Verse 23 of Colossians 1. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which you have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister. If you continue in the faith. Now there is a faith. That does
not save. Paul, in the previous verses
of this passage, spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he
did for sinners. The finished work. Of the Gospel. Verses 20. Through 23, let's
read him together. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross. Now that's as in all of scripture
confirms the truth that what Christ did on Calvary was make
peace. He didn't make it available or
give people an opportunity to have peace. He made peace for
somebody. Somebody's at peace with God because the Savior shed
his blood on Calvary. He made peace through the blood
of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself by Him,
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.
That's Christ and what He did on Calvary. And you that were
at one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
God's sight now think about that because of what Christ Accomplished
you have peace with God and you stand in the presence of God.
Holy Unblameable and unreprovable that's salvation You had nothing
to do with that Christ did that for you? But notice this in our
text the word if the word if this verse simply speaks of the
kind of faith that lays hold of Christ when that gospel is
preached. It lays hold of Christ. By faith,
we lay hold of him to the saving of the soul. And it's wonderful
that Christ made peace with God by his precious blood, that we
rejoice in that. It's wonderful that he presents
sinners faultless before the presence of his glory. But the
word you in verse 21 only applies if, verse 23, if you're gonna get in on it,
you got to believe on him. And when I say you got to believe
on Him, God's got to give you faith in His Son. He's got to
give you faith. Did Christ make peace for you?
That word if refers back to the you. Did Christ make peace for
you with the blood of His cross? He made peace, but was it for
you? Are you standing before God in
Christ without spot and without blemish? That question can't
be answered. It cannot be answered without
answering this one also. Do you believe on the Son of
God? You remember the blind man in John chapter nine. Religion
had a lot of questions for him, didn't they? Our Savior had but
one question for him. Do you believe on the Son of
God? If you continue in the faith,
you see, does his precious blood, has it been applied to your heart? What he did on Calvary, he accomplished
something on Calvary. He accomplished salvation for
somebody. Is it you? Is it you? If you do believe on the Son
of God, that is just as much the work and grace of Christ
alone as him dying on the cross for you. It's God that worketh
in you. Christ is the author and the
finisher of this kind of faith. And notice it says the faith,
the faith that don't go away, the faith that doesn't dwindle,
the faith that you're not ever moved away from, because you
see, it's not up to you to believe. It's the gift of God and his
gifts and calling are without repentance. That's why it continues. That's why it don't fade away.
That's why you're unmovable, because God gave you faith. and
that faith saves. Christ is the author and finisher
of that faith, the faith, in our text, faith that is grounded
and settled and unmoved. That's the title of the message
this morning, grounded and settled and unmoved. By grace, this kind of faith
is the fruit of the spirit, not the flesh. The flesh can't work
up faith in Christ. It's the fruit of God's spirit
that dwelleth in us by his grace. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We could quote scripture about
faith that does not save, Such as when the multitude believed
on Christ because of the miracles, but the scripture says that he
did not commit himself unto them because he knew what was in them. John 2 verses 23 through 25. But when I say that there is
a faith that does not save, there is an easy way to qualify that. Faith with any other object than
the Lord Jesus Christ himself will not save you. And this is
subtle now. When the scripture says the heart
is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it? That's
not just talking about you deceiving others. Your heart will deceive
you if God is not merciful to you. The heart is deceitful. You will convince yourself that
you believe on Christ when you're really believing on your faith,
or your works, or your decision, or your free will. Faith with any other object than
the person of Christ himself. Faith to trust in, to believe
in, to love. Who do we trust? any other hope besides Christ
himself, the person. You can't even, you're not gonna
be saved by trusting in what he did. Did Martha teach us that? Did the Lord teach us that in
Martha's case? I know in the resurrection, my
brother's gonna, Martha, I'm the resurrection. Don't trust
an event. Trust me, I'm the one. He's gonna
live again because of me, because I'm the life. Miracles were not done so that
folks would be impressed and excited about the spectacle of
it and believe that Christ could do these things. Miracles were
done to show the Lord's people who He is. that they might believe the gospel
that he preached, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing they might have life through his name. John
20, 31. Faith has one hope. That word
hope, hope in our text. Faith only needs one hope. This
one hope excludes all other hopes. And it's not a wish. It's not
like I hope it don't rain today or I hope it does rain today.
It's a steadfast hope. It's a sure hope. It's an expectation
that what God has spoken, he's able also to perform. It's believing
in Christ. Our hope is in Christ alone. What is your hope? It's an easy
question to answer. What is your hope? What is your
hope today? What is your hope right now?
What is your hope that everything's going to be okay? People love
to say everything's going to be okay. Based on what? How do you
know? If your hope is in doctrine,
you have a false hope. You have a false faith. John 5.39, search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. Some say that the
Lord is saying there, you search the scriptures. You do that.
