The Unfathomable Riches of Christ, Part 2, Colossians 1:15-20

To Him all majesty ascribe. That's what we're going to try to do this morning. Ascribe some majesty. Go ahead and flip back in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Earlier we read from verse 1 all the way down to verse 20 for context. And trusting that you remember that context, we'll now zero in just on the last five verses, verses 15 to 20. So let's read those verses again. I'm in the LSB this morning. Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 to 20. And you'll recall that Paul is speaking of Christ in these verses. Starting here in verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation?

For in 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. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Who remembers the overall theme? Ooh, I'm a little hot. Okay, alright. Who remembers the overall theme of our vacation Bible school that we just completed? Anybody remember? It was two parts, really. Remember? The two part theme was to marvel at Jesus and to live for His glory. To marvel at Jesus and to live for His glory. This morning I want us to marvel at Jesus that we might live for His glory. So this message is kind of a follow-up to VBS in a way, a continuation of the Wonder Junction VBS theme. And I'll try not to slip too often into my Prospector Tom voice this morning.

This message is also pretty much a part two to the last message I preached on a Sunday morning here, which was titled "The Unfathomable Riches of Christ," in which we used Ephesians 3.8 as a springboard and traveled all over Scripture, examining the unfathomable riches of Christ. Understanding that all we could manage to do was to barely scratch the surface of a scratch on the surface of the riches of Christ. Because after all, if they are unfathomable, then we can never ever fathom them all. So the title of this morning's message is simply a part two. "The Unfathomable Riches of Christ," part two.

"The Unfathomable Riches of Christ," part two. You know, before we dive into verses 15 to 20, I need to issue an apology. I need to apologize to both Jules Verne and to Walt Disney, and to you, frankly, because in part one of the series, I poked a little fun at the title "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," pointing out that the ocean is not anywhere close to that deep at any place on Earth. Well, I should have done some research before the sermon, but I got real curious after the sermon and discovered that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea wasn't how deep the submarine went down under the sea, but how far it traveled horizontally under the sea.

So, oops, I'm sorry about that. I'm joking, but seriously, accuracy is important, even with illustrations. I'll try to do better than that. Okay, so in my study, I found a compelling description of this passage, verses 15 to 20, that bears repeating this morning. A commenter had this to say, quote, "The Christ hymn," and that's H-Y-M-N, a hymn like we might sing aloud this morning, "The Christ hymn of Colossians 1, 15 to 20, is a powerful statement about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ's supremacy is seen at every turn. The first portion focuses on his preeminent role in creation, while the second emphasizes his work as Redeemer.

To any Christian in Colossae then or elsewhere today, who may have been or is now confused about Christ's role in the world, these six verses testify to Christ's absolute authority, which is not to be shared with any person, angel, or demon." Isn't that good? I think it's very good. All right, so looking back at verse 15 there, Paul says that Christ is the, quote, "image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." The Amplified says it like this, "Now he is the exact likeness of the unseen God, the visible representation of the invisible.

He is the firstborn of all creation." Listen to how one commentator described the impact of Christ being the exact likeness of the invisible God. And I confess to you that when I first read what I'm about to read to you, I had to just sit there for a minute, stunned. Listen to what he said, "As the image of God, the Son possesses such likeness to God as fits Him to be the manifestation of God to us." Now this next sentence is what stunned me to my toes. Listen, "God is invisible, which does not merely mean that He cannot be seen by our bodily eye, but that He is unknowable.

In the exalted Christ, the unknowable God becomes known." Man, man, are you kidding? Let me read that last sentence again because I really can't get over it. "God is invisible, which does not merely mean that He cannot be seen by our bodily eye, but that He is unknowable. In the exalted Christ, the unknowable God becomes known." Percolating that for just a second. The first portion of Hebrews 1, verse 3, tells us that Christ is the radiance of the Father's glory and the exact representation of the Father's nature.

Colossians chapter 2, verse 9 tells us that "All the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ." That is to say that every single bit of the Godness of God is found in Christ. Every bit of it. And whereas we cannot see God the Father or God the Holy Spirit, we can see and know God the Son. That's amazing. Simply amazing. Christ Himself had this to say in John chapter 14, verses 7 through 9. Christ said, "If you've come to know Me, you will know My Father also.

