Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 I Was sitting there thinking a few minutes ago about first time I I met John in Ernestine. I recall the first message I preached to you at Tuscaloosa, August 1984. It was on the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And after the service, John came up to me and said the opening word of the message, grabbed me, and the Lord didn't let me go to the last amen. would to God he might now grab your heart and hold you and seal this message to your heart by his grace.

For in him that is in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You might want to write somewhere in the margin of your Bible in a body, in the body of that man, in the humanity of Jesus Christ in him, in that man dwells all the fullness of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Oh, how I wish I could communicate this blessed truth to you.

All that God is is in Christ. Jesus Christ is himself God, the embodiment of God, the fullness of God, and the revelation of God. All that God requires of sinners is in Christ, and only in Christ. All that God gives to men and women is in Christ, and only in Christ. All that we can need, all that we can desire for time and eternity for our soul's eternal good is in Christ. All grace, all mercy, all love, all peace, all wisdom, all righteousness, all sanctification, all redemption is in Christ. All salvation is Christ himself.

And it's in him in absolute fullness. Now you can't add anything to fullness. In him dwelleth permanently, permanently, all the fullness, all the absolute fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now get these next words. And you are complete. The word means you are full. It's the very same word that used where it says fullness in verse 9. You are full, complete in him, which is the head, the ruler, the power, the dominion, the governor, the king of all principality and power. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of all things, by virtue of his obedience to God as our mediator. He has been given the place of supremacy, dominion, and rule over the entire universe as our substitute and representative.

And all who believe in him, all who trust Christ, you who just now have begun to believe in him, and you who have believed in him for many years and perhaps are about to draw your last breath, all who trust him, are to all degrees perfectly, absolutely complete in Him.

Now that's my subject this morning, complete in Christ. I pray that God the Holy Spirit will enable me to effectually preach to your hearts as I endeavor to show you what it means to have this fullness, this completion in Jesus Christ. as all the fullness of the triune God resides permanently in Christ the Mediator. So all the fullness of Christ the Mediator is ours by faith in Him that you're completing Him. Now, if I don't get anything else said, that's enough to mull over for a lifetime. As all the fullness of God permanently resides in that man sitting yonder on the throne of glory. So all the fullness of that God-man, our mediator, is ours in Him, by faith in Him, and we're complete in Him. But what does it mean to be in Christ? There are many answers given to that question throughout the scriptures.

We who believe are in Christ by God's elective purpose, in Christ by divine predestination, in his hands, trusted to his hands as our surety, in his hands, trusted to his hand as sheep to the shepherd. We are in his hands, in his protective power, under his watchful eye and constant care. But let's just stay right here with the text in Colossians 2. To be in Christ, Paul's talking now about our being in Him experimentally.

To be in Christ is to be regenerated, to be born again by God's sovereign grace. Look at verse 11. in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Now, what on earth does all that mean? It means this.

The new birth is here represented to us by the picture of circumcision. Circumcision was instituted by God to Abraham and his children in Genesis chapter 17 as a sign and token and seal of God's covenant grace in Christ. Circumcision was not, I repeat, it was not, contrary to popular opinion among Protestants and papists alike, circumcision was not a picture of baptism. Nowhere in the New Testament is it set forth as such. Circumcision was a picture of the new birth, a picture of regeneration.

As the foreskin of the flesh was cut away in circumcision, so in the new birth, the Lord God separates between soul and spirit. He causes the child of God to be born of his spirit. And symbolically, this is called a circumcision made without hands in the heart.

The new birth, by the new birth, the spirit of God cuts the heart of the believer. from the body of sin in which he resides. Now that doesn't mean that the believer ceases to be sin. It doesn't mean that the believer ceases to have sin. The believer does not cease to sin, but his heart is now made to detest his sin. Your heart, if you're in Christ, has been cut off from the body of flesh. Your heart, if you're in Christ, abhors what you are and what you do by nature. Your heart is at war against your flesh.

That's what it is to be born of God's spirit. In regeneration, a righteous nature, a new nature is imparted to the believer. And now that one who is born of God loves what once he hated and hates what once he loved. In the Old Testament, a child being circumcised was given a name at the time of his circumcision. And in regeneration, you and I have been given a name, being born of God. Now we are called the sons of God. Could not be otherwise, but now we are called the sons of God.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God? circumcision gave the children of Israel the right to come and partake of the Passover, to eat of the Passover, which was typical and representative both of our Lord's sacrifice and of the blessed ordinance of the gospel that we call the Lord's Supper. And so it is that the one thing required before anyone sits at the Lord's table is that they be circumcised in heart, be born again of God's spirit. As we come together tonight and once again sit together at the Lord's table, All who are born of God are welcome to eat the Lord's supper. It's his supper.

We set no requirements before you. We don't do anything to try to hinder you, but rather encourage every believer to come and eat of this bread and drink of this wine in remembrance of Christ. But unless you've been circumcised in heart, you don't dare partake of the ordinances of the gospel. But this spiritual circumcision is a work of God made without him. It's altogether a matter of the heart. It's a work of God the Holy Spirit.

Circumcision was a mark. It was a mark in the flesh. Now this circumcision was a painful mark. You recall when Moses' wife Zipporah was required to circumcise her son, she looked at it in disgust because it's such a painful thing. She said, you're a bloody man to me. Circumcision was an identifying mark.

It identified one as a child of Abraham, as the seed of Israel. It distinguished him as a mark of distinction from all the rest of mankind. It was a covenant mark. This circumcision says this child is a child of the Abrahamic covenant, this circumcision in the flesh. And it was a permanent mark. Once it was done, there was no undoing it. So it is with the circumcision of the heart. It is a painful mark. No one is born of God's Spirit without undergoing the pain of conviction and repentance.

It is a identifying mark. By this, when we are born of God, given life and faith in Christ, we are identified as the children of God, the true seed of Abraham. By this distinguishing act of God's grace, we are set apart from the rest of the world, called out from the herd of fallen mankind, and called into the sheepfold of God's grace. This is a covenant mark.

Once the child of God has been born again by his grace, once God has given you his spirit and his grace, then he says all the covenant is yours. Once God gives you life and faith in Christ, then he says all the blessings of the covenant are yours in Christ. Now remember, It is not your new birth, nor is it your faith in Christ that gives you the blessings and the privileges of the sons of God, but it is your faith in Christ that gives you the right to apprehend these things for yourself. They were given to us in covenant grace before the world began.

And the new birth, like circumcision, is a permanent mark. Once it's done, it can never be undone. Those who are born of God shall never cease to be children living before God with the life of Christ in them. To be in Christ, in verse 12, is described as trusting Him. The apostle says here, buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him, through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. All who are born of God are given faith in Jesus Christ. The one certain mark of the new birth is faith in Christ. And that faith is confessed by public baptism. Baptism is the ordained ordinance of God by which believers confess the faith of the gospel. Now this ordinance of baptism is here described by the Holy Spirit as a burial and a resurrection.

When someone is baptized, he is buried in the watery grave. Now there's no question that the only biblical way to perform baptism is by immersion. It is not possible for a person to be buried by someone sprinkling a few grains of sand in his face, and it's not possible for someone to be baptized by having a few sprinkles of water splashed on their face. Baptism is a burial.

It has to be a burial because it represents a burial. It represents the death of the Son of God, his burial in the tomb, and his resurrection from the dead. It represents the fact that we who believe were crucified with Christ. We were punished in Him to the full satisfaction of divine justice, buried with Him in the tomb, and when we rose from the grave with Him, God declares we're justified forever. Our sins have been put away by his sacrifice.

Baptism, as I have said before, I repeat, was not a picture of circumcision or circumcision was not a picture of baptism. But baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is also an act of faith. We are not baptized in order to get faith, but because God has given us faith in Christ. When a believer comes to the waters of baptism, he's performing an act of faith.

You see, faith obeys God, and baptism is the answer for good conscience in obedience before God. Looking back to the finished work of Christ, we are baptized with Him, and we say to the world, Christ's death is my death. His sacrifice is my sacrifice. His blood is my atonement. I trust Christ alone to put away my sin. If you don't do that, don't you confess any baptism. Not do you have been given faith in the Son of God.

That's what it is. And baptism, symbolically, by faith, looks solid. We declare to the world, I was risen with Christ, and now by God's grace, I've been given a new life with Christ. By faith in Him, I walk with Him this day forward in the newness of life.

Let no one assume the right of baptism. Let no one presume upon God being baptized until that person has been raised with Christ and is consecrated to him by virtue of resurrection power to walk with him in the newness of life. In baptism, I lift my hands to God and I say I'm his forever. I'm his forever.

Every time I had the privilege of baptizing someone or watching another believer confessing Christ in baptism, in my heart, I lift my hand to God again, I say I'm yours forever, to walk with you in the newness of life. And baptism looks forward to the last day, when the Son of God shall come again, and we shall be raised with him forever. Now this faith, which we confess in believers' baptism, is the gift and operation of God. Do you see that in verse 12?

Our faith is by the operation of God. Faith is not something the sinner decides to do by his free will. Faith is not something that the preacher talks the sinner into doing by his persuasion and logic and telling stories and tearful illustrations. Faith is the gift of God. It's the gift of God. It's the fruit of the Spirit.

It's the effectual work of His almighty power in regeneration when He raises us from the dead by His grace. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if right now, somehow, you have begun to do what you never could do before, if right now, Larry Chris, you believe on the Son of God, right now, if right now you believe Him, God gave you that. God did it. God, the Spirit of God called you. Christ redeemed you. God chose you. God predestined you to life. And the evidence is faith, faith in the Son of God. To be in Christ is to be born again. It is to trust him. And to be in Christ is to be the object and recipient of God's immutable saving grace. Look at verse 13.

And you being dead, in your sins. That kindly eliminates free will, doesn't it? Dead. Well, you'll be saved if you, well, when you put if in there, you've lost it. You'll be saved if, no, man's dead. He'll be saved if God, not if you, if God. You'll believe if God gives you faith. You'll live if God gives you life. You'll repent if God grants you repentance. If God leaves you to yourself, you're going to hell.

That's all there is to it. Read on. You being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision, the filth of your flesh, hath he quickened, regenerated together with Christ, having forgiven you. Not in order to forgive you, but because you've already been forgiven. The forgiveness, Rob, was accomplished at Calvary. Having forgiven you. Look at this. Oh, isn't that good?

Blotting out. the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it, in his death upon the tree.

When God raised his son from the dead, he was raised as our representative. Christ lived, died, and rose again as the representative, substitute, curative, and mediator of God's elect. And as the result of His finished work, all the blessings of God's saving grace have been effectually secured to all who trust Him. We all, by nature, are born dead in sin. Dead because of our sin and fall in our Father Adam.

But God has been gracious to us. He's given us life. Look what he says here. He quickened us. He quickened us. I recall years ago I heard a fellow trying to illustrate this word quicken. He said it's sort of like when a fellow's asleep. Somebody comes along and just nudges him or pinches him and wakes him up. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. He's not talking about somebody being asleep. You don't mess about being dead, and a nudge or a pinch ain't gonna help anything.

In order for dead to live, the Lord God must come and say, come forth. The Lord God must speak to the dead. The Lord God must breathe into the dead and give life by His Spirit. To be quickened with Christ is to be raised from the dead when He arose representatively, and raised from the dead by the power of His resurrection in the new birth. God has freely, completely forgiven us of all sin through the merits of Christ's righteousness and His shed blood.

What does He do? He's forgiven you all trespasses. Preacher, surely that doesn't mean all of them. Yeah, it does. All of them. Past, present, future. All trespasses. Those things, Bob, that torment your conscience from you, all trespasses. Those things that plague your heart today, because as a believer you're yet trespassed against God, all trespasses. And those things that you fear most you shall do tomorrow, all trespasses, Rex. All trespasses. If he hears. All trespasses. He's forgiven all trespasses freely and fully.

All your sins, sins of youth, old age, and sins of omission and commission, sins of thought, sins of word, sins of deed, all are freely, everlastingly forgiven through the merits of Christ's blood. But this forgiveness of sins is a just and righteous forgiveness.

God does not simply ignore your sins. He can't do that God doesn't just say well, I I understand and and say I'll forget about your sins justice won't allow that We do that with our sons and daughters and well, we should we do that with one another and well We should because we are sinners ourselves But God Almighty is just he's holy. He cannot lie. He said the soul that sinneth it shall die That means James Jordan. God cannot forgive your sins Apart from the satisfaction of his justice. He can't do it How does God forgive sin?

By punishing Christ for sin. He took my sins and punished me for my sins to the full satisfaction of His justice when I died in Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. You mean you suffered for your sins? Yes, sir. In a substitute. I was in Him when He died.

