The central claim in the passage is that 1 Timothy 3:16 provides a profound summary of the mystery of godliness, focusing on the person and work of Jesus Christ. The sermon unpacks the six clauses of this verse, beginning with Christ's incarnation as God manifest in flesh, emphasizing the virgin birth and his dual nature as both fully God and fully man. It then explores his justification through baptism, temptation, transfiguration, and resurrection, followed by his visibility to angels, his preaching among Gentiles through missionaries like Carey and Livingstone, his belief in the world through the church, and his ultimate reception into glory. The message concludes by urging listeners to recognize Christ's supreme authority and to respond with profound worship and adoration, highlighting him as the climax of Christian teaching and the object of our ultimate devotion.
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We'll read again, please, and first of this was Timothy, chapter three. Verse sixteen. First Timothy three, verse sixteen. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, team of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received us into glory.
There are six statements here concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that I want to occupy our time in speaking about tonight. For the sake of those who haven't been here before, we would just like to say that we have been looking at some of the outstanding doctrines that were given by Paul to Timothy at the end of his life. The two epistles of Timothy are the last epistles that the Apostles Paul wrote. That makes them supremely important. The doctrines that we find in the two epistles of Timothy we find summarized all the teaching of the Apostle Paul. When we consider that Paul was the theologian of the early church, I think what we find in these two officials to a young man at the end of Paul's life, I believe it makes it very, very important that we study them and realize the teaching that's found in them.
Now, the last few nights we've been looking at the teaching of the Apostle Paul concerning the church. And we've been pointing out, first of all, the typology of the passage seems to be taken from Genesis chapter twenty-eight. And I want to point out tonight that this lovely verse, where we get summarized far as the teaching of the Apostle Paul, it also seems to be taken from that passage. We were speaking about a vision that Jacob had, a Bethel. Bethel means the heart of God. He had a vision of a ladder or a staircase, possibly as the word might have been better rendered.
A staircase with its foot upon air on its top reaching right up into heaven. And upon that staircase or ladder, the angels of God were ascending and descending upon it. Now there are two places in the New Testament where that vision is opened up for us. And the first is in the first chapter of the Gospel according to John. You remember Philip, one of those that heard the testimony of the Lord Jesus and was brought to him. You remember Philip, he found his friend, Nathanael, and he testified to him that Jesus of Nazareth was none other than the Messiah. Nathanael, the man without Giles, he said, Can any group come out of Nazareth?
And Philip said, Come and see. And when he came and saw, the Lord Jesus spoke to him. He said, From you were under the fig tree. He said, I saw thee. And the Lord, when he saw him coming, he said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Now, it seems that practically every word there is taken from Genesis twenty-eight. Here a man called Nathaniel, when the Lord speaks to me, he said, Here is an Israelite. That was the new name that was given to Jacob. after the Lord had revealed himself to him. And he said, In whom is no guile? That was the first name that Jacob had. His name means crooked, or a man who was full of guile.
But when the Lord saw Nathaniel, he said, Here's a man who is an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. And then Nathaniel said to the Lord, Whence nor saw me? Or he said, When thou wast unto the fig tree, he said, I saw thee. And apparently what Nathaniel had been doing was sitting onto the fig tree, possibly in a little patio beside his home, and very likely he was reading Genesis twenty-eight. And the Lord showed his wonderful omniscience in being able to read the man's heart and mind. And you remember Nathaniel, he confessed that he was the king of Israel, but he was none other than the Messiah.
Speak very carefully, and I want to speak very soberly tonight. And what we want to look at is the person of the Lord Jesus, first of all, in his incarnation, his manifestation here on earth, and then the angels of God and the relation to the Lord Jesus when he was here on earth. Man that preached among the Gentiles, how that the gospel went out into the four corners of the earth, We find the historical account of that and the Acts of the Apostles believed on in the world, those little companies of New Testament churches that were planted in early apostolic days and are still being carried on today.
And then the final clause we get here is received up in glory. I want you to notice that the terms that we find here are not chronological because we get the incarnation of the commencement we get the attention at the end. And we believe that what we get here is a little form, possibly a fragment of an early Christian hymn. And what we get here is Hebrew parallelism. That is, the first and the last clause, the rhyme and the rhythm with each other. And it's not chronological, but what we get here is a fragment of an early Christian hymn possibly given by some Christian poet, I believe that poet possibly was none other than the Apostle Paul himself.
You know, one thing I've enjoyed during all my life is studying the works of John Nelson Darby. Darby was a wonderful theologian, but while he was a man who not only understood the teaching of the Bible and was able to give it up, unable to write those books that have been a wonderful treasure, a wonderful legacy to the Church of God, but at the same time he was a poet. And some of the lovely hymns that John Nelson Darby left as a legacy to the Church of God are thoroughly enjoyed all my life. Now, I believe that Paul not only was a theologian, the theologian of the early church, but I believe he was a poet as well.
And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he leaves us here a beautiful little poem. And we get it in six terms, a lovely exposition of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Just as a background through the passage, I want you to notice in the two epistles of Timothy, there are two words that are emphasized again and again. And the first word is the faith. The faith. Now that is the body of Christian teaching. Fundamental teaching. The faith. We get that term twelve times in the two epistles. On the other word that we find very frequently used is doctrine or teaching.
That word occurs fourteen times. On six times in the two epistles we get the word song teaching or healthy teaching. The word that the Apostle actually uses here is a medical word. Healthy or wholesome. or sound teaching. You know, if you think about that for a moment, I believe that the fact that Dr. Luke, a medical doctor, was present with the Apostle when he wrote these two epistles very possibly influenced his vocabulary. There are quite a number of occasions in the two epistles where he refers in medical terms to certain conditions among the people of God.
Six times he speaks about wholesome or a healthy teaching. But, you know, he gives us some things, too, that are not healthy and are not wholesome. For instance, in the second official, he speaks about people who have etching ears. The term that he uses there is a medical term. It's a little bit of music. The term that he uses. We were talking last night about an elder being a sober type of a man, not as not being a clown or a comedian. But I believe at the same time the Apostle Paul had a very strong sense of humor. We could easily talk about that for a long time tonight.
And some of the terms that he uses and some of the words that he uses in this vocabulary, it seems to show that he was a man who understood a good deal about the lighter side of life. But he talks here about itching ears. The word that he uses is used in ancient language of a pig. that is a niche at the back of his ear or on its back. And it goes to a tree, the nearest tree or the nearest wall, and it rubs its back up and down the wall, or it rubs its ear up and down the wall because it has an itchy ear. It has a certain form of disease there, and to alleviate it, it rubs its ear up and down the wall or up and down a tree.
That's the word that he uses. And he said there were actually some Christians today who had itchy ears. You know that some people have no use for doctrine at all. If there's anybody who comes along with a tall story or some sensationalism, they're sitting with their mouths wide open ready to take that kind of thing in. But when it comes to healthy or sound teaching, they have an open ear for that. The itchy ear is very prevalent today. Another term that he uses is a person who has a seared conscience or a conscience seared with a red hot iron, a cauterized conscience.
This again is a medical term. In the two epistles, he mentions people's consciences six times. And you know, every time he uses, there's some definite meaning or some purpose behind it. People who have given over having a good conscience And people who had a defiled conscience, he speaks about that. But then he speaks about others who had a conscience seared with a hot iron, a cauterized conscience. That means to say they can just do anything onto the sun and they don't seem to have any conscience about it at all. Then I'm speaking about doctrine. He also uses a term that's used very frequently today.
If it's Their word shall eat as doth a gangrene, a gangrene, or the word that we use today is cancer. You know, I suppose apart from heart trouble, cancer is about the number two killer here in the United States. We have spent thirty-seven years in Africa. We have done a medical work among those primitive people all of that time. On every day we see about a hundred people that come to our dispensary. And in all the years that we have been in Africa, I have only seen one case of cancer among African people. There may be more of it out there that I don't know about, but as far as our experience goes, we see an awful lot of leprosy, and other tropical disease we see, but these diseases of civilization...
that seems to be spreading like a bushfire in this country, we don't see them at all. In thirty-seven years, I have only seen one case of cancer among Africans, and yet to say in this country that one out of eight persons are doomed to die with cancer. You know, wherever you find civilization, wherever you find people who live a civilized life, And the more that civilization develops, some of these diseases, they spread in exactly the same ratio. Now, in the Bible, we read about people whose words shall eat as doth a gangrene, a cancer.
