Colossians chapter 1 verse 21 through 29. We got some notes there I'll read through it very quickly here in the NIV and then we'll start breaking it down Last week we were as we began this we're talking about the image of Christ Talked about first in creation. Creation was made by Christ, so he has preeminence in creation. But then creation fell, and we've got the new creation. And he is also not just the creator and sustainer of the physical world, he is the creator and sustainer and the source of this new creation. It's referred to as the church, which is the Ecclesia, the called out ones, those that have been called out of the old fallen creation to join him in the new creation. And the new creation, just like the old creation began with Christ, the new creation began with Christ by what? He was the first one out of the dead so he came out of the dead and came alive became a living being again or came back to life and those that have been called out to follow him are called the church the not the institution church but those been called out to join him in this new creation and following him is us and following the revelation of the sons of God when they are revealed according to Romans chapter 8 will be all of creation itself will enter into the new standing they have in their Redeemer who has redeemed them and reconciled them so with that being said in the celebration of that those verses let's begin in say I'm looking for a place to begin here. I'll begin in verse 10. Good night. Here we go. And we pray this in order that you may have a life worthy of the Lord. Colossians 1, verse 10. And they please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. And again, this is the idea of growing in the knowledge of God. That's what Paul's trying to give them revelation into the mystery. We'll see that tonight. being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience in this life as you wait for the coming of the kingdom and joyfully giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves that's the redemption where he's purchases out of the darkness into the kingdom of god he's he's paid the price In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Verse 15, He, this Redeemer, this Christ, this Creator, He is the image of the invisible God, indicating that Jesus is God Himself. The firstborn over, here it is, firstborn over all creation, the physical creation, he is the creator of it. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. And we spent several weeks talking about that. He created, he planned it, he designed it, and he designed it for himself. He is before all things, talking about physically or the invisible. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. We talked about that. He is sustaining the physical universe. Not only created it, but is today holding it together. And He is the head of the body, the church. This is now the beginning of the new creation, the called out ones. Where are they called out from? They're called out of the old creation. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. He began the process of this called out. He was called out of the grave and began the process. so that in everything he may have supremacy in the old creation or in the new creation he has supremacy for god was pleased to have all his fullness that's the the the play roma his fullness dwell in him so christ is the fullest of deity and through him to reconcile to himself all things that's an important word setting the stage for we're talking about tonight through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross." Reconcile means to bring back into the right relationship as far as reconciling a husband to his wife or reconciling an enemy back to making them a friend. God has reconciled all things, if it be in earth or in heaven, by making peace, that irene is the word, meaning to put in the right relationship all things through His blood shed on the cross. So the blood shed on the cross of Jesus Christ, everything in this new creation is going to be restored to the right relationship. In the current age, things are out of sync. In the coming age, things will be put back in the right order. Now here's our new verse for tonight. Now that's talking about the big picture. Now in verse 21, once you, talking to the Colossians, you yourselves were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds, indicating you needed to be reconciled. You were away from God and you were enemies. You needed to be reconciled because of your evil behavior. Okay, excuse me. You were enemies in your mind and you were alienated Because of your evil behavior. Two things are mentioned there. Mind and evil behavior. The fullness of your being. We'll talk about that. Mind and behavior. But now, currently, he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish, free from accusation. Well, look at all that ideas there. You've been brought back into the right relationship because of Christ's physical body. Because God became a man and he suffered on the cross. That was the means by which the reconciliation was brought about. And you are now holy. without blemish, free from accusation. And then the word if, which is going to be an important word, it's first class condition. I'll tell you right ahead. It means if and it is true. There's four conditions in the Greek. It can be if and it is true, if and it is not true, or if we don't know one way or the other. This is if and it is true. If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant." So right there he switches directions in that phrase, of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Now he starts talking about his ministry And he says, Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking. And right here, what is interesting in these next few verses, what is described for Christ as Christ has suffered and has done these things, he now describes himself. In other words, Christ was the model of the servant And now Christ is gone, ascended. Now Paul steps in and starts doing the exact same thing. He now is suffering for the gospel, bringing about the good news. And of course, that's passed on down to the Colossians. They're going to suffer, and on down. So Christ not just came out of the dead and restored us to God, but he also was suffering and did these things, advancing the gospel. So Paul now parallels himself, and we'll do a better job of explaining that in a moment. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, Christ's suffering, and fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church." Again, that's interesting. Christ suffered, but Paul says, I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking. Whoa! I mean, what's still lacking? It was complete. Well, the work of redemption, reconciliation was complete. But Christ went into heaven and left us here, or Paul, for example, with the ministry of reconciliation. He's going to have to proclaim the message. And so Christ has done the work and was seated. Now it's up to Paul to fulfill the role of proclaiming it. That's what he's going to talk about. He's going to now proclaim this message. And just like Christ suffered to bring reconciliation, Paul, of course, is going to have to suffer proclaiming the reconciliation, which puts the whole Christian life in a perspective of continuing the suffering for Christ, which, again, is foreign to the Western mind. I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's affliction for the sake of his body, which is the church, the called out ones. I have become its servant, the servant of the church, the called out ones, by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness. the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but now is disclosed to the saints. So there is a mystery. Things in the Old Testament that were not revealed, they were hinted at, but it was a mystery, they've now been revealed in Christ and with the apostolic ministry, and now it is Paul's job to let the saints understand these things, to proclaim them. To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end, I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." So we're going to go back to verse 21. when it begins in the NIV saying, once you are alienated from God and are enemies in your mind. And that goes back to this idea that Christ has died on the cross and is reconciled, reconciled all things, whether in heaven or on earth, to God, and reconciled, we'll look at that word, it means to switch relay. Well, let's look at this. It's one of the first words we've got there. Chapter 1, verse 21 on your notes. uh... there's your english standard version translation and being uh... the greek box with that uh... the transliteration underneath the first word is alienated that's in the box and then you see the word hostile and in two areas in the mind and in the deeds he says and you who once were alienated and hostile, and that's your relationship with God. That is why we need to be reconciled. Again, it's an obvious truth in Christianity that we are enemies of God, that we are sinners, and so we are in our natural state, and this is, again, so foreign to the world. That's why it would be considered a mystery. It needs to be explained. But mankind has gone astray. Starting with Adam, mankind has gone astray and is in an alienated, hostile position to God. And they say, well, I'm working on that. Well, there's nothing you can do. You are an enemy and you cannot restore yourself. Christ had to come and bring reconciliation. He had to come and restore the relationship. You can call redemption where he purchased us, out from the dead, out from the sin, or here he's reconciled through Christ, we've been reconciled. Not because of what I've done, not because I've cleaned my life up and I'm living a good life. That's not what Paul's teaching. The mystery is the only reason I can be reconciled to God is Christ has, through the cross, reconciled me, restored that relationship. Now if I choose to say, well, I'm going to do it myself, well i can't reconcile myself to god there's only one way of reconciliation it has to be done by jesus christ in the body on the cross and now i can be restored my reconciliation is in christ and of course we read earlier in the chapter all things were reconciled to god uh... through christ through his through his body and so going on with this looking here uh... The first point, it says Paul compares what we now have to what we did have. Paul warns the Colossians of the danger of losing this spiritual dynamo, meaning you have been reconciled because of Christ. You have a reconciled relationship. You are in right standing. You now have the chance to grow. Now this is a warning, you're gonna have to continue in Christ. You're gonna have to continue to understand this and live this out in your life. There's no, like here's an issue. Is he warning them about losing their salvation? Or is he telling them, you need to maintain this relationship to continue your growth. Now people are going to fall on both sides of this. That if they would fall away and forget this, or they would start living a life that was not up to the standards that God had chosen, they would lose their salvation. Or he's saying, you have this, you have been reconciled. This is where I fall in. I think he's saying, you have been reconciled. Or you've been temporarily reconciled, don't screw it up. You have been reconciled, and there is power. There is a divine dynasphere. You have a divine power because you are in right relationship. You are no longer just in this world and of this age, alienated from God. You have been reconciled, restored to God, set in His presence, and you are now living here. You need to continue to embrace that, understand that, and produce all the things that you can because of this power that is working in you. We're not talking about losing your salvation, we're talking about losing the growth, the power, because you've walked away from it or you've misunderstood it. So see how this fits together, this makes sense. It says, and you who once were, at one time you were alienated. Point two there, alienated, it means estranged, it means alienated. It comes from two words, apo, which means away from, and it means alatreos, which means belonging to another or foreign. So you were away from and a foreigner. You were away from God, belonging to another. you were alienated and because you were alienated you were hostile which means you hated God and so previously where you've come from before Christ came you were away from God belonging to another so you were over here And because you belong to another, you hate God. You are an enemy of God, an enemy of salvation. But God has taken you and through the cross has reconciled you, brought you back. And just like again, well, the word is coming up, I keep talking about it. Reconciliation. Where's my word at there? Reconciliation. Is it on? Yeah, page two. Let's look at that right there. Page two. We'll come back to page one. page two the word reconciled it says now however he has a reconciled you you were over here in enemy you hated god because you are hostile to him because you belong to another he's a reconciled you uh... the word reconcile itself meaning means uh... uh... to be brought back it was used Well, I should write this down. In the Greek, A-P-O is the Greek word that is translated, he has reconciled you, is A-P-O, and then the word kat-el-asso. Now, this kat-el-asso that you see right there, it means in itself, it means reconcile. Okay, so we just need, we just need the word reconcile. We don't, or you just need the word kataloso here in this text to say, now, however, he has reconciled you. And this word... Kataleso, it means to change, it means to exchange. It was used in these ways to exchange coins. For example, you would switch coins. Maybe you'd transfer your dollars into pounds or something, or you'd take your Greek coins into Roman coins. You would exchange money changers. It means the proper change or the proper exchange of money. Reconciled also could refer to relationship. You were an enemy, but you've been restored to a friend. Your relationship was reconciled. It was used to refer to marriage, husband and wife. They were apart, now they've been reconciled. And so we have been reconciled katalaso to god but that's not what the greek says the greek says apo katalaso and apo by itself means from or away from and it intensifies this so that the the correct translation or the correct emphasis of apo katalaso is complete reconciliation. So it doesn't just say you've been reconciled, which is good enough. Paul adds a po in front of katalassa, which means completely reconciled, which helps identify that idea that you haven't been reconciled for a moment. Don't lose it. You've been completely reconciled. There's no way you can break this relationship again. Because of the work of the cross, you haven't just been reconciled, you've been apo-reconciled or apo-katalosel, completely reconciled. There's nothing in you, in your nature now, that can go away from him again, because you've been reconciled. Be careful, don't screw it up. You've been completely reconciled. You can't screw this up. So I mean, this is the idea, things we're looking for, along with the ideal of the first class condition of the word, if, that we will see in a minute. So go back to page one. It says you were alienated from Christ, meaning you were away from Christ. And again, apo, apo, you can see right there, point two, I've got two words there again. Apoelatros, which means completely away. Now you've been completely reconciled. And you were, because of that, you were hostile in two places. You were hostile, and this is the way people without Christ, would be the way we were hostile in your mind? and hostile in your behavior. You could say, or some translations, deeds, your work. So first of all, and again, this is interesting, because this is your mind, this is your thinking, this is your soul, and because your soul was hostile to God, because you're away from him, belonging to another, your behavior, your deeds, were contrary to God. And the word mind there is the word deanoia, which means mind or disposition. And it refers to the human understanding, the intellect, the insight. So the human mind, not just that you're thinking thoughts against God, but your intellect. your your understanding was contrary to god you you couldn't figure it out yourself your mind was programmed to reject the truth uh... in this condition uh... uh... it also refers to critical thinking or literally thorough reasoning coming from two words once again dia noel, which means to use the mind. So neo means to use the mind, use mind, but it's intensified with the dia, which means thoroughly, completely, once again, completely use the mind. You're completely using your mind against God. And because you're completely using your mind against God, everything you did, your behavior was against God. Point six, we were owned by God's opposition. We were owned, we belonged to God's opposition. We just say the sin nature or Satan, the cosmos system. And as enemies of God, our complete human intellect, our critical thinking produced only thoughts and deeds that were anti-God or anti-christ the whole time and so it is called this would be called evil we it was constant evil evil is the absence of god it is the absence of good evil is not equal to sin their their different words evil uh... op absence of God, absence of good. Sin is missing the mark. Because we were evil, whenever we stepped out to do something, we missed the mark, we failed. Sin comes from the ideal of shooting an arrow at a target and always missing the target. This evil would refer to the character, the condition of the bow, that always shot crooked arrows and always produced sin. So they're not synonyms, they're similar. The evil produces constant sin. So we are in constant sin that we are producing. So in that condition, chapter one, verse 22, he has now reconciled us. In other words, we were completely against him in our total thinking, in all of our deeds that was evil. He has reconciled us. Bottom of page one, chapter one, verse 22, in his body, his body of flesh by his death. So the reconciliation, again, we know this as a Christian doctrine, God became man in Jesus Christ. So it was totally God, completely God, the fullness of God dwelt there. He took his body to the cross and he was crucified. He died for the sins of the world. And that death, that the blood shed on the cross is gonna cause redemption, the reconciliation. of all things. Now we're talking tonight, right here in these verses, about ourselves, or Paul's addressing the Colossians. But this blood that he shed is going to restore, reconcile all things in heaven and on earth, including creation, eventually with the revealing of the sons of God. And so his body on the cross, dying, the fleshly body of Christ, is the means, his body of flesh, by his death. And because of that, this is some great words coming up right here, in order, he has now reconciled us in his body of flesh by his death in order to present present, Paul is saying you, talking to the Colossians, present you, and he gives you three words here, holy, blameless, and above reproach. Because of the work of Christ, instead of being an enemy in your mind, hating God and all your deeds are evil, because of Christ's work, He can now present you, and present is the ideal of, you can imagine, present in the English word, it means to stand, it means to stand before or stand with, you can now stand with God. Now go back and think about We get into our Western thinking and people die and