I want you to open your Bibles
to Mark chapter 4. Mark the fourth chapter. Carolee,
I'll let you go down. I think I'll just preach. I'm
ready and I have my message and we'll do what we have to do later. But that's Mark chapter 4. It says here in verse 1, of Mark 4, and he began again
to teach by the seaside. And there were gathered unto
him a great multitude. You get the picture here. Our
Lord is standing with the sea to his back. He's standing here
on the seashore. And a great multitude of people
gathered around him. They began to press him closer
to the sea. And it says so he stepped into
a ship, one of the boats there. and sat there in the boat, pushed
out from the land a little ways, and sat there in the boat in
the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. And
he taught them many things by parables, by stories, illustrations. And he said unto them in his
doctrine, hearken, the whole there went out a sower to sow.
And it came to pass, as he sowed, that some fell by the wayside,
and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. Some of the
seed fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately
it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth, all the growth
was in the top, no root. But when the sun was up, it was
scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. Some
fell among thorns, briars, weeds, and tares, and the thorns grew
up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. Another fell on good
ground, prepared ground, broken ground, and did yield fruit that
sprang up and increased and brought forth some thirty, some sixty,
some a hundredfold. And he said unto them, He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear. And later, when he was alone,
multitude had gone away, just he and his disciples. When he
was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of
him the parables. And he said unto them, Unto you
it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. unto you it is given to know
the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without,
whether they're in religion or whether they're in the world,
whether they're in politics, whether they're in form or ceremony,
whatever they may be in, but they are without. All these things
are done in parables, that seeing, having natural eyes, They may
not see, they may see and not understand, not perceive. And
hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest at any time
they should be converted, their sin should be forgiven them. Here is the verse I want you
to look at for a few moments. Verse 11. He said unto them,
unto his disciples, unto his inner circle, unto those about
him, with the twelve, unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God." Now, according to the Catholics and
the Anglicans and other uniformed ritualistic religionists, there
is a mystery about religion and a mystery about their goings-on
and their doings, but the mystery is in their dress to begin with.
You see the pope and the priest and the cardinals, and they have
all their strange and mystical dress, all of which means something
to them. But to the ordinary person, it
means nothing. When the pope puts on this hat
for this duty and another hat for another duty and another
hat for another duty, it means something to him. It's a mystery.
They keep it mysterious. And when they stand up in front
of the tables, and they have the initials, and they have the
wine, and the bread, and they have this thing in their hand,
the censer, whatever they call it, and they sprinkle so many
times, and they say so. They keep it mysterious. Everything
mysterious. You can go into one of their
buildings, and there's even a smell that's mysterious. That's right,
there's even a smell, there's an odor, there's an air in there
that you take your hat off and stand around like a dummy. You
know, wondering what's going on, and you watch their services,
and you do all this marching, and you gotta stand, everybody's
a dummy, except those doing it, because they don't know what's
going on, it's a mystery. And also, their mystery is in their
language, Latin. They do everything in Latin.
Now I think they're speaking some in English, but most of
it is just rattling off in Latin. And the different ceremonies
they go through. And the common people just cannot enter in.
But that's not the mystery the Lord's talking about here. It's not a mystery of dress,
nor is it a mystery of language, nor is it a mystery of custom
and ceremony. Known only by the leaders and
these things. Hold that scripture there and
turn to 1 Corinthians 2. Now here's what Paul said in
1 Corinthians 2 when he talked about this mystery of the kingdom
of God, the mystery of the gospel. He says in 1 Corinthians 2 verse
7, now listen to this, but we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery. Not because we speak it in Latin,
Not because we wear certain uniforms and dress that the common people
don't understand. Not because we go through a lot
of ritualism that the common people know nothing about. Even
the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory,
which none of the leaders, princes, captains, and powerful men of
the world knew, had they known it, they would not have crucified
the Lord of Glory. Paul is saying this mystery of
God, and of godliness. The mystery is not in something
that higher-ups understand and common people don't. This is
a mystery that even the higher-ups didn't understand. They couldn't
enter into it. You see what I'm saying? Even
the men of power and prestige and leadership and prestige,
they don't understand the mystery. So that's not where it is. That's
not where it is. All right? According to some,
even back here, even back here and even today, the mystery of
the kingdom of God is in their intellectualism, in their theology. I get to read in some of the
old Puritans, some of the old writers, it's no wonder people
didn't know what they were talking about. Now, we're living in a
day of education. In this congregation, nearly
everybody here went at least to the twelfth grade, high school.
