Okay, I want to start by looking at the book of Mark chapter 9 verses 31 and 32.
For he taught his disciples and said unto them, The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him. And after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Verse 32, But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Now stop right there.
Question.
Why would the twelve who followed Jesus for three and a half years not understand what he said to them?
He simply said, He'll be delivered into the hands of men, they'll kill him, and he'll rise on the third day.
Why could they not understand this prophecy?
Why could they not understand this simple truth?
Well, instead of guessing, let's just do what we're told to do and compare scripture with scripture.
Not preacher to preacher or commentary to commentary, but scripture with scripture.
Look with me in Luke chapter 9 verse 45.
But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not, and they feared to ask him of that saying.
So back to my question, why could they not understand him?
There's your answer.
It was hid from them.
Paul called what he received from the Lord, what he preached, the revelation of the mystery.
In Romans 16:25 Paul wrote this, Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the, now here it is, don't miss it, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began.
You know, there's so much to learn from just this verse alone.
First of all, we see that believers need to be established, stabilized.
Secondly, we learn what it is that makes us stable.
Paul says, my gospel will make you stable.
What is your gospel Paul?
Isn't it the same as everyone else's?
I've always heard there's only one gospel.
Paul says no.
My gospel is the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
Well, isn't that the same gospel that Jesus taught to Peter, James, John, and the boys back there in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?
No it's not.
My gospel was kept secret since the world began but is now made manifest.
So by a careful study of scriptures we can see that the information hid from Peter, James, John and the rest of the 12 back there in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John was later revealed to our apostle and he then wrote 13 books to us to explain this revelation.
Now, you and I need not to be nebulous in our understanding.
This information that was once hid, kept secret, has now been revealed in the letters of Paul.
Now I'm not certain why this is hard for some to understand.
I guess it's the old tradition over truth syndrome.
But it would serve them well to acknowledge that in their pridefulness, they thought they could merit God's favor by their own good behavior, by doing good works, by doing good, by attempting to keep the commandments and so forth.
They've come to this conclusion by reading Matthew through John as if it were their instructions for salvation, when in fact these are the books written to Jews containing Jewish doctrine.
Oh we can go there and find great spiritual application, but our doctrine's not there.
If our doctrine was back there then there would have been no need for Christ to pay a visit to Paul on the road to Damascus.
Of course, Saul later became Paul and Paul's gospel will knock you off your high horse real quick.
In Romans 11:6 he tells you this, If by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
Please get this.
Paul said that salvation now is by grace alone and no more of works.
For him to say no more of works certainly implies that it once was of works.
And of course that's what the Bible says.
Remember the rich young ruler came to Jesus in Matthew chapter 19 and he asked what must I do to have eternal life?
And Jesus responded by telling him to do works.
He told him to keep the commandments and sell everything he owned.
Now, that's not your doctrine, and if it is you're in deep trouble.
If you think that you can mix even one work with God's grace to save you, you'll remain lost.
Grace and works are now mutually exclusive.
You may go to church, read your Bible, buy a Christian bumper sticker, and pray three times a day, but you're lost.
Salvation can only be obtained in this dispensation of grace by grace alone, in Christ alone, without any works of any kind at any time.
Now I'm not talking about working after you're saved.
I'm talking about mixing even one work to be saved.
This is what's being taught in most of Christendom today.
Just turn on the radio, turn on your television, listen to most denominational preachers.
You're getting a faith plus works for salvation message, and that's not the message for today.
It's faith alone.
The works come after.
Just one human work mixed with God's pure grace will do nothing but make you a lost believer, a believer who has sincerely believed the wrong thing.
First Corinthians 1:29 says, No flesh will glory in His presence.
And verse 30 says that The saved are sanctified, made righteous and have been redeemed.
And the reason no flesh will glory in His presence is we have nothing to offer, nothing to brag about.
This verse is in harmony with Ephesians 2:9, where Paul tells us that salvation is not of works lest any man should boast, should brag.
Now, over the past 25 plus years I've had countless people boast and tell me that yes, they believe
that Christ died for their sins, but they say you've got to confess your sins and ask Him to forgive you.
Well that tells me that they really don't believe that Christ died for their sins.
What they really believe is that He died for some, or part of their sins.
They're in direct violation of the gospel of grace.
Paul said salvation is no more of works, and if being saved had anything to do with you, you would have something to boast about.
Well, that's just what you're doing when you tell someone that you confess your sins and you ask forgiveness to be saved.
Did you hear the you?
I heard it twice, and you are not in the salvation equation.
I'm sorry, I've read this Bible and you're not there.
After being in religion for so long it's hard for many to understand and grasp one very important truth.
It was hard for me.
Listen closely, at the moment you trust in the gospel of your salvation, God imputes His righteousness to your account.
He does it at the very moment you truly trust him.
100% you've given it up and you realize you're no longer in charge of your salvation.
If you go to hell, it's his fault.
When you do that, at that moment His imputed righteousness goes into your account.
