We'll return with me to Colossians
chapter 1 this morning. We've been going through this
epistle for a few weeks now. But I want to focus on the latter
part of the first chapter this morning. How are we mortal sinful
beings today to know the mind and the purpose of the eternal
God, who is the source of all life, the creator? How are we
in our lowly state, worms the scripture calls us, how are we
to know the mind and the purpose of God? The answer is, in this
case, by the instrument of a letter, which is God's Word, written
1,965 years, give or take a year or two ago, from prison to a
company of believers at Colossae. We don't find God in philosophy,
in human wisdom. We don't find it in science,
falsely so-called. We don't find it in mysticism,
you know, going off to meditate and going off to see the guru
and things like this. We don't find it there. We don't
visit places. We don't find God in buildings. We do not do that. We don't. The only reason we know that
God is here with us this morning in this place is not because
of any consecration that any religious man might have made
of it. Absolutely not. It's just simply this, that the
gospel of God's grace in Christ is being preached among people
who believe it, and we have the promise of God himself, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Two or three met together in
my name. I will be there in the midst.
So it's not in places and shrines as such, but where God's people
meet. And it's in God's word. It's in God's word. This word,
this book that has been miraculously preserved down the ages, down
thousands of years, written by lots of different authors, written
by lots of different people, inspired by God. The Word of
God, in Romans 3 verse 4, it says this, whatever man thinks,
let God be true and every man a liar. Whatever so-and-so thinks,
whatever this respected person thinks that might be paraded
on the television, He's a liar compared with the truth of God.
Let God be true and every man a liar. To most people in the
world around us, most that we meet, the word of God is hidden. It's a mystery. If you look down
at verses 25 and 26 of Colossians chapter one, 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, even the mystery. The word of God is the mystery.
which has been hid from ages and from generations. and now
is made manifest to his saints. To most, that Word of God is
a hidden mystery, but it's revealed, it's divinely revealed to God's
saints. Who are his saints? Not those
made such by man, not at all. God's saints are made by God.
They're chosen in eternity, in Christ, before the beginning
of time, and they're called out in time. They're brought to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is that belief that marks
them out as the saints of God. Saints means set-apart ones. It's revealed to God's saints,
the truth, the hidden mystery that almost all people in the
world around us that we look at, it's hidden from them, it's
a mystery, they can't understand it. But it's revealed by God
to his people, the people he set apart for his own eternal
purposes. And here we have the key to life. This is the key to life. People
seek meaning in life. Here it is, in this book. It's
the truth of God. Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. Jesus
said, Thy word is truth. Pontius Pilate said, What is
truth? What is truth? The idea that somebody can have
objective truth. Yes, this is objective truth. This is true knowledge. True
knowledge. You know that Christ, it says
in the scripture, is made unto us by God. He's made unto us
wisdom from God. as opposed to the wisdom of this
world. Wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
in Him is knowledge, in Him is the true knowledge, the true
meaning of life. Here is the key to understanding
what is this existence that we have, what is this consciousness,
this awareness that we are thinking sentient people, what is it?
The key to it is here, in this book. You need look no further.
Dig deep into this book. Dig deep, because it's Paul's
will that those who believe are filled with the knowledge of
his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. But you look no
further than here. Here, in this book, God reveals
to his people the glorious riches of his otherwise hidden truth. Verse 27, 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. Jesus
called his disciples in John chapter 15, Jesus called his
disciples his friends, his friends. You know the mark of friends,
I've said it often but I'll say it again. The mark of true friends
is that you share your secrets together, that you don't share
with others. You tell your friends your secrets. If they're truly your friends,
you tell them your secrets and he the friend of sinners. He,
the friend of his people, has told us the hidden mystery, the
secrets that are hidden with God. How? He's revealed it to
us in the truth of his word. So come with me this morning,
in the spirit, by this letter written nearly 2,000 years ago,
let us come into the throne room of Almighty God. And I'm telling
you, Prepare to be overwhelmed, because the more you dig, the
more you discover. The more you dig. You know, it's
like, isn't it interesting that space and the universe and astronomy,
the cleverer we get and the more powerful the instruments are
that we get, The more they reveal to us, how much more there is
that we know nothing about. The more they reveal to us, the
more that there is out there that we know nothing about. And
so it is with the Word of God. You cannot plumb the depths of
it. You cannot ever get to the bottom of it. It's always going
to amaze you. Prepare to be overwhelmed. Paul
writes, as we've already seen earlier in the chapter, he writes
to saints, those that God has called, set apart, to faithful
brethren, because saints, when they hear the gospel, are faithful
brethren. They hear his voice, and they
obey him, and they follow him, and they walk in his footsteps,
looking unto him, the author and finisher of their faith.
