Sunday Sermon: Great is the Mystery of Godliness (1 Timothy 3:14-16)

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You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

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New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

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Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. The Apostle Paul writing to his servant

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Timothy, pastoring at the church in Ephesus. Hear the word of the Lord. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living

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God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.

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He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the

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Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

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Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.

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Through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

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For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

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You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that as we come into this passage today, that we would be reminded of the mystery of godliness.

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That word mystery implies something hidden, but for us it is not hidden, it has been revealed.

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It has been revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so as we behold his gospel, as we behold his ministry, not just the ministry that he did on earth, but even the ministry that he continues to do now, seated at the right hand of God, that these things would be manifested in us, in matters of holiness, in practice, in the way in which we live, that we might conduct ourselves before you in holiness and in righteousness, that we would continue to grow in the knowledge of these things and in so doing grow in godliness.

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Guide us in your truth this morning as we read, as we meditate upon these things, that we may grow all the more in Christ's likeness and help one another in this process that we call by the big theological word, sanctification.

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It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. In Acts chapter 19, we read about a riot in Ephesus, and this would have been something that would have preceded

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Timothy's time there, as of course, as you understand the backstory of what we've been reading about in 1

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Timothy, Paul has sent Timothy to that church that he loved so much there in the city of Ephesus, a place where Paul had spent much time and he had endeared himself to these saints in this church.

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Well, it was around the time that this church had been planted there in Ephesus that a riot had broken out, and the riot had come about because the gospel was spreading.

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And those who were so devoted to their paganism, who had even made a lifestyle out of making idols to Diana because of the temple that was there, it was one of the wonders of the ancient world, as it's referred to today, the

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Temple of Artemis or the Temple of Diana that had been built there in Ephesus. But because Christianity is spreading, people are leaving their paganism and they're believing in Christ, and some of the idol makers there, the silversmiths and those that had received their income from this temple worship, they're afraid, what's going to happen to us because people are becoming

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Christians? And so this actually started as somewhat of a meeting and it becomes a riot as people flood into the amphitheater there, and the mob even begins to shout, tens of thousands who are there present in the amphitheater, and they start shouting, great is

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Artemis of the Ephesians, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. And the whole manner of people there in Ephesus are stirred up by this.

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The shouting attracts more people and it just continues to grow. Paul even wants to go into the amphitheater, he thinks that he has an opportunity here to preach, but he's got friends there that are going, no, no, no, they're going to kill you if you go in there.

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And so they stop him from going in, and eventually there are some reasonable men that manage to quiet the crowd and disperse the mob.

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But all of this had come about, this riot was stirred up by pagans who were beginning to fear the spread of Christianity.

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And again, what they chanted, what they shouted, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. This was something that was even on their currency as archaeological digs have been done around that area and things have been uncovered, ancient artifacts from that particular site.

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They found currency from about that period of time that indicates that very slogan was even printed on the coins in Ephesus.

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Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Notice something that we read here in the reading today.

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What does Paul say in 1 Timothy 3 .16, great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.

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Where is Timothy? He's at that church in Ephesus. He's at that place where the slogan of the city, if it were to be emblazoned upon some gate as you walked into Ephesus, they would surely have put it there.

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Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Paul says, no, no, great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.

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Our profession is not to an imaginary goddess who gives us nothing.

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But our profession is to the great God who lives, who gives us everything.

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And great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness, which incidentally is just another code term for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Great indeed, we confess, is the gospel that grows in us Christ -likeness for those who believe it.

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That is the theme of the passage that we are looking at today. The mystery of godliness as we come to understand what is the church of the living

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God. What are those things that mark us? Our beliefs and even our practice.

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So as we come to consider this today, we'll see first the thesis statement of 1

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Timothy that we have in verses 14 and 15, that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living

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God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth. Next we see that confession of the mystery of godliness, that's in verse 16.

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And this is set in contrast with what the false teachers teach, those who depart from the faith and go after the doctrines of demons, and that's in chapter 4 verses 1 through 5.

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So there's our outline for this morning, that we understand how one ought to behave in the household of God, verses 14 and 15.

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The confession of the mystery of godliness, verse 16, and then the warning against departing into the doctrine of demons, which we have in chapter 4, verses 1 through 5.

