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All right, like I mentioned, we are starting a brand new book this evening, Colossians, and we're going to go through chapter one this evening. But before we get into the actual chapter, I'm just going to give it an introductory as far as what the book is dealing with. Now the book of Colossians is a very interesting book, simply for the fact that you don't really see a whole lot of problems taking place within this church. A lot of the books that you see in the New Testament, you know, the apostle Paul is addressing some sort of issue, some sort of doctrinal issue that they have, or you know, maybe that there's Judaizers just trying to proselytize the people within the church. You have these concepts being brought up, whereas in Colossae, it doesn't seem as though that's what's taking place, but what he is doing is just simply reinforcing doctrines that they probably already know. And by the way, that's good for us, amen. You know, you may not have a problem going on in your life, you may not be going through a trial or tribulation, so what is it that you need? You need to be reinforced in things that you already believe, you know, to strengthen the things which remain, to make sure you're reinforced in doctrine, so when those times come, you're not moved. Now let me give you a couple things here as far as the introduction is concerned. Of course, the author, as we know, is the apostle Paul, and this is known as Paul's prison epistles. How many of you have ever heard of that term before, Paul's prison epistles? And that's referred to as talking about Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and even Philemon. And the reason it's called Paul's prison epistles is simply because he wrote these epistles or these letters while he was incarcerated. And we know that specifically in Colossians, if you can go to chapter four and look at verse number three, it says here, with all praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. So when the Bible refers to him being in bonds, it's talking about the fact that he's in jail, he's in prison, he's incarcerated. And that's a common term and a common phrase that you'll hear through Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon is that he's in bonds, he's in prison, so on and so forth. Go to chapter, excuse me, you're in chapter four, go to verse 18, it says, the salutation by the hand of me, Paul, remember my bonds, grace be with you, amen. Now I'm not necessarily for just calling it the prison epistles, I think it's just all the word of God, amen. But it's good to know that just so it could kind of give you a perspective of where he's at in his lifetime during this period. Now what's the location of this congregation? The church is actually located in Asia Minor and in fact, if you look at a map and you basically study some of the areas that we see in the book of Acts, well primarily in the book of Acts, you'll see that this church is actually surrounded by the seven churches which John wrote to in the book of Revelation. You think of Laodicea, you think of Sardis, Smyrna, Pergamos, so on and so forth, it's actually surrounded by these churches. And so it's actually southeast of Laodicea and that's important to know because that actually plays an important part as far as the location and why this epistle was written. So here's the interesting thing is that, you know, sometimes we think because Paul started so many churches that all the churches that we see in the New Testament were started by him, but really it wasn't. Some of the churches were started by him, but not all of them. And I don't really think the church at Colossae was started by the apostle Paul. The reason for that is because of the fact that he never even stepped foot in the church at Colossae. Like, they never even saw him. We'll see that later on. You know, the church at Laodicea, I don't think he started either. I think what it was is that he planted churches such as the ones at Ephesus, and what do those churches do? They planted churches, which is exactly what we see today, right? We see the churches are to beget churches, you plant a church, you train the guy, he starts a church, then that church starts a church, and that's how churches stay alive is by church planting. And that's basically what we see there. Now who was this letter written to? Well, I mentioned it's for those in Colossae, but it's also for the neighboring churches. Sometimes we think, well, because it's titled Colossians, it's only for the Colossians, right? But do you remember when we studied 1 and 2 Peter, there's a big region of people he was talking to. You know, he's talking to those in Bithynia and in Galatia. Well, Galatia already received one epistle, right? The book of Galatians. But they also received 1 and 2 Peter as well. So they not only received a letter from Paul, they also received a letter from Peter as well. And look, at the end of the day, what were these churches doing? They're just sharing letters, because it's the word of God. We think they only had one letter, right? It's just like, well, they only had the book of Colossians, that letter, no, they had them all. Okay, and I'm going to prove that to you in just a bit. Now, Colossians is a great book to debunk the false doctrine of church ages, okay? There's a false doctrine out there taught by dispensationalists called church ages. If you've never heard of it, let me just give you a brief synopsis of what this is. The doctrine of church ages is the doctrine that teaches that the churches found within Revelation chapter 2 and 3, specifically those seven churches, are not literal churches. They're actually church ages, a period of time where churches existed, and they all share the same characteristic of this highlighted church. For example, you have the church at Ephesus that was addressed in Revelation chapter 2, right? And what was the problem with the church at Ephesus? Is that it had left its first love, right? It says, you know, I have one thing against me, thou has left thy first love, repent therefore and do the first works, amen? Now, what they'll say is that the churches within that time period were all struggling with that. So basically, the church at Ephesus represents many churches within that time period that were all struggling and they're all leaving their first love. They weren't doing any soul winning is what that's saying. Now, that's ridiculous, okay? And the reason why that's ridiculous is because we're independent churches. And look, the church down the street does not dictate what kind of zeal and excitement and passion we have here. You know, look, and by the way, you can be influenced by churches, right? So much more today because of the internet, YouTube, social media platforms, you