The Mystery Revealed

The mystery is Christ in you.  Being placed into Christ is identifying with his death and resurrection.  Which means that we are dead to our old self and alive to a new life - Christ in and through us.

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

What we can do this morning is as we get into the word, is uh if there's questions that arise out of what we're going through, feel free. And you know, I don't care if we're in the sanctuary, you can always raise your hand to get my attention, stand up if you need to to get my attention, and uh and feel free to ask questions because I I really love doing that, and I think it's very useful sometimes. Um so what we're going to do is we're going to start off this morning in the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 2. Last time we when I spoke on Colossians, we were going into this thing that the Bible calls a mystery, and mystery not as in the same sense as we take it, but the biblical understanding of a mystery is something that was hid but is now revealed. And that is what he means by the mystery. And then we have to ask the question of, well, what exactly is that mystery? So we'll be talking about that uh this morning and Paul's ministry uh to speak about that mystery. So the book of Colossians, and I'll actually back up a little bit in just to get some of the context. Uh we'll I'll start in chapter 1 about verse 25. Chapter 1 of Colossians, verse 25. And Paul writes this, he says, Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God. Now that word dispensation, probably not one that we typically use in everyday, uh our everyday life, but what that means is someone who is a manager over something, uh, some would call it a stewardship. Uh if you have uh ever worked in a uh at a restaurant, especially like fast food, uh they have a manager, and that manager is in charge of taking over things and making sure everything's ran smoothly. And Paul is made a manager, he has a dispensation of God, he has a position to do something, and that is which is given to me for you. So Paul's position as a minister, uh, he is a manager over some things for the believers there. And he says, to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. So he says, there's something that through the Old Testament was hid. It was there, but no one could see it. And he says, but now, during the time of the church, this present age, uh, it is going to be made manifest, and that's his job. He's been given the information to instruct the church, the believers, and he says, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. So now he's saying, now this is what I'm supposed to do. My job, the Apostle Paul's job, was to go out and make sure that the believers understood what they had in Christ, the riches that he had in Christ, and the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So what Paul's getting at here is he says, you know, you you're you're already a believer. He's talking to the church. So you heard the gospel, you recognized your need of a savior. It's like I'm a sinner, uh, there's nothing I can do to save myself. And Christ came, he lived a perfect life, he died in my place, so he he took my sin upon himself when he died. I received his righteousness when I believed that, when I take that by faith. He says, so now I want to reveal what all that, what all took place the moment you believed. It is Christ in us. Christ in us. He says, that is our the hope of glory. That's an incredible statement. No one in the Old Testament could say that the Messiah is in me, or I've been placed in the Messiah. You cannot have, they would not have that concept or that idea. So there's a verse in the book of Galatians that kind of shows this. Uh, let's go to Galatians chapter 2. So just back up a few short books there to the book of Galatians in chapter 2, uh, in verse 20. So this is, I want you to see this mystery that's been revealed is really twofold. We've been placed into Christ, that means we identify with his death, burial, and resurrection. That's why when uh Paul writes to the church at Rome, he says, uh, you've been you've died with Christ, you've been buried with Christ, you've been baptized into his death and into his new life, that resurrection life. So being me being placed into Christ, you being placed into Christ means that we're dead to our old self, uh, we've been buried, we've, but we're also alive to our new self. Now, Christ in us is something a little bit different. Christ in us is Christ being able to live his life in and through us. And that's what I want to show through these passages, that that mystery is not only you in Christ, but Christ in you. So in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, Paul writes this. He says, I'm crucified with Christ. I've been placed into Christ, so when Christ died on the cross, positionally I died too. But he says, Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. So positionally, when I was placed into Christ, I died with him, I'm crucified with him, but yet he is in me, so that he can live his life in and through me. In the life which I now live in this flesh, this body, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Incredible verse that Paul writes. He says, I can identify my identification, what took place in a positional sense is I'm in Christ. When we go to leave here, you will be in a vehicle. And that vehicle is going to take you someplace, right? You are in Christ. And what Christ went through, then we went through. And then he says, but Christ is also in me to live his life out of me. And that all takes place by faith. When we rest in what he's done, when we rest in who he is and what he said, then we are yielding ourselves over, and we're saying, Christ, you need to live in and through me. I can't do this life that you've called me to live, but you can do it through me. Has everything to do with our daily living. Because we are called to such a high standard, there's no way we can do it. What's the golden rule? Love your neighbor as yourself, right? Can we do that in and of ourselves? I can't. There's no way I can do that. I'll fall short every single time. But God can do that. And if I allow him to work in and through me, then I can love my my neighbor as myself. So that's Galatians. So let's go back to Colossians chapter 2 here. So this is the mystery that Paul has been given a specific ministry to go accomplish. He is been, he is the manager over that information to get it to every believer he can. Okay, so let's go. Well, I guess I didn't finish up chapter one here. So back up a little bit to chapter one, verse 28. Last two verses here in chapter one. Who we preach, Christ we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So we preach the gospel, someone recognizes they're a sinner, they trust in what Christ did on the cross for them. Uh their for sins are forgiven, they're cleansed. And now they can walk in a way worthy of Christ. How is that? By relying on him, and he lives his life through us. He can present us perfect. Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. So Paul says, I go out there and I'm trying to teach people and get them to understand all the things that they have in Christ and what it means to have Christ in you. And he says, I'm doing that, but it's not really me doing it. It's God working in me. It's God working in me. Chapter 2, verse 1. For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. So Paul says, I have a great conflict. We would call it more of a concern, this desire to go out and to reach people and to teach them. He says, I have that for people who I haven't met yet. I've heard about your faith. I know that you trusted in Christ, but I want to teach you what it is to be in Christ and Christ in you. This mystery that's now revealed. If we go to the book of Ephesians, we'll see this laid out clearly. Ephesians is back up a little bit, and you'll find the book of Ephesians and chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1. It says, For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation, again, that's that I'm a manager over something, I'm an administration over something, of the grace of God which is given to me to you word. How that by revelation God made it known to Paul, Paul Christ revealed it to him, told him, taught him for three years, how he made known unto me the mystery, something that was hidden, as I wrote to you before in few words, something that was hidden but now is revealed. Whereby, when you read that you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men. So again, he's saying that throughout the Old Testament they did not understand this concept. Okay? It wasn't there, it wasn't revealed, it was hidden. He says, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. So remember before in the Old Testament, you had God using the nation of Israel, and in that nation there was the twelve different tribes, and out of those twelve tribes, only the tribe of Levi got to participate in the service of the tabernacle, because the other tribes disqualified themselves and all of that. And the Gentiles they had no chance of serving in the tabernacle. They could go there, they could worship and all of that, but they could not participate. He says now there's no difference between Jew and Gentile. He says that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. And so two things. One, something that was hidden with the Gentiles would be no different. The second thing is, and of the same body, partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. So we are called the body of Christ, the church, the believers. And he says, we partake of the promises because we're placed in Christ by the gospel. So the gospel simply means good news. And the good news is that God loved us, he came down here as a man, sent his son to live that perfect life, to die in our place, pay for our sins, so that we can be forgiven. We simply grab a hold of that, rely on what he did for us, and then we are placed in Christ. So he goes on to say, whereof I was made a minister, a servant, according to the gift of grace that God giveth unto me by the effectual working of his power, unto me, whom the who am less than the least of all saints. So this is how Paul views himself. Remember, the apostle Paul used to be Saul of Tarsus. And Saul of Tarsus would go out and try to find Christians and get them to blaspheme and put them in prison, put them to death. He persecuted the believers that now he is serving. So he says, I'm the I'm less than the least of all saints. It is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. You know, there used to be game shows. I know The Prices Right was one of them. I think Let's Make a Deal was another one where they had these big curtains and there was some kind of prize behind it. And uh some of them would be like, okay, there's door number one. You can take that, or you can find out what's behind door number two. And uh most of them, door number two is always better, you know. And uh so here it is, something that's been that's been hidden. There, what's behind door number two? Uh it's been hidden, you don't know what it is. And Paul says, I'm pulling back the curtain, I'm showing you what you have. And what we have is us being placed in the Christ and Christ in us as believers. That's that mystery. So he says, and to make verse 9, this is uh Ephesians 3, 9, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath God hid, has been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ. So he says, again, it's something that was hid, but now he's pulling back the curtain. This is all that you have in Christ. Okay, that's that mystery. So I'll just pause there. Any questions on any of that? Yes. Was it actually hidden, or was it just something that they just didn't be able to see? It was hidden. It was literally the it was there in in types, but it wasn't shown. Um, like for example, there's a difference, like Christ dying on the cross, that was prophesied. I mean plainly said that they're exactly plainly plainly stated that he would be pierced, that he would die in a tree, what he would say when he's on the cross, that was all predicted hundreds of years. Uh David wrote Psalm 22, it's like over 700 years before the time of Christ. And when you read that, it's what Christ was saying on the cross and what the people at the cross were saying to him. I mean, so yeah, it was all those those things were clear. The concept of us being placed in the Christ, and Christ, the Messiah, living in us, that was hid. They didn't understand that concept. Yeah. In fact, in fact, I'll I'll I'll give you an example here. Uh let's go to the uh book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 17. Yes. So to give you a little background here, Abraham was made, was given promises. And God said, Abram, at the time his name was Abram. And he says, Abram, I want you to leave your father's house, leave all your relatives, your kindred, go to a land I'll show you. And he says, I will make your name great, I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you, and through you all the families of the earth will be blessed, because through Abram and his descendants would be Jesus. Okay? So it was in his lineage. And Abraham left and he kind of messed up. He he took his he went with his dad, uh, which he was supposed to leave his father's house, and he went with his dad to a place called Haran. And then when his dad died, he he went into the land where God showed him, but he took his nephew Lot, which he was supposed to leave his relatives, his kindred. And then there was a famine in the land, and so he goes down to Egypt, which he was supposed to stay in the land, and then when he got, then when he got into Egypt, he he lied about his wife and said, Well, she's just my sister, because he was afraid that they would kill him to get his wife, because she was beautiful. And all these things happened, and Abraham finally ends up, because God plagues Pharaoh and drives him out, and he ends up back in the land where he was supposed to be. And God repeated that promise. And Abraham said, or Abram at the time, said, How do I know that these things will happen? Because I clearly didn't leave my father's house. I clearly brought my nephew with. I lied about my my wife, I left the land, I failed at everything you told me to do. And God says, This is how you're gonna know that what I say is gonna come true. And they made that Abrahamic covenant. You remember that? Where Abram was to take certain animals and they would cut them and lay their sides on this ditch, and the blood would run down, and a covenant was like a contract. And what they would do back then is they would walk through the blood, the first party would walk through the blood and say, This is my part of the deal. And if I fail, this will happen to me. My my blood will shed, I will be torn in two. And then the next person in that contract would walk through that blood and say, This is my part of the contract. And if I fail, this will happen to me. My blood will spill, I will be torn in two. Well, when Abraham put the the, killed the animals and did all that, he wasn't going to step into that because he'd already failed. He didn't leave his father's house, he brought his nephew with, he lied about his his wife, he left the land and went to Egypt and all of these things. So, what God does is he goes through the pieces once for himself, and then he goes through a second time for Abram. In other words, because of Abraham's failure, because of his sin, God's blood will spill.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

So is it kind of like he delayed his blessings that he was supposed to be dead? Is it kind of like he delayed his blessings for not for doing all the wrong things by doing it?

SPEAKER_01 20:20

No, no, no, not necessarily at all. What God is saying is because of your failure, because of your sin, my blood will spill. I'm gonna be the one who pays the price. So, in other words, if you could imagine uh a written-out contract and it says, you have to live a perfect life. If you don't live a perfect life, eternity in the like a fire. Would you want to sign that? Not me, because I've already I already messed up, and even though I didn't, I would mess up. Okay. And God signs his name to it. Your name is at the front. If you do this, if you live perfect, then you're fine. If you don't live perfect, you'll be in the lake of fire. And God signs his name to it. In other words, God's making sure he's gonna pay the price so that we can be saved.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah, don't need that with the eighth or eight. I don't know why they would say that. Well, that's why. Yeah, yeah, I don't know why. Yeah, I don't know why they would say that.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Well, what what it if if we go back to Genesis 15, it'll say a pillar of fire and a pillar of smoke. Now, Jesus is God becoming man, and he definitely walked on the earth and on the water.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yeah, so I shouldn't say that like when God walked in the garden with um Adam and Eve, that after Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, even along the walk.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah, I don't know why people come up with ideas like that. Um, because you remember the very next chapter, chapter four of Genesis, there's Cain and Abel.

unknown 22:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

And what happened when Cain didn't bring the right sacrifice? Who went to him?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Well, God, but I always do it that God called down to him instead of like approaching him.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah, it doesn't say that. Yeah, so go through like that, and there's all kinds of other instances where God comes down and talks with man. So yeah. It's you know, it's one of those things, darling, that um things get get taught and it gets repeated and repeated and repeated. But if you start to say, well, is that actually in the Bible? And you start going back, you realize, oh no, it isn't. You know, there's a lot of things. It's very much tradition. And I thought I was gonna get into some of that today, but um after I started to get into more, there's no way I'll get to those verses that talk about that things like that. Uh but in Colossians, eventually, Lord willing, we'll get to where it talks about the traditions of men. And we'll be going through that. Uh, no different than uh every Christmas, you have the nictivity scene with three wise men.

unknown 23:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Well, there we don't know if there's three. There were three gifts, three types of gifts, but we don't, and they didn't show up till two years later, you know. But yet traditionally, that's what we've always done, and and but it's not what the word of God says. So a lot of things like that, just like uh you've probably heard God cannot let sin into his heaven. Satan goes to there all the time to give a report to God. So, did you have some?

SPEAKER_00 23:45

I'm trying to figure it out in my brain the right way to say it. That's what I was gonna expect.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Oh, okay. But it's like you were talking about like signing about being perfect and it's like we fall on a daily basis, yes, and it's like we can't be perfect through everything that we at the end of the day, you're always trying to write a thing what it is for us. And you always kind of have to ask God to forgive you for the things that you did, but like signing um that's why God's not signed. Yeah. Yeah, I can't sign that because I'll fail. So, so in in a in a in a covenant or a contract like that, Abram doesn't go through. In fact, just turn a couple pages back to chapter 15 of Genesis and we'll go through this. So in chapter 15, um, God talks to Abram. I'll just start at verse 1. Uh chapter 15, verse 1. He says, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, I'm your defender, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me? Seeing I go childless. Now remember, he was promised a seed, a descendant. He goes, Seeing I go childless, in this steward of my house, steward would be a manager of my house, is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abraham said, Behold, to me you've given no seed, no descendant, and lo, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This shall not be your heir. In other words, Eliezer is not going to be the heir. He's not the one. But he that shall come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thine heir. You're literally going to have a biological son, Abram. So that's that's what he's telling him. And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven to tell the stars, if you be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. So imagine this is a clear night, and uh you go out, and you know, if you're if you're away from any kind of city lights and stuff like that, it's just amazing how many stars you can see, right? So God brings them out and says, You see all the stars? That's how your descendants are gonna be. You can't count them.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

