Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Last night in the reading.
We talked a little bit.
About the mystery.
And I'd like to look into it more fully.
And we'll start with the passage we had last night in Romans 16.
And verse 25.
Now to him that is of power.
To establish you according to my gospel.
And the preaching of Jesus Christ.
According to the revelation of the mystery.
Which was kept secret since the world began.
But now is made manifest.
And by.
It ought to read prophetic scriptures.
According to the commandment of the everlasting God.
Made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.
To God only wise.
Be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
First thing I want to notice is that whenever the mystery is spoken of in Scripture, there's always the mention of God's wisdom.
Are a similar statement, such as in verse 27 to God?
Only wise.
It's God's wisdom that has purposed us.
For such immense blessing as is brought out in the truth of the mystery.
The mystery was something that was not revealed in the Old Testament.
Something that was hidden God.
And not made known. You can search the Old Testament scriptures and you won't find the mystery revealed there.
Here, it's spoken of as something that was a revelation.
I was meditating last night.
As I often do after reading meeting on the passage.
And.
That 25th verse, now to him.
That is of power to establish you.
According to my gospel.
He mentions his gospel a number of times in Scripture. The 2nd chapter, this epistle, he mentions it. He mentions it in Second Timothy 2.
My God spawn.
And we spoke a little about that last night. Gospel of the Glory.
And the preaching of Jesus Christ.
According to the revelation of the mystery, not the preaching of Jesus Christ.
According to Old Testament prophetic utterances connected with the Kingdom.
But the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
It was revealed in particular to Paul.
And he tells us that, and we'll see that as we look on in Ephesians 3.
That it was something that was revealed to him.
He did not acquire that knowledge by the study of the Old Testament.
But it was a fresh and new revelation, and it completed.
The Word of God, it was that segment of divine revelation that God was going to bring out in time that had not yet brought been brought out and when it was brought out through the apostle Paul.
The Word of God was complete. That is, God has nothing more to add. Oh, He added more in revelation to the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament. But that was not a new thing. That was not different and distinct. It was the same ministry that was given by the prophets in the Old Testament. Just more details added to it. A little flurry, but the revelation of the mystery Christ and the church.
Was that which completed the word of God?
Now to him that is of power to establish you.
The Saints need to be established.
According to his gospel, a man in the glory.
And Christianity takes its character from that truth.
And the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
00:05:01
Not just Jesus Christ preached as the Messiah to Israel, as the coming one that was, that would establish the Kingdom here.
But all that is connected with the revelation of the mystery.
And this revelation was kept secret since the world began. It had not been disclosed before, but now. Now.
Is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets or prophetic scriptures. Clearly, if it hadn't been revealed in the Old Testament, it wasn't the prophets of the Old Testament that he's talking about here. It's the prophetic scriptures of the New Testament.
And it's according to the commandment of the everlasting God, the eternal God.
Has an eternal purpose that's brought out in Ephesians 3, eternal purpose. And that purpose has to do with Christ in the church. It's it's the highest, it's the highest revelation that God has been pleased to give us. It completes the word of God.
And it's been made known in the 1St chapter, it says the gospel has been made known for the obedience of faith, the gospel of the grace of God, which is developed in this epistle so fully, more fully here than anywhere else. But here it's the revelation of the mystery which is made known for the obedience of faith, faith, obedience. It's not the obedience of doing something so much as having.
Thoughts brought into conformity to this revelation that we understand what the mystery is and what the consequences of it are for us as we went our way through this wilderness scene.
To God only wise. It's God's wisdom that is brought out, the highest wisdom, that which never enters the heart of man, the mind of man. It's a wisdom that comes only from him. To him be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
That's the first mention.
In the New Testament of this mystery. Now if you turn to 1St Corinthians 2, we have it again.
1St Corinthians 2 and I, brethren, when I came to you.
Came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom. That is the wisdom of the world, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, you Corinthians, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Many have thought that that's the sum total of all that Paul preached, but it isn't.
