Matthew Brennan is the minister in Clonmel Baptist Church. He's also a very dear friend of mine. Not just a friend, but in some ways an older brother in the ministry in Ireland. I've been in Letterkenny 18 years, 17 years, nearly 18. And right from the start, I've known Matthew and been helped by him, encouraged by him, challenged by him. and many ideas from him when it comes to all sorts of things. And it's a pleasure to have him here this evening to bring God's Word to us and to minister to us. So Matthew, come and speak to us from God's Word, please. We're reading in Colossians chapter one. If you have your Bible, you might like to flick to that chapter. While you're finding it, let me thank you for the very warm invitation to address you. When I was speaking with Norman earlier in the year about coming, he said, we want a Southerner. We're going to be in the South and we want a Southerner. And I could have given him a whole list of other names, but he was quite insistent and he got his way. Let me also say, it's nice to renew fellowship with you. I have been at your, international conferences in Scotland with my family on previous occasions. But what I admire about you this time is you're not border minded people. I like that. I'll tell you why I like that. Some years ago there was a visiting clergyman in the South on his holidays with one of his elders and they brought a tent. and they brought every item of food they would need for the entire week they were in the South. I met them as they were touring the country and they said the only thing we had to buy in the Free State was milk or an occasional ice cream. Now what does that tell you? What does that say to you? That the boys across the border want nothing to do with us? Hey, if they're all like him, we want nothing to do with them. Anyway, you don't have that heart, and I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that. The second thing I should say by way of introduction, there are books in the Bible that are somewhat intimidating. And you read them, but you know you haven't studied them. Some of you might find Revelation in that category, or maybe the book of Hebrews in that category, but for me it was Colossians. It was always Colossians. I would try annually reading Colossians. I would get a commentary and try to understand it. But no, after I'd given 10 days or whatever length of time I had to the Book of Colossians, it still didn't crack open its wonderful truth. And every time in my annual readings, I'd say, oh, I'm coming to Colossians. I'm coming to Colossians. And I just could not crack the majesty the depth, the profundity of Colossians. It was just one of those books that as I read it, I cannot comprehend it. But earlier this year, I said, you know what? I should try and scale Everest at some stage in my life. I should try and see if I can penetrate Paul's brilliance in this little letter. So we started again, and we worked our way through Colossians. And I found a little study guide by the guy that does a survey of the Old and New Testament. What's his name? What's his name? He's done the Old and the New Testament, and he gives you a lovely concise breakdown of all the books of the Old and the New. But he's done a particular series. What is the name? No, Jensen. Sorry, Jensen is his name. Irving, sorry. I know Dale Ralph Davis as well, but no, it's, It's Irving L. Jensen. And he's done a series of little, slim, individual studies on all the Bible books. And he's magisterial. He is absolutely wonderful. And I was as giddy as a young fool when I started reading him and the Bible simultaneously. So we've just finished preaching it in Clonmel. And you know what? I came to the last verses of the chapter of the last book, and I was so sad because we'd finished it. It was just so majestic, I was so sad that we had finished this astonishing little book that the apostle had given us. I think in the book, there is one of the greatest Christological sections in the entire New Testament. But it's so full of Christ, it is so Christological that it just is mind-blowing, and mere mortals don't have the capacity to grasp the richness and the beauty of what he says in it. I will not do justice to it, At this time of the evening, I'm ready for bed. If you doze off, I won't be offended. I feel like dozing myself, but I can't, I gotta speak. But if you do, I won't hold it against you. We're reading from verse 15 down to verse 21 of this great letter of chapter one. He speaks about, in the opening section, he speaks about his prayers and his thanks for them in verses three to 12, and then from one, 13, to three, he speaks about the person of the Lord Jesus. And he begins in verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he's the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him. whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he is reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. One commentator said, many Bible scholars have concluded that Colossians is the most profound letter Paul ever wrote. I'm hoping that as you read it in the coming days, you'll find that to be the case. We're beginning at verse 15, where he begins to describe the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us in verse 15, he says, he is the image of the invisible God. Now, you will give me the very quick answer to the shorter catechism, what is God? It'll run off your tongue very fast. He is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. And then you can pick up Charnak's wonderful volume on the character of godly attributes. And I sometimes think when we do that way of doing God, I think we're atomistic. I think we look at God and we take him apart. And I think we do that as almost a Greek model of doing things. Whereas if you want to describe what God is like, you