Alright, let's turn back to Colossians
there, chapter 2. Now basically I have three things
that I want to speak to you, bring to you from God's Word
in this section of His inerrant, infallible, God-breathed Word. And that's these three things,
The issue of assurance, I want to talk about assurance, and
then wisdom, and then knowledge. That's the title of the message,
assurance, wisdom, and knowledge. And I'll just say all three of
these are blessings and gifts of God's grace. None of these
things in the context of real salvation. are products of the
works or the wills of sinners, but they're the products of God's
gift of grace in Christ Jesus, worked in us by the Holy Spirit,
through the Word, and all which find their fulfillment and completion
in Christ. This passage here in chapter
two of Colossians And of course you do understand that in the
original manuscripts there weren't chapter divisions or verse divisions. I'm glad we have them. But we're
not going to forget what's been taught before. But this passage
is a summation of all of the assurance, all of the wisdom,
and all of the knowledge that God has for his people. Sinners
saved by grace and which his people find fully in the glorious
person. the glorious person and the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul writes here by inspiration
of the Spirit in verse three, in whom, that is in Christ, are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That's some statement,
isn't it? In whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. And so when we talk about assurance,
you know now people want assurance of salvation. Usually, when people
are seeking assurance of salvation, they look for the testimony of
others. Do you think I'm saved? Or what
does this person think? I've had people who have visited
our services. And they want so much, people
that I don't even know. But they want so much from me
to do something that only a false preacher can do. And that is
to speak peace to them. Jeremiah spoke of that. Speak
peace where there is no peace. Now all I can tell you is this.
If you are truly, by the grace and power and goodness of God,
trusting Christ, this person, and listen to me, as he is identified
and distinguished in this book, The Word of God, if you're trusting
Him, really, if you are, I can tell you you're a child of God.
You're at rest, you're at peace with God. But how do I know that? I can't look into your heart.
I only know by the testimony of your mouth from which flow
the issues of the heart. What is your ground of salvation?
What is your hope? You know, my favorite hymn. I
often quote on our TV program and quote here in our sermons,
my hope is built. What is your hope built on? Well,
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not, and I mean this,
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, the good things that men
think, the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name On
Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Is that your testimony from the
word of God? Well, assurance is founded upon
the grace of God. Assurance is not founded upon
what I see within myself. Am I good enough? Do I believe
enough? Have I repented enough? Let me
ask you this question. If that is in your search for
assurance, if that's your questions, if that's where you're looking
to find it, then ask yourself this question. Well, what is
it? What is good enough? What is it to believe enough?
What is it to repent enough? What is it to obey enough? Have
you ever done enough? Enough for what? Enough to please
men? Enough to please yourself? You
remember the song, you can't please everybody, so you got
to please yourself. Is that what your assurance is
based on or built around? What does it take to please God?
Well, I'll tell you what God said. He said, this is my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased. Hear
ye him. Who was it in the Old Testament
that had this testimony that he pleased God? It was Enoch. And then it says in Hebrews 11,
but without faith, it's impossible to please God. Well, what does
faith do? Well, does it make you say, well,
have I believed enough? Well, let me tell you this. It's
not in how much you believe, it's in whom you believe. Who
are you looking to? Who are you depending on? Paul
said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that what?
He's able. I'm not able. How about you?
You're not able now. You may think you are, but you're
not. If you're saved, you're a sinner
saved by grace. If you're lost, you're a sinner
lost in your sin. You're not able, I'm not able.
He is able. He's done enough. He's good enough. Christ. To do what? To keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Now what have I committed unto
him? I'll tell you what I've committed unto Christ. My whole
salvation. I have not committed my salvation
or any part of it to me. or to you, or to some esteemed
preacher or saint. I've committed it all to Christ.
