Colossians chapter 2 is where
we'll be tonight. Colossians chapter 2. The name
of the message is All the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge. All
the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge. Colossians chapter 2. We'll read
from verse 1 to verse 5 tonight. 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. And
verse 3 is our text tonight. In whom are hid, being Christ,
because the latter part of verse 2 says, 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 am I with you in the spirit. Joy in and behold in your order,
in the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. So last week
we looked at verse 2. We saw that Paul was praying
for the Colossian saints, expressing his care and concern for the
saints at Colossus and the saints at Laodicea, and those who had
not seen his face. And he prayed that their hearts
would be knit together in love, knit together in love, in Christ
Jesus our Lord. And a true believer, particularly
those called to to minister to God's people, but this doesn't
exclude all of God's people, has a heart that beats for other
Christians. We desire, we preachers desire
for you to grow in grace and the knowledge and truth of Christ. And like you too, you know, it's
not just for pastors, we all have that for one another. And
we also have concern for the lost too. for those around us. And our family members, our friends,
we're concerned for them. But we're especially concerned
for those who are in the household of faith, that we would grow
together in the knowledge and truth, that our hearts would
be knit together. And I know we all have different personalities
and we all come from different backgrounds, but we all have
the same Savior, we who believe, and the same Spirit, and the
same Father. Now we have two examples of how
Paul has this conflict, this conflict in And how a pastor
will have a burden for those he shepherds and that you would
grow in grace. And we pray for you. I pray for you guys all the time.
Because that's what God calls me to do. And I care for your
spiritual welfare. That you would grow in the grace
and knowledge and truth. Turn if you would to Exodus 32.
in Romans chapter 9. Here we see an extraordinary
thing though, where Moses is interceding for the very people
who are murmuring against him. I use these as examples for those
who are deeply concerned, deeply concerned for God's people. Look at Exodus 32, verses 31
to 33. And Moses returned unto the Lord. Now, to set this up, here in
Exodus we have the people of Israel finding fault with God's
providence, murmuring against God's providence, and murmuring
and complaining and grumbling against God for having put Moses
in the place of leadership. And we see Moses' care and concern
for them. Exodus 32 now the Lord spoke
in judgment against the people of Israel and Moses Interceded
for them, even though they were murmuring against his being placed
in a leadership role. He was still praying for him
Still praying for them Look at Exodus 32, verse 31 and 33. And Moses returned to the Lord
and said, Oh, this people have seen the great sin and have made
them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and if not, blot me, blot me, I pray thee, out of
thy book which thou hast written. Brother Mahan said, he's sitting
there saying, take me out of the Lamb's book of life. My goodness
what concern he has for the people of Israel. And the Lord said
unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out
of my book. And then turn to Romans chapter 9. We see also
the care and concern by Paul in another place in the New Testament. Romans chapter 9 verses 1 to
3. I say the truth in Christ, I
lie not, my conscience also bear me witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have a great heaviness and continuous sorrow in my heart.
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. My goodness, what
care and concern they have. And Brother Henry said, you know,
we don't come anywhere near what those guys, You know, we have
care and concern. We do for the people that are
that are put under us. But this is incredible. So now
we see now we see how Paul had a great conflict for the churches.
We see the burden that he has, the burden that he has for God's
people. Now, Paul's care and concern
was that the Colossians would be comforted in their hearts
with who Christ is and what he has done for the Colossian believers.
Paul prayed that they would know the riches that are in Christ
Jesus, our Lord, that they would know that, that God would manifest
that to them. And that they would be given
a full assurance of understanding of who Christ, who Christ is. And what he has done. And that
their hope, and this is my hope for you, beloved, that your hope
and your rest would be in Christ and him alone. I have to constantly
remind myself, too, when things happen and things come up. I'm
just like all of you. I struggle all the time. I get
anxious, I shouldn't sometimes, but I do. And I have to constantly
say, I just need to rest in Christ. And that's my hope for you all
too, that you would just, that God would give you the strength
and comfort just to rest in Him, to rest in Him. And that's the
Christian life. That's something that never stops,
never stops. Joe Terrell once told me, and
I'll never forget it, the hardest thing for the believer is to
enter into the rest of Christ. It really is, it really is. So God's churches, think of this,
God's churches aren't united together in organization or by
entertainment or by programs, like some churches are though,
or by the personality of the preacher. Some folks just go
to certain churches because the preacher's there. Don't ever
do that. Go to that church because the
word of God's being preached and because the gospel's being
preached. That's what's most important, not the preacher.
