Would you take God’s Word and find Colossians, the second chapter? And, I want
to talk to you tonight about God’s best—God’s best. You know, the devil would try to keep you from getting saved. And, if he can’t keep you from being saved—and, by the way, he can’t, if you want to be saved—but, if he can’t keep you from being saved, he will try to keep you from discovering God’s best.
Now, Paul did not want Christians to miss God’s best. Colossians chapter 2, and let’s begin in the first three verses—Paul says, “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you,”—now, what he means by that is, “I am really concerned about you who live in Colossae and for them at Laodicea.” Paul just had a burden; he calls it a conflict—“…for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;”—he said, “I wish I could sit down face-to-face with you and tell you why I am so concerned.” Now, what was his desire?—“that their hearts”—the hearts of those in Colossae and Laodicea—“might be comforted, being knit together in love,”—now, here is the phrase; look at it—“…unto all riches”—just underscore that, if you don’t mind underscoring something in your Bible— “of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;”—now, here is the key; look in verse 3—“in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:1–3).
Folks, don’t let that go past you. When Paul says, “Look, I am so concerned. I wish I could sit down face-to-face and heart-to-heart with you. I don’t want you to miss it. I want you to know all—not some, but all—the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are in Christ.” What a tragedy if you miss it! God has treasures, and all of the treasures are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Christ is in you, if you are saved. But, wouldn’t it be a tragedy, if you knew Christ, and did not know what you have?
The South African diamond mines—you know, most of the diamonds come from South Africa, I am told; the richest diamond mines are there—do you know how they were discovered? They saw little boys playing marbles with shiny rocks, and these little boys were playing with diamonds—incredible wealth—but to them, just pretty rocks. I wonder if there are some of us like that who are playing marbles with diamonds. We don’t understand what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, every, every passage of Scripture has a key that unlocks it. And, the key that unlocks this passage of Scripture is verse 6—look at it: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6). Now, the way to know these treasures of wisdom and knowledge is to walk in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you expect Paul to say something very complicated, but the Bible says, “[God] preserveth the simple” (Psalm 116:6). And, you know, it doesn’t have to be complicated to be deep. Every now and then, we hear a preacher preach, and somebody will say, “Well, you know, he really must be intelligent—I didn’t understand him.” Just because a river is muddy, it doesn’t mean it is deep. And, Paul is talking here in very simple terms. He is talking about something that we all can understand. You see, the faith, really, is not so high that you get up to it. As a matter of fact, sometimes it is so simple that some of us never get down to it.
“As you have received the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6). A wise person said that the Scriptures are shallow enough that a little child can come and get a drink without fear of drowning, and yet deep enough that the scholars can swim it and never touch bottom. I love that. That is true about this passage of Scripture. “As you received the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
Now, who doesn’t want you to learn this? Well, the devil doesn’t want you to learn it. Go back up to chapter 2 and verse 4—Paul says, “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words” (Colossians 2:4). Then, look in chapter 2, verse 8— again, he says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). Satan is a smooth talker. Satan does not want you to understand what I am going to try to teach you tonight. As a matter of fact, if you are not careful tonight, the devil will draw away your mind, entice you, and keep you from concentrating and listening. If you are a teen, you might be passing notes, talking about where you are going after the service, or anything to keep your mind from the truth of God’s Word. Now, Satan is a smooth talker. He does not want you to discover your treasure.
Now remember, Paul talks about the treasures in the Lord Jesus Christ. He talks about how we have these riches and treasures, in verse 3; and then, he says, in verse
6: “therefore” (Colossians 2:6)—“therefore.” So, the therefore is linked to the first five verses. Now, you have been around long enough to know that, when the Bible says therefore, you stop and ask yourself, “What is it there for?” Okay? He is going to get very practical. He gives you a truth—a deep truth; and then, he says, “Therefore, now, you are to walk in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Look at it again—here is our key verse: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye”—now, be careful here—“in him” (Colossians 2:6).
