1 Timothy 3.16 The Confessing Church

[0:00] This morning, we're going to talk about mystery.! Mystery is an intriguing subject that grabs attention.

[0:12] ! There are some secrets that are a mystery to us.! Probably one of the most perplexing mysteries of my day that remains an unsolved mystery is exactly how they get the caramel in the caramel bar.

[0:29] Perhaps we'll never know, but there are some mysteries that perhaps we won't ever know. But a more pressing and relevant question to ask is this. What is the secret of godliness?

[0:45] That is, what is the secret of knowing God and walking with Him? Is it asceticism? Is it moralism? Is it mysticism? Is it Gnosticism?

[0:56] Is it some secret knowledge? Is it New Age enlightenment? The question is, what is the secret to godliness? What is the secret to knowing God and walking with Him?

[1:10] This morning, we are going to find out. So if you'll turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. We're going to focus on verse 16 today, but we'll start by reading the whole chapter.

[1:24] This is a faithful saying. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous.

[1:48] One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?

[2:00] Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil.

[2:13] Likewise, deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

[2:26] But let these also first be tested. Then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

[2:41] Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

[2:56] These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly. But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

[3:14] And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.

[3:35] Our great God, we thank you that we have divine testimony, that we have revelation, that the answer to godliness, the answer to how to know the God who created all things, how to approach a holy God, how to be made right with God, is no longer a mystery but is revealed.

[3:53] We thank you for the gospel. We thank you for Christ's coming and living and doing and suffering and dying and rising and reigning, and for the future return.

[4:07] We pray, Lord, that the church would be faithful to confess these things. We pray that you would enlighten our understanding of your word, that you would illuminate your word to us and help us to understand truth, that you would grow us according to your word and renew our minds.

[4:26] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So in our focus of verse 16, which continues on the thoughts of verses 14 and 15, what we see in verse 16 is that the church confesses.

[4:46] The church confesses the revealed mystery of godliness and the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now, I want to point out a couple things first.

[5:03] Notice how verse 16 starts off by saying, and without controversy. Without controversy means beyond all question. It means by common consent.

[5:15] In other words, without controversy is that if somebody has a dispute with what is to follow, then they are outside of the church.

[5:27] If somebody has a dispute with the gospel truth that is to follow, or if a church has a dispute with it or is in controversy with it, then they are not the church of the living God. It is not the pillar on the ground of the truth.

[5:38] Or if a person is in dispute with these things, they are not in the body of Christ. It is without controversy. These are fundamental foundational truths to Christianity by common consent.

[5:52] That is what all Christians must hold to. This is very important truth. Perhaps if you have a translation other than the New King James Version, it might read, great indeed we confess.

[6:08] And I think that grabs something very important, is that the church confesses this great truth without controversy. So the church is a confessing church.

[6:20] And what the church confesses here in verse 16, we see is an ancient Christian creed. The church confessing truth, which is the mystery of godliness.

[6:31] We have an ancient Christian creed here in verse 16. Now, some churches, at least by the label of church, whether it be the true church or not, they will say that they reject the creeds.

[6:49] Maybe not so much in the sense that they disagree with the creeds, but they're not willing to impose something in which is divisive. And this is problematic with creeds, because creeds are the foundational truths that must be held to in order to truly be Christian.

[7:05] So are creeds divisive? They are, because creeds divide between that which is in the faith and that which is outside of the faith. And here we have an ancient Christian creed that would divide between rather godliness or outside.

[7:22] So to be religious, but to not believe with this, would be idolatry. It would be an idolatrous religion. So, without controversy, indeed, we confess, great is the mystery.

[7:38] Now, notice it uses the word mystery. Mystery can be used in different ways, such as the mystery of the caramel bar. But sometimes mystery is referred to something which is unknown or unknowable, that can't be known, but that's not the sense of how it's being used here.

[7:57] How it's being used here is the mysteries of the faith, that is deep truths by the light of faith. And things that are known, truths that are known by the light of faith are super sensory, as in it's above and beyond the senses.

[8:09] What we perceive, a truth that we perceive by our senses is by the light of nature. Something that we perceive beyond our senses by the spirit is by the light of faith. So, for example, we know by the light of nature, by our senses, we can look at creation, and by the light of nature, we know that God is.

