That is the message in a nutshell,
or in a sentence. Complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the one thing, if it
takes me ten minutes or thirty-five minutes to get across, that's
what I want to get across. That's the one thing I want to
get across out of this chapter, Colossians chapter two. that
in Christ we are complete in every way. We lack nothing. This verse is a verse that goes
through my mind often. Often. Complete. Complete in
the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not have to bring anything. I do not have to produce anything. I just received him. Christ is my completeness. He is our completeness. Now, Paul, we looked at this
here a couple of weeks ago, down to verse 7. But Paul wanted them
to know of his great concern for them and others who had not
seen his face in the flesh. He prayed that their hearts might
be knit together in love, be bonded together, tied together
in love, that they would have full assurance, full assurance
of understanding to the acknowledgment of God and of the Father and
of Christ, that when you hear the gospel, you know it. You know it. You know it when
you hear the gospel. You know that's the gospel. That's
the gospel. I remember. A few years ago,
Vicki and I were driving down 64 going over to my parents,
and I had a tape in of Henry playing. And they started preaching
and I said, that's the gospel. So Vicki, I said, I mean, my
heart just leaked within me. And I said, that's the gospel.
It just like it was like it was coming out of that. He's ready
to come out of that. That's the gospel. And Paul says, I pray
that you'll have full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment
of the mystery of God and the Father and of Christ. And in
Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ, where he had all treasures, all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, if you want to know God, I want
to know God. We apply to him. We apply to
the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need to apply to a seminary.
It's all right to get an education, but if he's not the teacher,
what you're learning is not going to work. It's not going to work
if he's not the teacher. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. That's what he said. He's the lesson and he's the
teacher. And Paul writes here that the reason he writes this
to them is that lest any man should Beguile them with enticing words, that they should be rooted
and built up in Christ and established in the faith. Then he comes to
verse 8 here, and he says to them, Beware. He gives the three
faces of false religion here. He says, Beware lest any man
spoil or rob you. they rob you through philosophy,
vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ. This is how false religion comes
in three ways. It comes in philosophy, tradition,
and the rudiments of the world, ceremonies. I looked this up
on philosophy. Someone wrote this. I thought
this was a good It's the use of human reason
and argument to seek knowledge of the causes and nature of things
and of principles governing existence. Beware of that. Paul called it
science, falsely so called. The gospel is not understood,
nor is it preached by human reason and arguments. Not the way it
is received, that's not the way it is preached. Not with human
reason and arguments. The scripture teaches us that
the natural man receives not the things of God, for they are
foolishness unto him. Foolishness. They are spiritually
discerned. The gospel is understood by divine
revelation. That's the only way it's understood.
The only way. Our Lord said to Peter, flesh
and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father which is
in heaven. Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. He said, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood
didn't reveal this to you. My Father which is in heaven
revealed this to you. This is why you know it and how
you know it. It is written in the scripture, who by searching
can find out God. Who by searching can find out
God. God must reveal himself to a man or woman for that person
to know him. He must reveal himself if we
are to know him. If he doesn't do that, we'll never know him.
Never know him. Not possible. Not possible. Until
that happens, men will always think that God is like themselves. That's what he said over in the
Psalms. You thought I was altogether like yourselves. You thought
I was just like you. And that's the thoughts that
men have of God. That he's like we are. But the Word of God,
listen, the Word of God says that God is holy. Well, that's
nothing like me by nature. By nature, I'm sin. The Word of God teaches us that
God is immutable. That means he changes not. That's nothing like me. I change.
I change. The Word of God teaches us that
God is just. And the Scripture also teaches
us there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth
not. No, he's not like us. Not like
us. And I can go on and on, but until
God reveals himself in the person of Christ, until he commands
the light to shine into our hearts and give us knowledge, understanding,
until he allows us, enables us to see him in Christ, we'll never
know him. Never know him. Not at all. But
through the preaching of the gospel, God can be known. And that's how God reveals himself.
by the Spirit of God, taking the Word of God and preaching
it to a weak, earthly vessel like me. Like me. And that's how you come to know
God. That's how I come to know Him. And then it says here, beware
of tradition of men. The Jews went from the commandments
of God to the tradition of the elders. They went from God's
commandments to the tradition of the elders. And they held
that above the commandments of God. Tradition, here's what tradition
is. It is adding what we think is
missing to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's adding what we think is
missing. Christ came and broke the tradition of the elders,
the scribes and the Pharisees, and they hated him for it. They
hated him for it. Believers are not following a
tradition. What we are doing here, this
is not a tradition. We're here to worship a person,
and we are following a person. That's what we're doing. The
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. When he called his disciples,
he called them from their traditions to follow him. He said, come,
follow me. And then here's the third face
of false religion, rudiments of the world, ceremonies. People
like ceremonies. People by nature, they just naturally
love ceremonies. Ceremonies make you feel real
religious. They make you just feel real
religious. Lighting candles, burning incense. And I tell you this, the spookier
you can make it, the more religious they feel. That's the truth. They like wearing
hats and robes and getting in a line in a procession and bowing
down to statues. That's the rudiments of the world.
Paul said, beware of that. Watch out for that, he said.
Don't get caught up in that, because salvation's not in that.
Acceptance with God is not in that. In no way, shape, or form
at all. Listen, as he says here, and
not after Christ's. Not after his teachings, his
doctrines, his commandments. Beware. He says beware because
they're going to come. There is absolutely nothing that
we need to add to Christ for salvation. Nothing. Nothing. It says in verse 9, for in him,
in that man, in the man of Christ Jesus, in that God-man, in him
dwelleth, it stays there, it's not a visitation, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We can't even begin to even think
of the immenseness of God. We have not even scratched the
surface of knowing God. We know in part, we preach in
part. But Christ was indwelt by the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, not symbolically, bodily God. That man is God, manifest in
the flesh. That's who he is. The complete
fullness of deity dwells in that man. There is nothing, there
is absolutely nothing that God is, that the fullness of it does
not reside in the Lord Jesus Christ. all that God is. The fullness
of God resides in that man who is God. Ephesians 1.23 speaks
of the church being filled with His fullness. And we are. The church is filled with His
fullness. But He is the fullness. See? He is the fullness. He is the
fullness of wisdom. He is the fullness of righteousness.
He is the fullness of sanctification. He's the fullness of redemption.
None of it's missing. Nothing to be added in any way,
shape, or form. He's the fullness of grace and
truth. Paul says this to let them know
That they don't need to look anywhere else or to anyone else
but to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him. If there's anything other than
in Him you're complete, I say this, He is enough. He is enough. And Paul says in verse 10, And
ye are complete, in Him. Now, it shouldn't be hard to
understand what complete means. It means nothing lacking. If
it's complete, nothing needs to be added to it in any way,
shape, or form. And you are complete in Him,
which is the head of all principality and power, Allah. I thought this was good. I must
have got this somewhere. I can't remember where I got
it, but I'm sure I didn't come up with it. Paul, after letting them
know the completeness of Christ, that he is complete, he now turns
and lets them know and us know of our completeness. You see, he sets forth the completeness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In him dwells the wisdom of God,
the righteousness of God, all that we need, redemption, sanctification. It all dwells in him completely. And now he lets us know that
we believers are complete in him. He lets us know our completeness.
You see, he sets forth his completeness, and then he turns around and
sets forth our completeness in him. And you are complete in
him, which is the head of all principalities and powers. If
he's not complete, you and I are not complete. If he's not. Christ is our completeness. What Paul is setting forth here
is the doctrine of oneness and union in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are truly united to Him. We are united to Him representatively,
but we are truly united to Him experimentally. We are united
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are one with Him. He's the
vine. We truly are the branches. I'm
looking at branches here. And Christ is the vine. He's
the true vine. We are the true branches in Him. He is the bridegroom. We are
the bride. He's the head. We are the body. And that's real. That is a real
living union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Every blessing that we have,
we have in him. Every blessing. As no one was saved in the ark,
so are we saved in him. In him. The psalmist said this, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. In Him have I righteousness. In Him have I strength. Apart
from Him, I have nothing. Apart from Him, I perish. Apart from Him, I have no righteousness. I have no redemption, I have
no sanctification, I have no wisdom. Apart from Him, I'm nothing. In Him, I have everything. And we are complete in Him without
the addition of doing anything. He is absolutely our completeness
in Him. And the Lord have our righteousness
and strength. Our union to Christ is just as
real as the union between my head and my body. It's just as
real. Now, if I am in Him who is God,
then I need not bring or try to provide anything. If I'm in Him and He's God, then
I have all that He is. I have all that I need. I have
it all. The Lord, the Scripture says,
will provide. Is that not what Abraham said?
