Would you turn back to Colossians
chapter 1? We were there last night and
I want to go on in Colossians chapter 1. Last night we considered
who is Jesus Christ? And this morning we'll consider
what did Jesus Christ do? What did he do? Now, let's read
this passage of scripture together in verses 20 through 22. And I see three things that he
actually did. Now, when I say that, what he actually did. Somebody
says, do you know what he's doing now? Not really. But I do know what he did. Verse 20. And having made peace. Through the blood. Of his cross. That's the first thing he did.
He made peace. by Him 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 by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled." There's a second thing He did. He reconciled. And here's the third thing in
verse 22. He reconciled in the body of his flesh through death
to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Now that's what he did. Three
things we read. Now, he did more things than
that, I realize that. John chapter 20 verse 25, or
John chapter 21 verse 25 says, and there are also many other
things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every
one, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the
books that should be written. He did a lot of things. But in
our text, we read of these three glorious things he did. He made
peace. He made reconciliation and he
made this glorious presentation. That's what I want us to consider.
Now, just a little bit of a review. Who did this? You see, who he
is, is what enables him to do this. You couldn't say this of
any mere man that could do something like this. It's who he is that
enables him to do this glorious thing, actually making peace,
actually making reconciliation, actually making this glorious
presentation where every believer is said to be holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in the very sight of God. Who can do such
a thing? Proverbs chapter 20 verse 11
says, even a child is known by his doings, whether his work
be pure and whether his work be right. People are identified
by what they do. Christ Jesus, the Lord is identified
by what he has done. Now, who is this one? Let's just
read those verses we considered last night. Here's who he is.
Verse 15 of Colossians 1, who he is. the image of the invisible
God. The firstborn of every creature. He's not a creature. He's the
firstborn. He's the creator who's the firstborn
of every creature. All things, he has the preeminence
for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and visible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or power, all things were created by him and
for him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And He's 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, for it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." Now, this
is the one who did these things. What a glorious description.
of him. Now, before we consider what
he did, I think we need to consider who he did it for. He did this
glorious thing. He made peace for somebody. He
reconciled somebody. It's a completed act. It's already
done. He made this glorious presentation. You know, this is not talking
about a future presentation. When He ascended back to the
Father, He made this glorious presentation of all of His people,
holy, unblameable, and unapprovable in His sight. Who did He do it
for? Look in verse 21, and you that
were sometime or before time alienated. enemies in your mind by wicked
works alienated estranged the best exact it's not an example
it's a fact when adam fell there at one time he had fellowship
with god i don't understand all this i don't believe adam had
a holy nature because if he had a holy nature he would never
fall in Holiness cannot fall. God cannot fall. God cannot sin
because he's holy. A holy nature wouldn't fall,
but he had an innocent nature. He had an upright nature. And
he had fellowship with God. And when he fell, he became estranged
from God. He ran from God's presence. He left God's presence. He no
longer wanted to be in God's presence. He was estranged from
God. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes walking to him in the cool of the evening and say, Adam,
where art thou? He didn't say, I'm sorry, would
you forgive me? No, he was estranged from God
and even blamed God when he was confronted. He said, the woman
that you gave me, she gave me the fruit and I did eat. This
is really your fault. What an apology is that? Estranged. Scripture says enemies. enemies
enemies of God enemies in your mind by wicked works and the
cross is proof of that if you want to know the truth about
yourself look to the cross there's what you and I would do apart
from the restraining grace of God that's exactly what we would
do alienated estranged enemies in your mind and your wicked
works Now, those are the people that
he's done this for. Now, if you don't believe this
about yourself, I'm sorry, but I must say this, the person I've
just described estranged enemies by wicked works. Those are the
only people he has done this for. And what did this person do? Verse 20, and having made peace through
the blood of his cross. Here's what he did. He made peace. Somebody says, have you made
your peace with God? Have you got things straightened
out with God? Oh, no, no, no, not in any way. He made my peace
through the blood of his cross. Now, to think of the Lord Jesus Christ
nailed to a cross, bleeding, and dying. He made my peace through
that act. The blood of His cross. Christ
nailed to a cross. And I want to say this as reverently
as I know how to say it. It's the most God-like thing
God ever did. It's the complete manifestation
of the character of God Almighty, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's attributes are fully
displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I see his
holiness. I see his justice. I see His
great wisdom in making a way to be just and justify somebody
like me. Oh, how I see His eternal purpose. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. I love thinking about that. Before
there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. And Christ is the
Lamb slain from before time began. Isn't that glorious? All that
God is is manifest in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I see
his mercy. I see his power, his power to
put away sin. I love thinking about what he
actually accomplished by his death on the cross. He actually
accomplished the putting away of sin. Oh, the blood of his
cross that made my peace with God. Romans chapter four, verse
25 says he was delivered for our offenses. That's why he died. He was delivered for our offenses,
and He was raised again for our justification, or because of
our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Now that doesn't mean our faith
is what gives us peace. He's not talking about some objective,
subjective feeling of peace. He's saying being justified by
faith. That's another name for the gospel,
justification by faith. We have peace with God. Not talking
about our feeling of peace. Now, I love the feeling of peace,
but that's not what that's talking about. That's talking about the
peace he achieved by his death on Calvary Street. Now, what
was going on on the cross? There's so much that we can't
understand. That's why the sun quit shining,
but turn back to second Corinthians chapter five. Verse 18, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ. Now, reconciliation, I'm going
to get back to that in a minute, but here it says, this is what
he did, he hath reconciled us. if when we were enemies, Romans
5, 10, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his son. When did that reconciliation
take place? When he died. When he died. Verse 18, all things are of God
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath committed
to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself. How did he do that? By not imputing
their trespasses unto them. Now, any bad thing you think
about yourself, it's true, and it's worse. And here's your hope. Here's my hope that God doesn't
charge you that God didn't impute it to you. That it was imputed
to His dear Son when He was made sin. Now let's go on reading.
