Remember, that's Ham Husky's
family, the loss of their daughter. That'll be a hard thing. Let's
begin our worship service this morning with hymn number 42,
All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saved you by His
grace, and crown Him Hail Him who saved you by His
grace and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe
on this earth To him all majesty ascribe and
crown him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe and
crown him Lord of all. may fall. We'll join the everlasting
song and crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting After scripturing and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 449. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to the epistle to the Colossian church, Colossians
chapter 1. I'll take my text this morning from
verse 21. in verse 15, speaking of Jesus
Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him. And he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Lord, or pleased the Father, that in him 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,
and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Our Father, we are glad and thankful
that we can read such words as this and know they are applied
to you people, your children, those whom our Lord has redeemed
by his blood. We are thankful that we know
what we are inside and we are embarrassed by it and ashamed
of it. We know that before you, because
of the work of Jesus Christ, we stand unblameable. and unreprovable
in your sight. It's a thing too wondrous to
consider, and we thank you from faith to believe it, when our
minds and hearts tell us, how can it be so? Father, we pray
for those who are sick, going through trials, pray for those
who've lost loved ones. In the Hamlusky family, lost
his daughter. In the Putnam family, the loss
of the grandmother, those who are struggling with different
things, we pray for her. Julie, she's getting ready to
have this procedure, we pray that it'll go well with her.
We ask, Lord, today, if you would be pleased to give us worship,
to cause us to consider what we are in nature and what you
have made us to be by your grace. that we might fall down with
hearts full of thanksgiving and praise for what you've done for
us. Help us to see it, to know it,
to appreciate it, and to bow to you for what you've done.
We pray in Christ's name, amen. In number 449, may
God be the glory of great things he has done. ? To God be the glory, great things
he hath done ? ? So loved in the world that he gave us his
Son ? It is life and atonement for sin. And open the life gate
that all may go in. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Come to the Father, through Jesus
the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase
of blood, to every believer the promise of God. Let's step in That moment from Jesus a pardon
receives. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come. to the Father through
Jesus the Son, and give him the glory, great things he hath done. Great things he has taught us,
great things he hath done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus
the Son. ? Silver and higher and greater
will be ? Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see ? Praise the
Lord, praise the Lord ? Let the earth hear his voice ? Praise
the Lord, praise the Lord Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give him the glory. Great things he hath done. Steve, stand. Let us pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Jesus Christ, our majestic and glorious
Savior, who came into this world and took upon himself the form
of a servant, and being found in the fashion of a man, became
obedient even to the death of the cross. Wherefore, you have
highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every
name. that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of the Father. You
have given him freely to your people and freely given all things
in him to your people. All things are ours and we are
Christ's and Christ is God's. Help us to realize that apart
from your grace we would have nothing but condemnation and
everything we had would be a curse rather than a blessing. But you
have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Let us render
unto thee that which you've given us with joy, thanksgiving, and
praise in our hearts. We pray in Christ's name, amen. and and Good to see Zach back from Colorado. That's what I... When I said,
where's your daddy, Hannah? She says, Colorado. Colossians chapter 1 and verse
21 and 22, it says, And you that were sometimes alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. In the first part of this chapter,
Paul has established in absolute terms the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ and His unquestionable, sovereign dominion over all that
He has created by Himself and for Himself. So if you are one
of His creatures, as is all things created, then you are by Him
and you were created for Him. and He will use you according
as He sees fit, for you are His creation. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is
the Creator, the Sustainer, and the Consummator of all that is,
as well as the Redeemer of His people. Nothing in this passage denotes
anything other that works than the works of sovereign, accomplishing
grace by our God and Savior. Verse 20 proclaims the resounding
success of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in making peace
through the blood of His cross. He made peace. With who? With God. He made peace with
God the Father through the blood of His cross. We were not at
peace with God according to verse 21. We were enemies and alienated
from God. But before we knew it, while
we were still enemies and still alienated in our minds by vile
works, Jesus Christ reconciled us to God the Father. There is no natural human DNA
found on that scene. This is Christ's wondrous singular
work, and to Him be glory forever. He has made peace for the elect
through the blood, and that is the sacrificial death of His
cross. There is no intimation of possibility or probability
or any hint of an offer or something made available to somebody. This
is something that's been done and been accomplished. old song
says done the great transactions done I am the Lord's and he is
mine before we were born here we drew our first living breath
our Savior had made peace for us and thereby reconciled us
to God Almighty when we entered into this world we just didn't
know it we had no idea of it so we went on in our course we
had no knowledge of it and we didn't care for it and we didn't
care that we didn't know. We were content in our criminal
career, speeding like a juggernaut to the utter ruinous end that
was surely ours. Our poor heads were void of any
thoughts of God, any thoughts toward God. Our salvation and
consequent peace was all by the grace of God and all as always
is proves that this grand and glorious and successful work
that saved the people was entirely the work of God. We weren't here
for it. We didn't care for it. We didn't
ask for it. It was already done when we entered
into this world. God makes us to know this and
understand this by revealing the character of the people who
were reconciled to God and for whom peace was established. One
thing is true, if you know something about the grace of God, if God
has revealed His grace to you and His mercy to you, one of
the first things you learn is how wretched and undeserving
you are. Well, that's what grace is for sinners, and so is mercy.
It's for nobody else. It's for sinners. The sovereign
grace of God, this precious diamond of unmerited and unsolicited
favor, is most beautifully displayed against the black backdrop of
our wretched sin and depravity. Grace, saving grace, redeeming
grace is only understood and appreciated by those ruined sinners
upon whom grace has been bestowed. It's a wondrous thing. We didn't
even know we were sinners. Oh, we might have said we're
not a drunk, or we might have said, well, I'm not perfect. Most people will say that. They
don't have any idea what perfection is, but they say that anyway.
But they didn't know they were sinners, and I didn't know I
was a sinner. And I was a preacher a long time before I found out
I was a sinner. I was. I was preaching the gospel.
I was preaching the sovereign grace of God. Then I found out I was a sinner.
One night when W.R. Cruz was preaching in a little
church outside of Winston-Salem on the north end of Winston-Salem
called Faith Chapel. Fred Wood was the pastor there
and W.R. Cruz was holding a meeting and he preached on the gospel.
He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and shut me down. I couldn't
move but seriously I was like glued to my chair. I couldn't
move. I was just totally dumbfounded
by what I heard, because I knew I was lost. That night, two Salve
Grace preachers were saved. Me and Moose Parks, Daniel Parks,
who's a pastor out in Great Falls, Montana, I think. The Lord saved
us both that night. I had no idea. I didn't know
I was a sinner. Found out that night. I remember
when Deb first heard the gospel. Heard it with her heart. I forget
who was preaching. Can't think of his name. But
she heard that he preached on God is holy. We came home that
night in our little house on Clannard Avenue, and she said,
I'm in trouble. I said, why? She said, I'm lost.
I said, I'm sorry, honey. There's nothing I can do for
you. I said, go somewhere and get along with God and straighten
this out. Get with Him. Only He can help you. It's a wondrous thing to find
out you're a sinner because if you ever really do, you'll find
Christ. You'll cry out for Christ. Because
if you find out you're a sinner, you'll find out that all you
have in this world is need. You need Him. Grace shines in the heart of
the elect sinner because only ruined sinners will receive it
and none but a wretched sinner can rejoice in it. Grace is nothing
more than just a word to those who have no need of it. It is
just a word. Grace is an imminent doctrine
in the Word of God because God's grace is in Christ and it has
pleased God that in all things Christ has had the preeminence.
Preeminence does not mean Jesus first. It means Jesus only, Jesus
period. That is what it means. There
are things which attend salvation that are imminent. Christ is
before all of it. He is before it all. There are
imminent truths that surround salvation. Christ is before all
and is indeed the source of all of that, whatever truth is involved
in the salvation of sinners. Christ is before all that is
and indeed the source of all. Grace, though appreciated as
the glorious adoption that it is, is however more than a teaching. It is the experience of every
believer. He has experienced the grace
of God and is the constant theme of the believing sinner's heart
and mind. You find me a believing sinner,
and I'll tell you, somebody's going to talk about grace more
than he's going to talk about anything else in his life. Grace,
grace unto him. So Paul not only declares the
efficaciousness of grace in Christ, by the death of Christ, he also
reminds the believer of the pit from which he was digged and
the rock from which he was hewn. Grace is for sinners, so the
Spirit inspires Paul to take the believer back to the mire
from which he was dug. in which he was sinking when
Christ, in fetching grace, searched him out and found him and saved
him and plucked him out of the mire and set his feet on the
solid rock, plucked him as a firebrand from the burning. Verse 21 begins
the word with the words, and you, and you. When I read these words, I thought
of the words of John the Apostle in the third chapter of 1 John
where he says, what manner of love is this, that we should
be called the sons of God. And we, of all people, should
be called the sons of God. And you, he speaks of those who
have been reconciled to God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who has preeminence in all things. And he says this, and you, and
you, If you read Ephesians chapter 1 of the glorious work of the
Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and salvation, full and free
and complete and absolute, then you read the first words of verse
chapter 2, and you, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
as they quickened together with Jesus Christ, and you, and you. This divine inspired disclaimer
assures us And what follows is designed to exalt the glory and
wonder of grace as clearly displayed by the obvious character, conduct,
and the state of the recipients thereof. How great is grace in
you? It saved you. That's how great
grace is. It saved you. Grace can scarcely
be uttered without the word, and you following it. The employment
of this phrase hints at something scandalous. When you read it,
the words ring with a kind of amazing spectacle. It might read,
and you of all people. Sounds like, well, I never, or
can you believe that? And you. And you, Newton wrote
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that what? Saved a wretch
like me. Saved a wretch like me. And you
is the great high tower, that impenetrable bulwark of righteousness,
that righteous rampart erected by Paul against all and would
bring believers under the law because that's what the Colossians
is about. The despisers of grace believe and declare that grace
is delivered to the doorstep of those who are obedient. You
better hope that's not the case. Some believe grace comes to those
who deserve it, but that's not grace. And you
cast all that on the scrapheap of ignorance and any notion of
personal marriage or personal righteousness having anything
to do with the grace of God. You, as the recipient of the
grace of God, have nothing to do with the grace of God. But God's showing His grace.
You don't have anything to do with it. And you insist that
when grace found your dark soul, you were wholly undeserving of
it, were not seeking it, cared nothing for it, and in fact were
embarrassed by the thought of it. says in verse 13, "...who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son." I was in darkness when
Christ came to me. God delivered me. He delivered
me from the kingdom, that is, the absolute sovereign rule,
that's what that means, of darkness. Ruled by darkness. No light. God translated us to the kingdom
of His Son, and grace finds the sinner. It says he is ALIENATED
from God! ALIENATED from God! The word
ALIENATED here not only expresses the nature of a sinner's heart,
but also bears reference to the fact that when Adam sinned against
God, he was SEPARATED from God! He was SEPARATED from God! It not only may be applied to
our own wicked bit, but is in truth a profoundly accurate description
of the effect of Adam's sin. It alienated us from God. Alienated! To God we are an alien, and God
is an alien to us. We are not of the same ilk. We're
not of the same nation. We're not of the same country.