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So let's look first of all at verses 14 and 15. Now these were verses that I drew your attention to at the very beginning of this study, because this is what this letter is about.

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What are we to understand Paul's purpose is when he writes to Timothy, so that Timothy is to understand what these instructions are to pertain to.

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He says plainly, if I delay, I'm writing these things to you so that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living

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God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth. So how one ought to behave, how is one to behave in the church?

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Well we've seen some things thus far, and we have more instructions that are to come. Remember that this letter began with a profession of sound doctrine, that it's going to begin, the church is going to begin with a profession of faith and a soundness in doctrine upon the gospel of Christ that was proclaimed to you in the beginning.

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You have heard this message, that Jesus died on the cross, he rose again from the dead, he's ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of God.

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All of that is even going to come about in this profession of the mystery of godliness that Paul gets to in verse 16.

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He's coming back again, he's going to judge the living and the dead, and all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

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This was the gospel message that has been proclaimed in the world and has been proclaimed in Ephesus that is the foundation of this church.

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So Paul brings the church back to an attention to sound doctrine at the start of the letter.

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Don't let anybody teach any different doctrine, nor devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

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Again, another one of those phrases that is synonymous with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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That was how Paul started the letter, encouraging a soundness of doctrine.

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Then he warns against sin. And those that flee from sound doctrine, well they fall into these kinds of sins and had even given a list of these things in verses 8 -11.

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They become disobedient and ungodly, they are unholy and profane, they strike fathers and mothers, they are murderers, they're sexually immoral, they practice homosexuality, they are enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.

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So if you leave doctrine, this is the rotten fruit that results from that.

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He went on to continue to charge Timothy to wage the good warfare and to flee from those who have made shipwreck of their faith because they have wandered off into myths and endless speculations.

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But then giving practical application to the church, he tells them to lift up prayer.

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To pray for kings and all who are in high positions. He says to the men that in every place they should pray lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.

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He says to the women, adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self -control and that they may be a testimony by their quietness and submissiveness, professing godliness with good works.

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Then we saw in chapter 3 qualifications for overseers of the church. And as I had talked about these things a couple of weeks ago, this is not just something that, hey, that's for a pastor but it's not for me.

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A pastor is to be a model of mature Christianity. So it is for everybody to desire to pattern their lives after those who lead you in the faith.

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Last week we considered qualifications for deacons. And in this understanding that a deacon is a servant of the church and through the overseer and the deacon, we see a man who is patterned after Christ, who was the ultimate teacher and the ultimate servant.

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And then Paul comes here to the mystery of godliness. And again, godliness is just simply to be like God, that we would grow in holiness, piety, which would be reverence for our

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Lord. We have other instructions that are coming, being a good servant of Christ Jesus.

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As said in verse 6, chapter 4 verse 6, which we'll look at next week, having nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, but rather train yourself for godliness.

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Practice these things, immerse yourself in these things, let others see your progress, Paul says.

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We have instructions for the church on how to care for widows and those who are in need in chapter 5.

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And then in chapter 6, even instructions on here's what the rich are to do with their money, not to trust in wealth and material possessions, but knowing that God has given these things to you for the benefit of others, for caring for others within the church.

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And so we have more instructions that are coming that demonstrate the practical nature of how

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Christians are to behave in the household of God. So Paul says, this is the purpose of the letter,

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I write these things to you that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God. Now we do have some instructions in this letter that pertain to how we are to conduct ourselves even in the world, but that's not the main focus.

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The main focus is, here's how we are to be in the church. And in light of the doctrine we believe, this is how it manifests itself in our lives, especially among the saints, especially in the household of God.

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Now notice this phrase here, how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living

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God. Now that's how it comes about in English. But remember Paul is writing the original language was

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Greek, we've translated it from Greek into English. The Greek phrasing is more literally something like, which is the living

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God's church. It's a little harder to say in English, so it doesn't necessarily translate that way in English in most translations, but that would be more literally how it would come out.

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The focus is the living God. The way it's phrased in English sounds more like the focus is the church, which is the church of the living

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God, but really the emphasis is all on the fact that this is the living God. So this is the living

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God's church. Christ who is God is not dead and buried in a tomb, off somewhere, his grave marked and wondering where he is.

