The Lord has a double design
in maintaining his church in this world, and that double design
is revealed in verse 15, which I just read. Now, what I mean
by church is not this building. What I mean by church is not
a denomination. We hear people say the Baptist
church or the Methodist church or the Presbyterian church or
the Catholic church. Or we hear people talk about
going down to the church on Sunday. I'm going to the church, which
they mean is a building or a place designed for worship. That's
not the church. This is a building. It's not
a church. This is a place where a church meets. What we're talking
about when we use the word church is a living temple. We're talking
about God's redeemed people wherever they meet. You know, Paul wrote
about the church which met in your home. The church which meets
in your home, he said to some of those early believers. The
church has met in caves, homes, prisons, cathedrals, temples,
synagogues, brush arbors, tents, a lot of places. But the church
is a living temple. And here is God's double design
in maintaining a church. on this earth, in this world.
First of all, he says it's the church of the living God. It's
the house of God. It's where God dwells. It's where
God dwells. Where does God dwell? In his
church. What is his church? Redeemed
people. He dwells in people. It's the
habitation of God. Let me show you that in Ephesians
chapter 2. Jehovah still dwells with true
Israel. Jehovah dwelt with Israel in
the Old Testament. Jehovah dwells with Israel today. The true Israel. The Israel of
God. The people of Christ. It's a
habitation of God. God dwells in these living temples. Your body is the temple of the
Spirit of God. Christ talked about coming and
taking up His abode in us. He said, I and the Father will
dwell with you and be in you. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 21
and 22. "...in whom all the building
fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord,
in whom you also are built together for habitation of God through
the Spirit." God manifests himself to believers, through believers,
but my friends, in believers. So the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the temple of God. It's the habitation of God. It's
the house of God. And God dwells in his people
here on this earth. So that's his first reason for
maintaining or design for maintaining a church on this earth. It's
the habitation of God. It's the dwelling place of God.
And then secondly, he calls it the pillar and ground of the
truth. And that's the second reason.
The true gospel must be preached. It must be believed. It must
be practiced. It must be proclaimed by men.
It's not in books that God preserves his truth. Though as long as
we have this book, we'll have the Word of God, we'll have the
truth of God, but it's seed unplanted. This is seed unplanted. It's
true. It's the Word of God. But it's
seed unplanted. It's not in books and creeds
and confessions of faith that God is pleased to preserve his
gospel, but in living men and women. The church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the habitation of God, is the temple of God,
is the dwelling place of God, and it's the pillar and ground
of the truth. The proclamation of the gospel,
a human heart is needed. A human voice is needed. For
its establishment, human lives are needed. Listen to these verses.
Christ said, you are my witnesses. Not a book or a tract or a creed
or a confession of faith, but you are my witnesses. You shall
be witnesses unto me. You shall bear witnesses of me.
God hath not left himself without a witness. And Paul said, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. The foolishness of what? Preaching. preaching. So what an awesome
responsibility we meet with immediately in this text. The Apostle Paul
says there's a double design of God in maintaining a church
on this earth. And the first is it's a dwelling
place of God. And we're not talking about a
building, we're not talking about an organization, we're not talking
about an ecclesiastical denomination, we're talking about living men
and women in whom God dwells, through whom God reveals himself.
And those living hearts and living people and human lives in whom
God dwells, that's the pillar and ground of the truth. And
what an awesome responsibility is upon us. as the habitation
of God, to walk with God, and at any cost to maintain the truth
of God's Word, at any cost. Now, in verse 16, Paul sets forth
what that truth is. He says there's a double design
in God maintaining a church, the dwelling place of God, the
temple of God, the house of the living God, and the pillar and
ground of truth. Not entertainment, truth. Truth. And then he tells us what
that truth is. He says, and without controversy,
without argument, now outside of this church, the church we're
talking about here, the pillar and ground of truth, the habitation
of God, the house of the living God, outside of this church there's
plenty of controversy about what we're going to talk about, about
the truth. It's denied. It's fought against,
it's questioned, it's mocked, it's ridiculed. But in this house
of the living God, this truth is held without controversy.
