From Greenville, South Carolina, we present Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of Faith Free Presbyterian Church, preaching Christ in all his fullness. Thank you for joining us for this broadcast of Let the Bible Speak. In just a few minutes, we'll hear from Dr. Alan Cairns, the Minister Emeritus of Faith Free Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina. On today's program, Dr. Cairns comes to the final message in his studies in Paul's epistle to the Colossians, continuing the theme of living in the experience of God's power. The text is verse 29, whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily, in which Paul is speaking of his labors to produce mature Christians. The word worketh contains the idea of energizing. Christians are energized by the Holy Spirit. Unsaved people are energized by the devil, which is the explanation for the terrible state of the world in the day in which we live. Yet sinners can come to know the transforming power of Christ through the gospel. Salvation is the very first experience of the power of God. Then believers experience the power of God in their lives in the process of sanctification. It is God's will that His people be holy, and every true child of God will have a desire for holiness. A person who has no desire to be holy is a person who has never come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Dr. Cairns will come to the message in just a few minutes. First, we present a devotional thought from the writings of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, as found in his collection called Faith's Checkbook. Many a true servant of the Lord is slow of speech, and when called upon to plead for his Lord, he is in great confusion, lest he should spoil a good cause by his bad advocacy. In such a case, it is well to remember that the Lord made the tongue which is so slow, and we must take care that we do not blame our Maker. It may be that a slow tongue is not so great an evil as a fast one, and fewness of words may be more of a blessing than floods of verbiage. It is also quite certain that real saving power does not lie in human rhetoric, with its tropes and pretty phrases and grand displays. Lack of fluency is not so great a lack as it looks. If God be with our mouth and with our mind, we shall have something better than the sounding brass of eloquence or the tinkling cymbal of persuasion. God's teaching is wisdom. His presence is power. Pharaoh had more reason to be afraid of stammering Moses than of the most fluent talker in Egypt, for what he said had power in it. He spoke plagues and deaths. If the Lord be with us in our natural weakness, we shall be girt with supernatural power. Therefore, let us speak for Jesus boldly, as we ought to speak. As long as I have breath, I will praise you, Lord. As long as I have life, let my soul rejoice. In times of sore distress, in times of loneliness, as long as I have prayer, I will praise you, Lord. As long as I have breath, I will bless you, Lord. As long as life is mine, I will sing your song. Your joy brings forth my praise. Your peace fills all my days. As long as I have breath, I will praise you, Lord. Let me know your loving kindness every day. As you walk beside me, pointing out the way. As long as I have meaning, I will try. As long as I have breath, I will serve you, Lord. As long as life is mine, I'll exalt your word. And when this life shall pass and I'm at home at last, through all eternity, I will praise you, Lord. You're listening to Let the Bible Speak, the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. We want you to know that we appreciate very much the response from those of you who listen regularly to these broadcasts, and especially to those who take the time to contact us to let us know that you're being blessed by the programs. Among the various publications that we offer on Let the Bible Speak, the most popular is the quarterly LTBS magazine. The principal focus of the next issue will be The Risen Christ. The articles will include On the Road to Emmaus, By the Sea of Galilee, and At the Mount of Olives. Also, this issue contains a missionary focus on the country of Poland, as well as a report of what the Lord is doing in Nepal. You may have a free copy of the magazine simply by asking for it. Our mailing address is Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. You may email us at ltbs at freepres.org. That's ltbs at freepres.org. Or you may telephone us toll free at 866-877-LTBS. That's 866-877-5827. Also, if you enjoy the program, you may like to visit our website, LetTheBibleSpeakRadio or ltbsradio.com. Don't forget the word radio, ltbsradio.com. In this connection, we call your attention to a series of video features on the website. In these video clips, Dr. Cairns answers questions from both believers and non-believers regarding various issues, such as, why does a good God allow suffering? what is the unpardonable sin, and why doesn't God save everybody? These video portions are listed under Q&A with Alan Cairns. You're sure to find these presentations to be informative and enlightening. Q&A with Alan Cairns is found on LTBSRadio.com. you Now, we return this morning to Colossians 1, and the text will be verse 29. You may recollect that a couple of Sabbath mornings ago, I started to deal with this final verse of chapter 1 of Colossians and did not get it finished. Colossians chapter 1. If we can get the context just a little, the Apostle Paul is saying in verse 25, whereof, that is, of the church of Christ, I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. to whom he would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. And the text is in verse 29, whereunto I also labor, especially these words, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. And the subject that I announced was simply living in the experience of God's power. Literally, the force of the words of verse 29 is, I labor, striving or agonizing according to the working. The word would have the idea, the energizing of God, which energizes, works effectually in me or by me in power. The idea of this mighty divine energy effectually working in and by me in power. My basic point was simple, that in this text Paul shows us the essential nature of New Testament Christianity. It was real, because God was working. And since God was working, that meant that New Testament Christianity was and had to be a religion of power. It was not a theory, a philosophy, a theology, a new view, a simple alternative to Judaism or a natural extension of it. It was a divine revelation Not only in word, but in act. The kingdom of God, Paul said, is not in word, but in power. He made it clear that the faith of God's people could not stand in anything but in the power of God. Now, that is a very far-reaching text. I'm not going to preach that text this morning, but it is a very far-reaching text, and it will tell you, I think, why there is so much vain profession of Christianity, why there is so much empty form in the professing church, You see, we have reached the place where we imagine