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He is risen from the dead. The tomb is empty. There is no memorial place that you can go to and say, see where he lies.

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He is alive and the church is his.

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As Christ had declared to his apostles, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

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Now the gates of hell, incidentally, in that statement that Jesus makes in Matthew 16, gates of hell don't advance.

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They don't go anywhere. We think of that phrase as being like the armies of hell are advancing and they're not going to be able to come against the church.

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Gates don't go anywhere. Gates are fixed. They're in one spot. So when we talk about the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, the church is storming hell and we are rescuing people out of the flames through the gospel of Christ who come to faith in God and live forever in glory with him.

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That's the mission of the church. And the gates of hell will not prevail against that mission.

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As Jude says at the end of his letter, rescuing some from the flames, and that's indeed what we do by the profession of the gospel of Christ.

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So great indeed we confess, or rather, sorry, coming back to the statement of the church being the living

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God's church. It is a pillar and a buttress of the truth. What do we mean by that? Well, the words are somewhat synonymous, but slightly different.

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Pillar is lifted up, buttress is a defense. So a pillar is, of course, the columns that would hold up a temple.

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If you're thinking again about the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, as you see some of the language here is set in contrast to that.

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One of those things on the temple that caught everybody's attention were how many pillars there were.

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Tons of pillars that surrounded this temple, something like 127 pillars. And so because there were so many pillars on this temple that people, when they came upon Ephesus, they would look up at the temple, they would see the pillars.

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But Paul is saying here that the church is the pillar. The church is a pillar of the truth.

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It holds up the truth. So just as those pillars on the temple of Artemis were holding up the temple, and people would identify that temple by its pillars, so people should be able to identify the church by its truth.

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The truth that is being held up by the church. It is a buttress of the truth, meaning that it is a defense.

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So a buttress is something that would be set to support a wall. If an army advances against a castle or storms the walls of a city, there are buttresses against those walls that prevent them from falling in.

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So a buttress of the truth would therefore be that the church is defending the truth.

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When there are people that try to malign it, there are people that try to twist it and change it into something else, that's something that we're talking about in our

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Sunday school class as we're going through Machen's book, Christianity and Liberalism. The church is there to defend the truth from those who try to misrepresent it or twist it or malign it.

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And it's not that if the church wasn't there that the truth would somehow fall apart. God's truth is

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God's truth. It's going to be true whether there are people to believe it or not. But God has intended that the church would be the instrument that would proclaim his truth to the world and defend it from those who try to twist it or change it into something else.

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And again, this is set in contrast with false teaching that's coming up. Paul gives that warning about false teaching.

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The Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.

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So this is exactly what we're defending the truth from, those who would twist the word and try to proclaim what they have is truth when really what they're full of is just lies.

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You'll hear people say today that you need to be able to, you just need to express your truth.

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You need to live your truth like your truth, as though it's true for you but it's not true for anybody else.

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That's not truth at all. That's nonsense. That's subjectivity. That's all other ground is sinking sand, is what that is.

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The truth we confess is the mystery of godliness. So we have the truth that holds up, or we have the church rather, that holds up that truth, proclaims it to the world, and defends it from those that try to malign it.

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And Paul narrows that down, specifies what we're talking about here is the mystery of godliness.

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It is that profession of the gospel of Christ. That is the very foundation of the church.

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It is the very thing that we stand upon. Without the gospel the church is nothing. Without the gospel we're a social club.

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You're in here this morning hot for no reason. If the gospel isn't the foundation of this church, why do we pack in here like sardines in a can?

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Because we're here to worship Christ, who is the foundation of the reason why we gather.

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We know that it is in Christ that we are forgiven our sins. It is in Christ that we have life forevermore.

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I don't know what was going on in the world that had prompted people to do this, but I noticed on social media this morning, a number of people were quoting the lyrics to Because He Lives, the old

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Gaither song. I don't know what was going on that was causing people to do that, but what a great reminder. Because he lives,

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I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living all because he lives.

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The living God's church, that's where we're gathered today, in the church of the living God. There are people that will gather in their places to honor dead priests.

