Let us turn in our Bibles today
to the letter of Colossians, the last chapter, Colossians
chapter 4. We're going to be looking at
five verses in this chapter today. Colossians chapter 4, beginning
with verse 2. You say, well, that's strange,
preacher. You're not going to begin with verse 1. Well, most
of the writers agree, and I see this, that when the scriptures
were divided into chapters, verse 1 of chapter 4 would have fit
real good as the last verse of chapter 3. Because you notice
in chapter 3, the apostle is writing concerning different
duties. As to our relationship, he begins
in verse 18 and he speaks to the wives. Wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. And then
in verse 19, husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against
them. And then in verse 20, children,
obey your parents in all things. For this is well-pleasing unto
the Lord. And then parents, in verse 21. Fathers, provoke not your children
to anger, lest they be discouraged. And then verse 22, to servants
or employees. Servants, obey in all things
your masters according to the flesh. And then in verse one
of chapter four, employers or masters. masters given to your
servants, that which is just and equal, knowing that you also
have a master in heaven. So verse one could have easily
gone with chapter three. So we'll begin in verse two. Read these five verses, two through
six. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us
that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it
manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to
answer every man. I'm going to look at these two
very practical exhortations that the Apostle gives to believers. This is not directed especially
to the wife, or to the husband, or to the children, or to the
parent, or to the employee, or to the employers, but to everyone. That is, all who are God's children,
all who know Christ as their Lord and Savior. very practical
exhortations given unto us, given to you, given to me. And I pray
that God will enable us to see this today and profit from the
message. First of all, the first exhortation
concerns prayer. Continue in prayer. And what I see as I look at this
exhortation concerning prayer, I see that there's a general
admonition and then there is particular request. First of
all, a general admonition or exhortation, continue in prayer. Continue in prayer. Now, what
is meant? by this exhortation, continue
in prayer. You know the Apostle Paul closed
a couple of other of his epistles like this. In Ephesians he said,
praying always. Always? Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the spirit. And then the letter of
1 Thessalonians he said, praying always. Now he says, continue
in prayer. But we know that the apostle
is not exhorting us to always be formally praying. That is
always in the habit of prayer as we go through this world.
We have responsibilities. We have obligations. He's not
saying that. But we have need. When he says,
continue in prayer, We have need not to faint, not to faint in
prayer. Many of God's children, as far
as our knowledge of salvation begins with prayer, for whosoever down on your direction of the
sun and pray. No, we know that we have the
freedom and the liberty to pray no matter where we are at all
times. And yet there's a tendency as
we continue in the Christian life to begin to neglect prayer. Prayer is not as vibrant and
as needful for us as it once was. At least we come to think
like that. And that's the reason we need
this exhortation to continue in prayer. We should not let
any day, and I don't think we do, but let me just remind us
of this. There's no day, there's no day
that should ever pass in the life of a believer without prayer. Praying always. We should always
be in the spirit of prayer. Continue in prayer. Now, does
God delay His answer? Maybe you say, well, I've been
praying for a long time, preacher, and it just seems like there's
no answer. Does God delay His prayer? Well,
remember this. The Lord Jesus Christ taught
a very important lesson on prayer, which we call importunate in
prayer, the importunity of prayer. And he taught us that lesson
by giving a story. And the story was that a man
has gone to bed. He's at home and all of his family,
they're in bed and he's in bed and someone comes and knocks
on his door. And he wakes up and the man outside
who's knocking on his door, he calls to him and he said, friend,
I've had some people come unexpectedly and I don't have anything to
set before them, any food. And the man inside said, don't
bother me. I'm already in bed. The children,
everyone, we're all in bed. And our Lord said that the man
on the inside will not rise because of the friendship, but he will
because of the importunity. The man knocks once and he's
turned away, he knocks again, he's turned away, he knocks again,
and eventually the man gets up. If I'm ever going to get any
sleep tonight, I've got to get up and I've got to give this
man what he needs. Now here's the point of the story.
And it's very important that we see this. That our Lord told
this story immediately, or this happened rather immediately after
our Lord gave the model prayer to His disciples. And then He
said this, if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto
your children, How much more? Here's the point of the story.
If that man would get up eventually, because of the importunity of
that man on the outside, his friend, if eventually he would
get up, that is a man who by nature is evil, like all of us
are, sinful. If you then being evil, would
give good gifts unto your children, or good things unto them that
ask you, how much more? How much more shall your heavenly
Father give good things to them that ask Him? We are to continue
in prayer. We've prayed, we've asked, but
we are to keep on asking. Actually, that's what that verse
says. When it says, ask and keep on asking. Knock and keep on
knocking. Seek and keep on seeking. And your answer, when we pray
according to God's will, it will be answered. And I would just
remind us this morning that we have an enemy, a very real enemy,
as we go through this world. We have more than one, but the
one I'm thinking of just now is the one called Satan. And
the devil would like nothing more than to get you to stop
praying. Continue in prayer. The exhortation, continue in
prayer. A prayerless person is an unbelieving
person. Just remember that is so. A prayerless
person is an unbelieving person. Now notice the next exhortation. Continue in prayer. Watch in the same. Watch in the same. You say, what does that mean?
