So Colossians chapter two, and
we'll begin reading at verse 16. Let no man therefore judge
you in meat or in drink, or in respect of unholy day, or of
the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things
to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshy mind, and not holding the head from which all the body
by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together,
increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore, if ye be dead
with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though
living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste
not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using? after
the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of
the body, not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. The Apostle Paul, in writing
to the Colossians, as we have seen over the past few weeks,
has emphasised that there is nothing that need be added by
man to improve or to augment or to enable grace in our experience. Indeed, not only is there nothing
that need be added, there is nothing that can be added. There is nothing that can be
added. We have everything. We are complete
in Christ. And that was the thrust of our
sermon last week. It was the title of our sermon,
that we are complete in Him. And it is an important point
that nothing can be added. Because we discover in the study
of the Word of God that if we even try to add anything to Christ,
then implicitly we are taking away from Him. And that is something
that we must always be eager to resist. We cannot add anything
to him, but if we try to add anything to him, we take away
from him. We deny him his position of priority. We deny him his place of preeminence. We say, as it were, that if in
trying to bring anything additional to the service of God, anything
additional to please God, we are declaring that Christ has
left something undone. and we are robbing the Lord Jesus
Christ of the glory that is His. It's as if we're rushing in behind
Christ saying, oh you've dropped this, you've dropped this. The
job's not finished, the job's not complete. Your testimony,
your statement on the cross isn't quite correct and there's something
here that we can add to the work of salvation. And of course that's
anathema to any true believer in the gospel, to anyone who
truly understands the significance of what the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished on the cross. and all the spiritual blessings
that the Lord Jesus Christ has attained for us from his Father. All the blessings of grace, they
come to us, they flow to us. The love of God, the grace of
God, the mercy of God, the peace of God that passeth understanding. These are received by faith. And the Apostle Paul asks in
another place, in 1 Corinthians chapter four, he says, what do
you have that you didn't receive? What have you that you haven't
been given? And when it comes to spiritual
truths, when it comes to the spiritual experience of a believer
with his God, there is nothing that we have that we haven't
received by the goodness and the grace of God. And there is
nothing that we can do to enlarge that grace or to improve upon
that goodness, to enhance that mercy in any way. or to embellish
the love that God has for his church and his people. Everything
comes by faith and nothing is added to as a result of our labours
or our work. And the point is this, that believers
are called to rest in that work of Christ and to rest upon the
accomplishments of our Saviour. And that's the point that the
Apostle Paul is going to be making again, I suggest to you emphatically
from these verses that we have in Colossians before us this
evening. And I know that we say these
things regularly. I know that we repeat ourselves
frequently. These things are familiar to
us. And yet I think it is interesting
how surprisingly hard it is for us to just accept it at face
value and believe it despite the familiarity we have with
these statements. You see, the problem that we
have is that in our nature, That reference that Gadsby made to
the two armies that are seen in each believer. In that natural
man, in that old man, in our flesh, in our nature, we always
want to be doing something towards our own salvation. We always
want to be making a contribution. And that is the reality of our
experience. And it may be because we are
proud people. It may be because we imagine
that in some way it enhances this idea of our knowledge of
spiritual things, that we can have a deeper experience if we're
able to please God by the things that we do. And of course, we discover that
organised religion is very apt and ready to encourage us to
imagine that we can do something towards our own salvation. Organised religion, denominational
religion, is always encouraging us to do our bit, to make our
contribution, and invariably, giving and good works. and giving of our time and our
finance and our energy is set before us as a way in which we
can make a difference for God, that we can do something for
God, that we can do something for the cause of Christ, that
we can do something for the testimony of Christianity in our society,
in our community, in our families, in our life. And men are always ready to be
setting before the Lord's people a pathway of obedience, a pathway
of commitment. Just do this and the Lord will
bless us. Just do this, just give this,
just engage in this and projects and schemes and plans are set
before us. and we build ourselves a structure
of activity which we can throw ourselves into. in the vain imagination
that in some way God will be helped, God will be pleased,
God will be enabled to do things through us because of our efforts
and because of our contribution. And as a result of that, what
happens is that a whole array of complex feelings are engendered
in our breasts and in our thoughts. The church says, the minister
says, the pastor says, do this, do this, be engaged in that,
help out here. And what we discover then is
that we find we are shamed. because we feel as if we're not
doing all the things that we should do. Or we have envy because
we look at other people and we think, oh, they're working so
much harder than me. They're engaged in so many more
ways. They're getting their recognition
in the church in ways that I can't seem to do. And we begin to feel
like failures. And we begin to feel at a loss.