know, but back then they didn't have YouTube. You know, back then they didn't have social media, they didn't even know what was going on in some other churches unless they got a letter from them. So to say that all these churches were struggling, they didn't like soul winning, they left their first love, this is not true. And you know, conveniently, they'll say that we're located today in the what, the church age of what? Laodicean church era, right? And what was the problem with the Laodicean church era is that they were lukewarm, they were neither hot nor cold. They're God's vomit because it says I will spew thee out of my mouth. It's not saying that, you know, that they're making God vomit, it says that they were God's vomit. That's what it was saying, I'll spew thee out of my mouth. And they'll claim, you know, oh, you know, the reason people aren't getting saved today and the reason we're not on fire for God today is because we're in the Laodicean church era or age or whatever. That's false. Okay? And I'm going to prove to you, look at Colossians chapter 4. So dispensationalists will claim that we as New Testament Christians can only adhere to the Pauline epistles. So let's say, hey, we're Pauline Christians, you know, we're only supposed to adhere to the Pauline epistles, not Peter, you know, not John, nobody else but Paul, okay? These are like the hyper dispensationalists. Now look at Colossians 4 verse 15, Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church which is in his house. So we see that there's a church located in Laodicea during this time. And when this epistle is read among you, the letter that's being written, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans. And look what it says, and they likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. So it says, look, make sure that you read this letter in Laodicea and by the way, make sure you read in your church what they got in Laodicea, which is the letter we see in Revelation chapter 3, right? About being lukewarm, so on and so forth. He said, well, hold on a second. If the church of Colossa was not struggling with the same things that Laodicea was, why is it that Paul's admonishing them to read that same letter? Well, because all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness. You know what it's called? It's called preventative medicine, right? You read the letter and look, how many times have you read the Bible? Maybe you're not struggling with the things that you find they're in, but you recognize like, wow, you know, Lord, help me not to end up like that. Help me not to end up in this sin. Help me not to be lukewarm. I mean, I'm sure we've read about the church in Laodicea and said, man, help me not to be lukewarm, and you may not be lukewarm, amen? So this goes to show you that the letters are not just subject to one people, one church. They're addressed to a specific church, but they were able to share these letters one with another, okay? That's why you have Peter talking about the epistles of Paul in second Peter chapter three, and he called Paul's epistles scripture. He called it the word of God, okay? But yes, they were addressed to a specific people, and it was, in a sense, custom fitted to that church, but you know what? It's applicable to all Christians because of the fact that it's God's word, right? Holy men of God spake as they're removed by the Holy Ghost. The prophecy came down in old time by the will of man, and the reality is that we could look 2,000 years later, and look, we're not wearing sandals. We don't have the type of clothing or culture that they had back then, but we could look at the Bible and say, hey, man, I could relate to that. I can relate to Paul in Romans chapter seven. I can relate to these events and the way these people feel. These men are of like passions with me, even though it was 2,000 years ago, because of the fact that the Bible's timeless, okay? It doesn't lose its application there. So we see there that he tells them to read that letter in Laodicea, but also that they should be reading the letter that was written to the Laodiceans as well, and so that was north of where Colossae was. Now who started this church? Well, as I mentioned, I don't really believe the apostle Paul started it, because if you study the three missionary journeys of the apostle Paul, this is one church he never visited, okay? I mean, he went really close by it. He went to Ephesus, which is north of Colossae. He went to all these churches, all these regions, but he never actually stepped foot at the church of Colossae. Now he might have later on, we don't know. The Bible doesn't specifically say. Go to Colossians chapter two, and I'm gonna prove it to you. Look at verse number one in Colossians chapter two, it says, For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and as for many as have not seen my face in the flesh. So these people have not seen the apostle Paul. They've only heard of him, right? That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. So you say, well, who started the church then? Well, look at chapter one in verse number six, it says, Which is to come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day he heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth, as he also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. So I would say, if you were to ask my opinion, I would say, this is probably the guy who actually founded the church, or he's just the evangelist that the apostle Paul sent out, and ultimately ordained to be the pastor there, because it says there that he's the faithful minister of Christ for them who are at Colossae, okay? Now this is something we see today, right? Pastor Anderson started this church. He's not here all the time, obviously, because of technology and airplanes and vehicles. He's able to come out every once in a while, but for the most part, I would say I'm like the Epaphras here, right, or the Epaphras, however you want to pronounce his name there. Now that's the way it would work, okay? That's why you have the apostle Paul sending Titus to the islands of Crete to redeem pastors there. So we see that even though the apostle Paul was a great man of God, even though he was an apostle, okay, that even he could not be spread too thin. You know, no task, or excuse me, not one man can accomplish this many tasks. You see, doing the work of the Lord requires the effort of many people, right? So we can't expect just for one man to do great things for God. No, this needs to be a compilation of many men. You say, what about in our church? Hey, I'm not going to be able to reach Omani for Christ. I'm not going to be able to do it by myself. I can't do Compton by myself. I can't do Washburn. What do we need? We need men in the church to rise up, take on that leadership