I talked to Claire Sherrod up
in Kentucky. He thinks he might have what
I had back in 2001, blastomycosis, because he lives at river bottom. And the symptoms are the same,
but he's going to finally get some biopsies done this week
and find out one way or the other. Marvin Stark had a stroke, but
he didn't. They don't know what caused him
to pass out, and it may have been blood pressure, because
he's had blood pressure problems in the past. Also, I remember Brian
Bryant, his family, and Nurse Misty, I think, passed away. She was elated to hospital. I saw a obituary that described
her as Loretta described her to me, so I think the pancreatic
cancer finally got her to remember her family and prayers. Also,
I had her name written down somewhere, last name, but I don't remember
it. or Mitzi, one or the other. So
remember these folks in your prayers, seek the Lord's help
for them. We pray for those who are still fighting this mess.
I think Santa Wanda is coming off the COVID. They're getting
some of that. Continue to remember them in
your prayers also. Okay, let's begin our worship service, in
number 200. Yes, yes. He's got something else going
on with it and they're trying to do it in his mind and he can't
think. I don't know if it's a panic
attack or anxiety or whatever he's been going in there. I don't know what it is. Really a lot of people going
into that now. I'll be over in a few hours. I think you should have been
there a long time ago. But Jessie Smith, Sharon's sister,
has developed some kind of rash that started on her hand back
in the summertime and it started covering her body. and they don't
know what it is. They can't figure out what it
is, so remember her in your prayers. Okay, and that's Dawson Wood.
Okay, all right. Hymn number 242, Jesus I Come. Out of my bonding sorrow at night
Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come! Into Thy freedom, gladness, and
light, Jesus, I come to Thee! Out of my water into Thy well,
Out of my sin and into Thy will. Jesus, I come to Thee Out of
my shame, for failure and loss Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come
Into the glorious game I come to Thee Outer sorrow to
Thee do I call Outer a storm to Thee do I call Outer strength
to Thee do I call Jesus, I come to Thee. Thy blessing will provide, Jesus,
I come to Thee. Out of myself to dwell in Thy
love, Out of despair and rapture above, Upward I'll wing to find the
love, Jesus, I come to Thee! Out of the fear and dread of
the tomb, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come into the joy and light
of Thy home. Jesus, I come to Thee out of
the depths of ruin untold. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing that handout completely indeed. Gabby Lyle was terming
me to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Verse 16, 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. at the wondrous mystery, great
mystery, of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are thankful that you have opened your word
to us and revealed the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ. We are thankful that you've given
us understanding that our salvation in no part was due to anything
in us, of us, or about us, but was wholly conditioned upon the
person and work of Jesus Christ on Calvary. him being buried and risen from
the dead and ascending to thy right hand forever live to make
intercession for his people. Father, we ask this hour that
you might be pleased to meet with those who are sick and going
through trials. These folks who've been added
to the prayer list, Lord, we ask you to be with them. And
if it be so, according to your purpose, to set their hearts in affection
upon Him. While these bodies do fail, weak
and frail we are. We will soon pass from this world.
We ask, Lord, that you give us understanding that on the other
side of this life awaits eternal bliss and glory in the presence
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us this day to worship
you in song, preaching of the gospel. We pray in Christ's name,
amen. Read with me. And I am now complete in Thee,
no work of mine. And take, dear Lord, the place
of Thine, Thy blood and water for me. No more shall May just divine, O blessed Lord,
and saint divine ? My blood and heart and love for
Thee ? ? And glorified I too shall be ? ? Come meet in Thee,
each watchful eye ? ? And no good thing to me deny ? ? Since
now I'm whole ? I'm good. ? The way we ever are ? ? Or try
to reach out a single hour ? ? Among thy chosen will I be ? ? And
my life hath been completed here ? ? May just divine over me ? Let us pray. In the name of Jesus Christ,
our great Savior, we come seeking your help for this time of need.