From now on, you know Him and have seen Him." Philip, who's hard-headed like us, said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father and it's enough for us." Jesus said to Him, "Have I been with you all so long, and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'" Christ is the express image of the Father, the exact representation of Him through Christ, as the commenter said, "The unknowable God becomes known." Back to the verse. The second part of verse 15 says that Christ is the firstborn of all creation. What does that mean?

Does it mean that Christ was the first thing created by the Father? Does it mean that Christ was created before anything else was created? Absolutely not. Christ wasn't created. Christ is the Creator. Christ is eternal. He's self-existent. He has need of nothing, has no beginning, and will have no end, right? So then, what does firstborn of all creation mean? Well, the word translated, the Greek word translated as firstborn is, I'm probably going to mess this up, prototokos, from protos meaning first, foremost, in place, order, time, rank, or dignity, plus tikto, which means to beget, to bear, to bring forth.

So the word can mean firstborn chronologically, like it does in Luke chapter 2, verse 7, which reads, "And she," speaking of Mary, "gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guest room." So there, in Luke 2, 7, Jesus is described as Mary's firstborn son, meaning he was the first of Mary's earthly children to be born, in chronological order. But firstborn can and does often refer not to chronological order of birth, but to position, or rank, or priority of position, and emphasize this quality or kind, not time, with the idea of preeminence.

See, in both Greek and Jewish culture, not so much American and Western culture, but Greek and Jewish culture, the firstborn was the son who had the right of inheritance, and he was not necessarily the first one born chronologically. Remember Jacob and Esau? Who was born first? Esau was, right? Now, Jacob wasn't far behind. That's where we get the common English phrase, "on the heels of." Jacob came out on the heels of Esau, but he was second. Jacob was the second born son in terms of birth order. But then what happened? In Genesis 25, 33, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a lousy bowl of soup.

And based on that transaction, Jacob, not Esau, became the firstborn of Isaac. Not in terms of birth order, of course, but in terms of position, in terms of the right of inheritance. So looking back at verse 15 here, the LSB says, "Firstborn of all creation." The ESV says the same thing. The KJV says, "Firstborn of every creature." And frankly, all three renderings can lead to a bit of confusion. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, latch onto the "of all creation" part and claim that it means Jesus was the first creation of Jehovah. They actually teach that Jesus was Michael the archangel created by Jehovah.

And bad as I hate to admit this, the NIV is actually much clearer here and renders the latter part of verse 15 as, quote, "the firstborn over all creation." Good for them. You see the difference? They nailed it there. Christ is the preeminent one. He has the right of inheritance of the entire universe. He is over all creation because he created it. The last part of the very next verse, verse 16, says that not only were all things created through him, but they were also created, what, for him. Why? Because he's the firstborn over all of it. It's his by right. Make sense? There's so much more to be said about the firstborn.

Maybe we'll spend a whole message on that concept in the future. There's so much in the Old Testament and in the New. I'm thinking about Romans chapter 8, Hebrews chapter 1 and chapter 12, Revelation chapter 1, for example. But for the sake of time this morning, we need to move along. So speaking of verse 16, let's read that again. "For in 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." All things. And that phrase, by the way, means all things are actually all the things without exception.

Things unimaginably massive and things unimaginably minute or small. Think about this. And prospector Tom mentioned this at the end of the VBS. The sun is 93 million miles away and is positioned precisely where it needs to be so that it neither burns us to a crisp or allows us to freeze to death. And as Ray Comfort says, it's just right to ripen our tomatoes. By the way, how big is the sun? It's big enough to fit 1.3 million of our earth inside of it. The earth would fit into the sun 1.3 million times. That's pretty big. But, you ready for this?

One of, if not the biggest known star is a hypergiant star known as, and I'm going to butcher this, it's the letter U, the letter Y, and then S-C-U-T-I. Scooty? Scutty? I'm not sure. But approximately, our sun could fit inside of it, ready? Five billion times. So if you can multiply five billion times 1.3 million, and I tried, and it just kept throwing up a little E, a little lowercase E, which I think means you broke my computer. But if you can multiply five billion times 1.3 million, you can figure out how many earths could fit inside that hypergiant star. It's unimaginably huge. Christ made that. And he holds it together right now.

On the other hand, a single human chromosome contains about 20 billion bits of information. If you could write that out in ordinary books using ordinary language, it would take approximately 4,000 volumes. Yet Christ wrote it into a single tiny, itty-bitty chromosome. Oh, and he's holding all those together too, right now. McDonald says of this verse, "The apostle then goes on to state that the Lord's creation included things visible and things invisible. The word 'visible' needs no explanation, but doubtless the apostle Paul realized that when he said 'invisible,' he would arouse our curiosity.