position, have vision to do what's being done here in Colossae, amen? So well, you know, I'm not eloquent in speech. Well, you know what? You're probably the one that's the most qualified then, right? That's probably the person who God wants to use the most because God will get more glory from you. People will look at you and the exploits that you do and say, wow, that must be God. Now, to you, that may seem as a diss, but that's glory to God, amen? You're like, well, thanks God, you know? So we see here that the church was potentially started or it was evangelized by Epaphras, the dear fellow servant who is for them a faithful minister of Christ. So let's get into this. That was all introductory right there just to let you know. Of course, chapter one, we're going to deal with primarily, we're going to be talking about the first begotten from the dead, that doctrine. In chapter two, you have the doctrine of circumcision being taught. Chapter three, you have mortifying the flesh and walking in the new man. And really the last chapter talks about, it's just a shout out chapter is what it is, okay? It's just Paul the Apostle just shouting people out like, hey, this guy did this and good luck, you know, good looking out and all that. That's my version of it. Look at verse number one. So right now we're going to look at the introductory thanksgiving to the brethren. This is verses one through four. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are our colossi, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which he have to all the saints. So what do we see first and foremost, the characteristics of these people? They have faith in Christ Jesus and they have love for all the saints. You know what we see here? We see something that Christians ought to have, right? Which is they love God and then they also love others. They have faith. Their relationship with their fellow man is determined by how their relationship with God is. You know, if your relationship with God is right, you love the Lord, you delight in his word, what's going to happen is you eventually will just love people as well, okay? Because look, the people you talk to out sowing, you don't know them. You know, they can be tatted from head to toe, ears pierced like no other, like they fell into, you know, a tackle box or whatever, and you know, if you're not careful, you can have a hard heart towards that. You can say, well, this person's not going to get saved and this person doesn't want to hear the gospel. But you know, if your relationship with the Lord is right, you're going to have a tender heart for those you speak to in spite of what they look like, right? So we see their love for Christ and for their love for the saints as well. Look at verse number five. It says, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is coming to you as it is in all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day you heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth. So what do we see here? We see the effectiveness of the gospel because it reached them. Now I want you to notice in verse number six, it says, which is coming to you as it is in all the world. You know what this tells me is that people had evangelized the whole world at this time. I mean, do we believe the Bible or not? We think, well, what about the African kid all the way in the jungle with the Congos and all this stuff? You know what? The Bible says that the gospel has gone out into all the world. Now given there's places, there's countries all around the world that are dark today, right? There's countries that are very close to the gospel. We're talking about Japan just earlier. That's a, that's a nation that has rejected God tremendously, right? They don't, they don't love the Lord. I mean, I'm sure there's a remnant there, but for the most part, that country has rejected God. But you know, I'm sure at one point they had, they had the gospel. Why? Because the fact is, is that God wants everyone to hear the gospel and everyone has an opportunity to hear that. They have a soul winner. It may not be recorded in books. You may not see a movie about it, but I guarantee you it's been done. And this is what we see here. It says, it's coming to you. It says it's bringing forth fruit. Now what is the fruit that it's referring to? Souls being saved. You know, Jesus Christ in John chapter 15 stated that he chose them and ordained them that they should go and bring forth fruit and that their fruit should remain. Now why is it that he's saying that their fruit should remain? Because once they're saved, they're always saved. Amen. He gives them the gospel. Once they're saved, they're always saved. They can never lose that salvation. That is the fruit of God from the gospel there. Look at verse number seven. It says, as he also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the spirit. So Epaphras obviously has gone back to Paul to basically talk about the works that are being done in Colossae. He's like, man, these people got love. These people are fervent in spirit. These people have charity. These people are doing great works. They're being fruitful over there in Colossae is what he's saying there. And look, what to God that someone would say that about us, right? We want to make sure that we follow this example of Colossae. And look, don't look at the Bible and say, well, you know, yeah, back then that was possible, but not today. Why not? Why isn't it possible today? Yeah, you know, it's possible to have that kind of fruit back then, but today, you know, we live in an era where it's so closed and with culture and Hollywood, you know what, the darker the night, the brighter the light. And look, we should actually have more of an advantage over the people in the Bible. Why? Because we got cars, we got Instagram, we got Facebook, we got YouTube, we got airplanes, you know, we have In-N-Out, we have, we have, I don't know how that fits in there, but somehow it fits in there, okay? We have all the necessities needed, right? To be able to do these great works. Look at verse nine, it says, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. And look what he says, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord into all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Now what is he saying here? He goes, man, I'm praying for you. I'm praying that you would be filled with knowledge, just so you can be a smart aleck. No. Just so you can have all kinds of wisdom and knowledge, so you can like show people why it's after the tribulation and you know, you know, all the details of the Bible. No. Why? Because the Bible tells us that knowledge, what does it do? Puffeth up. But charity edifieth. So he says here that he desires that they might be filled with all, with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, understanding what you're, what you're reading, right? Why? Verse 10, that you might walk worthy of the Lord into all pleasing. You see, we learn right to do right. We learn right to do right. We don't just get knowledge just to have for knowledge sake. God wants us to have knowledge so we can know what God wants us to do. You know, it goes back to, we're studying the book of James on Sunday night. It goes back to being a doer of the word and not a hearer only. Because if you're a doer and excuse me, if you're, if you're not a doer and you're a hearer only, you're deceiving your own self, the Bible says. Why? Because you're intaking all this knowledge. You know everything there is about the gospel, but what are you not doing? You're not putting aside all filthiness and superfluity of not in this, the Bible says. And if you're not repenting of your sin, you're not getting right, you're not cleaning up your life, you're deceiving your own self. You're not being a doer of the word. So when the Bible tells us here to be filled with the knowledge of his will and spiritual understanding, it's so that we would walk worthy of the Lord until all pleasing. You see, knowing more of the Bible should actually cause us to live a better life unto the Lord. Because now we know what God requires of us. More than that, we understand the judgment of God. We understand the wrath of God. We understand that God is a loving God, but he's also a God of justice and judgment that he will chastise his children if they don't obey him, right? If we seek to be disobedient, we're willingly disobedient towards God, having that knowledge should cause us to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. In other words, we're not ignorant of God's judgments. You know, it's good to gain knowledge and the Bible tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we should love knowledge. We should love reading the Bible. We should want to memorize it and study it and know it, but it should affect our lives. It should cause us to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. And what's the result of that? Being fruitful in every good work and increasing the knowledge of God. So what does that say? When you gain knowledge, you'll live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. And what's the result of that? You'll do good works. And what's the result of that? God will give you more knowledge, right? Because the more knowledge God gives you, if you are a good steward of that knowledge, he'll give you more knowledge. He said, well, what if I'm not a good steward? Then he'll take knowledge from you. And that is fact. If you don't continue to grow in knowledge or you only grow in knowledge, but you don't put it into practice, God will take away knowledge from you. You will become biblically illiterate, the Bible tells us. So how can we abstain from that? How can we make sure that we don't fall into that trap? Hold your place there. Go to 2 Peter chapter number one. We've referenced this scripture various times throughout the last couple of weeks, but it's applicable to what we're reading right here in Colossians. 2 Peter chapter one, look at verse number five, it says, and beside this, giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. And to knowledge temperance. What is temperance? Self-control. How do you exercise self-control? By denying yourself, right? Denying yourself of immediate gratification, correct? Temperance and to temperance, patience. In other words, you're willing to wait for it. And to patience, godliness. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you should neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There you have it. When you continue to add to your faith virtue and these characteristics, what happens? You won't be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge. God will continue to bless you with more knowledge so you're not spiritually stupid. You shouldn't say that word. Stupid just means you're ignorant. We don't want to be stupid Christians, amen? A stupid Christian is a Christian who's just ignorant of the Bible. Or they don't want to study the Bible. But the reality is, if we are to avoid that, we got to add to our faith. So in the Christian life, there is no just, I'm just going to stay right here. I'm not going to go forward. I'm not going to go backward. I'm just going to stay stagnant right here. No, if you're not going forward, you're going backwards. Because you have to continue to add to your faith. If you're not adding, you're subtracting. And what will happen? God will subtract knowledge from you, okay? Go back to Colossians chapter one. So that's a good prayer that the apostle Paul has for those at Colossae. He says, man, I'm praying for you that you get that new Mercedes Benz. That you get that new chariot with those horses and, you know, that you get those new garments or whatever, those new sandals you've been wanting over at Colossae, you know? No. He's saying that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That's the prayer that we need to have for each other, amen? You know, for new Christians, when they first get saved, you know what our prayer should be? That they would be filled with all the knowledge of God, right? So they can live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. Because when a new Christian gets saved and they're barely coming into this thing, you know, you kind of have to hold their hand, right? You kind of have to teach them, be patient with them. There's certain things that they need to get rid of out of their lives and stuff. And they don't know everything right away, but, you know, and you help them along with those things, right? But you know what? You're not there 24-7. You're not there throughout the week. You don't know what they're doing. So what's something that you can do to make sure that they continue to grow is that they grow in knowledge. Because there comes a point when a person has to just walk on his own, right? You look at verse 11. Strengthen with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness. Verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Now this is a good verse right here. This is a good verse to prove that there's nothing that you have to do to be saved other than believe on Christ, right? Because it says there that the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. What does this mean? Well, a lot of people, when they say they trust in their works or they trust in keeping God's commandments, they go to church, they're trying to make themselves meet to be partakers of that inheritance. That inheritance is referring to heaven, okay, to obtain that. But the Bible tells us that God hath made us meet. And that goes along with every verse in regards to salvation in the Bible. Because the Bible tells us that God hath made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, right? Look the Bible tells us that our righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God. Righteousness means our perfection. We have no perfection, okay? As it is written, there's none righteous known on one, the Bible says. Therefore, we need the righteousness of Christ to be imputed unto us. We need his righteousness. The Bible tells us not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. What is this all saying? That God hath made us meet to be partakers through Jesus Christ. Now here's a great term right here, it says inheritance of the saints in light. Now an inheritance is something that is transmitted from a parent to an offspring or just from the family, right? So it's not something you earn. It's something that's given to you based upon who you are. It's what we would refer to also as a birthright, okay? An inheritance is given after someone has died. Go to Hebrews chapter number nine. So how did he make us meet to be partakers of that inheritance? Well, if an inheritance is something that is given to someone who, you know, they inherited because of, because their son or their family or whatever it may be, how is it that that takes place? Well, you think of an inheritance, you think of a what? A will, which a word that's synonymous with will is a testament, you know, your last will and testament. When someone dies, they say, oh, I'm leaving my will. This is what my sons and my daughters get. My sons get nothing. My daughters get everything. You know, they get the house, they get everything. My sons, they get my debt or whatever, you know, I don't know. That's something that you leave to your kids basically, right? But it happens after the person dies and look at Hebrews nine 16 for where a testament is, there must also have a necessity to be the death of the testator, which you just mentioned for a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. And this is in context of Jesus Christ because he died, he is, he's the mediator of this new testament. Therefore we're able to be partakers of that inheritance, which is heaven. You know, it's no wonder that when we get saved, God calls us what children of God or sons of God, you know, but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even into them that believe on his name. We believe on Christ, we become the sons of God, which then makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance. Now obviously look, heaven is an inheritance, okay? But the Bible also talks about rewards and that comes along as we work for God here. So there's an inheritance given to us, which is heaven, but the rewards is basically like the cherry on top. It's the icing. It's what kind of, what, what, what, you know, flavor of cake do you want? You know, you want cheesecake or do you want, you know, for everyone it's, it's just tres leches. How many know what tres leches is? That's good cake, man. I hate on the tres leches, it's good. I'm not going to add, thank you, right? Tres leches. It's good. It's good. This is the only time Eddie ever talks and then it's just, it's about tres leches. Okay. The only time I've ever heard him pipe up and it's about the cake. It's great, but if you want something better on top of that, it's like the works that you have, you have to pay a little extra. Well the paying a little extra is kind of like us doing the works down here to obtain a better resurrection. But here's the thing, if you never do that, you're still mean to be a partaker of that inheritance. Why? Because it's through Jesus Christ. All right. Look at Romans chapter number four. I'll read to you from first John chapter three in verse number one it says, behold, what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Romans chapter four verse number five, but to him that worketh not, a lot of people have, I mean, they just can't, they don't get this, right? But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered, covered, so on and so forth. So what do we see here? We see that the righteousness that he's referring to is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is given to a person once they trust and believe on the Lord. Go back to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter number one, look at verse 13, it says here, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now this is a pretty interesting verse here and I was, as I was studying this, you know, it's kind of one of those, one of those things where you have to just kind of like take it for what it says right there because the only other time that the word translated is used is with who? Think about Enoch, right? The Bible tells us that by faith was Enoch translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him for before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. So what is that talking about? Well, it talks about Enoch, the seventh of Adam, what happened to him? The Bible tells us that Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. That doesn't mean he killed him, it means he basically raptured him, okay? He just, by the way, my very first sermon that I've ever preached was Enoch and it was called Get Your Walk On, okay? It was like a five, I don't know, 10 minute sermon or something, it was called Get Your Walk On. I was still a little ghetto back in those days, so it was called Get Your Walk On, okay? I think I even wrote that on the paper, but it was referring to this, so he was translated. Now here's the thing, hold your place there in Colossians, go to Ephesians chapter two. So he was translated because he had this testimony that he pleased God and it says, but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So when we think of translation, we think of basically like a rapture kind of thing taking place. Now in Colossians 1 13 it says that he translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Now it's hard to kind of understand this, but it's almost in a sense as though like now that we're saved, God basically sees us as though we're already there. That's kind of hard for people to understand because of the fact that we live in the realm of time. You know, we have 12 hours in a day, whereas the realm of eternity is so vast there is no time. We have a hard time, you know, trying to perceive that, right? I would liken it into this. It's like a, it's like if you have a fish in your house in a bowl looking at you and trying to put your hips itself in your shoes, it's like, I wonder what it's like to not be in water. It wouldn't be able to do that because it's going to spend the rest of his life in water. It's a fish. I know that's a shallow illustration, but just to give you a somewhat of an understanding of how difficult it is for us to understand