And also these very same feelings are triggered by the world around
us. And we discover that we are drawn into this way of works. And people endeavour to labour
and strive in the Christian life. And there's another aspect to
this as well, because as believers, we have a vulnerable side. The Word of God, in some ways,
seems to suggest that we ought to be labouring. We ought to
be involved at this personal level in the service of our God. And we find that the testimony
of Scripture, that on one level we are to rest in Christ and
see everything is done for us, and on the other level, another
side of this, there's a call to be engaged and to be active. And we wonder whether these two
things are contrary, the one to the other. And we find that
the flesh and the spirit seem to battle together. And there
is an experience in the breast of every believer that is wholly
unknown to everyone else. I think perhaps that's one of
the reasons why believers, hearing these constant enjoiners to become
involved and engaged and to labour in our service for God, often
do struggle in churches where there may be members who are
not even believers, because they are able to throw themselves
into the work in a way which we struggle to do. Galatians 5, verse 17 tells us
that the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh. And these two are contrary, the
one to the other, so that we cannot do the things that ye
would. And we find that the language
of Scripture, the vocabulary of the Word of God, and even
the ministry that we hear, can sometimes seem to be ambiguous
and confusing to us. We hear the psalmist saying,
for example, in Psalm 37, rest in the Lord. But we hear Paul
telling Timothy to fight the good fight. Well, what is it?
Are we to rest in the Lord or are we to be fighting the good
fight? We hear the Psalmist telling
us, be still and know that I am God. And Paul again telling the
Ephesians, put on the armour of God. We're told that we are to be
zealous of good works. We are to maintain good works.
We are to let our good works shine. And yet we are called to remember
that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And the Lord
Jesus Christ himself tells us in Luke chapter 17 and verse
10, when ye have done all those things which are commanded you,
say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. You see, the point is, that the
world and the flesh and the devil have plenty of ammunition and
opportunity to sow confusion into the heart and mind of believers,
and they will employ it. They will use the word of God
itself. They will use the ministry that
comes from the pulpit. They will use the example of
other Christian believers around about us. They will use even
the activities and the commitment and the dedication of false doctrine
and heretical churches to make us feel as if we are sluggish
and passive and we ought to be working more and labouring more. And the bottom line is this,
that we have to work hard to rest in Christ. We have to work
hard to be able to find that place where we can just stop
and just pause and just rest in what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for us. We are to study to show ourselves
approved. We are to press towards the mark
for the prize that is set up before us. We are to work out
our own salvation with fear and trembling. We are to labour to
enter into that rest. lest any man should fall after
that same example of unbelief. That was a reference to the way
in which the children of Israel in the wilderness stopped from
entering or were stopped through unbelief from entering into the
fullness of the blessings. Believers, always have to be
attentive to the fact that we are constantly being tempted
to look away from Christ. We are always prone to imagine
there is something that we can do to enhance and improve our
relationship with God. And there are plenty of voices
around about us calling out and directing as to what we should
do to properly serve God in this world. But you know what the
overriding principle is? That we rest in Him. What was the unbelief that Israel
were guilty of in the wilderness, that they were not able to enter
into their rest? Simply this, that they didn't
have faith. And it is faith that is needed
for us to cease from our own works. It is faith that we require
for us to rest in Christ. God's people have rest in Christ. It is a real rest. It is absolute. It is tangible. It is genuine. It is our rest in Christ. It is given to us and it will
never be taken away. But God only knows we struggle
to enjoy it. And countless hurdles are put
in our way to prevent us from enjoying it. I was going to try and say that
another way. And then I read a passage from
Dr. John Gill. And I decided that
I would let John Gill say it for me. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 3 says
this, Gil says, True believers are entered into
it, their rest. Yet their rest, peace and joy
in Christ, is not full. They enter by degrees into it,
and by believing, enjoy more of it. And this is to be laboured
for by prayer. by hearing the word preached
and attendance on ordinances. And this requires strength, diligence,
and industry, and supposes difficulties and discouragements through the
corruptions of the heart and the temptations of Satan, And
this is designed by the Lord to quicken and awaken a godly
jealousy in God's people over themselves. I wonder if you see
what Gil is saying there. Believers, you and I, brothers
and sisters in Christ, we have entered into our rest. We have
entered into our peace and joy in Christ. By the gift of grace,
by the awakening of God the Holy Spirit and his regenerating power
in our life, we have entered into our rest. But this world,
our own flesh, the devil, our human nature are all conspiring
together to rob us of that experience. And Paul's intent for the Colossians
here in this passage before us tonight and for us and for all
God's people His words of direction, his injunction to us is, let
no man rob you of this rest, this peace, this joy, which is
yours in Christ. Let no man therefore judge you,
he says. And the world is judging believers
all the time. Usually, the world is judging
us harshly. but don't you let them judge
you. Rise above their judgements.