We ask, Lord, as we've written under that which you've given
us, that we do so knowing that what we have, we have because
of mercy and because of grace. We know that in this world we
need things, and you have promised to supply them. We call this
in our hearts to seek the righteousness of God and his kingdom. Help
us, Lord, to worship you in this mass. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. so Wow. It invites your attention back
to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Paul, in using the word controversy,
speaking of this great mystery. There is no doubt. It is a great
mystery. There was controversy in that.
That's just an absolute truth. This is a great mystery. chapters of this book and go
read them. Addressing the fact that there will be some who will,
through vain jangling and old wives tales and Jewish fables,
will try to destroy the gospel. Addressing those who have no
idea what they're saying when they try to bring a believer
back on the floor. majoring on doctrine and sound
words is the only way to teach anything. And if you would apply
these same things to religion today, you'd find that they were
controversial also. So perhaps he is saying, I'm
going to tell you something now that's without controversy. It's absolutely true. There's
no doubt about what I'm saying. And he talks about the mystery,
which is called of Jesus Christ, or all that
addresses his person and his work in this world, without controversy,
this is a great mystery. It is mysterious even today to
those who don't know Christ and to those who do. It remains,
we understand it, we appreciate it, but still, It is a marvel
and a wonder to everyone who knows the gospel. Paul talked
about this mystery hidden from the ages in 1 Corinthians chapter
2. He said we've learned the mystery
hidden from the ages which is ordained, predestinated for our
glory, for the glory of the child of God. And though the secret
things belong to God, that which is revealed belongs to us and
our children, and we should do all the works of this book. He
said, we have been revealed the things that no man can understand,
that eye hath not seen, nor ear has heard. We know these things. And yet, as we consider, if we
do, the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we find it's
a great mystery. A hexaply, that refers to the
fact that these six things are said about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is a great mystery, there's no doubt about it, because
if a man or woman spends the entirety of his or her days in
diligent study and consideration and meditation, he or she will
find at the end of their lifelong pursuit that they have but possibly
touched the hem of the garment. This is a great and wondrous
book. Every line, every jot, and every tittle, every comma
and semicolon in this book is about one thing, and that is
the salvation of God's people wrought by the perfect sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been studying it for 47
years, 50 years now. And the more I study it, the
more I realize I don't know anything. and stumbling around all the
time, still full of wonder and amazement. But for the child
of God, this is the vocation, the avocation, the imagination,
and the machination, the employment and the hobby, the beginning
and end of the highest and noblest of all human pursuits, to know
Christ. There's no greater thing. Paul,
after suffering the loss of all things and counting them as done,
preaching the gospel for over 30 years, said that his one desire
was that he might know Him and be found in His righteousness,
not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
that I may know Him. This is the great mystery, higher
than the heavens, deeper than the sea, wider than the universe.
and is such that its depth can never be fully plumbed. And he
writes this to young Timothy, and he said this is the mode
of behavior in the church of God. In chapter four, in verse
13, he says, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation,
and to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is
in thee. Give yourself. to exhortation, which is preaching,
and to doctrine. He said, Timothy, occupy yourself
with the great mystery of godliness, which is Christ. He says, this
mystery of godliness begins by saying the truest and most wondrous
mystery of all is that God, Almighty God, who is spirit, who dwells
in the light whereunto no man can approach, whom no man has
ever seen, God was manifest in the flesh. Wonder of wonders. Humanity has been ennobled, you
see, even exalted. God is united with flesh, and
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory
as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Wonder
of wonders. Consider and observe the humiliation
and condescension of deity. As it is united with humanity,
we don't ever really get a hold of this. It's too much for us. Wondrous mystery indeed that
Christ is fully man. He's really a man, a human being,
born of a woman, born under the law. And at the same time, he
is fully and completely and absolutely God Almighty dwelling in one
flesh. This is theology and God become a man? Why? Why would the God of glory
make himself to be born of a woman and born under the law? There
can be but one possible answer, one explanation of such a thing.