say, well, he's, I'll tell you what he's like. I'll tell you what he's like. Read the Gospels. Read the Gospels. And in reading the Gospels, look at the Lord Jesus Christ. And in him, you have God revealed to all mankind. We're told in John's Gospel, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him. And then Jesus could say in John 14, he that has seen the son has seen the father. Like father, like son. Those of you who are married and have children, there are things in your children you don't like. You know why? Because there are affliction of you in your fallen ways. Your wife may turn to you and she may say to you, where did she get that from? Or you may turn to your wife and say, where did she get that from? Because they're a chip of the old block. They're fallen children in Adam. Our best children, our nicest children are still fallen in Adam. But when it comes to the father and the son, he is the exact representation of the father. And that is perfection. That is perfection. He is unequaled in his character and personality. He is the perfect likeness of God. There is nothing of God that we need to know that we cannot see in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where Paul begins. He says he's the image, he's the icon of the invisible God. But not only that, he says he's the firstborn over all creation. It's a position of rank and importance. Firstborn, if you ever studied with Jehovah's false witnesses, you know that they cause a great disturbance with this particular verse. Because firstborn, they say, logically, is Christ was firstborn. But that's not what the author is saying. It's the firstborn in preeminence, in importance, in significance. Solomon was not the firstborn of David's children. Yet the psalmist says he is the firstborn in rank in Psalm 89. So he is the one of preeminence over all creation. And the children, as a little study, go through the four chapters and see how often the word all occurs. It occurs so often in this little book. All, all, all. You'll see it even tonight as we progress, but I won't take it that long. So he's the firstborn. He is the firstborn in importance, and he's the firstborn In the priority, he is the firstborn of heaven over all creation. But not only that, he says, for by him, in verse 16, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. He is the planner of the creation. He is the producer of it. And it's for his pleasure it is made. It's for his pleasure it is made. Saxifrage, some of you who are plant lovers, you know what it means. It's a rock splitter. And it's a tiny, insignificant flower, tiny, insignificant flower that That's how they describe it. It's described as saxifraga because it's a rock breaker. But it was a rock breaker in perception only. Because what it could do is it could drop a seed into the tiniest crevice between stones and blossom. And because they saw it between rocks, they said it's a rock splitter. But it's insignificant. I happened to be on a bypass the other day, and I noticed that we had three of our native orchids all in the one place. No one's seen them. The bee, the pyramidal, were there in their beauty. There was 90 of the bee orchid in a tiny patch of ground. And they were majestic. And they were on a motorway, and no one sees them. No one sees them. Or the little grass, ibrite. You'll find that if you walk in through your fields, this beautiful, beautiful, colorful, little, insignificant flower that sort of carpets fields, no one admires it. And God, the creator, throws away all these wonderful things with evidence of his brilliance, and we don't admire it. And then he worked that back to everything else that we have in our creation. He planned it. He produced it. It's for his pleasure. It gives him pleasure. But not only that, he says in verse 17, all things were created through him and for him and he's before all things and in him all things consists. All things consist. His present vitality of good order depends on Jesus. He remains involved in sustaining the creation. And if he were not, the universe would collapse in upon itself rapidly. This is an English brain man, and he makes this observation in the opening of his book on the mind. He says this, everything which makes up you, memories and hopes, pains and pleasures, morals and malevolence, is embroidered in a trembling mess of one billion brain cells. On average, each cell is connected 1,000 times with other neurons, making a total of 100 billion connections. There are more cell meeting points in a human brain than there are stars in the galaxies. That's inside your little brain. And Jesus sustains it and everything in our universe. There's an expression you read sometimes in books, what we believe determines how we behave. Flip that around. How we behave is a determiner of what we believe. For example, you're listening to this this evening and you're among your friends and everything's good, or it may not be. You may be sitting here and your marriage is in chaos. Your children have told you something that is shocking. Or maybe you've been diagnosed with a very serious illness, potentially. Does this truth keep you? when those things are happening. Does this truth hold you when everything in your life may be falling apart? Does it? Because it's no good having it in the theory. It's no good theoretical. We're all practical atheists. At some stage in our lives, we demonstrate that we're practically an atheist because we don't live in the light of what we profess to believe. I'll tell you one man who wasn't a practical atheist. He had had 10 children, he was a prosperous businessman, and he was well-known. And overnight, everything this man had was gone. He was robbed, his children all died, His health broke down. And do you know what he says? He says, those Chaldeans were blackguards. They had come in and stole all my camels. Oh, if only I had taken their medicine, I wouldn't have got this disease. No. He says, the Lord gave. And the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In other words, he didn't blame secondary causes. He didn't say, well, if she loved me, I'd be a faithful husband. She didn't say to him, I don't know why I married you. I think it was a bet. Or whatever the circumstances of our lives are. The Lord gave. The Lord took it away. The Lord brought it to pass. If this is true, if what we're reading is true, then how we live out what we profess has got to impact our conduct. So here he is, he's the first in priority and significance in the very created order. But not only that, in verse 18, he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. He is its head. He's its source and its origin. He is the supreme one. He controls it. He looks upon it and governs it. He is the head of the body. We have no head but Christ. We have no king but Christ. He is the head. He's a source that sustains and builds and blesses and empowers and strengthens and grows the church across the world. He is the head of the body of the church. Mark made reference already to Sometimes the congregations in the Republic are very small. And numerically, if we're in a competition, well, if we get beyond 15 and 20, we're encouraged. And some days you ask yourself, I could be sweeping streets. I mean, what a waste of my life. I've given my life to 20 people. We're insignificant. We've made no impact on the town. We're still here. What of it? What of it? After preaching of a Sabbath evening, I used to visit an old man in a nursing home. He'd been abandoned by his son. He was an Ulster man, and he was abandoned by his son, who then cleaned him out financially. And he was left in a nursing home in Clonmel. He never recovered from the loss. He always said someone robbed him, and he was like his son. He was in there for 10 years. And as he got older and he began to fade, I used to visit him at night in his room. And he'd be in bed. and I would come in and I would read with him and pray with him and then I get back into the car and I would drive down the avenue from the nursing home and I'd say to myself, you know what, I think I followed cunningly devised fables. What on earth am I doing? What on earth am I doing? But, but, if the eye of faith is flicked on, it changes your perception about everything. If the eye of faith is flicked on, everything is seen in a different light. It's by faith we enjoy these things. It's by faith we live. It's by faith we serve. Let me conclude the story of the old man. I went in one evening to him, and he was lying in bed, and he had never prayed, never said amen in the 10 years I had visited him. He had never said amen to a prayer. This night I went in and I said, Mr. Bell, how are you? And he says, I'm dying. And I said, brilliant. And I closed the door so that no one else could hear me and I didn't want to be interrupted. And he was raised in a Christian home in the north. His brother had been a missionary with Faith Mission. And I said, Mr. Bell, you know the gospel. Your brother and your mother and your family were reared on it. He just sat on the pillow and said nothing. I said, Mr. Bell, I'm going to pray a prayer, and if you want to turn to Christ, pray it after me. And I began the prayer, and there was that pregnant pause, would he, will he? And then I heard this little voice come from the pillow, and this old man prayed. Ten years I've been visiting him. Ten years. That night I came out of there, and I said, wow, it's worth it all. It's worth it all. To see someone come to a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, there isn't enough gold in the world to pay for it. So we have Christ. He is the head of this insignificant group of people who are scattered all over the world. They're weak. They're struggling. They've got their issues. They've got their children who are drug addicts and who are pregnant outside of marriage and who are involved in conflicts with the authorities. But their mother is a prayer woman. She's a believer. She's precious to Christ. She's among those who are the body of the Lord Jesus across the world. But not only that, in verse 18 he continues. He says, he is the firstborn from the dead. Now we've had firstborn twice. We've had him in the original creation, and now we have him in the new creation. He's the firstborn from the dead. In other words, he is the He is the significant one of those who have risen from the dead. His resurrection gives significance to every other resurrection. Because he has risen from the dead, all we have hope in him. And then he says at the end of verse 18, that in all things he may have the preeminence. He may have the preeminence. Verse 19, it says, for it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell. In him all the fullness should dwell. It pleased his Father. But then something shocking happens in verses 20 and 21. Here is this indescribable person, this man unlike any other in the universe, and something happens in 20 and 21, and for by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, where the things on earth are things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by dirty deeds, yet now he has reconciled. All the things we've heard about the Lord Jesus, he does something for us, even being that person. This morning, we recorded a broadcast that will be aired on RT radio in two weeks' time, and I plagiarized a sermon of Teddy Donnelly's. No shame, no shame. Any original thoughts, they're heresy anyway, so I just steal wherever I can, like a magpie. I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission, but I really mentioned it to Ted and that was passed. But in the course of my remarks this morning, I said in Romans 5, there are two people. There's a giant Adam with his belt on hangs millions and millions of people who were doomed and lost. And if the second giant didn't appear with another belt on which hangs millions and millions of people, We were doomed to last, but the last man, the second Adam, takes us out of that doomed race and transfers us into this race, into this man. And whenever God looks at us through him, he never sees our sin or hideousness. He sees us always with the eyes and by the life of his son Jesus. That wonderful transfer. Now let me ask, as I begin to conclude, what do you think of Jesus? What do you think of Jesus? You'll never meet a man like him. No man will love you like Jesus. I remember going to a door. It was around Easter time. This young mother was there with three children. And I'm trying to make conversation, and it's always difficult when you're on the doors trying to make conversation. It's exhausting. And now we're on the doors, and you're spent as if you've done five rounds in a boxing ring. So those who do door-to-door visitation need your prayers and your encouragement. But anyway, trying to make conversation with this woman, I said, no doubt Daddy's going to bring them Easter eggs, if they're good. And well, it wasn't picked up. I said, that's not a good line. A few minutes later, I tried the same line. Wasn't picked up the second time, but she said to me, she said, no, he's gone away with a younger piece of skirt. And she was a young woman with three children. Now what do you say? Now what do you say? And I said to her, you know what? You need the man that will never walk out and who will love you unconditionally and stay with you forever. Well, she says, I do. Do you know him? I says, yes, the man I wanted to tell you about won't give you hugs at night, but he'll love you forever. And his name is Jesus. That didn't wash. But it's true nonetheless. It's true nonetheless. Your hubby won't love you like Jesus. Your wife won't love you like Jesus. Your children won't love you like Jesus. And your parents won't love you like Jesus. Don't blame them. They can't. They're flawed. They're cracked pots. And you're cracked too. But there's one who'll love you unconditionally, always and forever. And his love is unequaled and unrivaled. His name is Jesus. What do you think of him? What do you think of him? Is it just a common expression you hear your minister say? Is it something you hear regularly at church, but it don't mean much to you? Or is the very mention of his name one of abject horror and equal joy? That your sin, as bad and as wicked as it is, that this Jesus loves you? When I used to pray, Recently, when I was saying my prayers, I was so struck that I was so sinful, I said, I can't believe that the blood of Jesus can deal with it. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe that the blood of Jesus can deal with my sin. But that's a lie from hell. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. All sin. There's no sin, there's no pit too deep, but Christ's love isn't deeper still. There's no sin too dark, but Christ's blood cannot atone it. This is my concluding remark. Whether it's factual or fiction, the truth in it is still true. A wealthy man had a son, and they were admirers of art. And they built up a nice art collection, and they admired what they had bought and purchased and they had the means by which they could do it. The son was called up to the Vietnam conflict and went to war. And during the course of the conflict in Vietnam, he did not survive. Sometime later, a young man came to his house and he had a bulky little parcel with him and he said, this is for you. And the man brought him in. He says, I was one of the soldiers your son saved in Vietnam. He didn't survive. And he unfolded the little paper, and it was a picture of his son, a painting of his son. And the old man was admiring it, and he broke down. So he put it over the mantelpiece, where it stayed, amidst all the great pieces of art that were along it. When the old man died, there was an auction. But the sun was gone, so the estate was to be auctioned. And there was a gathering in the house, and the paintings were to be sold. And the vultures with their funds had come to buy them. Well, the first painting up for the sale was this insignificant painting by an old painter, an old soldier, for sale. The auctioneer started, am I bid 200? $200? Nah, no bid. After a while, $100? Nah, no bid. There was a grumpy remark at the back, get on to the good stuff. As this went on for a while, he hears this voice at the back. It was the gardener, the old gardener. He says, I'll give you 10 for it. That's a big come down from the 200. He says, I'll give you 10. The auctioneer said, have I got 20? Have I got 20? The painting was sold for 10. With that, the auctioneer put down the gavel and left the podium. And the crowd wondered, what's going on? And the auctioneer said, there was a stipulation in the estate. It was to be kept secret until the auction. The first painting to be sold will be the picture of the sun. And whoever got the sun got everything else as well. Whoever got the sun got everything else as well. Let's pray. Our Father, you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in your great Son. Our tongues are unable to express, our minds are unable to grasp, our lives are unable to obey, or it should be a response to such love to us. We know that there'll be a day when we will love you with unsinning hearts and serve you with instantaneous will and there'll be no lack of faith. Until then, reassure us that these things are true. Deepen them in our hearts and in our lives, and may the things that we believe be evident to all by how we live. We thank you most graciously that your great son became our great savior. Amen.