Turn with me, if you would, back
to Colossians 1. Colossians 1, we've been going
through this chapter. We will pick up and be looking
at verses 16 to 18 this morning. But if you look back at verse
12, The Apostle Paul said, Timothy and I are giving thanks. He said, We are 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, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who He is talking
about. That's who all of this is about. Christ the Lord. Verse 14 says,
In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. There is only one way for a sinner's
sins to be forgiven. There is only one way for a sinner's
sins to be forgiven. That sinner must be washed in
the blood of the Lamb. Period. Period. The Lamb is Christ Jesus the
Lord. That is the only way. The only
way that we can have redemption from our sin is by God the Father
covering us in the blood of God the Son. That's the only way. I feel so sorry for people. I
feel so sorry for people who do not get to hear what we just
heard. That was a wonderful, wonderful
message. Do you know how rare it is for
people to go into a building that is known to be a church
and to sit down and hear the truth of the Word preached? Do you have any idea how rare
that is? It is not common. It's not common. Well, we went to church today.
Why did you go to church? Well, we went to hear what the
scripture has to say. It's not common. It is so rare. And I feel so, so sorry for people
who, in trying to learn something about God and to learn something
about eternity, unknowingly, they walk into a
house of lies. Unknowingly. unbeknownst to them. They pick one, the closest one
to their house. And they walk into a house of
lies and they sit there listening to a false preacher who is preaching
lies to them. And they believe him. Why would
they not? He's a preacher. They're in a
church. They believe His lies and He
gets them so emotionally torn all to pieces. He just tears
them up and convinces them that if they will just come to the
front of the church auditorium, they can be saved. That is not
so. That's not so. There is just as much sin right
here as there is right there. There's just as much sin right
here as there is right there. Just as much. Or men stand up
and convince people that if they will just accept Jesus to be
their personal savior, they can be saved. Or if they will just make their
decision for Christ, then they can be saved. So people do that,
having no idea what any of that even means. They hear people
say, if you will just accept Him as your personal Savior,
you can be saved. So people say, okay. And they have no idea what
that even means. Really, what does that mean?
What does that mean? What does it really mean to give
your heart to Him? If you'll just give your heart
to Him. Men stand up and say, you have
to do this or you have to do that. And people say, okay. And they walk out more confused
than when they walked in. That's what happens. They walk
out. More confused than when they walked in, but they walk
out with some false sense of security. Confused, but some kind of false sense
of security. They walk out with a hope that
is built on lies, telling everybody, I got saved. Did you hear? I got saved. How do you know? How do you know you got saved?
They said so. They told me I was. So apparently
I am. There is only one way. There is only one way for a sinner
against God to be saved. And it has nothing to do with
our hands. It has nothing to do with our
decisions. It has nothing to do with what
we accept or what we reject, or what we give or what we don't
give, or where we stand. It only has to do with one thing. Did God the Father cover us in
the blood of God the Son? Salvation is in the blood. It's
in the blood. Life is in the blood. Somebody
will say, I don't understand. I don't understand what you're
saying. How do I play a role in that? What is my part? When
you say that salvation is in the blood, salvation is in God
the Father putting the blood of His Son on us. What is my
part in that? We don't have one. We don't have
one. Salvation is completely of the
Lord. And we're going to see that in
our text. Now speaking of Christ, verse 15 right here in Colossians
1 says, Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature? That means the heir of all things. And here's the reason why. Verse
16 says, For. Because. Alright, because. By Him. were all things created
that are in heaven." And that makes sense, doesn't it? By Him,
all things were created that are in heaven and that are in
earth. Visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities, or powers, spirits, and things of that nature.
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."
In everything that exists, Christ has the preeminence. In everything
that exists. It doesn't matter if we're talking
about heaven, it doesn't matter if we're talking about earth.
Things that can be seen, things that cannot be seen. Governments,
there are governments all over this world. Rulers in everything
that exists, Christ has the preeminence. Now what does the word preeminence
mean? Verse 18 says, He is the head. Verse 17 says, He is before. The end of verse 16 says, It's
all by Him and for Him. If we could ever get a hold of
this. Man thinks it's by Him and for Him. Is that not what
man thinks? Man thinks this whole thing is
by Him and for Him. meaning man, if we could ever
get a hold of this right here, if God would ever send his spirit
and convince us of this right here, we would have a right mind
and we would have a right view of God, of man, and of salvation. False religion has men and women
so convinced that the cart goes before the horse. They have it so backward. They
tell men and women, the ball is in your court. That's what
men walk away from religion thinking. The ball is in your court. The ball is not in our court.
It's not in our court. The ball is in His court. That's what preeminence means.
