Welcome back with me to the first
chapter of the epistle to the Colossians. And I don't want
to go very much further than we went last week. We started
with a look at Paul, the apostle, apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God. And I want to just look down
this morning, probably no further than verse six. Let's read those
verses together. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother, to the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae. Grace be unto
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,
and the love which he hath to all the saints, for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you, as it
is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also
in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of
God in truth. This morning, I want to look
at Saints and Faithful Brethren. Verse 2, to the saints and faithful
brethren, the set-apart ones and faithful brethren. You see,
All sorts of factors distinguish one person from another in this
world of however many billion there are in the world and who
really knows. Things distinguish one person from another. Their
race, which country they were born in, of what ethnic descent
they are. Their sex, male or female. Their
physical attributes. Some are tall, some are short,
some are wide, some are thin. their intelligence, their mental
capacity. But the most significant thing
that distinguishes one person from another in this world is
this. According to the Word of God,
it's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. The undeserved,
the unearned, the unmerited favour of God. God showing favour to
one that God chooses not to show to another. And you say, well,
that's not fair. Well, you take it up with God. You argue it
out with him. Because before time began, before
the world was, God chose a multitude out of mankind, a multi-ethnic
multitude from every tribe and tongue and kindred, and he chose
them for this eternal purpose, to populate his eternal kingdom,
to be the citizens of his eternal kingdom. And he loved them, he
loved them with an everlasting love, from before the beginning
of time, before they'd done anything. Jacob have I loved, He loved
them in spite of what they would be in the flesh as sons of Adam,
as the offspring of Adam. Sinners, sinners worthy of eternal
separation from God. And eternal separation from God
is eternal spiritual death, which is hell. And he covenanted to
save them from their just desert, from what they justly deserved
under the character and justice of God. He covenanted to save
them. When I say he covenanted, who
with? With himself. The Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit covenanted between them to do that which was necessary
to qualify these sinners barred from heaven, to qualify them
for eternal communion with God. And he decreed how, in time,
they would be what it says in verse 13 of chapter 1, delivered
from the power of darkness. The world we live in is dark. It's dark spiritually. There
is no spiritual light. There is no knowledge of God.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated
us into the kingdom. It says of his dear son, but
I think a better translation is of the son of his love. in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's delivered us from this world
and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. It's
grace that makes the difference, grace. We were reading in Exodus,
the Passover this morning, earlier on, and I just noticed there
in passing, it says, there's a verse there that says this,
and God made a difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians. God made a difference, and God
does, and it's his grace. God, in grace, makes a difference. It's his gift to his elect. Jesus
said to Nicodemus, a man can receive nothing except it be
given from heaven. Pontius Pilate said, don't you
know that I have the power to crucify you or to let you go?
And Jesus said, you've got no power whatsoever unless it were
given you from heaven. James says this, every good and
perfect gift, grace, comes down, it comes from above, from the
Father of lights. And the rest, all the rest, in
strict justice, he leaves to the consequences of their sin
and their rebellion. You say there's unrighteousness
with God. Paul asks that very question
in Romans chapter 9. Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. God forbid. Who are you? He is
the potter. Humanity is the clay. He can
make of it what he will. So how are they separated? How are they separated? Well,
Stephen read to us verses from 1 Corinthians which are very
well known, obviously, but in verse 21 we read how the people
of God are separated. How it is that Paul, writing
to these people at Colossae, is writing to saints and faithful
brethren. What made them saints and faithful
brethren? The answer is God uses preaching to bring his elect
to call upon him. Look at verse 21 of 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, in the eternal divine counsel of God, the world by
its wisdom thought it would strive after God and find him with logic
and reason and its science and all sorts of other things, but
they knew not God. They thought that they were going
to find him, but they knew not God. But in contrast, it pleased
God. It was God's will that he fulfilled
that by the foolishness, what to the world is foolishness?
