Hope Church LV Sermons
The Incomparable Christ :: Colossians 1:15-17
As you sit down, I want you to just maintain that spirit of prayer before the Lord. I want to put a quote on the screen. I came across it in my devotional time this week. Listen to what JC Riles said. We can never make too much of Christ. He is worthy of all the honor we can give Him. I want you to just bow your heads right now. For three weekends, we've been in a series together unpacking truth about who Jesus is. And before we dive back into God's Word and look at some more truth about who Jesus is, I want you to just take a minute and I want you to just focus on Jesus. I want you right now where you're sitting to just worship Jesus. We've looked at a lot of great truth about Him. We've experienced God's mercy because of Jesus. We've experienced God's grace because of Jesus. We've been redeemed. We've been forgiven that Jesus is God in the flesh. You take a moment right now in some of those things that you've been learning about Jesus. Some of those truths that have been reinforced in your heart and mind. I want you to just worship Jesus. Talk to Him. What you love Him, thank Him for your salvation. Thank Him for who He is. You can never make too much of Jesus. Worship Him. He is Lord, He is King, He is God, He is Sovereign, Worship Jesus. Lord Jesus, as we begin to again dig into your word, or this morning you just pressed on my heart the importance of us taking a few minutes to just worship you. You are worthy of our worship Jesus. We adore you Jesus. We invite you to speak into our lives by your spirit this morning. We love you. Tell Jesus you love Him. Say it out loud, I love you Jesus. Say I worship you Jesus. Lord may you inhabit the praises of your people. It's in the name of Jesus we pray, amen, amen. Well if you are visiting with us a month ago we began a journey through a section of scripture that really unpacks a lot of truth about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us. This series we simply call the incomparable Christ. And by that we mean there is nobody else like Jesus. And as we've been walking through these truths together, if you have your Bible you can go ahead and open it to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1 verses 13 through 23 are where this particular passage of scripture is. Now we're studying through the whole book of Colossians together but we've taken about seven weekends just to dig down into this section of scripture because it is so important to who we are as followers of Christ. There's so much truth, so much doctrinal foundation about the person and work of Christ in these verses that we wanted to walk through it very slowly. So we've taken three weekends and so far we've looked at verses 13, 14 and 15 and just been digging into this truth and I understand as we've been walking through this together that we've been walking in some very deep water. I've met and talked to many of you over the last few weekends and even been stopped as I was out around town by people that just were very encouraged by the truth and at the same time overwhelmed by the truth because when you begin to study the truth about who Jesus is and you begin to dig into the biblical reality of the triune God that wonderful doctrine of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and you begin to unpack that truth you know what you discover right that we don't have God figured out and it doesn't all fit in my box neat and clean right I want to encourage you today I know some of you as we've walked through this some of this truth has been trying to wrap our minds around it has been overwhelming I don't want you to think for a second then when we stand up here and preach the truth and expos it what the text says that we got it all figured out either because we don't there's some things that I believe that I don't understand I believe them because the Bible teaches them and it's okay to have that restlessness and uneasiness with you will about the truth of God's Word I remember when when God first called me to preach and I was going to seminary for three years of education three years of a master's degree where we were going to study biblical theology and systematic theology and the foundations of our faith and hermeneutics and exposition and all that kind of stuff I couldn't wait to get the seminary to get all my questions answered to my great disappointment seminary gave me more questions than it answered right some of you have the hard attitude I can't wait to get to heaven I can't wait to get to heaven and get all my questions answered you're going to be disappointed say what do you mean by that we will forever grow in the wonder and amazement of the glory of the riches of who God is and never even get close to exhausting the magnitude of His character for eternity will search the unsearchable riches of who He is and not even get close to scratching the surface I don't know how much you've studied the human brain we're not even real sure exactly how large the memory capacity is of the human brain if you research it today most scientists and physicists would tell us that there are somewhere between 100 and 200 billion neurons in the human brain now one particular professor of psychology at Northwestern University Dr. Paul Reber here's what he did he did a study based on the fact that we only have one billion neurons now most scholars like I said believe that there between 100 and 200 billion but just to kind of simplify it so we could wrap our heads around it he said what if we only have one billion neurons for every neuron in your brain every neuron forms a thousand different connections to other neurons amounting to more than a trillion connections and every one of those connections can contain many memories so one billion neurons with thousands of connections that can contain hundreds of memories on every one of them is the extent of saying the brain has roughly a million gigabytes of memory now that's if we have one billion neurons now most scholars believe it's 100 or 200 times that but if we had one million gigabytes of memory to kind of put that in a box you can understand if you have a DVR at home how many of you have DVR at home right amen we love that in NFL season right so we can come to church God created the DVR see so you could come to church if you had a DVR with a million gigabytes of memory you could set your DVR to record continuously three million hours of television shows meaning that you could set record today on your DVR and leave it running for 342 years and you would capture every second of every television show for the next 342 years now that's if we had one billion scholars and scientists believe we have between one and 200 billion you know what that means that the memory capacity of the human brain is is not even measurable why did God give human beings that were going to live on average about 75 years the memory capacity to store information in an infinite capacity will have you forgotten that when God created the human body he didn't make it to live 75 years when God created human beings he made us to live with him forever now we have a diminished capacity today because of the effects of sin on the human race that's why from the time of Adam and Eve to today you've seen the human life span strength we have a diminished capacity today but even with the diminished capacity today we understand that God gave us the memory capacity for eternity to grow in the riches and the wonders of who he is and never even exhaust the glory of his character God is great understand that we are waiting in some deep water but I find it incredibly encouraging that when things in my life are out of my control I'm glad there is someone who is bigger than me and my understanding that I can trust I don't know where you find yourself today but every one of us walks through some situations and some circumstances where we just don't know what's going on I'm glad that when I'm there there's a God who is bigger than my brain I'm glad that there is a God that is bigger than my mental capacity that when I can't figure it out I not only know he's got it figured out but he's in control of it and I can trust him amen now who is that God let me tell you who that God is Colossians one says his name is Jesus we're going to pick back up in Colossians chapter one I want to begin again in verse 15 we looked at verse 15 last weekend but it's the big umbrella for the next several verses so let's look at it he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible where the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together wow amen I mean just reading these texts of scripture I hope you're doing that as we're studying through this together I hope you're not just coming in here and letting us unpack it I hope during the week you are living with these verses of scripture and you're asking God to speak into your life out of these verses of scripture because there is marvelous truth and the greatest teacher that you have is not me or any other preacher the greatest teacher that you have is the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you out of the word of God as you spend time devoted to a pursuit of who he is in his word daily I hope you're living with these verses because as we've been unpacking them some great truth now I told you last weekend verses 13 and 14 and then verses 19 through 23 describe a lot of what Jesus has done for us but right in the middle of that verses 15 to 18 is this section of scripture that describes who Jesus is and listen it's who he is that qualified him to accomplish everything that he's done for us and the rest of the surrounding verses so I said last weekend that over the next few weeks we're going to give you several statements about who Jesus is and I want to remind you of what we said last weekend just quickly number one last weekend we said Jesus is God in the flesh say that with me Jesus is God in the flesh and then I gave you a life changing reality I've tried to give you with every one of these doctrinal truths an application that you can take away and here was last week's application Jesus Christ is God and to know Jesus is to know God we unpacked that last weekend if you're not here I weren't here last weekend I encourage you go back and catch up with where we've been because it's so important it's so foundational to what we're going to say today the second statement I gave you last weekend is Jesus is the Creator I'm sorry Jesus is sovereign over all creation say that with me Jesus is sovereign over all creation the Bible said he's the image of the invisible God he is God in the flesh but then it said he's the firstborn of all creation meaning he has the highest place in all of the created universe so here was the life changing reality Jesus Christ is sovereign and one day I'll stand before him as God Jesus is sovereign one day we'll stand before him as God that's what we covered last weekend I want to give you the next statements this morning and verse 16 and verse 17 are further developing the truth that Jesus is sovereign over all creation verses 16 and 17 tell us why Jesus is sovereign if you look back in your Bible verse 16 begins with the little word for it's a Greek word that could also be translated because says he is the image of the invisible God he is God in the flesh and he's the firstborn of all creation meaning he holds the highest place in all the universe verse 16 begins with this phrase because here's why here's why he holds the highest place why is it for by him all things were created here's the the new truth I want to give you this morning Jesus is the creator of all things say that with me out loud Jesus is the creator of all things now when you understand that doesn't it just make sense why Paul would say he holds the highest place in all the universe why because he