So John, can you leave some prayer
after the bread? Andy, can you do it after the
watch? Ephesians chapter 3. I want to call your attention
to this. Phrase. In verse 9. To make all men see. This is
our desire. to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery. I have entitled this message,
The Fellowship of the Mystery. The Fellowship of the Mystery. Now, the only people who have
this fellowship in this mystery is believers. The Lord said to
his disciples, it's given to you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom, but to them, it is not given. Now, those are
the words of the Lord. It's given to you, if you're
a believer, to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them,
it is not given. Fellowship. It means having a
share in, being a partaker with, having communion. I believe that
Henry Mahan gave the best definition of fellowship that I've ever
heard. Fellows in the same ship. That's what fellowship is. Fellows
in the same ship. Now, it is only the ones who
have had this special revelation of the mysteries of the kingdom
that have this true fellowship. Now, this thing of fellowship,
it's a New Testament word, it's found over and over again, and
it's an important aspect of the gospel. You know, there are no
one-member churches, are there? There is such a thing as love
to the brethren that produces this fellowship. The early Christians
were said to continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and
fellowship. It's real. Turn with me for a
moment to first John chapter three. Or chapter one, I'm sorry,
first John chapter one. First John chapter one, verse
one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and
our hands have handled of the word of life for the life was
manifested. I love the way he calls the Lord
Jesus Christ, the life, don't you? He's the life. And we have
seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life,
which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you
also may have fellowship with us. A true spiritual fellowship. And truly our fellowship is with
the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And these things
rightly unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the
message which we've heard of him and declare unto you that
God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that
we have fellowship with him. Now, hold on. A lot of people
make that claim. I have fellowship with God. I
pray to him. He hears me. I have fellowship
with God. A lot of people make that claim.
As a matter of fact, I would say most people make that claim. They may not even be Christian,
but they're what they would call spiritual. And they have fellowship,
communion with God. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness. We lie. And do not the truth. Now understand when he's saying.
Or speaking of walking in darkness. He's not talking about sin in
the dark that nobody else knows about. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about. walking in
the darkness of religious superstition and salvation by works. If we say, if we make this claim,
I have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness of salvation
by works, we lie. Our claims are not real. We do
not the truth, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light. My only hope of being saved right
now is that he is in the light in the very presence of God as
my representative. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. You know, I love
the way that's spoken of cleanseth. I'm always needing cleansed,
aren't you? But we have fellowship one with another in the gospel
through the blood of Christ and the blood of Christ cleanseth
us from all sin. Now, there's a fake fellowship
when it's contrary to the light of the gospel. and there is a
genuine fellowship, kindred spirits, communion, people who truly believe
the same things, and their heart is united in that. Now, I'm grateful
for fellowship when you can get together and visit and so on,
but the chief fellowship that is important is fellowship in
the gospel, believing the gospel, our hearts being united together,
to fear his name. We read in first Corinthians
chapter one, verse nine, that we've been called into the fellowship
of his son. We read a fellowship in the gospel,
the fellowship of his sufferings. You know, I want to know that
what he did, he did for me. I want to know that I had a part
in his sufferings that I'm a partaker of what he did, united to him,
the fellowship of his sufferings, the fellowship of the ministering
of the saints, the fellowship in this mystery. Fellowship in
the mystery. Now look at our text once again.
And to me, Paul says in verse eight, who am less than the least
of all saints is this grace given. that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men
see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning
of the world had been hidden God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ. Now, in preaching the unsearchable
riches of Christ, here's my desire. I want everybody, all men, to
see the mystery of the fellowship. You know, I want everybody to
believe. You know, you ought to believe. It's true. And I
can call upon every man. You ought to believe the gospel.
You ought not to have any doubt about the gospel. It's the truth.
I know only the elect will believe. I realize that. But I am the
only ones who will believe whom, whom God has made known the mystery
unto you. It's given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of God, but to them, it's not given. I mean,
their words can't be any plainer, but our desire is to preach the
gospel to every creature. Everybody ought to believe the
gospel. Everybody ought to see the beauty
and the glory of Jesus Christ. Amen. Everybody ought to. Now, what we want to do is to
make all men see, to illuminate, to shed light upon the mystery. I love this word mystery. It's
a word repeated many times in the scripture. It's found five
times in the book of Ephesians. But the word mystery in the New
Testament does not mean the same thing that we use when we use
this word today in the 21st century. You know, Who committed that
crime? No, it's a mystery to me. When
we think of mystery, we mean, no, I don't know. It's a mystery. It's not being revealed to me. I don't know the answer to that
question. That's what we mean by the word
mystery. It's a mystery to me. I've said
that before. Somebody says something, asks
me a question, I don't know the answer. What's a mystery to me?
I don't know. But the New Testament does not mean that. It's not truth concealed. It's truth revealed. Knowing that which you could
have never known had not God made it known in his word. It's not truth concealed. It's
not I don't know. It's truth that you would have
never known had not God made it known in his word and you
would have never believed it unless he caused you to believe
it by revealing it to you and revealing your need of the truth. Now, let me give you a real simple
illustration of mystery. Would you have ever even suspected
that God was one God in three distinct persons. Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Would you ever come up with that
on your own? No. This is a mystery that God has
revealed in His Word. We would have never known this
had not God made it known. And we wouldn't have believed
it had He made it known unless He gave us the grace to believe. Don't you know that so? Look
in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 4 and 5. Paul says, 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, as it's now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit. He said, he's made known to me
the mystery. Now you read all the words up to this point. We just read Ephesians 2, 8,
and 9, and Rick read that. By grace are you saved. You wouldn't have known that
had not God made it known. You'd never know that. I'd never
know that. Through faith, you would have
never known that. Not of works, you'd have never
known that. This is mystery revealed. Go
in to the first chapter when he says, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us. with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Would
you have ever known anything about that had he not made it
known? He lets us know about the mystery of election according
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love having
predestinated us. We have known the mystery of
predestination. We would have never known this
had he not revealed it in his word. Would you have ever known
that God predestinated who would be saved and how they would be
saved and for what end? You would have never known that
had not God made it known in his word. The mystery of being
accepted in the beloved, read all these blessings in Ephesians
chapter one and two. And he says, God has made known
this mystery to me that I might make it known to you. And here's
what's so important. And we're just talking about
what the Bible teaches regarding God, how he saved sinners, who
Christ is. It's not just saying, here's
what it says. It's seeing my need of this,
this mystery, these things revealed in this mystery. Let's begin
right here when he opens up this chapter and says, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
I need to have given to me all spiritual blessing. I need that
desperately. When he says, according as he
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
I need God to elect me. I see how election glorifies
God, but nothing, but this, even more, I need him to choose me.
If he doesn't choose me, I won't choose him. I know myself. I'll
go away from him if he doesn't bring me to himself. I need him
to make me holy and without blame because I can't be that way.
I need to be accepted in the beloved. I need to have my sins
forgiven. All these glorious truths, these
mysteries that God has revealed, this isn't just doctrine I'm
going to argue for. This is what I need. This is
who I need. I need the mysteries of the gospel. Now, in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul
said, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. And this is true preaching. We
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now some preachers preach this
in the modern sense. They preach in such a way as
it's a mystery to be solved to understand what they're saying.
