While Andy was reading that passage
from Isaiah 63, verse 17 just jumped out at me. Oh Lord, why
hast thou made us to err from thy ways and hardened our heart
from thy fear? Now that's not the kind of language
we usually hear, is it? One could almost say that he
almost seems to be blaming the Lord for his state. Why have
you hardened my heart? Why have you made me to err from
your ways? Well, you know, Isaiah was not
blaming the Lord from that, but Isaiah was saying this. If you
don't prevent me from erring from your ways, I will. And if you don't prevent my heart
from being heartened, it will. Lord, don't let it happen. Turn back to Colossians chapter
two. I've entitled this message. Rooted and built up in him. As you, therefore, have received
Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him rooted and built up
in him. Now, my first point is him. I wish I could speak of the Lord
as I ought to speak, but this one that Paul is talking about
is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and all God does,
the infinite incomprehensible, eternal, transcendent God, all
He does, He does for the glory of His Son. God is a person. Jesus Christ. Salvation is a person. Simeon said, Now let us thou
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. When he held the Lord Jesus Christ
as an infant, he said, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. This is God's salvation. Faith
is in a person. We rely on this person completely
to save us. We preach a person. Paul said,
whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man. In
this book of Colossians chapter three, verse 11, the last phrase
that says Christ is all. You couldn't say that about any
other man, could you? Not in any way. You couldn't
say that about any other. Well, he's not a creature. You
couldn't say that about a creature, period. but we can say this about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all. We love his person. I think of
the scripture, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let
him be anathema, maranatha. Now we wouldn't say that about
anybody else. If somebody said, if anybody loved not Todd, let
him be anathema maranatha. He'd be wrong in saying that,
wouldn't he? That's not something we'd say. We couldn't say that
about any other one, but the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet we
can say that with full conviction. If any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned upon the return of the Lord. In Colossians chapter two, verse
nine, it says in him, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. Now, I don't know what all that
means, and you don't know what all that means, but it means
a lot, doesn't it? All the fullness of the Godhead, all that God
is, the invisible God, all that he is, is seen in the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Look in John chapter one. I want
to read a few verses of scripture regarding the excellency and
the glory of his person. In the beginning, was the Word. I love the way the Word never
began to be. The Word was. He never began. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was. eternally was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him.
And without him was not anything made that was made in him was
life. And the life was the light of
men. Turn to Hebrews chapter one. God Who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in times past, and at the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by Son. Whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who, being the brightness
of God's glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins. We read about that in Isaiah
63 as well just now. When He had by Himself, nobody
helped Him, no man was with Him, when He tread the winepress of
the wrath of God, when He had by Himself, with no contribution
from me or you, when He had by Himself purged our sins. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high. Turn to 1 John 1. John says, that which was from
the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the
word of life. This is speaking of him for the
life. I love the way John calls the
Lord Jesus Christ, the life. He is the life. The life was
manifested and we have seen and bear witness and show unto you
that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us that which we've seen and heard declare we unto you
that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and these things
write we unto you that your joy might be full. Is it any wonder Paul said, wherefore
God hath given him a name, which is above every name. That at
the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. And things in heaven, things
earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I love saying that. Jesus Christ
is Lord. He's the Lord to the glory of
God, the Father. Now, Paul spake of us being rooted
and built up in him. Now, the next phrase I'd like
to consider is in him. In him is a place. in him. He is a person and in
him is a place. He is the place to be. I love what Paul said. I quote
this all the time in Philippians chapter three, eight and nine.
Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. When God comes looking for me,
there's only one place I want to be found. I want to be found
in him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law. Can you say that with conviction?
You don't want to have anything to do with your own righteousness,
because you know what it is, and you want to have nothing to do
with it. Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God. by faith. Now here's the place
I wanna be found. This is the place where I wanna
be, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the one place of completeness. And there's so many scriptures
that you can speak of regarding being in him. In him dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are, I love this, you
are complete. The reason I love that so much
is I sure enough don't feel complete. I feel like there's so many things
lacking with me, so many things that I wish it wasn't like that,
but God's Word tells me that I am in fact complete, lacking
nothing in Him. There's the place to be, you
know, in Him, in Him. You know, He's so large. He's not a cramped place. He's
not a confined place. Oh, He's so large. There's so
much room in Him. And all of God's blessing, all
of God's salvation, all of God's mercy, all of God's love is in
Him. And outside of Him, there isn't
anything but His wrath. Now, why would anybody want to
be anywhere else? in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that scripture, 1 Corinthians
1.30, but of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us. Now this is what's in Christ,
wisdom. If I'm in Christ, the only wise God finds me to
be one fit for fellowship with him. He counts me a wise man,
having the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's in
Christ. Wisdom. Now, God cannot have fellowship. He can't count someone his friend
who's a fool. He won't do it. He will only
have fellowship with someone who he deems wise, like his son. And that's what we have in Christ
Jesus. Wisdom. He's made unto us wisdom.