And there you get a condition that's absolutely hopeless. I want to speak a little bit about this tonight, about these awful teachings, these awful doctrines concerning the person of the Lord Jesus. But the Apostle, he warns, is in connection with it. And, beloved friends, today, I do believe that there's one thing that's so necessary among the people of God in every part of the world. It's simple, constructive, constructive teaching of those great fundamental doctrines that are so sadly neglected among the people of God today. You know, sensationalism is not what we need. Or to have our ears tickled.
or anything of that kind, but we need sober, solid, consecutive, constructive teaching of the Word of God, and particularly concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In the early days of the church's history, you find, if you sit down and read about it for a little while, you generally find that the one that was being attacked in those early days was Christ. You know, a generation or two back, A text on the Word of God generally took the form of a text on the person of Moses. There was a man who lived in England, who I suppose about fifty years ago.
His name was Dr. Dale of Birmingham. He wrote a number of very outstanding books. He wrote a classic on the atonement. But Dr. Dale said this. He said, in my day, he said, the controversy is waging around the venerable head of Moses. on the authorship of the Pentateuch and so on. But he said, I venture to predict. He said, just immediately prior to the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the end of the dispensation, he said, the controversy will rage around that one holy head, the holy head of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now, I want us to admit tonight that that's the day in which we live.
We find all kinds of heretical teachings. all kinds of heretical cults, and practically every one of them are wrong as far as the teaching of the person of Christ is concerned. If a person is wrong here, they're wrong everywhere because the great solid foundation of the faith is solidly and firmly based on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to notice the way the Apostle starts off here. He says, without controversy, Great is the mystery of God in it. You know, there are certain things that I think that it's a legitimate thing maybe to have controversy about, to have a difference of opinion about.
There may be certain points concerning prophecy, prophetic teaching, and I think possibly it's a legitimate thing that you may differ from me in the interpretation of certain passages. I don't suppose that we'll see absolutely eye to eye about all the various points concerning the prophetic interpretation of the Scriptures. But here's a thing about which there can be absolutely no compromise. There can be absolutely no controversy concerning this matter. The controversy here is in connection with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice the way the Apostle puts it.
Great is the mystery of godliness. Now, the mystery of godliness is one of the seven mysteries that was committed to the Apostle Paul of the Apostle of the Gentiles, and it has to do with the person, and that person is the person of the Son of God himself. You know, today, everywhere we look, we find people who have very queer ideas about the person of Christ, and if we only examine this passage carefully, all the great fundamental teachings concerning Christ concerning his person of work and work are all comprehended and all summarized and headed up here.
If you think of the teaching of the Apostle Paul on the various epistles, for instance, in the epistle of the Colossians chapter one, we get the deity of Christ, his essential deity. If we were to look at Philippians chapter two, there we get a lovely outline of his perfect, holy, sinless humanity. Philippines chapter two. And again, if we were to turn over to first Corinthians chapter fifteen, we get a lovely outline there of his bodily resurrection. That is the same body in which Christ was crucified upon the cross was the same body in which he rose.
We get that in first Corinthians chapter fifteen. And if we want to look at the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would need to turn over to the Epistles of the Galatians or the Epistles of the Romans, where we get the death, the vicarious, atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ gone into in some detail. And if we want to look at his coming again, we would need to turn over to the two Epistles of Thessalonica, where we get the teaching concerning the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to submit to you that in these six classes, We get a summarization of all these great truths that the Apostle has gone into in the various epistles that he has written.
Here we get them summarized. Here we get an epitome. Here we get them brought into a head in six lovely clauses concerning the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And the term that he uses is it without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. The mystery of godliness. Now there are two mysteries that run side by side today. One is the mystery of godliness and the other is the mystery of iniquity. They run side by side. Now the mystery of godliness is headed up in a person. On that person is the person of the Son of God himself, the God man.
The mystery of iniquity again is headed up in a person. On that person is the antichrist. It's not my purpose tonight to speak about the mystery of iniquity, but I do want to point out the difference between the two. The devil has a mystery, a counterfeit mystery today. It's called the mystery of iniquity. And we find it opened up for us in Second Thessalonians chapter two, on Revelation chapters twelve and thirteen. In those two chapters in Revelation, we get two beasts And we got the dragon. We get anti-God. We get anti-Christ.
