Turn, if you would, in your Bibles
to Colossians chapter 3. When I was in Colorado I was
looking at this verse and I was quite excited to come home and
put a message together. Colossians chapter 3. Tonight
our text will be verse 16, but let's read the context. Let's
read the context of the verse, starting in verse 10, and the
name of the message is the Word of Christ. The Word of Christ. Colossians 3, starting in verse
10, and we'll read to verse 17. And have put on the new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved
vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness and long-suffering,
forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. And above all these things put
on charity, which is love, which is the bond of perfectness. And
let the peace of God rule And we look at that as govern, rule
in your hearts to the which also you are called in one body and
be ye thankful. And here's tonight's verse. Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And
whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. given thanks to God and the Father
by Him. Now, last time we met was two
weeks ago, and we looked at verse 15, where we saw that the peace
of God is to govern, to govern in the Greek, rule in our text,
over our hearts as believers. As born-again believers, we are
to have the peace to let peace govern, the peace of God govern,
govern our hearts. And this is only possible by
those who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And so we
are to have that love which we see Love, which we see in verse
14, which is remember the bond of perfectness. It's what unites
us and in the peace of God to rule in our hearts. Now, sin
used to rule over us at one time, governed us. Sin did. But now we who have been born
again have been given a new heart, a new heart, which we have new
desires now. New desires, this heart which
God has given us. hungers and thirsts after righteousness. We weren't like that before,
were we? Now, now we hunger and thirst for righteousness and
we desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We also looked at how we are
called into one body. It says, and let the peace of
God rule in your heart to which you are called in one body. This is God's effectual calling.
All of God's elect are the body of Christ. The body of Christ. We are born again. And salvation
is a regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit. It's not as
religion says. Religion says you believe, then
you're regenerated. That makes man the sovereign.
Salvation's of the Lord, the scripture says. So we're regenerated,
and then we believe. Then we repent, because salvation's
of the Lord. It's all his work. It's all his
work, and it's his work. Salvation's, oh, think of this.
Salvation's of the Lord and it's planning. Who's the one who planned
our salvation? God. When did he do it? In eternity. In eternity, beloved. It's salvation's
of the Lord and it's securing. Who's the one who secured our
salvation? Christ. He did it all by himself,
his brother Tim said. Salvation's of the Lord, it's
all his work. And then, salvation's of the
Lord and its execution in our lives. We're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. Salvation's of the Lord. Religion,
salvation's of man. Scripture, salvation's of the
Lord. It's all his work, beloved. It's
all his work. And we who believe, we who believe
are one body. The elect, all the elect of all
the ages are called into one body, of whom Christ is the head,
of whom Christ is the head. Christ is the head of the church,
and we, we here are called out of assembly. We gather together
in ecclesia, in the Greek, called out of assembly. We gather together
to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to learn of
our Savior's wondrous works in salvation and in providence. We marvel at what Christ has
done for us. We marvel. We also looked at
how God's people, as a result of this, it says, and let the
peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called
in one body, and be you thankful. Be you thankful. God's people
are thankful people. And this naturally flows out
of a regenerated heart. We're thankful for what Christ
has done for us. My, when we ponder, when we ponder
the fact that Christ left heaven to redeem us, to die on Calvary's cross, to
pay everything that God demanded for all of my sin, Brother Roy,
for all your sin. It makes us thankful. And then
we have the privilege of gathering together with other blood-washed
saints and being thankful together, being thankful together for what
Christ has done for each of us. It's amazing. It's truly amazing
grace, beloved. What a God we have, and may we
ever be in awe of Him and of what He's done as we walk through
this world of woe. May we be in awe at the mercy
and the grace which we have obtained in Christ Jesus our Lord. May
we be in awe when we think that all our sins are forgiven by
the death of our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. My. And this will make, when
you ponder, when you start pondering what Christ has done for you,
it'll make you thankful. It'll make you thankful. Because
we know that we don't deserve any of this. Not at all. It's unmerited favor from God,
our Savior, in Christ Jesus, in Him alone. Scripture declares,
let's look at our verse tonight. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. Now Paul has been instructing
the Colossian believers about their conduct with one another
as blood-bought, born-again saints. And we've looked at that the
last few weeks. Paul's been dealing with the conduct of how we should
be. And let us take note also that
the things Paul has mentioned cannot be taught or learned.
