For I would that you knew what
great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and
for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. I have
great conflict, there's a battle in my heart, there's turmoil,
there's a struggle in my heart for you, that your hearts might
be comforted. being knit together in love,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to
the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and
of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man
should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent
in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit. When we say that,
I wondered at one time whether that was the right thing to say.
We're with you in spirit. You know, people say that, I'm
with you in spirit. And then I saw that in the scriptures
and I'm like, yeah, that's a good thing to say. That's a good thing
to say. Enjoying and beholding your order
and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, 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 as you
have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 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. What are the traditions of men
and the rudiments of this world? The definition of them is this,
not Christ. not Christ. For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. And you are complete
in him, which is the head of all principality and power. What a passage of scripture now. And I want us to, the reason
I read one through 10, which we won't cover most of this morning,
is because I want us to consider first the whole tenor of this
passage, the whole theme of it. Paul expresses his concern for
this church here. And you remember in the book
of Corinthians, he used, how many times did he say, you're
puffed up, you're puffed up, I warn you, you're puffed up.
Here, when he expresses his concern, And apparently his primary reason
for writing to them, it's to exhort them and encourage
them in faithfulness and steadfastness in the truth. He's concerned
that they be not deceived, that they be not moved away from the
truth of the gospel. So how does he address that?
That's what I want to see kind of in a general sense first.
What will he say that will warn them sufficiently and exhort
them regarding error and the danger of error creeping into
the church? First verse, he expresses the
concern itself. and describes his conflict. It's
a battle within me. It's a struggle. It's something
that tangles me up inside to think that you might be exposed
to false doctrine, that wolves in sheep's clothing might creep
in and deceive you. And then verse two, Christ. Verse three, Christ. In whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What you
need to know to not be deceived, what you need to learn and understand
and be wise about to not be deceived is Christ, a person. Verse four. In this I say, lest any man beguile
you with enticing words. What is it to be beguiled with
enticing words? To be drawn away from Christ.
Verse five, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you
in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness
of your faith in Christ. Verse six, Christ. Verse seven,
Christ. Verse eight, Christ. Verse nine,
verse 10, and on. That's how he addresses it. That's
how he deals with the issue of be guarded, be sober, be vigilant. He points them to Christ in all
of these different ways. So when he says in verse two
that he would that their hearts be comforted, Paul knows how
that happens. by knowing Christ, verses two
and three. By knowing Him, you see the words,
the knowledge, acknowledgement of the mystery, full assurance
of understanding. In Him are wisdom and knowledge. To know Him is to be comforted. By believing in Christ, verse
five, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you
in the spirit, joining and beholding your order and the steadfastness
of your faith in Christ. That's how you'll be comforted.
Lord, increase their faith, increase our faith. Cause us to look to
him alone by faith. By walking in Christ, verse six, You can recite the doctrine, but unless you're a follower
of Christ, it's just talk. It's sounding brass. Walking him, that's where comfort
comes from. Also, by maturing, rooted and
built up, verse seven, by maturing in Christ, by growing in, down
and up. You notice that? Growing down,
sinking your roots in the rock of ages, and growing up toward
Him in faith and love for Him and for
one another. And in verse eight, How will
you be comforted? How will your hearts be knit
together in love? Verse two, how is that gonna
happen? By maturing in Christ, as we said, and by, verse eight,
rejecting all but Christ. Satan is subtle, isn't he? Oh,
he's subtle. You might be in a place where
doctrinally you can't be moved. He'll get you another way if
he can. When I say if he can, that's if the Lord allows him
to. But we're exhorted to be vigilant. The way the Lord doesn't
allow him to is by giving us a spirit of vigilance and determination and commitment
to the Lord. How will it be that their hearts
are gonna be knit together in love? That's his desire. Think about that. First of all,
to be comforted in Christ. But secondly, as a church, he's
writing this letter to the church and he's saying that your hearts
be knit together in love. In love. This is what defines
the church of God. By this shall men know and that
you're mine. What does us loving one another
have to do with Christ? Everything. By this you know
that men will know that you're mine. You're mine. That's what it is. Not by focusing on points of
doctrine rather than Christ himself. As he dealt with harshly or strongly,
to the church in Corinth. Knowledge puffeth up, but love,
the love of Christ in your heart, that's what produces, that's
what builds. Not by trusting in your knowledge,
but by knowledge of Him given through these means. Not by following
your path, but by following Him. Everybody said, I'm just following
my path. Quit that. Quit that. Follow, be you followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ, your fleshly activities, your concerns of
this world must take a distant backseat to the things of Christ. And if we're aware now, if we
are vigilant and sober-minded, we realize where those things
conflict. Most people just go on not even
realizing that there is a conflict. I'll just live my life and Christ
will take care of everything. Well, the way that Christ takes
care of everything is by changing you, by saving you, by redeeming you,
and by making you a new creature. The full assurance of understanding. Man, notice the context here
again of not wanting anything to creep in. I fear lest you
be removed from the simplicity that's in Christ, he said to
the Galatians. So this was a concern again in
all the letters. the full assurance of understanding. That doesn't just happen automatically,
apart from actual learning. If you sit here and I speak from
experience, if you sit here and your eyes kind of glaze over
and you're thinking about what happened this past week and what
might happen this coming week and That's not how you learn of Christ.