It is not that he set himself as an example for what son or
daughter of Adam might become a better person. No son or daughter of Adam can
even relate to the unity of deity and humanity. I know that in
me, well if no good thing, but also know that the spirit of
God dwells in me. And I can't tell the difference
between the two, to be honest with you, I don't know which
is which, do you? I can't explain it. We know that, we know what we
are, and to consider such a thing an application to ourselves would
be blasphemous. Only perfect redemption by substitution
can rise to explain God being manifest in the flesh. There
must be suffering for sin. There must be death for sin.
The soul that sinneth it shall die. God cannot suffer. God cannot die. Man cannot satisfy the law's
demands. Oh, but the God-man can do and
has done both. He has died and he has satisfied
the laws of God's demands. He is the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God to whom be honor and glory forever
and ever, the one mediator between men and God, the man Christ Jesus. He alone has done this. He has reigned on that cross
That's God. And died on that cross as a man.
What a wonderous thing. God manifest in the flesh. Truly
a great mystery. We know it's true, and by faith
we receive it and believe it. But after preaching all these
years, I can't explain it. And neither can you. And if you
try to explain it to somebody, they're going to think you're
an absolute fool. The gospel is foolishness to the world.
Great is the mystery of godliness. God manifests, revealed, openly
displayed in the flesh. It also says He was justified
by the Spirit. Christ alone, as a man, received
the Spirit without measure. as a human being walking upon
the face of this earth as the prophet of God as the man among
men he did what he did by the spirit of God those acts he did
raising men from the dead that was not acting in deity that
was acting as a man fully possessed of the spirit of God read Acts
chapter 10 verse 36 through 38 that's what it says about him empowered by the Spirit of God
did these miracles and wonders. Every claim of the Old Testament
and every claim that He made of Himself was justified by the
Spirit. That means the Spirit said, yes,
this is Him. This is He. The Spirit did not
come into this world to glorify Himself. People talk about the
Spirit a lot in this day and age. A lot of religions talk about
Spirit-filled meetings and the Spirit showed up and things like
that. When people say that, I'm always
a little suspicious of what they say. Because the Holy Spirit,
when He came into this world, it says of Him in John 14 or
John 15, He will not glorify Himself. He will glorify Jesus
Christ. He will take the things of Christ
and show them unto the people of God. He will reveal Christ
to His people. That's what His job is. Jesus
Christ was justified by the Spirit. When you, by the Spirit, believe
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's by Christ's Spirit
that you believe. What are you believing? You're
believing in Jesus Christ. The Spirit has justified Him
to be the only Savior. If you receive the Spirit, then
this great mystery is your soul's bailiwick. You'll spend your
life right here. One lady's accusation against
Scott's riches from years ago was that he had gone to sin on
Christ. She confronted him on the street
and opened up her little notebook. She took notes for the meeting. And here's another about Christ.
All you do is preach about Christ. You go to a seat on Christ. He
said, put that on my gravestone. Put that on my gravestone. I
want to go to a seat on Christ. And everyone who loves Christ
has. Everyone who has. If you talk about somebody, somebody
talks to you about salvation, and they mention anything other
than Christ, they missed the boat. was justified in the Spirit.
Christ was seen of angels. We know He was visible to the
angels from all eternity. He created the angels. Oh, nothing
was created that was not created by Him, nor is created being. But He's talking about the wonder
that must have been among the angels. To see Him revealed this
way, as God manifest in the flesh, walking on the earth The God
who created them being hungry. The God who created them needing
to go to the bathroom. The God who created them having
no place to lay his head. The God who created them weeping
as it were. His sweat was like great drops
of blood. To see the God of glory, the
one who created them hanging on a lonely wooden tower. in
agonies and blood to see God who created them and the creatures
that he also created spitting upon him and hitting him and
striking him with sticks and putting a crown of thorn upon
his head and nailing him to a cross, to see that. Can you imagine
what the angels thought? I can't. Must be beyond imagination. Though they had sung the praises
since creation, they had never seen him in this wondrous way.