[8:28] But we don't know by nature that God is triune, or how to be made right with God. By that, we require the light of faith. These are the mysteries of the faith.

[8:39] And the things about the mysteries of the faith is that there's no other examples to point to. For example, the first line of this creed is, God was manifested in the flesh. So we can't say, well, I don't understand God manifest in the flesh.

[8:56] Point to something else in the room so I can understand God manifest in the flesh. Well, there is nothing else. There is nothing that is a one-to-one that we can point to and say, see, this is evidence of this.

[9:08] It is beyond our senses of the mysteries of the faith. No other examples. And it says, mystery of godliness. This mystery is of godliness.

[9:19] The gospel, the doctrine of godliness, knowledge of the triune God, how to be made right with him, how to worship him, and how to walk before him.

[9:29] This is the mystery of godliness, which is not known by nature. Now, it says that this mystery is great. It is a great truth. It is a significant truth.

[9:39] It is so great a truth that if the, remember from last week, the truth-bearing assembly of the living God, the church of the living God, the house of God, that the church-bearing assembly of the living God must uphold this truth.

[9:57] It is so great. It is so great that if it does not uphold this truth, then it is not the pillar of ground. And truth, then it is not the household of God. It's not the church of the living God. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.

[10:15] And then what follows is this ancient Christian creed. And before we unpack it, I want you to notice, it probably, if you have your Bibles, and if you look at it, you'll probably notice there that there's six distinct lines.

[10:28] And of those six lines, there's three couplets. Three couplets of two lines each. Okay? So, the first couplet is the first two lines.

[10:39] The second couplet is three and four. And the third couplet is lines five and six, if you follow me. And these three couplets make a contrast. There's a contrast that occurs in each couplet.

[10:51] That contrast is between heaven and earth. In other words, the contrast is between superhuman, or sorry, supernatural realm and the human realm.

[11:01] The significance of this is that the truth that it contains, this mystery of godliness, has a cosmic scope of the glory of the gospel. So keep that in mind as we work through it.

[11:14] But these three couplets that make a contrast between the supernatural realm and the human realm, or between heaven and earth, the first couplet, the first two lines, is about the Savior.

[11:27] In his incarnation and vindication, so you'll see the first two lines end in flesh and spirit. Flesh and spirit of God contrasting human realm and supernatural realm.

[11:43] And then now look at lines three and four. Speak of the witness. And three and four ends in angels and Gentiles. So what is the scope of the witness?

[11:57] Both supernatural realm and human realm. And now look at lines five and six and look at the last two words, world and glory. This is the reception. The reception in both the human realm and the supernatural realm.

[12:12] So we see here contrast between heaven and earth with the universal scope of the glory of the gospel. So first of all, the first couplet, the first two lines, the Savior.

[12:25] Or more specifically, the Savior and his mission. The Savior's mission being the incarnation and vindication. So we'll start with the incarnation. The first line, God was manifested in the flesh.

[12:41] Now what it's speaking about here of God being manifested in the flesh is the incarnation. This is what we celebrate at Christmas time. God with us. The Son of God assuming human nature or taking to himself a human body.

[12:58] And John, actually I'll get you to keep your finger here but turn over to John 1 which is an excellent text to understand what's going on in God manifested in the flesh.

[13:12] In John 1, we're going to read verses 1 to 3 and then we're going to make a jump over to 14. But 1 to 3, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

[13:24] So Word, the Word is another reference to the Son of God. The Son of God or the Word. He was in the beginning with, He was in the beginning with God.

[13:36] All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. So all that was created, all that exists was created through the Word, through the Son of God.

[13:53] Okay, now jump over to verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[14:05] So the eternal Word, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, through whom all things created, became flesh. The One who created all flesh took to Himself flesh in both body and soul.

[14:23] He who was infinite in John 1.1 was united to what was finite in John 1.14. The beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God and the Word became flesh.

[14:38] God was manifested in the flesh. flesh. Now what exactly is going on here? What exactly occurs? This is important for us to understand so that by the time we get to the last parts or to the resurrection and ascension of Christ that we understand what is truly going on here and the significance of the Savior and the mission of the Savior and His incarnation and vindication.

