Let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter
3. Now you're going to have to listen
this morning. I've got some things to say that I believe the Lord
gave me. I asked Brother Barnard one time,
I said, Rob, why do you say what you say sometimes and do what
you do? Well, he said, the Lord, the
devil, or somebody tells me to do it. And I wouldn't doubt if
that wasn't so in most of what we say or do. There's some doubt about who
tells us to do it, but I feel that God has given me a word
that we need to hear. I do know I asked Him for one.
I do know I waited before Him, and I believe that He has given
me a message I need and you need especially today. 1 Timothy 3
verse 16 says this, without controversy, great is the mystery. Without doubt, without argument,
without room for discussion, without any controversy at all.
Great, great is the what? The mystery. Now there's a word
floating around out here in religious circles. It's got us in trouble. And that's the word simple. There's
a word floating around out here, not mystery, it's simple. How often I hear this, the simple
plan of salvation. Just give us the simple plan
of salvation. Don't confuse our minds with
doctrine. We don't want to go down into
the deep things, don't talk about high doctrine, just give us the
simple plan of salvation. That's all we want. Or somebody
says this, he preaches a simple gospel. He doesn't fool with
theology, he preaches a simple gospel. You know, when our Lord
ascended to glory, it said he left some prophets, apostles,
evangelists. What's that other group? Pastors
and teachers. That's the same people. Pastors
and teachers. If he doesn't preach a gospel
that carries with it the teachings of the teacher, he doesn't preach
the gospel. You can't have the teacher without
his teachings. And then we hear this, the way is simple, all
you do is believe. The soul winners use this, the
way is simple, all you do is believe. Now brethren, before
you form any conclusions, I know what 2 Corinthians 11 says. You want to turn over there,
I'll read it to remind you. I know what 2 Corinthians 11
says. It talks about Satan deceiving
men. and taking them away from the
simplicity of Christ. 2 Corinthians 11, 3, But I fear
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus. I know he's talking about that
the way of salvation is only in Christ. It's not in works.
It's not in our merit. It's not in our deeds, it's not
in the law, it's in Christ. And we must have a single message.
Not a simple message, a single message. A message of oneness.
A message that turns every eye to Christ, every thought to Christ.
Makes Him the objective of our faith. Finds in Him wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. That's not talking, saying the
gospel is simple. The gospel's a mystery, it's
profound. It's saying that we have a single message, that one
person, Christ Jesus. Now what has this word simple
done for us? Let me give you four things,
and I want you to listen to this very carefully, and I believe
some of you are going to be enabled of the Spirit of God to say amen
to this. I believe that this word simple, this simple plan
of salvation, he preaches a simple gospel. It's so simple, all you
do is believe. has succeeded in making natural
men authorities on the Scripture. It's made natural men authorities
on the Scripture. You know, I've often said that
if a man's going to become an electrician, he'll study for
months and years, he'll apprentice under someone. He won't claim
to be a master immediately of that trade that's so complex.
If a man's going to study to be a doctor, he goes through
high school and college and medical school, internship, he doesn't
pick up a brief medical book, a summary of some man's thoughts
on medicine and read it through and say, I'm a doctor now, I'm
an expert. Ask me any question you want to about medicine, I've
got the answer. Even doctors who are up in years
are still probing and searching and trying to find out something
about medicine. And if a man's going to be able,
just take any profession. But I'll tell you, this is the
thing that bothers me. This so-called way of salvation
is so simple, they say, that a man can hear it one time, buy
him a book entitled All About the Bible, about 95 pages long,
sit down and read it, and he becomes a teacher. Overnight,
he becomes an expert. He's just got this thing mastered,
you know. It makes natural men authorities
on the Scripture. Now, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
2. In 1 Corinthians 2, the Apostle Paul says, in verse 14, the natural
man doesn't even receive the things of the Spirit of God.
Neither can he know them, their foolishness to him, neither can
he know them because they're spiritually undisturbed. In other
words, this thing of the Scripture, the gospel, comes by revelation.
But we have simplified it. We have our ABCs of salvation
and our one, two, three steps to heaven. We've got it so simplified
that a man can become an authority on the Scripture. He can become
a master of theology overnight. He can come from being a rebel,
an unbeliever, to a Christian in one month, to a teacher of
a men's Bible class in three months. And there's something
wrong with that. And then here's the second thing.
