Our reading today from God's word is in the book of Colossians chapter 1. We'll be starting at verse 21, then going through to verse 29. So let's listen to the words of the living God as we stand together by faith alone. and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach in his sight. if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, came a minister. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God. which was given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God. The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working with works in me mightily. You may be seated. Amen. Let's pray together now. Oh, righteous Father, You, the one and only true God, that have revealed Yourself in Your creation to all flesh, but Your special revelation in Your Word, so may we, we pray, that You might illumine our minds and our very understanding of your word in a deeper way as it is preached to us. We ask for the Spirit of you, O God, to guide us and lead us. Open up the doors of our mind, we ask. For it is you have demonstrated your own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Therefore, by faith, I have been crucified with Christ and is no longer I who live, but Christ live in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who died for me. This we pray to you, O Lord, that it would magnify in our minds as the word is preached, that you demonstrated your own love for the sinner. While we were dead in trespasses and sin, you raised us to life. And so we pray that because of all of that, your word would take foremost in our hearts and minds, and that you might guide and direct the one preaching in a way that brings you the glory that is due your name, and brings growth and grace for your people. In Jesus' name, amen. This morning we look again at Colossians chapter one, and we consider the subject Christ's word and spirit within. I have broken up the verses that were read for us. First of all, verses 21 to 23, God reconciles the whole person to himself. And secondly, skipping to 26 and 27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And thirdly, faith planted, rooted, and fruitful. Verses 24 and five, and then verses 28 and 29. And so first of all, verses 21 to 23, God reconciles the whole person to himself. As was read for us, if you were to begin especially with verse 19, it speaks of Christ. And it says, it pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell and by him. That is by Christ to reconcile all things to himself by him whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Remember we've seen here much that speaks of the thinking, the understanding, the mind. And also those aspects of the will where it talks about our will should be that which is in submission to God's will. And speaking of things that would be of the heart, like the affections of the heart that would be involved. And so as we draw these things together, I thought it would be helpful for us to look at verses 21 to 23 and think of what it is that God has done to reconcile us as believers, starting from the time as was mentioned in John's prayer from Romans 5. while we were yet sinners, unbelievers. And so, when we think of how we are reconciled unto God, you must remember how God created us. When God created mankind, remember Adam and Eve, He created them first with the soul, you know, the soul has understanding. And the understanding is that which, you know, is like a leading part of us, like the rudder of a ship, if you will. And it is that understanding or that knowledge that guides the course of the soul. And it directs, it gives light that persuades and directs the will and moves the affections to be excited about those things that would be in keeping with God's direction. That's the original created order. And furthermore, the second faculty of the soul, you might say, is the will. And you say, I thought we didn't have one. I never said that. We'll get to that in a moment. But God made us with a will that is able to choose and refuse, you might say. And so the point here is that it is the command over us as a vessel, a body, and as we are those that command over the passions of the life, the understanding should command that. The will is that which is involved in all these things. And finally, the third faculty, the affections. I've mentioned it a couple times already. And that is what the soul loves and perceives to be good. That's what the soul loves and delights in. The soul hates those things that would be deleterious or harmful to oneself and also dishonoring to God. Now, this was the creation as it happened. But what happened, as you and I well know, is there was the man that fell into degeneration. Instead of regeneration, we talk about first degeneration, the fall. And so what happened in the fall is that this beautiful creature of man and woman, that the soul was corrupted by sin. I remember that everything that was involved in the person, when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, suddenly their eyes were opened and they realized they'd been deceived and their understanding was depraved and their conscience was stiffened and the will was something that was hardened and the heart was that which was against God. And you see the affections that every faculty And every