or anybody else but Christ. We
desperately need Him. We as sinners desperately need
Him. We also considered from our text in verse 18 how the
false teachers had a false humility. It was a sham. Remember, we looked
at the Greek words and it was a sham humility. It was a false
humility. And they were also promoting
the worship of angels as mediators. And we see where Paul, he writes
here, let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary
humility or the sham humility and worshiping of angels. So
they're turning people away. They're trying to turn the Colossian
believers away from the one true mediator, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ in Him alone. He's the one true mediator between
God and man. There's no other mediator. And
we also looked at, as the text continued there, "...intruding
into those things which he hath not seen." God has not revealed
Himself to the false teacher. He's promoting salvation by works,
by adding something to the work of Christ. But he doesn't know Christ. And
vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind. So they promote their own
false doctrines. They promote false doctrines
which aren't even in Scripture. They're puffed up in their own
minds. And they're blind, spiritually
blind to the things of God. Thus, we can apply to them what
the Lord said about the Pharisees. They're the blind leading the
blind. They have no idea. They have no clue who God is. He's not being pleased to reveal
Himself to them as He has with us, just as Joseph again, and
I use that illustration all the time because to me that's one of the best illustrations
in Scripture of God revealing Himself to His people. Because
they did not know who Joseph was and he revealed himself and
they knew him and they wept, didn't they? They wept with joy. So these false teachers are promoting
doctrines which can't be found in Scripture. So tonight, let's
look at verse 19. And as always, we'll pray that
God the Holy Spirit will teach us about Christ. That He'll illuminate
the Scriptures. Because if He doesn't illuminate
the Scriptures again, it's just words, isn't it? Like Tim James
says. We preach praying that God the Holy Spirit would illuminate
the Scriptures and teach us of Christ. Scripture declares in
verse 19, "...and not holding the head from which all the body,
by joints and bands having nourishment, ministered, and knit together,
increases with the increase of God." So we see here from our
context that Paul again is continuing the thought which he was writing
about in verse 18. bringing to the forefront here
that the false teachers were promoting angels as mediators,
which we see in verse 18, and contrasting the false teachings
with the fact of Christ. The fact of Christ. And look,
it's capitalized too. The fact of Christ being the
head. The head of the church. The one mediator, beloved. There's
no other mediator between God and men. And Paul is here quick
to point out who is the head. It's Christ. It's Christ alone. And He is the head of the angels
too. The very ones that these false teachers are promoting
that you need to go through, Christ is the head of them. So Paul again is pointing them
right to Him. Right to Him. And he is the head of the church.
He is the preeminent one. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's over all. He's the sovereign creator and
Lord of all. And these false teachers bring
reproach upon Christ. They bring reproach upon Christ
by teaching that there's other mediators. They bring reproach
upon Christ, who is the only head of the church. They make
angels mediators with the Father along with Christ. As I said
before, Christ to them is just one of the steps to get to the
Father. One of the mediators to the false
teachers. And now this wicked practice
still goes on today. We've looked at that too. This
wicked practice still goes on today when men make angels or
Mary or other saints to be mediators with the Father. They've just
changed it to stick Mary in there, or stick a saint in there. It's
the same wicked practice, beloved. And it brings reproach upon Christ.
Turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy 2. This is a scripture I know
we looked at last week, but I'd like to look at it again. It's
very pertinent to what we're we're looking at tonight. And
this is actually a verse where the Lord started to shake when
I was in Catholicism. I shared this with you guys before.
This is the verse that the Lord used to start to shake the ground
I was standing on in Catholicism. Because somebody said to me,
they said, why do you go to a priest and pray, ask him for forgiveness? And I said, well, I don't know,
because that's just, you know, I didn't know. That's just what
we do. And he said, but that's not what the Bible says. And
I didn't know what the Bible says, because I didn't really
read it back then. So I had no clue. But look at
this verse. This is a great verse to show
our Catholic friends, people who we know who are steeped in
that darkness of that religion. Look at this. For there is one
God. There's only one God. And one mediator between God
and man. Man, Christ, Jesus. See, there's
no need for a priest. Because he's the priest. He's the believer's priest. Who
gave himself a ransom for all. Again, folks will take that all
there and they'll say, look, Christ died for everyone. No.
No, we know that he died for all his sheep, didn't he? We
know that. So the all there is specific
to his sheep to be testified in due time. That's why it's important, beloved,
to always, always, or always, when you see a word like that,
who gave himself a ransom for all, always look at other scriptures. Christ says, I lay down my life
for my sheep. So the all there must mean his sheep. And we know,
and then you contrast that, or you bring that together again
with Ephesians 1, 4. All the Father gave him. Our Christ. See, the scripture
will, scripture will support scripture. So let us ponder something which
we've seen so far in our study and see if it ties into this
verse tonight that we're looking at. The false teacher does not
cling to Christ. He doesn't cling to Christ. He
clings to things he has seen or things that he does to be
seen of men. Things that he's seen or things
that he does to be seen of men. He fails to see what Paul has
been setting forth before us all through this epistle. And
we know from our study in chapter 1 and so far in our study in
chapter 2 that Paul is setting forth before the Colossian believers
and before us the all-sufficiency of Christ and the salvation of
sinners. That He is an all-sufficient
Savior. And He has the preeminence. He
has the preeminence. The false teacher does not teach
this because he does not know Christ. He does not know Christ. He's not born again. He does
not know that, he has no idea that in Christ are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He does not know that. And we
don't know that until God reveals it to us. And when he does, we
just marvel. We just marvel. The false teacher
does not know the believer is complete in Christ. Paul writes in verse 10, right?
I know we keep hitting this, and ye are complete in him, which
is the head of all principality and power. The believer is absolutely
complete in Christ. The false teacher does not know
this. He does not know this. That's why he promotes something
that you must do. That's why the Colossian believers
were promoting something that they had to do. Remember we saw
earlier in the verses, verse 16, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or
the new moon or the Sabbath days. Remember, things you do. things you do. So the false teacher
does not know that the believer is complete in Christ, so he
adds things. He adds things that you must
do. And we know from Scripture, beloved,
we know from Scripture that we're not saved by any of our own works.
Not at all. So the false teacher is promoting,
as Paul says in Galatians, another gospel. Another gospel. How do we know that? Because
we know the true gospel. What's the best way, again, what's
the best way to fight error? To know the truth, to know the
truth. That's why it's absolutely vital
that we sit under the preaching of the gospel, that we, as I
keep saying, faithful men will preach the gospel. Every time
someone's in the pulpit, it must be preached. Christ must be preached.
The gospel must be preached. So the false teachers then are
promoting another gospel, which is not a gospel, Paul says in
Galatians. It's a false gospel. And there's
no good news in that false gospel. There's no good news in the false
gospel. The reason there's no good news
is it says you have to do something for your salvation and we can't
be saved by our works. They're not good news, is it?
Not at all. But the good news of the gospel
is Christ did it all. And the believers complete in
Him. That's good news for sinners. That's good news for this sinner.
I'm so thankful because I can't save myself. But I know I've
had revealed to me the One who can save all who come to Him. Oh my. So Paul here in our text
is saying that Christ is the Head. He gets all the preeminence,
all the glory. He is the One who has saved us.
He is the One who has washed us in His precious blood. In
our text, Paul tells the Colossian believers that Christ is the
only head. Let's look at our text again. "...and not holding the head,
from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment,
ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of
God." So Paul tells the Colossian believers that Christ is the
only head. And we know from other scriptures that He is the only
Lord. He's Lord of Lords, King of Kings. He's the Giver of Life. And in
our text here, we see that the whole body, all the elect of
all the ages are knit together in Him. In Him. By the false
teachers adding angels as mediators, they're not holding the head,
which our text says. They're not holding the head. They're not holding Christ as
the only mediator. They don't believe in Christ alone. But Christ alone is the head
and Lord of all the angels. Christ alone is the head of the
church. Christ alone is King of Kings. Christ alone is Lord
of Lords. No one else. He rules supreme. And these false teachers were
seeking their spiritual strength and nourishment and guidance
from something other than Jesus. They were seeking their strength
and spiritual nourishment in the worshiping of angels. And
what they did and didn't do. And beloved, it will lead to
their eternal doom. And it will lead to the eternal
doom of all who follow them. Oh, but verse 19 makes makes clear, as Paul points out,
that our spiritual nourishment and strength comes from that
which God has ordained. And he has ordained the Lord
Jesus Christ as the head, the head of the church, in whom we
are all saved, and that through him all spiritual blessings come
to us, come to his people. We're the body. How does this
body get nourished? Think of this. Think of this.
How does this body get nourished? by food going in the head. Pretty amazing. Body won't grow unless you eat. My oh my. and not holding the
head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment
ministered and knit together increases with the increase of
God." So the false teachers, beloved, have substituted that
which is false, angel worship, and what you have to do and what
you have to eat, what you have to drink, and they've mixed it
in with the one who we alone are to worship. The one who we are to trust. They've mixed works with grace
and they poisoned it. It's no longer grace. We serve
the one who can save us from all our sins. We serve the one
who is the one true mediator between God and man. We serve
the one who is the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the believer, the believer in Christ, we live a life of
dependence upon Him, don't we? Can we live a day without Him?
Can we live a second without Him? Absolutely not, beloved. Absolutely not. He gives us the
very breath we breathe. Saved and unsaved. So we live a life of dependence
upon Christ. And God has ordained that as
the believer pilgrimages through this life. And that's what this
life is for you and I. It's a pilgrimage, beloved. We're
just sojourners. We're heading to a better country. We're strangers and pilgrims
in this world. Think of them pilgrims. They
came all the way across that ocean, didn't they? That's not even
my notes, but I'm thinking about that. for Thanksgiving, we're
celebrating the pilgrims. Well, they left their homeland.
And they journeyed across that ocean. And it wasn't like nowadays
in these big oceans. It was in wooden ships. And Brother John, you've talked
to me about how rough that sea can get sometimes. And you're
out there in a wooden ship, bounced around and going through storms.
And it took them months, I think, to get here, months. They sought a better country,
beloved. We seek a better country. We
seek a different place, right? This world is not my home. I'm
just a passing through. Oh, good old hymn there. That's,
that's, it's the truth. We're just passing through, beloved.
We're pilgrimages. We're on a pilgrimage through
this life. And as we grow through this life,
we grow in grace. And we draw nourishment and strength
from the head of the church, Christ. Christ. Jesus Christ our Lord is all the nourishment for the
believer. And how are we nourished as believers? Through the preaching
of the Gospel, through the reading of His Word. We're strengthened
in prayer, aren't we? We're strengthened when we see
prayer answered. We're strengthened when we see God at work in other
people's lives and in our lives. He gives us strength. He gives
us hope as we just journey through this life. Whoa, what a great
God we have. And we grow through the preaching
of His Word. And thus the believer grows in
grace. He grows in the grace and knowledge
and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we receive our nourishment,
our growth in grace from Him alone. The more we draw from
the well of Christ, the more we grow and increase spiritually.
And it's not us giving the increase. It's God. He gives the increase,
beloved. And then we're knit. The more
we grow in grace, the more we're knit together in love. The more
we're knit together in love. Look at Colossians 2.19 again.
And not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints
and bands, having nourishment, ministered and knit together,
increases with the increase of God. Now turn, if you would,
over to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Just a few A few pages over. Ephesians 4. And keep in mind, I'll read our
text again. If you go to Ephesians 4, we'll be looking at verses
14-16. Our text says, "...and not holding the head, from which
all the body, by joints and bands, have a nourishment, ministered
and knit together, increases with the increase of God." Now
look at Ephesians 4, verses 14-16. "...that we henceforth be no
more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every
wind of doctrine." Like when those false teachers come or
people start promoting false doctrines, the believer is not
carried away because he's grounded. He's grounded in the true faith
of Christ Jesus our Lord. "...with every wind of doctrine
by the slight of man and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up in him in all things which is the head, even Christ."
from whom the whole body, that being, that's the elect, all
the elect of all the ages, fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love. The body is fitly joined together
and compacted. by that which every joint supplieth
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part."
It's Christ working in us. It's God having us grow in grace. We receive all our nourishment
from the head. All of it from Christ in him
alone. The believer holds, see where it says in not holding
the head? The believer holds and clings to Christ who is the
head of the church. Holding in the Greek is to use
strength. That is to seize, to hold fast. We cling to Him. We hold fast
to Christ. and not holding the head, let's
look at our text again, and not holding the head, from which
all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment, ministered
and knit together, increases with the increase of God. Let's
look at the little portion where it says, from which all the body.
Here we have the connection of the body and the head, showing
the preeminence of the head, and the fact that all the body
will receive that which will be spoken of in our text from
the head, which is The body receives all nourishment from the head.
The body is knit together because of the head. You see, without
the head, think of this, without the head, we're dead, aren't
we? If someone takes our head off, we're dead. Now we can live
without a limb. But you can't live without your
head. You can't. We cannot live without our head.
So this shows the vital union between Christ and the believer.
It's an absolute vital union. Vincent says in the Greek that,
from which is fixing the personal reference of the head to Christ,
which is what we looked at in Ephesians chapter 4 where it
says, where it says, which is the head
even Christ, in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15. So it fixes the personal
reference of the head to Christ and Him alone. Our text continues,
all the body. This is referring to all the
elect of all the ages. All the elect of all the ages.
The church, the mystical body of Christ, which like a human
body consists of various members, all in union with one another. All in union with one another.
All in subjection to the head. To the head. Remember, we don't
make him Lord. He's already Lord. We don't make
him the head, he's already the head. He gets all the preeminence. And remember this, I remember
Henry Mahan saying this, that when we take pictures, we don't
take pictures of our feet or our hands, we take pictures of
the head. Because the head is the preeminence
part. it gets the preeminence. All
the body. So this is referring to all the
elect of all the ages. The head receives all the preeminence. We are the body. And he is the
head. Calvin says this about this portion
of Scripture. He simply means this, that the
church does not stand otherwise than in the event of all things
being furnished by her by Christ the head. So without the head,
we're nothing. That's basically what Calvin's saying. He says the body can't stand
without the head. He goes on, "...accordingly,
that her entire safety consists in Him." Our entire safety, the
entire safety of our souls is all wrapped up in Christ.
It's all in Him. Without Him, I have no salvation.
Without Him, I have no eternal life. I have nothing without
Christ. It's all wrapped up in Him. Again,
in short, the body is nothing without our head. But we're complete
in our head. We're complete in Christ. We're
complete in Him. We are fully and completely saved
in Christ. We are fully and completely redeemed
in Christ. We are fully and completely justified
in Christ. We are fully and completely sanctified
in Christ. We are fully and completely forgiven
in Christ. That's good news for sinners. And the reason is because He
is our head. He is our head. He is the preeminent
one. He is God incarnate in the flesh. He is the one who shed His precious
blood for all our sins. And we grow in grace as we pilgrimage
through this world. We feast upon the things of Christ,
His Gospel, His Word, which all point the believer to Christ.
Every time the Gospel is preached, every preacher is pointing you
to Christ. Look away from yourself and look to Him. Look to the
head. Look to Him. He alone is the head of the church.
He alone is the one who receives all the preeminence. Let's look
at our text again. And not holding the head from
which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment
ministered and knit together increases with the increase of
God. All the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered
and knit together. Again, the body here is the church,
the mystical body of Christ, all the elect of all the ages, And we're all in union. We're
all in union in Christ. We're one body and he is the
head. John Gale comments thus, by joints
and bands are intended either the grace of Christian charity
or love, the bond of perfectness, which is that in Christ's mystical
body as joints and bands are in a human body. For by this
the members of Christ are joined, united, and knit together. We
are joined, united, and knit together in Christ alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. But we're united in Him, aren't
we? We are. In Him. Oh my. in Christ alone, knit together
in Him. And not holding the head, from
which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment
ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of
God. Note in our text, knit together.
Think on how the hands are knit to the head. My hand here is
connected to my arm, which is connected to my shoulder, which
is connected to my neck, which is connected to my head. And
my arm does whatever my head tells it to do. So does yours. And your legs do whatever the
head tells it to do. Whatever it commands. And it
happens so quickly, beloved, that we don't even, we think
it, and we're doing it. Isn't it incredible? But the
head controls everything. Everything. We are told to walk
by the head, and our legs walk. Our bodies are knit together
by a nervous system as well, which goes all through our bodies.
And think on this, beloved. Christ is the cornerstone, and
the believers in Christ are knit together, knit together as He
nourishes us with His Word and with His doctrine, which points
us to Him. And we feast upon Christ as we
hear the Gospel preached, and we grow in the grace and knowledge
of truth of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit teaching us.
And it's God who gives the increase. Man cannot muster it up. God
gives the increase. Look at our text, the latter
part of our text. Increases with the increase of
God. So let us remember that Christ
is both vital for His people, for life eternal, and light. We can do nothing without Christ. And we can know nothing of Christ
unless He reveals Himself to us. And then he teaches us through
the preaching of the gospel and the reading of his word by the
Holy Spirit, increaseth with the increase of God. I'm looking at folks who've been
taught of God. You've increased in your knowledge
and wisdom of Christ by God the Holy Spirit teaching you. And
it's marvelous. It's absolutely marvelous. We
increase, the body increases with the increase of God. God
is the source of this increase, beloved. Think of that. Brother Chet, when you were growing
up, did you know what you know about the Bible now? God has
given you the increase now. He's taught you the things of
Christ. And I know Brother John the same.
We did not know the things of Christ. And he's taught us. Brother
Tim and I have talked about that. God teaches us. And we increase not to be puffed
up. But doesn't it have this effect
on you? The more you learn about Christ,
the more you're just going, oh my goodness, what a merciful
Savior. What a wonderful Savior. What
an amazing, what amazing grace this is. What a Redeemer. It
humbles us, beloved. It doesn't make us proud. It
puts us into dust. And think, we will spend eternity
beholding Him. My, oh my. My, oh my, beloved. Increase with the increase of
God. God is the source of the increase
for believers, for the whole body of Christ, for all the elect.
And we must never forget the Holy Spirit's role, not only
in our salvation, but in our growth, in our growth in grace. The Holy Spirit is involved in
much as in our salvation is the Father and the Son, right? The
whole Trinity is in action. And even in our growth in grace,
it's the whole Trinity. God has us grow in Christ. The
Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us. Christ is the one who we
learn of and who we feast upon. And then one day, we behold Him
face to face. We must never forget that the
three are at work together in the salvation of the elect and
in the growth and perseverance of the elect. Salvation is of
the Lord. He saves us, he keeps us, and
he presents us faultless. My, oh, my. What a great God
we serve. And let us think on this, beloved.
The whole body, so united, grows. in connection with its head.
Without the head, it dies. Without joints and bands, the
body falls to pieces. The body falls to pieces. The
application here before us pictures the fact that one can enjoy neither
life nor growth if misunderstanding Christ, if not knowing who Christ
is spiritually. There is no growth spiritually
if you don't know Christ, if you're not united to Him. And
he must put us in the body, right? We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. It's not something, salvation's
not something we can muster up. This is all his work. All his
work. And our text before us illustrates
the wonderful union between Christ, who is the head, and the church. God's elect, who is his body?
Who is his body? Think of this. Nothing else and
no other can supersede or replace Christ's work as mediator before
the Father. And that's what the false teachers
were saying. But we know, we've been taught by God that nothing
can supersede Christ's work. Nothing. Nothing can replace
His work. Nothing. God only accepts us
in Christ. In Christ, in Him alone. The
Church finds no other merit before God except in the atoning merit
of Christ's shed blood, which He shed as our substitute before
God's holy law, being made a curse for us on Calvary's tree. Our
sins were imputed to Him, and He bore them. He paid everything
God demanded. And in His perfect, spotless
righteousness is imputed to us. May we just marvel over that.
It's incredible. So the church finds no other
merit before God except in Christ, and except in His atoning shed
blood for our sins. No angel or created being can
ever supersede or replace Christ, to whom all power is given in
heaven and earth." All power. And the false teachers were trying
to turn the Colossians away from the one who is all in all to
the church. Without Christ, think on this,
beloved. Without Christ, we have no redemption. Without Christ,
we have no justification. Without Christ, we have no salvation.
Without Christ, we have no peace with God. Without Christ, we
have no forgiveness of sins. Without Christ, we have no justification.
Without Christ, we have no atonement for our sins. Without Christ,
we have no righteousness to stand in the presence of God. In short,
without Christ, we have no hope. None. And we can see how the false
teachers, as Paul said, were not holding the head. They weren't
holding the head. From which all the body by joints
and bands have nourishment ministered and knit together increases with
the increase of God. This increase spoken of in our
text proceeds from God. He adds to the church also as
He is pleased. He saves His people when He's
pleased to save His people. He adds to the church. He gives
gifts to the church as He is pleased. as He's pleased. In contrast with what we see
in verse 18, look at verse 18, which speaks of the false teachers.
And we see here that it has the direct opposition of what Paul
writes in verse 19, saying that in Christ, the Head, we have
everything. It says, "...let no man beguile you of your reward
in the voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshy mind." So the false teacher is puffed up within himself,
vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind. But the believer in Christ,
see, increases with the increase of God. It's not our doing. It's God's doing. But the false teacher, he's puffed
up by what he knows. By what he thinks he has and
what he thinks he knows. Believers don't get puffed up.
We're in the dust. We're in the dust before our
great King. And it's the work of God the
Holy Spirit. Look over in chapter 1. We know that this increase
When Paul writes, increases with the increase of God, we know
it's the work of God, the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 10 and
11 of chapter 1. That ye might work worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all
might according to His glorious power. It's the work of God,
the Holy Spirit. Unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness. And turn, if you would, quickly
over to 1 Corinthians 3. The Lord is the one who gives the
increase. The Lord is the one who established our faith in
Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians 3, verses 6. Now, there's a problem
going on over here in Corinth. There's preacher worship going
on. They're saying, well, I'd rather listen to this preacher
over here. Oh boy, he's fine. This is my favorite preacher.
That ought not to be, beloved. And Paul's rebuking them over
this. Look what Paul writes, though. He's saying that it's
God who gives the increase. Look at verse 6. I have planted
Apollo's water, but God gave the increase. There it is. That
ties right in with our verse. Ties right in with our verse
tonight, which says the body increases with the increase of
God. God must give the increase. 1
Thessalonians 3, verses 12 and 13 says this, and the Lord make
you to increase, the Lord make you to increase and abound in
love, one toward another and toward all men, even as we do
toward you. The Lord make you to increase,
beloved. To the end, he may establish
your hearts, unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. God must give you grace. Do you see how this is the opposite
of religion? Sister, you and I came out of that. They want you to do so
many different things and follow their checklists. But it's God
who gives the increase. Now that doesn't mean we just
sit around and don't do anything. No, it doesn't mean that. We
desire to grow in grace, don't we? We desire to grow. We read
His Word. We study His Word. We pray. We fellowship with one
another. Iron sharpens iron. We get excited
when we speak of the Lord and the things of God. But we grow in grace according
to Him increasing us. Turn a few words over to 2 Peter
3.18. We are to grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now we know from
comparing scripture to scripture tonight that this increase only
comes by God the Holy Spirit. Look at 2 Peter 3.18. But grow
in grace. 2 Peter 3.18, we are to grow in
the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. Amen. He gets all the glory because
He's the one who's given us the increase. You see, religion, they want
the glory. But the believer in Christ wants
to give him all the glory, because we know he's the Alpha and Omega
in our salvation, and he's the one who gives us the increase.
So really, we can't, anything we, think of this too, what you
know for your work, any knowledge we have of anything
is a gift from God. We can't claim, we can't, you
know, I was thinking about this this week as I was pondering
the scripture and I was thinking how proud we can get when we
learn things, right? How we can, you know, I know
this stuff. But everything we know is a gift
from God. And we know that as believers.
We didn't know that when we were in the world. So we promoted
ourselves back then. But we don't do that in the body
of Christ. We look at that Sunday morning,
when we look at glorifying God in Sunday school, that we seek,
we seek, we esteem others better than ourselves in the body of
Christ. We esteem others better than
ourselves. So we grow in grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit teaching
us. Now, let us think upon His person,
who Christ is. Think upon His offices, His prophet,
priest, and king. He has no equal, none at all. Think upon His grace, which is
given to us freely. Think upon His mercy, which is
manifested to us in the death of Christ for our sins. There
is no greater security against error than studying the truth. We do not need protective isolation. Believers who are properly taught
in the Word of God can themselves discern truth from error. spiritual food from spiritual
poison. You know when you hear something
that's not right. You know when, say, someone we know starts popping
off about something. You know. Because you're feasting
on spiritual food. And when you hear something that's
tainted or doesn't, oh, we don't wanna, it's like Jean Harmon
told me a long time ago. God's sheep will go a long, long
ways for clover. And we as believers, sheep feast
on clover. And we feast on the clover of
His Word. The clover of His Word. And the
Word speaks of Christ. And we grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior as the Holy Spirit teaches us.
And that's what helps us to guard against error. So Paul is grounding
the believers here in truth. He's contrasting that which the
false teachers are saying to the truth that Christ is the
head. They need no other mediator.
They need no one else. Let's look at our text again. "...and not holding the head,
from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment,
ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of
God." Jesus Christ is the head of the body, which is the church. We've also looked tonight at
how those who do not see Jesus Christ as the only mediator between
God and man are not holding on to Christ, right? They're not
holding on to Christ. What else have we looked at tonight?
We've looked at how worshiping and praying to angels, Mary,
the dead man, is a manifestation of a fleshy mind that has not
seen Christ through the eye of God-given faith. We've also looked
at how the members of the body of Christ are ministered by Him.
By Him. How? Because we're knit together
with Him, aren't we? He's the head, we're the body.
And we've looked at how the body increases with the increase of
God. We grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him by God the
Holy Spirit teaching us the things of Christ. So we can conclude
from what we have studied that Christ is the only head of the
church, the only Lord, the only King of kings, the giver of life,
and that the whole body is knit together in Him. In Him and through
Him we receive life, nourishment, growth, and grace. Something I read today on a friend's
Facebook page, and I thought it was fitting to put right in
here. He wrote this. If we have everything except
the Lord, then we have nothing. If we have everything except
the Lord, then we have nothing. But, if we have nothing except
the Lord, then we have everything. Oh, rejoice, beloved of God.
In Christ you have everything. You're complete in Him. Absolutely
complete. You're qualified for heaven.
You're made fit for heaven, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Therefore, let no man beguile you of your reward in the voluntary
humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which
he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind, and not
holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands
have in nourishment ministered and knit together increases with
the increase of God. Those who are holding the head
are holding on to the one who has life eternal. they have laid
hold upon the hope that is set before us, which is Christ, who
has already entered within the veil of heaven. We as believers
are admonished to hold fast the profession of our faith, which
is in Christ Jesus. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, Let us hold fast our profession. Gracious Heavenly Father, oh,
You're so merciful to us. We are undeserving sinners, but
yet You have mercy, mercy towards us in Christ Jesus our Lord,
and we are only accepted in You, Lord Jesus. We marvel that we
sinners are made righteous, made righteous, qualified for heaven,
by the shedding of your precious blood and being robed in your
perfect spotless righteousness. Oh Lord, may we think upon the
wonderful mercy that you've had towards us in sacrificing yourself
for our sins. We love you and praise you in
Jesus' name. Amen.