Transcript

When he stood up and he said, okay, first of all, take out your hymn book. The folks scurried around for the hymnal. He said, no, I’m talking about this book. It’s all about hymn. If you want to talk about the glories, the greatness, the excellency of Christ, go to any chapter anywhere. Christ will be there. And so I think in the providence of God, I stumbled upon the text that I was to share with you and have a real short practical exhortation for pastors at the end. But let’s feast on Jesus tonight. Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 through 22.

He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is head of the body of the church. He is the beginning of the firstborn, or he is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything.

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace to the blood of his cross, through him I say things whether on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.

There’s far too much to unpack in this time, but let me glean some things. Thinking about excellency, I remember watching something of a documentary about the excellency of German engineering. And I thought it was very unique that in this day of computerized precision, that one esteemed engineering school in Germany started the young men training to be engineers by taking a block of steel, and they would have to crank their block of steel down into a vice, and then they were given a hand file. And they had to work on that block of steel with a hand file until they got that steel precisely at the right size and measurement. And they would ask them, the interviewer doing the documentary, why would you ask them to do that? He said, because that makes a great engineer.

They need to feel it and sense it and experience it. We’re about excellence here, he would say. You know, there’s something about us that is drawn to excellence. We like excellence. I tell our church all the time, we want to strive to always do things, not extravagantly, but excellently. I think the reason that is true for all of us is because our hearts will never be settled until we find the excellency of Jesus Christ. He is the excellent one. Let’s unpack it a little bit here tonight.

Roman numeral one, we see the excellency of Jesus Christ in that he is both God and creator. He is both God and Creator. Verse 15 simply tells us He is the image of the invisible God. 2 Corinthians 4 says Christ is the image of God. The word there means a stamp. The very stamp of God the Father is on Jesus the Son. Verse 19 tells us all the fullness. implying all the fullness of who God is and what deity is, is in Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2, 6 tells us, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. You know, the mystery and the wonder about Jesus, at least from a biblical perspective, is not that Jesus is God, but that Jesus would be man. He’s always been God. Usually we have to start with, well, Jesus is man, but you know, he’s also God. No, we’ve got it backwards. He’s always been God and he became man. He’s the firstborn, verse 15 says, of all creation. So he is God and he’s creator. And now he talks about a creation where he’s the firstborn. The idea there is not chronologically first. He’s the first in rank and he’s the first in position.

You know, in Israel, the firstborn son had all the authority in the family under the father. If something happened to the father, he had all the authority, and that’s the pitch here. Under God the father, he is the firstborn, the one who has all authority. Jesus put on humanity, and he became not only God, but as theologians like to say, the God-man. Fully God, as if he were not man at all, and fully man, as if he were not God at all, all at the same time. And by his life and death, he purchased the title deed to creation, and he is head and ruler over all. He has the top rank in the new order of mankind. Let me say that again. He has the top rank in the new order of mankind.

In something of a like parallel, we see Esau in the Old Testament was firstborn chronologically, but by the working of God, Jacob became the firstborn and received the inheritance. Well, Jesus is the firstborn who will inherit all things. Kind of a figuratively speaking thing there. Psalm 89, 27, speaking of David and ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Revelation 1-5, Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, again means he is chief and all others who will live forever, all others who will be resurrected will come in the way he came. He was the first and ranks the highest.

So in all of these statements, what we’re thinking is and seeing is, while Jesus became man, let’s remember he is God. He’s fully God, but he’s also, remember, creator. God and Creator. Verse 16 of our text tells us, For by him all things were created. Now this completely destroyed the false doctrine in the Apostle Paul’s day and of today of those who would teach that Jesus is created. Somehow he’s created. He’s sort of the highest part of creation, but he’s another part of God’s creation.

But that is a lie. That is not true. Jesus has no beginning and no end. Jesus is the uncreated creator. Genesis 126, the Bible tells us, let us make man in our image. Who is the us? It was God, the Father, and God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. He is the creator.

The word created in Genesis chapter 1, bara, is the word that means bringing something out of nothing. There was a time when there was only God and nothing else. And then God decided one day, Jesus decided one day, we’re going to bring something out of nothing. And he spoke and created all the universe out of nothing. You know, when it comes to the origin of matter, I don’t know about some big bang theory, but I do know about a big God theory.