The preacher has a message. A true gospel preacher has a
message, and you know it. You know it. But but I'm just
a sinner saved by grace, just like everyone else, just like
everyone else. So we're not united by we're
not united by the the programs or or the people, the people,
the saints of God must come to a deep, personal love for Christ,
a deep, personal love for Christ. And then they as a result of
that, they're going to have a deep, personal love for one another
to well. God's people will have a love
for one another. Their hearts are knit together in Christ,
knit together in Christ. John 1512 says this. This is
my commandment. This is the master speaking that
you love one another as I have loved you. We're to love one
another as Christ has loved us. That's with an everlasting love,
isn't it? My goodness. And think of this. If things
come up and you get upset, think of this. Think of how much Christ
has forgiven us. It'll make us easy and quick
to be able to forgive others. So Paul is praying, and he has
a burden for them that the mystery which is manifest to them in
verse 26 of chapter one. Look at our look at our verse
last week, that in that their hearts might be comforted, being
knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and the
Father and of Christ, that they would be given an understanding
of the mystery. An understanding of the riches
in our great God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Henry said this lasting
unity in the church depends on truth The truth of the scripture
and love the love of God's people have in Christ for one another
in and through him Lasting unity in the church depends on truth
number one the truth of the gospel being preached the truth of the
scriptures And love the love God's people have in Christ for
one another in and through him So the believer comes to the
full assurance of the understanding of the riches which are in Christ
Jesus and Him alone. We come to the understanding
that He is the one mediator between God and man. The understanding and the knowledge
that God gives a believer has a unique and particular focus. A unique and particular focus.
Jesus Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. And how does how do we how do
we receive that knowledge? How does that knowledge come
to us? By the Holy Spirit revealing
Christ to us through the preaching of the gospel. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's all his work. He does it
all. And in Christ, our text says
tonight, look at our text here. In whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. In Christ are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. And this is revealed to sinners
by the Holy Spirit of God through the preaching of the Word. I
didn't know that until the Holy Spirit revealed that to me. Until
He revealed Christ. I had no clue. Is it so with
you? My goodness. So tonight, we'll look at verse
three. Verse three. Whom are hit all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, and we pray that God, the Holy Spirit
would illuminate the scriptures and teach us of Christ, teach
us of him. Now, the form of error which
prevailed at class last week, I said I was going to mention
these, the form of error which prevailed at class included three
elements. Jewish formulism, traditions,
following certain things, having to do certain things to be saved. Speculative mysticism, which
represented the germs of what afterward developed as Gnosticism.
And Ascenism, which is the medium through which the Jewish and
Gnostic elements were blended. We're blended. And we see we're
going to see in chapter two that Paul is attacking. Combating
all these errors, all these errors. These errors taught that there
was something to be added to the finished work of Christ,
which all error, the root of all error, the root of all error
is adding to grace. Adding to grace, you have to
do something. It's no longer grace, is it?
No longer grace. So the root, the root of all
error is adding to grace. Adding something to the finished
work of Christ, and then they say they say that this supposed
knowledge, which the Gnostics were saying could only be imparted
by them. Could only be imparted by them.
And that was the case of the Gnostics and the Ascensionism
errors. Both of them said that the teachers
had to impart to you that knowledge or you would not know it. But
we're going to see how Paul, with this verse, destroys that.
Absolutely destroys that error. And then the Jewish Formulism
is the same error that Paul combated in several other epistles. as
false teachers tried to add circumcision or any kind of works, traditions,
keeping of days, added works and traditions to
grace, which makes grace no more grace. Anytime you add a pinprick
of anything, works, it's no more grace. We know that. We've went
over that many times. And that's, I know that's a nail
I keep hitting. But that's really the root of
error is that man has to do something. Man has to do something. So the pretended higher mysterious
wisdom is met with the assertion, the pretended higher mysterious
wisdom which the Gnostic teachers, the false teachers were saying
that they had to impart is denounced as deceitful. It's met with the
assertion that in Christ is true wisdom, true knowledge. And it's revealed to believers
by the Holy Spirit of God. Not by man. Not by man. It's revealed to us by the preaching
of the Gospel. And the Holy Spirit shows us
Christ, reveals Christ to us. One commentator said this, the
pretended wisdom is denounced as deceitful. Deceitful philosophy. founded in tradition, in both
its Gentile and its Jewish phases, are characterized as mere elements
or rudiments unworthy of men in Christ. We will not and do
not add anything to the finished work of Christ. It's perfect.
Look further down in Colossians 2.8. Look at this. Beware, lest
any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the traditions
of men, you have to be, these folks say, well, you know, you
have to be baptized to be saved. Nope. That's not true. Or you have to be a member of
a certain church to be saved. Nope. That's not true. I'm saved in Christ. My baptism
is just an outward expression of an inward conversion. But, oh, look at this. After
the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and
not after Christ. See what's happening? They're
not following Christ, are they? They're following men. And then
look further down in Colossians 2, verse 20 to 23. Paul combating
these errors. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste
not, handle not. That's what the Judaizers were
saying. You can't do this and you can't
do that. How can you be that and be a
Christian? Well, I was one of them guys. It's a horrible way
to live. Which are all to perish with
the years. After the commandments and doctrines
of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship. There's what free will is called
will worship. In humility and neglecting the
body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. So only in Christ. Found all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge look at our text again in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge We know
who the in whom is because in chapter of verse 2 At the latter
part it says and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge Let's go a little bit further up in
that verse and 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. So Paul, what does he do? What
does he do with all that error going on? He points them right
to Christ. Right to Christ. In whom? Christ. So these false teachers are saying,
oh, but we have this wisdom and this knowledge, this stuff, but
you can only get it from us. And Paul says, no, in Christ
is hid all the wisdom and knowledge of God. In Christ and Him alone. It's nowhere else. It's nowhere
else. So in Christ are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And these treasures, wisdom and
knowledge are they which will profit the soul of the believer.
They are they which will profit the soul of the believer. Outside
of Christ there is no true wisdom. Turn if you would to Jeremiah
chapter 9. Outside of Christ then there is no true wisdom
or comfort to be found for our eternal souls. We can't do anything
on our own to bring comfort to our souls. We're sinners. We desperately need to be saved. We cannot gain merit and favor
with God by our doing. Look at Jeremiah 9, verse 23
and 24. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Now, these false teachers are
glorying in their supposed wisdom. in their supposed knowledge.
And back then, a lot of the philosophers, they gloried in their supposed
knowledge too. Worldly wise. Now, I'm not against
folks learning. That's great. Learning is good. But learning things other than Scripture
will not profit our souls. What profits our souls is learning
about Christ. And we'll look at that later
on. We grow in the grace and knowledge and truth of Christ.
By listening to the word, or by reading the word, by listening
to the sermons, we'll see that later on. We grow in grace. We
grow in grace. But look at this. Thus saith
the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might, in his strength. Let not
the rich man glory in his riches. So those who trust in those things
for salvation, are going to perish in their sins. Look at our next
text. But let him that glory glory
in this. Brother John, let your glory
in this. You profess Christ. Look, this
is wonderful. Brother Charlie, you profess
Christ. Let but let him that glory, glory
in this that he understand it and know with me. Glory in the
fact that God has revealed himself to you. I am the Lord which exercised
loving-kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth For
in these things I delight saith the Lord. What a glory and just
Marvel that God has revealed himself to us that I know him
And he didn't leave me See we don't glory we look outside
ourselves don't we we don't glory in ourselves now before we were
saved we might have But we glory in God. We glory in Christ. We glory in the precious doctrines
that we've learned as we as we grow in grace and they bring
us great comfort, great comfort. So let us glory. We who believe
not in ourselves, but let us glory that we know the Lord.
And the only reason we know the Lord, beloved, is because he
revealed himself to us. See, there's no room for boasting.
