I've got three points to this
message. I've entitled it, Remember My Bonds. We're going to consider the signature,
the bonds, and the grace. Now, Paul closes this glorious
epistle with these words, the salutation by the hand of me,
Paul." Now, why did he say that? Paul would always have somebody
else write the letter, take dictation as he spoke, and he would sign
with his own signature as he did all of his epistles. Look over in 2 Thessalonians
3. He said in verse 17, the salutation
of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle. So I write. So every time Paul
wrote an epistle, he would always sign in big letters with his
hand. Now, many speculate that the
reason Paul could not right out of the epistles is because of
poor eyesight. And that is implied in Galatians chapter four. In
the introduction to this message, I'm having you look at several
scriptures. I think we need to look at these. He says in verse
13 of Galatians chapter four, you know how that through infirmity
of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first
and my temptation, which was in my flesh. You despised not,
nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ
Jesus. That's the way you received me.
Where is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear you
record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your
own eyes and have given them to me." Now, the implication
is that Paul His temptation in his flesh had something to do
with poor eyesight and he wasn't able to write these letters. And so he would sign them at
the end. Now, why would he sign them? Um, well, there was a lot of
pirate copies. Uh, turn with me to second Thessalonians
chapter two. Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us." Evidently,
some people had sent some letters and signed them with Paul's name.
This is what Paul is saying, that the day of Christ is at
hand. Let no man deceive you by any means with these Counterfeit
letters for that day shall not come except there come a falling
away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition
so what Paul would do is he would sign his name to show the Authenticity
of what he did came from him because the early church understood
when Paul wrote a letter that it was scripture and They didn't
think it was just some letter from a man. They had an understanding
that what Paul said was equal with the Old Testament scriptures.
Turn with me to second Peter chapter three. We considered
this last week, but once you see it again, second Peter chapter three, verse 15. and account that the
long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved
brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you. As also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to be understood. which they that are unlearned
and unstable rest or twist as they do also the other scriptures. You see, they looked at Paul's
writing as infallible scripture. So he gives the salutation with
his own hand to prove the authenticity of the letter. Now, this glorious
epistle of Colossians speaks of so many glorious things. I have loved preaching through
this. Look in Colossians 1 15. Beginning in verse 14, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. And here's who he is, the he
I'm talking about. who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him. and for Him, and He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist. He's the head of the
body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence,
for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell."
Aren't those precious words regarding who He is? And what about what
He did? Look in verse 20. Here's what
He did. and having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were
before time or sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
his death to present you holy and unblameable. and unreprovable
in his sight. Now that's what you are. Isn't
that precious? How we thank God for his word. Look in Colossians chapter two,
verse nine and 10. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you, this is speaking of every believer,
are complete. You don't lack anything. You can't get any more loved,
saved, accepted than you are right now. You are complete in
him. Look in Colossians chapter three,
verse 11, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or
uncircumcision, barbarian, scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is
all in all. He's all in the scriptures. He's
all in my salvation. You can just take that as far
as you want it. Christ is all. Aren't you thankful
for these words that Paul has given us through the book of
Colossians? Now, here's what I was thinking. Preachers, beginning here, quite
often will say things perhaps that they should not have said. Maybe not say things which they
should have said. I suppose there's not a message
I ever preach that I don't regret something I've said or something
I didn't say. I muse over that, grieve over
that. But here we have by divine inspiration
everything that should have been said and nothing that shouldn't
have been said. Aren't you thankful for the Word
of God? I'm so thankful for the scriptures. We have this glorious
book that tells us these glorious things of Christ, who he is and
what he did, who we are, and it's perfect. This is the inspired
Word of God that verbally inerrant word of God. Thank God for the
scriptures of truth. When is the last time you and
I, from the depths of our hearts, thank God for this book. Thank
God for the Bible. And the next thing Paul mentions
in this last verse of Colossians, He says the salutation by the
hand of me, Paul, this is what shows this is authoritative.
My signature. This is scripture. And he gives
us these glorious things in this glorious book and these needful
warnings in this glorious book, but it's all scripture. Perfect.
And the next thing he says to the Colossians is remember my
bonds. Now, when Paul wrote this book,
he was in prison. Now, generally speaking, when
people go to prison, they've committed some kind of crime.
