The Hexapla Of Mystery

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, DECEMBER 22, 1872,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And 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." 1 Timothy 3:16.

THE Apostle tells us in the preceding verse that the Lord has a double
design in maintaining His Church in the world. The first is that it may
be the place of His abode, for the Church of the living God is "the
house of God," the home wherein He reveals Himself unto His own
children, the resting place of His love which He has of old appointed.
Jehovah still inhabits the praises of Israel and still He fulfills His
promise to His chosen, "I will dwell in them and walk in them." (2 Cor.
6:16). Blessed is the Church which has realized this first design of
God and so has continued to enjoy the Lord's Presence and power. May we
in this place be a building fitly framed together and grow unto a holy
temple in the Lord, for a habitation of God through the Spirit.

God's next purpose in sustaining a Church in the world is that it may
preserve and uphold His Truth among men, for the Church of the living
God is "the pillar and ground of the Truth." The Gospel must be
believed, practiced and proclaimed by men of God or it will not have
power. God does not trust the conservation of His Truth to books, or to
the most accurately written creeds, or to some one person supposed to
be infallible–He puts the incorruptible Seed into the hearts of His
chosen and in such good soil its vitality and its growth secure its
preservation. Even the inspired Word, as a letter, has small power till
it gains a lodging place for the Truth in a warm heart–and then it
grows and yields fruit till its boughs spread far and wide and its
seeds are wafted on the wings of every wind to spring up on the hills
and among the valleys where none had looked for them.

As long as one copy of the Holy Scriptures remains in the world we
shall have the pure Truth of God among us, but it will be like an
unplanted seed. For the propagation of the Gospel, human voices are
required–for the establishment and confirmation of it among men, human
lives are needed. And God intends that His Gospel shall be set forth
and held up, published, defended, maintained and supported in the world
by His Church–not alone by His ministers, nor by a hierarchical
establishment–but by the entire company of faithful men and women! To
the sacramental host of His elect has He committed the banner of the
Truth which they are always to unfold and carry on by the power of His
Spirit, from victory to victory. In this sense, the Church of the
living God is and ever must be, "the pillar and ground of the Truth."
Let us take care, in our measure, to make her so.

While dealing with this question, it was most fitting for the Apostle
to tell us what the Truth is and now is the most proper time for each
one of us to learn what are the vital and essential Truths which the
Church of God is forever to maintain. Our text is, for this reason,
deeply interesting. It deals not with questionable and debatable
topics, but with things verily and, indeed, received among us. Its
testimony is short but weighty. We cannot spare a single word from it
and it would be a crime to add anything to it.

The Apostle calls it a "mystery," and so, indeed, it is for exceeding
greatness of meaning, but not for obscurity of language, for it is as
plain as it is full. Neither is it a mystery because it speaks of
recondite opinions or philosophical theories, for it deals only with
facts and is an historical summary of actual occurrences. Observe that
the comprehensive summary of the Gospel here given is contained in six
little sentences which run with such regularity of measure in the
original Greek that some have supposed them to be an ancient hymn. And
it is possible that they may have been used as such in the early
Church.

There is a poetic form about the six sentences. You are aware, of
course, that the Orientals do not consider it essential to sacred
Psalms and hymns that they should resound with jingling rhymes–we are
the slaves of mere sound in

that respect, but they are free. Their fashion of verse-making has more
respect to the sense than ours and lies, as a rule, very much in
introducing pleasant parallels and contrasts. These you have here,
whether the six paragraphs are verses of a hymn or not. Note that
"manifest in the flesh" is contrasted with "justified in the spirit."
"Seen of angels," who are nearest to the Throne of God, is fitly set by
the side of "preached unto the Gentiles," who stand at the opposite
pole and are far off. And then the third duplicate is made up of the
evident opposites, "believed on in the world," "received up into
glory." Thus, all through, the lights and shades are set over against
each other by evident design.

