What I am in Christ is complete. No additions, no subtractions,
no enhancements. I have in Christ the fullness
of the wisdom of God. And I often say it this way,
all the wisdom that God requires of me, I find complete in Christ. I don't find it in me now, because
I do a lot of foolish things. Don't you? But all the wisdom
that God requires of me in salvation I find complete in Christ, for
he is my wisdom." And then righteousness. We speak of righteousness, which
is a right standing before God, being just before God. Martin
mentioned it, how God can be just and justify the ungodly.
Well, all the righteousness that God requires of me, I find complete
in Christ, for he is my righteousness. I don't find it in me. Now, there's
some fellows who say they find it in themselves, but I don't.
And they're just lying to themselves. And then we speak of holiness.
All the holiness that God requires of me, I find complete in Christ,
for he is my holiness. And then redemption, all the
redemption that God requires of me, I find complete in Christ,
for he is my redemption. He is my redeemer. And I know
that he's able to do so because he's the head of all principality
and power. That means he's in charge and
he's able to keep it. He's in charge of everything.
You know, there have been kings of the past, conquerors, mighty
conquerors. We speak of conquerors like Alexander
the Great. If you know what an oxymoron
is, that's what that is. Alexander the Great. Where's
Alexander now? He's not so great. But you see,
he had, for a little while, limited power to reign over an empire. But he didn't have power to keep
it. Even if he could keep it while he was alive, he's dead
now. Christ, our conqueror, our mighty conqueror, our victor,
had the power to take it, had the power to keep it, and will
keep it forever. He's the head of all principality
and power. Now, He is our salvation. And that is the answer that every
sinner needs, and it is the defense for every heresy that crops up
in the church. Now Paul is answering some of
the common heresies that crop up in the New Testament church
in the book of Colossians. But I want you to turn back to
Acts chapter 20. And let me show you this, because this is important.
In Acts chapter 20, in the latter part of that chapter, this is
the history of the New Testament church in its beginnings. And
Paul is meeting with the elders in the church at Ephesus. They
came to him in a particular city, and he's giving his last address
to the elders at the church of Ephesus, and he's thanking them
for their faithfulness in the gospel, thanking God for them.
He talks about his message to them. He sums it up in verse
21, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
For salvation is a looking to Christ, turning to Christ as
the Lord our righteousness, as the one who satisfied law and
justice for us at Calvary, who redeemed us, justified us, and
who sends his power by the Spirit to regenerate us and to keep
us and who will come again. The one who died, was buried,
and rose again the third day. The one who is seated at the
right hand of the Father even now, making intercession for
us as our advocate. and the one who is coming again
who will split the skies and gather his church together with
him, and rule and reign over the new heavens and the new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness." And so salvation is turning to
him, resting in him, looking to him, feeding upon him, and
then it's also turning away from ourselves and our own works and
our own ways. It's repentance toward God. You
know that word repentance means a change of mind. That doesn't
mean it's just a mental thing. It's the mind to the Hebrews
was the heart. And it is a heart matter. The
heart, the mind, the affections, and the will. And it's faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 27, I'm not
shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. For when
we preach Christ, we're preaching all the counsel of God essentially.
Now, we see many particulars of that as we go through the
scriptures and as we study each flower that's on that beautiful
tree of salvation. But when we preach Christ, we
preach the whole counsel of God, essentially. But look at verse
28. Now, here's a warning. He says, Take heed, therefore,
unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God. What
he's talking about is the ministry of an elder or pastor or preacher
is not to feed themselves, it's to feed the church of God. And
obviously, being a member of that church, being one of the
flock, when we feed the church of God, we feed ourselves spiritually.
For the same message of grace that feeds you and causes you
to grow in grace and knowledge is for us too. But he says this
is what it's all about. It's not about the pastors, it's
not about the preachers, it's not about the name, it's about
the flock. It's about the people of God.
I asked somebody, you know, everybody's so interested in who this guy
is and who that is and what his reputation, how long he's been
around. Let me tell you something. Go through the New Testament
and list the names of the pastors of the churches. You know what
you're going to find? You won't be able to, because
they're not mentioned. Some people say there was a man
named Epaphroditus who was the pastor of the church at Philippi.
He may have been, but that's just speculation. There are names
mentioned, but they're mentioned in terms of prayer, in terms
of need, in terms of thanksgiving, servants of God. That's what
we are. So feed the church of God. And he says in verse 28,
feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own
blood. We say power in the blood. I
didn't purchase the church. No man purchased it. You didn't.
Christ purchased the church. Now, what does that mean? That
means he bought and paid for it and he owns it like stock
and barrel. You're not your own. This is
his flock. Every gathering on the face of
the earth this morning that is met in honor of Christ and the
gospel of God's grace in him and how God can save sinners
through his blood and righteousness alone, they belong to the Lord. They don't belong to a denomination.
They don't belong to a preacher. They belong to the Lord. And
then he says in verse 29, For I know this, that after my departing
shall grievous wolves. And now that word grievous means
they'll put a burden on you. That's what it means. They'll
burden you. And it says, Grievous wolves
will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Now, the key
to this understanding, this warning is this. Now, you know, if you
were a shepherd out in the field and you had a flock of sheep
and they were gathered there and you looked up on the far
hill and you saw wolves out there and you recognized them, you'd
have time to prepare and warn and get everything gathered around
for your defenses. You recognize there's a wolf
out there. There's several wolves. But here he speaks of wolves
will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Now, Christ
spoke of these as wolves in sheep's clothing in Matthew chapter 7. Paul spoke of them in 2 Corinthians
11 as angels of light. They're Satan's ministers, but
they're disguised as angels of light. And incidentally, the
one thing that really marks them in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 is
their transformation. Remember, he speaks, they transform
themselves into ministers of righteousness. And the tense
of the Berber in 2 Corinthians 11, and this is important, is
that it is a temporary transformation. In other words, they will say
certain things right at certain times in certain situations,
but they cannot continually, consistently, throughout their
preaching and their ministry, preach Christ and his righteousness
alone. Their heart won't let them, because
that's not where their hope is, that's not where their love is.
They will have to eventually transform back. So you may hear
them in one message, and you may walk out and say, boy, that
was a great message. But the key is, what do they
preach over the months, the years, consistently? Now, it's only
by the power of God and the grace of God that any of us believe
the gospel and stay with it. Isn't that right? I mean, if
God would remove his hand of grace and power and restraint
from you today, you would leave it. And I would, too. So I'm
not talking about commending ministers who stay with the message.
Let's thank God. Paul said, By the grace of God,
I am what I am. But here is a warning. And he
says in verse 20, he says in verse 30, he says, Also of your
own self shall men arise speaking perverse things, perverted things. And he says to draw away disciples
after them. They want their following. Therefore
watch and remember, and by the space of three years I cease
not to warn every one night and day with tears. It's a continual
warning. Now back over in Colossians 2. Now here's the remedy for
these false preachers. And it's a continual remedy.
It's the continually preaching of Christ in him crucified, that
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, And you
are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
in power. So that if you want to combat these false shepherds,
these wolves in sheep's clothing, then you stay with the central
message of Christ in him crucified. Who he is and what he accomplished
at Calvary. Now this is the issue. And then
when they come in and begin to corrupt that message, then they
reveal themselves and expose themselves for what they are.
For example, we have those who deny the deity of Christ today.
They call themselves the Jehovah's Witnesses. I told one of them
one time when he approached me, I said, I don't want to hear
you because you're an idolater. He said, what do you mean I'm
an idolater? And I said, do you worship the Lord Jesus Christ?
And he said, I sure do. I said, but you don't think he's
God. And therefore, to worship him would be idolatry. He denies
the deity of Christ. There are those who deny the
humanity of Christ. There are those who deny the
finished work of Christ. They'll tell you in a moment
that there are multitudes in hell for whom he died, that he
died in vain for them. That denies his blood as being
the ground of the forgiveness of all sin. It denies his righteousness,
imputed as being that which alone saves us and keeps us and brings
us to glory. There are those today who will
call him a sinner today. And that is just as much a denial
of the person of Christ. There are several heresies that
crop up in the New Testament. Let me give you a few of them.
One of the most popular, probably the most popular, is legalism.
