Such a Marvelous Mystery

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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January 16, 2023

00:02: I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to Colossians chapter 1 and hold your place at verse 24.
00:15: We're going to focus today on verse 27, but for our opening reading we're going to read Colossians 1, 24, all the way to chapter 2, verse 3, because there is a reference in chapter 2 that I want us to see.
00:35: So if you'll hold your place at verse 24.
00:40: We previously studied verses 24 to 29.
00:47: That was last week's message, and so today I had promised last week that because we did such a large section of text that I wanted to go back and focus on some things that I had to sort of move over because I had done such a large section, and I often will do that because I want us to get the bird's eye view.
01:08: I don't want us to miss the forest for the trees.
01:10: I don't want us to get so bogged down into things that we miss the theme of the book and the overall message of the book, but at the same time there are times where I feel like, well, I didn't say enough about this, so we're going to now go back and focus on one particular thing, and what we're going to focus on today is the concept of the mystery that Paul describes in verses 26 and 27.
01:36: When we think of a mystery, we often imagine a whodunit scenario.
01:45: There are mystery television shows.
01:47: There are mystery novels.
01:49: There's even mystery comic books and cartoons.
01:53: People are fascinated with the idea of finding out who did it.
01:58: I've noted a few times in my teaching that one of my favorite novel series is the Sherlock Holmes novels, and what's fun about the Sherlock Holmes novels is you have this one individual in the story who seems to be able to see everything much more clearly than everyone else.
02:17: He's able to make large deductive leaps that other people aren't able to make, and at the end of the story, there's always the big reveal where all of these things that you've read throughout the story come together with this grand revelation.
02:33: Well, it was because his shoe made this imprint on the floor, and he was this tall, or he was this, and he was that, and that's how we know that he did it, and you end up with this grand revelation, the big reveal.
02:47: Well, today as we look at the concept of mystery in the scripture, what we are going to see is that the idea of mystery is intricately connected to the doctrine of revelation.
03:04: So really what today's study is, is really a study of the doctrine of revelation, how God takes that which is unknown and makes it known, takes that which is hidden and reveals it to us, and that's what we're going to discuss today as we see Paul reference the mystery of the indwelling presence of Christ in his passage in the book of Colossians.
03:34: So let's stand together, and let's read this portion of the letter again, beginning in verse 24.
03:41: We're going to read past the chapter break.
03:43: As you know, there were no chapter breaks in the original writing, so we can move past the chapter break into chapter 2 and verse 3.
03:52: The apostle Paul says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known.
04:10: The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.
04:16: To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
04:28: Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
04:35: For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
04:40: For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ and whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
05:07: Father, I thank you for your word and I pray even now, Lord, that you would keep me from error as I seek to preach your word in spirit and in truth.
05:15: I pray, Lord, that I would decrease and that Christ would increase, that the spirit would be the teacher and, Lord, I just the mouthpiece.
05:25: I pray, Lord, for the people in this room, particularly, Lord, for the believers in this room, that they would be edified by today's message, that they would be that they would be admonished, that they would be instructed, that they would be, Lord, matured in the understanding of the word.
05:43: And father, for those who have not yet trusted in Christ, they would understand that there is no greater blessing than to know that Christ, by the spirit of God, resides within us.
05:56: Lord, help us today to truly understand what your word says, for without your spirit, we cannot.
06:04: We pray it in Jesus name.
06:06: Amen.
06:25: Within the study of the doctrine of revelation, and by the way, when I say the doctrine of revelation, I'm not talking about the book of revelation, but the concept of God revealing himself.
06:39: That's what the doctrine of revelation refers to.
06:43: And within the doctrine of revelation, we have two different ways that theologians have described how God reveals himself.
06:53: We have what is known as general revelation and we have what is known as special revelation, general revelation and special revelation.
07:06: General revelation is recognized in creation by all men.
07:11: I'm trying to make, I know it's a little harder for y'all.
07:13: Maybe I'll just have to get a bigger board.
07:17: I liked it.
07:18: Y'all know I'm a teacher at heart.
07:19: This helps me and I hopefully it'll help you.
07:22: When we talk about the concept of general revelation, what we are talking about is that which all men receive by virtue of their senses that God has put things in the world to point to him.
07:37: Romans chapter one gives us the best example of general general revelation when it says that the the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
07:51: For what can be known about God is plain to them for God has made it known to them.
07:56: His invisible attributes, namely his divine power, have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.
08:07: So what does Paul tell us there? We can look at creation and know that there's a God.