Now, it doesn’t say, “walk with Him”; it doesn’t say, “follow after Him.” It says, “walk in the Lord Jesus Christ.” That is a little strange; it almost sounds awkward. How do you walk in a person? “Walk in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, listen to me again: The devil doesn’t want you to hear this; he would beguile you. Paul says, “Now, you listen to me. I have a conflict for those in Colossae and Laodicea. They might miss this.” He has a conflict for you, right here, at Bellevue Baptist Church, that you might miss it. Are you listening? Nod your head. Are you excited? Lift your hand. Will you pay attention? Lift your hand again. Okay? Now, we are talking tonight about some great, great truth. This is not incidental; it is fundamental. Paul says, “I just have a conflict in my heart that some people may not learn this truth and they might miss God’s best.” So, we are going to talk about walking in the Lord. There are three simple things I want you to see.
I. The Boundaries of the Faith-Walk
First of all, what I want to call the boundaries—the boundaries—of the faith-walk. Now, the boundaries of the faith-walk are these: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6).
Now, if I were to tell you to walk in this building, that means the boundaries of your walk are this building. That means you are not to get outside of this building. This building is to be the element and the atmosphere of your walk. Now, what does this mean to you spiritually? Spiritually, Jesus Christ is to be the boundaries of your life. Spiritually, you are to be closed into Him and His will, and that’s all. You are to walk in Jesus—in Jesus. He is the boundary.
Now, if you are a person who is very selfish, if you are not a spiritual person, the first thing your mind said to you, when I said, “You are to walk in the Lord Jesus Christ; He is the boundaries, He is the circumference, of your walk,” your natural mind said, “Hey, don’t fence me in.” That’s the natural mind: “Don’t fence me in; I don’t want to be fenced in.” And, the natural mind says, “You know, that would be dull—just to walk in Jesus. To be fenced in, to be hemmed up—how dull that would be!”
Well, if you think that is dull, go back again to verses 2 and 3: “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2– 3). Now, you call that being hemmed in? And, you are saying, “Don’t fence me in”? That would be like a minnow being hemmed in by the Atlantic Ocean. No, you are to walk in the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil doesn’t want you to understand this. Now, what God wants you to understand: There is nothing, nothing—absolutely nothing—worth having outside of Jesus Christ—nothing. You are to walk in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, if you are not careful, you can get out of bounds and get outside the element that you are supposed to walk in. Now, how does God keep you in bounds? How do you know when you get outside the boundaries? Well, there is a referee who will tell you when you are out of bounds. Look, if you will, in chapter 3, verse 15—the Bible says, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15). Do you see that? Chapter 3, verse 15—the word rule, there, is the word for “referee.” “Let the peace of God [referee] in your hearts.” So, that’s the way God keeps you in bounds.
Scotty Shows, where are you? Did you come to church tonight, Scotty? Come up here. Scotty is a basketball player. John Caldwell, are you here? Come up here. John Caldwell is a referee. That’s what he does—John calls these games. Now, Scotty, give me that whistle, over here. Put that around your neck. All right now, Scotty, this rug is the boundary of your game. Now, you are a basketball player, and if you get out of bounds, he is going to blow the whistle on you, okay? Now, there are going to be some people trying to get you out of bounds here. We will call you the world. We will call you the flesh. And, I will call you the devil. Now, what I want you to do is to see if you can get Scotty to get out of bounds. Now, if Scotty gets out of bounds, you are the Holy Spirit. You blow the whistle, okay?
Now, you can’t go in here and drag him out, because, when he is walking in the Spirit, you can’t get to him. I mean you’ve got to stay on the outside and see if you can get him to come out. And so, I want the world, the flesh, and the devil to see if you can get Scotty out of bounds here. Now remember, you can’t come over here. Well, all right, you guys, Scotty is doing pretty good, isn’t he? You wait—he won’t listen.
