Colossians 1:23 - Not Moved Away From The Hope, Pt. 2

The Holy Spirit, Prayer, and Human Cooperation

When the Holy Spirit leads us to pray He's actually Bringing us into working with God to answer these prayers in that amazing. So your prayers are extremely important a lot of people think that Calvinists don't believe prayer does anything I've even heard people say well all prayers for is just to help make you to help you.

You when you pray it doesn't change anything. It just helps you that's not true. That's a hyper Calvinist that believes that and what's true is that God works together with us and in us and through us and and again together with us and Almost everything that he does he does very little.

Because he chooses to do it this way, but he does very little without humans. He didn't write the Bible without humans. Did he? Right he didn't part the Red Sea without humans did he Moses standing there holding the rod of God.

Right at exactly the right time when God told him to and. So now we're holding the rod of God. That's what we're here for. All right, well. Let us get into the book of Colossians chapter 1. And today we're still going to be on first probably around verse 23 and and.

Not much more. So so good to see all of you. Thank you for our Dallas crowd Coming in and our Waxahachie crowd and Our of course our Corsicana crowd and our online crowd from all over the country we we California crowd as well.

Yes. Transplanted to Dallas perhaps or even closer would be even nicer. But anyway Glad to have all of you. But especially want to thank our online folks. I don't often look at you and talk straight to you.

But we know you're there and we appreciate that you're there. In fact, you guys had a huge turnout for Sunday school this morning at 10. Thank you for that. Because we're a little anemic today. We got people on vacation.

We got people traveling. We've got. And in this strength, have you ever seen the summer where there were so many colds and upper respiratory stuff in the middle of summer? You would think school had already started.

Oh it has for public school, hasn't it? So that's where the germs are coming from. Okay so anyway our school our school here is old-fashioned like when I was a kid you never started before September 5th because they didn't have air Conditioning and it's hot in Texas.

So you waited till September 5th, of course, September 5th in Texas is one of the hottest days. Usually until like what mid-october it starts getting really nice here. But but that's why but anyway, I when brother Paul came I told him, you know, we don't start before September 5th.

He did not like that at first because it's hard for him to work everything into the year and get all the Everything finished, but he doesn't so it sometime right at September 5th is when we start depending on the calendar.

So we're not in school yet. We are not passing around Park Meadows germs yet. But we will be soon. All right, Colossians chapter 1 verse 23. Mm-hmm. Let's see here, let me find let me find the verse I want to read that's right before that I Might have to break down and get my glasses.

Hold on a second. Oh. They're stuck in there. All right. Let's see here. I Sure hope I brought the right notes today, that would be really nice. Okay, sorry, okay, so Let's start with let's look at verse 20.

I'm sorry 21 verse 21 Colossians 121 get a little context for where we are today and you that were. Sometime and as I said last time that's kind of like more like once upon a time in the Greek. It doesn't really mean every once in a while like sometime does it means once upon a time you were alienated.

Like in the past you were alienated you were enemies in your mind. That means enemies of God by wicked works. Yet now hath he reconciled? So that starts out telling us where we were when we're born in this world.

We are depraved creatures. Our eyes are blind to the things of God. Our ears are deaf. We cannot hear God's Word and our spirit is dead. And so the Holy Spirit has to call us to bring us to life. He has to quicken us.

While we were yet in our sins hath he quickened us that is your regeneration happens right at that moment. You hadn't done anything yet. So you played no role in it other than receiving it. Like a little baby born receives the family.

He was just born into and the breast upon which he feeds it is it is not something he caused. It's a gift that he Receives joyfully, right and that's how we are spiritually. Jesus said it's like being born physically.

Being born again is like being born physically. So this is all something the Holy Spirit has to do because you are dead. Literally dead men can't receive Christ. Have you ever thought about that? Why is it that the American gospel as you bring them down the aisle you tell them?

I'll pray this little prayer. Did you come hard and say me? Amen, but they're dead. They're dead. They they can't do that in the flesh. The Holy Spirit has to call them now. What is the calling feel like when you're new and you hadn't read any Bible?

You don't know the theology of it, right? But what does it feel like well. It just feels like all of a sudden you're getting an interest in Jesus and you didn't have it yesterday. All of a sudden your heart's going.

