So the title of my message today
is, Who is He? Who is He? Who is the Lord Jesus
Christ? So many things speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ in Scripture. The Israelites collected that
manna every morning. And we know that that manna represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the manna from heaven.
Here's the bread of heaven. And we've read of that rock that
gushed out water in the wilderness to the Israelites. We know that
that water represents that living water, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the living water. He who drinks that water shall
never thirst, shall never thirst. These are pictures of Him. Pictures
of Him. That great story of Noah and
his ark. If you just tell me the story,
apart from Christ, that story is meaningless, really. We need
to hear of how Christ himself is that ark, and he places his
people in that ark, in himself. And that ark withstood the fury
and the wrath of God against the sins of men. It withstood
that fury. And those people inside the ark
were saved. And so the Lord, there's a picture
there, isn't there, of the Lord placing his people inside Christ,
inside that ark, for their safety, for their safekeeping. But the question is always, this
simple question is, who is he? Who is he? That's always the
question, isn't it? In John 17, the Lord said, this
is eternal life. that they might know thee the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Notice in verse 9 of our passage
in Colossians, Paul's desire is that you might be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Pharisees were meticulous students
of the Scriptures, weren't they? They were filled with knowledge.
And they were able to recite and memorize much of the scriptures. They had a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. And the Lord Jesus lived out
his life for more than three years in front of them, and they
never knew him. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians
was, in chapter 1 of Ephesians, says that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him. In the knowledge of Him,
not just historical facts, not just information about Him. It's one thing to know lots about
him, about the Lord Jesus, but it is yet another to know him. He can only be known by revelation. The Lord must reveal himself
to his people, and that's the work of the Spirit of God. He
reveals himself to his people at the time of his choosing and
in the place of his choosing according to his good pleasure. You recall when Saul was riding
along that road to Damascus and he was knocked off his high horse
and he fell to the ground and he struck down with blindness
and he said, well, he heard a voice. persecutest thou me? And Paul asked that same question,
didn't he? Who art thou, Lord? Who art thou? And the Lord, as
he always does, he graciously gives us the answer. The Lord
Jesus answers him, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. And in John chapter 9 we were
reminded a few weeks ago of that miracle of the Lord Jesus giving
sight to that man born blind from birth. You remember the
Lord Jesus spat on the ground made some mud from the spittle
and put it on the man's eyes and the Lord commanded the man
to go wash in the pool of Siloam. And he came away seeing, didn't
he? And the Lord went and found him. I love that. I love that
the Lord comes to his people and goes and finds his people.
The Good Shepherd, he's the Good Shepherd, that's who he is. The
Good Shepherd came to seek and save his lost sheep. He went and found that man and
he asked him this question, he said, does thou believe on the
Son of God? And the man asked the Lord, now
a question, who is he, Lord, that I might believe in him,
on him? Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? And Jesus answered, Thou hast
both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said,
Lord, I believe. And he worshipped. I believe. That's my hope for
us today, that the Lord would open our eyes and cause us to
believe and grant us the wisdom and understanding and knowledge
that we so desperately need. That we would say those same
words with a man. Lord, I believe. Lord, I believe. He believed
in a saviour. The man didn't believe in himself. You see, it's not about what
we believe about ourselves, it's what we believe of him. We are
just sinners and we need a Saviour. We need to be saved by His grace.
We have a need and He is able to meet that need. Who is He? Who is He? That is a good and
necessary question, isn't it? Our Lord has many titles, we've
heard some of them, haven't we? And every title is an accurate
description of the Lord Jesus Christ, a description of His
person, they are descriptions of who He is. In verse 2 of our passage he
is described as the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Our bulletin this week has an
article written by Angus which beautifully unfolds that title.
He is Lord. That is, he is God in all his
fullness. He is the Lord. And he is Jesus. He shall call his name Jesus
for he will save his people from their sins. And here's the Christ. Here's the Christ. Here's the
anointed one of God. Here's the one whom the prophets
foretold. Here's the Messiah. Here's the
Christ. Who is he? If the answer is not
in accordance with the descriptions we find in this book, then that
Jesus is another Jesus. If someone were to say they know
my eldest son, And they know him by name. And they describe
him as a short man with blonde hair. I know that they don't
know my son. My son is a tall man with dark hair. And he towers
over me. Religious people use the name
of God and the name of Jesus all the time. But how can they
say they know him if their description of him does not fit the descriptions
we find in scripture? just because someone uses his
name does not mean they know him. Modern religion speaks of a God
who loves everyone. God who loves everyone. I don't
know if you've heard that before. And there are many, many reasons
borne out in scripture why this just cannot be so. But one of
them is found by studying the book of Acts. In the book of
Acts, The Apostles address the people on nine different occasions,
preaching the Gospel to them, and there is not one single message
or mention of the love of God in any of them. And what is the
gospel that those apostles declared? They declared the gospel of Jesus
Christ and him crucified. If you look at every single one
of those nine addresses, that is always the theme. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.2,
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. And modern religion says that
Christ shed his blood for everyone. But somehow that precious blood
fails to save multitudes. These things are not the testimony
of Holy Scripture. The Scriptures know nothing of
a God who cannot fulfill his will. And the Scriptures know nothing
of a Saviour whose blood fails to save. In Isaiah 42 we read
these words, He shall not fail. That's the declaration of God
concerning the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And any message
that implies failure on the part of God or on the part of the
Son or on the part of the Spirit That message is a false message. False message. These are sober
things for us to consider. The Prophet Isaiah makes this
statement. He says in Isaiah chapter 8, to the law and to
the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them. There is no light in
them. This word is the testimony of
God concerning his dear son. And this is how serious it is. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light in them. The prophet didn't say
they had sunlight. He said there is no light in
them. We ought to be sober-minded about
what the Lord says. in regards to religion without
Jesus Christ. The Lord said in Matthew 7, Not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. And lest we think he is speaking
of some minor fringe group, Listen to these next words of the Lord.
He says, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful things? Many. And then I will profess to them,
says the Lord, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that worketh
iniquity. They used his name. They used
the name of the Lord, Lord. They said it emphatically and
they did what would appear to be many wonderful works. Outward religion, we ought to
be reminded, outward religion, however accepted in this world,
are not proofs of God's favour. Listen to the descriptions that
men give of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,
and the Lord said many will not enter. I never knew you. But here is that beautiful promise
from the Lord Jesus Christ. If a person truly knows the Lord
Jesus Christ, truly knows the Lord, that person will also be
known of Him. That person will also be known
of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
Good Shepherd. What a wonderful description
that is, I just love it. That is who he is. I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. And am
known of mine. I know my sheep, and my sheep
know me. I will put their law in their
inward parts, and I will write it in their hearts. This is the
work of God, the Spirit, in the lives of his people. Teach them
of Christ. They will know him, they will. and they will not follow the
voice of a stranger. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of the Father, which is in heaven. And who is
it that does the will of the Father? Who is it? Truth is,
there was only one, isn't there? There was only one that did the
will of the Father. There was only one that performed the law
of God perfectly before the Father. Only one that loved the Lord
his God with all his heart and mind and soul and strength. And
only one that loved his neighbour as himself. The Lord Jesus Christ
did all these things as only the God-man can do. on behalf of his people, that's
called substitution. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
substitute. That's who he is. He is a substitute
for his people, and that simply means, for you and I, that means
Christ in my place. Christ in my place. And if Christ
is in your place, in everything he did, you did too. When he
fulfilled the law of God perfectly, we did too. He was punished for
sin. And that is when God the Father
placed our sin upon the sinless substitute. Our sin was punished
in Him. He was crucified, we were too.