They've done something that they're being punished for. And Paul
was in prison. He was in chains with a Roman
guard chained to him 24-7. Can you imagine how that would
be, to always be in the presence of a guard chained to you? I
guess they had shifts. One would keep him for a few
hours, another would come in, and he was always chained to
a Roman guard. Now, he said to the Colossians,
remember my bonds. Don't forget the fact that I'm
here in jail, chained up. Now, why was Paul imprisoned? You know, I think it's interesting
in Acts chapter nine, when we have his conversion experience,
if you go on reading in that very same chapter, he began to
preach Christ boldly and right off the bat, the Jews sought
to kill him. They hated what he was saying
and he was in prison for the preaching of the gospel. Look
back in Ephesians chapter six. This is another one of the prison
epistles. He said in verse 18, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there
and do with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
And for me, pray for me that utterance may be given unto me,
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of
the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in bonds. I'm in jail because
I make known the mysteries of the gospel. Now you can read
about his arrest that got him in these Roman prisons in Acts
chapter 21, where the people, when they heard his testimony,
they said, away with such a felon. It's not fit that such a one
should live. They wanted to get rid of him. He said in Acts chapter 20, 23,
that in every city, bonds and afflictions abide me."
Now, I want you to think about that. Paul said, everywhere I
go, I know I'm either going to be beat up or thrown in jail.
And when he said, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he was talking about the scars. He was stoned. He
was beat with a cat of nine tails for preaching the gospel. Can
you imagine how that must have felt when they tied him to the
post and he goes, here we go again, and grit his teeth waiting
for that to happen to him because of his preaching of the gospel.
I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps the reason
he couldn't write was because his hands were maimed where he
was stoned. I don't know. But he said, I bear in my body
the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before we go on in considering
his bonds, I want you to turn with me to Matthew chapter five,
the last beatitude. This is why Paul was in bonds.
This is why he was in jail. And he says, remember my bonds. He says in verse 10, he's given
all these blessings. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed
are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you. You've been
blessed by God. You have God's favor. God's done
something for you when men shall revile you and persecute you. and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." Now, what does the Lord mean when
he speaks of being persecuted for righteousness sake? What's he talking about? So you
talking about you're going to be persecuted if you treat people
well, if you give to the poor, if you help people in bad conditions,
if you give money to help people with medical bills, and if you
do whatever you can to be a merciful person and be gracious and kind
to people, and you're going to be persecuted for that? No. That's not what he's talking
about at all, when he's talking about those who are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Now understand, this is so important
for us to understand the gospel. Righteousness. What is righteousness? It's not a relative term. Righteousness
is a perfect standing before God's holy law. Righteousness is a state of sinlessness. If I'm righteous, That means
I don't have any sin. Now, according to the scriptures,
there's only one righteousness. David said in Psalm 71 verse
16, I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine only. There is only one righteousness,
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is no other righteousness.
The only righteousness there is, is the righteousness of Christ. That's why Paul said, oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness. I don't have anything to do with
that. righteousness which is by the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. The Lord said their righteousness
is of me. Now there is only one righteousness
that God will accept and that is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Now he's talking about being
persecuted for righteousness sake. Noah was called a preacher
of righteousness. That didn't mean he was saying,
you all need to live right and get in this ark or God will... No,
he preached the gospel just like anybody else did. A preacher
of righteousness. Now, Christ's righteousness is
imputed to the believers. and Christ righteousness is imparted
to the believer. Now let me explain those terms.
I realize that some people don't like the term imparted righteousness
because they say, well, the term's not in the Bible. Well, neither
is sovereignty. It's there on every page though,
isn't it? Neither is the Trinity, but it's on every page of the
Bible. So just because that particular word is not found in the scripture. I want to show you what the scripture
teaches about that. But first of all, let's talk about righteousness
imputed. You never hear me say imputed
righteousness because imputed is never an adjective. It's a
verb. It's righteousness imputed. It's not like there's different
kinds of righteousness. There's imparted and imputed. No, there's only
one righteousness here. First of all, the righteousness
of Christ is imputed to the believer. Now, what does that mean? What
does that mean? Well, here's what it means. Jesus Christ was on Calvary's
tree. My sin became his sin. He actually became guilty of
it. You see, God's just. And God
will not punish someone who is not guilty, will he? Now I would,
if Aubrey, if you got in trouble with the law and you were going
to be put to death, I know that I would take your place if I
could. I would take your place, let him kill me. But would justice
be done? No, because you did it. And you're the only one who
can pay. Now, my sin actually became his sin. Let me show you that in the scripture.
Turn to Psalm 40. Remember, we're trying to understand
what being persecuted for righteousness sake means. Psalm 40. Now we know from this psalm,
the writer to the Hebrews quotes it in Hebrews chapter 10, verse
six and seven, sacrifice and offering that does not desire.
Mine ears has thou opened, burnt offerings and sin offering has
thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it's written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now who's speaking there? That's
the Lord Jesus, isn't it? I mean, there's not even any
question about it because it's quoted as such. Now look in verse
12. This is the same one speaking,
for innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities. He didn't say Todd's iniquities
that were charged to my account. He said, my iniquities, my sin
became his sin so that he said, mine iniquities. Oh, you think
of this being laid upon his holy soul? Mine iniquities have taken
hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more
than the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me.
Now, you know, David said that too. You said that. How many
times have you felt like your iniquities were more than the
hairs of your head? and you couldn't even look up.
That's been your language, but that was so much more acutely
the language of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross. My sin
became his sin. He was guilty of that sin. When
my sin was imputed to him, it became his, and he was guilty. And just as truly as my sin became
his sin, His very righteousness becomes
my personal righteousness. And what you're looking at right
now, and this is true of every believer, every believer is nothing
less than the very righteousness of God. Isn't that glorious? That's righteousness imputed. When Adam fell, his sin was imputed
to me. We're condemned by his sin. When he sinned, I sinned. It
was imputed to me. It was charged to me. I did it. I did it. That's what the scripture
says. I did it. But not only was his sin imputed to me, his
evil nature was imparted to me. so that I was born into this
world, speaking lies, I was born into this world with an evil
nature. And that gives us some idea of
what is meant by Christ's righteousness being imparted to us. Now, remember,
there's only one righteousness. There's only one, his righteousness.
Now, turn with me to 2 Peter 1. I want you to look at these
verses. Second Peter chapter one. Whereby verse four are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these these
precious promises, you might be partakers of the what? Divine nature. the divine nature. That's what happens when you're
born again. You're given the divine nature. That which is
born of the spirit is spirit. Now look in first John chapter
two, just back a few pages. Verse 29. If you know that he
is righteous, You know that everyone that what's the next word do
with righteousness is born of him. And this is talking about
the actions of the new nature. Look in verse six of chapter
three, Well, let's go back to verse
four. Whosoever committed sin transgresses also the law for
sin is the transgression of the law. It's any lack of perfect
conformity to the 10 commandments. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth
in him doesn't have sin charged to him. No, it says whosoever
abideth in him, sinneth not. That's speaking of the new nature. Now, somebody says, I don't know
in my experience where I never feel like I don't sin. I feel like all I do is sin.
It's the new nature that sees that. It's the new nature that
owns the sins of the old man. You wouldn't see that unless
God gave you this new nature. It's the new nature that loves
God. It's the new nature that believes. It's the new nature
that that calls upon the name of the Lord. It's not the old
nature. It's not the old renovated. It's not the it's new. It's a
new heart that was not there before. Let's go on reading.
Verse seven. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. You see, that's being having
his righteousness imparted to me in the new nature. Everyone
that doeth righteousness, is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the said devil sinneth from the beginning. For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy
the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Now, I've heard people say, well,
that means you don't practice sin. No. No. You don't practice sin? Come on now, be honest with that
passage of scripture. Do you practice it? If you practice
it, that means you do it more than once. All you got to do
is once and you're a practicer of sin. But it says, whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin, doesn't even commit it without. That's the that's the new nature.