Moreover, you will perceive an equally plain parallelism if you will
read attentively. The first two stanzas deal with the revealing of the
Lord Jesus–He is manifest in the flesh and He is yet more fully made
manifest by being justified in the Spirit. Then follows a making known
of the Lord by sight to angels and by hearing to the Gentiles. And in
the third pair of lines there is a twofold reception–the one by Grace
among men who believe and the other into His actual glory in Heaven.
Add to all this that pairs are also discernable in the first and last,
the second and fourth and the two middle lines.

Just for an instant notice that the first clause of the series deals
with Christ's descent and the last with His ascent. The second and the
fifth are both intensely spiritual and the third and fourth have to do
with the senses only. Thus you find another set of parallels whose
existence can hardly be a mere accident. Note this, for it teaches us
that our memories need to be helped and strengthened in every way and
so it is well to have condensed Truth to carry about with us and
exceedingly advantageous to us to have it arranged in such a shape that
we are likely to recollect it. The Apostle has been led by the Spirit
to give us goodly words helping our infirmities–of this help we should
gratefully avail ourselves to the utmost.

If we are somewhat instructed in the Word we have here an example of
practical usefulness. We may for ourselves and for others, especially
for the young, try to put the Truth of God into forms which will help
it to retain its hold upon the memory. I shall call my text a hexapla
of essential Truth, a six-fold mystery of godliness. You have six great
points clearly set forth before you and these constitute the main, the
essential elements of our holy faith which the Church of God is forever
to set forth and uphold to the end of time. The Apostle has said,
"without controversy great is the mystery of godliness." When he says
"without controversy," I suppose he means that there ought to be no
controversy about these facts though controversies have arisen
concerning them and always will, since the most self-evident Truth of
God will always find self-evident fools to contradict it!

He means that in the Church of God, at any rate, there is no question
about these fundamentals. Outside of the Church these statements are
denied, but inside the house of God no one ever questions them for a
moment–and he who does so is by that very act proven to have no part
nor lot in the matter. Without controversy all Christians agree that
these are Truths of God and also that they are no trifles, but involve
a mystery–a great mystery–that is to say they were things hidden in
themselves and so concealed that reason could not have found them out.
And even now, though they are revealed, they concern matters so vast
and so profound that none of us comprehend them fully–and the best
instructed scribe in the kingdom recognizes in them infinite deeps
which he cannot hope fully to explore.

The facts are unquestioned by the Church of God and are without dispute
among the faithful, regarded as containing in their inner depths a
world of weighty meaning, even the great mystery of godliness. Have you
ever noticed that there are six New Testament mysteries? There may be
more, but these six are the chief. The first is the mystery of the
Incarnation, which is now before us–"Great is the mystery of
godliness, God was manifest in the flesh." The next is the mystery of
the union of Christ with His Church, of which we read, in Ephesians
5:31, 32, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and
shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is
a great mystery: but

1 speak concerning Christ and the Church." Thrice blessed union with
Jesus, may our souls find their Heaven in Your holy mystery–

"Oh teach us, Lord, to know and own This wondrous mystery, That You
with us are truly ONE, And we are ONE with You!"

The third mystery is the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles, to
which Paul refers in Ephesians 3:4-6, where he says, "Whereby, when you
read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ; 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 should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of
His promise in Christ by the Gospel." Herein we have a joyful portion
for which we can never be too grateful.

The fourth mystery concerns the Jews and deals with the restoration of
Israel, whom we ought to remember with abounding sympathy and brotherly
love. Of this you will read in Romans 11:25, 26: "For I would not,
brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should
be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to
Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. And so all
Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob."

For a fifth mystery I would bid you remember the doctrine of the
removal of corruption from the body and of its resurrection as spoken
of in the famous passage, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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 be changed." And then,
alas, to close the list, there is that mystery of iniquity which began
to work so soon and works yet more and more of evil.

Our text, then, is one of six mysteries, but it has this preeminence
that it is a great mystery. It is called, "the mystery of godliness,"
because it most intimately concerns a godly life. Those who receive it
in their hearts become thereby godly men and, moreover, it builds up
Believers in godliness and is to them a grand motive for the reverent
love and holy fear of the Lord their God. Let so much as we have
already spoken stand for our preface, and let us now, by the Holy
Spirit's aid, consider one by one the six branches of the mystery which
is now before us.

