Colossians 2. Our text will be
found in verses 6 and 7. Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7. The title of the message this
morning is, Christ is all, so walk in Him. Christ is all, so
walk in Him. Colossians 2, verse 6 says, As
ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith as ye
have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." I'll just
let you know, when I started this message, I intended to preach
from the lower portion of this Chapter. But the more I began
to study this introduction, and that's what this is, this message
was just an introduction to where I was getting to in the second
part of it. And this became the message.
This became the message. Here the Apostle Paul, hearing
of the faith of this church, which he had not seen by his
face. He had not met these people.
He did not himself establish this church at Colossae. nor
at Laodicea, but he prays for them for comfort and assurance
at the beginning of this chapter by reminding them that in Christ
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." That's
in verse 3. He says, in whom? In Christ are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Ephesians,
verse 3 and verse 8, he says, Unto me, who am less than least
of the saints, is this grace given that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Friends, this
message of Christ is an endless search. The more I know Him,
the more I realize, the less I know Him. The more I look into what He
has done for me, the more I really understand that I have not scratched
the surface as what He has done for me. I fully can't grasp these
things. In Him dwelt the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. Chew on that. Chew on that and see if you can't
see that that is an unsearchable riches of God, that God became
man. How out of grasp that is for
us. Friends, God, all of God's salvation. All of God's purpose,
all of God's election, all of God's redemption, all of God's
regeneration, all of God's revelation is found only in Christ and nowhere
else. Nowhere else. You hear that saying, put all
your eggs in one basket. All of God's eggs of salvation
are found in the basket of Christ. He is all God's salvation. There is no other salvation. All that have ever been saved,
all that are saved right now, and all that ever shall be saved
were saved in Christ from before the foundation of the world. God says He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. All that were ever saved, that
are saved and shall be saved, shall be saved in Christ when
He represented them as their federal head upon this earth,
when He came and obeyed God's law perfectly. All that are ever saved are saved
in Christ when He lived in obedience and died under the wrath of God
on the cross because He died for them. And they died in Him. In Him. And when Christ rose again to
ascend unto the Father, all of us that are saved, we are saved
by His resurrection and we are in Him right now. We are in Christ
who is seated on the throne of God. You see, all the treasures
of God, all the treasures of God are in Christ. There is no other salvation for
men but in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no hope for men but
found in Him. In Philippians chapter 3, Paul
says, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Jesus Christ. He says, I count all my religion
that I've ever done, dung, manure, good-for-nothing garbage. Why, Paul? You did some good
things. You did some good things, didn't
you? No doubt Paul was a moral man, a religious man. In the
eyes of men, he was blameless. Nobody could really accuse him
of anything on the outward. Paul said this, he says, "...in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing." And so therefore, everything
that I've done is contaminated with sin. Everything. And therefore, I count it but
done that I may win Christ, that I may be found not in my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but in Him. that I may be found in Him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
of God, which is by faith." Is this your desire this morning,
to be found in Christ? When God comes in His righteous
judgment, will you be found in Christ? Because that's the only
safe place. is in Christ. Any one of us that
are outside of Christ, when God comes, friends, you will be cast
into everlasting darkness under the wrath of God for all eternity. Why? Because you're not in Christ. Only in Christ is there hope.
Only in Christ is there life. There's no life outside of Him. Are you estranged from God? You are if you're outside Christ. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.20,
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God Himself
did beg you by us, be ye reconciled to God. For He made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him." Where? In Him. Where? In Him is only
the righteousness of God to be found. In Him. Believe on Christ. Sinners won't have an interest
in Christ. I'll tell you what, I wake up,
And I get ready for church, and as I'm going out, you know what
I see? I see no interest in Christ. I see people asleep. I see people
in their homes. I see them not getting up, and
when I come home, they're just getting up out of bed. Why? There's no interest in Christ. None. There's no value in Christ to
them. But I'll tell you what, if God
ever gets a hold of a sinner's heart, he'll find out that there's
only refuge in Christ, and he'll find that Christ is full of value. Christ is full of value. If you're not in Christ, then
I say to you this morning, hear me, you don't hear anything else,
come to Christ. Come to Christ. Believe on Christ. Rest in Christ. Trust in Christ. Believe on Him. Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. There's hope in Christ. Receive Christ. What is it to
receive Christ? Look at our text again. Paul
says, "...as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord." What
is it to believe on Christ? If I tell you, believe on Christ, and believers, I'm talking to
you too, I must believe on Christ still today, even now, I believe
on Christ. So many people that tell me of
their past faith, which is nothing but garbage. Don't tell me about
your past faith. Your past faith cannot save you. Do you believe now? Do you trust
Him now? Do you rest in Him now? It doesn't
matter what you did ten years ago or ten minutes ago. Believe
on Christ now. Receive Him now. And those that
receive Him are in Him. What is it to believe on Christ?
Well, there are several things. First of all, to believe on Christ
is to believe that He is the sum and substance of all your
salvation. That's what it is to believe
in Christ. That He is the sum and substance of all your salvation. 2 Timothy 2 verse 10 says, Therefore
I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Saving faith is not historic
faith. Every one of you have historic
faith. My son and my daughter have historic faith. They believe
that there was a Jesus. They even believe He died. They
believe He rose again. They're not saved. These things are facts. Having
the facts is not salvation. That is not saving faith. Everybody
can do that. Can't they? Can't everybody have
a historic faith in Christ? And you can do that without the
power of God. You don't need the power of God
to have historic faith. True faith in Christ as all your
salvation is not something we can produce. It must be something
that God gives you. If you've produced it, it's garbage. It doesn't amount to anything.
Salvation is a revelation. This is a revelation, a resurrection. It's a miracle that takes place
in the soul of a man. That's what true receiving faith
in Christ as all your salvation is. It's a miracle. And if you've
not received the miracle of God's grace, you don't have faith. Your faith is worthless. It will
not account for you anything with God. but those that have grace. And
I'll tell you this, you can believe all the doctrines that you want.
Total depravity. You can believe that. Unconditional
election. Limited atonement. Irresistible
grace. Perseverance and preservation
of the saints. You can believe all these doctrines and you and
your doctrines can go straight to hell. Both of you. in a creed. It's not in learning
some systematic theology. Salvation is in a person. When I witness to people, I don't
want them to see my doctrine. I want them to see my Savior.
I want them to see Christ. I want them to know Him. And
you know what? I know Him. I know Him. And when you and I speak of Him,
we can communicate, we can talk in fellowship. Why? Because when
I hear you speak of Him, I recognize Him. I recognize, hey, that's
Him! That's Him! He knows Him. When somebody witnesses to me
and they talk to me and there's something wrong with their description
of Him, I say, that's not Him. I don't know who you are, but
that's not Him. You see, real faith knows Him. Why? Because it's in Him. It's
in Him. I don't want to describe Christ. so that you might know His hair
color." or his dress, how he looked in that day. I don't care.
I want you to know Him. When I tell you about my wife,
I'm not going to describe her hair to you. I'm going to describe
her character to you. Why? Because I love her and I
know her. I know Christ and I want men
to know Christ. He is all my salvation. He is
the sum of my salvation. He is the substance of my salvation. And I have absolutely no part
in it. None whatsoever. He's it. He is the Alpha and the Omega
of my salvation. The beginning and the end of
my righteousness with God. That's what it is to receive
Christ. Number two, it is to receive Christ as all the fulfillment
of the promises of God. 2 Corinthians 1.20 says, for
all the promises of God are where? In Him. I'm telling you, these
two words in Scripture are all over the place. In Him is all
the promises of God fulfilled. In Him. All of the promises are found
in Christ. Forgiveness of sins. That's a
promise, isn't it? Pardon, peace with God, mercy,
grace, kindness, goodness. Aren't all these promises of
God? Can you not name them in Scripture? Of course you can. And we must see that none of
these promises are grounded in us. None of these promises are
because of us. How many times do we lose our
peace because we think these promises are because of something
we can do? God's not going to love me today,
I'll tell you, because I didn't know. God's promise of love for
you is not because of you. To receive Christ is to understand
that all of the blessings, all of the benefits of God, all of
the promises of God are only given to those who are in Christ. In Christ. Friends, God will not and cannot
delight in men in and of themselves. God is not pleased with the natural
man by no means. God is pleased with Christ. He
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Has God ever said that about
anybody else? No. He said, Behold my servant
in whom my soul delights. Do you long to please God? You'll only find the promise
of pleasing God in Christ. In Christ. I hear people talking
about the promises of God a lot. claiming the promises of God.
