about thirty years after our
Lord died on the cross and ascended back to the Father. It was written
by the Apostle Paul, and he wrote it from Rome, where he was in
prison. Now, he was in an unusual type
of prison. He was an unusual prisoner. But
if you'll turn to Acts chapter 28, Paul was kept under guard actually in prison but it was
a house his own hired house he was allowed to rent a house that
was a hired house is a house you rent and he and his friends
paid for this dwelling where he was kept under guard house
arrest is what it was He wasn't allowed to leave the house, and
he was under guard at all times. And it says here in Acts 28 verse
30, and Paul dwelt two whole years there in Rome in his own
hired house. And he wasn't allowed to leave,
but he was allowed to receive all that came in under him, came
to visit him, came to hear him preach. And
he spent that two years preaching the kingdom of God, teaching
those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all
confidence and no man forbidding him. But he was under God. And
there in that house and during that time he wrote this epistle
to the Colossians and we believe also the epistle of Ephesians. to the Ephesian church, the one
which we love so much, Ephesians, and also Philippians, the epistle
on rejoicing in the Lord. Now, the occasion of this letter
here, the book of Colossians epistle, you heard Brother Ron
read where there is a man called Epaphras down here in verse 7.
As you also learned of Epaphos, our dear fellow servant, who
is for you a faithful minister of Christ." Well, Epaphos came
to Rome and visited Paul. And he told Paul about what was
going on down there in the church at Colossae. And he told the
apostle Paul that they were having trouble with false preachers.
I was talking about this morning. who had come in among the people,
and there were two types of these false preachers. We'll read about
them in a moment. But they were the legalizers,
the Judaizers, who urged the people to go back to Moses, back
to the ceremonies and back to the Sabbath days and back to
the circumcision, back to the keeping of the law. And they
were the Gentiles who promoted philosophy. and worship of angels
and the worship of dead saints, things that are going on in this
day, will worship, afflicting the body for merit and self-righteousness. Let me show you that. Over here
in chapter 2, Paul refers to what the minister,
the pastor, had told him about this church and about these false
preachers. Chapter 2, verse 1, I would that you knew what great
care, or fear, or concern I have for you, and for them that lay
to see you, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh. Many people think Paul never preached to this church
in person. He said, you've never seen my
face in the flesh. Well, he may have been referring
to people who had never heard him preach, but many people think
he never preached to this church, that the gospel was taken to
them by another. But he said that their hearts
might be comforted, verse 2, being knit together in love unto
all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of Christ and of the Father, of God and of
the Father and of Christ. in whom, in Christ, are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You've got to come to an understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, incarnation of
God in human flesh, the Father in Christ. And that's where the
treasures are, in Him. Now listen. And this I say, lest
any man should beguile you with enticing words. take you away
from Christ. Now look down at verse 8. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy, intellectualism, vain deceit,
after the traditions of men, after the elements of the world,
not after Christ. Be careful. For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." You're complete in him.
You see, that's where that verse came from. Don't be led away
from Christ because in him, that's where the treasure is. That's
where all the fullness of God is in Christ. So don't let a
fellow come along with philosophy and intellectualism and all these
traditions and take you away from him. He says, in whom? You complete
in him, verse 11, in whom you are circumcised. You don't need
to be circumcised. You are circumcised in Christ.
That's the operation on the heart. And a circumcision made without
hands and putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. And then down here in verse 16,
let no man judge you and beat. or in drink, or in respect of
holy days. These are those Judaizers. The
philosophers, the intellectuals, the legalists, the Judaizers,
they're everywhere in religion. So don't let a man judge you
in meat and drink, in respect of a holy day, the new moons, the Sabbath days.
