This is the last time we'll be looking at verse 15, though. And the reason for that is, I suppose you could say that our purpose this morning is to finish thinking about the idea that we began thinking about in Colossians 1.15. Last time, which means finishing the second, well, part two, finishing the initial thought in the book or in the study, and that is the image of God in Colossians. So with the amount of material we have left to cover, we have time for a little review of what we saw last time to kind of resettle you in it since a week has gone by. The reason that we start out this study with this idea of the image of God in Colossians is because you might say that Colossians is that New Testament book that explains to us why we need to know the image of God. And I'm a firm believer that if you don't know why you need to do something, you're very prone to run out of gas at some point in the journey. But if you can keep that reason why you need to know it in mind, it will help you more likely than not to finish. So, that's the first thing we saw was, Colossians tells us that the reason we need to know what the image of God is, is because if you don't know it, then you can't know what it means to say that Christ is the image of God. So that's the price we pay if we don't know what the image of God is. Now, we said that you might say, well, what's the big deal about that? Why do I need to know the meaning of this statement in verse 15 that he is the image of the invisible God? And we said, well, that's what the whole book of Colossians is about. It's written to make a Christian feel deep in their bones that this is the most important thing in life to know. So if he can do that, then you will end by coming back and saying, OK, I need to know what the image of God is. So we said the good news is it's not hard to follow. Some books of Paul are hard to follow. Colossians is not hard to follow. So you can see how he communicates this if you just start at the beginning and step by step think about what he's saying. So we did that. We started and we said, well, if you look at the greeting, then you can see he's not writing to them because he thinks that they are a group of less people. You don't write a greeting like that if you think the people you're writing to are less. Then we look at the Thanksgiving from verses 3 to 8. And we said, well, nor is he writing to them because he thinks that there's something wrong with the beginning of their Christian life, you know, in the sense that they laid down some kind of And this is clear from verses 3 to 8. So, if he's not writing to them because he thinks they're lost, so you need to get that out of your head. This is not a book to be rattled about whether or not you're saved. Nor is he writing to them because there's something wrong with how they were living the Christian life at the beginning. And then why is it up to them? Why is the papyrus released, right? Well, the reason emerges from the water out in the open explicitly in verses 9 to 14, which is the request section of this prayer. And what do we see here? Well, what we saw here is that he was writing to them because what they needed, what they lacked, was an additional knowledge of God that needed to be laid down on top of their initial knowledge of God, which was good. So it wasn't that they were lost. It wasn't that there was something wrong with their foundation. They just needed to put the house on top of the foundation. There was some additional knowledge of God which they did not get at conversion and they desperately needed to get now. And you do pray a prayer like verses 9 to 14 if you believe that. And so I gave a couple of reasons for that which I won't go into. Maybe the easiest one to remember is You don't ask God to give something to someone that they already have. So by virtue of the fact that he's praying that they would be filled with this additional knowledge of God, it's clear that this is a knowledge of God they do not yet possess. And this is the reason he wrote to them. And all of Paul's letters are this way, right? They start out like a piece of music. They sort of toy with the theme that they're going to develop more fully later. And so this is what he does here. So if you're reading along, By the time you finish verses 9 to 14, you know the purpose of writing to them all of the letter of Colossians, because they needed this additional knowledge of God. And so then, Maybe you might say, well, let's just be clear and point this out so we don't lose it. The content of his prayer is signaled in verse 9 by this that clause, specifically, that he may be filled with the knowledge of his will. And then we pointed out that So, it's clear, it's a kind of knowledge of God that is of his will, of his plan for the universe, you know what I'm saying? It's not his moral will that he's talking about, it's his sovereign will, it's what God is doing in the sequential movement of time to tell us in the universe, where is all this going? So we know where it came from, but where does it go? That's what he prays for them to know. And there were three verbal parciples that he said