They evidence the marks of true saints. They evidence marks of
faith. They believe the gospel. How
did Paul know the Thessalonians were the elect of God? How did
he know that they were loved from the beginning of time? By
sanctification of the Spirit and their belief of the truth.
And these people have a hope of eternal glory. They're not
constantly flitting around here, trying to fulfill every desire
of their lives in this world that we live in. But they have
a hope of eternal glory, for they know that is where their
true eternal home is. This world is not my home, I'm
just passing through. That's their philosophy. It's
a quaint old song I know, and half the people that used to
listen to it and sing along with it had no idea what it meant.
But that's what it means. This world isn't the home of
a believer. We're just passing through. Heaven
is our home. And they have love one for another,
for God is love. And if God is love, his people
love one another. But they need to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of God's will. They need to grow in that
knowledge. And what is the will of God?
That his kingdom will be triumphant. That his kingdom will be populated
with a people, a multitude that no man can number, chosen in
Christ from before the foundation of the world. That is the will
of God, that of all that he's given to the Son, to Christ,
the Son should lose nothing, not one of them. but should raise
every single one up at the last day, should save them completely. There should be none missing,
like soldiers in ranks in parades. You can see so obviously when
there's one missing, but there'll be none missing from these ranks.
This is the kingdom of God. And that knowledge, the more
we know of it, it produces thanks. It produces thanks to God. We're
thankful to him for what he's done. What has he done? It says
earlier in this chapter, he's made us meet. What does that
mean? Made us fitting. He's qualified
us. He's qualified us for what? To
be translated. from this world, from this fallen,
evil world of sin, under the judgment of God, into the glorious
kingdom of the Son of his love, the Son in whom all of the love
of God towards his people is focused. And it's all God's work,
and it's all accomplished in Christ and Christ alone. There is not one solitary, not
one solitary contribution that the saints of God make to that
accomplishment. That is the difference between
true gospel, the true gospel, the true gospel, the faith of
God's elect revealed to his people. That's the difference between
that and the vast majority of false religion all around, because
the vast majority of false religion, and an awful lot of it calling
itself Christianity, requires those that claim to be Christians
to do things to make themselves acceptable to God. And that's
a complete denial of the gospel. God is made known. God is manifest
by the Lord Jesus Christ we saw earlier in the chapter. God is
manifested in the one who created all things. Why were they created?
They were created by him and they were created for him. Because
this creation is the scene, if you like. It's the stage. It's
the canvas on which God's... It's wrong just to say plan.
Purpose. Purpose. God's purpose of redemption
of his church from the curse of sin is played out. It's played
out here. And it's created by him and for
him, for that purpose. And he is the head of that church.
As his people are the members of his body, he is the head.
And he it is that has made peace by blood. How did he make peace?
Why did he need to make peace? Because there is enmity between
us as we are as sinners. We're an offense to God as we
are in our flesh as sinners. We're not at peace with God by
nature. But the Lord Jesus Christ for
his people made peace. How did he make it? The law of
God, the justice of God demands that the soul that sins, it shall
die. It shall die. It shall make satisfaction
to divine justice, and he did that as the substitute for his
people. He made peace by the blood of his cross, for the life
is in the blood, and he did it to reconcile all things to him,
including you and me. you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. So I want us to see reconciliation
in Christ, that we're grounded in him, that the gospel is promulgated
in this world, is preached, is proclaimed in this world, and
it's towards an expected end. So firstly, we're reconciled.
Verse 21, you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. It's what
Paul says to the Ephesians. He says, you were children of
wrath, even as others. in your sins in this flesh. But
God's eternal purpose and delight was to restore the kingdom that
was usurped by Satan in Eden in the fall, all in the permissive
will of God. It was taken by Satan when Adam
surrendered it to him. Adam was the viceroy of God in
this creation, and he handed it over to Satan in the Garden
of Eden in the fall. But God's eternal purpose and
delight was to restore that kingdom. As he promised at that very time
in the fall, the seed of the woman would come, and the serpent
would bruise the heel of the Son of God coming, the seed of
the woman coming, but he would crush his head. And thereby,
the Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified. And thereby, God would
be glorified. Where there was alienation, enemies,
enmity, he must accomplish peace and reconciliation for his church,
because they can't do it for themselves. For his church, his
body He is the head of the body. We've read that already earlier
in this chapter. His chosen people, his elect
multitude, an innumerable multitude, a multi-ethnic multitude from
every tribe and tongue and kindred, an elect people to be ultimately
presented perfect. Look in verse 28. We preach,
warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom. Why? that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus. To be presented. Do you know,
if you believe the gospel of Christ, this is your eternal
destiny, is that you be presented. You, sinner as you are in your
flesh, in my flesh there dwells no good thing. I am the chief
of sinners, said this very same Paul. but his people will be
presented in that day perfect in God's eternal kingdom and
to get there he must reconcile God must reconcile to himself
those who by nature are his enemies in verse 21 you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works you don't
need to ask for proof that I'm alienated and an enemy, because
my body, this flesh, does wicked works all the time. Every thought
is wicked. Every deed is wicked. All my
righteousnesses, the very best, are filthy rags in his sight.
You, by natural birth, me, as the offspring of Adam, we're
alienated from God. We're enemies of God. We're rebels
against him. We're incompatible with his holy
nature. We spend our lives in the flesh
calling God a liar, not believing him. We work out our sinful condition
in wicked works, it says. Wicked thoughts, wicked actions,
wicked practices, which are all contrary to the nature of God. And that deserves eternal separation
from God. That's what hell is, it's eternal
separation from God, for God alone is good. And you might
cry if you're with Job, how can a man be just with God? You might
cry with the Philippian jailer in Acts 16, what must I do to
be saved from this condition? What is the work that we must
do to do the work of God? This is the work of God. If you
are His, if you are a member of His body, if you are a saint
of God, a set-apart one of God, a called one, and you've heard
the call, you've heard the voice of the Good Shepherd, and you
come, you do nothing but believe the record of what He has done. He has reconciled his people
to God. How has he done it? Verse 22,
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. He has reconciled
you who are a sinner and deserving of eternal condemnation. He has
in the body of his flesh by him, God, becoming man, in the body
of his flesh, dying as a substitute in the place of his people, paying
the price of sin of those people to the justice of God, which
demands death. He in their place has died. He has shed his blood. Let me
turn you to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 to underline these points. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14,
for as much then as the children, the children? the people of God,
the body of Christ, the elect of God, the church of God, those
he's calling, saints. That's what it all means. For
as much then as the children, you and me, if we're believers
to the children, we are partakers of flesh and blood. We're born
with body, flesh, blood, bones. He also, our God also, himself
likewise, took part of the same. He was clothed with flesh, that
through death, only as a man can he die and shed blood. God
in his In His infinite majesty, unknowable in heaven, hidden
from us, He cannot shed blood to die for His people. But when
He became a man, He could. He became what He was not before.
When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman. He took part of the same, that
through death He might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. He defeated the devil. He crushed
the devil's head, as it was promised in the Garden of Eden. Through
his death he destroyed, he defeated Satan. And in the process, he
delivers them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. Fearing death and fearing the
judgment that is to come, for it's appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment. All their lifetime subject to
bondage. But no, in Christ, he took not
on him the nature of angels to do this. He took on him the seed
of Abraham. He took on him Those who are
the children of Abraham. Who are the children of Abraham?
Oh, you say the Jews. No, that's not what the scripture
says. The scripture says that the children of Abraham are those
that are of the same faith as Abraham. The same faith as Abraham. He took on him the seed of Abraham.
