Let's be turning to Colossians
chapter 1. Paul here having thanked God
for the salvation which he wrought in the church at Colossae. Paul now speaks of the vessel
that the Lord used to preach the gospel, who likely preached
the gospel to these people the first time, or at least was feeding
them as their pastor or one of their pastors. And that would
be Epaphras. So let's look at verse 7. As
he also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant. who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ." And Paul had been speaking about the fruit of the
Spirit. He had been talking about how
that the Lord uses the gospel, the Lord gives the gospel to
declare to the people what He has done for their salvation. What He has done to deliver His
chosen vessels from the coming wrath because of man's sin. And so the Lord sends the gospel
to a people and declares their need. and what He has provided
freely and abundantly in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's
what the Lord does. He speaks of His grace. He's
telling you how that we ourselves are sinners, how that we cannot
save ourselves, how that we cannot work a righteousness for ourselves
to make ourselves acceptable with God. But He has done everything
necessary. He's provided that salvation
fully and freely in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, in
the preaching of the gospel, we're speaking of the Son of
God who came in the flesh. And when we hear that and understand
what the Lord is saying is that if the Son of God took upon Him
this flesh and came as the mediator between God and men, that right
there tells me that I cannot work a righteousness for myself.
I need His grace and mercy in Christ. I can't do it. I need
what He has provided for me. I need the one whom He has sent
to save me from my sins. The Lord teaches us we need a
perfect righteousness, and the works that we do are stained,
are rotten, they stink, they do not work a perfect righteousness,
and God is perfectly holy and righteous. If we are to approach
Him we must approach him in perfect righteousness. And so God himself
has provided the sacrifice that we need. And so He declares to
us what Christ has accomplished for us in His death, how that
His blood being shed justifies us, how that His death has reconciled
us to Holy God, how that all who believe Him, who trust the
promises of God made unto us in Christ, are reconciled to
God, being redeemed or purchased by the blood of Christ. We are
His possession. We are His children. We are adopted
into the family of God by the Lamb of God who made satisfaction
for us so that God is well pleased, so that God is at peace with
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Romans 5. Let's see this in Romans 5. We'll pick up in verse 8. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We didn't do something first
to raise ourselves up to a certain level of acceptability with God. God, while we were yet sinners,
while we were yet enemies of God, He did all this work of
salvation graciously for us by His darling Son. Much more then,
verse 9, being now justified by Christ's blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." And so, if Christ
gave His life for a sinner, if Christ gave His life for you,
then there will be a manifestation of fruit in you. There's going
to be a bearing, a setting forth and a bearing of the fruit of
the Spirit. It's going to manifest itself
in you. The children of God will be manifest by faith, which looks
to Christ. love for God and for their brethren,
hope in that promise of God that we shall receive the inheritance
of the saints, that we shall be kept and brought finally to
the end, to the inheritance of the saints, that which we are
looking unto and looking forward to and hoping in. And not only
so, verse 11, but we also joy in God. There's more fruit. We
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received
the atonement. And so, faith in Christ will
lead to joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It will lead
to a rejoicing of what God has done for us. And that hope of
the sinner receives the atonement, that washing, that cleansing,
that covering of our sin. And so living souls are fruitful
souls who believe God and who follow Christ. Now we've already
gone through the first part of spring and oftentimes when it's
now time for trees like maple trees and oak trees to to bring
forth leaves, sometimes on those trees there's a branch that remains
barren. It's brown and it's barren. All
the other branches are putting forth leaves, but one sticks
out like a sore thumb. That's because that branch is
dead. it's dead. Either it's been broken
off and is no longer connected to the tree and receives no sap,
no life, no nourishment, no water, and it's dead, or there's a disease
in the thing and so it's just dead and you can see it. Well,
so it is with those who profess to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. If they're dead, there's no fruit, there's no faith, there's
no life, there's no love, there's no hope, there's no joy, It's
just a dead letter walking, and it's just doing what they want
to do in the Lord, having no hope in Christ. And now here's
further proof that there will be fruit. Verse 8, back in Colossians
1, verse 8. So Epaphras has declared, has
come to them, and Paul commends him as a faithful minister of
Christ, and he says, who also declared unto us your love in
the Spirit. So Epaphras came and boasted
of the fruit which God had borne in them. Because our Lord tells
us Back in verse 6, which is, this gospel is come unto you
as it is in all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth
also in you since the day he heard of it and knew the grace
of God in truth. And so, Epaphras is saying there
is fruit. We've been declaring the gospel
to them. They've heard it. They've received that word. They
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's fruit. There's love in
those brethren. They love God. They love one
another. They love their enemies. They
are patient and enduring through the trials and the afflictions.
God has manifested love in them because they heard the love of
God for them. Such as John 3, 16, for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that those
believing in him, whosoever they are, Jew or Gentile, that those
believing should have everlasting life in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's manifested in them. It's
revealed in them. And so His love, the love of
God for us, the grace of God, seeing the grace of God for us,
and that power being revealed and manifested in us that takes
us out of darkness and death and brings us into life, that's
our motivation. That's how we know how to treat
one another, and how to live among one another, and be kind
to one another. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians
in 432, saying, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. There's our motivation. We hear
that word. We rejoice in God's forgiveness
of us for Christ's sake. And so he manifests that love
and forgiveness in us toward our brethren. To love them. To be kind and gentle to them.
To do what is good for them. To hear the command of our Lord
in John 13, verse 34 and 35, when he tells us, a new commandment
I give unto you, that ye love one another. love one another,
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another." Now that commandment of Christ unto His disciples
who believe Him is never going to be accomplished by us in our
own strength. We cannot bring forth that spiritual
fruit of this flesh. It's not going to happen. So don't look for some work for
you yourself to do. Look to Christ. Hear Him. And go and be kind to your brethren.
And love your brethren. And be gentle with them. It's
a commandment that teaches us that in me, Lord, I can't do
this. If it rests on me, if my salvation
rests on me being able to fulfill this commandment, then I shall
fall short right in the beginning, right from the start. And so
this commandment, what it does actually, is it shows me my weakness,
it shows me my need of Christ, my continual need of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So when you hear that commandment,
look to Christ. Look to Him. As soon as you look
within, you tremble and are afraid because you don't find what you
need. But looking to Him, we know He is faithful. and just
and able to fulfill unto me all things that he commands. All
that he requires of me is provided unto me in and by Christ whom
he has sent. So it's not done by the law.
This is a fruit of grace and one for which we will seek the
Lord for. We'll look to the Lord for it. So And that brings us
to the next verse, verse 9. Hearing the work that God had
wrought in these brethren there in Colossae, Paul is moved to
pray for his brethren there. He's moved to pray. Now think
about it. God's manifesting fruit and Paul's thought is, Let me
pray. Let me pray for these brethren.
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Right? These brethren are, there's
no one more secure than these brethren in Christ. And yet Paul
prays. Paul prays for them that they
would not stagnate, that they would not stay still, that they
would not crumble and fall apart, that they would not lean on their
own flesh and their own strength, but that they would grow being
connected to Christ. The fruit revealed in these sinners
was made an occasion for other redeemed sinners, Paul and his
companions, to pray all the more earnestly for these new creatures. for these new creatures in Christ
to continue to grow in Him, to not become a branch broken off,
to not become a dead thing, to not become someone of profession
only, but someone who possesses that life of the Lord Jesus Christ
in them. to see that power of God manifest
in them. And that's what we want to see,
not only in ourselves, but in our brethren, that the Lord would
bless us, that he would pour out his spirit upon us. And so
seeing how that Paul is moved to pray for them, to pray for
these new creatures, it shows me that I've not yet arrived. that I'm not yet full and sufficient
in myself and I never shall be. I will never outgrow Christ. I will never outgrow Christ.
I will always need Him. I will always be dependent on
Him. I will always, always, always
need the Lord. It's like, it reminds me, just
thinking of that, reminds me that, you know, in some ways,
having a pet, like a dog, is more difficult than a child,
in the sense that the child grows up and becomes independent, but
that dog always remains dependent on you. If you don't set the
food out, that dog isn't eating. If you don't open the door and
let the dog out, that dog's not going out. And so, in that sense,
we're like the dogs. We are. We are the dogs. And
we are ever dependent on the gracious hand of our God to extend
His mercies and benefits to us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the Lord is teaching
us, and we're seeking Him, Lord help me through every trial,
through every tribulation, Through every day in which I see the
weakness of my flesh, how that I stumble, how that I fall, how
that I'm nothing in myself, Lord, teach me, grow me in that grace
to see and to behold the gracious hand of my God holding me up. And so Paul's desire in prayer
was that he might be filled with the knowledge of God's will. What an encouragement. What an
encouragement that God is filling you, His children, with in Christ
and sending His Son to pay the price for your sins. What an
encouragement this is to us. He tells us, He that spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things? So that you that
believe in Christ this day, it's because God the Father chose
you. It's because God the Father put
you in Christ and predestinated you that your steps, that you
would walk in that path being led of Him to be brought by the
Spirit, being separated by the Spirit and led unto the obedience,
to behold the obedience of Christ, to behold that He has satisfied
the Father, that He has satisfied the law for us, that He has satisfied
a righteousness for us, that He has provided everything for
us, and that He has delivered us from the wrath to come, and
that He fills us and has given us an inheritance with the saints.
How shall he not therefore meet every need that you have? How
shall he not sustain it and keep you looking to him? He says ask
and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock
and the door shall be opened unto you. This is God's will
for you. For everyone that asketh receiveth. Everyone who seeketh, findeth.
Everyone who knocketh, it shall be opened unto you. Therefore, rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, Paul says, rejoice. And I say it, rejoice in the
Lord. He's done this. He's worked it perfectly. He
keeps us knowing I'm the dog. I'm the dog. Lord, extend your
hand. Open your hand to me, Lord. Feed me. Let me receive the crumbs
of your grace, if not an entire feast of fat things, of gracious
things in Christ. We always have something more
to learn. We always have something better
to understand. We always have a need to know
and to understand the will of our God, the purpose of our God
toward us graciously in Christ. Paul said we know in part and
we prophesy in part. These things, they'll fail. These
things will come to an end. But the life we have in Christ
shall never end. Shall never end. He keeps us.
And there's even warnings in scriptures given to us to show
us that in ourselves, we decay. In ourselves, we fall apart.
We crumble. We fail. It's God who keeps us. It's God that gives us life.
He even said to the church at Ephesus, I have someone against
thee because thou hast left thy first love. And we read that,
and we see, Lord, keep me, because we know our wandering heart. We know our folly. We know our
foolishness. We know our doubts, our unbelief,
our failings. Lord, keep me. Don't let me become
like the Ephesians and lose my first love. Inflame my heart
with love. Fill me with your spirit. Remind
me of your grace. Teach me, Lord, and keep me.
And so we pray that this knowledge of His will and all wisdom and
spiritual understanding would fill our hearts and our minds. And that's what Paul is saying,
that they don't become just hard and dead and worthless, but that
we would be delivered from a dead letter law, that we would not
be content with the dry, vain traditions of man and just go
through the motions of religion. that the Lord would bless this
time, that he would bless the hour when he gathers his people
together to feed them, to hear of his grace, that he would bless
us and fill our hearts with joy again and again and again in
Christ, so that our hope wouldn't rest on that mere profession
of Christ, but that we would truly possess the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he would possess us, fill us with his spirit,
rejoicing in Him. So this maturity is not something
that's accomplished by our own strength. We ever need the power
of God in Christ, and this is testified to in Paul's prayer. Otherwise, Paul wouldn't have
prayed it. We wouldn't pray for one another. There wouldn't be
a need to pray for one another. But God has purposed it this
way so that we would always come humbly always come needing. And it's for our good. The flesh
says, I want to grow up. I don't want to have to go back
to Him. I don't want to have to keep
looking to Him. That's the flesh. The Spirit is as a tender child. Whoever looks to Him and is thankful,
is thankful. Reminds us of, we have three
grandsons and We always go through that stage where they're little
babies and they're so cute and so adorable. It's like they can
do no wrong. And then they hit that three-year-old
stage where they get sassy, you know, and you're like, oh, man,
this is rough. They were so cute and adorable.
And they're still cute. But I mean, you know, they go
through a rough stage until they hit about four. But it reminds
us of our youngest one and how sweet and adorable he still is,
because he hasn't hit that terrible twos or threes or whatever it
is. them what they do but it just
it keeps us ever looking to him as that tender sweet child and
he just pours out his spirit on us blessing us always he says
in verse 11 strengthened with all might according to his glorious
power And so this power is most understood, best understood and
most abundantly seen by us in our weakness. It's when we are
weakened that we see and understand the power of God. That might
be through a sickness. That might be through being brought
low by a sickness, to know our infirmity, to know that I was
healthy one moment and now I feel awful. My knee was working fine
just earlier today, and now it's bothering me. You know, it's
always something like that. A physical ailment. It might be that we stumble or
fall in some sin. Some stupid thing that we thought
we were done with, and yet here it is again. It might be a trial
that shows us our weakness, a temptation, an affliction. persecution and
it oftentimes is mixed with something that we can look to and say it's
because of me so that we are required to look to God in faith
to trust him that his grace is sufficient to heal us though
he teaches us though he might chasten us but his grace is sufficient
to keep us ever looking to him and so Christ is teaching each
one of you myself included he's teaching us all without me ye
can do nothing nothing John 15 verse 5 that's what he's ever
teaching us that we can't do anything without him and so Paul
tells us that when he was tempted with pride because of the visions
that he was receiving of the Lord God He told the Corinthians
in 2 Corinthians 12 9 that God said unto me, My grace is sufficient
for thee. I'm holding you up by my grace.
You're not keeping yourself by these visions. I'm the one keeping
you. For my strength, right, God brought him low saying that
you'll be brought low, you'll have doubts, you'll have hours
where you fear and you'll be afraid and you'll see your weakness
and the weakness of your flesh. My grace is sufficient for thee,
but I'm doing this because my strength is made perfect. weakness. I'm making you weak for your
good. I'm gonna be glorified. I'm gonna
do, the Lord says, what I'm, what I need to do, but I'm doing
this for your good. I'm making you weak in your flesh
because that's where my strength is made perfect. And Paul said,
well, then most gladly therefore will I rather glory my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Because it's good for me. It's
good for me to know my weakness. It's good for me to know that
I'm not all that. That I need him every hour. And Paul adds that the strength
and might of God's glorious power would be given to us unto all
patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. These are fruits
that are always going to be present with us. And those who are exercised
by God in various trials and temptations and tribulations
That's where we see the promises of God fulfilled unto us, and
keeping us, and strengthening us, and giving us patience, and
adding to that patience, faith, and hope, and trust, and joy
in Him. Turn over to Psalm 37. Let's
just read the first eight verses. This is where the Lord is bringing
us. to rest in Christ, to rest in
Him, to trust Him. Psalm 37, let's start in verse
one. Fret not thyself because of evildoers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for
they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green
herbs. All right, we see the wickedness
of man about us. We see the news. We can get news
from all around the world now. Not just on the TV, but you can
get it online and at some website. You can see things going on.
And behold, how there are wicked people, and you know there's
people getting away with horrible crimes. And he says, the Lord
says, don't you worry about them. Don't you be troubled and worked
up and get yourself all upset about what others are doing. He's going to take care of them.
They'll be cut down. You, verse 3, trust in the Lord
and do good. You do what is right. So shalt
thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. He'll take
care of you. He'll provide every need. Delight
thyself also in the Lord. And he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord,
trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall
bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently
for him. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. cease from anger and forsake
wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil." It's such a
pertinent word for me when I'm reading some article on the webs.
It's so accurate. He says, don't even get worked
up about that stuff. You don't worry about it. You
just look to Christ. You trust him because he's going
to bring to pass all that he promises. He'll provide for you.
He'll keep you. You just trust Him. You seek
the Lord. You rest in Him. You knock at
His door and He'll provide it all. So in other words, God has
made you fit for heaven. He's made you fit in Christ to
dwell with Him forever. Looking at your flesh, no, you
don't see it. But looking to Him, we know the
Lord How much better, what more could I want or ask than what
you've already provided for me in the Lord Jesus Christ? And
so, in these things he's teaching us his wisdom. He's showing us
his gracious will. He's giving us patience. He's
strengthening our faith. He's proving that which He's
given to us and showing us how that He's fulfilling every promise
unto us in Christ. And so we do pray. Though we
are new creatures, though we do believe, we do pray one for
another that the Lord would keep us, that He would show us these
things and bless these very wonderful truths to our hearts. And so,
bless Him. Praise Him. Pray for one another
as you see Paul praying for these brethren. Just because we confess
doesn't mean we're fine in and of ourselves now and go in our
own strength. Nope. We need the Lord ever.
So pray in that light, in that manner. Stayed upon Jehovah,
hearts are fully blessed, finding as He promised, perfect peace
and rest. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank
you, Father, for your grace. We thank you for your might,
your power, Lord. We see more and more how we ever
need your grace to keep us. When we think that we are strong,
when we think that we've arrived, when we think that we're doing
well, Lord, so often that's when we fall. That's when we're humbled
and made to know just how weak we are and how dependent we are
on you. And that's the good place to
be. at the feet of your throne, on our face before you, begging
for crumbs of mercy. Lord, that's where your strength
is made perfect in our weakness, for you have ordained it to be
so in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for this, Lord.
We thank you for your wisdom, your power, your providence,
your predestination, your election, your all, your love for us in
Christ. We thank you for him. It's in
Christ Jesus' name that we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right. We'll come back at
five after the hour.