The Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, three in one. In eternal ages past, made of love, mature, and fast, God, my Father, chose His own. in the person of His Son, and ordain that I should be one with Him eternally. God the Son agreed to come in the flesh to Christ in love so willingly stood as my great surety. ♪ The spirit heavenly dove ♪ ♪ Promised to come down in love ♪ ♪ Bringing life and peace and grace ♪ ♪ To the chosen church's grace ♪ ♪ He seeks the lost, heals the lame ♪ ♪ Then he brings us to life ♪ This poor sinner is secure for God's love. It is sealed by God's own word, by His Spirit and His blood. Blessed, holy, covenant God, I am yours by ties of blood, ties of grace and ties of love. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to be back in the book of Colossians this morning. If you would like to open your Bibles to Colossians chapter four, Colossians chapter four. I sure do like that hymn that we just sang. Ties of grace, ties of love hold me to my God above. No stronger tie, no stronger tie that can give hope to the believer's heart than the ties of grace and the ties of love. Those things cannot change. The Lord said he's loved us with a everlasting love. here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation for our sins. What great hope we have. That covenant promise is just as sure as God's faithfulness is. Let's pray together, ask the Lord's blessings. Our Heavenly Father, We thank you for that covenant of grace and love established in eternity past between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What great hope and what great comfort we have in knowing that that covenant is sure and steadfast. that nothing we do can change it, nothing we fail to do can put it away. That the fulfillment of that covenant in the accomplished work of thy dear son, paying the full penalty for our sin and putting them away once and for all by the sacrifice of himself. Lord, this is our This is our boldness in the day of judgment that as he is, so are we in this world justified. Lord, show us again this morning the glorious person and the finished work of our Savior. And cause us, Lord, to find our hope and our comfort our rest and all our salvation in him. For it's in his name we pray, amen. Colossians chapter four and we'll read from verse three down to verse six. With all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. Now that's the title of this message, Speaking the Mystery of Christ. Speaking the mystery of Christ is not the most important thing that we have to do. Speaking, hearing the mystery of Christ is not the most important thing that we need to hear. It's the only thing. It's the only thing. When all is said and done, everything else will be vanity. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. The mystery of Christ, the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace and the accomplished work of his dear son, the hope of salvation that we have in the sacrifice that he made and satisfying God's justice. establishing righteousness and putting away our sin. It's the only thing that really matters. This speaking the mystery of Christ is essential. It is essential. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. And how faltering our faith is, even even saving faith, how quickly we can lose sight of Christ, how easy we can be distracted by our flesh and by the things of this world, and how necessary it is that we hear of the mystery of Christ. It's the world's only hope. Those outside of Christ, the only hope they have is that they would hear the mystery of Christ and the God who gives the hearing ear would enable them to hear and to believe. It's the only thing that matters. And so Paul's saying, pray, oh pray. This is all dependent upon the Lord to give us hearing ears, to do for us what he did for Lydia when he opened up her heart, to enable us to speak faithfully and truthfully from God's Word as to what this mystery really is. And it's the only hope that a sinner has. The word mystery, as you know, means Hidden. Hidden. The book of Revelation begins with these words, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that word revelation is the word apocalypse. And the religious world has interpreted the word apocalypse as the fire and troubles that are going to come on this world in the end days. But the word apocalypse means uncovering. That's what it means. It means to reveal. So the revelation of Jesus Christ is the title of all of God's word and every passage we go to. We're looking for the unveiling for the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. For without him, we have no life. For without him, we have no hope. And so if the Lord doesn't reveal him, we know that this revelation comes only from God. And if that's true then prayer is essential. I mentioned last Sunday and it's been made more clear to me more recently and having some very sobering, rejoicing conversations with dying believers. And to them, the only thing that's important is prayer and preaching. And how much more precious that becomes, our dependence upon the Lord and our need to hear the mystery of Christ. Praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am in bonds. Paul wrote the book of Colossians, you remember, from a Roman prison. So he's held by chains in Rome. And he was arrested because of preaching the mysteries of Christ, which men by nature hate. And he said, this is the whole reason for my arrest. Verse four, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak, as I ought to speak, that I might make it known as it ought to be known. Walk in wisdom towards 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. So I have three questions to answer in this passage. What ought we to speak? To whom ought we to speak? And how ought we to speak? What, to whom, and how? This matter of speaking, preaching, Making manifest the mystery of Christ is something that ought to be done. And there are certain ways it ought to be done and to certain individuals that it ought to be done. So my first question is, what ought we to speak? And the answer is very simple. It's very clear in our text, isn't it? The mystery of Christ. Turn with me back just a few pages to the book of Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. And we'll begin reading in verse 18. And here again, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly. Now that word boldly means without apology, without compromise, clearly. We're not, it doesn't mean to be brash. It doesn't mean to be harsh. It just means to be clear and that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. So, I'm sorry, I missed the rest of verse 19. To make known the mystery of the gospel. So here Paul refers to the mystery of Christ as the mystery of the gospel. They are one and the same. We call the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of gospel, the mystery of Christ. It's the same thing. In another place, the disciples asked the Lord, Lord, why do you speak to them in parables? And the Lord said, because it is for you to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, it's not for them to know. So here he calls it the mystery of the kingdom of God. So it's the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the kingdom of God. Verse 20, for which I am an ambassador in bonds and therein that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. So there are certain things that ought to be spoken. You're there in the book of Ephesians. Turn back to Ephesians chapter 3, verse 3. And the Lord tells us here that this mystery can only come by divine revelation. And child of God, you know that, don't you? How Oftentimes you feel like you know the mystery of Christ only by the skin of your teeth. How many times you feel like as soon as you get a hold of it, it begins to slip away. And the Lord shows you your need to have him make it fresh and reveal it again and again and again. And so Certainly that's true of the unbeliever. The unbeliever can have no understanding of the mystery of the gospel. The natural man cannot receive the things of God. They are spiritually discerned, except the Spirit of God gives life to the speaking of the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of the kingdom of God. No one will hear. Verse three in Ephesians chapter three, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. For as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. So words are given to reveal the mystery of Christ, to make manifest the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." So this mystery is revealed to the penman of scripture and they exist no longer. We have all that we need by revelation in God's Word. These words did not come by private interpretation. The holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit and all scripture is given by inspiration of God and all scripture is profitable to reveal the mystery of Christ. So we continue to look to the revelation that God gave to the apostles and to the prophets for this manifestation of the mystery. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of this promise in Christ by the gospel wherein I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. So Paul's saying it was the power of God that gave me this revelation, I did not bring to you cunningly devised fables, Peter says. Paul in another place says, I did not come to you with something that came from man. This came directly from God. Child of God, is there anything in your life that you need more than to hear? the mystery of the gospel. And to hear it in such a way as to be able to speak it, not that you would stand and preach or even be, well, we'll get to that when we get to the part about how we should speak and to whom we should speak. But what a joy it is for the believer to be able to speak with other believers boldly the mystery of Christ, what you've heard, what the Lord's taught you, what a blessing it's been to you, what hope you have in Christ. So for the believer, there's nothing else that really matters. when it's all said and done. It doesn't matter how clear we make the mystery of the gospel by words, if the Lord doesn't bless it, it will have no effect. The Lord told Nicodemus, except you be born again, born of the spirit. You cannot see the kingdom of God. Oh, this is the truth that causes the believer to say, oh Lord, give me your spirit. Give me your spirit. That's why the Lord said, if you be an evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more does your heavenly father give the spirit to them who ask him? Lord, I need your spirit. If I'm to hear, if I'm to know, if I'm to have this mystery revealed to me, it's gonna have to be by revelation. The Lord said in John chapter eight, when speaking to those Pharisees that objected to the gospel, He said, why do you not understand my speech? Why do you not understand my speech? And then he answered that question. He said, because you cannot hear my word. You don't hear what I'm saying. And here's the good, here's the other side to that. He that is of God, heareth my words. That's what the Lord said to Pilate, isn't he? When he said, for this cause came I into the world to bear witness unto the truth and they that are of the truth hear my voice and they follow me. So, Lord cause us to be of the truth. Give us ears to hear this mystery. Why is it called a mystery? Because it's contrary to everything that natural man thinks. A natural man cannot comprehend the gospel because it is contradictory to what he has already settled in his darkened mind to believe to be true. As it relates to who God is, as it relates to who man is, and as it relates to how it is that God is pleased to save sinners. Man has already settled in his mind some premises concerning those three glorious truths that causes him to be like the Pharisees, not able to hear God's Word. Something as simple as the sovereignty of God is contrary to the natural man. He can't believe that God is the first cause of all things. He will attribute the cause of things to himself or to other things, but to believe that there is a sovereign God who controls everything is contrary. The Lord said, you thought that I was altogether such a one as thyself. You know, we come into this world fashioning in our darkened imagination a God that looks like us. And so the revelation, the manifestation of the mystery of Christ being sovereign is contrary to what man believes and apart from the grace of God he won't bow, he won't submit to a sovereign God. He doesn't believe that everything that happens in time has been purposed by a sovereign God in eternity and that God is over the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth, and he hath done whatsoever he wills, and no man can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Man by nature believes that he can control God. He has set himself up on the throne of God. The holiness of God is contrary to what the natural man believes, that God is not just without sin, but that God is other than we are in every way. Man brings God down off his lofty throne. And the scripture says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that he sets himself up on the throne of God and he makes God dependent upon him. So the mystery of the gospel is contrary to what men believe about the nature of God. It's contrary to what they believe about God being immutable. I am the Lord and I change not and therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The Lord said I am the same yesterday, today and forever. He's never changed. He's never learned anything. He's never asked a question. He's never been instructed. He's never changed his mind. He has never changed. He is immutable, and that is contrary to the thinking of the natural man. He thinks that he can get God to change. That's why men talk about God having a plan. Well, if plan A doesn't work, he'll go to plan B, or he'll go to plan C, and he'll adjust his plans based on what I decide to do. You see? It's a mystery to the natural man. To believe that God is sovereign, to believe that he's holy, to believe that he's immutable, to believe that he's omnipotent, all-powerful? This is contrary. You see, a man cannot see God because he's already assumed that God has given man a free will to control God. He doesn't believe that God is able to make a man willing in the day of his power. You see? So these things are a mystery. So how is this mystery revealed? Well, we declare. How ought we to speak? We ought to speak from God's word. We ought to just say what God says. That's how we ought to speak. And those that are of the Lord will believe what God has said. They will bow to that. They will rejoice in it. Paul said, pray that I might speak as I ought to speak this mystery. The natural man cannot believe that he's a sinner. He cannot. is contrary to everything he thinks about himself. He thinks that there are some things in his life that are worthy of reward and worthy of praise and worthy of goodness in the sight of God. He doesn't know that sin is what he is. If his conscience ever convicts him of sin, It's only because he's violated his conscience. It's based on the things that he does. Well, I have a sin here and a sin there and a sin over here. He doesn't know that everything about him is sinful. He can't know that. It's a mystery. It's hidden. It must be revealed. And the only way it's gonna be revealed is if the Lord is pleased to reveal himself as holy. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, the first thing out of his mouth is, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. When Job saw the Lord, he came to this conclusion. Behold, I am vile. Everything about me is sinful. The natural man can't see that. He can't understand that that we have two natures. He doesn't comprehend what we're talking about when we speak of our old man and our new man and the old man being nothing but sin and the new man being perfectly righteous in the sight of God. And that our boldness in the day of judgment that is, as he is, so are we in this world. That God has put away our sin And that we stand sinless before God. And we consider ourselves to be vile at the same time. That's a contradiction, isn't it? To the natural man, this is the mystery of the gospel. And Paul said, pray that I would speak the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the kingdom of God, as I ought. Because this is the only way. that men are gonna hear it. Man cannot comprehend a finished salvation. The natural man does not believe that when the Lord Jesus Christ bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross, And he said, it is finished, that everyone that he came to redeem was redeemed before God. The natural man, that's a mystery to him. He thinks that God is offering him salvation, but that he has to do something in order to make what Jesus did on Calvary's cross work for him. Again, set himself up on the throne of God. You see, this is a mystery. to the child of God who has the Spirit of God and believes the Word of God. This is our experience and this is what we have to be reminded of often because we find ourselves losing sight of this glorious hope. Natural man cannot believe that he's spiritually dead. Dead. He doesn't believe that. He believes he's got a spark of life in him that he could just make a decision when he's ready to. He doesn't know that his throat is an open sepulcher. He doesn't know that from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, he's nothing but putrefying sores. He doesn't know and doesn't believe and can't see that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart are only evil and that continually. He can't see that. He doesn't believe that. It's a mystery to him. But child of God, here's what God has said. And it's a mystery to us as well, apart from believing God's word. We know it's true because God said so. We don't always know it's true by experience. We don't feel, we don't feel the sinfulness of our hearts as we ought, but we believe it. The light of the gospel in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ has shined in our hearts and revealed this mystery so that we're able to say, according to God's word, though I don't feel as sinful as I ought, I believe I am because God said so. God said so. That's all we need. To the natural man everything is done by free will. You know there's no such thing as free will with men or with God. God doesn't have free will. Not if by free we mean that one can act contrary to his nature. The will of God is bound to our nature. The will is just our nature animated. And so it is with God. God's will is not, God cannot sin. God cannot lie. His will is bound to his nature. God cannot change his mind. God's limited by his nature. He cannot act contrary to his nature. And so in that sense, his will is not free. And neither is our will, neither is the man's will. It's not free. It's bound to his nature. And men take pride. You know, if making a decision had anything at all to do with our salvation, then we've got something to be proud of. But if our salvation is all of God, From election to glorification, it's all of God. Then he gets all the glory, doesn't he? We have nothing in and of ourselves to comprehend the success, the accomplished work that the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross. God has to reveal that. has to come by revelation. And even as a believer, how often we are prone to think, well, you know, if I did this or if I didn't do that, things would be, you know, I could somehow manipulate God. No. No. We know that this mystery and this work of salvation is all of God. Quickly, go back with me to our text in Colossians chapter 4. To whom ought we to speak? And the Lord answers that question in verse 3, with all praying also for us that God would open to us a door of utterance. I've seen preachers standing on the street corner, a man that said he believed the gospel. He sent me a video of himself, some downtown city, you know, people going this way and that way and he's standing on a soapbox preaching. Well, that's not, you know, that's pray that the Lord would be ready always to give an answer to them that ask you for the hope that's within you. We ask the Lord to open a door and And most of my experiences in speaking to people about the gospel have been more for my benefit than for theirs. It seemed like the Lord just confirms the gospel more surely to my heart. When someone asks me a question, I get a chance to engage in conversation with them about the mystery of Christ. The majority of time is they don't believe it. That's why preaching is so important. You know that God uses the foolishness of preaching. And I assume, I'm making an assumption that you're here today because you have a desire to hear what God has to say about the mystery of Christ. And so the Lord has opened a door of utterance for us here today. And we always hope and pray that he will Does that mean that we don't try to engage someone in conversation about the gospel as we have opportunity to? Yes, but unless they show an interest and unless they continue to want to dialogue with us, there's not a door of utterance open. He said, we're not, we don't debate the gospel. We don't argue with men over the gospel. So unless someone has genuine questions and sincere interest, we don't try to, we don't try to browbeat them with the gospel. That's why, that's why the Lord said, pray that a door of utterance will be opened that we may speak as we ought. I love the way our Lord spoke with that woman at the well in John chapter 4 when he began the conversation by asking her for a drink. And she continued the