Why Most People Miss Who Jesus Really Is — Colossians 1:15 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have everybody with us again, and we're going to go right back into 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We're going to just pick right up where we left off. We were about in the middle of verse 4. And again, we like to welcome our television audience, and we welcome your phone calls, your letters, and whatever. And if we can help you with any of the past videotapes or booklets and so forth, you give us a call, and we'll get right on it. All right, for sake of time now, we've got so much to cover. I want you to come right back with me quickly to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and in the verse that we just left off, verse 4, and in whom that is the lost people of the world, who are lost not because of what they've done, they're lost because of their unbelief. Now remember, I remember when we were in Minnesota last week, several people showed me my little quote in the fly leaf of their Bible, and it kind of tickles me that people take note of these things. But you know, I put it on the board several months ago, maybe even a year ago now, that we are not, we do not sin. Oh, I've got it again. I always get confused myself. We sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners because of what we've done. Now I really should put it the other way around. We are not sinners because of what we have done. We sin because we are sinners. Now all that means is that we are born without old Adamic nature, and that Adamic nature knows only one thing, and that is to rebel against the things laid down by God Himself. And so the human natural tendency is to listen to the old Adam, and consequently we become sinners. And it isn't because of what we've done. It's because of what we are. Now the same way here then. The people who are lost are not lost because they went out and got drunk one night. They are not lost because they cheated, or they stole, or they committed immorality. They are lost because they are born in sin as children of Adam, and they have refused the remedy, which of course is the work of the cross. And so this is what Paul is constantly throwing out, that the cross has completed everything. Now that gives me a good opportunity. We were just talking at break time. See again I think this is another one of the ploys of the God of this world who transforms Himself into an angel of light, because He won't do this clothed in the black robes of magic. But He does this in the bright light of an angel of light, and that is that He is keeping the world that has any interest in Scripture in the Gospel accounts. And I think it is so frightening that people are not getting away from Christ's earthly ministry and getting in to the fact that it was His death, His burial, and the fact that He arose victorious over sin and death, and now we are on this side of the cross, not back there in His earthly ministry. And we are going to see that specifically in the next chapter. And so we have to constantly force ourselves almost, because the tendency is to just study Christ's earthly ministry. But that was to Israel, and that was under the law. But oh look, for the God of this world has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Now there is another point. You have no idea how many people are asking the question, well who is Christ? A lot of people are confused. Some have got the idea that He never really amounted to anything until He was born at Bethlehem. They do not have that understanding that Jesus of Nazareth was merely the manifestation in the flesh of the Creator God of Genesis 1. And I've shown that whenever we teach Genesis, that Christ as we know Him in the New, was the Creator of the Old. And as I explained to a person, I think just yesterday morning on the phone, and explaining this very concept that we talked about in our last program, that when Christ died, He paid the sin debt of every human being from Adam until the end of time. He could have never done that had He not been the God of glory. And so Jesus is merely the fleshly manifestation, and is the image of that invisible, eternal God. Turn with me a minute to Colossians. Just go ahead to the right, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, chapter 1. And see how this fits so beautifully with what the Holy Spirit inspires the Apostle to write back in the letter to the Corinthians. Colossians 1, verse 15, who, speaking of the Son who has redeemed us in verse 14 through His blood, and then verse 15, who is the image. Now you all know what an image is. It's a visible manifestation of something. And so Christ is the visible manifestation of the image of the invisible God. And see, this is what we have to take by faith. I know I can't prove this on a laboratory experiment desk, but the Scripture says it, and by faith we believe it, that God the Triune, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit were invisible. But God the Son stepped out of that invisible Godhead and became the visible manifestation of the whole. And that's Christ. That's the Lord Jesus of Nazareth. See? All right, and then verse 16. Again, Paul, by inspiration, attributes to the Lord Jesus creation. And that's why I say He is the same God in Colossians as He is in Genesis. The only difference is He has now taken on human flesh, human appearance. He is the image of the invisible God. And for by Him, verse 16, were all things created. See? Everything that are in heaven and earth, visible, invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities. Now that even goes into the realm of Satan and his power. Everything, all things were created by Him. I'll never forget the first time I taught this. Now that goes back about 25 years, and I had a whole living room full of people, and when I just laid out so clearly that Jesus of the cross was the same God who created everything in Genesis 1 -1, and it just blew their mind. And they'd been in church all their life, but they had never seen that before. And this is what we have to understand, that Jesus of Nazareth was the same God of Genesis 1-1, only difference being He had now been manifested in the flesh. And that's why when we put our faith and our trust in what He has accomplished, we're not just talking about some Jew who grew up in a carpenter shop. We are talking about the Creator Himself, who has taken upon Himself the very work of redemption. All right, let's come back, if you will, to 2 Corinthians again, chapter 4, and now verse 5. For we preach not ourselves. Now what's Paul doing? Well, same old thing. He's defending his apostleship. He said, I'm not coming in here with something just to gain personal