So he believed the Lord. Abram looked at the Lord and said, Okay, I believe you. I trust what you said, I believed you. And it says, and and he counted it to him for righteousness. So Abraham says, Okay, I believe what you say is true. I'm relying on what you say is true, and God credits him with righteousness. That's a right standing before God. And that's where you get this, where we start to see in the beginning, it laid out that our that righteousness is received by faith. So God is the, once sin came into the world, God has the only righteousness at all. He's got the market cornered on it. And the only way we can get it is simply by trusting in him, relying on him, and he credits it to our account. Okay? So then he said to him, I'm the Lord that brought you out of Ur the Chaldees to give this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? So Abraham looks at his life and he goes, I'm a failure. I know what you say is true, I know what you say will happen, but my life is a mess. How's that going to work? My part was to leave my father's house, I didn't do it. My part was to uh leave my kindred, I didn't do that. It's kind of like this if you if you tell uh, and I I've done this at our house a long time ago, tell the kids, you know, uh, I'm going to be going out, I gotta do some work, and I'll be back. And while I'm gone, I want you to clean your rooms, take care of the dishes, mow the lawn, vacuum. You do those, when I get back, we'll go out to culverse. Okay. And you go out, and then you give them a call and you just remind them, hey, remember what I said? If you do these things, I'll take you to Culver's. And they say, okay, Dad, we know you're gonna do that. We trust you. And I get home and I say, okay, let's go to Culver's. And they say, Ah, we can't. We didn't clean our rooms, we didn't vacuum, we didn't mow the ground, we didn't do anything. So Abraham is in that kind of position. I I know what you say is true, I know you'll do your part, but I have failed at my part. And so this is that Abrahamic covenant. So when Abraham says, How do I know that this is going to take place in verse 8 there? God says in the next verse, verse 9, so chapter 15, verse 9, he said, Take unto me a heifer of three years old, a she-goat of three years old, a ram of three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he took all of those and he divided them in the midst. In other words, they would literally cut them from nose to tail and lay the sides out, and he laid each piece against another, but the birds he divided not. When the fowls of the air came down on upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, so now you have uh it started at nighttime. He he saw the stars. And then during the day, sometime he took those animals, cut the pieces out, laid it all out, but didn't do anything else. And now the sun is going down, so it's you know, there's a time lapse here. Sun's going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo, a whore of great darkness fell upon him. I could imagine if you were talking with God and he's going to make a covenant with you, and you know you've already failed, would you want to walk into that blood? I wouldn't. You can't. You failed already. So he says, in verse 13, and he said, Abram, know of a surety, know for sure that your seed shall be a stranger in the land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years, talking about the nation of Israel being in Egypt. Also that nation whom they shall serve I will judge, and afterwards they shall come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace, and you shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation there shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full, and it came to pass when the sun went down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces. And the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. So you see God going through twice. Once for himself, once for Abram. So, in other words, because of Abraham's or Abram's failure, who's gonna pay? God is. Whose blood's gonna shed? God is. Remember when he was with his disciples in the upper room? He took the bread. What did he say that bread was? This is my body. What did he do with it? Tore it in two. What was those animals? Torn in two. He says, This is the cup, this is the blood that is shed. So my body will be torn, my blood will shed. He's referring all the way back to that Abrahamic covenant. God became a man to fulfill this. Okay? So that's how Abram can know that these things are gonna happen is because it's not dependent on him. It's dependent on God. Okay? Any questions on any of that? Okay, then go to chapter uh seventeen. So when Abram was ninety years old and nine, or ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. So that means all-powerful. I'm the all-powerful, almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now, how would you like to be 99 years old and have God tell you, now here's what I want you to do. I want you to walk before me and be perfect. How is that gonna happen? How can that take place? Well, notice as I read through here, I'm gonna ask the question. When I read through these next several verses, is God doing something or is Abram going to do something? Okay, who's gonna be doing the work here? Verse 2, I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply thys multiply thee exceedingly. Abram fell on his face and talked with him, saying, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations, neither shall your name be any more called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee, and I will establish my covenant between me and you, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, and I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger in all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. So, who's doing all those things there? God is, right? I will do this. And if you want to start underlining, I uh I will make, I will make thee, I have made thee, all these things. There's seven things that God said there. Seven different I will or I have. So God is doing all the work. So it's interesting. He says, Abram, walk before me and be thou perfect. But this is what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to make my covenant, uh, I will multiply you exceedingly. You're going to be a father of many nations. God is saying, I'm going to do the work, I'm going to make it possible for you to do this. And how does he do that? He says, You're no longer Abram. That's the old you. Now you are Abraham. Now, the interesting thing about what God is doing here, uh, you have to understand some uh of how Hebrew works. Uh Hebrew is a very interesting language. Each letter has a meaning. Uh for us, our letters don't mean anything, they just sound, and you have to put all the sounds together to come up with a word to have a meaning. Not in Hebrew. If you have a letter and you know the meaning, and you put another letter and you know that meaning, and you put those meanings together, you can figure out what the word is. So, for example, the word, the letter A in Hebrew is called an aleph. In fact, the first two letters, you have an aleph and you have a bet, that's where we get our word alphabet. Okay, the aleph means the the strong leader. Okay, the the head, the number one. Bet means house. So if you take those two letters and you put them together, you have the you have a word called that's called Ab, the leader of the house. It's the word for father. Okay? The leader of the house, the father. And you see that throughout in Hebrew, it's very interesting. Well, what God is doing, he's taking Abram's name and he's putting what's called a a he, we'd call it an H, a he right in his name. Hey is a breath. It's a ha. And you know that's the same concept as God's spirit is his breath, his his the wind, the pneuma in the New Testament, his breath. He says, Abram, I'm putting my spirit, he's doing this by a picture, I'm putting my spirit within you. I'm going to do this, but I'm going to equip you with my spirit to do this. See, that's where it's hidden in the Old Testament. You don't see it plainly. It's hidden. But Paul says, now I'm revealing it. God, he's not only given you his spirit, he has placed you in Christ, and he's put Christ in you. He says it was hidden. So that's where when God says, Walk before me, be thou perfect. How am I going to do that? Because I'm giving you, you are becoming a new person. You're no more Abram, you are Abraham. So it's incredible what God is doing there. Any questions on any of that?

