[0:00] be looking at verses 14, 15, and 16 there in the third chapter of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 through 16. This is a great point of transition in the book and that is as many of you know in the writings of Paul, Paul very neatly divides his writings.
[0:19] He introduces in the first half of most of his letters, if not all of his letters, a theological or doctrinal truth and then he goes into the application of that truth of the correction of the errors in regard to that truth. He's doing the same thing in his writing here to Timothy. He has introduced these major doctrines and themes of what the church looks like and in chapters 4, 5, and 6 he will begin to address really issues, not main issues that are going on but matters that are happening in the church and how they should be applied.
[0:48] So he makes this transition here in the third chapter in verses 14, 15, and 16. But if you are physically able and desire to do so I'm going to ask if you would join with me as we stand together and we read the word of God found in 1 Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 14. Now we've read these verses already while looking at this book so do not let the familiarity of them or the repetition of them blind you from the truth that they contain.
[1:14] Paul says, I'm writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long. But in case I am delayed I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. By common confession great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world and taken up in glory. Let's pray. Father we thank you for this day. We thank you for your faithfulness and your goodness that you have extended towards us. What a grand opportunity it is to be gathered with your people in this place that we could read the word of God together. So now we pray that if we have read it and we have heard it, Lord now may we see it with open eyes. May you speak to our hearts and minds and Lord may the truth of it penetrate to the very depth of our being that it may conform and shape us and mold us to your glory and image. And we ask it all in
[2:15] Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. First Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 through 16. We have already looked at these verses at least verses 14 and 15 because I have highlighted them for you even in the very beginning of introducing this book to the reality that they are the theme of the entire book.
[2:33] It is this is why Paul wrote this letter. He wrote this letter to Timothy whom he left behind at Ephesus to raise up the leadership of the church and to set in order how the church ought to look, how the church ought to behave. Now it is really telling because Paul had spent a number of months between 18 and 24 months with that church at Ephesus from its beginning. He was there when it was birth. He was there for an extended period of time until he was run out of the city because of a revolt that came because of the silversmiths and the trades and those who were making foreign idols and they got upset. We can read all that in the book of Acts. But after his departure when he went down to Macedonia he wrote this letter back to Timothy and he wrote it to Timothy so that he would know how the church ought to look, how the church ought to be organized and set up and how it ought to operate and how one it tells us here ought to conduct himself within the confines of the church. So this is not only the theme of the book but it is a great transition because he said now these are the doctrinal truths and he's going to get into the application of these truths as we get into the latter half of the book. But we'll take a moment just to stop right here and look at these three verses and I want you to see because our overall theme of the book of 1st Timothy is being the church. But I want you to see this morning it's amazing position. The church is amazing position and we see it here in the passage before us really how astounding is the church. It is a wondrous deed. I have been reminded lately of how wondrous it is to be able to call out to holy God as our father. I was reading Carrie and I sometimes at night read together. I always use this word lightly because if any of you have ever heard me preach you know that when we read together at night it's usually me reading and her sleeping. It has been that way ever since we've got married 26 years now it's happened that way. I have a very monotone voice I guess in my reading. Maybe I don't pick very exciting books to read but it's Andrew Murray's classic with Christ in the school of prayer. That you some of you say well that would put anybody to sleep but it might but it's pretty astounding as well as Andrew Murray really is breaking down the Lord's prayer and I was reminded just a couple of nights ago just how wondrous it is to call God our father. Not only are we having the opportunity to refer to him as our have you ever noticed that in the Lord's prayer he does not say my father it is our father. He says Lord teach us to pray and it is a corporate event and it is a corporate identity but just how glorious it is that when Christ teaches the disciples to pray. Now this has bearing upon our passage this morning so stay with me. Just how telling it is that when Christ teaches his disciples to pray.