Men read the Scripture, they say, man, there's a promise about
escaping hell. I like that promise. I'll take
that. And they say, well, there's a promise of God being good to
me. I like that. I'll take that. The promise is not for them. if they're not
in Christ. Friends, the only promise God
gives you if you're outside of Christ is hell. That's what God
promises you. That's a promise. You can take
that one. That's yours. But us who are in Christ, we
have the promises of God. They are ours. They are ours
because God chose us. They are ours because Christ
redeemed us. They are ours because the Spirit
of God called us to Himself. They're ours. Believer, you can
have these promises of life and peace if you're in Christ. Because
in Him are all the promises of God fulfilled. Number three,
all who receive Christ believe that He is the foundation of
all grace. We that receive Christ receive
Him as the foundation of our acceptance, with God. That's
what it is to receive Him. If you want to hold on to anything, you can't have Christ. If you want to look to anything
by which God will accept you, you cannot have Christ. Christ will be the grounds of
the grace of God upon your soul, or He will be your Judge. He will either be your Savior
or your Judge. That's just a fact. That's true. And all who receive Christ, we
see that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by all the works and righteousness
that Christ has done. All the grace of God to me is
found in Christ. He is the source of all grace
and all salvation. Number four, to receive Christ
is to receive His free salvation freely. Why did Christ come? Why did He take upon Himself
a human nature? Become a man. Endure such sorrow
and grief and rejection by His creation. He did so because He would. He did so because He would. He did it freely. There was no
cause in us that would cause the Son of God to condescend
to such low estate. Nothing in us. Friends, there's
nothing in me that would make you cross the street. Why then
would the Son of God come? Because He freely would. Therefore,
being justified, how? Freely by His grace. This grace is free. This salvation
is free. I was reading this before, a
preacher said, if I came and offered salvation for five dollars,
everybody would take it. But I come saying, free, free,
and everyone looks at me and passes by. You see, if there's something
you can do, you're all about that. But if I tell you free,
free, come and welcome, nobody comes. But friends, all who receive
Christ will come freely, gladly. Scripture says in Psalm 110 verse
3, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. I tell
you what, God did not drag me kicking and screaming to Christ.
Did not. I came running. I came running. Why? Because there's salvation
there. There was hope there in Christ.
I was given life to see these things. I was given faith to
believe these things. And I believe. I believe. And I believe freely. You don't
have to twist my arm for this. I'll take it freely. We come to Christ and we come
freely, rejecting all past religion and faith. The danger of this is so prevalent. I talked to men who have been
under the sound of false gospels, under the sound of false preachers
for many years. And somehow they get a hold of
Calvinism, or they get a hold of the doctrines of grace, and
they start to embrace these things. They embrace these doctrines
to themselves. And yet all the while, they still
continue to sit under the false gospel of some man, some false
prophet. They're not willing to give up
their religion for these things. Why? Because they're just things.
