This message is from the teaching
ministry of James Tippins, pastor of Grace Truth Church. More information
can be found online at gracetruth.org and anchoringfaith.org. A people
for His glory, by His grace. In the last 10 days to two weeks,
tell me that they want some clarification when it comes to the error of
conflating the gospel and the assurance of salvation with good
works and evidence of salvation. And so what I want to do tonight
before we get back next week into Romans, you know, Brother
Trey taught just a couple of weeks ago in relation to sanctification
and it was very well done. Before we get back into Romans,
I think this is something we need to have very clear in our
hearts and minds. And so what I want to do is to
look at several texts which are used often to prove. And here's
the argument. Let me break it down for us a
little bit simpler. Some people say, well, I know
that I'm saved because I can see it in my life that I do good
works. Okay? To which I ask, what measure
of good works do you mean? And they say, you know, obedience
to Christ. I said, so your obedience to
Christ is perfect. Oh, no, no, no, not at all. Because,
you know, now I have met some, and Trey and I were in here one
day last year when some people came in and said that their obedience
was absolutely perfect. To which I said, I pray that
God would have mercy on you as you lay down at night and thank
him for his perfection in you. No one would say, no, we're not
perfect. And then I would come to say, then, what happens when
you sin? Of course, then they'd go to
what the scripture teaches, which is what? We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So it breaks down
into two things. There is the gospel of Christ,
which is effectual unto salvation. The gospel, which is the power
of God unto salvation. And then there is all the instruction
for those who have received the grace of God and are saved, all
of them, and how we should live, the instruction of the New Testament,
what we should be doing, how we should and should not act,
speak, and deal with things. So we see those two things. I
don't know why it is so difficult, but there is a large group of
people, myself being one way back in the day, that if I found
any sin whatsoever in my life, and you understand when I say
find sin, I'm not talking about robbing the liquor store, though
I don't know that that would be a crime. No, I'm just joking.
I'm not talking about, you know, having a slave trade operation
or murdering people. I'm talking about the internal
sin of covetousness, fear, anxiety, doubt, frustration, bitterness,
anger. Some of the things that I'd never
even act on, just like Paul would say when you get to Romans 7
next Wednesday, the covetousness that he had. He called himself,
oh, a wretched man. What a wretched man am I? So
in this, no one can come up with a standard of what's absolute
perfect evidence of one's salvation. Now some people would say, well,
see, a believer truly has the Holy Spirit. He will walk, and
the Holy Spirit of God will cause us to walk in his statutes. Amen.
Praise the Lord. For if God did not, what would
we be? We are a new creation in Christ.
No one argues that that's not the case. But I will argue with
you that I know hundreds and hundreds of people who refuse
the gospel of God and by their own identification say that they
are indeed atheists and they hate the idea of religion or
Jesus or anything, but yet they walk in a moral sense better
than most Christians do. I would also suppose that most
of the Mormons that I know walk in a greater morality than most
Christians that I know, in comparison to the world's ways. And so what
I want to do today is to show you that there are two things
in which we need to understand as it relates to this discussion.
One is that the gospel is all of God, it is all of Christ,
and it is all of grace through faith alone. There is nothing
else, no other condition that a human being must have except
the conditions that are met by Christ that we believe by faith. That's what salvation is. It
is the work of God whereby He saves, He regenerates, He seals,
He accomplishes all of his justice and the righteousness of his
covenant, everything from the beginning to the end for the
sake of his elect. He's done it all in Christ and
there is nothing else to do. And of course, evidences that
we see primarily is what? A profession that we trust in
the totality and the sufficiency of the work of Christ and the
person of Christ alone. There is nothing else for us
to do except trust in Christ alone. But then what else comes
with salvation? Ebb and flow of incredible things. A great working of the Spirit
sometimes to sustain us and a great level of obedience at times,
a great level of sufficient faith at times, and then sometimes
we see that waning. We even see ourselves in the
mirror of our soul and we go, am I even a believer? Look at
the hatred I have. Look at the doubt I have. I don't
even think God is with me. What do we do in times like that?
We hold fast to Christ. And most importantly, He holds
fast to us. And so tonight, I want to look
at James chapter 1. If you will turn there with me,
James chapter 1, and I will read a little bit and talk a little
bit and read a little bit and talk a little bit. I want to
show you in rough outline very quickly. This is not going to
be exposition. This is just proof texting contextually. if I can,
with an expositional outline of these texts with commentary.
That's what you're going to hear tonight. Otherwise, I'm just
going to teach it in bullet points very quickly and rushed, and
you're going to miss more than there, but I'm going to give
you the highlights. James chapter 1 says, James, a slave of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ, said, the 12 tribes and the dispersion,
greetings. So we know who's receiving this
letter. It is those Israelites, those Jewish people, who have
come to faith in Jesus Christ by the mercy of God, and they
are kicked out of their homeland, kicked out of their neighborhoods,
kicked out of their lives. They are there. Then James begins
to say in verse two, we'll do two and three and four, and then
I'll talk a little bit. Count it all joy, my brothers. Who? My brothers. Who are they? They're his brothers in the Lord
Jesus. That's who they are. Count it
all joy. That means what you're about
to hear coming out of my mouth, it is to be counted as joy in
its totality. Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the
testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness
have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing. See right there, you already
know where this text is going. James is saying that what happens
in these trials is that God is testing your faith. He's not
testing it to see if it's there, he's testing, as Peter would
say, the genuineness of it. We're able to see that it's authentic.
We're able to look at the faith that we have and go, oh, where
is it? It's not there. Oh, look at these trials. Wow, God, you
are so great and so mighty. Look at the faith you have given
me in Christ. Look how I have overcome in Jesus'
name. For Christ is my victor. He is
the one who has overcome for me. This is what we see. This
testing your faith comes through the engagement of the opportunity
to leave it. When things are not good, when
things are hard, when your faith in itself causes the stress of
life, when the persecution comes, and when problems come, and when
division comes, and when sickness comes, and when calamity befalls
us, when relational strife hits, we have an opportunity to show
that our faith is genuine through the power of Christ in those
things. So he says that that is what
we should count as joy, the trials. Because what God is doing is
proving to you that you have saving faith. He's proving to
you your assurance, which is Christ. This is what he's proving
to you. So those who are what? Steadfast.
Let's do this argument very quickly. Those who are steadfast that
comes through the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. How can I be steadfast? You see,
people say, well, it's got to have a strong faith that never
wavers. That's not what James says. Steadfastness comes through
a weak faith that's wavering, that stands strong in the power
of Christ. Steadfastness is when we have had many moments of wondering
and worry, and we go, wow, but it is all of Christ. I stand
on Christ. I stand on the solid rock of
the gospel of grace. This is all I have. I have this
as my confession of hope. This is the joy of my salvation. He is Christ. He is Christ. You
see? That's steadfastness. It only
comes the testing to show that faith is genuine. And then he
says there that steadfastness has its full effect and that
what it does is it results in us being perfect and complete
and lacking in nothing. Isn't that funny? Because isn't
it in our trials that we see often the greatest part of our
depravity? Isn't it in our trials that we
see the seed that so desperately wants to grow and bloom into
evil and bloom into sin? It's this that we see constantly,
that in these times of trial, where we don't have humiliation,
where we don't really see that we are strong at all, but that
Christ then becomes our strength. For in our weakness, He is strong. And what is the rest of that
there? Well, there are other things that James would say.
If we go down in verse 5, he says you feel like wisdom. Verse
6, it talks about let him have faith and not doubt. Let me just
sort of paraphrase with the next, you know, 12 through verse 15
real quick. There's examples of what this
steadfastness looks like and what it produces. And this is
the work of God. This is not our work. And here
is what it is. Wisdom, ask, he says, and walk
in it. When you receive it, don't doubt.
Have faith in that. Don't change your mind after
God calls you because you're a little uncertain. Stand firm
in that which God has revealed. Also, humiliation is a mark there.
What happens when we are prideful or we think we've got it all
together and then testing comes and we realize that we're really
not the Christian that we thought we were. We're really not as
strong as we thought we were. And as a matter of fact, we proved
to ourselves that without the grace of God, we would fall away.
But God will never throw away his children. So we have nothing
to fear. This humiliation is part of what
comes as the fruitfulness of the work of God and His people.
