9.29.2024 am Service

The author discusses the sufficiency of Jesus Christ in the book of Colossians. The purpose of writing the book was to address heresies that were infiltrating the church, specifically the beliefs that Christ plus knowledge or Christ plus works equals salvation. The author emphasizes that Christ is sufficient for salvation and that knowledge and works are not necessary. He highlights Jesus' identity as the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation. He asserts that Jesus is God and has always been God. The author encourages gratitude and reminds readers that they have been delivered and redeemed through Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. We're in the book of Colossians and we're studying and today we get to another exciting part of the book of Colossians because we're getting a look at the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. And if you remember way back, and I haven't mentioned it in several weeks, but the whole purpose of writing the book of Colossians was because their pastor, a papyrus, goes to see Paul in Rome and he reports to Paul that there's some heresies that are starting to creep into the church. And because of these heresies, a papyrus was worried about the church, Paul was worried about the church because there was this movement that didn't have a name back then, but now we have given it a name and we know that what we call it today is called apostatism. And this movement was going through the early churches at this time. And it was these false teachers that were saying that God is good. And we agree with that, right? And then they would say that not only is God good, but evil, all matter is evil. And so here was the problem. The problem was that if God is good and matter is evil, then Jesus Christ, when He comes onto the scene in a human body, He could not either be in a human body or else He was evil. And so there was a problem with their salvation. There was a problem with accepting Jesus Christ. And so they denied His incarnation and they believed that Jesus Christ, because of this belief that He was just a spirit and that He was the Spirit of God and that that's what made Him good and therefore He just appeared to be real. And so the Gnostic Jesus was not the Creator. He was not God in human flesh. And in the minds of the Gnostics, Jesus Christ, because of this, He was not enough to give salvation. And so Paul deals with this and he tells them that their heresy that they believed was, number one, Christ plus knowledge equals salvation. Now part of that Gnosticism, it comes from the Greek word no to know, and what they did is they thought, man, you have to know all of these things in order to be saved. Christ was not sufficient. And so that's what he was dealing with when we come through our text this morning. And they themselves, Gnosticism taught that they were actively becoming gods themselves. And if they got to know so much about God and so much about the Bible, then all of a sudden they could make themselves to be gods. And by doing this, they would obtain some type of spiritual knowledge and then separate themselves from this physical world, which is a belief that is still being passed on in our society even today. The other side of the heresy was more from Judaism, and it was that Christ plus works equals salvation. In other words, they said, yes, you can be saved by grace through faith, but you need to be circumcised and that becomes a work. And if you don't be circumcised, then guess what? Your salvation is no good. So what they were saying was Christ plus works equals salvation. And so we come to chapter 2 and verse 11, and Paul is writing to confront these two heresies that's going on. And he says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 11, "...in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Jesus Christ." And so these two heresies, Christ plus works equals salvation, or heresy number two, Christ plus knowledge equals salvation. And that is to say that God says, and what the Bible teaches, is Christ plus nothing equals salvation. Christ is sufficient. Christ is all that we need for salvation. And one of the members of the Colossian church, as I will leave you in mind, is a papyrus who came and brought this news to Paul. And so Paul says in our text that we looked at last week in verse 9, he says, "...for this cause," the cause of these heresies that are going on, "...since the day that we heard it, do not cease to pray for you." And so Paul reminded them that he is praying for them. But notice what he was praying. He was praying that he desired that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now understand that this knowledge was not for salvation. This knowledge was for a relationship with Jesus Christ so that you will have and know what to do after your salvation. He went on in verse 10, "...that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all things, and being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to the glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." And so not only was Paul praying for them, but then Paul says that we need to be giving thanks for each other. Why do we need to be thankful for each other? Well, he says, "...giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, and whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creation. 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, Christ Jesus, and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body of the church, which is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. 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. And so as we come here to this point today, we have been redeemed, amen? We have been delivered. We have received redemption. That's what we talked about last week. And man, we ought to be praising God. And not only praising God, but we ought to be praising God because guess what? All of us are sinners and we have believed on Jesus Christ. We have all been delivered. We have all been redeemed and we all have redemption. And so now He goes in. How in the world did we get that? How is this possible? Because I'm a sinner, right? I'm not worthy. I am made of matter. I am evil. I'm not Jesus Christ. And so how in the world can I be delivered and redeemed and have this redemption? And He tells us there it's all because of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is sufficient. And He's trying to let them know and I want you to understand today, if you don't get anything else out of the message today, understand that Christ is sufficient for your salvation. Christ is sufficient for your life and for the sanctification to make you who you ought to be in Jesus Christ. And so He is so vastly sufficient to knowledge. You cannot gain enough knowledge for salvation. You cannot do enough of works for salvation. All we can do is by grace, through faith, believe in Jesus Christ. And salvation is what's imputed upon us. It's placed upon our account. And so notice He mentions three things right quick about His sufficiency. First of all, He is sufficient in His identity. What do we mean by His identity? Look at verse 15. He identifies who Jesus Christ was. Now Jesus Christ was a man born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit. And it says in verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creation. This verse makes two claims about Jesus Christ. Number one, He is the image of the invisible God. In other words, if you have seen Jesus Christ, you have seen God. And that's what this word image means. How many of you remember the old copying machines? Right? You would put that thing in. You'd lather it up with ink and everything. You'd turn the handle right. And all of a sudden it would imprint what was there onto a piece of paper and out it would come. And you would have a copy or a likeness of what you put into the machine. Now it's a little bit fancier and it works a little bit quicker and everything that is there. But it's still a copy of the likeness. And so what Paul is telling us about Jesus Christ is if you want to see Almighty God, you ought to look into the eyes of God and look into Jesus Christ. If you've seen Jesus Christ, you have seen the Father. That's what he told his disciples in John 14.9. He said, Don't feel if he that hath seen me has what? Seen the Father. And how sayest thou? Show us the Father. Why are we praying for seeing the Father if we know Jesus Christ? If you want to get a relationship with God, find Jesus Christ. Christ is sufficient. And he also tells us in John 1.18, No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is of the bosom of the Father, he hath what? Declared Him. How did God declare Himself to mankind? Through His Son, Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews said that Jesus Christ was the express image of His person. Upholding all things by the word of His power when He Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. This phrase is the express image of His Son. It is a precise reproduction of God in every single respect and avenue. It is the exact copy of God the Father. The Gnostics that I mentioned earlier in Colossae were trying to make Jesus less than God. Trying to make Him more human than He was God. And Paul encounters this. And he reminds them that Jesus is God. He always has been God. And guess what? Jesus Christ will always be God. He was God in the past. He's God in the present. And He will be God in the future. And he goes and he tells us, when he goes to His past, when was He God? He was the firstborn of every creature. Now what in the world is he talking about there? The word firstborn can refer to chronological order. The first in number. So it could refer to that and say that Jesus Christ was the first being that was ever created. But we know that Jesus Christ was not created, right? Jesus Christ is God. So it's not first in chronological. What it is is first in rank. And what he's talking about here is the place of Jesus Christ is at the head of all creation. He is the pinnacle of everything that was there. Verse 16 tells us this. He's in our text this morning. He says, 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. What else did Jesus Christ create? Everything. Everything. He was the firstborn. He was preeminent. He was above creation. He performed creation. And so Jesus Christ was sufficient in His identity. He was every bit of God here on earth as He was when He was with God. And so He understands that. And then in verse 17 He tells us not only is He sufficient in His identity, but He's also sufficient in importance. See, when you think about the importance of Jesus Christ in verse 17 of our text, it says, And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Nothing is as important as Jesus Christ. Nothing is to come before Jesus Christ. Nothing is outside of Jesus Christ. Nothing is to eclipse Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is to be in the front of our family. Jesus Christ is to be in the front of our life. He's to be in the front of our priorities. He's to be in the front of our churches and our dreams and our worship and everything we do and everything that we're involved in. Jesus Christ has to be number one. He's that important. As a matter of fact, He said that if anyone follows after Me. And so if we're a follower of Jesus Christ, He needs to become important. He's insufficient for His importance because He is in first place. But not only is Jesus Christ sufficient in His identity and in His importance, notice the third thing in verse 18. He was sufficient in His influence. See, when Jesus Christ came into this world, look at what it says in verse 18. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. We're told that Jesus Christ is the head. What does it mean to be the head? He is the supreme chief master. In other words, He is our Lord. You ever heard Jesus Christ say I am to be Lord? And usually Paul writes that. He says Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. And so that Lord is His headship. That's His authority. I don't get to make up what I do. I don't get to make up where I want to lead this church. That's God's job. He is the head through Jesus Christ. He is the head of the church. He has all of the authority that is in the church. I had a lady call me the other day and said, Brother Donnie, I got your name. A couple of people in the community and I'm from Louisiana and I'm going to be up there this spring and I would really like for you to baptize me in the Saline River. It's a beautiful river. The water's nice there. I want to be baptized. I told them, I said, Ma'am, I don't have that authority. I said, God, you can give me the authority to baptize. I said, my church has that authority. And I said, you'll need to go through my church if you want to be baptized. Well, we're just going to be passing through one weekend. I said, well, I'm sorry, I can't baptize you because I don't have that authority. Jesus Christ is the One. It's His. He is the head of the body. Your head controls your body. Right? Every move you make, every action you take, every start and stop is determined by your head. Without your head, you can do absolutely nothing. So the body represents only the commands from your head. Your body does not listen to the head, not my head or your head, but it only listens to the number one head. The same is true with the church, the body of Jesus Christ. And so Paul is trying to lay out here, listen, it's not about works. It's not about knowledge. Jesus Christ is sufficient. But notice the second thing. He says Jesus Christ is also sovereign. And sometimes we forget about the sovereignty of God. Look what he says in verse 16. He says, 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 municipalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. In this verse, he talks about His sovereignty over His creation. Who created everything? Jesus Christ. If you go back to Genesis chapter 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And it says in verse 2, and the Holy Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, and all of a sudden this world was formed and filled. And Jesus Christ did that. He stepped in from the energizing of the Holy Spirit and He created everything that was there. In John chapter 1 in verse 33, it says all things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything that was made. And so every rock, every river, every plant, every animal, every single one of you sitting in this pew, every government that we have ever served under or lived under, everything you can see with your eyes, everything that is invisible to the naked eye was brought into being by Jesus Christ. He exists and He made that. And so this is the doctrinal part that we have to understand. And Paul, as I am doing this morning, is simply reminding you who He is. Jesus Christ is the One who stepped out of nowhere, out of nothing, and spoke everything into being. In Genesis chapter 1 again, God said, Let. Let us make. Every time He uttered that. Eight times in the book of Genesis. Let. Let. Let. And what's so amazing about creation is that it's made in all out of absolutely nothing. In the beginning, there was God. And He created the heavens and the earth. Everything that we see and experience was made by Jesus Christ. But not only is He sovereign over His creation, but He's also sovereign over His creatures. Look again what it says in verse 17. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. By Him all things consist. That word consist means to put together. It literally means Jesus is the power that binds this universe together. Why does the sun stay in rotation where it's at? Because Jesus Christ is holding it there. Why is the moon the right distance from the earth to give us light and the gravity pull is not so strong to suck us toward the moon? Because God is holding it there. Everything that is in creation, Jesus Christ is holding the power of. It's amazing that when you start studying, if we were just a little bit closer to the sun, we would burn up. If we were just a little bit farther away from the sun, we would freeze to death. But God placed earth exactly where it needs to be. And by the power of Jesus Christ, guess what? I can promise you it's going to stay there. It's going to stay there. Nothing is going to happen until we see in the book of Revelation that God is going to destroy this earth. God is the one that's going to stop the rotation because He is the sovereign one over His creation, over all of the creatures that are there. Don't think for a moment this morning that we don't need Jesus Christ. He is sovereign over the entire universe which He has created. Sometimes we think we can do it on our own, right? No, you can't. Jesus Christ is the one that is sovereign. But not only is He sovereign over His creation and His creatures, but He's also sovereign over His church. His church. He tells us there in verse 18, He says, for He is the head of the body. The church. The church. And so He explains it. He doesn't leave it there for us to wonder, what in the world, what kind of body is He talking about? He's talking about the church. He defines it for us here. Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. You say, how in the world did He do this? You remember back to last week's sermon? He was the first to be delivered. He was the first to be redeemed. He was the first to have redemption. How? On the death of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. As we sang a while ago, the old rugged cross. Amen? It was His blood that He shed. And when He went to the grave, He didn't stay there. But God said on the third day, He brought Him forth out of the grave with victory because it was finished. And so in the church, He is to have preeminence. And it's to say that He is to have very first place. He is the focus of all we do in the church. It's not what I want to preach. It's Jesus, what do you want to preach? It's not what I want to sing. It's Jesus, what do you want me to sing? It's not what I want to do in Sunday school. It's Jesus, what would you like for me to do in Sunday school? Every decision that we make has to be around Jesus Christ and His preeminence that is there. I've been at this church for 14 years. I'm fixing to go on 15 years. And I know some of you have been here much longer. Some of you have been here less than me. But none of us have the right to say that we have invested anything into this church. You and I have not invested anything into this church. Jesus Christ is the only One that matters. He is the One that has brought us here, and He is the One that will take us there. It was His blood that He invested into the church. It was His blood that He shed for the church. It was His blood that delivered us. It was His blood that redeemed us. It is His blood that gives us redemption. He is the One. Not us. We just get to be a part of what He has already done. And so then lastly, I want you to notice Christ's salvation. See, not only is He sufficient, not only is He sovereign, but He also gives salvation. The Gnostics of Colossians were guilty of undermining biblical salvation. And that's the problem. When you have to have knowledge in order to be saved, or when you have to work to be saved, then what's happening is you are undermining the sufficiency in the work of Jesus Christ. And you're saying, look, I'm more important than Jesus Christ. I know what it takes. And I mentioned to you this heresy that was going on, and let me flesh out just a little bit of what I'm talking about. Because when we get to Colossians 2 here in a few weeks, it provides a commentary on this false system of worship that is taking hold on the church at Colossae. Notice what he says. And notice building these two things about knowledge and works. And notice what Paul writes. He says in Colossians 2, verse 9, For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Jesus Christ, buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him forth from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have been quickened together, He has made alive with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, knelling it to the cross. All of these regulations. You go on into verse 16 and 17. He talks about the regulations that involve eating, drinking, the new moons, and all of the different sabbaths. He says, Let no man therefore judge you in meat, what you eat, to drink what you drink, or in respect of the holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ. We don't have to live in the past, folks. We can live in the present, because Christ is sufficient. He also goes on in verse 18 and talks about angel worship. He says, Let no man beguile you of your reward and voluntary humility in worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he had not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. He goes into verse 19. He talks about practicing self-denial as a form of godliness. He says, And not holding the head, from which all the body-like joints and bands have nourished and ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God. Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which means that you have indeed a show of wisdom in real worship and humility in neglecting of the body, not in any honor to satisfying of the flesh. Paul tells them that everything we need for salvation, it's not in special days, it's not in holy days, it's not in what you eat, it's not in what you drink, it's not in worshiping angels, it's not in any of these things, but Jesus Christ is sufficient for your salvation. That's all we need is Jesus Christ. Notice why. Because first of all, the price of salvation. See, Jesus Christ paid the price. Look at what he says again back in verse 14. In whom we have redemption. How in the world did we get redemption? Through His blood. Even the forgiveness of our sins. Salvation came through the blood of Jesus Christ. This reminds us that the salvation that we enjoy, Jesus came to us because of His death on the cross of Calvary. We are free today because Christ died for us. We have hope of heaven because Christ died for us. Our sins are forgiven and blotted out, never to be remembered anymore. Cast as far as the east is from the west. Behind His back to the depths of the sea. Never to be brought up again because Jesus died for us. We have the ability to live a holy life. Not because of ourselves, but because Jesus Christ died for us. He tells us in Revelation 22, verse 7, And the spirit and the bride say, Come, come, let him that heareth you. Say, come. Let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Folks, salvation is free. It's free. It don't cost you anything. All you have to do is come. But listen to me. Salvation was free, but it was not cheap. There's a difference between being free and being cheap. Because it cost Jesus Christ His life. God had to come in the flesh. And it cost Him dying on the cross of Calvary. Shedding His blood for you and I. Man, I put some Scriptures there and we don't have time to look at them today, but hopefully you'll grab your bulletin and read these this week. And look at some of the Old Testament prophecies about the suffering that Jesus Christ was going to go through. Especially in Psalms 22 and Isaiah 53, where it talks about even His stripes, about His being beaten for our iniquity. He was bruised because of our sins. And why did He do it? He did it because of His bride. He did it because of you and I, His church. Romans 5a says, But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners. See, it's not because I earned it. It's not because I had all this knowledge when I was saved. I was saved over 40 years ago, and I am still trying to figure out everything about my salvation. I'm still learning about what God did for me and how it happened. I don't know. Here's what I did when I was nine. Right there on this side of the pulpit in Central Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Indiana. A young boy the age of nine. I think he said, I think that the dying will go to hell because I'm a sinner. But Jesus Christ promised that I could have life, and life will come to me. I said, Jesus, will you please come into my life? Will you please be my Lord? And He did. I don't understand. I don't know what happened. And then, lo and behold, if He did not only save me, but then He put me into the ministry to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Man, what a sense of humor! A guy that could not get in front of people. A guy that's not a very outgoing person or an outgoing personality. But yet, Jesus Christ chose me to preach the message of the gospel. And in that for peace price of salvation, we see that He provides us the power of salvation. Jesus Christ is sufficient. His salvation has power. See, when I was saved at nine, my whole life changed. I went from being one person to being someone totally different. Notice this passage of Scripture reveals three things that God gives us that are ours through His salvation that make us more powerful. Number one, it provides redemption. What do we mean by redemption? Look at verse 14. In whom we have redemption through His blood. Even the forgiveness of sin. Salvation. My salvation that was given to me by Jesus Christ purchased me from the bondage of sin. And what He did was declare me before God the Father as being holy. Now, some of you guys know me pretty well. I'm not holy, right? Amen? I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm not perfect. I'm not complete. But guess what? Because of my trust in Jesus Christ, He made me holy. He made me holy. And we are all trapped in this deadness, this darkness, this depravity in our life, this doom and gloom because of our sins. The weightiness of sin is death. But Jesus Christ paid the redemption price by His blood. And He delivered us from bondage in our old master and brought us into a new kingdom and gave us a new master and a new king. And not only that, but He said, not only are we saints, but we're also sons of the Almighty God. He not only brought me into His kingdom, but He adopted me as His child. See, I am a child of the King. I am the child of Jesus Christ. And folks, we need to praise Him for the redemption that we rejoice in Jesus Christ. We don't talk enough or preach enough about the redemption of Jesus Christ. In Psalms 107 and verse 2, He says, Let the redeemed of the Lord... Sit quiet with their arms crossed, not saying anything. Is that what He says? No, He says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Say so. Speak up. Speak up. Have you been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ? You need to be killing people. You need to be sharing it with people. Why? Because you have been redeemed from the hand of the enemy. He took me away from Satan and put me in the hand of the bosom of God because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary. Man, that ought to get us excited. The wages of sin is death. But, but, the gift of God is what? Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But He didn't stop there. He said we become His workmanship. We become His project. In order that we might live and show good works. That we might serve Him in our life. That's the power of salvation. It provides for us redemption. But notice also it provides restoration. Reconciliation. Look at what He says in verse 20 and 21. And we'll really get into these next week. He says, 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. Not only has He redeemed us to God, but He has also reconciled us to God. See, you have not only been redeemed, but you have been reconciled before we were alienated to Jesus Christ. We were enemies of Jesus Christ. Why? Because we were sinners. Because we were in a lot of sense prideful. Because we were arrogant. We were all about ourselves. And that word alienated means to be cut off. You had no way of ever getting to God. I hate to break it to you, but they tried for over 2,000 years to keep the law. And not one single person did it. You can't do it. You are separated and cut off from God. You are alienated. But, the power of Jesus Christ, He tells us there in verse 21, He says, And you that were sometimes alienated and even enemies in your mind because of your wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. He has brought us back to Him. Ephesians 2.13 But now, in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh. How? Because of your knowledge? Because of how great you are? Because of how much money you gave to the church this morning? Because of you coming to Sunday school? Or you being on time? No, it doesn't say that. How were you made nigh? By the blood of Jesus Christ. He is sufficient. He is sovereign. And He gives us salvation. Romans 8.7 That carmine is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. But praise God by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ exchanged my old nature for a new nature. He exchanged our old, lost, dead condition for a perfectly righteous condition. He exchanged our separation for His closeness and fellowship with Him. And in Him, you who were far off are brought near to the bosom of God. We who are hated toward God, who are hateful toward God, are caused to love God. Peace has been declared between us and God. And when peace was declared between us and God, folks, we ought to be joyful people. We ought to be happy people because He changed us. He changed our circumstances. He made us at peace with God through the blood of the cross. That is a powerful statement. To go from being an enemy to being at peace because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Notice it also provides restoration. Look at verse 22. In the body of His flesh, through death, I present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable in His sight. You know what holy means? Holy means a sacred thing. In other words, God took me that was far from being sacred, far from even being good, who was a sinner, who was evil, who was wicked, who was an enemy of God, and He made me holy. He made me sacred. But not only did He make me holy and sacred, but He made me unblameable. You know what unblameable means? It means spotless. He blotted out all of my sins and He cleansed me of all unrighteousness that I've ever done. We are spotless. But not only did He make us holy and unblameable, but this is the part that I really like. He made us unapprovable. In other words, nobody can make an excuse against me. I am inexcusable. In other words, when Satan comes and says, you know what Donnie did today? Jesus Christ said, it doesn't really matter because way back here, guess what? He accepted my salvation, so it's taken care of. It is fixed. Nobody can bring an accusation that He's mine. And Jesus Christ is sitting there at the throne of God as my mediator, as my logger every time Satan comes to God. You talk about power? You talk about the power of salvation? Thank God that when He saves a soul, when He saves your soul, He did it completely. Romans 8, verse 38, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God or the Lamb? It is God that justifies it. Jesus Christ. In Him, all of fallen humanity is restored to a place of brightness with God. But not only that, notice salvation is proof of His salvation. Not only is there power in His salvation because of the price that He paid for salvation, but there is also proof of His salvation. In Colossians, verse 23, of our text this morning that we're really going to look at in depth next week, He says, If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. What is the hope of the gospel? It's what I've been sharing with you for two weeks. You have been delivered. You have been redeemed. You have been made righteous. You have a home with Jesus Christ. That is our hope. That is our excitement. That is our joy. Because if you stay hanging on to the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. Those who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior are grounded and settled. I know the reality of what has happened. Why? Because we're built on a firm foundation. We are steadfast. We cannot be turned away from the faith of Jesus Christ. And that is our hope in the gospel. I've read the end of the book. I've read the end of the book, and guess what? Jesus Christ is coming back for me. And where He is, I will be also. That's my hope. That's not because of me. I am simply resting in Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter what I do today or what I do next week this morning. I'm already there. But the good thing is, is if you understand all of this, I don't want to do bad. It breaks my heart when I mess up. It breaks my heart when sin comes into my life. Because the power of His salvation is what produces an unshakable commitment to Him. When you think about God saving you while you were yet an enemy of Christ, He died for you. Man, that brings about a commitment that is unbelievable in its power. And that's what gives proof of our salvation. See, Jesus Christ is sufficient. Jesus Christ is sufficient. Why is He sufficient? Because He's superior over everything that's been created. He brought you here. You would not be here if it was not for Jesus Christ. You would not be saved if it was not for Jesus Christ. And because of His sufficiency, He gives us salvation. For most of us, if we could have turned back, we would have turned back. Amen? If there was an opportunity to run, I would have already ran. But listen, Jesus Christ behind all of these man-made rules, all of this deal, that we will never defect of the Gospel. There was a lot of times since I was nine years old that I've tried to get away from God. That I've tried to run away from God. But guess what? He said, you're mine. I'm not letting you go. And He would chastise me. He would whoop me until I finally got back in line and said, okay, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. The Colossian believers were guilty of hiding Jesus Christ behind a bunch of man-made rules, a bunch of man-made regulations, a bunch of foolish ideas. And as a result, they fell into error and Paul had to step in and rebuke them. When I look at Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church, and I look back over the history of my ministry, almost 35 years now, I've been pastoring, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I found, and I look around society today, I look around churches today, if we're not very, very careful, it's going to be so easy for us to do the same thing. We make everything else in church important and we forget about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has to be supreme. And my whole point in preaching this message to you was to remind you who Jesus Christ is. And no matter what we do here at Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church, none of it matters if we leave Jesus Christ out of it. Because He is sufficient. He is sovereign. And He gives us salvation. And so the question that I want to ask you this morning is do you know my Jesus? My Jesus. See, I'm not preaching to you somebody that I don't know. I'm not talking about someone that I have not trusted. I have put my entire life into the hands of Jesus Christ. I have put my family's life into the hands of Jesus Christ. I have been praying for my grandchildren when they come to the age of accountability that they will put their hands in the hands of Jesus Christ. I have banked my whole life on the hope that is set out before me. I'm not sharing something that's not real. But Jesus is my everything. Do you know my Jesus this morning? Are you worshiping Jesus? Are you worshiping Jesus? Are you here because of someone else? Are you here because of the pastor? Are you here because of your parents or your grandparents? Are you here because of the music? Why are you here? You ought to be here for worshiping Jesus Christ. I came here today to see Jesus Christ. And guess what? I haven't been disappointed. I saw Him in the attitudes of people when they greeted me this morning. I saw Him in our psalms of worship this morning. I saw Him in the special this morning. I've seen Him all through this message this morning. See, because we are worshiping Jesus Christ and He called us to fall before Him in love, in adoration, in thanksgiving. Let the redeemed say so. Say so. And the last question I want to leave you with this morning is do you love Jesus Christ? Do you love Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ sufficient for you? Is He sufficient? We should love Him. We should follow Him. And we should worship Him because of what He has done for us. So notice in this, this sufficiency of Jesus Christ. And so Jesus said there's only two commandments. Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, with all your strength. He said the second is like that too. Love your neighbor as yourself. Why do we love our neighbor as ourselves? Because it's proof of our salvation. Because God loved me when I was an enemy. And guess what? I can love someone as mine. When I go into the prison on Thursday night and I look at them guys, I don't look at them as what they've been convicted of. I don't look at them as their crime and what caused them to be in jail. I look at them as what they say in their confession that they were the children of Jesus Christ. And that's the way we should be thankful that God has changed His Father. But Jesus Christ is sufficient to give salvation. And to give salvation. I can't give you salvation without Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ in Revelation said behold I will give you salvation. And any man shall come unto me. If you don't come to me, I can't do anything for you. All I can do for you is to listen to Jesus Christ. And I feel like in this message this morning I have proven to you that Jesus Christ, He is sufficient. And so all you have to do is respond to the door. Don't try to make a tent out of it. Don't try to make an island out of it. Don't try to claim that you're good or you're capable of doing it. No, just show yourself on the feet of Jesus Christ. And it's just His sacrifice and the sin of power in your life that you change. 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