Thank you for listening to Covenant Fellowship Lake Dallas Weekly Sermon. Covenant Fellowship is located at 625 Lake Dallas Drive in Lake Dallas, Texas. For more information and resources, you can visit our website at CFLD.org. That's CFLD.org. Now for our message today, here is Pastor Raymond Harper. You may be seated. I'm going to go directly into the invocation, then I will see what we have to say here. Almighty God and our heavenly Father. The one whose presence is peace itself, who dwells in unapproachable light. We bow before you today and we confess with our songs and our prayers that Jesus Christ is Lord to your glory. We pray that you would grant us the blessing of your presence, that you would grant us the understanding of your word, and that as we understand, we might find joy and peace. May our worship be a worship that is in spirit and truth. We pray through Jesus, our Savior, who with you, Father, and the Holy Spirit, we always worship and adore one God now and forever. Amen and amen. Before we go to the Belgian confession, I'll bring up a few things. We are participating in the spirit of Christmas. They need 100 bottles of vegetable oil. I think we have three that Kim brought in today. Amy is, I think, spearheading that. Have we collected three so far? All right, so we're only 97 bottles short. I don't think we're doing it. Oh, we do have to do 100, right? 100 bottles of vegetable oil on the wall. 48 ounce, 100 of them, 97 short. So if you get a chance, we'll be good, but you know. And the ladies did make it back from the conference, safe and sound. And Joan's still talking to Glor, who's still talking to Francis, who's still talking to Marilyn. So I guess everything went well. You know. Yeah, when we go to men's conferences, I have to room with Jim, which alone is, I need a special dispensation. But we end up talking to each other because guys are totally different when we are in room. We don't worry about like anything. It's a room is just a room, you know, and but, you know, women sometimes sharing rooms, things can happen. And they didn't. They're all good. I would direct your attention to the prayer list. Specifically, all of these prayers obviously are very deep needs, but I've always had a heart for the Hmong people in Vietnam, and Thao Lai and Phai Cho, two men that won't renounce Christ. And because of that, you can read it on the list, but they have been basically kicked out of their homes, kicked out of the village. They weren't allowed to bury their father. They have a lot of problems. We so often in our country take for granted the fact that we, as much as we may grouse and complain, we do not get kicked out of our homes yet for our faith in Christ. And we need to be praying for these folks and keeping them on our hearts. I think it helps us to keep a proper perspective. I think that's all. There's nothing else, right? Mikey's here today. She's doing better. She had a good test the other day. She passed with flying colors. I don't know where Melody is. I'm going through my M's now. Monty did write me. He is doing well. And he may come today. He's not sure. And Melinda was here and is not here any longer. And I mean today. She's not here any longer today. And Mimi is doing well. I saw a picture of her the other day waving at me with a bottle of pickled hot peppers in her hand, which is always my favorite picture of her. And let's go to the Belgian confession. And Midge is here. I went with Midge last night to an event that was wonderful. It was a cancer survivors dinner, very, very special dinner and amazing people, Midge included, were there. Cancer survivors multiple times, many of them. It was a blessing. I loved the speaker. The speaker spoke on how, you know, sometimes we walk through hard times, but the Lord has ordained our steps before we were born. She was a great speaker and she She developed, you can read about her online, she's well known, but she developed an aggressive breast cancer at 16 and fought through that and then was re-diagnosed at 34, I believe, and fought through it again, and it was quite good. And the comedian was hilarious. I won't share any of that right now, but it wasn't dirty or anything, it just, it was good though. All right, we're at the Belgic Confession. We are talking about the Gospel today. And you say, well, Ray, it seems like that's what you talk about a lot. Yes, but we're talking pointedly about specific aspects of the Gospel today. And so I've picked this piece of the Belgic Confession to walk through. As a matter of fact, the first two songs were perfect. Don't let that go to your head. I'm sure that was the Holy Spirit and not you. But Article 21 is talking about the atonement. And so let us read now. what the confession has to say. We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Now why is that important? It's important for this reason because if I'm a Jewish person and Paul walks up to me and says, Jesus is our high priest, I go, no he's not because the priest all come from Levi. So he can't be our high priest. He's got to be from the Levitical priesthood. Well, the order of Melchizedek, if you read through the book of Hebrews, says that that order was actually an order higher than the Levitical priesthood because Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek, and through Abram, even the Levitical tribes were paying tithes to Melchizedek. He is a greater and a larger and a more encompassing priesthood. So he is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, made such by an oath, and that he presented himself in our name before his father. And he did some real key things here, and I want you to pick these up. We'll talk about them later, but he appeased his father's wrath. So that's the first thing Jesus does, is he appeases the Father's wrath. He's satisfied, it goes on to say, he appeases the Father's wrath with full satisfaction. Full satisfaction, complete satisfaction. This, when the confession was written, was a reaction against the idea that in baptism you get rid of original sin, but then as you sin through life, you have to make satisfaction. How? By penance, to stay in good standing with the church. No, Jesus made the full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins as the prophets had predicted. So you see, that's the core element