We look at verses 1 and 2 in
this book of Colossians. The scripture says, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus, our
brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are
at Colossae, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and The Lord Jesus Christ. The title of the message this
morning is an Apostle's Letter of Comfort. An Apostle's Letter
of Comfort. Now this letter to the Church
of Colossae was written by the Apostle Paul as he languished
in prison in Rome some 30 years after the death and resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we do not know who started
this church in Colossae. Because the Apostle Paul tells
us in verse 1 of chapter 2 that he had not seen them face to
face. He had never preached to this
church. So we know that the Apostle did
not start this church, nor the church of Laodicea. But this man, all we know about
this church is, they did have a faithful pastor. Look at that
in verse 7, he said, As you also learned of Epaphras, our dear
fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. This is how Paul learned of this
church. He learned through this faithful
minister, this pastor, who had come to Rome for some reason.
He was at Rome, and he told Paul of this church. I'll tell you
what, you don't know how a pastor brags on his congregation, but
we do. We take that and we say, hey,
we have a group of believers who love the gospel. And this
is what Epaphras did to Paul. He said, hey Paul, there's a
church in Colossae. And I'll tell you what, they
are faithful men. They are men who believe in Jesus
Christ. They're men saved by the grace
of God. They're men who love each other.
They're men who have hope in Jesus Christ. And so this is
how Paul knew about them. And Paul writes this letter to
them to assure them, to comfort them in their faith, to continue
in the faith. And this faithful preacher to
these saints. He told Paul of their salvation. And he also told Paul of their
troubles, their troubles and their difficulties with false
religion of the Jews and Gentiles. That false teachers had come
in and vain philosophers had come in. And so Paul also in
this letter addresses those concerns about false teachers. He addresses
those of vain philosophies and what is the duty of the church. This is another thing he addresses
in this letter. He comforts them concerning the
doctrine of Jesus Christ. Isn't this always Paul's means?
He first gives them the doctrine of God's grace. And then he moves
into the practical application of that doctrine of grace. And
he gives them the duty of them as a body, as a church. Now this
church of Colossae, I want us to know this, that this church
then is no different than the church now. This church at Colossae
is not facing anything that we do not face as a church. And this is why these epistles
have lasted. Because they are not only for
Colossae. They are for us. This letter
is for you and for me. And it would behoove us to read
these words. To take comfort in these words
and to believe them. You see, every church is made
up, not of a building. That church in Colossae, whatever
building they met in, whatever house they met in, that's not
the church of Colossae. The church of Colossae is the
same as the church here at Redeemer. We are made up of believers in
Jesus Christ. That's the church. The church
is a group of believers in Jesus Christ who desire to worship
God through the preaching of the gospel. And I'll tell you
this, we all have the same head and master, Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are surrounded
as Colossae, surrounded by false teachers and vain philosophers
who preach salvation by works and free will religion. They
preach the salvation, they preach the exaltation of the creature
rather than the creator. They preach will-worship. And
as we go through this letter, you'll see that these are no
different than what we're surrounded by. We're surrounded by the same
dangers. Therefore, we like the saints
need to be reminded and built up in the faith, strengthened
in our love for Christ and for one another, and even to be reminded
of our hope which is not in this world. How many times do we need
to be reminded this world is not our home? Do you not need
to be reminded about that? Because I do. I read it every
day, but yet I forget That my hope is not grounded in my children
or my family or this life. My hope is in Christ who sits
on the throne of God. My hope is in heaven. My hope
in life is not in this world. Paul's eventually going to tell
them, Hey, set your affections, not on the things of this world,
but on the things above. We need to be reminded of these
things. Well, first of all, let's go ahead and start into this
book and look at the very first salutation that Paul gives. He
writes this and says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God. Now, why did Paul, in all of
his letters, write this? What was the purpose of this?
