Well, may Almighty God bless
us, be with us as we turn to his word today, this morning. I want to direct our thoughts
to the second chapter in our reading, the epistle to the Colossians,
chapter two, and particularly verses nine and 10. Colossians chapter 2, we'll read
verses 9 and 10. Which read, for in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
him, which is the head of all principality and power. I've read those two verses, but
really today, There's just two words which I want to think on,
which hopefully will stay in our minds from the day, and they
are in him. In him. And you will have noticed,
That phrase, those two words, appear twice in these verses. Once in verse 9, for in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And then verse 10, ye
are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power. In him. I was on a training course for
work a few weeks ago, and in one of these icebreaker moments
where you have to say something about yourself to try and build
up some rapport, some relationship with the other people on the
course, one of the questions asked was, who in all of history
would you like to have a cup of tea with and a conversation
with? And, of course, people chose
different people they'd like to meet and like to spend time
with. I wonder if I asked you who you
would like to meet and spend time with throughout all of history,
who we might choose. And I was thinking the children
here, for you royal watchers amongst you who like seeing what
the royal family are doing, and particularly the younger ones,
I was thinking what it must be like to know and to spend time
in the classroom with Prince George or Charlotte. What it must be like to know
them as fellow students and to learn with them in the classroom. Now if you bumped into someone
in your life who was one of those students, one of those children,
Surely you would want to know what is he like or what is she
like? What are they like at school?
What kind of things do they enjoy? What kind of things are they
good at? What kind of things are they
bad at? Are they ever naughty? Do they
have to be told off? And you might think, well, what
are these people like? But then if you really got to
know this person, It might be able to pluck up the courage
and say, would you ever be able to arrange for me to meet them,
to actually spend time with them, to have that drink, that cup
of tea with them maybe, and to get to know them? What are they
like? And can I meet them? Can I spend
time with them? Well, we might think of that
of someone like in a royal family, we might think of someone in
history that fascinates us, that we're interested in. What were
they like? Could I have ever met them? But
you know, this is all the more important about the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is far higher, far more important,
far more glorious than anyone else who has ever lived. and
what in this earth? And we may ask those same two
questions about him. Who is he or what is he like? But then can I know him? Could I meet him personally myself? And really, that's how I want
to think of these words today, because we've, in a sense, got
both of those questions answered in these two verses. Verse 9
tells us who he is. What is he like? What is so special,
so unique about the Lord Jesus Christ? Verse 9 tells us that
in him, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And so everything about God,
everything that is true about God, everything that God is like
is in Christ. He is God. But then secondly, What is the
relationship that we might be able to have with Him? It's not
enough just to know what He is like, who He is. But can that
have any impact on you and me? And verse 10 tells us that ye,
the people of Colossae that He was writing to, but all of God's
people, ye are complete. in him. And so the person of
Christ has an impact. It does something for his people. It brings them into some relationship,
some blessing from him. So these two sides are seen here.
And so what is there that is in him? Do we know about him? But then what does it mean for
us if we are in him? And it's those two aspects, really,
that I want us to consider today. Well, we turn firstly this morning
to this first point, really, from verse 9. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And this morning I want
to consider really four questions, four vital points under this
heading. And the first is, is there a
God? Is there a God? That's a fundamental
question, isn't it? A vital question for us to ask
and answer. Is there a God? And then secondly, how or where
can we see God today? How do we know? How can we evidence
that today? Thirdly, what has this God done? What has he done? And fourthly,
what is this God doing? What is God doing? Now I've said already that this
verse makes it very clear, in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. It's speaking of Jesus Christ.
And so this verse makes it very clear that Christ is God. He is utterly, completely God. All the fullness of the Godhead
is found in him. And so I'm going to take it for
granted this morning that we believe that. And so when I say,
is there a God, or what is God done, or what is God doing, we
will consider it in the sense of Christ. What has he done? What is he doing? And so firstly, is there a God? Is there a God? You might say,
well, that's a fundamentally obvious question and one that
we can all agree on straight away. We're found in a place
of worship. professing Christians, at least
by our presence here this morning. Of course we believe there's
a God. Well, yes, I'm thankful for that,
but we need to just touch on the point. We need to be clear
what scripture teaches. We need to be clear in our minds
because there is so much that we hear today, so many which
would dispute that. So many which would give us credible,
it would seem, arguments to prove that there is no God. And so
is there a God? We say, well, we've not seen
God. None of us have seen God, and
none of us have seen Christ. None of us have physically met
the Lord Jesus Christ like people did in his day when he lived
in this world. And so we cannot take someone
to meet Christ. We cannot take them to Jerusalem
to find him and to speak with him. And we may sometimes wish,
why does not God reveal himself? People say, I would believe God
if I saw this or I did this, or if he made that to happen
in a sudden way, or if he suddenly spoke from the heavens or I could
suddenly see him, then I would believe. And we may sometimes
wish, why would God not do that? Why could I not see him? Why
would it not be so more obvious and clear? But we read in the
previous chapter, in Colossians chapter one, that God has revealed
himself. And God has revealed himself
and come in the person of Jesus Christ. Verse 15 of this chapter
tells us of Christ. He is the image of the invisible
God. God is invisible. With our natural
eyes, we cannot see him. And yet we're told here that
Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the clear one that
we can see. And it was displayed so clearly
in his life. that he is God. I'm not going
to go through all the events of his life this morning, but
we can pick out a few, can't we? Think right at the beginning. His birth. The virgin birth. And Mary was told that the Holy
Ghost would come upon her. She would be delivered of a child
who would be the son of God. A miraculous birth. And like anyone, ever, God at work. Yes, he was the son of man, in
the sense he was the child of Mary, but he was not the son
of man. He was not the son of Joseph. He was almighty God. And we see right there, at the
very beginning, that he is the image of the invisible God. But
then we can trace out his life. You can think of events like
the calming of the sea of Galilee and his whole command over creation
and over the wind and the waves. You can think of how he does
things which only God can do. Raising the dead, raising Lazarus
back to life, healing the sick, feeding the 5,000. Just on that point, feeding the
5,000, it was a very particular miracle. The people of the day
believed that the Messiah would come and would do something like
Moses did in the wilderness. Now, of course, God gave the
manna. God blessed the people with manna,
but they saw it as something that came through Moses. He was
the leader at the time. And they were looking for a Messiah
who would do something like that. And what does Jesus do? He takes
the loaves and the fishes and he feeds the 5,000, plus women
and children. He takes the multitude and he
feeds them just like God fed the manna. Again, it's the evidence
that God is here in the flesh. God is among them. It's the image
of the invisible God. God has come. all power, all
grace, all mercy, all compassion, all righteousness, all perfection
that is found in Christ is there showing forth those wonderful
attributes, the character of God in His righteousness, in
His holiness, in His mercy, in His grace, His compassion, And so he is the image of the
invisible God. When the apostle writes to the
Hebrews, he describes him in a very similar way. Of Christ,
he being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person. And so we need to have it clear
in our minds this morning that when we read of Jesus Christ,
we are reading of God in the flesh. And so is there a God? Well,
we see it clearly evidenced in the person of Jesus Christ. God has come amongst us. He tells
us in the Gospel of John, the word became flesh. and dwelt amongst us. There is
a God. Well then, we move on. Where
do we see? How can we see? Where is evidence
of God? Today. And again, we move on
through Colossians chapter 1, verse 16 tells us, 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. Creation is what we've been directed
to here. All things were made by him. And we just need to look around
us today We need to look at the beauty of the sunshine in the
morning light today and the wonder of the creation that we see.
And we can see the handiwork of God. We can see the wonder
and the beauty of it. We can see the order and the
way in which things have been framed and put together in it. We can see the wisdom of God
in things that we see and things that we don't see, visible and
invisible. Sometimes think, I'm no scientist,
and I don't understand all these things, but on a very natural,
superficial level, isn't it remarkable that there is air around us?
And air that we need to breathe is around us to sustain life,
that we can breathe. On a different planet, we wouldn't
be able to sustain life. without some whole lot of technology
and science in place. It's not there, it's not naturally
in place. Yet God has made this world in
such a wondrous, amazing way that we need to just step back
for a moment and marvel at what our God has done. All things
consist by him. And not just the physical creation,
the plants, the trees, the flowers, the air, the atoms, the molecules
around us. We're told that all thrones and
dominions and principalities and powers are also subject to
him. We see great rulers in the world.
You can read of great kings. You think of King Pharaoh of
Egypt. In the days of Joseph or in the
days of Moses, great kings with such power and authority that
they ruled over so many people. Come through, you think of someone
like Pilate and the Roman Empire and what authority they had in
the days of Jesus. You can think of great monarchs
and history of the world. Come to the longevity of our
own queen and of her reign. But all of these thrones and
dominions and principalities and powers are there under King
Jesus Christ. They're all created all under
him. And so he is the great king.
