If you would open your Bibles
with me, the book of First Corinthians, chapter two. First Corinthians,
chapter two. I remember Brother Eric, who's
preaching in Rocky Mount, Virginia this morning. Paul went to Bruce's
to preach for Bruce Crabtree this morning. Eric's filling
in for him, so we want to remember them in prayer. First Corinthians,
chapter two. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. Albeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect, that are mature, yet not the wisdom of
this world or of the princes of this world that come to naught.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world under our glory, which
none of the princes of this world knew. 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 hath prepared for them
that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by a spirit. For the spirit searcheth 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, but the spirit of God. Now we've received, not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God. that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things
also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. Now the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
or discerneth all things. Yet he himself is judged of no
man. For who had known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct
him? But we have the mind of Christ. All right, let's stand together
as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. As on the cross of Christ I thought,
it seemed I heard one cry. Is all this nothing in your eyes? This day passed by, is not such
suffering greater than that which you've seen before? And was there ever any man who
grieved or suffered more? I looked again, and what I saw
I cannot fully tell. It seemed within his very bones
there raged the fire of hell. What caused you grief? I ask the man. What crimes could
you have done? that God Jehovah struck you down
and left you all alone. His answer cut my heart like
steel and left me void of breath. Tis for your sins this pain I
feel, for you I go to death. Your soul before my Father's
throne could find no place to hide. This is the way God can
be just, and you be justified. Jehovah's mercies never fail,
each morning they are new. Great is His faithfulness and
love, therefore we're not consumed. Jehovah God in Christ the Son
shall all my portion be. My soul shall therefore wait
for Him and live eternally. Okay, if you would now turn in
your hymnal to song 304 and we'll sing Savior More Than Life to
Me. Savior, more than life to me,
I am clinging, clinging close to Thee. Let Thy precious blood
apply, Keep me ever, ever near Thy side. Every day, every hour,
let me feel Thy cleansing power. May Thy tender love to me find
me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee. Through this changing world below,
lead me gently, gently as I go. Trusting Thee, I cannot stray. I can never, never lose my way. Every day, every hour, let me
feel Thy cleansing power. May Thy tender love to me bind
me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee. Let me love thee more and more
Till this fleeting, fleeting life is o'er Till my soul is
lost in love In a brighter, brighter world above Every day Every hour
let me feel Thy cleansing power. May Thy tender love to me find
me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee. If you would please open your
Bibles to Colossians chapter one. And read a portion of Colossians
chapter one beginning at verse 24. Do not rejoice in my sufferings
for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions
of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church,
whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation
of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of
God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom
we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,
whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which
worketh in me mightily." End our reading there. with the Lord in prayer. Our great God and holy Heavenly
Father, thank you for bringing us to this place this morning,
for you've provided a faithful pastor and men to open your word
to us, preach the gospel to us, pray that you'd be with Frank
this next time period, period of time to strengthen him Allow
Him to open His scripture to us and preach to us plainly.
Teach us more of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Give us receptive
minds and hearts. Cause us to not be thinking about
the cares of tomorrow and the next weeks, next week, and things
that we need to do in our lives. But let us hear the message and
truly worship and glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Pray also for others that are staying at this time, this morning,
this day, to preach your word. Be with them and uphold them.
Pray for Eric in Rocky Mountain. Give him blessed time this morning,
safe travels home, to meet here with us again. Father, we're so thankful that you've seen
fit to be merciful to sinners. What a precious gift, your son. Precious blood that he spilled
to atone for sin. Cause us each day to know the
amazing, awesome sacrifice that was made for sinners and to be
thankful. Not take it for granted, but
to know that he did it all. And we've got no hope outside
of Christ. Cause us to increase in faith in Christ as we age
and time passes, cause us to look to Him more and less to
ourselves. Again, we pray for a true hour of worship here.