None at all. It's a marvelous verse, the Jeremiah,
but let him that glory of glory in this and he understand it
and knoweth me. So so the believer glories in
the fact that he understands the scripture and knoweth me
that I am the Lord. And we do that, though, knowing
that it's none of our doing. It's all God. Salvation is of
the Lord. This is true wisdom. This is true wisdom and true
understanding. And this is what our verse speaks
about when it says, in whom, being Christ, are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. See, when you tie that with that
Jeremiah verse, you see how that, that which benefits our soul
has been revealed to us in Christ. This is the true wisdom and treasure
and wisdom of God. I know the Lord because he has
revealed himself to me. Is it so with you? Glory in him. Glory in him. Christ is the one
who will save me eternally. All the knowledge and wisdom
of this world does no good for my eternal soul. But Christ is the one who will
bring me everlasting joy and peace, everlasting life. And
this only comes when one knows the Lord. Is it so with you? Is it so with you? Let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. Left to ourselves, we'd never
know him and never understand him. And then look at this, that
I am the Lord which exercises loving kindness, judgment and
righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith
the Lord. So the believer glories, the
believer glories in the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone, as
our text says, in whom being Christ are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. The believer glories in the Lord
Jesus Christ, glories in him That all the treasures spiritual,
all spiritual blessings are in Christ and Him alone. All the treasures of wisdom and
all spiritual knowledge are in Christ. They're in Christ who
is the wisdom of God. And He is not just a select few
who can impart that wisdom. He is the wisdom of God to every
believer. And for every believer in him
are hid. In him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. For every believer, not a select
few like the false teachers were saying. Do you see how Paul's
combating the error? You see how he's saying it's all in Christ. It's all in him. So God's spiritual
wisdom and His spiritual knowledge comes to us under the preaching
of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit takes
the things of Christ and reveals them to us, line upon line, precept
upon precept, not in one or two messages, beloved, not in one
or two messages, as we have a limited understanding. Even in a lifetime of hearing
the gospel, one is just scratching the surface. But the believer will grow in
the knowledge and truth of our Savior. Turn if you would to
2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. 18 But grow in the grace But grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ No, it's actually second Peter I Got the
reference wrong grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to grow in in
the knowledge and grace of God in Christ. But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2nd Timothy chapter
3 verse 18. We are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior. We desire the sincere milk of
the Word, that we may grow And as we grow, we desire strong
meat. We desire strong meat. Turn if you would to Colossians
3.16. Colossians 3.16. How does a believer
grow in grace? By hearing the preaching of the
Word of God. Look at Colossians 3.16. Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So how
do we grow? By sitting under the sound of
the gospel, by hearing gospel messages, by reading scripture.
Now think of this. Think of this. Just as in the natural world,
a baby becomes a young child. And a young child becomes a young
adult. And a young adult becomes a mature
adult, right? But without food, would that
happen? It wouldn't, would it? This is why we need to feast
on the gospel. This is why we need to feast
on the Word of God, so that we might grow. Grow in the grace
and knowledge and truth. So the same principle is applied
to spiritual growth. If we're not feasting on Jesus
Christ, we're never mature in the faith. You must feast on
Christ. In whom, and back to our verse
in verse 3, chapter 2, in whom are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. So Paul here was combating the
error which had sprung up in Colossus, which taught that there
were angels as mediators between God and man, and that Christ
was just one of them. Just one of them. And again,
the false teachers were saying that only they could impart the
wisdom and knowledge to understand about these mediators. So again, once again, He's battling
those who are saying you have to do something or learn something
from there in order to reach a higher spiritual plane or to
really be saved. Such as some of the Pentecostals
that say you got to speak in tongues to be saved. That's just
a false gospel. They don't even have the gospel.
But that's just a lie from the pit of hell in Christ. Do you see how even
the errors that we deal with today, do you see how they can
be combated with in Christ, our head, all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge? If I have Christ, I have everything. Everything. We don't need 50 ways to be a
better Christian, do we? Not at all. Not at all. We have Christ. We have our King. Now we rest and trust in Him.
