Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us and I hope and pray that this message
from God's Word will be a blessing to you. I'll be preaching from
Colossians chapter 1 and the title of the message today is
the fullness of Christ. The fullness of Christ. I'll
be starting in Colossians 1 and verse 19. Now last week I preached
on the preeminence of Christ from the prior verses here. But
today I want to I want to specifically focus our attention on what is
called the fullness of Christ. You know, the apostle John spoke
of the fullness of Christ when he talked about Christ being
the word of God, the word made flesh dwelling among us in John
chapter one, and how the law came by Moses, but grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ, and how believers, true believers,
have received of his fullness, Well, in Colossians 119, the
Apostle Paul records here, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit,
he was talking about the preeminence of Christ, how Christ has the
glory in all things, especially in the church, in the salvation
of sinners. It says in verse 19, for it pleased
the Father, verse 19, for it pleased the Father that in Him,
in Christ, should all fullness dwell. Now, what is he talking
about? Well, if you'll jump down to
chapter two, verse nine, he describes it here. Now, he describes it
in the following verses here in chapter one, and I'm gonna
come back to those. But just jump down to Colossians two and
verse nine. And it says here, for in him,
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. Now, bodily. What is he talking
about? He's talking about the sinless
humanity of Christ as Christ existed as God in human flesh
without sin. You see, Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is both God and man in one person. And He is the connection,
the union, the way that sinners approach God and find acceptance,
find forgiveness, find blessing, find salvation, find righteousness,
justification. How can I, a sinner, stand before
a holy and just and righteous God and be accepted? Because God is righteous and
I'm not, but God must punish sin. So how can I be connected
with God? How can I have fellowship with
God? How can I be blessed of God and
not cursed? How can I be declared by God
to be not guilty, to be righteous in His sight? And that must be
if I'm going to have fellowship with God now, if I'm going to
have blessings from God. Well, there's only one way. For
in him, Colossians 2.9, for in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. So in Christ as God-man, God
in human flesh, without sin, all the fullness of the Father,
all the fullness of the Son, all the fullness of the Spirit
dwells in him. And what that means is this.
It means that everything that God is in the trinity of his
persons, in His very nature is revealed, honored, established
consistently in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ
over in Colossians 2.10. He says, "...and you are complete
in Him, which is the head of all principality and power."
Because of the fullness of the Godhead bodily in Christ, That
is the honor and the glory and the revelation of every attribute
of deity. And it's summarized in how God
is just to justify the ungodly. Every attribute of God is honored. Every attribute of God is established
and revealed in the salvation of sinners who are complete in
Jesus Christ, Him crucified and raised from the dead. Now go
back to Colossians chapter one, verse 19. Read it in that light.
For it pleased the Father that in him, in Christ, should all
fullness dwell. Now why? Well, look at verse
20. Here's the foundation of it that
shows every attribute, the fullness of the Godhead, honored and established
in the person and work of Christ. Look at verse 20. And having
made peace through the blood of his cross, By Him, to reconcile
all things unto Himself, by Him, I say whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven. Reconciliation, that's a beautiful
thing. You see, by nature, we are all
enemies of God. Now, if you don't believe that,
just hold on to your seat right there, because we're gonna read
a verse here that proves what I'm telling you is true. By nature,
we're all enemies of God. By nature, we're alienated from
God. God must be reconciled to sinners
and sinners must be reconciled to God. What is the basis, the
ground upon which God can be reconciled to sinners and sinners
reconciled to God? Well, here it is. Christ made
peace through the blood of his cross. And that's reconciliation. Over in the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter five, Look at this just for a minute. He's talking about
if any man, verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 5. He says, therefore, if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature or a new creation. Old
things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. In verse 18, all things are of God. Now the old things
are passed away. Now what's he talking about?
That's a sinner's former connection with Adam in unbelief, darkness,
deception, and ignorance. You see, as we read last week
in Colossians chapter 1, a sinner saved by grace is one who has
been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into
the kingdom of God's dear Son. Well, if you're a believer, you're
a sinner saved by grace, you're not a self-made person, you didn't
become saved by your works, for by grace are you saved, through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, with us any men shall boast, for we are His workmanship,
God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
not because of, but unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. So the old things that are passed
away, that doesn't mean I'm no longer a sinner. I'm still a
sinner, but I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm no longer lost
in the darkness and deception of self-righteousness. I still
have self-righteousness that I have to fight, pride that I
have to fight, but I'm no longer lost, I'm found. and I've seen
the light. He's given me eyes to see, ears
to hear, a new heart. He's brought me from unbelief
to faith in Christ. He's brought me from being stubborn
to being repentant. Now I follow Christ. So all things
have been made new. I'm now a child of God. I'm now
a citizen of the kingdom of God. I'm now one of His sheep found
in I was always one of his sheep, but now I've been brought into
the fold. I'm not out in the wilderness wandering lost. Now
verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 5. All of that's of God. It's not
of me. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. You see that? That's
how reconciliation. That's how God and sinners are
brought together in fellowship. That's how sinners are accepted
with God. And he says, "...and he hath
given unto us the ministry of reconciliation." That's the gospel
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. Verse 19 of
2 Corinthians 5, "...to wit, or namely, that God was in Christ,
Now what does that mean? God engaged every attribute of
His nature, His character, His glory in the person and work
of Christ. Now that's another way of saying,
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
Or, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Now the word world
is an interesting word in Scripture. Most everybody, because of misinterpretations
and misapplications of passages like John 3.16, For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Most
people look at that word world and they automatically think,
well that means everybody in the world without exception.
But it does not. The context determines what the
world means there. Sometimes the word world refers
to nature, the natural order of things. Sometimes it refers
to the cosmos, the whole creation. But sometimes the word world
refers to the unbelieving, cursed world. Christ said to his disciples,
if the world hates you, John 15, 18, know that it hated me
before it hated you. You're not of the world. If you
were of the world, the world would love its own. He said to
his disciples in John 16, 33, he said, in the world, you'll
have tribulation, but I've overcome the world. So it doesn't mean
every individual without exception there. Doesn't mean every individual
without exception in John 3, 16. It means God gave his son
to bring his people, his people. those who believe in Him, to
everlasting life. And thereby He saves humankind
through the salvation of His elect, whom Christ redeemed,
who are called out of the world. Well here, we're told plainly
who the world is. Look at verse 19 again of 2 Corinthians
5. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Whoever
the world is here, It's a people to whom God does not impute trespasses,
does not impute sin. He doesn't charge them with sin.
Now, if God doesn't charge me with sin, then I'm blessed of
God and I cannot be lost. David said, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? This is the world of God's people,
God's elect. Christ's church, his sheep. They're
all over the world. There are some who are Jews.
There are some who are Gentiles. A people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. Not everybody without exception.
Well, how do you know? We'll look at verse 19 again.
All right, not imputing their trespasses unto them and have
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. That's the gospel
wherein Christ is revealed and preached. Verse 20, now then
we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Now here's the point. God has been reconciled to his
people through the blood of Christ. His righteousness imputed. The
question is this, have I been reconciled to God? Now, here's
what he said, be ye reconciled to God. Now, how can I, a sinner,
be reconciled to God? Well, look at verse 21 of 2 Corinthians
5. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. There's the ground of reconciliation.
Sin imputed to Christ, charged to Christ, for which he died,
was buried, and rose again. Righteousness imputed to his
people. Now how do I know my sins were imputed to Christ and
His righteousness has been imputed to me? We'll go back to Colossians
1. Look here in verse 21. Now Christ
made peace by the blood of His cross to ensure the reconciliation
of all things unto Himself whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven. I believe that's talking about God's people, God's elect
who have died and gone to be with Him and God's people on
earth. Verse 21, now look at it. Here's how, I know God has
been reconciled to His people, His elect all over the world
based on the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. Now,
how can I be or how can I know that I'm reconciled to God? Well,
look at verse 21 of Colossians 1. And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled. See, by nature we're all alienated
from God and enemies in our minds by wicked works. Now what are
those wicked works? You say, well that's got to be
talking about the immoral segment of this world as far as men see
immorality. No. It's talking about anyone
who does not know, believe in, trust Christ for salvation. My friend, you can try to be
the most moral, religious, sincere, dedicated, charitable person
on earth, but if you don't know Christ, if you're seeking salvation
by your works and not submitted to Him as your righteousness,
you're alienated in enemies in your mind by wicked works. Those
are wicked works, because they deny God. They deny His glory. They deny the fullness of Christ.
They deny His preeminence. It's a matter of pride, you see. That's why Cain was rejected.
He brought the best that he could offer, but it was wicked because
it didn't glorify God in the person and work of Christ. So,
now the question is, how can I be reconciled to God, or how
can I know that I'm reconciled to God? Well, he says in verse
22 of Colossians 1, in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight."