Watch in prayer. Continue in prayer. Watch in
prayer. We must watch. Now listen to
me. We must watch. Now I know I know
you pray. I'm not doubting that. None of us pray probably as much
as we should or as often as we should, but we do pray. I believe
that. It's true of all of God's children, but still we have this
admonition. Continue in prayer. Watch in
the same. Watch it. Now here is something
I think we all need and may all profit from. We must watch that
our prayers do not become what they should not be. Let me explain that. We must watch
that our prayers do not become what they should not be. What
do I mean by that? Well, I mean it's possible to
use words in prayer, but the heart not be engaged. Watch in prayer. It's possible
to use words and yet our heart is not engaged in the prayer. Our mouth is moving but the heart
is not engaged. One of the old writers, many
of them in fact, have said something like this, it would be better
to go to the Lord without words than to go without heart. Many times the Holy Spirit helps
us, for we know not what we should ask, what we should pray as we
ought, but God the Holy Spirit helps us. And many times it's
just with groanings. It's with sighs. But again, I
say watch in prayer. The heart must be engaged. One of the men that has been
used in the history of the church, he had an orphanage, several
orphanages in England, in fact, and he was well known. I mean,
he never asked for help. And that's, you know, that's
something that has changed in my lifetime. Preachers years
ago, they'd never tell you how much they need your help, how
much money they need. God's led them to begin a new
project and we need you to give and blah, blah, blah. Men of
old went to God. They went in prayer to the Lord
and told Him their needs. They waited upon God to answer. They didn't appeal to me. But
this man, he was of that nature. And he was mightily used of God.
But he recommended this in prayer. He said, always recognize the
presence of God. First of all, recognize the presence
of God. Realize that as you ask, that
you are in the presence of God. that you are speaking to the
Lord God Almighty. Watch in prayer. I say we must
watch that we do not have our prayers become what they should
not be. Our Lord warned about this. He said, when you pray, use not
vain repetitions. I don't know about you, but I
know that's something that troubles me. Use not vain repetitions. We have our prayers. Sometimes
we could just, without even thinking, open our mouth and start speaking.
That's not praying. Use not vain repetitions. The heathen, our Lord said, they
do that and they think that they're going to be heard because of
their much speaking. It's not how long we pray. Don't judge your prayers by their
length. You know, the Pharisees, they
loved to stand on the corners, didn't they? And make long prayers. Be fervent in prayer. Be zealous
in prayer. To have the heart engaged in
prayer. Yes, watch in prayer. And then the third thing we see
about this general admonition or exhortation concerning prayer,
continue in prayer, watch in the same, and number three, with
thanksgiving. If you turn back just a page
or two into Philippians chapter 4, the apostle in verse 6 of
chapter 4 wrote, be careful for nothing. That is, anxious. Don't be anxious. Are you ever anxious? Well, I'll
tell you what, you're looking at somebody who is. I'm not proud
of it, but I must confess that many times I am anxious. Be not
anxious. That's what the apostles said.
Be careful for nothing, but in everything, everything, that's
what he said, in everything, by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Give thanks in prayer. Every
prayer that we pray, there should be worship, of course. First
of all, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. There should be worship in every
prayer. Yes, we make our requests known
unto the Lord, but with thanksgiving. Be thankful. Thank God, you say, well, I just
don't have anything to be thankful for. Well, I doubt that. And
if you said that, you are in bad shape. Not because you don't
have anything to be thankful for, but because you've got a
heart that doesn't recognize the blessings and the goodness
of God. Give thanks in prayer. Thank
God for the privilege of prayer. When you pray, thank God, this
is a privilege that you've given me, Father, that I can come unto
Thee. And I recognize the only way
that I may come unto Thee is through the blood of Thy Son. It's only through Him that I
may approach unto Thee and make my request known unto Thee. With
thanksgiving. Thank the Lord for prayer, the
privilege of prayer. Thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit's
help in prayer. And thank the Lord for answered
prayer. When you pray and the Lord answers
your prayer, then thank him. You know, ingratitude is an awful
sin, isn't it? It's an awful trait to be ungrateful. And I guess we probably are more
ungrateful to God than anyone else. Thank the Lord. Watch. Give thanks. All right, let's move on now
to these particular requests that the Apostle Paul makes. First of all, pray for preachers. Praying for us, that's what he
says. With all, praying also for us. Pray for preachers. Now consider what we can learn
from Paul's request here. That he requested the church
pray for him. He recognized that all the needs
he had, all the needs that he had, that God's church praying
for him, those needs could be supplied. And many times we refer
to Paul as the greatest of the apostles. And there's a reason
for that, because he was so zealous in preaching the gospel and getting
the word of God out. But think of this, if a man like
Paul, if he asks the churches to pray for him, how much more
someone like me Pray for preachers. Pray for
the men that come to you with the word of God. Paul recognized
that prayer is the appointed means that God has given to obtain
these blessings. Pray for the men who bring the
word of God to you. Pray that our hearts will be
prepared. That God will give us a message.
You know, I've got a library back there that there's no telling
how many hundreds of sermons there are. But when I stand in
this pulpit, I don't need a sermon, I need a message. And you need
a message. You need a word from God. Pray
for the preacher that God will anoint him and give him a message
that will speak to you. Pray for us, the Apostle Paul
says. And notice more particularly,
pray, he says, that God would open unto us a door of utterance. Now Paul was in prison when he
wrote this letter. And I assume his prison was like
many prisons. There's cell doors that are locked.
Now he didn't write these believers and say pray that God will open
the cell. opened the door of the cell. Now, the Lord did that
for Peter, didn't He? Peter was in prison, and one
night God sent an angel to him. The church was praying. Remember,
they were praying. And God sent His angel. And Peter
was asleep. Doesn't sound like he was anxious,
does it? He was scheduled to be executed
the next day, I believe. Herod saw that it pleased the
people, the Jews, when they put James to death, and he was going
to do the same thing to Peter. Peter was asleep between two
guards. God sends his angel, and chains
fall off. The door opens. The next door
opens. Peter thought he was dreaming
at first. But Paul doesn't pray that the door of the cell be
opened, but what he does pray is that a door of utterance be
given unto him. What does he mean by that? Well,
obviously he meant that while he was a prisoner, while he was
in bonds, as he says here, while he was chained, that he be given
the opportunity to preach the gospel in prison. Whether he
was in prison or out of prison, his one goal, his one desire
was to preach the gospel, the mystery of Christ. And we know
for sure that God answered this prayer in one case because there's
a man by the name of Onesimus, isn't there? Onesimus was a runaway
slave and he got in trouble and where did he end up? ended up
in the presence of Paul and heard the gospel and God had mercy
upon him. He was saved and sent back to
Philemon. So pray that a door of utterance
be opened. And not only that there be an
opportunity, the door of utterance that the hearts of those to whom
he preached would be opened. Just as God opened the the heart
of Lydia that she attended unto the things spoken by Paul, a
door of utterance, the opportunity to preach, and when the word
is preached, the gospel goes out, that God opens the doors
of the hearts of the hearers to receive the gospel. And then number three, pray,
he says, do you see this? verses 2 through 4. Continue in prayer, watching
the same, with thanksgiving, with all, praying also for us,
that is, for those who preach the Word of God, that God would
open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ.
Now, if God gave the opportunity, there was never a doubt, there
was never a question, as to what the apostle would be preaching.
The mystery of Christ. That's the gospel. Great is the
mystery of godliness that God was manifest in the flesh. But notice the third request
is that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. As I ought to speak. What does
that mean? In Ephesians 4 and verse 15,
he said, speaking the truth in love. Always speak the truth, obviously. Always preach the truth, but
preach it in love. I remember reading a letter that
John Newton wrote to a young preacher years ago, and this
young preacher was in a debate with a free will person. The man who believed that man
has a free will, that salvation is not of God's sovereign grace. And John Newton cautioned this
young preacher. He said, the truth, you have
the truth. The truth is on your side. Or
maybe you're on the truth side. Maybe that's the way he said
it. But he said, let me caution you, speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love. Not just speaking the truth,
but preach the gospel as I ought to speak. So that's the first
exhortation. Second, concerning our walk. concerning the believer's walk. Salvation, we know, is by grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Everyone
who attends here, you recognize that This preacher believes with
all his heart that salvation is by grace and by grace alone,
by Christ alone, through faith alone. You know that. But I want
to remind us that the grace that saves sinners is a grace that
may be seen. S-E-E-N. Grace that saves is grace that
may be seen. Let me show you this, if you
will, in Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, and beginning
with verse 19. Scripture says, now they which
were scattered abroad, that is believers in Jerusalem, were
scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled
as far as Phenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word
to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake
unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand
of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned
unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things
came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. And they
sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch,
who," now watch this, "...when he came and had seen the grace
of God." Now how did he see the grace of God? Was it some cloud that he saw? Of course not. When he had seen
the grace of God, when he saw in the lives of those who had
believed and received the gospel, the life, the changed life, Not
just in their head that they stored up certain doctrines,
but in their life they lived. They lived. They walked in a
new way. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. The grace of God in a person's
heart and life is seen in our walk. in our conduct, in our
lifestyle. That's what we're talking about
here this morning. That's what the Apostle Paul
says if you turn back to our text this morning. Walk, he's