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Okay. That's okay. So then at that point is when the Holy Spirit started to be with man, and it wasn't after.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

So you have a couple things. You have a time period, Genesis chapter 1 to Genesis chapter 11. You have what God says, my spirit is contending with man. That has the idea of being outside of man but contending or convicting man. Then during the time of Israel, Genesis chapter 12, all the way up to Acts chapter 1, you have God's Spirit would come upon someone, but would also leave them. So you have David saying, Please don't take your Holy Spirit from me, mean I he had it, but he's afraid he might leave. Samson is a classic. God's Spirit was upon Samson to accomplish certain things, but when Samson broke his Nazarite vow, he God's Spirit left him. Okay. We, during the time of the church, we are sealed with God's Spirit. So we have we're indwelt. In other words, God's Spirit is in us and does not leave us. So it's it's kind of a progression. God's Spirit outside of man contending, God's Spirit coming upon man but leaving, God's Spirit indwelling us. Anything else? Okay, then let's uh let's go to Second Corinthians, chapter 17. Or I'm sorry, chapter 5, verse 17. You won't find a chapter 17 in Second Corinthians. Chapter 5 and verse 17.

unknown 40:12

So I do have a question.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Um and you're and you know it was brought up that the people back then, it was hidden from them. Right. So will they be judged differently?

SPEAKER_01 40:29

What was hidden from them compared to they're not responsible for any of it? Yeah. So like when I'm thinking about when we're up at like that great white throne and all that. Okay, so uh believers don't aren't gonna be there at the great white throne to be judged. We get judged at the judgment seat of Christ or the Bhima seat, which is which is very different. Yeah. I get very confused which one's which.

unknown 40:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Um so at the Bima seat then, will they be judged differently because this is definitely transmitted? Yeah.