what eternity is. It's a place where there is no time, okay? And so when it says that he has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, it's almost as though in the eyes of God, we're already there. I don't know about that. That sounds a little weird. Well, think about this. What about in Revelation chapter seven with John when he was taken up in spirit and what does he see? He saw the great multitude, which no man can number. And guess who was there? You. Let's talk about the rapture. Let's talk about the people who are in heaven. He said, well, hold on. How can you see that? But I'm right here. Well, it's cause it's eternity. The realm of eternity. God sees everything from beginning to end. He just sees like a panoramic view of everything. There is no time. Look at Ephesians two verse five. It says, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace are you saved and that's raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There you go again. Now we're not literally sitting there, but you know what? In eternity, we basically are. In eternity, we basically are sitting there because of the fact that we're saved and you know, God foreknows who's going to get saved and who's not. He doesn't choose who's going to get saved and who's not. He just knows who is and who isn't. There's a big difference, you know, to choose, you know, you go to hell, you go to hell, you can go to heaven, hell, hell, heaven, hell, hell, hell, heaven, hell. That's the God of Calvinism. Don't get offended because I chose you for hell, okay? Just an illustration. You know, that's the God of Calvinism, but the God of the Bible foreknows. So he knows who's going to get saved. He said, well, how does that work with what that he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance? It works because he isn't willing. He just knows who's going to choose to reject him, reject his son and who's going to accept his son. So we see here that that's what that's exactly what that's referring to there. Now go back to Colossians. Now obviously you can go really deep into that and just like rack your brain. That's why I don't really want to go into that because I don't want to rack my brain because you think about the fact that there, the Bible talks about how there is silence in heaven, right? What was it for, for 30 minutes, right? So there's like, there's an aspect of heaven where time can be measured. How does that work? I have no idea. I've never been there. So, you know, I'll tell you when we get there. But for the most part, when it comes to, I mean, you think of this, for example, you know, you think of Satan still has entrance into heaven. He still, he can still come before God and come there and back. So it's things that we don't understand because they're beyond our scope of understanding. We just got to take this by faith that this is what this is referring to. Look at verse 15. Here we're going to look at the firstborn of every creature. Now this is a verse that the J-dubs, the Jehovah's Witnesses like to use to claim that Jesus Christ was a created being. How many of you have ever heard that before? You know, from verse 15, they'll always take you, because Jehovah's Witnesses, they don't study the Bible. They just, they give their people these verses and they just have to memorize that. And then basically they're good to go. That's what they use. Okay. And this is one of them. Okay. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. And they'll say, see, he's the firstborn of every creature. He was created. You know, he's not eternal. Now, we believe in the eternal sonship of Christ. Amen. We believe in the Trinity. We believe in the eternal sonship of Christ. But they claim along with the modulus, by the way, you know, that he became the son of God, right? At the birth is what they claim. Now that's so foolish because even in Daniel Nebuchadnezzar is looking into the furnace of fire and said the fourth is like unto the son of God. This is prior to him being born in Bethlehem. But let me address this false doctrine of the Jehovah's Witnesses. They describe Jesus Christ as being God's first creation. And in fact, they believe that the Archangel Michael, the word of John 1, 1 and wisdom personified in Proverbs 8 refers to Jesus in his pre-human existence. So Jesus Christ is the word. He's Proverbs 8 and he's Michael the Archangel. Prior to him coming in Bethlehem's manger. You're looking at me. I don't believe this. You're looking at me as though I'm the one. I'm just standing what they believe. Okay. This is what they claim. Now, this is silly, but you know, it's also blasphemous because of the fact that this is not who Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is a son of God from eternity past. He will always be the son of God, but they'll use this as a means. And look, they even say, by the way, this is, this is crazy. They'll identify him as the rider on the white horse, not only in Revelation 19, but in Revelation chapter six. Now, look, if you studied the Bible prophecy, Revelation chapter six, the one coming on the white horse is the antichrist, but according to Jehovah's Witnesses, it's actually Jesus Christ. Okay. Very blasphemous. So, but here's, what's so silly about this is that they'll say, you know, he was created. He's the firstborn of all the creation of, of every creature, but it defines for us what that means in verse 18. Look at verse, look down at verse 18, and he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. So you gotta understand that in the Bible, Jesus Christ is known as the only begotten son of God, but he's also referred to as the first begotten. Okay. And there are two, there are two attributes of him. One he's had from forever, since eternity passed, and one he gained when he resurrected from the dead. He's the firstborn from the dead. What does that mean? It means that he was the first person to resurrect. Now you say, well, hold on a second. I've seen some people in the Bible that resurrected, but here's the difference. When they resurrected, they died again. Okay. There's people who resurrected, there's people that Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave, right? But they're born, I mean, they died and guess what? They lived and then they died again. So when they resurrected, they weren't resurrected in their glorified body. Jesus Christ is the first one to when he resurrected was in his glorified body and he liveth forever. That is the major difference there. Okay. Now go with me, if you would, to Psalm 2 and then we're going to go to Acts chapter 13. My way, it's so foolish to think that because of the fact that between verses 15 and 18, it talks, it says this, for by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him, all things consist. So it's basically, it's