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You have Buddhism, you have Islam in the honor of Muhammad. You know where his grave is, you can point to it.

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They don't even believe that Jesus really died and rose again from the dead. Hare Krishna, whatever it might happen to be.

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Mormonism, Joseph Smith, you know where his grave is at. So many different religions that honor and worship dead folks, but we worship a living

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God. And great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness or the gospel of Christ.

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As we go into verse 16 now, and you see these lines, there are six lines.

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He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

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Now whatever translation you might be reading from, surely you have those lines indented.

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Or they're kind of laid out in a certain way that makes it look like what? What does it look like? A poem?

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Or what else? Song lyrics. In fact, that's exactly what this is. John MacArthur says of these stanzas, these are six third -person singular aortist verbs, and because of such uniformity, because of such rhythm and such parallelism, it's very apparent that this is a hymn.

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And in the Greek language, it carries the rhyme and the rhythm and the parallelism that appears to be there even in English and even in a more simple sense in the

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Greek, in the original language in which this was written. So we're looking at song lyrics here. And you'll notice that these song lyrics are unique to 1

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Timothy. We don't find them anywhere else in Scripture. This is not a quotation from the Psalms.

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This would have been song lyrics of a new hymn that was sung by the church in the first century.

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Now, we've seen other occasions in 1 Timothy where Paul will make a reference to some sort of confession or a creed.

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We'll see that still to come in this letter in 2 Timothy and also in Titus. There are these proclamations that he will say, great is this confession, or we have come to believe this confession, or have recited this particular creed.

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So he says the same here, great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness.

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But this particular confession has been put into a song.

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It is a new song, a song that at the time of the church probably had been sung for only a decade or maybe a little bit more.

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Some of you are aware that before I came here to Providence Reformed Baptist Church last year, I had interviewed with a few other churches.

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One of those churches that I had interviewed with was a church plant that was going to be planted in southern

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Missouri, loved the men that were involved in that church, one of those guys in particular I've known for several years.

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But when I got to interviewing with those fellows, they were a church plant, like I said, it was a spinoff of another church, but they already kind of had in mind of what they wanted that church plant to be.

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And when I was talking with the men who were planting the church, they said, well, we want this church to be an exclusive psalmity church.

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That means that the songs that would be sung in the church would be only from the psalms. And not only that, but it would also be acapella.

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And I had a problem with that. I disagreed with that. I understand the position. Charles Spurgeon held the position.

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He had the exclusive psalmity position that a church should only be singing songs from the

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Psalter. I mean, you can't go wrong with that. You're singing songs that are literally the Word of God right there in Scripture.

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But one of the arguments that I proposed for why I wasn't an exclusive psalmist was this passage right here in 1

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Timothy chapter 3. Paul is very plainly quoting lyrics that are not from the

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Psalter. This is a new song that was sung in the church, and one of the arguments that I presented was if we're only singing the psalms, you would never sing the name of Christ in your lyrics.

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You would certainly sing Christ. He's there in the psalms. But you would never sing the name of Jesus Christ.

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We had another hymn of Christ that was recited for you this morning when Brother Chris had quoted from Philippians chapter 2.

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That's a passage that's referred to as the Carmen Christi, meaning hymn of Christ.

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And so, indeed, the church was writing new songs that professed this faith, the revelations that had come through Christ, fulfilling that which had been spoken about in the

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Old Testament. And these are new song lyrics that we see that would have been a new hymn written in the church at this particular time.

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And so, again, as Paul says in verse 16, great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.

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And MacArthur, writing on this again, says that this refers to the truths of salvation and righteousness in Christ, which produce holiness in believers.

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And I want to go through each of these six stanzas. And I'm going to forewarn you, I meant to say this in the very beginning, this is going to be very

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Scripture heavy. So I'm going to mention a lot of Bible verses. If you don't write them down, if you don't get them written down, catch me afterward and I'll tell you, you know, what a particular passage was.

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I think some of you know how quickly I can rattle this off and go through it fairly fast. But let's look at each one of these phrases.

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He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels. That might be seen to be said to be kind of stanza one, and then the second stanza, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

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And there's some parallelism here because that first and fourth line look like they go together.

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He was manifested in the flesh, he was proclaimed among the nations. That second and fifth line go together.

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He was vindicated by the Spirit, he's believed on in the world. And then the third and sixth line go together.

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He's seen by angels, he's taken up in glory. Kind of see that? So we might be tempted to look at this and see that there's something chronological happening there.

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And if it's chronological, then the taken up in glory looks a little out of place. Because then you have proclaimed among the nations and believed on in the world, that would precede taken up in glory, and we know that Christ was taken up in glory before that happened.

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So it's not that there's a chronology that's laying out here, it's poetic. It's being laid out so that these different lines go together, that we see the parallelisms that exist within the phrasing.

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So first of all, we have this statement that he was manifested in the flesh. To be manifested in the flesh,

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John 1 .14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

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In Romans 8 .3, it is said, for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh.

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Galatians 4 .4, which was a verse that was our verse of the month back in December. When the fullness of time had come,

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God sent forth his son born of woman. Philippians 2 .7, which we have cited this morning, he was born in the likeness of men.

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And Colossians 2 .9, for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

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So all of these things being professions in the scripture, that he was manifested in the flesh.

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Second line, he was vindicated by the spirit. Now manifested in the flesh, we understand.

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If we are believers in Christ and we understand the incarnation, he is God who put on flesh to dwell among us.

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Okay, we got that. We just celebrated that at Christmas. The incarnation of Christ.

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But what is vindicated by the spirit? What does that mean? To be vindicated, very specifically means to be declared to be righteous.

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So in other words, this statement, vindicated by the spirit, is the testimony of the

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Holy Spirit of God that Jesus is indeed the righteous one.

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Matthew 1 .20, he was conceived of by the Holy Spirit. So holy even from his very conception.

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Matthew 3 .18, the Holy Spirit descends upon him at his baptism. Matthew chapter 28, the

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Holy Spirit raises him from the dead. Now it doesn't expressly say that in Matthew 28, but we know from Romans 8 .11,

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the spirit of God raised him from the dead. Romans 3 .4,

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let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged.

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That is a declaration of Christ's vindication, that he is justified in his words.

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In Matthew 11 .18 -19, Jesus said the following, for John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon.

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The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

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Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. Jesus says in John 5 .36,

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the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the

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Father has sent me. And the very testimony of Christ being the Son of God is spelled out doctrinally in 1

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John 5, 6 and 9. The spirit is the one who testifies because the spirit is the truth.

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If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his

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Son. So you understand a little bit more clearly that statement of being vindicated by the spirit.

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It is the testimony of the Spirit of God to our hearts. This is in our very confession as Reformed Baptists.

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It is in the Baptist catechism, that though it is given to men to read and understand the

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Scriptures, we only know, we only understand what the Scripture says because the

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Holy Spirit has given it to our spirits that we might understand what is being testified to here according to God's Word.

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It is possible for anybody who knows how to read, to read the Bible, but to truly understand

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God's Word and worship Him in light of what we read. This is the

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Holy Spirit that works that in our hearts, a vindication by the

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Spirit. The third line is that He was seen by angels.

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Now this is another one, might be a little more confusing, or we might, you know, think we know what this means, after all, just came from the

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Christmas season, the holidays in which we sing, angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o 'er the plain, hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn

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King, angels were there at the birth of Christ, they proclaimed to shepherds, so surely in that,

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Jesus was seen by angels. Angels ministered to Jesus at His temptation, do you remember this?

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So in Matthew chapter 4, after His baptism, He goes into the wilderness. You can have somewhat of a progression here because you have vindicated by the

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Spirit, the Spirit descends upon Jesus at His baptism, then you have seen by angels, Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, and after resisting

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Satan for the 40 days that He fasted and prayed there in the wilderness, angels came and ministered to Him.

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We also have the testimony that angels ministered to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. And angels testified to His resurrection, when the women show up at the tomb, it is an angel there that tells the women that He is risen, go tell

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His disciples that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. There were angels that were there in the tomb when

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Peter and John arrived and looked in, and the angels saying that He had risen. There were angels that were standing with the disciples on the

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Mount of Olives after Jesus ascended into heaven out of their sight. And it was the angels that said, men of Galilee, the way that you saw

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Him go, that's the way He's coming back. But I think there's even something greater to this with regards to seen by angels.

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Is that the full ministry of what Jesus was doing in His incarnation? Is something that the angels have been watching, and there's something that's going on here that they even long to understand, but don't.

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Look with me if you will, if you've got your Bible open, turn to 1 Peter chapter 1, and let's look at verses 10 through 12.

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1 Peter chapter 1, verses 10 through 12.

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Peter says the following, concerning this salvation, the prophets who promised about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully.

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Notice that phrase. The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, okay, they inquired what person or time the

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Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

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It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the

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Holy Spirit. There we have that vindication by the Spirit again, right? The Holy Spirit sent from heaven, look at the last phrase, things into which angels long to look.

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Do you understand that the grace of God that you've received in Christ is uniquely for you and angels don't even get it.

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There is no plan to redeem the angels. Those angels that had been kicked out of heaven because of their rebellion against God, they are out and their fate is the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.

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They cannot be redeemed. They won't repent. They will never enter back into the presence of God and glory again.

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But though you had rebelled against God and had sinned and what you deserve is the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, yet God sent his son to die for you so that by faith in him, your sins are forgiven and you're now restored to be in the presence of God that you may dwell with him forever in glory, which those fallen angels will never enter back into again.

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The angels will never know the grace of God. And so there's something that even the angels might be jealous of in a certain sense.

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That wow, these mortal creatures that God created that had sinned and rebelled against him, yet he has made a way for them to be restored to his presence by the grace of God that he bestows upon us.

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Something that angels even long to look into. And so the angels are there in all of this ministry that Christ does and they see what he is doing and for them, it's a depth of doctrine that they can't grasp because God's grace has not been given to angels.

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God's grace has been given to you and me that we might be forgiven our sins and have fellowship with God now and with him in glory forevermore.

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These things were seen by angels as testified in Hebrews 1 .6. Again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all

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God's angels worship him. A newborn baby that was set in a manger in Bethlehem and there are the angels worshiping

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Christ the newborn king. That's the third line. The fourth line that we have here is that he was proclaimed among the nations and this might be another one that, you know, kind of a no -duh, sure.

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After Jesus completed his ministry, after he ascended back into heaven, he told the disciples. In Matthew 28, we have the great commission.

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He said, you'll go into all the world. You will make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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In Acts 1, saying the same thing again, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

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And these are not just statements that we read historically. We go back and we see that Jesus made these statements 2 ,000 years ago.

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We see the fulfillment of those statements still happening in the world today. You're here today because those statements are being fulfilled.

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Because Christ is being proclaimed among the nations. This wasn't just Jesus simply saying to his disciples, hey,

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I got this plan, let's start a new religion. Do you want to get in on this with me? Tell me if you want to do it.

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This was not just an invitation to the disciples to be part of something big. It was a command.

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And the command immediately followed the declaration of Christ saying, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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Now therefore, go. And in obedience to that command, the disciples went and proclaimed, and you believe today because it is

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God who is accomplishing this work in the nations. Christ was proclaimed among the nations in fulfillment of Isaiah 49 .6,

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I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

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Not only was he proclaimed to the nations, but he was even believed on in the world.

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It wasn't just a proclamation, but there was belief that followed. And that's the fifth line.

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He was believed on in the world. Believed on in the world, everywhere.

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Christianity is not a regional religion. And so many religions that you see in the world are that, right?

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Buddhism, we commonly associate with being an Asian philosophy or religion.

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Hinduism, the same. South Asia. You have the

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Baha 'i religion that kind of originates from that and from Islam. Islam is something that originates more from the

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Middle East. We consider that to be a regional religion. The Baha 'i religion is, there's even a church or I don't even know what they call them.

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I was studying it just this past week because we've got one here in our area. And I thought if I encounter them,

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I want to be up on what they believe so I can know how I might witness to or testify to somebody who is

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Baha 'i. This is something that's popular even among actors and actresses and pop stars and things like that.

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The Baha 'i religion becomes pretty popular among them as well. But we understand that to be kind of a regional thing.

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We know where that was associated from. However, Christianity is not a regional religion.