I. The first sentence is, "GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH." I believe
that our version is the correct one, but the most fierce battles have
been held over this sentence. It is asserted that the word Theos is a
corruption for "Os" so that, instead of reading, "God was manifest in
the flesh," we should read, "who was manifest in the flesh." There is
very little occasion for fighting about this matter, for if the text
does not say, "God was manifest in the flesh," who does it say was
manifest in the flesh?

Either a man, or an angel, or a devil. Does it tell us that a man was
manifest in the flesh? Assuredly that cannot be its teachings, for
every man is manifest in the flesh and there is no sense whatever in
making such a statement concerning any mere man and then calling it a
mystery! Was it an angel, then? But what angel was ever manifest in the
flesh? And if he were, would it be at all a mystery that he should be
"seen of angels?" Is it a wonder for an angel to see an angel? Can it
be that the devil was manifest in the flesh? If so, he has been
"received up into glory," which, let us hope, is not the case.

Well, if it was neither a man, nor an angel, nor a devil–who was
manifest in the flesh? Surely He must have been God! And so, if the
word is not there, the sense must be there or else nonsense. We believe
that if criticism should grind the text in a mill, it would get out of
it no more and no less than the sense expressed by our grand old
version. God Himself was manifest in the flesh! What a mystery is this!
A mystery of mysteries! God the Invisible was manifest! God the
Spiritual dwelt in flesh! God the Infinite, uncontained, boundless, was
manifest in the flesh!

What infinite leagues our thought must traverse between Godhead
self-existent and, therefore, full of power and self-sufficiency,
before we have descended to the far-down level of poor flesh which is
as grass at its best and dust in its essence! Where can we find a
greater contrast than between God and flesh? And yet the two are
blended in the Incarnation of the Savior! God was manifest in the
flesh. Truly God, not God humanized, but God as God! He was manifest in
real flesh. Not in manhood deified and made superhuman, but in actual
flesh–

"Oh joy! There sits in our death,

Upon a throne of light,

One of a human mother born,

In perfect Godhead bright!

Forever God, forever Man,

My Jesus shall endure;

And fixed on Him,

My hope remains

Eternally secure."

Matchless Truth of God! Let the Church never fail to set it forth, for
it is essential to the world's salvation that this doctrine of the
Incarnation be fully known. O my Brothers and Sisters, since it is,
"without controversy," let us not controvert but sit down and feed upon
it! What a miracle of condescension is here, that God should manifest
Himself in

flesh! It needs not so much to be preached upon as to be pondered in
the heart. It needs that you sit down in quiet and consider how He who
made you became like you–He who is your God became your brother Man.
He who is adored of angels once lay in a manger! He who feeds all
living things hungered and was thirsty. He who oversees all worlds as
God, was, as a Man, made to sleep, to suffer and to die like
yourselves!

This is a statement not easily to be believed. If He had not been
beheld by many witnesses, so that men handled Him, looked upon Him and
heard Him speak, it were a thing not readily to be accepted that so
Divine a Person should be manifest in flesh. It is a wonder of
condescension! And it is a marvel, too, of benediction, for God's
manifestation in human flesh conveys a thousand blessings to us.
Bethlehem's star is the morning star of hope to Believers. Now man is
nearest to God. Never was God manifest in angel nature, but He is
manifest in flesh. Now, between poor puny man that is born of a woman
and the infinite God, there is a bond of union of the most wonderful
kind. God and Man in one Person is the Lord Jesus Christ!

This brings our manhood near to God and by so doing it ennobles our
nature–it lifts us up from the dunghill and sets us among
princes–while at the same time it enriches us by endowing our manhood
with all the glory of Christ Jesus in whom dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily! Lift up your eyes, you down-trodden sons of man! If
you are men you have a brotherhood with Christ, and Christ is God! O
you who have begun to despise yourselves and think that you are merely
sent to be drudges upon and slaves of sin, lift up your heads and look
for redemption in the Son of Man who has broken the captives' bonds!

