COMMITMENT TO CHRIST
   

   
Thank you, and once again good morning to students and teachers of the 
word of God.  Our lesson this week is talking about our commitment to 
living as Christians, and deals with the passage in Colossians chapter 
1.  We'll study now as space allows in this article from Colossians 
chapter 1 on this important subject.
   
All right, now in Colossians chapter 1 this week.  In this passage 
here, we have, in verses 3-8, the source of our living, verses 9-11 
our exhortation to living, the kind of life we should live, that we're 
committed, and in verses 12-20 the cause of our living commitment.  
And then in verses 21-28, Paul's way of showing that commitment.  
Paul's way of demonstrating his commitment to Christ by living it 
after a certain fashion is described in verse 21 through verse 28.
   
Now, in Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 3, we read these 
words:  "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ 
Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints." Plainly 
saying that Christians should pray for each other, and especially for 
new Christians who have just been saved and are trying to love the 
saints, because, of course, many times the saints are very unlovable.
   
"For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard 
before in the word of the truth of the gospel." This hope, he says, 
"is come unto you." Then it's a past thing as well as a future thing.  
The hope in the future, of course, is not the hope that some day we 
might be saved.  The hope in the future is the blessed hope of the 
second coming of Jesus Christ.  We pointed this out many times 
already.
   
People who say, "I hope I'm saved," "I guess I'm saved," "I think I'm 
saved," by misquoting the context of Romans chapter 8, are doing you a 
disservice and an injustice.  The salvation by hope in Romans 8:24 is 
a reference to the salvation of your body, not your soul.  And this he 
called the "blessed hope" in the New Testament in Titus chapter 2, 
verses 10,11,12 and 13.  "Looking for that blessed hope."
   
So he says, "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." Notice 
it's not a Christian down on this earth doubting his salvation, hoping 
he's saved, "I guess I'm saved," "I think I'm saved"--not, it's not 
that.  It's a hope laid up in heaven.  It's the Lord Jesus Christ 
Himself who is our "blessed hope." As a matter of fact, in the book of 
Hebrews, we're told this hope is Jesus Christ.  Notice Hebrews 6:19:  
"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul...even Jesus..." who is 
entered into the veil.  Hebrews chapter 6, verses 19 and 20.
   
"For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard 
before in the word of the truth of the gospel:  Which is come unto 
you, as it is in all the world..." worldwide.  The word of God running 
all over the place.  Before the New Testament is completed, it's all 
over the place.  Why, when Paul writes this thing right here in 
Colossians, John has not yet written the Gospel of John, the Epistles 
of John, or the book of Revelation.  But at the time Paul writes these 
words, the book of Acts is already over.  Which means Paul's 
evangelistic campaigns all over Asia Minor have already taken place.  
Paul's teaching for over a year in the school of Tyrannus has already 
taken place.  And the Jews who went back from Pentecost to spread the 
word when they went back--their word has gone to the ends of the 
earth.
   
Why, my, by the time Paul writes Colossians, the word of God has gone 
all over Europe and possibly into England.  "Which is come unto you, 
as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also 
in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in 
truth."
   
Now, if I'm talking to a saved person right now, you know something 
about the grace of God.  You can tune into some radio station in this 
area and listen for two days, and never hear that term mentioned.  All 
the talk is about "drumming up faith." Now, listen!  If you're saved, 
you know a man is saved by grace through faith--and not of himself; it 
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.  If 
you're saved at all, you know that it was grace that taught your heart 
to fear, and grace your fears relieved.  It's all of grace.  It's all 
of grace.
   
"Some day the silver cord shall break,
   
And I no more as now shall sing.
   
But, oh, the joy when I awake,
   
in the palace of the king.
   
And I shall see Him face to face,
   
And tell the story, "Saved by grace."
   
The grace of God in truth.
   
Any man who is saved knows he was not saved by his own self-efforts.  
Any man who is saved knows that his sacraments and religion couldn't 
save a dead horse.  If you're saved, you know that.  And if you're not 
saved, you don't know that.
   
I mean, there are certain things that cross over.  When you come 
across the dividing line between the old man and the new man, and 
experience the new birth, there are certain things you come to know 
that you cannot know as an unsaved man.  And I'm not rubbing it in.  
I'm just telling the truth.
   