spell out what it looks like. to have this knowledge. And that really shows the value of it. They were, well, number one, you will be bearing fruit, in verse 10, in every good work. Number two, you will be being strengthened with all power, et cetera. Verse 11, and then you will be giving things. and the reasons for that, things are included all the way to verse 14. So what you have that makes this knowledge so valuable is that if you know it, then these three things result. It's like if you have this fire, then the smoke results. So if you have this additional knowledge, then there'll be burned food and everything You'll be strengthened in every single circumstance, no matter what's happening. And you'll get up there without lashing out. And you'll be a person that is joyously giving thanks for what God has done in Christ. So just think of this. The Apostle Paul believes, it's good to remember who we're talking to. You may want to go back to 2 Corinthians in that list. Last, when you come to hear a sermon like this, you think, here we go again with some kind of a message about how you can live this certain way. But, in all actuality, we're just here pretending because nobody really knows how hard my life is and how terrible it is and that this really doesn't work. The Apostle Paul is the one telling us this. They just think about the things that he lists in 2 Corinthians. Beaten times about number. often naked, homeless, forsaken, offspring, on the run, filled with anxiety, many sleepless nights. So all of the sufferings of the cross were piling up on this man, and this is the man who's telling us there is a piece of information which if you know it in your head and heart, You can do all things through it. You can be a fruitful, powerful, thankful individual no matter what. If, and only if, you know this one thing. Now that, I think, us, the value of what we're talking about. If the Apostle Paul, don't you, when you see this man just roping the Mediterranean area like lightning McQueen. I mean, what was in his engine, right? What made, what gave him this vigor? You often think, if I could get into his head, I would love to. Well, here's how to get into his head. This is him telling us, this additional knowledge of God, this is why it's so valuable. Now, from there, this is still last time in part one. From there we said, okay And so you press on you said well what comes back to first 15 Well, that's where you get. I mean 14. That's where you get versus 15 to 20 so this is our immediate text and we're focusing at the beginning of it, but this text is As known as the Christ hymn, or Hymn to Christ. It's, if not preeminent, the second runner up for the most exalted passage in the New Testament, the Old Testament, all of Scripture, about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the mountain peak. This is as high as you can get on the Rockies. The thought then becomes something like, well, if he sets this before us at this point, the implication is that at least you can say, well, who's this passage about? It's about the Son of God. So the additional knowledge of God that we need, as we zoom in a little closer of resolution, I would say is about the Son of God. So get this. There is a knowledge of Jesus Christ, which you did not get at conversion, that you need for sanctification. Remember 2 Peter 3.18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a knowledge that we need to get out of the thought that I already know. No, if at any moment I am without joyfully giving thanks, if at any moment I am not able to bear fruit in every single circumstance, if at any moment I become unstrengthened to endure my situation, I cannot claim to be knowing in the present moment this truth. I can't claim to have never known it or have lost sight of it, but if this is operative, you can literally live a Christian life in any circumstance. So, that's the flow of thought here. Paul has told us there's this additional knowledge. He's told us that if we get it, we can live a Christian life in any circumstance. And then he's told us it's a knowledge about the Son of God. So that's the conclusion of this point. For Paul, the way to know God is to know the Son of God. And then right there, we said is the whole message of Colossians. that I pointed out commentators have long nailed down the theme of this book. It becomes the theme of this book that if you know Christ, you know the one thing you need to know. There's not a lot of things you need to know, but there are some very few things, right? As Piper put it famously, that you need to know that are very, very great, and that makes the difference. This is it. This is one of them. This is the top one. And so the contribution of Colossians to the Christian canon is the sufficiency of Christ, the completeness of Christ. That's the message, that if you have him, you have absolutely everything you need. If you don't have him, you are pretending to have absolutely everything you need. Those are the only two ways to live. Everybody acts like they know how to live and they have what they need. But there's a way to actually endure all the way to the end proof that you know how to live. And you know what you need. And then there's another way where the idols disappoint along the way. And you see people crumble and break and turn into nothing. So, for example, how many people, I mean, How many people fall for romance? That I would cross the ocean for you, and like I always joke, it begins that way, and then it ends with like the man in the living room and the wife says, can you go get anyone across the living room for me? But the people who treat a gift as a God, are just setting themselves up for the ultimate betrayal and the ultimate disappointment. So a spouse is a very great gift, but a very terrible God. And you can say that with children, you can say that with anything, and so you just look out, like Proverbs says, wisdom is crying out in the street. Watch people's countenance, pay attention to their arguments and fights, In griefs, in anxieties, it is not hard to discover their God. It is easy. The eyes, the lamp, the body, and where your treasure is, it is not hard to see. And so, Christians or you know, we can get sidetracked of this so when you come to Colossians if you just read Colossians you should think to yourself I'm coming to this book to be reminded that Christ was sufficient and we said the theme If there's a thesis statement of this thing, it's in chapter 2 and verses 6 to 10, particularly verse 9 where he says, in him is all the fullness of beauty embodied for him, and therefore in him you've been made complete. So we pointed out there, this is probably the most important verse. So verse 9, that right there, that in him is all the fullness of deity, dwelling in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete or full. It's the same related Greek word, and by not translating it that literally, it's pleroma or something. everything that I've said is leading to this That's his argument. And the implication, we said, that he's going to tease out in this letter, readers of this book have always been trying to figure out, what's the heresy? What's the Colossian heresy? Is it legalism? You know, a form of Jewish legalism? Or is it some kind of Gentile mysticism, agnosticism, and mystic? or is it a combination of both? And you really don't have to exactly identify the heresy, you just identify how Paul is turning this doctrine towards it. And so his argument is simply this, that if you are full, so first down he lays down you're full, and then he said, well, what would be the implication of that? Well, if you're full, then you need no supplements. You need no additions. You need no help. And so I tried to spin out some analogies of that. You know, when you're full at Thanksgiving, and if you really mean it, you're like, I just, you've gone beyond the hobby. You know, second lunch, you've had like third, fourth, fifth lunch, and you just can't eat anything else. And then you say, I just can't. You mean it. Because the implication of being full is, you can't have food. And some other analogies we used was, kid goes to Disney World, Because you know, what would you possibly mean that you can't get here that the logic of the child would be Disney World is fullness We are in Disney World. I don't believe similarly all the same in Christ is the fullness of beauty and So, do you understand the implications of anyone telling you you need to leave Christ in order to be shored up and filled up? You would say, well, the reason would be they don't want to. of Christ. If they did, they would never reason that way. And so, we finished with a couple of others. I said you could think of a puzzle on the coffee table. It makes sense to go search for pieces if you're missing pieces. Because this work, quote on our fullness, it could be translated complete too. So when the Bible uses the word perfect sometimes, it doesn't always mean Morally, it's seamless. It just means complete. And you use it that way, too. You say, man, the way you did that was perfect. And what you mean is, there were some components that you needed, and they were all there. So if you have a puzzle, and you have all the pieces, you say, it's complete. And it makes sense to go searching for pieces to finish it if it's incomplete. And then Christ is an infinite fullness. Or we said you might think of two five-gallon buckets that are empty in front of you. And then imagine a third bucket that's full of water all the way to the ground, a man holding it. And he walks over to that, say, if I had two buckets down here, the bucket on your left. And he dumps out completely this bucket into that bucket. And then he goes and sits back there. And they have these two buckets. in front of you. One of them is completely full to your left and one of them is completely empty with nothing in it to your right. What Paul would be saying is that God has taken all of the revelation The God who made the trees, the leaves, the clouds, all of it. He has taken all of the revelation, the maximum amount of revelation that it is possible to communicate in this universe, given the way He's designed it, and He has dumped it fully out in Christ. There's a max to things, right? There's a