Tonight's message is called God
working in his people. God working in his people. Turn
if you would to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Wonderful book. We went through
it a few years back. I think it was about About three
or four years, I think, probably at least four years, we went
through this book, verse by verse. It was a wonderful study. Paul is writing to the Colossian
Church, the Church of Colossae. And the Judaizers have crept
in, or not the Judaizers, the Gnostics have crept in, and they've
told the people that there is levels to God through different
angelic beings. And Christ was just one of those
mediators, one of those beings that you had to go to. And they
also said that they had a secret knowledge, that's what the Gnostics
are most known for, saying they have a secret knowledge that
only they can give. And we know that the Holy Spirit
is the one who teaches us and guides us and has us to grow.
And Paul, we're gonna see this tonight, he's gonna bring forth
the fact that he's preaching the gospel, but the fact also,
and think about this, everything we know, Dave, how much did we
know about God before he saved us? Nothing, right? Nothing,
didn't know nothing. I had, yeah, I had, but the true
God, we didn't know nothing about the true God, nothing. But think
of, yeah, and we're still learning, but think of what we know now,
what He's taught us and how we've grown in grace. And that's all
come from Him. And even the gifts that we have,
you know, Jill to play piano, you to lead singing, and even
myself to preach. All the glory goes to our great
God. And every one of us as Christians,
we all have gifts, different giftings. And it's all wrought
in us by the Holy Spirit of God. And I thought this would be fitting
since we're going through the fruit of the Spirit right now
in Sunday school. And as I mentioned in Sunday school, all those things
are wrought in us by God. It's his almighty power. Tonight we'll look at the wonder
working power of our great God working in his people. You know
why? So that we can labor for him.
Do you know we couldn't do anything without him? He tells us in John
15, he says, without me you can do nothing. That includes even
doing labor for him. Serving him. By nature we don't
want to serve our great God. But when we're born again, see
we have a new nature now. We have a new spirit within us,
the Holy Spirit of God. We have a new heart now that
hungers and thirsts after the things of Christ. Ain't it wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. So
it's all done by His almighty power for God's glory and for
Christ's glory. So look here, Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1, we're starting verse 19. And we'll read to the end of
the chapter. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell, that being Christ, and have he
made peace through the blood of his cross. Now, he was perfect. He didn't have to make peace
with God for himself, but he had to make peace with God for
us, didn't he? And how did He do it? Look at this. Through
the blood of His cross, by Him, to reconcile all things unto
Him. By Him, I say whether they be
things in the earth or things in heaven. And you, this was
our state. Here we are. Dave, this is our
natural state. Jill, this is our natural state.
Diane, Vicki, this is our natural state right here. This is where
we were. And you, that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now,
yeah, isn't this wonderful? Right now, not when we get to
heaven, right now. Yet now hath he reconciled. in
the body of his flesh through death to present you. Look at
this, look at this. Norman and I were talking about
this today. Holy. Set apart. Yeah, look at this. Inunblameable. Without spot or
blemish. And Norman and I were talking
about it in Song of Solomon. The groom being Christ says to
the bride, I see no spot in you. And then I popped in with the
verse in Song of Solomon as well, where the bride says, I'm black
yet calmly. Well calmly there in the Hebrew is beautiful. She's
saying I'm black, I'm sinful and yet I'm beautiful in Christ.
Isn't that wonderful? And here we have proof of it
right here. In the body of his flesh through death to present
you. So Paul's writing the believers here right? To present you holy
and unblamable and unreproachable in his sight. Can anyone change
that? No? If you continue in the faith,
there we go, trust in and rest in Christ, grounded and settled
and be not moved. Who keeps us? Christ, amen. Grounded and settled and be not
moved away from the hope of the gospel, which we have heard and
which was preached to every creature, which is under heaven, where
have I, Paul, made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings. Look at that. Paul's rejoicing
in the sufferings he's going through. How many times do we
rejoice in sufferance? We usually complain, don't we?
