Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. We're going to read from verses
1 to 7. For I would that you would know
what great conflict I have for you, he's writing to the Colossian
believers here, the believers at Colossae, and for them at
Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh. that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together
in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father
and of Christ. In whom, this being Christ, are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In this I say,
lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, For though
I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit,
joying and beholding your order in the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. In verses six and seven are our
text tonight. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up
in him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding
therein with Thanksgiving. My oh my, what a wonderful portion
of Scripture. Again, I'll read verses 6 and
7, which will be our text tonight. We see the Scripture declares,
to the Colossian believers, the Holy Spirit, again, who is the
true author of these words, had Paul penned these words to them,
as ye, therefore, the Colossian believers, receive Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Now look at that. Isn't that
beautiful? Walk ye in him the same way you
received him. Walk in him. Walk in him. Rooted and built up in him, established
in the faith as he had been taught. Who taught them? Well, the same
one who teaches us, God the Holy Spirit, right? Abounding therein
with thanksgiving. When one is born again by the
Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, We abound with thanksgiving. That doesn't mean
we're always on the mountaintop. That's not what that means. But
as we contemplate the great things that Christ has done for us in
the midst of trials and tribulations in our ordinary everyday lives,
right? we will abound in thanksgiving
for the great things Christ has done for us, as we think about
the salvation that we have in Him, that He Himself, God Himself,
became a man to redeem us from all our sins. He's doing that
which we could never do, because the law condemned us, didn't
it? The law showed us, and that's what the law does. It shows us
our desperate need for Christ. The law demands perfection. We
aren't perfect. We aren't even close to perfect.
But Jesus Christ, the God-man, lived the perfect life in our
room and place, fulfilling the law. He's the end of the law
for righteousness, right? And that's wonderful. And he
did that for his people. He did that for his elect. And
it's absolutely amazing. So when we think about that,
it fills our hearts with thanksgiving. And we could be in the most lowest
point, but when we start thinking about contemplating the great
things Christ has done for us, even in those low points, we
can have thanksgiving. Even with tears streaming down
our face, we can have thanksgiving. Even with not knowing how things
are going to work out, we can have thanksgiving. Because we're
rooted and grounded in Christ, who is our comfort. Who is our
comfort. Look at verse 6 and 7. As ye
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith, as
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. So
we see in verse 6 that we're to walk in Christ. So how does
one walk the Christian life? Now, there's all kinds of books
out there people have written, trying to explain to us and other
people, oh, this is how you walk the Christian life. And it's
always about something you do. Did you know that? It's always about something you
do, or something you have to do, to have joy, to have peace. Well, we believers in Christ,
if our joy and peace is dependent upon ourselves, we are in a world
of trouble, aren't we? Because we're like this. We're
up and down, aren't we? We're up and down. But what's
the one constant thing in the believer's life? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the one constant thing in
our life. And look at this, it's so simple
and yet so profound, and yet people trip all over it. You
know why? Because man is wired for works. We think that, we
think by doing things that God's gonna merit and give us, merit
and favor us more, but that's not the way it is. In no way
can anyone upon this earth, religious or unreligious, gain merit and
favor with God, right, saved or lost by anything we do. It's impossible. The only way
we have merit and favor with God, even as believers, is in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way, beloved.
There's no other way. So look at this, look at this.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus Lord, so walk in
him. What we see here, we are to walk
in Christ, the same way we received him. How did we receive him?
By faith. By faith, right? Faith in who? Faith in him. God-given
faith that we didn't have before, but God the Holy Spirit gave
it to us when we were born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And
then how are we to walk in this life, beloved? By faith. See,
religion is by, well, you gotta do this. But in grace, it's by
faith. How are we even obedient? And
why do we desire to be obedient to God? Because it's by faith.
It's God-given faith. Otherwise, we want nothing to
do with God. Isn't that amazing? But our faith
is rooted and grounded in Christ. God-given faith is not rooted
in self, it's rooted in Christ. Man's salvation is rooted in
self. Right? False faith is rooted
in self. God-given faith is rooted in
Christ. And we're gonna see tonight,
we're established in Christ, we're rooted in Christ, we're
built up in Christ. And therein will spring Thanksgiving
for us. Because it's all about him. It's
all about Christ. We're not perfected right now. We're not accepted by anything
we do in the flesh. What I mean is we're not perfected
or we cannot find comfort by anything we do in the flesh.