Okay, Scotty, come on over here, and let me tell you something. All right now, brother (whistle blows). See what happened? See what happened? I tricked him—I tricked him. Thank you. Go be seated. All right now, give Scotty a hand. Thank you, John. All right now, Scotty thought I was his friend there—see? I just kind of sweet-talked him, and he just stepped out of bounds. And, I don’t blame him, because, after all, I am supposed to be in charge here, and he is a staff member. But, when he stepped out of bounds, John blew the whistle on Scotty.
Now, that’s what the Holy Spirit will do for you. Friend, when you are walking in the Spirit—I mean, when you are in Christ, and He is the boundary of your life—when the world, or the flesh, or the devil allures you, you don’t have to go, because there is nothing out there that you need. There is nothing the world has, there is nothing the flesh has, there is nothing the devil has, that can allure you and take you away without your consent. And, as long as you are in Christ, walking in Christ, what a wonderful protection you have! The boundary—the boundary—of your walk is Christ, okay? “As you received the Lord Jesus, walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
Joyce and I walk in the neighborhood. And, in our former neighborhood, we had a dog that wasn’t particularly nice. And, that dog would come, sometimes, out there and make us feel uncomfortable. One day, I saw a lot of little white flags in that yard, just stuck there. Then, I saw a little trench that was being built. The trench had been dug, and there was a wire put underneath the ground. And then, they covered it up and put those little white flags out there. It was an electric fence; it was under the ground. They put a collar around that dog. And, if he would come up to that white flag and step over— zzzzzzzz—and he would go back in. It didn’t take him very long to learn that he was not to step across that boundary. Then, after a while, they took the flags down, but he remembered where the boundary was.
Now, folks, there is a spiritual fence around all of us. And, if we are walking in the Spirit, we’ll know when we are out of bounds. God the Holy Spirit will blow the whistle. Now, if God the Holy Spirit doesn’t blow the whistle, it’s because either you are not saved or you are so deep into sin and so far away from Christ that you can’t even hear the Holy Spirit of God. You need to be very sensitive. So, that’s the boundaries of the walk.
II. The Beginning of the Faith-Walk
Now, here is the second thing I want you to notice: I want you to notice the beginning of the walk—the beginning of the walk. Look again, in verse 6: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord” (Colossians 2:6). How do you begin the faith-walk? Well, you begin it by taking a step. As you receive Him, you take the first step. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step, but it doesn’t end there. You are to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Now, this is a personal encounter with Jesus—not some truth, not some doctrine, not some denomination. “As you have received Christ.” As I have told you, Christianity has a creed, but it is not a creed. It has a code, but it is not a code. It has a cause, but it is not a cause. It has a church, but it is not a church. It is Jesus Christ. Churches today—church buildings—are filled with moral worldlings who have joined churches, had an experience with religion, have gone through a ritual, have subscribed to beliefs, but have never met Jesus Christ—have never met Jesus Christ. And so, what does it mean? You say, “Adrian, I don’t understand. I thought, if I believed right, I am saved—if I believed the plan of salvation.” No. You are not saved by the plan of salvation; you are saved by the Man of salvation. You can know the plan and go to Hell. You see, you receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
A woman went to a church. She gave this testimony: She said, “I was in a Sunday School class, and they were talking about attendance; they were talking about functions; they were talking about programs; they were talking about seminars; they were talking about socials.” She said, “I loved it. And then,” she said, “something happened to my teacher, and my teacher began to talk about Jesus. And, she talked about Jesus over and over again, and,” she said, “I could not relate to that. It was the Jesus part that I could not relate to,” and she got saved; she received the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and Lord.
Now, “as you have received” what? “The Lord Jesus.” Does He have absolute control of your life? I mean, are you willing for Him to be the boundaries of your life? Look back at Colossians chapter 1, verse 10. We are talking about the walk—now, look: “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). When you leave this place, is your walk going to be a worthy walk?
I spoke to our junior high schoolers who are going on their choir tour soon, and I said to those kids, “Look, as you go, you are going to be representing the Lord Jesus Christ; and you are going to be representing Bellevue Baptist Church; and you are going to be representing your parents; you are going to be representing the youth leadership; and,” I said, “kids, you are going to be representing your pastor, because my name’s on that bus.” Walk worthy.
