But you turn back to Colossians
chapter two, while you're turning there this Saturday morning,
Saturday night and Sunday morning, I'm going to be preaching in
Louisville for the Redeemer Baptist church where brother Evans is
the pastor. And I'll return and preach Sunday night. And Mark
Daniel will bring the morning message and Brian DeFore will
do the Bible study this Sunday morning. I've entitled this message complete
in him. How? Paul says in Colossians chapter
2 verse 10, and you are complete. That same word is translated
in the previous verse, fullness in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete. You are
full. You are perfect. You are lacking
nothing. in him. Now are there five more
glorious words? You are complete in him. You. Think of who he's speaking of.
You. Who in and of yourself, you're
nothing but sin. You believe that about yourself?
In and of yourself, you're nothing but sin. You who really do look to Christ
as everything in your salvation, you're not looking anywhere else. You who say with David, although
my house be not so with God, yet have he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my
salvation and all my desire. You are, not you shall be, but
you are. Right now, present tense, you
are. And this is actually in the perfect
tense perfectly completed, never to be repeated. You have been perfectly completed
in Him. You are, are. And whatever we are
or whatever we have, we have completely. There is nothing
lacking. There's nothing needed to be
done. This is true without limit, without qualification, and with
no condition I first need to meet. You are complete in Him. John 1.16 says, of His fullness,
of His completeness have all we received. How full is Christ of holiness? That's how full I am. How full
is Christ of righteousness? That's how full I am. You are,
are. You are complete. Complete. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, Of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Wisdom, completeness of wisdom.
Righteousness, completeness of righteousness. Sanctification,
completeness of holiness. Redemption, completeness of full
deliverance. You are complete in Now, you
know this completeness is not in you and you're not looking
for this completeness in yourself. This completeness is in him. Turn to Ephesians. Hold your
finger there and turn to Ephesians one. Beginning in verse three. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. We have every
spiritual blessing with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
where? In Christ. According as he hath
chosen us in him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him,
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted. Where? In the beloved. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. All these blessings
are in, by, through, and because of the Lord Jesus Christ in Him. You are complete in Him. The Son of God. How long have
you been in Christ? How long? That's how long you've
been complete. You may not feel it. It may not
be something that you, well, I feel complete, but you are
complete in Him. Now, is there any more glorious
words? May God give us grace to believe
this. You are complete. You lack nothing. All that God
has, all that God requires, you have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You are complete in Him. Now, how? How can this be? In the following verses he tells
us how this can be, how every believer, this is the heritage,
this is the property of every believer, we are complete in
the Lord Jesus Christ. I am my beloved's and my beloved
is mine and I am complete in him. Now look in verse 11 of
Colossians chapter 2, in whom also you are circumcised." Now,
you know what circumcision is. It's the token of the covenant.
It was the stripping away of the flesh and it was a token
that I belong to Israel, I belong to God. All the male Israelites
were to be circumcised and he says to men and women, You are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, this is not
a physical circumcision, in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Notice this phrase, the body
of the sins of the flesh. A researcher will have a body
of work, won't he, that tells us and demonstrates to us how
he came to the conclusions he came to. Well, here's my life
work. Here's the body of my work. This
is how I've come to these conclusions. This is the body of my work.
Well, here's the body of our work. The body of the sins of
the flesh. If you would want to summarize
the body of your work, here's my life work, here it is. The
body of the sins of the flesh. Now, some people feel this more
acutely, I realize. Some people are more hardened
toward it. But however we feel, it's the
facts of the case. The body of the sins of the flesh. Now these were placed upon Christ
and they were placed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who his own self
bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And there's a passage
of scripture in Isaiah 53 verse 11, where it says who himself
bear our, let's turn there, Isaiah 53 11. This, uh, this is disturbing. That's all. It's just disturbing. Verse 11. He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge.
Shall my righteous servant justify many? For he shall bear their
iniquities." Now that doesn't mean just put on it, where they're
on his back and he's carrying them. If you look the word up,
in Strong's Concordance, the first meaning it gives is, be
gravid. be gravid. That means pregnant,
as bearing a child. Now, like I said, that's disturbing
to think of the Lord bearing sin in that sense. Now, He never
committed sin. He never committed sin even when
He was made sin in His person. He never committed sin. But to
think of this, Him, it's hard to think about, isn't it? It's
awful to think about. It's something you don't even,
The only place I get any peace is my sin actually became his
sin. It left me and became his, but
he was gravid with it. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. In his own body, my sins were
placed in him. And you know what? They were
stripped off in the circumcision of Christ. When Christ suffered
the wrath of God as the sin-bearing substitute, when He was circumcised,
when there was something removed, there was something stripped
off, something taken away, the sins of the body, of the flesh,
and that is how I am complete in Him. Whatever could have prevented
me from being complete has been put off. That great body of sin
has been put off by the circumcision of Christ, not physically, not
a circumcision made with hands, but the one made without hands
in His bloody death on the cross. My sin was stripped off. Isn't
that great? I mean, I hate to think of him,
of my sin actually, him burying my sin in his own body on the
tree because of, oh, how his holy soul recoiled at that time
at being made sin. It's uncomfortable to think about.
