And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, sent Him to die, scarce can take it in, that
on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to
take away my sin, then sings my soul. Our souls are gonna
sing for all eternity. They're gonna sing. Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians 1. Colossians 1. Recently, the Lord
has consumed my heart with this first chapter of Colossians.
And, uh, I can't get away from it. I just keep reading and I,
this book, this chapter is, it just keeps glorifying, just like
the rest of the scripture, but it glorifies Christ. And then
it glorifies Christ and it glorifies Christ and it glorifies Christ.
And I'm just hung up on it. That is what we have been called
on to do as we preach, as we hear, as we believe as God's
people. That's what we are called on
to do. We glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. What are we doing here?
We're here to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. We're here to worship
him and praise him. We lift him up for all of us
to look at him. and glory in him. And we do that because that's
what God, the father told us to do. And that's what God, the
father himself did all through the old Testament.
He lifted Christ up all through the old Testament. He lifted
him up as the promised one who would come every type, every
picture, every prophecy pointed to the Lord, Jesus Christ. All
of it pointed to the Lord, Jesus Christ. When Christ came. As he began his ministry, the
father lifted him up by declaring out loud from heaven, he's the
one, hear him. Listen to him. Listen to him. When it came time for our Lord
to accomplish the work that the father sent him to do, the father
lifted him up on a cross. He said, if I be lifted up and
the father lifted him up on a cross and the father said, look to
him, believe on him. And then when Christ finished
the work, that work of saving his people, all of that work
that the father gave to him through his blood, The father, after
that work was finished, the father raised him up from the dead,
lifted him up from the grave, and then lifted him up all the
way to the throne of his glory. And this is what he said, bow
to him, worship him, acknowledge him
in your minds and in your hearts and in your being. to be the
Lord over you that he is. Everything that is, everything
that has breath, everything in heaven, everything in earth and
everything under the earth must glorify and praise and lift up
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. Everything. Why, why is that? Here's the
reason why, if you look at verse 16, Colossians one, verse 16,
it says for by him. We're 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. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist, 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. That's
why. That's the reason why. In all
things, he has the preeminence. In all things. Now, this is what
that means. A lot of times we hear words
and we don't know what they mean. This is what preeminence means.
It means he's the head of it. It means he's the God over it. It means he is the sovereign,
controlling, ruling Lord over it. What are we talking about? All things. In all things, he has the preeminence
in all things. Let's not let anyone tell us
that we need to make him to be our Lord. Lord over our lives, Lord over
our hearts. Let's trust God on this. We don't
have that kind of preeminence. We don't have the power. We don't
have the controlling authority to make him to be anything. He is Lord over our lives and
over our hearts, whether we make him to be that or not. He is
God. The father has already lifted
him up and glorified him to that position. That's what acts chapter
two, verse 36 says. It says, therefore, let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. God, the
father has already lifted him up. And glorified him to that
position. And that's what I want to repeat
this morning. That's what I want to declare.
That's our message in all things. He is the sovereign controlling
ruling God over it. He has the preeminence. He has
the preeminence. I love how many times it says
he and him in these verses. If we read on down it, it keeps
saying that it just keeps doing that. But let's, let's notice
it in the verses that are our text. Look at verse 16 again. It says for by him, we're 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. And he is before all things. And by him, all things consist. 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. He, him, him, he. That's the message. Verse 16
says, for by him were all things created. Who exactly is the him? And just in case we're wondering
who exactly is the hymn, look at verse 12. It says, giving
thanks unto the father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature for by him,
for by Jesus Christ, the one who came and made himself known
to this world is Jesus of Nazareth. I love that name. Don't you love
that name? Jesus of Nazareth, verse 16 says four 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. How could everything be created
by him when he was just born 2000 years ago? How is that possible? He was born 2,000 years ago,
but he wasn't created 2,000 years ago. This is the honest truth. 2,000 years ago was created for
him. 2,000 years ago was created by him. Look with me if you would at
1 Timothy chapter three. First Timothy three, verse 16
says, and without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. There's an old story of two men
who were friends and they both became preachers. And one preached the truth of
the sovereignty of God in salvation. All right. One preached the truth
of the sovereignty of God in salvation. The other one preached
the lie of man's works for salvation. One preached Christ and the other
one preached man. All right. The one who catered
to the lies of the flesh of man, he decided he was going to have
a conference. And he invited his friend who preached the true
and living God come preach at the meeting. The one who preached
his work in salvation and not man's and his say in the matter
and not man's and his right and not man's and his glory and not
man's. All right. The one who catered
to the lies of the flesh. Invited the one who preached
the true and living God, but he said this, he said, here's
the thing. I want you to come, but he said,
I don't want you to preach anything controversial. Don't preach anything about,
you know, God doing with man, whatever he wants to do with
man and man being nothing but sin before God and all that kind
of stuff. He said, I do want you to come,
but don't you dare preach anything controversial. So his friend
said, all right. And when it came time for him
to stand up, he said, turn with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy
3, verse 16. It says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God almighty. was manifest in
the flesh. He was justified in the spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in
the world, and received up into glory. God was manifest in the
flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
God. God. He wasn't created 2000 years
ago, 2000 years ago was created by him. And for him, the word
was God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. God came down. God came down. God came here. Turn with me back
to Colossians one. Verse 16, it says 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. Everything in heaven. Was created
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in this earth was
created by the Lord Jesus Christ. Both were created by him and
for him, by him and for him visible and invisible. It doesn't matter whether we're
talking about gems. or germs, it doesn't matter whether
we're talking about rubies and sapphires and diamonds and things
like that, or deadly bacterias and viruses, doesn't matter. Both of those were created by
Jesus Christ for Jesus Christ. Why? I don't know. I don't know, other than to say
for His glory and the good of His people. That's all I know
to say. Somebody will say, well, I could see how rubies and, you
know, there's going to be a crown and I could see how rubies and
diamonds and sapphires and all that could be made for Him. But
how could deadly bacteria and viruses, how could that be all
for His praise and for His glory and for the good of His people?
