Would you open your Bibles to
Colossians chapter 1? I'm just so happy to be here with
you. Great blessing to me. Colossians chapter 1. I've entitled the message, Who
is Jesus Christ? With regard to preaching upon
this, I feel like I'm certain to fail in describing Him as
He ought to be described. I feel certain of that, but I
do have the hope that the Lord's Word never returns unto Him void. We rejoice in that. And I also
think what could possibly be considered that's more important
than this. Who is Jesus Christ? You see,
what we believe is determined by who we believe. I find out who He is and everything
becomes obvious. Who is Jesus Christ? He was prophesied in Isaiah chapter
9, verse 6, unto us a child is born, but unto us a son is given. That son was not born. He's the eternal son of God. He was the light in creation
story that was spoken of before the creation of the sun or the
moon. Light be! Light was. He was promised as the seed of
woman who would crush the serpent's head. Upon his birth, the heavenly
host sang out, Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. He grew up in obscurity,
working in a carpenter's shop. Yet, as the Scripture says, growing
in wisdom and stature, in favor with men and with God. And I love to think of those
30 years that we know so little about. The Father looked upon
his son. This is the son of my love. This is the son in whom I am
well pleased. Oh, for 30 years the father looked
upon his son and he was so pleased. I think it's amazing to think
of people who just didn't get it. God was walking in their
midst and they had no idea. After 30 years, he left the carpenter
shop and he began to preach. And he began to say things men
had never heard before. Hold your finger there in Colossians
1. We're going to get to it in a minute, but turn to Luke chapter
4. I love this passage of scripture. This is the opening of his public
ministry. Verse 16. And he came to Nazareth. Now this is the opening of his
public ministry. He came back to Nazareth, where he had been
brought up. And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for it to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. And he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering
of sight to the blind. to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And I have
no doubt that everybody in that room knew he was talking about
himself. And he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. I bet you
could have heard a pin drop. He began to say unto them, this
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Along with his preaching, he
did things that only God can do. He controlled the weather. There
was a raging storm and the waves coming into the ship, and he
said, peace, be still. And there was a great calm. He controlled the animal kingdom.
Fish get into the net. They got into the net. He brought
matter into existence into the universe that had not been there
before. Only God can do that when He
created bread. He was one the demons trembled
in fear as they saw it. We know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. They couldn't make a move from
one place to another without His permission. Suffer us to
enter into the herd of swine. And Jesus gave them leave. They
couldn't make a move without Him. He healed the sick. He gave sight. to the blind,
and on at least three different occasions, he raised the dead.
He may have done it more, but there's only three times it's
recorded. He went about doing good, and
yet men hated him. Many good works have I shown
you of my Father. Do you stone me? For good work
stone we thee not, but for blasphemy. For thou, being a man, makest
thyself God." What men became upset with were the claims he
made concerning himself. You know, when the crowd cried
out as he was on the way to the cross, Hosanna! Blessed be the
King that cometh in the name of the Lord! The Pharisee said,
Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he replied, if these should
hold their peace, even the very stones would immediately dry
out. He was falsely accused and arrested,
and even at that time, he let them know he was no victim. They
came and he said, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And almighty power forced him
back and knocked him down. This is the great I am that I
am speaking. When he's brought before Pilate,
Pilate doesn't know what to think of him. His wife had warned him
about him. I've suffered many things because
of this man in a dream. And he was so confused. Why don't you defend yourself?
He said, Speakest thou not to me? Don't you know that I have
power to release you and I've got power to let you go?" And
he said, you could have no power at all over me, except it were
given thee from above. He had no power to release him
because he'd come to die. That was his purpose for coming. He's nailed to a cross. He had a nervous system like
you and I do. I can't even imagine the pain
that he experienced at that time. But I love to think of what he
said while he was nailed to the cross. Father, forgive them. Do you reckon there was anybody
he prayed for that the Father failed to forgive? Not on your
life. Everybody he prayed for, the
Father forgave. This was no generic prayer. Woman,
he said as he saw his mother at the foot of the cross. Can
you imagine if you were crucified and your mom watching it? Oh,
I can't even imagine what that would have been like. But he
said, woman, behold thy son. And then he said to John, behold
thy mother. And then darkness covers the
earth. It wasn't a solar eclipse. God
put the lights out to let us know that we don't really much
know what was going on at this time. We can't really much understand
darkness. But at that time, this one cried,
My God! My God, why hast thou forsaken
me?" He, at this time, was bearing the full equivalent of hell. And God turned the lights out.
He couldn't call Him, My Father, at this time. My God, this is
when He was made sin for His people. He could say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He could look at that thief and
say, after that thief said, Lord, remember me when you come in
your kingdom. He could say, today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. I think of him saying, I thirst. Was there ever any
thirst like this thirst? And then he said, it is finished. You know what that means? That means there's nothing for
you to do It is finished. He bowed his head, and at that
time, he gave death permission to God. Gave up the ghost, saying,
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And the Son of God
died. Now, to me, this is one of the
great mysteries of the gospel. How can the God-man die? He's
God! He's man! How can he die? I don't
know. But he did. He did. When he died, something different
took place, though, from anybody else. You see, when he died,
his body never went through the process of decay. Did you know
that? He said, thou will not suffer thy holy one to see corruption.
You know why? Because the moment of his death,
all of God's elect were justified. Completely justified without
guilt before God. They took that lifeless body
down from the cross. What happened during those three
days? I don't know. I know that when he died, the
rocks were I know that when he died, there were graves that
were opened, and people walked out of them. I don't know how
all that happened, but it did, to show us that his death is
what opens up our graves. And the veil of the temple was
ripped in two, from the top to the bottom, showing us the way
into the holiest was now open. Three days later, I love to think
of him being in the tomb actually dead and all of a sudden open
his eyes and he's alive. And he walks out of the tomb
and he shows himself alive to his disciples for 40 days by
many infallible proofs. And then he ascended back into
heaven in a cloud out of their sight. I repeat, who is Jesus? Now look in Colossians chapter
1, in verse 15, it says regarding him, who is the image of the
invisible God. The writer to the Hebrews says
that he's the one by whom God had spoken, who being the brightness
of God's glory. That's who he is. the brightness
of God's glory, the express image of His person, upholding all
by the Word of His power. He is the substance, He is the
essence of all that God is. What does God look like? Jesus Christ. God is Spirit. God is invisible
and Jesus Christ is the visible representation of God. He is the sole representative
of the being and the character of God. That's who He is. He's not like God. He's not like
God at all. He is who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. Now, this is not a reference
to a birth in time, but a fact. Irrespective of time, he, a person,
possesses every attribute of pure Godhead. That's who he is. He's God. The image of the invisible
God. He's so much God that he said,
he that has seen me has seen the Father. Now, can I explain
that? You don't need to. It's just
glorious, isn't it? It's mysterious. This is who
he is. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the
government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall
be called Wonderful. Counselor. the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. All we will ever see
of God is Jesus Christ, the firstborn of every creature. Who is Jesus Christ? Verse 16
of Colossians chapter 1. 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. He's the creator. That's who Jesus Christ is. He's
the one who spaked this universe into existence. He's the one
who created the galaxies and the planets and space and the
earth we live on. He created all things visible,
whatever things they are, he created them. John 1 says in
the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. He's the creator. He created the invisible things,
the thrones, the seats of authority. Whoever sits on a throne is there
because he put them there. Aren't you thankful it's that
way? The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord. After the rivers
of water, he turneth it whethersoever he will. Dominions are lordships. You see, he's the Lord of lords,
and he's the king of kings. Principalities, the same word
is translated beginnings. John 1, 1 also translated in
the beginning, and it means the rule. He's the rule. He made
the rules, and he's a rule to himself. He has no rule over
him. He's God. He made the rules. Powers are authority, freedom
of action. He is the power behind all power. All things were created by Him
and for Him. Thou hast made all things, and
for Thy pleasure they are and were created. And then it says in verse 17,
Who is this One? He is before all things. He is prior to all things. He is in front of all things. He is superior to all things. Whatever there is, He was before
it. You remember when Pharisees said,
you're not yet 50 years old. And have you seen Abraham? Remember,
he said to them, Abraham, rejoice to see my day. He saw it, and
he was glad. Thou art not yet 50 years old.
And has thou seen Abraham? Verily, amen, I say unto you,
before Abraham was, I am. I love his name. I am that I
am. If you not believe not that I
am, you'll die in your sins. I am. Not I want to be, would
be, could be, used to be, will be, should be. I am that I am. He is before all things. And I love what the next thing
says about him in our text. By him, all things consist, they're
held together. The writer to the Hebrews said,
he upholds all things by the word of his power. You see, this one is absolutely,
immutably, uncontestably sovereign over all. He upholds all things
by the word of His power. You know right now, you're in
His hand. You're in His hand. And that last breath you just
took, the only reason you took it is because He willed it. And
He can withhold it whenever He's pleased. Your salvation, your
eternal destiny is totally up to Him. That's who He is. He
is Lord. He rules and reigns. Verse 18, it says, And he is
the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning. Now, this is one of those great
mysteries in the scripture. The church is the body of Christ. United to Him. The house of God. the mystical body of Christ,
the temple of God, the place where Christ dwells. Now, it
says he's the head of the body. Now, what is a body without a
head? You can't even recognize it,
can you? You don't think that there's a body. That means he
is the identification of the body. You want to know the skinny
on me? Look at my head. That's the real need. That's
the identification of the body. United to the Lord Jesus Christ,
both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of
one, for the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. He is the identification of the
body. Everything you want to know about
me, if you put my life up on a screen, all you've got to do
is read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That's me. He's the
head of the body. He's the identification of the
body. He is all my righteousness. And it says in Colossians 1,
who is the beginning? He's the cause. He's the cause. Why are you here right now? There's
only one reason. Because he caused it. He is the
cause of causes. He's the beginning. And then
it says he's the firstborn from the dead. Now the fact that he
died, what a mystery. Talking about his death just
a moment ago. He died and there's one reason
for death. What's that reason? One reason. See, that's the only
reason for death. This holy, spotless Son of God
on Calvary's tree was made sin. He suffered the full equivalent
of hell. The wages of sin is death. That's why He died. Sin. But
what did He do? Hebrews 1-3 says, when He had
by Himself purged our sins. That's what he did at his death.
Now once in the end of the world have he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. He's the firstborn from the dead.
He died and he did something by his death. He made my sins
to where they're not. They tell me that matter, once
it's here, it never leaves. It may change forms. It may go
from wood to fire to ashes and energy out in the air, but the
matter's always here. Matter cannot leave the universe.
But let me tell you something that has left the universe. The
sins of everybody He died for, they are no more. That's what he did by his death. That in all things, he's the
firstborn from the dead when he raised from the dead, that
in all things he might have the preeminence. Now to have the
preeminence is to be Whom He did foreknow. Don't ever
read that as what He foreknew. It's not talking about events.
It's talking about persons. For whom He did foreknow. Then He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be what? The firstborn. You see, He's
first. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. And in the hearts of every one
of God's people He's first. I want to use this illustration,
and any human illustration falls to the ground. It's not sufficient. I realize that. Any human illustration. I know that the love we have
for Christ is not like any human love. It's a gift of God's grace. He that loveth is born of God.
It's supernatural. It's not like love to a man or
woman or a friend or your country or anything like that. It's supernatural.
I realize that. But I think that I love my wife
and she loves me. We love each other. I mean, we
love each other. I'm so thankful to have her as
my wife. And I want her to love me only. I don't want her to love any
of you all the way she loves me. I'll assure you that. I think
we've got real problems if that takes place. And she feels the
same way about me. I'm to love her only. I'm not to, well, what if, do
you love me? I love her like I love every
other woman. Boy, we've got a real problem there. You know, that's
the way people talk about God's love, you know, His love to every,
it makes it so meaningless. But I can also say this. There's
one I want her to love infinitely more than me. You see, Christ
Jesus has the preeminence. And I want her to love Him more
than she loves me. And it's a different love, I
realize that. It's a supernatural love. I don't even want to bring
it down to the level of a man's love for his woman. It's totally
different. But I glory in her loving Him more. And she feels
the same way. As a matter of fact, every believer,
you want Christ to have the preeminence. The Lamb is all the glory in
Emmanuel's land. And you want Him to have the
preeminence with everybody and everything. That in all things,
He might have the preeminence. Don't you love Him having the
preeminence? He has it. It's not like He ought to have
it. He has it. because God has determined it.
He has it in all things. He might have the preeminence
for. It pleased the Father, verse
19. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. Now how many times in reading
the epistles of Paul Do you come across this phrase in Him? In Him? Now, know this. The only place
I want to be found is in Him. I don't want to be found preaching.
I don't want to be found witnessing. I don't want to be found praying.
I don't want to be found reading my Bible. I'm not interested
in any of that. I want to be found in Him. So that when God comes looking
for me, all He sees is Jesus Christ. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Now, it says in verse 19, it
pleased the Father. You think about the pleasure
of God. It pleased the Father. In 1 Samuel 12 it says, it pleased
the Lord to make you His people. If you're one of His people,
it's because it pleased the Lord to make you His people. Oh, the
pleasure of the Lord. His will, His sovereign will.
He works all the things after the counsel of His own will.
I love that, don't you? After the will of His own will.
Scripture says, It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. It pleased the Lord to crush
His Son. And that's not talking about
any sadistic pleasure or meanness on God's part. You know that.
It satisfied His justice. I think of what David said in
Psalm 40 Verses 12 and 13, mine iniquities have taken hold upon
me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than the hairs
of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. Make haste, O Lord, to help me. and to please the Father, that
in him should all fullness dwell." Now, once again, this is just
one of those mysterious things. I don't know what it all means.
Neither does anybody else, but I know this. God's not made of
parts. He's not part this and part that. He's not part justice
and part love and part grace and all the parts end up making
the whole. No, He's fullness of all that He is. He's fullness
of sovereignty. He's fullness of holiness. He's fullness of
power. He's fullness of wisdom. He's fullness of all that God
is. So that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him. And it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. Fullness of grace. Fullness of
truth. I love that scripture that says
of His fullness have we all received. And grace for grace. Now, who
is Jesus Christ? We've seen this glorious description
of Him. I love what Paul said in Galatians
2.20. He said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me in
the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of
the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself For me, this
One, now this One that I've been describing, that the Word of
God describes. This is not my description. Who
is the image of the invisible God? The Firstborn of every creature. The Creator of the universe. The One who holds all things
by His power and by Him all things consist. This glorious One that's
pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Now
listen to this, this same One said, And if you listen real
carefully, this same one said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Now here he doesn't say, Come
to me if you believe. Come to Me if you know you're
one of the elect. Come to Me if you know you've been regenerated.
He only gives this one description. Come to Me, all ye that labor. You're laboring under a sense
of your sin. I don't care who you are. You're
burdened down under the guilt that that comes from that labor. Come to me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. Now, that's an invitation and
that's a command. It's both. You know, the same
word the Lord used when He said, come and dine. You know, when
you ask somebody over to eat, you don't say, You better be
here. No. Come and die. You can die. But
thank God it's a command as well. My right to come is because He
commands me to. And your right to come to Christ
is because He commands you to. Everybody in here, He commands
you to. Come unto me, all ye that are
weary and heavy laden, And look, I will give you rest. That's his promise. He said,
take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Not just about me, but
learn of me. And this one who is so high and
holy said next, for I am meek and lowly in heart. That's amazing. This one who's so high, so glorious,
you come to him and you'll find him to be meek and lowly in heart
and you won't feel threatened. You won't feel condemned. This
high and lofty one who inhabits eternity is meek and lowly in
heart, and you'll find rest in your soul. For he said, my yoke,
don't you want to be yoked to Christ? He said, my yoke's easy. You know why? Because it's all
of grace. And my burden is light. So when we talk about this glorious
woman, Lord Jesus Christ, this is the one who says, come unto
me. May God give us all grace to
do just that.