That is, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the One who was before all things, because He's God, and the One
by whom all things consist, are held together at this very moment. Everything is held together by
Him. Held together by His power, by
the power of His Word. It says in verse 18 that he is
the head of the body, the church. Our Lord is the head of the whole
election of grace. He is the head of every believer. I tell you this, he's the head
of all government. All government is on his shoulders. Our Lord rules over all governments,
even the tyrants. He rules over all. He's the head
of all. He has preeminence over all. He is our representative head. He is seated at the right hand
of the Father, representing us, those who believe the gospel,
those that are His. He's our representative head.
He's our political head in that He reigns. And he rules and he
governs. And he's our economical head
in that he provides our every need. Now, he gives us the ability,
the intelligence to do certain jobs, to make a living, but he's
the one who provides it. He's the one who provides. He's
the one who gives us our health. He's the one who gives us the
intelligence to do our jobs. He's the one who makes the sun
shine. He's the one who gives the rain.
He's the one who makes the crops grow. He provides our every need. And especially as you prayed,
Mike, you thanked him for our spiritual needs. All spiritual
blessings have been given unto us where? In Christ. In our head. And he's the beginning. He's the foundation of the church. Christ is the foundation of the
church. We were chosen in Him. We have spiritual life from Him. As Eve was formed from Adam,
so the church is formed from Christ. She's formed from Him. And He's the firstborn, it says,
from the dead. He is the first to rise from
the dead by His own power. No one, no one, has ever done
that except the man, Christ Jesus. He rose from the dead by His
own power to immortal life. And because He lives, He says
over in the Gospel of John chapter 14, He said, because I live,
you, the church, shall live also because I live. And then all
these things He's been made head of for this purpose. that in
all things He might have the preeminence. He might have the
preeminence. Christ takes first place in,
listen now, all things. All things. In our affections,
He's first. He that loves mother, father,
sister, brother more than me is not worthy of me. In our affections,
He's first. In our thoughts, He's first. We are to bring every thought
into subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ. In worship, He's first. We are gathered here this morning
for one purpose. One purpose. And that is to worship,
to give unto Him the glory due unto His name. That is our one
purpose for being here this morning. To give unto Him the glory and
honor due unto his name." Listen, in sonship, no one is
a son in the sense he is. He is the eternal Son of God,
co-equal with the Father. In election, he is first. He's
the chosen. Behold, he says over in Isaiah
42, And we were chosen in Him. In
covenant, He is first. He's the surety of the covenant.
He's the mediator of the covenant. He's the messenger of the covenant. He is the covenant. Christ Himself
is the covenant of grace. He is that covenant. I have given
thee for a covenant to the people. That's what it says over in Isaiah.
In redemption, he's first. He wrought it and he bought it. Lock, stock and barrel, it's
his. Everything is his. He has the preeminence. In life,
he has the preeminence. He quickens, the scripture says,
whom he will. He's not just trying to find
somebody that will let him give them life. He gives life, and
He gives it, the Scripture teaches us, to whom He will. Do you know
anyone better to give it than the one who is life? In death
and resurrection, He has the preeminence. He conquered death. He conquered hell. He conquered
the grave. Oh, death, where is your sting?
Oh, grave, where is your victory? Gone. The Lord conquered him. He hath the preeminence. The preeminence. And then it says here in verse
19 and 20, For it pleased the Father. Now, if it pleased the
Father, we ought to find out what it pleased the Father to
do. Because I want to know that. I want to know what pleases Him.
It pleased the Father that in Christ, that in Him, should all
fullness dwell. All the fullness of God dwells
in that man, the man Christ Jesus. All fullness dwells in Him. The Scripture says God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. And here He says
that it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, the fullness of wisdom dwells in him. The fullness of
righteousness dwells in him. He is made unto us. wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. We do not provide any of it. He's the fullness of it. There's
none lacking. That's why the Scripture says
here in Colossians, in Him you are complete. I lack absolutely
nothing in Christ. I have all that's of God. I have all that God can give.
I have God in Christ. We have fullness. We have the
fullness of grace. We have the fullness of peace.
We have the fullness of joy. We have it in Him. We have the
fullness of eternal life. We have, speaking of the believer,
we have right now in Christ Eternal life. Eternal life is not something
that we're going to have when this is over. He that hath the
Son hath life. We have it now. And we're not
talking about the length of it. We're talking about the quality
of it. It's the life of God in the soul. That's what it is. The life of God in the soul.
All of God's elect whether absent or present, have all the fullness
of God in Christ. They have it. And not only do
they have that, listen, they have also been reconciled by
the blood of Christ and they have peace with God. I did not make peace with God.
Christ is my peace with God. The scripture says, He is our
peace. He is our peace. Now what Paul
says about reconciliation in general here to the church in
these preceding verses, he applies to the Colossians in particular. Look in verse 21 and 22. And
you that were sometime alienated and enemies You weren't just
indifferent. You know, there's no one, there
is no one born into this world indifferent to God. You're either
an enemy or you're a son, a believer, a friend, a friend. There's no
neutral ground is what I'm saying. There's no neutral ground. Christ
said, He that is not for me is against me. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled."
You see, he was speaking here of the church being reconciled. Now he's speaking to these Colossians.
And here's what he's saying. Embrace this. He wants the Colossians
here to embrace this reconciliation that they have in Christ. And
we are to embrace this reconciliation that we have in Christ personally. Personally. It's mine. It's ours. In Christ. Reconciled to God. And that's what he's saying here
in verse 22. In the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy. Look how he's presenting us.
And this is how we are. Listen, the way he presents us
is the way we are. Because that's the way He's made
us to be. He has to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight. In His sight. And we need to embrace this.
Oh, we need to embrace this. We were strangers. We were enemies
in our minds. We were workers of iniquity.
But He has. He has. reconciled us to God
in the body of His flesh through death. He put away that law enmity. He put away that enmity. We are
reconciled to God. But now listen. Listen to this
next verse. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and saddled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister." If you continue in the faith, if you continue
in the faith and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,
all the preceding provisions and promises are ours. Now listen, Paul says, if you
continue in the faith. Now, is Paul saying that we can
lose it? No. No. I'll tell you what He's
saying here. He's saying those who do not
continue in the faith never had to start with. They never had
to start with. Christ said that He would not
lose any of those whom the Father gave Him. And if He put away
my sins, and if He put away your sins, what's God going to condemn us
over? What He's saying here Here's
what he's saying. If you continue in the faith
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, it's evident,
it's evident, you're one of his. And if you leave, if a person
leaves, if a man or woman leaves the gospel, if they leave it, they never had it. They never
had it. Tears. You know, Scripture says
there's tears among the weak. They look like the weak. You
can't tell them apart from the weak. But if they leave, it's
evident that's what they were, a tare, not a weep. Nothing but judgment awaits those
who depart from Christ. The Scripture teaches us that
God keeps us. We are kept by the power of God.
How? Through faith, through believing,
continuing, perseverance. He keeps us. Now twice, in verses 23 and 25,
Paul says, I am made a minister. He says here in verse 24, who
now rejoice, he said I am, in verse 23, the latter part of
it, he says, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. Those are the only true ministers
that there are of God, the ones He makes, the one He puts into
the ministry, the one He qualifies, the one He equips, 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 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." All believers are witnesses. You know, in a sense, Henry wrote
this to me back thirty years ago. I still have the letters.
But I was writing to him about the ministry, about preaching. This was back when I was twenty-three
years old. And he wrote back to me and he
said, all God's children desire to make him known. He said, all
God's children are witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, he has given to the
church pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the preaching of the gospel.
God has given He has given men, he's given pastors and teachers
to teach the church. He gave the apostles. We don't
have the apostles now. We have them in word here. We
have them in the word of God, but we don't have them in the
local churches, but we have pastors and teachers. And I have been
given the responsibility and the privilege to stand here and
preach the gospel to you week after week. And you know Paul
said this over here in Philippians. Look over here in Philippians.
In chapter 3. Paul says in verse 1, Finally
my brethren rejoiced the Lord to write the same things to you.
To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe for me
to stand here week after week And we go through these epistles
verse by verse and we preach the same gospel. There's only
one gospel. We preach this same gospel every
week, Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, throughout the year.
Listen. It's not grievous to me. And
for you, it's safe. It is the safest thing I can
do to stand here and preach Christ over and over and over. Christ being the wisdom of God,
how can I exhaust Him? If all the treasures of wisdom
and riches and all that God has and all that God is dwells in
this one man, how can I exhaust that? That's not even possible. We'll spend eternity finding
out God. We will. And Paul said he rejoiced. He rejoiced that he was entrusted
with the gospel and he was counted worthy. Listen. He doesn't say
he's counted worthy just to stand and preach it, but to suffer.
He's not complaining about anything that he's had to give up or go
through. Back over there in Philippians
again, he says this. Listen. He says, But what things,
in verse chapter 3 there, but what things, in verse 7, but
what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, I count all things but lost for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but done. I'm not
grieving over them. I'm not grieving over anything
I've had to give up. I'm not grieving over anything
that, you know, Paul lost his reputation as a Pharisee. They
want him out of town. They've tried to kill him. He's
not grieving over that. He said, I count it but done
that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
I might know him. Oh, that I might know him. The power
of his resurrection. No, he counted it a joy that
God entrusted him with the gospel and that he was worthy to suffer
for Christ's sake. And then he says here, let me
go back over here to Colossians and wind this up. Over here in
Colossians verse 26. Let me read verse 25 with it.
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 hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints. This gospel that we have
to preach, listen, is an ancient gospel. It's the same gospel
Abraham believed. Our Lord said, Abraham saw my
day and rejoiced. This is the same gospel that
he gave in the garden concerning the seed of the woman. But he calls it here a mystery
because there was a time that it was hid, it was veiled in
types and shadows and ceremonies. But now, he says, now he's revealed
it through the preaching of the gospel. He's revealed this mystery. Listen, you understand the gospel.
You understand how God saves sinners. You understand by whom
God saves sinners. You understand that. You know
who the Messiah is. You know what his name is. Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ. That's his name. And at one time it was just a
mystery, but now he's made it manifest to his saints. And I'm
telling you this, until God reveals it, it remains a mystery. No
one, no one can understand the gospel. I mean, understand the
gospel, except the Holy Spirit reveal it to him. Not possible. The natural mind receiveth not
the things of God. They are foolishness to him.
And then he says, to whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. And here
it is. And this is part of my message
after this. We are going to stay in this
chapter this morning. We're just going to stay in Colossians
this morning. Which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. You even mentioned that in your
prayer again, Mike, about that new nature. Man born again. God's given him
a new nature. A new heart. A new spirit. And
Christ dwells in that new nature. Christ is truly in you. If there are believers here this
morning, and there are. I believe there are some believers
here this morning. Christ is here this morning. Because Christ
is in you. He's in you. And now Paul says,
whom we preach, not what we preach. We're not preaching a system.
We are not preaching a system. We are preaching a living person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God, whom we preach, warning every man,
teaching every man in all wisdom, spiritual wisdom, that we may
present every man perfect or mature in Christ Jesus. Whereunto
I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in
me mightily." Paul says he was given a two-fold ministry, a
two-fold message here, warning every man, teaching every man. Someone said this, and I've heard
Henry say this so many times over the years, the blessings
of God are hedged about on one side by the warnings of God,
lest any presume, and on the other side by the promises of
God, lest any despair. It is the duty of the minister
to warn the careless of God's wrath and to tell them to flee
to Christ and to comfort God's people. Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith the Lord. And Paul says, I labor, I labor
to do this. The ministry is truly a labor
if it's done properly. It truly is.