I meant to mention to you that
Brother Henry prayed for her anyway. Our sister Ruth Nichols
is going to have to go back in the hospital Friday, back down
to Duke, to have the very same operation over again, because
the retina is becoming detached again. So she has just really
been through a trial there, and we need to remember her. I'm
glad Brother Henry did. Now this is the best thing that
we can possibly do, the most profitable form of worship or looking into God's
Word is a verse-by-verse study of God's Word, an expositional
study of God's Word. We do this every Sunday morning. We go through a book. We've been
going through relations, and we've been taking it verse-by-verse. And in all honesty, it is absolutely
the most important, in my opinion, the most important service of
all, is that Sunday morning Bible study, because you're looking
very diligently, very carefully at every verse of God's Word,
verse by verse by verse. And God's Word speaks to us verse
by verse. And that's what we're going to
do this evening. It's the most... profitable time looking at this second chapter
in Colossians today, and I hope it will be profitable to you.
Now, someone once said of at least two preachers I know, someone made this comment in
a derogatory fashion. They said, all he preaches is
Christ. They were saying that in a derogatory
manner. All he preaches is Christ. I
wish they'd say that about me, and I wish that they would write
that on my tombstone. All he ever preached was Christ.
Wouldn't you like that to be said about you? Wouldn't you
like that to be the opinion of others about you? All he wants
to talk about is Christ. All they talk about is Christ
down there. I want to ask this religious
world, and this was a very, this was a so-called Christian woman
that said that, I want to ask this religious world, what else
is there than Christ? Who else is there than Christ? If the scriptures say, and it
says here in Colossians chapter 3 verse 11, that Christ is all,
then what else is there? I mean, what else is? Thomas
Guthrie, I believe it was, had said, God hath put all fullness
in Christ, and him dwelleth all fullness. Then that means that
if all the fullness is in Christ, then in everything else there's
nothing but emptiness, right? If all the fullness dwells in
Christ, then in everything else there's emptiness. In other words,
it's vanity. That's what the word vanity means,
empty, useless. Nothing to it. Well, listen to
these verses of Scripture. We read a few of them. Paul,
writing to the Colossians, he says, By Christ were all things
created that are in heaven and that are in earth. I'm reading
from chapter 1, verse 16. All things were created by him
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible. Invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or power, all
things were created by him and for him. And he is before all
things. He existed before all things,
and by him now all things consist. And he's the head of the church,
the body. He was the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in his Son, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, should all poorness dwell. And he's made peace through the
blood of his Christ, by Christ, to reconcile all things to himself. And he says there in chapter
2, verse 3, that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. He says down here in verse 9,
in Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead in a body. In
verse 10, you're complete in him who's the head of all principality
and power. And he says there in verse 11,
finally, that Christ is all. Christ is all. Now, if Christ is all, all these
things, then there is nothing else. He talks about the fulness
all preeminence, all things, the head of all things, all wisdom
and knowledge, and you're complete in Him. He's all. Then what else is there? What
else is there to study, to look into? What else is there of wisdom
and knowledge that's worth our time and effort to look into?
Nothing. No one but Christ. He is all, the Scripture says.
Now, let me give you a little illustration. We all go, many
of us anyway, go up here to Berry Queen after services. And I don't
know how many times I've gone in there hoping to find some
chocolate ice cream. They've got a machine, you know,
that dispenses ice cream. And all they've got is vanilla.
And I like chocolate. And I don't have any. I've asked
them once, I've asked them a hundred times. Do you have any chocolate?
About per chance. Hopefully you all get smart and
get some chocolate. No. We don't have anything but
vanilla. It's all we got. Vanilla. I think I've asked the same lady
that two or three times too. And she's giving me that answer.
No, we've got vanilla. That's all we've got. I guess
the only thing for me to do is to learn to like vanilla, right?
It's going to be tough. I think I'll go someplace else.
But the scriptures say that Christ is all. All. He's all there is. He's all God has to give. Everything is in Him. So the
thing for us to do is come to know Christ, right? Come to know
and love Him. If you go through this letter
to the Colossians, go through it sometimes very carefully and
look at it, you'll be amazed at all of the direct references
to Christ. Nearly every single verse of
scripture, there's a direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout
this letter, Paul speaks of Christ, because Christ is the theme of
his letter to the Colossians. He's the theme of this book.
He's the theme of every book throughout the whole book. Christ
is the theme. Someone said this is a hymn book,
the Bible. It's all about Christ. To him
give all the prophets witness. All the prophets. Do you realize
how many books in the Bible there are by the prophets? To him, to Christ, give all the
prophets witness. The scriptures say that all things
must be fulfilled which were written not only in the but in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
him. Now, that takes up the whole
of the Bible. Some might say, well, Ruth wasn't
a prophet. Well, there's not a greater story of Christ than
the story of Ruth, of Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer. The Scripture
says that when Christ appeared to those disciples on the road
to Emmaus, that he expounded unto them all their things, of
the Scriptures concerning himself, in all the Scriptures. He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Now, it had to have been a long sermon, didn't it? But they didn't
go weary. The Scripture says that their
hearts burned within them while they heard this. And they wanted
him to come in and preach a little longer. And he did. When he came
back the next time, he preached the same message over again.
