evening to observe the Lord's
Supper. I encourage all of God's children
to come and obey our Lord's command to do this in His memory. What a blessed time it is to
come and dine at the table of the Lord that He has provided
for us. If you will, let's open our Bibles
today to the letter of Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter two. For 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, that their
hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and 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 are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And
this I say, lest any man should 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 in him,
rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you
have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him which
is the head of all principality and power, in whom also you are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ. buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you were risen with him through the faith of the operation
of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Lotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. This morning, I want to make
remarks on four things that are found in this passage that I've
just read. But I pray above all things this
morning that God will comfort all of his children from this
glorious truth that is found in verse 10, and you are complete
in him. I pray this morning that all
of God's children will be comforted by considering those words, what
a glorious truth and you are complete in him. But as I said,
I want to make some remarks on four things that we see here. First, we have words that Paul
wrote to believers that he had never seen. You notice that in
verse one. He's writing to a church that
he had never visited. He's writing from prison, but
he had never seen these believers. For I would that you knew what
great conflict I have for you and them at Laodicea, and for
as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. We're not told
how the gospel or who brought the gospel to Colossae, but it
wasn't the Apostle Paul. We do know if you look in chapter
one and verse seven, and it could have been this man who brought
the gospel to them, his name is Epiphas. As you also learned
of Epiphas, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ. We do know that this man had
been a minister there in the church at Colossae, and he had
brought word of them to the Apostle Paul. He was with Paul when Paul
wrote this letter. But I'm impressed with what he
said there. Ephaphis, our dear fellow servant,
what makes a dear fellow servant. What makes a preacher of the
gospel to be a dear fellow servant, a fellow servant of the Apostle
Paul? Well, if you look to the last
chapter, in Colossians chapter four, He says something else
about this man. In chapter 4 and verse 12, Ephaphras,
who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect
and complete in all the will of God For I bear him record
that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are at Laodicea,
and them at Hyrpolis. So I see several things there about a
faithful minister of Christ, a dear servant. First of all,
I see he is a servant of Christ, a pastor, a preacher. He is,
first of all, a servant of Christ. He's not a doormat of the church. He's a servant of Christ. He
serves the people of God because he serves Christ. What greater
title, what greater office could anyone have than to be a servant
of Christ? You ladies, you men, all of us
here today that know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and
Savior, what greater title could any of us have than to be servants
of Christ? You say, why do you say that,
preacher? Because he was a servant. Behold,
in Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 1, God says, behold, my servant,
Who is the servant of Jehovah? The Lord Jesus Christ. As the
eternal Son of God, He is God Almighty. But as the God-man
mediator, He is the servant of God who came into this world
to do the Father's work. So that's the first thing about
a minister, a faithful minister of Christ. He's a servant of
Christ. The second thing we see about
him, he's a man of prayer. Paul said he labors fervently
for you in prayers. A man of God prays for the people
that he shepherds, those that he pastors, he prays for them. And number three, he has a goal
and his goal is that they be complete, as he said here, that
you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. That's
his desire. As he seeks the Lord for a message,
as he prays and asks God to give him something to say, a man told
me one time, he said, well, I guess it'd be pretty easy to be a preacher
if you like to talk. Well, it's a little bit more
than liking to talk, to be a pastor. The Lord Jesus Christ, he said,
without me you can do nothing. And no man feels that any more
than a man who is called to preach, a man who stands up in the pulpit,
who week after week, and I was reminded of this recently by
a pastor friend, Actually, from his wife, she had told him this. And she said, you know, remember
it takes a lot of grace to listen to the same man week after week,
year after year. And I thought, that's certainly
true. And I thank God for those of you here who come faithfully
and listen to me. But I guarantee you this, when
I stand here, I have sought the Lord for a message, praying that
God would give me something that would be a blessing and a help
to all who attend here. But Paul loved these people.
He had never seen them, but he loved them. You say, can you
love someone you've never seen? Absolutely. Absolutely. We hear of some of God's people
in New Guinea, to whom Cliff and Lance Heller have preached
the gospel. We've never seen them. We've
never met one of them, but we love them, don't we? We hear
of a man in Mexico that Cody and Walter Groover preached the
gospel to. And we love them, though we maybe
have never seen them. We learned that there are believers
in China, in China that have heard the gospel through the
preaching of Henry Mahan. And we've never met them, never
will. We love them. We hear of believers
in Sacramento, California that have heard the gospel under a
pastor by the name of Warta. I've never met him, but I know
he is a gospel preacher, and God's raised up a church there.
We haven't ever met those people, and we probably never will in
this world, but we love God's people. We love to hear that
there are other believers in other parts of the world who
too believe that God is God, that God is sovereign, that God
has a people in this world that he has chosen and redeemed. And though most of the religious
world, most of the religious world will not have it. They're
all caught up in free willism. which is nothing more than bragging
on man. God's people love to brag on
God, worship God. And we love to hear of others
who've heard the gospel and believe the gospel. And not only do we
love believers that we have never seen, but we love Jesus. We love the Lord Jesus Christ. We've never seen him in the flesh,
have we? No. Peter wrote his first letter,
and he mentioned that. He said that, who having not
seen, you love. You've never seen Jesus, those
to whom he was writing, but you love him. And God's people, we
do love the Lord Jesus Christ. I know many times we question
Many times we doubt if we really do have love for Christ and we
must just come to the place like Peter did when he said, Lord,
thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. May not seem like it sometimes,
but Lord, you know that I love thee. That's the first thing
I wanted to say, looking at some words that Paul wrote to believers
that he had never seen. Second, we have words that Paul
wrote to believers for whom he was very concerned. He was concerned
about them, if you notice in verse 4, Colossians 2 and verse
4. He was very concerned about them
being beguiled. Lest any man beguile you with
enticing words. Now he had been made aware, no
doubt, by the preacher who came giving him word about this church,
that there were false teachers who had come among them. And
notice they had worked to spoil. Look in verse eight, beware lest
any man spoil you. That word spoil. We think about
the spoils of war, when one nation conquers another nation and they
take the spoils of war, the treasures of that nation. And the man that Paul had in
mind here were men who were like their father, that is Satan. They were thieves and they were
robbers and they would spoil you of the gospel. They would
take away from you the message of the gospel of the grace of
God, that salvation is, it's not 99% free, it is 100% free. It's not mostly of grace, it's
all of grace. But these men would come in,
as they did to most of the churches that we're familiar with in the
New Testament, The preacher had come, the apostle had come, no
matter which one it was, and preached the true gospel, the
gospel of the grace of God. Then these men would come in
and they would say, yes, that's great, that's fine. You believe
in Jesus, but, but, but you've got to do this, and you've got
to do that, and you've got to accept this. And before long,
they were taking them, they were spoiling them, taking them away
from the truth concerning the free grace of God, that salvation
is by grace through faith and not of works lest any man should
boast. Now, by what he says here, by
what Paul mentions here, the traditions of men, circumcision,
the rudiments of this world, holy days. It makes me believe
that these were Judaizers, these false teachers, that Paul was
afraid would spoil them. They were Judaizers. They were
men who said, yes, we believe in Jesus, but they insisted along
with Christ there was something else, and usually they meant
that these Gentile believers would come under the law of Moses
and live. They would practice the Sabbath
day, the seventh day. They would not eat certain meats. They had all those laws that
were part of the Mosaic economy. And they would try to put believers
under that Old Testament law. Actually, they wanted them to
become Jews. The Gentiles become Jews to live
as Jews. You remember, even Peter got
caught up in that. When he had come to Antioch,
I believe it was, and ate with the Gentiles, and then when some
of the Jewish brethren came from Jerusalem, came down, well, Peter
He got over by himself with a table just with Jews eating there.
He wouldn't eat with the Gentile believers anymore. There's all
kinds of rules and regulations that men have come up with, the
rudiments of the world. That usually refers to the Old
Testament law, the law of Moses, the rudiments, the very first
principles of the gospel. The gospel was pictured in the
Old Testament by those shadows and types, Christ was pictured. But now he has come and given
us a true knowledge of God, revealed the truth clearly about the Lord. The third, we have words that
Paul wrote about Christ here in verse nine. For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Let that kind of roll
over your soul. In him, for in him, it refers
back to Christ, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. God was manifest in the flesh. I want to read you the comments
of Robert Hawker on that particular verse, and I pray that you can
follow with me as I read. Not a long comment, but reader,
reader, do not expect an explanation of this wonderful mystery. I like that. Don't expect me
to explain this. That's what he's saying, isn't
it? Reader, do not expect an explanation
of this wonderful mystery. God manifests in the flesh. God dwelling in flesh. Yea, all the fullness of the
Godhead dwelling in him bodily. This is not the province either
of men or angels to unfold. or to explain, neither is it
revealed for the object of our discovery, but, and here's the
important thing, for our faith. This is revealed for our faith. We can't explain how it is that
the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ, that to see
him was to see God. But that's what the scriptures
declare, that's what he declared. And it's not our part to explain
it, but to believe it, to preach it and believe it. He is God,
and as God, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him. The scripture
says he's everywhere present, and yet he dwelt bodily in the
man Christ Jesus. And the two natures in Christ
were not mixed. There wasn't a mixture of God
and man together. No, he's fully God and fully
man, but one person. And that's important to see and
to hear because what one nature could do It is though the person
did it, the person who is both God and man. And what one nature could do
is bleed and die and suffer But it was the man, the person who
bled and died and suffered so that his death, his blood is
effectual as a power to save the lost, to satisfy the justice
of God. It's so important that we see
this, we hear this. He is the head, notice the scripture
says, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the head of all principality
and power, it says in verse 11. The head, the head. Of all, you say, what does that
mean? All principality and power just
means everything. Every created being, all of creation
is under his hand, under his control, that Jesus Christ our
Lord is a sovereign king. That's what it means he's head
of all principality and power. The fullness of the Godhead dwelt
bodily in Christ. Well, here's my fourth point. We have words that Paul wrote,
which are words of exhortation and comfort. Words of exhortation
and comfort. First, the words of exhortation
you see in verse six. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him. That's the exhortation
of how we are to walk. How is a believer to walk in
this world? As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord. How does a person receive Christ
Jesus the Lord? There's only one right way. That
is to receive him as a poor, needy, ruined, bankrupt, helpless
sinner. That's the way we receive him. We don't bring anything in our
hand, as Augustus Toplety wrote, in my hand no price I bring. We don't bring anything, we don't
add anything, we receive him as having nothing and finding
all in Him. Now that's the way we are to
walk in Him, as we received Him. The day you receive Christ, You
received him, as I said, as a bankrupt sinner. You come to him like
that leper did, that we read about in Matthew chapter eight,
when he came to the Lord and the scripture says, behold, there
came a leper and worshiped him. That's the way we receive him
as Lord. We worship him. We acknowledge
that he's the Lord. He's worthy of our worship. And
our desire is that he have mercy upon us. We can't come demanding
mercy. We sure do not deserve it. We
forfeited everything by our sin against God. We come to him as
a needy, helpless, ruined sinner. That's the way we receive him. And Paul says, that's the way
you're to walk in him. And if you live 50 years later,
50 years after you first received Christ, that's the way you're
still to walk in him as a needy, ruined, helpless sinner. If you don't, you're probably
not going to have much peace, probably not going to have much
comfort as you go through this world. I was reading this a couple of
weeks ago about the woman, the Syrophoenician woman who came
to the Lord for her daughter. Now, her daughter was possessed
with the devil. Nobody would enjoy that. Nobody
would like that. But you know how God used that?
If her daughter had never been possessed of a demon, That woman
would have never come to Christ. But seeing she had a need, and
it was so great a need, nobody could help her. She's a Gentile. She's from the land of Canaan
under a special curse. And she comes to the Lord and
cries after him. And he answered her, not a word. Well, I'm going home. Richard
didn't even speak to me today. I'm not going back to that church. Think about Naaman. Remember
Naaman? He was such a great man, a general,
a five-star general. He was next in command to the
king of Syria. But he was a leper. He was a
leper. And that little maid told her
mistress, Would to God our master was in Israel. There's a prophet
over there who would recover him of his leprosy. And the king hears about it,
and there's nothing to be done but for Naaman to go to Israel
and go to the prophet's house. And he doesn't go as a poor bankrupt
sinner, ruined sinner, no, he comes with a whole whole load
of jewels and gold and silver and everything that he thought
he'd need. And when he gets to the house
of Elisha, Elisha sends his servant out and says, you go tell him
to wash in the Jordan River seven times, and he'll come up clean. You know what Naaman said? He
said, I thought. And that's where people get in
trouble. I thought, it's not what you think, it's not what
I think, it's what God says. I thought that he would at least,
seeing who I am, and all these servants that come along with
me, and this great crowd that are following me, that he would
at least come out and strike hands over me. Oh, Mr. Naaman, so happy to have you
come today. I just can't believe you would
grace me by your presence here at my house, at my humble abode. No? He didn't even come out and
speak to me. Sent his servant out here. I'm
going home. What was he? He was full of pride,
wasn't he? Isn't that the case with all
of us by nature? We're so full of pride. And God
has to bring us down. Thank God and amen, he had some
servants with him that at least reasoned with him and said, you
know, if he had told you to do some hard thing, if he told you
to climb up that mountain on your knees, you would have done
it. But he just told you go dip in
the Jordan seven times. But you know what Naaman had
to do? When he went down to the jarden, he had to take off that
robe. And when he took off that robe,
everybody knew he's a leper. He's a leper. But he went down
one time, two times, seven times, and he came out. His flesh was
like the flesh of a newborn child, healed. That woman that came
to the Lord, he didn't answer a word. The
disciples said, Lord, would you send her away? Get rid of her.