That's why Solomon said over and over, apply your hearts. Apply your hearts to wisdom.
It doesn't happen apart from actual experience of the truth
of the gospel. The gospel is lived, not just
agreed with. A maturing, which takes time
and it takes effort by God's design. He's not depending on
your effort, but he is gonna use it. There's gonna be an endeavoring. You remember these gospel words
that we've talked about before? Apply, endeavor, striving, all
of which are Bible words that describe what it is to worship
and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. in striving, working, laboring
to enter into his rest. That's a constant thing, isn't
it? To rest in him involves that. And this is Paul's concern. This
is Paul's exhortation. It requires an active refusal
and rebuttal of all that is contrary to Christ. and the truth of the
gospel of his sovereign grace. And that's his exhortation. Well,
Chris is preaching works this morning. No, Chris, by God's
grace, is preaching that God works in his people, both to
will and to do of his good pleasure, and God's good pleasure is all
in Christ. Every verse. Look to him. Walk in him. believe on Him,
grow up in Him, rest in Him. And that working of God in us,
which we praise Him for, and He gets all the glory for, manifests
itself in faithfulness in His people, steadfastness. Devotion
unto Him and in a perpetual hunger for the bread of life, for Christ.
Knowledge of Him, learning of Him, and sincere, not meritorious
service, but sincere service. Not selfish service, but sincere
service unto Him. That's how his working manifests
itself in us. And that's what Paul is exhorting
them to, walk in him, rest in him, trust in him, look to him,
grow in him and his grace. And his working in us to will
and do results in verse two, our comfort, our unity and love
for him and for one another. and sweet rest in Him as our
righteousness, sin offering and Savior. You see the word assurance in
verse two? That means in full assurance
of understanding. That means most certain confidence. This is Paul's desire for them
because this is what the Lord uses, this is that whereby the
Lord will keep them from error and from confusion. You see that?
This is set against that. Don't let error creep in, beware,
be vigilant. Don't hear it, don't entertain
it, don't tolerate it, but instead be most certainly confident in
your understanding of the things of God. in your knowledge of
Christ. That faith which God gives us
in his son is not a wishy-washy thing. It's not. Yes, it is subject to our doubtful,
wretched hearts. Yes, we are plagued by the unbelief
rooted in our sinful flesh. But by the grace of God, we can
say with Paul, and may we say it with more and more confidence,
with more and more sincere assurance, I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded, I am most certainly confident that he's
able. His ability, my confidence, my
trust, my comfort, is in His ability. With all of our natural
weakness notwithstanding, we are most confident of His ability.
I'm persuaded that He is able. This is the faith that God gives. It has one object, Christ. It
has one author, Christ. It has one finisher, and it ain't
you. Those to whom God gives this
saving faith in Christ cannot not believe that Christ's blood
and His blood alone is sufficient and successful to redeem us,
that atonement is made and enjoyed by His blood. Not only is the blood, the death
of Christ, the only offering that God can and will accept
for sin, but when he shed his blood on Calvary, he actually
and fully redeemed those for whom he shed it. We're confident
of that. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. His blood, Those to whom God
gives the saving faith in Christ, he makes them most confidently
certain that Christ's righteousness alone is that perfect garment
in which we stand accepted and well-pleasing in the sight of
God. Only the righteousness of Christ. He doesn't give us a
righteousness that compares to Christ favorably. Christ Himself
is our righteousness. He stands, He lived, He died,
and He intercedes as our righteousness before God, our acceptance with
God. And when we don't have full, confident assurance, it's not
because we doubt Christ's power. If you're a true believer, you
can't do that. We don't doubt His perfection.
