Thank you, music ministers minus
the base mechanic.
Pray for dad, speedy recovery,
uh, the stomach virus has him.
First Timothy 3.16.
If you would open your Bibles, or you can look upon the screen.
Today, we celebrate one of the two great
annual observances
of the Christian faith.
Easter and Christmas.
Are the two most special days
of the year for
our faith, and as I said earlier, always, inseparable,
and attached to Easter Sunday, is Good Friday,
which mark year after
year, century after
century, for over 2,000 years,
the birth of King Jesus, the Burial of King
Jesus, the Burial of King Jesus,
and the resurrection of King Jesus.
Those are.
the most important events in
human history, period.
The fact that you may not believe that.
bears absolutely no effect
on the reality of the truth of it, at all.
No other events in human history come
close in their significance, and
as eternity will prove to every
person who has ever lived, wherever you
spend eternity, when you think back to human history,
you will know of a great surety,
that the birth, death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ were the greatest events in
all of human history.
Christmas.
is officially, officially
observed by governments of
over 160 nations around
the world, the birth of Jesus.
No other human being has that distinction that can
be said about them for their birthday.
And then over 95 nations around
the world, governments officially celebrate
Good Friday and Easter, and then
unofficially, by many millions
of people in countries that do not
officially observe those two most important days
on Earth, even in nations that
persecute Christians.
In Iran today.
There is an estimated millions of Christians
who are celebrating Resurrection Sunday.
Now, it's pretty interesting
to note that in our American
tradition, would
you agree with me that Easter music is
far in second place to Christmas music?
Yeah.
We have more Christmas hymns
and songs than we can count.
96, 1, the river,
starts playing Christmas music,
both secular and religious, now, I think, in October,
which is wild to me.
But when it comes to Eastern music.
What have we got?
Here comes Peter Cottontail.
I'm not really a fan.
But that's the world's Easter music.
And we do have in the church, really,
some spectacular Easter hymns.
We sang one this morning, though not as popular
or well known as Christmas hymns, such as Beethoven,
and Wordsworth, Great Hymn, listen, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hearts to Heaven, and Voices, Raise,
Sing to God, a hymn of gladness, Sing
to God, a hymn of praise, He who, on the
cross, as Savior, for the world's salvation
bled, Jesus Christ, the king of glory,
now is risen from the dead.
Now, the iron bars are broken.
Christ from life to death is born, glorious
life, and life immortal on this resurrection,
morn, Christ has triumphed, and we conquered by
His mighty enterprise.
We, with him, to life, eternal by
his resurrection, rise.
That's an Easter hymn.
Or how about Charles Wesley's great hymn?
Christ, the Lord, is risen today.
Son of men and angels say, Raise
your joys and triumphs high, Sing, ye
heavens, and reply, Lives, again, our glorious
king, Where, O death, is now thy
sting, Dying once, he doth all save,
Where thy victory, O grave, Love's
redeeming work is done,
Fought the fight, the battle won, Death in
vain, forbids him rise.
Christ has opened.
Paradise.
That's an Easter hymn.
But beyond these, and
the Easter hymns that we sung, the one we sung today,
there's another Easter hymn that I want to share with you.
that's actually found in your Bible.
And it's found here in 1 Timothy
3, in verse 16.
I chose this text, because I have
a very strong desire
to magnify and make as
much of King Jesus as a bivocational oil
company worker pastor can today.
OK?
That's the goal.
for today.
And I want you to consider, first, that this
Easter hymn was
quite literally pinned
by the Spirit of God, inspired
through the Apostle Paul, and
sung by the early church.
Many commentators, many Bible scholars,
believe, very possibly, this was the very first resurrection
hymn sung in church history
history.
Let's start by reading it together here in verse 16.
By common confession, great
is the mystery of godliness.
Now, you may have, in your Bibles, I do, in my MacAuthor's study
Bible, the typeset changes in my Bible to give lines
different from the paragraphs that you see proceeding this.
Look next.
Here it is.
He who was revealed in the flesh.
was vindicated in the spirit.
Seen by angels, proclaimed
among the nations, believed on
in the world, taken up to glory.
