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The person of Jesus Christ
Verse 15, Scripture says this, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Lord, as I come this morning asking for your help, asking for grace and wisdom as we try to address this passage of Scripture this morning, God, we pray and I want to first of all praise you, God, in this prayer for what we read are your very words that have been preserved for us, your people in this place, God, today.
Thank you for the power. I thank you for the truth of your word. I thank you for your faithfulness and for your saving grace. I thank you, Heavenly Father, that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for my sin.
I thank you that you have given the Holy Spirit to those that you have redeemed and that you have sealed us with your Spirit until that day of redemption. And by and through your Holy Spirit, we are able to understand and to know and to say, as the song said, amen and amen to the truth of the Scriptures.
Bless this time, remainder of the time that we have in your house today. Draw men and women, boys and girls, our hearts and our minds fix them upon you this morning for it is in Jesus' name I pray, amen, amen.
So I thought very quickly before we get into the text here and we'll give you a little bit of introduction to kind of refresh our memories where we've been here, but as we were singing that song, The One True God, that first little bit, the first phrase of that song that was sung, one voice in the dark, I immediately began to think of what the Word of God says in the book of Genesis that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, we have the account of creation in the book of Genesis and by His very Word, He spoke this world into existence.
Some may take the statement lightly that there is power. Some people say there's just power in the name of Jesus, but I want you to know there is power in the Word of God. The very Word that spoke this world into existence is what we look or looking at today.
It is the very Word of God. And so in considering where we are here in the book of Genesis, again, just to kind of bring us up to speed, we have been a couple of months now just looking at the first 14 verses of the book of Colossians and now we're to verse 15 and keeping in mind that the chief issue that the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth was their Christology.
Again, their Christology meaning their view of who Jesus Christ was. The issue with the church of Colossae was that they were mediating their worship through angels. They were looking to angels and looking to the spirit, quote unquote, spiritual experiences so that they might be transported into the presence of God.
But friends, we have the Spirit of God living within us and the Spirit of God, His entire purpose of the Holy Spirit is to point us to Jesus Christ and to the Father. And any spirit that points us to any person other than the Lord Jesus Christ is a spirit that is lying.
And so the, the apostles issue was that their practices, they're trying to attain goodness, trying to attain a level of spirituality, trying to mediate their worship through the worship of angels was a big problem.
And so Paul in pointing them in just to where we are now in this little section of scripture, verse 15 through 18, the, the theme of the message today, for those of you that are taking notes, the theme of the message is the person of Jesus Christ.
It is none other than the person of Jesus Christ. Paul did not have something better to offer to the people. There is nothing better than Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, in the book of Acts, the apostle Luther wrote, there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved for it is the name of Jesus Christ in him alone.
So the church's responsibility, our responsibility, our only responsibility is to preach and to teach concerning the nature, the person, the character, the dignity, and the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is what Paul highlights here. The apostle Paul has commended the church at Colossae that for their faith in Christ earlier on in the letter, he says, I, ever since the day I've heard about y 'all's faith and that's country, but that's still the truth.
Ever since we heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and your love for the saints, we do not cease to pray for you. And if you'll remember Paul's prayer was that they may know Christ, that they may know him according to the truth of his word.
And the only way, remember this, if you have any questions, the only way we can know who God is, is according to God's holy word. It is not according to our opinion. It is not according to our traditions.
It is according to what thus says the word of God. If you want to know the character of the nature and the person of God, the father, then we must go to the word. If you want to know the character, nature, and person of Jesus Christ, then we must go to the word.
If we want to know the character, nature, and person of the Holy Spirit, then we must go to the word of God. Paul reminds the Colossians that their faith in Christ and their love for the saints came from the truth of the gospel, not from their practices, not from trying to be project themselves into the presence of God, but rather their faith and their love came from Jesus Christ.
If you look to anything other than the finished work of Jesus Christ, you do not have salvation. If you look to your works, if you look to your deeds, if you look to practices, if you look to worshiping of angels or mediation through angels, you do not have salvation.
You are worshiping virtually what folks are doing and what many folks, I believe, fail to understand and consider today. When you seek revelation outside of the word of God, you are trusting the revelation that you receive that has no verification and that you're not able to prove whether it's your thoughts or whether it's demonic insights being given into your life.
Now, some may say that's an awful big statement, but I will stand by that statement until the day that I die because the truth of the word of God will stand when my opinions and my thoughts and my ideologies will come short every time.
Some elements of the heresy that was practiced there at the church of Colossae, again, if you remember, included their quote unquote, we gave you the definition, their ascetic practices. It came from their mediation.
They're trying to worship God through angels when some people will say, well, I just want to see an angel. I want to see an angel. God, if you're really there, let me see an angel. Listen, Bethel church in Redding, California practices this.
They teach that you need to be able to see your personal angels. Friends, if you are looking for angels, that means you're not looking through the word of God for your truth and for your confidence in Jesus Christ.
