Well, once again, may the Lord
be pleased to bless us as we come together to meditate in
his word. Let us turn to the epistle of
Paul to the Colossians, the first chapter, and reading verses 21
and 22. The epistle of Paul to the Colossians,
first chapter, and reading verses 21 and 22. and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. Now you remember
those the verses we spoke on last Tuesday, but then the next
two verses follow on. If ye continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every
creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister,
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, which is the church. Well, as many of you will remember,
we did speak on verse 21 and 22, and it speaks about those
who sometimes were alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked
works, but now hath he reconciled. And the word goes on, in the
body of his flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. And it runs on, if you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled. Well, the apostles had set before
the the Colossians and the Philippians and many of the churches, the
great and glorious truths of the Gospel. And he was concerned
that they might indeed be grounded and settled in those truths. and that the Lord might indeed
give them that faith, that faith to continue, that faith to believe
the great truths that the Apostle had brought before them. And
it was therefore his concern that they might continue in it,
especially as the previous verse directs us to the Saviour himself
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. And then the apostle
goes on and says, and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel. We have a great adversary, the
devil, who endeavours to turn us away from the truth of God. And we must remember, we need
the Lord continually to keep us in the narrow way, to deliver
us from wandering into the broad way, which is attractive to our
nature. but to prove the great truth
that the Apostle Peter said and experienced, kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation. He was blessed, Peter with living
faith. He'd been left to fall and he
realised the relevance and the importance, therefore, of such
a statement. and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel. The gospel is good news. My friends
today, I hope we all, our hope is in the gospel The Gospel is,
of course, declared to us that which the Saviour did in bringing
salvation to unworthy sinners. And may we indeed tonight be
able to think and rejoice upon what the Saviour did, died for
his people upon that cross at Calvary, granted them the grace
of repentance, granted them faith to believe. All of grace, all
the wonderful favour of God. And surely it is the hope of
the gospel. Well, may we tonight be thankful
for it, as the Apostle says, which you have heard. We have
heard. We've all heard it with our natural
ears. It's a great blessing if God
has given us spiritual ears so that we have heard spiritually
the good news of the gospel and rejoiced in it and blessed God
for it and praised God for it, which he have heard and which
was preached to every creature which is under heaven. He means,
of course, right throughout the world, not every single person,
but was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof
I, Paul, am made a minister. The apostle had a very clear
direction by the Lord when he was converted on that Damascus
road, that he was to go and to preach the gospel. And as we
read in the Acts of the Apostles, very soon, Just a matter of days
after indeed he was baptised, he preached the Gospel. Wonderful
to think that there was a man so against God, and the Lord
had turned him completely round, so that now that he preached
the things which he'd been against, what a mercy it is and how good
it is therefore to be able to Read as the Apostle tells us
here, wherefore I, Paul, am made a minister. God made him a minister. God makes his servants ministers. They don't make themselves. God
makes them. And it's a very humbling realisation
to think that God makes sinful man a minister to preach the
unsearchable riches of Christ. And so 24th verse tells us, who
now rejoice in my sufferings for you. Well, the Apostle Paul
did suffer. As we know, he suffered greatly.
But it's wonderful how he was able to endure those sufferings
and we read together in that second chapter in Timothy, that
which he sets before us, and he tells us in the 10th verse,
therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with
eternal glory. And as we read in the second
of Corinthians, what the apostle had to endure, so, so much opposition
for the benefit of the church of God. He tells us, it is a
faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we should also
live with him. If we suffer, we should also
reign with him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us. So we should therefore not be
surprised in our life, as the Apostle had, to suffer for his
sake. The Church of God walk a path
of suffering. Suffering perhaps physically,
suffering spiritually, as they find the great adversary attacks
them continually. You see, there is that suffering,
and that's only known by the true Church of God, who understand
the continual efforts the evil one makes to bring us into a
state of opposition to the things of God. There is then that suffering,
and we should recognise the evidence of it. And it's suffering for
His sake. And suffering to be blessed with
that communion and union with Christ. So these are the blessings
which the Church of God are led into And in those positions they
rejoice in that which the Lord has brought them into because
of the blessing which is known through it. And so here we read
here, 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, which is the church. He's talking, of course, here,
when he talks to the body, he talks about every member of the
church, because each member of that church is part of the body
of Christ. And we all have our part to fulfil
in that great and glorious body of Christ. And we should be concerned
to know that we are part of that body and there is the evidence
of that body and the Lord has called us to serve him in whatever
place and situation that may be, realising it is for the honour
and glory of his great and holy name. And so here we have then
tonight in these two verses If we continue, remember there is
a continuing, there is a start, there is a commencement, there
is a continuing. And as the Lord Jesus tells us,
it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom. but
be of good joy, I have overcome the world. What a blessing to
think. The truth of God tells us and
we overcome I overcame through the blood of the Lamb. All our
hope must be centred upon what Christ has done. And as we find
ourselves, therefore, walking in this path, called by God to
walk in this path, we can recognise it is the evidence of the life
of God in our souls. and we can truly rejoice in it. Who now rejoice, says the Apostle,
in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind
the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake,
which is the church. Well, may God bless these few
thoughts.