Text: Colossians 1:26-27 (NRSV) 26the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Our text speaks of the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations. Ever since God promised a Savior in Genesis 3:15 (NRSV) saying:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Old Testament Saints strained to see this mystery of a Savior to come.
There are some wonderful glimpses of this mystery in the Old Testament. Remember that the early Christians preached Christ from the Old Testament before the New Testament was written. Let us listen to a few of the projections of the Christ in the Old Testament. We already read Genesis 3:15:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Isaiah 53 is another clear projection of the coming Messiah:

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering£ and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. 4Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. 9They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. 11Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jeremiah projects the New Covenant in Jeremiah 32:40 (NRSV)

40I will make an everlasting covenant with them, never to draw back from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from me.

Jesus reported that the New Covenant was established through Him:
20And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Luke 22:20 (NRSV)
What the Old Testament strained their eyes to see, we now can see clearly: Jesus said in Matthew 13:17 (NRSV)

17Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
And out texts says that this mystery has been reveal to us: Paul says that the mystery “has now been revealed to his saints.”

Can you imagine the Old Testament Saints straining to see these promises fulfilled in the future? Let Job speak for all of them--Job 19:25 (NRSV) :
25For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;

Beloved, we know that Job’s redeemer has stood on the earth and was crucified for our sins and Job‘s. God raised Him from the dead accepting the sacrifice He made for our sins and Job‘s. He now sits at the right hand of God until His enemies have been made His footstool at which time He will return a Second Time to receive us, His Bride and judge unbelievers.

What a privilege and great responsibility to have heard the gospel in its saving power. Jesus reminded the people of His day how privileged they were to hear what they heard. He warned them of the fearful consequences of rejecting the message of His disciples and His own message:
Matthew 10:11-15 (NRSV)

11Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12As you enter the house, greet it. 13If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. 15Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Matthew 11:24-25 (NRSV)
24But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.” 25At that time Jesus said, “I thank£ you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;
Rejoice at what you are hearing today. Let no one leave without receiving this message. We want to look at what can be seen of God’s salvation now.
First of all, God became a Man. Matthew and Luke tell of how God became a Man. We usually read of the birth of Jesus at Christmas time, but not many people think about John’s version of the birth of Jesus. Matthew and Luke give the details of the Birth of Jesus, but John gives the meaning: Let us hear John 1:1-5

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
These verses tell us that He, that is, the Word, was with God in the beginning and He, the Word created everything that came into being. They tell us that life and light is in Christ. It states that the darkness was not able to over come His light.

Before we continue considering this marvelous revelation of a mystery, let us clarify just who He, the Word, is. Verse 14 tells us clearly Who He, the Word is:

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
The Word Who became flesh was none other than Jesus Who was born in Bethlehem. This Jesus, our Lord and Savior is God in the flesh.
This is the mystery of our Salvation. When we are born again, Christ becomes our body and we become the Body of Christ. We are the Body of Christ: 1 Corinthians 12:27 (NRSV)

27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
You see salvation is an inside job.

There is something intriguing about a Mexican Jumping bean. We do not usually think of a bean having nervous energy. Apparently this bean is animated without any outside help. The secret of the jumping bean lies inside it. There, all coiled up in its tight little house, lives the caterpillar, or larva, of a special kind of gray moth. Sometimes the caterpillar wants to stretch itself, and then it uncoils like a spring. This sudden motion pushes against the inside of the bean, which jumps and tumbles and rolls and jerks this way and that. And just as the secret of the jumping bean lies within it, so Christ living in us creates a big change in us. Salvation is an inside job.
Listen to Paul’s description of this inside job. Galatians 2:20 (NRSV)
20and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Christ lives in Christians and that is how He saves us. It is an inside job. We are the temple of God.

Does Christ live in you? Christ in you is your only hope of Glory.
One of the best examples I can recall of this inside job happened when Jo and I were in the Philippines. I was a Radioman at Sangley Pt. Communications Center. Jo joined me there three months after I arrived for duty. Another Navy Couple, Jo and I rented an unused School building in Cavite City, Luzon where we lived. A Missionary who worked in printing literature was available on Sundays and Wednesday evenings to preach and teach.

One day I was in front of our little mission passing out the Baptist Faith and Message. A man and his young child was walking by when I invited them into our service. He declined because he said he had his little girl with him. His church would not allow children in the worship service. I assured him that I had my 10-day-old baby boy in the service, but he still declined. He took the Baptist Faith and Message tract I was passing out.

The next Sunday he came and gave this testimony. He said a Jehovah’s Witness had been coming to his home trying to convince him to become a Jehovah’s Witness. He said, “I loved my church, so I asked the Jehovah’s Witness if I could borrow his Bible so I could defend my church. He said, “To my joy, when I read the tract you gave me, it was what I had come to believe studying my Bible trying to defend my church.

One day, Fred, his name was Fred DeLeon, came to me and said, “Something is happening in me that I don’t understand. You know, a buddy came by my house and asked me to go with him to the bar. I went. When we ordered a beer, I could not drink mine. I don’t know why. When the Bargirl asked me to dance, I could not dance with her. I got up and left in disgust not knowing what was going on in me. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my cigarettes, but I couldn’t smoke one. I threw the package away. What is happening to me, Brother Doyle?” I don’t remember my exact words, but they were something to the effect that it was the inside job of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Listen to our text again:

26the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

God has revealed to His saints a mystery that had been hidden throughout the history of mankind. This knowledge is better than all the earthly riches combined. That mystery is simply “Your only hope of glory, your only hope of heaven is Christ in you.”

You remember when Jesus told Nicodemus “You must be born again.”; that Nicodemus replied, “How can these things be? How can a man enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born again.” Jesus replied in effect, “I am not talking about physical birth. I am talking about spiritual birth.”
Someone may be asking how can Christ come into to me and give me the hope of glory and heaven? Before I tell you, let me talk more about the hope of glory, the hope of heaven.

The Bible says in Romans 8:18 (NRSV)

18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.

When we receive Christ, we loose our sin and shame, and receive Him, His Righteousness, and share His glory.

Someone has said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose.”

We cannot keep this physical and temporal life. As the Scriptures say, Hebrews 9:27 (NRSV)

27And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment,

All of us will die physically, but those in Whom Christ lives will not face condemnation to hell but will share the Glory of Christ forever.
Jesus said in John 3:17 - 18 (NRSV)

17“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

If you have not believed on Jesus, you are condemned all ready. You have already been judged and are waiting for your punishment. If you have believed on Jesus, you are not condemned. You are not waiting for punishment. You are sharing and will share the glory of Christ for eternity.
Paul said in Romans 8:1 (NRSV)

1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
How can you receive Christ in you? How can you have this hope of Glory?
It is simple, but not necessarily easy. You must repent, that is, desire deliverance from sin, that is, get your want to fixed so you don’t want to sin any more. That’s what repentance is. You must believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. Repent and believe, and Christ will come into your heart and save you from the inside out and give you the hope of glory.

Listen to Paul’s appeal for repentance in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 (KJV)
17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Do you want Christ to live in you? Do you want this hope of glory? The Bible says in Romans 10:13 - 14 (NRSV)

13For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?

You can call upon the Name of Jesus right now, right where you are and invite Him to come in to your heart and be your Lord and Savior.

Will you come to Jesus?

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