Let the name and work of Christ be exalted as we leave and go
out into the world. God, adjust about and give us
wisdom and direction each day. Leave us not alone. It seems
we ask and pray in Christ's name. Here we go. If the world from you withhold
of its silver and its gold, and you have to get along with meager
fare, just remember in His word how He feeds the little bird. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Leave it there. Leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. If your body suffers pain and
your health you can't regain, and your soul is almost sinking
in despair, Jesus knows the pain you feel. He can save and He
can heal. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Leave it there. Leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. When your enemies assail and
your heart begins to fail, don't forget that God in heaven answers
prayer. He will make a way for you and
will lead you safely through. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Leave it there, leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. When your youthful days are gone
And old age is stealing on And your body bends beneath the weight
of care He will never leave you then He'll go with you to the
end Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there Leave it there
Leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Thank you for that. I love that
song. It's not our problem taking our burden to the Lord, is it?
They're leaving it there. Leaving it there. Alright, open
your Bibles with me again to the book of Colossians, the passage
that Wayne just read for us. I titled the message this morning,
Christ in You, the Hope of Glory. I took my title from verse which
says, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. In verse 26, Paul talks about
the mystery, the mystery which has been hid from ages and from
generations, but is now made manifest to the saints. Now,
Paul calls the way that God saves sinners, he calls it a mystery. Something that's been hid from
ages and from generations. Now why does he call that a mystery? You know, the gospel is plain.
The gospel plainly, simply, clearly declares how it is that God saves
sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. But that gospel is a mystery
to the natural man. Now the gospel's not a mystery
to the natural man because God's made salvation so complex and
made the gospel so complex that we can never understand it. God
hadn't done that. The gospel's simple. Scripture
calls the gospel the simplicity that is in Christ. And the gospel
plainly declares that salvation is all in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's in what he's done for his people. It's in who he is. Sinners
are made perfectly righteous by Christ obeying the law for
them. He came in the flesh and obeyed
the law for his people. Righteousness doesn't come by
you trying and failing to keep the law or just doing the best
that you can. Righteousness is perfect because Christ obeyed
the law perfectly for his people. The sin of God's people is paid
for. Nobody's saying they're not a
sinful people. They're a sinful, vile people. But the sin of God's
elect is paid for by the blood of Christ. Atoning for that sin. Paying for that sin. Satisfying
God's justice for that sin. It's not on the believers trying
to straighten up and live right and sin less than they used to.
Sin is paid for by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only way atonement can be made. And everyone, this is what
the gospel declares, absolutely everyone for whom Christ died
shall be saved. He didn't die for somebody that's
going to perish anyway. Because the son of God, it's because
of who he is. The son of God cannot fail to do what he purposed
to do. Now that is so simple. I mean,
that's just simple. Children and uneducated people
throughout history have understood that gospel, believed it, hung
their souls upon it. Then why on earth is something
so simple called a mystery? Well, here is a mystery because
it's our problem. Man is dead in sin. Our understanding
is darkened and it's dead so that it can't understand anything
spiritual. We can understand physical things,
but we cannot understand spiritual things because spiritually we're
dead. And the gospel is all spiritual. Now the gospel is not physical.
It's not about the physical. The gospel is spiritual. And
those people who are spiritually dead simply cannot understand
it. See, it's man that makes the gospel a mystery to them.
It's not God. God didn't do that. Man says the gospel, that's too
simple. It's gotta be more complex than
that. You gotta give me something to challenge my mind, something
to interest my mind. That's too simple. I just, I
can't believe something's so simple. Well, then the gospel
becomes a mystery to them, doesn't it? Natural man does not like
what the gospel says about us. The flesh just doesn't like it.
The gospel says that you and I are sinners. That's all we
can do is sin. We can't do anything to save
ourselves. We're totally dependent on God to save us. We cannot
and will not believe the gospel unless God gives us the gift
of faith. The man don't like that. The flesh does not like
being called vile. We like being called good, don't
we? Man don't like being called vile.
Man don't like being dependent. Don't tell me I'm dependent.
Don't tell me I can't do any, I can't make a choice. Don't
tell me I can't do something to manipulate God into doing
something for me. Man says, I don't like that,
so I won't believe it. I won't have it. Then the gospel becomes
a mystery to him. But when God saves his people,
he not only makes them understand this mystery of how Christ saved
his people, that it's all in him, he makes them believe it.
He makes them believe it. And it's not an academic exercise.
