Hall never did preach in person
to these people at Colossae. They based that on what he wrote
in chapter 2. If you look over there a moment,
chapter 2, verse 1, I would have you, I would that you knew what
great conflict, I have for you and for them at
Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh." Now, who brought the gospel to these people, we do
not know. But evidently, Paul did not preach
to them. They'd never seen him in person. And the purpose of this to the church at Colossae, or
the occasion of it, I would rather say the occasion of this letter,
was Epaphos, their minister, who preached to them, who evidently
pastored that church, came to Rome and told Paul two things
about them. The first is found here in verse
7. of chapter 1, Colossians 1, 7, as you also, as we, as ye
also learned of Epaphus, our dear fellow servant, who is for
you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your
love in the Spirit. And for this cause, we also,
since the day we heard do not cease to pray for you." In other
words, Epiphas, their minister, whom they heard preach the word
of God, came to Rome and told Paul of the people, of their
love in the spirit, their love for the gospel and their love
for Christ and their love for one another. And then also Epiphas
told Paul of the dangers these people faced. from false teachers,
false teachers who had crept in among the people and were
sowing dissension and discord, came in two forms. You look over here at chapter
two of Colossians. He said in chapter two, you know,
verse one, I read, what great conflict we have for you. Verse
2, that their hearts, you and the people who've never seen
my face, might be comforted being knit together in love unto all
riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in
whom in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
And this I say, this I continually emphasize, in Christ, lest any
man should beguile you, beguile you with enticing words. For
though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit,
joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. rooted and built up
in Him, established in the faith, as you've been taught, and bounding
therein with thanksgiving. Now beware, beware, lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. Now here's the
twofold temptations, the twofold false teachers come in these
directions. philosophy and vain deceit through
philosophy. In other words, the Gentiles,
they came promoting philosophy and worship of angels and worship
of saints and will worship and punishing the body. Vain These
things are deceitful. And then the Judaizers came after
the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, the rudiments
of the world, legalism, circumcision, ceremonies, the keeping of days,
and all of these things. Those were the two directions
that these false teachers took. There were the Gentiles who promoted
will worship, worship of angels, dead saints, punishing of the
body, and this sort of thing. And then the Judaizers with their
ceremonialism and circumcision and holy days and legalism and
things of that nature. And Paul wrote to this church
to confirm them in Christ and grace. And tonight's message
is the source and progress of this grace in the soul. That's
my title, the source and progress of grace in the soul. Now let's look at chapter 1,
verse 1, and I want to look at, in these opening verses, there
are three prominent words. Someone called them the three
greatest principles of grace. The three greatest principles
of grace. All right, chapter 1, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus, Timothy,
our brother, to the saints and the faithful brethren in Christ
which are at Colossae, grace be unto you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we give thanks,
and here's where it all begins. We give thanks to God for you. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you. I give
thanks to God for you. As I look out over this congregation,
I have the same depth of feeling for you that Paul had for these
people. I give thanks to God for you. All things are of God. I'm going to speak in a moment
about the principles of grace that He's given to you, but let's
start with where it came from. He gave it to you. That's the
reason I call this message, The Source and Progress of Grace
in the Soul. I wouldn't just talk about the
progress of grace without identifying the source. I thank God for you. I thank God for you. Anytime
one speaks of a believer, of the grace of God in a believer,
or the conduct of a believer, or the hope of a believer, he
always has to turn to God first and say, I thank you for that
believer. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless His holy name, who forgiveth
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. who satisfy
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. I thank God for you. We are what
we are, Paul said, by the grace of God. And our Lord said in
John 3, 27, a man can receive nothing except it be given him
from above. So God, there's a difference
in you and the people of this world, but God made the difference.
There's a difference, there's a big difference, but God made
the difference. All right, let's start with that.
Verse 3, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, praying always for you. Since we heard, he hadn't been
to this church, and evidently he didn't know these people personally,
but the apostate had come to him and talked about three things.
I heard of your faith. in Christ Jesus. I heard of the love which you
have to all the saints, and I heard the hope which is laid up for
you in heaven. There they are. I thank God,
he said, for your faith in Christ Jesus. My friends, without faith,
it's impossible to please God. He that cometh to God must must
believe, must believe that He is, that God is, that God is
merciful, that God is merciful in Christ, that God is gracious
in Christ, that God will receive sinners, and he must believe
that God is, and that God is the rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. Without faith, there's no union
with Christ. John Flavel, in his sermon, Method
of Grace, he gave five points in this business
of grace, the method of grace. He said, everything that God
has for a sinner is in Christ. Everything is in Christ. And
those mercies and blessings are ours by a union with Christ. The mercy is in Him, the completeness
is in Him, the righteousness and wisdom and sanctification,
redemption is in Him, and it's in us, and ours because we're
united with Him. We're heirs of God and joined
heirs with Christ. He's the vine, we're the branches.
The branch has no life in itself, the life's in the vine, and the
branch lives because it's in the vine. And that union with
Christ, thirdly, is by faith. Faith unites us to Christ. We
come to Christ. We believe on Christ. The Holy
Spirit enables us to believe, but we believe. The Holy Spirit
doesn't believe for me. He enables me to believe. But
I believe. I believe. He said to Peter,
whom do you say that I am? You, whom do they say? Well,
I know what they say. What do you say? Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. He said, blessed are you,
Peter. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but my Father revealed that to you, but He did reveal
it to you. You see that? We believe. And that faith comes
by hearing the Word. Fourthly, this is what Flabel
said, that faith comes by hearing the Word. Faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the Word of God. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved." We call out of need. We call
out of faith. We call from our hearts. We call
because we believe Him. But how shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed? You can't call on an unknown
Christ, an unrevealed Christ. How shall they call on Him in
whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except God sends them?
It's all of God, but it is of God, and it is. And that hearing, fifthly, is
by the power of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Word is preached
to everybody. Many are called, few are chosen. have their ears opened and their
eyes opened. You see that? But Paul said,
I thank God for your faith. I thank God for your faith. Secondly,
I thank God for your love. Love is the evidence of faith.
It's the evidence of faith. Our Lord said, by this shall
all men know you're my disciple. If you love one another, you're
peculiar people, you're different people, you're people who love
one another. Love is the fruit of faith. He
said, whom having not seen you love. And love's absence indicates
an absence of faith. Now, this can't be disputed.
Let's look at 1 John chapter 4. A man can no more have Christ
without faith than he can have Christ without love. In 1 John
4, And he can no more have Christ without love than he can have
Christ without faith. First John 4, verse 8, listen. Verse 7 says, Beloved, let's
love one another. Love is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God. God sheds abroad his love in
our hearts for the Holy Spirit. And he knows God. And he that
loveth not knoweth not God. A father has his, a son has his
father's genes in him. He has his father's nature. And a man born of God, a woman
born of God has the nature of God. God is love. Love is the gift of God too.
Anything we have, and that's the reason I began, that Paul
began this way. We give thanks to God for you,
for your faith. for your love for one another.
And thirdly, thank God for the hope. I thank God for the hope,
verse 5, which is laid up for you in heaven. Now watch this. Whereof you heard. What did you
hear? You heard of that hope. What
is that hope? It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Christ is our hope. Christ in
you is the hope of glory. Where is this hope? It's laid
up in heaven. Incorruptible, undefiled, reserved
for you, and fadeth not away. How do you know that? You heard
before in the word the truth of the gospel. That's how you
know about it. You heard it. The truth of the gospel. You're
not going to hear it in a false gospel. You are going to hear
it in the true gospel. That is how. Thank God for your
faith in Christ. Thank God for your love for one
another, the gift of God. I thank God for the hope, the
blessed hope, the sure hope, the good hope laid up for you
in heaven which you heard when you heard the gospel. Look at
II Thessalonians a moment. Oh my, like I said a few weeks
ago, don't underestimate the power of preaching, the importance
of preaching. Preaching the Word, preaching
the Gospel. If a man hears from God, he'll
hear from God through a faithful preacher. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13, But we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren
beloved of the Lord. because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you." How did He call
you? He woke me up in the dead of
the night. No. How did He call you? I saw a
vision. No. How did He call you? By our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold those traditions which you've been taught, whether by
word, by preaching, or by this epistle you just read. Thank God. Brother Mews says, let's take
another hitch at it. Turn to 1 Thessalonians. Now,
let's look at these words again. And Paul uses them again, but
he puts a word with them. The three great principles of
grace. The source of it is God. The
progress of it now. Watch this. Faith, hope, and
love. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
2. Now he is writing to another
church at Thessalonica. He says, we give thanks to God
always for you all, every one of you. Don't leave out a one. Somebody said Paul was a southerner.
He said, you all. We give thanks to God for y'all,
every one of you, you all. He didn't say you-ins, did he?