But he had determined that among them, who were a carnal group of Christians living on the level of the world, he said. What I determined to bring before you was the person Jesus Christ and the person Jesus Christ crucified.
The person is the object that he sets. Before the Saints they were occupied with men.
I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas. And then there was that company that said I am of Christ.
And they were indeed carnal.
With their parties.
And he set before them Jesus Christ instead of all of these men, however great they may have been.
And him crucified the end of the first man.
Was at the cross.
And they needed to see that they were making too much of men.
And.
Even identifying the Lord Jesus with a party.
I am of Christ. Probably the worst of any. The worst form of sectarianism is that which makes Christ the head of a party.
It's bad enough to make Paul or Apollos or Cephas the head of a party, but to make the Lord Jesus that he's not the head of the party, he's the head of the church.
And all members of the one body.
Are identified with Him, united to him by the Holy Spirit.
But sectarianism is the most natural weed of the human heart, and it was in full bloom here at Corinth.
So he says, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. They needed to have Christ before their soul and Christ crucified, which is the end of all that man puts so much value on.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling. I remember some years back, before the division.
00:10:08
I came to an assembly.
It was out in the West.
With fear and trembling.
Because I knew that that assembly was a divided assembly.
I knew that there was. You could just walk in and feel it.
You could feel the, the, the the.
The tension in the atmosphere.
And I don't think I've ever prayed so fervently as when I visited that place.
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
Paul said.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom.
But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
He wanted their faith to be established not in man's wisdom, but in the wisdom of God and in the power of God.
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Howbeit, we do speak wisdom.
Among them that are perfect, they were not. They were carnal.
They were not mature, full grown Christians, but they were.
Going along with their parties, their preferences, this one and that one. And they were not perfect, as he uses the word here.
But he says we do speak wisdom among them that are perfect.
And this wisdom is the the truth of the mystery.
Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to naughty.
That wasn't the wisdom that he spoke to them with. He didn't. It didn't derive from man's schools.
But it he says we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, and whenever that word mystery is found, we will find wisdom connected with it, the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto.
Our glory.
Which none of the Princess of this world knew.
For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
That eighth verse is often misinterpreted.
To mean that had they known who he was, they wouldn't have crucified him. That's not what the verse says.
Let's read it carefully. Verse 7 again. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which which hidden wisdom?
That's the antecedent of which.
Which none of the Princess of this world knew.
For had they known it? Had they known the mystery? Had they known God's hidden wisdom and what He was going to bring out?
Of the death of Christ, they would not have crucified him.
The man's hatred is such that.
Had they known the good and the blessing that would flow?
From Christ crucified. They wouldn't have done it.
You remember in Mark 12 when they saw him, having therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also, and when they saw him, they said this is the air.
Let us kill him and seize upon the inheritance.
They knew who he was.
He says in John's Gospel, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am.
Now I'm not come of myself, but the Father sent me.
They knew who he was. In one sense. They did in their consciences. They did in their wills. They refused him.
Didn't know him.
So it wasn't himself.
That's in view here. But the mystery?
Had they known the mystery, the Princess of this world?
They would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard.
Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
That is the truth of this mystery, this wisdom, this hidden wisdom of God found in the mystery is something that will never enter the mind of man.
It's a revelation from God.
Man will not rise to its height, will not understand it, it never enter his heart or his mind.
00:15:02
But God hath revealed these things unto us, us the believers.
By his spirit.
Spirit searcheth all things. Yeah. The deep things of God and the truth of the mystery are the deep things of God. We were mentioning last night and we read that verse in second Peter where he speaks of our beloved brother Paul, who, according to the wisdom that is given to him, has written to you.
Some things that he has written are hard to be understood.
Nothing harder for a Jew to understand is the indiscriminate grace of God that flows out to Jew and Gentile and unites into 11 body and to the glorified man in heaven. By the Spirit this union is affected. That was hard to understand. It was totally outside of, beyond anything.