there. He has appeased the wrath of the Father and he's made full satisfaction, neither of which any of us could have done. Jesus has done this. And then it says, for it is written, the punishment that made us whole was placed on the Son of God, and that by his bruises we are healed. He was like a lamb that is led to slaughter. He was numbered with the transgressors and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared him that he was innocent. And they referenced a tremendous amount of Isaiah 53, a phenomenal piece of writing about the Lord. So he paid back what he had not stolen and he suffered the righteous for the unrighteous in both his body and his soul in such a way, when he sensed the horrible punishment required by our sins, his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. He cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he endured all of this for the forgiveness of our sins. We sometimes want to paint the Gospel in sort of hallmark pictures, but the reality is the Gospel is a violent thing. The story of the Gospel is violent. Jesus appeased the wrath of an offended God by shedding his own blood. And the payment was so tremendous that in the Garden of Gethsemane, he sweated drops of blood. And on the cross, he cried out, why have you forsaken me? It's when we paint this too nicely, we lose the cost of our salvation. Therefore, we rightly say with Paul that we know nothing except Christ and him crucified. We regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord. This is what happens when we grasp the gospel fully, is that we know that nothing else compares to this tremendous, amazing, staggering reality. It is when we denigrate or diminish the reality of the gospel that other things begin to crop up and we begin to have some of the stuff that we see today. We find all comforts in His wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice once made which renders believers perfect forever. This does not mean you are sinless. It means you are reckoned perfect. God looks at Christ and declares you perfect. is also why the angel of God called him Jesus, Yeshua, our Savior, because he would save his people from their sins. This is what we're going to talk about today in the sermon, the gospel in its entirety. I'm very nervous, quite frankly, about preaching. I'm always nervous about preaching, but the gospel, as we open it up, and every week I know I preach at least something around the gospel, It is always a staggering reality when you look at the gospel. I would say to you that if you think back on the first two songs we sang, if you can grasp the depth of the gospel, it's amazing. So I also printed on the back, and I'm going to read this to you later, but oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. I will probably read that later. I know you have it in front of you, but I'm going to read it anyway. And so now we come to this prayer of confession. Why do we confess? Because in our relationship with God, we come to him as our loving father. We confess we've sinned so that we may be forgiven. We're not we're not coming before a wrathful God who's going to punish us with with horrific death. We're coming to a loving father because our sins have been paid for by Jesus. But we come in our relationship with the father. in His love so that we may be forgiven. So let's go to the throne of grace at this time. Father God, You who know all things, You who are the only wise God, we come to You in prayer. And with the psalmist, we proclaim that You searched us, that You know us. You know the deepest desires of our heart. You know all things about us. Nothing is hidden from your sight. This should strike fear in our hearts and does strike fear in our hearts. For we know who we are. And you are aware of our failings. Our failings in our faith, as well as in things that we have done. We pray that you would have mercy on us. We cry out, as the man in the Bible did, that we believe, but that we need you to help our unbelief. Our weakness and our frailty is such that we don't love you as we ought. We don't trust you as we ought. We don't love our neighbor as we ought. We've gone astray and have even attempted to flee from your presence. But as the psalmist said, where can we go where you are not? We pray now that You might create in us a clean heart. Renew a right spirit in us that we would not have Your presence taken from us. Restore to us the joy of our salvation. Uphold us with a willing spirit. Unite us in Christ, we pray. And to Him be all glory, and honor, together with you, Father, and the Holy Spirit. One God now and forever. Amen. And amen. And here now, the good news I've collected out of 1 John, a series. Here is what 1 John says. It says, This is the message we've heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. You're sitting here today and you are in Christ. Know that you are forgiven, my friends. Amen. I'm good. That song. Before we go into I'm going to I'm going to read first, so since you're all standing, I'm going to read out of first out of Colossians one, twenty one through twenty three, Colossians one, twenty one through twenty three. Does anyone need a Bible? Raise your hand, Monty is here, by the way. That's right. Colossians 1 21 through 23. And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he's now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you wholly and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you've heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. of which I, Paul, became a minister. The grass wither and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endures forever. You may be seated. And before we get into the message, I want to correct some theology. The problem with songwriters is they're artistic and they're sloppy in their theology sometimes. He's looking at me and going, what song would you be talking about? They lead you to believe certain things. So there's this line in a song that we sang that said, was the Holy Spirit brooding around an empty throne? Now, can I just point out to you that my friend and my dear brother, Chris the Younger, is going to say to me, that's rhetoric. I agree it is rhetoric. It's a rhetorical question. What does that mean? It means that he's saying no. It's a rhetorical question. Jesus never left the