But it's not permanent, and it's certainly not perfect. But it
does come through the trials of life. And this testing reveals
true faith, which is life in Christ. And if we get down to
verse 16, He says, do not be deceived. You see the context
there. The testing is something that God is doing to prove your
faith. He's showing you the faith. that
you have. He's showing you, most of all,
His faithfulness. And He's working it in you through
the trials, through the sufferings, through the opportunity. He brings
in you humiliation. He brings and gives you wisdom
when you ask. And He causes you to see that
your hope is in Him and the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
And He says, do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. In the same
context, do not be deceived. Every good gift is And every
perfect gift is from above, it's from God, coming down from the
Father of light, with whom there is no variation or shadow due
to change. Of His own will, listen to verse
18, of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. That
doesn't say by the will of James, by the will of us, by the will
of you. It's by His will. It's a reiteration of what Paul
so passionately teaches in Ephesians 1. For the counsel of His own
will, He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His
Son. In love He did these things. He loves His elect. And we are
brought into this domain of light, snatched out of the domain of
darkness. That's where we're going to end up as we close our service
tonight in Colossians 1. These trials then, as we take
these three verses very quickly, reveal the work of God and the
strengthening of the faith of the believer. God is not desiring
for us to sin. He's not testing us or tempting
us, as James would say, to sin. He's testing to show and to prove
the faith He has given us is sufficient. These trials are
good gifts from above. That's the context and the subject
of these trials. It's the gift that is from above
or the trials that produces steadfastness by His mercy and grace, by the
Spirit. So here we now, we keep on going and it says, know this
then my beloved, see the context of James, that's what I'm trying
to get to you. My beloved brothers, let every
person, so he starts to say what this looks like. Listen, just
be quick to hear and slow to speak, slow to anger, for the
anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. We
know that when we lose our temper, that's not righteousness, that's
not what being set apart looks like. When we're angry, Therefore
put away, because that's not the case, that's not who we are,
therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and then
receive with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your
souls." Oh my goodness, can you just see it already? You see
how much pretext we have done damage with through the book
of James? See how we have taken and devoured people's lives and
their joy and their souls and their utter beings and the existence
of their own mind, in some sense robbed them of the gospel of
grace because we have considered this as a pretext and we've pulled
out verses and halves of sentences and been taught those things
throughout decades. And we walk around in fear, beloved,
wondering, hoping, but not really hoping. Wishing would be a better
word, that we would just find some resolve of assurance. And
we put the fake mask of certainty on when we gather together. And
we go, oh yeah, the Lord is good. But all deep down in our heart,
we know that we don't believe that. Because we're scared to
death that one moment we're going to look and we're going to find
ourselves unjustified, which cannot be the case. So what does he teach us there
in verses 19 through 21? That we lack nothing, remember?
We've asked for wisdom, we're lacking nothing in Christ. So we then should be slow to
speak. Slow to anger. We should put away all filthiness
and rampant wickedness. This negative teaching, this
correction, don't do this, put this away. This is what it looks
like. What's the positive teaching
of putting away wickedness and rampant evil? What's it look
like? The exhortation that James gives,
he says, receive with meekness the implanted word which is able
to save you. So if James is saying that works
produce the evidence of certainty, by all means, The work is to receive the implanted
word with meekness which is able to save you. Beloved, people will call me
out on this sermon and say, this is not true. They are demonic. It is true. It's what James said
in the English. I can speak and read English.
Maybe not speak it, but I can read English. I graduated and
I can read. Maybe not well. But oh boy, I
learned grammar. I learned how to read, and I
know what context looks like, and I teach it to you. It's not
very difficult. You may not know all the ins
and outs, but you know what's being taught right there when
you heard the words in context. This positive teaching, receive
the word which is able to save you. This is what saves you.
This is what keeps you. The living word of God that became
flesh, His name is Jesus Christ and He reveals the truth of His
work for us in the scripture, you see. This is the gospel of
grace and this is the hope and the assurance of the church of
Christ. And if there is anything else
that we have a pinky toe, you ever treaded water before and
you just sort of cheated, you put your, you find a divot in
the side of the pool and you put your pinky toe in there.
That is damnation. When it comes to truth. We don't
keep a pinky toe into some other type of hope with a bunch of
hope in Jesus and a pinky toe hope in something else, just
in case. Paul says to the Galatian church
that that is anathema. We don't cut things. We don't
bother our bodies, as Paul would argue in Romans 12, Romans 11
actually. We don't do things to make ourselves
more holy and righteous and sanctified. We are set apart in such a way
that it's perfect in Christ Jesus and the works that He produces
in us which we've been created to do before the foundation of
the world are the works that we are currently doing in the
context of the teaching of these verses and these books and these
letters teach us exactly what it is that we need to know about
these things. He says in verse 22, keep on
going, but be doers of the word. There it is, do the word! Yee-haw,
yee-haw, do the Word, you know? I mean, that'd be easy. But what
if I tell you, be doers of the Word, now what does the Word
say do? Is it not the same question? Is it not the same question that
was posed by the multitudes in John chapter 6, when they said,
you tell us what God wants us to do, we'll get it done. And
Jesus says, this is what God wants you to do, believe on Christ.