I would say that to every one of you deacons: Walk worthy. I would say to every member that God expects as much holiness out of you as He does any pastor or deacon. Don’t get the idea that there are some people who are supposed to live holy, and the rest of you have a pass—that’s not true. It took as much of the blood of Jesus Christ to save you as it did any of these deacons. And, we are to walk worthy of the Lord. You receive the Lord.
When I married Joyce—that’s a sweet memory. I love her more today than I did when I married her, and I loved her with all my heart, when I married her. But, when I married Joyce, I did not get the marriage religion; I got Joyce. When you get saved, you don’t get the Christian religion, you receive Jesus. Does that make sense?
“As ye have received the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6). Can you honestly say, “I have opened my heart; I have received Christ as Lord; I have taken myself off the throne; I put Jesus Christ on the throne of my life”? That’s the beginning— that’s the beginning of the Christian walk.
And, by the way, that’s what baptism is all about. You are in chapter 2. Look, if you will, in verse 12—look at it: We are “buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). When you give your heart to Jesus Christ, we baptize you. We immerse you, put you under the water, because that baptistry up there is a liquid tomb; it is a funeral tomb; it is a funeral service. The old person you used to be has died; this is your burial. The only mourner there is the devil, who hated to see you die. You are buried with the Lord Jesus Christ. His death on the cross had your name on it. His burial had your name on it. His resurrection has your name on it. And, you died with Him, are buried with Him, and risen with the Lord Jesus Christ. That means that there is a new life. He is the Lord. He is Lord.
Now, we say, “Accept Christ as your Savior.” Well, technically, you do that, I suppose, but that is not Bible language. Did you know that Jesus is called Savior 24 times in the New Testament. He is called Lord 434 times. Did you know that, very rarely, especially after the Resurrection, did His followers call Him Jesus? They called Him the Lord Jesus—the Lord Jesus.
Now, that’s the beginning of the walk. The boundary of the walk is Jesus. The Holy Spirit will blow the whistle, when you are out of bounds. How does He blow the whistle? Not like John did—you lose your peace. “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15). When you are saying something, watching something, doing something, and you lose your peace, you are out of bounds. The Holy Spirit of God says, “Hey, knock it off. Get back in bounds. Repent, and step back in. You can’t play the game that way.”
III. The Balance of the Faith-Walk
Now, here is the third thing I want us to notice: Not only the boundary of the walk, and the beginning of the walk, but I want us to notice the balance of the faith-walk. Look again at this verse: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6). Now, in the Greek language, it literally means—the verb: “to keep on walking.” It is not a finished deal; it means, “to keep on walking.” Now, walking begins with one step, but walking is a series of steps. So, therefore, the Christian life is a crisis that is followed by a process. And, a journey of a thousand miles, I say, begins with a step, but it does not end there. “As ye have received the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
Are you ready to do a little thinking? How did you receive the Lord Jesus? That’s the way you walk. “As ye will receive the Lord Jesus, in the same way, so walk ye in Him.” Now, how did you receive the Lord Jesus? You received Him by repentance and faith, right? That’s how you received Him. Therefore, how do you live the Christian life? The same way that you got it—by repentance and faith. You keep repeating the process that brought you to Christ. You don’t keep getting saved; but, as you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s the way you walk in Him.
Now, what is repentance? Repentance is turning away from self. What is faith? Faith is turning to Jesus. Now, as you receive the Lord Jesus, I turn from self to Him. Repentance and faith—that’s the way I walk the Christian life. Now, the way to live the Christian life is how you began the Christian life—in repentance and faith.
