Good morning, brethren. Let's
go to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Now, out of great concern for
these Colossian believers, Paul spoke highly of the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He commended the gospel
to their hearing and he noted three blessings in verse two
about the preaching of the gospel. How that it accomplishes in the
saints of God these blessings. First, when the gospel is preached
it is a comfort to God's people. Many hear it, but it is a comfort
to the Lord's people. It comforts their hearts. It
gives them peace. It reminds us of what our God
has done for us, for us. Second, the preaching of the
gospel unites the hearts of the believers in love for their God
and in love for one another. And then the third blessing is
it reveals to us, it puts us in memory of what our God has
done for us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ whom he sent. He
gave us to Christ. He's our husband. We are his
bride, and he did this for us. And in the preaching of the gospel,
there's other, there's other helps, there's other blessings
given, because in focusing on the people of God, in ministering
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to you, in this way, ministers
of the gospel combat the adversary. who comes to afflict and trouble
the people of God, who comes with his devices to divide the
people. It also combats the deceiver,
that is, that one who would come with false doctrines, doctrines
that are not helpful, are not good for us, but lead us away
from Christ. And then thirdly, it silences
the vain professors who would sow discord and strife in the
body with whisperings and disputings and doubtings and raising questions
to no profit. And so it deals with those things
all on its own without even having to focus on it, just focusing
on ministering the gospel to the people of God, taking care
of you. And so the upholding of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, when it's blessed by the Holy Spirit,
is used by the Lord to minister grace unto the hearers, those
that hear the Word. Now Paul speaks of the order
of these Colossian believers. He says in verse 5 now, For though
I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit.
We have one Spirit. We have one spirit, one mind.
in the Lord in that spirit, joying and beholding your order and
the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." Now that word order
is used in a military sense. It describes the rank and the
file, the order and the array of the soldiers in that army. It describes their order. and
they're in their ranks with their banner, the banner being the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so, The picture here is that
in the preaching of the gospel, that's how we are taught. That's how we are fed. That's
the barracks is Christ. He puts us in himself. He feeds
and nourishes us. He exercises us. He teaches and
instructs us and makes us good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are faithful to their
Lord, those who love their Lord and serve their Lord willingly
and gladly because He gives us all that we need. Now in the
next two verses, verses six and seven, Paul lists additional
means whereby the church of God as a faithful army of good soldiers,
how we walk in good order, how the Lord teaches and instructs
us, his people, his house, his building. So let me add this
before we get into that, we cannot, make these words profitable to
us. What we're gonna read in verses
six and seven, we, by our flesh, by our strength, we don't make
these words profitable unto us, the Lord does. So why does Paul
say these things to us? It's because he's setting our
hearts and minds to know the blessings of our God, to know
what our God gives us. and does for us, for our good,
to set our hearts and minds so that we hear them and are moved,
stirred up to pray and seek the Lord. Lord, establish me. Lord, root me in Christ. Build me upon that foundation.
Lord, do these things for me, I. I need your grace. I need this power, this work
that you do for your people. It's to stir us up, to put our
hearts and minds to know that this is what the Lord does for
His church, for you, His people. This is how He blesses you. This
is how He teaches us. This is how He instructs us and
keeps our hearts ever looking to Him. It's to stir us up that
we would pray and seek our Lord, that we would stop and ask the
Lord, Lord, do this for me. Work this in my heart. Work this
in my mind, Lord. Bless me, don't pass me by. Do
this for me and do it for my brethren. Help me, Lord, help
us. So I've titled this message,
To Stir Your Heart and Mine. To Stir Your Heart and Mine.
