As I mentioned already this morning, tonight we return to our consideration of Colossians 1. Tonight, considering verses 21-23. Colossians 1. We read together verses 9-23. And of course, just previous to this, as you recall from this morning, Paul had given thanksgiving for the faith of the Colossian believers. as we give our consideration of the Word of God he continues in verse 9 for this reason since the day we heard about you we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding and we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way bearing fruit in every good work growing in the knowledge of God being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together, and He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross. And now the words of our text. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight without blemish and free from accusation if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the Gospel. This is the Gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Dear people of God, while giving instruction to the Corinthian church regarding the Lord's Supper, Paul quotes our Lord as saying, Do this in remembrance of Me. The Lord's Supper, therefore, is a memorial feast. Something is to be remembered. Well, what is it that we are to call to mind as we come to the Lord's table? Boys and girls, what is it that we are to remember as we eat the bread and we drink that little sip of juice as we did this morning. Well, we are to remember our Lord's death. We are to remember His sacrifice of Himself on the cross, but we are also to remember why He did that. Why that sacrifice was necessary. And that means as we come to the Lord's table, we are to come knowing our desperate need because of our sin and that only Jesus could take care of that need. And therefore, beloved, we are to remember that He is the only Savior and that He has purchased salvation for all those who believe on Him. Beloved, that's the blessing of sweet communion, that as a believer by the grace of God, I am reconciled once again to God for the sake of Jesus. But we're finished for the day with the Lord's table. And since the Lord's table is over for a month or so, is now all of this to be forgotten? All of these things that we considered as we have come together around the Lord's table? Well, not at all. You may even remember from the prayer of thanksgiving in the forum this morning, it prays that through the operation of Thy Holy Spirit, the remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ and the proclamation of His death may tend to our daily increase in true faith and in blessed fellowship with Christ. As we now go away from this physical table for a short time, we are called to continue to remember all of this. This is a sacrament meant to strengthen the believer's faith and therefore strengthen his daily walk. As we go forward from this day, we must walk in the remembrance of all of this every day, therefore walking in self-examination daily. And beloved, that means that we must know what we were apart from Christ, what we are in Christ, the goal of it all, and we must be challenged in our living throughout this life. And you see, that's what Paul now does with the Colossian church. As we continue our consideration of this Word of God, the blessing of sweet communion, we notice these four things. The need for reconciliation, the fact of reconciliation, the purpose of reconciliation, And then finally, the condition of reconciliation. In this text, Paul now applies a general doctrine in a very specific way. This morning we considered the truth that it was the Father's good pleasure to reconcile all things to Himself through the Son, Jesus Christ. And now, in this text, Paul is telling the Colossian believers, this includes you. This blessing of reconciliation is something that has also been given to you. And in the midst of the heretical teachings attacking the church, Paul reminds them of their standing now in comparison to their standing before. And he uses their experience to remind them of the beauty of what they now have and the glory of what they have to look forward to. The beauty of their new standing in the Lord Jesus Christ is magnified when compared to the ugliness of their old standing apart from Christ. Paul necessarily reminds the church of their need for reconciliation when he says in verse 21, once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Now, this is some very, very powerful language. Potentially offensive language. Although it won't be to one who is truly born again. Remember, mankind was created in the image of God. The first man really was good. His desire really was for God. He sought God's favor and His presence. His supreme goal was the glory of God. But sin caused a major deformation in that image and severely messed up man's nature unto eternal death. So that man no longer thought God's thoughts after him, but turned completely against God. We see that already with Cain, don't we? God created man for life. But what did Cain do? Boys and girls, you know. He murdered his brother. Before the flood, we read in Genesis 6, verse 5, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Jeremiah 17, verse 9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And then David says in Psalm 51, verse 10, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Beloved, the problem is rooted in the heart of man. That heart which is the command center for the mind of man. That heart from which flow his intentions and thoughts and desires and words and