You'll turn back with me now
to Colossians chapter 1. It's my goal this morning to
give you a threefold overview of the work of God in the salvation
of sinners. I believe that's what Paul's
doing here in this first chapter of Colossians. He gives us a threefold overview. We're going to look at this work.
This work is a work of eternity. I hear men talk about the simple
gospel, ABC. God never discovered that. It's
not in this book. This book declares, and I read
it to you a few moments ago, what a great mystery this is. Things hidden from the wise and
prudent and revealed unto things that take a work of god in the
soul to make us meet to be able to partake of that inheritance
of enlightened saints. Saints brought into the very
light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And
this overview, these three things, is a work done for us. That's the first thing Paul talks
about here in The work that God did for us. And then he talks
about the work God did in us. And then in certain ways, he
talks about the work God's doing by us. For us, in us, and by
us. That's my goal this morning.
Now because of the religion of this world and its emphasis on
man, Man's works, man's will, man's
righteousness, man's ability, man's determination. Because
of this world's religious emphasis on man, preachers of God tend
to swing like the pendulum to the opposite extreme and exclude
man out of the work altogether. Isn't that what we do? We tend to ignore man altogether
as if he had no responsibility toward God at all, and that's
not so. Just not so. Now let me be as
clear as I can about what I'm saying. There are parts of this
work of God over which we had no part whatsoever. We had nothing to do with it. We had no part in the election
of God, in the everlasting covenant of grace. I wasn't consulted. You weren't consulted. Isn't
that what God said? Who's first been my teacher? We had no part in the election
of God. We had no part in the everlasting covenant of grace.
We had no part in the eternal appointments of Christ. We didn't
vote to make Him our Savior. God made Him our Savior. I hear
that so often in our men in churches. Won't you make Christ your Savior?
You can't make Him your Savior. God made Him your Savior, or
the Savior of His people. We had no part in the purpose
of God, the design of salvation, or the way of grace. we had no
part in the incarnation of the son of god i don't even understand
it let alone was a part of it the word was made play and well
tomorrow you understand that i don't i believe it but i don't
understand that thing which is conceived
in you he told that young Jewish virgin, that thing which is conceived
in you is of the Holy Ghost. Do you think Mary understood
that? No. But she believed it. She believed
it. We had no part in the incarnation
of the Son of God. We had no part in His willing
obedience to the law. Had no part in his death on the
cross nor his resurrection or his ascension into glory. I had
nothing to say about it. He did all this 2018 years before
I was born. We had no part in his present
reign and glory. I can't add to it and I can't
take away from it. God hath made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Who made Him Lord?
God did. And He's Lord. He's not Lord
if you let Him be. He's Lord. And He'll take care of you. I
know people say, out there shaking their fist in the face of God,
and out there denying His Lordship, and out there, oh, I don't believe
these things. If there's a God in heaven, let
Him strike me dead by lightning, standing out there shaking their,
He'll take care of you in His time. He'll shut your mouth,
and you'll confess Him to be Lord to the glory of God the
Father on bended knee. Now, I ain't got any part in
His present reign and glory. I had no part in his arrangement
of providence. He don't ask me how to arrange
his providence. He don't consult me in the maintenance
of creation. Nor does he consult me in the
government of his churches. He rules in his churches. The Holy Scripture said in Christ,
we have obtained an inheritance, now listen, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Everything ordained in eternity
and made in creation and arranged in providence and manifested
in time is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. And the very
idea of creation separate from the ruling power of Almighty
God, that comes from the insane imagination of rebels. Got specials coming on different
channels on the TV saying that the world gonna be buried in
water by in the year 23. It's not far
away, is it? Another one saying a comet's
going to collide with the Earth. Brethren, the Earth ain't out
here just floating around in space at random and all these
objects and things going around. They put up a projection on a
channel I was watching the other night. They put up a projection
of all these comets that are orbiting around and flying around.
And the orbits of these things around the Earth and missing
the Earth and all this stuff, there's so many of them that
you couldn't even see the Earth behind all the things. Somebody
ought to say, how come all these other planets are getting clobbered
and us not? Huh? Well, we're just lucky. You're going to believe in that. There's one who sits on the throne
in glory. There's a man in glory who's
controlling and doing maintenance on his creation. And he'll wind
it up exactly as he purposed to do before the foundation of
the world. Now that's just so. And it's
not going to be flooded. I don't care if Greenland melts
or not. It's not going to be flooded.
