The Letter to the Colossians; Chapter 1:15-16 (Part A)

CSH is one separated to God not folded in by man. Once you say Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I can ask. I give my life to you, ask you to be my Lord and my Savior. From that point on, you were separated from shore and fiery judgment. You are now a saint care what anybody says, contrary to that that statement comes from the Scripture. Paul wrote his letters to the saints. They were living people. This is cross reference radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville.

Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Colossians. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching, and now here's Pastor Rick with today's edition of cross reference radio in Colossians chapter 1 Colossians chapter 1 beginning the 15th verse. I hope I'm not dragging Colossians out the first chapter, too much hope it's a blessing. There's so much here. The danger for the speakers to overdo it and I'm trying to guard against that but I remember it as the new believer reading the Colossians letter and just getting so much out of it so quickly. It is indeed a theological statement now if we wanted to attract people to church to feed the flesh and the sense that we certainly want to track people to church but a minute.

We just wanted to bring them in with exciting and fresh messages about nothing but self.

We could easily do that I could have spoken on helots location, duration and probable population, but instead we are going verse by verse to build a systematic theology so that we know what we believe, so that we can preach what we believe, again, for ship to navigate properly through rocky waters doesn't have to know where all the rocks are asked to know with the Deepwater is and that's how it is without theology.

We don't have to know everything the Colts are doing and saying and that the heretics and things like that. We have to know what Jesus is saying and has said through his word which he does not contradict someone to take a little time in introducing again that the document overall than a brief review and then will begin in verse 15, but Paul the apostle for those of you who may not know him was a Jewish cleric, Rabbi, and he was converted to Christ by Christ.

He had been persecuting the church but after his conversion, he was the Holy Spirit's choice to be the theologian of the church and his letters he sets forth the systematic theology connects dots to the Old Testament and to the coming of Christ is crucifixion, his resurrection and his return he speaks about salvation and the Roman letter, he corrects the Corinthians in Corinth, he speaks about the cross of Christ and the Christ of the church in Ephesians and Colossians, and then in Thessalonians, he speaks about the coming of Christ. This is God's way of raising up God's people, but in the Colossian letter very vibrantly vibrantly coming forth from this page. These pages is this statement the Christ supremacy. He is supreme. There are none equal. There are none hire.

Of course, that supremacy was is within the Godhead which Paul will talk about the, the father the son. The Holy Spirit we call it the Trinity and they are supreme, not the Supremes but they are supreme what they are one. We believe in one God who manifests himself in three persons, father, son and Holy Spirit. And this is what the New Testament teaches. This is not something that we have taken from somewhere else but Once upon a time in the church. If God had anything to say to man. He said it to a Jew and then a Jew spoke to men in the Hebrew and wrote it down, that it was God's dominant vehicle. Yes, in the Old Testament there are patches very small patches of Chaldean, but it is Hebrew that God spoke to the people through after Pentecost, the firstfruits which Christ fulfills when he rose from the dead he was he. It spoke of the firstfruits of the resurrection. People have been resuscitated or brought back to life but no one except Jesus has died and come back to life in the resurrected form a new creation, and it was at Pentecost that the Holy Spirit birthed the church little bit after the resurrection measured in days, not months, 50 days and the church is born there in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. The day of Pentecost comes and from that point forward, God began to speak to people through the Greek language the Gentile language and so our Bible is is written in the Old Testament, essentially all Hebrew and then in the New Testament.

It is all Greek and this makes for a lot of work and a lot of study on the part of his disciples, and so for for us today. We look to understand the Old Testament through the New Testament whenever a Christian tries to understand the New Testament through the Old Testament, they become legalistic they they lose their bearings. They understand guilt but they don't understand grace, but when that Christian gets a solid foundation in the New Testament.

The Old Testament explodes with life and wonder and power.

It is all God's word. It is all saying the same thing, but it approaches it from two different angles and so Gentiles came from a world where their gods were visible when God started speaking to mankind to the Gentiles the Greek language.

This was a world go of stocked with people who had visible gods which were no gods at all. They were just the concoction of the imagination of men based on the influence of demons.

This is what the Bible reaches now if you don't believe in demons, you believe what the demons want you to believe and you're not in a good spot. I wouldn't want to die that way and I wouldn't want to live that way but now in Christ. Jew and Gentile can see God Jew and Gentile can see God how well verse 15 and are not starting yet he is the image of the invisible God, and I want to stop addicts. We have a lot to open up with this. He is invisible he is invincible he is now visible through Jesus Christ and he is still invincible. And when he came he died.

