Colossians, chapter 2 again, this morning. And that psalm that our brother read about revival, you know, it was wonderful. was committed to praising the Lord in that psalm, and looking forward to being revived. The way he said it was, not well maybe, but that he would be. He says, though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. So he was committed to praising the Lord no matter what, and he knew that he would be revived. And thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. And the Lord is in control, and we're grateful for that. His intent, God's intent in salvation is to perfect us. It is to bring us back into conformity to His image. We lost that in Adam. We lost a lot in Adam. I mean, we don't know the depths of what we lost in Adam, but the Bible teaches us that we lost the image that, you know, man was created in the image of God, but when you get the book of Genesis, I believe it's chapter 4, it says that The descendants of Adam, they beget children in their own image. Originally, we were created in the image of God. And we are God's image bearers, but it's like a carnival mirror. It's all distorted. And Christ comes back to bring it all back into order. And that's what we're looking forward to. And so last night we looked about being complete in Christ and I will look at that again this morning and look at the subject matter of proofs. Proofs that we are complete in Christ. Last night we saw a great problem that man has of the need that he has of being complete in Christ. But today we want to look at this proof that we are complete as the Apostle gives us the book here of Colossians chapter 2. And we'll just begin at verse 8 this morning. Colossians 2 and verse 8 says, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him, that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who he's speaking about, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. In whom ye also are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. in putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. blotting out the handwriting ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, knelling it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. And so this morning I want to look at this wonderful, vast subject matter of being complete in Jesus Christ and consider some proofs, some proofs, some biblical proofs. I mean, after all, God is the one that gives us these proofs, and so they are facts. God gives us facts of what He has done for us in Christ, and as we've said, as we think about revival, we've got a lot going on in this world, and a lot going on in our lives, and as we approach to the end of the end, you know, we've been in the last days for 2,000 years, but we're coming to the last of the last days, and we see all the things that are transpiring, and what should the believer do? Well, remember this, we are to be conscious of what's going on about us, and I liken it to peripheral vision. Peripheral vision, I can see my hand over here, but I'm not looking at my hand, I'm looking at this brother right here. So my eyes are focused on him, but I can see my hand over here, that's peripheral vision. And that's the way it is as we deal with the world in which we live. We keep our eyes on Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, but we're conscious about what's going on around us. We have peripheral vision in relationship to prophecy even. You know, the Bible gives us a whole book of the revelation of Jesus Christ in great detail about the events of when the world has its climactic end. But the emphasis of that book is not the beast, the false prophet, the antichrist. That's not the emphasis of that book. It says in the first verse, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. He's the emphasis of that book because he is the God of eternity and he is the almighty of that book and he is recognized as such in that book. And so as we think about revival, and we think about our need to be revived in the midst of the years, and our need to be revived in the midst of trouble as David was in that text, the answer always for every situation in our lives comes back to the Lord Himself. The Lord Himself. And so as we think about that and we think about these proofs, I want you to notice, beloved, as you think about what's in this context here, that there is a constant competing interest for the preeminence of Jesus Christ. Now you are as believers being pulled and all men all aware are being pulled to have some competing interest for the one of the text. This book, the book of Colossians, we find that Jesus Christ is presented in this book to be preeminent, to have the first and primary place in every area of creation and every area of life. Christ saved us for the express purpose that He might be preeminent in our life because He is our King. In Colossians chapter 1 and verse 14, it says, in Colossians 1 verse 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now last night we talked about how that in Adam we lost kingship. We just said it in passing, but nevertheless, remember, Adam was given dominion. God created him in His image, and God left him a reminder that there's a king that's greater than you, and He put that tree in the garden and says, now don't eat of that. You have all this at your disposal, but this is mine, and it's really a reminder that I'm king. And then he gave him dominion. But he lost that. He lost his crown. And we know that Satan gained some kind of crown. He is, after all, the Bible says, the God, little g, the God of this world. He's the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He has some power. He has a kingdom. But we, when we're saved, we're translated, the Bible says here, we're translated from one kingdom to another kingdom. The great King Jesus comes and takes us by force and takes us from that kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, and translates us into the kingdom of his dear son, the Lord Jesus, in this text. And so the saved have Jesus Christ as the preeminent king in their life. And I say it all boils down to this. And that is, who will be king? Who's going to be king in your life? That's what the question is. Well, you have your own little kingdom that you try to build for yourself. But Jesus Christ wants to be king. Matter of fact, when He saves people, He saves them to be their king. We don't believe that people are just saved from hell. I mean, it's a wonderful thing to be saved from. Saved from the wrath of God. But we're saved to some things as well. We're saved to serve. And the idea of servanthood also means you have a Lord, a Master, a King. And so when God saves people, He becomes their King. He becomes their Lord. And really, you cannot separate the Lordship of Jesus Christ from the Saviorhood of Jesus Christ. That's like cutting up a child and saying, well, you take half and I'll take half. Well, you can't do that. We found that in the Bible, didn't we? That's not the right way to do things. No, Jesus Christ is one. He is Savior and He is Lord and truly beloved. If He's not your Lord, He's not your Savior. And if He's not your Savior, He's not your Lord. But He is our Savior and Lord. And we are to be surrendered. Now here's where the error comes in. We're to be surrendered to His Lordship. He is our Lord. You can't make Him Lord. He is Lord. He's declared to be Lord. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's going to come back in the blaze of His glory and prove that. But He already is that. And so we've been saved, and Christ, for the saved, is to be preeminent. And Christ saved us to have preeminence in our life, our heart, our mind. He saved us so that He would be preeminent. And we're warned, and that's the point of this, we're warned that there is this competition for His preeminence. Preeminence. Constant competition for His preeminence. Colossians chapter 1 in verse 18, the Bible says, and He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things... Oh, that's a big word, isn't it? That in all things, He might have preeminence. All things in your life, all things in creation, in the creative world, all things in government, everything that He is to have preeminence. He is to have preeminence at Grace Baptist Church. He's to have preeminence over your pastor and over the deacons. He's to have preeminence over the members. He has to have preeminence over worship. He has to have preeminence in every aspect of your walk as a believer and every aspect as your life as a church member. He is to have preeminence. A lot of things though. A lot of things, though, they come along and they say, well, I want to be Lord over here in this little area of your life. Well, I want to be Lord over here in this little area of your life. You might got this. You know, Jesus dealt with it, did he not, in the Sermon on the Mount, when he talks about, well, not on the Sermon on the Mount, but he talks about this in one of his sermons where he says that God can't serve two masters. The emphasis, we try. And listen, they'll pull at you. That old pocketbook man will get a hold of you and want to drag you all kinds of places. You know, we call it, what do we call it here in America? We call it the almighty dollar. I mean, there's reasons that it's called those kind of things. And one of them is because it wants preeminence. So the constant conflict is who will be king? Who will rule you? Who will teach you? Who will be your guide? And so the book of Colossians, again, it's right here in the book, Colossians 2 and verse 4, where we read last night, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, joining and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Well, he was glad that they were steadfast in Christ. But just because they were steadfast did not mean that there weren't people trying to knock them off course by enticing words. So God is a God of words. He's used words. Matter of fact, His very nature is the Word. So anyway, it goes on to say, he says, and as you have therefore received Christ, We received Him by grace through faith. That's how we receive Christ. We've received Him by divine revelation. God has come to us in our sin and our depravity. He's revealed ourselves to us and He revealed Himself to us. And as we've received Him, so walk ye in Him. Rooted and building up in Him, established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware. Here's the point, this conflict, this compelling interest that, no, don't believe that. It's enough to believe this much, but don't believe that much. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. after the tradition of men. You know, traditions, you know, there are traditions that are neutral, I think. If you could, we could study this out. I don't have time to develop that. There are, there are traditions, however, that are absolutely against the God of heaven. And so we have to, we don't listen to what the traditions of grandma was, or grandpa was, unless they're based on scripture. Anyway, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of this world, and not after Christ. So there can be no substitute for Jesus Christ. Nothing in humanity, nothing in relationships, nothing in mysticism, nothing in religion, nothing in self-improvement can make you complete. That is Paul's argument. His grand argument in Colossians is that there is one individual that can make you complete. And what is to be complete? Well, we learned last night this truth. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says, Be ye perfect. And then He gives the standard. Even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. I'll tell you what, beloved, that is a grand standard. It's a high standard. A standard I dare say that not any individual, anywhere, anytime could ever meet. But they can meet it. So what, you just said they couldn't. But they can. Well, how can they? In Christ. See, you can have it met in justification in Christ because we're safe and sealed in Jesus Christ in our legal standing. You can have it in your sanctification as you pattern yourself after the life of Christ. The degree to which you are a sanctified believer in practice is the degree to which you are surrendered to the life of Christ, where you're applying the principles of Christ's life in your life. Where you love like Christ loved. When you forgive like Christ forgives. When you have compassion like Christ has compassion. You know the answer to all the drama in your life? And I know, listen, I'm a people myself. And I know people got drama. I'll tell you what, they, of course, you know, used to be kind of, it was kind of hid over here. Now they put it out on Facebook, you know, and Twitter and everywhere else. They are all constantly in drama. Drama, drama, drama, drama. And then you have drama in churches. You know why you have drama in churches? Because people aren't focused on Christ. They're not living like Christ. They're not living the Christ life. That's the only reason. That's the only reason that it goes on in your life, my life, other people's life, even the life of a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. because people aren't focused on Christ. They're not living like Christ. They don't love like Christ and forgive like Christ. They're not devoted to the Father like Christ was devoted. They're not saying, not my will, but thine be done. They're saying, my will, I'm going to have my way. I don't care what they say. That's not the life of Christ. Christ says, not my. The King of glory in his humanity says, not my will. I've not come to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. The man Christ Jesus, the perfect man, had a surrendered will to the Father in every area of life. And so there's nothing. There's nothing in humanism, in humanity. There's nothing in any relationship that you'll ever have. Now, I have a good relationship with my wife and my children, but even that doesn't make me complete. It really doesn't. You know, I fail my wife and she fails me. And that's a truth now. We've been married for, I don't even want to tell you now because I forget. It's over 25 years. It just slipped my mind. Well, you think that's funny? I'll tell you what, I was at a conference one time and Obrah the Pile was preaching and his wife's sitting somewhere over there, you know, and he's preaching and he forgot her name. He forgot her name and he said, he said, that woman, you know, something like that. And I thought, boy, he's going to get it after church, you know, but anyway. But do you know what that just goes to show? That if everything fails, your memory fails, everything fails in this life. But Jesus doesn't fail. And there are reasons why he doesn't fail. There's reason why that all these isms don't work. And they're because they're not Jesus Christ. You can't be complete before the Father in heaven. Your life will lack purpose where Christ is not there, whatever area that life is. And so we want to focus again on the Lord Jesus and show you, if you will, the reasons, Paul's arguments, really which is the Holy Ghost arguments, as to why Jesus Christ is the only foundation for completeness. The first proof, if you will, is found in chapter 2 where we begin reading in verse 9. The first proof is that Jesus is God. This is the first proof, if you will, I would dare say the strongest proof that we're complete in Christ. Remember what happened in the beginning. The Bible is woven together. And the Old Testament long ago in the book of Genesis is recorded how we got here. I mean, in the first three chapters, how we got here, how we got in the mess that we're in, and how we're going to get out. I mean, it's all in the first three chapters. And we got here by divine creation. God and His wonderful wisdom began time, space, and matter. He began creation, in other words, and He placed man here. We find that as you study the Scriptures. And then because of what Adam did, we lost all of that. We lost our image of God. We lost our fellowship with God, our relationship with God. All that is lost in Adam. But Jesus comes back for a great purpose. And it's promised right there in the book of Genesis chapter 3, by the way, that someone was going to come and bruise Satan's head. He's going to take back the crown. He's going to be the king, a meditatorial king, an earthly king, whose God come in the flesh. But anyway, getting us back to the image of God, that's what we're after. See, salvation is bringing us back to God. Back to fellowship of God. Back to relationship of God. Back to the image of God. Romans 8 is there, isn't it? Romans 8, I'll just go there. Brother called it out. I'll just go there real quickly and I'll come right back to my text. But this is the purpose. Back just a few pages to Romans chapter 8. The purpose of God's restorative order, if you will, whether it be elective grace, or whether it be redeeming grace, or whether it be regenerative grace, all the grand purpose is found in Romans 8. Romans 8 and verse 28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are thee called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His side. that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That is, the firstborn is just an expression of preeminence. But anyway, back in our text, Colossians chapter 2 now, here's the first point that the apostle uses. For in him, in the Son, in the Lord Jesus, that's the context, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The greatest argument for our being made complete, made whole, without flaw, is who we are complete in. We are complete in Jesus, who is the God of heaven. There is no one greater that could make us complete and there is no one greater that we can be complete in except God Himself. Anyone or anything less than God will have a flaw or at least have the susceptibility to have a flaw. You know, when God created the heavens and the earth, He said everything was good. It didn't have a flaw. It had limitations, but it didn't have a flaw because it was good. Man didn't have a flaw. He had limitations, but he had no flaw. But he had the susceptibility to flaw. The only individual, if you will, who has no susceptibility to flaw is God Himself. So anything less than God, that's the reason that Jesus Christ can't be just a man and save us. He has to be the God-man to save us. And so, the Bible teaches us that He is. Now, we can argue that by reason, but we don't have to argue it by reason. We can argue it by revelation. And I'll tell you what, revelation is far better than reason. Now God uses our reason, He uses our conscience, our wills, our hearts, He uses all kinds of things in relationship to us. But the greatest thing that God uses is simply revelation. And that is where God says, this is the way it is. You weren't there, you don't know anything about it, but I know all about it and here it is. Revelation. Revelation. So, He is the fullness. Now let's read this again. And Colossians 119 says, For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We read it last night in verse 3 of chapter 2, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So, God who is all wise. God who is all-knowing. God who is all love. God who is long-suffering. All the attributes of God, if you will. All the things that God reveals that He is. Now, I say this often back home, that you can only know God in truth as He reveals Himself. Now, you can think you know God, and you may have this idea in your mind what God is, but you may be wrong. And I'll tell you this, you are wrong if you don't have divine revelation for it. God knows who He is. He doesn't need you to tell Him who He is. He sure don't need me to tell Him who He is. Or speculate what He is. You know, a lot of men sit around speculating and thinking about maybe this is that or that's this and this is the other. That may have its place, but it surely doesn't have its place before God. Because God simply is. God is. And in the Lord Jesus Christ, we find that God, God has seen fit to have an individual, an individual man, by the way, a real, genuine man, bodily, that's man, because the Bible says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was not a God, but the Word was God, and then it says in verse 14, and the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us." So God, in the person of the Word, became flesh, became a man. Flesh and bone and blood. A real man with a real soul, a real will. All those things that are captured in a man. And Jesus takes upon that form of a man, the Bible says. He's made flesh for us. So Christ did not merely represent God, But He is the invisible God made visible. Let me show you this in our text now. In Colossians 1 and verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible God? How can you see that which is invisible? You ever seen that which is invisible? No. Look around this building. This is visible. That's visible. That's visible. That's visible. But what about this stuff here where my hands are moving? Can you see that? It's invisible. God is like that. Now there's force with it. That which is invisible can have force. You ever hear of a hurricane? I'm sure you have, haven't you? You ever hear wind blowing? You ever see wind blow it? Well, you didn't see the wind, but you saw the effects of it, haven't you? That's the idea. God is invisible, but he is visible. How is he visible? He's visible in that he took upon himself human flesh, and all the attributes of God are fully manifested in one individual. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. So Jesus does not merely reveal some of the attributes of God. He is the invisible God made visible. In the person of Jesus Christ, all that God is can be seen. Now you may not be able to see Him in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your depravity limits you on the things that you can see and understand and think about and enjoy in and rejoice in and live for. But that doesn't take away the fact that God says, now listen, God says in our text, it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell and that He is the fullness. You know, that's another expression that comes up in Colossian is this idea of fullness or completeness. We're complete in Him or we're full in Him. What that means is that we're back, we're brought back into the God's likeness. And we begin to have some of the attributes of God. It's called the fruit of the Spirit. It's not the fruit of Troy Shepard. Through the Spirit. Love. God is love, right? So I don't know how to love. I don't think Jesus knows how to love you if you don't know how to love right. What you call love isn't love. Maybe what you call love is really lust. Maybe what you call love is just a warm fuzzy feeling. But you want to know what love is? Well, you've got a Bible and the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It gives a whole list of definitions of love. Love is giving. Love is seeking his own. It gives a whole list of things that charity is, which is love. And Christ fully manifested those in his life. So in the person of Jesus Christ, God can be seen as He is. The love of God, the hate of God, the holiness of God, the wrath of God, the long-suffering of God, the gentleness of God, the meekness of God is expressed in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the book of Hebrews chapter 1 and verses 1-13, Hebrews 1 says it this way. So when we think about God and who God is, I'm going to have a point to this, and that's the point of the apostle here, the point of the Holy Ghost. And that is, you don't have to look anywhere else for God. Or look anywhere else for fullness. Because your Savior is the fullness of all things. He's God. You need a Redeemer? The Bible says that the Lord is our Redeemer. Well, guess who the Lord is? Jesus Christ. He's the Jehovah of the Old Testament incarnate form. Jesus Christ. So I need some wisdom, brother. He's got all wisdom. I need to know some things about how to live my life. He has all knowledge. I need to know the right things to hate. Did you know there are some things that we should hate? Oh no, Brother Shepherd, we should never hate anything. You know, that's what LBGQXYZ tells us. Don't hate anything except Christians, you know. Don't hate us. Isn't that what they say? Don't hate. They have a mantra of what you're supposed to love and they don't want you to hate anything, but the Bible says that there are some things to hate. God hates some things. And so you learn to hate the things that God hates and love the things that God loves. In other words, you are beginning to have the attributes of God. Anyway, if you will, in this text, in Hebrews, chapter 1 and verse 1 says, God, who at sundry times in diverse manners spake in time past in the fathers by the prophets. He talked all kinds of ways. He talked in burning bushes, clouds. He come in visions and dreams. I mean, He's talked all kinds of ways. hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So all that God is, is found in Jesus Christ in its fullness. Now I don't have time to develop this, but I'll tell you what, beloved, you go back into when God destroyed this earth with a flood and drowned everybody in it but no one in his family. God was manifesting that he's a God that doesn't put up with sin. He's a God that doesn't put up with wickedness and evil. He's a God that will destroy the wicked. Matter of fact, He determined to do that, to destroy the wicked from off the face of the earth. And you saw in the flood God's hatred for sin, God's love for holiness. You've seen the wrath of God. We also saw the long suffering of God because He waited and waited and waited. That's what the Bible says in the days of Noah. So for 120 years He waited. while the Bible speaks about long-suffering in that manner. And so you see a glimpse. My point is you saw a glimpse of long-suffering, you saw a glimpse of His wrath. But I'll tell you what, you didn't see. You didn't see the wrath of God in the flood, so that was awful. Can you imagine everybody in the whole earth coming under the wrath of God? But that was just a little point in time. That's just a little point in time. You know, it lasted for 40 days. The rains came and the floods came. The earth was broken up from underneath. The water gushed out of the earth, come up from it, come down. This thing that God had created around this earth of water called the firmament, it just wasn't firm anymore. And it all came down and destroyed everything. in God's judgment. But that's nothing compared. You say, that's awful, awful, awful. You believe it's awful. But it's nothing like what Jesus Christ went through on the cross. Because that was just a timely suffering. Now it may have pushed those people off into eternity and into hell. There's no doubt about that. But the fact is, is that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He experienced eternal wrath You ever hit your hand and you had a little bit of pain? It lasts for just a little while. You might remember it next time you get a hammer and say, well, I'm going to be a little bit more careful. It just lasts for a little while. But Jesus, who is God come in the flesh, experienced the eternal wrath of God in a finite portion of time. See, He was able, because He's God, to come under the wrath of God and be sustained in that time. So all the wrath of God, all the wrath of God that could be exerted against the wicked that are in Christ, because see, I'm by nature wicked, but I'm in Christ. And so He bore all the judgment, all the penalty, all the suffering, all the soul suffering of hell for me, there on the cross, but not only for me, for thousands upon billions of people who are in Christ. So, it's fully expressed. God's wrath, His eternal wrath is fully expressed in His Son. In His Son. And we could go on on those things. God, in the person of Jesus Christ, every attribute of God is fully expressed in the person of the Incarnate Word. God has and does use different means to reveal Himself, prophets, providence, creation. I told you last night that the creation out there, that sun came up, didn't it? You know what? I told you what it said. Now, if you were listening last night, what did the sun say when it came up this morning? God is. God is. The clouds out there, they're saying God is. All of creation says God is. But creation, even creation has its limitations. It doesn't tell us who God is. Now it gives us a detail about His nature. As a matter of fact, in the book of Romans says, well let me go there in Romans, I want to show you this real quickly. I show you these things because there are limitations in creation, and that is the point. There are limitations in creation, but there is no limitation in God Himself. God is above His creation. And Jesus Christ has to be more than just a mere creature, because if He was just a mere creature, He'd have limitation. And that's Paul's point. Paul's point is this, and it is denied by the heretics of this world. It's denied by like the Jehovah's Witnesses, where they say that Jesus is not God. He's a God. He's a lesser God. Well, I'll tell you what, if He's a lesser God or a God and He's getting worship, then we're doing false worship. But He gets worship over in the book of the Revelation. Jesus Christ is God. But anyway, in the book of Romans is where I was going. Thank the Lord I remembered because I almost forgot. In the book of Romans it says this. I want to show you something about creation. In verse 20, Romans 1.20, For the invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. If you're here and you're an atheist, which I really don't believe they're true atheists. I really don't. I just believe that they say they are. Because God's left something in their conscience that says there is God. And they have to come to this conclusion that there is no God to soothe their conscience. It's a salve that they kind of use to kind of soothe their conscience. Because the Bible says that they're without excuse and that God has left this. He left two things. Power. We see power and it's not mother nature by the way. It's the power of God that you see in nature. But there's also something else in this text. You know, if you get online, and I know, listen, I know, we got a lot of young people in here. You got your little smartphone, your dumb phone, your lying phone. You know, Facebook got all the good stuff on there about everybody's, you know, you'd think that everybody's house was just so all the time and everything's, all the laundry's folded and everything else. And you know that's not the way it is, right? Don't you know that's not the way, that's make-believe. So it's a lion foam. But you'll get on there and there'll be these little chat rooms. You know what a chat room is? Chat rooms where these people get and they argue about stuff and they never see each other. They just sort it out. Back and forth they go. And so on these chat rooms, you'll get these atheists who talk about, well, what God? What God are you talking about? And they'll say, and I use this one all the time because it's one of the stupid ones. It's Spaghetti Monster God. You ever hear of that? Anybody here ever heard of the Spaghetti Monster God? Some of the young people raise their hand. I know. They know. I'm too old. You're too old for it, bro. That's OK. It's good that you don't know it. You know what that argument is? It's a argument that has no value because there is no such thing as a spaghetti monster. God. See, they're making fun, mocking. But the God of the Bible, which is the God of creation, which is the living and true God, He stamped His nature on His creation. This text tells me. I don't have to go I don't have to go digging deep to find this. I got a Bible. The Bible says, and the Godhead, listen, verse 20, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. What's clearly seen? That there's a God. That's clearly seen. It all says. There's a Creator. This building that you're standing in, it didn't just gather up here one day and the boards got together. Old Brother Pierce, he took his truck and went down to Tampa and back and forth he went, back and forth he went and built this thing. The pew you're sitting on says there's somebody behind it, somebody designed it, somebody built it. It's only a fool, that's what the Bible calls them. The fool has said in his heart there's no God. So who is God? Well, we know it's not a spaghetti monster. But we know who God is. We don't know who he is, but we know something about his nature and character. And one thing that He did here, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Well, His Godhead, what does that mean? Well, that's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There's only one God. But did you know everything that God did when He began this earth, by doing so, He manifested that He is and who this one is that is. For instance, in the creation of time, space, and matter, right? This is simple. Before time, space, and matter, there's God. That's all there is, is God. It's really not nothing. It's God. God created time, space, and matter, and here's something about time, space, and matter that many of you may already know. You can't have one without the other. You can't have time without space, space without time, time without matter. They are co-equal like the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. See, the God of the Bible says, I am, and this is my creation, so you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to stamp who I am on my creation. And so it is that He has manifested time, space, and matter. And then when you get down to other levels of that, in time you got past, present, future. Is there a fourth thing that I don't know about in time? No, there's not. Because God is. And you go that, you got water, liquid, and vapor, right? So in that level, of that part of creation, there's this stamp. God is. But it doesn't tell us who he is. See, because creation is limited. But Jesus Christ is not limited. And He can manifest, and does manifest, as we get a good glimpse of Him, and more of a glimpse of Him, that God is. And who God is. God is love, and God is long-suffering, but God is also wrath, and God is holy. All these things are seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the point is this. Don't look anywhere else for God. See, what you need in your life is you need God in your life. That's who you need. Listen, beloved, do you want to know God's demands on your life? Creationists say God is. And even in creation, we find that God judges. Something, somewhere, sends some kind of havoc in this earth, either allowing it or sending it. So there is something out there that, well, it's just nature, brother Shepherd, just taking course of nature. Well, there's a nature's God. There's a nature's God. But I'll say this, what do you know, excuse me, do you want to know God's demands on your life? Well, you look to Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ had great demands on His life. I'm talking about the man Christ Jesus. Now, He had great demands on His life. And you know what? He always rose to the level that God wanted Him to rise to. You want to know how God deals with sin? You go ahead and play around with sin all you want to play around with it. The preacher is going to say, preacher said I can play around with sin. Yeah, go ahead. Just go ahead and play around with it. Get as close as you can to it. As a matter of fact, just put your toe in and dabble around a little bit and wade out in it and see what it does for you. You know what it does for you? It brings the wrath of God. And where do we see that? I'll tell you, you don't see it anywhere else like you see it on the cross. When Jesus pours out His soul into death under the weight and the guilt of sin, not his own sin, but under the weight and guilt of sin, he cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Do you want to know God's demands? Do you want to know how God deals with sin? Do you want to know what God loves or God hates? Look to the Lord Jesus. You can know what God loves and what God hates. That's the point, and that's Paul's first proof. The second proof is that Jesus was cut off. So not only is Jesus God, but Jesus who is God became a man for the express purpose of taking care of a sin debt that you and I could never ever in all of eternity say. You know, people say, well why is, you know, Baptists, we still believe in a literal fiery hell, don't we? We still believe in the lake of fire, so all that's awful that God would send people to a lake of fire. Well, then you ought to get right with Him. Because I'm telling you right now, that is your place of eternity. Well, is a fire that doesn't burn out? That's right, because it's fueled by the justice and righteousness and the holiness of God. So why can't people just get burnt out? Because they can never satisfy their sin debt. It takes somebody greater than that. That's why eternity is real. I'm assuming why the eternal fire is real. The lake of fire just goes on and on and on and on. Why there's perpetual judgment? Because man can never ever satisfy God for his sin. He just can't do it. You can't do it. You can't do it now on earth. You can't make atonement. You can't make things right. See, let me say, we make things wrong all the time in our life. And you can't make them right. If you were to go out of this place today and you got on a good drunk, I mean just a really good drunk, and you got out of your car and you drove drunk and you killed somebody, you can't undo that. You murdered somebody, you can't undo that. If you go before just a good judge in the United States, and there's a lot of bad ones, but if you went for a good one, you're not going to get off from that. You can't undo it. Only God can undo that kind of stuff. And He does that in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the point. And so what does it say? The Bible says in Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 10, And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also Ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the body of Christ. Now some men take this passage to mean that there's a circumcision of the heart. The Bible speaks about that. But I don't believe that that's what this text is saying. I'm going to give you my reasons why. The circumcision of Christ is the second reason that the believer, the Christian, is complete. See, the circumcision of Christ is a play on words. Paul is arguing, you'll see it later on, he's arguing against ceremonial circumcision by arguing for Christ being cut off on the cross. So when Christ was on the cross, Christ himself was cut off. How was he cut off? He was cut off without hands. He was cut off by the power of God. God bruised his son on the cross. Let me read it again. in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh." Here's the key. How? How are the body of the sins of my flesh put off? By the circumcision of Christ. Now he's not talking about when he was a little boy. He was circumcised according to the law as a little boy. He's not talking about that. He's talking about when he was on the cross. God cut him off. See, Jesus was cut off and you and I, as believers, were cut off in Him. There's no other thing and there's no other one that can be cut off to make you complete. You know, Jews had been taught circumcision, but they had a warped view of circumcision. They believed that through circumcision, ceremonial circumcision, they were complete. They were made whole. By the act of circumcision, which took something of their flesh off, that they were made whole. But listen, beloved, you have to be made completely whole. There has to be something that's more than just something physical. It has to be something spiritual. It has to be something deeper than that. Because sin is deeper than something physical. And so Jesus Christ on the cross, He died bodily, He died soulishly, He died spiritually. And I can prove that with Scripture. Because the scripture meets all three things. His physical suffering was awful. He was marred. His vesture, the Bible says in Isaiah 53, was marred. He was unrecognizable the way they treated the Lord Jesus. But the Bible also says he poured out his soul under death. And Jesus said on the cross, in thy hands I commend my spirit. His suffering was a soul suffering, an inward suffering, an outward suffering, and suffering in all kinds of ways. But the circumcision made with hands could not make anybody complete, only the circumcision without hands. Now listen, that's what it says in verse 11. Let's look at it again. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. in putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. By the circumcision of Christ. See, no religious act, not even a God-ordained religious act, ever made anybody complete. In the Old Testament, all the, and listen, they went through all kinds of rigmarole. I'm telling you what, God had them up and down and killing animals and you know, offering sacrifices and doing certain things on certain days. And they had certain dress that certain people had to wear at certain times that were sanctified. And they had to go through all kinds of rigmarole, you know, putting up the tabernacle, taking it down. Every, all these little things that they had to do, they had to do them exactly or they'd die. But none of those things made anybody complete. Not one of those things ever made anybody complete. It only just pushed off things as we've already talked about. Just another year, another year, another atonement's got to be made. More atonement's got to be made. Another lamb's got to be slain. Another lamb's got to be slain. This bull's got to die and his ashes have to be put here. This heifer's got to die and her ashes have to be put here. All over and over again. All over and over and over and over and over and never made anything clean. Then Jesus comes along. God come in the flesh. And what John the Baptist says, Behold, I'll tell you what, it's something to look at, wasn't it? Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away, not just covers it for a little while, not pushes it off, but taketh away the sins of the world. Jesus Christ is the only one that can take away your sin. You see the competition? Oh, no, I can do better. That's competition. That's competition for preeminence. Well, my works, my works, my good works outweigh my bad works for you. Go ahead and try that one. You can't undo the bad ones. Even if you had 10,000 good ones, which you don't because they're all filthy rags, but even if you did have 10,000 good ones and you had three bad ones, those 10,000 good ones won't undo the three bad ones. Go ahead and kill somebody today and then go to the judge and say, I'm never going to do it again. I'm just not going to do it again. And then don't do it again. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to do better. I'll go work at a soup kitchen, but I won't do any of these things anymore. You can't undo it. But there's someone that can come in and remove it. Take it away. Just take it away. Where it's put in the sea of God's forgetfulness. You know, our God who knows all things, sees all things, can forget. Now that's an amazing thing, isn't it? You know what makes him forget? The blood of Jesus Christ. It just takes it away. Just like in the Old Testament, the old scapegoat come along, and all the sins of Israel placed on that scapegoat, and they all put on him. One died, but here's somebody who takes him away, just takes him away into a land that's uninhabitable. the sea of God's forgetfulness. Well, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in the book of Hebrews chapter 7, by His life and by His death, this truth. Hebrews 7. Oh beloved, you need something more than ceremonies. I mean, you're not even doing the ceremonies. I doubt that There may be, in the size of an auditorium this way, there's probably nobody here that's been circumcised ceremonially. There may be men who are circumcised. Paul argues against that earlier, that circumcision availeth nothing and no circumcision availeth. But you know what avails something? Christ avails everything. Why? Because he was cut off. And in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 7 and verse 19, the Bible says there this, for the law made nothing perfect. I mean even God's good, holy, righteous law and everything that God gave to the nation of Israel, all the laws that God has ever given can never make anybody. We even have New Testament laws and they won't make you perfect. Baptism is a law of the New Testament. What hinders you to be baptized? But I'll tell you what, it won't make you perfect. The Lord's Supper is a law of the New Testament, but it won't make you perfect. It's a New Testament law. Love your neighbor as yourself is a New Testament law. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and might is a New Testament law, but those things won't make you perfect. Only Christ will make you perfect. Now those things come in, and you're able to do those things to some degree. but they won't make you perfect. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. By the witch we draw nigh unto God. Remember what we said? Here it is again. What is the purpose in salvation? To get us back to God. You'll hear today say, well, I'd like to be saved. Why would you like to be saved? I'd like to have eternal life. Why would you like to have eternal life? I mean, after all, I guarantee you everybody in this building wants to have eternal life. Oh no, preacher, that's not true. Oh, it is true. You take vitamins. You go to the doctor. What are you trying to do? You're trying to live! People want life. It's in them to want life. But I better hope. Let me go a little bit further now. Here in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 10 and verse 1, For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. But you are complete, perfect, whole in Him. There were plenty of people that Paul was writing to who had physical ceremonial circumcision, who were still incomplete. Now, most of you probably in here are Gentiles, and having lived in a nation that had some kind of Christianity to it, some of you may have been baptized when you was a little baby. I mean, not really, but you think you were baptized, but you know, that's not what the Bible teaches. But you say, well, or you may have been confirmed as a little baby or as a little child in church somewhere. You may have even gotten to a pool. You may have even gotten to this pool. But no ceremony makes anybody complete. It's competition. See, when we preach against Catholicism, and we do, we're not preaching against Catholic people. Oh, no. We love Catholic people. When we preach against Lutheranism and Presbyterianism, we're not preaching against Lutheran people and Presbyterian people. When we preach against all kinds of things, listen, we preach against Baptist people, too. Can you imagine that? A Baptist preacher preaching against Baptist people? I'll tell you what, I preach against Baptist people. Because we got a flesh that we have to deal with that we preach against, don't we? These folks here know what I'm talking about. We don't preach against those people. We preach against the devilish doctrines that they've been taught. that because they were baptized as infants, grace was conferred on them and they're going to heaven because they're in Christ through baptism as a little baby. That's a damnable doctrine. That's a competition for Christ. There was no priest cut off for me except my high priest. So in Christ, the believer, believing sinner is crucified. In Christ, the believer, believing sinner is circumcised. For the Christian, circumcision is something done for him to someone else. Let me read it again. Let's read it. I didn't make this up. Verse 11. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. This is something that is applied to me by the God of heaven because of what He did to someone else. In the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, how does that happen? By, here it is, by the circumcision of Christ. Christ being cut off. Daniel chapter 9 verse 26. Daniel 9 and verse 26. This is Old Testament prophecy concerning this individual that we're talking about. Daniel 9 and verse 26. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself. Listen, beloved, the Messiah was cut off, but He wasn't cut off for Himself. Just like in circumcision the flesh is cut off, Christ was cut off, but without hands. There was no doctor involved. There was no priest involved. Not in the truest sense of the word. I mean, there were doctors of divinity involved. There was a high priest involved. But I'll tell you what, God reached down his hand without hands, the invisible hand, the unseen hand. And God reached down, and he cut off the darling of his heart. He cut him off. And because he's been cut off, because he's been severed Severed from the love of God. Severed from the fellowship of God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Cut off. I don't have to be cut off. I'll never be cut off. And that's the second proof of why I'm complete. See, the testimony of my identity, of course, is baptism. And he mentions baptism in this text. But it's interesting how he mentions baptism. He doesn't say baptism puts off flesh, the works of the flesh. He doesn't say baptism gives us eternal life. He doesn't say anything like that in this text. You may be from a Campbellite, Church of Christ background. You may think that water washes away sin. It came, it was up Manatee River and you got baptized and it floated on down to the Gulf of Mexico. I don't know what you think. But that's not how it happens. But we find this to be so back in our text. Again, very quickly in Colossians. There are three things in this text. First of all, we die. Secondly, we're buried. And third thing, we rose again. All three things are in that text. Buried with him in baptism. And then what do you do with, excuse me, verse 11, we're cut off. What happens next? Well, we're buried. That's what you do with dead things, right? You bury them. And then there's the resurrection or quickening to life. But verse 12 says, buried with him by baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God. The operation of God. That's a very interesting word that the Lord has used here in this text. I have faith in the operation of God. Now, whenever I was baptized, that was not the operation of God. Some man, by the authority of a New Testament church, laid his hands on me, put me under water, and brought me back up. And all that was typical or pictured something that transcended somewhere else. And it was preceded by faith in the operation of God. What operation of God? God reached down, He was the great doctor. Call Christ! And when I go to baptism, when I baptize people, I'm just, I'm not, it's not the putting away the filth of the flesh, that's what Peter says, it's not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but it's the answer of a good conscience toward God. I have a good conscience because I believe in the operation of God. Where at one time I did not believe in the operation of God. I didn't believe I needed God. I didn't believe that God, you know, I mean, I was raised in a Christian home. I didn't really have a concept. I mean, it didn't really matter to me about God. But one day it started mattering. Because God began to work. Began to show me how wretched little boy I was. And I mean wretched. You know what? He still reminds me of that. So much that I could say with Paul, O wretched man that I am, not was, but am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I'll tell you there's a body that can deliver me from the body of this death. It says it right there in verse 17. But the body is of Christ. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And being made flesh, He was able to be cut off. And so in Christ the believing sinner is circumcised and the testimony of our identity is baptism. It's just a testimony of our identity. But it doesn't make us Christians. Why? Because that would be another competition. What makes me a Christian is Christ. What gives me a good legal standing before the God of heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ. What gives me peace that passes all understanding is Christ. What gives me forgiveness, and he goes on to say that, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all. See, our circumcision, he says this is the uncircumcision of your, it wasn't your flesh that was circumcised. You weren't cut off. Christ was cut off and because of that you have even this. Even the forgiveness of your sins. You got sins? Do you have sins? Do you have sins and transgressions where you violated God's law? Do you have sins? How can you be forgiven? old psychologist, here's another competition, said, well, you got to learn to forgive yourself. You liar. I got a Bible. You ever hear that before? You just need to learn. Now listen, Christians will pick up this stuff. Some of you in this auditorium today may have told your granddaughter or your grandson or they may have told you, well, Nana, you just need to learn to forgive yourself. No. No, you can't forgive yourself. That's a lie. That's a competition. That's philosophy and vain deceit. You cannot forgive yourself. You have no power to release the sins in your life. It takes someone greater than you. It takes the Lord Jesus. the forgiveness of sins. Well, by doing this, the third proof, I'll just give it to you, is that, I said it last night, in passing, as we closed, that Jesus nailed it. I'll tell you what, you talk about accomplishing something, here's a basketball player, he goes on, he gets that, boy, he nailed it! Here's someone who's done wonderful things in his career, boy, he nailed it! Here's someone who truly nailed it. Verse 14, blotting out the handwriting and the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. Every law of God Every law of God is against us. Every ceremony in Old Testament pointing to Christ, what it was pointing to was, you need, you need a Savior. That's what it was saying. You need a victim in your place. When those families got together at Passover time and they observed the little lamb and it was brought in their house, It had to have its throat cut, its blood shed. That was God's law. And even that law that made provision for them was ultimately against them because it was saying, you're going to have to have a victim in your place. Against them. Jesus on the cross, he did for us what the law could never do for any man. You know, in the book of Galatians it says that there was some law that could have been found that could have, you know, justified someone, made them right. Surely there would have been a law found to do that. But God couldn't find such a law. It wasn't a deficiency in law. No, no. There was never a deficiency in God's law. There's always a deficiency in you. Deficiency in me. And so, Jesus had no deficiency. See, if you have a little savior that you just kind of put off on a little shelf somewhere, and I don't even mean a literal little statue Jesus, you know, like these people have running around in their cars and stuff. You see these Roman Catholics, they got little statues of Jesus and Mary and Joseph and this one, that and the other. I'm not even talking about that. I'm talking about this little Jesus you got fixed up in your mind that you just put him up here for a while and take him out when you, this back and forth. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're talking about the Jesus of the Bible. And that Jesus of the Bible is the one that you need because He's God, because God was made flesh, because He was cut off, and that His work is a finished, complete, accomplished work. Jesus nailed it. He nailed our sins to the cross. Where are you today? There's more proof here, but that's enough for this afternoon, or this morning. Well, it's almost afternoon. One more minute. Where are you with this one I'm talking about? Are you competing for preeminence? See, if you're lost, you really are competing for preeminence. You believe that you're righteous and sufficient before God. You believe you're okay. that your works are good enough, that you're good. If I ask you where you're good, oh yeah, I'm good. But the Bible says none good, no not one. You need somebody better than you. And that somebody is the God of heaven who has made flesh for us. and come under the wrath of God as a man. And satisfied that wrath. So much so, that it was finished. He just nailed it up there. It's done. It's all finished. And He gives a whole New Testament that says, it's finished. You're complete. And you're complete. And you're complete. And you're complete. And everything's in Me. You just keep trusting Me and looking to Me. It's all in me. Oh, that you'd capture that. Again, you want revival? You want to be a better, dedicated, consecrated Christian? The love of Christ constrains us. And what I talk to you about today is really the love of Christ. For what He did for us, and willing to do for us, and come joyfully to do it. For the joy that was set before Him. The cross was a joy, yes, absolute. Because he was doing, I'll tell you what, there's joy in doing the Father's will. May God bless you, that's my prayer. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.