Would you open your Bibles with
me to the book of Colossians, chapter one. Colossians, chapter one. The
title of the message is The Full Gospel Ministry. You know, each
time that I have the opportunity to stand before a group of people
and preach the gospel, Preach the word of God. I pray that
the Lord will give me strength to deliver his word once again,
if only one more time, if this is the last time. I don't know.
You don't know either. Might be the last time I preach,
the last time you hear. We just don't know, do we? But
God knows. But I pray that he gives me the
strength, not necessarily the eloquence, because eloquence
has nothing to do with it. but it's simply the strength
to deliver the message simply and plainly, and that he would
give all of us the spiritual ability to hear, hear with the
spiritual ears, see with the spiritual eyes, receive with
the new heart that he gives us. And I've been thinking about
that all week, how Paul has, up to this point, we're gonna
begin in verse, if you look at verse 23, He's talking about
the faith of the gospel. He's talking about the ministry,
the ministry of the gospel, the ministry of reconciliation, preaching
the gospel of peace, peace made between God and his people through
the blood of the cross. The merits of the obedience unto
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the righteousness of
God revealed in the gospel, his righteousness imputed, charged,
accounted to his people. And that is our message. We preach
Christ crucified and raised from the dead, risen from the dead. And that's the faith, the faith,
that God's people, by his power and his grace, through Christ,
by the Spirit, ground us in. We're grounded into that. Standing
upon the rock, Christ Jesus. We're settled right there. So
that by God's preserving grace, we cannot be moved off of that.
Now there may be times when we get distracted by other things. But God, because of His grace,
because of His goodness, because of His faithfulness and His power
in Christ, He will not let us go. Isn't that right? He's going
to, you know, somebody said, well, I don't want to talk about
the perseverance of the saints. Well, if you want to talk about
the perseverance of the saints, which we like to do, and that's
what this is talking about, if you continue, you got to begin
by talking about the preservation, the preservation of the saints
by the grace, power, and goodness of God. Why is it that a sinner
saved by grace brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works, why is it that he can never totally forsake Christ? No matter what you call it, security
of the saved, security of the believer, some say once saved,
always saved. That's okay if you know what
that means biblically. Why is it that we cannot leave,
totally forsake Christ? It's because God won't let us
go. Christ said, I and my Father are one. He said, my sheep hear
my voice, they follow me. They'll never perish. Why? No
one can pluck them out of my father's hand. He ever lives
to make intercession for us. And that's the case. That's a
continual thing. Ever lives to make intercession
for his people. What does he plead in his intercessory
work? He pleads the merits of his blood
and righteousness. He didn't plead your goodness
or my goodness. He didn't say, Father, now look
at old Bill down there and how well he's done this week. Well,
just hang on, I'll have another week. No, it's Father, look at
me, look at Christ, look at your son. He said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. And the completeness
of salvation that comes by him and in him. Now, what I've just
described to you is the fullness of a gospel ministry. The fullness
of Christ. And that's what I want to talk
to you about. Paul, as he's described the gospel ministry, in verse
23 he says, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled.
Remember last week I talked about how this if here is not a condition
for final glory. But it's an evidence of having
been saved by grace, kept by grace, and certain to be glorified
by grace. See, the if passages under the
gospel ministry are not conditional, as if to say, if you don't keep
on keeping on, you're going to lose your salvation. No, no,
that's heresy. The if passages under the gospel
ministry, under the covenant of grace, are evidences of the
fact that God has saved me and blessed me and given me all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And so you're grounded
and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,
that's the certain expectation of all of salvation, all of final
glory, conditioned on Christ, who fulfilled those conditions
by his obedience unto death. And he says, which you have heard.
