The ALL-SUPREME Christ - [Colossians 1:15-20]

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

0 views

0 comments

00:00
Crash Course Philosophy. It's a very popular YouTube channel with over 5 million subscribers.
00:09
It talks about philosophy in general going all the way back to history and how it's defined right now.
00:15
And it looks to answer all the questions in life about existence and reality and culture.
00:22
You know what the problem with that course is? It denies the Bible and the God of the
00:28
Bible. Ten years ago, many preachers were afraid that such thought would creep into the church.
00:37
Alas, here we are, ten years, and it has creeped into the church.
00:44
A friend of mine who attends a Universalist Unitarian church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told me about his pastor and how he preaches on one
00:57
Sunday about Christ, and the very next Sunday he preaches about Allah. And another Sunday he preaches about Krishna.
01:04
And yet another Sunday he preaches about the redwood trees in California. And I asked him, how do you like his sermons?
01:13
And he said, it's confusing, it's haphazard, and often very inconsistent.
01:20
So I asked him, why do you still go there? And he said, it makes sense. For my friend and his pastor, it's not the fact that Christ is
01:32
God that's a problem to them. The problem is Christ is the only God. For them,
01:38
Christ is not sufficient alone to go to heaven. Christ needs help from Buddha, Allah.
01:44
And when it comes to spiritual growth, my friend is offended at the thought that he can't get help from Christ and Krishna and the redwood trees in California.
01:56
You know what was happening in 1860 -61? Something very similar in a place called Colossae. The Colossian world was very complex, just like ours.
02:06
Many religious systems, many philosophical thoughts, and large cultural movements jostling for the attention of the
02:14
Christians there. And the pastor, whose name was Epaphras, as we see in Colossians chapter 1 -7, was in panic mode.
02:24
Not only did he have to deal with all of these philosophical thoughts coming in, he also had to deal with the
02:31
Jewish converts in his congregation who were trying to bring in Jewish traditions and religious rituals.
02:37
He also had to deal with the Gentile converts who were bringing in mysticism and other pagan practices.
02:44
He's panicking. What does he do? He runs to his mentor, who is the apostle
02:51
Paul, who is imprisoned in Rome. Paul is happy to help
02:57
Epaphras, and he writes the book of Colossians. He knows how dangerous it is to undermine the supremacy of the
03:06
Lord Jesus Christ. He knows how compromising it is if you subtract Jesus and his work, or you add on to his work, how it affects the growth of the church and the
03:16
Christian. So Paul writes this book. When you look at Colossians, a few words to keep in mind.
03:24
All sufficient, supreme, and preeminent. Not talking about us, but talking about the
03:31
Lord Jesus Christ. If there's any book that I really want my life to model after, it would be this book.
03:37
Why? Because Jesus Christ and Christology, that is theology of Christ, is central to this book.
03:47
By the time I'm preaching today, I really hope that you will have a biblical theology.
03:53
That you will have a biblical Christology. That you will have no doubt in your mind that you don't need, in addition to Christ, anything else.
04:02
Even the wonderful big redwood trees in California. That you will be convinced that Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation and for spiritual growth.
04:13
Now Paul has a verse in Colossians 2, verse 8, where he talks specifically about what the problem was in the culture.
04:21
What the problem was with the different ideas coming in. Turn with me to Colossians 2, verse 8.
04:30
Colossians 2, verse 8. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit.
04:40
According to human tradition. According to the elemental spirits of the world. And here's a key sentence.
04:46
And not according to Christ. Here is the essence of the false teaching.
04:52
That it is not according to Christ. So if you look at it, the application of the message of Colossians is to a wide variety of historical and contemporary teachings.
05:02
A wide variety. And as Peter O 'Brien says. Any teaching that questions the sufficiency of Christ.
05:09
Not only for initial salvation. But also for spiritual growth. And ultimate salvation from judgment.
05:16
Falls under the massive Christological critique of Colossians. Isn't this an exciting book to read and study if you're a believer?
05:24
It is. Now chapter 1, verse 1 to 2, verse 5.
