[0:00] We're going to be in Colossians chapter 1, looking at verses 27 through 29.
And so if you'll stand with me again, all of you, I want to read verses Colossians 1, 24 through 29.

[0:23] We kind of got through 24 through 26 the last time, but Paul writes, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church of, which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages, from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints.
To them, God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
Thank you, Lord, for your word. Bless this time, in Jesus' name, amen.
You can all be seated.

[1:34] So I entitled today's message, Saints at Work.

[1:40] The Apostle Paul, he wrote this letter while he was under house arrest in Rome.
And this letter was written in response to false teaching.

[1:55] That was going on in Colossae. And I had gotten a call, not yesterday, the day before here at the church, a lady that called in.

[2:10] Wanted to be bring a friend here to the church but she was she lives over in the valley somewhere.

[2:17] And she was telling me that she's looking for a church that teaches the word of God and teaches truth and so she was in search and visiting she listens online to the Calvary Chapel pastors but she's looking for a church that she could attend and so she thought she found one and then the pastor said, we're going to start the book of Romans. And he started, he gave an introduction in the first part of the first chapter of Romans. And then that next Sunday, he went straight to chapter four, talked about Abraham's faith and continued on. And she was just horrified because he skipped over everything that deals with God's judgment and wrath against immorality and sin.
And all that would be speaking against what's happening in our society today, he just skipped it all. She was horrified and so she called us and just, do you have any recommendations and so forth. But false teaching that was being propagated, Paul wrote this letter to deal with it. Paul wrote to correct those false teachers, to encourage the church. Why? Because truth sets you free, Jesus So that's why we're here, to learn truth, to be set free. Not to be plagued in one way or another because we don't know the truth.

[3:36] But to be set free. And so, not the whole truth is a false message when you're speaking about God, when you're teaching God, when you're representing God.
God, not the whole truth is a false message.

[3:53] God didn't give us half truths. So we teach the whole counsel of God. If you're in a swearing in in court, they swear you in, right? What do they say? You know, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I do. And I believe that every pastor should recite that to himself before he enters into the pulpit. Because that's the only way to correctly represent the Lord. In Colossae, the religious and the pagans classed with the church, both groups rejected the gospel message.
Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone, the Bible teaches clearly.
Of which Paul on the subject, writing to the church of Corinth, he says this in 1st Corinthians chapter 1, he says for for Jews request a sign and.

[5:03] Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block into the Greeks foolishness but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.".

[5:31] And so he was talking about the way the Jewish, the religious Jews would respond and then the Greeks and the pagans would respond to the gospel.

[5:42] The Jewish element asserted that true believers had to observe certain days, deny themselves certain foods, follow certain rituals.
And the pagan element emphasized self-denial, the worship of angels and mystical wisdom.
They emphasized the supremacy of knowledge and that salvation came through a higher knowledge, not by faith, yet the Bible teaches differently and very clearly, Ephesians 2, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Salvation isn't anything that we're going to take any credit for whatsoever. It's the work of God. And so it's important to know that it doesn't take intellect or ritual to be obedient to God. A believer comes by faith. That's why a child can become a believer and be saved. And so, the last time together we kind of, you know, again, we looked at verses 24 through 26, but as I said, the lion's share of the of the message came from the very first part there where.

[7:10] Where Paul speaks, he says now I rejoice in my sufferings and we looked at that pretty hard for.

[7:16] For you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fill the word to fulfill the word of God the the And then he speaks there reassuring them, that despite what they might have heard about his hardships, which they were hearing, that God was blessing others.
And so the gospel message was going forth and that was Paul's concern.
I don't belong, the Lord owns me. I belong to him.
So Paul would make clear the things that God chooses to use my life for is his choice.
And so to live is Christ. That's why we live. But to die is gain.
How do you stop somebody like that? And so that God was blessing others was his focus.
And Paul rejoiced because of others were coming to Christ.

[8:28] And so in this verse 26 you notice that Paul says that there was a mystery that had been hidden for ages and from generations but now is revealed.
So this mystery that Paul is talking about, previously hidden, that now had been revealed to the saints.

[8:51] Because really, until Jesus, how God was going to accomplish the way of salvation was unclear.
Those in the Old Testament died in faith, trusting in God, doing what God did, obedient to God, but not really sure how all this was going to be accomplished.
And then Jesus showed up, and Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except by me. He made it clear.

[9:16] And so, even, so Paul's message was going forth, and he was revealing, and so this mystery that was going forth was being revealed to the saints. And so this gospel message, this mystery would not only be revealed to the Jews, but to the, the Gentiles, salvation to the Gentiles.
And so it was also recorded that even in the Old Testament outsiders could come to faith and believe in, the God of the Jews and be accepted in and even in the line of Christ.
So we've seen it in the Old Testament as well. But now this was a mystery being revealed and would be clarified by the New Testament.
And so it says there of this mystery, but now has been revealed to his saints.
And so the saints means Christians.

[10:30] That's what the saints are. We have been given a supernatural understanding, a super spiritual insight given to us.
And then you notice it says, to his saints, to them God willed to make known.
To them, the saints.
And who's that? Who's the saints? Well, when I was raised as a Catholic, as a Catholic, I thought saints always meant a person that, who had died, and they were so special that after they died, they were given sainthood, you know?
And that's what I believed.
And then after that, you would pray to them and call upon them.
That was a saint in my understanding.
And, you know, and so that quote is true. The quote, the way of this world is to praise dead saints saints and persecute living ones.
And so the saints the word actually means important to understand is hagios it just means holy ones.

[11:43] Translated saints the holy ones and do you know why the saints are the holy ones it isn't because we're so good that we would be called the holy ones it isn't that we're so spiritual that we would be called the Holy Ones.
And it isn't because we care so much for others, that we're so generous, that we do, we're such hard workers, good citizens, that we pray, that we memorize the Bible, that we're so generous in ways.
That's not why we're saints.
None of those reasons make us saints. No, not for any of those reasons.
There's only one reason that we're saints, the holy ones.
And notice in verse 26, the word before saints is his, because we're his, that's why we're the holy ones.

[12:45] And Paul, he wrote in 1 Corinthians 1-2, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, the same word, derivative of the same word of hagios, we are the saints in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our, Lord both theirs and ours. So sanctified and saints set apart for all who call upon the name of Jesus are the Holy Ones, the Saints.
So, it means separated from the penalty of sin. We also know that we're not going to face eternal judgment.
We are dedicated to God, the saints.

[13:47] It means that we're consecrated to God. It means that we're purified by the washing away of our sin.
It also means we are purified, expiation, which means our sins have been dealt with or atoned for and that's the meaning of propitiation that we read in the Bible, in 1st John 2 where it says, my little children these things I write to you so, that you may not sin against that you may not sin and if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. What does that mean? Well, that sacrifice, that acceptable sacrifice is available to everyone. That's.

[14:40] What the Bible teaches. And so we are saints and sinners. And that may seem odd to put saints and sinners to describe the same person. It doesn't seem odd when you know the scriptures, but it may seem odd. But to think otherwise of saints that are still in these bodies, it would be unbiblical. It would be false to draw any other conclusions that we are saints and sinners. The Bible is clear on that. This letter was addressed to the saints. So Paul spelled that out right away in the first chapter by the second verse of Colossians. By the first chapter, second verse, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Saints and faithful brethren. The saints are the believers in Colossae that he's addressing.
And for the future, it's prophesied that those of us who are saints.

[15:59] That one day we'll already be in heaven, the Bible speaks of that, that we'll be coming back with Jesus.
In Jude 1:14, now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also saying, And behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints.

[16:20] And so over church history and before all those that have been believers are now in heaven, and they're going to be coming back with Jesus Christ. And then the heavenly scene, that's given in Revelation, you know, it speaks of the saints there.

[16:41] Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.", So our prayers reach heaven. They always reach heaven and they're kept there. And they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nations, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.
And so, you know, when the saints come back with the Lord, 10,000s upon 10,000s, we're gonna reign upon earth with the Lord.
And so we have that future and that hope.
The Apostle Paul tells us that this is all pre-planned by God.
We should know that, all of us, in Ephesians 1.
The Bible tells us there in verse three and four, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy, there's that word saints, that we should be saints, and without blame before him in love.

[18:09] All pre-planned by God, isn't that great? That should make us feel very confident, secured for us by Jesus.
And so do not let any of us water down.
What Jesus paid for by his blood.

[18:31] We water it down by not believing it, by struggling with things that we're blessed to have.
Then we pick up there in verse 27.
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of his glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. Don't water down what God has made known to you by not, trusting that God has blessed us with riches. And so, the mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you. And so, part of that mystery now revealed is that Jesus would would actually indwell believers.
That would be like a head shaker, like what?

[19:27] That we would be indwelled by the very Spirit of God. Jesus himself said in John 14.

[19:36] He said, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you a little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live, you will live also.
At that day, you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you.
And so Jesus makes that clear. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory.
What amazing understanding. And so how often we forget that truth.
We're having a bad day or going through things. It's Christ.
Christ is in us to empower us and to teach us and to lead us, because it is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That word for hope, that joyful expectation.
You know, it isn't our hard work.
It isn't our devotion to God or the power of our own spirituality.
Instead, it is the abiding presence of Jesus.

[21:04] Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.", Notice the emphasis there on every.
There's no exclusionary clauses there as the gospel goes forth.
It's Paul's desire to blanket mankind with God's wisdom, according to the Gospels.
Not selective preaching.
The Gospel, as it goes forth, should be heard by all. And the Bible declares that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Paul writes in Romans 10, he says, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him.
For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[22:18] And so you see that, you know, that's the important thing is the response to the gospel.
And then also it tells us that the bride or the church has the same message in Revelation 22, 16 and 17, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things.
In the churches I am the root and the offspring of David, the bride and the morning star.
And the spirit and the bride say, come. And let them who hear say, come.
Let him who thirst come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.", So we have that same message.

[23:07] To get the gospel out that every man would hear. Every woman would hear. Everyone would hear.
And I'd only bring that down to a workable equation in our life where we would say, and every man that you have opportunity to minister to, and every woman that you have opportunity to minister to, and every child that you have opportunity to minister to, would hear that message. That's a working equation. But that's the same message. We hear it in the very simple word you're all, familiar with in John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The whosoever calls upon So that's the same message. That's the message of Scripture.
This is the message of God's Word through and through. And now should be through and through in us, the church, as saints, the body of Christ.

[24:14] And then you notice, it says, Him we preach. We make known. And so, you know, you can be creative in the way that you make Christ known, for sure.
You know, part of that mystery, you know, making him known. Him we preach. Paul didn't preach himself or his opinions or lots of entertaining stories. He preached Jesus. And so this, pulpit right here, you see that this, we want to declare Jesus in God's Word from this pulpit right here. My goal is to is in the little bit of time that we get together weekly to teach the Word of God.
I try not to get sidetracked too much but although I do at times. I mean there's there's a great temptation to all of a sudden get on the local topics but you, You know, you hear about those all week long.

[25:23] And so, like I said, sometimes I do go that direction, but I try very hard not to, lest it sort of fits into the message itself. But I do share experience and stories, only as I believe that they would help to explain the Word. But Paul, at one point, he went on record where he said to the church at Corinth again, he says, "'And I, brethren,' 1 Corinthians 2, the first five verses, "'And I, brethren, when I came to you, "'did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, "'declaring to you the testimony of God, "'but I determined,' this is his plan, he had a plan, "'I determined not to know anything among you "'except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
"'I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling,' he speaks about the humility, preaching Christ, and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, the very presence of God.

[26:37] The Bible says that the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. And so the idea is there's proof in the pudding. You know, you watch and see, you look at my life and you see how God's working to clarify that whether you know that that, you're standing for truth how's God working in your life it'd be it'd be a, very weak message is if your life is falling apart you're not trusting God and you're doing all these things then you're trying to preach Jesus Christ you, know the Holy Spirit isn't gonna back that message but instead you can say you want, but proof is in the pudding. A testimony is a, testimony, and it's very powerfully used by God. And so He preached Christ, warning every man. And then in verse 29, He says, to this end, I like that, to this end, I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me works in me mightily.
And so to this end, it's huge to have a plan.
You need to have a plan. Why are you living for Christ? There needs to be a plan.
Paul's saying, to this end I'm laboring.
I have a reason I'm doing this.

[28:04] You know, it's like anything else we want to accomplish in life, you know, if you want to get a, you know, if you want to get a degree or if you want to be good at certain things, you have to have it in mind that it's worth doing it in order to get through it or else you're going to have, problems. The same with following Christ. What's your end? What's your end game? Why are you doing this? Who are you living for and why are you living for Jesus? Paul's saying it's to this end that he labors. The idea is laboring to exhaustion and effort put forth. Paul reminds us also in Galatians where he says that in Galatians 6, 9, and 10, and let us not grow weary.

[28:51] While doing good for a due season. We shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore we, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
It's important to understand what the word he uses there, let us not grow, first of all, grow as a process, because it's a lack of spiritual discipline if that happens.
Don't grow weary, the word actually means spiritless, faint-hearted, so it's not addressed to your physical condition, which you could be exhausted.
That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the spiritual condition, to be spiritless, to be fainthearted.
He's speaking about that.
You shouldn't be spiritless ever serving the Lord or fainthearted because it's him in you, that hope of glory and the power of the Holy Spirit. Now physically, you may be wiped out.

[29:49] And Paul just saying he works to the point to be exhausted but he doesn't grow weary spiritually and and then also striving that word striving is when contending in sporting events you think about it's like that wrestling match it speaks of struggling through and, spiritual things and so you think about it it's either if you're running a marathon, you have to struggle through. And if you're running a sprint, you need to struggle through. Either way, if you're not struggling, they say no pain, no gain.
If you're not at the very last bit of your energy at the end of the race, then you haven't run that race right. And so that's the idea. I read a quote, to be slothful is certainly the enemy of genuine Christian ministry.
So, I also labor striving according to His working. And so, in His doing, Paul spelled that out for us.

[31:09] Because it says there, His working. So it's by His doing. Interesting.
Striving according to His working. It's acknowledging that Christ is the one doing the work in your life. It's not you.
It's never been about you.
The day that you make it about you, then somebody else can come in and cause you to have the wrong idea.
If you make it about you, you're also gonna compare others that are working more or less than you.
It isn't about you.
If you make it about you, it's gonna be a problem. No, it's about God calling you and working you, working in you.
Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus, chapter two, verse 10, "'For we are his workmanship, "'created in Christ Jesus for good works, "'which God prepared beforehand "'that we should walk in them.'", That is his working, his planning, his doing.
Very important, so that you're freed up from the idea of your performance.

[32:15] You will always fail, he will never fail. If you have your eyes on you, you will fail.
If you have your eyes on him, he never fails.
It's not about you.
Paul said that he's laboring and striving according to his working, which works in him mightily.
And we can have that same promise.
The idea of mightily speaks of possessing the power of God. And that word actually means a dunamis and the spirit speaks of dynamite. That's where we get our English word dynamite.
We can have the dynamite power of God in our lives. And, you know, sometimes you come across Christians that just seem to have this incredible outlook, even in the midst of trouble.
And you just think, wow, you know, they just really are trusting the Lord and it's admirable and it's good.
And there's no reason why every one of us shouldn't take on that same testimony, have that same hope and that same promise.
But beware of playing the victim.
That's a philosophy that the devil promotes in our society that we're the victim.
Please, as a saint, don't be a victim.
You are not a victim, you're a victor.

[33:40] In Christ. If you see yourself as the victim, you're not looking at the Word of God and you're not looking at things, through the lens of Christ. Because He took upon that for us that we could be the victor and have the victory, you know.
And so we are not the happenstance of circumstance. We We are not the by-product of social conditions or cultural woes, rather we are the saints of God.
And we've got to stand strong, pre-conditioned, pre-ordained, and pre-destined, the saints of God, to be right here, right now, and in right standing.
Important. The Bible teaches us that, to give God all the glory for what he has done, is doing, and will still do by his power, his way, amen.

[34:42] Father, we thank you for your word. We ask, Lord, that you would have your way in our life and that you would continue to be glorified.

[34:55] We ask, Lord, that we would look to you, not to ourselves, I pray for all those here, that they would trust you, that they would look to you, that you would empower them, that you would be working in them mightily, each one of us, Lord.
I pray for any that need to just recommit their lives to you that they would do that today, that this would be their first day of the recommitment. If some here today haven't believed, I pray this would be the first day that they would follow you in faith.
But Lord, we all need to be reminded of these things because life, you know, comes at us hard sometimes, Lord, if not all the time.
But Lord, we know that you're the one that strengthens us. And we know as your word says, is Christ in us the hope of glory.
So I ask that each one of us, Lord, would look to you in that way, trusting you and your word, the promise of your word and your faithfulness to be in us, to work through us, to enable us.
Lord, it's not us. It's all you. Help us, Lord, to just totally trust in you and not ourselves or our other people. We thank you for the faithfulness of others. But Lord, we depend upon you in our lives. So bless your people, I pray in Jesus name.

All believers say it, amen.