We're not of the same spirit. We're not the same at all. We're
alienated, alienated. When grace found us, it found
one who was alienated from God, and in order for us to be reconciled,
it must be an action by the action of another, by the action of
a representative. We're alienated, so we can't
make any difference. We can't say, I'm the same as
you if I'm alienated from you. You're an alien to me, and I'm
an alien to you. I'm not the same as you, and you're not the
same as me, so we can't be reconciled. We can't be reconciled. That's
why we were alienated. Christ made peace for us. The
alienation was wiped away somehow, made peace through the blood
of His cross, and reconciled us to God. Reconciled us to God. Tore down the wall that was between
us. He did not do this after we cleaned
up our act. He did not do this after we made
restitution for all our bad deeds. He did not do this after we straightened
up and flew right, or got right with God, or made peace with
God, or any of those things people talk about, or decided to follow
Jesus, or invited Him into our hearts. He did that when we did
not yet exist. He did that when we were utterly
alienated from Him. He did that for us. He did that
for us. Likewise, when grace came and
found us, we were enemies with God. Enemies with God. God was our enemy, and we were
His enemy. While we were yet an enemy, Christ
died for us. The natural mind, the carnal
mind is at enmity with God. It's not subject to the Word
of God, the Law of God, neither indeed can it be subject to because
it's an enemy of God. What does that mean? What do
we do with our enemies? We try to kill them. That's what we want to do by
nature with God. We want to kill Him, take Him
off His throne and put ourselves on their throne in His place. We want to stick our finger in
His eye. We want to shove a sword through
His heart. That's what an enemy does. Back when I was in the
service, I went to Vietnam for a few days and they gave me an
M-16. They didn't give me any M-16 for target practice. If
I saw anybody in black pajamas, I was supposed to shoot them.
I was supposed to shoot them. Why?
Because there's my enemy. That's what we all wear, enmity
with God. That's what it says. And you,
you, are sometimes alienated and enemies. and enemies in your
mind by wicked works." We were not for God. We were against
Him. Our hatred for God did not damage
Him, but it, like an aggressive terminal disease, progressively
damaged us and made us worse and worse, ever plunging us deeper
and deeper into the incurable infection of our own depravity.
our hatred of God was the driving force and motivation of our life.
No God for me. The fool has said in his heart,
no God for me. We manifested our enmity in wicked
works. What does that mean? Anything
that God hates, we loved. Anything that God forbidded,
that's what we wanted to do. If any acts of morality were
committed by us, they were done to be seen to men and were designed
of self-aggrandizement, making us better in our own minds. Such
visible, legal, religious endeavors were designed to establish a
righteousness by which God would be obligated to accept us. That's
what religion's all about. Religion without Christ is about
doing enough to obligate God to do something for you. staying prayed up, as they say,
giving enough, tending enough, doing something, helping people
enough, anything you think might recommend you to God. But let
me tell you what repentance is in this, the true repentance
according to Scripture, the radical change of mind, the metanoia,
the radical change of mind that happens for a believer. As he
finally finds out there's nothing in him about him or from him
that can ever recommend him to God. Nothing. Zero. That's what it is to find
out you're a sinner. All the things you think might
recommend you to God, you count as dumb and manure encasted inside. It doesn't mean a thing. Our
works However, we're in a boat of overt assault of an enemy
and designed to get rid of God altogether, therefore, hardly
conducive to being accepted. Our wicked works were merely
symptomatic of the pathetic nature of our pathological malady. We
are as mad as a hatter by nature, insane in our minds, wicked in
all our ways, read Romans chapter 3 and verse 10 through 19 and
find out what the condition of man is. I know everybody, and I hear
this a lot more nowadays, people say, well I'm a good person.
I'm a good person. Mothers talk about their sons
who murdered people, well he was a good person. He was a good person. What does
scripture say? What does scripture say about you and me in nature?