dominion over the soul was effaced, was corrupted, came under the cloud of darkness and rebellion. And so the will is now under the control of an understanding that prefers darkness rather than light. Think of that. And the affections preferring evil to good. That's the state of the fall. But what happens when God, that's us alienated from God. Remember what happened when they were, when they sinned, they were kicked out of the garden, alienated, distanced from God. We talked about alienated in our minds just a couple of weeks ago. How does God reconcile us to us, to himself in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, the one who is fully God and fully man, as we've seen. How does this work? First of all, by regeneration. Instead of degeneration, regeneration. Some of you are familiar with the ways of describing regeneration in the New Testament, for example. Talks about we were dead, we're made alive, we're the ones who are alienated from God. We need a new birth, and so born a new birth, and so we're made a new creation. All of these things are used to describe regeneration. But putting it simply, what's happening? God is setting the soul in order. And that which is corrupted, He causes to be cleansed. And that which is in the condemnation is forgiven. And that which is alienated from God and darkened in understanding, God illumines. And that will which is in rebellion against Him and defiant of God, there God brings into submission to Him. Yes. Yay. And so the renewal begins, first of all, with illumination. As the Word of God is read, you know it says in 1 Corinthians 2.14, it says that the things of the Spirit are foolishness to the natural man, the unregenerate man. It says that he does not and cannot understand them. They're spiritually discerned. It says that God is the one who draws us. In John 6 it says that God is the one who calls us, you know, and no man can come unto the Father unless he first draw him to himself. And it says, and it is written, they shall be taught of God. And so this understanding, this knowledge is therefore illuminated by God. You know, the darkness of mind we talked about before, blinded by the God of this world, and unable to see the glory of God in the face of Christ, who is the image of God. And so, he illumines the darkened understanding. And he puts a tenderness where once there was a hardened heart, now suddenly there is a heart that is tender to understanding of what God has said. And the affections, the affections are transformed and sanctified. And suddenly we're in repentance. You know what repentance is? That's the thing that's left out. Repentance is that which you can look at various things. I was looking in the Westminster Confession about this. You say, yes, Westminster Confession. Yeah, Chapter 15, Section 2, if you want to read it. I'll read it for you, since you asked. It says, A sinner out of a sight and sense not only of danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God, upon the apprehension of his mercy in Christ, to such as are penitent, in other words, repentant, grieves for and hates his sin as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with him in all his ways and his commands. You see, beloved, that's repentance being described. That's what's too often left out of the picture when we talk about the gospel to people. You know, it is something that's rather odd. of those who think we can turn to Christ when there's nothing we're turning from. And the word for repentance in Hebrew is shub. I know I didn't mean much to you, but I thought a little short word you might get. You know what the fundamental meaning of shub is? Turn. And repentance is not something, as you look in the words used in the New Testament, it's not something that's fundamentally that of my actions, I've changed, I've turned over a new leaf, I'm turning around the other way. Repentance is, first of all, metanoeo, that's the idea. Noeo is the mind. Nus is the mind. Meta is the idea of turn or change or aside. And so the transformation, the changing of the mind, Just like I started there, where God, by His Spirit, through the Word, effectually calls us and He opens up the mind to grasp what we see, what we've never seen that way before. And so God is the one who changes the mind to see things as they really are, in reconciliation. And metamelemia is the idea of the affections, the heart, Were those things that once we would boast in, in our sins, and be the ones who would be the leader of the crowd, leader of the pack, in doing that which is blasphemous or evil, suddenly we're crushed. Suddenly we find that we're ashamed. We loathe it. Indeed, we loathe ourselves. I was looking up a... Here, I'll give you a... a deep theological tome you can look things up in called Webster's Dictionary. And it's so helpful. In fact, reading in that sometimes, now the old collegiate Webster's Dictionary. It was new when I bought it in 1972. But I've learned more theology from that than I've learned in some theological works I've read, frankly. And this is what it says about contrition. It talks about the idea of contrition suggests that there are signs of grief and pain. But that's all. Just pain and grief. And then it talks about a compunction. A compunction is a painful sting