If you are Believers in the Christ of God, then you are also the
children of God and if children then heirs–heirs of God, joint heirs
with Jesus Christ! What a fullness of consolation there is in this
Truth, as well as of benediction, for if the Son of God is Man, then He
understands me and will have a fellow feeling for me. He knows my
unfitness to worship sometimes–He knows my tendencies to grow weary
and dull–He knows my pains, my trials and my griefs–

"He knows what fierce temptations mean, For He has felt the same."

Man, truly Man, yet sitting at the right hand of the Father, You, O
Savior, are the delight of my soul! Is there not the richest comfort in
this for you, the people of God? And, besides, there is instruction,
too, for God was manifest in the flesh. And if you desire to see God,
you must see Him in Christ Jesus.

It does not say God was veiled in the flesh, though under certain
aspects that might be true, but God was "manifest in the flesh." The
brightness of the sun might put out our eyes if we gazed upon it and we
must look through dark glasses and then the sun is manifested to us. So
the excessive glory of the infinite Godhead cannot be borne by our
mind's eyes till it comes into communication and union with the nature
of man and then God is manifest to us. My Soul, never try to gaze upon
an absolute God–the brightness will blind your eyes–even our God is a
consuming fire! Ask not to see God in fire in the bush, nor God in
lightning upon Mount Sinai–be satisfied to see God in the Man Christ
Jesus, for there God is manifested!

Not all the glory of the sky and of the sea, nor the wonders of
Creation or Providence can set forth the Deity as does the Son of Mary,
who from the manger went to the Cross and from the Cross to the
tomb–and from the tomb to His Eternal Throne. Behold, now, the Lamb of
God, for God is manifest in Him! People of God, look nowhere else for
God! I shall leave the point when I have asked a personal question.
Have we, each one of us, seen God in Christ Jesus? Remember, this is
essential to salvation! We speak not now that which is harsh or
severe–we only speak that which is honest and true. If you rebel
against it we can still say no less. You cannot be right anywhere
unless you are right about the Person of the Lord Jesus!

If you do not accept Him as the Son of God He cannot be a Savior to
you. And without Him for a Savior you are as surely lost as you are
born, whatever profession you may make. I trust we can say, many of us,
"Yes, Jesus Christ is to us Lord, to the glory of God the Father and we
worship Him and obey Him, putting all our trust in Him and rendering
our adoration to Him." If you are not now His worshippers, may the
blessed Spirit bring you to Jesus and not suffer you to attempt to go
to the Father first, for the Lord Jesus has told us, "no man comes unto
the Father but by Me." May you go to the Throne of God by the way of
the Cross, for that is the only way–and may you go by that road at
once.

II. The second clause concerns our Lord's vindication by the Spirit. He
who was "manifest in the flesh" was also "JUSTIFIED IN THE SPIRIT."
When our Lord came in human flesh and declared to be the Son of God
there were many

reasons why His statement would be doubted, for He came in such
poverty, weakness and disrepute. In any case, the appearance of God in
flesh would need great proof, but the circumstances which surrounded
our Savior were such as to cast, especially in carnal minds, great
doubt upon His pretensions.

Our Lord, however the flesh might seem to cloud His claims, was
"justified in the Spirit," which may mean, and perhaps does, that His
spiritual Nature as Man was so elevated by His Godhead that it
abundantly justified His claim to be the Son of God. What a spirit was
His for purity and dignity! What nobility ever came near to His? What a
mind was His! What wisdom dwelt in Him! Even as a Child He baffled
Rabbis and as a Man He confounded all who would entrap Him in His
speech. Was there ever such teaching as His? Listen to Him and you feel
that the spirit which flashes from those eyes and distils from those
lips justifies His claim to be the Son of the Highest.

