Back now at 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, in which the apostle
writes without argument or debate or controversy, great is the
mystery, the mystery of godliness. Then he gives six things. He
said, God was manifest in the flesh. justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory. That's the mystery of godliness.
Back in verse 15, Paul gives us two reasons for God maintaining
the Church in this world. When I'm talking about Church,
I'm not talking about a building. The Church is not a building.
It's called in verse 15, the house of God. The Church is a
living temple. It's the people of God, his redeemed. So there are two reasons for
maintaining the Church in this world. First of all, it is the
house of God. God dwells in them and God dwells
with them. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, My
Father and I will come and take up our abode in you. Christ dwelleth
in you. Your bodies are the temple of
the Holy Spirit. To us, God manifests himself. In us, God manifests himself. Through us, God manifests himself. So the first reason for maintaining
the church in this world, it's the house of God. It's the dwelling
place of the Lord. He manifests himself in them
and to them and through them. And the second reason is given
in the last line of verse 15, it's the pillar and ground of
the truth. What an awesome responsibility
is upon us. We're not playing games. It's
not a religious circus. The Church is not a social organization. It's the pillar and ground of
the truth. What an awesome responsibility
to walk with God. God dwells in the Church. It is the temple of the living
God. God dwells not in buildings,
but in people. And it's our responsibility to
walk with God, to fellowship with the living God, to communicate
with God, and to maintain the truth of his word. The gospel must be believed,
defended, and proclaimed by men. Someone said years ago, and this
is true, Now, books have their place, but it is not in books
and creeds, tracts and confessions that God preserves and proclaims
the gospel, but in living men and women. That's exactly right. God didn't send a book to preach
the gospel, he sent his disciples. He said, you go into all the
world and preach the gospel. God sent men. He said to his
disciples, you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. It pleased
God with the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So
here in verse 15, he gives us two reasons for God maintaining
the church in this world. And I know we're building some
gaudy, some gaudy edifices and buildings and getting our steeples
as high as we can get them and our gospel as low as we can get
it. Churches are known for their unusual buildings or their scrupulous
enterprises. The Church in the New Testament
was known for its message. They met in caves and they met
in homes and they met out on the hillside. but they were the
dwelling place of God. God dwells in his church, in
the house of God. And God has left it on this earth
as a pillar and ground of the truth. And then in verse 16,
now you have that part. And I don't want to stay on the
introduction so long I don't deal with the text. But he gives
us, Paul in verse 16 gives us a summary of that glorious truth,
that glorious gospel. He calls it a mystery. He says,
great is the mystery. Without controversy, great is
the mystery. Without argument, without doubt,
without room for indifference, we're dealing here with the highest
themes of thought. We're dealing with the message
of the church. We're dealing with the gospel of God. It's
not trivial matters that we're dealing with here, but eternal
themes that demands our attention. This is either the most amazing
revelation or the most astounding deception that can be considered. what we're talking about here
in verse 16. I tell you, you can't afford to be indifferent
or undecided on the matters that we're going to discuss this morning. If there is God, then here he's
revealed. If man has an immortal soul,
then here is how it's redeemed. If there is a heaven, this is
the way of gaining that glory. If there is a hell, this is the
way it's to be avoided. Without controversy, great is
our theme. Without doubt, without room for
argument, without room for indifference, great is our theme. It's the
most amazing revelation ever spoken by a human tongue, ever
heard by a human ear, ever revealed by God. It's the most amazing
revelation ever given to the human race, or it's the most
astounding deception that's ever been put upon mankind. See, there's
no room for controversy here. There's no room for indifference.
Great, great is the mystery of godliness. Now, notice the word
mystery. I'm building to this thing here. God put his church here as a
dwelling place of the Lord God. He doesn't dwell in books, buildings,
ceremonies. He dwells in people. And he left
those people as witnesses, preachers, proclaimers of the gospel. And
then he comes to this gospel that we're proclaiming, and he
says it's no play pretty. It's not something to be tagged
on the end of the service. It's not something to be slipped
in wherever we can get a little moment. You know, great is this,
without doubt, without argument, great is this mystery, this mystery
of God. And it's a mystery. Now, the
word mystery is used several times in the New Testament. Look
back here at verse 9, the mystery of the faith. Now, I know that
I'm going to cross the grain here. I'm going contrary to what
is generally thought and regarded in modern religion today. But this is what I'm saying,
that apart from a revelation of the Holy Spirit, Apart from
regeneration and the new birth, no human being can understand
the gospel. Now, that's so. Apart from a
revel, it's a mystery. It's a mystery. Paul talked about
it being hidden. The God of this world blinds
men's eyes and hearts and hides the gospel. It's a mystery. Now, the word mystery is used
several times. Let me show you just a few. Turn
to Ephesians 5. First of all, to Ephesians 5,
verse 30. Ephesians 5, verse 30. Now, I
know the average person thinks, well, you just sit down with
a Bible and you can show anybody sin, you can show anybody God's
gospel, you can show anybody what Christ did, you can show
anybody how God can be just and justifier. I beg your pardon?
