For our Scripture reading this morning, I ask that you turn with me to Colossians 1. Colossians 1. This morning, for our text, we consider verses 19 and 20, and the Lord willing, tonight, verses 21 through 23. We want to read together verses 3 through 23. But also, I ask that at this time you turn with me in the back of the Psalter hymnal to the form for the Lord's Supper, page 144, as we will be reading this throughout the sermon. Page 144, and when we begin, we will begin halfway down the second column on that page. First, we give our consideration and our attention to the reading of the Word of God. Colossians 1, beginning at verse 3. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints, the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the Gospel that has come to you. All over the world, this Gospel is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who was a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 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 Lord 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. The following two verses being our text this morning. 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. 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. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord's table prepared before us this morning as we know well is a symbol of the sweet communion that the believer enjoys with God. It is a table of fellowship. And boys and girls, you know that when your family joins together around your dinner table, that that is, or at least it's supposed to be, a time of intimacy and fellowship. And generally speaking, those who share a meal together enjoy unity with each other. The Lord's table is where the family of God joins together to enjoy communion with the Lord and with each other. And that communion congregation is sweet communion because there is absolutely nothing else that can compare with communion with God. And that is because those who enjoy it have been reconciled with Him and have received all of His blessings. They are united to God. Well, who are they? They are those who by God's grace and through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit know their sin and misery as well as their desperate condition. Those who understand their need for a Savior and look only to the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. And those who desire to live a new life of godliness from thankful hearts. Only God's people can truly enjoy the blessing of sweet communion. This morning as we consider verses 19 and 20, we notice that Paul teaches about this blessing by causing us to focus upward. And tonight, the Lord willing, as we gather together again, that focus will become inward. I encourage you. Our God prepares a feast for you tonight as well. And as some of you consider staying home with frivolous excuses, don't do it. Because you will only be depriving yourself and angering God and rejecting the feast that He has prepared for you. As I preach to you of this blessing of sweet communion, we consider this morning the initiator of reconciliation. Also the agent of reconciliation. And finally, the means of reconciliation. Verse 19 says again, For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. Now, beloved, this is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One in whom all the fullness dwells. But then what is that fullness? Chapter 2, verse 9 says, For in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. In Christ is found the fullness of the divine essence and glory. In Him, He possesses each and every attribute of God. Therefore, Paul is saying here that Jesus Christ is holy and completely God. As well in Him dwells the fullness of righteousness, wisdom, power, and every blessing. And the idea of this fullness dwelling in Him is that of taking up one's permanent residence. In other words, the Son has always enjoyed and will always enjoy the fullness of deity. He has always been. He will always be God. And of course, this is exactly what Paul was saying a few verses earlier in verses 15-18. 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. Now, with regard to that last phrase, speaking of His supremacy, another version translates it this way, that in all things He may have the preeminence. Christ is preeminent. He is supreme. And indeed, beloved, this means He has first place over all things. He is number one. He is the only one qualified to be the agent of reconciliation, as we hope to consider in a moment. But why is this? Notice the text again, verse 19, For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. Again, another version makes it a little more clear that when Paul says that God was pleased, that Paul is meaning God the Father. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him. And therefore, the initiator of reconciliation is none other than God the Father. Sin broke that fellowship with God and God Himself took the initiative to remove the cause of His own anger, which is the sin of His fallen creatures. Verses 12 and 13 shed some light on this as well. 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. Beloved, it is God the Father. This is really an awesome thought. It is God the Father who planned and orchestrated salvation for His people. Our salvation was a part of His counsel from the beginning. It was a part of His eternal plan with a focus then being on His Son to accomplish that. In accordance with God's good pleasure, whatever He has, the fullness of His Godhead He has given to His Son that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And it is only from that fullness of Christ that we must draw everything good for our salvation because it is only through His Son that God communicates His gifts to us. Now, Scripture is clear that the Son has always enjoyed the delight of the Father. In Psalm 2, we read, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, You are my Son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. In His high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus prays, And now, O Father, glorify me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was. And while Christ was on earth, God the Father's delight in Him was also made manifest. You recall at Christ's baptism what happened. A voice came from heaven saying, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And the Father spoke the very