Now, in Colossians chapter 1,
we begin with the 9th verse, reading through verse 29, so
we're reading 20 verses. And here is the essence of what
we were just singing, that we might know our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ. So Paul is writing to the church
in the city of Colossae, And he begins in verse 9 to speak
to them very personally. He says, for this cause we also,
since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and
to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Underline the word spiritual.
That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Boy, that's a challenge. Being fruitful in every good
work. That you might, I've lost my
spot here, be filled worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge
of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious
power unto all patience, and longsuffering with joyfulness,
giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet or fit
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." None
of us are born with this capacity. It is the gift of God's grace
in Christ to make us fit and to make us to be partakers of
the inheritance of God in Christ of the saints in light. who has
delivered us from the power of darkness. God has delivered us
from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son. In whom, in God's dear Son, we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now, you keep noticing that a
number of verses end with a colon, which requires us to see the
connection to the statement that follows. Here in verse 13, 14,
and 15, we've got three of them back to back. Verse 14, "...in
whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image Christ is the image of the invisible
God. He's the only God you will ever
see. The firstborn of every creature,
another colon. Now this long train of statements,
for by Him, by Christ, 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, He antedates,
He precedes all things, and by Him all things consist. Everything that is, is held together
by him. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning. Some human beings consider themselves
the head of churches. Baptists are just as bad as Catholics
these days. But this says that Christ is
the head. of his spiritual body, the church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
Christ might have the preeminence. Now, unless I'm blind, there's
not been a period since we left verse 9. That's all one sentence. Now verse 19, "'For it pleased
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell.'" Everything
is in Christ. Whatever we have, whatever we
need, it comes to us in Christ. If you ain't got Him, you ain't
got nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all. No matter how sweet your religion
smells, no matter how good it looks to the natural eye, there
ain't nothing there if it's not Christ. Nothing. Nothing at all. It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness dwell, and having made peace God the
Father having made peace through the blood of Christ's cross. God has nothing to do with us
except in a crucified, bleeding Savior. We can't be good enough
to be on good terms with Him unless we're in His Son. And
if I'm not in His Son, I'm on my way to eternal punishment. having made peace through the
blood of Christ's cross by Christ to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind, can you remember a time
when you were God's enemy? And Christ's enemy? If you can't,
you still are. You didn't come to the cradle
loving Jesus. I don't care what your mama told
you. That just simply ain't so. We love Christ only because we've
been born again. And that ain't the first birth,
it's the second birth. We are told here that every son
and daughter of Adam enters this world hating God. I do, you do. And if we don't ever know anything
about this, if this does not ever flare up into an obvious
problem that we can't turn away from, then we've never been saved. This is what salvation is. It's
being brought to the end of hating God, to beginning to believing
and loving God. And this is only done by grace. It's not some effort of our own
that we enter some kind of program and we think a lot of positive
thoughts and all of this other garbage. That stuff might work
somewhere else, but it don't work here. It does nothing for
the soul. The soul must feast on Christ. He's our only food and drink. Let's go to 21 again. And you
that were sometime alienated. One of the old hymns calls us
aliens. Alienated. And enemies in your
mind by wicked works. Yet now has God reconciled. Reconciliation. How are we reconciled? There's no punctuation after
that word that ends that verse. And the sentence continues, in
the body. Here's how we're reconciled.
In the body of Christ's flesh through death. The cure is the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. To present you
Christ in His living and in His dying, in His flesh and in His
blood, presents you holy and unblameable and unreprovable. in his sight, and that's all
that matters, his sight. If you continue in the faith.
Now most of us, at least to start with, in trying to understand
this book, we misunderstand clauses that have the word if in them.
