Turn with me to Colossians, way over in
the New Testament, chapter one.
Now before I get started with this letter
that Paul wrote to the church in Colossi
or Colossi, however you want to pronounce it,
I need to explain three things to you
that are necessary for you to understand what
I'll be speaking about today.
First of all, I'm going to use some
superlatives.
Now the problem with superlatives is we don't
believe them anymore.
Hollywood and Madison Avenue have deprived us of
them.
They've overused them.
They will say, stupendous, colossal, gigantic, sale of
the century.
We don't believe that anymore.
It's sad, but it's true.
Well, the problem is I'm going to use
some superlatives today, and you gotta believe them
because Paul was not jiving us.
He wasn't just putting us on, folks.
He's telling us the truth.
Okay?
The second thing you need to know is
the definition of a word.
Now, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence.
You already know, mystery.
Except, usually when you say the word mystery,
people think, oh, who done it, kind of
thing.
Now the Bible never uses the word mystery
in that manner.
Mystery in Scripture is basically a couple of
meanings.
One, either something that God has revealed to
us, but, oh, it's so awesome and great
our little brains can't even begin to fathom
it.
A mystery.
The other usage, and that's the usage of
our passage today, is synonymous with secret.
With secret.
Which then brings up the third thing that
I want you to notice ahead of time
here.
There was in the city of Colossae a
heresy, some error of theology that had begun
that would eventually become known in history as
the Gnostics.
Now, that's G-N-O-S-T-I
-C-S.
Don't worry much about that, though, except that
they were a group that had some very
funny teachings about Jesus that were erroneous.
But, they were a mystery group, or a
secret society.
And they would say things like, we know
things about God that you don't know.
Now, when someone says that to you, that's
very attractive, isn't it?
Just like, oh, really?
You know something I don't know?
It messes up your day.
You try to fool them into telling you
what it is they know.
The problem with a secret society, though, is
they say, oh, no, no, no, no, no,
you must join our society first.
Now, folks, secrecy is also just about synonymous
with darkness.
And he says, men love darkness rather than
light for only one reason.
Their deeds are evil.
So, I'm always suspicious of secret groups.
There are different ones around, secret groups, that
have all these degrees of knowledge.
And I'm thinking, hey, if your knowledge is
so great, why is it so secret?
In fact, I even avoided fraternities when I
was in college, because they're secret societies.
I didn't avoid sororities quite as much.
But they're secret societies.
And I was, by the way, inducted into,
in college, an honorary fraternity.
I don't even remember the name of it.
Eat a Bit of Pie, something like that.
I know bad.
And I'm not sure why I was inducted
in.
I think it might have been because I
did not blow up the chemistry lab, or
something of that nature.
But I'll never forget when they inducted me
in, they brought me into this candlelit room.
Now, I'm always a bit suspicious of candlelit
rooms.
I figure this is going to cost me
something.
In fact, I'm going back home tomorrow, after
having been gone a couple of weeks, which
I don't like to be gone that long.
But I know what's going to happen.
My wife, she's the sweetest thing in the
world.
She's going to have a candlelit meal.
And I love it.
I really do.
But I'm still just a little suspicious that
this is probably going to cost me something.
But they usher me into this candlelit room.
And I'll never forget this.
Now, this is an honorary fraternity.
And the inductor says to us, and now,
the secrets known only to the members of
this fraternity.
And I thought, oh brother, here we go.
And then he told me what they were.
And I thought, don't worry, they're safe with
me.
It was some useless bit of information like,
circles are round.
Squares have corners at the edges.
The Gnostics were a secret society.
Now, you've got the information you need.
Paul, now, writes to this young church to
try to keep them from falling prey to
this, and giving them the understanding that they
need.
Now, in order to deal with this, he
simply talks about who Jesus really is, in
the most incredible way.
So let's go to verse 15, we will
begin with, as Paul begins to express who
Jesus is.
He starts off and he says, He is
the image of the invisible God.
In other words, if you want to know
what God looks like, look at Jesus.
If you want to know what God acts
like, check Jesus out.
If you want to know how God reveals
Himself, Jesus is the way you find out.
So hey, not a bad start, okay?
He's the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation.
Oh, there's our first superlative.
All.
How much might that be?
Thank you.
The firstborn over all creation.
Folks, this means He wasn't born yesterday.
This means that Jesus isn't, oh boy, well,
what's going on here?
Man, I've never seen anything like this.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
It's been around a while.
The firstborn over creation.
But He's not through, He says.
For by Him all things were created.
How many things were created by Him?
Hey, that's not a bad job.
Things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities.
That's a lot of things, folks.
All things were created by Him and for
Him.
How many things were created by Him and
for Him?
Oh, I like this, too, because this reveals
something to me.
He didn't just create me, but He created
me not, oh, I didn't mean to do
that, but for Himself, you know.
You ever shop at a seconds store?
God doesn't have a seconds store.
I mean, it's like, ooh, yeah, look at
that.
I have a dear friend in Africa who's
a world-class artist.
And in some of my ministry there, she
had ended up giving me a sculpting that
she had done, which it's a museum piece.
I'm so happy.
But one time when I was down in
Zimbabwe where they lived, I went out for
dinner to their house with she and her
husband.
And she said, would you like to see
my studio?
Oh, of course.
And, oh, my, I saw some of the
most incredible artwork I have ever seen in
my life.
And I said, that's wonderful.
Can I buy that?
And she says, no, no, no, no, says,
that's my best work.
I made that for myself.
And then I understood this verse.
You were created not just by Him, but
for Him.
You're His best work.
You're a keeper.
Satan says, I want this one.
Jesus says, nope, nope, sorry, it's my best
work.
I'm keeping it for myself.
So you're a keeper, folks.
You were made by Him and for Him.
In fact, how many things?
All things were made by Him and for
Him.
Let's keep going here.
I could spend the whole day on things
like that.
He is before all things.
How many things is He before?
All.
And in Him, all things hold together.
How many things hold together in Him?
All.
You probably know that I'm not a trained
preacher.
It's true.
I have a degree in chemistry.
And I don't remember much.
But one of the things I do recall,
they had learned a lot of things about
the different forces in the world.
Things like electromagnetic forces and gravity and strong
and weak nuclear forces.
But when I was there, they hadn't figured
out what was it that holds the steel
to the steel.
What is it that actually holds things together?
I know.
Right here.
In Him, all things hold together.
Something more to praise Him for.
The chair you are seated on, He's holding
it together for you.
Folks, when they were nailing the nails in
His hands and His feet, He was holding
the nails together so they could do it.
Incredible.
In Him, all things hold together.
And He is the head of the body,
the church.
When I read this, this caused me to
come up with a saying that I think
is going to make me famous.
And I want you to know that you
heard it here first.
Recall that.
It's this.
When you see a body without a head,
it's dead.
Can you remember that?
Heard it here first.
Actually, this is profound, folks, because if you
had the power to be in every church
in this county today, you would discover that
there's some death out there.
And, you know, I'm not putting them down.
It breaks my heart.
But the problem is there are some who
have separated themselves from the head, from Jesus.
It doesn't matter to them whether He ever
lived or died.
And they never consult Him.
And so they're separated from the head.
And they're dead.
But what I'm about to tell you is
a little gross, and you don't have to
listen to this if you do not wish
to.
But I'm an old farm boy.
And us farm boys know that chickens do
not grow up inside plastic sacks with weights
and prices on them.
And when my grandmother needed to feed the
farm hens, she couldn't rush to the grocery
store.
That was a once-a-month, long-distance
job.
She would go out to the chicken yard,
and she had this long stick with a
certain kind of bent hook on the end
of it.
And she'd just reach in and have one
of those chickens by the leg, and she'd
pull it out.
And this is gross.
She would grab that chicken by the head,
and the body would fly over there, and
the head would still be in her hand.
I told you this was going to be
gross.
