Galatians chapter 2, just a moment. Alright, let's read the first three verses.
Well, let's begin in chapter 1 verse 28. Paul said, we preach
Christ and we preach warning every man and teaching every
man in all wisdom that we may, he said, this is our Does heart's
desire present every man perfect in Christ, that we may be found
in Him? Wherefore, whereunto, that is
the preaching of the gospel of Christ, I labor, striving according
to His working, God's work, which worketh in me mightily. For I
would, I want you to know what great conflict I have for you. and for them at Laodicea, and
as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts
might be comforted, be 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, the subject, the mystery
of God, and the treasures that are in Christ. The truth is a
mystery until God makes it, or him, known. Christ, he said,
I am the truth. And Christ said, no man knoweth
the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, but
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal it. So the truth
which is Christ, is a mystery until He reveals Himself to you,
or Paul said, in man, in man. God's Word is His truth, and
God's Word is a closed book until He opens our understanding of
it. The wisest, seemingly wisest,
smartest man or woman on earth cannot find out God. cannot know God, cannot know
the truth, unless God reveals Himself to us. In Proverbs 8,
I love this verse, and you don't have to turn. Well, you can.
Proverbs 8, we're going to turn there in a little bit. But I
quote this often. Proverbs 8, it says in verse
9, speaking of His words, they're all plain. The truth is very
plain to Him that understandeth, and write to them that find knowledge,
knowledge, understanding. It's all plain, him that understandeth. Well, John wrote this, we know
that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding. that we might know Him that is
truth, or who is the truth, the true God in eternal life. He
has come, and He comes through the preaching of the gospel,
what I'm doing right now. He comes, the Spirit of God takes
the things of Christ and opens your understanding to where you
understand Him, whom to know is to have life. Okay? And when he does, when he makes
himself known to you, the truth known as it is in Christ, when
your eye becomes single, the whole body is full of light. Christ is the light. The whole
body. They asked Spurgeon one time,
I think it was, what body of divinity he held to. He said, the Bible. It's the
body of divinity, and Christ dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. All the fullness of God is in
Him. So, when your eyes sing Him, when you finally see, you
know, Christ is all in it. And the whole body is full of
light. The whole book is open. The mystery
is revealed. It's a hidden... And then he speaks of a treasure,
all the treasures in Christ are hid, hidden to the natural man,
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all the treasures. The treasure is always hidden. Always hidden until you have
to search for it. If it's a valuable enough treasure,
it's deeply hidden. Like gold is mine, silver. And a pearl, a pearl is in the
depth of the ocean, isn't it? And sealed up in a clam. So treasure is hidden until it's
brought forth. Scripture speaks of treasures
such as gold, silver, and precious stones. Right? These three things. These three are what? They're all about Christ then. All the gold, silver, and the
precious stones in Scripture speak of Christ. Our Lord told
the parable of a man seeking goodly pearls, plural, looking
for pearls, pearls, pearls, pearls. But he said when he found one
pearl, quit looking for other pearls. And Christ is that pearl
of great pride. But he's hidden to most. He's
hidden. Now Paul was in prison, writing
to the church at Colossae and to us. He was very concerned
for them. He was away from them, not knowing
if he's going to see them again. He's in prison. Not long afterward,
he realized that his life was over. He was about to be beheaded.
He was greatly concerned for their spiritual welfare, not
their physical welfare. No, no. He wasn't even concerned
about his own physical welfare. He wasn't. In fact, he said,
for me to live is Christ, but to die? He said, I'm ready to
depart. He was concerned about their
spiritual welfare. Now look at verse 1. He said,
I would you knew, I wish you knew, I want you to know what
great conflict I have. Inward struggles, a constant
inward struggle I have for you. And that's the mind, the heart
of a true preacher of the gospel.
He's concerned about people's souls. That's what he's concerned
about. The pasture, the sheep, the welfare, the spiritual welfare
of sheep. That's what the office is. And
look down in verse 8, he was concerned that they might be
Verse 4, I'm sorry. He was concerned that someone
might beguile them. Verse 4, lest any man should
beguile you with enticing word. There it is again, Brother John. Paul said to the Corinthians,
he said, I didn't use enticing word. That's what John just came
up and said. That's what Satan did to Adam
and Eve, and Eve, a woman. In the Garden of Eden, enticing
words. Flattery. Daniel speaks much
of the evil one, flattering. Flatteries. Flatteries. That's
how he's going to, in the Revelation, flatteries. Enticing words. He said to the Corinthians in
another place, he said, I fear as Satan beguiled Eve, so you
should beguiled from the simplicity that's in crying. That Christ
is all. And verse 8, he said, beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after
the tradition of men, rudiments, things of this world. And down
in verse 18, the same thing, let no man beguile you. So he
was concerned about them being beguiled. And you know, Many
of you listen to a lot of preaching on Sermon Audio. It ain't all
good. In fact, most of those fellows on Sermon Audio reformed. Now, it's got doctrine, but it's
not the truth as we know it. It's just not. And it concerns
me. You can listen to too many voices,
you know that. I do have this comfort in that
Christ said a stranger's voice they won't hear. They're not
going to follow a stranger. They might, but they can be beguiled
a little bit for a little while, right? I remember being impressed
with men that I thought were sound, and they ended up not
being sound. But the Lord didn't leave me there. It took me a
long time to realize, boy, I've got a pastor. That's the man
the Lord put me under to hear and learn from. But verse 1,
Paul said, I would you knew what great inward struggle I have. And the margin says fear. Fear. He said to the Galatians, chapter
4 of Galatians, he said, I'm afraid. I'm afraid for you. Lest I've bestowed labor in vain,
I'm afraid. You know, it's a fearful thing to depart
from the living God. And in Corinthians, he said,
let every man take heed lest he that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall. So, Paul was very concerned about
them. You know, most people are up
and down. In and out. Hot and cold. Strong in the faith. Weak in
the faith. Here and gone. It's sad, isn't it? It's fearful. We might call them
mood swings. What causes our mood swings? Self. Sin. The world. That God's Word will
ground us, and settle us, and establish us, and give us peace,
and rest, and still our souls. So we're not up and down, in
and out, hot and cold, strong and weak. Well, and these changes are cause
for great concern. It grieves the Holy Spirit. Unbelief,
fears, doubts, in, out, up, down, up, grieves the Spirit of God. And that grieves the preacher,
the pastor. David one time in Psalm 12, he
said this, and you ought to read Spurgeon on that. David said,
Help, Lord, the godly man ceaseth, and the faithful, the constant,
the diligent, fail from among the sons of men, the faithful
fail. So this is why he wrote back
in chapter 1, I want to present you perfect, a man, a woman in
Christ. I want to present you perfect,
men and women of sound minds and faith and grounded, unmoved. Paul one time who was a faithful,
solid man. You know, things that don't,
Scripture says, meddle not with them that are given to change.
And Paul never changed. He never changed his message,
never changed his methods, never changed his manners. God doesn't
change. Truth doesn't change. So we shouldn't
change. Paul didn't change. He was always
solid and grounded and settled and you could follow him. Would we were more like Caleb? Caleb, the Lord said in Numbers,
Caleb had another spirit. meaning, the Spirit of God. And
it said, God said this of Caleb, He has followed me fully. He never quit following His Lord. He never quit trusting Him. And you know what it said of
Caleb when, you know, remember the spies went into the land
and, oh, it's going to eat us up. Look, there's all kind of
dangers and all that. Only two men out of 12, Caleb
and Joshua. It says Caleb stilled the people. He stilled the people. Everybody,
oh, let's run. No, no, no, no. Be still. What did He say to still the
people? Be still and know that our God is God. Trust Him. Believe Him. Just
sit still. The battle is not yours. Well, here's help. Go over to
chapter 3 with me. Chapter 3 of Colossians. Isn't
this a wonderful book? Colossians. Here's help. It will
still our souls. Look at verse 12. I didn't know
where to start or stop here. It's so good. Put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness,
humility, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing
one another, forgiving one another. Any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. If we don't forgive,
we won't be forgiven. And we won't have any peace. Our minds and hearts won't be
still if we hold a grudge against anybody. If anybody ought to
hold a grudge, it's God. But He doesn't. Why? Because
