The title of my message tonight
is Complete in Christ. You'll find my text in Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 10. Complete in Christ. Colossians 2 verse 10. Our Savior declared, blessed
are they that mourn. Blessed are they that mourn. If you know what it is to mourn
your sin because you have seen the Redeemer, you are born of
God. Blessed are they that mourn. If you can in your heart verify
that statement, you are indeed blessed of God. Multitudes know
nothing about the blessedness of that grace of God, which causes
the sinner, who looking upon Christ crucified, to mourn over
his sins, to mourn for him whom he is pierced. Blessed are they
that mourn. Our Savior did not say, as many
seem to think, Blessed are they that mourn and mourn and mourn
and mourn and mourn. I can't tell you how often I
meet with folks who are taught constantly to look within themselves,
constantly to search out their hearts, constantly to look for
good in themselves, who are always oppressed. because they try to
be honest before God. The Savior does not count mourning
blessedness. He said, blessed are they that
mourn for they shall be comforted. They shall be comforted. If you mourn for your sin because
you have seen Jesus Christ crucified, You mourn with a mourning that
is soon turned to comfort and comfort that is soon turned to
joy. By all means, we ought to lament
and mourn for what we are. The evil that's in us, the unbelief,
the vileness. We know we are by nature. The base corruption of our heart
is reason to mourn continually. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. And that's painful. And it ought
to be painful. We ought to always lament what
we are in ourselves. But the knowledge of what we
are in ourselves should never eclipse the blessed revelation
of God's grace and our salvation in Christ Jesus the Lord. Blessed
are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Our great
God, by the mighty operations of his saving grace, by redemption,
by regeneration, has given us salvation in Christ, such salvation
that he causes joy and gladness and cheerful feasting to replace
mourning, for you are complete in him. Complete in him if I
have read this book correctly and in this regard. I know I
have It is the intent of our God It is the intent of our God
in everything revealed in Holy Scripture to comfort his people
to encourage his people to believe in and to promote in us that
blessed joy of faith in Christ Jesus. His word is rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
I say rejoice. Rejoice because your names are
written in heaven. Rejoice in hope of glory, the
glory of God. Rejoice evermore. Let us be glad
and rejoice and give honor to God our Savior. That's the intent
of our God. In fact, if we would walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith we are called, if we would walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, if we would indeed honor our
God, we ought to walk continually before him in the blessed joy
of faith, in the assurance of life eternal in Christ Jesus. God the Holy Spirit tells us
that we should live in this world, giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. When we realize the glorious
kingdom in which we live, the great king we serve, When we
think about the privileges of grace that are ours in Christ
Jesus, the boundless love of God, our father to us, the free
grace of God in Christ Jesus, the work of God, the Holy Spirit
in us, in his blessing work as our comforter. We have every
reason to rejoice in the Lord. The book of God does not teach
us to be naval watchers looking at ourselves. The book of God
teaches us to be Christ watchers, ever looking out of ourselves. The life of faith is not a life
of introspection. The life of faith looks out of
self to Christ Jesus the Lord. We have Christ who is the anchor
of our souls, sure and steadfast, and our anchor is not in us. Our anchor is in glory. We look
out of ourselves to Christ Jesus the Lord, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. I'll give you something
you can work on when you get home. Salvation is looking to Christ. Looking to Christ. Salvation
is looking to Christ. You who preach or teach, this
is a good outline for you. It begins in a look. The Savior
says, look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth.
And it continues in a look. We are to run with patience the
race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. And it ends in a look. When we
see him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Salvation, then, is looking out of self to Christ. Not looking
inwardly, but looking outwardly. Not looking to ourselves, but
looking to our Redeemer. Our whole trouble comes as believers
when we start looking in ourselves for something to give us comfort
and hope and assurance. We look out of ourselves for
all comfort and hope and assurance. It is my purpose in preaching
this message to encourage you who do not know our Redeemer
to trust Christ. I want by the grace of God to
allure you to my Redeemer. I want to allure you to the Savior,
to urge you to believe on the Son of God. And it is my purpose
in preaching this message to give you, who are God's people,
confident joy, thanksgiving and praise, adoration to God our
Father for his great mercy and grace that is ours in Christ
Jesus. Reminding you of that which God
has given us and made us in Christ, I hope you go home tonight rejoicing,
full of thanksgiving, with renewed devotion and commitment to him.