And we get anti-Spirit. That is the mystery of iniquity. And the apostle tells us in Second Thessalonians chapter two that the mystery of iniquity is already working. On the antichrist, on all that he stands for, on his teachings, that great mystery of iniquity, it's working today in the world. And I believe when we sat down and studied the Word of God, it would help us to keep our feet today in the doctrines that are being propagated in every part of the world. But all we need to do is to look at the mystery of godliness. The mystery of piety, and here we find it summarized for us in a person.
Great is the mystery of godliness. And the first one is, God was manifest in flesh. Drop out the definite article there. It's not the flesh. Where we find the flesh mentioned, that's what we get in the epistle of the Romans, as that old evil wicked nature that characterizes the man who has fallen. But God was manifest in flesh. That means to say he was a sinless, holy, holy man. He was manifest in flesh, but the first term that we get here in connection with Christ is God was manifest in flesh.
The early controversies in the church, on the early heresies in the church of God, it circled around the fact of the person, just what the person of Christ thought it involved. And we find exactly the same thing today. You know, modernism, On Unitarianism, and not only that, but Jehovah Witnesses and people of that kind of day that are propagating their theories in every part of the Christian world, we get the complete answer to it in this little word that we find here. God was manifest in flesh. Some of these people, they'll put their foot in your door, they'll knock the door, and they'll put their foot in the door.
And they'll stand there, and it just seems so bold, and they'll want to propagate their doctrines, and they'll refuse to take a no for an answer. But, beloved friend, tonight, I want to say this, that anyone who wants to propagate doctrines that are not according to the book, the very first thing we need to ask them is, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And you'll generally find... that any heretical teaching is the wrong here, the wrong everywhere. This is a test of true, vital, genuine Christianity is what is our attitude to the one who sits at God's right hand.
There's just one other little thing I want to say in passing, and this is, always in speaking about us, always given us titles, always given us titles. You know, since I've come home from Africa, I've found that very often men who have the opportunity of ministering the word and preaching the gospel, they will not give him his real title. People talk about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. On other people, it's Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. This is the vocabulary of Christ on the day. But anyone who knows anything about vital relationship with that one who sits at God's right hand, he always gives them his title as Lord.
He's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I know that this is the vocabulary of Christendom today, but every enlightened believer, knowing the person with whom we have to do, the one who died upon the cross, who is buried and raised again and seated in glory at God's right hand, He has been made both Lord and Christ. On one of the tents of true vital Christianity today is how we advance Him, both in prayer and in the mimicity of the Word and in the preaching of the Gospel, always, always given this title of Lord. Now the first thing, the first term we get here is God was manifest in flesh.
Notice the two words. on flesh. Now here is a tremendous mystery. I don't even profess, I don't even profess to be able to explain it, but I want to say this, that the one who was born in Bethlehem was God. He was coexistent with God before his incarnation in Bethlehem, and when he was born in Bethlehem, he brought all the power on dignity. on the attributes of Godhead with him. You know, the theory is being propagated a day, and the term that's used is the Kenosah theory.
And some would take Philippians chapter two, and to use that expression, that he emptied himself. He emptied himself. Now, that's a term I don't like to use. Personally, I very much prefer... to use the authorized version of what we find in our authorized version. Read that he made himself of no reputation. The revised version says that he emptied himself. But what did he empty himself? Now, the Canaanite theory would tell you that when the Lord was born in Bethlehem, he was born just like another man.
And the first of all, his virgin birth. They laugh at the idea that he was born of a virgin. You say it's not important. You say it was another impossibility for a person to be born of a virgin. And when we read that in Scripture, well, it's what the people believed in most days, but it just simply was not true. And that it is no importance at all. Now, I believe that the incarnation, first of all, the first great fundamental doctrine is the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if he was not virgin born, if Joseph was his natural father, I would close my book tonight, and I'd go out through that door, and I never would open my Bible again.
And I'll tell you why. Every man that has been born into this world, he is linked with the federal head. And the fact that each one of us are born by natural generation, take it far enough back, and we're linked to the federal head of the race. and that is Adam. Adam was a sinner, he sinned against God, he was a fallen creature, and he was expelled from the Garden of Eden. On every man and every woman born in the world from that time until this, is linked to that federal head, and he is utterly depraved, he is born with a sinful nature.
