Turn with me, if you would, back
to Colossians chapter one. Last Sunday morning, Brother
Angus Fisher read scripture for us. From this chapter, he read
the very verses I just read to you. And when he got to verse
five, he emphasized his reading. Verse five says, for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel. When I heard him emphasize, I
was sitting right there, when I heard him emphasize the word
of the truth of the gospel, I thought, amen. What a declaration. What a declaration. The word of the truth of the
gospel. That's what we're here for. That's
what we gathered for. The word of the truth of the
gospel. We're going to just focus on
that for one second. And I was only going to focus
on that for one second, but. Some events this week caused
me to think about another subject matter that I also feel led to
consider and. In reading the verses before
verse 5, I realized that subject matter is right here. Something
came up and I thought I really would like to deal with And I'll
just go ahead and. I'll just break protocol and
tell you what it is. Praying for each other. Praying
for each other. I really was taken with that.
Phrase, but but different things happened and it made me realize
the importance of praying for each other. We need to bring
each other before the Lord in prayer and I thought maybe I
need to have a message on prayer. And then whenever I really looked
up at verse three, we give thanks to God and the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. We're praying always
for you. So everything that I wanted to really consider is all right
here. So we'll just look at this for
a minute. Let's begin with what led me
here first. OK, the word of the truth of
the gospel. Another way of saying that is
Christ, Christ, Christ. Another way of saying that the
word. Of the truth. Of the gospel, if we could ever
get our attention on Christ. If we could ever get our attention
on Christ, I want so badly to stress that if we could ever
get our attention on Christ and not this and not that and not
the flesh and not the law and not the doctrine and not if we
could ever get our attention on Christ, we will have found
it. It will have found us. He will
have found us. He will have revealed to us that
he found us. The word of the truth of the
gospel is a person. The word of the truth of the
gospel is a person. It's not a doctrine. It's a person. It's not an opinion. It's not
a system. It's not a rule of life. It's
a person. When the gospel comes, everybody
thinks they know the gospel and have the gospel and we've got
the gospel down. Not until we see the person.
Not until we only see the person. Not until the glory of the person
overshadows everything else and everything else goes away. And
all that's left, and all we're clinging to, and all we're hoping
in, and all of our faith, and all of our hope, and all of our
religion is a person. A person. The Word is a person. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. His name is called
the Word. The Word is a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ is His name. The truth is a person. You know, people talk about,
you know, having the truth or a lie. True religion or false
religion? You know what the difference
is? A person. It's either we have a person
or we don't have a person. Our Lord said, I am the truth. He said, you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free. That's not a theology. That's a person. That's a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ is his name. To have that person is to have
the truth. When our minds are consumed with
a person, We're consumed with the truth. So the word is a person. The
truth is a person. The gospel is a person. If men and women could ever learn
this, if they could ever learn this, the good news is a person. And that person is not me. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. The
grace of God is a person. Talk about grace, grace, God's
grace, God's grace is a person. The mercy of God is a person. You can only have mercy in this
one person. Salvation is a person. Is a person. holiness. Everybody wants to, you know,
be sanctified and progress in sanctification. Sanctification
is a person. Righteousness is a person. Redemption
is a person. Heaven is a person. Anybody want
to go to heaven? If you do, what that means is
you want to go to a person. Prisons would palaces prove if
the Lord would dwell with me there. That woman at the well, I love
her story. She was a real sinner. You know,
she was a real sinner. And she ran into the city crying,
come see a man. He knows everything about me.
And everything about me is not good. And he'll quench my thirst anyway,
and he'll quench yours too. Come see a man. Come see a man. The Lord Jesus
Christ is his name. The word of the truth of the
gospel is a person. It's all about a person. And if we want to know that person,
if we want to know the word of the truth of the gospel, we can
know him right here. We can know him right here. We
can know him in the pages of this book. We can know him by
how he has revealed himself in the pages of this book. We can
know his mind. We can know his will. We can know his purpose. The
gospel is the truth of the word. I'm giving you a forwards and
a backwards here. I'm not trying to confuse everybody. I'm not
trying to do a play on words, but I'm giving you a forwards
and a backwards. Okay. The word of the truth of the
gospel is a person and the gospel of this person is the truth of
the word. The gospel of this person is
the truth of this word. The gospel is a person and the
word is how we can know the truth concerning him. There's only
one truth. The word. Of the truth. Of the gospel, there's not another
one. There's not another one. One
gospel. Concerning one person. My hope is simplicity. Okay, this is my aim tonight. How singular can we get this? One gospel. There's only one
gospel. It's concerning one person. There's only one person. You know, some people get in
arguments trying to make God compete. For some, it's all about the
Father at the expense of the glory of the Son and the Spirit.
For some, it's all about the Son at the expense of the glory
of the Father and the Spirit. For some, it's all about the
Spirit at the expense of the glory of the Father and the Son. But do you know that there's
really only one person? Our Lord said, I and my Father
are one. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these
three are one. One. When you pray, do you ever
find yourself flip-flopping in your mind between the Father
and the Son? It's okay. He said, pray to my Father because
he honors the Father. But he and his father, he said,
if you've seen me, you've seen the father. There's one God. There's one gospel. About one
person. And that one person is God. All the fullness of the Godhead
is found in one body. The Lord Jesus Christ, there's
one throne. The father doesn't have a throne
and then the son's throne is right on the, just on the right
side of the father's throne. There's only one throne. One man sitting on it. And if we want to know the one
gospel concerning him, it's found in the truth of this word. It's found right here in the
truth of this word. Find it in the truth of the word. I was talking to a young man
at the conference this weekend who is very dear to me. This
young man is so dear to me. And he was asking me about how
something should be handled, how it should be conducted. And I told him, however this
word says it should be handled and conducted, that's how it
should be handled and conducted. And he said, well, somebody told
me that this other way is what should be done. And I said, well,
can you find that in the scripture? And he said, no. And I said, well, then that other
way is wrong. And he said, yeah. The gospel. Is the truth. Of the word. There's only one denomination
in glory. There's only one denomination
in glory, there's only one faith. This. This right here. The word of the truth of the
gospel. Jesus Christ. So what all this means is he's
the answer. All right. He's the answer. He's
the only answer. Christ is all if if we can honestly
walk away from this having really gotten something, I pray it can
be this. Every spiritual question we have, Christ is the answer.
