Turn with me this morning to
Colossians. When you find your place, just
put a marker there. And let me say a few things before
we get into the message. It's going to be a little while,
but I want to work my way up to Colossians 3, verse 1. But we're going to be looking
at some things all through the book of Colossians. There are two things as a preacher,
that I labor to establish when I talk to men and women about
the salvation of their souls. The first thing I try to establish
from the scriptures is the fall of man. Now, it's not going to
do any good to talk to somebody about the love of God and the
sacrifice of Christ and the blood of Christ until that man is convinced
of the Holy Spirit of his sin. And that sin has to do with his
fall in Adam and God's testimony concerning that fall. So that's
the first thing. That's where I go first. So what is the fall of man? When we're talking about man's
a falling creature, man fell in the garden. What's he talking
about when he's talking about the fall of man? What is the
fall of man? Well, when God created man, He
did not create the race in a large number. He didn't create 500
people or 5 million people. He didn't just create man and
put him all over the globe. He created one man. Adam. Out of that man, every human
being was taken. Out of that man. Even the woman
was taken from the man. He created one man, and from
this man, he made woman, and from them, this race was brought
into being. Adam stood as the federal head
and representative of all mankind. Whenever we're talking about
Adam, I'm talking about your daddy Adam, or I'm talking about
your father Adam, that's what I'm talking about. He is the
federal head of the entire race, like an acorn contains in it
the entire forest. So in Christ, or in Adam, all
men. And when he sinned, His whole
posterity sinned with Him in that they would be born of Him.
And they would be recipients of His nature. There's a little
something in the creation in the first chapter of Genesis
that caught my eye years ago. Arthur Pink brought it to my
attention in his book. And that is after His time. The grass is going to yield seed,
and that seed will produce after its kind. And the animals, they
have a seed, and they're going to produce after their kind.
And Adam has a seed, and he's going to produce after his kind.
If we were to have gone on reading there in 1 Corinthians 15, you
come down there, and it says this first Adam was of the earth
earthy. And he said, as he was of the
earth, earth is so is all his offspring. They're just like
him. In Romans 5, verse 12, is where
this truth is stated as clearly as I know anywhere else in the
Scripture. He says in Romans 5, verse 12,
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin, And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now what's he talking about here
when he says death? Sin entered and death. Death by sin. What is this death
that he's talking about? Adam didn't die. Adam lived on
hundreds of years before he ever died. What is this death he's
talking about? Well, you can read about it over
in Ephesians chapter 2. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past He said,
you walked according to the course of this world. You walked according
to the prince of the power of the air. And then he works his
way on down and said, were by nature the children of wrath
even as others. That's what that death is. It's
the nature of your father Adam. It's the nature. It's the sinful
nature of your father Adam. And this death passed upon all
men. The evidence of it, all have
seen. All have sinned. And so he goes
on, and he repeats in several places here. He uses Adam as
our federal head of all mankind, and he uses Christ as the federal
head of his abet. And he says down in verse 18,
therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation. Verse 19, as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. And you can go on and on, and
he keeps talking about these two men, Adam and Christ, Adam
and Christ. The scriptures tell us plainly
that those who were quickened were dead in trespasses and sin
and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. And
you can argue free will and you can argue the innate goodness
of man and some quality in every man that makes him worth saving.
And you can argue all of these things based on philosophy, based
on feelings, based on imagination. But you can't argue those things
from the scriptures because they're contrary to the scriptures. God says in Adam, I read it to
you over in 1 Corinthians 15, all die. End of story. All die. Man not born and innocent,
he comes forth from the womb, the Scripture says, speaking
lies. Mankind's cursed in Adam, and because of his sinful nature,
he cannot change. He cannot alter and he cannot
improve his standing with God. Everything he does, he can change. Let's say he's a drunk. He grew
up. He got led astray. He become
a drunk. That's all he did. Every nickel
he got, he'd go down to the bar. I had two brothers. Both of them
were drunks. They were both drunks. Every
time they get a little bit of money ahead, they go off and
get on some kind of a big drunk and they totally demolish the
car. I mean, the stuff that happened
to them was just horrendous. Just horrendous. They were drunks.
But let's say this drunk, he goes to a meeting and he hears
some things preached and he decides to make his decision for Christ
and he does and he goes down and he joins his church and now
he don't drink anymore. Now he goes to church. Now he
reads his Bible. Now he comes in and sings hymns.
