Tonight we'll be in Colossians
again. This study has been a real blessing. Going verse by verse, we see
so much in the text. Tonight the name of the message
is strengthened by God. Strengthened by God. Last week
we're in verse 10. This week we'll be in verse 11,
but I would like to read both verses because they're interconnected. Verse 10 says, "...that ye might
walk 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, unto all patience,
and longsuffering with joyfulness." So last week we looked at walking
worthy of the Lord. Walking worthy of the Lord. And
we saw that we could not do this in our own strength. The Holy
Spirit must empower us, must enable us to walk worthy of the
Lord, to walk in His strength. And we have to be empowered by
the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, we must be born again.
We must be born again. We looked at how now that we
are saved, we live a life, we seek to live a life which glorifies
God, which is the opposite of how we used to live. Because
we used to live for self. That's all that mattered. Now
that's not what matters. We seek to glorify God. God in
Christ. We seek to have God glorified.
We seek to have the Gospel go forward with power, if He's so
pleased. And so it's the complete opposite
of how we used to live. And as I said, the reason we
read verse 10 with tonight's text is because we see how they're
interconnected together. Now we've learned so far that
Paul, while laying the foundation of of the Colossians being saved
in Christ and Him alone, and that Christ has all the preeminence,
He is here showing us that the power to live the Christian life
does not come from us, but it comes from God the Holy Spirit
enabling us to live that life. And we're going to see that even
more tonight. And while He's doing this, Well,
he's laying the foundation to God being all-powerful, because He's the One who can
strengthen us. He's the One who can give us knowledge through
the Scriptures. Well, Him being all-powerful
and working all things, while He's teaching us and having us
grow and learn in grace, He's working out all things for our
good and for His glory. and His will is being accomplished
in the whole world. It's incredible. He's a sovereign,
almighty God. Now, while Paul's laying this
framework, basically he's laying the foundation. I used to be
in construction. We laid a foundation down, and then they built up
the house, and then they came in and they did the rest to it.
But he's laying that foundation. The foundation's wrong. then
the whole house is going to be a mess. But if that foundation
is firm and strong, so he's laying the foundation. It's firm in
Christ and Him alone. And while he's doing that, he's
attacking the error of the Gnostics. He's attacking the error that
the false teachers have brought in. He's attacking the worksmongers. And he's showing the Colossians
and us, 2,000 years later, that God has all power. That he's
absolutely supreme. That he's preeminent. That there's
no one, no one, he seeks no counsel with anyone. He's God Almighty. Look at verse 11. Strengthened
with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience
and longsuffering with joyfulness. And remember that this is a continuation
of Paul's prayer for the Colossians. It's a continuation. He's still
praying for the Colossians. Paul, having prayed for these
dear believers in Christ, that they would increase in the knowledge
of Christ, look at verse 10, that ye might walk worthy of
the Lord and all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God. He continues now. He continues. that they would put into practice
in their everyday lives, resting and rejoicing in Christ, and
seeking to glorify God in their lives. And notice, he's also
combating Gnosticism even here, right here. As it's not man who
holds this secret knowledge, but God who must reveal it, in
verse 10. Remember we looked at that last week. God must reveal
it. He must reveal it. And now he prays, that God Almighty,
the King of the universe, would strengthen these Colossians,
these Colossian saints. That they be strengthened and
enabled to put into practice what they've learned. And beloved,
we must stress that we cannot do this unless the Holy Spirit
enables us. And we're going to look at this,
the Greek wording underlining Two words in this text is incredible. We're going to start right now.
See, it says strengthen with all might, right? The underlying Greek word means
this, to make strong, strength, power, in this little
word called ability. That Greek word for strength
means to make strong, strength, power, and ability. So what does
that mean? That means that there's no room
for our works. There's no room for our works.
We flee to Christ. Why? Because we've been given
the power to flee to Christ. Think of this. Strength, power,
and ability, the Greek word says. Now we've been born again, those
of us who believe are born again by the Holy Ghost. But the underlying Greek word
is strength, power, and ability. So think on this, there's no
inherent power in man, right? But there's power in God, isn't
there? Strength, power, and ability.