That he had ever read of in the Old Testament scriptures.
We mentioned last night it's there in type. Once you know the truth of it as revealed in the New Testament, you can go back to the old and see the beautiful picture of it. Adam and Eve is 1, Isaac and Rebecca another, and so on. Beautiful types of Christ in the church.
God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit.
For the Spirit searcheth all things, yeah, the deep things of God.
The deep things of God.
Now let's turn over to the epistle.
To the Ephesians.
Chapter 1.
And I'll begin at verse 6.
To the praise of the glory of His grace.
Wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved.
Taken us into favor.
Made us the objects of grace in the beloved.
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Now that's the keyword, the wisdom that's mentioned here. He's going to talk about the mystery.
He talks about his abounding towards us in all wisdom, and we've just seen in these two passages we've looked at already in Romans and 1St Corinthians that when that word is mentioned, it has to do with the mystery, and so it is here.
He's abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will.
According to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
This is something which was, according to the good pleasure of God, the delight of God.
Which he purposed in himself. It's altogether beyond any merits, anything that we could have done to acquire this in any way. It's something that flows altogether of and from himself, this mystery.
And verse 10 tells us here what it is, the mystery of His will.
And before reading it, I'll just state it. The mystery of His will is to head up everything in Christ, heavenly and earthly.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, that's the Millennium.
Still future.
He might gather together in one, literally. He might head up.
He might head up all things in the Christ.
Both which are in heaven and which are on earth.
Even in him.
Now many times when it says the Christ and this is one of them.
It doesn't just refer to him personally, but it refers to Christ and the Church.
There's a passage in.
Well, this is not developed in Corinthians, but it's mentioned in first.
And let's look at it, and we'll come right back here to Ephesians 1.
In First Corinthians 12 verse 12, in the first part of the chapter, he talks about the different members who have been gifted by the Spirit.
To 1 is given verse 8 by the Spirit, the word of Wisdom to another, the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, and so on.
Now in verse 12 he says for as the body is 1.
And have many members and all the members of that one body, being many are one body. So also is Christ or the Christ. Again, the article is there in the new translation. He's not talking about Christ, he's talking about the church. But he gives the church the name of the head.
00:20:13
As it says in Genesis, he called their name Adam.
So the the the wife Eve was given.
His name, and so it is here. So also is the Christ. It's talking about the church, talking about the members.
And then it says in verse 13 how this union is affected.
For by 1 Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.
Whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit.
Now that's the mystery.
That's the truth.
That Jew and Gentile without discrimination Now not the Jew 1St and the Gentile subordinate to the Jew, but Jew and Gentile united together into one body by the Spirit, and that's called the Christ.
Now going back to Ephesians one where he talks about the mystery of his will.
Verse 9 Again, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to His good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might head up.
All things in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. The Christ embracing the head and the body. Christ in the Church we are going to.
Sit with him.
In his reign over this scene, we're going to be identified with him and.
Will be in a special place of blessing as His bride.
His wife. There's a If I can find it, it's in Nehemiah.
Just want to read you a verse. Illustrates this very nicely.
Nehemiah, chapter 2.
Verse 4 Then the king said unto me, For what does thou make requests? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, If it pleased the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would have sent me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may build it. Now here's the verse.
And the King said unto me, the Queen also sitting by him.
For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And so on. The king said unto me, the Queen also sitting by him. I think that's a beautiful little illustration of the millennial reign. We will be sitting by him and reigning with him.
And that's the truth of this mystery of his will to head up all things in the Christ, Christ in the Church. Adam and Eve were given dominion over this earthly creation.
And he called their name Adam. And so Christ in the assembly will be given dominion over this scene in that coming day, the dispensation of the fullness of times. Everything will be subjected to Him, the Queen also.
The church also sitting by him.
The Old Testament spoke of Christ reigning.
King shall reign in righteousness. That was not new.
But Christ in the church reigning.
The church wasn't even mentioned in the Old Testament.