Do you know a man who spends thirty years in the Army or thirty years 
in the Navy, in that particular capacity, cannot completely master 
everything there is to master about classical music?  Did you know 
that?
   
You say, "What if he's a band director?" No, he can't master all about 
classical music, because there isn't that much classical music in the 
Army or the Navy.
   
Did you know there are some things you can't learn in one profession 
about another profession?  Do you know if you spend twenty years 
learning how to be an engineer, and spend the rest of your life as an 
engineer, there's very little chance that you'll ever be a neuro-
surgeon?  Did you know that?
   
And did you know that if you are saved, you know a man is saved by 
grace.  And if it weren't for the grace of God, you'd be in hell.  And 
if you're saved, you know that.  And if you're not saved, you can't 
understand a word I just said.  Unsaved people can never get it 
through their head that a man is saved by grace, because they're 
always counting on something they're doing to save them.
   
And he says, "You knew the grace of God in truth."
   
"As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you 
a faithful minister of Christ; Who also declared unto us your love in 
the Spirit."
   
So Epaphras has been over there, and he has come back and told Paul 
about their condition.  And told Paul what they're doing.  And Paul is 
rejoicing in it and praying for them.
   
It's always a blessing to hear about these things.  And, again, it's 
unfortunate that many Christians know nothing about this.  It's a 
great blessing to travel up and down the countryside and see people 
saved in meetings, and then pick them up years and years later, and 
find they're still saved and love God and believe the Book, doing 
something for God.  It's a blessing somebody gets from the ministry 
that you can't get from any other kind of thing.
   
I was teaching the other night out here at the school, about 160 
people sitting there, packed out.  And I saw a strange face in the 
back row.  A great big fellow, looked about 6-feet-4, must have been 
in his early 50's.  And after the service was over, he came up to me 
and he said, "You remember me?"
   
I said, "No."
   
He said, "Do you remember a meeting in Batesburg, South Carolina?"
   
And I went back through something like 800 meetings, and pulled it out 
of the hat, and said, "Well, kinda vaguely, I remember it."
   
He said, "Don't you remember the recruiting sergeant?"
   
And then I laughed.  Why, I've used that illustration about the 
salvation of that recruiting sergeant in my sermon on "The Man and the 
Mess:  Pontius Pilate" for almost 29 years.  And there he was!
   
Last time I saw him, of course, he was just a youngster.  Last time I 
saw him he was about 26 years old.  Came down there with the medals 
all over him, and went back there to the back room and got saved.  And 
there he was!  What had he been doing?  He'd been witnessing for 
Christ and passing out tracts for nearly 29 years!
   
Now, you can't compute those things.  And when Paul says when Epaphras 
came there and brought me back this news, "declared unto us your love 
in the Spirit," ol' Paul must have had him a shoutin' time!  When he 
found out his converts had stuck!
   
I was out in California recently at Costa Mesa, and ran into a fellow 
there named Ronny Buchanan.  That fellow was saved under my ministry 
in the Sequoia National Forest, up in the redwood forests, at a youth 
camp--Hume Lake, I think they call it--back in 1959.  He's still 
witnessing and winning people to Christ.
   
Last meeting I had with my friend out in Pomona, California, Ray 
Batema, I sat out there on that platform in front of 2,000 people and 
marveled, looking at that congregation.  And I said to myself, "Here's 
this old boy, Ray Batema, in California, doing this work for God.  He 
might be running 3,000 in Sunday school before this year is over." 
That old boy was saved in a tent put up in Holland, Michigan, in the 
winter, and we had a cold stove, or a wood stove, in that tent to keep 
us warm.  January--in Holland, Michigan--14 below zero!  There's old 
Ray Batema saved.  I hadn't seen him then for something like 20 years, 
and there he was preaching the word of God, winning them to Christ 
right and left.
   
I'll tell you, friend, there's nothing like it.  When I read these 
passages in the New Testament, they're going to have a meaning to me 
they couldn't possibly mean to many Christians.  I wish they meant as 
much to many Christians as they mean to me.
   
