Good evening. Tonight we'll be in Colossians
again. Colossians chapter 1. Tonight we'll be doing two verses
instead of one. The reason being is that these
two verses really can't be separated. They're so connected. And they
continued the thought that Paul was bringing forth. The name
of the message is, Alienated Enemies Reconciled. Alienated Enemies Reconciled. It will be in Colossians 1, verse
21 and 22. And you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. We'll be looking at these two
verses tonight. As I said, they tie in together.
Last week we looked at verse 20 and it says, 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. Last week we saw that Christ
is the great peacemaker. He's the great peacemaker. Sister
Cara emailed me the next day after last week's message with
a verse that tied right into the message. It's found in Luke
2, verse 14, and it says this, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth, peace, good will toward men. And it ties into last week's
message so well that I looked it up just to see what John Gill
had to say about it. And he said, the Peacemaker had
come to earth. The Peacemaker had come to earth. And tonight we're going to see
the effects of the work of the great Peacemaker. The effects
of the work of the great Peacemaker, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's
look at verse 21 first. And you, he's speaking to the
Colossians here. the believers in Colossus, and
you, speaking to us too who believe, and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. Here before us we have presented
the Colossian believers pre-grace. pre-grace. Here we have presented we who
believe what we were pre-grace. What we were before we were converted. And this is the state of all
men before God, born into this world of a man and a woman, dead
in trespasses and sins. This is the state of all human
beings as a result of the fall of Adam in the garden. We've inherited from our Father
our sin nature. Our sin nature. And note the Colossians, before
conversions were, our Scripture says, alienated. And then it goes on to say, enemies
in your mind by wicked works. So they were alienated from God
and they were enemies of God in their minds by wicked works. And this is the state of the
Colossian Christians, the condition of all of them who are born into
this world. and trespasses and sins, alienated
from God, and enemies of God in their minds by wicked works.
This was my state when I was born into this world. And this
was your state. And this is the state of every
baby that's being born right now. alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works. This is the state of man. Paul points this out to the Colossians
so that they will have a greater sense of gratitude. A greater
sense of gratitude of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for
them. And if you're a believer, what He's done for you. What
He's done for me. The Scripture says here that
they were alienated. Who were they alienated from?
They were alienated from God, from Christ, from the Church. And they had no hope of obtaining
salvation by their own works. None. None at all. They sat in darkness,
in the darkness of their fallen nature, as we do, as all who
are born into this world, void of the grace of God. Void of
the grace of God. They did not know God. Turn,
if you would, to Ephesians 2. They did not know God, and they
had no hope. And remember, Paul shows us this
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. for us to be grateful for what
the Lord's done for us. And we'll see by the end of the
study, I pray, that we can walk out of here with grateful hearts,
we who are saved, with grateful hearts, because when it gets
to the next verse, it's incredible. It's incredible. So the state of all men who come
into this world. Look at Ephesians 2, verses 11
and 12. And we know at the first of Ephesians
2, it says we're dead in trespasses and sins. But look at this in
Ephesians 2, verses 11 and 12. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in times past Gentiles in the flesh. That's what every one
of us here are. Gentiles in the flesh. who are
called uncircumcised by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands." The Jews called the Gentile people
uncircumcised. At that time, you were without
Christ. That's our state when we come
into this world. Without Christ. Anyone who says
that they've always been a Christian, they don't know Christ. We were without Christ, Scripture
says. We came into this world without Christ. Being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world. This was the state of
the Colossians before they were saved. And again, it's the state
of all of God's people before the Lord saves us. He knows who
his are. But we are alienated from Him
by our wicked works in our mind. By our nature. We're in a hopeless
state before the Lord saves us. Absolutely hopeless state. And
think of this. One who is in this state has
absolutely no merit before God for salvation. None. Absolutely none. In themselves. They're in a hopeless state.
And all they deserve is hell and the wrath of God. We were at one time, by nature,
the children of wrath, even as others. So we see, as Scripture declares,
there's none good. There is none righteous. Before
God, we're all sinners. All of us. Before a holy and
righteous God. Alienated from God. Incapable
of salvation by our own works. We are helpless, hopeless, bankrupt
sinners. And this is the miserable state
of man before God saves him. He is alienated. And our text
continues. And the enemy is in your mind
by wicked works. Here is the cause of us being
alienated before God. It's our wickedness. God doesn't
save good people. Oh beloved, He saves sinners
though. He saves sinners. And it's our wickedness. And
we are wicked by birth, by nature, and by choice. The will is tied to our nature.
And when we're born, we have a dead nature. And that rules our will. People
talk about free will. Well, they don't really understand
that their will is tied to their nature. If you have a dead nature,
you will hate God. But if you have a new nature,
if you're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, you'll love the
Savior. You'll love Him before anyone
else. And you'll bow your knee to Him. But here is the cause of us being
alienated from God. In our natural state, we are
enemies, Scripture declares, in our minds by wicked works. Evil by nature and sinners by
choice, alienated from God by our wicked works. Romans says
this in chapter 8, verse 7, because the carnal mind is enmity against
God. Emnity. For it's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Now folks get mad when you say
this stuff, but this is what Scripture tells us. We are to
be truthful to the Scriptures and what they say. Turn, if you
would, to Romans 1. Romans 1. Enemies, not only by
our outward deeds, but at that time we had no communion with
God. No communion with the true God may be a false god of our
imagination, but no communion with the true God. Paul here
speaks of the Colossians as inwardly hating God as an enemy. As an
enemy, doing that which was contrary to Him, and His pleasure, and
opposing His revealed will. And enemies in your mind by wicked
works. Look at Romans 1, 29 and 30.
Being filled with all unrighteousness. Fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whispers, back biters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, and disobedient to parents, without
understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful. That was us. That was me. I confine
myself many times in that. before the Lord's Savior, who
know in the judgment of God that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them. I remember Sister Bonnie telling
us about a sermon Henry Mahan preached and how the Lord reached
down from the dunghill and pulled us maggots out of there because
that's what we are. And Brother Henry said we were
perfectly content eating that maggot food. And we were. We were. Oh, but there's good
news. There's good news. Good news. So our minds and our thoughts
and our reasoning did not receive or comprehend the things of the
Spirit of God before conversion. They were foolishness to us.
Scripture declares, but the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Talk to several brothers in the
church here, and we all look back and say, yeah, we didn't
care about God. We didn't care about the things
of God. He wasn't in our thoughts. And I couldn't discern spiritual
things until the Lord saved me. And I don't know much now, but
I'm learning. But I didn't have a clue before
about God and who He was. Oh, so the Colossians' souls
and ours also before the Lord saved us were darkened. Turn,
if you would, to Ephesians 4. They were darkened. There was
such an enmity before God that they could not be subject to
God. Ephesians 4, verses 17 and 18,
look what it says. It says in verse 17, This I say
therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk
not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness
of their hearts. As we go further on, it's sure
going to make you thankful if you're saved. That God revealed
to you and took you out of the darkness into the marvelous light
of His Son. Because that was our state. In our hearts we cry, will not
have this man rule over us, pre-grace. Because the carnal mind is in
enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be. And because we cried, we'll not
have this man rule over us. Maybe we didn't say that, but
we sure by our actions screamed it. And because of that, we had no
peace with God. None. None. And remember this, we who are
saved. Never forget the rock you were
hewn from. Never forget where we came from. Never forget where
the Lord took us off. It'll give you compassion for
others. Because just remember where we were and how we reacted
when someone talked to us about Christ. Praise God. Those of us who are saved have
obtained mercy. Mercy. From the time we came into this
world until the glorious time when God is pleased to reveal
His Son to us, we are alienated from God and enemies of God in
our minds and filled with wicked works. So our situation before
the Lord saves His people, we're helpless, hopeless, but we're
not innocent in that state. Like Brother Mahan was saying,
we're not innocent in that state though. It's not due to ignorance. But we're willingly in that state.
We're content in that state. We're content in being guilty
before a holy and righteous God. We don't even know we're in that
state. But praise be to God. He did
not leave us in that state. He did not leave us in that state.
And think of this. Not only was it impossible for
us to deliver ourselves from a state of spiritual darkness,
but we didn't want to be delivered. We didn't want to be delivered.
We loved the darkness that we were in. I know. I know this personally. Do you? But all the mercy of God in Christ. how vast it is, how deep it is. And if God had not sent the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts, enlightening our minds, regenerating us, showing
us our need for Christ and revealing Christ to us, we would still
be without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. So Paul reminds the Colossian
believers of the great change, the great change that God has
wrought in them, and it's God doing the work. And he reminds
them that they have received a great deliverance. A great
deliverance. Let's look at the latter part
of verse 21 and the first part of verse 22 together. Here we
see the great deliverance from the natural state mentioned in
verse 21 where we are alienated and enemies of God, dead in trespasses
and sins, Ephesians 2 says, but here we see the great deliverance
by the death of the great peacemaker, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
this. Yet now hath He reconciled, and then it continues in verse
22, in the body of His flesh through death. Yet now hath He
reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, here again,
set before us the great Peacemaker. Remember, we're enemies, right?
