COLOSSIANS
Chapter 1, Verses 23
Safe In God’s Hand!
(9–18-16)
Review: “I Am Holy, Unblameable, Unreprovable In Jesus!”
Colossians 1:21-23) [KJV] And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
QUESTION: What does this verse tell us?
ANSWER: When we were not His children we were his enemies.
Matthew 12:30) [KJV] He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
QUESTION: What does this verse show us?
ANSWER: If we are not working with Christ then we are working against Him.
QUESTION: What does the end of vs. 21 show us?
ANSWER: We are no longer God’s enemies because we have now been reconciled to God; that is, the things that separated us from Him, our sins, have been taken away and forgiven.
22) In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Ephesians 5:25-27) [KJV] Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26) That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27) That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
QUESTION: When will God view us this way? At salvation? After we overcome? When we see His Son and become like Him?
ANSWER: God viewed us this way before time, as we know it, was. The death of Christ at Calvary brought to fruition His eternal purpose to be able to view us as “holy, pure, and faultless,” and at the same time to uphold justice. When we place our faith in Christ, as our Savior, we enter into this amazing reality of being viewed by God, through the prism of the shed blood of His Son, as “holy, pure, and faultless.”
This Week’s Lesson: “Safe In God’s Hand!”
Colossians 1:23) [KJV] If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
QUESTION: Is this verse teaching us that Christians can lose salvation?
ANSWER: Please note the following verses:
John 8:31) [KJV] Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Hebrews 3:14) [KJV] For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
John 10:27-28) [KJV] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 6:37) [KJV] All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
John 17:12) [KJV] While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
QUESTION: What do we notice in the above verses?
ANSWER: When we speak from the human perspective we need to “continue;” when the Word speaks from God’s perspective it is a done deal.
QUESTION: Again, is Colossians 1:23 teaching us that Christians can lose salvation?
ANSWER: From our perspective, yes; from God’s perspective, no.
NOTE: The above verses that deal with this subject from God’s point of view are absolute; they that are in His hand will never perish. The above verses that deal with this subject from our point of view contain a condition; we must remain in the faith.
CONCLUSION: I am eternally secure! The faith I placed in Christ I’ll keep in Christ. Note:
Philippians 1:6) [KJV] Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
TULIP; The 5 Points of Divine Election:
- Total Depravity;[I agree with point 1]
- Unconditional Election;[I disagree with point 2]
- Limited Atonement;[I emphatically disagree with point 3]
- Irresistible Grace;[I disagree with point 4; I can say “No!” to God]
- Perseverance of the Saints.[I agree with point 5;genuine Christians persevere to the end]
QUESTION: How do we reconcile our point of view with God’s point of view?
ANSWER: God lives in eternity and sees the finished product; He already knows who will be in Heaven, and who won’t. You and I judge folk by their fruit [Matthew 7:16], it’s the best we can do, but God knows them inside out. There are those that are now among us that appear, in every way, Christian to us. We would testify of them as being true believers. However, they will not be walking for God at the end of their journey. From our vantage point they will have left the faith; from the vantage point of eternal God Almighty they were never in the faith.
- In our point of view we might argue that they were saved but then they lost their faith.
- From the only point of view that matters, God Almighty’s point of view, they were never truly saved, they were never really born again, they had never really ever received eternal life.