1 CORINTHIANS 4 1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of mans judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. The Ministers of Christ are stewards of the mysteries of God. Does your Minister teach these mysteries or do you even know the about the mysteries. That first definition in the dictionary, this thing is a “mystery”; that is, by human reason it is incomprehensible, it is unfathomable, it is unknowable, it is inexplicable. This thing is a “mystery.” That’s the way you use the word. Now, the meaning of that word in ancient time and the use of that word in the Bible is not that at all. It is altogether something else and something different. Now this is anciently what the word “mystery” meant, and this is the way the word is used in the New Testament: the Greek word is musterion, and it comes from the word mustes. And a mustes was one who was initiated into the secret rites of an ancient, one of the ancient mystery religions. The Marine Corps is an mystery to all other military branches. You must be initiated into the Marines through Boot Camp to understand what it takes to have the right stuff. Marines are stewards of the mysteries of becoming an member of the Corps. In the Bible we are given seven mysteries of God. I will give them to you but have not the time or space to give an in depth study on each one. Therefore, you must do the study yourselves to see if those things be true. Now, they used that word mystery in the New Testament to refer to those who are going to be initiated into the secrets of God. Now, you’ll see the word used by Jesus in that way, in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Matthew. He says: Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but to them it is not given. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing don’t see, and hearing they don’t hear. You are going to be initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. To them, they are not going to be initiated. They can’t see and they can’t hear. But you, you’re going to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. Now, may I take one other in explaining that word? Paul’s use of it here in the second chapter of the first Corinthian letter. Now you are going to have a good explanation of it here in this second chapter of the first Corinthian letter: And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony, the oracles of God, the secrets of God, the revelations of God, the mysteries of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified…And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. The Greek word teleios is used for perfect and does not mean without sin and it refers to one of those who has been initiated into the mystery religion and is not a novice or babe in Christ who needs to be fed with milk any longer. “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are teleios, that are initiated into the religion.” 1) The first mystery is the mystery of the incarnation. 1Timothy 3:16, That’s the mystery of the incarnation. “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” That the mystery of the coming of the Son of God in the flesh: “manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels.” The angels, Peter said, “desired to look into this thing” and they wondered. They didn’t know what God was going to do. They just watched and looked in awe. And when He was born in Bethlehem, for just a moment the curtain was pulled back and there the amazing presence of the angels of God as they beheld the wonder of this child incarnate. And the angels who ministered to Him in the wilderness, and the angels who ministered to Him in Gethsemane, and they were with the Lord in the days of His passion, said Jesus, “Put up your sword; if I were to say the word, there’d be a legion of angels.” “Seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,” most amazing thing, this thing of people turning to the gospel of Christ, “believed on in the world, received up into glory,” that’s the first revealed mystery of God; the mystery of the incarnation, the full gospel of the Son of Man. 2) The second mystery revealed to the apostle Paul: Colossians 1:25-28, Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man teleios in Christ Jesus. Paul says his task is “to teach the people the wisdom of God that we may present every man teleios before the Lord;” that you might know the great secrets and the great revelations and the great meanings of the Word of God. Now, when your religion stops at John 3:16 and that’s all you know about it Paul says that’s not it, that’s not it. These initiations into the great mysteries of God, we are to know them. We are to love them. We ought to understand them. We ought to desire the meat of the word and have an unquenchable hunger and thirst after them. We ought to grow in knowledge, in spiritual discernment, “not being fed with milk as babes all our lives, but ready to eat strong meat” [1 Corinthians 3:1-2]. Step out of the safety of the boat into the storm and deep water with the Lord. Get out there. The Lord likes it. Simon Peter said, “Lord if it’s You, let me come, let me walk on the water. And Jesus said, “Fine, I like a faith that’ll get over the board of the ship and walk on the water” This mystery, whom we preach, warning and teaching all wisdom, that we may present everyone teleios in Christ Jesus, fully initiated into all of the great truths of the Son of God. [Colossians 1:28] This is the mystery of the new birth, the mystery Christ dwelling in you, the mystery of being born again, the mystery of how we get to be a member of the household of faith and a member of the body of Christ. Oh, Nicodemus, when he heard Jesus talk about that mystery, Nicodemus said, “How could such a thing be? And Jesus said, Art thou a master in Israel, art thou,” the Greek is didaskalos, the teacher in Israel, and you don’t know these things, you’re not initiated into these wisdoms?” [John 3:10] The mystery of Christ in us, regeneration, born again, members of the household of faith. 