Let us turn once again to that closing passage in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians, turning to chapter 4 and the various names that he mentions from verse 7, right through as he conveys various greetings from those who were with him in Rome, and I want us tonight really to center our attention on the words that we have in verses 10 and 11. In Colossians 4, 10 and 11, he speaks then of these men, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom ye receive commandments. If he come unto you, receive him. And Jesus, which is called Justice, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God which have been a comfort unto me." I want us to consider then these three characters and they are of course three converted Jews. Three converted Jews. He says here in verse 11, concerning them who are of the circumcision. So we take that for our theme. Remember we've considered previously what's recorded in verses 7, 8, and 9 concerning two men, Tychicus and Onesimus, and I have remarked as we've looked at those two characters that in what Paul says about them we see something of his own loving heart how evidently he was a very real and true pastor to these people. He speaks somewhat of the character of Tychicus here at the end of verse 7, commends him really to the church of the Colossians by saying he is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the Lord. And He speaks also somewhat of his ministry, the mission that he's sending him on. Verse 7, he says, All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you. And then again at the end of verse 9, They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. Paul, remember, is the prisoner. He's there, he's confined. in Rome because his appeal to the Caesar he had that right as a free-born Roman citizen as we see at the end of the Acts of the Apostles when the Jews were plotting and scheming against him and he's taken by the Roman authorities and they they beat him and it was unlawful he was a free Roman citizen and so he appeals to the Caesar and they have to release him and then he makes that long journey to Rome and here in the chapter he speaks of his bonds having made mention of prayer he wants them to pray for him as that one who is the minister of the gospel declaring the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds." And these men then who were sent, they're bearing this letter to him, Titicus and Onesimus, but he's not so much concerned that the Colossians should know about himself and his situation, he is rather concerned for them. as he says in verse 8, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that he might know your estate and comfort your hearts. Although he cannot visit the Colossians he wants to minister to them and he is sending this letter as part and parcel of that ministry. All that Paul does is for the profit, for the benefit of the churches. We see those remarkable words in the opening chapter of 2 Corinthians. There, at verse 6, he said, "...whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectually the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation." In all that he does, all that he experiences, he's mindful, of these people who, under the good and gracious hand of God, have been instrumental in bringing to the knowledge of salvation in the Lord Jesus and establishing these churches. Well, we've looked at Stychicus and we've also looked at Onesimus. Only last time I mentioned how, as he's spoken of here in verse 9, Again, he's referred to as a faithful and beloved brother, one of you. It appears that he was a member of the Colossian church. But the only other mention we have of this man is there in that lovely epistle to Philemon. And last time I was saying that Ernestimus was really a slave. He was Philemon's slave. but he'd been disobedient, he'd run away but then he'd come into contact with the Apostle Paul and he'd been converted and Paul as he writes to Philemon he's sending Onesimus back to his master and we saw now that though the Apostle is a free-born Roman citizen and Onesimus is a slave yet the apostle loves him as his own heart those distinctions those old distinctions have gone away in the gospel there's no more bond nor free there's no more male nor female there's no more Greek nor Jew but believers are all one in the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul the freeborn Roman is one with Onesimus the slave but I concentrated especially last week on how Paul will stand surety for Onesimus before Philemon who had every right of course to punish him to deal with him in a severe manner he was he was his possession he'd been disobedient but remember the language that we have there in verses 18 and 19, Paul says, If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand. I will repay it. I will repay it. He wants him to receive him, not as a slave, but as a brother slave, a brother, beloved, especially to me. But how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord, he says. And so we said something with regards to the apostle and his great love, his willingness to be a surety, and all that that entailed, and made reference of course to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great surety, the surety of a better covenant. But now we turn to consider these others, these three men, and interesting it's the way in which Paul sends them or conveys in his letter their greetings. Verse 10 he says, Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salute of you and Marcus sister's son to Barnabas and Jesus which is called justice. All of the Those that he's speaking of in these verses are sending their salutations. Again, we see it in verse 12. The pathress, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you. And then he says in verse 14, Luke, the beloved physician and Demas greet you or saluteth you. It's the same word really. It's the same word there in verse 14 that's rendered greet you and then he says salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church which is in his house. Paul wants there