I'd like to ask you to turn in
your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Colossians. What a glorious thing it is for
a child of God to walk through this world and
trust in our Lord and Savior. In the world that we are in this
day, Many have felt their hopes and aspirations of what direction
this country should be on fall away in the last few days. But there's another side to that
coin also, for many have felt that very way for these last
four years, as it is so obvious in the way the elections have
gone. I don't understand all of it. I have my ways of thoughts
and I'll not share those from this pulpit, but I know there's
two sides to the coin. Our Lord, and He sure loves His people, not only enough to give His life
for us, but to remind us throughout our walk in this life, where
it is we should be looking to. Where it is we should be looking
for peace, comfort, and hope. In the book of Psalms, the 118th
Psalm, we read this, it is better to trust in the Lord than to
put confidence in man. Now that's not talking about
a man. That's talking about man in general,
mankind. Folks, we all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Every single human who has walked
this earth other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is nothing
but sin. Why? Why do we put our confidence
in man? In verse 9 of that very same
chapter it says this, it is better to trust in the Lord than to
put confidence in princes, rulers. In the 25th Proverbs, our Lord
puts it this way, He says, Confidence in an unfaithful man in time
of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. Our Lord goes even further than
that. In the book of Micah, He says this in 7 verse 5, He says,
Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide. Can you get any more plainer
than this from God's Word? How about this then? Philippians
3, 3, For we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We who belong to the Almighty,
we who have been called from the darkness that we once walked
in, We who have been shown our true nature, the spiritual deadness
that we once lived in, we see that there can be no confidence
in any man, in any flesh, or any woman. For they are all flesh,
all have gone astray after their own way, after what seems right
in their own eyes. Our Lord looked down on this
earth at a time when that very same thing had happened, and
he said to Noah, build an ark. Put together a wood box and seal
it up so it'll float, for I'm going to make it rain. Noah laughed. Everybody else laughed, too.
Rain? What's that? The Lord made it rain, all right. So much that the water filled
the entire earth. Everyone was doing it their way. That's the nature of our hearts. That was our nature at one time. Do not forget the pit that God
has dug us out of, that he has reached down and grabbed us out
of and pulled us up. It was our very nature, and a
true child of God knows it in our very hearts that we were
that way. We had no faith, we had no belief,
we walked according to our way. To see life in Christ Jesus,
one must see his depravity. We must see our own state before
a thrice holy God. We must see to know that you
are saved is to know what you are saved from, and to know how,
and to know why. Grace. Grace and grace. Unmerited favor. We can't earn
it. We can't buy it. We can't do
anything to get it. It has to be given to us as a
gift of love and that's exactly what God does. He comes in the
day of love and gives it irresistibly. Oh, how it is to be irresistibly
given grace. We must see the truth of His
grace in becoming flesh. We must see Him for who He is.
We must see His grace in walking perfectly, satisfying every dot
of the law, establishing true righteousness. We must see His
grace in being one who knew no sin, and then having all of our
sins, all of the sins of His chosen people, laid upon Him
as though they were His own. We must see His grace as He went
willingly and laid down His life for His people. As He allowed
wicked hands to crucify Him, yes, but it was by God's determinate
counsel. It was by His purpose. And it
had been His purpose from the foundation of all creation. That's
why He told His disciples, I have come and I shall have to go to
Jerusalem and be killed. We must see His grace in rising
from the grave of death and being seated at the right hand of God,
leaving the sins of His sheep in the grave, never to be seen
again. The price was paid. Atonement was made for you and
I. We have a substitute, One who
took our sins upon Him, and went into the grave and reconciled
us. Reconciliation was accomplished.
The Lord of all glory does not do things half way. His will is accomplished. He
says in Isaiah 46.8, remember this and show yourselves men,
bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors, remember the former
things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God
and there is none like me. Declare the end from the beginning
and from the ancient times and the things that are not yet done,
saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Calling from a ravenous bird
from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it. I will bring it to pass. I have
purposed it. I will also do it. Hearken unto
me, ye stout-hearted. that are far from righteousness,
I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and
my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory." Salvation is of the Lord. The Apostle Paul is addressing
the saints at Colossae, the church that called out the people of
the true and living God, who have shown their faith by their
love for the Lord and their love for the brethren. We read this
in the first eight verses of chapter 1. And because of their love in
the Spirit, Paul goes on to encourage them, referring to his prayers
for them in verse 9, and then giving the reason that they should
be encouraged in verses 10 through 22. But I would like to start
this morning's message at verse 23, if you would please. If ye continue in the faith,
this is Colossians chapter 1 verse 23, if ye continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, wherefore I, Paul, am
a minister." I think by the introduction to
this message, you've gotten the picture, haven't you? Where is our hope? Have we put so much hope in the
flesh that runs this country? Have we forgotten where our hope
should be? I have. No secret. I've told you. I've
told you how angry it makes me to watch news for quite some
time. We've talked about what it would
be like for The people of God in the days of Egypt. Have you
thought about how those folks looked at it? You know, there
was a time when Israel were good friends with Egypt, and Egypt
loved Israel. And then there came a day when
things changed, and the government began to change on them, and
things started to go bad. And the next thing you know,
Israel was a slave to the government. God's people were there then.