Now, not only because of the
original author, but
also because of the simple, yet magnificently
profound wording,
this hymn right here, when you put all that
together, stands above all other hymns that have ever been written.
Even though the word resurrection
does not appear in this verse, as
I'm going to show you today, these six
lines of this hymn absolutely affirm
the centrality of the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It will always be true that the resurrection
is not only the essence of this hymn, but, as I said,
at the start of our service, it's also the
very heart of the Christian faith.
Now, this hymn has a prelude to it, which
starts at the beginning of verse 16.
Look at it with me.
Verse 16, by common confession.
Great is the mystery
of godliness.
That phrase, by common confession in the King James
is, without controversy.
I like that version better, by the way.
The Greek meaning simply is this, to
say the same, which means, Everyone says the same thing.
All of us agree.
There is no debate here.
There is no controversy here.
Every one affirms this,
which is about to be said, it is beyond all question,
our discussion is what the meaning is.
The entire redeemed true church of
Jesus Christ confesses that this is
true.
What said next, is a
truth, that every single Christian
who has ever, or
will ever live on the face of the earth, confidently
confesses, and what is it?
Look next in verse 16.
Great is the mystery
of godliness.
Every Christian.
Listen to me now, will affirm the truthfulness
of that statement, you hear me?
Will affirm it.
Simply put, if you don't affirm that, you're not a Christian.
Period.
If you don't believe that, you're not a Christian.
It's possible that this phrase
was cried out at the very start of
worship services in the early church, the upside
down example of that was cried out in the
pagan city of Ephesus, when they worship
the demonic false God, Goddess Diana,
they said in Acts 19,
Greatest Diana of the Ephesians, that
demon pagan God.
That's what they would cry out at the beginning of their services, though they
certainly could have cried out that phrase in the early church
worship service.
Great is the mystery of godliness.
So, of course, we have to ask the question
next, what does it mean?
What does that phrase mean?
And the answer, of course, comes in
the very first word of this resurrection
hymn here in verse 16?
What is the very next word?
He?
Look at it carefully.
So there's no mistaking what the word is.
He.
The mystery of godliness is not a doctrine.
It's not a creed.
The mystery of godliness is not a theology
or a principle.
The mystery of godliness.
Listen to me, church is a person.
The word mystery here means
to reveal what was hidden, to
unfold what was not disclosed.
It's used by Paul multiple times in the New Testament
to refer to truth that was hidden
in the Old Testament age that is now revealed
in the New Testament age.
The word godliness can
be defined and applied to multiple truths.
We can be talking about the godliness of the Christian life and how
you live, but at its base level, the word godliness
simply means holiness.
So if we want to answer the question,
who is the he that
this hymn starts out with, you have to start by asking the
question, in whom?
Was perfect holiness revealed
to mankind upon the earth?
And there's only one possible
answer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the mystery
of godliness.
He is holiness revealed to us.
to the people alive, who
encountered him when he walked this earth, and for
the people throughout all of church history, to read about in
scripture, Jesus is
the mystery of godliness.
Christianity is not a system of ceremonies.
Or trust in a creed.
Christianity is not a plan for
how you are to live, a clean moral life,
and on the basis of that, God says, You're okay, you make it to heaven.
That's not Christianity.
And it's not even just a belief in
a system of doctrines or theology, though it is that.
It's not just that.
At its core, Christianity is the affirmation.
The common confession,
that holy, perfect, righteous
God came to this world, and
revealed himself in a person.
I don't care.
Whatever else you believe out of this Bible.
You can believe the golden rule.
You can believe everything in the sermon of Mount.
If you don't believe that holy, perfect,
righteous God came to this earth and
revealed himself in a person, you are in
the current state of being an enemy with God.
Period plumb and end of sentence.
If you do not believe that
Jesus is God himself, Roman says,
you have a mind set on the flesh,
that is, hostile towards God, at
enmity, the King James says, and that word enemy enmity
means, the state of being, an enemy.
The Greek word for great.
Look at it there in verse 16, is megas.
Strong word.
Great is the truth that holy
God has been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ,
that is Christianity.
That is the most astonishing,
amazing reality, and all of the realm of
all religious thought that the creator
God became a man.