That's our justification before God. To present you holy, separated. To present you unblameable and
unreprovable, not being charged with sin. Verse 23, if you continue
in the faith. grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have
heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister." Do I believe the
gospel, the true gospel? Do I believe in Christ, who is
God in human flesh, by whose blood and righteousness my salvation
is secured under glory, That's the faith. And he says, if you
continue in the faith grounded and settled, my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. On Christ
the solid rock I stand. I'm grounded on him. I know whom
I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I have committed. Now that if there, I've talked
about it on this program. In fact, I had a whole message
I think I preached several months ago or years ago, just entitled,
If. You'll see a lot of if statements
in the scripture. This is one of them. If you continue,
a lot of people, I have some friends who claim to be Christian,
but they're not. They say, well, see there, that
if is a condition you must meet in order to stay safe. And if
you don't meet that condition, you'll lose that salvation. That
is not what this is teaching. My friend, if you're truly saved
by God's grace through the preeminence and the fullness of Christ, based
on His blood and righteousness alone, you can never be lost
again. And I know what people argue about against that. They
talk about, well, that means you can go sin as much as you
want to. No, it doesn't. It doesn't mean
that at all. There's not one scripture that talks about the
eternal security of the believer that gives a believer an excuse
or any encouragement to go out and sin, or to fight sin. And
that's the power of God's grace. But when you see an if in scripture,
you've got to determine one of two things. Because that if can
be used in two different ways. It can be used as a conditional
if. In other words, if you do this,
God will do this. And that's conditions. But you
won't find that in the scheme of salvation in the covenant
of grace. That's in the covenant of works. When God told Israel,
if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves,
that's a conditional if because that whole covenant, the law
covenant, the Sinaitic covenant, the law of Moses was a conditional
covenant on Israel. That's why they failed. And that's why we would fail
too. In fact, we have failed. When it comes to salvation by
works, conditions on us, we've all failed. It's not of works. We cannot be justified by deeds
of law. We'll fail. But the other way
that if is used is as an evidence, an evidential if, and that's
under the covenant of grace. That's the scheme of salvation.
And that's what this if is. In other words, you who were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works
have been reconciled to God. Now, who's he talking to there?
He's talking to those who believe the gospel and continue in it. That's the evidence that they
have been reconciled to God. Don't be moved away from the
hope of the gospel. What is the hope of the gospel?
It's the certain expectation of being blessed of God eternally
based on the blood, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the evidence that I'm
reconciled to God. That's the faith that God has
given me. It's not faith that I had naturally.
And Paul says in verse 24, as he was a minister, he says, who
now rejoice in my sufferings for you. and fill up that which
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his
body's sake, which is the church. And he says in verse 25, where
have I made a minister according to the dispensation of God which
is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. The gospel message
is sometimes called the gospel of peace. When Paul spoke of
the whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter six, he said, have your
feet shod with the gospel of peace. Christ is called the Prince
of Peace. And he's talking about peace
between God and sinners on the basis of his work on the cross,
his blood, his righteousness. He's not talking about being
pacifist. He's not talking about peace in the world. Now it's
true that believers strive to maintain peace with everybody,
but not without holiness. That is, not at the expense of
the gospel wherein the holiness of God and the fullness of Christ
is revealed. I want to be peaceful with you,
but I'm not going to speak peace to you or anybody else who does
not believe the gospel, who does not look to Christ. If your salvation
is conditioned on you, then I cannot speak peace to you. I've got
to tell you, you're lost. You're alienated. You're an enemy
of God in your mind. You may be a churchgoer. You
may be a preacher. You may have grown up in a church. You may have been baptized. You
may give your time. But my friend, if you're expecting
God to save you, to bless you, to accept you, to justify you,
to send you to glory, based on anything that you've done for
Him, I cannot speak peace for you. All of those blessings are
conditioned on Christ. Christ is, here's what I'm saying. If God were to judge me right
now based upon my best efforts to serve Him, I would be doomed
forever. But you see, God doesn't judge
a believer based upon the believer's works. I know people say they
do, but they don't. He doesn't. He judges a believer
in Christ. That's why the Apostle Paul,
out of his heart cry, said, Oh, that I may know Him, Christ,
and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Jesus
Christ. You know, somebody told me one
time in arguing against it, they said, well, doesn't everybody
have to give an account? Yes, we do. I'm gonna have to
stand before God and give an account. But what is my account? Well, the Bible says that if
I'm in Christ, if I'm washed in his blood, clothed in his
righteousness imputed, God will remember my sins no more. You know what that means? That
means God does not keep an account of my sins. He doesn't keep a
record of my sins. He will not bring them up again.
My account is Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. He's
my account. I stand before God washed clean
in His blood. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. I stand before God righteous,
perfectly, not in myself, but in Christ, who is the Lord my
righteousness. Now if you don't have Christ,
what is your account? It's your works. Revelation says
you'll be judged out of the books, plural. That means you'll be
judged based on your works and you'll be damned forever. But
if you have Christ, you'll be judged out of the book, the single
book, the Lamb's book of life. And it'll say this about you,
a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story. To God be the glory. I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. I don't have anything to brag
about except Christ crucified and risen from the dead. I stand
before God in the fullness of Christ. My friend, what else
is there? Why would you want to know, if
you know yourself, and most people don't, but if you know yourself,
why would you want to stand before God in your own fullness, which
is really emptiness? I want to stand before God in
the fullness of Christ, His merits, His blood, His righteousness
imputed, His grace, His power. It's His righteousness imputed
to me that justifies me before God. It's His righteousness imputed
to me that sends the power of the Spirit to give me life, to
give me a new heart. to be born again. I cannot even
attribute the new birth to myself. It's God. He made me willing
in the day of His power. So I stand before God in the
fullness of Christ. And those who do that, they've
been reconciled to God. They know God's been reconciled
to them from the beginning in Christ, blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. But now they've been
reconciled to God. They've come to faith in Christ
and repent of their dead works. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.