Mystery of His Will

In this part of the sermon: Martin emphasizes the importance of understanding the word 'mystery,' which appears 27 times in the New Testament, especially in Paul's writings. He contrasts its modern meaning…

Martin describes his first time walking into a 747 and thinking, 'it is a mystery to me how this thing ever gets off the ground.' This illustrates the common, modern understanding of 'mystery' as something incomprehensible or perplexing, which he then contrasts with the biblical meaning.

When we speak of something that's a mystery, we mean something that is perplexing or we cannot comprehend it. I shall never forget when I walked up inside the 747 for the first and only time. Usually when I fly across the Atlantic, I'm a disloyal American. I fly BOAC, VC-10, because I like that particular aircraft, and I'm spoiled, and I like the whole way the British do things without parading half a dozen movies in front of your faces and having stewardesses that look like chorus girls and all the rest.

8:32 - 9:04 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin emphasizes the importance of understanding the word 'mystery,' which appears 27 times in the New Testament, especially in Paul's writings. He contrasts its modern meaning…

He gives the example of a student who never studies but always gets perfect scores, leading a peer to say, 'that's a mystery to me.' This further clarifies the modern usage of 'mystery' as something perplexing or incomprehensible, setting up the distinction from the biblical meaning.

But coming back last time, there was no service available the time I needed it, so I had to book on a Pan Am 747. And those things look big when they're sitting on the runway, but when you're starting to walk into that thing and you look down the length, and then you get inside and it's 20 feet across, from there all the way over to about to here, and you see all of that iron sitting on the runway, you say, it is a mystery to me how this thing ever gets off the ground. Now, when you use the word mystery that way, what you mean is, it's incomprehensible, I can't figure it out. Some of you kids,...

9:05 - 9:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin emphasizes the importance of understanding the word 'mystery,' which appears 27 times in the New Testament, especially in Paul's writings. He contrasts its modern meaning…

Martin explains that Paul borrowed the word 'mystery' from pagan mystery religions, which had secret rites known only to the initiated. He draws an analogy to modern secret societies like the Masons, where members are 'in the know,' to illustrate the concept of secrecy inherent in the word's original context.

Well then, what was the usage in Paul's day? And he reached, surprising to say, right into pagan religion to pick out this word, mystery. The Holy Spirit caused the Apostle Paul to choose a word that was very well known, in that day, particularly throughout the whole Greek world, for there were in that day a number of religions called mystery religions. And the thing that was unique about these religions was that they had certain secret rites and ceremonies which only the initiated people could know.

10:16 - 10:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Feel a sense of indebtedness to God for His overflowing grace in revealing the gospel, which provides purpose and confidence in a world otherwise leading to despair.

Martin describes a haunting modern painting of a man-like creature trapped in a clear cube, shrieking in horror with a 'blown out' head. This analogy powerfully illustrates the despair and incomprehension of life without the gospel, where man feels caged and without purpose, contrasting it with the freedom and wisdom found in God's revealed will.

And on the front of this book, and then on the inside there's another reproduction, there's a picture that's been haunting me. It's a picture that most of us would look at and say, ah, just stupid modern art. The guy didn't know how to draw anybody. Well, you see, art is not meant to be just a mechanical, fancy kind of photography. The artist is showing what he sees when he looks at me. And in this picture, there is a cube that looks like a large block of ice, very clear. It's obviously a cube, like a cage. And in it, there's a creature that looks like a man.

32:20 - 32:56 Read in full sermon