A Sermon on Continuing in the Faith

21And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--23if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. (NASB).

We see that the Lord Jesus reconciled all things to Himself.  He made peace through the shedding of His blood.  Without the shedding of the blood of Christ, there is no remission of sin.  We see, as Luther stated, that Christianity is the Theology of the Cross.  We see the great and eternal sacrifice made for His people.  Oh, how He loved His own for whom He died!  We see that the design and intent of the Cross of Christ was meant for His people only.  That is, it was designed and intended for the elect only.  We see the Cross of Christ because in it we find abundant life.  In the Cross of Christ we find forgiveness, remission and cleansing.  We would not be able to stand before our Holy Father without the Cross of Christ.  We are in desperate need for the Cross and His unified righteousness.  We see that it only in the Cross of Christ that there is a great transaction.  Christ bore our sin that was His hell, and we receive the gift of perfect righteousness by faith alone.  That is, it is by nothing less then the imputed righteousness of Christ to the regenerated believer.  We gladly receive the imputed righteousness of Christ.  We are emboldened to stand before a Righteous Father in the very righteous garments of Christ Jesus our Lord and Redeemer.  We see that in the Cross of Christ there is complete forgiveness of sin; complete washing of our sin; and complete acceptance.  We know that only Christ could have atoned for the sin of His people because it was the Lord Christ who lived a perfect life, and atoned vicariously for His beloved people.  There was nothing that could atone for the sin of God’s people except the blood of Christ.  We remember that great and awesome hymn that it is nothing but the blood:

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Now by this I’ll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I’ll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Glory! Glory! This I sing—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
All my praise for this I bring—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