By virtue of that link, with the federal head of the race, he is born with a sinful nature, such what's called the total depravity of man on what's called original sin. Now, when the Son of God was born, when God brought that tremendous miracle in sending his son into this world, that link with the federal head was broken, and God brought a miracle so that the Virgin Mary, she brought forth her firstborn son. On Sir Robert Anderson, he said this, He said that the whole of Christianity, it rests fairly and squarely, one hundred percent, on the last clause of the last verse of Matthew chapter one.
You usually read it when you go home. There we get the fact that that federal head, the link was broken when the Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. He was born of a virgin. And he's called that holy thing. That wonderful miracle that God wrought and sending His Son into the world that was God manifest in flesh. But first of all, the great doctrine connected with it is the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. God wrought a miracle and sending His Son into the world. There was no original thing connected with him because he was virgin born. It's vitally important.
He could not be the Savior of anyone if Joseph was his natural father. But thank God he was virgin born. Then his person, first of all he was God. Now it would be utterly impossible to divest himself of his Godhead. I was reading a book just a little while ago and the man who wrote it, he said that at no time during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus when he was here on earth did he know everything. And of course he quoted Matthew thirteen. You know the passage about that the only one that knew the date of the coming was the Father.
And so he said, at no time did he know everything. And from that he tried to point out that the Lord Jesus, when he was here on earth, was an ignorant man. He knew just exactly the same as any ordinary Jew did when he was here on earth. And that he laid aside his omniscience, he laid aside his omnipotence, he laid aside his omnipresence, the attributes of Godhead he laid aside when he was born. You know, he couldn't do that. Being God, on the one hand he was God of very God. He was the second member of the Godhead. And it was utterly impossible for him to lay aside any attribute of his deity.
because he was God. And I want to say this, that there was absolutely no subtraction from the Lord Jesus Christ was born. All that he was before in his pre-existence with God the Father in heaven before his birth, he brought with him when he was born, he was God, God of very God. So someone said, well now, what is involved in the statement that he made himself of no reputation? All that was involved in that was that his glory was veiled. When he was in heaven, before he was born, he was the object of worship of those angelic hosts.
On that gobbhead glory, when he was born in Bethlehem, it was covered with a veal. We sometimes sing a little hymn about him laying his glory by. The Word of God doesn't say that, should he manifest his glory. But all that he was as God before his incarnation, he brought with him. The only thing he did, he revealed his glory. But he brought all his glory with him in manhood. Now, at the same time, he was subject to the will of the Father when he was here on earth. And he voluntarily, he left in the hands of God the date of his coming back again.
That doesn't mean to say that it involves his omniscience at all. He voluntarily, and of his own volition, he left that particular point in the hand of God the Father. It didn't mean at all that he was ignorant, as far as his complete knowledge was concerned, but it was something in subjection to the Father's will that he left in the Father's hand until the moment when he comes back again. Now I think it's important to notice that he was God of very God. On the other hand, he was a real man, a man of body, soul, and spirit. And when he was born in Bethlehem, he assumed something that he had never been before, and that was real, sinless, holy manhood.
He became a man, and from that moment on he became the God-man. Instead of subtraction, what we get here is addition. If you could only remember that, instead of subtraction, what we get here is addition. Our holy man in unison was God of very God, and from that moment on he was the God-man. Now this is a mystery. I don't profess to be able to explain it, and I don't believe that anybody ever can. But there's one thing that we must never do. We mustn't confuse, as the old the old theologians in the early church put it, we must never confuse the natures and we must never separate the person.
And thank God that he was God on the one hand, he was man on the other. We must never confuse the natures. We must never divide his person. He's the God man. To say he did this as God? And he did something else as man, as something that we never, never find in God's holy word. God, manifest in flesh. Now, it's lovely to notice how the two things, the three sides of his nature, are brought to force in so very many ways in Scripture. It's just absolutely indescribably beautiful. You think of him lying in a book on the Sea of Galilee, utterly tired and exhausted with a long, hard day's work, And he lies fast asleep with his head upon the steersman's leather seat in the little boat.