same words on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah and a few of Christ's disciples. After His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we read in John 12 that Jesus says, Father, glorify Your name. Then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Now, congregation, we need to understand that there is a very, very important reason for Paul's instruction that all the fullness of deity dwells in Christ. And that He has first place supremacy, preeminence in everything. Paul was combating a false teaching which we've considered briefly in a couple of sermons before with regard to Colossians, but a heresy known as the Colossian heresy. That heresy which taught that Christ was not all-sufficient and supreme. He was not preeminent. He was not number one. He was not the most excellent. A heresy which said that faith in Christ was okay as far as it went. But He wasn't enough. He wasn't sufficient. There were rules and regulations this heresy taught which needed to be followed in order to enjoy the fullness of that salvation. A number of earthly standards had to be observed like physical circumcision as well as ceremonialism with regard to certain foods and feast days. You see, those things which in the Old Testament pointed forward to but were fulfilled in Christ were now being pushed as necessary. But also, and this is very important, angel worship was being promoted by this heresy. Angels were necessary, it was taught, to mediate between God and man. And in reality, Christ was only an angel. And therefore, His deity was also being denied. Beloved, that's what Paul was up against. And that's what the Colossian believers were in danger of turning from the true gospel to that, the true gospel which they had originally embraced by the grace of God. These false teachings, you see, were trying to rob the people of their salvation in Christ. And that's why here Paul not only pushes the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, very God of very God, God Himself, but he reinforces it by saying all of this has been ordained of God the Father, planned by Him. even as he says in 2 Corinthians 5, 18 and 19, now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. It is according to the Father's good pleasure that in Christ is found the fullness of the divine essence and glory, which alone is the source of unending blessing for God's people. And beloved, as we come to the Lord's table, we need to understand that we do not come because we chose to be reconciled with God, but because God chose to reconcile us with Himself. He took the initiative to pacify His own anger against our sin and remove from us the curse of sin through His only begotten Son. We notice that in the forum. If you would turn with me at this time to that second column, halfway down, page 144, where we read, Let us now also consider to what end the Lord has instituted His supper, namely that we should do it in remembrance of Him. Now after this manner are we to remember Him by it. First of all, let us be fully persuaded in our hearts that our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the promises made to the forefathers in the Old Testament, was sent of the Father into this world, that He assumed our flesh and blood, that He has borne for us the wrath of God under which we should have perished everlastingly from the beginning of His incarnation to the end of His life upon earth and has fulfilled for us all obedience and righteousness of the divine law, especially when the weight of our sins and of the wrath of God pressed out of Him the bloody sweat in the garden, where He was bound that we might be loosed from our sins, that afterwards He suffered innumerable reproaches that we might never be confounded, that He was innocently condemned to death that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God. Yea, that He suffered His blessed body to be nailed to the cross, that He might fasten to it the bond written in ordinances that was against us, and so has taken the curse from us upon Himself, that He might fill us with His blessing, and has humbled Himself under the very deepest reproach and anguish of hell in body and soul on the tree of the cross, when He cried out with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? That we might be accepted of God, and nevermore be forsaken of Him, And finally has confirmed with His death and shedding of His blood the new and eternal testament, the covenant of grace and of reconciliation when He said, It is finished. Beloved, why was God pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him that is in His Son? So that Jesus Christ alone could do that which no other, not even angels, could do and that is be the agent of reconciliation. The text says, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Now when we speak of reconciliation, we often think in terms of harmony and restoring to friendship. To reconcile means that two parties that were opposed to each other come together and reestablish friendly relations. For example, boys and girls, if you have a fight with your best friend and maybe you don't talk to them for a day or two, Then you come together again and you fix the problem and you go on being friends. That's what it means to reconcile. But we must understand that the idea in the Greek also means being restored to a state or condition from which one had previously fallen. And that describes humankind. All of mankind who had fallen from a glorious, exalted state in which we were created. Now, the text speaks of this reconciliation regarding things on earth or things in heaven. And how do we understand this? Well, I have to be honest and say that I don't fully understand this. But I believe that we need to think of it in terms of the entire cosmos. All that God has created. We know, of course, from the first chapters of Genesis, that everything other than the triune God Himself, Everything other than God is created and God created everything good. It was perfect. Man was perfect and sinless. He had dominion over all the creatures of the earth. There were no weeds. There were no tornadoes or hurricanes or earthquakes. There was no physical sickness in the body. Everything was perfect and in a right relationship with God. But Satan, in his rebellion against God, won a disorder and chaos, and his goal was to break creation's relationship with God. And that's exactly what sin did. And of course, we know the effect in man, don't we? In Romans 3, we read, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Well, what about the effect on the rest of creation? Well, sin touched everything. Childbirth became painful. Work became toilsome. The ground produced weeds. Some of the animals became ferocious, deadly, dangerous beasts. And man could become physically sick. And we could go on and on and list many other things. As well, listen to what Paul says about creation in Romans 8, verses 18-22. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Creation was subjected to frustration. That means that because of sin in the world, it is not fulfilling its original function. Not measuring up to that which was originally intended for it. That means there is deterioration and decay and destruction and corruption quite a bit the opposite of the teaching of evolution that says that the world is evolving toward perfection. The Bible teaches the opposite. That this world is headed toward destruction. And beloved, No matter how many spotted owls or whales man saves, no matter what man does with regard to the ozone layer or the rain force or anything else like that, man cannot reconcile the world to God. Jesus Christ alone in whom all the fullness of deity dwells is the agent of reconciliation. Him and Him alone. God has highly exalted Him and given all authority to Him in heaven and on earth and put all things under His feet. The reconciliation of all things to God has begun as Christ rules from the right hand of His Father the entire universe to the glory of God and in the interest of the church. And it will be complete when He comes again to judge the living and the dead and puts an end to all rule and all authority and power and delivers the kingdom to God the Father. Beloved, He will purge the entire cosmos of every trace of evil. Peter tells us that both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. In the book of Revelation, we read that John is taught that the devil and his hosts will be forever cast into the eternal lake of fire and that there will be a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. But there's something else that we must not forget and that is that when Paul says that God the Father through Jesus Christ reconciles all things to Himself, this includes His people. This includes the church. Because in sin, we are alienated from God. And boys and girls, that's a scary word. It ought to be a scary thing for us. To be alienated from God means to be estranged from Him, isolated from Him, separated and even pushed away from Him. To be alienated from God is complete misery. But to be reconciled with God is true blessing and happiness. And beloved, only Jesus Christ is the bond of our connection with God. And therefore, apart from Christ, we are the most miserable because we are shut out from God. And that means that Paul was right when he said, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, We are of all men the most pitiable. You see, no one else could complete this reconciliation. This work of reconciliation belongs only to Jesus Christ. Angels have no part in this. God Himself, through Christ, has removed the barrier of sin that barred the way to reconciliation with God. He alone restores the believer to sweet communion with the Father. And again, this table before us this morning is a symbol that Christ has restored those who believe to that blessed fellowship with God. That blessed fellowship which man was created to enjoy. Again, the communion form tells us that Christ accomplished that reconciliation by taking our place. And that we might firmly believe that we belong to this covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ in His last supper took bread And when he had given thanks, he break it and gave to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. In like manner, after supper, he took the cup and gave thanks and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you and for many unto remission of sins. This do as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. That is, as often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you shall thereby, as by a sure remembrance and pledge, be admonished and assured of this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you, that whereas otherwise you should have suffered eternal death, I give my body and death on the tree of the cross and shed my blood for you and nourish and refresh your hungry and thirsty souls with my crucified body and shed blood to everlasting life as certainly as this bread is broken before your eyes and this cup is given to you and you eat and drink with your mouth in remembrance. of me. Beloved, God the Father is the initiator of reconciliation. God the Son, the agent of reconciliation. And as we come to the Lord's table, we are also to be reminded through the elements of the bread and the juice of the means of reconciliation. The text says, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross. Now, peace with God means more than just an end to the hostilities. For example, when two nations are at war with one another and they come to a peace agreement and they both go their separate ways and not have anything else to do with each other. This peace which the text talks about includes the blessing of God for His people and the eternal salvation of His people. This peace, beloved, includes forgiveness for all of our past, every bit of it, as well as eternal acceptance for the future. Forgiveness for all of our past. Eternal acceptance for the future. And our Lord has secured exactly that for you and me who believe by pouring out His blood unto death on the cross of Calvary. And this work on the cross, beloved, was unique to Christ. Not, of course, that there were no other crucifixions. Many were crucified. Tens of thousands were crucified. That was a Roman way of punishment. But there was only one crucifixion of Him who was both true and righteous man, but also true and complete and holy God. Satisfaction to God for sin could be made in no other way as the Catechism instructs us in question and answer 39 than death by crucifixion of the Son of God. God taught His redeemed people early on that life is in the blood and He could and He would only be satisfied for sin by death and the shedding of blood. And we recall that the Day of Atonement taught this as the blood of the sacrificial lamb was slain as payment for the sin of the people. And of course, that sacrificial lamb pointed forward to the once for all sacrifice for sin of the Lamb of God. Only the blood of Jesus has removed God's wrath so that reconciliation could take place. His blood was the pledge and the price to make up our peace with God and this by pouring it out on the cross. Notice what the New Testament says about the blood of Jesus. Some very important things, I believe. Acts 20, verse 28, speaks of the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. Ephesians 1, verse 7 says, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 1 Peter 1, verse 19 says that we are redeemed not with perishable things like silver and gold, those things which are most precious to us, but with the precious blood of Christ. 