I beg your pardon. Now, you can show him some words,
and you can show him some doctrines. You might even persuade him logically,
reasonably, to accept those doctrines. But the mystery of redemption
and regeneration and sanctification and justification, imputed righteousness,
God's wisdom and grace, God dealing with men in Christ, the gospel
of salvation has to be revealed. Christ said, no man can come
to me except my Father who has sent me drawing. Paul said the
preaching of the gospel is foolishness to them that perish. It's a stumbling
block even to the orthodox and to the religious. But to us at
a call, it's the wisdom and power of God. Paul said this also.
The natural man receiveth not the things of God. They're foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them. They're spiritually understood.
The natural mind is enmity against God, it's not subject to the
law of God. So divine truth is something revealed, divine truth
is a mystery that has to be revealed by the Holy Spirit. We preach
it, the Holy Spirit reveals it. Ephesians 5, look at this, verse
30, we're talking about a mystery now. Verse 30, we're members
of his body, of his flesh, of his bones. For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother, be joined unto his wife, and
there they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. But
I speak concerning Christ and the Church. You see, Paul has
been talking about a relationship between a man and woman, how
they become one, one in name, one in principle, one in direction,
one in objectives, one marriages of oneness. And he said, I'm
talking about Christ and the Church in this way. Christ and
the Church are one. We bear his name. He's responsible
for our security, for our supplies, for our salvation. He is our
Master, our Lord, our Husband. We are one with him. And he said
this is a mystery. The union of Christ and his Church
is a mystery. They're one. They're one. All
right, let me show you another mystery, Ephesians 3. The natural man just doesn't
understand the mystery of Christ's union with the Church, that Bible-living
union. He says it's a mystery. The natural
man uses the Church as a place to get baptized in, a place to
get married in, a place to get buried in, or his funeral place. To him, the Church is a place
to play bingo, or a place to play basketball, or a place to
meet his friends, or a place to show off a new suit or a new
dress. or a place to act religious,
anything in the world is a church as to that. But to the believer,
it's a family. Christ is our head. We're the body. Christ is divine.
We're the branch. This is our family. This is life. Christ is our life. You see what
I'm saying? And that's a mystery. Watch this,
Ephesians 3, verse 1 through 6. For this cause I, Paul, the
prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if you have heard
of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me to
you, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery."
Now, that next few lines are in a parenthesis. I wrote a four
in a few words, whereby when you read, you may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was
not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto
the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles
should be fellow-heirs of the same body, and partake of the
promise in Christ by the gospel." Paul says this thing of the Gentiles
being saved, of the Gentiles being a partaker with the Jews
in Christ, is a mystery. It's a mystery, and we'll show
you in a few moments how that back in the Old Testament, there
were no prophets for the Gentiles. There were no prophets sent to
them. There was no law given to the Gentiles. There was no
tabernacle. There were no sacrifices. The Gentiles were foreigners.
They were aliens. They were separated from God.
They were dogs. Paul says here, God made me an
apostle to the Gentiles, and the fact that the Gentiles should
be brought into the Church, into the family of God, is a mystery.
Here's another, Romans 11. And it has to be revealed. Romans 11, verse 25. Here's another
use of that word mystery. We are talking here about the
mystery of the restoration of the Jews. I'm not getting into
any speculation or idle prophecies concerning what the
future holds, but listen to this, Romans 11, verse 25, I would
not, brethren, you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest
you be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened
to Israel. They are blind, judicially blinded
by God. They don't receive the gospel.
Where are the Jewish people who believe the gospel of Christ?