And we are here, on
this resurrection Sunday, to sing this hymn,
with Paul, and with Timothy,
and with the early church, about the fact that Jesus
is God revealed to man.
He is the mystery of godliness unfolded,
and the testimony to that truth.
I'm going to prove it to you.
I am fixing to prove this to you in the six
lines of this hymn.
Each of these lines prove
this confession to be true.
It's one thing to say
that Jesus is that God is revealed
in Jesus, and great is that revelation.
But it's something else to verify it
from scripture.
And so the Holy Spirit through the Apostle
Paul, what has he done?
He has written for all of human history,
for all of church history, a hymn of
verification about this reality, a
hymn of evidence about who Jesus is, a
hymn of proof that, indeed, Jesus is
the secret of godliness unveiled.
And this starts with line one next
in verse 16.
Look what it says.
He, who was revealed in
the flesh.
The evidence that Jesus Christ was God
in a human body starts with looking at the life that he lived.
It was apparent in the way that he was
born of a virgin.
Do you know anyone else who carries that distinction?
Do you know of anyone else in human history?
Who was born of a virgin?
I do not.
It was apparent in the way that he lived,
an absolutely perfect, sinless life.
Do you know anyone else, in
all of world history, who has pulled that off, or in your life?
It was apparent in the amazing,
profound, timeless words that came from
his teaching, even many atheists.
along with many people from other religions, respect
the principles that he taught, to this day.
What did they say back then?
Never has a man spoke
like this man.
It was apparent because
of the indisputable, undeniable supernatural
miracles that he did, including raising from the dead.
Only God raises people from the dead.
It was apparent from the knowledge that he displayed.
he was here.
Remember we studied?
What did he say?
You don't need to tell me what's in the heart of man.
I know what's in man's heart.
I know what's in his mind.
I know what's in his thoughts.
Only God has that ability.
Verse 16 says he was revealed
in the flesh.
That word revealed means to make visible.
Prior to his incarnation, he was invisible.
He was the second member of the Invisible
God in the Trinity.
And guess what?
This first line, think about it, is
a very simple, profound statement, but what does it do?
It presupposes his pre existence.
No one else existed before they were born,
except Jesus.
God, who already existed, became revealed.
He became revealed means he was made visible
to us in human flesh.
Well, how do you know that, brother Philip?
Is that just your opinion you're giving to us?
Well, absolutely not.
The only opinion I give you is straight from the Word of God.
John 1, 1, in the beginning, was the
word, and the word was God, and
the word was God, verse 14.
That's Jesus, and the word Jesus became
flesh and dwelt among us.
And we saw his glory, glory as of
the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth.
John said, we could see his glory.
On the mount of transfiguration,
he gave him a little glimpse, like Superman, of his glory, right?
Speaking of Jesus in Hebrews 13.
Look what it says.
And he is the radiance of his glory.
Look at this.
And the exact representation
of his nature.
That's Jesus, the exact representation
of God's nature.
And look next, Jesus, and
upholds all things by the word of his power.
That's the universe, folks.
That's all planets and galaxies.
Who else?
upholds all things by the word of his
power, but God?
That verse is talking about Jesus.
Very clearly.
Jesus Christ, by his own life.
In the flesh revealed?
Guess what?
That he is the only possible candidate
for being the mystery of godliness in
the context of our passage, or in any way possible at all.
Look at his life.
Listen to his words.
Look at his works.
Follow the pattern of his living,
from his birth to his death.
And there is absolutely no possible way.
You can come up with any other explanation.
This is God.
In human flesh.
I want you to just think for a minute about the
intensity of the scene at
Galgotha, as he has been beaten
like no man has been beaten.
His entire body is marred
with the scourging.
His organs are showing
in the horrible death of crucifixion
as he's nailed to the cross.
The only way he can catch a breath is one foot is nailed upon another,
is he has to push up or pull up with his hands, just
to get a breath and not suffocate.
Picture the scene at Galgotha with the black,
dark skies, and then even a pagan
Roman soldier at the intensity
of that scene at the foot of that cross, watching him
die, said, truly, this
was the Son of God, being a title,
being equal with God.