1 John 1, verse 7 says, And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. And then finally, Revelation 1, verse 5, To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Beloved, reconciliation with God could only be the work of Jesus Christ. Angels do not have flesh to be broken or blood to be shed. They too are creatures created by Him. Sinful man could not begin to pay the debt of his own sin. Instead, he only increases his debt daily. The salvation of God's people complete with reconciliation with God is according to the good pleasure of God Himself through Jesus Christ by the shedding of His blood. You see, that's the good news of the Gospel, isn't it? that He was made to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him. Congregation, the blessing of sweet communion is the work of God because of us, yet for us. From this institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see that He directs our faith and trust to His perfect sacrifice once offered on the cross as to the only ground and foundation of our salvation. whereby He has become to our hungry and thirsty souls the true food and drink of life eternal. For by His death He has taken away the cause of our eternal death and misery, namely sin, and obtained for us the life-giving Spirit, that we by that Spirit who dwells in Christ as in the head and in us as His members should have true communion with Him and be made partakers of all His riches of life eternal righteousness and glory. Besides, by this same Spirit we are also united as members of one body in true brotherly love. As the Holy Apostle says, seeing that we who are many are one bread, one body, for we all partake of the one bread. For as out of many grains one meal is ground and one bread baked, and out of many berries pressed together one wine flows and is mixed together, so shall we all who by true faith are incorporated in Christ be all together one body through brotherly love for Christ our dear Savior's sake, who before has so exceedingly loved us and show this towards one another not only in words, but also in deed. Beloved, the table of the Lord is only for those who know that the only way to the Father is through the Son. And those who seek and trust in Him and obey Him by the grace of God. God's grace of sweet communion with Him is given only through Jesus Christ. And you see, beloved, those who think they can come on their own, those who think that they are good enough to come. Those who think that they don't need a Savior in Jesus Christ are not reconciled to God and cannot be reconciled to God by anything they have done. And if this describes you this morning, then you are warned to stay away from the Lord's table. Because as the Word of God says, if you partake in an unbelieving way, then you bring upon yourself greater condemnation. But also, if this describes you this morning, then you are being called to repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can remove that barrier and draw you into fellowship with His Father. And beloved, as those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith, may we bring to His table our hungry and thirsty souls to be nourished by the living water and the bread of life. O may our souls indeed be hungry for Him this morning. as well this morning on behalf of the elders. For those of you who are visiting with us and have spoken to one of the elders at the door and have answered sincerely to the questions on the card which you signed regarding your faith and your practice of life, as well as your church membership, we heartily welcome you to join us at the Lord's table. And together may we gather around this table with the confession that nothing in our hands we bring, but simply to Christ's cross we cling. And together, congregation, may we enjoy but a small foretaste of the blessing of sweet communion with God, that blessing that awaits us for all eternity. May the Almighty, merciful God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ help us in this through His Holy Spirit. Amen. That we may obtain all this, let us humble ourselves before God and with true faith implore Him for His grace. As we bow in prayer together, we conclude our prayer reciting the Lord's Prayer together. Shall we pray? Merciful God and Father, we beseech You that in this supper in which we cherish the blessed memory of the bitter death of Your dear Son, Jesus Christ, Thou wilt so work in our hearts through the Holy Spirit that we with true confidence give ourselves up more and more unto Your Son, Jesus Christ, in order that our burdened and contrite hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit may be nourished and refreshed with His true body and blood, yea, with Him, true God and man, the only heavenly bread, and that we may no longer live in our sins, but He in us and we in Him, and so truly be partakers of the new and everlasting testament, the covenant of grace, that we do not doubt that You will forever be our gracious Father, nevermore imputing our sins unto us and providing us with all things for body and soul as Your dear children and heirs. Grant us also Your grace that we may take up our cross cheerfully, deny ourselves, confess our Savior, and in all tribulation with uplifted head, expect our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven where He will make our mortal bodies like unto His glorified body and take us unto Him in eternity. Answer us, O God and merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.