of the conscience. Okay, the conscience has been stung. There's painful remorse. Is that all? And then there's penitence that implies humble realization of and regret for one's wrongdoing. We're almost there. Repentance suggests additionally an awareness of one's general moral shortcomings before God. And you see, beloved, when we realize That we live all life, Coram Deo, the secrets of our heart are open, scandal in heaven. That we recognize and fall to our faces before him. And repentance is where God brings us to that point. Where the will is broken, indeed shattered. And the affections are not just in sorrow or repentance unto death, as it says in 2 Corinthians, but it's a repentance that leads into life. And faith and repentance are not the same thing exactly, but they are closely related. In fact, one goes with the other. That's why you have so many who would claim to be believers in Jesus Christ and fall away. Remember what it says here. Oh, verses 24 and following, where Paul is describing there, well, even 23, where it talks about, you know, if you continue in this line, in other words, it's not if you work hard enough, you'll keep your salvation. It's if you are doing these things, it's evidence and proof that God has done a work of grace in you. You see the difference? 1 John 2, 19, you all know. It talks about those who apostatize, turn away, turn away from the theology of the belief of the doctrines, turn away from Jesus Christ as the only way, turn away from the one true God who is a Holy Trinity, turn away from God's grace and righteousness, and on we could go. It says they went out from us, but they were not of us. Because if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us that it might become manifest, evident, exposed. They weren't truly of us. And so here when it talks about, it's that vastness here first as we relate it to this. It is the effectual call enlightens the mind. the understanding of the things of God, of the gospel, that I know that it's true, I believe the truth of the gospel, and I have this agreement with it that it's true, and not just true in general, it's true for me. And the idea here of trust is the idea I trust in Him, the only source of salvation and righteousness, and I rest in Him. There's an old saying I grew up hearing. I didn't grow up on a farm, but everybody knew the saying anyway. Maybe you've heard it. I'm placed all my eggs in one basket. You ever heard that one? All in and resting there. And so in repentance, you see, the minds are enlightened and the heart As it says in Ezekiel 36, He took out the heart of stone and He's given us a heart of flesh. And furthermore, He's renewed the will, a will that's in submission to His. And so, beloved, as we turn then to the next part, I want to be sure we understand the nature of conversion is to turn the whole man or woman, boy or girl, to himself. Not part, but all. Every faculty that we have, a positive turning to God with a heart and a supreme, ultimate value of Jesus Christ. He is my all above all. The Lord Christ is my prince and savior. That's what we each have or must have in our heart. And Christ draws us effectually to Himself. And so, beloved, I'll summarize it this way. What He's describing here is the understanding is enlightened with His truth and life. And secondly, the hard, rocky heart is broken and anew and given, and the obstinate and defiant and stiff-necked will is tamed and brought into submission to Christ's, so that we find our greatest delight and our greatest goal and our life's central focus is how we might glorify Him. And so, beloved, there, God reconciles the whole person. It begins just in a little way. I'll leap to my second point just briefly. Just briefly. And that is the one of faith planted, rooted, and fruitful. When you think of this, you think of Paul bringing up in these verses before us. I rejoice in my sufferings for you, filling up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church. When you read of afflictions and you read of trial and tribulation, you say, Joy? Really? Who are you trying to fool? James chapter 1. It says, count it all joy when you fall into different tribulations or trials, my brothers and sisters. Knowing this, the trying of your faith, the testing of your faith, works, produces, patience, or endurance. That's what Paul is writing about. A faith that is planted, but it's also rooted. And it becomes fruitful. It's dynamic. It's alive. It's moving. It's not parked. And so the idea here is perseverance in him. And so when we read about perseverance, what is perseverance in the most practical sense for most Christians? You say, well, we pray for the persecuted, and as people are hunting us down house to house, and attacking us in the night, or locking us in the church, and setting the church on fire, those things happen. And you say, well, I don't have to face that, so this doesn't have much application to me. Oh, yes, it does, to us all. Perseverance in the faith, as it talks about here, the describing things. Of 25, I became a minister according to the stewardship, a sacred trust, that which God has entrusted to me, he's given to me for you. Verse 28, we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in the wisdom that we may present every man