Book of Colossians, chapter 2. Book of Colossians, chapter 2. Whoever brought the gospel to
the Galatians, we don't know for sure, but what we do know
is that Paul wrote this letter in a prison cell in Rome. He
had had a co-worker after us that had been with him for a
while and was converted to Christ. And he went out on his own, and
he was teaching at the church here. And the church was made
up of Gentiles and Jews. And they had heard the true gospel
of Christ, and they was strong believers. But also, it had only
been 30 years since Christ had been crucified. So there was
some elements of Judaism and Paphanism that was in the church. And he was concerned with false
teaching coming into the church. And he wanted to talk to Paul,
so he made the journey to Rome. And I can imagine going 1,200
miles back at that time frame, you know. And that's the reason
for the letter here. Paul wrote the letter to encourage
to church and to remind them the gospel that they had been
preached, and that was the true gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord
and him crucified. And despite the truth being tall,
as I said, the church was still in jeopardy of false teachers
coming in among them. But Paul wanted to encourage
them and to reinforce the teaching that they had had, that Jesus
Christ was the Lord, the Lord, the King of kings, that it was
the blood of Christ alone. It was his death, his burial,
his resurrection. Man played no part in that. False
teachers, that's what they do. All false teachers, they put
truth in their teaching, but they also put lies in their teaching.
And he wanted to set the record straight for them, and to confirm
to them that the gospel of Christ had warned them about the spiritual
error of false teaching. And the church, they had not
been infested yet, but they were afraid that they may be, because But the best defense against
false teaching is to have a strong faith in the truth of the Word
of God, to have a strong faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, and
to know who He is. But they wanted to mix works
with grace. And as we know, if this letter
was written 2,000 years ago, if it had been written yesterday,
it applies as much to the church today as it did then. And whenever
I speak of the church, what I'm talking about is those that God
the Father elected to put into His Son. And that is the church
that I'm talking about, those that are in Christ Jesus. In
the world we live today, we have so many different kinds of religions.
We have so many different kinds of churches, but there's only
one true church, and that is the church of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And they wanted to undermine
the deity of Jesus. As we look at our world today,
they want to undermine the deity of Him. They want to undermine
His blood. But Paul had deep concern for
these people because he loved them very much. And we as brothers
and sisters, we love each other. And what he's going to do, he's
going to tell them, you know, where our strength is at. He's
going to tell them that, you know, we're strong as a unit,
in unity. and to be strong in the faith
that we have here. It says here that Paul wrote
here in 2 Corinthians 2.4, it says, for out of much affliction
and anguish of heart I write unto you with many fears, tears,
not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love
of which I have more abundantly unto you. And why are we all
one big family? Why do we love each other? Why
do we care about each other? Listen to what Galatians 4 and
18 says. It says, and he is the head of
the church. Who's the head of the church?
Christ Jesus is the head of the church. He is the head of the
church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. And we are the
body. There is one Lord, one God, and one Savior. There's
one head and there's one body. And we're all in this together. We may not be present. I'm sure
that there's more brethren, there's plenty more brethren out there
that I have never seen that are my brother and sisters than there
are that I have seen. But we're all in unity. And it's
a spiritual thing, you know. But in verse two here, it says,
in fact, their hearts might be comforted being knit together
in love. Love is in Christ. and unto the
riches of the full assurance of understanding, of the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. The greater our faith in Christ,
the greater our love for the brethren, and more is our concern
for them. And Paul had a desire for the
Galatians to be strong in heart, united in love, and settled in
the understanding walking in Christ and overflowing with gratitude. To be strong in heart, 1 Thessalonians
8, 11 says, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting
on the breastplate of faith and love. and for a helmet, the hope
of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we shall live
together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as also ye do. We are to be strong in heart,
we are to be strong in love, and hold fast to the truth but
we have heard in Christ Jesus, our Lord, because there's always
a threat of false teachers. You know, the world that we live
in today, we all have family, we all have loved ones, we have
friends, co-workers, people we go to school with, but you never
hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Up until seven years ago, I never
heard it. And you think, well, you know, how come they don't
hear it? Because preachers don't preach it. You know, they don't
preach it and it's not out there. I never heard of it. Not the
truth of the gospel, let's put it that way. But being knit together at the
heated love, you know, for the Lord Jesus and for one another
to the necessary balance of a strong mind. The Bible says that God
has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love
and a strong mind. Let's look at Ephesians 4, verses
14 through 16, just for a minute. Ephesians 4, verses 16 through
18. 14 through 16, Ephesians 4. Listen
to this. It's why it's so important
that we fail not to gather ourselves together and to always take time
to read the Word, take time to pray, spend time with the Lord
each and every day of our lives. and spend time together. It says
here in verse 14 of chapter 4, that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and foe and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slay of man and cunning characteristics whereby
they lay in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up unto him in all things, which is a head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supply, according to the effectual working
and the measure of every part, make an increase of the body,
and the edifying of it itself in love." We'll go back to the
text. All believers possess the same
eternal life. We all come to Christ the same
way. We all were placed in the body of Christ by the same Spirit.
