Living as my eyes have made me,
I'll see the truth and live, live in the Word. Then if I don't believe it, I'll
be a denier. Well, him means Lord, no one
else. That's a great name, isn't it? Great. Okay. Truth, that's the truth. That's the bread, which is the
Word, which Christ revealed Himself to me. And bondage, we'll see. Fetters
fall, I'll find my peace. All right, so options two. I'm going to lower it to about
3. Lower it to 3. It is our prayer that
you would wake and that you would abide in this world of truth,
of us, one with the truth, and our peace in you. Grace and knowledge of the truth,
knowing what we are allowed, But the truth is a bad part of the truth. And we pray the same
things to your people everywhere today. We gather in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, let's read verses
8 and 9. for men. Men is for the lust and vain
deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments or elements
of the world. We know what elements and rudiments
mean. First, notion. Second, well,
things. and not at Christ, not calling
you to Christ. We don't. But in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the God-heaven and God-life. In Him. And this is the third
message on this chapter, and this is as far as we've got. Ironically, someone came up after
another Sunday's message and told me that I didn't say enough
about picking up records. Well, I don't think we'll be able to
do that in a bad way. I think we'll just enjoy considering
that. But the fact is that I have never
been told. We've spent the rest of our days
in this one place right here. He wouldn't tell me half of it. Foolish. God-fearing. Completing
him. I told Brooke Todd the other day
on the telephone, I said, Sometimes I just like to try preaching
all night long, because it just can't be helped, nonetheless.
You said it was confusing, but it had the power to raise the
brain up, it's got the power. No, that's true. But he said here now in verse
8, beware lest any man spoil you. In verse 9, quote, in Christ,
the love of all the fools of the Godhead modeling, spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, not thinking of Christ. Well,
this is so necessary in this day of Holy Spirit mania. We live in a day, that is, in
a religion of Holy Spirit mania. Spirit, what spirit do you describe? That's, that's what the Spirit
does. That's what Christ does. The Father points us to the Son of Jesus
Christ. The love of Jesus, because the
love of Jesus Christ is the firmness of the Godhead. All right? And you're complete in Him. If
you have Him, you have God. Father, Son, and
Spirit. He's the Lord. I mean, you don't have to really
stay with me, all right? Because I don't have to stay
with you. All right? What the Scripture says, great
is the mystery of God with us. God was manifest in the flesh. What does that tell you, does
it? What a great mystery this is.
God became the man. Did it? That's what it says,
that God was manifest in the flesh. We're commanded in Scripture,
by God, thou shalt have no other gods before him. And yet he says, Worship the
Son. Well, isn't he God? No, not so
clearly. We're told in the New Testament
to worship Jesus Christ. He's Lord, He's Emmanuel, which
can be interpreted as, well, God with us. Except you believe
not that I am. If I say the verse in John 8,
verse 24, you believe not that I am. You are buying your sins. Who can forgive sins but God?
Well, no man can explain the Trinity. They don't even understand it. They don't understand it, let
alone explain it. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. These
four things. Yet, I do understand this. And
you and I need to understand this, that the One that we're
to be of worth, the One that we're to worship, the One who
we're to call Lord, the One we're to go to, is Jesus Christ. Well, look at John 14. I know
you've read this, but I read this for the first time the other
day. John 14. John chapter 14. We're going to read this again
for the first time. Look at that. John 14, verse 1. Now, we just read, "...in him
dwelleth all the frualness of the Godhead." I'm feeding you with knowledge
and understanding, because I know Him, the only true God. And I
understand it. I am. What's wrong? Our Lord says, let not your heart
be troubled, ye believe in God. We've all seen things. This world said he never said
it himself. Not to the world he didn't. But
he tells you young ladies, and good God, I've chosen you for my faith,
that you might know and understand it, and hate it. Who? After the wake, the beginning
of the end. The priest read it, but I don't
know if he's having no father or mother. Who's my mother? Look at verse 5 through 7. Thomas
said, you know, I understand these means. of desperation that
always leads you nowhere. We're flesh and blood. We need
flesh and blood. And I'll tell you in a minute
why God became flesh and blood. Because we're flesh and blood. All right. Verse 5, Thomas said,
we, we, we, Christ said, I'm going, I'm going away. It's the way you know. Thomas,
we don't know what we're doing. How can we know the way? Christ
said, I am the way. The truth and the lie. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. If you'd known me, you should have known the Father. And thus a child is born, a son
is given. I shall call his name wonderful,
counselor, mighty God, All right, right on. And he says,
if you'd known me, you should have known my father also, and
from henceforth you know him and have seen me. Is that what he said? A little later on, Thomas, after
he reached, after he reached, he didn't touch his hand, he
sat. He crossed his shoulder and said,
what did Thomas say? My Lord and my God. The device didn't work. Uh, let's read, read on then.
