Turn with me to Colossians. Colossians,
chapter 1. And this evening, we'll be looking
at verse 14 down to verse 23. The Scripture says, "...in whom,
in Christ, we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sin." who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature, 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. And he is the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Lord, please the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell,
and have He 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. And you, who were
sometimes 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, 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." Now, the title of
the message this evening is Blessed Assurance in the Deity of Jesus. Blessed Assurance in the Deity
of Jesus. Now, the Apostle Paul, in this
letter to the saints at Colossae, has written this letter to encourage
them. To encourage them. These people
heard the gospel from this man Epaphras. Epaphras. They did not hear it from Paul. Paul had never seen these people,
these saints at Colossae before. He had heard through this man
Epaphras that they had faith in Jesus Christ. You can read
that. He said in verse 4, Since we heard of your faith in Christ
and love which you have to all the saints, for the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel." Therefore, to encourage these
believers, He sends them His desire. He sends them His encouragement
and tells them that He has been praying for them. He says, I've
been praying for you in verse 3. He said, praying always for
you. And in verse 9, for this cause
we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you. And notice what he's praying
for. He says, I pray for you and to desire that you might
be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding. Is that not a wonderful prayer,
that we should pray not only for ourselves, but every other
saint? When we think of each other,
this should be something that we pray for one another, that
God might fill us with the knowledge of His will. Not like these ignorant
men believe the will of God is. You hear them all the time. They're
saying that the will of God is for you to be happy and healthy
and wealthy. That's not the will of God for
you. That's not what He's talking about. He's talking about spiritual
things, that you might be filled with the knowledge of God's will
concerning your salvation, concerning Jesus Christ. Believer in Christ, God's will
is to save you. Is that not encouraging? Is that
not encouraging? It's God's will to save you. It was God's will to redeem you. It's God's will that sinners
should believe on His Son, and all who believe on Christ are
given true spiritual wisdom and understanding. We now see that salvation is
not by works. We see that salvation is by the
free, sovereign grace of God. Salvation is the work of God
upon the most unworthy of objects. and all who are saved by grace
know that we ought to walk worthy." He said, that you might walk
worthy. He said, I pray you've got understanding. I pray you've
got, that you know the will of God, that you should walk worthy.
That's the will of God, isn't it? That we who believe should
walk worthy unto all pleasing. All believers desire nothing
less or nothing more than to be pleasing unto our God, isn't
it? I desire that. That's the new
nature inside of us that desires to please God, and to walk worthy,
to be fruitful unto every good work. Is this not so with you? This is so with every believer
in Christ. Every true believer has this
desire. Have you been saved by grace
through faith in Christ? Then you desire to serve Him.
You know Him as your Lord and your Savior. And you desire to
seek and to serve Him. Let us pray then for this, that
God may give us the power, His strength. He said that you might
be strengthened with all might according to His glorious power.
Now that's a good prayer, isn't it? I pray to be strengthened
with the might of the Holy Spirit, not with the might of myself.
There's no strength here. There's no ability here to continue. Which believer has had doubts
and fears as to being able to continue? Well, that's because
we've trusted in our own strength to continue. I pray that you
would be strengthened with all might and power which is by God. Why? So that you might have patience. Look at that, unto all patience
and longsuffering. Who among us don't need patience?
Which among us have reached the point to where I'm patient enough? No. Who's long-suffering enough? No. We need to grow in these
graces. Giving thanks unto the Father
which has made us qualified to be partakers. Who among us should
be, are finished giving thanks? We need to give thanks. We should
be thankful for everything. everything. Is there anything
that happens to us that's not of our God and Savior's divine
will and providence? Then we should be thankful unto
God because He has made us qualified. Isn't that a good word? Qualified.