What is a legalist? A legalist is someone who believes
that their salvation at some stage, in some way, in some part,
in some degree, is conditioned on their works under the law.
That's what a legalist is. Paul dealt with such legalists
here in Colossians chapter 2. They were Jewish legalists. who
claimed to preach Christ, who claimed to believe that his blood
and righteousness alone was their only ground of salvation, but
that a sinner needed to go back under the old covenant law and
keep the feast days and the Sabbaths and the taste not and the touch
not and the handle not. If you'll look in verse 16, Paul
adamantly denies that as forming any part of the preaching of
the gospel and actually forbids sinners to go back under the
Jewish law in any way or form. Look at verse 16. He says, Let
no man therefore judge you in meat, that is, in what you eat.
Or in drink, or what you drink, or in respect of an holy day.
That's the feast days. Don't let people judge you that
way. Or in the new moon. That's the seasons. Or of the
Sabbath days. Which are a shadow of things
to come. But the body is of Christ. The salvation of the church is
not in what you eat or drink. It's not in what days you keep
or don't keep. It's not in seasons. It's not
in Sabbath days. You see, Christ fulfilled all
that. Those things were shadows. Now, listen to me. Picture this. Picture a loving wife waiting
for her husband to come home from the war. She hadn't seen
him in, let's say, two years. And he's coming home today. And
she's outside in the yard waiting for him to come. He's going to
show up any minute now. It's a bright, beautiful, sunny
day. And here he comes and he steps out of the car and he casts
a huge shadow. And she falls on the ground trying
to grab the shadow, trying to love the shadow, trying to kiss
the shadow. Now, wouldn't that be silly?
When her husband is standing right there in front of her,
flesh and blood, and she can hold him, she can kiss him. She
can tell him, I love you. And that's what these Jewish
feast days were. They were shadows. Don't embrace the shadow. Don't
love the shadow. There's no salvation in the shadow. There's no substance in the shadow.
Look to Christ. Every one of those feast days
had something to do with Christ and Him crucified and our completeness
in Him. The Sabbath. We don't have a
Sabbath day today. Christ is our Sabbath. We rest
in Him and His finished work. He redeemed me at Calvary. He
justified me at Calvary. I don't need the shadows no more.
They're good to go back and look at and consider, but we see the
fulfillment in Christ and we embrace Him. We love Him. We
look to Him. By the Holy Spirit, it is forbidden
for us to be judged, to judge ourselves or to judge anyone
else in respect of the shadows that are already gone. We have
Christ. and him crucified. Legalism will
take a sinner and put that burden upon him of the law and say,
well, you're saved by grace, but you've got to stay saved
by law keeping or by free willism or whatever form it comes in.
In some way, it takes the conditions of salvation and puts them on
the sinner in some way rather than seeing all those conditions
fulfilled completely in Christ, in whom all the fullness of the
Godhead dwells. And it's deadly. It's a deadly
legalism. Our Lord dealt with it in Luke
chapter 8 when he spoke of the parable of the publican and the
Pharisee. When he mentioned the Pharisee are those who saw themselves
as righteous in their own sight by their works. Paul dealt with
it in Romans chapter 9 when he spoke of Israel, who had a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness,
he said, to everyone that believeth. If you want to see perfect law-keeping,
don't look to yourself or your enablements or your attempts.
Look to Christ. He's the only one. Paul said,
Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. For I say
unto you, if you be circumcised by law," now, if you think circumcision
or any act or any ceremony or any day keeping or anything like
that will make you righteous before a holy God or justify
you or make you holy, he said, Christ will profit you nothing.
What's the answer? You are complete in Him. Another
common heresy back then was called Gnosticism. Now you may have
read that term or heard it. It's spelled G-N-O-S-T-I-C-I-S-M. I spell that because if you see
it, the G is silent. It comes from a Greek word which
means knowledge. The Gnostics were the knowing
ones. And what were they? They boasted of a superior knowledge. than anybody else we know and
their knowledge was based upon feeling and experience not based
upon the word of God so when they spoke of their knowledge
they couldn't turn the chapter and verse Isaiah spoke of it
in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20 he says to the law and to the
testimony if they speak not according to this word what does it say
there's no light in them you see I can tell you I know some
things And knowledge is by revelation. It must be revealed by God. Knowledge
of the holy, knowledge of eternity, knowledge of salvation must come
from God. It can't come from man. And it
is revealed. But my friend, if any knowledge that I claim to
have is not according to this Word, there's no light in me. That's what the Scripture teaches.
