[0:00] four words in verse 3 the mystery of Christ the mystery of Christ we find in the Old Testament that this mystery begun to be revealed unto God's people in types and shadows and ordinances which God had ordained that we find the children of Israel after they had come out of Egypt and were proceeding through the wilderness unto the promised land but in many ways in many respects it was brought loudly to their knowledge and understanding that they offended God that they sinned against him we read of those times mysterious things when it seems as though God would cut this people off and have no more to do with them there we see the precious work of an intercessor
[1:21] Moses interceding on behalf of the people of God hearkening unto his servant there Moses displays as a type of Christ that dispensation which was for to come the Lord instituted the sacrifice for the vocation of the sins of the people and all the vast array that was put into effect for the slaying of the beasts and for the order of the priesthood and of the type and ceremony which was depicted in the tabernacle I should imagine the nations around Israel at that time if they viewed such a scene they must have viewed it with some skepticism it must have been absolutely mysterious to them because here was a nation of people wandering as nomads through the wilderness and yet all the array and display and splendor of this ordinance that God had given unto them were so different so opposite to anything that was known upon the earth at that time the high priest coming in with the blood of the beast sprinkling all around setting forth that need as we are told that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin the Lord said unto his ancient people there will I meet with thee from above the mercy seat what a lesson it must have been to Israel at that time and yet all that was done all many beasts that were slain countless thousands of them over the historic period could not remove one sin and was never designed to do so but was designed to set forth the need of a one perfect sacrifice the need of one to present unto God that which was complete so the
[4:25] Israelites of old were taught the need of the coming Messiah and they would look with some anticipation for that day when he would appear so we can see throughout the Old Testament dispensation many many occasions when the Lord showed unto his people that need that they had of that one who is presented to us throughout the whole word of God from beginning to end take Christ out of the scriptures and the scriptures become barren ground they become meaningless they have nothing to offer us because Christ is the sum and substance of the word of God there is that which is food for our souls to feast us upon so as the prophet Isaiah said arise shine for the light is come and the glory of the
[5:38] Lord is risen upon thee that day that God had appointed to send his only begotten son into the world we mentioned this morning that annunciation of the angels who brought the good tidings and it is particularly noticeable that they said unto you not unto us but unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord he never came to deliver angels because they had no need of deliverance he came to deliver fallen man from their lost condition to restore him once more into communion with God to preach the message of salvation through the shedding of his own precious meritorious blood the mystery of Christ what a mystery it was that he should be found of that virgin birth obeyed in those lowly circumstances throughout his life he had not where to lay his head nowhere to call his own his glory could not be seen by common man but then we beheld his glory and so it is effectively in the hearts of God's people it is only as they are given sight to behold the glory of the
[7:25] Lord Jesus Christ the mystery of Christ we look to the early church and on the day of Pentecost was a revelation of the power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds and voices of the disciples when they spake concerning him and charged the people with putting to death the Lord of life and glory how mysterious must that day have been to the common observer he heard these men speaking audibly in a language that they knew although they knew them to be common fishermen who had no such training in languages yet they all heard them speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of the
[8:36] Lord how divinely mysterious must that day what an impression must it have laid upon their hearts as they heard and observed these things and saw the wonderful effects that it wrought in the hearts of men but here the gospel was beginning to dawn the day of salvation was to be made known up until that time for the most part it had been preserved solely for the Jews but now it must be opened up unto the Gentiles how was God to accomplish this the mystery of Christ there is Peter upon the roof of the house awaiting the time of his meal and he falls into a trance and a sheet comes down from heaven with all manner of beasts upon it and a voice spake unto him rise
[9:45] Peter slay and eat and Peter objects not so these were unclean beasts it was not for him to take these which were unlawful unto himself and so he puts forth that objection the Lord has a purpose in it and he will make revelation unto his servant how mysterious does the Lord deal with him in this matter that which God has cleansed call not thou common or unclean in the very time that this is done there are men that have come seeking him out to come and to preach the gospel not to Jews but to Gentiles Peter is amazed that he should be directed to such a house that he comes in obedience to the spirit's leadings and there he sees the same effect of the spirit of
[10:58] God upon these Gentiles that he has observed many times upon Jews and he proves that the Lord is sovereign in calling unto himself whomsoever he will he will the mystery of Christ and so the opening up especially with the apostle Paul to go into all the world and preach the gospel there to preach it to Jew and Gentile alike those that were of the true Israel of God those who were the Lord's people mystery of Christ put us out we desire to come a little closer into a more personal experience of these things because what is the mystery of
