If you will, turn with me to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. These first six verses will be my text for this morning's message. But let's read through these things and get them in our hearts and get them in our heads.

For I would that you 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 your 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 of the Father and of Christ. in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy. He's going to explain it all to you. He knows it all. He'll tell you anything you want to hear. And vain deceit. after the tradition of men, after the rudiments, that is, the basic principles of the world, and not after Christ.

For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him who's the head of all principality and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who had raised him from the dead.

And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him? having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Let no man, therefore, judge you and meet, You want to eat barbecue, eat barbecue. You want to eat chicken, eat chicken. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ.

Something has to give a shadow. Go out in a bare wheat field and see if you can find a shadow. The only shadow you're going to find is yours. He's the body that gave the shadow.

Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which you've not seen. vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which the body by joints and bands, having nourishment, ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God.

Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not, for all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. Which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting the body not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of this letter. If you will turn back with me now to Colossians chapter 2. Paul's epistle to the Colossians chapter 2 and verses 1 through 6. The message this morning is learning to walk in Christ. Not walk with him side by side, but walk in Christ.

I have five things I want to say leading up to my text in verse 6. The preacher's conflict, which he talks about in verse 1. The believer's comfort that he talks about in verse 2. The hidden treasure, verse 3. Pressing for an acknowledgment, in verse 4. and watching God's hand in the church. And then my text in verse 6, learning to walk in Christ.

Let's go back to the beginning in verse 1, the pastor's conflict. He said, for I would that you knew what great conflict, not a little conflict, but a great conflict, that I have for you. and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh." It's good every now and then to let folks know that you love them. And that's what Paul's doing here. Even those that had never seen him, he never met them. He never shook their hand. He never looked them in the eye.

I get cards. I don't even know if you know this, but there's a bulletin board in the back. And when I get a card concerning this church or concerning me as your pastor, I always post it back on the board. It's got eight or nine new notes back there. You need to take your time and read them. They're precious. And some of them, I don't know who they are. I may have met them, but the name does not struck a bell with me. And like Paul, I'm still concerned for them. They were concerned enough to write me a thank you letter for preaching the gospel, something that fed them and touched their hearts. And I care for them, but I don't really know.

But he said we have a conflict. That word conflict means a serious disagreement. It means an argument. Something very important. It means to go into battle. Most of you know that there was war in Vietnam. You know what they called that? A conflict. We had the same thing went on in Korea. They called it the Korean conflict, the battle. Battle.

God's work of salvation is an inward work of grace. The stony heart's removed, replaced with a heart of flesh, a heart that can be touched, a heart that can love, a heart that can be kind, reasoned with, persuaded, a heart that can believe and commit and bow, submit to God. And this work's not easy to detect. Folks at Corinth started listening to the Judaizers, I mean, at Galatia. And Paul wrote a letter to them, and he said, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set before you crucify."

What's he talking about evidently? He's talking about with evidence, evidence in the Word of God, what that crucifixion was about, who he died for, why he died, who's he trying to satisfy, what's going on, what was accomplished, reconciliation. And Paul said, I said all them things before you and you totally ignored them and now you're trying to live by the law of God.

There was spiritual conflict over their status. What's this conflict all about in a pastor or a preacher? It's a conflict of status. I'm trying to determine out here, am I preaching to save people or am I preaching to people that's so confused they don't know what they believe? Or am I preaching to rebels? There's a conflict. I want to feed God's sheep. Rebel, how would you like to be going to war in Vietnam and at night you go there and feed the enemy? Casting pearls before swine, that type of thing. Oh, what a conflict. Folks at Corinth, they had all kinds of Conflicts going on there. They had a conflict over who saved who. How foolish is that? God saves. Men are just instruments. They're just instruments.

You know, a lot of people misunderstood that in the early days when the church was first being organized into assemblies. A lot of those men had come. prostrate themselves down before the apostles. Don't do that. Don't worship us. We're just men. We're just instruments. We ain't any different than you are. This thing's of God.

The conflict's there over the elements to the supper. There's no reason for anybody to serve grape juice to their hearers and call it keeping the ordinance of God. He's clear as a bell. Wine and unleavened bread. Period. End of story. Not Kool-Aid. Wine. They didn't call Christ a winebibber because he drank Kool-Aid. They called him a winebibber because he drank wine.

Conflicts. There were conflicts there over the ordinance. They'd gather together for a big feast. They'd have a big party and call that keeping the ordinances of God, keeping the supper. But here's what he's saying. I want you to know if they didn't care about you and didn't love you, there'd be no conflict. I wouldn't be concerned. I'd let you go do whatever you want to do. But there's a conflict. And my messages are arranged by these conflicts. When all these things are said and done, that's where the message came from.

And then in verse 2, he unveils his innermost desires. He said that your hearts might be comforted. Oh, men and women come in here troubled, sometimes troubled, just don't know what they're going to do. Don't know which end up. You don't know what that means to me when that person comes to me and says, boy, you answered all my questions today. Comforted that they might be, now listen to this, that they might be knit together in love. I started to bring this little thing she cleans iron skillets with. Stainless steel, but it's all knit together. It's woven together. It's one piece. I don't know if I can explain this or not, but in the experience of grace and in our knowledge of the truth, we're all in union with Christ. Are we not?

Well, as you begin to experience these things and God begins to work in your heart, He weaves us together. We're all one. We're one. He just keeps telling us that. Go over to John 17 sometime, you don't have to do it right now, and read Our Lord's High Priestly Prayer. That they all might be one, Father, as we are one. Thou and me, I and them, we're one. We're one. In the body of Christ, those who believe in this assembly, we're one. Are we not? When one hurts, we all hurt. When there's a conflict somewhere, a sore spot, man, let a stick or something whack you in the shin real good sometimes. Boy, you hurt, don't you? That's tender. You hurt.

Well, when one of us hurt, we all hurt. Somebody just mentioned, this is a common thing among men who drive trucks. You forget that ball on the back that you pull trailers with, and you walk into that thing and crack your shins on it. Boy, somebody can tell me about that, and I hurt. As soon as they tell me, I can feel it. Why? Because I've been there and done that. And we've all been through these things. And when men hurt, I understand. I've been there. The hurt just comes right back to me. Been there, had these doubts, had these trials, went through this. We're knit together. And he said, oh, that they might benefit from the riches of the assurance of understanding, the full assurance of understanding. Well, you can't really lay hold on something until you understand it, can you? But oh, what assurance it brings when you do. And he said, that's my prayer for you. that you might benefit from the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God.

You know, what is that talk about there? He says, God and of the Father and of Christ. He's talking about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. That's a mystery, isn't it? We have one God. Our God is one God. He's not three gods. We have one God. But he reveals himself in three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

We have a father. I can enter into some understanding of a father making full provision for his family, can't you? My father made full provision for me. There was always food on the table. There was a place to clean up and a soft bed to lie on. We can enter into that, can't we? God the Father made full provision for all his people, all his sheep, all his elect, in his Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came as God into the flesh, took upon himself an eternal union with our flesh. And God the Son accomplished all that provision that the Father made. He made it a reality. He made it a certainty. He bore our sins. That means I don't bear them. He bears them. He bore our sins and his own body on the tree. Faith doesn't say, well, I hope when I get there, my sins are gone. My sins are gone in Christ. They're gone. There's no maybe about what he accomplished on the cross. He accomplished it. He said it's finished. That means it's done. He did what he said he was going to do. He provided us with a perfect righteousness.

He become, as a servant, he was equal. He thought it not robbery to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, and become obedient. Undead. What was that all about? That's to provide me with a righteousness, something I could never do. He did that. Know maybe about it. He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe him.

And God, the Holy Spirit, I'm going to tell you right now, you ain't just going to grit your teeth and believe. Oh, if I get to hurting, preacher, I'm going to come. No, you won't. No, you won't. I tell you when you're going to come and listen and bow and believe, when the Lord our God in the form of the Spirit comes into your heart and takes what I'm saying and makes it real, real, real salvation, real faith, real repentance, makes me hate myself and love God.

Huh? This whole world goes to church so they can feel good about themselves. Ask them. They'll tell you. One old man told me after a message one night, he come out of the church, and he said, I always thought a man went to church, he ought to come away feeling better about himself than he went in. Well, I hope not. I hope not. I hope you leave here hating yourself. Does that sound evil? It's not evil, it's godly. I want you to hate yourself. I want you to see what you are by nature. I want you to love God who made provision for you.

And that's what Paul's talking about here. He's unveiling his heart. He's saying that they might benefit from the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. Knit together. My first wife, before she died, one of the hobbies she took up was knitting. And I'd sit and watch her. And she'd have all this yarn and those needles. And she got pretty good at it, boy. She'd go along. And when she got done, it was a piece of cloth. Amazing. Amazing. And that's what he's talking about here. We're knit together. The Lord. has worked in such a way to knit our hearts together.