I wonder where I'm gonna go when I die. So you're worried you're kind of worried about hell. You didn't you weren't worried about it all your life up till about now. And and that is that you start sensing that I need Christ because I am going to hell.

I'm headed the wrong way. I'm running my own life and I'm a sinner. The wages of sin is death. Sin has separated us from God and I'm figuring that out. Like I'm a little bit afraid of that because I read about hell in the Bible and Jesus said it's a real place.

With real fire that burns forever and you just you don't die you stay in it forever. If you go there, I'm concerned about my soul. That's you're being called when you have those thoughts because Goats, those are people the Bible talks about that are never going to get saved.

They just don't they like Jesus said I didn't even are some someplace the Bible calls them tears like weeds. They're like weeds rather than wheat. Jesus said I didn't plant the weeds and They asked him well who planted the weeds and he said Satan.

But the wheat they will start having concern about their soul at some point. And when they do that's the Holy Spirit calling them and at one point in their life. Every single one that is a wheat everyone that is a sheep rather than a goat.

Every single one of them will have a moment when the Holy Spirit takes their chin and points it up says there's your shepherd. He's got the food. You're a sheep. What are you gonna do with him? And he will make him irresistible to you and you will receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior at that point.

You're saved forever. And what we're talking about in this context is the forever part once that happens. You cannot lose it. There's nothing you could do that would cause you to be removed from God's family because you've always been in it.

God knew you before you knew you were his he knew you were yours forever. I'm sorry. I said it wrong. He knew you were his forever. You just didn't know it and On the day you get called all of a sudden, you know it you're notified that hey, I'm your father.

You're my child. Welcome to the family and that's what salvation is all about. So you see that verse 20 starts with the depravity of man. It starts with the fact that That you're I'm sorry verse 21 it starts with the fact that you're alienated from God and you're an enemy of God.

That's where we all start. It doesn't feel that way to us because our little children are so cute and sweet and stuff until they start needing a whooping right. Need to be corrected and then all of a sudden you said well, they're not perfect and then you start thinking about well Wait a minute.

I'm not perfect neither is dad perfect and okay, so they're not gonna be perfect. And then the older they get the more they show that Nature, it's a sin nature. It's a sin that is has a propensity to sin rather than to do right?

That's why you work your rear end off teaching them to do right and you don't have to do anything to teach them to do. Wrong, you don't have to do anything to teach a kid to lie. They will just lie. You know why because they don't want to get in trouble.

Human nature adults do it, too. I've I've never counseled with a couple that was in where one of the two parties was in fornication or adultery. That they hadn't lied about it for a long time thinking they could cover it.

But guess what? They're no better than the children. They can't cover it either because the Bible says your sin will find you out and it always does. It's pathetic when adults get caught in that because they think they're not going to get caught and they always do preachers do I?

Mean preachers, do we see falling, you know, if you look at YouTube or you look at wherever you get your news from. Once a month somewhere in the country some big preacher just has to resign. Why well for one thing Satan's out to get the preachers.

He's out to get you too, though. He's out to get everybody because he can't hurt God except he can hurt God's kids and that hurts God. So he's out to get us. So anyway, the point is we need a lot of help after we get saved we need a lot of protection and Us together being with each other is one of those protections.

Why do you think the Bible says forsake not the assembly of ourselves together and so much the more as the day approaches? What day do you think it's referencing? The day what day is that? That's this that's the end times and as we get closer the end times we need to be together more.

It says why because we help each other not want to sin. When I'm with you, I don't want to sin. When you're here and I get to see you you're all almost perfect. If we were to come in each other's homes, it'd be a different story.

During the week, right? But still being here helps get through the next week because we don't want to disappoint each other. It's a huge part of it. But then the Bible says that this book right here sanctifies us.

So if you spend some time in the book in between services, it helps you not sin as much. And then the Bible says the Holy Spirit's there to help too, but you can quench him. You can grieve him you can tell him shut up and go away and Then you can sin if you want to you see the problem.

But if you're in this book more you don't want to quench the Holy Spirit you know, I deal with Addictions sometime try to help people with different fleshly addictions that create sin problems and habits.