If you believe the gospel Abraham believed, The Lord Jesus Christ
took on your nature in order to accomplish your redemption
from the law's curse. Wherefore, in all things, it
behoved him, it was necessary for him, our Lord Jesus Christ,
our God in flesh, to be made like unto his brethren, to be
clothed in flesh like ours, that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation,
reconciliation, there it is again, Reconciliation for the sins of
the people. How is reconciliation made? Is
it made in sacrifices of animals as it was in the Old Testament
regime? No, they were just pictures. They were only pictures. The
only way they had any redeeming effect was when those that came
and saw and observed by faith looked to Christ, looked to what
the picture would be fulfilled in. Then that was of benefit
to their souls. But in the animals themselves,
there was no benefit. For God says in Psalm 40, 7 and
8, sacrifice and offering you did not desire. But lo, a body's
prepared. Lo, in the volume of the book
it is written of me to do thy will. And that's quoted in Hebrews
chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
5, Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, in his body, when God comes into the world, in
that body made for him, prepared for him, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hadst no pleasure, Then said I, Lo, I come. This
is God in the person of his son speaking. Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written of me. That's Psalm 40. To do thy
will, O God. What is the will of God, they
asked Jesus? This is the will of God, that of all that he has
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the
last day. This body was prepared for Christ
to come and in that body to redeem his people from the law's curse
by dying the death that was due under the justice of God for
the sins of the people that he represented. He was fearfully
and wonderfully made. I know we quote that often, saying
that we all are. Biologically, when you look,
we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are, but I think it
particularly applies to him, to his body. Lo, a body has been
prepared. He who was made of a woman. He
who was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and became obedient. Obedient? unto death. Which death? The cursed death of the cross.
Why? Because the shame of the cross
is there for the sins of his people. So God the Son, God the
second person of the Trinity, God who in whom the fullness
of the Godhead dwelt bodily, the one who is the outshining
of the invisible God, the visible of the invisible God, was made
flesh, like his church, like his body, like his people, like
his saints, to bear their sins in his own body on the cursed
tree, and to pay its price to redeem them. Redeem? means to
pay a ransom to free from the curse to pay a ransom to release
from captivity and thereby we read that God by his own blood
God by his own blood has purchased his church Acts 20 verse 28 God
it was the blood of God God hasn't got blood you say In the person
of his son he has precious blood, and he died. He died that his
people might die in him, that his people might die and satisfy
the law in him, that when he died, they died. God has purchased
his church with his own blood. And his purpose from eternity,
from the beginning, was to present you holy, verse 22, to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, that
you, his believing people, might inherit the kingdom, that Satan
who would accuse you of sin and bar you from that kingdom, he's
defeated by the death of Christ. The accuser can no longer accuse. They rejoice in Revelation chapter
12, for the accuser of the brethren is cast out. Why is he cast out? Because that which he used as
his power to prevent God from populating his kingdom, which
was the sin of his people, is paid for in what Christ has accomplished. And therefore, he's cast out.
What was it that overcame Satan in Revelation 12? It was the
blood of the Lamb. It was the sacrifice of the Lamb
of God. And so therefore, we read again in Romans chapter
8, which I often quote, but it's worth quoting. You know, you
say, you keep saying these same things. It's because they're
absolutely essential. They're the absolute core of
the gospel, of the truth of God. It says there, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect, to his church. Who shall
accuse the church of God, the saints of God, of anything? God
has justified them. Who is he that condemns? Who
is he that says they can't go to heaven, they must go to hell?
Who is it that condemns? It is Christ that died. Christ
has died in their place. The sentence to be pronounced
upon them is that they must die, and they have died in him when
he died on that cross. Him that is risen again from
the dead. He who is even at the right hand
of God and makes intercession for us, for who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Nothing shall separate us. We're
camped. We're no longer God's enemies,
but reconciled and at peace. Verse 20, at peace, having made
peace through the blood of his cross. Peace with God. Oh, what a comforting thing to
contemplate, that I have peace with God. You know, you're facing
some interaction with some organization or some person in the world,
and you're quaking in your boots because you don't know how you're
going to be accepted. There's an even bigger meeting
coming, and that's the meeting of us all. before the judgment
seat of Christ, but to know that in this that he has done, he
has made peace through the blood of his cross. As the Psalmist
says, Psalm 4 verse 8, I will both lay me down in peace and
sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety. Has God
granted you repentance and faith to believe this? Do you desire
reconciliation with the God whom you've offended? Well, ask him
to show you. Then verse 23, Paul says that
that's the situation we're in if ye continue in the faith grounded
and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel
which ye have heard which was preached to every creature which
is under heaven whereof I Paul am made a minister. Many people,
many in religion take this verse as implying that true faith can
be lost because you might not continue in the faith grounded
and settled if you don't keep going if you don't keep the doing,
but it can't mean that. Why can't it mean that? Those
that God chose in eternity, those that were united with Christ
before the beginning of time, those that were legally bound
to Him, those that were betrothed to Him, promised to Him in a
divine engagement that cannot be broken, those that Christ
came into this world and paid the price of their sins, Look,
be clear on this. Christ did not pay the price
of sin, you know? For sins of man since the world
began, as Stainer's Crucifixion says. No, I'm sorry, that's not
the message of Scripture. He died for the sins of his people. That's all. He died for the sins
of his elect multitude. He died for those whose names
were written before the beginning of time in the Lamb's Book of
Life. They're the ones that the Holy Spirit regenerates. And
they cannot be unregenerated. They cannot be unsaved. Romans
11, 29 says, The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. He doesn't change his mind about
them. They're without repentance. Once God has determined to save
a sinner, that sinner is saved. In the book of Numbers, in verse
23 and verse 19, God is not a man that he should lie. Oh, we often bring God down to
our level. No, God is not a man that he
should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. He
doesn't change his mind. Once he's saved, he's saved forever.
Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Has he said, I will save
them? Shall he not do it? Has he spoken,
and shall he not make it good? In Malachi chapter three and
verse six, It says this, I am the Lord, God says this through
Malachi, I am the Lord, I change not. What's the consequence of
that? That God is unchangeable. Therefore ye sons of Jacob, therefore
ye believers, therefore you elect of God, therefore you saints
of God are not consumed, therefore you're kept. You're kept to the
very end. In John chapter 10 and verse
27, John chapter 10 verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. and I know them. They're my sheep,
he said to the Pharisees. You don't believe because you're
not of my sheep, but my sheep hear my voice and I know them
and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they
shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. I and my father are one.' Then
the Jews took up stones to stone him, because he said, I and my
father are one. Continuing faith is proof that
your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, because God keeps
his people. The doctrine of Christ that you
have believed, that you have rested in, that you have rejoiced
in, is the solid rock on which your life is unmovable. Your spiritual life, your eternal
life, cannot be moved. It's on a solid rock. It's not
on shifting sand, as Jesus said in that parable in the Sermon
on the Mount. We're not children tossed to and fro by every wind
of doctrine, Ephesians 4 verse 14. We have a hope of eternal
life based on a solid foundation, and that hope is an anchor for
the soul. We have an anchor that keeps
the soul steadfast and sure as the billows of life roll. We
have a hope of eternal life in God's triumphant kingdom. But
for now, We're here looking forward to that hope of the gospel. What
is that hope of the gospel? that that day will come when
we hear these words and hear them you will child of God come
you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world for David on his deathbed in
2nd Samuel 25 verse 5 this is the everlasting covenant it's
all his salvation it's all his hope it's all his desire that's
true of all the people of God and then making this gospel known
in this world while we journey on towards that uh... objective
promulgation of the gospel inverse twenty-three beware of says paul
i'd and made a minister who now rejoicing my sufferings for you
and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of christ
in my flesh for his body sake which is the church wherever
i 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 has been hid from ages and 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. This gospel has to be
proclaimed. to the people of God who are
alienated and enemies in their natural state. They have to be
called out of it. How will his elect multitude
hear and know and believe and call, as it says in Romans 10?
It's by the ministry of preaching. And it's an arduous ministry.
In an alien world, it's an arduous ministry. It's a ministry that
requires effort. You know, it doesn't just come
down on a plate. It's all given by God, but it
requires effort. And it leaves open to persecution
from the world, and suffering in the world, and rejection by
the world, and the hatred of the world. For Jesus said, if
they've hated me, they will hate you also. This is the body of
Christ on earth, preaching the gospel in an alien world. Everything the body feels on
earth, head of the body knows and feels it in heaven. When
Paul was Saul of Tarsus, and he was on the road to Damascus,
and he saw the shining light, and it was the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who was Paul persecuting? He
was persecuting the body of Christ. He was persecuting the believers.
