Would you turn with me to Colossians
chapter 2? While you're turning there, I
told your pastor, there isn't any place I enjoy coming more
than here. I just appreciate your all's
love and attention and love for the gospel, and it's a blessing
to be with you. Love you dearly. Colossians chapter 2. I want to read the first phrase
of verse 10. Five blessed words. You are complete in Him. Five blessed, glorious words. You're perfect. Not you will be, but you are. He hath perfected forever. Them that are sanctified by His
one offering. You. Who's He speaking to? You. You who in and of yourselves
are nothing but sin, and you know that. You know that about
yourself. You who look only to the Lord
Jesus Christ as all that God requires of you. You. You. Are. I like this word are. Not you will be. Not you shall
be. You are. Right now, perfectly complete. Nothing needs to be added to
you. You are, you have been perfectly
completed in Him. You are complete. You are complete. Whenever we are or have, we have
completely. Nothing lacking, nothing needed
to be done. This is true without limit, without
qualification, and with no conditions to meet. You are complete. The same word is translated in
John 1, 16, fullness. Of His fullness, of His completeness
have we all received. Now, how full, how complete is
the Lord Jesus Christ? That is how complete you are. You are complete. In Him. When those Israelites were in
the house with the blood over the door, they didn't want one
finger sticking outside of that door. They knew their only safety
was in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are complete in Him. The Son of God. Of Him are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Now, this verse of Scripture
is a very precious verse of Scripture to me. It's really one of my
favorites. I've got several favorite verses
of Scripture. I love 1 Timothy 1 15. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. of whom I am the chief. I'm one
of those, so He came to save me. I love that verse of Scripture.
And I love this verse of Scripture. This is a very special Scripture. And let me tell you why. In and of myself, as far as my experience
goes, in everything, I feel very incomplete. My faith is certainly lacking. There are always doubts and fears
and insecurities. There's never a time when I don't
have to pray with the poor demon-possessed boy in Mark chapter 9. His daddy
said, I believe, and I do. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. My repentance is always lacking
in some way, as far as the way I feel. My confession of sin
is not sorry enough, nor is it sincere enough. I feel that my love to Christ
always seems so weak compared to what it ought to be, and my
service of His people certainly seems to have a lot of self-seeking
in it, and everything that I do feels lacking. Everything. And yet this passage of Scripture
tells me that I am complete. Not I will be. Not I'm in some
process of heading in that direction. It says I am complete. I'm full. I lack absolutely Nothing. Now, works religion, whether
Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Buddhist, whatever, it always
makes completion the end of a process. If you do this, if you do this,
if you believe this, if you stop doing that, start doing this,
you will be complete. Very much like the forgiveness
of sins. Works religion makes the forgiveness
of sins the end of salvation. If you do this, this, and this,
and if you stop doing this, this, and this, you will have the forgiveness
of sins. No, beloved, salvation does not
end with the forgiveness of sins. It begins with the full, free,
complete forgiveness of sins. And in this thing of salvation,
You begin complete. Lacking absolutely nothing. Complete in Him. Now, this is what God says. This
is God's testimony regarding every believer. You are complete. You lack absolutely nothing. All that God requires you have
right now. You are complete in Him. Now, in verse 8 of this passage
of scripture, Paul said, beware. Beware. And this is a word that's found
in the Bible a lot, and it's something we can't consider enough,
beware. And it's so easy for any of us
and all of us to go into a wrong direction and listen to wrong
voices. So he says, beware. You know,
God's people are compared to what animal? A sheep. And I know this about sheep.
They're dumb, they're dirty, and they go astray so easily. Isn't it interesting the way
the Lord uses a sheep to compare us to? Aren't you glad that He
laid down His life for the sheep? Beware lest any man spoil you. Carry you off. Deceive you. Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. Now it appears that Paul was
warning these people. He says beware. And if he says
beware, we ought to beware. He was telling us to beware about
carried off with philosophy and vain deceit. And what he was
talking about was the heresy or the error that was going on
in that day called Gnosticism. Now, somebody says, how do you
know that? Because of verse 9, he says, in him, in the Lord
Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a
body. And the Gnostics were saying
that Jesus Christ never really came in the flesh. You see, if
he came in the flesh, that would have made him sinful because
all that's material, like the flesh, is sinful. So he just
made some kind of appearance. But he didn't actually come in
the flesh. And Paul says, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, in the flesh. You see, if he didn't come in
the flesh, you know what that means? That means he was wrong
when he said, a body hast thou prepared thee. And if he didn't
come in the flesh, he didn't bear my sins in his own body
on the tree. And if He didn't bear my sins
in His own body on the tree, my sins are still on me. But thank God, He came in the
flesh. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
4. You know, this was a horrible error, but what a blessing it
was that what we learned from it. Look in 1 John chapter 4, verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
But try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh, is of God. And you know what we confess
when we confess that? We confess He was before He came. And we confess that He came in
the flesh. And we confess He did precisely
what He came to do. You know, through this error,
we're given this great statement of faith. He came in the flesh. He was before He came. He came
in the flesh, and He did what He came to do. Now, Paul says,
you beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy. Now,
that word philosophy means Love of wisdom. There's nothing wrong
with the love of wisdom, because the love of wisdom is the love
of Christ. He is the wisdom of God, and we love Him. Oh, we
love Him as He is. And He is the wisdom of God.