These are a shadow of things to come. These are pictures of
things to come that serve their day and have been put away The
body is of Christ. Now verse 18, let no man beguile
you of your reward in a voluntary humility, afflicting of the body, separating yourselves from other
people, or worship of angels, intruding into those things which
he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not
holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands
having nourishment ministered and knit together increases with
the increase of God. But if you be dead with Christ
from the elements of the world, from these traditions and circumcision
and ceremonies and holy days and touch not, taste not, handle
not, why are you subject to these ordinances? If you're dead with Christ, if
crucified with Christ, risen, justified, why are you subject to these
things? Why would you want to go back? Touch not, taste not,
handle not. It's not what a man puts in his
mouth that defiles him, what comes out of his mouth. And these,
verse 22, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments
and doctrines of men. And these things indeed have
indeed a show of wisdom and will-worship and humility and neglecting of
the body and afflicting of the body, not in any honoring to
the satisfying of the flesh. So that's what was going on. And Paul wrote to him, so let's
go back and just look at these verses and see if we can get
down to this part of where he talks about the preeminence of
Christ. You already see it. as opposed
to any of these other things. Paul, verse 1, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, chosen by Christ. These apostles received their
message from Christ. They were chosen of Christ and
sent by Christ by the will of God. And Timothy, Timothy was
with him there in Rome. In verse 2, he's writing to the
saints, all believers, all believers are saints. That's a name applied
to all who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and faithful brethren
in Christ which are at Colossae. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this. We give
thanks to God for you. My friends, Paul always does
that. When he talks about it, he doesn't
say, I'm glad you've made your profession. I'm sure he's glad
that you're in Christ. But he turns in the right direction
when he mentions the conversion and salvation and so on. He said,
I give thanks to God for you. And all of you are familiar with
this. Over in Ephesians, he said, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ according as He chose
us in Christ. He chose us. And then in 2 Thessalonians,
he told those people to thank God for them, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. In Matthew 11, our Lord lifted
his eyes to heaven and said, Our Father, I thank you, Lord
of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. I thank you. So
that's what Paul says, I give thanks to God. and the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ praying for you. But the thanks is to
Him. It's by His grace that I'm in
Christ. He put me in Christ before the
war began. I'm there willingly, but He made
me willing. All right, verse 4. He mentions
three things here, and He mentions these quite frequently. Verse
4 and 5, I heard, and I'm sure you heard through their pastor,
Epaphos, he said, since I heard of your faith in Christ, of the
love which you have to all the saints, and the hope which is
laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word
of the truth of the gospel. Those are the three graces that
are the greatest. 1 Corinthians 13 says, now abideth
faith in Christ. Hope, blessed hope, that we're
going to see Him and be like Him. And love. And you know all
three of them are the gift of God? Faith, hope, and love. None of these spring from the
human heart. They're all shed abroad in the heart by the grace
of God. Let me show you that. First,
faith. Turn to Ephesians 2. I've been
told about your faith in Christ, about the hope which you have
of eternal life, and about your love for one another. But let
me tell you something. They're all the gift of God.
Look at Ephesians 2, verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, faith not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. It is given unto us to believe
on him. Did you know that? Thy people
are made willing in the day of thy power. Faith, what a treasure.
But it's a God-given treasure. That's the reason the disciples
said, Lord, increase our faith. And then look, if you will, at
2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, talking about hope. 2 Thessalonians,
chapter 2, verse 16. Second Thessalonians, chapter
2, verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
unto us, given us everlasting consolation and a good hope. He gave us this hope. God gave
it. Thank God for it. He gave it.
To him be the glory. Then love, Romans 5. Let's look here at Romans 5,
verse 3 through 5. Romans 5, verse 3. And not only
so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. And patience experience, and
experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given to us. The Holy Ghost is given, and
the love is given. So Paul writing to this church
says, I've heard of you. Your pastor's been up here talking
about you. Talking about your problems and
false preachers and teachers. But he's been talking about your
faith, your hope, and your love. I give thanks to God for that,
because they're all the gift of God. In verse 6, the gospel,
he talks about, look at verse 5 again. It rolls right into
verse 6. It's not a period at the end
of verse 5. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof you heard, you heard of that hope
in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come to you. The gospel came to you. You didn't
come to the gospel, it came to you. You heard the gospel, you didn't
find God, He found you. You were lost, but God wasn't.
You didn't come to the gospel, it came to you. And listen, and
it bears fruit. It brings forth fruit. As it doth also in you, since
the day you heard it. From the day you heard the gospel.
From the day it came to you, and you heard it, and received
it, and believed it, you've borne fruit. And you've known since
that day the grace of God in truth. And where'd you learn
it? Where'd you learn it? This is
just so beautiful. Paul said this gospel, which
you heard, which came to you, As it came to all his believers
in all the world, it brings forth fruit, as it doth also in you,
since the day you heard it, since the day you knew the grace of
God. Verse 7, as ye also learned of
Epaphus, that's where you learned it, our dear fellow servant who
is for you a faithful minister of Christ. You see the importance
of preaching the gospel, the importance of ministry. The importance
of faithful ministers of Christ. Faithful elders of Christ. Faithful teachers of Christ.
That's where men learn the gospel. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they going to call
on Him in whom they've not believed? And how are they going to believe
in Him with whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear without
a preacher? And how are they going to preach
except they'll be saved? And all of this, giving thanks to
God. For your faith, for your hope,
for your love, which you learned when you heard the gospel, and
received it, and knew the grace of God. And you heard it from
Epaphos, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of
Christ. And verse 8, and he declared
unto us, your love in the Spirit. What God had done for you and
for this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you. And I ask three things for you,
four things. Here they are. Number one, verse
nine, I pray for you, number one, that you might be filled
with the knowledge of His will, the will of God. That you might
be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding. that you might walk worthy in
your conversation, conduct, that you might walk worthy of the
Lord unto all pleasing. I pray that for you. And thirdly,
that you might be fruitful in good works. Fruitful in good
works. Be a blessing to others. Be a
strength to others. Encourage others. Exhort others. Fruitful. increasing in the knowledge
of God and forward that you might be strengthened with all might,
strengthened in the faith, established in the faith according to His
glorious power. It's God that does all these
things. It's the Spirit of God that does them. And here's unto
listen. I want you to be strengthened
with all might according to His glorious power unto patience,
patience unto whatever trial. Long-suffering, that's perseverance. Continuing in the faith. And joy. Boy, those are three
treasures, aren't you? Talk about faith, hope, and love.
What about patience, perseverance, and joy? That's a wonderful prayer. And while I pray for those four
things for you, verse 12, I give thanks to the Father. I give
thanks to Him because He made us qualified. He made us what
we are. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I know what I know by the grace
of God. I'm in Christ by the grace of God. And I give thanks
to the Father who hath made us meet. That word is sufficient,
fit, F-I-T, qualified. To be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. God has made us, in Christ, qualified. In ourselves, we're not qualified
even to stand here, or to sit there, or to come into his presence. But in Christ, we're perfect,
perfected. It's what we read this morning,
Hebrews 10. He's made us fit, qualified,
right now. To breathe our last breath and
say goodbye to this world. When I say goodbye, goodnight
here, I'll say good morning up there. Goodnight here, that's
the end of life. Good morning there, that's the
beginning of an eternity. Because we're already fit. We're
already made perfectly holy. Because He has delivered us from
the power of darkness. and translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son. We're already, already, he has,
this is not something that's going to take place in the future.
We're already delivered. I don't know a great deal about
this sin question. I can't answer the questions
about, go back yonder, all the way back there to where Satan
sinned. Lucifer, our Lord Jesus, said,
I saw Satan fall from heaven as lightning. As I read different
things about that fall, when sin first appeared in God's universe. See, God created the heavens
and the earth. And everything was perfect. Lucifer
was son of the morning. Lucifer who later became Satan
the devil, evidently, was the prince of this world in its original
creation. When something happened, he said,
his heart was lifted up with pride, and he said, five I wills. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will mount up to the sides
of the north. I will be like God. I will, I will. And many people
think a third of the heavenly host followed his rebellion because
of his greatness. Actually, as I understand, there
are only three angels mentioned by name in Scripture. He's one
of them. Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer. And
Lucifer seems to have been the chief preeminent angel, creature. And when he fell, he took this
host with him, the angels which kept not their first estate,
but sin, a reserve, Jude said, in chains, in everlasting darkness,
until that day, the day of Christ's return. And then the earth became without
form and void. And God said, let there be light. And he said, let's make man.