support. I'm not coming in here for some kind of personal fame. What I'm doing is only because I am the servant. Now the word in the Greek here is really, bondslave. And so he says, I'm a bondslave for Jesus' sake. Read over in Ephesians chapter 3, and how the apostle is constantly showing us that he's not in it because he wants to be some religious bigwig. He's not in here to build some personal empire. He is only out here to bring these pagan Gentiles out of their sin, out of their spiritual darkness, and into the knowledge of his gospel. Ephesians 3 verse 1, "...for this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, but for what purpose people? For you Gentiles." See? And not only was he a bondslave of Christ, he was the literal prisoner of Christ for this distinct purpose. Oh, now we've got to go back to Acts, because I know so many people in our listening audience do not understand how all this began. Go back to Acts chapter 9. I know for a lot of you folks this is rudimentary, but for a lot of folk, they do not understand why does Paul make these kind of statements. Well, you want to remember, he was a religious zealot, and he honestly thought that by stamping out anything that referred to Jesus of Nazareth in Israel, he was doing the God of Abraham a service. But you see, God all of a sudden stopped the man in his tracks. And you know the story of his salvation on the road to Damascus. But look what took place in Damascus while Saul is still making his way into town, of course now blind. All right, verse 11. Coming out of verse 10, "...the Lord spoke to Ananias, and he said unto him," verse 11, "...Arise, and go into the street that is called Straight. Inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he prayeth. And he hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands on him, that he might receive his sight." In other words, Ananias is to understand that Saul is being made ready for something special. Verse 13, "...then Ananias answered the Lord, and he said, I have heard by many of this man, and how much evil he hath done to the saints at Jerusalem, by virtue of his persecuting these believing Jews." Verse 14, "...and now here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But," verse 15, "...the Lord said unto Ananias, Go thy way, for he," Saul, "...is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before," what people? Gentiles. Now this is something unheard of in the Jewish culture. They had no idea that they were to go to the Gentiles. Oh, they knew the prophets spoke of it. They knew that Isaiah spoke of Israel being a light unto the Gentiles, but certainly not their generation. I mean, they had the same mentality that Jonah had. And you all know Jonah. He'd rather walk the plank as go to a Gentile city. And their attitude hadn't changed. And now God tells Ananias this man is going to go to the Gentiles. Boy, I'll bet Ananias swallowed hard. And it hadn't been that he thought, well, maybe that's better than having to go back as a captive of the guy. But nevertheless, here is where God takes drastic changes of direction. Up until this time, He's been dealing only with the nation of Israel, only with the Jew. In fact, go ahead, just a couple chapters here in Acts. I've got to back up what I say, or somebody will say, where do you get this stuff? Acts chapter 11, verse 19. Acts 11, verse 19. Now we brought this out in our Acts study, but that's a long time ago. Acts 11, verse 19. Now they who were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose around Stephen, remember who headed up the persecution? Saul of Tarsus. He held the cloaks. All right, now those who were scattered abroad traveled as far as Phoenix and Cyprus and Antioch up there in Syria. And watch the rest of the verse. Preaching the Word to none but Jews only. And people rebel at that. They almost like to tell me, Les, that's not in my Bible. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Here we are, seven, eight years after Pentecost, and these Jews have gone to no one but Jews only. But now all of a sudden, God is going to do something totally different, because Israel is rejecting it in unbelief again, just like they did at Kadesh, and just like they did umpteen other times. They rejected God's offer, and so God says, all right, then we do something different. And so this is why He raises then this apostle. Now you're still in Ephesians 3? You got a mark back there? Yeah. Okay, now back to Ephesians 3, reading verse 1 again. So for this cause, well, let's back up a page. Let's see what the cause He's talking about. Back up to chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. Now this isn't the only thing He's referring to, but primarily. Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9. And who had ever heard something like this before? For by grace are you saved through faith. Now, stop a minute. What do a lot of people think should also be in there? Oh, sacrifices, you know, from the Jewish economy, from our own present day, repentance, baptism, church membership, good works. It's not in here. That doesn't save us. It's all a part of salvation's reward or result, maybe I should say. But look what it says. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Oh, that flies in the work of works, doesn't it? Oh, how many people across the world tonight, millions, billions probably, who are still hoping they're going to make it by their works. And this book says it's not of works. It's all of faith. And as soon as we attach works to it, it becomes nothing. It becomes worthless. All right, so we're saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. All right, back to Ephesians 3, verse 1 again for this cause. I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, the bond slave on behalf of we Gentiles, us Gentiles, on behalf of us. Verse 2. If you have heard of the dispensation or the administration of the grace of God, not law, not works, not legalism, but the grace of God, which is given to me, and then where? To you. And who's He writing to? Gentiles. See, you know I'm always making the analogy. You remember when God gave the law to Moses up there on Mount Sinai, and Moses came down the mountain. Hopefully he was going to get there with the tables of stone. Of course, you dropped them and they broke. But nevertheless, the whole concept was that as Moses came down the mountain with the law, who was He going to dispense it to? Israel. See? And so God gave the law to Moses, and Moses gave it to Israel. But now, 1567 years later, God does much the same thing, and yet totally different. He now, I think, He has Saul of Tarsus down there at that same Mount Sinai in Arabia, and now to this man He gives not the tables of stone, but