Good morning. I invite your attention to Colossians
chapter 1, the epistle of Paul to the church
in Colossae, chapter 1. My text is found in
verse 28. My message is titled, Him we
preach. But we're going to be looking
at this entire chapter rather briefly, especially as we consider
the first point. So in Colossians chapter 1, let
me begin reading in verse number 1. 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 of the love which
ye have 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. As also ye learned of Epaphras,
our dear fellow servant, which is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who also declared unto us your love and the Spirit,
For this cause we also, since the day we heard of it, do not
cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled
with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of
God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son, in whom We have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that him should all fullness dwell, and having made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight,
if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved
away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which
was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof
I, Paul, am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings
for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions
of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church,
whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation
of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God,
even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints. to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Here's my text, whom or him we
preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto
I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh
in me mightily. Verse 28, my text, him we preach. Many preachers are known for
what they preach. In fact, you can find entire
sects and denominations and religious groups known for preaching such
things as the church, baptism, the law of Moses, the Sabbath,
charismatic gifts, prophecies, new revelations, creeds and confessions,
Calvinism or free willism or other such things. Entire denominations
major on such things. They're known for it. There are some men, if they tell
you, I'm a member of such denomination, oh yeah, you folks emphasize
this thing or that thing. Other preachers are known for
preaching a person, not a thing. But not every preacher of a person
preaches the right person. Paul the Apostle indicated this
when he said, we do not preach ourselves. We do not preach ourselves. Yeah, we've seen that sort, have
we not? They're like Simon Magus, the
sorcerer whom Paul confronted in Paphos We read that he was
claiming that he was someone great and he accepted the praise
of his hearers when they said, this man is the great power of
God. We've seen preachers like that strutting proudly across their
podiums like peacocks with their feathers all the way out and
people bragging about what great men they are, and they accepting
their praise, and they reminding us how important they are to God.
Yeah, they're preaching a person, but that's the wrong person. Gospel preachers do not preach
ourselves. There is nothing in us or of us, worth
preaching. Do not be like me. I'm not worthy
of imitating. I'm therefore not going to preach
myself, but I am going to preach a person to you. I'm going to point you to Jesus Christ and I'm gonna
say Him we preach. That's the one we preach. Him
we preach. Warning every man and teaching
every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect
in Christ Jesus. I have three points in my message
today. First, the person we preach. Second, the manner in which we
preach him, and third, the reason we preach him. So consider that
first point, the person we preach. Of whom does Paul speak when
he says, him we preach? Well, you find him identified
in the last part of the verse, Christ Jesus. Him we preach. that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus." Now, Christ is his title. Jesus is
his name. That word Christ corresponds
to the Hebrew word Messiah. The Messiah means the Anointed
One. If you'll go to the second Psalm,
you will find that the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One,
is Jehovah's Son by an eternal generation. He was never born,
but He was begotten. He was begotten, but never in
time. Begotten in eternity past by
an eternal generation. Therefore, for as long as there
has been God, there has been His Son, begotten by this eternal
generation. Is He eternally the Son of the
living God? Jesus asks Peter. Whom do men
say I am? Well, they say one of the prophets
and one of these great men, this or that, and Jesus said, yeah,
but Whom do you say that I am? No, you are the Christ, the Son
of the living God. That's the one we preach. This
one begotten by God the Father through an eternal generation
from all eternity. This one who is the Son of the
living God. This one who was anointed by
God to be the mediatorial prophet, priest, and king of his people.
That's his title. That is the cross. His name is
Jesus. His name means Jehovah is salvation. He was given this name at his
birth when he was born of a woman. Remember, begotten of God, born
of a woman. God's son marries child. And when he's born, it is said
you shall call his name Jesus Jehovah is salvation. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Jesus is therefore not only our
Savior, but also our salvation. And nor is there salvation in
any other, for there is no other name given by God under heaven
by which we must be saved. He is the only Christ. He is
the only Jesus. He is the only Savior. He is
the only salvation. Now, He is worthy of being preached. When Paul says, Him we preach,
he assumes you already know about what he's talking, this one of
whom he here speaks. And that would be in everything
he wrote. from verse 1 up to verse 28. Now, you probably have the synopsis
before you, so I'm briefly going to go through 15 things that
are here said about Jesus, the one we preach. First in verse
2, and these are in your synopsis. He is the bringer of divine grace
and peace to his people, for Paul wrote grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only does the
Father bring peace to us, but so does Jesus. In fact, the Father
does it through Jesus. Second, in verse 4, he is the
object of believers' faith. Paul says, we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus. Our faith is not in our baptism. It is not in our church. It is
not in our creed. It is not in our confession.
