The name of the message tonight
is False Teachers and Enticing Words. False Teachers and Enticing
Words. Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Our text
will be found in verse 4, but I'd like to read the context
starting in verse 1. And we'll read to verse 5. False
teachers and enticing words. For I would that ye knew what
great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and
for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. that their
hearts might be comforted being knit together in love unto all
riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And
this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. for though I be absent in the
flesh, yet I am with you in the Spirit, joying and beholding
your order in the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." So
let us do a quick overview of last week's text, which is found
in verse 3. And we saw how Paul, in sharp
contrast to the false teachers, who had said that they had some
kind of special knowledge to impart and that only they could
give it to certain people, to people who would listen to them
or people who would be taught by them. They only had this wisdom
which they can impart. Paul tells the Colossian believers
and us too. Let's remember, we're reading
this 1900 years later, plus. And this is for us too. Paul
tells the Colossian believers and us by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit that all spiritual wisdom and knowledge is in Christ. It's nowhere else. And it's for
all believers, not just the select few. It's for all the believers
in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So Paul has pointed the Colossian believers to Christ. And here
before us tonight is a text in which Paul warms the believers
at Colossus and we who are reading this here tonight. not to be
deceived by those who bring false teachings into the church, who
use enticing words, and we'll look at what that means in the
Greek, enticing words, in the word beguile, the word beguile
means to deceive, so deceiving and enticing words, and Paul
has again, pointed the Colossian believers to Christ all through
chapter 1. We saw that, didn't we? He pointed
them right to Christ. So what he did was the same thing
he did in 1 Corinthians. If you read 1 Corinthians 1 and
you note how many times Paul mentions Christ, he lays a foundation. He lays a foundation. He did
the same in Colossians 1. He laid the foundation of the
supremacy of Christ in him alone before he dealt with the error.
before he dealt with the error. So he presented Christ as the
preeminent one, the one who is King of kings and Lord of lords,
the one who has all power, the one who created all things. Remember,
we saw all that. And we saw how the mystery of
the gospel is revealed to God's saints, manifested to God's saints. And we see in this verse from
last week that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are only
found in him. It's nowhere else. Nowhere else. So he's contrasting, again, he's
contrasting the truth of who Christ is and what the believer
has in him with the false teaching of the Gnostics. We have to keep
that in mind too, and not just the Gnostics, but even those
who are bringing in Judaizing kind of things where you have
to keep traditions and do certain things. So he's battling, we
saw, we looked at last week, three different errors, right?
And how he's battling these three different, by proclaiming the
supremacy of Christ. By putting him forth. Now think
of this, the unity of the church is at risk when false teachers
arise within our midst. And Paul is here putting the
believers on guard. He's putting the believers on
guard. against departing from the truth. Against departing
from the truth. Against departing from the faith. And again, he has bought out
the fullness the believer has in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look
at the fullness in verse 3. In whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. You can't get any fuller than
all. All. They're all in Christ. So Paul
again is setting forth Christ before the Colossian believers
and again before us as we study this book tonight. And as we continue our journey
through this book. Paul, by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, who is our teacher? He's the one who teaches us of
Christ. He's the one who reveals Christ to us. He must illuminate
the Scriptures, or it's just words. But he takes the preaching
of the Gospel, he takes the reading of the Word, and he teaches us. And who does he teach us? Who
does he point us to? Christ. Christ all the time. So Paul, by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, is showing us that the full doctrine of who Christ
is, and what He has done for His people, and that it is only
in Him that we are complete, it is only in Him that we have
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, He is showing us the
only safeguard against error. And what is that? Preaching Christ. Preaching Christ. That is the
only safeguard against error. Preaching Christ and Him alone,
plus nothing else. Proclaiming that salvation is
of the Lord, not of anything that we do. And notice Paul, in the next
verse, Let's look at 4 first again. And I say, lest any man
should beguile you with enticing words. Here we have Paul telling
the believers not to be deceived by false preachers with false
doctrine, but to stand firm as soldiers. Stand firm. Don't let anyone beguile you.