We don't doubt His propitiation. It's because we begin to look
away from him. We begin to trust in ourself. As Simon looked away when he
began to sink, which is what we do when we look away from
Christ. We look to self. We dare not
trust the sweetest friend. And that's Paul's exhortation
here. To the acknowledgement of the mystery is the next phrase
in our text. To the acknowledgement means
precise and correct knowledge of that which most people will
never know, the mystery. Knowledge of the hidden thing,
precise and correct knowledge of that which is hidden. Consider this parable, Matthew
13, 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto treasure hid in a field. The witch, when a man hath found,
he hadeth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he
hath. and buyeth that field. You see verse three there, in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In whom. Solomon said, with all thy getting,
get wisdom. There is nothing to be compared
in value to wisdom. And Paul says all of that is
in Christ. That's where you get it. Our text answers the question,
where is wisdom? All of its treasures are in Christ. And this is not saying that Christ
knows everything and is able to teach you everything. This
is saying that Christ is everything. May God teach us that. How can man be clean that is
born of a woman? Christ doesn't just know that,
he is that. How can God be just and justify
a sinner? Christ is the answer to this.
Christ in his life as our righteousness, Christ in his death as our substitute
and our sin offering is the justification before God of all for whom he
lived and died. 1 Corinthians 15.22, for as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now
you think about that. Either that means that everybody
died in Adam and everybody is made alive in Christ. If you
can make that fit with this book, then believe that. Or it means
this. Who died in Adam? Those whom he represented. which was all of mankind. Who
lives in Christ? All who died in Adam? No, we
know that's not true. All whom Christ represented. In his high priestly prayer in
John 17, he said, I intercede not for this world, but for those
whom thou has given me. Well, that's not fair. Who's
the one rejecting Him? I thought that was you. Not fair. Who's the one that hates Him?
Why would you want to be with Him forever? If you hate the
sovereign Christ who saves whom He will, there ain't but one
and that's Him. It's on you, isn't it? It's on
you. I don't want to go from eternal
spiritual things to earthly temporal things, except just to show the
fullness of the truth of this. You think about this. In Christ
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Is there
anything worth knowing that the treasures of which are not hid
in Christ? Anything. Are you having marriage
trouble? Anybody? I don't want to get in that,
you know, unless you need to talk to somebody or, that's not
my bit, but I tell you what is my business to tell you this.
Is the wisdom and knowledge of marriage not hidden in Christ? Or the secret hidden truths that
make two people happy in their love for one another? Is that
not in Christ? Is Christ not the answer to your
pride? To yourself, right, to your selfishness
that's causing trouble? Are you having trouble on your
job? Do you work like you're working for him? You know, because people that
work for him don't complain. Be tough to complain if the Lord
Jesus Christ is your boss, wouldn't it? And he is. People who are employed by the
Son of God are thankful for their job rather than complaining. I'm not getting on you, trust
me. I'm getting on us. People that work for him don't
get involved in the drama. They're working for him. Can we take a bad thing that
may happen in a marriage or in a job or in any aspect of our
lives, can we take a bad thing as an
opportunity to honor him in a bad thing? You know, sometimes that's the
most gracious gift that God can give a believer is the ability
to honor him in a bad thing? Oh, everybody's praising the
Lord when everything's wonderful, aren't they? Praise the Lord,
thank you, Jesus. It bothers me to even say that,
you know, but that's what they say, isn't it? There are treasures we may never
know simply in acknowledging Him in everything, giving thanks
in everything, finding the answer to every problem
in Him, finding in Him the wisdom to get through it, the wisdom
to do the right thing, say the right things, be the right thing when the chips are down. Are you hurting? Are you troubled? Are you afraid? Are you just
cast down? What greater treasure in this world than to be comforted
and encouraged and at peace and unafraid. Money can't even touch that. All these things are in Christ. These treasures are in knowing
him walking in Him, growing up, maturing in Him. All of the things
that our text deals with, these treasures, to have them is to
have Him. When you've spent all you have
spiritually, and it's only made you worse,
what a profound gospel truth that is. The money that that
woman spent, what does that represent? Everything she had earned, everything
she had worked for, all of her, what's the word, I never can
think of this word, all of her resources. You know what that's worth when
it comes to your soul? When you spend it all, which
spending of it means exerting the power of it, right? Taking
everything you've done, everything you've merited, and applying
it to the problem, you're worse. It's not just inefficient. It's
not just worthless. The more you do, the more you
spend, the more of your own merit you apply to the situation, the
more wretched in the sight of God you are. And when all of your so-called,
who's gonna show you any good then? When all of your so-called good
works and religious knowledge have all proven to be lost to
you and not gain, to whom shall you go? How are
you gonna know what to do then? Where is wisdom? It's in Christ. How can I get some? Turn to Proverbs
2 with me. I'll be almost through, sort
of through. Proverbs 2. Proverbs 2.1. Now it's in Christ, isn't it?
