Colossians chapter 1. Next Sunday
afternoon, the Lord's willing, I am going to look at a subject concerning
the angels. And I want to look at this passage
today sort of as an introduction to what I want to say next Sunday
afternoon concerning the good angels and bad angels. But I
want to read to you probably the longest sentence, one of
the longest sentences in the Bible. I think it shows us here
what a man Paul was. He begins in verse 9 with a sentence,
and he finishes it in verse 17. I challenge anybody here to write
a sentence that long. He's a brilliant man, wasn't
he? At the same time, he was moved upon by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit used him. And let's read it. My text is
in verse 16, but I want you to begin in verse 9, wouldn't you?
Colossians chapter 1 and verse 9. For this calls also, since
the day we heard of it, the day we heard of your faith and love
in Christ, back up in verse 4. Do not cease to pray for you
and desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of
His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. that ye might
walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthened
with all might by His Spirit, strengthened with all might according
to His glorious power, unto all patience, longsuffering, with
joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us
meet, made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. 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, principalities or powers. All
things are created for him, created by him and for him, and he is
before all things, and by him all things consist. Verse 16
here, I want to look at this just for a few minutes with you.
He speaks here of principalities and powers. And when you read
this statement, it always reads like this, principalities and
powers. You read it only one time in
the Old Testament. You read it five or six or seven
times in the New Testament. And it's always written this
way, principalities and powers. It has two meanings. Sometimes
it simply means the civil authorities. Back in those days they had kings,
and they addressed them as the powers, the governors, the rulers. They called them principalities
and powers. Here is what Paul said in Titus
chapter 3 verse 1. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers to obey magistrates. There when he speaks of principalities
and powers, he speaks of the civil government. Put them in
mind to be subject to the law enforcement, to the rulers of
the country. You'll find that in Romans chapter
13, that every man be subject to the higher power. There's
other places when he uses this principalities and powers, he
means angels. Good angels and bad angels. I want you to turn to a couple
of places and see that. It has much to do with what I'm
going to say tonight and next Sunday. Look in Ephesians chapter
3. Back over to your left in Ephesians
chapter 3. Principalities and powers. There
are principalities and powers that rule upon this earth. They're powerful. They rule us. Make laws to rule us by. And
then there's those unseen principalities and powers. These angelic beings. And many of them are good. They're good angels. They're
holy angels. They're called elect angels. And then we've got some that's
fallen. They're called unclean spirits. Rulers of the darkness
of this world. But he calls them both principalities
and powers. And here is what he says about
the good angels in the book of Ephesians chapter 3, and look
here in verse 10. To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God. And what he is saying
here, these angels, these holy angels, they are ignorant of
some They're wise. They're very wise. They were
created wise and mighty, but yet they're ignorant to a great
degree of the redemption of sinners. We looked at that a few Sundays
ago, didn't we? What the angels desire to look
into. They desire to look into the
salvation of sinners, Peter said. As we preach the gospel, they
listen and they learn. They see the wisdom and they
hear of the wisdom and the grace and the goodness of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ as we preach and as they see the Lord call
us out of our sins and save us. Now, that's the good angels.
They learn from us. Can you imagine angels learning
anything from folks like us? But they do. They do. You can
learn things by experience, can't you? And that's what they're
seeing. But look over here at some more principalities and
powers in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, in verse 11 and verse
12. Here are some more angels, but
they are not good angels. We will have to go into that
next week. But look here at what he says in chapter 6 and verse
11. Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities
and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places." That's some
more principalities and powers. These are wicked angels, the
rulers of the darkness of this world. And if they want to learn
anything from us, Their motive in learning it is just to be
wiser to ensnare us. That's the only reason they want
to learn anything about salvation and redemption. Rulers, though,
they're called rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness. And boy,
they're in the air, aren't they? They're in the air. And they're
working in men's minds. And we'll see that next week.
And the difference in these angels, as far as their nature is concerned,
the difference between these good angels, these elect angels
that were kept from the fall and kept from sinning, and these
other angels, is that these last ones have
sinned. They sinned against God. They were in heaven. The Lord
said, I beheld Satan's lightning fall from heaven. They kept not
their former abode, the place where they inhabited there. They sinned and they failed and
became wicked in their nature. Now, whatever the Scripture teaches
us concerning these angels, we have to always remember this
first and foremost. Remember this. These angels are
creatures. They are creatures. They're created
beings. They're mighty creatures. Boy,
they can do some great deeds. They can do some mighty deeds.