There simply, folks, is no other
explanation for his life.
Divine revelation offers
no clearer evidence, the
life of Jesus Christ, to anyone who was watching.
How do you make dead eyes see, if you're not God?
Listen to H.R.
Brimley, he wrote a hymn, titled The Great
God of Heaven is coming down to Earth.
One verse says, The
word in the bliss of the godhead remaining, yet
in flesh comes to suffer the keenness of pain.
He is that he was, and ever more
shall be, but becomes that he was not
for you and for me.
Just consider.
The bottomless depth of this thought.
Holy God, revealed
in flesh in the person of Christ, in
total, condescending grace, compassion,
and mercy, comes to die a
criminal's death for
the sins that he didn't commit.
But for all who were ever believed in his name.
The fact that he would stoop,
not only just to become a man.
But to redeem sinners, out
of absolutely no obligation whatsoever to
do so, speaks of the kind of grace, mercy,
and love, folks, church, that is at a level that
we just truly can't comprehend it.
Our hymn here in verse 16 is saying
to us, Proof enough of his godhood is
available in that he was
revealed in the flesh.
Yes, that he did that is
more than we can comprehend.
Just that he did that is proof enough.
But this Easter hymn keeps going.
Look at the second line.
Verse 16.
What's vindicated in the spirit?
What does this mean?
Well, you already know, because I rarely miss an opportunity to point this
out to you, that Jesus, many times, many
times in the gospel's claim to be God?
He said, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
He said, I and the Father are one.
He said, I am the Lord of the Sabbath.
He said, if he wanted to, he could call down legions of angels.
Guess what?
Only God is commander in chief of all the allegiance of angels.
He said to the Jewish leaders before Abraham
was, I am.
That's the name of God, Yahweh.
You either have no ability to be able to read.
Regis have no comprehension
skills to say that Jesus never claimed to be God in the Bible.
It's all over the Gospels.
Every single one of his great claims
to be God, were vindicated,
were justified by the Holy Spirit.
Well, just how did the Holy Spirit do that?
How did the Holy Spirit remove any
question whatsoever about whether or not those
were just claims that Jesus made when he was saying those things.
We'll just turn over to Romans 1 and verse number 4, and
you're going to see the answer very clearly.
Verse 4.
who was declared the Son of God with power,
by the resurrection,
from the dead, according
to who?
The spirit of holiness, Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
When the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from
the dead, the Holy Spirit was
making a very clear statement.
He is who he claimed to be.
Sinless, holy God,
in human form.
And watch this.
He's going to walk out of this grave.
So, as we said, the perfect, sinless
life of Jesus revealed he was God?
But guess what?
Everybody could see that life.
I mean, not everybody was as close to Jesus when he was
here, as the disciples were, right?
Different people had all kinds of varying
different degrees of evidence, and for sure, not
everybody was around whenever he lived.
None of us were around whenever he lived.
So the Holy Spirit comes into the picture,
and confirms all the claims by raising him from the dead.
And you have to remember that
while Jesus was living a perfect life, there were some who
believed, but many, many,
many people were condemning him, the religious leaders most of all,
as we've been studying, the condemnation, and the hatred,
had steadily been increasing in intensity,
all the way through his ministry, until finally it got him to the cross.
And he died.
Under a cloud of sin and
guilt in the middle of two criminals.
He was identified with criminals.
As a criminal.
He was treated by the Romans as
an insurrectionist and a rebel and a troublemaker, who
wouldn't bow the need of Caesar.
Even this very day, commentator
Ben Shapiro identifies Jesus as nothing more than a religious
revolutionary who got himself killed on a Roman cross.
I can say it with my own ears.
He was treated by the Jews as a heretic and a blasphemer.
And not only did he have artificial guilt
put upon him, he also had put upon him all
of the real sin of every believer who has ever or
will ever live, he died under the full weight of
sin for all believers, he died in a
cloud of condemnation.
Not everybody understood his perfect holiness.
So what did the Holy Spirit do?
He said, Watch this.
He raised him from the dead, and he
forever removed that cloud.
Jesus' resurrection was the declaration,
by the Holy Spirit, that this man was not criminal,
this man was perfectly righteous.
