In his sermon titled 'Christ in you, The hope of glory', Steve Hopkins explores Colossians 1:24-29 to emphasize the sufficiency of Christ alone for salvation and the importance of understanding 'Christ in you, the hope of glory'. He explains that Christ's indwelling presence is the believer's assured hope of eternal glory. Paul’s message to the Colossians counters false teachings that added requirements to the gospel, such as Jewish rituals and angelic mediation, by affirming that all fullness of God dwells in Christ, who indwells believers. Paul’s reference to 'filling up in his flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ' is clarified as sharing in the sufferings Christ has ordained for his church, not a deficiency in Christ’s atonement. The sermon underscores that the mystery of salvation through faith in Christ is now revealed to both Jews and Gentiles, and that believers need nothing beyond Christ. Hopkins urges believers to let Christ work through them and live lives that reflect their union with Him.

Let's stand for the reading of the Word of the Lord. We're going to be looking at Colossians chapter 1 verses 24 through 29. Colossians chapter 1 verses 24 through 29. I'm going to read, if you'll follow along with me in your Bibles, the Word of the Lord. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery, which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints.

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect or that is mature in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor striving according to his working which works in me mightily. Let's pray. Father, high above the whole world, we bless your holy name.

You O God are full of compassion, gracious, and long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. And we come before you, God, with praises on our lips and gratefulness in our hearts For giving us your Son, as we just sang, and leaving your Spirit till your work on earth is done. And we thank you God for the blessed assurance that Jesus is ours. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine. That we are heirs of salvation, your purchased possession, born of your spirit, washed in Christ's blood.

It fills our hearts, Lord, with joy unspeakable. Now, O Lord, incline our hearts to your word and give the Spirit of truth to guide us in the way of truth and cause the the Sun to break through the clouds this day to shine the brilliant light of the truth of the reality of Christ in us the hope of glory for we ask it in Jesus name amen. Let's be seated the title of the message this afternoon is Christ in you the hope of glory. Brothers and sisters no wealth ever known by mortal man can compare with the riches of the glory of the mystery revealed among the Gentiles by the Apostle Paul in the text before us. God revealed to Paul and the apostles the mystery of Christ hidden, as it says in the book of Ephesians, in God for ages and for generations.

Christ himself indwells you by faith and is your certain hope and infallible pledge of eternal glory. This is the glorious reality of every believer in Jesus Christ. The Son of God Himself through the eternal Spirit has personally and permanently taken up residence within you. Both Jew and Gentile, which is the emphasis here by the Apostle Paul, possess now the riches of the indwelling Christ. That's where we're headed.

But before we pick up with verse 24, I want us to remember how we got here. Because everything Paul has been saying in verses one through 23 leads into our opening text and lays the foundation for everything that follows. Remember, the church at Colossi was a church under attack, spiritual attack. False teachers armed with doctrines of external and mystical religion, were making war on the sufficiency of the gospel and the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember, what was the sum of all their heresies?

Christ is not sufficient. They were saying, you need Christ plus. Christ plus this code of ethics. Christ plus this set of rules. Christ plus this set of dietary laws.

Jewish rituals and feasts. Christ plus angelic mediation and so on and so on. And the apostle intercedes for the believers at Colossi and he prays for them and he exhorts them to continue in the faith of Christ that they had received from Epaphras. And he sets before them a clear vision of Christ, the preeminent Christ, the Christ who is supreme over all creation and supreme over the new creation and supreme over the work of redemption, or in the work of redemption. He presents to them the preeminent Christ, their all-sufficient Savior, who redeemed them with His own blood, and by whose sacrifice their sins had been forgiven.

And what Paul has been saying leading up to verse 24 is this, if you understand who Christ is, you will not be deceived by those who are saying you need Christ plus anything else. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the deity, all the divine powers, all the attributes of God, all the fullness of God, all the glory and majesty of God dwells in Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Lord of the universe and the Lord of the church, our all-sufficient Savior, by whom we have been delivered from the domain of darkness, Paul told them, and into whose kingdom of light we have been transferred. In Christ we have full redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, and to him the entire created order, including every enemy of God, will eventually be brought into subjection to bow. This is the Christ that He has been setting before them, the preeminent Christ. And He says, all you need is Jesus Christ.