to be this conveying then of greeting from these various believers one to another and John Davenant in his commentary says that the word that we have the salutation literally means to embrace how these early Christians loved one another, how they would embrace one another, how they felt one for the other. Of course, when the Lord Jesus Christ manifests himself to his disciples after the resurrection, he greets them with those words, Peace be unto you. And we observed on the Lord's Day there in John 20 that we have that salutation three times in verses 19, 21, and 26. Peace be unto you. And how these believers then would embrace one another and greet one another. How there is that fellowship of the saints. We believe in the communion of saints, part and parcel, of course, of the great apostles' creeds. But let us consider these three men, these converted Jews, or these spiritual Israelites, we might call them, the spiritual Israelites spoken of in verses 10 and 11. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom ye receive commandments, if he come unto you, receive him. And Jesus, which is called justice, you are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me." And so, Paul very much commends them. And yet, we know that certainly two of these characters are very little known. Aristarchus and Justus. We know very little about these two men. Justus, it may be that this is the same man who is spoken of in Acts 18 and verse 7. He was there at Corinth. But very little is said about this man Justus. We do have the other names at the end of Philemon, Aristarchus, Marcus, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas. But of these six, the name Justus is actually omitted there at the end of the Philemon epistle. The six are found here in verses 10 through 14, but only five of those names are mentioned at the end of Philemon and so Justus in many ways is rather an insignificant person we might say very little reference to him he seems to be on the surface a man that's not very important we read a little bit more about Aristarchus he was Paul's companion on his third missionary journey is mentioned there in Acts 19, 29 and chapter 20 at verse 4. The third missionary journey is part of that company who were associated with the Apostle and also in Acts 27, 2 he accompanies Paul on that final journey to Rome. and it was a very real encouragement to the Apostle together with Marcus and also Justice these only are my fellow workers unto the Kingdom of God which have been a comfort unto me they were dear, very dear unto the Apostle But they're not very well known. We read so little of them in the New Testament. But we know this much that they are certainly those who are well known to the Lord God Himself. They are those who are the Lord's true disciples. The foundation of God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that are His. The Lord knows these men. Their names are written in the book of Life of the Lamb and written there from the foundation of the world. How comforting is that truth then that though we read so little of them. There have been many of course throughout the centuries, the Lord's people, very little known of them. We know of those who were great and good men who made a mark and women also. Though many Millions of believers we know nothing at all about and yet they're all written in the book of Life of the Lamb. And many of them are unimportant. When Paul writes in the opening chapter of 1 Corinthians, he makes that quite clear, you see, you're calling brethren that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but we're told how God calls the fools, and the weak, and the base, and the despised. Those are the ones that the Lord God calls. And again, James echoes those words, I can my beloved brethren have not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he hath prepared for them that loved him. And so we have men mentioned here who are not at all very well known. Certainly that's the case with Aristarchus and with Jesus called Justus. And then we have Marcus. That would be John Mark. John Mark is the man of course who is the human author of the second gospel but he is the one who once upon a time had deserted the Apostle. We have mentioned of him with regards to Paul's first missionary journey back in Acts chapter 13 where Paul and Barnabas are separated to this ministry and so we read of them going off on that first journey to preach the gospel in Acts 13 at verse 5 we're told when they were at Salamis they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews and they had also John to their minister John was there to minister to them but then later in verse 13 we're told when Paul and his company loose from Paphos they came to Perga in Pamphylia and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem so for some reason he forsakes them and then of course we read on and Paul and Barnabas return and report on that first missionary journey and then in Acts 15 Paul decides that he's going to go and visit those churches that had been established, the brethren that had been converted But there's a division then. There's a division between Paul and Barnabas, and it all centers on John, whose surname was Mark, at the end of chapter 15 in Acts. Some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other. And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed on to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God, and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches." Now, we're told here, aren't we, in Colossians, that Marcus was sister's son to Barnabas. In other words, he must have been the nephew of Barnabas. So we can understand why it was that Barnabas was more tolerant and still wants to take John Mark but the Apostle feels that he was not suited, he had not really committed himself to the work in the sense we might say he had backslidden however we know that he was wonderfully restored because he is also mentioned in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 and verse 11 where Paul writes to Timothy and