David,
pray, Lord, deal with my enemy, deal with my enemy. And God did
so. I'm telling you, he dealt with
them over and over again. But old David knew God was dealing
with him. He sure dealt with him too. So
we're just living in a time when it's a time for us to perk up
our heads and listen for God to speak to us and try to get
some light on the subject. Which way shall I go? What shall
I do? You don't hear as much of it as I do, but I'm telling
you what's honest to goodness truth. There are people scattered
everywhere today who are in a state of convulsion. We're just living
in that hour. And we've got more than we ever
had before. This nation is still a nation
of plenty. I don't know how long that'll
last, but we seem to have less time than we ever had, and yet
we have more gadgets and this, that, and everything else. So
why is so mysterious? There's something back of this
thing that's making it that way. You can't figure it out. I'll
tell you what it is, though. He attributes it to the working
of Satan with all signs and lying wonders. God's behind that power.
giving Satan delegated power to act in that capacity. And
we are seeing unusual things happening. Here it is. He said, it's a mystery, and
any way you take it, it's going to remain a mystery. So be careful
as we progress if we don't learn too fast. In the fourth chapter
of the book of Corinthians, I'm just going to give you something
to study. And then if we get to it, we'll get over here in
that passage in 2 Thessalonians where we really see what most
people seem to think is a cataclysmic occasion. of we being escalated,
going out of here and leaving the situation. And there is much
confusion, if there ever was confusion, there is confusion
in the realm of eschatology. Most people have their ideas
about how they go on to heaven, but few of them are concerned
about how I'm going to live here. That's right. I don't mind dying
if I know something about how to live. I don't mind to wade
through some mystery if I know it is a mystery, but if I'm caught
off guard and say, well, I thought I had it all diagnosed. and had
the very pill that everybody could take and would take, and
everything was lovely, and certainly I didn't have any answer to any
of the questions. You're in a bad shape. And you see that every
day. You see that every day. You see
that among people, saying, well, I was going good. We've had folk
coming and going here that teach you this kind of lesson over
and over. Well, I understood the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus, and suddenly I began to see that I had some insurmountable
obstacles, and no reason to it. work it out. And most times,
brethren, the average person runs from that thing and runs
off on the deep end somewhere and says, I'll just forget it
all. That's not the child of God. If they endure, if we endure
those things, chastening that God brings to the child of God,
if we endure chastening, then we're children of God. And it's
a matter of enduring these things as we pass through this pilgrimage,
and we better make up our minds. that we're good soldiers only
if we endure. And we need to put the whole
armor on and forget about the fact that we've got time to play
ball, and I'm not saying that in a literal sense, or entirely
too much ball played. We've got folk today who are
paid ten times, maybe more, for playing a game of ball out here,
seasonal, than the man up yonder in the White House. We're confused. We've got an issue at stake today
that the pleasures of this world and the thing that entertains
the unregenerate out here has so hypnotized the so-called child
of God that you can hardly tell the difference from a person.
Is something wrong somewhere? You know, like if the man is
not taking up with God and says, but you said it, and by your
grace I intend to head that way at least. But people are not
interested, no convictions whatsoever. I guess it's because everybody's
going that way. That's about right. That's about right. And that's got a lot to do with
it, too, brother. If it looks like everything's
going the opposite way from the way that you feel that you should
go, don't you tell me it's easy for you to go. And every time
you turn, like you're going to move that way, you get a slap
in the face and a rebuke instead of some encouragement, you'll
get up occasionally slow. as though the count were just
about made for you. So here's where we are. We need
the Word of God. We need some interest in the
truth concerning the person and the purpose of Jesus Christ in
behalf of that person who says, I'm a Christian. Let everything
else go. I can't help that, let everything
else go, not interested. Now, I'm not talking about sitting
down somewhere and saying, well, I'm not going out on the job,
I'm just going I'm going to look for God to move or something
like that. I'm not saying that we've got a lot of that all over
the country. I'm simply saying that we need
our dead level best, if we're children of God, to seek out
what God would have for us and what we should listen to, because
you listen to everything. Just because we meet as a group
of people who say we love the truth and hear the truth, well,
we're not immune to the fact that all around us are those
folks who say, Well, everything is lovely, just like the Old
Testament prophets say, and God is simply giving those people
a strong delusion. Let's go just a little farther
while we're in the book of Corinthians, the fourth chapter, in the first
verse. I'll just flip through there
with you. Paul says, "...let a man so account of us as of
the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of
God." And you're not today to preach
anything that can't be figured out and either rationalized or
ruled out, one of the two. So I don't understand that. I
don't want that. I'm confused anyhow. Moreover,
it is required and steward that a man be found faithful. And
this is the thing that's shaking the others up, just like I was
preaching. sometime last Sunday, I guess it was, that we find
ourselves unfaithful. Yet God says it's required of
you that you be found faithful. And I compromised to a certain
extent, I guess, as I interpreted scripture, but it's there. He
said, I found you faithful in a few things. Thank God that
he found us faithful in a few things when it's over with. Well,
I tell you, they are. They are. So much for that verse
of scripture right there as we move on to another passage in
the same book, 13.2. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 2. This is one that you need to
read and study over and over for. You hear today the silver-tongued
orator and such men who have great, pleasing personalities,
and they dot the i and cross the t and do the very thing that
sounds like an angel from heaven, and yet, listen, though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity."
And that doesn't mean this thing that you have a long arm and
somebody else, and you're reaching out at your A man who is a charitable
sort of a man, that's not what that scripture is talking about
at all. It's saying, and have not charity, and have not the
love of God. That's exactly what the scripture
is teaching in 2 Thessalonians there. It is the love of God.
Is that God's love you're talking about, or is it your love? You
hear so much of this pharisaical love today. It's my love going
out here. No, it's God's love to me. If
I don't have that, I am to become a sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge," now, that's
a hyperbole, you know, nobody has that. so that I could remove mountains
and have not charity, I am nothing." That doesn't mean, that's a contradictory
statement if it doesn't mean this here when he says, and though
I could remove mountains and have not charity, turn just before
that, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains,
and have not charity, I am nothing." And that don't mean that love
toward somebody else. Remember one time, this is mysterious
in its exegesis here, and it's clear as a crystal to the person
who is experiencing it on the other hand, that if I don't have
love and charity, and one time more, that's not this way, it's
coming down from God, then I don't have anything. I don't have anything. I'm absolutely nothing. We've lived so long in an era
when we've heard, do, do, do, do. And somebody sure needs to
come up preaching the doctrine of God having already done some
things, and that he's doing something. There's nothing wrong with the
pressure put on for a child of God. This you should do, but
turn right straight around and tell that child of God, the last
time I told you to do something or not do it, you made a mess
out of it, and you go do it again. You can't claim one bit of virtue
from what God sets out to tell you to do. You can't do that.
It's one time more. Do I have anything that looks like this
love of God is love to me? That's the whole thing. If not,
I have nothing. Well, how much of that do you
hear? How much of that do you hear? That's speaking the truth
in a mystery form. and uncovering to the extent
that I leave a person there. And you said, why is it left
mysterious, Brother Graham? Because of the fact there seems
to be a pivotal point for the child of God to walk on. what
to fly on, as it were, an airplane, landing by a light. And you find
yourself so, well, I lean too far, far that away. I just said,
well, I know I can't do this, and I know I'm imperfect, so
I just won't try. And flop, you go. And God gets
you out of that sinkhole and brings you back and tells you
again, says, now, I've given you wisdom, I've given you insight,
I'm starting in this direction. And about that time you say,
I know, I can do it, I just take wings and fly. The first thing
you know, you're down again. Brother, that's the life of a
believer. And he comes to the place where he says over and
over, Oh, I can't bank on anything that I have of yours that I might
exercise as a good servant of yours, I'll still be unprofitable.
I just want to know one thing. This mysterious thing of your
love, can I bank on the fact that your love is one that's
absolutely perfect, and you're still loving me and you're loving
other people in the same manner. That's it. That's a mystery,
isn't it, God? Only the child of God can get
over that. Well, how about the 14th chapter? Here's prayer life, I think,
in the 14th chapter. Verse 1, "...fall out to charity
and desire spiritual gifts." rather that you may prophesy.