He's made unto us righteousness. God will not have fellowship
with someone who is not altogether righteous. And in Christ, every
believer is altogether righteous. In him is sanctification. He's
made into his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, holiness, holiness. I love that scripture in Psalm,
I think it's Psalm 86, where David said, I am holy. You know,
I used to read that scripture and I'd say, I can't say that.
It just disturbed me. That's one of those many scriptures
in Psalms and I just didn't know that I got to enter. I'm holy?
Can I really say that? Yes, I can because Christ is
my holiness before God and I am holy. I'm redeemed. I'm delivered. I love that scripture
in Ephesians 1 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's where they're
at in Christ. Why? God's choice is in Christ according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
That we should be holy and without blame before Him. Holiness and
blamelessness is in Christ. He has made us accepted in the
beloved. Acceptance is in Christ. A 100%
approval rate in Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, in Christ is the
place that I want to be. You have all you need and infinitely
more. Paul says in our text, rooted,
rooted in him. And this reads literally, having
been rooted in him. Now understand this, you can't
root yourself in Christ any more than you can put yourself in
Christ. The only way you can be in the Lord Jesus Christ is
if God puts you there. And the only way you can be rooted
in Christ is if God roots you in Him. And this is what God
does and what only God does. Firmly planted and established
in Him. Planted by God. And this is what's
glorious. When God plants you, you can't
be rooted out. You can't be rooted out. You're
secure in Christ. rooted, rooted down in Him. And then He says, built up in
Him. Now, all building up and growing up is in Him. We're built up in faith in Him. We're built up. We increase,
we grow. We're built up in love in Him.
And you know, can I honestly say this? I can't believe I can't.
I love the Lord Jesus Christ more than I used to. Now, I'm
not saying I feel good about my love, but I see more of his
beauty now than I ever have. I see more of my need of him
now than I ever have. We grow in humility. We grow
in seeing our utter need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Growth is
always down. Yes, it's up, but it's always
down as well. We grow in the beatitudes. I thought about the beatitudes
that describe a believer, but in our experience, the poor get
poorer, don't they? The mourners mourn more. The
meek get meeker. The ones who hunger and thirst
after righteousness get hungrier and thirstier after righteousness.
The merciful become more merciful. They understand more of the mercy
of God and their salvation. They become more merciful people.
The pure in heart don't become more pure in heart, but the pure
heart has more of an effect on them. The peacemakers more earnestly
seek peace. And they that are persecuted
for righteousness' sake are persecuted more for righteousness' sake.
And you know, once again, this thing of being built up, when
it says rooted, that's in the passive. It's something God does.
I can't root myself. But the same thing about being
built up, it's in the passive. It's something God does. I can't
build myself up. The only one who can do this
for me is the Lord himself. We're built up in him. Now look
what it says next in our text in Colossians chapter two. rooted and built up in him and
established in the faith. Made firm, made secure, established
in the faith. Like an established tree as opposed
to one that is newly planted. Established. in the faith. Now,
I loved thinking about this phrase, the definite article, faith.
The faith. Now, we read a lot of descriptions
of faith in the Word of God. We read of little faith and great
faith, don't we? We read of weak faith, and we
read of strong faith. We read of no faith. You know,
the Lord said to his disciples once, how is it that you have
no faith? and we read of being full of faith. Stephen was full
of faith and of the Holy Ghost. We read of your most holy faith
and like precious faith, your faith, my faith, our faith, mutual
faith, and there are definitely degrees of growth in faith. There's weak faith and there's
strong faith. But what about the faith? the faith. That phrase is found
throughout the scriptures, the definite article faith. In Philippians
1 27 we read of the faith of the gospel. Now what would I
like to say about that? The gospel has a specific content
that must be believed or the gospel is not believed. Now it's foolish to try and decide
how much or how little must be believed. When we do something
like that, we're out on a limb that the scriptures will never
support. Let me repeat, it's foolish to
try to make a statement regarding how much or how little must be
believed. I know this. All of the gospel
is to be believed. All of it. I like what Paul Mahan
said. How much does a man have to believe
to be saved? Everything God says. That's a
simple enough answer, isn't it? There is something called the
faith. It has a definite content. And
if it's not believed, it's not saving faith. We read in Titus
1.1 of the faith. of God's elect. I like that,
don't you? The faith that all of God's elect
possess. The acknowledging, the embracing,
the loving, the recognition, the perception of the truth,
Paul says. That's what the faith of God's
elect is. It's the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. It always, now listen to me,
the embracing and the acknowledging of the truth always leads to
godliness, true devotion to God. And a faith that doesn't lead
to godliness is not the faith of God's elect. The faith of
God's elect is the acknowledging of the truth concerning who God
is. Every attribute we believe. We believe whatever God's Word
speaks of Him. It's the acknowledging of the
truth concerning myself. That in and of myself, I'm nothing
but sin. It's the acknowledging of the
truth of salvation. It's of the Lord. It's in Christ. Oh, the faith of God's elect. The acknowledging of the truth.