Somebody's going through a crisis, I've suffered just like they did. Is there a contention? Boy, I want to get right in the middle of it, don't you? Oh. were knit together, all trust the same promises, love the same Savior, bow to the same Lord, all share the same spiritual union in Christ, were one.

And concerning love, the scripture said we love him because he first loved us. And that love is manifested in a union. And if there's no intervening, no intertwining of love, For our brother, then God's love was never manifest in our heart.

For one body and one spirit, what comforts one comforts all. What comforts the body of Christ is the full assurance of understanding and acknowledging the mystery of God. They do something about it. That's what that word acknowledging means. It don't mean they went, you want to see that? Look in the back window car. I see that little dog back there doing this. That's what men do. That's not acknowledging. Acknowledging is when it's put to work, isn't it? Yeah, that's when you bow. Oh, I believe, but I've never really bowed. You don't believe. That simple.

It's God entering into a union with our flesh and doing for us all things that we could never do for ourselves. And God the Spirit interacting with the gospel, confirming that truth that that man's saying in your heart. He confirms his election. Paul said, I know your election of God. He didn't, there's nothing wishy-washy about it. He knew it. How'd he know it? He watched what they did and what they said. His spirit comes in us and we begin to cry our father. First time in our life we realize we have a heavenly father and he cares. He cares. He loves us. If he didn't love us, he wouldn't have arranged for us to heal, would he? Wouldn't have given us the ability to believe. Wouldn't have led us to repentance.

And then thirdly, Paul talks about a treasure. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Look back with me at Colossians chapter 1, verse 18. He goes to tell us who Christ is. He's the image, he said a little earlier there in chapter one, he's the image of the invisible God. Everything you're ever going to know about God, you're going to know from him. This is God come into the flesh. I wonder what God's like. Study Christ and find out. He's created all things and he maintains all things.

Verse 18, he's the head of the body of the church. our federal head, he's the beginning, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Now watch this. That in all things he might have the preeminence. How come? God designed all things, God the Father, God the Spirit reveals all things. How come Christ has the preeminence? For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. That's why. That's why. You know, it never talks about us coming to the Father. It talks about us coming to the Son, don't it? All that the Father's given me, he said, is going to come to me. When God teaches a man what to do, he comes to Christ. How come? Because it pleased God that in Him, all preeminence, pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, fullness of power, revelation, reconciliation, mercy, grace, judgment, eternal life. Christ is all and in all that believes. There's no other way to know God, no other way to approach God or receive anything from God or even to worship God except in Christ.

Now, let me show you something here. Moses said to the Lord, they were having a conversation. He spoke to Moses face to face. Listen to what he said. Moses said, I'm going down there. He said, you go down there to Egypt. Wow. most powerful nation in the world at that time. And there's one monarch, one potentate in there, Pharaoh, claims to be God, acts like he's God, gives orders like he's God. And he said, when I come up before him, who am I going to tell him sent me? He can't see you. He don't know you. He hasn't acknowledged you. Who am I to tell him? You know what the Lord said? Tell him I am sent. You know what I am is? That means God. God. Now watch this. All through the book of John, you're going to keep running on this I am. He said over in John chapter 6, he said, I am the bread. You know what he's saying there? God, the bread. Huh? I am the good shepherd. God, the shepherd. He said to Mary and Martha both, I'm the resurrection, God the resurrection. I am the way, the truth, and the life. God the way, God the truth, God the life. I and the Father are one. We're one. And all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him.

How could we ever understand worship by a dead lamb or a burning altar and that flesh thrown up on that altar? Bring the lamb in, they slit its throat, catch its blood, skin it, dissect it. It wasn't just throwing a dead animal up on a burning fire. They dissected that thing and laid it on the altar. How are you ever going to understand anything about worship? I tell you, if we did that today, men would look at us like we're nuts. They'd have the bleeding heart liberals down here tomorrow morning with their posters killing these innocent lambs. You're not going to understand those things apart from Christ.

A priest catching that blood, here he goes. He's going into a tent specially made just for this. whatever, this vessel full of blood. And here goes this high priest and he goes into the tent and there's a big veil dividing the holy place. Nobody goes back there but him. And he goes back there and I guess lifts the veil himself. That's what Christ did. And he entered in and takes that blood and here's the Ark of the Covenant. This is God's A picture of God's everlasting covenant of grace. And here it is. And over top of that is a mercy seat. The only way you can have mercy is in this covenant. And he takes that blood and he sprinkles the mercy seat. Oh my. How are you going to understand that apart from Christ? You see what I'm saying? How can we understand heaven or hell, salvation or damnation apart from Christ? All the wisdom of God is in him. Of creation, providence, and salvation. You want to know what creation's all about? Study Christ. It's for him. And that way said, he created all things and they are by him and for him.

And then, fourthly, a clear declaration. One lady that don't come here anymore said, I don't understand why you have to criticize other religions or call them cursed of God. Why? The same reason Christ and the apostles did, to warn men of the danger of them. John the Baptist called them vipers. He didn't make a special seat for them. They were used to going in and getting the chief seats in the synagogue. They come, here they are out here in the wilderness, and John's baptizing men in the river, and they come out there, and he said, you vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath of God? Huh? Maybe that's what I ought to do sometimes. Somebody new comes in here and just tell them, who do you think you are? That's reality, isn't it?

And Paul, you know, the apostles, John the Baptist called them vipers. Our Lord said they were sons of Satan. That's pretty rough, ain't it? You're of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you'll do. That's what he told. And what about the apostles? Paul called them accursed of God and called them perverts. He said, you pervert the gospel of Christ. You're a pervert. And then he tells them this. He said, I'm saying these things, and I'm not among you bodily, but I'm there in the spirit. There in the spirit. Oh.

Verse four. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. It means to charm or enchant someone into doing what they know better than to do. That's what that means. beguile. It actually has a strong sexual content. And how enticing are the words of false prophets, calling for decisions, calling for an experience, calling for evidence of speaking in tongues for a moment's pleasure.

Proverbs 7, Solomon's not warning his children about prostitution, though it might be a good warning to give. But it's about false religion trying to lure God's children in for a moment's pleasure and a lifelong regret. That's what it's about. Isn't it funny that the Lord, over in the book of Revelations, he ties all false religion together and gives them the name The great whore. The great whore. Tells us a lot about false religion.

Preaching is not just declaring the truth. It's revealing the false along with the truth. It's setting the truth and the lie side by side. It's saying this is so and this is not. And then fifthly, the preacher's interest. God's preachers are truly concerned with the souls of men. One man asked me, he said, you put your messages on sermon audio? And I said, yes, sir. He said, I tried that, but I didn't get a very good response. And I told him that we did. And I said this, I'm not trying to build anything. I'm not. I'm trying to minister to men's souls. That's what I'm trying to do.

The Lord said, I'll build my church. Who's going to do it? He is. Well, then I need to quit trying. I just need to minister to men's souls. He'll do the building. I don't control providence. He does. I invite men, but I know right now if God don't work in their heart and His providence, they're not going to show up. They're not going to be here. And if they do, they're here by His hand. So what am I supposed to do? Minister to their souls. Tell them the truth. Preach to them.

I'm trying to minister to men's souls, and I don't care if this congregation grows or it don't grow. You'll build His church. What if I did build a big congregation and half of them didn't know the Lord? What would I have done? My only concern is to make his gospel known. And for a dollar on the internet, our messages go out into all the world. Anybody with a computer can hear these messages, or even a cell phone. They're available worldwide. And I couldn't tell you, I don't have the ability to get in there anymore. But I used to monitor and look. And our messages are downloaded in countries that I didn't even know existed. Little islands out in the middle of nowhere. People hearing those things and acknowledging those things, downloading those things, listening to them. Isn't that amazing to me? Absolutely amazing.

And now verse six, here's my text. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him, established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Gratitude. You can't hear the gospel if you're a believer and your gratitude not be stirred in your heart. Oh, I'm thankful, I'm not. I was in religion up to my eyeball. One man said he was going down for the third count. You see them cartoons, you know they hold up one finger and then two. I'm going down for the third count. Picked like a brand out of the fire. Pulled me out. Am I thankful? I hope I am. And some of you, same way. You got relatives trying to drag you off to this church and that church. Oh, come over here. Come over here and listen. At least come and listen. Boy, they know how to do it. That's why he said your enemy shall be they of your own household. You love them. You'll listen to them. But you better listen with an eye on Christ.

as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord. How do we receive Christ Jesus the Lord? Well, first of all, through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. That's how you receive Him. That's how you receive Him. That's how we're to walk in Him. You never leave that. Never leave worship. Never leave the assembly of God. It's important. Faith cometh. That means it keeps coming. Faith is renewed. It grows. It's living, it has to feed. And you come and you hear. That's how we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, through the preaching of the gospel of Christ.

How else did we receive him? Well, we received him because he's all we need to learn how to walk. I don't need to know anything else. I could sit here and preach messages on and on and on describing how men ought to walk. You can go into any church and hear it any given Sunday. They'll tell you. Walk this way. Walk that way. And they're talking about walking with the Lord. This verse is not talking about that. This is talking about walking in the Lord. What does that mean? Well, do I stand in Him? Is my standing in Him? I have nowhere else to stand. I stand on the rock. The salvation in Him, it's all in Him, isn't it? Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's my hope. Well, when I walk, I'm to walk the same way. I don't need anything additional.

We received Christ Jesus the Lord by an inward work of God. Then know this, you have to have it continually till you die. It's not a one-time shot. God continues to work in your heart. Every time you come in this place, you ought to be convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment satisfied. Every time. Not one time. Every time.

And then thirdly, we receive Christ Jesus the Lord as vile sinners, totally dependent on God. Huh? Yeah. Walk that way. Your mom was looking at this word circumspectly. It comes from the word that they use that we got our word acrobat from. Can you imagine a tightrope walker? He don't just, you know, I can't do that walk. I see a lot of these guys walking that walk. You don't see no tightrope walker doing that. Boy, he is so careful when he puts that foot out. If that foot ain't in the middle of that line, he's going down. Carefully, very carefully. Life or death. Circumspect. He walked. And that's the way we walk. We understand we're sinners being saved by grace. I don't want to walk off the end of a cliff for no reason for it. I want to walk in him. You walk outside of him, you might as well walk off a cliff. I have no forgiveness but in him. I have no righteousness except in him. I have no connection of God except in him. I have no power over anything except in him. Well, if that's the way I received him, that's the way I need to walk. Boy, that'll shut your mouth, won't it? Blah, blah, blah on this and blah, blah, blah on that. I'll shut you now. You'll realize you're a sinner being saved by grace.

Lord, help me when I put my foot down to be on solid ground. You see somebody that ain't? Oh, thank God. Thank God he intervened. There go I except for the grace of God. I received him as a gift of God's grace. Walk that way. Walk that way. Old John Newton said, to his grace that taught my heart to fear, in grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. And then listen to this. I received Christ by the word of God. Then walk that way. Walk that way.

Let me very quickly just show you one example of this over in 1 Peter chapter 2. I actually, when I first prepared this message, I was going to use this whole chapter in 1 Peter chapter 2 to show you these things, but I think Colossians 2 is a better foundation for it. But I do want you to see this. This is something believers struggle with who don't follow the word of God concerning their walk in Christ.

1 Peter chapter 2, look at verse 19 with me. For this is thankworthy. What's that mean? Are people going to thank you? No. No, that's not what he's talking about. This is thankworthy. That is, you're going to give God thanks for it. If it appears in your life, you're going to be thankful for it. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. He didn't do anything. But boy, he gets nailed for it. For what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? You deserve it to start with. But if when you do well and you suffer for it, you take it patiently, now watch this, this is acceptable with God. What's he talking about? He's talking about taking it on the chin. That's what he's talking about. And not turning around and knocking the man out. Just walking away. Walking away.

Now listen to this, verse 21. For even here unto where you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us with an example that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously." He committed himself to God. Now watch this. who him own self bear our sins and his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness by whose stripes we're healed. For we were a sheep going astray but are now returned to the shepherd and bishop of your soul.

We have a real solid evidence of salvation in Christ if we can do this, and it ought to make us thankful that we were able to. The word of God is the sole source of information about God and sin, his character, how God saves sinners, everything else is opinions. We're never turned over to ourselves to figure this thing out. Paul said, I delivered unto you that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. That he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scripture.

But here's the best reason for walking in Christ, down in verse 9. I'm going to jump a little ahead of my time. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. As we received him, so walk ye in him. Does that make sense? Boy, it does to me. walk in him. That preacher don't ever tell me how to walk. That's not true. I tell you every week. You can't walk in him if you don't know him. And you can't know him unless you hear the gospel. You can sit here and preach on all these things, discipline and all these things. You can preach on them from now on. You're never going to make anybody disciplined. Never happened. I tell you where they learn it, Christ crucified. Christ crucified.