Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 42 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book,
number 42. Let's all stand together. 42 in the spiral, in the skinny
hymn book. ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? Prophet, priest and sovereign king ? ? To him render adoration
? ? Lord and homage to him bring ? ? Let us praise the name of
Jesus ? God incarnate from above Came to save his chosen people
Sent by God in covenant love Let us praise the name of Jesus,
Who upon Mount Calvary Shed His blood and sealed our pardon,
? Died for sin to set us free ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? Risen conquering gracious friend ? Advocate and mediator ? All
our hopes on him depend ? Let us praise the name of Jesus ?
? For he brought us to his fold ? ? Come exalt his name and worship
? ? May the Savior be extolled ? ? Let us praise the name of
Jesus ? till we see him face to face. Then throughout the
endless ages, praise him for his love and grace. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to be in the second
chapter of Colossians this morning, Colossians chapter two. Someone emailed me this week
and said, I hope that you all are still enjoying the afterglow
of the conference. And I said, we were, we're very
thankful. Lord, Lord met with us and it
was good to fellowship with his people and good to hear the gospel
from other voices. Let's pray together and ask the
Lord's blessings on our time. Our heavenly Father, we come before thy presence looking
to and hoping in thy dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for all
our righteousness, all of our justification, all of our acceptance
before thee. Father, what great hope we have
in the clear declaration of your word that you have provided everything
that you require in thy dear son. Lord, we pray for your Holy
Spirit to enable us this morning to do what we just sang. Worship,
worship in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. Father, whatever
confidence we have foolishly had in our flesh, we pray that
you would take it away. That we would find all our rest
and all our confidence and all our hope, all our salvation in
Christ. For it's in His name we pray.
Amen. You have your Bibles open to
Colossians chapter one. I've titled this message, Hid
in Christ. Hid in Christ. When something's hid, that means
that it is secret. And it also means that it is
safe. you hide something in order to
keep it out of sight from someone else and you hide something in
order to keep it safe. And so those things which are
hid in Christ are both secret and they are safe. If we're to
know them, we're going to be dependent upon the Lord to reveal
them. That's what revelation is. It is the unveiling of those
secret things that are hidden in Christ. And if the Lord's
pleased to hide us in Christ, then we will be safe. We'll be
safe. Safety is such a important thing,
isn't it? It's a good thing to feel safe. It's a better thing yet to be
safe. I was thinking the contrast between
those poor souls on the Titanic, the unsinkable Titanic who felt
safe, Oh, they were living life as if there was no tomorrow.
But for 1,500 of them, there would be no tomorrow. Though
they felt safe, they weren't safe. And you contrast that to
those disciples that are on that rickety boat crossing the Sea
of Galilee and the storm comes up and they cry to the Lord who's
asleep on the boat, Lord, we perish, save us. They didn't
feel safe, but they were safe. What made the difference? Well,
what made the difference was who was in the boat with them.
He was in the boat and he was resting. because his work was
finished. If Christ is with us, we are
safe. There are feelings we may have
that cause us not to feel safe. The Lord often stirs up the seas
of life, doesn't he? And in those times we cry out
just like the disciples, Lord save us, we perish. And he calms
the seas. The scripture says in that story
of those disciples on that rickety boat is that immediately they
were safe on the other side. That's our hope. That's our goal
is to be safe on the other side. Nothing else really matters. You have your Bibles open to
Colossians chapter 2, for I would, verse 1, that you knew what great
conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and for many
as have not seen my face in the flesh. The Apostle Paul had never
been to Colossae that we have any record of in Scripture. None
of his missionary trips and he says here that these believers
in Colossae had never seen him. This is important to the point
that we're going to make in the second hour, particularly from
verse five. Let us read on, verse two, that
their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and
into all the riches of the full assurance of understanding to
the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and
of Christ. So this is his prayer for the
church at Colossae. And this is our hope and our
prayer that the Lord would reveal the mystery of the gospel to
our hearts. And in verse three, he says,
in whom, speaking of God, the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God, the Holy Spirit, in whom, are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. Men left to themselves will seek
to discover the mystery of life, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
outside of Christ. They will try to discover it
in science. They will try to discover it
in religion. They will seek to discover it
in philosophy. And even in psychology, they
will seek to discover the secrets of the mysteries of life. Now, are there observable facts
in all of these disciplines that I just mentioned? Yes, there
are. Can a man find God through any of those things? No. No. Can he discover that which
is hidden and that which is safe only in Christ through any other
means? In him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. The wisdom of who God is. the
wisdom of who we are, the wisdom of how it is that God's pleased
to save sinners. Those things are hid in Christ. They're hid in Christ. And if
we waste our time trying to discover these things anywhere else outside
of Christ, we will be doing just that, wasting our time. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1. We'll begin reading in verse
18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of
God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent, the intelligent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? When
God is pleased to unveil the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
all hid in Christ, we see that the pursuit that men have outside
of Christ to discover these things are purely foolish. Verse 21. For after that, in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Here's
the mystery. Here's the secret. It's to know
God. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. Those things cannot be discovered
anywhere outside of Christ. They are hid. They are hid secretly
and safely in Christ. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe, for the Jews require
sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
Christ, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. But
the foolishness of God, that's Christ. That's what men call
foolish. is wiser than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God has chosen the foodless
things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
mighty, the base things of the world, and the things which are
despised have God chosen, yea, and the things which are not
to bring to naught the things that are. Oh, where we look and
where we go and to whom we trust for the secrets of wisdom and
knowledge, the world sees no need and has no interest. Look at verse 29. Why has God
done it this way that no flesh could glory in his presence? We stand in the presence of God
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have nothing to glory
in. No works, no wisdom, no knowledge, no hope, no nothing. Nothing,
he gets all the glory. For God, look at verse 30, for
by him, that is God the Father, are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. So all these glorious truths
that men waste their time seeking after, are hid, they are hid
in Christ. Let's go back to our text, Colossians
chapter two. In whom, verse three, in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and this
I say, the reason I'm telling you that these things are hid
in Christ is so that you won't be beguiled with enticing words. the wisdom of men, words that
sound so eloquent and sound so wise, and they will profit you
nothing as far as the salvation of your soul, knowing God, having
forgiveness of sin, they will be of no value to you. Nothing can be understood outside
of Christ. I don't know how to be any clearer,
any simpler, plainer than that. I remember in seminary studying
systematic theology, and we took the Bible and we broke it up
into subjects. And we could go to passages of
Scripture that spoke on the subject of eschatology, the study of
end times. And we could go to the Bible
and discover passages of Scripture that dealt with soteriology,
the study of salvation or pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit. Ecclesiology, the study of the
church. And then we had, blasphemously,
Christology, the study of Christ. Truth is, the end times cannot
be understood outside of Christ. Come, Lord Jesus, even now, come. The church cannot be understood
outside of Christ. It is the body of Christ. It
is the bride of Christ. Everything that we know to be
true from scripture relating to the church is inseparably
linked to its head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing can be understood about
the Holy Spirit apart from Christ. The Lord Jesus made that clear
when he said, it's expedient for you that I go away, for if
I do not go away, the Comforter will not come. But when he comes,
he's going to teach you things concerning me. So we don't study
the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit or salvation. Salvation's
of the Lord. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people. How foolish it was to take the
Word of God and think that we could systematize it into topics
devoid from Christ. And that Christ was just one
particular subject in all of the Bible. No, that is just the
contrary of what this passage of scripture is telling us. In
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In the
volume of the book it is written of me and beginning with Moses
and the Psalms and the prophets he expounded unto them those
things concerning himself. We don't, we dare not go to the
scriptures without looking for Christ. And if we find Christ,
we have everything, everything, everything there is to be known
about the end times. Everything there is to be known
about salvation is hid in Christ. It's hidden Christ. That's what
the Lord is telling us here. These are those, those big words
that I used a moment ago. Those are the enticing words
that he's talking about here. that men use to promote themselves
and their knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up and men
think that, you know, we've got some secret knowledge on things. No. No. These secret things,
these safe things are hid in Christ. They're hid in Christ. So if we have Christ, we have
everything. If we don't have Him, we have
nothing. Nothing but our own proud, enticing
words. Enticing words. Turn with me
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter
if you use enticing words that are religious or enticing words
that are secular or enticing words that are scientific. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge
are hid in the simplicity that is in Christ. Paul said, I fear. I fear, lest as Eve was deceived
of the serpent, that you should be drawn away from that simplicity
which is in Christ Jesus. You see, that's why 1 Corinthians
1 says, well, that's foolish, that's so simple. That's so plain. You know, give us something more
complicated. Give us something more in-depth
that we can chew on and take pride in and compete with one
another over. That happens nowhere worse than
in religion. Men competing with one another
to see who's got bigger words they can use to describe things.
And, uh, you listen to a preacher and you, you come away thinking,
boy, I don't know what he said, but it sure sounded good. He
didn't know what he said either. Mark it down. He didn't know
what he was talking about either. He was just trying to impress
you with words that he learned from another man. He hadn't been
taught of God. Man's been taught of God. He's
going to make it very simple, very clear, very plain. He's
gonna tell you that all the secrets, all the mysteries, all the truth
of the gospel is hid in Christ. He's the pearl of great price. You buy the field and you remember
the man who found a treasure in a field and he bought the
field and he dug up the treasure and he had it all. He had it
all. Oh, brethren, we need Christ.
We must have him. You have your Bibles open to
2 Corinthians 4. Look with me at verse 2. But we have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the
word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. But if our gospel be hid, it's
hid from them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them." The gospel is a person. The second
person of the triune Godhead, the Son of God, the sovereign,
successful Savior of sinners. And it's in what he, he did what
he did because he is who he is. He was able to accomplish the
salvation of his people because he is the omnipotent Son of God. Anything that takes us away from
the simplicity that is in Christ is nothing more than enticing
words, persuasive speech not consistent with the scriptures. We do. We do seek to. I think
it was Chris who was talking about persuading men in our conference. And Chris and I, I knew what
he meant. But we do seek to persuade men.
We do. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 11. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we seek to persuade
men. Knowing that there is a hell
waiting for those who are not found in Christ, we seek to persuade
men, come to Christ, come to Christ. But then in that same
verse he says, but our persuasion is made manifest to God. In other
words, we don't use enticing words of human wisdom to persuade
men, we use the scriptures. And if God is pleased to take
the voice of one crying in the wilderness to persuade men, it'll
be because he's speaking the truth according to the scriptures. In Acts chapter 13, Paul and
Barnabas are in Antioch and And the scripture says, and they
persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Every time we stand to preach,
we're hoping that men will be persuaded. Not by the words of
a man, but by the word of God. Abraham, the scripture says of
Abraham, that he was persuaded. He was persuaded that he which
had promised was able to accomplish that which he had promised. And
Paul said, I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. It's
a good thing to be persuaded. But if you're persuaded only
by the words of a man and only by human wisdom and logic and
knowledge, then someone else may come along and persuade you
another way. The Lord said, they shall be
all taught of God. So if the Lord persuades us and
teaches us, we will be like father Abraham. We will know that what
he has promised, he is also able to perform. I looked up this
word hid in the Bible. The very first time that it's
mentioned is in Genesis chapter two, when Adam took the fruit and did eat. And the scripture
says that he and Eve hid themselves from the presence of God. That
what men do. You know, to hide yourself from
the presence of God is like a, it's like a three year old pulling
the covers over its face so that, you know, if I can't see you,
you can't see me. You know, it's just that childish
and that foolish. When God said, Adam, where art
thou? It wasn't that God didn't know where he was. He had not
made himself secret and he certainly was not safe. You see, to hide
from God, number one, you're not in a secret place. God knows
exactly where you are. And more importantly, you're
not in a safe place if you're hiding from God. Not a safe place. That's the first time hid is
used in the Bible. And then in Revelation chapter
6, when the presence, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
is described, the scripture says that men hid themselves in rocks
and caves and called upon the mountains to fall upon them and
said to the mountains, hide us from the face of him that sitteth
upon the throne. So, we began trying to hide from
God, and men are going to end it by trying to hide from God.
Calling upon rocks and mountains to hide you from the face of
God is the same as what the Lord said in Matthew chapter 7, when
He said that the goats who stand before Him on the Day of Judgment
will say, but Lord, but Lord, we've done many wonderful works
in Thy name. You see, that's calling upon
the mountains to hide us from the face of Him that sitteth
upon the throne. It's not a secret place and it's
not a safe place. We cannot hide from God. But when God hides something,
you see, when men hide something, men cover something up, God uncovers
it. When God hides something, and
then he uncovers what he's hidden. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
3. Ephesians chapter 3. Verse 8, unto me who am less
than the least of all the saints. That's not false humility. You
know, every believer believes themselves and believes that
about themselves. Child of God, you believe yourself
to be in need of grace more than anyone else, don't you? Is this grace given? that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ
and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery
which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God who
created all things by Christ Jesus. So these things were hid
purposefully by God and now they are revealed in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What things? The things concerning
salvation. The important things. Yes, in
those other disciplines of human wisdom and reason, there are
facts to be discovered, but none of those things, none of those
things will satisfy the soul's need to know God. All those things
are hid in Christ. God hides something. There was
one time when the Lord was in the temple and he said, before
Abraham was, I am. And that term I am is the same
term translated Jehovah. They knew that he was claiming
to be God. And the scripture says they took
up stones to stone him. And here's what the Bible says.
And he hid himself and went out from the midst of them unknown. He just held their eyes. So he just walked right out and
no man knew where he was, what happened to him. Oh, when the
Lord, you see the deity of Christ is still the offense of the gospel.
Men will say, we're not gonna have that man reign over us.
I'm not gonna bow, not gonna believe in him. And so men hide themselves. And
like Adam, it's not a secret place and it's not a safe place.
But if men object to Jesus Christ being God, He'll hide himself
from them. Go back with me to our text.
Let me show you another place where the Lord hides something. I'm just trying to help us to
see how foolish it is for us to try to hide from God and how
glorious it is and how safe and secret it is when God hides something. Look at Colossians chapter three
at verse three, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ
in God. Is that not a safe place to be? To be hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then we shall also appear with him in glory. That's where
I want to be. I'd hide me in Christ. Hide me in Christ. Let Christ
be all my righteousness. Let Christ stand in my stead
before thee. Let me be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law. And there's a lot
of people hide. You remember when Jezebel was
getting after Elijah? The scripture says that he ran
to Mount Horeb. Now, Mount Horeb is Mount Sinai. And the Lord asked Elijah twice. He said to him, Elijah, what
are you doing here? What are you doing here? Why
have you come? But isn't that so symbolic of what men do? They hide in the rocks, they
hide in the hills, they call upon their works. They look to
the law to hide them from God. It is not a secret place and
it is not a safe place. That's the story where the Lord
put Elijah in a cave. And I wonder if that cave is
not the same cleft of the rock that the Lord put Moses in on
the same mountain. when the Lord said, there's a
place near unto me that's safe. And I'm going to put my hand
over and I'm going to pass by you. We have to be placed in Christ
to be safe. And that's what you see. Your
life is hid with Christ in God. What a safe place to be. What is hid? Go back with me
to our text. I want to summarize this. About
seven quick points, very quick. Verse three, Colossians two,
in whom, in Christ are hid all the treasures, all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest you should
be beguiled with enticing words. What are the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge? Redemption? I need to be redeemed. I need
a redeemer. I've been sold to sin and I need
someone that can pay to God the ransom price for my redemption. And there's only one that can
do that. Only one. God looks to the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ alone as the price to be paid for the redemption
of our souls. And so all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are hid in him. No one else can redeem me. A
man cannot redeem a man, a man cannot redeem himself. Job said,
I know that my redeemer liveth. I know that he liveth. And in
the last days, he shall stand upon the earth. And that's exactly
what he did. You know, when the Bible speaks
of the last days, it's speaking of that entire period of time
between the first and second coming of Christ. So people say
we're living in the last. Yeah, we are. We have been for
2,000 years. But what Job was speaking of
when he said, I know that my Redeemer liveth and in the last
days, he shall stand upon the earth. He's talking about the
first and the second coming of Christ. He did stand upon the
earth. And he suffered and he died and
he shed his precious blood to purchase his people, redeem them. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are in him. All of them. Justification. The Bible says that if God should
mark iniquity, who should stand? You've heard me say before, you
know it's true. There's enough sin in what we're
doing right now to send every one of us to hell, starting with
me. What we're doing right now. And
you say, well, I'm, you know, we're here at church on Sunday
preaching. You're standing up and speaking for God. That's
right. That's right. And if God should take notice
of one part of my self-serving attitude, I'd go to hell for
it. And you would too. We've got to be justified. We
heard a message from Todd this past weekend of the publican
who went down to his house justified. What is it to be justified? It's
to be completely without sin. How can that be? All the treasures
of redemption and justification are hid. They are safe and they
are secure and they are hidden. In Christ. Without sin. When the all-seeing
law looks at me, there is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. They're sinless. As he is, so
are we. How's that gonna be? All the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid You see, men are trying
to redeem themselves and men are trying to justify themselves,
but these things are hidden in Christ. They can't be found outside
of Christ. What about righteousness? Righteousness, how are we gonna
be righteous before God? How are we gonna have a right
standing before God? God made him. We read this in
1 Corinthians 1. God made him who knew no sin
to be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Jeremiah chapter 23, his name
shall be called the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Sidkenu. And in Jeremiah chapter 33, and
she, the church, shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. David said, I will speak of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. Our righteousness is earth's
filthy rags. We have no righteousness outside
of Christ, but we must have righteousness. We must be righteous. We must
be redeemed. We must be justified. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, even that was raised again from the
dead. There's how we're gonna stand.
All these things are hid in Christ. And anything that would take
us anywhere else to find righteousness, redemption, justification, sanctification,
now there's a big one right there, sanctification. And so, well,
you know, now that you've come to Christ, now you got to do
your part in order to be sanctified. And Christ will take you back
to the law so you can learn how to live a good life and, and,
and, and become more and more holy in your walk. No, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself is our sanctification. If he's looking to me for any
part of my sanctification. I'm going to mess it up. To be
sanctified is to be holy. Is to be holy. He is our sanctification. He that sanctifies and they that
are sanctified are all as one. Say, well, what about denying
ungodliness and worldly lust and living soberly in this present
world? Law's not gonna help you do that. Your commitment's not gonna help
you do that. That's found in Christ. Only
in looking to and for the Lord Jesus Christ. Read it, Titus
chapter two. Only in looking to and for the
Lord Jesus Christ does God give us the grace, the grace to follow
after him. So all of our sanctification
is in Him. All of our wisdom is in Him. The Bible says that
man has increased in wisdom and become a fool in his heart toward
God. Has there ever been a more foolish
generation than there is today in terms of what they know about
the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge These things are
all in Him. They're all in Christ. Election, chosen in Christ Jesus before
the world began. By grace through faith, we make
our election and our calling sure. How do we do that? Well, as you receive Christ Jesus,
the Lord, so walk ye in him. How'd you receive him? Receive
him by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight,
don't we? You see, all these things are hid in him. If we
look in faith to Christ's regeneration, we are dead in our trespasses
and sins. We have to have the voice of
God. to do for us what the voice of God did for Lazarus. Call
us by name. Lord, he stinketh. He's been
in the grave four days. Remove the stone. Loose him and
let him free. Lazarus, come forth. We have
to have what the Lord did for blind Bartimaeus, that poor beggar. Said, what would you have me
to do for old Lord that I might see? He gave him his sight. We have to have the Lord do for
us what he did for that demoniac in the gatherings who was cutting
himself and chained. And the Lord put him in his right
mind and clothed him. You see, these things are all
in Christ. They're all in Christ. Glorification, how are we going
to get to heaven? only if he keeps us and only
if he presents us faultless before the throne of God. All the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge are hid secretly and safely in Christ. And I say these things unto you,
lest you be deceived and enticed by the wisdom of man that would lead you somewhere else other
than Christ. Alright, let's take a break.