There are people who boast of their knowledge. Look at Colossians
chapter 2. Look at verse 8. And Paul may have had this in
mind, this Gnosticism, this boasted knowledge. And all it does, it
doesn't humble the sinner and drive him to Christ, it lifts
up the flesh, is what it does. Brings pride and self-righteousness.
He said, Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit. Now, you know the word philosophy
literally means love of wisdom. And if you have a right philosophy,
if you truly love wisdom, what's that going to mean in Scripture?
It means you love Christ. who is our wisdom. But this is
talking about man's philosophy, and you know it because it's
got vain deceit. What is that? That is empty deception. So this is the words of man,
a knowledge of man, a wisdom of man that ends up being vanity,
empty deception. In other words, there's no fullness,
there's no completeness there, there's no salvation. It doesn't
lead sinners to Christ. It's after the tradition of men,
because that's the way it starts. It starts with somebody and then
it gets handed down. After the rudiments of the world.
That word rudiments means elements. And not after Christ. Not after
the one in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Not after the one in whom God's children are complete. You see
that? Another common. Heresy was mysticism. You know what mysticism is a
mystic is one who looks within himself to find his peace and
his assurance and his religion Paul may have had that in mind
when he wrote verse 18 here. Look at Colossians 2 He says
let no man beguile you now that word beguile means judge against
you Let no man judge against you of your reward Now what is
your reward now? Listen to me? Somebody says,
well, that's what I've earned in this life. Well, my friend,
if that's true, you have been beguiled. Our reward is Christ. He had just said back up in verse
7, the body is of Christ. What body? The church. Christ
is the foundation of the church. Christ is the heart of the church. Christ is the head of the church. The church is his body. He bought
us with the price of his precious blood. He justified us by his
righteousness imputed. We are his bride clothed in the
white garment of his righteousness, you see. And we're waiting for
that great marriage feast in glory. So let no man judge against
you of your reward in a voluntary humility. You know what a voluntary
humility is? It's a self-imposed humility. You see, when God the Holy Spirit
brings life, he humbles the sinner. But you know, that's not a self-imposed
humility. He brings us down because he
shows us what we are. And then it says, "...and worshiping
of angels." That was common back then. They'd pick an angel. Today,
it's either saints or angels. It's either preachers or denominations.
Somebody. But it's mysticism. It's not
according to God's Word. It's just, I've got a feeling.
And then it says, intruding into those things which he hath not
seen. And he says, vainly puffed up
by his fleshly mind, he looked within. That's mysticism. You see, when the Holy Spirit
humbles a sinner, what does he do? He leads that sinner to Christ
for righteousness, for life, for holiness, for redemption. Somebody speaks of the work of
the Holy Spirit in a person. How do you know if it's the work
of the Holy Spirit? Bringing that sinner down into
the depths of his depravity and sin. Convicting him. Afflicting
his soul. How do you know it's the work
of the Holy Spirit? Not but one way to know. Where does he end
up? Where does he find relief? Or in whom does he find relief?
If he finds relief, peace, assurance, salvation, reward in anything
but Christ and Him crucified. And anything but redemption and
justification at the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ is not
the work of the Holy Spirit. You see, he's going to lead sinners
to Christ. Another form of heresy that was common in those days
was elitism. What that means is that salvation
is only just for a special group, an elite group. The Jews, for
example. It's just for the Jews. And if
you're going to break into our circle, you've got to become
a Jew. If you're a Gentile, you're a dog. You've got to be circumcised.
Paul may have had that in mind in verse 20 of Colossians chapter
2. He says, Wherefore, if you be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, the elements of
the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject
to ordinances? Why are you living like the world?
Now, what does he mean, living like the world? Well, look at
verse 21. Taste not, or touch not, taste
not, handle not. Now that's what most religion
today would call spiritual. Don't taste that, don't touch
that, don't handle that. Paul said, if you think that's
what your salvation and holiness and righteousness is, you're
worldly. But look at verse 22. Which are all to perish with
the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. There's
elitism. Well, what does so-and-so think?
I've had people say that to me. Well, if he does it, that means
there's something to it. Well, what does it matter? What
does God's Word say? That's the issue. He goes on
in verse 23, "...which things have indeed a show of wisdom."
Now, that key is a show. They're putting on a show. And
it may look like wisdom. And he says, "...in will worship."
Now, that's self-imposed worship. That's not worship that's led
by the Holy Spirit. Because worship that's led by
the Holy Spirit leads the sinner to Christ. So it's self-imposed
worship and humility, self-imposed humility and neglecting of the
body, that is, punishing the body. And then he says, "...not
in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh." In other words,
in these things that these doctrines of men teach, and you follow
men, There is no value against indulgence of the flesh. In other
words, people think, well, if I follow old pastor so-and-so,
or old doctor so-and-so, or if I follow this group, these Jews,
or this group over here, this inner circle over here, and do
what they do, and don't do what they don't do, taste not, touch
not, handle not, then I'm not going to be indulging the flesh.
And Paul says, well, there's no value to that. You're actually,
you end up doing what you're trying not to do. You're trying
not to indulge the flesh, but you're actually indulging it.
And it looks like religion. It looks like wisdom. It looks
like holiness. But it's nothing but fleshly,
self-righteous elitism. We'll look back at Colossians
2. Look at verse 11. Now he's speaking of Christ here.
Now listen to this. He says, "...in whom you also
are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands." Now, you
know what Old Testament circumcision was. That was ordained by God
to Abraham. That every Jewish male on the
eighth day, they were to be circumcised physically, and that was a fleshly,
physical token of their connection with Abraham physically. Now,
that circumcision was a type and a picture of a spiritual
token, a spiritual mark, you might say. of a spiritual connection
with Abraham in the faith, looking to Christ. And so here he's speaking
of a spiritual circumcision. He says it's a circumcision made
without hands. It's not physical, it's not fleshly.
And he says, "...in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh
by the circumcision of Christ." Now what's he speaking of there?
What he's speaking of there is Christ on the cross. When Christ,
by His death on the cross, spiritually and legally cut away the filth
of the flesh when he drank damnation dry for the sins of his people.
When he finished, made an end of sin and finished the transgression.
He put away the filth of the flesh legally before God when
he put away our sins and he made us righteous before God. And
then he says buried with him also in baptism. Now the word
baptism means placed into. When we think about baptism,
we think of water baptism. There is an ordinance of water
baptism given to the New Testament Church. It's not for babies. It's for believing sinners. It's
for sinners who've been born again by the Spirit of God to
go into the water And be immersed in the water. There's no pouring.
There's no sprinkling. Because of what? And some people
say, well, baptism means immersion. That's not what the word means.
But it's immersion because of what it symbolizes. That is a
public confession. You see, it's an ordinance. There's
no salvation in water baptism. There's no power in water baptism. It is a confession by way of
ordinance of identification with Christ. And when a sinner goes
into the baptismal pool, he's immersed in the water saying
that he died with Christ, he was buried with Christ, and he
comes up out of the water saying he's resurrected with Christ.
And that is what he's confessing by way of ordinance and identification. So that's what water baptism
is. And that should be the first
step of obedience of a sinner who's already been saved by the
grace of God and regenerated. The blood of Christ is not enacted
or empowered or applied in water baptism. That was done at the
cross, you see. But the word baptism means placed
into. That's what it means. And it
speaks of union. And what he said is that when
Christ died, now, And he was buried, and he arose again the
third day, all whom he represented, all who eventually, by the power
of God the Holy Spirit, come to faith in Christ, they were
placed into Christ. Now we were placed into Christ
by God's electing grace before the foundation of the world.
But we were placed into Christ by God's redemptive grace at
Calvary when our sins were imputed to him, and his righteousness
imputed to us. So that we died with him. We
were buried with him. We arose again with him. We weren't
even there in our own person. We were in Christ. And that's
what he's speaking of. So we were placed into him. And
then he says, wherein also you are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the
dead. Now the faith of the operation of God, I believe here, is speaking
of regeneration. That's another form of circumcision. It's spiritual circumcision.