God created and Jesus is God. Romans 4 17 says he calls into being all that which does not exist. Hebrews 11 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God. Jesus spoke and made everything. Every atom, every molecule, every grain of sand, every leaf that trembles, every mountain, every hill, every ravine, every valley, all the continents, all the oceans, the vast galaxies, and the entire universe were spoken into existence by the word of Jesus Christ.

The simple and profound statement in verse 16, for by him all things were created, soundly refutes all of fallen man’s philosophies concerning the origin and the meaning of life. It refutes atheism because the universe was created by God. It refutes pantheism because God transcends that which he created. It refutes polytheism because one God created all that exist. It refutes materialism because matter has a beginning. It refutes dualism because God was alone when he created all things. It refutes humanism because God created man under his authority. It refutes evolution because God created all things. In verse 16 again, all things have been, the Greek there means all things stand created. The power of Jesus has created her. All things now stand created because God, Jesus Christ, made them all. This again refutes all the pagan philosophies of their day, which believed in all things being done by the Greek gods, and what evil, immoral, and unethical, and ungodly gods they were.

Pam and I went to Greece a while back. You graciously gave us that for our 40th anniversary, and I wish you’d do it again. We loved it. It was a great trip and it just kind of set my faith on fire. I remember walking down the street of Philippi. There was all those little spots there where shops were and I thought one of these shops is Aquila and Priscilla’s shop where Paul worked with Aquila. It just made it so alive to me.

But everything they believed in that day was about these gods, and this god would get jealous about that god, and this god would get mad at the other god, and this god would get mad at you, and this god could get jealous about what you have, and the gods were just ungodly gods.

But that’s not the God we worship. Jesus is the God we worship. He’s the one true God. He is the God that is both Jesus, the man, and God, the divine one. Jesus is God. He’s creator, and that excludes all others. He is the most excellent one. Oh, we want to love Jesus. We want to treasure Jesus. I want to so preach Jesus that my people are just in awe of him.

Number two, not only is he is excellency seen in that he is God and creator, the Bible says he’s also the all-powerful sustainer of all things. The all-powerful sustainer of all things. In verse 17, our text tells us he is before all things. The idea there includes he’s before them in time because he’s always existed, but he’s before them, he’s higher than them in dignity, in dignity. He’s the eternal preexisting one. He has precedence over all that is. John 8, 58, Jesus said, truly before Abraham was, I am. In him, verse 17 of our text says, all things hold together. That’s always fascinated me. All things hold together through Jesus Christ.

He holds the entire universe together, and this is no strain on him. He is omnipotent, and this task is no strain to his omnipotence. And apart from the personal, present, persistent power of Jesus Christ, the entire universe would immediately fall into chaos. His power holds in order all the universe and all the intricate parts therein.

Unknown numbers of planets orbit around unknown numbers of suns in unknown numbers of galaxies, and he holds everyone in its proper place in orbit. The astronomers study all of these great galaxies and movements. Who’s keeping all that? Why don’t they just crash together and kill all of us? Jesus holds them where they are.

Psalm 103 says he makes the clouds his chariot and he walks upon the wings of the wind. From an individual grain of sand to the immense galaxies all are held in place by him. The sun does not rise until he says rise. The rain does not fall until he says fall and the wind does not blow until he says blow.

Scientists have some explaining to do. There’s some things they admit very clearly and openly that they just don’t understand. There’s some interesting facts about the atom, the building block of all matter. You know, an atom is a million times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. I wrestle with that for a moment. Atoms combine to form matter. There are 118 different elements in the table of matter. You know, hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, potassium, we could go on and on.

And the tiny atom has a tiny nucleus within it composed of even smaller protons and neutrons. And there’s great energy stored in the nucleus of the atom. And all the protons in the atom’s nucleus are positively charged. And all those positively charged atom particles should repel each other and fly apart and release great energy.

But they don’t. They just don’t. One physicist named Daro said, quote, After being created, the nuclei should have blown up instantly, yet here they are. Some inflexible inhibition is holding these protons relentlessly together. The nature of this inhibition is a secret one, thus reserved by nature for herself. Scientists just call this force that holds these positively charged protons together, the strong force. That’s real eloquent scientific, isn’t it? What is that? It’s just a strong force. We don’t know how it works. It should just blow apart, but it doesn’t.