They can do some great harm, too. But they're creatures. They're creatures. And being
creatures, being creatures, they're subject. They're subject to the
Son of God. He's their Creator. That's what
our text said, wasn't it? Over in Colossians chapter 1
and verse 16. He created all things. By Him were all things created. That includes these angels. They
belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He created them. You've got to
always remember that. John made this astounding statement
in John's Gospel chapter 1 and verse 10. He said of the Lord
Jesus Christ that He was in the world and the world was made
by Him. Now that's an amazing statement.
He was in the world. How did He get into this world?
By the womb of a virgin. Larry told us that this morning.
But who was He? He's the one who made the world.
Our Creator became incarnate. Our Creator is our Redeemer. By Him were all things created,
and whom we have redemption through His blood. Now that's an astounding
statement, isn't it? My Creator became my Savior and
my Redeemer. Why is it important to remember
that Christ created these angels? Men have always been guilty of
worshiping things. Unregenerate man, man
in his fallen state, has to worship something. He's a religious creature,
isn't he? And sometimes he's reduced to
worshiping angels. Either attempt to worship good
angels, or he worships bad angels. Remember when John himself fell
into that temptation? He vowed to worship the angel,
and the angel said, See thou do it not, worship God. These
men here in the church, or some of them that were known by this
church, they were attempting to worship angels. Look here
in chapter 2 and verse 18. Look how Paul says it here. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
18. Let no man beguile you, defraud you of your reward in a voluntary
humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which
ye have not seen, vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind." Guilty
of worshiping angels. The true worship is reserved
for the Creator, for God, for the Redeemer. And all other worship
is idolatry, isn't it? It's idolatry. Something else
now about these creatures. He said here in our text that
they were made by him, made by him, and therefore, since they
are his creatures, they are subject to him. Those that are good and those
that are fallen are subject to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we
will see next week why this is so important. I want you to turn back over
here again in Ephesians chapter 1 and look in verse 19. Our text said there that by Him
all things consist That means they are upheld. They are held
together. They consist by Him. You know,
even wicked powers are held up by Him. Wicked angels are held
up by Him. They can have no being apart
from Him. But they are subject to Him.
All of them are subject to Him. Look here in Ephesians chapter
1 and look in verse 19. Paul writes to us and he prays
for us and them that we might know what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us who believe. How do we believe? According
to the working of his mighty power. The same power which he
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him
at his own right hand in heavenly places. Now look at this. Far
above all principality and power and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his
feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all and all."
Who is the head of all these principalities and powers? Christ
is, the Son of God. They are under His feet. Peter
says it like this, that Christ has gone into heaven and is on
the right hand of God, angels and powers being made subject
to Him. They are His subjects. They are
not free to do anything apart from His permission. You remember
when He was casting those devils out of the Gadarene? They didn't
want to go out. But he had said, come out of
the man. They wanted to go in the swine, but they did not have
liberty to. So what did they do? They bagged
him. They bagged him. Here stands
this man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Galilean, and here two thousand
devils, a legion of devils, astute down, bent down, humble themselves,
bagging him. to let them go into those waters.
Why? Because they're subject to Him.
They're subject to Him. Luther used to say the devil
is God's devil. And to be more specific, he's
the son of God's devil. He belongs to Him. And he can't
do anything without permission. And these holy angels, these
elect angels, they do nothing but what He wills for them to
do. what He commands them to do because they are subject to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back over in my text again,
Colossians chapter 1 and verse 16. Colossians chapter 1 and verse
16. For by Him were all things created,
by Him, by the Son of God. that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions,
principalities or powers, all things were created by Him. And look at this, for Him. It adds something to it, doesn't
it? Created by Him, He made them. In their original form, He made
angels. But He not only made them by
Himself, He made them for Himself. Now someone will say, well, He
made them for His glory. Well, that's true. That's true. But you know the Bible narrows
it down even more narrow than that. I want to show you that. Take your Bibles and turn to
Revelation chapter 4. Why does all things exist? Why were all things created Not
only the natural creation, but these spiritual creatures. Why
do they exist? Look in Revelation chapter 4
and look in verse 11. Look at this. In verse 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power For thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Why did he create all things? For his pleasure. Why did everything come into
existence? For his pleasure. Because he
was pleased to create. His pleasure. He was pleased. He started out with nothing.
That's what it means to create. You start out with nothing and
make something of it. That's what the evolutionists
have in trouble going back to the origin. How did what we see now come
out of nothing? Well, they can't explain it.
They've got to start with something. Well, we had a sail. Where did
the sail come from? came out of this little pond. Where'd
the pond come from? Nothing. He made it all. He created it
all and hanged it upon nothing. He spoke it all into being by
His wisdom and by His power. He made the mountains. He made
the grass. He made the fish. He made the
fowls, the beast of the field. He formed Adam out of the dust
of the earth, breathed life into his nostrils, and then he stepped
back. And what did he say? I am so
pleased. I am so pleased. It's all very
good. Why did he do it? Simply because
he wanted to. That's the way he is. That's
his nature. For his pleasure. He was pleased to do it, his
pleasure. You and I get an occupation,
get an education or get some training to do, and make our
living, and it ain't long we get so sick of it. We're tired. Get to wanting to retire. You
got any electrical work, Larry Baker's a good electrician, but
good luck on getting him to do it. Why? He's tired of it. His knees
hurt him. It won't be long. Terence will
be tired of plumbing. Bob's tired of the meatpacking
business. I got tired of driving a truck.
That's just our natures, isn't it? That's not God's nature. That's not the nature of our
Creator. He takes great pleasure in doing things. He takes great
pleasure in creating things. And He's not finished yet. He's
creating new creatures now out of nothing. Creating them in
righteousness and true holiness. And someday He's going to make
all things new just as He promised. There's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth. He never grows weary. of creating. He loves to put His hands. He
loves to exercise His wisdom and His power. I take pleasure
in it, He says. That's why I do it. And that's
why I did it. For His pleasure they were created. That's why He did it. But notice another word here
in verse 11 that He uses. For thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are." Not just they were created, but
they are. And you say, Bruce, how in the
world could this be? Because look around us. Look
around us. Things have changed. Boy, they
have, haven't they? Things ain't like it was in the
Garden of Eden. Adam failed. The angels fell. Look at the devastation now.
Look at the chaos now. How could it be, as we look around
us, as we look within us and see our friends and see the nature
and what's going on all around us, how can it be that it's said
of Him that they are for His pleasure? That's an amazing statement. We've got evil now as well as
good. Have we not? Is it still for His pleasure?
We've got death now as well as life. We've got sickness now
as well as health. We've got a hell now as well
as heaven. Is all of this still for His
pleasure? That's what He says. It is for thy pleasure. And here's why, brothers and
sisters. Because out of this seeming chaos, the Lord is accomplishing
His redemptive purpose. And what is redemption? But taking
out that which is evil and bad and fallen and making it new
and glorious. God has been pleased to reveal
himself in Jesus Christ. But there are certain aspects
of God that we cannot know apart from the fall of men and angels. The angels could never know the
justice of God if their fellow angels had not fallen. How could they possibly have
known it? How could you and I know anything
about the free grace of God in Jesus Christ if our Father had
not plunged us all into sin? We can know nothing of God's
covenant mercies until He redeems us. Does this mean that our Lord
is not greed with unbelief? Of course it does not mean that.
Of course He is greed with unbelief. Does it mean that He does not
hate sin? Of course He hates sin. Does it mean He is not disappointed
with our slothfulness? Of course He is disappointed.
But in the whole scheme of things, as it existed in its original
form and as it exists now, everything is for His pleasure. That's a wonderful thought, isn't
it? A wonderful thought. The pleasure of our Lord and
Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Look over in Isaiah with me,
chapter 46. This is an interesting passage.
Isaiah chapter 46. This is some of his favorite
scripture. Look what he said in verse 9. Remember the former things. Remember
the former things of old. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am God, and there is none like
me. I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done said. My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. I'll do all my pleasure. Verse
11, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth
my counsel for a country, yea, I have spoken it. I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. My pleasure. For my pleasure
they are created. For my pleasure these things
happen. The rage of devils for His pleasure? Boy, that's pretty deep, ain't
it? All the good that the angels
do for His pleasure? The shining of the sun? Boy,
we can see that for His pleasure, can't we? What about this snow?
What about this cold weather? What about the accidents and
the deaths by this weather? What about the storms? What about
the chaos? What about the devastation? There
is life and death, health and sickness. But He says here, I
will do all My pleasure out of all that we see around and all
that we feel within us. You know what He is doing. It is good pleasure. For thy pleasure they are. They are. Things must have been going against
King David. The heathen said mockingly to
him one day, where is your God? Where is your God, David? He used to be with you. He was
with you when you were a little child. You slew a lion. You slew a bear. He was with
you then. He was with you when you slew that giant. Where is
He now? Now Saul is hunting you to kill
you. Now Absalom, your son, is trying
to take your kingdom. Where is He now? He is with you
when the sun was shining, now it's raining, and where is your
God? He is with you when things was well, now it's not so well,
where is your God? Where is He now, David? You want to read David's response
to that question? You'd like to know what David
said? It's an astounding statement. Astounding statement of faith,
what that man said. For he had to be under some kind
of duress. He had to be some kind of disadvantage
or his enemies never would have mocked him and said, where is
your God now? You know what he said in reply
to that? You want to read it? Look in Psalms chapter 115. I
hope you can say this. I hope I can say it. Look in
Psalms 115 and look in verse 3. See what the heathen said here
in verse 2? Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? And look in verse 3. Our God
is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. I think David found some consolation
there somewhere, don't you? Has any of them ever asked you
this? Oh, when you felt low. I mean, you were low. Has he
ever slipped into your conscience and asked you when you were so
weak and sick, you couldn't muster enough strength to set up? Has He ever slipped into your
conscience and asked you this, when you were so heavy with temptations
you could hardly breathe? When the family seemed like it
was falling apart? Has He ever come to your conscience
and said, where is your God now? Well, here's the answer. The
same place He's always been. He's in the heaven of heavens,
for that's His throne. And He's in the heavens. He's
all around us. He fills the heaven and earth.
That's where He is. He's not only a God of far off,
He's a God that's near. And what's He doing? In spite
of my apprehension, and in spite of my suffering, in spite of
my heaviness, what's He doing? Whatsoever He pleased. It's all for His pleasure. That's what he said. Jesus Christ made everything
to that end. Not only by Him, but for Him. It's for His pleasure. It's as though the Father said
to the Son, My Son, I want you to make everything. Everything
that's seen and things that's not seen. I want you to make
it all. And every step of the way, through
the fall, through the demons, through the evil, through the
good, through the bad, until the consummation of the ages,
when you make all things new, I want you to make it and arrange
it and work in it in such a way that you do it all for your pleasure. Or when you're apt to be tried
and confused and lonely and afraid? Can't get a clear thought in
your mind? Remember this. Remember this. Get a hold of this. It's for
His pleasure. Won't that comfort you some?
Wouldn't that comfort you more than to think that He's confused
about it all? That everything is out of His
control? That He is as sad and displeased with everything as
you are? He is not. Thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are. Right now, as you and I live
in this day, among all the evil and the sin, it is for His pleasure. That's the only comfort I can
get out of this mess that we find ourselves in. I'm confused
about it, but he's not. I'm so upset sometimes I'm wringing
my hands and racking my brain, but he's not. He sits upon his
throne in quiet solitude, in control of everything, with a
smile on his face. It's working together for my
glory and their good. Boy, he said some comforting
things here in chapter 115 of Psalms. Look in verse 9. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the
Lord. He is their help and their shield.
Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help
and their shield. The Lord hath been mindful of
us He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron. Why? Because He's pleased to. We go around trying to bargain
with the Lord to get Him to bless us. We go around trying to get His
attention, don't we? We already have His attention
if we're His. As wonderful as it seems, He's
mindful of us. And why would He be mindful of
us? The context says He's pleased. It's His good pleasure. Don't
have to try to impress Him. Trust Him. Cast your cares upon
Him, for He cares for you. I tell you as I get older, I
hope I'm finding. I hope I'm learning. Not to be
so, so troubled about what's going on in me and around me
and with mine. And bring my poor, heavy soul,
my troubled soul, to rest in this wonderful truth that it's
not out of His control. Even the opposite of that. It's
working for His glory and His good pleasure. And if it's not out of His control,
brothers and sisters, if He's pleased with where He is in His
whole scheme of things, then I hope I can find some rest and
some comfort in that. You think some way things have
got off track? Well, it sure appears like it.
But it hasn't. Now go out in the snow this evening,
you're slipping, sliding around, getting dirt on the carpet of
your car, carrying it in the carpet of the house, having to
wrap up in freezing after death and worried sick about the weather
and you're going to get stuck and run off the road. And while
you're occupied with all these thoughts, let this wonderful
thought come into your mind. Lord, all of this at your pleasure. God bless these words. Let's
pray.