February 19, 2025 • 44 mins
As the Lord who has authority over all creation, Jesus Christ did not only come to die on behalf of his people—as amazing as that is—but he also came to live in them! Living the Christian life is not primarily about our wisdom and strength but about Christ’s wisdom and power at work in and through us. In this message from Colossians 1:24–2:5, David Platt points us to the astounding reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
So here's the deal.
We're gonna start in verse 24.
We're gonna read fromColossians 1, 24 to chapter two,
verse five.
Let me go and give you a headsup.
You might get lost in this textbecause it is loaded with
(00:24):
meaning, potent words andphrases.
But after we've read through it, we're gonna hone in together
on just seven words seven simple, powerful, awe-inducing,
life-changing words in thispassage, and I'm convinced most
(00:44):
professing Christians aremissing out on the magnitude of
what these words mean.
And if you could justunderstand these words we're
going to look at today, it wouldutterly revolutionize your
entire life, and that is not anoverstatement or an exaggeration
.
So here we go.
(01:04):
Let's read this passage,starting in Colossians 1, 24.
I'll read it out loud Paul'swriting this from prison.
He says I rejoice in mysufferings for your sake, and in
my flesh I'm filling up what islacking in Christ's affliction
for the sake of his body.
That is the church of which Ibecame a minister, according to
(01:25):
the stewardship from God thatwas given to me for you to make
the word of God fully known, themystery, hidden for ages and
generations but now revealed tohis saints.
To them God chose to make knownhow great among the Gentiles
are the riches of the glory ofthis mystery which is Christ.
(01:46):
In you, the hope of glory.
Him we proclaim, warningeveryone and teaching everyone
with all wisdom that we maypresent everyone mature in
Christ.
For this I toil, strugglingwith all his energy that he
powerfully works within me.
So let me actually just pausethere real quick, just to give
you an idea of how loaded thispassage is.
(02:07):
What we just read from verse 24to 29 is actually one sentence
in the Greek, so the originallanguage Paul wrote it in.
It is a massive run-on sentenceand the ESV graciously splits
it up into four sentences for us.
But Paul writing this fromprison to this church in
Colossae, to these Christians,he's just pouring out his heart
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with all kinds of truth for them.
Which then leads him to say inchapter two, verse one remember
the chapter divisions came laterto help us kind of organize how
we can walk through a book.
So this is just one thought tothe next he says in verse one,
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for I want you to know how greata struggle I have for you and
for those that lay out of Siaand for all who have not seen me
face to face, that their heartsmay be encouraged, being knit
together in love to reach allthe riches of full assurance, of
understanding and the knowledgeof God's mystery, which is
Christ, in whom are hidden allthe treasures of wisdom and
knowledge.
I say this in order that no onemay delude you with plausible
(03:13):
arguments, for though I amabsent in body, yet I am with
you in spirit, rejoicing to seeyour good order and the firmness
of your faith in Christ.
Oh, again, so much here asPaul's writing this, just
pouring out his heart for thesebelievers who were walking
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through a time in whichplausible arguments sorry,
plausible arguments deceptiveideologies are being presented
to them to keep them fromexperience the fullness of life
in Jesus.
And he wants them to experienceall that Jesus has for them,
(03:54):
and I can totally identify withthis.
I'm obviously not in prison formy faith, the way Paul was at
this point, but I long for youto not be deceived by prevailing
ideologies in the world.
I long for you to experiencethe fullness that God has for
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you in Jesus, and that's theheart of this whole passage.
So that leads us back to theseven words we're going to camp
out on.
So that leads us back to theseven words we're gonna camp out
on.
So at the end of verse 27, afterPaul's talking about all the
saints, at the end of verse 26,which is a reference to all
followers of Jesus, he says tothem God chose to make known how
(04:39):
great among the Gentiles, soamong all the nations, not just
the Jewish people, but anyoneanywhere who trusts in Jesus,
god wants you to know the richesof the glory of this mystery
which is so.
Here are the seven simple,powerful, awe-inducing,
(04:59):
life-changing words Christ inyou, the hope of glory.
Can we say those seven wordstogether?
Christ in you, the hope ofglory.
So let's do this.
Let's just take those words oneby one and meditate on them,
let them soak in.
(05:20):
In light of this whole passageand in these seven words, I
wanna show you five descriptionsof the Christian life, of your
life, if you're a follower ofJesus.
And if you're not a follower ofJesus, I hope, I pray, that
seeing, hearing this will causefaith to rise in your heart and
(05:41):
you will say I want this life.
So here they are, if you'retaking notes, five descriptions
of the Christian life in theseseven words.
First, christ.
Let's just soak in that word.
I want you to think with meabout how the Christian life is
the empowered life.
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The Christian life is theempowered life.
So the verses that come rightbefore this passage, which is
part of what we're memorizing,contain one of the most glorious
pictures of Jesus in the entireBible.
It's why we're memorizing them.
So Jesus is, as we justmemorized, the image of the
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invisible God.
Jesus is God revealed to us inthe flesh.
This is breathtaking.
Jesus is not just a man.
He is God himself with us.
So hold on to that.
He's the firstborn of allcreation, which we saw last week
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, doesn't mean that he wascreated because he's God.
It means he's supreme over allcreation, because he's the
author of creation, for by himall things were created, all
things, including everything inheaven and on earth.
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So he's not created.
He is the creator of all things, visible and invisible,
everything.
He is before all things and inhim all things, all things hold
together.
Just let this soak in.
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Jesus spoke and this happened.
He spoke.
World came into being.
He spoke and there was this.
Jesus spoke.
And moon and oceans came to be.
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Jesus spoke and this was there,and mountains to canyons
created by his word.
He's the author, creator of allthese things and more, and
their sustainer.
He's holding these thingstogether at this moment.
And not to mention, he's theauthor, creator, sustainer of
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you and me and eight billionother people who Jesus is
sustaining right now withbeating hearts and breathing
lungs.
Even if you were here today andyou hate God, the reality is
your breath comes from the veryone you hate.
He's sustaining you, not tomention 200 billion trillion
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stars that he calls by name, andthat's only the ones we can see
.
Jesus holds all of this in hishands and he is the head of the
body, the church.
So don't think Pope, think thepreeminent king over an entirely
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new creation.
God is forming, because in himall, he's the reconciler, the
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savior of the entire world.
So that is Christ.
So suffice to say at this point, before we go any further, if
this Christ is anywhere near you, your life is radically
different, and the mammoth truthof this passage is that this
Christ is in you.
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Talk about an empowered life.
That's a different life, aChristian.
When you put your trust inJesus, you did not just get
forgiveness of your sins andeternity in heaven, both of
which are glorious.
You got the image of theinvisible God, the author and
(10:13):
sustainer of creation, thesovereign ruler and savior of
the world, inside you, likeright now where you're sitting.
He's in you.
Like right now where you'resitting, he's in you.
So that's the second word in In.
So the Christian life is theempowered life and the Christian
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life is the transformed life.
So Paul's talking about thismystery that's been kept hidden
for ages and generations thatGod has chosen to now make known
.
So what's that about?
Well, paul uses this wordmystery four times in Colossians
, and he's not talking about asecret that he's hiding from his
people.
He's talking about a truth thatGod has been waiting to reveal
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to his people.
So, all throughout the OldTestament, we see God
interacting to his people.
So all throughout the OldTestament, we see God
interacting with his people inlove and mercy and grace.
But we don't see anything thisastounding until we get here and
we're seeing this.
So our church is reading throughthe Bible right now and over
and over again.
What is the constant framerefrain we are seeing in God's
(11:27):
relationship with his people?
