I want us to continue
a little bit further with our theme, Jesus,
our hope.
And the next aspect of it is embedded
in the epistle to the Colossians.
So if you will, will you please turn
to it.
Paul's letter to the Colossians.
I want us to read a little bit
as background from the first chapter.
Being Paul, you have a little difficulty in
knowing where to begin.
Because one thing Paul doesn't use are full
stops.
It's all one long sentence.
It goes on and on and on.
And you've got to break into his argument,
into his thought, if you're going to get
in at all.
And so we do at verse 12.
He's just opened up to these people at
Colossae.
Actually, I don't think he'd actually seen them.
It was Epaphras who brought the gospel to
them.
But they were still part of his parish.
Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.
And however the Gentiles found and believed on
the Lord Jesus, Paul always regarded them as
part of his parish.
And he had a responsibility for them.
There were certain things God had revealed to
Paul for the Gentiles.
And it was Paul's responsibility to get the
Gentile believers to see the riches which they
had entered into.
Up to then they were rather inclined to
regard the Jewish Christians as one group and
themselves as a rather minor group, a second
class group.
But Paul's business is to tell them nothing
of the sort.
Jew and Gentile in Christ are one body.
Your fellow members and fellow partakers of the
gospel along with us.
And by the way, notice in this epistle
and some of the other ones where he
uses the word we and then the word
ye.
We Gentiles, we Jews, you Gentiles.
And he's showing that the we and the
ye are together one in Christ.
So let's read a little bit of this
great epistle.
Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature.
For by him were all things created that
are in heaven, in earth, visible and invisible,
whether be thrones or principalities or powers or
dominions, all things were created by him and
for him, and he is before all things
and by him all things consist.
And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he
might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in him
should all fullness dwell.
And then skipping a few verses, no we
won't in verse 22.
In the body of his flesh through death
he has reconciled you to present you holy,
unflammable, unapprovable in his sight.
If ye continue in the faith, grounded and
settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel which ye have heard,
and which was preached to every creature which
is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings
for you, and fill up that which is
lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my
flesh, for his body's sake which is the
church.
You might have thought there was nothing lacking
in the afflictions of Christ.
He said, did he not?
It is finished.
But there were sufferings that were involved in
bringing the message of that finished work to
the people.
And Paul felt that he was filling up
that which is lacking of the afflictions of
Christ in his flesh, for his body's sake
which is his church, of which I made
a minister according to the stewardship of God,
which is given to me for you to
complete the word of God.
Even the mystery which hath been hid from
ages and from generations, that now is made
manifest to his saints, to whom God would
make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Now Paul's letters were very often corrective letters.
I think probably if you counted it up,
most of Paul's letters arose from the fact
that the people to whom he wrote needed
some word of correction to maintain balance, to
keep them on course.
Galatians is a case in point, Ephesians another
case in point, Philippians another case in point.
There's something.
At first you're not aware what it is
he's correcting.
You're not altogether aware that he is correcting.
Except that you notice, in each case he
has a rather heavy emphasis on one aspect.
And you might say to yourself, why make
so much of that?
In this case, why make so much of
the preeminence of Jesus Christ?
Is that just the right thing to do
or has he a purpose in it?
He's got a purpose.
They need to see that.
And he's putting that down there on the
table first of all, before he comes to
the matters in which they need help and
correction.
And then too, he doesn't usually start off
with what he wants to correct.
He doesn't start off as a rule with
a word of reproof.
Much more often with a word of appreciation
and encouragement.
But he's got a word to say to
them and he comes up to it obliquely.
He's such a gent, this dear Paul, that
he doesn't come out strong on the point
at issue.
First of all he lays a glorious positive
foundation, which is going to have relevance to
what he's got to say later.
And then when he does come down to
it, then it's put so gently.
As a matter of fact, in the case
of Philippians, it isn't until you finish the
epistle, you realize what it is he's getting
at.
He's made a big heavy emphasis of with
one mouth and one heart, striving together for
the faith of the gospel.
He has a lot to say about each
esteeming other better than themselves, a lot about
relationships.
Well perhaps it's just the right sort of
thing to say when you're writing an epistle
on spiritual things.
Oh but wait a minute, by the time
you get to the end of Philippians, there's
that reference to those two sisters, Iodias and
Sintike, that they be of the same mind
in the Lord.
And the trouble was there was two women
in the church.
They were not one in their attitude.
They weren't one together.
