Thank you, Sherry and John. Now
you can go with me to Colossians, the book of Colossians chapter
1. Galatians 1, verses 26 and 27
say, Paul said in verse 25, I'm a minister of the gospel, a minister
of the church. And he calls it in verse 26,
a mystery, which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest or clear. revealed to his saints. Not everyone, but to his saints.
To whom? The saints. God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery. Among the Gentiles
even. Not just Jews, but Gentiles.
Which is? The mystery, the glory is Christ
in you. the hope of glory. He calls the
gospel salvation a mystery. A mystery. He says it's hid.
And hid from the beginning, but now revealed to the saints. Not everyone. You remember Christ
one time said, I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and the prudent. Not many wise men at
the flesh, not many mighty are called, not many noble are called. God hath chosen. God's choice. God's prerogative. God hath chosen
to reveal these things to whom He will. To whom He will. It's a mystery to most to whom
God would make it known. Paul, telling his own story. And the Galatians say it. He said, and this is when a man
will be saved. When will a man be saved? When
he decides? Oh no. Oh no. Paul said, when
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son. How? In me. In me. Not just to me. In me. In the heart. Please God. So, and it says here,
to whom the saints, God, would make this known. I said this
recently, and you know, it's a popular religious slogan that
we're trying to know Him and make Him known. Well, the first
part is good. Paul said that I might know Him
in Philippians. That I might know Him in the
power of His resurrection. But to make Him known, we can't
do that. He alone can make Himself known. Make Himself known. Reveal Himself
to us. And how does he do it? Please
God by the foolishness of preaching. What's happening right now? And
if he's pleased, he doesn't have to. But he does. I can declare
it. Men can declare it, define it,
explain it. And someone may even hear it
and believe it, at least in their head, understand something of
the facts of it. But Paul, the Scriptures, calls
it a mystery. Like life, conception. It must be born from above, of
God. When does that take place? We
don't know. We don't know. So it is with
everyone born of the Spirit of God. And all I can do is declare
it. I want you to turn with me quickly
to 2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13. This is vital. The purpose of this message is,
as we said, hopefully, that Christ may be formed in someone by faith
and by His Word, by His Spirit, and in whom Christ dwells they
may be built up and comforted. And you
might know, like John wrote, that you might know that you
want to hear. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5 says, Whether you be in the faith.
It doesn't say examine yourself whether you're doing this, doing
that, whether you live right. It says whether you be in the
faith. The faith is a person. Faith's not a creed, not a doctrine,
not a denomination. It's a person. Faith, repentance
toward God and faith, where? Toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's an object. Faith is looking to a person.
Faith is being found in a person. And I better go on. It says,
examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own
selves. Know ye not your own selves how
that Jesus Christ is in you. Except you be reprimanded. Except
you don't care. Except God has left you. All
right, now. Christ in you. What does it mean?
Christ in you. Three things. Three things. First, truth in you. Truth as
it is in the Lord Jesus Christ in you. Truth in you. Did not Christ say, I am the
truth? Truth in you. Secondly, and these
are three things really, faith, hope, and love. in you, faith
in Christ, hope in Christ, love for Christ in you, the love of
Christ in you. This is somewhat like 1 John
5, He that hath the Son hath life. If Christ be in you, this
faith, hope and love for Christ is in you. And thirdly, this
new creature, a new man, created in the image of Christ in you. All right. Now, how did you read
John 17? We read John 17 because the Lord
himself tells us in that prayer what it means for us to be in
him. He says it over and over again,
doesn't he? These things. Go back there.
John 17. And we'll stay right there the
rest of this message. John 17. The Lord Himself declared
these things, the truth in us, faith, hope and love in us, the
new man in us, the Lord Himself. And the Lord prayed for those
then and those now in Him. Those in Him and He in them. You see that? Alright, the truth.