They've not encountered the person of Jesus Christ. You encounter
the person of Christ, I guarantee you, you will freely come and
freely give up all to have Him. There is no doubt in my mind
about that. People say, well, I can't give
this up. I can't give this up. You can't unless you come in
contact with the person of Jesus Christ. When you come in contact
with Him, everything goes. It's a clearance sale. Everything
must go. Everything does go. We come to Christ, we reject
all hope and self-worth and come only as a sinner in need of mercy. I love the picture of that publican. God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
He came rejecting all religion and he came to Christ. And Jesus said that man went
home that day justified. He experienced what Christ had
already done for his soul. That's what it is to receive
Christ. Have you experienced these things? Are these things
real to you? Have you seen Christ? Are you
in Christ? Oh, I hope you are. If God has not shown you this,
then friends, I pray that you would receive Christ even now. Number two. Even so, walk. First of all, receive Christ.
Next, even so, walk. That's what our text says. Go
back to your text. He says, For as you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. You that have believed. You that
have believed. We still receive Christ daily,
constantly, always and forever. Now then, walk in Him." Walk
in Him. Let us continue to walk in Him. What is it then to walk in Christ?
Now that we've received Christ by grace through faith, how then
shall we walk in this present world? Friends, salvation is
the revelation of what Christ has done for us and belief of what He's done
for us, but it's also a walk. It's also a walk. How are we
to conduct ourselves? We know that this salvation is
not yet fully experienced, am I right? I have not yet fully
experienced perfect holiness. I have perfect holiness. It is
imparted to me. It is in me. But yet, because
of the old man, I still have not experienced perfect holiness. I want to. I want to. I want to be holy as He is holy.
But because of this, we are given exhortation in Scripture as to
how believers are to conduct themselves in this life. Even so, as you have received
Him, walk in Him that way. How did you receive Him? Freely
by grace through faith in Christ, walk in Him. Just like that.
Just like that. And Paul here in these next few
verses gives us three things, three illustrations as to how
we're to walk in this world. First of all, he says, be rooted. Be rooted in Christ. Everyone
here knows the picture of a tree being rooted in the ground. Here
in the Northwest, they have some of the largest trees in the world. Cheryl told me this. They have
large trees. I've never been there. She used
to live over there. They have a tree that you can
actually drive through. There's a road going right through
the middle of a big tree. Now, don't you suppose that the
roots of that tree run very deep? I'm sure they do. To hold up
a tree that size, they'd have to run very deep. So it uses
the metaphor of a tree and roots. Even as a tree is rooted in the
ground, and from these roots it receives life and nourishment
and fruit, The tree is grounded. It's immovable by its roots. Even so, we are to be rooted
in Christ just like a tree. Just like a tree. Friends, we
are to walk by the power of Jesus Christ, by the nourishment and
strength of Jesus Christ. When that tree comes out, and
these trees are fixing to blossom, they're going to spring forth
fruit and leaves. Where do they get that from?
From the roots! From a source! And God has planted His trees. You are His trees. And we are
planted by the rivers of water, and we shall bring forth our
fruit in its season. Where is the source of our strength
to bring forth fruit unto God? Only in Christ. Be rooted in Christ. Be grounded
in Christ. And immovable in Christ. Don't
compromise this. Don't compromise this. Only in
Christ can we be rooted and grounded in the things of God and receive
strength. Number two, he says, be built up. It's a metaphor
of a building. Everybody can see this building.
It has a foundation. Friends, we are to walk in light
of Christ as our foundation. What gives me the right to tell
you this is truth and the other thing is a lie? How do you know I'm telling you
the truth? because Christ is the foundation
of God because God said so. What I say don't matter. What
I think don't count. What does God say? I had a pastor
talk about this instance where he was talking to this youth
minister. He had been a youth minister
as a career. And the pastor said, I was hoping
he wouldn't talk to me the whole time I was on the plane. But
sure enough, he saw him reading and he was bound to talk to him
and he did. And this man was not built on
Christ. His faith was not built on Christ. Nothing he said was built on
Christ or the Word of God. The pastor wondered, he said,
how in the world could a man be 40 years in some church somewhere
and not know the Word of God? Not see that Christ is all the
foundation of salvation and peace and life. Bob and I was talking
about this. Somebody was saying that, well,
you know, you at your church, you don't tell people how to
live. In other words, they say that, you know, you don't tell
them, go here, do this, do that, do this. Why? I don't have to.