He was going to imprison them. He was going to stone them. He
was going to kill them. He was going to crush them. Why
are you persecuting me, said the Lord Jesus Christ, from heaven?
The head in heaven knows and feels everything that the body
on earth feels. Think of that. When you're going
through suffering, the head knows what you're going through. There's
nothing here to suggest that there was anything lacking in
Christ's sufferings to redeem his church. Nothing at all. It
says, to fill up which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.
No, it doesn't mean that there was anything lacking in what
Christ suffered to accomplish the redemption of his people.
It cannot mean that, because in Isaiah 63 and verse 3, this
is him speaking. This is God speaking by the prophet.
Regarding the salvation that he would accomplish, regarding
the culmination of all things that he would accomplish, I have
trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none
with me. For I will tread them in mine
anger and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be
sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my
redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none
to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore
mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld
me. That's talking not only about
the salvation Christ accomplished, but about the final judgment
that he will accomplish. But he does it alone. There is
nothing lacking in the sufferings of Christ to accomplish that
point where he says on the cross in John 19, it is finished. He had finished everything that
was required of his elect in him. He'd done it. He'd accomplished
it all. But this is his body on earth
that's continuing and being persecuted and being rejected. What do God's
ministers proclaim? They proclaim the hidden mystery
of God's saving purposes, which are revealed by his spirit to
his ministers, to his preachers, and they're not discoverable
by human wisdom. We saw that last week, 1 Corinthians
1 verse 21, in the wisdom of God, In the wisdom of God, the world,
by its wisdom, knew not God. The world thought it could find
out the truth of God, the truth, the true meaning of life, by
its logic, by its rationality, by its science. It thought it
could find out the truth of life. The world, by its wisdom, knew
not God. No, it didn't. It's preaching. that which God reveals. It's
preaching the revealed mystery. And that's what we're doing this
morning. This is the revealed mystery of God. That mystery,
verse 27, 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. Mystery revealed shows his saints
the riches of the glory of the gospel amongst all kinds of people. It says preach to every creature.
It means all kinds of people. Do you know it? Is Christ in
you? Is Christ in you? Christ in you.
If you know this truth, Christ is in you. What is it to have
Christ in you? Jesus said when he's accomplished
salvation, He and his father will come and make their abode
with you. They'll come and live with you.
They'll come and live in you. Paul writes again in Galatians
chapter two, verse 20. He says, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ who
loved me and gave himself for me. He died so that I would die
in him. I was united with him so that
when he died, I died. When he paid the penalty for
my sin, my sin's penalty was paid. I am cleared. I am cleared. from that situation of being
under the judgment of God, the foundation. The confirmation,
the confidence of my eternal hope is all in this, that I shall
be with him and that I shall see his glory, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
He said he will come and live with us. I died with him on the
cross of Calvary. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ lives in me. He's in me, Christ in you, the
hope of glory. It's the foundation of it. It's
the confirmation of it. It's the confidence of it. And
then, just to finish, in the final minute, an expected end,
an expected end, whom we preach, warning every man, teaching every
man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in
Christ Jesus. You know, God did all of this.
because of particular love for a particular people. In Jeremiah
29 verse 11, God says this to his people, to his saints, to
his church. He says, I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace.
Oh, isn't that good? that God who is a consuming fire,
into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall, that that God
towards his people has thoughts of peace and not of evil. Why? To give you an expected end. That expected end is in his kingdom
eternally. Resting in revealed gospel mystery,
when you leave this life, as we all must, for it's appointed
to man to die once and then the judgment, you will stand before
Christ's judgment seat perfect in Christ Jesus. There it is
at the end of verse 28. Present every man perfect in
Christ Jesus. Are you hearing this and doubting
its relevance to you? I'm sure lots are if they come
across this sermon. Verse 28 says, be warned, you
will definitely die. You will face divine judgment.
And if not in Christ, it is a fearful thing. For our God, in strict
justice, is a consuming fire. But here's the hope, it is still
today, the day of salvation. Repent of this world, of its
sin, and come to Christ for life. Amen.