I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians. Paul's epistle to the church at Colossi. As you look at the title there, you may say in your mind, say, well, you preach on that every Sunday. And I do. I do. And I'm glad. And I'm not ashamed. But the reason I chose to title the message this way, The Person and Work of Christ, certainly this is the heart and the foundation of the gospel.

And when we think about it, people at this time of year, everybody thinking about the birth of Christ, that's what his birth is about, his person. Who he is? We talked about that last week. Who is Jesus Christ? What has he done? What has he accomplished? Why did he do it? Where is he now?

He did, on God's given time, come to this earth and take into union with his deity, his deified nature, or his nature of deity would be a better way to put it. He wasn't deified. He wasn't made God. He was God and is God. Second person of the Trinity. And he united his deity with a sinless humanity, body and soul, created for him in the womb of the Virgin. And that's a wonderful story. It's a wonderful truth. Wonderful fact. And I don't begrudge people setting aside a day to celebrate that. But we ought to celebrate that every day, along with the whole life of Jesus Christ. Because it's not just about syrupy love and a baby in a manger. It's the Son of God.

Let me start it this way. Look at Colossians 1. The first point that Paul makes here in our text is this. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is not of you or me. It's of the Lord. It's not conditioned on you or conditioned on me. It's all of the Lord. And it's in and through and by the Lord Jesus Christ, which we'll get to in the second point.

But he talks about giving thanks in verse 12. Now that's not part of my text, but listen to what he says. He's telling the believers at Colossae, give thanks unto the Lord, which hath made us meet. The word meet there means qualified. were qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Now the inheritance of the saints is the inheritance of salvation and all that is included in salvation given to the sanctified ones.

I notice when I watch Fox News, they are advertising a series of movies called The Saints. Well, if they were true to the Bible, they'd have to make a movie about all of you believers, because you're all saints. A saint is one, the word sanctify and saint means set apart. And God set his people apart before the foundation of the world, the scripture says now, and gave them to Christ. That's why he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He said, for this is the will of the Father that all who cometh to me, I should raise them up, should lose nothing.

So salvation's of the Lord. Everything that it takes to save a sinner comes from God. None of it comes from the sinner. And I know that's hard to take for some people, but it's true. God never looks down and say, now, I'll do this if you'll meet this part of it, or do this part of it. God saves his people, and that even includes the new birth. He even sends the Spirit to give them life. and give them a new heart, new mind, new affections, new will. He's called the spirit of conviction. I was talking to a man on the phone the other day. The spirit works in the New Testament. He's the spirit of conviction. Under the preaching of the gospel, he convinces God's people. of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, brings them to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works, and he indwells us to, calls us to persevere in the faith. Continues to where we won't apostatize, totally leave Christ.

And he's the spirit of power. And he works in power in different ways. But it's of the Lord. And that's what he says here, look at verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the powers of darkness. Now by nature, the powers of darkness refers to our sin, our depravity, our ignorance, and our unbelief. That's our natural state. If you're saved, you've been delivered by God from the power of darkness.

Now that doesn't mean you can't be in a religious, but you're in a dark religion, a bad religion. And it may appear righteous unto men. You remember Christ told the Pharisees, you do indeed appear righteous unto men, but inwardly. And that doesn't mean, well, I'm not like those Pharisees, I'm sincere. Sincerity won't get it. Now, should you be sincere in the gospel? Yes. But it's not your sincerity that saves you. It's God who makes you sincere.

But you've been delivered from the power of darkness and hath translated us. Now who does the delivering? And who does the translating? Translated us into the kingdom of his dear son or the son of his love. Now who does that? God does. He delivered me. He translated me. I didn't deliver myself and I didn't translate myself. Paul on the road to Damascus, did he deliver himself? No. Did he translate himself? No.