We need to just look out and recognize that nothing in this
world is by chance, nothing about this world is outside of God. He is before all things and by
Him all things consist. And so we can think, is there
a God today? Well, we can see evidence of that in creation. But another place we see evidence
of this, there's another C, and that is the church. The church
of Jesus Christ. Verse 18 of chapter 1. He is
the head of the body the church. And so the very existence of
a church speaks to us of the reality of God. It speaks of
God's glory. It speaks of his grace. What
is a church? What is a church? Church isn't
just a place of worship. Church is a body of believers. Whenever a body of believers,
when a group of believers come to worship, there is an evidence
of the church. And God brings his people together
in local churches under a very specific leadership and structure
as the scriptures outline to us. But that body of believers
come together and they are the church. And then there is that
wider sense of the church worldwide. Our brothers and sisters in Christ
throughout all nations and all languages and all cultures and
all places. There is this body, the church,
this unity in Christ. Now what is that church? What
makes them a member of the church? They're a company of sinners.
who have been saved by grace. They're a gathering of people
who were once outside, who were once in the world, who were once
far off from God, who were once in their sin, and they're a company
of believers who have known the power of God's grace. They have
known the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. They have
known the love of Jesus Christ to their soul, and they have
been changed They've been made a new creation, a new creature. And they've now got a testimony
to tell. And what's a testimony? Well, when we use that word,
what we're speaking of is really someone's story, you might even
say, or someone's account of what God has done for them. Now, if you've heard a number
of testimonies over time, At various occasions, different
times, you may have heard different people's testimonies. You will
have heard different stories, different accounts. And so they
would have spoken of different times in their life, or they
would have spoken of different ways, or different scriptures,
or maybe different sermons. There would have been great differences. But there would have also been
one clear, common theme. common thread. And that is that
they were a sinner and Christ is their Savior. That they are
not what they used to be. That God's grace has transformed
them. They're now a believer in Him. Now the church then, those testimonies,
speaks loud and clear of the work of God. They speak of what
he has done. Think of one testimony in the
scriptures we were reading at home this morning at breakfast
table of how the people when they stoned Stephen laid their
coats and their garments at the feet of Saul of Tarsus. It would seem to imply that Saul
of Tarsus was part of that authority that gave permission to this
stoning, the martyrdom of Stephen. And though he didn't lift the
stone himself, he organized it, giving authority to it. And yet
you just read a couple of more chapters into the Acts of the
Apostles, and here's Saul of Tarsus on his knees, blinded
at the road to Damascus, saying, Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? And then we go into Damascus
and Ananias comes and he's baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
And so, what a testimony. What a change, what a clear evidence.
And you know we can read a number of times, don't we, that at different
times before different kings or authorities or councils, the
apostle Paul repeats to them his testimony. Look what I was,
look what God did. And that in itself spoke volumes
to the people of the reality, the truth of what he was speaking. That God could be seen even in
what he has done in the church. The Lord has done great things
for us, whereof we are glad, says the psalmist. And he says
that the heathen will say, the Lord has done great things for
them, because they can see something of God. They don't recognize
it in its fullness, but they can see something of God in his
people. And so how do we know, where
do we see God? Well, there's just two points.
There's many more you could think of, but two points to think on,
the creation and the church. But then thirdly, What has God
done? What has God done? Our text has it, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In him God has worked. What has God done? Well, verse 20 of chapter one
tells us, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him,
to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him. And so what
has God done? Made peace through the blood
of His cross. we can think of God's great works.
The hymn goes through it, doesn't it? You know the hymn I'm thinking
of, and it speaks of all creation, and it thinks of all these wonderful
things, and it comes to this point, in his highest work. What's his highest work? I wonder
if your children can think of the greatest work of God, his
highest work. You go to the six day creation.
He spoke and there was light. He spoke and the animals came.
He spoke and the dry land appeared. That's a great work, isn't it?
That's a work far beyond what you and I could even contemplate
doing. We can't even imagine it happening.
Think of something like parting the waves at the Red Sea. What
an amazing work. manna feeding millions potentially
in the wilderness for 40 years what a great work the walls of
jericho falling down what a great work what's his great love of
god that he came to die at the cross In him is seen the grace
of God, that though his people were far from deserving it, he
came to save them. In him we see the power of God,
that at the cross he took on the whole burden, the sins of
his people, and suffered in their place. Here we see the fulfillment
of God's truth and God's word, that all those promises of the
Old Testament and all those pictures and types came to fulfillment
at the cross. Here we see God working in all
his glory and power and wonder in love to the souls of sinners. All the fullness of God is seen
in Christ. And it's seen in this highest
work, made peace through the blood of the cross. Reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say whether it be things
in earth or things in heaven. This seems to really be speaking
of bringing together all those who are now ascended in glory,
those saints who have passed on before us, those who are still
remain in this world thus far. Bringing together all these things
under him, all because of their glorious, gracious God. all because of the blood of the
cross, of his death in their place. Now you see this highest
work, a work that's been done, a work that's been finished,
there's no more cross, there's no more calvary, there's no more
suffering, there's no more darkness, there's no more debt to pay There's
no more sin to suffer for. There's no more. He said it so
clearly. It is finished. It is finished. He's done that
work. And so we speak of a gospel of
a finished salvation, of a finished work. That means that there is
no more to do. No more for God to do. Nothing
for us to do. He has made peace. He has made peace. He's not making
peace. He's made peace. Reconciled his
people to himself. What has God done? He's made
peace through the blood of his cross. But then our fourth question. What is God doing? What is he doing? Verse 21 of chapter one. You,
that were sometime alienated and enemies in your minds 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. And you. You see how we've had
Really, in the verses proceeding in chapter one, the truth put
before us. He's the image of the invisible
God. All things were created by him. He's before all things.
He's the head of the body. He's made peace through the cross.
This is, if you like, the preaching of the truth. This is what has
been done. This is who he is. This is, in
him, Dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is
telling us all about him. But we want more than just to
know about him. The apostle in writing to the
Colossians by inspiration of God knew that they knew more
than just about him. And you, he says, it's so personal
now. This is where you were. You were
sometime alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works. You
were far off, even an enemy to God. You were in your sin, you
were walking in the opposite direction. But now, but now, you've been
reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. You were alienated. Now reconciled. Now brought back. Now united. Close to him. You're reconciled
to him. How? How? Through death. You see, it comes
back to this. He's made peace with the blood
of his cross. But this peace has powerfully come to you personally,
he says. And you've been reconciled, you've
been brought back to God. And now you stand in this quite
amazing, glorious state. You are presented holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in the sight of God. Think of that. Think of that. Can anyone here say they believe
that they feel to be holy, unblameable, and unreprovable? Beyond reproach? Beyond reproof? How could we ever say that about
ourselves? And yet God in Christ, in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, in Him is everything,
is completeness, in him is all perfection, in him is all righteousness,
his people in Christ are seen as him, holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in his sight. This morning with the children
we were thinking, weren't we, a little bit about that picture of a rock
We thought about Top Lady hiding in the rock, writing that hymn,
Rock of Ages. Now, if you remember the picture,
you see that in the cleft, as you looked into it, you would
still be able to see someone standing there, wouldn't you,
from a distance? They're inside, but they're still there. But
if we can imagine more a cave-like picture, someone who's crawled
into the cave, almost like into the rock, and you can't see them
anymore inside there. All you can see is the rock.
But they're inside. Oh, that's a little bit what
we have here. You see, the believer, the Christian, it's like they've
crawled inside. They're in Christ. And all that
is seen is the perfection, the glory, the holiness of the Rock
of Ages, of Jesus Christ. They're safe in Him. What is
God doing? He did something for these people,
didn't he? Something quite remarkable, something miraculous must have
taken place here because they were once alienated. They were
enemies and now they've been brought back. Something has happened.
God has worked. The Holy Spirit has come. They've
been converted. They've been changed. They've
been reconciled. God is working today. He is still working. He's still
bringing sinners. He's still bringing those who
are enemies in their mind and alienated from him. That's the
very people he brings. This morning, if there's anyone
here who is trying to make their way to God, trying to get halfway
there, trying to become acceptable, trying to become acceptable to
God, You think you need to get so
far before the Lord will hear you. Hear these words. They were
alienated. They were enemies. They were
far off. They were lost in their sin and
God worked. God brought them back by his
grace. He showed them a savior. Showed them blood that has been
shed of the cross for them. He showed them the only way of
salvation and they were changed. They were a believer, had faith
to believe in him. That's how God receives sinners
today. That's how God brings his people into his church today.
That's how God works and has worked amongst many today. That's
a God that you might know and you might find. He works still. I often think of the However,
the good Samaritan on the side of the road was this poor man,
been robbed and stripped of everything, he'd been weakened, half dead.
There was nothing at all attractive And there was nothing at all
that the Samaritan was going to gain out of this man. He wasn't
going to pay anything. He wasn't going to give him anything.
He couldn't even pick himself up and walk with him. And in
fact, when the Samaritan man gets involved, he's going to
get dirty. He's physically going to be lifting him and carrying
him, at least onto his animal. There's nothing for him in it. And yet he came to him just where
he was. And that's how God works. It's
not because we bring something to him. It's not because we'll
add something to him in some strange way. It's not because
we can pay anything. It's not because we can even
pick ourselves up and prove how strong we are. It's because he
comes to us just where we are. He comes to us half dead. And
he gets involved. He comes to the soul and he gives
life and forgiveness. All the fullness of the Godhead,
all the wholeness of God, all the wonder, the power, the grace,
the love, the unchangeable nature, the all-knowing, all-present
God of glory. He is our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is who we need and we're told that in Him and in Him alone
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and so we
must look nowhere else and we will find such fullness and such
mercy nowhere else because it is only in him. Well, may God bless these thoughts
this morning from his word. Amen.