And the word of God tells us that the devil himself will transform into an angel of light to deceive you. So seek not hope from angels. Seek not hope from your opinion or ideology. Seek hope in Jesus Christ and in him alone.
Going on just a little bit further, and this is all just basically introduction. When we get to the text, we're going to go through these and look at what Paul says, statement by statement, phrase by phrase.
But it's so very important. Back in 1988, a man named Douglas Grudius wrote a book concerning new age practices in the worship of angels. And he pointed out that angels are the messengers of God, biblically understood.
Angels are the messengers of God sent to do his will, usually behind the scenes. The Bible never tells Christians to cultivate conscious relationships with angels. So these churches that promote seeking private revelation, seeking to see angels, men and women who pray for their kids at night to see angels in their dreams, that is a very, very dangerous practice.
Grudius went on to say the Bible never tells Christians to cultivate conscious relationships with angels. Although they do, the angels visibly appear throughout both the Old and the New Testament. It's important to make that distinction.
We're not saying angels do not exist. What I'm saying to you today, one of the so what's that you ought to be asking yourself today is this, so what does the text say to us today? So what are you expecting me to do with the statements that you're making today?
I'm expecting you to look unto Jesus Christ for salvation. The scripture does not point us to angels. It points us to Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, if you go over to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one, verse one, verses one, two, three, and four, listen to what the word of God says.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets. And he has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things. Remember that statement there, heir of all things.
For when we get back over into the Colossians here, we're going to look at that very briefly through whom he also made the worlds, who speaking of Jesus being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power.
When he, Jesus, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a name more excellent than they.
If you want scriptural proof, if you want a text that you can stand on as to why you're not, ought not to seek and the angels to mediate your worship to God or why you ought not to seek experiences with angels.
That is the verse right now, because Jesus is better than the angels. Hebrews chapter one, verses one through four. You're welcome. As a matter of fact, just to stay on point right here, if you go over to chapter two in Hebrews, while you're there in Hebrews, if you go into chapter two of Hebrews, listen to what the word of God says in Hebrews chapter two, verse five, for he has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels.
God has not put the world into in subjection to angels, but one testified in a certain place, what is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you take care of him. You have made him a little lower than the angels.
You have crowned him with glory and honor, and you have set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. And he gives a explanation there of the old Testament quote that he makes.
He says, for in that he put all in subjection under him, God, the father put all in subjection under Christ. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him at the present moment at the present time.
But he says, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for this purpose, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone.
Verse 10, for it was fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified.
The Lord Jesus Christ and those whom he saves are all of one for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. And I've got to read on here in this passage because it is so, it clarifies this truth so much.
He goes on saying, the scripture says, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, here am I in the children whom God has given me.
That's speaking about Jesus in as much then as the children have been partakers partaken of flesh and blood. He himself likewise shared in the same that through death, he might destroy him who had the power of death.
That is the devil and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed he does not give, he does not give aid to the angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham.
Praise the Lord and praise the Lord for that. So again, Paul is pointing these Colossian Colossian folks who are practicing this heresy, that they are, uh, that they are mediating their worship through the work, through the worship of angels.
And he's pointing them to the one and the only source of hope and eternal life, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he begins by saying this and it's, it's like a great doxology. It's like a great hymn of praise.
He's lifting up the name of Jesus Christ. And he begins by saying this Christ, whom you should worship. He is the image of the invisible God. Now that's a very important statement there. He is the image of the invisible God.
John Calvin in his commentary on this, that particular statement, that particular part of the verse said this God in himself, that he is in his naked majesty is invisible and that not to the eyes of the body only, but also to the understandings of men and that he is revealed to us in Christ alone, that we may behold him as in a mirror for in Christ.
He went on to say, he shows us his righteousness, his goodness, his wisdom, his power. In short, God shows us his entire self. And he closed with this statement. We must therefore beware. Now this is such a good statement.
We must be aware of seeking Jesus elsewhere. We must be aware of seeking him elsewhere for everything that would set itself off as a representation of God apart from Christ will be an idol. Does that make sense to you?
If you try to understand or know the person of God beyond the person of Jesus Christ, you are making an idol and we are called to have no other gods before us nor to make any image unto us other than the person of God himself.
Now the scriptures teach us this plainly. Remember what this text says here. He is the image of the invisible God. An image is a representation. We might understand it a lot of times to be a likeness, to be a drawing or to be a picture.
My friend, if you want to know the character and the nature of God, we must look to Jesus Christ and you can only know who Jesus Christ is according to the word of God. If you want to know the life of Christ, then read the gospels, look into Matthew, look into Mark, look into Luke, look into John.
If you want to know the work that Christ did, we have eyewitnesses accounts preserved for us by the Holy Spirit, but we must go to the word and to the word alone. He is the image of the invisible God and the next statement that is made there.
So he is the image of the invisible God, comma, the firstborn overall creation. Now throughout the years, there have been many heresies that have been come up through the ranks of church life. And one of those heresies is the Aryan heresy that Jesus was not fully the son of God.