Throughout the Old Testament,god is saying, over and over
again I am with you.
I'm with you, abraham.
I'm with you Isaac.
I'm with you, jacob.
The Lord was with Joseph.
I will be with you, moses, whenwe get to Joshua.
I will be with you, joshua,just as I was with Moses.
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I will never leave you orforsake you.
I will be with you always.
I will be with you, david.
I will be with you, solomon,just as I was with David.
And we're reading this allthroughout the Old Testament.
God dwells with his people,first in a tabernacle and
eventually in a temple, and overand over again he'll say
(12:13):
through the prophets to hispeople fear not, for I am what,
I'm with you Then.
So that's the whole OldTestament.
Then New Testament starts.
Jesus comes on the scene andhis name shall be called
Emmanuel, which means God.
What With us?
God with us in the flesh.
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He is the tabernacle, he is thetemple.
God with us in Jesus.
But then John, chapter 13, verse33,.
Jesus looks at his disciplesand says I will be with you only
a little longer, what?
And then Jesus, god with us, isgone.
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Jesus dies on a cross for oursins.
He rises from the grave andascends to heaven.
So what's going on in thisstory, like all God's people
have known is God with them inthe tabernacle, in the temple,
in the flesh.
But now he's not with them.
(13:19):
And Paul writes now disclose tothe saints, to you, god has
chosen to make known among youand, by the way again, not just
the Jewish people, but to allpeople from all nations, to make
known to people in all nationsthe riches of the glory of this
(13:40):
mystery, which is not God withyou, but Christ, the image of
the invisible God inside you.
That is amazing and thatchanges everything about how we
view the Christian life.
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So many Christians believe Jesusdied for the forgiveness of our
sins and that they're going toheaven, as if that's the whole
story, which that's a greatstory.
But so many Christians arecompletely missing out on all
that means here today and somany live compartmentalized
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Christian lives where Jesus isover here but the daily stresses
of life and family and work andstuff in this world are over
here.
In the middle of it all, manyChristians are living frail,
frustrated, anxious, restless,sometimes rote Christian lives
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where you constantly feelspiritually defeated, sometimes
feel you're honest, spirituallybored, and the reason is because
you're missing out on themammoth truth that you have
Christ himself in you, in themiddle of all of this, the
mammoth truth that I'll put itup here that Jesus died for you
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2,000 years ago so that he mightlive in you today.
The Christ who died for you isnot dead.
He is alive, and not just alivein heaven, he is alive in you,
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life in you, which means thatJesus is more than just your
Savior, as awesome as that is.
Jesus is your life, he's yourlife.
He doesn't just forgive yourdebts, he transforms your days.
Do you realize this?
Are you experiencing this thelife of Christ in you on a
moment-by-moment, day-by-daybasis?
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Some of my heroes in the faithdescribe the moment when they
first realized this.
Their lives were changedforever.
I think about Hudson Taylor,19th century, spreading the
gospel across China remarkableways tens of thousands of people
coming to Christ, almost athousand missionaries mobilized
to spread the gospel acrossChina.
The fruit of his life still isflowing centuries later today.
(16:23):
I was just talking this lastweek with Patrick Fung, who has
led the ministry that HudsonTaylor started centuries ago,
and Hudson Taylor's wholebiography is entitled Hudson
Taylor's Spiritual Secret.
So he wrote to his sister oneday about the spiritual
breakthrough he experienced whenhe realized this that Christ
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was in him.
He'd been a Christian, but heknew he was missing something,
trying his hardest to seek Jesus, until he realized, wait a
minute, he's inside me.
And he wrote oh, my dear sister, it is a wonderful thing to
realize I really am one with arisen and exalted Savior.
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Oh, he said it is joy to feelJesus living in you, to find
your heart all taken up by him,to be reminded of his love by
his seeking communion with youat all times, not by your
painful attempts to abide in him.
He is my life, my strength, mysalvation.
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He went on to say I am nolonger anxious about anything.
Keep in mind he had all sortsof reasons to be anxious about a
lot of things, wishing his lifeto spread the gospel in a hard
place.
But Taylor said it makes nomatter where he places me or how
.
That is rather for him toconsider than for me, for in the
easiest position he must giveme his grace, and in the most
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difficult his grace will besufficient.
So if God should place me ingreat perplexity, must he not
give me much guidance Inpositions of great difficulty,
much grace In circumstances ofgreat pressure and trial, much
strength?
I have no fear that hisresources will be unequal to the
emergency, and his resourcesare mine, for he is mine and is
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with me and dwells in me.
Christian, have you come to thisrealization that Jesus Christ
really is in you in a way thattransforms everything about you?
As an illustration, I've drawnthese concentric circles before.
Don't get dizzy by the circles,but I'm just going to put them
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back up here on the screen justas an illustration for your life
, and I could point to differenttexts to show how.
So just picture the core of whoyou are.
So picture your heart and thenflowing out from your heart,
affecting everything about youthe way you think, your mind,
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what you feel, your emotions,which affect the way you act,
your will, what you do, whichaffect your relationships, the
way you interact with peoplearound you, the way you interact
with people around you, whichultimately play out in the
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purpose for your life, yourreason for living.
So just picture these circlesas an illustration of how your
life works, for example, how weact according to how we feel and
think.
Think about the first sin in theBible Adam and Eve didn't just
eat a piece of fruit.
It's out of nowhere.
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No, no, no, at the core oftheir heart they turned from God
and their mind.
They started to believe thatthey knew better than God what
was best for them, and they sawfruit from a tree that was
pleasing to the eye, desirableto make one wise, so they ate it
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, like their actions were theoverflow of something much
deeper in them, actions with anoverflow of something much
deeper in them.
We act according to what wethink and how we feel what we
desire.
The problem is, many of us don'trealize this.
So for many people, when itcomes to the Christian life, we
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work hard at these outer circlesLike how do I do this or that
better?
How do I stop giving myself tothat sin?
How do I change this habit ormy relationships?
How do I be the single husband,wife, mom, dad, student I'm
supposed to be?
And for so many people, we feelexhausted out here or
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oftentimes defeated, or maybe wejust grow apathetic, we just
kind of give in, and so much ofit because we're trying to do it
on our own, when the reality iswe can't.
The Christian life isimpossible at every single point
without the power of Christ atthe core of who you are
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Supernaturally transforming theway you think, what you desire,
how you act, how you relate topeople around you, your whole
reason for living.
So write this down theChristian life is impossible.
Without Christ in you, youcan't live and love, be and do
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all that God has designed you tobe and do without His life and
His power and His love and Hisstrength and His peace and His
wisdom, his life at work in youfrom the inside out.
That's ChristianityTransformation from the inside
out.
That's ChristianityTransformation from the inside
out.
I think of Ian Thomas.
He was a leader withInterVarsity Christian
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Fellowship.
He was preparing to go overseas, going out every night in the
slums of London to do ministry.
And he writes I had beenreduced to a state of complete
exhaustion spiritually until Ifelt that there was no pointing
going on.
Then one night in November,just at midnight, I got down on
my knees before God and I justwept in sheer despair.
I said, oh God, I know that I'msaved.
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I love Jesus Christ.
I'm perfectly convinced thatI'm converted.
With all my heart I've wantedto serve you.
I've tried to my uttermost andI feel like a hopeless failure.
But then he wrote, that nightthings happened.
I can honestly say I'd neveronce heard from the lips of men
the message that came to me then.
But God that night simplyfocused upon me the Bible
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message of Christ, who is ourlife.
The Lord seemed to make plainto me that night through my
tears of bitterness.