Another physicist named Gamo was a big early proponent of the Big Bang Theory, and he said this concerning the atom. We live in a world in which practically every object is a potential nuclear explosive. If somehow this strong force holds these all positive charge protons together, if somehow it let loose, there would be an instantaneous explosion of galactic proportions and the result would be heat and wind and force beyond our imagination. Every particle of matter is a nuclear explosion.

The Bible says something about that. 2 Peter 3 10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. The entire universe is pre-programmed with a self-destruct mechanism, and only Jesus has the switch.

Right now, he’s saying, protons, hold your course. I’m telling you there’s coming a day when everything you know will explode in ways you can’t fathom. Scientists don’t have a clue what that quote strong force is, where it comes from, or how it works. But we know that that force that holds the atomic protons together is not something, it’s someone. And his name is Jesus. You know, and in human culture, all things are held together by Jesus too, not just the material world, the society.

Individuals that abandon God find their lives falling apart. Families that abandon God find their families falling apart. Societies that abandon God find their culture and their society falling apart. Hatred, strife, discord, lying, cheating, slander, malice, every evil thing under the sun continues on. Psalm 9 verse 17 says, the wicked will return to Sheol and even all the nations who forget God.

Only Jesus can hold things together. Only Jesus can keep us from falling apart. He is the all-powerful sustainer, holds together all things. Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And he goes into great length describing how you’re held by a thread over the fires of hell. You’re that fragile. There’s enough atomic power in your earlobe to blow you to smithereens. You realize that? How vulnerable, how weak you are. Jesus says, hold steady right now. And every Adam will do as he said, until he gives the reverse order. Pastor, that’s scary. You ought to be scared. You ought to be scared because these are scientific facts. They don’t know why this is holding together, but the Bible tells us why.

We see his excellency in that he is God and creator of all things. We see his excellency in that he is the all-powerful sustainer of all things. Thirdly, we see his excellency in that he is the Savior and Lord of the second and greater creation. Now, those words are not said here. They’re said in other parts of the body, but that’s what they’re referring to. In verse 18 of our text, he’s head of the body, the church. That’s the new order. That’s the new creation, the church. Other texts speak of his body as the new creation, the church of Jesus Christ. If you’re in Christ, you’re a part of the new creation, the text tells us.

Now, God’s first creation was great. Adam and Eve, paradise, the Garden of Eden, but God’s second creation is greater still. You see, the first creation was built around Adam and Eve before they sinned in the garden. The second creation is built upon a far greater Adam, the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1545 says, so also it is written the first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 1547, the first man, the first Adam was of the earth, earthy. The second Adam is from heaven. He’s superior, his excellence is greater. The first creation held together by the first Adam failed, sin, and everything was corrupted. And this first creation is deteriorating and dying and soon to be destroyed. The second creation is formed by the second Adam, Jesus Christ, and his work is incorruptible, perfect, and eternal.

That’s what the church is. We’re the beginning of the new creation. That’s what we are. In this old, dying first creation, we’re the beginnings of the new creation that will never die or pass away because the head of this new creation is a better Adam. His name is Jesus. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, is now securing a people, a church, his elect called out ones, and he’s securing a place, the new heavens and the new earth. And all together, this will make up the new creation. But now, more specifically from our text, we see the excellency in how he secures his people for his new creation.

Subpoint A, he saves us through his work, that is, his death and his resurrection. In verse 20 of our text, under his death, the text simply says, he made peace through the blood of his cross. That’s how he’s securing us through his own precious blood. Verse 22 reminds us he reconciled you in his fleshly body through death. So we note in our text the emphasis on the personal and literal body of Jesus and the literal blood of Jesus being shed to save us to make us a part of this new creation.

Liberals always try to remove the cross. Liberals always try to remove the suffering, the bleeding, the dying from Christianity. They say Christ’s death was just an example of selfless love. He didn’t really have to die that way. Or they just ignore the cross event altogether.

But brothers and sisters, I want to tell you, if Jesus is just someone who demonstrated a good example for us, that cannot atone for our sin. If Jesus was just a good example of how to live, that cannot remove our guilt. You see, I owe God’s justice a great debt. I am a sinner and unclean and undone.

I don’t need an example. I need a miracle. And that’s what the new birth is. And that’s what Jesus provided. Somehow, someway, I need to gain a right standing before the triune and holy God. The law is an example. The law is a standard. When we look at the law, instead of helping us, it condemns us. But Jesus, through his literal suffering and death, satisfied the wrath of God that was against me.

