The Work Of Christ
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 9th August service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and 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:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 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 the preeminence.
The Work Of Christ
Having previously reflected upon the Person of the Lord Jesus we shall now consider His Work as it is taught to the church by Paul in Colossians chapter one.
In the covenant of grace and peace three distinct roles and responsibilities are committed into the hands of Christ the Godman by His Father. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Colossians in chapter one, points these out to us. They are, first, to dispense all blessings in His mediatorial offices. Second, to redeem the elect and reconcile them to God. Third, to present the elect to the Father in heaven in a state and condition that is, ‘holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight’.
Common care
The first of these duties placed upon our Saviour in seen in verse nineteen where we learn it was the Father’s good pleasure that all fulness should dwell in Christ. This fulness is not Christ’s divine glory which He possesses as co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. It is the covenant glory and power vested in the Godman to create, order and uphold the world, including the laws of nature and the sustaining of all life. Everything in creation and nature is subservient to Christ. Nothing exists outside of His will. Everything is at His disposal.
Special grace
As well as a fulness of blessing for His creation there is in Christ a fulness of special grace reserved for the elect of God, those chosen by the Father and everlastingly loved. Again, it is the sole prerogative of Christ to dispense and distribute these gifts. They are blessings of righteousness, forgiveness, sanctification, adoption and every gospel grace. All these are sovereignly bestowed at the will of the Godman out of the fulness that dwells in Him according to the Father’s good pleasure.
Redeem and reconcile
The second duty laid upon the shoulders of the Godman in the covenant of grace is to redeem the elect and reconcile them to God. By His sacrifice and death our actual redemption by the blood of Christ is secured, and peace between God and man achieved. It has been from eternity the Father’s good pleasure to reconcile His chosen people to Himself by the blood of His Son and all grace and all blessing flows to the saints through Christ who is the Head of the body and preeminent over it.
Full atonement
It is not possible for man to achieve reconciliation with God by any other means. Christ’s blood alone is the cause of bringing guilty sinners back to God. Christ’s blood alone satisfies the demands of God’s holy law. Justice was served and full satisfaction provided by the suffering and death of the Saviour as the Substitute of all for whom He died. God is not reconciled to man. Man is reconciled to God. We are brought back; redeemed, recovered, restored and reunited with God after falling away in sin. Christ fulfilled this work of atonement for the whole church, in earth and in heaven, according to the good pleasure of the Father.
Present us holy
The third and final task incumbent upon the Godman in the covenant of grace is to present the elect to the Father in heaven in a state and condition that is, ‘holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight’. Holy in the sight of Christ and holy in the sight of God is nothing less than perfect purity and complete righteousness. The redeemed and reconciled are covered with God’s own Righteousness. This is what the Lord Jesus has done for us and shall yet do for us. Our everlasting glory rests upon the accomplishments of the Godman, Jesus Christ and these are His duties in the covenant of peace.
Personal application
In the final verses of this passage the apostle Paul delightfully applies these glorious, eternal truths personally to the Colossians themselves. He says in verse 21, ‘And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled’. This is a blessed comfort to sinners like us. The great eternal truths of the gospel are not theoretical or speculative or abstract. They are practical and real and personal. They are to be believed and embraced for the comfort and hope they bestow.
God’s covenant complete
For the love of His people our Lord Jesus Christ willingly undertook to fulfil all the duties and obligations of the covenant. He has done all that was required of Him with the utmost success. Christ presently upholds this world, He has redeemed His people, He is gathering His church and will deliver us all, ‘holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight’. What we shall be someday in heaven we already are in the Godman today.
Amen
Hymn Not in Gadsby selection
Ye have not chosen me. Joh. 15:16
Josiah Condor 1789-1855 (7.6.7.6.D)
’Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me
Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old Thou hast ordained me,
That I should live to Thee.
2. ’Twas sov’reign mercy called me
And taught my opening mind;
The world had else enthralled me,
To heav’nly glories blind.
My heart owns none before Thee,
For Thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first.
Hymn G.723 w/added verses
Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ. Isa. 55. 1
J. Hart 8.7.4.
Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity joined with power;
He is able, He is able;
He is willing; doubt no more.
2. Ho! Ye needy, come and welcome;
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings us nigh,
Without money, without money;
Come to Jesus Christ and buy!
3. Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him;
This he gives you, this he gives you;
’Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.
4. Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all!
Not the righteous, not the righteous;
Sinners Jesus came to call.
5. View him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies;
On the bloody tree behold him,
Hear him cry before he dies:
“It is finished!” “It is finished!”
Sinner, will not this suffice?
6. Lo! The incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of his blood;
Venture on him venture wholly;
Let no other trust intrude;
None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good.
7. Saints and angels joined in concert,
Sing the praises of the Lamb;
While the blissful seats of heaven
Sweetly echo with his name;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Sinners here may sing the same.
The Lord Jesus Christ was given three jobs to do by God in the covenant of grace.
1. To dispense all blessings in His mediatorial office.
2. To redeem the elect &reconcile them to God.
3. To present the elect holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight.
He successfully accomplished them all.