You see, for seven years, withutmost sincerity, you have been
trying to live for me, on mybehalf, the life that I have
been waiting for seven years tolive through you, he said.
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I got up the next morning to anentirely different Christian
life.
This is the essence ofChristianity.
It's why Paul wrote inGalatians 2.20 I have been
crucified with Christ.
I am dead.
It's no longer I who live, butChrist who lives in me.
(23:24):
The life I now live in theflesh.
I live by faith in the Son ofGod, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
I don't live anymore.
Instead, I'm living moment bymoment, day by day, by faith in
Jesus, who loves me and he gavehimself for me, and now he lives
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in me.
It's his life in me.
The Christian life is not themorally improved life.
The Christian life is thetotally transformed life.
It's entirely new life.
That's why Jesus says in John 3, you must be what born again
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you know a whole new heart, awhole new spirit, a whole new
life.
2 Corinthians 5, 17.
If anyone's in Christ, he is anew creation, new creation,
totally new person.
The Christian life is thetransformed life.
Christ in you I gotta speedthis up.
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We got two words done, okay.
So Christ in you.
So the Christian life is thepurposeful life.
Wish I had more time here, butI want you to see how the life
of Christ in you leads toglorious purpose for you as you
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begin to spend your life forothers so they can experience
the life of Jesus in them.
It's what this whole passage isabout.
Did you notice how many timesPaul says I am working, I am
suffering, I'm toiling, I'mstruggling for your sake.
Did you see it?
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Verse 24.
I rejoice in my sufferings foryour sake.
In my flesh I'm filling up whatis lacking in Christ's
afflictions for the sake of hisbody.
For the church, of which Ibecame a minister.
Word means a servant, accordingto the stewardship from God
that was given to me for you tomake the word of God fully known
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to you.
And then he starts talkingabout Christ in you, the hope of
glory.
Then you get to verse 28.
Him we proclaim, warningeveryone, teaching everyone with
all wisdom, so that we maypresent here's the purpose so
that we may present everyonemature in Christ.
I want other people toexperience life in Christ.
For this I toil, strugglingwith all his energy that he
(26:00):
powerfully works within me.
For I want you to know howgreat a struggle I have for you,
for those that lay out to seeyou, for all who have not seen
me face to face.
I am struggling for your sake,because I want you and your
hearts to be encouraged and knittogether in love.
I want you to purpose, reachall the riches of full assurance
, of understanding the knowledgeof God's mystery, which is
Christ, in whom are hidden allthe treasures of wisdom and
(26:22):
knowledge.
I say this in order thatpurpose.
No one may delude you withplausible arguments.
I want to keep you fromdeceptive ideologies, for,
though I'm absent in body, I amwith you in spirit and I am
rejoicing to see you.
Your good order, the firmness ofyour faith in Christ, paul's
giving his life to help othersexperience the life of Christ.
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Which makes sense, doesn't itLike?
If Christ is in you and Christloves the people around you and
he wants the people around youto experience life in Him, then
Christ in you will lead you tolive for them, like, totally
transform your whole outlook onlife, your purpose for living.
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So I want you to think for amoment.
Just picture in your mind thefaces of people in your life.
Picture your family members, sopicture them, their faces.
Picture your friends, pictureyour classmates.
(27:26):
See their faces, yourco-workers, your teammates,
whoever is in your sphere ofinfluence in your life.
Picture their faces and realizeright now them in your mind.
Christ is in you for them, andthat just infuses all kinds of
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meaning and purpose into wakingup tomorrow morning.
Christ in you for their sake.
There's so many applications ofthis.
Let me just make a few.
Moms, dads, particularly wearymoms and dads, which I think is
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most moms and dads.
It is good to toil and strugglefor your kids, but not with
your strength.
You don't have to do this alone.
You have the supernatural powerof Christ in you for the
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purpose of parenting.
That changes everything.
Your greatest need is to beabiding in Christ in you.
Husbands, wives, by the spiritand power of Christ himself in
you, lay down your life to loveand serve your spouse.
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It changes everything aboutmarriage when Christ is in you,
transforming everything aboutyou, students.
By the spirit and power ofChrist in you, live for the good
of parents in your home andfriends in your life In so many
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other ways for all of us, by thespirit and power of Christ in
you I was talking with a singlesister in between worship
gatherings today by the spiritand power of Christ in you to
pursue Jesus and stewardsingleness for the sake of
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others around you, For all of us.
When we think of the brothersand sisters in this church,
family, christ is in us.
For them, we have gifts fortheir building up.
We don't just come to receivein church.
No, we come to pour out ourlives for the sake of brothers
and sisters around us, Becausewe need them to pour out their
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lives for us, and obviously notjust for those who are in the
church, for people all acrossthis city who need the life and
the love of Christ.
He's in us for them, for thoseclassmates and coworkers, for
the widow and the orphan, thepoor and the needy, and not just
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here.
I just got back from a weekoverseas.
I was in Turkey at one pointOver 80 million people in Turkey
, approximately 10,000 followersof Jesus, and it was in
Istanbul, about 20 millionpeople in Istanbul.
There are more believersgathering together at NBC
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locations today than in all ofIstanbul, turkey, which means
Turkey needs people with Jesusin them, loving people, living
for the sake of people in Turkey.
So just be aware Next time ajob transfer opportunity
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presents itself in a part of theworld where there's little to
no access to the gospel,seriously consider God.
Are you calling me, your spiritin me, leading me to go and
live for them, and not even justwaiting for the job opportunity
?
I was with one student who wasin another country that I won't
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mention which one.
But in this other country wherethey are doing graduate school,
instead of looking for agraduate school where the gospel
has already gone, sheintentionally single girl says
I'm gonna do graduate schoolwhere the gospel hasn't gone and
it's really hard to get in thiscountry, really hard to stay in
this country.
Missionaries get kicked out ofthis country, but students can
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be in that country and I can go,study, get a degree and share
the gospel as I'm doing it.
Christ in me for them.
That's the whole picture Forthe nations.
Christ in me for the nations.
So all of this, knowing so,follow this.
None of this will be easy.
Remember Paul's writing thisfrom prison.
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He's suffering and we saw it.
So just to clarify, he said Irejoice in my sufferings for
your sake.
In my flesh I'm filling up whatis lacking in Christ's
afflictions.
That does not mean that Jesus'death on the cross was not
sufficient for our salvation.
Something needs to be added tothat.
Paul's just spent verses rightbefore this saying the exact
opposite of that.
What he's saying here is that asuffering Savior will be made
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known in the world throughsuffering people, which makes
sense.
How will we make a sufferingSavior known to the world if
everything always goes perfectlyfor us?
But Paul is saying here I'msuffering for your sake, but I'm
rejoicing in my suffering.
So here's where Christ in youshouts most clearly to the world
(33:28):
.
When you face suffering and youhave joy because you have a
rock inside you to stand on, nomatter what this world brings at
you.
So when the cancer comes andyou still have joy because you
know the Christ in you is morethan sufficient for you, then
(33:50):
the world sits up and takesnotice.
When the suffering lasts andyou have joy because you know
the sovereign ruler andsustainer of all things is
dwelling in you and willultimately satisfy you.
That speaks volumes to thisworld, and not just when it
comes your way, but when youhear about the number of people
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who still don't know about theChrist in the world.
And you willingly suffer, youjoyfully sacrifice possessions
and plans and dreams in thisworld because you want people
all over this world to know thelife of Christ in them.
That speaks volumes.
And you do it all with hope.
All right, let's bring it homehere the hope, the Christian
(34:32):
life is the secure life.
This word hope is not like weoften use.
Hope Like I hope my team wins,hope I get that job and it's
like maybe that's gonna happen.
No, this is a confident,settled expectation in something
that is sure.
This is not a wish, or maybethis is a guarantee, and the
point is clear when you haveChrist in you, you have nothing
(34:56):
to fear in this world.
I was thinking about this,praying for you in light of this
text, thinking about manypeople who, in light of what's
happening in our governmentright now, maybe for other
reasons, may be facinginsecurity or fear For your job
or for your family's livelihood,your family staying here.
(35:21):
I believe there's a word fromGod for you as his child, today,
here, that you are secure inhim.
I've used this illustrationbefore and I'm gonna bring it
about one more time and justforgive me if you've seen it
(35:41):
before.
If you haven't, hopefully.
Well, if you have, hear itafresh and anew.
If you haven't, this is so,this is gonna be, this is gonna
be you.
Okay, all right, that's you.
Put it top.
Well, yeah, we'll just start.
Okay, that's you.
And what we're reading here inColossians 1, verse 27, is that
(36:03):
when you become a follower ofJesus, then you're not just
forgiven of your sins,guaranteed eternal life in
heaven.
When you become a follower ofJesus, christ himself, image of
the invisible God, firstborn ofall creation, author, creator,
sustainer of all things, hecomes to live inside you and you
are sealed.
(36:23):
The Bible says sealed withChrist in you.
So that's you with Christ inyou.
But then what's great is if younotice verse 28,.
Verse 28 talks about how youare in Christ, and Paul talks
about that kind of language allthe time.
So just follow.
This is not.
I'm not saying this is like alltheologically, like this master
(36:44):
picture, it's Tupperware.
Just go with me.
So the Bible also talks abouthow, here's Christ.
You are in Christ, sealed inChrist.
So you, with Christ in you andyou're in Christ.
But then that's not even thewhole picture, because when we
get over to Colossians, chapterthree, we're gonna read about
(37:05):
how your life is hidden withChrist in.
Here's the big one in anybodyknow, in God.
So Christ in you, you in Christ, christ in God, this is you
(37:27):
Somewhere in there.
That's you.
It's a picture of where you areright now.
This is secure life.
I don't know what this world isbringing your way right now.
I don't know what the adversaryis coming at you with, but I do
know this Adversary coming atyou.
Well, he's gotta get throughwell, one, god the Father, which
he does not have a good trackrecord of doing.
(37:49):
And then, if some reason he wasgetting past God the Father, he
comes to Christ the Son, whichColossians chapter two will make
clear that Jesus has made aspectacle of the adversary by
triumphing over him in the cross.
He has defeated sin and deathand Satan himself.
So he gets through the fatherto the son and then somehow he
(38:09):
gets to you, but he's still gotround.
Two, christ in you, waiting onthe other side.
I would say you're prettysecure.
So, no matter the beauty is your, your boss is not sovereign
over your life.
The President United boss isnot sovereign over your life.
The president of the UnitedStates is not sovereign over
your life.
No circumstances are sovereignover your life.
Cancer is not sovereign overyour life.
Tumors are not sovereign overyour life.
Suffering is not sovereign overyour life.
(38:31):
You are secure in the one whois sovereign over all things and
your identity is rooted in him.
So see yourself today in thispicture.
That's secure life, the hope oflast two words, the hope of
(38:57):
glory.
Yeah, oh man, it gets better.
Oh man, it gets better, it getsbetter.
The Christian life is thecomplete life, complete.
Verse 28.
Here Paul points to the goal ofbeing mature or complete in
Christ.
And just to jump ahead.
(39:17):
We don't have time to dive intoit in depth, we'll get to it.
Colossians, chapter three.
We don't have time to dive intoit in depth, we'll get through
it.
Colossians, chapter three,verse four.
Listen to this when Christ, whois your life, appears, then you
also will appear with him.
In what In glory?
When Christ is your life,that's what we're talking about
Christ in you, your life, andone day the Christ comes back
(39:39):
appears.
You will not.
Might maybe will appear withhim in glory.
One day, this transformation ofyour life is going to be
complete and you're going to befree from all sin.
You're going to be free fromall suffering and you're going
to be free from all sin.
You're going to be free fromall suffering and you're going
(40:00):
to be free from death itself,because the one who conquered
death is your life.
So mark it down Christ in younow means Christ in you forever,
forever.
Nothing can take that away fromyou.
This is you forever, for all ofeternity.
(40:26):
Some of you have heard me talkabout my mentor in ministry, the
outside of my dad, the man whohas had the most influence in my
life, jim Shaddix, who over thelast year has been fighting
brain cancer, and over the lastyear has been fighting brain
cancer and over the last monthor so I've had the opportunity
(40:47):
to be with him two months on afew different occasions, just by
his bedside, hospice points,barely able to speak or not able
to speak, and just sweetmoments that God's provided
there.
And there's one moment where Ispent probably four and a half
(41:08):
hours by his bedside.
He just said a few words hereand there just reading scripture
over him.
But at one point I asked him, Isaid I said, jim, what's on
your heart?
And he whispered two words.
Took him a while to get themout, but two words.
Two words were fullness andcompletion.
(41:30):
That's a brother staring deathin the face and he knows this is
not the end, it's the beginning.
To live is Christ, to die isgain.
Like completions comingcompletion, like to look at
(41:53):
death with confidence.
Two weeks later he breathes hislast breath.
Today, jim Shaddix isexperiencing fullness.
At your right hand, psalm 16,we were reading this over, I was
reading this over him.
At your right hand, arepleasures forevermore.
This is glory that's waitingfor you.
(42:15):
Mark it down Brain cancerdoesn't have the last word.
Suffering doesn't have the lastword.
Suffering doesn't have the lastword.
Toil, struggle, hardship Doesnot have the last word.
Glory has the last word For allwho have Christ in them.
So I ask every person Within thesound of my voice Is Christ in
(42:37):
you?
Is Christ in you?
Do you know Christ in you?
And if the answer to thatquestion is not a resounding yes
in your heart, I want to inviteyou.
Today.
God is saying he wants you toexperience the life of Christ in
you.
He loves you so much.
He wants to make known to youChrist in you.
(42:58):
So I invite you, I urge youtoday let this be the day where
you turn from your sin yourselfand you trust in Jesus as Savior
and Lord of your life.
I encourage you, urge you don'tplay games here.
Don't look at Christianity assome rote religion.
(43:20):
This is life that God desiresyou to have in Christ, is Christ
in you, is Christ in you.
And for some of you, today isthe day that can be a reality
for you for the first time.
And then, for those who knowChrist in you, I would just ask
you are you living the empowered, transformed, purposeful,
(43:43):
secure, complete life of Christin you?
I want you to see those wordsand see that God desires that
for you.
I wanna give you a couplemoments before God's to pray,
and maybe this is a HudsonTaylor, ian Thomas kind of
moment where you say there forthe first time or maybe in a
fresh way Jesus, I want toexperience your fullness in me
(44:09):
and inside out and think through, pray, through.
What practical steps can youtake to stop striving after
Christ, but to rest in Christ inyou and let Christ in you,
produce his life through you andask him I want your strength in
me, your wisdom in me, yourpeace in me, all the things that
(44:29):
flow from you in me.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radicalnet.
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
So here's the deal.
We're gonna start in verse 24.
We're gonna read fromColossians 1, 24 to chapter two,
verse five.
Let me go and give you a headsup.
You might get lost in this textbecause it is loaded with
(00:24):
meaning, potent words andphrases.
But after we've read through it, we're gonna hone in together
on just seven words seven simple, powerful, awe-inducing,
life-changing words in thispassage, and I'm convinced most
(00:44):
professing Christians aremissing out on the magnitude of
what these words mean.
And if you could justunderstand these words we're
going to look at today, it wouldutterly revolutionize your
entire life, and that is not anoverstatement or an exaggeration
.
So here we go.
(01:04):
Let's read this passage,starting in Colossians 1, 24.
I'll read it out loud Paul'swriting this from prison.
He says I rejoice in mysufferings for your sake, and in
my flesh I'm filling up what islacking in Christ's affliction
for the sake of his body.
That is the church of which Ibecame a minister, according to
(01:25):
the stewardship from God thatwas given to me for you to make
the word of God fully known, themystery, hidden for ages and
generations but now revealed tohis saints.
To them God chose to make knownhow great among the Gentiles
are the riches of the glory ofthis mystery which is Christ.
(01:46):
In you, the hope of glory.
Him we proclaim, warningeveryone and teaching everyone
with all wisdom that we maypresent everyone mature in
Christ.
For this I toil, strugglingwith all his energy that he
powerfully works within me.
So let me actually just pausethere real quick, just to give
you an idea of how loaded thispassage is.
(02:07):
What we just read from verse 24to 29 is actually one sentence
in the Greek, so the originallanguage Paul wrote it in.
It is a massive run-on sentenceand the ESV graciously splits
it up into four sentences for us.
But Paul writing this fromprison to this church in
Colossae, to these Christians,he's just pouring out his heart
(02:29):
with all kinds of truth for them.
Which then leads him to say inchapter two, verse one remember
the chapter divisions came laterto help us kind of organize how
we can walk through a book.
So this is just one thought tothe next he says in verse one,
(02:50):
for I want you to know how greata struggle I have for you and
for those that lay out of Siaand for all who have not seen me
face to face, that their heartsmay be encouraged, being knit
together in love to reach allthe riches of full assurance, of
understanding and the knowledgeof God's mystery, which is
Christ, in whom are hidden allthe treasures of wisdom and
knowledge.
I say this in order that no onemay delude you with plausible
(03:13):
arguments, for though I amabsent in body, yet I am with
you in spirit, rejoicing to seeyour good order and the firmness
of your faith in Christ.
Oh, again, so much here asPaul's writing this, just
pouring out his heart for thesebelievers who were walking
(03:34):
through a time in whichplausible arguments sorry,
plausible arguments deceptiveideologies are being presented
to them to keep them fromexperience the fullness of life
in Jesus.
And he wants them to experienceall that Jesus has for them,
(03:54):
and I can totally identify withthis.
I'm obviously not in prison formy faith, the way Paul was at
this point, but I long for youto not be deceived by prevailing
ideologies in the world.
I long for you to experiencethe fullness that God has for
(04:15):
you in Jesus, and that's theheart of this whole passage.
So that leads us back to theseven words we're going to camp
out on.
So that leads us back to theseven words we're gonna camp out
on.
So at the end of verse 27, afterPaul's talking about all the
saints, at the end of verse 26,which is a reference to all
followers of Jesus, he says tothem God chose to make known how
(04:39):
great among the Gentiles, soamong all the nations, not just
the Jewish people, but anyoneanywhere who trusts in Jesus,
god wants you to know the richesof the glory of this mystery
which is so.
Here are the seven simple,powerful, awe-inducing,
(04:59):
life-changing words Christ inyou, the hope of glory.
Can we say those seven wordstogether?
Christ in you, the hope ofglory.
So let's do this.
Let's just take those words oneby one and meditate on them,
let them soak in.
(05:20):
In light of this whole passageand in these seven words, I
wanna show you five descriptionsof the Christian life, of your
life, if you're a follower ofJesus.
And if you're not a follower ofJesus, I hope, I pray, that
seeing, hearing this will causefaith to rise in your heart and
(05:41):
you will say I want this life.
So here they are, if you'retaking notes, five descriptions
of the Christian life in theseseven words.
First, christ.
Let's just soak in that word.
I want you to think with meabout how the Christian life is
the empowered life.
(06:02):
The Christian life is theempowered life.
So the verses that come rightbefore this passage, which is
part of what we're memorizing,contain one of the most glorious
pictures of Jesus in the entireBible.
It's why we're memorizing them.
So Jesus is, as we justmemorized, the image of the
(06:22):
invisible God.
Jesus is God revealed to us inthe flesh.
This is breathtaking.
Jesus is not just a man.
He is God himself with us.
So hold on to that.
He's the firstborn of allcreation, which we saw last week
(06:45):
, doesn't mean that he wascreated because he's God.
It means he's supreme over allcreation, because he's the
author of creation, for by himall things were created, all
things, including everything inheaven and on earth.
(07:06):
So he's not created.
He is the creator of all things, visible and invisible,
everything.
He is before all things and inhim all things, all things hold
together.
Just let this soak in.
(07:31):
Jesus spoke and this happened.
He spoke.
World came into being.
He spoke and there was this.
Jesus spoke.
And moon and oceans came to be.
(07:51):
Jesus spoke and this was there,and mountains to canyons
created by his word.
He's the author, creator of allthese things and more, and
their sustainer.
He's holding these thingstogether at this moment.
And not to mention, he's theauthor, creator, sustainer of
(08:18):
you and me and eight billionother people who Jesus is
sustaining right now withbeating hearts and breathing
lungs.
Even if you were here today andyou hate God, the reality is
your breath comes from the veryone you hate.
He's sustaining you, not tomention 200 billion trillion
(08:44):
stars that he calls by name, andthat's only the ones we can see
.
Jesus holds all of this in hishands and he is the head of the
body, the church.
So don't think Pope, think thepreeminent king over an entirely
(09:10):
new creation.
God is forming, because in himall, he's the reconciler, the
(09:30):
savior of the entire world.
So that is Christ.
So suffice to say at this point, before we go any further, if
this Christ is anywhere near you, your life is radically
different, and the mammoth truthof this passage is that this
Christ is in you.
(09:53):
Talk about an empowered life.
That's a different life, aChristian.
When you put your trust inJesus, you did not just get
forgiveness of your sins andeternity in heaven, both of
which are glorious.
You got the image of theinvisible God, the author and
(10:13):
sustainer of creation, thesovereign ruler and savior of
the world, inside you, likeright now where you're sitting.
He's in you.
Like right now where you'resitting, he's in you.
So that's the second word in In.
So the Christian life is theempowered life and the Christian
(10:37):
life is the transformed life.
So Paul's talking about thismystery that's been kept hidden
for ages and generations thatGod has chosen to now make known
.
So what's that about?
Well, paul uses this wordmystery four times in Colossians
, and he's not talking about asecret that he's hiding from his
people.
He's talking about a truth thatGod has been waiting to reveal
(11:01):
to his people.
So, all throughout the OldTestament, we see God
interacting to his people.
So all throughout the OldTestament, we see God
interacting with his people inlove and mercy and grace.
But we don't see anything thisastounding until we get here and
we're seeing this.
So our church is reading throughthe Bible right now and over
and over again.
What is the constant framerefrain we are seeing in God's
(11:27):
relationship with his people?
Throughout the Old Testament,god is saying, over and over
again I am with you.
I'm with you, abraham.
I'm with you Isaac.
I'm with you, jacob.
The Lord was with Joseph.
I will be with you, moses, whenwe get to Joshua.
I will be with you, joshua,just as I was with Moses.
(11:48):
I will never leave you orforsake you.
I will be with you always.
I will be with you, david.
I will be with you, solomon,just as I was with David.
And we're reading this allthroughout the Old Testament.
God dwells with his people,first in a tabernacle and
eventually in a temple, and overand over again he'll say
(12:13):
through the prophets to hispeople fear not, for I am what,
I'm with you Then.
So that's the whole OldTestament.
Then New Testament starts.
Jesus comes on the scene andhis name shall be called
Emmanuel, which means God.
What With us?
God with us in the flesh.
(12:35):
He is the tabernacle, he is thetemple.
God with us in Jesus.
But then John, chapter 13, verse33,.
Jesus looks at his disciplesand says I will be with you only
a little longer, what?
And then Jesus, god with us, isgone.
(12:58):
Jesus dies on a cross for oursins.
He rises from the grave andascends to heaven.
So what's going on in thisstory, like all God's people
have known is God with them inthe tabernacle, in the temple,
in the flesh.
But now he's not with them.
(13:19):
And Paul writes now disclose tothe saints, to you, god has
chosen to make known among youand, by the way again, not just
the Jewish people, but to allpeople from all nations, to make
known to people in all nationsthe riches of the glory of this
(13:40):
mystery, which is not God withyou, but Christ, the image of
the invisible God inside you.
That is amazing and thatchanges everything about how we
view the Christian life.
(14:01):
So many Christians believe Jesusdied for the forgiveness of our
sins and that they're going toheaven, as if that's the whole
story, which that's a greatstory.
But so many Christians arecompletely missing out on all
that means here today and somany live compartmentalized
(14:23):
Christian lives where Jesus isover here but the daily stresses
of life and family and work andstuff in this world are over
here.
In the middle of it all, manyChristians are living frail,
frustrated, anxious, restless,sometimes rote Christian lives
(14:47):
where you constantly feelspiritually defeated, sometimes
feel you're honest, spirituallybored, and the reason is because
you're missing out on themammoth truth that you have
Christ himself in you, in themiddle of all of this, the
mammoth truth that I'll put itup here that Jesus died for you
(15:10):
2,000 years ago so that he mightlive in you today.
The Christ who died for you isnot dead.
He is alive, and not just alivein heaven, he is alive in you,
(15:37):
life in you, which means thatJesus is more than just your
Savior, as awesome as that is.
Jesus is your life, he's yourlife.
He doesn't just forgive yourdebts, he transforms your days.
Do you realize this?
Are you experiencing this thelife of Christ in you on a
moment-by-moment, day-by-daybasis?
(16:00):
Some of my heroes in the faithdescribe the moment when they
first realized this.
Their lives were changedforever.
I think about Hudson Taylor,19th century, spreading the
gospel across China remarkableways tens of thousands of people
coming to Christ, almost athousand missionaries mobilized
to spread the gospel acrossChina.
The fruit of his life still isflowing centuries later today.
(16:23):
I was just talking this lastweek with Patrick Fung, who has
led the ministry that HudsonTaylor started centuries ago,
and Hudson Taylor's wholebiography is entitled Hudson
Taylor's Spiritual Secret.
So he wrote to his sister oneday about the spiritual
breakthrough he experienced whenhe realized this that Christ
(16:43):
was in him.
He'd been a Christian, but heknew he was missing something,
trying his hardest to seek Jesus, until he realized, wait a
minute, he's inside me.
And he wrote oh, my dear sister, it is a wonderful thing to
realize I really am one with arisen and exalted Savior.
(17:06):
Oh, he said it is joy to feelJesus living in you, to find
your heart all taken up by him,to be reminded of his love by
his seeking communion with youat all times, not by your
painful attempts to abide in him.
He is my life, my strength, mysalvation.
(17:27):
He went on to say I am nolonger anxious about anything.
Keep in mind he had all sortsof reasons to be anxious about a
lot of things, wishing his lifeto spread the gospel in a hard
place.
But Taylor said it makes nomatter where he places me or how
.
That is rather for him toconsider than for me, for in the
easiest position he must giveme his grace, and in the most
(17:49):
difficult his grace will besufficient.
So if God should place me ingreat perplexity, must he not
give me much guidance Inpositions of great difficulty,
much grace In circumstances ofgreat pressure and trial, much
strength?
I have no fear that hisresources will be unequal to the
emergency, and his resourcesare mine, for he is mine and is
(18:10):
with me and dwells in me.
Christian, have you come to thisrealization that Jesus Christ
really is in you in a way thattransforms everything about you?
As an illustration, I've drawnthese concentric circles before.
Don't get dizzy by the circles,but I'm just going to put them
(18:32):
back up here on the screen justas an illustration for your life
, and I could point to differenttexts to show how.
So just picture the core of whoyou are.
So picture your heart and thenflowing out from your heart,
affecting everything about youthe way you think, your mind,
(18:54):
what you feel, your emotions,which affect the way you act,
your will, what you do, whichaffect your relationships, the
way you interact with peoplearound you, the way you interact
with people around you, whichultimately play out in the
(19:19):
purpose for your life, yourreason for living.
So just picture these circlesas an illustration of how your
life works, for example, how weact according to how we feel and
think.
Think about the first sin in theBible Adam and Eve didn't just
eat a piece of fruit.
It's out of nowhere.
(19:41):
No, no, no, at the core oftheir heart they turned from God
and their mind.
They started to believe thatthey knew better than God what
was best for them, and they sawfruit from a tree that was
pleasing to the eye, desirableto make one wise, so they ate it
(20:02):
, like their actions were theoverflow of something much
deeper in them, actions with anoverflow of something much
deeper in them.
We act according to what wethink and how we feel what we
desire.
The problem is, many of us don'trealize this.
So for many people, when itcomes to the Christian life, we
(20:27):
work hard at these outer circlesLike how do I do this or that
better?
How do I stop giving myself tothat sin?
How do I change this habit ormy relationships?
How do I be the single husband,wife, mom, dad, student I'm
supposed to be?
And for so many people, we feelexhausted out here or
(20:49):
oftentimes defeated, or maybe wejust grow apathetic, we just
kind of give in, and so much ofit because we're trying to do it
on our own, when the reality iswe can't.
The Christian life isimpossible at every single point
without the power of Christ atthe core of who you are
(21:14):
Supernaturally transforming theway you think, what you desire,
how you act, how you relate topeople around you, your whole
reason for living.
So write this down theChristian life is impossible.
Without Christ in you, youcan't live and love, be and do
(21:36):
all that God has designed you tobe and do without His life and
His power and His love and Hisstrength and His peace and His
wisdom, his life at work in youfrom the inside out.
That's ChristianityTransformation from the inside
out.
That's ChristianityTransformation from the inside
out.
I think of Ian Thomas.
He was a leader withInterVarsity Christian
(21:57):
Fellowship.
He was preparing to go overseas, going out every night in the
slums of London to do ministry.
And he writes I had beenreduced to a state of complete
exhaustion spiritually until Ifelt that there was no pointing
going on.
Then one night in November,just at midnight, I got down on
my knees before God and I justwept in sheer despair.
I said, oh God, I know that I'msaved.
(22:18):
I love Jesus Christ.
I'm perfectly convinced thatI'm converted.
With all my heart I've wantedto serve you.
I've tried to my uttermost andI feel like a hopeless failure.
But then he wrote, that nightthings happened.
I can honestly say I'd neveronce heard from the lips of men
the message that came to me then.
But God that night simplyfocused upon me the Bible
(22:40):
message of Christ, who is ourlife.
The Lord seemed to make plainto me that night through my
tears of bitterness.
You see, for seven years, withutmost sincerity, you have been
trying to live for me, on mybehalf, the life that I have
been waiting for seven years tolive through you, he said.
(23:02):
I got up the next morning to anentirely different Christian
life.
This is the essence ofChristianity.
It's why Paul wrote inGalatians 2.20 I have been
crucified with Christ.
I am dead.
It's no longer I who live, butChrist who lives in me.
(23:24):
The life I now live in theflesh.
I live by faith in the Son ofGod, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
I don't live anymore.
Instead, I'm living moment bymoment, day by day, by faith in
Jesus, who loves me and he gavehimself for me, and now he lives
(23:46):
in me.
It's his life in me.
The Christian life is not themorally improved life.
The Christian life is thetotally transformed life.
It's entirely new life.
That's why Jesus says in John 3, you must be what born again
(24:07):
you know a whole new heart, awhole new spirit, a whole new
life.
2 Corinthians 5, 17.
If anyone's in Christ, he is anew creation, new creation,
totally new person.
The Christian life is thetransformed life.
Christ in you I gotta speedthis up.
(24:28):
We got two words done, okay.
So Christ in you.
So the Christian life is thepurposeful life.
Wish I had more time here, butI want you to see how the life
of Christ in you leads toglorious purpose for you as you
(24:49):
begin to spend your life forothers so they can experience
the life of Jesus in them.
It's what this whole passage isabout.
Did you notice how many timesPaul says I am working, I am
suffering, I'm toiling, I'mstruggling for your sake.
Did you see it?
(25:10):
Verse 24.
I rejoice in my sufferings foryour sake.
In my flesh I'm filling up whatis lacking in Christ's
afflictions for the sake of hisbody.
For the church, of which Ibecame a minister.
Word means a servant, accordingto the stewardship from God
that was given to me for you tomake the word of God fully known
(25:32):
to you.
And then he starts talkingabout Christ in you, the hope of
glory.
Then you get to verse 28.
Him we proclaim, warningeveryone, teaching everyone with
all wisdom, so that we maypresent here's the purpose so
that we may present everyonemature in Christ.
I want other people toexperience life in Christ.
For this I toil, strugglingwith all his energy that he
(26:00):
powerfully works within me.
For I want you to know howgreat a struggle I have for you,
for those that lay out to seeyou, for all who have not seen
me face to face.
I am struggling for your sake,because I want you and your
hearts to be encouraged and knittogether in love.
I want you to purpose, reachall the riches of full assurance
, of understanding the knowledgeof God's mystery, which is
Christ, in whom are hidden allthe treasures of wisdom and
(26:22):
knowledge.
I say this in order thatpurpose.
No one may delude you withplausible arguments.
I want to keep you fromdeceptive ideologies, for,
though I'm absent in body, I amwith you in spirit and I am
rejoicing to see you.
Your good order, the firmness ofyour faith in Christ, paul's
giving his life to help othersexperience the life of Christ.
(26:45):
Which makes sense, doesn't itLike?
If Christ is in you and Christloves the people around you and
he wants the people around youto experience life in Him, then
Christ in you will lead you tolive for them, like, totally
transform your whole outlook onlife, your purpose for living.
(27:06):
So I want you to think for amoment.
Just picture in your mind thefaces of people in your life.
Picture your family members, sopicture them, their faces.
Picture your friends, pictureyour classmates.
(27:26):
See their faces, yourco-workers, your teammates,
whoever is in your sphere ofinfluence in your life.
Picture their faces and realizeright now them in your mind.
Christ is in you for them, andthat just infuses all kinds of
(27:55):
meaning and purpose into wakingup tomorrow morning.
Christ in you for their sake.
There's so many applications ofthis.
Let me just make a few.
Moms, dads, particularly wearymoms and dads, which I think is
(28:20):
most moms and dads.
It is good to toil and strugglefor your kids, but not with
your strength.
You don't have to do this alone.
You have the supernatural powerof Christ in you for the
(28:42):
purpose of parenting.
That changes everything.
Your greatest need is to beabiding in Christ in you.
Husbands, wives, by the spiritand power of Christ himself in
you, lay down your life to loveand serve your spouse.
(29:08):
It changes everything aboutmarriage when Christ is in you,
transforming everything aboutyou, students.
By the spirit and power ofChrist in you, live for the good
of parents in your home andfriends in your life In so many
(29:35):
other ways for all of us, by thespirit and power of Christ in
you I was talking with a singlesister in between worship
gatherings today by the spiritand power of Christ in you to
pursue Jesus and stewardsingleness for the sake of
(29:57):
others around you, For all of us.
When we think of the brothersand sisters in this church,
family, christ is in us.
For them, we have gifts fortheir building up.
We don't just come to receivein church.
No, we come to pour out ourlives for the sake of brothers
and sisters around us, Becausewe need them to pour out their
(30:19):
lives for us, and obviously notjust for those who are in the
church, for people all acrossthis city who need the life and
the love of Christ.
He's in us for them, for thoseclassmates and coworkers, for
the widow and the orphan, thepoor and the needy, and not just
(30:42):
here.
I just got back from a weekoverseas.
I was in Turkey at one pointOver 80 million people in Turkey
, approximately 10,000 followersof Jesus, and it was in
Istanbul, about 20 millionpeople in Istanbul.
There are more believersgathering together at NBC
(31:07):
locations today than in all ofIstanbul, turkey, which means
Turkey needs people with Jesusin them, loving people, living
for the sake of people in Turkey.
So just be aware Next time ajob transfer opportunity
(31:29):
presents itself in a part of theworld where there's little to
no access to the gospel,seriously consider God.
Are you calling me, your spiritin me, leading me to go and
live for them, and not even justwaiting for the job opportunity
?
I was with one student who wasin another country that I won't
(31:53):
mention which one.
But in this other country wherethey are doing graduate school,
instead of looking for agraduate school where the gospel
has already gone, sheintentionally single girl says
I'm gonna do graduate schoolwhere the gospel hasn't gone and
it's really hard to get in thiscountry, really hard to stay in
this country.
Missionaries get kicked out ofthis country, but students can
(32:16):
be in that country and I can go,study, get a degree and share
the gospel as I'm doing it.
Christ in me for them.
That's the whole picture Forthe nations.
Christ in me for the nations.
So all of this, knowing so,follow this.
None of this will be easy.
Remember Paul's writing thisfrom prison.
(32:37):
He's suffering and we saw it.
So just to clarify, he said Irejoice in my sufferings for
your sake.
In my flesh I'm filling up whatis lacking in Christ's
afflictions.
That does not mean that Jesus'death on the cross was not
sufficient for our salvation.
Something needs to be added tothat.
Paul's just spent verses rightbefore this saying the exact
opposite of that.
What he's saying here is that asuffering Savior will be made
(33:03):
known in the world throughsuffering people, which makes
sense.
How will we make a sufferingSavior known to the world if
everything always goes perfectlyfor us?
But Paul is saying here I'msuffering for your sake, but I'm
rejoicing in my suffering.
So here's where Christ in youshouts most clearly to the world
(33:28):
.
When you face suffering and youhave joy because you have a
rock inside you to stand on, nomatter what this world brings at
you.
So when the cancer comes andyou still have joy because you
know the Christ in you is morethan sufficient for you, then
(33:50):
the world sits up and takesnotice.
When the suffering lasts andyou have joy because you know
the sovereign ruler andsustainer of all things is
dwelling in you and willultimately satisfy you.
That speaks volumes to thisworld, and not just when it
comes your way, but when youhear about the number of people
(34:12):
who still don't know about theChrist in the world.
And you willingly suffer, youjoyfully sacrifice possessions
and plans and dreams in thisworld because you want people
all over this world to know thelife of Christ in them.
That speaks volumes.
And you do it all with hope.
All right, let's bring it homehere the hope, the Christian
(34:32):
life is the secure life.
This word hope is not like weoften use.
Hope Like I hope my team wins,hope I get that job and it's
like maybe that's gonna happen.
No, this is a confident,settled expectation in something
that is sure.
This is not a wish, or maybethis is a guarantee, and the
point is clear when you haveChrist in you, you have nothing
(34:56):
to fear in this world.
I was thinking about this,praying for you in light of this
text, thinking about manypeople who, in light of what's
happening in our governmentright now, maybe for other
reasons, may be facinginsecurity or fear For your job
or for your family's livelihood,your family staying here.
(35:21):
I believe there's a word fromGod for you as his child, today,
here, that you are secure inhim.
I've used this illustrationbefore and I'm gonna bring it
about one more time and justforgive me if you've seen it
(35:41):
before.
If you haven't, hopefully.
Well, if you have, hear itafresh and anew.
If you haven't, this is so,this is gonna be, this is gonna
be you.
Okay, all right, that's you.
Put it top.
Well, yeah, we'll just start.
Okay, that's you.
And what we're reading here inColossians 1, verse 27, is that
(36:03):
when you become a follower ofJesus, then you're not just
forgiven of your sins,guaranteed eternal life in
heaven.
When you become a follower ofJesus, christ himself, image of
the invisible God, firstborn ofall creation, author, creator,
sustainer of all things, hecomes to live inside you and you
are sealed.
(36:23):
The Bible says sealed withChrist in you.
So that's you with Christ inyou.
But then what's great is if younotice verse 28,.
Verse 28 talks about how youare in Christ, and Paul talks
about that kind of language allthe time.
So just follow.
This is not.
I'm not saying this is like alltheologically, like this master
(36:44):
picture, it's Tupperware.
Just go with me.
So the Bible also talks abouthow, here's Christ.
You are in Christ, sealed inChrist.
So you, with Christ in you andyou're in Christ.
But then that's not even thewhole picture, because when we
get over to Colossians, chapterthree, we're gonna read about
(37:05):
how your life is hidden withChrist in.
Here's the big one in anybodyknow, in God.
So Christ in you, you in Christ, christ in God, this is you
(37:27):
Somewhere in there.
That's you.
It's a picture of where you areright now.
This is secure life.
I don't know what this world isbringing your way right now.
I don't know what the adversaryis coming at you with, but I do
know this Adversary coming atyou.
Well, he's gotta get throughwell, one, god the Father, which
he does not have a good trackrecord of doing.
(37:49):
And then, if some reason he wasgetting past God the Father, he
comes to Christ the Son, whichColossians chapter two will make
clear that Jesus has made aspectacle of the adversary by
triumphing over him in the cross.
He has defeated sin and deathand Satan himself.
So he gets through the fatherto the son and then somehow he
(38:09):
gets to you, but he's still gotround.
Two, christ in you, waiting onthe other side.
I would say you're prettysecure.
So, no matter the beauty is your, your boss is not sovereign
over your life.
The President United boss isnot sovereign over your life.
The president of the UnitedStates is not sovereign over
your life.
No circumstances are sovereignover your life.
Cancer is not sovereign overyour life.
Tumors are not sovereign overyour life.
Suffering is not sovereign overyour life.
(38:31):
You are secure in the one whois sovereign over all things and
your identity is rooted in him.
So see yourself today in thispicture.
That's secure life, the hope oflast two words, the hope of
(38:57):
glory.
Yeah, oh man, it gets better.
Oh man, it gets better, it getsbetter.
The Christian life is thecomplete life, complete.
Verse 28.
Here Paul points to the goal ofbeing mature or complete in
Christ.
And just to jump ahead.
(39:17):
We don't have time to dive intoit in depth, we'll get to it.
Colossians, chapter three.
We don't have time to dive intoit in depth, we'll get through
it.
Colossians, chapter three,verse four.
Listen to this when Christ, whois your life, appears, then you
also will appear with him.
In what In glory?
When Christ is your life,that's what we're talking about
Christ in you, your life, andone day the Christ comes back
(39:39):
appears.
You will not.
Might maybe will appear withhim in glory.
One day, this transformation ofyour life is going to be
complete and you're going to befree from all sin.
You're going to be free fromall suffering and you're going
to be free from all sin.
You're going to be free fromall suffering and you're going
(40:00):
to be free from death itself,because the one who conquered
death is your life.
So mark it down Christ in younow means Christ in you forever,
forever.
Nothing can take that away fromyou.
This is you forever, for all ofeternity.
(40:26):
Some of you have heard me talkabout my mentor in ministry, the
outside of my dad, the man whohas had the most influence in my
life, jim Shaddix, who over thelast year has been fighting
brain cancer, and over the lastyear has been fighting brain
cancer and over the last monthor so I've had the opportunity
(40:47):
to be with him two months on afew different occasions, just by
his bedside, hospice points,barely able to speak or not able
to speak, and just sweetmoments that God's provided
there.
And there's one moment where Ispent probably four and a half
(41:08):
hours by his bedside.
He just said a few words hereand there just reading scripture
over him.
But at one point I asked him, Isaid I said, jim, what's on
your heart?
And he whispered two words.
Took him a while to get themout, but two words.
Two words were fullness andcompletion.
(41:30):
That's a brother staring deathin the face and he knows this is
not the end, it's the beginning.
To live is Christ, to die isgain.
Like completions comingcompletion, like to look at
(41:53):
death with confidence.
Two weeks later he breathes hislast breath.
Today, jim Shaddix isexperiencing fullness.
At your right hand, psalm 16,we were reading this over, I was
reading this over him.
At your right hand, arepleasures forevermore.
This is glory that's waitingfor you.
(42:15):
Mark it down Brain cancerdoesn't have the last word.
Suffering doesn't have the lastword.
Suffering doesn't have the lastword.
Toil, struggle, hardship Doesnot have the last word.
Glory has the last word For allwho have Christ in them.
So I ask every person Within thesound of my voice Is Christ in
(42:37):
you?
Is Christ in you?
Do you know Christ in you?
And if the answer to thatquestion is not a resounding yes
in your heart, I want to inviteyou.
Today.
God is saying he wants you toexperience the life of Christ in
you.
He loves you so much.
He wants to make known to youChrist in you.
(42:58):
So I invite you, I urge youtoday let this be the day where
you turn from your sin yourselfand you trust in Jesus as Savior
and Lord of your life.
I encourage you, urge you don'tplay games here.
Don't look at Christianity assome rote religion.
(43:20):
This is life that God desiresyou to have in Christ, is Christ
in you, is Christ in you.
And for some of you, today isthe day that can be a reality
for you for the first time.
And then, for those who knowChrist in you, I would just ask
you are you living the empowered, transformed, purposeful,
(43:43):
secure, complete life of Christin you?
I want you to see those wordsand see that God desires that
for you.
I wanna give you a couplemoments before God's to pray,
and maybe this is a HudsonTaylor, ian Thomas kind of
moment where you say there forthe first time or maybe in a
fresh way Jesus, I want toexperience your fullness in me
(44:09):
and inside out and think through, pray, through.
What practical steps can youtake to stop striving after
Christ, but to rest in Christ inyou and let Christ in you,
produce his life through you andask him I want your strength in
me, your wisdom in me, yourpeace in me, all the things that
(44:29):
flow from you in me.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radicalnet.
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