Think of this, we have no strength to come to God on our own. Therefore in ourselves, we have
no strength to live a Christian life On our own But God gives a believer
strength it is Paul's praying for this Paul's praying for this
for the Colossians We have no power to come to God on our own,
right? Therefore, in ourselves, we have
no strength in our natural state, and as Christians, we have no
strength to live a Christian life on our own. But God gives
the believer strength to do this, to make strong, strength, power,
and ability. We have no ability to come to
God on our own. Therefore, every believer has no ability to live
a Christian life on his own. So we've looked at strength,
power, and now ability. But God gives us strength and
continues to give us strength all through our pilgrimage on
this world. And the Greek word here, this
is neat, too. The Greek word is a present passive
participle. which are formed only from imperfect
verbs. Since they, listen to this, they
refer to an activity which is currently taking place or which
repeatedly takes place. If you're saved, God is continuously
giving you strength and ability. And we're going to see later
on in the text how that applies even more to us and what happens
in our lives as believers. So Christ saves us and then he
gives us strength and ability to carry on. We are empowered with all strength,
ability and power during trials. Situations in our lives, and
this is a continuous action in the Christian life God is continuously
doing this for us because we have no strength on our own We
have no ability on our own Therefore it's all God's Now,
I'm not saying we just sit back and say, okay, well then we just
sit back and do nothing. No, no, the love of Christ constrains
us, right? But this is speaking of a trial,
a trial, or we're going to see later on, long suffering, dealing
with people. So trials and dealing with people,
God is continuously strengthening us and giving us strength. So
when our own strength and power Inability, we can do nothing.
Look again at our text. Strengthened with all might according
to his glorious power and to all patience and long-suffering
with joyfulness. Beloved, we must be strengthened
with all might according to God's power. We must be. God's glorious power. We find
our strength, right, and our power in Christ. It's not in
our own strength. Philippians says this, I can
do all things through Christ which strengthen me. Philippians
chapter four, verse 13. So in circumstances that we go
through, in trials that we go through, in dealings with people
that we go through, it's God who strengthens us. Because we
would be crushed under it. In our own strength. And in our
own doing. Remember what Paul says? And
think of this as we pilgrimage through this world, right? What
happens? We grow in grace. We grow in
the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior. And what
does that do? That strengthens us, doesn't
it? It strengthens us. We hear the gospel preached.
It strengthens us. We hear about our mighty savior
who can do it all. It strengthens us. I'm a weak
person. I need help. I need Christ to
help me. I do. He's my savior. He's my everything. He's brought
me to a point where I know that I can't do anything on my own
in the sense of my salvation. And when a trial comes, I'll
fall to pieces if he doesn't sustain me. He keeps us going. He keeps his people. Remember
I always say, saving grace is keeping grace. It keeps us, it
strengthens us. God, the Holy Spirit, dwells
within the believer. And through every trial and temptation,
we lay our heart to Christ. Think of when a trial comes up
or something comes up. We flee to Christ, don't we?
Remember what Paul said? He said, the Lord said to Paul,
my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Paul wanted the thorn removed. Turn if you would there. We'll
turn there. 2 Corinthians 12, verses 7 and 9. Let's turn there
and take a look. It's worth looking. 2 Corinthians. Chapter 12, verse 7-9. And lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh. Remember Paul was called up to
the third heaven. The messenger of Satan to buffet
me lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought
the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. He prayed, the
Lord, take it away. But the Lord's answer to him
was this. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made
perfect in weakness. Now, Paul was able to respond. Look at Paul's response. And
this is only by the Holy Spirit, beloved, that he can respond
this way. He's strengthened by the Holy
Spirit of God working in him and enabling him to say, most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. That would not be an easy thing
to say, and it's not an easy thing for us to say, is it, when
we're going through trial? I've noticed when Vicki and I
go through some stuff or a situation will come up, one thing we always
say to each other, and it's really comforting, is, well, that didn't
catch God by surprise. Because it caught us by surprise,
but it never catches God by surprise. And remember that. When something
comes up, it never catches God by surprise. He already knows. He's purposed it and planned
it for our good and for his glory. But I always notice that there's
a time when you get anxious. You do. We're human, aren't we?