And it says in verse 14, in whom, that's his dear son, that's Christ, in whom we have redemption, the price is paid, the payment is made, now look at it, through his blood. In other words, you didn't pay it. Christ paid it with the price of His blood. And that's why He came. That's why He had to be conceived. His humanity had to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin. And His deity, He united with that deity. He became God-man. The Word made flesh dwelled among us. God with us. Remember, Emmanuel. He had to die, he had to have blood to shed. God doesn't die, God doesn't have blood to shed, but this person who is God did have it. And that's Christ, the Son of God, the God-man, the Lamb, the blood of the Lamb. What can wash away my sins? And he says there, even the forgiveness of sins.

Now a lot of human religion teaches you different heresies about forgiveness. Upon what ground does God forgive a sinner? Some churches say baptism. There's one church claims to be Christian. They say, well, you get baptized and that's where the spirit applies the blood of Christ to. That's a lie. Christ died on the cross as my surety, my substitute, my redeemer, even before I was born and you too. But they'll say, well, some will say confession. You've got to go to confession and confess your sins to a priest, and then he'll forgive. And as I heard on TV the other night, the guy says, you've got to confess it, and then you've got to make it right. Well, if that's the case, you're in trouble. I mean, you're in real trouble.

How does he forgive sin? Look at it. Even the forgiveness of sins comes through his blood. First John chapter one says, the blood of Jesus Christ forgives us of all sins. He paid the price. And so those two verses established this fact, salvation is of the Lord.

Now, secondly, salvation, how does God bring it about? Well, salvation is in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. the two facets of that are His glorious person as God, manifest as God, and secondly, His glorious person as God in the flesh, our Redeemer. And that's what the rest of these verses talk about.

Look at verse 15, he said, Jesus Christ who is the image of the invisible God, Now that phrase means that he is the very likeness of God. He is God. He is what no other man can claim. He is God. And he claimed to be God. Don't let preachers tell you that he didn't claim to be God. He did. That's why the Pharisees hated him so much. He told them this. He said, before Abraham was, I am. And who is the I am? You know what that means? That means he's the ever present one, no beginning, no ending. He's always been, always is, and always will be. That's what he told Moses. And Moses said, who will I say has sent me down to Egypt to deliver the Hebrew children? He said, you tell them I am has sent you. I am that I am.

We speak of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. Look over at Colossians chapter two and verse nine. Now that's not three gods. That's not a three-headed god. That's not three gods or one god with three roles or three tasks. There were roles and tasks. That's one god in three persons. You say, I don't understand it. I say, join the club. We're not meant to understand that, we're human beings, we're limited. But look at verse nine, it says, for in him, that's Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And he says, that's what that means, the fullness of the Father and the fullness of the Son and the fullness of the Spirit are revealed in the glorious person of Jesus Christ, that one who was conceived in Mary's womb, born a virgin, laid in that manger, attended by the shepherds, and then later on, not the same night, but probably about two years later, acknowledged by the wise men.

I hate to get on all the people's Nativity scenes, but the wise men were not there. They came later, led by the star. And all those glorious events that we associate with it, it's okay if they're from the Bible. But a lot of it is myth, you know that. But look at what he says in verse 10 of Colossians 2. Because the fullness of the Father, if you wanna know anything about the Father and the Son and the Spirit, you've got to go through the God-man. He's the revelation of it all. He told his disciples, I think he told John and Andrew, he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. In other words, the Father reveals himself through the Son. And if he doesn't reveal himself through the Son, he'll reveal himself to you in judgment. Wrath. which is what we all deserve. But thank God, salvation is not a matter of what we deserve. It's a matter of the glory of God in Christ. And he says in verse 10, and you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Wow.

So go back now to verse 15 of chapter one, who is the image of the invisible God. You can't see the Father, no man had seen the Father at any time, but we see the glory of the Father in the face or the person of the Son, Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh as our surety and substitute and redeemer. And it says, he is the firstborn of every creature. That means he has the preeminence in all things. He has the preeminence in creation. In beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and without Him was anything made that was made. That same Word was made flesh, dwelt among us, John 1 14. He's the Creator, along with the Father and the Spirit. So He has the preeminence. No human being has the preeminence in that sense. And it goes on. So the firstborn of every creature has the preeminence.

Verse 16, and for by Him were all things created. See, there it is, by Him. It was all created for Him, look at, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones and dominions principalities or powers. You see how his sovereignty, how far it reaches?

In the scheme of things, and we look at it now and I know how we feel, I'm human too, we'll say the world looks like it's out of control. But it's not. It's not out of God's control. Christ rules. He's on the throne. David recognized that in the Psalms. Isaiah recognized that. He's the sovereign over all history. He declares the end from the beginning.

The illustration that I've always liked to explain that, and you know as people, talented people who so blankets and quilts and stuff like that, and they've got all these various colors that they use. And if you look at it from the bottom up or from the back of it, it looks like just a mess of colors. But you turn it over on the other side and there's a pattern there. And that's the way God's sovereignty is. We're looking up right now at the back of it. But when we get the glory, we'll see how it all fits together. We really see it now in the scriptures, but it's there.

But all these things, look at verse 16, all things were created by him, and all things were created for him. Do you understand that? Verse 17, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. He is before it all, and it's all held together. By him. It's not out of control.

But the Bible talks about that over in 2 Timothy, chapter one, and other places, but I'm just giving you a little shortcut here, where Paul talks about, to Timothy, about the gospel. And he says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 8, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner. Paul was in jail at this time. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, listen to this, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

That's why this world was created. This world was created by God to glorify Himself in the salvation of His chosen people by His grace in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of all things. So go back to Colossians 1. All things were created, verse 16, by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

And verse 18 it says, and he is the head of the body. Now here's where we come to salvation. Christ our Redeemer. Who is that body? It's the church. Now the church there doesn't refer to the buildings that you see everywhere today. A church building. In the scheme of things, as we say, there are true people of God and then there are false Christians, false churches, and the way you understand the difference is what is being preached from the pulpit. Not how many people they have, not how many programs they have, not how many friends go there. What's preached from the pulpit? Is it the true gospel, the true Christ, the true God of the Bible? Is it salvation conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those conditions and secured the salvation of all for whom he lived, died, was buried, and rose again? Or is it salvation conditioned on you, what you do, what you decide? Is it in your hands and not God's? Because if it is, that's false.

Well, he says it here. He is the head of the body, the church. Christ is the head of the church. Peter was never the head of the church. The Pope is not the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church. And when he spoke to Peter and said, upon this rock I'll build my, he wasn't talking about Peter. He was talking about the gospel that Peter had spoken. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. That's the foundation of the church. That's the rock. upon which the church is built.

And so he says, he's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning. The church has no beginning in men. I don't like for people who claim to be Christian and go to a church that's named after a man. Because if that man started it, you're in trouble. Christ is the beginning. It came out from Him. He's the source of, He's the foundation of the church, He's the heart of the church, the life of the church is Him, and He's the head of the body.

And you know what we are? We're the bricks. built upon which the church is built upon that foundation. And he calls himself the firstborn from the dead. Now that refers to his resurrection. See, this is all equated to his glorious person as God in the flesh, our Redeemer. He had a beginning in the flesh. His deity had no beginning, but his humanity had a beginning in the womb of the virgin. which he was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and he was born and he grew up in wisdom and stature there's a lot about that we don't know because the Bible doesn't reveal it but we know that he kept the law perfectly he never sinned And he set his face like a flint to obey the law of God.

He told the people when he was baptized, suffer it to be so that we might fulfill all righteousness. How did he fulfill all righteousness? By his obedience unto death as the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer of his people. And so he died on that cross. That's to be attributed to his humanity. and yet it was an act of his entire person. It's mind-boggling, but that's okay. I don't know about you, but I like worshiping a God that's bigger than me.

The firstborn from the dead, he died. He didn't fake it. It's not like Hollywood will tell you that it was a hoax. He really died. He gave up the, he said it's finished. What? His work was finished on earth as far as accomplishing the righteousness which he started out to do. Suffer it to be so that we might fulfill all righteousness. Well, when he died on that cross, he fulfilled all righteousness and that's the righteousness of God which God has imputed, charged, accounted to his people and from which we receive spiritual life. justified through Christ based upon his righteousness imputed.

That means we're forgiven of all of our sins and declared righteous in God's sight by a legal forensic righteousness accounted to us. And if that's the case, if that's your case, At some point in time, God's gonna send his spirit to bring you under the preaching of this gospel, and he's gonna give you life from the dead, the new birth. You must be born again. Christ's righteousness imputed is the ground. The new birth is the fruit. You see that? And so he's the firstborn from the dead. that in all things he might have the preeminence, even in salvation. So not only does he have the preeminence in creation, this babe in a manger, who will grow in wisdom and stature, who will keep the law, who will go to the cross and die, who will be raised again and ascended unto the Father, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for his people, He has the preeminence in salvation. The preeminence.

Look at verse 19. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. What fullness? The fullness of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And that's for the salvation of His people. Look at verse 20. And having made peace through the blood of His cross. Now that's how peace with God comes. For a sinner. through the blood of the cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. In other words, that God might be just and justify ungodly sinners. God has to be just now. And the only way he can be just to justify sinners like me is through the blood of Jesus Christ, the righteousness imputed, all of that. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. In other words, there's no reconciliation for sinners with God, if they're on earth or if they're in heaven, except through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why he was born. That's why he was conceived in the womb of the virgin. That's why he was born as God-man, in his humanity.

In verse 21, and you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. That's us by nature. Now that's where we start out. Fallen in Adam, alienated from God in our mind by wicked works.

And what are those wicked works? I was telling Mark a while back, you know, we need to learn to think biblically. In the New Testament especially, has a whole lot more negative to say about self-righteous religionists trying to work their way into heaven than it does concerning the publicans and the harlots.

Now Christ did not condone immorality. The Bible doesn't condone it. Our belief, our gospel doesn't condone immorality. Immoral behavior is sin and deserves damnation. But the worst thing that a sinner can do that smacks against the glory of God is to think that you can be saved and right with God based upon your good works.

The Bible says about that, Luke 16, 15, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. And why is it so bad in God's sight? Because it denies His glory. He saves sinners by His grace through Christ. That's how He reveals His glory. It denies the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what Paul said to the Galatians? If you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

It exalts sinners and gives them reasons to boast. Well, the true salvation that God brings to sinners gives us no reason to boast in ourselves. Only thing we boast in is Christ crucified and risen from the dead. God forbid that I should glory, which means boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the glorious person and work of Christ. And you can't have one without the other, both his person and his work.

So he says, and you that were sometime, verse 21, alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. A person who's trying to work their way into God's favor by their good works is an enemy of God. Enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. He's brought you to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. Read Philippians chapter three sometime where Paul talks about his own conversion. And he lists all the things that he thought were good in God's eyes and recommended him unto God. But when he saw his sinfulness and the glory of Jesus Christ in his person and work, he said, I count it all but loss.

even dumb that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ. And so he says, verse 22, in the body of his flesh through death. You see that? That's why he had to be conceived in the womb of the virgin. That's why he had to be born that day, whatever day it was. That's why he had to, in his humanity, grow in wisdom and stature. It was that through death, verse 22, to present you holy and unblameable.

Now holy means set apart. Unblameable means you cannot be charged. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died.

yea rather is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father and unreprovable uncorrectable now we need a lot of correction here on this earth I do but look it says and unreprovable in his sight what that means is that when God looks at his people as they stand before him in Christ he can find no flaw you know We can look at each other and we can find a lot of flaws, can't we? I know you can look at me and you'll find a lot of them.

And then we see the effects of sin. My hair used to be black. I didn't have all these wrinkles. I didn't have to walk around with a cane, all that. I mean, it's all there. But when God sees me in Christ, and think about this in terms of judgment, because this is important. When I stand before God at the judgment, How's he gonna see me? Well, he'll see me in Christ. I'll stand before him washed clean from all my sins in the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness imputed and God will find no, he will not charge me and he will find no flaw. Isn't that something? And being in his presence glorified, there'll be no flaw in me.

but it's all because of what God has done for me by His grace through Christ. Amen.