See what the Word of God says. Don't succumb to all of the world's
thinking. Don't succumb to religion's emphasis. Don't succumb to the misdirection
which comes from so many pulpits with respect to the fleshly values
and the influence that these values can have upon our mind
and our soul. The Apostle Paul has previously
said in chapter two, in these four examples that we quoted
last week, that we are buried with the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are raised together with Christ. We share in his success as beneficiaries,
not as accomplices, but as beneficiaries. We share in the success of the
death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the finished
work of Christ. He went on to say that all our
trespasses are forgiven. Nothing is held against the child
of God. All our sins are forgiven. And
God is as pleased with us in our hearts, in our souls, in
our spirits, in our standing in Christ, as he is pleased with
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He looks upon us as holy as Christ. He looks upon us as perfect as
Christ. Paul said, your sins have been
taken and nailed to the cross. And he said, the Lord Jesus Christ
has made an open show of your enemies in his victory over them. Christ has triumphed and we have
triumphed with him. And all of this is true. And
you who profess to believe in the gospel, The apostle says
to the Colossians, you who have heard the gospel at the lips
of Epaphras, you who have heard the gospel down through the ages
of the church, you who have believed in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, what has changed? What has changed? What is going
to take away that rest, that peace, that joy from your soul? Are you going to let some holier-than-thou
religionist tell you to conform to their practices and their
policies? What is it that you lack that
you're going to get from these people? What is it that you are
missing that they have, that you need? Let no man judge you. Let no man trouble you. Let no
man trouble your peace. Let no man trouble your comfort
in Christ. Be sure. There are some people
who want to do that exactly. They want to impose upon you
their rules. And that's what the apostle begins
to say here with respect to meat and drink and ritual. And it's
a powerful argument that these people bring when the apostle
says to the Colossians, that let no man judge you. These judgments
that they bring can be powerful arguments. This troubling of
our spirits can be a powerful imposition on our peace and on
the quietness of our mind with respect to our Christian walk. You know, group acceptance, is
a powerful psychology. Group behaviour to make us feel
accepted, group identity, you're one of us. And that's what these
Jewish professors in Christ were endeavouring to do to the Gentiles.
As we've seen in the book of Acts, we've looked before in
Romans and Galatians, these Judaizers made a profession of faith in
Christ, but they also said to the Gentiles, now that you are
a believer in Christ like us, you've got to come under the
yoke of Moses' law. You've got to come under the
rituals of the ceremonial law. You've got to be party with us
to all of the feasts and all of the rituals and ceremonies
that are part and parcel of honouring and pleasing God. And remember
that the People of that time, the Jews
and the Gentiles, only had the Old Testament scriptures as their
holy book. And so if they would know the
revelation of God, well there it is in the books of Genesis
to Malachi. And then they had the gospel
preaching. The church, through the preaching
of the gospel, has learned through the apostolic testimony to see
beyond the ritual, to see beyond these Judaizers' ceremonies,
to see beyond the law, and to see the reality which is behind
the shadow. The body is the reality that
casts the shadow. And that body is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the Apostle Paul is saying
to the Colossians and to us, look away from the shadow and
look to the person of Christ. Don't imagine that you can see
an obligation in the shadow when the reality, the body, has fulfilled
everything that is needful. What will we have? Shadow or
substance? We look to the work of Christ. And verse 18 speaks of no beguiling. Let no man beguile you. One who would beguile you is
one who speaks deceptively to your heart. and one who would
endeavour to deprive you of your reward, your rest, your peace,
your joy, by defrauding you. The believer's reward is to rest
in Christ. That's our possession. That's
what Christ has won for us. So why is it then that we seem
to struggle so much to possess that sweet comfort of peace with
God, of that sense of the forgiveness of our sins, in that calm and
easy conscience of mind with respect to our union with God? It's because we are directed
to look away from Christ and to try to add something to that
work which he has done. Let us enjoy the blessings of
good hope and the anticipation of eternal glory by seeing beyond
the shadow of these things, the beguiling shadow, and looking
to the body which is Christ. These men brought with them a
beguiling word, a pretended humility. You know, it's very interesting
to see the frequency with which men will not bow their knee to
God, but they will bow down to deities of their own making. They will bow down to worshipping
a false god. Worshipping a god which demands
of them some contribution, some dedication, some act of commitment,
some... profession or testimony or joining
or yoke of bondage that will just make them part of the group,
part of the fellowship. The apostle speaks of angel worship. Well, that's got to do with the
law. It was delivered in the hands
of angels. Or sometimes we talk about Mary worship, and there
are many churches who say, well, we can't go to God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. That would be too presumptuous.
But Mary is such a tender-hearted representative, a tender-hearted
intercessor. We'll go through her. We'll go
by some other means. We'll go by some other road.
And the Word of God tells us there is but one way of approach
to God through the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But through the pretended humility of these hypocrites, through
man worship, through prophets and preachers so called, we discover
that proud, arrogant men with greater insight, with divine
understanding, they imagine, with an increased spiritual wisdom,
with a greater call of the truth, intrude upon holy things with
a carnal wisdom and would seek to rob the child of God of their
peace and their joy and their rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 19, because here
the apostle goes on to say, don't be distracted by these false
worshippers. Don't be distracted by these
beguiling preachers. He said, they're not holding
the head. They're not holding the head,
from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment
ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase
of God. If we would have growth and development
in our experience of these spiritual truths, which are contained in
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we must hold on
to Christ. Not holding the head is not holding
Christ. And not holding Christ is letting
him go, substituting something else for him, building on another
foundation. It's a very piercing verse. If Christ is the head, then are
we to turn away from Christ? Will we not hold on to Christ? This is speaking about the uniqueness
and the exclusiveness, the distinctiveness of the gospel of free and sovereign
grace. This is the only way of salvation. This is the way of life. and
all these others that would add this on here and that on there
and build up another foundation. They are letting go Christ and
they are severing the joints and the bands by which spiritual
nourishment is ministered to the body. Christ is the head,
the church is the body. If we would be nourished by spiritual
truth, then it must come from holding onto Christ alone at
the exclusion to everything else. The joints are the doctrines
of truth, the doctrines of grace, the gospel message. We stand
upon that ground and nothing else. The bands are the Christian
graces of love and fellowship and a lowliness of mind. Each
is steaming the other better than themselves. Patience, truth. If we follow a false teacher,
We will interpose something between Christ and our souls will be
starved and our resolve will be weakened and we will not have
the strength to endure nor the resolution to stand. Verse 20
goes on to talk about the rudiments of the world. And we can compare
verse 8 because the Apostle Paul has already spoken about the
rudiments of the world. And he said in verse 8, You see,
this is the message of Colossians chapter 2. Beware the beguilers. Beware the legalists. Beware
the distractors. Beware the robbers. Beware the
deceivers. Beware of those who would defraud
you of your peace and joy and your comfort and rest in Christ. These rudiments of the world
are the basic elements of natural religion as we mentioned last
week. When he speaks about ordinances,
he's not talking about the ordinances, so-called, that we have of communion
and baptism. He's speaking about rules and
regulations, orders, if you like. Order and ordinance is the same. It comes from the same word. And this is the direction, if
you like, the guidance that is given. Oh, invariably it is given
because we know better than you. Because we've done the studying,
we've been to the colleges, we've got the diploma, we've got the
certificate. Now here's what you've got to
do. Do this, do that, do the next thing. Wear this, eat that,
drink this, touch or don't touch. The next thing, fleshy stuff,
fleshy stuff of outward appearance, fleshy stuff of self-promoting,
self-congratulating legalism. That's the stuff we leave behind
when we discover the true Jesus Christ. When we discover the
Lord our righteousness. When we discover that there's
no righteousness to be had outside of Christ. When we discover that
all our justification is in Christ. All our sanctification is in
Christ. All our holiness is in Christ.
When we realize that true righteousness, not some man-made, self-important
righteousness that someone says, oh, that was very good, or oh,
that's been really helpful, or oh, that's quite a contribution
and a help. True righteousness is God-given,
and no one can give us righteousness or an awareness of righteousness
but God himself. and it is never, ever naturally
gained by the things that we do in this body, in the flesh,
never. If we displace Christ, if we
replace faith, then what is left is a vain obedience to the commandments
and doctrines of men. And this is what Paul is anxiously
warning the Colossians and us about. Look at verse 22. Let's just read verse 22. 20
again and we'll read through to 22. Wherefore if ye be dead
with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living
in the world are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste
not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after
the commandments and doctrines of men. So these subject to ordinances,
are the commandments and doctrines of men. Worldly wisdom, if you
like, natural wisdom, crafty wisdom, manipulative words and
talk. Wisdom of the world without knowledge
of spiritual truth and without knowledge of gospel understanding. Now you see, of course, Everyone
says they believe the gospel. Everyone says they preach the
gospel. Everyone does. But if you weave
into that gospel message, worldly wisdom by which we increase our
holiness, by our service to God, by which we improve our sanctification
or our standing, by the commitment that we make and what we give
and what we do and what we say and where we go and what we eat
and what we drink and what we wear and everything else that
goes into these things. then we have displaced Christ
from the centrality of his accomplishments, and we have added the commandments
and doctrines of men, worldly wisdom, natural, crafty, manipulative
wisdom, by which we are distracted from the blessings that flow
to us by grace through faith, the rest that we have in Christ.
the joy that we have in Christ, and the peace that passeth understanding. And these gospel preachers, so
called, for they all preach the gospel, they employ all the right
words, and you know what? They sometimes even get them
in the right order. But there's no power in the message.
There's no reality. There's no truth. There's no
depth. There's no significance for us
getting through the trials of our daily life because they point
us to someone other than the unique Saviour Jesus Christ. We must have Christ Jesus. by God the Holy Spirit made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. You get your wisdom anywhere
else. It's not from God the Holy Spirit.
You get your righteousness anywhere else. You get your sanctification
anywhere else. You get your peace with God anywhere
else than the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
everything in Him. Then you don't have Christ. and everything else is smoke
and mirrors. There's an interesting little
reference here in verse 20 to will worship. Will worship. It says, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will worship. Now, I'm never one to miss an opportunity
to have a poke at freewillism. You know what a poke is, right?
It's when you take a sharp stick and you prod someone with it,
that's a poke. And I'm never one to neglect
an opportunity to prod freewillism. But that's not what this is talking
about, so I kinda can't on this occasion. But here, probably
the meaning is the free will offerings that the Jews made
to God, over and above the commanded offerings that had to be made,
the specified sacrifices that had to be made. In addition to
the specified, the ordained, the directed and dictated, there
was the opportunity for free will offerings. And of course,
these Jews that came amongst the, these Judaizers that came
amongst the Colossians, the Gentiles, they were always anxious to appear
to be even better than just the basic standard model. They would
engage in the free will offerings as well. And that's specified
here in verse 23. The apostle says, which things
have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, adding more
even to the things that are required. And you see how that in itself
is just the way that legalists work? Come back to that in a
moment. There's a show of wisdom in will
worship and humility and neglecting the body. You see, neglecting
the body, that's to do with fasting, and that's to do with abstinence
for religious reasons. For a little while, we'll not
do this, or we'll not go there, or we'll not watch these kind
of things, or we'll try and engender a sense of sanctimonious well-being
and holy conduct. a delightful attitude to one
another that we endeavour to improve upon to the glory of
God. And it's a show of wisdom, it's
will worship, it's nothing more than the vain actions of someone
who doesn't understand the gospel, fasting and abstinence. There's
no value in these things. And all that happens is it risks
hurting our bodies. Now, we are not to indulge our
flesh in sinful excesses, but nor are we to neglect and hurt
and wound our body deliberately. That's the reason why we have
to be careful. We have to be aware about the
things that we do to our bodies. This flesh, this natural casement
of our soul is never going to be our friend. in as far as being
conducive to spiritual growth and understanding. But it is
the temple of our spirit and it is the temple of the Holy
Spirit and we are not to neglect it, we are not to hurt it, we
are not to wound it or cut it deliberately in any way that
does it harm. I want to bring our thoughts
to a conclusion this evening and summarise, if I may, this
evening's message with just a couple of short applications, which
I trust will be useful to us. The first one is this, that we
are told by the apostle that we are dead in Christ. And that linkage there goes with
what we've previously read in verse 12, where we're told we
were buried in Christ, in baptism, and we are risen with him. And so here we have that we are
dead with Christ, buried with Christ, and risen with Christ. And the frequency with which
the Apostle Paul emphasizes our union with the Lord Jesus Christ
ought not to be forgotten or overlooked. It's the basis of
our faith. We are what we are because the Lord Jesus Christ
has joined himself to us, stood with us, represented us, and
gone to the cross in our place. He has died before the holiness
of God. He has died under the attribution
of the law of God. He has been rendered guilty. He has carried our sin. in his
own body and we are acceptable to God in Christ because of what
he has done for us, because of that union that we have with
him and all this other stuff. It's nonsense and it fills the
attention of countless religious works mongers. but it is nothing
to say to the child of God. The law has nothing to say to
those who are dead and we are dead in Christ. We are dead and
therefore we are free from the law. Because we are dead in Christ,
we are free from the law. We are free from the obligations
of the law. We are free from the demands
of these beguilers who would come in and rob us of our freedom,
rob us of our rest, our joy and our peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the first thing. We
are dead in Christ. The second thing is this. Verse 19 says, we are to hold
the head, holding the head. And I have a confession to make.
I hadn't noticed that little phrase before. That was new to
me, holding the head. I guess I've read it many, many
times. but it's just now. And that's the loveliness about
the Scriptures, is it not? We can be familiar with a passage,
we can read it many times, and then suddenly God the Holy Spirit
says, I'm giving you something new. Like the householder that
has in his cupboard things old and things new, the Holy Spirit
comes to us and he says, now have you thought about this?
Have you considered this? Holding the head. We hold on
to Christ. Now, may the Lord Jesus Christ
ever, ever hold us in the palm of his hand. If the Lord Jesus
Christ doesn't hold us in the palm of his hand, we will be
eternally lost. May the Father hold us in the
palm of his hand, because that is the preserving grace of God,
and it is the promise of God that he will never let his people
go. John 10.29 says, My Father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. But, but, but, but, but, Let
us too hold on to Christ. Christ holds us in the palm of
his hand, but let us hold on to Christ our head. Let us never
let him go. Let us never be tempted by the
deceivers, by the beguilers, by those who would come in and
say, let's do some other things in order to glorify and please
God, in order to enhance our standing, in order to increase
our holy holiness in order to improve our sanctification. Let
us never let him go in order to receive something from these
gainsayers in his place. Do you remember Peter? when he
was out on the Sea of Galilee and they were in the boat in
the middle of the storm and they're trying to row to the land and
they're becoming overwhelmed. And then suddenly Peter sees
the Lord Jesus Christ and he's walking towards the boat on the
surface of the water. And Peter says, let me come to
you. And he steps out of that boat and he moves towards the
Lord. And then suddenly he gets distracted. He gets distracted. What was
it? The wind? The waves? The tumult? The tempest? The storm? What
is it that's going to distract us from the Lord? And he begins
to sink. In Matthew 14 verse 31 says,
Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt? And the Lord Jesus Christ laid
hold upon Peter, And I think that Peter also laid hold upon
the Lord. I think that Peter would have
held the Lord so close, so tight, so gratefully. And is there not
in that word hold also the sense of embrace? Let us embrace our
Saviour. Let us embrace that One who has
done so much for us. Let us embrace Him as all that
we require. All our good comes from Christ. He is the vine. We are the branches. He is the head. We are the body. We are the members from whom
the nourishment and the grace and the blessings of God flow
to us. The Shunammite in Solomon, Song
of Solomon, chapter three, verse four, she says, but I found him
whom my soul loveth. I held him and would not let
him go. Let us hold the head. Let us hold the head and let
us not let him go. I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him and I would not let
him go. And finally, here's the last
one, right from that little phrase in verse 19 where it says there,
hold the head from which all the body by joints and bands
having nourishment ministered and knit together, increase it
with the increase of God. Not our standing, not our holiness,
not our sanctification, not our justification, not our righteousness,
none of these things increase. Oh listen, there is no end of
works obedience if that's the road we want to walk on. And
there is no end of worry as to whether or not we have done enough. And there is no rest outside
of Christ alone. Believers need no more righteousness. And there is no more acceptance,
there is no more peace, there is no more justification, there
is no more sanctification, there is no more holiness, no more
glory than that which is promised to us in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. All we need in this world is
more faith, is more grace, that we might have that peace and
joy in believing. That we might be like that one
who says, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. And that
is what it is to increase with the increase of God. Lord, let
this be my prayer. grant that I might ask a right
for those things which are needful for my soul. May the Lord bless
these thoughts to us this evening.