Hearken, also, to His words of command when His Godhead glows through
His Humanity and proves Him Divine. He speaks and it is done. He
commands and it stands fast. At His bidding waves sleep and winds
rest–pain flees, strength returns, health smiles–and death lives! Has
not His spiritual Nature, by deeds so astounding, fully justified Him?
And see, dear Friends, how He was justified–not only by His own
spirit, which worked beyond the reach and compass of all other
spirits–but He was justified by the Holy Spirit which rested upon Him
without measure and made His human spirit strong.

It was this anointing which made Him the chief of all Prophets,
teachers and revealers of the mind of God. All who heard Him confessed
His unrivalled power, even when they resisted it. The Spirit of God
bore witness in Him–His words were full of unction. The Spirit of God
bore witness with Him–His words went to men's hearts. The Spirit of
God bore witness to Christ and justified all His claims at the time of
His Baptism, when out of the excellent Glory there appeared the form of
a dove and a voice cried out of Heaven, "This is My beloved Son." That
same Spirit justified Him audibly again in His Transfiguration. But
silently and yet more evidently the seal of God was always on Him–the
Spirit witnessed to Him everywhere. Only blind eyes, blinded by hate,
refused to see the Divine light which hung about His every word and
act, as radiance enrobes a star!

Above all, our Lord's claims were justified by the Spirit in His
Resurrection, when He was "declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead."
Nor less so when, after 40 days, He was received up into Glory and the
Spirit of God justified all that Christ had said by coming down like a
rushing mighty wind and cloven tongues of fire and resting upon His
disciples. If Christ had not risen from the dead He would have been a
convicted impostor. And after His rising from the dead, if the Spirit
of God had not been given, His claim would still have remained under a
cloud!

But now it is clear that, "He has ascended on high and received gifts
for men, yes, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell
among them," for the scattering of the Spirit of God among men was that
promised largess which our mighty Conqueror distributed among His
people when He entered upon the possession of His crown. The Holy
Spirit has justified Christ! This is a part of the testimony of the
Church–that Christ's claims are to be justified by the spirit of His
teaching and also by the Holy Spirit whose supernatural power will
accompany the proclamation of the Gospel.

Now, let the Church always stand to this. I am afraid we are on wrong
ground when we begin to defend the Gospel by mere reason. The true
defense of the Gospel is the Spirit of Christ–Jesus is justified in
the Spirit–and needs no other justification. O, Brethren, if we
exhibit the Spirit of Christ we shall answer ridiculers and if the
Spirit of God rests on the ministry of the Church, ridiculers will
cease to ridicule! They will see her glory and they will be ashamed.

The Holy Spirit is our strength, our glory, the abiding witness that
our great Leader is Lord and God. Brethren, has the Holy Spirit ever
justified Christ in your soul? He has come to save–has the Holy Spirit
revealed Him as your Savior? He has come to blot out sin–has the Holy
Spirit ever revealed Him in all His power to pardon you? This is the
sure vindication of Christ–your own personal experience of His
preciousness and His power! If the Holy Spirit has given you that, none
can confuse you! But if you have it not you lack the one thing
necessary. God grant you may not lack it long!

III. The third clause of our hexapla is, "SEEN OF ANGELS." This is an
important point, for angels had waited to see the Lord, patiently
gazing on the Mercy Seat. There had been rumors in Heaven of this
mystery of the manifold wisdom of God but they had not understood it.
And it is now in Christ that the mystery of Incarnate God has been
revealed to them. If I may say so, the brightness of the Godhead had
confused even the angels. They were not able to see God, but when God
came and manifested Himself in the flesh, then God was seen of angels.

The Godhead was seen in Christ by angels as they had never seen it
before. They had beheld the attribute of justice. They had seen the
attribute of power. They had marked the attribute of wisdom and seen
the prerogative of sovereignty. But never had angels seen love,
condescension, tenderness and pity in God as they saw these things
resplendent in the Person and the life of Christ! They were astounded
to think that God was such a One. They knew Him to be thrice holy, for
they had chanted, "Holy, holy, holy," in their perpetual song. But they
did not know Him to be Love–essential Love–as they knew it when they
saw that, "He spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for
us all."

