why is there the call to remain why is there call to say faithful why are there warnings that if you neglect such a great salvation and there's also the promises that he who began will complete that no one will be taken from the father's hands saving faith is preserving faith there is no saving faith that is not preserving faith they're the same man i'm so thankful for seth and his team getting us to the throne every week amen man we don't recognize how much work those guys put us put how much work those guys go through um to make sure we get to the throne and so uh we are truly blessed to have that and then it was such a great joy to be able to stand here and listen to y'all sing a singing church isn't a live church let me tell you this past week we as a church read through one of to me one of the most fascinating interesting books i think in the whole bible the book of jonah i'm sure your whole home groups just was like mine we could not stop talking i know someone at some point at home group on tuesday said all right let's pray because we're just going to go until midnight and so i just want to kind of come before you and share with you as i was thinking through this because man i really had to restrain myself because i wanted to preach through jonah because jonah hit me in a fresh way this past week i mean it just bowled me over this week in a way i just was not prepared for it and it's simply this that man did jonah convict me because i remember reading jonah as a high schooler and going this little whiny punk who does he think he is right and like just getting upset right because here you got jonah disobeys god and then winds up right uh winds up somehow preaching a six word sermon in hebrew eight word sermon in english and man a whole city turns and so i remember reading it this past week and i thought god where is that for me man like here you know what i mean like why don't we see that today that's not fair that's not right got this guy with some sort of whiny complaining punk and man he got to see great revival where is that today and you recognize the irony don't you i was sounding just like jonah wasn't i you want to talk about conviction let's go right because what is what is the whole point that god's trying to get jonah to see what's the whole point that he's trying to get you and me to see this beautiful fact that god is the one who saves sinners and it is not for us to say it's not fair it's not right it's not fair it's not right that's not our job why because we are the clay and he is the potter and so what do we do we don't get sick man it's not fair god we get to say what praise be to god for his mercy his mercy that saves sinners what a great joy that is because it is a great miracle to be able to see that and i recognize as i was as we were working through jonah this past week again it's all fresh you guys knew already about three or four or five times this past week but here's one two things i recognize from jonah and they'll fit into what paul is walking through in colossae there are two destructive beliefs that we as the people of god can have there's two beliefs that we're prone to have that will ultimately wreck our souls number one can god really do this some of us are kind of tend to think this is far too complex this is far too hard no god cannot save someone like that that person's far too gone that's destructive belief number one and you know where i recognize that belief in my own heart church in my prayerlessness man when people walk in my office hey man i've got this problem going on i recognize that sometimes i go i don't have an answer for you and then instead of doing what we're all called to do getting on our knees before the lord i'm kind of just like i'm just not sure and looking for some sort of pragmatic answer unfortunately when problems come too many of us look to pragmatics rather than the glory and the majesty of god and so often and i think i think one of the scariest things is is sometimes when the gospel is clearly placed in front of people they don't want it because they want a quick fix and they ultimately want to avoid suffering rather than enjoy the presence of god most conversations come about avoiding suffering rather than enjoying the presence of god and so that's belief number one that's destructive to the believer but belief number two belief number two is just as scary and that is simply this god really can save these people and i don't want him to
why did jonah why did jonah go god i don't want you to save my enemies did that just puzzle you this past week as you read that just sounds weird to me i couldn't figure it out first kings chapter 8 solomon predicts that the gentiles would be worshiping in the temple what happens when you get gentiles coming into the temple you get people who don't know the word of god which means what there is going to be more work for the mature you see this in churches all the time churches that are unfortunately dying they don't want the immature in their church because they know it means more work for the mature
