Colossians 1:3-6

DISCOURSE: 2166
PAUL’S COMMENDATION OF THE GOSPEL

Colossians 1:3. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.

“THE grace of God in truth!” What a beautiful description of the Gospel! It is grace: it is all grace, from first to last: it is the most stupendous grace that ever God vouchsafed to any creature, whether in heaven or on earth. It was marvellous grace to confer on angels such an exalted nature as they possess, together with all the glory and felicity of heaven. It was most astonishing grace also to form man in Paradise; to form him in the very image of his God; and to give him a promise, that if he should hold fast his integrity, both he and all his posterity should participate with the angels in all the blessedness they enjoy. But what is all this to the gift of God’s only dear Son to bear the iniquities of fallen man, and, by his own obedience unto death, to restore man to his forfeited inheritance? This is emphatically called, “The Gospel of the grace of God:” and truly it does exhibit the grace of God in such a view as no creature could ever have anticipated; and in such a view as must fill the whole creation, whether of men or angels, with the profoundest admiration, and gratitude, and love. This is the Gospel which ye “have heard;” which also, through the illuminating influence of the Spirit of God, many of you “know;” and the excellency of which may be seen,

I. By the effects produced in our hearts—

There are three effects mentioned, as produced in the converts of Colosse:

1. “Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ”—

[This is the first effect which the Gospel produces, wherever it is received into the heart. It reveals to us our need of a Saviour; and it holds forth the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, sent into the world to bear our sins, and to expiate our guilt by his atoning sacrifice, and thereby to reconcile us to our offended God. It discovers to us the fulness and suitableness of this salvation; and brings us to this Saviour, as our only hope. It leads every one to renounce altogether every other hope, and to trust entirely in the merits and mediation of this adorable Redeemer — — —]

2. Love to all the saints—

[This is the next effect produced on all. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are brought into a new family, of which Christ is the master: yea, we are incorporated into a new body, of which Christ is the head, and all the saints are members. I add further, we are all penetrated with one spirit; (for “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit;”) and have thus a bond of union, which never did, nor could, exist before. The very instant we believe in Christ, we feel ourselves brought into this relation to all his believing people, whether they be separately known to us or not; and we have, from that moment, somewhat of the same sympathy with them, as every member of our body has with all the rest, the eve with the hand, and the hand with the foot — — —]

3. Hope of happiness in heaven—

[“The hope laid up for us in heaven” is that for which the Apostle principally gives thanks in the passage before us [Note: See the Greek. The faith and love are parenthetically inserted.]. But this, like the two foregoing principles, is wrought in the heart by the Gospel: by which, as St. Peter says, “we are begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us [Note: 1 Peter 1:4.].” Yes, faith penetrates the highest heavens, and sees there crowns and kingdoms purchased by the blood of Christ, and promised to all who believe in him. An eternity of glory upon the very throne of God, the believer expects as his assured portion — — —]

But the excellency of the Gospel is further shewn,

II.

By the effects produced on our lives—

“It brings forth fruit in all the world”—
[See the fruits of the Spirit as described by the Apostle: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [Note: Galatians 5:22.].” There is not a grace that was in Christ Jesus himself, which the Gospel does not form in the souls of those who believe in him — — — “The discovery which it gives us of the glory of Christ transforms us into his image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of our God [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:18.].”]

It does this invariably and universally—
[There is not a creature who receives the grace of God in truth, but experiences this effect upon his soul. It matters not whether he be the most civilized man on earth, or a poor savage Indian or Hottentot: he will, from the moment that he receives the Gospel, begin to bear the image of his heavenly Father “in righteousness and true holiness” — — — And the man who professes to believe in Christ, and does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness in his life and conversation, is a self-deceiver, and a hypocrite. “His faith is no better than the faith of devils;” and, if he die in his present state, his end shall be like theirs also: for God has decreed, that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord [Note: Hebrews 12:14.]” — — —]

Tell me now, brethren,
1.

Have we not ground to “give thanks for you?”

[Were you all reduced to the most abject state of poverty, and relieved by the Gospel to the utmost extent of your necessities, and enriched with all that the whole world could bestow; or were you all in dying circumstances, and restored to health by the Gospel; it were nothing, in comparison of the blessings ye have received (many of you at least) through the word ministered unto you. You have been brought by it from death to life, from sin to holiness, from hell to heaven. O! what inestimable blessings are these! — — — Say, then, whether those who have preached unto you the word of life have not reason to bless God for you, as the “seals of their ministry,” and as destined to be “their joy and crown of rejoicing in the presence of that Saviour” whom they have preached unto you [Note: 1 Thessalonians 2:19.]? — — —]

2. Have we not encouragement, also, to “pray for you?”

[What will not God confer on those for whom he has already done so much? Surely there is not any thing which Omnipotence can effect, that shall not be bestowed upon you, in answer to the prayer of faith. See what Paul prayed for in behalf of the Colossians [Note: ver. 9–14.] — — — That same prayer would I offer for you, and entreat all of you to offer for yourselves. “Open your mouths wide, and God will fill them.” “Be not straitened in yourselves; for ye are not straitened in him.” Only ask in faith; and “according to your faith it shall be done unto you.”]

3. Is there not, however, ground for lamentation, on account of some amongst you?

[Would to God I could say that the change here described had been wrought on all! But there are many of you, I fear, who still remain in your unconverted state; and who, notwithstanding the Gospel has so long been ministered unto you, are yet strangers to the faith, and love, and hope, which it forms in the hearts of those who truly receive it; yes, and whose tempers and dispositions are widely different from the fruits which the Gospel is sent to produce. Dear brethren, I pray you study the Gospel more: pray over it more: beg of God to make it “the rod of his strength,” and to effect by it in you all that it wrought in the Colossian Church, and all that it is ordained to work in all the world — — —]