Open your Bibles to 1 Timothy
chapter 3. 1 Timothy 3 verse 16. Now, someone has called this verse
of Scripture the summary of true religion. The summary of true
religion. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world. received up in the glory, six
articles of Paul's faith, the summary of true religion. I will
say this. This verse does not deal with
trivial matters. It deals with the loftiest of
themes. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. Now in speaking on the two words
without controversy, even those who do not believe our gospel,
and I doubt if there are many of those here today, but even
those who do not believe the gospel will have to admit the
greatness of our theme. Even those who do not believe
our gospel will have to admit that the subject we're dealing
with in this verse of Scripture The subject is certainly not
secondary. There's no room for indifference
where these articles of faith are concerned. Either this is
the most amazing revelation in all the world, or this is the
most astounding deception that has ever been put over the human
race. No man can be undecided about
these matters. Great, without controversy, this
is great. No man can be indifferent to
it. It's too weighty, it's too solemn, it's too great, it's
too big. Right or wrong, without controversy,
the subject we're dealing with today demands your investigation. Without controversy, the subjects
that we're dealing with today demand your attention, right
or wrong, because they're great, they're solemn, they're important. Now, they're great because they
deal with God. God's visit to this world. And
any doctrine which relates to the infinite, eternal God is
important. to all his creatures. We're talking
about God actually coming to this world. Is that true or not
true? If it's true, it's great. If
it's not true, if this is not true, you need to know it. If
it is true, you need to know it. Without controversy, great
is the mysteries that we're talking about. God coming to this world
in the form of a man. Do you know anything greater
than that? Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God, we say, came to this earth
as a man. Do you know anything greater
than that? God, actually, who made the world, was in the world. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. Do you know anything greater
than that? We're not rattling the chains of denominationalism
here today. We're talking about God visiting
the world. The mystery of godliness that
we're talking about is not the ceremonies of religion, the drops
of water on the brow, the monstrous organizations of ecclesiastical
powers, the baptisms and laws and rules of conduct. We're not
talking about that. We're not rattling the chains
of our peculiarities. or our sectarianism, or our denominationalism,
we're talking about God visiting this world. That's the reason
Paul said, without controversy, this is great. This is important. Great is the mystery of godliness. We're talking about God. This
is important, this is great without controversy, because it's talking
about God visiting the world. Either he did or he didn't. And
the second thing, the reason that this is great, is because
it deals with your eternal salvation. Do you know anything greater
than that? You have but one soul, you have but one life, and that
soul and that life will live either eternally with God in
glory or eternally separated from God in hell. Do you know
anything greater than that? We're saying that God visited
this world to redeem our souls. We're saying that God Almighty
came into this world in the form of a man to deliver us from wrath,
to deliver us from judgment and condemnation. Do you know anything
greater than that? Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. There's no sensationalism of
prophecy here. We're not talking about what
might happen. We're not trying to predict what
shall happen. We're talking about what we believe
did happen. We're talking about an event
that actually occurred, something back yonder a few years ago that
actually happened. We're not speculating here. We
are proclaiming something. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. This is not the mere exhibition
of doctrine. This message is not cold, hard
logic and fact. This is living truth. God came
to this earth. The Son of God came into this
world. The Lord of glory, who made all
things, visited this earth. He took upon himself a human
body. and actually for thirty-three
and a half years walked on this earth in the likeness of sinful
flesh. He went to a cross that was hewn
out by human hands, and there was nailed and suffered and died. He was buried and rose again.
He has proclaimed and preached to you. He is to be received
and believed. He has ascended to glory to prepare
a place for those that trust Him, and He will come again.
And this mystery of godliness is great without controversy. And brethren, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. There's nothing greater. I could
not have a theme today that would be more important, that would
be greater than the one which I have. And here it is, six themes. Now let's look at them together,
and without controversy. Believe it or believe it not,
what we're talking about is astounding. First of all, he says that God
was manifest in the flesh. Great a mystery of godliness,
this is it. The first thing, God was manifest
in the flesh. Now, if you'll carefully consider
this, this is the most extraordinary fact that ever has been declared
in human language. God became a man. The manger at Bethlehem. is the
bed of the God of glory. There he lies on a haystack,
the God of glory. Well might the angels crowd around,
well might the angels look within, well might the angels declare,
We bring you good tidings of great joy. God is born of a virgin
and lies in a manger. The carpenter's shop at Nazareth,
that humble wooden shop along the dusty road in the little
town of Nazareth, ignored by the religious leaders, ignored
by the wealthy, ignored by the rulers, ignored by the people
except those who wanted something repaired, is occupied by the
God who made this world, who hurled the stars into space,
who put the sun in its place. That carpenter's shop is the
abode of God. God was manifest in the flesh. That cross of Calvary bears the
body of the incarnate Son of God. That cross of Calvary hanging
there between two feet having been scourged, and a crown of
thorns pressed upon his brow, and his back laid open with the
whip, and the spittle of the soldier running down his face,
his visage marred so that he doesn't even look like a man.
That's the Son of God. That's the God of glory. Where
might the sun refuse to shine?" Now that's great. God was manifest
in the flesh. He was God in miracles and yet
man in suffering. He was the Son of the Highest
and yet the humble man of sorrows. He walked the billows of an obedient
sea and yet he owned not a foot of land. He fed thousands and
yet he sat on a well and asked a poor Samaritan woman to give
him a drink of water. He cast out devils, and yet himself
was tempted of the chief of devils. He healed all manner of diseases,
and yet he died himself. Great without controversy. There can be no debate here without
controversy. There can be no argument here
without controversy. There can be no division here
without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God! Turn to John, chapter 1. God! God! All that God is, God! All that the word God says, God,
was manifest in the flesh. In John, chapter 1, verse 1,
it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by him, and without him
was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the
life was the life of men." Verse 14, "...and the Word 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."
The Word was with God. The Word was God. By the power
of the Word was all things made, and the Word became flesh. And the Word became flesh. Mr. Spurgeon said he was walking
along the road one day And he came upon some busy little ants. Somebody had carelessly kicked
a big rock right over that ant hill, right over the place where
they entered. And the little ants were just
scurrying around everywhere. They'd been out to get little
pieces of food, and they'd brought this food in, lines of them,
And they couldn't get into their little house, their ant house,
and they were just scurrying around every way, and they would
climb up on that big rock, and some of them would climb under
the rock, and he stood there and watched them. But he couldn't
talk to them. He couldn't say, little ants,
what's your problem? And they couldn't talk to him.
They couldn't talk human language, and he couldn't talk ant language.
therefore he couldn't serve them, he couldn't communicate with
them, he couldn't make himself known to them, he couldn't make
his willingness to help known to them. Suppose that big man
had the ability to turn himself into an ant and yet retain the
strength of a man. As a man, he couldn't communicate
with them. As an ant, he couldn't move the
rock. But if he could become an ant, a man with the strength
of a man, with the power of a man, with the knowledge of a man,
could become an ant, and he could communicate with them, then he
could also move the rock and clear the way into their house.
And so the man became an ant, and the man walked up to the
little ants, and he says, I'm a man, and I can move that rock. I can help you. And they say,
we wish you would. So the little ant that retained
the strength of a man put his shoulder under the rock, and
he moved it aside and cleared the way. Our Lord Jesus Christ
as God can move the rock of sin, and as a man He can communicate
with us. And so the great God became a
man. He retained all the wisdom of
God and all the power of God. and all the holiness of God,
and all the immutability of God, and yet he became a man, and
he could communicate with us. He could be tempted in all points
as we are. He could suffer the things we
suffer. He could speak the language we speak. He could make himself
known to us, and yet he can remove the rock of sin. He can solve
our problem. As God, he's strong enough to
satisfy. As man, he was weak enough to
suffer. was manifest in the flesh. Look at the second thing now.
It says great without controversy. Nobody can deny this. We're not
dealing in trivials. We're not dealing in sectarianism. We're not dealing in prophecies
and the speculation of the future. We're dealing in facts. God was
manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He is the Word that became flesh. He's the Maker of the world,
that walked in the world, and the world knew Him not. Secondly,
He was justified in the Spirit. Now, this is the Holy Spirit.
He was justified, or testified of, or credit given to his testimony
and his witness by the Holy Spirit. Now listen to this statement
very carefully. A religion, whatever it is, whatever
religion you're talking about, a religion demands our attention
in proportion. A religion demands our attention. Whatever a man is saying demands
our attention. Whatever a man's saying about
God demands our attention in proportion to the certainty of
its teachings. I don't want to listen to error,
I want to listen to truth. And it demands our attention
in proportion to the value of its testimony. Now turn, if you
will, to John chapter 5. Now the Lord Jesus said this
Himself. A religion, a man's preaching,
what a man believes. What a man proclaims demands
your attention in proportion to the certainty of it and to
the value of its testimony. I say that God was manifest in
the flesh. Who says so? I say that Jesus
Christ is God Almighty. Says who? Now, you've got every
right to say that. I say the one who was laid in
Bethlehem's manger is God Almighty. He's the Messiah. He's the Christ.
He's the Redeemer. You might say, says who? And
you've got every right to say that. When the Buddha says that
salvation's in Buddha, you've got a right to say, says who?
How do you know this is true? When Confucius says salvation's
in his sayings and in the mortification of the flesh and these things,
you've got every right to say, says who? On whose authority?
By whose word? That's what Christ said in John
5, verse 31. Listen to it. If I bear witness
of myself, and that's all the witness I got, my witness is
not true. I come to you telling you I'm
God's son, and I'm the only one who says it. My witness is not
so. I come to you saying that I have
the power to give life, to raise the dead, to forgive your sins,
to take you to glory, and my witness is the only witness you've
got. You've got every right to say
he's a liar." That's what the Scripture said. Now to I John
5. Now listen to this. do we declare
these things? God was manifest in the flesh.
By whose witness? Let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses, people who know it
so." All right, I John 5, verse 7. Listen to it. There are three
that bear record in heaven. The Father, This is my beloved
son. Hear ye him." The father hath
declared that the son shall be born of the tribe of Judah, of
the family of Jesse, in the little town of Bethlehem. that he would
be denied, that he would be betrayed, that he would be sold for thirty
pieces of silver, that he would be nailed to a cross, that he
would be buried in the tomb, the borrowed tomb of a wealthy
man, that on the third day he would rise again, and that he
would ascend to glory, and there he would be our high priest.
This is my beloved Son. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And the testimony
of these three agree in one. These three are one. And there
are three that by record in the earth, the Holy Spirit, the water,
the word, and the blood. And these three agree in one.
If we receive the witness of men, do you believe what men
tell you? All men are liars. But we still
believe them. We're still foxed by a lot of
con men. We are still deceived by the
words of men, but we still come back for more, and we still listen
to them, and yet we won't listen to him who is truth. You receive
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. And this is
the witness of God, that he hath testified of his Son, justified
in the Spirit, the formation, of the Immaculate Body of Jesus
the man in the Virgin's womb was by the Holy Ghost. God said,
Mary, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. The Holy Spirit shall overshadow
thee, the power of the highest shall come upon thee, and that
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. The
Holy Spirit descended upon him that he has God said, John, turn
with me to John, chapter 1. God said, John, the one upon
whom you see, verse 32, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but
he that sent me, the heavenly Father who sent me, John 1, 33,
to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, that same
one is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. That's the witness.
No religion in this world has the proof. No religion in this
world has the witness. No religion in this world has
the testimony to back up its claim but the religion of Jesus
Christ. God was manifest in the flesh. The voice from heaven declared,
This is my son, and he was raised from the dead by the power of
the Holy Spirit. And when his disciples came together
Forty days after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit again confirmed
this witness, confirmed this testimony, confirmed this gospel
when he visited these men with power, with cloven tongues of
fire, and they spake in other languages the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. and justified in all his claims,
and justified in all his truth, and justified in all his testimony
by the Holy Spirit of God. Thirdly, and he was seen of the
angels, at his birth the angels came down from heaven to announce
his coming. Angels saw the heaven-born child
in human flesh arrayed, the Son of God, the Son of Man, in a
manger laid. They cried praise to God and
peace on earth, and yet stood amazed at such a birth. Do you know anything that man
has ever done, religiously or otherwise, that's been attended
by the angels of God standing about in wonder? Huh? Take all the world religions
that you know anything about and give me one example of any
event that's ever occurred in the religions of man, or the
religions of men, which has been attended by the angels of God. And yet everything that the Lord
Jesus Christ did on this earth, from his birth to his ascension
to glory, was attended by legions of angels. Out yonder in the
wilderness, when he was tempted by Satan, the angels came and
ministered unto him. when he was betrayed in the garden
of Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, Don't you know that
I could call upon my Father and he'd send legions of angels?
The angels of God appeared to wipe the bloody sweat from his
brow in Gethsemane's garden of prayer, and then around the bloody
tree the angels pressed with strong desire that wondrous sight
to see, the Lord of glory expire. And could their eyes have known
a tear in sad surprise, amazing, they would have dropped it there.
The Lord Jesus Christ rose from the grave, and the angel stood
by the open tomb, and said to those who burst it, He's not
here, He's risen. And when he ascended back to
glory, the angels of God said to the disciples, This same Jesus
which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like
manners you see him go. The Lord Jesus Christ was seen
of angels, and they still delight to see him, for it says, I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne of God. Ten thousand times, ten thousands
and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and blessing. Worthy is the Lamb. Great is the mystery of godliness. God walked the earth. testified of by the Holy Spirit
and seen of the angels everything he did. The angels of God came
down and watched it. The angels desired to look into
it. All right, what's the fourth
thing, quickly? And preached unto the Gentiles. Is the preaching of the gospel
to the Gentiles a mystery? Yes, it is. Is the preaching
of the gospel to the Gentiles a great wonder? Yes, it is. The nearest to Christ were the
angels, and the fathers from Christ, the Gentiles. The pagan, heathen Gentiles. It says in Ephesians chapter
2, listen to it, Ephesians 2 verse 11, remember, remember, wherefore
remember that you in times past, being Gentiles in the flesh,
called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
of the flesh made with hands, at that time you were without
Christ. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no
hope and without God in this world. The Father is staying
from Christ. The Gentiles, who had not the
prophets, who had not the law, who was not a part of the commonwealth
of Israel, and to preach Christ to them, and to preach salvation
to them, and to declare the Messiah to be their Messiah. Well, it
surprised the apostles, I'll tell you that. In fact, the apostle
Peter all but refused to preach to them. It was such a mystery and such
a wonder. If you had told a Jew two thousand
years ago that he would one day be an apostle to the Gentiles,
he would have said, impossible. That's the reason in order for
God Almighty to get Peter to go and preach to Cornelius, he
had to open heaven and send down a vision to this man and say,
what the Lord had called clean, don't you call it unclean, but
throughout all their ceremonies and all their teachings and all
their statutes and all their laws, the Gentiles were strangers,
aliens, foreigners, without hope, without God, not to be dealt
with. And now God says, preach the
gospel to them. preach the Messiah to them, preach
the Christ to them. That's the reason John wrote
over here in 1 John 2. Listen to it. My little children,
1 John 2, verse 1. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. We have a Savior. We have a Redeemer. We have a Messiah. And He's Jesus. He's Jesus. He's Jesus Christ
the righteous. And He's the mercy seat. That
word propitiation is mercy seat. He's the mercy seat. It's not
in the tabernacle. It's not in the Holy of Holies.
It's not yonder covering the law. He is the mercy seat. And He's the mercy seat for our
sins and not for ours only. and not for hours only. That
had to be pressed upon them, that had to be driven home to
them, that had to be declared to them. Impossible! Gentiles
in the family of God, impossible! Gentiles in the kingdom of God,
impossible! Heathen, pagan Gentiles walking
with God, impossible! You read your Bible, you'll find
out that that was the attitude. And he said he is the mercy seat
for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the
whole world, for men of every tribe and nation and kindred
and tongue unto heaven. Great is the mystery, the mystery
of godliness. God came down here in the flesh. God became a baby. God became
a man, God became a carpenter, God earned His living by the
sweat of His brow. God in human flesh was tested
and tempted and tried in all points as we are, yet without
sin, God went to the cross in the flesh and died under the
wrath of the law and satisfied the justice of the law for the
people who believed. God was buried in a body and
rose again. And this was all testified by
the Holy Spirit, witnessed by the Holy Spirit, declared by
the angels, seen of the angels, and preached to the Gentiles
by the chosen appointed apostle of the Gentiles who was Saul
of Tarsus. And then look at the fifth thing,
and believed on in the world. I will acknowledge that I looked
at this statement for a while. And I've looked at it in the
past, and I've thought to myself, Paul, I see God in human flesh
a mystery. I see the testimony, the declaration
of the Holy Spirit, the witness of the Holy Spirit, great mystery. The visitation of angels to this
earth declaring this incarnation a mystery. Him being preached
to the Gentiles who were not in the covenant of promise. Thou
shalt call them a people who were not a people. But the fact
that the world should believe God, is that a mystery? The fact that God's own creatures
made by God's own hands should believe Him? Is that a mystery? Yes, it is. It's a marvel. It's a mystery that anybody should
believe something as great as this with as little natural proof. I've never seen God. Oh, I've
seen Him in the sunshine, I've seen Him in the clouds, I've
seen Him in the rain. I've seen Him in a thousand ways,
not with these eyes, but with eyes of faith. And yet, I say
unto you this, God is my witness. I believe that Jesus Christ came
into this world and died on that cross for my sins more than I
believe anything else. More than I believe anything
else. I believe Christ died on that cross for my sins more than
I believe any fact in human history. There's nothing that is more
concrete and that is truer to my soul than the fact Jesus Christ
is God Almighty and King of this earth as my Redeemer and died
for my sins. I believe God's word more than
I believe the word of any human being, more than I believe the
combined words of all human beings, more than I believe any word
that's ever been spoken by any man who ever lived. I'm as sure
that this is God's word as I'm sure that I'm speaking right
now. I have no way to explain this. I have no way to explain
it except it's the miraculous, marvelous, mysterious fruit of
the Holy Spirit. To bring a man to believe something
he's never seen, he's never heard with his natural ear, and never
received one sign to confirm it to the natural senses, that's
a mystery. Faith is the gift of God. Faith
is the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. You cannot convince yourself
of these facts, of these mysteries. They have to be revealed. The
preaching of the cross to them who are perishing is sheer nonsense. But to us that are saved, it's
the power of God. The preaching of the cross is
to them that are perishing foolishness. It's just a man using a lot of
words. It's a subject for sleep. It's
a subject for ridicule. It's a subject for scorn. but
to those whose eyes have been opened, spiritual eyes, whose
ears have been tuned to the harps of heaven, whose hearts have
been illuminated by the very power of God himself. This truth
is as true and as plain as much a fact as their very existence,
and they believe it more than anything else. And that's the
reason a man can give his life at the stake That's the reason
a man can give his family, that's the reason a man can part with
his friend, that's the reason a man can count all things but
done, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.
That's a mystery. And these preachers who are dragging
folks down the aisle and shaking hands and telling people they're
saved and saying these automatic prayers, that's the reason they're
deceiving the multitude. They don't know that this is
a birth from above. A man does not believe this unless
his eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit. And once they're opened,
they'll never close. A man will never believe this,
he'll never receive it, he'll never become a part of it, he'll
never be vitally united with it, it'll never become his heartbeat,
his life, his very existence, until God visits him in power. And that's not a decision, that's
a birth. That's a birth. It's a mystery. It's just as much a mystery for
God to become a man as it is for a man to become a believer. Now, you think about that a little
while. It's included right here. It's just as much a mystery for
a man to become a believer as it is for the Holy Spirit of
God to come down to this earth and say that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. It's just as much a mystery for
a man to believe this gospel, this foolishness, to the natural
mind. Just as much a mystery as it
is for God to become a man, as it is for the angels to walk
on the earth and declare something so. Just as much a mystery. And then last of all, he was
received up into glory. The Lord of glory has gone back
to glory. The Lord of glory is seated in
His glory. The Lord of glory is at the right
hand of glory. The Lord of glory is there interceding
for those who have believed. The atonement's been made. The
Mediator now intercedes. He now prepares a place for us,
and He will come again. There was a little school up
here in the mountains of Kentucky, and they used to have men teachers. Ladies just couldn't take care
of these wild children. But this little school had grades
one to eight, and they had little children six years old, and they
had big boys sixteen, fifteen, seventeen years old. And they
couldn't keep a teacher in that school to save their lives. Some
man would come teach a while, and those boys would beat up
on him or give him a hard time, and he'd resign and leave. And
this school was notorious for this type of thing. So the school
officials in Lexington finally assigned a young man to teach
up here in this little mountain, one-room, eighth-grade school. He wasn't a big fella, he was
just a little fella, but he was a wise fella. And he came to
school that morning, and all these kids had gathered. These
old big boys, 15, 16 years old, and these little fellas, 6, 7,
8 years old, and they'd all gathered out in the playground. They were
playing something, and this fella walked up on the school ground,
and one of the big boys said, Who are you? He said, I'm the
new teacher. I'm the new headmaster. The boy turned and looked at
another big old boy and said, He won't last long. So they went
in the classroom, and they all sat down. The big boys sat back
there in the back, you know, and propped their feet up on
the seat in front of them, and chowing tobacco and spitting
on the floor, you know. And this young teacher got up
in front of the class, and he said, Now, boys, he said, This
is not my school. This is your school. And no use
me making a lot of rules and expect you to abide by them.
I'm going to let you make the rules. Well, these old boys dropped
their feet on the floor and sat up. This was something new. They
thought they'd enjoy this. And the teacher got up to the
blackboard and he said, Now I want you to make the rules. I want
you to put ten rules up here on the blackboard, and I want
you to decide the punishment. So one big old boy back in the
back named Jimmy, he got up and said, Teacher? He said, There's
been some boys stealing lunches here. Bring your lunch to school
and somebody steal it. And I think the first rule is,
you ought not steal lunches. And the teacher wrote up on the
board, do not steal lunches. Now he said, Jimmy, he said,
what are we going to do if somebody's caught stealing lunches? Well,
Jimmy said, I think he ought to have ten lashes across his
bare back. The teacher said, that's pretty
hard. And old Jimmy said, well, you fellow ought not steal lunches.
He said, All right, now that's what you say. You say that they
do not steal lunches and the punishment will be ten lashes
across the bare back. Yes, sir. So he wrote that up
on the board. They went on and they wrote other
rules, you know. Well, it worked fine. It just worked out real
well, and the boys honored the law that they had written, you
know, and everything got along real good. And finally one day
the teacher came to school, and Jimmy came up to him and said,
Teacher, somebody stole my lunch. And the teacher said, well, we'll
have to find out who it is. So he got all the children in
the classroom. He stood up and talked a while.
Finally, a little old boy named Billy raised his hand. He said,
I took his lunch. The teacher called him down front. Billy came down front. He had
a pair of overalls on, you know, and an old coat. And he didn't
have any buttons on his coat. He had a nail stuck through his
coat. He just pushed the cloth through there and stuck a nail
through there to hold it together. And the teacher said, Billy,
what did you take the lunch for? He said, I was hungry. And he
said, son, I'm sorry you're hungry. We said, that's no excuse for
stealing somebody's lunch. You see the rule up there. And the teacher said, Billy,
what'd you take the lunch for? He said, I was hungry. And he
said, son, I'm sorry you're hungry. We said, that's no excuse for
stealing somebody's lunch. You see the rule up there. Yes,
sir. He said, well, take off your
coat. He said, teacher, don't make me take my coat off. He
said, son, you see the rules. It says ten lashes on the bare
back. I didn't write the rules. These boys wrote the rules, and
you're going to abide by them. And he said, we've got to punish
you. Now take off your coat. So he took off his coat, and
he didn't have on no shirt. Little old ribs just showed there
through his skin, you know. He didn't have a shirt on. And
the teacher just almost cried, but he laid that boy across the
desk, and he reached over and got the stick against the wall,
and he raised that stick to whip that little boy. And old Jimmy,
that great big boy that made that rule, he stood up and said,
Hold it. Hold it. The teacher said, What do you
want, Jimmy? He said, Don't you whip that
boy, teacher. The teacher said, Now, Jimmy, you made the rule.
It's your rule, and you made the punishment. And this boy
broke the law. Now, the law is no good unless
it punishes the offender. You might as well have no law.
You can have no school. You can have no law if you have
no punishment. Got to do what it says. The Word
of God declares, thou shalt not sin, thou shalt not steal, thou
shalt not kill, thou shalt not take the name of God in vain,
thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt
not bear false witness, and God's law is going to stand if heaven
falls. And the soul that sinneth is
got to die. That's what the Word of God says.
He will not clear the guilty. And that teacher raised that
stick again. And Jimmy came out of his seat, started down toward
the front. He was big. And he said, Teacher,
don't you hit that boy. The teacher said, Now, Jimmy,
I'm going to whip this boy. I'm going to give him ten lashes
because he is bareback. And there's not a thing you can
do about it. Because we're going to have law. We're going to have
righteousness. We're going to have truth. It's
got to be. Can't you see that, Jimmy? Yes,
I see it. It's got to be. Or we'll have
no school. If you don't have any law, you
turn the world into hell without law. And Jimmy came down the
aisle closer and closer to that teacher. And teacher raised his
stick. He said, Teacher, don't you hit
that boy. I'll take his place." So he took
off his shirt, his muscles rippled, big strong boy, and he pushed
that little fella aside and laid down across that desk, and he
said, Whip me! But don't you whip him, and that'll
satisfy your law. Well, I stole the lunch, and
I couldn't bear the licking. The licking would have been eternal
hell. You stole the lunch, The Lord
Jesus Christ, who made the law, who set the punishment, came
down here in our place, and then I said in the flesh, a whip of
God's justice was laid on his back in my place. He was wounded for my transgression. He was bruised for my iniquities. By his stripes, I'm healed. That's the gospel. great is the
mystery of Godliness. God came down here and took my
place. And when the teacher got through
whipping Jimmy, and he stood up, little old Billy put his
arms around his waist and looked up into his face, and he said,
Jimmy, boy, thank you for taking my liquor. I'll always be your
buddy. And I say, thank you, Lord, for
saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich and free. That's all the hope
we got, is that Christ took my place and died my death and bore
my sin and paid my debt. That's it. That's it. Did he take your licking? I tell
you, if he did, you'll always praise him. You'll always say,
Lord, I'll always be your buddy. I'll always be your friend. Nobody's
going to say anything about you in my presence, because you took
my licking. Our Father, bless the Word this
morning to the hearts of every person here. Illuminate our minds
and hearts. Reveal to us the gospel. Can't
believe it apart from Thy Spirit, apart from the amazing regenerating
work of the Holy Ghost. Bring men to believe it, to believe
this glorious good news, Christ took my place. In His name we
pray, for His sake. Amen.