WEBVTT 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:20.640 So here we are. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:25.199 It is a new year and a new decade. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:33.119 And perhaps you, along with many, many other people, see this as a time of year for a new you. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:36.960 New year, new decade, new self. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:41.679 I'm always impressed with people who make those lists, come up with those resolutions. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:50.159 I'm more than suspicious of myself and my ability to keep those from bitter experience. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:52.399 I used to do it, do it no more. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:01:22.159 That is why I'm greatly relieved when we come to this book and particularly this part of the Bible, because this little letter to Colossians, to the Christians in Colossi, is not so much a letter about new starts as it is speaking to Christians, encouraging them to stay the course, to stick with what they have started. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:33.840 Now, don't get me wrong, okay, as the Christian, as city church, we love to see new people, and we love to see new people making new starts. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:36.319 That is one of our greatest joys. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:45.120 But equal to that, equal to that is also not simply seeing people start the Christian life, but actually people staying with the Christian life. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:02:00.959 You see, Paul's writing to these new Christians, and already he can see that there's much that imperils their Christian life. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:06.879 So he's encouraging them to stick with what they've started. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:09.199 Chapter 2, verse 6 and 7. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:10.159 Let me just read it to you. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:14.240 But they're kind of the essential, the essence of the entire book. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:21.840 He says, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, talking about the start, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, do what? 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:24.240 Depart from Him? 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:26.080 Walk away from Him? 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:27.520 Turn to something new? 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:28.080 No. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:31.439 As you received Him, so walk in Him. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:38.560 Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:42.560 It's not so much about starting something new, to huge relief. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:47.680 It's about staying with what you've started, sticking with Jesus, staying the course. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:57.280 And in order to do that, Paul gives us essentially two words, two massive words of encouragement this morning. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:11.199 Perhaps you're like me, because not only do I find starting new things troublesome, but I also find sticking with what I've started equally difficult. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:20.000 The Christian life, for anyone who has lived it even just a short time, you'll know. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:29.840 Look, if you're going to be real with yourself and with God, it's not about basing your Christian life on a past episode. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:31.919 Right? 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.879 You made a decision a long time ago. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:46.639 If your Christian life is going to be real, if it's going to be living and growing, it's not about a past episode, about making a decision long ago. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:48.800 It's about a present experience. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:50.240 You know that. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:04:09.439 And what Paul's doing in this letter is simply encouraging us to enjoy, to exemplify, and to endure in the Christian life. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:14.400 The Christian life that you've been given, the Christian life that you've already started. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:23.519 And so he gives two massive, two massive words of encouragement to the Colossian Christians, to them for us today. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:31.839 And the first, the first word of encouragement that he wants to bring before them and therefore before us goes like this. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:49.680 He looks at these Colossian Christians and he says, the gospel alone, the word about God's Son, the gospel alone, has already and will go on, continuing to change you. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:54.560 Therefore, don't depart from it. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:56.079 Stick with it. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:01.519 The gospel alone, I know that's probably perhaps a bit of a convoluted sentence to take in all at once. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:11.600 I will break it down, but he says, look, the gospel alone already has and will go on, continuing to change you. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:16.319 Therefore, why do you need anything else? 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.439 Why do you look for new resolutions? 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.439 Stick with what you've started with. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:29.360 Hold on to what has already been given to you. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:37.439 Because you know, he says to the Colossians, it has changed you. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:39.839 And boy had it changed them. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.120 Paul actually never made it to Colossae. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:51.120 We hear that he learned of what was going on in Colossae with these Christians through a friend of his called Epaphras. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:53.600 Do you see that at the end of verse, in the middle of verse 7? 00:05:54.160 --> 00:06:04.319 Epaphras had gone to Colossae, taken the gospel to Colossi, and then he was reporting back to Paul about the impact the gospel had had in this city. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:14.240 And he said to Paul, look, these people who have heard the gospel, understood it, and accepted it have been completely changed. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:22.639 In one of the most fundamental, in fact, probably the most fundamental ways that any of us ever can. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:26.000 Looking for a new start this year, perhaps you are. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.199 You need to come to grips with the gospel. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:36.079 It has the power to change you in ways that you never dreamt possible. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:40.240 He says three things about these Christians in Colossi. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:45.120 He says, firstly, look, they had heard verse four of their faith in Christ. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:46.319 Number one. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:56.560 Then their love for all the saints flowing out of their faith in Christ, they had a new relationship with God and were beginning new relationships with one another. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:08.720 And those, that faith and that love sprang from, he says, because verse five, um, we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, the love that you have for all the saints, because of your hope. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:11.120 The hope that is laid up for you in heaven. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:12.800 See the certainty of that? 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:20.079 Hope is not things in the Bible, people are not unsure. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:23.199 Hope does not mean unsure, it simply means unseen. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:25.120 Right? 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:29.600 People think hope today, oh, that's very uncertain. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:36.959 But when you look at the Bible in the way the Bible uses that word, it's not talking about things that are uncertain or unsure, it's simply talking about things that are unseen. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:45.680 And he says, because of that, your whole present experience has been completely and utterly rewired. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:49.920 You now have, as he says, faith in Christ. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:57.600 That is, you no longer are trusting yourselves, as most people living in this world do. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:01.439 You're not trusting yourself anymore, you're trusting another. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.600 That's simply what he means when it talks about faith in Christ. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:15.360 It doesn't matter how strong your faith is, all that matters is the strength of the one your faith is in. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:26.639 And so he said, look, you you've been you've been transposed from the way the world thinks, trusting itself, to the way that God sees you. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:29.920 Or the way that you need to see yourself. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:36.879 And your faith now is not in yourself, but in Christ, which led amazingly to a love. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:39.600 Something like the world had never seen before. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:41.360 A love for all our saints. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:43.840 It's one of the themes that Paul will pick up on. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:46.879 This little word all in Colossians is very important. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:56.559 He talks about the Christians being filled full in Christ, about them having all that they we'll see later on today, having all that they need because of God's strength supplied for them. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:58.480 But this little word, all, is so important. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.799 And he said, You've got a love for all the saints. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.200 The world had never seen anything like this before. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:10.559 You take it for granted here this morning that you can walk into a room and sit next to one another, male and female. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:21.120 Don't you know that for many of the major world religions, even still today, this isn't possible. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.080 Rich and poor. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:29.200 Paul will talk about slaves and masters later on. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:30.879 And he levels the playing field. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:32.960 He says the gospel levels the playing field. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:42.799 It created new relationships which went deeper than being male or female, it went deeper than your socioeconomic standing. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:48.720 It went deeper than your race, your nation, the color of your skin. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:50.960 This was exceptional. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.840 Their identity was now in Christ. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:04.000 So they were free from having to defend themselves and protect themselves, and therefore could love anybody. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:13.039 All because, as he says, verse 5, all because of the hope that's laid up for them. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:16.799 So what is it that he's talking about here? 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:22.639 He is talking about a fundamental rewiring of the essence of your identity. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:26.799 Who makes you you? 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.879 They no longer belong to themselves, they belong to another. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:36.240 They no longer were protecting themselves, they were pouring themselves out in service to one another. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:42.080 They were no longer simply aiming for this world, but they were looking for the world to come. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:53.120 Their loyalty, their love, and their longings have been completely changed. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:08.320 And all, Paul says, because of the gospel, which has gone out into all the world and is changing people who hear it, understand it, and accept it. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:16.159 And it's creating in them themselves a whole new way for them to think about themselves. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:21.840 It's creating through them whole new communities. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.759 Something like the world had never seen before. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:37.919 And it's giving them a confidence and a certainty that no matter what happens in this life, they know their future's secure. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:40.559 Do you know? 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:54.960 If that's what the gospel gives people, do you think they would have missed an opportunity ever to meet up as church in Colossae, where they came together and reminded one another that this is what had already happened? 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:56.879 And Paul takes it one step further. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:07.279 He says it's not simply telling you what has happened, but the gospel itself is the ongoing power to continue to change you. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:08.960 You don't need anything new. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:09.679 Look what he says. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:15.360 Look, this gospel, it's universal, has come to you, verse 6, as indeed it has in the whole world. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.879 It's universal and it's a living dynamic power. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.639 Paul was saying people's lives transformed. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:35.519 Because he says it's bearing fruit and increasing, filling people up so that they don't need to use one another. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:39.919 Filling people up so that they can actually serve one another. 