That's his righteousness. For his seed remaineth, God's
seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin. He lacks the ability
to sin, this new man, because he's born of God. Now that's
what the impartation of right. It's his righteousness, whatever
it is, it's his righteousness imputed to the believer, imparted
to the believer. And like I said, righteousness
is not a relative term. Now turn to second Peter chapter
two. I think this will seal this second
Peter chapter two. Verse six, but let's start in
verse five, he spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the
eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the
flood upon the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making
them an example unto those that afterwards should live ungodly
and delivered just lot. As I remember. Lot pitched his
tent towards Sodom. As I remember, the Lord had to
yank him out of Sodom. He lingered, and the angels took
him by the hand and ripped him out, the Lord being merciful
to him. As I remember, his daughters
took him into a cave, and there was incest committed and drunkenness. And yet we read these words,
just lot. Now those are grievous sins. And yet this is God's testimony
of him. I love the way you, when you read the old Testament account
of saints, a lot of times it seems pretty grisly, but when
you read the new Testament account, What is Lot? He delivered just
Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous
man. He's a righteous man, wasn't
he? Don't you love the way the Lord
calls believers the righteous? That righteous man dwelling among
them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul. You see that? He's righteous soul from day
to day with their unlawful grief deeds. So you can see that righteousness,
it's the righteousness of Christ imputed. It's the righteousness
of Christ imparted. Now, wherever righteousness is
preached, there will be persecution. Folks aren't going to like that,
and let me tell you why. Every natural man, apart from
the grace of God, has some hope in his own righteousness. And
when he hears that his righteousness has absolutely nothing to do
with his salvation, that there's only one righteousness, the righteousness
of God, and it's in his hand. It's not something you can just
up and grab and take for yourself. You're in his hand. He can give
it to you. He can withhold it from you. He's in absolute control. The new birth is something that's
completely out of your control and out of your grasp. He's got
to give it to you. Paul speaks of the offense of
the cross. Remember, persecution for righteousness sake. Turn
with me for a moment to Galatians chapter five. Paul says in verse 11, And I,
brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, if I put any work in salvation
anywhere, Why do I yet serve for persecution? Then is the
offense of the cross ceased. If any aspect of salvation is
of the flesh, if I make room for any human contribution, I
take away the offense, the scandal of the cross and the offense
of the cross is a good thing. There's no preaching of the gospel
without it. The cross offends men's sense
of rights. It says we don't have anywhere
in the hands of a sovereign God. It offends men's sense of personal
righteousness because it says you have none. It offends men's
sense of pride because it addresses nothing but sinners. It offends
men's sense of wisdom and self-worth because it says you can't figure
this out. God's got to reveal it to you. You'll never know.
It offends me in sense of self-love because it says we're called
upon to deny ourself, to take up our cross daily and follow
Him. Now, wherever the gospel of God's
grace is preached, that excludes human works, that doesn't give
any wiggle room whatsoever. You know, the gospel, listen
to me, God is intolerant. And that's the, He's intolerant
of that which is contrary to His gospel. That's who He is.
Why should He tolerate anything else? He's God. He will not tolerate
that which is contrary to Him. And if I tolerate that, I'm taking
away the offense of the cross. And I won't be persecuted, will
I? Everybody be, you know, everybody be okay. You know, you're okay.
You're okay. Everybody be okay with that.
Now, these bonds, that Paul had were
a part of the Lord's blessing. Blessed are they who are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Philippians chapter one? You know, this is a passage of
scripture that I've looked at. I don't know how many times and
I've thought I understood it and I'd look at it again and
I'd think, well, I don't know if I do or not, but, um, look what he
says in verse 12. He said, but I would you should
understand brethren that the things which have happened unto
me He's talking about his bonds. He talks about him in verse seven.
He's both in my bonds and the defense and confirmation of the
gospel. I got thrown in jail, but I would that you should understand,
brethren, that the things which have happened to me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance, the progress of the gospel, so
that my bonds, my chains in Christ are manifest in all the palace
and in all other places. Everybody knows why I'm here.
I've been thrown in jail for preaching the gospel. And many,
look at this, and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing
confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without
fear. They see me in prison, and it
encourages them, and they're much more bold. Isn't that glorious? Paul says, I'll stay in jail
if that's what takes place. Many of the brethren are much more
bold to preach the word without fear. Now look what it says in
verse 15. Some indeed preach Christ. They preach the truth
even of envy and strife and some also of goodwill. They have a
good motive. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely
supposing to add affliction to my bond. Some are envious of
me and look at this as their time to shine when I'm shut up.
