A Confident Life

And now please stand for the reading of God's Word. The message will be verses six and seven of chapter two in Colossians, but I'll start reading where we did this morning in chapter two, verse one, just so we maintain the context.

The Apostle Paul writes, "'For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you "'and for those at Laodicea, "'and for all who have not seen me face to face, "'that their hearts may be encouraged, "'being knit together in love, "'to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding "'and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, "'in whom are hidden all the treasures "'of wisdom and knowledge.

"'I say this in order that no one may delude you "'with plausible arguments. "'For though I am absent in body, "'yet I am with you in spirit, "'rejoicing to see your good order "'and the firmness of your faith in Christ.'".

In the next two verses for this morning's preaching. "'Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, "'so walk in him, rooted and built up in him "'and established in the faith, "'just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.'".

Now, please be seated and let us pray. Heavenly Father, again thanking you for again assembling us before you and again having your word before us. I pray for preacher and congregation alike to be blessed by your word, Father, we'd all be changed as we encounter you, the one true and living God, by faith in your son, Jesus Christ, the lone means of salvation and the way to God.

Father, by the power of your spirit, may all these things be accomplished to your honor, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. So the title of the message this morning, the series is The Sufficiency of Christ.

The message this morning, or excuse me, this afternoon is A Confident Life. Now, if this morning we found the mystery of God unveiled, unwrapped, uncloaked, unmystified in Christ Jesus and the mystery being Christ in you and that being the riches of his glory, the riches of the glory of this mystery, Christ in you, then we should be able to walk in Christ with confidence.

We should have a confident stride, a good gait, standing tall as we walk in the Savior and the Savior, Jesus Christ. He's the mystery unveiled. He is the proclamation of the entire word of God to you.

To make the word of God fully known was the apostle's purpose and the purpose of this church and this pulpit, to make the word of God fully known to you. And as a result of that, these two verses. That you, as you received Christ, so walk.

And walk, of course, means to live.

Order your affairs.

Be like him. Be like the one in whom you are rooted and built up and established in the faith, the faith. Just as you were taught the apostolic teaching to the Colossians by word, the same apostolic teaching by word written to us.

Spoken to them, written to us, abounding in thanksgiving. Those are our verses for this afternoon. A simple message, but the message that would, Lord willing, have you to walk confidently with a good stride, a confident gait in Christ Jesus.

Now, Dr. Moose says that these two verses are the hinge between all that came before and all that follows in this book. In other words, here's the hinge. Here's the one that connects the before and after.

So all the theology sort of rolls into this one. And because of that theology, he says, now, here's what you do. Here is the consequence of it in these lives that we lead. So really, 6 to 15, verses 6 to 15, chapter two, are the heart of this letter, according to many biblical commentators.

That being the case, 6 to 15 is the heart of the letter. Six and seven are the heart of 6 to 15. They're that important. Because of all the theology that came before, now live it out and do so confidently.

Do so confidently. A few months ago, I preached from Psalm 124. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel not say, if it had not been the Lord on our side, and they count all the difficulties we went through.

And the answer to the difficulties is, God was on your side. I would bring that forward a little bit to this afternoon's message. God's on your side. He has revealed the mystery of Christ to you, to us.

So be confident in him. Be assured in him. Calvin notes here that the commendation of verse five, where he rejoices to see their good order and their steadiness, their faithfulness in the faith. With that commendation, he follows with these two verses.

And Calvin says here, and I quote, he teaches them that their having once received Christ will be of no advantage to them unless they remain in him. Farther, as the false apostles held forth Christ's name with a view to deceive, let me stop for a moment, with a view to mystify or remystify or recloak or hide once again the riches of the glory of the mystery which God revealed through his full proclamation of his word through the apostle.

They have a view to deceive. Back to Paul, back to Calvin's quote here about Paul. He obviates this danger twice by exhorting them to go on as they have been taught and as they receive Christ. For in these words he admonishes them that they must adhere to the doctrine which they had embraced as delivered to them by Epaphras with so much constancy as to be on their guard against every other doctrine of faith in accordance with what Isaiah said.

This is the way, walk ye in it. So this is the message to the Colossians. This is the whole counsel of God to us. As you received, so remain. As received, so remain. The manner of your inception as a Christian sets the tone for your manner of living as one.

