with me in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1 for our meditation this evening. Colossians chapter 1, our focus will be verses 21 to 23. Colossians 1, 21 to 23, but I'll begin reading in verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. As you also learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the spirit. For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in 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 may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death. to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
To them, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, this is a glorious passage of Holy Scripture, and again we pray for the ministry of the Spirit who gave us this living word. We ask that you would fill our hearts with encouragement as we ponder afresh the glory of Jesus Christ and the redemption of our souls. How we praise you for the blessed doctrine of reconciliation, Two warring parties now have become friends by Your grace and Your mercy.
We pray that this would indeed elicit from us worship and love and adoration and great thankfulness for such a great God who has engaged in such a wonderful way to save His people from their sins. Forgive us now for sin and for all unrighteousness and uncleanness, and give us help now as we receive with thanksgiving your holy word. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, there's a lot of similarities between Paul's letters to the Colossians and to the Ephesians. And Paul essentially, in verses 21 to 23, is doing what he does in Ephesians 2, what they were and what by God's grace they had become. I do want to give you a bit of the structure in Colossians chapter 1. Paul begins with prayer for those believers in verses 9 to 12.
He then transitions to theological instruction in verses 12 to 20. And then he calls them to this historical reflection in verses 21 to 23. He mentions in verse 20 God's cosmic plan, God's cosmic purpose, the reconciliation of the cosmos or the entirety of the created order. by our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the greater.
And then he focuses on the particular with reference to these Colossian believers, what they had been prior to their salvation in Christ and what by God's grace they had now become. And the emphasis falls upon that blessed word reconciliation. There's a lot of words that the Bible uses to sort of demonstrate what the relationship with God is that sinners have obtained. We have propitiation, where God pours out the wrath of God upon the Son of God.
We have redemption, which speaks of the purchase of sinners out of the slave market of sin by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have, of course, salvation and justification. All this terminology associated with our great redemption. Well, here's specifically reconciliation.
Again, the concept or the underlying assumption is that there were two warring parties. God was at enmity toward us, and we were at enmity toward God. And yet, through the blood of Jesus Cross, we now have reconciliation. brought nigh, we have been brought together, who was once considered an enemy by us is now our great God, worthy of our praise and adoration and worship, and we at one time were considered as enemies to God, we are now His beloved, we are His children.
Former State of Alienation
So I want to look first at their former state of alienation in verse 21, and then secondly, their blessed state of reconciliation in verses 21b to 23. But notice with reference to their former state, Paul tells us the problem with man. And the problem with man isn't a lack of education. The problem with man isn't a lack of money.
The problem with man isn't the lack of any sort of social economic status. The problem with man is sin. And that's what Paul declares and that's what Paul highlights in three ways.
Alienated from God
First, he indicates that they were alienated from God. Notice in verse 21, and you who once were alienated. That means we were far removed. We were far off.
We were not in union with God. We were not walking with God. We were not close to God, but we were alienated from God. Again, there's a parallel thought in Ephesians chapter 2, when Paul identifies those Gentiles as having been alienated, or aliens rather, from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise.
Well, that obtains with reference to individual sinners. we were alienated from our Lord God Most High. Now if we ask the question, why is Paul doing this in this particular place? Why in verses 21 to 23 is Paul sort of reminding them of what they were and what they have become by the grace of God? Well, I think there are two reasons why he does this.
Again, it's in the context of verse 20. God reconciles the cosmos to himself through the blood of Jesus Cross. He gives the specific application with reference to the Colossians in the first place to promote thankfulness on their part. In other words, this whole idea of God's grace ought to promote gratitude on the part of the recipients of that grace.
And Paul wants the believers in Colossae to express thankfulness to God. He's already said that in Colossians 1 at verse 12. And that's something we always need to be reminded of so that we will respond in thankfulness to our God. Do we wake up in the morning thanking God for His great grace?
Do we wake up in the morning thanking God for redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ? Do we ever consider this reality as we move through our daily lives? Perhaps One of the reasons we might be sorrowful or depressed or we might be melancholic, and perhaps I'm preaching to myself here, is that we don't remind ourselves of the great redemptive truths concerning our salvation. Because when we ponder that we are at peace through the blood of His cross, it ought to elicit praise and worship and adoration and glory given to God Most High.