We know that not all of Israel is Israel, but God had his remnant
in those days, just as he has his remnant in today's day. Imagine
what it was like for one who knew the Lord God Almighty for
who he is, and knew the grace of salvation, as you and I know,
to watch their country crumble. It had to be hard. Yet there came a day when the
Lord delivered them 400 years later, wasn't it? With a mighty
hand of power. And they saw the power of God. And my point in all that is,
is no matter how bad we think it might be in that place called
Washington, or in the place in Sacramento, or wherever our leaders
might be, it is all for our good. I'm preaching to me. to, one who forgets that my Lord
rules it all, and that He tells me all things are for my good.
Is there anyone here like that today? Can you relate to what
I'm saying about myself? Where is our hope? Where does our hope truly lie?
Where is our confidence? Where is our peace? Paul goes on to tell the Colossians
and inspire them. And I hope that we can read these
next few verses, and I'll try to get through them quickly,
and that God will inspire you and I to go back out into the
world And remember that all that stuff going on around us doesn't
mean a thing. It's just a flower and it's about
to wither. In verses 9 through 11, Paul
writes, for this cause we also since the day we have heard it
do not cease to pray for you. You see their pastor, the papyrus,
had declared unto Paul the love of the Colossians that they had
for Christ. Do you know that's what we do? I called all four of the pastors
that were going to be here in three weeks to preach, talked
to them a little bit, asked them for articles if they wanted.
Oh, how we have heard of the love of Christ in those in New
Jersey. in those who are in the Dalles,
in those who are over in Marysville, in those who are down in San
Diego. Oh, how we pray for them. Those
that are in Alaska who don't have a pastor. Wasilla of Alaska. We know there's a group up there
still praying for a pastor. And our prayers are that the
Lord might lead someone there. Oh, how we've heard about those
who love the Lord. Paul sent his prayers and his
heart's desire and a prayer of thanksgiving and a prayer for
their further growth in grace, wisdom, and understanding. And
here's why. Paul knew just as well as you
and I know. How did he know? Because he was
a sinner just like you and I are. He knows that even as believers,
even as believers, our grace, our graces at their very best
are still subject to decay. In the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians
we read it this way, for we know in part and we prophesy in part. In Revelation chapter 2 verse
4, writing to the church at Ephesus, our Lord says this, Nevertheless
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first
love. In 2 Corinthians, Paul declares
a thorn that God had given him that he should not be exalted
above and beyond the blessings that he had received. The revelations
that God had given him. Therefore, Paul prays for them. He prays that they may be filled
with the knowledge of our Lord's will. This is the revealed will of
God to be learned from His Word and in His Son. His will of redemption,
His will of purpose, His will of conduct, attitude, and His
will of eternal glory. He prayed not only that they
should know and have the knowledge of these things, but to be filled
inwardly with the knowledge of His wisdom and spiritual understanding. Oh, that we may be delivered
from the dead letter of the law and the dry tradition of religious
orthodoxy. That we may have wisdom and spiritual
understanding of our sins, our need and our inability to fulfill
those needs. That we may have an understanding
of God's manifold mercies in Christ. how He can be just and
justifier in one man of the riches of His grace and His kindness
towards us in His Son, the Lord Jesus. May ours be not a profession
of religion as we see in the world around us, but a true profession
and a true possession of our Lord and Savior. Secondly, He
prayed that they might walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing. This means this is our godly
conduct, our behavior before the world, not only in the church,
but in our homes, in our jobs, out on the street, the place
we live and talk. May our speech glorify our Lord. Let us be fruitful in every good
work. As believers, we are trees of
righteousness planted by the Lord to bear fruit in the spirit
of good works in the kingdom of Christ, as it says in Ephesians
2.10. Paul also includes increasing
in the knowledge of God. Ignorance in believers dishonors
our Lord. Both fruitfulness and growth
in knowledge of our Lord is necessary to walk worthily of our Lord.
Thirdly, he says, strengthened with all might according to His
glorious power. Folks, we are expected to walk
worthy of the Lord, to be fruitful, and grow in grace. Grow in grace
in the knowledge in not our strength and power, but His. That's what
it says in 2 Corinthians 12, 9. This power and grace will
enable us to bear afflictions and trials, like the trials we
face today, with patience, perseverance, and real joy. Let me give you
an example of that. Our dear brother Gene Harmon,
as you well know, and I've shared this with you many times, can
hardly walk. Pastor David Edmondson asked
him to come up and read scriptures. Oh, I'm telling you how Pastor
Gene wants to be a part of a ministry. But his body just won't let him.
And as he got up and came to the pulpit to read Scriptures
that day, he had to hold on to every pew. And then he had to
grab ahold with both hands to come up the stairs. And he said,
everybody saw it, John. He goes, I want to be a part
of it, but my body just won't let me anymore. It's by our Lord's power and
grace that will subdue all of our afflictions. It's by His hand, it's by His
heart, and it's by His tongue. In verse 12, Paul is continually
giving thanks to God, and here he gives thanks that God, by
His grace in Christ, has qualified us. Read verse 12 with me if
you would. Give thanks unto the Father which
hath made us meet. It is God the Father who has
made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. Paul declares that it is God Himself who has qualified
us and has made us fit to be partakers of heaven, to be partakers
of the bright and glorious inheritance of the saints, and every man
in his natural state is unfit for that. Yet God, in His presence,
however, He has given us in Christ all that we need. This is the gospel that Paul
is encouraging the Colossians to put their hope in. The very
gospel that he's spoken of here, the hope in the gospel, it's
not in man's flesh, it's in our Lord and Savior. In verses 13
and 14, Paul goes on to explain how God makes us qualified. How
He made us qualified. How He made us fit for heaven.
By drawing out that corrupt state in which we were born and translating
us into the state of grace. It's called the kingdom of His
dear Son. This He does in effectual regeneration
and He does it by His Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord. He redeems us from sin, the law,
His justice, and wrath by the blood of His Son. And there is
no way of redemption that can be accepted that does not totally
ransom the sinner and fully honor God's law completely and justify
His justice other than through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Then in verse 15, the Apostle Paul, having spoken about our
redemption, he takes up a description of our Redeemer. He says, He
is the image of the invisible God. Our Father, God Almighty, has
said, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him, in Him
I am well pleased. And we all know the Lord has
said in many scriptures where I and my Father are one. In scriptures
it says how He thought it not robbery, He thought it not robbery to
be equal with His Father. Paul goes on to describe Him
as the firstborn of every creature. Now this does not mean that He
was the first of creation. Many have taken it and made it
such, but that is not so. It does not mean that He is the
first creature made, for in the text verse it is said that all
things were created by Him. But Paul is saying that He is
King. First. He's the one who comes first.
He's the one who has preeminence. As we read in Bible study, you
will bow your knee to God. You will either do it now as
your substitute, or you will do it later in judgment. But
you will bow the knee to God. He says he is the head of the
body of the church. And by the body of the church,
it's meant this, the whole election of grace. Every believer of all
generations, he is our representative, our head from all eternity and
in all times. He is the political head, and
he reigns. The government is on his shoulder.
He is the economical head of all of His people, in that He
provides everything we need. Folks, without the vital union
with Christ, we would be as dead as a body without a head. He
declares Christ is the beginning. In other words, He is the root,
or the foundation, the cause of all things. We are chosen
in Him, from Him all spiritual life flows, and as Eve was from
Adam, so the church is from Christ. He is a body of His preparing. Paul also describes Him to be
the firstborn from the dead. He was the first who rose from
the dead by His own power to immortality and life. He is the
pledge of resurrection for each of us. He says in John 14, 19,
because I live, ye shall live also. Isn't that good news? This is the gospel we're talking
about. This is the gospel our hope is in, right here. Paul goes on to say that in all
things we might have that He, our Lord and Savior, might have
preeminence. that He might have the first place in our affections,
the first place in our thoughts. How quick can a man turn to God
when he's in a foxhole? Things are going good. It's pretty
easy for us to go about our way, isn't it? Things start turning sour. Oh,
how quickly our Lord comes to thoughts that our Lord might
have the preeminence in our desires to be like Him And that our Lord
might have the preeminence in our praise, in our lips. Praise be to God for what He
has given me. He is our first. He is the first in sonship. He is the first in election.
He is the first in the covenant. He is the first in redemption.