perfect, complete, in other words, in Christ. Perseverance in the faith. It's something that's done daily. It's something that's done as a spiritual offering unto our God. It's something that's done as part of a growing faith at work in us. Let me give you some illustrations. You ready to write? I knew you were. In Hebrews chapter 12, It says there in verses 1 and 2, it says, set your eyes upon Jesus, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses out of chapter 11, all of those through the ages that have believed in Him. It says we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Set your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the shame that was, you know, set before Him, He despised that shame, but He endured the cross for us, that we who are far off might be reconciled unto God. But there's something else tucked away in there that says, for us to put away, put off, run the race and put off the things that, the sin that so easily besets us. Apostasy is getting comfortable, or can lead to it, is getting comfortable with sin. Getting acclimated to it. your pardon Hebrew is being cited again in chapter 2. You'll find in chapter 2 verse 1 it says there, it cautions against warns against drifting away. That's scary, isn't it? Drifting away, little by little, drifting away from the things of God, drifting away from prayer, drifting away from the Word of God, where it becomes something done by rote or something that's merely done for when others are looking, but instead of doing it, that we might draw near and plug into His presence and glory and His Word, and that we might know Him drifting. In that same text it talks about how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, you see? It's not in the things that we might see as so dramatic sometimes. You look in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 and you see Jesus talking to his church, seven of them in Turkey, five out of the seven are rebuked. He talks to them about things like losing your first love. Where's the enthusiasm? Where's the love? Where's the devotion? Where is that where you love me with all your being? And there it waxes cold more and more. You've lost your first love. He talks to the next church, and he talks to those at Smyrna, and he says there that, you know, you're the ones that are going to be tested for a while. They're in prison, and some even die. Be faithful unto death, and I'll give you the crown of life. Stop. That is to all of us, isn't it? How long are we to follow Him as disciples? Be faithful unto death. whenever God calls us home. Not well, I was faithful for a long time, but I've taken a break. How long has a break gone? Oh, about 40 years so far. Be faithful unto death. The Lord calls us to follow. Many times it's putting to death the things that are the closest to us. Maybe it's that pain in the neck neighbor. that hates you. And every time he sees you, he yells at you. You try to invite him to a service and he gets ugly with you, even worse. What do you do? Do you respond in your heart? Jesus said if you're angry with your brother, angry with someone in your heart, you've committed murder already. Or maybe it's those at work where they would tempt you into lust and looking at the things they're dealing with. You see the idea here of being steadfast. and walking with Him can be putting to death the things that seem so normal, but they're not. It is reconciling the relationships. It is reconciling these things to Him. It is opening our mouths in witness and not standing idly by in silence. He went on through that list of churches, by the way. He went through a lot of things. He talked about those who compromise to get along in their profession. And the Nicolaitans, they were called, and those who would go along with pagan practices or ideas and tolerate it. First, you would just tolerate it, not say anything. And then you'd go along, and they would go to, well, okay, it's all right, I guess, for them, long as I don't do it. And so we've gone beyond just tolerating to approving. And then it is the idea of celebrating until finally one enters in without any conscience being pricked by it. And as long as it helps my career, my profession, my friendships, whatever the case may be, I don't want any conflict. Christ says for us to stand true. There were others who talked about false prophetess and false prophets of false teachers and those who would follow an immorality that was involved with them. And then he came to another church at the end and he said, you're lukewarm. He says, at this point, you should, you know, you should be those who are otherwise, but you say, I'm happy. I'm satisfied. I need nothing. Subconsciously, what's it saying? I don't need God, really. Everything's fine. I've got this handled. The lukewarmness for him. Anyway, as you look at the things it's talking about, it's not always the dramatic things that can be the small things. Paul says we need to look at all things in terms of the kingdom of our Lord and of following him as his disciples. And finally, the mystery. Revealed here at the end of the ages, verses 26 and 27. What's the big mystery all along that God has had in mind? And this we will develop next week. It is Christ in you. The hope of glory. Just as a very brief summary. When you think of the Christ and where it says Christ in you, does this strike you as an odd way of saying it? You say, well, I know I'm the, we're the temple of the Holy Spirit, right? And so the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and it doesn't really say anywhere else in the New Testament that Christ dwells in us, right? You ought to know by now I'm good at setting people up, so don't answer, yes, that's true. No, not true. You look over in Ephesians chapter 3 where the Lord's talking about those people there in that church at Ephesus, the one later on that lost its first love. And there he was saying to these people that you may be strengthened in the inner man by the Holy Spirit and that Christ may dwell in you by faith, in your hearts by faith. that you have in your bulletin right now. And again, we'll expand on this next week. But Romans chapter 8, verses 8 and 9, where it talks about those who are carnal, those who are carnal are those people, not carnal Christians. That's an oxymoron. They're either carnal, those in the flesh, as you read the text of Romans 8, and I encourage you to do so. You'll find out, he says, those who are carnal set their minds. Remember we were talking about the mind? set their minds on the things of the world, set their minds on things of the flesh. That's what their minds are occupied with. That's what their value system is really always about. They set their minds on the things of the flesh. Indeed, it says they are enemies of God. In effect, they don't bow to the commands of God. Indeed, they cannot. It says, but you You're not in the flesh, you're walking according to the Spirit. If, there's one of those ifs again, the Spirit of God dwells within you. Indeed, if the Spirit of Christ is in you. The Spirit of Christ. What's he getting at? What's he talking about? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well, I'll give you a hint, and then I do have to quit. Since we're in Romans 8, I'll even make it easy. If you look later on in that text, beginning around verse 12, it talks about those who are walking by the Spirit or led by the Spirit. It says, these are the ones who are putting to death the sins of the flesh and being made alive unto righteousness. And let me read it. Let me read you 8.14 and 15 of Romans chapter 8. It says in 814, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. This spirit of adoption, beloved, there's where we see something of the mystery revealed. Remember reconciliation, creation, the way it started? Adam and Eve created in the image of God. They walked in the cool of the evening with God and communed with Him. Sin entered into the picture with those who were close to God. cast out of the garden, made alienated far away. And sin held us in bondage in the darkness of the understanding and the heart hardened and the affections quickened after things that are against God and evil and dark in themselves. Alienated from God in Christ Jesus by His cross, we who are far off have been brought near. And God took that condemnation and a substitute, satisfied, and the sin, and he's the one who freed us from its bondage and redemption, et cetera, the whole thing goes on. But a big part of that mystery, we weren't just brought near and allowed in the courtyard. We who were far off were brought in to his family. and we're called children of God. And he's given us that spirit of adoption within, whereby the spirit within us, God's spirit, the spirit of the Son, is the one who cries out, Abba, Father, and we in him. And it says he even gives us assurance, strengthens our souls, and gives us the first fruits of that life to come. and he assures us you are a child of God. Beloved, tell me, what could be more precious than that? Well, as we close, the reconciling work of God in Christ, making all the chaos and the bits blown apart remolding and making a new creation and drawing it near. Destroying that which is corrupting and defiling and rebellious and evil and making one new people in the image of the Son, Jesus Christ. The mystery hidden from Genesis 1 revealed in the New Covenant. And so, beloved, that's what we think of when we come to the supper as well. And so let's pray together as our brother John leads us. Oh, righteous Father, what we have heard declared is from your word, and oh, may it be so, that see how great a love you have bestowed upon us, that we would be called children of God. We ask, oh Lord, that in the hope of the gospel, Our faith is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. If it is not, we pray that today that heart that has been like a stone heart You would do only what You can do, what You have done to believers throughout the ages who have been enemies of You, O God. You remove that heart, rocky heart, and replace it. You do a heart transplant. And so we pray, as You have done for us who believe, we pray that You would do for those who have not believed, yet today is the day of salvation. May that belief be in the Lord Jesus Christ, that his blood and righteousness, his active and passive obedience, all of these things we place our trust in him. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Now receive the benediction of the Lord. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen.