Paul wrote to the Colossians
to let them know that he had spoken with their pastor, Epaphras,
and that their pastor had told him of their faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ and of the love which they had to all the brethren. Paul rejoiced in hearing this
of them. He said, since I heard that,
I have not ceased to pray for you continually. And he prayed this, he prayed
that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will and
all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that they would be able to
walk worthy of God, walk as children of God ought to walk, that's
what he's saying. That's the reason I read that chapter in
Ephesians. You notice how it's almost identical. That chapter is almost identical
to this chapter. He wrote them about the same
time, and he wrote them when he was in prison. The gospel
of God never changes. The message to the church never
changes. He wrote the same thing to the
Ephesians, to the Colossians, to the Philippians. He wrote
the same things. But I'm going to start back in
verse 12. I left off, I think, in verse
14, but I'm going to start in verse 12, where Paul gives thanks
unto the Father. He said, "...giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light." Let us not forget the Father. If
you'll notice, when you go back and read Ephesians, the first
thing he does is give thanks unto the Father. He is the one who chose us. He's
the one who's called us. He's the one who chose us in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said this, He says,
As I hear, I speak. He did not say anything that
He did not hear from His Father. All our spiritual blessings that
we have in Christ were given to us of our Father. He said in another place, my
Father, my Father worketh hitherto, and I work. That's why Paul,
when he starts this out here, he says, giving thanks unto the
Father, he's the one who chose us in Christ. He's the one who
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.
And he's the one who made us fit. This word, meet, means fit. To be partakers of the inheritance,
to have a part in that inheritance of the saints in life. He devised
the way back to himself. The Father is the one who devised
the way for us to come back to himself. He's the one who did
that. And he devised it through the
blood and the righteousness of his own Son. If it had been left
up to us how to come back, we would have done it by works,
just the way we try to do it. That's how we would have done
it. We would have done it by works. But when He devised the
way, He took us out of it. He took us out of the way. And He devised that way through
the blood and the righteousness of His Son. In Christ we are
without spot or blemish in God's sight. When God looks upon His
children, He sees a children made perfect in Christ. He sees
children spotless. clean and holy as He is. He couldn't
look upon them if He didn't. God cannot look upon sin. He
cannot look upon sin. He can't do it. So He devised
a way through the blood and the righteousness of His Son to have
a people that's spotless and without blemish. And He also made us fit or meet
through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We are a
new creation in Christ Jesus and partakers of that inheritance
of the saints in life. He made us new in him. In Christ
we are new. And the saints of God have an
incorruptible inheritance laid up for them in glory. We have
an inheritance that is absolutely of God, of our Father, and incorruptible. No corruption in it whatsoever.
And He has delivered us, He says here in verse 13, "...who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son." He did this. He did this. I did not put myself into the
kingdom of God. He put me in it, just as I did
not put myself into the world. I was born into this world. I
had nothing to do with it. And he put me into his kingdom,
as he does every son and daughter. But first thing he says here,
he has delivered us from the power of darkness. God the Father
has delivered us. Now, this is the same meaning
as the word delivered when he delivered Lot out of Sodom. When
he delivered, he went down there and they took Lot, and they took
him out of Sodom. They delivered him out of there.
And God the Father has delivered us through Christ out of out
of the power of darkness, of darkness, from the jaws of Satan. Look over in Acts 26, over in
Acts 26. Acts 26. Here's what he's delivered
us from. In Acts chapter 26, in verse 18. Let me read verse 17, "...delivering
thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I
send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me." He's delivered us. from the power of darkness. You know, I think part of this
here is this power of darkness is ignorance. He's delivered
us from our ignorance of who God is, who Christ is, and who
we are, what we are by nature. He's delivered us from that.
You understand now the gospel. Those who believe God, you understand
something of who God is. I know we don't have a perfect
understanding, but we know who God is. He's delivered us. from the darkness of our ignorance
and from the jaws of Satan and from the power of sin and ignorance,
he delivered us from these powers. And he delivered us and translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. It took almighty power. Now,
it took the power of almighty God to deliver us from such darkness. It takes God. It takes the power
of God Almighty to take a child of darkness, a child of sin,
a child that's under the power of Satan, and deliver him, to
take him away from those powers, to cut off those powers, to cut
off that bondage. That takes the power of God Almighty. And our Father has done this
for us. And he has translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, which is a kingdom of grace and a kingdom of light. It's
not a kingdom of darkness no more. You are, the Scripture
says, you are light. You are light in the Lord. You
are light in Christ. And then he says here, in verse
14, in whom? In Christ, that's whom, in the
Son of the living God, we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. He continues to tell us here,
how that we are made fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. He says, you are redeemed. In
the Son of God, in whose kingdom you've been translated, in Him
you've been redeemed. In Him you have redemption. In
Christ we have redemption. The price has been paid to God's
justice. You know this, God's justice
had a claim on us. It had a claim on us. We broke
God's law. We offended God's justice. It
had a claim on us. And Christ, who is our near kinsman,
He is our near kinsman. He came and paid the price. And
it wasn't silver and gold. It was not something you could
dig up from the ground. It's something that came from His
veins. He paid the price, His blood.