He forgave us, for Christ's sake. And we have never done anything
close to one another that we've done to our Lord. Daily. Daily. Still. We're just like
the children of Israel, aren't we? And he just frankly forgives
us. And he knows our frame. He forgets. He doesn't only forgive,
he forgets. Well, if we don't, there's going
to be a root of bitterness springing up. It'll trouble us. And it
says, and many will be defiled. Everybody will be defiled by
it. It shows. And it grieves the Spirit of
God. It grieves other people. It causes turmoil and strife
and division. Reconciliation, peace, long suffering. Verse
14, above all these things put on charity, love. That's the
bond of maturity. Verse 15, let the peace of God
rule in your heart. What's that peace of God? That
God is God. And that we have peace with God
through the blood of Christ. God's not angry with us. He's
not mad at us. He loves that, his people in
Christ. Read on. To which you're called
in one body. Peace, you're called to be at
peace in the body. Be thankful. That'll end, that'll
stop a lot of our ups and downs. Thankful. In everything give
thanks. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. In everything. Give that. Verse 16, here's help. Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another. So, go back to chapter 2. So
he said, how would you know what great conflict I have of concern
and care and fear and worry. Just in our language, worry about
you. That's what love does. Here you're leaving, that's what
he said. Verse 2, he said, I want you to know, I want your heart
to be comforted. This is my desire. This is the one thing I care
about, is your hearts might be comforted. Now where is comfort
found? How is our heart comforted? Go
with me to 2 Corinthians 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Where do we find comfort? You're not going to find it in
anyone or anything or anywhere but in our God. A dear sister
told her pastor that She was not going to come to the worship
service because she felt uncomfortable in a crowd. Well, you know, the church is
not just a crowd. Walmart is a crowd. The church
is God's house, God's family. Do you feel more comfortable
at home? Frankly, I feel more comfort
in God's home with God's people. More safety. Because this is
where God has promised to be. Look at 2 Corinthians 1 verse
2. Grace. Every epistle starts this
way. Grace to you. Peace. What grace? Any grace. All grace. Every grace.
Living grace. Dying grace. Restraining grace.
Grace. All grace. God of all grace. Where are you
going to get this grace? One place. Him. Peace from God,
our Father, from the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, blessed be God, even
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies,
a God of all comfort. There's no comfort anywhere but
in Him. Verse 4, "...who comforteth us
in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God." Now, where does comfort come from? It's
four or five times. Comfort, comfort, comfort. In
verse 5, he says, the sufferings of Christ abound in us, yes,
but the consolation aboundeth by Christ. Whether we be afflicted
is for your consolation and salvation, and you see, the effectual and
enduring of the same suffering which we all also suffer, or
whether we be comforted is for your consolation and salvation. Verse 7, Our hope of you is steadfast,
knowing as you are partakers of the suffering, so shall you
be also of the consolation, the comfort. Remember this, down
in verse 9, Paul said we had the sentence of death in ourselves.
We were ready to die. Ready to die. You're going to. You don't want to hear about this
at home. We're going to get together and
we're going to talk about dying. Oh, that's morbid. No, no, no. It's
better than birth. Today is my sister's birthday,
January 10th. Mom was, I went over there, well,
she wouldn't answer the phone. I thought, hmm, wouldn't that
be something? She didn't answer the phone.
I thought, hmm. My sister's birthday will be her birthday. It's going to happen to all of
us one day. We're going to call and nobody's
going to answer. Why? Because he called. That's
what Job said. I'm going to wait. He's going
to call me. Out of the darkness into light,
out of this world. It's a great day. My sister was
42. That's 26 years ago. to be 68 years old. Unbelievable. My last memory of her, she was
a very young woman. Well, she's young now. I asked,
who was it? I think it was Ron, 72 years
old. I said, would you go back to
being 32 if you could? No way. He said, no way. Now that's a man that knows what
real life is all about. Eternal life. With that kind of thing, sometimes
we'd like to do it all over again. It wouldn't be any better. We'd do the same things all over.
We'd make the same mistakes, same sin, everything. It was all according to God's
purpose. Look at verse 9. He said, we have the sentence
of death. We don't trust in ourselves. We don't trust in anybody. Trust
in God, who what? Raiseth the dead. We're looking
for a resurrection. And it ain't a time or a place,
it's a person. He says in verse 10, who delivered us from so
great a death. Delivered us from being dead
in trespassing sin. Delivered us from eternal death.
