Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Colossians chapter 1, and
reading from our text, verse 18 and 19. 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, for it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Colossians
1 and verses 18 and 19. In the earlier part of this chapter,
The Apostle gives thanks for the Colossians and for those
things that God has done for them and that really evidence
a real work of grace and God's mercy to them. They'd heard in
verse 4 of their faith in Christ Jesus. had heard of the love
which they had to all saints. And we know in John 1, that beautiful
token, we know that we have passed from death unto life, in that
we love the brethren. And Paul could say that of the
Colossians. He says that they have hope and
is a hope laid up for them in heaven. They heard the gospel,
they embraced that, and they knew the grace of God in truth."
The end of verse 6. They heard in verse 8, their
love in the Spirit. There's many things that are
set before us here that clearly show the marks of God's grace,
the effect of His work in His people. And it is when it is
seen, a cause of thanksgiving for those that know the Lord
when they see it in others. But what is upon my spirit this
evening is, you might say, something that is not so clearly set forth
as an evidence, and yet there are two evidences very clear
in our text. In verse 18, there are those
things that God the Father has done, and that it is for this
end that in all things He, that is Christ, might have the preeminence. That is the first thing, Christ
having the preeminence. Then we have in verse 19, for
it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. There is a fullness in Christ
and the mark, the evidence of the people of God is that they
receive of that fullness. They need it. Their help all
comes from the Lord. So really there are two really
tests here. What position does Christ have
in our life and in our heart? And where do we derive our hope,
our help, our strength from? Does Christ have the preeminence
and do we receive of his fullness? So that is what is on my spirit. this evening. These two words,
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. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. So, in the Lord's help, I want
to look first at Christ's preeminence, Secondly, Christ's fullness. And thirdly, God's people known
by these two things. Two things, Christ's preeminence
in their lives and in receiving of his fullness. But firstly,
we have Christ's preeminence. The Apostle Paul spoke about
some of the churches that was in them, there were men. And those men loved to have the
preeminence. And they actually cast out of
the church God's true children because they wanted to be uppermost. They wanted to be in control. It was them that wanted to be
great in their midst. Wherever Christ's work is, it
will be Christ to have the preeminence, not a man. I was thinking of
this, meditating upon these two words actually, prominence and
preeminence. We can have a, well if we think
of us here at Cranbrook, we've got the mill up over above the
chapel here. If I look out the windows there,
it's all lit up. I can see it from my pulpit.
And it's quite prominent in the town. We have the main Church
of England, very big building. It's quite prominent in the town.
You can hardly come into Cranbrook and not see the church and not
see the windmill. But preeminence belongs really
unto something that is living, a person. and where they are
given authority, they're given power, they're given a position,
a place. And in the Scriptures, it belongs
to rightly to the Lord and there are those that sought to challenge
that and to take that position. Well, in our text, it is the
Father that has made it, Christ, not just in some things, but
in all things, he might have the preeminence. And we have
several things that are set before us in the context of where he
does have the preeminence. There is none that is like him,
that is the image of the invisible God. He is God manifest in the
flesh, Emmanuel God with us. The Lord says to his disciples,
if ye have seen me, ye have seen my Father also. No other man,
no one, could ever say that or claim that. I and my Father are
one. That is a position above any
man. He is unique, a position that
his father testified, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. And that is set before us here
in verse 15, that he is the firstborn of every creature or first begotten
from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ. the only begotten with
the Father, only begotten Son, but He is the first one to rise
from the dead, rise from the dead by His own power, and rise
to die no more, and with power. The empty tomb, it belongs only
unto Christ. There is none other ever that
could have that preeminence in the Church of God. as He who
voluntarily laid down His life and voluntarily took it again. This commandment have I from
my Father, power to lay down my life and power to take it
again. And He has that preeminence. He has that preeminence that
He created all things by Him. Verse 16, by Him were all things
created that are in heaven, the sun, the moon, the stars that
are in earth, visible things, invisible things, whether they
be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. In the beginning,
God. And it was by Him, John tells
us, that all things were made. Not only that, but all things
were created by Him and for Him. None can ever have that preeminence,
that all things that were created, not only created by Him, but
for Him as well. And we think of His people, this
people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. Day unto day uttereth speech. The very creation shows forth
God's praise. They show forth the praise of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have set before us that He
is the King. He has a kingdom. And so He is the King of that
kingdom, the King of kings and Lord of lords. In verse 13, who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son. His dear Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ is King. in Zion. Also he is the head
of the Church of God. The head of the body in our text.