And that's what Paul's teaching here in Colossians, over in Colossians
3.11. He concludes in that verse, he says, but Christ is all and
in all. Assurance is founded upon the
grace of God, the grace to save me, the grace to keep me, the
grace to bring me to glory based upon one thing, the glorious
person who Christ is and what he accomplished as my surety
and my substitute on Calvary to put away my sins and to bring
forth righteousness which God has imputed to me, charged to
me. So that God cannot and will not
charge me with my sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died. Someone
asked the question, how do you know you're not lost? Well, I
know I'm not lost because I know the way. And that's what lost
is, you don't know the way. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but me. The way is the way of the cross. The way is the way
of God's grace. The way is the way of the blood.
The way is the way of righteousness in him. How do we walk as Christians? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the what? The finisher, the completer of
our faith. He's the beginner and the completer. He didn't
leave it up to me. You've heard that, you've heard
preachers say, now God's done all he can do, now the rest is
up to you. If that's the case, we are of
all people most miserable. Do you realize that? I'll tell
you why right now, if it's up to me, left up to myself, conditioned
on me, it will not last. I know myself. Now you might
be sitting there thinking, well preacher, what in the world have
you been doing? Well, I've been just being me. And you're going
to be you. You see, it's all conditioned
on Christ, and He fulfilled the conditions. And somebody says,
well then, let's just go out and live like the devil. No,
no, no. You see, that same assurance
that's founded upon grace establishes within the hearts of God's people
a motive of grace. A motive of grace. And what is
that motive? Well, look down at verse 7. He says, rooted and built up
in Christ, established in the faith, looking to Christ as you
have been taught, abounding therein with what? Thanksgiving. Do you know that's a summation
of the Christian life? Abounding with thanksgiving.
We're not to live like legalists, all the time under the whip of
the law, fearing that if we don't do, We're gonna die or at least
lose out. That's legalism. We're not to
live lives like mercenaries trying to do our best to earn God's
favor and blessings and benefits. We're to live our lives in grace,
love, and gratitude for what God has already freely and fully
given us in Christ. That's what assurance does, assurance
of grace. Wisdom, he talks about. Wisdom
is to be guided by grace and truth. So as not to be fooled. Knowledge. Knowledge is the foundation
of wisdom. It's the knowledge of God in
Christ. It's to be informed. Grace by grace and truth means
you know better. If you claim to be saved, by
the grace of God. If you claim to be justified
in Christ, if you claim to be made right with God, do you desire
assurance? Look to Christ. If you claim
this, do you desire wisdom? Look to Christ. He is the wisdom
and power of God. Do you desire knowledge? Look
to Christ. Now that all sounds so simple, doesn't it? Too easy. I've had people say to me, there's
got to be more to it than that. It sounds so easy, but you know
in reality, it's the hardest thing for anybody to do. It's impossible for the unregenerate
person to do. Unregenerate, not born again.
Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know. It's impossible. But I want to tell you something,
it's hard for a believer to do. How many times do I go through
life and I get in trouble, and I try to figure it out on my
own, try to figure this problem out, I can do it, and I'm just
laid low. Apart from the work of God the
Spirit, it's impossible because, I'll tell you why, because we
all have a natural sinful desire and tendency to look to ourselves
and within ourselves for these treasures of assurance, wisdom,
knowledge. That's what we do. That's why
the Lord said, trust in the Lord and lean not unto thine own understanding. We have that tendency. And let
me show you something here. Satan and his false preachers,
they prey upon that sinful desire and tendency. Look at verse 4
of Colossians 2. He says, and this I say, lest
any man should beguile you with enticing words. Now, I'm not going to go into
all the different forms that that beguiling, what that is,
that is a sinful seduction. That's what that is. That is
intended to draw you away and draw me away from looking only
to Christ, singly. You remember Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians chapter 11 about the simplicity that's in Christ?
You know what that's all about. In fact, the word could be understood
as the singleness that's in Christ. And he talked about how Satan
and his preachers will draw you away from the simplicity, the
singleness that's in Christ. And what is that simplicity?
What is that singleness? It's the fact that everything
that I am and everything that I possess that makes me right
with God. That gives me a right relationship
with God. That justifies me before God.
Everything, every single thing is in one single person, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and based upon His righteousness imputed
to me alone. That's it. And these false preachers
who would beguile you with enticing words. In other words, they bring
out words that sound good. It seems right. moral, religious,
enticing words, words that draw the flesh, but will not line
up with the word of God. I was writing a, communicating
my email with a young man out west, and he talked about attending
a church that is seeker sensitive. Have you ever heard that term?
Now let me tell you what I know of seeker sensitive churches.
In other words, they're into numbers, and they want to draw
people in. Well, I wish this building was full. I wish we
had to be, somebody said, because of the odor today, said, well,
maybe we need to change churches. I said, well, I wish we were
building a bigger one. I do. I love numbers. But I'm not going
to bring enticing words, the seeker-sensitive words that,
you know what it is? It means to tell people what
they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. Bible
calls it itching ears. They find a preacher to scratch
the itching ear. But what are we to do? Well,
Paul says we're to preach the word of God. You see, these beguilers
who entice people, they want to draw our minds away from Christ
and get it on to ourselves and others. And seek, say, what have
I, I've not done enough. Well, I can tell you right now,
you're right, you haven't done enough. I can tell you right
now, I haven't done enough. But I can tell you who's done
enough, who's done it all. And more than enough, that's
Christ. In him our cups run over. And that's the way it is. In
verse one, he starts off with the word for. That connects it
back with what he'd already said. Look at chapter one in verse
27. He says, to whom, he's talking
about the mystery that God will save his people, Jew and Gentile,
by his grace. Verse 27, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles. God has a people all over this
world, out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And He's
going to make known to them the riches of His glory, this mystery,
which is even among the Gentiles, and here it is, which is Christ
in you, some translations say among you, doesn't matter, it's
the same thing, in you the hope of glory. The hope of glory. And He says, look back up at
verse one of chapter two, He says, for I would that you know
what great conflict That word conflict is a word that's related
to a wrestling. It's like I'm wrestling within
myself, I'm struggling. He says, I have for you, I have
a struggle within myself, but it's for you. And he said, it's
for them at Laodicea, the church at Colossae. And the church at
Laodicea were close in proximity as far as geography is concerned.
And he said, as for many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
you haven't met me face to face, but I still have a spiritual
struggle on your behalf. Wrestling. And what he's speaking
of is this great concern that he'd had within himself for the
people in the churches at Colossae and Laodicea because of these
false preachers who would or already had crept into the churches
to dissuade them and divert them from the simplicity that's in
Christ that I just described. And that's why he's saying, I
preached unto you Christ in you, the hope of glory. You know what? Turn to Galatians
chapter four. Look at this passage with me.
You know, Galatia, Some people say there were several
churches in this area of Asia Minor. I don't know, may have
been several, may have been one congregation, doesn't matter.
But the message is the same for all believers. But false preachers
had crept into these churches and tried to entice them to get
their eyes off of Christ and his righteousness alone and set
their eyes on themselves to be law keepers, to keep this day
and that day, to do this and not to do that. Paul called it
another gospel, you remember? Another of a different kind.
And look at verse 19 of chapter 4 of Galatians. This is the kind of struggle
that Paul was going through with the Colossians and the Laodiceans. Galatians 4 and verse 19, he
says, my little children of whom I travail in birth again. In other words, he compared his
struggling within himself like a woman going through the travail
of childbirth. Now, I don't know anything by
experience about you women who have gone through childbirth.
But maybe you can relate to this even more than what we men can.
I watched my wife. I had her hold my hand one time.
She liked to broke it. But maybe you can enter into
this by empathy, and we men can enter into it by sympathy. You
know what I'm talking about. But Paul said, this is a real
struggle. And what was his desire? He says, again, until Christ
be formed in you. Now what he's talking about is
his desire. And he knew he couldn't do this.
It wasn't within his power. It's not in the power of any
man. It's only the power of God. He says, my desire is that Christ
in His glory, in His Word, in His truth, in His saving power,
that He be so established firmly and movably within your heart,
your mind, your affection, your will, your conscience, that you
cannot be moved away from Him. That's what He's talking about.
And that's the same thing of Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ living within His people by His Spirit and by His Word
to the point that you cannot, no matter who the preacher is, No matter what his reputation,
no matter how eloquent he is, you cannot be drawn off of Christ. That's what his desire is. And
that's what he's hoping. Go back to Colossians 2. He says in verse 2, he says that
their hearts might be comforted And that comfort is the comfort
of peace and assurance with God through Christ, being knit together
in love. That's what binds us together in Christian love. Sometimes we don't act very loving,
do we? But we're still bound together
by the grace and love of God in Christ. We have the same ground
of salvation. And that's what keeps us together.
His grace keeps us together. And unto all the riches of the
full assurance of understanding. You see that where there's assurance,
there's understanding. And where does that understanding
come from? It comes from the Holy Spirit who drives us to
Christ in the preaching of the gospel. The Son of God hath come
and given us an understanding that we may know Him, that is
true, and that we're in Him, that is true. What is it we understand
that we didn't understand before? We understand who God is. That
He is a holy and just and righteous God and He cannot, He cannot
look over sin. He must punish sinners to whom
sin is imputed. Did you know that? Our only hope with the living
God who is just and righteous and always judges according to
truth is to be found in His presence without sin charged us. Now we're sinners. He's not acting
here now. He's not pretending. He's not
going to look at Bill Parker and say, well, now I know you're
a sinner, but I'm going to act like you're not. No, he's got
to find a way not to charge me with my sin and to exact his
justice against my sin. And he must do it on a just ground. You say, but he's a loving God.
Yes, sir, he is. God is love, but his love cannot
be expressed without his justice satisfied. You say, he's mercy. That's right, he delights to
show mercy. Doesn't he? The scripture says
that over and over again. In the Psalms especially. He
delights to show mercy. And it says his mercy endureth
forever. But my friend, if you think he
can be merciful to a sinner without justice satisfied, you don't
know the God of the Bible. Remember the mercy seat? What
had to be in the holiest of all in the tabernacle? that box,
the Ark of the Covenant, containing the law that was broken, covered
with that lid called the mercy seat, and the high priest would
go in one time a year, but not without what? Not without blood. What's blood mean? Death. What's
death? It's the wages of sin. Somebody's
got to die. Isn't that right? Either you're
going to die eternally in your sins, charged to you, or you
need a surety and a substitute to die in your place. That's what this understanding
shows us. And the high priest would go in and sprinkle the
blood of the lamb. It was all a picture of how God could be
just and justify the ungodly based upon the blood of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ imputed. My sins imputed, charged to Him. His righteousness imputed to
me. He's given us an understanding of ourselves that we're sinners
and that if God, listen to Him, if God at any time in our lives
were to look upon His people outside of Christ, which He doesn't,
but if He were, and God would say, now I'm going to give you
what you've earned and what you deserve, do you know what it
would be? Eternal death. You say, well I've tried to be
a good person. You're not good enough. There's none good, no
not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. He gives us an understanding of how he saves sinners by his
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh,
God manifest with us. And who by his one sacrifice
for the sins of his people, drank damnation dry, and brought forth
righteousness. For by one offering he hath perfected,
completed, finished forever them that are sanctified. He gives us an understanding
of his grace. And his grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And
that's what brings us to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. And then look back here in verse
two, he says, The full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God. That's the gospel. Everything that I've been taught,
that's the mystery. In other words, that's something that God must
reveal. Man can't figure this out from the ground up. Man cannot
sit down and have a think tank and figure this one out. Only
God has this one figured out and he reveals it. He uncovers
it, and it's the mystery of God and the Father and of Christ,
how God can be both a righteous judge as well as a merciful Father. And then he says, verse 3, in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Christ.
See, all that Christ is, all that He's done, that's the treasure.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, Paul said. We're the
broken earthen weak vessels, but Christ is the treasure. and
he's the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. He's foolishness to the world,
but he's the power and wisdom of God to God's people. In verse
four, this I say, lest any man beguile you with enticing words,
look at verse five, for though I be absent in the flesh, though
I'm not in your presence, yet I am with you in spirit, join
and behold in your order in the steadfastness of your faith in
Christ. You see this, This comfort, this
assurance that comes through Christ is what brings us to wisdom. And where there's wisdom, there's
truth. God's truth. The Word of God itself says that
the scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation. That
brings discernment, brings judgment. And then wisdom is based upon
knowledge. And where there's knowledge,
there's life. You see, this is life eternal. They might know
thee, the true and living God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. You know, you can have knowledge
without wisdom, but you cannot have wisdom without knowledge.
So it's clear that they had not yet fallen prey to these wolves
in sheep's clothing here. And Paul expresses his appreciation
for them in their good order. That means their carefulness.
and their steadfastness to believe and look to Christ all by the
grace of God. Now we don't know what happened
to the church at Colossae. I'm assuming that it's not there
today. I may be wrong in that, I don't know. I like to think
if there's some places I've never been, never studied, don't know,
that maybe God has some sheep there. So I don't know what happened
to Colossae. But I know what happened to Laodicea,
don't you? Remember the seven churches of
Revelation? The last one, beginning in Revelation
3 and verse 14, he told the church at Laodicea, he says, you're
neither hot nor cold. You think you're rich, but you're
not. And that means you have a profession of salvation and
its benefits and its blessings. You think you're rich. You think
you have this treasure, but you don't. You've left the gospel.
That's what he's talking about. But he concludes this section
with an encouragement. Look at verse 6. As you have
therefore received Christ, Jesus the Lord, so walk in. Now how
did you receive Christ? Well, I worked hard to get there. Is that how you received him?
Oh, I made a decision, walked an aisle. Is that how you did
it? Is that biblical? I don't think so. How'd you receive
him? I'll tell you how you received
him if you received him. You received him by the grace
of God and the power of God the Spirit, who convinced you of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment and brought you to
faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. That's how you
received him. It wasn't your power or your
will that did it. Oh, you came willingly, but it's
God who made you willing in the day of his power, isn't that
right? Now, as you received Him, walk
in His grace. And how do you do that? Verse
7, rooted and built up in Him. In other words, I am rooted in Christ. He's the
vine. What are we? The branches. And
we what? We bear fruit. We don't produce
fruit. We bear it from the power of
the vine, the life and the power of the vine. The life that I
now live, Paul said, in Christ Jesus. I live by the faith of
the Son of God. His faithfulness to save me,
to keep me, to bless me, and to bring me to glory. And then
I'm established in the faith. I'm established immovably by
the power of God looking unto Christ. That's what that faith
means. It's not a hope, a hope, a hope, or just wishing, wishful
thinking. It's I'm established looking
to Christ. I don't, you remember Peter?
When the storm came and Christ walked on the water and Peter
got out of the boat and was walking on the water and he had his eyes
on Christ and what happened? He took his eyes off of Christ
and what happened? He sank. You take your eyes off Christ,
you're going to sink. I don't care. You know, some people,
they can take their eyes off Christ and they can feel good
about themselves. They're unbelievers. They think they're riding high,
but they're sinking. Sinking sand. But if your feet
are firmly planted by the grace of God on the rock Christ Jesus,
you keep your eyes on Him. If you ever take him off, you'll
sink. But listen, if you're one of his, he won't let you go.
He won't let you drown. He'll pick you up. He'll bring
you back to looking to him. And then he says, as you've been
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. That's the key.
Living life in gratitude to God. Complete thank you, Lord, for
saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation. So
rich and free. That's what the life of a believer
should be. Not trying to earn your way, not trying to make
yourself, but thanking Him. A life of gratitude. That's what
obedience is about. It's not trying to earn yourself
a way into the favor of God. It's not trying to make yourself
righteous because Christ has already done that. It's to give
Him thanks and honor Him and glorify Him out of love. The
love of Christ constrains me, Paul said. That's His love for
us. But it's shed abroad in our hearts to where we thank him
for all things.