The Book of Colossians. We'll consider that 10th verse in the 2nd chapter where it says, And ye are complete. Ye are complete. Ye are complete in Him. Nothing more is needed. you are
complete in Him, all that is needful and necessary
in spiritual things, complete in Him, in the Lord Jesus. Over here, let's turn back a
page now to the first chapter of the book of Colossians. Paul says here in this twelfth
verse of the first chapter, he is speaking to the saints
and the faithful in Christ. He says, Who hath delivered us? Now, in verses 2 of that same
chapter, chapter 1, it says, 2 Now, in verses 2 of that same
chapter, chapter 1, it says, 2 To the saints and faithful
brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae, grace be unto you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. then back over to that thirteenth
verse, or twelfth verse, giving thanks unto the Father which
hath made us, Paul includes himself, with the saints and faithful
brethren in Christ. We give thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be the partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. Who hath delivered us? It's not something that He will
do. It's not something that He hath
promised will come to pass under certain conditions and circumstances. But it's in past tense. Who hath
delivered us? He's already delivered us. delivered us, the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ. He did that 2,000 years ago when
Christ died and was raised from the dead.
He sealed our pardon with His own blood. God was satisfied
with the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf
of His people, satisfied God. And there was a voice from heaven
that said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. God was satisfied. The debt was
fully paid. All that his people owed, all
that was demanded, all the requirements of God's holy and just law was
met. And the salvation of his people
was complete. He hath delivered us. from the power of darkness, verse
13, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,
in whom we have redemption. We have it. We have redemption
in his Son. Not we hope to have it. We hope that things will work
out and we will be accepted by God. We are already accepted. We have already been translated
into the kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. God can only forgive sins when the debt is paid. And now
he talks about who this is, the Lord Jesus. He is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him,
by the Lord Jesus, were all things created that are in heaven and
that are in earth, visible and invisible, seen and not seen. Whether there be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him, and he is before all things and by all things
consist. He is the head. of the Body,
the Church, who in the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked words, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death. to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in His sight." Now, to that ninth verse of the second
chapter, dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him."
Now, I think the apostle here has one aim or object in mind
when he writes and makes this statement in the
10th verse these words, "...and ye are complete in him." He has
one object in mind. His aim, his intention, his desire
is to bring every believer to this one point. If a believer, well, he will
be brought to this point sooner or later, if he be a believer. But he aims to bring this believer
to this one truth, this one point, that he might be happy and made to rejoice in one Savior,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Because as in Christ, the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth
bodily, as in Christ we are complete in Him. So His object, His aim,
His desire is to bring us to a knowledge of that, to a knowledge
of this truth that we are complete in Him, how we labor and toil
from day to day for a want of clearly seeing and simply
believing this blessed truth. There's nothing like Him. You're
complete in Him. Complete in Him. It's like I
one time was at a meeting, a religious meeting, and there was a lot
of singing and shouting, and everybody was revved up, and
they called for testimonies. And several got up and gave their
testimony concerning their experience. It has to do with their profession. And some made long comments,
told of their experience. Others didn't. And finally one little boy, about
10 or 12, 13 years old, stood up. And this is what he said. He said, I'm prayed up, I'm packed
up, and I'm ready to go. Now, I don't know how true that
was, but it sounded awful good to me. I think that what he was
trying to say, I'm complete in Him. I enjoy this salvation of God
because I'm complete in Him. There's nothing that I can add
to it, and there's nothing that No one can take from it. I'm
prayed up. I'm packed up. I'm ready to go. I'm completely in Him. But many,
as I've already said, labor and toil from the coming up of the
Son to the going down of the Son for want of clearly having
an understanding of being complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul here does not exhort
by saying, Be ye complete in Christ. We labor and toil and work and
pray. most of the time, most of us trying to do something to add
to that which cannot be added to. We are complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. A full atonement has he made
on our behalf. He does not exhort, Be ye complete
in him, but confirms and affirms that ye are complete in him. If we could clearly see that,
understand that, and know that, we would rejoice more than we
do. we would enjoy the salvation
of God that were complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some place
in here I read while I was thinking about this, in this twenty-eighth
verse of the first chapter, Paul said, in this 28th verse. He said he was a minister of
the gospel, and he mentions even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations. But now,
he said, it is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory of His mystery among
the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And
all that is connected with ye are complete in Him. That's a
mystery. How can I be complete in another? Only if a man, if God become
a man and virtually join Himself to me, to my humanity, can I
have this completeness. And Paul said, Whom we preach,
warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that
we may present every man, every believer, perfect in Christ. And that's Paul's aim and Paul's
desire and object is that all who believe in Christ might know
that they are perfect in Christ and complete in Christ and cannot
add anything to what Christ has did in their behalf. Ye are complete
in him. He didn't say, Be ye complete
in Him. You are already complete in Him. Now, at this present moment,
you are complete in Him. As you and I, as I stand here
and you sit there, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in which I believe you are, I believe that you are a
believer in Christ, and so I come to you this morning to tell you
that you are complete in Christ, that you might enjoy Christ and
spend your life glorifying Christ because you're complete in Him. There's nothing you can do. There's
nothing you can add to or take from to make it any better. Now, it's now, ye are complete
in Christ. At this present moment, at this
minute, twenty minutes after ten o'clock, ye are complete
in Christ. Now, do not think that you want
anything in yourself to make you complete in Christ. Well,
if I would pray more, if I would give more, if I would be more
Christlike, would not this somehow add to my standing before God
in Christ? You are full, complete, and perfect
in Christ, who is your Head, right now. Now, right now, twenty-some
minutes after ten o'clock. You're perfect in Christ, being
one with Him, one in him, all his perfection is yours. Here is the joy and the comfort
of faith. You see, when a man comes to
realization through the teaching of the Word and the leadership
of the Spirit, making revelation to his heart, as to his standing
in Christ, His perfection in Christ. That is His joy and comfort
of faith when He comes to that point in His experience, that
He is perfect in the Lord Jesus, complete in the Lord Jesus. He is completely clothed. He is completely dressed. He is complete in all the requirements. That is the comfort of faith. You see, faith gives glory to
Christ. Man says, I am saved by faith
in Christ. Faith does not save us. Faith
connects us to him who does save us. gives glory to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, in this religious world
that we live in and hear about practically every hour of every
day, about the religion of this world, they say they have faith
in Christ, but their faith does not glorify Christ. Their faith
glorifies themselves. in what they do or what they
don't do to make up their salvation. But faith, true faith, gives
glory to Christ, who is the author and the object of their faith,
which is, by the way, a gift of God. It leaves all works behind. When a man comes to this knowledge,
this revelation that Paul says you are complete in Christ, you
are perfect in Christ, then faith leaves all works behind. Faith does not bring works to
Christ as an additive to his salvation, something that he
adds to it. No, it leaves all works behind. It finds all perfection in Christ. This faith works by love to all
good works, not to get perfection by good works, but to glorify
Christ in whom we are already perfect and complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, since I've said that,
let me ask a question. This is the question which I
have partially answered. But in what
sense are all believers complete in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
first of all, they are completely righteous in Christ. We talked
about that already. Holy brethren, we are as holy
as God can make us holy because our holiness is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He makes us perfectly holy in
Christ. We are complete. There is nothing
needed apart from the holiness, the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are perfectly righteous in
Christ and we are perfectly accepted and fully justified before God
and in Him, Christ alone. Notice what it says here in the
book of Ephesians, I think in chapter 1, when I say that we
are perfectly righteous in Christ, perfectly accepted and fully
justified before God in Him. In verse 6, listen to this. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved." Perfectly righteous in Christ, perfectly accepted
and fully justified before God in Christ. to the praise of the
glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us." We did not make
ourselves accepted in Christ. He made us accepted in Christ. In whom? We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace. Isn't that something? Verse 14, Who is the earnest,
the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of His glory? We never can be more complete
in righteousness than what we are right now, never can. If we live to be 95 years old,
like the grandmother of Brad's wife, Pam, If we live to be 95
years old and live every day in obedience to the Lord Jesus
Christ, we cannot be made more righteous and more complete and
more accepted and more perfect. We are as perfect as God can
make us because we are complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. How does He make us this way? By abolishing sin. Sin is made an end of. Sin is done away with. And we are not presented unto
God in ourselves, but we are presented unto God in his Son,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, we were
put in Christ before the world ever was. Listen to this. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved." We are made and presented as Christ is before
God. That is, if Christ is without
spot and without wrinkle, then we are without spot and without
wrinkle, without blemish in Christ here and there. Now, without
spot, without wrinkle, or any such thing, Christ hath by one
offering perfected them forever, all them that are sanctified. Let me read something to you
here from the book of Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12. Verse 10, Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 10, "...by the which will we are sanctified, not hope to
be sanctified, or we are not admonished to do something in
order to gain sanctification." It says, "...by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Then down in verse 14, For by
one offering he hath perfected forever, forever ye are complete in Christ. You are perfected in Christ forever,
them that are sanctified, forever. Verse 17, And their sins that are pardoned and forgiven,
that he made an end of, will I remember no more. By one offering, he has perfected
them forever, all that are sanctified. Now that sanctification there
means they are separated by the love of God the Father from eternity
past. and separated by God the Spirit
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ here in time. Made righteous through the offering
of the Lord Jesus forever. Made perfect forever in Him. Made free from the guilt and
the shame of sin, made free from that punishment
of sin which the law of God requires. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ
makes perfect that is pertaining to a man's conscience. Their
hearts are sprinkled with his precious blood. from the evil
and the guilt of an evil conscience. We are made accepted in the blood. We are complete in him. I am
not trying to be saved. I am rejoicing in the fact that
I am already saved and complete in him. I am not trying to get
to heaven. I'm going there. I'm not trying to be righteous
in order to gain God's favor. I'm already righteous and Christ
has already gained His favor and I stand in Him. So the aim
of Paul then in writing to the church of Colossae is for them
to clearly have this understanding of truth so they can glorify
God's Christ and enjoy God's Christ. And that's my aim here
this morning, that you might know it, you might have this
knowledge of it. Throughout the writings of the
Apostle Paul to the churches, he talks about this, that we
are to aspire after this knowledge. the knowledge of God, who He
is, who His Son is, and what His Son has done, and so forth.
And when we find out that the debt, that the demands of the law has
been fully satisfied, all that the law demands has been satisfied,
and the debt is paid, Now, if God himself is to justify the
sinner, which is in the justification
of God, he's clear from all guilt and all sin, has a perfect righteousness,
perfect standing before God. Now, the law is satisfying. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
the law. Every jot and every tittle of
it. Satisfied. The law had no claim on it. If you're in Christ, the law
has no claim on you. The debt is paid, paid in full. If God himself is to justify
the sinner who has broken God's holy law, He can only justify
that sinner on the ground that the penalty which the law demands
has been fully paid. Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. Sin has left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Jesus paid it all. On Christ,
the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sink and sink. That's
what I believe and that's what I preach. You're complete in
Him. Complete in Him. Now, does that
understanding of that make you want to go out and commit adultery? Does that make you want to take
your fling and sin? Does that make you want to just be
slothful? Certainly not. It does the opposite,
to know that God hath freely justified you in His presence
forever by the one offering of the Lord Jesus Christ, makes
you so indebted to Him, to His love and to His mercy and to
His grace and to His mercy, that you want to live to glorify Him,
live to glorify His name, to lift up His name. I get so vexed at times when
I hear people talking about salvation and leaving a bad taste in my
mouth when they talk about having to do something to gain
the favor of God by their Salvation is free as the air. It's free
to any person under the sun, race, religion, or color, or
whatever. It's open to him whom God has made sensitive to
his sins. whereby he knows that he hath
offended God by sin. When he knows that, the love
of God in Christ will be shed abroad in his heart. And he'll
come to see what I'm talking about this morning, that you
once were this, but now you're in Christ. Well, the Lord bless
us here this morning with these precious scriptures that I have
read to you and made comment on, by the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Well, we will come back again
this evening