Colossians 1 verse 16 reads,
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. All things were created by him
and for him. In the book of Colossians, in
the epistle to the Colossians, Christ is preeminent. Throughout Colossians, Paul presents
Christ to the gaze of faith. He is all and he is in all. He takes the gaze away from everything
which is earthly, everything which is of the flesh, and he
sets before us Christ, the head of the church. the head of the
body, the son of God, the one who created all things, for by
him were all things created. All things were created by him,
and all things were created for him. All things were created by him,
and all things were created for him. This is so different to what
we see in the world, and so different to what we see in earthly religion,
where really everything is by man, and everything is for man. Yes, everything is by man, it's
what man does, and everything is for man. It's ultimately for
man's glory, but not so in the gospel. not so in Colossians
but we read that all things were created by him and all things
are created for him. What was created by him? What
is created by him? We know that God created all
things but as it says he created all things by his son by Christ. Well first of course all things
were created by him naturally Everything in the world, everything
that is, everything that we can see, Christ created. Everything, whether it's the
world, the stars, space, the planets, the creatures, mankind,
powers and principalities, all things. As Genesis reads, in
the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the
earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light.
And there was light. And God saw the light, that it
was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness
he called night. And the evening and the morning
were the first day. Throughout chapter one of Genesis
we read, how in six days God created everything that is in
the earth, including man, created he male and female. And it concludes
in verse 31, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold,
it was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. As God created everything, but
he created everything by his son. for all things were made
by him and for him. How did God create? He spoke. He created all things by the
word of his mouth, by one utterance, and things came into being. He
spoke by his word. When God uttered, the worlds
came into being, the earth came into being, the darkness and
the light, the stars and the firmament, the sun and the moon,
the earth and the planets, the sea and the dry land, every living
creature upon the dry land, he spoke and it was. And he created
mankind by the word of his mouth, he spoke. And man was formed
from the dust of the ground. When God spoke, he spoke by word. And that word by which he spoke,
we read of that word in John's gospel in chapter one as we opened
with. When God speaks, He speaks one
way. He speaks by His Word. And His Word is more than just
speech. His speech is found in His Son. Christ is the Word of
God. In the beginning was The Word,
and The Word was with God, and The Word was with God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
and without him was not anything made that was made. When God
spoke, he spoke in his son. He spoke in Christ. And so when
God spake to bring the worlds into beings, he spake by his
son, through his son, in his son. And the worlds came into
beings. As we read in Hebrews chapter
one, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by son, by his son, whom we have appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who be in
the brightness of his glory and express image of his person and
uphold in all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. God has spoken unto us in these days by son,
by word, by his word, by Jesus Christ, who by him and for him
were all things created. When God created this world,
he created it and looked upon it on that sixth day, on that
seventh day when he rested, he looked upon it and he saw that
it was all good. All the creation was made by
His Son. But soon after, after man had
been created in the garden, and when God placed Adam and He placed
Eve in the garden and said that they could eat of all the fruit
in the garden, but they should not eat of the fruit of that
one tree, that tree called the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. This one tree He commanded that they should not eat, lest
in the day that thou eatest thou should surely die. Before they
ate, all was good, and God was pleased with his creation. But
when they ate of that tree, when they turned in rebellion against
their master and their maker, sin entered. But in Genesis chapter
one, when God creates the world, we see here his thoughts, not
just for this earthly creation, which would soon be marred by
sin as sin entered by the first Adam. But God looks beyond this
creation to another creation. He looks beyond this earth to
that new earth which he would come, which he would also create.
And when he created man upon this earth, he created man in
Adam, his thoughts in creating man would be looking beyond the
first man, looking beyond Adam to the second man, the last Adam.
When God looked upon this earth which he had created and saw
that it was good, what he had in his mind was not just what
he could see before him, but what he had in his mind was that
new heaven and that new earth which would come, which he would
create in Christ Jesus. But this earth which he created
by his word, by his son, he reigns over it. It's his earth,
he created it by him and he created it for him. The earth is for
him, it's for him, it's not for man who lives upon the earth.
