I'm asking you to open your Bibles
today to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. I'm going
to be reading verses 19 through 23. Now my text and topic is
found in verse 23. This is the title of the message
and this is the text. If we continue in the faith. If we continue in the faith. Now my friends, Do not despise
the word ill in regard to spiritual matters, in regard to spiritual
blessing, and in regard to your relationship with the Lord God.
Do not despise the word ill. It occurs in the scriptures too
many times. We're taught to examine ourselves,
whether we be in the faith. Every time we come to partake
of the Lord's table, we're taught to examine ourselves. Let a man
examine himself. and so let him eat. Peter urged
us to give diligence to make our calling and election sure. Someone once said, God has hedged
us about on one side with promises lest we despair. Promises. And on the other side, God has
hedged us about with warnings lest we presume. Now the Bible
is full of promises to those who believe, promises of mercy,
promises of forgiveness, promises of God's grace and love and eternal
life that we might be encouraged to seek the Lord and to call
upon his name. He is merciful. He delights to
show mercy. He's plenteous in mercy. But
my friend, the Bible is full of warnings. It has many warnings
to those who become indifferent. to those who become careless
and to those who depart from the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now no man can claim any promise
in the Scripture. Now get this, no man can claim
any promise in the Scriptures unless he to some degree fits
the description or the character described in that promise. Now
no man, what I'm saying is this, you cannot lay claim to any promise
in the Word of God. unless you to some degree fit
the character described in that promise. For example, our Lord
said, all things are possible to them that believe. If you
can believe, all things are possible to them that believe. Listen
to this. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. A man's a new creature if he's
in Christ. And no man's a new creature who's
not in Christ. You see what I'm saying? If we
love one another, God dwells in us. If we don't love one another,
God doesn't dwell in us. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. That's perfectly clear. You see what I'm saying? No man,
we lay hold on the promises of God and lay claim to the promises
of God and say that they're ours, the promises of God. But no,
no, they're not ours unless we, to some extent or degree, fit
the character described in that promise. Listen to this. If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. A man who does not take his place
before God as a sinner, who does not humble himself before God
as a sinner in repentance, a man who does not acknowledge that
he's a sinner can find no forgiveness if we confess our sins. Listen
to this. In Hebrews 3, we are partakers
of Christ. Now, we'd like to have that blessing,
wouldn't we? A partaker of Christ, a joint heir with the Lord Jesus,
if, if we hold fast our confidence steadfast and firm to the end. Listen to this scripture. Paul
describes the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, I declare unto you
the gospel which you believe, which you receive, by which you
are saved, if, there's that word, if, if you keep in mind, or if
you hold fast to that which I preached unto you." And then John, describing
the people who had left the church and departed from the believers,
he said, if they had been of us, they no doubt would have
continued with us. So I exhort you, and I warn you
and caution you, don't despise the word if. in regard to spiritual
matters, blessings, and our relationship with the Lord God. Now, the Scriptures
teach preservation. You know what preservation means.
We're talking about the security of his sheep. We're talking about
the security of those who encrush Jesus. God will keep his own.
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Lo, I'm
with you even to the end of the earth. The Bible teaches preservation. It teaches the security of God's
elect, or God's sheep. But my friends, the Bible teaches
perseverance, too. It teaches us that we will not
depart from Him. No, He will not depart from us.
No, will we depart from Him? The Apostle Paul says, I have
finished my course. I have kept the faith. And every
believer not only is preserved by God's power and secure in
the hand of Christ Jesus, But that believer will, he will persevere. And if he does not persevere
in the faith, if he does not finish his course in Christ Jesus,
if he does not continue to walk in repentance toward God and
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he'll perish. The scripture teaches
that. He'll perish. 1 Peter 1, verse
5 says, we're kept, we're kept. There's preservation. We're kept
by the power of God. That's the one who does the keeping,
the power of God. But now don't stop there. There's
no period there. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. Not without faith, but through
faith. Old Testament believers were
described this way in the book of Hebrews. They died in faith. They began in faith, they walked
in faith, and they died in faith. When they started the believer's
journey or the spiritual life, they walked in faith. They walked
with God. But they continued in the faith.