maximum speed limit. There's a maximum amount of things you can fit through a certain hole. And there's a maximum amount of revelation God can reveal to this creation. And Paul says, the fullness of God is in him. So that means our great problem is not fully knowing the fullness that is revealed in Him. For if we did, again, no matter what, with tears streaming down our faces, we could be as sorrowful, but at least rejoicing. We could be as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. We could be weak, and yet strong, if we knew the fullness of Christ. And, anyone who ever suggested to us that we needed some life principles, or to follow this or that podcast, This or that counselor, whatever the case may be, we would identify that for what it is. So what have we seen as we've come to where we left off last time? We've seen that there is this additional knowledge of God that we need. We've seen that this additional knowledge of God will make us complete, a.k.a. able to live the Christian life in any circumstance. We've also seen that this additional knowledge of God is about the Son of God. And we've seen that when you experience it, you will experience such a fullness in Him that you will realize you need nothing else to get in touch with the divine. So now the question becomes, what is this additional knowledge? about the Son of God that I need in order to experience this fullness and love this world. That's the point at which you begin to focus on this section. You say, well, how does it lay itself out? When you do that, look at it with me, the very first thing you notice is that at the very top, like a title, like a newspaper headline, the whole thing is the claim that he is the image of the invisible God, verse 15. Then you notice verse 16 begins with 4, which is the signal that Paul begins to reason with us. So, proposition, and now I'm going to give you the proof. And then you notice he just goes on giving the proof all the way to the end, the very end of verse 20. So the layout is clear and it is perfect. If someone wants to convince you of something, you can't ask for a better method. Proposition proof. And this is it. The proposition is he is the image of the invisible God. And then Paul says, and here is why I claim this. What this means is the whole thing is about this. The whole entire thing, this is the knowledge we need. And so when I was first studying this and came across this, It was, it was like, the only way I could capture what it felt like was, you know in that movie Up, when all of a sudden the balloons come out and this house rises, like there was just this coming alive-ness that captured your attention. It was just staggering to me. For several reasons. To see Paul work this logic out in this world of Paul and to say, But one particular piece of knowledge that I would know Paul, I'm going to put it this way, like this is the kryptonite, this is the invincibility, truth, that Christ is the image of God. That was epiphanous to me. Why? Well, just think about it. Just think about it. Have you heard anyone this week talking this way? Let's just juxtapose this to feel the epiphany of it better. We have the Apostle Paul coming in his climax and making his plan. And then you have all of the information we've been consuming all week through one another, and internet, and news, and TV, and all conversations. Probably, it is not hyperbole to say. I'm only saying there's someone not saying it somewhere, but 99.99% nobody ever mentions it. Is this what the therapist would say? Can you come to someone who's struggling in a marriage? Is this the thought? I mean, have you been thinking this way? Just consider yourself. Is this what you've been thinking all week? If I could only know what it means to say that Jesus is the image of God, then all my problems would go away. Has anyone been thinking that? Second Corinthians 4. The God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel and the glory of Christ who is the image of God. What is the explanation of billions of human beings all over the world, passing through their weeks, trying to figure out all their problems, without ever asking, what does it mean that Jesus is the image of God? Satan. That's the explanation of that mental phenomenon. What is the explanation of it happening to Christians? Satan. What it looks like to be under the influence of the devil is not wearing black grungy clothing. It's trying to figure out your problems and go through your week without the thought ever crossing through your head Christ is the image of the Invisible God. Remember Paul's explanation of his ministry to Rebekah? Acts 26, 17, 18. Why are you preaching this way, Paul? He says, this is what Jesus said to me. I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God. Even in schools, in workplaces, in group, that you know there's groups that exist to help the community. that Jesus is the image of God is not the central theme of that group. It doesn't matter how much they're cleaning the streets and how many wonderful posts they make on social media and how much they appear to be a wonderful blessing to the communities, the