It's all for him, he upholds it by the word of his power.
We read in Hebrews 1 that he upholds all things by the word
of his power. He brought it into being and
he sustains it. It's his earth, it's for him.
Man was created upon this world to bring glory unto his maker,
to worship his maker. And God sustains man upon this
earth. He sustains all mankind. He keeps
every heart beating. He keeps the atoms in all things
spinning in place. He keeps the hearts of men beating.
He sustains them. He brings them food and water.
And he keeps them alive upon this earth for one reason. and
that is to bring glory unto Him, and that is to worship Him, and
that is to seek Him. He has absolute rights over His
creation, for He made it. It is His. The earth is His. It is His. The Lord hath made
all things for Himself. All things. It's His world. He created it. He created it
by Christ and for Christ, by Him and for Him. He has absolute
rightful dominion over all things. And yet man created upon this
earth, despite the fact that God created him, despite the
fact that God sustains him, despite the fact that God is his maker,
has rebelled and has fallen and has turned away to his own things.
Turned away, turned aside to his own things, turned aside
from bringing glory and worship under his maker. to bring glory
and worship unto himself. And yet we're not our own. We're
not here to bring glory to ourself. We're not our own to seek our
own things. We're God's. He put us here. And he put us here to worship
him. He put us here to serve him. And yet we turn aside. Yes, God created this world.
He created it for his glory. He created all that is in it.
He created both good and evil in it. He's sovereign over all. There is nothing in this world
that goes on which is outside of His control, outside of His
purpose. But He's the Creator. It says
in Proverbs 16.4 that the Lord hath made all things for Himself,
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Even mankind who
turns against Him and who does evil, nevertheless, All was created
by God, all is sustained by God, and all brings forth his purposes. Ultimately, though man rebels,
though man turns his hand against his maker, ultimately, God is
still working his purposes out, and ultimately, all is under
God's sovereign reign and for his glory. All are made by him,
as we've read. Even principalities and powers,
all are made by him. He works out all things to accomplish
his glory. All things work together for
the good of his people, for the good of his church, to bring
glory unto his name. Even the principalities and powers,
even the devil and his angels which war against him and war
against his church, ultimately all are under God's rule. All
are there by his creation. And all are there for Him and
for His glory. So God created this natural world. But as I said, when He created
this world, His purposes and His thoughts looked beyond what
is natural. It looked beyond the here and
the now. It looked beyond this present earth and heavens. It
looked beyond the first Adam. And it looked to a new creation,
a new heavens, a new earth. and the last Adam, even Jesus
Christ. But there's a new creation. This
earth is fallen. Mankind upon this earth has turned
his back upon his maker. He's taken up his fist and shaken
it at his maker and stained this world by sin. This world has
fallen and is corrupt and darkness has entered into the heart and
the soul of man and into all his doings. But God has not destroyed
it. because his thoughts and his
purposes look beyond the here and the now. He looks beyond
what we see now to a new creation. A new creation in his son, a
new creation in Christ Jesus. There is a new creation. As we
read in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, we read that, therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed
away, behold, all things have become new. and all things are
of God who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and
have given to us the ministry of reconciliation. God has a
new creation in mind and this creation is in Christ and all
whom he has chosen in Christ, all whom he creates in Christ,
all whom he quickens from the darkness and death of their fallen
state in Adam in this world, all whom he brings to life by
his gospel. They are a new creature all things
are passed away behold all things are become new and all things
are of God for he's reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ
again in Ephesians we read that we put on the new man there's
the old man Adam but there is that new man in Christ that new
man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness
and in Colossians in chapter 3 we read that have put on the
new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him for as I said all things were created by him and for him
all things in this world all things in the first creation
all things in a natural creation but also all things in that new
creation all things in that which he brings in by his son in the
gospel which he brings in by his spirit in the church, which
he brings in for that new heaven and that new earth which is to
come. All life is made by him, whether it's natural life or
spiritual life, in the new birth, all is by him, all is sustained
by him, all is of him, and all is for him. Everything in this
world was made by him and for him, but there's much greater,
everything in Christ, everything in that new creation. is by him
and for him. So we see a natural creation
and we see a spiritual creation. We see this world and the next
world. We see the natural man in Adam and we see the new man
in Christ Jesus. There's two seeds, two men. The
natural man in Adam in which we all have our being and the
new man in Christ Jesus. in which all for whom he came
to save are created anew. There's two men, two creations,
two worlds, two seeds. In Romans and chapter nine we
see this distinguished between these two classes of people,
two seeds, two vessels. They're all created, they're
all by God, they're all brought into being by God. and in Romans
chapter 9 we read of the potter and the clay and we read that
he has these two people and he shows mercy to whom he will show
mercy and he hardens whom he will harden and in verse 19 it
says because the natural man cries against this and cries
against this that God has those whom he shows mercy to and those
whom he hardens and the natural man says why doth he yet find
fault who have resisted God's will Nay, but, O man, who art
thou that replies against God? Show the thing formed, say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Have not the
potter, have not the creator, power over the clay, of the same
lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory. God is a potter and he
has as it were a lump of clay and when he creates he takes
one lump and he makes out of it a vessel and one lump is a
vessel which he makes which he will then destroy but out of
the same lump he makes another vessel And there are these vessels
under whom he will show mercy. He could have destroyed every
vessel. He could have made every vessel and destroyed it. All
mankind has sinned. All mankind has turned against
his maker. All vessels could have been vessels
of wrath. He would rightly do right to
destroy them all. But there are those which he
makes as vessels of mercy. And he makes them for this cause,
that he might make known the riches of his glory. on the vessels
of mercy whom He had before prepared unto glory. It's all of His doing. He's the maker. He's the creator. And if you know anything of being
in Christ, if you know what it is to know Christ, it's because
He's brought you to know Him. He made you. He created you. He created you anew. He created
you in Adam. And when you fell, He looked
on as you fell and as you fell into sin and fell into destruction. And there comes a time when those
whom he has chosen to be vessels of mercy come to hear the gospel. And he makes them anew in Christ. And he recreates them. And there's
this new creation. And it's all in Christ. And it's
all of his doing. It's all by him. And it's all
for him. And finally, what he creates. He's created the natural creation,
he's created a new creation in Christ of all those whom he has
saved, all those whom Christ redeems, that they might be washed
from their sins, that they might be quickened by the Spirit, that
they might be made new, that they might be made a new creation
in Christ. But lastly, he makes out of these
Out of all these vessels of mercy, all those whom he has chosen
to save in Christ, all this new creation, out of these he makes
his church. Out of these he builds his bride. Out of these he builds, he creates
a glorious church which is known as his bride, this bride for
his son. God creates this bride. Christ
brings her into being by his word. and she's brought to him
as a bride, as Adam had Eve taken out of his side and brought to
him as his bride. So God has a bride for his son. All those whom he saves are taken
as one people, as one company, as one church, as a bride, as
a bride for his son, as a new creation. as Eve was created
out of the side of Adam as Eve was taken as Adam slept and a
rib was taken out of the side of Adam and God took out of his
side and took this bone and put upon it flesh and made out of
it a beautiful woman, Eve whom Adam had never seen and when
Adam came out of that sleep out of that deep sleep he brought
this helpmate, this wife, this bride unto Adam And he looked
upon her as a beautiful, as a glorious thing. And he loved his wife
that God had made for him, that God had made as a helpmeet for
him, that God had taken out of him, that he knew was flesh of
his flesh and bone of his bones. And being taken out of him, he
loved him. Yet in this picture, in this
picture of Eve taken out of the first Adam, we see what God's
mind was for his church. for his bride, that God would
have a bride whom he would create for his son, that he would take
a bride out of the side of his son, that he would take a bride
out of his own son and bring this bride for his son as a glorious
thing, as a beautiful bride, a beautiful wife for his son.
And this is all of God's doing to bring a bride for his son,
to present to his son as his bride whom he would love forever.
Eve was but a faint picture of this bride that Christ would
have. And as Adam was put into a deep
sleep that God might take out of his side this bride and make
this bride for his son. So when Christ went to the cross,
and when Christ laid down his life for his people, and when
Christ went into the darkness of death at Golgotha, And when
God laid upon Christ the sins of all his people, all those
vessels of mercy, all those whom he had chosen, that elect company,
all those company that he had chosen before ever he created
this natural world. Before ever this natural world
was created, God purposed to take a company. And he took that
company and he took this company and he put that company in his
son at the tree. That company was united to his
son. And when Christ went into the
darkness of death, when he went into that deep sleep of death,
when he went into that deep sleep, that Golgotha, when he as it
were slept, God took out of his side his people. He took out of his side his bride.
He laid upon Christ the sins of that bride. He made him to
be sin, that he might take that sin and those sins away. that
God might judge those sins in his son and that judging and
taking away those sins that he might bring out of him a bride
and that he might make that bride perfect that he might make her
perfect and that he might be able to present her to his son
as a perfect bride suitable for that perfect glorious son of
God and so as he died God took out of his son his own son his
bride and having taken their sins away, he presented that
bride to his son, that son who died, who gave himself for the
church, that he might purify that church, who gave himself
for his bride, that he might purify his bride, that he might
have a perfect bride, without sin, without spot, without blemish. He died that that bride, that
company might rise again in him, He died that those who were dead
might have everlasting life. He died that those who were sinners
might be made righteous. He died that those who were in
darkness might be brought into everlasting life in Him. He died
that those who were dead, having fallen in the first creation,
might be brought to life and might be created anew in the
new creation through His death. she was brought to life through
his deep sleep of death she his eve his bride was brought to
life and that great company in him was brought to perfection
brought to him as a great bride as a wonderful bride as a perfect
bride this was God's creation This was what God had in mind
when he made this world and when he made man upon this world and
when he took the bride of Adam out of his side, Eve, and presented
her to him. God looked beyond this world.
He looked beyond the fall. He looked beyond the corruption
which would come in. He looked beyond the entrance
of sin. He looked beyond the entrance of death. He looked
beyond the multiplying of wickedness upon the earth. He looked beyond
the destruction which would come. He looked beyond the destruction
which he would send forth when he destroyed man, when he sent
a flood upon this earth in the days of Noah and brought Noah
and his family through that destruction. He looked beyond the ages and
the eons that would come, the thousands of years to the coming
of Christ. He looked beyond all these things
and he looked to that time when he would crucify his son and
pour out the wrath of God upon the sins of his bride and his
son. And he looked beyond that crucifixion
to that third day when that company, that people, that bride would
rise again in his son. And he looked beyond that to
that day when that bride would be presented to his son. as his
bride and he looked beyond that to that day to come when that
bride would rise again in the resurrection to come with a new
body, a perfect body and be presented to his son as that perfect bride
in the new creations to come and would know what it is to
be with the Lord Jesus Christ forevermore. This is God's creation,
and this is by Christ, and for Christ, for all things were created
by him, and for him. And this is what he builds, what
he creates, he creates the church, for the church is his bride.
And having purchased the church at Golgotha, having paid the
ransom price, having redeemed her by his blood, in the ages
to come, in this day, even in our present day, God is building
His church, He sends forth the Spirit with the Gospel to gather
in each and every vessel of mercy whom Christ has purchased and
He builds this church and He's building it even this very day
by His Gospel. Christ purchased that church
by His blood and today Christ builds it. He's creating, He's
building, He's building His church and He's building it. He builds
it, it's by Him. and he's building it for him,
that he might be glorified in that church, he might be glorified
in the salvation of his people. So yes, he builds his church,
but how does he build it? How is it built today? How is
he building his church? Well, first he creates the foundation,
he prepares the foundation. And that foundation is in him.
That foundation is in him, that foundation is in Christ. The
foundation is laid upon Christ, and that foundation is found
in Christ and in his apostles in the gospel. And he lays that
foundation upon him, upon the rock. And to make that foundation
in his people, he has to strip away everything that he finds
in that people, which is contrary. Everything which is in the flesh,
everything which is of the first Adam must be taken away and must
be destroyed. And everything that is left is
that which is in Christ. Everything which is left is in
the last Adam. So as we saw at the cross, everything
which is of the first Adam had to be destroyed by death. Christ
died that he might redeem his people. Christ died that he might
take away everything that was of the first Adam, everything
which was sinful, everything which was wicked. This is why
he died, that he might take it away. that he might destroy it,
that all that might be left might be righteousness, all that might
be left might be the last Adam, all that his people might have
might be in him, and there might be nothing added to him, nothing
of sin, nothing of death, nothing of the flesh, nothing which is
earthy, all which is of the earth, all which is of the flesh would
be taken away. And yet when Christ comes to
save his people, when the Spirit comes to save his people, He
has to perform a mighty work to save that people. He has to
perform a work in which that people are brought to hear his
gospel, in which they are brought to hear the truth for where they
are, in which that they are brought to die to everything that is
in the flesh that is of self, and they are quickened again
to everything which is in Jesus Christ. they're brought to be
created anew in him. When the spirit comes in the
time of love by his gospel, when he comes to this people where
he finds them in the depths of their sin, he comes to create
them anew, he comes to breathe life into them. All those whom
God has chosen in Christ are brought to hear the gospel by
his spirit. He does it, for it's by him and
it's for him. If you have been or if you ever
are brought to faith, it will be in His timing, it will be
at His command, and it will be by His Word. For there's a time
of love when He comes and He says unto His people, by His
Spirit, He says unto them, live. And the dead hear in the spirits
cry, the dead hear in the voice of the Son of God live. For as
it says in John 5 and 25, the hour is coming and now is when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that
hear shall live. Have you heard, have you heard
his voice, have you heard his voice, that same voice that said
in the beginning, let there be light and there was light, as
he come to you in the darkness and death of your sin, And has
he come into you in your depths? Has he come into you in that
state in which you were afar off, in the flesh? And has he
come unto you by his spirit, by his gospel in power, and said,
live? And have you felt that life,
have you felt that quickening life bring you to stand upon
your feet? bring you out of the grave like
Lazarus have you heard those words of the Lord Jesus Christ
come unto you and cry out come forth and life has been breathed
into your very being and that which was dead was brought to
life and you came forth and you came unto God and you came by
faith unto God and you came out of the depths of your sin and
you came to God and you saw God as he was you heard of him who
saved you, you've heard of Him, the Lord Jesus, who died in your
place. You've heard of Him who came
to save sinners. Have you heard His voice cry
unto you, live? For if you're in Him, if you're
His, this is the voice you will hear. This is the voice you must
hear as He cried to you, live. When He builds His church, He
starts with this voice. He starts by sending a voice
in the wilderness. He starts by sending that voice
that prepares the way for this voice. There's a voice in the
wilderness which cries, which cries out to all fleshes as grass,
which cries out and prepares the way for the coming of the
Son of God, which brings the flesh low, which brings it to
despair, which brings it to see how hopeless it is. And it prepares
the way for the coming of the Son of God. And the way must
be prepared. All that is of the flesh must
be brushed aside, must be brought down low. And when it is, the
Son of God comes by His Spirit. And He comes to the broken and
the contrite. He comes to the lowly. He comes
to those who are without strength. He comes to those who know they're
nothing. He comes to those who know they
are weak and they are poor and they are sinners. And that they
will only hear if God brings them to hear. And they will only
see if He gives them sight. and they will only believe if
he gives them faith. He comes to these, and having
broken, having bruised, having brought them low, he says live. He says live. For before he comes with that
voice, before he comes with those words of life, there is that
in the flesh which must be rooted out, which must be pulled down,
which must be destroyed. Jeremiah, when he was sent forth
to preach the word of God, The Lord put forth his hand and touched
his mouth, and the Lord said unto him, Behold, I have put
my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, to pull
down, to destroy, to throw down, and to build, and to plant. But before God builds, and before
he plants, before he builds in your soul, before he plants,
before he builds up faith, before he quickens unto life, Before
he builds his church there is that which must be rooted out,
which must be pulled down, which must be destroyed, which must
be thrown down. What is this but the will, the
pride, the heart and the flesh of man, which is so strong, which
is so rebellious, which is so arrogant, which is so forceful,
which is so dark, which stands in the way, and until it's pulled
aside until it's broken until the heart heart is broken there
won't be any light which will shine into the heart it must
be broken down the flesh must be broken down and this is all
god's work to bring the flesh down he does it he brings it
to pass and what is this breaking down of the flesh what is it
what is this taking away of the flesh in man Many speak of the
flesh, many speak of turning from the flesh, turning from
the things of the flesh. And often when we think of the
flesh, we think of those things which are pleasing to the flesh.
And certainly this would include that. But this is not merely
speaking of those things which we think of fleshly as worldly.
It's not merely talking of stopping drinking, stopping smoking, going
to church, going to worship. It's not merely turning away
from worldly entertainment and the things of time and sense.
You can do all of that and still be in the flesh. You can still
do all of that and be the most religious person upon this earth.
As Saul, as Paul was, he was the most religious. He was a
Pharisee of the Pharisees. He turned from every worldly
way. He read all the scriptures. And
yet his flesh was stronger than any man's. The flesh is more
than just turning away from the things of the flesh. The flesh
is that pride of man. that will of man the arrogance
in man that in which man glories which is in the place of god
that which is really at the heart of sin when adam turned from
god adam didn't turn to the worst depravity of sin adam's sin was
really turning to his will and his way in his pride to his glory
and this is what must be rooted out and pulled down And when
God builds his church, this is where he starts. This is where
he takes the axe. He takes it to the axe of man's
pride and man's stubbornness. And he takes this axe to man's
pride and man's glory. And he brings us down to know
that we're nothing. To know that we're sinners. To
know that we're nothing. And that Christ is all. That
he must build. That he must create. And that
his creation is not for us. It's not for us. We're not saved
for us. not saved for us yes when God
saves us he brings us to everlasting life when God saves us he brings
us into righteousness when God saves us he gives us all the
riches that he can give us in Christ Jesus we have tremendous
blessings when we come to know his son but ultimately his salvation
is by him and for him not for us And all God's people, when
they're truly brought low, when they're truly brought to know
themselves as they are, and when they're brought to know Jesus
Christ as He is, and who He is, their thoughts aren't for themselves.
Their thoughts aren't for themselves, their thoughts are for Him. The
church isn't for itself, the church is for Him. The church
is His, He purchased it, and He purchased it for Him. It's
His church, it's not there for our blessing. When we come to
worship God, we don't principally come for our blessing, we don't
come principally to receive, though obviously we do, but we
come to worship Him. The church is gathered for His
glory and for His worship. When it comes to worship Him,
the Father seeketh such who will worship Him in spirit and in
truth. They're gathered for His glory,
for Him. the church is for him it's gathered
it's brought to bring glory under him it's brought for him now
let's turn again to Luke and chapter 7 for this is very much
where i want to bring us to this illustration which we read in
in Luke's gospel in chapter 7 of the woman with the alabaster
box this glorious picture of this woman that comes to the
Lord Jesus and she comes in the Pharisee's house in Simon's house
and she comes as a sinner and comes in such meekness and humility
before her master, before her saviour, before the Lord Jesus,
she comes unto him and she comes in such meekness, such a lowly
state and she brings all that she's got, she brings this great
pricely alabaster box of ointment and she brings it and she stoops
down at his feet behind him weeping and begins to wash his feet with
tears, wipes them with the hairs of her head, kisses his feet,
anoints them with the ointment. Here we have a glorious picture
of humility and of worship of the saviour, of the saviour who
brought all things into being, of the saviour who created this
world, of the saviour who created her upon this world. of the Saviour
who created all things by Him and for Him, of the Saviour who
created His church by Him and for Him. We see here a woman,
a meek woman, a woman who was a sinner, a woman who loved,
a woman who'd been forgiven much, a woman who loved much, and we
see such worship, such bringing glory unto her Master. We see
so many lessons in this picture, so many lessons for her of what
the church is, what Christ has brought in in his bride, the
church, for him, for him. And I want to tell you a few
things from this picture of this woman in Luke chapter seven,
and why this picture is given us, what it points us to, what
it points us to in the bride of Christ and in whom she brings
glory. First thing I bring your attention
to here is that in this passage and in the other gospels where
it's mentioned, It's always mentioned that this is a woman. It never
tells us her name. Many think it's perfectly reasonable
to think that this is Mary Magdalene, that woman who Christ loved,
that woman whom he forgave, that woman out of whom he cast seven
devils, a wicked woman, a sinner. But her name here isn't mentioned,
and it isn't mentioned for a good reason, because the spirits here
would just draw out the fact that this is a woman. sinner
who comes under her under her master the Lord Jesus and comes
as a woman before her master and worships him and the picture
here in mentioning that she's a woman is the point us to the
bride of Christ here we see a picture of the bride of the church here
in this woman is the worship not just of one woman here in
that one time but this is a picture of the worship of Christ's church
and how this church, how this bride of Christ, how all his
people come in humility before him, come as sinners before him,
come and kneel down before him to worship and to adore him who
loved the church and gave himself for it. Firstly she sits at Jesus'
feet She knows she's nothing and she knows that he is all
and in all. She knows that he is everything.
She knows that she is nothing before her maker and her master.
We see great humility here. She knows her place before her
master. She sits at his feet. Like the
picture of Ruth with Boaz in the book of Ruth, we read how
Ruth went and laid at Boaz's feet hoping that she might receive
some blessing, some grace, some mercy from his hand. We saw such
humility in that picture of Ruth. Again, Boaz, a picture of Christ,
Ruth his bride. Christ's people know their place
before him. They know that they're nothing,
and they sit at his feet. She gives her precious ointment. She takes this which is so costly
to her, so much expense, She's willing to take such cost, to pay such price
for his glory because she knows that he paid the ultimate cost
to save her. He paid the greatest price to
save her. He paid the price of his life
to save his bride. so no price is too much to pay
for the bride to give back out of love for him who loved her
she was criticized for this others would give it to the poor others
would take this cost others would take the labors others would
say don't exert so much labor and so much expense in such a
futile thing of worshipping God, they mocked it, they said it
wasn't right. Religious say, oh don't do this,
use your time and effort, send it to the poor, send it to this
cause, send it to that cause. Causes which seem good, causes
which seem righteous, and yet all which are other than worshipping
Christ. But God's church, God's people,
would rather give their all for Christ. the poor we always have
with us but Christ is all and in all and they labor and they
are spent for him it is by him she gets this ointment everything
she had was given to her by him and everything that she had that
was given to her by him she wanted to give for him for it's all
by him and it's all for him she uses her hair to wash his feet
Her hair, the woman's hair, the woman's glory. She uses her woman's
glory to wash the feet of him, to glorify him. She would glorify
her master with that which would normally bring her glory. She
puts her glory aside that she might glorify him, her savior. She kisses the feet of him, she
kisses the son. As we read in Psalm 2, kiss the
son lest he be angry. She knows who He is. The Bride
of Christ knows He is. His people know who He is. They
know how glorious He is. They know how wonderful He is.
They kiss Him. They kiss His feet. They glorify
Him. She's a sinner. We've read that
she's a sinner. Christ's bride by nature is a
sinner, his people by nature are sinners, they're sinners
and yet this sinner comes to the Saviour, comes to the Lord
Jesus and she bows down at his feet, she's a sinner, she was
a sinner. At the beginning in the garden
Satan deceived the woman Eve in the garden, it was by a woman
that the deception came in and through the woman the man was
deceived, and sin entered as Adam transgressed and sin entered
the world. The woman at the beginning was
deceived by Satan, who came along and whispered to her, have God
said, who brought in this doubt. And at the beginning that woman
sinned and brought her husband to sin. And yet here we see another
sinner, another woman, a sinner, who washes the heel, who washes
the feet, who washes the heel, of him who would bruise Satan's
head and take her sin away. When Adam and Eve sinned, when
the woman had fallen, when Satan had deceived her in the garden,
God promised that there would be that one, the seed of the
woman, whose heel would bruise Satan's head and whose head would
bruise his heel. And here this woman, this picture
of Christ's bride, washes the feet, washes the heels that would
yet bruise Satan's head and take her sin away. Yes, she's a sinner. She suffered the contradiction
of sinners. She was in the Pharisees' house, in Simon's house, and
the disciples and Simon contended against her. They looked angrily
at her. They saw her as one who was shameful. They pointed out to the Saviour
Don't you know what this woman is? A sinner! A wicked sinner! Haven't you heard her reputation?
She's one of the worst! Yes, she was a sinner and she
endured the contradiction of sinners. But she washed the feet
of the Saviour, who endured the cross and despised the shame. him who would suffer the contradiction
of sinners for her that she might be saved she was a sinner she was a sinner
in the house of the pharisee she washed the savior's feet
in the house of the pharisee she anointed his feet knowing
that he would die for her that soon his death were approached
and she as it were embalmed anointed she washed the one of defeat
of the one who would die in her place but she did this in the
house of the pharisee in this custodian of the of the law she
came into the presence of the pharisee the custodian of the
law him who accused her and we see here a picture of coming
into the presence of the accuser the accuser of the brethren there
is him who accuses the brethren and who brings the the law before
the lord jesus who brings the law before god and says, don't
you know what these people have done? Don't you know what this
woman has done? Don't you know that she is a
sinner? That she's condemned by thy law, that she's lost,
that she's transgressed in every point. And the Pharisee here,
the custodian of the law, finds her out and brings the accusation. And yet here she is, knowing
she's a sinner, knowing she's nothing, at the feet of Jesus,
at the feet of the one who could take that accusation away. who
could take that condemnation away and she washes the feet
of the one who would take that very law which was used against
her and who would nail it to his cross and would take away
its every judgment, its every condemnation and would take it
out of sight and would take it away and would answer its every
debt and its every condemnation and take her every sin away and
make her clean and justify her and make her perfect in the law's
sight She's a sinner and she washes the feet of him who would
save her. She washes the feet which would
be pierced. She washes the feet which would be pierced by her
sins. This woman, this picture of the
Bride of Christ washed the feet which would be pierced. If this
is your Saviour, friends, we come to worship Him. whose feet
would be pierced for us, whose feet would be pierced by her
sins and our sins, whose feet would be pierced by the sins
of his bride. She washes the feet of the Saviour
with her tears, she washes them with her tears, that one who
would wash her with his blood and by whose spirit she would
be washed clean with the washing of water by the word. This is
the one whom she worships, And at the end, Christ commends her
faith. For she comes to worship him
who would save her. For she'd been given faith to
know that this Lord, this Lord Jesus, was the one who would
save her. And the Lord Jesus commends her faith. He says that
thy faith has saved her. Thy faith has brought thee peace.
For she, the bride of Christ, was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
she lives. Yet not her, but Christ lives
in her, in the life which she now lives in the flesh. She lives
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved her and gave himself
for her. He loved her and gave himself
for her, that she might finally, that we might finally, if we're
in Christ, enter into that new heavens and that new earth to
come, which he will create, which he creates. When this earth is
destroyed and taken away, which he creates, when this earth is
taken away and destroyed with fervent heat when he brings in
that new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness
wherein where all will be to his glory this is what he brings
in for his people and he does it by him and for him for his
glory and this is whom the bride worships this is whom we worship
have you heard of him? is this whom you worship? do
you bow down at his feet? Do you wash his feet with your
tears? Do you know him? Is he yours? Him who created
all things, for his glory, by him and for him. Amen.