He is the head of the body, the Church. That position, he has
the preeminence. There is no other head of the
Church. No minister, no elder, no pope,
no bishop. none but Christ is the head of
the church of God, not of bricks and of stone and mortar, but
of souls, the people of God. He is the heavenly bridegroom. He is the one that has purchased
his church. His church is his. And the apostle
makes that point to the Corinthian church, ye are bought with a
price, ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price. Wherefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are his. And so in this passage and throughout
the scripture, the Lord is lifted up and extolled very high. How low he went fast before being
lifted up. We have that set before us in
Paul's epistles to the Philippians, how that our Lord, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. It's Philippians
2 verse 6, that made himself of no reputation, took upon him
the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man.
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, the preeminence,
the lifting up of the Lord Jesus Christ, His humiliation, His
death, His sufferings, but His exaltation is so set before us
here, Christ preeminence, that is a fact, a truth, set before
us in the Word. And we'll look, the moment when
we come to our third point, how that is so in the hearts of His
people as well. So secondly, Christ's fullness. Christ's fullness. If we think of this word, fullness,
Sometimes we see pictures of a water reservoir that's meant
to be full of water to provide for the people. But because of
drought, because of lack of rain, it's very empty. Sometimes it
uncovers houses that have been buried when that reservoir's
been made. and you see the mud at the bottom,
you see what has all been under the water, but you realise how
low it is. And if you're the one that is
receiving water from that, you'd be quite concerned. If you went
down to Buell Reservoir near here, and you saw that really,
really low with hardly any water in it, and you realised that
your water came from there, you'd be quite concerned. But if you
saw it nice and full and brimming over, you think, well, that full
reservoir, there's enough for us. And we can water our gardens. We don't gonna have restrictions
this year. And that fullness is actually
gonna be communicated to us. And that is the idea that is
here. A fullness in Christ not by reason
of his Godhead, his preeminence even, in many aspects, but a
fullness that he has as the God-man, as the Redeemer, as the position
of the head of the Church of God to supply the needs of his
people and of his Church. I won't speak reverently, but
God in himself, with all his might and all his power, he could
not justly, righteously convey to a hell-deserving sinner anything
outside of Christ. The sentence is that the soul
that sinneth it shall die, and we do not deserve anything at
the hand of God. And you say, well, isn't God
a merciful God? Yes, he is. He is good to all. His tender mercies are over all
his works. He opened his hand. He satisfies
the desire of every living thing. He gives his reign to the just
and unjust, him that serveth God and him that serveth him
not. He is the saviour of all men,
the scriptures say, especially of them that believe. And when
we come to a passage like this that is pointing out a distinction
and what the Church is to Christ and what Christ is to the Church,
then yes, we may look at those temporal blessings and we may
say the Church of God, God's children, they give thanks for
the rain and for their food and for those natural things. The
world does not do that. But we want to go further than
that. for those spiritual blessings
and for those eternal blessings, that which only a newborn soul
will hunger and thirst after and desire. And it is of that
fullness that is to be imparted to the people of God. It is blessings
that are to be communicated, it is blessings that they need,
helps that they need, those things are what we read in our text. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. And I would put something in
here which you might say is not in the text but is implied in
it, that it is only in Him that if the fullness is in Christ,
He has not got contenders for it, and that if the people of
God are to receive of that fullness, it's not just to top up what
they don't have, it is to provide everything. Our text says that
in Him, Not just fullness dwell, but all fullness. And the people of God will feel
their emptiness and feel their need of that provision. I think with you children, you
sit down at the meal table and your parents present you with
a meal, There might be things that you need, your clothing
and things, you're given those things. And you might look at
your bank account, and maybe there's no money there, and you
don't have any store, but you don't need it, because your parents
have it. They have the money, they have
the fullness, they have everything that you need. As you start to
get older, you might get your own bank account and your own
means of income, and you can buy things for yourself and get
things for yourself. But when you're small children,
you are dependent completely on your parents, and rightly
so. And you're pleased with that, you're thankful for that. And
as God's children, the Lord has given our Lord Jesus Christ our
supply of that fullness of all that we need, every blessing
that the Church of God needs. What does it need? We have those
things that are set before us in verse 14, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. That's two things, in the fullness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, redemption through his blood, forgiveness
of sins, that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's life, in him
is life. I am come, says our Lord, that
they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Why, it was through the Lord
in creating everything that he gave life. He created man, He
created the animals, He gave light, He gave life, He gave
warmth. All those things came from Him.
