Verse 10 of Colossians 2, and
you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power. And of course, in the context
there, Paul is speaking of our savior,
you're complete in him. The word complete is the verb
form of the word fullness in verse nine. He is the fullness noun of the Godhead bodily in
him dwelleth the fullness. That's a noun. And we are complete to make full
verb in him. And so it's important, I believe,
to see that And this word is used to remember, show why philosophy,
the love of wisdom, the vain deceit of false religion, the
tradition of men, the rudiments or principles of this world,
in fact, anything that is not Christ, verse eight, is to be
shunned and despised. because Christ is literally all. He is the fullness of the Godhead,
and in him you're full. We've been told in this context,
in this brief passage already in verse chapter two, that all
of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ. I want us to understand what
that is. And I pray that only, I know
only God can reveal that to us and I pray that he will to all
of us. When somebody talks about wisdom
and knowledge or comes up with something that they consider
is a product of their wisdom or knowledge, if it has nothing
to do with Christ, it doesn't meet the definition of it. It
doesn't qualify. There is what's called the wisdom
of this world, but that's foolishness to God. That's foolishness to
God. So what should it be to us? All of the treasures, all of them of wisdom and knowledge
are hid in Christ. Verse three. That's what that
says. So the son of God himself, a
person, a person is the treasury of all
wisdom and knowledge. The world is trying to figure
out everything that pertains to what they want, right? In pursuits that they, feel are
important, to obtain things that they want, they're trying to
figure out how to do that, how to get rich, how to do this or
that better in order to be famous or wealthy, how to find contentment. What can I do? How can I arrange
my life in such a way that I'm content and happy? All of man's
efforts and all of their resources are spent, and those are given
by God, by the way. are spent in pursuit of gain
and fleshly fulfillment. But hidden to them, hidden to
them is that Christ is all to his people. We're not trying
to figure it out, are we? I'm not trying to figure it out.
If I'm not content in Christ, I'm not gonna be content. All
of it is in Him. The truth, the wisdom, the knowledge
that the world seeks. They want to know the origin
of man. It's Christ. They want to know the purpose
of man. It's Christ. They want to know the end of
man. Where are we going to end up? Christ. You're going to stand
before Him. Your knee is going to bow to
Him. Think about this, the wisest man that ever lived, according
to God, nobody before you, nobody after you, other than the wisdom
of God himself, the God man, of course, but mortal man. The wisest one that ever lived
concluded that all of the desires and pursuits, attainments of
the flesh are vanity, and vexation of spirit, not only are they
empty, but for somebody that knows God, they don't cut it. It's just vexing. If you see
what's going on in this world, it will vex you. It doesn't seem
to be right, does it? Because of our sin, it's not.
Of course, in God's purpose, everything's happening right
on schedule. and just as it should. But if you try to find pleasure
in what's going on in this world, or fulfillment, contentment,
joy, happiness, and you know God, you're not gonna find it.
Because nothing can compare if a man should gain the whole world.
It'll profit him absolutely nothing. The wisest man that ever lived
concluded that, all of it. And he had the means to fulfill
every pleasure he could possibly pursue. And he said, it's worthless
and vain and it vexes me. And he added this, the key to
everything is to bow to God and honor him. Fear God and do what He says. Now you think about that. To
fear God is to bow before Him, to reverence Him, to see Him
for who He is. You're not gonna fear Him till
you know Him. To fear God and to bow. Now think about these
two things, bow to Him and honor Him. In other words, obey. If
you love me, keep my commandments. Obey him, do what he says. And
what God says is not keep the law. That's not gonna save you. That's not the message of scripture.
What God says is bow to my son. King of heaven is like unto a
king that made a marriage for his son. We're gonna honor his
son. So to bow to him and to honor
him. Christ is God's king. And he that honoreth not the
son, honoreth not the father. How to live physically, temporally
in this world. That's it. Worship. To fear God and to obey him is
what? It's worship. You can say you're
worshiping here this morning because you came to church, but
are you worshiping? Worship, like love, is an action. It's an action of the heart.
It's something that manifests itself. Love is defined in 1
Corinthians 13 by what it does do and what it doesn't do. Worship
is the same way. If you worship him, of course
you're gonna be present when he's preached, but it's more
than that, isn't it? It's not just showing up. It's
being committed to him, everything you have, everything you are,
everything you do, your time, your money, everything. What was the fellow's name that
gave the threshing floor? for the offering of the sacrifice,
he said, I give it all. I give it all. It's all yours. That's every believer, by God's
grace, every believer, because God works in us, both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. So that's what The smartest man
that ever lived concluded to worship him, to live in this
world, worship. Listen to Matthew 7, 12. Now this is hidden Christ. This
world doesn't know anything about it. They'll call it the golden
rule and say that you need to live by the golden rule. You
see, have you seen any of that going on lately? Listen to what
the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7, 12. Therefore all things whatsoever
you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets. What are we talking about? We're
talking about all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge being
hid in Christ. And we're talking about right
now, just temporarily. Life, how to live, who to be
in this world, how to walk in this world. You realize in one
sentence that the Lord Jesus Christ just ended all war and
all hate and all crime. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge
are hid in him. If you never treat anybody any
other way than how you would have them treat you, If everybody
did that, of course it's not gonna happen. But that wisdom
is in Christ. And to the extent that you do
that, you're gonna be real happy in this world. And when we do that, we're gonna
attribute all glory to him who worketh in us, both to will and
to do of his good pleasure. How to live spiritually, how
to be saved from your sin. All of the wisdom regarding that
and the knowledge. You want to know how a sinner
is saved? It's hidden Christ. And I say
hid because again, this world don't get it. The world's most
devout religion is dedicated to get people saved and they
don't know what salvation is. How to be saved from your sin. That's what you need to know
this morning. Men have come up with all manner of inventions
with regard to this. Do this, say that. Hidden to
them is that salvation's a person. You are complete in Him. You are full in Him. You are fulfilled in Him. How
can a sinner ever be with God? and be well-pleasing in the sight
of God? The answer to that question is
hid from this world, but you know where it is? It's in the
Son of God. All that's worth knowing for
time and for eternity. I don't even know how to say it.
How do you even say it? How to be righteous in the sight
of God, you interested in that? You wanna be able to stand in
the presence of the holy God and not just slide by, but to
be precious in his sight and well pleasing in his sight. Christ
living as us, yet without sin, is our righteousness. He didn't show us how to be righteous.
I guess you could say He did that. That's not salvation. He didn't just come and show
us how to be righteous. We kind of know that because
of Him. Because of Him, we do. But how to perform that? How is it with you? Everything worth knowing. What about all of the sin that
we commit every day and have all of our lives and will all
of our lives? Christ is our sin offering. He
washes sins away in his precious blood, not an offer, not potentially. He died for our sins, the sins
of his sheep, according to the scriptures. And he obtained eternal
redemption for everyone he sanctified with his precious blood. Quit
coming up with stuff. Quit listening to other people
that come up with stuff and rest in the Son of God. I see people pursuing things.
I see them finding their hope and their fulfillment in the
pursuit of things that have nothing to do with Christ. You've missed
everything. You've missed everything and
you're probably using his name to do it. You're probably saying
this is an important cause, you know, we're gonna go after this,
we're gonna try to change the world. The world don't need to be changed.
The world needs Christ. Christ is the change. How are
you gonna change the world? What are you gonna do for the
world? In our text it says that Christ
is the head of all principality and power. That word head means
supreme, chief, prominent, the master. The master and Lord. All the
fullness of the Godhead dwelling in him This is of necessity true. If all the fullness of the Godhead
is embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ, then he's the master. Jesus of Nazareth, then, is the
master. He's the preeminent one. He's
the supreme. He's the chief. Everyone who sees him for who
he is bows and owns him as master. Think of this. Knowing God is
to have the son reveal to you who God is. We know that from Luke 10, 22.
All things our Lord said are delivered to me of my father
and no man knoweth who the son is but the father and who the
father is but the son and. he to whom the son will reveal
him. If you know God, it's because
his son revealed him to you. You saw him in his son. You know
the attributes of God, the character of God. You know who he is by
looking to his son and seeing those attributes lived by the
son in the scriptures. So we have this thief on a cross. He's there crucified with another
like him, and Jesus of Nazareth, one despised from his birth, is crucified in between them.
Despised, railed on, discredited by everybody who names the name
of God. You think about that. Every so-called
godly person discredited him as a fraud and a blasphemer. Both of the thieves begin to
rail on him and mock the Nazarene, not knowing that he isn't just
a Nazarene. but he's God's only begotten
son. In fact, he is all of the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He's the head, he's the chief,
he's the master of all and all things. Will these thieves go
to hell reviling the only one who can save them? Or will the
son reveal God to them? One of the thieves goes silent
for a time and refrains from joining in when the other one
hurls a venomous insult into his face. And our thief says to the other,
don't you fear God? Aren't you afraid of God? Where
did that come from? You're hanging on a cross because
you deserve it. But not this man. He has not done anything wrong. Nothing amiss. Not only has he
not done anything terrible like we have, but he hasn't done anything
that's even off a little bit. That's what that word amiss means.
He hasn't even strayed at all. He's not dying for the reason
we're dying. He's dying for some other reason.
He hasn't done anything to deserve it. And he said unto the Lord
Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Why would he say that? Why would
he speak of a kingdom? Why would he address that man
as Lord? Well, that's because of who he
is. That's who he is. He just saw him. He just saw
who he is. You're the head. You're the chief. You're the master. Remember me,
Lord. Remember me. Look what our text says that
our Lord is master of. Principality. You ever wondered
about that word? This word means beginning, origin,
that by which anything begins to be. The origin, the active
cause. He is the master of all origins
and active causes. In other words, our Savior is
the cause of every cause. The origin of all beginnings.
You've heard preachers say he's the first cause for everything,
and that's the truth. He's the master of all in authority. If anyone has any authority,
it came from him. And he is the authority over
that authority, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If a man spends
his whole life proving that the universe came from an explosion
in space, he will die still not knowing
where the universe came from. The beginning of beginnings.
He said, I'm the alpha and I'm the omega. If a man spends his whole life
telling sinners what they need to do to be saved, go down the
Roman road, walk it out, make a decision. He will die still
not knowing how God saves sinners. because Christ is the cause of
all causes. Turn with me, please, to Hebrews
chapter 12. You'll be familiar with this
passage, but we want to look at this in connection to our
text, particularly this morning, Hebrews 12.2. Hebrews 12, two, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. You see that word author? looking
unto Jesus, the author. Arche, or actually the emphasis
is on the last syllable, it's arche. Arche in Greek is the
noun in our text, principality. Principalities. Well, it's singular,
principality. Archegos, is the adjective author
in this verse. Christ is that by which anything
begins to be of our faith. And think about this, in the
same breath, he is the cause of the cause of our faith, There
are secondary causes. You have to hear the gospel,
right? What do you believe in otherwise? It pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So
preaching saves sinners. Yeah, but Christ is the cause
of preaching saving sinners. That by which anything begins
to be. author of our faith. And in that
same breath, he's saying who the object of our faith. Where
are we looking? Unto him. We're looking to the
one that gave us the faith to look. Why did God give us faith? Why
did Christ author faith in us? To cause us to look to him who is Salvation, who is our
righteousness, who is our sin offering, who is the master, the author and finisher of our
faith. Why did we ever for the first
time look to Him? Because of Him. He's the master
of all power, our text says. You look that word up in the
Greek, very first definition, top of the order, means this,
power of choice. That word right there, he is
the head of all power, shuts down every freewill false church
in the world when he gets good and ready to. Liberty of doing as one pleases. He's the master of that. Christ
is sovereign. You're complete in him. Because
of who he is, he's sovereign. Remember the exhortation that
immediately precedes our text in verse six. Look back at our
text. Verse six of Colossians chapter
two. Colossians 2.6, as you have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and
built up in him, and established in the faith, it doesn't say
in him there, but we know whose faith is in, who's the object
of faith, as you have been taught. abounding therein, in Him, with
thanksgiving, in the walk, walking in Him. Christ Jesus the Lord,
thank God He's on the throne. So you're complete in Him, in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, both
for time and for eternity. and having received him, walk in him, rooted in him, built
up in him, established in him, as you've been taught. He's teaching
us. That's what we're doing here.
He's teaching us. Abounding therein with thanksgiving. Thank God he's on the throne.
Nothing can begin to be without him. And when something does begin
to be, he's the master of it. He's the master of it. He chooses,
he has the power of choice, the liberty of doing as one pleases. That's just being God. Man claims that, it's an empty
claim. Liberty of doing as one pleases
he chooses who gets sick And who don't? He chooses who gets
wealth And who don't He chooses who has authority
of any kind And who doesn't He chooses every
outcome He chooses every detail of every circumstance. He chooses
who's saved and who's not. You can get mad at that because
you want to be the head or you can bow to him who is the head
of all principality and power, whether you like it or not. His people like it. Beware of new stuff. Remember
now what he's saying. Philosophy, vain deceit, the
rudiments of the world, the elements of this world, the tradition
of men. Avoid, beware. Beware of new
stuff. People always coming up with
a new, well, look what I found. I'm thankful for new revelation
of Christ, aren't you? We see the same thing, maybe
from a different passage of scripture, and that's delightful. But beware of clever insight. Look what I figured out. If you
take this word, you know, the 10th word of every chapter of
every book, It has a secret message or something. That's an extreme
example. There's a lot more subtle examples
of that though. Beware of clever insight into
the scripture. God's preachers aren't trying
to figure out what the Bible says. Do you know what the Bible says? We're still trying to figure
out how to say Christ is all without messing it up. Without getting in the way of
it. We know what it says by God's
grace. Not looking for something new, not for some new revelation. God gives us more light on what
we already know. Remember when Simon Peter said,
I think what I need to do as long as I'm in this body is to
tell you what you already know. to teach you these things, though
you already know them. Isn't that what he said? The Bible doesn't say a lot of
things. It says one thing a lot of times in a lot of ways. Beware
of causes. I want to make a difference in
the world. What people mean by that, beware
of it. I see it right now. Off on some
calls, some man that's good about talking people into things has
made it sound good. And so Christ is no longer enough. Christ is the difference. Our
text in verses nine and 10, a very simple message, Christ
is everything in verse nine. In verse 10, having him, you
have everything. What are you looking for? That's
Christ.