I don't care where you find a believer, what he calls himself, what his
religious persuasion. If he's one of God's own, if
he's in the church of the living God, if he's part of the house
of God, if he's part of that house of God which is the pillar
and ground of the truth, he'll hold these things without controversy,
without argument, without debate. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. Now, my friends, there are six
great mysteries mentioned in the New Testament. There are
six great mysteries. There may be more, but there
are six great mysteries, chief mysteries. I want to show them
to you tonight in this introduction, then we're going to get into
the heart of this verse. Six great mysteries. If you want
to, jot these down. The first one, not necessarily
in this order, I shouldn't say the first one, but here are the
six great mysteries of the New Testament revealed by the Holy
Spirit. And Paul uses this word mystery
frequently. The gospel, a mystery revealed
by the Holy Spirit. This thing comes by revelation,
not by human wisdom or human understanding or human education. It comes by revelation. We're
taught of God. The natural man does not see
or understand or hear or comprehend the mysteries of spiritual truth.
And there are mysteries, and there are six great mysteries
in the New Testament. And one of them is this, found
in Ephesians, if you will, chapter 5, verse 30. Ephesians chapter
5, verse 30. Now here in verse 30 of chapter
5 of Ephesians, Paul is talking about marriage. He talks about
husbands loving their wives, being tender and kind and compassionate,
and loving them like Christ loved the Church. And he's talking
about the wives being in subjection to their husbands, submissive
to their husbands as the church is submissive to Christ and loves
Christ. And he talks about marriage being
a union, two people being one flesh, one name, one direction,
one desire, one family, one unit. And then he says this, verse
30, for we're members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they
too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. And
I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Now this great mystery
is that union of Christ with his Church. And as I say, you
can't call the Church a building. Christ has no union with a building.
He has no union with a denominational name. He has no union with a
denominational program. He has a union, a spiritual,
living, vital, personal union with people whom he's redeemed.
We're in Christ, and Christ is in us. And that's a mystery. They're one. The believer in
Christ is one. What Christ has, I have. I'm
a joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like when a man
marries a woman. She takes his name. I've taken
the name of Christ. He assumes her debts, her responsibilities. He assumes, he takes upon him
her security, her protection. All of these things. And this
is the way Christ and his people are. They're one. In the eyes
of the heavenly Father, they're one. They bear one name. They're
in one union. And Christ has assumed full responsibility
for his birth. He protects us, he provides for
us, he secures us, he answers for us, and what is his is ours,
we're joint heirs with him. All right, the second great mystery
is found in Ephesians 3, verse 1 through 6, and that's the mystery
of the calling of the Gentiles. In Ephesians 3, verse 1, Paul
says, for this cause, I, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for
you Gentiles, if you've heard of the administration of the
grace of God which is given to me toward you, how that by revelation
he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore 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 unto
the sons of men, but is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Holy Spirit. What is this mystery? that the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers
of his promise in Christ for the gospel. That's a mystery.
And brethren, back in Old Testament days, there wasn't anything for
the Gentile. There was no types, shadows,
and tabernacle, no meeting place with God, no atonement, no preaching,
no prophecy, no laws. They had nothing. They were called
dogs. I'm talking about our kinfolks. I'm talking about us. The Jews
were God's special, elect, chosen, national people to whom God revealed
himself. And Paul said, the very fact
that I've been named an apostle to the Gentiles and God has been
pleased to include the Gentiles, foreigners, aliens, strangers
from the commonwealth of Israel into his body, into his temple,
into his family, that's a mystery. That's a mystery. All right,
let's go on. Romans 11, here's another mystery. The first one
I mention is the union of Christ with his church. That living,
vital union of Christ, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh,
in his body. Romans 11, here's another one. Another great mystery mentioned
in the New Testament, Romans 11, verse 25 and 26. You know
what it is? It's what's going on, I think,
over in the Middle East right now. I'm not saying definitely
that's going on right now. It's what I think is going on.
And that is the mystery of the restoration of the Jews. In Romans
11, now listen to this, verse 25. I would not, brethren, that
you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise
in your own conceits that blindness, hardness of heart, in part is
happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come
in. Now let's wait. We're going to read another verse.