08:15: Anyone who looks at creation and denies that God exists denies the very thing that their eyes, their ears, their nose, all of their senses are recognized by God.
08:25: And seeing the existence of a creator, they have to suppress that truth in unrighteousness.
08:32: And you know what Paul goes on to say? He says that all of them are without excuse.
08:37: No man will be able to face God at judgment day and say, I just didn't know you were there.
08:41: You just didn't give me enough evidence.
08:43: There just wasn't enough.
08:44: There just wasn't enough creation for me to believe there was a creator.
08:50: We call that general revelation.
08:52: We see it in the psalm, Psalm 19, verse 1.
08:55: The heavens do what? Declare the glory of God.
08:59: That word is the idea of preaching.
09:02: It says the sun is like a preacher.
09:03: It comes out of its closet in the morning and goes across the sky all day long and goes back to its room at night.
09:10: And the whole day it's proclaiming the glory of God.
09:13: Like a preacher going through the heavens, the sun is proclaiming the creator.
09:18: So general revelation refers to those things that all men know by virtue of creation.
09:26: But then we talk about special revelation.
09:31: Special revelation is when God intervenes into human history.
09:36: What happened there? He intervenes in human history.
09:43: Hebrews chapter 1 says this.
09:46: In times past God in various ways and in various manners spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
09:54: But in these last days he has spoken to us through his son.
09:57: That's two different types of special revelation.
09:59: He says in times past God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
10:03: That's the prophetic utterance.
10:05: Think about people like Noah.
10:06: Noah didn't have a bible, but Noah had the prophetic utterance of God.
10:11: Abraham didn't have a bible, but he had the prophetic utterance of God.
10:15: He had God speaking to him.
10:18: The people of Israel at times didn't have access to their scriptures.
10:22: But they had prophets proclaiming to them the word of God.
10:26: Like Isaiah and Jeremiah.
10:28: So we understand we call that special revelation.
10:32: Because that is special in the sense that it's going to a particular audience at a particular time in a special way.
10:41: The New Testament tells us that we have special revelation from God.
10:45: It's called the bible.
10:48: Just yesterday one of the most, I don't want to say popular.
10:55: One of the most well known preachers in America.
11:00: A video went out, four minute section of his sermon.
11:04: Where he is now encouraging his church to understand that they need to start over with their faith.
11:12: And not let the bible be the place where they start.
11:16: That's his very words.
11:17: And again look up the video if you want to know who it is later you can ask.
11:20: But his point is that we shouldn't start with the bible.
11:25: Well where else are you going to start? That's the special revelation.
11:29: This is God's word to us.
11:32: Are we going to start in our finite minds and our foolish thinking? Are we going to start in secular philosophy and ungodly scientific explorations? Don't start with the word of God.
11:44: Don't be a preacher.
11:45: How about that? If you're not starting with the word of God.
11:48: I mean what are you going to do? Yeah, amen.
11:55: So the idea here again is that we have special revelation that comes from God.
12:00: That's distinct from general revelation.
12:04: And when we think about the doctrine of revelation.
12:06: Here is the one thing the doctrine of revelation asserts.
12:09: And I hope you take this with you.
12:10: I hope that this is one of those little key points that I hope you do take home in your mind.
12:13: The doctrine of revelation asserts this.
12:16: God wants you to know things.
12:19: God wants you to know things about him.
12:23: He wants you to know things about yourself.
12:26: He wants you to know things about the world around you.
12:29: He wants you to know things about right and wrong.
12:32: And he wants this so much that he has gone through the trouble of revealing these things to you.
12:39: Now he hasn't revealed everything to you.
12:43: Deuteronomy 29.29 says the secret things belong to the Lord.
12:51: And a lot of people quote that.
12:54: Well we don't know everything.
12:55: The secret things belong to the Lord.
12:56: But listen to the whole verse.
12:59: It says in Deuteronomy 29.29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God.
13:03: But the things that are revealed belong to us.
13:08: And to our children forever that we may do all the words of his law.
13:15: You see God does reveal things to us because he wants us to know.
13:19: He doesn't want us to know everything.
13:20: And there are things we won't know.
13:23: Between now and glory there are going to be mysteries.
13:26: There are going to be secrets that are held only within the mind of God.
13:31: His ultimate will in all things is to glorify himself.
13:36: But how he's going to do that I don't know.
13:39: And sometimes he does it in ways that I don't expect.
13:43: I don't know the day I'm going to die but he does.
13:48: You understand when I say the secret things belong to the Lord.
13:51: What's interesting in that passage in Deuteronomy is actually I think talking potentially about secret sins.