throne. There was no moment in time when he wasn't there, because if there was, we wouldn't be here. Chris is sitting back there going, I will talk to you later. Artists sometimes have a loose theology because they're trying to make things rhyme. I like to correct those things. I love that song, though. I do love that song. It's just, I don't want anybody to go, well, the Holy Spirit was burning around an empty throne. You didn't get that here. Right. Yeah, that's right. Creativity is just, you know, there's good things to be creative about and then there are things that are not. That last song is a wonderful song. All the songs were wonderful today because they really drove home what we're uh... what we're really talking about today and and i love the last song for sure i mean the last song is just what you saw i mean if you don't get emotional about the gospel once in a while and i know i'm more emotional than say chris newman so is my driveway uh... uh... chris chris is a strong one of the of the three of us chris is the strong one that doesn't mean he doesn't have emotions that means he doesn't show them as freely right you don't see them Right. He's going to go home tonight and give her all kinds of emotions about me. But if you don't get emotional about the gospel once in a while, then you don't understand the gospel. So that's the truth of the matter. And by the way, Chris does have great emotion. He just hides it so much better than I do. Well, that emotion I've seen in you, yes. He has a great amount of emotion, but he just hides it better. Anyway, so I wanted to correct that, and I wanted to let you know also that when we do the creed that it is not the capital C Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, but it is the Catholic as in universal, which is a Greek word that the Romans stole, and now everybody thinks it means the Roman Catholic Church. I think I've corrected all the things we've done this morning. Chris, can you think of anything else? Okay, okay. I love the songs we sing, but every once in a while, they can lead you down a path that may be a little less than correct if you don't take the way it was positioned correctly. Anyway, let's go to the Lord in prayer before I dig myself in a hole that's deep enough that I can't get out of. Oh, Lord, blessed are you. Oh, glorious day, that day when you will come back, that you will take us to yourself. Lord, in You we find our highest joy, our greatest delight. All that is beautiful comes from You. We pray now that You would pour out on us Your Holy Spirit, as we open Your Word, so that as we hear it, we may treasure in our hearts Your Word, that it may not be forgotten. We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen and Amen. I just want you to know that one of the things that is a sign of our times is the inability for Christians to state the gospel clearly. I know that many of you in here say, well, that's not true. I can do this in my sleep. But over the years of being a pastor, and I think Chris the elder for sure, Chris the younger to a degree probably as well, when we ask someone to tell us what the gospel is, we hear all kinds of interesting things. Many times people share the gospel by saying what the Lord has done for them in the sense of he saved my job. He saved my marriage. He healed me. He did this. He did that. And while these are benefits potentially of being in Christ, these are certainly not the gospel. Others say that Jesus came into their hearts and changed their attitudes, and I could expound on this for quite some time, as could Chris. And there are points to this that are true. Suffice it to say that is actually a very truncated and inaccurate idea of what the gospel actually is. For some, and we hear this a lot when you hear the social gospel, a lot of people would say the gospel is this ideal that all mankind is equal and worthwhile and all man lives in peace and unicorns and bunnies and every man should be free to pursue the life he desires. Well, that sounds good as a preamble to a government document. But it's not really the gospel. Almost all of the incorrect ideas about the gospel focus on Jesus as a means to an end. The end is usually of temporal benefit for me. Jesus died on the cross so I could be healed. I could be healthy. I could be free. I could pursue my dreams. I could do this. I could do that. All of these things I hear as the gospel when none of them are the gospel. All of them may be Benefits to the gospel, but they're not the gospel. And by the way, this comes from a group that ostensibly calls itself evangelicals. Their very name means those who proclaim and share the good news of the gospel. Interestingly enough, that same group, the evangelicals, 80% of them, in a Barna study a couple of years ago, believed that the statement, God helps those who help themselves, is in the Bible. The very antithesis of the gospel. 80% of evangelicals believed that was in the Bible. That shows how little of a grasp we have for what the Gospel is. Because if God helped those who helped themselves, we'd all be going to hell. And so what happens is, when you have this lack of understanding of what the Gospel is, you have Christians chasing what? All sorts of false Gospels. What are they chasing after? Temporal, self-centered blessings. Why? Because they think That's the gospel. They think that that's what Jesus came and died for. And then there's that other half that lives miserable, complaining lives because they don't have what the other half has. You see, when you get the gospel wrong, you're in grave danger. Not only can you not share the gospel with the lost correctly, but you can't live in light of the gospel either. And this is the danger Paul saw in the church at Colossae, those who heard the gospel from Epaphras and responded, needed to once again hear the good news. They needed to be reminded. They needed to be strengthened. They needed to be encouraged by the gospel so that they could face down the false teaching in the city of Colossae. They're being lured away from the truth by promises of false teachers. That tells you something. First of all, it tells you that missing the point of the gospel is not a new thing. It's an old thing. We've always, man has always missed the point of the gospel. Why? Because man's not the center of