made it all right when you make it all you are at the top you are deserving of the worship and the praise and the adoration Jesus holds the highest place in all of creation because Jesus is the creator of all things now there are a couple of important phrases here that I want to unpack for you the first one in verses 16 and 17 Paul uses it four times now when the writers of the Bible repeat a word or a phrase four times in the same sentence it's for a reason God does not stutter as he is speaking through these writers he is writing and speaking to us divine truth and with the repetition that we find in this verse there is a spiritual emphasis that the spirit of God is wanting to impress on our hearts all things that you hear it for by him all things were created and the Greek text literally if you were to literally translate it in a very wooden construction the phrase all things is literally every time in this text simply the phrase the all it's a definite article with the word all the all for by him the all was made the all of everything that's why to make us understand it and to help us grasp it the translators translated all things it it's a phrase that means everything it's speaking in a collective sense describing the whole universe for by him the all has been created here's what it means everything that you and I can see taste touch feel or smell has been created by Jesus Christ can I share with you that this simple reality alone eliminates the possibility that Jesus is just one of many other religious spiritual leaders who've existed you can't be the creator of the all you cannot be the one who spoke all that we see taste touch feel or smell into existence and then simply be included in a list with a group of other people who had great spiritual counsel to give Jesus holds the highest place in the universe because he is the creator of the all do you grasp the vastness of that phrase the all I mean just think about earth how many of you would agree earth is big I mean earth's big right earth's a big place I get on an airplane in the morning at 7 a.m. to fly to Atlanta Georgia to speak to a conference with about 2200 church planters and when you get on an airplane and you get up above 30,000 feet and you look out the window and you begin to grasp earth from a different vantage point you just realize it's a big place we even use it in our vernacular as kind of the trump card right said what do you mean my little girl faith and I have this thing we do you know I love you faith I love you more daddy with no faith I love you most and we'll go back and forth like that and when she wants to end it she just says well daddy I love you as big as the whole world right we use the earth and the world as a frame of reference for the biggest thing we know let me give you a comparison look at this picture on the screen planet earth and the distance there we see what we call the sun the sun is located 93 million miles from the earth the sun is 865,000 miles in diameter here's what that means if we could you could take 1.2 million earths and place them inside of the sun 1.2 million earths and if you put 1.2 million earths inside the sun you would still have enough wiggle room for about 4.3 million moons to rattle around we think earth is big 93 million miles out in the universe is the sun and you can fit 1.2 million of us inside of the sun the sun is star number one in our galaxy of billions and billions of stars to give you some idea of the magnitude of that statement star number two from planet earth is called alpha centauri it is five times larger than the sun that's number two the magnitude of our universe and that's just that's just in our little galaxy here the milky way there are scientists through the Hubble Space Telescope from NASA tell us that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe now hear it again for by him Jesus all things have been created it doesn't just blow my mind when you think about the bigness it blows my mind when you think about the small things for example one one writer said there are 800,000 cataloged insects with billions in some of the species now think about that that makes you feel comfortable when you go to bed at night then 800,000 that we've cataloged and within the catalog descriptions of insects in some of the species there are billions that writer said billions of species within these categories of insects where'd all that come from for by him the all has been created I don't know about you I got some questions about some of the bugs when I get to heaven right Jesus is the creator of all and just in case we didn't comprehend what Paul was saying Paul in verse 16 begins to expand on the concept for by him all things were created it could have been a period there but he said both in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible where the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities you see here Paul is referring to that which is broader than even the material world you see Jesus not only made everything you and I can see taste, taste, taste, feel, or smell he made everything we can't even see the spiritual world is more real than the physical world I'm gonna say that again the spiritual world is more real than the physical world you see this physical world that we live in is passing away the spiritual is eternal lives forever Jesus not only made all the things that we can see physically all the material things Jesus the Bible here is referring to the immaterial the the spiritual the soul but beyond that here it's even talking about the the time and space and energy that everything we can see taste, touch, or feel exists within you see Jesus not only created all those things he created the space and time in which all of those things exist all things if you think about that for a while you need some aspirin or something right I mean he didn't just make like our body and the sun and the planets and the bugs and the