[12:00] Christ unless this mystery is made known unto us personally and individually we may hear these things preached from and spoken from all our lives and never be able to enter into them we never shall enter into them until the Lord himself reveals this mystery of Christ unto us personally we prove again and again that my ways are not your ways neither are my thoughts your thoughts and the Lord graciously deals with his people you see it's very true the only people that need a saviour is those that understand that they stand in need of salvation that is those that have known themselves to be sinners there is a world outside where men and women would acknowledge that all that they do is not pure or upright or good many will confess that they have lied or cheated or stolen or done all manner of things but if you were to expressly call them a sinner they would be highly offended
[13:40] I'm no worse than my neighbour and they are no better than me I try and live a reasonable life if I do things that are wrong then they're not too bad so man justifies or tries to justify himself in the sight of God and man but when the Holy Spirit begins to work in the hearts of his people it is expressly to this end to bring them to a knowledge of themselves as sinners to bring them in guilty before God and all the law and curse is brought upon them and they are burdened with a weight of sin now what do we know of sin much is spoken much is spoken today about sin but what do we really know about sin what do we really know about ourselves as sinners yes we can look at others we can see their faults we can point out their failings we can acknowledge their wrong doings but what about you and me what about us has God the Holy
[15:08] Spirit shown us that we are vile wretched sinners wasn't this the very teaching all that Job went through all that he lost the cross that he had to bear there's no example like it in the word of God you know it brought him to this he had to cry out in his extremity behold I am vile Job tried to justify himself he tried to point out what God had pointed out an upright man one who feared God and his due evil he had prayed for his family he had prayed for his friends he had lived a good life and there can be no doubt about that you see we carry a certain pride with us we're never as bad or we think we're not as bad as we really are we gloss over sin so very often but the
[16:19] Holy Spirit will not have it he will bring us into paths whereby we have to acknowledge and confess our sins because unless we come there we will never seek for salvation in Jesus Christ for it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners he didn't come to save the righteous he came to save sinners and if we're not sinners then there can be no salvation for us but if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness what a mystery is the mystery of Christ when a man is brought to nothingness in himself then he is brought to a good place how contradictory from the maxims and conditions of this world the man of this world would think that if he performs some good thing although it may not be perfect he's done as good as he can that God the Holy
[17:39] Ghost will teach us that we have nothing we are nothing and without God we can do nothing he empties us the old ministers used to speak of being empty from bucket to bucket pile to pile you know what it is to go through that process of being emptied of all your own creature righteousness all your good works all your perfections to come to that place behold I am pile you see proud nature will never come there voluntarily it will never agree to it in and of itself and so we have to be brought there and sometimes we have to be brought there by painful experience the Lord will lead us perhaps into one trouble or another trouble into one affliction or another affliction into one sorrow or another sorrow the Lord is sovereign in his dealings and some he leads much deeper than others but we must know something of this pathway
[18:53] I am a sinner and nothing at all but Jesus Christ is my all and in all doesn't that sum up the very essence of the gospel that I am a sinner I confess that I am nothing I have nothing I own nothing I possess nothing I can do nothing but because I am brought to a nothingness of myself there is a great attraction a great beauty in the person of the Lord Jesus the mystery of Christ you see doubtless in our native state we have no interest in these things now I speak to some of you here who are interested in sport in football in tennis in cricket there are the various terms we can think of the offside rule we can think of juice we can think of silly mid-on these expressions to a person who isn't interested in sport means absolutely nothing but you say to a person who is very keen on cricket what does silly mid-on mean and he could take you to the pitch and show you the very spot that it alludes to because he has an interest all by nature we have no interest in religion we have no interest in the ways of
[20:34] God they are not only mysterious but they are also to our minds perverse they're not attractive to us we don't want to know that way it's a mysterious way but as soon as God gives us an interest gives us a desire in our soul then we inquire we inquire into the way of salvation Lord show me thy way and the soul is made ever more willing to lie submissive at the feet of Jesus to have the mystery unfold to their understanding that which I know not teach thou me and how please the Lord is to reveal in the hearts of his dear people of that way that he would have them to go this is a way walk ye in it now it's a way very opposed to nature it's a way contradictory to the flesh but it's a way of God's appointing because it's a way of
[21:51] God's appointing the soul is made willing in the day of God's power to forsake all that they may follow in the footsteps of the flock now what do we know of these things personally and individually what do we know of the teaching of the Holy Spirit in our own souls or do we have an interest to learn this way of salvation or are we content to find our own way you know there are many who are satisfied that they know the way that they are able to find it by their own volition by their own strength and power and they go about to produce a righteousness which they believe God will accept in the final analysis now these are sadly deluded if they think that God will receive anything of the creature
[22:52] God will only receive his own work God only has a mind to fulfill his own purposes he who has begun a good work in you he will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ so to be led to that place of humility to be led into lowliness of spirit to be led to a contrite and lowly heart that God will not despise it's a blessed teaching of one who is infinite in knowledge and in understanding the more we know of ourselves as sinners the greater interest the greater attraction will be the saviour looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith looking unto him you see as the gospel is revealed we come under the sound of the truth we hearken unto the message of the gospel as the
[24:10] Lord's servants are enabled to open up that message to our understanding and the Holy Spirit gives us a little light upon the truth then we see that God's provision in the gospel is a saviour for sinners saviour for sinners the gospel makes known it is found in the merits of Jesus alone what a blessed thing it is when there is that first discovery I'm a sinner deserving endless hell the Lord will be just to cast me off forever I feel my malady I feel my shame I feel my miserable condition is there any hope for such as one as me that the soul may be led almost down to despair almost but not entirely but at length that light shines upon the truth which reveals the mystery of Christ how that he took upon himself a nature like unto our own that he might fulfil the conditions of God's holy law which man has been utterly unable to do and how he was made willing how he was willing to suffer the taunts of men the enmity of the wicked one and even the desertion of the father that he might accomplish salvation for his people when we see Jesus in the sinner's place bearing all the suffering and agony and pain for the love of his people then these things although a mystery ever will be a mystery eternity itself will not unveil everything but there will be such a desire to know and love him more that our souls go out to
[26:37] Christ the sinner's friend and cry God be merciful to me a sinner think of that thief upon the cross he'd lived a life of crime and shame and he was dying the just reward for his actions and he had no gripe or grievance concerning it he reckoned the penalty was fair and he was dying then the mystery of Christ was revealed unto him this one hanging upon the cross beside him this one was no ordinary man here was the promised Messiah here was the God man Christ Jesus here is Emmanuel God with us here is a God of compassion a God of mercy and has he not said that he will in no wise cast out all that come unto him what a blessed gospel it is when a dying how deserving thief can cry out for mercy in the last extremities of his life and receive such a wonderful blessing today shalt thou be with me in paradise the mystery of Christ and when the Lord is pleased to reveal himself unto a sinner son be of good cheer it is
[28:33] I be not afraid when that light shines into the soul and there is a receiving of Christ Jesus the Lord what a mystery can ever God dwell here says the sinner in this polluted heart of mine ah but God will perform all the work he will give a new heart and a new spirit and a new desire in fact he will create all things new and the soul shall live unto him the mystery of Christ there is a life to be laid and as I mentioned in prayer it is a life of tribulation if we think of the pathway of the
[29:34] Lord Jesus Christ and all that he endured because of the enmity of the wicked one if we see the example of the apostle Paul and others who were persecuted in their lives because of their faith and of their love to the Lord Jesus do you think that we can pass through this world and there be none effects brought upon us whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth if he be without chastisement then are ye bastards and not sons we can expect that if we are to follow the Lord Jesus Christ that trials afflictions sorrows will be our lot more or less throughout our lives think of those words concerning the
[30:38] Lord Jesus who he who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross isn't this the great prospect of the Christian that he has a joy set before heaven is his happy home we have no abiding city here yet seek one to come this is not your home this is not your end we are but strangers and pilgrims upon the face of this earth we are fast hastening to the end of the journey and the end of that journey will bring inestimable blessings forever and forever more but whilst we are upon this earth we must endure as good soldiers of Jesus Christ we must count all things but done for the excellency and the glory of God in Christ Jesus but how strange and mysterious are our lives what opposites to our expectations do we find the mystery of Christ what it is to be a real disciple what it is to be a follower of the
[32:00] Lord Jesus Christ again I say my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord the Lord brings in things into our lives unexpectedly suddenly things that we have not looked for things that the flesh has not welcomed yet in this as they are sanctified to us there is great teaching and the mystery begins to be revealed now think of the life of Joseph here was a goodly young man honourable in his ways honouring his father in that which he did and yet when he came to his brethren his brethren ill treated him first casting him into a pit and deciding to put him to death and then when they saw the