He said what it means for Christ to be in us is for the truth
to be in us. Verse 17. The Lord says, sanctify
them, set them apart, that is, through thy truth. What's truth? Thy Word is truth. What's the
Word? The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory. Christ is the truth. Sanctify
them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Verse 19,
for their sakes I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified
through the truth, through your Word, through me. And there's
a scripture that talks about the truth as it is in Jesus,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, I'm the truth. We heard it this
morning on the radio. And I heard it, I immediately
ran and wrote it down. It's not like I had never heard
it before, but it just confirmed it again. He talked about the
truth. He said, we need to know the
righteousness of God, the absolute holiness of God. Very little
talk about that today. In fact, men are going about
to establish their own. Don't know that God is holy,
holy, holy. Don't know and don't care that
they can't please God Our righteousness is filthy rags. Not good enough. Not good enough on God's side.
Righteousness of God. Holiness of God. That which He
required. Secondly, He said, the truth
of the nature of sin. That is what we are by nature.
What we're born in. Dead and trespassed in sin. How
God sees us as we really are. God the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, and hateth iniquity." Very little talk today about
the holiness of God, the wrath of God, the hatred of God for
sin, how God is going to destroy the world. Why? Because of sin. People. People. Paul said in our text, he said,
preaching and warning every man. We preach Christ and warn every
man. Flee from what? The wrath to
come. Where do you flee? Well, the righteousness of God,
the nature of sin that is us, and our need for salvation. You
remember saying that? Our need for salvation. Our need
for somebody to save us. We can't do it. We can't do it
ourselves. Christ came to save His people.
That's the gospel in a word, and that's the truth in a word.
The truth, who Christ is, what He came to do, what He did, where
He is now, and He's coming back. Who's He coming for? Those that
He did this work for. It's all in Christ. It's all
in Christ. And all of God's people know
this. They know this. Go back, go to our text here,
verse 1 through 4. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. What
hour? The hour predestined by God before
the world began. Christ is called the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Well, he had to come in
time, in the fullness of time, according to God's purpose, which
he purposed in Christ before the world began. to send his
Son into this world at the exact moment in time to do this work. The hour has come. Glorify thy
Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. The hour of redemption,
the work of Christ, that he may glorify the Father. He said,
glorify me, that I may glorify thee. As, now here's the glory
of God, here's the glory of his Son. And this is the truth. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, the truth is, Jesus Christ is Lord. I don't mean figuratively. I don't mean in name only. I mean, well, not I, but scriptures,
that God hath given all things into his hand. keys of hell and
death, everything is in his hand to give to whomsoever he will,
not whoever will let him. Look at it, read on, verse 2,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. He talks about things that God
has given to Christ, given him all power, all authority over
all flesh. No one can do anything except
what Jesus Christ allows or directs. Given power over all flesh, he's
been given people, eternal life to give. It's his to give. It's not ours to take. It's his to give. To give eternal
life, who's he give it to? Verse 2, as many as God has given
him. That's the elect. Did not Christ
say in John 6? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me." He said, no man can come unto me except the
Father which hath sent me draw him. But everyone whom the Father
hath given to Christ will come to Christ. Count on it. Count
on it. That's his power. That's his
glory. That's the glory of the Holy Spirit. Eternal life is
His to give to as many as God has given Him. And this is life
eternal, verse 3, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
the true God, the living God. Not a God who tries and fails.
Not a God who wants to and can't. Not a God who only does what
man lets him do. That's no God at all. Who needs
a God like that? A bystander in the affairs of
men. That's no God at all. Who needs a God like that? A
God who's Satan's equal wit, he's equally bad and the Lord's
equally good and they clash and we are the deciding factor. That's not the truth. That's
a lie. That's not God. And that won't
save anybody. The truth. The truth is who God
is. The truth is who Christ is. The
truth is what Christ did for his people. Read on. It says,
"...the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."