this is Paul's last epistle 2nd Timothy is the last of the Pauline epistles and he says take Mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable to me for the ministry how he was wonderfully restored and here we have him mentioned together with these other men who he says they were his fellow workers unto the kingdom of God and they've been a comfort also to him. There is restoration for the backslider there. I will heal their backslidings. I will love them freely, says the Lord God, through the prophet Hosea. And we sometimes sing that lovely hymn of Charles Wesley, 1060 in the book. Thou knowest the way to bring me back, my fallen spirit to restore. O for thy truth and mercy's sake, forgive and bid me sin no more, the ruins of my soul repair, and make my heart a house of prayer." And so we see this man here who was one evidently restored by the grace of God, although he had once deserted the work of the ministry that he'd engaged in with Paul and his uncle Barnabas. Now all of these men were Jews. We're told quite clearly here in verse 11 concerning them who are of the circumcision so there were Jews who were converted obviously and yet we know that generally the Jews were great opponents certainly to the Apostle and when he writes to the Thessalonians and the Thessalonians would experience persecution and writing to them there in 1st Thessalonians 2 he makes mention of the cruelty of the Jews verse 14 of that second chapter he says ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen even as they have of the Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." Paul speaks very plainly there with regards to the persecutions, yet we know that he had a great love towards the Jews they were of course his own people he was himself a Jew, a Hebrew of the Hebrews he was of the tribe of Benjamin and he expresses his great love and his longing for their salvation there in the opening verses of Romans chapter 9 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bear me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. To whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises? Who are the fathers? And of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen." He loves them, yet He recognizes their fallen. in rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah. Well, these three that he is speaking of in the text we're considering here, verses 10 and 11 of this fourth chapter, these were not just ethnic Jews, they were true spiritual Jews. doesn't he say there in that ninth chapter of Romans we read the first five verses if we'd have gone into the to the next verse they are not all Israel which are of Israel and not all the true Israel of God and we read the latter part of Romans 2 where he speaks so clearly against the circumcised the Jews and their follies and then he comes to the end of that chapter and says he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God. Paul makes it clear that God had preserved Israel right through the Old Testament in order for the coming of the Christ, Abram's true seed. Galatians 3.16 he says, To Abram and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, Unto seeds as of many, but as of one unto thy seed. which is Christ. And Christ is that one, of course, who is a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. And so there are those Jews who are saved. And these three are such characters. They are of the circumcision. But they're not just those who are circumcised in the flesh, they're circumcised in the Spirit, they're those who profess that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, and they're trusting in Him. They believe the Gospel of the grace of God that this man Paul is preaching, and preaching not only to the Jew, but also to the Gentile. But as we close, just to consider a little more especially, this man spoken of in verse 11, Jesus, which is called Justice. Jesus, that's his name. And of course, as we know, that's the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, and it's a name given to the Lord Christ. They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved." And this Jew is one who is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. But we have the other name, just as Mark is John Mark, so this man is Jesus, Justice. And Justice is an interesting name, because it reminds us that he is one who is a justified sinner. He is trusting in the Lord Jesus as his salvation, as his righteousness. Remember how Paul preaches in the Acts, there in chapter 13 and verse 39, by him, that is by the Lord Jesus. All that believe are justified from all things that they could not be justified from by the deeds of the Lord, he says. God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. in him and this man he's a justified sinner he's a justified sinner all we know little then of these men and yet how remarkable when we consider them and as I mentioned here by the apostles and consider something of why it is that their names are recorded on the page of holy scripture though a seed of heavenly birth to men they are little known says the hymn writer Thomas Calley how true it is they are little known these men there is little mention of them here in the pages of scripture and yet their names are recorded and it is good for us to to consider them to remember them there are so many noble believers and yet so little known of them Aristarchus My fellow prisoner salutes you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas. Touching whom you receive commandments, if he come unto you, receive him. We may once have been unfaithful, even a backslider, but receive him, he's restored. And Jesus, which is called justice, you are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. Well, the Lord be pleased to bless his word to us. Let us now sing that hymn of Thomas Cullis I just made reference to. It's 1013. In the book, the tune we're going to sing it to is Jackson's 163. There is a family on earth whose father fills a throne, but though a seed of heavenly birth to men their little known. 1013 June 163.