And then there are those heresies that say Jesus was not fully God, or Jesus was not fully man, or there was a period of, some may say there was a period of time where Jesus began to be God after he was born.
My friends, the word of God does not teach such heresy. It does not teach us as Christians that there is any truth whatsoever in those sayings or in those teachings. The scripture tells us this, that when the angel came to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus Christ and came to Joseph, he said, you shall call his name Jesus, and he shall save his people from their sins.
And he shall be called Emmanuel, which is being interpreted God with us. Jesus was born fully God and fully man. Now here's the thing. I can't, Tammy, I can't hold necessarily true. Where are you at? I can't necessarily hold true to fully explaining the deity of Christ.
I can't fully explain that hypostatic union, how he was fully God and he was fully man, but I can tell you this, the scripture tells us he was fully God and fully man. And it was necessary that he be fully God and fully man for this reason.
This is one thing that I can tell you. He had to be fully man so that he might fulfill the righteousness of the law in which no man could fulfill. Not so that you and I could do the works that he did, but so that he and he alone might fulfill the righteous law of God.
And why did he have to be fully God? He had to be fully God as well as fully man because in dying on the cross at Calvary, only God himself could bear the wrath of God that had to be poured out on Jesus Christ.
It would destroy, he would have destroyed a man who was a man only, but he was fully God and he was fully man. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. It's not saying that Jesus Christ was born or a created being.
Jesus Christ did not begin to be when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He always has been in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, he was there. Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
That's what the word of God says. That's Genesis 1 26. And so he is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. And then the apostle Paul just continues in magnifying and exalting the person of Jesus Christ for by him, he says this verse 16, for by him, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him.
And not only were all things created through him, but all things were created for him. What is the chief end of man to glorify God and to enjoy him forever? That's what the very first statement in the Westminster confession of faith says.
So we go on here. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things. Not Paul speaks in present tense here. He is when the Lord called Moses from the burning bush to go unto the children of Israel that were in Egypt's bondage.
He said, Lord, who shall I tell them sent me? And the Lord said, tell them I am that I am has sent thee. He did not begin to be, he had no beginning and God has no end. He always is. He always was. And he always shall be because he always is.
So the word goes on. He is before all things. And in him, all things consist. There is nothing as we read in Hebrews There is nothing, nothing, nothing that happens that God is not sovereignly in control of.
There is nothing that falls apart, naturally speaking, so to speak, as we see things that does not fall apart based upon God's own decree. There is nothing that is held together as we see things that are held together apart from God's own decree.
He is sovereign overall. And remember, and very quickly here, before we jump, we move past this again, that statement there, where we're going to get into it again. He's before all things. And in him, all things consist.
He is the head of the body. He is the head of the body. What Paul is reminding these Colossians about in this time and how this principle, this truth translates unto us today, because this is a timeless principle.
Jesus is the head of the body. Have any of you ever tried to operate without a head? Some people look like they're walking around trying to operate without their head, but friends, the body cannot function without the head.
Jesus Christ is the head of the ecclesia, the church. Remember that word, the called out assembly of the saints, the focus of the church must always be on the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. For you're saved by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone, based upon the scripture alone for this end, for God's glory all alone.
He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning. He is the first born from the dead. Again, there's that term first born use. Keep in mind, remembering the heresies that taught that the Aryan heresy that taught Jesus was a created being.
He was not created. He always was. He took upon the likeness of sinful flesh, but let's make a distinction here. He was not created. And the text here says this, he was the first born from the dead, meaning this, that term first born is a reference to, let me figure out how to word this right.
That term first born, it's referring to the principal heir of an estate. Remember in Hebrews, when we read a few minutes ago, he was the heir of all things. That's what God made him the heir of all things.
He was the first born was the principal heir of an estate used of Christ. The term first born ascribes to him, supremacy, honor, and dignity, meaning he's the greater David and the father's principal heir.
Okay. So this is, that's very important to understand this. So he was not a created being, but he was the very first human being to be born that ever raised from the dead and ever lives. That's what that statement is saying.
Lazarus, we've all, we probably all read about Lazarus. Lazarus died in the grave four days. The Lord goes, uh, Mary and Martha meets him out ahead. She says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Jesus said, do you believe that you live? Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead yet shall he live. And she, they took him to Lazarus grave. Jesus wept over their heartbreak and he stood before the grave of Lazarus.
He told them to roll the stone away. He stood in front of the mouth of that, that grave. And he said, Lazarus come forth. Lazarus came out of the grave, but Lazarus had to die a physical death again, though he was raised from the dead.
There has never been, nor shall there ever be though. There are claims I'll be as honest with you to say this. There are many who make claims that they've been raised from the dead, but friends, there has never been anyone raised from the dead who will not physically die again other than Jesus Christ.
He was the first born from the dead is what Paul says that in all things that in life, that in death, he might have the preeminence, meaning that he will be the chief. Matter of fact, he is the chief cornerstone.
He is the captain of our salvation. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. There is none beside him and there is none above him, but all are below him. That's the person of Jesus Christ. Staying with us if you would this morning, please.