"this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery,"1
This mystery has been revealed, "which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ" Hidden in God in the beginning through Jesus. Jesus was with God in the beginning, he was the Word, which was with God, and was God.2 His name is the Word of God.3 Through Jesus all things were created in the beginning, spoken into existence. He is the author and finisher of faith, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. His name is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.4 This mystery was hidden in God since the beginning. In the beginning God created light, Jesus is the light of the world, the light was the life of men, eternal life.2 Through Jesus God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavens.5 All the promises are "Yes" and "Amen" in Christ.6
An element of this mystery is Grace. This mystery that was hidden from the beginning and now revealed to us was establish by Grace, for by Grace are you saved. Now there is a condition of Grace, through faith in Jesus, for by Grace through faith. Those of the old covenant, while not under the new, are counted righteous by their faith. We are rooted in grace, in God's amazing grace, "being rooted and established in love, you may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." If we miss this we miss the whole concept of the new covenant, and we do not understand this mystery in Christ. I liken it to a child being adopted into a family. This child was rejected and abandoned, without love, without hope... A display of unconditional love, adoption, was given to this child. The child being rooted and established in love will realize the goodness of the Father and will want to be like him. This is the concept of Grace, rooted and established in love, we are motivated by love to be like our heavenly Father. We have this inheritance.
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| Picture courteous of the Father's House |
An element of this mystery is Grace. This mystery that was hidden from the beginning and now revealed to us was establish by Grace, for by Grace are you saved. Now there is a condition of Grace, through faith in Jesus, for by Grace through faith. Those of the old covenant, while not under the new, are counted righteous by their faith. We are rooted in grace, in God's amazing grace, "being rooted and established in love, you may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." If we miss this we miss the whole concept of the new covenant, and we do not understand this mystery in Christ. I liken it to a child being adopted into a family. This child was rejected and abandoned, without love, without hope... A display of unconditional love, adoption, was given to this child. The child being rooted and established in love will realize the goodness of the Father and will want to be like him. This is the concept of Grace, rooted and established in love, we are motivated by love to be like our heavenly Father. We have this inheritance.
An element of this mystery is Inheritance. The dispensation of the grace of God made known; "that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel." This bread of life from heaven was given to the Jew first, then to the Gentiles who are grafted into this righteous branch, through Jesus, the vine. This new covenant brought in new requirements, where the Gentile, once considered unclean, are to be fellow heirs of one body, his church, a new creation in Christ. This establishment of His Church
was entrusted to His disciples, the Church being built on the apostles
and prophets. Jesus is the
head, the Rock and the foundation stone. This inheritance is manifested in two ways; through His Holy Spirit which he seals us with and through His body, his church.
An element of this mystery is Fellowship. Through this oneness the manifold wisdom of God is being made known. Again it is manifested twofold; through his spirit in us and through his church. This oneness is the glory that Jesus longed for, a glory so great, a fellowship with the Father like in the beginning. Through this new covenant established two become one creation, the Jew is one circumcised of the heart. This was prophesied of, that he would write His Laws on our hearts.
This mystery has several elements and if we understand each I believe we will understand clearly the message of the gospel. Some say that the gospel is all scripture, others say it includes the message that "prepared the way", and others confuse old covenant requirements with that of the new. Some think we can not teach Grace, as it will become a license to sin. However, the mystery revealed contains these elements; Love, Grace, Word, Jesus, Lamb, Faith, Forgiveness, Inheritance, Spirit, Fellowship, Church. It begins with the dispensation of Grace, a new covenant, a new testament. If we look at the first preaching of the gospel to a Gentile, Cornelius, we see these elements. In fact Grace speaks to this acceptance of what was deemed unclean into the family of God through Jesus.
God gives much Grace. The message I had received as a child was, repent and ask Jesus into your heart. The message of eternal death scared me, into a worldly sorrow, fire and brimstone and worms eating me, it scared me. It ruined me, I would never have peace, but I wish it would have scared the hell out of me. I repented many times, this was the message given to me, and each time I would say a prayer. Eventually I quit trying, abandoned by my father and mother, I had come to believe that even God didn't want me. Many years later I would come to my senses, empty after chasing worldly things, and I went to a local church. There a Pastor's wife, Lani, asked me this question; what does faith mean to you? for by grace you are saved through faith. Is this something new, have I not heard this before, faith, grace? It wasn't so simple a thing and then it was.
I remember reading my Bible looking for this faith in Jesus, this way to God I had never known of, and I remember God saying here I am, now what. I remember that Sunday pulling into the parking lot of a school on the way to church, wanting to go home, severe headaches, crying out to God, help. I heard a small voice, heaven this way, hell that way. And with no regret, no condemnation, no fear, I made a simple decision by the will of God. That night at church I didn't walk down the aisle, I didn't pray for Jesus to come into my heart, I don't even remember the sermon, but I do remember God's peace and His voice, "you are home." And for the first time in my life I knew I was.