And you know, when I sin, I mourn. Is it so with you? We do, don't
we? We despise sin more in ourselves
than we do in anyone else. Oh, what a Savior. Oh, what a
Savior. He's forgiven me for all my sins
and trespasses, past, present, and future. I need to look to
Him. I need to look to Him in whom
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid. Him. Christ,
Him alone. So our text says, in Christ are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The verse before
speaks of the mystery of God. And let us remember that when
Paul speaks of a mystery that in Paul's language, and I got
this from a commentator, I thought this was really good, that in
Paul's language, a mystery is simply a truth that remained
inaccessible until such time as God, God was pleased to reveal
it and make it clear. And we see that, don't we, in
verse 26. I think it was verse 26 of Colossians
chapter 1. Even the mystery which has been
hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints. My goodness. And only God remember this, only
God can reveal this mystery. You can't learn it on your own.
Only God can reveal this mystery. It's manifested to the saints. It's manifested to them. It's
hidden from the rest of the world. But not, we're going to get into
this later, not hidden like you hide something in the cupboard.
It's not revealed. It's not revealed. What a contrast. What a contrast
then. Paul is saying that this mystery
which is in Christ is hidden until revealed by the Holy Spirit
of God. Now think of the contrast as
he's battling the errors, right? Do you see what he's doing before
the Colossians? He's placing before them, as
opposed to the error of the Gnostics who say, we have this truth,
we have this knowledge, and you can only get it from us. But
Paul's saying to every believer, That in Him, for every believer,
in Him, in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. Do you see how He's destroying
the error that's popped up? This mystery can only be revealed
by God. And the false teachers were proclaiming
that they had the keys to certain mysteries, and that their followers
would not gain this wisdom or knowledge unless they imparted
it, unless they revealed it to them. But Paul, in sharp contrast,
proclaims that only God can reveal Christ. Only God. And in Him, and in Him alone
are found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They are not hid like you hide
something in a cupboard, but they are hid until they are revealed
by the Holy Spirit of God. And marvel, beloved, if it's
been revealed to you. Marvel. What a great God and
King we have. This is not something that natural
man can understand. Turn, if you would, Matthew 11
verses 25 and 26. Natural man cannot understand
the things of God. So all the learning in the world
couldn't bring you to the to the knowledge of Christ. God must reveal Christ. He must. And every one of us know that
who are saved because he's revealed himself to us. We remember where
we were. And we remember, and we know,
wow, how do I know about this stuff? How do I know about election?
How do I know about propitiation, substitution, and satisfaction? Because God has revealed them
to me. And if you're a believer, it's
so with you too. Everything we know spiritually
about Christ is being revealed to us, everything. Matthew 11, look at verses 25
and 26. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. And look at look at 26. Even
so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight. Remember Sunday
night's message? Why are we saved? Because it
pleased God. Why, why, why did we have the
gospel revealed to us? For it seemed good and nice.
It pleased God to reveal the gospel to his people to reveal
Christ. Oh, my. Turn, if you would, the
first Corinthians chapter two. Why was the gospel revealed to
us and others were passed by again, because it pleased God
to reveal his son to we who we who believe. That's the only, the only one
who's made us to differ is God. The only one who's made us to
differ is God. We can't take any credit for
it, and we don't want to take any credit for it, because we
know nothing we did. Left to myself, I'd still be
in the same spot I was when the Lord saved me. And I wouldn't
know any different. Look at 1 Corinthians 2, verses
7 to 11. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world
knew. They didn't know it. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. You
see? You see? Who reveals it? I don't see man's free will anywhere
in that verse. God must reveal Christ to us
or we'll never know Him. But what a marvelous verse. But God. There's another but
God. I know there's one in Ephesians
too. But God has revealed them unto us. Who's the us? His people. This book is written to God's
people. It's not written to everyone.