But what he's talking about is Greek philosophy, or human philosophy,
man-made philosophy. Beware of philosophy. Beware
of it. You know, the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise, that they're vain. Human philosophy is foolishness. Paul said, Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Beware of philosophy and vain
deceit. That's what he calls it, all
this human supposed wisdom. Paul talks about it in Romans
chapter 1, the Greek philosophers, Socrates and Aristotle and Plato,
and all those fellows that the world values so highly, by wisdom
the world knew not God. That's what the scripture says.
Now, beware. Beware of philosophy and vain deceit, he says, after
the traditions of men. after the rudiments of the world,
man's traditions, not found in the Bible, but just what men
do. And the rudiments are the principles, the ABCs of the world. Look in verse 20 of this same
chapter. Paul says, Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from
the rudiments, the principles, the ABCs, the way of thinking
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you
subject to ordinances, man-made rules, touch not, taste not,
and handle not? which all are to perish with
the using. If that's what my religion is, I'm going to perish
in it. After the commandments and doctrines of men, which things
have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship, and humility
and neglecting of the body, but not in honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. Now, this is the source of all
this vain man's tradition. It's the rudiments of the world. And not after Christ, he says
in verse 9, for in him, In the Lord Jesus Christ dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. That which the universe
cannot contain, the fullness of the Godhead, whatever God
is, dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ didn't have rays of divinity
shining through Him. He was and is absolute God. He's not like God. He's not like
God at all. He is God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead, bodily. He was and is absolute perfect
God. All the fullness of the Godhead.
Now, what all can we say but the fullness of holiness, fullness
of sovereignty and absolute power, fullness of immutability, fullness
of everything you can say about God. And we can talk all night
about and not really understand any of it, just stand in all
of it, but all of the fullness of the Godhead resides, dwells
in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what Paul said about
Him in Colossians chapter 1 beginning in verse 15. Who is Jesus Christ? Verse 15 says He is the image
of the invisible God. The firstborn of every creature.
For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body. I love thinking about this. The
head is the identification of the body. All you really know
the body by is the head. He's my head. He's my head. He's my identification. The way
you know me is Him. He's the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the cause, the firstborn from
the dead. You know, the fact that He died
is amazing, to think that the God-man, Him who is life, died,
and He was raised from the dead, He's the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. That's who He is. And in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily." Now, when he left heaven and took
upon himself flesh, he never ceased to be God. And when he
returned to glory, he never ceased to be man. The God-man. The image of the invisible God,
oh, the excellency, the glory, the incomparable-ness of the
God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Surely He should be worshipped,
didn't He? Worshipped for who He is. You know, when that leper
came and worshipped Him, it's because he knew who He was. When
the thief on the cross said, don't you fear God, seeing you're
in the same condemnation, he knew that was God on the cross.
He knew exactly who he was. He used to be worshipped. In
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And then Paul says, and you are
complete in him. Now, who's the you? Everybody
in him. Everybody that's in him, every
believer. This is talking about all of
God's elect. It's talking about every one
of those for whom Christ died. It's talking about everyone who
looks to Christ only as everything in their salvation. That's who
he's talking about. Every believer. You. He's speaking to you. He's speaking to me. You. You.
You. Look in Colossians 1.21, here's
who he's speaking of. Verse 21, 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, having presented you, holy and unblameable. and unreprovable in His sight. And understand this, how God
sees things is the way they really are. And if He sees you as holy
and unblameable and unreprovable, there's only one reason. You
are, in fact, holy and unblameable and unreprovable. Nothing to
even reprove you of in the Lord Jesus Christ. If, you can't leave that out,
verse 23, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you've
heard. Now what is the hope of the gospel?
Now let me tell you what my hope is. I've got one hope. One hope. This is the only hope
that I have. That Christ died for me. That's the only hope that I have
of being accepted before God and being brought into glory.
It's that Christ died for me. No other hope. I love that passage
of scripture where Paul says, Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Now that's the you He's speaking
of. You are complete. Over in Luke 9,
verse 31, when the Lord was transfigured before the disciples, Peter and
James and John, and the Scripture says, His face shined like the
sun, and His raiment was white as light. His deity burst through
His humanity. And who knows why? I don't know
how else I'd say that. You're talking about things like
that? I don't know. I mean, it was just amazing what took place.
But Moses and Elijah stood there and spake with him. You know
what they spake of? They spake of the decease which he should
accomplish. Now that word accomplish is the
same word translated complete here in our text. The decease
which he should complete. Now, his death completed something. His death accomplished something. When he said, It is finished,
and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, I was complete." Complete. Oh, we sang that song,
Complete in Thee. No works of mine, dear Lord,
can take the place of Thine. We were completed. Now, I want you to consider the
fullness of Christ. The completeness of Christ. How
complete is the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He like anything? You think of the fullness of
His holiness. The fullness of His righteousness. The fullness of His acceptance. How accepted is He? How pleased
is the Father with the Lord Jesus Christ? How beautiful is Christ
to the Father? We can't possibly describe, can
we? 1 John 4.17 says, As He is. So are we in this world right
now. You are complete. Can He have more of anything? The Word is fullness. You're
plumb-fulled up. You can't put another drop in
you. You can't put another drop of righteousness, acceptance,
holiness. Can Christ be more of anything? No. No. You are
complete. You're plumb full in Him. And listen to this. There's nothing
that needs to be done to make you complete. Right now. Nothing needs to be done. Nothing
needs to be added. Nothing you need to do. Nothing you need
to be. You are complete in Him. God can't love you anymore. God can't see you as any more
beautiful, any more holy, any more perfect. You are complete
in Him. Now, a couple of weeks ago, we
were in Mexico visiting the Groovers. And Cody was telling me a story
about when Marvin Stoniker, your daddy, comes down, he always
paints a picture there, paints a picture for somebody, paints
a picture of Walter's daddy. If you go there, you'll see paintings
he's painted. I can't remember who it was,
Walter or Marvin was painting this time, and he was finishing
up one painting with some red paint. And Cody said, Let me
just put one red dot of paint on there. Marvin said, OK. So
he just took the brush and just barely put a little dot of red
paint on it. And the painting was finished. And Marvin put Marvin Stoniker. And Cody said, hold on. Wait
a minute. You also need to put Cody Gruber. I put something
on there. Now, the Lord's not going to have that. He did it. You are complete in Him. Now what is so amazing about
that, like I said at the first of this message, I always feel incomplete. Always. There's never a time
when I don't. There's not a day that goes by
when I don't think at some point you're deceiving yourself. And I know every believer feels
that way. Now, we ought to have full assurance. If we look perfectly to Christ,
we would have full assurance. Every believer ought to have
full assurance. Are you fully assured that Christ
is all you need? then you ought to have full assurance. But we
also have something called the flesh. That man who cried out,
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, he cried it out because
he always had that flesh. And you know, the flesh never
believes, does it? It never believes. We have two men in us. Two men. One who believes perfectly. One
who never believes. Poor old Rebecca felt that struggle
going on in her womb. And she said, why am I thus?
And the Lord let her know, two manner of people are in me. And
two nations are in me. What was said of the Shulamite?
She is one who has two armies within her. Every believer believes. That's what believers do, don't
they? They believe. Believers don't
not believe, believers believe. The old man always believes,
I mean never believes, and the new man always believes. And
you find that true in your own experience. I don't have to convince
anybody in here that's a believer of that. If you don't understand
it, it's because you're not a believer. If you're a believer, you understand
that. You understand that. But with all these feelings of
incompletion and inadequacy and all those things that we go through,
That doesn't take away from the truth. You are complete. All that God requires of you,
you have to the fullest. You're not going to be getting
into heaven on the bare bones minimum. You've got the maximum. Complete. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is the heritage of every
believer. In Romans chapter 6, go ahead
and turn there, Romans chapter 6. Now, Paul is asking a question
about what he had said in verses 20 and 21 of chapter 5. Moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound and overflow. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Wherever you find a place where
sin abounds, That's the place grace abounds. That's the only
place grace abounds. Grace does not operate where
there's human ability. It only abounds where sin abounds. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, how much ability do you have to prevent dying? None. How much ability do you have
to prevent being a sinner? None. that as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Now, Paul knew what
everybody would say to that. What should we say then? Well,
some people say, well, that'll lead to sin. Other people will
say, well, that gives us a license to sin. You've got the legalist
and you've got the licentious. The legalist says, well, that'll
lead to sin. That won't give anybody Reason to obey the life
sentence that says, oh good, I can sin. Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer? Dead to sin. Dead to sin. Now, was Paul saying, I don't
struggle with sin anymore, and I don't struggle with the sinful
nature? Well, of course he doesn't mean that. Read Romans chapter
7 in the same book. Of course he doesn't mean that.
Here's what he meant. Sin has nothing to say to me. I'm dead to sin. When Christ
died, I died. What does the law have to say
to a dead man? Nothing. dead to sin. Now look in verse 11. Likewise, Romans 6, 11, likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Now there's only one reason God
would tell us to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed to sin. There's
only one reason. You know what that reason is? We are dead indeed
of the sin. Complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us grace to believe
this. To revel in this. To glory in
this. You are complete in Him. Let's pray together.