Things had come between them and it had
tended to divide the church.
And so it is in that case, that
obviously was the point he wanted to correct,
but in the process he treats us to
the most marvelous unveilings of divine truth.
And of course thereby makes his word of
reproof all the more easy to receive.
Now in this epistle to the Colossians, it's
very much something that he needs and wants
to correct.
But that too doesn't come up immediately, except
there is this big emphasis in the first
chapter on the centrality and the pre-eminence
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But it's only as you move in further
that you realize what it is he's up
to.
What it is he's concerned about, and I'll
tell you what it was.
Tangents.
Going off at tangents.
So that Jesus Christ was not completely central
to them.
They got taken up with emphases.
With this or with that new style or
message.
And that's the reason why he makes so
much of the centrality of Jesus.
Because that's the point where they've had their
problems.
And in chapter two you have some of
the tangents actually mentioned.
There are four of them.
Going off at tangents.
There's for instance, I've got them marked in
my Bible, verse eight.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit.
Yes, there were some taken up with intellectualism.
Thought there was something to be learned from
the Greek philosophers.
And he says, I'm afraid if you get
taken up with that they'll spoil you.
They will spoil you of your reward.
For you will find at the end of
the day you have not kept the faith.
And there is therefore now not laid up
for you a crown which the righteous Lord
will give you.
Then there's another tangent that they were in
danger of going off.
And that was judging you in meat.
And he said, let no man, verse sixteen,
judge you in food or drink or in
respect on holy day or new moon and
so on.
And they were in danger of going back
to the old Hebrew calendars, holy days.
And the old Hebrew diet sheet, things to
be eaten and not to be eaten.
And these were tangents.
There was a faction who took up with
that.
And then thirdly, there was a faction who
were taken up with the supernatural and even
the account.
Let no man, verse eighteen, beguile you of
your reward and of voluntary humility and worshipping
of angels.
Intruding into those things which he hath not
seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.
Not holding the head, holding something else.
Something else got central.
And apparently there was indeed a playing with
the account.
And a playing with the supernatural.
And you could see there were these tangents.
And he's writing it to bring them back
on course again.
So that Jesus Christ is pre-eminent where
he ought to be.
And then there was asceticism in verse twenty.
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from
the rudiments of the world, why as though
living in the world are ye subject to
ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, etc.
etc.
And he has a word to say there.
And so it was, here's this wonderful bunch
of Christians.
But in their zeal to know more, they
were in danger of deviating.
And deviating from Jesus.
And that's the whole purpose.
There were people in Colossae, who to use
a phrase that's sometimes used today, were majoring
in the minor.
And I asked about, a friend of mine's
opinion about another man who comes sometimes to
this country.
Wonderful man.
But my friend said a very wise thing.
He said just that.
I'm afraid he majors in the minor.
God forbid that I should know no other
but Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Other things, other emphases, very impressive.
Very stunning.
Sometimes showing supernatural power.
And the saints have been in danger of
following after this and following after that.
And therefore the epistle to the Colossians has
tremendous relevance to our particular day.
Indeed you could call it a tract for
these times.
And that is what he's after.
There are certain things that he says about
these things.
Not that we want to spend a lot
of time on them.
He says they're after the tradition of men.
Four times it's man, man, man and not
after Christ.
And so often the things that come and
occupy the minds and enthusiasm of the saints
are things of man.
And not after Christ.
Not consistent with that old, old simple gospel
by which we first found the light.
And there have been tangents.
Who of us?
I've had my tangents.
So easy.
And so it is God has anticipated this
need of ours in this epistle.
You know Paul was all the time battling
for this.
There were certain absolute preoccupations with Paul.
One, a preoccupation with holiness.
He was battling for holiness among the saints.
That's the reason why there's hardly an epistle
in which he doesn't deal with sex sins.
He was, that people were being saved out
of a permissive society as permissive as ours
is.
And he was concerned that they should learn
to see sin and know how to repent
and embrace the path of holiness.
And then the other battle was to keep
the people on the path of simplicity with
Jesus Christ.
So I'm jealous lest your mind should be
corrupted from that simplicity which was in Christ
Jesus.
And so it is all the time.
In Ephesians he tells them, he says that
you'll be no more children tossed to and
fro.
Carried about by every wind of doctrine.
And it seems to me that is our
need at the present moment.
To be no more children.
To be no more naive so that anything
spectacular and impressive we get caught by and
become followers of it.
I like that.
That you'll be no more children tossed to
and fro by any wind of doctrine.
It isn't that he wants uniformity for his
own sake.
But it's only Jesus.
None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good.
And he doesn't need any additions.
Jesus alone full of grace and truth is
enough for all needs of the individual and
of the saint.
And we minimize his power by adding to
it, by deviating from it.
And it's most interesting the thing you add
to Jesus Christ and to your message of
the gospel ends up by being more important
and more prominent than the person to whom
you add it to.
I remember years ago being in Portugal and
there was a Roman Catholic procession going through
the town.
Great crowds were out there.
And they had a beautiful statue of Jesus
being carried aloft.
And then they had also a beautiful statue.
Even more beautiful than that of Jesus was
of the Virgin Mary.
And all the crowd were singing the most
sweet, pathetic song.
And all their eyes were to Mary.
It was all about the sympathy of Mary.
Mary could understand them in their needs.
But she was only the mother of Jesus.
What's wrong in giving honor to the mother?
But that was added.
And it ends up that Mary ultimately gets
more honor than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Now I've not got any axe to grind
against Rome.
I'm so happy to know there are signs
of God's spirit moving even among Rome.
People are being saved.
I wonder is it true there's another reformation
beginning inside Rome?
I don't know.
You probably know more about it than I
do.
But I just make the point.
Anything, any tangent we go on, any great
preoccupation other than with Jesus ends up by
being more prominent than him.
And therefore the whole gospel is diluted.
And we need tremendously the message of this
epistle.
In the process he says some glorious things
about Jesus.
We're quite glad that he had to say
them.
We're quite glad perhaps even for the mistakes
some have made.
Otherwise we wouldn't have had some of these
glorious statements about our redemption and about grace
and about the fullness that is found in
Jesus.
But nonetheless we need to recognize that fact.
Now he has something very positive to say
to these people in their danger of going
off on tangents.
And there are three verses I want to
especially underline for you in this connection.
This to me is the heart of the
message of this writing of the Apostle Paul.
Chapter 1 verse 19.
Having spoken of the fact that Jesus is
preeminent in creation, by him all things were
created, and also preeminent in redemption, by him
all that are to be reconciled are reconciled
by his death at Calvary.
He then goes on to say in verse
19, It pleased the Father that in him
should all fullness dwell.
Everything that God has got for men is
bound up with the Lord Jesus.
And has to be found in him and
can be found nowhere else.
It pleased the Father that in him all
fullness, how much?
All!
You don't need to go to any other
source.
This is enough.
It pleased the Father that in him all
fullness should dwell.
Now that simplifies our quest.
I don't need to go after this special
emphasis or that.
It's all in Jesus.
God has got nothing for men but he's
included it in his Son.
And in possessing the Son, potentially you've got
all that you will ever need.
All we need to do is to wake
up to discover how much is in the
Son for us and therefore how rich we
are.
I know it's true.
There are times when we don't feel it's
working out very well in practice.
There are times when we're empty and dull
and I confess myself sometimes to be in
that condition.
I'm not always in a very presentable spiritual
condition.
I know my lack but I'm not going
to look anywhere else.
I know what all fullness is for failures.
I know what all fullness is for failed
saints.
And I refuse to be diverted to anyone
else.
To any big experience but in Jesus only.
There it is, it pleased the Father that
in him all fullness dwells.
Let others chase their butterflies.
Oh, for a people who found their rest.
Let others cry and chasten themselves for a
visitation from heaven for a mighty revival.
Happier people who've come to the end of
their search for a revival in the Lord
Jesus.
I was invited over to France some time
ago.
I didn't know what the meeting was.
They called it a pioneers conference.
And I thought it was a young people's
conference.
I knew as much as the brother who
asked me if I could go over was
a good friend of mine.
I said, I don't know much about a
young people's pioneer conference but if it's him
who's invited me I'll go for his sake.
But I thought I may as well find
out what it was I was going over
to.
So I had a call to him in
France.
I said, what is this?
A pioneers conference.
Well what is that?
A young people do?
No, no.
They are pioneer church planters.
When I got there I found 150 great
stalwarts.
They are men of God.
They go to a town or city for
so long they wouldn't leave it until they
established a church and then move on.
And of course France is so bereft.
It's a wonderful calling to be a church
planter.
And one of their number, a previous year,
had gone up to South Africa to an
area where there was said to be great
revival and I believe there has been among
the Zulus that had a very strong message
along certain lines.
And this man went out to learn what
he could, longing for more for France.
And he came back and he had stirred
the hearts of his brothers with his report.
They were great on miracles.
You really had to feel that you hadn't
begun unless you started to see miracles.
At least one person raised from the dead.
They certainly had it.
And it got all those dear saintly men
unrested.
Well perhaps we should, what do they do?
Well maybe we ought to do the same.
I mean is that what's needed?
Is that what's lacking?
We aren't seeing the supernatural enough, signs and
wonders.
And there are others today talking a lot
about signs and wonders.
And if you haven't seen any signs and
wonders, you haven't seen anything you feel.
Well this is what had happened.
And these other men had got so striving
and tried to copy whatever they did for
revival.
But two of my dear friends were there
who'd found God's more excellent way.
They'd had a living experience of what Phillips
puts in his translation of Romans 10 for
Christ is the end of the struggle for
righteousness to everyone that believe it.
He's not only the end of the struggle
for righteousness but for revival.
And these brothers stood up and said brethren,
as for us, we've come to the end
of our struggle.
And Christ has begun to come to us,
the end of the struggle for righteousness, for
revival.
And they told how God had dealt with
them.
Yes there was humblings and so on and
coming back to the cross, all sorts of
things.
But they found their rest.
And they just were not impressed with any
list of things extra that they had to
do.
And the very peace and joy in their
faces confirmed it.
And the men said, ask them, tell us
more, tell us more.
And these men shared with their brother evangelists.
They said where can we hear more of
this simple message of grace.
Well they said you might ask, perhaps Roy
Heston might be able to come over.
And that was how I found myself there.
And I found a people ready for God's
easy, heartless, unencumbered plan.
The message of good news for bad people.
Even when the bad people happen to be
converted or happen to be evangelists.
Nothing but good news, street level grace.
And this was the situation that poor Wicket
was trying to help them over.
And the first thing he said, it pleased
the father that in this Jesus, whom perhaps
you have already come to know but you
don't know how much is in him for
you, all father's dwells.
Yes, you may have lacks.
It is not because there is any lack
in him.
Maybe sinners come in that need repentance and
cleansing.
Maybe they need some more humbling.
There needs to be some more deeper, going
deeper in brokenness before the Lord.
But not only to go to any other
sister, any other angel, but just the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And the relief for those dear men was
tremendous.
And I found myself every now and then
going back to France.
I had no vision for France all these
years.
I think it's true of us in Britain.
We have little vision for that great country
which has so little, little gospel.
But God's raising up evangelists and church planters.
And maybe they've got ahead of us.
They're getting short circuited away from the paths
of striving back to the cross.
And there's a growing, slowly growing number of
brethren who are finding their rest.
And they're seeing that it's pleased the Father
that in him all fullness should dwell.
Now the second verse is a very important
one.
It's the same chapter, verse 26, he says,
The mystery which hath been hid from ages
and from generations, but now is made manifest
to his saints.
To whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you.
Now I read from the authorized version.
And the version I have, the edition, has,
as most of our Bibles have, a central
lot of parallel references.
Do make use of those references.
You can spend ages chasing one verse that
leads you to another.
You'll be surprised where you...
And those have been compiled over many years.
What manners must have been spent in going
through and seeing if there's a parallel verse
to every phrase.
And that's a standard authorized version.
And I doubt not the other versions do
have tried to do something.
And I myself take those references very seriously.
They not only give you parallel references, but
they give you alternative translations.
These are not new translations.
And sometimes they seem to yield more to
me than the new translations.
All I know is here I see which
is Christ in you.
And against the little word in is the
letter d.
And in my central margin it is Christ
among you, the hope of glory.
I said, that's it.
That's consistent with the whole context.
What he's talking about is that the Gentiles
are no longer considering themselves second class.
This was the mystery.
It was never before revealed until it was
given to Paul to reveal.
He talks about this mystery in Ephesians.
That the saints, that the Gentiles, there too
he's writing to Gentiles.
And he tells them that they are to
be, they are to consider themselves fellow heirs,
fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of
his promise.
Quite unheard of in the Old Testament.
It was a secret that wasn't to be
revealed until Paul came.
He was entrusted with the vision.
There's one body.
And here he is, talking about it.
All he said, this mystery, that the Old
Testament prophets hardly ever spoke.
They did say a little about the Gentiles
receiving blessing, but not much.
But not now.
They're in on the same ground as the
Hebrew Christians.
And he had a hard time.
From the Judaizers, they didn't like the Gentiles
coming in on the cheap.
They never kept the law of Moses.
They hadn't sweated it out as they had.
And here are the Gentiles coming in, fellow
members, fellow heirs, fellow partakers of the blessings
of the Gospel.
And he says, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery or secret among the Gentiles,
which is Christ among you, the hope of
glory.
Now, which means, I'm sorry if I've disappointed
you in treating this text in this way.
This text has done a lot of hard
work in being quoted as a proof text
as to the indwelling of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the believer.
Now, the indwelling of the Lord Jesus by
the Spirit in the believer is everywhere spoken
of in Ephesus.
It's not dependent on this one.
But this particular one, I want to make
this suggestion, isn't really talking about that.
It's talking about the availability of the Messiah
to the Gentiles.
Not to the Gentiles when they're proselytized, they've
been circumcised, become nominally Jewish, but to the
Gentiles while they're Gentiles.
This Jesus is available to them.
And this second text is so important.
The availability of Jesus, available to the sinner,
the failed saint, Jew or Gentile, it matters
what, not.
This is a secret.
I want you to know the good of
it.
Christ among you.
You see, most of us feel that, yes,
Jesus has got a lot for us, but
you've really got to qualify.
I mean, you've really got to be serious.
You've really got to be consecrated.
But this gives us hope for those of
us who somehow can't make our consecration still.
It's available.
He is available.
And they affirm this in him to the
Gentiles, as a Gentile, not one of these,
but I'm a Jew, and equally as to
the Jew.
And this is a tremendous thing.
This helps me so much.
The availability of the Jesus in whom all
fullness dwells.
What a good news it is that all
fullness dwells in him, and that one is
available to me on street level.
Oh, that hymn spoke bigger than its writer
knew, just as I am.
There it is, all fullness available to a
man who admits he's a failure in the
flock, and there he finds Jesus there on
street level with him.
I know it is true Christ is in
you, but there are many other scriptures that
teach that.
But this one, it says so, it's the
context to whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentile, which is Christ among
you.
And what is he among them?
As their hope of glory.
Now this word hope in the New Testament
is a strong word.
When we say I hope so, and the
hope of glory has an element of doubt.
Well I hope so.
Not the Greek word here.
A strong expectation, a certainty of glory.
And the rest are unprivileged.
The newest convert who is in Christ, Christ
is there as his hope of glory.
And I don't always know, I speak for
myself, I haven't really, only recently I've really
realized what that word glory is about.
Take the famous text, Romans 5, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God, through
our Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God.
Well remember that last bit, glory means one
thing, heaven.
When I first began evangelistic work and stumped
this old country, I took one chorus with
me and it caught on everywhere, it's been
forgotten now.
I'm on my way to the glory land.
Then we used to add all sorts of
verses.
I'll see him there in the glory land.
And then another one, if you get there,
before I do, just wait for me, I'm
coming to you.
There, being justified by faith, I have peace
with God.
The one person with whom I never did
have peace, always felt ill at ease in
his presence, because I was such a sinner.
But when I've been declared right by the
blood before God, I have peace with him.
And then what?
And I rejoice in the glory of God.
I'm on my way, you can say with
certainty, to the glory land.
And Jesus is available on street level to
the weakest and the most paling of us,
as our hope, as our certainty of glory.
And the Gentiles were to have no less
assurance of glory than the Jewish believers.
And it's not only our hope of glory,
our hope of peace.
Christ available to me, a man who sometimes
doesn't manifest much peace.
But he does know how to repent maybe,
and he comes to Jesus, and he finds
Jesus, his hope of peace.
Christ available to you as your hope of
revival.
The hope of everything else you want.
This is your Jesus.
And there's this great word, Jesus our hope.
And that to the most weakest of us,
and the most unprivileged of us.
Now I put that to you.
I don't want to start you debating in
your mind.
But there it is, and it's called a
mystery, which is really a secret.
It's an open secret now, but it was
up to then not revealed.
You look up in your concordance sometimes that
word mystery, and you'll find this is Paul's
great commission.
He was the apostle to the Gentiles.
Peter, I'll be the apostle to the circumcision.
All right, you have them.
They're a difficult bunch.
I think I prefer to go to the
Gentiles.
They're not so stiff, they're not so stuck.
They haven't got so much to unlearn.
But both of them needed it.
And so there you have.
First, in him all fullness dwells.
Second, this one in whom all fullness dwells
is available to me at my weakest, at
my worst.
I've only got to be honest enough to
confess that's what my current condition is.
And there he is, available to me.
I wouldn't know any other way out of
my doldrums.
He's there, and I go to him.
Here's an old hymn I heard in America.
When by sin oppressed, go to him for
rest.
When you're oppressed by sin, you would think
he's the last person to go to.
Not if you rightly understand him.
When by sin oppressed, you're just the case
for him.
And you lose your burden.
You lose your burden.
You cannot be more right with God than
what the blood of Jesus makes you the
moment you admit the truth about yourself and
put yourself in the wrong.
And the moment you put yourself in the
wrong, God says, Now I'm going to tell
you something, you're right.
You're as right with me as the blood
of my dear son can make you.
And all this is available to us on
street level.
You don't have to be, I don't have
to be down for any longer than it
takes to be plain, straight, honest with God.
And it's very helpful to have another.
And you can verbalize these things.
Somehow truth needs to be verbalized.
It does something to us.
You say to that dear one of yours,
I'm in bad shape these days.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
Well brother, that's the first step out.
So glad you've shared it.
This is where fellowship is so helpful.
There's no rule you must confess.
But how lovely to put it into words.
Where you stand.
And there you see Jesus standing.
The one in whom all fullness dwells.
The one in whom redemption has been accomplished.
Every debt has been paid.
It's all been anticipated.
So that was the second thing he said.
Then the third thing he said.
In chapter 2.
He's talking about one of the tangents.
Beware lest any man make a spoil of
you through philosophy and vain deceit.
I never understood why the theological seminaries teach
philosophy as a subject.
I don't know what the point is.
I don't care about Aristotle.
I've got Paul.
I've got the scriptures.
And he doesn't encourage me to opt for
that as one of my subjects for my
degree.
Beware lest any man make a spoil of
you through philosophy and vain deceit.
I've got the highest wisdom in my hand.
After the tradition of men, four times in
this passage.
Men, men, men, men.
After the rudiments of the world.
The rudimentary ideas of morality and much else.
And not, not after Christ.
Always I don't want you to deviate.
In him are hid all the riches of
wisdom and understanding.
You don't need to seek anywhere else.
And then come to verse 9.
This is what I'm working to.
For in him dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in
him.
And when on street level I found my
Jesus afresh.
Available to me as a failure.
And I possessed myself by faith of him.
I said Lord you're mine.
I am.
I'm here for you.
I'm complete in him.
Ah, you're not really quite complete.
You haven't got this power or that power.
You haven't got this ministry or that ministry.
You're not seeing this miracle or that.
My Bible tells me I am complete in
that Christ.
And it goes on to tell me that
he's the head of all principality and power.
Well what about passing out of evil spirit?
Well let those who want to bother about
that do it.
I'm complete in the one who's the head
of the whole lot.
The seen and the unseen world.
And I don't want to pay the devil
any compliment by giving him too much attention.
When I'm complete in the one who's mastered
him.
Who's put him under his feet.
And so we have this hope.
Jesus my hope.
Christ among you has your hope of peace.
Your hope of glory.
Your hope of victory.
Your hope of a wonderful movement of blessing
may be in that church for which you've
prayed so long.
Christ among you.
Your hope of glory.
And he's as much the hope of the
weakest as the strongest.
And so there we have it.
That's why we sang that chorus.
Emmanuel.
His name is called Emmanuel.
Let me introduce you.
His name is Emmanuel.
God with us.
Brought down to us.
Within our reach.
He's rightly called Emmanuel.
And I believe you and I are going
to have many outstanding experiences of Emmanuel.
You're going to find him right where you
least expect to find him.
In your knee.
In your face.
And so we praise the Lord for this
great thing.
Well I'm grateful for dear old Paul.
He's a great pal of mine.
I tell you I love him.
I love my Bible.
I've been known to give it a big
kiss.
Sometimes.
It's so full of good news.
Of course you can get so much under
the law that every text is a threatening
text.
But I don't know.
I don't seem to see them now.
I see good news coming at me from
all angles.
And oh how I need it.
And I only get out of it when
I try to achieve it myself.
It's been done.
And nothing that he loved so much as
to see me availing myself of it.
Coming to the one in whom all fullness
dwells.
Not only forgiveness but every other fullness.
And that one is so available.
So near.
Amen.