Yeah, none. But here, he's rejoicing. He's
rejoicing. Joy. He's got that joy. And see,
this is why when we go through things, I ask the Lord, well,
what are you teaching me here? What are you teaching me, Lord?
Because there's always a lesson in it. There's always a lesson
in it. My oh my. He's got the joy of the spirit.
Who now rejoices 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 endures all these things for
the furtherance of the gospel. We're gonna look at some of the
things he endured tonight. Where have I made a minister,
look at that, according to the dispensation of God, which is
given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. See, God calls
his preachers. He calls teachers, he calls preachers,
he calls evangelists. He's the one who does it. To fulfill the word of God, even
the mystery, look at this, now look at this, now look at this.
Look at this. This is amazing. Even the mystery. See, we preach the mystery of
God incarnated in the flesh. Look at this. Even the mystery
which has been hid from ages and from generations. Do you
know that there was generations and generations and generations
of Egyptians who never heard the gospel? Generation of Hittites that never
heard anything. Generations of Romans Generations of Greeks. You just
keep going on. Look at that. Hid. Hid. Do you know the gospel's hid?
It's revealed to us, isn't it? It's revealed to God's people,
but it's hid from the world. Even the mystery which has been
hid from ages and from generations. Look at this. But now is made
manifest to his saints. Woo! My, he's manifest himself
to us. Isn't that wonderful? We had
no idea who he was. And what little we know, we're
just in awe of. But he manifests himself to us
in Christ Jesus. Look at this. To whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory, of this mystery. All spiritual riches in Christ,
right? Every single one. Not talking
about earthly riches, we're talking spiritual riches. Well, plus
he owns everything. He owns the cattle on Thousand
Hill. There's not a drop of wealth in this world that he don't own.
He owns it all. What is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among Gentiles, which is what? Christ in you,
the hope of glory, born again by the Holy Spirit of God, whom
we preach. That's who God's preachers sent.
God's sent preachers, who do they preach? They preach Christ.
They don't mess around with anything else. They preach Christ and
him crucified. My, oh my, whom we preach. warning every man, turn from
the wrath to come. Spurgeon used to say, turn or
burn. Oh my. And teaching every man in all
wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Now we say, well we're still
sinners. Yeah, but look what it says further up. Look what we read about how we
are presented. Where is that again? We're presented.
Here, 22. In the body of the flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight. In Christ, God looks at us. He
don't see our sin, beloved. He sees Christ. See, the only
way we can be said to be perfect is in Christ, not in any other.
In our own, we're so full of sin, it's not funny. Look at
that, though. Perfect in Christ Jesus. There's
the key right there. Now, here's our verse for tonight.
whereunto I also labor, striving according to the working which
worketh in me mightily." The whole reason we can labor for
the Lord is because God the Holy Spirit works in us mightily.
And He continues to work in us. Remember Sunday we looked at
how we're born to glorify God, beloved? God the Holy Spirit's
working in us right now, conforming us to the image of the Son. Oh
my, we don't see it. Norm and I were talking about
how we just see ourselves as such sinners. But God's working
on us. Look at the preceding verse to
this tonight's text. Look at verse 28. Whom we preach,
warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Paul preached
Christ. So clear right there. Who did
he preach? He preached Christ. That's who he preached. He preached
Christ Jesus our Lord crucified, warning every man who heard his
words and teaching men in all wisdom. Who's all wisdom? Christ is our wisdom. He's our
wisdom. And we who preach the Lord Jesus
Christ in him alone, we warn every man how? By the general
call. Turn to Christ. flee from the wrath to come.
He's the only hope for sinners, right? There's no other hope
outside of Christ. We have nothing. Norm said today,
we have nothing without Christ. Nothing. Outside of Christ. Absolutely
nothing. My oh my. So we preach Christ
and him crucified. And the general call goes out.
Come unto me, all you that labor. As Dave and I, Dave, you often
quote too. Spirit and the bride say come.
Come. Come. And all of God's elect,
all of God's born-again, blood-washed saints are washed in the precious
blood of Christ. Washed and cleansed from all
their sin, so that they're unreprovable. Without a spot. God looks at
us and He sees us in Christ. He sees the sun and says, oh,
you're so beautiful. My, oh my. Oh my, washed in the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that great day too,
we see in that great day, the last day, we're going to be presented
faultless, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Unblameable, unapprovable
in God's sight. My, all because of Christ. All
because of what he's done. Clothed in the perfect, spotless
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you talk to religious
folks, and they start talking about what they've done. You get in a short conversation
with religious folks, or a long, long conversation. They want
to know what you've been doing for Christ, but more so they
want to tell you what they've been doing for Christ. They want to brag on what they've
been doing. Well, God's people, we just do the things for the
Lord and serving Him with gladness. We don't do them for man's notice. No, no. And who do we talk about? We talk about what Christ has
done. See, that's the difference. I'm gonna talk about what Christ
is on, because what I'm doing, it's the Holy Spirit working
in me, and I don't even know when I'm doing good works, right?
Because remember that group, and the Lord said, well, when
you did it unto the least of my brethren, you did it unto
me. Give them a cup of water, remember? In Jesus' name. Yeah,
they didn't even know. They didn't even have a clue.
Oh my. James says this, even so, faith
if it hath not works is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say,
thou hast faith and I have works, show me thy faith without thy
works, and I will show my faith by my works. Thou believest that
there is one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe
and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without
works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seeing
thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works his faith
was made perfect, and the scripture was fulfilled, would saith Abraham
believe God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. He
was called a friend of God. Ye see then how that by works
a man is justified and not by faith only. Well see, right here
is the difference between religion and grace. We believe that all the works
that we do are wrought in us by the Holy Spirit
of God. And anything we do, faith without
works, any works we do, they will in no way justify us with
God. In no way. What they are is evidence of
God working in us. For his glory, for his honor,
and for his praise. He gets all the glory. He has
to get the preeminence. He has to. He has to get the
preeminence, beloved. Dave, when we get you teaching
and stuff, just remember, He gets all the pre-eminences. A
fella told me that a long time ago, Jean-Claude Soule told me,
always remember, Christ gets the pre-eminence, always. Oh
my, it's so, that just goes so deep in your soul. You're just
like, yeah, Lord, I want you to get all the glory, all the
honor, and all the praise. Well, we do it both when we work together
in the services, too. All the glory goes to Christ.
When Jill plays, she plays for the glory of God. My. So it's wonderful. Wonderful. So all the merit that a sinner
needs is found in Christ. And any works we do are wrought
in us by the Holy Spirit of God. So again, God gets all the glory.
He gets all the honor and praise. And he's the only one worthy
of it. He's the only one worthy of it. Our works are evidence
of our faith. Again, hence, faith without works
is dead. When James speaks of being justified by works as well
as by faith, he views those works which show faith to be real.
That's all. Shows faith to be real. No way
do they justify. And they're in opposition to
the dead works. Remember the works of the flesh?
Those are dead works. Those are dead works. So the
fruit of the Spirit rots in us. Goodness, long-suffering, love,
joy, peace. So much so that Paul can say
when he's suffering, he can say, well I'm joying in my suffering.
because it's for the furtherance of the gospel. We're going to
see that when we study Philippians, that he says, all that's fallen
out to me is for the furtherance of the gospel. Even us here,
everything that's fallen out all through the years, before
I was here and even since, all have fallen out for the furtherance
of the gospel, beloved. It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. And dead works show that there's
no life. Those works of the flesh show
that there's no life. Now, again, when you're born
again, we still struggle with the flesh. I'm not saying that.
But when a man tries to justify himself before God by something
he does, those are just dead works. Dead works. Filthy rags
in the eyes of the Lord. They show that there's no life
from God. Now, and religious folks stumble over that stuff.
They stumble over. They stumble over this precious
truth. When we tell them that our works can in no way gain
us merit and favor with God, they stumble. I've told the guys
across the road, my works, I can't lose my salvation by what I do,
and I can't gain my salvation by what I do. And they look at
me like I've grown a third eye. But it's true, isn't it? If I
could mess that salvation up, then it's not God's salvation.
It would be my salvation. Yeah, but our salvation's on
the rock, isn't it? It's based upon Christ. It's
based upon His work, the will of God, amen. He did that work
for you and I, brother. Safest place to be in the rock
of ages, right? You talk about a foundation that
won't crumble, and now if our salvation was based upon what
we do, it'd be like that sinking sand. That's right, brother.
Sucked right down into the ground, man. But we're on solid rock,
man. We're on a rock that cannot be
moved, right? Oh my, what's that song? Settle
on the rock. There's one of the songs like
that though that talks about, he's the rock. I gotta look that up so we can
sing it again. Man, it's wonderful though. He's the rock. He's the
foundation of our faith. So let's look again at our verse
tonight. And I pray the Holy Spirit will
illuminate the scripture for us tonight. Teach us more and
more about the things of Christ. I think it's how great a foundation,
or how sure a foundation, brother. I think it's that one. But Colossians
129 says, Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working,
which worketh in me mightily. Now look at that. Paul's saying,
I strive in the ministry, only because of the grace of God that
works in me. So what's he doing? He's saying, I can't do this
in my flesh. I can't serve, I can't labor
in the gospel, unless it be God working in me. We're all living
proof of that, aren't we? Every one of us. My oh my, every
one of us. My, a lot of people tell you
what they're doing, what they've done. They talk about how righteous
they are compared to others. I remember Brother Henry Mahan
saying, you know what two religious people are? When one religious
person's sitting there and he's criticizing another religious
person? That's just one worm who thinks he's better. He thinks
he's got sunglasses on and dressed up. He's better than that other
worm over there. We're all worms. And God picks
us up from the maggots, picks up little maggots. That's what
we're like. Oh, that one's mine. My oh my. Picks us up from the
dunghill of humanity, doesn't he? My, and saves our souls. So, I'll tell you what. One worm
comparing himself to another worm, he can think he looks pretty
good. You compare yourself to Christ then. Oh my. Christ is the perfect
one. He's the sinless one. My oh my. We all fall short of the glory
of God. Christ honored the glory of God.
Fully fulfilled the law of God in our room and place. He's perfect.
How perfect do we have to be to get into heaven? Perfect as
Christ is. What are we called then, Brother
Dave? His perfect, spotless righteousness, isn't it? My, oh my. We've now been, Colossians says,
we've been meet. We've been qualified. Meet, in
the old English, is qualified. We've been qualified for heaven.
How? In Christ Jesus, our Lord. It's wonderful. He gets all the
glory. Glory to His name. It's wonderful. We have to be
as perfect as God. Well, Christ is God. He's perfect.
We sinful worms, we fall far short, we're in a dunghill. My,
he came down from heaven to this sin-cursed world to save us.
Can you imagine that? My, we're like little ants. You ever watch them little ants?
You get a whole bunch of ants. That's what we're like. The Lord
says he looks on earth, we're like grasshoppers. My, oh my. My, oh my, come down to this
sin-cursed world to save us from all our sins. I ask you, believer,
do you sin more than you want to? Amen. Me too. Do you loathe and despise
sin more in yourself than in anyone else? Amen. You know, Paul had the same struggles.
He said, oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from
this body of death? I thank God. Who? Through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin, Romans
7, 24 and 25. Paul struggled just like us.
Peter struggled just like us. John struggled just like us.
David struggled just like us. Moses struggled just like us.
Right? Elijah struggled just like us.
Elijah said, I'm the only one left. Oh Lord, I'm the only one
left. And God said, I got 5,000 who
haven't bowed their knee. See, we're all prone to it, aren't
we? Oh, Peter denied the Lord three
times. Three times Peter denied the
Lord. The Lord said, Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love
me? Peter, do you love me? Oh, thou
knowest, Lord. Oh, thou knowest, Lord. Thou
knowest. Now, false religions will tell
us to look in. False religions exalt men. Buddhism. Buddhism tells you
to look in. Look inside yourself. Well, I
look inside myself. You know what I see? I see a
mass of sin. I see a sinful man. My, nothing but sin in our natural
state. You know the whole scheme of
works based salvation is totally dependent upon man. They say
you just have to exercise your will. They say you just have to walk
an aisle. Give your heart to Jesus. It's all based upon men. They look inward. They look inward
for all their hope. It's all based on, see their
God can't do anything. His hands are tied. I talked
to Jim, eh? I said, you tell me, you tell
me that God died for everyone and there's people in hell? Well, yeah. And I said, well,
if God died for everyone, there'd be no one in hell. And I said,
your God is neutral. He can't do anything. He can't
even control man. But our God, our God. He's a good God. He's a long-suffering
God, even when we're dead in trespasses and sins. And when
that time comes, beloved, oh, when that time of love comes,
He sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, whereby we cry,
I have a Father, born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Then
we're given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance
before God. And what do we do? We spend the
rest of our life trusting Christ. and run into Christ. And what
do we do? See the opposite here of religion?
We don't look in, we look up. We look out and we look up to
Christ. That's what we do. Scott Richardson
used to say that. We look out and up. Oh, just keep reminding
me of that. Look out and up to Christ. My, look a couple chapters over
here. Look at this. Look at this in
chapter 3. Look what Paul says here in light
of that. In light of that, look what he
says in chapter 3. He says, verse 1, if ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. So look outside yourself, look
up to Christ, right? Where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. So if we're looking at him on the right hand of God,
all the things in this world, we're not even looking at them,
are we? Look at that. Not even looking at the things
in this well. Then it says, set your affection. That's your heart.
That's your heart and your mind. That's the seed of your affection.
Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth.
Look at this. For ye are dead. Oh, we've been
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, right? Yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. Galatians 2.20. Look at that. For ye are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
Oh my! My, oh my. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful, beloved. It's
absolutely wonderful. So we look outside ourselves
and upwards to Christ. In workspace, salvation also
makes man the center of worship. It makes man get all the preeminence.
But we say, We say, along with Paul, that Christ must get all
the preeminence. He must get it all, beloved.
Oh my, he gets it all. All the glory, all the honor,
and all the praise goes to our great and glorious God. My oh mine. Let's look up here. Let's look up here. Look at verse
10, starting in verse 10 of Colossians chapter 1. That ye might walk
worthy of the Lord and all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work. Now how are we fruitful in every good work? By the Holy
Spirit working in us, right? As we see in the last verse.
And increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthening with all
might according to his glorious power. Look at that. What are
we? We're just receivers. God's doing all this work, unto
all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. Well, those
are fruits of the Spirit, aren't they? Long-suffering and joyfulness
is given thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet, see
that word meet, that's qualified in the Greek, which has qualified
us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness. And look at it, this
is all past tense, beloved. Who hath delivered us. from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have this redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. they
were all created by him and for him and he is he's before all
things oh my look at that he's by before all things and by him
all things consist now look at verse 18 here we're going to
see a word here yes and he is the head of the church head of
the body of the church who is the beginning the firstborn of
the dead that in all things he might have the what preeminence
pre-eminence, verse 18 there. And he is the head of the body
of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. Oh, let us
give God all the glory. Let us give Christ all the pre-eminence,
because he's worthy, beloved. The Father's made him so. The
Father's made him have all pre-eminence, isn't he? Oh my. So let we who
are his people, let us do the same. let us give him all the
glory my works based again salvation makes man the object of the principal
object of worship and preeminence in works based religion man gets
the preeminence they get the glory but grace preaching tells
us to look away from myself and give christ all the glory give
him all the preeminence he's the only one worthy of it all
oh my oh my look at paul's response Paul in Romans 7 actually says
this, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with
the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the
law of sin. He says, O wretched man and lamb. He continues and
says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with
the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the
law of sin. He's looking to Christ. He's looking to his Redeemer.
He says, I'm a wretched man. I'm battling sin in my body. And I'm a wretched man, but I'm
going to look to Christ. You know the whole scheme of
God's salvation is dependent upon Christ. He's the appointed
mediator. He's the appointed substitute.
He's the appointed savior for sinners. And God's salvation,
again, looks outward from ourselves and looks to Christ Jesus our
Lord. for all our hope, all our happiness, right? All our salvation. He's everything. I like what
Paul said. He summed it up. He said, he's
my all in all. He's everything. So Christ is a principal object
of our worship, preeminence and glory. Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save and save in the cross of Jesus Christ. You know, in John 17, we studied
this, verses 4 and 5, our Lord said this, I've glorified thee
on the earth, speaking of the Father. I've finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. And he has, hasn't he? He's there. He's in glory. He's seated on
the right hand of the Father. My, and here we see Paul clearly
stating that his strength does not come from himself. He's stating
my strength comes from God the Holy Spirit. God working in me
gives me the strength to continue to preach, gives me the strength
to continue to walk in faith. You see, beloved, the more we
learn about Christ, the more we learn that we can't do anything
without him. The more we grow in grace, the
more we learn how we rely upon him all the time. All the time. He becomes our everything. Look
at that verse again. It says, Wherefore I also labor,
striving according to his working. See, Paul's not saying it's me
doing this. He says, I'm striving, I'm in the ministry, I'm preaching
the gospel according to God's working, which worketh in me
mightily. Now see, the world says, well, look what I've done
in my strength, right? No, and we were all there, right?
Look what I've done, look what I've accomplished. See, we as
believers say, look what God's done. Yeah, look what he's done. Oh my, he's taking two X-Street
guys and one's a singer and one's a preacher, brother. Who'd ever
thought that? All for God's glory, brother.
Who'd ever thought that? What a king, what a great king.
My, oh my. And Paul being entrusted, God's
preachers are entrusted with the gospel. Entrusted with the
gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus. And notice the words there
in that text, it says, where into I am also labor striving.
Paul labored in the word and doctrine. How? By preaching Christ. That's what he did. He labored
for the Lord by preaching Christ, by gathering together with the
saints, by encouraging the saints, but his most important mission
was to preach Christ. He warned sinners of their danger.
He preached to them the way of salvation, that Christ is the
only way. There's no other way. Proclaiming
Christ's death upon the cross, the shedding of his precious
blood, we saw that earlier. How we've been reconciled. And
you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind, verse
21, by wicked works. Now our works glorify God. Look
at that. Isn't that incredible? That's what God's done. He's
taken people who naturally, by wicked works, are alienated from
God, and he's working in us. We don't even know when he's
doing this, when he's producing good works in us. And now the
works he produces in us glorify God. But before, our own works
alienated us from God. Isn't that incredible? And you
that were sometimes alien to the enemies in your minds by
wicked works, yet now have you reconciled. My, we fell in Adam. Now we're reconciled to God through
the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the body of his flesh,
through death he presents you, holy and unblameable. I'm going
to keep reading this. And irreprovable in his sight. Look at that. Isn't
that wonderful? Oh my. That's just amazing. Praise God's
mighty name. Praise his mighty name. My, and
Paul, Paul, he loved the gospel of Christ. Therefore he labored
in proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word here for
labor means this, to work hard. And the Greek word for striving
means to enter a contest, run in a race. Don't put rocks on
my backpack, right? So true, brother. Don't even
put a backpack on me when I'm running a race. Don't put works-based
religion stuff on me. That's what Dave, Dave, I've
been encouraging him to make a message about this. These works
people, they put these baggage on you. When you're running a
race, all you want is that number on you, some shorts and a shirt,
and you run, right? Well, religion puts backpacks
full of rocks on you. And that just weighs you down,
man. By the time you get, oh man,
do's and don'ts. Do this. The rock of don't do
this. The rock of do this. All by man. All written by man,
too, right? All man's works. Oh my. So the word Greek here means
to enter a contest, to contend in gymnastic games, to contend
with adversaries, to fight. Metaphorically, to contend, struggle
with difficulties and dangers. We do that all the time, don't
we? to endeavor with strenuous zeal, strive to obtain something."
My, I remember when we first moved here, I went to a wrestling
match of a young man that attended here. And he was in the wrestling
match and his younger brother was too. And I was struck how
they wrestled and how they grappled with each other as they were
wrestling. And I thought, that's us in this life. We're grappling
with the things. And God's given us strength to
keep grappling, Marvin. But it was so amazing to watch
them. And just one little move and flip, he'd flip the fella.
and get the edge on them. But what a picture of the Christian
life and how we struggle and battle through this life. We're
just struggling and battling. And sometimes we get up and then,
oh, you're leaning back down again. My, oh my. My, oh my. And as we run the race before
us, we struggle. My Hebrew says this, wherefore
seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth
so easily beset us. Oh, sin so easily besets us,
doesn't it? So easily. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. It is finished. Complete work, beloved. And Paul
was called, he was called by God to preach the gospel, and
he labored diligently in the ministry that the Lord had called
him and placed him in. And think of this. Remember what
he says? He says, I count everything I did as a Pharisee as just dung.
Just waste. Just waste. Just nothing. Didn't know Christ
at all. All that knowledge he had. Nothing. Just dumb. No love,
yeah? He had knowledge. He had knowledge
of the scriptures, but no spiritual knowledge of the scriptures.
No love for the brethren. He hated the brethren. He was
out killing them. But oh, God takes an enemy. Look at that, remember? And you,
yeah, there you go, and you that were sometimes enemies in your
mind, by which yet now have you reconciled, made will in the
day of God's power, brother. Amen. Oh my, oh my. Change your willin', yeah, I
like that. Change your willin'. Oh my. So he had one mission,
Paul. That's to preach the captain
of his salvation. preach Christ and Him crucified.
That was his whole mission. That was his whole mission, to
bring Christ to a lost and dying world. And when he preached or
wrote letters to the church, he gave the Lord Jesus Christ
all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. If we want
to know how Paul talked when he was in private, just read
his epistles. I guarantee you he was the same
way. Just seeking to glorify God. Seeking to glorify Him.
Turn if you would, turn if you would to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. We looked just a few minutes
ago at the meanings of the Greek word for labor and striving.
And striving means to labor fervently. To contend with an adversary
to fight. Now Paul did all of that. He
suffered persecution, beloved. He suffered persecution from
the enemies of God. because of his loving, zealous
dedication to our sovereign God, and his sincere desire to exalt,
exalt the suffering Savior in the preaching of his gospel.
Look at this in 2 Corinthians, starting in verse 22 of chapter
11. Paul's gonna go through a little
bit of things here he suffered. Look at this. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. Remember, he is from
the tribe of Benjamin, the favorite tribe, too. Are they ministers
of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors, more abundant. In
stripes, above measure. In prisons, more frequent. In
deaths of the Jews. Five times received I 40 stripes,
save one. Five times. Five times he received 39 stripes. Oh my goodness. Most men didn't
survive the first time. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. They threw
rocks at him, trying to kill him. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. Three times he suffered shipwreck.
A night and a day have I been in the deep, in journeyings often,
in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine
own countrymen. See, he was the champion of the
Jews at one time. And now he's telling us, he says,
I was in perils of my own countrymen. They all turned against him.
Imperils by the heathen. Remember Alexander the coppersmith? Man. Imperils in the city. Imperils in the wilderness. Imperils
in the sea. Imperils among false brethren.
We're seeing that in Galatians. The Galatians, the false teachers
of Judaism are saying, well he's not sent from God. in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
churches." So not only did he go through all those things,
but he went through having the care of all the churches on his
heart, praying for them. Who is weak? And I am not weak. Who is offended and I burn not? Oh, my. If I must need glory,
I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever,
knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus, the governor under
Artaeus, the king, kept the city of Damascus with a garrison,
desirous to apprehend me. A governor wanted to get him.
And through a window in the basket I was let down by the wall and
escaped his hands. All those things he went through
for the glory of Christ. That's what he's saying. He's
saying I went through all this for the furtherance of the gospel.
So we see that he strived against his opponents, didn't he? He
overcame them by enduring by the power of God working in him
though. And the only reason he endured and the only reason he
overcame was he saying, God was working in me. He gets all the
glory. He gets it all. All his striving,
all his laboring came by the power of God, the Holy Spirit.
And it's so true with us too. All the Holy Spirit working in
us. And that verse tonight reminds us of that. Let us remember,
this was true for the apostle and it's true for every single
one of God's elect. is true for all of us right now
tonight too. He says, according to the working
which worketh in me mightily. Let's read that verse again.
Whereunto I labor, striving according to his working which worketh
in me mightily. Look at that, according to his
working which worketh in me mightily. Let us note again here, Paul
again tells us that all his labor and all his striving, all his
preaching, all his proclaiming the gospel, All of living the
Christian life comes not by his own power, but by God working
in him. Now that's the opposite of what
religion tells you, isn't it? Oh my, if people would only believe
what the Bible says. It was again all according to
his working, all according to God's working, beloved, which
worked in him mightily. All his prayers, all his preaching,
any success in the ministry was powerfully wrought in him by
God, the Holy Spirit. So what's this tell us? Well, this tells us the preacher
and every child of God, we got no room to boast, do we? Who
can we only boast in, brother Dave? Amen, brother. We can only
boast in Christ. And Paul even said that. He said,
I just boast in Christ. My, oh my. His endurance to combat
the many enemies, the many situations we just read about, his running
the race until its end, his fighting the good faith, was all done
not by his strength, but through the power of Christ, which enabled
him to preach the gospel far and wide, in season and out of
season. Why? For the glory of God the
Father. It was all the Holy Spirit working
in them. Listen to this. Do you know that
same power that's working in us is the same power that rose
Christ from the grave? Listen to this in Ephesians,
chapter 1, verses 19 and 20. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward, who believe according to the working of his
mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly
places. Ephesians 1, 19 and 20. Same power, Brother Dave, that
raised our Savior from the grave is the same power that raised
us from our deadness, spiritual deadness, to life in Christ.
And same power keeps us going. Same power working in us mightily.
My, oh my, isn't it wonderful? It's just so wonderful. It's just so wonderful. So I
ask you, does this not show the greatness of our God's power?
Does it not show the greatness of His power? It shows us how
we have no power at all. God's got all the power. He's
got all the strength. And He gives us strength to continue,
to endure hardships, to endure persecution, to preserve until
the end. And what's the response of the
believer? But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. It's the grace of God working
in us abundantly. That's why Paul says it's him
working mightily in us. And that's what he says there.
That was 1 Corinthians 15.10 if you want to look it up. Paul
knew, Paul knew that any good that came from him was the result
of Jesus Christ who was working in him. He knew that. He knew
that. Christ was his strength. And
Christ is the believer's strength, isn't he? Oh, he says this. My grace is sufficient for thee.
For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore,
I would rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, and
approaches, and necessities, and persecutions, and distress
for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. 2 Corinthians 12, verses 9 and
10. God's power, His Holy Spirit
works in every believer. My, oh my. Now let us Let us
tie in what we've learned in this wonderful verse tonight
with Philippians chapter 2. Turn there quickly if you would.
Philippians chapter 2. Paul wrote this wonderful truth.
He wrote to the Corinthians and then, I mean to the Colossians,
and now let's see, look right into the Philippians in chapter
2. Look at this, verse 13. For it is God which worketh in
you, in you. Same thing Paul was talking about
there, right? Look at this. Both the will and to do of his good
pleasure. Hallelujah! I'm born again by
the power of God according to the will and mercy of God. And
that's true of every single one of God's people. Nothing good
dwells in this flesh, but praise be to God, God works in us mightily.
My praise is mighty name. Brother Dave, can you close us
in prayer?