Pilate, now Pilate said, no, show us the Father. He didn't
know where he was going. And it's possible, it
would be settled. Now this, all we know is the
Father. It was settled, it would be settled. Now, Christ said, I haven't been
so long. Yet hath Thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen
the Father. And how do you save Him? Show
us the place. Believest Thou not
that I am in the Father's heart with Him? The words I speak of
Thee, I speak not of myself, it's the Father that loves me.
He's doing what you're thinking. And that's a man. It's God's
business. Believe me, verse 11, that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me. What about the Holy Spirit,
verse 16? And I said, I'll tell the Father
he shall give you another comforter, a purple one, see, purple, see,
that he may abide with you forever. And I said, I'm going away. And I said, look, comforter,
he will abide with you forever. And at the last verse in the
book of Matthew, he says, my Lord, you asked where you were
going to find me. I am with you always. Now that little verse 18, I will
not leave you comfortless. I am comfortless. He's even called
the Spirit. of Christ. In Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ is the only God
we'll ever see, hear, or worship. And I'm going to tell you why
this is so vital that we understand it. Now, no man, like I said,
no man can even understand, let alone explain, the Trinity. But I know that Jesus Christ is hell
and heaven. He's the pure mission. The Lord
our God is the Lord. We call him Jesus Christ. He
had three offices there, the Lord, Jesus, and I. We're flesh. We're always meant,
we're always meant to live in flesh. Remember that? We're always
meant to live in flesh. If we live in it now, we're going
to have a new body some day. It's going to be flesh. It's
going to be flesh. Is that right? That's Christian faith. God's
spirit. God brought me to the flesh. God loved me to the flesh. He
loved to have me. You see, God, man, of course,
is in the flesh. If you know and worship Jesus
Christ, you have God. You have the dog-eared monopoly. And verse 10, back in Acts 6, You're complete with Him. Oh, you know Jesus and that,
but you've got to have the Spirit. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, but we worship Jehovah. We
don't worship the Son. We worship the Father. Ha, ha,
ha, ha. Are you catching what I'm trying
to say tonight? It's a very difficult sight.
But you've got all these philosophies. We're Jehovah Witnesses. Well,
we're Holy Spirit Witnesses. We believe Christ. In Him dwell the power of the Holy Spirit. The Father hath committed our
judgment unto the Son. He's all and ever. All right, this thing of being
complete in Christ. How much time do we need to talk
about this? That, by fair, that witness skinned
the surface of who Christ is, God. Now we're going to talk
about being complete in Him. He's the head of all principalities,
of all principalities. You're complete in Him. Well,
you're righteous and you're wise. If you know Christ, you're wise. Christ is the head of all principles
and powers. Now listen, listen to me very
carefully. I read in this book of Father,
Word, Holy Spirit. These three are one. I believe
that. I believe Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I believe the Lord our God is
one Lord. I believe God's Word is Christ. And Christ tells us to come to
Him, and we come to the Father. You understand all that? And
I believe we have the Spirit. When we come to Christ, we have
the Spirit. I believe and confess that Jesus
Christ is my Lord and my God, the one true God, the true and
living God. There are many, and I just
talked about Jehovah's Witnesses and then talked about the deep
spirit maniacs, well, many are zealous for God. God said this in Romans 10, and
that was for God, that they don't know and worship and talk about
Jesus Christ. This is what I look for in the
biographies and history of so-called people, persons. I like to read
biographies, and especially of great men of this sort. I would
like to believe that so many of these men are believers. Now
listen to me very carefully. I don't, I don't. Biographies aren't,
you know, they don't write men's hearts. I don't know men's hearts
and all that. But listen very carefully. This
is what I look for, though. Not only in things I've read,
but in things I hear out of people's mouths. And you hear people talk
about God, God, even the Almighty, the Almighty, the Father, even
the Father, God, God, Father, God, Father, God, the Almighty,
the Almighty. Do I hear people say that? I have a serious question. You see how important everything
I've said thus far is that in Him rest all fools, for God is
mighty and you're complete in Him. You know Christ. In the
South, you see the glory of God in the
face of the person who works. The works I've done, there's
thousands of them. Well, many are jealous for God, but in Christ,
many are jealous for the Holy Spirit. That's not what today
is. Why is that? Because, Henry,
anything goes, and you can call it the Holy Spirit. It's a spirit, all right. It's
a spirit. It's not the Holy Spirit. I'm
going to tell you what the Holy Spirit does. He takes the face
of Christ and shows it to us. He makes a man speak with Christ
all the time. He doesn't speak with the Holy
Spirit. He speaks with Christ all the time. This is Michael
when I'm saying it. In him dwelleth all the fullness.
You're complete in him. He's completely God and you're
complete in him. Why is he called the only begotten
of the Father? Jesus Christ is the only begotten
of the Father. Why is he called that? God reproduced himself in a body. You want to explain
that? Huh? He's the express image. Well, not image, that's spirit.
But he's the express image. of God. God reproduced himself. Now, you can have this book here. That's exactly it. Now, people, there is a world,
a universal conspiracy out to make Jesus Christ less than he
is. This is why this is vital and
important. It's a universal conspiracy led
by the Prince of the Pirates himself to make Jesus Christ
less than he is. And it's never been more prevalent
and had a stronger hold than it is now. There's very few who believed
that Jesus Christ is very God and very God. Let no man spoil
you through philosophy. That man that walked this earth
was the creator of it. No less. He's not Jesus walking around
with his hand in his hands. He's he that sitteth on the circle
of the earth. There's a vast difference in
the truth of who Jesus Christ is, the truth, the true God,
and what men are saying about Him, and even what some are philosophically trying to say about Him. And Him broke all the rules
of the Bible, and you're completely clear. He's all religion you
need, He's all about you. I don't know how to understand
all of this, but I know that Christ is the only God we will
ever deal with. The only way God can deal with
us, and we can deal with God, is through that woman named Jesus
Christ. And what about that woman who
gives us all things under the cover? I don't know. I don't
know. I mean, is that the secret thing to love? But the revealed thing, All right, look at Philippians. Go back, it says, you're complete
in Him. Let me just spend about ten more
minutes on what this means to be complete in Him. John knew that wouldn't get through
unless he versed another. There's not enough time to deal
with it. Uh, Colossians, uh, Philippians,
I'm sorry. Philippians 3. Philippians 3.
What does it mean to be in Christ? Paul calls it a high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. In other words, God called us
in Christ Jesus, coming to me. Does that sound familiar? Because in me, I have God. The same for me, same
person. Come unto me, all right? Verse 9, this is what it means,
this, this, to be found in Christ. Verse 9, be found in Him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is above or below, but
that which is through the faith of Christ. The righteousness
which is of Christ. By faith of Christ. who is God, God manifesting himself,
the righteous one, he's called, to be found in Christ. I believe,
you believe in Christ? Hmm? You believe in Christ? You
trust in Christ? You believe on Christ? You trust
on Christ? You believe in, on, in, on? I don't pretend to understand
that, brother, any more than I do the Trinity. I don't see
myself as righteous. Do you? God does. I don't understand that, but
I'm inside. I really don't understand that. I believe Him. I trust Him. I depend upon Him. I don't see myself as righteous.
I don't see myself as complete. I see myself absolutely, totally
lacking in every area. He says run complete. In Christ. I feel naked and exposed. I feel like God sees me. Everything happens just like
this. Naked and open for eyes of him with whom we have to be.
God doesn't touch me. He doesn't see us. I don't, I don't feel like a
new creature. I, kind of like Paul Rome said,
you know, I just, the thing I would do, I do not, and what I do not,
that's what I do, would not I do, the wretched man that I am. He
said, if he may be in Christ, he's a new creature. How do I say that? Can I believe
it? Can I believe it? Being found
in Christ is for God to see you in Christ. God found you in Christ. How do you do that? Like that
ant under that rock. always having a man in Him. Back in Colossians 2, he says
this, in whom, he says this quite a
bit, in whom, in Christ, in, in, in Christ, in Christ. What does that mean? It's a mystery. But here he gives this illustration,
verses 11 through 13. Let's just read through. In whom
also you're circumcised. with circumcision made without
hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision or operation of the work of Christ. Now here
it says the circumcision of Christ. Verse 12 says the operation of
God. Well, who is it? It's Jesus. Verse 12. Married
with him in baptism, wherein also he arisen with him, through
the faith of the operation of God. See, it raised him from
the dead. It's you being dead in your sin
with uncircumcision in your heart that he quickens, made alive
together with Christ as a forgiveness of his past. Let me see if I
can't just very briefly explain, just to clarify what he's saying
here. I'll simplify it when possible. What is the body of sin, verse
11? It says that Christ, by circumcision,
in this work that he did, put off the body of the sins of the
flesh. Well, body here, and Paul uses
this term quite a bit in Romans 6, 7. Who should be looking into
this? The body of this story. The body of sins. I'm in a body,
okay? You really can't separate me
from my body, can you? You know, God's gonna raise these
vile bodies. This very body, though it goes
back to dust, and may be scattered to the full winds, and bring
it all back together, it's still there. We can lay it all back
together and create a little botany, fashion-like on the hip. All right? But here's the point.
Man was created wholly of spiritual being, not of animal. He was
spiritually upright. He ruled his body. The spirit of God in him suppressed
the body. All right? Ten came. What happened? It just, he was filled with it. Until he couldn't do anything
but sit. It absolutely rained and moved
over him, even his body. Until it came to the point where
his body moved over his spirit. Follow me? Man became like that. The rest of the man was cowed
and said, with an apology to the beast, he said, man became
like a beast with an apology to the beast. That's what the
scripture says, the whole creation burned, waiting for the redemption
of the sons of God. The redemption of these bodies.
We're going to cry stone on that cross. Look at this. Look at
verse 13. You being dead and your sin uncircumcised
in your flesh, that is reigning, ruling, principle, your body
that feels good, do it. You know what the Lord meant.
You know what the band is dead and trespassing sins are. No
restraints, no no conscience, no qualms about
anything. Huh? And it's getting worse.
As God gradually lifts his hand off this world, it's just, huh,
bestiality. We believe in evolution, but
it's the opposite of evolution. We believe man started on two
legs and he's gone to four. It's not only on our shoulders. He's put them like a monkey. God makes a new creature. He
makes a man out of a monkey. He makes a man like Christ, a
woman like Christ, out of an ape, a blue ape. And you thought it wouldn't be that, huh? By Christ? Who did this? Christ
did it. Look at verse, this is the operation
of him, the work of Christ. It says in verse 13, quicken. Man became a quickened spirit. That is, through the work of
Christ and sending his Holy Spirit in here, making man conscious
of God. Not like a beast, conscious of
grubbing. Grubbing. Wasn't that true before
the truth came to you, before the gospel came to you, before... No thoughts of God, like an old
sow, an old pig, you know, just drubbing in the mud of the mire
of the muck of this world, isn't it? Huh? Like a beast, like an
animal, just looking at food, looking, can I get anything next?
Never looking up. Never looking up. God says, look
unto me. God is in me. You're under the wrath of God.
He is not. We're under the wrath. We're
under the sacrifice of man. Knowledge and truth and God and
higher principles and man starts walking upright. The understanding
of man starts walking upright. God is in me. This is why young
people are pinching their nose and their ears and their bellows
and anything else. They're acting like wild beasts. God didn't create man like that
to poke holes in his nose. Goodness! Chain his body with indelibly.
Think about it for a minute. Man's like a beast, he's dead
in the sand. But when God quickens, you think, by whose power, this
place is by, this whole planet is by, God is. God is holy. God's going to wipe this place
out. See that? Things that are high,
things that are noble, things that are pure, things that are
holy, things that are opposite of murder, flesh, dirt. Man was created to do more than
eat and have sex. Man was created to kill and die. Our Lord once told us this in
Luke 12, this Sunday, when he says, a man's life doesn't Why? A lot more than that. I can't explain it. I can't explain it. That's the
best I can do with it. And what he says, he forgives.
Realize He needs forgiveness. Man, I mean, realize He needs
forgiveness. Verse 14 and 15, He says, "...brought
it out to hand-write an ordinance as it was against us." Scripture
says the strength of sin is the law. It's not a lie. There's no bias. He said, you have. Bow shot. And took it out of
the way and nailed it to his cross. In fact, Luther made him
ninety-five sick pieces. That didn't prevail anyway. I'll
tell you what did. And verse 15 says, He spoiled.
He spoiled. Now here's the one who wasn't
spoiled. Christ. Spoiled Prince of Power. Power. Boom! Prince of Power
was in power. Satan had desired you, angel,
and slipped you out free. If I let you go for a minute,
brother, you're dead and weak. You're dead and trespassing.
If I just let you out of my hand for one moment, And so God had no hand to throw
it. If God, if I get out of God's
bitten hands for one moment, I'm tempted. He's in pictures. But this woman desires me. But he said to me about it, that
he used his style, his powers, his powers to make a show of
openly. He's got him on a chain. triumphing over them in it. In what? In the cross. What's the cross?
In Himself. In Himself. This is our God, my favorite
God. Isaiah 25 and 9. It should be
said in that day, oh, this is our God. We wait on Him. He'll save us. And He did just
that. From the body, to the sense,
to the flesh, reigning, ruling, controlling, absolutely encompassing
the evil spirit, and removed all the obstacles that the flesh
feeds on. Now, I didn't fully explain that,
because it can't be. So how do you, how do you, if
Paul talks about wanting a Roman servant, how do you explain that? Well, I didn't and I can't. Except
to say that when you were dead in trespasses, Ken, you gave
no thought to God, holiness, righteousness, and purity, but
only sin, you know, absolutely no God. Not only God, but My
daughter, Japan, and my wife, the doctor, just when the cross
came, there was a new creature. It got worse. There's two creatures. There's two. There's a new creature.
The first battle was this one. A love, a new love in us. of
the future. One man put it this way, I'll
never forget. He said, the believer is like
two men living in a three-story house. Every now and then they meet
on the second floor and they have a bath. And I'll tell you who has the
upper hand. I'll tell you who lives on the top floor. For the
mind, huh? The faculties, huh? The heart
that powers them. The feet, for example, are the
ones that disperse the passions. Man, that's something. I've heard
this over the years. Not only that principle, it's
all a bit saucy. Well, the grotesque, every now
and then, you know, that's Satan's leash out. And it's time for us to loosen
up, not all the way to loosen up, just a little bit. Wow. I'm going to keep shaking
like this. I'm going to keep coming to here. I'm going to get another water.
Anything quicker. I hope so. All right. Our Lord, we thank you for your
word. It brought him here, so it's
free. Our truth, our word is truth. How we love
by truth. Your gospel is truth, Peter said,
by which we are born again, incorruptible seed, planted for truth. In some part, you pray and send your spirit to raise
up a picnic as you did Christ's body to create that new creature,
the Bible's holy thing, his seed, which is Christ. What a mystery,
what a mystery. We've spoken things to people
in the past. of what we believe in. We believe in power, compassion,
forgiveness of our sins, and we believe that this community
in this commercial world that now cleanses and cleanses and
cleanses and cleanses and cleanses and cleanses and cleanses and
cleanses and cleanses you I don't know. uh... uh... And the last one. And the last one. uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... I'm going to go ahead and do
that. I'm going to do that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to go ahead and do
that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if you can see it. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to go ahead and do that. I'm going to do that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know. you Thank you. uh... Thank you.