Now he comes in and teaches Sunday school class. He don't dress
like he used to dress. He don't act like he used to
act. Now he holds a job. Now he saves his money. Now he
supports his family. Doesn't that improve his standing
with God? Not at all. Not at all. He just changed from sinning
one way to sinning another. That's all he did. And he didn't
take a step up. He took a step down. You read
in the Scriptures and you'll find when our Lord talked to
the sinners, gross sinners, He was compassionate and kind and
offered hope. When He talked to a self-righteous
Pharisee, He was strict and stern and unforgiving. A man not born in innocence in
mankind, He's cursed and adamant. And because of his sinful nature,
he cannot change, alter, or improve his standing with God. He can't
do it. Now listen to me. Every remedy
offered by the world, by worldly religion, every remedy offered
by worldly religion, I don't care what the name is, if it's
anti-Christ religion, if it's something other than the Christ
of God, Every remedy offered by worldly
religion to man and to woman assumes that they're not falling
depraved sinners. Is that right, Richard? That's
exactly right. Every remedy they offer is based
on the assumption that this man is not falling and depraved. It's based on the fact that there's
something in him. There's still a burning ember
in him. And if you blow on it enough,
you can get a fire started. Not what Isaiah said, he said,
you give me beauty for ashes. Ashes means the fire went out. I tell you, when you talk to
men and you allow them to believe that they have some ability,
some worthiness, some value in them, you're lying to them. You're
lying to them. It's a lie, and if you believe
that lie, it'll leave you in a false refuge, and you'll go
out to meet a holy God in your sins. And you'll say just what
our Lord said those fellows was going to say, those religious
fellows who thought they saved but didn't know God. You're going
to say, now wait a minute. Hath not we done many wonderful
works in thy name? Didn't we cast out demons in
your name? He said, depart from me. Now
listen, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you. I never knew
you. So let this be established from
the Word of God. Man has fallen in the garden.
And because he fell in the garden, all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. So I labor to tell men this because
Christ is meaningless to them apart from it. He's meaningless. Why would any man want to go
to Christ if he has the ability to save himself? All right. The second thing as
a preacher that I labor to establish with men and women is that salvation
is of the Lord. It's not of you. It's not in
your power. It's not in your ability. You
don't have it in your hand. It's not on a shelf where you
can grab it. It's of the Lord. It's of Him. It's of the Lord
in its eternal design. We're not left to ourselves to
make up the design of salvation, the way of salvation, and say,
well, this is what salvation is, and so on. We're not left
to ourselves to do that. Salvation is of the Lord in its
eternal design. It's of the Lord in its means. We're not left to determine our
own means. He's already ordained the means. The means have been ordained
before the foundation of the world. It's of the Lord and it's
accomplishment. You can't accomplish salvation.
You can't produce a righteousness. You can't come up with a sacrifice
with enough value in it to redeem yourself from your sins. It's
not within our hold. It's not within our ability to
do these things. It's of the Lord and it's accomplishment.
It's of the Lord and it's application. I stand and preach to people
right here every week. And invariably, after years of
preaching to the same person, that person will say something
to me totally off the wall like they never heard anything I ever
said. You know why? It's of the Lord
and it's application. I'm doing the best I can do this
morning. That's as far as I can take this
thing is to tell you what He says. And then I wait on the
Lord to apply it. He will or He won't. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's of Him and it's design.
It's of Him and it's means. It's of Him and it's accomplishment.
It's of Him and it's application. And it's of Him and it's preservation. I tell you, if the Lord left
me today, I'd go right back to being what I was. Huh? Wouldn't
you? I know that. I know that within. Prone to wander. Isn't that what
the hymn writer said? Lord, he said, I feel it. I feel
it. It's of the Lord in its preservation,
and it's of the Lord in its ultimate perfection. Bless his heart. John loved Christ
like no other man. He did. You know what he wrote? Oh, he talked about that love
that Christ had for him. What a love it was. And that's
why he loved. Because Christ first loved him.
He said, it does not yet appear what we shall be. You can't look at me and tell
what I'm going to be in glory in Christ. Only way you can get
any idea is to look at Christ. Just look at him. When he shall
appear, we'll be like him. We'll see him as he is. So Richard, what's man's part
in this thing of salvation? He's the clay in the potter's
hand. That's his part. Of the same
lump, the Lord, the potter. You can read it over in Romans
chapter 9. And that's a quote from the Old Testament. Same
thing he's teaching in the New Testament, he taught in the Old
Testament. Paul didn't have a New Testament. He was the New Testament.
