Study the Word

Guest (Male): Today on Study the Word from Pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: If you love God, hate sin, desire to obey God, and have the Holy Spirit living in you, you will continue walking in the faith. You could slip, you might fall, you might even at times backslide along with the consequences that come with backsliding. But if you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. And if you do, you will you will love God, hate sin, and desire to obey God.

Guest (Male): It's not uncommon for the Christian to experience doubts over their salvation. It often arrives after we've sinned greatly. So is it possible for you to lose your salvation? Is there a sin that you could commit that would cause God to walk away from you? We'll look into these questions and more today on Study the Word. Pastor Tom Keller is in a study of Colossians, and today he poses the question, is my salvation conditional? Join us in chapter 1.

Pastor Thom Keller: Second part of verse 23 says this, the good news has been preached all over the world. And I, Paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it all over the world. So is Paul saying here that by 62 AD, which is when he wrote this letter, that every single person in the then known world had already heard the gospel? No, of course not. It is possible that Paul might be referring specifically to the Lord's command to the Great Commission that he gave to his disciples before he left, right before he left, Mark 16 15, which says this.

He said to him, the disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Similar to what Paul says in verse 23, New King James, which was preached to every creature under heaven, which I, Paul, became a minister. I think this is Paul using hyperbole to confirm that the early church was in fact working at this mandate, was working diligently to share the gospel to every single living creature. And if you know the history of the disciples, they did go off into far far reaches. Thomas went to India, for example, and the others as well.

And then in verse 24, Paul makes one of the most controversial statements in all of his letters. Verse 24, listen. I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. I include verse 25 in this to make the point that verse 24 is not pointing to some other statement to bring clarity. Verse 24 stands by itself. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church.

Wow. Think of what Paul's saying there. I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of the church. You can see why this is so controversial. Well, what Paul is not saying here is that Christ's death and sufferings on the cross were an insufficient and inadequate payment to appease God's wrath, and in some way he needed to add to that. Instead, I believe the idea that Paul is making here is that Christ suffered for me, and in like manner, I bear his cross, and I also suffer for the cause of Christ.

And if you know Paul's history, he did indeed suffer. Ellicott, the commentator, says quote, that Paul fills up instead of his master portion of the suffering still left unfinished after Christ departed to go to heaven. And that same idea is clearly portrayed in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 5, for as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. So there Paul says we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, and some of you have suffered for the cause of Christ. Christians around the world have suffered and paid dearly for following Christ.

So we know that's true. Going under verse 25 says this, God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries, and generations passed. But now it has been revealed to God's people. Verse 26 by itself, this message was kept secret for centuries and generations passed. But now it has been revealed to God 's people. Are you overwhelmed, astounded, amazed, astonished, and grateful that God has reached out and called you to be his adopted child? You and me, being that we are non-Jews, consider the context of how the whole Old Testament was about God reaching out to the Jews.

And now all of a sudden we're included in that. Again, look at verse 27. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too. Who's a Gentile? Anyone who was not born a Jew or converted to Judaism. And this is a secret. To the Gentiles, here's a secret. Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. And here Paul shares the secret, a secret revealed only in Paul's day. Go back to his mindset. A grand total of only about 29 years at this point. Jesus being crucified 32-33 AD, Paul writing this letter 62 AD, only 29 years have passed since this mystery has been revealed.

And this mystery that was unknown prior to this is that Christ lives in you. Listen. Christ lives in you. This is known as the exchanged life. Galatians 2:20, I myself, my old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Romans 8:10 goes after this same concept, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit of life but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

And Romans 6:6 again, this this new life, we know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives, for we are no longer slaves to sin. Listen, for when we died with Christ, when the old man died, we were set free from the power of sin. So let me personalize this verse for you. For God wants you to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you. And here is the secret, the mystery God wants you to know. Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Paul says this secret, King James says this mystery is that Christ lives in you in you. And folks, the Bible says that this has very real implications as it relates to sexual sin. 1 Corinthians 6 says this, don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is a part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? The word prostitute here means a wayward mouth. It doesn't mean sex for money. It means sex outside of marriage. Should a man take his body, which is a part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute?

Never. And don't you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the scriptures say the two are united into one. That doesn't happen through marriage, it happens through sex. But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. And then it says, so run from sexual sin. No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. You steal a car, it's not a sin against your body. You cheat on a test at school, it's not a sin against your body.

This sin does stand apart on its own in that it is unique, in that this sin alone is a sin against your own body. He says, don't you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. Jesus on the cross. So you must honor God with your body. Listen, folks, this is why if you are a Christian, every time you are involved in fornication, there is a check in your spirit.

There is a guilt. There's an understanding that what I'm doing is wrong. You know where that comes from? You know where that guilt comes from, that check in your spirit? It comes from Christ who is living in you saying, don't do this, please. Get us out of here, us, you and me. He's in there. Get us out of there. Somebody goes to a a movie they shouldn't be watching, and the Holy Spirit is inside they're going, get us out of here, please, get us out of here. You can't get rid of the Holy Spirit. That's that check inside that's saying, you know better than this.

We should not be doing this. In fact, that's one of the proofs, the evidences that you have the Holy Spirit, that conviction. And folks, this is serious. And although all sin is sin, and there are certainly other types of sins that I could mention here, sexual sin is different. And the Bible confirms it. It's just as we read in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 18. It says this, flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. And you know another area where sexual sin is different than other sins is that our culture also condemns those other sins.

Our culture still condemns stealing, murder, abusing women or children, kidnapping, extortion, rape. Our culture condemns all of those, and our state and federal laws reflect that. But sexual sin, you know as well as I do, our culture has signed off on practically all sexual activity that the Bible condemns. And our state and federal laws now reflect that. And sexual sin has always been this way, always. The exact same thing was true in Paul's day. So much so that in Acts chapter 15 when Paul and Barnabas appeared before the apostles and elders in Jerusalem asking what laws do the Gentile Christians still need to keep now that they're saved?

The council said this, Acts 15 verse 28. They're responding to Paul and Silas, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements. You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, number one, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, number two, and from sexual immorality. Listen, if you do this, you will do well. Those three things, abstaining from food that was offered to idols, eating the meat of unblood animals, and refraining from fornication. Why did the council single out sexual immorality? Why not include murder, stealing, drunkenness?

Were the apostles signing off on those sins, but not sexual sin? No. The point was that sexual immorality in Paul's day was so accepted by culture, so mainstream, so inherently a part of all of life and culture, legalized and embedded in as a part of all of their world legalized that the council had to call it out separately. And so do we. Listen, I know this is not a popular message today. But we as pastors stand before God knowing that we are responsible to God to love you enough to correct and rebuke you when we see it is needed.

Why do we do this? The following passes explain why. Colossians 1:28-29, him we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. Man, that is our heart's desire to present all of you, all of us, myself included, mature in Christ. For this I toil struggling with all his energy that he may powerfully work within me. 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul speaking to his young understudy Timothy, preach the word of God. Be prepared whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

Titus chapter 2 verse 15, you must teach these things and encourage the believers to do them. You have the authority to correct them when necessary. So don't let anyone disregard what you say. So please understand why we say these things to you, because we are charged to save this by God to you out of love. And why does God want you to be challenged on sexual sin? Because he's a killjoy? No. Because your sin is costing you something somewhere. Hey folks, sin always has a price, always. And you know the really sad thing about sin, the really sad thing about it is that you will probably never know what it costs you.

I'm glad it works that way. I want want to get a letter from God one day and say because of this sin, this sin happened, this sin happened, this sin happened, that sin happened. Because of that sin, you're never going to achieve this, this, this, or this. I wouldn't want to know that. But it has a cost. And you know that sexual sin might be keeping you from the person God really wants you to be with. And you may end up with the wrong person all because you wouldn't listen to that prompting that that he is trying to give to you.

So how does the day's lesson apply to me? Number one, concerning verse 23 and the need to continue on in faith, remember, if you love God, hate sin, desire to obey God, and have the Holy Spirit living in you, you will continue walking in the faith. You could slip, you might fall, you might even at times backslide along with the consequences that come with backsliding. But if you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. And if you do, you will you will love God, hate sin, and desire to obey God. The second application, do you live the exchanged life?

Again, Colossians 1:27. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is here's the mystery, the riches of the glory, here it is, Christ in you. The hope of glory. In fact, which is your only hope of glory, Christ living in you. I've said this before, but it's so critical to get this right. You know the daily prayer we should have is something like this. Father, I'm going to I'm going to go out onto the street soon, and I don't want to go out as Tom Keller, because if Tom Keller hits the streets today in the flesh, there are going to be body bags everywhere, because that's just how he deals with life.

Instead, my heart's desire is that I would crucify my flesh, I would crucify the old man, I would crucify Tom Keller, put him to death. And since you live inside of me already, I ask that instead, it would be you that lives your resurrected life in me and through me. I know because I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. It's a choice we make every day. And I usually end that by saying something like this, and Jesus, if we pull this off, it's going to be a really good day. And it will be.

Can imagine Jesus living in you and through you? The third application, I'd like to address those caught up in fornication and sexual sin. You say, Tom, why are you singling out just this one sin? Isn't all sin sin? Yes, all sin is sin. But if you're involved in this sin, unlike murder or rape or stealing, culture won't call you on it. You won't be arrested. They won't stop by your house. All all our culture will do is affirm that lifestyle of sex, sexual freedom. And so it is God's call on pastors to call this out, to rebuke, to correct, to address this in love.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. This is the third application to the bigger question this morning. Is salvation conditional upon my future performance, or could there be some sin that I might commit that would cause God to walk away from me? There are a lot of places I could go with this, but the one that God brought to mind was the Abrahamic covenant. In Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham before there was any law. So Abraham's favor with God could not be based upon keeping the law. There was no law. Moses wasn't born yet. Genesis 15 it talks about this, verse 5.

Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have. And Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith, just as us. But Abraham replied, oh sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it, possess the land, possess that promise? The Lord told him, bring me a 3-year-old heifer, a 3-year-old female goat, a 3-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. So Abraham presented all those to him and killed them.

Then he cut each animal down the middle, down the middle, and laid the halves side by side. He did not however cut the birds in half. Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abraham chased them away. As the sun was going down, this is very integral to the story. As the sun was going down, Abraham fell into a deep sleep. For the rest of the story he's asleep. And a terrifying darkness came over him. After the sun went down, Abraham still sleeping and darkness fell. Abraham saw a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the carcass.

So the Lord made a covenant with Abraham that day and said, I'm giving this land to you. Now here's the point. It was well known in that day to make a contract people that was a binding contract, a serious contract. They would take animals, they would kill them, cut them in half. They put them on left and right side of the pathway, then they would walk together. The two people making agreement would walk together down that pathway with these dead animals on either side, and they would say this, so shall be done to us if either of us break our covenant.

What would be done to us? Cut in half, killed. So shall be done to us. But the day when this happened with Abraham, Abraham was asleep. He didn't make that covenant. It was just God that walked down that pathway by himself. But I like to add something to it. That's what I suspect. I suspect that who walked down that pathway was God and a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. And Jesus said to God the Father as they walked down that pathway, and so shall be done to me if they do not keep their part of the agreement.

And isn't that what happened? See, we're not part of the agreement. We didn't make the agreement. We accepted the agreement when we accepted Christ. We didn't make it. You have no stake in that. You have no part in that. I've said this before, you know the the cross, Jesus suffering the cross is such a holy event. It's almost almost almost sacrilege to watch it, because we have no part in it. It was an arrangement between God the Father and his son where Jesus said, I know this is what is required to redeem mankind, and I willingly of my own volition give my life.

No one takes it from me. I lay it down voluntarily. And the Father saw that the Father accepted that it's an agreement between the two of them. What part do we have in that? Nothing. All we do is accept it. So if you ever get sideways on this and you start to think, you know I'm not sure I'm still saved, I want you to go back and remember those carcasses on either side and who walked down that pathway. It wasn't you. It was Jesus and God. So shall be done to me if the other party to this agreement does not keep their end.

And that's what Jesus did. He died when we did not keep our part of that agreement. You know, some people say I need a sign, I need some proof that he really loves me that much. Here it is. You want a sign? Jesus dying on the cross. There is no greater evidence of God's love for you than that scene right there, God dying for you.

Guest (Male): Today on Study the Word Pastor Tom Keller has been teaching us from the book of Colossians. You can hear this message again online at ccleb .com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717 273 5633. Have you been helped by the ministry? Let us know that. It would be so encouraging to Pastor Tom and the team. Give us a call at 717 273 5633 or write to Study the Word 740 Willow Street Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. You can also email us through the website at ccleb .com.

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