You all. Give thanks to God for you all,
making mention of you in our prayers, remembering. Now watch
it, stay with me. Remembering without ceasing. Your faith, your work of faith,
your faith works. Your faith works, you know. And
then he says, your labor of love, he puts a word with love. Over
there at the Colossians, that little new church, he said, thank
God for your faith, hope and love. He writes to this old church
at Thessalonica and he says, give thanks for your faith that's
working and your love that's laboring. And you hope that it's patient. Patient. And I'm talking now
to you old-timers here who have been around a long time. Your
faith. You know, there's a lot of...
There's true faith, true hope, and true love, and there's false
faith. There's counterfeit faith and
imitation faith in religion. But your faith is true faith
because it's a faith that has deeds and works. That's right. It's a faith that
works. Turn to James. This is what the
book of James is all about. It's what the book of James is
about. In James chapter 2, look at verse
17. He says, even so faith, if it
hath not works, faith worships, faith gives, faith helps others,
faith prays, faith perseveres, faith lends a helping hand, faith
forgives. That's right, faith works. And
faith, if it hath not works, is dead. Being alone, yea, a
man may say, well, thou hast faith and I have works, show
me your faith. Without your works, it can't
be done. You can't show faith without...
How do you know Abraham believed God? He did what God told him
to do. How do you know Hagar believed
God? These are illustrations that James gives. Hagar says, I believe God. She
hid the spies. She defended them. She protected
them. She fed them. She took care of
them. She hung the red line out of
the window. She stayed in the house when
Joshua and the forces of Israel came. She obeyed God. That's
how you know. You can't show faith without
works. You can. He says, I'll show you my faith
by my works. I believe God. Thou believest
as one God. Thou doest well. The devil believes
as one God, and he trembles. And here James is addressing
people that claim to be saved and claim to be children of God,
and yet they don't worship God. They don't live lives of righteousness
and godliness and truth and dishonesty and these things. And he said,
O vain man, O vain man, don't you know that faith without works
is dead? It won't save. So Paul over here
writes to the Thessalonian church and he says, I give thanks to
God Not only for your faith, but the many evidences that it's
a true faith. It's a faith that works. And
then he says, I give thanks for your love, but he adds a word
to love. He says it's labor and love. How can labor be a joy? How can sacrifice be a joy? Now just tell me. How can giving,
when goodness, we can find a lot of things to use our possessions
on ourselves, lavishing it all on ourselves. When can sharing
and giving be a joy? When can forgiving be a joy?
I know people that hold grudges. Not long ago somebody was telling
me about somebody who's holding a grudge. won't speak and won't have anything
to do with certain people because of some things that are said.
But what makes forgiving a joy? What makes work and worship a
joy? What makes study, what makes
self-denial a joy? One way, love. Love. I tell you, you do You'd lay down your life for
someone you love, and you'd do it willingly, and you'd do it
joyfully, and you'd do it without regret, and you'd do it without
debate for somebody you love. It's a labor of love. Let me
show you in Galatians. Turn back here to Galatians a
minute. That's the difference. It's a labor of love. It's a
labor of love. Over here in Galatians chapter
5 verse 6, it says, For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision. But I'll tell you what does avail.
It's a faith that works by love. I just like that old story I
heard many years ago about the Down in the country, some little
old boy walking across the field one day carrying another little
boy on his back. The one carrying the other one
wasn't too much bigger than the one he was carrying. And some
man stopped him and said, he said, son, isn't that boy heavy?