I doubt if there was anybody in here this morning that didn't
finish high school. Most of you did. Many of you have gone to
college and educated even beyond a bachelor's degree. This is
a well-read generation. Back there when those men were
preaching, and writing these three-hour sermons so complicated
and hard to understand. They were preaching and talking
to people who didn't have a first-grade education or a second-grade education. And they were guilty also of
wearing their powdered hairdos and their long gowns. I got an article the other day
put out by a school that told all the different All the different
gowns that fellas wore that graduated in certain schools in certain
fields. The doctor had a finer robe with
the black velvet and the red meant something and the green
meant something, the purple meant something and the blue meant
something and all this different robes. And that originated back
there among those brethren who were clamoring for recognition
and credentials and attention. That's all the world it is. God's preacher has always been
a common man among common men, reachable and touchable. And
those unreachable, untouchable intellectuals are not God's servants. They're the servants of the denomination. They're the servants of their
own making. And today I run into men who Try to contain the mystery
of the kingdom of God in their theological terms and their intellectualism
and their technicalities. It makes me sick, I'll just be
honest with you, just sick. The little children gathered
around the Lord and the disciples tried to shoo them away, you
know, get away, get away, kids, he ain't got time for you. He
said, you suffer the little children to come unto me such as the kingdom
of God. And he turned to Peter and said,
if you're not converted and become a little child, you won't even
enter the kingdom of God. But we're high-muckety mucks.
That's what Barnard used to call us. Main piston rods, you know.
The engine won't run without us. Yes, it will, too. God's
engine will. God's engine runs on grace, not
human pride. Pure grace, pure mercy. We need to come down. come down
off our high horse. That's exactly it. I'm talking
about the pulpit. And the mystery is not in your
intellectualism, and the mystery is not in your technicalities,
and the mystery is not in your theology, your theological terms. It's not there. And we need to
get rid of clergy and laity, too. I get weird hearing preachers
talk about the layman they're going to meet. Good God, we were
all laymen, laying at his feet. He that would be greatest among
you, let him be your servant." That's not the mystery. The mystery
is not just because I can't read it. That's not the way the mystery
lies. The mystery is not simply in
long seven or eight syllable words that nobody can pronounce
but a fellow that's got a doctor of theology. The Bible's written
in one, two, and three syllable words that any man can understand
if God gives him the grace. That's right. You won't find
many words that our Lord spoke if you had to carry a dictionary
to find out what he meant. And according to some today,
there is no mystery. I tune in to some of these television
programs, and a fellow supposedly gets saved today, and he's preaching
tomorrow. There's something wrong with
that, too. And I tune in, and all these The ladies have taken
over now. I'm going to have to get me a
place for Doris to stand up here while I preach, you know. Old
Copeland's got Gloria, and Jimmy's got Tammy, and Richard's got,
what's her name, and Oral Roberts has got him one, and I guess
we're just going to have to make room for Doris. Get her a little
stool up here, you know, she can read the letters. It's funny, but it's sad. I tell
you, it's sad. And the sadder thing is the people
supporting that junk. And the women are doing the teaching
now, and the Scripture plainly says, I suffer not a woman to
teach. That's what the Word says. I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over men, but to be in silence. God never
has, He is not now, and never will call a woman to preach the
gospel. And I don't care who they are, or where they're teaching,
or how good they sound, or how sentimental and emotional they
sound to you, God's not in it. It's another spirit. And that
goes clear back to the Garden of Eden. And don't you call me
an old male chauvinist pig, because I'm not. And I'm not a throwback,
or a wetback, or a wetblanket, or a radical, or a fanatic. I'm
just telling you, God told Eve to shut her mouth and listen
to her husband. That's what he told me. And he
said, your husband will have the rule over you to be in silence. If they were learning anything,
let them ask their husbands at home. And any person that listens
to a woman preacher deserves them. Turn to Colossians 1, verse 25. Now, here's the mystery. Here's
the mystery. Now, listen to it. I'm going
to talk to you about it this morning. Colossians 1, 25. Listen. Paul talks about being made a
minister. God made him a minister. Verse
25, Colossians 1, according to the dispensation of God which
is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, or to fully
preach the word of God, even the mystery, even a mystery which
has been hidden from ages and generations. But now here's the
good news, but now is manifest. It's revealed, it's made known
to His saints. That means folks, just common
folks like me, little old country boy brought up in Alabama, in
the cornfields and the cotton fields. No heritage, no ancestry,
no importance, no influence, no education, none of those.