Ephesians 1:13 could not be any clearer.
If you miss heaven, you have no excuse.
This verse is such a beautiful gift from God.
It makes it clear enough for a child to get.
God would rather die than to see you go to hell.
Here is where Paul tells us that after we hear the gospel, if we believe it, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Folks, that's awesome.
After hearing and believing the gospel, the good news, you're justified.
You didn't earn it.
You were made justified by him.
It didn't cost you anything.
Oh, it cost him everything, but it cost you nothing.
It's a free gift.
Don't believe me?
This is far too important to do that.
Dig in your heels.
Get into the Bible and discover these truths for yourself.
Romans chapter 3 verse 24.
Now listen closely.
Being justified, what's the next word?
Freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
If you're saved, you were made justified freely by his grace.
It's a free gift.
Now drop down just four verses to Romans 3:28.
There you'll see that we're justified by faith without any deeds, not even one.
Did we not just read this in Ephesians 1:13?
You hear the gospel, believe the gospel, and you're sealed with the Holy Spirit?
Where are the deeds, folks?
Where are they?
Oh, you'll hear them from the pulpit, but where are they here in the verses?
In this dispensation of grace, Romans through Philemon, there's no works to be saved.
There's no works to be saved or to stay saved, not even one.
Read this stuff.
Stop comparing preacher to preacher and start comparing scripture with scripture.
Romans 5:18.
Therefore, as by the offense of one, now who's the one?
That's Adam.
Keep reading.
Judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
So we've all been condemned since the garden.
Keep reading.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, now who's the righteous one being spoken of here?
Correct.
Jesus.
Read on.
The free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
So back to what I said earlier.
At the moment you trust in the gospel of your salvation, God himself imputes his righteousness
to your account, and you did nothing to earn it.
It's a free gift.
In this, the dispensation of the grace of God, salvation cannot be attained by anything you can do.
Christ did it, and you must believe it.
Just fully trust that what he accomplished on Calvary's cross is enough to save you.
Look with me in Romans chapter 6 verse 18.
You've been religiized in your denominational church for so long, you've never ever really heard the unadulterated, pure gospel of the grace of God.
Well, you're hearing it now.
Romans 6:18. Being then made free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness.
Did you hear that?
No, I mean really hear that.
Let's read it again.
Being then made free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness.
Did you get it that time?
The religious world has it backwards.
You don't become servants of righteousness to be made free from sin.
You're made free from sin so that you can become a servant of righteousness.
You've been reading that verse backwards.
Look at the verse again.
You were made free from sin.
How did that happen?
Christ died for all your sins, past, present, and future.
If he had only died for some, part, or most of your sins, Paul would have been lying to us here.
You cannot be made free from sin if there's still unforgiven sin.
All sin was dealt with at the cross, and the folks that will die unsaved are the ones who don't believe it.
He makes us righteous.
We're made, M-A-D-E, made righteous because of what Christ did on our behalf.
It's not by any works that we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.
Look at Romans 8:2.
In Romans 8:2, we read, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
First Corinthians 2:12, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Freely given, freely given, freely given.
You need to get this.
Look at Galatians chapter 4 verse 31.
So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
And now here's some more evidence.
Look at the very next verse, Galatians chapter 5 verse 1.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty where with Christ hath made us, ah, there's that word again, free.
Where with Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Are you under the spirit of yoke and bondage?
It's out there.
It's all around us.
Look at Galatians chapter 3 verse 13.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
Now who did Paul just say redeemed us?
Correct, Christ did.
But someone has you thinking that you're redeeming yourself, having missed Paul's gospel.
Titus 2:14, Who gave himself for us, that he might, what, what's that word?
Redeem us from all iniquity.
Now don't miss this next part.
Let's read on.
The last part of the verse says this, And purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
So who redeemed you?
Christ did.
How did he do it?
By giving himself for you.
What did he redeem you from?
All.
A double l, all iniquity.
Your sin will no longer show up in your account.
It's been wiped clean.
Why did he do that?
To make you a pure, peculiar ambassador that's zealous of good works.
You see, we don't try to live righteously to attain righteousness.
We try to live righteously because we are righteous.
We were made righteous in the sight of God.
Oh, this truth is pure, perfect, and holy.
But you know what?
You have to go to Paul's letters to find it.
Because according to Colossians 1:26, Paul's mystery truth was hid from ages and from generations.
Not revealed prior to the Lord Jesus Christ, revealing it to and through Paul.
Paul's truth was unsearchable.
That's right, you can read your Bible backwards and forwards for the next three years, and you're still not going to find the revelation of the mystery that Christ revealed to Paul anywhere outside of his own letters, Romans through Philemon, period.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:8, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, in this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Did you get that?
You can search through all the books prior to Paul's letters. and all the books following his letters, but you're not going to find those unsearchable riches.
Why?
Because they're not there.
That's what makes them unsearchable.
I'm Trey Searcy, and now you know the truth.
Add comment
Comments