that's what's going on with jonah he's going man you save these people who's got to teach them i do and that's going to cost my whole life to be turned upside down and i'm going to have to do things i'm going to have to fix things i'm going to have to take things on myself and i'm not ready to pay that cost and so it's easier for me to complain say god how dare you this is why this is a destructive belief because jonah thought that god's mercy and grace was merited he said god i'm doing all the right things they're doing the wrong things therefore you destroy them because look at me i'm doing the right things the moment we as christians forget that grace and mercy is unmerited favor our hearts will be hardened and we'll never ever have the compassion and the love of jesus will be that of the pharisees look at me oh god look how clean the outside of my cup is what you notice about jonah is it's a scathing review of jonah of the jews and of me and man you you see jonah right and you see it all across today right god why do we care about missions when things are so bad here oh hi jonah i didn't know you're in 21st century welcome but what does god say as the waters cover the sea so the knowledge of me cover the world this is paul's hope for the church of colosse so if you ever bibles go and grab them we're in colossians colossians chapter one is going to be our text this morning colossians chapter one uh we get to see this this kind of continuation of last week if you missed last week uh you're gonna probably have some homework to do because you this is just a continual continuation the application of the great theology we saw last week and so uh we've got a lot of work to do this morning and not a lot of time so i'm gonna pray and then we're gonna dive in and here's what i want from you church because we do this every sunday but i want you to really think about this for a moment why do we pray before the teaching and preaching of god's word because if if this moment is not bathed and lathered in prayer i don't want to do it
i don't want to do it it's pointless i'm so thankful i'm so thankful if i could pastorally taught walks dude there are people that i know that wake up early to pray for this moment
and man i know that i'm thankful for that because if there's no prayer we're all wasting one of those times we might as well go get breakfast
so let us dive in and ask the lord's help
our great heavenly father god we ask that you give me the courage and the wisdom to preach boldly god we ask that you give me the compassion in the heart of you not the heart of jonah not the heart of a pharisee
god may i may i speak your word and hide me behind beneath your cross humble me this morning make me into nothing so that you may be ever exalted this morning now church that you pray for me pray that i'll be helpful pray that god will use me in a mighty way
now church has to pray for yourself i pray that god will open up your ears your heart your mind this morning
our father god we pray these things because of your son's atoning work on the cross for the spirit that's alive and active within all who believe amen if you remember last week's sermon we saw a very bold claim a claim that for some reason is just shocking to us it grips us to the core and that is the simple fact that christ himself is the initiator the creator the sustainer the completer and the goal of all creation that everything was made by him everything was made for him everything was made through him and this includes satan hell and the demons that satan wasn't some sort of lab experiment that went wrong and god's got to figure out the problem of satan that even satan himself was created for the glory and the majesty of god and that should shake us down to the core because because we've never really heard it said that boldly before often that's not one you're going to get often but here's why it is so vitally important and it is most clearly seen where at the cross if you think of john chapter 8 verse 44 for your context uh check me on my homework later this is john 8 44. you are of the he's talking the pharisees not to you by the way sorry talking pharisees you are of the father the devil of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desire he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks his native language because he is a liar and the father of lies so here you go jesus says was satan he's a liar and murderer two things where do you most clearly see lies and murder being used for the glory of god how about at the cross right you got jesus he's put right on trial an illegal trial where people are brought up false witnesses liars amongst him and that lie is used to be bring him before the romans where he is what therefore crushed by what they think by the romans so yeah lies and murders at the heart and the center of the cross and the whole perspective is what christ was in sovereign control through the whole thing the cross was not some sort of accident it was a purposely planned moment for the salvation of the church and satan was used by god like a pawn
know this god works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his name y'all all means all if you can list it he's working that together for his glory that's a truth that's a truth you can hang on to that's a truth you can grab on to that's the truth you can rest your head on the pillow at night and trust in god because he is sovereign and what we see happening in the church of colossae is false teaching has infiltrated its way in and what does paul want them to know god will use this for his glory why because he is still sovereign and you know this church because if you've ever studied even a little bit of church history you know two glorious wonderful truths that first of all god works miraculously through great messes right 15 17 come on now you don't know that date google it but part two when false teaching comes into the church what does the church almost inevitably do they tighten down on their language in theology and usually what follows after that is a call to revival god uses all things for his glory if you don't believe me read genesis 50 verse 20 acts chapter 2 and acts chapter 4 and then you will understand so here we go verses 21 through 22 and colossians 1 and you who are once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he christ has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him so we saw the bold call we saw the bold call and and the boldest call you can make that he is sovereign over everything from kingdoms and kings all the way down to the dust particle that everything happens according to the word and the power of our lord who's on the throne well we saw last week if you if you kind of look back 15 through 20 there's something that is missing in 15-20 and that is a personal pronoun there is no you in 15-20 or better yet there is no y'all in 15 and 20. so what we see in verse 21 it says what and you and y'all so therefore we have the application of this glorious theology at work we have the personal pronoun so what paul is doing is he's taking us from the greatest cosmos the greatest great view the huge view and bringing it down into the application or to put it this way he is making it so you and i this morning get to see why does 15 through 20 matter for me in tucson arizona in 2022 the deepest theological truths have the greatest application and the greatest application have deep theological truths
and here's what he says and you who are once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds think about that for just a moment do you know why the christian can walk through and be ridiculed atheists and smile through it and it not bother us do you guys know why it's possible because the bible is a whole lot more sharper in its language about me than any atheist could be you're a hypocrite oh let me tell you what the bible says about me bro you don't even know how bad i am i mean we sing hymns about it right those glorious hymns right the famous one amazing grace how's it start amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a miserable wretch like me i mean what is wretched it means a it means i gotta find it sorry it's it means a horrible despicable or contemplable person oh man the bible is filled with sharp language about who you and i once were jeremiah 17 9 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it so much for go follow your heart right romans 3 jews and gentiles were under sin held captive by it all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god ephesians 2 you were children of wrath like the rest of mankind proverbs 20 verse 9 who can say i have made my heart pure i am clean for my sin
you see the problem is is we live in a world that does not know god because they're blinded by their own sin the world cannot see god because they have no understanding that they are a sinner almost without exception the lost person does not know god because they don't think they're a sinner that sin is just kind of something that happens sometimes in their life rather than that is the nature of the lost person and you know this to be true because if you go up to anyone and you say are you going to heaven what do they say well of course i am i haven't killed anyone like that's the standard to get into heaven
and yet the bible talks about sin so much more pervasively than that that it's in nature that it's not an act it's a nature so this is why the bible talks about the two natures right so jesus in john 3 tells the most morally upright person you will not find a more morally upright person in this world today than someone like a nicodemus in john 3. you just won't find them and what does he say you must be born again paul says that there's two options slave to sin or slaves to righteousness and so he uses this language you who were once this is the great testimony of any christian is they get to say this glorious truth i was walking this way i was doing this but now i am here the testimony is i was following my own passions i was following my own desires i was building my kingdom the kingdom of scottie hutch putting a flag on it that was me but now i am count myself dead so that i can build the kingdom of god that's who i am that's my life set me ablaze for that truth that's the truth for any christian it was our brother in john chapter nine you remember him he had the most amazing quip with the brilliant pharisees
here's what i know i was blind i met jesus and now i see
i once knew i once got mad when people wronged me but now i count it as joy because i get to see the love of christ and his patience bearing his scars through being wronged
and so paul brings us up this in second corinthians when he says the god of this world satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god he has blinded their hearts well hearts don't have eyes so what did paul like like the most smart guy did he have like some sort of stroke and become really dumb no he wants you to see something so important how can hearts see they must be open and here in colossians he talks about what the mind the mind is so important so remember he starts off this prayer he says what i want the church to be filled with the knowledge of god so how are we filled with knowledge of god do not pit the mind against the heart church they're happily married together why because faith comes from hearing hearing the word of god so when we hear we think and we think think deeply we get to the root we think deeply we're filled to knowledge of god and that radically affects our hearts love the lord your god with all your heart mind soul and strength two these are all connected together and so the unbeliever is hostile against god and god is hostile up against the unbeliever why because they don't think deeply about god they don't think and think christ is is precious in their life and so therefore they don't act as such and this is what paul is getting at the whole goal of cross was to what open the hearts the eyes of the hearts so that you and i may see christ as our beautiful wonderful treasure
the most dangerous thing we can think is that there are good people and bad people well you may not believe in jesus but he's a good man
no he's not if he doesn't believe in christ he is not good it's not action it's nature that is important if you don't see your sin you will never be effective in reaching a lost world how do i know that because paul at the end of his life remember the apostle paul probably the most holy men to walk the earth outside of jesus christ this is his last one of his last swan song statements to timothy he says this the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that jesus christ came into the world to save sinners of which i am the foremost the apostle paul said that think about that for a moment he said of all the sinners in the world i'm the leader of them i'm the worst of the worst and this is what fueled his ministry and if christ could save a miserable wretch like me is what paul says then he can save anyone and so he had confidence and boldness to walk into a world that hated him when they said fine stone me beat me with me do whatever you need to do because i know christ can save the worst of the worst because i am the worst of the worst
of all the sinners on the foremost you can always tell how well someone knows god by how well they know themselves
the christian says i was a child of wrath saved by the mercy of god at the expense of jesus christ while the lost person says i'm pretty good after all i haven't killed anyone
i'm pretty good i'm a good dude and the christian says i was a child of wrath but god saved me god did that
why is this important for you to know because without it you will find yourself not with the heart of a servant but the heart of the one who desires the praises of man if you desire the praise of man if the heart of the servant does not drive you then people will be an annoyance and a stumbling block in your life a frustration when they don't do what you want a frustration when they don't serve you in the way you wanted to be served if the heart of the servant doesn't drive you you will always be an enmity with people rather than seeing them as christ saw us sweet little lambs sweet little sheep that need to be tended to in corinth paul's writing his his letter to the corinth do you remember what he says to the church of corinth he says i basically give up all my rights in order to serve you you see when you're endowed by the spirit you don't think about your rights and how people respect you and all that you think about getting low so that christ may be lifted high
you see the the heart of the servant is they can treat me however they want because i know who my god is and i'm not seeking the praise of them of seeking the praise of god and so that gives us courage to go lower and lower and lower in servants
where did paul get this idea of laying aside his rights laying aside his respect he got it from jesus who laid aside his rights to serve to save his church christ laid aside his rights to save the church and this brought about reconciliation the question is not how much have i done the question is am i willing to go as low as possible as low as christ who though he had all the rights of the king of kings lord of lords he did not hold on to those rights he laid them aside so that you and i could be saved is that how far you and i are willing to go when we see christ when we see ourselves as one who has received much at his expense we see others for the way who they are in desperate need of a savior
church our culture is filled with self-righteousness people always calling out other people's sins everyone's good at calling out other people's sins but man are we terrible calling out our own sins because after all look at all i've done i'm preaching myself by the way if you think i'm preaching to you sorry
the mature in christ will always be seen by their willingness to bear others burdens and so fulfill the law of christ the mature recognizes of all the sinners i am the foremost people have put up with me i think one of the saddest things is when people leave a covenant-body bible-believing church because someone wronged them in the church i think that's one of the saddest things i run into him all the time and man i i want to remind you god's god's will for your life is your sanctification he wants to make you holy do you know how he does that he does it through friction he does it through friction amen can i remind you that man if you're sitting here and you're going man i can't believe how much junk i've got to put up with you know what i mean there's other people in church i gotta just put up with man can i remind you that people are putting up with you like i mean and if you're in here you're like man no one's gotta put up with me everyone loves me brother sister i love you i love you cut that out and humble yourself before the lord because here's what i know i know there's people that put up with me and i know that they have prayed for me and prayed for me and prayed for me and it made all the difference in the world because they said i will put up with you may we never say look at all that i'm putting up with
the ministry of reconciliation causes us to have a gentle and lowly heart of jesus that we so clearly see in ministry paul then goes on he that christ did this to present you as holy and blameless before him now much debate is going on here about what paul actually means is this kind of like a future at judgment seat is it pointing for man to die once and then comes judgment right that's what's going on or is it a present tense uh the answer is of course yes it's both so so let's start with the judgment seat right for the christian endowed saved by the spirit of god you will appear before that judgment seat right and god will look at you and see every single sin you've ever committed and it'll say what paid in full and he'll say holy blameless spotless good perfect my child adopted praise be to god i think though paul has also the present in mind because here's what i know i know you and i wrestle in battle in the flesh i mean i know we got to put things to death each and every day and a lot of us like man i don't feel holy blameless spotless so if you look at this text in in in verse 22 holy blameless above approach this is almost verbatim what a sacrifice was called to be remember what paul says in romans chapter 12 offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing the lord for this is your spiritual worship right do you remember that so what is this this is part when you offer your bodies when you offer your lives is holy sacrifice this is how god gets the glory you are the sacrifice you are the sacrifice laying your life down so that he may be known
and so this this is the call of your life and my life why because there is no worship without sacrifice you cannot say i'm worshiping and lack sacrifice it doesn't exist so therefore if you want to grow if you want to see christ as glorious and as richly as possible offer your body's living sacrifice if you're looking around going i don't see christ today then man i encourage you get low and serve someone else who cannot give back to you serve someone else who cannot give back to you this is god's answer to making our hearts holy and like his we talk we participate in the ministry of christ and that is sacrifice without sacrifice selfishness will set in we either grow and sacrifice or we grow in selfishness you're growing one way or the other verse 23 if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven of which i paul became a minister two aspects of this verse are monumentally important and life-changing here there are two aspects in which god wants to give you courage and ignite you into the world that hates him the first is a call to continue in faith continue in faith uh this is a common call in the new testament whole book written about it called the book of hebrews right remain remain remain remain right and then revelation uses the same term endure endure endure endure so you read both those books uh the writer of hebrews and john in revelation are both calling the church the same thing remain stay stay the course yet we see promises throughout scripture of sure and steady salvation here's what i mean by that john chapter 6 all that the father has given me will come to me and whoever comes to me i will never cast out he goes on and this is the will of him who sent me that i lose nothing that he has given me but raises up on the last day uh the fancy word for this for those of you nerds out there is called perseverance of the saints that what god begins god will complete so let let me walk through how important this is why is there the call to remain why is it why does the call say faithful why are there warnings that if you neglect such a great salvation and there's also the promises that he who began will complete that no one will be taken from the father's hands how do you take both these they seem at odds with one another and here's the truth saving faith is preserving faith there is no saving faith that is not preserving faith they're the same a few more texts for you uh luke chapter 10 do not rejoice the evil spirits have listened to you rejoice that your names are written in heaven one more revelation chapter 17 the beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction and the dwellers on the earth whose names have not been written in the lamb's book life from the foundation the world will marvel at the beast you have a sure and steady salvation an unwavering salvation but you have a call to endure to continue to remain in him why because christ gives you the power and to remain in him it's his power that we use to remain in him because salvation is not a choice it is a miracle of god so therefore saving faith is preserving faith which means what simply this there's not one ounce of evidence that there is salvation without external effects you cannot be saved by the lamb's blood and remain the same it is impossible you are changed not perfectly it's it's just a process i'm not going to say you're lying about it right like it's a process but man you better see over time you become more and more and more holy you become more and more like him you want to be more and more like him why because saving faith has external evidences we call this fruit
therefore this gives us evidence to our salvation the fact that we remain in him this is a great joy and a great comfort to the believer that we get to look back on our lives and see how god has kept us salvation is not automatic it is a process so therefore your question in life is what is god trying to teach me what is he trying to break me of in this moment in this moment of pain i love that of polycarp who said this
86 years of serving him and he has done me no wrong how can i blaspheme my king and savior and was then burnt later that day what'd polycarp do he says 86 years of just faithfulness from my lord why would i give up his name now you get to look at your past and you can see how faithful god is and that gives you courage to continue to walk in the future brother sister in christ and so my encouragement to you is in a world that hates god know that christ is good and he is our sure and steady anchor this is christ presenting you and i as holy perfect blameless amidst the crooked generation therefore we recognize that every good work of us is not our own but a work of god in us the effect of the gospel is that we glorify him through love and good works in the same way a lit match produces flame and heat so does salvation produce love good works instead fastness in church may i encourage you this morning in this text is paul encouraging the church to remain to stay in faith friends listen to me we must encourage one another to remain to stay in faith never neglect a time to encourage a believer a fellow brother and sister to remain to stay we're easy man at calling out truth but man we sometimes neglect the call to encourage one another don't we
may we not do things for the applause of man may we seek the glory of god in heaven not insisting on our own ways but being conformed to the image of our lord and finally we see the goal in 23 finally the goal the gospel you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven which i paul became a minister now this is tricky right because you're like hold on a second paul i know today that there are unreached people groups across the world so paul are you wrong and so there's three options we have and i want to go through these options with you option one is what paul says in romans that that through creation god has been made plain well that can't be it because paul later in romans will say blessed are the feet who bring the good news so that can't be option two is some people have theorized what paul got to rome all roads lead to rome therefore all roads lead out of rome to the ends of the earth maybe but highly highly highly unlikely and it's almost baloney is what piper says and i agree with him and here's why because paul never said the end of my goal is to get to rome how do we know that in acts he says i tried to go east asia and then at the end of romans he said well i try to go to spain so he never saw rome as the ends of the earth so what is going on here if it's not those two things what is it back in verse six he says the whole world is bearing fruit he's giving you and i confidence that as we bear fruit the gospel goes out from one town to another how do we know this because in earlier in colossae what did he say he said there's a guy who came his name's epaphras he heard me preach in ephesus and he took the gospel to you colosse and what do you do when you bear fruit you take the gospel to the next town and to the next town this is the bearing fruit under all creationists because when the church bears fruit the world is filled with the knowledge and so this is setting the people in motion the setting the church to go and continue take the gospel to the next people and the next people and the next people never get comfortable in this world but fill the world with the knowledge of him and this stimulates the church to fulfill the great joy we've been given to go to the ends of the earth not to roam no no no far beyond rome so we've gathered we've grown how do we go a few application points for you first the gravity of our old life magnifies our wonder and mercy of our savior if we think little of our sin will think little of our savior one of the things that is desperately needed in our lives in our church in our city in our state in our country and in the world is the people of god seeing salvation as the greatest miracle it is more miraculous for one sitter to repent and turn to god than for a whole country to have their behavior changed if that sounds strange if that sounds wrong to you then brother sister allow me to tell you for you were dead in your sins and trespasses behavior change is possible with man but being born again is a miracle of god and we must see the greatness to glory the majesty of christ and realize how miserable wretched i am who can save me from this mortal flesh praise be to god our father through our lord jesus christ next true love serves and is humble true love humbles yourself and serves others it is not about what you can get from others it's about what you can give to others humility is what it looks like not seeking the applause of man but doing what is needed to be done so that people may see christ clearly servanthood means risking being treated as sub-human servanthood meanings getting no applause from man but waiting on the lord for his applause the life of a servant is that is one who does not look to what others are doing but looks to what christ has called you and i to do finally there is no salvation that does not result in a changed life for the glory of god there is not a salvation started by god that is not completed by him as a faith walking out the hope of the gospel that rules our transformation salvation is not a human decision salvation is a work of god that results in a new life live for the glory and majesty of god it's working out the miracle therefore if you're in a christ let us seek to give god glory let's seek to lift up christ in every aspect of life let's be a people of thanksgiving because it's not what we have done but what christ has done on our behalf let us pray father god we thank you for this text god we thank you for the glorious truth god that while we were yet sinners while we were yet far off while we were yet enemies you sent your son to die for us and so father god we celebrate that we are created new we are made new for your glory for your majesty for your praise and so god we pray that we be a people of praise lord we love you we worship you praise things your son's holy righteous name amen
hi i'm pastor scott pastor of the oasis church listen we are so excited that you decide to join us for the preaching and teaching of god's word we just pray that this will stir your affections towards christ but we have one encouragement we want to leave you with please do not allow this to take the place of the local body of believers we pray that you will be involved in a local congregation a local church that you can find yourself submitting under the eldership and the leadership of a local church we pray that you will find yourself stirred towards christ and that your joy in christ will be ever increasing
you