But now that's so clear to me. The Jewish people are not receiving Christ in heaven
for 2,000 years. Since Christ was crucified, the
destruction of Jerusalem, there's been an overall blindness, judicial
blindness and hardness as far as the Jew is concerned. But
Paul says this blindness is in part, it's temporary. And this
blindness shall continue until something happens, until the
fullness of the Gentile, the completion of the Gentile church,
or the calling of the Gentiles is through. And then, look at
verse 26, And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, that
it shall come out of Zion, the deliverer, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sins, as concerning the
gospel, their enemies for your sake, but as touching the election,
their beloved for the Father's sake, for the gifts and calling
of God, or without change." God promised Abraham some things,
he's going to fulfill it. He promised the Jews some things,
he's going to fulfill it. And he says, I wouldn't have
you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery. And the mystery is that
blindness is only in part upon Israel that someday Israel is
going to be grafted back in. That's the third mystery. Here's
another one, 1 Corinthians 15. These are the mysteries of the
New Testament. These are things that must be
revealed to the heart of the people of God. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 51 through 54. Now, he said in verse 50 that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In other
words, I can't go to heaven like I am. I love Christ, but I don't
love Christ like I should. I don't love him like I will. I walk with God. You do too if
you're a child of God, but not like I should, and not like I
desire to, and not like I will. And I have a human nature. and
a sinful nature, and thoughts and words and deeds that are
not in keeping with God's glory, God's holiness, and you do too.
And there's no way that I can go to heaven like I am, no way
that I can have eternal life in God's presence in my present
condition. You can't either. We've got to
be changed. We're still, we're redeemed,
but we're redeemed sinners. We're saved, but we're saved
sinners. We're still corrupt. This is dying flesh. This is
rotting flesh. This is sinful flesh. In my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. So Paul says, Behold, I show
you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. In other
words, we're not all going to die. Now if I die, this process
here, if I die tomorrow and you bury me, then my soul and spirit
goes to heaven to be with God and my body goes back to the
dust from whence it came. And that transformation takes
place. The old nature, the old flesh, everything is wiped out
and eradicated and done away with. And my perfect redeemed
spirit goes to be with God. That which is born of God, that
which is created by God, that which is the new creature goes
to be with God. But what if Christ comes and
I'm not dead? What if he comes tonight? Well, he can't take
me to heaven like this, or you either. So he says, we're not
at all going to sleep, but we're going to be chained. In a moment,
in a twinkling of an eye, it's a mystery, I don't understand
it, but at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we're going to be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality.
Then shall be brought to pass the saying, death swallowed up
in victory. In other words, in glory, in
the resurrection, we're going to have bodies. If you'll study
how Christ was raised, our Lord was raised from the dead, and
he appeared to his disciples. And I know the artist's conception
of heaven is folks floating around on clouds, plucking on harps
with you know, halos over their heads and wings on their back,
that's a total misconception. You can take what the average
man thinks about heaven and believe the opposite. You can take what
the average person believes about what we're going to be like in
heaven and just take the opposite, because he has no conception
whatsoever. When Christ arose from the tomb,
he ate with his disciples. He had a glorified body. He had
an incorruptible body. He had an immortal body. He had
a perfect body without sin. He had borne our sins and paid
for them. When he arose from the tomb, he walked with them,
he appeared with them, and he said to one of them, Reach out
and touch my hands. I'm not a ghost, he said. I'm
not a spirit. A ghost does not have flesh and
bones as you see me have. And then he ate with them. They
had fish and honeycomb. And they touched him. And when
we see him, we're going to be like him. And when we're raised
from the grave, we're going to have the same identification
except perfect. We're going to have the same
body except perfect. We're going to have the same
love for Christ except perfect. Perfectly created in the image
of the Son of God. Mystery. I know it's a mystery.
That's what Paul says it is. But he says it's going to take
place. We're going to be changed. And I'll tell you this. There's
going to be a heaven, there's going to be a new earth. And
the new Jerusalem came down from God out of heaven to this earth,
this new earth. And the believer is going to
have access to a new earth and a new heaven. And the earth is going to be
beautiful. If you'll read the 8th chapter of Romans, you'll
find that this world, there's nothing wrong with this world
except sin. I don't know how many times people said to me
today, Isn't it a beautiful day? God made this day. This is a
day the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
it. God made this earth, and it's beautiful even with sin. Think what it'd be like without
sin. God made the grass and the trees and the rivers and the
lakes and the skies and the clouds and the stars and the sun and
the moon and all of these things. God created, and He said it's
good. He created man in his own image
and said, he's good. And then sin came and ruined
it all. But it still retains some of
the image in which God made it. And he's going to recreate it
and remake it. He destroyed this world once by water. He said
he'd never do it again and put a rainbow in the sky as a token
of that covenant. But he said, I'm going to destroy
it one more time. Not by water, but by fire. I'm going to purge
it. burn out the sin and the dross and make it again. And
when he makes it again, you can be sure it's going to be without
sin. And it's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Righteousness,
purity, godliness, beauty, flesh and bones, men and women, boys
and girls, living in the very presence of God forever with
a new body. Never to know darkness, or death,
or sin, or tears, or sickness, or sorrow, any of those things.
You say, I don't understand that. Adam didn't know any of those
things until he fell. Adam and Eve didn't know any
of those things until they fell. That garden was a perfect garden.
But when sin visited that place, they were cast out. And that's
when man began to eat his bread with the sweat of his brow. That's
when man began to walk in guilt and shame and run from God. God
says, come back to me and I'll restore it. He restored it in
my soul. Come back to me. I'll give you rest and peace
and joy. Come back to me. We'll have fellowship.
Come back to me. For Christ's sake, I'll receive
you. For Christ's sake, I'll forgive you. In the name of my
Son, I'll make you whole. And then when death is over and
the destruction of this world and the creation of the new world,
you'll live in that new world with me forever. And I'll show
forever the riches of my grace and my kindness toward you through
Christ Jesus. But you're going to be surprised.
I know it's a mystery, and I'm not going to stand up here and
try to explain it. I'm not the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit,
as we go along reading the Word and doing a little studying and
a little seeking of his will and his way, he'll reveal to
us some of the things that he's written. And I say this, there's
nothing wrong with man except sin. There's nothing wrong with
this body that God made except sin. There's nothing wrong with
this world except sin. There's nothing wrong with nature
except sin. And someday God's going to take
sin away, all of it. And then there won't be anything
wrong with it, for the glory of God will enjoy it forever.
So he says this fourth mystery is God Almighty is going to remove
sin and corruption from our bodies, from our persons, and from our
world. And it's going to be a place
beyond, well, Paul said this, he said, I saw things it wasn't
possible to talk about. Yes, sir. You know, I keep reading
these books and seeing these things advertised on TV. Beyond
death's door and so forth is life. Well, I know there's life.
They don't need a book to tell me. Some fellow don't need to
have a dream come back here and tell me he died to prove there's
life after death. I know there is. We're not dogs,
we're creating the image of God. We don't die annihilated, we're
made in the likeness of God. We live always. God didn't breathe
into a dog the breath of life, he breathed into Adam the breath
of life, and he became a living soul. We're living souls, and
we live always. But I want to tell you this,
any man that's been beyond that door, as Paul was, when he comes
back, he won't have anything to say. He said, I saw things
it's not possible to tell you about. It's not lawful to utter.
There's no way I can explain to you what you can't comprehend.
