Well, we are picking up where we left off last in Colossians in verse 15. If you remember, Paul had opened his letter with a thanksgiving and prayer, and he recounts how he always gives thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the faith and the love that he saw in the Colossian church. And he thanked God for how it was through the power of the gospel. that they had come to know the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And then he recounts his prayers for the church, asking that we might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And he prayed this so that they would walk worthy, right? Do you remember this? That they would walk worthy of the Lord. and that they would bear fruit and increase in the knowledge of God, living from His strength and giving thanks to the Father. Look in verse 12, we'll start there and we'll read all the way through our passage today. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness, of sins. He, that is the Son, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were 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. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy 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 heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, became a minister." You see how He moves from His prayer that they would be walking worthy, and how He talks about how God the Father has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints, and that He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us in the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And now Paul turns to a hymn here, exalting the supremacy of Jesus Christ. You see, He knows that if we have a right view of Jesus Christ, if we have an exalted view of Jesus Christ, then we will be safe from falling prey to all sorts of false teachings and promises of the flesh and of the world that tell us that there is a fullness, that there is a satisfaction to be had outside of Jesus or beyond Jesus. But Paul wants us to see this morning, saints. God, the Holy Spirit, wants us to see this morning that when we have an exalted view of Jesus, we know that we have every spiritual blessing that we need. that we have every provision in Christ. We need to have an exalted view of Jesus Christ. John Calvin said this, For how comes it that we are carried about with so many strange doctrines, but because the excellence of Christ is not perceived by us? For Christ alone makes all other things suddenly vanish. Hence, there is nothing that Satan so much endeavors to accomplish as to bring on mists with the view of obscuring Christ, because he knows, by this means, the way is opened up for every kind of falsehood. This, therefore, is the only means of retaining, as well as restoring pure doctrine, to place Christ before the view, such as he, with all his blessings, that his excellence may be truly perceived. We need to see the glory of Christ's saints. We need to see the supremacy of Jesus Christ. And the first thing Paul shows us is that Christ is supreme in creation. He tells us in this hymn that the Son, the beloved Son in whom we have redemption, that He is the image of the invisible God. He is the image of the invisible God. He is referring back to the Father's beloved Son in whose kingdom we've been transferred. And this Son, God's unique Son, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus of Nazareth, the man who was born in a manger, born in Bethlehem, who lived, who was a carpenter, who ministered to the sick and to the dying and cleansed lepers. This is the Jesus who felt your pain and your sorrow and lived fundamentally as a man. This is the Son whom we learn in Scripture is eternally begotten of the Father. It is important that we understand that this exalted Christ that he speaks of, this Son who is the image of the invisible God, is the Son who became man in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, is not a mere man, but He is the Son of the living God. So this is the question before us today. Who is Jesus Christ? Is Jesus the Messiah, all that the apostles claim that He is? Is He Lord of all? Who is this Christ? Is He simply a man who did God's bidding? Is He but a creature like all other men before Him? Is He just, on the other end, a spiritual being who appeared to be a man? or just one spiritual being among many others such as the angels? Was he enough to fulfill? Is he enough to fulfill our every need and desire? The question is, is Jesus sufficient? and the Holy Spirit would have us understand deep in our hearts that this Son, who Paul refers to, is the Father's beloved Son, who is His image. It says He is the image of the invisible God. See, the Scriptures attest that God is a spirit. In John 4, 24, it says God is spirit. And we must worship Him in spirit and truth. And that as a spirit, He is invisible, not having a physical form, not a creature. And therefore, this means that God is unknowable to us unless He makes Himself known. God is invisible and you cannot know Him unless He makes Himself known to you. John 118 says, no one has ever seen God. The one and only Son who is Himself God and is at the Father's side, He has revealed Him. Jesus Christ reveals to us the invisible God. Now, our God who is invisible is made himself known in creation, right? Paul says that in Romans. That what could be known about God is clearly perceived by all, so no one is without excuse. But this revelation of God and His nature, though is evident in creation because of our fallen and sinful hearts, could never lead any of us to salvation because we will end up in every kind of strange doctrine, right? We know this