The angels, seeing God thus manifest in flesh, ministered to Him. They
watched around the manger. They were messengers to His foster parent to
warn him of intended evil to the Child. And they waited on the Redeemer
in the desert of His temptation. One of their number strengthened Him
in the garden. Another rolled away the stone from His grave, while
others sat at the head and foot of the sepulcher where Jesus had lain.
I doubt not it is true as we sang just now–

"They brought His chariot from above, To bear Him to His Throne;
Clapped their triumphant wings, and cried, 'The glorious work is
done.'"

Jesus was alone seen of angels and this is one reason why they sing so
sweetly of Him–why they tune their notes so heartily to the song,
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," for they saw Him live and
die–they saw Him labor and suffer and therefore is their song so vivid
and so full of adoration. "You were slain," they sing, though they
cannot add, "and have redeemed us unto God by Your blood."

Now the joy of this truth lies here–it brings the angel host near to
us, for they saw Jesus and waited on Him and we see Him and therefore
our eyes and the angels' eyes meet upon the Person of Christ. We have
one common love, one common Lord–and now the ministering spirits that
waited upon Him are ready to wait upon us. They love the members for
the sake of the Head. Beloved, we rejoice this day to know that Christ
is Head of angels and principalities and powers, as well as Head of His
Church! And so, in Him broken unity is restored and the household of
God is one in Him. Angelic eyes beheld and loved–they still love and
wonder. Fair spirits, charmed with the beauty of our Bridegroom, you
rejoice with us and make it your delight to swell His train!

One question and we leave this point. Have you ever seen Jesus? He was
seen of angels. Have your eyes ever seen Him–your inner, spiritual
eyes? If not, the Lord help you this morning to look unto Him and be
saved! It is nothing that He was seen of angels unless He is seen of me
also, even as of one born out of due time. O, to see Him as my Savior,
my All and rest in Him! This is the main business. May God grant us
that gladness!

IV. Briefly, the fourth part of the great mystery does not look, at
first sight, to be at all mysterious. There is much of mystery in the
facts that God was "manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, and
seen of angels." But the next appears very commonplace–"PREACHED UNTO
THE GENTILES." Yet it is not without a marvel. Those who reflect will
see a great mystery of Grace in it. Until Christ came, nothing was
"preached to the Gentiles." They were accounted dogs, and few were the
crumbs that fell to them from the Master's table! But after our Lord
had ascended on high He was proclaimed to the Gentiles.

To a Jew, especially, this would seem a very strange thing. The Jew
thought that if the Gentile perished it was but a matter of course–but
for the Gentiles to be visited with the Gospel was strange, indeed!
That God should work effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the
circumcision was to them readily a matter of faith. But that the same
should be equally mighty in Paul towards the Gentiles was incredible!
Well, blessed be God, you and I are partakers in this mystery, for we
have heard and believed the love which God has toward us! We are
Gentiles, also, but unto us has the Gospel been preached as well as
unto the ancient people! Yes, and we have been more highly favored than
they, for at this day more are the children of the desolate than the
children of the married wife.

God has multiplied the seed of Abraham after the Spirit among the
Gentiles, whereas the seed of Abraham after the flesh have, in these
times, rejected the Savior. Rejoice then, in the mystery that Christ is
preached among the Gentiles! Mark you, preached! For He is to be set
forth in that manner. The Church is ever to maintain this great,
incontrovertible mystery that the setting forth of Christ to the
Gentiles is to be by preaching and not by any other means of man's
devising. Suppose I could take my pencil, now, and draw the Savior with
such matchless skill that a Raffaelle or a Titian could not rival me?
God has never ordained that Christ should so be set forth to the
Gentiles.

Or, suppose I should perform the ceremony of the "mass" with all the
exactness and with all the gorgeousness which the church of Rome would
require? Such a setting forth of Christ among the Gentiles would not be
according to the Divine mystery. Christ is to be preached among the
Gentiles! The appointed way of manifesting the Incarnate God to the
sons of men is by preaching–the Church must always maintain this! The
strongest castle of the walls of Zion for offense and defense must
always be the pulpit. God is pleased by the foolishness of preaching to
save them that believe!