13:57: If you go back and look at the context it seems to be the context.
14:00: It's like God knows your heart.
14:02: But there are things that are revealed that everyone knows.
14:04: And the things that are revealed remind us that we need to do his law.
14:07: But again I'm not executing that text today.
14:09: But the idea that there are things that we just don't know.
14:12: There are things that we won't know.
14:16: But God does reveal things to us.
14:19: And he reveals things to us often progressively.
14:26: In fact I would say this God's revelation is progressive and covenantal.
14:35: Because what he does and you can follow the Bible through.
14:39: Is God reveals himself in relationships with certain people.
14:45: And as he reveals himself in relationships with certain people we learn more about him.
14:49: We learn more about us.
14:50: And in those covenant relationships we begin to see how God interacts with his people.
14:55: So we see God interacting with Noah.
14:57: We learn something about his character.
15:00: We learn that he hates wickedness.
15:01: So much that he's willing to destroy the whole earth except for eight people.
15:05: And when they come off the ark we learn that he says.
15:08: Now when one man sheds the blood of another man so too shall his blood be shed.
15:13: Because that man bore the image of God.
15:16: Right? So we learn something about God's justice.
15:19: Right? Then later we see him introduce himself to Abram.
15:25: And we learn about God's familial relationship with Abram.
15:28: Choosing from his family all the nations of the earth.
15:32: That way later in Amos chapter 3 verse 2.
15:34: I showed this in my Sunday school class this morning.
15:36: He says to the children of Abraham.
15:38: You have I chosen of all the families of the earth.
15:42: So God chose to enter into a covenant relationship with the descendants of Abraham.
15:49: So we see these things.
15:50: God progressively demonstrating himself covenantally.
15:55: Showing who he is.
16:04: I don't know what happened.
16:06: Did all the power go out? Okay just a screen.
16:10: Okay.
16:11: No big deal.
16:14: But again getting back to the idea of revelation.
16:16: God reveals himself.
16:18: God reveals himself progressively.
16:20: God reveals himself covenantally.
16:22: But the reason why I'm saying all this is because if we look at the scriptures.
16:27: What we learn is that there are things that we know now.
16:32: That were not known before.
16:37: You might say well obviously.
16:38: No, no it's not obvious.
16:39: Because what I'm going to say next.
16:41: Some people get really offended by.
16:43: We actually know more about God than Abraham did.
16:47: That's the thing people.
16:48: But wait a minute.
16:49: Abraham walked with God.
16:50: Abraham was called the friend of God.
16:52: How could you say we know more than Abraham did? Because the Bible says it.
16:57: The Bible says that there were things that were not revealed to our ancestors.
17:02: But have now been revealed to us.
17:04: Things that were mysteries to them have now been unveiled to us.
17:12: That's the idea of the mystery.
17:15: Something that was once hidden and now has been disclosed.
17:20: If you have your finger in Colossians.
17:22: I want you to turn over to Ephesians.
17:24: Just turn over to your left.
17:27: And go to Ephesians chapter 3.
17:39: And we're just going to read verses 1 to 5.
17:42: Now this section in Ephesians.
17:45: Pardon me.
17:46: This section in Ephesians is very similar to what we're reading in Colossians.
17:50: They're actually a sister book.
17:52: I've mentioned this several times.
17:55: But notice what it says.
17:57: Paul writing.
17:58: He says for this reason I Paul.
18:00: A prisoner of Christ Jesus.
18:02: On behalf of you Gentiles.
18:04: Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace.
18:07: That was given to me for you.
18:09: Again very similar language to Colossians 1.
18:12: How the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
18:16: As I have written briefly.
18:18: When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ.
18:22: Which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations.
18:28: As it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
18:36: Notice what he just said.
18:37: He said I am sharing with you things that your ancestors did not understand.
18:44: It was not revealed to them in the way that it is now revealed to you.
18:50: This is the idea of the mystery.
18:53: The mystery is something that wasn't understood by them.
18:56: But is now understood by you.
19:00: In fact that's what the word Mysterion in the Greek means.
19:04: Doesn't mean it's unknowable.
19:07: A mystery is not necessarily something that's unknowable.
19:11: But rather it is something that has been hidden.
19:14: And is now being revealed.
19:17: And I will say this on a simple, simple note.
19:21: The Old Testament things were hidden.
19:25: That were revealed in the New Testament.
19:28: I've heard it said this way.
19:30: The Old Testament is the word of God concealed.
19:33: The New Testament is the word of God revealed.
19:36: Because we see in the Old Testament all of the truth that's in the New Testament.
19:41: But it is contained in types and shadows.
