Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians 1. Colossians 1. We're going to
continue down in the next few verses here. And I believe that
there is much comfort in this for our hearts, much, much comfort
for our hearts. But this is also very good for
our minds to learn. This is very good for our minds
to understand because we all have moments where we assess
ourselves. And look for some assurance on
whether or not we really belong to the Lord. We all have moments. And this portion of scripture
right here in, in scriptures, just like this, when we read
these verses at first glance, they can cause us to have questions
of doubt. I have read for years now, I'll
see places in the scripture that caused me to just pause a little
bit and say, now wait a minute. And it can cause a child of God
to doubt whether or not he really is eternally one of the Lords.
Am I really? So what I wanna do is I wanna
study this. And let's see what the Word has
to say about it. We're gonna let the Word clear
this up for us, and I pray it'll settle us and give us peace every
time we come to scriptures like this. Let's read from verse 20
to verse 23. Colossians 1, beginning in verse
20, it says, and having made peace through the blood of his
cross, this is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, Having made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth
or things in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through
death to present you wholly and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Now watch verse 23. If you continue in the faith
grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel. which you have heard and which
was preached to every creature, which is under heaven, where
of I, Paul, am made a minister." All right, he said, this is what
Christ did to save his people from their sins. He made peace
with God. Everybody who is trying to do
good and obey the scripture and be Christians and all those kinds,
they're trying to, appease God and satisfy God and make peace
with God. That's what they want. People
want to leave this world in peace with God. All right. And Paul
said, Christ made peace with God for his people through the
blood of his cross. The wages of sin was death by
the shedding of blood. That's what God said. Without
the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sins.
So by his own blood that he offered to God on behalf of his people,
that payment that he offered was so full and so complete and
so acceptable. God was satisfied. God was totally
satisfied. His people in that blood, they
were washed clean. Their record and their character
and their being was fully restored. Everything was restored back
to God. And they were made to be in that blood, holy and unblameable
and unreprovable. That means unaccusable. Nobody can even accuse them in
his sight. and all parties who were at one
time alienated and enemies of God. In the body of Christ's
flesh, through his death, everybody that God chose to save was reconciled. Peace on earth, mercy mild, God
and sinners reconciled. All because of that glorious
redemption that Christ accomplished for his people. All because of
that. And this is what he said. He
did it for you. You are included in this. He
didn't do it for the world. He did it for his people that
God, the father gave to him. And he said, you're included
in those people. You will be counted among the
ones that Christ did this for. If you continue in the faith. You say, Gabe, are you putting
a condition on my salvation? No, God is. God is. This is a real condition that
God has attached to the salvation of his people, and I want to
prove that to us through the scriptures, all right? Look with
me, if you would, at 2 Timothy chapter four. Second Timothy four, look with
me at verse six. Paul said, for I am now ready
to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I
have kept the faith. Henceforth, There is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing. He said, I finished
my course, and I kept the faith. And therefore, a crown of righteousness
is laid up for me. All right? Look at Hebrews 3. And I wanna point out before
we read this that these verses, inside these verses, there is
a parentheses. And you know that a parentheses
is an added statement to help clarify what's being said. And
you can pull that out and still read the original statement.
So I'm gonna read this with the parentheses and then we'll read
it without it. All right, Hebrews 3 verse 5 says, And Moses verily
was faithful in all his house. Moses was faithful. He was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things,
which were to be spoken after, but Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we? If. we hold fast the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. If we hold fast
that confidence and that rejoicing. Verse seven says, wherefore,
as the Holy Ghost saith, today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts as in the provocation, In the day of temptation in the
wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw
my works 40 years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation
and said, they do always air in their heart and they've not
known me, not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, they
shall not enter into my rest. That's the end of the parentheses.
All right, so go back up to verse six. but Christ as a son over
his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore,
go down to verse 12, take heed brethren, lest there be in any
of you an evil heart of unbelief. in departing from the living
God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, for
we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. He said, we're members of
Christ's house and we're true partakers of Him if we hold fast
to the confidence that was given to us and we don't fall away
from it, fall into a heart of unbelief. Turn with me to Hebrews
10. Hebrews 10 verse 38 says, Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who
draw back unto perdition." That means utter ruin, destruction. We're not of them who draw back
under perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. He said the just, the justified
ones, those who are justified before God, they live by faith. And they don't draw back from
it. They do not. Because the soul that draws back
from it will utterly be destroyed by God. The just are those that
believe all the way to the end, all the way to the saving of
the soul. All right, one more in proof. Look at Hebrews 11,
verse six. It says, but without faith, it
is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. So do we see this? Do we see
that faith is a critical component in the salvation of God's people?