[15:03] So what this is not, it's not a conversion. It's not that the Word in John 1.1 was converted into flesh in John 1.14 because the Word, the Son of God is eternally God and unchangeable.

[15:19] He was not converted. He was not mixed with human nature. It was not confused. He didn't leave one thing to become another.

[15:31] He was not divested of His divine perfections. Rather, what did occur is union. It was a union of two natures.

[15:43] By assuming human nature, there was a union with divine nature with human nature. So, to say that again but more concisely, He did not change from one nature to the other but the divine nature was united to the human nature.

[15:56] Two natures united inseparably in the one person of Jesus Christ. So, this is what occurs and God was manifested in the flesh. So, I have a question to get to thinking about what I just said and hopefully make it make sense.

[16:12] But, when at Christmas, when we celebrate the incarnation, of course, we read about the Son of God being born of the Virgin Mary. So, we have a baby. The baby, as all babies do, sleeps.

[16:26] So, the baby is placed in a manger and if we understand this baby asleep in the manger who is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the second person of the Trinity, what in that moment is the second person of the Trinity doing?

[16:45] the eternal Son of God, the Word, is the Word of infant inability, of intellectual limitations?

[16:56] Well, remember, there's no conversion that occurs, there's no change that occurs, but uniting. So, the answer is no, the Son of God does not have any loss or divestment of divine attributes and does not, God does not sleep, essentially, in the manger.

[17:17] So, we're going to come back to the same idea later but about the crucifixion. But first, that the Son of God did not empty Himself, when we say that He emptied Himself, it's not of His divine attributes, it's not of His divinity, it's not of His almighty power, it's not of His omniscience or omnipotence.

[17:38] He does not divest Himself of divinity. So, when we say that the Son of God emptied Himself, it is rather of appearance or of reputation.

[17:52] For example, the dignity by which He was perceived in appearance by creatures. So, if you think about creatures, perceiving God, perceiving the divine nature, what do we see happening in Scripture?

[18:06] They come undone. They tremble. This is how the Son of God is perceived by creatures. creatures. But in the incarnation, then the perception by creatures is different.

[18:25] Instead of trembling at divine holiness, He was perceptively despised and rejected, having assumed human nature and in the form of a servant.

[18:39] Did you see the difference? His emptying of Himself is of His reputation and appearance and dignity through the incarnation of how He is perceived by creatures, being despised and rejected in the form of a servant and the assumption of humanity.

[18:57] So, the next question then, thinking this through, is at the crucifixion. What occurs to the second person of the Trinity at the crucifixion?

[19:08] Does God, the divine nature, die at the crucifixion? Well, God cannot die. So, remember, the divine nature is not converted into the human nature, rather united to the human nature.

[19:24] So, the divine nature remains divine and the person of Jesus Christ functions according to the divine nature and the human nature remains human nature and particular things occur according to the human nature.

[19:38] So, the crucifixion, God, the word, the eternal word, the Son of God doesn't die. The death is according to the human nature and this is why the incarnation is absolutely necessary.

[19:54] So, we're going to have a pop quiz at the end and I'm going to ask you a question and that's going to be very pertinent. the divine nature and human nature are united inseparably in one person without mixture, confusion, change, division, separation, absorption, conversion, or divestment.

[20:11] And this is why the early creeds are very important in us to understanding the incarnation such as the definition of Chalcedon.

[20:22] So, the incarnation and the incarnation the divine nature and human nature are united inseparably. So, how was the Christ able to suffer and die?

[20:38] If the Christ, remembering John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God, so being very God, in verse 14 became flesh, how did the eternal word become, how did die?

[20:53] Becoming flesh, how did the eternal word die? How did, how was Jesus able to suffer and die? So, this is why it's so important to understand that it's not a conversion of natures, but the natures being united.

[21:09] The person of Jesus Christ was crucified and died according to the human nature, which is why the uniting of two natures is necessary. Why was necessary that God was manifest in the flesh flesh?

[21:23] So, the next question then is, how did his death have infinite value? His death had infinite value because of his divine nature, which was united to the human nature.

[21:36] So, the incarnation, God was manifest in the flesh and in this first couplet, the second line speaks of vindication. It says, justified in the spirit.