that faith may be created by human reasoning, that faith may stand in the power or in the strength of human logic, whereas the reality is faith can not either exist or be established except by the power of God. And Paul made this clear, that our faith must stand and can only stand in the power of God. Now, that power was very, very evident in the New Testament church. The very enemies of the cross of Christ stated clearly, we cannot deny it. That's one of the most far-reaching admissions of the Jewish leaders, as they were contemplating how they might punish the disciples, how they might indeed put an end to their ministry. But there was this huge blockage standing in the way of these persecutors, these men who had only one aim and object, and that was to finish the work of the church of Christ. There was one thing standing in their way, and they said, we can't deny it. The power of God was working. In that case, they were saying, here was a man, 40 years old, lame from his mother's womb. He lay at the gate of the temple every day, begging for sustenance. And now he's leaping and praising and walking around and giving glory to God, and everybody can see this power that has been wrought in his life in the name of Jesus Christ. And we cannot deny it. Now, that was the nature of the gospel as preached in the early church. And thank God that gospel hasn't changed. The God of the gospel hasn't changed. The power of the gospel hasn't changed. So the truth of our text this morning is as valid today as it ever was in the past. Now, What Paul was saying to the Colossians, as he used himself as the standard for all of God's people, what he was saying is that God's people experience the genuine working of God's power in them and flowing through them to reach and touch other people. The last time we were in this verse, I got as far as point one, and I was able to establish that God's people experience God's power working in them in salvation. I'm not going to cover that ground in any way again. God's people experience God's power working in them for salvation. Now we go on, and I make the second major observation, that God's people experience God's power working in them in sanctification. Now notice the wording. When you're in a homiletics class, one thing you learn is that the wording of points in a message is very important, that words mean something, even down to the tense of a verb, or the mood of a verb, or the placement of words. I want you to notice I am not saying that God's people may experience God's power in sanctification. I'm not saying God's people should experience God's power in sanctification. I am saying as a statement of fact, God's people do experience God's power, working in them in sanctification. By the very statement, I am making a very far-reaching theological point, that if God has been working in you for salvation, That means He is, and must, and cannot do otherwise than work in you to sanctification. The notion that you can have salvation without any experience of sanctification is utterly unchristian and anti-christian, subversive to the entire gospel revelation. I will readily admit, because the New Testament clearly teaches it, that the level of sanctification, the level of experienced holiness in God's people, differs. We are not all equally mature. We are not all equally holy. But we do have this in common. all of God's people, indwelt by the Spirit of God, have God working in them to sanctify them unto himself, separating them from their sin, leading them more and more to death, to self and sin, and leading them more and more into holiness and separation unto God. You may remember Paul's words to the Philippians in chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. He commands God's people, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. There are three terms here that basically reflect the same root word. Work out. It is God which worketh in you. To will and to do. And in all three cases, it's this basic word that gives us the English word energy, or energize. Now notice, you should be working out. your salvation. What God hath wrought within you in saving you must be worked out in your life. This is a command, an imperative, this is a duty, a responsibility. Work out your own salvation. But notice the ground upon which that is given. And I may go further and say the reason why Paul can ask us to work out our own salvation is because it is God which is energizing in you. Now that's a statement of fact. God is working in his people. both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now, without going into the good pleasure of God in any detail, I will simply make the broad assertion that the good pleasure of God for a Christian is always a matter of holiness. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3 says, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. Let us realize this. It is never the good pleasure of God for His people to backslide or get into sin or wickedness or fleshliness or worldliness. That is never the will of God. That is never the good pleasure of God. Many a time I have come across people, and when they are faced with some issue in their life, They almost blaspheme God by piously saying, well, I will pray about that. Sounds very holy, does it not? There are times when it is quite legitimate to have that response. But let me tell you, when the Bible says, thou shalt or thou shalt not, there is nothing left to pray about except the grace of obedience. What's to pray about? Where's the area that you can't understand when God says, thou shalt or thou shalt not? What is it that's still there to be decided? It is never the good pleasure of God for God's people to live in disobedience to Him, to live against His law or without reference to His gospel and His Christ, it is never the will of God that we live unholy lives. You've been listening to Let the Bible Speak, the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. We hope that you've enjoyed and benefited from today's program. We're here as your servants for Christ's sake. If we can be of any further help to you in the things of God, We invite you to contact us. If you would like to receive our booklet, A New Beginning, a booklet that sets forth God's way of salvation in clear, concise, and biblical ways, you may have it free of charge simply for the asking. Our mailing address is Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615. That's Let the Bible Speak. 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. If you wish, you may call us toll free at 1-866-877-LTBS. That's 1-866-877-5827. You may email us at info at faithfpc.org. That's info at faithfpc.org. Also, we invite you to visit our website at www.faithfpc.org. If you would be interested in considering the establishment of a free Presbyterian church in your area, by all means let us know. Once again, you may call us toll free at 1-866-877-5827. On behalf of Dr. Alan Cairns, this is Charles Kelch saying thank you for listening and inviting you to join us Monday through Friday at this same time as we let the Bible speak.