And you know what's so frustrating about it is I've got the answer. I've got 45 years in this book. I've got the answer. But unless you want it, it doesn't help if you love that sin of the flesh I can show you any manner of stuff.

God says he'll free you from it. It won't because you want it. So guess who gets to make the ultimate decision, you know, people say that Calvinists don't believe in free will. Well I don't literally think it's free because you're influenced every thought you have is influence.

It's not free, but it is a will and your choices are very Important there. I can't even describe how important your choices are and so you have to make the choice to rather prefer to be holding Jesus hand and walking with him rather than doing that sin habit thing and.

Eventually, you'll get to love him so much that that choice will make you stop that sin habit eventually. And if not, God will kill you and take you home early you go to heaven early. The Bible says that there is a sin unto death.

That's for the Christian a Christian who is messing up your testimony and God's testimony on this earth. God will just take you home early from the human viewpoint. How about that? Let me tell you what the most important verse is for all the kids in the room.

We got any kids in here raise your hand if you're a kid put your hand down Raymond. Put your hand down. I'm a kid too. All right. So, you know what the most important verse is for kids in the whole Bible.

It's one of the Ten Commandments. It says honor your mother and father that you may live a long life on this earth kids. Do you know what that means if you don't honor your mother and father you will die young.

God said that in this book. Think about that when you get to be a teenager you kids back there. You're not quite there yet. But when you get to be a teenager and you got all the little hormones running around.

And all of a sudden you think you're supposed to be an adult. You still better honor your mom and dad, you know, I've got kids of all different ages, I've got five but they're you know, they. Some older ones and some younger ones, but they still honor their mother and dad.

Isn't that that did not change when they left the the nest and They still know that if they don't it can be a major problem with God. So kids, what's the first verse for you? Honor your mother and father that you may live a long life on this earth always think about these things.

So so you can't tell me mr. Hyper Calvinist that your decisions are not important. They are just as important as the sovereignty of God. In fact every verse that I see where it talks about sovereignty God the very next verse or two three verses down.

We'll talk about the will of man and the stuff you have to decide to do. They're side-by-side all through the scripture. Problem is we have a world that likes to emphasize the human side and they don't like to talk about the God side and I find the older I get the more I Interested I am in the God side and the less interested in humans because I got that figured out.

I Have pretty much figured out the world the flesh and the devil and my human nature and how good I am. Not I Got that figured out. I'm not that interested in what we can do as humans. I'm more interested in what God can do in us and through us and what we can do with him side by side hand in hand and Jesus did say Without me you can do how much?

Nothing. All right. So this passage starts with the depravity of man, but then it ends by saying that he has Reconciled us. What does that mean? He made us put us back in a state that is right with God.

We were born into the world wrong with God enemies of God. Running from God alienated from God and the Holy Spirit calls us. We received Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior and now we are reconciled with God now.

What happens next? Well, let's look at verse 22. He then promised us in Colossians 122 a doctrine that we call eternal security. Some people in the south call it once saved always saved some people. Even preacher even myself.

I've had times when I said, well, let's don't use that term. I do think it's overused and I think a lot of people don't mean know what it means and they abuse the term. But I have to say it is true. Once saved always saved is true as long as you say it this way.

I'd like to add one extra word once truly saved always saved. Once born it once called and born again. Always saved and that's what it starts to talk about. Look at it it the same people that were enemies of God.

Then he reconciled them at the end of verse 21 look at verse 22. They he reconciled them in the body of his flesh through death that tells us how we got Reconciled and it had nothing to do with us. It said is through his death.

The Puritans used to say we're saved by the blood of nothing the blood of Jesus plus nothing. We were saved by the blood of Jesus plus nothing. We're saved by his death. We're saved by what he did on the cross for the father and for us.

He propitiated God's justice and Wrath and made God be satisfied with the fact that the sin debts been paid and for us. He paid the sin debt. Wow. I mean, it doesn't seem right to just say that and just move on does it?

He paid our sin debt and just move on. It doesn't seem right because you could contemplate that all day and all tomorrow and all the next week in the rest of your life what he did for you on the cross when he didn't have to die because it was perfect and he put your sins on himself and Hated that in the Garden of Gethsemane when he sweat blood.