And he said, of the same lump, The great potter formed one vessel
unto honor and another to dishonor. What part did the clay have?
It just sat in his hand. How did it get in his hand? The
Lord put it there. Now, I'm telling you, salvation
is of the Lord. And man's part in salvation is
as an object of His grace. Don't ever get above that. An
object of His grace. We like clay in the potter's
hand to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor.
And believers, he tells us in Romans 9, are vessels of mercy
aforeprepared unto glory. Before ever Adam fell in the
garden, God chose a people out of his offspring that would be
born of him chose a people to save for the glory of His name. And He appointed for them another
head, so that even when Adam fell, their head didn't fall. Their head stood. He chose them in Christ, appointed
Christ as their head and representative. They'd stand or fall in Him.
And not only were they chosen of God to be saved and predestinated
to be sons, heirs of God, joint heirs, but every provision for
their salvation was ordained and provided and put into place
by God Almighty. He hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel. That's all put
in place by God Way back yonder. All of the means was determined,
the times, he tells us in Acts 17, the times before appointed. And even the providence arranged
to bring it to pass. God has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Salvation to all of God, and
it's all of grace. And as Brother Mahan used to
say, that's just so. Huh? That's just so. And you can argue about it until
the cows come home. It's not going to change. This
is the way it is. And as I work my way through
the book of Colossians to my text in chapter 3, I want to
give you four things to consider as we go through this epistle.
This is a very special epistle. It's kind of like the book of
Ephesians in its plainness and statements of doctrine. It's
so clear. And the first thing I want you
to think about is what a great privilege has been bestowed on
you if you are a believer. What a great, great privilege
it is. Colossians chapter 1, verse 12. Paul said, giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us meet, given us the right and
privilege, given us the ability to be partakers of the inheritance
of saints in light, that is, enlightened saints, saints who
have been given eyes to see. and ears to hear. Saints with
eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand. You see,
man's been swallowed up. He's just swallowed up by the
nature of sin. He's swallowed up by the influence
of sin. God saves us from this what?
Present evil world. Well, it just don't seem all
that evil to us. That's because we're evil. If
you were perfectly righteous, you couldn't stand it in this
world. You couldn't stand it. And even in His righteousness,
I detest it, and the more I know about it, the more evil I see
in it. Being under sin, Paul said in
Romans 3, he starts describing what that is, to be under sin.
He said, there's none that understandeth. and none that seeketh after God.
In order for man to be saved, God Himself must seek him out. He must go to where he is. He
must come where the sinner is. He must, as He did Adam, go to
the sinner and rout him out of his hiding place and show his
salvation to him. The Lord said through His prophet
Isaiah, He said, Say ye to the daughter of Zion. That's His
church, isn't it? Sure it is. Say ye to the daughter
of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh. Talking about Christ. Behold, His reward is with Him
and His work before Him. And they shall call them, this
daughter of Zion, His church, they shall call them the holy
people. Holy in Him. You know in Christ
we have a perfect holiness? My soul, what a privilege when
He comes and opens your eyes and you see that it's not your
righteousness, not your holiness, but His holiness. They shall call them the holy
people, the redeemed of the Lord. And they shall be called, now
listen to this, sought out. They shall be called sought out,
a city not forsaken. And then again in Romans 12,
verse 20, Paul quotes Isaiah, and he said, I was found of them
that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. And then our Lord quotes another
passage by the prophet Isaiah, Then he says, they shall all
be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. See, fallen
sinners have no heart for God. They've got no heart for God.
They've got no understanding. They've got no will to come.
If God don't seek them out, they're not going to come. They're just
not going to. It takes the providence of God
even to arrange a meeting where you can talk to one another.
If God don't interfere in his providence, that man's life will
go a lifetime and never hear the gospel. There are thousands
on this globe who live a lifetime, go all through their lifetime
in rank idolatry and never hear the gospel. These Colossians, they were heathen
idolaters. And they found out through the
providence of God and the preaching of the gospel, they found out
that there was a hope laid up for them in heaven. Huh? As they heard in the word of
the truth of the gospel which came unto them. Now that's how
they heard it, and that's how all God's saints hear it. God
seeks out His people through the preaching of the gospel.
Paul said he was a minister by whom they believed even as the
Lord gave to every man. Hearing this gospel in the Holy
Ghost, they were given power to become sons of God, even to
them who were born and born of God. To hear the gospel in the
power of God's Spirit is the greatest privilege God can bestow
on a man in this world. I'm telling you. I don't care
if you're President of the United States or you're one of those
guys like I watched the other night that had won 20-something
medals over there in the Olympics. I don't care what kind of privilege
has been given to you. There is no privilege higher
than God coming to you and revealing to you that you're His son. He tells us that the gospel of
Christ is the power of God unto salvation, and it is to everyone
that believe it. Jew or Gentile, religious or
heathen, male or female, bond or free, it doesn't make any
difference. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Born again, Peter said, by the
incorruptible word of God, and this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. So a great privilege had been
given to this church at Colossae, a great privilege. God had come
to them and enabled them to be partakers of the heavenly calling,
partakers of their future inheritance. And then secondly, a great Savior
had been proclaimed. You know, I heard about the Savior
ever since I was just a little kid. My daddy, he'd take me everywhere. I went to church every time the
door was open, and he'd even go to the old mission churches
and set me up on the feed sack, and I'd hear that guy preach
to the winos. And I'd heard about the Savior.
I heard about Christ. I heard about the cross. I heard
about his death. I heard about all these things.
But in all of that hearing, there was no greatness ascribed to
him. It was just a name, just a name. The eternal Son of God is our
Savior. You think on that, huh? In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word, capital W-O-R-D, talking
about Christ, the second person of the Godhead. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God, and without Him was
not anything made that was made. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
walked on this earth, spoke creation into existence. That's a great
Savior. Huh? That's a great Savior. It tells us in Colossians 1.13,
it says, He hath delivered us from the power of darkness and
translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. And this One
who did that, verse 15, is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation. God set Him apart first. And
because of him and the glory he purposed to accomplish in
him, there was a world created. He's the firstborn of creation.
He is the creator, verse 16, of all things in heaven and earth,
visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities, and
powers, all created by him, now listen, and for him. He before all things and by Him
all things consist. All things have a continuance. He, not this poor defeated reformer
that this world preaches, not the martyr whose work is for
naught if men refuse to believe, but the creator and sustainer
of the universe. He is the head of the body, the
church. The invisible God. He, God our
Savior. Huh? If there was no Christ appointed
and no head in whom a people could be chosen and redeemed,
there could have been no salvation and no life as we know it because
God would have destroyed the whole outfit in the garden. Are you with me so far? A great
privilege has been bestowed and a great Savior made known to
the sinner. He'd been ordained, proclaimed,
manifested in this world. And oh, what a Savior He is. God and man in one person. John said this, he said, the
Word was made flesh. The people wrestle over all kinds
of doctrines. How can that be? How can this
be? How can that be? I'm still working on this thing.
The Word was made flesh. My soul, the God in whom everything
exists, took upon Himself flesh and bones
of a man and walked on this earth. It says that this great head
and representative of the church in Colossians 1 verse 20, having
made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile
all things to himself, things in heaven, things on earth, and
even you that were sometime 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, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight."
A great Savior being proclaimed, manifested, and made known to
men. And thirdly, he talks about this
hope, this hope, this Savior. This glorious gospel of Christ
is revealed in the hearts of chosen sinners. How can a poor,
ignorant sinner know if he's one chosen by the Father and
redeemed by Jesus Christ? How can you know that? Because
they are chosen to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. And so if you work backwards
from man, he knows his election by his sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. They've been set apart by the
Holy Spirit of God who has taken the things of Christ and showed
them unto him, convinced him of his sins, convinced him of
the righteousness of God in Christ, and convinced him of satisfied
justice. He revealed Christ not only to
him, but he reveals Christ in him, giving to us an understanding
to know him that is true, to know how we're in him that's
true, and even in his Son, Jesus Christ. And he said this is eternal
life. If you're wondering what the
gift of life is, here it is. This is it. It's to know him.
And I ain't talking about knowing Him in your head. You're going
to know Him in your head, but it goes much further than that. This is the true God and eternal
life. God's elect are taught of God. The gospel is not just a doctrine
or a creed, but it's their hope. It's the basis for all things
they look for and for all things that they expect to happen. He
is their salvation. And Paul told these Colossians
who had never seen his face that he was God's minister to them,
to make known to the heathen the riches of the glory of this
mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's what
he told these idolaters. A reformed life is not the hope
of glory. Somebody said, I would have had
you baptize me, but I just don't think I can live the life that
you're talking about. Well, I know you can't. I know
that. You can't do it. You can't do
it. You can set your jaw and set
your mind and set your heart, but you ain't going to do it.