Recall from this morning the mystery now revealed in all its glory and all its riches is Christ in you. Remember from this morning also, we say Christ in you, this is really the triune God. I say Christ in you, that's the revelation of the mystery that we know from elsewhere, especially Jesus' own words.

That Christ in you means the Father in you. And the Father in you means the Spirit in you, the triune God in you. This is the way, walk ye in it. This is how you received God. Ephesians 1 makes your salvation a triune matter.

Is it not God the Father who chose you to be in Christ and redeemed by Christ as you were in him, being represented by him, being preordained or predestined to receive the benefits of his cross? And does not Ephesians 1 also say it's the Holy Spirit who gave you faith to believe?

These things were applied to you by him. What's the way you receive Christ? In a triune manner, by faith, walk ye in it. And walk confidently, walk confidently. We're not to be those Christians who are afraid that every misstep is gonna cause God's disfavor.

What some call the frowning providence, which I totally disagree with. I reject that idea of a frowning providence. We don't go through life growing in Christ if we're putting our hands over our head and always scared to look up because God might smite us from heaven.

Because as I said many months ago when I first used that little analogy, he would never stop smiting us if he had to smite us every time we sinned. The smite was upon Jesus. So walk confidently in that.

So some of you are anxious to get to what we call the practical side of Colossians. You know, we have the indicatives, the indicatives of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, who you are in Jesus Christ.

These are called indicative. And after we set up the indicative, all that wonderful theology, the indicative, the statements of fact, we get to the imperative. Now what do you do? And some of you are waiting for that great therefore and all the instructions.

Well, here it is. Here it is. Therefore as you received, so walk. Have you received him? How have you received him? Well, the first part of the answer is by faith. You received Jesus by faith. That's the instrumentality.

You receive him by faith. Faith foreign to you, foreign to me. You had no faith. We're not born with faith. You don't exercise your faith. God gives you faith, Ephesians 2 .9. It's a gift, something you don't have.

It's a gift of God. That's the first part of the answer, received by faith. The second part of the answer is in the verse. You received Christ Jesus, the Lord. Now really the word the is there twice. You received the Christ Jesus, the Lord.

So it's the Christ Jesus, the Lord. This is how you received him. It's right there in the verse. As you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him. So you received the Lord's Christ. That's the Messiah, that's anointed one whose name in his humanity is Jesus and whose title in heaven and on earth is Lord.

So let's think about this for a moment. We're to walk in him as we received him, as Christ, the anointed one of God.

And what does this mean?

He has always been the Christ. This is the second person of the Trinity. This is God, the Son, who's always been the Son, who never was not. Christ, the anointed one, eternally the second person of the Trinity, prophesied by God's servants, the prophets, that God who became God in the flesh.

I should say that person of God who became God in the flesh. How'd you receive him? You received him as the sum total and point of all God's purposes for mankind and for you. That's in Luke 25 where Jesus tells the disciples and before that the two men on the Emmaus Road that all the scriptures were pointing to him.

Oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe. So you received him as the point of all of God's purposes in mankind and for your life. So as you received him, walk in him. Walk in him as that point, as that sum, as that total purpose of your life, everything we do.

Whatever we do, do all to the glory of God, says the apostle. How'd you receive him? You received him as Jesus.

What is Jesus?

It's just an ordinary name given to an ordinary babe born to an ordinary couple in the ordinary way under the ordinary law under extraordinary circumstances. You received him as Jesus. Jesus, just a name, not his eternal name.

It was a name given to him at birth according to the instruction from God through the angel to the couple and they obeyed it. They called his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. But Jesus or Jesus or in Hebrew Yeshua or my name Joshua, it's just a name and the glory and the wonder of that is when God became flesh, he became a man like the rest of us.

Man in that most generic sense and he was given a name like all of us were. His name was just an ordinary name, fairly common in the day. One of his disciples was named Jesus or Jesus. We just don't pronounce it Jesus for the obvious reasons.

It was the same name.

So how'd you receive him? As the sum of all God's word and as a man. As the God who became man. So how'd you receive him? As Lord, the Lord who has unbounded authority granted by the Father after his cross, after his burial and his resurrection.

This way that Paul names him here, Christ Jesus the Lord, the Christ Jesus the Lord. It's unique in the scripture. I think there's only one other place that he puts it so it's very meaningful. He's speaking there about how we received him so walk in him, this is how you received him.