the gospel. We want to be the center of the gospel. So Paul is going to reiterate. Notice, by the way, I told you last week there was a well-known evangelical teacher that said his people are past needing the gospel. You know, it's funny that Paul never felt that way. Paul always wrote, every letter Paul writes is the gospel. And these are to believers, by the way. It wasn't to unbelievers. And so the early the Colossians and people like they never got past the gospel. Why is it we think we got past it? Because we never got to it. So last week, as we saw, Paul started by reminding the Colossians of what? Of who Jesus was. That was his first point. Jesus is the preeminent one in all things, creation, new creation. He is the center, the locus of all things. He's the one that's above all things in the universe, visible and invisible. He is the all-in-all. And once Paul lays out this reality that Jesus is everything, is all-in-all, he's going to go on to tell the Colossians what this preeminent, glorious, all-powerful One had done for them. He was going to share the Gospel. So the first thing is what? The first thing is who is Jesus? Vital. And then, what has He done? What he's going to do is he's going to use the gospel as a buoy to buoy them above the noise of the false teachers. So let's look at what he's going to say. Now, let's start by getting the context right. So let's start back in Colossians 1, 19 and 20. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him, Jesus, to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Jesus, all the fullness, the pleroma, of God is reconciling all of the world. He is God. The fullness of God dwells in him. Remember what I said about John 14, 8 and 9. Philip, Jesus, just show us who the Father is. Just show us the Father. And we're good. Philip, have I been with you so long that you don't know that I am the Father of one? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And through God, God the Son, Jesus, all things are reconciled back to God. So Paul has stated that Jesus is the preeminent one above all creation. He's reconciling all things to God. And how does he do that? Well, he says by the blood of his cross. So he's clearly laid out the reality that Jesus has reconciled all of creation to the Father, but now he does something really interesting. Now he drills down a bit. He's going to drill down and he's going to say, let me personalize this for you. So he says, Jesus reconciled all things, whether visible or invisible. He's reconciled all things by the blood of his cross. Now he's going to drill down and he's going to say to the Colossians, and you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he's reconciled you too. So he points out first the grandness and the greatness of Jesus and who Jesus is and what he has done for all of creation. And now he drills down and makes it personal and says he's done that for you. He's reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. You Colossians, in order to present you wholly and blameless and above reproach before him. But before he puts the reconciliation forward. He states that previous condition. And that's what I want to talk about first, is that previous standing of the Colossians. What was their previous standing before the reconciliation? It says, well, you were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. This language, by the way, speaks not of a single sin, not an oopsie. You know, that's how we think of sin, isn't it? Oops, sin. Oh, I did one bad sin. That's not the language here. The language here indicates a continuous situation. The Colossians were actively, constantly alienated and hostile towards God. They were His enemies. Remember a few weeks ago I spoke of the language whereby God defeated the rebellious and transferred them to His realm in Colossians 1, 13 and 14. He's delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred. That idea of the victorious King transferring His captives transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. He's moved us from one domain to another in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins. This is a language that bespeaks a victorious king taking those who've been defeated from their land to his land to live under his rule. The gospel is a violent overthrow of the enemy. The taking of captives back to the land of the victor. When we get the picture of the gospel in that light, it should encourage us. God has won the victory. We often say that, but we often take all of the offense and the nastiness of the cross away. And so we don't have the same idea. But when you think about we were enemies, we were shaking our fist at God. We were constantly, continually, actively hostile to God. And He came in and defeated the enemy and killed us. We died in Christ. And then He took us to a new realm. When you think of it that way, it's a different idea, isn't it? You can begin to look at the lost differently when you realize that God defeats the lost and kills them on the cross and takes them into a new realm. It's a different idea, isn't it? It's more powerful than saying, invite Jesus into your heart and then you'll have a new attitude and feel better about it. Really, Jesus is coming for you. He's going to reconcile all things to the Father. Now, some of those things will be reconciled through what damnation and some will be reconciled through salvation. But Jesus. has won the victory and he tells these Colossians, you guys were, your previous standing was that you were active enemies of God. You were alienated from Him and destined for damnation. You were at war with God. That's your previous condition. Paul lays it out clearly. You were alienated, hostile, doing evil deeds. That is who you were. None of this mamby-pamby stuff. Let's tell it like it is. The problem today is that not many people will say they're at war with God. Certainly not in this day of evangelifish, not in this day of tolerance, not in this day of spirituality, whatever that might mean. Everyone seems to be seeking God. Isn't that interesting? Everyone. But are they really? Do you find it interesting that so many who say they're pursuing God, they're seeking God, are actually pursuing a deity that bows to their wishes? A God that affirms what they affirm? My God would never do that. Well, your God can't save you, so I recommend you get on board with this God. A God that's affirming. You know, the problem with the gospel is it doesn't affirm us. That's why we don't like it. It doesn't affirm me at all. It only affirms what I am, which is not good. A God that tells these people they're good, a God that says their happiness is His most important thing in life. That's what most people mean when they say they're seeking God, is they're seeking themselves. That's an idol. Many who say they're seeking God aren't. They want their own deification. They're actively and constantly at war with the true king of the universe. They're alienated, they're hostile in mind, they're rebels. They shake their fists at the God of the universe while they claim to be seeking Him. Should we be surprised that there is a group in Florida who claim that their Christian ministry is to proclaim the gospel through wife-swapping? Should we be surprised by that? No! Because they're seeking a God of their own affirmation. They're pursuing a God, but not THE God. Paul does not allow us to get away with this, nor does he allow the Colossians to get away with it. You were hostile constantly. You were alienated. You were doing evil deeds. You were not being affirmed. What does he say in Ephesians? Idolaters and fornicators. Such were some of you. This is the condition of all who do not come under the dominion of Jesus Christ. And this is the previous condition and the previous standing of the Colossians. You must, my friends, if you're going to share the gospel, you must get point one right. If there is not an urgency when you're talking to a lost person, then you are not sharing the gospel correctly. Oh, Jesus has done this for me and he's done that for me. And if you invite him into your heart, he'll do that for you, too. You are bound for hell. You are at war with God. And you will pay in eternity if you do not turn to Christ. Now, maybe you can tone it down a little bit. It might be a little freaky at Golden Corral to do that. But the bottom line is, if you don't get that right, you miss The point, it'd be like a stewardess walking out. And I've heard this example used by Ray Comfort, I think, saying, well, if you'd like, there's some oxygen masks that come down and you can use those if you'd like. And there is a thing under your seat. And people look at her and go, well, why would I want to do that? But if she runs out and looks and says, we're all going to die, we're going into the ocean, put on the mask. You're blowing up your vest. You know that thing? You're doing it. Why? Because you know there's an event coming. And that's what Paul says. He says, in the previous condition, here's what you were like. You were alienated and hostile towards God. This is one of the things that is missing out of the modern sharing of the Gospel. We don't tell people who they were or who they are. We're afraid to. Frankly, let's be honest with ourselves, aren't we? We're afraid to. They won't like us. Are they going to like us better in eternity? Paul doesn't stop there, though. He goes to the future standing of the Colossians. You were once alienated and you're hostile in mind. You were doing evil deeds. That was your previous condition. He's now reconciled to the body of flesh by his death. Why? In order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. These Colossians who are actively in enmity with God, he's defeated. He beat them. That language again, right? You lost the war. God won it. And how did he defeat them through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ? Now, this passage is really fascinating if you read commentaries or if you read in the in the Greek, in the original Greek, I actually had to go to commentaries because my Greek is, you know, I can order a restaurant and, you know, I know some Greek, but it gets a little complex in certain areas for me and I'm not that good at it. But what's interesting in here is what he's referencing is the actual physical death of Jesus on the cross. The actual physical death of Jesus on the cross. He says here that he is now reconciling his body, Soma, of flesh, Sarx. He is pointing out the physicality of Jesus' death on the cross. He killed the Colossians in Christ and raised them in a newness of life in a new realm. A realm where the king of that new creation rules, Jesus. But it's talking about a real physical death. Paul speaks clearly of this idea of dying with Christ in Galatians 2.20, doesn't he? I've been crucified with Christ. Really, physically, Christ died. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me in the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So that their future standing is based upon the real physical death of Jesus. This is what Paul's pointing out here. He's using the imagery of a sacrifice. Sort of that same thing as the Agnus Dei in John 129. The Lamb of God. In Leviticus 1, you put your hands on the Lamb that really dies and sheds its blood, and its blood is considered the atonement for you. Today you hear a lot of this, well, I don't know if Jesus really died on the cross, but it's the idea behind it. Well, the idea behind it is that he died on the cross. So Paul is saying to them, now understand, they're going through false teachers. Who knows what these false teachers might have been saying? They might have been saying, well, he didn't really die. Paul says, no, no, he really died. It's a very interesting wording. The reality of Christ's physical death. Some would say it doesn't matter. Paul would disagree with that. It's a real death on a real cross for the real sins of the world. It is so important that we get this. Why is it important? Because in His real physical death, Jesus bears the burdens of sinful creation on His shoulders. As He hangs from the cross, as His blood runs down the cross, He's carrying the weight. of the world on His shoulders. It says in Hebrews, He was born in the flesh, He was a brethren made like us, suffered and died for us. He was the one mediating for us as man. Carried the weight of the world on His shoulders, literally, and when He breathed this last, so did all who are in Him. We died when Jesus died. Again, the language of this section really brings to mind this whole idea of the spotless animal that's brought in for the sacrifice in the Old