How are you gonna get some this morning? My son, if thou wilt
receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee, so that
thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding,
yea, if thou cryest after knowledge. You can't fake that. You're gonna
have to need it. You're gonna have to be in a
place where you need to know what to do. You need to know
what must we do to be saved. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? When you cry after knowledge
and lift us up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest
her as silver and searchest for her as for hid, All the treasures. All the treasures
in Christ. That's the title of the message
this morning. All the treasures in Christ. Then shalt thou understand the
fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord
giveth wisdom. How are you gonna get some of
it? The Lord's gonna give it to you. If he's pleased to do
so, and I don't know whether he will or not, but I know if
he does, I know how he'll do it. Receive my words. Receive the
words of the Son of God. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding. I'm speaking to you this morning,
but these are not the words of my mouth. Mary knew where to find it. She
knew where it was and she knew how to get it, didn't she? Sitting
at his feet, hearing his words. Like the conflict that Paul had
in our text, my heart breaks right now. for some who have
sought and think they have found wisdom in this world. Maybe you
know some folks like that, that did run well, maybe. Some cause, some slick-tongued
anti-Christ reprobate has enticed them to find purpose apart from
Christ. It's disguised, of course, If
you ask them, have you left Christ? Oh no, no, Christ is the basis
of what we do. Philosophies in vain deceit,
but disguised as godly. The son of God is not a launching
pad from which you can reach your goals. Christ is the goal. He is the prize of the high calling
of God. The gospel's not a philosophy
that empowers you to change the world or do your part or that
impels you to success or in some seemingly worthy cause. The gospel's a person. And when you know that, you've
found the treasure. God give us grace to put an out
of business sign on the window of our goodly pearl-seeking
shop. We found him in whom our soul delighteth. It's all in him, no need to look
any further. May God give us grace To see, know, walk, believe on,
rest, follow, worship Him alone. Him alone. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your precious
word. Thank you for revealing Christ to us on every page and
every passage. And thank you for the comfort
and peace we find in Him. All we need, Lord, all-inclusive
simplicity in our Savior. Give us grace to act like it, to find our fulfillment in life
and in fellowship and with your people and learning of you and
worshiping you. And everything else is just an extension of that.
Everything revolves around our worship and service of our Savior.
Give us grace, Lord, to come to that place. Use this church for your glory,
Lord, in whatever way that it pleases you. Use each of us.
in our lives and in our circle of friends and whatever influence
we have in this world to be a witness for you and an example to our children, to those that
we love, to everyone we meet. Thank you for all your blessings,
Lord. If we began to recite the ways in which you blessed
us this past year, we would never, ever reach the end. And we pray that in this coming
year, that you won't leave us to ourselves, not for one second. Walk with us and keep us, lift
us up. and keep us close. In Christ's
name we ask. Amen. Amen. You're dismissed. I hope
we can all stay in fellowship a bit and enjoy some lunch together. I feel like there's announcements,
but if Vicki doesn't know them, I really do, I was thinking I
was gonna say something this morning, but I can't remember.
Anyways, I thank the Lord for you. Lord gave us a year full
of, it was never boring, was it? Thank God for every circumstance,
every turn of events. For his people, it's exactly
what needed to happen. It's exactly the best thing that
could have happened. And we thank God for that. All
right, you're dismissed.