But then there's always a peace that comes over us. It's glorious,
isn't it? Where we just say, OK, Lord, I'm going to trust
you through this. That's the Holy Spirit enabling
us. Because that's not natural for
us to do that. But he enables us to just rest
in Christ and to say, Lord, whatever your will is, whatever your will
is, I'll bow my knee to it. And this is marvelous grace,
beloved. This is grace and strength to
make it through this world, through this world of trials and tribulations
and woes. And this is the grace of God
in Christ. We're strengthened, strengthened by him. by God. Look back at our text again.
Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power and to
all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Now here's an interesting note
that the Greek word for might here is defined as this. Do you
remember what strengthened was, right? Well, this word is defined strength
Power and ability. So again, we have no ability. And what they were saying in
the Greek was that it's two words derived from the same stem word. But they have the same kind of
meanings. We have no ability or strength without God the Holy
Spirit empowering us. Strengthened with all might,
according to His glorious power unto all patients long-suffering
with joyfulness. And according to His glorious
power. Notice who the source of all power is. Notice who the
source of all strength is. It's God. It's not us. So all those religious folks
trying to drum up things and trying to live a Christian life
and trying to do all this in their own strength, they're going
to fail every time. And I remember in religion, that's
what I did. I just felt worse. I could never measure up. I kept
falling and failing. Now, we already know we can't
do anything on our own. But now I know that that was
all just fruitless. Fruitless labors. Now, should
we seek a life to glorify God and not live for ourselves? Absolutely. Absolutely. We should. The love of Christ constrains
us from sin now. Absolutely. We don't want to
do the things that we used to do. We know now that God, the
Holy Spirit, empowers us. Strengthened with all might implies
that the believers are weak in themselves and insufficient to
do or bear anything of themselves. We stand in need of strength
from above. Even of all might, of all kinds of spiritual might
and strength through trials and temptations and tribulations. and just dealing with life. I need strength just dealing
with life, right? Sometimes it's tough. But, oh,
my King, He's the one I look to. He's my strength. He's my shield. And I have a
hope that I never had before. And it's not based upon my doing,
but it's based upon what Christ has done for me. Oh, it's wonderful. So when a trial comes up, I flee
to Christ. Now, I might get a little wigged
out at first. I might. I might get a little anxious.
But I'm always like, oh, Lord, please forgive me. How quickly
we forget. See, we're real, aren't we? We
struggle. We really do. But we are in need of strength
from above. Turn, if you would, to Zechariah
chapter 4. We are not saved by our own might. We are not saved by our own power. But we're saved by the power
of God. In Christ. I was thinking about this text
here today, walking back from lunch. It just kind of struck
me. I thought, wow. There it is. There it is. Look at this in
Zechariah 4, verses 6 and 7. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the Lord undesirable, saying,
Look at this, not by might nor power. Now, think back, those
of us who came out of religion. We was trying by might and by
our own power to please God, weren't we? Not by might nor power, but by
my Spirit, saith the Lord. Oh, my. Saith the Lord of hosts. God. Oh, born again by the Holy Spirit,
aren't we? Made willing to flee to Christ.
Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt
become a plain. Oh, think of that when we have
a great trial come before us. A great mountain of a trial.
The Lord's going to make it plain. Oh, my. And think of the mountain
of sin that we had. Think of the mountain of sin.
It's made plain. Gone. Gone, beloved, by the precious
blood of Christ. Every sin. Oh, heaven forgiven
you all your trespasses and sins in Christ. He shall bring forth
the headstone thereof with shoutings crying grace, grace unto it.
That's Christ. The headstone. Oh my. We are not saved by our own might
or power or ability, but we are born again by the Holy Spirit
of God and we flee to Christ. We flee to Christ. We've cast
our works aside. Because we know they were filthy
rags in the eyes of the Lord. And we flee to Christ. Not by
might nor power. Not by your doing or your ability.
But by my Spirit, save me, Lord." What a wonderful God we have.
What an absolutely wonderful God. And this is why we cry out,
salvation is of the Lord. It's all His doing. It's all
His doing. Let's go back to our text. Strengthened
with all might according to His glorious power unto all patience
and longsuffering with joyfulness. And here in our text it says
according to His glorious power. Strengthened with all might according
to His glorious power. According to the sovereign God
who rules the universe's power. Not according to our supposed
attainments, but strengthened by His glorious power. His glorious
power. Strengthened. And how do we find
strength? We find strength in looking to
Christ, don't we? Strengthened by His finished
work. That when He cried, it is finished. Everything God demanded
for my sins is paid for. Paid for. And we glory in He
who has paid all the debt that our sin demanded. All of it. paid the debt for our sins by
the shedding of his own precious blood. And someone says, how
can a man do that? Because he was the God-man. God
incarnate in the flesh. God shedding his own blood. 100%
man and 100% God. And perishing, dying on the cross
for the sins of his people. What mercy. What boundless mercy. Who can compare this? No one. It's incomparable to anything
on this earth. Mercy, undeserved mercy, undeserved
mercy, but given to believers, given to his people in Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
all of the Lord. And what a blessing to be living
upon Him in whom all salvation is found, in whose person the
whole church - think of this - in whose person the whole church,
all the elect of all the ages, are looked at as complete. Complete. Oh my. And we are upheld and
we are strengthened by the everlasting arms of God our Savior. Glorious here used with power
is strengthened in might in the Greek. It speaks of the Lord's
majesty. It speaks of His majesty. His sovereign power. His deity. We are strengthened by the power
of God through trials and through dealings with life. We are strengthened by the power
of God. Turn, if you would, to Romans
8. Strengthened with all might according
to His glorious power. Look at Romans 8. We are victorious, beloved, because
of His strength and His power. Because of His strength and His
power, we are victorious, we who believe. Look at this. I have to start
in verse 33, because I absolutely love this verse, but look at
this. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Who shall bring any charge to God's elect? Who shall bring
any charge to one whom Christ has died for. Now, we're sinners,
aren't we? We're sinners. Brother, who shall
bring any charge? Because you're in Christ. Your
sins are forgiven. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's love? Why? Because it's God who justifies
you, brother. Isn't it wonderful? It's God
who justifies us. It's God who justifies us. Who
is He that condemneth? Can anyone condemn you, brother
man? No, you're in Christ. Who shall bring any charge to
God's light? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, that is risen again. He is risen. And we know that
Scripture declares that He's risen for our justification.
The sinless one died in the room and place of sinners. And He's
risen. He's risen. He's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God. He rules in majesty right
now. Who also make His intercession
for us. He's our mediator between us and God. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. But remember I said
earlier that we would have the victory. We're victorious. Look at this. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Oh,
victorious because of his strength. And notice it's in him. Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us. For I am persuaded. Now, can
anything separate the believer from the love of God? This is
the fallacy of those who say that someone can be saved and
jump out on their own, or someone can be saved and lost. Beloved,
if I'm in Christ, I'm secure in Him. I'm secure in Christ.
I'm saved and bought, purchased. When you purchase something,
you own it, don't you? Christ has purchased us from
the pawn shop of this world. He's redeemed us. You go to a
pawn shop, and if you put something in there, you can redeem it later
on. He's redeemed us, beloved. He's purchased us with His own
precious blood. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's in Christ.