The foolishness of preaching, of declaring a message of sins
forgiven in Christ. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Those that believe are
the ones who are saved, who are brought out of this dark world
into that position of being saints and faithful brethren. In Romans
chapter 10 we read about it. In verse 13 we read that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how
are they going to call? on him if they've not believed? If they don't believe in him,
how are they going to call? And how shall they believe in him
if they've not heard of him? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? except somebody preach to them,
somebody sent. How should they preach except
they be sent? God sends his preachers to preach
his message, and his children, his people, hear his voice. As
it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace. So, verse 17, so then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." It's the word of
God that you hear that brings faith. Many hear preaching, and
a lot of people who hear some preaching like some of what they
hear. Rather like the parable of the
sower that Jesus told, the sower went forth to sow, and he scattered
his seed, which is the word, which is the seed of life in
the word. He scattered it generally in this world of people, and
some of that seed fell on hard, stony ground, and the birds of
the air came and took it away. Some liked what they heard. They
seemed to be really in favor of it and they seemed to be following
and they sprung up and they germinated and they looked like they were
real plants but they had no root. They had no root, and the sun
came up and withered them. And others looked like they were
doing well, and the weeds and the thorns and the thistles grew
up and choked them, and they didn't get any further. It was
only those in the good ground of the Spirit of God that grew.
But God's elect multitude are reborn of the Spirit. His elect
multitude are given new life by the Spirit of God. They have
their hard hearts open. by the Spirit of God, just over
the page, a page or two. In 1 Thessalonians 1, in verse
4, Paul says to the Thessalonians that he knows, brethren, your
election of God. I know, he says, that God has
elected you. I know this. He says that Verse four, knowing, brethren,
your election of God. And then in verse nine, he says
this, they themselves, people observing the Thessalonians,
show of us what manner of entering we had unto you, and how ye turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God. When Paul
and his companions, believing the gospel, preached that gospel,
With some people, it hits a surface that's as hard as iron and just
bounces off. But for these, what manner of
entering, that word went in. As with Lydia at Philippi, on
the banks of that river, when she heard Paul preached, What
happened? The Lord opened her heart, and
the word went in, and she believed and trusted. What manner of entering
we had to you, and it had an effect. You turned to God from
idols, from false gods, from the gods of this world, and you
turned to serve the living and the true God, because there is
only one living and true God. Delivered from the power of darkness,
translated into the kingdom of the son of his love. And God
calls and equips people to preach, men to preach. Down the ages,
Moses, he called out of nowhere, it would seem, the son of the
royal palace, but God called him. All the prophets, we read
of Elisha the Tishbite, just out of nowhere, he just suddenly
appears on the scene. John the Baptist is just there.
preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The apostles raised up ignorant
fishermen, uneducated fishermen in the main, tax collectors,
others, just ordinary people with no religious standing whatsoever,
but God chose them and equipped them to be preachers. And so
he does. He says this in Ephesians chapter
4, again, Paul writing, that God gave some, verse 11 of chapter
4 of Ephesians, God gave some apostles, and some prophets,
and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Why? For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying, for the building up of the body of Christ, till
we all come in the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son
of God unto the perfect man, which means the complete man
in Christ. with a knowledge of the truth
of God in Christ, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ. No more children. And he does
this so that the word spreads. And so in 1 Timothy chapter 1,
I think it is, yes, 1st Timothy chapter 1 and let me have a look,
no 2nd Timothy, sorry about that, 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and verse
2, right? Be strong, he says, in Christ.
And then he says, the things that you've heard of me among
many witnesses, the things you've heard me preach to you, he says,
the same commit thou to faithful men. Teach others, who then themselves
shall be able to teach others also. And so the baton of the
truth of God is passed down the ages, down the generations. So
God in eternity, before time, separated to himself a multitude
for his kingdom, and in time he calls them to his self by
the preaching of faithful witnesses, Paul and others. And at Colossae,
Paul had not been to Colossae it would seem, But Epaphras had,
look at verse 7, as ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow
servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. He raised
up Epaphras, who was not an apostle, but he was a raised up preacher
who'd learned the gospel from Paul. And he had preached there,
and a church was established there, a gathering of the saints
of God, the faithful brethren of God, there at Colossae. All
that God has separated are saints. Don't follow any of this silly
idea of false religion that saints are made by popes and cardinals
in Rome. Absolute nonsense. Utter nonsense. If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the scripture calls you a saint. Because you are set
apart by that belief, by that indwelling of the Spirit of God.