And here's one that a great many have shipwrecked because of. We want to believe that it means
if we continue to do something, God continues to love us. No,
that ain't how it is. If God loves you, He loves you
forever. And sin couldn't stop Him because
His Son put the sin away. And justice was satisfied. This if is an evidence If you
continue in the faith, people who truly love God and have been
regenerated and born again, continue in the faith of Christ. They
continue to worship Christ, to believe Christ, to trust in Him,
to rejoice in Him. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and do not move 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, now made a minister,
who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his
body's sake, which is the church, Christ's spiritual body is the
Church. Whereof, I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which has been
hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory, the one and only hope of glory, whom
we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, striving
according to his working which works in me, This morning, I simply want to speak in regard
to the person of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. You know and I know that our
Bibles tell us that Christ is everything, Christ is all, He's
all our joy, all our hope, all our peace. You just keep right
on going. Christ is everything. He's all
we need. He's all we have. He's all there
is. So let's go back to this passage
in Colossians chapter 1 and just try to... I just got a one-line statement
in each little stop along the way, see if we can understand
better what we have read out of this wonderful, wonderful
passage. In the heading in my Bible, which
I normally pay no attention to because I disagree with him so
much, but he says concerning verses 15 through 19, the exaltation
of Christ. And I like that pretty good,
so I ain't going to argue with him this time. Alright, in verse
15, the very first half of that verse, our Lord Jesus Christ
is declared to be the image of the otherwise invisible God. God can only be seen in the person
of His Son, the Lord Jesus, and Him crucified. Without His death,
we cannot see God in Christ, but we see Him through the eyes
of the cross, who is the image of the invisible God. Now, I mean, even when believers
get to heaven, you ain't going to see but one God. And that's
going to be our Lord Jesus Christ. There are three Persons, but
only one God in the Trinity. Let me support this with another
statement in the next chapter so you can't have a complaint
about that. In my Bible it's just one page. Chapter 2 of Colossians
in verse 9. Speaking of Christ still at this
juncture of the letter. He was doing so in chapter 1
and now he's doing so in chapter 2. Verse 9, chapter 2 of Colossians,
for in him, in Christ, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Bodily in the human nature of
our Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder he's called the God-man,
Christ Jesus. There are many other verses we
could look at. The second thing is in the second half of verse
15, back in chapter 1. Our Lord is called the firstborn
of every creature. The firstborn. We won't take
time to turn to it, but you can find this on your own. In Genesis
chapter 1 and verse 26, God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit are having a conversation, and they arrive at this conclusion. They said, let us make man after
our own image. And that image is who? Christ
Jesus. Before time was now, before the
world was ever made, God, the Holy Trinity, speaks of creating
a man and establishing a race of people called human beings. So here Christ is said to be
the firstborn of every creature. The firstborn of every creature. Now, this is a little further
away, but Revelation chapter 1 shouldn't be a stretch, so
let's, if you're turning, and if you're not, you don't have
to, don't bother me. I might cry about it when I get
home, but I won't cry here, so. Chapter 1, verse 1. Revelation, no S on Revelation,
chapter 1, verse 8. Our Lord is speaking to the Apostle
John in this glorious revelation, and in verse 8 he says, I am
Alpha and Omega. I am A as well as Z, and all
the alphabet in between. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come. And who is He? The Almighty Christ. is nothing short of Almighty
God, the firstborn of every creature. Back in Colossians chapter 1,
this time verse 16, For by him were all things created. Now you have to admit, these
are staggering statements. But they are written in a first
grader's vocabulary. I mean, what's hard about that? By Him were all things created. Brother James said, it's not hard To read this, what's hard is
to believe it. Believing it. Believing it. By Him were all things created. Now there are more places in
our Bible that we can trace this to and find statements that corroborate
it and expand it and advertise it. But you should know this. You should know this. No truly
born-again person has trouble with this learned opinion among
men concerning how this world came
into being. They want to tell us every little
theory under the sun except the one that God made it. God in
Christ made it. And if you're a believer, that
ought to tickle you to death. This is His world. But what about
all the bad going on everywhere you look? Whatever's taking place,
God either causes it to come to be, or He lets it be. Either He's the author of it,
Or they do it with his permission. The devil can't do anything unless
God gives him permission. He wanted to work on old Job,
and he couldn't do a thing until God said, alright, have at it. And he did. He did. Now look, if our God's not in
control of everything, you ought to be scared slap to death. If He's not in charge of everything,
you tell me who is, because that's who God is. God rules this world and all
things in it, without question. All right, let's move on. The
next one is in verse 16 as well. All things were created by Him
and for Him. This world was created to make
it a stage on which the gospel of God's grace has been playing
since day one, and will continue to play until the last day this
world stands. That's the whole purpose of creation.
It's the whole purpose of making man. It's the whole purpose of
God allowing us to fall in a federal head and Adam in the Garden of
Eden. All of these things are God's purpose, or they could
not be. Well, preacher, I don't think God does
such things. Well, I tell you what, He does
some things that would curl our hair if we wanted to run through
this Bible and show you a few of them. All kind of people in the Bible
found out who God is, and they had some things to say that were
quite disturbing to a lot of folks. God made this world for His Son,
the God-Man, Mediator, Jesus Christ the Lord. Let me read
it to you out of Ephesians chapter 1, right back to our left just
a little bit. Ephesians 1, verses 22 and 23. It's amazing how many statements
there are in our Bibles. Alright, Ephesians 1, 22 and
23, "...and has put all things under His," that is, Christ's
feet, and gave Christ to be the head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the church is Christ's body, the fullness
of Him that fills all in all." Everything God's doing in this
whole wide world, He's doing it through His Son. All right, we go back again to
chapter 1 in Colossians, and if I had the right turn here,
I'd go to it as well. Let's see. I missed my place. Pardon me. I think my wife's been messing
with my Bible. Colossians chapter 1. Oh, I couldn't resist that, baby. Verse 17, speaking of Christ, and He is
before all things. Nothing existed before Christ. He is before all things, and
by Him, All things consist. All things are held together. The Lord Jesus is the sole mediator
between creation and creation's God. He is the God-man, Christ
Jesus. Now, if you don't know this verse,
write it down. 1 Timothy 2.5. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. He's the only mediator. No priest, no preacher, no bunch
of preachers. No organization of men, no matter
how big and how influential. These things cannot come between
the sinner and God. Christ alone is our God-man mediator. Then also in verse 17, back in
chapter 1 of Colossians, we learn that by him all things consist. All things consist. Now we go
to verse 18, and number 6 in our list. 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. No competition, preeminence.
He is the head of the body, the church. In Ephesians chapter
5, I'm going back to the left again, Ephesians chapter 5, You should be well familiar with
these statements. Verses 30 and 31 in Ephesians
chapter 5. For we, Paul and the believers
to whom he writes, we are members of his body, Christ's body, of
his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
the two of them shall be one flesh." But listen, don't get sidetracked
now. This is a great mystery. But
Paul says, I'm really talking about Christ in the church. You
know what he says? This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. So this whole passage has been
leading up to this statement. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is his bride. His bride. So he's the head of his body,
the church. Well, if you know much about
local churches, you know that with almost no exceptions, somebody
that is still walking around breathing runs that congregation.
Went to a conference one time. They were going to tell preachers
how you could stay as long as you wanted to at any given church.
There was a Southern Baptist meeting, too, back in the early
seventies. And here's what they said. Find
out who the Indians are and who the chiefs are, and you cater
to the chiefs, and you can stay as long as you want to. If that doesn't smell, I don't
know why. That is not right. And that's
how it is. I'm sure I done been on the butt
end of that several times. But that ain't God's way of doing
business. I mean, whoever runs whatever
church, help yourself. God and the gospel ever leave
this place, I care not one single second what happens to it. It
would be alright for me if it burnt down. It's without purpose if God is
not among us. Lord, if you just want a Baptist
church, you can find them any road you want to take from here. And they're all alike. Methodist,
Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, you know, just whatever
you want. It's all the same. It's the same
gospel. You do something and then God
will do something for you. Verse 18, Christ is said to be
the firstborn from the dead. The firstborn from the dead. I'm making sure that's where
that statement is, and it is. Oh, let me see. I've got a little
extra time. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. And let me read you sort of a
short passage. It's more than two or three verses,
but it's fairly short. 1 Corinthians 15. Now if our Lord is the firstborn
from the dead, and he is, I want you to listen to the following
verses beginning at verse 12 in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is
no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yes,
and we are found false witnesses of God, because we've testified
of God that he's raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
Christ is not raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, and you are still in your sins, without a
Savior, without forgiveness, without the gospel. Then they
also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's
at his coming." The firstborn from the dead. But I want to stick with the
same chapter we're in and progress one other verse to verse 19 in
Colossians chapter 1. And speak of our Lord Jesus Christ
in His offices as mediator. Christ as our mediator. They are called, it's a little
bit difficult, they are called His mediatorial offices. You know them as prophet and
priest and king. Christ describes in terms of
his office as our mediator, and in verse 19 we have the first
one, it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. All of God's fullness dwells
in Christ. Let me put it another way. There
ain't no more God any place else than what is residing right this
moment in our Lord Jesus Christ. He's all God. He's all God. How about turning to John 17
for a little bit? Let me read you two or three
verses and apply them to what it is we're considering here
at the present moment, that in Christ all the divine fullness
dwells. Now, John 17 is the mediatorial
prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you know that other little
short one where the disciples said, Lord teach us to pray.
That's not, I know your Bible might say it's the Lord's Prayer,
but it isn't. It is Christ teaching his disciples
to pray, and here Christ himself is interceding. In the whole
chapter now, John 17. So in verses Oh, let's start at verse 2 and
go through verse 6, and we'll see this, I think, fairly clearly. The Lord Jesus is speaking to
His Father in heaven, as you have given Him, speaking of Himself,
power over all flesh. God has given Christ power over
all flesh. That He should give eternal life
to whom? To as many as the Father gave
Him in that election of grace in old eternity. Now, that ain't
rocket science. That ain't hard to understand. But our old nature don't like
what it says. It says that God doesn't have
favorites. That God saves whom He will.
And we say, no, that's not fair. I'm better than most people I
know, and so I think God would like to have me." No, He wouldn't. Is pride not a sin? Arrogance
not a sin? We get right by ourselves and
look at ourselves in the mirror, we might describe ourselves differently
than we do when we're in certain company. You understand? You
have given Him power over all flesh. Now watch this, that he
should give, it is a gift, that he should give eternal life to
as many as the Father has given him. And this is life eternal.
Here is the definition of eternal life. That they might know you,
the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified,
Christ speaking in the first person, I have glorified you
on the earth, I have finished the work which you gave me to
do." And then again on the cross, in chapter 19 of John, in verse
30, one of his last statements, next to the last, probably the
sixth one, he said in a loud voice, he cried, it is finished. Finished. Here it is, I've finished
the work you gave me to do. And now, oh Father, Verse 5,
John 17, glorify you me with your own self, with the glory
which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested your name unto
the men which you gave them me, and they have kept your word."
Oh, what glorious words indeed. You see, this wonderful fullness
of our Lord in his office as mediator is both literal in regard
to whatever goes on on this earth, Christ rules all things, it is
true not only literally but spiritually, our Lord superintends and causes
his gospel to save whomever he pleases. He doesn't ask our permission
and he doesn't ask our help. And this is also true eternally. Christ is the one mediator between
God and men. Alright, we go back in the chapter
to verse 14. Still in Colossians chapter 1. Verse 14 in Colossians 1, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. This is everywhere to be found
on the pages of the New Testament and plenty of places in the Old,
that Christ is the Redeemer. Surely you know this chapter,
Ephesians 1, verses 7 through 12, is describing to us this
One whom verse 6 had said, we are accepted in the Beloved and
His redemptive work. is in those verses in chapter
1 of Ephesians, from verse 7 to verse 12, in whom we have redemption. And if he has redeemed us, it
is forever. Forever. Cannot be changed. in whom we have redemption. Now back to verse 20 in Colossians
chapter 1, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things
to himself. By him, I say. He says it once
and he says it again. I say. Oh, let's see. I've got too many
scriptures here. The book of Acts, chapter 13.
That will work. I don't care how many times I've
read it to you, I want to read it one more time. Chapter 13. By Him I say." Here's a wonderful
restatement of that in Paul's message here in Acts chapter
13. He's been kicked out of a few
places, and if you tell the truth about God and the truth about
Christ and the truth about religious people, you'll find the same
experience goes for you in most places in our day. Let's start
at verse 38 in Acts chapter 13. It's like a summation here in
the middle of the chapter. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, Christ Jesus the Lord,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. It's the only place
you can get rid of sin. is in our Redeemer, in His blood,
in His death, in His life. And by Him, by Christ, that's
what brings us to this verse now is because we have that statement
in verse 20 of Colossians chapter 1. By Him, I say. So here's that
same language. And by Him, all that believe
are justified from all things. Boy, if that isn't open-ended,
I don't know what is. Well, suppose I backslide. There's no mention of that here. Do you think when the Lord saves
a person, He doesn't know what that future will be? And what
our past has been? Surely He's not looking to us
to make the difference. No, it is Christ and His grace,
God's grace in Him. And by Him, verse 39, Acts 13,
by Him, all that believe, everyone that believes, are justified
from all things. Ah, preacher, you ain't talking
about murder. Well, I think David murdered a fellow, don't you?
And a couple of other guys in the Scriptures. could be said
to have done the same thing. And He saved them. You reckon God's still operating
on the same principles He was back then? If He's God He is. He cannot change. There's no
need to change. It's ultimate perfection from
start to finish. By Him, all that believe are
justified from all things. from which you could not, nobody
could be justified by the law of Moses. You know why? The law can tell us what we ought
to be and what God requires us to be, but it has no power to
help us become that. But the gospel bids a sinner
live. And that life is everlasting. We have a wonderful gospel. Well, that's enough.