She's crying after us. No, she wasn't crying after them.
She's crying after him. And he said, you know, it's not
right to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. A dog? A dog? I'm sent to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel, he said. You're a Gentile. It's not right
to take the bread of the children and cast it to the dog. Truth,
Lord. I read a message by Spurgeon
one time that he entitled, How to Meet the Doctrine of Election.
And he preached it from that passage. Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. But in the end, she said, help
us. Help us. Even the small dogs, they eat
the crumbs, Master, that fall from the children's tables. She
saw in Christ that just a crumb, just a crumb from him would meet
her need. You know what? Our Lord said
He had not seen so great faith in Israel as that woman had. And her daughter was healed from
that very moment. That demon was sent out. Yes. Walk as you received Him. You
received Him as a poor sinner, just keep on walking as a poor
sinner, looking to Christ, looking to Jesus for everything. And
lastly, I know you're glad to hear that word. Words of comfort in verse 10. You are complete in him. When the Lord Jesus prayed to
his father the night before his crucifixion, he said, Father,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
thou gavest me to do. He had glorified his father here
upon the earth. He's the second man, the second
Adam, the first man, the first Adam. He failed to glorify God. He disobeyed God. But the Lord
Jesus Christ said, I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished
the work that thou gavest me to do. The work he was given
to do was to come into this world and perfectly, perfectly obey
God's holy law. He did it. And not only to obey
God's holy law, but to suffer for the sins, to pay the debt
of his people. And he satisfied that. Satisfied
that debt. There's a completeness. There's
a fullness in Jesus Christ the Lord. The Apostle John said,
and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. There is in the crucified Lord
Jesus, there's grace to meet all of our difficulties, all
of our necessities, all of our desires. There's such a fullness
in Christ. Thomas Brooks, he's put it like
this. In Christ, we have a garment
to cover and adorn us. We have a counselor to advise
us. We have a captain to defend us. We have a prince to rule us. We have a prophet to teach us. We have a priest to make atonement
for us. We have a husband to protect
us. We have a father to provide for
us. We have a brother to relieve
us. We have a foundation to support
us. We have a God. to lead us and
we have a treasure to enrich us. We have everything in Christ
and you are complete in him. Let me mention quickly five things
this means to me and I think it will speak to you as well.
Those who receive Him are completely reconciled to God. Completely. If you look in chapter one of
Colossians, those who receive Christ are completely reconciled
to God. You're complete in Him. Verse
21 of chapter one. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now Hath he reconciled? What does that mean? It means
you have peace with God. You're complete in him. You were
enmity with God, but now you are complete in him. You're completely
reconciled to God. Number two, those who receive
him are completely forgiven all their sins. We see that in verse
14 of chapter one. For in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. All of our sins are
completely forgiven, not most of them. You know, people say, well, what
about sins we haven't even committed yet? When Christ died, you hadn't
even committed one sin yourself. All of our sins were future when
he died. Yes, by his blood, we are completely
forgiven all our sins. And those who receive him are
completely justified by God. Completely justified. Number
four, those who receive him are completely sanctified. And we see that in Hebrews 10
in verse 10. By his one offering, we are sanctified. And lastly, and turn over, turn
back a few pages to Ephesians chapter one and verse number six. Those who receive him are completely
accepted in him. You see that in verse 6 of Ephesians
1. To the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. When a child of God dies, we
don't have to call the priest, come out and sprinkle some holy
oil, holy water, or anything like that on us, on the body. We don't have to call the priest
a little before he dies for the last rites. We don't have to call anybody.
All we have to do is acknowledge our brother, our sister has gone
to be with the Lord because they were complete in Christ. Complete. Nothing could be added
to him. Almost too good to be true, isn't
it? But it is true. It is true. It's the gospel.
Well, let's turn to our last hymn, number 204.