What Is the Mystery God Kept Hidden Since Before Creation?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. OK, good to see everybody back again. And for all of you on television, we'd like to welcome you. And as so many have written, you feel like you're sitting on the back row here in the studio. And we just love that approach that you just feel as though you're part of our class. We're just informal. And all we hope to do is get people to study the book on their own and be able to understand what it says. And if we're succeeding, we don't take any credit for it. We just give the Lord all the praise for everything. But for just a few announcements, we have all the past programs going clear back to Genesis are available on six-hour-long videotapes. And it's also been dubbed over into the audio and also been transcribed into print, the little corresponding books. And so as you see them on the screen, if you're interested in any of that material, you drop us a line or call us. Also, I'm going to be announcing these next few programs. We do now have a quarterly newsletter that we're putting out. And we send it out free of charge. But we have to have your name and address. So if you're not in our mailing list and you'd like to get this, you also call us or let us know. Because you won't get on a mailing list begging for money, or we won't move it on or sell it to anyone else. It is strictly our own mailing list, just to let you know what we're doing in the ministry. Okay, I think that's all for sake of announcements. We're going to get right back to where we left off in our last program, which was in Ephesians chapter 1. I guess we spent the whole half hour on one verse, verse 7. And so now we're ready to move into verse 8. Ephesians 1, verse 8. Ephesians 1, verse 8. Wherein, that is in the grace of verse 7. You know, I think I've made mention of it before, but do you realize how many times Paul uses the word grace? It just pops up constantly. Compared to the rest of the Scripture, where it's hardly ever used. Well it's because we're in the age of grace. God�s unmerited favor has been poured out on the whole human race, and we�re going to see that in this half hour. How all of this has been building and building and building until finally we�re moving closer and closer to the end of this whole time that God has allotted to the planet earth. So the grace of verse 7 is wherein we are in verse 8. So wherein that grace he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. I had a letter the other day that said, How do you explain the abundant life? Now a lot of times I like to throw these questions right back at people. How would you explain the abundant life? Well you can�t put it into words really, and I guess when I do write and answer that question, I�m going to say, �Listen, it�s that complete package of the grace of God that has given me the assurance of salvation and eternity in God�s presence. It has given me the assurance that He is in total control of every moment of my life. I don�t have to worry and fret that all of a sudden I�ve been cut loose and I�m without hope. I don�t have to feel that I�m under a constant burden of guilt. That�s the abundant life that Christ has promised for this earthly sojourn. It�s a life, maybe not always of happiness, maybe our circumstances aren�t always the greatest, but the joy is there. So regardless of our circumstances, we have the joy that Paul speaks of so much in the next book that we�ll go look at in a few weeks, in Philippians. He says, Rejoice, and good heavens, what kind of places was Paul in? In the dungeon, shipwreck, in the water, and under the scourging. And yet the man could constantly say, Be joyful, rejoice. Well that�s the abundant life. It doesn�t mean we�re going to have two Cadillacs in our garage. It doesn�t mean we�re going to have the biggest house in town. But the abundant life is that we have been redeemed, as we saw in the last program. We now have eternal life. We have the hope of glory. We have that constant assurance that He knows all about us. We have access into the throne room of heaven. We can pray at any time, any place. That�s all part of it. But now it�s not limited to just the abundant life. Look what He�s giving us here. Wisdom and prudence. Now what�s the word prudence? Well I think I can wrap it up probably better than Webster�s Dictionary. Prudence is just good common horse sense. When you are prudent, you merely have good sense. Now if you can have wisdom and with it some good common horse sense, you�ve got the abundant life. And that�s just about it. Now God has given all this to you and I as believers, free for nothing. We haven�t had to grovel in the ground. We haven�t had to climb the steps to St. Peter. We haven�t had to go across the ocean. He�s given it to us here and now. And it�s abounding. It�s more than we can handle. And this is how we have to again, like I said in the last program, how do we appropriate all this? By faith. I don�t always feel it, I don�t always sense it, but I come back to the Word and here it is, and I can believe it. And that�s what God is looking for. And the more we believe, I think the more He�ll bless us, because there�s nothing that pleases the heart of God more than the faith of a human being. Because you see, it�s unbelief that He�s going to hold in the strongest light against mankind. Remember when we look at those verses in Hebrews? And the opposite of unbelief is faith. So here it is now then, we�ve appropriated His grace, wherein we are abounding in wisdom and prudence. Now what�s the problem with Christendom today? They don�t have that kind of wisdom. Oh, they may be saved, but they�re out there floundering in ignorance of the Scriptures. I just had a phone call again this morning from a gentleman. He said, in seminary. And he said, the further I went in those seminary courses, the further they were taking me from the truth. He said, I dropped out. And I didn�t even get where he�s from. He had found our stuff on the Internet. And he had realized that what he�d been hearing out there was running contrary to what he was seeing in the Book. Well, this is the beauty of God�s grace. He�ll pour out wisdom and common sense to any of us who will appropriate it by faith. But we have to stay in the Book to get it. We�re not just going to be able to leave it up to the pastors. Now I�m not putting the fault totally on pastors, because they�re overloaded a lot of times. But the average individual has to learn to get into the Word, and seek these things out. Am I right? Am I wrong? Now then, here we�re going to spend at least the next half hour, maybe the next two or three, I don�t know. But verse 9 and 10. Now what�s the other word for mystery? Secret. It has been kept secret. Someone again reminded me the other day that they�re now using it as much as I ever did. Deuteronomy 29. He said, I just use it over and over, because it just says it all with regard to the revelations of the Apostle Paul when he claims that these things were kept secret, and that they were revealed to him and him alone from the Ascended Christ. Now sometimes people ask me, are you taking things away from what Jesus said on earth? No, I don�t take it away. But I know one thing, that what He said from His Ascended Place in Glory, carries a lot more weight for us today than what He said to the Jew under the Law. And of course everything that Christ says from the Ascended Place in Glory is through the Apostle Paul. But oh, here it is, Deuteronomy 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God. What kind of things? Secret things. Now what�s a secret? Something that nobody else knows anything about. So these things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed, and so these things that are now by revelation made known, as Moses is speaking of it unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this Law. Now of course Moses was writing under the Law, but he�s dealing with the same God. The same God that we deal with, has told us the same thing, that He has kept things secret until He saw fit to reveal it. So back to Ephesians 1 a minute, and then we�re going to flip back to Romans. Ephesians 1, verse 9, "...having made known unto us the mystery, or the secret, of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he has purposed in himself." In other words, where does everything start and finish? In the mind of God. Now let�s go back to Romans a minute, where I think it�s one of my favorite verses. We use it a lot. Romans 16, verse 25. Where he writes, "...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, or the secret, which was kept secret since before anything was ever created." God has kept all of this secret, and that�s why Jesus couldn�t preach it, and that�s why Peter couldn�t preach it, because it was still kept totally secret in the mind of God. But what is the revelation of the secret then? Because of that price of redemption which we saw in that last half hour, because it has been accomplished, the work of the cross is done, because of the power of His resurrection, God can now pour out on the human race this whole package, and that�s what I call it. This whole package of revealed truth that comes from the pen of the Apostle Paul, and in it we have all of the truth that the Church needs today. You don�t have to go anywhere else to get the truth that we need. Now that doesn�t mean you throw away the rest of your Bible. All the Bible is going to work for its common end. But if we would just seek Christendom tonight, spend 90% of its time in Paul�s epistles, and 10% of their time in the rest of the Bible, we�d see things begin to happen. But it�s the other way around. They spend 90% of their time in the Gospels and the Old Testament, and they look at Paul�s epistles like almost a piece of waste paper, and the expression I get from one of my fellow ranchers, he said, �They treat you like an unlovely stepchild.� Well, I think that�s the way they treat Paul, like an unlovely stepchild that they really don�t want anything to do with, but they have to admit that he�s there. And I see it all the time. But see, this is where we have to be, because it was to this man that the secrets that had been held in the mind of God, were finally revealed. Ephesians 3, and let�s drop down to verse 8 and 9. Ephesians 3, verses 8 and 9. Ephesians 3, verses 8 and 9. Now it�s interesting, if you want to really do some language work, this word unsearchable can�t find the beginning of it. It just goes back so far that you can�t trace it, and it began before Christ ever created anything. Now read on. Ephesians 3, verses 8 and 9. Now remember what he�s talking about, it�s what was revealed to him, who is the least of all saints, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the secret, which from the beginning of the world, or the age is a better word, so since the beginning of the age has been, what�s the word? Hid. The same word in Deuteronomy 29. This has been hid in God, the same God who created all things by Jesus Christ. That�s the mystery. This whole package of revealed truth that now comes from the pen of this man, and what are some of the others? Redemption, as we looked at the last half hour. That by the atoning blood of Christ, our redemption price has been paid. That He has justified us. He has forgiven us. He has given us the indwelling Holy Spirit. He has baptized us by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, and what am I always saying about that term? You won�t find that term anywhere in the Bible, anywhere in the Scriptures, except in Paul�s writing. And there he refers to the Body of Christ. This compilation of saved people, black or white, rich or poor, east or west, makes no difference. Every believer becomes a member of this Body of Christ. That�s a revelation of a mystery. It�s never been mooted before. This sudden outcalling. You know I get such a kick, I�m getting so many people sending me articles and booklets and what have you, about the Church going into or through the Tribulation. And every time I start reading them, I just have to lay them down and forget it, because they�re all doing the same thing. They are ignoring the Apostle Paul. They�re all talking about the Second Coming. And listen, you and I are not concerned about the Second Coming, we�re concerned about the outcalling of the Body of Christ, the Rapture. And that is strictly a Pauline revelation. Nobody else even mentions such a thing. Yes, all the rest of Scripture speaks about the Second Coming, and it is coming. But before that happens, we�re out of here, because we won�t fit in that Tribulation scenario. We just won�t fit. And I�ve used the expression before, and I�ll use it again. It�s just like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. The Church won�t fit, because the Tribulation is God dealing with Israel. The Tribulation comes out of all the prophetic statements of the Old Testament. Only time Paul even mentions it is in II Thessalonians chapter 2, where he makes it so plain that after we have departed, then shall appear that man of sin, and the Tribulation, and all the rest of it. But otherwise it has nothing to do with Paul�s teachings. And oh, I just get so frustrated. Why do people keep sending me this stuff that the Church will go into or through the Tribulation, if they would just read Paul, they would have to say, �I don�t have to send this to him, because I�m not going to read any further than what I see what they�re doing, and I�m not going to waste my time.