When I read about Paul saying, "I give thanks to God the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you," I remember my prayer list.  
And on that prayer list are the names of these men I'm praying for.  
And I get word that they've gone right on, and still love God, and 
still believe the Book, I'll tell you, man, it's something you can't 
get in this world.  There is no way to explain it.
   
I suppose a doctor who heals a very sick person, or a lawyer who wins 
a very difficult case, about the only person in the world who could 
understand it--and those things don't have eternal consequences.  
These things do.
   
I have young men in my school right now studying for the ministry who 
were led to Christ by men who were led to Christ by men whom I had the 
privilege of leading to Christ.
   
At a graduation ceremony here last year, a fellow got up and he 
pointed to somebody else in the congregation, and he said, "That's my 
spiritual father." That fellow got up and pointed to another man in 
the congregation, a man about 40, and said, "That's my spiritual 
father." And the fellow in his 40's waved his hand at me and said, 
"Praise God, Brother Pete, you led me to Christ."
   
Why, I had spiritual great-grandchildren right there in one room!
   
Now, you can't explain these things to this smooth, slick, dead 
orthodox, plastic Christianity, this monument-building bunch of 
motivating promoters who are just interested in establishing 
institutions.  Because there's nothing personal about their salvation, 
nothing personal about their lives, nothing personal about their 
ministry, and nothing personal about their results.  They are 
corporate executives.  And these joys, they know absolutely nothing 
about at all.
   
And it's a shame.  It's a shame.
   
I have somewhere up in Chicago over 100 great-grandchildren in the 
Lord.  They were led to Christ by a Japanese medic from Vietnam named 
Barney Eeea.  And Barney Eeea drives a bus for Jack Hyles' church, and 
he was led to Christ by Cecil Ford, who got saved at the Brent Baptist 
Church here in Pensacola, back about 1963.
   
Colossians 1:9:  "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, 
do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled 
with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual 
understanding." Then these are prayers for new converts.  And when 
Paul asks for certain things for these converts, he asks the following 
things:
   
First of all, that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's 
will.  Then, that they might have the knowledge of His will with 
wisdom and understanding.  Then, that they might worthy of the Lord 
(verse 10).  That they might be fruitful in every good work (verse 
10).  That they might increase in the knowledge of God (verse 10).  
That they might be strengthened with all might (verse 11).  That they 
might be patient and long-suffering, and be joyful (verse 11).
   
Now, those are the prayers that are to be prayed for the new convert.  
When you lead a man or woman to Jesus Christ, right away you should 
begin to pray for those things in his life.  Pray first of all that he 
be filled with the knowledge of God's will.  Then pray that he might 
walk worthy of the Lord.  Then pray that he might be fruitful in every 
good work.  Then pray that he might increase in the knowledge of God.  
Then pray that he might be strengthened with God's might, according to 
His glorious power.
   
Those are prayers for the people you lead to Jesus Christ.
   
The first one is that he might be filled with the knowledge of His 
will.  And, of course, apart from the Bible, there isn't any way to 
know that at all.  To know God's will, a man must be transformed by 
the renewing of his mind (Romans 12:2).  He must be a nonconformist to 
the world's system (Romans 12:1,2).  And then he'll have to get his 
nose in that Book to find the will of God for his life.
   
That isn't all.  When Paul prayed that a man might increase in the 
knowledge of God, you must never forget the knowledge of God only 
comes through a knowledge of God's revelation of Himself.  And God's 
revelation of Himself is in His word.
   
You read back in the Old Testament, during the times of Samuel, Samuel 
as a little boy, "The word of the Lord was precious in those days.  
There was no open vision" (1Samuel 3:1).  Then we read, in 1Samuel 3, 
verse 21, "The Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word 
of the Lord." And without that revelation Samuel couldn't have known 
the Lord, because we read in 1Samuel 3:7, "Now Samuel did not yet know 
the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him."
   
So Paul prays for the new converts, and asks God to strengthen them 
with all might in the inner man, that they might be patient (verse 
11), longsuffering (verse 11), and enjoy the salvation.  Joyfulness!  
Joy.  Joy.
   
That's one of the greatest elements missing in Christianity.  Some of 
the church services that are held in this town look like 15,000 dead 
fish lying on the beach.  And over that robed choir, and over that 
fine furnishing, and over that smooth, slick preaching, there hangs 
the curse of God.  It's the breath of death from the blast of hell, 
across that place--even sometimes when the word of God is being 
preached.  You know what the trouble is?  The Holy Spirit will not 
bear witness to a bunch of arrogant, pious, stiff, regimented, 
disciplined Marionettes who think they're smart enough to correct 
God's Book!
   
Let me tell you something.  If you're saved, you've got the joy, joy, 
joy, joy, down in your heart, man!  And the fruit of the Spirit is not 
just love; it's joy.  Great rejoicing!  Peter says rejoice with "joy 
unspeakable and full of glory."
   
At one of these schools, they asked recently a question.  During a 
religious examination, they said, "What word do Christians shout when 
they're filled with joy?"
   
And somebody wrote down, "Bingo!"
   
Well, obviously, that isn't the right word.
   
"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be 
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." God has made us 
matched with it; that is, enabled us to do it.  To "meet" a thing is 
to meet it head-on, half-way.  To match it.  "God hath made us meet to 
be partakers." He's fixed it so we can get it.
   
"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated 
us into the kingdom of his dear Son." This is the kingdom of God.  The 
kingdom of God in this age is not meat and drink, but peace, joy and 
righteousness in the Holy Ghost.
   
We've been translated.  To translate a thing, you pick it up in one 
language and put it down in another.  If a man is "translated," he's 
picked up from one environment, and placed in another environment.  A 
trans-ocean flight takes you across an ocean.  So, if you've been 
translated out of the power of darkness, you've been taken from the 
devil's kingdom, and placed down in the Lord's kingdom.  And here 
you're born-again in the kingdom of God, a new creature in Jesus 
Christ.  And some day, when the Lord comes back, He'll set up a 
millennial reign on earth, and you'll share with Him in that earthly, 
visible kingdom, called the "kingdom of heaven."
   
So, he said, "Into the kingdom of his dear Son:  In whom we have 
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."
   
Now the expression here is just as important in Ephesians as it is 
here in Colossians 1:14.  This verse is repeated in Ephesians.  And, 
in Ephesians chapter 1, we find in verse 7, "In whom we have 
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." When we get to 
Colossians 1:14, the modern apostate fundamentalist and apostate 
conservatives have decided the expression "through his blood" doesn't 
belong in the verse.  This is the basis of a bible printed in 1582 
called the Jesuit-Rheims Bible.  This dark-age bible came from the 
Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts of North Africa, and was 
originally made out for Constantine by Eusebius and Pamphyllis about 
340 and 330 A.D.  By removing "through his blood" from Colossians 
1:14, the verse reads, "In whom we have redemption, even the 
forgiveness of sins."
   
Now for you students and teachers of the Bible who spend time in the 
word of God and understand it, you know as well as I know that 
redemption is not forgiveness.  You cannot make "redemption of sins" 
the "forgiveness of sins" because God forgave sins all the way through 
the Old Testament--but didn't redeem them!  As a matter of fact, you 
are clearly told that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for the 
redemption of the transgressions under the first testament (Hebrews 
9:15).  Again, you are told redemption is not forgiveness, because, 
although God forgave many sins and many sinners in the Old Testament 
for all kinds of things, these remission of sins were in the past 
(Romans 3:25).  Hence, when you take the expression "through his 
blood" out of Colossians 1:14, as has been done in the New A.S.V and 
the old A.S.V, and the R.V.  and the R.S.V.  and the New R.S.V and the 
International Version and the New International Version, and the other 
30 Alexandrian offshoots, you have taught your congregation a lie.
   
Don't do it!
   
Don't teach lies!
   
Don't take out "through his blood" so that redemption is equated with 
forgiveness of sins.  The Bible doesn't equate them.  They're not the 
same thing!
   
And, if you make them the same, do you realize what you're doing?  
You're implying that, in the Old Testament, before Calvary came, men 
could be redeemed.  They couldn't be redeemed until the blood was 
shed!
   