Don't let anyone deceive you. Stand firm. His soldiers locked
in a line with their shields locked together. Stand firm,
contend for the faith of the gospel, and don't be deceived
by false teachers who come with enticing words, which means persuasive. Persuasive words. Look at how Paul continues through
this chapter to show the Colossian believers that Christ is sufficient
for everything in their life. Look at verse 5. For though I
be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joying
and beholding your order and your steadfastness of your faith
in Christ. They're at rest in Christ alone.
Nowhere else. And look at verse 6. As ye have
therefore received Christ Jesus our Lord, so walk ye in Him.
We are to walk in Christ alone. not in our flesh. We're to walk
in Christ. And look at verse 7. Rooted and
built up and established in the faith as ye have been taught,
abound in therein with thanksgiving. Christ is the only foundation
for the believer. Who are we rooted and grounded
in? Christ. Nowhere else. Only in Him. And
then the faith which is in Christ, the faith that God grants, It
has one object. It's not our works, is it? It's
Christ. It's only Christ. It has one
object. Now, I mentioned earlier that the only safeguard against
error is the true gospel, which is only found in Jesus Christ
and Him alone. There is no other safeguard than
preaching and proclaiming the gospel. Error is easily coined
into the likeness of truth. in only a thorough knowledge
of the truth, the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
being grounded in the knowledge of the mystery of God, which
is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, only this will enable
us to detect error, to be able to go, that's wrong. What that
man said, he's lying. And think of this, the Holy Spirit
teaches us the truth of Christ through the preaching of his
word, and through the preaching of the gospel, right? And we
don't want anything else. That's all we desire. Just tell
me about Christ. Tell me about what my Savior's
done for me. Tell me about him. Don't tell
me what I gotta do, because my works can't save me. Tell me
what my Savior's done. Tell me what he's done. And what
does Satan endeavor to do? He endeavors to sow the seed
of error wherever the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached.
Now, folks think he's out in the gin joints and all that,
right? In the places and whatever, the bars or whatever. No. No. He stirs up error. He stirs up people against one
another. His chief weapon is this, now
note this, his chief weapon is to entice men to depart in any
way from a full trust and confidence
in Christ to make you trust in something
you do. to make men to depart in any
way from a full trust and confidence in Christ alone, and to lean
even just partially on the flesh. Just a pinch. Do you see how vital it is that
we preach Christ and Him crucified, that we preach that salvation
is only in Christ and not in anything we do, but in what He's
done for us? It's vital. And we see, as you
read through the Pauline epistles, mark this too, remember this,
as you read through the Pauline epistles, remember that almost
every epistle he wrote He's battling works-based religion. Brother
Norm Wells brought that out to me. He's battling works-based
religion. Titus, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he has saved us. He's constantly, constantly bringing
Christ to the forefront, bringing what Christ has done to the forefront. Turn, if you would, over to Galatians
chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. We will see here in Galatians
chapter 3 that Paul uses five rhetorical questions. Five rhetorical
questions. A rhetorical question is a statement
disguised as a question. It's a statement disguised as
a question. And he uses these five rhetorical
questions in battling works versus grace in teaching amongst believers,
the Galatian believers, who are being enticed by false teachers. Look at this. Watch how he uses,
what a master of language, but we know he's not the author of
this. The Holy Spirit is the one who
had intended this. Look at this. Oh foolish Galatians,
verse one, who has bewitched you that you should not obey
the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath evidently,
or hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you." Okay. Genuine faith believes the truth
when it's proclaimed. Who Christ is, what Christ has
done, why Christ suffered, and where Christ is now was faithfully
preached to the Galatians and to the Colossians and to us,
right? And to we who believe. And he's
saying that it wasn't as if you hadn't heard the gospel, because
the Galatians had heard it, hadn't they? And look at how he puts
it in the, that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes
Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you.