Lazarus came back. Paul came back. Jairus' daughter
came back. There isn't one word of testimony
here by any of them. Not one. Christ came back, and
he had a lot to say about it. All right, here's the fifth mystery,
and that's found in 2 Thessalonians. Chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. And this is what I pray. I pray, Lord, teach me these
things for your glory, for my good. Not that I might be inquisitive
or curious. I don't want to approach the
Word of God with a curiosity. I want to approach the Word of
God with a hunger. If you prayed tonight about that
unquenchable thirst, that hunger and thirst for righteousness,
that he fills with himself, not just information. This is a deadly
place to get into, and that's to approach this book with a
curiosity and a desire for intellectual understanding and doctrine in
these things. I want to know him. whom know
his life. I want the fullness of him that
filleth all in all. I want to grow in the riches
of his grace and the knowledge of his Son, that I might glorify
him. And that's what you want. And
that's the reason as we talk about these mysteries, I say,
Lord, reveal them to me, not to satisfy my curiosity, but
to bless my heart and to thrill my soul. and to give me comfort
along the way. But here's the next one, 2 Thessalonians
2, 7 and 8. The mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked
Antichrist, spirit of Antichrist, shall be revealed in all of his
gruesomeness and corruption terrifying presence, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness
of his coming." Here's what he's talking about. It's a mystery.
That is, that in this world, in religious circles, in spiritual
wickedness in high places, there's a mystery of iniquity, of evil,
motivated by Satan. that's already working. Paul
2,000 years ago wrote this. Already working. And the only
thing that restrains Satan from taking over completely is the
Spirit of the Living God. The only one who restrains this
powerful iniquity, destroying, just wiping out all grace and
good and mercy and godliness and holiness, the only thing
that holds back this dam that one day will break is the restraining
grace of Almighty God, the Spirit of God. And when he turns her
loose, you talk about Sodom and Gomorrah, you talk about Tyre
and Sidon, you talk about Egyptian darkness, that's what this world's
going to be like. This mystery of iniquity that
God permits. Let me tell you something, and
don't ever forget it. Satan is not omnipotent. He's not omnipresent. And he's not omniscient, only
God is. Satan can only move as God permits
him to move. And this mystery of iniquity
that God has suffered to remain in this world since the fall
in the Garden of Eden and before, it's already working, already
creeping out there. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness
and rulers of the darkness in high places. And God's restraining
hand holds it back. And when God turns it loose,
he that letteth will let. He that hindereth will hinder
no more. He that restraineth will restrain
no more. And in God's own time, it'll
sweep over the world. It'll take the world by storm.
But now here's the third mystery we're talking about tonight,
and I'll sum it up. And somebody at Edge Hill told
me not to say briefly, because I didn't mean briefly. Well,
I'll sum it up. I'll sum it up. Here is the next
one in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16. And without controversy, here
is the greatest mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness. The mystery of godliness. You
know what the average person, preacher, church member, talks
about the mystery of godliness? He wants to talk about our goodness,
or our righteousness. or our personal holiness, but
that's not the mystery of godliness. The mystery of godliness is given
in six sentences, six brief, short sentences. Number one,
God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. God came to the earth in the
body of a man. God did. He whom the heavens
cannot contain. He whose throne is the heaven
of heavens, whose footstool is the earth, who holds the nations
as a drop in the bucket, and considers the inhabitants thereof
as grasshoppers. He, the Eternal of Days, the
Ancient of Days, became an Infant of Days. The Son of the Highest
became the Son of Man. He who made woman was made of
a woman. He who made the rivers and the
seas asked somebody to give him a drink. He who inhabits heaven and glory
had no place to lay his head. He who made the vegetables and
the fruits had to depend on someone else to give him a bite to eat.
He who cast out demons was tempted of Satan. He the giver of life
died on a cross. That's a mystery. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God became a man. Let's see that
in the scripture. John chapter 1. John chapter
1. It says in verse 1, in the beginning
was the Word, capital W-O-R-D, and the Word was with God and
the Word was God. Talking about Christ. The same
was in the beginning with God. In him was life, and the life
was the light of me. And I looked down at verse 10,
and he was in the world. The world was made by him, and
the world knew him not. Verse 14, and the Word, capital
W-O-R-D, the Word Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. He said, one day, I and my Father
are one. He said to the Jew, to the disciples,
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Paul said, Feed the
church of God which he purchased with his own blood. In Hebrews
1.8 Paul wrote, And the Father hath not sent to the angels,
but to the Son thy throne, O God, is forever. Jesus of Nazareth
is none other than God himself in human flesh. God came to earth. That's so. He's not a representative
of God. He's not a messenger of God in
that sense. He's not a picture of God. He's
the very image of God. That's so. Jesus Christ, that's
the mystery of Godliness. All right. Secondly, it said
he was God manifest in the flesh. And secondly, he was justified
in the Spirit. See that? That's the Holy Spirit.
