And here in 2 Timothy chapter
4, verse 1 and 2, Paul exalted Timothy. He said in 2 Timothy 4, 1 and
2, I have charged thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at His appearing
and His kingdom. Preach the Word. Three vital,
important words. Preach the Scriptures. Preach the Scriptures. Be instant,
steadfast. That's what that word is, steadfast. In season, out of season. That
is, whether the opportunity seems favorable or unfavorable. Whether it's welcomed or unwelcomed,
it doesn't matter. You preach the Word. Reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering patience and doctrine, for the
time will come when men will not endure sound
doctrine, truth. But after their own lust shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. The teachers
have itching ears. They like to be bragged upon.
And the people have itching ears. They want to hear what they want
to hear. And they'll turn away their ears from the truth and
shall be turned unto fables. Now, what is it to preach the
Word? What is it to preach the Word?
Well, I believe to preach the Word Preach the Scriptures verse
by verse as I did this morning, line by line, word by word, precept
upon precept. Have the people open their Bibles
and follow as you teach the Scriptures. That's the way to preach the
Word. Open the Bible, read it up here, read it out there, and
expound the Scriptures. I hear people say, well, the
Bible is hard to understand. We do not understand the Bible,
the Scriptures. Now, that may be true to a point,
may be true to a point. I know the Bible is the Word
of Almighty God, the Word of the eternal, almighty,
all-powerful God. and their mysteries and their
secrets in God's Word which shall remain mysteries and remain secrets
until we see Him in glory. For example, over in Deuteronomy,
it acknowledges that. Deuteronomy chapter 29. I want
you to see this and mark it in the Scripture. Deuteronomy 29,
verse Deuteronomy 29, verse 29. And it says here, the secret
things. Acknowledging that there are
many secret things in the way. And those secret things belong
unto the Lord our God. You know, stay there for a moment.
You know, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, I know in part What's he
saying there? I don't know all the Word of
God. I don't know all the Scriptures. I know in part. I preach in part. He said, we see through a glass
dimly. A dim, dark glass. We see through
a glass dimly. But then, face to face, I'll
know as I have been known. And there are many secrets, and
these secret things belong to God. But, listen, Those things
which are revealed, and I'll tell you, what a man needs to
know to worship God is revealed. What a man needs to know to be
saved is revealed. What a man needs to know to walk
in truth and godliness and kindness and love is revealed. What a
person needs to know to walk with God is revealed. It's clear. It says those things which are
revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we
may do the words of this book. So really and truly, I think
the main problem is not understanding at all. I don't think it is. I think the main problem is believing. I don't think it's not understanding. I think it's believing. The people
of Noah's day, they understood Noah. He said there's going to
be a flood. That's not too hard to understand.
They understood him, but they didn't believe him. Pharaoh understood
Moses. He knew exactly what Moses said.
Moses said, thus saith the Lord, let my people go, that they may
go out and worship me. Let them go. And Moses said,
well, who is the Lord that I should obey Him? He understood those
words. Israel understood the Lord when He told them to build
a tabernacle and for the high priest to come in once a year
and offer the atonement to people who wait out. That's all clear,
just as clear. But they forsook the worship
of the Lord and worshiped other gods. They understood, but they
didn't believe it. They could not enter in. What does the Scripture say,
John, you quoted? They could not enter in because
they didn't understand it? No, they didn't believe it. They
just didn't believe it. The Pharisees understood our
Lord. He said, I and my Father are one. And they reached down
and picked up stones to stone Him. Many good works have I done
among you, for which of these do you stone me?" Which work?
For which work do you stone me? They said, we are not stoning
you for a good work. We heard what you said. You said
you and God are one, and you are a man. You can't be God.
They understood exactly what he was saying. I am one with
the Father, and yet I am a son of man. They understood that.
They didn't believe it. And when we preach the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ, understanding is not the problem. It's believing. It's believing. And I'm going
to turn tonight to Colossians 1. And I'm going to give you
four points from... I won't be able to... One man
asked me, are you going to teach that whole chapter? Now, there's
too much there. There's just way too much there.
Too much in one verse. But there's too much in that
chapter for me to even, like crossing the Pacific in a canoe.
But start with verse 12. I want to look at some verses
here, verse 12 through 23, that are so clear on the Father, the Son, the Gospel, And our
response. The Father, the Son, the Gospel.
Alright, let's look at the Father. In verse 12, Paul said, giving
thanks to the Father. Paul always gives the glory to
the Lord. The Lord God. Always. Salvations
of the Lord. He loved that. I love that, don't
you? Salvations of the Lord. Salvation. I'm the Lord. There's none beside
me. I kill. I make alive. I wound. I heal. I raise up the poor from
the dust and I bring the high and exalted down. I'm the Lord.