But it's still the only place I get any peace. My sin actually
became his. He bore it. And you know, it
can't be two places at once. He stripped it off and put it
away. Now let's go on reading, verse
12. Buried with him, in baptism, buried with him in
baptism, Colossians 2.12. Now there's water baptism and
what it signifies. Water baptism signifies union
with Christ. If you want to understand what
baptism means, it means when he lived, I lived. When he died,
I died. I went there with him. When he
was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead with him.
That's what baptism signifies, union with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, this is a comforting
thing to thought. This is a comforting thought
to think. When he was on the cross, it's
true he by himself purged our sins, but he wasn't by himself. I was with him. I was with him. I was with him when he lived.
I love that. Scripture in Matthew chapter
3 verse 15, where the Lord says to John the Baptist, thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now I was with him before time
began when he stood as my surety. I was with him when he was made
flesh. I was with him as he kept the
law. I was with him as he died. When he closed his eyes in death,
somebody else did. Every one of his people. Buried
with him by baptism unto death. There's water baptism. There's
the baptism of the spirit where the believer is immersed in Christ.
But here's the baptism Paul's talking about. Turn with me to
Luke 12. Buried with him by baptism unto
death. Verse 49. I am come to send fire on the
earth. And he's talking about the fire
of God's wrath. It was going to come down and consume him.
Every time fire comes down, it has something to do with judgment.
I am come to send fire on the earth. And what will I if it
be already kindled? It's already began. But I have
a baptism. to be baptized with, and he'd
already gone through water baptism. You can read about that in Luke
chapter 4 and Matthew chapter 3. He'd already gone through
water baptism, but he's talking about being immersed, completely
surrounded and immersed under the wrath of God. I have a baptism
to be baptized with, and how am I straight until it be accomplished? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
20. You see, we were baptized with
him. Speaking of all of God's people,
verse 20, Matthew 20, verse 20. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children with their sons, worshiping him and desiring
a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, what wilt
thou? She said unto him, grant that these my two sons may sit,
the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy
kingdom. I can imagine if you had two
boys, you'd be asking the same thing. But Jesus answered and
said, you know not what you ask. And then he looked at these two
boys, James and John, and he said, are you able to drink of
the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? Now he's talking about that baptism
of fire, the wrath he was going to experience and endure. And
he says, are you able, are you up to the task? and how ignorantly
they said, yep, we're up to the task. They didn't know what they
were saying. I wonder how many times we say that we don't know
what we're saying. We say things just totally ignorant of it.
They said, yep, we're up to it. And if I were the Lord, I believe
I probably would have corrected them at that time. Do you have
any idea what you're saying? You're saying you can go through
what I'm going through, but look what the Lord said. Verse 23. And he saith unto them, you shall
drink indeed of my cup. When I drink the cup of wrath,
you will too. And you will be baptized with
the baptism that I'm baptized with. It's going to happen. You
see, when Christ was baptized under the wrath and fire and
judgment of God, so was every believer buried with I love to
think about the fact that I was with him on the cross. I was
with him when he lived. I was with him before time began. I've always
been with him. That's my claim to fame. I'm
with him. I'm with him. That's all I got to say about
myself. With him. With him. That's the only thing I want
to be said about me. He's with me. He's with me. That's it. Now, when he closed his eyes
in death, I did too. When he was raised from the dead,
I was too. Now, Christ was not by himself. Look what it says back in our
text in Colossians 2. Buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him. When he was raised, I was raised.
Now, when were you quickened? Aaron just read it in Ephesians
chapter 2. Would you turn back a few pages to Ephesians chapter
2? When were you quickened? You know, I don't know when I
first believed. I can't tell you. I don't know
the day. I've heard people talk about they know the day or the
hour. I don't. I don't. And that used to trouble me.
I remember one time a preacher said to me, it seems like if
you broke your leg, you'd know it happened. Seems like you'd
know when you first really believed. Well, I don't remember when I
was born. Do you? Does that mean I wasn't
born? Seems like you'd remember something
like that. Well, no, no, I don't remember when I was born. Doesn't
mean I wasn't. Here's when I was quickened, though. Ephesians
chapter two, verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." Here's what all
this means. By grace, you are saved. And don't you know this is all
the operation of God through the faith of the operation, the
energy, the working of God who hath raised Him from the dead? Now, why did He raise Him from
the dead? Because the debt was paid. It
was completely paid. You know, when someone goes to
jail, they pay their debt. They pay the crime for their
crime, the debt they owe to society, and they get out of jail. But
you know what? Life's never the same. They're
now ex-cons. They have a history against them. It's not blotted out. But you
know, when our Lord was delivered from the death, when he was raised
from the dead, He's no ex-con. All sin was completely put away. There is no record of sin. Now that is how we are complete. Totally by what he did. Now look
in verse 13. Now Paul talks about us who are
complete in him. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, as Stephen called it,
uncircumcised in heart and ears, unable to hear the gospel, completely
unable. Just how dependent is a dead
man upon God to give him life? How dependent? That's how dependent
you and I are. Dead in sins, totally dependent
upon God to give us life. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." There's pardon for transgressions
past. It matters not how black they're
cast. And oh, my soul, with wonder
of you, for sins to come, here's pardon too. Notice it says, all
your transgressions. Having forgiven you all your
transgressions. And the word forgiven here is
not the word that's generally translated forgiven. It's a word
that emphasizes the unconditional nature of forgiveness. Ephesians
4.32 says, be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake. Not because you were sorry. Not
because you asked for forgiveness. Not because you battled against
sin and sought to never do it again. No, God didn't forgive
you for any reason in you or me. He forgave us for Christ's
sake. Oh, I love that. Having forgiven
you. All trespasses. That's why you
are complete in Christ. All trespasses have been put
away and they're gone. You are complete in him. Now
look at verse 14. This was a blessing to think
about this. Verse 14. Here's what he did. Blotting
out the handwriting. There's a document there. There's
a There's a bill, there's something that has some stuff written on
it. That's what that is, a handwriting. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances, commandments that we have broken that was against
us. This bill, it was contrary to
us and he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Now this is speaking of a bill,
a document, a book that has things written in it. Every commandment
we've ever broken. And it's a very lengthy document.
Very lengthy. It boggles my mind. It's so lengthy. And it's a bill that demonstrates
all we owe. And it's a true history, this
handwriting of ordinances. It's a true history. It's not
the revisionist history that we make for ourselves. Whatever
we talk about the past, we're always going to give some kind
of slant to make ourselves look a little better. But not this,
not this handwriting. It has the facts. It has the
sins that we remember. It has the sins we don't remember.
It has the sins that we're completely ignorant of, didn't even know
they were sins. It's the fact. This bill, this handwriting that
was against us. And there are three things he
is said to do with this book of handwriting of ordinances
that was against us. First, he blotted it out, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. And he took
it out of the way. And he nailed it to his cross. Now all these sins that he sees,
me and you don't even have a clue as to our sinfulness. I don't,
sometimes I think I do, but I don't. But here's the facts written
down in this book. You know, we read in Revelation
20 of the great white throne judgment, when the books are
opened, it'll show everything everyone has done. Well, here's
what he did with these books on Calvary's tree. First of all,
He blotted out. He erased it. He smeared it out. It cannot be seen. It's gone. He blotted it out
by His blood. He removed it. Every one of those
sins were blotted out. And then it says He took it out
of the way. He took that book out of the way. Well, where did
He put it? Where did he put it? You know, in this day we live
in, in cyberspace, anything you write down, it's there for good.
Anything you, this is what they tell me, anything you type out
on that computer, it's somewhere out there in cyberspace. It can
get back somehow. Cell phones, everything, this
stuff never leaves. But here's something that left.
He took it out of the way, and how did he do it? He nailed it. He did this. He nailed it. Now, when I think of the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is another thing that's very
difficult to talk about. I feel totally unqualified, but what was nailed to the cross?
First of all, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed,
cruelly nailed to that cross. Now, I can't even begin to imagine
what all that means, but what a What a horrible thing to have
your body nailed to the cross, but that's what our sin deserves.
Now, what else was nailed to the cross? Well, some people
would argue that there was also a board nailed over the top of
the cross that had the accusation of our Lord. I'm not so sure
there was a board or a piece of paper. I don't know what it
was, but it was nailed to a cross. And it said, this is Jesus of
Nazareth, the King. of the Jews, and there's really
no understanding of the cross and him being nailed to the cross.