Well, the purpose was to give them comfort. That these words
that I'm going to write to you are just not given by some Joe
Schmoe off the street. This is not the word of somebody
who has not been a witness of Jesus Christ. He said, these
words are by an apostle. He said, I'm an apostle. And
this should give you comfort. You know, these words we read
in here. They are true. They are true
words. And I'll tell you, we don't need
to go to anyone else to prove these words are true. These words
are true because they were written by the apostles and the prophets,
which were chosen of God to write the Word of God. They were chosen. The apostle Paul, Paul, by this
salutation, confirms and comforts the saints by declaring his office
an apostle. Now remember, an apostle was
one who was chosen by Christ, listen, personally. They were
personally hand-picked by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we know
this, that the other eleven apostles If you'll go over to John chapter
6, look at this concerning the other apostles. In John chapter
6, Jesus makes record of this. In verse 70, remember He had
hundreds of disciples at this time, and then when He preached
the gospel, they all went away. They all left and he turned to
his disciples and said will you go away also and they said whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life where we're gonna go. I don't understand all things Lord what
you said, but I know this you're it you're all And so, he said
in verse 70, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is
a devil? He said, I've chosen you twelve,
but one of you is a devil. The one was only an apostle in
namesake because he was never a believer in Christ. He was
lost, the son of perdition. But those eleven that were left
were chosen of Christ. Chosen of Christ. to be His disciples,
His apostles. But Paul's calling in office comes by a revelation after the
death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember,
He appeared to the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, and
He saved him. He saved him by this divine revelation. And over in Acts, you can turn
there if you want to, Acts chapter 9, see here's Paul's calling displayed
by this man Ananias in chapter 9 in verse 11. And the Lord said unto Ananias, Arise,
and go into the street called Straight, and inquire in the
house of Judas, One called Saul to Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth,
and he seeth in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting
his hands on him, and that he might receive his sight. And
Ananias answered and said, Lord, I've heard by many of this man
how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem. And
here he hath authority of the chief priest to bind all that
call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go
thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before
Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel. For I will
show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Paul, over in Acts chapter
22, Acts chapter 22, he's declaring this same, reiterating this same
story before the men of Israel. In verse 14 of 22, he's talking about Ananias who's talking
to him, and this is the word of Ananias, he said, "...the
God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know
His will." And see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice
of his mouth, for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of
what thou hast seen and heard. And now that he escapes, and
look at this in verse 21, depart, for I will send thee far hence
to the Gentiles. This is what God had chosen the
apostle. He had chosen him personally,
personally. Go over to Galatians chapter
1. Galatians chapter 1, and Paul in his salutation tells them
that he is an apostle, but not of men. Look at that
in verse 1. Paul, an apostle, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ and God
the Father who raised Him from the dead. And in verse 15 he
says this, But when it pleased God to separate me from my mother's
womb and call me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that
I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them
that were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned
again unto Damascus. Then after three years, I went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter." You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
chose this man, Paul, and taught him personally the gospel. He went into Arabia and was there
for many years hearing the Lord Jesus Christ. hearing the gospel
directly from Him. He conferred not with flesh and
blood. He didn't learn the gospel like
we did. You learn the gospel by hearing
a man preach the Word of the Apostles. A man preached that
gospel to you, you heard it, and you believed. But you and
I have not seen the risen Lord Jesus Christ. We have not heard
Him personally with our ears. We have not seen Him with our
eyes. We have not handled Him with our hands. But these men
did." What a blessing that was. John says, I'm not going to tell
you something I haven't touched, I haven't seen. He said, we've
seen the Word of life and we've touched Him. We've handled Him
with our hands. This is what it is to be an apostle.
It is to receive your word directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so Paul, he writes this gospel and he received this gospel not
from men, but as it is, his office received it directly from God,
from Christ. Now this is our comfort and assurance
that this word that is written by the apostles and prophets
is in truth the word of God. So every time I go to this book
and I go to Colossians and I read anything out of these pages,
I don't need any other reference for truth. I don't need to go
to the history books. I don't need to go to philosophers.