[21:49] So, remember the contrast. The contrast occurs between heaven and earth. Earth, the flesh, heaven, the spirit, the spirit of God. God. Now, as we considered of being, emptied himself of reputation, of appearance, and that in the incarnation he was despised and rejected by creatures, though the suffering servant was despised and rejected by man, he was vindicated by the spirit.

[22:27] At his birth, what happens at his birth? Conceived in the virgin womb by the Holy Spirit. At his baptism, the spirit descended on him.

[22:38] The miracles that he performed, he was empowered with the power, sorry, he was empowered with the spirit without measure. At the resurrection, Romans 1, 4 says, declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of hope.

[22:53] by the resurrection from the dead. And then, at his ascension, he did not remain in the grave, he was vindicated in his victorious ascension.

[23:04] So, at his birth, his baptism, the miracles, the resurrection, and ascension. So, having looked at the first couplet, we'll now look at the second couplet.

[23:15] The first couplet being of the Savior and his mission, the second couplet is the witness. Angels and Gentiles. So, first of all, angels. He was seen by angels.

[23:27] Now, if you recall in 1 Timothy 1, 10 to 13, I'll read it for you. It says, of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully the grace that would come to you, the spirit of Christ testifying.

[23:42] so, if you've memorized this verse, I'm kind of jumping to sections. Testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

[23:53] The gospel preached to you, here it is, things which angels desired to look into. So, this, the salvation, the grace that would come, were things that angels desired to look into.

[24:08] And I think there's something here, particularly about in the New Testament, if you remember in the tabernacle and the temple, the angels, the cherubim, over top of the mercy seat, as though they longed to look into the fulfillment of the mercy seat.

[24:23] They longed to look into the coming salvation, the fulfillment of the law, the fulfillment of atonement. So, the angels, we see here, desired to look into the things of salvation, and then we see here that the angels saw.

[24:44] Things they desired to see was then seen by angels. Angels, if you remember, declared his conception.

[24:57] Angels glorified God at his birth. Angels ministered to him when he was tempted in the wilderness. angels strengthened him in his agony at Gethsemane.

[25:12] Angels declared his resurrection at the tomb, and angels attended his ascension. So, from his conception, his birth, his tempting in the wilderness, his agony at Gethsemane, his resurrection, and his ascension were all witnessed by angels.

[25:35] The things which angels desired to look into was seen by angels, was witnessed by angels. And what is the result of the angels seeing these things in which they longed to look into?

[25:50] Revelation 5.11 says, Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, here it is, these many angels, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

[26:22] Salvation which angels longed to look into, angels desired to look into, which they saw and having seen it, they worship God and they worship Christ, the resurrected and ascended Christ.

[26:39] So next in this second couplet is Gentiles. Contrasting heaven and earth, the supernatural realm and the human realm, Gentiles preached among the Gentiles.

[26:52] Now this is a significant statement which perhaps we might take for granted but at the time would hold much significance and if you remember from Ephesians, in Ephesians 3 it spoke of a mystery and that mystery was being the abolishment of the dividing wall between the Jews and the Gentiles, the Gentiles being included in the people of God.

[27:13] The extension of the kingdom to Gentiles, which was a mystery, in Ephesians 3 when it speaks of this mystery of it being once a mystery, says that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel.

[27:30] Now though it was a mystery, it was revealed in part in the Old Testament and actually all the way back to after the flood. Remember after the flood, when Noah cursed and blessed his descendants, that Ham was cursed and his son, his descendants, was Canaan, that the Canaanites would serve Shem, the descendants of Shem, Shem would be blessed and that the descendants of Japheth would eventually dwell in the tents of Shem.

[28:06] So who are the descendants of these sons of Noah? Well, Ham, the descendants of Canaan, and Canaan, we see, of course, the, well, when they, when they took over the, they came into the, the promised land and the Israelites who were the descendants of Shem and the Israelites of Japheth were the Gentiles.

[28:31] So we see here in Genesis 9, that's, at some point, the Gentiles will come in with and dwell in the tents of the Israelites.

[28:44] So the extension of the kingdom is now to the Gentiles. It is no longer a mystery. The gospel is the power of God to salvation for both Jews and Gentiles.

[28:58] That is, all nations, every tribe, every tongue, and nation without distinction. So this shows us the scope of the gospel.

[29:09] Now that scope is a universal scope. Jews and Gentiles. The witness is both heavenly and earthly, both supernatural realm and human realm, angels and Gentiles.

[29:24] So the second couplet have been looked at of the witness. We'll now turn to the third couplet. Now the church's confession includes the cosmic scope of the reception of the resurrected Christ.

[29:39] The church's confession includes the cosmic scope of the reception of the resurrected Christ. So the first couplet, the Savior, his mission.

[29:51] The second couplet, the witness, angels and Gentiles. And the third couplet, the reception, the world, and glory.

[30:01] So first of all, the fifth line, believed on in the world. That is, to believe on in the world is to believe the gospel.

[30:12] To believe it to be true. To believe God's promises in the gospel. And not only to believe that it's true, but to believe it personally. To believe that the promises of the gospel, to apply it personally.

[30:26] And that this is received by faith alone. The promises of the gospel are not earned, not merited, but received by faith alone.

[30:37] Faith being the alone instrument by which these gospel promises are received. And believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, believing the gospel, believing in his coming, his doing, his suffering, his dying, his rising, and his reigning.

[30:52] And in believing the gospel truth is Christ's triumphs in the heart of man. The scope of the glory of the gospel is heaven and earth, all nations, and in the very hearts of man.

[31:13] Christ's triumph was not just over sin and death. It was not just over the grave. It's not just over the devil. But Christ's triumph is over the hearts of man. Over his people.

[31:23] Over the body of Christ. So the reception, the world, and glory. This contrast between heaven and earth. Next is glory. Received up in glory.

[31:36] And speaking of his ascension and exaltation, his enthronement, his accomplished mission, and his reigning session. Ephesians 1, 19 to 23 says, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

[32:13] And he put all things under his feet and gave him to behead over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

[32:26] Now this brings much hope to us as believers, believed on in the world, those who have believed on the gospel, that he was received up in glory because we have a living hope.

[32:39] A living hope and a guarantee of the glorification of believers. 1 Peter 1.3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

[33:15] Do you see the significance of the resurrection and ascension of Christ? Is it necessary? Can we just believe that Christ was a historic person that died? Is it necessary to believe that he was raised from the dead and ascended on high?

[33:28] It is absolutely necessary and as this creed incorporates it, to not believe on it means that you are in an idolatrous religion or to deny it outright, you are not in the church and a church that would deny the resurrection is not a church.

[33:45] It is not the house of the living God. It is not the pillar and ground of the truth and so it is not the house of God and this is not only important for believers for our faith but also the hope that it gives us that our hope is a living hope because Christ lives.

[34:03] He was raised from the dead. He was victorious over sin. He was victorious over death. He did ascend on high with all dominion and power and glory and authority and he does reign. So in this world while what we see by our senses we may perceive what seems like godlessness reigning or overcoming in reality, the spiritual realities, the truth that exists in the supernatural realm is that Christ reigns and that gives us hope and a living hope and which is why it's not only necessary to believe but it's also necessary to be preached in the church.

[34:40] The church must not only confess it so the church must only believe it it must also confess it and preach it. The preaching and believing of Christ's victory over sin and death in his resurrection and in his ascension.

[34:56] So a couple of concluding uses to take of this text. The first one is that the church so we're not we're not just saying a building with the label church on it but the church the actual church that is the house of God so with the spiritual presence of the living God in the midst of the assembly of God's people the church of God is the truth bearing assembly of God's people right so we're looking back at verse 15 I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth.

[35:35] So the church is the truth bearing assembly of God's people under the authority of what? Under the authority of Christ as head. And the church confesses the gospel.

[35:50] In verse 16 we have the confessing church. The church confesses the gospel. The church of the living God is the pillar and ground of truth only in so far as it upholds to the world the gospel truth of Christ's coming who's manifested in the flesh of his doing of his living of his suffering of his dying and of his rising of his ascending and of his reigning.

[36:23] The truth the church is only the church in so far as it confesses that God was manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen by angels preached among the Gentiles believed on in the world and received up in glory.

[36:36] Of course we also confess that he will return. He reigns and he will return. Second of all we see the scope here of these three couplets that it contrasts from the supernatural realm and the human realm or contrasts from heaven to earth.