Now let me show you that. Look at Romans chapter 2. And
I'll hurry here. Look at verse 28. He's speaking of spiritual circumcision
of the heart. That's the new birth. Those who
were placed into Christ before eternity. Those who were placed
into Christ at Calvary. will be circumcised in the heart. They will be born again. The
Holy Spirit will give them life, and in essence, he will cut away
the filth of the flesh in this sense. He will bring them to
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance of dead works
and idolatry. Look at verse 28, Romans 2. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh, But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God." Spiritual circumcision. Turn to Philippians chapter 3.
Now here is a good description of a sinner. Now listen to this. A sinner who was chosen in Christ
before the world began. A sinner who was placed in the
Christ at Calvary, who was redeemed and justified at the cross, and
of a sinner who's been born again by the Spirit of God. Here's
a good description of him in Philippians 3, in verse 3. For we are the circumcision.
You know Paul's talking to Gentiles here who had never experienced
physical circumcision? He's talking about spiritual.
The new birth. We are the circumcision. How
do you know? We worship God in the Spirit. That means two things.
We worship God, first of all, in the Spirit when we worship
God as He reveals Himself in His Word. In other words, whatever
God says about Himself in His Word, that's the way I worship
God. There are people all across this world who deny the absolute
sovereignty of God. They don't worship God in Spirit.
They don't worship God as He reveals Himself. There are those
who believe salvation is by their will, their way, their works.
Is that how God reveals Himself in this world? Somebody says,
yeah, but they haven't seen it. Well, it doesn't matter if they
haven't seen it. That doesn't change the issue. We hope they
do see it and pray for them and preach to them. But they're not
worshipping God in spirit. They're not worshipping God as
He reveals Himself in Christ. How does he reveal himself in
Christ? For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and ye are complete in him. And then secondly, it means to
worship God from the heart. It's not just outward show. It's
not just outward ceremony. But it's a love for Christ. It's
a desire for him. It's looking to him. You see
what I'm saying? Worshipping God. And then the
next thing it says about these who are circumcised spiritually,
it says they rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now, that word rejoice
literally means to have confidence in. It means to boast in. We
do boast. We who are saved by grace, we
boast. But not in ourselves. We boast
in Christ. In other words, we'll stand up
here behind pulpits and lecterns and brag about Him. brag on Christ,
who He is, what He accomplished, why He did it, where He is now.
Our confidence is in Him. My assurance and peace is in
Him and His blood and righteousness. And then, thoroughly have no
confidence in the flesh. I don't have any confidence in
the flesh whatsoever. Turn back to Colossians 2. He says in verse 13, And you
being dead in your sins, now how are we dead in our sins?
And in uncircumcision of your flesh, Have he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses? That's my identification
with Christ. Forgiven by his work, his finished
work. Accepted. Look at verse 14. Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. The law
is fulfilled. Don't bring it back up and impose
it on people. It was nailed to the cross. Look
at it. Which was contrary to us and took it out of the way,
nailing it to the cross. All those ordinances under the
old covenant were nailed to the cross. They were against us,
because all the law can do is condemn us without Christ. So
he nailed it to the cross. That means he died for our sins.
He took our condemnation, and he justified us at Calvary. Therefore,
he says, and having spoiled, verse 15, principalities and
powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them,
literally in himself. All that stood against us, our
sins, Christ triumphed. Satan, who accuses us? He can accuse us, but you know
what? His accusations don't stick anymore. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father
ever-living to make intercession for us. And listen to me. We still have to put up with
remaining sin in ourselves. And because of that, our hearts
and our consciences will sometimes condemn us. You know what John
wrote in 1 John chapter 5? He said, God is greater than
our hearts. You see, you're not going to find peace looking within.
You're only going to find peace looking to Christ, in whom dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and seeing yourself as
complete in Him. All right, let's pray. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for your word of grace in Christ. We thank
you for all that has been provided for us through him, the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we thank you for your spirit
to show us all that he accomplished at Calvary on our behalf. We
thank you for your preserving grace. We thank you, dear Lord,
for our assembly and pray that you will bless us. For it's in
Christ's name we pray. Amen.