Grace Fellowship    6/7/09    "The Absolute and Utterly Infinite Magnificence of Our Glorious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ"  Colossians 2:1-15

I want to begin with a disclaimer.  What I am about to say is obvious and really doesn’t need to be said, but I want to issue this official disclaimer in order to remind you all of something.  It goes like this:  Never in my life have I, nor ever in what remains of my life will I preach a sermon that can sufficiently describe or communicate the glory and honor that is due to our great King, the Lord Jesus Christ.  That should be obvious to you all.  But I take comfort in knowing I am not alone.

Call out Charles Spurgeon, and Martin Luther and John Calvin, gather together John MacArthur and John Piper, and George Whitefield and John Knox, bring John Bunyan and John Chrysostom and Augustine and all the greatest preachers in all of church history.  Bring the Apostles and the Puritans and the Reformers and all the martyrs who have died for the sake of the Gospel.  Bring them all together and create one large composite sermon from the best and highest thoughts of all of them combined.  Then preach that one greatest of all sermons loudly, non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the next ten thousand years, and you will not begin to even approach the praise and honor that is due Jesus Christ.

If all of us had a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer’s praise, and we were able to sing loudly, non-stop, for a million years, it would be pitifully inadequate to speak of all His worth even for a single moment.  All the saints of all the ages will gather around the throne of Christ on that great day and shout with unbridled joy of His magnificent and glorious worth, and even that will be infinitely less than He deserves.  There is no such thing as giving sufficient glory to God for His wondrous love toward His people through the gift of His Son.  It will be an eternally impossible task to praise Him enough!

Having said that, I want you to turn with me to Colossians chapter 2 and read with me some of the most Christ-honoring and saint-comforting words to be found anywhere in the Scriptures.  Then a feeble, but sincere attempt will be made by me to show you the very smallest tip of the very largest iceberg of the grandeur of our Savior.

1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.  Colossians 2:1-15, ESV.

His parents say they never planned to enroll their son in college at age 8, and sought to put him in a private elementary school when he was 6.  "They didn't want to accept me because I knew more than the teacher there and they said I looked too bored," the youngster recalls. ¹
 
I get the feeling it wouldn’t take long for him to be bored around me too.  I nearly flunked Trigonometry.  When this little boy grows up and he gets a job with NASA at age 14, or when he invents warp drive at age 17, how does such a person get along with all us mere mortals that surround him?

How does Jesus tolerate us?  A lot of the old Christian writers, prior to the psychology of self-esteem, spoke about us being wretched and worms and dirt and such.  But it is because of this great gulf between what Jesus is and what we are that they were moved to think that way.  And it is true!  They were right! Are we not dust?  Even collectively as a race, the Scriptures speak of the nations as dust on the scales of God’s justice.  Men are insignificant, puny, and comparatively speaking, microscopically unimportant.

But the great wonder of wonders is that God has not only sent His Son to be our redeemer from sin and death, but we are invited and enabled to explore all the riches and all the treasures of who Christ is.  We have been given eternal life so that we might spend it in the investigation and discovery of the greatness of Jesus Christ our Creator and Redeemer and Friend, forever!  How can this be true?  Is it possible that our desire as human beings to explore and learn and discover will only be satisfied by Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?  

Notice verse 4 of chapter 2.  All that Paul has been saying in these verses we’ve considered so far today is in order that the Colossian believers might hold tight to the truth as it is in Jesus and not be deluded by anyone with plausible arguments.  There are those who seek to delude Christians with plausible arguments designed to discredit the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  For the Colossians, some of that delusion came from Greek philosophy.  But the greater danger was from the Judaizers.

The word “delude” literally means “to speak beside” something, or presenting an alternative truth, a parallel, but false position.  It is also translated to beguile or deceive.  The deception comes from the fact that these other arguments are plausible.  They are persuasive.  The Judaizers’ arguments which they brought to the Gentiles were persuasive enough to cause some to begin to reconsider whether salvation was by means of Christ alone, or whether salvation was a combination of faith in Jesus and the practice of Judaism.  Paul’s entire purpose of the book of Galatians is to address this specific issue.

But it is because of this threat against the doctrines of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that Paul says in verses 6 & 7, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord [by faith; 1:3 & 23], so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith . . . .”  

•    He says in verse 4 that there are those who have plausible deceptive arguments who will come against them.  
•    He says in verse 8 there are those who want to deceive them with worldly philosophy, empty deceit, and human traditions.  
•    In verse 16 he says there are those will try to pass judgment upon them because they don’t recognize Jewish rituals.  
•    Then in verse 18, there are those who will actually attempt to undo what God has done for them.  Remember back in chapter 1, verse 12, Paul said that the Father “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”  But He says in 2:18 that some will try to convince them that they are disqualified for eternal life because they aren’t humble enough or they refuse to worship angels.