19:46: Paul will tell us that when we get to Colossians 2.
19:48: He will say these things are a shadow of what is to come.
19:52: But the substance is what? Christ.
19:55: Those things were a shadow that pointed to something greater.
20:00: And the thing greater is Christ.
20:04: Alan Carnes said this.
20:07: Dr.
20:07: Alan Carnes.
20:08: He said the mystery that Paul refers to here.
20:12: Is something which is not attainable by investigation, intelligence or scholarship.
20:19: It is something that is given by divine revelation.
20:22: The mystery of the Old Covenant.
20:24: The mystery of the Old Testament.
20:25: Wasn't arrived at by the scholarship of Paul.
20:30: Or the genius of Matthew.
20:31: Or the physicians greatness of Luke.
20:34: No it was arrived at by God revealing Christ to them.
20:38: And in that revelation the mystery was unveiled.
20:44: In fact I would say this.
20:46: I would say that even the concept of mystery.
20:50: Really is a New Testament concept.
20:53: Because when you read the Old Testament.
20:56: You look up the word mystery in the Old Testament.
20:58: There is two words which can be translated as secret or mystery.
21:02: One is the word rats.
21:04: And one is the word sitar.
21:06: Both Hebrew words.
21:07: And the one sitar is the one that typically is referred to as.
21:11: I am sorry wait.
21:13: No.
21:14: Rats is the one that is typically referred to as mystery.
21:18: And it is only used in the book of Daniel.
21:20: And it is only referred to the dreams that Nebuchadnezzar had.
21:25: That Daniel interpreted.
21:26: And he says I want to know the mystery of these dreams.
21:28: That word mystery is nine times in the Old Testament.
21:31: ESV Old Testament.
21:32: Only in the book of Daniel.
21:34: And only to reference the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar.
21:36: So it really is not something that we see talked about a lot in the Old Testament.
21:43: But we see the word mysterion in the Greek.
21:47: Translated 27 times.
21:51: In the New Testament.
21:53: And all of that in one way, shape or form.
21:56: Has a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
21:59: So the idea of the mystery is pointing towards the new covenant.
22:04: Pointing towards the work of Christ.
22:06: Who is the unveiling of all of those things that were hidden in the Old Testament.
22:12: Now I am going to give you some uses of the word mystery in the New Testament.
22:16: I am not going to go through all of these in the sense of exegeting them.
22:21: I can't.
22:22: But I just want to show you how the word mystery is used in the New Testament.
22:26: As I said there is 27.
22:28: I will give you.
22:30: I put them into categories.
22:31: Because some of them there is overlap.
22:33: So we hear about the mystery.
22:35: The only time it is used in the gospel is when Jesus talks about the mystery of the kingdom.
22:38: That is Mark chapter 4 verse 11.
22:40: He says there is a mystery of the kingdom.
22:42: Which again relates to who? Christ the king.
22:45: Right? The king and the kingdom.
22:46: Right? It is about him.
22:48: We talk about the mystery of Israel's hardening.
22:51: This is in Romans chapter 11.
22:52: It says there is a mystery.
22:54: There has been a hardening that has come upon Israel.
22:57: Right? Now that again.
22:58: That is a whole entire subject of God bringing in the Gentiles by hardening the Jews.
23:04: Entirely.
23:05: You know.
23:06: But again.
23:07: Because the gospel goes to who? All nations.
23:12: The mystery of iniquity.
23:14: Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7.
23:17: Mystery spoken in tongues.
23:19: 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 2.
23:21: That refers to things that are spoken and not understood until they are revealed.
23:26: Mystery of the resurrection.
23:27: 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51.
23:29: Mystery of our faith.
23:31: 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 9.
23:34: The seven stars in the hands of Christ in the book of Revelation chapter 1 are called the mystery of the seven stars.
23:42: And later in the book of Revelation we hear about mystery Babylon.
23:45: The city that is turned against the Lord.
23:52: Now again.
23:53: All of those in some way, shape or fashion reference Christ.
23:56: But the ones that are most focused upon when that idea of mystery I believe are the ones that actually deal with Christ directly.
24:05: And those we see in the writings of Paul specifically in 1 Timothy, Ephesians and Colossians.
24:13: In 1 Timothy we hear this term.
24:16: Great is the mystery of godliness.
24:18: God was manifest in the flesh.
24:22: I would say that was something that the Old Testament saints did not quite understand.
24:27: Would you agree? That the Old Testament saints did not quite understand that Yahweh was going to become a man.
24:33: Now you could say, well wait a minute.
