Good morning. Let's open our
services this morning. We'll stand and sing hymn number
272. 272, a solid rock. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking
sand Darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging
grace. In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
His oath, His covenant, His blood Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way He then is all my hope and
stay On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking
sand All other ground is sinking sand When he shall come with
trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his
righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before him. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Reseated. Good morning. We're going to be looking at
A verse of scripture in Colossians chapter two. If you'd like to
open your Bibles with me there, Colossians chapter two. We were singing that hymn. I
was thinking about what the Lord told the disciples when he said
upon this rock, upon this rock, I will build my church and the
gates of hell should not be able to prevail against it. What a
solid rock we have. The stone that has been rejected
by the builders, God has made to be the head of the corner
and his whole church rests on him. Zobi Torres and Mary, some of
you may not know that Mary is Zobi's mother and Mary Hernandez. Mary's son, Zobie's brother,
Tony, lived with Hugo and Zobie and Mary, and he passed away
yesterday. So, had been battling cancer for
some time. So, I want to pray for Mary and
Zobie and the family this morning. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, We're very thankful that we can
come into thy presence and seek your mercy and for your grace
and your help in our time of need. We're thankful for the
comfort that you give to the hearts of your children. Lord,
no words or efforts that we make can comfort the grieving heart
of a of a mother or a sister. Lord we know that only you can
speak that peace and Lord we pray that you would. Pray that
you would continue to keep Zobey and Mary and Max and Hugo and
the rest of the family as they grieve the loss of their brother
and their son. Lord, we ask that you would just enable them to find their
rest and their hope, their joy and all their salvation in Christ
thy son. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity
once again that you've given us to gather together and to
open your word and to seek your face Lord, you said to seek you
and that we would find you. And so Lord, we trust your faithfulness
to your promises. And we ask that you would work
in us to cause us to come unto thee and to seek thee in thy
word. And Lord, bless your word by
your spirit and bless our hearts and reveal to us the glory of
thy dear son. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Wednesday night, we looked at
verse six in Colossians chapter two. And just very briefly, I'll
give you the points of that message. As you received Christ Jesus,
the Lord, so walk ye in him. The walk of faith. is a continuation
of the initial experience of the new birth. We're not looking
for something different. We're looking to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of Christ. And so as we received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so we walk in him. How does a person receive
Christ? They receive him, first of all,
as a sinner. And sin never goes away. It continues
to be the thing that grieves our soul and that drives us to
Christ for our salvation. Sin, in so many ways, only gets
worse as we see more and more of it in our hearts and in our
lives. And so, as you receive Christ
Jesus, the Lord so walk ye in Him. We received Him in love. that only grows deeper. We received
him as the Christ, the Messiah. We see more and more of his successful
work as the anointed one. We receive him as the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who successfully accomplished the salvation of
his people. We receive him by grace. We still
walk by grace. We receive him through faith.
We still walk by faith. You see, these things don't change.
We are continuing along the same road that the Lord put us on
when he saved us, the Lord Jesus Christ being the way. And so
as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him. That's such a comfort. Notice in verse seven, rooted
and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Well, the Lord
is telling us something about this walk of faith. when he tells us that first we
are rooted in him. When a seed germinates, it shoots
out roots before it shoots out a stem. It has to draw its nourishment
from the earth. And so when the scripture speaks
of being rooted in Christ, he's talking about the foundation,
the cause, the origin of our salvation being in Christ. Job put it like this, he said,
the root of the matter is in me. And so the Lord is likening
the Lord Jesus Christ to this root. You remember John the Baptist
came and said, the ax has been laid to the root of the tree.
speaking of Israel rejecting Christ as the Messiah, and the Lord warns them that
He's laid the axe to the root of the tree and he's going to
cut down that tree. But out of that stump is going to come the
stem of Jesse. Out of that root. As a root out
of dry ground. As a tender shoot. So the Lord
Jesus Christ is the root of the plant. He is the root of the
matter. He is the root of the tree. And
in Romans chapter 11, the scripture speaks of that olive tree being
Israel and the Gentiles being the wild olive that has been
grafted in to the root of that tree. And he says, he goes on
to say this in Romans chapter 11, he says, he says, the tree
doesn't sustain the root. The root sustains the tree. and
how important the root system is to the health of a tree. And so when the Lord says you
are rooted in him, he's talking about the very source of life
that a root gives to a tree and that Christ gives to us. In Psalm 80 verse nine, The Lord
speaking of Israel, he says, I caused it to take deep root
and it filled the earth. That's what we hope. As we walk in the same manner
in which we were saved, as you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord,
so walk ye in him, that the roots will only grow deeper. It's the
trees that have shallow roots that are easily blown over in
a storm. You remember the parable of the
four soils that the Lord gave? Sometimes it's called the parable
of the sower, the parable of the seed, where the seeds are
scattered. That's the seed of the gospel.
That's what we're doing right now. We're scattering the seed.
And some of the seed, the Lord said, falls on rocky ground. Now, what he's describing there
is those boulders that have a thin layer of moss on them. And that
moss is very fertile. And when the seed falls in that
moss, it immediately germinates and springs forth and shows life. And then he said, but when the
heat of the sun arises, the plant withers away because there's
no root to it. There's no root to it. So we are rooted in Christ. And if there's no root, the plant
will not survive the times of heat, the times of drought. the
times of storms, the times of trials, the times of difficulties. The trees that survive are the
ones that have deep roots. Isaiah chapter 37 verse 31, we
looked at this verse Wednesday night. Isaiah prophesied during
the reign of four kings in Israel. And one of them was a king by
the name of Hezekiah. And this exact same verse is
found in second Kings chapter 18. But if you'd like to turn
to me to Isaiah 37 verse 31, Isaiah 37 verse 31. And the remnant, that's the church,
you understand that. That's the, that's the few that
are rooted in Christ. The remnant that is escaped from
the house of Judah. Jeff. Taube and I were talking
about this verse the other day, and he said, that's what we are,
escapees, escapees. And that, you know, what a, what
a picture of a child of God escaping, escaping judgment, escaping wrath,
escaping the penalty of sin. And what does he say about this
remnant that has escaped out of the house of Judah? They shall
take root downward. and they shall bear fruit upward." That's such an important part.
For the tree to be able to bear fruit, it has to have deep roots.
We planted some trees recently in our yard and I tried something
I've never done before. I saw it on YouTube and I thought,
well, that sounds reasonable. So I dug the hole much deeper
than I needed to and I put some gravel in the bottom of the hole
and I took a two inch piece of PVC pipe and rested it on the
gravel and ran it all the way out of the ground and then filled
the hole up with dirt and put the tree in the top of the hole. And now we're watering those
trees through the PVC pipe in hopes that those roots will sense
that water underneath of them and grow down deep. And it makes
sense to me. I mean, I don't know what the
results are going to be yet, but it's supposed to accelerate
the initial growth of the tree and make it much more healthy.
That's it. Watering the roots. And Proverbs says, the root of the
righteous shall not be moved. What great hope we have. Rooted
in Him. The root of the righteous shall
not be moved. If a person can fall away, they
will fall away. And those who have the root of
the matter in them, like Job, though Job experienced great,
great trials, the fact that the root of the matter was in him,
kept him. The root shall not be moved. The root of the righteous yieldeth
fruit. That passage I was just quoting
in Romans chapter 11, speaking of Israel as that olive tree
and the Gentiles as being grafted into the olive tree and that
the The root sustains the tree, not the tree the root. It goes
on to say, if the root be holy, so are the branches. There's
our hope. If the root of the matter is
in us, If the water of God's word has caused life to spring
in our hearts and we've been rooted in Christ, it shall not
be moved. It will bear fruit. And if the
root is holy, then the branches are holy. Go back with me to our text.
Rooted. That's the cause, that's the
foundation, that's the source of life, if you will, and built
up. So that which is firmly rooted
will grow and it will be built up. And what a wonderful picture
of the church. when the Lord asked the disciples,
whom do men say that I am? And Peter said, well, one of
the disciples said, well, some say that thou are John the Baptist
or Elijah, one of the prophets. So who do you say that I am?
And Peter spoke up in one of those rare times where he actually
had something good to say. Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. We know and are sure of that.
And, Remember what the Lord said, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah
for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my father,
which is in heaven has revealed it to you. And upon this rock,
speaking of the confession that Peter had just made that Jesus
was the Christ, the foundation stone, I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And then
later when he spoke to Peter, he said, he said, he said, Simon,
you shall be called Peter. Now, you know, the name Peter
translated means rock. But here's the difference. Here's
the difference. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
upon this rock, the word there is Petra. And it's a large foundation
stone. And when the Lord called Peter
a rock, he called him Petras, which is a small pebble. And there's the building up of
the church that the Lord builds his church upon that large Petra,
that large foundation stone. And you and I are but pebbles
being built together. Let me show you that in the scriptures.
Turn with me to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. We'll begin reading
in verse 1. Wherefore, laying aside, all malice and all guile and
all hypocrisies and envies and all evil speaking, as newborn
babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby." Oh, a baby craves, that's the word desire there,
craves the milk. And as that baby feeds on the
mother's milk, it grows. And so the Lord says, as newborn
babes, crave after the word, the milk of God's word, that
you might grow thereby. If so be that you have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, if the root of the matter be in
you, if this is your life, if Christ is your life, then you're
gonna want more of him as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord.
So walk ye in him. To whom coming? We continually
come. You see, nothing's changed. There
was a time when we may have run to and fro throughout the earth
seeking after God and not finding Him. And, you know, we were looking
at fruit trees Wednesday night and I thought afterwards, I thought,
you know, we were we were like a person in a grocery store.
We'd walk down one aisle and look at this fruit and then we'd
go down another aisle and pick up a couple pieces of that fruit
and always looking for just the right thing. And now that our
hearts are rooted in Christ, we're not interested in any other
fruit. We're not looking for anything else. We're just looking
for more of him. And so, He says here, to whom coming,
you keep coming to the same one that you came to when you were
converted. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord as a sinner, in love, by grace, through faith, as the
Christ, so walk ye in him. Look at, to whom coming as unto
a living stone. This foundation stone upon which
the church is built is alive. It's not a dead stone. It's not
a cold stone. It's a living stone. That's contrary to nature, but
so is the gospel, isn't it? The gospel is contrary to nature. as a living stone disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. And that word
precious means without price. He is the pearl of great price. Ye also, lively stones and the word translated
lively in verse 5 is exactly the same word translated living
in verse 4 don't know why they did that always thought what
is a lively stone but it's a living stone And so just as the foundation
stone is alive, so these Petras, the little stones that are being
built upon the Petra are alive. They're alive. Why? Because the root of the matter
is in them. We've been rooted in Christ and that's where the
life of the tree comes from. It is the root that sustains
the branches and that the root be holy, the branch be holy.
And so if this is the case, then we continue to come to him as
living stones. We are built up, you see this,
this is what he's telling us in verse seven of Colossians
chapter two, being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scriptures. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone." There's the Petra again. There's the foundation
stone upon which the church is built. Elect. God chose Christ. Behold, mine elect, Isaiah chapter
42. Precious. Christless, he that believeth
on him should not be confounded. In other words, he's not going
to be confused. He's not going to be running
to and fro looking for something else. He has discovered by God's
grace. He has had revealed to him the
glorious person of Christ. And he now has his life. So just
as that stone is alive, we are alive, being built up by God
into a holy priesthood, a spiritual, spiritual house. Unto you, therefore,
which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient,
unbelieving, the stone which the builders disallowed, the
same as made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling,
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto they were also appointed." Men by nature hate Christ. Men
by nature have no interest in a God who sovereignly saves them. They want a God that they can
control, a God that they can contribute to, and the gods of
religion are just that. But to you which believe, to
you which trust Christ, to you which have the root of the matter
in you, he's precious and you just want to keep coming to him.