When we were outside of Christ we were “formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.”  We were separated from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In past times, we are estranged from God because of our life of sin, unbelief and impenitence.  We practiced that which was sin.  We did not obey the gospel or the Word of truth in divine Scripture.  We were foreigners and aliens to the gospel of grace and peace.  We did not practice Christianity in our lives.  We lived a hopeless life outside of the Lord Jesus.  We were children of wrath and, son and daughters of disobedience.  We were estranged from God just as the others.  We did not practice faithful repentance but hopeless impenitence.  We were people of sin. We should have been people that died to sin, and live for Christ.  We ought to be dying to sin and living for Christ.  We ought to be people who frame their lives after the Christian Bible alone.  It is alone is authoritative and infallible.  It is alone is God speaking to man.  We see that divine Scripture teaches the total depravity of man.  That is, nothing good dwells in our flesh.  We see that the Bible teaches that men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil.  What the Bible taught was alien to us.  It was not because it was untrue but it was because our souls were in bondage to sin, Satan and the pleasures of wickedness in the world.  If we read the Bible as an unbeliever, with unchanged hearts; we could testify to the fact that we were unmoved by God’s Word.  When we read divine Scripture when we were believers our hearts were greatly stirred by God.  It was the Word of God and the Spirit of God that changed and opened our lifeless hearts.  We are no longer alien to God but we are pilgrims and slaves of Jesus Christ our great Lord and King.  We are partakers of the Word in fellowship with the saints of God.  We are no longer alien to God and His gospel.  We have the Word of God that changes our hearts and judges the hearts and minds of men. 
We were hostile in our minds to the truth of God and His gospel.  We were in fact haters of God.  We despised the truth of God, and we despised God.  The hostility of the mind is a characteristic of unbelievers.  If it is left unchanged, it will end in eternal damnation.  It is God who chooses us out of hostility into His beloved.  We fervently opposed God in our hearts. We hated the God of the Bible because He is holy and good and just.  We are unholy, evil and sinful.  We were hostile to God because we were in bondage to sin, Satan and impenitence.  We did not mediate on the truth of God in our minds.  We only knew a life of sin.  We were people who engaged in the hostility of the mind in the flesh.  We see the apostle Paul as an example of hostility toward the people of God when He was unconverted.  He testifies in the Book of Acts, "So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”  His thoughts were of great hostility to the gospel and to the God of the gospel.  He was vigorously opposed to Christ and His gospel.  But he was delivered while he was still a sinner.  Christ came to him and appointed him as a chosen instrument of God.  Christ used Paul to proclaim the message he loathed.  Christ used Paul to proclaim the message of the gospel.  We see in Romans 8:7 that “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.”  Paul speaks of unbelievers in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 “who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men.”  We in Luke 11:53 that the scribes and Pharisees were very hostile to the Lord Jesus, “When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects…”  We see that hostility is a sure characteristic of the reprobate.  Use this as a lesson that you might learn that we are to be people who approve of the things of God.  We ought to be passionate about the things of God.  It is self-evident that hostility to God is sinful.
We see another characteristic of unbelievers is engaging in evil deeds.  The pattern of the life of an unbeliever is a life of evil deeds.  We know that divine Scripture speaks of small and great sinners alike.  Whether we were small or great, we engaged in evil deeds.  We lived a life of sin.  We not only engaged in evil deeds, but evil thoughts and words.  The pattern of our lives was a pattern of sin.  We did not abound in every good work.  We see that a life of a Christian should be abounding in good works.  We see the contrast between the life of an unbeliever and the life of a Christian.  We should be able to see the vast difference.  It is an eternal gulf that separates the life of sin and the life of holiness.  We ought to praise God that we no longer possess a life of sin.  The Lord Jesus proclaimed that we should leave our lives of sin.  He spoke of faith and repentance toward His Father through Him.  The Lord Jesus proclaimed the message of repentance because He knew what was in man.  He knew that nothing good in man dwells.  We see the necessity of faithful repentance.  The greatest Man who preformed righteous deeds was Jesus Christ.  He never preformed an evil deed in His life of thirty-three years.  He was a Man who faithfully accomplished perfect righteous deeds.  He was a Man who performed miraculous deeds that were unparalleled.  We ought to model ourselves after the Lord Jesus.  We ought to see Him as our greatest example.  We ought to follow in His steps in doing righteous deeds.  When we were unbelievers we were people of civil righteousness.  We did nothing that availed before God in our stead.  What Christ accomplished avails in our stead!  There is nothing we could do that we avail to the Father.  Only Christ accomplished what we need in our behalf.  As believers we were saved by faith unto good works.  Out of gratitude and love for Christ we ought to desire to do good works for His glory alone.  We ought to strive to do good works “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).  There is a contrast: the life of the believer is a life ordained for good works, and the life of the unbeliever is a life of evil deeds. 
Verse 22 says, “…yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach…”  Let us understand the reconciliation that Christ provided for His people.  Christ gave Himself as the ultimate sacrifice to atone for the sins of His elect only.  He was the perfect substitute and ransom to the Father for His people.  In His fleshly body Christ died for His chosen.  It was through His death that Christ provided reconciliation.  Without the Cross of Christ man would not have sufficient atonement for sin.  The atonement of Jesus Christ was the all-sufficient, once-and-all sacrifice.  We do not need to repeat the sacrifice of Christ through the Mass.  No, no!  His atonement was offered once for all time.  The atonement is central to biblical Christianity.  The Old Testament looked forward to the Cross, and after the Cross, God’s people look back at the Cross.  The Cross of Christ is sufficient to pay for all past, present and future sin.  No matter what sin a person has done the atonement is sufficient to pay for the sins of God’s people.  Christ was our all-sufficient substitute and offering for the sins of the world.  He has people from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.  The purpose of the Cross was in order to present us holy, blameless and beyond reproach before the Father.  Calvin wrote, “The expression is in appearance absurd, but the body of his flesh means that human body, which the Son of God had in common with us. He meant, therefore, to intimate, that the Son of God had put on the same nature with us, that he took upon him this vile earthly body, subject to many infirmities, that he might be our Mediator. When he adds, by death, he again calls us back to sacrifice. For it was necessary that the Son of God should become man, and be a partaker of our flesh, that he might be our brother: it was necessary that he should by dying become a sacrifice, that he might make his Father propitious to us.”
We are to be holy.  That is, by God’s transforming-grace we are to be set apart to God as holy men and women of God.   We ought to engage in faithful repentance over our sin.  We ought to be dying to sin and living for Christ.  We die to sin only by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot die to sin in and of ourselves.  We need the Holy Spirit to enable us to do this.  It is a divine task that the Holy Spirit accomplishes for His people.  We become holy through the atonement of Christ.  We have the awesome righteousness of Christ applied to His by His Spirit.  Calvin wrote, “That he might present us holy. Here we have the second and principal part of our salvation — newness of life. For the entire blessing of redemption consists mainly in these two things, remission of sins, and spiritual regeneration. (Jeremiah 31:33.) What he has already spoken of was a great matter, that righteousness has been procured for us through the death of Christ, so that, our sins being remitted, we are acceptable to God. Now, however, he teaches us, that there is in addition to this another benefit equally distinguished — the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which we are renewed in the image of God. This, also, is a passage worthy of observation, as shewing that a gratuitous righteousness is not conferred upon us in Christ, without our being at the same time regenerated by the Spirit to the obedience of righteousness, as he teaches us elsewhere, that Christ is made to us righteousness and sanctification. (1 Corinthians. 1:30.)”
We are to be blameless people in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Bible speaks of Noah in Genesis 6:9, “These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”  Genesis 17:1, “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”  Deuteronomy 18:13, " You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.”  2 Samuel 22:24, "I was also blameless toward Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.”  Job 1:1, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”  And Job 1:8, “The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."  1 Corinthians 1:8, “who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  That is, we are to be blameless.  We ought not let our sins mount up, more and more, but we are to engage in faithful repentance.  We are to repent of our sins.   Jude 1:24-25:  “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”  We are to be people who are beyond reproach.  1 Timothy 3:10, “These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.”  Titus 2:8, “sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”  We are to be people worthy of the gospel and of our calling in Christ Jesus. 

Verse 23 says, “…if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”  Calvin wrote, “If ye continue. Here we have an exhortation to perseverance, by which he admonishes them that all the grace that had been conferred upon them hitherto would be vain, unless they persevered in the purity of the gospel. And thus he intimates, that they are still only making progress, and have not yet reached the goal. For the stability of their faith was at that time exposed to danger through the stratagems of the false apostles. Now he paints in lively colors assurance of faith when he bids the Colossians be grounded and settled in it. For faith is not like mere opinion, which is shaken by various movements, but has a firm steadfastness, which can withstand all the machinations of hell. Hence the whole system of Popish theology will never afford even the slightest taste of true faith, which holds it as a settled point, that we must always be in doubt respecting the present state of grace, as well as respecting final perseverance. He afterwards takes notice also of a relationship which subsists between faith and the gospel, when he says that the Colossians will be settled in the faith only in the event of their not falling back from the hope of the gospel; that is, the hope which shines forth upon us through means of the gospel, for where the gospel is, there is the hope of everlasting salvation. Let us, however, bear in mind, that the sum of all is contained in Christ. Hence he enjoins it upon them here to shun all doctrines which lead away from Christ, so that the minds of men are otherwise occupied.”

Let us understand the part of the verse:  if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast.  We must continue in the faith of Christ.   The faith of Christ is eternally precious.  The faith of Christ is the Christian religion.  The faith of Christ is not the faith of Rome.  It is not the faith of Greek Orthodoxy.  But it is the faith of the Christian Bible seen in the past great Reformation.  We must remain firmly established.  We must remain in tact as people of God.  We must be grounded in the faith of Christ.  Do you know the essential of Christianity?  If someone came to you and ask you about the faith, would you know how to respond?  But most importantly, do you practice your faith?  Have you borne fruits?  We ought to be established firmly in the faith.  Colossians 2:7, “having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

We ought to understand being stedfast.  1 Thessalonians 1:3, “constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father…”  2 Thessalonians 3:5, “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”  Hebrews 6:19, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil…”  2 Peter 3:17, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness…”  Colossians 1:11, “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously…”  1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”  We would not go wrong with the Psalmist in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” 

We are to understand the next verse:  “…and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”  The gospel is an assured hope that offers a destiny that is secure and true.  You heard the truth of the gospel like the Colossians.  Colossians 1:5, “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel…”  We understand that there is no message that offers such hope as the gospel.  It is in the gospel that we have eternal hope. 

We are to understand that the gospel is to be proclaimed in all creation under heaven.  Acts 8:25, “So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”  Acts 8:40, “But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.”  We see that the gospel was proclaimed.  And Acts 14:21, “After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch…”  Romans 1:15, “So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”  Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  Romans 15:19, “in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” 

Paul was a man who stood for Christ and he was a faithful minister to Christ about the things of God.  But it is Paul we follow.  It was not Paul who founded Christianity as Muslims say in the sense that it was not Christ who taught what His apostles did.  We know that the apostles taught what the Christ taught.  For if we receive His witness we will receive their witness.  Paul preached the gospel of Romans 3 regarding the righteousness of God through Christ by faith alone.