We need peace with God. And I'm here to declare to you
that the Lord Jesus Christ reconcile his people by his death. He did it all. Everything. We who believe like our Colossian
brethren, we're in a miserable state and we could not save ourselves. But here in our text, the great
peacemaker again, the Lord Jesus Christ, has reconciled His people
back to God. How? By the sacrifice of Himself
in their place. He died on Calvary's tree for
the sins of His people, and God is absolutely satisfied with
the sacrifice of Christ. Satisfied. The now in our text refers to
the coming of Christ into the world. Yet now hath He reconciled
in the latter part of verse 21. It refers to the coming of Christ
into the world in the time of His death and the offering up
of His body once for all. When peace and reconciliation
were completely made, there's nothing left. Completely made. at once for all of God's elect.
In the latter sense, it refers to the time of conversion of
the Colossians, when Christ, by His Spirit, regenerated them
and drew them to Christ. The Gospel was preached to the
Colossians. Hence again, the extreme importance
of preaching the Gospel. We must preach Christ and Him
crucified. Nothing else. Nothing else. Folks say, well, we need some
sermons on Christian living. If you hear the gospel preached
about Christ, you'll learn how to live. You will. You will. Oh, the gospel was preached to
the Colossians, and what happened? They received it by faith, didn't
they? They received it by faith. No one is saved without faith,
right? But faith is a gift of God. They received it by faith
and they trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. And once again,
we see the importance of preaching the Gospel. We were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son. For if when we were enemies,
We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5.10.
Turn there if you would. Romans 5.10. This verse not only
declares that reconciliation to God was through Christ, but
it includes another wonderful truth in it. That one commentator
said causes the heart of God's enlightened children to leap
for joy. Look what it says here. For if
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Now think of this. I was talking
to Brother Norm Wells last night on the phone. We start talking
about Christ and how we were spiritually in Christ, all his
people. Paul says, I'm crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live. Not I, but the life that I live. He was crucified with Christ is
the main point though, okay? He was crucified with Christ.
Spiritually, we were in Christ, all his people, when he died
on the cross. And we were in him when he lived
that perfect life. Think of this. He's the second
Adam, right? When Adam fell, we all fell in
Him. Right? We lost our head. We lost our
federal head. Christ is the second Adam. We're
in Him, we're made alive. He's our head, and we're the
body. This is our great King. This
is our great King. We shall be saved by His life.
Saved by His life and by His death. Oh, what a precious truth. Paul
has told us, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, back to our
text in Colossians. He told us last week, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, that the Lord Jesus Christ has reconciled
His people back to God. In verse 21, he applies it to
the Colossians in particular. Let's read our text again. And
you that were sometimes alienated and enemies of your mind by the
wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. See, it's applied
particular to the Colossians. Christ died on the cross for
his people. He came to save his people from
their sins. He didn't die for everyone, but
he did die for his people. and the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. So it is for we who believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. We were strangers, enemies in
our minds, workers of iniquity, but we are now Remember in Ephesians,
there's that but God. Oh, praise God, there's that.
But the Lord Jesus Christ in the body of his flesh, by his
perfect obedience, right, to the law of God, in the merit
of his shed blood upon Calvary's cross, he has reconciled us to
God by his death upon the cross. Lastly, we look at the results
of this wonderful reconciliation. The results. Now here it applies
to every believer. Here it is. Remember I said there's
good news? Oh, what a wonderful Savior.
To present you, the Colossian believers, all of God's elect. Here we are, years later, reading
this book, and this is for every believer in Christ, to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now,
remember what we looked at? That we were sometime alienated
and enemies in our mind by wicked works, right? We were in a helpless
state. We couldn't help ourselves to present you wholly in unbelievable, in unreprovable
insight. This warms my heart. First of all, to present you,
the believer in Christ, holy. The Greek word for holy is defined,
most holy thing, a saint. See, there's a guy who tries
to make people saints. He has no power to do that. Only God can make saints. Only God, and every single believer
in Christ, his elect, is a saint. A most holy thing in the Greek,
a saint. Then our text continues, in unblameable. Now look at this. The Greek word
for unblameable is defined without blemish. Now remember what our
state? without blemish, faultless, unblameable. Our text continues. It gets better. And unreprovable. The Greek word
for unreprovable is defined, that cannot be called into account unreprovable, unaccused, blameless. So those who were unholy are
made holy, cleansed from all their sin,
and separated for God's service. Those who are black with sin are made false without any blemish. That you may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2.15. And those who
were full of guilt, full of blame, are blameless in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Amazing. Nevertheless, we according to
His promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in
peace, without spot and blameless." 2 Peter 2 or 3, verses 13 and
14. I ask you, beloved of God, is
this not an amazing salvation? Is it not an amazing, wondrous
salvation that's in Christ Jesus our Lord? I ask you, sinner friend,
is there any other Savior known to man than Jesus Christ our
Lord? No. There is no other salvation
but in Christ Jesus and Him alone. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. The only way for we who are enemies
with God to have peace with God is through Jesus Christ alone.