In Christ you are complete. And He urges them, brethren, do not be drawn away from him by these false teachers who have come in among you. Christ is Lord over all and when we get to verse 27 he will be saying, and he indwells you. Christ who is over all, the supreme preeminent Christ who is Lord over all is in you. That's where he's going and where we are going before he gets there.

But before he gets there, the apostle comes to our opening passage this afternoon in verse 24. Look at this with me. Verse 24, he's just set forth the preeminent Christ, the all-sufficient Christ, the Lord Christ who is over all. And then in verse 24, we read some language that has had a lot of people over the past two millennia scratching their heads. Because Paul, for 23 verses now, after preaching Christ is all sufficient and what Christ has done to save us is all sufficient, here in verse 24 he talks about quote, filling up in his flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

Paul writes, look at the verse, now I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, speaking of the church, and fill up in my flesh What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church? What is this? What does Paul mean when he says that in his sufferings for the church, he is in some way filling up in his flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ? Well, the first thing we know for sure is what he does not mean. Paul isn't contradicting everything that he's just been saying in verses 1 through 23.

Christ's atoning sacrifice lacked nothing. Paul has just stressed the complete and total sufficiency of Christ in verses 1 through 23. He's refuted the notion of the Christ plus crowd and he has cemented the biblical truth that the believer needs nothing but Christ alone and what Christ alone has done for them. So what does he mean? Well, Eric talked about Rome earlier.

We're a Protestant church. We are Reformed. We have brought back the teachings that were lost for hundreds of years in the perversion of the gospel message. And there is a doctrine that those of you who have a Catholic background, I know we have a couple of families with Catholic backgrounds, will be familiar with and it is the doctrine of the Treasury of the Merits of the Saints. The Roman Catholic Church uses this passage to teach a concept known as the Treasury of the Merits of the Saints, and we'll get to what Paul means by this in just a moment.

But according to Roman Catholic teaching, there is this kind of a bank account of prayers of the saints and surplus good works performed by saints above what is needed for their salvation. And these prayers and works are added to this reserve and made available to Christians, Christians who haven't accrued enough merit themselves to get them out of purgatory. Purgatory is a kind of a halfway house between heaven and hell. Two serious problems, of course, with this concept. One, no one can ever do more good works than what God requires, right?

Because He requires perfection. So no one can do more good than what Christ requires. And thus no saint, No believer has ever had a surplus of merit. And more importantly, the Bible teaches that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. In Christ alone, and what Christ alone has done, Paul teaches us in Romans chapter three that all human boasting is excluded, that we're justified in God's sight by faith alone apart from the works of the law.

Therefore, we conclude, he says in Romans chapter three, that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law, thus all boasting is excluded. The doctrine of the scriptures, the reformed doctrine, is that the moment a person puts his or her trust in Jesus alone, apart from any Claim, apart from any acclaimed, any good works or righteousness to merit their justification in God's sight, that person is at one and the same time both sinner and just. And Eric just talked about there. They're declared just in the sight of God. How?

Based on the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, His righteousness imputed to them, transferred to their account. Our righteous standing before God is by divine grace only through faith in Jesus Christ who alone has merited by His obedience and atoning sacrifice on the cross our righteous standing before God. Our salvation was worked out by Christ, not Christ plus any other work of merit. I was talking about this with a Roman Catholic friend recently and I worked through this and then I said, Christ is the Treasury of merit. Christ is the only Treasury of merit.

So what does Paul mean? We have all these other ideas that have floated around. What does Paul mean when he says, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church. He's simply saying that He has joy in the trials He endures for the sake of Christ's body, the church. Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross was absolutely finished, complete, perfect, lacking nothing in saving merit.

However, God has decreed a measure of earthly suffering for the church, which is Christ's body. He told us that we would have tribulation. He told us that we would have tribulation. He told us that we would suffer with Christ. In His flesh, Paul is simply fulfilling his portion of those collective afflictions that God has ordained for his people to suffer in whom Christ dwells.

The church is called to suffer for Christ and with Christ, particularly as they carry the news of Christ reconciling work to others. When did Paul come to understand this? He came to understand it on the road to Damascus. When Jesus said that that Paul was persecuting him when he was persecuting the members of Jesus' body. Christ counts his people's sufferings as his own.