in this wondrous capacity. Over in 1 Peter, Peter talks
about this thing seen being seen of the angels in chapter one
and verse 12. He says, unto whom it was revealed
that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the
Spirit. Talking about the angels, which
are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel
unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Which
things the angels desire to look into. You see, we know something
about redemption because we've been redeemed. We know something
about salvation because we know something about sin because God
has revealed what sin is and that we are sinners. So we know
something. Angels have never sinned. Not
the angels that are still in heaven, the ones that have been
cast down. They've sinned, but the ones that are still in heaven,
they've never sinned. And what it is to be redeemed. They don't
know anything of what it is to experience the grace and the
mercy of God. It's a wonder to them. Here they
are, seeing the Son of God, the one who created them, going to
Calvary's tree. What a thing it must have been.
What a revelation it must have been to see him in this capacity
as a substitute, attending his baptism, ministering to him in
the wilderness of temptation. ministered to him in the garden
of Gethsemane, not being called by the 10,000s to keep his fruit
from dashing against the stone at Calvary, holding vigil at
his tomb, watching him rise from the dead and announcing that
he is risen. He was seen by the angels as they never saw him
before. What a wonder it must have been.
It says also that Christ was preached to the Gentiles. This
is a mystery indeed to the Jews, but likewise a mystery in general.
The word Gentile is synonymous with the concept of being a pagan
or a sinner. Though men might not readily
admit it, they think that salvation is for good folk. Folks think
that. That's the talk of it. for folks
to have themselves, who've made themselves suitable for salvation,
begins with the idea of making a decision for Jesus. That has
to be considered, I would say. If you would ask somebody who
said they made a decision for Jesus, was that a good thing?
They'd have to say, well, it wasn't
a bad thing, certainly it was a good thing. Well, you done
done a good thing for your salvation. You done done a good thing. A
dead person doing a good thing. People think salvation is for
good folks. I can't tell you how many people
I've talked about, talked with Christ about. And they say, well,
I'll start living right. I'll come to church after straightening
out a few things in my life. What are they saying? They're
saying, You'll never be good enough.
Salvation is for bad folk. For bad folk. Men might not readily
admit it. They think salvation is for good
folks. But that in fact negates the need for salvation altogether.
What is salvation? It's being saved. What does that
mean? It means you're in a situation
you couldn't save yourself if you have to be saved. Means there's
a situation you couldn't get out of, a situation that you
couldn't overcome, you needed to be saved. Wait a minute, I'm
just gonna invite Jesus into my heart, that ain't no salvation.
Our Lord laid the ax to the root of such thinking to the righteous
and holy men of that day. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but to bring sinners to repentance. You go home and
learn what that means, I'll have mercy. You go home and learn what that
means. You're whole. You don't need
no physician. But them that are sick do. That's
who I came for. The gospel is for sinners. Ruin
wretches all. Sinners who know not Christ and
sinners who do know Christ. Because by nature, even spiritual
people are both idolaters and believers at the same time. They
are like Rahab of old, who led down that crimson chord
and saved the prophets when they came into their house, who lied
about saving them, lied for Jesus. That's what she did. She's remembered
throughout history and the rest of time in Scripture. She was
the great great grandmother of Jesus Christ. Now here's how
she's remembered. Rahab, all the way to Revelation. The harlot. Whore saint. That's what you
and I are. Our nature is a whore. Our spirit is a saint. One other
thing. The gospel will mean nothing
to you ever graduate or rise above being
a sinner. As long as you hold to that fact
and find yourself in the dust where you belong, lower than
a whale's belly in a wagon, never graduate. the possibility of grace and
mercy coming your way. Christ is preached under the
Gentiles, under the pagans, under the whoremongers, under those
who drink iniquity like water, under those who come forth in
the womb as soon as they're born, speaking lies, wicked, vile,
undone, crippled, impotent, diseased, That's who the gospel is for.
