Colossians refuting error

Colossians, please, chapter 1. Colossians, chapter 1, beginning to read at the end of verse 13. Colossians, chapter 1, at the end of verse 13. His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.

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 once alienated in 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.

Therefore, since ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. Now we look to the Lord for His blessing on His word for His people this afternoon. The Apostle Paul had two unexpected visitors in Rome.

He was restricted in his own hired house, but two men came from afar. Epaphroditus with good news from Philippi and the proof of good news. Here was a gift, the things that were sent from you, says the Apostle, brought by Epaphroditus.

And this dear man was able to pass on the love of the saints and to say, apart from one small unsettling thing, things were going well. However, there was another visitor with a similar name, Epaphrus. And sadly, Epaphrus brought bad news from Colossae.

Epaphrus, indeed, probably had been converted in the three-year ministry of the Apostle Paul down there at Ephesus. And he'd gone home. He'd gone home up there into the Lycus Valley.

And he'd been very active in the gospel in Hierapolis, Laodicea, and Colossae. And he'd seen blessing. So that eventually, three assemblies were formed.

He'd been faithful in the gospel. As Paul says in here, he was, in chapter one, a dear fellow servant, a faithful minister of Christ. And from him, it says, he heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.

And when Epaphrus turns up, the Apostle Paul, no doubt, asked very carefully about the gospel. But there's bad news because a very impressive man, a man with great swelling words, has come in among the saints. He's found an ear in some.

And indeed, the news isn't good. This man, indeed, has infatuated some of the saints and infiltrated others. And so, indeed, we're going to think about this man because Epaphrus, indeed, had come because this man was saying things he just couldn't answer.

This man had, indeed, ideas he couldn't match. And so, he went to where he knew he could find the answer. He went all the way to Rome and he found out from Paul, here's the answer.

Now, the problem, of course, was here that this false teacher was talking about what later became known as the religion of Gnosticism. How, indeed, in these early days of that religion, it had wrong ideas about Christ. Yes, it had ideas about God and about men.

It was prepared to admit that God was up there and holy. We were down here and sinners. But, you see, the wrong thing was that they imagined and they propagated the idea that here between God down here, man down here and God up there, were a large number of steps.

These steps occupied with dominions and principalities and phones and powers and all these that they said. These angelic beings, indeed, populated this at different levels and they could go right from one to the other to span that great distance by these so-called emissaries. Now then, having got that, they said, we can tell you all about it.

You just join us. You come along and we will let you into the secrets. And they would, indeed, entice the saints with these seeming things that they would say, now you don't know, but we know.

And the very name Gnosticism, it comes from the Greek word knowledge. They would present knowledge, they said, secret knowledge as well, that if they joined, they could be let into. Well, all this, indeed, seemed very good to some.

And they listened. They would give it an ear. And poor Epaphras, he just didn't know what to say.

He knew the Gospel, knew it well. And yet, when it came to steps beyond that, he wasn't so sure. And so, indeed, he comes.

And here the Apostle Paul gives him in writing the answer to the problem. Now, the interesting thing is this, that the answer, indeed, to the problems, the problems outlined are in chapter 2. And in chapter 2, for instance, in verse 4, it would say, and this I say, lest, as the warning so often found a kind of warnings in Hebrews, the lest warnings. So here was only a potential problem as yet.

Lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. So here, in the great speeches and the rhetoric, so people were impressed by these, how it was put over. Then going down in verse number 8, beware lest any man should spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.

So now some, indeed, were in danger of being enticed away to what the error was. It was philosophy. It sounded so good, put over so well.

Move down indeed to verse 16. There were elements in there that seemed to suit everybody. And it said, verse 16, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of unholy day or of a new moon or of the Sabbath days.

These are things of Judaism. So indeed, if you had a propensity towards this, there was something there for you. And it sounded so good.

