Colossians chapter 4. Now tonight
we'll be looking at verses 10 to the end of the chapter. And
then next week I have a plan just to do an overview of the
whole book. We'll just hit the high points
in the book as a review. And then of course the next week
following we'll have a Wednesday night service. And then due to
the conference. And then we'll start a new book
in August. Let's start in verse 7 of chapter
4, and we'll read to the end of the chapter. All my states
shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother and
a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have
sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate
and comfort your hearts. With Onesimus, a faithful and
beloved brother who is one of you, They shall make known unto
you all things which are done here. Aristarchus, my fellow
prisoner, saluteth you, and Marcus' sister's son to Barnabas, touching
whom you receive commandments, if he come unto you, receive
him. In Jesus, which is called justice,
who are of the circumcision, these only are my fellow workers
into the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.
Paphos, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you always,
laboring fervently for you in prayer, that you may stand perfect
and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record
that he hath a great zeal for you and for them that are in
Laodicea and them in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician,
in Demas, greets you. Salute the brethren which are
in Laodicea, in Memphis, in the church which is in his house.
And when this epistle is read among you, God's that it be read
also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the
epistle from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, take heed
to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou
fulfill it. The salutation by the hand of
me, Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with
you. Amen. Amenis. written from Rome to the Colossians
by Tychicus and Onesimus. Let's review verses seven to
nine which we looked at last week. Let's read them again. All my state shall Tychicus declare
unto you as a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow
servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose
that he might know your estate and comfort your hearts. With
Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you, They
shall make known unto you all things which are done here. So
we considered last week, as we looked at these scriptures, we
considered last week that Tychicus was a beloved brother. He's a
beloved brother. And we looked at how we are accepted
in the beloved. We are accepted in Christ. That's
the only way God accepts us is in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now it says here, though, he is beloved. which is Christ,
but we also know that he's beloved by the church, too. They love
him. They love him. Paul loves him. So God's people
love each other. Love each other. And we also
consider that the scriptures declare here that he is faithful.
He's faithful. He's faithful to what God called
him to. What was he called to? To be a minister of the gospel.
To preach Christ and him crucified. And those God calls, he equips.
No preacher volunteers. You can talk to any grace preacher
and we'll tell you, we never volunteered. God called us. He called us to be preachers. And then he equips the preacher. And he molds him and God himself
molds the preacher and makes him who he wants him to be. It's
incredible. It's a work of God. And the preacher's
desire is that Christ would have all the preeminence. All of it. He gets it all. That's why we
keep saying, Lord, we want you to get all the glory and the
honor and the praise. It all goes to him. It all goes
to Him. He gets all the preeminence in
all things that are done right here. Whether it be preaching,
whether it be singing, or whether it be just being amongst God's
people, He is the one who gets the preeminence, Him. Less of
us, what did John the Baptist say? He must increase and I must
decrease, right? That's how it is. And God's preachers
also look at other preachers and all believers as fellow servants
in Christ. You all are my fellow servants
in Christ. We're fellows in the ship, like
one grace preacher said. Fellows in the ship. Now Paul
sent Tychicus to be a comfort, the scripture says, to be a comfort
to the Colossians. And think of the hornet's nest
he's going into. What might look like a hornet's nest? False teachers
are there. They're trying to convince the
Colossian believers of something that's false. They're trying
to lead them away. And there goes Dikakis. Oh, my. My, oh, my. There he goes. As I said, false teachers, they're
swaying some of the Colossians. And here comes God's faithful
preacher. And what does he do? He preaches Christ. Preaches
Christ. Because how are you all gonna
be comforted? Not just by my words, right? By the word of God. By the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you're comforted.