You've heard that in the gospel. See, faith cometh by hearing.
hearing by the word of God. That's the work of Christ by
the Spirit in the new birth. Now look at this, he says, and
which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof
I, Paul, am made a minister. Now that word minister means
a messenger, it means a servant, he's a servant messenger, that's
what every preacher of the gospel is. We're servants, we're messenger
boys, as one old writer said. We're not popes, we're not reverends,
Holy and Reverend is his name, not mine. We're not doctors and
all of that. We're just messengers, servants,
bond slaves of Christ. And he says, He says, which was
preached to every creature. Now, he's using a Hebrew idiom
there. He's not saying that I've gone
out and preached to everybody in the whole world, or I've gone
out and preached to the dogs and the cats and the birds and
the bees. No, no. The point that he's making, and
you're gonna see this in the next verses, is that this message
of the gospel is for everybody and anybody who'll listen, Jew
or Gentile. In other words, the point he's
making is that if you're a true minister of the gospel, you can't
pick and choose who you preach to. You can't pick and choose
who you witness to. Anyone who'll listen. I can't
say, well, I can't be a Jonah, in other words. God said, go
to Nineveh. No, I don't want to go there.
You don't know those people. Well, God knew them. I'd rather
go over here. No. We go where God sends us. We preach to who God puts under
us. We don't pick and choose. We don't say, I'm going to preach
to this one but not to that one. But it's to every creature. Christ
said, go ye in all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. Anybody who will listen. We can't
force it upon people. That's not our job. God's going
to get the gospel to his chosen people. You believe that? I believe
that. You know why I believe that?
Because God's Word says it. Somebody said, well, you believe
that because you're a Calvinist. No, I'm not a Calvinist. I believe the five points is
what people think of that, but I believe it because God's Word
says it. And if it's in God's Word, who am I to say, well,
now that's just not true. No, no. If I say it's not true,
I'm preaching the wrong message, aren't I? So he says to every,
and he said, I made a minister. I didn't make myself a minister.
I didn't take this mantle upon myself. I didn't do it because
my daddy was a preacher. You know, today, that's the way
a lot of it works. If your daddy was a preacher,
then you're gonna be a preacher. Well, that's not the way it works.
God puts his ministers in the ministry, and he gives them his
message to preach. Usually, if daddy or mama or
grandma put you in the ministry, you'll preach their message,
whatever it is. Paul said, I made a minister.
Who made him a minister? Christ did. Christ did. And look at verse 24. He says,
who now rejoice in my sufferings, my sufferings for you. That word
sufferings is afflictions. Now rejoicing in sufferings,
rejoicing in afflictions, what is that all about? Was Paul some
kind of masochist who enjoyed pain? No. No. You see, he didn't look for suffering,
he didn't look for persecution. I don't either, you don't either.
But he recognized this fact, that if you preach God's message
to a sinful world, this suffering, this affliction, this persecution
just simply comes with the territory. That's just part of it. Paul
wrote to Timothy. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse
12, he says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution. Why? Why is that necessary? I'll tell you why. It's because
by nature we all hate Christ. Isn't that right? By nature,
as we're naturally born, whether we're religious or non-religious,
we all hate the truth. We hate the message of salvation
by grace because we're so proud of ourselves. Remember what Brother
Mark read over there in 2 Timothy chapter 4, it says this. In verse
3 it says, what is he doing there? He's instructing Timothy to preach
the truth, preach the word, preach God's word. You see, I don't have the wisdom
or the liberty to say, well now I'm going to preach to you this
part of God's Word because I know you'll like that, but I'm not
going to preach to you, or you don't like it, or I'll preach
to you this part you like and that part you don't like. I don't
have that kind of wisdom and I don't have that liberty. But
Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 3, for the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. What is
it about sound doctrine that people don't like? Well, when
I preach that salvation is conditioned on Christ alone and He met those
conditions, then that takes salvation completely out of your hands.