So let's read verses six and seven. Paul says, As ye have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him,
rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. So this first instruction for
our walk in Christ is for us to walk in Him the same today
as we received Him at the first. We are to receive Him today as
we received Him at the first. And so, He's putting us in memory
of how our God saved us. How did He save you? How did
He save me? How did we receive Jesus Christ
at the first? Well, remember, We were sinners. We are sinners. When He found
us, we were dead in trespasses and sins. And so, we're to remember,
I'm a sinner. I rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ
because now I am a sinner saved by grace. I'm a sinner saved
by the grace of God, His mercy and compassion and love for His
people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when we were yet dead in
trespasses and sins. Even though we are sinners and
enemies, in our minds, when Christ laid down His life for us, He
did all that graciously for us. How did we receive Christ at
the first? He gave me life. He gave me life. I didn't give
myself life. I didn't set myself up in a good
place for God to be gracious to me. I was dead. I was dead. I was off doing my own works,
thinking my own thoughts, coming to God in the way I thought was
good to come to God. And it was all a lie. all vain
dead religion, but God gave me life." And that's what he does
for his people. He says in Ephesians 2, verses
4 and 5, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened,
hath made us alive together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. And so, word to remember, it's
that God gave us life. God gave us life graciously in
the Lord Jesus Christ. How did we receive Christ at
the first? By God giving us the Holy Spirit. He's given us His Spirit. whereby we are made alive and
we know Him. We know Him, we're led of Him.
2 Corinthians 1.22, God hath also sealed us and given us the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. So what are we to remember? It's to remember that we've been
given His Spirit. He's regenerated us. He doesn't
take the things of this flesh. He doesn't use the things of
this flesh as building blocks and reforming them and improving
them and making them better. No, he's made all things new. in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to remember we are God's
workmanship. We're Christ's workmanship, created
in him unto good works, which he's ordained for us to walk
in. This isn't the old man of flesh doing these things. This
is that new creation, which our God does for and in his people. How did we receive Christ at
the first? When we were in ignorance and in darkness, God brought
the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. He revealed Christ to our hearts. He showed us who the Father is
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so what we are to remember
is that it is our God who gives us life. We don't go and work
up the sticks of religion and build a fire for ourselves and
make heat for ourselves and sparks to give us light. No! Our God
is the one who gives us light in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul is recalling to our
memory God's grace and power that saved us. not because we
earned it, not because we deserve it. We've done nothing. We've
brought nothing to this but our sin. He's brought us to Christ
as sinners in need of His grace. He did that at the first and
we are to remember that at the end and all the way in between. We are sinners saved by our Lord's
grace. Our life is hid with Christ in
God. He has sealed us with his Holy
Spirit and he teaches us the gospel, making known giving us
an understanding and a knowledge of what He's done for us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're not to forget that. We're
not to forget who saved us, how He saved us, that it's all by
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. So as it began in grace, so it
shall continue in the grace of our God, Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, today, and forever. And we'll see in a little bit,
we'll go to that text in Hebrews, and that is in the context that
we are to stay right there, planted on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's teaching us
here in that verse. We're to be anchored to Christ.
Now let's turn to Galatians 3. I want you to see this. Galatians
3, and we're gonna pick up in verse 1. The Spirit has given us a case
study in a church, in the Galatian church. They began strong. They began in Christ, but they
were turned. They were turned from the Lord
Jesus Christ to other things. Things that others said, you
need to go on. and grow up and be strong in
these things. You're to move on from Christ
and go under the law, to put them under the yoke of the law. And so they forgot how it was
that they received Christ. They forgot. Verse 1, Galatians
3, 1, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Who has put
a spell on you? Who has charmed your heart, that
ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ
hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? That's done
in the preaching of the gospel. There's no hokey pokey going
on. That's in the preaching of the gospel. We declare Christ
crucified to the people to know what he has done for the salvation
of his people. Verse two, this only would I
learn of you, received ye the spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith. That preached word, that we're
saved, that we declare and lift up the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he draws us to himself in faith, that faith wrought in us by the
spirit. Are ye so foolish, having begun
in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have you
suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? Did you
suffer by the Jews and your own countrymen who rebuked you and
came against you, tried to make you think that you're fools for
believing Christ? You know, the true faith, the
true religion which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, that
he's our salvation, that true faith, is different than all
other religions in the world. Because all other religions are
of the flesh, and it's about what you're doing or not doing. It's taking your eyes off of
Christ, and looking at this flesh to save yourselves by your works,
by your religious works and deeds and service. It's all a lie,
whether it's, whether it is, goes, whatever name it goes under,
all the false religions in the world, including, including those
that brand themselves as Christian. When they're looking to the flesh,
and whipping and beating the children of God, what they need
to do to save themselves and gain God's favor, it's all flesh
and it's no different, it's no different than what Muhammad
taught, it's no different than the Catholic Church, it's no
different than all the other religions. It's about purifying
yourself and doing things for yourself, rather than what Christ
does and works in his people, by his spirit, by his grace. And so when God saved us, it
was by his grace and power. And by his grace and power, we
were given faith, which looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
Paul's saying, you continue in faith, you continue to the end
exactly how you started, in faith. Now in addition to reminding
us that our walk in Christ finishes as it began, in faith, Paul also
speaks of what our God accomplishes us keeping us in his grace, what
he works in us. The first thing he speaks of
is that believers are rooted in Christ. He gives two metaphors
there at the beginning, being rooted and built up in Christ. And that first one, being rooted,
what is that? create in our minds. What is
that speaking of? Well, trees are rooted. Trees are rooted
in the ground. And that's how the scriptures
describe believers. We are trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord were planted in Christ. Trees reach
their roots down into the soil and it's by those roots that
they draw up water. It's by those roots that they
draw up nutrients that the tree needs from that soil, from the
root. And who's the root? The Lord
Jesus Christ is the root. He's the one that we are connected
to. We grow out of the Lord Jesus Christ, from the Lord Jesus Christ. We're connected to Him. We're
one with Him. And He gives us that spiritual
water, that ever-flowing, never-ending fountain of water. refreshing
us, giving us life, making us soft and alive under the hand
of our God. He feeds us with His own body,
with His own blood. He nourishes and strengthens
us and He keeps us. He said there, that was from
Isaiah 63 verse three, when he said, we're trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord. Well, in that same context there
in verse one, he tells us that the spirit of the Lord God is
upon him. He's the one who is anointed
of the Father to do this for His people. He's obtained good
news for us by laying down His life for us. As the Good Shepherd,
He keeps us and provides for us. He obtained this good news
by his death and his resurrection. He speaks of his healing the
brokenhearted, which describes what we are in Adam. We're broken, we're ruined, we're
dead. We cannot put ourselves together
again. We are defiled and ruined in
sin. We are dead in our sins and we
cannot give ourselves life. Christ himself is the great physician. He heals his people. He gives life. He redeems them
and restores that life and fellowship with our God, reconciling us
to our God. He's the one that makes us free
from the bondage of sin and death, which describes everything we
were doing in religion, running here to do this thing, running
there to do that thing, trying to work a piece for ourselves,
trying to give something to ourselves to give ourselves assurance,
laboring in those things, and we were bound yoked, burdened,
unable to set ourselves free. Christ comes and he sets the
sinner free. He says, look to me, believe
me. I've provided everything necessary
for your salvation. It's accomplished. It's finished
by Christ. It's finished by him. So our
root is the Lord Jesus Christ. We spring forth from him. He's our nourishment. He's everything.
were rooted in him. You know, I was thinking I grow
my plants in the garden now from seed. And I have little seedlings.
And one of the first years, early on, when I was trying to learn
how to do this, it's a pretty simple thing, but I was trying
to do it in the garage. And in the garage, it was getting
under 50 degrees. I didn't know that. I think it's
phosphorus that doesn't get sucked in by the roots under 50 degrees
or under 55 degrees. And so the plants, they just
grew only so tall. They got up with the nitrogen
about two inches high, and then they stunted, and they stopped
growing. And they looked, I don't know,
they had some funny colors in them, some green and some blue
in their leaves, things that weren't normal, that isn't good
for their growth. And eventually, it hit me, these
things are dead. They're not going to grow, and
they got plucked up and thrown aside. That's what happens to
those who begin well, but have no root in Christ. They're not
connected to Christ. The children of God are connected
to the Lord. That's what the Lord does for
his people, and that's what he puts in our hearts. Lord, keep
me in Christ. Connect me to him. I have no
life apart from Christ, the root of righteousness, the root of
God given for us. The second metaphor is that believers
are built up in Christ. What does that speak of? It speaks
of Christ, our foundation. No, we do not stand upon a mound
of our good works. We don't stand upon our history,
our lineage, what we've done or have not done. We stand on
the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't dare come standing on
a foundation of our own works. That's a foundation of sand.
That's a slippery slope. That leads to death. That's not
how we come. Our foundation is Jesus Christ. For other foundation can no man
lay, then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. and we're to
build on Him, in whom is all our hope, all our understanding. Jude said it this way, in Jude
verse 20, but ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. That's how we build. When we
come in our own works, that's bringing wood, hay and stubble,
things that burn up in the day of judgment, things that are
not lasting, things that add no profit. But that which is
the gold and the silver and the precious stones, those are the
things of Christ. And we don't have any ability
in ourselves. But I love what Jude said, praying
in the Holy Ghost. We seek our God knowing it's
all of his grace. It's all his work and so we're
turned, Lord, save me. Lord, do this for me in grace
and in mercy. And so we're rooted in Christ
and we build all our salvation is founded upon him, upon the
faith of Christ praying in the Holy Ghost. Next, Paul adds that
our walk in Christ is to be established in the faith as ye have been
taught. And so here, he's speaking again
of what we've been taught. When are we taught? Through the
preaching of the gospel. Through the gospel, we hear that
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Am I a sinner? Yes. He's shown
us that we are sinners, that all our works were done in ignorance
and in darkness, done in the flesh, done without any understanding,
done apart from the Spirit. It was all dead works of the
flesh. but Christ is come and he is
our righteousness. He fulfilled all righteousness.
He came in the flesh and died on the cross for our sins according
to the scriptures. And he died according to the
scriptures, was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures. He fulfilled all the Word of
God. All the promises of God, of Him
in this Word, are fulfilled by Jesus Christ. His people, and
so He came. He's the shorty of His people.
He paid our debt. He gives us life and sets us
free in Him, making us to know what our God has done for us
by His Spirit that He's given to us, opening our hearts and
understanding to know that my God has done this for me in and
by His Son, Jesus Christ. And He makes us to rest in that
hope. That is the hope of the saints,
brethren. And you that hope in Christ have that same blessed
hope, that same eternal hope which God has given to all that
love Him, those that He's revealed Himself to. He makes us to know
what He's done for us. Now, going back to Hebrews, what
I quoted earlier, Hebrews 13, I'm gonna read verses seven through
nine, because in this verse, this is Paul saying the same
thing as he's saying to the Colossians. He's saying, do not be moved
from that hope, that first hope, which was revealed to you in
the preaching of the gospel when God gave you faith, that looked
away from self and believed the Lord Jesus Christ, believed what
God has said to us in him. Hebrews 13, seven, remember them
which have the rule over you, he's speaking of pastors, who
have spoken unto you, the preaching of the word, the word of God,
whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation,
considering what it is that they're saying to you concerning Christ,
concerning our Lord, concerning our salvation by Christ. Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. And now watch
what he says. Be not carried about with diverse
and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein. He's speaking of all
those deceivers that were coming into the churches and saying,
you guys need to grow up. You need to move on from Christ.
You need to get serious about what you're doing. You need to
listen to us. And they were turning them from
the simplicity Christ from resting in Christ and frankly that's
what Paul goes on to say we're not really looking at verse 8
but he said in 2 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 Those are those meats, quote
unquote meats, that false deceivers, that deceivers and false prophets
speak of to turn you from Christ. And so, finally, Paul says, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. All these rich spiritual blessings
of God in Christ Jesus, obtained for us by his redemption, These
work a thankful heart in the children of God. When he puts
us in remembrance of these things, they work thankfulness in our
hearts. And what he's saying is, if you
will be profited by these things, thank God for his mercies toward
you. Give pause in your day. We labor, we toil, we worry,
we are concerned about a great many things. easily distracted
and we have good thoughts at the beginning of the day and
before you know it the day is gone and we've thought very little
about our God. He's saying give pause and thank
God. Turn off the radio or the TV,
put down the book, whatever you're doing and just thank God. In
fact, a lot of times you don't even need to stop what you're
doing. You could be putting laundry in the washer and thanking the
Lord. giving thanks always, praying
always without ceasing. You know, it's so easy for us
to focus on that and to forget the Lord. And I was thinking
about it, and it's so true. When I begin to pray, when I
pray, I find so often a stiff, cold heart. And I don't know
what to pray. My thoughts are scattered. My
mind is easily distracted. I find myself forgetting that
I just started praying. But the one thing I find consistently
is that when I begin thanking the Lord, rather than asking
for certain things, even praying for other people, but just begin
thanking the Lord, that's when my heart is warmed most quickly. That's when it flows more easily
and my heart is just softened and warmed, remembering all that
my God has done for me. in grace and mercy, all that
he's done for his people in grace and mercy. Paul even said it
in this way, 1 Thessalonians 5.18, in everything give thanks,
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now he's saying is whatever happens,
give God thanks for it. Even if it's contrary to the
flesh, even if it's difficult and hard on your flesh, give
thanks to God for it because it's his will. Otherwise it would
not have come to pass and if it puts our minds on Christ,
how good is that? It's good for us because it's
turned us It stopped us dead in our tracks and put our minds
on the Lord Jesus Christ because now we're praying to him and
and he says give thanks stop and give thanks because he's
turned you from the flesh and put your heart on the thing most
needful, the Lord Jesus Christ. So these things that we looked
at here, these are what our God accomplishes in us. This is what
he's established for us in Christ. They're spiritual works. They
are not things that we, in our flesh, can produce or do. These are spiritual works. And so they're given to us, not
because this old man hears them, but because the new man in us
that loves Christ hears them. And it puts our hearts and minds
to say, Lord, it stirs us up to say, Lord, do that for me. Don't pass me by. Lord, help
me to hear your word and be profited by your word. Bless your word
to my heart and to my brethren. Help Eric, help our pastor, Lord,
Be here with us. Gather us together and bless
us, Lord, because it's all of your grace. It's all of your
mercy. Lord, we need that. And so he
stirs us up and reminds us of what we've been given freely
in Christ, and he gives us that heart for it. Lord, help instruct
us this day. Bless us this day in Christ. So I pray that We hear that profitably. We hear it in the Spirit, because
it's all the spiritual work of His grace. Amen. Let's go to
the Lord in prayer and be dismissed. Our gracious Lord, we thank you.
Lord, we thank you for these words. And we confess that we
cannot do them. Lord, we confess that we get
so distracted and so focused on the things of the flesh. It's
so common to us, Lord. But we thank you that you, in
mercy and in grace, keep feeding us this Word, that you continue
to show us Christ and our need of Him and His sufficiency for
us. And Lord, We see these words. We see how that the church is
profited by Christ and these things that you do for them.
Lord, we ask, do them for us. Help us to be mindful, ever mindful. Lord, thanking you. And we do
thank you because it's you that brings this to our attention.
It's your spirit that teaches us these words and shows us our
need of Christ. Lord, we thank you. We thank
you for everything that you're doing for us and gathering this
people together here to hear this word this morning. Thank
you. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. It's their last hurrah.