telling us, Hey, by the way, Jesus Christ created everything. Now the Jehovah's Witnesses will twist that and say, well, yeah, he created everything, but he was actually the only one who was actually created. Well, in John one, it says all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. So he would be included in that statement if that was true. Without him was not anything made that was made, showing that he was not created. He's the eternal son of God. I'm going to read to you from Revelation one verse four, excuse me, verse five, it says and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begone of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Look at Psalm two verse seven, I would declare the decree the Lord had said unto me, thou are my son this day have I begotten thee. Now the modals will take this and immediately apply this to what? To when he was born in Bethlehem's manger. But this is not what this is referring to. Okay. Go to Acts chapter 13. So you have on the other opposite end of this, this heresy, this on the opposite side of the spectrum that states this, that Jesus Christ actually became the son of God. You know, he wasn't the son of God before, before he was just like an audible word that God used to create the world. This is what the modals will say. He was some sort of audible thing that you, you know, that's how God created everything. But when he was born, that's how he actually became the begotten son of God. Okay. And they'll use that Psalm two verse seven, but look at Acts 13 and verse 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made into the fathers, God has fulfilled the same unto us, their children, and that he had raised up Jesus again. This is talking about the resurrection, right? As it is also written in the what? Second Psalm. What did we just read? Psalm two. Thou are my son this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption. He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. So what is this talking about? The resurrection? No, it's talking about when he was born in Bethlehem. No, it says, he's quoting the second Psalm and he says in that he has raised up Jesus again. That's referring to his resurrection. Okay. Very simple. So we see here that in Colossians, go to first Corinthians chapter 15. And the reason it's stating that he's the first begotten from the dead is because of the fact that he's not going to be the last. Amen? He's the first, but he's not going to be the last. Why? Because what about us? You know, don't forget about us. The Bible tells us that there's an order to these things, right? Look at first Corinthians 15 verse 20. But now was Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, this is in context of the resurrection, afterward they that are Christ at his coming. And more specifically, there are those who are the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them together in the clouds. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. So the order is that Christ is the first fruits when he first resurrected, the next to go are those who are dead in Christ. So at the rapture, at that resurrection, if you're alive, you're gonna have to wait your turn because the graves got to blow up, they all got to come out with their white suits and all, you know, they get their resurrection first, and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds, okay? So he's the first begotten from the dead, but then we come along with that as well. Go back to Colossians chapter one, we're almost done. Verse 19. So that's pretty simple to understand, right? You know, it's the only begotten is referring to the fact that he's the eternal son of God. The first begotten is referring to the fact of that he resurrected from the grave in his glorified body, okay? Pretty simple. Verse 19, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. Now, go to Ephesians chapter one, and I'm going to explain what this means here. By the way, one thing I failed to mention is that Ephesians and Colossians, they're kind of like, they kind of mirror each other, and it's interesting because Ephesus is like north of Colossae, and Paul decided to write two separate letters to both Colossae and Ephesus, and they're different, but they're very much the same as well, like they have a lot of similarities within themselves. Specifically, we see one here that he kind of mentions the same thing. Now look at Ephesians 1 verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. So again, the false doctrine of dispensational is they like to use it just because it says the word dispensation. But dispensation just means to dispense something, you know, we have a water dispenser back there, okay? It gives out water, right? Now I've heard this taught, and I'm not necessarily against it, though I've heard it said in verse 10 that it says that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, and I've heard it taught that basically that's referring to the rapture, which I'm not against that teaching, I can very much see how you can see that into the scripture there, because it talks about the gathering together, those which are in heaven and those which are on earth, even in him. However, as I was studying Colossians, I believe what this is referring to is the fact that both Jew and Gentile, you know, both of these people groups are made one, right out of twain are made one. We see that in Ephesians, but it's so much more clarified and reinforced in Colossians. Let me read it to you again. Verse 19 of Colossians 1 says, For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. Let me ask you a question, when were people reconciled, when was both Jew and Gentile made one? It's at the cross, right? Because at the cross is when you have the introduction of the New Testament, and that Old Covenant or the Old Testament has been put away, right? Now you're in Ephesians, go to chapter 2, let me prove it to you further, in verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make it himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them which were nigh. So what do you say, what is the point of that, I don't understand, what is that talking about? I think what it's stating is the fact that obviously in the Old Testament, you had the Jews who were what the Bible referred to as God's chosen people, okay? And the Gentiles were not God's chosen people, and in fact the Bible tells us that they were not a people, right? But at the death of Christ on the cross, that changed, okay? At the death of the cross, what did he do? He reconciled both into one. So those Jews who were believing Jews, those who believed on Christ, the future Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, right? In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, they're all one, why? Because he broke down the middle wall partition between them. He gathered everyone into one, you understand? So this is good news for us, amen? Thank God for that. He said, what about the part that says in heaven and on earth? What about the Jews who died before the New Covenant came in, right? That would include them as well. So it includes those who died prior in the Old Testament and includes those in the New Testament as well. Because remember, there are those, there are Jews who are under the Old Covenant and actually transition into the New Covenant as well. You know, you think of Peter, right? You think of the apostles, they're there when Christ was alive and during the time of Christ, that's considered the Old Testament. And after the death of Christ, they transition into the New Testament there as well, right? Now go back to Colossians, we're basically done. So I'm not going to finish this up because we're already out of time. Let me just read through this. Verse 21 says, And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. If you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. Let me actually make a comment about this because some people can get confused about what it's stating there, verse 23. So people will often use this and say, you know, they'll use this to teach like a workspace salvation, like you have to continue in the faith, you have to be grounded and settled, you know, you have to make sure you continue in those things and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. But this is saying, because you look at verse 22, he says that we're going to be presented holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. Why is that? Well, as I mentioned prior, the righteousness of Christ is imputed upon us, right? Now if a person does not continue in the right gospel, pay attention. If a person does not continue in the right gospel, and they begin to believe some damnable heresy, I'm not talking about just heresy, I'm talking about damnable heresy. You know, the difference between the two is heresy is just a teaching that's unbiblical. A damnable heresy is a heresy that will damn you to hell, damn a person to hell. Now we obviously understand someone who is saved cannot be damned to hell, right? So if someone claimed to believe the right gospel, but then later on, they were moved from that right gospel, and they, you know, they believe in a different Jesus, they believe in the Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons, we would say that person wasn't saved to begin with, even though they claim to be. That's what the Bible tells us, they went out from us, for they were not of us, for if they had continued with us, they would have no doubt, for if they, I'm misquoting it, if they would have remained with us, they would have no doubt continued with us, something like that. You don't understand what I'm saying, right? First John chapter two, look it up, all right? And what that basically is saying is someone who claims to believe the right gospel and all of a sudden starts believing the wrong one, just goes for the Mormon Jesus, it's not that they lost their salvation. They didn't lose their salvation, we don't believe you can, what happens is they didn't believe to begin with, and people have a hard time understanding that. They hear these words come out of my mouth and they're like, oh, you believe in perseverance of the saints. No, I believe in believing the right gospel to be saved, and if you start believing in a different gospel, we're not saying that you lost your salvation, we're saying that you just never believed in the right gospel to begin with. Because of the fact that when you believe in the right gospel, the Spirit of God is sealed within you until the day of redemption, right? You have the Holy Spirit of God who bears witness of the truth dwelling in you, and no person who is a Christian will call Christ accursed, according to the Bible. So if you have people who say, well, I believe in the right Jesus, but then like six months from now, they're like, yeah, I'm going to the Mormon church, I like it way better there, same Jesus, and indeed, they know what they believe about Jesus, and they're completely for it. At that point we say, well, that person was never saved to begin with, okay? So it says, if you continue in faith, grounded and settled, to be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, you say, well, can you prove that from the Bible? Well, what about Galatians, where they were preaching another gospel, and what did Paul say of the Galatian church? I stand in doubt of you, right? He goes, I fear, right, that I have labored in vain. He's like, I fear that you're probably not even saved to begin with, because you're adhering to this Judaizing practices of adhering to the Old Testament sacrifices, et cetera. Let's continue to read verse 24. Who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is in the church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which has been hid from the ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor, striving according to the working, which worketh in me mightily. So why don't we go sowing to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus? Because once they're saved, their spirit is perfect. Flesh is not, the flesh is going to make mistakes, the flesh is going to sin, but their spirit could be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. Okay? And that's pretty much it. So what's the gist of Colossians chapter one? Well, it's a salutation of thanksgiving, but it's also just a reinforcement of the deity of Christ, okay, having the right gospel, and basically reinforcing what we already see in Ephesians chapter one and chapter two. And that's pretty much it. Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer, and we'll finish up. Lord, thank you so much for your word. So thankful for the doctrines that are taught therein, and Lord, we're thankful for the example of those in the Colossian church there, Lord, I pray, God, that you'd help us to continue to grow in knowledge. Knowledge is important. Having charity is important. Having both is important. But in order to make sure that we continue to gain knowledge and grow in wisdom, we need to make sure that we put into practice that which we're learning, that we're not just growing puffed up, but that we're actually allowing this to, in a sense, flesh itself out in our daily walk with you. As we win people to Christ, as we show brotherly kindness and charity, I pray that you'd help us to continue to do so, that we would grow in knowledge of your word, and may you continue to bless us in our church, Lord. Help us, Lord, to live a life that's pleasing unto you, that we may be successful and prosper in every good work. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.