24:34: They had Isaiah who said that the virgin will conceive and bear a son and now she'll call his name Emmanuel.
24:40: Emmanuel means God with us, right? Well certainly they could understand that.
24:45: But did they understand fully the incarnation of Christ? I would say not fully.
24:50: And that's the idea.
24:51: Paul says this is a mystery.
24:53: The mystery of godliness.
24:54: God was manifest in the flesh.
24:59: But another mystery in regard to Christ is the mystery of the receiving in of the Gentiles.
25:04: We saw this as we read in Ephesians 3 earlier.
25:07: The receiving in of Gentiles as fellow heirs.
25:10: I will tell you this.
25:11: That was not something that the Jews expected.
25:13: Though they should have.
25:15: What did Abraham...
25:18: What was Abraham promised in the Abrahamic promise in Genesis chapter 12? Through you all the what? Nations, all the ethnic, all the nations of the world will be blessed.
25:28: But Abraham and his promise was often forgotten.
25:33: Because the Jewish people saw themselves as utterly unique and separate from the rest of the world.
25:40: But Paul says the gospel has come to all nations.
25:43: All ethnicities.
25:46: And all have received.
25:48: This is a mystery.
25:53: There are other places where we see the mystery.
25:55: Paul says the two becoming one flesh in the marriage ceremony is a mystery.
25:59: And we see the gospel itself in Ephesians chapter 6 and in Romans chapter 16.
26:04: The gospel itself is called a mystery.
26:08: In Colossians chapter 2 Paul says that Christ himself is the mystery.
26:14: But all of this I've been giving you is ultimately an introduction because I'm leading up to Colossians 1.
26:19: Yeah, that was a long introduction, I know.
26:22: All of this was simply to lead up to Colossians 1.27.
26:27: Because in Colossians 1.27 Paul actually tells us there's an aspect of this mystery that we need to understand.
26:36: Because this aspect of this mystery shows the glory of the mystery.
26:42: And it is Christ in you.
26:46: The hope of glory.
26:47: Again, let's go back to verse 27 and let's read it again.
26:51: It begins by saying to them.
26:53: In the ESV it says to them.
26:55: Who are the them? Well if we look in the immediate context the them is to the saints.
27:00: So that would be to us.
27:02: To all believers.
27:03: To them, the saints.
27:04: He says to them God has willed to make known.
27:10: That's what the Greek translated literally says.
27:14: God willed.
27:16: Actually the word willed comes first.
27:18: It actually says willed God to reveal.
27:23: To them willed God to reveal.
27:27: And what did he reveal? What are the riches of the glory of this mystery.
27:33: And this among the Gentiles.
27:37: Which is Christ in you.
27:41: The hope of glory.
27:45: Understand this.
27:47: As much as the Old Testament saints did not understand.
27:50: That God would become a man.
27:52: I would say they also did not understand.
27:55: That that same God was going to come and live in them forever.
28:02: Because the mystery that Paul is referring to here in 27.
28:06: Is the mystery of the indwelling.
28:11: Permanent presence of the spirit of God.
28:15: And the life of every believer.
28:17: And I want to say this.
28:18: And I know that this is theologically somewhat debated.
28:22: But I do not believe that this was experienced.
28:25: By the Old Testament saints.
28:28: Now I'm not saying Old Testament saints weren't saved.
28:31: Old Testament saints were saved.
28:33: And God did have to do a work in them.
28:36: To cause them to be able to believe.
28:39: But the promise of the spirit.
28:43: Coming and making his home.
28:47: In the heart of the believer.
28:50: Was not an Old Testament promise.
28:52: It is a new covenant promise.
28:57: I'll ask you this.
28:58: Just from a general perspective.
29:00: Where was the presence of God in the Old Covenant? The temple.
29:06: It was within the Ark of the Covenant.
29:08: That was how the people of God understood the presence of God within them.
29:12: They carried this giant box.
29:15: Through the desert.
29:16: With a giant tent around it.
29:18: Which itself had another tent around it.
29:20: And then it had another wall.
29:22: A fence around that.
29:26: They had this giant thing called a tabernacle.
29:29: And what was in the midst of the tabernacle? The spirit of God.
29:35: Now later they built that into a temple.
29:38: It went from being a tabernacle.
29:40: Which could be folded up and carried along by the Levites.
29:44: To then being a building.
29:47: Which was not mobile.
29:50: But still based on the same layout.
29:53: You had the holy place.
29:55: The sanctuary.
29:57: And then you had a veil.
29:59: Which they say the veil was as thick as a man's hand.
30:03: That's not just some sheer veil.
30:06: But a thick woven piece of cloth.
30:10: And beyond that veil was called the Holy of Holies.
30:13: The Sanctum Sanctorum.
30:15: In Latin.
30:17: And the only person who was allowed to go past the veil into the sanctuary.
30:21: I'm sorry.
30:22: Into the Sanctum Sanctorum.
30:23: Was the high priest.
30:25: And then only once a year.
30:28: Himself having to be cleansed and purified before he went.
30:33: Now there are tales about them having a rope tied to their leg.
30:35: In case they died they could drag them back out.
30:37: That's not in the Bible.
30:38: But I get it.
30:40: Because that was the presence of God.
30:44: Among the people of God.
30:46: And one man.
30:47: One time.
30:48: In one calendar year.
30:50: Could go into that presence of God.
30:52: And offer up an atoning sacrifice for the people of God.
30:55: Once.
30:57: A year.
31:00: Jesus goes to the cross.
31:04: And he dies.
31:07: On the cross.
31:10: And we are told.
31:12: That at the moment of his death.
31:16: There was a great earthquake.
31:18: And the veil.
31:21: The thing I just mentioned.
31:22: Thick as a man's hand.
31:24: Was torn.
31:26: From top.
31:28: To bottom.
31:32: Not.
31:33: So that we could go in.
31:37: But that the presence of God.
31:39: Would now not be.
31:41: Known as contained there.
31:44: But rather.
31:46: In.
31:47: Us.
31:52: That's a mystery.
31:54: And that's a revelation.
31:57: And now I want to show you a few passages.
31:59: Just so you don't think that I'm just.
32:00: That I'm just concocting this out of thin air.
32:03: I want to show you where we see this in scripture.
32:05: If you do have your Bibles.
32:07: Turn to me.
32:08: Turn with me rather.
32:09: To John chapter 14.
32:24: Thank you brother.
32:26: In John 14.
32:28: Verse 16 and 17.
32:32: Jesus is speaking to the disciples.
32:35: And he says this.
32:37: And I.
32:37: I like the King James in this.
32:39: Even though I have the ESV here.
32:40: I remember he says.
32:41: I will pray the father.
32:43: And he will send you.
32:46: Another comforter.
32:48: Alas percolators.
32:50: Alas means another of the same kind.
32:52: That's an important idea there.
32:53: Because there is also heteros.
32:54: Which means another of a different kind.
32:57: Alas means of the same kind.
33:00: And percolators.
33:01: Is where we get the word for comforter.
33:04: Helper.
33:04: It literally means to call alongside.
33:09: Kaleo is to call.
33:10: And pera means to be beside something.
33:12: So the idea of someone to call alongside.
33:15: Jesus said I'm going to pray the father.
33:17: And he's going to send you another comforter.
33:20: And notice what he says.
33:22: He says this other comforter.
33:24: Is the spirit of truth.
33:26: Who will be with you forever.
33:28: Whom the world cannot receive.
33:30: Because it neither sees him nor knows him.
33:32: You know him.
33:33: For he dwells with you.
33:35: And he will be in you.
33:39: Hear that brothers.
33:41: Sisters.
33:41: He won't just be in the world.
33:46: He will be in you.
33:51: Why? You don't have to turn there.
33:57: 1 Corinthians 6.19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
34:06: Who lives within you.
34:11: That's the mystery.
34:12: That's what Paul is saying.
34:13: The spirit of God.
34:15: If you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
34:18: Has come to make his abode within you.
34:24: This is not a second blessing.
34:26: That comes after years of being a Christian.
34:29: That you receive once you speak in another tongue.
34:31: Or some kind of miraculous showing of signs.
34:34: No.
34:35: This is what makes a Christian.
34:37: A Christian.
34:38: Is the spirit of God.
34:40: Sets up residence.
34:42: In his heart.
34:45: In fact.
34:46: I will have you go here.
34:47: Go to Romans chapter 8.
34:50: And look at this passage.
34:51: Because this one here.
34:53: This ought to cause us to really consider this.
34:56: Because in Romans chapter 8.
34:59: Paul speaking of the presence of the spirit within us.
35:04: He says this.
35:06: Go to verse 9.
35:08: I'll give you a second.
35:08: He says you however.
35:15: Are not in the flesh.
35:19: But in the spirit.
35:21: If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you.
35:26: Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ.
35:30: Does not what? Does not belong to him.
35:35: Beloved I will tell you this.
35:36: If the spirit of God does not reside within you.
35:38: You do not belong to him.
35:40: I don't say that on my own authority.