then they go to heaven and Peter meets them at the gate and welcome them into heaven. And it's like, no one's going to go to heaven just because they die. We're evil if we die separated from Christ, separated from this reconciliation. We die hating God. We die in hostility. We die belonging to another. We die absent from God and there's no salvation. But if through Christ, you now are presented to God, you can now enter into heaven and stand before God, stand in His presence. You will be presented to God, but not because of what you've done. It's like, you know, I don't get to stand before God because I'm a Bible teacher. Anyone who is presented due to the reconciliation is standing there because Christ has reconciled them, restored the relationship on the cross. And we'll be able to stand before God. And he gives right here, I think if you turn the page, we can do a better job of looking at the words there. Point three is the word present, to place beside, to present, to stand by, to appear. It is used to say come up to and stand by. Because of Christ, we can come up to and stand before God. And being in this condition, the words that are right there in the English, standard. The word is holy. The next word is translated unblemished. And the next word is translated blameless. Did I get that right? Because sometimes, yeah, that blameless. Now, each of these three words is interesting because now you are not living a holy life because you're deciding to do holy things. You're not living an unblemished life. I mean, all you've got to do is reflect on yourself and what you did today, what you thought today, what you did yesterday. Even as a Christian, we would consider ourselves, yeah, I'm blemished. That's why we can confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. So we Although we're considered unblemished, we still have sin in our lives and blameless. The idea here is not talking about our physical life and what we're doing in the present as we still continue to live with a sin nature and we make mistakes, we have sin. We're talking about what Christ has done on the cross to reconcile us and how he will present us to stand before God as holy, as unblemished, as blameless. Why? Well, because after I became a Christian, I really got serious and cleaned my life up and started doing good deeds. Well, no, that's part of spiritual growth. But you have been reconciled because of the cross, because of what Christ did in his physical body. Now he will present you so you can stand before God as holy, unblemished, and blameless. The reason I am, or the Colossians are, or you are, holy, unblemished, and blameless is because of what Christ did on the church. And here's what these words mean. Because of Christ's work, holy, it means sacred, holy, set apart by God or set apart for God. And it indicates point A, B, C, and D, holy, when something is set apart as holy, it is now different from the others, or it is unlike the others. You may have two bells. This one is holy to the Lord. This one is not. That means, or these are not. This bell is holy because it's been set apart for God. It is different. than the other bells. It is unlike the others. It is different from the world. Its likeness or nature is that of the Lord." So we are set apart by God, for God. We are different from the others. In this case, how are we different from the others? The others are still enemies they're still hostile to god we've been reconciled so now we've been made so we can stand and be presented to god we are holy we are different from these we've been going back to last week we were in the world we've been the called out ones we are the church the called out the firstborn from the dead after christ we are born again so we are different from the world we are set apart we are holy it is the condition we're in did i'd make myself holy Christ made me holy. He reconciled me. The next word, a little more fun possibly, unblemished is the English standard. You can also see it in the Greek translated above reproach. That's good, above reproach. It is the word amamos. And again, we'll write a is the prefix, mamos. Now, first of all, ah means no or not. It's the negative. Mamos, the word mamos, you can see there, it, oh, excuse me, ah, mamos, it is, the root word is blemish. So, see, unblemished, no blemish. So there's no spot, there's no flaw. It can be translated as not blemished or without blemish. You can also be translated without blame or blameless, which see right here, this word unblemished could just as well be the word blameless. And they're right there beside each other. But this is amimos, meaning no blemish. Now, We'll say no blemish. I got it written right there. Okay, that's good enough. The next word, so we're holy, there's no blemish, there's no mark from our past, from Adam's sin nature, or the mankind's sin nature, or anything we've done where the sins have been paid for. The next one is blameless, and there you can see right there, the point B, 6B, two parts of the word again, is ah-eg-ka-lee-oh. And so again, the word ah, means no or not, and the second word there, the second part of the word, eg calio, eg calio, if you don't mind me writing it out, eg calio means, this word by itself means making legal charges against someone in a court of law. So eg calio refers to legal charges. It means you've done something wrong. They've got the evidence. They've got the paperwork. The court proceedings are going according to law. And at the end of the trial, the end of the court case, there is legal charges brought against you. It's like, yeah, but you have no excuse. We did this correctly. In fact, if you turn the page, uh... this word can be described as well legal charges you gonna add in front of it you're gonna add no or not there are not legal charges this means again now you got on page top of page three this means not convictable when a person is properly scrutinized or cannot be convicted when tried with correct logic or approved legal reasoning meaning there can be an argument in a court case, but it may not be logical. You can have your point, you can have your proceedings, but they may not be approved. That's not the way we have a court case. So this means there can be in an approved legal case. Now where is this legal case taking place? Not in Iowa, not in the United States, not in some world court. It's taking place in the proceedings of heaven. So before God, who knows all things, who is just and perfect, the charges brought against the Colossians, or against me, against us, the legal charges there