Therefore, he proceeds to give a breakdown of what he means by 'things invisible.' They include thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. We believe that these terms refer to angelic beings, although we cannot distinguish between the different ranks of these intelligent beings. The Gnostics, the Gnostic heretics, taught that there were various ranks and classes of spirit beings between God and matter, and that Christ belonged to one of these classes. In our day, the Spiritists claim that Jesus Christ is an advanced spirit of the sixth sphere.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that before our Lord came into the world, he was a created angel none other than the archangel Michael. Listen, here Paul vigorously refutes such absurd notions by stating in the clearest possible terms that the Lord Jesus Christ is the creator of angels, the fact of all beings, whether visible or invisible. Paul is addressing false teachers here, so there was false doctrine he was directly addressing.

MacArthur says, 'The testimony of nature to its creator is so clear that it's only through willful unbelief that men can reject it.' Paul writes in Romans 1.20, 'Since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.

Like those who deny Christ's deity, those who reject Him as creator give evidence of a mind darkened by sin and blinded by Satan.' And another commenter said this, 'In contrast to the practice of giving worship to heavenly beings, which these false teachers were promoting, which prevailed in Hellenistic cults and Jewish mysticism, Paul boldly affirmed that everything invisible, including angels, is part of the creation that is in Christ. That is, it's contained in Him and by Him and for Him. This clearly removes them from any position worthy of worship. Christ, having created the angels, clearly makes angel worship illegitimate and heretical.

The supremacy of Christ in both arenas of reality, the heavenly/invisible and the earthly/visible, stands in direct contrast to false teachings in Colossae that are detracted from the glory that belongs to Christ alone. You'll recall that Pastor Chris in his Hebrew series pointed out that angel worship was a thing in the first century. Well, Paul tackles that here. And the writer of Hebrews, which wasn't Paul, tackles it very early in that book too. Warren Wiersby sums up this section with the observation that, 'Everything exists in Him, for Him, and through Him.

Jesus Christ is the sphere in which all things exist, the agent through which they came into being and the one for whom they were made.' Paul here was refuting the philosophy of the false teachers. For centuries, the Greek philosophers had taught that everything needed a primary cause, an instrumental cause, and a final cause. The primary cause is the plan. The instrumental cause is the power and the final cause is the purpose. When it comes to creation, listen to this, Jesus Christ is the primary cause. He planned it. He is the instrumental cause. He produced it. And He is the final cause because He did it for His own good pleasure.

That's so good. Again, so much more can be said here, but we need to move on for now. Now let me ask you this. Are your thoughts of Christ being elevated this morning? I pray that they are. Do you see Him as high and lifted up? I hope so. I hope you're marveling at Christ this morning that you might live for His glory today and every day. Let's quickly look at verse 17 of our passage. Verse 17 reads, 'And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.' Do you notice it doesn't say, 'And He was before all things'? No, it says, 'He is before all things.' That little 'is' there indicates the timeless present tense.

Think through this if you can, and good luck with that. The divine Christ has no past. He has no future. He is at all times throughout history and in our future. He is. He exists in the timeless present tense in all ages, at all times, past, present, future. He always is. Does that make your head hurt? It kind of makes mine hurt. He is before all things. Remember when Christ said, 'Before Abraham was, I am,' in John 8, 58? Same deal. He didn't say, 'I was.' He said, 'I am.' He exists in the timeless present tense. That's unfathomable, isn't it? There's also something amazing about the word for 'He' there. I kind of skipped over that. Sorry.

The word 'He' is described as emphatic in this sentence. It's not just a casual 'He,' but more like 'He Himself' or 'He and no other.' One commentator said it means, 'He and no other who could even seem to rival or obscure His sublime imminence is.' That's a mighty strong 'He.' Look again at that verse. 'And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.' About that second phrase, MacArthur said, 'How encouraging to know that the eternal God who sustains the entire universe is also watching over you. No detail of your life is too small for His concern.

No circumstance is too big for His sovereign control.' One scholar who thinks a lot like Prospector Tom said this, and this is a long quote, but it's good and rich, so bear with me please. He said, 'Consider what would happen if things changed. The sun has a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If it were any closer to earth, we'd burn, and if it were any further, we'd freeze.' Think he borrowed that from Prospector Tom? In who the quote continues, 'Our globe is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees, which enables us to have four seasons.

