Let us open our Bibles again to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. This morning we will look at verses 19 through 23. We've been looking for the last several Sunday mornings of this letter that the Apostle Paul, who was at this time when he wrote the letter, a prisoner, and he writes to this church at Colossae. And I mentioned last week that the minister of this church man that God used to raise up this church, preached the gospel at Colossae, had come to Paul, traveled to where Paul was over a thousand miles from Colossae to Rome. And he came with good news and bad news. And I mentioned the bad news was that there was false teaching. that had been brought into the church at Colossae. And as you go through the letter, you see what that false teaching is or was. It was the need to add to the work of Christ. Ceremonies from the law of Moses and also the need of angels, the help of angels in keeping a person and saving a person. In other words, it was an attack upon the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ, that He is a Savior who is able and willing to save His people. There's something else that you need. We know that's a lie of Satan. You know, the Apostle John in his first epistle, he warns the believers at that time about false teachers. When he wrote, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world, many false teachers. Now that was when the apostles were still living here. upon the earth. In that early time, there were many false teachers. And I encourage you that you listen to other men preach. Listen to me preach. A good rule of thumb always is, who gets the glory? If you hear this man's message and you believe what he has to say, who is going to get the glory for your salvation? Is it going to be Christ alone or are you going to share in the glory? Is the church going to share in the glory? Because the truth is, my friends, all the glory, all the praise, all the honor belongs unto Jesus Christ and him alone. And listen, train yourself to listen to what a man says more than how he says what he says. There are many men who are excellent speakers, orators, if you please, but listen to the message. That's the important thing. What is a man saying? And if he doesn't speak according to this book, according to the law of God, the word of God, then there's no truth in him. Always keep that in mind. But last week we ended with verse 18, where if you look there, the Apostle Paul declares that Christ is the head of the body, which is his church. And we thought about the fact that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured to us in the word of God like the human body, a metaphor. and the head is all important. There is no life apart from the head. The members are important, yes, but the members all must be attached to the head. By faith, we must be in Christ. The life, the life is in the head. The life flows from the head. His life in us is the hope of glory. Remember he said this, because I live, you shall live also." There is no eternal life, no spiritual life apart from Jesus Christ. He's the head of the body, the apostle Paul tells us, which is his church, the church that he might have the preeminence in all things. Now this morning, let's read verses 19 through 23 and then we'll look at them. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, if you continue in the faith grounded and settled. And be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister." I want us to look at four things that we are told here that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has in her head. That is four things that we have in Christ. The first is in verse 19, in Christ we have plenteous grace. In Christ we have plenteous grace. It pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now I want to emphasize three words in that verse. But before I do, I want to make sure we all understand what is the fullness that is in Christ? What is the fullness that is in Christ? Grace. That's the answer. It's grace. The Apostle John in the first chapter of the gospel tells us this. that the word was made flesh, the word of verse one, who is God, the eternal son of God, verse 14, and the word was made flesh and we beheld his glory full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. The apostle writing back to these believers in this church, They may have met in the house of Philemon. They may have been meeting in the house of Philemon. Remember when Paul wrote the letter of Philemon, he speaks about the church which is in your house. And it may well be that this was a local church. They didn't have a cathedral. They didn't have a building like the Lord has blessed us with even. Most likely they were meeting in someone's house, maybe a large house, maybe outside. I've met outside with the people of God and there's always something special to me about that. Just meeting outside under a tree and some benches or something like that. I tell you, this whole world is God's. It's God's world. And it's His cathedral, the world is. Oh, what a blessing it is that we have a place when it's raining to come in out of the rain, and when it's cold, and when it's hot, and think, yes, absolutely. But here this church was, I can just imagine, word came, well, there's a letter from Paul. and all the church, they were so anxious to come together and hear someone read the letter, the letter that Paul had written. And Paul, in this letter, as we look today, said, it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. All grace, all grace dwells in Jesus Christ. Now, the three words I want to emphasize, the first word is the word pleased. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. There are questions, there are questions that we all have and questions which we're asked sometimes that can only be answered by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the words that he used when he said, I thank thee, Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes. Even so, for it seemed good. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight. Why did God choose this man? and passed by that man. This lady and passed by that lady. We can't answer these questions. We know the answer. Yes, there is an answer. But the answer is in God. And our answer must be, it pleased God. Even so, Father, it pleased Thee. And that's what we see here. It pleased the Father. From old eternity, in eternity, when the covenant of grace was set up, no doubt, between the three persons of the Godhead, it pleased the Father that His Son would come, the eternal Son of God, be made flesh and dwell among us, and in Him the fullness of grace would reside. The fullness of grace in Christ. It seemed good. It seemed good to the father. It pleased him. Remember at his baptism, the father spoke out of heaven and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Oh, Paul says, it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now the scriptures reveal unto us that God does what he does, has done what he has done, and shall do what he shall do for his glory. For his glory. In creation, in creation, the heavens declare the glory of God. That's the reason we know that all men are without excuse It doesn't matter where a person may have been born, no matter how dark a place they may have grown up in or lived in. God, there's a revelation in creation of God. God, the handiwork of the Lord, the stars and the moon and the sun and the planets and all into the heavens that men are able now to explore and to go with the powerful telescopes and spaceships and everything else, but it all shows the glory of God. And yet man suppresses that. In Romans chapter one, the natural man, he suppresses this knowledge. He doesn't want to admit that yes, there is a God who has created all of this and all of it for his own glory and in redemption. God has determined that he receive all the glory. And that glory is manifested or declared in all the fullness in Jesus Christ. All the fullness of grace in him. It pleased God. Now I want to tell you something. It pleased God, it pleases me. Can you say that? It pleased God that all fullness dwell in Christ. Praise God, it pleases me. It pleases me. The second word is the word fullness. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. All the blessings of grace and their manifold, their many. We usually think about the forgiveness of sins. the forgiveness of our sins. There's no forgiveness of sins apart from Jesus Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, the scripture tells us. There's no forgiveness apart from Christ. That verse that we think about or use sometimes, be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." It's always for Christ's sake. All the fullness of grace, the grace of forgiveness, having our sins forgiven, having the slate washed clean before God Almighty. Justification is another one of these wonderful graces. Sanctification, being made holy in the sight of God. And adoption, being adopted into the family of God. It pleased the Father that in Him, that is in Christ, should all fullness reside or be. That's the reason we preach Christ and Him crucified. Every time we come here, that's what we want to hear. We want to hear of Christ. Why? Because it pleased the Father that in him all fullness would dwell. All fullness of grace. And you know that one word, fullness, that could have been sufficient. As we think about it, Paul could have written, it pleased the Father that in him should fullness dwell. fullness. I mean when something's full, it's full. Oh no, Paul had to add that word all. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. What I'm saying is there's such a supply of grace in Christ that meets the greatest need. No one And I know sometimes people think like this. They think, well, my sins are too great. My sins are too many. I've lived such an evil life. There's a fullness. All fullness resides in Christ. You know, I was trying to think of a name of a sermon that Charles Spurgeon preached once. I think it called the baddest man or something like that. He was preaching for the worst, the worst, the baddest man that's ever lived on the face of God's earth, the gospel to that man. There's a fullness in Christ, fullness of grace. The scripture says in John 1 16, of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace We receive grace according to the measure of the grace that is in Him, and in Him is all fullness. All the grace that we need to save our souls, to forgive our sins, to keep us as we go through this world, all the grace that we need to deposit us eventually in the Father's presence in heaven. There's a fullness, all fullness of graces in Christ. You cannot have a need greater than his sufficiency, whatever that need is, whatever it is. And the third word is the word dwell. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now this word speaks of permanence. Permanence in this sense. How many people do you imagine from the first sinner that God saved go all the way back there to the book of Genesis? I don't know if it was Abel. Maybe there's one that he saved before Abel. I know Abel was saved. But think of all the millions up to this point. And Christ is sufficient to save every one of them. How many do you think there's in heaven today? John said he saw a number that man could not number. all the fullness dwells in Christ, what I'm trying to say is, maybe someone would think, well, after all these years and all these sinners that he saved, maybe the grace is running a little low today. Like the gauge in your car, you know, when the gas gauge is going towards empty. Maybe after all this time and all these that God has saved, through the fullness of grace that is in Christ, maybe the grace is running a little low today. Ain't so. Ain't so. Oh no. Anybody here today need a Savior? I tell you, there's a sufficient Savior, Jesus Christ. As all fullness of grace dwells in Him. You know, that hymn writer one time wrote these words, there's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room for one. There's room at the cross for you. There's a fullness. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now the second part, in Christ we have accomplished reconciliation. This is what we see in verses 20 through 22. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. In Christ, there's plenteous grace. In Christ, we have accomplished redemption. You know that word reconciliation? You put that prefix re onto that word conciliation. Reconciliation, that reminds us that there was a time There was a time when man did not need to be reconciled unto God. Oh, no. When God created Adam in his own image, Adam and God were in harmony. There was no sin. There was no need for reconciliation. But just as soon as Adam disobeyed God, And we know, as the scripture says, for by one man, sin entered into the world. He was our representative. He was our head, our federal head in creation. And when he sinned, we fell in our father, Adam. And now, once sin enters in, there's a need for reconciliation. And how does he reconcile us? Well, the scripture here tells us, doesn't it? Through Christ, through his blood. It was only after man sinned and became estranged, alienated. Look down in verse 21, or look at verse 21, rather, and you that were sometimes alienated, alienated. Let that sink in. Alienated. That was all of us. And that was a position or the case of those that Paul is writing to in Colossae. At one time they were alienated from God. Alienated. That's an awful position to be in, isn't it? Sure it is. How, then, are we to be reconciled? Through the blood of his cross. Look at that. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. And you know it says here whether they be things in heaven or things on earth. At the time that the Lord Jesus Christ died, there were believers already in heaven. All of those Old Testament saints, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Isaiah, I mean, you just go through the list. There are many hundreds of thousands we don't know the names of. They were already there. And since the Lord died, there's been many more. But the point is, each and every one is reconciled in one way, and that is by the blood of the cross. by the blood, by Jesus Christ dying in the stead, a substitutionary death in the stead of his people through the blood of the cross. And Paul, he refutes an error here. You know, we believe and we know Paul was a human writer of this letter, but God the Holy Spirit directed him. And there's going to come, after Paul wrote this letter, maybe 100 years later, there's going to come an era that will be taught among the churches, and that is that Christ didn't have a real body. He didn't have a body like ours. It just looked like a body, a spiritual body. But Paul makes it clear, even before the era cropped up, The refutation is already here. Yes, he had a body, a body that God prepared him from the Virgin Mary, a body in which he could bleed. God doesn't have blood. God is a spirit. But the God man has a body that was prepared him in which he could bleed and pay the penalty for the the sins of his people. God's justice demanded satisfaction. Oh yes, he had a body. In fact, in Romans chapter 8, I believe it is, Paul said it looked like a sinful body. In other words, it looked just like your body, Christ did. He didn't have a halo. You know, back in the, I guess, dark ages, maybe, all the paintings that they could paint, all that they were allowed to do, they were all religious paintings for the most part. And they painted Christ, you know, in those pictures, because no one knows what his physical features are anyway, but they would always paint him with a halo around his head. No, no, he wasn't like that at all. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He didn't come in sinful flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, Paul tells us. And how did he reconcile his people unto God? Through the blood of his cross. You who were far off, far off. Someone said, how far were we? So far, we couldn't come back on our own. That's how far we were. We were so far, we couldn't come back on our own. We were like that one sheep that was lost, that the shepherd left the 99 and went out to seek. That sheep would have never come home if Christ did not come seeking to save that which was lost. The third thing that we have in Christ is a bright hope. You notice in the last part of verse 22, it tells us, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. The word hope, the English word I should say, the English word hope has sort of changed its meaning over the years. When the scriptures were translated, when they used the word hope, think of it as expectation, the expectation. And I believe that this here refers especially to when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, when he will present his body, the church, to himself and his father. His purpose in reconciling us, that He might present us, He might say unto His Father, Father, here am I and the children which Thou hast given me. You know, everyone that He was given, everyone that God chose in that everlasting covenant and gave into His hands, And he thanks the father. You read in John chapter 17, his prayer six times, he mentions the fact that God had given him these people, given you. If you're one of his children today, God gave you into the hands of his son before the world began. And one day he's going to present you to his father. and not you alone, but all of those who were given to him and be able to say, Father, here am I and the children which thou has given me. Oh, what a day, what a day. And my friends, when he presents us, he's going to present us here as the scripture says, unblameable, holy, first of all, holy, as holy as God is. as holy as he is, dressed in his righteousness, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. In his sight. Man, that's saying something, isn't it? I mean, in his sight! In Him, the scripture says, the heavens are not clean in His side. He charges even His angels with folly, and God is going to present us before Him in His side, holy, unblameable, unreprovable. How is that possible? How is it possible He can take a poor lost sinner like me, as filthy and sin as can be, and present me to His Father, unreprovable, holy, unblameable, through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. That's the only way. Only way. Those in heaven have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Some people believe this prophecy in the book of Zephaniah refers to Christ when he stands there with all of his blood-bought children around him. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. Singing. The last thing that I mentioned we have in Christ, in Christ we must continue in the faith, verse 23. Now Paul is not saying here that our faith makes the blood of Jesus Christ effectual but if a professed believer does not continue in the faith they could not be presented unblameable in his sight. And Paul would, I believe by this, stir up these people in Colossae and stir you up and stir me up today to perseverance. Yes, we believe in the preservation. We're in his hand and nothing can take us out of his hand. That's preservation. But there's also perseverance. We persevere believing. And God has given us means to persevere. His word, his word, prayer, the fellowship of believers, the times we come together and worship the Lord together and hear the word of God. These are means that God gives us to help us to persevere, to keep looking to Christ, to keep trusting in him. Then I want you to notice that last saying of Paul and that verse when he said, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister, a preacher. What is a preacher? What is a preacher? I like Brother Scott Richardson's definition of a preacher. He said it something like this. A preacher is a nobody. who desires to tell everybody about a somebody who can save anybody. I like that, don't you? A preacher is a nobody who desires to tell everybody about a somebody who can save anybody. And that somebody is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And He's able to save anybody. Anybody. Oh, what hope and expectation do we have in Christ.