[5:31] Andrew Murray once said Christ never taught them how to preach but he did teach them how to pray. Think about that for just a moment if you want to give priority right. He taught his disciples how to pray but he never taught them how to preach because prayer precedes preaching. So anyway the very first thing he introduces to them is the wondrous opportunity that they have to call holy God father. That is an amazing concept which too often we overlook and it is so amazing and that it was foreign to the people of the Old Testament. That is a very New Testament principle to refer to holy God as father. Now we know that we have the opportunity through the spirit of adoption to cry out Abba Abba right that because Christ redeemed us with the precious blood of the lamb which was his own blood and we have been bought off of the auction block of sin and we have been brought into the family of God we can cry out to him as our father. Now I was again reminded of that this morning reading my daily devotional in first chronicles the 29th chapter the last chapter of the book of first chronicles. Some of you are reading there today some of you may get to read there later on but David after making all the preparations for the construction of the temple and he's laying it aside for his son Solomon and he sees the people respond and they give as well then
[7:03] David praises God and it's the last thing that we have recorded in the book of chronicles before David dies is his praise offered to God. Now pay attention to that he says I praise you oh God the God of my father Abraham. So he refers to the God as the God of his earthly father Abraham. It is the God of my fathers with a lower case f right. You are the God of the fathers but listen we have such a new position in the New Testament and in Christ that we come and say you are not the God of our fathers you are our father God. And it's astounding because we see this wrapped up in the identity of the church and now all of a sudden we begin to see the amazing position of the church. Everything changes here with the with the people of God in the New Testament because of the redemption found in Christ and we see a number of things that really show us and highlight for us just how amazing the church is. Number one we notice its construction. How the church is constructed how it is built. He says I am writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long. Some say Bible translators will tell you that in the original language the wording is something more like this. I have already intended to be headed your way but since I have been delayed I'm writing these things. So it is Paul stating the matter kind of clearly that my intention was to already have come back but I have been delayed in Macedonia. Now if you know anything about the book of Acts you'll know that he ended up in Athens and he was on Mars Hill in Athens and then he left Athens and went into the Macedonian region and the Lord was opening up a door of opportunity for him. So we see here what's going on is Paul says I wanted to make my way back. I wanted to tell you these things but I've been delayed but now pay attention to this. Paul says I wanted to come back and tell you these matters personally but since I have been delayed I'm going to write them out for you. So now that ought to all of a sudden pique our interest because what Paul is declaring are matters that are not worth waiting over. They have to be told. He is writing these matters. Now truly these matters include everything found in the book of 1 Timothy but if we want to bring it down and set a microscope over it just a little bit they also can be found within the passage that we have before us.
[9:36] There are some things Paul says that need to be shared immediately. They are things that need to be proclaimed right now. They cannot wait until I make my way back to you. So he writes Timothy whom he left behind at Ephesus to declare these things. He says but in case I am delayed in case it takes me longer than I wanted I write so that you will know. Pay attention to this. I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself. Now just stop right there. Here we begin to see the construction of the church. How one ought to conduct himself because what we understand. Remember we cry out our father because truly in New Testament teaching even though it is so contrary to the American ideology or even western mindset there is more tied to the corporate identity than there is to the personal individual. So it is our father. It is the individual as a part of the people that is crying out to the Redeemer. It is the corporate identity of the people of God. So the tendency at times is to say well then I can get lost in the crowd. If we're going to just be really transparent and really honest this is the draw of the quote unquote mega churches today. They can do a lot more and I'm not disparaging them. I'm not telling I'm not saying anything about them because they do much good. Some of them proclaim great truths. Some of them can reach much further but too often the draw is because since there are more people I can get lost in the crowd and there's not as much expected of me. The only problem with that with the diminishing the expectations is we are looking at it from a corporate position rather than a biblical position because if we want to really dive into it it tells us how one ought to conduct himself. If the church's identity is based more upon the construct of the building that is the whole as a unit then we can easily dismiss each individual but Paul is writing so that each one would know how he or she ought to conduct themselves within that corporate body. Now let's backtrack just a little bit a couple of weeks ago and understand this. What Paul is not writing about he is not declaring to us the rules of engagement of what takes place within the walls of a building.
[12:17] When he says how one ought to conduct himself in the church he's not saying that you shouldn't bring drinks into the sanctuary. He's not saying that you shouldn't run between the pews. He's not saying that you shouldn't take food out of the kitchen. He's not saying any of that. I'm not telling you that you should. Okay I'm not sitting here endorsing those matters so don't start throwing things at me yet but we know that Paul if we want to take it in context is not saying that. He's not saying that you know having coffee out there having an area for coffee is bad. I'm not saying that. What he is saying is he is talking about how each individual ought to behave with one another and the reason we know that is because there was no such thing as church buildings at that time. So when he refers to the church he is referring to the people and now all of a sudden he is telling you how one ought to conduct himself not within the confines of a walls of a structure but within the fellowship of the people of God. Because as Peter would tell us we are the temple of God living stones being united and built up upon one another. The church is not brick and mortar and wood and stone and all of those beautiful ornate things that make buildings. The church is the people of God being built upon and with one another upon the foundation of Christ. It is constructed with men and women who profess Jesus Christ as their
[13:54] Lord and Savior. It is a glorious temple to the living God we'll get to in just a moment that is a representative a living representative among the people of the world. But since it is constructed with individuals it is absolutely the responsibility of every individual to make sure that they maintain the integrity of the structure. Now pay attention to that again. It is the responsibility of each individual to make sure they maintain the integrity of the structure. That is it matters how we live.
[14:38] Because if we were to look around the building of our church grounds here and we were to find matters which we thought were no longer fit for the safe upkeeping of this facility then we would remove it or replace it. If portions and part of our foundation were cracked or out of whack we would repair it. When the roof was damaged it was replaced. When the central heat and air units go out you want the building and grounds crew. You want them to maintain that. You don't want us to go back to the potbelly stove days where we have it up here in the front. Everybody would have to move to the front right? You wouldn't want that.
[15:20] When something does not fit. When it is no longer working or in need of replacement we do it. We have beautiful doors that no longer creak when they open. It's kind of unnerving to me because I don't know when someone's sneaking in anymore but they are astounding to look at. Last time it rained I looked and there was no rain coming in. It was astounding. When everything within our structure needs to be replaced we do it.
[15:46] But the church is not this building. The church is the people. So therefore as much concern as we take of ensuring that our building and I believe the building and grounds my personal testimony and I've shared it with the building and grounds committee and I've shared it ever since I've been here. My personal conviction is the grounds of the church ought to be the best kept grounds in the community because that gives you an opportunity to testify to the community.
[16:14] That is just one of my convictions based upon what they see and hear right? But if we have that conviction when it pertains to a building should we not have a greater conviction when it comes to what really is the church and that is the people?
[16:30] It is our responsibility to know how we ought to conduct ourselves. You say now pastor what I do when I leave here is none of your business.
[16:41] Well my dear friend it absolutely is because I am a stone built right next to you and what I do when I leave here is your business.
[16:52] Paul said it this way what do I have to do with judging those who are with outside the church? I judge those that are within the church. We ought to know how we ought to conduct ourselves within the church and just so you know just because you leave the building doesn't mean you're not in the church anymore.
[17:14] We are the church. So the church is wherever we're at. When we worked with teenagers and youth and we had church shirts that we put on them primarily bright colored shirts so that we would never lose them in crowds we would always remind them that church doesn't have your name on it that church has the that shirt has the church's name on it.
[17:38] So when they see you they see the church right? Well the reality is that for each one of us in our lives we ought to understand the construction of the church.
[17:51] And what an amazing position it is. We are people who have been built up because of the redemption and forgiveness found in Christ. And therefore we ought to pay attention to how we ought to conduct ourselves in this thing called the church.
[18:06] Number two we notice it's contrast. But in case I'm delayed I'll write so that one will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God. Look at this.
[18:17] Which is the church of the living God. Within the household of God which is the church of the living God. Here's the contrast. The church is more than just an organized group of people.
[18:31] I shared with you last week that really the word that we get church from is the word ecclesia. Which means just to be a called out set apart group. It was a very common word used in the times of Christ.
[18:44] When the Sanhedrin was gathered together and some were called out of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin were the 70 elders and leaders of the Jewish community. So when Christ on the night of his betrayal was brought before the Sanhedrin not all 70 were present.
[19:00] We know that they were not there because Nicodemus was not there and Joseph of Arimathea was not there as well. But there was a group of them at least a majority group of the 70 from the Sanhedrin that were gathered together.
[19:11] That had given them at least in their mind judicial powers to make decisions. And they were operating as an ecclesia. A called out group from among other people to make decisions and to take action.
[19:23] And so that's what the word church means. But there is something unique about the church of God. It is not just a group of people who have been united together. But it is a group of people with a really, really peculiar and amazing operation.
[19:39] It is something that they do that nothing else does. It says it is the church which is the household of God. Over and over again we find in the New Testament that God does not dwell in temples.
[19:50] But rather he dwells within his people. The times of God's temple dwelling period are over, right? No longer in a tabernacle. No longer in a temple. By the way he never dwelt in them.
[20:01] He calls his Shekinah glory to fall upon them. And his name rested upon them. But to us, go read the gospel of John. John chapter 13, 14, 15. And even in the 16, Jesus talks about when he ascends to the Father, the Father will send forth the Spirit.
[20:16] And the Spirit will come and make its abode or tabernacle within you all of a sudden. And then Jesus says, not only will the Spirit dwell within you, but the Father will dwell within you. And then not only will the Spirit and the Father dwell within you, Jesus says, I will come dwell within you.
[20:32] Now take that back for just a moment. When you go into the Old Testament and Solomon constructs this grand temple of the Lord. And he constructs it in his prayer of dedication.
[20:43] Solomon makes this accurate profession. He says, you are too grand. Now I'm paraphrasing a little bit here. You're too grand. You're too great to dwell in anything constructed by man. Because the earth is your footstool.
[20:54] You're greater and grander. You're far above all these things. God, you could never live in this, but you will cause your name to dwell here. That's what Solomon prays, right? But when we get to the New Testament, Jesus says that the fullness of God dwells within the people of God.
[21:11] Isn't that amazing? We are the household of God. That what the temple could not hold, what the tabernacle could not hold, we are told that we do hold.
[21:22] The fullness of God, both Father, our all three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit come to make their abode within us. It is there because we are the house of God, which is the representative of God among the people of the world.
[21:37] But we notice the contrast here. Because it says, not only is it the household of God, but it is the church, notice this, of the living God.
[21:49] See, when Paul is writing this, he's writing it to Timothy, who is in Ephesus. And there are other believers there who are familiar with houses of God's, lowercase g.
[22:05] And you travel all around the world, and you go to various places, and even in our own community, you go down the road just a little bit. People build houses of God's with a lowercase g.
[22:16] I can take you to places, just a county over, and show you houses built for gods, multiple gods, with a lowercase g. And they are ornate in all of their appeal, and they are intricately built together, and they are well-constructed.
[22:32] Houses of gods abide everywhere. But there's something different about the church. Because the God that is dwelling within that building is not an idol fashioned by the hand of man.
[22:47] It is the living God. It is the church of the living God. Never miss that contrast.
[22:59] That that which we represent to the world is not something formed and fashioned by our own imaginations. Not something constructed by our own hands. But it is the very living God himself who dwells within his people.
[23:14] It is an astounding reality that we are constructed and built upon one another. Stone upon stone. And we are here for the living God's manifestation.
[23:25] He is not a dead God. His ears are not deaf. His eyes are not blind. His arm is not too short to reach. His power is not too small. He is the living God, the word of God tells us.
[23:39] And we notice the contrast of it. It is not a temple built to represent the work of man. But it is something that God has constructed to manifest the living God of all of creation.
[23:54] What an amazing thing the church is. Number three. Look at its conviction. Look at its conviction. It is constructed like no other temple.
[24:08] It is contrasted with every other temple in that that which dwells within it cannot be picked up and moved. Because that which dwells within it is very much alive. And now look at its conviction.
[24:21] All right. So that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God. Here it is. The conviction. The pillar and support of the truth.
[24:33] The pillar and support of the truth. Again, this is why we take things in context. Next, Paul is writing to Timothy who is where?
[24:43] At Ephesus. You say, Pastor, you've said that about four times this morning. Right. And in Ephesus there was a temple to Artemis. If you remember, that's why Paul had to leave Ephesus anyways.
[24:54] Because the silversmiths rose up and they incited a revolt. And they were in their greatest Ephesus, the city of Artemis. And they were revolting against that because they were all fashioning these little idols of Artemis.
[25:04] And people weren't buying them anymore because they were turning to a living God. So they didn't need a God they could set on the shelf any longer. And it was upsetting the trade of the silversmiths. But in this temple, this temple that was there that everybody would say was so grand and great.
[25:18] It was surrounded by 127 gold and ivory inlaid pillars. 127 pillars went around this false temple.
[25:31] And those 127 pillars were doing one thing. Holding up the roof that was covering up the idol. That's it. If you were to go to the ancient ruins of Ephesus today, you can find some of those pillars that are still there.
[25:46] There's no longer a roof there any longer. They're no longer holding anything up. There are just bits and pieces of them that are there that they can say, well, that's where it used to be. But of those 127 ornate, well-decorated, well-constructed pillars that were surrounding this temple here, the only thing it was doing was holding up the roof.
[26:06] And Paul writes to Timothy and reminds the church that they don't need to be covered in gold. They don't need to be covered in ivory. They don't need to have marble superstructures.
[26:17] But they are the pillar and the support that does not hold up a roof, but we hold up the truth. This is the conviction of the church.
[26:30] It is the church which is the pillar, one singular, right, and support of the truth.
[26:42] There's a couple of things that we need to understand about this conviction. Number one, we must be convicted that we are indeed that very thing. We are the pillar, something that is immovable, unshakable. We find elsewhere in the writings of Peter that God will once again shake those matters which can be shaken, and that which cannot be shaken will endure to the end.
[27:02] That is, there are things of this world that are going to be shaken and torn down, but the things that cannot be shaken, they will endure to the end. We, my friend, as the church are one of those pillars which cannot be shaken. We are a pillar with a purpose, and that is we are upholding and supporting the truth.
[27:20] So in that conviction, we must also bear in mind that there is a such thing as truth. You say, well, that goes without saying. Well, I would love to agree with you there, but that it goes very much worth saying in today's time that there is a truth.
[27:37] And that truth is something that can be upheld. And that truth does not change based upon circumstances. That truth is not something that is kind of wishy-washy. That truth is not something that is tossed to and fro like the waves of the sea.
[27:50] There is an absolute truth which absolutely can be held up for all to see it regardless of how they respond to it. Friend, it is not your calling to convince people of the truth.
[28:01] It is your calling to uphold the truth. That's it. It is the Spirit that brings conviction. It is the Spirit that brings leading. Now, we ought to cry out to the Father, and we ought to plead before Him and say, Father, would you open their eyes?
[28:16] Would the Holy Spirit convict their hearts? Would you lead them to the truth? But we must do it in love, too, but we also uphold the truth. We lift it up. We don't try to convince the mind, but rather, we just raise up the truth.
[28:32] It is the conviction of the church that there is a such thing, and that thing is worth holding up. And we are convicted of that because truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
[28:48] Friend, listen to me. The calling of the church is not based upon convenience, but rather, it's based upon conviction. It is not always convenient to hold up the truth, but it is a matter of conviction that we are to be holding up the truth.
[29:08] The calling of the church is not what is convenient at that moment, but is that what it is convicted of. I ask you, what are your convictions? Because unless you know what your convictions are, unless you know what it is you are supposed to be doing, then you will not do it.
[29:25] As a matter of fact, you may do it for a moment, but you will walk away from it when it gets uneasy. We need to understand that the church is a place of conviction. We know the truth.
[29:37] It does not matter what the world declares to us, or about us, or towards us. We know the truth. The world is not there to help us interpret the truth.
[29:49] If you want to help her in interpreting the truth, then cry out to the author of the truth, that is. May you ask the Father to send the presence of the Holy Spirit to help you understand the truth in a greater way.
[30:01] But we do know the truth. It is a matter of conviction. Fourth and finally, not only do we notice the amazing position of the church in its construction, its contrast is conviction, but fourth and finally, we notice its common confession.
[30:16] What unites this body of believers called the church? What ties each stone together so that they can, in unison, be that support that holds up the truth in a world that seems to be so antagonistic against it?
[30:30] What is the common bond? It is, if you look at it historically and biblically, it is the confession which the church holds. Simply, it is saying, knowing what you believe and believing what you know.
[30:45] What do you confess? Now, there are, we have said it before, big rock and small rock issues. There are matters of interpretation, which we do not really have to be in 100% agreement on, but then there are matters of big rock issues or confessions, which we have to absolutely be upon agreement.
[31:04] And we understand that it is the confession of the church which holds them together. That's why it has been so common throughout the ages. Ever since we've had church life, it really, since the very beginning, it has been common to have creeds and confessions.
[31:21] We have kind of gotten away from that in our Baptist world today. If I actually was to open up this Bible that I have in my hand, I can show you a number of creeds that are recorded in the back. Not all of them Baptists, but most of them really good, right?
[31:34] This creedal confession of these things, I believe, and we don't study that very often anymore. Very little do we do it any longer. We don't write it because we say, oh, well, that's been twisted and used for wrong over there.
[31:45] Just because people twist and use it for wrong doesn't mean we have to walk away from it. You, whether or not you know it or not, are aligning yourself with the confession by joining this church.
[31:58] And you say, well, no, I'm not. Well, at the very moment you become a member of this church, you are aligning yourself with the confession of the church, which is confined within our bylaws. You say, well, I don't know what that is.
[32:12] Well, you should have asked. Or maybe I should have told you. Some people ask. They want to see the bylaws before they join. And I say, thank you for asking that question.
[32:23] I'd love to show them to you because I want you to know what it is you're joining. I want you to understand that. Some of you say, well, I didn't know that we were part of that. Well, we absolutely aren't.
[32:34] And so there is a confession which we hold to. There used to be a thing called church covenants. It's not necessarily a thing anymore, but that is confined also within our bylaws, right? A covenant. So not only have you united in confession, you've also entered into a covenant by being a member of a church.
[32:50] You say, what kind of covenant did I enter into? Well, we need to talk about that someday, right? But we understand this. It is important to understand our common confession because this is what unites us.
[33:02] We are not like all other people. We don't confess what everybody else confesses. The moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have a common confession. Now, truly, there are people, now this is my absolute conviction, there are people whose confessions may look a little bit different than ours in the Baptist world, who we will be standing beside in glory, praise God, together with one another, singing hallelujah.
[33:27] And some of their confessions, I may scratch my head and say, well, I never saw that, but that doesn't mean that they are wrong and I'm right or I'm wrong and they're right, right? That just means sometimes in our interpretation of Scripture, we differed on small rock issues.
[33:40] But yet, Paul gives us one of the early hymns of the church. Yes, they sang hymns together. He gave us one of the early hymns, at least a portion of it here. And this hymn was to declare a confession.
[33:52] Because I was even sharing this morning with one of our young men within the church, I was in fellowship time, and he had a new Bible, was showing me his new Bible. And I said, he said, I'm reading the book of Psalms.
[34:03] I said, what's your favorite Psalm? And he told me his favorite Psalm. I said, I'll tell you my favorite Psalm. Psalm 145 is my favorite Psalm. I love Psalm 145. It says, I will declare his goodness and his righteousness and worthiness to the next generation, that I will lean upon him and trust upon him.
[34:18] As a matter of fact, we kind of made that our theme Psalm as a family. Now I'll go one further. 101 classes are basic classes, right? Psalm 101. I call that basic Christianity. Because David says, I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.
[34:31] I will dwell on no thing that is unthoughtful, but I will set you before my eyes. The oldest Psalm in all of scripture, Psalm 100, written by Moses, right? A Psalm of Moses, Psalm 100. And the wonderful thing about Psalm 100, the oldest Psalm in all the book of Psalms, Moses is declaring the hope of the resurrection in the oldest Psalm, right?
[34:50] These things are astounding. This is the hymn book of the Jewish people of the Old Testament. But these hymns were declaring confessions to one another, right?
[35:01] So when we sing together corporately, we are making confession with one another. This morning, we confess to giving thanks with one another, right? This morning, we confess to shouting the praises of the Lord with one another.
[35:13] Well, what confession is found here? It is the common confession. Paul says, by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. What is Paul saying? You are a part of something that everybody else, that it knows Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior is a part of as well.
[35:29] You in Ephesus are not alone, he says. You are united with all who make this confession. Friend, listen to me. It can be hard to hold up the truth where you're at, but you are united with others.
[35:43] And look at this common confession. He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
[35:53] Really, it is the proclamation of the gospel. It says that he was revealed in the flesh. This speaks of his humanity, right? Jesus did not begin in the flesh.
[36:04] There was not a date and time in which he came to be. There was a date and time in which he was revealed. In Christmas season, we do not celebrate the coming of Christ the first time.
[36:15] We celebrate the revelation of Christ in the flesh, right? He is eternal past. He has always been. But there was a day of revelation and we rejoice in that revelation.
[36:26] He was revealed in the flesh. That is his coming. He was vindicated in the spirit. That means he was made righteous and declared righteous in the spirit. That could be spirit with a lowercase s.
[36:38] That is to the very depth of his being. He was righteous. This is not only the revelation of his life. This is the way he lived his life. It could also imply that it was the Holy Spirit who declared that he was righteous.
[36:50] He was seen by the angels, both good and bad. It is astounding to me that every time Christ cast out demons, have you noticed this? These demons do not have to ask who he is.
[37:01] Jesus asked the demons names, but the demons never ask his name. The demons know who he is. They declare who he is and he cast them out so that they will be quiet about who he is.
[37:12] The demons ask his permission to go into the herd of swine. The demons say, do not cast us out into the abyss. The demons want permission to go somewhere else. These who are overpowering man in the flesh have no power with the man who is revealed in the flesh.
[37:26] He is seen by the angels. He was declared by the angels at his birth who sang his glory to shepherds out in the field. He was declared by the angels at his ascensions who taught of his coming, returning in the same manner to the disciples standing in the field.
[37:41] He is proclaimed by the angels in the book of Revelations in the latter days. Friend, listen to me. He came in the flesh so that we can see him, but he's been seen by the angels all along. He has been proven to be innocent in the spirit.
[37:53] He's been seen by the angels. He's proclaimed among the nations. It did not take very long before this good news was shared among the nations. He is believed upon by those nations.
[38:03] He's believed on in the world, and he was taken up in glory. This means that the father accepted the sacrifice of the son. He welcomed him back into his presence. He is an approved sacrifice, an atoning sacrifice, yet a living sacrifice for us and taken up.
[38:19] This is the confession of the church, and upon this confession, we stand as an amazing group of individuals who hold up that truth and say, let me tell you about my savior, because he is an amazing savior, and this is the amazing position we have.
[38:38] We, with all who would confess that, stand together and say, yes, we are a part of the church, so let us live differently for his glory. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this day.
[38:51] Thank you for your faithfulness, and your goodness, and your mercy extended towards us. We pray, oh Father, that we would not lose sight of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
[39:06] Savior, we praise you, not only for your manifestation, but for the way you lived, the death you died, the resurrection you accomplished, and the ascension that leaves us longing and waiting for your return.
[39:24] We praise you for the redemption that we have through the blood of the lamb, that you have given us the opportunity to call out to holy God as our father, for uniting us together as a body of believers called the church.
[39:39] May we take it seriously. May we live intentionally, and may we be that pillar of support that the world desperately needs to hold up the truth for your glory and yours alone.
[39:50] We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
[40:47] Amen. Amen.
[41:47] Amen. Amen.
[42:47] Amen. Amen.
[43:47] Amen. Amen.
[44:47] Amen. Amen. Thank you.