morning let's be turning to Colossians
Colossians this message blessed my heart
I think because churches today really identify with with Colossians
it's a That's a church that Paul, or an apostle themselves, was
not used of the Lord to settle, to put there, to establish directly.
But Paul knew the brethren that did. He knew them. He treated them as a blessed
church of God. And even though we weren't established
by the direct hand of an apostle, we have heard that same gospel
which they preach. We've heard their word. Now Paul
was moved, knowing that this is a gospel church here in Colossae,
he was moved, he was burdened for them just as he was for any
church that the Lord used him in starting, in being used to
preach the gospel. And so he writes them a letter
and he wants to encourage these brethren. He wants to encourage
them and to bless them in the Lord. He wants to give them,
impart to them that blessing which he has received of the
Lord. And so he encourages them in
the gospel, and he warns them. He gives them warning, making
them aware of the dangers that they face as an assembly of God's
people. Now our Lord tells us that where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there I'll be in
the midst of them. That is a blessing of our God. He will be in the midst of his
people. However, our God has also appointed
unto us trials. He's appointed afflictions and
difficulties which will come and will prove that work, that
it is of the Lord. It'll shake things and those
things which are of the flesh will be shaken and fall apart.
But those things which are of God cannot be shaken and they
cannot fall apart. But various things will come
that will prove the work, that will try the work, and if it
be possible, it would destroy the work. It would cause it to
cease. Knowing this, therefore, Paul is moved with great concern
and great care for that church. He knows he's been around for
some time. He's worked in churches, he's
seen the things that happen in the churches, and so he has great
concern and great care for the church. And so he wants to help
them weather the storm, weather those difficulties and challenges
which come upon all the churches, all the churches. Paul said,
I have concern for all the churches. He always thought of those churches
that he knew of. So, in Colossians 2, verse 1,
Paul tells the Colossians of his concern for them. He says,
For I would that ye 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. He's saying, I'm concerned for
you, brethren, for your good. I'm thinking of you and praying
for you for your good, brethren. I care for you deeply. He cares
for the people of God deeply. Our Lord tells us in the Gospels,
he said, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. And what do wolves do to sheep?
They tear them apart. They rip them apart and they
consume them. That's what wolves do. And so
Paul is warning the churches of the dangers that we as believers
face. He makes us to know, hey, these
things are going to come. If there's the light of the gospel
being put in a place by the Lord, you know, the wicked see that
light too. And they're drawn to it. They're drawn to it to
come and destroy that work of God. Paul, writing to the Corinthians,
said concerning our adversary, that's what the name Satan means. It means adversary, your adversary,
him that opposes you. He said, we're not ignorant of
his devices. We know how he works. We know
what he does to separate and to divide. We know what he does. We're not ignorant of his devices.
He knew from laboring in the churches that there were deceivers
that came in to the churches to make a fair show of the people
of God, to make a fair show of them in the flesh. They wanted
to turn them from the hand of Christ. and turn them to their
works, their ways, their ways of flesh, things that cannot
save, things that are not profitable concerning eternal things. He
knew that in the churches there were vain professors, vain professors,
whisperers, murmurers, backbiters, people that caused trouble, that
caused division and strife, that that's what they were trying
to do. Not well-meaning people, people that were causing trouble. And so Paul says, I know what
you're going to face. I know what's going to come upon
you, and I want to help you. I have concern for you. I care
for you. Now, the only way to combat these
destructive devices is for the ministers of God, and for you,
the hearers, your ministers, too. You are part of this ministry
also, this ministry of reconciliation. It's to lay the foundation of
Christ. For other foundation can no man
lay, then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ. How do we lay that foundation?
Through the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the
preaching of this Gospel. That's how the foundation is
laid. That's how the people of God stand. We stand upon that
foundation. hope of our salvation, the hope
of our glory, the hope of life, the Lord Jesus Christ in you,
in you. He's our God and our Savior. So this is what Paul had just
said that he did. Look back at Colossians chapter
1 verse 25. He said, whereof I am made a
minister. I'm called to minister this gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what God has given to
me for you to fulfill the word of God. He's saying to preach
the gospel to every creature. I am sent to preach the gospel
to every creature to make sure this word goes out to the ends
of the earth. until Christ comes, until Christ
comes again. Even the mystery, to make known
the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints. To whom? To who? To his saints. 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. We preach Christ because this
is the message that God blesses to the hearts of his people.
This is how he strengthens you. He delivers you from death and
darkness by giving you light and life, in and by Christ. This
is how he strengthens and nourishes his sheep. This is how he quenches
your thirst. He gives you Christ. He gives
you Christ. He is our salvation. Whom we
preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, in Him. That's how we stand. That's how
we know the Father. Christ reveals Him to us. Whereunto
I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh
in me mightily. And so this is the message to
me, this is the message to you, that this is what God has called
us to do, to preach Christ, to declare him, to lift him up,
to exalt him before the eyes of the people, to raise him up. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews, a stumbling block unto the Greeks, foolishness. But
to you which have the spirit of God, to you whom God is merciful
and compassionate. You hear that same word and it
blesses your heart. It encourages you. You're fed
by Christ. You love the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God whom the Father loves, whom the Father sent to
save you because you too are precious to him. And so he gave
you to Christ. He gave you to Christ. He could
do no better thing but to put you in the hands of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't you thank God that He doesn't
require salvation by your hand or my hand? He's put it in the
hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. We praise Him for
that. Now this world of flesh, it doesn't
understand this. It's not wisdom to them, it's
foolishness to them. But to you, it blesses your heart
and you praise God. You thank God for it. So Paul
in our, in verse 2 actually, in Colossians 2 verse 2, Paul
declares three blessings, three blessings which our Lord gives
to his people. It's accomplished in the saints
of God by the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. These three
things are what your God works in you that are his people. And it sounds like a prayer. It comes off as a prayer because
we do not neglect prayer. The Lord teaches me more and
more and more of the necessity and the blessing to pray to him,
to pray to him for you, to pray for this work, to pray that he
give me a message, that I hear it, that I'm blessed by it, that
it bless your hearts also, that we're all fed, that we all grow
together in this glorious salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
there's three things. First, the preaching of the gospel
is a comfort to the people of God. It's a comfort to your hearts. Second, the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ knits our hearts together in love. love. And third, the preaching of the
gospel teaches us, shows us all the abundance, the fullness of
the riches of our God given to us freely, graciously, sovereignly
by the Lord our Savior, by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
our God does for his people in the preaching of the gospel. This is an assurance to you.
This is a comfort to me and a comfort to you. It's an assurance to
me and it's an assurance to you that this is what our God has
given to us to bless his people, to establish his work, to help
us, to keep us, to comfort us, to bless us in Christ. This is how ministers of Christ
combat the adversary. This is how you combat the adversary
when he comes to accuse you and tell you You're not doing what
you're supposed to be doing. You need to fix this and start
doing that. Change this. That's the adversary
attacking you. That's how you combat them. You
look to Christ. You preach Christ. You hear Christ.
This is how the deceiver, with all his false doctrines, are
sent away running. They're sent away without putting
you in subjection. This is how vain professors,
who would sow discord and trouble, this is how they're silenced.
so that your ears don't hear and you don't worry about what
they're doing. You just look to Christ. Because
if we venture onto their ground and we get caught up in doing
what they're doing, then we're on quicksand. We're on shaky
ground. We're on ground that falls out
from under us and we cannot stand. Things get messy real fast. But
if we stay upon the rock of our salvation, then we'll never fail. We'll never fail. It may look
dark, it may look like times of trouble, it may look like
we failed, but if we preach Christ, how can we fail? If the people
of God are fed, how can we fail? If God's sheep are strengthened
and nourished and kept and comforted, where's the failure in that?
Where's the failure in that? Not at all. No failure. Now the
psalmist said in Psalm 18, 46, the Lord liveth and blessed be
my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted, be exalted. That's what we do in the preaching
of Christ crucified. We exalt him, we lift him up
just as he was lifted up on the cross to save the church by the
shedding of his own blood. We lift him up in the preaching
of the gospel and he draws all his sheep to him. You're drawn
to him who saves you. He said, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men to me. He tells us that. He assures us of that promising
word. You just lift me up. As I've
been lifted up, you preach Christ crucified, and I'll draw my sheep
to me." You just do that. So we exalt him in the preaching.
And Paul tells us down in Colossians 2.4, because we're going to come
back to 2, don't worry, but in verse 4 he said, "...and this
I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words." How
are you going to be defensed against the enticing words and
be delivered from the snare? preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ
and what he's done. That's what destroys all the
weapons and artillery of the enemy. So Christ, the preaching
of Christ delivers our, the people of God out of the snare of the
fowler. And he shods your feet with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. of peace, at standing on the
rock of our salvation. So Paul wanted for the churches,
by the preaching of the gospel, first that their hearts might
be comforted. The preaching of Christ is a
comfort. to us who are sinners, to us
who have no righteousness, to us who have seen what filthy,
wretched sinners we are in this flesh. We know the wickedness
in our own hearts. We've seen our works. We've seen
the damage and hurt that we do with our words and our actions
and the folly of our thoughts. And we don't know how to make
ourselves righteous, how to cleanse this heart, these hands of the
stain of sin. The Lord has done it. He's given
us Christ. Christ is our Savior. Christ
is the means of our forgiveness with holy God. And this is why
the Lord says preach Christ. This is what he told the prophet
Isaiah. This is what he tells his pastors.
his teachers, is preach Christ. He told Isaiah this very thing
in Isaiah 40 verses 1 and 2. He said, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished. your warfare is accomplished.
There's nothing more that you need to do to save yourselves. You can't save yourselves. Christ
has already done it. He's done the work sufficiently,
perfectly, wonderfully, gloriously to the full. He's fulfilled everything
necessary for your salvation, for your joy, for your comfort,
Be glad in Him. Rejoice in Him. Praise God for
the Lord Jesus Christ. Declare to the church that her
iniquity is pardoned. Not being pardoned. Not being
worked off. It's pardoned. The debt has been
paid in full by the surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, who agreed
before the foundation of the world to come to put away your
sin. You that believe him, you that
are sinners, and have no righteousness for yourselves, and have no hope
in your works and your flesh, but have every hope in him, he
says, your pardon is, your iniquity is pardoned, it's put away. It's put away forever. God remembers
it no more. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. So the iniquity is pardoned
and you have life and fellowship and are reconciled to God. You
have life with Him, double, double, pardon of sin and life, life
and forgiveness with the Lord, fellowship with Him. So God doesn't
look to you, the sinner, for anything. He looks to Christ,
whom He sent, for everything. everything. What can we bring
to God? If we come to God with anything,
what do we think we're bringing? We come with works of the flesh. That's all that we can bring.
And if we think that it's what we do that earns God's favor
and that will cause Him to receive us and to hear us, we're fooling
ourselves. We cry out for Christ's sake. We cry for mercy for Christ's
sake. Not because, hey, I straightened
this thing out and fixed that thing. No, I didn't do nothing.
Nothing. The only one who wants a stool
sample, because that's what our work is, is dumb, it's just stool,
is a vet. And God's no vet. And you wouldn't
want somebody bringing to you poop from the yard. So why would
we think that God is going to receive the works, our filthy
works, that we do and receive us for those things? He won't.
Now we do good works. We do love one another and we
do things because we love one another, but not to make ourselves
righteous, but because we are righteous and we love one another. in our God and in our Savior.
We love one another and fellowship with one another and want to
do good for one another. So we can't bring anything that
Christ himself hasn't brought, that he himself hasn't brought.
So we trust Christ. Those who look to Him and trust
His blood shall never be ashamed, shall never be turned away from
God. You shall never be turned away into darkness and sent into
outer darkness. You shall stand before the throne
of your God forever robed in that righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that beautiful wedding garment for you, His
bride, for whom He shed His blood to purchase, to save. That's
peace, brethren. That's comfort. The warfare's
done. It's done. I'm not still spending and laboring
with my works, beating my body to try and get myself saved,
to do for me something that I can't. Nope, it's put away. We rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We rest. And so that one who
believes Christ by faith, they're able to silence the accusations
of the accuser, your adversary. Paul said, above all, taking
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. They hurl them at you. It's faith,
it's only by faith that those things are snuffed out and put
away. believing the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, by preaching
the gospel of Christ, Paul wanted the hearts of the brethren to
be knit together in love. That's how our hearts are knit
together in love. When you read a book like the
Galatians, we find that deceivers had come into the church and
they were preaching another gospel in name only. It wasn't another
gospel. It's not good news. It's bondage. It's death. It
brings people under the curse of the law. And so they were
preaching bondage to the law of Moses. They were preaching
bondage to the law of Moses. And so they were preaching to
the believers that were coming in behind Paul or other apostles,
and they were saying things like, except ye be circumcised after
the manner of Moses, you can't be saved. And we hear things
like that today. You've got to look to the law
to be saved. You've got to look to the law
for your righteousness. You've got to do X, Y, and Z. You've got to do things like
this. And if you don't, you cannot be saved. Oh, this is the most
important thing right here. If you don't do this or know
this, you can't be saved. Garbage. That's nonsense. Christ
alone is our salvation. He's the most important thing. He's the needful. He's the thing
needful for us, is to hear Jesus Christ, to hear what He has done,
and that's how our hearts are knit together in love. That's
how we speak peaceably to one another. Paul said it this way
back in Galatians 2, verses 4 and 5. He said, and that because
of false brethren unawares brought in, They were brought in by the
evil one who came in privily to spy out our liberty which
we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage,
to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the
truth of the gospel might continue with you. If I turn you to the
law for your righteousness, I'm turning you away from Christ. I'm saying don't look here at
Mount Calvary. Don't look at Calvary. You need
to get back there to Mount Sinai. That's your righteousness. No
it isn't. No it isn't. Christ Jesus is
all the righteousness of the believer. Our Savior has given
us His Spirit, sealed us with His Holy Spirit so that the law
of our God, the law of Love, the law of liberty, the law of
faith is written on our hearts. And we hear the word, we hear
the spirit telling us, be kind to that brother, be gentle to
them, love them, forgive them. Receive them. That's the spirit
tells us that. We don't need the law to tell
us that it's wicked to covet the things of our neighbor and
to go over to his yard and pick up a rake and bring it back to
our garage. We don't need the law to tell
us that. We have the spirit to know I don't want to do any harm
to my neighbor. I want to do that which is right
and good. And if there's an argument over
the rake, take it. Just take it. I'll go get another
one. take it, but it's by the grace of God that we can do that
and say that and be fine with it and not still be bitter with
it in our hearts. Let them have it. So by faith,
we walk in the spirit. We walk in that and we love others. And we serve one another in a
spirit of grace. Look at Galatians 5, verse 13
through 16. For brethren, he said, ye have
been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law
is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one
another as soon as you take your eyes off of Christ, and you cease
praying for one another and you do things according to the flesh,
you begin to bite and devour one another. The law isn't going
to help that. The law is strict and requires
absolute perfection and obedience and it holds people by the throat
to say, this is what you owe. And if you don't pay it, I'll
throw you in jail. I'll cast you off. But love says,
My God has been gracious to me, and he's delivered me, and he's
been kind to me, and patient with me, unceasingly patient
with me. I try his patience every day,
every day, and yet he's kind and gentle to me. Lord, help
me to be kind and gentle to another. This I say then, walk in the
spirit, not in the law of Moses, but in the spirit, and ye shall
not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. You won't do it. You won't
do those works which manifest in the flesh. And when you see
them bubbling up, and you know, you hear the voice of them things,
and you know what we do and what we're capable of, we cry, Lord,
save me. Deliver me, Lord, I'm sinking.
Have mercy on me, Lord, keep me. So we preach Christ because
that's who the Spirit of God testifies of. That's how love
is sown in the hearts of God's people. That's how we're gentle
and kind and tender toward one another and forgiving of one
another. And so we preach Christ and deceivers
will find no way to snare your feet and to entrap you in the
snare of the fowler. You'll be delivered from it.
So by the preaching of the gospel, Paul wanted the brethren to be
comforted. He wanted them to know the Lord and love, to have
hearts knit together in love. And third, he preached the gospel
for brethren to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. He said it this way in the last
half of verse two, unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. Verse three, in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You know, I'm blessed by the
sacrifice that you brethren make in supporting this work. I'm
blessed to be able to study this word every day. And what I found
in reading this word every day is more and more clearly The
gospel of Jesus Christ is revealed on every page, in every word. No matter where I go, if I look
and pray and ask the Lord for His grace and mercy, He shows.
And I only ask because He gives me that prayer, is to show me
Christ. Christ and what He has accomplished
for His people in every word. And that hasn't diminished. That
hasn't gone away. It's gotten brighter and clearer
and more evident to me. When you know that this word
speaks of Christ and it's all of Him, that's the light. Just
like you would open a book and read it, and the older I get,
the brighter that light needs to be. It's more helpful with
a bright light. Well, that bright light is Christ. That's how we come to this word.
And even if you yourself open it and you read it and you don't
see that yourself, But when you come here and you hear the gospel
preached, you say, that is exactly what the Spirit is saying to
me. That's exactly the hope I have. I know it's all of Christ. And
so you have that same light. And you're blessed the same way
I'm blessed, to hear that faithful declaration of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's on every page. I know it. You know it. And it's
such a wonder to see it every time more clearly. I'm so thankful
for it. So, our God is telling us to
look to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. You will not go wrong believing
Him, trusting Him, crying out for Anything you need or any
concern you have in the name of Jesus Christ. He is he's wonderful. He's our salvation so We can
easily get ourselves worked up about various administrations
in the church how things are and people do get upset about
those things they They get worried and upset about those things
and and that's where murmuring and complaining Comes and when
we get caught up in that we sound like a vain professor You just
sound like somebody who's focusing on those things that are not
the preaching of Christ, those things that don't feed and bless
the people. But the one who heals that, the
one who comforts us and assures our hearts is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he moves us as one to do
those things which are needful and helpful to the hearing of
the gospel for the people of God. He's the one who will move
us to do that which is right and a blessing and a comfort
to the people. And it may not be done in another
church the way we do, but that's okay. That's okay. The Lord knows how to keep his
people. He heals us by the preaching
of the gospel. He's the one that comforts us.
He bears us in arms of love. And the more we see that, the
more we rest in him, in that love, and are thankful for him. We find his arms strong and mighty
to save and deliver and to keep us. We preach the precious Son
of God who loved us and gave himself for us. The Apostle John
said it this way in 1 John 5.20. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. And we are in Him, that is true,
even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life." You notice in that verse how there's nothing else in it
but Christ? It's all putting our eyes on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they stay right there. Now,
what I've said is never enough for a vain professor. It's never
enough for the deceiver. It's never enough for those who
look only to the flesh and don't look to Christ. But that word
is just right for the saint of God. It's a comfort. It fills
our hearts with love. It heals us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we see again and again, more
abundantly, more richly, all the riches, all the spiritual
blessings of God given to us. So I endeavor, brethren, to preach
the gospel of Christ to you, because that's what our God has
given to us to combat. Well, it's to feed the people.
It's to do you good, to comfort you, knit your hearts together
in love, and to give you that knowledge and understanding.
And in the process, it knocks out all the other adversaries
without us even looking to them, without even trying. It just
takes care of that business by seeking first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. All those other things get added
on after. The Lord bless that word to our
hearts. Amen. our gracious Lord we thank you
for your grace we thank you for showing us in your word convincing
us and affirming and confirming us in this gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ who gave himself who shed His blood to put away
our sins and to make us righteous in Him, to give us life and light
and glory in Him. Lord, keep us looking to Christ,
not looking to the law, not being overtaken by the adversary, not
being caught up in things that are not profitable, but Lord,
help us. Help us to do what is good, what
is right, and is a help. But Lord, let us never depart
from the preaching of Christ. Never let us put anything above
the importance of Him, because that's how you heal us, that's
how you saved us, that's how you continue to save us. It's
in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen.