"The Bible's Two Mysteries" - Pastor Stephen Bohr

there father heaven thank you so much for the privilege of being in your house we thank you for your holy sabbath we thank you for the message which you have given to your church we ask father that as we open your holy word this morning that you will help us to handle it with reverence open our minds and our hearts so that we might discern your will and give us the power to make it a part of our lives and we thank you father for hearing our prayer for we ask it in the precious name of your beloved son jesus amen the bible mentions two great mysteries and the subject of our study for today is the mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity and the principles which are involved in each one of these mysteries let's take a look at the first mystery the mystery of godliness we find this minute this mystery described in first timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. so i invite you to go with me to first timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. and i want you to notice in this passage that you have a clear distinction between downward mobility and upward mobility you're going to see in a moment what i mean by downward mobility and upward mobility first timothy 3 and verse 16. there's a clear sequence of events in this specific verse of scripture the apostle paul says this and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness and now notice god was manifested in the flesh do you see the downward mobility there god was manifested in the flesh in other words god came down and then you have the process of upward mobility he came down and then noticed the sequence justified in the spirit that's a reference to the resurrection of jesus if you notice first peter chapter 3 and verse 18 he was made alive in the spirit so you have the the incarnation of jesus justified in the spirit is his resurrection seen by angels it's a reference to his ascension preached among the gentiles that's acts of the apostles believed on in the world that's the result of the apostolic preaching and then the last phrase says received up in glory or as most modern versions say taken up in glory and i believe that that's referring to the final glorification of jesus in heaven when he is crowned as king of kings and lord of lords upon his return to heaven after his second coming so you have this downward mobility and upward mobility god was manifested in flesh then he resurrected justified in the spirit seen by angels ascents and meanwhile the gospel is preached in all over the world and then jesus is taken up in glory he's glorified he came down and then he went up the mystery of iniquity is the other great mystery which is mentioned in scripture this mystery works in the opposite direction it is a mystery which works from down up in other words you have first of all upward mobility and then you have downward mobility notice this mystery as it's described in 2 thessalonians chapter 2 and verses 3 and 4 2 thessalonians chapter 2 and verses 3 and 4. here the apostle paul is speaking about the spirit of the antichrist which is the opposite of the mystery of godliness and it says there let no one deceive you by any means for that day that is the day of the coming of jesus will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition and now notice who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god so you have the man of sin who exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped so that he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god so you have this mere man who actually has this upward mobility in other words he wants to move up he exalts himself according to this and by the way this is called a mystery because a little later on in this chapter we find the expression for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work so you have one mystery where god who is up here comes down and becomes flesh and then he moves up and he is finally glorified in this second mystery you have one who is down here who has upward mobility and wants to exalt himself to the point of sitting in the temple of god and second thessalonians chapter 2 says that he will be destroyed by the breath of the mouth of god and by the brightness of the coming of jesus in other words he will be cast down so you have these two mysteries that are mentioned in holy scripture the mystery of godliness where god comes down and then he is exalted he goes up you have on the other hand the mystery of iniquity where one who is down here wants to move and occupy the high position and then he is thrown down and destroyed by the brightness of the coming of jesus the whole world is characterized mainly by the mystery of iniquity there are very few individuals in this world who have experienced in their lives the principles of the mystery of godliness i'd like us to go back to the times of please turn with me in your bibles to matthew chapter 23 and we're going to read verses 1 through 12. you see this mystery of iniquity and this mystery of godliness are actually contagious and everyone in this world is grasped by either one or the other of these mysteries and what i would like us to look at now is a group of individuals in the days of jesus who were controlled by the principles of the mystery of iniquity jesus here is presenting his woes against the scribes and the pharisees verse 1 then jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples saying the scribes and the pharisees sit in moses seat that sounds very similar to ii thessalonians 2 where it says that he would sit in the temple of god by the way moses seat was a sign of position of power of prestige of authority the pharisees thought that this gave them authorization to control the people and to dictate what the people should believe notice verse 3 therefore whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do but do not do according to their works for they say and do not do for they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers in other words they want everybody to serve them but they want to serve no one but it gets worse notice what we find in verse five but all their works they do to be what to be seen by men they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments phylacteries were little kind of little boxes with pieces of parchment with scripture and they would actually paste these through their foreheads to show how pious they were and so it says they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments they love the best places at the feasts do you see the upward mobility here the best seats in the synagogues greetings