If I don't understand, he was a king nailed to the cross, and
he was in absolute control of it. He was no victim. He was
there according to his own will, and when they nailed the nails
in his hand, it's because he willed them to do it. He gave
him the strength to do it. He purposed it. He was in control
of everything that took place on the cross. He was no victim.
I love it when he said to weep not for me. Daughters of Jerusalem,
weep for yourselves. The Lord's not looking for pity
when he's talking about him being nailed to a cross. What was nailed
to the cross? The body of our Lord Jesus Christ
and that sign that told us who it is that's dying. And there's
no understanding of the cross apart from that. But you know
what else was nailed to the cross? This bill. This document, this
book that had all of our sins, it's nailed to the cross and
put away. Who nailed it there? Christ did. God did. What was the hammer
He used? His own justice. And all this handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, He removed, He put away. They are no longer. When Christ was nailed to that
cross, that book, that bill, carried into the tomb, blotted
out, taken away, and it's gone. That's why you're completing
him. It is gone. I think of that statement by
Paul, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Try to bring out that bill. Where is it? It's gone. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that can condemn? Come
on! It's Christ that died. Yea, rather that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Oh, he nailed that handwriting
that was against us to the cross. And those records cannot be resurrected.
It's been obliterated, and that is why we are complete. Now look
in verse 15. Here's why we're complete. And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Now, when he was
on the cross, how must Satan have attacked him? Here's another
thing that we don't really have any understanding of, but what
do we understand? We just believe. With regard
to every truth we deal with, we don't really, we believe what
God's Word says, but I do know this, on the cross, oh, how Satan
attacked him. In the prophecy it says, he shall
bruise the serpent's head, but the serpent would bruise his
heel. And his heel was being bruised on the cross. How Satan
attacked him, how all the demons unleashed all their fury against
him. And I don't know what all that means, but I know this.
He completely defeated them. And he makes a show of them openly
triumphing over them in it. And how does he demonstrate this?
Well, turn over to Matthew chapter 16. Verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Some say that
thou art John the Baptist. Some, Elias, and others, Jeremiah,
are one of the prophets. They say good things about you.
They put you in some high cotton. And He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? Who do you say he is? Who do you say? And Simon Peter answered, speaking
as a representative of all of God's elect, thou art the Christ. The Son of the Living God. God's prophet, God's priest,
God's king, God's son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah. Before I go on, do you believe
that he's the Christ? Do you believe he's the Son of
God? Do you really believe that? Blessed are you. You're just
as blessed as people. I'm not asking you anything,
but do you believe he's the Christ? Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. That's what scripture says. Do
you believe? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. If you believe this, God revealed
this to you. And I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock, this confession of me,
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. You see, this battering ram of
the gospel, it's going to knock down the very gates of hell and
pull out everybody for whom he died, all who believe, and they're
going to be saved to the praise of the glory of his grace. He's
openly triumphed over Satan, the world, the flesh, This is
the best way to say this. I am a trophy of Jesus Christ. I know this, in this inner salvation,
he gets all the glory. And that's the way I want it. And I'm a trophy. I'm a trophy. When I stand accepted in the
beloved, justified on judgment day, saved, I'm going to be a
trophy of his grace. Christ will say, I did all of
this. I did all of it. All glory goes
to me. And we say, Amen. Now that is how you're complete
in Him. Now that's a staggering thought. You are complete. You can't get
any more love. You can't get any more accepted.
You can't get any more holy. Do you know, if you're a believer,
all you need right now, you already have. Now you're going to drop
something when you enter glory. You're going to drop this flesh
when you die. You're going to drop the flesh. What a blessing
that'll be. But all you have that is needed for glory, you
have right now. You are complete. Nothing lacking. No conditions to meet. Nothing
that needs to be done. Right now, you are complete in
Him. And we see why. It's holy because
of what He May the Lord enable every one of us to lay hold upon
this glorious, glorious statement and revel in it. You are complete
in Him. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
Savior. And Lord, we stand amazed when we think of what He did in our behalf. How He took our sin. And we think
of Him being baptized under your wrath. And we think of Him swallowing
up the wrath and making it to it was no more. We think of Him
raising from the dead and us being raised in Him. We think
even right now we're seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
Oh Lord, all we ask is that we might be found in Him, that we
might be with Him. Oh Lord, when our name is called
on Judgment Day, all we want to do is to be with Him. Lord,
take this Word, Your Word, and bless it. Lord, it will fall
on deaf ears and empty hearts unless you give us ears to hear
and hearts to receive. Take this word and bless it for
your glory and our good. And Lord, give us the grace to
simply believe what you say in your word. That we are complete
in thy son. How we thank you for your glorious
gospel. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen. We got poem.