I can think of no better way to accomplish these desires than
by reminding you of five glorious, wonderful words here in Colossians
2 and verse 10. I've tried numerous times to
preach from these five words. May God, the Holy Spirit, help
me to do so now. Ye are complete in him. What a statement. Now there's
no middle ground. Either you are complete in Christ,
lacking nothing, or you're all together without hope before
God. We are either men and women who possess everything God requires
of man, everything God gives to man, everything that Christ
is, and everything that Christ has, or we're all together without
hope before God and have nothing. Either you have all or you have
nothing. Either you have all grace or
no grace. All spiritual blessings or no
spiritual blessings. All the benefits of salvation
or none of the benefits of salvation. Ye are complete in him. Oh, what a statement. Sweeter
than honey and the honeycomb to my soul. Oh, may God make
it so to you. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, though utter emptiness in yourself, you are complete
in him. If right now, sitting where you
are, God opens the windows of heaven and pours out his grace
in your soul. Right now, you are complete in
him. This is not something you have
to wait for. You are complete in him. Weak,
poor, helpless, unworthy, though you are in yourself, in Him,
Christ the Lord, your Redeemer, your Savior, you're complete
in the fullness of Christ, complete in the broadest, complete in
the most valid sense possible. That word complete can be understood.
When God pardons, there's no probation period. When God saves,
there's no Probation period you got to work out for yourself.
No What a wonder of grace we had before us God Make us to
know what this grace is in sweet experience this hour Ye are complete
in him the Spirit of God Seems to have but one object in view
and giving us that sweet statement His purpose is to cause every
believing soul to live in the joy of faith. What a wondrous God we have.
He commands us, James, to rejoice. He commands us to be joyful.
He gives us his word that our joy may be full. I'm not talking
about giddy pretense. I'm not talking about of walking
around with a fake smile on your face, and every time somebody
says something to you, you say, bless the Lord, or I'm blessed.
I despise that stuff. I'm talking about real joy. Deep joy. Joy that can't be taken
away. Joy that endures hardship. Joy that bears pain. Joy in the midst of bitter tears
Joy in the Lord the blessed joy of faith. Now, let's look at
these five words you You You who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ all of you each of you only you but you You are complete
in him You who were dead in trespasses and in sins are complete in him. You who in time past walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air are complete in him. You who were by nature
children of wrath even as others are complete Him you who were
without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers from the covenants of promise Having no hope and
without God in the world You are complete in him you who labor
and toil Vex and perplex your hearts continually because of
the indwelling sin that's in you you are complete in him You
who are groaning under a conscious sense of the body of sin that
dwells in you continually. You are complete in Him. You who are loved and chosen
of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, born again by God,
the Holy Spirit, sanctified and justified in him. You who have
the righteousness of God made yours. You who are forgiven of
all sin. You are complete in him. Now for the next word are are. I love that. That's right now. Are. Right now. Presently. You are complete in Him. The scriptures plainly declare
that God's elect have been complete in Christ from eternity. Romans
8 and Ephesians 1 plainly declared that. Our completeness in Christ
is a completeness we've had with Him in Him for as long as we
have been in Him. And our being in Christ is an
eternal thing. It is a blessed thing to live
in the sweet prospect of that completeness that awaits us in
glory. When we see Him, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Complete. Complete. Oh, how sweet the prospect. But
this is in the present tense. The Apostle Paul writes by divine
inspiration, and he says, you are right now. at this moment
complete in Christ. You will not be more complete
when you drop this body of flesh. You will not be more complete
when you sin no more. You will not be more complete
when you cease to mourn for what you are. You will not be more
complete when you have to constantly, when you no longer have to constantly
do battle with the lust of your flesh that are in you and with
the world and with all that's around you. We are right now
complete in Christ. Paul was telling us that which
is the present blessedness of every sinner who believes on
the Son of God. Everything here is grace, pure,
free, unconditional, unqualified grace. Ye are complete in him. God is not exhorting us here
by his spirit to be complete. or to do something to make ourselves
complete. No, he declares to us, he affirms
emphatically that we are right now complete in Christ. The work is finished and there's
nothing that can be added to it and nothing that can be taken
from it. This is completion. This is completion. You can't add anything to it,
and you can't take anything from it. Don't imagine that's the
case. There's nothing lacking. There's
no deficiency that you have to make up, something that you must
complete. Know this and rejoice, God says. You are fully, complete, perfect
in Christ Jesus. Being one with him, in union
with him, in his fullness, we are absolutely complete, perfect,
finished. You understand that? Complete.