[36:54] So the scope that we have here in these six lines is from Bethlehem to heaven. God was manifest in the flesh Bethlehem he was received up in glory in heaven.

[37:06] So why is this important? Why are these six lines so important? For the scope of the glory of the gospel to incorporate heaven and earth from Bethlehem to heaven ask the question why?

[37:20] In other words why God was manifested in the flesh? Why justified in the spirit? Why seen by angels? Why preached among the Gentiles?

[37:32] Why believed on in the world? And why received up in glory? So prior to God being manifest in the flesh you must ask the question why was it necessary for God to be manifest in the flesh?

[37:45] In other words why did the word who was with God and who was God in the beginning through whom all things were created? Why was he manifest in the flesh?

[37:56] Why did he become flesh? Why did he take to himself human nature? Why did he assume human nature? Because without the coming of Christ remember from 1 Timothy 1 15 this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners without the coming of Christ without God being manifest in the flesh we have a two-fold problem first one is that God being holy righteous and just demands perfect obedience we understand God's moral law and that of God's moral law he demands personal exact entire and perpetual obedience Adam failed and all of Adam's posterity failed so there still remains the problem of an outstanding debt that perfect obedience has not been accomplished the second problem is that instead of obedience we sin because of sin the penalty of sin is death and condemnation and God's wrath so there's a two-fold problem that prior to God manifested in the flesh was remaining to be outstanding there was not perfect obedience there was not perfect righteousness the second one was that the payment for death remains to be paid divine justice remained to be satisfied which is what necessitated

[39:30] God being manifest in the flesh the very son of God being united to human nature and in human nature in our nature obeying God perfectly personally entirely exactly and perpetually so we have a positive righteousness and also in his suffering and dying as a substitute in our place the two-fold problem that man has put us at enmity with God lacking perfect righteousness and being under the misery of sin this two-fold problem was what necessitated God being manifest in the flesh in the flesh his doing his living his obeying his righteousness and his suffering and his dying

[40:31] God was manifested in the flesh he was justified in the spirit he was seen by angels he was preached among the gentiles he was believed on in the world he was received up in glory so though sinful mankind is at enmity with God we understand from the gospel how we may be right with God through believing in this savior in the Lord Jesus Christ being God united to human nature our only hope our only propitiation our only satisfaction of divine justice this is the only way that we can approach God so while in nature by the light of nature we know what God is we require divine testimony that is this mystery of godliness to know how we may approach a holy God and that is only through Jesus Christ the son that is only through the savior as our mediator so if your belief or if your understanding of godliness is something different than what is listed in this ancient

[41:46] Christian creed thinking that you might be able to approach a holy and righteous and just God in some way other than through the savior rather than through Christ through his righteousness alone then this is an idolatrous religion or if it is by works to think that it is by works that we may approach God our works any attempt that we have by works would be a rejection of Christ's righteousness and our works fall so far short of God's standard of obedience of righteousness that we would stand condemned and God by no means clears the guilty the only way to approach this mystery of godliness the only way to approach a holy righteous and just God is through the Lord Jesus Christ so if you have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ if you have not believed the promises of the gospel if you have not received the Lord

[42:48] Jesus Christ by faith that is receiving him and resting on him alone for salvation understand that you are still in the misery of sin and receive Christ rest on Christ alone for salvation believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved let's pray our great God we praise you that you are holy that you are the God who has created all things we praise you that you are almighty we praise you that you are righteous that you are just and that you are immutable that you do not believe this is something that ought to cause us to tremble or to those who believe what a joy it is that your divine perfections do not change and we thank you that you have made a way for us to be made right with you that you have accomplished what we have all failed to do so we thank you that the son of

[43:49] God was incarnate that God was manifest in the flesh that though he was despised and rejected by man he was justified in the spirit that he was seen by angels angels who longed to look into this salvation that the witness of the glory of the gospel is both the human realm and the supernatural realm and he has preached among the Gentiles the scope of the glory of the gospel across the whole world believed on in the world and received up in glory and that the church continues to preach Christ raised from the dead and ascended on high thank you for the gospel thank you for the divine revelation we pray Lord that you would make this effectual to us for the unbeliever for their salvation and for the believer for their edification and that we might worship and praise you a holy

[44:52] God a saving God and a loving God pray these things in Jesus name Amen