"Heart of The Matter"

Colossians 1: 12-18  "Giving thanks (EUCHARISTEO, linear action = constantly giving thanks)

unto the Father, which hath made us meet (HIKANOO = to make sufficient or render fit)

to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  (PHOS = light as a quality of righteousness)

[13] Who hath delivered (RUOMAI = to draw to ones self, to save, rescue)

us from the power (EXOUSIA = tyrannical power)

of darkness, and hath translated(METHISTEMI = to transpose or move from one place to another)

[us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:  [14] In whom we have redemption (APOLUTROSIS = a ransom paid to release from slavery)

through his blood, [even] theforgiveness(APHESIS = freedom, release from bondage or imprisonment)

of sins:  [15]  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn (PROTOKOS = preeminent, firstborn)

of every creature:  [16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  [17] And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.(SUNISTEMI, Perfect Tense = holds together with the result that it remains held together)

[18] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, (arche = originating power, chief executive)

the firstborn (PROTOKOS = preeminent, firstborn)

from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence. (GENETAI PROTEUON = might become being first. Jesus became Head of the Church, the preeminent One, through His incarnation and passion)"

There is a very dangerous spirit that has moved through the Church from the very beginning of its inception. This spirit has not taught that there is no God - no, Satan knew that he couldn't get away with that. To have come in the pulpit and preach "there is no God", well then, that Pastor would have been run out of the Church on a rail (and rightly so). No, the spirit that has attacked the Church is a spirit ofconfusion, and of twisting, and of compromise.

When Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, he was writing to a people who had fallen into the trap of compromise called "Gnosticism". Gnosticism is the whisper of the antiChrist. This whisper says, "You've been saved. You've walked the aisle. You've joined the Church, you're on the rolls. You're now free to do anything you want to do because, no matter what, you're going to Heaven!"

This whisper has been passing through the Southern Baptist Convention, through our Churches, amongst our people. Some Churches have begun to teach that God's Word could possibly have error in it, that it may not be without error. Some Churches have allowed that certain truths may not be absolute - that we may make women to be Senior Pastors, we may allow abortion in certain instances, we may condone illicit sexual behavior as "covered by the Blood" and therefore negated. This is an age of compromise, the Whisperer states, so compromise.

This same whisper has passed through our Church. Some, misunderstanding the Doctrine of Eternal Security (or Once Saved, Always Saved) have believed that walking the aisle and getting on the rolls of the Church is all that's required. Now that they're "saved" they can ignore the Church (except for Funerals and Weddings), they can ignore their Bible (except to dust it once a week), and they can ignore prayer (unless they're in trouble).

Gnosticism is a lie from the pits of Hell. You were not saved so you could sin, but you were saved so you could have a living, dynamic relationship with your Father. You were saved so that if you do sin, whether willingly or unwillingly, you could have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord. You were saved so you could walk in the Light, not in the Darkness - and know for sure that one day you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. You were saved so you could live a victorious life in Jesus Christ while you walk on this earth, and you were saved so you could serve the Lord Jesus through His Church.

Colossians 1: 12  "Giving thanks (EUCHARISTEO, linear action = constantly giving thanks) unto the Father, which hath made us meet (HIKANOO = to make sufficient or render fit)to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light"

Those who are saved are not arrogant in their salvation, nor are they self righteous, nor do they take their saved state for granted. No, they are humbly thankful to God, for they know that it is by the sacrifice of Jesus that we are saved. Look at our text. Paul starts out by saying that we should be "constantly giving thanks" to the Father, because "He made us fit to be inheritors" of the light through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here then is the key: understanding that what we have, we have because Christ paid the penalty for us.

If you show me an arrogant man, I'll show you an unsaved man. As Jesus walked the earth preaching and teaching the Kingdom truths, a group of self righteous men followed after Him nagging, distracting, trying to overthrow Him. These people were those Jesus referred to as "Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites". Eight times Jesus said to these people, "Woe unto you, Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites". More than eight times Jesus rebuked them, and even warned:

Matthew 5:20  "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

I tell you today, if you think that you've got it all together, that you're fit to enter the Kingdom of God of your own accord - then you're lost. If you go home after Church and say, "Boy, the preacher sure told them", or conversely, "how dare he speak to me that way!", then look out! But if you one day looked in the mirror of your soul and cried out, "Father, forgive me a sinner, in Jesus' name I ask" then you have been saved. If you have been saved, you have a thankful heart before God your Father.
 

One stormy night in Lake Michigan, a side-wheeler steamboat was rammed by another boat. The steamboat sank just a mile offshore from the village of Winnetka, Illinois. Out of 393 passengers on board, 279 drowned. A man named Edward Spencer after seeing the situation unfold plunged into the lake and swam to the drowning people. He towed one person to shore and went for another. In all, he brought seventeen people to safety. However, the strain on this young man caused him to collapse. The nerves in his legs were so completely destroyed that he could never walk again. He was an invalid wheel chair victim for his entire life. On his eightieth birthday, someone asked him to relate his most vivid memory of that dreadful day. He replied, "Not one of the seventeen returned to thank me."

Colossians 1.13 "Who hath delivered(RUOMAI = to draw to ones self, to save, rescue)  us from the power (EXOUSIA = tyrannical power)  of darkness, and hath translated(METHISTEMI = to transpose or move from one place to another)[us] into the kingdom of his dear Son"

Did you read this text? It starts out, "Who hath delivered {or rescued} us". I want you to notice several things about this text. First, I want you to notice the tense of the verse. We "hath" been delivered, in other words, this is something that's already passed. If you are saved, you have been delivered. So then, what have you been delivered from? Read it with me: the {tyrannical} power of darkness. That's right, you, if you are saved, have been delivered from the power of darkness. Satan has no control over your life unless you give him that control. But all of the truth of this text hinges on one thing and one thing alone: Who delivered you from the darkness of sin and Satan? If a mere man did the delivering, then the salvation cannot be permanent, cannot be lasting. If God used the sacrifice of a mere mortal man, then our salvation will be only as strong as a mere man could obtain. But look:

Colossians 1.14-17  "In whom we have redemption (APOLUTROSIS = a ransom paid to release from slavery)through his blood, [even] the forgiveness(APHESIS = freedom, release from bondage or imprisonment)  of sins:  [15]  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn(PROTOKOS = preeminent, firstborn)of every creature:  [16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  [17] And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (SUNISTEMI, Perfect Tense = holds together with the result that it remains held together)"

No, this is no mere mortal Who has secured our salvation. This is Jesus Christ, the exact image of God, the Creator of all things Who died for us. Oh, the Power that is there. Our text tells us three things about our Jesus:

First, He paid the penalty for our sins with His own blood, with His own sinless life. We did not share in that payment, for our blood and our works were unfit to satisfy God. Jesus, innocent as a Lamb, had to willingly suffer the indignity of and undeserved death so that we could live.

Second, this was not mere man who paid the penalty, but Eternal Creator God. We are told in verse 16 that "all things were created by him, and for him". Everything that was made, Jesus made it for His own pleasure. Not only that, but heed the end of verse 17: "by him all things consist {SUNISTEMI}", or are held together. Jesus Christ not only created all things, Jesus Christ not only got down on His knees and paid for our sins, but Jesus Christ even today holds all things together. Can you imagine the immensity of this statement?
 

The sun is like a vast hydrogen bomb. Every second, 4 million tons of hydrogen are destroyed in explosions within the sun - yet it continues to function. The center of the sun is so radioactive that a piece of it the size of a pinhead would be "hot" enough to kill a man 100 miles away - yet it remains whole.  In a book entitled Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? Robert Wells takes us from a size we can grasp to one we can't. The largest animal on earth is the blue whale. Just the flippers on its tail are bigger than most animals on earth. But a blue whale isn't anywhere near as big as a mountain. If you put one hundred blue whales in a huge jar, you could put millions of whale jars inside a hollowed out Mount Everest. But Mount Everest isn't anywhere near as big as the earth. If you stacked one hundred Mount Everests on top of one another, it would be just a whisker on the face of the earth. And the earth isn't anywhere near as big as the sun. You could fit one million earths inside of the sun. But the sun, which is a medium size star, isn't anywhere near as big as a red super giant star called Antares. Fifty million of our suns could fit inside of Antares. But Antares isn't anywhere near as big as the Milky Way galaxy. Billions of stars, including super giants like Antares, as well as countless comets and asteroids, make up the Milky Way galaxy. But the Milky Way galaxy isn't anywhere near as big as the universe. There are billions of other galaxies in the universe. And yet, filled with billions of galaxies, the universe is almost totally empty. The distances from one galaxy to another are beyond our imagination. (Contemporary Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers, & Writers Editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 83.)

Third, Jesus Christ is the "firstborn(PROTOKOS = preeminent, firstborn)of every creature". Does this mean He was "born", in other words, that He had a beginning like a mere mortal man? Absolutely not! We just read, in context, that Jesus Christ is Creator God. The Bible also tells us in:

Hebrews 1:8  "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom."

And in John we are told:

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."

John 1.1-3 nearly literally repeats Colossians 1.16 which tell us that all things were made by Jesus-God. So Jesus was, is, and shall always be God. If He is then God, then why call Him "firstborn"?

First of all, "firstborn" is a technical term in the Scripture to denote a position of preeminence in the family. The one who was "PROTOKOS" or firstborn had authority over his brothers and sisters. He was second in command to his father, and in the absence of his father he assumed leadership of the family. The firstborn received a double portion of the inheritance passed on to the children in the event of the father's death.

Second, the "firstborn" was not always actually the first one born. God prophesied when Esau and Jacob were born that the elder (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob). Jacob would trick his father into putting the right hand of blessing on him, thus contracting the double portion of the firstborn while Esau was left with a lesser portion (Genesis 41). Later history would repeat itself when Jacob (then called Israel) would put his right hand of blessing on Ephraim and the left hand on Manasseh. Joseph would try to stop Jacob because Ephraim was the younger child, but Jacob would insist on passing the blessings of the firstborn on to Ephraim - later to be known as the tribe of Judah (Genesis 48.14).

Jesus is called "firstborn" not because He was born, but because God the Father gives Him preeminence over all Creation. Jesus is firstborn because all creation, like it or not, will ultimately either serve Him or spend an eternity in hellfire. You cannot come to God through your own works, but only through the works of the Firstborn, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ made it all - then we sinned - then Jesus came to earth and died for it all. Unless you accept Him as both Lord and Savior you will never see Heaven.

Colossians 1.17-18  "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.[18] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, (arche = originating power, chief executive)  the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.(GENETAI PROTEUON = might become being first. Jesus became Head of the Church, the preeminent One, through His incarnation and passion)"

If you are saved, then you will want to serve Jesus Christ. This is Biblical truth. Jesus said:

Luke 6:46  "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

and,

John 14:21  "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

The Church belongs to Jesus Christ. He is its Head, we are His Body. If you are saved, you will want to serve Jesus Christ in His Church. If you leave this service today and go out into the world to serve Satan again, to serve the world again, and refuse to serve the Creator in His Church then what hope do you have of eternal life? You cannot serve two masters. Jesus calls you to salvation through faith in Him. After salvation, the One who created the physical universe is the same One Who created the Body, the Church. Get busy in your Church! Today the doors of this Church are opened to those who will accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

The Head of this Church calls you to salvation and a renewed, dedicated life today. Come!