You say, one here, one there. Yes, Rindler, according to the
election of grace, but most of them reject the gospel, reject
any reference to Christ Jesus. But he said, that's in part,
"...until the fulness of the Gentile be come in, and so all
Israel shall be saved. As it is written, they shall
come out of Zion the deliverer, and turn away ungodliness from
Jacob." That's a mystery. And I know they're preachers,
they're prophetical preachers, they've got their charts and
their books and they'll sell them to you and they're going
to show you how everything is going to fall in place and in
line in certain prophecies. They're wasting your time and
my time and their time. Because what God is doing for
the Jew and how he'll do it and what God has for the future is
a mystery that God has to reveal. And it's no A, B, C, D. I know
some of us, we get these. And back when I was in college
and starting to be a preacher and coming up under the South
Wide Premillennial Baptist Fellowship, I had all of that all fixed up,
you know. I had the world getting worse
and then the secret rapture. Cars running off the highway
because drivers were missing, you know, and seven years' tribulation
down here on this earth, and the Jews setting up their sacrifices
again and rebuilding the temple, and three and a half years' abomination
of desolation, and then the Jews running to the mountains, and
then Christ coming and putting up his kingdom over there in
Jerusalem and sitting on David's throne for a thousand years,
you know. saved people and unsaved people walking around the streets
together, and folks living a hundred years and dying, and all this
sort of thing, and Christ coming again and Satan being loose and
having a royal battle. Jim Dandy went over there somewhere
and had that all fixed up. Now, there may be some truth
in all that. It just might stumble upon a
little. But let me tell you this, that
is a mystery that has to be revealed. So just don't get yourself all
boxed in. Be careful that you don't try
to understand with human reason and human logic what is divine. Just don't get boxed in as an
hour, a pre, or a post. Just leave yourself open to be
led by the Spirit. Is that good advice, Jay? I believe
it is. It's a mystery what God is going
to do with the Jews. Let me show you another one.
1 Corinthians 15. You see, the word mystery is
used quite a bit in the scripture. We're talking about Christ's
union with the Church, we're talking about the calling of
the Gentiles, the restoration of the Jews. Now, 1 Corinthians
15, the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15.51, Paul said,
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling light,
the last trumpet, the trumpet will sound, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This corruptible
shall put on incorruption." It's a mystery. You can't explain
it. God will have to reveal it. And
then in 2 Thessalonians, the word is used again, the mystery
of iniquity. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 7 and
8, he's talking about the Antichrist. Now, brethren, you want to be
real careful here about deciding Mussolini is the Antichrist.
He's gone. I remember when I was a boy, that was popular. They
had his name all fixed up, Mussolini, Antichrist, 666. Then Hitler,
then Tojo, and then Joseph Stalin, and they all died, you know.
And, fellas, their whole theological system caves in with the death
of some Now Ronald Reagan, R-O-N-A-L-D, that's six, R-E-A-G-E-N, that's
six, and they figured out he was born in a town that's got
six numbers, or six letters. It's ridiculous how we're strained
and stretched to prove a point. Mystery. I'll tell you this. The Antichrist has been here
ever since the Christ has been announced. the Antichrist. It's the spirit of Antichrist.
Don't look for one single individual unless you want to key it back
to Lucifer. Satan is the daddy of all Antichrists,
of your father the devil and his works you do. He was alive
from the beginning and you're doing what he's doing. That's
what Paul said about the Antichrist. But the mystery, 2 Thessalonians
2, 7, look at this, the mystery of iniquity does already work,
always has worked. Only he that now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that
wicked be revealed." He's there and he's working,
but then he's just going to come out in all of his permitted power,
"...whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and destroy with the brightness of his coming." Turn back to
our text in 1 Thessalonians 3, 1 Timothy 3. that we're not dealing with trivial
things here, dealing with mysteries. God keeps his church here. It's
the dwelling place of God. It's the house of God. And his
church is the pillar and ground of truth. What an awesome responsibility
to walk with the living God and to proclaim and preach that which
is glorifying to his name, the mystery. And he says, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Now brethren, this
is the greatness, this is the foundation on which all other
mysteries rest, the mystery of incarnation. God was manifest
in human flesh. And we're not rattling, somebody
says we're not rattling the chains of denominationalism here. We're
not setting forth dry, dead-letter, orthodox doctrine here. We're
not feeding appetites that enjoy prophetic speculation here. We're
not enforcing the rules and regulations of Pharisees here. We're talking
about living truth, living truth, God-honoring truth, life-changing
truth. We're talking about the truth
of Christ's incarnation, salvation. O melodious sound to wretched
dying men, salvation that from God proceeds and leads to God
again. Rescued from sin's eternal gloom,
from doubt and feared chains, raised to a paradise of glory
where Christ eternally reigns. My Savior God, no voice but thine
these dying hopes can raise. Speak thy salvation to my soul
and turn my groans to praise. Great, oh, what a theme! Great is the mystery. Let us
