Now in this passage that Brother
Jim just read, what we have in these verses that I'm going to
deal with today is pretty much a summation of what the Christian
life is all about. Several passages we could obviously
turn to to deal with that subject. But I've entitled this message,
Walking Worthy of the Lord. That's taken from verse 10 of
Colossians chapter 1. Whatever he said before and whatever
he says afterward here, it's in order that, verse 10, you,
that is, children of God, true believers, sinners saved by grace,
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. That is, not
pleasing men. We're not men-pleasers, but pleasing
God. being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, walking worthy of the
Lord. And I thought about this because
it's so appropriate for today since we're going to be taking
the Lord's Supper. And you know the Lord's Supper
is an ordinance of Christ that he gave to his church, the New
Testament church. And it's for believers. This
supper is not for unbelievers. You know, people talk about fencing
the table. You know, we don't really fence
the table. In other words, we don't put restrictions ourselves
on who should partake of it and who shouldn't. God did that.
Christ did that. And this is for believers. And
over in, I always read a portion from 1 Corinthians 11. when we
take the Lord's Supper because the Corinthians, even some believers
in the Corinthian church, were abusing it. And they were taking
it wrongfully, with the wrong attitude and in the wrong way.
And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, he says in verse 27, he says,
wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup
of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord." That is, of denying it, of abusing it unworthily. So what does it mean to partake
of the Lord's Supper unworthily? Well, first of all, going back
here to Colossians chapter 1, this term worthy means appropriate. That's what it means. And what
it's simply saying is that whatever I do as a believer, as a Christian,
as a sinner saved by grace, it should be appropriate to the
Lord in honoring Him, in glorifying Him, the Lord who saved me and
keeps me by His grace. It ought to be appropriate to
that. and i think about this now first
of all understand this walking worthy of the lord now listen
to me it is not trying to make ourselves worthy so as to earn
our salvation because that would be unworthy god listen god tells
us in his word that he is holy he is just he is righteous and
we're not We cannot make ourselves worthy. We cannot make ourselves
righteous. That's by His grace through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so what does it tell me to
start off with? It tells me that the only worthiness
that I really have before God is the Lamb of God. And I love
Revelation 5. What's the The cry of praise
and worship that comes from Revelation 5 from the redeemed of the Lord.
Worthy is the Lamb. When we take the Lord's Supper,
what are we doing as believers? We're testifying in essence through
these symbols, the wine and the unleavened bread. that our only
worthiness before God is Christ and his righteousness imputed,
his blood. That's what his blood is all
about. So it's not trying to make ourselves worthy so as to
earn our salvation or earn our blessings from God. To do that
is unbelief. To do that actually dishonors
God. And he's not pleased with it.
Scripture says that. But walking worthy of the Lord
is walking in a way that is appropriate to our situation. Well, what
is our situation? I'm a sinner saved by grace. That's my situation. And you
know what? I've never been anything more
than that. Before I was born again by the
Spirit, I was nothing more than a sinner lost in his sins. And
then when the Holy Spirit brought me under the gospel and brought
me to faith in Christ and repentance, then I became a sinner saved
by grace. But only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
So I want you to know right now, you're listening to a sinner.
Now you are. But I'm saved by grace. It's appropriate to our state.
Well, what is our state? Well, I'm righteous in Christ. That's my state. Having been
saved, a sinner saved by the grace of God, that grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Walking worthy of the Lord is
walking in an appropriate way to our calling. to salvation
by God's grace and grace. How did he call me? Through the
gospel, which is for sinners who have no hope in themselves.
And let me tell you something, as a sinner saved by grace, I
still don't have any hope in myself. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. So let me give you a few things
concerning what it means to walk worthy of the Lord. Number one,
look at verse six. He's talking about the gospel
here in verse 5. And that gospel, look at it,
verse 6, which is come unto you, that is to the Colossian believers,
as it is in all the world, and the world there doesn't mean
everybody without exception, he's talking about believers
all over the world, where the gospel has reached. Christ told
his disciples, go ye in all the world and preach the gospel.