So Paul reminds them of their past to provoke from them a thankfulness to God in the present. But as well, Paul is coming to warn them about certain persons, heretics, that have plagued the churches. Chapter 2, verses 8 to 23 is a warning from Paul given to the Colossian believers that they be on guard, that they withstand the attacks of these heretical men, that they maintain fidelity to the true and living God. So he wants to rehearse for them the way of salvation, so that when they come to these false teachers, they will not be brought in, they will not be led astray, they will not be carried about by every wind of doctrine.
Much of Colossians 2 is a warning and an exhortation by the Apostle Paul to guard their hearts against the false teachers and the deceptive theology that has come to Colossae. O'Brien, one commentator, says, the gravity of their previous condition, the fact that they were wretched and undone, serves to magnify the wonder of God's mercy. The past is recalled not because the emphasis falls upon it, but to draw attention to God's mighty action here in the reconciling death of his son on the reader's behalf. So the reminder is given to them, but as that reminder comes, he wants to tell them what they were.
And when we consider our salvation, it's never a bad thing to remember what we were saved from, to consider that rock from whence we were hewn, to consider that former state, because again, we magnify the grace of God when we consider our lost estate before Him. He says that you were alienated, which means estranged, it means to be afar off. And then with reference to this alienation, with reference to what he'll go on to say in a moment, this enemy's in your mind. Does that mean that we looked at God as our enemy, or does this mean that God looks at us as His enemy?
I think that Calvin is right when he sees both senses present in this particular context. But that God does treat sinners as enemies, the Bible certainly speaks to that. You can turn to Romans chapter 5 for just a moment. Don't think we often ponder that.
We go out, or some go out, and they say, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Well, if we were candid and honest, we would say that God counts you as one of his enemies. And if you don't repent and believe the gospel, you will perish under his judgment, under his wrath, under his curse, and under everlasting fire. That is a more appropriate way to declare the gospel message, or at least the context for the gospel message.
Notice in Romans 5 at verse 10. He says, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Most likely, in that context, what we see is that we are God's enemies prior to our salvation. John Murray said, when we examine the scripture closely, we shall find that it is not our enmity against God that comes to the forefront in the reconciliation, but God's alienation from us.
The alienation on the part of God arises indeed from our sin. It is our sin that evokes this reaction of His holiness. Now, this according to the manner of men. God doesn't react or God doesn't have passions and all that sort of thing.
But it's written for us in the manner of men to see our state before God. But I think Calvin, in context, is more on track. He says, while the term enemies has a passive as well as active signification, it is well suited to us in both respects so long as we are apart from Christ. So as he comes to deal with them in terms of their former state, it's not only that we looked at God as our enemy when we were God-hating rebels, Now, maybe not actively.
We didn't probably wake up in the morning and say, you know, what bad things can I do today to reject God? What horrible things can I do today to transgress against God? But in our minds and the way that we conducted ourselves, that is precisely what happened. It was, well, God looks upon sinners undone, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, as his enemy.
Now, notice what he goes on to say.
Enemies in Mind
You who once were alienated and enemies in your mind, Enemies in your mind. Think of an aspect of salvation, an aspect of evangelism that oftentimes goes unaddressed. We deal with the wicked works that are definitely coming, but something comes before wicked works, and it's this mind that's bent. It's this mind that's dark.
It's this mind that's distorted. It's this mind that has this orientation that is far from God, and Paul emphasizes that. You who once were alienated, and enemies in your mind. You see, there are persons in the world that may engage in some moral deeds.
There are persons in the world that at times outdo Christians in terms of morality and in terms of good works. But it's that mind orientation. Why are they doing it? If you announce on Facebook that you've done a good deed, you've already tipped your hand.
You're not supposed to announce on Facebook that you've done a good deed. A genuinely good deed, according to the Bible, is for the glory of God and for the good of others. It isn't for the approbation of your fellows so they can like your status that you did a good deed. See, the mind precedes the wicked works.
It's the seat of the enmity. The works are going to follow, to be sure, and Paul will address that, but we need to understand, with reference to sinners, the first emphasis is the mind. It's the intellect. It's the noetic effect of sin upon the mind of a man.
Paul doesn't just treat that here, he deals with it in Romans chapter 1. He deals with this in Ephesians chapter 4. The mind is alienated, the mind is at enmity with God, and it's from that vantage point that these wicked works then proceed. So again, the fact that somebody engages in morality, the fact that somebody does a good deed, if their minds are far from God Most High, it invalidates that good deed in terms of God.
It doesn't hurt the body politic, it doesn't hurt the person that receives the good deed, but if we ask the question, what is a good work? A good work is, first and foremost, for the glory of God, and then for the good of the person that we do the work toward. It isn't so that we can get likes. It isn't so that we can pat ourselves on the back.
It isn't so that others can pat us on the back and tell us what great guys and girls we are. Now, Paul locates the primary emphasis with reference to sinful men's problem, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind. In Ecclesiastes 9.3, Solomon says, this is an evil that is done under the sun, that one thing happens to all. Truly, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil.
Madness is in their hearts while they live. Now, the Greek translation of the Old Testament scriptures uses the word here for mine. So when it says heart, think mind in Ecclesiastes 9.3. Remember that demoniac that lived among the tombs?
That poor, wretched man. He was a man that was naked. He was a man that lived among the tombs. That was strictly prohibited in Israel, right?
You weren't supposed to have truck with dead bodies. Certainly not make your habitation among them. And so this man lived among the tombs. He was naked, he would gash himself, he would cut himself, he would bleed, he would howl.
Persons in that region were afraid to go near him because he was strong and he would overtake them. Well, the Lord Christ comes to him, and the Lord Christ casts out the demons from him. And in Luke's gospel, in Luke's record of this particular miracle, we read in Luke 8.35, Then they went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed," and I love this next statement, "...and in his right mind." What does that mean? Sinners apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, those alienated from God, are out of their minds.
How else do you describe Planned Parenthood? How else do you describe going after the most vulnerable in society? We have to be collectively out of our mind to ever engage in that sort of thing. So when Jesus casts out the demons from this demoniac, he's sitting at the feet of Jesus, now he's clothed, and now he's in his right mind.
Something has been restored through God's powerful grace. Something has been restored by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it is intriguing because the persons in that community, Luke goes on to say, and they were afraid. Isn't that intriguing?
I mean, they were afraid of this demoniac when he was able to break sort of handcuffs. They were afraid of this demoniac when he was cutting himself and bleeding all over himself. They were afraid of this demoniac while he lived among the tombs and he cried out day and night. But they're even more afraid that there is one who has conquered the demoniac.
It's like when Jesus is able to calm the sea. It's like when Jesus is able to stop the winds. What does it say the disciples' response was? They were afraid, greatly afraid.
Why? Because no man has the authority or power to stop the wind and the waves. No man has the authority and the power to cast out demons from this possessed man. Well, the God-man, the Lord Christ, obviously and certainly does.
So Paul says they were alienated from God. They were enemies in their minds. And then
Wicked Works
notice thirdly, in terms of their former state of alienation, they engaged in wicked works. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Now, again, I think that's something we can all So to relate to, prior to our conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what identified us, that's what characterized us. And unfortunately, even with remaining corruption, there are those wicked works that come from the hearts of God's people from time to time.
Paul speaks to that in Romans 7 and Galatians 5. We see illustrations in the life of David, as we considered this morning, in Surrey, as we consider Peter in the gospel narratives denying his Lord. But this idea of wicked works is something that characterizes the unbeliever. It is something that is indicative of his orientation.
And we see the logical procession here. The mind at enmity with God inevitably leads to wicked works. Again, there are those moralistic persons that do some good things from time to time, but if you were to put that deed under the microscope of God and ask, is it for His glory and is it for the good of the target audience, the answer would be no. But the logical procession is what we think concerning God affects how we live with reference to God.
The mind produces practice consistent with it. Notice in chapter 1 at verse 9. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We want your minds to be renewed.
We want your minds to be transformed. We want those wicked works and that enmity gone. And then notice in verse 10, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, that you may be fully pleasing to Him, that being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. that you may be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and longsuffering with joy. See, the emphasis in our church and hopefully in your own lives is that you learn scripture because that is a means by which it's an out with the old and in with the new.
We are not to be conformed to this world, but we're rather to be transformed by the renewing of what? By the mind. Brethren, Christian growth comes by receiving the Word of God, internalizing the Word of God, and then putting into practice that Word of God. All by the power and the grace and the aid of the Holy Spirit, to be sure, but it certainly takes the effort of God's people to renew their minds.
And so Paul says, this is the lot of these Colossian believers prior to their salvation. John Eady said, the apostle charges them not merely with spiritual and latent hostility to God, but with the manifestation of that hostility in open acts of unnatural rebellion. It is not a neutral alienation, but one characterized by positive enmity. You had this mindset, and with that mindset, you pursued wicked works.
With this mindset, you did everything that was contrary to God. With this mindset, you lived as if there was no God. That is the former state of the Colossians. That is the former state of everyone in this room that has now been translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
It's a pretty dark and bleak and disgusting picture, isn't it? And this is why Paul does that, so that when we get to the not bleak and not disgusting and glorious picture of gospel grace, we can say, praise God almighty. So there's been a bit of a heavy sort of trudge through our past. Let's look at our present because of the grace of God.
Blessed State of Reconciliation
Notice there. Blessed state of reconciliation.
Divine Initiative in Reconciliation
The first thing we ought to appreciate is divine initiative. Again, we looked at that theme this morning in 2 Samuel chapter 12. God sent Nathan to David. God didn't leave David to do what David wanted.
God didn't leave David in that state of rebellion. God sent Nathan to go fetch him. And we see that divine initiative in this area as well. Notice, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled.
It's God who sought us. It's God who found us. It's God who has reconciled us. It's God who gets the glory for our salvation.
We didn't move from this place of alienation. We didn't move from this enmity of mind, this place of wicked works, in and of our own strength to come into the saving grace and favor of God. Brethren, we are reformed for a reason, because salvation is of the Lord. It ain't of us.
It is not dependent upon Him who wills or upon Him who runs, but upon God who shows mercy. And God has shown mercy in His grace, in His kindness, in saving us from our sins. Divine initiative is behind this purpose of God in saving sinners. Notice, it is God who is the subject of the reconciliation.
He says, yet now He has reconciled. He, God, not you. When we come tonight to eat the bread and drink the cup, it's not sort of as an assistant or we praise Jesus for helping us find reconciliation. There's no helping us in finding reconciliation.
It's either Jesus saves or he doesn't. It's not that he needs assistance. It's not that he needs a contributor. It's not that we do our part and he does the rest.
If Christ doesn't save, we are not saved. There's no sort of 60-40 or 70-30. There's no contribution on the part of the sinner except for the sin in which we need to be saved from. That's our contribution, the vileness, the putridity, the wickedness, and the wretchedness.
And then notice, before we move to the means of accomplishment, the efficacy of reconciliation. Notice, yet now He has reconciled you. He doesn't make men reconcilable. It's not a real word.
Word didn't acknowledge it. It put the red line under it, but I'm making it a word tonight. God didn't make us reconcilable. He didn't make us saveable.
He didn't make us redeemable. He actually reconciled. He actually saves, He actually redeems. That's the emphasis of the Scriptures.
You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sin. Brethren, that's another thing to encourage our hearts. God hasn't put us in this limbo position of savability, but the Lord Most High has saved us. If by grace you are trusting in the Lord Christ, if by grace you have looked and lived at the Son of Man as He's been lifted up on the cross, you are saved, you are blessed, you are reconciled, you are redeemed, you understand the glory of God Most High and the purpose of His Son, the Lord Christ, in terms of the salvation of our souls.
Will there be stumbling? Will there be times of doubt? Will there be difficulties? Yes, to be sure.
That's why you come back to Scripture. That's why you come back to the Gospel. That's why you come back to the Word. So that you get a great big dose of what Christ says there in John chapter 3.
Just as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And when you read that passage, you go back into Numbers and you see the means by which those persons were de-venomized. They looked at that brazen serpent. They looked and they lived.
They didn't drag themselves over there. They didn't kiss the brazen serpent. They didn't suck the poison out of their womb. Rather, they looked at that serpent and they lived.
Why do you think Jesus tells us that? So that we'll look to him and live. so that we'll see him as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. When difficulties or trials or doubts or a lack of assurance comes, what do you do? Do you wallow in pity, or do you go to the scriptures?
Do you go to Romans chapter 8? Who is it that will bring a charge against God's elect? It is Christ who died, Paul said. That's what we go to.
If you have struggles, if you have doubts, if you have difficulties, you above all persons ought to be in Scripture. Not to say if you don't have doubts and you don't have problems with assurance that you aren't supposed to read Scripture. Your life depends upon it. Feed your souls with the word of the living God.
That's what it's for. Why do you think John 3 is there? To point sinners to Christ. Are you a sinner needing pointing to Christ?
Absolutely. So look to Christ. That's the remedy. That's the blessing.
The reality is, is that he didn't come to make men savable. He didn't come to make men redeemable. He didn't come to make men reconcilable. But he came to do those things and he does it efficiently.
Means of Accomplishment
Now, notice the means of accomplishment. Notice, he says, yet now he has reconciled. And then he emphasizes two things. In theology, we call this the person and the work. of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice verse 22, in the body of his flesh through death. That's the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the body of his flesh, his person, and then through death highlights his work. It doesn't stipulate everything about the work.
It doesn't highlight the life of obedience and then the sacrificial death at Calvary, but it's sort of theological shorthand to encompass the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus on our behalf. Paul will detail those other facets in other places in Colossians and then in the rest of Paul's writings elsewhere. But notice what he says concerning the person of our Lord Jesus. He says, in the body of his flesh.
Now, this language underscores the incarnation. It underscores the true humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The fathers were absolutely right. Whatever is not assumed is not redeemed.
If Christ does not assume our humanity, then we are not redeemed. We need a fellow. We need a champion, to be sure, but we need a fellow to save us from our sins. The language distinguishes the physical body of our Lord Jesus from, say, the mystical body of our Lord.
In Colossians 1.18, Paul speaks of the church as being the body of the Lord. Well, here in verse 22, that's not the emphasis. It's not the church. It's not the body of the Lord in that mystical sense, but it is rather the body of his flesh.
His incarnation. As well, the language distinguishes Orthodox Christianity from the pseudo-Christian cults who denigrate the physical. In other words, if you read through 1 John, John emphasizes over and over again Christ's bodily coming into the world. John emphasizes the reality, the true humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why does he do that? Because there are antagonists, there are enemies of the church that see the physical as bad. It's only the spiritual that's really good. No, brethren, the physical isn't bad.
Our physical happens to be tainted with sin. That's what's bad. God isn't at war with nature. He's at war with our sin and our rebellion.
And so this emphasis here, that in the body of his flesh, is ultimately summarized, I think, beautifully in the Nicene Creed. It's one of those things that you can never get that into a sermon enough. You know, this is one of those places that it really belongs. Now listen to what the Nicene Creed says.
I believe in... This is the section on Jesus. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried.
And the third day he rose again, according to the scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the father. And he shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. You see, this second person of the Trinity came into this world and he assumed our humanity with all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, yet without sin. Again, listen to what the father said.
Whatever is not assumed is not redeemed. If he does not assume our humanity, he does not redeem our humanity. And that is the emphasis that the scripture upholds with reference to the incarnation of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. He does this for us. but not only the incarnation.
Paul highlights the death. Notice in verse 22, "...in the body of His flesh through death." Go back to chapter 1 at verse 20, "...and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." Doesn't that sound as paradoxical as anything ever? We don't think of blood being the means by which peace comes. We think of blood as murder.
We think of blood as warfare. We think of blood as savagery. But here the apostle tells us that peace comes through the blood of his cross. Now there was murder, there was savagery, there was butchery on the part of wicked men against our Lord Jesus Christ.
This was the means by which he secures the peace of God and that reconciliation between God and men. Now, the death of Christ was absolutely, positively necessary that he would be a sacrifice for sin. Remember that Old Testament system? Remember when they built the tabernacle?
The end of Exodus ends with the tabernacle having been built and the glory of God, that Shekinah, came and dwelt in that tabernacle, in that holy place. But Moses himself couldn't enter in. What's the emphasis there? Moses, the godliest and holiest man in that commonwealth, couldn't enter in because of God's burning glory and majesty.
That's when the book of Leviticus starts. God teaches Israel how they dwell in his presence. And the way that they dwell in his presence is through a bloody knife and a burning altar. And that's what Leviticus is about.
Offer the sacrifice, atone for the sin, and God and sinners will be reconciled and can dwell together. All of that was typical. All of that was a shadow. All of that was signposts pointing forward to the great redemptive truth that the Lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world.
Remember in our studies in Genesis, when we're in Genesis chapter 22, Abraham is with Isaac. He's taking up to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him. And Isaac says to Abraham, we have the wood, we have the fire, but we don't have the sacrifice. And Abraham, the theologian, tells him God will provide for himself a sacrifice.
After Abraham's hand is stayed and he doesn't bury the knife into Isaac's chest, they look and they see this ram caught in a thicket. That ram is typical. This is why Jesus could say, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and he was glad.
He didn't think, The ram was Jesus, but the ram typified. The ram pointed forward. He offered it up in the stead of his son, Isaac. We need sacrifice, brethren.
God is a holy God. And we don't just wander into his presence. We don't just treat him as an equal. For us to get into the presence of God, there must be the shedding of blood.
And that's what Christ does. And not only is he a sacrifice, but he's a substitute. I think the doctrine of substitution always points to Reformed theology. I don't know how in an Arminian scheme they could actually have substitution.
The moment you admit substitution is the moment you admit particularity, the moment you admit efficacy, the moment you admit that it's not general, it's not hypothetical, but it is specific and particular. And Christ echoes that when he says, this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. John Calvin says, with reference to the sacrifice of Christ, it was necessary that the Son of God should become man and be a partaker of our flesh, that He might be our brother. It was necessary that He should, by dying, become a sacrifice, that He might make His Father propitious to us.
Matthew Poole says, Christ's death was not only for our good, but in our stead. Thereby offering himself to God, he satisfied divine justice, and his sacrifice, giving himself for us, was a sacrifice of a sweet smell to God. You see, the Apostle Paul links our reconciliation not with moral reform on our part, not with moralism on our part, not with do-goodism on our part, not with a little bit of help from on high, but he links that reconciliation to the incarnation and to the substitutionary, sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus. That's why we eat this bread and we drink this cup.
That's why we proclaim the Lord's death. We're not proclaiming tonight our goodness. We're not proclaiming tonight our reward for the week because we've done good. We are proclaiming the Lord's death because that is the basis upon which you and I stand.
Now in terms of the remainder, I just want to quickly move through that.
The Blessed Result
Notice the blessed result in verse 22b. To present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. I think this refers to our present sanctification. This is the goal.
This is, you know, justification always yields to or goes forward in sanctification. In other words, those justified freely by God's grace will seek, by God's grace, to live in a manner that is consistent with God's Word. Not in some sort of meritorious way, if we do this, we get that. We've already been given that.
We've already been saved. Now we live like saved men and women. That's the emphasis that we find in the Bible. But it also points to that future glorification.
It is in Christ Jesus that we will be holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. And please do not mistake the order of the text. Look at what Paul says, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. It's not because you were holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight that he reconciled you.
That's not what the text says. It's he reconciled you so that he can present you this way. The same thrust as in Ephesians 1.4. The apostle there says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in law.
It doesn't say he chose us in him before the foundation of the world because we were holy and without blame. See, there's no merit on our part. There's no dessert on our part. There is nothing in us that God says, wow, I'm going to reconcile them because they're holy and blameless and above without reproach in my sight.
That's not the emphasis.
Call to Perseverance
And then in verse 23, he gives a call to perseverance. Again, because this is the supper and our focus is primarily on the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ, we could spend a whole nother sermon, perhaps we will next week, looking at verse 23. But notice what he says, if indeed you continue in the faith. Now that sounds a lot more sort of hypothetical and it almost sounds a lot less sure in the English than it does in the Greek.
I don't think Paul is saying that, you know, as long as this, then this. No, you've been reconciled. You have been reconciled, but the truth is that somebody who has been reconciled will in fact continue in the faith. They will continue in the faith grounded and steadfast.
They will not be moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. There is an exhortation based on the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ that the people of God persevere. The people of God go forward. Again, the means by which you do this is in scripture, prayer, corporate means, come to church, take the supper, eat the bread, drink the cup.
All these things are calculated by God to spur on and encourage weary pilgrims in the world. It's a blessing to see a lot of people here tonight. I mean, this is almost mega church status for us. We've got just, I mean, everywhere I look, there's people.
That's encouraging, brethren, because the supper is God's gift to us. See, we are weary pilgrims in a distant land. We are weary pilgrims in a sin-cursed world. And we come in from that world, and it's not our service to God.
It's how we look at the service. Tonight, it's God's service to us. He gives us this bounty. He gives us this bread.
He gives us this wine. He gives us this symbol, this tangible element to recall the great redemptive truth of Calvary's cross. Why? To encourage us. to cause us to persevere, to cause us to fight, to cause us to go forward, to resist the temptations of this world, to resist the devil, to resist our own remaining corruption, to put to death the deeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit.
All of this is enjoined here. So we've come, by the grace of God, into this state of reconciliation. And then the Apostle Paul says, if you continue, or if indeed you continue in faith, grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. Why do you think he says that?
Because there's a lot of persons out there trying to move you away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. You've got peer group, you've got devil, you've got you trying to move you away from the hope of the gospel. You've got the devil whispering into your ear, how in the world could you ever think you're a believer? You've got friends whispering, well, not even whispering in your ear, how in the world could you ever think you're a believer?
You have your own mermaid flesh saying, how in the world could you ever think you're a believer? Paul's antidote, Romans chapter 8, it's Christ who died. It's Christ who's risen. It is Christ who is ascended at the right hand of the Father.
Our hope, our life, our everything is tied up in the person and in the work of our Lord Jesus.
Application
Well, brethren, With reference to this particular text, I hope it promotes or provokes from us thankfulness to God. As we eat this bread and we drink this cup, let's not wander in our minds to next week. Let's not wander in our minds to tonight. Let's not wander to tomorrow or Tuesday.
Let's think about the broken body and the shed blood of our Lord Jesus, and let's respond with worship, with adoration, with glory given to our God. As well, with reference to the context, hopefully this promotes watchfulness. There are great and alarming things happening. Great not in a good way, but great in an alarming way happening within the context of the church today.
We need to be on guard. We need to be watchful. We need to understand the reconciliation that God brought out. We need to watch against the same sorts of things that Paul tells the Colossians to combat in chapter 2.
Asceticism at the very end of chapter 2. Don't teach, don't touch, don't handle. Somehow that's holy. No, that's not holy.
Holy is belief on the Lord Jesus Christ and walking according to His will. as well this sort of mystical legalism that obtained in verses 16 to 19 in chapter 2. There's these sorts of things on our horizon, and if we're not careful, if we don't know the great reconciliation of God, we will be led astray, and we will be prone to wander and leave the God that we love. As well, we ought to be amazed with reference to this scheme. The reality of what we were prior to salvation, we were alienated from God, we were enemies of God, we were intellectually rebellious against God, and we were doers of wicked works against God.
That's a pretty bad resume, isn't it? This is my religious life before I became a Christian. You know, oftentimes in testimony, people say, well, how did you become a Christian? They kind of think that it was the next step in a good life.
You say, well, I was an enemy of God. I had wicked works. I engaged in lawlessness and rebellion, just abject wickedness. They say, well, what?
What are you talking about? You mean you'd have to sort of earn this? You'd have to work your way up the morality ladder? They don't understand that Christianity is a redemptive religion.
They don't understand that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself. and as well the reality that our reconciliation to God was wrought out by God, and it was through the blood of the cross of our Lord Jesus. John Eady says it beautifully. He says, man does not win his way back to the divine favor by either costly offering or profound penitence. God reunites him to himself.
He is not only provided for such an alliance, but actually forms and cements it. And in this, we rejoice. And if you are not a believer here this evening, I would encourage you to come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to him who alone can save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through him. It is a great joy and a privilege and a blessing above all other privileges and blessings that a man can have to tell sinners that there is a place to go, to tell sinners that there is remedy, to tell sinners that there is hope, to tell sinners that there is everlasting life, to tell sinners that there is embrace with God.
And it comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Believe on him and you shall be saved.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for this gospel. It's such a blessing. It's such a glorious system.
It's such a wonderful expression of divine mercy and grace and loving kindness. And God, we pray that you would encourage our hearts as we eat this bread, as we drink this cup, that you would encourage our hearts as we reflect upon the goodness of our blessed Savior on our behalf. We pray for others to come to know this Christ as Lord and Savior, not only here, but elsewhere. We pray this word would go forth throughout the world, that it would not return unto you void, but it would accomplish the purpose for which you send it.
And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.