But for the next five minutes, that chicken
was the most active it had ever been
in its life.
Now, an untrained observer could look at that
and say, what a live chicken!
But the fact is, that chicken was dead.
It had been separated from its head.
Sometimes, even in the church, we get separated
from the head, and what do we do?
We're going to increase our activities.
An untrained observer may look and say, what
a live situation.
But the fact is, it's dead, because it
has been separated from the head.
Folks, Jesus is the head of the church,
the body.
He is the beginning and the firstborn from
among the dead, so that in everything, how
much might that be?
He might have the supremacy.
Here we go, these superlative words.
This says to me that Jesus is not
an addition to everything else we do.
We do not say, okay, here are our
plans, God.
Please bless them.
Oh, and by the way, we're going to
try to include you in this.
No, no, no, no, no.
He is to have the supremacy, for God
was pleased, made God happy, to have all
His fullness dwell in Him.
How much fullness dwelt in Him?
That doesn't mean enough.
That doesn't mean more than anybody else.
That doesn't mean the great guru.
It doesn't mean the avatar.
No.
God was pleased to have all His fullness
dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile
to Himself all things.
How many things to reconcile?
You're getting weak.
Thank you.
Whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through His blood shed on
the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were
enemies in your minds because of your evil
behavior.
This is the most fascinating verse.
Oh, it speaks such truth.
Listen to this.
May I illustrate it this way?
Don't answer this question, by the way.
This is a rhetorical question.
Have you ever been stopped on a freeway,
maybe, by a highway patrolman or something?
Don't you hate it?
Makes you mad at the police, doesn't it?
I mean, the very idea.
You know, you think, he ought to be
out catching criminals.
Not just stopping someone like me who merely
broke the law.
Isn't it amazing?
We get mad at them.
Why?
Because of our evil behavior.
We were the ones doing bad, and they
stop us, and we get mad at them.
People do the same with God, see?
If there's a God, why are there wars?
Huh?
If there's a God, why do babies die?
Like God kills them?
No, we kill them.
Who starts wars?
We start wars.
It's God's fault.
Mad at God.
Because of our evil behavior.
He says, once you were enemies of God
because of your evil behavior, but now He
has reconciled you.
Look who did it.
He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body
through death to present you holy in His
sight, without blemish, and free from accusation.
He has reconciled you.
This is marvelous.
It is not that you've bargained with God.
It is not that you have reached the
heights where you can now contact the gods
and plead your case.
Oh no, quite the opposite.
We don't reach heights.
We reach depths.
So what does Jesus do?
He pleads our case and comes our way
anyway.
One of the words used for Jesus in
the Old Testament, in Isaiah, is that He
would be a wonderful counselor.
Now, for our modern ears, that would better
have been translated as wonderful lawyer.
Now, I don't know about Florida, but where
I live, we don't often use the word
wonderful and lawyer in the same sentence.
But He is the wonderful lawyer.
What does this mean?
I'll tell you what it means.
Imagine that it's the end of time, and
I've been caught, and I'm guilty, and I
know I'm guilty, and I'm standing before the
judge, and they're probably going to fry me.
I deserve to be fried, and I'm standing
there waiting on the judgment, you know, and
I got the best lawyer I could find,
but there's no chance of guilty.
And then my lawyer gets up and walks
up to the judge and says, Dad?
And did he say, Dad?
Wonderful lawyer!
And oh, folks, that's what has been happening.
He ever lives to intercede for us.
He is the source of reconciliation.
It isn't the bargain you struck with God,
but it's the bargain that He struck with
His Father to come and do something for
us that we couldn't even begin to do
for ourselves, folks.
It's called good news.
And through His death to present you wholly
in His sight without blemish and free from
accusation.
I love it.
You see, we all know we're blemished, don't
we?
I mean, when you got up this morning,
you made a serious mistake.
You went and looked in the mirror.
I do that.
It's scary.
I stand there and I think, I have
met the enemy.
And I'm amazed at how much money I
spend to deal with these blemishes from looks
to odor.
So we know we're blemished.
And accusation?
Free from accusation?
We all know we're accusable.
You know, it's easy.
I can say, do you read the Bible
enough?
Have you prayed 48 hours today?
Have you won 10 people to the Lord
today?
Yeah, I know, forgive me for living.
It's easy to be accused.
When you were a kid, you remember this
kid in your house or in the block?
I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna tell.
Maybe you were that kid, I don't know.
But didn't you hate to hear that?
But you know what?
Satan's called the accuser.
And he goes, I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna
tell.
Jesus says, already know, already know, already forgiven,
already forgiven.
See folks, he is going to present us
free from blemish and without accusation.
Stand there, clean and whole before God.
This is called good news.
Oh, oh, this is so good.
In fact, you can be sure this doesn't
come free, does it?
There has to be a price for this,
doesn't there?
I mean, you can't expect something that good
to be free.
Well, there is a price.
Bob, you got the buckets ready yet?
No, we're not going to take up an
offering, but there is a price.
Now, it could be that some of you
in some times in your past might have
been involved with some system, some organization that
offered you, maybe religious one, that offered you
something really wonderful.
And then you get into it and you
discover, oh boy, there is a price to
be paid that I cannot pay.
And you might actually be a refugee here
this morning.
And it could be that your palms are
sweating a little bit right now, wondering, oh
no, what is he about to tell me?
That sounds so good, it's so wonderful, but
now the price?
Well, there is a price, and I've got
to be honest with you.
Ready?
I'm going to read it to you.
Here's the price.
If you continue in your faith, established, firm,
not moved from the hope held out in
the good news.
That's it.
Just hang in there.
Continue in my faith.
Is that it?
Come on, there's got to be more.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's it.
It's right here.
Oh, come on now, come on now.
I mean, this is good stuff.
I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll pray.
I'll pray 150 hours, okay?
No, no, no.
It doesn't even say that.
It just says continue in your relationship.
Continue.
That's it.
Is that the official policy of this church?
Yep.
Truth?
Oh, hanging on.
Not moved from the hope held out in
the good news.
Now, the good news means that he did
it for us.
Bad news is when I've got to do
it.
Oh, hanging on.
Firm.
I once had a little bulldog.
I loved that dog.
Called him Buster.
It wasn't a pit bull.
I don't know where those things came from.
This was one of those little dogs that
I loved him because he looked like he'd
hit a wall at 50 miles an hour.
It was nice to have something in the
house uglier than me, you know?
But he introduced me to the concept of
the bulldog grip.
And any of you that have a little
dog like that, you know you can shake
a rag in his face and he doesn't
go, rag.
He goes, rag.
And I could pull that dog and he'd
just dig up ground.
I could pick him up.
I could swing him around.
He had it.
I have a friend.
He tells me this is true.
And I believe him because I trust this
guy.
He said he had a little dog like
that and he said I could take him
to town with me.
All I had to do was have just
a few feet of rope around my shoulder.
If I needed to go in a store
or something, I'd just shake one end of
the rope in his face.
And I'd just tie the other end to
a tree or something.
He said I could be in there for
30 minutes.
I'd come out and he'd just...
And you see what this is talking about
is when you realize I have in my
possession the truth.
I have the best thing that has ever
happened right here.
And Satan says, oh no.
And we say, oh yeah.
And he just starts dragging us and we're
just digging up.
And Satan can even pick us up and
swing us around.
It's okay, man.
I've got the truth.
If you continue firm, not move from the
truth held out in the gospel.
This is the gospel, the good news that
you heard and that has been preached or
proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of
which I, Paul, have become a slave or
a servant.
Folks, you're going to be a slave to
something in life.
You may as well be a slave to
good news.
So that when people see you coming, they
think, boy, here comes good news.
That's all a guy knows, good news.
You must be a slave to good news.
Yep, that's me.
Gotta give it, gotta give it, gotta give
it.
Now, I rejoice in what was suffered for
you and I fill up in my flesh
what is still lacking in regard to Christ's
afflictions.
In other words, what he's saying here is
Jesus won the war, but he left a
mopping up action with us.
And so that's what I'm doing for the
sake of his body, which is the church.
I have become its servant by the commission
God gave me.
Oh, folks, if you're going to be a
slave to two things in life, and you
will, you may as well be a slave
to the good news and a slave to
the body of Christ.
Paul says, I'm a slave to the good
news and I'm a slave to the church.
I like that.
Back in the 50s, I recall reading in
some magazines picture types that no longer even
exist as they carried news of things strange
to my farm boy ears and eyes.
They began to describe things like addiction and
they chronicled the overwhelming path of heroin in
places like New York City.
And we were becoming acquainted with words we
hadn't heard before in ways that we hadn't
heard it like fix and like cold turkey
and it was unbelievable.
And they would show pictures of people when
they didn't have their fix, how it would
begin to affect them and the sweating and
then the pains.
And then finally, you would see them on
the floor writhing and in a fetal position.
Did you know that the Bible uses the
word addiction?
Addicted.
Paul speaks in Corinthians about the household of
Stephanus, the house of Stephen, who were the
first fruits or the first to get saved
in Achaia and how they have addicted themselves
to the ministry.
Oh, now, wouldn't it be strange if tomorrow,
say, Bob comes to his office and there
are three or four hundred of you out
there just writhing on the ground and saying,
please, if you don't let me serve, I
think I'm going to die.
That's called how to freak a pastor out.
Folks, you're going to be a slave to
two things.
You may as well be a slave to
the good news and a slave to the
body of Christ.
And he says, now, I am that slave.
I am that servant because of the commission
God gave me to present to you the
word of God in its fullness.
Not a snippet, not a wordette, not not
a little sermonette, not a, you know, a
tidbit here of the Bible, but the word
of God in its fullness.
Uh oh, here we go.
The mystery.
There's that word.
The secret that has been kept hidden for
ages and generations, but is now disclosed to
the saints.
You know who the saints are, by the
way.
Do you know who the saints are?
It's not a football team.
Don't, don't, don't, don't.
Do you realize that if you're a follower
of Jesus, you're a saint?
Do you know that?
Come on.
I want to see your heads.
Okay.
All right.
So if someone comes to you and says,
I know something about God that you don't
know.
You can say, well, that's funny.
He blabbed the whole thing just to me
the other day.
He's revealed his secret, his mystery to the
saints.
It's been kept hidden for generations.
To them, God has chosen to make known
among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this
mystery, which is priced in you the hope
of glory.
Now we know why he revealed it to
us, because he knew we couldn't keep a
secret.
He knew we would go right out and
blab it to everybody.
I have a grandson, Jordan.
He's 14 years old now, and he's begun
to travel with me some, which I thoroughly
enjoy.
He's such a delightful chap.
In fact, let me tell you more.
No, no, no, I won't tell you more
about him.
But back when he was about five years
old, his mother was fixing a surprise birthday
cake for his father.
And she said to Jordan, now Jordan, this
is a secret.
Okay.
We want to surprise your daddy.
All right.
Okay.
Don't tell him.
I won't.
So daddy comes home and Jordan says, guess
what, daddy?
I've got a secret.
I can't tell you about the cake because
we want to surprise you.
I thought this is wonderful.
And I think God gave us his great
secret because he knew we couldn't keep a
secret.
I've got to tell you about this wonderful
Jesus.
And so we blab it to the whole
world, to the Gentiles and everything.
So we proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone
with all wisdom.
How much wisdom?
So that we may present everyone perfect in
Christ to this end I labor, struggling with
all his energy.
How much of his energy?
How much of mine?
Which so powerfully works in me.
Chapter two.
We're moving along here, folks.
I want you to know how much I
am struggling for you and for those at
Fort Lauderdale and for all.
Now what does your Bible say?
Laodicea?
Okay.
And for all who have not met me
personally.
My purpose, and this is my purpose today,
is that they, you, may be encouraged in
heart and united in love so that you
may have the full, here we go, full
riches of complete, here we go, understanding in
order that you may know the secret of
God, the mystery of God.
Namely, Christ.
There it is.
God's secret.
God's mystery.
The published top secret.
That's an oxymoron, isn't it?
But he publishes it, and some people still
don't know.
Namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
You know what?
I read this, and something happened that I've
got to tell you about.
They are, in fact, much of it's happening
off the shores of this state.
They're discovering, they're digging up some of these
ancient galleons, well, not ancient necessarily, but some
of the old Spanish and other country galleons
that sunk off of these shores, often with
millions of dollars of gold and treasure.
And I was reading about these people who
were doing it, getting rich doing it, and
as I read that, I had another one
of these little revelations.
A thought came to my mind, a saying
that if that other one that I gave
you does not make me famous, this one
will.
I know how they find that treasure.
It's easy.
They dig where it's at.
Remember, you heard it here first.
Now, this is profound.
This is profound.
For instance, suppose I were to visit Bob,
and it's a delight to visit him.
Believe me, it is.
And Diane.
By the way, this is their 12th wedding
anniversary.
I don't think he told you that, but
you need to know that.
It's a miracle.
Anyone stick with him?
12 years?
But suppose that I were to visit him,
and he's out in front digging a hole.
Bob, what are you doing?
Well, it's obvious, Erwin, I'm digging a hole.
Well, I know that.
But why?
It's a secret.
A secret that you're digging a hole?
It's obvious.
No, no, no.
It's a secret.
Why?
Well, you can trust me.
Tell me why you're digging it.
You sure I can trust you?
I promise I won't tell anybody.
Okay, Erwin, I'm digging for treasure.
Treasure.
Bob, you've hit the water table.
There's no treasure down there.
Give it up.
Look, Erwin, I've been working on this hole
for months.
I'm not about to give it up just
because you tell me to.
I put a lot of energy into this
hole.
Okay?
Okay.
So he keeps working.
I'm standing watching.
Someone else comes along and says, what's going
on here?
The man's digging a hole.
It's obvious.
Well, I know that.
But why?
I promised I wouldn't tell.
Oh, you did, eh?
Well, I bet this has to do with
treasure.
I didn't say it.
Now, you know what this guy's going to
do?
He's going to go out and buy a
shovel because he figures nobody can put that
much energy into it unless there's something nearby.
So he's going to move over a few
feet and he's going to start digging.
So I'm watching this.
Someone else comes along.
What's going on here?
Well, they're digging holes.
I know, but why?
Well, this guy over here is digging for
treasure, but I promise not to tell.
Now, you know what's going to happen, don't
you?
He's going to go out and buy a
shovel.
Look, two people can't be digging this hard
for something unless it's here.
By the end of the day, 500 people
will be out there digging, thinking 500 Americans
can't be wrong.
Folks, we are a nation of diggers.
It's got to be out there.
We're hunting treasure.
Whatever we have to do, we're going to
dig.
Everything we can do, we find.
We hunt it in different kinds of ways.
It's got to be in money.
Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
It's in drugs.
Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's in sex.
Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig.
And we're digging, hunting for the treasure.
But folks, listen to me.
If you're going to find treasure, you have
to dig where it's at.
And it says here that I want to
tell you about the mystery of God, namely
Christ, in whom are hidden the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge.
So if you dig somewhere else, what are
you going to find?
Nothing.
If you want to find treasure, where do
you dig?
Jesus.
Isn't that simple?
This isn't difficult, folks.
It's just so very, very simple.
And he says, I tell you this so
that no one may deceive you by fine
-sounding arguments.
And there are some fine-sounding arguments out
there.
For though I am absent from you in
body, I am present with you in spirit
and delight to see how orderly you are
and how firm your faith in Christ is.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus
as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted
and built up in him, strengthened in the
faith as you were taught and overflowing with
thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you
captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends
on human tradition and the basic principles of
this world rather than on Christ.
Oh, tradition and world principles.
Human tradition.
You ever wondered how traditions get started?
You think there's a department of traditions?
Someone just does it first, and then the
next year they say, what are we going
to do?
Well, what did we do last year?
Well, we did that.
That didn't make much sense.
Why do we do it?
We always do it that way.
I've seen that happen in colleges.
Stupid stuff gets started.
It's our tradition.
Tradition.
Why do we do that?
We always have.
Who started it?
Don't know, but it's our way.
Human tradition.
And the principles of this world rather than
Christ.
Now, what are the principles of this world?
Well, let's go on to the very end
of that chapter, verse 20.
It says, since you died with Christ to
the basic principles of this world, why as
though you still belong to it do you
submit to its rules?
Do not handle, do not taste, do not
touch.
These are all destined to perish with use
because they're based on human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom
with their self-imposed worship, their false humility,
their harsh treatment of the body, but they
lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Here's what this is saying.
Principles of this world are basically this.
I will do it.
I'm going to turn over a new leaf.
I am going to develop a new system
of discipline in my life, and then I
will be able to say to you that
I am a spiritual person.
That's principles of the world because you can't
do it.
Any of you remember the old cowboy western
song?
The old cowpoke went riding out one dark
and windy day, and he sees this cloudy
draw and the devil's guys chasing a herd
of cows across the sky.
I don't sing.
I don't make my living singing.
You all understand this?
And they stop, and they point at this
cowboy, and he says, cowboy, change your ways
today or with us you will ride, chasing
a herd that we never catch across the
endless skies.
That's the way of the world.
Change your way.
Basic principles of the world.
Handle it yourself.
But the sad thing is, folks, cowboy can't
change his ways.
Principles of Christ.
I did it for you.
Principles of the world.
I'll do it.
But I can't.
But I'll do it.
But I can't.
Principles of Christ.
Can't do it.
I will.
Already did.
Good news.
Bad news.
And there may be some of you even
here today who are trying so hard to
make it.
Boy, you're working hard.
You get disgusted at yourself from time to
time.
You have maybe a good day, but then,
oh man, and you're thinking, God is not
going to love me now.
The fact is, he knows that you never
can make it on your own.
And he says, all you have to do
is come to me.
Turn it over to me.
And then, no, no, no, there's got to
be something more.
No, that's it.
That's it.
Here I am, Jesus.
I'm yours.
Please take me.
Forgive me.
And Satan will do his best.
No, no, no, this is good.
I'm hanging on to this.
This is good news.
I have tried to do it myself and
I can't.
Well, it sounded so spiritual, but it just
didn't affect the real me.
The good news of the kingdom of God,
the good news of this church also, Jesus
did it.
Accept that and hang on.
Now, I'm going to pray.
And if, perchance, you have been struggling with
this, maybe you really, really are so disappointed
in yourself and just don't know quite what
to do.
And you've wondered whether or not there was
a refuge where the truth came.
Now you've found it.
And even as I pray, I hope that
you will shove aside all the attempts that
you have made to do it and just
come with simple faith to Jesus and say,
Jesus, I'm so sorry.
I've tried so much in myself and I
am so tired.
Please forgive me and do it in me
and for me.
And then you will discover what a great
secret God has published for you.
So you be making that choice even while
I am praying.
Father, here we are again, so glad that
you are God.
Here we are.
We have come to you with great joy,
knowing that you, the king of the earth,
have chosen to reveal all your secrets to
us in your Son, Jesus.
Thank you.
Oh, how we thank you and we love
you.
And God, we're so tired.
Oh, Lord, we've tried everything.
We've tried all the systems.
We've tried to be tough.
We've tried new leafs.
We've tried everything, God, and it just hadn't
worked.
And we're so sorry.
We're so tired.
Please just take us like we are and
do your work in us.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you, Lord.
Now we will rest in you.
Oh, thank you.
In Jesus' name, amen.