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh unto men, speaketh
not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him,
albeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries." I don't need to go into that
14th chapter and preach the hour or two on them, simply dealing
with their prayer life, speaking to God. And speaking, he speaketh
in the Spirit, he speaketh mysteries. Only the Spirit of God can interpret
my prayer life. I don't know how to pray. Scripture
teaches me that I know not how I should pray, what I should
pray, and how I should pray for that thing. I don't know that.
I'm left to God along that line. Why is that such a mystery? I
don't know. It's just a mystery that God leaves there as a mystery. That's what it says. How about the 15th chapter of
the same book, while we're breezing through the book here? And whether he says it there
or not, I wasn't sure about that, but he speaks of a mystery concerning
the resurrection here, and he says in verse 41 of the 15th
chapter, There is one glory of the sun,
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the star, for
one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the
resurrection of the dead, it is sown in corruption, it is
raised in corruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is
raised in glory. Sown in weakness, it is raised
in power. Sown in a natural body, it is raised in a spiritual body.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it
is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last
Adam made a quickening Albeit that was not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is the earth earthly,
the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthly, such are they
also that are earthly. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit
corruption. Behold, here it is, I show you
a mystery." Now, you don't mean to tell me that Paul has unfolded
that mystery. Is this the fact that he's showing me this mystery
and I understand the mystery of the resurrection? No. Behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, in the last trump, for the trumpets are sounding,
the dead shall be raised incorruptible. and we shall be changed." And
on he goes there. He is just saying, I show you
a mystery. And I want it understood as I preach this morning, that
to show you a mystery, to unfold a mystery in the Word of God,
is unfolding it as a mystery and leaving it in its mysterious
form. over and over, things are mysterious. Matthew 13, if you remember,
while men slept, the mystery parables of the King of Heaven
and Matthew 13, while men slept, the devil sowed his tares and
so on and so forth. But on other occasions he said,
you sow a grain of corn and while you sleep it just grows. Can
you figure that out? No, you can't figure that out.
It's mysterious. Paul is dealing with something
right here that he leaves as a mystery. And get this idea
of what a mystery is, you'll never understand 2 Thessalonians
2 at all. There will be some light on this,
otherwise we'll have to go further. So let's go again with some more
of these verses. Here's a revelation again, and
yet it's a mystery. The first chapter of Ephesians,
and there are more places in that chapter we'd like to deal
with here for just a moment. The first chapter of Ephesians,
and 9 is the verse that we want to read there in your hearing. Just keep in mind, if we don't
get over to that passage in 2 Thessalonians, that the mystery of iniquity
does already work. The mystery of iniquity. We're having a complete turnaround
in the realm of nature today. Why you see so many arguments,
if you pick up anything, any article that you might read today,
you say, well, what's wrong with taking the homosexuals apart?
What's wrong with that? That man is born that way, and
he can't help how God brings him into this life, and so on
and so forth. That's another deception, a satanic delusion.
The scripture doesn't teach you anything. It doesn't even dare
teach you anything like that. Fifteen, twenty years ago you
didn't hear any argument like that. We're living in a realm
that has slipped in on us very mysteriously and grabbed us like
this and say, you're to accept anything. You're not to try to
figure it out. Your children are being schooled
like that. If they've got a mind to think for just a moment, they
don't want you to think. They want you to accept what
somebody is saying. Brother, I'm going to tell you
what's honest to goodness, the truth. The iniquity of the Amorite seems
to be filling up and lawlessness abounds on every side, and along
with that the love of many is waxing cold, and we just need
to know what's going on and not listen too much to what people
tell us out here, for men deceive you, they deceive. I don't mean to set aside the
writers of days past and gone. Many of our forefathers and the
Puritans and others as well are well worth reading. But after
all said, none after you've read even those people, and particularly
so the writings of this hour, you show me something worth reading
today, if anybody writes. Songs, poems, or anything else,
none of it makes any sense. And this thing has just slipped
in like a termite and cut the foundation out. And our generation
coming on, they don't know the truth. They just need the truth
preached to them. They say, well, that is so, and
come back to the word of God. That's the only hope that we
have. And by the way, it's just simply slipping through our fingers
like a clock hand swishing midnight, brother. That's all there is
to it. It won't be long until you won't have the King James
Version. You won't have any translations worth listening to. You'll have
a transliteration and a sloppy version of something that you
can read to anybody and get by with. You can't just about do
that with this Bible now in the minds of some people. People today are out here on
the racetracks and all kinds of places, desecrating God's
one-day-out-of-seven praying that God will let them win the
race, and then brag because God listened to them. You know what
that is? That's a strong delusion that will send a man straight
to eternity without God unless God wakes him up. You say, Brother
Graham, that's just too old-timey for me. Well, we need to get
back to antiquity. That happened to be ordained
in the Garden of Eden that one day out of seven before the fall.
It will remain that way. The people don't believe that.
They say, I don't see nothing wrong with this. It's contagious, brethren. It's
enticing to any of us. We are children of God. And the
sports arena has just taken everything today, you know that to the extent
of, well, I've got to have some of that mixed in with my religion
or don't have anything. Well, why not try sometimes just
shoving everything off but God one time? Call it fasting or
whatever you may, and just say, what will happen if I just drop
the curtain and say no to Harry? Now, nobody much knows, I'll
tell you. There's no such thing as that
among people. I don't meet anybody I can talk with much. I have
those days and it looks like, Lord God, have I got to go further.
is another day. It just looks like if he'd come,
then he'd be fine. I know he's not coming while
I'm under that kind of a spell, I recognize that. But you try
to talk to somebody and they haven't got sense enough to talk
to you, the average person would call themselves a Christian,
but they're just a jumping jack. But I'm going to tell you one
thing. According to the book of Revelation, oh, Babylon, the
mystery of Babylon is going down, brother. Satan's first game is
to see if he possibly can imitate the true thing. But that's got
to go. This generation is about done
with this imitation called religion. It's not working. But I'm concerned with the people
of God. I'm concerned with my own family,
my immediate household, in the remote areas where that ministry
will reach into. I'm concerned with one thing.
Have I got anything except just a pall, parrot expression of
what God says he is, or do I actually have it? Now, we need something
today in this hour when all around us everything gives sway. You
know that. And if you have children, you're
mindful of your children today, I feel sorry for the younger
generation. I'm for them. And I know what they're up against
in the circles that they that they necessarily need to find
themselves in. We people of God, we older folk,
we seek to accompany one another, and your children don't have
anybody much to seek company with. So one of the things that
you need to do, and do it over and over again, is be honest
with the child of God, be honest with the child of God, that we
don't have too much. They know Daddy and Mama much
better than we know ourselves lots of times. But after all
is said and done, we should share what we have with them. I'm for
the younger generation. I'm not going to blame the teenagers
anymore. We're past that stage. We done
had some uncles and aunts, and even down to granddaddies act
like teenagers today. So why jump on the teenagers?
This is a mess we're in. Nobody wants to hear about this.
I had a man come to my house a few days back, and it was when
my mother-in-law was down. The only time they ever come,
it's a relative. And the only time that they ever
come is when she's there, so she don't come too often, that's
helpful. They're religious folk. They've
got their education where, you know, you'd think you'd learn
something, Wake Forest, places like that. I just get so sick
of that old thing, with everything getting better, you know, optimistic
about everything, you know. I'll pass this on to you. You
have families in here. Sometimes I just get enough of
things. It don't take me long to answer,
you know. The lady, she seemed to have all answers, you know.
They spent a little time with us during the occasion. Muffin
Hall was there. She said, I said, well, I said,
I don't know when you all, when to invite you folks back. I don't
know when grandmother's coming back. And she said, well, you
could invite us back some other time, couldn't you? I just laughed
at that. Religious. Everything's lovely. Oh, aren't things going well?
No, not going too well. I didn't think he was getting
along too well. Or she didn't. But that's what we're up against.
You're mad at somebody else because you don't go along with them.