05:30
To chapter 2, verse 5. Is more doctrinal. This is Paul's thanksgiving section.
05:37
Here, the focus of his thanksgiving is the supremacy and power of the gospel of the
05:43
Lord Jesus Christ. Now my verse for today, my text for today is verse 15 to 20.
05:52
To many scholars, verse 15 to 20 is considered the Christological high point of the
05:58
New Testament. They say that it outlines the supremacy of God in creation and in redemption.
06:06
It is an excellent hymn. A hymn of hymns. Now you may ask this question.
06:12
Okay, how is that possible? How is this the Christological high point? You know how?
06:20
Let's understand it. Jews were monotheistic. Do we agree? They believed in one
06:26
God and one God only. In 1 Corinthians 8, 6, we see this outlined by the
06:32
Apostle Paul. In Colossians 1, 15 to 20, he does the same.
06:38
But there's a difference. He redefines Jewish monotheism.
06:44
What he's doing is he's showing a trend that was happening in the early church. And here was a trend.
06:50
As a result of Christ's efficacious work, as a result of the mighty acts of God, particularly
06:57
His resurrection and His ascension, Christians were redefining Jewish monotheism by including the
07:05
Lord Jesus Christ into their understanding of God. Now this did not happen.
07:12
This had no precedence before. This had no precedence in the Jewish world, neither in the
07:17
Roman Greek Greco world. That's how this text, the one we're going to look at today, is the
07:23
Christological high point of the New Testament. Let's read it together.
07:29
Colossians 1, 15 to 20. He is the image of the invisible
07:35
God. He, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ. The firstborn of all creation.
07:41
For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
07:52
All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
08:01
And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything
08:09
He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.
08:28
From this text I have three reasons why you must constantly be in awe of the
08:34
Lord Jesus Christ. Point number one. Christ is preeminent in creation.
08:40
Verse 15, 16 and 17. Verse 15 says,
08:46
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. In the
08:51
Greek, image meant an object that was representation of God. It was used by many of the
08:57
Greek pagans and idols to represent their God. Paul is using that same language, yet here he means it in a very different way.
09:06
What Paul is saying is, God can be seen in Christ. That He is revealed in the
09:13
Lord Jesus Christ. That Christ is the perfect representation of God through whom humans were created.
09:23
And it goes to talk about firstborn. This is a metaphorical significance.
09:30
That it is based on the ancient attribution where the firstborn was given preeminence. It's a title of preeminence.
09:37
It doesn't mean Christ was created. It means He existed before creation. So when we look at verse 15 and in context use 16, where we see
09:49
Christ's mediatorial role in creation, what we understand is firstborn is used here in the sense of supreme over.
09:58
Supreme over. Now what do the Jehovah's Witnesses and other cults think about this?
10:05
They think that He is just created and only God. And as my wife and I were talking to the
10:12
Jehovah's Witness who was in our neighborhood a few weeks ago, that woman used this verse to say that Jesus Christ is just an example.
10:24
And when I corrected her in showing this text, she quickly tried to move away and say,
10:33
I took the day off to be a witness today. I get extra points. And she went away.
10:41
Now let me ask you a question. Do you think this is a woman who understands Christ is sufficient and preeminent in all things?
10:49
She was offended. I saw the same disgust in her eyes that I see in Muslims and Hindus today when
10:54
I say that Jesus Christ is God and is the only way of salvation. That woman was disgusted.
11:01
And she went away. This text is not saying He's created. It's saying He is supreme over all creation.
11:10
Verse 16, This looks like a verse that is geared for us.
11:27
For us in the 21st century where we have short attention spans. Look at this.
11:33
He's using a chain. And He's essentially saying three times that by Him all things are created.
11:41
And He's making even more emphasis. And all things exist through Him and for Him.
11:46
In case we have forgotten who He's talking about. In case we've lost the importance of Christ in this passage.
11:54
That is the emphasis that He's making here. Verse 15, where we saw that He was the image of the invisible
12:02
God, is an axiom. It's a true statement. And here Paul is giving us an evidence for that truth.