I hate to see, as I do sometimes in certain modern buildings, the
pulpit stuck in the corner and the altar in the most conspicuous place.
The altar of sacrifice, indeed! The place of defilement and remembrance
of sin–how come is that in the holy place at all? God has never
ordained it to be there! Where in Holy Scripture have we mention of a
material altar in the assemblies of Believers? Our only altar is the
spiritual Altar of our Lord's Person, whereof they have no right to eat
that serve the tabernacle of outward forms of rites and ceremonies.
Altars belong to Jews and heathens and even they never bow before them!
None but your Popish idolaters have fallen so low as that!

The most prominent agency in the Church of God is the preaching of
Christ–this is the trumpet of Heaven and the battering ram of Hell! By
this door salvation comes, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God–and how shall they hear without a preacher? God's way
of creating faith in men's hearts is not by pictures, music, or
symbols, but by the hearing of the Word of God! This may seem a strange
thing–but strange let it seem, for it is a mystery–and a great
mystery, but a fact beyond all controversy! Let the Church forever
maintain that Christ is to be preached unto the Gentiles!

A part of the greatness of the mystery lies in the persons who preached
the Gospel. It was a strange thing that Jesus should be preached unto
the Gentiles by unlearned and ignorant men. One of the Apostles, it is
true, was of another class, but he declares that he never preached with
excellency of speech. He declared that in all simplicity he laid bare
the mystery of God in plain language. It was wonderful that Christ
should be preached unto the Gentiles so rapidly. It was but the other
day the 120 were in the upper room and within a few years there was no
part of the civilized globe which had not heard the name of Jesus! They
had penetrated Scythia. They had subdued the barbarians–their only
weapon being the Cross!

They had triumphed at Athens, in the stronghold of classic learning.
They had passed into Rome and set up the Cross amidst the luxurious
vices of the capital. No place was untrodden by the Christian
missionary and no place was unaffected by the power of the Gospel which
he preached. This is a great mystery–may the Lord repeat the mystery
again and again! O that preaching might once again be recognized to be
God's power unto salvation and used everywhere–in the Church, in the
lecture hall, in the street–in foreign lands and at home! The voice of
the Truth of God in the preaching of Jesus is the great power of God!

One question here, and we leave it–Have you reverently heard the
Gospel? For there goes with the declaration that God saves through
preaching, the warning, "Take heed how you hear." If God waits to bless
by hearing, woe unto the men who hear inattentively and
disrespectfully! Woe unto the hearers who are not doers of the Word! A
responsibility goes with hearing and God grant that you may be obedient
hearers so that we who preach may give a good account of you at the
last–that our ministry may not have been in vain–but may have been to
you the voice of God to your salvation.

V. And now the fifth part of the mystery is a very remarkable one. Like
that which preceded, it does not appear to be mysterious on the
surface, but it is so–"BELIEVED ON IN THE WORLD." This is the most
glorious of all the six points, this wonderful fact that Jesus is
"believed on in the world." Why, when the humble preachers first went
out to tell of Jesus, their story was so strange you could not imagine
that any would believe it! And then the doctrines that they taught were
so contrary to all the prejudices of flesh and blood, so humbling to
human pride, so insulting to all our self-esteem that it was not
probable that men would accept them!

And the world, too, what a world it was! It was steeped up to its
throat in cruelty, in vice, in luxury, in sins infamous and
unmentionable–and was it likely that a pure Savior with a perfect
doctrine like His would find followers? But He did–He was "believed on
in the world." Why, I think the first preachers must have been ready to
leap for joy when they found that men believed them! If I had been
Peter, I should scarcely have slept for joy for many a night if I had
found 3,000 willing to believe my testimony and willing to be baptized
into Christ! And Paul–oh, I thinks with all his sorrows, he must have
been a very happy man–must have been struck with wonder to see that
though he went into

idolatrous lands to tell this new, strange and incredible story, yet in
every place there were found men or women who received it joyfully!