If we have one, it is in none of those things. Our faith is
in Jesus Christ alone. Third, He is the King of God's
people because He, God the Father, has delivered us from the power
of darkness who is Satan and translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. Fourth, verse 14, He is the Redeemer
of God's people. Paul writes, in him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Fifth, in verse 15,
he is the image of the invisible God. God made man in his own
image. Christ is that image. He is the image of the invisible
God. God cannot be seen. But Jesus
says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I am the image
of the invisible God. Sixth, in verse 15, he is the
firstborn over all creation. Not the one born first, but the
first of those who are born, the firstborn, the highest of
the kings of the earth. Seventh, verse 16, he is the
creator of all things, for by him all things were created that
are in heaven and that are on earth. Apart from Him, nothing
was made. Nothing was made. Eighth, verse
17, He exists from eternity. Paul says, He is before all things. He is before all things. The only thing that is before
all things is God. The only thing. Well, let's not
call it a thing. It's a person. There is a person. Oh, there are two persons. One
God. Three persons if you include
the Holy Spirit. Before the creation, there they
are. 9th verse 17, He is the preserver
of all things. In Him all things consist. Actually, the word means cohere. They hold together. Your body
is a mass of, oh, a few million molecules. Separate molecules. What's holding them together?
Well, my skin. Well, when you cut your skin,
how come your body doesn't fall apart? It's held together. Jesus Christ is the one who is
holding this universe together. Remove Him? Yeah, you think you've
got problems now? You think things are going all
right now? If Christ removes His hand, there is no cohesion
in this universe. 10th verse 18, He is the head
of the body of the church. 11th verse 18, he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, the one who laid the foundation
for the resurrected life and the chief of all who enjoy that
resurrected life. The firstborn from the dead,
the greatest of all who were brought forth from the dead.
Lazarus was raised from the dead. before Jesus was. Yeah, but afterward Lazarus died
again. Jesus was resurrected and never
died again. He's the firstborn, the greatest
of all who have been raised from the dead. Twelfth, he is the
first in rank over the universe and in his church for in all
things he may have the preeminence. 13th verse 19, He is co-equal
with His Father in divinity, for it pleased the Father that
in Him all the fullness should dwell. Jesus Christ is not one
whiff missing, not a bit, in either deity or divinity. It
pleased the Father that all the fullness should dwell in Him.
14th verses 19 through 22. He is the reconciler of God's
people. You who once were alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
blameless and above reproach in his sight. Have you considered
the great work of reconciliation wrought by Jesus Christ in his
death? Two aspects. Two aspects. He reconciled Jews and Gentiles. Oh, they hated each other. Oh,
they were at enmity with all kinds of animosity between themselves. And they're going to be in one
body? No. It won't happen. It will if Jesus
reconciles them. He reconciled the Jew and Gentile
in one body, and then reconciled them to God. That's glorious. The reconciler
is Jesus Christ. Now Paul is here speaking about
the one we preach, and he's going to say one more thing. He is
to believers, Christ in you, the hope of glory. What is your
hope of glory? What gives you hope that you're
going to glory? I got saved. Really? No one in scripture ever said
such a thing. I got saved. They often spoke
of the Lord saving me, but they never spoke of salvation as something
they went out and obtained for themselves. I got baptized. Yeah, so did Judas Iscariot. I joined a church. Yeah, Judas
Iscariot was in the church. Just about everything that you
can mention that people say, I know I'm saved because of this
or that or the other, you'll find people in the lake
of fire who will boast of such things. What is our only hope
of glory? It is Christ in us. It is Christ
in us, and we have an anchor within the veil. Our anchor is already in heaven,
and he's in our heart, and there is a connection that is there
that cannot be broken. What is my hope of glory? Christ
lives in me in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. How do I know I'm God's child? Christ is in me. How do I know God loves me? Christ
is in me, the hope of glory. All the hope that we have is
based upon the fact that Christ is in us. And Paul has mentioned
these 15 things, and then he says, that's the one we preach. Him we preach. That's the one
we preach. So there's the first point. Who is it that we preach? Him
we preach. Second point, the manner in which
we preach Him. Notice Paul says, Him we preach. Then he says, warning every man
and teaching every man in all wisdom. Consider first that we
are proclaiming Christ Jesus. Paul uses a certain word when
he says him we preach. There are various words that
are used in the scripture translated preach. Paul used a word here
that means to announce, declare, promulgate, make known, to proclaim
publicly and publish. And that's what I'm doing this
morning. I am proclaiming him. I'm not ashamed of him. I am
proclaiming him. Now, many preach about Christ
without proclaiming Christ. Some preach the church of Christ
without proclaiming the Christ of the church. Some preach the
return of Christ without proclaiming the Christ who is returning.
Some preach the atonement made by Christ without proclaiming
the Christ who made the atonement. And some merely make mention
of Christ from time to time while preaching. I spent four years
in a college pursuing a theological degree. It was a five-year degree. I crammed it in four. And we
had chapel every day, Monday through Friday. Every day. We had some of the most prominent
preachers in the U.S. and many missionaries. It was a very missionary-minded
school. heard them. I used to keep my clipboard in front
of me, and every time the preacher said the word Jesus or Christ,
I'd make a note. And it was surprising how many
times I could walk out of chapel having heard these great, eminent
preachers in that circle. They rarely spoke about Jesus. You can listen to television
preachers. You can stomach it, and radio
preachers, and what, you know? And they can talk about this
doctrine, that doctrine, and the other, and just mention Jesus
from time to time. And Paul is here letting us know,
no, no, no, no, no. We started our message with Him. We ended our message with Him,
and He was in the message all the way through. Him we preached,
we proclaimed Him. Second, Paul says, we are warning
and teaching, or admonishing and instructing. Now these two
must be taken together. One must not be accompanied by
the other. We warn people that they cannot
be saved by any works they perform. We teach them that salvation
is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and the work
he finished for their salvation. We warn people that they are
incapable of keeping God's law. We teach them that Jesus Christ
fulfilled the law for all who believe in him and that his righteousness
is imputed to them. We warn people of their need
of a Savior. We teach them that Jesus Christ
is the only and all-sufficient Savior. We teach people that
they will be saved if they believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and
trust in Him. We warn them that they will be
doomed if they do not do so. Now, do you see what Paul is
saying? We are not only warning you of the danger, we're teaching
you of the salvation from the danger. We warn, we teach, and the two go together. And
Paul says, we are warning and teaching every man. Now notice
that Paul uses that phrase, every man, thrice in this verse. I
mean, in one short verse, three times, does he speak of every
man. We acknowledge that there is
no distinction between Jew and Gentile or Greek, for the same
Lord who is over all is rich to all who call upon him. Whoever
calls upon the name of Jehovah Jesus shall be saved. We are indiscriminate in our preaching. We have been commanded and commissioned
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We warn every man that God commands
all men everywhere to repent and we teach every man that they
should seek the Lord. Do you see Paul's emphasis? We warn. There is a danger. Here is a man who sees that there
is a bridge that is out in the highway up above. The river has
washed the bridge away. He runs back up the road and
he stops people. Do not go any further. The bridge
is out. You will perish. But what shall
I do? Take that road. It'll take you
to another bridge that is still there. It is not enough to warn
people of the danger. You've got to tell them of the
remedy for their problem as well. And Paul says we are warning
and we are teaching in all wisdom, in the all wise manner. Paul
writes in 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 7 through 12, he says,
we were gentle among you as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. We were gentle to you. I would hope that never is it reported that
Moose Parks is a very harsh preacher. I mean, honest? Yeah, yeah. He
gives warnings? Yeah. But not harsh. I know of preachers, had a friend
in college say, He had not been called to be a pastor, he had
been called to be an evangelist, and an evangelist in that circle
was one who went around taking care of the problems in the church.
So a pastor, you know, having a problem in a church would get
some evangelist to come in and preach on that sin. In Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, where I was raised, It was the great and terrible
scent of cigarette smoking, because we had R.J. Reynolds there. Whatever
it was, the pastor would be afraid to preach on it, but the evangelist
was well-known and famous and people loved him, and he'd get
the evangelist to come in and he'd preach on it. Now, what
the evangelist does is this. He shears sheep. That was what an evangelist was
to these folks. Listen folks, I am devoting my
life and my ministry to feeding sheep, but I'm just not very
good at shearing them and I'm going to just stay away from
it, okay? Furthermore, let the shepherd who owns the sheep do
the shearing. Paul says, we were gentle among
you. Gentle. just as a nursing mother cherishes
her own children. Now there's a picture for you. In places where slavery has been
practiced, there have been mothers of newborn
infants that perhaps could not nurse their own or else would
not nurse their own, so they give their newborn infant to
a slave to nurse. The nurse or the slave is already
nursing her own and so the mistress gives her infant to the slave
and says here, nurse mine with yours. So here is a slave nursing two infants. One of them is her own. She's nursing it as its mother. The other child belongs to someone
else. The slave is nursing it as a
surrogate. The affection and the motive
in nursing these two children are quite different. When the slave is nursing her
own, she cherishes it. It's hers. It's her baby. She's gentle with it. She loves
it. But when she has to nurse the
other child, It's not done out of love, done out of duty. And it may be a duty that is
not wanted. Paul says, and we can apply this
analogy to the gospel minister, we were gentle among you as a
nursing mother loves her own children. That should be every
gospel preacher. I am today. a nurse to you, bringing
to you the sincere milk of the Word. You are God's children. You're dear to Him. You better
be dear to me. And I'm saying that from my perspective. I better hold you dear to me
as God holds you dear to me. We're gentle among you. I came
here today to feed you, not to shear you. I came to be gentle
among you, intend to be so, and not to be harsh. We were gentle
among you, Paul says. And then he says, furthermore,
you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one
of you as a father does his own children. His own children. We lived in a small town growing up. It was
a lumber mill town, coal mining town in West Virginia. And my father would take children
downtown on Saturday night. We had one store in town, a general
merchandise store. And he'd take us in there on
Saturday night. And if we were old enough, he'd
turn us loose, you know, to go on the store. We had a 25 cents
or whatever, you know, to go buy something. And then he'd
say, and do not forget whose child you are. Because everybody
in town knew my father. He's the preacher. And everybody
in town knew that I was his. And I was often warned, you know,
by him, do not forget whose son you are. Yes, sir. Now, there were probably people
in town, if I, okay, not if, when, not if I sinned, when I
sinned. There have been times when men
in town saw me do things I should not do. And they may not have
told me about it, they may not have scolded me on the street,
but somehow or other my father heard about it. And I'd get home,
and sometimes he would know of my mischief before I could get
home, and my father would take care of me. I would have much
rather been scolded by some other man on the street than for my
father to do it. Paul says, I treat you like my children. I
do not go around correcting other people's children. Yes, I see
other people's children doing things they should not do. They're
not mine. But when I would see one of my
own do something wrong, There was correction. Why? It's my
child. I love that child. That child
is dear to me. Paul says, we were gentle among
you even when we exhorted you and warned you that we may present
you to God. So therefore, we are warning
and we are teaching every man. So, Him we preach, Jesus Christ. How do we preach Him? Warning,
teaching, in all wisdom. Now we come to the third and
final point, the reason we preach Him. That we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus. That we may present. Gospel preachers
are presenters. First, we present Christ to you,
doing so today. We did so from the first part
of this chapter in the first point, presenting Christ to you. Then second, we present believers
to Christ. That's what pastors will do.
Do you see the awesome responsibility that falls upon every preacher,
and I don't mean just upon me, alright? I'm up in this pulpit
every Lord's Day. This responsibility is also yours
and yours, and today it was yours! Standing up to preach Do you
realize God's going to hold us accountable for every word we
say? Do not be many teachers. We shall receive the greater
judgment. We are presenters. We present
the gospel to you and to those to whom God puts in under our
charge. We will present them to Christ.
Paul says, I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I have
betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. That's what I wanted to do at
that final day, to present as a chaste virgin, present you
as being perfect, lacking nothing, present you as perfect in Christ
Jesus. Finding your perfection in Him
alone. Perfect in the doctrine of Christ Jesus, believing all
that is true regarding Him. Perfect in the practice of Christ
Jesus, living according to His precepts and example. Perfect
in the person of Christ Jesus, having Him alone for our standing
before God. Paul says, it is our desire to
present Christ to you. And God will present believers
to us, and we will present them to Christ perfect. I would hope that when I stand
before God to give an account from my ministry, that I could
present a chaste bride unto Christ, look, perfect in Christ. They believe what they should
believe about you. They practice what they should
practice about you. Their profession is in you and
in you alone. Now, that's my responsibility.
You see, I am responsible not only for what I preach in this
pulpit, but for what is preached by others in this pulpit. A certain pastor near and dear
to me had a man join his church, a scholarly man, well-versed
in the scriptures, well-versed in doctrine, felt that maybe
the Lord had called him to preach, and so the pastor let the man
preach. And when the pastor would go
somewhere else to preach, this man would quite often fill in
for him. preached a message on a certain
occasion on Jesus Christ being the only righteousness of his
people and that we have no other righteousness. This pastor quite
often at the end of a message would open up the service to
questions and answers. And on this occasion, the man
who sometimes preached for him expressed his great disapproval
and disagreement with what the pastor preached. He thought he
had his own personal righteousness. Jesus Christ was not his only
righteousness, he had his own righteousness. He felt this was
true of everybody. The pastor let the man speak
The whole congregation is listening. The pastor let him preach or
let him speak his mind on the subject of his own righteousness. When it was done, the pastor
called him by name and said, you will never preach in this
church again. There's a reason for that. There's a reason for
that. You're preaching again rather
soon, by the way, get ready. Sean, get ready, all right. I'll take accountability for
what these men said. But should a man get up into
the pulpit and preach that which is contrary to Christ? No, we
do not permit that. Paul says, we must present you
as a chaste virgin unto Christ. We must present you as perfect
in Christ and we are responsible for every word we speak in this
pulpit and for every word we let others speak in this pulpit.
By the way, Bruce Crabtree and his beloved are coming to visit
us in the summer. He said they're coming to see
Montana and to visit you, and I did tell him that he could
not come unless he brought a message with him. So he'll be preaching
to you, just letting you know now, okay? Bruce and his beloved
Cindy, but they'll be, but okay. Bruce Crabtree can preach for
me anytime he's available, all right? And a number of others
as well. Why? Like me, they point to Jesus
Christ and say, Him we preach. Him we preach. Furthermore, I want to present you to Jesus
Christ like Jesus Christ will present you to God. Now, do you
see the two presentations? Paul says, I want to present
you as a chaste virgin unto Christ. Unto Christ. We're going to be
married to Him. He's going to marry a virgin. She will have been made to be
a virgin, but she will be a virgin. And Christ's preachers come to
Christ with those over whom they have charge. their churches,
the members of their churches, and say, here are those you gave
to me to feed and to pasture. Well, I am now presenting them
to you, chaste virgins. And Jesus Christ takes all those
that are presented to Him. Then He goes to His Father. And
He says, Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given unto me,
I present them to you. The presentation begins with
pastors presenting the Lord's people, this chaste virgins,
to their husband and Christ presents them to His Father. And how will
He do so? Look in verse 22. holy and blameless
and above reproach in his sight. That's my hope for every one
of you, and myself included, and especially myself. Holy and
blameless and above reproach in his sight, and we join Paul
in concluding To this end, I also labor, striving according to
his working, which works in me mightily. And all, if God should
not cause it to work mightily, it's all in vain. It's all in vain. So that's my message. I'm preaching
a person. He is not me. I point you to
Jesus Christ and say, Him we preach. I'm warning you of the dangers ahead and I'm
teaching you how you can save yourself from those dangers. I'm doing so gently as a mother
nourishes the child she loves, but I'm I'm doing it also like a father
disciplines his son. And I hope that one of these
days I can stand before Jesus Christ and say, I preached the
gospel to them and so did those who came before me. One man planted,
and another man watered, and another man came along and watered,
and God gave an increase, and now I'm giving it to Jesus Christ,
that I may present you holy and blameless above reproach in this
sight. So I'm going to ask you today, have you believed the gospel
I preach? Have you believed this one I preach? Are you trusting
in this one I preach? Have you heeded my warnings? Have you obeyed my instruction? And will God receive you at that
final day? O God, our Father, bless this
word we pray, Save our unworthy souls. Forgive
us of our sins. Draw us to your Son. And may we ever be under the
ministry of one who says, Christ we preach. And may we never desire
to be someplace else where something else is preached. Do you glory
in Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.