By permission, no one took his life. The Scripture is very careful to say that he gave up the spirit. Is that okay I'm done here and he was in control the whole time being born in Bethlehem by Mary was the beginning of his deployment and therefore this visibility that Paul is speaking about that we understand very much we still see him, though not physically with our eyes, but through the Holy Spirit based on what is been preserved, but when he was born in Bethlehem that deployment from heaven that we talked about last week. His role was as Savior. Not as God, he was still God. He never gave that up but he was not ruling as God. He came to save men and he joined the ranks of sinners, though he himself was sinless.

He took the penalty of sinners upon him then and it was a penalty that was so wonderful so broad in scope that not only did it reach all the way back to Adam, but it reaches all the way to the end when there's that last soul converted in the great tribulation. There will be people born in the millennial reign of Christ. After that is going to be a great jubilation comes upon the earth will last for seven years, the church will be out here but there will be tribulation conversions in a hard life. Most of them being martyred fact the only ones that are guaranteed escape of the of the Jewish converts that belong to the hundred and 44,000 Christ and return sir sets up the earth set up his kingdom 4000 year reign call, the millennial reign there will be converts in that. Two of people more born during that period. In the end there will be those that will rebel yet against Jesus Christ. Again, they will be swiftly dispatched and then new heavens and new earth and everything is going a goddess who puts us on radio blackout from heaven.

At that point we don't know what happens is that that is going to be glorious.

When we say we don't know what's going to happen. It doesn't mean who knows could be dragons notes is nothing, nothing bad will all be good now about this Christ, who we are also high. None have ever come into this world with as much advanced notice as he has, who, what, where all these things about him have been recorded in the Scripture thousands of years before he got to fulfill by no one except him through process of elimination. You cannot transfer the attributes that Jesus exhibited to anyone else you can say will this could also have been, who, none of the prophets.

None of the world leaders for sure no one fits this description except Christ Jesus.

And so, before Christ, the heavens did declare God. The Scriptures tell us that Psalm 19 one the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.

The evidences of God have always been here.

That's why God said you gotta be a fool say I don't exist. I'm sorry. I'm an atheist to sound so scholarly doesn't. God says you're an idiot. I mean he does this, I how can you dare say that how what what call have you standing creation and say there's no one that put this here and God does not apologize for this. Is this the fool has said in his heart that I don't exist.

While there are others that aren't atheist. They do believe in God but they believe in any God they create their own gods and this is what Paul is dealing with the detergent little church in Coliseum is little church he's dealing with the gnostics that are trying to infiltrate and tell the people things that will damn their souls.

If not checked, and again, it's helpful to understand the now brief review verses 10 and 11. The question is how much of what is in these two verses do we achieve as Christians listen to this that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom are a refill with the knowledge of what God wants.

God is long-suffering, ruling that none should perish.

When you become a born-again Christian. You've got a burden in your heart to reach others so you lose all your friends because anyone here sometime. Some don't have very few have the expressway start converting your friends right away that does happen, but it's rare I told you about the little heretic last week. My five-year-old.

While this been an update is no longer heretic women make up your mind last night she was burden so much for her lost friends and I didn't know she had who know nobody here in the church.

Thank God. But those is genuine, it's like, what, how do I get them to know Jesus and it was so sweet and special. One of those moments that I'm not going to insult by trying to rip to read, live it before you, but you see how fast God works as a heretic last week and this week.

Now she's on fire for the Lord.

So if there's hope for all of us.

I certainly enjoyed the questions that she was asking why did Eve eat the fruit. What was Adams issue and and it was just great to listen. If if you can preach the gospel to a five-year-old. You can preach to any because it is not about theological you know pastries, it's about truth and we are born with a base spiritual USB port for God to plug-in so that we can have the truth downloaded to us and no specific critical updates and things like that just can't get away from it, but to soak back to this so he said that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. You see has to come from God. Spiritual understanding.

We talked about a lot of people that have academic knowledge of the word of God, they reduce the holy Scripture to a textbook. They just want more information about what you doing with the information.

If you are you just stockpiling ammo that you're never going to use or are you loaded for bear causes a bear out there and you plan to to have her encounter with him and he continues that you may walk worthy of the Lord.

How many of us fulfilling this. It continues fully pleasing him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God that six of them so far strengthened with all my according to his glorious power his glorious power not five ways to be a better you.

I don't want to be a better me. I want to be like Jesus. I want to get away from me like it's hard because everywhere I go there I am, but the time is coming when I will be like Jesus. That's called Christ likeness.

This is the new man and it's insulting that someone from a pulpit would let alone a title of book like that with attached Jesus name to this harebrained thinking and that is a bestseller is its somebody needs to be slapped know it. We don't believe in violence right help me out here. Iron sharpens iron but having something I've never chewed tobacco and I don't plan to. But sometimes I want to spit it know something just make you so mad that's what I feel about that.

Lord suggests that maybe I'll start using that a little bit gross, but it's nonviolent civil and is a strength and with all my according to his glorious power. Power verse 11 for all patients and long-suffering with joy. How many of you a patient but is no joy in which a patient's just to have a choice how many of you long-suffering because you have no choice but how many are long-suffering without choice and still not letting the joy be stolen from them. That's the goal. The inheritance verse 12 of the saints, for there is no inheritance for the un-saints see a saint is one separated to God not voted in by man. Once you say Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I confess I give my life to you asking to be my Lord and my Savior. From that point on.

You are separated from shore and fiery judgment. You're now a saint care what anybody says, contrary to that because that statement comes from the Scripture. Paul wrote his letters to the saints. They were living people. They were they were slaves they were slaveowners they were Jews. They were Gentiles. They were people struggling alive just like us.

They were the saints and sore.

We and I don't care again. Anybody who says contrary to that they're getting their information from somewhere else and I'm not interested. So now verse 15, Paul continuing this. He spoke in verse 14 says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He the antecedent here.

The pronoun the individual that precedes that pronoun is Jesus Christ. That's always talking about.

He is the image of the invisible God does not mean he was created in the image of God. Gnocchi is the image that he was the image he is when God decided to become visible. He did so in human form and it was Jesus Christ prior to Christ.

He did manifest himself in the form of created things like fire or cloud. For example, he did come to earth in human form.

And I do believe that the same visage to face the looks that Jesus had as an adult, walking through Israel at the time after you during during his life on earth was the same visage the same appearance that Abraham saw that any of the Old Testament patriarchs and heroes saw of God manifest in the flesh. It was Jesus Christ be nice if they had like an iPhone.

Take a picture of the Lord and they could've deserved it for us. And then what will we do, we would bow down to it. Forget about him but think that so long as we were praying to this image. We were somehow on base and safe. We didn't have to really pray to him talk to him again.

Moving to the land of Israel. You see sites. If this is the spot I noticed certainly somewhere in this grid but is just that little bit of doubt that children the truth are kept in check by because I'm not 1000% sure God has made a system of or allowed us a system of of archaeology within archaeology to not allow us to pray to these places to worship them to treat them as though they were more special than somewhere else on earth. Let me tell you the special place on earth. The most special place on earth is wherever you are and God is talking to you. That's the most special place on earth. Well, verse 15, the Christ supremacy is declared that the image of the invisible God Jesus the firstborn now firstborn and integrate the nearest word to firstborn is not over all it is firstborn of all not. To me, I'll get back to that later firstborn over all creation firstborn in the Jewish mind was different from firstborn in the Gentile for you to you and I when we think of the first one we think of the elders, and it does mean that sometimes but not all the time. Firstborn has more to do than just merely being born first, you can be firstborn yet not have the position of the firstborn, and that's what Paul is doing the choosing policy when they heard that they knew right away what was going, the Gentiles would have to be educated. That was the role of the pastor that would be the role of even the Jews that understood this, but the firstborn he was in a position that the firstborn out of the womb, was in a position that he could forfeit and another would assume in order God would simply reassign it because he found the attributes more suitable and one of the other children.

This was the case with Esau and Jacob. This was the case with Manasseh and Ephraim, and if you're not a Bible student yet and you don't know these people are your homework assignment is just expanding now to go look these people up. In fact, when when Jacob was about to bless the sons of Joseph. He put out his hand to put them on the head of Manasseh and on Ephraim who was the younger and Joseph objected, no, no, he's not the firstborn, and Jacob stood his ground know that B this is an Ephraim received the greater blessing than Manasseh. So this precedent for the Scripture for sure.

And with being the firstborn came a double portion of the inheritance. For example, also came was that you were the priestly head of the family. Once the father had passed on her, or was too old to assume the position you became the patriarch in that position. You are also for the Jew in the on the messianic line you are lined up to root to be a part of that great blessing that would come Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, he forfeited the position through sin, and it was divided amongst three of the sons of Jacob, Judah received the inheritance of being lined up with Messiah, the viruses are to receive the priestly position.

The spiritual head and Joseph received the double portion of inheritance and that Ephraim and Manasseh both received at our territory in the promised land.

All these things are captured and preserved to us to speak of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who fulfills every blessing and has fulfilled these and the Jew and the Christian who understands the Old Testament have no problem saying this and so one. Paul is saying about Jesus. He's the firstborn over create all creation is outside of creation because he created it get to that in a minute.

So that's the context of that statement text without context pretext to say something without a basis for the law, lining up to be a lie at the very least move.

We are so glad you tuned in today to learn from the New Testament letter of Colossians on cross reference rate cross reference radio is the daily radio ministry pastor Rick Gaston Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We are on to be able to share God's word with each time too if you'd like more information about this ministry you will want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick please visit our website cross reference radio.com.

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