[33:07] Midianites they sold him into Egypt in Egypt he prospers in the house of Potiphar at first and then through the lust of Potiphar's wife Joseph is falsely accused and put into prison in prison he is favoured in that he is treated well by his jailer and yet he languishes there for a long long season we can easily read over these things and think well it was a short period that Joseph was there but in the experience of it day in and day out they must have seemed days without end and then he interprets the dream of the baker and the butler of the king of Egypt and sees a prospect there that when they're released that he will speak well for him but Joseph is forgotten and the language is the mystery of Christ the purpose of God in his life
[34:23] Joseph couldn't see the end from the beginning but God could he knew all that he must pass through he knew what the outcome of the matter would be and at length Joseph is raised up out of prison interpreting the dream of Pharaoh and being raised up to the second in command and there he rules over Pharaoh's kingdom and has total control over all that is done therein there when Joseph's brethren come they bow and do obeisance unto him it seemed a mystery when Joseph first related that to his brethren and to his father can this be that his elder brethren that his father should bow down and do obeisance under him and yet in the purposes of God it came to pass look at the life of Paul if ever there was a man emboldened in the gospel it was
[35:36] Paul did it deliver him from trouble one might almost say it brought him into trouble because of his faithfulness because of his fortitude his one desire was to preach the gospel and nothing and no one would stand in his way he had a mind and a heart and a spirit to preach Christ Jesus the Lord but in Galatians we have a catalogue of what he had to pass through all that he had to endure at times it seems as though his life was brought almost to an end it hung by a thread yet out of it all the Lord delivered him because he counted him worthy he counted him faith the mystery of Christ he counted he counted he counted what about your life and my life are there those things in our lives that are a mystery to us things that we cannot fathom things that we cannot understand things that we cannot work out oh perhaps we are not to work them out perhaps rather we are to lay them before the
[36:59] Lord and wait upon him because it is God and God alone who can unfold these mysteries for us and bring us to an understanding of the Lord's purposes in our lives and what he would have us to do the mystery of Christ things sometimes seem so opposite to what we expected things seem so contradictory even to the gospel itself things which are so perplexing we cannot begin to understand what they mean they are a mystery the mystery of Christ has not the Lord promised that he will work all things together for our good what is faith except to be put in exercise a man may say that he has faith and he may convince all men that he has faith but if under trial that faith gives way what was his faith worth so the
[38:25] Lord tries the faith of his people to prove the reality of it and although at times it must be put in the furnace you know the gold smith he looks upon the gold he sees it in the furnace now it doesn't concern him that it's in the furnace it doesn't concern him that the dross is coming away because he knows he understands he observes the principle of it that when the dross comes away and the gold has been through that process then it comes out of the process far more valuable than ever it was when it went in and is not this the purpose of God in our lives to bring us forth as gold precious elect vessels of mercy the mystery of Christ there will be things in our lives which will ever be a mystery to us and we're not to think that every mystery will be solved that everything will be made to
[39:51] I've known people who lived in the hope of seeing certain things happen and have died without that hope being realized remember one person who prayed and believed that the Lord would prosper the church and build it up and when they died the church closed because they were the last member in but at the funeral one or two people were so moved by the faithfulness and loyalty of that person they decided to continue the work in that place and the work prospered under the guiding hand of God a mystery she was not permitted to see it for herself but the
[40:52] Lord was faithful to the promise that he had given to her and the Lord is ever faithful to his promise so although things may not be revealed unto us and we may feel that certain promises are not given unto us that doesn't mean to say that God is not faithful to his promise because he always is he is faithful that has promise and those things which are a mystery are all known to him isn't that a thought for comfort many things in our lives are mysterious but all are known unto him there is nothing mysterious to God all is perfectly clear the plan that he has purposed he executes and at length he will fulfill and nothing will be out of order nothing will be misplaced and so it is with his children what a mystery it is in
[42:08] God's choice left to us we would choose certain and leave others we would choose what we consider to be the best and leave the worst behind look at some of the choices that God was made and then look to yourselves has he not chosen you and what are you an object of ridicule an object of scorn an object that is totally and wholly unworthy in and of yourselves but what a mystery that Christ has made you worthy and has granted unto you everlasting life and would have you to be with himself in his heavenly kingdom there to abide in peace and love forever and forever is a mystery it is the mystery of Christ and if ever that mystery is to be unraveled or revealed then Christ is the very key to unlock it in our hearts oh we would desire to exalt a precious sacrifice and lay for sinners love that it is
[43:34] I say again a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in love the Lord and his blessing Amen commandment 두 hundred respects to Cost叫 boris by民 I could fight to death by the mother of the mother of the mother of the mother.
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