He is the first in life. He is the first in death and
the first in resurrection. He conquered death, hell, and
the grave. And He ought to have preeminence
in our hearts. 19 through 20, Paul goes on to say,
it is true that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ,
for He is God. God dwells in the body of Christ
as He dwelt in the tabernacle. This fullness, however, is the
fullness of complete redemption, which He is able to give to believers. He is the fullness of wisdom,
holiness, and righteousness. He is the fullness of grace,
peace, and joy. He is the fullness of life eternal
and glory. We are complete in Him. And all
of the elect, whether already in heaven or on the earth, are
by His blood reconciled and brought to peace with God, as we read
in Romans 5, 1 through 10. And then in verses 21 through
22, what Paul has said about reconciliation in general, and
in the preceding verse, he applies to these very Colossians in particular. Now look here, folks. When God
speaks through his word, Paul might have been talking directly
to the Colossians, but God is speaking to you and I. Listen to what he says, 21 and
22, and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your own mind by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled. in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight." We need to embrace these verses personally. You
and I were strangers and enemies in our own minds. We know the pit the Lord pulled
us out of. We know that we were workers
of iniquity, however, in the body of His flesh, by His perfect
obedience and the merits of His blood, He has so reconciled you
and I to the Father. We are and will be presented
before God in that day free from all sin, perfect in holiness
and without one charge against us. He is reconciled, it is finished,
the work is done. Now again, let's read verse 23. If ye continue in the faith,
grounded, that means firm. That doesn't mean on a fence, wishy-washy. That means firm. Where is your faith this morning?
Is it firm in the one who deserves your faith? The one who has earned
our faith? If you continue in the faith
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, all of the
preceding provisions that we just read about and promises
are ours, but only if we persevere and continue in the faith. Nothing
but judgments awaits those who depart from Christ. Look at Hebrews
chapter 10. Turn to the right to Hebrews,
the 10th chapter. Look at verses 38 and 39 if you
would. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him." Now listen to these next words. But we are not of them
who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of our soul. Now a couple more verses I want
to look at again in Hebrews. Go to chapter 3. Chapter 3 of
Hebrews. Look at verse 6. But Christ as a Son over His
own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast, if we hold and
stand on our boldness, if we hold fast the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end, One more time here,
over in verse 14, for we are made partakers, partners of Christ,
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the
end. Now if you would turn over to
2 Timothy, back to the left there, 2 Timothy, just a couple of pages.
Go past Titus, Philemon, 2 Timothy, chapter
4, and look with me at verses 6-8. Paul, writing at the end of his
time, he says, 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." Folks, God keeps us through faith. That's exactly
what that's saying to us. Our faith. Our belief. We believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ according to Scriptures. Don't let anybody take that away. Don't let anybody lead you away
from that. These folks are talking about
how God is punishing the country. When God begins to punish at
the end of time, there'll be no question about it. When God punished his people,
he punished his son on the cross. He punished him instead of you
and I. Everything else that's going
on in the world around us is just stuff. It's a flower. It's
going to raise up. It's going to be great for a
little while. It's going to be really pretty. You might want to stick your
nose in and smell it. But eventually that flower will wither. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5, we
read this, "...who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." One more verse,
Jeremiah 32, 40, And I will make an everlasting covenant with
them, saith the Lord, that I will not turn away from them to do
them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they
shall not depart from me. Did you hear that? Did you hear
God's word? I will put my fear in their hearts. Have you ever wondered how God
would do that? Very simply, we see the power
of God in exactly what's going on around us. It's not a fear
of what's going to come to us, it's a fear of His power. It's
a reverential fear of His power and how He works all things out. Our Lord says, whosoever believeth
in Me. Where is your faith this morning?
Is your hope in the Gospel that God has given us in His Word?
I'd like to read an article in today's bulletin in closing if
you would like to read along with me. It's on the inside page
written at the bottom there by Pastor Henry Mahan. Pastor Henry
has gone on to be with the Lord. He was one of the men God used
to lay the foundation here at Rescue for our conferences. And
he writes this article, he says, lay the foundation of your hope
in Jesus Christ. Begin with Christ. and end with
Christ. As Christ Jesus becomes more
to you, self will grow less and less. If your faith puffs up,
it is not the faith of Christ. God will help us when we are
weak. He will bless us as long as we
confess our dependence upon His blessing. He will fill us when
we are empty. He will feed us when we are hungry.
He will be our all when we are nothing. He will forgive us when
we are guilty. But the moment we begin to boast
in ourselves and feel sufficient, we will be left to learn. in
no uncertain terms that we are naked, poor, blind, and miserable. Terrible will be the day when
proud rebels discover too late that the dust and ashes of human
merit. Think about those ones who belong
to God in Israel as Israel became slaves to the government. Where's your hope to stay, folks?
Is it in those that rule this country or is it in God Almighty?
I pray that he'll give you that hope of his gospel and that he'll
continue to remind you of where that hope lays in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Amen.