Sent. Sent. He sent. The Father sent
Him. We didn't ask for Him. The Father
sent Him. Well, if you send someone, what
are you doing? You've got a purpose for them,
don't you? The Father had a purpose for
His Son. And He sent Him to do a work. Did he do it? Verse 4,
I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. This is the truth. This is in
every one of God's people. I never tire of hearing it. I
never tire of telling it. The truth as it is in Jesus Christ
is that God Almighty gave him a work to do, the work of saving
God's people, God's elect, and Christ came to this earth. Did
he do it? What did he say here? I have finished the work you
gave me to do." Did he come to make an attempt or an atonement? Did he come to make salvation
possible or save his people? When he named him, he said, call
his name Jesus, he shall save, not try to save, not if they'll
let him save, he shall save, not him and them. He shall say,
when he had by himself, Hebrews 1, 5, purged our sin, sat down
to work finished. The only high priest ever to
sit down was the Lord Jesus Christ. There was not a chair in that
Old Testament tabernacle, not a chair because their work was
never finished. When Jesus Christ came to this
earth to do this work of redemption, to save His people, it says He
went back to heaven and sat down. What does that mean? Done. If
you're a sinner, a helpless sinner, this is the best news you've
ever heard. This is the gospel. You mean I don't have to do something
to be saved? No, sir. But he had to do it
all. What do I have to do? Look to
him. Trust him. Look unto me and be saved. That's
what he said. Oh, that's the good news. And
this truth is in all of God's people. They shall all, John
6, 45, they shall all be taught of God. And every man that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. And it says,
great shall be the peace of thy children. If you're really a sinner and
you hear this message, A sovereign mercy, sovereign electing grace,
and a sovereign cry, and a full, final, free atonement, finished
work in Christ by Christ, not you, but by Christ. It will give
you joy and peace, and it rests. Rests. And you'll quit looking. You'll quit looking for anything. I found peace. I found rest. Where? In Him. My, my. Christ came. When Christ came to this earth,
the first recorded words by him were when he was twelve years
old. Do you remember what he said? When he was twelve years
old, he said to his presumed father and mother, He said, wished you not that
I must be about my Father's business. And they didn't know then and
men don't know now what he meant by that. The Father's business
was, like he said, all that the Father giveth me. All the Father
gave of people to Christ to come to this earth and say. And the
first word as a 12-year-old boy, I am about my Father's business."
And every step he took, every place he went, was on the trail
of his sheep. And he found them where he put
them. And he saved every one of them. He had one up a tree,
Zacchaeus. He had one sitting at a well waiting on him. He
had one in the tombs. He had them everywhere. They
were his, and he went looking for them. He's the good shepherd,
and he said he will not quit until he finds it. And when he
finds it, he doesn't help them along the way. He doesn't help
them out here. Go on. He puts them on his shoulder
and takes them all the way to glory. That's the shepherd. That's
what he came to do. And when he was hanging on the
cross, his last words, his first words were, I'm about the Father's
business. I'm here on a mission sent by
God to do a work. And his last words hanging on
Calvary 3 were, it is finished. What? Everything. The salvation
of God's people. The bringing in of an everlasting
righteousness. The bringing in of a kingdom.
And he went and sat down expecting, fully expecting. His enemies
to be made His footstool, His people to be brought by the Holy
Spirit, and you better believe it, they're all coming. Behold,
I and the children which thou hast given me." That's the truth. The truth is the person. The person, the work, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Every
one of God's people have this truth in them. That's just my
first point. But it's wonderful, isn't it?
Faith, hope, and love. See, the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help me God, is Jesus Christ. He is the truth from cover to
cover. If He shows you the truth, if
God reveals to you the truth, Christ in you, you'll see Him
on every line of every page, that He is all and in all. And
then, Christ be in you, this faith, hope, and love for Christ
is in you. Faith in Christ. Look at verse
6. He said, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Who did this? He did it. They didn't know him. They weren't
looking for him. They didn't care for him, did they? They
were in boats. They were taking up money like
Matthias. They weren't looking for him.