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And he says, and bringeth forth fruit. The gospel preached brought
forth fruit. Now what is the fruit? Well,
hold on there. He says, as it doth also in you
since the day you heard of it and knew the grace of God in
truth. So number one, walking worthy
of the Lord is walking by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, walking
in the grace of God, walking in the truth, the hope of the
gospel. The gospel is our theme. The
gospel is our life. The gospel reveals the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ. The gospel doesn't
brag on you and it doesn't brag on me, it brags on Christ. The
gospel doesn't lift you up in yourself, in your works or in
your achievements, it lifts up Christ and we're lifted up in
him. The more I preach Christ to you
who have been brought to faith in Christ, the happier you're
going to be. Now, it's the long and the short
of it. And the more I preach Christ
to you who have not been brought to faith in Christ, the sadder
or the madder you're going to be. Does that make sense? You who are believers, you who
are truly saved by grace, you who are in a state of righteousness
by His righteousness imputed, You're gonna love for me to brag
on your savior, to tell you about him again. You say, oh, I've
heard it before. Well, that's not burdensome for
me, and it's really safe for you. And what's Paul told the
Philippians? The gospel fruit. What is this
gospel fruit? You know what it is? It's believers,
sinners saved by grace. That's the gospel fruit. Knowing
the grace of God in truth. You know, believers are the fruit
of Christ's obedience unto death, his righteousness. Over in the
book of John, chapter 12, the Lord is talking about his
death to his disciples. And in verse 23 of John chapter
12, listen to this. He says, John recording this,
Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the Son of
Man should be glorified. Now you understand he's talking
about his death. But the way he puts it, he says
the Son of Man, talking about God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ
who is Emmanuel, God with us, he says about his death, It's
time for me to be glorified. Now, if you were on death row,
and they came to get you on that given day to take you to suffer
capital punishment, you wouldn't look at them and say, well, it's
time for me to be glorified, necessarily. Would you? You'd say it's a sad time. And
it was for his disciples, because they didn't want him to leave.
But he's going to be glorified, and listen to what he says in
verse 24. Here's the reason, verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn or a seed of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Every sinner saved by grace is
the fruit of the death, the burial, and the resurrection, the very
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says,
look down at verse 32, he says, and I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, meaning on the cross, Meaning in his resurrection from
the dead. Meaning in his ascension unto
glory. He said, we'll draw all unto me. All for whom he died
will be drawn to him. They're the fruit of his death.
They're the fruit of his righteousness. This he said signifying what
death he should die. Our life as believers, our faith,
our repentance, Obedience is the fruit of Christ's righteousness. It's not the cause of salvation.
It's not the ground of salvation. It's not a condition we must
meet to attain salvation. It's the fruit of what Christ
accomplished when he fulfilled all conditions. That's what he's
saying. Our lives of faith. Well, look
at Romans chapter 7. Listen to this here. In Romans chapter 7, look at
verse 4. He says, wherefore, Romans 7 and verse 4, wherefore,
my brethren, you also are become dead to the law. You know what
it means to be dead to the law? It means the law cannot condemn
you. Now why is that? Why are you,
if you're dead to the law, why is it the law cannot condemn
you? Well, it's because I'm such a good person. Is that the reason? Or it's because I've given my
heart to Jesus. Is that what it says? No, it
says, look at it. Wherefore, my brethren, you are
become dead to the law, the law cannot condemn you, by the body
of Christ. That's it. The unleavened bread
that we'll partake of this morning. He says, this is my body which
is broken for you. That's his sacrifice unto death. to make his people dead to the
law, to where the law cannot condemn them for their sins.
Why is that? Because our sins were charged,
imputed, accounted, reckoned to him, and he went under the
wrath of his father, guilty by imputation, to pay for those
sins. The law condemned him in our
stead. He's our substitute. He's our
redeemer. He paid the price. He sacrificed
himself. His blood washes me clean from
all my sins. That means the law cannot condemn
me. That means I am totally righteous in Christ. God cannot and will
not impute sin to me. He imputes righteousness. But
look on verse four, he says, all this took place that you
should be married to another, united to Christ, even to him
who's raised from the dead, that we should, what? Bring forth
fruit unto God. That's the fruit of the Spirit. Our lives of faith and obedience
by His grace and power. By His grace, we live by faith,
doing what? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. He started it and He'll finish
it. He didn't look to me to do that.
If He did, it would be a failure. We fail a thousand times a day,
don't we? But He never fails. He's able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto the Father by
Him. And it's knowing. Listen, it's walking. Here's
the worthy walk. Here's how I take the Lord's
Supper. walking in the knowledge of the truth that God will not
impute, charge, account sin to me, that he imputes righteousness
to me. And that never changes. You say,
well, some days I just feel real bad. It's not based upon your
feelings. Feelings come. Feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. Our warrant
is the Word of God. It's the only thing worth believing.
That's it. I know that because God says
it, not because I feel it. I may have a bad day tomorrow
or a great day, doesn't matter. As far as my state before God.
Walk worthy of the Lord. Walk in Christ. Look into Christ. Now look back at Colossians chapter
1. Here's the second thing. Look
at verse 7 and 8. He says, as you also learned
of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, that was one of the
ministers who came to them and ministered to them, who is for
you a faithful minister of Christ. And verse eight, who also declared
unto us your love in the spirit. Walking worthy of the Lord is
walking in love to the brethren. And this is that divine love.
Let me read a passage out of Romans chapter 5, beginning at
verse 1 to you. This is that divine love. Now
listen, it's not natural human love, but it's godly love that
is the gift of the Spirit to every true child of God, which
the Spirit sheds abroad within our hearts as He convicts us
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment and drives us to
Christ. This is the love that none of
us have by nature, but it's a divine gift wrought within our hearts
by the Spirit. And that's what he's talking
about in Romans 5. Now look at this, verse 1 of Romans 5. Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Having been justified. What does
that mean? That means legally declared not
guilty, legally declared righteous. And having been justified, God
gives us faith to believe in Christ who is our peace. He's
the one who reconciled God to us and us to God. Verse two,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace. It's through
Christ. that we have access, a way made
into the grace of God wherein we stand, we stand in that grace
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We talked about hope
last week. That's that expectation of eternal life and glory based
upon what God has stated in his son. Verse three, not only so,
but we glory in tribulations also, in troubles. Now that word
glory, It simply means we still have confidence even in times
of trouble. Doesn't mean we're happy in times
of trouble. It doesn't mean we enjoy ourselves
in times of trouble. But it means those troubles will
not separate us from the love of God in Christ. That's what
he said in Romans chapter 8. Who shall separate us from the
love of God in Christ? Shall tribulation? No. Whatever
troubles I have in this life, whether it be health problems,
financial problems, whatever kind of problems we have, it
will not separate the people of God from the love of God in
Christ. And it cannot do it. So we glory
in tribulations also knowing that tribulations work patience.
What is the patience? It's endurance. Perseverance. Now why do we endure and persevere?
Because God preserves us. The reason that you can't let
go, if you're a true believer, the reason you cannot let go
of Christ, the reason you cannot lose your salvation is because
He will not let you go. That's right. Verse four, patience, endurance. That works into experience. Now that experience has to do
with growth, and experience, hope, and hope maketh not ashamed,
look at verse five, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto you. Now
where is that love of God seen? And let me tell you something.
Well, look at verse six, here it is. For when we were yet without
strength, without ability, in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly.
He says in verse seven, for scarcely for a righteous man will one
die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. You see, whatever our worthiness
is, it's not in us. Christ didn't die for the worthy.
He died for sinners. Our only worthiness is in Him.
Look back at Colossians chapter one. Here's the third thing.
Look at verse nine. Walking in worthily of the Lord,
walking in worthy of the Lord is walking in the knowledge of
God in Christ with spiritual understanding. Look at verse
nine. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do
not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled
with all the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding. Think about it. And then, that
you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing with the knowledge
of God. Christ said this in his high priestly prayer in John
17 and verse 3. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast seen. Somebody said, well, the Christian
life is walking in humility. That's right. And the more you
know God according to his truth in Christ, the more humble you'll
be. That's right. The knowledge of God humbles,
the true saving knowledge of God humbles a sinner. We were
talking about this morning about God's sovereignty. in choosing
his people. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll be gracious or have compassion
to whom I'll have compassion. It's not of him that runneth.
It's not of him that willeth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
That's a humbling truth, isn't it? You say, and what does the
natural man do? Oh, not fair. Well, if God gave
you what is fair according to you, it would be damnation. What is just? It's a humbling
truth. And so what does he do? He points
us to Christ for all salvation, for all grace, for all mercy,
for all love, for all righteousness, and he brings us to submit to
Christ as the Lord our righteousness. We walk in that. The more we
know God, spiritual understanding, This is the way God preserves
His people. He preserves us by His grace
and power, and He does this by God-given, God-empowered means
by which all true believers persevere. And how do we persevere? We cling
to Christ. We hold on for dear life and
won't let go. And this isn't mystical. It's not magical. What are God's
means? Well, growing in grace and knowledge
of Christ, increasing in the knowledge of God. Studying the
Word of God. Getting ourselves immersed into
the Word of God and feeding upon the Word of God. Study to show
yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the Word of truth. Becoming skillful in the
Word of righteousness, that we might discern, know the difference
between good and evil, deception and truth. Fighting the warfare,
the flesh and the spirit. You see, the grace of God never,
in any situation, gives a true child of God an excuse to sin. It doesn't do it. It's empowered
by the Spirit to bring us to fight the warfare of the flesh
and the Spirit, and to live a life of repentance, not in order to
be saved, but because we are. That's walking worthy of the
Lord. You know, he says here, being fruitful in every good
work. Being fruitful. Now notice the language. You
know, one thing that shows us this, we don't produce good works. Did you know that? Somebody said,
well, I'm a fruit inspector or a fruit producer or whatever.
No, we don't produce good works. The good works that we have,
we bear them as the fruit. Over there in Romans chapter
seven that I read earlier, it talks about bringing forth fruit
unto God. The Bible in Galatians chapter
five talks about the fruit of the spirit. It's the power and
grace of God. It's not something we come up
with or originates with us. And think about this, what is
a good work? You know, none of our works are good in the sense
that they measure up to the standard of goodness in God's judgment. You know what the standard of
goodness in God's judgment is? I'll give you one word, perfection. Perfection. And I can tell you
right now, nothing that comes from me or in me or through me
is perfect. Even the works done in us by
the Holy Spirit become contaminated by the remaining flesh. That's
what Paul wrote in Romans 7, 14 through 25. Oh, wretched man
that I am. He said, I want to do good. I
want to be perfect, but I don't even know how to do that. Do
you know how? Write a book on that and send
it to me. We can't be. Think about it. Even our prayers.
Now think about it. You know, I know these guys,
they have this, the perfect nature and the sinful nature idea. And
they talk about, well, we have a perfect nature that cannot
sin and cannot be contaminated. Then we have a sinful nature
that cannot do nothing but sin. And I asked one one time, I said,
well, when you pray, which nature is it? Do our prayers make us righteous
before God? I don't believe they do. Do our
prayers wash away our sins? In fact, the Bible says that
our prayers can only be accepted with God through a great high
priest who has passed through into the heavens, Jesus Christ
the righteous. If it weren't for the intercessory
work of Christ, and the merit of his blood and righteousness
alone, nothing that we do or comes from us or through us would
be accepted with God. There's a picture of that in
the Old Testament tabernacle. That burning, the altar that
came off the burnt altar. And then the altar of incense,
that's what I was trying to think of. That was the smoke, the prayers
of the saints rising up to God through the merits, not of the
prayers, but the merits of Christ. I read an article a couple years
ago, a fellow who claimed to believe the gospel. He was dealing with the subject,
what makes our obedience acceptable to God? And here's what he said,
basically, in his article. He said, it's our motives. that
make our obedience acceptable to God. That is not so. Let me tell you something. Now, when God saves a sinner,
he gives that sinner godly motives. You know, ungodly motives, legalism,
mercenaryism. But when God saves a sinner,
he gives us the motives of love and grace and gratitude. But
even that motive, is that what makes my prayers acceptable to
God? No. No. What makes my prayer acceptable
to God? What makes my obedience acceptable
to God? It's the blood of Christ. It's all the blood of Christ.
What is a good work? It's one done in the power of
God by faith in Jesus Christ. It is one motivated by the Holy
Spirit, motivated by grace, love, and gratitude. It's one aimed
toward the glory of God. It's not a work that is aimed
at drawing attention to me or to you. It's drawing attention
to God. And it's one accepted by God
through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what a good work is. And
the more we're convinced of these things, the more we'll increase
in the knowledge of God. We'll look back at Colossians
1, look at verse 11. He says, strengthened with all
might, all power. according to His glorious power
unto all patience, endurance, and longsuffering, and joyfulness,
walking in confidence in Christ. That's what it is to be strengthened,
having our hearts established with grace. The more we increase
in the knowledge of God, the more we'll be strengthened with
all might according to His glorious power. Our hearts established
with grace, our hearts looking to Christ, resting in Christ,
having confidence in Christ, and the assurance and confidence
of salvation. that comes through him. And with
all long-suffering, patience is endurance. Long-suffering
is putting up with a lot. Joyfulness is doing it joyfully.
And if that right there doesn't tell you that we need a righteousness
we can't produce, it ought to. Somebody said, well, I put up
with a lot. Well, that's good. You should. But do you do it
joyfully? Well, if you don't, you better
hope that salvation is by grace and not by works. And then lastly,
verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet,
qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. I'm going to deal more with that next week. But that's
walking in gratitude to God for all that he has freely given
us in Christ. Thank you, Lord. for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich and so free. All right.