| December 1, 1999 | Redemption Through His Blood | Colossians 1:12-23

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us through His blood. Amen.

Tonight we will walk you through the text as we learn of the Redemption we have through Jesus' blood. It is helpful in following what our text says to us if we take a moment to read the preceding verses. We really need to go back to the beginning of the chapter and book to get the context. Colossians 1:1-10 says this:

NKJ Colossians 1:1-10 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 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, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all 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; 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. 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 in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

We see that Paul is giving a prayer for the people of the church of Colosse. His prayer is that they would be filled with knowledge and walk worthy of the Lord. Now we move on to begin to look at our text which continues this prayer.

11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

The prayer for the Colossians, and for us, is that we might be strengthened. Where does the strength come from? It comes from the one with "all might" who has glorious power. We are to be strengthened as we walk the path our Lord has given us to walk in this life as we await the life to come. So the prayer is for patience and longsuffering. "Longsuffering" is not a very common word these days, but it is used by the New King James Version translation. It has to do with patiently enduring an offense. We are not encouraged by this prayer to simply endure suffering, but more so to endure it with joy. Yes, with joy, not grumbling. Going on:

12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Here we are encouraged to be thankful. We are to give thanks to the Father. The reason we have for giving thanks is listed in this verse and the next several verses. The reason for giving thanks is, in a word, salvation.

This verse does not place credit upon the people for achieving their salvation. Rather, it says that the Father qualified us. He did the qualifying by the sacrifice of Christ. So our salvation is described in the language of one who is the beneficiary of an estate. We are qualified to receive the inheritance of the saints. So we are written into the will, not based on what we have done, but simply based on grace. This inheritance is described as one "in the light." The saints who inherit it are "in the light." This is a contrast to where we would be without grace, described in the next verse:

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

Out of the power of darkness we have been taken. Instead we are placed into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Having been placed there through our baptism. Again God is the one doing the action, in this verse He "conveyed" us into that kingdom. Like that which rides on a conveyor belt, we sit passively and our Lord takes us to the destination. Now this Son of God, Jesus Christ is described for us. He is the one we are to constantly praise and glorify. Here He is described as the Son of the Father's love. Another description of this salvation is given in the next verse:

14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Salvation comes through Jesus' death on the cross for us, that is through the shedding of His blood, the life force. This blood buys us salvation which is the forgiveness of sins. Without the blood we would still be in our sins. We would be facing punishment. Though we pray that our walk would be worthy, we know that without Christ, we are lost and condemned. We are without hope because the wages of our sins are death and eternal punishment. Yet, praise the Lord, we have redemption. Notice, it is not that we earn it, or we hope for it, or we wish for it, but we have this redemption. Why? Because Christ shed His blood for us. Then going on:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

This declares the wonders of the incarnation of this one who is true God. It is an amazing thing that God took humanity into Himself and came to live among people. He was the one who possessed the pure, sinless image of God, untainted in Him, unlike it is within us. He became the highest among men, being the firstborn over all creation. Not only is Christ a man, but He is also true God. The next verse testifies to His divinity:

16 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.

Christ is truly God, the same God who is responsible for the creation of all things. Our God also gives power to earthly rulers; in other words, He is over them because He is the source of their power. The universe was created by God, but it was also created for Him. Many wonder at the purpose of the world. It is simply to serve God.

17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Now with this verse we hear of God's eternality. He has always been in existence. There is a frequent question I am asked by students at Elmore Academy: Where did God come from? Who created Him? The answer, right here, is: He always was and never had a beginning. Truly our God is in the highest position of authority, not looking up to anyone:

18 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.

This God is the Lord and master of the body of all believers, that is, of the church. He is always first, specifically here the firstborn of the dead. That simply means that Jesus was the first one raised from the dead to never die again. He leads the way and we shall follow into that resurrection into a life which has no end. God was demonstrating His love by coming as Jesus Christ:

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,

God was happy to come and take on human nature and suffer and die for us on the cross. This one who is both God and man, Jesus Christ, is completely God, so all the fullness of God lives in Him. God was at work through Jesus Christ to do that which is pleasing for Him:

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.

What a joy it is for us to learn that it was pleasing to God that He should reconcile with us. He made peace with us sinners through this blood Christ shed upon the cross. In fact, the whole world was reconciled to Him through this. Peace is made with all things. Though this wonderful thing was gained by Christ's death on the cross, we still wait today for the final realization. Thus we wait, as the Advent theme reminds us, for Christ to come again and bring all things into completeness. Now, our faith in what is invisible, that is our peace and reconciliation and that of the whole world, holds us until Christ comes. Since we have such a wonderful gift, we might ask, what did we do to deserve it. The fact is, we did not deserve it as the next verse explains.

21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled

Rather than deserving to be reconciled, we deserved to be destroyed. Without Christ's forgiveness we are alienated from God and even His enemy as a result of our sins. It gives us great comfort now to know that we are no longer at war with God, but rather have reconciliation. This came, again, through that man Jesus Christ:

22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight -

Through Jesus' death in the flesh, we have died to sin. This means that Jesus can present us as being free of sin: holy, blameless, above reproach. We have nothing in us for which God might find fault, for all our faults and sins are forgiven! This is a wonderful truth, that we must guard carefully. We are holy, blameless, and above reproach:

23 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.

We ought let nothing take us away from the hope of the gospel. Do not let yourself be moved away from this good news. We ought let nothing interfere. The Holy Spirit calls us to faith in Christ by the Word, and the Holy Spirit holds us there by that same Word, constantly reminding us of the blessing we have in Christ. So, we joyfully await the coming of our Lord, knowing that He will present us as forgiven. We will be saved through His blood. We are redeemed by the one who reconciled the world: Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until He comes again. Amen.