Meet to be partakers. I like this quote. He said, this
one writer said, where there is saving grace in any, there
is sufficient ground of rejoicing whatever their case may be. Isn't
that so? If God saved you by His grace,
isn't that ground enough to rejoice? If nothing else goes your way,
isn't that ground enough? That's ground enough. That's
ground enough. And so tonight I pray that God
our Savior would encourage you. I want to encourage you. The
Apostle Paul desired to encourage these people, and he told them
that he prayed for their knowledge and that their strength, that
they might be full, they might have joy and peace. Well, that's
my desire. My desire is to take this Word
that the Apostle wrote to these saints and to give it to you
as an encouragement. As an encouragement. Believer
in Christ. Hear this, all the success, all
the success of your salvation is dependent upon Jesus Christ
and not on you. You got that? All our salvation,
from beginning to end, is dependent not upon you, but upon your Savior,
Jesus Christ. And therefore, the Apostle encourages
these believers by giving them an understanding of the deity
of Christ. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Acts, the Apostles
when he preached the gospel, he said, this same Jesus, that
Jesus that walked among them, that Jesus that preached the
gospel among them, that same Jesus that was crucified and
delivered to Pontius Pilate, that was killed, he said, whom
you crucified and hung on a tree, this same Jesus that was raised
from the dead, God hath made Him both Lord and Christ. I tell you that this same Jesus,
whom you believe, is God of very God. God of very God. This same Jesus, who was crucified
and raised again from the dead, whose blood the apostles said
was shed for the redemption and forgiveness of sins, this same
Jesus, The Apostle says in verse 15, who is the image of the invisible
God? Believer, consider this. Your
Savior is God. Your Savior is God. Now God, we know, is Spirit. We know that God is Spirit. He
is invisible to the eyes of man. And yet we know this in Scripture,
in Holy Scripture, before even the incarnation of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we know that God manifested Himself to men. So how is this possible? In John
chapter 1 and verse 18, the apostle says that no man at any time
has seen the Father, but the Son hath declared Him. The Son
of God hath declared Him. How is it that the invisible
God is seen? How is it that the God who is
spirit, invisible, is made known unto man? Well, in Genesis chapter
18, we have the Abraham. He's sitting in his tent at Mamre. I think that's how you pronounce
it. He's sitting in front of his tent and three men come.
Three men come to him and he prepares a meal for them. And
one of those men is the Lord God. One of those men is God. And he tells Abraham of his coming
son, Isaac. And later on in that chapter,
they're walking to Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham's talking
to the Lord. He's speaking to the Lord. He's
speaking to that man. The Lord appears to him as a
man. In Joshua chapter 5, before Jericho, Joshua sees this man
coming riding on a horse with his sword drawn, and he says,
Who are you? Are you for us or against us?
And he said, Neither. I am the captain of the host
of the Lord. He said, Take off your shoes,
for on this ground is holy ground. Isn't that what God said to Moses
at the burning bush? You see that God is manifesting
Himself to men? In Judges, the parents of Samson,
Manoah and his wife, saw an angel of the Lord. And as they offered,
they were offering a sacrifice there. And the angel of the Lord
said, I'm not going to eat with you, but I'm going to commune
with you. And Manoah said, what's your
name? And I like this. He said, why do you ask my name
that is secret? And I looked up that word secret
and it means wonderful. My name is Wonderful. Whose name
is Wonderful? Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. How is it
that God manifests Himself unto men? He has always manifest Himself
by the appearance of the pre-incarnate Son of God. That's how. All of these appearances are
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter
11 and verse 27, He says, No man knoweth the Son save the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. And
to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him. So how is it that God is
known? How is the invisible God manifest
to men? Only through Jesus Christ. The Son of God. The Son of God. Remember that God is one God,
yet three persons in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. John says in 1 John 5, verse
13, there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Spirit. And these three are one. One God, yet three persons, and
the only one The only one who manifests deity to man is Jesus
Christ, the Son. That's the only way to know the
Father. It's the only way to know the Spirit. Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the eternal Son of God, equal and one with the Father
in power, in will and authority. Consider that. You believer in
Christ, remember, your success rests on this one. And this Savior of yours is equal
in power and will to the Father and the Spirit. This One who
saves you is deity. Deity. You remember when Philip asked
us, he said, show us the Father and it suffices us. What'd Jesus
say? He said, have you been so long
time with me, Philip, and hath not known me? He that hath seen
me has seen the Father. Even so did the Son of God, the
Son, appear unto men and reveal Himself both in the Old Testament,
and how is it that you know God? Believer, how is it that you
know the true and living God? Only by the Son. You only know
Him through Jesus Christ. If any man is to see God, he
must come by Jesus Christ. If any man is to know God, he
must know Him through the Son. Isn't that how you know Him?
That's how I know Him. I know God only through the Son. If any man... Jesus said no man,
no man cometh to the Father. How? But by Me. But by Me. Go over to Exodus chapter 33. This is pictured for us in the
life of Moses here, in Exodus chapter 33, beginning in verse
18. In verse 18, and he said, I beseech
thee, this is Moses, show me thy glory. And he said, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. And he said, thou canst not see my face. For there shall
no man see Me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there
is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall
come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee
in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover thee with My hand
while I pass by. And I will take away My hand,
and thou shalt see My back parts, but My face shall not be seen."
You see, Moses here was desiring to see the fullness of God's
glory. He wanted to see the perfection
of God. He wanted to see God's holiness. He wanted to see God's person.
He wanted to be the first. I want to see you as you are.
And God was so gracious not to show him, it would have killed
him. How many times have you asked to know something about
God, and yet He's held it from you? Don't you know that more
knowledge would probably kill us? If we had so much knowledge,
it would drive us insane. We wouldn't be able to comprehend
it. God is so gracious as to show us what we need. But He
asked to see God's holy perfections, and God said to Moses, you cannot
see My face. Friends, no man can make it in
the presence of God to come by himself. No man can come unto God by himself. He must have a mediator. He must have someone stand between
him and God. A daisman. And God says, you can't see My
face, but when I pass by and declare My name, I'll put you
in the rock, a cleft of the rock, and cover you with My hand. And
when I pass by, He said, then I'll show you My hinder parts. How else can we see and know
God except we be put in the cleft of the rock? You see, it is only
by God's sovereign mercy that He has put you in Christ before
the world began. You who are believers in Christ
see this, that God has put you in the cleft of the rock and
covered you with His hand. Consider, child of God, that
before He made Himself known to us, He put us in the refuge
of His dear Son, covered us with His hand and protected us, kept
us from all harm, all the while His divine providence
was working to the point where He would take His hand off and
show us His mercies. Declare unto us His grace. Isn't
that what happened to you? You were put in Christ and His
hand had covered you, protected you, and kept you until the day
He had revealed Himself. What mercies, what graces that
God has given us? He's revealed us. He's revealed
to us Himself by His Son. See, believer, that in Christ
our Savior is none other than God. And by Him we know. We know God. Verse 16 in our text. If you go back to your text.
In verse 16, notice what he says about your Savior. He says, "...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. Did you get that? Did you notice
that all things are created by Him? We got that. I believe most
believers really hang on to that, know that for sure that He created
all things. But do you know that all things
are for Him? All things in time and eternity
were created by Him and are for Him. They're for His glory. How foolish are those men who
confess Christ's humanity but deny His deity. Jesus plainly teaches us. In John 8, verse 24, if you believe
not that I am, you shall die in your sins. Jesus Christ is God. He is God. And this truth that
was hated by the Pharisees is still hated by lost sinners. He said, I and my Father are
one. This is hated by the world. That
Jesus Christ has created all things and all things are by
Him and for Him. Do you know even the wicked were
created for Him? All things were created for His
glory. All things will redound to the
glory of Jesus Christ. All things. In Philippians 2 and verse 6,
it says, Jesus, who being in the form, the nature of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Why? Because
He was God. He is God. And in Hebrews chapter
1, the apostle says Jesus is the express image and brightness
of God's glory. And He made all things. All things
are by Him and all things are for Him. Verse 17, And He is
before all things, and by Him all things consist. Isn't that
something? This world spins. You know how timely this world
has to spin and the orbit it keeps? Everything consists by
Him. The reason this world and matter
does not come apart. Now you're sitting on that bench.
That bench seems to be pretty solid. Do you know why that property
is so? Because God the Son keeps it
so. That's why. This world spins
at His power by His Word. This is your Savior. Your Savior
controls all things. All things. O man, who will not believe on
Jesus Christ, who thinks so little of this man, Jesus Christ, they
mock His death, they mock His Word, they despise His Gospel,
and despise His people, but I tell you, He is Lord of all! He is Lord of all. Our God has purposed it so. It
says in verse 18, And He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
He might have the preeminence. Do you realize that? That Jesus
Christ will have the preeminence in all things? That He must have the preeminence
in all things? Our God has purposed this. He
says over in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9, He said, Wherefore God hath highly
exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven
and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. You know every knee is going
to bow. Don't let these people who mock our God and mock our
gospel bother you. They too will bow. They too will
soon bow to Jesus Christ. Either now or in judgment, but
they will bow. They will. He shall have the
preeminence in all things. Behold, that Jesus Christ, the
eternal God, has come in the flesh and the Father purposed
He should have the preeminence that He should be above all things
and rule all things as the only God-Man and Mediator. Now, believer, let us consider
for your encouragement that God the Son has come in the flesh
not only as your Savior deity but your Savior's humanity. This should be comforting because
He knows what it is to be a man. He knows. He who is God knows
what it is to be a man. And this was because the Father,
having purposed and chosen a people, you, believer, He has chosen
you. Because He has chosen you. Because
He has loved you. Because He from eternity set
His immutable love on you, Jesus Christ, He gave you to His Son. He gave you to His Son. He purposed that you should be
holy and without sin. And the only way for this to
happen was that the Son should be made flesh. That the Son should come and
take union with our nature. Why? Because God has put you
in union with Him. He came to be in union with you
because God had already put you in union with Him. Notice this in verse 18, that
he is the head of the body. The head of the body. As the
head is preeminent over all the body and controls the body. As
I told you Sunday, I had to think about that. I had to think about
the mind and how the mind works. The mind does billions of functions.
It controls the hand as well as the internal organs. Those
things that are involuntary and those things that are voluntary,
they're all controlled by the mind. What good is the body without
the head? The head is the center of all
things. It does all things. Even so, believer, Jesus Christ
is your head and you are His body. And what good is the body and
the head if they're separated? There's no good. It's no good. Sometimes we say that. I left
my mind. I lost my mind. Where'd it go?
I lost it. Jesus Christ, I want you to see
this, that you are in so much union with Him, that you are
one with Him. Do you realize you're one with
your Savior? You and Him are one. One. Christ is our head and we are
His body. Go to John 17. Listen to what
He said. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. In John chapter 17, He talks
about His glory. He said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may glorify Thee. As Thou
hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal
life to as many as Thou hast given Him. Now go over to verse
20. These are the ones that He has given eternal life to. Neither pray I for these alone,
but them also which shall believe on Me through their word, that
they all may be one. As Thou, Father, art in Me, and
I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou
gavest me I have given to them, that they may be one even as
we are one, I in them, thou in me. that they may be made perfect
in one. Do you not see that? You've been
made perfect in one, Jesus Christ, because you've been put in union
with Him. You are one with Him. One with
Him. And because God has made us one
with Him, I want us to see a couple of things, and I'll close. I
want us to see that Christ is all in all. To those of us who
are in union with Him, Christ is all. He is all our wisdom. He is all our wisdom. How is
it that God may be just and justify the ungodly? No man can answer
that by words, can they? Only by Jesus Christ. Only in a representative man. How do you know that? Are you
smarter than everyone else? Is that it? No. You know that
because God gave you that. Because God gave you faith to
believe on His Son. Believer faith is not a frivolous
thing. Faith is a miracle. Faith is
a miracle. And if you believe, that is a
gift of God, not of works. If it was of works, you would
boast in it. How is it that you know Jesus
Christ is God manifest in the flesh? How is it that you know
He is all your redemption and righteousness? Because God gave
you that wisdom. And He is that wisdom, isn't
He? He is all our wisdom. He's our righteousness. We're
not righteous in ourself. We're not born righteous. We
were born dead in sins. Born speaking lies. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. How can
sinners be made righteous? The only answer is by a representative. By someone else doing the righteousness. Isn't that right? Jesus Christ
has accomplished All our righteousness. What's left for you? What's left
for you to do? Nothing. He is all our righteousness. Sanctification. Some men are
going around telling you that you must sanctify yourselves,
make yourselves become progressively more holy. No! Jesus Christ is
all our sanctification. He's all my holiness. Now, as a believer grows in the
grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, yes, we do mortify the
deeds of this body, but I tell you, that doesn't make us more
holy, does it? No. Matter of fact, as we grow,
we begin to see how wicked we really are. But yet, as we see
that, we also see how much we need Christ as our all. And not only is He our sanctification,
but He is our redemption. His blood has paid for all our
sin, and having made peace through the blood of His cross, to reconcile
all things unto Himself, even you." Isn't that amazing? Even you who were alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, even you hath He reconciled
by His blood. What is reconciliation? Isn't
that to bring us together? There was something that separated
us from God. It was sin. But now He has removed
sin. What then separates us from our
God? Nothing. So then, Jesus Christ is all
our redemption. All our redemption. See then, believer, and be encouraged
that your Savior is both God and man. that your God has put you in
union with Himself. And Jesus Christ is all our salvation. I found this and I'll close with
this. Go to Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 8. And I was
reading this in passing in my study. And verse 23, Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take
hold out of all languages of nations, and shall even take
hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go
with you. Who is that Jew? It is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Only ten? Yeah, only ten. Only the elect of God will take
hold of the skirt, the righteousness, the robe of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ and say, we will go with you. You can have all this world,
but give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. I'll take hold
of him and I'll go with you, Jesus. Isn't that the heart of every
believer? Is that your heart? Oh, my friend, you have a good
hope. If that's your heart, you have a good hope. Hold on to
Christ. He's all. And Stan will be dismissed
in prayer.