God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. God, the Holy
Spirit, must reveal Christ, must regenerate us. We're born again
to the Holy Spirit of God. We're dead in trespasses and
sins and Adam. We don't have a clue about anything
spiritual and we don't desire God. But oh, when he reveals
them to us by his spirit, we become a whole new creature in
Christ. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man. Look at that. Look at this. But
the spirit of God. No man knows the things of God
until God reveals them to us. Oh my. So the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are in Christ. And they are not discovered until
Christ is revealed to the sinner. And they are in Him alone in
such a way that a man cannot know them, and cannot find them,
and cannot partake of them, until he has known, found, and partaken
of Christ. Again, they are in Christ alone
in such a way that a man cannot know them, cannot find them,
cannot partake of them, until he has known, and found, and
has partaken of Christ. Because these treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are in Christ and nowhere else. Nowhere else. They're only in Him. And they
must be revealed to us. And since they're revealed to
us, and since we know that we're saved by grace through faith
alone, it leaves no room for us to boast. It doesn't. We just
marvel. We just marvel. We marvel that
God has revealed Himself to us. We glory in that, like Jeremiah
said. We glory in the fact that he's
revealed himself to us. Oh, my. Jesus, under his well-known character
of wisdom, is represented as not waiting to be sought for,
but himself coming to every... Now, turn with me, if you would,
to Isaiah 55. Our Lord and Savior is known
as wisdom in the scriptures. He's not represented as waiting
to be sought for, waiting until man comes to Him. No, no, no,
no. No, our dear Shepherd, He seeks out His sheep, doesn't
He? He Himself comes to every wretched,
ignorant sinner whom God the Holy Spirit has caused to see
His wanton misery, His elect, His sheep, and they are told
to come and to buy wisdom of Him without money and without
price. Look at Isaiah 55, verses 1 and
2. Oh, everyone that thirsts, are
you thirsty? Oh, that God would make you thirsty
for the things of Christ. Oh, everyone that thirsts, come
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, just come empty-handed. Come ye, buy and eat, yea, Come
by wine and milk without money and without price. It's free
grace. We're saved by free grace below Wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? We can never satisfy the justice
and wrath of God with our own labors never never Harken diligently
unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight
itself in facts Let your soul, beloved, delight itself in Christ. Delight itself in Him. In Him
in whom are hid all the treasures and wisdom and knowledge. Delight
in Him. Oh, if you have Christ, you have
true wisdom. True wisdom. If you have Christ,
you have this true knowledge spoken of. And if you have Christ,
you have He whom God says is a delight to glory in. A delight
to glory in. We glory in Christ and Him alone.
But if you do not have Christ, you do not have wisdom. If you
do not have Christ, you do not have this knowledge spoken of
in our verse. And if you do not have it, you
cannot find it on your own. Because it is only found in Christ
and nowhere else and it must be revealed by God the Holy Spirit
in order for us to know Him and to know of the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge which are only found in Christ. The knowledge
of the mystery of God. Think of this. Think of the knowledge
of the mystery of God has been revealed to you, brother. The knowledge of salvation in
Christ alone. The knowledge of who the Father
is and who the Son is. And these are only found in Jesus
Christ our Lord. All the worldly wisdom will not
reveal Christ. You can't find them in the church
or in a creed or a confession. God must reveal Christ by the
preaching of the gospel. And when I say you can't find
them in the church, I'm talking about the folks who say, well,
you've got to go to this church to be saved. Salvation is only
in Christ. This is why we should seek out
churches where the gospel is being preached and proclaimed,
because it's only in him and God Reveals Christ by the preaching
of his gospel and all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge are in
him alone Nowhere else and this is what our verse says in whom
being Christ our head are It's definitive. They're only in him
our head all the church. There's nothing left out all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge So the believer's faith and confidence
must be in Christ. Must be in Christ and Him alone.
Because all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge are stored up in
Him. Are stored up in Christ. Only in Christ will you find
the authentic, accurate knowledge of God and His ways with mankind. Only in Christ. And how He deals
with mankind, only in Christ and Him alone. One commentator
said this, let us remember a man can have religion and not have
a knowledge of God. A man can have a devote religion
and not have a knowledge of God. A man can have a devote religion
in which he gives his life and not know God. He he can do all these things
and still not have a knowledge of the mystery which Paul speaks
of. God must reveal Christ to us. He must. And we see we see where
we're where folks have they devote their life. Look at the Catholic
Church. They don't know Christ. I know
that because I came out of that. There is no gospel there. None
at all. But yet men devote their whole
life to their workspace religion. And perish in their sins because
they don't know Christ. He hadn't been revealed to them. Marvel, if God has revealed himself
to you, just marvel. It's amazing. And my prayer as a preacher is
that God would reveal Christ to you if you do not know Him.