Hark well that the Church is bound to maintain this mystery–that it is
by believing in Christ that the efficacy of His Sacrifice comes to men.
The mystery is not that Christ is served in the world, that is not put
here–nor that Christ is worshipped in the world, that is not the first
point–those things will be sure to follow. But the vital mystery is
that Christ is "believed on in the world," that is to say, trusted as
the Savior! Men leave all other trusts and trust in Him! They give up
their self-righteousness. They leave their vaunted sacraments. They
forsake all ways and modes of self-salvation and come and trust in
Christ–this is the great mystery!

"Well," says one, "I do not see that there is a mystery in it." Have
you ever believed in Jesus yourself, beloved Friend? If you have, you
will say, "this is the finger of God." Belief in Jesus is as great a
work of Divine power as the making of this globe. One of the visitors
to this place lately said, "I am willing to be a Believer if the
preacher can persuade me." Very likely, but no preacher can create true
faith–it needs a mightier power than the preacher's, even the power of
the Holy Spirit! God gives to His elect the blessing of faith and
others willfully remain in unbelief. Faith, simple as it is, is
supernatural, Divine and not to be attained by human aid, nor human
eloquence. They who have it know that it is a blessed mystery, this
believing on Jesus Christ in the world. Have you this faith? Do you
believe in Jesus? Everything else in my text leads up to this.

If He is manifest in the flesh, what is that unless I believe in Him?
What if He is justified in the Spirit? What is that unless faith in Him
justifies me? What if He is seen of angels, how does that help me
unless I see Him, too? And even if He is preached among the Gentiles,
that does but involve greater guilt upon my soul if, after hearing, I
have not believed in Him. O dear Hearers, I may not speak to you much
longer and every time that I am kept away from addressing you I feel a
deep anxiety that by some means my preaching may be made effectual to
your salvation. Many of you have believed in my Lord–this is my
comfort–but, on the other hand, how many there are who still hear, and
hear, and hear, and that is all? How long will you wait? How long will
you cause me to labor for nothing? No one is so worth trusting as the
Savior is and nothing is so true as that He came to save sinners!

VI. The last point of the Church's witness is that Jesus was "RECEIVED
UP INTO GLORY." Only this word about it–He was so received because His
work is finished. He would never have gone into His Glory if He had not
finished all His toil. He would have accepted no reward had He not
fully earned it. My Soul, do you believe that Christ is received up
into Glory? That will let you know that you are resting in a finished
work, an Atonement which has put away all sin, a satisfaction which has
made all Believers accepted in the Beloved. He has gone into Glory,
thus He is personally rewarded.

And moreover, He has thus representatively taken possession of all that
He has purchased. Is Christ in Glory? Then the Believer is in
Glory–not literally but in his Covenant Head. What Christ takes
possession of He claims in our name–"I go to prepare a place for you."
O you who sorrow over the present, rejoice also, for even now at this
moment Heaven is yours–your Jesus has taken possession in your name!
And oh, it is joyous to know that our great Lord is eternally exalted!
If He were not exalted what comfort could we have? He is received up
into Glory!

Men say He is not God–they cannot hurt Him, for He is received up into
Glory! They revile His Gospel–they cannot dim the luster of His crown,
He is received up into Glory! They would gladly slay His people if they
could, but He is received up into Glory! They struggle and they strive
against His cause and would gladly overthrow it–but O, what does it
matter? He is everlastingly exalted and He will shortly come–that same
Jesus who was received into Glory shall so come, in like manner as He
was seen to go up into Heaven!

Here are great wells of comfort! He has gone to His Glory and has taken
to Himself His great power! But every hour is bringing nearer the time
when He shall lay bare His sword in the midst of His foes and shall
unveil His face in the midst of His friends! Let us rejoice in Him this
day and go our way to bear with all the Church of the living God the
six-fold testimony of our text concerning our precious Savior. Amen.
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The Essence of Simplicity