The only way we're accepted is in Christ. And here we are still sinners,
saved by grace. but it's the grace of God that
saved us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Talking to a couple guys
today and I said, we're nothing but a bunch of sinners. That's
why we have trouble in this world, because we're a bunch of sinners.
And there's only two kinds of sinners, there's saved sinners
and lost sinners, right? That's it. But we're still all
sinners, aren't we? How do we expect world peace
when we're a bunch of sinners? The only way we can have peace
as believers is peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're united in that. Think of that, brothers and sisters.
We're united in that. Isn't that amazing? So we can't
be accepted, comforted, or perfected by anything we do in the flesh. We are only forgiven of all our
sins by what Christ has done for us. His perfect work. His perfect life. His perfect
sin-atoning, complete sin-atoning work. And how do we walk in Him? How do we walk daily? By faith. Trust in Him. Spurgeon said,
sink or swim, I'll trust in Him. Right? We'll trust in Him no
matter what. No matter what. Again, how did we receive Christ? By faith. God-given faith, right? We received Christ by God-given
faith. We were born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, given faith to believe, and we received Christ.
We ran to Him. You think of this, we received
him as the sum and substance of all saving faith. He is the
alpha and the omega of our salvation. He's the beginning and the end
of our salvation. That's how we received him, didn't
we? Number two, we received him as the fulfillment of all the
promises of God. And that we also received him
in the fact that all spiritual blessings are in him. They're
all wrapped up in him. How did we receive these things?
By faith. By God-given faith. We didn't receive them before
that, did we? No. Oh no. But now we do. How did we receive
Christ? We received him as the fountain
of all grace. He's the fountain of all grace,
beloved. From him springs life eternal. He's the source of our
salvation, and it all springs from him who is the fountain
of grace. We also received him as the whole
of our acceptance with God. We are only accepted by God in
Christ. And we only have a righteousness
that is not our own. The righteousness we're clothed
in is not our own, it's the righteousness of Christ. And that's the only way we can
be accepted by God, through the perfect sacrifice of Christ and
clothed in his righteousness. Isn't that amazing? And so our hope and our trust
is in Christ alone, just like it was at the beginning. When
we were first saved, our hope and trust was Christ. We didn't
know much at all, but we knew He is the Savior of sinners.
Right? And I'm a sinner. God in the
Holy Spirit showed us we're sinners, didn't He? Oh, yeah, He did. And He gave us the Balm of Gilead.
He gave us faith in Christ. And we just looked to Him. See,
that's how we have to walk. When we start looking at other
people or looking at what others are doing, our eyes aren't on
Christ. Our eyes are on other folks,
aren't they? Let's keep our eyes on Christ, beloved. Right? Let's keep our eyes focused on
Him. Let's walk in Him the way we
received Him, by faith, looking to Him, the author and finisher
of our salvation. Oh my. And all our trust is put
in Him. And He's the object of our faith.
True, saving faith, God-given faith, has one object. It's not
self. It's not works that we do. Because
none of, I can't save myself, and my works can't save me. Can
yours? No. I'm gonna answer it for all of
us. No. But there is one who saves sinners. And His name is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's able to save to the
uttermost all who come to God through him. My oh my, that's
wonderful news for sinners. See, the law stands there and
says, I demand perfection, right? The law of God demands perfection. And here we are, when God reveals
to us what we are, we say, I'm imperfect, I can't, I can't.
The law kills us, right? It slays us to anything we can
do. And in Christ, like what happened
to your sister, in Christ, the balm of Gilead is shown to us
by the Holy Spirit of God, and we're given faith to believe.
Born again, just like that. Just like that. And given faith
to say, oh Lord, I need you. God, be merciful to me. It's
not about anyone else at that time, is it? God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. Oh my. So we walk by faith the
same way, don't we? That's the key. Walk by faith
in Christ each day. And I'll tell you, if we do that,
the things going on won't affect us like they sometimes do. And
I need to be reminded of this every day, do you? I need this
every day. I need to be reminded every day
when I'm studying or when I'm preaching, I'm reminding myself
too. And God's reminding me through
the word, you need me. Right? When we hear the preaching
of the gospel, it just stirs our hearts up to our desperate
need for Christ. Praise God. for a savior who
saves sinners all by himself. It's wonderful. So we are to
walk in the same manner that we received him. When we received
the Lord, we came gratefully, humbly, joyfully, unreservedly
by faith. And we should continue to walk
our daily life the same way. Keep coming to Christ. Keep coming
to Christ. Right? Oh my. And we live day by day in this
faith in Christ. And we trust in Christ. We trust
our eternal souls and rest in Christ alone. Look at Colossians 2, 7. Look
what it says here. Rooted and built up in him established
in the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with
Thanksgiving see the word rooted in the Greek in The Greek it
brings forth That we are rooted in Christ Paul showing us What
this living in Christ is it's a living union It's a living
union it's a vital union and that we have with Christ. We're
firmly implanted in Christ as the infinite and all-sufficient
source of our salvation. That's what he is. He's the infinite
and all-sufficient source of our salvation, isn't he? And
him alone. And that salvation is full and
it's free, beloved. full and free, and it's only
found in the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. And we're to have deep roots
in Christ, aren't we? Deep roots in Christ, just as
a mighty oak tree has deep roots in the ground. And when a strong
windstorm or rainstorm comes, It blows and rocks, but it has
firm roots, doesn't it? It has firm roots, entrenched
in the ground, around rocks, buried, or just burrowed deep
into the ground. That tree has a firm foundation. Our foundation is Christ. We're rooted in Him. We're rooted in Christ. My in being rooted in Christ
in him alone will enable us to withstand floods of watered-down
Perversions of the gospel when someone comes at us with a false
gospel or say no, that's not true That's not true And the high winds of these false
teachers who attempt to turn us away from the Lord Jesus Christ,
because that's what false teachers do. They attempt to turn God's
people away from Christ Jesus and looking at themselves and
what they have to do. And we are to say, no, I'm going
to walk in faith. I'm saved by faith, right? Saved by grace through faith
and that not of myself. And I'm going to walk in that
way. And that faith is in Christ Jesus,
my Lord. And when those false teachers
come and attempt to turn us away from Christ and his gospel to
another gospel, if we're rooted in Christ, they say, go on. That's not true. Oh, my. And by the grace of God,
we who believe need the roots of true saving faith embedded
in the truth of the gospel, embedded in Christ. Because he's the rock. He's the
sure foundation. He's the fountain and source
of all grace and mercy and salvation. Him alone. Turn, if you would,
to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. And let
us ponder this, as the root receives nourishment from the soil for
the increase of the tree, so we are rooted in Christ. Remember,
He's the vine and we're the branches. The only way the branches can
receive nourishment is through the vine. The only way we can
be embedded And the truth is in Christ. In Christ and him
alone. Look at this in Ephesians chapter
3 verses 17 and 18. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by what? Faith. That's God-given faith. That faith has one object, that's
Christ. That ye be what? Look at this, rooted and grounded.
Rooted. In what? In love. That's the
love of God shed abroad in our hearts, beloved. May be able
to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length
and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, that
unchanging, eternal, everlasting love that Christ has for his
people, beloved. which, look at this, which passes
knowledge. We contemplate it and our minds
just start fizzing out because it passes knowledge, beloved.
I still want to hear about it though, don't you? Tell me more
about this everlasting love. Even though I cannot understand
it fully, I still want to hear about it. Do you? Oh, the everlasting
love of God in Christ towards his people. and to know the love
of God, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God. So we draw nourishment, how?
By the preaching of the gospel. By the preaching of the gospel,
and the preaching of the word of God, and the preaching of
the gospel as the Holy Spirit gives us an understanding. We
become more rooted because the Holy Spirit is rooting us in
Christ, right? Remember John the Baptist said
he must increase and I must decrease. That's what happens to us. We
see ourselves as just sinners in desperate need of Christ and
he becomes so great. He becomes so great he becomes
everything to us, doesn't he? Oh my. Christ alone we've been
taught by the Holy Spirit of God is the source of all spiritual
blessings. The Holy Spirit has us grow in
the knowledge and truth of our blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ. As he reveals more to us about
Christ, we grow in the knowledge of Christ. We become more rooted
in Christ. But he has to teach us, doesn't
he? I was talking to my son today and I said, you know, natural
man doesn't understand the scriptures. And he says, well, I can read
the scriptures. I said, they're spiritually discerned. He says,
so what are you saying, that a person can't understand the
scriptures unless they're born again? Exactly. Exactly. And I said, you know
how I know that? Before the Lord saved me, I read
parts of the Bible, and there was nothing there. After the
Lord saved me, I read parts of the Bible, and that book was
alive. How do you explain that? You
must be born again. And the scripture even says a
natural man does not understand the things of the word of God
because they're spiritually discerned. Man brings his reason and his
ways to the scriptures instead of having the scriptures teach
us what we are and who we are and our need. And we preach Christ, we just
preach the word. We preach the Word. I'm not going
to give you my opinion. I'm going to preach what the
Word of God says. How do we walk in Christ? The same way we received
him, by faith. How are we rooted and grounded
by Christ and by God the Holy Spirit in Christ and by God the
Holy Spirit teaching us the things of Christ? Because it's a work
of God. Our salvation, alpha and omega,
our growth in Christ is the alpha and omega at work, isn't it? We can't take any credit. No
matter the gifts we have, whatever we have, it's all of God. It's all of God. You've heard
me say many times, our dear sister playing the piano, you have seen
her, we have seen her grow in grace. The more the gift is exercised,
the stronger it gets. And it's been incredible. But
that's what happens, beloved. The more we exercise the gifts
that God gave us, and every one of us have them, the more we
become stronger in them. By the grace and mercy of God
in him alone. It's him that gives the increase,
not us. Not us. My oh my. God makes a preacher,
right? And I'll tell you what, I've
been preaching for almost 20 years now. We figured it out the other
day. Almost 20 years. Huh? Well, 16, but before that. And almost 20 years. And I can look back, And I see
where the Lord had me start preaching. And I look now and I think, I
don't know hardly anything. But what I know, I'm gonna proclaim.
And I know Christ is the only savior of sinners. And beloved, desire a teachable
spirit. Desire to be taught by God. Come
to him, come to each service desiring to be taught by God,
desiring to learn and grow. And God the Holy Spirit will
teach us. He teaches us. Even if we've heard the text
a hundred times, just sit and listen and let God teach us the
riches of Christ, the glories of Christ. And Paul is using here metaphors
here in verse seven. Because we see here, we're to
be built up in him, established in the faith. Again, this is
by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, as he gives us more of
an understanding of the scriptures. Look at this, rooted and built
up in him, established in the faith, as you have been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. So Paul continues to use metaphors.