It says this, there is none righteous, no not one. Just in case you
thought there might be some. None righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
a grave. With their tongues they have
used deceit. They're liars. The poison of
asps is under their lips. Their words are poisonous. They
slay people. They kill people. Whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. I think of this verse so much
in this day and time. much joy going on. I thought
how thankful I am that I have people I can actually talk to and commune with and laugh with
and cry with. What a wondrous thing that is
because most people never get past their cell phones. They
don't talk to people anymore. They just sit and become more
and more bitter in this world. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of
peace have they not known. There roses no fear, reverence
of God before their eyes. That's us by nature. That's how
we are. There are no exceptions to this
rule, no mitigating circumstances, and God says none, not one. Not even one in all of humanity
that walks upon the face of this globe is righteous, is good. Every one of them, me, by nature. That's my resume. You gonna hire
me? I don't think so. That's my resume. We are not for God. We're against
God. We're against God. Our hatred
for God did not damage Him, but it damages us. We've minded the things of the
flesh and not the things of the spirit. The mind here represents
our innermost being. in our mind, the wicked works,
what the psychologists call our id and our ego and our superego,
our vile process and thought processes, our way, our raison
d'etre, the seat and heart of our unnatural, vile affections. This is us, and you, and you,
who are sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works yet now hath he reconciled you hath he reconciled our mind
is the engine of our actions and our mind is a bad thing we
do mind the things of the flesh this is the sinner when grace
finds him this is where he's at this is what he is who's that
guy that's an alien in his mind by wicked works. Ain't nothing in him that will
draw me to thee. God says that's who I'm going
to show grace on. Christ said that's who I'm going
to reconcile to God by the blood of my cross. His next word and
you and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by weak words hath he now reconciled." That's the word of grace. Barnard
said the best definition of grace was in spite of. God saved us
in spite of our sins. These words are words full of
assurance for the grace center. Yet now hath he reconciled. The
reconciliation is done. It's now, you see. been done
for a long time. There is no future reference
here as if to say that having been reconciled, and in some
future day you might or might not be that reconciled to God,
what Christ did in the matter of reconciliations somehow in
the future, some two thousand years later, waiting for your
approval. It doesn't say that, does it?
And that's what religion says, you know, Christ made it possible,
now you just have to invite Him into your heart. No, sometime
2,000 years ago on the cross of Calvary when God Almighty
took the sacrifice of His Son when He was made to be sinned
for His people, when that happened, in that moment, in that glorious
moment when He died and was buried and rose from the dead and ascended
to the right hand of the Father, in that moment it was now now
are you reconciled now I love that word no future reference
this is further declared with the word now as long as you live
what time is it? it's now what time will it be when we
go to bed tonight? it'll be now What time will it
be if we live to tomorrow morning and wake up? It'll be now. Now
is now. Now are you reconciled to God. The past is gone, you see. The
future is not promised and you're living now. If you live tomorrow when you wake,
it'll be now. Glory be to God. Now. Hath He
reconciled you? I say that every moment of your
life, every moment you exist in this world. Now I'm reconciled.
Now I'm reconciled. This is sweet, sovereign, effectual
grace accomplished in the body of Christ, flesh through death.
And the result of that magnificent substitution is that Christ has
presented you. What does that mean? Displayed
you. Like a bridegroom displays his bride. you know bride room
gets married he don't dress up that much he puts on a suit and
looks pretty good but boy that bride she's decked she's decked
in a real pretty dress with a veil on her head she'd never look
better than she does that day how sweet and precious that is
if you ever read Pilgrim's Progress and the next book I can't think
what John Bunyan wrote in unison with that you have The Bride
of Christ which is the church standing before Christ. Christ
says, my, you have a beautiful gown. And the bride says, my,
you have a beautiful gown. That's true. Displayed. I was never more proud, if you'll
allow me to use the word, when I walked down the aisle with
this young lady on my arm. I thought I'd won the grand prize,
and I had. Why? I wanted her displayed.
I wanted people to see her. That's what Christ does for you
who are alienated and enemies in your mind. He's going to present
you holy. Holy. Without blame. Blameless. it displayed, showed off as a
piece of sublime artwork from the divine artistry, holy, and
you of all people holy, and you of all people unblameable, and
you of all people unreprovable in His sight. When? Now. Father, bless us to understand
and to pray in Christ's name, amen. I like the Christmas tree.