Walla Walla Conference: 1989, The Mystery Christ and the Church (16:25)
Address—C. Hendricks
Now I know that there are a number of mysteries in the New Testament. Besides the one that I'm going to speak of. But the mystery that I'm going to talk about. Is the mystery of Christ and the Church the mystery of Christ and the church? Let's begin reading by turning to Romans chapter 16. Romans, chapter 16. Verse 25. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel. And the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. Which was kept secret since the world began. But now is made manifest. And by the scriptures of the prophets, or more correctly, by prophetic scriptures. According to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations. For the obedience of faith. Notice some features here. He talks about his gospel. And then he talks about the revelation of the mystery. And I'm not concerned with the first part of his Commission. He had a dual Commission, the Commission of the gospel to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And then he had the Commission, the apostle Paul had the Commission of the mystery. And it's with this ladder that I want to concern us this afternoon. He says about it, verse 25. According to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, here's a secret. That. Was never revealed up to this time. The next verse says, but now is made manifest. The heathen had. Their religious cults and societies. And. In order to be initiated into the mysteries. The secret things that belong to the particular culture, society, one had to become initiated. He had to become a member of that. And then the things which were, to those who were outsiders, secrets. Unrevealed secrets. Became known. To those who were initiated into the cult. Well, the the thought. In the. In the world about a mystery, when we talk about a mystery, it's something that is not known. It's something that is secret. But in the word of God. The thought of the mystery. Is something that was not known in ages past. From all eternity past. It was a secret. Hidden God. And what we have in the mystery. We'll look at the details of it shortly, but I want to establish first of all that we have something here that you will never find in the Old Testament. It was hidden. It was. It is now been made known and manifest by the scriptures, By prophetic scriptures, not the the scriptures of the prophets might suggest. The Old Testament scriptures you will never find. The subject and the truth of the mystery in the Old Testament. You'll never find it there. It's not there. It's not there. It's a New Testament revelation. Consequent on and subsequent to Christ in glory. Having put all our sins away on the cross, He enters now as man into the glory of God. And he sends down from that exalted place in glory the Spirit of God to bring all those who are his own. Into. The the new thing, the new order of things, which is. Connected with the mystery. So he's established here that this mystery was kept secret since the world began, but is now made manifest by prophetic scriptures. Those would be the prophetic scriptures of the New Testament. Now next we'll go to 1St Corinthians chapter 2, First Corinthians chapter 2, when Paul came to Corinth.
He says in verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellence, the sea of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now that was the part of the gospel which he preached that they in particular at Corinth needed, because they were. Trusting in their own philosophy and wisdom. And they needed to be brought to the truth. They needed to have the truth of the cross brought before them. Christ. Being the all sufficient one, the wisdom of God is Christ himself and the cross the end of the history of the first man. But he says in verse. Six, he says. Howbeit, we do speak wisdom among them that are perfect. The Saints at Corinth were not really. Mature in the things of God, they were carnal. He tells them that in chapter 3, says, I, I haven't been able to to speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. But he says that we do speak wisdom among them that are perfect. That is mature and fully grown in the things of God, yet not the wisdom of this world. Their wisdom that he's talking about is the wisdom of God. That has kept in secret this marvelous mystery. This secret never devolves in the Old Testament scriptures. Never divulged until there was a man in the glory and the Spirit of God came down. He says, Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to nought, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which God ordained. Better rendered predetermined. Before the world unto our glory. Notice every time we're going to read about the mystery, it always goes back before the world. The mystery is something that was in the mind of God, the thoughts of God, the purposes of God before the world. Goes back to his eternal counsels. In the past. The truth of the mystery. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God predetermined before the world unto our glory. Our glory. Bringing the Gentiles in, he was the apostle. Of the Gentiles. Which none of the Princess of this world knew. Had they known that wisdom, that hidden wisdom? In which? The mystery in which I hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, had they known it? They would not have crucified the Lord of glory if if the Princess of this world who hated Christ with such an intensity. If they had known that God was going to turn. The Crucifixion. Into the. Opening out and the display of that hidden wisdom. Which was God's thought from all eternity concerning Christ and the church. They wouldn't have crucified him. They wouldn't have crucified him. I I've heard that verse spoken on so many times as though it says if they knew who he was they wouldn't have crucified him. It doesn't say that. It says if they knew that hidden wisdom which God predetermined for our glory, they'd known that. If they'd known how that God was going to turn the rejection of Christ and make that the very foundation of all the accomplishment of His eternal counsels and purposes, they wouldn't have crucified Him. Man's heart is so evil. They would have sought to frustrate the carrying out of the greatest blessing. That God has ever bestowed upon the creature. US Gentiles now turn to Ephesians chapter 3. Verse one for this 'cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which has given me to you word.