He has delivered us. Delivered past tense. and doth
deliver. What delivers? What you're hearing
right now delivers us. If God will give us hearing ear,
the heart to receive, will dig our ear, stop our ears from hearing
all that, and if we can just listen and hone in and look to
our Lord, we'll be at rest. So much so you don't want to
leave here. with God's people. The things
of God, cry it, looking forward. And he said, we trust He will
yet deliver us. He will yet. I go back to the
text. So he said, I want you to know how much I want
your hearts to be comforted. Comfort, comfort, comfort ye
my people. I was going to turn to Isaiah.
Listen to Paul. He said, the God of all comfort. And then the prophet Isaiah said,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Our Lord said this, listen to
our Lord who is comfort. He said, in the world you shall
have tribulation. And I just know he smiled when
he said this. But be of good cheer. I have overcome this world. I own this place. I run this
place. I reign over this world. I control
everything, everyone in it. Now look at that. He said, I want your hearts to
be comforted in love, knit together in love. As we read, that's the
bond of Christian perfection, if you will. Knit together in
love under all riches. unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding." The riches of the full assurance of understanding. Brethren, if we fully understood,
if we just knew, and really believed and understood that our Lord
really does reign. He really does reign and rule
and orders all things and directs all things and worketh all things.
If we really did understand this with full understanding that
it's all good, it's all for our good. We have such peace. If only my granddaughters knew
how much I love them. They'd ask me anything, and I'd
give it. I'm glad they don't know, because
I'd mortgage my house, if necessary, if they needed it. I would give
up every penny we owned, if they needed it, right now. How much
more, your heavenly father, if we only understood to give us
assurance. Perfect assurance. Full assurance.
Can you have full assurance? Assurance means, assurance is
the opposite of fear, of doubt. It's faith. It's trust. It's I'm sure. Are you sure? I'm sure. What are you sure about? There's nothing in this world
sure. They say the only things that
are sure are death and taxes. Well, not taxes. Death is. But Christ, one of His offices
is the surety. That's His name, the surety.
The surety of an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure. That's who Christ is. He's the
second Adam, the surety of the everlasting covenant, sent by
God to do this work for His people that He chose. You. And Christ,
did He do it? Did He do it? Yes, He did. Are
you sure? Here's assurance. Are you sure,
God? I'm sure. Ask Paul. Paul, you're about to be beheaded.
How can you be happy? Because I know whom I have believed. Mm-hmm. I know who I believe.
Belief in doctrine is not going to give you peace. Belief in
a person will. And God in whose hands our breath. David said, my times are in thy
hands. Used to be an old song, wasn't
it, mother? My times are in thy hand. My God, I wish them there. That's where I want them. Well,
that's, brothers and sisters, that's where they are. Whether
you believe it or not, that's where they are, okay? And if
you believe it, you can have full assurance. Full assurance. But it's so much so that nothing
and no one will bother you. That was our Lord, wasn't it?
He lived by faith. How could he be asleep in that ship when
it's tossed and turned, it's filled with... it's full of water.
The ship is full of water and he's sound asleep. How? Full of sure. The father said it. That he's going to finish his work.
Nothing and no one can stop him. That's assurance. It's in a person.
The riches. To be rich in assurance. That's
rich. That's rich. This world is full
of people who are rich in things, but full of fear. that they give everything to
not have this fear. Well, if you have full assurance,
you don't have to have any fear. You can have nothing of this
world and we have perfect peace. That was our Lord. You know,
the world is rich in things but full of fear. What do they fear?
Fear of losing things. But Paul said, here's full assurance,
here's understanding. He said, it's all done. He said, I have lost all things.
What did I lose? Nothing. And death is not the end, it's
the beginning. He says, to die is gain. To live
here is loss. Save your life, you lose it.
Lose your life for Christ's sake, you find it. Now that's a mystery. See, that's hidden. But it's
not hidden to us and our children. We at least know these things
are hidden to us. If the Lord will put this in our heart. Though the earth be removed and
tossed into the sea, David said, I have no fear. Thou art with
me. Don't you want to be rich in
assurance? I look at this and I knew this would happen. I knew
it. I hadn't even got to the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, so we'll devote that Wednesday night.
How's that? But verse 2, he said, I want
you to have full assurance, be rich in assurance of the understanding,
the acknowledgement of the mystery of three things, God, the mystery
of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. These three things. I want you to be rich, understand,
and have full assurance of God, the Father, and of Christ. And
these three. But God. The mystery of God. The world
is still a mystery to the world, isn't it? Who God is. What God
is. Who God is. So what is man doing?
Here's the wisdom of man. They're gazing into black holes.
And we're paying zillions, trillions of dollars going into debt so
they can go out and look in black holes? What are they looking
for? You know what you'll see in a
black hole? Darkness! You know what you'll see in this
world? Darkness! You know what you'll see when
Christ's light shines in your heart? Light! Life, immortality,
and glory. The mystery that is God Himself. It's not a mystery to us. It
was at one time. The heavens declares glory. The
firmament showeth its handiwork. Day in the day others speak.
There's no language, nothing anywhere that doesn't clearly
say God is. Right? His eternal power and
His Godhead clearly seen if you have eyes to see. If you don't have eyes to see,
you can't see God anywhere. He's a God that hideth himself. From who? The wise and the prudent. The proud and the lofty. Okay? You're going to be full of fear
all your life. You don't acknowledge me. You're
not thankful to me. You give man all the glory. You
take my glory. I'm going to have you. You're
going to dwell in darkness and fear and anguish. And you're
not going to know me, though you try. That's what God says
to the wild, proud, you're not going to have any peace, any
comfort whatsoever. You're going to look for it everywhere.
You're going to try to find it everywhere and you won't find
it anywhere until the day you die and then you are cast into
outer darkness forever. But God, and such were some of you. He says, I'm God. I said, you
are, aren't you? You were there all along. I just
couldn't see it. The Father. The mystery that
is God. The mystery that is the Father.
God is our Father. This God that made the universe,
that owns everything, is my Father. My dad, you know, I had a wonderful
earthly father, wonderful. He would have done anything for
me. In fact, he did. Later on, he lost a little bit
of track of what money was worth. And somebody said, you know,
several hundred dollars, and he said, here. Oh, dad, no, no, no. Keep that.
$340. Take it. God is our father. Do we have to worry about anything? What are we going to eat? What
are we going to drink? How are we going to pay our bills?
God says, all the gold and silver and all of mine. Think I'm going
to let my children be without a place to live, or something
to wear, or something to eat? He said, that's not it. That's
our Father. How did He get to be our Father?
How did God become our Father? Well, it says in John 1, verse
13, we're born of God. And James 1, it says, we're begotten
of his own will, begat he us with the word of truth, the gospel. Peter said, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, of incorruptible, the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. This is the word which by the
gospels preached unto you. One day, I was born of God and
realized He's my Father. My Father. And in Christ, last
thing, a mystery. Oh, the full assurance knowing
God is God, the full assurance to be rich and knowing that this
God is my Father and I need not worry about anything, that this
Father loves me more than I could love myself. And knows what I need better
than I know, a whole lot better. And of Christ. Christ. We need another couple of hours.
Oh, the full assurance that is found in Jesus the Christ, the
second Adam, the covenant head, the son of David, the captain
of my salvation, the kinsman redeemer. Just keep going on.
Assurity. Let me just tell that. This is
a good way to stop it. Judah, you see, the story of
Joseph on the throne and the brethren, you know, were fearful
of this one they didn't know, not knowing it's the brother
on the throne. They were fearful. And Joseph
on the throne said, you'll not see my face unless you send that
youngest son with you. What's his name? They said, Benjamin.
Yes, you'll not see my faith until you bring Benjamin with
you. What a picture that is of God, the Son, acceptance with
the Son. Okay? Well, they all went home
and Jacob said, no, you're not taking Benjamin. No, no, no. I've lost Joseph. Would you deprive
me of Benjamin? He said, my life is wrapped up
in him. That's a good picture, isn't it? Well, Judah! He talked his father into this.
Judah! That's where Christ came from.
The Lion of the tribe of Judah. The surety. Judah said, Father,
give me Benjamin. Give me your son, your youngest
son, the one whom you love, whom your life is wrapped up in. Give
him to me. If I don't bring him back to
you, you hold me accountable. He said, I'll be surety for him.
If the king on the throne, if anybody's taken, it'll be me.
It won't be him. I'll bring him back to you. Leave
him with that. That's Christ. He's surety. Brothers and sisters, Christ
is our surety. Jesus Christ, sent by the Father. And Christ said, if I don't bring
him back to you, hold me accountable. And when he, in the end, he said,
all is kept, not one of them is lost. That's assurance. I bet you to say you have more
assurance right now than you did before you came here. Why? Because you heard the word of
truth. You heard the good news, which is Christ. Okay.