For by grace are you saved through faith... The good news is that by grace I am saved through faith in Jesus. Through his firstborn, God has made a way for me to become clean, to approach the Father. This is the foundation of a new testament in Jesus Christ, the mystery being hidden and now revealed through the Holy Spirit. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance and this repentance is of the will of God without regret. I know now God chose me long before I came to my senses, it was because of my ignorance, He had much Grace. I did not know of His great love nor the grace he had given me, I had never heard the truth; by grace through faith I am saved. Through faith in His son I am given inheritance into his family, empowered to become his son, blessed with all the spiritual blessings in the heavens. I am adopted into the family of God.
God has revealed this mystery in Christ. What was the purpose or plan of the mystery? so that the "manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places." His church is his family. The eternal purpose being that because of Grace, God's great love for us, that which He accomplished in Christ, we can approach His throne through faith in Christ. This is the good news and by which we are saved. We know that Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins, he lived without sin, this spotless Lamb of God. Faith comes through Jesus, the Word of God, who is the author of faith, who created all things in the beginning. We know this love that surpasses knowledge, that gives eternal life.
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God…"12
My Story
An element of this mystery is Fellowship. Through this oneness the manifold wisdom of God is being made known. Again it is manifested twofold; through his spirit in us and through his church. This oneness is the glory that Jesus longed for, a glory so great, a fellowship with the Father like in the beginning. Through this new covenant established two become one creation, the Jew is one circumcised of the heart. This was prophesied of, that he would write His Laws on our hearts.
"This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."5Amazing grace, His righteous requirements are no longer to be met through the flesh, by following the Law, but through the Spirit. God abolished, tore down that middle barrier, middle curtain, the veil to the throne room of God. This is very important because this is the "eternal purpose" of the mystery, "the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him." Eternal purpose; for by Grace you can boldly approach God through faith in Jesus, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."6 No longer is his holiness a barrier to approaching God. The Lamb of God paid the price for such, I am cleansed by His blood, by His Spirit, and adopted as his child. By God's amazing Grace through faith in Jesus, I can boldly approach the throne of my heavenly Father. "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."7
This mystery has several elements and if we understand each I believe we will understand clearly the message of the gospel. Some say that the gospel is all scripture, others say it includes the message that "prepared the way", and others confuse old covenant requirements with that of the new. Some think we can not teach Grace, as it will become a license to sin. However, the mystery revealed contains these elements; Love, Grace, Word, Jesus, Lamb, Faith, Forgiveness, Inheritance, Spirit, Fellowship, Church. It begins with the dispensation of Grace, a new covenant, a new testament. If we look at the first preaching of the gospel to a Gentile, Cornelius, we see these elements. In fact Grace speaks to this acceptance of what was deemed unclean into the family of God through Jesus.
God gives much Grace. The message I had received as a child was, repent and ask Jesus into your heart. The message of eternal death scared me, into a worldly sorrow, fire and brimstone and worms eating me, it scared me. It ruined me, I would never have peace, but I wish it would have scared the hell out of me. I repented many times, this was the message given to me, and each time I would say a prayer. Eventually I quit trying, abandoned by my father and mother, I had come to believe that even God didn't want me. Many years later I would come to my senses, empty after chasing worldly things, and I went to a local church. There a Pastor's wife, Lani, asked me this question; what does faith mean to you? for by grace you are saved through faith. Is this something new, have I not heard this before, faith, grace? It wasn't so simple a thing and then it was.
I remember reading my Bible looking for this faith in Jesus, this way to God I had never known of, and I remember God saying here I am, now what. I remember that Sunday pulling into the parking lot of a school on the way to church, wanting to go home, severe headaches, crying out to God, help. I heard a small voice, heaven this way, hell that way. And with no regret, no condemnation, no fear, I made a simple decision by the will of God. That night at church I didn't walk down the aisle, I didn't pray for Jesus to come into my heart, I don't even remember the sermon, but I do remember God's peace and His voice, "you are home." And for the first time in my life I knew I was.
For by grace are you saved through faith... The good news is that by grace I am saved through faith in Jesus. Through his firstborn, God has made a way for me to become clean, to approach the Father. This is the foundation of a new testament in Jesus Christ, the mystery being hidden and now revealed through the Holy Spirit. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance and this repentance is of the will of God without regret. I know now God chose me long before I came to my senses, it was because of my ignorance, He had much Grace. I did not know of His great love nor the grace he had given me, I had never heard the truth; by grace through faith I am saved. Through faith in His son I am given inheritance into his family, empowered to become his son, blessed with all the spiritual blessings in the heavens. I am adopted into the family of God.
God has revealed this mystery in Christ. What was the purpose or plan of the mystery? so that the "manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places." His church is his family. The eternal purpose being that because of Grace, God's great love for us, that which He accomplished in Christ, we can approach His throne through faith in Christ. This is the good news and by which we are saved. We know that Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins, he lived without sin, this spotless Lamb of God. Faith comes through Jesus, the Word of God, who is the author of faith, who created all things in the beginning. We know this love that surpasses knowledge, that gives eternal life.
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God…"12
My Story