Now see if this is not true. This position, this so-called
simple gospel, the simplicity of the gospel, has succeeded
in creating an unholy familiarity with the living God. We've reached
up and brought God down to our level. That's exactly what we've
done. We've simplified God. It's like one fellow said on
television the other day. He said, I want so many people
to send me gifts. I've got a project. God told
me to do this, and I've got it on tape. Now, I don't know whether
he means he's got God's voice on tape. or whether he's got
his direction on tape. I'm always hearing people say,
God said this to me, and God told me to do this. We have,
in our simplification of a man's relationship with God and of
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, we brought God right down
here. There's no fear of God before the eyes of men. There's
no worship today. There's no awe, there's no reverence.
Holy and reverent is His name. You know, When Moses approached
the Lord, he said in prayer, even Moses, the greatness of
Moses, the certainty of his relationship with God, he'd say, Lord, if
I found grace in your sight, permit this. If I found grace. I want to show you something,
if I can find it over here. I didn't intend to read this,
but turn to the book of Genesis. If I can find the scripture where
Abraham was praying for Sodom and Gomorrah, it's over here
in the book of Genesis, and let's turn over there. I want you to
see how that Abraham petitioned the Lord. If someone finds that
scripture, just call it out to me. But it's in the book of Genesis
when God told him he's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
And he was praying, and he said, Lord, if you can find 50 men
in that city, will you spare the city? 18, okay, Genesis. Look over here.
I want you to just see the reverence. And we don't see this kind of
reverence today. In the book of Genesis, chapter,
is it 19? 18. Okay, here he is praying. And the Lord appeared to him
in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door. He lifted
up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood by him. And when
he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed
himself toward the ground and said, My Lord, if now I have
found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy
servant." This is an appearance of the Lord to him. Now, look
down at verse 23. And Abraham said, he's praying
to the Lord. Now, Abraham's a friend of God.
Abraham talked face-to-face with God. Abraham is God's chosen
servant, the one from whom God would start the nation Israel.
Now he says, Lord, verse 23, will you also destroy the righteous
with the wicked? Pray adventure there be fifty
righteous within the city. Will thou also destroy and not
spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That
be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous
with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked.
That be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth
to do right? And the Lord said, Abraham, if I find in Sodom fifty
righteous men, I'll spare the plague. All right, verse 27. And Abraham answered and said,
Behold now, I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. I am
but dust and ashes. Say, Lord, we find if there lack
just five of the fifty, will you destroy the city? Now look
at verse 31, and he said, Behold now, this is Abraham praying
to God. Behold now, I have taken upon
me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure, peradventure, there'll
be twenty found there. He said, I'll not destroy it.
Now verse 32, O let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet
but this once. You see what I'm saying? And
back here in verse 30, he said, O let not the Lord be angry,
and I will speak. When these men approach God,
they approach God with a reverence, with a fear. But we've got this
thing of salvation and relationship with God so simplified that there's
no fear. There's no awe, there's no caution. There's no, Lord, who am I but
dust and ashes, dare I to approach thee with nothing. Our righteousness
is a filthy rag. Language like this, not talk.
We hear men talk about how righteous they are, how good they are,
how holy they are, how sure for heaven they are, as if they were
already there. And this is what's done it, this oversimplification
of the gospel. Here's the third thing I want
you to say. I'm saying that this so-called, what we say, simple
plan of salvation has given men the idea of the authorities on
the Word of God. They'll argue. You take men out here to steel
mill and out at the railroad and national oil and other places,
ignorant men just arguing about the Scripture. This is what I
believe. This is what I believe. Well, the Bible says the law
shuts men's mouths. Job said, Lord, I've spoken once. Yet twice, but now mine eyes
seeth thee." I put my hand on my mouth. And then thirdly, this
position has given carnal religious men a refuge and discouraged
them from seeking the Lord and searching the Scripture. How
many people say this to me? We start talking about things,
oh, I'm saved. I made a profession back when I was 12 or 13 years
old. Now, we don't talk about salvation. It's like a person
in my study one day, a person I was talking to, and they didn't
attend church, they didn't read the Bible, didn't worship God,
hadn't been affiliated with the people of God in years and years
and years, and according to the individual, had no interest in
the things of God, and I said, well, let's talk about salvation.
They grew angry and they said, you mean you think I'm not saved?
Well, I was saved when I was 12 years old. And what is salvation? Well, it's just believing on
Jesus. The preacher said, come down the aisle and believe that
Jesus died on the cross and was buried and rose again. You're
saved. And I went down, I accepted Jesus, and I'm saved. And this is what we've done.
That person is not searching the Scriptures, not seeking the
Lord, not panting after Christ, not continuing in the faith,
but we've simplified this thing. We've substituted decision for
regeneration. We've substituted an acceptance
of Christ mentally for this thing of the new birth. We've oversimplified
it. We got fixed up. It's like someone
said to me recently. Now, I don't want to offend you,
but the person may be here this morning, I don't know, but there
was a person standing here, and I said to him, you've got lovely
children, they're fine children. And the person said to me, yes,
and they're all saved. Well, this was my reply. I hope
so. Is that wrong? That's what you
better be saying. Now what you mean by that, they're
all saved because they've all made their little decision. That's
exactly what you mean. They've all accepted Jesus, but
they're not in heaven yet. They're not even full grown yet.
They haven't even gone through the sea of life yet. They haven't
even had to cross the bridge of trial yet. They haven't even
had any testing to determine whether they're saved yet or
not. Now, we've oversimplified this thing in the Scripture.
You turn to the book of Colossians. And what I'm saying this morning
is so vital, so important, and so true, it shakes me down to
my foundation. Colossians chapter 1, it talks
about Christ redeeming us. And having made peace, verse
20, through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things to himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth
or things in heaven, verse 21, and you that were one time alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death. I believe that, don't
you? To present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. What is that next word? That's
the biggest little two-letter word you'll ever run up on, if
you continue in the faith and be not moved away from the gospel,
grounded in the Sabbath, if. Hebrews 3 uses that word two
or three times. We are the household of Christ
if we continue in the faith, if we hold fast our profession,
if. But what I'm saying, and I know
what I'm saying is true, the oversimplification of a decision
for Jesus And the oversimplification of a plan of salvation has made
natural men authorities on the Scripture. It has created an
unholy familiarity with God. It's brought God down here to
our level. We're no longer seekers and searchers. We're no longer
beggars. We're no longer dust and ashes. We no longer talk like the prophets
of old. We talk like buddies with God.
We use words like, God is my co-pilot. That puts us pretty
even. God is my partner. That's unholy
familiarity. God is God, and I am an empty-handed
beggar, a recipient of His mercy. And it's giving people a carnal
refuge. I've made my decision for Jesus,
and I'm fixed up. And brethren, let me tell you,
I think a lot of us who got all fixed up back down in the old
country revival, I remember the decision I made when I was nine
years old. I remember it like yesterday.
I remember down in Wilson, Alabama, we were having what they call
a revival meeting. Had them every year for two weeks in the month
of August. They brought a preacher there by the name of Burns, and
he preached I don't even know what. And they sang some songs,
and the soul winners came out to witness, and like they do
most all junior boys and girls, got me down the aisle, and I
made a profession of faith and got baptized. I didn't know one
thing about salvation or redemption or justification or my sins,
but I believed in Jesus. It's so sad, a carnal refuge.
I don't look to that. I don't find any comfort in it
at all. As far as I'm concerned, it's like Paul's experience over
there in Philippians 2. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews and
so forth. I count it but dumb that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Salvation is to know Christ now. It's to trust
Christ now. It's to love Christ now. It's
to be conformed to the image of Christ now. Now here's the
fourth thing. This oversimplification of the gospel and of preaching
has turned the attention of the multitude away from the glorious
gospel. The gospel is no longer to most
men fascinating. The gospel itself, don't back
Christ, the gospel of Christ, of God's eternal purpose in redemption,
of God's types and shadows and symbols as he represented the
atonement and the priestly work of Christ and the altar and the
sacrifice and justification and Christ's incarnation when he
became a man, when he walked this earth and his obedience
to the law and his death on the cross, his burial, his resurrection,
his intercession. You see, this glorious gospel
is no longer fascinating. There's nothing about it. It's
oversimplified. God loves me and Jesus died for me. That's
all there is to it. It's that simple. I believe,
and therefore I'm saved and going to heaven. And this oversimplification
has turned men's minds to major on prophecy, church government,
laws, unknown events in the future. You ask yourself the question,
why is it that most preachers and churches and most religionists
are not taken up with Christ. They're not taken up with the
sacrifice of Christ. They're not taken up with the
person of Christ, either his eternal surety or his typology
in the Old Testament or his sacrifice or his intercession. They're
taken up with the Antichrist. It's like a man said, like Bill
Parker said last night. He said, they read the book of
Revelations and they're more concerned to find out who the
Antichrist is than who the Christ is. They're interested in the
beast, aren't they? They're interested in the last
days. They're interested in the Jews and Jerusalem and the rebuilding
of the temple and all this stuff. Why? Why are they so interested
in that? They don't find any glory and beauty and mystery
in the gospel. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. In other
words, if I hand you a little simple one, two, three plan of
salvation, you see, it's all summed up in four words. God loves you and Christ died
for you. You trust Him. Now go on to greater things.
Come on back here, boy. Come back here. Let's spend a
millennium on God loves you. Why? God loves you. Let's spend six millenniums on
Christ died for you. You never fathomed that depth
yet. That's unfathomable, that depth
of his love, the height of his grace, the depth of your wickedness. Let's spend 200 years on what
happened in the garden. I know this is true. Here's what
men are thinking. There's nothing profound in the
gospel. There's nothing in the gospel
to study. What is there to study? There's
nothing in the gospel to seek to understand. I understand it. There's nothing in the gospel
to attract my interest. Let's go on to more mysterious
things. Brethren, let me show you something
here. Turn to Ephesians 3. This is
something that I saw this week that really was a blessing to
me. Now, this is in the event that you feel that the glorious
gospel of Christ, I'm talking about Christ, His charityship,
His covenant of grace, His purpose and plan in creation, His design
for this world, His permitting the fall, His announcing of the
seed of woman. And let's stay a hundred years
on the virgin birth. Let's stay a hundred years on
identification of Christ with people. In Adam you die, in Christ
you're made alive. Figure that one out. Let's spend
many, many years on that. His coming into the world. The
angel said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus. He'll save His people
from their sins. This holy thing is born of God. Emmanuel! God with us! God with
us! Oh, you could dwell on that so
long. And then how that He obeyed the law perfectly. Chew on this
a little while, the impeccability of Christ, or the possibility
of His being able to sin. Christ was a man. Christ is God. Could Christ have sinned? Well,
that's some things to think about. What if He couldn't have sinned,
then there was no temptation, was there? Then the temptation
wasn't real. He was tempted as we are in all
points, yet without sin. Now you think about that a little
while. Christ was a man just like me, had eyes just like me,
but he never looked in lust or want or covetousness or desire.
He had a tongue that never one time ever spoke a word of evil.
He had a heart that not one time ever thought a foolish thought.
I worked on that a few centuries. And he was my representative,
and in him, that's my righteousness before God. How can God die on
a cross? How can God separate himself
from God? My God, why have you forsaken
me? Wait a minute, here's God and there's God, and they're
separated. The fire of God is one God. If you feel you've got this thing
wrapped up and the gospel's unworthy of your deepest study and individual
attention, if you feel you've mastered this so-called plan
of salvation, this so-called way of life, I want to give you
two or three words to consider. Here's the first one. In Ephesians
3, verse 7, Paul said, I made a minister according to the gift
of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of
His power unto me. Yeah, unto me, whom less than
the least of all the saints is this grace given. that I should
preach among the Gentiles, what? The unsearchable riches of Christ. Hey, Master of Theology, what's
that word? Unsearchable. Unsearchable. Mmm, my, my. I looked at that
word, the unsearchable, and I thought about Job. Let's read over here
in Job a minute, chapter 11. I thought, where are some references
talking about that? Chapter 11 of Job. This is recorded
in the book of Job. Can you by searching find out
God? Job 11, 7. You ought to mark
this. Can you find out the Almighty
unto perfection? As high as the heavens. It's higher than hell, what can
you do? It's deeper than hell, what can you do? I thought about
David, Psalm 139. Turn over there and listen to
David, Psalm 139. He says, O Lord, Thou hast searched
me and known me, Thou knowest my down-sittings, mine uprisings,
Thou understandest my thought upon all. Verse 4, there's not
a word in my tongue, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Verse
6, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high, I cannot attain
unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I send up into heaven,
thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, thou
art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the
othermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me.
