Father, we thank you for the occasion that brings us together tonight. We thank you for your word and we thank you for the great privilege of remembering the work of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We thank you for him and pray that you'd be pleased to bless us as we gather and help us to remember the work that he has done and accomplished on the cross, and all that that means. We love you and it's in Christ's name we pray these things, amen.

This message tonight will be a bit briefer than what you might be used to. And as an aside, years ago, The elders, we made a bit of a pact, maybe a pact too strong a word, but anyways, we would target 20 minutes for evening communion services. The intentions were good, but that effort was... was short-lived. And so consider this my attempt at resetting Sunday evening communion norms. It may be actually shorter than 20 minutes, but we'll see. At any rate, please open to Colossians 1. And I read verses 19 to 23.

For it pleased the father that in him all the fullness should dwell. 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. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. 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.

This is a glorious passage, and actually I've preached on it before. It's probably been a decade or a couple decades. I didn't look back on my notes, so I can't recall exactly what verses I focused on, but regardless, it's an incredible passage. In fact, all of Colossians 1 leaves you almost breastless. It's a glorious passage where much of it focuses on the preeminence of Christ.

And Colossians is one of the prison epistles written while Paul was in Roman prison. Recall Acts 28, 16. When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with a soldier who was guarding him. And so again, it's believed that the prison epistles were written obviously from Rome and while Paul was in prison. Shepherding the people of God, Paul sought to deal with errant teaching in the church. The church at Colossae was struggling with a dangerous heresy and Paul sought to lovingly correct them and more perfectly ground them in the truth. The church at Colossians was not a church that Paul started, but he obviously wrote the letter of Colossians and played a very important part in the history of the church.

And in the passage leading up to our passage, there's no mention of heresy or errant teaching. Paul lovingly addresses the people of the church at Colossae. However, his intent is clear, his objective is to ground the saints in Colossae in the truth, and particularly the glorious truths about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And again, understanding that they're struggling with heresy gives life to what we see in the book of Colossians. And you can see Paul's intent. trying to really bring them back and square them away and make sure they're very, very clear on the doctrine of Christ in particular. And whatever they were struggling with, It's obvious that they had a diminished view of the character and nature of Christ, the Son of God, and the second person of the Trinity. And again, I'm inferring that from where Paul focuses his effort.

So in verse 19, Paul makes it clear that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, who's verily God and verily man. And he wanted to firmly establish in the lives of the believers at Colossae, the deity of Christ. He makes a similar point in Colossians 2, 9, where he says, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The other point that Paul is trying to make, particularly in Colossians 9, the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ. And the point being that not by virtue of the fact that he was granted as much by the Father, but because it is intrinsically in him, because of his unique nature. He is a full and complete member of the Godhead, if I can say it that way.

And again, I think that's obvious to us from Paul's instruction in the first chapter of Colossians. It's not clear that that was true in the lives of the Colossian believers. So Paul's making a very clear point, especially in verse 19, where he talks about the fact that in him all the fullness should dwell. And this isn't a partial appointment or something less than fully God.

All the fullness of the Godhead is in Him. And as we'll see in a minute, this is absolutely critical for the work of salvation and ultimately what brings us to the Lord's table tonight. God's purpose, as Paul clearly states in verse 20, in eternity past was to reconcile all things to himself through Jesus Christ. The design of the Trinity is for Christ to be the great reconciler, the one to bring peace between God and man. In fact, it's probably fair and Pastor Will or James can correct me on this, but verse 20a where it says, and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, that I would argue is the what.

And then if you think of 2 Corinthians 5.21, you don't need to turn there, I'll turn there real quick. Well, maybe not real quick. I'll turn there.

2 Corinthians 5.21, For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So again, I'd argue that the first part of verse 20 is the what.

And then the back half of the verse and what I just read in 2 Corinthians 5.21 is the how. So if you look at the back half of verse 20 again to complete the point, having made peace through the blood of his cross. So it really kind of completes the thought, if you will, and makes both the what and the how very clear.

So this is the central point of our gathering tonight. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered the full wrath of God on the cross, his body was crucified, and his blood was spilt for us. And again, Paul is countering the false teachings that would characterize the Lord Jesus Christ as something less than God. And in fact, this is the same exact point John was making from this morning's lesson in Revelation, Revelation 7,

14. And I said to him, Sir, you know, You know, so he said to me, these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. The only way that we are reconciled with God is through the blood of the Almighty Lamb. And we are called to remember that work till the day of Christ. And again, which is what we'll partake of in a few minutes. So Trinity Bible Church. As all of you know, we celebrate the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of the month and the third Sunday evening of the month, which we're doing tonight. Scripture is not prescriptive in terms of the frequency, but scripture is very clear on the necessity of remembering the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. In verse 21, going back to Colossians.

And you who were once alienated and enemies in your own mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled. So Paul reminds the Colossian believers, and you and I, that we were once enemies of God. Obviously, the notion of reconciliation implies a full and complete turning from something. We are born into this world as enemies of God. The Lord needed to act in order to reconcile us to himself.

Paul says this in Ephesians 2, 11 through 13. 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. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of the cross. Blood of Christ, sorry.

Pastor Will has often said that the Lord's table, of the Lord's table, that it demonstrates or reflects the character of God, this is my paraphrase, in God reaching down to man. nothing about the Lord's Table directs us to think about it within the frame of man reaching up to God. In fact, nothing in the Christian life characterizes our relationship as a man reaching up to God. And yes, Even as Pastor Will prayed this morning, we're called to be holy as he is holy.

1 Peter 1.16. We are called to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling.

Philippians 2.12. These reflect a desire for obedience born out of a love for him and a desire to see him honored.

This has everything to do with our sanctification as believers and nothing to do with our justification as enemies of God. God reaches down to us. And again, that's what the table in front of us is about. And again, the how in reconciling us all comes back to the death of Christ. In verse 22, in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. Christ was crucified on the cross. He died in the flesh to present us blameless before his throne.

In light of the heretical teaching that gripped the Church of Colossae, Paul was making several key points that are critical in trying to correct and stabilize the Colossian believers. Number one, the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God. Number two, He reconciled us to God. And number three, He accomplished this in His flesh through His death.

And again, referring back to this morning's lesson in Revelation, He makes us faultless before His throne. Paul encouraged the Colossian believers and encourages us that we stand holy before a righteous and holy God because of what Christ accomplished in the body of his flesh on the cross. Paul tries I'm sorry, ties this specific passage off by highlighting the evidence and reality of those who washed their robes and made them as white as the blood of the lamb, white in the blood of the lamb, to use the language of this morning in Revelation 7,

14. Paul says this in Colossians 1, 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. Paul is speaking about the perseverance of the saints, those who really belong to the Lord, those who have been reconciled and translated from enemies into saints. will persevere. The hope of the gospel is Christ come down. The hope of the gospel is the fact and reality that Christ is God. The hope of the gospel is that Christ died in his flesh and shed his blood on the cross.

And what may seem like a routine practice at Trinity Bible Church is exactly the opposite. The Lord's Supper is an opportunity for you and I to rest and to remember the glorious work of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, upon the cross. Thankfully, by God's grace, we don't struggle with some of the heretical teaching that plagued the Colossian Church But we do struggle with a level of spiritual lethargy that deludes us into going through the motions instead of marveling at the work Christ did to present us faultless and holy before the throne of God.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the work of Christ. We marvel at what he has accomplished, what he continues to accomplish. We thank you when you when you command us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We're reminded of The next verse in that same passage, it is you that works to both will and do of your good pleasure. You work in us, Father, as it says in Philippians 1, 6, to conform us to the image of Christ. And you will continue that work until the day of Christ.

We rest in you. We trust in you. We pray that you'll help us, Lord, to delight in the blessing of being saints, of being your children, and being translated from enemies into those who are now heirs with Christ. We love you, Father. It's in Christ's precious name we pray. Amen.