as far as attaining or maintaining it, and puts it all in Christ's
hands. When I preach that God chose
a people before the foundation of the world in Christ, when
he says that it's up to him who he saves and who he damns, that's
God's sovereign prerogative as the God of this universe. People
hate that. When I preach salvation based
upon Christ's righteousness and not man's righteousness, and
say that man's attempts to make himself righteous are evil in
the sight of God, that's the light that sinners by nature
hate. I know because I was there. I'll never forget when I first
started hearing the true gospel. I was raised in religion, called
myself a Christian, went to seminary, and I first began to hear somebody
preach the truth to me, I hated every word of it. I swore him
down, I would never go back. But somebody had a sovereign
hand on me and kept me there. At the time, I didn't understand
why, but now I know. The Bible, the gospel ministry
calls for repentance of dead works. What are dead works? It's
not just your immorality, it's your righteousnesses. It's those
things that you think recommend you unto God. It's anything other
than Christ's righteousness imputed. That right? That's what Paul
described in Philippians 3, and he says there's gonna come a
time when people won't endure such teaching, such preaching.
He said they don't want to hear it. He says in verse 3 of 2 Timothy
4, but after their own lust, their own sinful desires, shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. Now you know what an itching
ear is? It's an ear that desires to be scratched. Makes you feel
good. And what he's saying here, in
other words, people, they will not sit by nature, if God doesn't
intervene and do a work of grace, they will not sit and listen
to something they need to hear but don't want to hear. They'll
find teachers who'll scratch the itch, who'll tell them what
they want to hear. That's the day we live in. Well,
that's what Paul's talking about. Suffering for telling the truth.
Look back at Colossians 1, look at verse 24 again. Colossians 1. He says, who now
rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is
behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's
sake which is the church. Now when he says fill up that
which is behind, literally that means fill up that which is lacking. Or more literally, fill up that
which is left to do. of the afflictions of Christ
in my flesh, he says, for the sake of the church. Now, how
is it possible for us to fill up that which is lacking of the
afflictions of Christ? What does that mean? You see,
when Christ was afflicted on the cross, there was nothing
lacking. You know that? When Christ died
on the cross for the redemption of his people, He completely
finished the work. Nothing lacking, nothing left
to be done. He established, Daniel said in
Daniel 9, he put an end to sin, Christ put an end to it. He brought to an end the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness. You know, our righteousness before
God is what Christ fulfilled in his obedience unto death on
the cross as our surety and substitute, nothing lacking. Now some people today, they say,
well, his work is not fulfilled until we do our work or until
we make our decision. or until we seal the deal. And
they'll tell you he died for everybody, even those who perished
because they didn't finish. But my friend, that's heresy.
That's a denial of Christ and his work. Well, when Paul talks
about this, filling up that which is lacking of the afflictions
of Christ, he's not speaking of the suffering of Christ to
put away our sins and establish righteousness. That's a done
deal. That's a full, complete 100% work that cannot be added
to. Nothing. That's all of Christ. The term here for suffering,
afflictions, is never used to describe the suffering of Christ
on the cross. But what Paul means is this.
that his own sufferings, his own afflictions in the ministry
on behalf of the church, and he makes that statement to Timothy.
He said, I'm doing this, I'm suffering these things for the
elect's sake. He said, that's the church, that's God's people.
He says that represents an identification with the risen Lord who has suffered
and still suffers through his saints. Christ suffers through
his saints in a way. I don't know how you theologize
that, how you figure it out, but I know this. Do you remember
when Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the church, the
Damascus Road? Remember when Christ stopped
him? Remember what he said? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Acts 9 and verse 4. Couldn't
Paul have said, well, Lord, I'm not, Jesus, I'm not persecuting
you, I'm persecuting these people. One old preacher said this, when
you kick one of his children, he feels the pain. You remember
when Christ said in Matthew 25, in that parable of the judgment,
verse 40, he said, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. That's
what Paul's talking about. So this doesn't refer to the
redemptive suffering of Christ. Because when it comes to that,
it's all complete, it's all finished, there's nothing to be added to
it. This is referring to the further suffering that even Christ
himself experiences through the suffering of his children. Now
you parents, you know something about that, don't you? When one
of your children suffers, how do you feel? You suffer too,
don't you? One of them gets sick, how many
times have you said, boy, I wish it was me instead of my child,
or my grandchild? This was lacking in the sense
that this is what Christ left behind for his people to experience
on earth. More to be done, he said. You
know why? Because he still has a people
to be called into the kingdom. And we suffer. Not for salvation. We're not suffering to earn our
rewards. We're not suffering to earn our salvation. Christ
has done that. but for the glory of God in bringing
his sheep into the fold through the gospel ministry. That's what
Paul says here in verse 24. It's for his body's sake, which
is the church. If Christ had not suffered on
the cross and completed that work and fulfilled all righteousness
for his people, whereby they're justified before God and from
which they have life from him, there'd be no reason for us to
preach. If he hadn't completed that work, we'd all be doomed. And so he's talking about what
he went through, or how he's gone through this, for the deliverance
and spiritual edification of his people. Christ redeemed them,
Christ will bring them in by calling them, and he uses his
people, gospel ministers, gospel witnesses, to do this, and they
do it in spite of the hatred, the derision, and the persecution
that comes from the world. That's why Christ told his people,
his disciples, don't be amazed when the world hates you. They
hated me before they hated you. He said, these things I've spoken
unto you that you not be troubled. He said, in the world you'll
have trouble, tribulation, but I've overcome the world. Look
at verse 25. He says, whereof I am made a minister, Colossians
125, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you to fulfill the word of God. He's talking about stewardship,
like the management of a household, speaking of the church. God made
me a minister. He's given me this responsibility.
Paul didn't take it upon himself, as I said before. It wasn't for
himself. It wasn't for his glory. It wasn't
for self-promotion. But it's for the glory of God.
It's for the salvation of God's people. It's for the edification
of the church. And how does a true minister
of God fulfill this responsibility? Well, Paul says it, to fulfill
the Word of God. To fulfill the Word of God. Now, literally what that means,
it means to fully, fully preach God's Word. Fully preach God's
Word without adding to it, without subtracting from it, without
hiding any of it. You know, I used to hear stories
about preachers who would be preaching through the book of
Romans. And when they come to passages like Romans 8 or 9 or
10, they'd skip over it. And they would do this. They'd
say, well, I really don't understand this. You know their problem?
It's not that they don't understand it. It's just that they don't
like it. So we'll just write our own Bible. You know what Paul's talking
about? He's talking about the full gospel ministry here. What do you think
of when you hear the description of a religious gathering that
calls themselves a full gospel church? You ever seen that on
a sign? The full gospel. Usually, you
can equate it with Pentecostalism, modern-day Pentecostalism. That
means that they don't only preach the gospel, but they preach the
gifts of the Spirit. You can speak in tongues, or
you can heal. Up in rural Tennessee and Kentucky
and West Virginia, they handle snakes, you know, all that stuff.
They drink poison. And they talk about those as
gifts of the Spirit. Well, that's not the full gospel
ministry. Let me give you these things. Number one, the full
gospel ministry involves making the gospel known, salvation known,
all the benefits and blessings of salvation known in their fullness,
which is one thing, the fullness of Christ. That's it. Remember back up in verse 19
here, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness
dwell. That's in Christ. Look down verse
nine of chapter two, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. You know what the work of the
Holy Spirit, you wanna talk about Pentecostalism in the Bible,
the work of the Spirit, the outpouring of the Spirit, where the work
of the Holy Spirit is to convict God's people of the fullness
of our sin. That's what I am. There's nothing good about me.
There's no reason that God should ever save me. There's no reason
in myself, that is. There's no reason that God could
look at me and say, now Bill, you have finally made it, and
now you've earned your reward. No. The fullness of sin. The Holy
Spirit convicts of sin. And then, what does He do in
salvation? He drives us to Christ. The fullness of His blood to
wash away all my sins, to pay my sin debt, to propitiate, remove
the wrath of, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. Am I right? You believe that?