The oracles and ordinances of God's holy law, which I have broken, those things which were against us, the law of God demanded our execution. But the Lord Jesus Christ, by His blood, has blotted out the law's transgressions, blotted out all our sins. He took them and nailed them to the tree so that now the law has no word to say. The law of God cannot accuse us anymore of sin. Christ has nailed it to the cross. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

I love that word, blotted out. God says, I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions. Just blot them out. Just blot them out. Doesn't mean to cover them up. Doesn't mean to erase them. It means just take them away, blotting them out altogether, expunged from the record books of heaven.

Are you in Christ? Oh, if you knew the value of your soul, you'd give no rest to your eyes until you possess this blessed privilege of grace in Christ. Well, that's the first thing. What does it mean to be complete in Christ? I'll come back to this another time, but let me take a stab at it. This word complete, it means entire, finished, full, absolutely satiated, topped off, complete. When this glass is completely full, you can't put another drop in it. Just absolutely, that's the word.

Same word that's used, as I said earlier in verse nine, for fullness, as all the fullness of God is Christ. So all the fullness of Christ, the God-man mediator, is ours in him. Oh, now that's astonishing grace. If I'm complete in Christ, then I have in Christ all that God requires of a man. Everything. Everything. What does God require? He requires wisdom. And Christ stands and says, I am wisdom. He is made of God unto us wisdom. He is that one who gives us wisdom, who spoke wisely for us in the covenant of grace and makes us wise to salvage. God requires of us righteousness. Would you be accepted with God? Would you? Would you tonight lay your head on your pillow and find rest in your soul knowing that you're accepted with God?

All that's required is perfection. That's all. That's all. Perfect to be accepted. That's what the book said. Oh, well preacher that shuts me out. It shuts you out, but not Christ It shuts us out, but not Christ he is made of God unto us To what extent in Exactly the same way as he was made to be seen for us and to exactly the same extent What does that mean?

Merle, when God put your sin on his son, he said it was his. He charged him with it. He punished him for it, and he gave him the reward of it. And when God looks on you and says, your name is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, he put Christ's righteousness on you. He made you accountable for it. He said it's yours, and he gives you the reward of it. That's what it is being made righteous in him.

Righteous made righteous by free grace made righteous by divine imputation But God also requires that we have a holy nature You can't go to heaven with sin. You can't go to heaven in a heart of corruption and flesh Well, how on earth can we we be made righteous?

Christ is made of God unto us sanctification He sends His Spirit in the fullness of time to every chosen redeemed sinner. He calls us by His grace. He plants Himself in us and gives us a new nature. And it's that holy thing which is born of God described in 1 John chapter 3. But then we must be delivered from this bondage of sin. Christ is made of God and to us redemption. He redeemed us with His blood at Calvary. And then in the fullness of time, at the time of love, he comes to the chosen sinner and delivers us, redeems us from the hand of the enemy.

That's what the psalmist is talking about when he says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Oh, blessed be God. I was once in the enemy's hands. I was once held in fast chains, in darkness and in bondage, a willing vassal to Satan, held in bondage under the curse of God's law. And he came and said, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And one of these days, he's gonna redeem us from the grave. He's gonna deliver us in resurrection glory into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

If I am in Christ, I possess all that God can or will bestow upon a man. Everything. Everything. Lindsay referred to this in Ephesians chapter 4. All His grace is given us in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Follow. Grace is in Christ. Mercy's in Christ. Salvation's in Christ.

Not in the church. Not in baptism. Not in saying a silly prayer somebody wrote out for you. Not in repeating words after some slick soul winner. Salvation is Christ. And all the blessings of grace are in Him. I can't give them to you. No church can give them to you. No preacher can give them to you. But God has given them all to all who believe in Christ from eternity.

These are spiritual blessings. All spiritual man. They were given to us in eternity. In eternity. In eternity. If God gave them to me back yonder, in anticipation, knowing everything that I would be and do, knowing all the corruption that I would perform, knowing all the evil that's in me, then nothing out here will cause him to take one from me.

These are heavenly blessings. They come from heaven. They turn our hearts toward heaven. And blessed be God, they will soon bring us to heaven. All the blessings of God were bestowed upon all God's elect in Christ before the world began. And therefore, the apostle says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead on earth. Listen now, listen now. Do you right now believe on the Son of God? Do you trust the Son of God? Yes, preacher, I do. Not like I should, not like I would, but I do trust Him. You are complete in Him forever. Amen.