Now, when you get saved, you don’t stop repenting, and you don’t stop believing. You see, when I got saved as a teen—and oh, how I bless God for that! Sometime ago, I went to the old church, where I was sitting in that revival meeting by my dad. My dad stepped out and gave his heart to Christ, and I stepped out behind him. I asked the people—now, the church has changed hands. And, they took that old church building, and it became a dining hall and a sort of a classroom, as they built a new worship center—but I said, “I want to be in there alone.” And, I walked in there, and I said, “I believe this was just about the spot where I gave my heart to Jesus.” Later on, I got it confirmed, because I had some doubts, but I really believe that’s when I was saved— right there. And, I got on my knees, and I thanked God that He saved me. And, I thank God that He has kept me saved. And, I am glad I gave my heart to Jesus Christ as a young man—as a boy, really. I did it by repentance and faith.
Now, at that time—I want to be honest with you—I knew very little about the Christian life, but I was sincere. I gave all that I knew of me to all I knew of Jesus. Now, since then, I have learned a whole lot more about me. And since then, I have learned a whole lot more about Jesus. And, I have done more repenting and trusting after I got saved than I did when I got saved. “As you receive the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
And, the Holy Spirit of God will keep revealing more about you and more about Him. And, you walk the Christian life, seeing your bankruptcy and His treasure. You don’t want to miss the treasure; you don’t want to miss the riches; you don’t want to miss God’s best. And so, the Holy Spirit of God is constantly revealing to you your own personal bankruptcy that is in me—and my flesh is no good thing—and the great riches of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, some people talk about, “Well, you know, one day, I took a stand for Jesus years ago.” I don’t think they took a stand—I think they’re stuck. You are to walk in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me see… I need a deacon up here. Who would be a good deacon? Come up here. All right, I’ll put you up here. I want you to walk. We’ll have a little lesson in walking. You know, walking is a series of steps, right? You can get it here, in the rug. All right now, I want you to take a step. No, that’s two steps—just take a step—one step. You’ve got to take the other foot off the ground. Now, you’re ready for the next step, right? Do you think you are going to the next step here, pretty soon? You doing pretty good? All right, just stand there for a while. Now, he’s taking a step. That’s nice. I see he is an obedient deacon. There he is. How long are you going to make it? You think you can make it for five minutes? You think so? You think 10 minutes? You think—how about a day? How about a week? How about a year? You see, what is wrong with him, right now, is this: that he is off-balance. A step is a series. Now, you can take the next step. It feels better, doesn’t it? And, the next one, and the next, and the next. Give him a hand.
All right now, a walk—thank you, Norm—a walk is a series of steps. If you want to take a step, and that’s all, you are off-balance. You only stay there so long. The problem with many people is they’ve stepped into Jesus and stopped. And, they wonder why they don’t have any balance! Here is the way the Christian life is lived. Oh, you can stay this way for a little while, but not for long. Repentance and faith, repentance and faith, repentance and faith; all within this boundary—all within this boundary.
It doesn’t mean, when you walk in Christ, that you are sinlessly perfect. The Lord is going to reveal to you some things that are wrong, and you repent. And, listen to what 1 John 2:6 says: “He that saith that he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Now, if you say that “I am abiding in Jesus,” you know how it’s going to show? You are going to walk like Jesus walks. And, people are going to see Jesus Christ in you.
I ask myself this question, sometimes: “Would people—when they look at me— would they see Jesus?” Does your neighbor see Jesus? Kids, do your parents see Jesus? Sir, does you wife see Jesus in you? You are to walk as Jesus walked. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). “As ye have received the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6). We see here, in that verse, the boundaries, the beginning, and the balance of the Christian’s walk.
Conclusion
Would you bow your heads in prayer? And, heads are bowed, and eyes are closed. And, will you say, “Lord Jesus, I don’t want to miss the best; I don’t want the devil to sweet-talk me or beguile me from the best; I don’t want to be enticed away from the best; I want the best; Lord Jesus, I believe there is nothing that the world, the flesh, or the devil has to offer—nothing that is better than You; it doesn’t even compare”? And, if you have been walking outside—maybe so long, you can’t even hear the referee’s whistle—why don’t you just say, “Lord Jesus, I want to come back to You with a fresh, brand new beginning”?
Father, seal the message to our hearts. For I pray in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