Let's make man in our own image, after our likeness. And he made
man. And man was created in holiness,
upright, without sin. And in that time, somewhere,
when God made the beautiful garden and put man there. Now all of
this, God making man and recreating the earth and making the new
garden, all of this was not expecting it to remain, not expecting it
to continue, not expecting that to be the end of what he's doing
because Christ is a lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. What God is evidently, I'm not
smart, not trying to be, but evidently what the Lord God is
doing is making a new kingdom and a new covenant in Christ, an everlasting kingdom,
an everlasting covenant. We'll read about it in 1 Corinthians
15, the kingdom. And this is the stage, the world,
this new creation, the world on which all this will be accomplished. Make man. And here's man now,
the only man, woman, he made out of that man. He gave the
man and the woman. Satan comes, Lucifer appears
again. And he said, hath God said, you
shall not eat of all the trees? The woman said, he said, we were
not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, lest we die. He said, you won't die. Look
at me, I eat and I'm not dead. So she saw that the tree was
good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desired to make one
wise, proud of the flesh, Lust of the eye, pride of life, and the lust of the flesh. And
she took it and gave it to her husband. And he took it, not
deceived. He took it with his eyes wide
open. He took it knowing what he was doing. She was deceived.
Scripture says that. Eve was deceived. Adam wasn't.
Adam took sides with her against God. And he ate it. Of course he didn't know what
was going to happen. Of course he didn't have any
understanding at all. He didn't know what sin was,
standing there naked and didn't even know it. He didn't know sin. He didn't
know what sin was. He was perfectly holy. The Bible
says that. But when he took that proof,
he knew. He died. And all of this, is for this
announcement. I'll put enmity between thee,
Satan, and the woman. I'm going to put enmity between
you and the woman. Between her seed and your seed.
And you bruise his heel, but he's going to destroy you. Jesus Christ, that's who he's
talking about. Seed of woman. The virgin son. I'm going to
put enmity. The enmity is already there.
It's been there from the start. It's been there when Lucifer
said, I'll be like God. Christ was there then. He was
with the Father from the beginning. And Satan's rebellion was against
Christ then, but he said, I'm going to, he's going to wind
you up. Put enmity between him and you.
And you'll bruise his heel. He's going to become a man in
the flesh. That's the lowest part of this
body, the heel. You don't put me out of business
by bruising my heel. You crush my head, I'm gone.
Gone. Now let me tell you what I believe
that God is doing. All of this is for that new kingdom,
that new covenant. And when all this purpose of
God and will of God and covenant of God and people whom He chose
before the foundation of the earth gave them to Christ, from
every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven, all of them
sons of Adam, all of them descendants of Adam, all of them seed of
Adam, lost and ruined. But out of that multitude of
human beings, God has chosen a people out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, tongue unto heaven, and given them to Christ. And Christ
came to this earth, and by His life and by His death,
He delivered us from that kingdom of darkness. You see, we were
born in sin and children of wrath, even as others, following this
person, this evil influence, this Antichrist, this Satan. We were under his dominion and
rule, like all other evil is under his dominion and rule.
See, this is a conflict, not between you and Satan, between
Christ and Satan. And He delivered us out of all
that, out of the dominion, the power of darkness, and has already
taken all His people, from righteous Abel to the last one, and translated
them, delivered them over into His kingdom of light, the kingdom
of the Son of His love. And Christ, when He, here on
this earth, He met Satan. He said, He's come and found
nothing in me. He could seduce Adam and Eve,
but not me. He could trick them, but not
me. He could subtly draw them away from God, but not me. And
I represent a people, a covenant, and a kingdom. And He's going
to destroy sin. He's going to destroy Satan.
He's going to destroy sin. And someday God's going to destroy
this world again. This world. Heavens are going
to melt with a fervent heat because the heavens have been visited
by sin. Satan was there. And the earth. And there's going to be no more
sin. No more evil. No more uprisings. No more mutiny. No more rebellion. Because it's all been put away
by Christ. He's the King. He's the redeemer. He's the preeminent one. He's satisfied God's justice
and holiness for all his people. He's accomplished the kingdom.
He's bought them. He's conquered evil. And every
enemy is going to be destroyed. Enemies are not going to just
be put away somewhere and chained so they can get loose again.
Destroyed. Destroyed. He destroyed them.
He destroyed. That's the reason He has the
preeminence. He destroyed them. He has delivered us from the
fear of death because He has destroyed the reason for death.
And Him who has the power of death and the last enemy, He
put under His death. And then there will be a new
heaven and a new earth where He will dwell as righteousness.
Where Christ is all in all and His people are just like Him.
And there'll never be any danger of anybody departing or sinning
or falling. Now if this hadn't, I don't know,
I don't have the answers. But if this hadn't taken place,
if the mutiny had not taken place in heaven, and not taken place
on earth, sooner or later, it would have. If the potential
is there. If the possibility is there,
if the presence is there, it can happen. But our God, in Christ,
Christ did this. Our Lord, our Savior did this.
Our Lord has conquered Satan, death and hell, sin, disease,
everything. And when He has called out His
last sheep, He's going to destroy it all. Into the bottomless. And bottomless means infinite. Cast them into the bottomless
pit. And we're going to have a...
Let me show you over here in 1 Corinthians 15. There's going
to be a kingdom. Oh, I tell you, over here in
1 Corinthians 15, verse 24. Then cometh the end. That's what we're looking for
and waiting for. When He, Christ Jesus, shall have delivered up
the kingdom to God the Father, even the Father, when He shall
have put down forever all rule, authority, and power contrary
to Him. For He must reign, He has and
He is and He does and He will, till He puts all enemies under
His feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,
for He hath already put all things under His feet. But when He said,
all things are put unto Him, it's manifest that He's accepted
which put them there. That's the Father. He's not under
the feet of Christ, but He's the only one who's not. The only one. The one exception,
the Father. And when all things shall be
subdued unto Him, Satan, principalities, powers, rulers, darkness, evil,
sin, death, everything. Then shall the Son and all of
his people be subject unto him, the Father, that put all things
unto him, that God may be all and in all." That's a mighty kingdom. It has
a mighty king. And we have no fear. If we're
in him and in his kingdom, redeemed by him, we have no fear. of the
future. The future is taken care of.
And here it describes him. Let me read you this and I'll
try to close. Verse 14, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. Let me show you one of
the most beautiful illustrations of that. Turn to Deuteronomy
10, just a moment. Deuteronomy 10. You know Moses, God gave Moses
the law on the Ten Commandments on the two tables. He came down
off the mountain and the people were dancing around that caliph
and wickedly and he destroyed them. Well, God remade them. Deuteronomy 10. You got it? He
rewrote them. God did. In Deuteronomy 10 verse
1, At that time the Lord said to me, Hew thee two tables of
stone like unto the first, and come up unto me in the mountain,
and make thee an ark of wood. And I'll write on the tables
the words that were in the first tables which you broke. You put
them in the ark. Ah, I'm glad for this. Listen,
you put them in the ark. Don't you hold them in your hand,
Moses. You put them in the ark. Now what's this? And I made an
art of shittum wood and a huge two tables of stone like unto
the first, and I went up to the mountain having the two tables
in my hand, and he wrote on the tables. The Lord did according
to the first writings of the Ten Commandments, which the Lord
spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the
day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them to me. And I turned
myself and came down from the mountain and put the tables in
the ark which I had made, and there they be as the Lord commanded."
And you know what's on top of them? the mercy seat with the
blood. And they're all paid for, all
satisfied. Aren't you glad that the tables
of the law are not in the hands of a judge, but under the mercy
seat, under the blood. And that's what it says here
in verse 14. Colossians 1, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. And he is the image,
his exact likeness, he's the visible manifestation of the
invisible God. The firstborn of every creature,
watch it, for by him were all things created that are in heaven,
that are in earth. By him. Visibly, whether they
be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created
by him and for him. for his use in glory and purpose. And he's before all things, and
by him all things consist, and he's the head of the body, the
church, covenant people, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. And he does. He has the preeminence. in all things, in the glory,
the perfection of Christ, the preeminence of Christ, and the
glorious accomplishments of Christ. Oh, what a Redeemer. I give thanks. May God give us some understanding
of His greatness and glory and gratitude for His mercies. Try
to get some kind of grasp of what he accomplished and learn
to love him and look to him, trust him and depend on him.
That's where the hope is.