We can see it in creation. And we are told here those same
things needed for a soul, He has the same, He has that provision. By nature, in Adam, we died. Sin came into the world and death
by sin. that the Lord, the second Adam
came, that they, the people of God, might have life. I give
unto them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of mine hand. The Lord, before he ascended
up into heaven, he says in Matthew 28 and verse 18, all power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth. That is part of the fullness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has power. You might say,
well hasn't, did not God have power before Christ came? Could not he have just saved
and could not he have brought a people to heaven? No, not without
payment of the debt, not without a satisfaction of the justice
of God, not without the law being fulfilled, not without suffering
for his people. Those things had to be done.
Almighty power had no power without that being unlocked by what Christ
has done. And so that power Our Lord speaks
of after he had suffered, after he'd risen from the dead, and
before he ascends up into heaven, he tells them of that power. And then he tells the apostles,
tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. And that's specifically to enable
them to preach the gospel, preach the word, and that power be communicated
to the people of God. We think of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're familiar
with it at close of every service, aren't we? The Apostle Paul,
with a thorn in the flesh, wanted to take it away, but the Lord
said, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made
perfect in weakness. The Apostle says much more then,
I'd rather glory my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest on me. Grace, the power of Christ, that
help that is given. When I am weak, he says, then
am I strong. Where is that strength from?
It is in Christ. He giveth grace for grace. Then there is wisdom that is
in him, is personified, is set before us in the early chapters
of Proverbs 8, the wisdom of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. His righteousness, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the name wherewith he
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. He that hath two
coats let him give to him that hath none. In one sense our Lord
had the righteousness of his divinity, but that was not to
be given. But then a second code, a righteousness
belonging to his humanity, his divine and human nature, the
Lord Jesus Christ, he has that to give. They cast lots for his
vesture. The righteousness that he has
is for his people, not himself. It is to be communicated. sanctification,
I sanctify myself that they might be sanctified in me, set apart
for a holy use. One of her hymns speaks of it
very beautifully, Christ has holiness enough to sanctify us
all. And we can only really just touch
on that which is in the Lord Jesus Christ that is given him
and he possesses by reason of his sufferings, by reason of
his work on Calvary, his life, perfect life and obedience, and
he has these things to impart to his people. It pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell. It pleased the
Father this arrangement, this purpose, the Jews, They charged
our Lord with robbing God of His glory. Thou being a man,
make us thyself equal with God. No, says Paul. It pleased the
Father that all fullness should dwell in Him. You can worship
the Son. You must worship the Son. The
Father is not grieved. He delights that you should. And the Jews couldn't see this.
accused him of being a usurper, but our Lord says, no, the miracles
that I do, I do in my Father's name. The man that had been born
blind, the Lord gave sight, so if this man were not of God,
he could know nothing. Was it ever heard that a man
that had been born blind had been given sight? The miracles
the Lord did, he said, they testify of me. and the voice from heaven,
this is my beloved son, hear ye him. The father is pleased
that the Lord Jesus Christ should have that preeminence and should
have the fullness as well. So these two things are set before
us in these verses, the preeminence of Christ and the fullness of
Christ. I want then to think in the third
place of God's people known by these two things. We mentioned at the outset how
the apostles said that there were some in the churches that
sought the preeminence for themselves. They were proud people, sinners,
and yet they were proud. They sought to lift up above
each other. And you know the disciples were
like that. The Lord asked them at one time,
what were you speaking of by the way? And they held their
peace. They didn't want to say. And how many things there are
that you wouldn't want to tell the Lord? You wouldn't want to
tell your parents or grandparents? The Lord knew what they were
doing. raising among themselves who should be the greatest. You
think, what, amongst the disciples of the Lord, who is going to
have the preeminence? Who is going to be the greatest?