It means the ball is in His court. Christ has the preeminence. He is the one who must make the
first move in everything, in all things, no matter what it
is. He is the first. He is the head. He's the first. He is the last. But He is the
first. He is the beginning. It starts
with Him. It all starts with Him. Look
at a few scriptures with me. Go to John chapter 1. John 1 verse 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word. That's Jesus Christ. Because
verse 14 says, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. So that's Jesus Christ. Verse 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. He was the first in existence. All existence. He was in the
beginning with God. He was God. He is God. He is the first in existence. He has the preeminence in existence. First, the beginning. Look at
John chapter 8 with me. John 8 verse 58 says, Jesus saith unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." What does he mean by that? What
does he mean, before Abraham was, I am? If you look with me
at Revelation chapter 1, Verse 8, He said, I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and
which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Now who is this talking about?
Who is the Almighty? Verse 1 says, this is the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And He said, I was not just in
the beginning, I am the beginning. I am the beginning. Explain that
to me. I can't. I can't explain that. But He said, I am, and therefore
I bow to it. We all must bow to the fact that
He has the preeminence in all existence. The scripture refers
to Him in both the Old Testament and the New Testament as the
root, the foundation, the cause, the giver, the source. That's what it means to say He
has the preeminence. He is the first in everything,
the first cause of everything. We know the story of Joseph.
Back in Genesis, Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers. He was sold to a bunch of gypsies
that were passing through. He ended up in a prison in Egypt. But when it was all said and
done, as the keeper of the storehouse,
he said to his brethren, you meant this for evil. But God
meant this for good. And what He was saying was, God
did this. That's what He told him after
it was all said and done. He said, God did this. God has the preeminence in this.
God is the cause of this. God was the controller of this
the whole time. What He was also saying is, He
gets the glory in this. In Egypt, Pharaoh, years later,
ended up cruelly treating God's people. He beat them. He murdered them. Gave hard bondage to them. After
God delivered them, he said, Pharaoh, this is the whole reason
I raised you up. This is the whole reason I put
you in this position. It was to show my power in you. And what he was saying was, I
did all that. I did every bit of that. In Isaiah
45, he said, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace
and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Nothing happens outside of my
permission, outside of my preeminence. A sparrow cannot fall to the
ground. I told Brother Luke, I'm about
to preach your message. I'm going to say all the scripture references.
And I love it. It is so true. A sparrow cannot
fall to the ground outside of his preeminence. A sparrow cannot
fall unless he first says, it's okay. You can die. Turn with me to Acts chapter
4. 24, Acts 4, 24, it says, And when
they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one
accord, and said, Lord, thou art God which hath made heaven
and earth and the sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth
of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy
child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together."
Everybody was gathered together. He's saying everybody came together. Verse 28 says, whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done." That's all they did. When they
hung Christ on the cross of Calvary, all they did was what God had
already preeminenced to be done. In chapter 2, verse 22 says,
"'Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain." God did that. God the Father hung His Son on
the cross. That's just glorious. God the
Father hung His Son on the cross. Pilate didn't do it. He told Pilate, you could have
no power over me at all except it were first given to you by
my Father. We just read that the Jews didn't
do it. God the Father hung His Son on
the cross. God made Him to be a sin offering. God laid on Him the iniquity
of His people. God made Him to be the scapegoat.
God did it. In every bit of that, He has
the preeminence. He was the head of it. He was
in charge of it. He was the first cause. So He
has the preeminence in existence and He has the preeminence in
all circumstance, specifically and most importantly, all circumstance
in regard to our salvation in our eternal life. And I just
want to repeat that last part. He has all preeminence specifically
And most importantly, in every circumstance concerning our salvation
and eternal life. It starts with Him. Man thinks, how do I get the
ball rolling? How do I make this thing start?
It starts with Him. Look with me at Isaiah 42. Everything that pertains to our
salvation. He is the first cause of it.
Every piece of salvation. Our brother just spoke to us
on election. Either God chose a people or
He didn't. All right, now, Isaiah 42, this is the Father speaking
of Christ. At the heading of my page, the
very top of my page, it says the office of Christ. This is
speaking of Christ. Isaiah 42, verse 1, the Father
said, Behold My servant, whom I uphold, mine elect. in whom my soul delighteth, I
have put my Spirit upon Him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles." Christ has the preeminence in election. What that means is God chose
Him. God chose Him. That's who God
chose. There is no boasting in election. God chose Christ. And then He
put all of His people in Christ. Our election is only in Him. That's it. only in Him. We were only chosen because of
Him. We do, God's people do ask, why
would He choose me? Why would He choose me? Here's
the answer, Him. We are only chosen because of
Him. He has the preeminence in that.
He is the first cause of our election. There was nothing in
us that made us worthy to be chosen. He is our worthiness,
chosen in Him. Look with me, if you would, at
Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews 1 verse 1 says, God who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His
glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high." He has the preeminence in our redemption. He has the
preeminence in our election, and He has the preeminence in
our redemption. He, by Himself, purged our sins. By Himself. The payment that
was made. The price that was paid. Our
redemption is only in Him. Only because of Him. He is the
Chief. He is the head. He is the first and only cause
of our redemption. He has the preeminence in that.
The payment of that redemption was death. He holds the preeminence
in that too. The payment that had to be made
was death. And He was the first one to ever
die. He was the first one chosen.
first one to redeem a man. And He was the first one to ever
die. Revelation 13, don't turn over
there, but Revelation 13 verse 8 says, He is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, before the world was ever created. He was the Lamb slain. He's the
first. He's the first. From that death,
He arose, never to die again. He's the first one to ever eternally
rise to life. 1 Corinthians 15 says, He is
the first fruits of them that slept. He's the first. He is
the first in life itself. He said, because I live, you
live also. only because I live. He is the
first in acceptance with the Father. We are only accepted
in the Beloved. He is the first in sonship to
the Father. He is the first among many brethren. In Matthew 17, this is what the
Father said. He spoke out loud from heaven
and He said, This is My beloved Son, hear Him. He has the preeminence. Everybody listen to Him. In all
things, He's first. He is first in power. We read
of His power over the wind and power over the waves and His
power over all flesh. Proverbs 21 says, The king's
heart is in his hands. As the rivers of water, he turns
it however he wants to turn it. He said in John 17 to his father,
You've given me power over all flesh. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess His
preeminence. Every one. We love the preeminence
of His love. All of the love of God. You know
where all of God's love is? It is in Him. If we want to find
God's love, if we want to enter into God's love, we must get
to Him. He has the preeminence in that. Oh, the preeminence of His glory. This is what it all comes down
to. Who gets the glory? Alright, now you know what we've
been made to be in Him? Sons of God. Joint heirs. Joint heirs. Sharers of the inheritance. But who gets the glory? One. One. He does. He will for all eternity. 1 Corinthians
1 says that no flesh should glory in His presence and it never
will. Throughout all eternity, no one will glory in His presence. Galatians 6 says, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He that glories, let him glory
in the Lord. And the reason is because he
has the preeminence of it. He's the first. He has the preeminence
in judgment. John 5.22 says, The Father judgeth
no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son. All judgment. It all goes to Him. The next
verse there in John 5 says, He has all the preeminence in honor. It says, All men should honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not
the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him. The Father
has declared Him to be the first in honor. We could keep going
and going and going and going and going. Everything that is, He has the
preeminence. He's the first. He's the object. He's the cause. In all things,
we will see that Christ is all. In everything that there is,
we will see that Christ is all. Now go back to Colossians 1.
Let's read our text one more time. And let's see if the Lord
has convinced us of this. Because to see this and to believe
this and to bow to this, this is life eternal. 1 Corinthians
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,
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." God's people say amen to that. They do. They say amen to that. He is
in absolute control of all things, and He is in absolute control
of me. I'm a puppet on His string. He
is in absolute control over everything that concerns me. And God's people
are so thankful for that. They love that. They take comfort
in that. He reigns and He rules so perfectly
over us. He so abundantly provides for
us. Even though our faith is so small,
He provides for us anyway. He so faithfully keeps and protects
us. He so lovingly orders everything
about us and everything around us to bring us to Him. That's what He does for us all
of our days. He brought us to Him and in the rest of our days
He keeps bringing us to Him. We go out prone to wander. This
heart and mind and soul is so prone to wander. And we come
back and He brings us back to Him. He orders everything about
us and everything around us. He orders our every step to bring
us to Him. And He'll just keep bringing
us to Him. What would the body be without the head? What would the body be without
the head? Let me close by reading you this
poem. This is a song from the Gadsby's
Hymnal. It was written by a man with
the last name Kent. This is a believer's response
to Christ's preeminence. This is what all of the body,
this is what all of the church confesses concerning His sovereign
order and control over all things. It says, "...Come, saints, and
sing in sweet accord, with solemn pleasure tell, the covenant made
with David's Lord, in all things it was ordered well. This covenant
stood ere time began, that God with man might dwell, Eternal
wisdom drew the plan, in all things it was ordered well. This
covenant, O believer, stands thy rising fears to quell. Sealed by the surety's bleeding
hands, in all things it was ordered well. T'was made with the Lord
Jesus for His bride before the sinner fell. "'twas signed and
sealed and ratified. "'In all things it was ordered
well. "'When rolling worlds depart
on fire "'and thousands sink to hell, "'this covenant shall
the saints admire. "'In all things it was ordered
well.'" In glory soon, with Christ their King, his saints shall
surely dwell. And this blessed covenant ever
sang, in all things it was ordered well." Can't we say that? I mean
every single thing that he has the preeminence over, it was
perfect. It's all perfect. To Him be glory for every great
and perfect thing He's ever done. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.