whole entire thing is satanic. Man's ultimate problem is not tattoos, sexual deviancy, abortion. You get that? Even abortion and greed and hatred and cursing are way downstream to the real fountain problem. Because if man had that fixed, all of that would flow differently. This is the claim, clearly, that any time you see a human being frustrated, hollering, screaming, in the present tense meaning of the word, at that moment they are ignorant that Christ is being done. If they weren't, they wouldn't be behaving that way. Now just think about this challenge that Paul is presenting. Do you agree with it? Do you agree with what I've said so far? Do you think that Satan knows what mankind's ultimate problem is? I mean, think about it. There's a billion facts in the world that he could go after. Why? This Paul said, the one thing he tries to bind you of is that Christ is the image of God. And that's parallel, by the way, in that text with being valid about the gospel. Because he says, if our gospel's valid, it's valid for those who have finished it. In whose case, what? The God in this world has blinded their minds from seeing Christ is the image of the invisible God. I think Satan knows. I think Satan's been around. He's not ancient of days, but he's ancient. He's had far more experience with deceiving human beings than I've had with sin in my spiritual life. Surely Satan knows. Or consider the Apostle Paul. Do you think the Apostle Paul knows what the one main problem of mankind is? There we go. They both know this is the North Star. which if you see it and keep it in view, Satan knows. I mean, just get how simple this makes life. Satan knows. Remember my quote, that you don't have to know a lot of things, you don't have to have a high IQ. There's a few things, and this is one of the very few things. And so Satan knows, if he can keep you from thinking about this good, He would put anything else in the way. You can be the trumpeteer that goes in the world and say, let's just all be nice. Satan's found that. Because that's not Christ's image of God. He's happy when you center in your thoughts on that. Let's all be good. Let's all be nice. Let's all be kind. Let's all be just. And Paul knows if he can get you to see this one thing, then it will successfully guide you at all times. And that's the start. Reminds me a little of the Paul in 13 movie. If they need to get back home, but they needed a fixed point. directional systems and everything have gone down, and the energy had gone down, and they managed to get just enough energy together to do one controlled burn, and as long as they kept Earth in the window, it would put them on a trajectory, and it would finish out the energy, but, you know. And don't you know there are times in your life like that when your whole sense of direction is gone, your energy is gone, everything, you're scattered in your head, and Paul is saying if you Take the amount of energy that you can pull together and focus on the fact that Jesus is the image of God and you can endure. That's what he said. And you'll make it safely home. So what did we see? There is a vision of God called the image of God. And if you have it in view, you'll be equipped for anything and everything that could ever happen to you. To say it another way, you can live the Christian life, and if you don't, you won't be able to live the Christian life. And this will be is the truth contained in the single statement that he is the image of the invisible dog. This is where all the fullness of deity is found. And Paul's prayer is that you would put the lips of your soul around this and drink it down fully. Put it together. That you may be filled, verse 9, with this fullness. So it does no good for there to be a foolish there if you don't take it in. But his prayer is to find the spot of divine revelation where it's the largest opening. And then to put the lips of your soul, like we used to say that, I just had this memory when I was a kid, I brought it up before, It's what you knew when you were kind of growing up, that you started sipping by just putting your lip a little bit over, about half way over. And when you're a kid, you just, I mean, you put your whole mouth around this thing and drink it in. And so, that's a good way to think. He's not only telling us that all the fullness that God could ever pour out has been poured out in Christ. He's also praying you would be fully filled up with as much of it that you can contain. I can't think of a more loving prayer request anyone could ever pray for me. You imagine that? How would you feel if you knew I mean that's what you want This letter That's what makes this brother so incredible. Chapter 4, verse 12, Paul says, Apathros, who's going to be a number, now that's the brother who founded the church mentioned in chapter 1. He says, he sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers that you may seem perfect, complete, fitting, And sure, I just can't think in a stutter that the term fool is not meant to echo. So this book is bracketed by Paul's praying, the pathos is praying, and just think of that. To talk about making advances in the Christian life, every Christian here It's fine to start out with the training wheels, but you need to progress. And in your prayer life and not prayer life, we need to progress beyond just saying, well, I hope Mr. Ford's foot gets better. That's good, but it's not best. We take time in my day you take time your day so the fullness of all those revealed in Jesus That's the prayer You appreciate the other one too, but So All time I'm not particularly fond of that stained glass. It's not my jam. But I am fond of stained glass. And I'm doing my part to try to turn Protestants back towards art and beauty to whatever degree I can find my little flapper and have an influence. But it's grievous that I understand it. At first, you have to swing away. There is this craving in the human heart that sometimes sends people toward Catholicism rather than Protestantism. And it is legitimate. And that is When the heart is really craving the divine, it knows that the divine is something ancient. And it knows that that transcendent truth transcends my life and your life and includes many lives before us in something large and big and huge. And eschatological, And there's something about the ancient buildings and the beauty and the art. I mean, there's things in Europe that took generations to build. Think of the investment. And it just speaks of transcendent truth a little bit better than the Manila-rolled church plant in the neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that. That's the way it's gotta be. Don't get me wrong. But, the point is, it's also right to swing the pendulum back towards the various ways to illustrate truth. It's no different than some illustration. No one thinks it's unspiritual when you say, well, it's like this, and you're all of this. So, here's the thought behind favorite pieces of stained glass, I would love to see one day, is in person, is the rose window in Murder Dom. And John, you can talk about that, add the detail of it for hours. But what's the logic behind the stained glass that's going on there? There's multiple things, but the one good thing is this. The idea is, The outside light passing through that opening of stained glass and flooding the inside of it is meant to represent something like the transcendent beauty of God that a creature never take in. He dwells in unapproachable light which no man can see or can see. There's just this idea that there's this light, this effulgence, this outshining of God that the creature can't take in. And therefore, the role of separation between you and that light when you're in it is meant to represent your creatureliness and his creativeness and the distinction and difference and separation that you cannot know God fully. as God fully knows himself. You don't even know yourself. Think of what it would be like. God's being is fully lit. There's no darkness in him. So in God, being and knowing are coterminous. He fully knows who he is. And he fully knows, this is not even a sermon, but he fully knows that he's God. He fully knows no one can ever murder him. He fully knows he is filled with happiness. And invincible. And what do you think that is like? What do you think the consciousness of God is like? What is the experience of being God, I reverently propose it, like? It's a beauty we know. That rose window, that circular portal that lets in some of the light through the medium of that glass is meant to represent crimes. as this human medium that we understand, because he's like us, because he's man, and the Son of God is behind that flesh, the person of the Son of God, united to that flesh, it's the maximum, it's like, it's like animals brought to these creatures, and oh, they're fine, it's good bad fellowship for the dog, but it just doesn't match a life, it doesn't match another human that's exactly like you. And there's all these forms of revelation, the heavens are telling, and this is telling, but who's it like to be John and lay in his lap? What was it like? I mean, I can't even follow. John says, well, it's like, look at Josh's eyes. It's not for here. It's not like there was a light, but you felt like there was a light. There's just something coming out of unique beauty. And the point is, when Jesus hangs on the cross, and at the climax of the revelation, God has structured the universe in such a way that when that man, who is Christ, hung on the cross and is spread out, the two great commandments were completely fulfilled and awaited. You cannot comprehend. I mean, you could say abstractly, okay, first commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength, or you could just simply say that. That's the fulfillment of the first world commandment. If you wonder why it's so hard for us to keep it, that's what it will look like. In this universe, to love God with everything. How about the second one? Love your neighbor as yourself. That's what it looks like. He did that for Peter and reconciled to Peter because Peter betrayed him. And the whole point is to say, if you look at that pillar, if you stare at the cross, and you see the beauty coming out of the cross, you see some of what it looks like to be God. That is what God the Father has been experiencing for all eternity. That person. And so, this is what, think about this, what happens in conversion. What happens when the Holy Spirit comes, and you're listening to a sermon, and the Holy Spirit comes, and you're hearing of Jesus on the cross, and you're smitten by it, and you're broken, the appropriate mingling of repentance and confession, but assurance and joy, and that mingling of emotion that we all know, if you're a Christian, You just see the beauty in it. It's like Paul said. The light. God has shown in our heart to be the light. It lights up. The cross lights up. And you see it. And your heart is in fear. And you're broken. And contrite. And you feel loved. And you feel safe. And you feel all these feelings. But you're weeping down with tears. What is happening in that pew is a drop of what the heart of God experiences from all eternity, the joy of knowing the beautiful person of the Son. And as an expression of God's love for you, He has pulled you in to say, come get inside the Trinity and experience what it's like to know the Son. And someone's little, that's what's happening. That's where it goes. So, Christ, He is the widest and clearest opening between us and God and we can know the most about God by gazing at him. Paul, how did you arrest your wife? The wife I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So look full in his face, for if it's true that the people that Daniel wrote, the people who know their God, will display strength and take action, and if it's true that Christ is the fullest revelation of God that there is, then the people who know that Christ is the image of God will display strength and take action. Meaning, they will serve even when they're broke. This is the most important thing to know in all the world. That somehow on that cross, that's the image. So that's how Colossians experienced this. God would have known things of God. And Joseph said, without it, you can't know what it means to say that Christ is image of God. And if you miss out on all that, and you miss out on the one great thing of life that you need to know, It's literally like being told that without lights you can't see this one great thing in front of you that you need to see. So you say, so my turn on the lights. Knowing what the image of God is, is like having the lights turned on. And you'll be able to see something about how Christ is the image and the fulfillment of that image that you never even realized before. So the conclusion is obvious. We need to know what it means to be made in the image of God. And that's the task of the second section, the image of God. So as we move from the image of God to Colossians, And we close. The Lord's Supper. That window that you're to stare at. The bird represents his body. Jews represents his blood. Together they represent his humanity. And so, you're just reminded again, this morning, that the God that you're tempted to believe is not kind, and is not beautiful, and is mean, and is cold, and is harsh, and therefore you need to run from him, because you cannot keep his love, and he's just harsh, and he's just full of thou shalts, and thou shalt nots, And if you don't, therefore, I'll come in judgment, and that's all that is revealed about him to you. That's why Adam and Eve sinned with that tree. They didn't think he was gracious, or they fell in the thick of that. And so as the story moves to the climax, it ends with God loving his own tree. towards us. So I just remind you again, God made you. You fell into sin. You can continue to live that way and serve idols, strive with idols until you die and perish. But don't do that. It's just vanity. And you ought to know that. And don't fall into this other thing of like, well, I had, you know, I wonder why. Maria, I just kind of feel awkward. Why be awkward? Who cares if you get the approval or the right view of a few human beings for a few short years before you die? What I think of you means nothing. I'm just a man. Other people in there are just like puffs of air about their opinions and what they would say to you. I mean, they matter nothing in comparison to what God is going to say at the judgment seat. So, live under that. If you need to make it public that you are reputing of your sins and throwing your faith upon Christ, And you realize that despite the way you've lived all the way up to this moment, that He loves you. And that's what the universe is about, being a sinner who's come to Him. And I just want to remind you again, this morning you come now, and that will just mean you just Because this is the way for this is the way for you to do that That's the way You need to die. You need your children, friends, whoever. That's how they see it's a reality, too. One of the ways, not the only way, but it's one of the ways. So if you have been converted, or if you're laboring with conversion, go ahead and come to Christ. Don't hold off. Don't worry about how you came, or when, or what angle, or any kind of awkwardness. And then we baptize and follow him. Amen. We'll come now and take the Lord's. And we'll close.