Because that's how I'm comforted as a believer too. And hearing
the gospel, preaching, call Gary Shepherd today. Had a talk with
him for about an hour. I said, brother, thank you so much. That
was a wonderful talk. Wonderful talk. And he says,
thank you. It was wonderful for me, too. And we just talked about
Christ. We talked about how God's people
have a humble spirit. They're bought low. They're bought
low. And they're showing what they
are. And they're showing who he is. Think of this. This is
what Gary Bonner, I love. He says, Wayne, when we get a
glimpse of who we are in his sight. It just brings us down. And it exalts him because we
say, look at our God. He's magnificent. He's magnificent. So here is Tick, Tick is coming
in and he's preaching Christ. And he preaches the gospel no
matter what opposition comes his way. No matter who opposes
him. No matter if it's from without, and no matter if it's from within.
He is proclaiming Christ in him crucified. And that's what the
gospel preacher does. He preaches Christ. No matter
where the opposition comes from. And God's people need to pray
for preachers. Need to lift them up. Need to lift them up. And I know you all do here, and
I'm very thankful. Very thankful. Because without the grace of
God, heaven regenerated us. Without the Holy Spirit teaching
us and strengthening us, we as preachers and we as believers
could do nothing, right? Because what's the words of our
master? Now let us just think of that. What's the words of
our master? Because we think sometimes we can do things, right? What's
the words of our master? Without me, you can do nothing.
That's humbling. That puts us low in the dust,
doesn't it? But it exalts him. It exalts
him to the throne. Where he already is, and that's
his rightful place. He's exalted. So Tychicus would
come in and just, he'd preach Christ. He'd preach Christ lifted
up high, and he'd preach man into the dirt. Right? Preaching Christ and him
crucified. My. And how do God's preachers
again comfort the hearts of believers? By preaching Christ and him alone.
He is the only one who can comfort our eternal souls. Lastly, we
considered verse nine, which speaks of Onesimus. And he's
also called a faithful and beloved brother. And this is the slave
of Philemon, who had run from him. Some commentators think
he stole something, and then he fled to Rome. But it was God's
providence at work, beloved. It was God's providence at work
and no man can stop his providence. It will accomplish whatever he
decrees. And God in his providence converted
Onesimus under the preaching of the gospel by Paul in Rome. We see the hand of providence
at work. The one who was unfaithful, the
one who fled is now faithful. He's called faithful here. The one who was once despised is now beloved. He's beloved. He's a beloved
brother. And in that text, beloved, marvel at the transforming grace
of God. The only reason He's born again,
the only reason He's faithful now, the only reason He's a beloved
brother now, is because of the transforming grace of God in
Christ. He's been born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. He's regenerated. He's a new creature in Christ.
And He loves Christ. And He's a faithful servant of
His. And I imagine He was a great comfort to Paul. A great comfort
to Paul. Let's look at verses 10 and 11.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you. And Marcus, sister's
son to Barnabas, touching whom you receive commandments, if
he come unto you, receive him. And Jesus, which is called Justice,
who are of the circumcision. These are my only fellow workers
unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort to me. So
he mentions here Aristarchus, Marcus, and Justice. In the preceding verses, the
two Paul sent, Tychicus and Onesimus, he sent them on a mission, didn't
he? He sent them on a mission. But here, he sends greetings
from three of those who remained with him. Three of those who
remained with him. Three dear, faithful brethren. Now, Aristarchus is a man from
Macedonia. He's a Thessalonian. He's a Thessalonian. He was, at the time of this writing,
a fellow prisoner with Paul. In other words, he'd been thrown
in prison because of preaching Christ, because of his faith
in Christ. And here we see Aristarchus sends
his greetings to the Colossian saints. He sends his greetings
to the Colossian saints, which seems to indicate that he may
have been acquainted with them. He may knew some of them because
Aristarchus accompanied Paul on various journeys. So he may have known some of
these believers at Colossus. Then we see Marcus in verse 10
is John Mark, the very one who wrote the book, the gospel according
to St. Mark. And he was the son of Barnabas'
sister. He's a nephew to Barnabas. Barnabas was one of Paul's traveling
companions and we know that Barnabas and Paul had a fallen out. over Marcus, and they went their
separate ways. It's always a sad thing to see
brethren divide. It's horrible. It's sad. It's
sad. It's sad to see them divide over
anything. But now John Mark, at a later date, has proved himself
to be a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his relationship
with Paul is restored, as we see here. It's restored. And Paul said, touching whom
you receive commandments, if you come unto you, receive him.
One commentator said he is probably referring to some letters maybe
of commendation that had been sent either by Paul or Barnabas,
and may not have reached there at the time of the writing of
the epistle. That's speculation, and that's what we're saying,
it's speculation. But obviously something had been said about
him, and he had been commended to the Colossian believers. And
then we see the words, receive him. Paul writes God's people
that they were to receive the preachers whom God in his providence
sends to him. Look at verse 11, in Jesus, which
is called justice, whoever the circumcision, these only are
my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort
unto me. Now we're not sure who Jesus or Joshua called justice
here in verse 11. We're not sure who he was, but
he may have been the same man that's mentioned over in Acts
18. I'll read the scripture if you want to turn there, you can,
but I'll read the scripture in Acts 18, verse seven, whose house
had joined hard to the synagogue. Scripture declares this in Acts
18, seven. And he departed thence and entered
into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshiped God
and whose house joined hard to the synagogue. So it may have
been him, may have been him. Whoever Paul was, whoever he
was, Paul calls him and Aristarchus and Marcus, my fellow workers.
My fellow workers, he calls them. And he had kind words to say
about them. Look, he says, which have been a comfort unto me. Which have been a comfort unto
me. Well, beloved, let us as God's people seek to be a comfort
to one another. Let us seek to be a comfort to
one another. Not be grievous to one another. that under the
temptations of Satan and tyranny of persecutors abroad or at home,
fellow believers might be discouraged. We are to be a comfort to one
another. And Paul was comforted by his
fellow brethren. He was comforted by them. We are to esteem others always
better than ourselves, aren't we? Always. Esteem others better than yourself.
Be a comfort. Be a comfort. And note a little
nugget here. These first three men mentioned
there, they're all of the circumcision. They're all of the circumcision.
Look at verse 11 in Jesus, which is called Justice, who are of
the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers
under the kingdom of God. Which have been a comfort to
me, they were all Jewish. But the next three mentioned.
Are all Gentiles. This shows us the unity in the
church. Of Jew and Gentile in Christ. In Christ. And in him alone. Look at verses 12 and 13. Epaphras,
who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect
and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record
that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea,
and them in Heropolis. Now Epaphras, if you turn over
to chapter 1, Epaphras was one of them, the scripture declares
here in Colossians 4.12. He's a native of Kloss, and he's
a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. And he prayed often, the scripture
says here. It says he labored fervently
for you. We're to be prayerful for one
another. Prayerful for one another. Henry Mahan said this, if you
have a problem with someone, pray for them. Pray for him. Lift him up to
the throne of grace. You know what? It works. It might
not necessarily fix the situation with that person, but it will
bring you peace. Pray for him, and sincerely pray for him. Lift
him up. Pray for him. Paphras is praying
for the Colossian believers. He's praying for them. He prayed for those at Colossus,
because why? Because his heart was knit together
with him, beloved. Our hearts are knit together
here, beloved. God has providentially bought every one of us here.
Now, we may have different personalities, but we've been bought here by
God's providence, and our hearts are knit together in Christ,
in Christ. And here, here's Apocryphus,
he's a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he prayed
often for those at Colossus. And then look at Colossians 1,
verses 4 to 8. He's spoken of here. Since we
heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which he
hath to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you
in heaven, where have ye heard before in the word of the truth
of the gospel, which is come unto you, the Word of God comes
on to his people, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth
fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day you heard of it,
and knew the grace of God and truth. As you also learned of
Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit."
So he came to Rome and declared to Paul their love in the Spirit,
their love. that they had for one another. And look at what verse 7 says.
He's a faithful, he's a fellow servant, and he's a faithful
minister of Christ. Now he's one of whom Christ has
made a minister. God's made him a preacher. Man never made him that. Man doesn't make any preacher. No. No, he was sent forth, qualified
by God himself. And he was made successful by
Christ in his service. He's a faithful brethren. And
he preached none but Christ. Paul wouldn't say he was a faithful
brother unless he preached Christ and him crucified. All God's preachers are faithful
to declare Christ and Him crucified. And again, He's called by God,
not by man. And He was genuinely and deeply
concerned for God's saints at Colossus. And we see that He
labored fervently for them in prayer. That they might stand
perfect and complete in the will of God. Note it says that in
the latter part of verse 12. That ye may stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God. That is, that they might have
a perfect knowledge of the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which He established for His people. And that they
might have a knowledge of their being justified fully in God's
sight through His perfect redeeming
work. And that they might be only resting
in Christ, in Him alone. as their blessed surety, as all-sufficient
Savior. And this is the opposite of what
the false teacher's been telling them, right? And the gospel preacher says,
no, no, beloved, you are complete in Christ. You're complete in
him. Isn't that wonderful? We're not
complete in ourselves, aren't we? People can find lots of faults
in us, can't they? Even the same people, can't they? But I'm completing
Christ. Hallelujah. What a savior. And
if you're a believer, you are too. Isn't that wonderful? This makes your heart soar. Just
makes it soar. My goodness. My goodness. So he's asked, He's asked, he sends a greeting. He sends a greeting. He saluted
them. He saluted them. He prayed for
the Colossian believers and for the saints, it says, and for
the saints in Laodicea and them in Hierapolis. Beloved, what
does this show us? This shows us that he had a burden
for God's people. He had a burden, didn't he? His
heart was heavy for the Lord's people. And I imagine being from
Colossus and hearing about these false teachers coming in probably
troubled him. He probably wanted to get back
as soon as he could to preach the gospel again. But but he knew
that they were knit together in love. And then he knows now
that Paul sent in two other faithful preachers. That warm his heart. That warm his heart. Look at verse 14, Luke the beloved
physician, and Demas greets you. So not only was Luke the beloved
physician, he was one of Paul's traveling companions, and he
was instrumental in penning the gospel according to St. Luke.
We know the Holy Spirit was the author, but he had him pen it,
and the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And Luke accompanied
Paul when he was taken to Rome, as in the book of Acts reveals.
And we see here he's still with him when this epistle is written.
He's still with them. And so he asked Paul to give
the Colossians Saints a greeting. Greet the brethren. Greet them. Do you know each time I talk
to grace preachers, you know what they tell me? Greet the
brethren. Drew Deeds says, greet the flock. Greet the Lord's flock there.
Gary Shepard today, greet the brethren. We love and care for each other. My. Greet the saints or greet
the flock of God. God's preachers love God's people.
And God's people love God's preachers. And notice it says this too,
Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. Now Demas here,
according to John Gill, Demas, turn if you would to 2 Timothy
4.10. Demas here, John Gill, believes is the same demons who
forsook Paul because he loved this present world. Look at second
Timothy chapter four, verse 10 and second note note. Second
Timothy was written after Colossus, this book to the Colossians.
So the book, the classes was written before second Timothy. Second Timothy 410 for Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. He forsook him. He forsook the
gospel. Hendrickson comments this. With
that tragic statement. Demas will disappear. From biblical
history. God. Tragic. Absolutely tragic. But, there are some who profess who
aren't really saved. And those, God's people will
be kept. He keeps his people. Look at Colossians 4, verses
15 and 16. Salute the brethren which are
in Laodicea and in Nymphaeus, and the church which is in his
house. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that
it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye
likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Now some of God's saints
were members of a church in Laodicea, and some were meeting in the
home of Nymphaeus. And note that Paul makes no distinction between
the saints who are meeting in the local church, or those who
are meeting in the house of Nymphs. And he sends his salutations
to all of them. And we know from how these preachers
were, that they were going around preaching wherever they could.
Proclaiming the gospel. Proclaiming the gospel. And Paul gives clear instructions
here that this epistle is to be read
to the Colossian saints and to the saints in Laodicea. Let us
ponder this. Let us ponder this, beloved.
And I hope this will be a rich blessing to us and to the saints in every generation
to know that our Lord has providentially arranged for this epistle to be read by us and to be heard
by us. Isn't that amazing? All in his work. He providentially,
now this epistle was read by the Colossian saints and to the
saints that lay in the sea. And here we are reading it now. It's
amazing. It's absolutely incredible. Absolutely incredible. He continues in verse 17 to send
a greeting to another faithful brother in the ministry at Colossus
and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou has
received in the Lord and that thou fulfill it. Note that Paul
calls Archippus a fellow soldier in Philemon. If you turn over
to Philemon, he calls Archippus a fellow soldier. A fellow soldier. Philemon chapter 1 verse 2, And
to our beloved Aphia and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the
church in thy house. He's a fellow soldier. He's a
faithful minister and a fellow soldier of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And at the time of this writing,
he was one of the ministers in the church at Colossus. Paul admonished him to take heed
to the ministry he had received from the Lord Jesus Christ and
to fulfill it. And God's preachers fulfill the
ministry our Lord calls us to by consistently preaching the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and by faithfully administering
the ordinances that our Lord instituted. God's preachers are
set for the defense of the gospel. And they will defend the Gospel.
The free grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, in the preaching
of the Gospel, they'll defend it. From opposition within and
without. Look at verse 18. The salutation
by the hand of Paul. Remember my bonds, grace be with
you. Amen. One commentator said it is said
that because of his poor eyesight, Paul usually dictated his words
to someone else who wrote for him. But he adds a salutation
here, his own greeting by his own handwriting to this epistle. And there's a two-fold reason
for this. It would not only add a personal
touch to his epistle, but it would also keep others from counterfeiting
it. Counterfeiting it. Counterfeiting letters from him.
And then the beloved apostle writes this. Remember my bonds. Remember my bonds. Now Paul wasn't
seeking sympathy. He wasn't seeking sympathy. He
knew he was in bonds by the providence of God. And we know he counted
it all joy that he was counted worthy to suffer for the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior. And Paul is
asking them to remember him, to pray for him, to lift him
up to our Savior. Just as we do when we remember
preachers that we know. When we hear of a preacher or
we hear of a saint going through various things. And as the Lord
lays them on our hearts, what do we do? We pray for them. We
remember them, don't we? We lift them up. We lift them
up. So Paul was encouraging the saints
to continue in the faith, even if they suffered painful persecution
for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, just as he was doing
well in bonds. One grace preacher put it this
way. Paul said, I'm one of the Lord's apostles, but that doesn't
exempt me from suffering. And this is just his own words
that he wrote. Doesn't exempt me from suffering for Christ.
Right? His glory. So Paul writes, remember
my bonds, be ready if the Lord should require it to lay down
your life for His glory. Paul closes with these five words,
grace be with you, Amen. Beloved, God's grace is sufficient.
It's sufficient to meet our every need and to meet our every situation. And our God is the God of all
grace. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's our Savior and our Redeemer. He's our Lord. And He sits upon
the throne right now. High and mighty. Ruling and reigning. Saving whom He will. Drawn in
His elect. Bringing them to Him. Oh my. One day soon we'll see Him. Our
lives are like a vapor. Just like a vapor. And He sits
on His throne of grace and gives more grace as it's needed. More
grace is needed. Grace be with you. Good words,
beloved. Good words to give those who
are... Think of this. He says, Grace
be with you. And those are good words to give
some folks, some brethren, who you're saying goodbye to. Isn't
that wonderful? Grace be with you. Grace be with
you. Heavenly Father, we come before
Thy throne with thankful hearts, thankful for the mercy and the
grace, which you've given us. And Lord, we thank you for the
study we had in this book. It's a wonderful book about the all-sufficiency and about the
supremacy of you, Lord Jesus. The one who is preached and proclaimed
in all your churches, Lord. The one who we lift up high and
mighty. It's you, Lord. We seek to exalt you. We seek
to glorify you. Less of us and more of you, we
pray. And we love you and praise you for your goodness and mercy
and grace to us. In Jesus' name, Amen.