I don't need any other reference. Why? Because this is the Word
of God. That's it. This is all my authority. It's all my reference. Whether
men believe it or not, I don't care. It's not up to me. I can't
make you believe this. This is so. Therefore we say
let God be true and every man a liar. Anything that contradicts
this book and these words are a liar. And I don't need to debate
it. That's one thing we don't need
to do. We don't need to spend our time
debating this truth. This is just truth, and we know
it by the Holy Spirit that teaches us. And these words, Peter says
this, we have a more sure word of prophecy. You remember that
he heard the audible voice of God from heaven. He was on the
Mount of Transfiguration. He heard God's voice saying,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And then he
turns around and said, yeah, but I've got a more sure word
than that. I've got a more sure word than that. I've got all
the prophets that went before. I've got the word of God. This
is a more sure word than if you heard an audible voice. You hear
an audible voice, you better check it by this book. That's
just so. If one were to rise from the
dead and tell you something different than in this book, you should
dismiss them as nothing more than a devil. That's how sure
this book is. It was given to us by the apostles
and prophets. And as the prophets were moved
by the Holy Spirit, even so were the apostles given the infallible
Word of God. Now, how do I know this? Okay, go over to Matthew chapter
18 and read what the Lord says to His apostles. And this being
true of Paul as well as these others, Matthew chapter 16, sorry,
Matthew chapter 16. The Lord declaring himself to
be the rock, the foundation of the church, he says in verse
18, I say unto thee, thou art Peter, little pebble. And upon this massive rock, Talking
about himself, I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. And listen what he says to his
apostles. He said, I will give unto thee the keys to the kingdom
of heaven. What are the keys to the kingdom
of heaven? False religion has this idea
that Peter's standing there at the gate, pearly gates, with
a set of keys on his belt, and he's allowing men to either come
in or go out of heaven. I mean, he's locking men in or
locking men out. That's not it at all. The kingdom
of heaven, the scripture says, is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace. It's salvation. That's what it
is. And the keys is the gospel, the doctrine of God's grace and
mercy. I'll tell you, no one knew the
gospel better than the apostles. Now even Paul said this, we know
in part. Even the apostle knew his limitations. But no man could expound the
Scriptures like the apostles. They were given such liberty. You remember Peter on the day
of Pentecost when he stood up and preached. He expounded the prophecy of
Joel and David on the spot. It was a miracle. The Spirit
of God gave him such liberty. And so it is in their writings.
They write with such liberty and freedom of the Spirit to
expound unto us the salvation of God. And what is all their
message? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ and Him risen from
the dead. I tell you, you go through the
book of Acts and you find me one time where it asks men to
make a decision for Jesus. In one message. Find one message
the apostles preach. You won't find one. They preach Christ crucified
and risen. And they command everyone everywhere
to believe, not make a disbelief. And they know this, that God
gives the grace to believe. That's their message. So they've been given the keys
to the kingdom of heaven. And listen, whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. What is this
binding and loosing? Well, this binding and loosing
is those things of the old covenant, that law. They were bound by
that law until Christ came. And what did they do? They loosed
men from the law of Moses. They set those things aside and
they bound us to the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. That's it. That's what they bound
and they loosed. They loosed men. And whatever
the apostles said, they had the authority to establish the churches
of God. So whatever the apostles say,
that goes. That's just it. There's no other
pleading or authority here. The authority was given to them
to bind and loose those things in the church. And so whatever
they say is good, that's good. And whatever they say is wrong,
well, that's wrong. So we just go by what they say
because who gave them this authority? It is the Lord Jesus Christ gave
them this authority. He gave them this authority to
bind and loose from the law. And now I want us to see this.
There are no more apostles. Man puts that in front of his
name. You run as fast as you can from him. Get away. Don't
debate. Don't argue. Leave him alone.
He's a fool. He's a fool. Anybody who claims
to be an apostle is a fool because only the apostles received their
word and were chosen directly by the Lord Jesus Christ. There
are no more apostles. There are no more apostles. When
these men left this world, that was it. These twelve men were
the only ones in history ever given this office of apostle. And their doctrine was confirmed
by miracles and signs and wonders. And so what What then is remaining? What offices are left in the
church? The same offices the apostles
established, which is the office of pastors, teachers, which is
the same office or the office of a bishop. It's the same. The
office of deacons. That's an office in the church. The office of an evangelist,
which is, I perceive, a missionary, one that goes out and establishes
churches where there are no churches. Now these offices remain in the
church, but there are no more apostles. Because our word is not given
to us by the Lord Jesus Christ directly, but as it comes from
his apostles and prophets by the Holy Spirit. And we, by faith,
receive their witness as it is the Word of God. Isn't that what
John's gospel is about? He gets to the end of that gospel
and he says, there are many other things the Lord did. And if I
were to write them all, the books of the world could not contain
them. But these are written, for why? That you might believe. that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, that you might believe. This office was not taken by
the Apostle Paul. Isn't that what he says? Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, how? By the will of God. You remember
in Colossians, in 1 Corinthians, they were having a problem with
this. They were having, I'm a Paul.
I think Paul's the man, and I think Apollos is the man. And so they
started picking men and choosing men that they liked to hear,
and they kept setting those men above the other. And what did
Paul say? He said, who is Paul? And who
is Apollos? but ministers by which you believe,
servants. This morning as I preached to
you, who am I? I didn't ask what my office was,
I said, who am I? I tell you, I'm nothing. I know I'm nothing because the
apostle Paul said he was nothing. In 2 Corinthians 12, he said,
I'm not behind the chiefest of apostles. I was chosen by Christ. I received my word from Christ. That which I bind is bound and
loose. I have the keys, which is the
gospel I preach to you. But then he says at the very
end of that verse, I am nothing. Nothing. I am nothing but a minister of
the gospel for your sakes. I am what I am by the grace of
God, and listen, you are what you are by the grace and will
of God. Even as Paul was an apostle by
the will of God, even so is everyone given their
place in the body. I want you to see that. Go to
1 Corinthians. Paul was an apostle by the will
of God. He didn't take that upon himself, and neither does any
pastor take this upon himself, evangelist take it upon themselves,
or deacon take it upon themselves, nor, listen, any member of the
church of Jesus Christ, whatever you are given to do, you don't
take that upon yourself. God gives you these things to
do in the church. Look at 1 Corinthians 12. Verse 12 says, For as the body
is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one
body being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles or bond
or free. We have been all made to drink
into one Spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, Because
I am not the hand, I am not the body, I am not of the body, is
it therefore not of the body? If the ears say, Because I am
not the eye, I am not the body, is it therefore not the body?
If the whole body were an eye, then where are the hearing? And
the whole were hearing, where is the smelling? And now hath
God set members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath
pleased Him. Why was Paul an apostle? It pleased
God to make him one. Why would I be called to be a
pastor or preacher of the gospel? Because it pleased God to put
me here. There's no other reason. Why has God called you to be
a member of this body, of this church? Because God put you here. That's why. God placed you here. And because you're not the pastor,
does that mean you're any less? No, you're part of the body.
We're all of Christ. We're all one body. All one body by the will of God.
Isn't that so? Aren't you a believer in Christ
by the will of God? You bet you are. It was God that chose you. It was Christ that redeemed you.
It was the Spirit that calls you. And listen, you're here
today because He keeps you. That's it. You're part of the
body because He made you part of the body. And whatever part
you are, that is not less than any other
part. Is that not something? I know,
I know I'm getting off subject, but think of this. How many schisms
have been caused because of this? Somebody wanting the preeminence
in the church. Somebody who's not a preacher,
not a pastor. He looks at the pastor and says,
man, I can do better than that guy. That guy, he's not that
smart, he's not that intelligent, he sure can't speak. So, I know
I can do better than that. And what does he do? He tries
to usurp that authority. He's not content with his place
that God gave him. And that causes such strife and
division in God's church. No, be content with what place
God has given you. Paul was content to be an apostle,
and I'll tell you that was not an easy place. That was the hardest
place. That was a place of the most
suffering was the apostles. They suffered the most out of
anyone in the church. And I tell you, if you're given
anything to do in the church, do it with all your heart. Didn't
Paul do this with all his heart? I mean, did he not labor more
than anyone else in this world? I tell you, as I should, I'm
ashamed. I should labor more. I don't
ever think I'm labored enough in this word to give it to you. And you know what? I should never
aspire to be anything God has not made me to be. I should be
content with my place and serve God where I am in the body. Now, what are you in the body?
Ask the Lord to tell you. If you sweep the floors, is that
not just as well a vital part as preaching? Yes. It's part
of the body. It's your part. Do it as unto
the Lord. That's what we're to do in the
church. We're to do anything and everything
within our grasp to further the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is that
not what Paul did in his calling? That's what we should do in our
calling, in our part. I don't have much time to go
into the second part, but I hope this will give you comfort to
know this, that this word, when you read it, This word was given
by the Lord Jesus Christ to his apostles. And listen, he is the
chief cornerstone, the foundation stone, but listen, the word of
the apostles and prophets are also part of that foundation.