That means his blood is full enough, his death is full enough,
his work is full enough. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the blood. This
is all my hope and plea, this is all my righteousness. I have in Christ all the righteousness
that God requires in order to justify me, to declare me not
guilty and righteous in his sight. It's Christ's righteousness imputed. And it's showing us the fullness
of God's justice satisfied for us by Christ. Christ, over in
Colossians chapter three and verse 11, Paul states it this
way, Christ is all and in all. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
redemption, sanctification. He's all I need. Christ is all
in my election. When God chose me, He chose me
in Christ. He didn't look down through a telescope of time and
foresee what I would do. He's all in Christ. It was based,
even back then before the foundation of the Lord, it was based upon
the righteousness that Christ would bring in when He redeemed
me on the cross. Christ is all in my justification.
God doesn't justify me based upon what I do or even what He
does in me. He justifies me based upon what
Christ did for me. He's all in my redemption. He
paid the price in full. The ransom in full. He didn't
leave anything for me to pay. In my forgiveness, we're forgiven
of all our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. He's all in
my regeneration. My regeneration, my new birth
and conversion didn't come about because of my decision. It came about by the power and
will of God. That's what the scripture says. He's all for me in my preservation. If He doesn't keep me, I won't
be kept. And He'll be all in my glorification. It's all conditioned on Him.
It's all attained and maintained by Him. Here's another way He
put it. He's the vine. We're what? The branches. We bear fruit. We don't produce fruit. You know,
people say, well, I'm a believer now. I'm gonna produce some fruit.
You don't produce anything. We are, listen, we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. Unto, not because of, but unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Here's the second thing. The full gospel ministry involves
fully preaching the word to all whom God gives us opportunity,
even Gentiles. Look at verse 26. He says, even
the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, or Christ
among you, the hope of glory. this mystery which hath been
hid. You know, hid, the gospel itself is a mystery hidden from
the unregenerate man because of Satan's deception and because
of our natural unbelief. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3,
if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine
in unto them. The gospel has to be revealed
by the power of the Spirit. It has to be. God's got to turn
the light on. But this is speaking more directly
of the actual calling of the Gentiles in the New Testament
time, though it was revealed in the Old Testament. Now, this
was revealed in the Old Testament. You know, Abraham, he told Abraham,
in thee shall all families, all nations of the earth be blessed.
You remember when Simeon in Luke chapter 2 and verse 32 held the
Christ child and he said that this was not only a light to
Israel, he was not only a light to Israel but a light to lighten
the Gentiles that came from the Old Testament. Isaiah 42, Isaiah
49. But it was in a great measure
hid to them and not so clearly known in ages and generations
as past as it is now in Paul's day and in our day. Yet the whole
may be applied to the gospel mystery in general. The mystery
involves also that in Christ the Gentile believers, now here's
what he's saying, those Gentiles who are brought into the kingdom
of God would have the same rights and privileges as the believing
Jews. Look at Colossians 3 and verse
11. He says, in Christ, verse 11, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, Colossians 3, 11, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. You mean to
tell me that those old Gentiles who have not had the law and
not tried to keep it, who are brought into the kingdom of God,
are just as righteous as I am? Yes, sir. You know why? Because
in yourself as a Jew under the law, you didn't have any righteousness
by your works to recommend you unto God. No better off than
that unbelieving Gentile. And if God brings you both into
the kingdom, it's based upon the righteousness of another.