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It is not something that you can point to on a map and say, well, this is the part of the world that believes that. Although there are many atheists that try to say that is the case.

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I've heard this argument often from an atheist who will say, see, you believe what you believe as a

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Christian because of where you were born. No, that's not true. I believe what I believe as a Christian because of where I was born again, but not regionally where I was born.

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Christianity is not a European or a North American religion. In fact, the majority of Christians in the world live on neither continent.

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Anybody know where the majority of Christians in the world live? Not China, Africa. There are 658 million

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Christians on the continent of Africa alone. That is twice the size of the

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United States. Christianity is spreading around the world, globally, fulfilling and accomplishing that which was prophesied about it.

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It is believed on in the world. It is not associated to a particular region, but Christ is indeed doing what he said would happen, that he is making disciples of the nations.

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And we read about in Revelation, the nations being present around the throne of God, singing his praises from every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth.

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He is believed on in the world. And finally, that sixth line, he is taken up in glory.

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Already mentioned to you Acts 1 with the angel saying that the same way that you've seen the

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Son of Man depart from you is the way that he is going to return again. Colossians 3 .1 says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

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And we come back again to Hebrews 1 verse 3. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

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And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

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He was taken up in glory. There's something I missed with regarding the mystery of godliness.

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In my notes, I just kind of jump right past it. But let's jump back up. So what we've read here, these six lines are a confession put in song.

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This was a hymn that was sung in the early church that is a profession of the mystery of godliness.

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Now what can we understand deeper about this whole concept of the mystery of godliness? Why is it being called that?

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Well, as I said in the very beginning, these are things that were hidden before that has since been revealed in Christ.

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So for that reason, it's called the mystery of godliness. The word here that's translated mystery, the first time it appears in the

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New Testament is in Matthew chapter 13, verse 11. In Matthew 13 is where Jesus begins to speak to the people in parables.

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And when the disciples are listening to Jesus, they come to him and say, why do you speak to the people in parables?

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And Jesus says to his disciples, to you it is given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

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That word secrets is the same word that we have translated here, mystery. And so what

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God has revealed to the regenerate, he has hidden from the reprobate, hence why we would have this referred to as the mystery of godliness.

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An atheist could sit here and read 1 Timothy 3 .16 and be completely baffled by it, like this doesn't even make any sense to me.

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Why in the world would you believe in such a thing? There's a magician, a famous magician out there who's also a renowned atheist.

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And he has said, if you want to sharpen your atheism, I recommend to you that you read the

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Bible. Because if you read the Bible, you'll just come to see how ridiculous this stuff is that these

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Christians believe in, and it will just ground you all the more in the atheism that you're committed to.

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Why is it when an atheist reads the scriptures that they see nonsense, but you and I, when we read it, we see the power of God?

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Because God has revealed these things to little children, as Jesus said in Matthew 11.

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And he has hidden it from those who think themselves as being wise and discerning. This was the prayer that Jesus prayed in Matthew 11,

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I praise you, Father, for you have revealed these things to little children and have hidden it from the wise and the discerning.

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So we understand this, therefore, to be the mystery of godliness. But Paul doesn't just merely call it the mystery of the gospel.

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He says it's the mystery of godliness. It is our faith in these very things, my brothers and sisters, that grow us in godliness.

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As we talked about at the beginning of 1 Timothy, when we were in chapter 1, it is the gospel itself that grows us in Christlikeness, that grows us in our understanding of what it means to live a holy life that is pleasing to God.

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So it's not just simply something that we mentally ascend to, but it is a belief that changes and transforms our very lives.

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By believing what we believe, it creates in us godly living, a holy life.

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Now, I'm running out of time. I don't even have enough time to get here to the next part, which was chapter 4, verses 1 through 5.

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We have beheld the wonders of the glory of God so much, and I have enjoyed going through these verses that I've neglected the others that I have to get to.

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But that's fine. We'll settle on this. We'll pick back up again next week in chapter 4. But let me give you some practical application before we come to the

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Lord's table. I have written down three practical applications. I'm going to give you all three, but I'm only going to flesh out one, and then we can use the other questions in our midweek studies that come up, or the other applications in our midweek studies.