He was raised, we were too. All that he did, his people did
also. He did it all, didn't he? He
did it all. That's the declaration of the gospel of free and sovereign
grace. He did it all. And so there's
three words that can summarize it. Christ is all. Christ is all. If you go away
today remembering nothing, just remember those three words, Christ
is all. I love that verse from 1 Corinthians
1.30, which we print on the front of our bulletin every week. You
can see it there, maybe read it to you. But of Him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption. So the Lord Jesus Christ is all
those things. That's who he is. The Lord Jesus
Christ is all the believer's wisdom. The believer's wisdom
before God. The Lord Jesus Christ, when you
see that word wisdom in the scriptures, that's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is wisdom personified. Man's
wisdom is nothing but foolishness. Proverbs 3 says, happy is the
man that findeth wisdom. Happy is that man that finds
him, him. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
all the believer's wisdom, he is all the believer's righteousness.
His name is Jehovah Sidkenu, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our
righteousness. I love the fact that he's all
our righteousness. because the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ is all the righteousness I need to enter
into his presence. And his righteousness, truth
be known, his righteousness is the only righteousness God accepts. He is all our wisdom, he is all
our righteousness, and the Lord Jesus Christ is all the believer's
sanctification. Sanctification. He is all the
believer's holiness. The holiness we require to stand
in the presence of God cannot be mustered by you or by me. He has sanctified His church. He's the one that makes them
holy, perfectly holy before the Lord. That's the only holiness
there is. There's no increasing in holiness. There's no ascending in holiness.
There's no progression. in holiness, because the holiness
we are speaking of is the absolute holiness of God in Christ. He is our sanctification, all
our sanctification. I pray He is for you. And He
is the believer's redemption. Redeemed by the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God. We take away
the sin of the world. That's His title. The Lamb of
God. That's who He is. He is the Redeemer. Look at verse 14 of our passage
which speaks of this redemption. Look at those words. We have.
We have redemption. It does not say that one day when we get our lives together,
then we'll have redemption. It doesn't say when we've done
our very best, we'll have redemption. No, it says we have. We have the redemption to those
who believe on the Son of God for all things, to whom Christ
is all. We have the redemption through
His blood. That's the means of redemption,
isn't it? Even the forgiveness of sins. All sins of God's people
have been put away forever by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the atoning work of our
Saviour as our substitute. Christ is all. He's all. He's the fountain of all true
knowledge. He's the fountain of all true
doctrine. He is the fountain of all true faith and worship. And He's the focus of everything
we do here this morning. Absolutely everything. Christ
is all, in all things concerning our souls, in all things concerning
eternity, in all things concerning the will of God, in the knowledge
of God and in the knowledge of His Son. And in all the glory
of God, He is all. Christ is all. Look at the verses just in this
chapter regarding this. We see that in verse 16, that
by Him were all things, all things created. Verse 17, he is before all things
and by him all things consist. All things consist. Verse 18,
in all things he has the preeminence. Verse 19, please the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. And in verse 20, he is reconciling
all things unto himself. I look around this world, and
I wonder how that can possibly be true. How is it possible that
he can be reconciling all things when we are in such a chaotic
mess? He is reconciling all things
unto himself. He's reconciling his people back
to God, and he's done it perfectly and successfully. So when the
gospel was preached to the Colossians, many turned from their idols
to worship and serve the true and living God. But after a while,
as it is with every gospel preaching church, some came in teaching
that Christ was not all. Men who taught to some degree
that creature righteousness had some meaning and some merit. If you hear a message and you
go away looking at yourself, if you go away with your heart
and mind thinking about yourself and what you do rather than what
God has done, works have been preached. And when works are
preached, there is no longer grace. Grace and works are mutually
exclusive. They cannot coexist, that means. Salvation is by the free and
sovereign grace of God. The Gospel we preach is the Gospel
of God's free grace. Not of works. Why? Lest any man
should boast. And that is exactly what works
religion will cause men to do, will cause them to boast. When
works righteousness is preached to any degree, men will naturally
boast in themselves rather than in Christ. The Lord warned his disciples,
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which is hypocrisy. Just a little leaven permeates
the whole batch and so too just a small amount of works is enough
to permeate everything. Some of the church at Colossae
had come in preaching man's righteousness. And there were many different
schools of thought. There were the Judaizers. They were the Jews that had made
some sort of commitment to Christ that claimed to be Christians.