35:42: I don't say that on the authority of Andy Montoro.
35:44: Or Michael Collier.
35:45: Or the Sovereign Grace Family Church.
35:49: I say that on the authority of the word of God.
35:51: If the spirit of Christ.
35:53: Does not dwell within you.
35:56: You do not belong to him.
35:59: Because that's what Paul says.
36:01: Paul says when we come to faith in Christ.
36:04: The Holy Spirit of God.
36:06: Comes to make his abode in our heart.
36:10: And therefore.
36:12: We can say great is the mystery.
36:16: That Christ is in us through the spirit.
36:19: And that's our hope.
36:22: In fact one of the great blessings we have in scripture.
36:24: Is we are told that the spirit within us.
36:27: Testifies that we are children of God.
36:30: That he is the one who comes and lives within us.
36:34: So that we are able to by the spirit.
36:38: Call God Abba Father.
36:42: A lot of people make a big deal about how Abba was how a child would reach up to a father.
36:46: And that the word is like daddy.
36:48: And some have gotten really kind of weird with that.
36:50: And made it a little strange.
36:53: The point of it is.
36:56: Relationship.
36:58: The relationship was established.
37:01: When we came to faith in Christ.
37:03: The spirit of God came and resided within us.
37:07: He sealed us for the day of redemption.
37:09: He made his home in our heart.
37:11: And he connected us by relationship to the father.
37:14: Having been adopted because of the work of the son.
37:17: And now we are able by the spirit to call God our father.
37:24: Understand that even that was a mystery.
37:28: You go back into the Old Testament.
37:31: And you will not find very many references.
37:35: To the fatherhood of God.
37:37: You will find tons of references to the creatorship of God.
37:41: You will find tons of references to the lordship of God.
37:44: You will find many references to the sovereignty of God.
37:47: And all those things are true.
37:49: But what made Jesus' ministry so powerful.
37:53: Was he says when you pray.
37:55: You will pray like this.
37:57: Our father.
37:59: Who art in heaven.
38:02: Because the spirit of God.
38:05: Has come into you.
38:07: And you have now by adoption.
38:10: Been brought into his family.
38:13: That's the blessing.
38:14: That's the mystery.
38:15: That's what Paul is trying to get us to understand.
38:17: Understand the glory of this mystery.
38:20: You have the spirit of God.
38:23: Christ's spirit living in you.
38:26: And therein lies your hope.
38:29: Therein lies your comfort.
38:31: Jesus said he will be just like me.
38:34: Another comforter.
38:35: One to come and be with you.
38:38: And testify to you.
38:39: That you actually do belong to him.
38:52: I want to say a few things.
38:55: As I begin to draw to a close.
38:59: About the concept of mysteries.
39:01: That I think we ought to consider.
39:07: There are people.
39:10: Who want to discover mysteries in the Bible.
39:14: That are not there.
39:19: You laugh.
39:20: You know what I'm talking about.
39:24: I remember sitting in my house.
39:27: When I was.
39:27: Well I was actually at my grandmother's house.
39:29: I was probably eight years old.
39:31: So this was ancient kids.
39:32: This was before.
39:33: Before.
39:35: Streaming TV.
39:36: We actually had to watch regular TV.
39:38: With commercials and all that.
39:40: Commercials are making their way back now.
39:42: They are now on streaming services.
39:43: So kids know what they are again.
39:45: For years.
39:45: My kids didn't know what a commercial was.
39:48: But now.
39:50: But back then.
39:51: I was eight years old.
39:52: Sit up at night.
39:53: I used to watch the old Batman TV series.
39:55: Adam West.
39:56: And the commercial would come on.
39:59: Every time the commercial would come on.
40:02: Learn the mysteries of the Bible.
40:06: Send in.
40:08: $29.95.
40:10: And we're going to send you the mysteries of the Bible.
40:13: And what they wanted you to know.
40:14: Was how the Bible taught about aliens.
40:18: Or how the Bible taught about numerology.
40:21: And how if you add up this many verses.
40:23: And subtract this many verses.
40:25: And divide it by a power of ten.
40:27: You'll come up with the date of the end of the world.
40:29: Or some other crazy thing like that.
40:32: Or.
40:34: They wanted to tell you about the Nephilim.
40:38: And how the angels of God.
40:40: Intermarried with the daughters of men.
40:42: And made this race of gargantuans that ruled the earth.
40:45: There's all of these different things.
40:47: These mysteries that were in this book.
40:51: But do you know what those books never gave? The gospel.
40:56: And you know what Paul says the mystery is? The gospel.
41:01: That's the mystery that matters.
41:03: I'm only telling you this.
41:05: Because those commercials have now been replaced by YouTube videos.
41:08: And TikTok videos.
41:09: Where people come in.
41:11: I'm going to tell you what's secret about the Bible.
41:13: You know what's secret about the Bible? You've got to say Jesus' name.
41:15: Yeshua.
41:16: You've got to say it right.
41:17: That's the secret.
41:18: Because when you face Jesus.
41:19: If you call him Jesus.
41:19: He won't know who you're talking to.
41:20: And he's going to send you out.
41:23: I didn't invent that.
41:24: That's a video you all showed me.
41:26: Dude said if you go up and say Jesus.
41:28: Jesus won't accept you.
41:29: Because that's not his real name.
41:30: Trust me that ain't the mystery folks.
41:33: But that's the kind of stuff.
41:35: The world wants you to think is the mystery.
41:38: The world wants to feed you garbage.
41:41: And get you excited about mysteries and conspiracy theories about the Bible.
41:47: That ain't so.
41:48: Beloved we should be satisfied with the mystery of the gospel.
41:52: Which is Christ in you.
41:54: The hope of glory.
41:55: We should be satisfied with that.
41:57: That God has chosen in his mercy to reveal that to you.
42:02: That's what we should concern ourselves with.
42:06: So that's my first thought.
42:07: My second thought on this.
42:10: Is that there are also religions.
42:14: That are based in the concept.
42:17: Of saying they themselves are the only ones.
42:21: Who know the mysteries of God.
42:25: Gnostics were that way.
42:27: In fact the word Gnostic.
42:29: Comes from the word Gnosis.
42:30: Which means knowledge.
42:31: And they believed they had a special spiritual knowledge.
42:36: That only the elite were able to have.
42:40: And only through special Gnostic study.
42:44: Could you come to this knowledge.
42:46: And this mystery.
42:47: Which to them took them out of scripture.
42:50: Out of God's word.
42:51: And they ended up hating the God of the Bible.
42:53: And inventing a God of their own understanding.
42:58: But let me tell you something.
42:59: There are still Gnostics today.
43:01: They don't go by that.
43:02: There are secret societies today.
43:04: That want to tell you that if you join us.
43:06: And you learn our codes.
43:07: And you learn our language.
43:08: And you learn our handshakes.
43:09: And you learn these things.
43:10: You'll learn the mysteries of the universe.
43:13: Again I tell you.
43:14: You do not need those mysteries.
43:17: What you need is the gospel.
43:22: You need to come to Christ.
43:24: If you have not come to Christ.
43:26: You need to run to Christ.
43:29: You need to run to the tree of God.
43:32: Which hangs the Son of God.
43:35: And you need to lay your sins at the foot of the cross.
43:37: And receive from Him.
43:39: His complete and utter forgiveness of your sin.
43:42: Because that's the only mystery that's going to matter on judgment day.
43:45: Not if you knew a secret handshake.
43:47: Or a secret code.
43:48: Or a special word.
43:52: You understand.
43:53: When Paul talked about mysteries.
43:57: He wasn't talking about some kind of special knowledge.
44:01: That only a few could have.
44:03: He talked about something that God had revealed to His people.
44:08: That is available to us all.
44:11: The gospel of Christ.
44:14: The indwelling of the Spirit.
44:17: And the hope of glory.
44:20: Beloved that's the mystery that matters.
44:23: And I pray you came today.
44:25: Knowing that mystery.
44:26: And if you didn't.
44:28: That now that it has been shown to you.
44:29: That you would turn from your sins.
44:31: And trust in Christ.
44:34: Let's pray.
44:39: Father we sing this song.
44:40: Filled with wonder.
44:41: Awestruck wonder.
44:42: At the mention of your name.
44:44: Jesus your name is power.
44:45: Breath and living water.
44:47: Such a marvelous mystery.
44:50: Lord it is.
44:51: It is a marvelous mystery.
44:55: To consider Christ.
44:58: Who He is.
44:59: And what He has done.
45:01: Lord we pray.
45:04: That if there are those here today.
45:05: Who have not trusted in Christ.
45:07: That they would have heard the message of this gospel.
45:09: That they would turn from their sin.
45:11: And trust in Him.
45:12: And Lord for those who do know Christ.
45:15: That they are better acquainted.
45:17: Having heard the word today.
45:18: With the mysteries of Christ.
45:20: Lord that He came.
45:22: To save sinners.
45:24: And now by the Spirit lives.
45:26: Within His people.
45:28: We pray Lord all this in Jesus name.
45:31: Amen.