Let us pray together. Father,
I want you to turn with me to the book of Colossians chapter
2. I'll not tear along here this
evening. I'm tired and you're tired. So I'll say what I believe the
Lord would have me to say, and then we'll conclude. In this second chapter, in that tenth verse is kind of
the basis for what is said before and what comes after. this 10th verse in this chapter. This is kind of the anchor that
holds it together. This is what He's telling them. If they can lay hold of this,
they'll be more than conquerors through Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells them in verse 8, 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." He warns us that due to our corruption
of nature, that we are liable to fall into a snare, a trap. and through the vanity of the flesh
might be overcome for a time. He says some things here to warn
us to watch out, to learn some things. Learn line upon line,
one truth at a time. Master the truth. Learn the gospel. Learn the gospel. That sounds real, maybe silly
for me to say that you ought to learn the gospel when the
gospel is revealed to us. It's revealed to us, but we need
to learn it. What is it? What is the gospel?
And be established in the gospel, in the truth as in Christ Jesus. And we won't be carried away.
by various rudiments of this world and vain jangling of so-called
prophets and preachers and things of that nature. He says here
in this ninth verse, in Christ Jesus. Prior to this,
he said, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
as ye have therefore received him, so walk ye in him. How did you receive him? Did
you receive him by some fleshly attainment? Was God somehow looked upon you
with favor because of Something about you, in you, or what was
it? How did you receive Him? It was
by faith, through faith, by faith in Jesus Christ. So walk. The just shall walk by faith. And now he says, for in Him,
that's in Christ, in Christ, in Christ. Out of self and in Him. As to
our standing, as to our standing before God, I'm in the body,
I'm in the body here, in the body, but really the true me is in Christ. My standing, my
true standing is before God in Christ Jesus. Now, I told you
that the world does not view us that way. The world doesn't
see us that way, but we have stood still and we've seen God's
salvation. That is, we've seen the ground
and the character of the salvation of God, and so we stand in Him,
stand in Christ. We stand in Him. For in Christ
now dwells all the fullness, all the fullness. It's like a
bucket full of water. The bucket's full. You can't
get any more water in it. You pour it in, it just runs
out. The bucket is full. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And you know that I say many
times, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and I
talk about the God-man, The man Christ Jesus, man and God in one person, man
and God, all that God is, all that God is, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, is in Christ Jesus bodily, in Him, Godhead, in Christ. Now, it says, for in Him, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead body." Can't get no more in.
All that God is is in Him, no more. And ye, ye, and ye are
complete in Him. We're complete in Him. That's
what I want to talk about just for a little bit. We're complete
in Him. You're complete in Him, which
is the head of all principality and power. In Him we have perfect
remission of sin in Christ. Perfect, perfect remission of
sin. Without the shedding of the blood,
there is no remission of sin. But if Christ be our Lamb, if
He be our substitute, then in Him we have perfect remission
of sin. In Him we have divine righteousness
by imputation, of course. In Him we have perfect remission,
divine righteousness. In Him we have complete acceptance
with God and before God. In Christ Jesus, complete acceptance. In Him, in Christ, we have everlasting
safety, everlasting security. In Him we have full fellowship
with God in Christ in all the glory. In Him. We are complete
in Him. And that statement, that ye are
complete in Him, comprehends all things. Complete in Him. The bucket is full. Completely
full. We are complete in Him. We have everything. Everything in the spiritual sense
we have in Christ. We're complete in Him. You can't
add anything to it. You can't take anything away
from it. You can't add anything to it. We're complete in Him.
every believer in Christ Jesus. Now, he talks about philosophy
and the traditions of man. Let me mention here what he says. He says, or I ask this question
in light of what he says, the Apostle Paul, could philosophy,
could the traditions of man, could the rudiments of this world,
could meats, drinks, holy days, new moons or Sabbaths, touch
not this, touch not that, handle not this, handle not something
else, the commandments, the doctrines of men, days, months, times and
years, could any of these things that Paul mentions in this chapter,
Could any of these things, or all of these things, put together
as one, add a single jot or tittle to one whom God has pronounced
complete? It would be like saying that a man would look upon the
six days' work of God the Father in creation. He would look upon that work,
that it took God six days to create. And when God finished
His work in six days, He looked upon it and he said, it's very
good, very good work of creation. Everything that was and is came
into being by the hand of God in six days. It took him six
days and he finished the work. Now, what if a man, looked upon the
fair creation of God that was completed by God and
finished by God and said, I see that he has finished the work. It's only took him six days to
do it. But I'll come in and look upon
this fair creation of God and put the finishing touches on
it. Finishing touches, what God has pronounced very good, you're
going to put the finishing touches on it. That's exactly what men
are doing when they add anything to God's salvation, when it's
Christ plus this. If it's Christ plus what I do
or Christ plus What I don't do, minus what I don't do, that's
my salvation. That's like saying, well, I'll
put the finishing touches on the creation of God, what it
took God six days to create, and he looked upon it and said
it's very good, but, well, I can add a little bit to it. I can
add a little to it. Oh, no. Now, this completeness
that he's talking about, it's not to be looked upon or viewed
as a matter of attainment. I mean by that, some point which
we have not yet reached, but something we must strive for. and the possession of which we
cannot be sure until we lie on our deathbeds or stand before
the throne of judgment. No, this completeness is not something
to be attained, to strive to reach. The very weakest and feeblest
child in the family of God is included in this apostolic Y.E. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him. It is not something that we attain. It's not a point which we have
not yet reached, but we strive for it. That's not what it is.
It is now. Ye are complete. Every believing child of God,
being weak and unstable, and full of faults and failures,
whatever the case might be, the strong and the weak, every one
of them is included in the apostolic ye. You're complete in Him. That's our standing. That's how
God views us. In Him, not in yourself. Oh,
my soul, if He viewed us in ourselves, We'd be of all men most, well,
we'd be distressed, wouldn't we? All men most miserable, a
beauteous inner self. My hope is built nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. It's in Him, in Him. All the people of God, then,
are complete in Christ. Now, He does not say here, listen
to a man, What I'm saying, let's learn this together. Complete
in Christ. My standings in Christ is not
in myself. He says here, you're complete
in Christ. He does not say, ye will be complete
in Christ. That's not the language of the
Bible. That's the language of men. Men will tell you, do the
best you can, do the best you can. Eventually you'll attain,
you'll achieve, you'll get the crown of victory and so forth. You will be if you continue on. You will be. No, He said, ye are now complete
in Him. Not ye will be. He doesn't even
suggest ye may be. He doesn't say hope that ye may
be. He does not even say pray that
ye may be. He says, in the most absolute,
unqualified manner, He says, You are complete in Him. Whoo! Isn't that something? Complete
in Christ Jesus! You are complete in Him! Oh! So it tells me I've got to do
this and I've got to do that in order to achieve in order
to achieve something. And I say to myself, I can't
do it. I can't do it. I wrestle with hope, but I know
it's a false hope. I can't do it. I can't measure
up. It's not in me. But if He tells
me, someone comes along and tells me, you're complete in it. You're
complete now. Right now you're complete, just
like you are in Him. Not in yourself. Bleed in Christ. Now, this is the true starting
post, or the true starting place for a believer. This is where
the believer starts, right here. You start from this completeness
in the Olympic trials. Now, the runners haven't run
yet, I don't think. They're going to run here directly.
Maybe this week sometime they're going to run. But they're going
to have a place to start from. They're going to get in them
starting blocks. They get right there. Every one
of them gets in that starting block. And they're all in the
same place. They got a starting place. And
when the gun goes off, they take out of there like a shot. That's
where they start at. A believer, a true believer in
Christ has, for a starting place, his starting post is that he's
complete in Christ, complete in Christ right at the
start. It's not like the racer who does
not win. unless he's the first to cross
the finish line. We're already winners right at
the starting post. We're complete in Christ. That's
how we stand in Christ. Now listen to me. This is our
starting post. And for men to make a goal of
what God makes a starting post, It just turns everything upside
down. Well, in light of that, the inquiry
or the anxious inquiry asks this question. Some will say, have
we no sin, no failures, no imperfections? Well, we have. I have to say,
yes, we have. Because if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We have
sin in us, but no sin on us. Remember, our standing before
God is not in self. Remember that? Learn that. Our
standing before God is not in self. It's in Him. It's in the high priest who finished
the work, who accomplished redemption, who bore the sinner's sins, who
paid the sinner's punishment, who clothed the sinner in his
righteousness, who honored and magnified the law in his behalf. We stand in him. We don't stand
in ourselves. We have sin in us, but we have
no sin on us. It's in Him we're complete. God,
and I've tried to tell you this the last two or three Sundays,
God sees the believer in Christ, with Christ, and as Christ. You're complete in Him. This is the believer's changeless
condition. This is his everlasting standing. The believer is not in the flesh,
though the flesh is in him. He's united to Christ. He's joined to Christ. He's connected
to Christ. He's finally joined to the Lord
Jesus Christ. joined to Him, the Lord Jesus
has put away everything that was against the believer, put
it all away. And He that sanctified and they
that are sanctified, they are one. The sanctifier and those
that are sanctified are one, united, connected, finally joined. to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you are complete in Him. Complete in Him! Oh, my soul! Listen now. In whom? That eleventh verse. In whom
also ye are circumcised. You are complete in Christ. And
he says, also, in whom? in whom also you are circumcised."
Circumcised. Now, circumcision was a very
important rite and ritual to the Jewish people. Maybe it still
is. I don't know. But it was then. It was during
the time of this writing, circumcision. They said, except a man be circumcised,
he's not saved. They believed that circumcision
somehow was connected with salvation. These Jewish people did. But
our Lord Jesus Christ said, In whom also ye are circumcised
with circumcision made with our hands. Circumcision that the Jews are
talking about is the circumcision that is made with hands. When
Zephora told most Was it Moses? It was, wasn't it? Zephora, the
wife of Moses, she said, you're a bloody man. He wouldn't circumcise his children. And God said, told him, said,
you better do what I told you. He said, I'll be a-lying in wait
and kill you. And so he took some flinty stones.
He took some sharp stones with his hands. and he circumcised
his children, his boys. She said, you're a bloody man. But the Bible says here, we've
been circumcised, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in Christ Jesus. in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." He goes on and said, "...buried
with him in baptism." I told you we died with him. I told
you that we are dead to the law. A man that is dead to the law,
he is free from sin. I said we died in Christ. We're
buried with him in baptism. Wherein also ye are risen with
him. I told you that our standing
here before God, we're in Christ before the throne. As God views
and sees us in the heart of the Son of God. You are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised
him from the dead as a pledge and assurance. that the sacrifice
was accepted on our behalf. You, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, perfect remission
of sins, blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against
us, the law that was against us, blotted them out. which was
contrary took it to us, took it out of the way, nailing it
to his tree. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphantly over
them in it, in himself. So let no man therefore judge
you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of
a new moon, or of the Sabbath day. All these things or a shadow
of the things to come. Let no man beguile you out of
your reward in a voluntary humility, worshipping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in this world, touch not, taste not, handle not, and all them
things after the commandments and doctrines of man, He's saying
all this in light of what He's already told us. Ye are complete
in Him. Complete in Him. Don't let anybody
trap you. Learn this. Don't let anybody
trap you. This way you can worship God. Worship God when you know
you're complete in Him. Everything that was against you,
He's either taken away done away with, paid for, or nailed it
to the cross, one of the two. Nothing against us. Who can lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died,
yea, rather than risen again. Can't do it? We're complete in
Him. Complete in Him. You're satisfied, aren't you? Satisfied with Him? Satisfied
with what He done? Satisfied. Oh Lord, help me to
honor you and praise you. Glorify you. Be true to you. Let me be genuine. Let me have
sincerity of heart. Deliver me from the role of a
hypocrite. Dear Lord, help me not to deceive
others and deceive myself. Oh Lord, May I? May I?