There he is, as a man, utterly tired and weary as he lies there in the boat. The boat is liable to the swamp. And he gets up and rebukes the wind and the waves. And he says, Peace be still. There you get, his Godhead, his beautiful... perfect, sinless manhood is seen in his weary condition, lying fast asleep with his head upon the steersman's seat. And on the other hand, his broad head is manifest as he stands up, and he rebukes the wind and the waves. You see it again as he stands at the tomb of Lazarus. He said, Where have you laid him?
He wasn't looking for information. Where have you laid him? And they said, Come and see. And as they brought him to the tomb, he said, Take away the stone. And leave it, Jesus wept. And as he stands at the tomb, in perfect human sympathy, he weeps. But on the other hand, he said, Lazarus, come forth. And his Godhead glory was manifested. And Lazarus, born hand and foot, he came out of that tomb. He was the God man. God manifests in flesh. There's very, very many instances of this in the New Testament, and particularly in the Gospels, but we don't want to take time to speak about tonight.
But the first thing we find here is his incarnation. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in flesh. Here we find God becoming visible. The second term is justified in spirit. Justified in spirit. Now there are four occasions in which he was justified. As far as men were concerned, they tried to condemn him. They did condemn him. They said he was an imposter. They said he was a blasphemer. They said he was a felon. They said he was a criminal. And they said he was a traitor. And at the end of his life, they took him and they mailed him to Calvary's cross outside the camp.
And there he was executed as a criminal. I don't suppose that there's anything that would bring more terror to a person's heart than to see someone executed. You know, in Africa, I've seen people scourge. I've seen their two hands tied together. And I've seen a hippo-hide whip lit across their back until the blood rung on between their shoulder blades as they were beaten by a hippo-hide whip. I've seen people killed. And you know, it's a terrible thing to see a man execute it. There's a certain amount of shame connected with it on the one hand, which would make your blood run cold to think of it.
But if you think of God's Holy Son being nailed to a gibbet outside the walls of Jerusalem, that was what man did with him. They condemned him. But he was justified. The first occasion in which he was justified was of his baptism. What does the baptism of John signify? Well, first of all, it signifies that Israel as a nation was away from God. On those kind of repent, repent, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. On those that wish to justify God, on to repent of their sins, to abandon the waters of baptism, it was a baptism with a view to the remission of sins.
That was John's baptism. The Lord Jesus, he comes to the river. And he asked John to baptize him. Oh, no, he said, he protested. He remonstrated with him. He said, I have need to be baptized of you. But he said, Me to baptize you. And he didn't want to do it. And the Lord said, it has become of us to fulfill all righteousness. And he associated himself with the people of Israel. And he went on into the waters of baptism. Looking at it on the surface. It was Luke as if it was a baptism of repentance as far as he was concerned. But there was nothing of that as far as the Son of God was concerned in it at all. As he went into the water and he was baptized and when he came up out of the water, immediately he was justified.
Go up in heaven. Immediately the heavens were opened and God said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. On the Spirit of God like a dove, Luke tells us, came on and bodily form on the boat upon him. He was justified in this baptism by God the Father. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There's no sin in him. There's no need for repentance in him. He's fulfilling all righteousness and accepting the status of a man of Israel. He was there to fulfill that testimony and going into the waters of baptism, but he was absolutely justified in his baptism.
And then he was justified at the temptation. Oh, we have no time to talk about this tonight. We would like to go into it in some detail. The three different temptations that he was subjected to. Here's the last Adam. Going through the same temptation that the first Adam went through. But thank God he overcame. Adam in the Garden of Eden failed. But here's the last Adam, the son of God, the son of man. And here he is in the wilderness. And for the first Adam failed. The last Adam was justified, and he came out a victor over hell on Satan coming up out of the wilderness.
The same thing happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. But the final place was on Calvary. He was crucified as a criminal, as a pharaoh, outside the walls of Jerusalem. But Romans chapter three, Romans chapter one and verse three tells us that he was justifying the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. On the third day he was raised from the dead, he was justified in spirit. Here we get the fourfold justification of the Son of God by God the Father. And not only there, but in the wilderness and his temptation at the transfiguration upon the mountaintop. And finally, In his resurrection, he was justified in spirit.
Now, in this little word here, we get the death. We get the burial. We get the resurrection of Christ. On the long side of that, we get his holy, sinless life comprehended, and not one little word, justified in spirit. First of all, he was visible. Secondly, he was vindicated. Then seen of the angels. Now here again, fine times we find the angels ministering to the Son of God when he was here on earth. Or again, here's a great big subject you could easily occupy an hour and talking about. Minister to by those angelic hosts at his birth. You remember they were there to sing the song, the song of rejoicing when he was born.
To get the ministering to him in the wilderness when he was hungry. After his temptation, the angels ministered unto him. You get him again in Gethsemane. For he swent, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. You get angelic ministration to him there. You get it in the tomb, as his body lay upon the tomb. You get an angel at the head and an angel at the foot. You get those heavenly messengers giving the message of resurrection. to the disciples when he was raised from among the dead. And then, after he was risen, he remembered that told the women, Go and tell my brethren that he's risen from the dead.
And then finally, at his ascension, again as he goes up, the two men that come and that speak to them, that say, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven and so on? Scene of the angels. Scene of the angels. You know, I believe today that the angels of God are sent by God to minister unto those that shall be the heirs of salvation. I am absolutely convinced that the angel of the Lord encampeth around about those that fear that him undelivereth them. I could give many, many instances of that. I believe today that in danger or in certain circumstances of life that the angels of God those wonderful heavenly beings while unseen by human eye.
Thank God they've picked their camper on the borders, on the preservers from day to day. But I think it must have been a very delightful occupation that they were engaged in while the Son of God was here and there again and again and again, seen of angels. Here we get the angel of God our standing and descending upon the Son of Man and ministering to him when he was here and there. There was only one place where they did not come, and that was on Calvary. He was abandoned by his God, and even those angelic messengers, they are not seen amid the darkness of Golgotha, but in practically every other fears of his life, he was seen of the angels.
Now the next clause we get here is preached among the Gentiles. Oh, there's something, there's something lovely about this. The work that he has done. Thank God the historical account that began in the Acts of the Apostles is being carried on today. I had thought tonight our time doesn't suffice because the time is already gone. It has run away far too quickly. But I just want to say that I had thought tonight of giving a little account of the wonderful historical outline of the Gospel going into the four corners of the earth. And how the doors were opened here and opened there. Every time we think of missionary work today, we think of the early pioneers.
Preached among the Gentiles, not only the historical account of the Acts of the Apostles, think of William Carey in India, throwing open the door, a man who is a cobbler in his early life. Yet at the end of his life, he had done translation work in forty languages and dialects. A tarant card never has been equal. He was sitting one day at the Viceroy's table in India, and there was a high-ranking military officer sitting on the other side of the table, and he must have been something of a snob, and he thought he'd like to take Mr. Carey down. The old man, he was coming to the end of his life, a man that was highly respected and honored by the highest in the land in India.
On this newcomer to India, this officer... On the other side of the table, before the company at the table, he said, Mr. Carey, he said, I believe in your early life, you used to be a shoemaker. Mr. Carey, he smiled very graciously, and he said, oh, no, no, no. He said, nothing so great as that. He said, I wasn't a shoemaker. He said, I was only a cobbler. And he said, I want to tell you this. He said, my business, he said, was to preach the gospel, but I cobbled shoes to pay expenses. never ended his grace for any man to work with his hands. Get that in your mind. And William Carey, the man who opened the door to India, he was a man that God widely used.
And then as you think of Hudson Taylor in China, the wonderful work that he did, and then what shall we say about the beloved country where we work ourselves? David Livingstone in Africa, I never think of the man that man who gave his a long life to those long, long journeys through the dark continent on finally dying upon his knees. It's one of the most pathetic and at the same time one of the most thrilling stories in the annals of missionary work to think of David Livingstone, the weaver's son upon his knees in the little hut, after a long lifetime of faithful service to the Lord.
sitting upon his knees, and the four men outside making his knees. When they came in and saw him sitting upon his knees, they backed out. They came in again and saw him still sitting upon his knees, praying, the backed out again. They came in the third time, and as they saw this time that he had fallen over to the one side, one of the African boys who went over and he put his hand upon his master's shoulder and saw that he was gone. He had died upon his knees. To me there's something very beautiful about that. A man who died upon his knees after a long lifetime of faithful service for the Lord, but he threw open the door.
Just before we left Africa, I was at a conference in the place where we live at Capango. And at Capango we had two thousand Africans gather together for a four-day conference. Oh, I do wish David Livingstone had the mayor. He saw very little result of his work. But to see two thousand people gather together on why they can sing. On the way to the meeting here tonight, somebody asked me if our Africans can sing. And I wouldn't say one disparaging word about the beautiful singing that we have here. But you want to hear two thousand Africans sing that hymn, All Heal the Power of Jesus' Name?
Let angels prostrate fall. bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all. Why, they can sing, preached among the Gentiles. Like the earth from all this bond today, the work that Christ did upon Calvary, there has been a wonderful result. And thank God for every pioneer, every man that goes forth with the gospel, to earth from all this bond, to spread the story, the joyful story of Christ and his dying love. and to plant the banner of the cross in places where it has never been. Believed on in the world, oh, here we get the upper room.
Here we get the catacombs. Here we get the little companies of God's people scattered around the world today. And wherever you see, our little company gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. There only are the other name, but that name that's above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we get the complete fulfillment of this little word. Thank God it's going to be complete in the coming day. And it's only when the great company, the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, that is the general assembly, gathered into the presence of the Lord in the coming day that will see the complete fulfillment of the work of Christ, we find it here in this beautiful phrase.
And then the last one is received up. in glory. Now that's not chronological, but it's the climax to the wonderful teaching that we have here. What is the climax of Christianity today? It's a man of the glory. A glorified man seated at God's right hand is the climax of the teaching that we find here. You know, just the other day I was walking down the street and I saw a truck driving along and right on the back of the truck in good big letters were these words. Seven up. Seven up. And apparently, I don't know very much about these things. I know very little about civilization.
But apparently, it's an advertisement for a very refreshing drink that people use in the summertime. And you know that got a grip upon me. Seven up. Seven up. You know that there are seven times that the Lord Jesus, it says that he was called up into heaven. Now, I can't trust my memory to give them to you, but just in closing, in connection with the ascension of the Lord Jesus, I have them noted down here, and I'm just going to read them so that you might see that there are seven places where we find the ascension of the Lord Jesus' mansion. I'm just going to give the references, and then I'm going to close. First of all, he was lifted up.
John, chapter twelve, verse thirty-two. Well, he was rigged up. Acts thirteen and thirty-four. Then he was received up, Mark sixteen and nineteen. Then he was carried up, Luke twenty-four, fifty-one. Then he went up, Acts one and ten. Then he was taken up, Acts one and nine. And finally he ascended up, Ephesians four on ten. Now there's seven up in connection with this glorious person that has been speaking about tonight. Thank God for the man of the glory. The man who went up, the man who was carried up.
The man who was received up, the man who was lifted up, and the man who is glorified at God's right hand tonight is that glorious person who will find this beautiful summary of Christian teaching concerning its person. In closing, if the door were to open tonight, on the highest on the land were to walk in here, the President of the United States, I wonder what we would do. I happen to mention last night that I'm not a citizen of the United States. I don't suppose I ever will be, because I'm going back to Africa, and it's possible I may die there, but as if the Lord doesn't come.
I don't suppose I'll ever make a permanent residence here in the United States. But if there's one man above another that I honor more today, it's the president of this land. I thank God for President Eisenhower. And if the door were to open tonight and he were to walk in, I wonder what we would do. I understand he's been quite often here in Augusta. I understand he's a very familiar figure here. But if he were to walk in here tonight and I was seated on a bench On the seat in this building, when the President were to walk in, I would get up, and I would bow my head, and I would give honor where honor is due to the highest in the land.
I think that's only right. But supposing the door were to open tonight and the Lord Jesus were to walk in, he's higher than all. I wonder what we would do. And I don't know what you would do, but if the Lord Jesus with his narrow, pierced hands on feet and thighs. As he were to come in here tonight, I wouldn't just merely stand up and bow my head, but I would get down upon my knees. And not only that, but I'd fall in my face. And I would say, Hallelujah, what a Savior. Thank God for him. He seated at God's right hand tonight.
The man who came down, God manifests in flesh. The man who has gone up, received up in glory on the woman whom the angels of God ascend and descend, of the center of attraction and love and worship and adoration, thank God. This is the one whom our souls adore. He's altogether lovely. He's the first among ten thousand on the cheapest of all besides. May God bless his word to each one of our hearts tonight for his name's sake. Shall we pray?