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So here's the applications. In light of what we've just read, what we've considered, what we've heard confessed about the mystery of godliness, number one, this is so that you would know how one ought to behave in the household of God.

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That's simply what Paul says there. If I delay, I write this to you that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.

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Now, none of this is really imperative. There's no direct command that's given in this particular section we've read today.

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All of this was about knowledge. Paul wanting you to know something. The Spirit wanting you to know something.

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But this knowledge that we possess, again, is not just to give mental assent to. It's something that changes our lives.

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So, first of all, that you would know how one ought to behave in the household of God. And we've seen those instructions regarding the church.

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We'll see more to come. Number two, that you would know the mystery of godliness. And then number three, that you would know the truth from lies.

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And that was really where I was going to use chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 to contrast with the truth that we've had proclaimed at the end of chapter 3.

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So, you would know the truth from lies and not be carried away into false teaching and therefore the deceitfulness of sin.

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I'm only going to flesh out number two. So that you would know the mystery of godliness.

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So often we neglect the practical benefits of having sound doctrine.

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The more you know God, the more you will grow in godliness.

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The more you know His word, the more you will grow in faith. The more you grow in faith, the more faithful you become.

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The more you love God, the more you will grow in love for others and in love with others.

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That we grow together in this love that has been given to us by God. Often times when we get to like a gospel heavy sermon such as this, you'll be looking for application at the end.

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Okay, well now tell me how to have a better marriage game. Now tell me how I take care of my debts.

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Now tell me how I'd be satisfied with my job at work because I'm miserable this week. So give me some practical application for this.

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The practical application here is to draw near to Christ. And don't neglect the power in that.

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And the satisfaction in that. For as Paul goes next into warning about these false teachings, people wander into false teaching when they're not satisfied with Christ.

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They get carried away by temptation and sin because godliness isn't enough for me.

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So I need this other thing in order to be satisfied and be happy. Again, don't neglect the practical benefits of the sound doctrine that we're supposed to have in Christ.

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Let me finish by showing you a passage that kind of grounds this point. Turn to 2

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Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Man, I have so much that ends up on the cutting room floor here.

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I'm like, I had 15 more minutes, but that's okay. 2 Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 3.

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His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence by which

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He has granted to us His precious and very great promises so that through them you may become partakers in the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

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You following me? Verse 5. For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self -control and self -control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love.

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For if these qualities are yours and are increasing they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. So do you see by that how our sound doctrine and our drawing near to Christ automatically brings about practical application in the life of a believer.

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As I finish here, drawing your attention back to the book of Acts, Ephesus was a place where there was all kinds of syncretism.

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There was a hodgepodge of all kinds of religions because Ephesus was a port city. A lot of people came into that city looking for wealth and trade and things like that.

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And so they brought all their religious beliefs with them. The Ephesians believed all kinds of stuff. And as I had demonstrated for you in the beginning with their pride in the temple of Artemis that your very identity as an

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Ephesian was wrapped up in the religion that was in that city. There was one time there were these men, they were the sons of Sceva.

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They were seven sons of a Jewish priest. And they believed that they could cast out demons the way that Paul was casting out demons.

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But then they encountered a man who actually had a demon. And when they tried to cast it out the man goes,

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I know Christ and I know Paul, but who are you? And he beat those men up so that they ran from that place naked and bleeding.

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And this struck fear in the hearts of the Ephesians. Because they realized all these other religions that we've been investing ourselves in can't protect us from these evil and demonic powers.

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And so they brought all of their spell books and all of their scrolls of incantations and they came out to the public square and they had a bonfire.

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And they burned it all and it was said there that the total amount of the value of those books was 50 ,000 pieces of silver or another way to understand that is 50 ,000 days wages was the value of those books that were burned.

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And then it says in Acts 19 -20, So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

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My friends there is nothing else in this world that can satisfy but Christ. And great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness.

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Christ is born and hope is sure. Christ is mine for God is near.

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Here is God and a city where beside the

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King I'll walk. For there my heart has found its treasure.

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Christ is mine forever. This is

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When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours.

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But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family. Find a good gospel teaching

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Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again Monday for more Bible study when we understand the text.