And so they're going to. Use this as an opportunity thinking,
I'll be jealous because God's using them and not me. As a man is, so he thinks others
to be. He'll always attribute things to others that actually
he is. And they'll think, well, Paul's
gonna be jealous. He's gonna be upset that I'm
being used while he's shut up in prison. But he says, verse
17, but the other of love, knowing that I'm set for the defense
of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. Even if somebody's got a bad
motive, it's okay. As long as Christ is preached,
I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. What about these fellows who
preach Christ with a bad motive? What about them? What about them? Who knows what all goes on behind
people's actions? You just don't know. And as far
as that goes, am I capable of preaching the gospel with a bad
motive? You better believe it. You are too. May the Lord deliver
us from that and may he cause us to preach of goodwill. That's
what I want. But what about these fellows?
Were they saved? I don't know. They might be.
They might not be. I don't know. But I know that
I could preach with a bad motive. I know that about myself. So
we don't know. We don't know. I'm OK with that,
aren't you? We just don't know. But as long as Christ is preached,
the gospel of Christ, who he is and what he did, I'll therein
rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. In Hebrews chapter 13, verse
3, the writer to the Hebrews said, remember those that are
in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity
as being yourselves also in the body. Now, here's what I want
to do. I want to cast my lot with that
person who's suffering for Christ. I want to identify with him.
I want to remember them. I want to identify with them.
You know, there's some people, because of the place they're put, they
might suffer more for Christ than somebody else. But you want
to identify with them, don't you? I want to preach, and you
know what else? I want to preach the gospel in such a way that
when an unbeliever hears what I'm saying, they get mad at me.
And they'll kill me if they could. That's the way I want to preach
the gospel. purposely try to offend people with bad actions
and you know there's some people that think they're getting persecuted
for righteousness sake when in reality they're getting persecuted
because they're jerks and you know that I mean there are people
that act so stupid and silly and their religion it's offensive
oh I'm being persecuted for the gospel no you're not no you're
not but being persecuted because of the gospel I preach oh I want
that don't you I want that and I want to And I want to remember
those who are. Remember my bonds. May we always examine ourselves.
Is what I believe, is it enough to cause somebody to hate me?
Is it enough to cause somebody to throw me in jail? Examine
what we believe because the blessing of the gospel, our Lord said,
blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, the very
righteousness of Christ. Preachers are so careful to try
to keep from offending people, and Paul was afraid of not offending
people. Remember my bonds. And in closing, he ends this
beautiful epistle with these words. Grace be with you. What a way to close grace. About everybody would say they
believe in grace, but maybe one of the ways we describe our grace
is the grace that saves us is free grace. As opposed to earn
grace. Sovereign grace as opposed to
offered grace. Saving grace as opposed to grace
made available if I fill in the blank. That kind of grace won't
do me any good. The only kind of grace that'll
do me any good is for God to reach down and choose me and
justify me by his grace. and redeem me and pay for all
my sins by His grace, by a gracious act of God that doesn't have
anything to do with any merit in me. He does it simply because
He's gracious. The only grace that'll do me
any good is calling grace, for He calls me by His grace, and
He gives me life. He creates life within me, and
saves me by His grace, and preserves me by His grace, and keeps me
by His grace. You know, the only hope that
I have is that salvation is 100% totally and completely by His
grace. What a wonderful thing to wish
these believers. Now remember, we have the Word
of God. Aren't you thankful for that?
Remember them that are in bonds. And that's said several times
in the scripture. Don't ever look at the gospel as some kind
of generic vanilla thing that's not going to offend people because
it will. Paul lost his life for it. And
remember grace. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would give us the grace to remember those that are in
bonds. Lord, we ask that you would give
us the grace to faithfully preach your gospel in such a way that
we are persecuted by the enemies of your grace for righteousness
sake. Lord, deliver us from removing
the offense from the cross. Lord, we ask that you would give
us the grace to make it to where the only thing people could possibly
be offended by is by our gospel, not by the way we treat them,
not by our actions, not by our attitude, but by the gospel we
preach. And Lord, how we thank you for
your word that tells us that we're holy and unblameable and
unapprovable in your very sight, without spot, wrinkle, or any
such thing. How we thank you for the glory
of thy son, thy image, the one that you have been pleased to
have all fullness dwell in him that in all things he might have
the preeminence and lord how it delights our hearts that in
all things he has the preeminence lord we wouldn't want to have
it any other way and lord how we thank you for your grace and
lord bless this message for your glory and for our good in christ's
name we pray amen what do you got paul