in the marketplaces and to be called by men rabbi rabbi rabbi rabbi and then jesus says to his disciples but you do not be called rabbi for one is your teacher the christ and you are all brethren do not call anyone on earth your father for one is your father who is in heaven and do not be called teachers for one is your teacher the christ it doesn't mean that we can't call our earthly father's father and our teachers teachers what jesus is saying is that we should not do this in a prideful way that's the context oh i'm a teacher i'm a rabbi i'm a doctor i'm your father what principle governed the minds of the scribes and the pharisees it was the principle of the mystery of iniquity in fact notice what we find in verse 11 jesus is reaching the conclusion of the first portion of his argument he says but he who is greatest among you shall be your servant god was manifested in flesh he's not asking for something that he didn't do before and then notice the conclusion in verse 12 it says there and whoever exalts himself who does the exalting i do whoever exalts himself notice will be humbled who does the humbling i do the exalting somebody else does humbling because that's massive we'll be humbled so if i exalt myself someone else is going to what humble me but then there's the other side of the equation the equation says and he who humbles himself whose task is it to humble ours whoever humbles himself if you choose to humble yourself what's going to happen will be exalted somebody else does the exalting did you catch what jesus is saying in this verse if i choose to exalt myself someone else is going to humble me if i choose to humble myself someone else is going to what is going to exalt me the two principles the two mysteries that are spoken of in scripture are contained in this one short verse in fact ellen white tells us in desire of ages that the essence of the teachings of jesus is being emptied of self now where did this idea of upward mobility take place where did where where was it established originally go with me to isaiah 14 verses 12 through 15. i want you to remember the upward and downward mobility he who exalts himself will be humbled he who humbles himself will be exalted now notice isaiah 14 and verses 12 through 15. this is speaking about the original rebel who established the mystery of iniquity and i want you to notice the movement in these verses it says here how you are what fallen from heaven what kind of mobility is that that's downward mobility yes but was there upward mobility before the downward mobility let's continue reading how you are falling from heaven did he fall from heaven on his own like a ripe fruit from a tree no was he cast out he sure was how you are falling from heaven oh lucifer son of the morning how you are cut down what kind of mobility is that cut down downward movement how you are cut down to the ground you who weaken the nations now why did this happen for you have said in your heart now we're going to talk about the upward mobility that came before the downward mobility for you have said in your heart i will ascend what mobility is that upward i will ascend into heaven i will i will exalt my throne above see up above the stars of god i will also sit on the mount of the congregation of the further sides of the north north is up in other words the highest point in heaven i will ascend do you see the upward mobility the language that's used here i will ascend above the heights of the clouds i will be like the most high i think this individual had a serious problem with upward mobility i think his big problem was it was he had an eye disease earl it's called myopia he was nearsighted he could only see himself he wanted to go up and so god says because you want to go up you're falling i've cut you down he who exalts himself will be what humbled notice the last part of this passage yet you shall be brought down to sheol that's the grave by the way to the lowest depths of the pit you want it to occupy the highest place in heaven you're going to go to the lowest place in the pit he who exalts himself will be humbled another description of this we find in ezekiel 28 the same being he's called the covering chair up there in ezekiel chapter 28. let's go and read there verses 14-20 of ezekiel 28. you tell me if we have this same phenomenon of the mystery of iniquity one who wanted upward mobility and as a result had downward mobility it says there your heart was what your heart was what lift it up what kind of mobility is that upward your heart was lifted up because of your beauty later on in this series i'm going to preach a sermon titled the four sins of pride and beauty is one of those dangers your heart was lifted up because of your beauty your corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor but because he was lifted up notice what god says i what i cast you to the ground what kind of mobility is that downward mobility i laid you before kings that they might gaze at you you defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities by the inequity of your trading therefore i brought fire from your midst it devoured you and i turned you notice this to ashes upon the earth what kind of mobility is that definitely downward he became dust he's going to become dust in other words in the sight of all who saw you all who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you you have become a horror and shall be no more what does the mystery of iniquity do it destroys it all ultimately disintegrates on the other hand we have the other mystery the mystery of godliness let's go to philippians chapter 5 and verses 5 through 11 and i want you to notice once again the upward and the downward mobility in this passage philippians chapter 2 and verses 5 through 11. this is a very well-known passage many of you might have it almost memorized it says here let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus what kind of mind do we need to have the mind of lucifer or the mind of jesus the mind of jesus now what was the mind of jesus notice who being in the form of god where was jesus way up there in the form of god who being in the form of god and the new king james says did not consider it robbery to be equal with god the modern versions have a much better rendering of this did not consider equality with god as something to be grasped or as something to be hung on to now this jesus even though he was god he did not hang on to his rights as god he did not demand his rights as god what did he do instead it says there but made now notice this made himself who did it did god say jesus you go down there and redeem those people no even though jesus could have stayed in heaven he could have demanded his rights the passage tells us that he made himself this was a choice of his own he made himself of no reputation actually a better translation is he emptied himself not i but my father he emptied himself now notice his descent taking the form of a bond servant from god to what to a bond servant he's coming down and coming in the likeness of men the great god has come down now he's a man but he's going to go even further down and being found in the appearance as a man he humbled himself is this related to what we read in matthew 23 verse 12 he who humbles himself absolutely he humbled himself he did it himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross in other words jesus went down down down but he who humbles himself is going to be what exalted now notice the rest of this passage therefore what does that word therefore indicate because he did this other because he humbled himself therefore god also has highly exalted him who did the exalting god he who humbles himself will be exalted jesus humbled himself did somebody else exalt him yes absolutely or did jesus come back to heaven and say i gained the victory i want my throne back and i want to name the name of the conqueror the name of the victor i want the reverence of the angels for what i've done jesus doesn't do that he humbles himself and he lets his father do the exalting and notice what he continues saying god also has highly exalted him notice the upward mobility highly exalted him and given him the name which is above see above there you have the upward mobility above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father lucifer said i'm going up god says no you're going down jesus says i'm going down the father says no you're going up this is the difference between the mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity the mystery of iniquity is when a mere human being wants to ascend to the heights and wants to be recognized wants a position of power once a position of rank wants to be recognized the mystery of godliness on their hand on the other hand is a person who occupies the position that god has for him or her willingly and joyfully you know it's interesting that all nature teaches this great lesson that coming down and giving is the principle of life right outside these windows which you can't see through we have the majestic sierra nevada most of the time you can't even see the sierra nevada from outside but you know we have a great lesson to learn from the sierra nevada you say what is the lesson the fact is folks that the fluffy beautiful clouds in the wintertime give their snow to the mountains in the springtime the mountains give their snow in the form of water to the brooks and the brooks give their water to the streams and the streams give their water to the rivers and the rivers give their water to the ocean and then the ocean once again gives its waters to the clouds it's called the cycle of water give give give what if the clouds at some point should say if i can personalize the clouds for a few moments what if they should say oh we're so beautiful and fluffy up here everybody enjoys seeing this beautiful fluffy clouds we're not going to give anything to anyone we're to keep our fluffiness everything in the san joaquin valley would die what if the mountains once they got the snow said oh everybody admires us everybody loves to come and ski on us and we're not going to give our snow to anyone because if we do we're going to look jagged and ugly so we're going to hang on to our snow everything in the san joaquin valley would die because the principle of life the principle of the mystery of godliness is to come down and give and serve you see it's interesting that the water that comes down goes up again have you ever noticed that the water comes down from the clouds it goes up to the clouds comes down goes up if it didn't come out it couldn't go up there you have the principle of the mystery of godliness illustrated you come down to go up and god will place you at the heights the secret of life is giving the secret of death is hoarding i've had the privilege of visiting israel once and uh visiting also the country of jordan several years ago uh with uh sarkis canalian and al brown and uh you know the dead sea has greatly fascinated me i've had the privilege of swimming in the dead sea on both sides on the jordanian side and on the israeli side i don't know whether you're aware but the dead sea actually originates way up in the northern sector beyond the borders of israel actually the dead sea originates on mount hermon which is snow-capped a good share of the year and what happens in the spring the snow on mount hermon melts and the snow becomes water and it rushes down like a torrent it rushes down the side of the mountain in fact the name jordan means the descender and that's where the jordan river originates the water comes down like a rushing torrent from mount hermon and it forms the riverbed of the jordan river and interestingly enough the jordan river then serpentines its way it flows south and on the northern side it enters the sea of galilee i've been to the sea of galilee it's bubbling with life in fact we stayed at tiberius when when we were there in israel the lake because it's really a lake the sea is full of fish all around the lake you have greenery you know that's what on the northern edge near capernaum is where jesus gave the beatitudes beautiful setting according to the spirit of prophecy where jesus gave the beatitudes he actually pointed to the lily and many of the things he mentioned in the sermon on the mount he was actually pointing to life as he was speaking to the multitudes of birds in the air bug bubbling with life but then what happens is that from the southern tip of the sea of galilee the water continues moving south in the jordan river because the jordan enters on the north and the jordan exits on the south the water continues flowing south and it finally ends up in the dead sea you see the sea of galilee receives water to give it's bubbling with life because it receives to give the dead sea gives its water to no one and that's the reason why it's called the dead sea because that's exactly what it is it is dead listen there are no fish in the dead sea i can guarantee it no risk that you're going to be eaten by a shark sharks don't live in lakes anyway but there's no risk that any animal is going to eat you up any marine creature because everything is dead there are not even microorganisms in the dead sea in fact there's no birds everything is dry and