But they were men who wanted to subtly mix the law of Moses
and grace. Others came in who were philosophers,
and they wanted to bring philosophy in. They wanted to mix men's
philosophy with the doctrine of grace. Others came in, and you can read
through the chapters there, who practiced and worshipped angels,
practiced the worship of angels and celestial beings. All these
heresies, though, have one thing in common, don't they? That Christ
is not enough. That he's not enough. They rejected
the truth of Christ is all. Of course, they would not say
that plainly. They were crafty. These men are
crafty. False prophets say many things
in keeping with the truth. They spoke the name of Christ. They spoke the name of Jesus.
They spoke His name. They spoke of the righteousness
of God's character. They spoke of the righteousness
of the law and the necessity of the law to be kept. But they
believed we must have something else, some other teaching, some
addition, in order to bring us to God. The emphasis was never
on what Christ had accomplished. They were not satisfied with
that. They were not satisfied with the accomplishments of the
Lord. They had to bring in something else. And so Paul's inspired
to write this epistle to warn of such heresies and to remind
them who the Lord Jesus is. And that's our question, isn't
it? Who is He? Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? I want to focus our attention
on just a few verses this morning out of this chapter. If you look
at me at verse 15, The Lord Jesus Christ is the
image of the invisible God. Hebrews tells us He is the express
image of God. That's the testimony of Holy
Scripture, and that's exactly what God is, because He's God. He told them plainly, the Lord
Jesus told them plainly, I am. And that is exactly why the Jews
picked up stones to stone him. What did they say? They said,
you being a man, make thyself God. So these men were scholars
in religion. They were scholars, weren't they?
They were scholars, they knew their scriptures. but they were
totally blind to his deity. In verse 19 of our passage, For
it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. All that God is, Jesus Christ
is. All that God is, Jesus Christ
is. He was the firstborn of every
creature, begotten of the Father, heir of all things. He was from
everlasting. He wasn't created. He is the beginning of the creation
of all things. Look at 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. He is the beginning of all things
because He created all things. Before the first man, before
the angels, before the heavens and the earth were formed, He's
God. He's the creator of all things.
That's who he is. We often marvel, don't we, at
the technology we have in this age. I can pick up my phone and
call somebody on the other side of the world, and they can pick
up the phone, and I can talk to them, and it uses invisible
radio waves to do it. Man has certainly done some remarkable
things, hasn't he? But the truth of the matter is
that man created none of it. All man ever does is put together
that which God has already created. Our God and Savior created all
things from nothing at all, both invisible and visible. He made
everything and no one made Him. He made everything and no one
made Him. That's impossible, isn't it?
That's impossible for our feeble minds to grasp. He is the eternal God. He has
no beginning and He has no end. And that's our problem with understanding
God. Finite, corrupted, sinful minds
such as ours have no hope of comprehending the holy, infinite
God. It's too big for us. We simply
believe the testimony of Scripture. All things were created by Him
and for Him. Everything in this universe,
from the microscopic to the vastness of space, which contains all
the stars and all the planets, we can't imagine how big that
is. The beating of your heart, the next breath you and I take. Everything, at all times, in
every detail imaginable, is being sustained by His will and His
power. By Him all things consist. By Him. In verse 18 we read, Here is the
head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead. He is the Head of those elected
by Sovereign Grace. He is the Head of all those whose
name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He is the Head
of the Church, who loved us and gave His life for the Church.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave
Himself for it. Here is that firstborn from the
dead. Firstborn from the dead. He's
that one who rose from the dead by his own power, risen by God,
to an immortal life. He was immortal beforehand, but
he took on immortality. He rose to an immortal life.
What a saviour we have. If you dig up the bones, or dig
up the graves, I should say, of self-proclaimed spiritual
leaders across this world, what are you going to find? You're
going to find dead man's bones, aren't you? Not so the grave
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 2, Peter, in preaching
to that crowd, says, This is the one you have taken and slain.
God has raised him up. having loosened the pains of
death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
Who is he? Who is the Lord Jesus? He's the
risen Lord, isn't he? He's the risen Lord. Death has
no power over him. In Revelation we read, I am he
that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. and have the keys of hell and
death. The Lord Jesus has the keys of
hell and death. He's the master of hell and death. Hell and death have no power
over him. And so too, hell and death have no power over those
found in him. Death has lost its sting. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And why are these things as they
are? That in all things he might have
the preeminence. His name is above all other names. His name is made far better than
the angels. He was chosen and His people
were chosen in Him. He was God's elect and God's
people were elected in Him. He is the firstborn from the
dead, so too all those in Christ will be raised in Him, that in
all things He might have the preeminence. Verse 19, for it
pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. A truth repeated in chapter 2,
verse 9, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the all the fullness of grace, all
the fullness of saving power, all the fullness of the eternal
covenant by which we take part with Him, this is who He is.
All the fullness of God dwells in Him. In verse 20 we see that there is
peace. There is a peace. 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." I've met people who think that God is their buddy,
and they think that God is just some benevolent being that will
reward you if you are a decent person. What does the scripture
say? The scripture says, there is
none righteous, no, not one, all have sinned. There are no
exceptions, and God declares the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. By and large, this world has
no idea how angry God is with sin. God is not just angry with
the sin, He's angry with the sinner. People need to understand
that God is a consuming fire. Think of that. Our God is a consuming
fire. Sin cannot go unpunished. When a volcano erupts and it
flows out all that molten lava, the lava will flow down that
mountain and it will consume absolutely everything in its
path. And even before that lava touches
things, it ignites and burns. for anything too close. And men
have to wear special suits, don't they, to go to these places to
view and to photograph it. Friends, to stand in the presence
of a holy God without a covering would be like placing a wax figurine
in front of that lava. We need a covering. We need a
covering and the Lord Jesus Christ has covered his people. He clothed
them. He clothes them in his righteousness. And that is why the scriptures
speak of being in Christ. In Christ. Look at verse 2 of
our chapter. Colossians chapter 1 verse 2.
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. Which are a Colossian. Elsewhere it says, if a man be
in Christ, he is a new creature. And of him are ye in Christ Jesus. That's where our eternal safety
lies. God placed his people in that
covenant of grace for their safety. God is a covenant-keeping God. He will keep His promises. He always keeps His covenant
promises. We're the beneficiaries of God's
grace in that covenant, that great covenant of grace, and
the Lord Jesus Christ is the surety of that covenant. The
Lord Jesus Christ made peace by the blood of His cross. He is our peace. He's the Prince
of Peace. That's who He is. He's the Prince
of Peace. He will be called Wonderful Councillor,
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. That's
who he is, all those titles. And he is our reconciliation.
The gospel, this gospel we preach is a word of reconciliation. He has reconciled us to God by
his blood. I need someone to reconcile on
my behalf. I need someone to make peace
with God on my behalf. I can't make peace and I cannot
make reconciliation with God. I need someone to cool the wrath
of God against my sins. And in places, when you think
of it, in places like Hawaii, where that lava flows down, it
eventually flows into the ocean, doesn't it? And it makes its
way into the water and the water cools the lava. and the lava
is quenched. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of the living God, suffered the wrath of the Father for my
sin until it was quenched, until there was no fury left. And He
made peace with God through the blood of His cross, reconciling
all things to Himself. In verse 21, we see that in you,
and you, Speaking of us that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works yet now happy, reconciled. How have we been reconciled? Verse 22, in the body of his
flesh through death. In the body of his flesh. Through
death to present you holy, and unblameable and unprovable in
his sight. I've heard religious people,
religious men, express their disappointment in the Church
of God. I've heard religious men say
they are ashamed of it, they're ashamed of the Church, and there
are shameful things happening in religious institutions, but
the Church they are it cannot be the church of God.
Here's how the Lord speaks of his beloved church, holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Not because of
anything they've done, not because of anything she's doing, but
because of his doing. Because of his doing, prepared
as a Broride, adorned for her husband, The Church has been
adorned with His beauty and His virtue. May you be pleased to
bless these words to us today. Let's have a break and Simon
will be back with us in a minute.