How that? By revelation? He made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a four in a few words. Whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the gospel whereof I was made a minister. According to the gift of the grace of God-given unto me. By the effectual working of his power unto me. Who in less than the least of All Saints is this grace given? It was a chosen vessel who would be the depository of the mystery. God made it known by revelation to him, to Paul. And it was Paul that brought out the truth of the mystery. Now notice the next two verses. Verse 8 unto me. Who am less than the least of All Saints? Is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ? That's the first part of his Commission. Now, this wasn't revealed in the Old Testament. This is the gospel side, but it's unto the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ. What you get in the Old Testament is the Gentiles are going to be blessed in a coming day in the Kingdom. What you get in the Old Testament is truth concerning the Kingdom. You don't get the mystery. You don't get the unsearchable riches of Christ being preached to the Gentiles. That was the first part of Paul's Commission. You do get the Gentiles coming in to blessings subordinate to. Israel. Isaiah 60 Arise, shine, for thy light is come. Who is that? That's Israel, that's Zion, that's Jerusalem. By light has come, and the glory of the Lord hath risen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. When Israel is brought into blessing in the coming Kingdom, the Gentiles will be blessed too. But in a subordinate place to Israel. Not. As we have it in this present dispensation. Notice we've read a word in verse 2 and I must talk about that word, the dispensation of the grace of God. We made some comments. In our in our reading meetings about. Dispensational Truth. And we want to talk about that word and explain its meaning so that we can all, from the youngest to the oldest, get ahold of it. I, I fear that we talk about dispensational truth and over half of the the Saints that hear the term having the vaguest idea what we mean dispensational truth. With God's help, I hope to explain that this afternoon, because it's vital to understand that if you're going to understand the mystery or. Say it made it the other way. It's vital to understand the mystery that you're going to understand dispensational truth. The 2 are bound together. 2 are bound together. Verse 8. That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. That's the emphasis among the Gentiles, verse 9 and to make all men see, not just the Gentiles now. But now he's going to talk about the revelation of the mystery to make all men see Jew and Gentile. What is the fellowship of the mystery? Which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose. Which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's eternal purpose is always connected with this revelation of the mystery. And the first thing I have to say about verse 9 is that we have to make a correction in the text. It's not a fault of the translators. But the Greek text. That they were using our King James translators. The Greek texts that they were using read the word Fellowship in verse 9. And. The better. Reading. Is dispensation.
So we read of the word dispensation twice in this chapter. I don't want to talk about the unsearchable riches of Christ preached to the Gentiles, but rather than us to the second part of Paul's Commission, which was the the revelation of the mystery. Rather than reading the fellowship of the mystery, it's the dispensation of the mystery. Now that word dispensation. Has been rendered in the King James. As stewardship. In Luke. Luke chapter 12 and there's a very excellent passage to start to explain the meaning of the word. Please turn back to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, verse 42. And the Lord said, Who then? Is that faithful? And wise steward. The word we're looking at in Ephesians is stewardship. Or dispensation. Or administration. Or economy. Any of those words. Translate that. Original word. It's composed of 2 words. The word in the Greek is oikonomia. Oikos means a house and nomos means the law. And the meaning of the word is house law. It's the management of a household. And when God speaks about a dispensation? He views the whole created scene of his. As a scene in which he. Administers his goods. He administers his household, looking at the whole universe as his household according to his plan. We have basically 2 dispensations that I'm going to talk about in the dispensation of the law, which Moses was the the chief head of. He's the one that gave the law. God was dealing. Under the dispensation or the house order? The order of his household, when he was dealing with the law, with the children of Israel under law, he was he had given them these 10 commandments, these requirements of his, and he said to them, this do and thou shalt live. Man's blessing was dependent upon his obedience to the law. And if you read the 28th of Deuteronomy, you'll find a list of blessing if they were obedient, and a list of curses if they were disobedient. So the law holds out blessing to the obedient one that keeps the Law, and curses to those that don't keep it. And Moses was the. He was the chief steward of that dispensation, dispensation being a stewardship. So he was the he was the manager. He was the one that was given the responsibility to dispense the law to Israel, and they were to act in accordance with it, and they were under those. Those conditions let me use this as an illustration. Let's suppose 2 households. Because remember the word dispensation or administration or stewardship means House Law 2 households. And the first household, a domestic. A servant is serving in this household. And the man who runs the house, who is the head of the house, is a godly, God fearing man. He establishes his household in order. He has a. Everything in in order according to. Righteous. A display of things. He has a set time for the meals. He has a set time for rising in the morning and the family being together for devotions over the word and so on. Very ordered regulated household. And then picture another household where the man who runs it, who is the head of the household, is. Given to dissipation. To drinking.