12:08
He's giving the proof of the axiom here. Paul states here that all of God's creative work took place in reference to the
12:18
Lord Jesus Christ. But he moves on to talk about things in heaven and things on earth.
12:26
This is a figure of speech that we know in English as merism. When we say something like I searched every nook and cranny, what that means is you search everywhere for something you lost.
12:40
Here he's using that same thing. It's merism which says things in heaven and earth. To say that everything over everything in heaven and in earth and in between, the
12:50
Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent. He is preeminent over all created things. And if we are not convinced about that, he uses yet another figure of speech.
13:00
Next sentence, things invisible and visible. This is chiastic in structure.
13:07
What is invisible? Heaven. What is visible? Earth. Once again,
13:12
Paul is stressing the importance that Christ is preeminent over all created things.
13:19
And he moves on to talk about thrones or powers or rulers or authorities.
13:25
At that time, there was a lot of question about angels and what their roles were.
13:32
And some had good angels and some believe in bad angels, some believe in both.
13:38
The thought was that the good angels was needed to help them grow spiritually.
13:46
And the bad angels could steal their salvation from them. They were powerful enough to steal their salvation from them.
13:53
So there was a fear around that time around the role of angels and what he did.
14:01
But we see even in Hebrews 1 chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 4.
14:08
We see that Christ is greater than angels. That he is the heir of the world.
14:15
That he is the ruler of the world. That he is greater than angels whether they're good and bad.
14:21
Paul is stating here that whether an angel is good or bad or if there's other spiritual forces,
14:26
Jesus Christ is preeminent over them all. And then he goes on to stress in chapter 2 verse 15 how he is preeminent.
14:38
Chapter 2 verse 15 of Colossians. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.
14:49
He's saying that spiritual powers are defeated in Christ. While those spiritual powers are defeated, we know that they are still active and powerful.
14:59
But Paul is stating here very clearly Christ is preeminent over them as well. Now people are scared about these bad angels.
15:09
And some who read this text say that today they're scared about the many bad forces and evil forces in this world.
15:15
Some even try to mention what these bad forces are. And I don't know if you've heard this but I've heard some friends and some people misinterpret this text.
15:23
Try to put a name behind the spiritual force. Ever seen that? Some say that the spiritual force is
15:30
Hillary Clinton. Others say that it's their boss. And I've heard people say that it's their mother -in -law.
15:39
But I don't think Paul is talking about a mother -in -law here. That's not, he doesn't define exactly what the spiritual forces are.
15:47
Although in context, I think it stresses on angels in particular. That's the focus here.
15:53
Yet people pull out and say that whoever is bad in my life, they are the spiritual forces.
15:59
But that's not what this text is saying. Jesus Christ is preeminent and sufficient over all things, even angels.
16:10
And then Colossians 1 .17, And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
16:17
This seems to be including both creation and redemption as it is in the middle of this hymn.
16:24
Verse 15 talks about Christ's role in creation, before creation. Christ's role at the beginning of creation.
16:32
Verse 20 talks about Christ's role at the end of creation. And here, perfectly placed in verse 17,
16:39
Paul talks about Christ's role in the present creation, or at present. In Proverbs 8, 22 -31, the author asserts how wisdom was the first thing created.
16:53
Now here, Paul in Colossians 1 .17 is making a bigger assertion. And that is,
16:59
Christ existed before creation. And he goes on to talk about who holds up the universe.
17:09
What holds up the universe? What is sustaining it? Is it the laws of physics?
17:14
Is it an ideology? Is it an abstract theory? No, it's the risen
17:19
Christ who holds up the universe. He is the sustaining power behind it. If without Christ, the nuclear fission that takes place at the core of the sun would stop, and there would be no solar system.
17:34
Without Him, plants would not grow. The rock cycle would end, and there would be no life as we know it.
17:43
My second point, second reason why you must be constantly in awe of Christ.
17:48
First, Jesus Christ is preeminent in creation. Second, Jesus Christ is preeminent in redemption.
17:57
Verse 18, and He is the head of the body, the church.
18:04
Now, who is the church? If you look at Colossians 1 .13 -14, He gives us a definition.
18:11
He talks about the church even when He talks about grace and saints in verses 1 and 2.
18:18
But in 13 and 14, He gives some more substance. He, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, in verse 13 of chapter 1, has delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved
18:31
Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Here is the definition of the church.
18:37
Here is the body He's talking about. Now, Paul uses the term grace a lot.
18:46
Grace is the status that believers enjoy because of God's unmerited intervention on their behalf.
18:53
It's something to be grateful about, something that he mentions a lot, especially in the beginning of his epistles. And then he talks about saints.
19:02
That's the way he addresses the Colossian believers in this context. Now, when I grew up, a saint was a really good person.
19:10
A person who kept all the rules, a person who did not marry, and a person who was buried in a big tomb.
19:19
That's not the saint that Paul is talking about here. It's the one whom
19:25
God has rescued, whom Christ has rescued from the domain of darkness. The one to whom
19:31
God has imputed righteousness, Christ's righteousness. The one whom
19:37
God has justified. The one whom God looks at as forgiven and pure because of the meritorious and substitutionary work of Christ.
19:46
It is not a man's work that declares him not guilty in front of God. It is the
19:52
Lord Jesus Christ's work. So that is the body. When Paul says, he is the head of the body, the church, this was a well -known language back in that day.
20:03
But to us, we don't speak like this, do we? We don't talk about the head and the body much.
20:09
But in the ancient world, in both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, the head was conceived to be the governing member of the body.
20:18
The head controlled the body and was also provided life, provided the sustaining, provided for its life and sustenance.
20:28
So no head, no life. It was very simple, very plain. Paul is using this intentionally because the false teachers were probably saying this, that ultimate spiritual experience and growth came in addition to Christ.
20:44
Sure, you can have Christ. But on top of Christ, you needed something more. You needed something more than the head.
20:52
We hear this a lot in our world today, don't we? People are not offended if you say
20:58
Christ is God. But the minute you say Christ is the only God, the Son of God, the one only whom through this salvation, there is offense, massive offense.
21:09
Deepak Chopra, who is an Indian New Age guru, who claims to be the
21:16
American celebrity guru, says this, Christ is a figment of our consciousness.
21:23
He can be anything you want him to be. Would you think Paul agreed with that?
21:30
Do you agree with that? How about Sarah Young? In both of her books, Jesus Calling and Jesus Always, which
21:38
I read with my blood pressure shooting up throughout the time, talks about Jesus Christ as a wonderful man who sits next to you playing the harp all day.
21:56
She doesn't talk about Christ in an exalted way like the Bible does. She doesn't talk about the resurrected
22:02
Christ the way Paul mentions him in Colossians. Yet, why are we, why are her books on our bookshelves?
22:10
Why are we reading? Unless, like in my case, I'm trying to protect my wife and my kids from thoughts like that.
22:17
Beware of such distractions, because that's all they are. They're evil and they're dangerous, and they take your eyes off of the majesty of Christ.
22:26
And that's what they lack. They have not behold, or they refuse to behold the majesty of the
22:34
Lord Jesus Christ. They're not in awe of the Savior as we see in Colossians and as we see in the other parts of our
22:40
Bible. People often ask me this question, who read
22:47
Sarah Young and who read Deepak Chopra and who read many of these New Age gurus. They often ask me this question.
22:53
Aren't you bored of going to church and listening to the same thing preached over and over? Isn't the theme in the church always the same thing?
23:04
Christ and Him crucified and Him glorified. And they ask me this, aren't you bored of Christianity?
23:11
And my answer is this, I can't get enough of Him. I can't get enough of the majesty of Christ.
23:19
And when they tell me this, I tell them, you're in danger. Because you're bored of the
23:25
Holy God. You're bored of the true representation of God that is Christ and Christ alone.
23:32
You're bored of the biblical Christ, the true Christ. What these folks need is not a cup of coffee and a harp.
23:42
What they need is to behold the majesty of Christ and all this distraction and this garbage will fall away.
23:54
Paul emphatically and clearly proclaims in verse 18 that the resurrected Christ is the only and true source of life for the body.
24:02
Nobody else, nothing else. He says just as Christ is preeminent over creation,
24:09
Christ is preeminent over new creation, which is the assembly of the saints, the church.
24:18
He moves on to talk about in Colossians 2, 18 to 19. He says this, let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in details about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind and not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God.
24:49
Here in 2, 18 and 19 is the exclamation point in the New Testament for spiritual growth.
24:57
Here it is. This is where Paul expands on chapter 1, verse 18a to describe how
25:04
Christ is the head of the body and the church. People are always looking, oh, I had this vision,
25:10
I had this emanation, or I had, I saw this, I saw that in addition, so that I'm holier than thou,
25:18
I'm holier than others. And you think this was happening in Colossians? It was.
25:24
If you look at 3, 11, chapter 3, verse 11, he talks about how there is no
25:37
Greek, no Jew, no circumcised, this is Colossians 3, 11, no uncircumcised, no barbarian, no
25:44
Scythian, no slave, no free, but Christ is all and in all.
25:52
Like we see in some of our churches today, what was happening is they were boasting about their own traditions.
26:00
The Jews were saying, ah, my religious ritual, better than your Gentile pagan stuff, sorry, mysticism.
26:06
Oh, my Gentile pagan mysticism, they didn't call it that. It's better than the
26:12
Greek knowledge, it's the Greek higher knowledge. And so in the church, there was conflict.
26:19
Paul is saying, if Christ is preeminent overall, shouldn't he be your focus?
26:24
If Christ is all and in all, how is there disunity in the church?
26:31
The church has one head, the Lord Jesus Christ, from which we get our life and our sustenance.
26:37
We look anywhere else and we will fail miserably. We will fail miserably.
26:44
Now, what if we're not in Christ? Next verse, Colossians 2, 20 -23.
26:51
How does a person or even a church look like who are not in Christ?
26:57
What if you're not in Christ? What if you desert him? Now, this is
27:02
Paul talking to the Colossians who have heard the gospel, who have heard the gospel from their pastor,
27:07
Epaphras. Read with me, chapter 2, verse 20. If Christ with you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?
27:20
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used.
27:27
According to human precepts and teachings, these have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self -made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
27:47
No value. Christ and Christ alone in whom we are saved, in whom we grow as the church, is sufficient.
27:58
And you go outside of that, you who are dead in your trespasses, you who are slaves to sin, you have no power, no control by yourself.
28:08
And that's what Paul is saying here. No value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. No way you can turn away from that slavery.
28:16
No way. Is that what many people are doing today? They don't want to offend, so they keep
28:23
Christ in their language, but they refuse to believe that Him and Him alone is the
28:29
Creator and Redeemer of all. My final point.
28:35
We're looking at three reasons why you must constantly be in awe of Christ. Constantly. One, Christ is preeminent in creation.
28:44
Two, He is preeminent in redemption. And number three, He is preeminent and the source of cosmic restoration.
28:52
Verse 18b, 19, and 20. 18b,
28:58
He says, He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.
29:05
The term beginning here implies founder, initiator. What did
29:11
Christ found here? What did He start here? He initiated or founded the eschatological resurrection, the end -time resurrection.
29:22
So where did this come from? Again, Jewish theology. We learned that Jews were monotheistic, but in their theology, they also viewed bodily, physical, literal resurrection as an eschatological certitude.
29:39
They knew it would happen. They were sure that when Christ would return, or when the
29:45
Messiah would return, they were sure, they were certain, it was in their theology, that there would be actual physical resurrection of bodies.
29:53
We see that in Daniel chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, and Ezekiel 37. If you look at Daniel 12, 2, in the context, he says this,
30:05
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
30:16
This was very much part of their theology. In the New Testament, we see that in several places as well.
30:24
In 1 Corinthians 15, 20, Paul says this, But in fact
30:29
Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. What he's saying here is that he's not the first one to experience resurrection.
30:44
He is the founder of the new order of resurrection. How is
30:50
Christ supreme? You may ask this question right now. Yes, he's sovereign
30:55
Lord and creator, but here in the context, Christ is supreme as a result of his resurrection.
31:03
That's how he's supreme here. Peter O 'Brien says this, It reflects, that is the verse and the fact that he's supreme,
31:13
Reflects the common New Testament understanding of Christ's resurrection as having established his power over a fallen and rebellious world in a new degree.
31:25
And the references, you can look at it, Acts chapter 2, verse 36, Romans chapter 1, verse 4, Philippians chapter 2, verses 9 to 11, all talk about this.
31:39
From that Paul moves on. He talks, he can't get enough. He can't stop talking about the preeminence of Christ and sufficiency of Christ.
31:46
And there's a goal here. He wants them to stay away from all these other empty deceitful philosophies and false teachings that were coming into the culture and therefore the church.
31:57
Verse 19, For in him, in Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
32:05
Paul repeats this in verse 9, this very verse of something very similar. In verse 9 in chapter 2, remember at the beginning we read chapter 2, verse 8, where Paul stated that what was wrong was many of these teachings and these people were not according to Christ.
32:21
You know what's the next verse? Chapter 2, verse 9, For in him, for in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
32:31
There, there's Paul's response. There's Paul's response. Paul probably got this verse from Psalm chapter 68, verse 16, which reads,
32:45
Why do you look with hatred, O many -peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode?
32:51
Yes, where the Lord will dwell forever. There's a Jewish question that was always asked.
32:57
Where does God dwell? In the Old Testament, God's representational dwelling place was the temple.
33:09
In the New Testament, post Christ's life and death and resurrection, the representative dwelling place is none other than the
33:18
Lord Jesus Christ. It is not Christ and the angels that is required to be spiritually fulfilled, to grow spiritually.
33:30
It is not Christ plus some spiritual entities. It's not Christ plus philosophy.
33:35
The fullness of God doesn't exist in multiple. It exists in Christ and Christ alone. Peter O 'Brien says this,
33:45
Everything that can be known and experienced of God dwells in Christ. It is found in him and him alone.
33:54
And John MacArthur goes on to talk a little bit about this when he says, When Paul uses fullness, he is contradicting the false teachers who were saying that you can get fullness in ideals, in philosophies or angels.
34:09
Paul is stating that fullness can be found in Christ alone. When you look at our world and you look at all the channels on YouTube that are most popular, there's a lot of talk about philosophy.
34:23
There's a lot of talk about why we exist, what is reality, what is nature, are we real?
34:32
And most of it is moving away from the Bible. Most of it is moving away from the
34:38
God of the Bible. We must be careful.
34:45
Imagine if we came to church, Sunday after Sunday, as I have for seven years. What if we did not hear
34:52
Christ proclaimed? What if Pastor Mike got bored and he started preaching about the serfs in California?
35:11
We would be doomed. We would be doomed. We'd be separated from the head.
35:19
We would not... People would not come to salvation. We would not grow as Christians. This is not a joke.
35:26
This is not funny. We preach Christ and Christ alone. What does
35:33
Colossians 1 ,28 say? We have it on our bulletins. What does Colossians 1 ,28 say?
35:38
How do we proclaim Christ? How does Paul want to present believers?
35:44
He wants to present them immature, focused on all the philosophies in the world. He wants them to look at, think about all their visions and think how much better than they are about those who don't have those visions.
35:57
No. Sorry, that's not what he says. Colossians 1 ,28. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
36:18
It's in Christ and Christ alone that the believer grows, not outside of him, not through men who play harps.
36:28
Colossians 1 ,20, our last verse. And through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
36:38
What is reconciliation? It's to bring peace between two warring entities.
36:46
In the Bible, reconciliation is always used to denote the bringing of peace between a thrice holy
36:55
God and a lost putrid sinner. Always used in that context. But what
37:03
Paul is saying here, he's talking about something else. He's talking about cosmic reconciliation.
37:10
In verses 21, 22 and 23, he does talk about particular redemption and he does remind the
37:16
Colossians of how they were reconciled. But in verse 20, he's talking about cosmic reconciliation.
37:24
And you may ask the question, why does the universe need to be reconciled? Turn with me to Romans chapter 8, verse 19 to 22.
37:34
Romans chapter 8, verse 19 to 22. Even though Christ is creator and all things were created through him and for him, all things do not bear the relationship to their creator that they were intended to have.
37:52
In other words, there's a need for reconciliation. Romans chapter 8, verse 19.
38:37
John MacArthur goes on to say that there's going to be tremendous dramatic changes that this reconciliation will bring.
38:43
That the curse of Genesis 3 will be removed. That God will, as MacArthur says, will be friends with the universe again.
38:53
The universe will be restored to a proper relationship with its creator. And he says, finally after the millennial kingdom, there will be indeed a new heaven and a new earth.
39:04
And we see that in 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 13, which says, according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
39:15
The Lord will make everything new. Everything new.
39:21
And it is based on what? What is it based on? Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.
39:29
Even though we don't see it fully realized right now, we know that end time reconciliation happens because of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.
39:41
Here's another reason why you need to defend resurrection in the pulpit and in our homes and our communities.
39:51
But do you know that there are some people who do misread this verse? Do you know how they misread it?
39:57
They say that this verse talks about universal salvation. That even though someone rejects
40:03
Christ, they can still go to heaven. That even though someone does not understand their sin, they can still go to heaven.
40:11
Because Christ has died for all. But that is not what this text is saying.
40:16
That is a lie and a dangerous misinterpretation of the text. This is talking about cosmic reconciliation.
40:25
And what's wonderful is Paul has in his mind 21 to 23. He moves from cosmic reconciliation in verse 20 to particular redemption in 21 to 23.
40:36
I won't do those verses. I mean, I won't expound on them. But let's read them together just to know what is
40:41
Paul's intention about talking about the preeminence of Christ. Why he eventually gets to this.
40:50
Verse 21. And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
41:05
If indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven of which
41:15
I, Paul, became a minister. While secured in principle by Christ's crucifixion and available in preliminary form to believers, in preliminary form to believers, universal peace is not yet established.
41:34
But believers do have that peace and that's what Paul expounds on in 21 to 23. In a hostile world which is filled with evil and chaos, believers can live in peace and joy because their
41:49
Savior is supreme over all things. For those who have been redeemed by Christ, the universe has ultimately no real terrors, no real terrors.
42:04
Your Creator, your Redeemer, is the ruler of all and the goal of all.
42:10
Therefore, you need worry nothing, about nothing. I don't know what your position is and what your view about Christ is.
42:27
But if you don't have a high view of Christ, if you're not constantly in awe of who
42:32
He is, something's wrong, isn't there? Because Paul always is and you may not say that you're bored with Christianity or bored listening to Christ -centered preaching but you may be thinking it.
42:50
I beg you, we have just been presented with not just the Gospel, Paul wants the
42:56
Colossians and us to take our eyes off of distracting things that always look to get our attention and focus on the majesty of Christ.
43:06
Please repent and believe in this mighty Savior. If you're a believer,
43:12
I hope you're encouraged. I hope you're more excited about it than the ice cream you're about to eat. I hope you're more excited as you go back to work tomorrow, as you work in awe of who
43:24
Christ is, as you live your lives in sight of His majesty, in light of who
43:32
He is and what He's done. Let's pray. Oh Lord Jesus Christ, who can understand your ways?
43:49
Who can understand the majesty of Christ? Aren't you the one who opens the eyes of the dead?
43:55
Aren't you the one who makes alive those who are dead? We thank you for your substitutionary work, both your obedience and your death and your resurrection.
44:08
And Lord, we know that you are preeminent. We know this because you have shown it to us through your
44:13
Holy Spirit, through the indwelling God. We see it in the
44:19
Scripture. We see it through your work in our lives. May we be in awe of you all the time.
44:27
Protect us from dangerous men and women. Protect us from false teachers.
44:33
Help us not to be a stumbling block to others by grabbing their attention and by causing them to look away from who you are.
44:42
Bless us today. Bless our church. Bless our elders. And bless us as we gather together as we continue the fellowship.