That's a short story. That's a long story. We live
in the same city. And no one ever honors up, as
long as I keep my right mind, I'm not going to honor my faith,
even if it is all on her side of the house. If it's on mine,
it would be worse. So much for that. This is Memorial Day. I thought Brother Gerald was
gone, he had to go. He honestly did. I tell you what, brother, you've
heard me say this before. I used to just love an orphan
until I feel so sorry for you, what we call orphans. You understand
what I mean. Then one day I thought it would
be nice for a person to marry an orphan and be one yourself,
so you wouldn't have any relatives. There wouldn't be no memorial,
nothing along that line. That's the way the Lord Jesus
Christ taught, brother. And you think that's not antagonistic
today, brother? Well, I got to go, and Gerald
done gone. If he was here, he'd hear the
same thing. But he's not the only one, you see. Well, I just
got to go, and that's all right." The mystery in which we are in
today begins to unfold a little bit and say, where am I? Am I
a bud in this thing? Am I a blossom, or what's it
all about? Ephesians 1, verse 9. Paul says that this redemption
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the forgiveness
of sins, was according to the riches of his grace. And verse
8 says, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. Listen
to it. This is it, that in the dispensation
of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.
Now, I want to know one thing about the verse of scripture
when I read it. Am I being gathered together in him? That's all I'm
interested in. That's all I'm interested in.
Well, if you are, I'll tell you what, you're in a mysterious
atmosphere as God gathers you. You say, well, everything is
lovely. I'm one of God's elect, and everything is just going
well. No, you won't act like that. You say, Brother, I believe
I'm one of God's people. Well, what a struggle! What a
fight! Temptations and enticing and
alluring things that this world has for us is a struggle for
the child of God. If he misses that, he'll miss
heaven. How about the third chapter, the first verse? You might not
be able to put this together like a puzzle, but these scriptures,
as I'm reading to you, must fit in their rightful place as to
the eschatological views of the book of 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
They must fit. This particular occasion here
is a dispensation that Paul speaks of. More confused, bewildered
people over this 3rd chapter than enough. For this cause I,
Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if ye have
heard the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me
to you, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery,
as I wrote it before, in a few words. whereby, when ye read,
ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit."
Now, you listen to this right here. The reason I'm using that
word, mystery, again right here, Paul leaves this thing as a mystery
to us as other people interpret this. And you'll be hearing over
and over, people interpret this verse like this. which in other
ages was not made known." Now, you listen to the preaching there,
which was not made known. Nobody ever knew about this dispensation
that Paul came upon by revelation, it is said, until it came to
the Apostle Paul. Now, what the Apostle Paul said,
listen to it, whereby, when you read, you may understand my knowledge
in the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made
known unto the sons of men." That means a wholesale man. made
known unto the sons of men." He didn't say the apostles and
the prophets, he said the sons of men. He said it dumped out
in this generation in a wholesale manner. But he said it was not
made known as it is now revealed, and that clause helps me interpret
it there, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit. So you've got the whole thing
being out there. And that is that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the
gospel." And he said, I made a ministry according to the gift
of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of
this power. And he goes back where it comes
to verse 9 and says, And to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been
hid in God, who created all things, by Jesus Christ. I show you a mystery, he says.
But I'll leave it a mystery. Most people today, then, as they
attempt to preach the scriptures, will confuse you right there
with things that they say, Now, Paul has shown us this mystery,
and here it is! And they twist the scriptures
to their own destruction and leave you in a worse shape. We
can't get some light on the subject from the Spirit of God. We're
just stuck, brethren, as we go through the scriptures. In the
5th chapter of the book of Ephesians, verse 32 of that chapter, Paul
still feeding up to the book of Ephesians. Of course, this
is too good to just begin with there and read one verse, for
he plainly says that this relationship here is that
of a wife and a husband relationship and that of Christ and his Church.
This thing is searching to me in this hour. In verse 22, he
says, Why submit yourselves unto your own husband as unto the
Lord? Why? For the husband is the head
of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church." Now,
brother, you can stop right there for a while. I begin to essentially
search my own life and see that I have a relationship to my companion
as Christ has to the Church. His relationship to me has taught
me a lot of things. faith of imperfection and unfaithfulness,
he's still the head, and he's still Christ to me, he's still
Lord to me, and I'm still his bride, and he is the Savior of
the body. Therefore, as the Church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wife be her own husband and everything.
Husband, love your wife, even as Christ loved the Church and
gave himself up, that he might sanctify, separate
it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having a spot or
a wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. So men ought to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself." This is the only place in the Scripture where you can
fall in love with yourself, is by loving your wife as yourself. Other places, it says, kept a
man hate his own self. sought men to love their wives
as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever hath hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and
cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. For we are members
of his body, of his flesh, not his bones." Here is a local church
group today. It's saturated. The whole country
will tell you that this is local church membership right here.
He's not talking about that mystical body of the Lord Jesus Christ
that the people of God belong to, and for that reason they
have an expression that makes up the local church. They tell
you that this is altogether the local assembly. Instead of that,
God is relating to us that mystical union that he has with his people,
and in that light he's relating another union that we have as
husbands and wives. And on that ground only do you
understand what he's talking about. You mean to tell me you're
going to love somebody like Christ loved me? I'm not very lovely. No strength,
unlovely. For we are members of his body
and of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they
too shall be one flesh. And this is a great mystery.
That's the thing I'm coming to you. Is that a great mystery? You folk who know anything about
companionship at all, have you got all that figured out? If
you have, I wish you'd write it down and pass it on to me.
I'm old and rusty. The great mystery of the relationship
that a man has to his wife. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the Church, and the analogy as
such. Nevertheless, whatever man of
you in particular so love his wife as himself, and his wife
see that she reverends her husband. That's a mystery. That's a mystery. You say, well, I can get the
second coming straight now, but wait just a moment, let's get
to it as Paul led us to it. There's one more passage there
in the 6th chapter where he uses the word again, and it's the
19th verse. So he says, in verse 16, he says,
"...above all, taking the shield of faith." wherewith ye shall
be able to quench all the fiery darks of the wicked one, and
take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God. Now, unless this word of God
this morning is the sword of the Spirit, if it's my sword,
I won't get anywhere. But if the Spirit of God uses
his sword, he'll pierce your heart. Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel." Is the gospel a
mystery? Well, I thought it was a simple gospel, the death, burial,
and resurrection of the Son of God. Nothing mysterious about
that. You hear these false prophets
telling, that's what this man says, it's a mystery how that
God Almighty could come into this world and tabernacle in
in a tabernacle like our tabernacle, and yet he would be God, and
yet he could be a sin offering for his people. What a mystery!
Time has caught me. Let's go back to where the text
will be, if the Lord will lead me to it again, and read it one
more time. Comment just a little on 2 Thessalonians,
chapter 2, and about verse 7 there. only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way. Then shall that wicked
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness, in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause, God shall send them strong delusions that they should
believe the lie, that they all might be damned who believe not
the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." Let's go to the positions as
they speak. There is one more position. Recently
there's some light on this published in some of the writings of some
of our 100th century, or the last 100 years' writers, and
that is that it is a matter here of who he is mistraining will
be taken out, and that's the strength seems to be in that.
And this may be so. It seems to be in the minds of
some of the writers right now, that the moral restraint, anything
that looks like it would hold back this awful influx of ungodliness
is still here. And to this extent, I have preached
over and over and over. You don't hear me talking about
so-called Christian truth. I've got no truth. Asked to dine
with Billy Graham. Now you should speak about these
people. We just recently talked about
that. If God permits a thing, keep in mind one thing. that
the area in which you are living, suppose there are preachers around
there who, what we call moral, ethical souls, just self-righteous
as they think, and all that they can think about is what they
can do instead of what God can do, but it makes for that child
of God a better environment to live in and keeps the whole thing
from exploding. And I would rather think there's
consumption in that life. When God removes that, brother,
the fight is on to remove everything that even looks like the restraining
of things. When that's gone, then they say,
well, the Bible's out of the stew. They couldn't interpret
the Bible anyhow. That's fine. I agree with that.
But you must remember it's going out of there, brother. And along
with that, you dial a dial, and say, I'm dialing a Protestant
believer, and I hear a prayer. Or I hear a message. Most of
you know you can do that. Now you pick up your phone, right
here in Charlotte, you dial an agent. They've got to have equal
rights to understand. Now, brother, I'm going to tell
you something. This thing is being flipped upon us to defend.
When this goes, our church is bound on remission. And pamper
wasn't worth a dime. I don't want any of the presents
you're saying tonight. God knows about that. I'm not
interested in that. I'm just saying it when the morals
matter. Just to get what is morally right
is gone when all the things gone. And I find it to be that God's
using me.