The Incredible Christ

The first message centered around part of Paul’s Prayer in the message titled ‘for the Love of Epaphras’ - examining the contribution of that man Epaphras to the church at Colosse.

The second message deal specifically with Paul’s Prayer for the Church at Colosse in v9-12

So we have the introduction and prayer, and tonight we’re looking at what comes next. And I think that it’s significant for a few reasons.

You see, Paul doesn’t begin by giving out instructions - Paul begins with Prayer & Praise.

Today’s message is Titled ‘The Incredible Christ’, and through these 10-11 verses we see Paul just Praising His Saviour.

(Jesus is WORTHY TO BE PRAISED)!

Psalm 67:3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

Isaiah 42:10-12 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. 11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

Peter said: 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

So this is what we see Paul doing in the next few verses. He didn’t wait till the end & just tack it on, he spent time Praising the one who saved his wretched soul

This is a good way to start out a letter

This is also a good way to start out the day!

So as we examine ‘The Incredible Christ’, the first thing that I want to look at is ‘The Performance of Christ’

I. The Performance of Christ (v13)

The Father’s Forbearance

This verse is speaking specifically about the Father’s portion in the redemption of mankind. And I just wanted to take a moment and recognize what I consider one of - if not the - greatest contribution to the Salvation of mankind and that’s the restraint that God the Father demonstrated that great & terrible day some 2000 years ago.

Imagine watching wicked men:

Mock & ridicule your child

Spit on & beat your child

Then imagine watching your child ascend Golgotha with the crowds around, knowing what was awaiting Him at the top of the hill. Where they would nail your child’s hands and feet to a Cross, strip Him of His clothes while others pointed & laughed. What would it take to restrain you?

Now consider for a moment this fact: God is outside of time, right? This image, this event has not softened with time. God is intimately familiar with what happened 2,000 years ago, as He is today!

The Father’s Forbearance

The Son’s Sacrifice

What Wonderful Sacrifice! 2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Christ sacrificed Heaven for Earth, Glory for Ridicule, Praise for Pain. Thank God Jesus was willing!

The Son’s Sacrifice

The Deliverance

Notice that it doesn’t just say ‘darkness’, but ‘the power of darkness’.

Jesus is a chain-breaker!

I’ve said before, there’s no sin you MUST commit - for we are not beholden to the power of sin, but God hath made us free from that bondage! 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

There is always a way to escape. That’s not to say that the temptation isn’t hard, but we’re not BOUND by it!

We see that we’ve been Delivered from the Power of Darkness, but not only that...

The Displacement

God moved us from where we were, to where He is!

Translate (def) to transfer; carry away

We my Christian friend have been carried away by God unto Christ’s Kingdom. Which begs the question - if God translated us unto the Kingdom, where were we to begin with?

The answer to that is simply ‘outside’.

We were aliens of the promises of God

We outside the redemption of Christ

We were outside the walls of security provided by the Holy Ghost

But thank God He translated us unto the Kingdom!

Paul speaks of the Performance of Christ. Next Paul speaks of the Pardon of Christ

II. The Pardon of Christ (v14)

It was an Costly Redemption (v14a)

1 Peter 1:18-20 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

(Ill.) I saw a story about one of the olympic swimmers who won a bunch of gold medals, and the story said that she was probably going to owe the IRS $44k of taxes just on the value of the gold in the medals. That’s a lot of money! But TBH, we live in a money-driven society, don’t we?

(Ill.) My son asked me the question should alcohol be illegal… and I said ‘they tried that one time. Why prohibition failed could be attributed to a few things, but upon pondering it, my guess is that our government saw it best to tax & control it as opposed to spend money & resources busting the illegal proprietors. (Just FYI - the amount of alcohol consumed per year is 10x the bloodstream of the worlds population (the amount of blood we pump through our bodies each year) Alcohol is big business.

But let me tell you something that’s even more precious that anything this world has ever seen - the blood that was spilt in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago by a man named Jesus of Nazarath! BUT THAT’S WHAT IT TOOK TO BUY OUR REDEMPTION!

It was a Costly Redemption

It was a Complete Redemption (v14b)

‘Sins’ - plural. I’m glad that when I stand before God, He’s not going to look at me and begin accusing me of my sins. Because I have an advocate! And there’s not going to come a point when the Father gets to a particular sin that Jesus hasn’t taken care of!

Our Redemption is Complete

Paul spoke of 1. The Performance of Christ, then 2. The Pardon of Christ, next we see The Picture of Christ

III. The Picture of Christ (v15)

Christ is God Incarnate

Image (def) likeness, representation

Paul is saying - this is the manifestation of God. And he stated as such multiple times:

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

John certainly taught so: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus certainly implied it - if not outright stating it when He said:

I Am the bread of life

I Am the door

I Am the Good Shepherd

I Am the Light of the World

I Am the resurrection and the life

I Am the way the truth & the life

Verily I say unto thee, before Abraham WAS I AM

Christ is not ONLY the Son of God, He IS GOD Incarnate

Paul spoke of 1. The Performance of Christ, then 2. The Pardon of Christ, 3. The Picture of Christ & next 4. The Power of Christ

IV. The Power of Christ (v16)

Christ is Creator

Looking back in Scripture we see: Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Looking back at John we see: John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Church how does it make you feel to know that the God who Redeemed you, is the same God who Created the Universe & Everything in it?

To me this is so significant - because it speaks to the ABILITY of our God!

Our God is able!

He’s able to SPEAK THE WORD AND EVERYTHING WE KNOW & DON’T GO FROM NOTHING TO EVERYTHING (SAVE HIM)

Then He begins molding & fashioning His Creation (Read some of Gen. 1)

But there’s another aspect to Creation that is found in Ch.2 that speaks to the CARE of God

Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

We see the Power of Christ

Paul spoke of 1. The Performance of Christ, then 2. The Pardon of Christ, 3. The Picture of Christ, 4. The Power of Christ next we see 5. The Preeminence of Christ

V. The Preeminence of Christ (v17-19)

preeminence (def) superiority in prominence or in excellence; distinction above others in quality, rank, etc.;

He is Superior in Personage (17a)

Christ is greater than man or beast

Christ is greater than angels & principalities

Christ is greater than Satan

There is none like unto Jesus!

He is Superior in Power (v17b)

We’ve already spoken of His Creation power

He is Superior in Position (v18)

As the Head of the Church

He is our Head - and this is extremely important, fairly obvious, but oftentimes neglected: Jesus is our Head

We should Follow Christ

He has given us example & instruction. We should follow Him as He is our Leader

We should look to Christ

We should judge what is good & right by His direction.

We should tell others about Christ

As this as we have mentioned was extremely important to our LORD

Because we’ll for sure answer to Christ!

Paul told the church in Corinth: 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

We see the Preeminence of Christ

As the Firstborn of the Resurrected

Paul spoke of 1. The Performance of Christ, then 2. The Pardon of Christ, 3. The Picture of Christ, 4. The Power of Christ next, 5. The Preeminence of Christ, 6. The Peace of Christ

VI. The Peace of Christ (v20-21)

By His Blood (v20a)

What great sacrifice Christ has made! Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

We have Peace with God by the Blood of Christ

By His Will (v20b)

God desired to reconcile you and I

The more I contemplate the God of Heaven, one thing doesn’t amaze me - that is the ability of Christ to save me. As great as my sins are, God’s cleansing power is sufficient to cleanse!

What I don’t get - and becomes evermore a mystery unto me, is why HE WOULD! But God Willed that He would die for me to reconcile myself unto Him!

Peace of Christ By His Will

By His Grace (v21)

‘Grace that is Greater than all our Sins’

Thank God for His marvelous Grace!

Peace by His Grace!

VII. The Presentation by Christ (v22)

The Purpose of His Pain

There’s going to come a day when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ

You’re going to stand there and I’m going to stand there.

Jesus made it possible to stand before that seat rather than the Great White Throne of God where the dead will stand. But Jesus didn’t just reconcile us for our good and His Glory - He reconciled us & empowered us so that we may live by the WORD, so that when we get to Heaven, we’re stand unblameable!

There is a Purpose for His Pain.

Conclusion

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