Complete in him. This is the glory of faith. It
looks to Christ alone for everything. We look for all grace only in
Christ. Faith leaves works behind. It finds perfection in Christ,
William Mason once wrote. And it works by love and good
works, not to get perfection, but to glorify Christ in whom
we are already perfect and complete. Faith does what faith does. Faith,
faith follows God. Faith seeks to honor God. Faith
seeks, as I showed you this morning, to live in this world for the
glory of God, not to get something from God, but because of what
we are and have in Christ, ye are complete in him. And that
which is the glory of faith is the comfort of and the joy of
faith. And that is this blessed completion
in Christ. Now, let's spend a little time
looking at this third word. Complete. Complete. What does that word mean? Complete. It's one of those words that's
commonly used. And words that we commonly use,
we tend to just kind of pass over. We don't pay much attention
to them. But this word is just, it's bursting with meaning. It's
bursting with meaning. As it's used here, it describes
something about the children of God that's accomplished for
us without our aid, without our assistance. It's a completion
in which we are totally passive. Not a completion about which
we're passive. A completion in which we're totally
passive. We rejoice in this completion,
but we make no part of the completion. We rejoice in the completion,
but we have nothing to do with the accomplishment of the completion.
What does this word mean? Complete. And I'll tell you again
what I try to tell you often in the book, you read a statement
like this and I, we have been taught, we've been conditioned
to think like this. Now you can't carry that too far. You can't
carry that too far. Carry it. just as far as the
sanctified imagination of faith can carry it. And then pick it
up and carry it some more because you haven't come close yet. You
will not overemphasize this word complete in your own mind with
regard to yourself as a believer, you cannot stretch it too far. You cannot become somehow out
of sync with scripture by your understanding as you stretch
your minds to understand the meaning of this word complete.
What does it mean? The word means that we are Full. As a matter of fact, let me give
you some scriptures. Turn back to the book of John.
John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Let me show you
how this word is used in the book of God. John chapter 1,
verse 14. Are you there? And the world was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full. grace and truth. That's the word. How full is
Jesus Christ of grace and truth. That's how complete we are in
him. Read on verse 16. fullness of his completeness
have we received and grace for grace. We're told in first Corinthians
10, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. What's
he talking about? Everything in God's creation. That's God's possession. The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Christ belongs to Bobby
Estes and the fullness of Christ. His fullness have we received
grace for grace and all the fullness That he is is ours. Listen to
this turn turn over to Ephesians 1. Let me show you this Ephesians
chapter 1 Paul's describing for us here the God's wondrous works
of grace for us and in us and he comes to chapter 1 verse 22
and says God has put all things under Christ's feet and and gave
him to be the head over all things to the church. Now watch this,
which is the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He says that we are the completeness
of him who is the completeness of everything. the church, his
body, the fullness, the completeness of him who is the fullness, the
completeness of all things, so that Christ as our mediator is
so really and truly one with us that he, the God-man mediator,
our representative, our surety, our substitute, our great high
priest, our head, cannot be complete if any of his are missing. That's
how real this union is he is the fullness of all things and
we're the fullness of him here in colossians chapter 2 Look
at the verse right above our text verse 9 for in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the godhead bodily in him in christ resides
all the completeness of the triune god Ron, that's indescribably
beyond my imagination. I can't imagine what all is stated
there. This I know is stated. All that
God is, in his infinite, incomprehensible being, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, all that God is, Jesus Christ is. In him, in that man
who lived as our representative, who died as our substitute, who
sets in glory as our mediator, in him dwelleth all the completeness,
the firmness of the Godhead bodily. And then Paul says, and ye are
complete in him. You are full in him, complete
without limit. without condition, without qualification,
complete in Christ, without any kind of limit, we understand
the word to mean. Whatever Christ is, we are. Whatever we are in Christ, we
are completely. Whatever we have in Christ, we
have completely. Whatever the Lord Jesus possesses,
Whatever he is, we possess and we are in all matters regarding
our spiritual warfare, in all matters regarding our soul salvation,
in all matters regarding our acceptance with God, in all matters
regarding our standing before God, in all matters regarding
our being approved of God. We are right now complete in
him. In Paul's day, as in ours, there
were some who thought that faith in Christ had to be supplemented. Such men then and now vainly
imagine that faith is learned, not bestowed, that it's a matter
of philosophical achievement, not a matter of divine revelation.