He shall no more again, he says, swore by his own name, I will
no more again destroy this world by water. Well, what if all the
ice melts? He'll hold the waters back. That's
all I can tell you. He's not going to destroy this
world by water. He swore by his own name. And
the idea of creation just floundering around out there. And the same
thing has to do with providence. Oh, I sure was lucky I got to
hear the gospel. No, you weren't. God purposed
for you to hear it. He arranged his providence for
you to hear it. You're just not aware of it.
See, that's the thing. And when you become enlightened
of God, you begin to discover these things that you never knew.
You never knew. I never entertained a thought
as a child of God electing a people and appointing for them a representative. Did you? I never did. Never even
thought about it. David said, the heavens declare
the glory of God and the earth showeth his handiwork. There are no freaks of nature.
God controls all things. Listen to what Peter said. He
said, by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth
was standing in the water and out of the water. By the word
of God. God said, this is how it's gonna
be. and he gathered all those waters into a place and here's
that resurrected earth and he said this is where my people
are going to live. Created man and put him on dry land. By the word of God the heavens
were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water
whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store. Is that clear
enough? It's kept in store by the word
of God. Reserved under fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. God's gonna destroy
this world one of these days with fire, not with water. And of our Lord and Savior, our
text says all things were created by Him and for Him, and He's
before all things, and by Him all things consist. They're held
together. Now let's take the remainder
of our time and look at these three things. First of all, I
want us to ponder these things. I don't want you to just hear
them and acknowledge them. I want you to think about them.
I want you to ponder these things that I'm saying. I want you to
ponder the wonders of what God has done for us. I'm talking
to you that believe what God has done for us. And the first
thing I want us to think about this morning is what God has
done for all those who believe. God has purposed by his sovereign
grace to save a people by his son for the glory of his name. What if he didn't? What if God
had not chosen to save some? Then we'd be like the angels
that fell. We'd be reserved in chains of
darkness, reserved under that day of judgment. That's what
it says on the book of Jude about angels. They fell with no hope
of redemption, no hope of reconciliation. What if God didn't choose a people?
Nobody'd be saved. When men failed and our father
Adam, before ever another man was born into this world or another
woman into this world, when Adam sinned in the garden, God would
have destroyed mankind. He destroyed him right then.
But God had a purpose in man. And he chose from Adam's sons
to save a people for his glory. He purposed by his sovereign
grace to save a people by his son for the glory of his great
name. And if you're here this morning
and you don't believe in the eternal election of God's saints
unto salvation, you don't believe God. That's just so. That's just so. This is not man
speculation. This is not me getting some mysterious
verse over here that nobody knows what it means and saying this
is what it means. This is plain language that even
a child can understand. I get so tired of people talking
about what Calvinists teach and what the Armenians teach. Let
God be true and every man a liar. What does God have to say about
it? And that ought to put an end to it, shouldn't it? If God
said he chose a people, who are we to reply against God and say,
well, I just don't think that's right? Can you imagine? Here's a potter. And here's a
big thing of clay. And he just reaches over here
and gets some. And he puts it up here on his wheel and spins
it. And the water's going around there. And he gets ready to put
his hands on it. And he says, now, wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't got no right to make
me a pot. I want to be a vase, a vase. You see how ridiculous that is?
That's exactly what Paul said to those who refused the election
of God. He said, you will say unto me,
why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Paul
said, nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God?
Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why'st thou
made me thus? He's the potter, we're the clay. The Bible teaches election. All
God's eternal blessings It says, are according as he hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Ephesians chapter
1 verses 3 and 4. Says it just that simple. That
mysterious to you? I'll never forget that old deacon
in Henry's, the church he was pastoring, it was a Southern
Baptist church, and the deacon was really getting mad at him
because Henry was teaching election and these different things, so
Henry saw there was gonna be a squabble, so he decided that
morning in his Sunday school class, he was just gonna read
the book of Ephesians. And he started reading and he
got down to verse five on predestination, and that deacon couldn't take
it anymore. He stood up, his face was red
as blood, and he said, you need to stop this. He said, I know
what you're trying to do. Henry said, well, what am I trying
to do? He said, you're trying to teach election. He said, I'm
not trying to teach election. Oh, yes, you are. You're trying
your best to teach election. He said, I'm not trying to teach
election. I'm reading the book of Ephesians. He said, is election
what you got out of it? That's what I got out of it,
too, because that's what it says. And the only way you can not
teach election is just to rip it out of the Bible. Because
it's all through it. It's all over the place. The
Bible teaches election. 2 Thessalonians 2.13 plainly
declares that they were from the beginning chosen to salvation. From the beginning. Peter addressed
his general epistles to the elect. The elect according to the foreknowledge
of God. And when Paul wanted to confirm
the Thessalonians as God's children, he didn't talk about their professions
and all of that. What did he say? I know your
election of God. That's what he said. Paul wanted to make an argument
against universal atonement. That is, that Christ died for
everybody. He said, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who did he justify? His elect. Why did he justify them? Christ
died for them. That's what he tells you in the
next verse. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Who did he die for? His elect,
whom he justified. God made provision for a people
he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Secondly, all those he chose
in Christ, he put in an eternal covenant union with his son. I don't know how to explain that.
In our text, it reads, and he is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning. He's the head. Now, I didn't
sin in the garden. Adam did. Adam did. But I suffered for his condemnation
because I inherited his nature. And I inherited his nature because
he is the head. He's the federal head of all
mankind. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men. He's the head. In the same way, Christ is the
head of his church. And as the covenant head in surety
God the Son took to himself the seed of Abraham, and as a representative
man, he was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law. He being one with them, obeyed
the law perfectly, continually, completely, doing for them what
they could never do for themselves. In Romans 3, 19 and 20, Paul
shows us that because of the fallen nature of man, his sinful
nature, because of the infinitely righteous demands of the law,
that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh ever be
justified in his sight. That's an absolute impossibility. So if you're here this morning
and you're contemplating some of your good deeds that you do,
or perhaps you're contemplating your being here this morning
as a good deed, this is going to project the righteousness
of yours before God. It ain't going to do it. It ain't
going to do it. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. It's absolutely impossible. for a sinner to make himself
righteous before God. But now, he tells us in verse
21, Romans 3, the righteousness of the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of, or the faithfulness of, Jesus
Christ. And it's unto all and upon all
them that believe. There's no difference between
the Jew and the Gentile. This righteousness doesn't have
anything to do with you being a Jew. It has to do with Christ
being your representative and head. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. The believer's righteousness
is one wrought out by the obedience of Christ. Israel had a zeal
of God, but the scripture said it wasn't according to knowledge.
For they, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, were going
about to establish their own righteousness. That's what men
do who are ignorant of the righteousness of Christ, of Christ being the
end of the law for righteousness. They go about trying to establish
their own righteousness. How do they do it? Infinite ways. No end to it. Baptisms, church
membership, walking down aisles. I don't know. Some of the old
ones, they crawled across broken glass. Did all sorts of things. It's very similar to the religion
of our day. They're zealous, but like the
Jews going about to establish their own righteousness, would
not submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ. What
does that mean to submit myself to the righteousness of Christ? That means to enter into his
wrist concerning your righteousness and cease your works. You mean we shouldn't ever do
any, oh no, I ain't talking about that. I'm talking about your
working for our righteousness. Stop it. Stop it. Look at His righteousness, receive
His righteousness, and walk that way. I walk being accepted of
God, believing that His righteousness is sufficient. That's what faith
sees. That's how faith walks. By way of their eternal covenant
union with Christ, He wrought out for them a perfect righteousness.
And then thirdly, Jesus Christ is our covenant surety, satisfies
the justice of God. We're talking about what God's
done for us. He satisfied God's law. God's
law looks on you and says, enter in, thou good and faithful servant. You can't even say that of yourself
with a straight face. We have that by way of our covenant
union with Christ. It means He bore our sins in
His own body on the tree. It means God looked on us in
Him and took from Him all that justice demanded of us. Took
it from Him. He drank the cup of God's righteous
wrath dry, even the dregs. He put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. I'm going to say something here.
If you're going to insist on a universal atonement, the most
you're going to be able to come away with is an offering made
effectual by the imperfect faith of a senior. You're going to come away with
a sacrifice that God said, well, I just don't know. I don't know.
And you're going to say, now wait a minute, God. Let me add
my faith to that and make it acceptable for you. That's what
religion is saying. Talking about you being saved
by your faith. That robs God of the glory of
the death of Christ. It makes man his own savior and
it denies the testimony of God. The death of Christ is what God's
hand and God's counsel determined from all eternity to be done. What else did God do for us?
He wrought out for us a perfect righteousness. He satisfied God's
holy justice and honored and exalted the law through his death.
Well, then he raised his son up from the dead and declared
our full, free, and sufficient justification from sin. Are you still thinking the way
religion thinks? That there's a judgment out there
and I have to stand in that judgment? And I sure hope everything I
did is enough to clear my name. All my soul. It ain't. I can
tell you that. I don't care what you do. It
ain't enough. It ain't enough. But our judgment, the judgment
of God's people, the judgment of anyone who can believe, our
judgment took place on that cross. God judged us in his son. He buried us, he killed us, he
satisfied his law, and he buried us, and then he raised us from
the dead, justifying us from all sin. We're justified by God. No higher court anywhere in the
universe. Now, if God justified me, who's
gonna condemn me? Huh? If there was one jot or tittle
of that eternal covenant's demands not met, Christ would still be
lying in the tomb. But God did raise him from the
dead. let him walk on this earth for nearly a month to prove that
it was him that was alive. And then he walked out on the
brow of the hill, stepped onto a cloud, and was taken up into
glory where he reigns today. And because he's Seated victorious
at the right hand of God and has fully redeemed his elect,
God has sent forth the mighty Spirit of God to regenerate and
to call and to bring his elect to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this. He tells us in
Galatians 4 verse 6, listen to this. Because ye are sons, Now we're predestinated, that's
what he says back there in Ephesians 1, 5. Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. That's how you got to be sons.
Now watch this. And because you're sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying
Abba, Abba. because you're so why would god take this man or woman who spent
their whole life in rebellion to him and send his holy spirit to them
why would he do that? because they're sons isn't that
what that means? because ye are sons God has sent
forth his spirit into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. In John 16, 8 through 11, the
apostle gives us a threefold outline of the work of the Holy
Ghost in the hearts of chosen sinners. He tells us that he
will convince us of sin, the originality of it, the cause
of it, the nature of it, the effects of it. And secondly,
he's gonna convince us of righteousness. If he convinces you of sin, God
must convince you of righteousness because there's no way you're
ever gonna believe that you could be righteous before God when
he convicts you of sin. You understand what I'm saying?
If God convicts you of sin, you're a sinner. You'll get on God's
side in this thing of condemnation. You'll get on his side. You oughta
send me to hell. You're not gonna see any way
for you to be righteous, but the same God who convinces you
of seeing gonna convince you of righteousness. Not yours,
but His. And when He convinces you of
righteousness, He's gonna convince you of judgment. Not that there
is one, but judgment satisfied. Satisfied. Now these are just a few of the
things that God has done for us. Sometime I'd like to get
into the subject of this earth. This earth that he created, Paul
tells us in Corinthians, the earth is yours. The world's yours. It's yours. You mean he made
it for us? Absolutely. Absolutely. You mean he maintains it for
us? That's what Scripture said. God's not willing that any should
perish, any who, any that He chose in Christ, that Christ
died, He's not willing for any of them to perish, but that all
should come to repentance. And so nothing's gonna happen
to this world until that's done. This world's yours, made for
you, designed for you. And even its ungodly occupants,
they're servants to God's people, did you know that? So these are just a few of the
things that God's done for us. Secondly, let's think for just
a minute about what Christ has done in us. Everything that He
did for us would be in vain if He didn't do something in us. Now listen to me. Man is a sinner. He's totally depraved. He has
no ability in himself to do anything. He's a sinner. That's what he
does. That's what he is. That's what
he does. That's the way he thinks. That's the way he lives. That's
the way he reasons he's a sinner. Walks in the vanity of his mind. Salvation necessitates an intervention
of God. God must come into the sinner. He's never gonna believe you.
I can't convince anybody to believe. And if I did, Satan'd just convince
you to drop it. Salvation necessitates an intervention
of God, not only to do things for Him, but to do things in
Him. Now listen as God shows us how
these eternal things are vitally connected to the internal workings
of God. He tells the Thessalonians that
God had from the beginning chosen them to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel. He chose us from all eternity.
Well, is that the end of it? No. No. Now he's going to intervene in
your life. by his spirit. And he's going
to sanctify you. He's going to regenerate you.
He's going to teach you the gospel. He's going to arrange his providence
to bring you a preacher. He's going to arrange his providence
so that you hear that preacher. In Acts 13, 48, these Gentiles who were being persuaded to get
rid of Paul and Silas, they heard the gospel. God enabled them to hear the
gospel. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. Now listen,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. That doesn't say God believed
for them, says they believe. Every man ordained to eternal
life, Russell, is going to hear the gospel and he's going to
believe. He's going to hear it. He's going
to reason it. He's going to think on it. He's
going to weep over it. And he's going to believe. God's
not going to believe for you. You're going to believe. But
you'll never believe if God don't do that work in you. Huh? It's God, Paul said, who worketh
in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Man, will ain't got nothing to
do with it. Oh, I beg your pardon. He said, my people shall be willing
in the day of my power. They don't have a free will,
but if God intervenes, he'll make you willing. He'll make
you willing because he'll teach you the truth. And then thirdly, and I'll hurry,
let's talk about what God does by us. God demands from the sinner
a full compliance to the gospel of his dear son. He demands a
full, immediate, and willing surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And listen to this, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. He never gonna see it, he never
gonna understand it, he never gonna be converted by it, he
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I'll just listen to it, maybe
somewhere in time, you just better quit thinking that way. Today's
the day of salvation. You ain't got it tomorrow. Today. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
is not a question. It's not an offer. It's not an
invitation. It's a divine command. And what things God commands
men to do, he requires men to do. You be judged for it. Be judged for it. Paul tells
us in Hebrews 2, 2, for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast,
every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of
reward. How you gonna escape if you neglect
so great salvation? which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and then by those who heard him. God confirming
all the above with wonders and signs. Gifts of the Holy Ghost. And I know that faith is the
gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast, but it's something God gives that causes men to
do. They do it. We say, how can God
command us to do something we can't do? Because with the command
comes the power to do the command. Well, that don't make sense. It don't
have to. You reckon it made sense when
Moses took that little wooden staff in his hand and held it
out and God split that sea? You reckon he even had a hint
of a thought in his head how powerful he was with his arm
and power and that staff and all? No. He knew who did that. That was God. God did that. But God told him to hold the
staff out, and he did. And God's a bit sick. He told
that paralyzed man. He'd laid there 37 years, my
soul. He didn't have any strength in
his bones. He was a little, just a nothing, just a, looked like
a skeleton with skin put on him. He said, take up your bed and
walk. He couldn't, but he did. There's that man standing out
in front with that withered arm. Been like that all his life.
He couldn't stretch forth thine hand. He couldn't, but he did. Lazarus, come forth. Oh, Lord, by now he's stinking.
Don't take that stuff. Here comes Lazarus. He couldn't. But he did. And he commands you
to believe. And I tell you, to those he speaks
to in power, they believe. They come forth from the dead. They come forth from that paralyzed
condition of the soul. They believe. God don't believe
for him. He enables you. He makes you
meet to be partakers. He enables you. Where his workmanship, Paul said,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in. Faith is a good work, and
those who are given it walk in it. They exercise it. Love is
a good work, and those who truly love show it. Repentance is a
good work, and those who truly repent are ordained of God to
effectually turn from their sins to serve the true and living
God. God calls his people out of death
and darkness. They come out. They believe,
they repent, they love, and they follow Christ. Faith, not just an exercise of
the will or of the mind, it's a new creation. Old things are
passed away, behold, all things have become new. And God works
by us through the preaching of the gospel. Paul told the Corinthians,
he said, I have begotten you through the gospel. You think
Paul thought he had any power in him to regenerate men? No. But the Spirit of God, the Spirit
of God made what he preached effectual. The Spirit of Antichrist leaves
men trusting in themselves. He leaves men swept clean by
his own broom. just to make it clean for the
next seven spirits to come in and abide in. The spirit of Antichrist
leaves men with experiences and dreams and visions. God must intervene. God must
do the work. And my friend, not only does
God work in us, but he works by us. Paul said, ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us. written not with ink, but with
the spirit of the living God. God works by us to preach and
teach and call out his elect to stimulate their hearts with
the gospel. You can't take an old sinner
that God doesn't work in and stir his heart. You can stir
all right, but all you do is stir him up and make him mad.
You can't stir him up. You can't stimulate him to worship. You want him to worship, you
have to do something like beat some drums and play a guitar,
do something, speak in tongues. God works by us to preach and
teach and stimulate the hearts and minds through the gospel
so that men and women can worship God. God works by us to reprove
and correct and instruct, and God's people take that reproof,
and they take that instruction. I hope this will be of some help
to you. What God has done for us. And everybody that God's
done something for, he'll do in. And everybody that God does
something in, he'll do something by. He'll do something by. May the Lord bless the preaching
of his gospel.