It started at Genesis 1-1 and went on through all the scriptures. And Paul said this. He said,
I'm determined not to know anything among you. The great apostle
Paul, whom God used to write 15 epistles in the New Testament,
Paul said, I'm determined. I've come to a definite determination
that I don't want to know anything. I don't want to be taken up with
anything or anybody. among you, except Jesus Christ,
whom you crucify." And if that learned and wise and faithful
saint felt that way, we'd do well, too, to do the same, wouldn't
we? Why not, Paul? Because Christ is all. That's
why. He's all there is. And he said this, we preach not
ourselves. We preach not ourselves or any
other worthless subject. We're a worthless subject. But
Christ Jesus alone. Why not, Paul? Why don't you
just preach Christ? Because he's all. and Him dwelleth
all the fullness. Why? Because He's all. He's all
there is in God's Word. If you would go to your bookshelf
and take down a math book, a book of algebra or trigonometry or
whatever, you don't expect to find history in it, do you? Go
up and grab a math book and say, I want to look for the discovery
of America. You've been looking a long time.
You might pick it up somewhere. I don't know where, but you go
up there and you're going to find it. You look in a history
book, you're going to find history, not math. You look in an English
grammar book, you're going to find English grammar, right?
You look in this book, hard enough, you'll find Christ, because that
whole book is about the Lord Jesus Christ. God's Word is about
Christ. So let the world pursue, let
the world pursue what they will, the knowledge of the sciences
and politics and arts and so forth. Let the religious world
be taken up with all that they will, as social religion, philosophies,
events, prophecies, and so forth, genealogy, endless questions,
the Scripture says. But you and I need to become
more acquainted with Christ. This is the reason I hope that
we endeavor to bring out Christ in every message. We need to
become more acquainted and knowledgeable of and conversant with and enamored
with and in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to grow
up in Him in all things, Paul says, all things. We need to
see Christ more clearly every day, and come to depend upon
Him and trust in Him more and more every day. Why? Because He's all. He is all. He's all. Now look here at Colossians
chapter 2, beginning with verse 1. Now Paul says, How would that
you knew what great conflict or fear or care that I have for
you, and for them that are at Laodicea, and for as many as
have not seen my face in the flesh, Paul says, I have great
concern and care for you people, and some people who haven't seen
me, and I haven't preached the gospel to personally. I have great care and concern
for you, and this Paul can say the same thing to the saints
at Central, at Central. at what great love and care and
concern that I have for you, and a burden and heartaches and
so forth for you. And the same thing Paul says
here in verse 2, that your hearts might be comforted, that your
hearts may be comforted. He said in another place that
you might be comforted with the comfort wherewith we are comforted.
There's a lot of use of the word comfort. But what is the comfort
of the Christian? What is the comfort? of the disciple
of Christ, the gospel. The gospel is our comfort. And
he says, I would that your hearts would be comforted by that comfort
of the gospel. It's our only source of comfort.
And I feel the same way because I see people in this congregation
and elsewhere. I see people who are all out
of sorts. I see people who are torn up
about this and that and the other, confused and troubled and shaken
and bewildered by various things, and I think to myself, oh, if
they were more settled, more settled and more mature in the
faith, and more grounded and settled in the truth of the gospel,
and unmoved by every little problem or every wind of doctrine, everything
that comes along. They'd be more unmoved by these
things, but rather grounded and settled and have this pure and
solid comfort and sure hope, unmoved by every wind of doctrine
and trouble, firmly established in the faith so as not to be
so easily shaken and troubled in heart and mind. And that's
what Paul's saying there. My desire is that you not be
comforted by the gospel, that the gospel truly be a comfort
to you, and not just a not just so much doctrine to you, but
truly a comfort to your heart and to your mind and to your
soul. And he says here that his desire
is that they might be knit together in love. We talk about this quite
a bit, the love of the saints, the fellowship of the brotherhood. And I think to myself the same
thing here, and my heart's desire and prayer to God for you is
that your hearts might be knit together in love for one another.