while deceitfully professing to believe in the supernatural,
while professing to teach salvation is of the Lord, their doctrine
is nothing more than the cunning assertion that the new birth,
faith in Christ, acceptance with God, is really achieved by argument,
by reason, by logic, and by learning. These brilliant idiots actually
teach that faith in Christ is a complex mystery. Something
that can only be attained by arriving at a superior level
of knowledge, knowledge of which they are most humbly supreme
in themselves. They mystify everything. With
their beguiling words of wisdom, they do everything possible to
beguile you, to beguile your Satan-beguiled Eve, and turn
you from the simplicity that's in Christ. How often, how often
men and women, beginning to have some concern about the things
of God, start to look within themselves and wonder how they
are to believe on Christ. Now, what do I have to bring
with me? What do I have to produce? What
do I have to experience? This is the blessed simplicity
of faith. Brother Lindsey, last Sunday
morning, dealing with that man born blind, the master said to
him, does thou believe on the Son of God? Not, not how much
do you believe? Not how clearly do you believe? Not how strong is your faith?
Do you believe on the Son of God? Do you believe on the Son of
God? Brother Don, it's not really
that simple, is it? It's just that simple. Do you believe on
the Son of God? This is precisely the context
in which Paul makes this statement. Look at verse 6, Colossians 2. As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. How did you first
come to Christ? A naked, dirty, empty-handed,
helpless, doomed, damned, lost sinner with no claim of God,
with no right with God, with no merit before God, with nothing
that God should look at and approve of. I came to Him trusting Christ
alone. So walk ye in him Mark quit trying
to pick up baggage Quit quit trying to find something in yourself
to bring to God Always walk with God bringing Christ and all of
Christ and nothing but Christ look at verse 7 rooted and built
up in him and established in the faith rooted in him, built
up in him, established in this faith, believing him, as ye have
been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Now watch
verse eight. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the firmness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him. Nothing can ever be added to
faith in Christ without making the thing added the object of
faith. Nothing can ever be added to
the gospel of Christ without making the thing added the gospel. There's nothing new in theology
except that which is false. And those who seek to attempt
and improve the gospel only deface it. It is so perfect in itself
that all additions to it are the outgrowth of heresy. One
of the greatest evils of this day is the attempt of men to
rationalize the revelation of God. Brother Todd, a few weeks ago,
asked me to come over several months ago now, asked me to come
over and speak to the young preachers on the need of studying systematic
theology. And we need that. We need that.
We need to understand theology. But you do not understand the
Word of God by theology. You understand theology by the
Word of God. There's a huge difference. We
do not come and rationalize the word of God, make it fit with
our puny brains or some system that we have developed with our
puny brains. We come to the word of God to
find God's revelation and bow to what God says. Many try to
rationalize the scripture and thereby obscure the simplicity
of faith in Christ Jesus. But God's elect will not be beguiled
from their steadfastness. We know whom we had believed. We trust Christ. Spurgeon told a story that illustrates
it as well as I've ever read or heard about a man who was
a tinker, like John Bunyan was, dealt with tin and housewares
and such as that, mending them. And he was selling his goods
and one day he was walking down the street and he heard two ladies
walking down the street in front of him. repeating a little song,
a little chorus they'd heard and learned. I am a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And he just couldn't shake it
from his mind. He just couldn't shake it from
his mind. And after a while, he began to whistle the tune.
And he began to repeat the words, I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is all in all. Soon he heard the gospel,
believed the gospel of God's grace, and God wrote the words
on his heart in the experience of grace. And he went to apply
for church membership, as they were wont to do in Baptist churches
a long time ago. You had to go before the deacons
and elders and be examined and see if you were fit to be a member
of their church. So he went for an examination,
and the pastor and the elders and deacons asking him all kinds
of questions, and he would answer. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And somebody asked
him, but don't you ever have any low times? He said, I am
a poor sinner and nothing at all. I can't get any lower than
that. But what about don't you have any mountaintop experiences?
He said, Jesus Christ is my all in all. I can't get any higher
than that. And finally, they admitted him into the church
and he faithful to his death. But from that day on, he was
known as Happy Jack. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, and Jesus Christ is my all in all. That's faith. But what about Calvinism and
Arminianism? That's theology. And you can
go to hell being a five-point Calvinist just as surely as if
you were a five-point Arminian. Faith in Christ is not a system
of doctrine. Faith in Christ is trusting the
Son of God. You are, with all your depravity,
still in Him and you're complete in Him. You have need of nothing
but Him. In Him, we have at this moment,
just in Him, been made entirely clean. In Him, we are at this
moment, just in Him, made the objects of divine approval. In
Him, only in Him, we are the objects of eternal love. Do you
understand that? You are complete in Him. Feeble,
forgetful, frail and fickle in myself, I'm complete in Him. I look here and find nothing
but emptiness, depravity, and sin. I look yonder and find everything. You are complete in Him. Don't be so intent upon your
corruptions as to forget your immaculate purity which He's
made yours. Don't be so mindful of your poverty
as to forget His infinite riches conferred on you. Don't be so
absorbed in your emptiness that you forget His fullness. the
fullness of Christ that's made your fullness of grace. Don't
be so mindful of your natural imperfection as a fallen child
of Adam that you fail to be mindful of Christ's perfection and mindful
of the fact that that perfection is yours in him. God sees us
in his son. Can you get that? God sees us
in his son. However, God sees us. That's
how we really are. I wrote an article for the bulletin
this morning Brother David Peterson called my attention to it as
he was reading it God never plays let's pretend God never plays let's pretend
he didn't pretend to make Christ sin He made him sin and he doesn't
pretend that we're righteous. He makes us righteous. I He doesn't
pretend to take away our sins. He took them away. He doesn't
pretend that we are full in Christ. He's made us full in Christ.
The Apostle Paul spends the bulk of Romans, the first chapters
of Romans, telling us that we're justified and righteous and without
sin before God in Jesus Christ, the Lord. And then in chapter
six, after dealing with our baptism, he said, now you you've been
buried with Christ in baptism. You've risen to walk with him
in the newness of life. Now, Now, having said that, you
profess to the world, Christ is mine and I'm his. You confess
to God's church, I died with Christ, I rose with Christ, I'm
saved by Christ. Paul says, now, likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed under sin. but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He says God reckons you
holy. God reckons you righteous. God
reckons you perfect. God reckons you as his son. Now, you reckon like God reckons.
God's reckoning is right. What does this word complete
mean? Secondly, it means fully supplied. Having Christ We have
all that we can possibly need all the time. Jacob said to his
brother Esau, I have enough. Esau said to Jacob, I have enough.
But Esau was saying, I've got plenty to do me. When Jacob said,
I have enough, the word means I have all things. I have Christ. Was there something
else I needed? Do you believe on Him, Mary Lou?
You have Christ. Is there something else you need?
Is there something else you need? Having Christ, we have all things. All things are yours. For ye
are Christ and Christ is God's. Do you need righteousness? He
is made of God and to us righteousness. Do you need acceptance with God?
We are accepted in the beloved. Do you need justification? We're
justified freely by his grace. Must we be holy as God himself
is holy? Christ is our holiness. Do we
need forgiveness? It is written there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. Oh, but brother Don,
I need a clear conscience. The blood of Christ Sprinkled
on the heart by God, the Holy Spirit makes the conscience clean. Brother Clay Curtis has been
calling me the last couple of weeks discussing this matter
of imputation. We think of it as a legal term and it's proper
to do so, but the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. Not
back when Christ made us righteous by his sacrifice. It's imputed
to us consciously when we believe. It's imputed to us consciously
when we believe. The imputation of righteousness
doesn't make one righteous. You must be righteous for God
to impute righteousness to you. It's imputed to us when we believe
in this sense, looking out of ourselves to Christ. When God
the Holy Spirit gives the sinner faith in Christ, he sprinkles
your conscience. And now, Alan, You're not guilty.
You're not guilty. You're not guilty. And can't
ever be guilty again. The blood of Christ sprinkled
on the conscience makes the conscience clean. We have complete redemption
accomplished by the son of God. And it makes the believing sinner
perfect as pertaining to the conscience. That's the language
of Hebrews 9.9. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world, but when the blood of Christ
is sprinkled, it proclaims in bold letters, not guilty, no
condemnation, justified. Does God require perfection?