All the weight of the foundation rests on Jesus Christ, but that
part of the foundation of the church which is laid by which
we believe is what? The word of the apostles and
prophets. So you can take comfort, you can rest in anything you
read in this book. Well, how do you know it's so?
Well, God gave it to the Apostle Paul who gave it to us. That's
all the authority I need to know it's true. This is his Word.
It's God's Word. Now then, secondly, look who
to he writes. He writes to saints and to the
faithful brethren. All those who are saved by the
grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Listen, you are
the saints and faithful brethren. That's you. So this letter's
written to you. It's written to you. Saints are
not some, as the world believed them to be, some super-Christian,
someone who has a checklist of good things that they've done
in their life, and after they die, then they exalt them to
sainthood. That's just garbage. That's just
all that is. It's not in the word of God,
it's not there. They do that by tradition. Now, what is a
saint? What does that mean? It's one who's set apart. One who's set apart. Not set
themselves apart, but one that is set apart by God. You who
are believers in Christ, don't you know this? You've been set
apart from everyone else. Now, you didn't set yourself
apart. God did. God sets you apart from eternity
and election. Did he not take of the same lump?
and make vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor? You who
are believers, you are vessels of honor because God took you
from the lump of Adam's fallen race, chose you by His sovereign
mercy, and put you in His Son. He set you apart. He made you
holy and accepted in the Beloved before the world began. You are
saints. You are set apart. You are sanctified
by God the Father. You're sanctified by God the
Son. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30, it says, But
of God are you in Him, that's the Father sanctifying you, putting
you in Christ, who hath made Him to be right wisdom, righteousness,
listen, sanctification and redemption. Is not Christ all your wisdom?
How can God be just and justify the ungodly? Only through Jesus
Christ. That's the only way we can answer
that. Is not Christ all your righteousness? Did He not, as
your representative, merit the righteousness of God for you
completely and absolutely and imputes that and imparts that
to you? Yes, He is all my righteousness.
Is He not all your redemption? Yes. He bled and died for my
sins on the cross and has purged my sins. He's washed them away. He blotted them out as a thick
cloud, the Scripture says. Now then, why in the world would
you not see He's all your sanctification? You see, none of that was part
His work and part my work. Why then would men say that sanctification
is part His work and part our work? No. It's all His work. He has set us apart. He has made
us holy. He has chosen us and we did not
choose Him. He has given us faith, and we
believe in Him because of His grace. He sets us apart, and
listen, the Holy Spirit sets you apart. 2 Thessalonians 2,
verse 13, we are bound always to give thanks to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because He hath chosen you from
the beginning. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth by our gospel. Isn't that amazing how he links
that all together? This is all his work. How were
you sanctified in your experience of grace? Was it not through
the preaching of the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit
giving you the new birth and life and faith? He sets you apart
and therefore you are saints of God, sanctified of God, set
apart. And listen, we are brethren,
brethren. I like this, faithful brethren. J.D., you are a faithful. You are a faithful sister. I'll tell you what, that doesn't
give me so much comfort as it stabs me in the heart. Because
I know my unfaithfulness. I know my failures. I know my sin. How is it that
he can call me a faithful brother? Because I am faithful in Christ. And God sees me as such. Now that stabs me, but it also
encourages me to be more faithful, doesn't it? Because we have overcome
in Christ. We have overcome all sin and
unrighteousness, and we will overcome all obstacles in this
life because of Jesus Christ. He's the reason I can be called
a faithful brother. And I tell you, I desire to be
a faithful brother. Don't you? Do you desire to be
faithful? I tell you, throughout this epistle,
we're gonna see that Paul encourages them in the bond of love. Man,
I love you. I love you, but I want to love you more. I love Christ, but man, I want
to love him more. May God encourage us in His Word. Strengthen us in our place. Whatever office or place we're
given in the church, strengthen us to be faithful in that place
and serve God. What a privilege. Is that not
a privilege? Does He really need us? Does
our service really add anything to our God? No. But He still
uses us. Is that not a blessing? Use Paul. Use Paul to be an apostle, to
write his word, so that by this word, we could believe and trust
in Christ. And now, then, we are the church
in this generation. May God give us strength to further
the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray this be a blessing to
you.