trees and the he he made space and time all things and in the next phrase it's important here were created for by him all things were created it's an interesting tense that he uses here and the tense itself indicates a definite event in history meaning that at a point in time Jesus brought into existence and the word created here is a word that means to produce from nothing meaning that a point in time at a definite moment in history Jesus spoke into existence everything we can see taste, touch, feel, or smell along with the space and time that it exists in and he did it completely out of nothing you see I think we have this idea that in eternity past which we can't even really wrap our heads around we're gonna talk about that in a minute in eternity past there was God and all this kind of darkness and then out of all this no that's not what it was there was nothing it was God God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit and nothing and out of nothing he's spoken to being everything including the time and space continuum that everything we know to be material exists within no wonder Paul said he holds the highest place in created order now just in case we didn't totally understand it in verse 16 I don't know Mike if you can do it but I want to put verse 16 back up on the screen I didn't really have this and my notes for him to put up there but if we can get verse 16 back up on the screen I want to put it back up there because Paul uses three phrases there we go it says he's the image of the invisible God with the word for begins verse 16 now in verse 16 the writer here uses three different prepositions to answer some of the biggest questions in the universe I want you to see it with me leave it up here for by him there's the first one the by there is the Greek word in it literally could be translated in for in him I believe it's a more accurate translation of that Greek text for in him you see that answers the where question in the universe where did everything in the universe come from it came from in him dr. Richard mellick says it this way practically it means that Jesus conceived of creation and its complexities creation was his idea everything that we know everything that looks real everything we can touch everything we can feel everything that we know his existence and life all came from in him for in him the all has come into being out of nothing it answers the where question but we go back to verse 16 for by him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth visible invisible were the thrones of dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created here's the next one set with me through here that's the Greek preposition di we get our word diameter from it it means the vehicle or the agency not only did it come from in him but it also came through him meaning he was the one that brought it into it wasn't just his idea and he set some stuff in motion no the bible says it came from in him but then it also came through him Jesus creation was his idea and then also he was not just a designer the bible says that it's by his creative and imagination and power that all of creation exists but then then go back to it look at it again all things have been created through him and here's the last one for him you see the three phrases wrapped around this idea of all the in him answers the where question where did it come from in him through him answers the how question how did all get here he made it for him is the Greek preposition ice and it answers the why question why are we all here? Jesus we were created in the heart of Christ burst through the power of Christ and exist for the purpose of Christ he holds the highest place in the universe listen to what the new american commentary says look at it on the screen this means that Jesus is the goal of creation everything exists to display his glory and ultimately he will be glorified in creation listen to me you'll never know purpose if you don't know Jesus because Jesus is your purpose in him through him for him so here's the life changing reality about this doctrinal truth Jesus Christ made me with a purpose and that purpose can only be found in knowing him as the god of my life listen you are not some random outcome of a series of coincidental events look at me you are not here by chance you are not the random outcome of some unexplainable biological burp in the universe you were made in him through him for him and you will never listen to me you can try it in money you can try it in career you can try it in family you can try it in sexual pleasure you can try it in drugs and alcohol you can try it in anything you want to try you will never find your purpose you will never answer the longing cry of your heart why do i exist until you come to know Jesus Christ as the god of your life because Jesus made you in himself and through him and for his glory we need Jesus let me give you the second truth man y'all got to listen faster Jesus existed prior to all things verse 16 lays out this whole idea of the beginning and in verse 17 Paul tells us what was before the beginning in verse 16 it says basically at the beginning Jesus made everything you can see taste touch fillers mill plus all of time and space that it fits within all the angelic beings all the spiritual reality he made everything and then look at verse 17 oh and by the way he is before all that he is before all things it's again that the all here's what it means before the beginning began Jesus already is you say that's not very good English nobody's good theology it's just not that he was he is the usage of the Greek here is very similar to the Hebrew when God responded to Moses and said I am that's this idea of he is it's the same construction it's just in Greek and not in Hebrew it's the idea of that eternal present before the all was Jesus already existed here's what that means before the first second ever expired off of times clock before the first ray of sunlight ever broke across the horizon before the first bird ever sung from a tree stop tree top when there was no earth no galaxy no sun no ocean no human race no nothing there was Jesus listen to the way john MacArthur writes about it Jesus Christ was already in existence when the heavens and the earth were created thus he is not a created being he existed from all eternity Jesus did not begin to be but at that point at which all else began to be he already was in the beginning place it where you may Jesus already existed in other words Jesus is before time eternal we have such a hard time wrapping our head around that concept I mean if you even think about eternal I challenge you to try to come up with another word in the English language that you can substitute for the word eternal we we don't even hardly have one we have a lot of words that refer to something that has no ending everlasting never ending forever but those all seem to imply a beginning with no ending that's not what I'm talking about with Jesus it's not that he had a beginning with no ending yeah that's you and me he had no beginning so how how long has how long has he been around you see why we have a hard time with that because we exist inside of the space and time continuum that he created so we measure everything by time you realize what I mean when I say he exists outside of that it means that all of life from his perspective is like a film strip you and I are living in it we're living in it like the movie that plays out on the screen he sees it outside of time he can see the first frame or he can look at the last frame you see I can't hardly wrap my head around that me either let me tell you why it's encouraging because he already knows tomorrow and he has a plan and a purpose for me and for you that is for our good and his glory he's eternal let me give you the life application here Jesus Christ is eternal he is never surprised he's never surprised you ever been surprised you ever been surprised in a way that wasn't fun listen when you are caught off guard know the one who guards you is not caught off guard when it in your life seems to be coming unraveled know that it is not unraveled in his world he's eternal he holds today with the same certainty he holds tomorrow let me give you the third truth this morning we're finished Jesus is the sustainer of all things he is before all things the last phrase of verse 17 says and in him all things hold together you hear what this text is saying verse 15 he said he's God and he's first in the universe let me tell you why because he made it all number two he existed before at all and number three he's one holding it all together you see how this text just lays itself out as a beautiful description of the glory of who Jesus is in him all things hold together the word hold together there means to join parts together into a whole I did a little research this weekend as something that I'll be honest with you I don't completely understand but I read some things that got me studying some stuff about atoms you know the smallest particle of an atom or the smallest particle of any material substance is an atom and scientists for years have been studying the complexity of an atom and one writer said that inside of the atom there are whirling protons and electrons inside of this atom that are whirling around somewhat like our solar system which is interesting to me we've got this vast universe this solar system and you go down to the most basic smallest functioning part of any material matter and you've got this atom that on the inside of it has these protons and electrons that are whirling about in a very microscopic way like the universe at large is whirling about in a glorious way and all those scientists and physicists have many theories as to why those protons and electrons stay together inside of the atom nobody knows for sure as a matter of fact you do the research on your own they've just decided to call it the strong force that holds it together because if all of those atoms begin to separate you do understand what that means right if all those atoms begin to accept to to separate there would be a spontaneous global explosion unlike anything we've ever seen in any atomic bomb what holds all of it together in him all things consensus this into what John MacArthur wrote I love this he said this is a long quote but I want you to hear it our globe is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees if it were not so tilted vapors from the oceans would move north and south and develop into monstrous continents of ice if the moon did not retain its exact distance from the earth the ocean tides would inundate the land completely twice a day after the first flooding of course the others would not matter as far as we would be concerned if the ocean floors were merely a few feet deeper than they are the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance of the earth's atmosphere would completely upset and no animal or plant life could exist if the atmosphere did not remain at its present density but send out even a little many of the meteors which now harmlessly burn up when they hit the atmosphere would constantly bombard us we would have to go underground or in meteor proof buildings things things do not happen in our universe by accident they did not happen that way in the beginning they are not happening that way in the end and they are not happening that way now Jesus Christ is the sustaining Jesus Christ is sustaining the universe he is himself the principle of cohesion the universe is a cosmos instead of a chaos and ordered and reliable system instead of an erratic and unpredictable muddle only because Jesus Christ upholds it in him all things hold together let me give you the last life application Jesus Christ is in total control I can trust him with my life nothing is too big for him the incomparable Christ the you [BLANK_AUDIO]