Colossians chapter 1, and we have gone through the first 13 verses. I'm sorry, no, we have gone through the first 20 verses. of Colossians 1, and we are going to get, Lord willing, three more verses tonight. Yay, just three. I'm not overshooting it. We're going to stay simple. But we've looked at the book of Colossians again. Just a reminder, the church of Colossae was a young church. a church of people who had received Christ as their Savior by the ministering and work and faithfulness of a man by the name of Epaphras. And the church had been started and was growing, was doing well, then some Some educated individuals started showing up and trying to tell the church that their faith in Christ was good, but it was incomplete because there were additional things they needed to have in their life in order to have true forgiveness and be in true fellowship with God. And so Epiphras has reached out to Paul, and Paul now is writing a letter, though he's never met these people, he is writing a letter to try to encourage them in their faith and encourage them about what their faith is. It's not Christ plus something. It's not Christ minus things. It is Christ and Christ alone. So he's trying to help them in their focus of their faith and not to be distracted or turned from truth by individuals seeking to do no good. And so we saw in the first eight verses, in a breakdown of chapter 1, we saw the initial opening of the letter as a whole, and then in verse number 9 to verse number 13, Paul presents his prayer and desire for the people and what his real desire is as to why he's writing that letter, what he's heard about them, how he prays for them. He mentions all those things. He is trying to exhort them and encourage them before he preaches at them. But he very shortly into his letter gets to the preaching part and doesn't hold back on the focus on Christ. Remember, the book of Colossians is one of the most focused books on Christ and Christ alone. It has more mentionings of the preeminence. and the focus that Christ himself should have in our lives more than any other New Testament book. And so Colossians is a major push towards the focus we should have with Christ, all right? In verse number 14 to verse number 20 is where Paul really begins to get into the purpose of his letter and the very early stages of his letter he doesn't hold back in pushing towards the preeminence of Christ. A focus on and preeminence of Christ is what we see. And He presents Him as the One, the One who is many things for us. It is Christ and Christ alone that accomplishes these things. He is the One who provides salvation, the One who is God, the One who created all things, the one who is in control, the one who is the head of the church, the one who contains all fullness. And he closed in that verse number 20, in that little section, by presenting him as the one who reconciles. Now, in verse number 21 to verse number 23, We see him continue that, or you might even say build on, very quickly in a few statements, he builds on that understanding of reconciliation. What it means as a whole to be reconciled. Why that's a big deal. What it meant for the people of Colossae. Paul didn't know all about them, but what he did know is the background of the people of that region. He did understand the worship of false gods. He did understand the heathen lifestyles that many lived. He understood because he went to Athens and saw the focus that the people there in Athens had. He went to Corinth, and Corinth was full of the push of the false gods and the multitudes of teachings. He also went to Ephesus. Ephesus, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Everywhere where he went and where Paul was teaching, he saw in that region of area a constant continuance of issues when it came to false gods, heathen worship, and heathen lifestyles. And so he understands where many of these individuals, though he's never met them, he knows that the likelihood is they fall in the same realm of background and same realm of raising as many of the individuals that Paul himself witnessed to. And so with that, Paul is going to give a build upon this thought of reconciliation. And I believe it's very clearly just to help them see what they have received in Christ, what has been done for them. and what it should cause. So what we find in verse number 21 to verse number 23 is going to be the next area I'm going to say we're going to segregate off and focus on. And once he talks about the preeminence of Christ and who he is and the one who has done all these things and is all these things of great importance, he focuses lastly on the one who reconciles, and then he doubles down in verse number 21 to 23. And this is where he deals with, if you're taking notes, you could get this four sectioning, the title of reconciled, grounded, and settled. That's his focus, reconciled, grounded, and settled. So he's gonna show them what they've received, what it has or should have caused and how it should bring about the completion of the settling within them, they shouldn't be constantly unsettled and dissatisfied with Christ. It shouldn't be looking for more, looking for more exciting, looking for greater, looking for better fulfillment. You've received the reconciliation to God that is big. And he does remind them of that a little bit, but then he also points out what that reconciliation should do. So let's look in verse number 21 to start with. In verse number 21, he presents here, I believe you could put this down as presenting of the power of reconciliation. The power of reconciliation. Verse number 21, he said, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. So he takes, in just a few words, Paul instantly presents to them a reminder of who they were before Christ. What were you before you knew what Christ did for you? What were you before Christ by himself reconciled you back to God? What were you when you were separated from a holy God because of sin? I'll tell you what you were. Number one, you were alienated. You were lonely, you were separated, you were empty, you didn't belong. You spent your entire life trying to figure out how to belong. You've worshiped this God, you've worshiped that God, you've sacrificed here, you've sacrificed there. In some of those religions, you've cut yourself, you've done all these horrible things trying to find belonging, trying to feel like you fit in with a God that's out there. Like you can be accepted by a higher power than you, and yet you remain empty. You were alienated. You were set aside, not set apart, just pushed aside. Why? Because you didn't belong. You weren't His. You tried everything under the book to try to be part of a family that mattered, but you couldn't be a part of anything, no matter how hard you tried, because it was all false. It was all fake gods. But the one true God, you were separated from, and you couldn't find your own way to him. You're alienated. You don't belong. Prior to Christ. Prior to his forgiveness. prior to his reconciliation of you back to God. No matter how hard you try, you couldn't belong. Then he also says, and in that state that you didn't belong, you couldn't fit in, you couldn't find your way to a holy God, being alienated, he points out to them they were enemies in their mind. He's just pointing out just how sinful we are without Christ. Even your thoughts, not just your actions, even your thoughts before your actions made you an enemy to God. Not just the things you do, but the things you considered were so far removed from a holy God, it was as though you were his enemy. You are alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works. So don't forget who you were. Don't forget how ugly it got. Don't forget how nasty it was. Don't forget how wicked life was. But I love the statement that he uses, the two words he uses here. It's the same scenario as Romans 6.23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. From complete and total desperation, you wanna put it that way, but being ones that were set aside for complete destruction, and then it flips on its head and it goes from the worst of the worst, but there could be a difference. There could be a change. It doesn't have to be that way. That is a complete and total ruining of everything. That is life separated, but life can be different. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's what Paul does again here in this passage. He says, and you that were sometime alienated, in other words, for a certain amount of time, for all that time, you were alienated and were enemies in your mind by wicked works. Then he uses two words, yet now, yet now, ye were, yet now something's different. You were hopeless, yet now something's changed. You were wicked and could not find a holy God, could not be part of a holy God, yet now something's changed. What has changed from what you were to what you are now does not fall underneath the umbrella of how good you've earned your way to forgiveness. It does not fall underneath the idea or hypothesis that man can somehow, someway make his own path. It's not Christ plus this and Christ plus that. But as the Holy says, ye were, yet now hath he reconciled." The entirety of all that matters, not how good you've been, not all the things you've learned, not all the scriptures you've memorized, not all the things that you could possibly do of a good nature. but only that which matters has happened that has made the change. He hath reconciled." And so, he says the power of reconciliation presented here as we're alienated, we're enemies, did do wicked and evil works, yet now, look what you are. Yet now, look where you are. Yet now you couldn't belong and now you do belong. What changed? Christ hath reconciled you. That which is unworthy with he who is worthy of all. That which is unholy with him who is only holy. The two things can't mix. unless there's something that can reconcile. And Christ is the one who has reconciled. The power of reconciliation is seen in what Paul presents to them as the change from who you were to who you are. From what it used to be like to what it's like now. From being on the outside looking in being on the inside, not ever wanting to go out. He's like, you have been reconciled. That is the power of the reconciliation of Christ, to do the impossible for a wicked man to once again and be in fellowship with the Holy God. But then he goes on in verse number 22, not only the power of reconciliation, But he lays out in verse number 22 the purpose of reconciliation. Why was this done? Why did Christ choose to do this for man? Why was it done for those at Colossae? Why were they, what made them so special? Well, he makes sure that they'd know again that this has been preached and this has been done, this has been seen throughout the entire world. All that are willing may come. But in verse number 22, He labels here and he says, you know, yet now hath he reconciled, and then he continues in that thought, in the body of his flesh through death. So he gives the how of the reconciliation, okay? It's through Christ and the body of his flesh through death. And so, Christ has reconciled through himself, through his death on the cross, and here's the purpose. The last part of verse number 22, he lays out and says, why would Christ do this? Why would he do it for you? Why does he do it for anyone that calls upon the name of Christ and receives Christ as their savior? Why does he do it? Well, for three things he presents here. To present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. So, to present you holy. There's no way for you and I to be presented holy unless, of course, we're robed in a holiness that's not ours, because we have none. That word holy is basically in an equivalence to righteous. Because we have no righteousness of our own, He has to impute His righteousness upon our account. Therefore, it is His righteousness, His holiness that gets placed upon us that when we get presented before the Father, we can be presented not as wicked and tainted, but as forgiven and now clothed in His righteousness. clothed in His holiness. He reconciled that He might present us holy. But the latter two here are ones that I kind of want you to see in relation to the next verse we're gonna look at to close out tonight. He also says, unblameable, and unreprovable. So I would say this, to present you holy, to present you unblameable, and to present you unreprovable. That is the purpose of reconciliation. Now, the holy part, I believe, that specifically dealing with salvation, you'll never have that whatsoever. You can't earn the holiness. You receive that by the grace of God placed on your account when you, by faith, receive Christ. However, When you see the unblameable and unreprovable, in light of verse number 23, I kind of want to lay just a little bit of a foundation with this. Unblameable can deal with, okay, the forgiveness of sins, definitely. Unreprovable, also in the same right. But I would say that Both of those two words are things that we in this life will either give ability to defend or we by our works in this life will give opportunity to accuse. We are reconciled to God by Christ, and the holiness is only from God himself. We can't earn it. We can't gain it. We can't somehow build up and clothe ourselves in it. It is something that is given to us. I believe that is a clear presentation of salvation and forgiveness clothed in his righteousness. But the latter two are ones that I believe have a little bit of a reflection concerning the work we do as a child of God. We are reconciled to a holy God through salvation. But we're not just reconciled for eternity's sake, we're reconciled for the right now sake as well. You see, you and I cannot live in this wicked life as a child of God should live without the help of a holy heavenly father. But if I'm not reconciled to him, I can't have his help because I don't belong to him. But if I've been reconciled, that which was severed in relationship, if that relationship has now been reconciled, I have now what the Bible calls access to the throne of God. I have access to come boldly to the throne of God. So in this life, when this flesh has no ability to be a child of God, while I live. There's nothing in me that has the ability to accomplish that task. So what is required that I might have the needed things to accomplish that requirement of one who has been forgiven? I have been reconciled to the Father, therefore I now have access to the Father, and the Father can teach me who He is, how He loves, and how I should follow the same pattern. I'm to be made conformable, right? I'm to be conformed to the image of His Son. How am I going to accomplish that if I'm not reconciled to the Father? If I am reconciled, I now have access to saying, teach me, help me, forgive me, right? I have access at any given moment to say, Lord, forgive me. I let something come between me and you. I don't need salvation, but I definitely know our fellowship to be, the bond is loose right now. I need it to be tight. That fellowship is a little fleeting. I need it to be close. I have direct access because of the reconciliation. And due to that direct access, the holiness aspect is completely on God. He has to give me that. He has to place that on me. But the unblameable and unreprovable, I would look to say, I'm not pointing out salvation. It's the whole reason I'm doing this because verse number 23 can be used to claim you can lose your salvation. Unless, of course, you look at this from the understanding that it's pointing out the reconciliation, not just for eternal salvation, but the everyday ability to live as a child of God. That when I stand before Him at the judgment seat, I have the opportunity to stand before Him unblameable and unreprovable. Doesn't mean I was perfect on this earth, but holiness to my account, yes. Righteousness to my account, yes. But I was through that reconciliation able to live according to God's will. Able to follow according to God's word. Able to obey according to God's direction. And when I stand before him, when I follow his will, obey His Word, listen to His directions, I have the potential of being one who can stand before God unblameable and unreprovable. Do you think that a child of God who stands before the judgment seat of Christ, who has not lived according to the will of God in their life, who is saved and secured for eternity, but has done their own thing, has never witnessed, has never one time helped to spread the gospel, hoarded everything unto themselves, lived for themselves, lived whatever this life had to offer, and yet claimed Christ and had Christ in their heart, but yet lived, by the way, had Christ in their heart, but yet lived more carnally-minded than spiritually-minded. Do you think that individual is gonna stand before Christ without receiving blame? Or reproach? Or what was the other word? Being reproved? By the way, I think when the works that we did in this life as a child of God are tried by fire and we see it go up in flames, I believe that's enough reproof by itself, no words needed. I believe it's gonna be heartbreaking when we see and realize, I tried to make that look like it was for Christ, but it was just for me. Now listen, he presents here the purpose of reconciliation. You cannot live eternally in the presence of a holy God with unholiness being who you are. You have got to be robed in holiness and righteousness, but you have none. Where are you gonna get it? From the God whom I am reconciled to. But you also will have to give an answer, every one of us will, for how we serve and what we do. Were we faithful? Were we stewards of the Word of God? Were we stewards of the time we were given? Were we stewards of the talents we were given? Were we good stewards for the cause of Christ? And the purpose of reconciliation is that we might have access so that we can walk faithfully every day and all that we need to be able to follow and heed and do the will of God so that we could be unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. I can't do it on my own. But since I have access, I can receive all that I need to deal with the nasty now and now as a child of God. Now, I'm gonna close with this. That's verse number 22. The purpose of reconciliation is that, yes, I receive the holiness, but I have full access to everything I need, not just for eternity, but even in this life as a child of God. I have full access to everything. By the way, which makes all of us without excuse. And then here's the last thing in verse number 23. the product of reconciliation, the power to be reconciled, the purpose so I can live reconciled. And then the product of reconciliation is found in verse number 23. Now here's where some people would take and they would use this the way to say, see, see, see, the Bible teaches you can lose your salvation because verse number 22 is all about being saved. And verse number 23, he determines your salvation based on if you keep these things. See, he says right here, verse number 23, if ye continue in the faith, well, you see, if somebody doesn't continue in the faith, they lose their salvation. Well, let's look at the context of it. The first thing of being presented holy, definitely dealing with salvation for eternity, holy before God. But the other two aspects are daily living aspects. This is not dealing with direct salvation, but it's dealing with being able to stand before God, unblameable and unreprovable. How is that ever gonna be accomplished? Well, I'm definitely gonna have to stay in the faith. It has nothing to do with keeping my salvation or losing my salvation. It has to be, if I'm not walking with the Lord, but I turn my back on the very faith that I have received, the very gospel I have received, if I turn my back and say, I'm glad I got it, but I'm going to do my own thing now. Well, guess what? We're not going to be able to do one day in eternity. We're not going to be able to stand before God head held high. We're going to stand before Him with all the blame right on our shoulders, stand before Him as we are reproved for not being a good steward and a faithful servant. So how am I going to accomplish the potential of being unblameable and unreprovable when I stand before God? How am I going to accomplish that ability to stand before Him knowing, Lord, I gave you my best? Well, I'm going to have to stay in the faith. So Paul's telling them, hey, don't forget what's happening here. There are false teachers pulling them away from what they had been following through faith and now teaching them to follow the fleshly things of works. And he's saying, if you leave behind the gospel, you leave behind the faith in which has saved you and through Christ has reconciled you. And the whole purpose of reconciliation is lost if you walk away from the truth and seek other avenues of serving God outside of what you already know is true. You gotta understand who he's talking to, what he's saying, and what he's trying to get them to come to realization. Be faithful. Stick to it. Don't listen to these jokers out there trying to pull you away and give you all these rules and all these regulations and all these things that have nothing to do with scripture, with Bible, with following God. Now, God is a God of rules. God is a God of regulations. God is a God of instruction and direction. Yes, the Bible's full of it. And I'm not saying put aside all that, and when somebody gives you certain instructions, well, they're just trying to make life all about instructions. Well, the Bible is a Bible of instructions, a book of instructions. We have laws and guidelines and everything from God constantly in the Word of God. And by the way, the New Testament doubles down on them, it doesn't weaken them. The New Covenant doubles down, it doesn't remove. But as a whole, You have people coming in trying to pull them away from following Christ. and teaching them that they need to follow some other things as well. That is false doctrine. That is false teaching. And he tells them, you have the ability, the purpose of reconciliation to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight, in the sight of God. And so, if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Well, he's not saying being moved away from your salvation you receive where you lose it. What he's saying is being moved away from the hope of the gospel. Where did you start? Where did you find hope? How are you going to share anything greater than what you have received in Christ? If you move away from the hope of the gospel, what do you have to give anybody? How are you gonna be shown unblameable and unreprovable before God when you walk away from the gospel? You received it, but now you're not gonna be faithful with it to tell others. You're gonna find other avenues of reaching God. By the way, I believe that's one of the greatest things of hindrance that we've seen in many decades and generations. Some of the preachers, some of the well-known big names of preachers, That started off with the gospel. Before they died, they were preaching multiple ways to God because they had to try to appease the big crowds that were following them. Big names. Before it was all said and done, they weren't even preaching the same message. What they received is not what they were later telling. And that's what Paul's saying. You can't walk away from it. How are you gonna stand before God and not be reproved before him? If you walk away from the faith, grounded and settled, you walk away from the hope of the gospel and you no longer preach it, you no longer teach it, you no longer share it, you share something else. But he even says, Don't be moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister." He's like, hey, this is my business. This is what I do, a child of God. And I was called specifically, the Lord gave me a call to be a minister of the gospel. You better bet I'm going to promote and push. It is Christ and Christ alone. He has the preeminence. He is the important one. He is the one who reconciled you, and that reconciliation had the power to pull you from what you were to what you now are. That reconciliation is the very thing that gives you the holiness needed to even stand before God, and it gives you the opportunity to stand before Him. unblameable and unreprovable if only, if only you will stay faithful to the faith, to stay faithful to the hope of the gospel. Don't walk away and find other avenues and other teachings and other things. Don't stray because of man's theologies. If it's not truth, run. If there's somebody not teaching truth, boot him out. because we're here to stick with what we received through Christ. We're here to share what we've received through Christ. We're gonna be rooted, grounded, settled in the faith of Christ and Christ alone. That's what Paul is presenting. You didn't know so much was in three verses, did you? But Paul is just pushing, and not in a bad sense, but he's trying to let them see, listen, don't be shaken. Don't be blown about by every wind of doctrine. Be rooted, be grounded, be settled, be stable, and know that none of this junk they're teaching reconciled you to God. There's only one who reconciles and that's Christ. And he did it for a purpose. He did it for opportunity. It's a powerful thing and it's given you the chance to stay faithful and steady and share that same gospel, the hope of the gospel to someone else in need of hope. Don't share another story, share the same one you were told that gave you hope. Don't share another gospel, share the same one you were told that gave you an understanding of what was done by Christ for your salvation. He said, don't be swayed, don't be pulled about by all these theologians and philosophers trying to teach you another way. Stick with what you received in Christ. Heavenly Father, we again thank you for tonight.