to be true. Wherever the gospel is not preached, there are many who believe in various forms of gods and have all sorts of beliefs, but none of them submit to the God who is in heaven. And so God has given us a clear view of Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. You have to understand this, saints, that without the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, without God speaking, and He's revealed Himself in many ways, we read in Hebrews, right? That He spoke through the prophets, and He appeared to those in visions. But now, He has most definitely revealed Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus says that He came to make the Father known. He says in John 5.37, The Father who sent me has Himself bore witness about me. His voice you have never heard, His form you have never seen. Jesus came to declare the glory of Christ to us. And this is the great joy that we have that the God who is invisible has made Himself known of His own free will and grace. In Jesus, as divinity, He has made God known to us in His humanity. There is no God, saints, unlike the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the exact imprint of the Father's nature. We read that in Hebrews 1-3. He is the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. Do you want to know what God is like? Do you want to know what God, what His nature is like? Then look at Jesus Christ. He is the revelation of God to us. Do you want to know the mercies of God? Do you want to know the grace of God? Do you want to know the holiness of God? Do you want to know the power of God? We need to look at Jesus Christ and know that when we look to Jesus, we behold the image of the invisible God. This language of Him being the image of God, of course, brings to mind Genesis 1, right? That God created man in His image so that we might represent Him in creation and rule over all that He has made upon the earth. But notice that there is a difference here. See, in Genesis 1, 26, it says this, But here we read that Jesus is the image of God. We were made in the image of God. Jesus is the image of God. We were made after his likeness. Jesus Christ is the likeness of God. And so, Jesus is the exact imprint of God's nature. He is the image after whom we are modeled. He is the radiance of God's glory. No one, again, has ever seen God, the one and only Son who is Himself God. And as at the Father's side, He has revealed Him. This is showing us Christ's unique relationship to the Father. He is the unique Son of God. And he says here also that he is the firstborn of all creation. Not only does Christ have a unique relationship with God, the Father, but he also has a unique relationship with creation. He is the firstborn over creation. Now, this can easily be misunderstood, right? Like, what does he mean he's the firstborn of creation? Is he saying that he was the first being to be created? Was he the first of all creation? Well, you know, there have been Heresies that have taught that there was a man named Arius who taught in the third century or the third century That the father begat the son He said that there was a time when the son was not and he used this text to defend that claim and this teaching became known as as Arianism, and it claimed that God was not always Father, and that He became a Father when He created the Son out of nothing, and that the Son was created to be the instrument through whom God created the world and redeemed it. So, the Arians believed that Jesus Christ was a created being. And there are false teachings that believe this today. There are false teachings that will teach these same untruths. And you see, the Arians misrepresented this verse and persisted in it when they knew they were in error. You see, when Paul says that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, he is using the word foresporn metaphorically. He is using it to speak of Christ's first place, His first rank. This is the way this word firstborn is used even in the Old Testament. We read of David in Psalm 89, 27 that he was God's firstborn. That is, he had first rank among all the kings of the earth. And we know that David was the youngest in his family, wasn't he? Yet he is called the firstborn. And so we have this metaphorical use of the word firstborn in which Jesus is called the firstborn to mean that he takes first place, that he is first in rank, that he is above all of creation. He is the firstborn over creation. We quoted the Nicene Creed this morning. That creed was written by the church in response to these false teachings. was written in response to a claim that Jesus was a created being. It says He was begotten, not made, right? Remember, we quoted that? And all that the Creed is doing is articulating what Scripture says to help us to not fall into error. Christ is the firstborn over creation because He is over all of it. And the rest of the section explains it. He takes first place over creation for, because, by Him, All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. So Christ, who takes first place, He is first because in Him, in reference to Him, everything that exists was created. In Him, everything that is was made, whether in heaven or on earth, whether visible or invisible. All things were created by Him. All things were created through Him and for Him. means everything, everything that you see, your own self owes its existence to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, this Jesus Christ, the God who became man, the ones whom the apostles saw with their own eyes, is the eternal Son of God who created the depths of the sea, and the heights of the mountains, the expanses of the heavens. He is the creator of all animals, from the lion to the lamb to the tiny little ants. He is the Creator of mankind, the One through whom Adam was formed from the ground, in whom He formed Eve out of the side of Adam. He is the Creator of every life in the womb. Moreover, He is the Creator of every spiritual being. All the angels were created by Him and for Him. Nothing has its existence apart from Christ's creative and sustaining power. He is the first in all of creation because He is its source and sustainer. Do you realize how startling a claim that is? That a man that other men saw and touched and ate with and slept beside is the creator of everything that exists. that this Jesus, the Messiah, is the eternal Son of God who created everything. And He Himself was made into the form of a man. Became a man. The Creator became the created in Jesus Christ. That, saints, is a miracle of God. That, saints, is our exalted Christ. He has created everything. Notice the emphasis here that he is the creator of the invisible realm, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. You know, some have attempted on this passage to create a hierarchy of the invisible realm of various forms of angels, and whether or not there is, we can't discern that from this passage. But what we see here is that Paul is ensuring that there is no misunderstanding that Jesus Christ is the creator of every spiritual being. That he is the creator of every angel in the service of God Almighty and even every fallen angel who has rebelled against his kingdom and serves the kingdom of Satan. Here it is clear that all of these invisible beings owe their existence to the eternal Son of God. This is an important point for this book in Colossians. We'll get into more of this as we get further in the book, but later in the letter we find that it appears that the false teachers posed a threat because they taught that there was an importance to have angelic visions and to consult all sorts of of other spiritual realities to reach a fullness of understanding. They taught that they did not teach an exclusive role of Jesus Christ, but that if you wanted to have a full understanding, if you wanted to have a full spirituality, you needed to tap in to these other spiritual powers. And this is what all sorts of cults do, isn't it? They worship all sorts of other spiritual beings other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And you saints, do not be deceived by the Mormons, or by the Jehovah Witnesses, or by anyone who would claim that in order for you to have the fullness of God, you need something more or other than Jesus Christ. All those, all the angels, all that dwells in the invisible realm was created by Jesus Christ. And that means that He is supreme over them. That they owe their existence to Him. That He has all authority over all things seen and unseen. Not only was everything that is seen and unseen created by Him, but they were created for Him. Everything was created for Jesus Christ. He is not only the beginning of all things, but He is the goal of all things. It is only in reference to Christ that all creation makes sense. He is creation's beginning and end, the Alpha and the Omega. It is in Christ that the powers of darkness are defeated and the last enemy death. Christ is both the beginning and the end. It pleased God that in Christ that He would be exalted, and that even though man rebelled and fell, and it wasn't a surprise to God, in the fullness of time, according to God's plan, God would make all things new in the Lord Christ. He is the beginning, and He is the goal of creation. Everything was made for Him that He would be glorified by it. The Lord Jesus whom you serve, whom you love, whom you worship, is none other than this exalted Jesus who created everything and for whom everything exists. And he says that he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is superior in time to everything because He has existed before creation itself. He has existed for all eternity. He has existed in fellowship with the Father before time began. Everything was made through Him. He is before it all. And He holds everything together by the Word of His power. He holds everything together by the Word of His power. Everything that exists is currently here because Jesus is holding it together. We're talking about the same Jesus Christ who was crucified on a Roman cross, who died and was in the grave for three days. This Christ holds everything together. By His power, by His providence, all things that exist continue to exist because Jesus holds it together. It means that if Jesus ceased to exist, everything would cease to exist. He holds electrons together. He keeps gravity working. He keeps the planets in orbit. He keeps you breathing. He keeps the ground solid upon which you walk. He keeps the sun rising so you could see. Jesus holds it together. This is your Lord. This is your Christ. He is the one holding everything together. There is no one greater than Him. If He ceased to exist, or to remove His sustaining power from the world, the earth would melt away, and the stars and the planets would fall out of space, and there would again be nothing. Behold your Christ, saints. He who is supreme in creation. He's made it all. He holds it all together. He is first and He is last. He is the beginning. He is the end. There is none other beside Him who is more glorified than the Lord Jesus Christ, who declares to us the very nature of God the Father. He is the image of the invisible God. This glorious Christ who Paul is exalting through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This Christ is God's revelation to us. God who is invisible has desired to make himself visible to you that you might know him in Jesus Christ. This Christ who created everything desires for you to know him. And so he has given us his word that we might behold his glory and know that he is before all things and that in him all things hold together. But not only is Christ first in creation, not only is he supreme in creation, but he is also supreme in redemption. Paul then says that he, and he is the head of the body, the church. Christ is the head of his church. He is the head of his body. This means that Christ has ultimate authority over his church. For those living at the time of the Colossians, this would be clear. This metaphor of the body, the head, was understood to be the governing member of the body. That the body receives its life, its substance, its authority from the head. Nothing that the body does can be done apart from the head. And so he exalts here in the fact that Christ is the ultimate authority over his church. There is no higher authority than Christ in his church. There is no head besides Christ. The Pope is not the head of the church. The pastor is not the head of the church. No Bible scholar is the head of the church. Jesus Christ is the only sovereign head of his church. And Christ rules over His church with love and tender mercy through the agency of His Holy Spirit, whom He richly provides to us. And His Holy Spirit attends to our needs and gifts us and has inspired and illuminates the Word of God to us. And through these gifts, Christ exercises authority in His church. And moreover, He provides for the needs of His body by these same means. He cares for His body. We, as the church of Jesus Christ, we who are His body, receive our life. We receive everything that we need. We receive our hope in Him alone. He is the head of the body. Now it's important again to note that this has direct application in the book of Colossians. The false teachers were claiming that more was needed than Christ to reach spiritual fullness. Paul asserts here that it is Christ who is the only means of life to the church. And that any teaching that places Christ anywhere else other than the head is blasphemous. Any teaching that undermines the authority of Jesus Christ, saints, you must reject. Any word that would ever come from this pulpit or any other pulpit that would subservient Christ as the ultimate authority in His church, you must not submit to. Christ is the head of His church. And He exercises all authority in His church through His Holy Spirit and through the Word of God. And Christ The beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent Jesus Christ is the beginning that he is he is the founder not only of creation but of the new creation Not only does he take first place in the original order, but he takes first place in the restored order order of creation. Jesus Christ at his resurrection has inaugurated a new age. He has brought about a new creation in which the old creation is restored and set back in order. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. Now, between the two sections here, where he's speaking of the supremacy of Christ in creation and the supremacy of Christ in redemption, is an assumed understanding of the fall, right? That Jesus has created everything, but now this creation is in rebellion against God. There are rebellious spiritual beings, rebellious angels. There is the rebellion of man. And so the whole earth, Paul says in Romans 8, moans. waiting for the full redemption of man. That the earth moans for the glory of God to be revealed in the sons of men and for Christ to restore all things. Jesus is first. He is the firstborn from the dead so that He might have preeminence in everything. So God, it pleased the Father that through the Son all things would be created, and it pleased the Father that through the Son He would redeem all things. He pleased the Father that not only would He create through His Son, but that he would also redeem through his son. He didn't send another agent. He didn't send simply another Abraham, or another Moses, or another David. All of them godly men who did the Lord's work, but none of them could save to the uttermost. None of them were the Son of God in the flesh. None of them could bring about a full redemption. But God, it pleased God that by the very same Son whom He created the world, He would redeem the world, so that He might have preeminence in all things. Christ gets all the glory, not only for creation, but also for your redemption. Christ gets first place. He is the beginning of this new creation that God has brought about by His resurrection, in which He is continuing to bring about restoration in the lives of His people and His church, and to whom we wait when He will bring a complete restoration and crush every enemy. We read in 1 Corinthians 15, 25, that Christ must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for God has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that He is accepted who put all things in subjection under Him. When all things are subjected to Him, that's the Son, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things and subjection under him, that God may be all in all." What we need to have an understanding of here is the already-but-not-yet nature of the new age. That Christ has already brought about the new creation, and that He is the beginning of it. That He is the firstborn from the dead, so that He might have preeminence in all that come after Him. That He might have first place. And so Christ has already brought this redemption. He has already brought the new creation, but it has not yet been fully manifested. We are waiting until his reign, for his reign to have put all enemies under his feet, till he has crushed every enemy, including death, meaning for the death of his people, and that all will be raised, and there will be a new heavens and a new earth, and what Christ has started, what is already completed in principle, will be will be completed in time. And this is your hope, saints. Knowing that Christ is preeminent in all of this. That He takes first place in it. So when you think of your redemption, when you think of the fact that you have been born again, and you await the hope of the resurrection, know that Christ is preeminent in that. That is, He is supreme in that. He gets first place in that. For He is the first to conquer He rose Lazarus from the dead, but Lazarus died after that, didn't he? Jesus was crucified and died and was buried and was in the grave for three days. And he rose from the dead and he is still risen, saints. He is still risen. He is ascended to the right hand. He is ruling from on high. He is preeminent in redemption. For in him, verse 19, for in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. It is through this Lord Christ that the fullness of God dwells. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. It has already been hinted at when we said He was the image of the invisible God. But that in the person of Jesus Christ who incarnated in the flesh, the fullness of God's presence pleased to dwell. That means that Christ is the fullness of God. There is no other fullness. There is no more of God that you need other than what we find in Jesus Christ. Moreover, we see from this that Jesus has replaced the temple. This language of dwelling alludes to many passages in the Old Testament that speak of God's presence dwelling in the temple. And we read in John 1 that Jesus came and tabernacled among us. That the presence of God is fully in Jesus Christ. And it pleased God to do so. It pleased God that Jesus, who is deity, would be the full embodiment of God's presence among men. John Calvin says this, in his commentary on this verse, that Paul shows us, however, at the same time, that we must draw from the fullness of Christ everything good that we desire for our salvation. Because such is the determination of God, not to communicate himself or his gifts to men otherwise than by his Son. Christ is all things to us. Apart from him we have nothing. Hence it follows that all that detract from Christ, or that impair His excellence, or rob Him of His offices, or in any way take away a drop from His fullness, overturn so far as is in their power God's eternal counsel. We must know that in Christ is the fullness of God. And it's through this Christ that God sought to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Now, if we're not careful using the whole counsel of God, you can fall into error by misinterpreting this verse as well. When he says that he reconciles to himself all things, he is not preaching universalism. That all will in the end be saved. It's very clear even in Colossians that there is a judgment to come. And all who are not in Christ will perish, will be cast from the presence God but we see here not a universal salvation in the sense that everyone to say but universal in the sense that God is renewing all things in Christ it pleased God that through Christ that he would reconcile to himself all things this all is all would be reconciled to God whether earth or in heaven. Remember referring back to whether visible or invisible. He is made peace by the blood of his cross. This means that he has brought about a redemption that sets forth the reconciliation that is the renewal of all things. And that means that's either through being reconciled to God in Jesus Christ, or by all his enemies being triumphed over in him. That means every rebellious angel, all the demons, every rebellious man who's not submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ will be crushed. In Colossians 2.15, he says that he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Christ has brought about peace. And he brought about peace through the blood of his cross. And this peace is through the crushing of every enemy. Satan and all of his minions, every man who will not submit to the lordship of Christ, will be dealt with. And there will be a full peace because Christ has made peace by the blood of his cross. Sometimes we have too small of a view of salvation. Christ Jesus came to save sinners, right? He came to save sinners. He came to save a sinner such as me. But we must see here, as Paul is exalting Christ, that Christ's salvation encompasses far more than just the redemption of our souls, but the redemption of all things. When we say that God came to save our soul, it is absolutely true. But we must not take that truth and dismiss or forget that Christ has brought about and is bringing a full restoration of all things, and is making a complete peace by triumphing over all of His enemies. So Christ came to save our soul, but there is a resurrection, right? Death will not have the last word. Christ has conquered by the blood of His cross, and He has reconciled all things to Himself." God's work, as we already quoted Romans 8, is to restore all of creation. This view of God's work in Christ is not simply the forgiveness of sins. What a glorious thing we have, the forgiveness of sins. It's going to be gloried in a second. But realize that the reconciliation we have, the forgiveness of sins we have, is part of a grand story of redemption, a grand work of redemption in which Christ is restoring all things. You watch the news much? This is not a pretty world to live in, is it? There is great sorrow and pain and evil done every single day. And the world looks at us and says, where is your Christ? Men and women give their lives for Jesus Christ and are martyred for Him. And the world looks by and mocks and says, where is your Christ? You know what you say, saint? He is reigning on high, and He has conquered every enemy by the blood of His cross, and He is storing up wrath for the day of judgment, and He will have the last word. He reigns, He rules now and forevermore, and this is your Lord Christ. He has made peace by the blood of His cross. We cannot live by what is seen, but we must trust by faith what we know to be true, according to the Word of God, that Jesus Christ has reconciled to Himself all things. All things. He has made peace by the blood of His cross, by conquering over every enemy, including death. We've got to finish with verses 21 to 23. I know many of you have Father's Day celebrations, so please forgive me, but we need to. We need this Word. We need this Word, so please stay with me. Please stay with me. This Christ, who is supreme in creation, who is supreme in redemption, He is the one who has reconciled you to himself. This cosmic Christ who created everything, this Christ who has redeemed all things, has redeemed even you. Even me. And you, verse 21, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in his body a flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Saints, you were this. You were alienated from God. You were alienated from His life. You were alienated from His fellowship. And you were alienated justly so, because you were hostile in mind, and this was demonstrated by your evil deeds. Those of you who came to Christ later in life, you saw the evidence of these evil deeds very evident in your life, didn't you? In every form of idolatry and work. And some of you came to Christ at a young age. I have a word from you from Calvin. I love this. There is only this difference, that some are called from their mother's womb, whose malice God anticipates. and so as to prevent them from breaking forth into open fruits, while others, after having wandered during a great part of their life, are brought back to the fold. We all, however, stand in need of Christ as our peacemaker, because we are the slaves of sin, and where sin is, there is enmity between God and men. So maybe you came to Christ at a young age. Praise the Lord, but know that you were just in much of a need of a Savior as those who have sinned in all sorts of ways that you look at and go, wow. Oh, praise God that He restrained us who were saved at a young age from sin. But no, it would have burst forth into such fruit. We all are And it is in us. And we are all hostile of mind. And it is demonstrated by the evil deeds. Even us who have been saved at a young age have broken forth at times and sinned in many grievous ways. And have worshipped idols. We were hostile in mind. We did evil. But now, But now he is reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, us, that he might present us holy and blameless and above reproach before him. It is through the death of Jesus Christ in our flesh that we have the forgiveness of sins. You are a real sinner. You are not an imaginary sinner. Your sin is real. And so you need a real Savior, not an imaginary Savior. And you have a real Savior who has reconciled you by the blood of His cross, through the death of His flesh, to make atonement for our sins. And He did this, look at this, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him. This looks to the day of judgment. Reconciled us so that he might present us to himself as a holy bride without blemish He says this in Ephesians 5 as he talks about husbands and wives He tells husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her Having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish Christ has not just given us forgiveness of sins so then we can just go and live any way we please. Paul had opponents who claimed that his doctrine of grace That we would respond to and say well, why not sin all the more that grace would abound and what does Paul say in Romans? by no means Christ has purchased you for himself that you might be holy and blameless and above reproach Before him and so he is doing this work Christ is sanctifying his church. He is sanctifying you and Your status is holy before Him, but you also must become holy in reality. You must become holy in your life, in your actions, in your deeds. This is what Christ has purchased you for, that He might present you holy and blameless before Him. So, saints, we must not take lightly our life. We must not take lightly our Christian walk. We must not say, We think that we, because we have Christ, that we can just live any way we please. Look at verse 23. If indeed, these things are true, you are reconciled to God, you will be presented as holy and blameless and above reproach before him. And now he gives us a condition, a condition that's going to make us all uncomfortable in our seats right now. If indeed, you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven." Listen, I believe 100% without wavering. I believe with conviction that the Word of God teaches. that every child of God, every child of God who's been born again by the Holy Spirit, who has been regenerated, who is in Christ, will persevere to the end. I believe that. And the Scriptures teach it. But you cannot take that truth and dismiss the warnings of Scripture to you. You cannot take that truth and say, well, it's not really a condition. It says if, but it doesn't really mean if. No, it means if. This is a warning to you, saints, that you would not depart from this exalted Christ who has purchased a great redemption for you. We say the phrase, once saved, always saved. And though it is theologically true, it is easily misunderstood and can lead us into a false assurance. We must not say, may we sin all the more that grace may abound. We must say, by no means. How can we who are in the light live in darkness any longer? We ought never, saints, never have a theology of assurance that allows us to live a life of lawlessness. We must not have a theology of assurance that allows us to be lazy in our Christian walk. You must remain stable saints in the hope of the gospel. You must stand firm upon the gospel. I'm not saying, and I don't believe Paul is saying here, that you can lose your salvation if you are in Christ. But I believe with a conviction from God's Word that every man and woman who is in Christ will heed these warnings and persevere. Notice we call it the perseverance of the saints. It means you have to persevere. And one of the means by which God spurns us on to perseverance is through the warnings of Scripture. Every saint who has the Holy Spirit hears the warnings. And maybe for a season you departed from seeing Christ as the only fullness. Maybe for a time you were led astray by strange doctrines. But every true child of Christ cannot persist in unbelief, but must come and stay and remain in Christ and in the hope of the gospel. There are many who will say to you, peace, peace, when there is no peace. And you will not hear that from this pulpit. Work out your calling and election. Be sure that you are in the faith. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that there is a day of judgment. Now, when I say these things, the danger on the other side is that you're going to be introspective this week, right? Which is good. You should be introspective. You should think about your life, but not to a fault, right? Now, what Paul is not saying here and what I am not saying is that you then would begin to look at your works and examine your works and examine your works and see if your works are good enough to remain in the kingdom. That's not what he's saying here. He said, remain in the faith. He said, remain stable and steadfast in the hope of the gospel. Listen, outside of Jesus Christ, you have no hope. So all these things that promise you fulfillment and satisfaction in this world and in this life, whether it's money and possessions, or sex and pleasure, or food and drink, or pride and vainglory, or self-made religion, or marriage and family, whatever it is, anything that promises you fullness outside of Jesus Christ, that you would rather worship and that would be a temptation for you to depart for Him, put those things to death. Put those idols to death and see that your fullness, your hope can only come from the head of the church, Jesus Christ. Outside of Him, you have no life. Do not be led away by strange doctrines. Do not be led away by your desires of your flesh, or the love of the world. And take heed to your life. And know that you are weak, and that you are prone to these things, and that you need one another. Be careful of the choices that you make with your life. Don't just look at the things of this world, but think about Christ. Even to the things that you think might be irrelevant. Where you move. where you work, who you marry, all of these things matter because even though the choice in itself may not be sinful, if you take a job that leads you to a place where you are not able to attend a church where Christ is preached, you are putting yourself at risk. If you marry someone because you just want to get married, young ones, But they don't have the fruit of Christ. Just because you don't want to be alone, you are putting yourself at risk. If you take a job that regularly keeps you away from the fellowship of the saints, think of these things. I know sometimes we're providentially hindered by your work. I'm not saying that you're in sin if your work makes you work sometimes on Sunday. But be careful of the choices that you make, because we want to remain stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel, because what better thing do we have than the hope that we have in Jesus Christ? He's the head. He is supreme in creation. He is supreme in redemption. Therefore, stand firm on the gospel of Jesus Christ, that in Him you have life, and you have life abundantly. In Him you have hope. In Him you have everything that you need. Remain steadfast in Him. Remain believing in Christ. Do not depart from Him. Remain in Christ. Heed these warnings. Know that Christ is faithful. And know that if you're in Him, not only do we persevere, but He preserves us. Praise His name. How many of you know that if you were left to your own devices, you would have departed long ago? John Owen said every sin, every single sin that we cherish in our hearts would have as its end apostasy. Do you know that? Do you hate it? Cling to Christ. Cling to Him. He is worthy. He is exalted. And there is no better name in all of creation, no better name in the church, than Jesus Christ. All glory be to Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, whom You sent because You love us. And you have redeemed us to yourself by the blood of His cross. And we believe this. We believe it by faith. And we trust in Him. And we stand firm on the gospel and the hope that we have in Christ. And we know that in Him, that we have everything that we need. Let us hold fast. Help us to hold fast. Help us to hold fast. We glory in Your name. Be glorified, Jesus Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.