You know what the Lord did? Set a little child among them.
That's the greatest. You humbled yourself like a little
child. The one who is to have the preeminence
is to be Christ. Not Peter, not John, Not the
disciples, not men, but Christ. But that is our nature. Our nature
is proud. That is one of the principal
things of the fall. And yet, a most perplexing thing,
because in the fall, we have fallen from God's image. We have
sinned. We've made ourselves miserable
and vile and wretched. and everything that we should
not be proud of, and yet we are proud. If we were to have to
go to somewhere, some important event, but we only had some rags
and dirty clothes, and we had to go in that state and condition,
it'd be hard to hold your head up high and cry, here I am, I'm
a great and mighty person. People look at you and think
you're A little beggar, and what are you doing in that rough old
clothes? We could understand that, that
would stain our pride. But how we appear in God's sight
as wretched sinners, in all our sin and our filth and our guilt
and our uncleanness, but we don't see it, we don't
realise it, and by nature we just walk in pride. That is man's
heart by nature. We think that our work somehow
can endear us to God, somehow give us a place, even amongst
his people, a place in heaven. Always start to speak of something
that we have done. It just comes out straight away. And so this, what we have here,
Christ preeminence, really is an amazing thing. When Christ
would humble a person so that they esteem other brethren better
than themselves. They're humbled amongst the people
of God. They know their own sin. They
look upon a brother, sister, faith, they only see their outward. They may see them walking and
should see them walking uprightly. But we know our own heart, we
know our thoughts, we know how far off we are from the Lord
and the sins that we commit in our thoughts and affections.
When we know that, the scriptures speak of it as the place of stopping
our mouths and putting our mouth in the dust so there might be
hope. It is only Christ that can really
show man what he is in the sight of a holy God. And when he does
that, that humbles a man. It humbles a person. And it will
do this as well, to exalt Christ, because we're seeing Him, such
perfection. We're seeing Him, the preeminence
that Christ, that His Father has given Him. And we'd be pleased
that that should be so. And so this really is something
that will be a mark of the people of God. Christ will be in preeminence
in their lives. It says in all things. It won't
just be as you come into the house of God. It'll be in the
school, in your workplace, amongst your friends, your worthy friends
as well. Christ will be their preeminence. It will be that He is the one
thing needful. The hymn writer says, and it's
very hard to sing sometimes, I could from all things parted
be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. Where Christ is, all and
in all, our Lord spoke of those that follow Him and that he is
to be more to them than husband, than wife, than mother, or father,
or daughter, or son. And if that is not so, he says that
you are not worthy of me. He is to be in preeminence, if
he is to be anyway. What an insult it would be if
we had, in a natural sense, someone that was of great authority and
they came into our society, in our company, and
we put them in a very low place. And you think, well, here is
a very rightly important person, but you haven't put them in your
assembly, and you might say, if we are the people of God,
where is Christ? Where is Christ in our heart?
Where is Christ in our life? Where is he in our hopes? Where
is he in what we speak? Does he have the preeminence? Is it evident to us and to others? It will be seen not only in how
we view Christ and how we speak of him, but also how we view
ourselves. John Baptist says, he must increase,
I must decrease. And those two sides were with
him. And where Christ is in preeminence,
that will humble us. that Christ will be lifted up.
So this really is a mark, a mark of God's grace, a mark of His
teaching, a mark of what God has done with His dear Son before
us and in our hearts, to exalt Him, to lift Him up. And I, if I be lifted up above
the earth, will draw all men unto me. God's people are drawn
to Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit, they magnify
the Lord Jesus Christ and it is so in the hearts of the people
of God. Is it so then with us? What is Christ to us? Does he
have the preeminence? But then it's seen as well in
a receiving of his fullness. In the Gospel according to John,
in the beginning of that Gospel, we have the word that of his
fullness, have all we received and grace for grace. I can't see the actual reference
to it at the moment. But that fullness that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a fullness to be received by
the people of God. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name. Then we have in verse 16 of John
chapter 1, And of His fullness have all we received, and grace
for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ glorified in imparting those blessings to the people
of God. Every blessing comes to us through
Jesus' precious blood. And the Lord will bring those
things into our lives that, like the Apostle Paul, needing of
the grace of God, where he looked to Christ, when we feel to have
no life, when we feel to need to be quickened, needed for the
fresh life poured upon the whole. The Lord spoke the parable of
the vine. The branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, neither can ye, except ye abide in me. That sap must
flow through to the branch, otherwise there can't be any fruit. There's not fullness in the branch,
the fullness is in the vine, the sap. And so it is in Christ
that fullness is received from Him. The Apostle in the Corinthians,
he speaks of some of those last things that we spoke of, wisdom
and righteousness of sanctification. And he says in the first epistle
in chapter one, if we read from verse 29, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. There is the preeminence of Christ
and the humbling of all flesh. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth
let him glory in the Lord. The Apostle Paul, he says when
referring to his own ministry, I laboured more abundantly than
them all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was given
me. and is tracing that which is
flowing forth from Christ. Many of the people of God feel
emptied, as it were, from vessel to vessel, receiving strength
and yet always weak and needing renewal of it. I remember in
just a natural way, really, but it was a sweet time to me, that
word, They shall go from strength to strength. Everyone appearing
in science in Psalm 84. And it was years ago, I was preaching
up at Nottingham and driving down the M1, very heavy traffic,
and I got down to Luton at 6.30 and thought, I've got no more
strength to go another hundred miles. I'll turn in to the service. I'd forgotten they started at
6 o'clock. So I turned in at Bethel Luton
just as Mr. Ansbottom gave out his text.
And that was his text, they shall go from strength to strength.
And his first comments was, he says, some people think that
this is getting stronger and stronger. But he says, it has
been given strength, you use all that strength up and you
need it renewed. And that was the very reason
I was in that chapel. And I heard that sermon, we went
back to the friends' homes afterwards, we had a lovely fellowship and
communion, and then I could drive the other 100 miles back home.
And you never forget those times when you're given, well that
was physical strength, but it was mental strength as well,
it was a beautiful time. And that strength and help, it
comes from the Lord. And many times in Psalm 107,
we had that Psalm this morning, They fell down, there was none
to help. Then they cried unto the Lord.
And the Lord sent his word, he healed them, he helped them.
But each time they were brought to prayer, they were brought
to cry to him. They needed of his fullness,
they needed his help. They needed lifting up again.
May the Lord make us praying souls. Don't judge us, your state,
by your poverty, your emptiness. We always will be. We have nothing
in ourselves, but everything in Christ, and Christ will keep
us on a, as it were, a very dependent note. We're little in store,
as it were. Keep us humble, and keep us low,
and keep us looking to him all the time for strength, for life,
for prayer, for faith, for grace. to help to walk before Him, to
help to do those things that He has bidden us to do and put
us in position to do. And have pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. Sometimes we are brought to feel
very, very empty in the ministry. but we needed that fullness for
the Lord to supply the word as through us as a pipe and he'll
bless that. That which comes from him, however
much we may write diligently to prepare the word, to preach
the word, we want to be the means of bringing the fullness from
Christ and into the hearts of those that hear. Never may it
be as from the minister, but from Christ. And this beautiful
wreath, really a token of a child of God, not one that's strutting
with their graces and wonderful prayers and their helps through
trials and everything, but one that professes their weakness,
poverty and need, and receiving of that strength day by day,
feeling only to just get through a day, and needing grace and
help for another day. I remember when I went into the
ministry, one of the Lord's dear servants said to me, he said,
you've just got to preach one service at a time. And you know
how often that is. It is the case. We need that
help one at a time. The Lord won't give. that stock
in store to stretch out a week and stretch out for all what
we need. And that will be so for everyone
that hears the word and walks in the ways of the Lord. May the Lord give us these two
tokens in addition to those that are in the early part of this
chapter that Christ be in preeminence in our heart and in our lives
and that we do receive the fullness of Christ and depend wholly upon
him for everything. Every grace and every favour
comes to us through Jesus' precious blood. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.