The only life that a redeemed man can live is the life of a
redeemed man saved by grace. That's the only kind of life
you can live. A reformed life is not the hope of glory. A faithful
life is not the hope of glory. A willingness to help is not
the hope of glory. The hope of glory is Christ in
you, His righteousness in you, His blood atonement in you, His
power in you, His authority in you, His glory in you. And I'll tell you something,
what's sufficient to make peace with God is sufficient to bring
peace to the sinner. You find out what it takes to
make peace with God, and I'll tell you, it'd be sufficient
for you to make peace with God. What's sufficient to reconcile
deity is sufficient to reconcile the sinner. Believers find Christ
to be all sufficient. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. By His own blood, He entered
into heaven and attained eternal redemption for us. He justified
us in His resurrection. He intercedes for us in glory.
He watches over us, ordering all His providence for our good. He teaches us by His ambassadors
and abides with us by His Spirit. You think about that. He's the
great and only foundation upon which his church is built. He's
the rock and none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. So a great hope is established
in the hearts of chosen sinners. And then lastly and fourthly,
a new life begins. A new life begins. Buried with
him in baptism, raised with him to walk in newness of life. What
does that mean to walk in newness of life? Well, He says over here
in Colossians 2 verse 6, "...as you have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." Rooted, built up in Him,
established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding therein
with thanksgiving. Well, how did we receive Christ
Jesus? We received Him being objects
of His grace. Nothing we did, nothing we deserved,
nothing we sought, nothing we willed, freely given to us by
the grace of God. Walk that way. Walk that way. God singled us out by divine
wisdom, love, and grace and blessed us in His Son for the glory of
His name. And He tells us to put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, and longsuffering. We receive Him being predestinated
under the adoption of children by Him. We receive Christ being
the objects of His eternal love and grace in Christ Jesus. So walk that way. We receive
Christ Jesus the Lord by way of divine intervention. Walk
that way. God crossed our path and overcome
our disabilities and revealed His Son in us. Walk that way. We receive Christ Jesus the Lord
as helpless, hopeless sinners. Walk that way. We receive Christ
Jesus the Lord in power and in the holy gold. Walk that way. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, walk in Him. Walk in Him. The believer's walk
is not a bunch of do's and don'ts. It's a walk of grace and mercy
and truth as it's revealed to them in their Savior and experienced
in their hearts. And I tell you this, the more
of Christ you have in here, the more of Christ will show up in
your life. As you receive Christ, now walk. Walk. Anybody in here expect
that newborn baby you had to jump up and run a 100-yard dash? But we do that way of professing
believers, don't we? Here's this newborn baby in Christ,
and we're ready for him to run. He ain't ready to run. He don't
even know how to walk. Be patient. Give him some time.
Give him some time. Our new life is to put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
His Creator. And concerning this new man,
Paul tells us in verse 11 of Colossians 3, Christ is all in
all. Now listen to my text. I don't
have to preach it. I already have. Colossians chapter
3, verse 1. If, see that big capital I-F. If you then be risen with Christ,
huh? Seek those things which are above.
Are you risen with Him? Has this great Savior been revealed
to you? Has this great privilege been
given to you? Then don't look down here. There
was nothing down here to start with. Look up there. That's where
it's at. Seek those things which are above.
Not things on the earth. For you're dead. That's where
He found you dead in trespasses and sin. And then we died in
Christ and was raised in Him. You're dead. And your life is
hid with God in Christ. And when Christ who is our life
shall appear, you'll be found in Him. That's the hope of the
believer, not walking some kind of a walk. He'll walk. If he's
Christ, he'll walk. He'll walk. And the more he knows
about Christ, the more that walk will reflect it. But don't look
at this poor, bumbling baby and try to judge him as a full, mature
Christian. That ain't going to work. There
is no one set thing for the walk of the believer. He walks in
Christ. Baby or adult. After he's been
in this thing a while, I expect him to be able to walk a little
better than he did when he was first born. But not all at once. Have we been risen with him?
If we've been risen with him? Let's set our affection on things
above. Let's set our knowledge on things
up there. Let's set our heart on things
up there. Set our hope on things up there, not on things of the
earth. May God give us all an understanding
of what these verses say.