I don't have to tell you where not to go. You know where not
to go if you're a believer in Christ. Your conscience does
that. God the Holy Spirit in you tells
you these things. The difference between this is
I can tell you how to walk in Christ. You walk by faith in
Christ. And because of Christ, we don't
do these other things. Not because we're going to earn
points with God. Christ is our foundation for
all we do. He is the sum and substance of
our salvation. So therefore, believer, walk
in light that Christ is our foundation. He's the foundation of truth,
the foundation of our grace, the foundation of our salvation.
And I'll tell you what, many times we can fall, but a believer
falls on this foundation. David said, I shall not be greatly
moved. I'm moved, I'm staggering, and
I may fall, but I'm going to fall on this. Christ is all my
foundation. Number three, walk in Him is
to be established in the faith. Friends, the book of God is the
source of all faith and practice for us who believe. This is it. This is our source of faith and
practice. How well do you know this book? Believe me, your enemies know
this book well. False religion knows this book
well. Why then are we so lax in knowing
this book? Why are we so lax in being grounded
that Christ is the sum and substance of this book? This is why most do not witness. They fear that they don't know
enough of this book. What's the remedy for that? Know
this book. Know this book. How? How do we
know this book? Doing right now what you're doing.
You are learning concerning the things of Christ by hearing the
preaching of the gospel. That's how. You learn by sitting
under the sound of God's man preaching God's Word to you. And so now you may be equipped
that you may take this Word out to where you live, to where you
work, that you might witness of the person of Christ. That
you might show people Christ. Be grounded, established in the
faith, in the doctrines. Paul tells Timothy, he said,
give thyself to reading. To reading what? God's Word,
not the newspaper. I don't get my messages from
the newspaper. I hope you know that. I hope
that's clear. My messages don't come from the daily news. They come from the Word of God.
And so should your witness. You should know this book. You
should be grounded in this book. You should be established in
the faith by hearing the gospel preached and also in private
study. I'll tell you, there are people
who misuse the preaching of the gospel and don't avail themselves
to it. Well, this is going to hurt them.
It's going to hurt them. Why? Because they're not availing
themselves to learn of the gospel. But some people go in the opposite
direction and they're always in church, but they leave their
Bibles right where they're at until they get back the next
week. I know, I clean up the church sometimes and I see them.
So make sure you take them with you today. Private study is important. It's
important. Don't neglect the private study. You may not understand everything,
but read it and look for Christ And you'll be established in
the faith, believer. And lastly, he says to abound
in thanksgiving. Believer, we must not be people
of pride, but people of humility. I hope this gospel this morning
abased every one of us and exalted Christ. I hope you're clear about this.
Salvation is not in you. It's in Christ. And because it's in Christ and
not in me, I'm thankful. The lost people are mad. This
makes people mad. Makes me glad. I'm happy that
salvation does not rest with me. It rests in Christ. And therefore,
I abound in thanksgiving. Let me ask you this, can you
be thankful and complain at the same time? Not really. You cannot be thankful
and complain. Let me not talk of the sovereignty
of God and complain of my lot in life. Let us, let your conversation,
here's that walk we're talking about, be without covetousness
and be content with such things as you have. For He hath said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. If that does not ring contentment
in your heart, I don't know what will. He says, I won't leave
you, and I won't forsake you. I'm thankful. Are you thankful? I hope so. I pray that the Lord
God would bless this message to your heart today, that you
would see that Christ is all. And because Christ is all, let
us be rooted in Him, built up on Him. Let us be established
in the doctrine of grace concerning Christ, and let us be thankful. I pray this will bless your hearts.
Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.