In turn, if you would, to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 will be in verses 15 through 23 this evening. And I mentioned this morning, if you were there in the Q&A, that Colossians was a small, church, a small city. We don't necessarily know the size of the church, but it was a small, somewhat insignificant town in the eyes of the world. And they were experiencing trouble. They were experiencing people that were coming in and bringing various forms of false teaching, perhaps a form of what would be called Gnosticism or Judaism or other things. And as Paul comes to them, his focus is not so much to give a point-by-point refutation, But to point them back to really where we were pointed this morning, to point them straight to Jesus Christ. If there's any passage in Scripture that points to Christ, and of course all of Scripture points to Christ, but this passage here in a supreme way drives us to look at Jesus Christ. So we will consider Colossians 1.15-23, but before we read, let us pray. Lord, we need the power of the name of Jesus to come to Your Word this evening. We need Your Spirit to enlighten our eyes, so we ask that You would do this. That You, in Your good kindness to us, as our Father would grant us the opening of our hearts to understand this Word. And we would pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Colossians 1, 15-23. He is the image of the invisible God. the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church, and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven, And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you and His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, if indeed you continue in the faith. firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister." This is the Word of our living God. But when I was seven years old, my parents took me to Arches National Park, to see the beautiful sandstone arches there across the park. And on a hike there to the most famous arch at the park, the beautiful orange delicate arch, the final 200 yards or so led us to a narrow pathway. On one side of the pathway was a steep cliff. On the other side was a large rock face. And as we approached that pathway, my parents made very clear to me which side of the pathway on which I was to lean. I was to stay close to the rock face. I was to lean on the rock, and I was not to lean over and walk toward the edge and peer down the cliff. I was not to look and see how far it would be if I were to happen to slip. I was to stay by the rock. Unfortunately, what is clear on a treacherous ledge is often unclear to Christians in their daily walk. We know that the rock is Jesus Christ. We know that we are to lean on the rock, but often we find ourselves shifting, looking to the side, looking over the edge at other ideas, other philosophies, other hopes that seem to promise life. And ultimately, this only leads the Christian toward danger. Look how Paul would contrast this. Look at his call. Look what his desire is for the Christian. Look what it is for you. In verse 23, the end of our passage, if indeed you continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Firmly established and steadfast. And you know that this is God's call on your life, and maybe you come even here this evening, and you find your Christian legs a little bit unsteadfast, a little bit rocky, a little bit wobbly, and you find yourself tempted to shift just a slight portion away from the hope of the gospel that you've heard. We grow weak, and the call to be steadfast becomes challenging. How do we stay with the gospel? Well, the answer by the time Paul is at verse 23 is clear. It's to look to the Christ. He's already unfolded for us in verses 15 through 20. To consider Christ and find our steadfastness there. He layers on phrase after phrase after phrase. By the time you get to verse 20, you ought to be breathless, amazed at the Christ that you see. And that's what we want to consider here this evening. We want to consider Jesus Christ. We want to consider two realities about Christ, and then one call of Christ to pursue. Two realities to consider, one call to pursue. First, consider the Christ of creation. Consider the Christ of creation. And this is found in verses 15 through 17 of our passage. Here it unfolds for us what it means that Christ is our Creator. We see in verse 15, who is Christ? Verse 16, what was done in Christ? Verse 17, the world held in Christ. Verse 15, with this statement about Jesus, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. The image of the invisible God. And maybe you hear this and think, well, this means that Jesus was made in the image of God, just like you and me are made in the image of God. But when Scripture speaks about Christ in the image of God, it has a much more glorious, much fuller meaning and view. Herman Ritterbaugh says this phrase exalts the glory of Christ in his pre-existence. Jesus Christ, the very image of God. When Thomas looked at him and he saw the nails in his arms or the holes in his arms, Thomas cried out, my Lord and my God. He saw the very image of God himself. Jesus Christ, the image of God. And He is the firstborn of all creation. He is the firstborn of all creation. Now, I hear what you're saying. You say, what does it mean that He's the firstborn? Does this mean that He's the first one who's been created? Maybe you've had a Jehovah's Witness come to your door and say this exact thing. But what you must understand is that Scripture, as it presents to us the idea of firstborn, often emphasizes the idea of supremacy, being exalted above the rest. Think about David. David, the son of Jesse. And there Samuel was, and he was going through all the older sons, and then David came, and he was anointed. And Scripture, though, speaks of David as the firstborn. He was the one who was supreme. And Christ has this supremacy over creation. And it's not a supremacy that is, well, He's the most important created being. The answer to that question, the answer to the friend at your door who says that Christ is created, the answer is what verse 16 and 17 unfold. He is creator. He is the one who rules creation because He made the creation. Just look at this description in verses 16 and 17. And just start by looking at the prepositions here. Maybe some of you students have an English exam coming up and you're trying to remember how prepositions work. Just try to look and go through and see all the prepositions that are used to speak of Jesus Christ in reference to creation. By Him, all things were created. All things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. The full view of what it is that Christ is our Creator, all things made by Him, spoken by the Word of His power, Christ the Word. They're in creation. All things created through Him, through Jesus Christ. This world comes into existence. All things created for Him. It is for the purpose of the exaltation of Christ. And He is before all things. And in Him all things hold together. You look at the world around you. You look at all that you see. All of it centers around and is founded upon Jesus Christ. And what does it encompass? Would Paul leave anything out in what this would encompass? Look at verse 16, what's all included. All things were created both in the heavens and on the earth. You look at the beauty of the stars around you at night. You see the trickling of the stream and the beauty of the mountains created by Jesus Christ. You look at what's visible and invisible. Created by Christ, the invisible things, the spiritual world. He made it. And sometimes we get so caught up in what we see, and the physical things around us, and our houses, and our cars, and on and on, and we can begin to wonder, where do we see the spiritual world? How do I understand this? Where's my confidence in comprehending it? Well, it is in Christ. It was created. And perhaps we can do the opposite. We get so caught in the spiritual reality of the things that we're involved in, and we begin to lose the sense that Christ not only rules that world, He created the houses, He created the cars, all these things by His power, obviously created in creation, in that first creation, but all things created by Jesus Christ. We must see this visible and invisible, created by Christ. The rulers and authorities are mentioned in verse 16. Think about it. A few years previous, rulers and authorities put Jesus Christ on a cross. And Paul is saying, they were created for, by, through, and in the very Savior that they put on the cross. Christ rules creation. And is it just that, that He rules it in the sense that He is the Creator? He's there at the start, and then He lets it go? There's comfort, of course, that Christ is Creator. But verse 17 continues, He's before all things, in Him all things hold together. That word, hold together, is really one word in the Greek, speaking of many things out there, brought together in Jesus Christ. There's a coherence, there's a strength, there's a power, there's a way of understanding all of creation. Because it's held together by our personal creator, Jesus Christ. And this provides so much of the answer to what people are longing for. Consider, consider, the philosophers long for this kind of thing. Throughout the ages, people have longed for, how do I find coherence? In ancient times, people would wonder or think, is it earth or water or air or fire that somehow is the coherent principle? Later on, perhaps more sophisticated, I think, therefore I am, and somehow this provides coherence. Well, the Christian answer just presses right through that. In Him, all things hold together. In our Savior Christ, all things hold together. And we build our understanding of the world as we come to Christ. Christ answers the philosopher's longing. He drives the scientist's pursuing. Why should the scientist study an orderly creation? How can the scientist trust that there is order? There's a logical nature to the things that we're coming to. Christ holds all things together. This is why James Clerk Maxwell, as he entered his lab, would have written above it, Psalm 111-2, Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in Him. The works of the Lord are great, and how do we know they're great? Because in Christ, they're held together. And it doesn't just answer the longing of a philosopher, the pursuing of a scientist, but it drives to the steadfast nature of the Christian life. This is hope for shifting souls. This is hope for those who would stray from the hope of the gospel. Because your creator is not shifting. Your Creator is not moving from His position this evening of holding the world together. And you can go to all these other ideas or all these other suggestions about where you'll find coherence, and none of them have in them the Creator of the world. And you this evening have this Creator. And so you can rest in Him and know that the Creator of the world, Jesus Christ, has been revealed to you. Consider and rejoice in the Christ of creation. Learn to walk outside and look at the stars and look at the world that He has made. And look and find the stability and say, yes, I know the Lord who made that. But it's not done there, is it? Second, in verses 18-20, we will consider the Christ of incarnation. We have the Christ of creation, but we also have the Christ of incarnation. Christ's saving work is the focus of these three verses. But what you must see is, it's the same Christ through and through. Look at the connections. Verse 15, He's the firstborn of creation. Verse 18, He is the firstborn from the dead. Verse 16, He created heaven and earth. Verse 20, things in earth or heaven are being reconciled in Him. Verse 16 and 17 uses this phrase of all things. Verse 20 again, all things. What's the idea? The same Christ who rules creation came in the flesh as the incarnate Son of God, to reconcile the world to Himself. And as we come to the cross and resurrection, we see so much more of this Christ on whom we can be found steadfast. And what is most prominent, or what gains the exaltation among these things found in His work? Well, you see in verse 18, He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. What is it that in His incarnation ultimately gave Him this exalted first place position, to use this language? The resurrection from the dead. We know in Philippians it speaks of Him rising so that the name of Jesus, every knee would bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Christ's resurrection gains Him the first place, gains Him an exalted position. And the wonder of wonders is this, that Christ, who is most supreme and most exalted in creation, somehow gains an even greater exaltation as He comes as a humble servant and that is exalted in His resurrection. Now what did this bring about? What does His resurrection bring about? Look at the start of verse 18. He is head of the body. The church. He is the head of the body of the church. In both Colossians and Ephesians, this theme is prominent. By the resurrection, by the exaltation of Jesus Christ, he gains a particular headship over his church. We speak in the RPCNA often of the mediatorial kingship of Christ. And what we must realize is that the mediatorial kingship of Christ finds its first expression in relation to the church that He purchased with His own blood. And what a strength this is, what a confidence this is for us. And don't miss how the start of the passage and this portion of the passage come together. The Christ of creation rules the church. The Christ who holds the stars together is the Lord and King of this church here this evening. We do not have shifting sand on which we're standing on. The Christ of creation is our King, and by His resurrection, He is exalted as our Head, and we can depend on Him as He leads us forward. And it's no bare words when presbytery meetings or synod meetings are called together. In this denomination, a prayer like this is often given. We constitute ourselves as a court of your house, in the name and by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of the Church. Those are not empty words. You can find the graves of men and women who have died for those words. We have a Savior who was risen, who is exalted, and who rules this church. And what a privilege it is that we can submit to His rule in the church. But Paul is not done there. Verse 19, it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him. Just look at that word, fullness, for a minute. These false teachers, Gnostics, often profess the possibility of some sort of fullness outside of the Christian faith. And perhaps the argument would go something like this. Yes, Jesus can provide you something, but not fullness. You don't get all that you need in Christ. You need to find something else. Christ and then a little more might provide fullness. And before you get to your finding fullness, Paul wants to say, all the fullness of God is in Jesus Christ. Christ has all the fullness of God. You don't have to look somewhere else than Jesus Christ for fullness, because Jesus Christ is full as the fullness of the Father dwells in Him. And what is the full Christ accomplishing? What is the full Christ accomplishing as we look in verse 20? Through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, whether things on earth or things in heaven. All things being reconciled to Jesus Christ. And there's an expansiveness to this idea of all things here. It's not just speaking. about Christ bringing His people to Himself, but by reconciling all things to Himself, having a world made right. And of course, that doesn't mean universal salvation. All things made right, partially through His judgment, of course. But there's a promise. A world made right under the headship of Jesus Christ. Amos prophesied this kind of thing. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed. And the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with it." The mountains and the hills reconciled under our God. And I cannot illustrate it better than Anthony Salvaggio illustrates it when he speaks of a symphony. If you go there early and observe the orchestra tuning their instruments, there's a certain dissonance that's found. All the players there are perhaps at different notes here as they try to tune their instruments and be ready. But then what happens? The conductor walks out. He raises his arms. And all things made right. Every bow in place, every string in place, all eyes pointed in that direction. All things brought under Him. And this is what our reconciling Christ does. Reconciles all things under His rule. Now you must admit, this is a hard thing to see. Just in recent months, the news, Harvey, Irma, Charlottesville, Las Vegas. Is the world really being reconciled under the headship of Jesus Christ? Where would Paul have you look? Or obviously, where would the Lord have you look to answer that question? We'll go back to verse 20. Where is He making the peace? Having made peace, through the blood of the cross. And this is the wonder. This is the wonder. The Christ of creation, He made the universe by the word of His power. He came in the flesh as the Son of God. And what is His means of bringing peace through the blood of the most horrific death imaginable? The cross. What a Savior. What a Lord to be found under, making peace by the blood of His cross. Compare it to others. Alexander the Great sought to bring the world under him through military strategic initiative. Sought to reconcile Asia, Africa, and beyond to himself. The generation before Christ, Julius Caesar, violence, leadership, civil war, bringing the world to himself, failed. None of them could do it. And here is the omnipotent Savior, Christ, and He makes His peace by the blood of the cross. When we are tempted to shift from the hope of the Gospel, our eyes must be so fixed on this cross that we cannot see the trial, we cannot see the crisis, where we do see the crisis and we bring it straight to the cross. And we look at the cross, and through that we see what's clear. When it comes to staying steadfast, we must never let our gaze even shift just a half step away from the cross of Christ. So often our soul begins to rage, and we ponder and we wonder, where can I find sufficiency? Where can I find an answer? Where can I find fullness? Where can I find a real answer to the questions I'm asking? And we forget to consider Christ making peace by the blood of His cross. Ponder Christ at the cross. For there He makes His peace. There He accomplishes His victory that finds its supremacy then in the resurrection. What a Christ we have. Perhaps you sense in these verses that we've only scratched the surface of the Christ of creation. and the Christ of our incarnation. But then consider the call, the call of Christ to pursue in verses 21-23. And look how Paul turns the attention in these verses. Here he has been speaking all this time about Christ and His exaltation. And then he goes straight to you. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you and His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast." He looks at Christ, and then He looks at the believer. This is, will you stay on this Christ? And we recognize it's a miracle of miracles that we're in this Christ. We are formerly alienated, hostile in mind. We have stumbled in so many ways, and this Christ has redeemed us. We are reconciled in His fleshly body through death, which we've spoken of. And the goal is that we would be presented before Him. Some of you may look at the language here and perhaps be uncomfortable. Is this teaching some sort of work salvation? Or maybe something along the lines of, well, Christ gets you in, but then I have to work to stay in. I have to be the continuer, and it's sort of a grace plus works combo. The logic is a little tighter than that in the passage. The idea is this, the reconciled continue. The continuers are the reconciled. We reveal what Christ has accomplished in us as we continue in the faith. This is the sign of those who have been reconciled to Christ. And we must, it takes real efforts. Verse 23, it takes all the effort in the world to continue in Christ. And practically, how do we do this? How do we find ourselves continuing in a faith firmly established and steadfast, not moved from the hope of the Gospel? Consider, just from this passage, three ways of staying steadfast in Christ. And the first would be this. Study deeply. Study deeply. Look at this Christ and be amazed. Fall on your knees at this Christ and say, I want to know this Christ more. I want to know more about Him. Just a thought, perhaps commit that you would once a year pull a book off the bookshelf that's just about Christ and focus on Him and learn more of Him. I've been encouraged this weekend even, the elders here are studying Messiah the Prince in their studies. Now someone else here recommended that I read the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross. Get your eyes on Christ. Consider that. Consider reading a book like Maurice Roberts, Union and Communion with Christ. Mark Jones has a new book out, Knowing Christ. Think, how can I continue to grow in just knowing Jesus Christ? This is the foundation of steadfastness. So study deeply. Stand steadfast on the rock, secondly. Stand steadfast on the rock, and we're back, if you will, to that illustration of walking by the cliff. Paul here emphasizes that you would continue firmly established and steadfast. Hermann Bavink was one of the great Reformed theologians that God ever raised up to defend the faith. And he spent his life defending the faith against the lies of liberalism, dead orthodoxy and beyond. And as he responded to this godless theology, perhaps unknown to many, he battled a continual unsettlement in his soul. He wondered and he pondered, where can I find it? He wrote in his journal as he went off to seminary this simple phrase, shall I remain in the faith? God grants it. There on his deathbed, many, many years later, he couldn't say much anymore, but as people came to him and ministered to him, his repeated refrain was this, I have kept the faith. I have kept the faith. And what was it that gave him the strength? What was it that gave him the foundation? Well, he once wrote this, The Christian has found his standpoint in the promises of God's grace in Christ. The Christian has found his standpoint in the promises of God's grace in Christ. And that's the idea of this passage. Where am I going to find my standpoint as I'm tempted to shift? Is it going to be in myself, in my own knowledge, in my own capacity to figure it all out? Is it going to be in someone else or someone that would be a counselor to me or whatever? Where am I going to find my standpoint? The Lord is saying, here, consider Christ. The promises of God's grace in Christ. Look to Jesus and that's the standpoint. That's the anchor that takes you from the beginning of your life in Christ all the way to your deathbed. The standpoint is Christ. And then consider third, from verse 23, we study deeply, we stand steadfast on the rock, and we stick with the worldwide hope. We stick with the worldwide hope. Paul here reminds the Colossians that this gospel is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven. Think again of the church in the small city The city that those people wouldn't pass through. And you can just imagine, they're hearing the false teachers and they're wondering, is this gospel I heard just a one-off idea that some preacher came and told me once? Maybe this is just a myth. Maybe we've got this wrong. Maybe this gospel isn't what I thought it was. And Paul is saying, this gospel is being proclaimed and is saving souls in all creation under heaven. This gospel is saving lives everywhere you could look. And you and I need this reminder, don't we? We can, in our day-to-day, in our walk, in our workplace, in our town, in our local church, begin to wonder, is this gospel really going forward in power the way that I would long for it to go? And you must be reminded and you must drive yourself to see the worldwide nature of this gospel. Just think about it, even within the RPC&A. Just realize that the American church is in the RPC&A. If you see what God's doing in Africa and in East Asia, we are actually a small minority of those who are walking with Christ. in this denomination. That's just our small denomination. God is saving souls across the world. We prayed this morning of what's happening in Central and South America. And again, that's just a small portion of what God's doing. Lift up your eyes to this. Go online and see and read of what's going on. Find it. Find biographies and other things that would recount to you of a gospel that is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven. And when you realize that, and you come back to your day-to-day, and you can say, I will stay steadfast on Jesus Christ. I will stick with this gospel. Christ of creation. He holds the world together. Christ of our incarnation. He has brought resurrection life to you. You can stay steadfast in Jesus Christ. And by His grace, you will gain the victory. So stay with Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Lord, it seems so straightforward, in one sense, to stay with You. And we know that there will be temptations this week that would have us do anything but stay with You. Lord, grant us the strength to overcome in Christ and lift our eyes to this Jesus all the more. so that we would see and know and worship You. And we would pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.