are if it's done correctly if it follows the proceedings if it uses logical reasoning at the end of the case there's nothing here there's no case so because of the cross of christ I have been set apart. I am different from where I came from. I've been brought over here and presented to God. I have, I'm unblemished. There's no fault. There's no mark. I'm unblemished. It's like, well, I can remember some things. The cross of Christ, you've now, you're standing, you are hostile towards God. Your deeds were evil. You've been brought over here. There's no blemish against you. And now, yes, but, and you can see in the book of Zechariah, where the high priest Joshua is brought up and is standing before God, and Satan is there accusing him, he's trying to, and he would do something similar to all of us, is find all these charges. But any kind of a legal charge against me In a legal court of law, logical reasoning in the courtrooms of heaven, there's nothing against me because Jesus Christ, who was God that became a man, went to the cross and took all the judgment, all the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. So when he came back from the dead, when he was resurrected, the firstborn from the dead, everything was taken care of. The past, the present, and the future sins. In fact, at that time, all of my sins, my entire nature in the physical world, was still future. But Christ paid for those. So because of that work on the cross, I am presented. I am the kolosh tzar. You are presented. You stand before God holy, unblemished, and blameless. Legal charges cannot be brought against you in the court of heaven if they're done according to the standard of judicial proceedings in heaven. There's nothing. So, does that, see that right there sounds like what i would say is eternal salvation you're in this condition presented before god cedars christ heavenly places there's nothing against you and now we're still living in earth if that's now but not yet and what happens if we slip up in and make a mistake ones if we sent uh... there is going to be divine discipline there's going to be you know conviction there's gonna need to be confession we're still presented set-apart holy blameless no courts can come against this because jesus christ work on the cross is greater than our sins so that versus right there uh... so far we've read this was twenty one 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 above reproach before him." The next verse 23 now here's the word see it right there verse chapter page 3 chapter 1 verse 23 if indeed there it is if if is the first class condition if indeed is how it's translated in the english standard that's first class condition which means if and it is true now there's four classes of condition it could be condition if and it is not true for example when Satan spoke to Jesus he says if you'll bow down and worship me if you'll turn these stones to bread it was not the first-class condition it was condition of if and it is not true or if and I know you won't bow down and worship me so we have in the English we it has to be within the context of the sentence structure you know typically someone says if we don't know what you're going to do if But in the Greek, it's very clear in the text, if and it is true, or if and it is not true, or if and we do not know, or if and it is highly unlikely. In this case, it is if and it is true. So, along with all the other things we've seen, Paul is not getting to verse 23 and saying, this is all true, you're presented before God, You are holy, you are blameless, you are unblemished. There's no court that can come against you in the courts of heaven. You're pure. If, we don't know if you will or not, if you continue. That means I was saved, but if I continue, well, now again, if we go back to the human nature on this side of history with a sin nature, if you've got to live more than 10 seconds in the human body, You're going to have some thought, some rebellion. It could be a thought. It could be an attitude. It could creep up on you. It could become an action. It could become a lifestyle of going back to the sin nature, and no one would be saved. No one would be able to... There's no one who's going to mature enough on earth that they eliminate the natural sin nature we have, being seeds of Adam, the sons of Adam, you can't be in Christ long enough, hard enough, practice enough that you burst out and all of a sudden you become pure. I cannot sin any longer, someone would say. Not on this side of eternity. Everyone, if you haven't died, you haven't been resurrected, has a sin nature, and it's just a matter of time. And we're not talking months or years, we're talking seconds before something surfaces in your thoughts, in your thinking, in your words, in your deeds. Now you're right back to having, now you're blemished. So this is talking about Christ has done the work on the cross, faith has been placed in christ you have been presented you are holding you are blameless you are on blemished you keep their there can be no charges brought against you you're gonna stay there if and it is true here it is you continue in faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of which of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed to in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul became a minister if you're gonna see you're gonna be there you're gonna be blameless if you it says right there in in the English Standard if you continue in faith you're gonna have to continue in faith and then you're gonna be stable Steadfast and holding to, is that what it says? Oh, not shifting. That's the English, and I think NIV is holding to, not shifting. So you have had faith. You've placed faith in Jesus Christ. By placing faith in Jesus Christ, you have trusted in something that has stabilized you. It's made you steadfast. And now, as you continue in this right here, and not going to shift, you cannot shift, if you continue, if And you will continue in faith because you've placed faith in Christ. It says, if indeed you continue in faith, stable, steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. And so here you place faith and you had hope and this hope made you stable, steadfast. If you don't shift from this hope, which again, you may waver, but you have faith. You've already placed faith in the cross. It's a done deal. from the hope of which you have heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation, and of which I, Paul, became a minister." So several things in that verse. First of all, let's look at