What is the single defense against all these lies?  How do we defend ourselves against persuasive liars and convincing false teachers?  I like what it says in verse 8: “See to it that no one takes you captive.”  We have a responsibility to defend ourselves against such people!  A lazy Christian with a lazy mind is an endangered believer.  There are people who want to take us CAPTIVE!  They want to make us slaves to man-made religion and self-salvation.  They want more than anything to discredit Jesus Christ and cause us to think He needs our help in saving us.  They want you and me to think this Jesus cannot get the work of redemption done without our cooperation.  After all, God only helps those who help themselves!  I mean, all God can do is make the offer of salvation.  You have to decide to take it, right??

Wrong!  Salvation is not a gift offered, it is a gift bestowed!  Redemption is not merely a possibility, it is an accomplished fact.  The work of our Savior upon the cross actually secured salvation for every single one of His sheep.  He finished the work, and now the Spirit of God applies that work to the hearts and minds of all God’s elect.  Jesus did not come into the world to try to save His people from their sins.  Our Savior came to SAVE His people from their sins!

The defense against the lies of other religions and against the wolves in our midsts dressed in sheep’s clothing, is the truth regarding the work of Christ.  And Paul spells out that truth vividly in verses 9 through 15.  Listen again, beloved, to the utter beauty and absolute sufficiency of Christ’s work on your behalf to save you completely and entirely from the wrath of God:

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily - He’s talking about Jesus!  The liars will tell you that Jesus was only this, or merely that.  He was only the Son of God, but not equal to God.  He was only a Prophet, one of many prophets, but not Deity.  He was a good teacher and a moral example, but not divine.  He was a holy man.  A spiritual man.

In Him, the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily.  That is not a complicated statement.  It raises some questions, but it isn’t hard to grasp the thought Paul is making: Jesus is God!  Not mostly God.  Not kinda like God.  Not a pseudo-god or a mini-god or a sub-god or a secondary god.  Jesus Christ is fully God in a human body.  That Person is your Savior!

10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. - You are satisfied, filled, complete in Him.  For the believer, the spiritual glass in Christ Jesus is not half empty or half full.  It is full!  Your every spiritual need is filled to overflowing by Christ.  The cup runneth over!  And it is made to run over by Him who answers to no one else!  All rule and all authority answer to Him!  God has given the Lord Jesus all authority in Heaven and on Earth.  In other words ALL authority.  Anyone who tries to undo your salvation has to overthrow the final authority of the universe, Jesus Christ!  They have to prove that the final authority has fallen short and cannot complete what He set out to accomplish on the cross.  But the truth is, “We are complete in Him.”

John Gill - you have been filled in him  Or "filled up", or "filled full" in him; that is, are perfect in him: saints are in Christ, and all fulness being in him, they are full too, of as much as they stand in need, and are capable of containing: . . . They are perfect in Christ their head, who has all fulness in him, in whom they are chosen and blessed: they are complete and perfect in him as to sanctification; he having all fulness of grace and holiness for them, they have it in him; and he is made perfect sanctification to them: and as to justification, he has perfectly fulfilled the law for them, he has made full atonement for sin, has obtained eternal redemption, brought in a complete and perfect righteousness, by which they are justified from all things; are freed from sin, and made perfectly comely, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: and as to knowledge, though it is imperfect in them in their present state, yet in Christ all the treasures of it are, and they have no need to go elsewhere for any; they are filled with the knowledge of God and of his will, and are complete therein in Christ; and what knowledge they have, is eternal life, the beginning, pledge, and earnest of it; so that they have no reason to be beholden to angels or men, only to Christ. ²    

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, - Do the Judaizers want to talk about circumcision and the necessity of becoming Jewish?  Christ has performed that spiritual circumcision made without hands.  “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” (Romans 2:29)  See Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Acts 7:51. 3

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. - We have identified ourselves with the death and resurrection of Christ through our baptism as He commanded, and God counts it as our having been buried and raised with Christ.  We are spiritually united to Him in baptism.

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, - So what if we were spiritually dead Gentiles?  God Himself made us Gentiles spiritually alive together with Christ!  Even our Gentile sins are forgiven in Him!

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. - God the Father took His own record of our unpayable debt of sin, placed those sins upon the body of His own Son, and nailed our record in Him to the cross and removed the debt.

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. - Finally, in canceling the sin debt even of Gentiles by nailing it to the cross, God has rendered null and void every complaint, every false accusation, every lie, every deceitful false requirement for salvation the Judaizers or anyone else might bring against us.  The Final Authority has rendered all other human and satanic authorities everywhere, totally powerless.  They have been vanquished by the absolutely satisfactory and sufficient work of God in Christ on behalf of all who believe.  Including the Gentiles!  

John Gill said there are two possible interpretations of this last verse, verse 15.  The second possibility is, “this is to be understood of Christ's taking away the power and authority of the Jewish ecclesiastical rulers and governors, by abolishing the ceremonial law, and the ordinances of it; declaring himself to be the alone King and Lawgiver in his house, and requiring subjection to his institutions and appointments.”

That is exactly right.  The Lord Jesus, based upon His own authority as God and Creator,
- has completely saved His people by His own work,
- through His own blood,
- by His own substitution of Himself  on our behalf,
- as the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God,
- as the once and for all final and totally adequate sacrifice, to really, truly, actually save His people,
- whoever they are and wherever they are, and whenever they are,
- from all their sins!  

By means of the cross, He has removed the power and authority of “the Jewish ecclesiastical rulers and governors, by abolishing the ceremonial law, and the ordinances of it; declaring Himself to be the alone King and Lawgiver in His house, and requiring subjection to his institutions and appointments.”

What do you say to that?  That is why the title of this sermon is "The Absolute and Utterly Infinite Magnificence of Our Glorious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!" 

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Adam Clarke on Verse 15. And having spoiled principalities and powers
Here is an allusion to the treatment of enemies when conquered: they are spoiled of their armour, so much the word απεκδυειν implies; and they are exhibited with contumely and reproach to the populace, especially when the victor has the honour of a triumph; to the former of which there is an allusion in the words εδειγματισενενπαρρησια, making a public exhibition of them; and to the latter in the words θριαμβευσαςαυτους, triumphing over them. And the principalities and powers refer to the emperors, kings, and generals taken in battle, and reserved to grace the victor's triumph. It is very likely that by the αρχαςκαι εξουσιας, principalities and powers, over whom Christ triumphed, the apostle means the nesioth and roshoth, who were the rulers and chiefs in the Sanhedrin and synagogues, and who had great authority among the people, both in making constitutions and explaining traditions. The propagation of Christianity in Judea quite destroyed their spiritual power and domination; just as the propagation of Protestantism, which was Christianity revived, destroyed, wherever it appeared, the false doctrine and domination of the pope of Rome. ⁴

John Gill on verse 15. - [B]ut it may be better interpreted of unclothing, or stripping principalities and powers of their armour, with which they were clothed; as is usually done to enemies, when they fall into the hands of their conquerors: unless rather this is to be understood of Christ's taking away the power and authority of the Jewish ecclesiastical rulers and governors, by abolishing the ceremonial law, and the ordinances of it; declaring himself to be the alone King and Lawgiver in his house, and requiring subjection to his institutions and appointments, which sense agrees with the context:

. . . [T]he whole is an allusion to the victories, spoils, and triumphs, of the Roman emperors, who when they had obtained a victory, a triumph was decreed for them by the senate; in which the emperor was drawn in an open chariot, and the captives being stripped of their armour, and their hands tied behind them, were led before him and exposed to public view and disgrace; while he was shouted and huzzaed through the city of Rome, and had all the marks of honour and respect given him: now all that is said in the preceding verses show how complete the saints are in and by Christ; and stand in no need of the philosophy of the Gentiles, or the ceremonies of the Jews; nor have anything to fear from their enemies, sin, Satan, and the law, for sin is pardoned, the law is abolished, and Satan conquered. ⁵

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1. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525254,00.html
2. Gill, John. "Commentary on Colossians 2:10". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible". <http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?book=col&chapter=002&verse=010>. 1999.
3. Dt. 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.  Dt 30:6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.  Jer. 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds."  Acts 7: 51 "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.  As your fathers did, so do you. [All quotes from the ESV].
4. Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Colossians 2". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". <http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=col&chapter=002>. 1832.   Adam Clarke (1760 or 1762–1832) was a British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar. He is chiefly remembered for writing a commentary on the Bible which took him 40 years to complete and which was a primary Methodist theological resource for two centuries.  Clarke followed Wesley in opposing a Calvinistic scheme of salvation, preferring instead the Wesleyan-Arminian positions regarding predestination, prevenient grace, the offer of justification to all persons, the possibility of entire sanctification, and assurance of salvation. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clarke]
5. Gill, John. "Commentary on Colossians 2:15". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible". <http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?book=col&chapter=002&verse=015>. 1999.