Christ is our perfection. He presents us holy, unblameable,
unreprovable, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That passage in Ephesians 5,
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might
present it holy, unblameable, unreprovable, without spot, without
wrinkle or any such thing. And soon he's going to present
us before the throne of his glory without blemish and without spot. Holy and unblameable. But that's
going to happen in resurrection glory already now. He presents us to the Father
through His precious blood and His perfect righteousness, holy,
unblameable, unreprovable, without spot, without wrinkle, without
anything like it. You are complete in Him. We have everything in Christ,
all things, and that includes all grace, all grace, pardoning
grace, regenerating grace, restoring grace, strengthening grace, reviving
grace, that grace of which our Savior speaks when he says my
grace is sufficient for you. In every position of danger or
duty, Christ is our all sufficient supply. In every conceivable
or inconceivable trial, we find in him all sufficiency and all
sufficient grace. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him. Now, I tried
to preach from this text when I was 21, 22 years old, and I
preached the same doctrine then. But I didn't know much about
it, because I hadn't experienced much yet. Now, after 47 years, I'm here
to tell you, in peace and in trouble, in health and in sickness,
in joy and in sorrow, in life and in death, in time and to
eternity, his grace is sufficient. He's proved it so. To the blessed experience of
my soul, his grace is sufficient. We might well sing with John
Newton, glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our
God. He whose word cannot be broken
formed thee for his own abode. On the rock of ages founded,
what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's wall surrounded,
thou may smile at all thy foes. See the streams of living water
springing from eternal love, well supply thy sons and daughters,
and all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such a river
ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace, which like the Lord, the
giver, never fails from age to age. Here's the third thing. This word complete means satisfied. Satisfied. Satisfaction. That's such a rare thing. Do
you know what it is to be satisfied? Satisfied. That's a rare thing. Not many people ever experience
it. Satisfied. If you're satisfied,
there's nothing you need and nothing you want. There's nothing
lacking. Nothing to be sought after. Nothing
to be worked for. Nothing to stay up at nights
and plan to get. Nothing to reach after. You're satisfied. Satisfied. You who are in Christ are complete
in Christ. Satisfied. God stamped that on
my soul every day. I have no lack. I'm satisfied. All my life long
I had panted for a draft from some clear spring that I hoped
would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within. Hallelujah, I have found Him
whom my soul so long had craved. Jesus satisfies my longings. Through his blood I now am saved. Satisfied. I'm satisfied with
his righteousness. I'm satisfied with his atonement. I'm satisfied with his purpose.
I'm satisfied with his providence. I'm satisfied with him. Ye are
complete In Him. This word complete means filled
up. Filled up. Filled up with Christ. Your soul is filled up with Him. Filled up
with Him. So that there's room for nothing
but Him. Filled up with Him. Learning
can't fill your soul. Emotional religious experiences
can't fill your soul. Sound doctrine can't fill your
soul. Oh, but Christ fills the soul. I'm not talking about an experience
or a doctrine or a creed or a confession. I'm talking about a person. Christ
Fills up the soul You're filled with him That's what paul had
in mind. I think when he said The life
which I now live I live by the faith of the son of god who loved
me and gave himself for me His name is el shaddai god all sufficient
Now watch this in him in Him. Ye are complete in Him. Not in His church, not in His
ordinances, not in His doctrines, not in my feelings, not in my
experiences, not in my works, not in my devotion, not even
in my faith, but in Him. Everything is in Him. God's elect are in union with
Christ, one with him, in him perfectly, in him eternally. Let me read you something I got
from Joseph Irons. He once said, I am as sure as
I am of my own existence that whenever God the Holy Spirit
awakens the poor sinner by his almighty grace and imparts spiritual
life in his heart, Nothing will ever satisfy that poor sinner
but a believing assurance of eternal union with Christ One with Christ One with Christ
Really and truly one with Christ so that all he is and all he
has belongs to all who believe on the Son of God In him dwelleth
all the firmness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
him. Oh, God, will you give faith to lost, unbelieving dead sinners
that they may go home this hour rejoicing in him who satisfies
every need of the conscience, every demand of the law, every
requirement of the holy God, rejoicing complete in Christ. Will you give us grace day by
day and hour by hour to look out of ourselves to Christ the
Lord, rejoicing that Christ is mine. and I am complete in Him. Amen.