And how could all that be? I don't know. I really don't
know. But it is, it is everything is made by him
and for him. And he is the head of them. He
is the head of them, bacterias and viruses. He is the head of
them. And they, it could be in his
will to lay one on me and take me down and take me to glory. Amen. That could be his will, but it's
according to his will. He's the head of it. He's the
head of all of it. Verse 16 says 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. We have a conflict going on in
the world right now. At the center of this conflict
is one particular man who is on the throne of his country.
He is on the throne of his dominion. All right, here's a little question. Who put him there? Who is allowing him to do what
he's doing? There was a conflict for God's
people when he brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness,
right? There was a conflict for them.
At the center of that conflict was one man and his name was
Pharaoh. He was seated on the throne of
his dominion. Why was Pharaoh seated on that
throne? Who put him there? Who allowed
him to do to God's people? God's people. Who allowed him
to do to God's people what he did to God's people? Whose hand
was over every bit of that? Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 14 says, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? We see things and we don't approve
of them and such on and so forth. Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up. That I might show my power in
thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy and whom he will. He hardened us. Do we know
what that saying right there? That saying that Pharaoh's throne
and dominion was raised up by Jesus Christ for Jesus Christ. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, showed
His power to His people through the throne of the very enemy
of His people. The adversary is His adversary. Why, you know, you look at different
things in the world and you wonder, why is that man on this throne
and this man on that throne? Why, why? Here's the reason why.
That's how the preeminent one determined for it to be done.
That's the reason. Republicans and Democrats are
not running this country. God is. They're not running the
world. God is. God is. He has the preeminence
over it. He has the preeminence over it.
All right, go with me back to Colossians 1. Verse 16, it says, 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."
Principalities or powers. Turn with me, if you would, to
Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6, verse 10. It says, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I love
that verse right there. That's where we find our strength.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Verse
11 says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. There is a realm of wickedness
that we don't want to know anything about. Don't research it. Don't look, don't Google it.
Don't look into it. We don't wanna know anything
about it other than to say this, Jesus Christ is the head over
it. That's all we wanna know about
it. Jesus Christ is God over all of it. We're not gonna do
it for the sake of time, but we could turn to scriptures where
it says that the devils begged the Lord to let them go into
swine. And begged the Lord to not torture
them before the time. The book of Job says the adversary
himself had to present himself before our Lord and his he's
God of all of us. to give an account of His matters. You know, we're gonna have to
give an account of our matters. And our account is either gonna
be given in Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ, or out of Jesus
Christ alone. But everything has to give an
account of its matters. We want His matters. Lord, give
the matters of Jesus Christ to us because our matters were given
to Him. That's what we want. But we ought
to take great comfort in this great, great comfort in this
Jesus Christ. Our savior is the sovereign preeminent
head over all things, all things. Everything has to answer to him.
Everything is being ruled by him. Nothing is outside of his
control and everything that he controls. We'll bring glory to
him. There's gonna come a day when
we're gonna know as we have been known, and we're gonna see with
no glass between us, and we're gonna see that everything brought
glory to Him. Everything, the things that just
tear us all to pieces, we're gonna see glory in it. That's
what eternity's gonna be, seeing the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
in everything. All right, go with me back to
Colossians 1. Verse 16 says 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. And he is before all things and
by him, all things consist. That means stay together, that's
what consist means. It means stay together, it means
continue. If we stay together, if we continue, it's gonna be
by the all-powerful hand of our sovereign Lord. If we make it
to the end, it's gonna be by the all-powerful hand of our
sovereign Lord. He is the head of us. Thank God. Thank God. If I look, when I look at my
life from this point on, when I look at my life from the past
to this point, all I can do is cringe and want to hide under
a rock. And when I look at my life from this point on, alone
in my flesh, it's only worse. Here's my comfort. He's the head
of me. This is my comfort. He is the
head over us. If we continue, if we stay together,
united with him, it's gonna be by his powerful hand. He is the
head of us. David said, the Lord is my shepherd.
And that's why I have comfort. Verse 18 says, and he is the
head of the body, the church. He is the head of us. He's the
one who's gonna lead us. He's the one who's gonna feed
us. He's the one who's gonna counsel us with his wisdom, counsel
us with his knowledge. He is the one who loved us and
chose us and bought us and quickened us to life again. Verse 18 says
he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning. He is the beginning. He's our beginning. Whenever
something's good. I hate for it to end. He's the beginning. He's the
end too, but he's the beginning. He'll always be the beginning. He's our resurrection from the
dead. Because he lives, we live. And we'll forever acknowledge
that to be the case all through this world, all through eternity
to come. We're gonna forever acknowledge,
we're gonna forever cry that in all things, we're gonna say
this to him, this will be our cry to him, in all things, you
have the preeminence. In all things, you have the preeminent
head over life, death, judgment, redemption, heaven, hell. In all things, you're the head.
Now and forever, amen. Amen. That's what we'll cry. Thank God he made it to be so.
All right, Brother Eddie, you come.