And to loose living to immoral practices in ways. Irresponsible. Very little order in that household. If the domestic. Came from that kind of a household. Where there was very little order, and they were living by sixes and sevens, and nothing was fixed and. Just about anything was allowed. And then she moved from that household into the other household, which was ordered by godly principles. If she conducted herself in the same way in the new household as she had in the old. There would be all kinds of problems. He would have to learn that she's now in a new order of things, a new household, new rules and regulations, and she would have to adjust herself. To that in order to be a faithful steward. In that household, for it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. That word translated steward is almost identical to the word translated dispensation or stewardship or administration. That is, it's it's the way the house is run. And God is the one that's over this household, looking at the whole universe, and he's dispensing his goods. And the dispensation of the law lasted up until the death of Christ. And then it ended. And when Christ rose and ascended, and seated himself at the right hand of the majesty on high, the dispensation of the grace of God was inaugurated. We read about that in Ephesians 2. So God is now dispensing his goods in his household on an entirely different principle, the grace of God. God is not dealing in in law any longer. He's not requiring something of man. And with the condition that if he obeys, he'll be blasted, if he disobeys, he'll be cursed. But he's dispensing his goods on a new principle. Most of us have come to think that the word dispensation means an age or an epoch or a period of time. It doesn't mean that. It means the way God is ordering his household. It means the way he is. Dispensing his goods. We're in the dispensation of the grace of God. We are also living in the dispensation of the mystery. The mystery. God is dealing now in an entirely different way than he dealt in the Old Testament. Paul says in Second Timothy 2 That we ought to rightly divide the word of truth. If we do not see clearly. Dispensational truth that God acted in one way up till the cross, and now he's acting on an entirely different principle and in an entirely different way. We can't be faithful stewards. Of the manifold grace of God. That's what Peter says as stewards of the manifold grace of God. We are noticing in our readings that Paul commanded them to God and to the word of His grace, because this is the cardinal feature of the present dispensation. It's the dispensation of the grace of God if we fail in that. We have failed in the key feature of the present dispensation. If we fail in the. Enacting according to the truth of the mystery. We fail in the key feature of the present dispensation. The truth of the mystery. Well, in in Luke 12. He says in verse. 42 The Lord said, Who is then that faithful and wise steward? Whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season. There's a thought of an economy, a stewardship. Here's a steward in the household. He has to act according to the rules of that household. Now, when Christians act. According to the principles of the old economy of things, the Old Testament. When they were under law, under the Mosaic Law, and under Moses as their leader. They're acting out of character. Perfectly proper for Israel to act that way, but improper for a Christian. I was talking to a brother recently in a private home.
And. He was trying to tell me that. I made the statement that if we read. Too much in the book of Psalms. Without understanding the truth of the mystery, you won't understand the Psalms and you will misapply the Psalms and you will apply many of the things in the Psalms to today and they don't apply. And he didn't like that at all. And then I quoted him a passage from the Psalms, where the Israelite says about Moab, about Babylon. Happy is he that dasheth thy little ones against the stones, against the rocks. I said you wouldn't want to go by that, would you? That was perfectly proper for a Jew to have that kind of a sentiment, because they were the enemies of the Jew and the Jew was an earthly people. They had earthly promises and earthly blessings, and when their enemies prospered, they were reduced and they were persecuted. So it was very important for the Jew as a nation on earth. To to have some of these sentiments. That you have find in the book of Psalms. When you see the truth of Christianity as revealed in the New Testament, then we can go back. And read the Psalms with intelligence. And understanding and not miss apply them. And that statement applies to many of the Old Testament scriptures. Psalm of Solomon, for instance. It applies to that. To understand the true bearing of the book. It's important. Well, let's go on. And let's turn to Colossians. Chapter 1. And read. Before we get into just what the mystery is. We want to thoroughly establish. The fact that it was. Something unreal. And hidden. In the Old Testament. Verse 23 of Colossians one if you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard. In which was preached to every creature which is under heaven. Where have I Paul and made a minister? Paul was a minister of the gospel. That's the first part of his Commission. That's not what we're talking about this afternoon, verse 24 who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the Church. Where have I made a minister? He was a minister of the church, he was a minister of the gospel and now he talks about being a minister of the church, which is his body. Where have I made a minister according to the dispensation of God? Which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God or to complete. The word of God. Even the mystery. Which hath been heard from ages. And from generations but thou has made manifest to his Saints. You see it's now made manifest. The time for this secret to be disclosed has come. It's made manifest. It was hidden up to that point in time. It was given to Paul. He was the elect vessel to be the one that gave that truth. To the church, it's now in a way that is totally different and distinct from the Old Testament economy or dispensation of the law. It's different from the future, one of the Kingdom. We have time. We'll look at that. The Kingdom is another dispensation. Which Paul talks about in Ephesians 1. The dispensation of the fullness of times. That's future, but we're living in the dispensation of the mystery. When? Christ is in rejection. And in glory. Notice what it says. In verse 26, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now has made manifest to His Saints, did not it? Don't go to the Old Testament to find this mystery. It's not there. It's not in the Old Testament scriptures.
Now that we know the mystery, we can look back in the Old Testament and see the types that shadow it forth. But without the knowledge of the mystery revealed to us in the New Testament, we'd never be able to read those types or write. The only reason we can read them or write is because God has made has revealed to us the truth of the mystery. But before that was revealed, they were they were just historical facts. With no meaning. No dispensational meaning, no typical meaning, I should say. Verse 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. This is something that was never revealed in the Old Testament. There was no such thing among the Gentiles in the Old Testament that they would be brought into such a place of nearness and favor. And we'll look at that in just a moment. But that's what the mystery is about. The mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, The hope of glory? No such thought in the Old Testament. Christ in the Gentiles, the hope of glory in the Old Testament. No, never. It's not there. Now when you read. When you read the captions. I'm the King James. At the King James, translators put in their Old Testament scriptures where oftentimes it says the church doeth this and the church this and that, and then the next minute it'll say Zion or Israel or the Jews. It's all mixed up. They didn't understand the truth of the mystery Faithful translation. A good translation. Not perfect, but a good translation. And yet those that did that translating didn't understand the truth of the mystery. And I don't believe that those that are doing the modern translations understand it either. It's it's that which was given to Paul. To characterize. The way God is dealing with His household, the order in which He is dispensing His goods in this household today, the way in which He's managing His affairs in this day. And the church is is is dumb to it is blind to it. Most of us, most of the Christians are. Very grievous it ought to grieve us. It ought to grieve us that it is so. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles? Which is Christ in you the hope of glory? Whom we preach, Paul says, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom. The wisdom of God is connected with this mystery. That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. The Christian that doesn't understand the mystery is not perfect in Christ Jesus. He has never been initiated into the secret. That God has divulged. To the Apostle Paul. The secrets. The Secrets of God The Mysteries of God In first Corinthians 4, the apostle says that he was a steward of the mysteries of God. And it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And if we're not faithful in the in the in connection with the mystery. Then we are not going to receive that. Well done. That good in faith, our good and faithful servant. This is what characterizes the present day. And sad to say, few Christians know it. Paul says in verse 29, Where unto I toil? I labor striving according to his working which worketh me, and mightily for. Chapter 2 Now. For I would that ye 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, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. To the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in whom I hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now I'm going to read that as it is in the new translation. And again, I believe it's the it's the Greek text. It's not the fault of translating, but it's the Greek text that they were using which was at fault here, and the better Greek texts, those that have the preponderance of authority in wait, read it this way.