� But Paul is alone the one who has been revealed the secrets concerning the Church. Now there�s no secret. There�s nothing secret about the prophetic things that the Old Testament wrote about. There was nothing secret about Christ coming to the nation of Israel, was there? Boy, it was even revealed where He would be born, in Bethlehem of Euphrata. It was revealed unto Mary that His name would be called Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. There�s nothing secret about that. The Old Testament, the Psalms were full of His crucifixion, His burial and resurrection. It was all back there, that wasn�t secret. The same way with the Book of Revelation. There�s nothing in the Book of Revelation that�s a secret. Boy it all fits with the Old Testament prophecies. All you�ve got to do is read Joel, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and they all fit with Revelation. That�s not a secret. But boy when you come to these things like we�re looking at now, that here we are by God�s grace having wisdom and prudence poured out on us, the like of which has never happened before, nor will it ever again once the Church is done. I mean we are on separate, special ground as believers of the Church Age. Now let�s look at another one, Colossians, and I�m not touching on near all of them. Let�s just start in verse 24. I hope I�ve made a minister. See, he has to let us know that he is God�s authority. And so he himself can write in 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,� not his body of flesh, but what? The Church. See? �for his body�s sake,� which is the Church. Now you don�t find Peter using words like that. You don�t find Jesus talking about the Body of Christ. They all dealt with Israel and the prophetic. But here Paul constantly is reminding us that we are members of the Body of Christ, a special compilation, a special amalgamation of believers from every walk in life, from every corner of the globe by virtue of having believed the Gospel. Alright, verse 25, �Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you.� Now I could put the word Gentiles and it wouldn�t hurt one bit. So all this was given to the Apostle of Gentiles so that he in turn could give it to you Gentiles to fulfill, or bring to completion, the Word of God. Now verse 26, �Even the mystery, the secret, which has been hid.� I don�t think people even want to read that. I think they must close their eyes when they come to some of these words. But here it is. These things which have been hid from ages and generations, but now Paul says, is made manifest to his saints. And oh goodness, go on up into chapter 2. Verse 2, �O that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of God.� Now this is not Greek. This is all just so plain if we�ll just study it and read it, and that we have understanding to the acknowledgment of the secret. But you�ve got to acknowledge that it�s something that�s been kept secret. The secret of God, the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, because He�s God. But what are we reading? He is now seen fit by His grace to release these things kept secret. He is sharing them with us through the Apostle Paul. Now on your way back to Ephesians, go a little bit further and stop at 2 Corinthians, because we covered these verses in our Corinthian study. But my, they bless my heart so that I�ve been using them over and over, just like I do Deuteronomy 29, 29. Come back to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, and drop in at verse 5. Because see, this is what we�ve got to get people to understand. Oh, they want to go by what Jesus said. Well, that�s all right up to a point. But Jesus didn�t reveal the mysteries. Oh, I�m going to go by what Peter said. That�s what the Corinthians follow on. Peter didn�t have the mysteries. But look what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 5. For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. Well, what�s he talking about? He�s not a step behind Peter in authority. He�s up there a little bit ahead. Then come on over in that same chapter to verse 22 and 23. And he�s referring to the twelve and the leaders in Jerusalem. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? Oh, but now look at his answer. I am more the minister of Christ than those were. And then he goes on to prove how he had suffered so inexorably for the sake of the Gospel. Now come in to chapter 12, verse 11. And again he�s defending that apostleship. He is trying to show his authority as the apostle of the Gentiles. Verse 11, chapter 12, I am become a fool in glorying, you have compelled me. What do you mean by that? Well, they were putting him down. They were constantly saying, wait a minute Paul, you�re all right, but after all Peter had more authority. Peter is the big wheel in Jerusalem. And then others said, well we don�t go by what any man says, we go by what Jesus said. And then some even used Apollos and what have you. That�s all back in I Corinthians. But look what he says. You�ve compelled me to have to show you my authority, and I should have been commended of you, because he was the one who brought them out of pagan darkness, not Peter, not Apollos. So he says, I ought to have been commended of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though in his own humility he says, though I be nothing. But what was his authority? He has now become uppermost. The twelve are now behind him. They are still beating a dead horse, so to speak, because God has turned from Israel. He has now turned to the whole human race. And this was all part and parcel of the revelation of the mystery, the secret, which had been hid in God, but now has been revealed through this man. And I�m sure that just like the church today, he was up against himself. All in Asia are turned against me.