I know that in our King James translation you will read by the translators who did not understand when I'm talking about tonight.
Did not understand the mystery. They'll write the church does this and the church does that is the heading to some psalms and to some of the prophecies, but it's not the church at all. It was Jerusalem or it was Zion, it was the Jews, it was Israel, but they didn't understand that what the church really was.
We've been given further light than they had at the Reformation, much further light and.
The truth of Christ in his assembly, His bride, his heavenly bride, not his earthly bride. That's Jerusalem. Song of Solomon brings that before us, but his heavenly bride, the assembly.
00:25:00
Reigning with Him, alongside of Him. That's not, that was not revealed in the Old Testament. That's the mystery of His will to head up all things in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him.
Now turn to the 5th chapter of Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 5.
And here he deals with the.
The 3rd circle.
The first sphere is the assembly sphere in Chapter 4.
Up to I think verse 17 or so, and then the spear of the world and now the family spirit, the family spirit. And he says in verse 22, wives.
Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.
He is the one that preserves his body, that cares for his body, that suckers and nourishes it.
Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
We have the the marriage relationship elevated here to a height that had never had before.
It's a picture of Christ in his assembly.
His heavenly bride.
And he goes on to say in verse 25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. Verse 25 is the past He gave himself for the church. Verse 26 is the present.
He's sanctifying it, cleansing it with the washing of water by the Word. He's doing that tonight as we're under the sound of the Word.
And in verse 27 we have what is future that he might present it to himself. A glorious church. Church glorious.
Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and blameless without blemish.
Sought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife.
Loveth himself.
Now the first couple, Adam and Eve, she was literally a part of himself.
He caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. And then he took, he opened up the flesh and he took his rib and he builded a woman and he brought her to it, to Adam. And when he saw her, he said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. She was not a unique, excuse me, she was a unique. She was not a separate creation from the ground like the animals were.
Adam was created from the dust of the ground, but she was unique in that she was created from him.
She was a part of him. Of all the types of Christ in the church in the Old Testament, there's none so perfect as Adam and Eve because she came from him and she was of him, a part of him. And that's the very that's the very type that sets forth Christ in the church.
So beautifully, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. So when Christ loves the Church, he loves himself. She is a part of him. She comes from Him, just as Eve came from Adam.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as.
The Lord, the Church, He nourishes and cherishes His assembly. There isn't an object on earth anywhere that is so precious to Him.
As his assembly of which you form a part, we all form a part.
Nothing so precious to him.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be 1 flesh.
This is a great mystery.
He is taking the marriage relationship and applying it now to Christ in the Church. This great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the Church. That is the mystery. That is the great mystery. Christ in his assembly.
His bride.
Nevertheless, let everyone of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself and his wife see that she reverence.
Her husband.
This is a great mystery.
Christ in the assembly.
Now who makes up?
00:30:01
This.
Or this wife who makes up the bride. Well, we turn back to Ephesians 3 to get that in Ephesians 3.
I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God.
Which has given me to you word, the dispensation, the administration of the grace of God.
The assembly exists as.
A product of entirely the grace of God.
The grace of God.
Something that was above and beyond anything that had been revealed in the Old Testament.
And it's composed of Jews and Gentiles.
If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which has given me to you word.
I just want to comment, the word dispensation has been rendered administration, it's been rendered economy.
It's been rendered stewardship.
It's the same word in these different renderings and it means the the management of a household.
And.
God's management.
Of his affairs.
In that infinite wisdom of His there came a time when He would bring out this wonderful mystery concerning Christ and His assembly.
And part of that mystery that's brought out here in Ephesians 3 is that assembly is composed of.
Jews and Gentiles, those that had nothing to do with one another. When the law was in in force, the Gentiles were viewed by the Jews as dogs, unclean, not even to eat with them.
But now we have a mystery.
That you and Gentile are made one.
In Christ, only the grace of God could do that. Only the grace of God could affect such a thing, and it has done so. The assembly is a miracle of grace.