He uses rooted. Now he's gonna use another metaphor. We see he used the metaphor of
walking in verse 6. He used the metaphor of being
rooted. Now he's going to be using the metaphor of a building
being built, built up in him, built up in him. The Holy Spirit has Paul penned
these words, always remember that, to the Colossian believers
and to us, because here we are reading them now. We're like a building being built
up and established in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. So the Holy Spirit, again, has
Paul penned these precious truths and metaphors, which we can understand. Remember, see, this is a pattern
that our Lord uses. I am the way. When you go somewhere,
you're going on a way, aren't you? I'm the truth. as opposed to
a lie, the truth. Life as opposed to death. He
said, I'm the bread of life. We need bread to eat. We eat
bread. I'm the light. The moon comes
out, it's darkness, but the moon is light in the dark sky. Sun
comes up and it's beautiful and bright. We can understand these
things, can't we? He's the water of life. We need
water to live. Stop drinking water, you're going
to die. So we need water, we need bread
to live. He says, I'm the door. How many
doors do we go through in a day? How many doors do we go through
in a week? Different places we visit. So he uses metaphors,
and these metaphors in this verse and others express the safe and
joyful state of the believer in Christ. And Paul uses these
metaphors, again, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, to
engage the Colossian believers. And here we are reading these
truths right now today. 2024, here we are reading them
and looking at them. And they instruct us to walk
by faith. They instruct us to walk the
way we began. By faith in Christ. See, man
muddles it up and complicates it. And I'll tell you what, people
just getting rich writing books. How to do this, and how to walk
by this, and how to do this. They're just making money. The
scriptures tell us right here. How do we walk? By faith. the same way we started. It's so simple, isn't it? But
again, man always wants something to do. Always. This is just resting
in Christ. When we trust our soul to Christ,
when we're born again and given faith to believe, we just trust
our soul. upon Christ. We're to walk in the same way,
just trusting Christ. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Believers sometimes are compared
to trees, he uses this metaphor, but sometimes we're compared
to trees, trees of righteousness in the Psalms, which are the
planting of the Lord. It's his, he plants us, we're
his trees. and their root is Christ, and
the only reason we're trees of righteousness is because we're
in Christ. And again, we spring where we're
planted, because God gives the increase, right? God gives the
increased. An interesting note for the word
rooted is it means to cause, to strike root. Note that, to
cause, to strike root. God causes us to strike root
in Christ. He's the author and the finisher
of our salvation. He causes that. We don't cause
that ourselves. We don't have the ability, but
praise be to God, the great, sovereign, majestic God causes
us to strike root. It also means to strengthen with
roots. To render firm. We're firmly set in Christ, beloved,
by God the Holy Spirit. It means to fix, establish, cause
a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded. Cause a person or a
thing. Who's doing the causing? It ain't
us. It's God Almighty, beloved. Now,
that's wonderful, isn't it? What comfort that brings us as
believers. What joy that fills our hearts with. He has caused
us to be rooted in Christ. It's beautiful, beloved. It's
absolutely wonderful. He's fixed us in Christ. He's
established us in Christ. He's grounded us in Christ. So God the Holy Spirit regenerates
us and causes us to strike roots in Christ. This is beautiful.
It's amazing. And I ask you, is God's grace
not amazing? Is it not amazing? And then the
believer abides in Christ, because without him we can do nothing.
And we walk by faith. We walk by faith rooted in him,
established in Christ. And then Paul uses the metaphor
of a building when he says, and being built up in him, in our
text. The Greek word for build is this,
to build upon, to build up. Metaphorically, to be built upon
parts of a spiritual structure. Where stones fitted in. Oh, isn't that amazing? Isn't
that amazing? Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. Oh my. We're built up in Christ by the
Holy Spirit of God and His power. It is truly amazing grace, beloved.
Christ is the only sure and true foundation of the saints of God. And we are compared to a building,
a house, a temple, a habitation for God through the spirit. And
Christ is the cornerstone. He's the sure foundation, beloved.
And we're built upon him. And the mortar keeping us bricks
together is the precious, precious blood of Christ, all praise God,
that was shed to redeem us from all our sins. Look at this in
Ephesians chapter two, verses 19 to 22. Now, therefore, ye
are no more strangers and foreigners. Now remember, Paul's writing
to Gentile believers, right? The believers at Ephesus. He
says, You're no more strangers and foreigners. That's what we
were. But fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God, look at this, and are built upon what? The foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. In him, in whom, that's Christ,
all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy
temple in the Lord. in whom ye are also built together
for inhabitation of God through the Spirit." Look at that, beloved. So we're rooted and built up
in Christ. It's beautiful. In God's people,
we trust our eternal souls to Christ. He's the only hope for
we sinners. He's the foundation and the rock
of our salvation. And we are only safe and secure
in Christ. Only in Christ. In Him alone. And now we see that we're being
instructed by the Holy Spirit of God to walk in the faith that
He has given us. And again, that faith has one
object, and that's Christ. So let us look to Christ. Let
us walk each day. And I'll tell you, it's not easy
for us. That's why we're told to do it. Right? to walk the same way we started,
by faith. Just look to Christ. He's the
only hope for a sinner. He's the only hope for God's
people, isn't he? And we're but safe sinners. My, oh my. This leads to our next portion
of the text. Look at this. Rooted and built up in Him, in
Christ, and established in the faith. Look at that. Established
in the faith. as ye have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving." Look at that. Establish in the faith
as ye have been taught. Who's taught us that? Again,
it's God the Holy Spirit. It's God the Holy Spirit. As
we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, we're built up in Christ. And God will establish us in
the faith as we've been taught. By the
grace of God, we do not grow weary. Have you ever noticed
we don't grow weary of hearing these truths? As a matter of
fact, the older we get and the longer we walk with the Lord,
the more we want to hear about this. The more we realize we're sinners,
the more we want to hear about this. And as we grow in grace,
we see ourselves more and more as sinners, and we want to hear
the gospel more. It's amazing. And we're not moved
by new revelation from false teachers. That's all by the grace
of God. And we don't want to partake
with those who glory in the flesh and say, look what I've done.