Cannot be taught or learned. They are fruit of the Holy Spirit
of God. They spring out of a regenerated heart. We are to put on vows
of mercy. These spring out of a regenerated
heart, beloved. Vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long suffering. People can only fake it for so
long. And that's what they do in religion. That's what they
do in religion. These things spring out of a
of a regenerated heart, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, and we are to be, scripture declares
this, for bearing with one another and forgiving with one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, if anyone has a quarrel with their brother, they're to
go to them. And this is what we are to do,
hey. This is what we're to do. And it's wonderful because what
it does, beloved, is it creates unity within the body of Christ.
It creates unity. And you're one with around the
gospel. That's what's the most important
thing, isn't it? The preaching of Christ and Him crucified. My. It's wonderful. And we are to
forgive one another Think of this. We are to forgive one another
when we ponder how much Christ has forgiven us. It's amazing. We should be quick to forgive,
eh? Quick to forgive. It's wonderful,
though, the salvation that we have. And as I said, this springs
out of a regenerator. It's not natural. Because natural
for us is, I'm going to get that. I'm never going to forgive that
person. Ah, but out of a regenerated
heart flows forgiveness, humbleness of mind. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. And it creates
unity within the body, unity within the body of Christ. So
we're to keep short accounts, beloved. We're to let peace govern
our hearts, rule our hearts. In tonight's verse says, let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. Sister Ruth, you guys told me
about how you guys used to have everyone get together at the
house and you sing. That is so edifying. That builds
up unity within the body of Christ. because you're gathering around
not only the scriptures, but you're gathering around songs
that are Christ-centered and giving him all the glory and
honor and praise. And it's wonderful. It's wonderful. So we are to admonish each other.
Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in our
hearts to the Lord now What is the Word of Christ scripture
declares here? Let the Word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom teaching admonishing one another in Psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs Singing with grace in your hearts
to the Lord. What is the Word of Christ spoken
of here beloved? It is none other than this book
right here the Holy Scriptures the Bible It's the word of God. Are these not the words of Christ?
Now, they have some red ones in there, right? They say, well,
those are the words of Christ. Who was the one who spoke to
Moses? Who was the one who appeared
before Isaiah? Oh, I am that I am. What did Christ say before Abraham
was? I am. I am. Oh, beloved. It's the Word of
God. The Word of God and the Word
of Christ are one and the same. From the first words of Genesis,
in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, until
the last words in Revelation, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. And all the words in between,
all of them, all of them, is the Word of God. and the Word
of Christ. And we are to let the words of
this wonderful book, the words of this wonderful book, we're
to let the words of this wonderful book dwell in us richly. Dwell
in us richly. We're to feast upon the Word
of God. We're to meditate upon the Word of God. We're to ruminate
upon the Word of God. Oh, let it dwell richly, richly
in you, beloved. Scripture declares in the Old
Testament, I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect
unto thy ways. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
119, Psalm 119. Look at verses 11 and 12. All
the words of Christ, the words of Scripture, let them saturate
your spirit, beloved. Let them let them be honey to
your soul. Let them be honey to your soul. Our Master spoke these words
about the Scripture. Our Master said, this search
the Scripture, search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they which testify of. They testify
in Christ, beloved. They testify of him. Look at
Psalm 119, verse 11 and 12. Look at this. This is wonderful.
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against
thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. How does
he teach us his statutes through the word of God? Through his
word. The Holy Spirit teaches us, oh,
May we long to hear, may we long to hear the Word of God preached
again and again and again, because it proclaims our wonderful, merciful
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures make us wise unto
salvation. Turn, if you would, to 2 Timothy
3. The Scriptures make us wise unto salvation as God the Holy
Spirit regenerates lost sinners by the preaching and teaching
of the Word of God. And we are also instructed and
equipped for the Christian life by the Word of God because it's
our spiritual food, beloved. It's our spiritual manna. Oh
my. And it's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that we might be equipped to walk through this world, turn
again. Like I said, 2nd Timothy chapter three, look at verses
15 to 17 verses 15 to 17. And that from a child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise and
to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and it is profitable for what?
For doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. Oh, beloved, may we desire just
to dig into His Word. May we desire to dig into the
Word of God, and may we not just be satisfied with hearing it
preached here at church, but may we, during the week, dig
into the Scriptures and open the Word of God. May we contemplate
the Word of God, ruminate on the Word of God, write it to
our hearts. May we memorize it May we just
feast upon the word of God every day, every day, every day. And maybe we let it sink into
our hearts because the scriptures will bring us great joy and the
scriptures will bring us great peace, great joy and great peace
as we consider. Who the scriptures are about.
Christ, Christ and him alone. Oh, let the Word of God dwell
richly in you, beloved. Richly. This book, this wonderful
book, the Holy Scriptures, Old Testament and New Testament,
is the totality of biblical revelation concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks
of who He is. He's king of kings and he's lord
of lords beloved It speaks of his mission He came to save his
people from their sins It speaks of his life The perfect sinless
lamb of god john said behold the lamb of god He's taken away
the sins of the world It speaks of His redemptive work,
where He cried upon the cross, It is finished. It speaks of His character. It
speaks of His will. And it reveals and declares to
us the eternal decree of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior and our mediator. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
4. Luke chapter 4. Oh, it reveals and declares to
us the eternal decree of God concerning Christ our Savior
and meat-eater. Luke 4, verses 17-21. And there was delivered unto him
the book of Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it is written. Spirit of the Lord is
upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. Oh What poor needy sinners we
are beloved. Oh He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted
to preach look at this deliverance It's all we were held captive
by sin and to recover into the sight to the blind and and we
were blind to Christ, we were blind to the things of God, but
now we, praise God, we be given eyes to see, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister,
and sat down, and all the eyes, and the eyes of all of them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And He began to say unto
them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. My, my,
what a Savior we have, beloved. Paul proclaims, turn if you would
to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Paul proclaims
that the scriptures declare Christ over in Romans chapter 1. So our Master said today, this
day, when he was reading that, this day is the Scripture fulfilled
in your ears. Look what Paul writes in Romans
1, verses 1-4. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which
he had promised to for by his prophets, where? In the Holy
Scriptures. They speak of Christ, beloved.
They speak of Christ. concerning His Son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. He was a real man. God incarnated in the flesh. The Scriptures spoke of Him and
here He is. Here He is. And declared to be
the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead. So this wonderful Scripture This
wonderful scripture is the word of Christ. It brings comfort
to the believer as the Holy Spirit teaches us about Christ, about
who God is, and about how his will and his purpose is being
worked out. Think of this, beloved. His will
and his purpose is being worked out right now before our eyes.
It is. It is. Right before. Just like
it was for the Colossians. in their time. Oh my, just like
it will be until the Lord tarries, as long as the Lord tarries.
My, my, that brings comfort to the believer. And God's preachers,
we desire to preach Christ and Him crucified. We desire to preach
Christ and Him crucified. Because He is the central theme
of this book. This book is all, it is a hymn
book. It's all about Christ. It's all about Him. about God's
redemptive plan in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
we looked at earlier in our study that all the Old Testament sacrifices,
they're types and shadows, but Christ is the substance. And
we have an example of that when we walk down the street on a
sunny day and we see our shadow. That's not us. This is us, the
substance. Those were but types and shadows
pointing to Christ's blood, pointing right to Christ. And God's preachers,
we desire to preach Christ. We don't want to preach 50 ways
to be a better Christian, because we're all a bunch of sinners.
That doesn't mean we condone sin, does it? No, not at all.