Abraham said, Son, the Lord will provide Himself a lamb. Now, if it were left up to us
to provide a lamb, first of all, We could not provide one that
would please God, but by nature we would bring probably the weakest
one of the bunch and offer it up. By nature we would offer
him the chinches that we had. But God, listen now, God who
is rich in mercy provided the best. He provided himself. He provided Himself. God provided
the Lamb Himself and God provided Himself as the Lamb. We've heard
that so many times over the years. God provides the best Himself. Now how could I be or need anything
else if I have Him? If I have Him? For God not to accept Christ
and us in Christ, God would have to not accept Himself. He would
have to reject Himself. For Him to reject us or Christ
or us in Christ, He'd have to reject Himself, because the Lord Jesus Christ
is Almighty God. He is Jehovah. He is Jehovah. Now, if we are in Him, we don't
have to worry about anything because He's the Head. Listen,
He's the Head of all principalities and powers. Isn't it good? Isn't it comforting
to know that our God, that our Savior, that our Lord is the
head of all. He's the head of all, of all
nations. It says here, all principalities. That's power that you and I can't
see with these eyes. I mean, that's the unseen world
that we can't see with these physical eyes. He's the head
of it. Satan answers to Him. He's not out there running loose. He's answering to Him. Because
He's the head of all principalities. He's not a weak vine with a few
branches. No. He's the Almighty God. He's the everlasting Father.
He's the Prince of Peace. That's who He is. And that's
our head. And in Him you're complete. You know, one of my fears in
preaching, in taking the Word of God, which is so clear, when
Dan read this, I thought, that's so clear. That's so clear. One of my fears is muddying it
up. Muddying it up. That's just so clear. He's the head of all principalities
and powers. He's the sovereign. My Lord,
My God is the Sovereign. He answers to no one. He gives
no account of any of His matters. He's never called into question
and asked to give account for it. He's the Sovereign. He's the Sovereign of the universe.
Nothing moves without Him. Nothing exists without Him. He makes everything work for
our good. With all this going on, we know
with all the troubles that's going on right now, it's for our good. When I can't
see that and I can't feel it, I believe it. I believe it. My Lord, my Sovereign is working
it for my good. And He is eternal glory. And He's able to save, the Scripture
says, unto the uttermost. then that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Our head is the head of all. There is no 50-50 in anything. There is no 50-50 in marriage.
There is no 50-50 in business. There's no 50-50 in anything.
I'm telling you, somebody's going to rise up and be the head. That's
just the way it's set up. And Christ is the head of all
heads. He's the head of all heads. And thank God He's our head.
He's our head. That's something to rejoice in.
So don't let men Don't let men fool you with their
arguments, their intellectualism. Don't let them fool you with
philosophy. Don't let them fool you with tradition, making you
think that you've got to do something, you know, you just have to. We've
done this forever, you know, this is the way we've always
done it. That's why it's good to change from time to time and
do it another way. You can get out of that rut. Don't let them fool you with
philosophy, tradition, or ceremonies. Think of that, it just makes
you more religious to do these ceremonies. In Christ, now listen, in Christ
you are complete. Is that enough? That word, nothing needs to be
added to that word. It's complete. It's complete. In Christ, we are righteous.
In Christ, we are redeemed. In Christ, we are sanctified.
In Christ, we've been set apart. We're chosen. In Christ, we have
all that we need. And He's enough. The Lord Jesus
Christ is enough. You're complete in Him. You're
circumcised in Him. You're baptized in Him. We'll
touch on this the next time. I've got a lot written down here,
but I'm just going to leave it at this. I'm going to stop right
here with complete in Him. I don't want us to go away thinking
of anything else but our completeness, our fullness in Him. That's enough. Is that enough? All right, I'll see you after
that.