You are set apart from the world. And it's evidenced that you are
that by the fact that you believe the Gospel. You're made faithful
to God's eternal truth, to the saints and the faithful brethren.
These are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the
good shepherd. What does a shepherd have? A
shepherd has sheep. I am the good shepherd of the
sheep. My sheep, he said, hear my voice. And what do they do
when they hear my voice? They follow me. That's how you
tell who is a believer, who is a child of God. They hear Christ
and his gospel and his doctrine. Not the gospel of the false Christs
of religion all around us. the voice of the true Christ
of this book, they hear his voice and they believe him. When he
says, I have chosen you, you haven't chosen me, they go, yes
Lord, I bow, that's what you say, that's the fact. Oh, that's
not fair, no it's not, God says it, it cannot be fair. Let every
man be a liar, but God be true. That's what the word of God says,
the rest The rest, like the Pharisees that were with Jesus in John
chapter 10, they show that they're not his sheep. What is it that
shows that they're not his sheep? They don't believe. He said to
them, you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. He doesn't
say you... You are not of my sheep because
you haven't yet believed. He says, no, you don't believe
because you are not of my sheep. His sheep are his from eternity. We're not talking here about
religion. We're not talking about making
decisions for Christ or any other terms that you might Here, we're
not talking about anything to do with my works, because what
is it that makes the difference? It is the work of God. What must
we do that we do the work of God, asked the Pharisees of Jesus.
And he said, this is the work of God. And it is the work of
God. It's God's work. But this is
the work of God. This is the work you must do
to do the work of God that he wants, and that is believe on
him whom he sent. He elects before time. He redeems. them particularly in time at
the cross by his blood, he redeems them from the curse of their
sin, he redeems them from that which would condemn them to hell
and separate them and bar them from his kingdom, he redeems
because he pays the price, and he calls them by preaching, and
he quickens them by his spirit, he makes them alive that where
they were dead, He makes them alive, dead in trespasses and
sins, but made alive. And He gives them the gift of
faith. For by grace are you saved, says
Paul in Ephesians chapter 2. By grace are you saved. It's
the grace of God that has accomplished your salvation. He has saved
you by that through faith. How do you know about His grace?
Through faith. And that, not of yourselves.
It's not that you're better than anyone else, that you've had
faith and you believe when nobody else has. It's the gift of God. Whatever things distinguish you
from others, covet that God has distinguished you in electing
grace before the beginning of time. Covet that God has written
your name indelibly in the Lamb's Book of Life, because there is
nothing more comforting, there is nothing more assuring, the
full assurance of faith is that he says to me, my name is written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. And so when the books are opened,
it is not my deeds that will be judged because they've been
judged in Christ. All that will be judged is that
my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now it seems that
Paul had never been to Colossae, but Epaphras had brought news
to him. Epaphras had come to visit him
in his house arrest in Rome, and what Epaphras told him of
the news there prompts him to write with apostolic Holy Spirit,
inspiration, the Word of God. You say, this is just a letter
from a guy in Rome who was in prison, who was going to die.
The Word of, how can this be the Word of God? Look at 2 Peter
chapter three. You've probably seen this before,
but it's worth being reminded of it. 2 Peter chapter three
and verse 15. And account that the long suffering
of our Lord is salvation. Listen to what Peter, you know
what a fuss the Catholics make about Peter claiming he was the
first Pope. Nothing of the sort. But listen
what Peter says. Our beloved brother Paul, also
according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you,
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of things in
which are some things hard to be understood, which they that
are unlearned and unstable rest, twist, as they do also the other
scriptures unto their own destruction. Peter is saying that Paul's epistles
are the scriptures of God. Is that not apostolic authority
to take them as such? This is the word of God to us. The writing of Paul from Rome
to Colossae that we have preserved here nearly 2,000 years later
is the word of God to us. To true believers, a message
from God to true believers, to the saints and faithful brethren,
grace Peace, faith, love, hope. That is what he talks about in
these verses. Grace and peace, verse 2. To
the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae,
grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul calls down from God more
grace. Oh, Lord, be gracious to these
people. Give them divine favor. What
was it that separated Noah from a world which was about to be
destroyed, every single one bar another seven? There were only
eight people in the ark with him. Sorry, seven in the ark
with him, eight including himself. What was it that made the difference?
Answer, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah, oh, that
that might be written of each of us. You found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Moses reasoned with God like
this. In Exodus 33, verse 13, he said,
if I have found grace, meaning since I have found grace, since
you have been gracious to me, Lord, reveal more of your truth
to me. We have no power to demand God's
grace, but we can only plead for it as we plead for mercy. Pass me not, O gracious Savior. Hear my humble cry, whilst on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Did you hear that?
Did you hear what that's saying? Lord, whilst on others thou art
calling, do not pass me by. And the grace of God is what
has procured our peace with God. The grace of God has procured
our peace with God. You see, our natural minds in
this flesh, as we're born offspring of Adam down the generations,
our natural minds are enmity with God. We're enemies of God
by nature. We're alienated from God by sin. were under his just wrath and
anger, for God is angry with the wicked every day. God is
angry with the sinful every day, that which disobeys him, that
which calls him a liar, that which flies in his face. And
it's a fearful condition to be in, for it's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God, who is a righteous
judge. But, verse 14, in whom his people,
the saints and faithful brethren, have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. For the blood is the price of
sin. The soul that sins, it shall
die. It shall lose its life. In what
is the life? The life is in the blood. The
blood must be shed. And Christ, for his people as
our substitute, redeemed his people through his blood. We have redemption through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even forgiveness of sins, How
do I know it's Christ he's talking about? It's the son of his love.
It's the kingdom of his dear son, the son of his love. And
it procures the forgiveness of our sins. And in verse 20 of
this same chapter. He has made peace. How has he
made peace? How has Christ made peace between
sinners who are the enemies of God and with God? How has he
made that peace? He's made peace through the blood
of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself. By him,
I say, whether they be things on earth or in heaven. There's
so much in that verse that we haven't got time now to look
at, but maybe later when we get there. But it's from God, peace
from God. This peace is from God, who is
the father of his people in heaven. Jesus said, I go to my father
and to your father. In Christ, the father of our
Lord Jesus Christ is the father of his people. God is our father
in heaven. That's why we pray. Teach us
to pray, Lord, our father which art in heaven. Our father, our
father, he's our father. And also our God is our Lord
Jesus Christ. You say, is it not talking about
two separate people? No. It's talking about two separate
persons in the one Godhead. This is the triune God. From
God our Father and God our Lord Jesus Christ. For no man has
seen God at any time. No man has seen the spiritual
essence of God at any time. It was said that if any man,
any sinner, should see God, he would die. And when people did
have glimpses of what they knew for sure was God, they were convinced
they were going to die in the Old Testament. But what they
had seen? No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. He has made him manifest. He has declared him. He has made
him known. Why is there a gathering of saints
and faithful brethren in Colossae? Answer, because God has separated
them from eternity, from before time was, and then in time he's
called them out. And how is it evidenced? How
is it evidenced? It says in Acts 13 and verse
48 that the that Paul and those with him preached the gospel
and the Jews rejected it so they went to the Gentiles and the
Gentiles heard it and the Gentiles rejoiced and it says there when
they preached when they preached it says those that were ordained
to eternal life believed. Wow. You who believe a false
gospel out in this world that call yourselves Christians, and
a lot of you call yourselves Christians out in this world,
saying you're evangelical Christians, but you don't believe that, do
you? You hate the very concept of that, but it's what the Word
of God says. They preached And those ordained
to eternal life believed that message. That's a fact. That's
the way it is. That's the true gospel of grace.
That's what distinguishes the true gospel from false religion,
call it self-Christianity as it may, all around. So what does
Epaphras first tell Paul about these people that Paul had never
met before raising his concerns for them? Because he does raise
some concerns for them. But before that, he tells them
three things, and I just want to close with these things in
the last few minutes. He talks about faith and love
and hope. Verses 4 and 5, since we heard... Epaphras has told us that you
have faith in Christ Jesus, verse 4. Epaphras has told us that
as a company of saints called apart in Colossae, you have love
for one another and others, no doubt. They'd heard of saints
in Jerusalem, perhaps, having great difficulties and trials
of persecutions and sending help to them from their own substance.
And then verse five, for the hope which is laid up for you
in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel. These evidences, faith, love and hope, I say that because
that's the way they occur in this epistle to the Colossians,
but in other places it's faith, hope and love, but it's the same
thing. Evidences which assured Paul he was writing to a company
of saints and faithful brethren. He was writing to a company of
God's people on earth. He was writing to God's saints
who have faith in Christ Jesus in Colossae, whose saints love
one another and they're Christian brethren, and whose aspirations
of life whose bucket list, they've got
one bucket list. Their bucket list is heaven.
That's their hope. It's the kingdom of God. Their
hope is laid up for them in heaven. These are the gifts of God's
spirit to his church. You read about it in 1 Corinthians
13. I'm not going to turn there because it's very, very familiar.
And look at it again for yourselves, please, by all means. But they're
the gifts of the spirit. And these three gifts are the
three gifts of all the gifts of the Spirit that abide, that
continue. In verse 13 of 1 Corinthians
13, now abide these, faith, hope, and love. And he says, but the
greatest of these is love. We'll say why in a minute. The
other gifts that were the gifts of God's Spirit, why were they
given? Why were they given, these gifts
of the early church? They were given as gifts of authentication
for the newly given gospel truth. So that when Paul preached the
gospel of eternal life, and somebody was healed under his ministry,
that was a proof. When he went to different cultures,
speaking different languages, and divinely was able to speak
in that language there, the gift of tongues, that's what it was.
It wasn't gibberish, it wasn't gibberish nonsense being spouted
in the name of God's Spirit, not at all. God is the God of
order and not of confusion. These were gifts of authentication,
but they've served their purpose. What am I talking about? The
gift of tongues that many make such a fuss of. The gift of prophecy,
as if they've got something to say from God. The gift of knowledge,
this is, I'm talking about spooky knowledge. The gift of miracles,
the ability for somebody to say, oh, touch this handkerchief and
your psoriasis will be taken away. We have a completed Bible. We don't need those gifts anymore.
That's why the ones that remain are faith, hope, and love. The others don't remain. Tongues,
they've all petered out as the first century continued and ceased
altogether. They've finished. Don't believe
what some tell you that they continue and that you must have
them to be a true Christian. It's a lie. It isn't true. We
have a completed Bible. Jesus told the parable And you
mustn't derive a lot of deep doctrine from it because there
are things, for example, there's a man in hell who's talking to
Abraham in heaven and pleading for his brothers. It's the rich
man and Lazarus, and Lazarus was the poor man who's gone to
heaven. And the rich man in hell is pleading that they'll send
somebody to his brothers to convince them that they should turn to
God and believe the truth. And it's said to that man in
hell, if they believe not Moses and the prophets, they won't
believe even if one rises from the dead. And that's the case.
That's the, oh, if only we had miracles. No, if they will not
believe the gospel as it is in this book, you can raise people
from the dead down at the cemetery, but you will not convince anybody
to believe the gospel. But faith, hope and love abide
as the marks of God's people, of true Christians. Faith is
that which, as I've already said, by grace are you saved through
faith. Soul sight, it's the sight of
the soul. It's the ability, the gift of God to be able to see
the hidden things of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and
verse 14, Paul tells the Corinthians that the natural man, the man
who is not a child of God, the man who has not believed the
gospel of grace, the natural man doesn't receive the things
of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to him, neither
can he know them, for they're spiritually discerned. Hebrews
11 is that chapter of the gallery of the people of God down the
ages. right the way from Abel, all the way down to, oh, I won't
get to the end of Hebrews 11, but all the Old Testament saints,
you know, individuals picked out, who all had faith. They
all had that sense given by God, by which God's people down the
ages have known what the natural man without that gift cannot
know. And without that gift, without
that gift of God, what is it that pleases God? Without it,
you cannot please God. It's faith. Faith. You must believe
Him. Without faith, you cannot please
God. What is it that we should do to do the work of God? Believe
on Him whom He has sent. Abraham believed God. Abraham
had this gift of the people of God, the faith of God's elect. He had this faith, that's what
Paul says to Titus, those that have the faith of God's elect.
It's only those elect that have that faith, that multitude that
no man can number. Abraham had faith, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness. He believed God, and it was accounted
to him for righteousness. And I've said I can't think of
how many times, countless times, It wasn't Abraham's believing
that was counted to him for righteousness, but it was what, or rather should
I say who, he believed him, that was counted to him for righteousness. Who did he believe in? Read the
account there in Genesis chapter 15. It was Jehovah Tzidkenu. One of the names of God. What's
Jehobot Sidkeno? The Lord, our righteousness.
That's what he believed in. The Lord, our righteousness.
The Lord, our righteousness. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
made of God unto us. Wisdom from God. righteousness. There he is, Jehovah Sidkenu,
Jehovah Jesus. He's made righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Secondly, love for all the saints. What shall we have? We've left
everything, said Peter to Jesus. We've left everything, this world,
to follow you. What shall we have? And Jesus
answered, if I paraphrase, a family on earth and on into heaven. the people of God. By this shall
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
What sort of love? Sacrificial love. Selfless love. John 15, 13, Jesus said, greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. Of course, he was talking about himself, the friend of
sinners, the friend of his people, laying down his life for his
people. The love of God in Christ is the pinnacle of true love.
but I must have it as one of his people. In union with him,
I must have that love, for without it, spiritually, 1 Corinthians
13 again, I can have all sorts of gifts and abilities, but if
I have not that love, that love of God, pinnacled in Christ,
in his laying down his life for his people, then spiritually,
I am nothing. I am nothing. It's that love
What is it that produces the fruit of God's Spirit in the
people of God? What is it that constrains the
behaviour of the people of God? It isn't the threats of the law. It isn't the promises of rewards
in heaven. It's the love of Christ which
constrains us. That love of Christ. Let me just
read 1 John chapter 4, the encouragement that is there. Verse 7 of 1 John
chapter 4. Let us love one another, for
love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and
knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins, beloved. If God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. We ought also to put
our brothers and sisters before ourselves and our own wants and
our own desires and our own aspirations. It's the pinnacle of that love
of God. And then finally, hope. hope faith gives sight of eternal
reality that's what the hebrew faith gallery 11 hebrews 11 faith
gallery what was it they looked for a city which has foundations
whose builder and maker is god in chapter 13 of hebrews it says
here In this world, we believers, the people of God, the saints
and faithful brethren at Colossae and here in this area, the saints
and faithful brethren, we have no continuing city here. Why? Because we look for one
to come. And how do you know about it?
Verse 5, how do you know about it? You heard about it in the
word of the truth of the gospel. Jesus, our God, came down from
heaven. God came down from heaven. and
told his people heavenly truth. What did he tell his people of
heavenly truth? He told them to not let their
heart be troubled. In their flesh they would be
very, very weak and easily swayed, as Peter, who'd sworn allegiance
to Christ, but Christ said before, many hours are up, you'll deny
me three times. But he said, don't let your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. And this
is what he said. Hope, hope. He said, in my father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. How do you know, Lord? You came
down from heaven to tell us this. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you and If I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. But where I am, there you may
be also. Boy, does that make you tingle? Certainly does me. Grace is what
has separated, made the difference. Grace has given faith, hope,
and love. And resting in peace with God
that flows from it, it's all procured by Christ. Has God separated
you from this world and its passions? Has he called you to the faith
of God's elect? What a blessed, rich state you
are in if he has done that. If not, if not, seek him while
you can, while it is still the day of salvation. Amen.