which is after, which leads to godliness. And then two verses
down, we read of the common faith. I like that, don't you? The common
faith. Do you know every believer believes
the same thing? We have in common what we believe.
We don't believe anything different. I remember one time I was hearing
one of those religious fellows saying, he said, we all believe,
but not the same thing. I thought, that's the most foolish
thing I've ever heard. If we believe, we believe the
same thing. We believe Christ. We believe
all the gospel. It's the common faith which all
of God's people have in common. And here's something I like.
We read many times in the scriptures of the faith of Christ, the faith
of Christ. I love to think about the faith
of Christ. You know, somebody had to believe God completely.
It wasn't me or you. Somebody had to trust God all the way
through. He said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I was
talking to somebody about Psalm 40, and they were talking about
where the psalmist said, I waited patiently for the Lord. And I
thought to myself, who's the only one who ever did that? You
know the answer to that question, don't you? The faith of Christ. He's actually called the author
and the finisher of our faith. And it's his faith that justifies
me. My faith doesn't justify me. His faithfulness justifies me. His obedience, and I believe
that. That's exactly what I believe. I love to think about the faith
of Christ. Justified by the faith of Christ. Oh, don't you love
to think of His faith? Oh, how He trusted His Father.
He trusted Him completely. Never doubted Him, not even for
a moment, even when He was forsaken by His Father, He trusted Him. the faith of Christ, and then
we read of the mystery of the faith. I like that. The mystery of the faith. You
know, our gospel is mysterious, isn't it? It's not just this
cut and dry thing that a natural man can understand. The mystery
of the faith. It's a mystery that God is one
God in three persons. That's mysterious. It can't possibly
be understood. We'd never know it unless God
was pleased to reveal it. But because He revealed it, we
believe. I think of the great mystery
of godliness, how God was manifested in the flesh. That is mysterious
how the infinite God, the immutable God, the Holy God became flesh. The Word was made flesh. None of us understand that, we
just believe it. Do you understand how you could be eternally united
to Christ? I've been thinking about that
all day, thinking about the glories of being united to Him to where
I've never been separated from the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
never viewed me independently of Christ. I've always been accepted
in the Beloved. And what a wonderful place that
is to be. Do I understand it? No! Not at all. I don't understand how I've always
had personality before God. Before He formed me in the belly,
He knew me. I don't understand that, but
I believe it. Oh, the mystery of the faith.
How we love the mystery of the faith. The faith is called in the book
of Jude, the faith once delivered. It is not up for changes. It's not progressive. It doesn't
become so it knows no modifications. It knows no changes or variations.
It's the faith once delivered to the saints. Once delivered,
it knows no changes or variations. That's why Paul called it the
unity of the faith, the oneness of the faith. And I love what
Paul said right before he died. He said, I fought a good fight.
I finished my course. I've kept the faith. I preserved it. By the grace of God, I've kept
the faith. Don't you want to be able to
say that? Oh, I want so bad to say. What is fighting a good
fight? It's finishing. Whatever course
the Lord's given you, it's keeping the faith. Paul said he was set
for the defense of the faith. and every believer set for the
defense of the faith. We also read of being sound in
the faith. I sure want to be that, don't
you? And I don't mean just having all my doctrine down to where
I can give the right answers. I mean, being sound, healthy
in the faith. And then we read of great boldness
in the faith. Now, what is that great boldness
in the faith? Well, first of all, it means you're
bold before God because of what he said in his word. Importunate, bold, whatever you
want to call it, but you come before God with something he
said in his word, and you say, Lord, you said this, not me. You said it. Now do what you
said. Now that's a boldness with God. Not to stay in a way, but Lord,
you said this, you said it. Find all the promises you can
in the scripture that he said he would do. And say the same
thing David did. Lord, you've made all these promises.
Now do as thou has said. I'm holding you to it. Do what
you said. You're a faithful God. You cannot lie. Do as you have
said. Now that's boldness before God. Lord, you said in your word,
sin shall not have dominion over me, because I'm not under the
law, but I'm under grace. Now, Lord, you said that. You
make good to your word and cause sin to not have dominion over
me. Do as thou." Now that's boldness
before God. That's a, that's a, it's not
presumption. It's, but it's a, it's not a
wrong kind of familiarity, but it's really believing what God
said in his word. Do as thou hast said. And it's a boldness with regard
to the gospel. It's not being ashamed of the gospel. Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it, the gospel,
is the power of God unto salvation. We read in the scriptures of
continuing in the faith, not being removed from the hope of
the gospel. And we also read of denying the
faith and erring from the faith. and reprobate concerning the
faith. I don't want to be any of that. Now just as being root
and built up is the work of God alone, you can't root yourself
up or you can't be built up in him, being established is also
his work. It's not something you can do.
Now we want this, don't we? I want to be rooted down to where
I can't be pulled out. I want to be built up in Him.
I want to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And I want to be established
in the faith. And the only way I'll be established in the faith
is if He establishes me in the faith. I can't establish myself
in the faith any more than I can create a world. I'm completely
dependent upon Him to do this for me and in me. Now look what else He says in
our text. rooted and build up in him and
established in the faith as you have been taught." Now what a blessing it is to
be taught, to be taught of God. They shall all be taught of God. You may have been taught through
the preacher, but any true teaching that you've had, where you've
actually been taught, taught of God. I always think it's kind
of funny when somebody says somebody's trying, or God's trying to teach
me something. No, no, he never, he never tries to teach anybody
anything. When he teaches, you're taught. Having been taught, and
notice what he says, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Abounding in the faith. And the
word abundance is, what it means, it means an overflow. an overflow. It means more than ordinary.
Don't you want your faith to be more than ordinary? And I
don't mean in terms of being competitive with somebody else.
Like my faith, I've got a better faith than you. Mine's above
the ordinary. There's the ordinary Joes and
mine's some kind of special, strong. I'm not talking about
that at all. That kind of attitude is wicked. It's being in competition
with people to see who's the most spiritual. No, I'm not speaking
of that at all. But isn't the Lord worthy of
a faith that's not ordinary? Doesn't he deserve complete trust. Now, he says abounding in the
faith. Now here's an encouragement.
The scripture says we're sin abounded. Grace did much more abound. So we have every reason to ask
the Lord that by his grace, we might abound in the faith, overflow
in the faith. We read in the scriptures of
abounding in hope. We read of abundance of grace. We read of
increasing and abounding in love toward one another. And we read
of walking to please God, we would abound more and more We
read of abundance of joy, abundance of grace, and we read where Paul
said regarding giving, see that you abound in this grace also,
that you overflow and abound in faith. Now, when I was thinking
about what does it mean to abound in faith, because I want to do
it, whatever it means, and I don't want to be complicated, I don't
want to be, what does it mean to abound in faith? Well, this
is a scripture that came to my mind. John chapter 6 verse 29,
the Lord said, this is the work of God. Now don't you perk up,
I want to hear what it is. This is the work of God. They said, what must we do that
we might work the works of God? He said, this is the work of
God. that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. Okay. And what came after that verse is
a period. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Now there's two things
that I want to believe with all my heart. God sent Christ. He's the sent one. God sent Christ. Do you believe that? I'm not,
I want to know. Do you believe that God sent
his son into this world? Do you really believe that? And the second question I want
to ask you is do you believe that he did whatever it was God
sent him to do? I want to overflow in believing
that. God sent him. He's God the Son. He came as God's command, and
he did what the Father sent him to do. I want to abound in that. Oh, look at the last word he
uses in verse 7. Rooted and built up in him and
established in the faith, as you've been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Is there anything more offensive
than unthankfulness, expecting things, a sense of
entitlement, ungratefulness, lack of appreciation? Oh, may
The Lord enable me and you to abound in thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich, so free. Oh, the freeness of
his grace. Aren't you thankful that salvation
is by free grace? I love that passage in Romans
chapter five where Paul calls the righteousness of Christ the
free gift. That's redundant to call it free,
yeah, but we need to hear it over and over again, don't we?
The free gift of righteousness. There's nothing more enjoyable
than being enabled by the grace of God to be thankful. Now, if God has rooted you and
built you up in him and has caused you to be established in the
faith and even abound in the faith, there's only one response. Thanksgiving. And I'm not thankful because
things could be worse. How many times have you, well,
things could be worse. I'm not thankful because things
could be worse. I'm thankful because things could
not be better. In everything, give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Paul said that we're bound. Thank God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. And so such a blessing to me
to look at some people right now who are brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Rooted, built up in him, and
established in the faith, as you've been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving.