COMPLETE IN HIM

MF Blume
MARCH 7, 1999 pm

Colo 2:6-15 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 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. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 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. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

It is hard to believe in something that we can do if we do not understand we can actually do it.

When you truly understand what the Bible teaches about the work God accomplished for us, then you will appreciate your value and power, and easily believe.

The Bible teaches that we are made righteous the moment we are saved.

Gala 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

In order to understand this, we must take a look at Adam, and how he affected us.

Christ and Adam both affected others in similar ways.
If we can understand how Adam made humanity sinful, then we will understand how Christ makes believers righteous.

Roma 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Roma 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

One man, Adam, made the Human race a sinful race.

Those of us who believe understand that.

That is why we are saved, because we understood our need of salvation.
We learned that we did not have to steal, kill or harm in order to be called a sinner.
We simply were born in Adam's race, and Adam's disobedience made us all sinners before we were even born.
The world does not know that, but we do.
However, we may not know that Jesus made us righteous.
If we can understand that Adam's transgression made us sinners, then by the same token we should understand that Jesus' obedience made us all righteous.

Do not seek righteousness, now that you are re saved.

See it in you.

Being in Jesus Christ makes us righteous.

If a man can make all people sinners, then by the same rule another man can make us all righteous.

We have half of it right when we understand that Adam made us sinners.
But we may have trouble believing the second half, that Jesus already made the believer righteous.

Adam was ready to give us all life, in the Garden,. but instead he gave us death.

Death is a condition.
Not an experience.
Jesus came and brought the primary need to the world.
He said "I am come that they might have life." John 10:10.

It is so sad that people do not see that everything they need is in Christ.

Judas betrayed the Lord and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver.

He informed the would-be killers of Jesus where they could find him.
"I know where he prays. In Gethsemane."
They gave him the blood money of 30 pieces of silver as reward.
He betrayed Jesus and indicated to the soldiers who He was by kissing him.
After Jesus was incarcerated, Judas regretted his actions.

Matt 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself....

Did you read that?

Judas repented!!!
But the trouble was, He did not look to Jesus when he repented.
The thief on the cross repented and admitted his sin to Jesus before he died.
And Jesus told him that day he would be in paradise.

Matt 27:3-4 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that].

Judas tried to correct the problem, without going to Jesus.

(You cannot solve your own problems and save yourself from sin.)
He tried to give the money back and be clean of the crime and sin he committed.
But the priests and elders refused to accept it.

Matt 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

Then he hanged himself.

He knew he was worthy of death.
He knew he was a sinner.
BUT HE FAILED TO SEE THAT JESUS DIED BECAUSE WE WERE WORTHY OF DEATH.
If he only had waited a little while, with faith in Jesus, JESUS WAS HUNG ON A CROSS IN OUR PLACES!!!!

Moses lifted up the rod at the Red Sea.

When that was done, we read that Israel was baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor 10:1-2).
They were united to Moses.
He typifies Christ.
He shows that we are united to Jesus when we are baptized in water and Spirit.
He is the winner, and we need to unite with Him.
Moses already passed through 40 years in the wilderness, and succeeded!
Now it was Israel's turn, and they had to unite with one who already knew how to do it!
The wilderness already changed Moses.
We need to be changed, too.
The wilderness is the changing process.
We must unite with Christ because Christ overcame, and we are complete in Him.
We need to unite to Him because we find all we ever need in Him.

Right from the start of our christian lives, we had all we needed.

If we are complete IN HIM, then from the first moment we were put into Him, we have been complete.
That means that we lacked nothing.
But we did not know that.
We try to make ourselves righteous, after we are saved, and we fail to see that we are righteous IN HIM.

Colo 1:21-23

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable 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;

We are told that we were reconciled to God when we were put in Christ.

But we must recognize that we have need of CONTINUING IN THE FAITH.
We do not pack it away in our pockets and say that problem is solved.
We must CONTINUE IN FAITH.
We must become grounded and settled and built up in Him now that we are in Him.
It is not just enough to be in Him.
We must now root ourselves in Him.
This means that we must recognize that everything we need is in Him, and we have it all now.
And we must be aware of that fact.
We must be so aware of it, that anybody who tries to deceive us into thinking there are things we lack although we are in Christ that we need to go and acquire for ourselves, that we will recognize that as a lie.
We are so grounded in the FAITH that all we ever need is in Him, that we need only go to Him about everything!
This is why we read a warning in chapter 2.

Colo 2:6-10 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 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. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

The way I received Jesus is the way I must walk in Him (verse 6)

How did I receive Him?
He was everything I needed to be saved.
When I received Him to be saved, I was finally convinced that I could not save myself, could not take myself out of sin.
Only Jesus could do that.
I knew it was insane for me to not think that Jesus alone could save me.
My salvation was complete when I sought Jesus.
That is how I received Him.
He was everything.
And we are told that we must walk in the manner in which we received Him.
In other words, we must recognize that it is just as incorrect to think that we can add to our salvation with our own efforts and good deeds as it was insane to think we could save ourselves.
As much as Jesus was EVERYTHING we need to be saved, he is also EVERYTHING we need now to grow in our salvation.
NOT VERY MANY SAINTS UNDERSTAND THIS.
That is why there are legalists.
I AM COMPLETE IN JESUS CHRIST.
If I need strength, He has it for me.
If I need better behaviour, HE HAS IT FOR ME.
I looked to Him for everything when I received Him, now I must look to Him for everything that I may WALK this walk.

It is not a complex thing.

Its so easy, people trip over it.

Colo 1:28-29 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Paul's entire purpose as a minister was to preach Christ being the fullness until everybody he preached to were convinced of that, and would look to Jesus for all their needs.

As the priests held up the ark of the covenant to open the way through into the promised land, I am standing here upholding the truth of Jesus and the Blood, and how through Him you already have all that you will ever need to face anything in this life, until all of you cross this Jordan barrier into the land of all God's promises.
I will preach it until you finally are convinced and no longer fear the giants of life that have threatened you into intimidation in the past, and you go forward.
YOU ARE COMPLETE IN CHRIST.
From t he start you always were complete.
But you simply were not aware of it.
You felt like God did the entire work to save you, but then He gave you a push and said, "Now get on with it yourself, and I hope I see you at the end!"
WRONG!!!!
He is not only the AUTHOR of salvation, but HE IS THE FINISHER.
While you RUN, KEEP LOOKING TO HIM.

Hebr 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; ...

I have in recent years began to fully understand that from the start I have been complete in Jesus Christ, and simply did not know it.

How do we walk worthy of this calling to salvation?

Do we work harder and try to perform more in order to please Him?
NO.

Ephe 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

Colo 1:10-11 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

He says that increasing in the knowledge of God is the way to walking worthy.

FIND OUT WHAT YOU HAVE GOING FOR YOU.
You have been complete in Him from the start, when you first got into Him.

This is only true for you if you were baptized in the water and Spirit into Him.

Roma 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Look at what Jesus is described as:

Colo 1:13-19 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,

...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.

...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 fulness dwell;

Look at all the qualifications Jesus has!!!

Jesus will be the One in whom all things are reconciled to God.
I WANT TO BE IN THAT KIND OF SAVIOUR!
What can we lack if we are IN HIM?
That is why we must REMAIN IN HIM!
Faith put us in Him and we must continue IN THE FAITH.
WALK IN HIM AS WE RECEIVED HIM.

God's Spirit is now in us.

He is there to LIVE IN US.
This was not at our disposal before we were put into Christ.
Our sins separated us from God.
But He removed our sins and gave us His Spirit.
We can live by what is called the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).
This is a law that helps you live victoriously.
It is being able to depend upon Him for all your needs and victories.
People without the Spirit cannot live by the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
We now do not have to let sin have power over us.
We have almighty power on our side because we have God's Spirit in us.

Some sing, "Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."

That is not all the story.
There are some things that you have to LEARN.
PRAYER will not solve everything, as if you do not need to grow in knowledge of the truth by HEARING THE WORD.
You will fail miserably if you think all you need to do is pray and never learn what the WORD teaches.
Prayer without knowledge is like trying to travel to a strange land without a map.
We often bear needless pain because we do not KNOW.
God's people are destroyed for a lack of KNOWLEDGE.
We need to have the eyes of our understanding opened THAT WE MIGHT KNOW...
We need a spirit of revelation and wisdom IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.

I know people that pray a lot, but do not KNOW they are complete in Christ and therefore they try to make themselves more holy, when all along we have been holy by just being in Christ.

Thought it is one thing to be holy and another to BEHAVE holy, the way to holy behaviour is not by making ourselves do better, but by seeing we have HIS HOLINESS IN US, and must LEARN TO LET HIM LIVE IT OUT OF OUR LIVES!!!!

Let us walk in Him, in full reliance upon Him as our only hope, as we have received Him.