Romans 8, 3 reminds us, for what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son, and the likeness of sinful flesh, as an offering for sin, He condemns sin in the flesh. We’re part of this better new creation by His death, but the text goes on and says, don’t just remember His death.

There’s something else essential here, and that’s His resurrection. Verse 18, he’s the firstborn from the dead. He’s the first of the type. He’s the first man who came forth from the dead. He’s going to be a part of the eternal creation and all of us therefore follow in like manner. But he had the charge and lead the way. He blazed the trail. One absolute inseparable truth about God’s children is that God’s children are of the resurrection. If any true believer in Jesus Christ is not raised from the dead unto eternal life, then Jesus is weak. Jesus is a liar. Jesus is a fraud, and Christianity is a lie.

Because he promised, John 6, 39, this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. That’s the resurrection. It’s his promise. One of the glories of Jesus is the great diversity of excellencies that he both possesses and portrays.

Let’s think on his condescension for a moment. He comes to earth. He’s arrested. He’s falsely accused. He’s tried. He’s spit upon. He’s punched. They ravish his back with whips. They strip him naked. They nail him to a cross in utmost shame and humiliation. A spear is plunged into his side. And every disciple at this time was ashamed to own him. And then he died.

And God brought darkness on the earth. because a holy transaction was being executed and it was a transaction only between God the Father and God the Son. A transaction that had been established in covenant before the foundation of the world. that God the Son, Jesus Christ, in love, was yielding his life, his all, to be the guilt offering for us, dying in our place. And the Father looked upon the Son, Jesus, and held him guilty for our sin. The hot, holy dagger of divine justice plunged through the heart of Jesus, and he died in agony. The physical torment was extreme, but the spiritual horror bearing our sin in holy judgment was far greater.

The wages of sin is death. And he died. What a glory for us that in the agony, the death, and the darkness, he secured his lost sheep. He didn’t miss a one. No one knows how dark the night or how deep the waters crossed ere he found his sheep that was lost. We’re so saved. We are so secure. We’re so eternal. He was laid in a borrowed tomb. A huge stone was rolled over to cover the entrance. The Roman guards stationed outside the tomb were there to assure he remained in that tomb. And in Christian theology, the resurrection of our Savior is essential.

1 Corinthians 15, 13, and 14. But if there’s no resurrection of the dead, even Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain and your faith also is vain. If Christ is not risen, then he did not conquer. If Christ is not risen, then he died with our sins and without atoning for them.

The resurrection is the only sure proof that the Father accepted the full payment Jesus made in our place. If Jesus remained in death, then the wages he paid were not sufficient. Death would have won. Jesus would be dead in sin and we would die in our sin and be owned by death itself. Our bodies decaying in the ground and our souls banished to eternal hell. But he did die on Friday. Then came Saturday. Then came Sunday. The earth trembled. The tombs shook. And in a mighty sweep of divine power, the stone was rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to let us see that he wasn’t there anymore.

And you know, when Jesus entered death’s house, He didn’t find death’s house to his liking. He’s life. He’s the author of life. He didn’t fit death. He tasted it. He didn’t like it. So he proceeded when he went in death’s house to make a complete makeover of the place. An extreme renovation. He had a show on the network. In fact, he found death’s house so unpresentable, he literally turned it inside out.

Now for his children, death is not the hard nor the final destination. Death is now but a short, bright passageway that welcomes us to our eternal home. Death is aligned with no teeth. When we go in death’s front door, we immediately see the brilliant light of glory because Jesus left death’s house with a massive hole in the back wall. So we step in the front door right through the hole he left and go on to glory. What diversity of excellencies, the deep, dark humility and suffering of death, the power and glory of the resurrection.

Well, he saves us, be in our outline. Not only does he save us through his work, he saves us for himself. Jesus didn’t primarily save you so that you would miss hell. He primarily saved you so you would be him and glorify him forever because he is such a being that unless he has a people, a family to be with him and glorify him, injustice is served to him. Justice means he deserves to have a people who love him, treasure him, and worship him forever. He saves us for himself. And I think we see that in the phrase in verse 20 and verse 22 where he says, he reconciled all things to himself.

Some evangelists seem to preach Jesus and the gospel like, you’re saved to miss hell and have the pleasures of heaven. No, you’re saved for him. That includes heaven. Amen? That includes missing hell, but that’s the order. That’s why if you don’t fall in love with Jesus, you’re going to be disappointed in heaven.

It’s all about Him. He reconciled us to himself. Verse 22, yet he has now reconciled you. That’s bringing you back. That’s what reconciliation means. We’re separated as the elect chosen children from eternity past. We’re separated from the one who chose us and elected us. And then he says, I sent my son to perform the work to bring you back to me. What a glorious homecoming.

Hebrews 12 too reminds us. who for the joy set before him endured the cross.” What does that mean? What joy was set before him? The joy of gaining his children. You, you are his joy. I’m going to save my children and that’s going to bring me such great joy I’m willing to endure the cross.

The thought John 14, 3, Jesus said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. There it is again. That where I am, you may be also. In the high priestly prayer before Jesus dies, he speaks to God the Father and says, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am. You can have heaven. I don’t care to be there if Jesus isn’t there. All this nonsense. I get to heaven, I’ll go bass fishing every day. No, you look at Jesus and forget bass fishing ever existed. It’s about him. He cleanses you from all guilt, all sin, all defilement, and he makes you fit for himself and the new creation, the eternal kingdom.

Isaiah 53 10, the prophet prophesied of his work. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, crush Jesus, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he, Jesus, will see his offspring. That’s what we are. He will prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands. The excellencies of Jesus Christ will finally be seen in the full. when he is crowned Lord of all and his glorified church attends him and together they dwell in the new heaven and in the new earth. You know, as you mature in life, your greatest joy is seeing the ones that you love find joy. Perhaps, perhaps our greatest joy in heaven will be watching Jesus as he finds his greatest joy in us, his children. It’s an astonishing thought that he finds his greatest joy in me, in us. But you see, he’s making us like him. I’m not seeing anybody right now who looks fit to be with Jesus.

There’s gonna have to be some work done on you, son, lady. Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful. Oh, but when he gets through, he’s already paid the price for the renovation. When he gets through renovating you, you will be his chief joy because he’s gonna look at you. Now, listen to me. He’s the only being in the universe that can do this without ego or pride. He’s gonna look at you and say, wow, look what I’ve done. Look what I’ve done with this bunch.

And writing to the Colossians, he says, we are his workmanship, work of Christ. For certain, when we get to heaven, There’ll be the ever-increasing pleasure and joy because we’ll finally have perfect hearts and perfect minds, not infinite though, and we’ll ever increasingly learn and contemplate the infinite excellencies of Jesus Christ our Lord. His excellencies are seen in that he is both God and creator. His excellencies are seen in that he is the all-powerful sustainer of all things. His excellencies are seen in that he is the Savior, Lord of the second and greater creation. And we’ve got to preach Christ and thunder Christ and exalt Christ and wrestle with the endless glories and wisdoms and excellencies about him in the text.

And we must do like Paul said in Galatians 4.19 as a faithful pastor, my children with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.

Until you only treasure him, you only adore him, you only live for him. He’s your all. So pastors, two things I would pray for myself and for you that we must strive for. Are you listening? Two things. that your people first would say this about you and believe this about you, that my pastor’s love for Christ, though not perfect, is greater than his love for all others. That’s what I hope for us. That our people would say my pastor’s love for Christ is not perfect, but it’s greater than his love for all others. Secondly, That your people must increasingly need you less, but love you more because of the Christ they’ve gained through your preaching. That your people must increasingly need you less, but love you more because of the Christ they’ve gained through your preaching.

I’ve experienced some of that. It doesn’t bother me that my people may not want to buddy with me. That’s not what I’m about. As long as I know that somehow in my weak, feeble ministry, they love Jesus more. Because I’ve discovered, Brother John, the more they love Jesus, the more they need my pampering, or less they need my pampering. Petting, flesh consoling. because they have Jesus.

I mean, you know, if you’re on your deathbed and you have dying grace, and the reality, and the power, and the excellent season, the glories, and the wonders of your salvation that’s been thundered to you, and thundered to you, and thundered to you, and thundered to you from the faithful exposition of the book, and all that the Holy Spirit of God brings back to your mind, and Christ becomes real to you in those moments, who cares if Jeb Noblet shows up? might be nice, but you’re with him. And by the way, I can’t show up for all of them. That’s a good thing that you’re not dependent on a silly human priest. You got the omniscient, omnipresent, eternal God, the Lord Jesus Christ with you all the time. We must preach the excellencies of Jesus Christ. Amen.