It's good to be back here this morning. It's sadly our last Sunday with you guys. It's been an absolute joy. We've loved being here. And certainly every time we come here and more so this time around, it feels like home. It really does. And we love you guys and thank you to all of you for welcoming us the way you have and really becoming close friends in a very short space of time. But without further ado, the power's going off at 10, so I have to say amen before 10 o'clock. So let's get going. Ending off this three-part series on the supremacy and the preeminence of Christ is always, it's kind of sad for me because I feel like when there's only touched or scratched the surface of what you can say about Christ, and when you look at His supremacy, But my heart is full because I've dwelt in this passage now for some weeks, and I just keep learning more and more about our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, right? So turn with me as we read again from Colossians 1 and verse 13. I'll read again the whole passage, and as I do so, Reflect on the last two weeks that we've gone through this, as well as on the words of this momentous passage as we reflect on our Lord and Savior. Colossians 1 verse 13. Speaking of God, Paul writes, he says, it's God who rescued us from the authority of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to a first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him were the things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds, but now he reconciled you in the body of his flesh. through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. If indeed you continue in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. Let's just pray together. Father, thank you for your word to us today. It truly fills our hearts afresh with awe and a sense of majesty when we consider our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The one whom you sent to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The one who defeated death and rose again to life. The one who's at your side in heaven in glory. The one who is indeed before all things and in whom all things hold together. the one who sent your Holy Spirit to dwell within each of us who believe, the one who makes daily intercession for us, our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's in His precious name that we pray always. Lord, may you truly now bless the reading and the study of your word, As we look at this text, may Christ truly be magnified. Amen. One of the most asked questions in history is actually a question that's a very short one. And yet it has many, many different perceived answers. And that question simply is, how does one get to heaven? Everyone wants to get to heaven. Everyone wants to know how to do it. And the world out there has many, many different answers. Let me give you some. Buddhism believes that heaven or nirvana is to be rejoined in spirit with God, small g. through an understanding of the universe and living in a right manner. Eastern Orthodoxy reinterprets certain key scriptures so that in a process called theosis, you can become like Christ, become a God, and in that way are saved. in Hinduism, salvation or moksha, as I call it, it's reached when the worshiper is ultimately freed from the cycle of reincarnation because of good works. And then Muslims believe that salvation comes similarly through obedience to the Quran, through good living, through ritual keeping, and at the end of the day, when your good deeds outweigh the bad, you might make it into heaven. Of course, the Jews believe that they can be reconciled to God through keeping of the laws of Moses, through repentance, through good deeds, and through a life of devotion. And the Mormons have quite a lot to do. They believe that you reach different levels, and ultimately reach the highest heaven. But to do this, you must believe in God and Jesus. You must repent of your sins daily. You've got to be baptized into the Mormon Church. You have to be a member of the Mormon Church. You have to receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by the Mormon priests. You have to obey the Mormon book called the Word of Wisdom. You've got to obey all God's commandments. You cannot fail at all. You've got to keep the temple rituals, and you have to be married. So that's the Mormons for you. Catholics, similarly, they profess Christ, those who accept Christ, and perform sufficient acts on this earth of good deeds to be purified in your spirit before you go to heaven. Those who don't make it can go to a place called purgatory, where once you've suffered enough punishment, and you're purified through that punishment, you can make it into heaven. Scientologists, they believe that you're saved through knowledge of yourself and of the universe. And then the Wiccans believe that people live in harmony with Mother Earth as goddess. And when you die, you become one with Mother Earth in the ground. So, friends, it's only Christianity. It's the only religion on the earth, on the planet, where salvation is a free gift from God. where no effort of any kind is involved from our side, or even is possible to earn salvation. It's a free gift, and it's this very wonderful truth that Paul wants to defend in the letter to the Colossians. I remind you, as we've spoken the last few weeks, that all kinds of heresy had crept into the Colossian church, and these false teachers who were similar to the later Gnostics, the guys who were saying that, well, you need to reach a higher level of spirituality to be saved. They were guilty of undermining the person in the work of Christ. I'll give you some examples of what they did. Turn with me briefly in your Bibles to Colossians 2, verses 8. And all the way from 8 to 20, verse 23, we see a commentary that Paul makes on these various types of false systems of worship. In verse 8 he says, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ. And then what we see from there on, we see many of these empty deceptions that he's speaking about here in Colossians 2 verse 9, we see that they denied that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ. They denied that Christ was God in human flesh. And then in verse 10, we see they denied that Jesus was enough for salvation. They denied the truth that every believer is complete in Christ. They taught that faith in Jesus had to be supplemented with legal practices and pagan worship and all kinds of works of the flesh. All this was in some kind of ridiculous effort to reach a higher level of spirituality. A higher level than you could achieve just through Christ alone. That was the heresy. And among these were, in verse 11 through 14, they spoke of circumcision. And then in verse 16 to 17, they spoke of regulations evolving eating and drinking and new moons and Sabbaths. And then verse 18, we have angel worship as part of the practices. And then verse 19 to 23, they were espousing practicing self-denial as some kind of means of pleasing God. But in contrast to that, Paul tells them that everything we need for salvation is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Simple as that. And he's defending here in the book of Colossians, he's defending the power and the effectivity of the gospel message. And to do so, he lays as his foundation right at the start of his argument, the supremacy and the sole sufficiency of Christ. And as we've now come to see in this early part of the letter from verse 13 to 23, Paul shows us these three manifestations of Christ's preeminence above everything else that provides us with such a lofty view of Christ that no false teaching can deny who he is. No false teaching will stand and attempt to diminish the personal work of Christ in view of who He is. And so, as we've seen, Paul wants us to know that Jesus is vastly superior to anybody who's ever lived And he does this by showing us, number one, Jesus is superior in his station as Lord and King. And we looked at that in verse 13 to 15, and then 17 to 18. And in that, we saw his superior identity as God. We saw his supreme importance as having first in rank and priority in everything. And then we saw his influence as the head of the church and of the universe. And then last week we saw how Paul showed us that Jesus is superior in His sovereignty. That was in verse 16 through 19. And we looked at Christ as sovereign over creation, we saw Him sovereign over His creatures, and we saw Him sovereign over His church. Wonderful. And then thirdly and finally for today, in comparison to all these ridiculous and faulty religions of the world, we will see that Jesus is superior in the salvation that we have in Him. And we'll look at that in verse 14, and then from verse 19 through to 23. So He's superior in His station, He's superior in His sovereignty, and He's superior in the salvation that we have in Him. And so with that, as we look today at salvation that comes to us from our Lord, we will look at it in three ways. And these three ways will again help you to stand firm and persevere in your faith. In verse 19 to 20, we will see the price of his salvation. And then in verse 14 and then 20 through 22, we will see the power of his salvation. And in verse 23, we'll see the proof of his salvation. the price, the power, and the proof of the salvation that we have in Christ. So turn with me to verse 19, chapter one, verse 19. Speaking of Christ, Paul says, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him were the things on earth or things in heaven. Now as we've seen last week, the purpose of God's fullness in Christ is to reconcile the entire created realm to Him. So when Paul says here, all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, we again have that sense of totality where there's everything is reconciled to God. And the fact that he uses the words to reconcile makes it clear that this new creation that's spoken of in verse 18 is necessary for humanity because of the rift that exists between God and man because of sin. And unlike all the other world religions, there's no other world religion that is like that. But in contrast to every other religion, where the guilty party is responsible to initiate the process of reconciliation, Christianity, and in Christ, God is the one who took the initiative to reconcile. Isn't that amazing? Incredible privilege for us. But that initiative, that move from God Himself came at a price. And it's for this reason, in comparison to all the other religions and the faulty philosophies, that Christ is superior because of the price of salvation that He brings. Our salvation and our reconciliation came at an immense price, and that price was His blood. It came through His blood. Turn with me to Colossians 2, verse 13 to 14, and I'll read this. and you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions. Having