We just celebrated Christmas and the miraculous birth of Jesus. Angels, shepherds, wise men! So exciting! But do we really understand who Jesus is? No ordinary man, even with an extraordinary birth, could bring us the Gospel that saves us from sin and promises us an eternity with God in a world completely free from sin and wickedness. In the next few verses of Colossians 1, Paul wants us to be sure we understand who this Jesus really is, and why we can have absolutely certainty in the hope of the Gospel.
Let me back up a couple of verses to make sure we have the context right, before going forward into our passage for today.
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NIV)
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Notice the “he” there in verse 13, “he brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” That “he” is set apart from “the Son he loves” so it must refer to God the Father
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But in verse 14, Paul turns his attention to things that describe the “Son God the Father loves,” and so the focus of the next several verses becomes Jesus.
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It’s in Jesus that we have “redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
15 He is the image of the invisible God, (NIV)
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This “he” is Jesus, especially since being the image of the invisible God means He is distinct from the invisible God
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Jesus is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3)
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Paul really wants to make this point:
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3 times in this letter he says the same thing in different ways:
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Here
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Verse 19: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him" (NIV)
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2:9: "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (NIV)
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Paul clearly wants us to know that Jesus isn’t just like God, or the one human who most closely resembles God, but that Jesus is fully God
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Jesus said anyone who sees Him, sees the Father (John 14:9)
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If you want to know who God is, just look at Jesus
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Of course, you have to look at all of who Jesus is, not just your favorite parts
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Some people like to say things like, “The God of the Old Testament is angry; the God of the New is love.”
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People who say such things only show their own ignorance
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On the one hand, the Old Testament covers about 4000 years of history, and the number of times God dramatically punishes people is a tiny fraction of all the times they sinned against God
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Most of the second half of the Old Testament is the record of the prophets, which cover only a couple hundred years or so, and they are pages and pages of God warning and pleading with His people to turn from their sin
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The tender heart of God is revealed over and over throughout the Old Testament—many times within the pages of those “angry” prophets
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It’s the Old Testament God who foretells and explains the coming of Messiah and His Gospel through these prophets
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The New Testament, on the other hand, covers less than a hundred years
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The 4 Gospels, the record of Jesus’ life, focus on the last 3 and a half years of Jesus’ life, with a few details from His birth and early years.
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You hear about His mercy and kindness and “eating with sinners,” but do you realize who these people are?
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The ones Jesus treats with gentleness and kindness are the humble and repentant, the ones hungry to know Jesus and learn from Him
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The religious people, the ones who think they’re so wise and good, who do not recognize their need to repent, Jesus speaks to them the same way His Father spoke to the Israelites through the prophets of old.
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The same Jesus who said to the woman caught in adultery, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? …. Then neither do I condemn you,” also said to her, “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:10-11).
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There is only one God, the same in the Old as in the New Testament.
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The more completely you read the Bible, the more you see that Jesus is the perfect representation of that one true God—because He is God Himself!
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It is God the Father, the God of the Old Testament and New, who loved the world so much that He gave His only Son—that those who believe in the Son would have eternal life (John 3:16), but those who reject the Son “will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).
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the firstborn over all creation. 16 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. (NIV)
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Jesus isn’t just a man who is a perfect representation of God
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He is the firstborn over all creation
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That doesn’t mean He is the first thing created
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He is God’s firstborn—He is distinct and different from the rest of creation, including you and me
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He wasn’t created but begotten
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He was born from God; He is of the same substance and nature of God
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He is a part of God—He is God
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All creation was created by Him
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The creation is not a part of Him, but something entirely distinct and separate from Him
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Everything in Heaven and on Earth, everything we can see and what we can’t see
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Including every form of authority, both angelic and human, good and bad
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All things weren’t just created by Him, but for Him
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Everything owes Him obedience, allegiance, honor, love—including you and me
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Nothing was created for itself, to do its own thing, to be its own thing—not even you and me
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But everything was created to please Him and serve Him and carry out His will—including you and me
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So we need to make sure we know what He desires us to do and that we do it
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Paul is preparing you and me to receive the instructions and guidance coming up in the later chapters of this letter
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Are you ready to live to please the Lord who created you and died to redeem you?
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Are you learning what pleases Him and putting it into practice?
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Your life is not your own. It never was and never will be. You were created for Him, to please and honor and love and obey Him.
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17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (NIV)
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“before all things:” Meaning Jesus existed before anything else in all creation,
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which means again that although He has taken on flesh and blood and entered into His creation,
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He existed as God long before He made anything
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“hold together:” Meaning He is above and outside His creation, even though becoming part of His creation
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He is the one who holds all things together
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If He were to let go, everything would fly apart and vanish
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Including you and me
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He doesn’t just grant us a new heart beat every moment or another lungful of air
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He is the force that holds our physical bodies, our molecules and atoms and subatomic particles together
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He can end your life and mine any time He wishes
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So every moment you are alive is a gift from Him
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And if you haven’t yet accepted Him as Lord and Savior, every moment you live is a mercy from the Lord and another opportunity to put your faith in Him
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18 And he is the head of the body, the church; (NIV)
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The church is this collection of people
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who believe that Jesus is the Son of God,
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that He is fully God and fully man
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that He died to pay for our sins
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and rose again to reign forever over His creation
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The church is His church, His body
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The church is the people who have accepted that Jesus is in fact Lord
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And who live in submission and obedience to Him
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Who recognize Him as king and director of our lives
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In this sense, we are the redeemed
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All creation was created for Him, to do His will
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But all people turned away from Him, turned against Him
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Those of us who believe in Jesus as God’s Son and our Savior have restored a right relationship with Him
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Turning back to live under His rule and direction
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he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (NIV)
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This causes some confusion, since we all know that many people have been raised from the dead both in the Old Testament and New, and even today
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What we don’t recognize is that all those who have been brought back from the dead, either by a prophet, an apostle or doctors today or even Jesus Himself while He lived on earth 2,000 years ago
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All those people were raised back into their mortal bodies; they all died again
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Jesus was the first to rise from the dead with a new, immortal body
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He was the first to rise in complete victory death—never to die again
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And it is all those who believe in Jesus as God and Savior who will likewise, at the return of Christ, be raised or changed to inherit eternal life, never to die again
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Jesus is the true firstborn from the dead
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No one yet has risen from the dead in the likeness of Christ, with an eternal body to never die again
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In everything, Jesus reigns as first and highest
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There is no one like Jesus
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No man can do what Jesus did
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No man could secure our salvation
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He is greater than the greatest man
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He is greater than the angels
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He is God’s one and only true Son, one in nature and being, fully God
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19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and 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. (NIV)
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All of God dwelt within a human body
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Like God appearing in a cloth tabernacle long ago, a tent that could not contain Him
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Except all of God actually took up residence within the tent of human flesh
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Only because He was fully God could He be fully righteous and holy so as to pay the penalty for our sin
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Only because He was fully Man could He have flesh to be broken for us and blood to be shed for our sin
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Only His death could make peace between sinful man and holy God
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Only by His death could we be brought back into fellowship with God
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Only in His death could the righteous fury of God against every one who believes be satisfied and removed, leaving only His compassion for us
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21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- (NIV)
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Those of us who believe in Jesus,
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Every one of us was once an unbeliever
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Cut off from God
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Hating God in our hearts and minds
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Because our deeds were evil and we loved them!
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We have no reason to look down on anyone who still lives in sin
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We have no reason to look down on anyone who believes but still struggles with sin
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We’re no better than them, we all alike are saved by the same Jesus, not ourselves
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When the Gospel came to us, we believed it—by God’s grace!—that’s all that sets us apart from the lost: God’s gift of grace
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God, by His Holy Spirit, washed us clean with the blood of Jesus
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God washed away all our sin
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God took away all our impurities and stains and love for wickedness
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God freed us from every just and unjust accusation of evil
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We no longer need fear anyone accusing us of wrong
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Even if we actually did the wrong, God has forgiven us and no longer counts it against us
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Instead, He punished Jesus in our place
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The sentence for our wrong has been paid in full
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We now stand holy, righteous, perfect in His sight, covered in the blood of Jesus His precious and beloved Son
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23 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. (NIV)
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Ah, but there is a condition
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There is an “if” that you must satisfy for all these things to hold true for you
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You must continue in your faith, trusting fully in Jesus and His finished work on the cross that sets you free from condemnation so that you can live forever in God’s holy kingdom
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The day you stop resting in Jesus and trusting that He has fit you for Heaven
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The day you think you start thinking that it’s by your efforts, your own godliness that you can gain entry into heaven
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The day you decide no longer to believe in Jesus at all, that all this Jesus stuff is nonsense
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In that day, you are on the edge of being lost, cut off from eternity with God and bound once more for Hell—unless you repent
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It is not a prayer of belief months or years ago that saves
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It is not repeating the Apostles Creed over and over again that saves
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It is not genuinely confessing once sometime in the past that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead
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It is not baptism or church membership that saves
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It is not regularly taking communion that saves
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It is not the word of a pastor or teacher that saves
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It is unceasing faith, continuing faith in Jesus Christ as our only sacrifice for sin and our living Lord that saves us
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It is fixing our hope on nothing but Jesus, His death and resurrection, that guarantees our eternity in God’s kingdom
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This is the Gospel that God gave to Jesus’ Apostles, including Paul
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Paul, Peter, John and all the others, they are the ones who tell us who God really is, what God has done for us and what He requires of us
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If anyone teaches a different Jesus or a different Gospel from the one these men teach, from the one recorded in this book, the Bible,
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they are wrong
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and if you believe them, you have no reason for hope; you will not be saved.
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That’s why Paul makes so much of his being chosen in many of his letters, so we know who to trust and who to avoid
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