stable, steadfast, not shifting. If you look at Well, first of all, just so you can see the notes, I described the word if for you can see point one there. If indeed, and I show you all those things, I've said all those things. And if you turn to page four, at point two, on the middle of page four, there's some more details about the word if. I've said them, but again, it's first class condition. There's no doubt in this if. Paul knows that in the past they have been reconciled. Again, this is gonna point this out. They have been reconciled, and they were reconciled in the past. He's already talked about the future. Let me clean that up. The future, when they will be presented, to present, that's in the future. Now they're in the, oh, excuse me. present now i want to say i want to write present so i'm going to this is present you to god in the future i'll just write now so you got the past now and the future and now he's talking about now if you'll continue and so this is already established have they been reconciled in the past Yes. Now because they've been reconciled, they will be presented to God in the future. So you're saved in the past, you're presented in the future, you're seated with Christ in heavenly places, so now you're in the middle. Logically, if you're saved in the past, I'm saved in the future, whoa, what happens today? I lost my salvation. Well, if you're saved in the past, you're saved in the future, there's no place to lose it. You have to be saved now. You're still saved. Now, we still have a sin nature. We've mentioned that several times. So there's going to be challenges, there's going to be failures, there's going to be sin, but you are a child of God. So, continuing on the middle of page four about the word if, Paul knows that in the past they had been reconciled. He has already spoken of the future. There is no doubt of the outcome. Point E is important. There is both, number one, a logical theology that they are saved. eternally at this point. And there is also a grammatical context with this word if and some other places that they are saved eternally. So that is why I believe in eternal salvation. If indeed a person is truly saved, uh... they are holy blameless set apart by god and they have the faith they're gonna be stable steadfastly continuing it's gonna be a challenge to maintain this in their life this view but that's gonna not depend their salvation won't depend on what's gonna depend on it is that divine dynasphere that they've got producing the growth and the ability to function as a testimony as as a gift of god in this current age with that being said point F, Paul is addressing their present situation. They need to continue today in order to experience their reconciliation of the past and the blessing of the future. So they need to continue in this hope, stable, steadfast, not shifting, so that now they can experience the reconciliation that was established in the past and they're being presented to God which is going to take place in the future. Now you can experience both of these things if you will continue in because this is true but if you don't act like it again if you don't understand it you will not be able to use this in your current experience. It's true in the past, it's true in the future, but if you just don't know anything, you're just confused, you're just going to live the whole Christian life in a question mark, which is coming up right here, which is the mysteries that need to be revealed to the saints so they can understand what is taking place. Otherwise, if you don't understand the Word of God, you're going to start building your theology on your local megachurch is just about building up numbers, or you're going to base it on Hollywood movies, or whatever you're going to come up with, maybe your traditions, but the Word of God is going to reveal these things to you. So that is talking there in the middle, and it says, if indeed modifies this concept of present you in the future. Okay, let's go back to page um three where am i at if indeed oh yeah page 3.1234 in the middle of the page number one is the word if and then stable steadfast and not shifting stable means to be established it means the lay of foundation uh... is the image of the collagens are on a firm foundation which is christ steadfast again means for me means sitting steadfast or seated he gives the image of sitting steadfastly in a chair or an athlete with balanced footwork uh... that is stable and not being moved or shifted it means not being moved away or dislodged so you are stable you are steadfast if you continue in this faith meaning the faith you will continue to be stable, steadfast, and not shifted from this hope that all of this is true. Now, if for some reason someone can not hear Bible teaching, they can be taught other things, false doctrine. Now, again, if they've never been saved, this is not true. But if they've indeed been reconciled to Christ, it is the same thing. It's the same thing. As members of the church, we'd say the church's responsibility. Now, we're not actually talking about the institutional church on the corner. If they claim to be a church, it's their responsibility, but you can't always trust what's going on in your institutional local church, because a lot of them are just businesses but the body of christ the called out ones there's gifts within there to help teach remind and establish people so that they can continue in the hope and be stable be steadfast and not be shifted from this hope that was held out to them in the gospel and they can continue in their life now living out the reconciliation for the past and the blessings of the future taking place in their life today uh... Okay, that's what's being said there on page 3. Page 4, we've already introduced the... the word if so now at the beginning or the end of chapter one verse twenty three it says uh... stable steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been pre proclaimed in all creation you know throughout the earth under heaven of which i'd paul became a minister now he shifts to i'd paul became a minister paul a minister and he is talking about this message and so we are on. page uh... four twenty four chapter one verse twenty four now he says as a minister now i rejoiced in what i am suffering for you and i fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to christ afflictions for the sake of his body which is the church Paul, who is a minister, and if we go back and see, he's a minister, yeah, that's good. He's rejoicing, two things, Paul is a minister, he's