And when it comes to being knit together in love, let's look
at what our Lord said here in John 17. John 17, verses 20 through
23. John 17, verses 20 through 23. He just got done praying for the
apostles, now he's praying for all believers. He says, never
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through the word, that they all may be one as thou,
thou father are in me, and I in thee, and they also may be one
in us, that the world may believe that thou have sent me. And the
glory which thou givest me, I give unto them, that they may be one,
even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, and
that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may
know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast
loved me. We go back to our scripture in
verse two. And it says, unto all the full
assurance of understanding. The more grounded that a Christian
is in the truth of God's word, the stronger that his faith is
gonna be, and the stronger that he is gonna be able to withstand
the things in this world that is contrary to the will of God. If you will, look at 2 Peter
chapter one for a second. 2 Peter chapter one, verses five
through eight. 2 Peter 1, verses 5-8. It says, And besides this, give
in all diligence unto your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,
and to knowledge temperance, and to into patience, into patience,
godliness, into godliness, brotherly kindness, into brotherly kindness,
charity, or love. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make that you shall neither be barren or unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says over here
in 2 Timothy 2.15, study to show yourself a prudent to God, a
workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth. Jesus said, learn of me and you
shall find rest for your souls. The union of heart and affection
depends much upon our common understanding and belief in the
main truths concerning Christ and how God saves sinners. And
we'll go back to her text, and it says, "...to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ." Christ
is the mystery of God. And we're going to look at a
scripture. I want you to turn to 1 Timothy
3.16. 1 Timothy 3.16. Listen to this, and without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. What is the mystery of godliness?
The mystery of godliness is Christ in us. The mystery of godliness
is that God become a man. The mystery of godliness is that
God manifested in the flesh. The mystery of God is His accomplishment
of a divine eternal covenant and a purpose in Christ Jesus. There's a man sitting on the
right hand of God in glory making the intercession for us. That's
the mystery of God right there. I like what Isaiah chapter 9
says, for unto us a child is born and to us a son is given. That child was God, born of the
seed of a woman, a virgin woman in Bethlehem. When he says a
son is given, And nobody didn't take that son. You know, the
world may think that they crucified Christ, that they nailed him
to the creed and all of that, but that was ordained before
the foundation of the world. Because only read, that's what
Acts 2.22-24 says. He says, ye man of Israel, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know, they heard his preaching,
they listened to his singing, his miracles, and yet what did
they do? They spit in his face, they pulled his beard, they nailed
him to the tree. but they dine only what God had
ordained. It says, him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God beforehand. You have taken by wicked hands
and have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loosed his pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding to it. And the reason for that was for
that God could save the people that he had placed in his son,
that his son would have to go to the cross and die for him
because God demands perfection. He demands perfection. And then
it says here, it says here, we'll go back to our text, it says
here in verse three, in whom are all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge." All the wisdom of God, all the knowledge
of God is in Christ. God's grace, His mercy, His love,
His righteousness, everything that God has is in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. In 2 Corinthians 1.19 it says,
For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell. And then in verse 4 right here
it says, And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with
enticing words. That's why it's so important
for us to know the Word of God. That's why it's important for
us to know when someone's telling us a lie. That's why it's important
for us to know to be strong and not push what we believe on anyone. But I had a preacher tell me
this one time. He said, I don't go around pushing
my belief on other people. And he was a grace preacher and
we all know him. But he said, if someone comes
up to me and they start talking to me about Christ, I don't have
no problem telling them through the scriptures what the scriptures
say, really say about Jesus Christ, our Lord. But it says here in
2 Corinthians 11 3, but I fear by any means as a serpent beguiled
Eve through his selfishness, your minds be corrupted. of simplicity,
which is in Christ. There's nothing involving God,
nothing involving life, nothing involving a sinner, or anything
to do with God, but it's not all in Christ. Someone told a
preacher one time, said, I believe in God, but I don't know about
Christ. Preacher looked at him and he said, if you don't know
Christ, it's impossible to know God. Jesus said, I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. In verse five here, it says,
For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the
spirit, joining and beholding your order in the steadfastness
of your faith in Christ. Steadfastness here. It means
to stand firm, unwavering. Christ is the offer and the finisher
of our faith. He's the giver of faith. He's
the object of our faith. And right here is a beautiful
verse that I want you all to look at. It's in 1 John 5. It says so much. 1 John 5. It's verse 20. Listen to this closely and ask
God to help you to enter into it. 1 John 5, verse 20. And we know,
and we know that the Son of God is come, and hath 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. Thank God for that. We'll go
back to our scripture. It says here in verse six, as
ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him. How did we receive him? The Bible says, but of Christ
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has given us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. The Bible says that the Lord
said that my people will be willing in a day of my power. but we
receive him as a fountain of life, as grace, the resurrection
of life, and the hope of glory. We have complete sufficiency
in Christ Jesus, regardless of what the world may say. The words,
walk here, it speaks of one's journey. We're talking about
life's journey. The Christian life is a journey.
We know that life is a journey, and we should walk in a way that
The Bible says, sanctify the Lord God in your heart and always
be ready to give an answer to any man that asks you of the
reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Every
one of us in here, we have loved ones, fathers, mothers, sisters,
brothers, daughters, uncles, aunts, but has never heard the
gospel. We need to ask God every day.
We need to ask him every day, Lord, if you will, open up the
door for someone to ask me. about why I believe what I believe
so that we can tell them the gospel of Jesus Christ and invite
them to church to where they can get under a man of God, like
Gabe, to where he teaches the glory of God. Every time he gets
up here, he teaches the truth. It says our foundation, our spiritual
growth, and our maturity is a gift from God in Christ Jesus. And
we are to ask the Lord, as I said, to continue to cause us to grow
in faith and to grow in knowledge of the truth as being revealed
to us in Christ. Abound in there and with thanksgiving. What do we have to be thankful
for? You know, whenever we really think about it, I think about
what does it mean to have eternal life? Can you imagine? God has
given us eternal life. We didn't ask for it, and we
don't deserve it, but he chose a people before the foundation
of the world. Why did he choose me? According
to his own purpose and his pleasure. That's why he did it. I did nothing. I never will do nothing. I never
will say anything that deserves any of this. I don't deserve
it, but he chose by his love. By his love, he chose to do it.
It says here, it says here, First Thessalonians 5, 18, it says
in everything, give thanks for this is a will of Jesus Christ
concerning you. And I love this verse here in
verse 13, 15. Think about it. It says, by him, therefore, let
us offer up the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That
is a fruit of our lips, give him thanks unto his name. That's
not just on Sunday or Wednesday, but it's every day of our lives,
because every day is a present from God. In verse eight here,
Paul warns again, back at the scripture, he says, beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy. That's man's wisdom, which should
never be mixed with the word of God. Vain to see in the tradition
of men and the illuminance of the world, and not after Christ. He warns them again, and a place
I want you to look at is 2 John, verses seven, eight, and nine. 2 John, verse two, eight, and
nine. It's only, 2 John has only one
chapter. Verses 7, 8, and 9, listen to
this. For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Jesus Christ has not come in
the flesh. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things
which we have been wrought, but we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. The doctrine of Christ is the
record that God has given us of his son. The Bible says over
in the book of John, Jesus, God himself, he said, he that hath
the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath
not life. He said, these things have I written unto you that
you may know that you have eternal life if you believe on the name
of the son of God. He goes on to say in another
place, if you don't believe on the name of the son of God, the
wrath of God abideth on you. And a lot of people, what a lot
of people don't understand is when he says the wrath of God
abide upon you, he's not talking about the life after this life.
He's talking about right here and now. But anyway, and then
in verse 9 he says, for in him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead body. I don't know if there's any place
else in the Word of God that truly describes the deity. and
the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says in him dwells
all of fullness as a Godhead body. And I thank him for that.
I know Solomon in 2 Chronicles 2, 5 and 6, he built a tabernacle
or a house for God, and he said this right here, and the house
which I built is great for great is our God above all gods. But listen to this, but who is
able to build him a house, seeing that the heaven and the heaven
of heavens cannot contain him? There's no way that we can even
begin to enter in to the fullness of the attributes of God. And some of the attributes is
His knowledge, His love, His supremacy, His sovereignty, His
immobility, His holiness, His fire, His fullness. His goodness,
His patience, His love, His degrees. Let's look at what we have to
offer Him. If you have your Bible, let's
look at Mark 7, verse 21. This is what we have to offer
to Him. And it's the Word of God that
saves us. Mark 7. Verse 21 and 22 and 23. The Bible says, for all have
sinned against the Word of God. It says there is none good. The
Bible says the heart is wicked above all things who can know
it. Look at verse 21. For from within, out of the heart
of man proceedeth evil thoughts, adulteries, fortifications, and
murders. Thieves, covenants, wickedness,
deceit, deceiveness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. And these evil things come from
within and they defile the man. So we have nothing to boast about. Everything that we have when
it comes to our salvation, it's all of God and it's a gift. He
give it to us. It is a gift. And then In verse
10 right here, it says, and you are complete in Him, which is
the head of all power and principality. There was a gospel preacher that
summed this up when it says that we are complete in Him. Let's
just take a minute and just think about this. This is what Christ
has given us. Christ's perfect obedience is
our righteousness. His sacrifice for sin is our
atonement. His word is our instruction.
His wisdom is our direction. His power is our protection.
His blood sacrifice is our justification. His grace is our salvation. His
eternal love is our security. His everlasting mercy is our
hope. His fullness is our completeness.
His immobility is our strength. His resurrection is a guarantee
of our final glory. His intercession is the assurance
of all of our deliverance from sin. all of Christ, every bit
of it. Being found in Christ, as Paul
said, he said, I have this hope, you know, that I may attain Christ,
or I may win Christ and be found in Him. But being found in Christ,
having eternal union with Him, We have all things and all spiritual
blessings in Christ. And then right here, he says
that he is ahead of all principality and power. The Bible says over in Galatians
1, it says, for by him were all things created that are in heaven
and earth, visible and invisible. Think about it, all things, visible
and invisible, everything that are in heaven and earth is created
by him, wherever they be, thrones or dominions, principalities
or powers, All things were created by him and for him, and he is
before all things. And it is by him that all things
consist, and listen to this, and that he is the head of the
body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-emptance.
We serve a mighty, mighty God. We don't serve the God that this
world teaches about. We serve the God that the Holy
Scriptures teach about. And I thank Him for that. And
I'd just like to leave you with one verse. You know, there's
so many things in this word that the body that we live in, the
flesh that we live in, we don't even have an idea of what God's
got in store for us. But I love this verse right here.
The Bible says, I have not seen nor hear neither the inner end
of the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them
that love Him. We ain't got a clue. We serve
a mighty God. And I thank God for the blood
of Jesus Christ. Amen. You're dismissed.