I don't want to do that, but that would represent most preaching. Their words are carefully crafted
so as not to offend anyone and to please as many people as possible. And so you've got to try to pick
out what they're saying. You can't really figure it out
because it's covered. covered. It's a mystery that you need
to solve. I love the way Paul didn't preach
that way. He said, if I please men, if
that's what I'm trying to do, please me. And if I please men,
I should not be the servant of Christ. And if I brought a message,
I want everybody to believe. Believe me, I want everybody
to believe. But if I brought a message where everybody was
pleased with it, I'd know I didn't tell the truth. I'd know it. We preach the gospel of God as
a mystery. The gospel's a mystery. Every
doctrine is a mystery. It's something we could not possibly
have come up with on our own. The mystery of the Trinity. The
mystery of union with Christ. That's taught in Ephesians chapter
five. The two shall be made one flesh. Talking about the man
and woman, he says this is a great mystery concerning Christ and
the church. Think of this. Every believer
has always been eternally united to Jesus Christ. If you're a
believer, you've always been in Him. You were before time
began. He's always said to you, behold,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. You've always had personality
to Him. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. Now that's a mystery. that we
can't understand, we can't possibly grasp, but we believe. I love
the declaration of the mysteries of the gospel. We preach the
mysteries of the gospel. Men can't figure it out. I can't
explain how I've been eternally united to Christ. I can't comprehend how I never had a
beginning, that I've always been in the mind of the Savior. I
can't possibly comprehend that, but I believe. You know, preaching
the gospel, we don't so much explain it, we declare it. It's
something to be believed. Not understood. You can't understand
the great mysteries of the gospel. Now you can understand to some
extent, and like I was saying this, you know what I'm saying
when I say men are dead in sins, you understand what that means.
You understand what it means if we say God chose who would
be saved before time began. You understand that. You might
not like it, but you understand it. But still with regard to
these, it's all mystery. It's all mystery to be declared,
to be adored, to be believed. We preach the wisdom of God in
a mystery. Now, everything in the Bible
is a mystery revealed that we would not have known had not
God made it known. Now, you can know that God created
the universe without the Bible. It's just makes sense. There's
got to be a cause to all this. You can know that, but you can't
know of the glory of creation apart from what God's word reveals
regarding creation. With regard to these mysteries,
there are some six or seven things, although everything in the Bible
is mystery, there's six or seven things that the Bible actually
calls a mystery. And that's what I want us to
consider each briefly. We read in first Timothy chapter
three, verse nine of the mystery of the faith, the mystery of
the faith. Now this is another name for
the gospel is called the faith. the common faith, the faith of
God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness. Now the faith tells us, and remember
this is the gospel, it's another name for the gospel, it's called
the faith, the faith of God's elect. The faith of God's elect,
the faith, the mystery of the faith tells us how that God can
take somebody like me or you, sinful as we are and make us
perfectly just and holy without guilt before him. That's mysterious,
isn't it? I have some understanding of
my own sinfulness. He understands a lot more than I do, but I have
just a little bit of understanding of my own sinfulness. And to
think that God, through the gospel, Well, here's a scripture that
I think will illustrate what I'm saying. 1 John 1, 9 says,
if we confess our sins, and that doesn't mean just confess them
all, because you can't do it. You don't know what they all
are anyway. You don't have enough time in the day. It doesn't mean
to be able to articulate every sin that we've committed. It
means to, the word means to speak the same thing. When you confess
your sin before God, you speak the same thing God says about
your sin. You take sides with God against yourself. That's
what the confession of sin is. It's the same thing God says.
But it says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive our sins. Now, that's not the way we would
say it. We say he's merciful and gracious to forgive our sins.
And indeed he is. But that's not what the Holy
Spirit says. He says he's faithful. To do what? To do what He'd already
determined to do. And He's just. Not just merciful,
but just. His justice is honored in the
forgiveness of all of God's people because Christ paid their debt.
And justice is honored. And now that sinful publican
in the back of the church, beating on his breast, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. Christ says, I say unto you,
that man went down to his house justified. I don't know of anything
that makes my heart leap for joy any more than that, that
I stand before God without guilt through my Redeemer, justified. What a mystery. Would you have
ever known anything about that had not God been pleased to make
it known? Oh, how blessed you are if God
has made known to you this great mystery and you glory in it. You rejoice in it. It doesn't
become old to you. It's ever new, ever glorious. So many mysteries. I think of this. This is part
of the mystery of the faith. Moreover, the law entered that
sin might abound. But where sin abounded, Does
it abound in you? Does it abound in you? Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. Now that's the gospel, isn't
it? Here's the gospel, for he hath made him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Would you have ever
known anything about that mystery had not God made it known? And
you could read it in the Bible and understand the mechanics
of it, but what about when the Lord makes you rejoice in the
mystery, the mystery of the faith? And then we read in Ephesians
1.9 of the mystery of His will. You know, somebody says, I know
the will of God. Well, I don't know if you do
or not, unless you know the mystery of His will. A lot of times when
people talk about God's will, here's God's will for my life.
This is God's purpose for my life. I get tired of people saying
that. You don't know it. You don't know it any more than
anybody else knows it. As far as what you're supposed
to do tomorrow or where you're going, that's not knowing the
will of God. The mystery of His will is He's
made known what His will is. He doeth, Daniel 4, 34 and 35,
He doeth according to His will. in the armies of the heaven and
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. None
can keep him from doing his will. None can say unto him, what doest
thou? Give an account for yourself.
He doesn't know an explanation to give you. But thank God, he
has made known his will. Let me give you some scriptures.
John 6, 38, 39, 50. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the father's will which is in me. Here it is, that of all
which he has given me, I should lose nothing. But raise it up
again at the last day. Matthew chapter 18, verse 14,
it's not the will of your heavenly father that any of these little
ones perish. Matthew 26, 42, the Lord is praying
in Gethsemane's garden. And he says, if it'd be possible,
Let this cup pass from me. And he knew he was getting ready
to be made sin. And then in that cup, he was
going to be drinking the sin of his people, and they're going
to become his. And as a man in the flesh, I don't understand
this, but he prayed, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. You see everything revolving
the cross, involving the cross, what the Lord suffered, it's
God's will. When he said it is finished,
it's God's will. Everything that tooks place,
it's God's will. He said to Paul in Acts 22, 14,
the God of our fathers has chosen thee that thou mightest know
his will. Ephesians 1, 11 being predestinated
according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Hebrews 10, 10, by the witch
will, by God's will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ, one for all. Now here's when you understand
something about his will, you know, the supremacy of it. If
he wills it, it's done. If he wills it, it's done. If he wills my salvation, I am
plumb saved. That's what that means. Then we read in 1 Timothy 3.16,
this is one of those places where he actually uses the word mystery.
He says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I love a story I heard once where
There were two brothers who were preachers, and one denied the
deity of Christ. He didn't believe in the deity
of Christ. And his brother did, and he asked his brother to come
and preach for him, but he said, don't preach on anything controversial.
And so his brother got up and announced this text without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Is there anything more glorious
than that? That the eternal God became a seed in his mother's
womb and went through that nine month period of her being, bearing
him and then coming out as a little boy and growing up, never said
great is the mystery of godliness. And then look at Ephesians chapter
five, since you're in Ephesians anyway. Verse 32, this is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now he'd
been talking about marriage. Beginning in verse 22, wives
submit yourselves under your own husbands as under the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the
head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in everything." Now, is this about a male being
dominant over a female? Has nothing to do with it. Is the church subject to Christ?
Marriage is given to illustrate this relationship. He said, this
is a great mystery. All the stuff I've been saying
about marriage, it's about Christ and the church. Let's go and
read verse 25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church.
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. I can't express
how much I love verses like that, because I feel like I got plenty
of spots and plenty of wrinkles and plenty of bruises. I know
I do. I know you do too. But thank God, this is how every
believer is in his sight, through Christ's righteousness, as my
own personal righteousness, because of the preciousness of his blood.
I'm without spot, I'm without wrinkle. When the Lord looks
at me, he looks at me as his beautiful bride. No fault, no
ugliness, nothing but absolute beauty. Now that's the way Christ
views every one of his people. Now that's a mystery, isn't it?
That's mysterious. Let's go on reading. But it should be holy. Without
blemish, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. And when Jesus Christ loved me,
when he loved you, this is true of every believer, that union is so close, it's
so real, it's so vital that he was loving himself. You know, people said you need
to learn to love yourself. I never had any problem with
that. I don't understand why people say that. And I hate myself
too at the same time. I hate myself for loving myself.
But the mystery of Christ, when he loves me, he's loving himself. That's how close, that's how
real, that's how powerful this union is. Believer, you are precious
to Jesus Christ. He says, you're altogether lovely.
There's no spot in you. There's no fault in you. You're
without blemish. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it even as the the
Lord, the church, for we are members of his body, of his flesh,
and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. It is a great
mystery, isn't it? In Colossians 127, would you
turn with me there? Colossians chapter one, just
got a few more. Verse 27, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you. The hope of glory. Now what a mystery this is. Christ
in you. Christ in you. The hope. glory. Paul said, I live, yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Christ in you. Now, someone says,
translate that for me. I believe, yet not I. It's Christ in me
is why I believe. I love God. I do. I love every aspect of him. I love his holiness. I love his
sovereignty. I love his justice. I love his
power. I love his wisdom. I really do
love God. I adore him. And I know there's
only one reason. Christ in me. It didn't come
from my flesh. My faith didn't come from my
flesh. My repentance didn't come from my flesh. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Every believer knows this. You
know, Paul said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Do you know that about yourself?
Well, that's because he's revealed it to you. But everybody that
knows that in their flesh dwells no good thing, There's a reason
they know that. It's because Jesus Christ is
in them. Christ in you. The only reason you believe,
the only reason you love, you know, this is the only reason
you persevere. Have you ever feared that you won't hold out,
that you'll fall away? The scripture was read sometime. I don't know if it's back there
or out here, but The psalmist said, I've gone astray like a
lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I don't
forget thy word. Why is it that you won't fall
away? Christ in you. That's the only
reason. Look in Revelation chapter 17. This hit me like a ton of bricks. Verse four, Revelation 17, verse
four. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls. Very impressive. Having a golden
cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.
And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the
great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
Now what this is talking about Religion. Religion. She looks so impressive,
but I perceive that she's nothing more than a harlot, the mother
of the abominations of the earth, all the different denominations,
all the different religions. Now, why is it that you see that
religion is a filthy, evil, abominable thing. I can tell you why, because he's
revealed this mystery to you. Most people that you do, that
you know, admire religion. They admire religion. They think
it's got its place, it's got its good points, and you see
it what goes on under the name of Christianity as filthy abomination,
as evil in God's sight. And you look at it as more evil
than other things, you know. I mean, I'd rather be around
somebody that's just living a horrible life than around someone that's
real religious. Now, one, you can get to hell
both ways, I realize that, but I see religion for what it is.
It's the great harlot. I see religion as that seductive
woman you read of in Proverbs 3 and 6, and the abhorred of
the Lord will fall to her. She seduces me, and I see that.
I see that mystery of iniquity Paul spoke of in 2 Thessalonians
2, the man of sin, the Antichrist, Antichrist religion. I see it
for what it is. How come? He's revealed to me
this mystery. How thankful you and I are to
be that the Lord has made that known to us. Many never see it. And one last scripture, turn
to 1 Corinthians 15. You know, we're going to die. Brilliant thought. We're going
to die. We're going to quit breathing,
and we're going to be dead. What happens? Well, the Lord
has made this known in this great mystery. In 1 Corinthians chapter
15, beginning in verse 51, Let's start in verse 50. Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Now, those two words would describe
us, wouldn't they? Flesh and blood and corruption.
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 at
the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. I love where
the Lord says at that time, the righteous shall shine as the
sun. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now, what do you and
I know of the fellowship of the mystery? And this is what believers
have fellowship in. We have fellowship in the mystery
of the gospel. You know, I love the mysteriousness
of the gospel. I just love that. Not something
you can so much intellectually grasp, But believe, and let me
say something I say often. If I can intellectually comprehend
and grasp this, there's not much to it. There's just not much
to it. This is high and holy, the mystery
of the gospel which we believe. And oh, that the Lord would enable
us to revel in the fellowship of the mystery. of the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
gospel. Give us the grace to have fellowship
in the mystery of thy gospel. And Lord, as we prepare to observe
your table, we pray that we might be enabled to do this in remembrance
of thy dear son, the remembrance of his broken and bloodied body
as everything in our salvation. Lord, teach us what that means
by your spirit, even now, according to your will. In Christ's name
we pray.