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:47.759 As it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the word of grace of God in truth. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:05.440 The gospel alone has already and will go on, continuing to change you. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:11.519 Stick with it, people is what he's saying. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:19.440 He wants these Colossian Christians to see that what they have in the gospel is worth more than anything else this world can afford. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:29.360 He wants them to see that what they have in this gospel will make them equal for any challenge that they might face in this world. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:36.399 He wants them to see that in this gospel there's there's nothing more precious that God could have given them. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:44.960 Because in the gospel, the word about his son, we know that God gives us himself. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:56.799 He's not waiting for us to earn his approval, he's not measuring us up to see if we deserve it. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.639 But it's the word of God's grace in truth. 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:07.039 He's giving people who could not earn it, but did not deserve it, will never merit it. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:10.240 He's giving us himself. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:13.600 And do you know something? 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:33.279 If you've got that right, if you can understand that that you now have peace with your Maker, He loves you, that as you'll see as you go on through the letter, his son did it all for you. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:45.600 If you know that, if that has penetrated your life, it changes the way you see yourself and one another and the world around you. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:49.759 So let me ask you, has it? 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:52.879 If it has, stick with it. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:54.720 That's what Paul wants us to see. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:56.639 Stick with it. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:02.000 He says, in many ways, look, don't underestimate it. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:03.759 It can change people. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:11.679 Perhaps sometimes you think the gospel is weak, ineffective, it doesn't actually do what it says on the tin. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:13.600 But Paul says, no. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:16.320 Stick with it. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:20.159 The gospel alone has the power to change people. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:23.519 Don't underestimate it. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.840 Don't unappreciate it. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:29.360 Right? 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:41.200 I think, especially at this time of year, people are looking for long lists that they can make for themselves, set their targets, see if they can perform, um, feel good about themselves. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:47.600 Normally, if I'm making the list, it's only going to be disappointing to myself. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:50.080 But people are looking for that, aren't they? 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:58.159 People are looking to be able to say to themselves and to others religiously and even to God, look, I've done it. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:59.519 I've done enough. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:05.679 And it's it's not necessarily the bad people who are trying to do that, right? 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:10.320 It's the good people, it's the moral upright. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:12.799 The religious people who are trying to do that. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:25.919 You see, if you begin to transpose any of your confidence, any of your joy out of the gospel into something else, well, it's going to lead to disaster. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:32.080 It's going to wreck your life and may wreck other people's lives too. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:37.519 See, these Colossian Christians, they were in Christ. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:38.480 Right? 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:41.360 That is the reality now that defined them. 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:45.840 Their identity was wrapped up in him and his performance. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.360 And his performance is perfect. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:50.799 You're not in him. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.240 You can't get any better. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:01.279 When God looks at you, he sees you as the way he sees his son. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.160 It's staggering. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:20.640 But the more that sinks into your life, the more that you begin to appreciate that that's the way he sees you, then the more able you'll be able, the more able you'll be to serve others, to love one another. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:32.160 You won't be striving and struggling and seeking to put yourself first or to make a name for yourself or to put other people down. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.839 No, you don't need to. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:40.720 Because you now know the most important eyes in the universe are looking at you and they're smiling. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:56.160 And so, being so rooted, as we saw, being so established as we saw, since you received Christ, and now you're in him, don't move away from him. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:17:59.759 You're in him. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:05.680 Therefore, you can pour your your yourself out and your hope is secure. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.599 So don't don't underestimate the gospel. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.640 It can and continues to transform lives. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:15.599 Don't unappreciate the gospel in your own life. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:21.359 Because it is the power that continues to change all of us. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:30.960 Rather seek daily to orientate your life around this gospel. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:33.759 Dwell. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:42.160 Marinade yourself in the glorious truth of the gospel. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:47.599 That God has loved you with an unending love. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:19:00.400 The gospel, Paul wants them to see, the gospel, and the gospel alone has and will continue to go on changing them. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:03.119 So stick with it. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:04.319 Be assured. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:05.839 Stick with the gospel. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.200 Then he secondly goes on to say, I mean, this is a prayer this morning, right? 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:13.440 He's teaching them what to pray for. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:19.599 And out of that, what you might simply want to say is, Well, my prayers this year, they need to be more thankful for the gospel. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:20.640 Start there. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:22.240 What do you thank God for? 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.079 We go around our dinner table at night, right? 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.160 There's four children, two adults. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:34.799 And the things that we ask one another as to what we should pray for, um, well, there are some very strange ideas. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:36.160 Let's just put it like that. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:43.279 But so it's so seldom when we actually, as a family, are thinking like this. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:45.039 What should we be thanking God for? 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:46.640 Well, for the gospel. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:50.160 Right? 00:19:51.359 --> 00:20:04.640 That is how God has changed you and continues to go on renewing the world today through the teaching of his gospel. 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:11.119 Let's not let's not underestimate it. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:12.720 Let's not unappreciate it. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:17.039 Rather, let's us orientate around it, our lives. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:24.000 There's lots that were seeking to pull the Colossians away. 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:30.079 That they would be defined by what they could do, their success, their performance. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:30.640 There was lots. 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:32.240 You'll see that as you go through the letter. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:41.039 Paul's simply raising this flag now, and he's he's positioning the issues that will become more obvious throughout the rest of the letter today. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:50.240 But the big thing, the headline news that he wants to open up for us, for them, for our health and well-being, is you've got the gospel. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.000 Don't think that you need anything else. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:58.559 The gospel alone has the power to change. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:12.960 Then, secondly, he says, look, if the gospel alone is power to change, then it is God alone, God alone, who has already and will go on, not simply changing you, but keeping you. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:23.119 It's God alone, it's the second thing he says, in many ways, he he opens it up in verses 9 to 14. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.759 He he does something very, very similar. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:31.839 Um, it's God alone who has already and will go on continuing to keep you. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.319 How are you gonna make it through the year? 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:36.240 Right? 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:42.960 How are you going to continue thinking as a Christian, living as a Christian through 2020? 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.000 You're gonna face lots of temptations. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:48.240 There's gonna be disappointments. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:55.039 Some things will surprise you, others will perhaps even threaten to crush you. 00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:58.000 What do you need to know? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.799 Do you need to see in order to keep going? 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:13.200 Well, it's God, the God who has already done everything for you, is going to continue keeping you. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:15.759 And so Paul takes it up. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:18.640 After thanksgiving for the gospel, he says, and so we pray. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:24.880 Verse 9 From the day we heard, uh, and so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.400 Asking, well, asking actually that they would grow in the knowledge of God's will, right? 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:41.839 That they would be filled with the knowledge of his will, what his plans are for the world, what he intends to do with all that he has made. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:58.480 Uh, that you will be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will see the world not simply as everybody else does, but not simply from a temporal, but from an eternal perspective. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:10.240 Not simply from a physical material point of view, but from a spiritual, everlasting point of view, that you will begin to understand the world as it really is. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:21.039 And as your belief begins to grow, as you're shaped in that, well then he says, so your behavior will be transformed. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:25.599 Because what you put in affects what actually is lived out. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:34.160 So we pray that you'll be filled with all spiritual knowledge of his will, so that verse 10, you'll be able to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.960 Here's your aim as a Christian in 2020. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:37.920 It's really simple. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:39.279 What do you want to do? 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.240 Well, it's summarized there for you in verse 10. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.160 In those words, which simply say, pleasing to him. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.519 What's your big desire for 2020? 00:23:53.759 --> 00:24:08.400 As Christians, the answer is so straightforward and simple that we would live lives growing in our knowledge of God's will, living in a manner that's worthy of him, pleasing him in all that we do. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:13.200 But do you know something? 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:17.599 This is the real shock to me as I prepared for this week. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:26.720 If God so does answer this part of Paul's prayer, what should you expect? 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:50.160 I would think, certainly, if I was writing this letter, I would think, okay, so I'm understanding more, I'm living better, therefore, that should usher me in to a more uh easy life, more comfortable circumstances. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.240 That's what I would expect, right? 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:57.279 You take off the the uh to-to list, and surely that's gonna make things better. 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:13.839 Paul says, however, on the other hand, that if you grow in your knowledge of God's will, if you begin to see the world with him at the center and orientate your life around that, it's not gonna make your life more enjoyable. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:18.000 In many ways, it's gonna make your life more unbearable. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:23.279 Because look what he says in verse 11. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:25.039 May you be strengthened. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:35.119 You perhaps might want to put therefore in there, may you be strengthened with all power, his power, according to his glorious might. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:37.680 So that what? 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:44.880 For all endurance and patience with joy. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:49.039 He knew, Paul knew, better than most. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:56.799 Having given up living for himself, if you know anything about Paul, he was a religious zealot. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:06.400 He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, he had all the credentials that anyone could ever wish for if you wanted to be noted for your religiosity. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:07.599 He had it all. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:18.079 And that was the fast track, actually, to a life of significance and influence and credibility. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:19.599 He had it all. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:32.000 And then God stopped him in his tracks, showed him that he, if he continued on that track, he was going to end up completely and utterly crushed. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:36.799 And instead gave him to Christ. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:40.160 What did that do for Paul? 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:44.079 He was on the fast track to a life of significance and influence and credibility. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:46.079 What did it do for Paul coming to know Christ? 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:49.920 Well, for Paul, it meant that that life was gone. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:58.000 And he moved, Paul moved, not from one success to another success, but he moved from one struggle to the next. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:07.200 And he knows that that is the path for every Christian who's growing in their belief, who's being shaped by that belief in their behavior. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:34.240 He knows that if you're going to stand as a Christian in a hostile world, which was growing in its opposition and determination against the gospel, then you were going to need all of God's strength, according to his mighty power, simply enable simply to enable you to endure. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.920 How often we get this so wrong. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:48.160 We're looking for God to do the spectacular in our lives. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:54.640 We're looking for God to hold us up as being someone special. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:59.200 Do you know what's spectacular? 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:01.680 Do you know what's really special? 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:08.000 It's not simply somebody who starts the Christian life and is sent into the stratosphere. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:14.000 But somebody who starts the Christian life and sticks with it all their days. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:20.880 God's power at work in people's lives? 00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:27.039 Speak to Christians who have been at it longer than you've been alive. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:36.960 Talk to saints who have been seasoned by years of suffering. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:47.759 Find those who are slightly ahead of you in the game and listen to their story. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:52.880 Because the spectacular. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:32.000 Why? 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:34.720 Well, because he's already qualified you. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:36.640 You already belong to him. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:43.279 Don't to see if God loves you, don't look around the world. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:44.000 Okay? 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:49.519 You look around the world, you're going to see tragedy, mishap, you're going to see disaster. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:53.279 You look around and you think, well, does God really love this world? 00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:55.359 Don't look around the world. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:56.400 Don't look in. 00:29:56.559 --> 00:29:57.359 Don't look around. 00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:58.400 Don't look in. 00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:03.359 Because if your heart's anything like my heart, it's full of doubts. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:05.759 It's full of questions. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:08.799 That's my present experience. 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:10.880 Don't look around, don't look in. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:13.440 If you want to know if God loves you, look back. 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:19.839 That's what we're going to remember in a few moments when we gather around the Lord's table. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:29.680 Because there we see an innocent one, the most perfect man who ever lived, suffering the worst of fates that ever could have been possible. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:35.200 Doing it all because he didn't want us facing it by ourselves. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:40.720 He has qualified you already. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:42.640 Do you think he's going to give up on you now? 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:48.319 He has delivered you from the domain of darkness. 00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:56.880 Meaning, quite simply, that the devil and all his forces will not have the final say over your life. 00:30:57.359 --> 00:30:59.200 Doesn't mean you'll be free from suffering here. 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:00.000 That's clear. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:04.559 It simply means that the devil will not have the final say over your destiny. 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:10.640 He's qualified you, delivered you, he's redeemed you, he's brought you back, he's paid the cost. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:13.759 He's not going to give up on you. 00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:17.440 He has forgiven you your sins. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:35.519 So the God who'd rescued them had already proven and would go on to show that he was committed to keeping them. 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:50.640 And so he says, if that is true, if the gospel has changed you, if it's God who keeps you, you don't need to be going looking anywhere else. 00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:52.960 Stick with what you've been given. 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:57.680 Hold on to what you have to keep Christ king. 00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:09.279 That is to the praise and glory and fame of God our Father and Jesus Christ His Son. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:25.680 So as we begin 2020, let's see what we already have and not what we are setting out to achieve for ourselves. 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:32.720 And let's together say, if this is true of us, well, thanks be to God.