But we point you to the one who is the savior of sinners, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And let us remember that the
Word of the Lord and the Gospel of Jesus Christ are one and the
same. Peter said so over in 1 Peter 1.25, it says this, But the Word
of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the Word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you. But the Word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached
unto you. And our scripture tonight here
declares that we are to let the words of this wonderful book,
the words of this wonderful book dwell in us richly, richly. Now the Greek word for dwell,
the Greek word for dwell is defined as this, is defined as this,
to dwell in, inhabit. We are to let the word of God
inhabit us. And we looked at earlier, to make one's home,
or to be at home, dwell is to be at home to make one's home
so the word of Christ the gospel of Christ should dwell in us
richly in all wisdom is one of the grace preachers comments
it should not be a visitor that just drops by now and then no
the word of Christ should dwell in us take up residence in our
hearts and live in us it's our food it's our manna Jeremiah
1516 says this. Thy words were found and I did
eat them. And thy word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by thy name,
O Lord, God of hosts. Jeremiah 1516 again. Thy words
were found and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of mine heart. It will bring you joy. It will
bring you joy. For I am called by thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. God's people rejoice in the word
of God. Again, it's our spiritual food.
It's our spiritual food. Turn, if you would, to Job 23.12.
Job 23.12. Oh, we rejoice in the Word of
God. Look at this verse. I saw this. I've read it before, but I finally
saw it today. Look at, this is just marvelous.
Job 23.12. Do you know that we are to esteem
the words of Scripture more than necessary food? Because this,
this is our spiritual food. Look at Job 2312. Neither have
I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed
the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. More than
my necessary food, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than
my necessary food. Those who abide in Christ abide
in his word. dwelling upon His Word. Scripture
declares this in John 15, 7. If ye abide in Me, and My words
abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done
unto you. God's people, beloved, we abide
in His Gospel. We're not settled for anything
else. We're not settled for anything else. I was talking to a grace
preacher today, He was saying to me, you just
don't know how people can people can not attend grace churches
who know better. My goodness, we we won't settle
for anything else but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the gospel of his free and sovereign grace in Christ, we won't settle
for anything else. Nothing else. Nothing else. It's precious to us, beloved,
because the Gospel of Christ points away from ourselves and
points us to Christ and Him alone. And this Word comes in power
by the Holy Spirit of God. And when it does, beloved, it
takes deep root. It takes deep root within us. And we relish the Word of God.
And we have a love for the Gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. and we hold fast to the profession
of it and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. Christ hath made us free. And every inspired word of God
should be more valuable than all the riches of this world.
Oh, it should dwell in us richly, and Scripture declares in all
wisdom. Now the Greek word for richly is defined as abundantly. Let the Word of Christ inhabit,
dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord richly, abundantly This is the same Greek word that
is translated over in Titus chapter 3. Turn there if you would. We've
read this portion quite a bit, but I want us to look at this
because the word abundantly is the same Greek word that's translated
richly in Colossians 3.16, but it's translated abundantly over
in Titus chapter 3. But after, starting in verse
4, we'll read to verse 6. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost
which He shed on us, and there's the Greek word right here, abundantly.
Richly. Abundantly. How? Through Jesus Christ our
Savior. Nowhere else, beloved. Nowhere
else. That's why the Gospel's so vital.
That's why we won't settle for anything else, beloved. But the
Gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. My, what mercy God has
shown us. And the Colossians were exhorted
by Paul, and we're being exhorted tonight, too, as we study this,
to a diligent study of God's Word. And we are to study God's
Word so that the Holy Spirit, and it's the Holy Spirit who
teaches us. Why? That we might grow in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to puff us up, because
it won't puff us up. It'll lay us low. It'll make
us realize more and more as we study the Word of God what Christ
has done for us. Undeserving, unmerited sinner
that I am. Oh, the mercy of God is abundantly
given to me and given to you, who believe. It's wonderful. What a Savior we have. What a
Savior. So we're to study God's Word
and the Holy Spirit teaches us. Teaches us and for the believer
the Word of God is loved and respected and obeyed and delighted
We delight in it richly in an abundant fashion Psalm 1 verses
1 and 2 says this Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly Nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful But his delight what's our delight
isn't is in the law of the Lord. It's it's learning about Christ
our delights in him It's in Christ Oh my, his delight is in the
law of the Lord, and in the law doth he meditate day and night.