That Jews and Gentiles could be united together in one body.
And go on together harmoniously for His glory.
Verse 3 Now how that by revelation.
He made known unto me the mystery.
It was a revelation never known before, given specifically to the Apostle Paul.
As I wrote it for in few words, whereby when you read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. His knowledge in the mystery of Christ came not from studying the Old Testament Scriptures. It came by a distinct heavenly revelation, heaven.
The Lord Jesus as He revealed this to the apostle.
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
I used to ponder that many times. It was revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, but they didn't bring it out.
Paul did.
Paul brought it out. He received it as a direct revelation from the Lord, and the Spirit of God revealed it to these other apostles and the prophets of the New Testament, so that when it was brought out.
It would be received, not opposed.
If they had just used their Old Testament scriptures when Paul spoke of this grace to the Jews and to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, and putting them on all the same level, no advantage of the Jew at all.
Over the Gentile in this present day.
Something foreign to their their ears. If they're Jewish years, they could say. Show me that in the Old Testament it isn't there.
This is that which was hid in God and brought out at the time after Christ had been crucified, rose again, and ascended and glorified to heaven. Then was the time to bring out this mystery. It's required a special vessel, an elect vessel, Saul of Tarsus, and he became great Apostle Paul.
But it was revealed to these other others so that as Peter says, in which in referring to Pauls ministry and in which there are some things hard to be understood.
Truth of the mystery was very difficult for a Jewish mind to accept.
00:35:01
Because it went so beyond in grace. It went so beyond anything that he was used to thinking.
The Old Testament spoke of grace to the Gentiles, but subordinate to Israel, always subordinate in the Kingdom. The Gentiles will be blessed, yes.
But not as it is during the time of the mystery.
Christ in the Church.
Composed of Jew and Gentiles.
Verse 5 again, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles Here it is consists of three truths, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. Fellow heirs with whom? With the Jews? Joint heirs with Jews.
And of the same body, a joint body, Jew and Gentile, united together.
And joint partakers, I'm reading it as it is in the new translation, gives the force of it joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. These promises in Christ were appropriated by the Jews for them. But now he talks about joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. The Gentiles partake of the blessing just as much as the Jew.
These three grand truths, the Gentiles should be joint heirs.
Joint heirs, All that Christ has won by his perfect life of obedience and submission down here, He now shares with you and me, whether we're Jew or Gentile.
And of a joint body, one body composed of these two dissimilar.
Contradictory and contrary, people's Jews and Gentiles now united.
Into one.
As you think of it, as you think of what the Church is and the grace that has brought us together and made US1, it just makes division that much worse.
100 times worse.
Because it's only grace that has brought us together, and we don't have enough grace.
To walk together.
With our brethren.
When I say we, I'm talking about all Christians.
The flesh has gained ascendancy with so many. The enemy has done his work. Scripture tells us it would happen.
But it's such an awful sin. I'm convinced, having gone through this last trouble, I'm convinced the worst sin that we can commit is to be a leader in division.
To divide the Saints of God. Terrible, terrible thing to be a party to that.
And I was talking to a couple recently at home and we're going over some of the things I was talking about Monday night, those that have defected and gone into.
Groups where the fundamentals of the person of Christ are denied, the sister says. How could they do that?
How could they do that? And I said, maybe you don't know your own heart enough.
Because we're all.
We're all.
Capable of doing that.
We're all capable of allowing our intellect to swamp.
The leading of the Holy Spirit.
And being LED away into serious air, we're all capable of doing that.
I'm not, you're not. Not one better, one bit better than any of our brethren elsewhere that have been ensnared.
And if the Lord has kept us?
We can just continue to to pray that 16th Psalm preserve me, oh God, for indeed who I put my trust.
Only He can preserve us.
Well.
The truth of the mystery is that the Gentiles should be joint heirs, and of a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. And then he goes on to say, Whereof I, Paul, I was made a minister.
According to the gift of the grace of God-given unto me by the effectual working of His power.