cancelled out the certificate of debt, consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, He also has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Now friends, what I want you to do is picture a courtroom scene. And imagine yourself, you are in court today because you've committed a crime, and you've been found guilty of that crime, and the judge has sentenced you to a certain penalty. The punishment that's meted out that's suitable for the crime, okay? So that is the reality. You are guilty. Now, the truth is that in the world's justice system, even when you've done your time or you've paid the penalty, whatever it is, you are still deemed a criminal, right? Nothing changes. In the eyes of the world, you are now a convicted felon. And even if your time is done, you have a criminal record. But this is not the case that we read here in Colossians 2, because Christ not only paid the penalty for our sin, but it says He canceled out the certificate. of debt consisting of decrees against us. In other words, he came into that courtroom, after the judge had actually pronounced us guilty and had declared the punishment that was due, he came in the courtroom, took our place in the stand, even though he had not committed any crime. He was sinless. He took our place. He sat there. Not only did he go and pay the penalty for our sin, but he also took upon him the record, the crime for our sin. And you know what? We walked out of there as if we'd never committed a crime. No record, no punishment, no sentence against us. He took it all. He took it all. In Christ, we are able to walk in this life and enter into heaven one day because we have no record of sin. There is no record against us. That's what he says in Colossians 2. That's a definition, friends, of justification. And I love this. Listen carefully. Because if in Christ, a born-again believer is justified, Listen to this, just as if I'd never sinned. I love that. Just as if I'd never sinned. How did he do that for us? What did he do? Listen again to Colossians 2 14. It says he canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us. That was our record. He canceled it. He also has taken it out of the way, and here's the crux friends, having nailed it to the cross. And of course we know that this is making reference to his crucifixion. This was the most horrific, it was the most torturous method of execution known to man. He was stabbed in the side. His blood flowed from his side. He died on that cross. The shallow, seeker-sensitive movement of today has romanticized the cross. They've made it shallow. It's like a picture on a Hallmark card. It's no different to the Catholic Church that has these icons and these statues and these pictures up all over of a cross with Christ hanging on it, looking beautiful and serene and peaceful. It's blasphemy because the cross was utterly repugnant. It was disgusting. It was indescribably shameful. Even the gospel writers, you can go look it up, even the gospel writers deemed it improper to describe the Lord's experience of it because it was so horrible. All it said in all four gospels is they crucified him. Commentators, I don't know how many of you here saw The Passion of the Christ. Many of you saw it. Commentators describe it very similar to what we saw in that film. His feet were joined together almost like parallel and fixed to the cross by a steel rod that was hammered through his feet into the pole. And his hands were then tied to the crossbars and then nailed through as well with steel rods. He was in agony. His body would slump down, and as he slumped down, it would hamper his breathing. and he couldn't breathe, and as soon as he realized he was started suffocating, he would pull himself up, standing on that nail that's through his legs, and he would breathe, gasping for air, and then he'd go down again and hang there until he couldn't breathe, and then he would gasp again, and he did this over and over and over, trying to keep his chest cavity open. He'd collapse in exhaustion every time and then just repeat this with renewed convulsions over and over again. The scourging that he'd undergone with whips, the ends of which had pieces of steel and shards of bone tied to them. He'd been whipped so badly with those that he was bleeding profusely. and the scourging, the loss of blood, the shock of the pain, the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins, it produced such agony in him that his body threatened to shut down by cardiac arrest. One wonders if that wouldn't have been merciful. But friends, I think the cross was the embodiment of the most inhuman obscenity. It was a symbol of reproach. It was degrading. It was a symbol of indecency. It was a symbol of social indignity, and the aim was to absolutely humiliate Christ. It was disgusting. Commentators write that it was so vile to look at that it made you vomit just at the sight of it. It wasn't designed just to kill him. It was designed to defame his spirit, to crush his spirit. It was obscene. He was stripped naked. He was bleeding. He was suffering. He cried out in agony. And he gave up his spirit and died. having taken upon himself the wrath that was ours. Friends, the symbolism here is stark. The first Adam was created in the righteousness of God, and he stripped all of mankind naked because of his sin. The last Adam, suffering the shame of nakedness and humiliation by his obedience has clothed us all in righteousness. Amen. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God again. Amazing. Friends, we are free today because He died. We have the hope of heaven today because He died for us. Our sins are forgiven because He died for us. We have the ability to live holy lives today because He died for us. He took our guilt upon Himself and He was punished on the cross unto death. But here's the kicker for us, and I want you to see this. The redemption that we enjoy in Christ is free. Revelation 22, 17 says, and let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes receive the water of life without cost. It's free, but it wasn't cheap. Friends, it's free, but it cost the Lamb of God His life. It's free, but it cost the Lamb of God immeasurable pain and suffering and alienation from His Father in heaven. It's free because He willingly gave Himself to purchase you and I unto Himself. So Christ is vastly superior to any other religion, to any other God, because of the price of the salvation that we have in Him. He's also vastly superior, friends, because of the power of His salvation. Unlike all other religions of the world, the salvation that Christ brings us has actual real power to save, right? For one, it provides real redemption. Colossians 1.14 says that it's in Christ in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Friends, according to Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 3, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We walked according to the course of the world. We walked according to the ruler of the power of the air. That's according to Satan. That's how we lived. We were of the spirit that's now working in the sons of disobedience. We conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh. We did whatever our flesh desired from us to do. And the only relationship that we had with God was with his wrath. We were children of wrath. We were trapped in that deadness and the darkness and the depravity and the doom of our sin. But for us, in verse 4, it says, there is a but God. And we've already seen Jesus Christ paid for our redemption from all of that. The price being His blood. He delivered us from the cruel bondage of our old master, according to Colossians 1.13, and He transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love. Amazing. Ephesians 2 verse 5 says that even when we were dead in our transgressions, we were made alive together with Christ, and adds that we were raised up with Him. One more scripture, this one's so important. Turn with me in your Bibles to Romans 3, 23. Romans 3, 23. There it says the same thing, verse three, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every one of us falls short. That's it. Sinners. But then it says, verse 24, being justified. There's that beautiful word again, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. We are justified, made to be just as if I'd never sinned. through the redemption we have in him. Verse 25, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith for a demonstration of his righteousness because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. Jesus hung on the cross and as he did that, God passed over every last one of our sins. Wow. Verse 26, for the demonstration of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And that's all it took. Jesus is the justifier. Friends, I don't know about you, but for me that is real redemption. That is real. He's vastly superior because the salvation we have in Him provides real redemption from sin and the wrath of God. That is the power of the salvation we have in Him. And then also, secondly, living in the presence of the holy and almighty God is only possible because Christ's salvation provides real reconciliation. Look at verse 21 and 22. And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds, but now he reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death in order to present you before him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach. There's an interesting grammar change here. You see, it says in verse 21, although you were formerly alienated past tense, and then it goes to verse 22, it says, but now, He reconciled you. But now it's contrasted with formerly. And this explains the radical change that we go through as believers. Before we came to Jesus, we were alienated. That word alienated means to be cut off. It's described for us in Ephesians 2.13. We were enemies of God. And the use of the Greek has the idea of being hateful. Our fallen natures hated God, wanted nothing to do with God, had no use for Him. We were hostile. Romans 8 verse 7 says that the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God. But He came, He died, He reconciled us to God. And that word literally means to reestablish relationship. to make things right with one another. Jesus exchanged our old nature for His perfect nature. He exchanged our old lost condition for His perfectly righteous condition. He exchanged our separation from the Father for His closeness to the Father. In Him, we who are far off are brought near. We who are hateful to God are now caused to love God. He changed us, He changed our circumstances, and He made us to be at peace with God through the blood of His cross. Verse 20. Incredible. That's a powerful salvation. You all agree? It's a salvation that provides redemption, it