I do all these things. I love that. Giving thanks to
the Lord. The Apostle Paul always does.
In 1 Corinthians 9 he said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. In Ephesians chapter 1, he said,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies according
as He chose us in Christ, having predestinated us to the adoption
of children according to the good pleasure of His own will. I love that. I love that. I love preaching
that Exhaust the Lord, magnifies His grace, gives Him all the
glory. I don't want to hear that other.
I don't want to hear that other. Over in 2 Thessalonians, he said,
we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you,
selected you, elected you, picked you out, Set His affections upon
you in Christ under salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Praise God. Giving thanks to
the Father. What's the Father done? Verse
12, He made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light and glory. What's that word meet mean? It
means qualified. He made us qualified. He made
us sufficient. He made us fit to frequent glory and to be in
that glorious crown around His throne. You know, no man's fit
by birth. We're born in sin. In sin, my
mother conceived me. as shaping and iniquity as both
four speaking lies. How can he be clean as born of
a woman, Job explained? Behold the moon, it shineth not.
The stars are not pure in God's sight. How much more abominable
and filthy is man, unfit, unqualified, insufficient. You dare not intrude. The ungodly shall not stand in
God's presence. The ungodly shall not frequent
the congregation of the righteous. The ungodly shall not participate
in that inheritance. But he's made us fit, made us
qualified, made us sufficient in his Son. Right now, we are
in Christ fit for heaven, fitted for heaven, qualified. Look at
verse 13, "...and the Father has delivered us from the power
of darkness." That's the kingdom of darkness. That's the kingdom
and power of evil, of Satan. Look back at Ephesians 6, darkness. Darkness, Ephesians 6, 12. Oh, what is darkness? Darkness
is blindness. A man's in darkness is blind.
A man's blind is in darkness. Darkness is ignorance. People
in the dark do not know where things are in relation to other
things. They're ignorant. That's right. If our gospel be hid, it's hid to
them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
them. They don't know anything. Oh, they know a lot of things
about this world, but nothing about God. They can't put it
together. A man in darkness, a man in light,
he can put this where it belongs, and this where it belongs, and
that's where it belongs, but a man in darkness, he can't put
anything together. It's all mixed up. Tell you another thing about
darkness. The soul of the unbeliever, in
the church or out of the church, is afraid. Darkness. Now come on, it's fearful. Darkness
is fearful. I don't like darkness. I mean
real darkness, do you? I don't like darkness. I'm afraid.
I don't know what's going on. And that's what he's delivered
us from. He's delivered us from blindness, from ignorance, and
fear. Look at Ephesians 6, verse 12. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood. To most people, religion is just
a matter of flesh and blood. It's prosperity and health and
wealth and social life and getting along and doing their duties.
I'll tell you where the conflict is. It's principalities, powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. This is big doings. A man can be in darkness and
not know he's in darkness. And that's what He's delivered.
He made us meet to stand right now in His presence and among
the inheritance and the people who are heirs of God join heirs
with Christ. He delivered us out of that,
transferred us is the word. Right there, translated us. Verse 13, "...and hath translated
us into the kingdom of light and life and truth, the kingdom
of the Son of His love." That's who that is, that's the Son.
He's transferred us into the kingdom of Christ. Look at Psalm
113. Oh, my, my, this is the work
of the Father. Psalm 113, verse 5. David rises to the occasion here,
and he says in Psalm 113, verse 5, "...who is like unto the Lord
our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold
the things that are in heaven, let alone the things on earth, He raiseth up the poor, that's
us, out of the dust, darkness, lifteth the needy out of the
dunghill, you know it ain't darker than a dunghill, that he may
set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. Bless
God. No wonder, go back to the text,
no wonder Paul says, I give thanks unto the Father. who's made us
meet in Christ, who's lifted us out of the darkness and transferred
us into the kingdom, the Son of His love. All right, these
next five verses exalt the Son. It says here in verse 14, in
whom? In whom? In whom? In Christ. In whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin." Have you seen that verse
before somewhere? Turn back to Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1. It's an important verse. Verse 7, Ephesians 1, 7. In whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin,
according to the riches of His grace. In whom We have redemption. Paul writes it to the church
of Ephesus and here to the church of the Colossians. We have redemption. I pointed out something about
the word redemption. Redemption. And I used an illustration
about a person who has a very expensive watch. He gets in financial trouble
and he takes that watch down to the palm shop and he sells
it to the man. The man gives him money. And
later on, he gets prosperous and he wants his watch back.
So he goes to the man and he redeems it, the word. Isn't that
the word you use, redeems the watch? Well, there are four things
involved here. One, that watch is in captivity. That watch belongs to somebody
else. And God's sheep were lost and
they were in captivity to the law, to justice. That watch got a price on it
now. And you by nature got a price on your head. The law put a price
on your head and justice of God. You got a price on your head.
And then that watch Not only is it in captivity, but it's
got a price. Its price has to be paid. And Christ came and
paid the price. He redeemed us from the law.
He redeemed us from the justice of God. And when He paid the
price, the watch became His. It's delivered. It's not in captivity
anymore. It's delivered. It's taken out
of the hands of the palm master and put in the hands of the master.
And that's the fourth thing. New owner. And that's what God
did, and He redeemed you and me. In Christ, we have redemption. We were in captivity to sin,
to Satan, to the law, to justice. And Christ is a price on our
head. He came down, and you're bought with a price, the Scripture
says. He paid it. And when He paid the price, they
had to let you go. They cannot keep you any longer.
That's the reason I hear preachers say, well, Christ died for everybody. Then everybody's going to be
saved. If it's universal redemption, it's universal salvation because
that man has no right to that watch. It's not his anymore. He sold it. And it belongs to
the one that paid the price. It's his, my sheep. I lay down
my life for my sheep. For my sheep. God, who spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for all of us, the sheep,
how shall He not with Him freely give us all what He bought?"
That's right. We redeemed us. And then it says
this in verse 15, "...in whom He redeemed us, in whom He who
is the image of the invisible God." What's that word? The exact
likeness. He is the visible image of the
invisible God. That's what Paul called the Lord
God in Timothy. He said, He dwelleth in a light
to which no man can approach, the invisible God. But our God
has been revealed to us. Christ said, He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. He's the visible image of the
invisible God. He is the firstborn of every
creature. He is the first one to rise from the dead to die
no more. He is the firstborn. God chose
us in Him. Everything is in Christ. He is
the firstborn in election, in life, in resurrection. Verse
16, listen, "...for by Him was everything created." Everything
in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions,
principalities, powers, there's nothing in the air, in the sea,
on the land, in the sky that he didn't create. It was created by him and for
him, and verse 17 says, and he's before these things. Glorify
me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And he's the head. He's the head
of the church, head of the body of the church. He's the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. Bishop Rowe asked these questions. Where was Christ before the world
began? He said in the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God. Where was He when the world was
made, and all things were made by Him? Without Him was not anything
made that was made. Where was He when man fell? The
Father came and announced, the seed of woman shall bruise the
serpent's head. He's the light in that darkness,
the life in that death. Where was He when God saved His
elect? They were in Him. He came down
here to this earth and redeemed them. Where is he now? He's exalted
to God's right hand. Where will he be in the judgment?
God's committed all judgment to the Son. He'll judge the world
by that man, Christ. He's all. That's the Son. All right, now let's look at
the next verse 19, and we'll see this gospel. For it pleased
the Father. It pleased the Father. That's
the reason. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. I looked up those words in the
Concordance one time. It pleased the Father to make
you His people. It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness dwell. It pleased the Father to bruise
Him. It pleased the Father to reveal His Son in me. And it
pleased the Father by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Whatever pleases the Father, pleases His people. It
pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. What
is this fullness? Well, it's all deity, all majesty,
all powers, all wisdom, all holiness, all righteousness, all grace,
all love, all peace, all joy, all health, All life, all glory
is in Him. And down here in chapter 2, verse
9, it says, For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you are complete in Him. Complete in Him. Now then, I read an article one
time I read an article a fellow wrote, and he said, all that
I ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten. And I read that,
everything that I ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten.
I learned that the teacher is boss, and I'll always have a
boss. Somebody is the boss. Secondly,
I learned to wait my turn. And he said, that's all I needed
to learn that, to wait my turn. Stand in line. I learned that
if you had an apple in this hand, an apple in that hand, you had
two apples. That's math. One and one makes two. If the
teacher takes one away, you got one. That's subtraction. And
all after that is just what do you multiply a hundred by a hundred?
Same thing. One and one make two. A thousand
and a thousand make two thousand. A million and a million make
two million. I just get more knowledge of math, but I learned
everything I need to know in math in kindergarten. I learned
colors, and they ain't changed since then. Folks blend them
and mix them, but still red's red, and black's black, and green's
green, and white's white. I learned all my colors in kindergarten.
I learned to read. I didn't learn to read. I did.
I learned to read my name. If I know one word, I can read. What difference does it make
if I know ten thousand? It's the same reading. Isn't it? If you read one word, you're
reading. If you read two, you're reading. If you read a thousand,
you're reading. But you're still reading. I learned to read in
kindergarten. I learned to write in kindergarten. Oh, I write
better now, but I still was writing. I learned to take directions.
I learned not to talk when somebody else is talking. everything I
ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten. I've grown.
I've developed. I know how to read better. I
know more about colors. I know more about math. Now,
men, here's what I'm telling you. When I came to Christ 44
years ago, I learned everything I needed to know about salvation. I was blind and now I see. And
he did it. I've learned more about who he
is, but he's still the same as he was then. I met him then.
I met Doris 48 years ago. I know more about her now than
I did then. I think I do. But she's the same person. I'm
just as married now as I was then. What are you saying, preacher? I'm not looking for anything
new. When I preached 44 years ago,
who God is and what man He is, and Christ made the difference,
that's what I'm preaching now. I've learned, I think, to preach
it better. I've got more apples than I had then, I think. I know
more about Him, but what troubles me, and I've got a friend that's
always looking for something else. He's looking, these preachers
blow in on the wind and blow out on the same wind, you know,
and he keeps following these different ones, you know, he's
looking for something. I ain't looking! I found Him! I was a babe in Christ. I was a young man in Christ.
I'm an old man in Christ now. But I'm still right where I was
in kindergarten. You see, that man told the truth.
Everything I ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten. And
that's what most of them have missed is kindergarten. The babe. You've got to come
down. He brings you down, strips you,
breaks you, humbles you, puts you in the dust, lets you see
that Christ did it all. And then as you grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, you grow in the same grace that
found you, the same grace that chose you, the same grace that
gave you life, the same grace in which He visited you, and
the same Christ. That's right. His glory is just
great. I haven't looked for anything,
I'm not looking now, and I don't expect to find anything new.
I'm satisfied. Are you satisfied? Satisfied
with Christ? Oh, beware of those folks that
are not satisfied. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded to be able to keep that which I've committed
to Him against that day. When did you commit it? Way back
then. And I hadn't moved it. It's still in His hands. That's
right. I'm no more saved now than I
was then. I was plumb saved then. Plumb saved. Verse 20 says, you're complete
in Him. Complete. Verse 20 says, and
having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to
reconcile all things unto Himself. I say by Him. whether they be
things on earth or things in heaven, and you that were at
one time alienated enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath He reconciled." You're His. The Holy Spirit doesn't
do it later when He baptizes you and gives you some special
gift. Christ did it. Anything better than Christ is
not of God. Anything that eclipses that meeting
you had with Him, God didn't send it your way. Nothing greater
than Christ. One in one is still two. No matter how old you get, it
never changes. Red is still red. Christ is still
Christ. Grace is still grace. The blood
is still the blood. And you might say it in great
big old 14 syllable words, but it would be better if you just
say blood. Christ. Life. Grace. Truth. Love. That's right. And you hath He reconciled. How? Verse 22, "...in the body
of His flesh through death to present you." He's going to do
it holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. And I've been
that way for a long time. You have too. holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight. That's right. I haven't gotten
any nearer to God than I was when He found me. He brought
me to the fold, and that's where I am. That's where I've been
ever since He... He doesn't bring us gradually to the fold. He
finds us, puts us on His shoulder, and brings us home. We're home. Home. In Him. Listen to it. Verse 19 says,
"...in Him," please the Father, that in Him. Verse 20 says, "...by
Him to reconcile all things." Verse 21, "...you that were sometimes
alienated, enemies in your works, minds by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled." Verse 22, "...in the body of His flesh."
through death to present you holy, unblameable, unapprovalable
in Him. And here's my response. If you
continue in the faith, if you believe, you will. The disciples
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life.
If you have life, you're not looking for it. If you have light,
you're not looking for it. If you have truth, you're not looking
for it. If you have rest and peace, And except in the Beloved,
what are you looking for? More of Him. More of Him. Continue in the faith, grounded
and settled. Grounded and settled. Not looking for anything else.
And look, this is the next thing. And not moved away from the hope
of the Gospel. What is the hope of the Gospel?
Didn't you read that a while ago, Bob? Christ in you. The hope of glory. Down here,
verse 27, "...to whom God would make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is
Christ in you." That's the hope of glory. Don't be moved away
from that. If you continue, you will. Be
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel. He said, which I preached to
you, which you heard, which you believed, which is preached to
the whole world, the same gospel. All right, God bless it to your
heart. Let's sing a hymn, number 328.