look at them one at a time, these six things that Paul talks about
in this mystery of godliness. First of all, he says, great
is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. If you will carefully examine
those six words, God was manifest in the flesh. It will strike
you as being the most extraordinary, astounding fact ever spoken. What am I saying? I'm saying
that God Almighty, the Ancient of Days, actually became an infant
of days and nursed in a mother's arms, on a mother's breast, and
was born from a mother's womb. That's what I'm saying. I'm actually
saying that the Son of the Highest, the Son of God. He didn't take
on himself the nature of angels. He didn't take on himself the
nature of man in his innocence before the fall. He didn't take
on himself the nature of an unfallen atom. He took on himself the
nature of fallen, rebellious, sinful creatures. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying
that the Son of the Highest became the Son of Man. I'm saying that
he who made woman permitted himself to be a body,
to be made in a woman and born from a woman. Can you contemplate
that? I'm saying that he who made the
law, he who is the law, out of whose character the law sprang,
made himself subject to his own law. He who made the sun permitted
himself to be burned by it. He who made the oceans permitted
himself to do without water, to cry, I thirst, his tongue
cleaved to his mouth. He who is life actually died. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying
God was manifest in human flesh. He made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a servant, was made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. The manger in Bethlehem is the
holy bed of God Almighty in human flesh. The carpenter's shop in
Nazareth is occupied by none other than God Almighty in human
flesh. The cross of Calvary bears the
body of God Almighty in human flesh, suffering, bleeding, permitting
himself to be beaten, bruised and battered by the hands of
wicked men. I said up in Danville a few nights
ago that if anybody could paint the scene at Calvary as it actually
was, There's no human being would hang it on a wall in their home.
You'd throw up if you looked at it. Actually, our Lord on
that cross was naked. He didn't have a loincloth on.
His body had been beaten by the soldiers. They hit him with their
fists. They pulled the beard out of his face. They plucked
out his beard. They hit him with their fists,
they put a crown of thorns on his head, they beat him with
39 lashes across his back. They spat upon him. And when
he was nailed to that cross beneath that burning oriental sun, the
nails were driven in his hands and in his feet, and that cross
was thrown up in the air and his flesh was torn. Can you imagine
how swollen and battered? You've never seen a human body
that's been lacerated and beaten and drugged through the streets
and treated in that fashion. It says his visions were so marred
he didn't look like a man. And yet we have these little
old things in old costumes, looking really good, pretty good, hanging
there on that cross with his head bowed with a serene expression. There was ignominious, horrible,
agonizing suffering on that cross. Our guilt and shame and sins
were laid on him. He bore the wrath, he bore hell. You want a picture of hell on
your wall? Get you a picture of the true crucifixion. Because
that's what happened at the cross. Hell was laid on Christ. He went
to hell for us. Separated from God. There was
no pretty sin. But that God was manifest in
human flesh. The devils knew him. The demons
said, we know who you are, you're the Holy One of God. The disciples
knew him, they said, we know who you are, the Christ, the
Son of God. The thief knew him, Lord remember me. The centurion
knew him, surely this man was the Son of God. Thomas knew him,
he said, my Lord and my God. Do you know who he is? Jesus
Christ. He's our God in human flesh. You see, man can suffer. But man can't satisfy neither
the justice of God nor the law of God. God can satisfy both the law
and justice, but God can't suffer. God can't suffer. So Jesus Christ
God became man. As God, infinite in his being,
infinite in his glory, infinite in every respect. As God, he
could satisfy the law. As man, he could suffer under
the judgment of the broken law, the God-man, the mediator between
God and man. God became a man. God did what
we cannot do, and he became a man in the flesh. Turn to Romans
5. The question is, how can one
man, now here Jesus Christ was one individual, one man, God
became a man, amen. How can one man meet the law
for so many? We preach, the scripture preaches
that he's the representative of every believer, he's the federal
head of every believer. How can one man by his obedience
and righteousness, satisfied God's law for so many. How can
he be identified with so many? Well, because of who he is. He's
God. God in human flesh. How can one
man, here Christ hung on the cross approximately six hours
and shed his blood. How can one man satisfy the justice
of God for so many? Because of who he is. Who he
is. That's the key. Now representation.
Look at Romans 5.19. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners, that is, Adam. You see, we were in Adam. When
Adam stood, we stood. When he fell, we fell. We were
in Adam. He was the first man. Even so, by the obedience of
one, shall many be made righteous. That's Christ. Turn to 1 Corinthians
15. Verse 21. For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive." Turn to 1 Corinthians
15, verse 47. The first man is of the earth
earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven. And as is the
earthy, such are they that are earthy, and as is the heavenly,
such are they that are heavenly. As we are born in the image of
the earthy, we shall bear the image of the heavenly. Representation.
That's how God deals with us. He dealt with us in Adam. And
we fell, and sin came upon us, death, judgment, condemnation,
sin, darkness, disease came upon all that Adam represented. He
sent Christ down here in the flesh, the Son of God, because
of who he is, became a man. And as a representative person,
he obeyed the law, he satisfied the justice of God, he did all
that was demanded of us. And we stand in him. God became
a man. That's the mystery. Turn back
to the tape. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
And brethren, I'm telling you, I'm not preaching Christ came
down here as an example, though he was. I'm not saying that Jesus
Christ came down here as a pattern, though he was a pattern. I'm
saying that he came down here as a substitute, as a substitute,
as a representative. He came down here to fulfill
a holy, eternal covenant of which he's the surety, of which his
blood is the sacrifice. And he fulfilled all that God
gave him to do for every believer. And I have a perfect righteousness
in Christ. I must hurry. Look at the second
mystery. Now, you may say to me, Preacher,
that you just confuse me. If you give me something to do,
I'll do it for heaven. If you give me some place to
go, I'll go to the Holy Land and worship at the shrines. I'll
give you 10% of my income. If that's the way they say it,
okay, but this mystery you're talking about, this representation,
this substitution, this imputed righteousness, I don't see it.
I know you don't, dear. It has to be revealed. And once
it's revealed, once God reveals it, and I tell you what I would
do, though, I'd keep studying until God does reveal it. Because
that's what it says. Even the natural mind can see
that's what it says. In Christ we live. He was justified in the Spirit.
That's the Holy Spirit. Justified in the Spirit. Now,
when our Lord was in the flesh and declared himself to be the
Son of God, There were many reasons why his claims should be questioned.
Are you with me? He said that himself. Turn to
Matthew, or rather John 5.31. John 5.31. He said that himself. In other words, if a fellow comes
walking in here this morning and says, I'm the Christ, I'm
the Messiah, you've got every right to ask him to prove it.
You've got every right to question what he says. The Lord Jesus
Christ, he said that himself, John 5.31, listen, if I bear
witness of myself, if I'm the only one witnessing, my witness
is not true. So what he's saying here, now
here's the word back in our text, it says he's justified in the
Spirit. Joe, what they're saying, he's
vindicated, vindicated, vindicated. He's vindicated in and by the
Holy Spirit. Now, how do you get that, preacher?
Well, number one, he was conceived in the virgin's womb by the Holy
Spirit. The angel said to Mary, she said, I can't have a child,
I don't have a husband. I've never known a man. And the
angel said, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you. The highest shall
overshadow you, and that which is born from you shall be called
the Son of God." The Holy Spirit conceived him. Secondly, he was
revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit. When Simeon was waiting
in the temple for the consolation of Israel, you remember, the
Holy Spirit said to him, you're not going to die until you see
the Lord's Christ. The Spirit of God was upon him.
And when Mary brought the child in, the Holy Spirit led Simeon
right to it. Thirdly, when our Lord was baptized
of John the Baptist, listen, the Father spake from heaven
and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove.
And John the Baptist said, it was told me, on whom the Spirit
of God descends, that's the Messiah, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
All right? More than that. He worked miracles
by the Holy Spirit. He had the Spirit without measure.
The Holy Spirit vindicated his claims. He worked miracles. Even
old Nicodemus, the high-placed Pharisee, said, what you do couldn't
be done if you weren't from God. Didn't he say that? What you
do couldn't be done except God be with you. God was with him.
God vindicated him. God, the Holy Spirit. He was
raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit. He was declared to be
the Son of God by the Holy Spirit, and when he left here, his disciples
were filled with the Holy Spirit. See what I'm saying? Justified
in the Spirit. Vindicated by the Holy Ghost.
Vindicated by the Holy Ghost. All right? Look back at our text.