And Paul is saying here in verse 24 that he rejoices in the opportunity to participate in the sufferings of God's people for the sake of the advance of the gospel. Not that he or any member of the church by their suffering adds anything to the saving merit of Christ for his people beyond what Christ achieved. And as we go forward, he says that his motivation for enduring suffering was for the sake of Christ's body, the church. For the sake of his body, which is the church. Look at the scripture, of which he says, I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God.

Paul became a minister, a servant, according to the stewardship of the gospel given to him for the church to fulfill the Word of God. And look, the word Paul preached unveiled this mystery that we began with. The word that he preached unveiled the mystery that was hidden from ages and generations past. The mystery that was previously only understood in part And the riches of the glory of the mystery which now through his preaching of the gospel Has been revealed among the Gentiles God reveals this mystery among the Gentiles the mystery The content of which is Christ in you the hope of glory Christ in you the hope of glory A note in my Bible commentary says, God's saving purpose for Gentiles was largely hidden from them prior to the coming of Christ. The Old Testament revealed it in shadows and signs and hints that God would personally take up residence in His people.

You might remember Ezekiel chapter 36 where he says, my spirit I'm going to put in you. There's a hint of it. There's shadows of it. Okay, so the Old Testament revealed in its shadows and hints that God would personally take up residence in his people and also that he would create a new humanity uniting Gentiles and Jews in the Messiah. That we would both be united, these groups would be united in one in Christ.

So Paul is saying here, my Gentile brothers in Christ, the Messiah is in you. All kinds of doubts, all kinds of fears going through a colossal, all types of false teaching, all kinds of people saying all kinds of things to take away from Christ and take away from the gospel and to destroy their understanding of the grace of God that is in Christ. And Paul says, my Gentile brothers in Christ, you need to understand this, this preeminent Christ, this Christ who is overall, the Christ who has saved you, who is all-sufficient, who has done everything necessary to reconcile you to God and has reconciled you to God, this Christ, the Messiah, is in you. He indwells you. You too have the hope of the glory of the God of Israel.

God's redemptive plan for you Gentiles was in large part hidden for ages and generations past, but now it is revealed to all the saints, to all the family of God, the grand mystery of the gospel of redemption that was hidden from past ages and generations under old covenant types and shadows has been revealed to His saints by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God spoken by the Apostle Paul, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul made known to all the world that the Gentile nations are included in the glory of God. They are included in the glory of God. Christ is in you, Gentile believers. Imagine being back there in the first century and just wondering, well, as people saying this, we got to add the Jewish feasts.

Well, we need these dietary laws on top of everything. Is Christ really sufficient? Is there higher knowledge? Is there more? Is there more?

No. The preeminent Christ who is Lord over all, who has saved you, worked out your salvation, your redemption, is indwelling you. Christ is in you, Gentile believers. What? Christ is in us?

Yes. You too have the certain hope of eternal glory in the presence of God, just like me and every other Jewish believer, because God the Son, Christ the Messiah, is present in you. Christ himself, the living, resurrected Lord, indwells you by faith. Believers, both Jew and Gentile, possess the untold riches of the indwelling Christ. And his taking up residence within you by the Holy Spirit is your certain hope and unshakable pledge of eternal glory.

You will share in the glory of God. So what is the great secret? What is the great mystery? It isn't a code of ethics. It isn't a list of rules.

It isn't a list of strict dietary rules. It isn't angel worship, as some of them were saying. It isn't a higher knowledge or any of the other things the false teachers at Colossi have been peddling before you, it is Christ in you, the living resurrected Lord indwelling you. And his taking up residence within you by the Holy Spirit is your certain hope and unshakable pledge of eternal glory. You will be with him where he is and be made like him.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. And then Paul says in verse 28, refuting all of these, the false teachers, the Gnostics, the mystics, all the people satanically being used to try to pervert the gospel of Christ and draw them away from Christ. He says, look, in verse 28, him we preach, Christ we preach. We preach Christ. We preach Christ and Christ is all we preach because everything you need is in Him who is in you.

Everything you need is in Him who is in you. And that's true of every one of us here today who is a believer in Christ, who is in union with Christ by faith, in whom Christ dwells. Everything you need is in Him who is in you. Everything you need is in Him who is in you. If any of my children are taking notes for Sermon review this afternoon, everything you need is in Him who is in you.

And that's the duty of every minister of the gospel to preach. We aren't lecturers. We are not philosophers. We are not psychologists. And we're certainly not to be entertainers.

We are preachers and we preach Christ. And we understand that we are dealing with eternal souls and matters of eternal consequence. And so Paul says, we warn every man. Verse 28, Christ we preach, warning every man. There is a solemnity to it.

Paul was continually warning every man, every person, both in the churches and in the streets, because he knows that eternity is just around the corner for every one of us. Eternity is just around the corner for every man, for every woman, every child. We preach Christ and we warn every man and teach every man, he goes on, in all wisdom, not in human wisdom, like you've been hearing from all these false teachers at Colossi, Paul is telling them, not in human wisdom or using human philosophy, but teaching with the wisdom that comes from God and that with one single objective in mind, that we may present every man, perfect it says in the Version before you but the word means mature That we may present every man mature and complete in Christ Jesus That's our objective Paul saying in all of this Our one consuming passion is to present every single believer, complete, mature, in Christ Jesus. And he says in verse 29, as we come to a close, to this end I also labor. To this end I also labor." Brothers and sisters, don't you praise God for the labors of the Apostle Paul?

You look at his life. Here is a man who labored and suffered. Remember all the shipwrecks and the beatings and all the things that he went through for the love of Christ was in him. But he says to this end, I also labor. That word labor means working to the point of exhaustion.

That's what Paul's telling them. I've labored, I've worked among you, preaching Christ and Christ alone to the point of exhaustion. Paul wrote this epistle while he was imprisoned in Rome. We don't ever see him going on vacation. We don't ever read of him even taking a break.

He said, in hunger and thirst often. I know it doesn't fit well with our modern understanding of Christianity. We don't see him ever taking a break. I'm not that man. Listen to the apostle Paul.

He says to the Corinthian church in his second letter to the Corinthian church, he says, I will gladly spend and be spent. That is completely used up. That's what that means. I will gladly spend everything that I have and be completely used up for you, even though the more that I love you, the less you love me." That's the heart of the apostle Paul. "'Even though the more I love you and show my love for you by sacrificing for you and preaching and serving Christ for your sakes, the less you love me.

And he says, striving, the Greek word is agonizing. I labor to the point of exhaustion for you, Paul says, and I agonize. And I think he's talking about prayer. He's agonizing for the church in prayer throughout all of his epistles. He's praying, he's praying, he's praying.

He says, I pray for you, I pray for you, I pray for you. And he says, pray for me. And Brothers and sisters, pray for your elders. Pray for your leaders, whatever church you are in that you have dedicated yourselves to, committed yourselves to, pray for your ministers. Paul agonized in prayer for them.

He agonized in prayer for them. But all this, he said, not in his own strength, but according to his working, Christ's working, which Paul says worked mightily in him. As we close, brothers and sisters, Christ, who is over all, is our all-sufficient Savior and Redeemer. All we need is in Him who is in us. Christ has reconciled us to God by His death, paid our sin debt in full, forgiven us all our trespasses, pardoned all our sins, clothed us in His perfect righteousness, justified us in God's sight, is interceding for us before the throne of God right now?

All we need is in Him who is in us. Christ is our joy. Christ is our hope. Christ is our peace. Christ is our heaven, our foretaste of glory divine.

And he who is in us loves us and will never forsake us. He displays his power in our every need. He defends us. He leads us. He overcomes for us.

He fights for us. He walks with us through the darkest nights and the deepest valleys. He has defeated death for us, delivered us from the bondage of sin, supports us in our weaknesses, lifts us up when we fall, restores us to sweet fellowship and joy, renews us daily. We'll be with us in the hour of our death, and will raise us up in the hour of the resurrection and take us home to be with Him forever. All you need is in Him who is in you.

Christ in you is the hope of glory. Amen. And I just want to end with this from Charles Spurgeon. Christ in you means you in glory. As sure as God lives.

There's no question about that. Now, he says after preaching a sermon on this, he tells his flock, he says to the flock, go, Go your ways and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And let men see who it is that lives in you. Let Jesus speak through your mouth and weep through your eyes and smile through your face. Let Him work with your hands and walk with your feet and be tender with your heart.

Let them seek sinners through you. Let them comfort saints through you until that day, until the day breaks and the shadows flee away. Let's pray. Merciful Father, we thank you for Christ's presence in us, our certain hope of eternal glory. Oh Lord, as we go from this place, fill our hearts with the wonder of it and our cups to overflowing with the joy of it.

For we ask it in Jesus name, Amen. You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you