I thought of Paul in Romans 11. Turn over there just a moment.
Romans chapter 11. Romans 11, verse 33. Listen to
this. Romans 11, 33. Paul says, O the
depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God. How unsearchable, there it is
again, how unsearchable are his judgments, his ways past finding
out. Who hath known the mind of the
Lord? Who hath been his counselor? Who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Christ, and
through Christ, and to Christ are all things to whom be glory
for. If you have a master, what we
call this redemptive glory, this salvation, You'll have known
all things because that's where all things are in Christ. Everything's
in Christ. Turn to one other scripture.
Let me show you something over in 1 Peter. I've got to move
along, but in 1 Peter, chapter 1. 1 Peter, chapter 1. I'm talking about the gospel.
I'm talking about—somebody said I made an idol of Jesus Christ
and a priest just one message. There is but one message. And
that's the gospel of Christ. And that one message is beyond,
we haven't even commenced to begin to get started. We who've
been in this thing 30 years, we're just learning, we're just
creeping up on truth. I believe that. In 1 Peter, listen
to this, we're talking about the manifold wisdom of God, the
unsearchable riches of Christ, 1 Peter chapter 1. Begin reading,
if you will, at verse 9. Now, receiving the end of your
faith, even the salvation of your soul. Now, this is what
I'm saying. I'm reaching out to catch you
folks that are headed for prophecy, and the Antichrist, and what's
going to happen in the future, and the Jews, and the Promised
Land, and rebuilding the Temple, and the Dome of the Rock, and
whether or not you ought to eat pork, and trying to structure
the churches, and find out the laws, and discipline. You come
back here and get on this grand design of God to glorify His
Son. And you get into diligently inquiring
into the gospel, the person of Christ, the work of Christ, the
redemptive glory of Christ, because this is where it is, the salvation
of your soul, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation
of your soul. Verse 10, of which salvation the prophets, we're
talking about now Jeremiah and Isaiah and Elijah, the prophets,
have inquired and searched diligently. who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you." The grace of God which should come unto
you through Christ. Searching what or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when he testified
beforehand. What does the Spirit of Christ
talk about? The sufferings of Christ. And the glory that should
follow. And unto the prophets it was
revealed that not to themselves, but to us they did minister these
things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you, where the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into." Do you see what
I'm saying? This so-called simple gospel
of ours that we have pushed to the side, for more important
things. This so-called simple plan of
salvation that we've got all figured out and fixed ourselves
up and signed and pushed it into the drawer and gone on to the
deeper truths, this simple gospel is what the angels of God desire
to look into. That's what they're interested
in. And this so-called simple gospel that Isaiah wrote about,
that he searched diligently into. Now we'd better come back here. I want to show you some more.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 9. I want to show you some more
words here. I don't have time this morning
to deal with them a long time, but I just want you to be thinking
about these words. He talked about the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Now listen to 2 Corinthians 9.15.
2 Corinthians 9.15. Thanks be unto God. Bob, what does it say? His what?
Unspeakable gift. His what? You know, it's simple. Thanks be unto God. It's all
about Christ. Mercy. Unspeakable. I think Paul had
in mind here his experience when he was taken into the third heaven.
He came back. He said, I know a man whether
in the body or out of the body, I don't know. He said, this thing
was so awesome, so indescribable, so wonderful. He said, I was
taken up into the third heaven. I saw things not possible to
utter, unspeakable. He said, you don't have the ability
to enter into these things if I could put them into words.
And I'm saying this. that the glory of Jesus Christ,
that gift of God in giving his Son to redeem sinners, is unspeakable. It's not possible for a man to
put in human words the beauty of Christ, the glory of Christ,
the fullness of Christ, the riches of Christ, the redemptive benefits
of Christ. It's unspeakable. Unspeakable. Well, maybe you can work this
one over. Turn, if you will, to Colossians,
where I skimmed over something a moment ago and didn't even
stop. Didn't even stop. I want to stop a minute now.
Here's some more words. Some more words while we talk
about our simple, simple, simple plan of salvation. Simple, simple,
nothing to it. In verse 22 of Colossians 1,
I ran over this and even didn't pronounce one of them very well,
"...in the body of his flesh through death, to present you
holy and unblameable and unreprovable." You? Boy, this is something to
think about. Brethren, there's no way for
me to put into words the rottenness of these sinners, you and me,
before God. I know we compare ourselves with
others and justify ourselves in the eyes of men, and I know
all that. We're nice folks. We do this,
that, and the other. We're good to people, and we're
good to our children, and we pay our bills, and we treat people
right, and all these things, you know. But before God's holiness,
God's right, we're corrupt. God sees our hearts, and let
me tell you this. If we could pull this screen
down this morning, And just put on that screen in front of this
congregation what you thought this past week. Just what you
thought. Just what entered your mind.
Not what you said, just what you thought. Just what you imagined
or what you dreamed or anything. I doubt seriously you'd show
up tonight. I just doubt it seriously. There'd be very many here tonight.
There ain't no way. But God sees it. God sees it. And he says here that in Christ,
me, with all these words and thoughts and deeds and so forth.
You know, I talked to a chaplain this week. There was a chaplain
who came, and I hope you understand what I'm about to say. I'm not
condoning sin. But there was a chaplain in the
Marine Corps who came to hear me every night this past week. And he's a strong-willed man,
and I know he's out to establish honesty and morality in the armed
forces. And he said to me, he said, we've
won a real victory this week. I said, what is it? He said,
we're going to court-martial a man for committing adultery. And he was so glad. I saw fire
in his eyes. We're going to court-martial
him. We've got this thing by the horns. You know what went
through my mind? What if you could court-martial
everybody that did it in his heart? Hmm? That'd be something, wouldn't
it? That'd be a wipe-out. And this is what I'm saying. I'm
saying that He, the Us, He is going to present us unblameable,
unreprovable. That's something to think about.
Let me give you another word. Let's try this one here. Over here
in Hebrews 7. Hebrews said, now we're creatures
subject to change. Everything changes. Our bodies
are changing, our families are changing, our church is changing. We're creatures subject to change. And you'd better do this. You'd
better let it change, whatever it is, gracefully and godly. You know, I said this last week.
This will help us to understand this. Trials and troubles do
not produce faith. They reveal faith. They don't
produce love. In other words, here's a man
that says he's a Christian. Here's another man that says
he's a Christian or a woman. They have the same severe trial. This
one comes through it sweet, lovable, gracious, submitting to God. This one, it destroys him. You say, that trial destroyed,
that trial made him bitter. Oh no, that trial revealed his
bitterness. You say, that trial really sweetened
that person. No sir, it revealed his love
for Christ. He was already what he was. Is
that clear what I'm saying? He was already what he was. And
that trial just revealed what he was. Now that's so, now that
is absolutely true. Our life is Christ, or it's not
Christ. And these trials try faith, test
faith, prove faith. You see, that's what they do.
They reveal what's already there. So when you go through some difficulty,
or some sickness, or sorrow, or these things, and you come
out of it a bitter person, or a hateful person, or a quitter,
or something like that, you were already bitter. You were already
hateful. You didn't know Christ to start
with. That trial just brought out what was already there. It
just ripped off the veneer of your phony hypocritical profession
and let come out what was already there. But if that trial sweetens
you and draws you closer to Christ and reveals the preciousness
of Christ and makes a right spirit, that spirit was already there.
It just took that trial to reveal it. That's all. But here in Hebrews
7, He says in verse 24 that Christ has an unchangeable priesthood. Isn't that something to consider?
Unchangeable. Unsearchable. Unspeakable. Unreprovable. Unchangeable. Here's one to look at, Luke 3.
Luke chapter 3. Here we're talking about eternal
condemnation. I don't know a great deal about
hell. I don't like to preach on it. But the Bible reveals
it, and our Lord Jesus Christ preached on it. He said in Luke
3, verse 17, "...whose fan is in his hand, he'll throughly
purge his floor, he'll gather the wheat into his garner, but
the chaff he'll burn with fire." Unquenchable. Unquenchable. Brethren, this is what I'm saying.
I'm saying the Apostle Paul went down to the city of Corinth with
all of its philosophy and learning and all of its debaters and setters
forth of new truth. He went down there to that city
and gathered those people together and stood before them and said,
I'm determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ,
him crucified. There is God's goldmine in Christ. There is the wealth of his riches
in Christ. You can just keep mining that
mine from now through eternity, discovering new and precious
truths and gems and diamonds and beauties. It's not simple,
it's profound. And you take this word mystery,
I want you to look at our text one more time and I'll quit.