Love to God supremely, and love to Christ, and love with his
gospel, with his people, and love with one another. And I
think about some people, and I think, oh, I wish that they
could get in on this. certain people I think how I
wish that so and so could get in on this blessed little taste
of heaven that we have here all the time and this love and the
fellowship of the saints. And I'm not talking about church
dinners, church socials. Everybody seems to get in on
that. I'm talking about church dinners Sunday morning, Sunday
night and Wednesday night. I'm talking about a real abiding
love for the gospel, God's gospel. And truly, as John said, our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son. We do have
fellowship one with another, but our fellowship is around
the gospel. And this is our joy, and this
is what we really enjoy and derive all our happiness and enjoyment
from, the gospel. And I think about some folks
that miss out at times on these things, such as the Lord's Table,
and just, well, every single Bible study that we have. I think
mine, and I wish so-and-so was in on this, but maybe in time. But, and that's what Paul said,
you knit together in love. And it says here, this heart's
desire is that they might be knit together in love and under
all riches of the full assurance of understanding. Riches. Those
that are under the sound of the gospel. And I see quite a few
here. Most of you that are here tonight
are here nearly every Wednesday night. And I see people who are
under the sound of the gospel faithfully and frequently. And
I see them getting fat on the gospel. fat and rich, that's
the word he uses here, rich, the riches of this gospel, the
unsearchable riches of Christ. You may not know it, but you're
getting fat, you're feeding on it, and you're getting fat and
rich upon this gospel, this preaching of the gospel. Some people are
very lean, and usually mean, lean and mean, as a result of
my being under the sound of the gospel, with these riches that
he's speaking of. He says they're under the full
assurance. Look at it, verse 2. The riches
are the full assurance of understanding. Now, knowledge and understanding
are necessary, bodily necessary to assurance, to salvation, to
assurance, to peace, to comfort, to encouragement, spiritual maturity. Let me read this to you over
in Hebrews chapter 5. You can turn with me over to
Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Knowledge
is necessary unto assurance. He says the full assurance of
understanding. We all want assurance, don't
we? We want greater assurance of our interest in Christ. We
want to know that we're his that he's saved us and that we have
a, we have saving faith. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
5 verse 11. Here's a very, here's a general
rebuke by the Apostle Paul. Verse 11, he says, we have many
things, he's speaking of Melchizedek. And he says of whom, of Melchizedek,
who is Christ. He says we have many things to
say. And they're hard to be uttered. These are things that are going
to take some deep, deep thought and some real understanding.
But seeing you are dull of hearing, he says to some folks. And for
the time, you ought to be teachers. You've heard it enough. You have
need that one teach you again, which be the first principles
of the oracle of God. And it becomes such as have need
of milk and not of strong meat. You see, if you go progressively
through a book, or if you progress in some way, if you're benefiting
or profiting in some way from each and every hearing of the
gospel, if you miss out, you start over again. You can't go
back and pick those things up again, Ken. You can't start over
again. People who have been there are, you see what I'm saying,
are very slow, but there is some progress, some knowledge. being
accumulated, some assurance that's being built up, some faith that's
being strengthened. And if the folks aren't there,
then they're missing out. They're going to start over again.
But you can't do that for the sake of everybody. But he says,
everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
but he's a bait. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full
age. And even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern and have an understanding both of good and evil. Now look
down at verse 11 of chapter 6. He said, Now we desire, and this
is the same thing he's saying back over in Colossians 2, too. We desire that every one of you,
my desires, everybody in here, would show the same diligence,
the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. I see some folks who have a lot
of assurance, if not full assurance, a very interesting crowd. Full
assurance of it. I would that every one of you
would show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
unto the end. Not be slothful, but followers
of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise. Full assurance. What sort of
thing think less? We all talk about wanting assurance,
don't we? We want peace and comfort. We
want assurance. We want to know. I quote that
psalm quite often, saying to my soul, I am thy salvation.
We want that assurance. Well, how do you have it? Well,
what more faith? How do you have it? Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and an understanding
of the mystery. Look back at the text here. Full
assurance of understanding. to the acknowledgment of the
mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. The acknowledgment
is the mystery of God. It's a mystery which has been
hid from the very beginning, the gospel. The gospel's been
hid. If our gospel be hid, it's hidden
in the law. But you have an acknowledgment,
you have an understanding to the fullest. Some people have
this understanding, this assurance. But there's some who do not know
God. He said here, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God. There
are some people who don't have the foggiest idea of who God
is. They've got some conception of some being of God. But some
people don't know who God is. He's a mystery to them. Some
do. This mystery has been acknowledged
and manifested in them. Some people don't know the Father. They don't know they don't have
this spirit of adoption whereby they can cry unto him, Abba,
Father. Some do, by his grace and his mercy. Some people above
all, principally, don't know Christ in whom—look at verse
3—Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
It's obvious. It is obvious some people do
not know Christ who is I, because they're pursuing other things. Now, remember how we started
this out? If Christ is I, what else is it? Now, in this thing
of salvation, let's start by it. most important thing. This
life is vanishing. It's a vapor. It's passing away.
We'll talk about salvation first of all. We'll talk about that
which really matters. Life, death, judgment, eternity. If you're seeking to know anything
about these things other than looking for them in Christ, you
don't know Christ. He's a mystery to you still.
You see? Because in Christ was all the
fullness, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In this
thing of this life we live in, this life that we live in, whether
it be our family, our friends, our job, our home, if we're looking
for happiness, fulfillment, contentment, enjoyment, pleasure, purpose
in this life, if you're seeking it in anything outside of Christ,
your relationship to Christ, you don't know Christ. If you're
seeking fulfillment and enjoyment and closure and contentment in
the things of this life, you don't know Christ. But if you're
applying all these things in relation to your relationship
with Christ, then you know something of Christ. If you see all these
things as they relate to your relationship with Christ, this
is what we were talking about, having this mind that thinks
on things above. that thinks in everything in
relation to Christ. But, it's what he's talking about
here, in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Of wisdom and knowledge. Now
listen, it's been said that knowledge is the horse and wisdom is the
rider. This is what they say about knowledge
and wisdom. Knowledge is the horse and wisdom
is the rider of that horse. Knowledge is what you know, and
wisdom is using that knowledge to the fullest extent, or wisely
is using that knowledge. What Paul says here, he says
that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now stay with me. What must we
know? We need to know some things.
That's somewhat of a debate that goes on. about how much you know
and need to know to be safe. What must we know? What must
we know? What must we know? We must know
who God is. You're not going to call on him
who you've not heard and not believed. You're not going to
call on a God. You're not going to call on a Christ. You're not
going to call on a Lord whom you don't know anything about,
are you? Everybody's calling on some Jesus, but he's not the
Jesus that's of the Bible is everybody's talking about some
God, but he's obviously not the God of Scripture, who he cannot
save. He's not the sovereign God who
is the just God and Savior. You've got to know something
about God, don't you? That's the first principle. That's the
fundamentals of the faith, who God is. We've got to know something
of who God is. Nobody knows who God is perfectly.
We're not all great theologians, but we know something of God.
What to? We must know who God is. We must
know who we are. Right? Unless we know something
about our state before this holy God, we've got to know God's
holy. Unless we know something about our state before this holy
God, then we're not going to cry unto this God for mercy,
for salvation. We've got to know something about
our soul. We've got to know the word hell dissolving. Last, you've
got to know your last. of salvation. You've got to know
your laws, and you've got to know something of what God demands
of us, what the law says about us. You really can't know anything
about the gospel unless you've heard a little bit of something
about what the law demands of us, perfect righteousness. Paul said that there in Romans
10 that they're ignorant of the righteousness of God. They're
ignorant of His holiness, and they're ignorant of Christ, who
is the only righteousness that God will accept. So therefore,
they're going about it eye-on-eye, and they're trying to establish
some kind of righteousness, some kind of acceptance with God,
right? You've got to know something about righteousness. Not perfectly,
but you've got to know, you need to know that Christ is the way
that we're accepted with the Father. He's the way, and that's
the only thing that's going to make you quit trying to be accepted
with God. That's the only thing that'll really make you look
and cling to Christ alone, right? When you see that He is your
righteousness, you've got to know something about what you
must do to be saved. That's what the people cried
under the apostles, the disciples. What must we do to be saved?
I don't know what to do. What must we do? Look to Christ,
repent, believe in Christ, trust in Him. And the Scripture says
here that all this knowledge is hid in Christ. All this knowledge
is hid or found in the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you know Christ,
you'll know God, right? Know Christ, you'll know God.
If you come to know Christ. If you know Christ, you'll know
something about yourself. Christ said about, we saw this
on a Sunday night. He said, if I hadn't come and
spoken, I wouldn't have, I'd still have a cloak for their
sin. be in darkness, but the light came and shed light upon
us, didn't it? And revealed the darkness that
is in us. Christ, we see ourselves as we
look at Christ. We see something, when we see
God's holiness in Christ, we see ourselves. We see the law. We see something of the law in
Christ. We see what God demanded of us and that he slew his son.
He slew his son. His son had to keep that law
perfectly. because we couldn't, and then his son took our punishment
on that tree and God slew him in our place. We see that. We
see God's righteousness. We see his salvation in Christ. And true wisdom—remember I said
knowledge is the horse and wisdom is the rider? True wisdom is
being roused unto salvation. In other words, true wisdom is
taking all these things—the knowledge of God, the knowledge of our
soul, the knowledge of love, the knowledge of what righteousness
we need, what God demands, and looking to Christ and appealing
to Him, trusting in Him, looking to Him. True wisdom studies Christ
and Christ alone. True wisdom is taken up with
Christ and Christ alone. True wisdom pursues Christ and
Christ alone. True wisdom battles Christ and
Christ alone. True wisdom. You see, wisdom,
knowledge is the horse, and wisdom is the rider. Wisdom is taking
that knowledge that God has given you through the scriptures of
Christ and applying it. A pig drinking the water. The
knowledge, the depth is in the water. The wisdom, the satiating
of the thirst comes in drinking it. And so wisdom is applying
to Christ, looking to Christ, appealing to Him, believing on
Him, believing on Him. Look at verse 4. Now he says, Ask any man should beguile you
with enticing words, and many do. He says in another place,
he said that many with good words and thorough speeches deceive
the hearts of the simple, of the simple. And he said in another
place, they use wisdom of words, with wisdom of words, that is
high-sounding oratory or theology. High-sounding words, they make
the price of none a thought. He says this over here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, God said, I'll destroy the wisdom of the wise. I'll
put it down. I'll destroy the wisdom of the
wise. Bring to nothing the understanding of God. The eater of this world. Hath
not God made foolish the wisdom, or so-called wisdom, of this
world? Because in the wisdom of God,
the world by wisdom may not God, but please God by the foolishness
of preaching. Preaching how? The gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching to save them that believe.