And although Christianity would say, it doesn't have any of these things, but they're attractive. There's a certain, there's a something there that's attractive to some people. So we'll have this, some of that there.

You can have that. Or indeed, in verse 18, if you want even beyond that, you want some, well, verse 18, let no man beguile you of your reward in voluntary humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen. Mysticism.

You want some mysticism? We'll have some of that as well. So there's this syncretism, this putting together a religion that satisfies everybody, that indeed seems to have elements of all there were. You wanted some of this, if that attracted you, we've got that as well.

And so here it was laid out there right down to the end until sadly, so far it's warning. But in chapter two, verse 20, towards the end, the apostle says, why are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not, which are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. So some, it seems, have given in.

Some seem to be so attracted, they've gone along with this. Indeed, what's here? Well, it's asceticism. Religion taken to its extreme.

Very interesting this week, you'll see that the Roman Catholic Church is giving sainthood to a Native American Indian lady of years ago. But you read into that. She indeed got to that level whereby she's now going to be made into a saint because she became a Roman Catholic and she demonstrated her commitment to it by undergoing all kinds of strict rules and almost there, beating herself every day, subjecting her body to punishment and all these things.

And indeed it says here, verse 23, which things are indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting the body, not in any honor, but to the satisfying of the flesh. And it's strange to say there are some people whose flesh is only satisfied in these very strange treatments of it. And they call it religion.

Well indeed, here it is and that's in chapter 2. But the interesting thing is this, that Paul doesn't start with the error, he starts with the truth. And the truth indeed every time is in Christ. And that that we read together indeed is the statement of truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that would sort out all the problems.

If indeed people were enticed, if people were endangered and taken in by all the things in chapter 2, to learn the truth of Christ and all these fears evaporate and all the problems are solved. Put Christ in the right place, in your mind, in your life, and indeed you'll see no need for anything else. You'll be completely satisfied with Him.

And that's the lovely truth here in chapter 1. So if these dear saints had read chapter 1, indeed they'd feel so ashamed and so embarrassed when the words of chapter 2 are read. And they'd think, well no, no, no, I really don't feel anything anymore. Oh to take in these lovely truths of the person and position of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And indeed to see what He's done, you'll realize indeed that there's nothing to compare. That He's beyond and indeed He's above anything else that people could think about. So indeed you have in chapter 1 first of all, Paul's reassurance to the saints that the truth of the gospel they were taught was indeed there.

It says here, the hope laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. And then it says, which is coming to you as it is in all the world. These are unique phrases found nowhere else because here they were needed.

Assurance first of all in the gospel, nothing was added, nothing was taken away. It wasn't a particular version of the gospel, it was the true gospel and indeed it says it worked and the proof of it, it worked straight away since the day he heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth. So there we are, complete underlining and assurance of there the power of God.

Paul gives his seal of approval on the teaching of the gospel from Epaphras. Now, having done that, he's going to move on and he's going to indeed show the saints that personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ that's going to answer all their problems. Yes, if they felt any attraction at all to these strange things, any attraction to this secret truths that people promised and hinted at, he says, no, let me tell you the simple truth, the simple truth of Christ and indeed he starts off there, who he is? It's his dear son and his, the son of God's love is the one who in verse 15, he is the image of the invisible God.

Look, if you want to know about God, he's at a distance. You want to know about man, yes, you imagine that that's a gulf that can only be spanned by an innumerable company and levels of emanations of angels and all these other names and inventions. He says, look, let me tell you something else.

Here's the son of man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came down to earth from heaven. He spanned the gap.

Don't imagine, please, that it's a vast gap that cannot be spanned. It has been and it's the person of his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's done it. He's been down here.

Yes. So he starts off now. It was verse 14, his blood.

He was one with life, human life, and yet perfect as it was, he shed that precious blood. And so it was life and death. Here was true humanity in its best sense, but he was deity.

And the immediate thing Paul says, his dear son, his blood, this one is the image of the invisible God. He's the visible representation of the invisible God. The one certainly who was at a distance, but that one came right down here and he became visible.

So men and women could see the image, the visible representation of the invisible God. And with respect, not only to deity now, but to creation. He's the one who's got priority and honor with respect to creation.

He's first born of literally all creation. You want to know about God? He's, yes, he's the visible representation of the invisible God. You want to know about his relation to creation down here, albeit subject to vanity, albeit indeed here subject to the consequences of sin, but with respect to all creation, the Lord Jesus is first born.

Now, indeed, we know that Mary brought forth her firstborn son, but it doesn't mean that. Doesn't mean that. Certainly, yes, the Lord Jesus was Mary's firstborn.

But you look into scripture and you find the word firstborn, it's used in a far more important way than merely born first. You'll find, for instance, there back in the Old Testament, that David, God would call him the firstborn. And yet we know from Sunday school days, he certainly wasn't the firstborn.

He was the lowest. He was the lastborn. Where now we know that the firstborn means priority and honor in a particular sphere.

And when it comes to creation, the Lord Jesus has that priority. He has that honor. How do you know? How can you say that? What's your reasoning? Verse 16, for, because, because through him were all things created.

Here the Lord Jesus is the agent of creation. He's the one who indisputably is divine because he's the visible representation of the invisible God. But that same one is indeed the creator.

He's the agent of creation. He's the firstborn of all creation, for by him were all things created. Now, please note where? In heaven and in earth.

So those angelic beings that these people died for, dared to say, we know about, listen, first of all, learn this, that the Lord Jesus created them. If there are such beings anyway, and if they do have positions or whatever, get to the beginning of it, get to the basis of it. The Lord Jesus created them.

Number one, creation of things in heaven. Next, things on earth. The Lord Jesus is responsible.

Our creation without him was not anything made that was made. The Lord Jesus is, yes, he's got priority. He has the honor in creation.

Yes, because he's the creator. But notice the up there and down here. So he spans that gap in creation as well as in incarnation.

That's good. And now look, if these people would say, look, we know about invisible things, which they didn't, because in chapter two, it says, this man, and I take it it was one man primarily in chapter two, talked about this man claiming to know, it says, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind. It all came from his mind.

No doubt infiltrated by Satan, but it was his mind. But he's intruding into the things he hasn't seen. He has no idea about invisible things.

Don't even listen to him. He doesn't know. But when it comes to invisible things, if there are such beings and such parts of creation that are visible, the Lord Jesus made them.

And also invisible, visible and invisible. The things that can be seen that cannot be seen. He made them.

And that indeed contributes to the fact of his priority in creation. All does. And anyway, look, if you want to be specific, if these people claim special knowledge as to the position and persons that intervene between us down here and God out there, these thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, he says, look, created by him.

And yes, to repeat it all, all things were created through him, the Lord Jesus, agent of creation. But wait a moment. Something even that surpasses that, for it says, the created for him, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Indeed, it was all for him. We thought indeed about the church. And yes, for him, like Eve created for Adam.

So to here now, the very creation is for him. And that's creation with respect to its entirety there, but also look in terms of time. He is before all things.

So the Lord Jesus existed before there were things. Whatever things in any dimension of any form, he existed before. He's God.

So he has priority and honor in this as well. And last of all, it says, and through him, all things consist. All things hold together.

And all things indeed adhere like this and consist because of him. So the Lord Jesus is responsible for creation, for its continuation, and for its consummation. It's from him, through him, and to him, to use words elsewhere.

So this one indeed, he's got priority. Are you beginning to wonder now indeed, and imagine the reaction of these people who are being just taken away from Christ and the position of the gospel, and being enticed away to something said to be better, said to involve bigger things, said to explain more things. And you're coming back to the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus.

Because in his person, in his work, you'll see indeed, now it grows in your mind. You'll see nothing can compare with this. Nothing indeed could attract you away from these things.

And so stated very simply, stated very simply, indeed we have this wonderful truth. There's nothing missing. And whatever the suggestions of men, whatever their enticements, they've got nothing to offer.

For we indeed, they've been cut away, all the arguments. They've been surpassed by a statement, a clear simple statement of the person, and work, and position of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's wonderful in itself.

But wait a moment, we're not finished. All these things so far are with respect to his deity, with respect to creation. But wait a moment, there's the new creation.

And it says, verse 18, and he, he emphatically and no one else, he is the head of the body. Now we've delighted this morning to think about the truth of the body, and the building, and the bride, and the Lord Jesus in relation to it. And yet here we have indeed a clear statement again.

He is the head of the body, the church. So that body that you'll find in chapter 2, that this supposed knowledgeable man, he's got no contact with. It says he's not holding the head from which all the body, by joints and bands, increaseth with the knowledge of God.

He's got no real connection with the head. And if you find that out immediately then, that destroys this man's credibility. He's got no holding fast to the head, no contact with the head, he's not even a believer.

So however enticing he sounds, however plausible his words, however attractive his ideas, he'll get nowhere. As long as the truth of chapter 1 is grasped. And these dear saints at Colossae, indeed all this could have been solved, and I hope would have been, just by taking this in.

He is the head of the body, the church. And indeed, in the same way as we thought of the details of creation, so do the details, and there of the new creation it says, he's the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead ones. Here the Lord Jesus has priority again.

Not priority now in creation, but priority in resurrection. The first one, to be born never to die again. The Lord Jesus Christ.

So it's priority is his. But why? Why did God give him this position with respect to creation? Why did God give him this position with respect to new creation? It says, that, that, verse 18, that in all things, in all spheres, in all things, he might have the preeminence. He might become preeminent.

We thought again this morning about the purposes of God for his son. And his ultimate purpose in every respect, in every sphere, is that he might become the preeminent one. And so indeed we find that there's preeminence.

The Lord Jesus, he's not to be slotted in somewhere. He's not to be fitted in to some place between God and man. He's divine.

But he's the creator. He has precedence, indeed an honor, and priority in the new creation. He's head of the body.

And indeed it's God's intention. In fact you can generalize it in all. That he, and he alone, might become the preeminent one in everything.

That's wonderful. And yet that has a reason. That's got a reason.

Verse number 19, for, because, because it pleased the Father, it pleased the Godhead, however you want to translate this. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now the fullness is a concept that came into this new religion, Gnosticism.

And it was something they claimed. It was divine fullness. It was all divine being was there.

That's the idea of fullness. And they claimed this word and used it. And it was a priority word for them.

A key word. Paul takes it immediately and says, look, it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Not just to be there for a little time.

Permanently. God's permanent purpose for his son was that indeed all fullness should dwell in him. But wait a moment, it's coming towards us.

But it says in verse 20, and, and, having made peace, that's the Father, Godhead, having made peace through the blood of the cross of the Son, his dear Son. That's lovely, isn't it? By him to reconcile all things unto himself. All things by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

Now it was well accepted by these error teachers that sin is there, that God is at a distance, that creation's in sin. But wait a moment. God's purposes for the all things created by the Lord Jesus Christ are indeed that he might reconcile them.

Well, at least to the extent of all things on earth and things in heaven. Not things under the earth. For Satan and his retinue will never be reconciled.

But all else, God's purpose is that he might reconcile all things unto himself. Us, we'll see now, for the rest of creation, well the rest of creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. Subject to vanity now, but to be released.

And there's to be a great redemption of creation, a release from that condition in millennial days. Begin to be enjoined in this way. So indeed, here's the purpose of God with respect to us coming along in the general sense, reconciliation, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

But wait a moment. There's a lovely little phrase, verse 21, and you, and you. In the first place, the you here, the assembly at Colossae, Herapolis, and Laodicea being attacked, under attack, thinking there were things you don't know, things you don't enjoy that we know, and if you join us we'll tell you.

Well listen, once you're getting to this, you'll see indeed, you, your dear assembly, you indeed were being, it was being emphasized, this enormous distance between you, defiled man, and God. Ah yes, but look, you who once, you were alienated in your state, you were enemies in your conduct, enemies in your mind, by, through wicked works. Yet now.

Once, yet now. That's a favorite, by the way, Paul in Ephesians, chapter 2 especially. Once, now.

What the change had happened, the great change. So, and now he says, yet now, hath he reconciled. God's ultimate purpose, to be worked out indeed, peace through the blood of his cross, to reconcile all things unto himself, and you, reconciled now.

Reconciled now. And you're reconciled by the body of his flesh through death. So we've got here, peace through the blood of his cross, now the body of his flesh, through death.

The total understanding and appreciation of the work of Christ on the cross, indeed is to understand future reconciliation of all things, with respect to what we said, and now, you, you reconciled already. You are reconciled. You have contact with God, as we often sing and enjoy in the person of his son, we're as near as he.

Reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you, holy, unblamable, unreprovable, in his sight, before him, before that very demanding sight of God. You are. Nobody can offer you anything.

There's nothing better. There's nothing enhanced. There's nothing indeed that people are appealing to you with great swelling words.

Don't listen. There's nothing there. It's all the imagination of a man's mind, chapter 2, and it's nothing real at all, because what you've done now, the position you enjoy, holy, unblamable, unreprovable in his sight.

Verse 23, and I try to emphasize this, it's not the if, it's a special if, in the Greek language. Our if can have yes or no as the answer. But this special kind of if, only had yes as the answer.

So we can translate it, since, since, you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Yes, it's the coming back to the gospel that you heard from Epaphras, that indeed you heard, and it was true, the same gospel as everywhere else, which he heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven. There was nothing missing in your gospel, and the gospel, if understood properly and taken beyond and thought through in terms of the person and position and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's answered all your questions.

And no, nothing that anyone can offer has anything to compare with this. It's only imaginations of a man. And what we've got is truth concerning God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I love to read that, and then in my mind go to chapter two, and think indeed, well, if there is anything, and how it, these things diminish into nothingness, however well put over, verse number four, the rhetoric, whatever philosophy they contain, verse number eight, whatever Jewish aspects that they will offer, verse number sixteen, whatever mysticism for people with that frame of mind, verse eighteen, and whatever indeed, even if you have that very strange asceticism and neglecting of the flesh, and indeed that kind of mind, that will offer you nothing. That's offer nothing as well, because what you've got in Christ is complete. There's nothing else missing.

And please, I would love to think that at the end of all this, Paul could say then, chapter three, if then, if then, or since then, you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Now let's think about working it out in our own lives. Maybe there are things that we've listened to.

Maybe there are things that people are talking to us about, that maybe offer us something better. Let me tell you, there's nothing better than Christ. There's nothing indeed can be added to Christ.

There's nothing can be taken away because of who he is and what he's done. And if we can bring it in, he's the answer to the problems of our lives as he's the answer to the problems of the lives of the believers at Colossae. Please, let's have that living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's enter into the truth. And indeed, I'm so glad that Paul gave the truth first before he touched the error. Don't indeed be infatuated by error.

Yes, read about error maybe if necessary. If you are in touch with people who are subject to error, read about it. But please, don't make it your main reading.

Read about Christ. Have something positive to offer. Don't be taken up with the negative, but always be taken up with Christ.

So please, let's think about this and let's indeed have that there, that person. Remember Jesus Christ, seed of David, risen from the dead. Never forget the Lord Jesus.

Bring him into everything. He's the answer indeed in this situation. He's the answer in every situation, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And may it be so today. And may this be a help to us all as we go through our difficulties as they did theirs. And may these things be relieved always by the person and work and position of the Lord Jesus Christ.