3) The third mystery is the mystery of the church. Ephesians 3:1-10. How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery, Whereby when ye read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, but is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. That the Gentiles and the Jews were to be together in a church, an organism called the church; a thing that was hid from the old prophets and the old seers, and they never saw it, this long distance of time between the sufferings of Christ and the glory of Christ, and the dispensation of grace in between; what we call the church age. That was a mystery. It was something they didn’t see. It was hidden in the heart and counsels of God until time came for it to be revealed. That’s the third mystery, the mystery of the church; that Jew and Gentile should be together in one great body called the church. 4) The fourth mystery is of the blindness of Israel. And that is discussed in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Romans. I lived on a Kibbutz for an couple of months in Israel with the most devout Jews who would visit the wailing wall three times a day and pray but were so blind to what God wanted for them. Here is the most devout Jew that you ever could sit by. And he loves the Bible, the Old Testament, and the prophets, and the law, and he loves God’s Word, and he reads the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and he doesn’t see Jesus, and he’s not converted. The most mystifying of all of the things in this world: those devout people who worship Jehovah God and reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 11:25, 26, I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. But when that day comes, when that day comes, all Israel shall be saved. Would you ever know that by looking at Israel, not me but it’s a mystery and secret of God. Isaiah 59 21,20, There shall come out of a Zion a Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant, I will remember them for the fathers’ sakes. I will not cast away My people. I made a covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and I’ll keep it says the Lord God. That’s a mystery that’s in the heart of God. Human reason would never know it; that’s the fourth one. 5) The fifth mystery is the translation of the church. When that final day comes, when the last one is added to the body of Christ, the fifth mystery is the mystery of the translation of the church. That’s 1 Corinthians 15:50-58, this is the mystery of the translation of the church. Its called the rapture of the church. “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. But, I show you a mystery, I show you a mystery;” that is, this is something you’d never know. It’s a secret hid in God you’d never find out, it’s a revelation of God. “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep.” We’re not all going to die, “but we shall all be changed, transfigured, translated. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.” 6) The sixth mystery is the revelation of the anti-Christ; the mystery of iniquity. In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-9, the sixth mystery is revealed. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon shaken or troubled,” don’t you be discouraged, don’t you be, brother we’re going to win this thing; yes, we are. “Let no man deceive you: that day will not come, except, that day will come when there’s a great falling away, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitting in a temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 7) The seventh mystery is the mystery of the bride of Christ, the bride of Christ, the church, the bride of Christ. Now that’s in Ephesians 5:22-32. “Wives,” then he speaks of the wife and her husband; “As the husband is the head of the wife, so Christ is the head of the church. Husbands, as Christ loved the church, gave Himself for it,” and so on. Now, the thirty-second verse, “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and His church,” the bride of Christ, His church. Revelation 21:9,10,11, And the angel came unto me and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The last, the seventh mystery revealed to Paul is the mystery of the bride of Christ. Adorned, decked out, dressed for the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:5-7 It’s going to be Satan, incarnate right here before us. Remember not, I told you these things? And know ye what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth, will let until he be taken out of the way. Talking about the Holy Spirit, the reason that thing doesn’t come to pass right now, the reason the mystery of iniquity, the anti-Christ, Satan doesn’t possess us now is because of the restraining power of the Holy Spirit. Were it not for the restraining power of the Holy Spirit in this world, this world would be vile like it was before the days of the flood. But when he’s taken out, then that mystery of iniquity that now is, the anti-Christ, the son of perdition, the man of sin will be revealed. MARANATHA!
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 16:28:30 +0000
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