I mean, it is critical. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. It's impossible. It's a critical
component. Okay, now, with that being stated,
what is faith? This is absolutely critical. This is critical for us to know.
What is faith? Here's my first question. Is
it faithfulness? We just read Moses was faithful. He was faithful. Is faith faithfulness? Faithfulness. Think about this.
Is it faithfulness? If we continue in the faith,
is that continuing in faithfulness? And the reason I ask that is
because that's what most people think of when they hear continuing
in the faith. They get hung up on the word
continuing. And we just read God's people will continue. but
they get hung up on the word continuing and they see that
as being a work of their own faithfulness. Okay, if I continue
in the faith. So is that what continuing in
the faith is? Is it being faithful to the services? You know how you have people
who are with you for a while and then you don't see them anymore. They went out from us because
they were not of us. Had they been of us, they would
have no doubt continued with us. Continuing is important, God's
people will. But is faith, our continuing,
our being faithful to come into the services, faithful to reading
the word, faithful to hearing the word, is that what faith
is? Here's the answer, no. Faith is not our faithfulness. I know many men and women who
are faithful to reading the word and faithful to attending the
church services wherever they attend, who show no evidence
of possessing faith. I do, I know a lot of people
who are faithful. I mean, they're faithful, buddy.
They continue in faithfulness. They're faithful to give, they're
faithful to faithful, faithful, and they don't show any evidence
of possessing faith. Continuing in the faith is not
our faithfulness in the things of Christ. If we read, all right,
if I say, let's look at our text, and we all read together these
words, if you continue in the faith. If we read that and fear
takes hold of us, sorrow takes hold of us because we think honestly,
I am so unfaithful. I am so unfaithful. I am so disappointed
by what I see in myself. My faithfulness to him is nothing
like his faithfulness to me. Nothing. All I see in myself
is unfaithfulness. That's all I have. And I'm telling
you about me. All I see in myself is unfaithfulness. If that's the case, if that's
what enters into your heart, don't despair. That's not what
faith is. That's not what faith is. All
right, well, is it this? Is it a feeling? We just read
a moment ago, if you hold fast to the confidence and the joy,
you know whenever the Lord first revealed the gospel to you, what
joy it brought to your soul? Where all your confidence was,
and I'm telling you that's the truth, and I'll go argue it with
everybody, all right? Is faith a feeling? If you hold
fast to this feeling that we have of just being saved, I just
feel saved. I just have this inner confidence
that I'm on the right track. I feel so close to God. I just
feel close to God. Is that what faith is? A feeling
of determination. You know, people talk about being
on fire. You know, we're ambassadors for
Christ. Is that what faith is? Here's
the answer. No. No. I hope everybody does feel
on fire, whatever that means. I don't know if I've ever felt
that, but I want to. When we read, if you continue
in the faith, if sorrow and fear and all that overtakes us because
we think, I just don't feel like I am continuing in the faith. I just really don't. I feel so
dead. You ever feel dead spiritually? You ever feel dry spiritually? You ever feel weak spiritually? I feel so strong in the flesh. I feel so strong in my sinful
flesh and I feel so weak in my spiritual whatever that is. I feel lost. I just feel lost. The way that I feel when I look
at myself, I don't have much confidence. If you hold the confidence,
I don't have much confidence at all that I will continue in
the faith. I feel like I'm prone to wander
away. Like, I feel that. If you want to talk about a feeling,
I feel that I'm prone to wander away. If the thought of continuing
in the faith feels like something you're unsure of whether or not
you're going to be able to do, don't despair. That's not what
faith is. A fervent feeling of commitment
and dedication, that's not what faith is. Martin Luther said,
feelings come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. I know a lot of
people, I do, who feel saved. Who I doubt. Feelings come, feelings
go, feelings are deceiving. He said, my warrant is the word
of God. Nothing else is worth believing. All right, well, if my own faithfulness
is not me continuing in the faith, and if me having fervent feelings
is not me continuing in the faith, then what is? What is faith? What is continuing in the faith?
Here it is. Look at Hebrews 12, verse one. It says, wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the author and
finisher of our faith. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God." Faith is looking
to Christ. What is looking to Christ? All
right, we can say faith is looking to Christ. What is looking to
Christ? Looking to Christ is believing that he's the only
person who can save me. Looking to Christ is literally
having all of your hope in him, not part of your hope in him,
not most of your hope in him, all of your hope in his cross. All of your hope continuing in
the faith is continuing in the belief and in the hope that Christ's
blood completely saved me. That's all I have. That's all
I have. He's, he saved me without me. He saved me in spite of me. Continuing in the faith is not
drawing back from believing that my salvation had to be by Christ
alone without my involvement, because my involvement only ruins
it. Every time I try to get involved, I just ruin it. Faith is a desperate need for
Christ. It's a desperate need for Christ.
Faith hangs on His Word. You hear it and you think, oh,
thank God, I'm praying that so. I'm praying that so for me. I'm
gonna just hang right here until you come and get me. Faith believes. Faith hopes in Christ. Faith says, this is
all I have before the judgment throne of God, the blood of Jesus
Christ, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's all I have.
The moment that we see ourselves to be something worthy of acceptance,
you know, some people believe, this is a false belief, some
people believe that if we will do good works to satisfy God,
God will save us. Well, that's wrong. God saved
us while we were ungodly, while we were yet sinners. Some people
believe, well, if God saved you, then you better start doing things
that'll make him happy with you or you'll lose what he gave to
you. That's wrong. Christ plunged us into his blood,
we're covered in the blood. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy. Where's mercy?
In that blood. He saved us. If we at any point
start to think, well, it started with the blood of Christ, but
now it's gonna go back to what I see right here. If I'm happy
with what I see right here, God will be happy with what He sees
right here. The moment we do that, we have drawn back from
the faith. If we see anything in ourselves
worthy of His acceptance, we're not continuing in the faith. And because we're not looking
to Him anymore, we're looking right here. The moment we stop
looking to Christ, what is faith? It's looking to Jesus Christ.
The moment we go like this, we're not continuing in the faith. Looking to ourselves. This is
what continuing in the faith is. It's saying, I am so unfaithful
to him. I am so empty and I am so dry
before him. If he didn't save me by his blood,
I'm not gonna be saved. I'm just not gonna be saved.
All my works are filthy rags before God. That's continuing
in the faith. If works was the evidence of
salvation, we would all be goners. Because I don't do it and neither
do you. I don't produce good works before God and none of
us do. If works was the evidence, we
would all be goners. But thank God it's not. Am I against good works? God
forbid. I wish I believe that in glory, I'm
gonna see what I wanna see in myself, and I wish I saw that
now, but I just don't. I just don't. But thank God,
me seeing those works in myself, that's not the evidence of salvation.
Faith is. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
believing on Him, that's the evidence of our salvation. The
Philippian jailer, fell down before Paul and Silas and he
said, what must I do to be saved? And this is what they said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That just means look to him,
hope in him. And you just stay right there,
just stay right there. Our Lord said in John 6, 47,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That faith
is the evidence that I'm given life, given life. If Christ really
has been made to be our only hope, and if we've been caused to believe
that we're ruined without Him, I mean we're ruined without Him,
then Ephesians 2 says that belief is the gift of God to us. Hebrews 12 says He authored that
belief and he will finish that belief all the way to the end.
He'll finish it all the way to the end. 1 Peter 1 says he is
keeping us through that belief. He is keeping us in a place where
we desperately need Jesus Christ. Do you wanna know why we do not
grow to a place where we're satisfied by what we see here? It's because
that dissatisfaction is what keeps us needing Jesus Christ. And he will keep us just being
disgusted with ourselves till the day Christ returns. That
is him keeping his people all the way to the end. That's the
evidence of the fact that he included us in the blood and
reconciled us back to God. We can't stop hoping in Christ.
We won't, we can't. We just can't. Now, I'm going
to close with this, all right? Go to Philippians 3. This is a very prime example
of what it looks like to continue in the faith. This is what goes
on in the mind and the heart of a person who's continuing
in the faith. Verse, uh, Philippians three,
verse three, it says, for we are the circumcision. We are
God's chosen people, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus. and have no confidence in the
flesh. If we continue in confidence,
we're gonna be confident of this. I have no confidence in my flesh,
and I'm confident of that. I know that there's a holy God
I'm gonna have to stand before. We worship God Almighty in the
spirit, and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. Oh, we thank God for the
blood he shed to save us from our sins. And that's enough. I've already
said all that. May God put that confidence in
us. May God put that faith in us. Cause us to continue. Stop looking to self, only look
to Christ. Amen. You're dismissed.