It wasn't because he's scared to die physically because he did not like your sins and mine on his body because he was pure. He was holy he did not want to face that and he said God if there's another way.

Let's find another way. I don't want that. I don't want that mess on me. I don't want that sin in me and God said there and yet he said Nevertheless that will be done not mine, right and God said no. This is the only way and God put all the sins you've ever done the dirty thoughts the wicked things.

You've done the unkindness words unkind words. Every little things you didn't do that. You should have like go to church like go to Sunday school like don't forsake the assembly. Whatever it is. You can think of things you should have done that you didn't all of that was placed on the body of Jesus 2 ,000 years for you were born and he died with it in him and he died for you with your sins in him and he was Buried with your sins in him and when he rose again You were still in him and you're now a new man or woman or boy or girl.

Once you get born again, you are that new man that rose out of that grave. You're risen. You are delivered from that old man. And yet he still bothers us, doesn't he? But as long as you hold Jesus hand you are delivered and a day moment by moment.

You are delivered for eternity. You're going to heaven and you can't lose it because look what it says He's he reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death wine to present you now. This is Jesus's job.

Okay, it wasn't just his job to die on the cross. That's what we call the finished work the stuff He's already done for us. But now he looks forward into the future. All of the future and by the way, the future time goes on a lot longer than you think it does.

Most of you who've studied the Bible you realize that after this age is over. There is a thing called a thousand-year millennial kingdom, right? That's called the kingdom age you familiar with that, right?

Did you know that the scripture speaks of after that there is age unto age? We don't know how many ages that is or those are. But they're there so time keeps going on out into the future. Thousands and thousands and maybe millions of years.

Out into the future of us living with the Lord. Working together is King priests right with him out into the future and with other human beings that are born in other millennia out in the future and and so We see all of this and Jesus has to keep working through all of that time now.

He doesn't have to die again. Because he died once. All right. He does not have to die for your sins again. But look what it says. He does. He reconciled us through the through the body of his flesh through death so he died once to take the sins away from us and That by the way went back in time from the cross and covered all the Old Testament Saints.

It took their sins away it moved from the cross forward till now and it goes out to the Millennial Kingdom and it goes out to age and to age and To age for millions of years perhaps however long that is and all of those sins of all the elect.

Not of every person, but the people that God knew were his kids. Because he's not in time. He already knows who it is. All of those people's sins were covered on that cross too. But then he goes on and says this to present you now, that's future tense.

That is future tense for us and It's future tense for everyone in the future. Because what that means is the first day you meet Jesus face to face. Oh, listen, you think death is scary? I do I mean if you're honest Death is a frightening thing to face.

I have a feeling as we get closer to it. It gets less scary though, because I watched my mom peacefully. Just take her last breath. With her family around her singing hymns and stuff. It didn't look all that scary.

I mean it we didn't like it, but it didn't look like it was bad for her. Charlotte's mom same way. She's very young when she passed away. She took her last breath. She knew we were in the room a tear went down her cheek because she heard a singing Scripture song playing guitar and stuff and she took her last breath.

We walked out and it'd been raining so bad. We could barely get to to Tyler from hey. It was raining so bad trying to get there to be with her in her last day. And we went out on that French porch porch.

Ten seconds after she took her last breath and we looked up and that cloudy mean-looking sky was the same except there was a hole. This big with the Sun shining through it beams coming down and we just pictured her going right up through that hole.

Didn't seem all that scary for her. So it's just like those of us who we're most likely not gonna die today. Although we don't know do we? It's a little frightening to think about it. But the thing is I think Satan puts that fear there how much you want to bet.

Because he knows that the in the blink of an eye when your heart stops you're instantly with the Lord. But he wants you to think you're just covered by dirt. That's just your body. The real you is instantly with the Lord and that's something and then eventually when the Lord comes back he raises the body puts it back together gets all the molecules and Electrons and protons and neutrons and everything that was in your body puts it back together and puts you back in it and you're with Him forever that way only it's glorified.

It can't die ever again. So looking at this I see that his death on the cross took the sins of the elect from all ages away and Then he says to present you in the future. So he has a future work to do.

