 Colossians chapter one verses 15 through 23 again, I'm gonna read this give you a an introduction as it's my normal Way of teaching and then try to go verse by verse to look at this very powerful portion of scripture So beginning at verse 15 in the book of Colossians Reading to verse 23 chapter one Paul writes 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 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 instead fast 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 and So Paul wrote this particular letter with a distinct purpose as I've mentioned to you every book of the Bible has a reason for being written All the books of the New Testament have a reason for being written and every letter that we find written by Paul had a purpose and Colossians was written in order that he might Clarify what real or true doctrine is what truth is and that's because false teachings were entering the church Error was beginning to creep in now somebody asked the question. Why is doctrine so important? What is proper theology and how do we know that it's true with so many churches and denominations? Who can really know what is right or what is wrong? Well over the years the church has developed what are called core Essentials of belief there are certain things that we hold to that are essential to our faith You have things that are distinctly important and other things that are what we would call peripheral There are things that are essential to believe because if you don't believe these things you're not saved and there are other things that are simply things that have have Risen through years and through traditions and and the way we do things and all of that that really that really aren't Essentials to salvation. They're things that we do But not necessarily that important you can go to church in the United States and in churches By and large will start at the right right around the same time Many of the churches will keep the same kind of hour hour and a half, you know, there are things that are not essential It's just the way we do things But there are other things that are very essential there are core beliefs that we need to not only know But we need to hold fast to because these essentials provide us with a framework. They help us to organize our faith Now in in some basic way for a Christian It is Christ alone Grace alone Faith alone the glory of God alone and our faith is hinged on scripture alone That's because it's through scripture that we see Jesus and not man's tradition When you speak of the Bible we speak of it as if it's a single book We say well, I'm carrying my Bible, but we need to remember that in fact the Bible is composed of 66 books Written by 40 different writers and those writers included kings and prophets fishermen and farmers doctors tax collectors and rabbis That the Bible was written in three languages Hebrew Aramaic and Greek over 1,800 years from three different continents Africa Asia and Europe and yet it has one consistent storyline Salvation one consistent central figure the Messiah Jesus Christ And so we look at the Bible alone the scriptures alone and we trust in God alone because of the Bible It's the source of our belief. It's the source of what we practice When Paul was writing to the Thessalonians in 1st Thessalonians 2 13 he said to that church for this reason We also thank God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us You welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God Which also effectively works in you who believe so we trust in the word of God We trust in the reliability of God to not only give but to preserve his word to us It's like what Peter said in 2nd Peter 1 3 and 4 His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness Through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue by which have been given to us Exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption That's in the world through lust so it's God revealing himself to us that gave us the escape plan We have a relationship with God because we trust in the scriptures Now there's something called truth And Paul is concerned for the church because false teachers are creeping in And as these false teachers are beginning to come to church They're bringing error concerning Jesus and as they bring in their error concerning Jesus They're undermining the church in its walk with God You know Many of the bibles have to deal with error that crept in you read the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians And Paul had to deal with error you look at the the book of Galatians and Ephesians You look at 1st and 2nd Thessalonians and Paul had to deal with error 1st and 2nd Timothy dealt with error the book of Titus dealt with error the book of Hebrews dealt with error 1st and 2nd Peter 1st John all of these books dealt with error that was creeping into the church You see false teachers entering into the church were common So the church was warned over and over again Jesus himself said that the central thing the number one sign that we were in the last days would be a consistent false teaching He made it very clear Be aware do not be deceived false teachers will enter in And the other writers of the new testament spoke concerning of error entering into the church Peter and 2nd Peter chapter 2 said there were also false prophets among the people Even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies Even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction Denying the Lord who bought them this error is going to center on who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done So false teaching entering the church Creates a problem The bible is God's word to man It reveals to man the true god The god who removes spiritual darkness In Psalm 119 130 it reads the entrance of your words gives light He gives understanding to the simple And so we need the truth and the truth will set us free and Paul is writing to the Colossians because error Is entering into the church and he's telling them these are the essentials to believe And this is the one whom you must believe in Jesus Christ and Paul is going to be speaking concerning that in just a moment So as we began our study of Colossians Paul began his letter by emphasizing that Colossians the Colossians had faith love and hope They had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They had love for people. They have hope for eternity And this faith love and hope didn't come through humanistic philosophy. It didn't come through deceit or traditions It didn't come by worldly wisdom This this faith and love this hope all came through the word of truth of the gospel He said which reveals the grace of god in truth Genuine faith pure love and settled hope for eternity will come no other way You see mysticism and jewish legalism and greek philosophy was seeping in it was beginning to pollute the church And one error entering in taught that jesus was not god in the flesh But a being less than god and paul is dealing with that here in the book of Colossians You see believing that jesus is god in the flesh is what is called an essential an essential of the faith you cannot be a christian if you do not believe that jesus christ is god In the flesh you're not a christian if you don't believe that that is what is an essential In john 8 23 and 24 jesus said you are from beneath i'm from above you are of this world I'm not of this world Therefore i said to you that you'll die in your sins for if you do not believe that i am he you will die in Your sins and so it's an essential to believe in who jesus christ is and this is a sticking point with other world religions it's a it's a Mount of contention With pseudo christian cults If you speak to a Mormon a Mormon will tell you that jesus is the spirit brother of lucifer If you speak to a jehovah's witness a jehovah's witness will tell you that jesus is michael the archangel first creation of god Buddhists will say that jesus was an enlightened soul with compassion for those lost in the cycle of reincarnation Some hindu's think that jesus learned yoga became a guru to the jews and he died in order to reincarnate Muslims don't believe that jesus christ died on a cross their quran in chapter four verses 156 and 157 reads They didn't kill him nor did they crucify him But they thought they did god lifted him up to his presence god is almighty all wise Muslims don't believe that jesus is the son of god because the quran says say god is unique God the source of everything He is not he has not fathered anyone Nor was he fathered and there is nothing comparable to him. That's quran 112 verses one through four They say it is not befitting to the majesty of god that he should be get a son Glory be to him when he determines a matter he only says to it be and it is That's in the quran chapter 19 verses 34 and 35. They don't believe that jesus died on the cross nor did they believe that he is the son of god Well, that's not new Some were saying jesus is not god in the flesh during the time of the writing of the colossians So paul is presented here in these verses the deity of jesus christ Now he's already said that jesus delivered us from darkness and conveyed us into his kingdom In other words, he rescued us from satan's kingdom He brought us to safety to peace joy and hope in him and he did this by redemption He paid the price of salvation by pouring out his life for man And forgiveness came through our receiving christ's savior being washed by his blood So to establish that jesus is god incarnate paul reveals his greatness And he's doing so in these verses through what is called a hymn a song of praise That's intended to reveal that jesus is preeminent And that we need no one else But him The first stanza is found in verses 15 through 17 He's the image of the invisible god The firstborn overall creation for by him all things were created that are in heaven that are on earth visible and invisible Whether thrones or dominions principalities or powers All things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him All things consist. So that's the first stanza He is the image of the invisible god the firstborn. He says overall creation When paul says he's the image that's a greek word icon And the word is translated Essential embodiment He is real. He is the likeness You see he's saying in in jesus god's nature and being have been perfectly revealed The invisible has been made visible Now that's in accordance with old testament prophecy Isaiah 9 verse 6 says it like this Unto us a child is born unto us a son is given the government will be upon his shoulder His name will be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace So jesus in the old testament is prophesied as god the mighty god in the new testament Then well the new testament clearly presents jesus as god in the flesh If you've