He suffered more than they all. He labored more than they all.
The truth of the mystery brought suffering from his Jewish brethren.
The kind of suffering that he had inflicted upon the Christians before he was converted, now was being inflicted upon him.
00:40:08
But they hated the message.
They hated this fresh revelation. They didn't like it. You remember when the Lord spoke in Luke 4 of grace, mercy to the Gentiles? They took him up to the top of the hill and we're going to throw him down, get rid of him.
He talked about.
There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Naaman, but only one was cleansed nail in the Syria.
There are many widows in another time, and only one was.
Was was blessed.
And these two were Gentiles. They hated it. The very thought that God would show grace to the Gentiles.
Jonah.
The reason he didn't go to Nineveh at first is because he said I knew thee. Thou art a merciful God. And he didn't even want to give them the opportunity to repent.
And they did.
And God said I won't judge them.
It came about maybe 150 years later, but at that time.
The idea to a Jew, a strict Jewish mind, Grace going out, mercy, compassion to a Gentile.
They didn't like that, didn't like that at all. Remember when Peter went into the household of Cornelius and preached the gospel to them when he got back to Jerusalem? Thou wentest in to men that are uncircumcised and gets to eat with them. Give account of yourself.
And then he told them.
How that God had showed him by that sheet that was let down from heaven three times the rise, Peter, slay and eat. Not so, Lord, I've never eaten anything common or unclean in my life. What God hath cleansed called that not common. The Gentiles were going to be brought in. They were no longer to be considered unclean.
But to be brought into a place of favor and blessing alongside of the Jew. And it's beautiful to read Peter's message in Acts 15. He says We believe we Jews that we shall be saved even as they That's not the way a Jew would put it.
You put it just the other way around. But he had, he was forced, you might say, to put it.
By the Spirit of God in a way that magnifies the grace of God.
Well, this is what God has wrought. This is what he has done.
He goes on to say, verse 7, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God-given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me.
Who am less than the least of All Saints.
Is this grace given?
That I should preach among the Gentiles.
Not the Jews now, but the Gentiles, the unsearchable.
Riches of Christ The other apostles preached among the Jews the unsearchable riches of Christ, but it was given to Paul to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and more.
And to make all see.
What is the fellowship of the mystery? Or I think it should read What is the administration?
The dispensation, the economy, the stewardship of the mystery.
Which from the beginning of the world.
Hath been hid in God, Not in the Old Testament scriptures, but this mystery was hidden in God.
Who created all things by Jesus Christ?
It was given to him to make all men, as it says in the New translation, to enlighten all.
What is the administration of the mystery?
Which was kept secret.
From the ages.
Who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now in this present day of grace, 2000 years has lasted almost that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, that the angelic hosts, the principalities and powers in heavenly places might.
Be might be made known to them by the church.
The manifold wisdom of God. May you have it again. Whenever he talks about the mystery, he brings in the wisdom of God. The manifold wisdom of God.
According to the eternal purpose, remember in Romans 16 it said the eternal God or the everlasting God, He's the one that's focused this and it's an eternal purpose.
00:45:01
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord.
Now let's turn to Colossians Chapter 1.
Colossians, chapter 1.
Verse 23.
If you continue in the faith grounded and settled.
And be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which he have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paula, made a minister. He was a minister of the gospel.
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body sake, which is the Church.
Says he filled up.
That which is behind of the afflictions or the tribulations of Christ.
That is the truth of the mystery that he brought. Brought suffering, persecution.
Afflictions to him.
And it was 4.
Christ's body sake, which is the Church.
Whereof I am made a minister. Not only was he a minister of the gospel, he was a minister of.
This mystery Christ in the Church.
According to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, I've already covered that that word fulfill means to complete.
The mystery, the truth of the mystery that was given to Paul to bring out completed the Word of God.
It was an area that was left untouched before.
Paul was raised up to bring it out, to fulfill, to complete the Word of God, to perfect it, even the mystery.
Which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now.
Is made manifest to his Saints.
To whom God would make known.
What is the richest?
Of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.
Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
In Ephesians, the mystery is that we are in Christ.
And God sees us as such, in here, in Colossians, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Whom we preach, warning every man.
And teaching every man. Here it is again in all wisdom.
That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. A Christian that does not know the truth of the mystery.
Is a babe.
Is not mature.
Paul's burden was to present every man perfect.
In Christ Jesus.
Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, if all of the Saints knew this truth.
That we are united to one another, Jew and Gentile, and to the head in heaven by the Spirit on earth.
One body.
Joint heirs, joint body, joint partakers of all his promises in Christ by the gospel.
Christians wouldn't be spending their energies as many are.
Seeking to set the world right.
Because we can't and we're not called to that.
You're called to a much higher calling. It's a heavenly calling.
When Paul was laboring that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, understanding who we are, what a Christian is.
My burden in the message Monday night is that we understand who he is.
And the burden tonight is that we understand who we are as Christians. What is Christianity?
What passes as Christianity in the United States of America is a pseudo Christianity.
It's not biblical.
In large measure.
Paul says whereunto I also labor driving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
For I would that she knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
00:50:07
It's striking, isn't it, that the two epistles?
That to the Ephesians and here to the Colossians, and the one to the Colossians was to be read to those of Laodicea and Hierapolis, the surrounding assemblies, Coliseum, Hierapolis, I believe they're in a cluster of three, that this was sent to the Colossians. But these two are the 1St and the last churches that are addressed in Revelation 2 and 3.
But to the church which? To the Angel of the church, which is at Ephesus. And what was it that he fought them for? Thou hast left thy first love. That's the assembly We were just looking about where the truth of the mystery was unfolded in its fullness. Ephesians.
And here we have Laodicea Coliseum. Laodicea was read here. What he wrote here in the Colossians was read to the Laodiceans. And what does he say about Laodicea? You're lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. I would. You were cold or hot, I will spew you.
Out of my mouth.
And if they didn't repent in Ephesus, he said, I will remove thy Candlestick out of its place, except I repent, and here it's he's going to disown it as a testimony for himself.
The church has not been true to her calling.
She has not been true to the truth of the mystery. Have we been? We have to search our own hearts.
I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea.
And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love, and unto all riches, of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.
In whom?
Hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I believe in the new translation that reads the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, in which.
Are hid all the treasures?
Of wisdom.
And knowledge all the treasures God has.
Exhausted himself, if I may put it that way, in giving us his wisdom.
And we're brought into the highest place of blessing. We were noticing just the other day that in Isaiah 40 it says Jerusalem has received double for all her sins.
Revelation 18 When it speaks of apostate Christendom, it says, Render unto her.
Double. Double.
Double. Double.
You read it, read it in Mr. Darby's translation, and you'll see that the intensity of the judgment on Christendom.
Is twice as much, twice as severe as that on Jerusalem. Much more light, much more blessing, much more responsibility.
And so.
All the wisdom.
And knowledge are hid in the mystery.
And we've been brought into it.
Where the recipients of it.
We're those that are so favored and so blessed.
And what is it?
That characterizes the Christians nowadays.
Immense worldliness.
Pursuing things down here.
When our portion is all above.
With Christ.
Let's close by singing 330.
What raised the wondrous thought?
Or who did it suggest?
That we the Church to glory brought, should with the sun be blessed, O God, the thought was thine.
Thine only it could be fruit of the wisdom, love divine, peculiar unto thee. For sure no other mind for thought so bold, so free greatness or strength could ever find Thine, only it could be the motives to Thine own the plan, the counsel Thine made for Thy Son. Bone of his bone in glory bright to shine, O God, with great delight Thy wondrous thought we see.
Upon His throne in glory bright, the bride of Christ shall be healed with the Holy Ghost.
We triumph in that love by wondrous fact.
Has made our boast glory.
With Christ above.
3:30.