First by faith, though that's not directly in our verse but we have to throw that out there because the same apostle writes to the Ephesians which is sort of a corresponding letter to the Colossians. So by faith, by grace you've been saved through faith but you received him as Christ, the second person of the Trinity, eternally God's Messiah.

You received him as Jesus, the man. God became flesh in the man Jesus Christ. And you received him as Lord. After his resurrection he was given authority over all. He said to the disciples. So to call it Paul's command, if that's how you received him, how do we walk in him?

As a sum total of God's saving purposes, yes, God who became flesh, right, who is God's Christ and Lord of all creation, order your life in him like that. Which is to say, brethren, order your life in him with confidence.

If he is the Christ Jesus, the Lord, then he has the power to work in you. And as he works in you, bringing you to your predestined end, which is to be conformed to the image of his son. Romans chapter eight.

That's your predestined end. That's what God saw and, not saw, excuse me, what God preordained for all of us before the foundation of the world. If this is the God who gave you faith to believe in him and ordained that you would receive the Christ Jesus, the Lord, in that way, you have the eternal son of God who died for your sins.

You have Jesus Christ who lived as we lived and faced all temptations that you faced without sin. So he's the Christ, the Jesus, the Lord in his authority. Follow his ways and be confident that this powerful God, this powerful Jesus, this resurrected Lord, not only can but will work in you.

For the Colossians, the idea is to continue in the faith. They're to continue in the faith. They seem to get some good commendations for how they're doing. Paul's getting a good report from Epiphas. It seems that Epiphas told him, yeah, but there's this danger.

There's these things that are kind of circling closer and closer to the church. Coming in upon us, spiraling towards it. Paul, we need to be careful about these. It seems to be that that is the emphasis of this letter, where this letter came from.

So they're told to continue in Christ in many ways. They're doing well. Not only their good order and firmness is evidence, but chapter one, verse four, their faith. Their faith seems to have been a matter of public knowledge.

He says, we always thank God since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints. So the second half of that verse, they're doing well because they have this demonstrable love for the saints.

What exactly that looks like, we're not told, but it's something that Epiphas was able to tell Paul and Paul could confirm, and he says, yes, continue in that because we see it, we've heard of it, it's there.

Verse one, six, they're bearing gospel-laden fruit. As Jesus Christ said, abide in me, and you will produce much fruit. It seems that they were doing it. So Paul's meaning to them is, as you are now walking in him, so continue.

You know, as Reformed believers, we do have this proper pessimism about self. We do all things to the glory of God, and it's all of God. But we get so pessimistic sometimes, I think we forget that there are commendations in the Bible.

Even in chapter two and three of Revelation, when Jesus has so many repentance matters of all the churches. Think of how many times he says to the church, you know, you started well, you're doing well, you're doing this okay, but you have this, I have this against you.

But remember, before the against you were the things for you. You know, we're all mixed bags, aren't we? Doing some things well and some things not so well. Some ways in our walk with Christ, we're very consistent.

Other ways, a little more spotty. I think all of us are like that. But we do need to remember and keep in mind that there is a life that can be led by us, by you. Because of Christ in you, because of fealty and loyalty to his word, because of God and his glory, there is a life you can lead that is pleasing to God.

Paul even says it to the Colossians early in the letter, where he speaks about being fully pleasing to God. Doesn't mean that we don't need to make corrections, because we all have corrections to make.

First John 1 .9 says, if we confess our sins, and the assumption there is we have sins to confess constantly. So we don't preach perfectionism here. But to remember that because of the working of God within you, for it's God who works you to will and to work for his good pleasure, and he causes that.

So when you do something to his good pleasure, he's the one who did it in you. It's like a little child when they first walk. You're holding by the thumbs, and they let go of your thumbs for a second, they're gonna fall on their face so they're not really walking at all.

But what do we say to the little toddler? Good job, look at that, you walked. But as soon as they let go of your thumbs, they're done. Well our walk with Christ is like that. We're hanging on to his thumbs as it were.

So everything we do is because we're hanging on to him. And he knows that if we weren't hanging on to him, we'd be flat on our face, and yet he says, life pleasing to God. Gotta remember this, because we wanna walk confidently in Christ, we wanna remember he is working in us.

Paul's meaning is as you're now walking in him, so continue, but some of us need to hear something a little different, more like, as you have received the Christ Jesus, the Lord, so now get busy walking in him.

So now get busy walking in him. And some of us start out walking in him, and then we stalled, stalled out, and we have to get going again. And some of us, if we admit it, never really got going. So what happens?

Oftentimes we try to live as Christians by means other than Christ Jesus, the Lord. That was a lot of the emphasis this morning on the mystery religions, things that lead you astray. We allow worldly methods and worldviews to enter in.

And we'll come to it soon enough, but in the next few verses, which will be for the next preaching, Paul cites philosophy and empty deceit and human tradition and elemental spirits of the world and even more, and these things creep in, they're insidious and they're subtle, and they need to be noticed.

We need to be on guard. See, a worldview from the world and not from God's word is one of the more dangerous pitfalls that we have. Churches today sanction same-sex marriage, women pastors, abortion, and more, and some are not even sure that the Bible has any representation at all of God.

Well, those are extreme examples, but where does it start? It starts with accepting that worldview that is not filtered by the Bible, that's not led by the Bible. Now, why are we against abortion? It's because we want to carry signs, because we like standing out in the heat, and mostly it's our brother Ken Tompkins who does that for us.

No, it's because we understand from Scripture, the clear teaching, that abortion is murder, that it's wrong, that God creates life, and man should not go into the womb, which is supposed to be a sanctuary for life, and rip it out.

It's plain. Now, what does it take to denigrate that to the point where churches, so-called churches, so-called Christian churches, would sanction such a thing? It starts with an acceptance of a worldview that says women's reproductive rights, reproductive health.

I heard an expression several weeks ago, and I can't remember even exactly the context, a new birth control method that men take, and it's supposed to help women who are at risk of getting pregnant. I heard that, and I thought, what?

At risk of becoming pregnant? I mean, if I go down a dark alley in a bad neighborhood at night, I'm at risk of getting shot or mugged or something. It's worldviews that come in and start to corrupt and chip away at our pure faith.

Same-sex marriage is the same thing, female pastors, all these things, because a worldview outside the Bible begins to creep in, and that's what Paul is fighting against here, or protecting against, because I don't think it's really gotten into the Colossian church.

So what he's telling them is, you're on the right path. You're doing a lot of things right. Don't stop, don't stall out, keep walking, I could say even progressing in him as you received him, so continue.

You know, for those things I mentioned, those so-called churches, for all I care, they can go ahead, and they can agree with all that they do, they can teach it as good and acceptable, they can do what they want, but I would beg them to stop blaming it on the Bible.

I would beg them to stop saying that this is good Christian ethics, like the South before the Civil War, who tortured the scripture to justify slavery. I would beg them to stop, if I were there, I hope.

They just need to take the word Christian or church out of their names. They're just an organization, because they let the worldview creep in, and once that's the case, your status as a church is done.

Well, my point is not really to rave against them, but to warn you that humanistic worldviews are out there masquerading as gospel love and tolerance, and they're barraging you, they're beckoning you, they're isolating you, they're tempting you, they're tempting us to join the fold, and the pressure is constant.

So as you receive Christ, the Christ, Jesus, the Lord, so continue in him. For those who need to get going again, those who've gotten a little off course, you know what happens if you feed gasoline to a diesel engine?

Really, it kind of blows up. I mean, it doesn't have to be catastrophic, but it's not good for it, okay? It's designed for diesel, gasoline doesn't work, and you do a lot of damage, and if you do it, we have to go to the mechanic, and one thing he has to do is he has to pull the diesel fuel tank out and flush it out and get all the gasoline out, he has to clean it, he has to clean your fuel line to get all the gasoline out.

No other fuel works in a diesel, but diesel fuel. And so for us, in that little analogy, at birth, we were designed for all the worldly things that I mentioned, and they worked, and why did they work?

Because in our natural birth, we came into the world, we came into a world that was fit to us and fit for our needs, okay? But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love by which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

He made you, he remade you, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. You're something different, you need a different fuel.

You no longer run on worldly worldviews, you run on something different, on the Christ, Jesus, the Lord, on his spirit and by his word. With that new birth, you need a new fuel. And a diesel engine cannot be turned into a gas engine, and my little analogy's gonna fail pretty quickly, but we're still human, but you're no longer what you were.

By God's spirit, by Christ in you, that miracle of the mystery unveiled. You're something different, and the fuel we need to keep going is not a worldview, it's that little bit of gas that gets into the tank of a diesel and does great damage.

Be careful, but walk confidently in Christ. Know that Christ can and will work in you. But I would ask you, has your walk with Christ stalled out a bit? Has it stalled out a lot? It could be that you've ingested that fuel that can't work in the operating system of the new you.

A worldview that sounds plausible is backed up by persuasive words coming at you like an atomic blast. Well, back to my little analogy, metaphor, parable, whatever you call it. The mechanic would have to take the tank down, like I said, and clean it out, get all the gasoline out of the diesel lines, and we have to do the same thing.

Much the same thing. I'll leave my little mechanical analogy aside now, but for us, if we continue that for just one more sentence, what would correspond to that would be to stop and repent. To look back and say, here's where I got off track, in this area, on this point.

Here is why I haven't progressed in Jesus Christ in this area. Here's why I can't mortify this or that sin, because the world's telling me it's all right, and I know it's not, but I like that message.

It comes in, that worldview comes in and says, it's okay to do this. You need to go for it yourself, because you're the boss, and that sort of thing. We hit just enough of it that that sin remains, whatever it is, and so we stall out.

So, repent. Purging the tank gets rid of the gasoline. Repentance gets rid of that worldview. Acknowledge it, prayerfully before God, see what it is, what has come in, how it has affected you, and pray God for repentance and restoration.

Which 1 John 1, 9 promises he gives? Which Joel 2, 25 says he restores the years the locusts have eaten? Ezekiel 36, 27 says he gives a new heart. It's that heart that would lead you to repent. It's that heart that Christ gives you when he brings you to himself.

Follow that, follow that worldview, follow what that heart would tell you is right, by prayer, by scripture. Join the Colossians and continue in Jesus just as you were taught. Again, they have the spoken apostolic word, we have the written apostolic word.

Just as you were taught. What does that mean? I mean, when I took calculus-based business statistics, I was taught how to do derivatives in my head, and quicker than fingers on a keyboard, or speech to artificial intelligence, I could come up with the instantaneous rate of change of a curve.

I could do it.

I can't snap very well, but I could do it. Lickety split. I don't know how to anymore. If I were to do that, I would have to go back to just as I was taught. I would have to study again and find out what a derivative even is, much less how to work them in my head.

Well, it's much like that when we need to get back on track with the Lord. Go back to just as you were taught. Go back to the unveiled basics that we have in scripture. In Nehemiah chapter eight, they tell Ezra to bring out the book of the law.

And so he read, and they listened all day and night attentively, and the Levites moved among them, and made sure they understood what was being read. And as they worked, and as they listened attentively, God worked repentance in them.

And as God worked repentance in them, so they turned from their ways into God's ways. And as they turned from their ways to God's ways, he, Christ Jesus the Lord, forgave them and sent them home in peace and with great rejoicing.

It's a great example for us, and it's a great example for you, if you're one who is allowed a worldview to come in and just justify that one, or that two, or whatever sin or sins. Bring out the book.

Open that book.

Study it, ask God to reveal the thoughts and intents of your conscience to you. The Colossians were doing well. The letter to them had instruction, but there's no call to repent of a major fault like what Jesus said to the seven churches.

So why this emphasis, why these reminders? Because a church that's doing well by biblical standards has to keep that apostolic word we were taught always before us. I think this church is doing well. Oh, we have room to improve.

Colleen and I would both say that, and Tim Mullet, when he gets here, he would agree. We have room to improve, we must keep improving. But I think we're doing well, by God's grace. I think our people are growing spiritually.

That's time to be very careful, to continue to follow that apostolic word that we have. So take heed, lest you stumble and fall. Thank God for those areas where you are doing well, where your life is pleasing to him.

Take heed of those areas where you're not doing well, and not so pleasing to him. And follow that apostolic word that we have in our scriptures. So if you're a Colossian, you're walking in Christ Jesus, the Lord, continue in him.

Keep feeding on the word just as you were taught. If you've taken in something other than what you were taught, take heart. God is a God of new beginnings. He is a God who restores the years low because of Eden.

As the hymn says, be still my soul, thy Jesus can repay from his own fullness, all he takes away. So brothers and sisters, know as you go from this place, and you seek to glorify the Lord in all that you do, do so confidently, because it's Christ who's working in you.

Do so confidently, because the mystery that was hidden for long ages has been revealed in Christ. Do so confidently, because it says in Ephesians 119, the power that God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead is the same power he works toward us who believe.

So walk confidently in him. And as you find room and need for repentance, repent confidently, because it's God who forgives.

Amen?