Believe on the one whom He has sent. That's what He wants us
to do. There's joy in that if you are
regenerate. But if you are not born again,
it scares the living daylights out of you because there is no
sense in which it works for your joy or your assurance to trust
only in Jesus. And then what does the world
say? This is Romans 12 for you. The world says, don't trust only
in Jesus, you better watch it. The Word keeps us, be doers. Because the Word is telling you
what to do, be doers of the Word. But we do not forget the Word,
like it says there, a man looks in the mirror and forgets what
he looked at. We don't forget the Word. Why? Because it's in us. We don't
forget the Word. It's in our hearts and it's in
our mouths, as Paul would say in Romans 9. Blessed is the doing. This isn't
salvation. It's the application of the teaching
of Christ, the Word of Christ that gives salvation and the
Spirit of God that gives hearing. It's the application that gives
us joy. It's the reward of joy. It's
the reward of strengthening our faith. It's the reward of maturing
in the faith. It's the reward of an intimacy
that produces thankfulness and gives us worship in such a way
that it cannot be shaken until the next wall comes. And then
Christ works in us these same things over and over again. We keep on going. If anyone thinks
he's religious, if anyone thinks he follows the teachings here
and does the things that he's supposed to do, but does not
broddle his tongue, he deceives his heart. So even James contradicts
this idea of this perfectionism that's called upon in such a
way that is proof and assurance of your salvation. Because, beloved,
I've never met one who was regenerate, who had assurance in their words. Because James is saying right
there, you can do all sorts of religion. You can follow the
rules easily. You can do all sorts of obedience. As well,
you should. You shouldn't just take and pick what you want.
And here's one of the areas that we could also fail in, James
says, you don't broddle your tongue, you deceive your heart.
You think you've got your religion in order, but you run your mouth.
You think you got your religion in order, but you speak in anger.
You think you got your religion in order, but you gossip. You
think you got your religion in order, but you confess doubt
and fear and you complain. Do all things without complaining
and grumbling. You complain. So how many of
us are left after that little example? Don't raise your hand. None of us. I will not raise
my hand at all in any of those things. By the Lord's grace,
as they are called out by the Holy Spirit in conviction, my
hope is not in the correction of those things, but in the Lord
working in me to correct them a little bit more today than
He did yesterday until my flesh might overcome me tomorrow. I
pray that it doesn't, and it didn't yesterday, but it may
tomorrow. But if it does, my hope is in the finished work
of Jesus. See, we need to keep our tongue in check. And a long
list of other things that believers need to watch and remember and
do. Notice I said believers. This
isn't what keeps us. This isn't what seals us. This
isn't what confirms to us. This is the work that God is
doing in us. And beloved, it is always going to be different.
The measure of faith that we see, we'll show you what that
looks like there. Then somebody said, well, what about Romans?
You know what I say about it? First, we need to learn to read.
The Scripture. We need to learn to hear the
Scripture. We need to learn to listen to
the Scripture. We need to learn to see the Scripture. And that's
what we do when we get together, when you hear it. Romans 12,
verses 1 through 8. You know what the Scripture says
there. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers. That's a huge therefore. You see a therefore, you have
to say, well, what is it therefore? What is it pointing to? Therefore
what? By the mercies of God to present
to you, I appeal to you by the mercies of God, so we see who
the actor is, I don't have time to unpack that, to present your
bodies as a living sacrifice. That's the language of this letter
dealing with the sacrificial system of chapter 11 that he
talks about was not really worthy of anything. The sacrifice of
your lives, the totality of commitment and discernment and living and
dedication to the Lord Jesus, but it's not about our zeal and
passion because we're going to go to Philippians. We're going
to see what that commitment looks like and what Paul says about
it loosely. Therefore, brothers, by the mercies
of God, I urge and appeal to you to present your bodies as
holy and acceptable to God, set apart and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing
you may discern what is the will of God, which is good and acceptable
and perfect. There's not three wills there.
The will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. For by the grace,
verse 3, given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think
of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that
God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and
the members do not all have the same function, so we, though
many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one
of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace
given to us, let us use them. See, there's the exhortation
there. There's the commandment. Offer your bodies as living sacrifices.