Now when this man, Jesus of Nazareth, you see what I'm saying is that
infant in Bethlehem's manger is none other than God Almighty,
robed and clothed temporarily for a time in human flesh. That
man working in the carpentry shop, earning his living by the
sweat of his brow is none other than God who made the world,
who spoke the world into being out of nothing. Here he is with
a saw, and a hammer and nails and a plane making a table when
he could just stand back and say, let there be light, let
the dry land appear, let there be a tree. But he's limited himself
to our situation. Made flesh. Made flesh. He became a man, made a woman,
made under the law, in subjection to all in which you and I are
in subjection to, and tested in every point as we are. He
thirsted, he wept, he was sorrowful, a man of sorrows acquainted with
grief, he bled, he died. He was a man in all aspects as
if he were not God. And yet he's God, God in human
flesh. He's as much God as he was when
he made the world, as he will be when he judges the world.
He never ceased to be God. But when our Lord came in that
human flesh and declared himself to be the Son of God, now watch
it, there were many reasons why his claims should be doubted.
However, all of his claims were justified by the Holy Spirit. In his birth, he was conceived
by the Holy Spirit. He did not have a human father. Mary was with child, and Joseph
was troubled. But naturally he'd be troubled.
And the angel came to him and said, Joseph, fear not to take
unto thee Mary to be thy wife. That holy thing in her is conceived
by the Holy Spirit, and he's the Son of God. That's what God
said. He didn't have a human father,
everything he said was a lie. If Joseph is a father of Jesus
Christ, Jesus Christ is the world's greatest imposter. His soul is
in hell and his body is in Jerusalem, if Joseph was his daddy. Because
he's not God. God's not born of the flesh,
God's conceived in the womb of the Holy Spirit, justified in
the Spirit. That is baptism. The Lord said
to John the Baptist, he said, upon whom you see the Spirit
descending, that's the Lamb of God. And when he baptized Christ
in the River Jordan, he said, I saw heaven open, and the Holy
Spirit came down in the form of a dove and lit upon him. The Holy Spirit justified his
claim. The miracles. He said, the Word
bears witness of me, the Father hath borne witness of me, John
the Baptist bore witness of me, and the lame walk, and the blind
see, and the dead hear, and the dead are raised. I'm the Son
of God. And then in his resurrection,
Paul wrote in Romans 1-4, he's declared to be the Son of God
by the resurrection of the dead, by the Spirit of God. All right,
notice the next quickly. Scene of the angels. Our Lord
was always seen of the angels who wait before his throne to
do his will. The angels are his created messengers
sent to be ministers to those who are the heirs of salvation.
But in his earthly visit, in his earthly incarnation, angels
attended his every move. when he was born in Bethlehem's
manger, the angels came down from heaven and appeared to the
shepherds and said, We bring you good tidings of great joy,
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ
the Lord. In the wilderness of temptation,
when Satan kicked at him while he fasted forty days, the angels
came and ministered to him. In the garden of Gethsemane,
when he prayed and sweat, as it were, great drops of blood,
the angels, read it, came and ministered to it. When he arose
from the grave, whom did the women meet at the table? Angels. They said, he's not here, he's
risen. When the disciples went out to the top of the mountain
and watched him ascend back to heaven, who spoke to them? The angels. Said this same Jesus,
which Whom you've seen go into heaven shall so come in like
manner as you've seen him go." All right, move on. This is the
mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in human flesh. He was justified by the Holy
Spirit. He was seen of the angels. And
here's what we talked about a while ago. Preach to the Gentiles. Oh, you and I ought to camp right
here a little while. How thankful we ought to be.