Testament. The bearing of the sins of the people through the real shedding of blood on a real animal. But why would he do this? Well, Paul goes on and he says that on the cross, as his blood runs down the tree, he's bearing the sins of his people before the father. He pays the price. He drinks the cup. As the cup of the Father's wrath is poured out on him, he is paying the price. And what happens because of the price Jesus Christ has paid? Well, he goes on to say here that we are presented holy and blameless and above reproach. Future standing of the Colossians. The future? Yeah, the future. Because there's going to come a time when the examiner will come along. And so his language here is speaking about when we're presented before the Father. We're not alienated and hostile in mind any longer. The Colossians aren't either. They've died with Christ on the cross. Their sins have been paid in full in Christ's body. Now, the victorious King has transferred them to the realm of His light. And they're clothed in righteousness. And they will be presented before the great examiner of the universe, holy and blameless and above reproach. As I was doing this sermon, I found it so ironic. that the Lamb of God was presented to an earthly examiner, Pontius Pilate, and was without sin yet killed. So that the Colossians, when examined by the true examiner, although guilty, would be found wholly blameless and above reproach. By the way, do you know who was given In lieu of Jesus, who was set free, his name is Barabbas, son of the father, isn't that isn't that beautiful how God does that, how he just lays out the gospel. Jesus, sinless, stands before the examiner who finds no fault in him. But puts him to death while freeing a man who is definitively guilty, whose name is the son of the father. Is that wild? Why would Jesus do that? Well, in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, it says, for our sake, he, the father, made him, Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So here Paul lays out that the one who reconciled all things to heaven and earth, or in heaven and earth, to the father through his blood, specifically reconciled the Colossians to the father. Through his bloody, sacrificial death on the cross, he reconciled them to the father. And because of that reconciliation, They were going to be presented before the father on that final culminating day, wholly blameless and above reproach. That's a judicial term, that's a legal term. I find nothing wrong in this man, isn't it interesting when you watch the crucifixion and the trial of Jesus, how that's what we deserved and what he took so that we would get this. The sinless one stands before an earthly examiner and dies. The guilty ones stand before the examiner of the universe and live. So for all who've come to faith in Christ, we have been killed on the cross. We are dead to ourselves and alive in Christ. And when Christ hung on the cross and he cried out, to tell us I paid in full. That's what he meant. Paid in full, full satisfaction is what the Belgian confession says he paid the full price and we the redeemed died to the realm of darkness that day on Golgotha. On Golgotha, those many millennia ago, Chris Newman and Monty and Gloria and Rick, we died on that mountain, on that hill. And we're raised in newness of life. In the kingdom of Christ. When he walked out of the tomb. He rose for our justification. And we rose with him, we're seated in the heavenlies with Jesus. We are new creations and we're waiting the culmination of all things when we will be presented before the great examiner as wholly blameless and above reproach. Imagine that day. Next. Hi, I'm just above reproach next. Do you know how humbling that is? I am not even close to above reproach. I'm a reproachful person. And yet, my future standing before that examiner will be holy and blameless and above reproach because of what Christ has done. Our previous condition was the Colossians' previous condition. We were enemies of God. Our future condition is the same as the Colossians' future condition. We will be presented holy and blameless and above reproach. But what about now? They're tempted by false teaching. What's going to become of them in the moment? We saw the previous standing, we saw the future standing, but what about now, Paul? The current standing. He says that you're to be presented holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if you indeed continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel you've heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Aha, Mr. Reformed preacher. Get out of that one. It's not that hard to do if you actually know how the language is structured. What he's actually saying to the redeeming colossus is not if you don't do this, you're going to fall away. It's actually a little different. The wording is. The wording here speaks of confidence, of confidence, the Colossians are going to continue to walk in faith, a better translation might be if you indeed, as I know you will continue in the faith. You're going to be fine. It's not uncommon for Paul to use this kind of language. Later in Colossians 2.5, Paul rejoices in the firmness of their footing. Nothing's changed. It's still the same letter. He says, For though I am absent of body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. So he's not saying here, and if you don't do this, you're in trouble. He says, Have all confidence that you will stand firm in the faith. He says these Colossians, These false teachers are going to tempt you with some other teaching. But I know you're going to stand firm in the faith. He prays about it in Colossians 111. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. Paul is not sitting there biting his nails saying, boy, I hope you make it. He says, I have all confidence in God. I love the fact that he doesn't have all confidence in the Colossians. I know who you all are, but I have all confidence in God. And I know that those who are in Christ, they will stand and continue in the faith. And he says you need to continue on standing firmly on the foundation of the gospel as these false teachers arise. I have confidence you will stand firm through the power of the Spirit of God at work in you. Paul speaks of them here in this passage, familios is one of the words he uses, and the only reason I know that is I get a magazine, a journal, boring journal for you guys, but a pastoral journal called Familios, which means foundation. And that's what he tells them here. He speaks of them standing stable and steadfast. It's a picture. It's an illustration that hearkens to a building context. Butch is a builder. You know how important the foundation is. If you don't get the foundation right, the building's shaky. If you don't get that foundation laid level and do all the things that Butch could tell you about that I can't, What you have is you have an unstable building, don't you? So he's using this building context, and he says, remain stable and steadfast, firm on that foundation, because that is where your sure footing is found, on that solid rock of the gospel. If you put your foundation on anything else, it's some shifting sands. The false teachers have shifting sands. This ties into Paul's thought throughout the Word, that he is talking about a foundation, building a foundation. The body of Christ is an earthly building. 1 Corinthians 3.10, he speaks of laying out the foundation of the gospel, doesn't he? According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care of how he builds upon it. So that's where he says, I'm a master builder laying out the foundation. The foundation. Well, wait a minute. Paul's laying that out. Yes, he's proclaiming the gospel. He's proclaiming the gospel. Then he goes on in Ephesians 2, 19-21, and he says that Jesus is the cornerstone, doesn't he? You're no longer strangers and aliens, you're fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. What's the foundation? The teaching of the prophets and the apostles. What is that? That's the gospel. And what is a cornerstone? A cornerstone is the piece in a building that everything's tied to. That's how you square the building. That's how you make sure the building's right. It's that cornerstone. Everything's honed in on the cornerstone. Gotta have that cornerstone. And so he says, the foundation is the gospel. The cornerstone that everything's honed in on, that locus of the entire building is Jesus Christ. And then he tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, 19, God's firm foundation stands kind of refuting the guys who say, well, maybe somebody going to fall away. God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal. The Lord knows who are his. I love that. I love laying it out like that. I'm the master builder. I'm laying out the foundation of the gospel that the God has given and the chief cornerstone is Christ and And by the way, every cornerstone has words on it. You know, if you go to the East Coast, you go to Boston, you have these great sayings that Ben Franklin and all these guys put on these buildings. Oh, how profound. When you go up to Jesus's building, when you go up there, Jesus is the cornerstone and the foundations there in this temple of God, which is the people of God, are all there and they're all built up. And you walk around to the cornerstone and you look at the cornerstone and at the cornerstone it says, the Lord knows who's his. And Paul says to the Colossians, stand on that. Because all these other guys, they're just noisy. There's a foundation you can stand on. You want to know what your current standing should be? It should be there. Stand on the Gospel. He says you've been redeemed, you've been transferred from your previous condition. You've been killed. You've been slain in Christ. You've been reborn in a new kingdom. You've been transferred from the realm of darkness to the realm of light. Jesus has defeated the enemy through the blood of His cross, raised you in newness of life, clothed you in the righteousness of Christ so that in the future examination before the great examiner, you will be found holy, blameless, and above reproach. But in the interim, He says, those false gospels are going to be floating around. And when these teachings vary from what I, Paul, and Epaphras brought to you, You stand firm, resting on the sure foundation of the gospel, which finds as its cornerstone, Jesus. And as you read throughout Paul's letters, you find as the believers stand firm, what happens? They're built up into the temple of God. Do you realize what the church is? It's an outpost of light in the realm of darkness. It's that great embassy of the King made up of people standing on the gospel with the cornerstone of Jesus. That building is the outpost of the kingdom of God. Friends, we should be sharing this news with the lost because everybody around us, they're wandering around lost. They're alienated. They're hostile. They're dying in their sins. And we are the great outpost of the king. This is Paul encouraging Colossians, I would encourage you. Stand firm in the faith. Place your feet on the sure footing of the gospel. Let me tell you something, going back to what Chris said about Christian TV. When you're on the firm footing of the gospel, when false teaching blows through town, you don't get tossed to and fro. You rest on the foundation of truth in Christ and His finished work. And by the way, the other thing I like about this imagery of the temple of God being the people of God united together is When the false gospel comes through, I walk over and I put my arm through Chris Newman's arm and I say, Chris, tell me again the gospel. We draw strength from each other. That's how buildings constructed, by the way, buildings constructed by in a way that you draw strength from all of the components in the building to help it stand upright. I love what Monty said earlier. It's not good to be away from the house of the Lord. No, it is not good to be away from the house of the Lord. Why? Because now you're a two by four out there by yourself. When you're amongst the people of God, locking arms with the people of God, now you're building. So often people won't come to church because they're embarrassed by something they've done, by a sin they've done, by some kind of nonsensical thing, because they don't realize what the gospel is. Of course you've sinned. You're an enemy of God. But that's why Christ came and died to take those sins upon himself. Where are you going to go? You're going to stay at home? God's there. You're going to go hide out in a bar? God's there. There's nowhere to go. Where better to be than to come before the King of the universe and say, on my Savior, I place all of my sins so that I can stand before you holy and blameless and above reproach. And I link arms with my brothers and sisters and we form the temple of God standing on that firm foundation of the gospel and our cornerstone, Jesus Christ, is where we hone in on everything. The gospel is a story of war. It is a war between God and the devil, between the realm of light and the realm of darkness. It is a story of victory. Christ has defeated the enemy. We have nothing to fear. Not even fear it's help. Christ is one that... So now I go and I read for you, O for a thousand tongues to sing. Because now I think you're going to hear it. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis music in the sinner's ears, tis life and health and peace. He breaks the power of canceled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me. He speaks and listening to his voice, new life the dead receive the mournful broken hearts rejoice the humble poor believe hear him ye deaf his praise ye dumb your loosened tongues employ ye blind behold your savior come and leap ye lame for joy in christ your head you then shall know shall feel your sins forgiven anticipate your heaven below and own that love in heaven. You're sitting here today and you're outside of Christ. You've not come to faith in Christ. I'm going to say something that's going to offend you. I'm good at that. Ask anybody. You're an enemy with God. You're not his friend. You're not seeking him. You're actively against him. You reject his provision and you reject him. Maybe you think your good works get your favorable hearing. Isaiah 64, 6 addresses that, doesn't it? All these righteous deeds that we do are polluted garments. It's actually quite vile, that word. I'm not going to go into the detail of it, but it's not exactly polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf. Our iniquities are like the wind. They take us away. You're alienated, you're a citizen of the realm of darkness. You're bound for damnation, my friend. Just as I was, just as Chris Newman was and Chris Anderson was and Dennis Armstrong was every one of us outside of Christ, not for damnation, as it states in Romans 323. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, all of us, every one of us. There's no shame in admitting you're a sinner. It's being truthful. Maybe with yourself. And the second great truth is that through the shedding of his blood on the cross, Jesus Christ, the great and preeminent King of all things, reconciled us back to the Father. You go back to Romans 3.23, it says, All have sinned, fallen short of the glory of God. But don't stop there. This is Paul's magnum opus here. And are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. Why? This was to show God's righteousness. Because in His divine forbearance, He passed over former sins. The good news is no one is outside the grasp of God. You may be at enmity, but my prayer is that the Holy Spirit remove that heart of stone that beats in your chest, places in you a heart of flesh, defeats you, puts you to death in Christ and raises you anew as a new creation. transferring you from the realm of darkness to the realm of light, reconciling you to God so that you can stand before God, holy, blameless and above reproach. That's my prayer for the lost. If you're in here and you are lost, you are lost. Come to Christ. Those in Christ, I want to encourage you to stand firm in the faith. Rejecting anything or anyone who diminishes, denigrates or dismisses the gospel. For nothing else is going to provide you with the firm footing you need to live in this life with its trials and its temptations. The only thing that's going to help you is the knowledge that you are in Christ, that he has redeemed you, that no one can snatch you out of his hand. Stand firm, brothers and sisters. Redemption is nigh. As we close today, we have people come up that are ready to pray for you. And you know, So often people say, I don't need any prayer, I'll work it out myself. Remember what I said about firm foundations and buildings and temple of God? We all need prayer. My wife prays for me every day, holding my hand, thankfully. Don't walk away thinking you don't need prayer. These people are up here to pray with you. Avail yourself of that. Father, words, I must say, are inadequate. for what you have done in your Son. Truly, we were your enemies, and yet you loved us. It is staggering to realize that the King of the entire universe loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us. Father, may all men hear this and come to your son, Jesus Christ, in faith. I pray in his name, amen and amen. And I'm going to send you with John 3, 16 through 18. God so loved the world. We had stopped there, couldn't we? Because we often assume that God's the meanie and Jesus is the good guy. He came to take care of that problem, but that's not what it says here. God, the Father, he so loved the world. He gave his only son. Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. God didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in an order that the world might be saved through him, he came and won the victory. And whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. There are those who are redeemed and those who are not. All dogs do not go to heaven. That should make us that much more eager to share the Gospel. Father, thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that You so loved the world, that You would send Your Son, that out of the world He would redeem a people, a rebellious people. We're defeated. Transferred into the realm of Your light. through the shedding of Jesus Christ's blood. People to be called His own. Father, one day we will stand before You holy and blameless and above reproach. And it is because of this great grace and mercy that You have poured out on us. We thank You for that. We pray that You would give us the strength and the wisdom to stand strong and sure on the foundation of the Gospel. And we pray this in the name of and for the sake of our cornerstone and our Savior and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen. Now, Lord, bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you shalom, peace. Amen. And I mean you are dismissed.