Use what God has created in you to use for the sake of another.
And then he gives an example. Prophecy, teaching, in proportion
to our faith, in service, in our serving. The one who teaches
in his teaching. The one who exhorts in his exhortation.
The one who contributes in his generosity. The one who leads
with zeal. The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Let's
think about that. There's just a couple of words.
Therefore. Let's pull these out for just a second. Because of
the total teaching, therefore comes back from chapter 1 all
the way to the end of chapter 11. That's what he's saying. Because of that one argument
there, Therefore, I appeal to you, brothers, to offer your
bodies as living sacrifices by the grace of God. Our slogan
is, for His glory by His grace. Many, many ministries have used
something in variation. Many books have written of that
name. Friends, that's what it boils down to. Therefore, because
of everything that I've already written to you thus far, It is
all by the grace of God that I have taught you these things.
Do not be conformed any longer to the world." What does that
mean? He's already talking to Christians. Is he talking to
Christians who are living in debauched lifestyles or sexually
morn? I mean, there might be some of
them, but that's not what he's dealing with. We see what Pauline letters look like when
he has that kind of stand in the church. Discipline. Kick
them out if they don't stop. It's easy. It's not an easy process,
but I mean, it's easy to see. It's an easy teaching. It's a
simple teaching to grasp. But don't be conformed. That
means don't be easy to be pushed into the way the world thinks. Don't be pressured in thought,
in deed, in word, in ideal, in belief, or in affection, the
way the world looks, thinks, speaks, believes, ideal and affection. We don't have to think the way
the world thinks. We don't have to act the way
the world acts. We can live our lives as pleasing
sacrifices to God. We can trust by faith to be a
pleasing sacrifice to God because of the finished work of Christ.
We can bite our tongue and bridle our tongue because of the great
mercy of God on our behalf. He says, but be transformed by
the renewal of your mind, right? He didn't say be transformed
by the putting death these things. Somebody argued with me that
repentance does not mean just a change of mind. Yes, it does.
But friends, if I believe that I am justified by the mercy of
God and God has given me the faith to trust in Him, then God
will give me the wherewithal to desire to walk in a manner
worthy of Him until my flesh rises up and tempts me. And then by the mercy of God,
I can overcome that temptation. And sometimes God doesn't give
us the grace at that moment to overcome that temptation every
single time it seems. So where does that lie? Well,
there is a there is a. There is a war. What's to keep
me from sin? My faith in Christ. Whereas we
took the Lord's Table this last Sunday, when we think of the
body and blood of Christ being shed and broken for us, we are
less likely to continue in our way of thinking that is not in
line with the will of God. We're less likely to have animosity
or unforgiveness or frustration or doubt or greed. Be renewed. This comes from regeneration,
just as Jesus learned in His humanity. Some of us forget that
the Bible says that Jesus and His humanity had to learn and
He grew in stature with men. He had to be taught the Scripture
in His human mind so that He would know the truth. In that
same way, we have to teach the Scripture to ourselves and to
each other. You have to learn the Word of
God in this regeneration of Christ. I mean, of the Spirit teaches
us. The Spirit of God teaches us.
And so we are renewed by the study of scripture that we can
test. So here is this word test again.
What are we testing? The mind through its renewal
of the word tests the worth of the will of God. The will of
God is this is what I want for you. And when we test it, when
we renew our mind on the teaching of scripture, we see that the
will of God is highly valuable, overly valuable, infinitely valuable. And so what he's saying is, here,
don't be conformed, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
And I'm about to teach you in these next four chapters exactly
what I mean. Chapter 12, 13, 14, 15. I'm going to teach you exactly
what I mean." And he gives a little bit of expression there. Look,
what does he say? He says, have some humility,
discernment. You're given a measure of faith.
You need to know that you've been given a measure of faith
by the Lord and gifts. You're a member with a function. You're supposed to be one of
many. You're supposed to help one another
and use these gifts as God has graciously given. This is the
outline that Paul will expose throughout the remainder of the
teaching of this letter. These are the things he's saying is
what the renewal of our mind transforms us to understand. We understand it. Somebody says,
well, what about Philippians 3? I got you there. Well, I start with verse one
where it says, finally, my brothers rejoice in the Lord. I love that
command. Rejoice in the Lord. Then he
says to write the same things to you is no trouble to me. In
other words, I'm about to repeat myself, but it's no trouble to
me. And then what does he say? And
it is safe for you. It is safe for you. We need to
hear it again. You think Paul, when he says,
renew our mind, don't you think that maybe he's thinking, why
don't you read the word of God again? Why don't you study this?
