We're looking at one of the greatest verses in all of God's Word, one of the greatest declarations of who Jesus Christ is and what salvation or eternal life is. In 1 Timothy, Chapter 3, the book of 1 Timothy chapter 3. I hope you'll turn there and look it up with me. Verse 16 says, Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." End of quote. Without controversy this says, who Christ is and what He came to do, where He is now and who are His people, This is without controversy, though the truth is indeed controversial to man. There's a great difference of opinions among men then and now about who Jesus Christ is. The great controversy over God and the things of God. But the fact is, there is no controversy with God. Once the truth is revealed, manifest, there's no argument. This is absolute truth. It's not up for debate or argument. It is without controversy. The mystery, it says, of godliness. Godliness speaks of the things of God, the Word of God, unseen things of God, such as creation or God's sovereign rule and reign over all things, His providence, His purpose, His will, His salvation, the mystery of godliness it's called. It is a mystery to most. It is hidden, the Lord Jesus Christ said, hidden from the wise and the prudent, but revealed unto babes, all of God's children, that is. He said they'll all be taught of God, the absolute truth, and it then is without controversy to those to whom he reveals it. Alright, it gives six things here about the mystery of godliness. It says, beginning with, God was manifest in the flesh. God became man. God, the Creator, walked among His creatures upon this earth. In Isaiah's book it says, In chapter 7, verse 14, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In his government there is no end. A mystery to most. And so man doesn't believe it. Man does not believe what he cannot see or understand. They didn't believe this mystery then. They didn't understand this mystery when he was on this earth. They said to the Lord Jesus Christ, they said, you're just a man and you make yourself to be God. But the opposite was true. You see, their eyes were holding that they might know Him. They did not know Him. He was hidden from the natural man. They said, you're just a man. You make yourself to be God. The opposite is so. He was God, and He made Himself to be a man. And men don't believe it now. The Jehovah Witnesses go door to door. The Mormons go door to door to try to disprove that Jesus is God. God. They call Him the Son of God, a created being. By the way, if these groups, this cult comes to your door, do not let them into your house. Tell them, if you're a believer, tell them, point blank, first thing, face to face, without apology, without hesitation, tell them, I believe Jesus Christ is very God of very God, and you don't, therefore you're anti-Christ. Well, this unbelief goes further. The Baptists, the Methodists, the Catholics, the Presbyterians, so many don't really believe He is God. They don't believe God is God. Anyone who says things like this, you must let God be God, well, that person doesn't know God. That man who preaches like that, that God has no hands but your hands, He doesn't know God because the God in whose hands Our breath is in all our ways. They haven't glorified Him. They don't know Him. Those who say, let Jesus into your heart, don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the fact is, He's the One in whose hands your heart is. You don't let Jesus into your heart. This is the God in whose hands your heart is and who must give you a new heart. This is the God who works all things according to His sovereign free will. Man doesn't have a free will. God has free will. He does according to His will. Whoever has free will, that means they're doing according to their will. Totally free to do as they will. That alone applies to God. So, they didn't believe Him then, they don't believe Him now. This is the God who must let man do things. This is the God who is God. So, he says without controversy, this is a fact, the mystery of godliness without controversy, God was manifest in the flesh. That babe in that young woman's arms, Mary, that was really her father. That young boy in the carpenter shop, that young boy on the earth but a few days is really the ancient of day. The one dying on the cross is God who cannot die. Explain that, preacher. I can't, because you can't explain God. If you could, He'd be like us. Now here's proof. God was manifest in the flesh. It says He was justified in the Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ was justified, or that is, declared, revealed, anointed by the Holy Spirit to be the Son of God, to be God manifest in the flesh. Listen to me. The reason He's called the Son of God is because He's the only begotten or offspring, or bodily image. He's called in Hebrews 1, the express image of God. God who is Spirit made a body. A body hast thou prepared me, Christ said. That means He was before He had a body. Express image. The offspring, the only begotten, the only express image of God. It was God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this is a mystery, but it's true. In the garden, in the beginning, in creation, it was God who said, let us make man in our own image. That was Jesus Christ who made all things. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. It's the same God who made the heavens and the earth, walked upon this planet. And He was justified by the Spirit and in the Spirit. Romans 1 verse 4 says, He's declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness. The only man ever born sinless, holy, pure, like God. Why? Because He is God. Every son of Adam is born with the seed of man in him. Born in sin. Dead in sin. Not Christ. He didn't have the seed of man. He's born of a virgin. And even Mary had really nothing to do with his conception that that holy thing in her was the Son of God. Born of God. Of God. The just one. The holy one. The righteous one. One came to him one day and said, Good Master, and he stopped that young man and said, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but God. Well then, if he is truly in nature, in essence, born good, holy, just, righteous, he must be God, declared to be the Son of God, justified in the Spirit, declared to be God in His holy nature. Well, the next thing says, proving Him to be God manifest in the flesh, it says He was seen of angels. Seen of angels. 1 Peter 1, 12 says these are the things angels desire to look into. The things of God. The things of Christ. Angels desire to look into. At creation. By Him were all things created. Principalities, powers, that means angels were created by Jesus Christ. Satan, by the way, is a fallen angel. He was created by Jesus Christ. He was first, and he's the first one that they saw. Once the angels were created, the first thing they saw was Jesus Christ. The angels saw him during the creation of the universe. When he said, let us make man, they beheld in wonder and amazement as he reached down and scooped up some dust and made clay and made a human being, made two creatures out of that dust. He was seen of angels when He appeared in the Old Testament. Many bodily appearances. His delight, Proverbs 8 says, was with the sons of men. They rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth. In the garden they saw Him walk and talk to Adam and talk to Noah about the ark. Abraham, Jacob, Moses. Angels must have surely thought, what a merciful and gracious Lord to be mindful of such sinful, lowly creatures and to visit them. They saw Him at His birth. They were sent by the Father to announce it. Christ the Lord. They saw Him working as a young boy. They saw Him and ministered to Him when He was tempted by Satan. They saw Him at the resurrection. They were sent to roll back the door, to tell Mary and the others, He's not here. He's risen. They saw Him at His ascension. Which brings me to the next thing. He was preached unto the Gentiles. Preached, declared that God has come, Jesus Christ, come to put away sin, to glorify God, to fulfill the law, to keep the covenant for His people, to abolish death, to bring life and immortality to life through the gospel. Preached unto the Gentiles by the power of the Holy Spirit. Believed on in the world. This proves that He is God, because some really believe miraculously, amazingly, by the working of His mighty power. He said to His disciples one day, whom do men say that I am? And they said, they say you're John, they say you're a prophet. Whom do you say that I am? Simon, on behalf of all these people, said, we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ. Thomas fell at his feet and said, my Lord and my God. Christ said, the Father hath revealed me to you. believed on in the world, and were received up into glory. This proves Him to be the Son of God because the clouds received Him up from heaven to where He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and someday He's coming back again with clouds. And so, without controversy, great is the mystery of God. God was manifest in the flesh just justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Do you believe? I hope you do. Amen.