We don't want to partake with that. And we're not easily offended.
We are not driven about by every word of doctrine. We're not tossed
to and fro because we're now established. When someone comes and says a
lie, we know it's a lie. You know,
my son was raised under my preaching. He's not saved, he doesn't profess
Christ, but I was talking to him today. And I said, we were
talking about the Bible, and I said, you know the difference.
You've told me you know the difference. You went to a place and you said,
I'm not preaching the gospel, Dad. And I said, how do you think
that is? He says, well, my intellect and
my knowledge of the English language and my being able to do all.
I said, no, no, it's because you sat under the truth. He might not believe it, but
he sat under it. Our kids hear a lot more than
we give them credit for. Oh my, oh my. So we don't grow weary of even
talking about Christ, do we? Of presenting the word of God.
Because Christ is our foundation. We're built up firmly and established
in him. And we become even more established
in Christ as the Holy Spirit has us grow in the knowledge
and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all Him. Paul says it's
the Holy Spirit of God working in us mightily. Mightily. The Greek word for establish
is defined as this, to confirm and establish. That's why I called
the message established in Christ. It's to confirm and establish,
to render constant and unwavering. Look at that. We're like this
usually, aren't we? Why do we not wander off to this
gospel or that false gospel or that false gospel? Because God
has established us. And he keeps us. He keeps us
in faith. Isn't that beautiful? Salvation
is of the Lord, isn't it? From beginning to end. And the
only reason we're established in Christ and rooted in Christ
and built up in Christ is because God the Holy Spirit has put us
in Christ by his regenerating power. Isn't that beautiful? And God the Father chose us in
eternity, therefore Christ died for us on Calvary's cross, and
therefore the Holy Spirit regenerates us, and he keeps us until the
end, until we go home to glory. And all before we were even saved,
he was watching over us. That's amazing to think, isn't
it? Oh my gosh, that's amazing to
think. So the believer is like a building firmly established,
and they're established in Christ. They're constant and unwavering,
not because of anything in us, but because Christ keeps us.
Because Christ keeps us. Oh my. Let's look at this. Let's
look at this verse again. Rooted and built up in him, established
in the faith as he had been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
So we looked at the definition of rooted. In the Greek it means
caused to strike a root. Again, that's pointing to Christ
being the author of our salvation. Right? The Holy Spirit regenerates us,
and then we're rooted and established in Christ. And then we're constant
and unwavering, which speaks of the finisher of our faith. And he takes us home. So he's
the author of our faith, he's the finisher of our faith, and
everything in between as well. So there's no room for you and
I to boast except to boast in Christ. Isn't that beautiful? It's absolutely beautiful. So
we're built up in Christ. We see here we're established
in Christ. We're established in Him. Taught by the Holy Spirit
God through the preaching of the Word. Built up and established. Established being defined as
to strengthen or establish. Built up in Christ. Established
in Christ. In the faith. which has one object,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the Holy Spirit
teaches us the things of Christ, and he establishes us in the
faith, which again has one object, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
to this verse if you want to write it down. It's John 6, 45.
John 6, 45. Listen to this verse here. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall all, that's speaking of God's people, all be taught,
or, and they shall all, or they shall be all taught of God. I'll start it again. It is written
in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that has heard and has learned of the Father cometh
unto me. Have you come to Christ? Is He
your only hope? Then you've been taught of God.
Then you've been taught of God. God, the Holy Spirit, uses the
preaching of the gospel by a man called of God and by the power
of His might. And God's saints are rooted,
built up, and established in the faith, which again is in
Christ Jesus and Him alone. And the Holy Spirit continues
to build us up. How? Through the preaching of
his word. Through the preaching of his
word, it's beautiful. Now look at the last part, which says,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. Now grateful hearts are hearts
that have been taught of God, but ungrateful hearts are hearts
that have never been taught of God. They do not understand the meaning
of the word grace, which is God's unmerited favor,
shown towards sinners in Christ Jesus our Lord. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord, beloved, rejoice that our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, he's king. He's king. He's ruler over all. And a new heart, Right? You must
be born again. The new heart, which God gives
his people, rejoices and is full of thanksgiving for what Christ
has done for us. And we become rooted and built
up in Christ and established in the faith of God's elect. And our hearts will abound with
thanksgiving. We're going to rejoice over the
fact that Christ saved us from our sins. And when we get to heaven, he
is the object of our worship, beloved. Heaven's heaven, because Christ
is there. Because we will see him face to face. Our Redeemer,
the one who bled and died for us, beloved. And redeemed us
with his own precious blood on Calvary's cross. Suffering the
wrath and justice of God that was due us. Oh, what a mighty
Savior. What a gracious Savior. What
a loving Savior is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the more we're
taught of God, the more we learn of Christ, the more we will grow
in grace and the knowledge of Him. And because of us growing
in Christ and learning of Him, our hearts will abound with thanksgiving. And I'll tell you, that doesn't
mean we're always walking around with a big old smile on our face.
I'm not talking about that stuff. That's fake. Right? But I'm talking about
when we are down and out. we will have an abiding peace
and joy that can only be found in Christ. And when we are on
the mountaintops, we'll praise Him with thanksgiving. But we
also learn to praise Him as we're going down into the valley, as
we're in the valley, as we're coming back up out of the valley,
and back on the hill, and it just keeps going, doesn't it,
in our lives? And he's teaching us. You know, like Sister Barb
once said to me, the Lord weans us from this world by trials
and tribulations. I believe that. Because we yearn
for heaven. And we rejoice in our great God
and King. And thanksgiving to God springs
out of our grateful, redeemed heart. Here are some things our
hearts will abound in. as we're rooted and built up
in Christ, established in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hearts will abound with thanksgiving
to our wonderful God for his electing grace in Christ Jesus,
the fact that he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. That'll make you sing. That'll make your heart
sing, beloved. Our hearts will abound with thanksgiving
to our wonderful God for his redeeming grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ, who alone is our Lord, our Savior, and our Redeemer. Praise God we're saved by grace
through Christ alone, and by his perfect sin atoning work
alone, and redeemed by the shedding of his precious, precious blood.
Our hearts will abound with thanksgiving to our wonderful God for his
sanctifying grace that brought us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He called us out of this world
by his almighty power. My, oh my, we're called to be
saints, beloved. all because of the grace and
mercy of God. Our hearts were bound with thanksgiving to our
wonderful God for his preserving grace, for preserving us in Christ
Jesus our Lord. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before his throne with exceeding joy,
beloved. Oh my, and our hearts were bound
with thanksgiving to our wonderful God for his grace and faith that
keeps us looking to Christ. looking to the Lord Jesus Christ
and resting and trusting in him to the saving of our souls. And
as we grow in our understanding of God's grace and mercy to us,
we'll understand more these words. In everything give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians
5 18. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
heavenly Joseph, our God. And God, our Father, has put
all things into his sovereign hands. The Lord Jesus Christ
has all things in his sovereign hands. All blessings we receive,
no matter whether they are physical or spiritual, they all come to
us from God through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Lord of
all. And Jesus Christ gives his chosen people all things that
pertain unto life and godliness. And only those who are taught
of God will know this to be true. And only those who have been
taught of God will abound in thanksgiving, praising, extolling,
and honoring the King of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. To God
be all the glory. Amen and amen.