I'm sorry that Israel is blinded judicially blinded. But I'm so
glad God didn't pass by the Gentiles. I'm so glad that he didn't leave
us in our heathen darkness, aren't you? Until Christ came, nothing
was preached to the Gentiles. All revelations, types, prophecies
and laws were to the Jews. Nearest to Christ were the angels,
and they said the Father from the Lord was a Gentile. And yet
we've been made nigh by the blood of Christ. We've been made now
by the blood of Christ. And I'll tell you, you go through
the Bible and you'll find every one of these apostles, Andrew
and Peter and Nathanael and John and James and especially Paul
and Peter. It took them a while to realize
that God intended for them to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.
Now, it took them a while to realize that. They didn't take it for granted
like you and I do, and this day we just take for granted that
you know the Gospels to all the world. That's right, it is. But
there was a day when it wasn't revealed that way. There was
a day. And then the fifth part of this
mystery, he was bleeding on in the world. This is the part of
the mystery of godliness that you and I should believe it,
that we should believe it. Believe in him whom we've never
seen. John 20, verse 29. Listen to Christ here. John 20,
verse 29. Believe in him. Believe in him
to the point that we'd lay down our lives. That's hard to explain,
isn't it? Believe this gospel, this book
that's 3,500 years old in some parts, and in the newest part
of it, 2,000 years old, written in Hebrew and Greek and translated
and preserved by God's providence. Believe this book. Believe that
a man 2,000 years ago who was born of a little Jewish maiden
who claimed that she knew not a man, and walked this earth,
everybody was anybody turned thumbs down on him. He was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sours, acquainted with grief,
and then finally even his disciples sold out, denied him, and they
took him and tried him in a mock trial and took him outside the
city walls of Jerusalem and nailed him to a cross and buried him. And he rose again. And the Holy
Spirit anointed some men who had no education and no religious
background and just men like you and me that turned this world
upside down. And we believe that that's our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, John chapter 20, John chapter
20 verse 29, Jesus said, Thomas, you've seen me and you believe.
Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed. They've not seen, they haven't
had dreams and visions and all these things, they believe the
Word. Blessed are they. The eunuch summed it up, I believe,
he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's
what I believe. Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Outside of Him, I have no hope. forgiveness, for salvation, for
life, and nobody else does either. No son of Adam will ever see
God's glory without Christ and His substitution in their work.
I believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah. I believe He's the Savior.
I believe He's the Redeemer. I believe He's the Son of God.
And God's not going to accept any flesh. In the flesh, no man
can please God. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. No man's going to stand in God's
presence unless he has clean hands and a pure heart. Nobody's
got that. Christ has. And if he's my representative
and I'm in him, and that blessed union of Christ and the Church,
if I'm in him, I'm going in with him. I'm going to be accepted
in him because I'm married to him and where he is, I am. That's
that union I'm talking about. That's that habitation of God,
that dwelling place of the Spirit of God. Outside of Christ, I
can't be even considered. But Christ is accepted in the
Father, and we're accepted in the Beloved because He's our
Beloved. And when He goes in, we go in. And that brings me
to the last point here in the mystery of godliness. He was
received up into glory. My friends, Christ has come,
the atonement has been made, the elect are redeemed, Christ
has risen. You know where He is now? Look
at 1 Timothy 2, right across the page, verse 5. There's one
God. We know that. But here's something
you need to know, too. There's one mediator between
God and man, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. The man. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us. Christ, he's God, the anointed, chosen, ordained of God. Jesus,
the representative of his people, he died to save us. And he's
at the right hand of God. Now wait a minute. And here's
the mystery concerning Christ and his church. I'm married to
him, Cecil. He has made me one, like a husband
and a wife. He's given me his name. He's
made me bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. He's made
me part of his body. And I'll tell you where the head
is, the body is. That's right. He's the head and
we're the body. And where the husband is, the wife is. That's
such so. That's what he says over there
in Ephesians. That's that mystery. Well, who is he? He's the Son
of God, but he's the God-man. And what did he do? He married
us. We were given to him from eternity
by the Father. And he came and bought his bride,
and redeemed his bride, and purchased his bride, and paid what was
owing to the law and to the justice of God. And the man Christ Jesus
said, I go and prepare a place for you, I'm going to build a
home for you, and if I build a home for you, I'm coming back
after you, that where I am, there you may be also. And he's at
the right hand of God, already been accepted, already been received,
already seated.