And yet, by His grace, I've entered into the mysteries of God. Here
our Lord Jesus Christ has been teaching the crowd and his disciples. Here's Peter and James and John
and these ordinary calloused hand fishermen sitting around
it. And he says, fellows, unto you
it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. You say, how does a person, before
you talk about what these mysteries are, preacher, how does a person
enter into these mysteries? Let me show you now. Let me just
show you briefly. If you want to, here are five things. You
can jot them down. You can remember them without
jotting them down. It's so clear. But first of all,
first of all, to enter into the mysteries of godliness and the
mysteries of the gospel and the mysteries of grace and the mysteries
of the kingdom of God, it's the gift of God. It's the gift of
God. If you know the mystery, it's
the gift of God. He said to his disciples, it's
given to you to know the mystery of God. It's God's gift. It's God's gift. It's not something
conferred upon you by a university. It's not something conferred
upon you in a rolled-up sheepskin. This understanding and entrance
into the mysteries of God is the gift of God. It's the gift
of God. It's given unto you to know the
mystery. And then secondly, you say, to
whom is it given? According to his good pleasure.
Turn to Ephesians. Let me show you that. Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians 1. And some of you
sitting here this morning, and you have ears to hear, and you
have eyes to see, and you have a heart to understand, and you,
along with this pastor, you've entered into the mysteries of
God. Well, let me tell you this. It wasn't because of anything
you did. It wasn't because of anything you were. It was according
to His good pleasure that He revealed it to you. He could
have passed it to you by. Look at Ephesians 1, 9. Having
made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His
good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. That's how you got
it. That's how you got it. He gave it to you, and He gave
it to whom He willed. That's it, baby. I got some understanding into
some of these mysteries of God, but I'll tell you where I got
it. It wasn't in Tennessee Temple University. It wasn't in the
Baptist church. It wasn't in those old books
back there I read. It was a gift of God, and He gave it to me
because He would. He gave it to me because He would.
And you know what our Lord Jesus said about that? One day He lifted
His eyes to heaven. He said, I thank you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth. You hid these things from the
wise and the prudent. You hid these things, you just
closed the door from the wise and the prudent, but you revealed
it to babes. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in your sight. And then thirdly, what's this?
Look at Ephesians 3, 3. How'd you get it? Why'd you get
it? Where'd you get it? It's a gift of God. And you reveal
it to whom He would. And he did it by revelation,
not by education, revelation. You can take, I tell you, take
the smartest man in this building, who does not know Christ now,
and put him down in one of these Baptist schools and in Southern
Baptist Seminary, let him graduate from the seminary with a 4.0, with a doctor of ministry and
a doctor of theology and a doctor of everything else. And he'll
still not know anything about the mysteries of the kingdom
of God unless God reveals it to him. You want me to tell you
where preachers ought to be educated? Let them go to school and learn
to read and write. And let them go to a state-supported
college and learn to discipline their minds and study and find
out who discovered America. And let them sit in a church
under an experienced, capable pastor and learn the gospel.
And that's what God intended. And what's wrong with our churches
right now is we're taking our ministers out of the churches.
Now, watch it. I don't know what I'm talking about. We've taken
them out of the church, out from under the love and care and direction
of pastors, and put them down in schools and seminaries and
colleges, ruled over by a bunch of professors that don't even
know the gospel, let alone how to preach it. And they're making
They're making denominational clones out of them and sending
them back to the churches to spoil the churches. That's right,
John. Is that not right? And you write
that down. That's what's wrong with our
churches. You can't pastor a sovereign grace church if you've never
been a member of one. And sat in one for a long time
and listened and heard and been taught and cared for. Here's
where you learn the gospel. Here's where... He said in Ephesians
3, 3, listen. How that by revelation he made
known unto me the mystery. How did you get it, Paul? By
revelation. God revealed it to me. Look at the next line. I'll give you the next statement,
too. Whereby, when you read, you may understand my knowledge
in the mystery of Christ. He revealed him to me, which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, but is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by his Spirit. I'm not talking about the mystery
of dress, or the mystery of Latin, or the mystery of ceremonies,
or the mystery of intellectualism, or the mystery of strange theological
terms. Eschatology. How about a half-esque
congregation doesn't know what that means. Ecclesiology. And all the other ologies. Eschatology has to do with The
Lord's coming. Now, if I said that, you'd know
what I meant. But preachers don't do that, you see. They've got
to study eschatology. They can't just study the Lord's
coming. They've got to give it a name nobody knows. Ecclesiology. That's not the mystery. Believe
me, that's not the mystery. That's for fools to trifle with. The mystery is—I'm going to show
you in a minute. I'll tell you it's a gift. To
know it is the gift of God. To know it is by His own pleasure
to teach it to you. To know it is to receive it by
revelation. To know it is to receive it by
His divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. The wind
bloweth where it listeneth, and you hear the sound thereof. You
cannot tell whence it cometh or whether it goeth. So they
that are born of the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus, Nicodemus, You've
got a string of degrees a mile long behind your name, but you'll
never understand the kingdom of God or its mystery until you're
born again of the Spirit of God. And that's not the high-pressure,
soul-winning evangelism where you drag them down the aisle
and say the sinner's prayer. It's born of God. Men believe
because they're born. They're not born because they
believe. You believe because you're born
of God. That's what must take place. I can preach to spiritual
ears if God will open them. If God gives you eyes,
I can show you the truth. No problem there. Old Ezekiel can preach to dead
bones. If God gives them life. And then
fifthly, 1 Corinthians 15, how does this revelation come? How
does this gift reveal? Watch it now, listen. Here's
Paul talking, and he says, Behold, I show you a mystery. I show
it to you. You going to show it to me, Paul?
Yes, sir, I'm going to do it. And you know how I can do it?
You know how I can show you a mystery? Because God gave it to you, gave
you the knowledge, gave you the understanding, gave you the ears.
God, according to His good pleasure, will reveal it to you by His
Spirit. And He uses a man to show it.
A man. All right, let me give you these
mysteries. All of this being true. There's no question about
being true. I'm going to show you, turn to Ephesians 1. I'm
just going to briefly give you... this mystery of the kingdom of
God. And it has to do with several
things. It has to do with five or six things. Number one, it
has to do, and I gave you this a few weeks ago, and I came back
and looked at it again. Ephesians 1, let's begin with
verse 8. It says in Ephesians 1, 8, wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will. What will is this?
This is the eternal sovereign will of God. You're going to
see this. This is the eternal sovereign will of God. And this
is what's preached here and taught here and what's been preached
here for thirty-five years, nearly. Thirty-five years. This eternal
will, the mystery of God's will, the mystery of God's purpose,
the mystery of God's eternal will. That's what I'm talking
about. Do you know something of the mystery of God's eternal
will? Read on. according to his good
pleasure which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things
which are in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth,
even in him in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of this will." This will, this will of purpose, this
eternal will. this covenant will, that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.
Jonathan Edwards wrote a book, I remember the name, History
of Redemption, I believe, in which he talked about God's grand
design in redemption. In other words, known unto God
are all His works from the beginning. We're talking about the eternal
will of God. We're talking about the covenant
will of God. We're talking about the redemptive
will of God. This is the mystery that I can
preach to you and you can understand and enter into this mystery if
God reveals it. And we're talking about this.
He said this, five things. He said the Lord God will restore
all the ruins of the fall. God predestinated to do that
before the world began, predetermined. Secondly, God will have a new
heaven and a new earth. Thirdly, God will destroy every
enemy, the last of which is death. Fourthly, God will give the Lord
Jesus Christ all preeminence. And fifthly, He's going to have
a people like Christ. And in the first verses of Ephesians
1, look at verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father by our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ, according as he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame. In
love he predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ, according to the good pleasure of his own will, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he made us accepted
and the beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of
his grace. What is this, pastor? This is the mystery of God's
eternal will and purpose. And there are practically no
churches in this tri-state area that preach it. Is that not right? And many of you sitting right
here have been crowded out, pressed out of churches where you had
places of leadership, teaching, yea, even preaching,
supporting, crowded out. Why? Because you believe the
mystery of His eternal will. That's what I'm talking about.
You see, my friends, the mystery, the mystery is not in a funny
hat or a funny suit or a funny top. That's not the mystery. The mystery is not in the ceremony.
As everybody sits around while I go through some sprinkling
water and raising my hand and saying, have something draped
over my Bible here to look religious, and all that sort of thing, the
satin, the velvet, and the IHS, and something else written up
here. Everybody sits around, you know, what's going on, you
know? Like Mortimer Snerd. That's not the mystery. Really.
That's not the mystery. That's flesh. That's foolishness
of the flesh, to keep people in bondage to silly preaches.
And intellectualism, now, here's the mystery. The greatness, the
sovereignty of God. The glorious election of God's
grace. The purpose of God in Christ
Jesus. You say, well, that's very simple.
It is when you got ears. Well, preacher, I don't think
that's a mystery. I see that because you've got eyes. That
preacher down the street here doesn't see it. And he went to
the seminary. He denies it. You see, that's a mystery. Huh? You say, well, I thought you
was going to give us some unusual revelation. That's an unusual
revelation. That's right. Everybody's got
eyes, sees them. But God gives them. Everybody's
got ears, hears them. You say, well, I see that. Bless
God. How long have you seen it? But I'll tell you, there may
be one or two, not many, but maybe one or two sitting here
kind of puffed up and boiled up and saying, well, I don't
believe that. I doubt it, or you wouldn't be here, but, because
you know what. Did I ever tell you the story
about Dr. Magruder one time? I was preaching
down in Louisville. I'll tell you this story. I was
preaching down in Louisville. I won't tell it again. I was
preaching down in Louisville. And Dr. Magruder was going to
come hear me preach. And he was at an office in the
Madrid building, and he got on the elevator. It was about 645
then, headed for the meeting. And he got on the elevator, John,
and he was riding the elevator down. He stopped at the fourth
floor or fifth floor, and a fellow got in that was weaving. He was
under the influence of alcohol. And he got in. Where are you
going, Dr. Magruder? Dr. Magruder said,
I'm going to church. He said, who are you going to hear preach?
And he said, a fellow named Mahan. You wouldn't know him. Oh, he
said, I know him. He said, I'm from Ashland. That's where I
used to live. He said, he's that fellow that
preaches the collected ones. He said, I hope I'm one of them
collected ones. So you see, this mystery right
here is the elected ones. Here's the second mystery. Turn
to 1 Timothy 3, 16. Now, this is the mystery. And
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. What
is this mystery? God was manifest in the flesh. God became a man. You say, well,
I see that. You see that because God's given
you eyes. There are many preachers that
don't see that. Jesus of Nazareth, the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The apostles, the apostles, this
was their message. John said, that which we've seen,
which our ears have heard, which our hands have handled of the
Word of life, we preach unto you. That's the mystery. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, that is vindicated by the Holy Spirit,
seen of the angels. preached to the Gentiles. Christ
preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up
into glory. Christ Jesus is the gospel. That's
the mystery of godliness. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Behold, God said, I'll give
you a sign. I'll give you a virtue, and she'll
be with child. Call His name Immanuel, God's
witness. I'm saying positively and plainly
in words every man can understand, at least in their heads, and
those who have the gift of God understand it in their hearts.
Jesus of Nazareth is truly a man, truly flesh, truly bone, truly
blood, truly a man under the law, but he's truly God who created
the heavens and the earth. That's a mystery. Now turn to
Colossians 1. Let me show you this. And the
strangest thing, I prepared this message Friday, worked on it
Friday, and Saturday morning I got up and picked up a paper,
the Herald Leader from Lexington. And I read something that verifies
my fears. I think most religionists today,
and I hear them and I see them and I listen to them and I catch
things like this on the front page of the paper. And they've
totally missed this mystery. To most religious people, their
religion is an external matter. They have a day of worship. They
have certain holidays set apart, acknowledging God. They have
a doctrine, a theology which they believe. They have a set
of rules by which they live. They have other traditions. which
vary according to denomination. They have other customs which
vary. They have other superstitions. They have certain government,
all this different thing, certain days, certain ways, certain rules. But my friend, the hope of glory
is not your mind believing about Jesus. The hope of glory is not
your feet walking in service to Jesus. The hope of glory is
not your mouth even confessing that you believe in Jesus. The
hope of glory is not your hands ministering to the people of
Jesus, or even your heart loving the story of Jesus. But I read
here where this mystery is this, Colossians 1, 27, listen. to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you." That's the hope of glory. Christ in you. It's not an external
ritual, it's Christ in you. It's a union between you and
Christ, like the vine and the branch, like the head and the
body. That's the reason he said, inasmuch as you've done it unto
the least of these, you've done it to me, because we're one.
That's the reason he said, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I've
never touched you. You touch one of mine, you touch
me. Christ in you. Here's the mystery. Christ in
you. I want you to listen to this article. Now, here's a testimony by a
man whose wife and son were killed in an automobile accident. And
I know this has to be a, don't, don't misunderstand me. I lost
the, we had a son killed. I know the pain and the anguish
and the grief and the heartache. I've experienced, I know what
I'm, I've experienced what he experienced. Half of it anyway. But under God I never said anything
like this. I want you to listen. By God's
grace I did. My wife and my children are my
life. They are my purpose in life.
They gave me pride to be strong and to hold my head high. They
made me proud. My family, my wife and my two
sons, are the only fulfillment in life that I've ever needed
or wanted. You say, but why read that? That's true of 90% of the pagan
world. Wait a minute now, he didn't
quit that. We are a Christian family. That's where I take issue. That's where I... Here's a man,
and this is what I'm saying Christianity today is to people. My wife and my children are my
life. My job is my life. My politics
are my life. My car and home and investments
are my life. These things are my life. They
give me fulfillment. They give me pride. They give
me strength. They give me a purpose for living. Where does Jesus
come in? You say, you're a Christian.
Oh, I believe in Jesus. You ask this man, don't you believe
in the Lord? Sure, I believe in Jesus. I go
to church. We're a Christian family. He went on to say, we
hold to the ideas that marriage and the family are a sacred bond.
given us of God. This man was against divorce.
He was against alcohol, he's against abortion, he's against
all of these things. He holds to all the so-called
Christian principles. But Christianity is not a principle,
it's a person! That's what I'm trying to say. But to today's religionists,
who doesn't know the mystery, the mystery is Christ in you.
Christ said, eat my flesh and drink my blood. You, some of
you, know what I'm saying. It's a vital living union with
a person. Christ is my life. He's my fulfillment. He's all I want or need. When
it comes down to it, I don't need anyone but Christ. I enjoy
people. Enjoy my family, but need them?
Need them? Basically? Literally? Need them? I need Him. Is this what I'm saying? Is it
when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear
with Him in glory? Maybe this accounts for some
of the lack of commitment in what we call churches today,
religion today. Here's peace, here's union, here's
security, here's joy, here's the mystery. Even the mystery
which is Christ in you. Christ in you. And you see, if Christ lives in a person,
if Christ is his life, so much is cut into his mind, you find
thoughts of Christ cut into his heart, you find love for Christ.
Cut into his will, you find a submission to Christ. Cut into his soul,
you find an ambition to know Christ. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. And that sort of does away with all of the
rules and regulations that folks have to have in religion, you
know. It puts a man walking in communion with his Lord. And
he doesn't need a preacher to come by and check up on him and
tell him where he can go and what he can do and tell him how
much to give and tell him when to come to church and when not
to come and be sure to read your Bible every morning now. Christ
in you, would you not think he'd read the Bible? Christ in you,
the Spirit of God in you, wouldn't you think that he'd be interested
in His Word? I kind of believe he would. See, that's the difference.
I don't know. I'm troubled by what is known
today as Christianity. I'm a Christian. It's not a principle. It's a
person. It's not a way. It's a union. Here's the next
one quickly, and I'll wind her down. Ephesians 5, 31 and 32,
verse 30. Talk about husbands, love your
wives as Christ loved the church, you know. Down here in verse
30. Let's read verse 28. So men ought
to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his
wife loveth himself. No man ever yet hated his own
flesh, but he nourishes it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
his church. But we are members of his body,
of his flesh, of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife. They too
shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. I speak
concerning Christ and the church. That's the mystery. You don't
join a church united to a person. You don't sit around and debate
about, well, should I go to this church? They got a youth program
for the young people. If I go to this church, They're
small and friendly. Should I go to this church? Well,
they're big. I can kind of get lost in it.
That's not the issue. That's not the issue. When a woman falls in love with
a man, she marries him, not an organization. She's in love with
him. They become one flesh. They take
the same name. They become one flesh. And when
the person is saved, they don't join a church They are the church. They come to Christ. They're
united to Christ. They become one with Christ.
And here the husband, Christ, left his father's house to come
down here and redeem his bride. And he took our flesh that we
may be one with God. And as Adam was formed before
Eve, Christ was before his church. And as Eve was taken out of Adam,
did you know God put Adam to sleep and took Eve out of His
side? And God put Christ to sleep.
Bruised Him on the cross and took us right out of His side.
Water to cleanse us and blood to redeem us. That's right. And
then He brought Eve to Adam. He put Him to sleep and took
Eve out of His side and then He brought Eve to Adam. And God
will bring you to Christ too. Bring you to Christ. And you're one with Him. That's
a mystery. That's a mystery. Well, you say,
Preacher, what do you do about this, you know, what do you think
about us selecting a... The church is not a building,
an organization. Church is His body. That's what
a church is. Assembly of called-out people.
His bride. Well, I'll tell you this, it
seems like to me that a person would want to go where they can
hear about Him. where they can hear His Word,
and fellowship with the people who know Him, and fellowship
with the people who are in His family. It's a union. You see, our traditions
today, our customs, our religious... I don't know what happened back
there, but somewhere back there, coming this way, with all of
our seminaries and training and preachers and all this stuff,
we got messed up somewhere. And we're the results, Dan, of
the mess. And what's going to have to take
place, and it's taking place here, some folks are learning
the mystery of the Kingdom of God. You say, well, I listen
to them, and they read the Bible. Christ said they have eyes, but
they don't see. They have ears, but they don't
hear. They have hearts, but they don't understand. To you it's
given by revelation, by Spirit, to know the mystery. The mystery
of His eternal will. The mystery of His grace. The
mystery of His living union. The mystery of Christ in the
Church, the Bride. And let me show you the last
thing, and I'll quit. Turn to Ephesians 6. And here's what
we need to pray about, too. And Paul said, verse 18, talks
about the armor of God. We said in verse
18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all the saints. Pray for me that utterance might
be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known
the mystery of the gospel. That's what I'm saying to you
in closing. Pray for me. Pray for me on television, here
in the pulpit, other places I go. There's some sheep out there,
and I'm not trying to bring them to a Calvinism or to a system
of theology or to what we call doctrines of grace or to 13th
Street Baptist Church. I want to preach and make known,
Paul said, the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ, Christ
in human flesh, the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of Christ
in you, which is the hope of glory, Christ in you. The mystery of that union of
Christ and His people. You say you, and this is a preacher,
I got just last week a long constitution from a dear preacher friend of
mine, and he's got, he's organized a church, he's got a constitution,
all the different things. You don't need those things when
Christ is in you, and when you're a family. We don't have a constitution
over on Stevens Avenue. We do things motivated by love.
That's what, that's, that's where it is. Pray for me that I may
open my mouth and make known to somebody here and there and
yonder this mystery.