Paul writes this epistle to the
Colossians thanking God for their faith in Christ, encouraging
them in their hope. All the scriptures talk of our
Lord Jesus Christ in some way or another. They speak of Him
in all the pictures, in all the types, in all the examples, in
all the records. Angus reminded me this morning
that this first chapter in Colossians literally speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ in every verse. What a wonderful thing it is
that He is the centre of our attention. The Apostle directs
their attention to his redeeming work and glorious person. Let's begin at verse 1 and I'll
just make some comments along the way. Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timotheus our brother, to
the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae.
It just seems so obvious to me now that these epistles are written
to a particular people. It is a point of distinction
that we have that these epistles are written to a particular people,
people in Rome. He called them the called of
Jesus Christ. The letter of Corinthians is
written to them that are sanctified and called to be saints. and
even in Galatians they are addressed to the churches of Galatia. Ephesians
is to the faithful in Christ Jesus and Philippians is to all
the saints in Christ Jesus. And so too here in Colossians
it is to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. These letters are addressed to
the saints Wherever they are found upon this earth, whatever
time they are found in every age, saints not by their own
doing, but by the doing of God. Now saints are the eternal choice
of God in Christ Jesus. So when these letters speak of
the love of God, we know, don't we, that the love of God is being
expressed to a particular people. When the blood of Christ and
His work of atonement is being expressed, we know that that
redemption, that eternal redemption by blood, was shed for a particular
people. It is the error of many to pretend
that the contents of these letters, the blessings of God, the promises
of God, apply to any but the children of God. We do not shrink
from declaring the particularity of these things. Verse 2, Grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. I wonder if you have heard people
say, I have made my peace with God. Sadly that is an ignorant
statement. They don't know that they need
a peacemaker. They don't know that they need
a mediator. You cannot make peace with God
by anything you do. Not by being good, not by being
nice, not by being friendly, not by helping other people,
not by going to church, not by praying. You need a peacemaker. You need a mediator. to make
peace with God on our behalf. So remember that wonderful story
of when the Lord Jesus was in the boat with his disciples and
a ferocious storm came up upon the boat so much that the boat
was near sinking and they were in fear of their lives. and they
cried out to the Lord. They said, Lord, save us, else
we perish. And he said to them, why are
you fearful, O ye of little faith? They had the Lord Jesus with
them, didn't they? They had the God of the universe standing
in that boat with them. And he stood up and commanded
the wind and the waves to cease, to be still. And there was a
great calm. And the disciples marvelled.
They marvelled. What manner of man is this that
even the wind and the waves obey him? What a great picture of
our Mediator. What a great picture of our Saviour.
Ought we not to marvel as they marvelled? He instilled the fury
of God upon us. He calmed the storm, didn't he?
He calmed the storm of God's wrath upon us. Now God is the
God of grace and peace. Grace and peace. Grace and peace
is the possession of all believers. We sing amazing grace, don't
we? Amazing grace. It is absolute grace, unmerited,
unearned. It is the saving favour upon
the people of His choosing. It is eternal. It is immutable. It is all these things. We are
justified freely by His grace and that is why we call it free
grace. This truth in itself ought to make us the happiest people,
shouldn't it? But how often does that not seem
to be the case? I wonder if you can relate to
it. I speak for myself. My faith
is so fickle. I desire to be consistent. I
desire to be strong in the Lord, strong in faith. But most often
it's just fluctuation really. But here's something we need
to understand. Grace and peace come from God. They are not generated
from within ourselves. He is the source and the supply
of all grace and peace and because they are from God they cannot
change. They are irrevocable. They are
constant. We may wax and wane, and we do
in the experience of them, but the reality of the blessings
of God is an eternal unchangeable truth. The Lord Jesus has made
peace as our mediator on our behalf. He is the Prince of Peace.
May the Lord continually refresh us in the knowledge of this truth.
These divine blessings are ours and they arrive to us by virtue
of the person and work of our Saviour. Romans 5 tells us that
the Lord Jesus was delivered for our offences and was raised
again for our justification, therefore being justified, by
faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since
we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love
which he hath 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. We need to remember that whenever
the Gospel of God is preached, whether it is believed or whether
it is not believed, it always accomplishes that for which God
intends it. As Isaiah 55.11 tells us, So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 7. As ye also, Lamb of the Capuchin,
our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit,
for this cause we also, since the day we heard of it, do not
cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled
with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. for there to be any understanding
at all. There must be spiritual understanding. The natural man
has no idea about spiritual things. In 1 Corinthians 2 we read that
the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God
for they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. that ye might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all
might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and
longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. by His glorious power. He has
made us meet. He has made us qualified. We don't qualify ourselves. He
qualifies us to be partakers of the inheritance. Hebrews 3
tells us we are made partakers of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 10
we read that we are partakers of that
One Bread. That One Bread is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Partakers of His sufferings,
but also partakers of the consolation. We are partakers of all He ever
did and all that He is, such is the union of Christ and the
Church. 13. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Redemption is always described
in the scriptures as a finished and successful work. All for
whom he died have the redemption. Blood brought redemption. It's
very hard the Gospel isn't it? He put away the sins of his people
and it was done by blood. It had to be done by blood for
without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.
Hebrews 9.12 tells us that by His own blood He entered in once
into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. He
really did obtain eternal redemption. We really have been redeemed
by His doing and His dying. This is the fully completed and
successful work of our Redeemer. And in these next few verses
We have these wonderful statements of our Lord Jesus, the origin
of His person, that He condescended from the Father to take on our
humanity. He is the God-man. Verse 15,
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. He is no created being as some
might suggest. He is the first born in the sense
that He is the beginning as we see in verse 18. He is the first
born from the dead. He is the first born among many
brethren, Romans 8. He is the fullness of all the
Old Testament types and pictures. He is the fullness of the law. He is the fullness of all God's
eternal purposes. All fullness is in Him. And here
are some of His Divine credentials, verse 16, for by Him were all
things created. that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things and
by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." All the
fullness of the infinite triune God, God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit dwells in Him. He made perfect peace,
verse 26 says. He made peace through the blood
of his cross. What a wonder this is that this
One, this pre-eminent One, should condescend to save worms like
us. May the Lord bless these words
to us today.