conversation, what are you, a Jew, having to do with me, a Gentile, a Samaritan? And the Lord said, oh, if you knew who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, you would ask of him and he would give you living water. and you would never thirst again. And she was interested in that. Lord, give me this living water that I come not back here to this well. And the conversation continued. The Lord engaged her and she responded and he continued. And you see that contrary to the way the Lord dealt with the Pharisees when they would want to argue the gospel. And the disciples came to our Lord and said, Lord, what you said offended the Pharisees. And what did the Lord say? Leave them alone. Just leave them alone. They're blind men leading the blind. They're all going to fall into the ditch. Don't engage in conversation with somebody who just wants to argue with you or doesn't believe. But if they are interested, pray that the Lord would open a door of utterance, that we might speak as we ought. And pray that the Lord would open your heart and my heart to hear as we ought. Thirdly, third question, how ought we to speak? How ought we to speak? And the Lord answers that. that I might make, verse four, that I may make manifest as I ought to speak, walk in wisdom towards 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 speak to every man, how you ought to answer every man. We might speak with grace. The Lord said, Galatians chapter six, if a brother be overtaken in a fault, You that are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of grace, in a spirit of grace. Considering thyself, lest you also be tempted. And when we speak to those that are without, be ready always to give an answer to them that ask you for the hope that's within you, but do it with meekness and with fear. This matter of meekness is so necessary in terms of how we ought to speak, considering ourselves, knowing that we're not speaking down to anyone. We're needing grace more than anyone and so we speak from grace. Look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 12. My Bible is the same page, Colossians 3 verse 12. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye them. And above all things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your heart, to which also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. Grace in your heart. Oh, we speak. We're not speaking as a know-it-all. We're not speaking as a judge. We're speaking as one who needs grace themselves. Even when the apostle Paul, in the authority of an apostle, was rebuking the church at Corinth, he said, I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. That's how we ought to speak. Speak as we ought. Seasoned with salt. I wanna bring a message on this subject of salt. But just to touch on it quickly in closing, when the Lord gave the Levitical law for the burnt offering, he said, don't ever bring a meat sacrifice without salt. Put salt on it. And when Elisha was with the disciples of Elijah, In Jericho, the disciples of Elijah came to him and said, this city is pleasant, but the water's not. The water's foul, we can't drink it. And the Lord told Elisha, take a new cruise of salt and pour it in the well. And he did. And the water was made clean, the water was good. What is this seasoned your sacrifice with salt? and the salt being put into the water. That salt is Christ. That's who it is. You remember when the Lord said, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, of what value is it? It's to be cast out into the roadway and trampled under the feet of men. I had an experience. We have a, we have a, a water softener at our house that we have to use salt in. You know how that works. And our brine tank had been used for years, I mean 20 years. I hadn't cleaned it out. 20 years. And it had a crystallized cake of salt on the bottom of that brine tank that had collected over 20 years. And so I took it out and broke it up and I thought, I've got a couple things around my yard I need to kill. Some little trees coming up and different stuff. I'll just put that salt on those things. It had absolutely no effect on them whatsoever. There was no salt left in that crystallized material that was in the bottom of my brine tank. It was all gone. The salt was gone. It was just a rock. It was good for nothing but to throw out into the street to be trampled under the foot of men. So when the Lord said, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, in other words, if you don't have Christ, if you don't have Christ, Christ is the one who makes the offering savory. Salt is the one that retards corruption. Salt is the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who anoints his word and makes it living and effectual to our hearts, the water of the word. And if we're without Christ, we're just a rock to be thrown out into the street, trampled underfoot. So when the Lord says, when you speak, speak with grace, seasoned with salt. When we speak the mystery of the gospel, let us be mindful, let us have an eye toward, let us have hope in and dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we're just speaking in the power of our own flesh and it'll be of non effect. What ought we to speak? The mystery of the gospel. To whom ought we to speak? Those to whom the Lord opens the door of utterance. And how ought we to speak? Meekness, grace, always seasoned with salt. All right, let's take a break.