It's only in Christ. The only reason I have this confidence
is because of what He's done for me. Because I have no ability to
save myself. I have no power to save myself. And I have no
strength to save myself. Oh, but I know One who can save
all who come to Him. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at verse 37 again in
light of what we've read. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him that loveth us. He strengthens
us. He gives us strength and power
to make it through whatever comes our way. And this ties right
into what we're looking at in Colossians. Let's look at our
text again. Now we need to be strengthened in various situations
that come our way. We need to be strengthened in
love. We need to be strengthened in
joy. We need to be strengthened in
peace. Oh, we need peace, don't we? We need to be strengthened
in hope. Where does the believer find
all this? In Christ. In Christ and Him alone. Nowhere
else. Nowhere else. There was a time when we looked
to ourselves for those things, but not anymore. We look to the
great King and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. And think of this, too. We're strengthened when we listen
to the Gospel preached. We're strengthened when we read
Scripture. We're strengthened when we pray and when we look
to Christ in Him alone. And this strengthening comes
from God the Holy Spirit in us. And it's not of our own doing.
It's not of our own producing. Remember? The fruit of the Spirit.
He works it in us. He works it in us. Now the Gnostics
promised secret knowledge. They promised secret knowledge.
Deeper knowledge. They promised. Look what Paul
says here. Strengthened with all might according
to His glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness. So these Gnostics, they promised
secret knowledge, deeper knowledge. They also promised, I learned
this today, they promised a deeper experience with God. If the Colossians, if they just
follow their teachings. Well, nowadays we have, if you
just buy this book. Books are being sold by the millions. I went on a so-called Christian
site today. It was full of junk. But I just
happened to look around at some of the book titles because I
was putting this message together and I thought, you know, it would
be relevant for me to look at what's being put out there. Oh my gosh. How to live a victorious Christian
life. How to experience God even more. How to do this. How to do that. Do, do, do, do, do. How to experience a deeper walk. We just need to read the book,
don't we? Now, I have commentaries and
stuff that I read and study, but they're just tools. They're
just tools. Brother Chet, you have a toolbox.
My study with my library, my books are tools. One's a hammer,
one's a screwdriver, one's a wrench. There's some nuts and bolts in
there. They're tools to put together messages. But this is the most
important book right here. I've talked to several grace
preachers. I asked them, can you recommend some books for
me to get? They said, a lot of them said,
well, I don't read a lot of commentaries anymore. I just read the scriptures.
That's marvelous. Oh, marvelous. But they're out
there. You get all these, and we have
the same thing today as these Gnostics, books being sold. Just
read this. Basically, just give me this,
and I'll tell you how to experience this. It's the same thing. Nothing's
changed. They're making merchandise. Oh,
and all this can be found studying this precious Word, listening
to the Gospel preached, resting and trusting in Christ through
our daily walk in this world. It's a pilgrimage. We're pilgrims,
sojourners going through this world of woe. And it's this book
that brings us strength by God the Holy Spirit illuminating
the scriptures for us and teaching us, strengthening us, giving
us power to continue. I know because I remember how
it was before and how it is now. Oh, and it's all in Christ. It's all in Him. So once again,
though, Paul is heading off an error here by praying to the
One who can give all strength and power to the Colossian saints. He's heading off again. Do you
notice the last few verses we've been looking at? Even in his
prayer, he's praying that God would give them strength. that
God would increase their knowledge. All the things the Gnostics are
saying they can do, but he's saying, no, it's all in God,
it's all in Christ. This is where it's found. Not
in some book to tell you how to do it, or not in some guy
who's got the special teaching only. No, if someone says that,
run from them. Run from them. Oh, my. We are taught by the Holy Spirit
of God as we read Scripture. He strengthens us. and illuminates
things that we don't... How many times have we read and
went, I've never seen that before. We've read the passage 50 times.
I've never seen... That's the Holy Spirit illuminating
the scriptures for us and teaching us. And what does it usually
do? It builds us up, doesn't it?
It strengthens us. It gives us hope. And usually
we're excited and want to tell someone else. Oh, it's wonderful. And this can all be found in
studying the Scriptures, listening to the Gospel preached, resting
and trusting in Christ and Him alone all through our lives.
We need God's mighty power to continue and to preserve despite
the suffering, the opposition, the trials, and the woes of this
world, which leads right into our next point. It says, strengthen
with all might according to His glorious power and to all patience
and longsuffering with joyfulness. Unto all patience and longsuffering."
Notice, unto all patience and longsuffering. Now, the believer
in Christ experiences this power from this verse in two different
ways here. The power from God is manifested in patient endurance
and longsuffering. We are given patience. We are
given patience to deal with trials. We're given patience to deal
with trials. Remember, like I said, when a trial comes up at first,
we all do it. And then what happens? We get
a peace. My God will take care of me.
He'll take care of me. So we're given patience to deal
with trials and circumstances which come up in our lives. We
look to Christ and Him alone. Well, the storm is brewing all
around us. It's just swirling around us.
And we have a peace that passes all understanding because we're
looking to Him. We're looking to Him. And we
know the difference because there was a time when we didn't look
to Him. In all the peace we have now, it passes all understanding,
and it keeps our hearts and minds focused upon Christ and Him alone. We're strengthened by God to look above the storm or trial
to Jesus Christ, our Lord. And believers, Christians, are
by God's glorious power strengthened to endure hardship, and to show patience to others,
to show patience to others. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
chapter 3. Now, long-suffering in our text, long-suffering in
our text, so patience is given to us to deal with trials. Long-suffering
is given to us to deal with people. And think of that as we go to
Colossians chapter 3. And whenever you're dealing with
people, because there's difficult folks, remember how long-suffering
God was with us before he saved us. Remember how long-suffering
he was. Look at this. It makes it easier for us to
be long-suffering with others if we remember how long-suffering
God was with us. Look at Colossians 3, verses
12 and 13. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God. So this is for Christians, right? Holy and beloved, vows
of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. Same word is used in 111. Forbearing
one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel
against thee look at here's the key right here Even as Christ
forgave you so also do There's the key not always easy to use
that key is it We are to be long-suffering with
people I Had a guy a couple days ago. I He tried to, he bought
something up just to try to get me riled up. And I looked at
him and I laughed and I looked at the other guys that were sitting
with me and I said, ah, he's just trying to get me riled up.
And now I've heard from other folks that he's that type of
person, that kind of edgy, kind of likes to argue and debate
and fight. I don't have nothing to do with
that, no. That's how it used to be. Before I'd go right in
there. No. I don't debate the truth
anymore. I just proclaim it. I just proclaim
it. I don't have time to argue and
debate with people. No. No. And even if someone's being difficult
with you, just be long-suffering with them. It's not always easy,
I know. But we ought to. And just remember
how much God's forgiven you in Christ. And like I say, it doesn't
always make it easy, but it makes it easier in a sense to bear
with the circumstance or the person. We're to be patient and gentle
and kind, overlooking the faults of others. The Greek word for
longsuffering, back in our text in Colossians chapter 1, strengthen
with all might according to his glorious power and to all patience
and longsuffering. The Greek definition of long-suffering
speaks of this, a slowness of avenging injuries. We're not
to be quick to strike back at people. Scripture does tell us not to
render evil for evil. So we're to have a slowness of
avenging injuries. Forbearance is the other Greek
definition. Forbearance. And in this is the
third underlying meaning. Having mercy on people who have
wronged us. Is that not what Christ has done
for us? Oh my. And the question could come up,
well why should we be like that? Back to verse 13 in chapter 3,
I'll just read it. Forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so do ye also. Now we are especially with brethren
to do that too. Let it go. Let it go. Be quick to forgive. Mercy. What have we received from God
in Christ? Mercy, mercy, mercy. We don't get what we deserve.
God is very long-suffering with us, isn't He? But when God strengthens
us to be more long-suffering, we'll not so easily be offended. We'll not so easily be offended,
and we'll be careful not to offend others too. We'll be careful
not to offend others. And how true is this? And how
true is this, the question comes up, is this not how brotherly
love works, isn't it? Brother Matt, you brought up
that comment the other day, we're blood brothers. Blood brothers
in Christ, that's really what we all are, in Christ. We who
believe, we're blood brothers in Christ. We've been forgiven all our sins.
So, if a believer has a quarrel with another believer, oh, be
quick to patch it up. And even if that person doesn't
reach out to you, be quick to forgive them. Because nothing
worse than holding on to something and that root of bitterness gets
a hold of you and just chew you right up from the inside. I know,
I've been there. Oh. We need to be quick to forgive.
Quick to forgive. But only God can give us the
power to be long-suffering and to be patient. And it's all by
God's glorious power. His Spirit working in us will
enable us to walk in this manner. Number one, to walk worthy of
the Lord that we saw in verse 10, unto all pleasing. And number two, His glorious
power will enable us to be patient in trials and to be long-suffering
with others. And is this not true? The more
that we depend, the more that we're strengthened, the more
that we depend upon God, the more we see our need for that
dependence. Is it not so with you, beloved?
The more we see our need, the more we see our dependence. upon our great God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember hearing a preacher
say one time, no one likes trials and tribulations. But scripture says with joyfulness.
Think of this. It's true heartfelt joy in the
Lord. It's when all the storm can be
swirling around us and we still have the joy of the Lord in our
heart. We still have that peace that passes all understanding.
And it's only in Christ. And it's only because he's strengthening
us. Because if we didn't have Christ, boy, and that trial comes
up, what happens? Oh, boy. We're all over the board. But we can rejoice in Christ.
How can it say with joyfulness? Well, think of this. Whenever
you go through a trial and a tribulation, Brother Neal, you see the hand
of providence in that, don't you? You see God working in your
life. And it brings us joy and peace
because we know that no matter what we're going through, he's
guiding us and he's directing us and he's gonna carry us through
that. He's going to carry us through.
And one day, we're going to cross that river, and we're going to
be with Him. So we can rejoice in Christ Jesus
our Lord. This is joy under pressure, and
joy through a trial. And one commentator said, this
is one of the marvels of God's work in His people. This is one
of the marvels of God's work in His people, that we can have
joy under pressure. and that we can have joy through
a trial. Because it's not natural, is
it? It's not natural for us to have
joy through a trial or through a tribulation. Oh, this is a
work of God in his people. Turn, if you would, to Philippians
chapter 4. We're going to close pretty soon here. Philippians
chapter 4. Now this little portion that
I'm going to take you to, Paul is writing from a Roman prison
cell. And it's not like the jails we have today. It's not like
the jails we have today. It's like a dungeon, probably.
There's probably rats scurrying around. And look what Paul says in Philippians
chapter 4. He's in a prison, remember. But
he sees God's providential hand at work. He sees God's providential
hand at work. And he says this in Philippians
chapter 4, verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. And
again, I say rejoice. He's in prison. He's probably in chains. They
usually chain them up back then. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Now we see why he could write
in Colossians with joyfulness. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Now the unregenerate man cannot
enter into this joy. He doesn't know what it's like. And instead of rejoicing in the
sovereign power of God, most murmur over every little bump
in the road, or every little wave in the sea. And I know,
I was there. That's how I was. But God's people are strengthened,
not by our own power, not by our own works, not by our own
ability, but by God the Holy Spirit. We are strengthened to
endure hardships and trials when they come our way with joyfulness. And this is how we should pray
for others, too. This is how we should pray for our brethren.
When I say let's pray for one another, we ought to pray that
for the other preachers and the other saints and other churches,
too. Oh, that God would give them strength and power to endure
hardships with joyfulness. This is how we should pray for
ourselves. Oh, that God would give us strength. Oh, that God
would give us strength, that we would glorify Him with joyfulness. This should be our desire, to
be filled with the knowledge of God's will, His revealed will.
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Do you not hunger and thirst
after righteousness? Oh, we do, don't we? Did we before the Lord save us?
No. But oh, the Holy Spirit drew
us to Christ and showed us our need and we fled. See, not only does he enable
us through our Christian walk, but he's the one who enabled
us to flee to Christ. He's the one who strengthened
us to flee to Christ. He's the one who gave us the
ability to flee to Christ. Oh, that God would grant your
faith to believe. Oh, if you don't know Him, that
God would grant your faith that you'd flee to Christ. Oh, and we know that we cannot
do these things on our own. We have no strength and no ability.
So what do we do? We're quick to give God all the
glory. Give Him all the glory. I'll
see you when it's time.