Why don't you focus on these things? Why don't you understand
the commands of what scripture is teaching? Why don't you be
renewed? Well, I'm going to prove it to you here and in Colossians.
That's what he means. Look out for dogs, he says, verse
2. Look out for evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate
the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of
God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the
flesh. What the world does he mean?
We put no confidence in the flesh. He didn't say we put a little
bit. He didn't say have some. He said we put none. We are the
circumcision who worship by the Spirit, not the flesh. We glory
in Christ Jesus. That means that is our boast.
That is our joy. That is our hope. That is our
assurance. That is our confidence. Christ, not our flesh. But he
says, though I myself, verse 4, have reason for confidence
in the flesh also. If anyone thinks he has a reason
for confidence in the flesh, I have more. You see that? Now
Paul's using this expression not to say, I do. He says, if
I did, I'd have more than you do, and I'm about to tell you
what mine is. He's already said I don't have
confidence in the flesh. So he's expressing that for those who
would say, well, we should have some. No, Paul says we should
have none. If anyone thinks I have more, here
they are, circumcised on the eighth day. It's funny how he
takes credit for that, of the people of Israel. He doesn't.
I'm being funny. of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews. As to the law, I was a Pharisee,
literally. As to zeal, a persecutor of the
church. As to righteousness under the
law, blameless. Whatever gain I had, whatever
that gained me, I count it lost for the sake of Christ. It's
nothing. It's nothing. Indeed, I count
everything as loss, everything, not just my life, not just my
law abiding, not just my righteousness in the flesh, my entire being. As he would say in Acts 20, it's
not my life to live anymore, that I'm gone. He tells Timothy
in his second epistle, I'm being poured out like a drink offering.
I'm finished, the race. Whatever gain I had, I counted
as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as
loss because of the surpassing worth, this means the greatest
value, the greatest power, the greatest everything, worth of
what? Knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. The renewing of Paul's mind through
regeneration and the knowledge of the Word given by the Spirit,
which he now writes to us that we may have the grace of God
for the same benefit Paul says, I find knowing Christ is everything. Indeed, it's all loss. For Christ's sake, latter part
of verse 8, I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them as trash, garbage. Now I don't know about you, have
you ever taken off trash before when you live out in the sticks?
Take off trash. Before we had public trash pickup
here, you used to have to put it in the back of the truck and
at the end of every week you take it off to the dumpster sites
that were around. People didn't throw junk and garbage all around
the dumpsters like they did now. They respected the truth of what
it was for. And it was never a fail. You're running late for
school. I remember this, my sophomore year, running late for school,
and you stick the trash can up on the toolbox of your pickup
truck, or the trash bag, and you got three or four in the
back, and you stick one up there, because, you know, here's your mom, your
dad, hey, you left one. You stick it up there, and you
get in, you're like, and you look back, and there's trash
flying everywhere. Except for the fact that if I didn't stop
and pick it up when my father came to work, I would have died,
literally, because he would have killed me. And the other fact
that I don't want to litter. If I had a trunk full of trash
and a tornado came and sucked it all out, I'm not going to
grieve over it. I lost my garbage. Paul just said that same feeling
is what he has for his entire life until Christ saved him. That it was like a bag of trash
that blew out with wind. I found it all that I've suffered,
that loss of all things, and count it as trash, in order that
I may gain Christ. And be found in Him, having,
here it is, a righteousness of my own, not a righteousness of
my own. Not having a righteousness of
my own that comes from the law. but that which comes through
faith in Christ, the righteousness of God that depends on faith.
That I may know Him, know Him, know Him, and I may know the
power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings,
becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I
may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I've already
obtained this, or that I am already perfect, but I press on to make
it my own, because Christ has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that
I have made it my own, but one thing I do, and here's what he
means when he says, I press on. I press on. This is the pressing
on. forgetting what lies behind and
straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the
goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And he says, verse 13, let those
who are mature, let us who are mature think this way. And if any of you think otherwise,
this is really awesome, God will reveal it to you also. So where's
our hope for the naysayers of grace? That God may save them
and grant repentance, but most assuredly that His people, we
will be taught equally in the timing of God. I'm not saying
that people who hold to a false gospel, God will teach them the
truth in their salvation. No, God will save them out of
their false hope. And we have to say that Paul
teaches that a hope in works is no hope at all. whatsoever. Brothers, join in imitating me.
What? Join in imitating me in the striving,
holding true to what you have attained in Christ through the
learning of Christ. Hold on and join in imitating
me. Here is what he says, by keeping
your eyes Not only on that, but also by
keeping your eyes on those who walk according to the example
you have in us. Yes, we can include that there is an example of living
that is evident in the life of a believer. But friends, when
sin comes, what is the example of the believer in living? Faith in Christ. Putting to death
that sin. No one is saying ever, I have
never said anything about perfection. No one's ever said that here.
But there are many who will say it out there. Our perfection is Christ. And he goes on to say in verse
18, for many of whom I have often
told you and now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of
the cross. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly and
their glory and their shame with minds set on earthly things. But our
citizenship is in heaven. He didn't say your citizenship
could be in heaven if you just hold on to all the works. He said because it is in heaven,
strive. Because it is in heaven, hope.
Because it is in heaven, have faith. Because it is in heaven,
renew your mind. That's part of it. We don't live,
this isn't our home. This is the DMV waiting room. That's what life is. The drop
ad line at school back before it was computerized. You're standing
at the university with a piece of paper and 400 people are standing
before you. That's all, it's just a waiting
game. We are, citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform
our lowly body to be like His glorious body, then we will be
perfect, beloved. by the power that enables him
even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers,
whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm
thus in the Lord, my beloved. See, just in case you heard something
that he did not say, he repeats it. Stand firm in the Lord, beloved.
Your citizenship is in heaven. Now go to Colossians 1, and we're
gonna deal with 9 through 14, and then we're done. Colossians chapter one. I was only gonna use this text
today, and I thought, well, I've had several other texts. We'll
just do them all. Colossians one, listen to the
word of the Lord, starting in verse three. We always thank
God the Father for the Lord, excuse me, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray for you since we've heard of
your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for
all the saints because of this hope laid up for you in heaven.
See, faith and the hope we have in Christ that's laid up for
us in heaven is the efficacy of our love for one another.
The gospel. Of this you have heard before
the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed
in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also
does among you since the day you heard it and understood the
grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras,
our beloved fellow servant. He's a faithful minister of Christ
on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit.
And so you see there. And so, because of this, and
so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you,
asking, this is what Paul prays, asking that you may be filled
with the knowledge of His will. How's that? Through learning
the truth of Christ by the Spirit. He'll be filled with the knowledge
of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so
as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to
Him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge
of God. That sounds pretty work-based
to me. How do we define those things? We'll look at it. Let's
look at verse 11. May you be strengthened with all power,
To do what? To walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord. With all power, according to
His glorious might, not your power, His, for all endurance
and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has
qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in
light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred
us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins. And just in case we forgot who
Christ was, Paul then goes on to say in verse 15 through 20
who he is. He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation. By Him all things were created
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through
Him and for Him. He is before all things and in
Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the
church, and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything He might be preeminent. For in him all the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile
to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making
peace by the blood of his cross." So let's unpack verses 9-14. And so, as to walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord, what does that look like? Fully pleasing
to the Lord. We know what those look like.
What does it look like? To love the Lord your God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Strive for that. Go ahead. I'm
not telling you shouldn't. We should. Do all things for
the glory of Christ. Whatever you eat or drink, do
for the glory of Christ. Whatever you do in word or deed,
do for the glory of Christ. You remember these? It's given.
It's a commandment. Rejoice! And again I say, rejoice! It's a commandment. It's not
an option. It's commanded of us. Do not be anxious. It's a commandment. Love one
another just as I have loved you. Pray for your enemies. How are we doing so far, church? I'm not making light of it. It's
serious. What does God think about our failings in these commandments?
He crucified Christ for them. That's what He thinks about them.
So we're not making light of sin. We're putting the gospel
in its place. So I said, welcome to man worthy
of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good
work. What work? Every good, everything
you do. There's no list there. It would take us a while. I'm
sure I've got some friends who have studied long, long, long
time, and they've probably got a list of every command in the
New Testament. We should find that, give it to the church.
It would be a neat thing to look at, wouldn't it? But I bet you
every one of them would boil down into two. how we love God,
and how we love each other. Every one of them. All of them.
We don't do things selfishly if we love our brother, because
we'd hurt him. We don't live in vile wickedness
if we love our father, because we'd bear false witness of his
work. And when we do, we're corrected. Why? Because somebody else will
love us. and correct us. The Spirit of God will use them
to convict us. We will fall into, not fall, but we will put away
the flesh. We will put it to death. But
bear fruit in every good work. And I think that the next two
things that he says hold this together. How? by increasing
in the knowledge of God and by being strengthened with all power
that is measured by His glorious might. Wow, that changes things, doesn't
it? Because it changes things. I'm not pulling out my to-do
list and going, my goodness, boy, do I have a... I'm not putting
something on the refrigerator for me to work on. I'm putting
the gospel and the power of Christ as preeminent in my face. Why? Because that's what God does
in His work for us and to us and through us. He brings us
to this place by the Spirit that we might be involved in acknowledging
and increasing the knowledge of His mercy and His power and
His grace. Paul just said, I have confidence
because of the power of Christ who was raised from the dead
and that same power I too will walk by faith in Christ. And what does it look like? The
good work there, increasing the knowledge of God, being strengthened
with all power. The power of the glorious might of God gives
us all endurance. We walk with all endurance. This
is the prayer that Paul prays for the church of Colossae. With
all endurance. What does that mean? What we
started with in James. That you may hold fast and be
steadfast. That you may not buckle under
the pressures of the world. That you would stand fast. God
will deliver us to that end. complete in Christ alone. It's immeasurable in this flesh,
but it's fully measurable and complete in Christ. With patience,
that means we're not frustrating ourselves, wondering, when's
it going to stop? When's the test going to stop,
God? God said it shall never stop until we are glorified with
Christ and made exactly like Him. So our prayer is best suited,
as Paul teaches us to pray, Lord, if you would please give me endurance. As he says to the church of Ephesus,
I pray that you may be filled with all the fullness of God,
understanding the breadth and the depth and the height of the
love of God that he has for you. Evidenced in the physical aspect
of Jesus Christ coming to this world, living a holy and perfect
life, and dying on the cross and being raised from the dead.
with all patience as we endure, with joy. If you haven't read 1 Peter,
you need to read 1 Peter. With joy. In the midst of all this
frustration, this testing, this pain, this suffering, we have
endurance that belongs to Christ. We have patience that's given
to us by Christ. We have joy in the midst, so
we don't complain. And when we do complain, then
we don't complain. We are thankful to the Father. Thank you. Why? Because here is the creme de
la creme of our confidence right here in this chain. With gratitude
to the Father, we're thanking the Father as we're enduring
with patience and joy. That's dumb, y'all. Oh, my life
is terrible. I've got five minutes to live.
Well, hold on and be patient and be happy. How? God is confident, mighty, faithful. But it's not looking ambiguously
at the mighty power of God. It's looking particularly to
the mighty power of God. And this is what it looks like.
Who has qualified you? See, we can't qualify ourselves
even in assurance and confidence because God the Father has qualified
us to share what? In the inheritance of the saints
in life. God has qualified us. Who? God has qualified us. How? Through
the blood of Jesus that makes peace. Verse 20, chapter 1. God has qualified us to share
the inheritance of the saints in light. How? By delivering
us from the domain of darkness and transferring us to the kingdom
of his beloved son and whom we have redemption, the forgiveness
of sins. Where's our hope, beloved? It's
in Christ. It's in Christ. I shared that
today with the Verizon man on the phone. He said, I've never heard that
before. He was in church twice a week. I've never heard that God has
done all the work for me. That breaks my heart. Because
I guarantee you what you'll hear tonight If you really love the
Lord, do this. If you want to prove you're a
Christian, do this. Here's a newsflash for you. Gospel
preachers are not called and filled by the Spirit of God to
tell you you should doubt your salvation. But every jot and
tittle of the New Testament gives you confidence of the assurance
of your salvation. It is the devil's errand to teach
you to be scared. And what discipline will do,
what encouragement will do, what fellowship and intimacy and accountability
will do, we'll correct some of those things and maybe God will
show you that you are lost, but it won't be because of things
in your life that is not fitted and suited for the saints. It
will be because you have no faith in the midst of them, in Christ
alone. And your faith is continually
working to try to please God. So with that, rejoice and have
confidence to know that Christ is our all in all. Thank you for listening. We hope
that this message has encouraged you in the faith. Subscribe to
these messages and other teaching resources and podcasts at anchoringfaith.org. More information about the church
can be found at gracetruth.org.