Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Comprehension Of The Mysteries Of God: Sermon By Apostle Gobanga

The mystery of which was hidden for ages and generations [from angels and men], but is now revealed to His holy people (the saints), to whom God was pleased to make known how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ within and among you, the Hope of [realizing the] glory. Him we preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing everyone and instructing everyone in all wisdom (comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God), that we may present every person mature (full-grown, fully initiated, complete, and perfect) in Christ (the Anointed One). 

Colossians 1:26-28 (AMP)

When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. [This mystery] was never disclosed to human beings in past generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles (consecrated messengers) and prophets by the [Holy] Spirit. 

Ephesians 3:4-5 (AMP)

It is God that knows all things; the known and the unknown. The Lord knows the secrets of the heart and sees the intentions of the heart. He also knows the mysteries of the universe. 

God has a deeper and wholesome understanding of the human history. The Lord understands human history because it corresponds to the absolute intentions of God.

God wills all to happen whether good or evil. Everything takes place at His will, though He is not the author evil He allows it. The Lord is sovereign – everything takes place at his command.

We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. 

Romans 8:28 (AMP)

Human beings remain ignorant of the purposes of God on their own. It is impossible for the human race to fathom the purposes of God alone.

The Lord makes known to us His will even in our weaknesses. Unless we commune with the Lord, we cannot know His sublime purposes. Unless the Lord steps into time, to reveal mysteries to man those mysteries remain unknown. He responds to us by making known to us His sublime purposes.

The revelation of the word of God is the heart and mind of God concerning a matter.

But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. 

Job 32:8 (AMP)

Mysteries is used in the Old Testament to refer to the plans and purposes of God which cannot be known to man unless revealed by God. It is by revelation through Scripture, the apostles and prophets.

In the New Testament, mysteries are eternal truths to mankind. They are also revelations not hitherto known in the Old Testament  – which is foundational and were revealed in shadow form as a type of the substance in the New Testament.

Mysteries are the secret will of the counsel of God that is not known to a normal person (a person who does not have a deep and close relationship with God).

There are things that a commoner in the Kingdom cannot understand. Things of the spirit are handled by the spiritual. It is not revealed to nominal, lakeshore Christians. A lakeshore saint cannot have access to the mysteries of God. One has to grow deeper in the Spirit to fathom the mysteries of God. If you want to know your purpose, go deeper. It needs a consecration. It needs you to make choices and decisions.

But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny]. 

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (AMP)

God first separates you from the multitude and that which is common. There are things you cannot handle when you are ordinary/common. The things of God are supernatural. To handle the supernatural we must go beyond the natural.

God is not looking for ordinary people – once you become consecrated – you become uncommon and peculiar to touch base with Divinity. God is in the business of converting ordinary people into supernatural people. Simon was an unlearned fisherman that spoke with authority leading to the salvation of 3,000 people.

The government of God is constituted and concealed within the mystery of the new birth. It is a spiritual birth (dying to the flesh and alive in the spirit).

For God to allow men to participate in His government, they must be born again. To be born again means to have a change of mind and character towards sin and to have a consistency in the things of God.

Unless you are consecrated, there are dimensions of the Kingdom that you cannot handle.

After salvation, comes sanctification. Sanctification is carnality being rooted out of your life translating you to the cross so that spirit man can come forth. It delivers you from limitations of sin and carnality and the soulish realm.

Mysteries are the revelation of the person of God, the revelation of God’s sovereign plans. They are secrets that existed before the world came to be and before the Bible was written. They were conceived in the womb of eternity past.

But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God—[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence]. 

1 Corinthians 2:7 (AMP)

God has called us to commune with Him not to serve Him. We must first be able to commune with him before we can serve Him. God wants us to understand who He is.

God first introduces Himself for us to understand who He is. When God revealed himself to Moses – He told him that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He did not tell Moses to go and deliver Israel first. In the same light, when we know God then we can know His purpose. Purpose is revealed to us by God. You cannot know the purposes of God unless you know Him first. The purpose of God is revealed when you know Him then we will understand His sovereign plan which is unchangeable.

I AM that I AM: God is in present form. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is constant.

God wants us to know Him as a person because the purpose of God is fuelled by His person. The expression of purpose is revealed by the person of Divinity.

God’s plan is sovereign and absolute. It cannot be changed. It must take place regardless of circumstances, what the devil does or a person does. God’s counsel concerning your life shall stand regardless of whatever comes. His purpose will not be held hostage by what people do or don’t do to you or by your disobedience or obedience. The Lord will use a willing and available vessel to accomplish His purpose.

The fall of man was not an afterthought. It did not take God unawares.

The Lord declares the end from the beginning and He knows how to orchestrate things. God knows how to set you up.

Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose. 

Isaiah 46:10 (AMP)

You are an aspect of the mystery of God. Allow the word of God to define you. The plans that God has for you preceded events in your life whether you like it or not. Any shaking in your life, the circumstances you are in do not define you. We are defined by God and His word not by our circumstances. Events and circumstances are nothing compared to what the Lord wants done on Earth. Being moody is bondage. No one benefits from being moody.

If you abide by the principles of God, you will be used in the orchestration of God’s plan and purposes.

Sanctification is another level of salvation. God wants you to have an experiential moment with Him when you are sanctified. That comes when you have knowledge and understanding of the mysteries of God, of the kingdom and to believe those mysteries.

The purpose of the mysteries of God is to bring us to a place where we are sanctified – delivering us from limitations of sin and worldliness and responding to the beckonings of eternity (purpose). We are not limited to the natural when we are sanctified and we respond to purpose.

The eternal truth is what will deliver us. We can understand the word of God and yet fail to believe that is why we must apply the truth of God. We are sanctified by the word of God. Unless you understand the Spirit of the Word of God, it will cause no transformation in your life. Being religious and legalistic will take a lot of people to hell.

God wants us to learn eternal truths (mysteries) so as to have the power to conquer evil and be delivered. You can never conquer evil unless you know the truth.  Even though evil is powerful, truth is more powerful. It is by the knowledge of the truth (the highest form of reality that is constant) that you will be set free. Truth brings you to reality in the Spirit and delivers you from evil and creates for you freedom.

There is a place where only Christ can handle your burdens.

If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

Psalm 139:8 (NKJV)

Eternal truths are not fully grasped by experiences. Experience is a good teacher but also a bad teacher more so if God is not with you in the experience. If God is not with you in the thick of things you will loose it and become bitter and jaded. People that commit atrocities are they that went through painful things unless they make the Lord a safe refuge in the time of trouble. cf. Hilter.

The mysteries of God cannot be comprehended human logic or human philosophy. Eternal truths were there before all these things. It is by the enablement of eternal truths that human minds that are philosophical resulted. The mysteries of God are foolishness to the natural and sinful man.

Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (NKJV)

We are stewards of the mysteries of God. Stewards of the mysteries of God are expected to be faithful stewards. A faithful steward is the one who administers the spiritual riches of the master faithfully for the master. God wants you to faithfully administer and distribute these mysteries to the ends of the world, God’s way, not your own way. We are to preach the mystery of the Gospel to the ends of the world. 

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

 2 Timothy 2:1-3 (NKJV)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

2 Corinthians 4:6-10 (NKJV)

Be sure that persecution shall follow. As much as there will be persecution, do not cease to preach the truth. It will not come easy and because the world does not love eternal truths, they will persecute you. 

The mysteries of God are unsearchable. They are termed as the unsearchable riches of Christ. One cannot exhaust the search. Google cannot hack it!

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints (God’s consecrated people), this grace (favor, privilege) was granted and graciously entrusted: to proclaim to the Gentiles the unending (boundless, fathomless, incalculable, and exhaustless) riches of Christ [wealth which no human being could have searched out]. 

Ephesians 3:8 (AMP)

Mysteries are ordained for our glory. They are vested with a priceless treasure. The treasure of the mystery, once drawn out and has power to transform our lives and the society and the nation. The transformation is for good for our generation. God does not unleash mysteries to excite us but to draw out power to transform our lives, community and country.

But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 (NKJV)

Mysteries help us to be established in our faith. Whatever God has revealed to you is what will make you established. That mystery will help you stand. We cannot be established on the revelation of another person. 

And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

Ephesians 6:19 (NKJV)

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, 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, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

 Ephesians 3:8-12 (NKJV)

The Church gets established by mysteries; the proclamation of the word of God is what establishes us in faith and holiness. The true Church will be established according to the mystery that has been revealed. If there is no revelation, then we will not be established. By believing and hearkening to the truth of the Gospel, the Church of God will be established.

You will be judged on the basis of what was revealed to you that you did not obey. God will require of it, for you to give an account. We don’t just understand/hear the mystery but we are to uphold it.

Mysteries are the glorious result of eternal wisdom and counsel of God. It is through God’s eternal love, eternal wisdom and eternal counsel that He reveals mysteries to us. It is in His will to reveal mysteries to us. We need to realize that we can never come to the place of comprehending any mystery unless it is revealed to us by God.

To receive these truths, you must have a childlike nature – corrigible and open to learning.

The mysteries of God were not entirely unknown. The mysteries were in part for example Abraham had a fragment of the coming redemption Christ who was revealed to him as a type through Melchizedek and in the offering of Isaac. While in Genesis 3, Christ spoken of as the seed that crushes the serpents head.

The mysteries were clothed in types; a shadow of things to come such as the priests, temples, etc. They were a shadow of things to come seen in the New Testament. They were a shadow pointing to Christ. The mysteries of Christ are multifaceted fragments of Christ. All mysteries are summed up in Christ. They show how all things add up to form one purpose. All mysteries find fulfillment in Christ

Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in Him, [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth.

Ephesians 1:9-10 (AMP)

Benefits Of Knowing The Mysteries Of God:

1. They prevent us from forming false concepts about the nature of God.

For example, Jehovah’s Witness call the Holy Spirit a force not a person, which is not the true nature of God.

2. They enable us to be prevented from having a notion that we are unlovable.

God is a God of forgiveness. Seven times a righteous man falls and stands. 

For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again. But the wicked shall fall by calamity.

Proverbs 24:16 (NKJV)

He is also a God of tender mercies. 

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.”

Exodus 34:6 (NKJV)

He hates sin and loves the sinner.

There is hope. Out of the fullness of His love, you know that God loves you but hates sin.

3. It protects you from false religions that teach you that faith is by your own works.

Prayer does not make you holy, neither does going to church.

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

Romans 5:17-18 (NKJV)

God makes you holy when you allow Him to carry out His sanctifying work in your life. 

4. The mysteries of the kingdom protect us from being so busy working for God at the expense of having time for the God in whom we serve.

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Matthew 7:22-23 (NKJV)

5. They prevent us from rejecting God and doubting His goodness because of the evil and suffering in the world.

The Lord is not obligated to explain everything to us.

6. God uses mysteries to keep us from falling prey to Babylonic religions that control the world.

The mysteries that the Lord reveals to us keep us from the spirit of Babylon which has been reigning in the world since the days of Babel.

Additional Scriptures:

And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him. Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

Genesis 14:17-20 (NKJV)

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

Acts 2:40-41 (NKJV)

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

Exodus 3:4-6 (NKJV)

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, 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, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:8-21 (NKJV)

Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:16-20 (NKJV)

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father! And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Genesis 22:1-14 (NKJV)

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Colossians 1:13-20 (NKJV)

More References: Hebrews 7 & Psalm 139