He makes them experience this mystery in their hearts. And
I have a simple three-point outline to show us that this morning.
Number one is this, the mystery of the gospel must be revealed,
has to be. And the means that God's pleased
to use to reveal this mystery to his people is preaching. Look
at verse 25. Paul says, whereof I am made
a minister. according to the dispensation
of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of
God. Now, the way that God saves sinners
is such a mystery to the natural man. He can't figure out the
answer. Somebody's got to tell him the
answer to the mystery. Somebody's got to tell him. That's
the only way we're going to know. Somebody's got to tell us the
answer. The only way you and I can ever be saved, the only
way we can ever know this mystery and have Christ revealed to our
hearts is by hearing the preaching of the word. This is pretty simple,
but get a hold of this. The only way you can know Christ
is somebody's got to preach Christ to you. Isn't that simple? But that's so, it's not more
complicated than that. And God has laid this responsibility
to preach the word, to preach Christ to his people. That's
their responsibility. The responsibility of God's preachers
is to preach the word. We're not to build great ministries. We're not to try to get big followings. Somehow out there in the internet
world, people figured out that I'm a pastor. You would not believe
the emails that I get telling me how I can grow this ministry
and how I can have a bigger outreach and get more people, you know,
what's all these things you got to do to get more people. That's
not my job. That's not my job. My job is
to preach the word. The business of the church is
not to feed the hungry or to house the homeless. Those things
need to be done. Please understand, I'm not against
that. I'm all for it. We should take care of people.
We should help people in our society. Those things need to
be done, and we've got social programs for that. You know what
the church needs? What the world needs? We need
God to give us preachers who are bold enough to clearly preach
Christ and Christ alone. Every single time God gives us
the opportunity to preach. That's what the church needs.
That's what sinners need. That's what this world needs.
That's the responsibility of God's preachers. The word dispensation
that Paul uses here, it means stewardship or administration. This is what Paul is saying.
The Lord made me a preacher and he gave me the responsibility
to preach to my generation, to preach Christ to my generation.
And you know, Paul's ministry, mostly it was to the Gentiles.
Aren't we thankful? Aren't us Gentiles thankful?
And the way that God's preachers make this mystery known to people
is by fully preaching the word. When Paul says here, to fulfill
the word of God, that word means to fully preach. God sent me
to fully preach the Word of God, the whole Word. You know, God's
servants, they don't preach what they want so that they can accomplish
their goals. They don't preach what they want
to try to shoot at people. They don't preach what they want
to try to correct people or embarrass people or get them to do what
the preacher wants them to do. False preachers do that, but
not God's preachers. God's servants, Preach the Word. They preach
the Word. They say what the Word says.
They expound the Word of God. They explain the Word of God. That's why the Apostle Paul told
Timothy, Timothy, preach the Word. There's your instruction. In season and out of season.
Whether people like it or whether they don't like it. No matter
what's going on, preach the Word. That's what people need to hear.
And me personally, I like to preach verse by verse through
a whole book. We pick a book and we preach
verse by verse through it. Go to another one. I'll tell
you why I like that. So that you and me are taught
the Word of God. If I would pick and choose different
texts, and I do that sometimes, but if I did that all the time,
this is what I'm afraid of, that we tend to be taught my favorite
passages and my favorite doctrines or things that are favorite to
me. But if we go verse by verse through the word of God, we're
forced to deal with every verse. We're forced to deal with every
topic as it comes up. I touched on giving in the Sunday
school lesson this morning. I've preached on giving here
a number of times. It's not something that I do
very often. I do it as it comes up in the word of God. It's shocking. how little I have to say about
that from this pulpit for people to give. I don't have to keep
harping on it. But as it comes up in Scripture,
sometimes a pastor might feel, if I preach on giving, people
are going to think I'm twisting their arm to make them give more.
Well, we just deal with it as it comes up in Scripture. We're
forced to deal with it then. At that time, be helpful for
God's people. But if we go verse by verse like
that, we're fully taught the Word of God, the whole message
of the Word of God. Now, you know, I mean, relatively
speaking, this is a small book. I read books bigger than this
on vacation. I mean, you know, it's a, boy, it's a big book
though. I mean, woo, it's a big book.
I mean, what a message in that. What an enormous responsibility
to fully preach the Word of God. And I ask you, please, Please
pray for us that preach, because who's sufficient for these things?
But Paul gives us three marks here of God's pastors, of the
three marks of a faithful pastor. And number one is this, the man
is gonna have a work ethic. He's gonna have a work ethic.
Someone asked Bruce Crabtree one time, they were at a congregation,
were looking for a pastor, and they asked Bruce, where are we
gonna find a pastor? And Bruce said, I can tell you
where you're gonna find him, he's working a job. because he's got a work
ethic. What an enormous responsibility.
You're going to find God's preacher working. Look what he says in
verse 29 here. Wherefore I also labor, striving
according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. This
is what God's preachers do. They labor, striving, working
hard, depending on God to do the work, depending on the Lord
to give the increase. Number two, you will find God's
pastor caring for you. I'm not just preaching doctrine
here to the air. I'm preaching to you. I care
about you. I sit in my study and think about
each and every one of you every day. I think about, God's pastor
cares for you. And here's how you can tell he
cares for you. He'll do whatever it takes to preach the gospel
to you. I mean, whatever it takes, whatever it costs you. Verse
24, Paul says, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and
fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ
in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. The apostle
endured everything that he, and you know all his sufferings,
his travelings, everything that happened to him. He endured everything
that he did for God's church, for his body. And the purpose,
here's the third thing about God's preachers. His purpose. is that you know Christ. That's
his purpose. You just listen to a man long
enough, you'll tell what his purpose is. Is his purpose to glorify
himself and exalt himself and get something from you? Or is
his purpose so that you know Christ? Is his purpose so that
you know his name and you become his follower or that you know
Christ's name and become a follower of Christ? Which is it? God's
preachers, his purpose is that you'll know Christ. In verse
25, Paul says, God's given this dispensation, which is given
to me. God gave it to me. for you, for you, so that you'll
know Christ for your benefit. In verse 28, he says, whom we
preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. This is why
we preach Christ, so that you'll know him, so that you'll trust
him, so that you'll run to him, so that you'll rest in him. And if you already know Christ,
you know we do. We keep preaching Christ to you. So that you grow
in grace so that you grow the knowledge of Christ so that you'll
your heart will be comforted in hearing of him and knowing
him and hearing again of him. And you think what a blessing
it is to have a place where we can come and hear of Christ.
That he's the issue. God help us, that's this is the
issue. that you know Christ. And I hope
we never take that for granted. God's given that to us here.
I hope that we guard it carefully and we never take it for granted.
And none of this point about God making this mystery known
through preaching, none of this is meant to exalt preachers.
But it does exalt preaching. It does exalt the preaching of
Christ. And I exalt the the means that
God uses preaching of Christ, because that's the means that
God uses to reveal himself. That's the means that God uses
to reveal this mystery to his people. And may God give us the
faith to listen, to listen and to hang our souls upon it. Pride
number two, the mystery that God reveals it through preaching.
Here's the mystery. It's how God saves sinners. Verse
26. even the mystery which hath been
hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints. Now, the mystery is simply this. It's how God saves sinners.
It's all in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
a mystery. You know, I told you I read books
thicker than this on vacation. And almost always they're mysteries.
I just love reading a mystery and just trying to figure out,
you know, for the last page, you know, who committed the crime
or what's going on here. A mystery is a whodunit. You
know what they call a mystery? A whodunit. Well, the mystery
of the gospel is whodunit. Christ done it. That's not good
English, Sandy. I'm sorry, but that's Christ
done it. Christ did it all. He did it all. He is all. It's all in Him. All of salvation
has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all in
Him. All. Now you trust Him. You trust Him and your soul will
be saved. And if you understand that Christ
is all, that Christ did it all, do you understand that? Then
you understand the mystery of the whole gospel. You really
do. Now if you understand the mystery of the gospel, how did
you come to understand it? is the answer to the mystery.
You know that somebody has preached Christ to you. Somebody did that. See, it's the preaching of Christ.
That's how God makes Christ known to his people. I said that before
that that's so simple. But now it can be missed because
it's so simple. If you want people to know Christ,
here's what you do. Preach Christ to them. Preach
Christ to them. That's how God reveals himself
to his people. Now Paul says in ages past, that's
been hidden. And yes, it's been hidden, but
God didn't hide the gospel for this purpose so that people couldn't
find it. No, it pleased God to hide the gospel in type and in
picture and in promise. The gospel was hidden in the
Old Testament. It was hidden in the sacrifices. It was hidden
in the priesthood and all those holy days that were required
by the Old Testament law. The gospel was hidden in the
law itself. Christ was hidden in all those
Old Testament types and promises and pictures. He's hidden in
those things. But Christ was also revealed in those things,
in those types and pictures. The Lord said, Abraham saw my
day and was glad. And you know what the Lord was
talking about there? That ram caught in the thicket by its
horns that Abraham offered up in the stead of his son Isaac.
Now that's a picture. It's one of my favorite pictures
in the Old Testament. Abraham saw that. Christ was
revealed to him in that picture. He saw that Christ, the Lamb
of God is coming to be offered up in the stead of his people.
And that Messiah is coming through Isaac. He's coming and he's going
to be sacrificed in the place of his people so that they can
live. See, that's hidden in that Old Testament picture, but Abraham
saw it. You and I see it. Christ was
hidden in that animal that God killed to cover Adam and Eve's
nakedness after they fell. Well, that animal, the skin of
that animal, Christ is hidden in that, but he's also revealed
in that. That's the righteousness of Christ. The only way our nakedness
and shame can be covered is in Christ. Christ is hidden in Abel's
land that he offered as a sacrifice to God. Now, that's a picture. Christ is hidden in that, but
he's also revealed in that. The only way you and I can come
to God is through the blood of Christ, through his sacrifice.
That's the only way God can be worshiped. Christ was hidden
in that Ark of Noah. Christ is the only way to be
delivered from God's wrath. It's by being in Christ, just
like Noah was in that Ark. Yeah, the Ark is a fantastic
story, isn't it? But Christ is hidden in that,
and He's revealed in it, if God gives you eyes to see. And Christ
was hidden in all the Old Testament sacrifices. It's just, I couldn't
even count how many different sacrifices were required by the
Old Testament law. Just an animal sacrifice for,
seemed like every life event. Now the law required those things,
absolutely it did. But God was never pleased with
those sacrifices. Those are just animal sacrifices.
Animal sacrifices could never pay for human sin, could they?
Never. That's not why God had those sacrifices being offered.
You know why those sacrifices were offered? Here's how they're
useful. Those animal sacrifices were
only useful as a picture of Christ, who was coming to sacrifice himself
to God for the sins of his people that would put away their sins,
and the sacrifice of Christ got the job done. The only thing
those animal sacrifices did is remind people we're still sinners.
We offered a bullet yesterday, we're offering a bullet today.
We offered all those sacrifices on the Day of Atonement last
year, we're doing it again this year, because all those rivers
of blood of goats and calves and bullocks and sheep, turtle
doves, never put away sin. This keeps reminding us we need
one to come who put away our sin. And Christ came and did
it. Put away the sin of his people
once and for all. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now, that's hidden
in all those Old Testament sacrifices, but you understand the mystery
of those sacrifices, don't you? if you see Christ. And Christ
was hidden all the holy days of the Old Testament law. Think
about the day of atonement. Everything that was done on the
day of atonement, everything is a picture of Christ. Christ
is the priest who offers the sacrifice. Christ is the altar
on which the sacrifice is made. Christ is the sacrifice. Christ
is His blood sprinkled on the mercy seat. It's His blood offered
before the Lord that atones for the sin of His people. Sin wasn't
put away in that ceremony. Don't ever get hung up on the
ceremony of religion. It's Christ that the ceremony
pictures who put sin away. It's Christ. And you understand
that mystery. That mystery is not hidden from
you if you see Christ. The Sabbath day. The Sabbath
day was not given to force employers to give a people a day off work.