And I'm going to prove it by raising him from the dead.
Notice again, Romans 1:4, who
was declared to be the Son of
God, declared to be the mystery of godliness,
declared to be God in human flesh.
And this verse is saying he was declared to
be so with power by the resurrection.
You see that?
Sin kills.
Sin kills permanently.
And sin damns to hell.
But Jesus rose from the dead because
he had no sin of his own.
He was raised to demonstrate his
absolute perfect sinlessness.
Now, next, the third line in this hymn is another line of evidence.
He was not only revealed in the flesh, evidence enough of
the mystery of godliness, vindicated in the spirit, evidence enough
of the mystery of godliness.
Look next, verse 16.
seen by angels.
Now, think about the fact that angels had visited
Jesus during his life, I said earlier in Matthew 26,
he said, if I wanted to, I could call down a whole legion of angels.
Right now, and y'all would all be toast.
In fact, only two times
during his life did angels come.
You remember?
Once when he was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness.
They came and ministered to him.
And again, in the Garden of Gethsemane.
as he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood,
and he was tempted.
The Bible says an angel came and strengthened him.
Can you just imagine that scene in the blackness of night at the Garden
of Gethsemane, as he is praying on his knees, and sweating
drops of blood, and an angel comes down from heaven
to strengthen him.
So you only have those two times.
But now, all of a sudden, in
connection with the resurrection in our verse, he
was seen by angels.
The first line of this hymn took us to the cross.
The second line of this hymn took us through the resurrection,
this third line, singing by angels, takes us after
the resurrection, this phrase, sing by,
means also to watch and to witness.
So this is talking about holy angels, not the fallen angels,
that he went into the pit to proclaim victory when his body was in the grave.
I am convinced, folks, that
holy angels were watching.
What was happening?
At the resurrection, in
whatever capacity, I don't know that they have to watch with.
Why do I say that?
Can you prove that, brother Philip?
Well, I think I have strong evidence at the end of 1 Peter 112?
Look at it.
It's about the angels.
Speaking of salvation, it says, things
in which angels long to look.
They have a longing to
look into the matters of our salvation, and
this event is the climax of it all.
This is the high point of redemptive history.
Without this, there is no salvation.
Without this, there is no Christianity.
So I think, for sure, the holy angels were
watching what was happening at the birth of Jesus, they did look at Hebrews 16.
And when he says again, brings
the firstborn into the world, he says, let all
the angels of God worship him.
And that's exactly what they did when Jesus was born, right?
The whole sky was filled with angels.
right?
So don't you think?
They were ready to worship him when he came out of that grave.
Oh, I do.
I thanked it.
But there's more than that.
As you know, there were some special angels,
chose for some special participation in the resurrection.
We read about it this morning.
I read it to you.
One angel rolled the stone away.
The Bible says he descended from heaven, and came and rolled
away the stone, and sat upon it, and his appearance
was like lightning.
What a scene.
And then the guard shook and became like dead men.
I guess they did.
You're standing there gardening tomb, and straight
out of the sky, an angel like lightning comes down,
rolls around, jumps on top to stone, he's looking like lightning.
I'd have fell out, too, and so would have you?
And then there were the two angels where his body was,
one at his feet, one at his head, after he was already gone.
Do you remember what one of them said?
We read it.
He is not here.
He has risen.
What a line, that is.
etched forever into the stone of redemptive history.
He is not here.
He is risen, and an angel said that.
And if, according to Luke 15, the angels
rejoice over the salvation of just one soul.
Can you just imagine what
the celebration in heaven was like when
Jesus came out of it?
Holy angels confirm the
mystery of godliness, and for sure, they would
sing with the church.
Great is the mystery of godliness.
There's a fourth line that
takes this testimony one step further.
Look next in verse 16, proclaimed among the nations.
Now, I want you to imagine, I was thinking about this yesterday,
which was Saturday, imagine
being the disciples right after the death of Jesus.
Imagine that Saturday.
Shock, severe
doubt, depression, the Messiah?
Crucified with criminals?
And now?
He's dead?
They put him in the grave?
What a long Saturday.
That must have been for the disciples, right?
Now, how in the world?
Could they go from that attitude on Saturday?
to proclaiming him among the nations.
Well, even before Pentecost, there
is only one very clear answer
and it is the resurrection of the God man.
Think.
I want you to just think with me.
I want you to just picture this.
Put yourself in the upper room that night with
the depressed, sad, shocked, scared to death, disciples.
He's unquestionably dead.
And while they're just dealing with all
the shock of all of that, all of a
sudden, the Bible says, he stood in their miss.
Can you imagine that?
All of a sudden, he's just there.
And he says, Peace be with you.
Huh?
Can you imagine?
At that moment, the
surge of confidence that they felt at that very second.
And then a week later, he's there again, so Thomas could
see and touch and put his fingers in the wounds, and they believed...
I mean, how could you not?
He's standing right there.
And in Galilee, he makes breakfast for them one morning on
the side of the lake.
And then he appears to 500 people at one time.
That'll stand up in court.
How could you not just see their confidence
would have just continued to grow?
Then he recommissioned Peter and John, and
then Pentecost comes, and what happens?
They go roaring back into the city of Jerusalem,
preaching Christ, and they tried to stop him.
They said, no more preaching.
And they kept on doing it, and the Bible says they counted
it all joy to be worthy to suffer for the
risen Christ because they had seen him alive.
But if there had been no resurrection.
None of that would have happened.
They would have never proclaimed him among the nations.
They would have went back to their original lives,
and they would have died in unbelievable depression and
disappointment without any resurrection from the dead.
And they sure would have never died as martyrs.
I mean, they sure would never
have died as martyrs if they had stolen the body,
as the Jews made up that story.
Nobody pulls off a hoax, and
then is willing to die for what they know is a lie.
Nobody does that.
So when you hear this great line in verse 16,
proclaimed among the nations, it's just dripping
full of resurrection truth.
Those apostles would have never preached
and proclaimed his name.
They would have never lived to die if they had not
seen him with their eyes risen from the grave, and then
we get to this fifth line.
Of the resurrection hymn,
What is the result of being proclaimed among the nations?
Look next, believed on in the world.
Now, there's no one living.
that cannot say that
evidence is overwhelming.
Here we are, over 2,000 years later,
on Hooper Road, in God's country of central,
staking our eternal destiny on the claims of
an obscure Jewish carpenter who died a criminal's
death on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago.
We're still here believing, believed
on in the world, but not just that.
What has it been, starting with the
preaching of the apostles all through the centuries down
to right now, that ultimately convinces people that
Jesus is who he claimed to be.
It's the reality that he rose from the grave.
How do I know that?
Romans 10 9.
Look at it, that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus
as Lord, and believe in your heart, that God did what?
Raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
That is the heart of the Christian message.
Starting on the day of Pentecost, Peter preaches that 1st sermon after the resurrection.
And what did he proclaim with power?
He says, this Jesus.
That you killed, he's alive.
3,000 people believed that very day.
The evidence was overwhelming.
The tomb was empty.
All you had to do was walk right down the road and go, look.
In Acts 4, 5,000 people believed,
and so they were turning Jerusalem upside down
for Christ, and then they begin to move out into Israel,
and then out into Samaria, and people all over
begin to believe Jews and Gentiles, and Paul starts
to go way out there on his missionary journeys, and everywhere
he goes and preaches the gospel.
People believe, and they believe, and they believe, and the reality that
Jesus died was buried in rose from the grave, spreads
like wildfire.
Let me tell you something.
Muhammad, with
his false god, Allah who is a demon, spread
Islam by the sword.
Christians spread Christianity with the sword of spirit.
The gospel preached, is how it spread like wildfire.
You can't deny history, folks.
That fire has been burning ever
since, right down to this very day.
Why?
Because Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates
of hell will not prevail against it.
That's a promise.
The actual evidence.
physical evidence, for the resurrection of Jesus is overwhelming.
I want to wait until Wesley Huff is completely done with his
project of why you can trust the Bible before we show
it in Sunday school, but in that series, he's
going to give unbelievable evidence of the resurrection that
is just absolutely unbelievable.
Liberal Bible scholars who deny the resurrection.
cannot honestly deny it on the
basis of a lack of evidence.
They deny it because of their absolute
refusal to be held accountable to a holy God.
That's why they deny it.
The gospel, including the resurrection,
has been consistently, continuously preached throughout all
the centuries since that very first sermon from
Peter on Pentecost, and in every generation of human history.
What have we seen?
Masses of people have believed.
Why?
Well, not only because it's the truth.
But because man, in
his fallen condition, even in that fallen condition,
longs for life after death.
Every person longs for something better than what we're
going through now in this life.
That's why you hear at every single funeral
you ever attend, oh, they're in a better place.
Right?
Nobody in their right mind truly
wants to look at death, which is the king of
terrors, as the black end of eternal nothingness, right?
And the reality is, that
better place can only be found
in Bible repentance and saving faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and for every person who does not repent and
believe on Jesus terms, the result will not be the
eternal black end of nothingness, but rather Jesus
himself describes the black end of
outer darkness, enduring the holy wrath of
God for their sin forever.
I didn't write the mail.
I'm just the mailman.
That's what the Bible says.
So the evidence for Jesus being the mystery
of godliness is that he was revealed in the flesh, vindicated
in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the
nations, believed on in the world, and lastly,
here, as we close, verse 16.
He was taken up in glory.
Now, this refers,
in part, for sure, to his ascension, remember,
in Acts 1, when he was taken up into heaven, oh,
but this is much more than that church.
This is taking in Hebrews 1,3.
Look at it, middle to the end of the verse, when
he had made purification of sins,
he sat down at
the right hand of the majesty on
high.
That's the right hand of the seat of all power and authority.
That's what that's illustrating.
This is taking into account Philippians 2, 9 through 11.
For this reason, also, God, highly exalted
him, and bestowed upon him, the name
which is above every name, so that at the name
of Jesus, every knee will bow of
those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father,
that happens at the end, with every single human being
who ever lived, they will bow the knee.
If you don't bow the knee, now, you will,
at the end, and if it's your first time, then, it will be too late for you.
Hebrews 12, 2, fixing our eyes
on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
who, for the joy set before him, endured
the cross, despising the shame, and has sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God.
After the resurrection, Jesus himself said in Matthew
28, 18, all authority has been
given to me in heaven and on earth.
That's all authority, folks, over all the universe,
over all the seen realm, over all the unseen realm.
By common confession, great is the mystery of
godliness, Jesus was taken up into glory.
It encompasses all of that that I just read to you.
And even more than our finite minds
can begin to comprehend.
Taken up into glory means that God,
the Father, exalted him.
Why?
Because his work on our behalf was
perfect and complete.
As I said earlier, propitiation was made.
God's wrath for us was appeased
by what he did for us in our place.
And now we're really going to close, I promise.
The preacher gets to say that at least three times.
I'm only saying it twice, but this one is for real.
As a result of that last line, in
this first Easter hymn, God
gives John Apostle John a glimpse of
the final outcome of being taken up into glory,
look at Revelation chapter 5, verses 11 through 13.
Then I looked.
And I heard the voice, many
angels, around the
throne, and the living creatures,
and the numbers of them was myriads,
and thousands, of thousands, saying, with
a loud voice, Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and might, and honor, and glory.
and blessing, but keep going, and
every created thing, which is in
heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and
on the sea, and all things in them, I
heard, saying, to him who sits
on the throne, and to the lamb, be blessing,
and honor, and glory, and dominion forever.
Yeah.
Let's pray.
By the way, thank you.
We thank you for your word so clear.
So powerful.
Oh, Lord, we are humbled to our core, that,
that you would come to this earth,
have anything to do with us, much less save our souls.
We give you all the praise and the honor and the glory.
And we will do that, just as John the
Revelator says, forever and forever, and we will never,
ever, ever tire of doing it, because
then we will know as we are known.
We will see him as he is, and
we will understand in ways that we can understand
on this earth all the fullness of
the person and work of Christ.
We praise you on this Easter Sunday.
We pray that all that we've done in this place has been done in
such a way to bring you maximum glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.