arid in fact there's so much mineral content in this the dead sea that you couldn't even drown if you tried to you actually float and beware about shaving in the morning before you go to swim in the dead sea because your face is going to burn like crazy it's dead it receives and it does not give that's the principle of the mystery of iniquity wanting to ascend wanting to be served wanting to be at the top and not being willing to come down and serve and help others in their need dare i say that we live in a world today where the mystery of iniquity greatly predominates just look at wall street the survival of the fittest the desire to accumulate and in the process you have to trample on other people there's no idea about using the money to benefit and help those in need i think for example of the great oil conglomerates in the united states making billions and billions of dollars and always wanting more and people in the world starving very sad but we don't have to go outside the church we can come right inside the church allow me to address one little touchy issue the issue of women's ordination and i'm not going to take a position right now you know what my position is but i just like to throw out a question do we want to ordain women because they will render greater and more effective service in the church because they will be more efficient in helping others and working for others or is it a matter of power position and rights remember that the first individual to want to occupy a position because of recognition power position rank and rights was the one who established originally the mystery of iniquity and then i like to think about the time when we're in nominating committee see we have two problems at nominating committee time the first problem is with people who are not elected to the position they feel they should be elected to and somebody else is elected how does he rate how does she make i can do that job as well or better that position is mine by divine right that's one side of the problem the other side of the problem is getting anyone to occupy a position like the position of head deacon it's been very difficult we're in the nominating process now it should not be so church should be our first priority the kingdom of god should be our first priority when we're called and asked to do something in the church we should if if we feel the lord has qualified to do us to do this and he calls us to do it is to say yes we can't say i don't have time that's a terrible indictment against ourselves to say i don't have to you don't have time for the things of god wow that's a self-indictment you're condemning yourself in other words when we get to the heavenly throne and we have to give an account for our lives and god says i called you to serve my cause at fresno central church as had deacon what was your reason for saying no well lord i didn't have the time talk about self-incrimination in a court of law maybe i'm waxing a little bit too bold but i feel folks that we need to dedicate our talents and our gifts to the service of god in the church you know folks we need to occupy the position that god gives us not aspire to positions that he has not given us you know there's this verse that we read a little while ago with which i would like to bring our study today to a conclusion philippians 2 we read the whole passage where it speaks about that even though jesus was in the position of god he didn't hang on to that he didn't demand his rights he came down he made himself of no repetition he emptied himself and he became a bond servant then he descended even more death of a cross and therefore god has highly exalted jesus do you know that there's there are very few passages in scripture that have caused uh a greater debate among theologians than this passage you ought to see the fights that theologians get in over this passage what did jesus leave in heaven what did he empty himself of did he empty himself of his divinity did he empty himself of some of his attributes you know what did he empty himself of and so they debate and they argue about this passage but the purpose of the passage is not to debate what jesus emptied himself of the purpose of the passage folks is simply to inspire us to follow the example of jesus notice philippians 2 and verse 5 at the very beginning of this passage we find this statement let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus is the apostle paul waxing very practical he most certainly is saying don't argue about what the kenosis is what the emptying is he says what i want you to do is i want you to follow the example of jesus if you're up here come down to help and to serve and then god eventually will glorify you and exalt you notice james chapter 4 and verse 10. this is the council that god gives us as we draw our study to a close this morning listen to this humble yourselves humble yourselves who's supposed to do the humbling we are humble yourselves in the sight of the lord and he will lift you up is that powerful that's the mystery of godliness in a nutshell and the mystery of iniquity is just the opposite i'd like to conclude by reminding you about the story of nebuchadnezzar he goes out one day on the balcony of the palace and he says isn't this great babylon that i made with my great power and my great wisdom and my great ability and god is there he said oh yeah how much would you do if i didn't give you the pearl of reason and so god says to nebuchadnezzar you're going to go out and i'm going to make you a vegetarian for seven years and he goes out and he behaves like an animal he exalted himself and what did god do god humbled him and after seven years god returns the pearl of wisdom the pearl of reason to nebuchadnezzar and you can read it at the end of daniel chapter 4 nebuchadnezzar says now i exalt and glorify the god of heaven because he is able to humble those who are filled with pride so he learned that whoever exalts himself would be humbled and he also learns that now he should humble himself and god would exalt him and that's exactly what god did with nebuchadnezzar i pray to god that we will learn this lesson today that what we've studied today will remain with us throughout the course of this week and throughout the course of our lives the highest position that we can aspire to is the position which god gives us to serve others and reach others with the love and service of jesus christ [Music]

Channel: Aaron

Views: 8,130

Rating: 4.9175258 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: J7ZKQsKvsAc

Length: 40min 4sec (2404 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 23 2021