He said, no, sir. No, sir, he's not heavy. He's
my brother. That does make a difference. He's not heavy. He's my brother. And that's what explains it. It's a labor of love. But really,
there's no service and no gift and no work too great if we love
somebody. There is no service, no labor,
no gift, no work too great if you love. It all is based on
that one thing, the labor of love. And then he talks about
this hope. Now watch this. He puts a word with it. Patience. We have hope. But I'll tell you
what I want to go with it. I want patience of hope. Don't
you? Patience of hope. Patience of
hope. Perseverance in hope. Whatever the difficulty, I want
patience. Turn to the book of Psalms. I'll
show you David. expresses this over here in Psalm,
first of all, Psalm 27. What kept David from giving up? Back yonder when he was, for
many years, pursued by Saul and persecuted by Saul and hated
by most men, what kept him from quitting? What kept him from, as they say, throwing in the
towel? In Psalm 27, verse 13, he tells us, I would have fainted,
I would have quit, unless, one thing, I had believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. So wait patiently,
wait on the Lord, and be of good courage. He'll strengthen your
heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. In Psalm 42, Psalm 42, I want to look here,
come back to it later, but verse 5, he kept David, you'll love
this Psalm if you'll read it tonight. He was so down, discouraged,
and blue, and he talks to himself, and he says in verse 5, Why are
you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted in me? You have no reason to be. Hope
thou in God. For I said yet, there's the word
yet, don't know when, but yet I will praise him for the help
of his countenance. He'll come to my rescue. He will. That's the patience
of hope. Now, we're going to come back
to that psalm in a few moments. I'm going to read you something
else. But let's turn to 2 Thessalonians and take another look at these
three principles of grace. Faith, hope, and love. Thank God. But faith that works,
love that labors, and hope that's patient. Thank God again. But you know, he talks about
these three things again in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3, but he starts the
same way. Bob, thank God. Look at verse
3. We're bound to thank God. I'm
not going to give you an ounce of credit. All right? Not an
ounce. Bless your heart. You just are
so faithful, but by the grace of God, you're faithful. You're
just so kind to everybody that comes this way. But it's not
you, it's the grace of God in you. If it wasn't for His grace,
you'd be the biggest rebel on earth. So that's what he, every
time he talked, every time he brags on him, he said, now wait
a minute, hold the phone. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, as it is meat. That's the way it ought to be,
as it is meat, because your faith Oh, here's another word. It's
growing. It's growing. Your faith is growing. Your faith
is not just a faith in miracles, and when the miracle's gone,
your faith's gone. It's not just a feeling, and when the feeling's
not right, or ripe, or high, it's gone. No. It's not a historical
faith or a counterfeit faith. It's the faith of God's elect. and it's getting stronger. It's
growing. Faith does. Faith grows on the
Word. I don't believe God like I ought
to. I don't believe God like I'm going to. But I believe God
more than I used to. Yeah, I do. By experience, all
these things. By His Word. You see, the more
Faith looks to Christ, but the more faith looks to Christ, the
more precious he becomes. Faith is a growing grace. The
disciples said to our Lord, Lord, increase our faith. He said,
I will. He said, I've got a lot of things
to say to you. You're not able to bear them
now, but you will be. Your faith is going to grow.
You will be. And you young believers, don't get discouraged. Wait on
the Lord. He'll strengthen your heart.
That's why He says, wait on the Lord. He'll strengthen your heart.
He'll strengthen your faith. That's what He'll strengthen.
I prayed for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. It'll grow. Your faith groweth, groweth exceeding. I'm so glad he said you're growing
up, you're maturing. You'd never admit it, but it's
noticeable. It's noticeable, isn't it? All
right, the second word, and the love, and the love of every one
of you all toward each other. What's happening to it? It's
abounding, increasing. It's abounding. Makes me think
about that scripture over there in 2 Corinthians, where sin did
abound, overflow, grace did much more overflow. And right here
in this congregation, from this pulpit clear to the back wall,
there are human beings, and how human we are, how frail we are.
The Lord made me to know how frail I am, how full of infirmities
and failures and faults, and yet, your love just abounds. overflows and covers those faults.
See, love covereth a fault. Love doesn't point at a fault and exaggerate it and expose
it. That's hate, does that? Love
covers a multitude of faults. If a brother be overtaken in
a fault, let that love overflow and abound and restore him. discipline
him and kick him out and exclude him, restore him in the spirit of meekness. So
your love, your faith's growing exceedingly, and your love is
abounding, covering, taking up for each other, like we take
up for our children, don't we? It abounds toward one another. And look here at verse 4. Now,
he said, in verse 4, he says, and this is what I'm going to
read it, and you'll see this is what he's saying. He said,
I glory in you. I glory in your faith that's
growing, and your love that's abounding, and your patience
in trial. And I'm running around telling
all these other churches about you, not to embarrass them, but that they may be encouraged
to imitate you. Verse 4, so that we ourselves
glory in you among the churches of God for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and your tribulations that you
endure. You've been through some deep
water, real deep water. And you've shown
patience and endurance and faith and love. And he said, I've been
bragging on you. I've been bragging on you. Because
your faith, I rejoice in your patience and perseverance in
trial. And that's the only time you
can really rejoice in faith when it's been tried and proven and
endured. And patience. He got a lot of
patience. Maybe he's got enough patience
because he hasn't had any troubles. But when you can say, after all
the white hairs have popped out and all the struggles and troubles
and trials, he's got patience. Patience of
hope. And you have. You've been through
it. And Paul says, I rejoice. And
there really is nothing that will sustain us in triumph. and
bring us forth, as Scott said, like gold, except faith and love and hope. That's what sustains us. Everything
else will just drop out from under you, but faith in Christ,
love for Christ, and confidence and hope in Christ will carry
you through regardless of the storm. That is the reason I say we go
back to Psalm 42. Now listen over here. And they
ask him twice. In Psalm 42. I want you to look
at it a minute. Verse 3, My tears have been my meat day and night. While they continually say to
me, where is your God? You're in trouble and deep water
and trial and suffering and where's your God? Why doesn't He help
you? Down here in verse 10, verse 9, I'll say to my God,
my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why go out mourning because
of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones,
my enemies reproach me and they say daily, where's your God? Where's your God? My Lord cried that on the cross,
my God, where are you? Why have you forsaken me? He's got a lot of sons He never had but one son without
sin. One son without sin. He never
had any sons without trouble. They all got trouble. Where's
your God? All right. He answers. While
you cast down, O my soul, and while you're disquieted within
me, hope thou in God, I will yet, yet in His own time praise
Him, who is the health of my countenance. He's my God. He's my God on the mountain.
He's my God in the valley. He's my God in good times. He's
my God in bad times. He's my God when things go well
and when things I think don't go so well, but He's my God. And don't you listen to those
voices. You listen to Him. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. Well, I ask your patience, 1
Corinthians 13, which Bob read to us, and let me look at these
words one more time. 1 Corinthians 13. And now, verse 13, 1 Corinthians
13, verse 13, and now, abideth faith, hope, and love, these
three. which are the principles of grace
of the Spirit of God. We've seen this in our study,
haven't we? Faith is the gift of God. Faith is the fruit of
electing grace. Faith is the work of the Holy
Spirit in the heart. Faith is that by which we see
and lay hold of Christ. Hope is that grace of God by
which believers Persevere in patience and wait for the fulfillment
of all the promises of God in Christ, through Christ and because
of our union with Christ. That day will come. That day will come. And love
is the gift of God, shed abroad in our hearts. It's his commandment.
This is my commandment, you love one another. It's the fruit of
His Spirit, it's the evidence of His grace, and it's the nature
of God and His children. And it's called the greatest.
And now about His faith, hope, and love, these three, but the
greatest of these is love. Why does Paul say that love is
the greatest? The first reason is this. Because
faith and hope are the properties and effects of love. Faith and hope are the properties
of love. We believe in him because we
love him. We hope because we love. Because he read a while ago,
though I have faith so that I could remove mountains and have not
love, I'm nothing. So faith and hope are the properties
and effects of true love. A person can claim faith and
he can, a lot of people do, claim hope, but it's nothing if he
doesn't love. See what I'm saying? It's nothing. That's what he
said. Though I have the gift of prophecy,
verse 2, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and have all
faith so that I could move mountains and have not love, I have nothing.
A prophet doesn't need nothing. And then secondly, what's this?
Why is love the greatest? Secondly, because a person's
faith is only for himself. I can't believe for you and you
can't believe for me and my faith doesn't help you and your faith
doesn't help me. The just shall live by his faith.
We love our wives and our children. What do God we could believe
for? Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't that be something? Can't
do it. My faith and my hope is my hope. One man's faith can be of no
service to another, and one man's hope can be of no service to
another. But I tell you, by love we can
serve one another. That's what the Bible says. By
love, serve one another. That's right. Love enables us
to serve one another spiritually, encourage one another. Love,
it catches. Love enables us to serve one
another emotionally, materially, spiritually, in every way. I've seen a home transformed
by somebody's love, just showing love, expressing love. We minister to one another. It's
the greatest. And then thirdly, Love is the greatest because
love never ends. It goes on forever. Someday I
won't need any faith. Faith is going to give way to
sight. I'm going to see it, Bob. Whom having not seen, I believe,
but one day I won't need faith. One day you'll say to me, how's
your faith? Perfect. I see it. I see it. And hope? I'm not going to need
hope someday. Hope's going to give way to experience,
enjoyment, and reality. I'm not going to have any hope
when I stand in His presence. I'm going to have evil. But love? Love is going to be manifested
to its fullest extent in that day. Love is going to be perfected
in glory. That's the reason he said, abiding these three principles
of grace.