He said this over in chapter 2. He said, Brethren, when I
came to you, I didn't come with excellency of speech, and believe
you me, the Apostle Paul probably could have. He studied under
Gamaliel, the greatest teacher of his day. I'm sure he wasn't
a simpleton, but he was a learned
man. He could have used great and
high oratory upon the day of speech. He could have. But he
didn't. That's why I came not to you
with excellency of speech or wisdom, Well, that is human reasoning
and logic, philosophy, declaring unto you the gospel of God, because
I've determined not to know anything, not to be taken up with anything
but Christ and Him crucified. And He says, when I was with
you, I was in weakness and fear and much trembling. In my speech,
my preaching was not within enticing words. He used that same word
here, that same word over there, enticing words, to beguile. I
didn't use enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and the power that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of man, or the eloquence or the oratorical ability of
the man standing up here. I didn't come in that fashion,
no, but in the power of God. Simpler, very plainly, very boldly
proclaiming Christ and Him crucified, that people might look to Christ
and Him alone, not be taken up with the man. that your faith
should be in God, the power of God. How be it? We do speak wisdom
among men that are mature. It's the wisdom of the ages.
It's the wisdom, it's the very wisdom of the ages. What about
the wisdom of this world? We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, a hidden wisdom. And that wisdom, he said over
here, is hidden in Christ. And he says this now, I'm telling
you, if any man should beguile you with enticing words, but
enticing words of man's wisdom. Don't listen to them. Study Christ
and you'll know all you need to know. Study Christ and you'll
know how to be saved, you'll know how to act, you'll know
how to walk, you'll know how to talk, you'll know how to think,
you'll know how to live, and you'll know how to die if you
study Christ. Go see that. And you won't need
a human guide, you won't need a priest, You won't need a preacher
like Carl Preacher was. Every time you get in trouble,
you won't need a counselor, you won't need a foal winner, or
somebody to hold your hand, or keep you out keeping on. You'll
have Christ, if He ever reveals Himself to you. You'll have Him,
and nothing and no one will move you, even if the preacher moves
out. You will stay put. And as Paul says here, look at
verse 5. He says, Though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am
with you in spirit. joy in beholding your order and
steadfastness of your faith in Christ. This thing didn't split
up when Jim Byrd left, did it? No, it didn't. It sure didn't. Now, some people said this about
Paul. They said he didn't come and buy it. And I tried to stir
up a little trouble. He didn't come and buy it. God's going to store
this thing and, you know, it's going to prove to be nothing
in the end. It could be, as I said, about this place, wasn't it? But it didn't matter. that the
apostle power wasn't there, that he lived, that it didn't matter
if one man lived or if this man lived. These people knew Christ. They knew Christ. They were steadfast
in the faith. They weren't trusting power,
they were trusting Christ. That's the only thing that held
the church together. Not a man, but the God man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Paul said, I just enjoy and
behold your order and steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Now,
let's sit. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so work in you, and pause, exhorting
them to continue to trust Christ, to look to Christ, to know Him,
to work with Christ, to, I hope, I already said, to hug up to
Christ, fall in love with Him, look to Him, lean upon Him, get
to know Him. well-acquainted with Christ.
As you therefore receive Christ Jesus as Lord, so welcome it.
Welcome it. First of all, rooted, built up
in Him. Rooted. What does it mean when
something's rooted? I mean, it's taken hold, right? You remember the parable of the
sower. Some grain fell on stony ground and it sprung up for a
little while, and after a while it's gone. after the sun came
out and so forth, he was gone. Why? He didn't have roots. He
didn't have any earth, any soil, and he didn't have any roots.
And it says here that we need to be rooted or firmly attached
to Christ, not to the man, not really to one another, but to
Christ. He's the only thing that'll hold us together as a body. He's the head. He cut the head
off, the Bible fell apart, right? Christ is up. Rooted. Stay put! Christ, a firm knowledge of Christ
and a true heartfelt affection for Him and true heartfelt faith
in Christ is the only thing that'll make a man stay put, no matter
what. Make him stay put. It'll make
a Charlie Payne out of me. It'll make a Cecil Roach. It'll
make a Scott Richards. It'll make old faithful saints
out of people. It'll make a Mary and a Martha
in him. It'll make a strong believer
out of people, be rooted and grounded in Christ. It says here,
built up, not only rooted down deep, holding on to him, but
built up, growing, strong, courageous, growing up. Believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ, rooted and built up in him, established
in deeper Be faith. Here we go again. What is be
faith? Paul said there's one Lord, one
faith. What is it? Faith is not so much
a thing as an object. Faith is, in other words, an
attitude of the heart and mind and soul and spirit towards an
object. Faith really is just looking
to somebody to do something for you. Completely. Looking to Christ. That's what faith is. And there's
only one faith, and that faith is, by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves? It's a gift of God. Salvation
is of the Lord Jesus Christ. That faith, faith in Him, faith
in His work, faith in Him alone, not trusting in ourselves, not
one bit. Worshipping God in spirit, rejoicing
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and putting no confidence in the
flesh, not in the preacher, not in anybody else. But in Christ,
that's the faith. There's no other. There's no
other faith. And it takes in doctrine. The faith takes in
doctrine. If any man abide not in the doctrine
of Christ, the doctrine of his sovereignty, the doctrine of
his successful atonement, a doctrine of his election of us, a doctrine
of our depravity, a doctrine of God's sovereignty, and so
forth, a doctrine of the Holy Spirit's Word, doctrine. And
that's what's involved in this faith, an understanding of these
things. Well, Paul says you need to be
established in that faith, as you've been taught, and you people
have been well taught here. So I've been well taught for
many years, and you're continuing to be well taught, if I may say
so myself. You have been taught, and we
need, look at this, verse 7, we need to abound therein with
thanksgiving. We need to abound in thanksgiving. We just don't realize, my soul,
we become like those children of Israel. out in the wilderness. And God sends us sweet, a sweet-tasting
manna every morning. They are unworthy of it. They
didn't do anything to receive it. They were starving before
he sent it. And he just opens it, just pours
it out from heaven. Sweet bread. Sweet, light, white
bread. And they just go out and have
to gather. All they have to do is go out there and just gather and
have a lovely meal. Well, what happens? They grew
tired of it, and they took it for granted. He was all they
needed. They ate it for how long? How
long did they eat that bread? Forty years? A long time, anyway. Years! Obviously, they had other
nutrients than what they could possibly make in that one source
of food. They grew tired of it, of other
things, you know. And that man is Christ. Christ
said it about himself. He said, that manna, Moses gave
you that manna, but I'm the manna. which came down from heaven.
And these people right here, you have sweet manna every Wednesday
night, every Sunday morning, every Sunday night. Everybody
doesn't have it. Some people out there starving
to death. We've got it. It just follows from heaven.
And all we need to do is sit down here and gather it in. But
do we grow tired of it? Do we take it for granted? Do
we want other things? Well, now I saw, now I saw, Abounding
in thanksgiving. We need to abound in thanksgiving
for this gift of the gospel. It was the greatest gift that
God can give to a mortal man. The greatest gift that God can
give to a human being is the gospel and an understanding of
it. So you need to abound. We need to be so full of thanksgiving
every day for this gospel and an understanding of it and a
place to go to hear it. My soul, we couldn't be caught
up in that mess up in here. You could be that woman going
around spouting off all that foolishness. You couldn't be
that blind, that old man, couldn't you? You could be talking to
Joe Parks or insane, making all those foolish statements like
that woman has been to you. But God, who's rich in mercy,
shuts you down and taught you the gospel. Phew, I'll be full
of thanksgiving, children, abounding in thanksgiving, more so than
anybody else I know. First of all, now he says beware,
and we need to be constantly warned. We need to beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy. Paul said over in Philippians
3, beware of confusion. I thought he was a religious
Pharisee. This is a man I believe he's still talking about, a religious
Pharisee. Beware lest any man, we need
to beware of men, beware of men. Lest any man spoil you, make
a spoil of you. You know what it is when, you
know what it was back in the Old Testament days when when
a conquering king and a people would go in and take over a country,
and they would take the spoils of that country. They would spoil
those people. In other words, they would take
everything, including those people, for themselves. Take their wives,
children as their slaves, take all of their possessions, and
take them personally for themselves, use it for their own use. They
wanted it for themselves. And he said, what about religious
people today? It's not your heart and soul
that they're interested in. It's your cap and your head.
It's your wallet they're interested in. And he said, beware. They're
interested in caps. What do they talk about, John?
How many of them are baptized? How many of them are having sex
on Sunday? Right? How many are in Sunday school?
How many of you are running? We're running. Running cattle. And they spoil you. and they'll
spoil your, they'll cut this tree and land," he said, to establish
one proselyte, a proselytizer. Cut the tree and land, send out
a 60-passenger bus to get one killed so they can sell there
so many in Sand Street. Go 20 miles down the road, get
one killed on a 100-foot-long bus, use $50 worth of gas, and
bring him back so they can sell. We have 38 in Sunday school and
turn it into the Sunday school board, and then they'll send
that money down the road with you. In fact, that gets your
quota now for us to send you this much money for the month. That? That's the way it is. That's
exactly the way it is. Spoil you. And these men, these
people, they'll spoil your peace, they'll spoil your comfort, they'll
spoil your assurance through their false doctrine. He said,
beware of them. Beware of them. What does he
mean, spoil you? Look at this word. He's a philosopher.
And I looked this word up, philosophical. It means the science which tries
to account for phenomena of the universe through practical wisdom. Now listen to me. It's the science
or the study of the phenomena of the universe through practical
wisdom. Philosophical. Philosophical,
in other words, is natural thinking. way of thinking, trying to figure
things out with human logic or reasoning. And Paul says, beware
of it. Beware of anybody's fooling you
through human logic. Now, I know that it says this,
but surely, you know, and they go into some sort of philosophizing
concerning their thoughts. And he says, that's what he says,
vain deceit, through philosophy and vain deceit. Vain deceit
is nothing, nothing but, I think, Useless thoughts, because the
heart is deceitful above all things, desperately looking.
We're deceived. The natural man is deceived. And when he espouses
his viewings, it's being deceived. Useless deceit. He's deceived. And it's worthless, useless knowledge
and thoughts. I think, this is what I think.
Everybody's got some thoughts, you know, very sad. I like to
meet these guys. They know everything. That's good. They're sad. You
know what they say, don't you? I'd like to know who they are. Well, don't listen to what men
think. They'll deceive, and they'll
deceive you. Listen to God's word. Most specifically,
listen to his incarnate word, Christ, who is this book, who
God has spoken unto us by in these last days. Christ. This
is what he has to say. He says, beware of the tradition
of men, verse 8. the tradition of man. Now listen,
folks. I don't care how appealing to
our flesh some of these traditions of people get into. I don't care
how appealing it is, how right it may seem, if religious customs—listen
to me very carefully—if religious customs and practices were not
taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, forget it! Throw it away! Right? If Christ didn't come
out, if the Apostle didn't deal with them in the Scripture, in
the New Testament, through all those books in the New Testament,
if they didn't deal with them, such as tithing, such as what
you ought to wear and this and that and the other, touch mark,
touch mark, if they didn't deal with them, if Christ didn't deal
with them, forget it. It's your tradition of mine.
Right? And he says beware. Don't care
how appealing it may be. I've told you before, you know,
it's very appealing to me to live it. natural life, and grow
a long beard, and this and that and the other, seem very appealing,
but I'm such a Pharisee by nature. Don't let it appeal to you. Don't
let it bother you. It's not taught in the Scripture.
It's not taught. It's a tradition of man, and
it's after—look at verse 8 again—it's after the rudiments of the elements
of the world. Now, that which is flesh is flesh,
isn't it? Huh? Flesh. That which is spirit
is spirit. They're different entities, they're
different things altogether. Flesh and spirit. Now look over
here at verse 20 of chapter 2. Look at verse 20. It says, Now
if you be dulled with Christ from the elements of the world,
why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances?
Touch not, taste not, handle not. Well, a parish would be
easy. Christ lived in one place. He
stopped. People would follow him one day, and the Pharisees
were talking about it. He didn't wash his hands before he ate.
He went through and ate the corn on the Sabbath, and this and
that and the other. And he turned abruptly and said,
Now you listen to me. He turned away from those Pharisees
and pointed at the feet and said, Now you listen to me. Very well,
very well. Now you listen. I have a truth. Mark it down. And this has an
underlying in this thing of salvation by grace as opposed to work.
Nothing that goes in the mouth can defile a man. He said, verily,
verily, Christ, truth of the truth, of the truth, you mention
the name, you mark it well. Nothing that goes into this mouth,
nothing you wear on your head or on your body, nothing defiles
you. Nothing going into the body defiles
a man. That is, the soul, the spirit,
the mind, the heart. Nothing ain't the devil's juice. Becker ain't the devil's Becker. It's what's on the inside that
defiles a thing. See, it ain't a bottle or a box,
a cigarette, a cigar, a bottle of beer. See, it ain't no thing.
You leave it up on the shelf and it can't... It's all right,
right? It's not like Pandora's box and
as soon as you open that or over liquid, the whole devil starts
shooting out. And you pour, you pour devil,
demon spirits into your body. Well, the demon's right here.
It's in here, waiting to get out. And that just, you know,
that's just an outlet for it. For sure, I mean, that's just,
just reveals what's already in there in the first place. But
Christ said, you mark it down well. You mark it down well. And that's what Paul says here.
He said he's going to perish Christ said, don't you know whatever
goes in the mouth is going to come out in the drive? You know
what the drive is? Whatever goes in the mouth comes
out in the sewer plant. And these things are going to
perish with the using. And the commandments and doctrines
of men are going to perish. And you think all these things
are, he says, verse 23, are a show of wisdom and real worship. Well,
I don't do that. You do, don't you? as strong
as I am right now. Humility. I'm on board. I want
everybody to know it. Humility. Neglecting of the Bible. Nobody, nobody practices self-denial
and nonconformity more than the people
over in the Middle East, the Muslims and the Hindus. Nobody
practices self-denial and selfless neglecting of the body more than
those people. Well, they pass a long time.
They go through all of these things concerning their body,
but they don't know Christ. Gracious faith. They don't know
Christ. And Paul says, you beware. You
beware that you're not following, that you're not caught up in
this thing. Beware. Beware of being caught up. And
listen to this. You mark it down. Terry and I
were talking about this before the service. You mark it down. The things most people do in
the name of religion, in the name of Jesus, the thing that
most people do in the name of religion, the things they do,
whether it be gospel signing, they get their quartets together,
and I'm making fun of this stuff because it deserves to be made
fun of. It's a stench in God's nostrils, and it's a stench in
mine. All this so-called gospel singing, a bit of gospel in it. All this so-called singing, all
this praying in public. Christ says about the Pharisees,
you know, they love to pray in public. People love... All this
singing, all this praying, so much preaching, all these bands
of joy on TV, all this hand-waving and all this stuff, is to be
seen of man. Mark my words. 99.9999% of it is to be seen of man. Yes, it is. And they have over
and over. They have over and over. And beware of being caught
up in this trap. Take literally what the Lord
Jesus Christ said. Take it literally. He said, when
you tell, don't get in class. Don't you let your right hand
know what your left hand does. Don't let anybody see you doing
it. Because you'll be conscious of them, and your father won't
hear you. You go home and get in secret.
You're praying. You know who you're praying to?
Praying so people know you're Christian? How about praying
you're Christian? Huh? I don't know in your heart. You
could be praying to Allah. Blah, blah, blah, blah. You could
be a Buddhist. Somebody could be at a table, praying, and they're
Buddhists. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And they tell you, he's a good Christian. See what I mean? He
worried. He worried being caught up in
this trial. And take literally what the Lord Jesus Christ was
up to. That's true. Take it literally
what he's for. Now, I don't want to offend anybody,
but I'd like to open some eyes. Didn't Christ say, when you pray,
then he said, take me if you do not turn around to me soon.
In other words, he said, be careful. But what you're doing is not
to be seen. Go to great lengths not to be
seen. But this religious world is taken
up with being seen, right? All they do, they do it to be
seen. You know what Christ said? Well,
don't you do it. Don't look proud up in the rudiments
of this world, the traditions of man. Get in your closet. Give
it up your right hand knowing what you're looking at, right?
In secret, and when you do these things in secret, your father
will see it in secret. He'll reward you openly. You
don't have to worry about people knowing you wrote something.
They'll find out about it. They'll find out about it. And
you'll be blessed, somewhere, somewhere. Beware of anything,
philosophy, the sea, tradition, or anyone who does not speak,
does not act, after the language, the methods, the manner of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? If they speak not according
to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to His word.
This is what I said Sunday morning. Let's stop and think. What would
He say? What would He do? What would
He be doing in this situation? If they speak not according to
His word, my word, according to Christ, Because there's no
life, no understanding, no discernment in them. Right? So beware of
anything or anyone that he does not speak at after the language
and methods and the manners of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our
Lord. He's our teacher. He's our master. That was so
and so saying. He is. He's our leader. He's
our guide. He's our ultimate authority.
He's the one we appeal to. Now, Paul know him? Now, he'll
know him. Any man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
we go to Him. We go to what He said. He's our
instructor. He's our teacher. Now, you beware,
Paul said, if you don't follow after the tradition of men, of
rudiments, or elements of this world, and not after Christ. Listen, I'm a person. I follow
an idea, and principles, and traditions, and rudiments, and
trying to do this and that, and it's going to get... I'm a person. We're like those people in Pitt,
Bunyan, Holy Roar, you know, they love Christ so much, so
taken up with Him, so enamored with Him, they follow Him around.
He walked down the street one day, and they all got behind
Him, putting their feet in His footsteps. They liked the way
He walked. They liked the way He talked. They liked the way
He acted. Taken up with Him. And that's
what we're doing. That's what we're doing. I want
to preach like Christ preached. I do. Preach simply, I want to
preach boldly and plainly and understandably and by Him. Look at verse 9 in our prayer
book. We call it, In Him. You beware
now, lest any man spoil you. And you don't follow up to Christ,
because in Christ was I. I was a fulness of the Godhead
and a body. What of two men? back when Christ
was on this earth, two men are standing there, talking, and
you've probably said this before, oh, I wish I could talk with
the Lord, I wish I could, I'd like to be able to just be with
Him and talk to Him and ask Him questions, I don't know where
I'm at, and have Him talk to me and answer my questions, and
these two men are standing there, and one of them is saying, oh,
if I could just talk to God, I can just ask him about the
mysteries of the universe. So many things are left for us
to die. And one man, a disciple of Christ, said, So what man
was that? That's God. That's God. Good talk to him. There he is. How did that happen? What did? God knows what he said. Y'all do what a man's saying.
Two man standing there talking. And I said, well, there's so
many things I'd like to know. Go to God. Just go ask him in. I asked him anything that God spoke.
He wrote a book, a long one. A long book. A lot in it. Ask
him. Ask him. He wrote a book. And
go to Reverend Young. Go to God. Go to God. Go to Christ. Go to his book. In Him dwelleth
all the fulness. In Christ dwelleth all the fulness
of God himself. God was in a body of a man and
walked this earth. And you want to know the mind
of God? You want to know the will of God? You want to know
the purpose of God? Do you? The ways of God? Study
Christ. God walked the earth in a man,
in a body of a man. You want to know the mind of
God? How did Christ think? Know the ways of God? How did
Christ think? You want to know how God talks? How did Christ
talk? Christ, God was in Christ revealing
himself to this world. And look at this, most aggressively,
you're complete in him. He's all you need to know. He's
all you need to know. He has all you need to have.
And in him you are all you need to be if you're in Christ, if
you're a family man. in Christ, because Christ is
our heart. Now, I may just preach this again
Sunday morning, and Sunday night. I don't think there's anything
else to preach. But do well. We'd do well to hear it again
until we heard it, until we heard that Christ is our heart. We
need to be grounded and settled on God's truth and this hope,
this one hope, this full assurance of acknowledgement of the mystery
of God, the riches of this scroll of healing, of acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of Christ, His gospel. And I hope
it's been helpful to you. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this.