They held fast to their confidence, and they died in the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my friends, I say unto you,
between here and heaven, according to the word of God, there's a
gospel to be believed. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Between here and heaven there
is a gospel to be believed. And between here and heaven there's
a race to be run. We're told in the scriptures
that we're to run this race with patience. The race that is set
before us. And Paul talks about the man
who is crowned is the man who completes the whole course. The
man who crosses the finish line. Between here and heaven there's
a fight to be fought. There's a warfare. The Apostle
Paul tells us to fight the good fight of faith. There's no discharge
in this war. A man does not get his discharge
and go sit on the sidelines while the other soldiers of Christ
engage the enemy. There's no discharge. Between
here and heaven, there's a faith to be kept. We keep the faith. Between here and heaven, there's
a course to finish, and there's a death to die, and there's a
judgment to face. And that death must be died in
faith and that judgment faced in the confidence of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is our one mediator. Now there may be churches
and preachers who will give hope and confidence to those who profess
faith in Christ, who make a decision, who walk down an aisle, who join
the church and are baptized, and then leave the gospel and
become indifferent to the things of Christ. and leave the church
and leave the fellowship of believers. But the word of God holds out
no hope for such a man. Judas departed and stayed on. Demas departed and he goes on
naming others. Simon Magus Peter said, your
heart's not right with God. You're in the gall of bitterness.
And there may be churches and preachers that will hold out
hope to men who have put their names on the line and who have
for a while even taught Sunday school or had an active part
in the church, but who have left the worship of the Lord and left
the gospel of Jesus Christ and left the fellowship of the saints,
the Bible holds out no hope for such a person. In Hebrews 10,
verse 38, now listen to it, Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, God says, My soul shall have no pleasure
in him. You lay the banner down. You
draw back. You return like the dog to his
vomit or the sow to its waller, and God says, I have no pleasure
in you. He that putteth his hand to the plow, our Lord said, and
looks back, is not fit for the kingdom of God. But Paul says
in Hebrews 10, we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. And I looked that word up in
the great concordat, and that word is damnation. That word
is destruction. That word is death. We are not
of them who draw back unto damnation, but we are of them that believe,
that believe and continue to believe to the salvation of our
souls. What am I saying? I'm saying
this. We are of the household of Christ
if we continue in the faith. We are children of God if we
continue in the faith. We have a hope of eternal life.
And we have an inheritance undefiled, reserved in heaven, that fadeth
not away, if we continue in the faith. That's what the scripture
teaches. I know we're hedged about with promises, lest we
presume, and without the promises of God, we would despair. We're hedged about with promises,
lest we despair. And if we didn't have them, we
would find no hope. But my friend, don't presume
on the mercies of God. We're hedged about on the other
side with warnings and our Lord warns us take heed brethren Lest
there be found in you an evil heart of unbelief He says those
people that left Egypt and journeyed across that wilderness for 40
years Of that entire bunch only one person besides Joshua Who
was over 20 years of age when they came out of Egypt entered
the promised land? Why didn't they enter in he says
they could not enter in because of unbelief? They started the
race, they ran for a while, but they ceased to believe. They
laid down the banner, they turned their backs and walked away.
Listen to the text again, Colossians 1, 19. For it pleased the Father
that in Jesus Christ should all fullness dwell, and having made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. that were sometimes or
at one time alienated and enemies, enemies of God in your mind by
your wicked works. Yet has he now reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death that he might present you
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. Oh, isn't that
beautiful? Doesn't that sound good? It is
good. It is beautiful. What a treasure. What a blessing.
If the sentence is not over, there's a comma there, if you
continue in the faith. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, now watch it, and be not moved away from
the hope of the gospel. My friend, I preach what this
book says, what God's Word declares. And God's Word declares that
there's no hope, there's no salvation, and we're not to cry, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. to those who turned their backs
on the gospel of Christ, no matter how zealous or enthusiastically
they followed it at one time. If they turned their backs on
Christ, John said, they never were of us. Not truly, they never
were of us. Because who can turn back to
eat with the hogs when he's eaten with the king? Who can turn back
to a life of shame and unhappiness when he's walked with Christ
in a life of holiness and beauty and praise? A man who's really
seen the face of Christ, how can he be content to look upon
ugliness and evil? A man who has walked with God
can never be content to walk with any less than God. So if
they had been of us, John said, really truly of us, with a regenerated
heart and a new mind and spirit, they would have continued. All
right, here are five tremendous truths that I want to present
to you from this tape. If you would like to, I wish
you'd open the Bible to Colossians, the first chapter, and let's
look at these verses just almost line after line. That's the way
we're to preach it, line upon line, precept upon precept. But
it says here in verse 19, Colossians 1, it pleased the Father that
in him, that in Yet all fullness dwelleth. Now, my friends, what
is all fullness? It says, In him dwelleth all
the fullness, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. What is
all fullness? Well, it's all things pertaining
to God for me. It's everything I need pertaining
to God. It's everything I need pertaining
to a relationship with God. It's found in Christ. None of
it's found in me. None of it's found in the church. None of
it's found in the water. Then I was found in the elements,
everything I need, all fullness, all fullness is found in Christ.