been with us on wednesday night We've been going through the gospel of john and john chapter 1 verse 1 In the beginning was the word the word was with god the word was god When you get to verse 14 He goes on to say the word was made flesh dwelt amongst us. We beheld his glory The glory has of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth So he says the word became flesh this word that is god incarnated When paul was writing to the flipians in chapter 2 verse 6. He said speaking of jesus Being in the form of god. He thought it not robbery to be equal with god The rite of hebrus in chapter 1 verses 2 and 3 said that god and has in these last days spoken to us by a son Whom he has appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds Who being the brightness of his glory the express image of his person? Upholding all things by the word of his power When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on on the right hand of the majesty On high jesus christ is presented in the scriptures as god in the flesh Now when he's speaking of him in verse 15, he says he's the image of the invisible god He also reversed who has the first born over all creation Now when he says the first born that's a that's speaking of position He's got the position of prominence. He has preeminence over all creation It's a word that's spoken of in order to give him the prominence that he deserves It's like when the psalmist in psalm 89 verse 27 spoke of king david and said i will make him my first born Higher than the kings of the earth. It's a position of prominence And so jesus christ is not being spoken of as the first born of all creation in the sense of a literal birth But rather he has priority over he has prominence over all creation In verses 16 and 17 by him all things were created that are in heaven that on earth visible invisible Whether thrones or dominions principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him He's before all things and in him all things consist And so he makes it very clear that that jesus christ is the creator of all things In psalm 33 verse 6 it says by the word of the lord where the heavens made And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Again in john in chapter 1 verse 3 it said all things were made by him without him was not anything made that was made Now this all things includes the angelic host and that's why we're subject to him And that's why they are subject to him and this is why we don't worship angels Now there are those who who do do But the scripture teaches us that we're not to we're not to have anything that goes before jesus christ anything at all And yet there are those who will pray to angels and have a worshipful experience towards them and all But the bible doesn't teach that angels were created beings Or intended to minister to the heirs of salvation the writer of heavers tells us Angels can't be saved When an angel fell he remain remains fallen There is no redeeming of angels into them Once again being righteous or having an ability to be in the presence of god is one of his servants That doesn't happen When an angel fell he has fallen for eternity and those that remain faithful are faithful for eternity They don't understand salvation Because they are not saved human beings are saved and angels are not to be worshiped by human beings No other no other Created thing is to be worshiped Other than jesus No other thing should be that is created his worship the only one that is worshiped is jesus christ Now sometimes we get caught up thinking well, this was a holy person. I should speak to them even though they're dead The bible doesn't teach that we do that either. There's one intercessor between men and and and god And that's the man christ jesus that includes Mary that includes joseph includes everybody It's only jesus. He's the way the truth in the life. I I remember when my wife marie and I were starting to date marie had She had this thing for st. Joseph And she had a little statue on her on her on her dashboard and the car of st. Joseph and he was facing traffic But his hands were over his eyes. No, they they weren't He melted in the sun So it's like a little hunchback, you know, they're looking at traffic, you know and and and You don't you don't create something to worship God created us that we might worship Him but you you don't worship something that is created. You don't worship the angels. You don't worship saints you worship only jesus christ see and It's a very important thing for us to understand and to realize today because there's a lot of glory that's taken from the lord When you start giving it to created things But jesus christ signed on a cross that he might draw me to his father And my worship should go to god through jesus christ because he's that one meteor between man and god the man christ jesus And and that's how it's supposed to be in our christian faith. And so You don't worship anything other than god the all things that were created includes the angelic hosts That's why they're subject to him in verse 17 It says he is before all things and in him all things consist When it says he's before all things. He's the uncreated creator. He has no beginning. It's what paul is saying He is before all things This reminds us of mica 5 verse 2 the scripture that we use during christmas where it says You Bethlehem if ratha though you are little among the thousands of juda Yet out of you shall come forth to me The one to be ruler in israel whose goings forth are from old of old from everlasting From beyond the vanishing point He's speaking of christ who has not been created You see it's the lord jesus christ notice who keeps all things together It says all things in verse 16 were created through him for him verse 17 He is before all things and in him all things consist All things are held together Jesus keeps everything together Not the atoms and protons and neutrons and quarks and quantum particles Jesus holds all things together And if jesus keeps the universe together i've discovered have you that he can keep me together too He can keep me together. He keeps all things together And in hebrews again I just read this to you verse 3 that he's the brightness of his glory the express image of his person He upholds all things by the word of his power. He holds everything together Now the second stands as verse 18 where it says He is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the first born from the dead That in all things he may have the preeminence He is preeminent overall. He is the beginning the first born from the dead Now he's the head of the body The church Not only is jesus from the beginning He's the head of the church In other words, he bought the church with his own blood. He owns the church He controls it and he is the beginning first born notice from the dead When you read your bible you find that there were several who died But came to life. Look at your old testament in the old testament Elijah Raised the widow of xeraphat's son. It's recorded in first king 17 Elisha his protege Raised the shunamite son. It's recorded in second kings chapter four There's an interesting story about a man who had died and was cast into elisha sepulcher And when this dead man's body came into contact with the bones of elisha According to second kings 13. This man came back to life That must have scared his friends an awful lot In the new testament Jeres's daughter and mark five was raised from the dead the widow of nane's son in luke seven As well as lazarus and john 11 were all dead. They all came back to life They all had one thing in common though They died once again They were resurrected But they died Again that must have been quite a bummer for them When you think about it Now jesus is the first to be resurrected never to die again And it's jesus who brings life and immortality to us. It's like what paul said in first chrithians 15 20 Christ has indeed been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep He goes on in verse 19 to say it pleased the father that in him all the fullness Should dwell Now when you look at chapter two verse nine It says in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily In him all the fullness dwells the word fullness in the greek language Is the totality of all that god is It dwelt in jesus everything god is Christ is the majesty the power The goodness of god is manifested in and by jesus christ Someone said We have a savior who is in no respect deficient in wisdom power and grace to redeem and save us There's nothing necessary to be done in our salvation That he is not qualified to do There's nothing Which we need to enable us to perform our duties To meet temptation and to bear trial which he's not able to impart In no situation of trouble and danger will the church find that there is a deficiency in him There's nothing lacking in christ Sometimes we get in a bad situation and we feel that god isn't there god doesn't care god won't deliver us Well, sometimes I find myself in bad situations because I put myself in that bad situation I I resisted the holy spirit. I quenched him when he was saying don't do this. Don't go there I just quenched him. I thought oh, I can do this no problem Then I begin to reap what I've sown and when I begin to reap what I've sown Because if I sow to the flesh from the flesh, I'm going to reap corruption Paul told the Galatians When that happens and I begin to reap what I've sown I begin to say god, where are you? How could you have done this? Why did you allow this when the lord says I put so many roadblocks in front of you And you kept insisting on moving and moving and moving till you finally did it and now you're blaming me for that Now you're blaming me I mean sometimes we'll see tragedies here in the united states. There'll be some kind of thing that happened. They like to call it What are they called? They're they're god god some god is somehow, you know behind all these tragedies the hurricanes and this and that And and we begin to say god, why aren't you helping us? How come you're not helping us? Well, and the lord in a way could say well, wait a minute You kicked me out a long time ago You told me not that no you said nobody should pray to me in school You told you told people that bible's ought not to be in in classrooms You don't want me part of your life. You used to take sundays off as a nation You used to take sundays off. It was a day of rest for the whole nation I grew up in a time when when when uh when stores were closed on sundays I grew up in that day in california You may not believe that but that was true here in california. You did not have stores open on sundays As a matter of fact, we had a store. We call them liquor stores We called them then if you go back east they call them by different names. We call them liquor stores Why because they sell liquor, but we we had liquor stores And a jewish man owned the liquor store down the street And so he was the only one who had a store open on sunday and we would go over there everything else was closed And we kicked god out of our schools a long time ago. Didn't we we've tried to kick them off of The coinage we've tried to kick them off of the darling god. We trust no We don't we've tried to take his motto off of government building and then something happens and and and we say god Where are you and god's just response would be you kicked me out? You haven't wanted me now you do and see that's a problem We're having here in the united states right now is we're trying to empty everything of the memory of god But guess what god's alive. You cannot empty this nation's memory of god You can't do that, but we're trying to do that There is no deficiency in christ Sometimes we will trust people sometimes we'll think well i had asked them to help they should help The first person i need to go to on my knees with repentant heart is my god god help me god help me And then sometimes god will lay it on the heart of somebody else who will say to me Can i be of help to you the first person you gotta learn this that you go to Is god the first person there's no deficiency in him There's not anything lacking in jesus christ. He is all in all all things He can do it what we need to that's what christianity Is and he goes on and he says in verse 20 by him He says 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. He says by him to reconcile The word reconcile speaks of restoring a former state of harmony To things on earth or things in heaven The point he's making is sin affected every element of creation Corrupting and infecting it Jesus's death was intended to bring all creation back into a state of harmony And that includes the creation of that one new person that one man consisting of both jew And gentile. How did he do that? It says in verse 20 having made peace through the blood Of his cross. He did it through his voluntary sacrifice He poured out his blood for us in Ephesians 1 verse 7 Paul said it like this In him we have redemption through his blood The forgiveness of sins According to the riches of his grace The apostle peter said it like this in first peter 118 and 19 He said you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold From your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious blood of christ As of a lamb without blemish And without spot You see those Who in faith come to him Those of us who have bowed our knee to christ and said god be merciful to me a sinner We have been cleansed by his blood When you get to the last book of the the new testament the book of revelation And you look at chapter 1 verse 5 that verse speaks of jesus who loved us And washed us from our sins In his blood And that's what he's saying having made peace through the blood of his cross jesus christ died on the cross And he brought us to reconciliation with him Through his death by pouring out his life blood to cleanse us from all sin He says in verse 21 and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works Yet now he has reconciled He's speaking to Gentiles non-jews They were strangers to god They didn't know him They didn't have his love In a personal way They were alienated from him They knew they knew nothing of him They didn't know his nature. They didn't know his attributes They were they were enemies And their lives which were described as wicked works revealed this the way that they live Demonstrated they didn't know god Even a child is known by his works whether they're good or evil Somebody can say oh no, I love the lord jesus christ I'm still I love him And yet you look at their life not as their their final judge to condemn them But but you see their life And you know enough bible to say this is what people are to do and these are the things are not to do And they do everything the scripture says not to do and yet they're saying to me that they love the lord and and and for me It's kind of like the princess bride where where that genius keeps saying something over and over again and finally Guy says I don't think that word means what he thinks it means I think that that's how people can be sometimes they say well, I'm a christian and I think with I don't think they know What that means why because I'm their judge know because their works are demonstrating they have no relationship with god I've had people tell me how much they love the lord that the true christians Well, they're drunk talking to me about it now. I don't know whether or not they know the lord or not I'm not the judge in the final it just at that moment. I would have every reason to wonder Do you know what it means to come to faith in christ? If so Then maybe you need to put away that alcohol because look at how it is dominating your life But there are a lot of people who run around saying oh, I know jesus christ I love the lord no the bible makes it very clear that our wicked works Demonstrate that we really we really don't know them and these Gentiles didn't know the lord what they were is they were idolaters They they created gods of their own to worship one of the psalms the psalmist says eyes they have Speaking of idols eyes they have But they do not see ears they have but they do not hear Noses they have but they cannot smell mouths they have but they do not speak Hands they have but they do not reach feet they have but they do not walk And then he goes on and he says and those who make them are like them The statues are dead And so are their creators Because they're worshiping the creation rather than the creator who is god blessed Amen They're worshiping the worst of their hands And not the one who created all things and they become Like their idols isaia mocks them when he speaks concerning the fact that the man goes out with a saw cuts down a tree Takes it to a shop begins to whittle it makes it into the form of a man And then overlays it with gold puts it on a podium He says and he bows down and he says to this dead tree that he created out of his own work He says and he bows down before it and he says you are my god Well, that's the Gentiles the Gentiles knew not god They were idolaters all that god was in terms of capable of communicating through creation Romans one tells us they could see and know every house is built by some man. He who built all things as god They could know that there's a creator simply by looking at creation Sometimes you can get in your car. You can take a drive and you can see some of the most beautiful creation here in california We have some of the most beautiful Land that that you're going to see go to newport beach go to laguna go down south go a little bit north go up to A big sir go up into carmel monorail and just stand there on the shoreline and look at the amazing beauty As you look at it's this gorgeous creation is amazing or you can go to Name it. I mean there's places here go to the mountains and just sit down with a cup of coffee and smell the pine and and just It's gorgeous, you know But but that's just that's creation. It cries out that there's something greater than that and that's our god But but but pagans don't they worship the creation rather than the creator Who is god They've made their idols and he makes it very clear you once were alienated in enemies in your mind by wicked works You as gentiles had no relationship with god your enemies But he goes on and he says yet now he has reconciled verse 22 in the body of his flesh Through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight In the body of his flesh through death In the death of jesus we who have embraced him have regained fellowship with him our lives have been radically changed Transformed he speaks concerning us being holy To present you verse 22 to present you holy. He also uses the word blameless and above reproach Holy the word holy speaks of consecration to god dedication to him God sees us as holy. He's the one who set us apart to use us Ephesians 1 4 says According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world We should be holy without blame before him in love The word blameless speaks of that which is without blemish As the sacrifice without spot morally pure Blameless refers to our position in christ Not just outward conduct When we stand before god We're clothed with jesus's righteousness See you and i none of us could ever stand before god in our own righteousness If we tried to it would be disastrous But we stand before god in the righteousness of christ So when he looks at us he sees what christ has done for us And that's why we can stand before him. He says in verse 22 above reproach That's without a charge brought against you Positionally we stand before god righteous as righteous as jesus and he presents us to his father In second chrindians 5 21 god made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him We might become the righteousness of god And that's what salvation's intended to do We're brought into fellowship with god Over a lifetime and he cleanses us and he purifies us We're not perfect on earth We grieve over our failures Sometimes we can feel that we're truly not saved You see truly saved people can experience a sense that Maybe i'm not I got saved Two three weeks after being saved I wasn't on the high that i had been when i got saved. I was on a just an emotional high You know i it dawned on me that all my sins had been cleansed that i've been forgiven and And i had a lot of sins and so i was very grateful to god I remind myself of of something that occurred in the ministry of my pastor chakwin. He was Baptizing people and and he was speaking to the to the group before he baptized him and And he said you know the water symbolizes your death burial in christ You've been washed and you've been cleansed and you're buried in and then when you come out It represents your new life in jesus christ and he was sharing about baptism And then chak spoke about how a young man came up to him and said to chak hold me down a long time chak I've got a lot that needs to be buried. Well, I understand that I and so do you I understand that hold me down a long time I've got a lot to be to be buried But you know what the blood of jesus christ's son cleanses us from all sin not just from some sin Not just from particular sins or sins before they're all sins Aren't you glad that god has washed you and cleansed you from all of your sins He doesn't bring one of them up to remind you As far as the east is from the west so far as he as he removed our sins from us never again Shall he bring them up to us? And so your conscience can accuse you Because you're not perfect because you're not doing everything the way that you'd like to You wake up sometimes and and you may be reminded i'm reminded quite often of my past life I'm married. No i'm i'm I'm i'm reminded quite often of my past by my own conscience Almost if not every almost every morning almost every morning And i've been a christian for a long time now Almost every morning I will wake up and one of the first things i will remember something i did that was wrong One of the very first things that come into my mind. That's the truth before christ Almost every morning i will wake up and remember some bad thing i did And my heart gets grieved But you know john said if if your heart if your heart accuses you god, it's greater than your heart He knows all things christ washed me and i and i will i will begin my morning by saying that I can almost tell you exactly what i say i say it almost every day god Thank you for the new life i have in you Thank you that my sins have been washed in our cleanse. Thank you lord jesus I am not that person i used to be if any man be in christ He's a new creation old things have passed away all things are become new You see so we're not perfect on earth don't kill yourself about your imperfection You're not saving yourself You needed to be saved That's why jesus gave his life up for you Now he didn't save you so you could return to the vomit Or the mud He saved you to remove you from that He gave his grace to you so you could be victorious over that and yes, you can Yes, you can you can be different. Why can't you your sin is not greater than god's grace Never forget that god's grace is above all things and jesus's blood Washes you and god's powerful holy spirit Indwells you and god's word Directs you and god's body christ the friends support you and encourage you and you can make it Your life is different because of him when you came and you knelt at that at that cross and you said god be merciful to me I am a sinner god says i am merciful to you. You are forgiven. You are cleansed get up Sin no more go your way and speak of me. That's what he does. That's christianity That's what god has called us to and we need to understand that today And he says he's going to present you holy and blameless and above reproach The purpose of the atonement was for him to present the redeemed to god cleansed in Ephesians 5 27 He did this to present her the church to himself as a glorious church without spot Or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead. She will be holy and without fault So we're presented holy no longer deserving blame no longer Unworthy and we are presented in revelation 1978 let us be glad rejoice give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come His wife has made herself ready to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen Clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints He says in verse 23 if indeed you continue in the faith grounded instead fast 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 If you continue notice verse 23 if you continue in the faith the words if you continue that's not a warning It's an assumption It's an assumption on the part of paul they have been faithful up until this point He's assuming they're going to continue to do so You see you persevere if one person is saved They continue in the relationship with christ Salvation is evidenced by their firm continuance in the hope of the gospel They're not moved away from the hope of the gospel. He says Because there were seducers who are entering in trying to draw them away You're not permitting yourselves to be seduced by false teachers Now that would be a word to those who are listening to the false teachers Those who have been born again resist the deception of false teachers when I first got saved I've shared this in the past when I first got saved brand new christian 20 years old hippie Know nothing I get saved I have a knock on the door there to jehovah's witnesses at the door wanting to talk to me I don't know anything other than once I was lost now. I'm found I thought there were christians they walk away. I said, I just don't think I believe what you're saying And I began to encounter people over the years from there Kind of regularly it's interesting how before I was a christian Nobody really talked to me about jesus christ. They really didn't encounter many people who are members of false religions or anything And that didn't happen. It only began to really happen after I got saved. Isn't that interesting? But it's true probably probably true with you too You were pretty much left alone because you already belonged to the enemy But now that you've gotten saved He begins to send his little servants over and they knock on your door They talk to you at work they work next to you some they do this and and they'll say oh, yeah I'm a christian too and they confuse you we've had them come into this into our church we've had them come into our parking lot and put their their Their information on windshields here in one of the reasons that we right here in church One of the reasons we have parking lot attendants Is because they walk through that parking lot patrolling because we have cult members who come on to our property And they'll put their their their information on cars We've had them leave them in the pews And we have people who come in on wednesday here at the church and they will or tuesday and they come in and they They they police and take care of things because that happens Frequently enough that just is true and when you get saved You know before you probably didn't have very many people at all talking to you about god and jesus But after you got saved suddenly everybody's a theologian and everybody's got faith and everybody wants to talk and And that's what happens. And so I got out of the army Two years in the military I get out and I'm at the house that I'm renting is a knock on the door I open the door of the two ladies there Hi, we'd like to talk to you about god Great, let's talk. I enjoy talking about god. They come in sit down And they begin sharing with me They say we're jojoba's witnesses and I said oh I knew very little if anything about jojoba's witnesses I said really and they started talking to me and I said well, you know I'm a christian. Oh, are you really I say just I am I said I gave my heart to christ And I've been following him just got out of the army and and they said oh and and I said yeah And I believe that jesus is god in the flesh second person of the trinity Oh, no and bang, you know all the smiles came off. Oh, no No, that's not true And they start telling me that jesus is michael the archangel that jesus is the first creation of god and And they begin to say these things and I and I'm I'm still new in the lord. I I I say No, I don't think that what you're saying is oh, no this woman kept doing it just like that. Oh, no It's what the bible says and she put a little finger at me. It's what the bible says I said no, well, I believe oh, no The bible says I told marie, honey, stop that. No, she goes The woman kept on doing that. It's what the bible says. It's what the bible says And I said well, I'll be honest with you. I don't agree with you, but I can't give you reasons why I said, but I'd like to talk to you again Could you could you come back? Oh, we'd love to I said please do They left and I went to a store a christian bookstore I'd never been to one before I again. I'm brand new christian. I went to Christian bookstore and I got walter martin's kingdom of the cults And I came home. He's got over a hundred pages on the origin and theology of jojoba's witnesses And I read that hundred plus pages and I marked it and memorized some responses And I was waiting. I mean when they came to the door. I had a bazooka I And m16 I had a knife in my teeth. Come on in And they walked in and sat down and I said, you know, I've been thinking about what you told me last time And she goes yes We only teach what the bible says. She said it again And I said, well, can you show me Where the bible says that jesus christ came back invisibly in the early 1900s And that he is now governing the church from brooklyn new york Can you show me where it says that? Well, you know, we have no, I didn't ask you that Last time you were here. You said this is what the bible says I just want to know where does the bible say jesus is ruling the church invisibly from brooklyn In the watchtower organization She says, well, I said, here's another one for you Where does the bible say that michael the archangel is jesus christ? Well, the word she says michael means who is like god? I said, I know that I did some research. I know that But where does it specifically say that michael and jesus are the same Because when michael disputed with the devil over the body of moses He dared not render any accusation that rather said the lord rebuked the yet jesus and matthew four When he spoke to satan said get thee behind me Now, when did michael ever get the power to say get thee behind me and she says, oh, well I said no, I wanted I don't know. I just enjoyed myself and then When when we got in she finally got up and got in well, I can see this conversation is going nowhere She closes her material She summons her little friend to go with her and as she's walking out I stand by the door and i'm saying jesus christ is lord He is the son of god He is the savior and you need him and that see i've been doing this since i was 23 years old It's true There is truth Jesus christ is god in the flesh jesus christ demonstrated his love for us and that while we were yet sinners christ died for us He died on a cross. He was buried in a grave three days later. He was resurrected He ascended into heaven. He sits at the right hand of the father and he intercedes on behalf of us He is coming again for us. He will come and take the church to be with him It's any day now and so the enemy creeps in from the beginning to try and destroy This and that's why paul says he is the preeminent one. He is number one There is nobody else like him. He is god in the flesh and that's why we worship him That's how it works And that's what paul is speaking about here and he closed by saying This gospel he said would you heard which was preached to every creature under heaven of which i paul became a minister We have a confident expectation We will spend eternity in the presence of god in heaven And that's our hope. It's revealed by the gospel psalm 16 verse 9 says my heart is glad My glory rejoices my flesh will rest in hope So i'm 1715 as for me i will see your face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when i awake in your likeness and paul said i have preached this to every creature The whole human race needs to hear this jew and gentile light to both Of these the gospel has preached and is being preached salvation is being offered and he said this is my calling I am faithfully doing this and this is our calling and we must faithfully do the same