Jesus does so he worked in the past. He works in the present in your life right now and he works in the future. Look what he does in the future. He presents you to God Holy God who cannot be in the presence of sin.

He has now removed your sin and he presents you holy to Holy God and he presents you unblameable. Which means without blemish in the Greek which is pictured by the little lamb without blemish. There are all those thousands of years in the Old Testament where they had to offer a lamb.

That pictured Jesus dying and had to be a perfect lamb and he presents you that perfect. You are that perfect you're without blemish the day he presents you to Jesus and then Unblameable then it says unapprovable.

That means in the court of law if they if Satan tries to bring you to court you are found not guilty. Do you like that not guilty? Because Jesus took your sins upon him and paid the sin debt and you don't have to pay it twice.

He ransomed you. He paid the ransom. You're free. Now. You can't pay your own ransom. Jesus paid it and you're free. So now that is the future work of Jesus to present us perfect now, let me ask you this.

We did study this and we noticed that this word for Present you and so forth. It's it's obviously the work of God doing that now if it's the shepherds job to present every sheep holy without blemish and Unaccusable to God if that didn't happen whose fault is it?

It's the shepherds fault. He will be held accountable by God if he lost one of you one of us who clued myself. That's amazing to think about so do you really think he could fail? You see Armenians think he can fail because they teach you can lose your salvation.

And Arminian is a person who looks at scripture through human viewpoint all the time they don't look at God's viewpoint. So like you got to do something to get saved. Well, if that's true, then if you undo it, you can lose it, right?

That's their that's their logic and and yet what they don't understand is that if that happened It would be Jesus had to answer for it. And he's not ever gonna have to answer for it because he said of them.

I will lose nothing. But we'll raise it up in the last day. All right, so he promises these things that is the greatest amount of eternal security that I can see in any one place in the whole Bible and.

So then the interesting thing is in verse 23. The very next word is the word if and that is problematic and I say problematic. Because what it means is we're lazy and we don't like to study. So it's a problem.

We got to study, right? Okay, like I like to give you an idea there's almost 25 pages here on if. Okay, you can't handle all that but I can give you little pieces of it until we're done. So last time we talked a little bit about this word if in the fact that there are actually places in the Bible.

Where the same Greek word that's translated if in verse 23 where it says that you'll be eternally secure if you continue In the faith grounded and settled and not moved away. What's interesting about those words right there is if you look at the Greek.

It's it solves the problem of you thinking that this means if because the word grounded is in the perfect and In grammar perfect means something that happened in the past that never has to be repeated again.

And it's passive which means someone bigger than you did it to you. It's not something you did so like people that want to act like if means you got to keep yourself grounded boy. If you stray away from church, you're gonna go to hell.

They think it means that they don't know Greek because in the Greek It doesn't say you're something you're doing. It's not active. It's not you doing it. It's God doing it. It's God that keeps us grounded.

Not you that keeps yourself grounded. Do you see that? We talked about last time and the word settled is an adjective. It tells what kind of grounded person you are but not moved away is a verb and that one is passive.

Which means God's the one that keeps you not moving away. Isn't that beautiful? I mean if you go to the right church and you hear the right preacher makes life better. Thank you. Thank you very much. Those of you who don't have one in your area to go to you come here.

I'm glad because I mean I got a pastor's heart. I am jealous over you. I don't like you listening to stuff. That's false of any kind and if you ever find me and catch me in something false, you need to tell me sooner the better and show me with the ten proper rules of Bible interpretation that I'm wrong and I will take it back and Apologize and never teach it again.

But most preachers aren't like that. They learn what they learn in seminary when they're 19 and now they think they know everything and they don't learn a lot of new stuff and It's sad. It's very very sad and it's prideful and it hurts our churches which hurts our nation and look at our nation now.

It's a perfect reflection of the pulpit. And I'm not saying this one's perfect, but I am telling you we're trying to be perfect we are trying to be absolutely accurate on every word and sentence and Phrase and paragraph and chapter and book we talk about so let us know if we're not but I'm telling you the Greek itself Proves that the word if does not mean if you don't you lose your salvation.

It does not mean that and so then we looked on down there and we notice that this same Word in Greek are the root of the word is found in other scriptures where it's translated for as much as. Well, what if you read this verse that way?