And that fullness is all blessings. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. It's all truth. Christ said,
I am the truth. It's all love. God loves us in
Christ. It's all righteousness. The righteousness
of God is in Christ. It's all mercy. You're complete
in Him. It's all sanctification and holiness,
all grace and all life. That's all fullness. It pleased
God that all fullness should dwell in Christ. Where is this
fullness? It's in Christ. He's the only
one who can contain it. No other creature can contain
all fullness. No angel, no man, not all of
them. Only Christ can contain all fullness. It's all found in him. He's infinite,
infinite, everlasting, incomprehensible. And he's the only one who can
retain it, all fullness. And he's the only one with the
wisdom to distribute it. Yes, all fullness is in Christ.
Why is it in Christ? all this fullness, this blessing,
and truth, and love, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
and mercy. Why is it all in Christ? Tells
us here, says it pleased the Father. You know, they said to
David, they said, where is your God? These heathen, they knew
where their gods were. Their gods were all fixed up,
you know, and sitting in their shrines, and temples, and places
of worship, and They never moved, having no eyes they couldn't
see, and ears they couldn't hear, and legs they couldn't walk,
safely where they put them, where they left them. And they said,
David, where's your God? He said, Our God's in the heaven.
Tell us about him. He hath done whatsoever he pleased.
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, earth,
and the sea, and all deep places. It pleased God to make you his
people. It pleased God to bruise Christ on the cross. That's what
Scripture says. It pleased God, Paul said, to reveal his Son
in me. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And it pleased God that
all fullness should dwell in Christ. Everything I need is
in Jesus Christ. All fullness. When? Well, it
dwells there. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. It always has been there. It
is now and it always will be, never exhausted, never diminished.
All fullness dwells. That's where you'll find it,
dwells in Christ Jesus. All right, look at the next verse,
verse 20. Having made peace through the blood of His cross. Now,
we're talking about peace with God here. We're talking about
peace with God Romans 5 one says therefore being justified by
faith We have peace With God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We hear so much preaching today about the love of God We tend
to forget my friend that God's angry with a wicked The wrath
of God abideth upon the ungodly. That's what the scripture says.
God's justice and God's righteousness and God's holiness cry out, cry
out for death. The wages of sin is death and
God's justice and holiness cry out for death. There's war between
heaven and earth. But it says that through Christ
and through the blood of his cross, we have peace. Peace with
God. Therefore, being justified by
faith, I have peace with God. The war is over. I've surrendered. God Almighty has given peace
through Christ Jesus. Through the blood of his cross,
justice was satisfied. Peace was bought at an awful
price. We're not only talking about
peace with God, but we're talking about peace with ourselves. Peace
of heart and conscience. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on Christ. If I believe on him and
trust in him, if I know in him dwelleth all fullness, and everything
that God requires of me, that God's righteousness demands and
God's justice requires, if I know that it's in Christ, safely dwelling
in Christ, and God's demands are met in Christ, then my heart
can dwell at peace. I always if I'm always thinking
that maybe I'm not saying maybe I haven't done enough. Maybe
I haven't worked enough Maybe I haven't given enough maybe
I've seen too much maybe this maybe that I could have no peace
But in Christ I can have peace now the believer cannot know
anything about peace He's at war with heaven and he can cry
peace peace. God says when there is no peace,
but peace is in Christ and Peace with God, and peace of conscience,
and heart, and peace with one another. It's found in the Redeemer.
All right, look at the next line. He says that we have peace with
God, all fullness is in Christ. Now watch this. And you, and
you of all people, you Gentiles, heathens, pagans, and you that
were alienated, strangers, foreigners from the commonwealth of Israel,
you who were enemies, enemies of God, in your minds, by your
wicked works, he's reconciled. God has reconciled. God's reconciled
to us. He's reconciled. Now, reconciliation
takes two directions. If there's enmity in warfare,
reconciliation takes two directions. First of all, God was in Christ,
reconciling us to himself. God looks upon us through Christ
with favor and mercy and love and grace. See, he's reconciled.
He's not angry anymore because Christ has fulfilled all that
the law requires and all that justice demands, and God's at
peace with us. The Apostle Paul, when he was
solitarcist, he was one of God's chosen. He was one of God's own. He was one of God's sheep. Even
when he was in rebellion, even when he was denying the gospel
and fighting against heaven and fighting against Christ and fighting
against the gospel, God was reconciled to him by the death of his son.