It's not a question of whether he was set forth. He was. He's saying Christ has been set
forth among you. And they had heard. And they
had claimed to believe, and now they were going back to the works
of the law. They had been enticed by the
words of the false teachers. And Paul brings, what does Paul
do right away? Brings Christ to the forefront,
right away. Brings Christ right to the forefront. Christ had been evidently set
forth before the Galatians just as Epaphras had done for the
Colossian believers. Now let me read you Colossians
1, 7, and 8. Remember Epaphras? We did a study
on him one night. As you have also learned of Epaphras,
our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who declared unto us your love in the Spirit. Colossians
1, 7, and 8. So the same gospel Paul had preached
and preaches was evidently set forth before the Colossians as
well. They had heard the Gospel. They had heard it. So look at, here Paul continues
in Galatians, contrasting the truth, the false teaching, with
another rhetorical question. Look at this, in verse 2. This
only, would I learn of you, receive ye the Spirit by the works of
the law, or by the hearing of faith? Notice how he's made a
statement. How do we receive the Spirit?
by the Holy Spirit regenerating us? So again, he's made a statement
within the question. Genuine faith receives the Holy
Spirit. Paul asks the Galatians, did
the Spirit of God as the Spirit of regeneration, of wisdom and
of understanding, of adoption and the earnest of future glory
come to you through your obedience to the law? Or did it come to
you when you heard the good news of Christ in the Gospel and received
the Gospel by faith? Well, again, the answer is the
question by the hearing of faith. Salvation is not by anything
we have done. It is the work of God. God, the
Holy Spirit, regenerates us and we hear the Gospel. It's not
by the law. It's not by the works of the
law. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Look at verse 3 again. Are ye so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit? Are ye now made perfect by the
flesh? Beloved, genuine faith relies
upon the Holy Spirit of God. Galatians 3.3, right here. relies
upon the Holy Spirit of God for what? For growth and maturity.
We grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ by the
Holy Spirit teaching us under the preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul contrasts here, is
it possible that you can think that heaven being chosen by Christ
in grace, you're kept in Christ by your works? No, it's impossible,
isn't it? That having begun your Christian
life depending on the Spirit and the grace of God, you must
finish it depending upon your own works and flesh? No way. We depend upon the Holy Spirit
to keep us. Paul gives us the statement with
the answer. Within the question, to spiritual
growth, which is by the Spirit and not by the flesh, Galatians
3.3. Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you
now made perfect by the flesh? No, we can't be made perfect
by our flesh. And then the fourth question,
look in Galatians 3.4. Have you suffered so many things in vain,
if it be yet in vain? Another rhetorical question.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God, which is what
Paul is bringing out in this verse. During the times of Galatians
and Colossians letters, There was great persecution amongst
the church. But if salvation is not in Christ alone, then
this suffering is in vain. As anyone trusted in their own
works for heaven will perish in their sins. Look at verse
5. He therefore that ministereth
to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth it
he by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? So Paul
hits right here the heart of the matter. here in this verse,
which can be applied to the false teachers over in Colossus as
well, and the saints over in Colossus as well as the Galatians
in our text here. Did our faith come by the works
of the law or by the hearing of faith? Did it come by things
that we did? By a decision we made? By an
aisle we walked? By a prayer we prayed? Or did
it come by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit of God? by the Holy Spirit of God. Again, the answer's in the question,
as we know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. And we see the importance of preaching Christ and Him alone.
And then look at Galatians 3.6, and then we'll go back to our
text. You see, what I'm trying to show you is that Paul is,
he's combating these errors with scriptures, with scriptures. Even as Abraham believed God
and it was accounted to him for righteousness, here we see the
sum and substance of the preaching of the Gospel, justified by faith
alone. As the Apostle here puts before
us Abraham, who was justified before God not by circumcision,
but by faith. He believed God, and Abraham is saved the same
way we are, by faith in Jehovah the Word. The Lord our righteousness,
in Him alone, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back to our
text in Colossians 2, verse 4. So do you see how Paul battled
works-based religion? By continuously setting forth
that salvation is all of God. It's all of the Lord. It's not
by our doing. And you'll see this, as I say,
if you read through the Pauline Epistles, you'll see this. He
constantly does this. Back to our text. In this I say,
lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. So the statement,
in this I say, ties in with the preceding verse as it goes with
all that Paul has spoken of in this chapter and the ending of
chapter 1, but let's read it with verse 3 so we can get a
context again. In whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. In this I say. lest any man should
beguile you with enticing words. So again, Paul points the Colossian
brethren to Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. Why? Lest any man should beguile them. Lest any man should deceive them.
with enticing words, with persuasive speech, with persuasive language,
lest they should be seduced by the false teachers in thinking
that salvation is anywhere but in Christ. Paul here speaks with
deep concern to the Colossian believers, lest anyone should
mislead them or draw them away from the simplicity that is in
Christ. It's only in Christ. How? With beguiling speech, with enticing
words, deceptive, adding and mixing works with grace. Adding and mixing works with
grace. Oh. Again, I said earlier that Satan
endeavors to sow the seed of error wherever the gospel of
Christ is preached, and his chief weapon is to entice men to depart
in any way from a full trust and confidence in Christ alone.
To have you depart from just reposing in Christ. To lean even
partially on the flesh. Just a little bit. Turn if you
would to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. And then put
your finger in Philippians chapter 3 as well. Romans chapter 11
though. How do we combat error? Beloved
with scripture. Measure Scripture with Scripture.
What does the Word of God say? What does it say? Look at Romans
11, verse 6. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works, What does that mean? It means what it says.
It means what it says. If we're saved by grace, then
it is no more works. That's what the Holy Spirit had
the Apostle pen. Otherwise, why? Otherwise, grace
is no more grace. If it's works, then it's not
grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. So the Apostle Paul strongly
defends the gospel of salvation in Christ alone, lest the Colossian
believers get carried away by the false teachers with their
enticing and beguiling words. How? How? What is the one way
to stop error from creeping into the church? By the preaching
of the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ plus nothing.
Look at Philippians chapter 3. This is marvelous. And when this
is done, the saints of God will reject false teaching, which
seeks to add to the finished work of Christ. Anything. I don't care how orthodox a person
is. If you're adding a pinprick of
works to grace, it's not grace. We saw that in Romans. It's no longer grace. Look at Philippians 3, verses
8-11. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness." Now,
there was a time when Paul believed he was blameless before the law.
But here, here Paul, a born-again believer, It says, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the imputed righteousness of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
So how do we combat error? By the preaching of the gospel. Let's continue in our text. And
this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Lest any man should beguile you. The word beguile means to deceive. To deceive in the Greek. Earlier
I said it's one of Satan's chief weapons is to entice men to depart
in any way from a full trust in Christ. To trust in their
own works, in their own flesh. So lean even partially on the
flesh. Beloved, this is the heart of
every false religion. Lean in on the flesh. Lean in on something, and we're
done. But praise be to God, our salvation
is not dependent upon us. It's dependent upon Christ. Dependent
upon the finished work of Christ. And false religion always adds
something to the finished work of Christ. Always. Always. Do you know that the banks have
the tellers study real money in order to know the counterfeit?
I had heard that and I asked one of the tellers in here if
that was true and she said, absolutely. They study real money in order
to know the counterfeit. We study the real gospel in order
to know the counterfeit. We preach and proclaim salvation
in Christ alone in order for us to be able to identify error.
And Paul, think of this, Paul's been setting forth the true gospel
before the Colossian believers. He's been setting forth who Christ
really is. Now he's setting forth the true
gospel. I think Christ is all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. in contrast to the counterfeit
that the false teachers had been promoting. This is the only thing that will
help us to identify here the Word of God. In preaching what
it says, not what we think it says, but what it says, what
the Bible says. Do you know that the Scriptures
speak of another Jesus? and another gospel. Turn, if
you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. It speaks of false teachers
preaching another Jesus and another spirit and another gospel, which
is not the gospel of grace. And I'll read Galatians chapter
1 to set this up. Galatians chapter 1, Paul is
battling works-based religion, right? He's battling those who
have come in and said, you've got to be circumcised to be saved.
You've got to do this, you've got to do that to be saved. And
Paul says this in Galatians 1, if you want to mark the scriptures
down, Galatians 1, verse 6 and 7, where he says, I marvel that
ye are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. Then he says this, which is not
another. It's not the gospel. But there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Now let's read 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Starting in verse 1. Would to
God you would bear with me a little while, and my folly indeed bear
with me, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For
I have espoused you to one husband, and I represent you as a child's
virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtlety, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
The simplicity that is in Christ. Look at this. For if he that
cometh preaches another Jesus. The Jesus where you've got to
add your works. Whom we have not praised, or
you receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another
gospel, And any time man adds works to the free grace of God
in Christ, it's another gospel. It's not the gospel, it's another
gospel. Which ye have not accepted, ye
might well bear with him. So Paul was troubled because
he knew that the false apostles were preaching The false apostles
and the false teachers were preaching another spirit and another gospel.
There's folks out in this world who claim to be apostles. They're
liars. They're liars. They're false
apostles. And we can say that with confidence.
There are no apostles today. There's men who claim to be,
but they're just liars. They preach another gospel. They
have another spirit. And they mix works and grace
or law and faith. And Paul was greatly concerned
lest the people hear these men and be persuaded by them to turn
from the simplicity of Christ. We saw that in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. Lest they be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ. Turn if you would to Ephesians
chapter 4. And we see that this is not just a concern in one
church. And the Holy Spirit of God has had these words penned
for our learning as well. We must trust and rest in salvation
in Christ plus nothing. Look at Ephesians chapter 4.
And then put your finger in John 5 as well, I'm sorry. Ephesians
4 and John 5. Ephesians 4, though, verse 4
to 6, there is one body, there's only one. It's comprised of all the elect
of all the ages, the universal body of Christ. There's only
one body, all God's elect, and one spirit, the Holy Spirit of
God. Even as you are called in one hope of your calling, One
Lord. There's only one Lord. Jesus
Christ. The one who saves his people from their sins. Plus
nothing. Nothing from us. One faith. There's only one object. There's
only one object of our faith, right? One faith that's given
to us by God, the Holy Spirit. One baptism. One God and Father
of all. We all who believe have the same
Father. We who believe. who is above
all and through all and in you all. But look at John 5.43 and
look what our Master says. How prone is the flesh of natural
man to listen to the wrong voice and reject the true messenger.
Look at John 5.43. I am come in my Father's name and
ye receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him ye will receive. Doesn't this make you thankful?
That's how I was looking at that. Doesn't it make you thankful
that God didn't leave us where we were, listening to another
messenger? Oh, my. Oh, my. Let's go back to our text in
Colossians, chapter 2, verse 4, and we'll look at the last
part, which is this. with enticing words. And I'll
read the text again. In this I say, lest any man should
beguile you with enticing words. Now the false teachers used enticing
words, enticing words, which in the Greek means persuasive
speech or persuasive language. Now no matter how convincing
the man's words are, we should always search this book right
here. and find out if they're true.
No matter who it is saying it. Don't just believe it because
I say it. Read the Word of God. I love how you turn to each page
and how you look. Search the Scriptures, we're
told, aren't we? Be Bereans. We're told to be
Bereans. Search the Word of God. False
teachers were using persuasive arguments and persuasive speech
and coloss to promote their lives. And those lives can always be
combated by the word of God. Always. And there's no difference today
as those false teachers still do. False teachers of today still
do the same things that the false teachers did in Colossus and
Galatia and all over. They add works to grace. And so we can combat it by the
Word of God. We can test all things by this
precious Word. One comes before us and says,
you must be baptized to be saved. We say, away with this. Salvation
is up to the Lord. One comes before us saying, you
have to keep certain traditions along with Christ to be saved.
And we say, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in
Christ alone. And it is a gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. One comes before us and
says, you have to worship on Saturday, which is the true Sabbath. And we say away with this false
doctrine, because Christ is our Sabbath. He's our rest. He's our repose. One comes before
us and says, you must receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit
and speak in tongues to be saved. And we say, away with this false
teaching, as every believer is regenerated by the Holy Spirit
of God and has the Holy Spirit dwelling within him from the
moment he regenerates us. One comes before us and says,
you must keep the law of God and trust in Christ to be saved. And we say, away with this. Away
with this, because Christ has fulfilled the law and justice
of God in my place. And we are justified by faith,
and we do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness
come by the law, And one comes before us and says,
salvation is by grace alone, but you must do certain works
to prove yourself saved. And we say away with these lies. We know that salvation is by
grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And if it be
of works, it is no more grace. It is no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more. So this book, the Holy Bible,
will keep error out of the church. The preaching of the gospel will
keep error out of the church. And let us remember that false
prophets, false preachers have gone out into the world, and they will encompass land
and sea to try to sway people. They will do whatever they can. to sway people to their sinful,
false religious beliefs, and men will go to hell, perishing,
trusting in what they're saying. But the preaching of the gospel
will guard against these false men, will guard against these
false teachers. This is why we must stay with
what the Word of God says. Now, many warnings are given
to us from the Word of God telling us to beware of false teachers.
And this verse tonight is one of them. It sounds out one of these warnings.
And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing
words. So let us remember, beloved of
God, that once God's truth have purged our conscious from dead
works to serve the living God, the living and true God, the
truth will enable us to spot that which is false. That which
is false. If you know the real, You can
spot the counterfeit. You can spot the counterfeit.
Once the true Gospel of God's sovereign, electing, redeeming,
sanctifying grace has been revealed to one of His lost sheep, they
will not tolerate any preaching, but the true Gospel God's mercy
towards sinners in and through the perfect redeeming work of
the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. I don't want to hear nothing
else. Is it so with you? That's right. Just teach me of
Christ. Preach Christ to me. Tell me
what my Savior's done. And I've told you many times,
and I'll probably say it again and again and again, That we
have one message here. To preach Christ and Him alone.
To preach Christ crucified. And it is my desire to keep Him
before the saints here in Elmwood. Let us close with this. One more
sermon. One more sermon. If I had one
more sermon to preach before I died, I would want it to be
about my Lord Jesus Christ. The only regret I ever have is
that I do not preach more of Him. I never think I have preached
Him too much. I love to tell sinners that God
was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. the glory of the Only Begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. I love to tell you
that Christ came to this earth as a substitute for His people. I love to tell you that His holy
life is accounted for your righteousness. That His sufferings and death
constitute a complete atonement. full atonement. There's nothing
left to be done. Satisfying the wrath of God for
all your sins. I never miss the opportunity
to declare substitution and satisfaction. This is the heart of the Gospel. The sinner in Christ's place
and Christ in the sinner's place. our debts to God paid by Christ,
our sins imputed to Christ, and his pure spotless righteousness
imputed to us. The chastisement of our peace
laid upon him, why? That we might be justified by
faith. This is the truth that we proclaim. And we say, praise His mighty
name. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for your precious Gospel.
Thank you for the truth that salvation is in Christ alone,
plus nothing. that it's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but it's according to your mercy that
you saved us. The free mercy and sovereign
grace in Christ alone. Oh, let us leave your praise
in your name. We who believe, let us leave
your praise in your name and give you thanks that you saved
us from all our sins. We pray you use this message
for your glory. And if You're pleased to draw
a lost sheep to You, we'd be quick to give You all the glory
and honor and praise. Use it for whatever You will,
Lord. We love You and praise You. In
Jesus' name, Amen.