What have you said? Okay, Jesus died for you. He gave his blood. He took your sins away. And even though you were bad and You were born bad He called you and he took your sins away. And now he Reconciles you to God and makes you perfect in his sight.

If you don't mess up if it meant that it'd be kind of bad, wouldn't it? You'd be Church Christ if it meant that you'd be Pentecostal if it meant that you'd be Methodist the people that believe you can lose it are Catholic so but it doesn't mean that.

Because what if you translate it like it is in say Colossians 122 or Hebrews 2 14 or Acts 11 17 where if you read it this way, okay, Jesus died for you. He's going to present you perfect. For as much as you continue in the faith grounded and settled you see the difference.

It means since you're going to do that rather than if you do it, so we looked at that last time. That's kind of interesting. I think but what I really want to start getting into now and and we won't have a lot of time.

This time but we'll go on for a Sunday or two is I want to look at a parallel passage in the book of Hebrews. And you can turn to Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1. It has the word if in it a couple of times in the context of salvation.

But it has a whole different context than Colossians does that gives us a lot of information on what the word if means and really. Probably a better translation would be since rather than if but the context proves it.

So we looked at the word study kind of proves it, but it doesn't totally prove it because you could say well. But maybe it should mean if right, but then the context is even more important than the grammar I think so we'll look at that.

So turn to Hebrews 3 1. Alright now starts with the word wherefore. Wherefore we're holy brethren. So who is this chapter talking to the world of lost people is it talking to who? Holy brethren the Brit the believers the elect it's talking to God's people not anyone else and Those who are partakers of the heavenly gift calling so who are those those ones have been called.

And they looked up and I said, oh, you're the shepherd. You got the food. I'm hungry. I don't want to run my life because I'm doing a terrible job. I Want you to be my Lord and Savior and my shepherd and feed me the spiritual food here and let me live forever.

That's who it's talking to people that have already done that right and then it says partakers of the heavenly calling. Consider the Apostle and high priest of your profession Jesus Christ. So it says what I want you to do is start focusing on Jesus.

I want you to focus on Jesus for a few minutes. But before we can focus on Jesus we have to look at the first word, what does it say? Wherefore. You always have to ask what's the wherefore therefore? That means you got to look up at chapter 2 and you have to now study chapter 2 verse by verse.

Or you won't know what verse 1 is talking about or the rest of the passage. But let me before we do that which we are going to do that before we do it. Let's read this little passage starting with chapter 3 verse 1 wherefore holy brethren for takers of the heavenly calling.

Consider the Apostle and high priest of our profession Jesus Christ who was faithful to him that appointed him who appointed Jesus God the Father right. Also, very good. Thank you very much as also Moses was faithful in all of his house.

So Jesus is faithful to the church age the age of faith. Just as Moses was faithful to the law age which the law of works. Even though they were actually saved by faith if you go check it out, but it was a works system.

Moses was faithful to that. Jesus is faithful to this and. So let's keep going verse 3 for this man Jesus was counted worthy of more glory than Moses and as much as he who built the house has more honor than the house and Every house is built by a man but he that built all things is God and Moses truly was faithful in all of his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken of but Jesus Christ as a son over all the house whose house we are.

I'm gonna just stop right there a minute because the next word is if and we're studying the word if. But I don't want to get into that yet. I want to look at this right here because it's a little bit wordy.

Don't you think a little like you can't read that fast and figure it out? But here's what the scripture is saying and I told Charlotte this week. I struggled this my whole life for 45 years. Which book of the Bible is my favorite?

Well, I've always said it's the one I'm in so what I'm studying right now. So it should be Colossians, right? But what if it was Romans? Oh man Romans we finished that only took how many years? From the time I met from the time I met Ashton to the time.

She had five babies. Or four four babies. That's how long it took to get through one book. All right, so I love Romans, but you know what the truth is. I am now going to pronounce it Hebrews is my favorite book this week.

Okay. Now I think it might really truly in the end may be my favorite book it is so rich and He's speaking to Jews predominantly now. There's Gentiles in the audience, but speaking to Jews. And it goes back and takes in a lot of things.