Christ is preached unto the Gentiles. It's a wonder. You'd think he'd
just go to these fine, white, whited mausoleums called churches
and go in there where all the good people are and talk to them. No, he went out into the streets
where the whores and the publicans and the sinners were. And they
gathered to him like flies to sugar. There's something about him that
was so gracious and so merciful and so kind that religion wanted
to kill him and sinners couldn't get enough of him. Christ preached unto the Gentiles.
Perhaps the most astounding part of this great mystery is that
Christ was believed on in the world. Believed on in the world. Faith and the belief that attends
it is a marvelous mystery. I remember hearing Mayhem wrote
a book on faith many years ago, probably 30 years ago, 40 maybe. Took it to the publisher to be published and the publisher
said, well, folks really aren't interested in faith. They just
aren't interested in that sort of thing. They're more interested
in the rapture and what's going to happen in Revelation and how
to walk Not interested in faith. Without
faith, it is impossible to please God. But faith itself is a marvel. We know the source of it. It's
the gift of God by grace. We know that all men have not
faith. according to scripture. We personally
know if we have it, but cannot give any evidence for it. But it is a mystery. For a rebel
who hates God with every fiber of his being, being one second and the next second to love God
with all his heart is simply beyond explanation.
It's no wonder that the world thinks we're fools. Religion speaks as if faith is
some simple, easy thing, possible to all men. That's the language
they use, whether it's Billy Graham or the guy that sells
the MyPillows or whatever, whoever comes on TV with the simple plan
of salvation. What they used to call the Roman
road, you know. Say you're a sinner, apologize
to God and ask Him to come into your heart. Exercise faith. It's just a simple thing they
call it. Let me tell you about faith. Faith is impossible. Faith is impossible. Saved by
the act of sovereign grace by Almighty God. I know that men
have tried to make it a simple plan or a little more than a
mental ascent to get to some facts or issuing Christ an invitation
into their heart or such. But for a rebel whose days are
spent despising the things of God to suddenly, even miraculously
and irrevocably, risk the entirety of his soul's salvation on the
merits of someone else is nothing short of a truly great mystery. This mystery. How am I saved? I'm saved on the merits of another. I did nothing, I had no merit,
but somebody else did. My Savior merited salvation for
me. If you think it's merely a matter
of opinion or an exercise of the mind to believe, then I say
to you, go ahead, do it. Go ahead, believe for me. Nobody can. Go ahead and cease from anything
and everything about you. Go ahead and despise your righteousness. Go ahead and put your head on
the chopping block. Go ahead and know that you deserve
hell. Go ahead and give up everything.
Go ahead. Go ahead. Believe for me. wondrous mystery it is. Great is the mystery of godliness
that Jesus Christ was received up into glory. Again the question
must be why? Why was such a want after suffering
so for sin after being by the Father after dying a death
reserved for the worst of humanity, why was he received up in the
globe? The answer's quite simple, actually. He earned it. He finished the work that he
came to do to absolute perfection. By his successful, substitutionary,
satisfying, propitiatory death, he appeased God in every demand
of the law, every demand of perfection, every demand of obedience, and
thus was rewarded for saving everyone for whom he died. He
ascended to the right hand of the Father until all his enemies
had made his footstool, the last enemy to be destroyed, his death.
And every knee is going to bow, and every tongue confess that
he's Lord to the glory of the Father because of what he did. Because he endured the cross
and despised the shame. Because he was even obedient
even to the death of the cross, God because of that has highly
exalted Him and given Him a name above every name. He earned the
right as a man to walk in Heaven's glory as one who absolutely and
most assuredly belongs there. There is a man sitting at the
right hand of the Father right now and he's there It is the proclamation of this
great mystery that is the manner that the believer is to comport
or behave himself in the church of the living God, the pillar
and the ground of truth. That's what Paul told Timothy.
Religion will never get this. Don't expect them to. They will
ask more of you, but there is no more than this. 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, and received up in the
Lord. That's our Savior. Father, bless
us to understand and pray in Christ's name. I want to remind
you next Sunday, the last Sunday of the month, you'll have the
Lord's table and dinner.