But you see, Saul wasn't reconciled toward God. So the Holy Spirit,
now here's the other direction that reconciliation takes. God
was in Christ. God came down here in the person
of his son and reconciled us to himself. And peace was made,
was bought, was purchased by the death of his son, by the
blood of his cross. But you see, we still got that enmity in our
heart. We still got that hatred. We still got that self-will and
self-righteousness and that ego and pride and haughtiness and
arrogance. It's still there. We're still
at war with heaven. But we may have our own idea
of God, you know, and worship it. We may have our own idea
about what the Bible says. Well, my Bible says this. My
God wouldn't do that. trash everywhere, you know, but
there's still warfare with God. And the Holy Spirit comes and
conquers that sinner. He smites him. He unhorses him. He knocks him in the dust. He humbles him. The Holy Spirit
of God does a work of grace in our hearts and reconciles God
to us. You see that? Reconciles God
to us. The Holy Spirit gives us a new
nature that loves God and loves his word. Everything that the
book says, but if it's God's Word, I believe it. I don't know
everything that God declares, but if he declares it, I believe
it. I don't know everything God commands, but if he commands
it, I believe it. I'm not at war with God. Let God be God.
I'm happy. Let Christ be the only Savior.
That suits me. Let God save whom he will. That's
all right with me. Let God be sovereign. That's
okay with me. Is it all right with you? Well,
you said no. Well, you haven't been conquered
yet. You're still at war with heaven. When you look at the
Bible and say well, I don't believe that even the Bible does say
you're at war with heaven Well, I'll be saved, but I'm not gonna
be baptized. You're at war with heaven Well,
I'll be saved But you think I'm gonna come to church on Sunday
and give up my golf game or give up this that you got nothing
You're at war with heaven old boy. You haven't been conquered
yet And when God conquers you you'll fall in the dust just
like Saul of Tarsus and you say Lord, what will you have to do?
I'm willing. I'm in the receptive mood. I'm in the submissive mood. I'm
willing to do anything you say, Lord. Just speak, you servant,
hear it. You see, that's reconciliation from the other direction. That's
called regeneration. That's called the new birth.
A lot of folks who think they know God who don't know Him at
all. They've got a God of their own imagination. They're in subjection
to their own God, but when the God of the Bible speak his people
bow They submit. All right. Notice the next verse
verse 22. He will present you holy holy unblameable Unreprovable
in his sight now you just chew on those words a little while
you you just think about those three words in reference to us
in reference to you and me I don't claim now you listen to what
I'm saying here and I don't claim in myself any holiness, and you
better not claim any either. All have sinned and come short
of God's glory. All we like sheep have gone astray.
The holy, sovereign eye of God sees sin in you. If any man say
he hath not sinned, he's a liar, and the truth's not in him. If
any man say he hath not sinned, he makes God a liar. Now, we're
not holy in ourselves. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh no man can please God, but in Christ In
Christ, He will present you holy. Our holiness is Christ. Our righteousness
is Christ, with His spotless garments on. I'm as holy as His
Son. In Christ, I'm holy. You see
what I'm trying to say? In Christ, I'm holy. In Christ,
God sees no sin. He sees no ungodliness. He sees
no evil. In Christ, clothed with His beauty,
His garments, unblameable. Think about that. Me, unblameable. Where? In God's sight. Not in
the sight of men. I can find a lot wrong with me,
and you can too. I'm sure you can. But you ought
to give me equal time. I suspect there's some things
wrong with you too. But God says unblameable in His sight. He's
going to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable, who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect. Unaccused, the Greek word says. Unreprovable is unaccused. Talked to those Pharisees who
brought him the woman found in adultery. They wanted to stone
her and He got up and said the one without sin Just go ahead
and throw the first stone and they all left and he looked down
at her and he said woman Where are your accusers? Where are
your accusers? That's no man accuse you. Are
you unaccused? He said no man Lord. He said
neither do I go and sin no more my friend. I'm unaccused by the
law of God by the holiness God with the righteousness of God
and by the moral precepts of God, unapprovable in his sight. Now watch this, and he will present
you. You, think about it, holy, unblameable,
unapprovable. He will present you. You don't
present yourself. You don't take yourself down
to the church and have them present you, or the priest to present
you, or the preacher to present you. He's going to do it. If
you're his own, if you're in Christ, he'll present you holy,
unblameable, unreprovable in his sight through the body of
his death. That's how he did it. Now watch
as we close. If we continue in the faith. If we be not moved away from
the gospel. These promises are to those who
believe and keep on believing. Lord, lead me to seek thee, and
seeking thee to find thee, and finding thee to love thee, and
loving thee, to walk all the days of my life in thy grace.