If it were more tilted, vapors from the ocean would move north and south, eventually piling up monstrous continents of ice. If the moon did not remain a specific distance from the earth, the ocean tide would completely inundate the land twice a day. If the ocean floor merely slipped a few feet deeper, the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance in the earth's atmosphere would be completely upset and no vegetable or animal life could exist on earth. The atmosphere suddenly thinned out. Many of the meteors that now harmlessly burn up when they hit our atmosphere would constantly bombard us. Things don't happen in our universe by accident.

Jesus Christ sustains the universe. He is the principle of cohesion. He's not the deist's watchmaker creator who made the world, set it in motion, and hasn't bothered with its sins. The reason the universe is an ordered and reliable system instead of an erratic and unpredictable muddle is the upholding power of Jesus Christ. Scientists who think they are discovering great truths are doing nothing more than discovering the sustaining laws that Christ uses to control the world. No scientist, no mathematician, astronomer, or nuclear physicist could do anything without the upholding power of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ monitors and sustains the movements and developments of the universe for the entire universe hangs on the arm of Jesus. Last paragraph, "His unsearchable wisdom and boundless power are manifested in the governing of the universe and he upholds it all by the word of his power." I know that was long, but wasn't it good? You want me to read it again? I'm just kidding, I won't. But I'm happy to send it to you if you want it. Let me know and I'll send you that because it's really, really good. On to verse 18. Look back at the package, the passage. Oh, it is a package.

Verse 18 says, "And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything." First of all, here we go again with the "he is" business. And it means just the same thing as it did before, the "he" is emphatic. He and only he, not angels or anyone or anything else. He, Christ alone, is. Not was, not will be or might be. He is. Always and forever, frontwards and backwards, sideways and yonder ways, he is. In verse 17 we learned that he is before all things.

And here in verse 18, "he is the head of his own body, the head of his bride, the head of his church." I love that weirsby said, "Paul here switches focus from the old natural creation to his new spiritual creation." The Greek word, and I'm going to butcher this one, "kephale," from which we get the word "head," can mean source or origin as well as head or ruler, even as we refer to the head of a river.

One scholar attributes all of that meaning to the word here, saying that, "So Christ controls every part of his body, the church, and is its inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring or source of its activity, the center of its unity, and the seed of its life." Did you get all that? Christ is the inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring or source of her activity, the center of unity, and the seed of life for his body, his bride, his church. That's a beautiful picture. The next phrase there in verse 18, "who is the beginning," kind of splits commentators into two camps.

Seems that one group sees it as sort of restating the argument that Christ is the creator, emphasizing his eternal power and his self-existence. Whereas another group of scholars believe that this phrase is specifically saying that Christ is the beginning of his church. While I wouldn't want to argue face to face with those in the first camp, the context of the verse to me is a strong indicator that the second group of scholars might be on to something. First of all though, the phrase starts out with "who is." There it is again. Although rather than "he is," we have "who is," but it's the same idea.

If the second group of scholars are right, and I believe they are, this verse tells us that Christ, forever and always, is the beginning of his church. Wow. McDonald says, "We understand this to mean the beginning of the new creation, the source of spiritual life." MacArthur says, "Christ is the source of the church." The word from which we get "beginning" is used here in the two-fold sense of source and primacy. The church has its origins in Jesus. God chose us in him before the foundation of the world, as we see in Ephesians 1-4. It is Christ who gives life to his church.

His sacrificial death and resurrection on our behalf provided our new life. As head of the body, Jesus holds the chief position, or highest rank, in the church. As the beginning, he is its originator. Close quote. There's a song we sing fairly often here at Grace Life Church. Jared, I meant to request it, although the lineup was perfect, so no complaints at all. But there's a song called "The Church is One Foundation." And the lyrics are perfect here in light of this verse. "The Church is One Foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water and the Word." He is the foundation of our church, the beginning of the church.

Back to verse 18. He's not only the beginning or foundation of the church, but he's also, quote, "the firstborn from the dead." "Firstborn" here has a similar meaning and usage as we've already seen earlier in this passage. The Apostle John relays the same idea in Revelation 1-5, in which he describes Jesus Christ as, quote, "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kingdoms of the earth." "Ruler of the kings of the earth." Barn says the phrase "firstborn from the dead" means that Christ is, quote, "at the head of those who rise from their graves." This doesn't mean literally he was the first one who rose from the dead because he himself raised up Lazarus and others.

And the bodies of saints arose at his crucifixion, but it means that he had the preeminence among them all. He was the most illustrious of those who will be raised from the dead and his head over all of them. Listen, especially he had this preeminence in the resurrection in this respect. That he was the first who rose from the dead from death to immortality. Others who were raised undoubtedly died again. Christ rose to die no more. In that sense, chronologically even, he was first. Wiersby says it seems odd that, I love this, it seems odd that Paul used the word "born" in connection with death for the two concepts seem opposed to each other.

But listen, "But the tomb was a womb from which Christ came forth in victory, for death could not hold him." Come on with that. That'll preach. My goodness. Also like what J. Werner McGee adds, he said, "Did you know that there's only one man who has been raised in a glorified body today? He is the firstfruits of them that sleep." The last part of verse 18 tells us why he is the beginning and why he is the firstborn from the dead. Why is that? So that he himself will come to have first place in everything. The phrase "so that" there is what's called a purpose clause.

And what that means is, Paul's about to state the thesis or the theme of this whole section of scripture. So what is that thesis? What is that theme? That Christ is preeminent in everything. He has the first place in everything. His is the birthright for all creation. He is the head of it all, church. He alone and no other. No angels are above him. No other person is above his person. No other entity outranks him. He is in first place by 11 billion miles. No, that's not enough. He's in first place by infinity and beyond. Listen to McDonald here. Christ's resurrection is unique and is the pledge that all who trust in Him will also rise.

It proclaims Him as supreme in the spiritual creation. Alfred Mace put it well, and this is McDonald quoting Mace, not me. Christ cannot be second anywhere. He is the firstborn of every creature because He has created everything. He is also firstborn from the dead in connection with the redeemed and heavenly family. Thus, creation and redemption hand the honors of supremacy to Him because of who He is and because of what He has done. That in all things He might have the preeminence. He is first everywhere. Amen. I agree with every word of that. Back to our passage, look now at verse 19. Just two verses left.

Verse 19 reads, "For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." I confess I'm a little bit torn here between not wanting to belabor the point as we've already covered the idea presented here. So on the one hand I don't want to belabor it, but on the other hand I jolly well want to belabor it because my goodness, what a point it is. What a truth. So I think I'll split the difference and simply remind you that "all the fullness of God" means, are you ready? "All the fullness of God." Every bit of the godness of God is not only found in the Father, not only found in the Holy Spirit, but is also found in the Son.

Yes, "all" is also found in Christ. The Amplified Version renders that verse like this, "For it has pleased the Father that all the divine fullness, the sum total of divine perfection, powers, and attributes should dwell in Him permanently." Remember, Paul is attacking Heresies here. Remember that? So, McDonald says, "Nostic heretics taught that Christ was a kind of halfway house to God, a necessary link in the chain, but they said that there were other better links on ahead." "Go on from Christ, they urge, and you will reach the fullness." Paul says, "No!

Christ is Himself, the complete fullness of God." And I love this picture painted by another scholar. He said regarding the phrase "in Him" here in verse 19. This is so good. "In Him gathers all the previous truths into a grand climax. Image of God, first born of all creation, creator, eternally pre-existent, head of the church, victor over death, first in all things." On this summit, we should pause looking like John from Christ in His fullness of deity to the exhibition of that divine fullness and redemption consummated in heaven where John saw, quote, "between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb standing as if slain." My goodness.

My goodness. What an image. Finally, verse 20. Let's read 19 and 20 together for continuity's sake, okay? Verse 19, "For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him whether things on earth or things in heaven." MacArthur again here describing the heretics that Paul was answering said, "Because they, the false teachers, held that Christ was merely another spirit being emanated from God, they also denied the possibility of man's being reconciled to God by Christ alone." In refuting that denial, Paul emphasizes there is total complete and full reconciliation through the Lord Jesus.

Inasmuch as He possesses all the fullness of deity, Jesus is able to fully reconcile sinful men and women to God. But the verse says, "Reconsile all things to Himself, not just those who were born again." If you've listened to me preach any number of times, you know I have a habit of saying things like, "All things" means all the things. In fact, I've already said that this morning, maybe a couple of times already. So is that what it means here in verse 20? There are certainly those who say that this verse proves universalism or the idea that all people will be saved. Does it mean that you think? It does not.

And I'll let John MacArthur explain why because he does a much better job than I could do. MacArthur says this, "Some have imagined all things to include fallen men and fallen angels. And on that basis have argued for universalism, the ultimate salvation of everyone. By so doing, they overlook a fundamental rule of interpretation, the Anologia Scriptura. That principle teaches that no passage of Scripture properly interpreted will contradict any other passage. When we let Scripture interpret Scripture, it is clear that by all things, Paul means all things for whom reconciliation is possible.

You might think, "Well, boy, that's convenient." But you know what? We do this in our own language all the time. When you sit down for lunch, have you ever said, "Is everyone here?" Did you mean by that all six billion people on planet Earth? Or did that everyone have a meaning in context? What about if I said this morning, "Is everyone here?" No, we're missing a few. We're not missing 5.99999, six billion people, but we are missing some folks. So context matters. The fact that fallen angels and unregenerate men will spend eternity in hell is the emphatic teaching of Scripture.

Our Lord will one day say to unbelievers, "Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels." And they, quote, "will go away into eternal punishment." Now, I know I've read a lot of quotes this morning. I'm going to read one more. And it's a long one from John MacArthur. As Patty and I were traveling to Louisiana this past week on Monday to pick up our amazing new mattress that was lovingly crafted by Candy's amazing dad, we were listening to various podcasts, and one of them was an episode of "Grace To You" with John MacArthur.

And the episode was titled "The True Character Of Christ." And the message fits so perfectly, especially the quote I'm about to read, that as soon as I got home, I looked up the episode and downloaded the transcript. And here's the part I want us to hear today. And again, if you'd like this, I'd be happy to give it to you. MacArthur says, "If God became a man, we would expect His human life to be sinless." "If holy God became a man, we would expect His human life to be sinless." And Jesus was. The uniform testimony of the New Testament is the sinlessness, the blamelessness, the faultlessness of Jesus. No one could ever find any fault in Him.

If God, holy God, sovereign God, eternal God were to become a man, we would expect Him to be perfectly righteous, not just sinless, but righteous. Not just without sin, but with the very essence of pure, holy virtue, the purest personal character. Not just the absence of sin, but the presence of perfect righteousness. And that He was. If God were a man, we would expect His words to be the wisest, truest, purest ever spoken. And Jesus's were.

His words were basically so profound that they said of Him, quote, "Never a man spoke like this man." If God were to become a man, sovereign God, we would expect Him to exert the most profound power over creation. And He did. He did. He stilled storms. He created food. He created human organs. He healed diseases. If God, holy God, sovereign God were to become a man, we would expect Him to have a profound power over the souls of men. He did. He gave them life, forgiveness. If holy God were to become a man, we would expect Him to exert complete control and power over fallen angels. He did. He sent them into pigs, commanded them at will.

If God became a man, we would expect the demonstration of supernatural power over nature, over people, over demons, over everything. And that's what He did. And then this, if God became a man, we would expect Him to manifest the attributes of God, all of His attributes, including love and mercy and grace and compassion. If God became a man, we would expect Him to have power over life and death. If God were to become a man, we would expect Him to have complete authority over sin. Well, that's Jesus. He did become a man. When we think about Christ, we must think about Him in those grand terms.

And one of the things that we have to be very careful of is not pulling Jesus down to such a human level that we forget the divine nature. I think there's a lot of frivolous reference to Jesus that doesn't uphold His glory. So, believers, I pray that these verses of God's Holy Word in Paul's letter to the Colossians, which provide us yet another view, one of many, many views of just some of the unfathomable riches of Christ, I pray that gazing at Him has caused you to turn your eyes upon Jesus. I pray that you are now and will continue to marvel at Him. And I pray that in marveling at Him, you will be made to live your life to His glory.

To those of you who have never been born again, either folks here in this sanctuary this morning or listening to me by podcast, you live your life as if you are the preeminent one. Like you are in first place. Can I tell you something? That's a mirage. It's not real. You aren't in first place. Christ is. And one day you'll be forced to admit that. The Bible says there's coming a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That includes your knee, sir. That includes your tongue, ma'am.

Every person in here and every person listening will bow and confess His Lordship, either in an act of worship or as a result of final judgment. I pray you will bend the knee this morning. I pray you'll confess His Lordship today. That you would confess your sinfulness, your worthiness for hell right this minute. And cry out to the firstborn over all creation for mercy and mercy you will find.