It's by grace, 100% for the Jew and the Gentile. And in Christ, your Jewishness
or your Gentile heritage means absolutely nothing. He's all. Christ is all. It's all Him,
you see. That's the full Gospel. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Even in you Gentiles. Not just
Jews. The cause of our hope is the
grace of God. The ground of our hope is the
finished work of Christ. The realization of our hope is
Christ revealed by the Spirit in our hearts. I'm a Jew. I'm a Gentile. I still
have nothing to recommend me unto God but Christ, His blood
for the forgiveness of my sins, His righteousness for my complete
justification, His power, His goodness, His grace. to save
me, to keep me, and to bring me to glory. 100%, that's the full gospel.
And then lastly, thirdly, the full gospel ministry is aimed
at presenting every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Look at verse
28. He says, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching
every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect
in Christ Jesus. Three times every man. We preach
warning every man. What do we warn them of? There's
no hope for you except by God's grace in Christ based on his
blood and righteousness. And we're teaching every man
in all wisdom. What's the wisdom? Christ is
the wisdom and the power of God. There is hope for any sinner
and every sinner who comes to God in Christ, pleading his mercy,
pleading his grace, pleading his blood, pleading his righteousness. And then, every man perfect in
Christ Jesus. That word perfect is the same
root word that means finished, complete. It's the same root
word that Christ used in John 19.30 when he hanged on that
cross and he said, it's finished, it's complete. In other words,
here's what our goal is, is that you see your completeness, your
wholeness, your righteousness in Christ. Down there in Colossians
2.9 when it says, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead body, and you are complete in him, which is the
head of all principality and power. Now the word complete
there is the word for filled up, fulfilled. In every sinful, fallen, unregenerate
human being, there's a void, an empty space. And he's gonna
spend, he or she's gonna spend their lives trying to fill it
up. They'll fill it up with materialism. They'll fill it up with activity.
They'll fill it up with false religion. But what's gonna fill
up the true child of God who's being convinced of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment? What's gonna fill you up? What's
gonna make you whole? Remember when Christ said in
the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after righteousness, they shall be filled, filled up. Well, the
only thing that's gonna fill your hunger and quench your thirst,
the only thing that's gonna fill you up and fulfill you is seeing
your completeness, your wholeness in Christ. And he is right. Religion won't do it for you.
Not if you've been convicted of the spirit. Religion won't
do it. Where do you find relief? You remember that old commercial?
Well, if it's Holy Spirit conviction, you won't find any relief anywhere
or in anyone, not in yourself, not in your denomination, not
in your works, not in your family. You'll only find relief in Christ.
Fill you up. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. In Christ, I'm completely
justified, completely redeemed, completely regenerated, completely
preserved and secure, and completely glorified. Now, what comfort
that is to have Him. If we have Him, we have all spiritual
blessings in heavenly place. Do we have everything now? Well,
you know, there are certain movements in false Christianity today that
will tell you that if you don't have everything now, you're not
living right. You're not living the kind of
life you should be living. And if you'll listen to them,
and again, buy and read their books, and support them financially,
they'll tell you how you can have everything now based on
your right living. False preachers will tell you
that you're lacking in something because of something you're not
doing, and they've written a book to tell you how to live so that
you're lacking nothing. You can have it all now, and
if you don't, it's because you're not living right. Well, first
of all, how can I have it all now? Well, it's Christ in you,
the hope of glory. If you have Christ, you have
it all now, even though you have not yet entered into the full
experience of it perfectly. You still have it, even being
glorified. Do you know what Peter called
it? An inheritance incorruptible that's reserved in heaven for
his people. We do have it all in Christ,
but not yet in ourselves. It's stored up for us. And it
cannot be lost, and it cannot be tarnished, because it's all
in Him and based on His righteousness. Now somebody may object, but
you've got to live right. Okay, what is living right according
to the scriptures? It's living by faith in Christ.
The justified shall live by faith. Looking to Christ, resting in
Christ, following Christ, even being obedient to Christ, not
in order to attain or maintain salvation, not in order to earn
salvation or earn your rewards, but because it's already completely
accomplished and freely given in Christ and in Him alone. That's the full gospel ministry. All right.