Singing for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Paul's epistle to the Colossians,
and chapter 1, the chapter that we read, and reading for our
text the last part of verse 18. that in all things He, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ, might have the preeminence. It is a vital thing in the Church
of God that we remember the order that God has set in the Word
and the preeminence of his beloved son. When we come to an anniversary
like this, it is good to recognize, and I hope it is so here, believe
it is so here, that you continue to give Christ the preeminence
in your worship in your preaching and all that you do, but may
we never take it for granted because there are many places
of which Christ once held the prominent place and now it is
not so. And so it is with this thought
that I bring this word this afternoon. What is the meaning of preeminence? I would like to look at the actual
meaning. And so the dictionary meaning,
or the meaning as we especially apply it in a biblical way, the
fact of surpassing all others, superiority, and biblically a
place of ascendancy that nothing or no one can even come close
to. That is the position of Christ
where He is placed by God the Father. We think of how in the
scriptures that went before in Psalm 89 we have the promise of the Lord coming and
the position that he should take. Have it in verse 27, Also I will
make him my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth. And then we have in Isaiah, in
Isaiah 52, and verse 13 behold my servant
shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be
very high and then we have amazing verses that follow that that
point to his sufferings, as many were astonied at thee, his visage
was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons
of men. And then, His work so shall He
sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths
at Him, for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard shall they consider. And then
we have reading on to that, the beautiful Isaiah 53, of the Lord's
sufferings, His death. And these prophecies, they point
to the truths that Paul is drawing out to the Colossians, to that
church, and to this church, and each church that is represented
here, so that we are left in no doubt as to the position of
the Lord. Now I want to look at three points
this afternoon. Firstly, how God the Father ordered
all things to give Christ the preeminence. And we'll look at
some ten things that lead up to our text that are specifically
highlighted and set before us as to where God the Father is
placing His beloved Son. And then secondly, how God the
Holy Spirit gives Christ the pre-eminence. He also lifts him
up to the highest position. And then lastly, how a true local
church must give Christ the pre-eminence. Firstly then, to look at the
passage that leads up to our text, and includes the verse
18 of our text. Our text again states, that in
all things He might have the preeminence, and verse 19, for
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Now I want to begin in setting
forth this what the Father ordered, how He has ordered all things
to exalt His beloved Son. And we look from verse 14. The first is this, in whom we
have redemption. In the Lord Jesus Christ there
is a payment to set free, redemption through His precious blood in
Christ. In none other, no other man,
no other angel, in none other but redemption in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. It is His blood that was shed,
it is He that offered that perfect sacrifice is he that answered
the law that without the shedding of blood there is no remission
and he accomplished that we think of the type with the Passover
instituted in Egypt and we have firstly nine great signs that
God wrought in Egypt so that Egypt was brought to be almost
destroyed But Israel were not redeemed. They were still captives. They were still in bondage. They
were still where they were as the first thing. And then God
instituted the Passover. Then was the blood shed. And that very night they were
thrust out. Out they went from Egypt. This
so emphasizes that redemption in Christ. With desire, I have
desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And we have this beautiful picture
of seeing the children of Israel set free because of that blood.
And we look past the tithe and we see Christ at Calvary, and
there we see redemption. Dear friends, remember when our
Lord was born, And when he was presented to the temple, one
thing that Anna said, she spoke of him to all them in Jerusalem
that looked for redemption. And that is what we have here.
We have redemption through his blood. Then we have the forgiveness
of sins. when our Lord was on earth. He
said to some very clearly before the multitude, Thy sins be forgiven
thee. And men said, Who can forgive
sins but God only? And in one case where we have
the man that was unable to walk, born of four, brought in before
the Lord let down through the roof, and the Lord said that
to him. Then he said to them when they
found fault with him, whether it is easy to say thy sins be
forgiven thee, or to say rise up and take up thy bed and walk. And he said that to that dear
man, and he took up his bed, and he walked, and he went. The
Father has given through those miracles, and now through Paul's
writings, a pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive sins. He is God. Yes, God only can
forgive sins. And here's God the Father pointing
to His beloved Son. He is exalted to give repentance
and remission of sins unto Israel. Dear friends, the gospel is the
gospel, it is not the law. May we always remember that,
always graze me. When a minister preaches the
gospel and then at the end he gets a great big stick as if
it's the law. You must, you must, you must
do this, to this, to this. And yet the gospel says, yes,
We must repent. We must believe. But Christ is
exalted to give that. The law, it commands, but it
doesn't give any strength and help. But the Gospel, it provides
what a poor sinner needs. It gives it to him freely, without
being badgered, without being threatened. A poor soul under
the conviction of sin and under the law already feels he knows
the forgiveness of sin. But when we have the Lord Jesus
Christ, exalted by the Father, in Him is the forgiveness of
sins, and not only does He forgive sins, He gives the repentance
too. And the repentance is the true sign of a forgiven sinner. There is a third thing, verse
15. He is the image, who is the image
of the invisible God what great mysteries these are God who fills
all things God who is the Spirit no man has seen God at any time
the psalmist in Psalm 139 he says whether he take his bed
in hell they are there every place the Lord is solemn thing
isn't it to think that even in hell, God's presence, actually
there is a consuming fire. Those aren't just banished from
his presence, they have his consuming fire and wrath everlastingly
in hell. But to think that this God that
cannot be measured that he was made flesh and dwelt among us
and here is the image that we may see him if you have seen
me you have seen my father also and Solomon when he dedicates
the temple which is a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ
he says heaven of heaven cannot contain thee how much less this
house that I've made will God in very deed dwell upon the earth
We know that God did dwell upon the earth. He was Emmanuel God
with us. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us. And the disciples said, We beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. And this is the Father in this
passage, and he's exalting and lifting up his beloved Son, that
the Church has no doubt of where his position is of such preeminence. He is also, in verse 15, the
firstborn of every creature. Now that does not suggest that
the Lord had a beginning and was born or became the Son by
birth. No, He is the Eternal, the Everlasting
Son. He never had a beginning. He
is one with the Eternal Father. But in one sense, He's set forth
like we would think as a firstborn son, there is the heir. And we
are set forth as being joint heirs with Him. And it is the
Lord Jesus Christ here that the Father is exalting, as it were,
He is the heir. He is the heir of all things. He is able to give all things
of what is His fullness to give. He may give it and distribute
it. We are told that the blessing
that the people have got is an inheritance that is incorruptible
and undefiled and fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
them and for you which are kept by the power of God unto salvation. through faith, and that inheritance
is with Christ. The inheritance is His, but He
shares it, He gives it. Partner of my throne shall be
as the hymn writer, say poor sinner, love us thou may. And
so, in His position, as the firstborn of every creature, the Father
exalts Him, And then we have in verse 16, that by Him were
all things created. And the word here enlarges on that,
in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones or dominions or principalities and powers or powers, all things
were created by Him. This is how John begins. In beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God. There was nothing made
that was made that was not made by him. And so again, he is exalted
to this preeminence. Remember what we said, that nothing
or no one can come close to him. A position that he alone holds
no wonder satan hates the idea that men should believe in the
creator and a creator god and that we're dead in men's hearts
so that they see the creation but they will not see the creator
and why that is one reason that men shall at the judgment be
without excuse because God is manifest in them in our bodies
as created and in the creation is one thing that we are told
in Hebrews 11 that by faith we believe that the worlds were
created and I see it as the the sentence of the fall when
man sinned God said in the day that the easiest thereof thou
shalt surely die and that spiritual deadness so that man cannot see
what is so plain and those of you here that can look upon creation
and I believe I can do that and see it and so wonder and sometimes
it just just hits me it just sweeps over me sometimes in the
smallest thing and I find it so strengthening to faith and
yet we've had times I've had times with my dear wife and she's
gone for brain scans and to just look at where she had a stroke
on the operating table as a baby and you can see how part of the
brain is dead but then because it was done as a baby the brain
has taken over those functions and the specialist says This
is why I study the brain, because it's so wonderful. He said, if
you had this stroke today, you'd be paralyzed all down one side,
but because you had it as a baby, the brain is just all redone.
And he's saying, this is why I've taken up my profession,
this is what I see, this is so wonderful, and we say to him,
this is God's creation, this is what God has done. that is
able to do that and you see this shatter go down, a blank face,
I don't want to hear anymore, I don't want to speak anymore
and it's just such a solemn thing that here is a man that can understand
so much that he's a specialist in that field and yet to see
God in it, he will not, he cannot The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. Unto you it is given to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to them it is not
given. And yet they shall be held accountable
for what is all the way around them, most solemn thing. And
here is the father saying, I give my beloved Son this preeminence
in that all things are created. All things should be pointing,
this is the Son, this is the Redeemer, this is the Saviour
of the world that has made all these things. All of these things
are speaking to us as to what the Father would remind us. He's
not only the Creator of the world, He's the Creator of the new creation. to make new creatures in Christ
is the same one that is over it all let me have just a little
word at the end of verse 16 another way that the father is exalting
his beloved son not only did he make all things but they are
made for him for him You know, many of us would know builders,
and they might build a house, but it's not for them, it's for
someone else. When I was a mechanical design
engineer, built many things, designed many things, they're
not for me, they're for someone else. But all these things are
for him, for him to enjoy. and to share with His creation,
and will yet make a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness for Him." This is how the Father is lifting
up His beloved Son, giving Him the preeminence. Then in verse 17, He is, before
all things, before all things. Again we have
a reminder of the eternity of God, before the creation. Our Lord spoke of the fellowship
and that He had with His Father before the world was, when He
said to the Jews, He says, before Abraham was I am. They said they are not yet 50
years of age, they're older than Abraham. And these are the truths
that have reinforced to us here the eternal nature of our God. One with the Father. We cannot
comprehend eternity. We are in time. We try to measure eternity by
time and we can't. The Lord says one day is like
a thousand years. A thousand years is one day.
We cannot understand. those eternal things how is it
that one passes away today and they go out of time into eternity
but we go on for another thousand years and another one passes
away they go into eternity and yet there's no time in eternity
and yet there's been to us a long distance of time from the time
they passed away and someone else passed away We can't understand how God that
is outside of time comes into time and then out of time again
and has to do with time. These are mysteries. But we have
that which is revealed and that's what, that's what we believe,
that's what we hold to. There's many, many things in
the Word of God and I often try to remind my people and others
of this. mind, we say, oh, we'd like to
know a little bit more about this, maybe about Noah's Ark
and how it was made or this and various things, and the Lord
has hidden it, He hasn't told us. But when I was doing engineering,
sometimes in the classes, we would like to know a bit more
about what was being told us, and we'd say, but how did this,
we'd like to know that, and the teacher would say, no, no, no,
look, I'm teaching you what you need to know for the end of the
year for your exams, You'll cover that next year. You won't do
that next year, but I'm telling you what you need now. And in
a way, the Lord is saying to us, if something is left out
of the Word of God, I'm keeping you from something that you don't
need to know. It's a waste of time. It'll send
you off on the wrong track. These things are the important
things. So you might say, well, how come
you have in the Old Testament chapter after chapter of names
and names and names. Why the importance of that? Because
Peter says, We have not followed cunningly devised fables when
we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Go on, he's lifting up the Lord. what is made known in the Old
Testament. This is about real history where
lives, they're not cunningly devised fables. That's why there
needs to be all of those chapters of names and names to put to
bed that aspersion and those lies. This truly is the history
of the world in which our Lord Jesus Christ comes through the
nation of Israel and comes to be preached to the world so he
is then before all things and then another in verse 17 by him
all things consist and we like to think well the world is created
and he's just given to man and it's up to him to look after
the planet and to maintain it it just goes along without any
any interaction. No, our God is a sovereign God. And if our God is a sovereign
God, then nothing can happen without his permission. No person
can decide, no atom can decide it's going to be a rogue, it's
going to do something different, it's going to upset the universe
it's going to upset the plans of God no he is in complete control
if he wasn't he would not be God and so the Lord maintains all
things he gives us our breath he takes away our breath when
Paul would speak to those at Mars Hill when they were worshipping
the idols he says to them that Him who ye ignorantly worship,
I declare unto you, in Him we live and move and have our being. And he brings them straight to
the Creator God. You know, a God that has a beginning
is called an idol. The real true God does not have
a beginning and He does not have a creator. Men will say, well,
who made God? Well, if he is God, no one made
God. We read in Jeremiah that the
gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish
from under the heavens and the earth. The very definition of
God is that he has no beginning. He is the eternal God. and then we have the words of
our text in verse 18 where we're given another two before we come
to the text of how he is exalted he is the head of the church
the church of God there is a headship again how sad it is that so many
will try and take away that order Now the Apostle was very clear
when he wrote to the Corinthians in his first epistle in chapter
11, be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Now I
praise you brethren that ye remember me in all things and keep the
ordinances as I delivered them to you. But I would have you
know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the
woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. And there is set forth an order,
an order in creation, an order in the Godhead, an order in the
Church of God. and for the sign of it the head
covering that so many speak against today lovely to see the women
wearing the head coverings and often think of that where it
is said because of the angels in the angels in the garden of
eden they saw the woman talking to Satan instead of saying you
speak to my head you speak to Adam you don't come to me I'm
his help mate not to take his role the angels saw that and
when they seen the church of God the women voluntarily and
using the sign of the order of the headship That's a wonderful
thing. If there's joy in heaven over
one sin that the repenteth, there's joy in heaven also in seeing
the order. Paul says he joyed in seeing
your order in the church of God. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is the head and we think again is in the following chapters
in Corinthians where the Apostle likens The church is the body
of Christ. He is the head. We are the members. And all that flows down to the
body comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. And we think of ourselves. the preeminence of the head,
there is our brain, there is our personality, there is everything
the Lord has given us, even as a reminder of where the Lord
Jesus Christ is in the Church of God. No Pope, no man, no minister,
Christ is the head of the Church. And then we have the beginning
and firstborn from the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ rising
from the dead by His own power and then giving us the ordinances,
buried with Him by baptism into death, risen again in newness
of life, because I live, ye shall live also. truly in this passage in these
verses we've read to you and we you may have read them many
many times and perhaps never really observed this is what
god the father is doing in lifting up and exalting his beloved son
now we haven't got time to look at it this afternoon but in your
own time you have a look at the earlier parts of this chapter
And Paul is very clearly describing the nature of one that is truly
converted and truly saved. Just look at the verses in a
similar way to what we've gone down and seen the preeminence
of Christ, you will see. what is the evidence of a real
true conversion and just to give a hint there verse 4 since we
heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love and you
go on from there and you get that very clear description of
true faith so first of all then how the father ordered all things
to give Christ the preeminence remember this is going right
back to eternity going right back to the creation there's
many other things in many other passages we could add to this
but i just confine remarks here so bearing that in mind that's
the father now the holy spirit god the holy spirit how does
it How does the Holy Spirit then give Christ that same preeminence? Well, in the Gospel according
to John chapter 16, we have our Lord speaking and promising of
the Holy Spirit, and He says this, that Howbeit, He says,
I have many things to say unto you. This is verse 12, chapter
16. But ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit
of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak. and He will show you things to
come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and
shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are Mine. Therefore said I that He shall
take of Mine and shall show it unto you." There is a oneness
between the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Wherever
the Holy Ghost is, then Christ will be in preeminence, and He
will be exalted. The signs, the miracles, the
speaking in tongues, those things have ceased. But what has not
ceased is that wherever the Spirit is working, then Christ is exalted. He is in preeminence. And the Holy Spirit does this.
Do not look for unscriptural signs of the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that they're not
miracles that in some times are wrought still today, but as a
scriptural doctrine of what shall follow as what it did in the
days when the Holy Scriptures were being sealed and finished
and done, that is not continued. That does not continue. Great
mistakes have been made when men have supposed that they have
had the Holy Spirit reveal fresh and new things to them. Remember
that those miracles were to bear witness to the Word that was
spoken. The Word is now sealed and finished. We're not to add to it or to
subtract from it, and we do not need fresh miracles to establish
that Word. And we need to really remember
this. especially even in preaching
the word and we mentioned that a bit later but no minister is
inspired I had a dear old lady say to me in Australia once you
know your ministry a bit different than others you're more expository
I said well I hope it is expository and experience of the truth and
she said but you are inspired aren't you I said no I'm not
no minister is inspired we are helped but we preach the word
and we just study to preach the word and to open it up and great
trouble can be when ministers give the impression they've just
suddenly got their text when they come up in the pulpit and
they're wonderfully helped and the congregation drinks into
it but it's not scripture and it's dangerous that where the
Spirit is, is like the Thessalonians. Paul was able to say the Word
came unto you, not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power. And he became followers of the
Lord and of us. And it was to wait for his Son
from heaven. Those were the signs that followed. And so the Holy Spirit And we
think this Word that we've read, the Apostles' letter to the Colossians,
is the inspired Word of God. Yes, it is setting forth how
the Father hath exalted the Son, but really, in essence as well,
this is the Holy Spirit, because the Word of God is the inspired
Word of God. He also is the author of the
new birth. Our Lord insisted in John 3 that
he must be born again, and it is the Holy Spirit that does
that, and right from the start. It is a holy birth, and right
from the start it will be a leading through and pointing to the Lord
Jesus Christ. You think of the eunuch, how
that he'd been going up to Jerusalem. Believe he was already quickened,
he already had the new birth, and there he is reading the Word,
reading where we referenced there at Isaiah 53, but he couldn't
see it, he couldn't understand it. Understandest thou what thou
readest? Who directed him to read that
passage? Who brought the minister to come
to that very text? Who blessed the Word to him as
he preached Christ? began at the same scripture and
preached unto him Jesus the Spirit's work and in that one sermon he
was brought to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and to be desired
to be baptized is a blessed thing where we see The work of the
Spirit will always lead to Christ. No man can come unto me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him, I'll raise him up at
the last day. No man can say that Jesus is
the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost. It is the Holy Ghost that bears
witness, and we must be very clear on this. And so in the
experience of God's dear people as well, we want a Holy Ghost
religion. He wants that which is carried
on by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said, concerning the
Spirit's work, it's like the wind. Do you hear the sound thereof? It can not come whence it cometh,
or whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Now, I prove it in so many ways
in the ministry. Beg of the Lord for a text, I
might go for a walk. And as I'm walking along, suddenly
I realize I'm meditating on a part of the Word. Well, when did that
start? Two blocks back? I don't know. But there it is. And I know it's in answer to
prayer. Then I get to my study. How am
I going to open this up? How am I going to start? How
am I going to end? What are the questions here?
What are the different parts of it? back down to prayer and
asking for the Spirit's help and is in that way it comes not
in any great commotion you think of the springtime can you hear
the leaves breaking out can you start to see the changes you
can't everything's quiet and yet so powerful you can't stop
it and so is the Spirit's work even in simple things when I
was in engineering and Many times at my desk I used to bow and
pray, Lord, how can I make this machine? How do I design it?
What is it going to look like? and the many answers. We did
buy the Bible boxes. Some of you might have seen the
design that we did from Cranbrook and quite a few chapels have
copied it. It was in the TBS quarterly. And you know, when I started
to design that, I had so many bits of paper. I had them opening
sideways, up, down, big, small, all sorts of ways. And I'm begging
the Lord, Lord, show me how to make this Bible box. And we made
two. Do you know those boxes have
been now since, well, it must be four and a half years. I have
not taken one down to maintain it yet. They've been through
summer, through winter, cold. Not a Bible's got damaged inside
of them. And they are now starting to
see signs they need renovating a bit. But they still look nearly
as good as they were. And I, every time I look at them,
I have to thank the Lord for what he showed me to do. A simple,
practical design that endured. And in those sort of things,
but in many things. Asking the Lord to open up the
Word, to show you, to teach us. The Psalms, so many of them are
asking. And the Holy Spirit is given
to give that understanding, to give that wisdom, to open these
things up. And it will always be to exalt
Christ. If you want a real token of being
the Lord's people, You look at it in that, what has the Holy
Spirit shown you of Christ? To you it is given, to them it
is not given. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. A spiritual work, through the
Word of God, the Word of God made precious. The Word of God. You know, those two on the way
to Emmaus, our Lord Himself drew near, and in all the Scriptures,
the things concerning Himself, their heart burned within them.
They were really feeling those things. When was the last time
you felt that? Under the sound of the Gospel.
When our Lord was lifted up, it warmed your heart. It really
touched you, felt encouraged and strengthened in the things
of God. So this God is my God. This is
the one who has been revealed to me and shown to me. This is
whom I love. It is the Spirit that will bear
witness, bear witness to the work of our Lord on Calvary and
to that which is then imparted to a poor sinner and in their
souls. This is the work of God, that
ye believe in him whom God hath sent. Tis Christ makes a believer,
gives him his crown, and is the Holy Spirit that bears that witness
in a poor sinner's soul. I want to look then lastly, if
that is how the Father hath exalted his beloved Son, and the Holy
Spirit exalts and gives re-eminence to the Son, What must then be
the desire and aim of a true Church of God, the Local Church? Truly we may say that surely
that must be our aim as well, to give pre-eminence to Christ,
to put him in a place of which none can come anywhere near,
that he is exalted to the uppermost place, not the Spirit, not ordinances,
not ministers, but Christ. And so just to come a little
bit closer to know what we mean here. I just want to look at
some five ways. The first is this, in the way
that worship is conducted. We mentioned before of Psalm
89, in the latter part, verse 27, it speaks of how that God
will make him to be exalted. But in verse 7 we read that God
is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints to be
had in reverence of all them that are about him. Now we know
it doesn't just apply, though it is in the context, to a disciplinary
situation, but where two or three are gathered together in My Name,
there am I in the midst. Unto Him shall the gathering
of the people be. We believe that when we gather
in His Name, the Lord gathers with us. He is here. He comes
and He stands in the midst, like He did with the disciples. And where that is so, then there
will be the fear of the Lord, then there will be that right
reverence. It's a blessed thing to be able
to come into a place of worship before you've heard the preaching,
before you've seen much at all, you get a feel of that place.
And you can feel that this is a consecrated place of worship. This is where people come to
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and expect his presence. What if it was that we were expecting
our King to come in here? And we should reflect this in
everything that we do, quiet before the service or afterwards,
our conversation. Remember once over in Tasmania,
I went over for my father's funeral, I took the funeral there, and
I had to drive some hundred miles to find a chapel that I felt
was nearest to ours, it was hard to find. I went in and I sat
down and the people behind me they were talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk all worldly things right up to the time the minister came
out and he stood to pray at the bottom of the pulpit and then
it stopped and as soon as the amen, as soon as you walked down
they started going as if you'd lifted the pause button on the
tape recorder and the same things you thought, have you no idea,
you haven't heard a thing of what has been said You've got
no reverence, no respect for others that may be thinking on
the Word of God at all, and no song, and the very atmosphere. It is an important thing to actually
reflect that we know whose house it is, who we're expecting to
come amongst us, and the difference between what is worship and what
is entertainment. Entertainment is man-centered. It is all about us. Worship is
God-centered. It's all about God. He's coming
in for worship. And that is, again, a vital thing
to remember in the music. In all that is done, it should
not be just a bringing in of the world, of entertainment,
of just Well, yes, people may use the name of Christ and that
may be as the only semblance to His presence or token of that
in that building. Even without the name of the
Lord, there should be that of which we know. This is the Lord's
house. If the Lord went in His day with
small cords and He drove out the buyers and the sellers, how
much would he drive out in many assemblies today is most solemn
really the atmosphere and it makes me sad when I know that
there are those that are in employment where they're wearing suit and
tie and they come to the house of God and they're dressed down
very very casual and they might be at the desk, they're deacons
and you think just a few hours before, you were sitting behind
your desk, you were a accountant, you were a lawyer or something
like that, and now this is how you treat the house of God. Why
are you doing this? And it's that how we reflect
the different standards and what we really view the Lord. Is He
in preeminence? Are we really mindful of Him
as we gather for worship? The second thing is in the ministry
of the Word. We are given a commission. Those of us who are ministers
here preach the Word, instant, in season and out of season. We are not to preach ourselves.
Paul says we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. And ourselves your servants,
will Jesus say? Yes, we preach experience, because
the word comes down to our lives and what we experience, but it's
the experience of the truth. That's what it is. In the Psalms,
very many of those Psalms, you read over the top what it relates
to in, say, Samuel, in what actually happened in their lives. Now
you're reading about what's going on in their souls. how it exercised
them, their fears, their cries, their prayers, and these things
come out. We read about sin in the Word
of God, in the preaching, and it explains how we feel that,
how we've grown under that, Paul speaks of that, and it is the
experience of the truth. I remember reading years ago
about one of the Lord's dear servants and he was feeling very,
very low and he felt he had no, nothing at all, no righteousness,
he was poor, his prayers were poor and the pastor over him
came to him and he put his hands upon him after he read all this
tale of how low he felt And he says, I bless you in the name
of the Lord. And he said, you don't know what
I've done, do you? He said, no. He said, because
it says in the word, blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled. He said, no,
you said. You said, I've got no righteousness
of my own, but I do hunger and thirst for it. I desire it. I look for it, but cannot see
it in myself. it's beautiful in Jeremiah this
is the name wherewith he the Lord shall be called the Lord
our righteousness and then the Church of God a few chapters
on this is the name wherewith she shall be called the Church
of God the Lord our righteousness is the same name the same surname
and our righteousness is not of our own but it is of the Lord's
and we lift up the Lord the Lord has said I if I be lifted up
above the earth will draw all men unto me so we're not to undermine
it by humour again it agrees me much if a minister starts
to speak and he starts off with a joke and he starts off with
immediately destroying the whole atmosphere of worship and we
must be delivered from that and if we are preaching the word
again it comes to the actual way we worship as well what mix
do we have those of you that do baking at home you think of
a recipe and you're baking a cake and you might have two cups of
flour, you might have a tablespoon of sugar, or a tablespoon of
butter, you might have a pinch of salt. What if you change the
amounts of the ingredients? What if you put two cups of salt
and you put a pinch of flour? Well, you'd never get your cape,
would you? We know all the time that the balance has to be right.
And you get some places of worship over in Australia. Years ago,
dear friends, one are now in glory, and they were greatly
grieved in the place that they were worshipping at. They said
one to another, they said, if the Bible is not open, next Lord
day we know we must move chapels. And after they'd had an hour
and a half of all sorts of things, announcements and jokes and whatever,
they said, well, now there's no time to read the Word. We'll
read it next time we meet. Could you believe that under
the name of a church, and we're going back 30 years, now 35 years,
that they could actually not even open the Word of God? How
many places of worship would have 80% of music and singing
and only a very small percentage of reading the Word? In the New
Testament, we hardly read or sing at all. Very, very little. The Word is exalted uppermost. This is why we have the pulpit.
This is why we have the Word of God central and lifted up
so all can see it. We have the pattern in Ezra.
We have the pattern with Solomon and the Lord Jesus Christ starting
his ministry and opening the Word We want the mixed right. Whenever the apostles met together,
it was always for prayer. Prayer was uppermost. That's
another very important. That's exalting Christ when we
are looking at the order. Paul, he writes that you may
know how you ought to behave in the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of the truth. And so with the ministry,
the preaching of the word, It is lifting up Christ, the Incarnate
Word, the Word of God, His Word, that liveth and abideth forever. If you and I are blessed or be
through the Word, Jeremiah said, thy words were found and I did
eat them. They were the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. And the Lord said, you shall
not live by bread only, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Labour not for
the bread that perisheth, but for that which endureth to eternal
life. Christ commissioned to Peter,
Feed my sheep and feed my lambs. And what are we fed with? The
word of God. My flesh is drink indeed, my
blood My flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed. Except ye eat the flesh and drink
the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you." They
were offended at that. A few verses later the Lord said,
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. And those words we have recorded
here. the living word of God this is
what we preach this is what the sheep hear my sheep they hear
my voice maybe so those of you here that can truly say the Lord
has spoken to me through the ministry I have received the
words of God Those words have been to me like it was to the
eunuch, like it was to the disciples in the upper room. Those that
rejoiced at the word that heard it, that went from being downcast
like those on the way to Emmaus, to have their heart burned and
at the end of the way, the Lord was revealed to them. And they
were able to tell what was done in the way and how Jesus was
being made known unto them. The third one, I must be quick,
is in doctrine, in the actual teaching, the doctrine. Now John
Baptist was very clear, he says he must increase, I must decrease. The true doctrine of God, it
always puts the crown on the Lord's head. We hold fast to
the Calvinistic doctrines. And you can see whenever there
is error in the Church of God nearly always is because right
at the start man is supposed to have something he has not.
He has some life, something that he's able to exercise, something
that he can instigate or respond to. He doesn't. The sentence
of God was in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die. I pass by thee when thou wast
in thy blood, and when thou wast in thy blood I bid thee live. And the Gospel, it begins like
that. It is a complete salvation. It's
not half. It is complete. And so in the
doctrine we need to be very clear on the doctrine of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the doctrines of grace, by grace ye are saved through
faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. The word
is to be preached, not offered. Grace is given and faith is given. It is not a duty. May we be very
clear on these things, our precious truths of God. Doctrine is very
important when we're thinking here of exalting our Lord Jesus
Christ. and you think then of what John
says in his second epistle and he says that many deceivers have
come into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh And then he says, if there come any unto you and
bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him Godspeed. So doctrine is very important. It's a teaching. It's what we
pin our hopes for heaven upon, the Word of God that liveth and
abideth forever. The fourth thing is the Church's
witness in the world. Our Lord has said that ye are
the light of the world and we are set as a candlestick the
Lord moves in the midst of those candlesticks and we are witnesses
we serve our day and our generation we're not to go off into monasteries
or to be hidden but we are to be in the world but not of it
and show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of
nature's darkness and into his marvelous line. Now many of the
Lord's people in the churches do things in different ways.
Some may preach on the screen. Some of us, we choose to use
leaflets. One thing that was said to me
in our town, and actually was said by one of our charismatic
churches he said if you are leafleting and he wasn't saying it critical
because our leaflets were consistent he says don't put something in
a leaflet that doesn't fully respect and reflect your church
don't get someone in on a false pretence and they come in and
think oh we didn't expect this if we have whatever doctrine
we have in the church of God we have that in everything that
comes from the church in word In atmosphere we don't use solemn,
serious in the church and then make a leaflet with cartoon characters
or something like that. It is consistent in all we do. And those that see us walking
out. I remember years ago, over on the beach in Melbourne, my
wife and I, I think it was before we had the children, might have
had the children, We were walking on the beach and these African
ladies came along with their children. They came straight
up to us and they said, are you Christians? How did they know? Just how we were dressed, how
we were actually walking. And they were in the churches
of God, assemblies of God. And they just poured out their
heart. They said they had an animal day the other day. They
had their dogs and cats under them. And we sat at the back
of the chapel and we cried and we cried. And they just unburdened
themselves. And it's a lovely thing when
you can get those who fear the Lord to recognize each other
and they're knit together and they have the same concern and
desire for the glory of God and same mourning when we see those
things happening that should not be. We are a witness in our
workplace in all that we say and all that we do and people
They notice whether we might not think we do. I remember one
chap came to me, how I got the job that I had for 12 years and
came over here. I came in one day and he said
to me, he said, oh we've spoken to them across the road, you've
got to go over for an interview in your lunch hour. I hadn't
applied for a job. He did everything. He said, I've
told them all about you. He said, I've told you you're
religious, you go to church, you don't have a television,
you don't swear, you go to church. And he leaned off all these things
and I looked at him. I thought, you noticed all of
that? And these things happen. You're marked in the workplace. And we need to be very careful. If we're caught out, sometimes
we are, and people will approve us for something. If it's a valid
thing, immediately, I was wrong, I'm sorry. Immediately. Never
justify something that is wrong. The world picks up. Because we're
a witness to the Lord. They took knowledge of them.
that they had been with Jesus, and may that be with us, that
men take knowledge of us, that we have been with Him and drunk
into His Spirit. And so really that ties in with
my last point, that Christ in preeminence, the Church of God,
it needs to be reflected in its members, those members. The Apostle Paul says, I live
but not I, but Christ that dwelleth in me. What I am, I am by the
grace of God." And it reflected in all that he was. There is
a blessed church that in their lives the Lord Jesus Christ has
the preeminence. They are his servants. Paul says,
you are not your own, you are bought with a price, therefore
glorify God. in your spirit in your body which
are his a blessed relationship with the lord jesus christ what
a wonder he is with the preeminence so great and he takes poor hell-deserving
sinners and He blesses them, and He exalts them, and He exalts
them to His throne to be partners with Him. What a privilege, what
a blessing, and may we be helped in the Church of God, the Church
here, the Church as represented, that in all things He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, might have the preeminence. Amen.