The All Sufficiency of Christ
First B Jackson
2017-01-22

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Check. Check. Check. Okay. Hello, my friends.

I think we are on. Welcome to First Bee. What a gorgeous morning. What do

you say we stand up and just begin praising God?

Sing you're not a God created by human hands because he is not. You are not a God created by human hands. You are not a god of dependence on any mortal man. And you are not a god in need of. Anything we can give by your hand, that's just sweet it is.

Let's sing that again. Okay? You were not a god who created by human hands. You were not a god of dependence on any more than man. You are not a god in need of him.

Anything we can give by your plan, that's just so easy. We're saying you are God alone, and you are God alone. From before time began, you were on your throne, you were God alone. And right now in the good times and bad, you were on your throne, You were God alone. You're the only God that inspires power.

None can contend. You're the only God whose fame and praise will never end. You're the only God that is worthy of anything we can give. You are God that's so sweet it is. You are God alone.

You are God alone from before time began. You were on your throne. You were God alone. And right now in the good times and bad, you were on your throne. And you were God alone.

You're unchangeable. You're unchangeable. You're unstoppable. You're unstoppable. That's what you are.

Let's sing that again. You're unchangeable. You're unshakable. You're unstoppable. That's what you are.

And you are God known. When the fourth time began, you were on your throne and you were God alone. And by now, in the good times and bad, you were on your throne and you were God

morning, everybody. I'm glad that you're here. I've got a couple of announcements. I think we have a couple of other little clips in here this morning too. Connect hour happens between services.

So, y'all know that's down the hall in the Fellowship hall about 10:00 or so. Good treats and coffee and whatnot. Monday nights at First B, come on in. Carl is in the book of Luke. Meal, music, and a message every Monday night at six.

Happens as the same time, at the same time as Awana in this room. This week, we have prayer on fire and I've been saying church on fire for the last three weeks. It's the same event, okay? Prayer on fire, the the church on fire event is about prayer primarily and Don and Marlon Young are the ones that are involved. They, you know, Don was the interim pastor here.

Prayer on Fire about igniting your spiritual life. It's should be really really good. So, plan on being here. Okay. Renzy.

Alright. Woah. We adjusted some soundboard stuff this morning. So, everything's a little bit wild but I'm just gonna make this announcement real quick from the back. Hey, do you think you have what it takes?

Check out this video.

Gonna sing a song that's very popular nowadays as Christ the Lord is risen today and he's gonna do a moron too. Okay?

My name is John Dacre. Lord is risen today. Hallelujah. Sons of men and angels

Don definitely has what it takes. And this is an announcement for the first b talent show coming up on February 11. These are a few just announcements coming up. We're gonna put a sign up sheet out in a week or so. So just watch for it.

If you've got some sort of fun talent or something that's not a talent but you think it's fun, we'll take anybody. So get ready for that.

Talent show fun night twenty seventeen at February 11. Very good. I've got another video. We have had meeting here, a small group. It was meeting on Wednesday night and they want to keep on going but they want to expand it not to just be the same small group.

So, this is a really good project, the truth project.

You're about to take what could well be the most important tour of your life. It's going to be a worldview tour. We are going to turn and gaze upon the face of God. What should we hear? What should we see?

You are gonna be amazed. Why did Jesus come into the world? Do you know who Jesus is? Do you know? From time to time, we're going to bring some experts into the classroom.

The world is reeling with uncertainty. It's almost like it's in the air.

Truth is fundamentally about who God is.

We're challenged to either confront culture, to abandon it, or transform it.

Is our culture filled with lies? This is a battle of worldviews. Do you really believe that what you believe

is really real?

Evil. What is it? Where did it come? Why is it in the world?

Who is God?

Who is God? Who is man? What does God say about who man is? What takes us captive? What is incentive?

What is the world's view of work? God is a God of social order. We're gonna look at economics, art, media, music, and literature in this sphere of labor. We're gonna look at the area of philosophy and ethics. Everything is about relationships.

There is no direction you can travel in which God has not spoken. How do I know I exist? And if I do exist, why do I exist? If I think I exist, where did that thought come

from?

We're going to build the final pillar of history. We're going to look at the American

Gary, do you have anything you want to say?

I just just want to personally invite, you know, everyone. You know, we're gonna have it at the fellowship hall. I believe there's 12 videos, 12 pillars that he talks about. And I know that's a big commitment for 12 Wednesdays, but each one stands on its own. Know, so I'd invite you know, if you have a free Wednesday, you know, at 06:30.

I know that's over kind of dinner time. Grab a grab something to eat and come and join us. Love to have you. Thanks.

Been through that whole series into this fantastic. It's really, really, really good. Men's retreat. I was told they were going to put a picture of me on a snowmobile for this live. Thank you, Kyle and everything else, you can check your bulletins.

They're in there. Rest of the announcements. If y'all would, you can stand up and greet one another. And if anybody in the back wants to move forward, there are plenty of seats up.

And you're higher than Higher than the mountains that I face and stronger than the power of the gray And constant in the trial and the change, this one thing remains. Let's sing that verse again. Higher than. Higher than the mountains that I face, stronger than the power of the rain. And constant in the trial and the shame, a one thing remains your love.

Your love never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love never fails and never gives up, never runs out me. Your never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me. You're my love. And on and on it goes.

And on and on and on and on it goes. It overwhelms and satisfies my soul. And I never ever have to be afraid. It's one thing that remains. It's one.

It's one thing that remains your love never fails or sins. And your love never fails or never gives up, never rolls out on me. Your love never fails and never gives never rolls out on me. Your love never fails, it never gives up, never rolls out on me. You're in love.

And in death and in life, in death and life, I'm comforted and covered by the power of your cradle. My debt is paid and my debt is paid. There's nothing that could separate my heart from your great love. Your love never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me.

Your love never fails and never gives up, never rolls out on me. You're alone. You're alone.

We'll sing Awaken My Soul.

Spirit of living God can fall afresh on us. Awaken, and I soon come away to hunger and to seek, to hunger, to seek, to nurse. Awaken first love. Awaken first love. Come away.

And do as you did at first. Spirit of living God, let's sing. Spirit of the living God. Come fall fresh on me. Come wake me from thy sleep.

Go through the caverns of my soul. Lord, be to overflow. To overflow. Amen. Let's sing it again.

Waking my soul. Awaken my soul. Come away overflow. Sing spirit, come fill this place. Spirit, come.

May I unfill this place? Amen. And let your glory now and your glory now in vain. Sing that again. Spirit come and fill.

Spirit come and

Let's Let's sing that chorus again, Spirit Up.

Spirit of the living God, come far fresh on me. Go wake me from my sleep. And blow through the caverns of my soul, pour me to overflow.

God, we pray just that, that you would really your spirit would come and and fill us and fill this place. Your presence would be made known that we would truly invite you and welcome you, but also to to change and and transform us. I pray if we have built up walls or hardened our hearts, God, that you would soften us up so we could be fruit bearers. I thank you, God, for the peace that passes understanding, that whatever the circumstances that we can still have peace, so we can still have hope in you. Sing, I meet with you.

I meet with you, and my soul seems out as your word throws down far away. I sing to you, and my heart cries, oh, How then do you father your name? My hope is in you. My hope is in you, Lord. Oh, the day long, won't be shaken by drought or storm.

A beast that passes on standing gives my song and I'll sing. My hope is in you low. I wait for you, and my soul finds rest, and my selfishness Father, oh, yeah. Let's sing. I hope it's in you.

I hope he's in you, Lord, all the day at all. I'll be shaken by drowned or storm. A peace that passes understanding is my song and I'll sing. My hope is in you alone, and I'll wait on I'll wait on you. You were my rearview.

Or stone. A peace that passes on standing is my song. And I'll sing. My hope is in you low. I hope

Would you pray pray with me? God, I I thank you from these great words from Isaiah. Those who wait on the Lord will grain gain new strength, they'll mount up with wings like eagles. They'll run and not grow tired, walk and not become weary. And God, sometimes we just get weary and worn out because we're human and that's the way it is.

But we've sang these qualities of you, unchanging nature, unstoppable. And God we just we cling to you who you are holy. And God, you are generous, and I thank you, God, for your generosity toward us. And I pray that your generosity would cause us to be generous as well in all ways with the ways that you've gifted us and whatever that is, time, talents, abilities, treasure, would you, God, use the things that you've wired us for to serve you, to to to serve others, really to to make you known. And so I pray that you would use these gifts when we when we when we give.

We're we're not storing up treasure here. We're storing up, treasure in heaven, and I and I thank you, God, for that. And I and I pray that you'd use these gifts in a way that glorifies you and it edifies this church. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Me, I'll follow and Okay. I can hear my savior Very good. Sort of mashing up things this morning. On his own, children's church is starting right now. Downstairs.

And there they go. Both directions. That's great. Alright, for last week, those of you that were here, we touched on this but last week I did what I don't usually do, preach from the Old Testament, message from Obadiah. So, it's this message from Obadiah of impending judgment on the enemies of God, specifically Edom in that case and I'm thankful this morning to be back in the New Testament.

Colossians, we made the turn towards this but I want to start off with, I like to do this between getting into the text just a little bit on introductory matters about the city of Colossae, the time period, all that stuff. So, introductory matters, usually, it's who, what, when, where, why. I've got them in slightly different order. Who, where, when, why, and what. So who, the apostle Paul, he says so right in the beginning that the apostle Paul wrote this book.

He also mentions and Timothy. Some people actually think that the apostle Paul and Timothy were together and Paul was giving Timothy a chance to write this letter. He signed his name at the end. I think that the apostle Paul and Timothy is what it says. Paul definitely signs off at the end.

He signs off on the content and so that's the who and he was writing it where? He was writing it from Rome. It was during his first Roman imprisonment. So, that was around sixty one, sixty two AD. We'll see that in the wind but it's to Colossae.

Colossae is a city in what is currently now Turkey and it was in Phrygia is what they called at the time. Phrygia, P H R Y G A. And if you look at the map, first century Roman Empire map, you'll see that Hierapolis is listed but Colossae is not because it was not a very important town, it was not a very big town, it was not an industrial town, It was agricultural and it was eclipsed by its neighbors. The neighbors being Colossae is right here, it's on the southern bank or depending on how you look at that, the West bank of the Lycus River. A neighboring city was Laodicea.

We hear that mentioned in the book of Revelation. You hear Laodicea. In the end of this book, he says, share this letter with the people who are in Laodicea and so, that is a nearby, it's about 11 and a half miles away. Hierapolis is on the other side of the river, about 12 and a half miles away. And those two cities continued to grow and Colossae did not.

In fact, after about sixty one AD, we don't have any other records from Colossae, we do know that there was an earthquake in the area and Laodicea rebuilt, Hierapolis rebuilt, but Colossae probably didn't. There are mounds there, but they have not been thoroughly excavated. So that's Colossae. We had studied the book of Philemon. Philemon and a lot of the other people listed towards the end of this book all lived in the city of Colossae and maybe met most of them probably met in Philemon's house.

So that's just a little bit on the where. The when was '61, sixty two AD, we know that from a couple of different places in Acts and a couple of different places in Romans that we can pinpoint it down to those two years. And what is it about? Well, the what it's about is the sufficiency of Christ. And if you've read it, I know a lot of you have because when I see you around town, you're all looking back and going, hey, you're going to Colossians next, right?

Yeah, I've been reading it. It's really good. Really good. Some sound surprising, some sound not so surprised, but it's fantastic and it fits very, well into our day here. Now we are not an agricultural town, I realize that, but some of the same challenges that the Colossians had, we have.

Some of the same challenges from outsiders and from the other faithful people, the other people who belong to some faith around us would cause us to question the all sufficiency of Christ. So that's the why. When you're looking at commentaries or when you're listening to theologians, lot of times they they wanna know instead of why they they let list it as occasion and purpose. So the occasion is the inciting event, why the letter was necessary in the first place, and then the purpose is more, this is what I'd like for you to do now that you know this. So the occasion was this, and you get this from reading Colossians, you can see it.

From reading history, you can see it a bit. There was a philosophy. Paul mentions it several times. The Colossian philosophy. It's a combination of Phreesian folk belief which is usually just kind of primitive religion.

Folk belief, oh, if I do this, then I'm gonna get that. The y'all understand what I'm talking about. Most people understand that fairly well because superstitions are the same everywhere. Whether the cause and effect is the same, they feel like if I do that, it equals a curse for me. If I do this, it equals a blessing for me.

And it's all about what you do. So Phrygian folk believe local folk Judaism, not real Judaism necessarily. It's a distorted version of Judaism because Judaism is looking forward to an all sufficient Christ, an all sufficient Messiah. They just don't understand what that looks like and didn't understand when they saw it. And Christianity, folk, Judaism, and then Christianity.

And these different competing, I guess, worldviews called into question the sufficiency of Christ to combat hostile spiritual powers which they believed in. Demons or angels on the other side, which were thought to control personal destiny. So they had a sort of a belief in fate that you could not change your stars, that you could not change what was gonna happen to you except by these little tricks, you know, your personal destiny. It pointed them to magic or soothsayers, that sort of thing, and it pointed them also to ascetic practices where they were punishing their body in order to achieve some favor from the deities or doing these practices for their own protection or the protection of their family. Now, do any of you all have that kind of primitive religion?

Is that something that you feel? Is that something that you do? Is it something you compete that you have to work against? No? No?

Really? Yes. I think so. It may not be because of the age that we live in. It may not be that we have this kind of idea that demons or angels you might not have those ideas, but you still feel like, oh, I shouldn't have done so and so cause that has brought back this bad juju on me.

Do you all get it? Y'all are not admitting to it, are you? Yeah. There are a few of you that are. You ain't living right.

When you have a bad run of things and just things start happening to you, have you ever had anybody say my dad says it. He goes, oh boy, you must not be living right. You've had pneumonia for two months. Right living does not guarantee health and wealth and prosperity. It just doesn't.

You can have a really, really hard time doing and stepping in all the right direction, right ways. So anyway, that's the occasion. What they were believing was causing them to question the all sufficiency of Christ. The purpose, Paul writes to assure them of Christ's supremacy, of his sufficiency, of their own salvation. If you have put your trust in God, then it is sealed.

It is sealed. He warns them against syncretism. Now, syncretism is when you take, let's say, Christianity and you blend it with whatever the society that is around you and you syncretize the gospel. You don't just contextualize it, present it in a way they can understand, but you synchronize it. You bring it in these extra elements or different elements and you add them to Christ.

It's Christ plus, syncretism. He shows them the superiority of promortification that is mortify the flesh, put away sin, put it off, and put on Christ. He says that that's superior to the ascetic way of flagellation, of beating yourself up, of going without the ascetic way in Christian conduct. So that's the purpose. I stole that directly from the notes for this for a class on Colossians that I took from William J.

Larkin who is no longer with us. I saw in the first 14 verses these things, grace and peace. Always start with grace and peace. At the beginning of every book that we study, I'm going to say that. Always lead off with grace and peace.

Grateful prayer. Paul goes he gushes a little bit about how grateful he is. It's a grateful prayer to God, then he makes a glorious petition on their behalf. He's asking God for something and we'll look at that in detail. And then, this section will end with God's provision and next week, when we come back, I'm probably going to go back up to verse nine and start from there because that's the beginning of another section.

Since we don't read the whole letter like they used to read them, all four chapters, we're gonna go through this like this. Alright. So, grace and peace first. Paul, an apostle of Christ, Jesus. He links Jesus to Christ, okay?

That may not sound odd but an apostle of Christ Jesus. He's saying, it is in Jesus. This is the one who sent me. I'm the sent one Paul by Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy, our brother also, to the saints and the faithful. So, it's a letter to Christians.

To the saints and the faithful brothers in Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our father. Now, grace, what is it? Y'all tell me. Favor.

It is the unmerited favor of God. We've studied Romans. No one's righteous. No, not one. There's not any of us who deserves God's love anymore than anyone else.

We don't deserve it. Yet by his grace, he presents us with unmerited favor, an opportunity to know him, to love him, to be with him forever in spite of what we've done. And peace. If you have clear unmerited communion with God, you get peace right with it. It's shalom.

It's not just an absence of warfare. It is absolutely peaceful. So that's it. He also says our father. He links them with him.

He's thankful for them. He's recognizing that they have believed in Christ already. They're Christians. This is not necessarily an evangelistic campaign that Paul is writing here. He's saying, I know that you've believed.

What's also interesting is Paul had never we don't think Paul had ever been to Colossae. It's about a 110 miles from Ephesus. He wrote to them, but he had met Philemon, he had met Onesimus in other places, but not in their hometown in Colossae. So he'd never been there. He mentions in the letter that Epaphras we'll get to it.

Epaphras is the one who had evangelized him. He's the one who had shared with them the gospel that they accepted. Okay. So they're believers. So the grateful prayer Paul starts right here is we always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you.

We're thankful, grateful to God. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints. Remember that from Philemon? He said, I know the love that you have for all of the saints to Philemon. He's sharing that.

It's not just a trait of that one guy and he wasn't just using it as a lever to manipulate that one guy. He's saying we're hearing about this and what you have is a love for the saints. Everybody that comes around mentions that you're a warm and accepting and receiving. Since we've heard of your faith in Jesus Christ, of Christ Jesus, and of the love you have for all the saints, that's because of the hope that's laid up for you in heaven. Now if around them, the Jews around them and the other primitive religion folks are causing them to question, oh, you'd walk under a ladder?

You broke a mirror? I wouldn't trust Christ about that. My goodness. That's a ridiculous thing. Are you with me?

I'm using our superstitions instead of theirs. Like, woah, dude. That's stupid. Don't do that. You're tempting the fates.

Paul is saying, you accepted Christ. You have hope in heaven. You have this already out there. It's laid up for you already in heaven. You heard of Christ Jesus and accepted and put your faith in him and you have hope in heaven.

Of this, you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, the good news, Euangelion, the good news of Jesus Christ, of his perfect life, well lived. No sin debt owed. His sacrificial death died on a cross in humble obedience to be able to offer his perfect record for those of the rest of us who do not have a perfect record. If we put our faith in him, then we have received hope in heaven. We've received the power of the Holy Spirit in our life.

We've received salvation. Of this, you've heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, and the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed, it's going out into the whole world. It's bearing fruit and it's increasing. This is not some passing fad. This is something that Jesus said, I'm going to build my church and I'm going to do it and it is going to go here, here, here.

It's going to get further and further out from you will be my witnesses, from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts. Colossians are pretty good ways away from Jerusalem and Judea, but it's an uttermost part, getting further and further out there. It's coming. It's indeed increasing and bearing fruit, and it still is. It is receding somewhat here in The US.

In North America, yes, it is receding, but not in South America and not in Africa and not in Asia. It is still going forth. I think that the the thing that I find the best about Colossians for studying now is that they were under attack from all of the world views around them, and Paul is writing to assure them that what you believe is true, what you believe is real. Put your faith in this and then live it out. If you live it out, then it shows the difference.

So indeed, it is bearing fruit and increasing all over the world as it does also among you. Since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. Now, it's true that grace, that unmerited favor is real and since you heard it, your faith has been growing. So, my timeline slide. I like the timeline slide.

Personally, we are somewhere on this slide. Now, God chose from the beginning the way that this would be. It included after man fell. There was no doubt it had to have this, Christ's work. It had to have a way of redemption.

And God chose this from the beginning, that Christ would live a perfect life, that he would die a sacrificial death, that he would raise him back to life, and he would buy that life, that chosen one, that Messiah, His witness of the good news would go forth, the gospel witness, the proclamation of this story. And then at the moment of belief, one is saved. Now already saved, Paul gets in a lot of places where there's an already, but there's a not yet completely ultimately glorified, and you see that up there, ultimately saved, the day of the Lord. But in between the time of your original belief in Jesus and your ultimate salvation, whether it be on the day of your death or on the day of the Lord, there is a process at work that is the work of the Holy Spirit that is a sanctifying process. God does not immediately make you perfect at salvation.

As you surrender your will to his will, you are sanctified and for a lot of us, it goes something like this. Wow. I didn't know that. God has changed me. I'm a new creature, new creation, and I begin to get things.

And there are hills and valleys, but it is an upward trajectory towards that great and mighty day of the Lord or towards death as we surrender our will to his. But right there, let's say somebody comes along and says, you are a fool. What in the world? You're a chump. How did you believe that ridiculous story about a first century Jew?

That's crazy. What are you putting your faith in? That's stupid. How could that possibly help you? You see the downward slope there?

When you start to question and doubt and you go, maybe maybe I should go for the gusto. Maybe I should. Pride, arrogance, all those things all around us, that looks like a really good thing. Maybe I should just go for that instead of trusting in Christ and humbly doing as he directs, doing as the Bible teaches. Maybe it is ridiculous.

You start to doubt and when you start to doubt, you start to dip. Just as you learn this gospel of grace, you understood the grace of God and truth just as you learn it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. Paul didn't plant this church. He didn't start the gospel work in Colossae. Epaphras did, and he's not upset about it, which I really like.

Some people get upset if somebody else does a work and it goes well. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. He's doing what Christ said to do, going out, telling this story. And he's made it known to us your love in the spirit. So we know that we're brothers.

I'm writing to encourage you to keep on believing what it is that you believe so that you'll keep on going upwards in your faith, in your sanctification. You will, day by day, surrender your will and believe and keep on moving forward and keep on moving the gospel forward too. So that's what Paul is doing. Now he makes a glorious petition for them and it it is something that I've heard a lot of people over the years say, I've been praying this, Colossians one nine through about 12, for so and so. I've been praying this for them, and it's a good prayer.

I'll go back and summarize it at the end. And so from the day that we heard, we've not ceased to pray for you asking, this is the petition, that you may be filled with all the knowledge of his will. Paul wants for everybody in the pews as it were to understand the will of God. Filled with the knowledge, with all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So as to walk in a manner worthy.

So, it's not just to know it and to believe it but it's actually to walk it out. To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work. In the Romans, nothing that you do in the Lord is in vain. That's it will be bearing fruit if you are understanding the will of God and you are putting that into action. Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing the knowledge of God.

That it that knowledge of God is pretty important. You may be filled with it and that it may be increasing in your life. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, the fact that it's according to his glorious might is really comforting because the ascetic practices that everybody was saying, oh, you have to do more than that. It can't be that easy. You gotta do more than that.

You gotta bootstrap this thing. You've gotta do it. You should probably go without. You should probably do this sort of penance. You should do this.

You should harm yourself in some way so that it'll make him happy. Grace is unmerited favor. He's saying, according to his glorious might, he is able. He's the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the spirit that's at work in you. For all endurance and patience with joy.

So, if you look at this glorious petition, I'm just line by line, being filled with the knowledge of his will. When I hear people say, I've been praying this for my daughter. I've been praying this for my son. I've been praying this for so and so, that they'd be filled with the knowledge of God's will. How many of you question what God's will is for your life?

Yeah. I'm praying for you that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will and you know what? I'll skip back for just a minute in Thessalonians. It says, this is the will of God concerning you, your sanctification that you'd be sanctified by all of your experiences, good or bad, being filled with the knowledge of his will. In all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

When you see a Christian fall, a brother, a sister, when you see a Christian fall, it's it hurts to see that. When you see someone act get caught doing something great, Isn't that great? Isn't it wonderful to see somebody that walks in a manner that's worthy of the Lord, that acts graciously, that thinks of others, that puts others first? Being fully pleasing to him and bearing fruit in every good work. I just wanna list them.

Increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened. The increasing there requires you continued study, continued adherence to this faith, not just kinda saying, you know what? I believe that a long time ago, but in real life, people just made so much fun of it. I just kinda quit going. Being increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, and it's according to his glorious might.

Again, like I said, it's his glorious might, not ours. For all endurance and patience with joy. To be able to hold on to the tenants of the faith, to be able to hold on to the Christ of the faith, the savior, the redeemer, the Lord with endurance and patience but also with joy. So that's it. Those are the first three.

Right? Glorious petition. He actually goes back to grateful prayer for just one more second, and then we'll get to God's provision here at the end. Giving thanks to the father, grateful prayer, who's qualified you. You you were unqualified.

You were unqualified to share in any of his inheritance. You're unqualified to be an heir with Christ, giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. There's a lot of talk of light and darkness, good and evil, sin, and righteousness. We're thankful to God because he's the one that's qualified you. He's not lifting any one person up except for Christ.

And that's it. And then we go in here. He's delivered us from the domain of darkness. That's who? That he is God almighty.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness, and he has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. And that is God's provision in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. There is not another way. The exclusivity of the gospel is a difficult thing in our time period. It's some of the it's the one thing that I think more people have expressed to me, like outsiders have expressed to me.

I just can't get that whole exclusivity thing. It is incredibly inclusive because it's for whosoever would believe. There's not a way that you have to exactly do this, this, this, this, this. There's not those hoops. It is an open invitation with a free gift.

It is inclusive in that sense, but it is the only way. And this book points to the all sufficiency of Christ, but it also points to the exclusivity of the gospel. In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So that's God's provision. So that's where we're gonna stop today.

God has provided a savior. Understanding everything is not a requirement. Growing in the understanding is a certainty if you will believe, if you will trust, if you'll place the faith that you've been given in the savior that's been provided, you will grow. In Jesus name, Lord, would you grow us up into all wisdom and understanding? May we all grow in the knowledge of God and lord, may that never be a knowledge that puffs up but one that grows the kingdom of God and the faith of each individual in our presence.

In Jesus name, lord, amen. Amen.

Would you stand with us? We're gonna sing one last song here fitting too that this foundation that we have in Christ is absolutely firm. It's solid. It's steady and worth building our lives on.

Alright. How firm a foundation. How firm a foundation you saints of the Lord has laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he has said, to you who for refuge in Jesus' Fear not. Fear not.

He is with us. Oh, not dismayed. For he is our God of sustainer and strength. He'll be our defender and cause us to stand upheld by his mercy. Almighty effort, how firm, how foundation, how sure foundation.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive just as the Lord forgave you and over all these virtues put on love which binds all of them together in perfect unity. Amen.