provides reconciliation, and it also provides restoration. Look with me at verse 22. Friends, the salvation that we have in Jesus is so complete and so powerful that He's able to present us before God. Colossians 1.22 says, holy and blameless and beyond reproach. And here holy means something that's sacred. Blameless means something that's spotless, that has no blemish. And then beyond reproach means that no accusation of any kind of sin can be brought against us. The blood of Jesus, friends, is so powerful that it can take the vilest of sinners and make them so clean that they can stand in the presence of a holy God. And when he looks at you, he sees someone who's sacred, he sees someone who's spotless, he sees someone who's utterly blameless, just as if they'd never sinned. Hebrews 10.10 says, by this will, this is the will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. And then in verse 14 it says, for by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. That is an incredible promise. And all of this flies completely in the face of world religions. They recognize the sinfulness of man and place demands on man to work to attain perfection and salvation, but in Christ he did it all. Amazing. He's vastly superior because of the price of his salvation. He's vastly superior because of the power of his salvation. And then lastly, he's vastly superior because of the proof of his salvation. Verse 23. If indeed you continue in faith firmly grounded and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you've heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. Friends, the power of the salvation we have in Christ is revealed in the greatest change it affects in the life of believers. Think back to the then and the now, verse 21 and 22. But there's more to it than just that. Because apart from restoration and reconciliation, there's also the perseverance of believers. We will persevere in our faith. The verse here starts off and it says, if indeed, which means it refers back to the presentation of believers before God in verse 22, it points here to the continuous walk of the believer, how you live your life. And that is proof of your salvation and not the basis of it. For those who know the Lord, Colossians 1.23 says, we are firmly grounded and steadfast. Firmly grounded and steadfast. I'm reminded of a foundation. I was walking along the Seapoint Promenade yesterday and the waves were just pounding against these walls. And I looked over the edge and I saw a solid foundation upon which these walls of the promenade were built. And I realized those things are standing there solid day in and day out. They don't move despite the force of the waves. They are grounded, steadfast. That's us. The proof of our salvation is that we cannot be turned away from our faith. It doesn't matter what happens. We cannot be turned away from the hope that we have in Christ, the hope of heaven. The power of His salvation is that it produces in us an unshakable commitment and a resolve to follow Jesus. That's proof of our salvation. It produces in us an unshakable commitment and resolve to preach the gospel wherever we go. Verse 23, there's a claim that the gospel has been preached in all creation under heaven. And that appears to be a claim that was yet to be fulfilled in Paul's time. But it leads to calling every one of us as believers to go and proclaim the gospel. That's what we do. That's why Paul gives himself the minister, the label of a minister. But that's every believer. Friends, the book of Colossians is about the supremacy of Christ. His person, His work, He has no equal amongst leaders whatsoever anywhere. He and He alone is God's Son, right? John 14, 6 tells us that. He is the image of the invisible God. He's sovereign and preeminent among all of creation. He has no equal and no one can even come close on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross. I love what Peter says in Acts 2, Acts 4 verse 12. He says, and there is salvation. I love this. There is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven that has been given amongst men by which we must be saved. Incredible. Our response? On bended knees, we submit to our Lord, right? He's our King. We live in obedience to His word. We live to proclaim the gospel to the lost. We live to be sanctified in this life so that the way we walk and conduct ourselves brings honor and glory to the God of heaven, right? Let's pray. Holy and righteous Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our King, the one who's rightfully at your side in glory. Father, we thank you for your sacrifice, which saved us. We thank you for your sustaining presence in our universe. Holy God. How could you stand to see your precious son under the weight of our sin, of all sin? We will never be able to grasp or fathom or understand. But what we can do is recognize the tremendous price that was paid for us. Thank you for such a great love that you've shown to us. There is no one who can compare to you. Thank you for the empty tomb. We thank you for Christ's victory over death. We thank you for his resurrection, which assured us and assures us our future. Thank you for grace and mercy and the glory that awaits us. May our lives today, Lord, as we go from here, be lived in the power of the resurrection. Father, in the words of Ephesians 3 verse 20, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.