rejoicing, and this is now Christian speak right here, rejoicing in what he is suffering. Because to be a minister, if it's Jesus Christ or if it's Paul or if it's us, and you're going to follow in this fallen world, this fallen age, you're going to say, I'm going to follow Christ. Well, now I am a reconciled to God. I'm a friend of God. I'm blameless before God, but I still live in this fallen age. And you're to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ in this fallen age. Well, you've returned to enemy territory with the message of reconciliation to a world, heaven and earth, spiritual and invisible, that are in rebellion. What do you think is going to be the result of coming back into this world and proclaiming the message of reconciliation? You are an enemy, but there's a way to God through Jesus Christ. Well, their minds and their deeds, just like ours were, are programmed to be against God, against good, against Jesus Christ. The result of being a minister for Jesus Christ, minister, diakonos, the word, let me show you the word, it's not diakonos, it's, I'm looking here, became a minister, it's, yeah, oh, it is diakonos. Sorry, there's another word coming up here. Okay, minister means servant, Becoming a servant of Jesus Christ in this age is going to result in guess what? suffering they're not going to be like all individuals will they'll be times of rejoicing but it's going to come through periods of intense suffering because you're going to a world that's not receiving it and so understanding this you're a minister of jesus christ going off with the message of reconciliation in enemy territory it's gonna result in suffering but you know you've got the message from the throne you've got the message from the king you've got the right message working for the winning team in enemy territory, of course you're going to be suffering, but guess what? There's rejoicing because it's like, well, I'm on the right team. You're going to be rejected, but you know you're going to win. Paul begins as a servant, diakonos, Paul, diakonos of Christ, he says, now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you. So he's rejoicing because he's a minister, but he's suffering because he's still trying to get the Colossians to understand the mystery. and it's costing him pain and i fill up in my flesh again this is a tough set of verses and i fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regards to christ affliction who was the first one to suffer it was christ christ established reconciliation he he he did he the redemption he did it on the cross and his work was finished well now here's paul and paul is living in a body and he fills up in his flesh again what is still lacking well there's nothing lacking in reconciliation it's complete the work of reconciliation is complete what's lacking the the proclaiming the the teaching the explaining the right christ reconciled the world and suffered on the cross Okay, great, we get to go to heaven because we believe in that. Well, how did we believe? Someone had to proclaim it, someone had to teach it, and now Jesus is not teaching it. I mean, we've got the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the head of the church, but there's people, apostles in this case, they're proclaiming this. Well, if the work of reconciliation caused suffering in Christ, what's gonna happen to the one who's proclaiming the message of reconciliation? suffering. And so Paul is filling up in his flesh what is still lacking in regards to Christ's affliction. Christ's affliction brought reconciliation. Okay, well what's missing? Nothing. The work is complete. except someone's going to have to go to the world and proclaim it. So what's lacking in front of Christ's affliction is Paul's affliction, which is what? Proclaiming the message of reconciliation. Now this continues until today. What's lacking in regard to Christ's reconciliation in 2024? Well, us proclaiming it. I mean, we're going to have to continue to proclaim it generation after generation is going to have to continue in the suffering until Jesus Christ is restored, or Jesus Christ has returned and restores the earth. I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's affliction. Why? For the sake of his body, which is the church. And so Christ, who has he reconciled? Christ has reconciled through His suffering, He's reconciled those He has called out. of the fallen age. He's called them out. The Ecclesia, they've been called out. Ecclesia means church, or it's translated in the English as church. Once again, we go back to last week. Don't think about the little white building somewhere, but he's called them out. The called out was out of the age of darkness. Those he's called out. So Paul says, I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regards to Christ's affliction, which would be proclaiming the message. And not only proclaiming it, I mean, it's not just a matter of telling people Jesus is the way of salvation. We're going to go on here and read. You've got to explain it. It's a mystery. Even if you think about it, how did Jesus die on a cross in 30 A.D., you know, decide the year you believe it happened, 33, 30 A.D.? ? How did that cause my relationship with God to be restored? It's like, what's going on here? In fact, the Jews that had the scriptures, it happened right in front of their faces. They rejected it. They go, he's not the Messiah. But yes, he was the Messiah. They couldn't figure it out because it was a mystery. It was something that was not just hidden, it was something that they couldn't figure out in their own mind. It took the Spirit of God, it took revelation, it took the grace of God to reveal this. And so not only is this a mystery until it happened, it still wasn't understood. In fact, Paul himself went out to kill Christians because they were teaching this. And God revealed the mystery to him, and he's like, oh my gosh. And he understood it. So not only is it going to be proclaiming, it's going to be, we'll say this right here, teaching. It's going to be explaining. So the Colossian church is reconciled. They are, what we'd say, born again but they've still got many questions about, well, what does this mean? How do I live? I'm confused. And so someone's gonna have to come by and teach them. And Paul's gonna be bringing these things up here in just a moment. I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regards to Christ's affliction. Why? For the sake of his body, for the sake of the called out ones that have come out of the darkness