The Sabbath day wasn't given to force people to rest. I know
you want to go work on your farm, but you can't. You're not allowed
to, you know, you got to rest. And since you got to rest, you
can't do anything else. Well, I guess we'll go to the
temple, worship God, because I can't do anything else. That's not
why the Sabbath day was given. God gave that Sabbath day as
a picture of the believers resting in Christ. Christ has done it
all. He's left no work for you to
do. That's why you rest in Christ, because he left no work for you
to do. He finished it all. Now you see that mystery if you
see Christ. God didn't give us pages and
pages and pages and pages of his law so that man could keep
himself or make himself righteous by obeying all those commandments.
God gave pages and pages and pages of law to show us how sinful
that we are, to show us how much we need Christ. We read that
law and we say, well, that's impossible. It's impossible. Well, it's impossible for you,
impossible for me, not impossible for Christ. See, it's not that
the law is bad, the law is good. We're the ones who are bad. We're
the ones who are sinners. It's impossible for us to obey
God's holy law. It's impossible for us to even
want to. See, the law was given to show us Christ. Even the law
was given to show us Christ. Even the law was given to show
us grace. That we need somebody to come
and keep the law for us. That we've got to be saved by
grace. We can't be saved by our merit. Even the law was given
to show us Christ. The law appoints us to Christ
the law keeper. It appoints us to Christ our
righteousness. Now you trust Him. Trust Him, not your works
of the law. That's so obvious. if you see
Christ. Once you see him, mystery solved. Mystery solved. Now here's a
mystery to the old Jews. God always purposed to save the
Gentiles. He gave us several illustrations
of that in the Old Testament. God always intended to save the
Gentiles. God's election of a people is
not by human blood. It's not by human merit. It doesn't
have anything to do with the human being. God wasn't only
ever going to just save Jews. You know what the Jews were?
They're another picture. That's another way that Christ
was hidden in time. The gospel was hidden in time.
That nation Israel in the Old Testament, they were a picture
of spiritual Israel. God's spiritual Israel that he
chose to save, that Christ came to save. But God didn't just
elect Jews. Oh, God's greater than that.
He elected a people from every tribe, from every tongue, from
every nation. And you know why God did that?
Because God saves the worst kind of sinners. God doesn't just
save religious people. That's what the Jews represent.
They represent religious people. Gentiles like us, they represent
the heathen, the worst kind of people. God doesn't just save
religious people, good people. God saves sinners, the worst
kind of sinners. And that was such a mystery to
the Jews. They hated that so much. They
tried to throw the Lord off a cliff in his very first public message
when he told them that. But you see that. And not only
do you see it, you love it. If you see Christ, if you believe
him, see all of the mystery of how God saves sinners is hidden
in Christ. Christ is the revelation or he's
the answer to every spiritual question, to every spiritual
mystery, Christ is the answer. Now it seems to me like if you
can start with the answer, you're better off on every test, aren't
you? If you start with the answer, you're gonna know you have every
mystery solved. Look back at Ephesians chapter
three. This is something that we should be so thankful for. I know and believe what our Lord
said. He said, Abraham saw my day and was glad. But Abraham
could not see this thing as clearly as you do because he lived on
that side of the cross. We live on this side of it. Now
we see what God's done. The Old Testament prophets and
the fathers who wrote these Old Testament scriptures and lived
those pictures of Christ in the Old Testament, they couldn't
see those things as clearly as we do. Well, they sure wanted
to. Look at Ephesians 3 verse 1. For this cause I, Paul, the
prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you've heard
of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me for
you, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery.
See, even Paul couldn't know it until God made it known to
him. How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery.
as I wrote it for in a few words, whereby when you read, you may
understand my knowledge and the mystery of Christ. I have knowledge
of this because God revealed it to me. Which in other ages
was not made known unto the sons of men, as is now revealed unto
his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of
the promise in Christ by the gospel. Now the Old Testament
prophets and believers They were saved by faith. They were saved
by looking forward to Christ. But they couldn't see Christ
as clearly as we do. On this side of the cross, now
that Christ has come and accomplished, we see the life of the Lord Jesus. We see his sacrifice, his burial,
his resurrection, his ascending back to the Father. And then
we go back and read those Old Testament scriptures and we say,
oh, I see, I see that. The Old Testament prophets couldn't
see that as clearly as we do. What a blessing, what a blessing
God's given that to us, to see Him clearly. And the specific
mystery that Paul's talking about here is the new birth. A salvation
requires the work of the whole Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. The salvation of a sinner requires
The Father must elect a people. He must elect, choose that sinner
unto salvation. God the Son must come and make
those people righteous by His obedience. He must atone for
their sin by His sacrifice. And thirdly, the Holy Spirit
must give that sinner a new heart, a new nature. There's got to
be the work of all three. Salvation's impossible without
all three. The Jews, they needed to be given
new life. They need to be given spiritual
life just as much as the Gentiles did. Good, moral, religious,
upstanding people need to be given a new life just as much
as the heathen does. Just as much as the heathen.
And that brings me to the third point. A mystery is made known
by preaching. The mystery is Christ done it.
Here's the third thing though. That mystery must be experienced. It's got to be experienced. Verse
27, back in our text, Colossians 1. To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And I tell you this often that
this word hope means expectation. It means an expectation by faith. This is what believers expect. We expect these things. Why do
we expect them? Because we believe Christ. We
expect these things because we trust our soul to him. We expect
these things because I just expect by faith, I believe God's going
to keep his word. God's going to do what he says he's going
to do. And there's some things that a believer expects. A believer
expects someday to awake in heaven. In the image of Christ. Do not
bear this image of Adam anymore. to be perfectly conformed, just
like the Lord Jesus Christ. I expect someday to live in a
sinless body, with a sinless nature, in a sinless world, worshiping
Christ face-to-face. I expect that. I expect someday
to see the Lord Jesus Christ face-to-face. We see him by faith
now, we love him now, We long for him now, we preach him now,
we believe him now, but it's through a glass darkly, isn't
it? Oh my. I expect someday to see clearly,
to see him face to face. You do too if you believe him.
I got a question for you. Is that presumption or is that
confidence? I mean, there can be a fine line
between the two. Is that presumption or is that confidence? Well,
it's presumption. If any of our hope is based upon
what we do or what we don't do, that's presumption. If we just
say, well, it's gonna turn out all right in the end somehow.
I mean, I don't know how the Lord's gonna do it, but it's
just gonna turn out all right in the end. That's presumption.
That's not based upon a promise of God at all. It's presumption. If you think God is just so loving,
God loves everybody. He just will not send somebody
like me to hell. That's presumption. Because not only is that not
based upon the promise of God's word, that's the opposite of
what God's word says. But it's holy confidence. What
you expect is holy confidence in your faith and your confidence
is all in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you see that Christ is your
hope, that's not presumption. That's holy confidence because
he did what he came to do. He'll do what he promised that
he would do. Christ is our hope. Christ personally
is our hope. You know why the believer expects
to appear in glory? It's all based on what Christ
has done for his people. He made them righteous. He put
their sin away. And when they put this dead carcass
in the ground, they're done with that body of sin forever. And
they immediately go be with the Lord. And when the Lord returns,
He's going to raise that dead carcass in a holy, perfect body. So should they ever be with the
Lord. I believe that. I expect that. Because that's
what God promised. That's what God promised. Christ sacrificed
Himself for His people. Now nobody that He died for can
perish. It's impossible. Everybody He intended to save
is saved. I know that because of who Christ
is. He can't fail. He just can't. Believing that
the blood of Christ has put away the sin of his people, that's
not presumption. That's faith. Matter of fact,
since the word of God says his blood put away the sin of his
people, it's wrong not to believe that. And it's wrong not to trust
it. It's wrong not to trust the blood
of Christ as all my hope, since the word of God says it is. Does
that make sense? The Savior prayed. right before
he went to the cross. Even before he went to the cross,
he said, I finished the work. It's done, I finished it. He
prayed that his people be with him where he is, that they may
behold his glory. Now I believe, by faith, I'm
just confident of this. I expect it. The father's gonna
give Christ the mediator, everything he has. Because everything in
the mediation of Christ is all based upon his sacrifice, upon
his blood. And it's just not presumption
to presume or to believe and to expect that the father is
going to give his son everything he asks for. Of course, the father
is going to give the son everything he asks. He's well pleased with
the obedience and the sacrifice of his son. Christ is our hope. I can't stress that enough. I
want God to make that so real, make that true by faith in our
hearts. Christ is our hope. But listen,
Nobody can expect glory in heaven unless there's been a work of
grace in your heart now. You can't expect it. And that
work of grace in the heart is the new birth. Now I understand
the new birth is a mystery to the natural man. And you know
why it's a mystery to the natural man? You know why the new birth
is a mystery if somebody just got one nature? Because the new
birth, the mystery of the new birth cannot be known. until it's experienced in God.