And we must believe in Him. We must believe in Him. And that
faith is a gift. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Only God can do for this sinner, And for the sinners, He saves.
I have no ability. Before I was saved, I had no
ability to come to God, and I had no desire to come to God. But
praise be to God. He made me willing. And if you're
here saved, you know that's what He did for you too. He made you
willing. And do you not love Him now?
Oh, what a great God we have. What a great Savior! Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Salvation
is only in Christ and Him alone. And this amazing, wondrous salvation
is wrought out by God the Son Himself for the sinner. And only
He can, by the shedding of His precious blood, make the sinner
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. For He hath made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Those who are full of guilt,
deserving of hell, full of sin, all are made spotless, blameless, clothed in the perfect righteousness
of Christ. It's wondrous. It really is wondrous. It's incredible. He has so reconciled
us to God that we are and will be presented before God in that
day free from all sin. There be a day when we'll be
free from all sin, perfect in holiness, without one charge
against us. Remember? Remember what we looked
at? Alienated? Enemies in our minds? By wicked
works? And in the scripture says, holy, unblameable, and unapprovable
in His sight. This is a work of God, beloved.
This is a work of God. As a result of this wonderful
salvation we have in Christ, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? No one. Let people say what they
want. It's God that justifies it. My salvation is not dependent
upon anything I've done except my sin. I was a sinner, but that
didn't save me. I'm lost because of my sin. The only thing I contributed
was my sin. Scott Richardson said that. It's so true. Just
our sin. Christ has to have all salvations
in him. There's absolutely nothing we
do. Nothing. We saw in our text,
we were alien. We were enemies. And I know from
where I was that I had no desire to follow Christ. But praise God, I obtained mercy. Is it so with you? We can cry out, we who believe,
I obtain mercy. Mercy. Our Lord Jesus Christ was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, so that he could present
us unto himself, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. His perfect righteousness is
imputed to his people. and we are holy and unblameable
and unapprovable in his sight. The blood of our dying substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has washed us clean. Is this not mercy? Would you die for your enemies? In our minds we were enemies.
We were his children from eternity, but in our minds we were enemies. Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, our
dying substitute has washed us clean. This is mercy. This is
grace. It all comes from God in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's found nowhere else. Nowhere
else. People who are following Muhammad
or Buddha or Mary, they're going to perish in their sins if God
doesn't save them. There's only salvation in Christ
and Him alone. Only salvation in what He's done. There's no co-redeemer. It's
only Christ. It's all Him, or it's nothing. Isaiah says this, Isaiah 45,
25, And the Lord shall all the seed of Israel, being spiritual
Israel, be justified and shall glory. We are justified by Christ
and we glory in Him. We glory in Him and what He's
done. Turn, if you would, to Romans 5. The believer has peace
with God and he's justified by faith. Romans 5, verses 1 and 2. And then I'll have you turn to
1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Romans 5, 1 Thessalonians 5. Romans 5, verses 1 and 2 says,
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
We have. The believer has peace with God.
How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Only in Him. By whom also we
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice
in the hope of the glory of God. God's people rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ by His
death has reconciled the elect to God with His own precious
blood. It is finished. It's done. It's done. The work is done. And salvation
is revealed to whomever it pleases the Lord to reveal Himself to. And it will only be in and through
the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,
who has reconciled his elect to God. And let us think on this. I'll
read a text in Jude. If you could turn to 1 Thessalonians
5. And I'll read a text in Jude.
It says this, Now unto Him, and may this be comfort for the believer's
soul. Now unto Him, Christ, that is
able to keep you from falling. Left to ourselves, we're in a
heap of trouble. But He's able, able to keep you
from falling. And remember, our text talks
about presenting us unapprovable in
His sight, right? Jude says this. Now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power
both now and ever. Amen. He gets all the glory. And he's the only one who can
present us faultless before his presence. And the scripture says,
with exceeding joy, Jude 1, 24 and 25. Now beloved of God, we're
closed with this. When doubts and fears creep into
our hearts, and they do, and they do. Oh Lord, help my
unbelief. When doubts and fears creep into
our hearts because of the weakness of our flesh, let's give much
precious thought to these words here in 1 Thessalonians chapter
5. Look at this, verses 23 and 24. 23 first though, look at
this. And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the next verse, Paul
is moved by God the Holy Spirit to write these words which bring
great comfort to the believer. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. There is a place for us to rest. Faithful is He that calleth you
who also will do it. Those He saves, He keeps, beloved. He keeps them. Amen.