And if you know Him, that you grow in the grace and knowledge
and truth of Christ. Oh, that you grow in Him. But
once a sinner has had Christ revealed to him, he finds all
the treasures. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. And we spend the rest of our
pilgrimage here on earth Scratching the surface, just scratching
the surface in learning about our wonderful
Savior. because in Christ has hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now, here are some things I'm
going to list here. In Christ, all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are unfolded. Think of this, the mystery of
God's eternal covenant of grace. Did you know about that before
the Lord saved you? I didn't. I didn't have a clue. But he's revealed itself. He's
revealed that precious truth that God, the Father, Son and
Spirit made a covenant in eternity past that God, the Father, chose
a people and gave them to Christ and Christ redeemed those people.
And the Holy Spirit draws those people through the preaching
of the word. It's marvelous. What a treasure. Think of this,
the mystery of God's divine election, that God chose sinners He didn't look down through time
and see who would choose Him. God chose us in our sinfulness.
Dead in trespasses and sins. What a treasure for God's people.
That He would choose me. Think of this. The treasure of
wisdom and knowledge are unfolded in Christ. The mystery of the
incarnation. God himself became a man. He humbled himself. And you've
heard me say that we're particles of God's creation. He became
a particle of his own creation. Think of that. The very one who
angels worshiped him. He became a man. But yet God
Perfect. Sinless. Incredible. Did you know that before the
Lord saved you? I didn't know it. The mystery of the scheme
of redemption. That God's people would be redeemed
by the shed blood of Christ. Did you know that before the
Lord saved you? Now we may have heard it, right? We may have
heard it before we were saved, but we didn't believe it. But
now it's precious. It's precious to the believer.
The mystery of the cross, how God himself, who became a man,
sinless, perfect, spotless, the mystery of it, that he became
a man and set his face like a flint to Jerusalem. and hung upon that
cross for sins, not his own, but for my sins. And if you're
a believer for your sins and not only our sins, but the sins
of all the elect of all the ages and that he did that willingly. And yet he did that before God's
law and justice for me. And if you're a believer for
you. Did we know that before we were
saved? No. Do we not marvel in it now? Does it not fill us with awe? The mystery of the atonement
through the precious blood of Christ, that Christ's blood would
atone, would pay the ransom that God's law and justice demanded
for my sins. It's been revealed to us. We
didn't know it before. In the mystery of God and Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, reconciling all the elect of
all the ages to God. Did we know that before? Now,
do you see now why the verse says that in Christ are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? And that's just a few. That's
only seven points. We just looked at. We could we
could stay here all night and just go through different things
that God has revealed to us in the scriptures, precious truths
in the scriptures. My goodness. All these treasures
are open to the believer in Christ, before us in the Word of God,
as the Holy Spirit reveals them to us. Now let us think on this.
These treasures have been there all the time. In Christ. They've been there
all the time in Christ, haven't they? But when we did not know Christ,
we could not see them. But now, beloved of God, they've
been revealed to us by God, the Holy Spirit. And in Christ are
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And the gospel preacher
never tires of declaring that Jesus Christ is God incarnate
in the flesh, our great sovereign creator. The gospel preacher
never grows weary of talking about his perfect redeeming work
for a particular people, his elect. The gospel preacher can
never overstress Christ's position as our great high priest who
represents all those for whom he died, being both the priest
and the sacrifice. And we who are believers should
never tire of hearing the assuring truth that places Christ Jesus
our Lord as our blessed surety, who as the keeper of his sheep
will never allow one for whom he paid the ransom price that
God demanded upon Calvary's cross, he will never allow, never allow
one of his sheep to perish. Not one. May we ever remember that we
who are in Christ have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. May God grant faith to you if
you don't know Him. Oh, may He grant faith to you
if you don't know Him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
go to the Lord in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank
you for your goodness to us. Thank you for revealing Christ
to your people. Oh, that the Holy Spirit reveals
him to us, the mystery that we can never apprehend by any kind
of learning or knowledge of our own. But all the mystery of Christ,
the mystery of the gospel, what precious truths and treasures
we have stored up in Christ. And Lord, may we just glorify
you this week. May we just meditate this week
upon your goodness, upon the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
which are found only in you. And we think upon these things.
We love you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.