Unto all riches, verse 2. Of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge, to the full knowledge of the mystery of God. Going down to verse 2-3 now, in which. Are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in the mystery? Are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. God's thoughts, God's purposes, all that he has. In view of Christ. In view of Christ. You see, in the Old Testament, it presents a Kingdom. In which a man reigns in righteousness, the Messiah, a man shall reign in righteousness, and Princess shall rule in judgment. And all will come to the brightness of Zion's rising. Israel will be brought into blessing. They'll be the head. The nations will be blessed under that. But there's not anything said in the Old Testament that when Christ reigns from a heavenly position, he's going to be, He's going to have a bride there with him. He's going to have a companion. At his side, who will be with him for all eternity. That was the mystery. When Paul is talking about the marriage relationship in Ephesians 5 of the husband and the wife, he says this is a great mystery. I speak concerning Christ in the church. And when you read the Christ in many scriptures, not every time, but in many scriptures, it refers to Christ and the Church. And in Ephesians one, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, this is the mystery of His will. I'm going ahead of myself, but let's just look at that, Ephesians one, while we're on that point in Ephesians one. Now this is a future dispensation. This is a future time, the Kingdom, verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery of His will. It's part of this same mystery, but this is the future part. What we have in Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1 and 2 is the present part of the mystery. But the the mystery goes on to a future day when the the church. Who composed the company that had been brought to Christ in the time of His rejection? Mostly composed of Gentiles united to that man in the glory, a heavenly company. 1 body with him. There's a day coming when that Church will reign with Him, and that's what we have here, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, that's the Kingdom. Now during the Kingdom God is going to order His household goods in another fashion. He will change His methods of dealing. At that time, that will be the dispensation of the fullness of the fullness of time. Who won't be? Dispensation of the grace of God as we're living in today. We've got to know where we are, how God is dispensing the goods of His household. We're living in the dispensation of the mystery. And here now we read of the dispensation, of the grace, of the fullness of times. God is going to gather together in one. He's going to head up all things in Christ, in the Christ. Literally, I believe that includes the church. In that coming day. The Church and Christ. Will reign. We will reign with him. We can't develop that truth from the from the with the little time that we have, but I believe that that is what we have here. All things in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him, and whom we also have obtained an inheritance, and so on. Let's go back to Chapter 3 and now let's look in detail. What is the mystery? What is the mystery? Verse 3 again. I'll start with verse 2. If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, the stewardship of the grace of God. It's required in stewards that man be found faithful. We are to be conscious and intelligent that we are in the stewardship, the administration, the dispensation, the economy of the grace of God. How did by revelation He made known unto me Paul the mystery, as I wrote a foreign few words, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of the Christ it should read.
I believe that includes us. Which in other ages was not made known under the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Was it known before? It is known now it's been revealed now this is the this is the point that appears over and over and over again in connection with the mystery. And here it is. Verse 6 consists of three grand precious truths that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. That's not found in the Old Testament. Never find in the Old Testament you can argue with the Jew, and if you don't understand the truth of what we're saying this afternoon and say that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, I can show you where that's found in the Old Testament. The Jew will challenge you and say show me and he'll win the argument because it isn't there. The Gentiles are not fellow heirs with the Jew in any blessing in the Old Testament. They are blessed, subordinate to the Jew. And under them, when the Jew is made the head. But the truth of the mystery is that the Gentiles should be Delaware's joint heirs with the Jew. That's number one. And of the same body, a joint body. One body composed of Jew and Gentile. United into one body, all members united together into Christ, the head in heaven. And now in that one body, all nationalities are extinct. They're gone. There is no such thing as a Jewish Christian or a Gentile Christian. If you are a Christian, you're a member of the Church of God. There's only three kinds of persons people in the world today, Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God. And if you're a part of the Church of God, you are not one of the other two. You were, and you're brought into this new thing. Why would one want to be known by what was what characterized him when he was lost? When he brings brought into such a place of infinite blessing. That the gentile should be a joint body. The Gentiles brought into. A place where there's no difference. We often in the Gospel quote Romans 323. There's no difference. All of sin can come short of the glory of God. But in Christianity there's no difference between Jew and Gentile. This is the truth of the mystery. You won't find it in the Old Testament. Something hidden God. A joint body joint. Joint heirs. And of the same body are, as Mr. Darby puts it, joint heirs, a joint body. And then the third part of the mystery and joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. And if you want to get a Jew quite angry with you, you'll just present that truth to him and he will not tolerate it. That the Jew, that the Gentile is a joint partaker, A fellow partaker, a Co partner with the Jew of all the promises. In Christ. By the Gospel. They thought they had a premium on that and that they could lay claim to that. That was just for them. We have Abraham for our father. And now the truth of the mystery is that the Gentile is brought into all the blessings and the benefits. Of God's promise in Christ by the gospel. There's three truths. I'm going to read it as it is in the new translation that the Gentiles should be joint heirs. Romans 8, we read, were heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Everything that he has won. By virtue of his blessed pathway down here, He is going to share with us. We are one with Him. The risen, glorified man, Christ. He knew the hope of glory. The end of Ephesians one. God exalted him to His own right hand, far above all principality and power, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come, and gave him as head over all things to the church. Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all his compliment. He's not going to take possession by himself. He's going to have his ride, his church, his assembly with him. In that we are joint heirs. We are joint heirs.
With Christ, you and Gentile, the Gentile should be joint ears. Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles. This is the mystery. That we, we Gentiles, have been brought into this. This which was hidden, never revealed before, not found in the Old Testament. The Old Testament will lead you as far as that a king shall reign in righteousness. It doesn't tell you that when He reigns in righteousness, we're going to be seated with Him. We're going to be right there with Him and sharing it all with Him. We're joint heirs and we're a joint body and joint partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel. This is what he's. Brought us into. This is the truth of the mystery. And we ought to be governed by the dispensation of the mystery. God is dispensing His goods according to the truth of the mystery. The way he's ordering his household is all connected with the mystery, the dispensation, the stewardship, the house order of the mystery. That the Gentiles are joint heirs and a joint body, and joint partakers of this promise in Christ by the gospel. Verse 7. Where have I was made a minister? Paul was a minister of this truth. According to the gift of the grace of God-given unto me by the effectual working of His power unto me, who am less than the least of All Saints. Is this grace given? That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see. All men see. To enlighten all men. To initiate them into the into the secret of God's thoughts, his eternal counsels. We've been initiated when we become Christians into the into this inner order where the truth of the mystery has now been revealed to us. To make all men see what is the fellowship or the administration, the stewardship. The dispensation of the mystery. Which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now, right now, under the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God. And in the 6th chapter. Of Ephesians verse 4, verse 12. Paul speaks about our enemy. He says We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the high places, in the heavenlies. Well, that's where we are. In chapter 2, were seated in the heavenlies in Christ. In chapter 1, we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. In chapter 1, He's exalted to the highest place in the heavenlies and we're seated there and we're blessed there. And the angels and principalities and powers as they view this, this manifold wisdom of God to bring the likes of us into such blessings, they learn the all various wisdom of God. But the enemy is there and they're withstanding us and opposing us and trying to get us to act as mere worldlings and earthly. Saints, as though Christianity is just another earthly religion. To be a faithful steward of the mystery is to be intelligent as to the truth that we've been talking about, these wonderful truths, and to walk in accordance with it. It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Who then is that faithful steward whom the Lord will make? A ruler over all his house. The one who has. Entered into the mind of God, you cannot act. Intelligently, as a Christian, you don't understand the truth of the mystery. The truth of the mystery. Whose angels? Some of them are fallen angels. Satan's hosts are withstanding our progress, and they're in the heavenlies. But that's where we are. And they're going to be shut out of that place. They're going to be consigned to their place in judgment. And we are going to reign. With Christ, we're there. Now, as to our position, we're going to reign with Christ from a heavenly vantage point, right in the very sphere where Satan's power is today.
To withstand our progress. There's going to be such a complete overthrow of all the power of Satan. The God of peace shall brew Satan under our feet shortly, and we're going to be seen displayed with Christ in that glory and reign with Him over this scene from the heavenlies, the very sphere where Satan is. The very sphere where the elect angels are too, to behold the all various wisdom of God. I feel I have so poorly presented these precious truths of the mystery and what the word dispensation means I trust. The Spirit of God will use. These few feeble remarks. To help us to enter in. To what is our portion? That we might. Be intelligent. In the truth of the mystery. The dispensation of mystery. The dispensation of the grace of God. We missed that. We will act out of character. We will misrepresent the Lord. We will pull scriptures out to justify a course of action that do not apply at all to the Church. How many have done that? Christians going to war, to carnal conflict. Christians going to. That kind of thing. The Christians engaged in politics. And seeking to set the world right if we entered into the truth of the mystery that we are united to Christ in glory, our portion is heavenly. We're just passing through. To represent him. And to be true to him. During the time of his rejection, the reigning time, the dispensation of the fullness of times is about to come, and then we will reign with him. This is not the reigning time, this is the suffering time, and what a privilege it is to suffer for him and with him now. We shall reign with him. Above.