And they did, didn't they? The Pharisees, that's one thing
they did. They knew the word of God. You search the scriptures
because you think you have life in knowing the scriptures. Your
knowledge of the scriptures is your hope. Ah, but they are they
which testify of me. So close, huh? So close. Their hope is in the scriptures.
And the scriptures testify of Christ. But you can hope and
you can trust in your knowledge of the scriptures. I've got all
my T's crossed and my I's dotted. Don't trust that. You search the scriptures for
in them you think you have eternal life. For they are they and they
are they which testify of me and you will not come to me. You see how he directs all of
their hope to himself. Your hope is me, not your knowledge
of the scriptures. And people trust in that, people
trust, they did. And if he's just saying search
the scriptures, if he's not saying you search the scriptures for
you think you have life, maybe he's just saying it the way it's
written here, search the scriptures. He often said to them who searched
the scriptures quite a bit, I suspect more than anybody in history,
they were students of the scripture, of the letter. But he said, you need to search
him again. Maybe that's what he said. You need to keep searching
because the scriptures testify of me and you won't come to me. Oh, God, help us search. Often,
he said to them, have you not read? What a humiliating thing
to say to somebody that prided themselves on their knowledge
of the scriptures. They were great scholars in the scriptures.
And he said, haven't you read the Bible? So maybe that's what
he's saying there. I'd say both apply very aptly
to this truth. The only hope a sinner has is
the person of Christ. These religious Jews were lost,
but even they had a leg up on many in our day who don't even
search the scriptures to find life. They search what men have
written about the scriptures. And in that, they think they
have life. No, no. I pray with kindness and desire
in my heart to see God's grace upon all. Don't trust in your
knowledge. Don't trust in your doctrine. Christ alone is the sinner's hope. Because
folks though believe the right points and take stances upon
the right issues, the right stances even, they think they have life. But the problem is, as Paul elaborates
so clearly and eloquently in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, you
can be right about everything. You can be perfectly right about
everything. And if you don't love the Lord
Jesus Christ, you're just making noise. and your faith is in yourself,
not the Son of God. Many trust in their works or
their own imagined goodness. Many trust in a decision they
made. I was saved back when, but are
you saved now? Are you trusting Christ right
now? And is that your salvation from start to finish? Knowledge of the Son of God and
trusting him and believing him Only faith in Christ is saving
faith. There is faith that saves I Notice that Paul writes of
being grounded in the faith Grounded in the faith. This is so important
that word means to establish and to make stable, to lay the
foundation, to lay the foundation. This is our study in 1 Corinthians.
Right now, we're looking at these verses, aren't we? 1 Corinthians
3.11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is, you know the next two words?
The foundation is not a set of doctrines. The foundation is
not your faith. Other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Turn with me please to Luke chapter
six. We're talking about being grounded.
What's the foundation of our faith? What's the steadfastness,
the established ground upon which we stand in
our faith? What's the foundation? Luke 6
46. Consider this question. Why call
you me? This is the Lord Jesus speaking.
Why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
We know we're not saved by works. Our works are our problem, not
the solution to our problem. But I'd say this is a fair question,
wouldn't you? Why do you call me Lord, Lord,
and don't do the things I say? A Lord, a master, is someone
whom the servant does what they say. So don't say you're a servant
of the Lord. Don't say, Lord, Lord, and not
do what he says. Listen, whosoever cometh to me
and heareth my sayings and doeth them. You remember what James
said about faith. Faith without works is dead.
If the faith that you have doesn't cause you to do what Christ said,
not meritoriously, not perfectly, not in such a way that we gain
favor with God in any way by what we do. Christ is our perfect
righteousness. Why would we want to do anything
for righteousness, to establish a righteousness before God when
we have a perfect righteousness in Christ? And yet, if you say,
I believe, I believe, Lord, Lord, you don't worship him, Love his
people, like he said, when you don't do unto them as unto him. He said, when you give a cup
of cold water to one of my sheep, you've done it to me. When you don't love him, when
you don't live, all said, I reckon that if he died for us, we ought
to live for him, not unto ourselves. We should not henceforth live
unto ourselves. So whosoever cometh to me, heareth my sayings,
and doeth them. That all goes together. That's
one act of faith, isn't it? Coming to Christ, hearing what
he says, and doing what he says, that's just faith. That's believing
God. Because if your faith is without
the doeth part, it's dead. It's not the faith that God gives
to sinners, to his sheep. I will show you to whom he is
like. If you have that faith, steadfast
faith, deep, abiding, God-given faith, Here's who you're like. You're like a man which built
a house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And
when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house
and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. You
see that? Notice this about that. We don't
just, it's not just that the foundation is unmovable. That's the glorious part really
though, because that's Christ. But notice this, we built our
house on him. That's what our text is talking
about. We built our house, our brother read a while ago, in
the name of our God, we raise our banners. Here we are, here
we stand, here's our banners raised on the name of our God,
on Christ himself. We build a house on him. You
see that? We're here to stay. Faith in Christ is not just a
transient thing. That's what our text is talking
about, grounded and settled and can't be moved. A lot of people talk and say
a lot of good things, but have you built your house on Him? But he that heareth and doeth
not, is like a man that without a foundation built in house upon
the earth." Oh, this world, our cell, we come from the earth,
don't we? We are of the earth, earthy.
Don't build your foundation on your ability or your knowledge
or your faith or your anything. against which the stream did
beat vehemently." It's going to be tested, isn't it? We're
going to find out. We're going to find out. And
immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.
It's great. The stakes are high, aren't they?
The stakes are high. The word settled in our text
means firm and steadfast. Grounded is built upon that foundation. Settled is firm and steadfast. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
four. And again, we need the word of God to shed light on
the word of God. Firm and steadfast, Ephesians
4.11. And the Lord gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ until we all come in
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supply according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love. Well, there's a lot in that.
We could talk about that a long time, but look at what we're,
from the perspective of our text, those who are grounded upon the
one foundation and who are made steadfast And it says that he
gave pastors and teachers and evangelists for this. Does that
mean that we are the strength of the church? No. What do pastors and teachers
and evangelists do? What do they all have in common?
They preach the gospel. That's what they do. It's the
gospel. It's the gospel of Christ and
what he did upon that rock. He builds his church. They preach
the word of God. And what does it mean to come
to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ? Well, look at the next words.
When you come to that place, here's what I know about it.
When you come to that place, you're not gonna be tossed around
anymore. You're not going to be carried about with every whim
of man. No matter how they can prove
it or no matter how enthusiastic they are about it. No matter how eloquent they are
or convincing in their rhetoric. Preachers of the gospel speak
the truth in love. It's not just a set of doctrines,
is it? God said, I will give you pastors
that know everything. No, I'll give you pastors after
my own heart. Oh. They speak the truth in love. And there is steadfastness and
growth in Christ. And those people, those people will not be moved.
They're not gonna be moved. Listen to Psalm 16, eight. I
have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right
hand, I shall not be moved. as wonderful as it is now. Turn to that with me because
we're going to look at another Psalm that I want you to turn
to anyway. Psalm 16, 8. Let's look at the wording of this.
I believe it's vital to our text. Psalm 16, eight. I have set the Lord always before
me. Now, David's saying I have this
is what I do by God's grace. I'm going to hear of him. I'm
going to be worshipping, worshipping. A day in that courts is worth
a thousand, didn't he say that? Was that was he just whistling
Dixie or was that true? Would he rather spend just an
hour in the house of God than a thousand in this world? I've set the Lord always before
me. I'm gonna look to him. I'm gonna trust him. And as wonderful
as that is, that's not why I shall not be moved. It's because of
who he is. and what he did for me, because
he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Turn over
to Psalm 62.5. Not because I've set him before
me, but because he has set himself beside me. I'm not gonna be moved. And look at Psalm 62, five. My
soul, wait thou only upon God. You see what we're talking about?
Our one hope is a person. Wait thou only upon God, for
my expectation is from him. I expect that everything's going
to be fine. I expect that I'm going to make
it, that I'm going to persevere. I expect that I'm not going to
be moved. How do you know? What are you
looking to, David, to ascertain that? On what do you base that? Him. My expectation is from Him. What I expect, my steadfast hope,
is Him and what He's going to do. See that? He only... The word only, again, is my rock
and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. And God is my salvation and my
glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Trust
in Him at all times. Ye people, pour out your heart
before Him. God is a refuge for us. Isn't
that beautiful language? We're in this with David, aren't
we? He said, God's our refuge. Let's hide in Him. Let's pour
out our hearts before Him. Let's trust in Him all the time. He's a refuge for us. How beautiful. What a blessed
and a happy state. To be able to say with Paul,
I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded
that he's able. That he is able. I'm persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.
Against that day in closing turn with me to Hebrews 6 17 Hebrews
6 17 Wherein God willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise. God was willing to show us. It
pleased him to show us the immutability of his counsel. Boy, isn't that good to be shown
by God that his mercy endeareth forever? Confirmed it by an oath. that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth
into that within the veil. Hope is that hope which entered
into the veil that went into the presence of God for us Holy The holy spotless Lamb of
God went into that which is in what's within the veil the presence
of God Communion with God he said I'll meet with you there
and I'll commune with you not destroy you and I'll commune
with you there on the mercy seat. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made in high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek, an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast. And as Paul goes on in our chapter,
To speak of the precious gospel that we preach, knowing that
by these means of the preaching of the gospel, it pleased God
for sinners to have hope in Christ. And look what he says in verse
27. To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery. That's the gospel,
the gospel that we preach. but God's making it known now
to his people, even among the Gentiles. Which hope is Christ in you?
The hope of glory, whom we preach, whom we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Think about what we've seen this
morning. Christ is our hope. He's our
only hope. And how do we lay hold of our
hope? By the preaching of Christ, who
is our hope. And our hope of being with Christ is Christ in us. You might say Christ is all. And you'd be right. Let's pray.