talking about our walk. And a walk, we don't walk in place. I remember
when I was in the Air Force and we were in basic They taught
us to march. You know, there was one command,
you march in place. You just stay in the same place,
but you don't stop marching. Walking, in the New Testament,
it speaks of growth, of movement. And the believer, when we come
into fellowship with Christ, when we're born of the Spirit
of God, we are as newborn babes. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. Walk, our conduct, our walk. Now, there are three things,
and I'll go through this hurriedly, not because they're not important,
but for time's sake. First of all, walk in wisdom
toward them that are without. You, what is Paul saying? You
that are within. Within what? You that are within
walk in wisdom toward them that are without. In the Scriptures,
New Testament, there are several analogies used to picture the
church of the Lord Jesus. It's likened to a body. It's
likened to a city. And it's likened to a building. The saved are members and are
within. They are parts of the body. The
lost are without. The saved are citizens and are
within the city. The lost are without. The saved are living stones in
the building and the lost are without. Those who are without
in this verse when the apostle says walk in wisdom toward them
that are without. Those who are without are those
who are still on the broad way. The broad way our Lord spoke
about which leads to destruction. They're the lost. Now we are
to walk in wisdom toward the lost. Someone says, you mean
to tell me that as a child of God I have a responsibility towards
those who are without? Towards those who are lost? Absolutely. Absolutely, we have a responsibility. And part of that responsibility
is that we walk in wisdom, wisdom toward them. Now, a very similar
exhortation in the letter of Ephesians reads like this, see
then that you walk circumspectly. Now, when you walk circumspectly,
you pay attention to every step that you take. See then that
you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. To walk in
wisdom toward them that are without is to walk having Christ as our
pattern, as our example. You know that there are people
who teach that His death, they call it the example theory. And
we abhor that. We abominate that teaching. Christ
did not die as an example. He died as a sacrifice. as a
sin offering to pay the debt, the sin debt of His people. But
we should not allow that to cause us to shy away from this truth
that He is to be our example as we walk through this world.
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. Take Christ as your
pattern and follow Him. You know, one precept in the
law, this is found in the book of Leviticus was, thou shalt
not curse the deaf. That seems like you wouldn't
need to make a command like that, doesn't it? Here's a man, poor
man, he came here and you stand right beside him and just curse
him, curse him, curse him, he doesn't hear a thing. And then that command goes on,
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before
the blind. Here's a blind man, he's going
along with his cane or whatever, and you just put a rock in front
of him or something to make him fall down, and then laugh. Now
the lost, those who are without, here's my point, they're both
deaf and blind spiritually. And we are to walk in wisdom
toward them. We're not, I mean, if a person
was deaf, you wouldn't fault him for not hearing. If a person
was blind, you wouldn't fault him and try to cause him to stumble. No. Well, we are dealing with
those who are without, who are both blind and deaf spiritually. And we should have mercy on them.
We should have compassion on them. And we should remember
that was us. That was me. And that would still
be me if it were not for the grace of God. Walk in wisdom. Number two is a walk redeeming
the time. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without redeeming the time. There's a proverb, some of you
are familiar with it, Proverbs 23 and verse 23 that says, buy
the truth and sell it not. Also wisdom, instruction, and
understanding. You redeem something that's valuable. You don't redeem something that
has no value. You redeem, you purchase, you
buy back something that has value. Redeeming the time. Think how
valuable our time is. Once it's gone, it cannot be
recalled. It's gone. It's gone forever.
Time must be redeemed for spiritual good. You have time for your
job. You have time for recreation.
You have time for your family. All of these things are important.
I wouldn't make light of any of them. What about your soul? What about your relationship
to God? Redeeming the time. Take advantage
of opportunities. Don't waste the time. Take advantage
of opportunities for your spiritual welfare, your spiritual well-being. We must take the opportunity
not only to do good, spiritually good to ourselves, but also for
others. And the last thing we are told,
walk always with our speech being of grace, seasoned with salt. Our conversation, and now I'm
talking about our literal conversation, our speech, it should be of grace. What does that mean? Talk about
the grace of God. Talk about how God has been gracious
unto you, what grace has done for you. Season with salt. You know, salt makes meat savory,
doesn't it? And it keeps me from putrefaction
or rotting. Our speech should be with grace. Speaking of the grace of God
and speaking graciously of the grace of God. I trust the Lord
would bless this word to all of us here today. And when I say all of us, I mean
all of us. No one excepted. We need these
practical exhortations, or I do, and I assume that you do as well.
And I pray that God would bless His word. We may grow in grace
and knowledge of the Lord day by day.