Every spiritual need that we have, Christ is the answer. When we're dealing with the law,
when we're talking about the law, Christ is the answer. Well, what about the law? What
are we going to do about the law? Christ is the answer. Christ
is the end of the law. Christ came to fulfill the law. Christ is the answer. If we're
in need of forgiveness, if we're in need of forgiveness. I feel like I'm always in need
of forgiveness. Amongst my brethren, but continually. from my God. If we're in need
of forgiveness, Christ is the answer. Christ is the answer. Look right here at Colossians
1 verse 14. It says, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. That's the answer. If we're in need of righteousness, What about righteousness? Aren't
you supposed to have a righteousness? Christ is the answer. Christ is the answer. Turn over
a couple of pages to 2 Corinthians 5. Second Corinthians 5 verse 21,
it says, For he hath made him, God the
Father made Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Does that hit anybody? You know, we talk about needing
a righteousness and everybody naturally thinks that means I
need to do a little bit better than I've been doing. No, that
means we need to be like God. That means we need to be as good
as God. Well, God made Christ to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Him. Christ is the answer. If we desire to get a hold of
the truth, if we've ever said, just tell me what the truth is. I just want to know the truth. Just give me the truth. Christ is the answer. Look at
Ephesians 1. Verse 7 says, in whom? It's talking about Christ. The end of verse 9 says, in himself. The end of verse 10 says, in
him. Verse 11 says, in whom. The end of verse 12 says, in
Christ. Now look at verse 13. In whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth. The gospel of your salvation
in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. We desire to get a hold of the
truth. Christ is the answer. Lord reveal
Christ to me. If we need the grace and mercy
of God's salvation, the cross of Jesus Christ is the answer. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the blood of the Lamb of God is the answer. Look at Ephesians
2 verse 13. It says, But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. If we need peace, Christ is the
answer. Look right here at verse 14,
for he is our peace. Who hath made both one and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace. If we need wisdom, Christ is
the answer. Turn to Colossians 2, Colossians
chapter 2. Verse 2 says that their hearts
might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all
riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." We need
knowledge, direction, Christ is the answer. We need comfort,
Christ is the answer. Verse 2 said that their hearts
might be comforted. The word of the truth of the
gospel, he is our answer. And I was reminded of that over the
weekend in the last couple of days of having so many conversations
with brethren who are going through so many different things. Brethren
are going through so many different things and have so many different
needs and it really struck me every need that we have, Christ
is the answer. We need to go to him concerning
everything. We need to go to him concerning
everything. I can't tell you how many people
have asked me over the last few days to pray for them. Would you pray for me? Would
you be praying for us? So many different reasons and
situations. And it really it struck me, I
believe. Yesterday morning, it really
struck me. God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for my brethren. Lord, remind
me to pray. Teach me to pray. Help me to
pray. Cause me to bring my brethren
before you. Every single one of us needs
to be brought before the word of the truth of the gospel. He's our help. He's our hope. And that's what the verses of
scripture in our text are saying. Look back at Colossians 1. I'll
be quick here. Colossians 1, verse 1, it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God and Timotheus, our brother, To the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae, grace be unto
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you. Brethren, pray for us. Pray for
me. I mean that. Would you pray for
me? I need it. May God give me a heart to pray
for you. We need him. We need him so desperately. We need his cross. We need his
body. We need his blood. We need his
reconciliation. We need his intercession. We
need his union. We need his presence. We need him. We need to come
to him. We need to be drawn to him. And by the word of the truth
of the gospel, we have him and we are drawn to him. Verse three says, we give thanks
to God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always
for you. Since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints,
he said, we give thanks to God, praying for you. Since we heard
of your faith in Christ, the faith that he gave to you and
the love that he gave to you, love for him and love for his
people. And you know, this conference
last weekend, that's that's what drew us all together. That was
the theme of the weekend. That's what made us so happy.
Love for him and love for his people. Don't you love being
with the Lord's people, especially in that kind of quantity? Don't you love being with the
Lord's people? Verse three, we give thanks to
God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always
for you. Since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints. We give thanks, verse five says,
for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. The hope which
is laid up for you in heaven. That's what we need to get through
this life. We need a hope. We need a living
hope. We need a sure hope. We need a blessed hope. We need
a saving hope. We need a hope. And that's what we have in Christ,
our hope. We have a sure foundation, an
expected end, a blessed promise of good news. Verse three, we
give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and of the love which you have to all the saints for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven Where have you heard before in
the word of the truth of the gospel? That's where you heard
of your hope. That's where the Lord revealed
it to you. That's where you received such good news. Everything in
this life may seem so fickle and it may seem so frail and
it may seem so unstable. But the word of the truth of
the gospel will stand forever. He will stand forever. And by his grace, we cast our
all on him. We cast our all on him. In closing,
go with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 1 says, Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. wherein you
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are
in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom having
not seen, you love. In whom though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls. It's beautiful, isn't it? Jesus
Christ, the word of the truth of the gospel, we cast our all
on him. And on him, our all is secure. It's secure. Amen.