And had committed to us the word of reconciliation, now then we
are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's name, you be reconciled to God. For He had made him. Now I want you to notice if you
have a King James Bible, the words to be are in italics. What that means? That means the
translators put them there in order to make it easier to understand. I think quite often it doesn't
make it any easier to understand at all. As a matter of fact,
it confuses it. Let's read it without the to be. For he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him." Now, don't try to
soften this or explain it away. Here we see sin in its gruesome
reality. Christ is made sin. I don't have any idea how to
explain what all that means, nor can anyone else. But when
God sees His Son as sin, He shows Him no mercy. This is what God
thinks of sin. He kills His Son. He made Him
sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. You see, he made peace. That
means God has no reason for anger. My sin actually became the sin
of the Lord Jesus Christ and God killed him. His righteousness
is given to me so that I'm the very righteousness of God and
God's at peace with me. He doesn't have any reason to
be mad at me. In doing this, in making my peace
with God, removing God's reason for anger, He reconciled me. He reconciled me. What does it
mean to be reconciled? Well, it means to change from
a state of enmity to a state of friendship. God is reconciled. Now, every one of us had experienced
this. Someone that you were close to.
that you counted a friend, that you loved, that you had a relationship
with. They did you wrong. They offended
you. And you feel estranged. You feel no longer that close
state of friendship. There's an estrangement. Or perhaps
you yourself have done something that offended your friend. They're offended and that friend,
there's a strain. It's not there anymore. There's
an estrangement. Boy, it's a difficult thing to
deal with, isn't it? Anytime anybody experiences anything
like that, it's a very painful and difficult thing to be alienated
from someone you were once close with. Very difficult. But isn't it a blessing when
people at odds become reconciled? The estrangement is taken away. It's removed. The barrier is
taken away. And the best way to describe
this is when someone forgives somebody else. You know that's
the most... I want to say this reverently,
but do you know really truly forgiving somebody is the most
God-like thing you can ever do? Truly forgiving. And isn't it
a blessing when someone comes up to that person who has been
offended and says, I'm sorry. I would. I am. So would you forgive
me? And, you know, there's an immediate
restoration. Reconciliation has been made.
You embrace your. Both parties glad that reconciliation
has taken place or perhaps you come. Someone you've done wrong,
you've offended, and it's not because they've come up to you
and said you did me wrong and you're okay, well I'm sorry,
no. You come up from the very depths of your heart and you
say, would you please forgive me, I'm sorry I've wronged you,
please forgive me. Isn't it beautiful when that
takes place? Reconciliation. And you know,
I was thinking about this with regard to reconciliation. The
only way it really takes place is when that person who apologizes
does it totally unprompted, not, you know, you need to do this
to get, no, it's unprompted. They do it because they want
to do it. But you know, in the Lord's reconciliation, and every
one of us have experienced where people have apologized for something,
but it wasn't really sincere. And, you know, it's worse then
than it was beforehand. I mean, you're you're you're
just aggravated and irritated. It just it causes it to prolong. Nobody likes that kind of apology.
Well, you know, that's the kind of apology the Lord got from
Adam. You think of that when that estrangement
took place and he comes back after the Lord confronts him
and he says, the woman that you gave me, she gave me of the fruit. And I did eat it. True, I ate
it, but ultimately it's your fault. I'm sorry, I shouldn't
have done it, but no. What kind of apology is that?
It'd be hard to receive that, wouldn't it? But here's the glorious
thing about the Lord's reconciliation. He's the one who was offended,
and he's the one who does all the reconciling. He did it all. We sinned against Him, and we
didn't come back and say, oh, I'm sorry. No, we blamed Him
in His sovereignty. He could have kept it from happening.
He didn't do it. It's His fault. The offended one does everything
in the reconciliation. Isn't that wonderful? He reconciled us by Himself. Now who did He reconcile? I could
say those who believe, and it'd be true, wouldn't it? I could
say the elect of God, and that'd be true. He reconciled the elect
of God. but would hide the glory of what
he did. You see, he reconciled those
who were willfully alienated from him and enemies in their
mind by wicked works. Those are the people that he
reconciled to himself. Turn with me to Romans chapter
five. Verse 6, For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Now what does that mean? A real
righteous, moral, upright guy that You know, when you're around
him, you feel condemned and intimidated and threatened because he's such
a, you know, nobody likes this guy. Not really, he's a jerk.
Nobody's gonna die for him. He may act righteous, but ain't
nobody gonna die for him. You know, nobody likes him. That's
what he means, therefore. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die. Yet, per adventure, for a good
man, a merciful man, a gracious man, some would even dare to
die. Some might die for him. that
God commended His love toward us. Now there's the reason for
the reconciliation. God commended His love toward
us. Now, to me, this is the hardest
thing in the world for me to get hold of. To think that God
actually loves You know, people, how could he hate
Esau? I have no problem with that at
all, because I can see why he'd hate me. I really can. I got no problem
with him. Esau didn't care anything more
about God than a bowl of soup. And I can understand why God
would hate him. God's holy. But love? God commended his love
toward us that we who were alienated and the enemies in our mind by
wicked works. He commended his love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. T'was not to make Jehovah's love
toward the sinner flame that Jesus left his throne above,
a suffering man became. T'was not the death which he
endured or all the pains he bore that God's eternal love procured,
for God was love before love. God commended his love toward
us in the wild. We were yet sinners. Christ died
for us much more than being now justified by his blood. We shall
be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
being reconciled. we should be saved by His life. Now, notice back in our text
in Colossians 1, when speaking of this reconciliation. Verse 21, And you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. When Christ died, it wasn't an attempt to win us
over. He wasn't just simply showing
us how much he loved us. That's not what this was about. An offended God had to have his
justice satisfied. And the blood of Christ was not
for you. It was for God. And he accomplished something
by his blood. The complete reconciliation of
his people. I only know this by faith because
I don't know by experience, but I only know this by faith. God
doesn't have a reason to be mad at me. He has no, because that's
not the way we think. We think he tolerates us for
Christ's sake. That's the way we think. But
beloved, he has no reason for anger, no reason to be estranged
toward you. You see, first John chapter three,
verse five says he was manifested to take away our sins. I question, did he do it? Did he do it? Scripture says
in him is no sin. That means if I'm in him, I have
no sin. And he doesn't have any reason
to be mad at me. And you know, the only time I
can come into his presence as being reconciled to Him is when
I see He is completely reconciled to me. That's the only one. If
you think there's anything between you and the Lord, you're going
to stand back. You're going to be scared to come into His presence.
You're going to have an unconscious grudge against Him. Everything's
not right, but oh if you see He's completely reconciled through
the blood of His Son, oh you come boldly into His presence. Now, look at the results of this
making peace. Look at the results of this making
reconciliation. Paul makes this staggering claim
in verse 22. He says in verse 21, And you
that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now, right now, hath he reconciled in the body of
his flesh through death to present you unblamable and unreprovable in his sight
now I want us to think of that for just a moment holy you know
holiness is immutable you can't change you can't become more
holy you can't become less holy Holiness is the very nature of
God. The Holy Spirit begets a believer
to have a holy nature. I'm looking at some that the
Bible calls holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. What
a glorious thing to be holy. Now, This is really only known
by faith because I can't look at myself and say, yep, I measure
up. Holy. But I know this. I know
this. It's the new man. It's the holy
man that owns the sins of the old man. Did you know that? If
you see anything of your sin, it's because of the new man that
causes you to see it. Holy. And what's he say next? Unblameable. That means without blemish. Without
blemish. When God sees me, he sees someone
who is in a state of sinlessness. Without blemish. Unrebukeable. There's nothing
to charge me with. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? There's nothing to charge him
with. You see, my sin has been put away. It's gone. And notice what he says, holy
and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. Now, listen real carefully. How
God sees things is how they really are. He doesn't see me as if I were
holy and as if I were unblameable and if I was virtually unapprovable. God sees things as they really
are. Me and you don't. We don't see
anything is it really when it comes right down to it. You know,
I love that scripture. We see through a glass darkly.
The word is literally an enigma. You're looking at an enigma.
Don't you know it? I'm looking at something. You're
an enigma to yourself. You can't even explain yourself.
You know, my mom, right now, she's going through a sickness
of some kind, and it's somewhere close to Parkinson's disease,
and she'll do things that are just crazy, ever since she's
been sick. And then you ask her, you say, Mom, why do you do that?
She says, I don't know. I don't know. Well, we say, you
know, why do we, we're in it. But yet, God sees things as they
really are. Holy. unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Now, with regard to this thing
of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. Turn to Romans 5. Again. These are very companion passages
of scripture. Verse 10. For, verse 10, for if when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled. We shall be
saved by His life. Now, what's that mean? Well,
it means a couple of things. First, it means His life is my
life. I love that verse of Scripture.
The Lord says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Now, that's my life before God.
The Lord Jesus Christ, His life is my life before God. It's also
talking about His intercession. lives at the right hand of the
Father, representing all his people. Be saved by his life, verse 11. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me ask you a
question. Does it give you joy to know or to believe, to believe,
that's the best way to put it, to believe that you really are
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in God's side. Does that make
you joyous? It does me. We rejoin the reconciler. We
join God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received
Now, see where it says atonement? I don't know why they translate
it there, because the word is literally reconciliation. We
have received the reconciliation. Now, what does it mean to receive
something? Well, if I give you something,
you take it. You take it. And if you didn't take it, I
never gave it. Somebody says, well, here's the
gift. It's out there. It's up to you
to take it. No. If He gives it, you'll take it, you'll receive
it. To receive Him, to receive the
reconciliation is to believe it. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name. Now, do you believe that His
name Do you believe that who He is
and what He did is all that's needed to make you perfectly
reconciled to God? And nothing else is needed! It's done! Not do, but done. All the pressure's off. Now, how can I know If He's done
this for me, that's what I want to know. I want to know if I'm
one of these people who God would say He's holy, He's unblameable,
He's unreprovable in my very sight. How can I know if I'm
one of them? Let's go back to our text in
Colossians 1. Verse 21, and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. The first
thing, that's gotta be me. I've gotta, that description
has to fit me. You can't take the promise unless
you fit the character of the one the promise was made to.
So there's the first thing. The scripture I've already read
once, when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. Well, who'd he die for? Those
who are without strength? Those who are ungodly? Would
that be you? If it is, he died for you. I mean, guaranteed. If that's
you, that's who he died for. Now let's go on reading. You that 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, if you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel. If you continue, if you remain
in the faith, if you abide in Christ, the Lord said, abide
in me. What's it mean to abide in Christ?
Well, it means you stay right there and you don't want to be
outside of Him. It's that simple. If I said the only place of safety
is in this room, would you want to go outside of this room? If
I said outside of this room, the wrath of God will come on
you. The only place you're safe is in this room. You know what
you'd want to do? You'd want to stay in this room. And you
think, well, another thing about being in Christ, that's not a
place of confinement. It's a place of complete liberty.
All the pleasures of God are in him. All you could ever desire
is in him. You want to leave? No, no. Paul
said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. All I want for God to see is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what it means to be
in Him, to abide in Him. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved from the hope of the
Gospel. Now what is the hope of the Gospel?
What is the hope? I want to be as simple as I can. The only hope that I have is
that Jesus Christ died for me and put away my sins and gave
me his righteousness. That's the only hope I have. If you tell me I got to look
to something in me to give me assurance of salvation, my faith,
my faithfulness, my growth in grace, my preaching, my ability
to deal with sin, my ability to refrain from sin. If you tell
me to look for anything in me, I have no hope. My hope is that Christ died for
me. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. That's the only answer that's
needed. Yea, rather that's risen again, who's even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Now, I know that apart from the grace
of God, I will leave that hope. I realize that. You would too.
But do you have any desire to be moved from that one single
hope? I don't. I want to stay right
there. All my eggs are in that one basket. I don't have mutual funds, you
know, things here and there and there and there. If this one
goes bad down at work, no, it's all right here. My only hope
is that the Lord Jesus Christ died for me. That's one of the
many reasons I despise the doctrine of universal redemption. It's
where preachers say that Christ died for everybody and made salvation
available for everybody. That takes away my hope if somebody
that he died for can wind up in hell because I know that if
somebody that he died for can wind up in hell, that's where
I'll be. I know that. I know that. So, oh, may God
give us grace to continue in the faith. Grounded and settled. And be not moved from the hope
of the gospel. Now that's what he did. He made
peace. It's already, it's a done deal.
It's already been made. Nothing you need to do to enhance
it. He reconciled us to himself. complete reconciliation. And he's presented us before
his father, holy, unblameable, and unapprovable in the very
sight of God. Now receive that. Believe it. Rest in it. Amen.