In 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul says, Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. And he gives us six things that
I'll just briefly run through. It says God was manifest in the
flesh. He was in this world. God walked
this world in the flesh. It says he was justified in the
spirit. That is the claims of Christ. are supported and vindicated
by the Spirit of God, by the Word of God. The claims of Christ
are vindicated and supported by the Spirit of God. He said,
if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. But the
Father has borne witness of me, the Word has borne witness of
me, John the Baptist has borne witness of me. The Holy Spirit,
when He's come, He'll not speak of Himself, but He'll take the
things of mine and show them to you. Look at the next line,
scene of the angels. Someone said one time, can you
name any religious person or religious event in the history
of man that has commanded the attention and the announcement
of angels? And yet our Lord Jesus Christ,
His birth was announced to Joseph and Mary by the angels. His birth
was announced to the shepherds by the angels. His temptation
in the wilderness was attended by the angels. His agony in the
garden of Gethsemane was attended by the angels. And when He arose,
the angels stood outside of His tomb and said, He's not here,
He's risen. And when He ascended back to heaven, the angels said,
this same Jesus will come again. Scene of the angel. History.
What's the next line? Preach to the Gentiles. Is this
a miracle? Well, you go through the Old
Testament. Gentiles had no law, no tabernacle, no priesthood,
no prophets. That's right. No sacrifice. Only
the Jews. And now he's preached to the
Gentiles. And then the next line, "...and believed on in this world."
Is it a miracle that a man should believe the gospel? I'm telling
you this, if you believe, if you can say this morning, I believe
in Christ, I believe on Christ, I believe Christ. Sincerely,
I believe Christ. That's a miracle of God's grace.
Left to yourself, you'd never believe this. The preaching of
the cross is to them who are perishing, foolishness. Unto
us who are saved or being saved, it's the wisdom and power of
God. Paul said, He hath revealed them unto us by Spirit. And I'll
give you this in closing. It says, And this man, Jesus
Christ, was received up into glory at God's right hand, right
now. And this is something that one
of our speakers spoke on at the conference two years ago. There's
a man in flesh and bones. There's a man in glory. And if there's one man in glory,
there can be two. If there's one man in glory,
there can be ten. If there's one man in glory,
there can be ten million. Because, you see, if flesh and
bones can inherit the kingdom of God in a perfect righteousness
and holiness, then mine can too. You see the encouragement here?
We've taken for granted all these years that That it's just simple. There's just nothing to it. You
know, we're born into this world and we make our religious profession. When we die, we're buried. We
just walk out on in the globe. Open those pearly gates, you
know, and ta-ta-ta-ta, here he comes. Tell Jesus, I'm a coming
too, you know. Nothing. Wait a minute now. God
is holy, immaculately holy. His law, His perfect law stands
before those gates. and says, Enter here only ye
that can pass the test of this perfect law. And his righteous
judgment and justice stands with a sword outside those gates,
just like it stood outside the gates of Eden, and says, None
shall enter here who have not died for their sins, and borne
the wrath and judgment of God for their transgression. Flesh
and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now flit on in
there. But I'll tell you this, by God's
approval and God's acceptance, there was a man walked on this
earth, a man. He wasn't the son of Adam, he
was the son of God. He was born of a virgin, but he was a man,
flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. And he died and he was
buried and he rose again and the Heavenly Father took him
right through those gates. And not only through those gates,
but gave him the most prominent place in glory sat that man on
his right hand. Not an angel now, a man with
this kind of flesh right here, fingernails, eyebrows, hair,
man. It's God Almighty escorted him
in and sat him on his right hand. Now that, you figure that one
out. And there's a man in glory right
now. There's one God and one mediator between God and man
The man. Now if I'm in him, if God by
his grace gave me, he's a representative man, you see. That's no ordinary
man, Charlie. That's the God man. That's the
perfect man. That's the sinless man. That's
the man who's a covenant head. He's got a race. God gave him
a people before the foundation of the world and made him their
sheriff and gave him the task of bringing them home. He said,
I finished the work you gave me to do. Now glorify me with
the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I accomplished
the task you sent me to accomplish. He said, Finish! It's finished! And heaven, earth, and hell rang
with those words, It! What? The covenant of grace.
It! Nothing to be added. Finish!