into the kingdom of light, they're gonna be presented before God. I'm here to help the church, the called out ones, which is the church. Chapter 1 verse 24, I get in some details here that I'm going to interrupt the flow. Boy, it's 56 already. When it says, now I rejoice in what I'm suffering, the word now has got a question. When does he say, now I rejoice? and there's three basic answers now which would mean the next logical point in this letter now in chapter one verse twenty four now i'm going to continue to rejoice and continue to suffer or now can mean now while paul is currently in prison in rome now he still actively participating in this suffering and proclamation of the gospel or page five it says see now could refer to the current eschatological situation the church it could be right now in this verse it could be now in sixty two a d in rome as he's writing this letter Or he could be talking about now on this side of the cross, in the church age, in this dispensation, I am suffering as I try to help and explain things to the church. And so that is that point right there. Rejoice in suffering. There's many things we could look at right there. I want to skip that for right now and go to page 6. chapter 1 verse 25 where he says I have become its Servant and this is where you can see again diakonos his the minister. I become its minister By the Commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness So that gets into this not only is he preaching the message of reconciliation? He's bringing about the fullness of the Word of God. He's an apostle and even Peter, even Peter in 2 Peter is going to write some of the things Paul writes are hard to understand because Paul is filling up in his flesh. He is suffering as he's bringing about the message of reconciliation. the message of being restored to Christ and there's going to be questions about the mystery. We're going to be talking about the mystery here next week. The mystery, it's like what does this mean? And Paul is going to bring about the fullness of the Word of God. for the saints so those that have been called out the holy ones paul's job is to tell them explain to them the fullness of the word of god word of god Wrong. I have become its servant of the church, or again, when it says church, think of those that have been called out of darkness into the wonderful light of Christ. Paul's become a servant to those called out ones. If you want to put them in a building somewhere, or if you want to put them just in faith in Christ, he's become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you In this case, the Colossians, the Word of God in its fullness. Verse 26, what is the Word of God in its fullness? The mystery. What is the Word of God in its fullness? The mystery which has, it says, which has been kept hidden, which has been hidden for ages. Meaning Adam and Eve didn't know it. Even Daniel was told about it, and he goes, well, I don't understand this. And he asks the angel, and the angel says, go your way. Even in the New Testament, Peter says, angels long to look into these things. So there is truth. that has been hidden, it's been a mystery, and has been hidden for ages past. Paul is going to suffer by proclaiming the message of reconciliation, but there is still his responsibility to bring about the fullness of the word of God. We've got the reconciliation, but there's more to understand. But it's a mystery that's been hidden for ages past, and Paul is going to now begin to release it to him. Hidden for ages past and generations, but right here, here's the good news, and I'll quit with this. but is now disclosed to the lord's people or if you see the greek right there has now been manifested to the saints has now been manifested or revealed to the holy ones those who have been set apart by god or those who are different from the others it's now been revealed to the i'll just write holy ones because that's a closer just transliteration, but it's the word saints. And so Paul is going to reveal this mystery that is now available to the saints. And one of the sad things is the holy ones, the called out ones, the ministry of the church is to help the saints, the holy ones that are going to be presented to God to understand the mysteries that were hidden for long ages, but now revealed by Paul in the word of God for the saints. The very institution that we call the church, say the Western church, and throughout history, you can go back in the Middle Ages before that, the church is to be explaining the fullness of the word of God. In many cases, the church itself was the one preventing the saints from hearing it. We can give examples of the church killing Christians. William Tyndale translated the Bible into English and the church burned him, killed him for translating the Bible into the common language of English. And who did this? The atheists, the evolutionists, the secularists, the communists? Who? No, the church killed him for putting the Bible in the language that the people could understand. And so that has happened historically. And I believe it's got to be happening today somewhere. And I could probably come up with examples if you allowed me. But the church is supposed to be helping the saints, the holy ones, understand this mystery. And many times they're talking about all kinds of other things to entertain the saints instead of understanding this mystery, which will make you steadfast, stabilize you, and keep you from falling away because this is going to bring growth in your life. But if you take away this mystery and you just, you know, feed the saints donuts and Father's Day messages, they're going to get confused and fall away. Now, if they're saved, they're reconciled in the past, they're presented before God in the future, they're just not going to be able to enjoy that reconciliation and that confidence that they're going to stand before God in the present age, which I think is a tragedy and why we need to teach the Bible. I'll pray and we're done. Father, we thank you for the chance to look into these things. We ask that we would be able to process them and understand them and find hope and stabilization for ourselves at this time in history. We rejoice in the fact that we've been reconciled to you through Jesus Christ. And we ask that now, at this time in history, through Your Word, through Your Spirit, through fellowship with other believers, we can produce the growth and the deeds that You desire us to have at this point in history. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for being here.