unknown 41:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Yeah. They're gonna be responsible for what they had, we're responsible for what we have. Okay, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. So he's saying, if you've trusted Christ as your Savior, you understand that, hey, I'm a sinner and there's nothing I can do. I can't save myself, but Christ did something for me. He became a man, he lived a perfect life, he died in my place. He paid when I when I grab a hold of that by faith, I'm only trusting in what God did, I become a new person. He says, All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. The only way to be reconciled to God is through him, and has given us the ministry, the administration, the manager of reconciliation. We have a responsibility then to take that word out to other people. Then he says to it that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. So when Jesus was doing his public ministry, he says God was in him. Not only Jesus is God, but God the Father is in him, God the Spirit is in him, reaching out to those who did not know. He died for our sins, so he doesn't have to credit us or impute us with our sin. He can impute us or credit us with his righteousness. So our sin gets placed on Christ. His righteousness gets placed on us. He says, now then, because of those things, now then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, so in other words, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, now he's in us, trying to reconcile the world unto himself. So as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. So you see some of this idea, this concept of the mystery that was hid, now it's being revealed. God is in us, we are placed in Christ that has everything to do with our daily living, and we take those things by faith. All right, any anything else on that? Okay. So let's go back to Colossians. I have no idea what the time is either 'cause eleven something? Twenty twenty-six? Okay. So we got a couple hours yet. Colossians chapter two. So he says, I want you to know the great conflict, the great concern, the desire I have to tell you guys this, okay, that I have for you and them at Laodicea, and for as many as not seen my face in the flesh, that Paul couldn't actually go to and see, that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. So again, that mystery being us being placed into Christ, Christ being in us. If we recognize that, there's four things here he's mentioning that we have, that our hearts might be comforted. Okay? That we have this assurance, this comfort of knowing no matter what goes on in my life, I can rely on God. He will get me through it. No matter what is going on, I can rely on him and he will use me. No matter what goes on in my life when it's over, I will be with him forever. That we our hearts might be comforted. The next thing, being knit together in love. There's a fellowship that we can enjoy that no one else can have. Because we all can recognize that I'm no better than you and you're no better than me. We're all sinners saved by grace through faith, and and we have this fellowship together. And no matter what someone does, we can we should never have to say, I can't believe that person did this. Why not? I might do the exact same thing. Because our our sin nature, our flesh, it's all bad. So he says, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. So it's like the the curtains revealed. This is what you all you have in Christ. You have everything, because in Him is hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and so on in verse 3. But he says, to the it to the full assurance. So this isn't, well, that's just positive thinking. If you just believe that this is going to happen or has happened, then it'll it'll work out in your life. It's not wishful thinking. Well, I hope this stuff is true. No, it's full assurance. I know it's true. God says it's true, I know it's true beyond a shadow of a doubt. I have full assurance of that, of understanding. To the acknowledgement, that's an interesting word. Um it's uh in the Greek there's epnosos. Gnosis is knowledge. And epic, you know, we use that time. How was that uh concert you went to? Oh, it was epic. You know, it was wonderful, it was great. This is epic knowledge of the mystery of God. Remember, that's what Paul's trying to do. He's trying to communicate to the believers. This is what it means to be placed into Christ and Christ in you. It's our hope and glory. His life literally can live in and through us. It's amazing. And so he says, I want you to have that understanding, that epic knowledge of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. That's Paul's ministry. It's to go into all the world, any place he could, and he'd preach the gospel, and then he would build up the believers in the faith to say, hey, uh, the good news just gets better. It's not just that Christ died for our sins and paid for them and you can be forgiven. It's not only that, but there's more. Uh he's placed you in Christ, so you are free from your old self. You don't have to serve sin anymore. You can go on and live the life he's called you to live. Uh, not only that, uh, he has Christ is actually in you, willing to live his life in and through you. The mystery that was hidden, but now Paul is trying to make that revealed, to be made plain for all of us. Right. Any questions or comments on all of that? Okay, well, I will close in prayer then. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for revealing to the Apostle Paul uh this great mystery that he revealed to us through your word that uh you have placed us in Christ and Christ in us, and Lord, that we can live a life pleasing to you simply by relying on those things to be true in our lives, to yield ourselves over. So thank you, and thank you for everyone here and those that are listening online in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Come on, stop.