You're not interested in going anywhere else, just keep coming
to him. All right, let's go back to our
text. Here's how we here's how we walk in the one we walk in
him in the same manner in which we were saved as you received
him. So walk in him rooted. There's
our source of life built up as a as a living spiritual house. Notice the rest of verse established. established in the faith. Now, men talk about the Islam
faith or the Jewish faith or the Hindu faith. When God speaks
of faith, he says it's the faith, the faith. Let men have faith
in what they have faith in. I want to know what God says
about the faith. The faith is being used in the
same manner as the gospel. And it's what the Lord said in
Ephesians when he said there is one faith. One faith. He said there's one body, there's
one spirit, there's one hope, there's one Lord, there's one
faith, there's one baptism, there's one God and father of us all.
To God there is but one. One. The simplicity of Christ
is called the faith. The faith. That's what I'm interested
in. What does God call the faith?
Acts chapter six, a great company of priests were obedient to the
faith. Acts chapter 14, in Antioch,
when the apostles were in Antioch, they confirmed the souls of the
disciples and exhorted them to continue in the faith, in the
faith. There's only one faith. We don't,
you know, Men waste their time studying world religions and
trying to figure out a way to defeat them or to argue the gospel
against them. That's a waste of time. There's
so many man-made faiths. Here the Lord speaks of the faith,
established in the faith. established, strengthened, confirmed,
made sure, confident, certain. You see, if the root of the matter's
in you, and you're being built up in Christ, then the more that
building is built, and the bigger that tree gets, the more firm
it is. the more resilient it is, the
more sure it is. And that's how one of the evidences
of salvation is that you're more convinced of the faith now than
you were before. And you'll be more convinced
and more sure that who you believe is the Lord. And what you believe is the faith
and the gospel in the future than you are now. That's what
it is to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't become less sure. You don't become more worried
that, you know, maybe there's something else. Established. That's what this word established
means. In Acts chapter 16, the churches were established and in the faith
and increase in number daily. First Corinthians chapter 16, stand fast in the
faith. Stand fast in the faith. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free. Be not What is this faith? It is the
faith, Galatians chapter two, it is the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So our faith is in his faithfulness
and we are more sure now of his faithfulness than we've ever
been before. And if the Lord's pleased to
cause those roots to go deeper, He's pleased to water them and
to build us up in Christ, keep coming to Christ. We'll become
more and more and more sure. And the one moment of truth,
when we will be most sure that Jesus is the Christ, the son
of the living God, and that he is all our hope in salvation. is that moment of truth that
will come for each and every one of us. When we pass from
this life into the next and draw a final breath, and we'll know
more sure then Christ is all we have, all we have. What a sure hope, what an anchor
for the soul. God, only gives one kind of faith,
complete trust in his son. It's the only kind of faith that
God gives. Jesus Christ is all of my righteousness before God.
Jesus Christ is all the hope of my justification before God.
He is all my wisdom. He is all my sanctification.
I'm not adding any of my works to what he has accomplished.
He's my holy, if the root is holy, then the branch is holy.
There he is. That's the faith that God gives.
When God gives faith, what must we do to inherit eternal life? What work can we work that we
might work the works of God? Isn't that what man said? This
is the work of God that you believe on his son, whom he has sent. Rest all the hope of your immortal
soul on his glorious person and on his accomplished work. Believe
that you have no righteousness outside of him. You have no hope
of your sins being forgiven apart from his shed blood. You have
no hope of standing before a holy God, holy, except to be found
in him. The only hope of your redemption,
the only hope of your wisdom, Christ is all. And here's the
glorious truth, all God's people believe that. They do, every
one of them. Scripture says that the prophets
of God all see eye to eye. They all declare the same gospel
message. It is called the faith, the faith. The unity that God gives to his
people in Christ makes them consider any other
differences that they might have to be insignificant, irrelevant,
irrelevant. These things don't matter. How
many people are there that you know that believe on Christ,
that had the root of the matter in them, that are being built
up and established in the gospel. It's a rare thing, isn't it?
It's a precious thing. As you notice back in our text
quickly, as you have been taught, God uses the voice of a man to
do what we're doing right now, and that is just to give explanation,
if you will, and comparison to the Word of God. We're not giving
you our opinion. We're telling you what God says.
And so that audible voice is the means by which the Lord teaches
His people, but the audible voice left to itself is not sufficient.
not sufficient. If all we hear is what the ear
can hear and all we understand is what the mind can understand,
then we've not been taught of God. But if God used the voice
of a man to confirm his word to our hearts, then we can say,
they shall be all taught of God. Paul said, I didn't learn this
gospel from a man. I learned it direct, the revelation
of Jesus Christ was made unto me. And so it is, when the gospel
is heard, we don't glorify a man for having taught us. The Lord
taught me. The Lord revealed himself. Paul
went on to say, though we, or an angel from heaven, preach
unto you any other gospel than the one that we have preached
unto you, let him go to hell. That's God's word. Let him be
accursed. Let him be under the wrath and
judgment of God for all eternity if any other gospel is preached
than the one that we have preached. We've been taught of God. As
you have been taught. As you have been taught. God
teaches you. Nobody can unteach you. Isn't
that glorious? And if everybody I know turns
against the gospel, if I've been taught of God, I can't turn away. Notice the last part of this
verse. Here's how we walk. in Christ, rooted, built up in
Him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. Oh, child of God, I know that
there are trials and troubles and disappointments that cause
sadness and sometimes our flesh responds in ways that it ought
not. But all that having been said,
Who has reason to be thankful like we do? Thankful. Thankful that God would choose
us. Thankful that Christ would die
for us. Thankful that the Lord would
send His Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding and regenerate
us. No people on the face of the
earth ought to be as grateful and thankful as the people of
God. Be thankful in all things, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Oh, we
ought to be. We have reason to be, don't we? We have reason to be thankful.
We're thankful for that which we deserve not. Lord, you could have left me
to myself. You know, someone said, you know,
all the immorality of the world is God's judgment. No, here's
what they said, that God is going to judge the world because of
the immorality of the world. No, the immorality of the world
is God's judgment. It is God's judgment. If God left any of us to ourselves,
that's where we would be. approving of and celebrating
all the things that the world approves and celebrates. All
God has to do to judge us is leave us alone. Leave us to ourselves. That's all he has to do. And
there is no end to what we would... You see, sin is self-destructive. It's self-destructive. And we
are self-destructive and all the Lord has to do is leave us
to ourselves and we will destroy ourselves. So the judgment of
God is not going to come because of immorality. The wicked things
that men do is the judgment of God because he has left them
to themselves. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Not what the Lord said in the model prayer. He said, when you
pray, pray like this, lead me not into temptation, but deliver
me from the evil one. That's the proper interpretation.
Deliver me from the devil. Deliver me from Satan. Lord,
don't let him reign in my life. Keep me, protect me, guard me. And he does. And so we're thankful. Thankful that the Lord has not
turned us over to ourselves, our own devices, our own opinions,
our own views of God, our own understanding of ourselves, our
own understanding of the world. God's people have so many reasons
to be thankful for all that they have from him. is by His grace. Amen. How do we walk? Same way we came to begin with.
Rooted. Built up in Him. Established
in the faith as you've been taught. Abounding. Now that means Just
as we're more convinced that the gospel is true today than
we were yesterday, we ought to be more thankful today than we
were yesterday, and tomorrow be more thankful than we were
today. Abounding, abounding in thanksgiving. Amen? All right. Let's take a break.