actions. And like all of mankind, each and every member of the Colossian church was completely alienated from God. Paul reminds the Ephesian church of the same thing when he says in Ephesians 2, Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. In other words, they were estranged from God and that something came between them and God. Congregation, those who are estranged from God do not seek His glory. They do not desire His favor. They do not want to be in His presence. And we find out why in Ephesians 4, verse 18, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. You see, to be alienated from God means to be without Him. Can you imagine that? I ask that question with a very, very sincere desire that I hope you cannot imagine that, to be without God. God is not the desire of those who are alienated from Him. Instead, they are hostile in mind toward Him. Instead of love for God, there is hatred. Jesus said in Matthew 12, verse 30, He who is not with Me is against Me. And those who are against God are enemies of God. Even as Paul says in Romans 5, verse 10, For if when we were enemies... And we know He's talking about enemies of Christ. And then the result of this hostility and hatred in our minds for God is being engaged in evil deeds. Boys and girls, that which is in the heart makes it out to the fingertips and is expressed with the hands. Jesus said in John 3, verse 19, and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Evil deeds are anything that is contrary to or opposed to the righteous command of God. Paul gives quite an explanation of that in Romans 1. Turn with me to Romans 1, if you would, just for a moment. Romans 1, as we just read a couple of verses there. In verse 18 of Romans 1, Paul says, The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Verse 21, For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Beginning at verse 23-25, Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen. And then verses 28-32. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them. Beloved, this is the condition of man apart from God. This is the former life in which the Colossian believers once walked. And at that particular time in history, they were surrounded by a total way of life which neglected and actively rejected their Lord. And they were under pressure to conform, to turn back to that from which they had been delivered in the first place. And congregation, this describes the former life of each believer before the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. You might say, well, I don't remember ever being that way. I don't remember ever thinking that way. but for the regenerating grace of God. But Paul reminds the church then and he reminds the church today of our desperate need for reconciliation with God in order to illumine then the glory of the fact of reconciliation. Now notice the contrast here. Beginning of verse 21 again of the text. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior, But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight without blemish and free from accusation. The fact is, reconciliation with God has taken place. The alienation and estrangement from God has been erased because the barrier of sin has been dealt with and the cost was not cheap. The sacrifice and death of Jesus Christ. The table of sweet communion must remind us of our need for reconciliation, but also the costly fact of it. But this is the wonder of the Gospel. Because this is what Jesus Christ came to do. Boys and girls, no doubt you're getting ready for what we call Christmas time. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but we can never separate Jesus' coming from the reason for which He came. He didn't come to establish an earthly kingdom with an earthly throne to sit upon as the Jews thought to defeat their earthly enemies, specifically the Romans. He came to establish an eternal kingdom of reconciliation with God. How? By His death and resurrection. Paul speaks of this fact of reconciliation in Ephesians 2, verse 13. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And Paul stresses in the text that believers have been reconciled by Christ's physical body through death. Again, I believe in part that this was largely because of the Colossian heresy that tried to limit the work of Christ and instead to substitute that work with something else, again, like the work of angels. But for one thing, angels are spirits, not flesh. As well, we know from Scripture that man sinned, therefore man must pay. But the only one, only man, who was able to pay that great debt of sin was Him who was both true and righteous man, but also true and complete God. Only the blood of Jesus shed on the cross was sufficient to remove the wrath of God from His people, and there can be absolutely no compromise to this. Congregation, so much compromise is taking place today on this point. We cannot, we may not, we must not compromise on this. Only the blood of Jesus Christ Himself is sufficient to remove, was sufficient to remove the wrath of God from His people. Christ's sacrifice and death, which reconciles believers to God, also then brings with it newness of life in the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 says, But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Indeed, the believer enjoys justification by grace through faith, no longer therefore standing before God as guilty, but standing before God as not guilty and forgiven. But along with this necessarily comes the sanctification of the believer by the Holy Spirit. And this then is because of the purpose of reconciliation. The text says there's reconciliation to present you wholly in His sight, without blemish, free from accusation. See, that's what it means to be renewed in the image of God. And that's the goal, as we said this morning, of reconciliation, to restore one to a previous state or condition from which that one had fallen. And this is the heart of the Gospel. That Christ's work restores one to fellowship with God, holy and acceptable to Him. The hostile minds of the Colossian believers and ultimately of all of God's people are turned to willing and glad service and obedience with the ultimate result of this exchange in attitude toward God being the ultimate result being made perfect through sanctification. Speaking of the church in Ephesians 5, verse 27, we read, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Today, we who live on this earth have not yet reached perfection. But the promise is that we will, as we reach the next life. Congregation, our Lord, will not present His people to His Father almost holy and almost blameless with just a small amount of reproach or accusation hanging on to our coattails. But His purpose is that His people be presented completely holy and blameless and beyond reproach. And as well, this is the promise of the Lord's table, isn't it? To be holy means to be separated unto God as His special possession, free from sin and entirely devoted to God. To be without blemish means to be blameless, to be without any spot or defect, without any wrongdoing. And the idea here is that of a sacrifice that is free of anything that would make it unworthy and offensive. Boys and girls, you remember that the Israelites had to bring unblemished animals for a sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the spotless Lamb. To be without accusation is the same thing as to be beyond reproach. And that means that nothing can even be charged against one. And therefore, not only is one free from blemishes, but also of any charge or accusation. On that day, congregation, and this is an awesome thought, on that day, Satan will not even be able to charge God's people with any wrongdoing, believe it or not. Because Jesus Christ has wiped the slate clean. Oh, what a glorious blessing of sweet communion. Hard to imagine, I know. But our God will look at us and He will find nothing wrong in us because of the work of His Son in us, upon us, and for us. And what comfort that must be to us, beloved, because as David the psalmist makes clear in Psalm 139, it is God who is the perfect searcher of our hearts, who knows our thoughts before we think them. He knows our words before we say them. And as we are placed right before His eyes, That's the idea of to present. When Jesus Christ presents His people, His bride to His Father, He will place her right before the eyes of His Father for inspection. And this is what God will find. He will find the bride holy, without blemish, and free from accusations. But finally then, Paul includes the condition of reconciliation. Verses 22 and 23 again, but now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight without blemish and free from accusation if you continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the Gospel. This is the Gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Beloved, this is a call to persevere in the faith. Now, I've got to make it clear that you don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that our perseverance is then the condition for us being reconciled to God. Not at all. But that reconciliation by the blood of Jesus results in the condition of perseverance. We need to understand as well that the Greek idea here is that when Paul says, if you continue in your faith, that this is a condition that he assumes to be true as if to say, if indeed you continue in your faith, and you are and you will continue to continue in it. Beloved, by the grace of God, these believers have the hope of the Gospel that is the assurance of salvation, and the evidence of hanging on to that is by being established and firm on Jesus Christ by faith. Indeed, beloved, for those who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, that is the work of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. But we have a part to play then as redeemed people. We are called to be established and stand firm on Jesus Christ by faith. Those who have been given a desire to be obedient are indeed to strive to be obedient. To glorify God in all things. And where there is the Gospel, there is the hope of everlasting salvation, all of which is contained in Jesus Christ. and therefore anything that tries to lead one away from Christ like the Colossian heresy or like all those new inventions, new ways of salvation being promoted today other than Christ. He's only one of many, they say. These things must be rejected and occupy absolutely no place in our minds because confidence in anything other than Jesus Christ is as fragile as the house that the foolish man built on the sand which falls against the least bit of pressure. Only the life house is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ's congregation will withstand every hazard that could come against it. Paul reminds this church that this Gospel has been preached to them with authority. Ministers of the Word of God come with the authority of God Himself as they preach the true Gospel. They first heard it from Epaphras as verse 7 says, our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf. As well, this Gospel was proclaimed to every creature under heaven. In other words, this is the doctrine that Christ commanded to be preached into all the world to every creature. This is the doctrine, congregation, that the Holy Catholic or Universal Church agrees upon. This is the same Gospel which we enjoy by God's grace today. This is the same Gospel by which all of God's people have lived and died. This is the same Gospel which is foolishness to the world. And as well, this is the very same Gospel that we preach today that Paul himself preached. Therefore, if they reject his teaching, they reject nothing less than the truth of Jesus Christ. Beloved, the condition of reconciliation is perseverance. Those who are reconciled will persevere. That's what Paul's words indicate. That they will stand firm. Yet, the caution is there. We know that Scripture teaches that God will preserve His people in the faith all the way to glory. But Scripture also teaches us that there is nothing cheap about God's salvation. Yet, it is often treated so cheaply. Those who are reconciled to God and born again of the Holy Spirit are called to actively and consciously live in faithful obedience, which includes participating in sweet communion around the Lord's table, in worship, in fellowship with God's people. Diligence and perseverance must accompany the Gospel on the part of believers. So much cheap grace is being offered today, which is really no grace at all. No demands are made on the convert. And Christ's lordship is considered an option by so many. Even in this past week, talking to two men very dear to me in other churches and other parts of the country, they are struggling with the same thing. Being told by some, even elders in their congregations, you've got to loosen up a little bit. You've got to loosen up. We don't have to be so stringent as we once were. We can't expect the new convert who comes into our church to follow things as we have followed them. We cannot expect the new converts to obey the law of God as we obey the law of God. Oh, really? Why not? We don't have to expect these things, they say. Instead, most of them are conforming to the way of the new convert who doesn't know any better. No demands are being made on the convert, but God makes demands on each and every one of His people. And again, Christ's lordship is considered an option. Yet that's not what the Bible teaches. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58 says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And Paul says in Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. And even as Paul says in verses 9-11 of Colossians 1, For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. and we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Congregation, through the Lord's table this morning, we have been brought face to face once again with a blessing of sweet communion with God. And tonight, in connection with that, we have been reminded of our desperate need for reconciliation, of the fact of reconciliation for believers. The table of the Lord also points to the purpose of reconciliation with sanctification unto perfection in glory. But also the Lord's table is a reminder of the condition of reconciliation. which the Holy Spirit of God also uses to strengthen us unto perseverance. And the key to reconciliation with God is Jesus Christ and Him alone. Apart from true faith in Him, one is alienated from God, hostile toward Him with all manner of hatred for Him, and one is enslaved to the practice of evil all the time. Apart from Jesus Christ, one is only an enemy of God. And listen to what 1 Corinthians 15 makes clear. Christ must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. That's not only a possibility. That's not just a maybe. That will be a reality. But for those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith, the Lord's table is a symbol of eternal fellowship with the Father. Congregation, are you reconciled with the Father through Jesus Christ? is all of your faith, hope, and love in Him. God's people enjoy the greatest gift of sweet communion with Him with the assurance, with the assurance that our Lord will one day present His people to God the Father holy, blameless, and without any accusation. As the psalmist confesses so beautifully in Psalm 73, that communion is God's grace for this life for the believer and His glory for eternity. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, oh, what a blessing! What a blessing it is to be reminded of Your powerful work in our hearts and lives as believers. Sometimes, O Lord, it is difficult to hear what we are or were apart from Jesus Christ. But yet as Your people, may we never mind hearing that because You do not leave us without Your Word proclaiming what we are in Christ. And Father, we pray that indeed you would continue to work in our hearts and lives in a powerful way. That you would continue that powerful work of sanctification by your Holy Spirit making us more and more pure. Oh, indeed, it's hard to see that for us in this life. For we recognize the sin that still claims to us against our will. And even as the Catechism says, even the most holy in this life have but a small beginning of new obedience. but may we crave that day when we are perfected in glory in Your very presence we pray Father that indeed that work may continue even as we go forward into this coming week that we might recognize Your work in our lives that we might desire to stand up for Jesus to be faithful to our God and to our Father for Jesus' sake In His name we pray, Amen.