It's a mystery, but there's some folks in here that have entered
into it, haven't you? Paul, Jim, Bill, you know who
I'm talking about. And others can if God be pleased
to reveal it. Tell you, look at the next line,
scene of the angels. Can you name any religious person
or any religious event of men that has commanded the attention
of angels? Now, brother, we have to, if we're going to, Jay used
to be an advanced man for a big evangelical fundamental outfit,
but I'll tell you this. If you slept in the town, you
wouldn't have got a hearing. You had to make a lot of noise
when you came into town. They sent Jay ahead of the whole
kit and caboodle, and he told everybody who was coming. He
got the TV crowd and the newspaper crowd and the radio crowd and
the mayor. He went ahead as the announcer,
as the advance man and set this thing up, got all the churches
together and the preachers. And when the tent came into town
with the evangelist and the ventriloquist and the trombone blower and the
chalk artist and the entertainers, by the time they got there, it
was a big thing, a big thing. But no angel had anything to
do with it. They wouldn't have needed J,
if they had an angel. Watch this. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was constantly attended by the angels when he was to be born. You're going back before he was
born, his forerunner. The angel appeared to Zacharias,
the father of John the Baptist. and dealt with him about the
forerunner. And then the angel appeared to Joseph and said,
ìDonít be afraid to marry Mary, because whatís going to be born
of her is of God.î And then the angel appeared to Mary and said,
ìYouíre going to have a son.î And then when he was born, the
angel appeared to the shepherds out there on the hillside, and
God hung a star over that manger, and the angels told the shepherds,
ìWe bring you good tidings.î They didnít need an advanced
man. The angel was his advanced man, the angels of God. His birth
announced to the shepherds and then His temptation in the wilderness.
The angels ministered to Him. The angels ministered to Him
in Gethsemane's garden. When He arose from the grave,
the Scripture says, the angels spoke to the women who came to
the tomb and said, He's not here, He's risen. And then when He
ascended, the angels appeared to His disciples and said, this
same Jesus will come back again. Listen to this. Angels saw the
heaven-born child in human flesh arrayed. The Son of God, the
Son of Man, was in a manger laid. They cried all praise to God
and peace on earth and then stood back amazed at such a birth.
And then around that bloody tree the angels pressed with strong
desire that wondrous, amazing sight to see. the Lord of life
expire, and could their eyes have known a tear, in sad surprise
they would have dropped it there. He was seen of the angels. Mystery? Look at the next one, I'll hurry.
Preach to the Gentiles. Without doubt, this is a great
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of the angels, and preached to
the Gentiles. Now, we're Gentiles, and we're going to naturally
find this a little hard to believe, that the preaching of the gospel
to the Gentiles should be ranked along with incarnation and the
visitation of angels and the vindication of the Holy Spirit
as a mystery. Well, it is. And if you'll think
a little bit, turn to Ephesians 2. Let me show you something
over here in Ephesians 2. If you'll think a little bit, you'll
remember that until Christ came, nothing was preached to the Gentiles.
All revelation was to the Jew. Isn't that correct, Jay? All
revelation was to the Jew. There's nothing for the Gentiles.
Someone said this one time, the nearest thing to God is an angel,
the furthest thing from God is a Gentile. That may be so. If you had asked a Jew, would
there ever be an apostle to the Gentiles, he'd have said, never.
Will God ever save a Gentile? Never. That's the reason the
Lord had such a hard time getting Peter to go pray to Cornelius.
And Ephesians 2, look at this, verse 11. Wherefore remember
that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, called uncircumcision
by that which is the circumcision in the flesh, at that time you
were without Christ, You were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. You were strangers from the covenant of promise.
You had no hope. You were without God in this
world. You see why it's, oh, I tell
you, every Gentile heart ought to be bubbling, ought to be filled
with gratitude. God Almighty has been pleased
to give his son a people even among the Gentiles. That's a
mystery. His covenant was made with Abraham.
That's right. Salvation is of the Jew, unto
the Jew first and also to the Greek. That's so. And then what's the last thing?
I'm going to quit. He's believed on in this world. I must acknowledge
when I read this, I had to ask myself now, why would Paul write
that for a man to believe on Christ is a mystery. Why would
he say that? Well, then I recall, because
a natural man receiveth not the things of God. Preaching of the
cross is foolishness of them that perish. Christ said, you
will not come to me that you might have life. Actually, now you just think
about it a moment. You think about it just a moment.
We're saying that the eternal God, eternal God, back before
the world began, in his divine purpose, set apart Christ as
a surety, a savior, a substitute for a fallen creature that hadn't
fallen. It hadn't even fallen. That's what Scripture teaches.
Christ the Lamb slain for the foundation of the world. There's
a savior before there's a sinner. Before God ever created Adam,
God knew that he'd fall, and it was in God's great design
and purpose that that fall be permitted. That's what the Bible
teaches. And when Adam was made in the
likeness of God, and he tarried for a little while in innocence
and obedience, and then he fell. And God's judgment and wrath
came upon that fallen creature, for in him every human being
fell. Adam was the federal head of
the whole human race, he was a representative of the whole
human race, and the whole human race died. Disease, judgment,
death, condemnation came upon not only the creature, but the
creation as well. Even the trees started dying,
and plagues, and famine, and storms, and snow storms, and
floods, and earthquakes, and all of these things are the result
of sin. Our world was plunged into chaos because of sin. And then God announced to that
man and that woman, He said to the woman, He said, the woman's
going to bear a seed. All who will be born from here
on down through the generation will be the seed of man, the
Adam seed. We're from the loins of Adam.
Every person born is from the loins of Adam. The seed is from
the man. But God said to that woman, that woman Eve, He said,
you're going to have a seed. The woman's going to have a seed,
apart from man, without the aid of a man. You're going to have
a seed. And so when Eve had Cain, she
thought she had that Messiah. He said, that seed will bruise
the serpent. You see, Satan used the serpent
to tempt them, to bring them to that fall. And God, when He
referred to the serpent, He was referring to Satan, all satanic
influence and power and principles. He said, that woman's seed is
going to deal in judgment with the serpent and all of his seed. Now, you're going to hurt him.
You'll bruise his heel. That's his lower part of his
human body. He bruised the heel. Really,
if you're going to get hurt, that's about the place to get
hurt, not up here. See, up here, you crush this, you crush the
power, the life, the government. You crush this, just the lowest
part. You'll bruise his heel, he'll
bruise your head. He'll destroy your power. Well,
when she got keen, she thought she had that man. She says, I've
gotten the man. I've gotten him. God showed him
real quickly that wasn't the one. He killed his brother. And
then God came to Abraham and chose Abraham. He says, I'm going
to send a seed through you. The seed. The seed is Christ.
Not Isaac. It's Christ. You see, it came
through Isaac. God announced he'd come through
Abraham. He'd come through the Jew, through Abraham. He'd come
through the tribe of Judah, through the family of Jesse, household
of David. And that Messiah would come.
And you see, through the Jew, God gave all these promises,
and these types, and pictures, and promises, and prophecies,
and all these things. Finally, one day, God hung that
star in the sky and sent the angels down here and said, He's
here. That's exactly what He said. He's here! He's here. I bring you good tidings, unto
you is born a Savior, Christ the Lord. He's here. Now then,
the Jew thought he'd come on a white horse or come with a
bunch of angels and come and restore David's kingdom and restore
prominence to the Jew and restore glory to the Jew and build a
kingdom right here on this earth. But he didn't come that way.
He came as a Ruth out of dry ground. He came as a despised,
rejected man of sorrows acquainted with grief. He came with fishermen
as his friends and companions, as publicans and harlots and
sinners as his congregation. He came, can any good thing come
out of Nazareth? He came the lowest of the low,
not a place to lay his head, not anything to wear on his back.
The food to eat was given him by others. He came as a helpless
lamb, despised and rejected. And everybody, was anybody turned
thumbs down on him? But he was perfect in his ways.
He knew no sin. And one day, the high priest
and the religious folks finally got enough on him that they had
him arrested. And they sent him down to the
high priest, Caiaphas, and to Herod, and to Pontius Pilate,
and all this outfit, and they all said, crucify him! So they
took him out and nailed him to a cross, and God said, through
Peter on Pentecost, when you hung him on that cross, you did
what I determined 6,000 years ago to be done. You did what
I determined six million years ago to be done. You did what
I determined for all eternity to do. You are just the instruments
in my hand. And that Jew, suffering, bleeding,
dying on that cross, with spittle running down his plucked-out
beard upon his bloody face as people walk around here laughing
and jeering, that is none other than our God. And you expect
me to believe that? You expect me to believe all
that? I beg your pardon, I can't do it. It's too ridiculous. Now preacher, if you tell me
that God's up there in heaven and he wants everybody to be
nice and he wants us to love our neighbor and he wants us
to behave ourselves and he wants us to go to church on Sunday
and he wants us to bring a little money for the offering and he
wants us to talk others into it, I can go along with you on
that. I just believe I can swing that deal. I believe that sounds
pretty good to me. But now this blood, and sacrifice,
and suffering, and cross, and death, and substitution, and
this eternal election, and predestination, and God designing all things,
and I just fully own that. Well, that's what he says. Now
look at this verse again, I know I'm keeping you too long, but
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in human flesh. His claims vindicated by the
Spirit, seen and announced by the angels, preached to a bunch
of Gentile dogs, and they believe this stuff. And they believe it. They believe
it. They believe it enough to die
for it. They believe it enough to get
burned at the stake. They believe it. That's what's
a mystery. They believe this. I had a fellow
say to me one time, if I believe what you believe, I'd just fold
it up and quit. I know you would, apart from
the Holy Spirit, but if you believed it in divine revelation, you
wouldn't fold it up. You'd just get started if you
believed it. Or last of all, I quit. He was
received up into glory. Now here's the amazing thing.
That same man, at man. You see, Jesus Christ is God,
God Almighty. But when he took upon himself
to become a man, and I know this is hard for me to even preach,
let alone expect you to believe it, but when he became a man
and left here, Cecil, he never stopped being a man. There's
a man right now in glory. There's a man in glory. There's
a perfect man. There's a perfect man who perfectly
obeyed God's law. There's a perfect man who's accepted
by the Father. There's a perfect man who fulfilled
every requirement of God's justice. There's a perfect man at the
right hand of God, representing all men who believe on Him, and
where He is, we are, and what He is, we are, and what He has,
we have. Can you show me that in Scripture?
Yes, sir. Right across the page in 1 Timothy 2, there's one God,
1 Timothy 2, 5, there's one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man, Jim, Christ Jesus, that's what it says, the
man. And when our Lord rose from the dead, his disciples touched
him, they handled him, they talked to him, he ate with them, he
ascended to heaven, and the angel said, this same Jesus is coming
again. Not this same Lord, He is the
Lord. Not this same Christ, He is the
Christ. But this same J-E-S-U-S, Jesus, man, is coming again. And if anything will give you
and me, you and I, some hope for eternal glory is to know
that there's already a man has entered heaven. I go to prepare
a place for you. If there's anything that will
give us hope, it's John of Man's already there. A man who was
born of a woman, like I was, who walked this earth, tempted,
tried, tested, thirsted, hungered, wearied, suffered, died, like
I'm going to die someday, and was taken and buried in a grave,
and then came out of the grave and walked on this earth after
he arose and ate with his disciples, appeared to hundreds, and then
he ascended back to glory. If he can do it by his grace,
I can. See what I'm saying? By the power
of the same Spirit, by the grace of the same Lord. And He is the
firstfruits of them that slept. What's firstfruits? It's just
the first apple on the tree. It's the first tomato on the
vine. What does that firstfruit apple tell you? There's another
one coming. What does that first tomato tell you? There's three
or four more coming. What does that first one resurrected? There's some more coming. That
first man in glory, what does it say? There's some more coming.
That's what I'm saying. I'm one of them by his grace.
I'm coming home. That's a mystery. I know it is.
I know it's more fun to give away a tie to the oldest daddy
and the oldest granddaddy. I know that's more fun. I know
it's more fun to have a big choir up here with uniforms singing
those anthems. I know that's more fun. And I
know it's more fun to have a gym back here so all you young people
can hit in the church league, you know, and see who can win
and who can clobber the other one. I know that's more fun.
And I know it's more, that appeals to our human nature. I know that's
more fun. But I'm telling you, this is
the gospel. This is what's got to be preached. I know what they're
doing. I know what preachers are doing.
They're skirting these issues. They're avoiding them. They're
not preaching them. It doesn't raise money. It doesn't get the
crowds. It doesn't get folks down the
aisle. I'm not really interested. You're
coming down this aisle, to be honest with you. Not a thing
down here that's not back there. Not that. I'm not interested
in getting any more names on this road, but I'll tell you
what I'm interested in. It would thrill me throughout
eternity if I knew somebody sitting here this morning heard the Gospel
and believed on Him who is able to save to the uttermost them
that come to God by Him. Paul, that would tickle me to
death, wouldn't you? If I just knew somebody sitting here would
go home and say, I believe that. I believe that. I believe that. I believe that. I believe that Christ is the
Son of God. I believe that. You have me and
my family and my heart. I commit everything to you against
that day. I walk with the King. And you
know, if that fellow, I just kind of believe if that fellow
really means business, he'll come down here maybe next Sunday
and say, Preacher, the Lord saved me. I'd sure like to tell folks
about it. Oh, good. I'll give you the pulpit. That'd be great. Our Father,
bless the Word. You're the only one who can make
it live. Mystery hidden from generations. If they'd known
who he was, they'd have never crucified him. If they'd have
known who he was, they'd have never spit in his face. They'd
have bowed down and worshiped him. And if men today knew who
he is, they'd worship him. They'd trust him. They'd believe
on him. They knew who he is. And Lord, you've been pleased
to reveal him to some of us, and we thank you. We praise your
name. Reveal him to others. Christ the King, Christ the Savior,
Christ the Substitute. In His name we pray. Amen.