Furthermore, if you take those words out, you're committing a much 
more horrendous crime.  You're telling your people that when their 
sins are forgiven and they get their sins forgiven, they are redeemed.  
Listen, you're not redeemed except by the blood of Jesus Christ.  And 
this means that if you still have a King James Bible, you better hang 
onto it!  Because there's only one Bible in the twentieth century that 
tells the truth about redemption and remission in Colossians 1:14, and 
that's a King James Bible.
   
Now that isn't a matter of "Ruckmanism," like some of these, you know, 
psychotic nuts think.  It's not a matter of being a Baptist, or a 
Protestant.  That's a matter of sound, Bible doctrine, comparing 
Scripture with Scripture, to see what the Bible says about itself, and 
not what it is presumed to teach.
   
Now, don't you ever doubt it.  Back there in the book of Exodus, the 
Lord said He forgave multitudes for all kinds of sin and all kinds of 
iniquity (Exodus chapter 34, verse 7), but He couldn't clear them 
(Exodus 34 verse 7).  Why?  Because the blood of bulls and goats 
couldn't take away the sin (Hebrews 10 verse 4).  The blood of Christ 
is shed to redeem those transgressions (Hebrews 9 verse 15).  That 
isn't Baptist teaching.  That isn't Ruckmanism.  That's the Bible.
   
Those are the words of the One who said, "Heaven and earth shall pass 
away, but my words shall not." So, if you have a bible that has taken 
"through his blood" out of Colossians 1:14, you have an heretical 
perversion of the truth of God.  And if I were you--it's a free 
country; help yourself; I'm only suggesting; nobody's trying to jam 
anything down your throat; I'm suggesting--if I were you, I'd get rid 
of it!
   
Colossians 1:15:  "Who is the image of the invisible God, the 
firstborn of every creature." The firstborn in the sense of the first 
up from the dead, the first begotten of the dead, the first man in a 
series of men who will never die again.  Moses was taken up from the 
dead, but he'll die in the tribulation.  Lazarus came up from the 
dead, but had to die again.  Christ came up--NEVER to die again.
   
"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are 
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or 
dominions, or principalities, or powers:  all things were created by 
him, and for him:  And he is before all things, and by him all things 
consist."
   
This great passage, of course, is magnifying and exalting the Lord 
Jesus Christ and raising Him up to show you that He is the Jehovah God 
of the Old Testament.  He is the author and finisher of faith, He's 
the creator, and by Him were all things created.  He is the King of 
kings, Jehovah of Jehovahs, Lord of lords.  By Him were all things 
created.  Jesus Christ is not something we preachers preach about to 
get folks upset.  Jesus Christ is not some glorified bellboy to try to 
have faith in to get healed.  Jesus Christ was God manifest in the 
flesh.  And Colossians 1:15-17 says, "He is the image of the invisible 
God." Which is why He can say, "He that has seen me has seen the 
Father."
   
"And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  And he 
is the head of the body, the church." The head of the church is Jesus 
Christ.  Jesus Christ is the King of kings, the sovereign Pontiff, the 
Prince of the Apostles.  Jesus Christ is the head of the church 
(Colossians 1:18).
   
If the head of your church isn't Jesus Christ, you better find you 
another church.
   
"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 than in him should all fulness 
dwell."
   
And this is why we are as emphatic as we are sometimes, and as plain 
as we are in our preaching.  It is our desire to give Jesus Christ the 
first place always.  A church that low-rates Him is to be spoken 
against.  A bible that low-rates Him is to be spoken against.  A 
Christian that puts education before Jesus Christ and His words is to 
be spoken against.  Our job is to magnify Jesus Christ and put Him in 
His proper place, and give Him the honor, credit, and glory due Him, 
which God wants given to Him, that He might have the preeminence "in 
all things."
   
Ahead of sports.  Ahead of art.  Ahead of music.  Ahead of education.  
Ahead of politics.  Ahead of culture.  Ahead of our families.  Ahead 
of our friends.  Ahead of our church.  Ahead of our school.
   
Jesus Christ.  First and Last.  Alpha and Omega.  The Beginning and 
the Ending.  The image of the invisible God, where it pleased the 
Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
   
May the Lord bless you, and good day.
   

   

   