I was talking to a man at the golf course one day. And we hadn't
seen him in a long time. We were talking about the new
birth and people saying that there's only one nature in a
believer and so forth. And we were talking about that.
And I told him, you know, people just say the believer only has
one nature. He looked at me like I had worms
crawling out of my ears. He said, I know I have two natures. He said, the part of me that
wants to pray, the part of me that wants to read God's word,
the part of me that needs to hear the gospel prayed, that's
the new man, that's not me, that's the new man. See, it's not a
mystery to him, because he experienced it. But until you experience
it, the new birth is a mystery. But I'm telling you this, you're
not going to glory without it. Paul described in the book of
Galatians, he described salvation this way, Christ formed in you,
in you. He described another place, saved
people. He described them as the temple of God, a temple. Why are you the temple of God?
Because Christ dwells in you, Christ dwells in you. Look at
Romans chapter eight. When the Holy Spirit gives life
to God's people, The Holy Spirit dwells in your heart and there's
no salvation where the Spirit does not dwell in us, in us. And I can show you that. Romans
chapter eight, verse eight. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. That puts an end to what we're
doing in the flesh, making God happy with us and bless us and
do something for us that he doesn't do for somebody else, right?
That puts an end to that once and for all. They that are in
the flesh cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
spirit of Christ, he's none of his. If the Spirit of Christ
does not dwell in you, you're not what He is. And if you're
what He is, the Spirit of Christ dwells in you. See, Christ is
our hope. He's all of our hope. Everything
that we expect is all based upon who the Lord Jesus Christ is
and Christ in you. That's the evidence that God
saved you. See, salvation is more than a
legal transaction. Yes, there is a legal transaction
that must take place. The debt must be paid. It has
to be paid. But there has to be a new nature
too. And the way the Holy Spirit gives this new nature, makes
you experience this grace in your heart, is through the preaching
of the seed of the word of God. And when Christ is in you, now
you've experienced it. You've experienced grace in the
heart. And when Christ is in you, there's
a love for Christ. There's a need for Christ. There's
a need for him to be your all. There's a joy that he is your
all. When Christ is in you, there's a need to hear Him preached.
And that's why we keep preaching Christ. That's why we keep preaching
Christ. Nobody loves to hear Christ preach
more than those who've experienced Him, who've experienced His grace,
who believe Him and love Him and need Him. That's the way
God saves His people. That's the way He reveals the
mystery, the answer to the mystery. That's the way He gives Him a
new birth. And that's the way he feeds and strengthens and
comforts his people along the way. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Well, God help us then to keep
preaching Christ and Christ alone. All right, let's bow together.
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this time
of worship. Father, I beg of you that you
would apply your word to our hearts that we might believe
on, rest in, find our hope and joy and confidence in Christ
alone. Bless this to the glory of Christ
that your people might look to him and find in him everything
we need. Father, all these things we ask
in that precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For his sake
and his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. If you would, turn to song number
466 and stand as we sing, Christ Liveth in Me. Once far from God and dead in
sin No light my heart could see But in God's Word the light I
found Now Christ liveth in me Christ liveth in me Christ liveth
in me Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me! As rays of light from yonder
sun, the flowers the earth set free. So life and light and love
came forth from Christ living in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. As lives the flower within the
seed, As in the cold the tree. So praise the God of truth and
grace, His Spirit dwelleth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation is that
Christ liveth in me. With longing all my heart is
still, That like Him I may be. As on the wondrous flood I dwell,
That Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in
me. Oh, what a salvation is that
Christ liveth in me.