Bless God. Thank the Lord. He went looking
for them, huh? Oh, Philip did say, I found him.
He found you. That's why you say that. But
anyway, the Lord went looking for them, and He called them,
didn't He? He revealed Himself to them.
He saved them. Salvation is of the Lord. And
He said this to them one time. He said, Whom do men say that
I am? They said, Some say this, some
say that. Whom do you say that I am? Peter
spoke up on behalf of all of them. He said, direct to Christ,
the Son of the living God. And what did Christ say? Have not I chosen you? You know why you believe that,
Peter? Because I have chosen you. Because I revealed Myself
to you. I have manifested Myself to you.
You weren't even looking. You were dead. I gave you life
like a plasma. That's what he said, I've manifested
thy name, the name of God, the glory of God, which thou gavest
me, unto the men thou gavest me. See that? Thine they were. When were they? They were years before the foundation
of the world. Their names were written in a
book. What book? The Lamb's book. And it was sealed. It's not like that phony, swaggered
fellow says that God erases, you know, somebody didn't make
it, so He erases that name or puts a new name in. The new name
written in heaven. That's a lie. It's a lie. It doesn't say that
in God's Word. It said their names were written before the
foundation of the world, and that book was sealed. And in
the end, Christ, the Lamb, in Revelation 5, is going to take
that book and open the seals and read all the names, and they're
all going to be there. to the praise of the glory of His grace
and His power. That's what this is all about.
His glory, His power, His work, His people. It will save them
all. And that's the truth. So help me,
God. Verse 6, Thine they were, Thou
gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy word. Laid hold of. That word keep means latch hold
of. As something you don't want to let go. Lay hold of, hold
fast the beginning of your confidence. When you first find out, holy
God, and you're a sinner and can't do anything to please this
God, no works of righteousness, that in your flesh dwelleth no
good thing, Oh, wretched man that I am!"
And then when you hear that somebody's done it all for you, you hear
the good news is, you just look to Me. And I'll take you all
the way. You'll lay hold of that. And
you'll not let go. You'll lay hold. You'll seize
it. Latch hold of it. That's what it means. They have
kept My Word, laid hold of it as something not wanting to lose. They've kept it. They've kept
it. You know that doesn't mean that
they have fulfilled and done every word that God said. Christ
alone did that. They've laid hold of it. They
keep it. What part of God's Word do you not receive? What part of God's Word do you
not like? What part of God's Word would
you have taken out of this book? Oh, no. God's people love all
his work, all of it. All of it. They've kept thy word.
Read on. Verse 6, verse 7. Now they have known all things
whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, and I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me. And they have received
them and have known surely. that I came out from thee, and
they have believed that thou didst send me." They believe
God. They believe God's Word. They
believe God's Son. Faith. They know whom they have
believed. Not what. Yeah, we know what.
But our salvation is not a what. It's a whom. It's Him. It's Him. Him. Him. They know
whom. In fact, Paul said, I have believed
and persuaded them. He's able. Not I'm able. That's
faith. Hope. Their hope is in me, the
Lord said. They know everything that God
has given me, everything I am and have is of them. And all
their salvation is in Him. That's their hope. That's their
hope. Their hope. The disciples, when
the Lord... He said plainly, He wasn't just
praying for His immediate disciples there. Pray not for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one, one in faith, one in hope, one in
love, one in union." But the disciples then and now depended
on the Lord for everything. Everything. Their food, their
safety, their wisdom, their protection,
their everything. And so do we. He's our hope. Our hope. Our hope. Hope in Him. And love. Faith, hope, and love. To have Christ in you is to have
the love of God shed abroad in your heart. Look at verse 26. Verse 26. I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them." The love that God loved His Son
may be in them. Are you with me? That the love that God, the way
God loves His Son, they love Him. John wrote this, John the Baptist
said this, preached this, he said, the Father loved the Son
and has given all things to Him. What about you? Huh? The Father
loved the Son. That means you love Him, you
love His person, you love His glory. Look at verse 10. He said, All mine are thine,
thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. They love my glory. You know, God created this whole
universe for the glory of His Son. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. God wrote this book. These are
Old Testament pictures and types and symbols of God's Son. You have photo albums in your
house, don't you? If you're parents, I know what
those albums are full of, mostly. If you're a grandparent, I really
know what those albums are full of. I had a brother who had his
first grandchild, went to visit him, and I was shocked. There was not a blank space on
his wall anywhere that didn't have a picture of that granddaughter
on it. Everywhere. Why? He loved her. He loved her. And, buddy, I know if you don't
love her, I bet you he doesn't love you. That's what Christ said, didn't
He? Because it loved me. The Father
loved me. That's what He said. The whole Old Testament is pictures,
types of Jesus Christ. It's all for His glory. Salvation
is for His glory, His honor. Oh yeah, everything is for His
glory, His Son's glory and honor. And God's people love His glory.
Verse 22, look at it, "...the glory which thou gavest me I
have given them." Verse 24, I will that they whom you've given me
be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. That's why
God's people want to go to heaven. It talks about glory here, and
you know heaven is called glory, isn't it? When we get to glory.
What's glory? It's a person. And we sing a song called, Oh,
What a Foretaste of Glory Divine. Glory is a person. When the Lord
took three disciples, he chose them, Peter, James, and John,
took them up onto a mountain and peeled back his flesh, this
covering of flesh, to show them who he was. Men just thought
he was Jesus. They still do. Just Jesus. This
is God. Dwelleth in light no man can
approach unto. This is a consuming fire. Oh
no. This is God. He showed those
three and he shows all his people. All his people. See, I see his
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. The only image
of God is a whole denomination. Well, most of them really don't
believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. They go about
door to door to try to disprove that. You can go to every door
in the world and you can't disprove it. The Lord continually showed himself,
didn't he, to his people and continues to show himself to
his people to this day of who he is. He removes the veil of
flesh. The veil of scales on our eyes
to see His glory. God. Thomas said it, didn't he? My Lord and my God. My God. This is our God. He'll save us. So love His glory. Behold His glory. The person
is His glory. We sang that song, that will
be glory for me. When I, by His grace, look on
His face, that will be glory for me. And this love – I've
got to hurry – this love, Christ in you, is a love for Christ,
love for His kingdom, love for His Word, love for the truth,
love for His people. We love those that Christ loves.
You love Him that begat, you love them that begat. So Christ
in you is truth in you. It's faith, hope, and love in
you. And it's this new creature created in the image of Christ
formed in you. That's a mystery. And we start
out by saying, he started out by saying, it's a mystery. We
can just declare it, can't we? We can't. We can't explain it. Can't explain it. You know, a
little child, a child doesn't really even know it's alive until
later on, does it? Life begins at conception, doesn't
it? The child had nothing to do with
that. Even so, it is everyone born of God. And that little child is born
and it has some cognizance or consciousness of a thing. It
hears a voice and it knows that voice. He's soothed by and has
peace from that voice. And a while, they don't even
see very clearly, do they? Your mother, they don't see very
clearly. After a while, that begins to
clear up. And then it's not until they,
I don't know, you mothers tell me, when is it? Two months? They
look up and, hmm, fingers. What's that? You know, you see
it growing, understanding. And later on, it's like, Hey,
let's start. Everything's clear to the older
they get and growing in grace and knowledge. See, that's the
new birth. When does it begin? God knows
because He's the one that did it. He's the one that did it.
And He does it by this incorruptible seed, the Word of God, Christ
as a seed. Christ in you. And He creates
this new person, creating the image of Christ, And he's holy,
unblameable, and unreproachable. He's righteous. He's holy. He's
a new creature. There's two persons dwelling
in every believer. An old man that's corrupt and
never will improve, and you can't do anything for him. He's going
to have to be laid in a grave and mortified and die and be
put away. That's that wretched man that
you – and only God's people know him. That's this wretched man
that you have to deal with. He stinks, you hate him, he's
loathsome in your sight, he bothers you, he hounds you, he just plagues
you and you say, who shall deliver me? And then there's this new
man, this inward man who loves holiness, loves righteousness,
hates sin, loves Christ, loves His Word, loves the truth, is
merciful and gracious and kind and the fruit of the Spirit.
It's a mystery. I don't believe that. Well, then
you haven't experienced it. If you've experienced it, you
believe it. You know it's self. You know it's self. It's a new
man. Creating the image of Christ. A new man. Affection set on things
above. A disdain for things below. See
things as they really are. Love for God. And persecution. Persecution. Not of this world.
Unknown to the world. Look at verse 16. Verse 14, he said, I have given
them thy word, and the world hath hated them. Why? For the
truth's sake, for Christ's sake, for his glory's sake, for his
word's sake. Why? Because they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. Verse 16, they are not of the
world. That's a new person, isn't it?
Even as I am not of the world. As is the earthy, so are they
that are earthy. As is the heavenly, so shall
we bear the image of the heavenly. In Christ, in Adam, all died,
dead and crucified. In Christ, they are alive, alive
unto God. And then he says in closing,
our text says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. The Lord spoke
of this glory eight times, and we've mentioned it briefly. The
glory which He had with the Father before the world began. The glory
that He has given us. The glory that they give Him.
I am glorified in them. And verse 22, the glory which
Thou gavest me, I have given them. You remember Romans chapter
8 that says this, whom He did foreknow. he did predestinate
to be conformed to his image. And whom he did predestinate,
he what? Called. All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. Come. They come. He calls them
by our gospel. By this right here. Okay? And
whom he called, he justifies. You come to Christ, he brings
you to Christ, and he puts you in Christ. And you're completely
justified, covered by His blood, made righteous by His righteousness.
And whom He justified, He what? Glorified. There is a real sense in which
we've already been glorified. Already been glorified. I wish it were more so now. But
I remember, you know, and you remember in the beginning when
you first heard the Gospel, and you were just beside yourself. Just beside yourself. You thought
every message you heard was glorious, didn't you? What happens? To me, maybe. Part of it. I take part of it. Take part
in it. Has the message changed though? I'll tell you what happens. We
go through adolescence. We go through just like this
life. We go through what is it that obscures His glory? What is it? Oh, yeah. Things of the world. And we do
that in the flesh, don't we? We get caught up in things of
this world. And we're bound for glory. Read the little article at the
bottom of the bulletin for what it's worth. That the older we
get, the less beauty and glory we should see in the things of
this world. We ought to see it for what it is. Subtle. It's
temporal. It's not going to last. No matter
what it is. No matter how appealing it is, it's not going to last. It's deceitfulness of riches.
Scriptures talk so much about the riches. The riches of His
glory. That's what it said in Colossians
1. The riches of His glory. The unsearchable riches of Christ. And we need to ask Him now. Revive thy work in the midst
of the year. Ask Him, Lord, show me thy glory. Let me see it. Don't let me lose my first love.
Don't let me be rich and increased with goods. when I'm wretched,
not knowing I'm wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, that
I have more need for Christ now than when I started. And I'm
not there yet. I haven't arrived yet. Help me. Show me your glory. Lord, send
the gospel in such a way that I find it more glorious now than
I did when it began. Please. Let me get past the earthen
vessel. Let me see that treasure. Pearl
of great power. Ask, and ye shall receive. Glory. Father, I will, that they may
behold my glory, now and then. John, you come. Number 466. I hope we can sing
this. Spirit and truth. Christ liveth. Let's sing the first and last
verses.