This precious word, beloved, governs the believer's life.
Think of it. It's a light for our path, isn't
it? It is. It guides us all through
this pilgrimage. It gives us strength. When I
read the scriptures, it gives me strength, and it gives me
joy. When I'm troubled, I go to the Scriptures. And I'm not saying you have to
read huge chunks. If you're troubled, go to the
Psalms. They're some of the most comforting places in Scripture.
And you read the things that David went through and how God
continuously delivered him, continuously through that. That's a picture
of us. Oh my, what a Savior we are. And the Scriptures point
us to Christ. And we're not to study just one
part of the Scripture, but all of it. that we may benefit and
grow in the grace and knowledge and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2, 1 and 3 says this, wherefore laying aside all malice,
in all guile, in hypocrisies, in envies, in evil speakings,
as newborn babes, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk
of the word, that ye may grow thereby, desire the word of God,
that ye may grow, oh may God give us a desire a desire just
to grow in the grace and knowledge and truth of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. And it says, if if so be you
have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Hadn't it been so gracious to
us? So gracious. We don't get what
we deserve, we we've received mercy. Mercy. And it's all because of our sinless
substitute. It's all because of what He's
done, beloved. What Christ has done. And He
did it willingly for us people. My, what joy that brings the
believer. That the wrath of God is satisfied. That His wrath and justice has
been turned aside from us. Because it fell upon Christ.
And no wonder scriptures declare if he sets us free, we're free
indeed. My! Oh, what a Savior we have. Brother Mahan comments on these
words here. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom and teaching and admonishing one
another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with
grace in your heart to the Lord. He comments this. It's not only
the duty of ministers to teach, encourage and instruct others,
but it is the duty of all believers to witness, teach and encourage
one another in spiritual manners. This can be done in private,
in groups and in public worship. It is all to be done unto the
Lord for the glory of the Lord and from the heart. Why do we
gather together? We gather together to fellowship
around the word of Christ, don't we? The gospel. But in gathering
together, we're all built up together. It's encouraging to
see you. It is. It's wonderful. And we
encourage one another as we go through this, but we find out,
we find out that we all go through a lot of the same things. We
doubt, we struggle, we battle sin all the time. Oh, we gather around the Word
of God, we gather around our Savior. Our text continues, it
says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
The wisdom of God, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, should be
more precious to us than all the gold this world has to offer.
All the money, all the gold. Christ should be more to us than
all the taperings of this world. Because what? Because Christ
is everything to the believer. Everything. He's everything. And the Word of Christ, the Scriptures,
will give us wisdom. Not natural man's wisdom. As
the Holy Spirit teaches us, He gives us spiritual wisdom. And
where does the Holy Spirit point us to? Who does the Holy Spirit
point us to? Christ. Christ in him alone. Because he is the one who is
proclaimed in scripture. The Holy Spirit teaches the regenerated
believer. The blood-bought saint of God
teaches us of Christ. And again, we grow in the wisdom
and knowledge of Christ. And we learn of him through the
preaching of his word, through the reading of his word. as the Holy Spirit reveals Him
to us. In this book, this book will
tell us, we who believe, that we're saved by what Christ has
done. Not by anything we do. All the religions of the world
tell you you've got to do something. The Gospel. of the Lord Jesus
Christ tells you what's been done, what's been accomplished,
what's been accomplished. I overheard someone talking today
at lunch, and they were talking about sin,
and they talked about it like it was something that we only
do every once in a while and only by certain acts. And I was
putting the message together, I was about halfway through. And I was pondering what they
were saying. And I thought, they don't really
know what sin is. Because what does the Holy Spirit,
what does He reveal to us? That we're sinners. That we're
sinners. It's not just something we do,
it infects everything we do. But oh my, man will never know
that he is a sinner unless the Holy Ghost reveals it to him.
How do we learn that we are a sinner? The Holy Spirit reveals this
to us through the preaching of His Word and the teaching of
His Word, the Bible. Holy Scriptures the word of Christ
in this wonderful book presents Christ Presents before us Christ
in all his redemptive glory beloved In God's people we love this
book We love this book And we don't want to have anything taught
to us, but Christ and We had a conference when we were in
Oregon. The charge was, sir, we would see Jesus. That's the
charge to every preacher, every teacher. We would see Jesus. We would see Jesus. And this again, this wonderful
book presents Christ in all his redemptive glory. all his redemptive
glory. We love to hear it preached.
We love to hear it read. We love to read it. Praying that
God, the Holy Spirit will reveal Christ to us because he must
increase. And we must decrease in all of
scripture is to be looked at by the believer with deep reverence
to our God, to our God. And let us ponder this. that
the false teachers at Kalash would have used their own teachings. They would have said that they
have certain knowledge which they could only impart. We know
the Gnostics did this. So they would have probably had
other teachings too that they were adding in. Man's teachings. Man's teachings. So that their
doctrine became a mixture of human doctrine and religious
tradition. And notice what Paul's doing
here before us. Let's look at the verse again.
Notice what Paul's doing here again. Once again. And we've
seen it through this whole book. Paul is bringing forth the sufficiency
and the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look it. Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Paul again brings forth the supremacy
and the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can conclude
from this that the believer needs to look nowhere else but Christ.
Nowhere else but Christ. We look to Christ and Him alone. And for Paul, the Word of Christ
must control all aspects of worship. The Word of Christ must control
the ministry of the local church. And we see the ministry of teaching
must be controlled by the Word of God, and also that of praise. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So Christ must
permanent permeate through all that's done in the church must
be all about him and him alone. Him alone, we are to esteem others
better than ourselves. Now, note the gospel of God's
grace. will be echoed with songs of
grace. Notice this, singing with grace
in your hearts to the Lord. The gospel of God's grace will
be echoed with songs of grace being sung in the hearts of His
people. We who are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. All glory, honor
and praise goes to our Savior, goes to our Savior, beloved salvation
is by grace alone through Christ alone by God's glory to God's
glory alone. And therefore, the one who has
had this grace given to them, the one who has this grace bestowed
upon them, will sing with grace in their hearts, giving thanks
unto the Lord. Giving thanks unto the Lord.
What do we have to be thankful for, beloved? The fact that the
Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins on Calvary's cross, and
that all our sins and iniquities All there's none left all all
our sins and iniquities are paid for in full by the Lord Jesus
Christ By him shedding his precious blood upon the cross and making
an atonement for our sins and having obtained eternal redemption
For us for me for this sinner right there and for you He has
obtained eternal salvation blood For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. Now our confidence is in our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author,
the beginner, and the finisher of our faith. Oh, what a Savior. And this is where we find our
assurance, beloved, in Christ. And in Christ alone. In Christ
alone. Our faith is in Christ. He is
our Lord and our Savior and our assurance grows as we keep our
eye of faith upon Him. As we keep our eye of faith upon
His perfect, perfect redeeming work, His perfect redeeming work
for us. Oh, what a Savior. And as we
listen to gospel messages and as we study and read, His word,
our assurance will grow because it's centered in Christ. You
see, as Paul said, no confidence in the flesh, all our assurance
comes from our Savior, beloved, the one who keeps our eternal
souls and who will one day present us faultless before the throne.
What a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. Gracious
Heavenly Father, we thank thee for your word. It's so precious.
It points us to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord,
we would not have a clue about your scriptures unless you revealed
it to us. And so we who believe are so
thankful that you have revealed Christ to us, that you have opened
the scriptures by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, that we are
regenerated by the power of the Holy Ghost and that we can grow
in the grace and knowledge and truth. as we are taught by the
Holy Spirit of God. We praise Thee, O Lord, for Your
goodness to us. In Jesus' name, Amen.