And now we are free from His claims lawfully. Lawfully. We can walk away lawfully, clean. There can be no charge. Come
up later. There can be nothing later that
was forgotten. Lawfully set free. Lawfully set
free in Christ. And here's one of the greatest
blessings that we have through His redemption for us, and it's
this, the forgiveness of sin. If you know what sin is, you
know what that blessing is. If sin really doesn't mean, if
sin is just a mistake, if sin is something, well, I shouldn't
have done it, but I did it anyway, but we'll get over it. If that's
what sin is, then you'll never really, you'd never enjoy this
blessing. You could never see any real
blessing and joy in the forgiveness of sin, but I tell you this,
a guilty man, A guilty man, he can enjoy forgiveness. You have
to know something of the guilt of sin to know the blessedness
of the forgiveness of sin, the forgiveness of it. No charge
against us now in Christ. I know myself. I'm 50 years old
now. I remember my life. I haven't
forgotten it. I haven't forgotten it. Like
a friend I used to run around with in school, He joined the
Church of Christ, Church of God of Holiness. Told me he didn't
sin no more. And he had no more sin. And I
started to tell him about something one time, but he couldn't remember
it. I thought, you know it, you dog. You know it. You was there and I was there.
I remember it. Well, he tried to play like he
didn't remember that. But God doesn't. That's the good
part. The good part is, I remember
thy sins no more. They're gone. He put them away. In Christ we have no more sin. Not in Him. Completely forgiven. Past, present, and future. You say, well, you preach like
that, then people just don't do what they want to do. They
do anyway. Most people I've ever been around do what they want
to do. They're all taken away. Did you
hear what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. I tell
you, that's good news to a sinner. And now he describes here in
verse 15, he describes the greatness of our Redeemer. We have this
redemption from sin. We have this forgiveness of sin.
But let's look at the one in whom we have this forgiveness,
the one in whom we have this redemption. He says here in verse
15, This One in whom we have redemption, this One in whom
we have the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. Paul now describes our Redeemer,
the price paid was His blood. But now, whose blood was it?
There were three of them who died there that day over an axe. Look over in Acts
chapter 20. Let's see whose blood we are. redeemed by, we have
been redeemed by. Acts 20, 28. Whose blood was shed that day?
Paul says here in verse 28, Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God, which he, who's he? God. That's who he's talking
about, which God hath purchased with what? His own blood. which
God has purchased with his own blood. This is the blood of the
Son of the living God. That's who he's talking about. That's who he is. Jesus Christ,
what he's telling us here, is this, that Jesus Christ is truly,
in every way, in every way, God manifested in the flesh. Thou
shalt call his name Immanuel, being interpreted. God with us. God with us. Our Lord said this, he that has
seen me has seen the Father. Don't look any further. Don't
look for anyone else. Philip, he that has seen me,
and he's not talking about that skin. He says, seen me. Seen who I am. Seen me. You've
seen the Father. You're looking at Him. You're
looking at Him. Jesus Christ is the visible image
of the invisible God. He's the visible image of the
invisible God. And everything about them is
the same. Everything about the Father,
everything about the Son, the Spirit, they're all the same.
They all have the same attributes. The same worship is due to all
of them. They're all the same. That's why he said there in John
14, you believe in God? Believe also in me." With that
same faith, with that same hope, and with that same expectation
that you believe in God Almighty with, exercise that same faith
in me. Now, it would be foolish for
him to say that if he were not God. I cannot say that to you. I'm not God. I'm just a man like
you. I'm a son of Adam like you. He can say, He can say, you believe
in God, you exercise that same faith in me. And it says here,
he's the firstborn of every creature. He was before all creatures,
that's what it's saying, he's before all creatures. But that
firstborn means this, he is the king of all creation. Our Redeemer, the one in whom
we have forgiveness, is God manifested in the flesh. He's the King,
He's the Lord of all creation. He's Lord. And here His Lordship
over all of creation is testified to in verse 16, for by Him, by
this Man, by the Lord Jesus Christ, were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions,
principalities or powers, all things were created by Him, and
for him, our Redeemer. This should give us so much encouragement
here. Our Redeemer, the one in whom
we have forgiveness, is God. He's God in the flesh. He's the
firstborn. He's the Lord and King of all
creation. And, in fact, He's the one who created it all. He's
the one who created everything that exists. You see, he has
spoken here of his deity. Now he's speaking here of his
power and glory. For by him were all things created. It's evident in saying that.
When he says this, by him all things were created, he's not
the creature. He's the creator. You and I are
the creature. You and I are the ones that are created. He's the
creator. He's the creator. There is nothing
that exists apart from Jesus Christ. I always think of Him
standing before those Pharisees and the way they mocked Him and
they sped upon Him. He created them. They're spitting. This is what God Almighty, this
is what men think of God Almighty. This is what men think of their
Creator. They spit on Him, slapped Him, made fun of Him. That's
what the human race thinks of its Creator. He could have, just with a word,
annihilated them. He created them. He could have. Nothing exists apart from Jesus
Christ. Everything has its existence
by Him and for His glory. We are for His glory. We're for
Him. That's why the Scripture says,
"'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.'"
deserve any glory. It all belongs to Him. It all
belongs to my Redeemer. It all belongs to my Creator.
It belongs to Him. But here's a note of comfort. All principalities, all powers, powers, all thrones
were created by Him. They're under his dominion. They're
under his authority. Satan has to go to him to get
any permission to do anything to his children. When he wanted to touch Job,
he went to God and he said, You put a hedge about him. I can't
do anything to him. God said, All right, I'll let
you do this and I'll let you do that. He only did what God
let him do. Our Lord. who sits at God's right
hand, has all power over all authorities, all principalities,
everything that's going on right now in this world. In a lot of places, it looks
like it's out in chaos, doesn't it? It looks chaotic. It looks
like, this thing's going to fall apart. No, it's not going to
fall apart because it says in the next verse, and he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. Here is the eternality of our
Redeemer. He didn't just come on the scene
2,000 years ago. He's eternal. Here's the eternality
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before anything had His existence,
He is. He is. He is the eternal Son
of God. That's who He is. He's co-existent
with the Father. No beginning of days or end of
life. That's our Redeemer. That's the
one in whom we have forgiveness. He has no end of days or beginning
of life or end of days. And it says here, and by Him
all things consist, and by Him all things are this,
held together. You know the reason why things
are not flinging out of space and out of control Because all things are held together
by our God, our Redeemer. That's why. You think of all
the things that float around in space. You know, you watch,
TV loves to hype it up. Get hit by asteroids, you know.
This is going to happen, and this happened two million years
ago when this asteroid, you know, I've been around, I haven't seen
a thing happen yet. In 50 years, I've not seen anything that's
been spectacular, that's just been, An asteroid coming at us,
you know. Everything is held in place by
him. Everything is kept together by
the universe. This universe that we can't even
begin to scratch the surface of is held together by this one
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the power and the glory
that belongs to our Redeemer. He upholds the Scripture, says,
all things by the word of his power. That's power. When you
buy your word, just say, stay right there. Set the earth in
motion, on its axis, and stay right there. The Son. Think how faithful the Son is. I was sitting in my study yesterday,
and I was looking out my window, and I thought, the faithfulness
of the Son. In the mornings, you know, I watch the weather
channel and it gives you the sunrise, the time it comes up, the time
it goes down. You know, it's the same every year. It's the
same all the time. Nothing is more accurate than
that. That's because of Christ. That's not just happening. That's
our Redeemer. That's the one who... See, what
Paul is doing here, he's exalting our Redeemer. He's telling you,
you know, don't just look at this flesh. This is our God.
This is the one who's redeemed us. My soul, look who redeemed
you. And He's the head of the body
of the church. He's our head. He's not only Lord of the universe,
He's Lord of His church. He's the head. He's the Lord
from whom the whole body receives its instructions. My body, my
whole body from head down, receives its instructions from my head. My head, if I tell my arms to
move or my hands to move, it receives it from its head. And
the church receives all her instructions, all her wisdom, and all of her
knowledge from her head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Take away
the head and what? The body's useless. The body's
absolutely useless if you take the head off. And He's the beginning. It says
He's the beginning. He's the first. You know, the
Scripture says, Isaiah 42, Behold my elect. He's the first. He's the first elect. You and
I were chosen in Him. Nothing, absolutely nothing is
before Him. He's the first and last, the
Alpha and Omega of all things. It all began with Him. and every bit of it's going to
end with him. He's the first and last. It says he's the firstborn
from the dead. He's the first to rise from the
dead by his own power. Nobody else did that. Lazarus
did not come forth by his own power. He came forth by the power
of Christ, our Redeemer. And this firstborn also, as I've
already said, means king. The firstborn in the Jewish home
was the leader. He was the king. He was the heir.
He was the heir of all things. And Christ, who is our King and
Lord, is heir of all things, and we are heir of all things
in Him. It says in verse 18, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. I have no trouble with that.
Not now. Not now. I'm sure it would have
been a trouble, would have been a problem, but not now. No one
stands above the Lord Jesus Christ. No one. He's first in all things. He's first in heaven, he's first
in earth, and he's first in us. In all things, he might have
the preeminence. And Paul continues to lift up
our heads. He says in verse 19, "'For it
pleased the Father that in Christ, in our Redeemer, in the one in
whom we have redemption, in the one in whom we have forgiveness
of sins, should all fullness dwell.'" Everything we have in Christ, we have fully. We have the full
measure. of everything God is and has
for us in Christ. We have a full measure of it
in him. We have it. In our God-man, in the God-man
Christ Jesus dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And the
scripture says over there in chapter two, you are complete
in him. There is nothing, there is nothing lacking in Christ. Nothing. Everything we need,
we have the fullness of in Him. Wisdom, we have the fullness
of in Christ. He's the embodiment of wisdom.
Righteousness, He is our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. Sanctification, redemption, we
have the fullness of it in Christ. Then after telling us this, he
says in verse 20, "...and having made peace, He made peace on
our behalf with God. Having made peace, not trying
to make peace, having made peace through the blood of his cross,
that's how he made peace. He didn't make peace by talking
the Father into forgiving us. He didn't say, oh, he made peace
by the blood, by his obedience, by his obedience by 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.
We have peace with God, this at one time rebel, at one time
wretch. And as Paul said, O wretched
man that I still am. But I have peace with God. Peace
with God, peace with God's law, there's nothing against me now.
Peace with God through His blood because He has reconciled us
to Himself. He has brought us back to Himself.
The Father has reconciled us to Himself through His Son. That's
how He did it. God is satisfied with the blood
and righteousness of our substitute on our behalf. And I'm satisfied with it too.
I'm not looking for anything else. And this peace and reconciliation
is by him. He came up with it. He's the
one who devised the way. He's the one who made the way.
He's the one who is the way. The Scripture says, he tread
the winepress of God's wrath alone. He accomplished our salvation
of the whole church by himself. He reconciled the whole church
of God from first to last by himself through his blood. And
now, Paul, in verse 21, I'm going to go to about verse 23, he applies
it to them personally. He says, and now you, you Colossians,
you Ashlanders that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works. This is not pretty, but it's
the way you were. It's the way you were born. Yet
now has he reconciled. Every one of us were enemies
in our minds and showed it by our works. But now, he says here,
but now God has reconciled us unto himself. And here's how
he did it, in the body of his flesh through death. He bore
our sins in his body on the tree. Scripture says he was made to
be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He actually died for our sins. That death was a real death under
a real curse for a people. For a people. For a real people. And here's the reason why He
did it. In verse 22. To present you holy. This is how He's going to present
us before God Almighty. To present you holy. Unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. That's how we're going to be
presented. Do I feel unreprovable? Do I
feel unblameable? No. If you know me, you can blame
me for some things. You can blame me. But I tell
you this, you can't blame me in His sight. And that's the
sight I want to stand before blameless. You cannot blame me
before him, not in his sight. Now, he says here in verse 23,
and I'll close. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, that gospel that's been revealed by the preaching
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." He says here, if you continue in the faith, there
are many professors, many professors, but not many possessors. Not
many possessors. Many are called, but few are
chosen. The possessors will continue in the faith. They will continue. Their Lord lives to see to it.
He lives to see to it. They will continue in the faith.
But the professors, they'll fade away. They'll fade away. The gospel holds out no hope
to those who leave, but to those who continue in the faith. Paul said this in one place.
He said, but I am persuaded better things of you and things that
accompany salvation go with us. I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded
that God does something for you. He said, I've heard of your faith,
I've heard of your love and the hope that's laid up for you.
He said, I've heard of these things. Your pastor's told me about them.
He's told me about them. Those who believe God continue
through all the trials and all the persecutions, all the heartaches
of life, they don't quit. But a professor will sooner or
later give it up, sooner or later give it up. Okay, why?