the revelation of the mysteries. And He doesn't tell him, go back to Jerusalem and give it to Israel, but He tells him what? I'm going to give it to Israel, and I'm going to give it to Israel, and I'm going to give it to Israel. Ephesians 3. Look how Paul prays for these Gentile believers, and it's still valid for us. Ephesians 3. Come on over to verse 14, so that you'll understand it's a prayer that he's uttering. See in verse 14 he says, "...for this cause I bow my knees." What's he doing? He's praying, and look what he prays. Verse 16, "...that he would grant you..." Now don't lose sight. Who is he writing to? Gentiles. He's writing to you and I. And he says, "...O that he," God, "...would grant you," Gentiles, "...according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit," capital S, the Holy Spirit, where? In the inner man, not just intellectually, not just in the head, but it has to be in the heart. It has to be in that very core of our being, see? Now verse 17, he's still praying, "...that Christ may," what? "...dwell," not just come in for a fortnight, "...but O that he may dwell in your hearts by," what again? "...faith," see? "...faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love," now this is fantastic. This is for every one of us, "...that we may be able to comprehend," and I think if we comprehend it, we appropriate it, see? With all saints. This isn't just for the clergy. This isn't just for the few. This is for every single believer. Remember, I'm always making reference to old Tyndale when he was trying to smuggle the Bibles into England, and I'll keep referring to it. I'll repeat myself, and I'm not getting senile, I don't think, but old Tyndale had it right when he said he wanted every plowboy in England to have a copy of this book. Why? Because this is for everybody. This is not just for the few. This is not for the ecclesia. This is for every plowboy in America, for every plowboy around the world, and any boys from there on up, "...that we may be able to comprehend," verse 18 again, "...with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height," the fourth dimension. I suppose Einstein had a little bit of this in the physics, but nevertheless, you know, we're not used to four dimensions. We're used to three. But here is a fourth dimension that God wants the believer to enter into. You know, we were just talking at break time. I didn't realize until this book that's hitting the, I guess, the bestseller list, I noticed when we were in Minneapolis, and we were going through the Mall of America in one of the bookstores. It was called the number one selling book at that time, Bible Codes, and you've all been hearing about it, and how this Jewish mathematician in Israel has seemingly found the codes subliminally, or however you want to put it, back in the Old Testament. But whatever. Someone gave me a copy of the book, and in the introduction to it, this mathematician in Israel really got the idea from all this, from finding something like 2,000, if I remember correctly, something like 2,000 pages of notes from the old inventor, Isaac Newton. And I never knew that Isaac Newton was that kind of a Bible scholar, but he was. And he had already determined that the Word of God was so supernaturally put together that there could very well be hidden truths in here that man had never been able to recover, and of course couldn't until, if we can put some credence to it, it's only the computer that makes it possible. But nevertheless, I had a little quote that Iris, I think, clipped out of some place, and I had it laying on the kitchen cupboard, and you all know how that goes, and I got in a hurry and I forgot to pick it up. But I was going to read it, wherein Isaac Newton's life, which was 16-something to around the early 1700's, he wrote that he could see that in the latter times, shortly before the Lord would return, a body of men would be raised up who would be able to discern the prophecies written in this book. Now Isaac Newton saw that almost 200 years ago, and of course we're seeing it. We're seeing an understanding of prophecy like never before. But here it is, that we have the potential now in response to the prayer of this Apostle to enter into a 4th dimension, and in verse 19, and to know the love of Christ, which what? Goes beyond knowledge. Oh, everybody's hung up on education, and I've got nothing against education. I mean, it's amazing, the explosion of knowledge and technology today, but you know something that's far better? To know Christ, to know Him is beyond human knowledge, and that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now a thought just comes to me. I think it was Dwight L. Moody, who at the beginning of his tremendous ministry had read a quote by a previous great man of God, I think it was over in England, I don't remember the name, but that man of God on his deathbed had said, I had always hoped that I could be the man that God had used to the full. But he said, I've failed. Well, when Moody read that and began his ministry, Moody said, gentlemen, I hope to be that man. But years later, after all of his tremendous response to his evangelism on his deathbed, Moody rehearsed it all, and he said, that man still hasn't lived. And isn't that true? I mean, there has never yet been a man that has lived out the full potential of what God has in store. Every one of them and every one of us will somehow fail and come short of it, but the potential is there, and God is able. All right, coming on back now to 2 Corinthians again, chapter 4, and now verse 6. Oh, I thought by now I'd be clear into chapter 5. Chapter 4, verse 6, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Now that may be a reference to creation, but I think rather it's a reference to the coming of Christ to the planet earth. Okay, come back with me to John's Gospel. John's Gospel, chapter 1. John's Gospel, chapter 1. Oh my goodness, we've only got a minute left. Okay, let's do this quickly. John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 6. There was a man sent from God whose name was John the Baptist, of course. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men, see, not just a few, but that all men through him might believe. John was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of the light. Now verse 9, that was the true light. Jesus of Nazareth, born of Bethlehem, that was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Now that's a frightening statement, isn't it? In other words, no one is ever going to be able to say, but I never had a chance. The true light lighteth every man. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Tour the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated.