The Mystery of Godliness

I want you to listen very carefully
while I read my text from the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 3,
verse 16. I'm going to speak to you today
on this subject, the mystery of godliness. The mystery of
godliness. Now, this is an important scripture.
I think that we need to concentrate on single verses of scripture. or a part of God's Word, and
ask the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, and reveal unto us that
which is written in some certain part of God's Word, instead of
trying to read so much, and cover so much territory, and really
not learn anything. Listen to this verse, in 1 Timothy
3, verse 16. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. justified in the spirit, seen
of the angels, believed on in the world, and received up into
glory." Now that's some assignment to understand what the Apostle
Paul is writing there, without controversy, without controversy. Someone has called this the summary
of true religion. I'll say this, this verse of
Scripture certainly does not deal with trivial matters. But
it deals with the loftiest themes. It deals with important matters.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of the angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, and received up in the glory. Even those who do not
believe our gospel will have to admit that we're dealing here
with the greatest of themes. God was manifest in the flesh. These subjects are not secondary.
And there's no room here for indifference. There's no room
at all here for a careless spirit or a careless attitude. Either
this is the most amazing revelation, either this is the most astounding
revelation, or it's the most astounding deception that's ever
been put over on the human race. This is either the most amazing
revelation, God, was manifest in the flesh. Now that is an
amazing revelation or that total deception. You see the importance
of our theme? The importance of these verses.
No man can afford to be undecided about this if it's true. If this
is true, that God came to the earth, then you can't afford
to be undecided about this matter. It's too solemn. If to great
right or wrong, these words deserve our consideration and our investigation. Listen to it again without controversy. There's no argument here at all.
Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of the angels. Now, great is
the mystery of godliness. Our theme is great because we're
dealing with God. Anything about God is important
to me and to you. But we're talking about God's
visit to the world. And any doctrine which relates
to the infinite, eternal, immortal God coming down to this earth
in human flesh is important. It's important to you and it's
important to me. It's great. Great is this mystery
that we're dealing with. And it's great because we're
dealing with God's mercy to sinners. God's grace to you and me. He
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. This is good
news. If this is true, that God was
manifest in the flesh, if this is true, if this is not total
deception, if this is a true revelation, then it's the most
important thing that I can consider, the most important thing that
I can look into. And it's great because it affords
us a hope of eternal life and of salvation. I have but one
life. I have but one soul, and that soul is under condemnation
because of sin. I'm a sinner. I have to stand
with a publican in the temple and cry, God, be merciful to
me, a sinner. Well, if God was manifest in
the flesh, and he came to this earth to save sinners, then this
is my hope of mercy. Perhaps there is mercy for you
and for me. Perhaps it's true. Amazing love. How can it be? that thou, my
God, should die for me." Paul is saying that God came to the
earth. God, who made all things, came
to the earth, was manifest in the flesh, and he came to redeem
sinners, and this is our hope. Do you know anything greater
than that? Without controversy, there's no argument here, if
this is truth, without controversy, it's the greatest thing that
I can possibly have as my subject today. It's the greatest and
best news that you could possibly hear. God was manifest in the
flesh. Read it again, without argument. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of the angels, believed on in
the world, preached to the Gentiles, and received up the glory. God
was manifest in the flesh. There's no rattling of the chains
of denominationalism here at all. It's the revelation of a
living person. It's the visitation of the living
God. The mystery of godliness is not
some monstrous organization. The mystery of godliness is not
sectarianism or peculiarities of doctrines and codes and laws
and dress. It's the visit of a person. Paul's
not rattling the chains of denominationalism, and there's no setting forth
here of complicated ceremonies. You don't hear the drops of water
being sprinkled. You don't even see the baptisms.
You don't even see the ceremonies or the solemn feasts or the excited
assemblies. This is talking about a person
who came to this earth. The mystery of godliness is not
the rattling of the change of denominationalism or the setting
forth of complicated ceremonies, and there's no exhibition here
of mere doctrines and laws. It's the coming of a person,
not a system of persons. It's the coming of a Redeemer,
not a system of theology, not rules of conduct. This message
is alive, not cold dead logic and cold dead doctrine, but it's
living truth. grave is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And there's no sensationalism
of prophecy here. The Apostle Paul is not projecting
what's going to happen in the future. He's talking about something
that's already taken place. He's not talking about something
that could happen or might happen, but he's talking about something
that did happen. He's reporting a fact. He's delivering
a message of something that's already taken place. That's what
I'm interested in. I'm not interested in a man's
views on the future, his projections concerning prophecy. I'm not
concerned with that at all, but I am interested in what has taken
place. Without argument, this is the
greatest thing. This is the loftiest thing. This
is the most important thing. God. God. That's who we're talking
about. God was manifested in the flesh. The Lord God came to earth. The
Lord God became bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. The Lord
God in a human body bled and died on the cross. The Lord God
was raised from the dead and ascended back to glory where
he's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. The Lord
God came to this earth. That is the mystery of Godliness.
That's the essence of our gospel. That's the heart of our message.
That's the good news that we proclaim. We put Christ and him
crucified. Philip one day said to the Master,
Lord, show us the Father and it'll suffice us. Now that's
a good question. That's what we'd like to see.
Philip said, Lord, we'd like to see the Father. We'd like
to see it. And our Lord Jesus Christ looked
at Philip and he said, Philip, have I been so long time with
you, three and a half years? And yet you don't know me. He
that has seen me has seen the Father. I and my Father once. God was manifest in human flesh. That's what we're saying. Now
I want to show you six things. I'd like for you to jot these
down and some of the comments and scriptures that I use. Let's
do a little teaching today. We need to study to show ourselves
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth, not for the sake of argument,
but for the salvation of our souls, because faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Now, there's no argument
here. This is a great and grand thing.
This is the grandest of things. God was manifest in the flesh.
He was justified in the spirit. He was seen of the angels. He's
preached to the Gentiles. He's believed on in the world.
He's received up to glory. And there's six things here that
Paul calls our attention to, and the first one is this, God
was manifest in the flesh. Now my friends, this is the most
extraordinary fact ever declared in human language. God, now think
of it. God, God Almighty, whom the heavens
cannot contain. God, he says the earth is his
footstool. The inhabitants of the earth
are his grasshoppers. He holds the nations as a drop
in the bucket. God was manifest in human flesh. God came to the earth in a human
body. That's what we say. God was manifest
in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt,
actually dwelt, among us. The manger at Bethlehem holds
the Lord of Glory. Do you believe that? That's what
he says. Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given, and thou shalt call his name Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father." That's who this child
is. Under us a child is born, a son is given. God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes
and laid him in a manger. The man of Galilee is none other
than the Eternal God. the Son of the Highest, yet a
man of sorrows, the King of kings, and yet despised and rejected,
the giver of life, and yet he died." That's what we're saying.
Great is the mystery of God, you know. And the first great
mystery is this, that God was manifest in human flesh. Jesus
Christ is not a son of God, he's the son of God. Now, he gave
us the power, the privilege, the right to become sons of God,
but never in the sense that he is the son of God. He's the only
begotten son of God. He is the only begotten son of
God. The Father said, this is my son.
Now, one day he said to his disciples, whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? Well, his disciples said, some
say you're John the Baptist, and some say you're Elijah, and
some say you're one of the prophets. And that's about all men can
say about Jesus Christ who do not really know him. He's a great
prophet, or a great healer, or a great reformer, or a great
teacher, or a great preacher, or a great something else. But
he turned to the disciples again and he said, but whom do you?
say that I, the Son of Man, am. And the Apostle Peter said, Thou
art the Christ, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living
God. And he said, Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood did not reveal
that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven, God. And don't
ever lose sight of this fact. God was manifest in the flesh,
and it matters a great deal who he is. Now listen to me, because
who he is determines the value of what he did. If he's not God,
he's not your savior. He can't save himself, let alone
you and me, if he's not God. If he's just an ordinary man,
I don't care how good a man, or how fine a man, or how outstanding
a man. If he's just a man, he's a partaker
of man's fall, and man's sin, and man's guilt, and man's inability,
and man's weakness. He can't save himself. And if
he's only a man, his bones are still over there in Jerusalem,
in that tomb, and his soul's in hell, because he's a liar.
He deceived the world. He said he was the Son of God.
And what they said about him was so. If he's not the Son of
God, he's a blasphemer. If he's not the Son of God, he
deserves to be in hell, because he misled people. But Jesus Christ
is God Almighty. In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8,
the Father said to the Son, Unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne,
O God, is forever." Thy throne, O God, is forever. Now, the second
thing, without an argument, great is the mystery of godliness.
We're talking about godliness now, salvation, redemption. God
was manifest in the flesh. Secondly, He was justified in
the Spirit. What does that mean? It's talking
about the Holy Spirit. justified in the Spirit. Now,
listen to this. A religion, I don't care whose
religion it is, a religion demands your attention in proportion
to the certainty of its teachings and the truthfulness of its testimony. Now, you think about that. A
religion demands your attention in proportion, in proportion,
to the certainty of its teachings and the truthfulness of his testimonies.
Christ said, Jesus Christ himself said this, if I bear witness
of myself, if I'm the only one who knows who I am, if I'm the
only one who bears witness of who I am, if I'm the only one,
if I'm the only witness, my witness is not true. Every self-made,
self-proclaimed prophet is a phony. That's right, doesn't matter
who it is. If he's the only one that knows who he is, if he's
the only witness he has, he's a phony. But our Lord Jesus Christ
has the witness of the Father. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. He has the witness of his works.
Nicodemus said, no man can do the works you do except God be
with him. He has the witness of the Scripture. The whole Old
Testament declares who he is and why he came to this earth
and what he came to do. And he has the witness of the
Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit justifies his
claims. That's what he's saying. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh
and justified, his claims were justified in the spirit or by
the spirit. For example, the formation of
his body in the womb of Mary was by the Holy Spirit. That's
what the angel said to Joseph, that holy thing which shall be
born of Mary shall be called the Son of God. And the angel
said to Mary, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee, and you will bear a son.
So the formation of his body in the womb was by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit descended upon him at his baptism in the form
of a dove. That's right, John the Baptist,
God told him, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, that's
the Son of God, that's the Lamb of God. And John testified to
that. And then the voice from heaven
said, This is my Son. And then he was raised from the
dead by the Holy Spirit. It was by the power of the Spirit
that he was raised from the dead. Now you can visit the grave of
Buddha. You can visit the grave of Mohammed.
You can visit the grave of Confucius. That's right. They were up there
where the people buried them or left them. You can't visit
the grave of Jesus Christ, he's not there. The angel said he's
not here, he's risen. That's what I'm saying. The Holy
Spirit raised him from the dead and justified his claims. He
said, I am the Son of God. And his claims were justified
by many witnesses. And then the disciples, his disciples
were filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
is sent to testify concerning the things of Christ. This is
the mystery of godliness. Thirdly, he's seen of the angels.
How many religious events concerning man's denominations and man's
efforts have been witnessed and have been proclaimed by the angels
of God? You say none, and you'd be exactly
right, none. But everything Jesus Christ did
was witnessed and testified of and unto and seen of the angels. In other words, when he had his
birth, when he came to this earth, the angels stood out there on
the Judean hillsides and said to the shepherds, We bring you
glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people under
you as born this day, right down there in the city of David, a
Savior, who is none other than Christ the Lord. The angels announced
that. All of these great prophets and messiahs that have come into
the world, I haven't heard any angels proclaiming who they are
and where they're born and what they came to do, but Jesus Christ,
the angels said to the shepherds, There's your Savior. He's born
in the city of David. And then in the wilderness of
temptation, when he fasted 40 days and Satan tempted him, the
angels of God came down and ministered to him. And then when our Lord
Jesus Christ was buried, and the women came to the tomb that
Sunday morning, the first day of the week, to anoint the body,
They came to the tomb, and the stone was rolled away, and there
stood the angels of God. And they said to the women, Why
do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here. He's
risen. The angels announced that. And
then when he led his disciples out there on the hillside that
day that he was ascending back to the Father, and a cloud received
him out of their sight, and the angels appeared to the disciples,
and they said, You men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like
manner as you've seen him go. And then the scripture says when
he comes again, he will come with the voice of the archangel. Everything he did was seen of
the angels and witnessed to by the angels. And God said in Hebrews
1 6, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world,
he saith, let all the angels of God worship him. Who is Jesus
Christ? Let the angels tell you. They'll tell you who he is. He's
the Savior. He's the Redeemer. He's the coming
King. Scene of the angels. Great is
the mystery of Godliness. Great is our scene. Scene of
the angels. Then watch this, the fourth thing.
Preach to the Gentiles. Now, you'll have to stay with
me here, will you? Preach to the Gentiles. Now,
is the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God to the Gentiles
a mystery? A wonder? Now, I understand,
preacher, how that the God manifest in the flesh is a mystery, and
how that he was justified in the Spirit and witnessed to by
the Spirit. That's a mystery. I don't understand
the Trinity in this. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I believe
it, but it's a mystery. And Christ seen in the angels.
Angels are mysteries. But the fact that the gospel
is preached to the Gentiles, is that a mystery? Is that a
wonder? Is that amazing? Yes, it is.
You know why? The nearest thing to God is an
angel. What's the farthest thing from
God? Read your Old Testament. A Gentile dog. That's right,
a Gentile. That's the Father's thing from
God. In other words, we're called, we Gentiles, most of you listening
to me are Gentiles, Ephesians 2, 11 and 12 calls us uncircumcised,
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers in the world,
having no hope without God in this world. You talk about surprise. When the Lord told the disciples
that they were to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, They
were totally surprised. You read Peter's reaction to
it, why he said, I've never eaten anything that's unclean. And
God had to give him a vision in order to persuade him to go
down and preach the gospel to Cornelius. He was so, he was
objecting to it. They had never had fellowship
with a Gentile or social contact with a Gentile or religious contact
with a Gentile. Gentiles were without the kingdom
and they didn't want the Gentiles. And the fact that they would
have preached the gospel to the Gentiles was repulsive to them. That's right. Paul said, I go
to the Gentiles. Go ye, our Lord said, into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature, yea, even
to the Gentiles. And John said, Christ died not
only for our sins, but for the sins of the world. Not only you
Jews, but for the Gentiles too. That's a mystery. And then watch
the fifth thing next. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of the angels, preached to the Gentiles. Now, what's the fifth
one? And believed on in the world. Believed on. Now, I see here
that Paul calls the incarnation of Christ a mystery. I see he
calls the witness of the spirit and the angels a mystery. I see he calls the grace of God
to the Gentiles a mystery, but why does he call faith in Christ
a mystery? Aren't we expected to believe
in Christ? Aren't we commanded to believe
in Christ? Aren't we exhorted to believe in Christ? Then why
would the apostle call it a mystery when a man does believe in Christ?
I'll tell you why. Because the natural man does
not and cannot and will not believe the things of God. They're foolishness
to him. I have not seen, e'er hath not
heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man the things God
hath prepared for them that love him." No such. He will not believe
the things of God. There's foolishness to him, and
his natural mind is enmity against God. Oh, men know of God's existence,
but his essence is revealed in Christ. Men know of God's work,
but his will is revealed in Christ and his wisdom. Men know of God's
power, but his purpose is revealed in Christ. Men know of God's
miracles, but His mercy is revealed in Christ. Men know of God's
judgment, but His justice is revealed in Christ. And these
things have to be revealed. They have to be taught by the
Holy Spirit. The natural man cannot receive
the things of God. They're foolishness to us. But
God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit
searches, yea, the deep things of God. And God makes them known
to us. That's what he said to Peter
and to the other apostles. Blessed are your eyes, they see.
Blessed are your ears, they hear. God the Father has revealed these
things unto you. The mystery of God's love. I'll
tell you this. If you have been blessed to believe
the word of God, you thank God. You praise God. Because it's
a mystery. Left to yourself, you'd never
believe it. Because a natural man doesn't walk by faith. Faith
is foreign to him. Faith is not a flower that blooms
in the garden of the human heart. It is only a flower that's planted
by God, and nourished by God, and sustained by God, and is
the gift of God. God has granted you repentance,
and God has given to you faith. Faith does not come by nature.
We're skeptical, unbelievers by nature. But by grace, we're
believers. Here's the last one now, the
sixth one, and he was received up in the glory. Great is the
mystery of godliness. This is no simple thing. This
is no simple message. It's a profound truth that God
came down here to the earth, and that he died on the cross
for our sins, and that he's received back in the glory. Now, here's
what we're saying here. Do you realize the importance
of the resurrection of Christ? Do you realize the importance
of the ascension of Christ? and the acceptance of Christ,
and the exaltation of Christ, and the seating of Christ on
God's right hand. If Christ be not risen, you're yet in your
sin, because the surety must be accepted, the sacrifice must
be accepted, or we're yet in our guilt and our sin. He's at
the right hand of God, our intercessor, our mediator. Great is the mystery
of God.

The Mystery of Godliness

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The Mystery of Godliness

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