To the first chapter of Colossians
this morning, please. Colossians chapter 1. As you heard in my prayer, the title for this morning's
message is Above All. Above All. Listen to these words from Matthew
chapter 10 verse 37. Well, let me just set the table
for you. There was a great crowd of people. The Lord had been,
it was in the house. I forget whose house it was now, but he
was in a house having a meal, or something to that effect.
And some people came to him and said, your mother's calling for
you, your brothers, your family's calling for you outside. They
can't get in. There's too many people. And
he says, my mother, my brothers and sisters, these, this whole
crowd, all these people, By the way, you and I are in
that family. If we have been called from the
darkness that we once walked in, if we have been called to
see the lowliness, sinful self, of the flesh. And the light and
the glory of God's grace found only in the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ have been shined in our hearts. We are members
of that family that he's talking about. This is my family, he
says. Then he goes on and in verse
37 he says this, He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me. I want that to sink in. I want
you guys to grasp a hold of what we're about to look at here.
He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of
me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me. Our Lord is not contradicting
Himself here in regards to His instructions of honoring thy
father and thy mother. Some would say, see the Scriptures?
This is a contradiction right there. The Lord's telling you
to hate your mother and father here and over in other parts
of the Scripture. He's saying, honor thy mother
and father. How can we believe it? That's not what He's saying
here. What He's saying here is simply this. He's putting the
head where it should be. Right on top. Above all, the head of the church is our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the head of the church.
The called out, we go about our lives honoring the members. But
without the head, we all know this, the members have no value. Isn't it amazing that God has
brought us to a point in this world, in this time, that he's
given us the ability to manufacture something that can replace just
about every part of your body? If your heart's no good, they
can put a mechanical heart in there and it'll work. If your
liver's no good, they can put a mechanical liver in there,
they can do this, they can do that. They can give you an arm. They
can give you an arm that actually will reach over and grab a cup
of water and drink and dial phone numbers and stuff, punch numbers
on it. They can't give you a new head. I know like myself, there's many
who say, I'd really like to have a new head, but we can't. You take the head off and the
whole body stops. What our Lord is saying here
is, I am the Lord. I can't even reach that high. Our
Lord is saying, I'm the Lord. If you love your father more
than you love me, then you're not worthy of me. If you love
your mother, which you better, more than you love me, you're
not worthy of me because I'm the head. I'm the Lord, there
shall be no other. There is none above me. I ask
you this morning, is He your Lord? Real easy for us
to say yes. Real easy to say yes. I want
you to look in your heart. I want you to look deep down
inside of your heart. Do I declare Him Lord in everything
that I do? I don't. I want to. I try to. But I don't. Which makes me very, very thankful
that the Lord allows me to stumble. allows me to kick my toe against
the coffee table in the dark at night and scream out and say,
Lord, there's something going on that I needed to do that for.
I know that you're Lord of that, even. I know that he's Lord of
whoever it is that's sitting in the so-called White Houses
or the buildings that people sit in to rule over what they
think they're ruling over in the country. Our Lord is Lord.
He's sovereign Lord of everything. Do I esteem Him above all others, including this one who stands
before you? I can tell you this, that whether
we answer yes or no, by the authority of His word, He is Lord of all. Some have been brought to know
this now, like you and I, And some will be brought to know
this in the days that are coming, Lord willing, some of my loved
ones, I pray for my children, I pray for all of those that
I know who are lost in darkness still, that if they belong to
God, and I know they will, I know that if they belong to Him, they
will be called, they will be brought to know who is the Lord. And others will be brought to
know it all at the end of their time. Are you with me in Colossians
chapter 1? Paul is addressing the saints, the faithful brethren. And after his opening address,
he shares with them his prayer for them, or in other words,
his desire, and he shares it for this reason, to encourage
them, to admonish them, to walk worthy of their calling. Look
at verse 10 of Colossians chapter... what did I say there? Sorry. Chapter 1. Here you go. Chapter 1, verse
10. That ye might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God. Now, those of you who
were able to be here for our Bible study, you remember I mentioned
to you that it's going right from our Bible study, right into
the message. You see? It does, doesn't it?
Well, it's going to continue that way until the end. Increase. That it might increase in the
knowledge of God. This is the prayer of all of
God's saints. This is what we pray for each
other. Yes, we do raise each other up, as I mentioned about
our brother Mike, those of our brothers and sisters who have
been sick, those who are brothers and sisters who are dealing with
lost family members. We raise them up for those reasons,
but more importantly, we raise them up that they might stand
fast. We cry out to our Lord to give
them strength, our brothers and sisters, to stand vast in the
gospel of Christ. Increasing in the knowledge of
God. Lifting Him up. To increase in
the knowledge of God is exactly that. It's to lift Him up above
all others. It's to lift Him up above all
things that are created. It's to say, yes, that thorn
I just stuck in my foot accidentally is of my God, because He's Lord
of everything. It's, yes, the rain came last
night and blessed us with a wet parking lot. Awesome. We haven't
had that in a long time. It rained a little bit the other
day, not quite as much. It didn't rain too much last
night, but it did a little bit. But that is of my Lord. Our prayers for the increasing
in the knowledge of God, lifting Him up, giving Him glory as we
make our walk before men. You've heard me say this before. My son doesn't know the Lord,
but you know what? He knows his father does. Why? Because I go around beating him
over the head with the Bible? Why, because I go about telling him,
hey, this is the five points of Calvinism, you need to live
the life like this? No, it's because if I smash my
finger, where I used to say a word that I won't repeat here in this
pulpit, nowadays it's, ah, Lord. Ouch. Maybe there's something that
he's keeping me from. Or after the 10th red light, I've got to get to that place
in Roseville. I'm going to be late for dinner. That's what
I was thinking last night. I was like, I left an hour ahead
of time. I should be there. But I'm hitting
every red light. But you know what? Here's what
a child of God does. A child of God thinks, Lord,
you may be saving me from something at a light up ahead of me. We give our Lord the glory for
everything in our walk before men. Listen to the words of 1
Thessalonians 4 verse 1. Listen carefully. This is Paul writing to the Thessalonians,
furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, we exhort you
by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought
to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. We were talking in Bible study
this morning about how the phrase progressive sanctification at
one time was used in that very fact, in that very point, was
used meaning growing in grace, growing in the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus. And how the world took that phrase, the Jesus loves
everybody people, took that phrase and they made it into a phrase
of becoming more holy, which is not correct. Folks, the people
of God progress. But we don't progress in the
way the world progresses. As I shared with our brothers
and sisters this morning, we progress downwardly. We progress more and more in
the sin that we... Answer me this correctly if you're
from your own heart. You don't have to raise your
hand and actually say it. But think about this in your own heart. When you first
were saved, when the Lord first showed you the truth of who He
is, what He's done, and where He is right now, and what you
are, do you consider yourself more a sinner now than you did
then? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You see what I mean about progressing
down? You know what that does though? That progresses my Lord! That raises up His mercy, His
grace for me even more than what I had seen it before because
I see how great His mercy is where sin aboundeth, grace aboundeth
much more. Does that mean we're supposed
to go out and sin more? No. Paul says very clearly, God forbid. That's not what that's meaning
at all. Listen to the words of Hebrews
13, verses 20 through 21. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do his will. Working
in you, that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. We sing a song. Just a closer walk with thee. I was still running around a
little bit when the Lord first saved me, and then I got the
conscience thing started going on. Wait a minute, that's, God
don't like me doing that. That's something I've got to
stop doing. As life went along further and
further, yeah, I stopped doing certain things. But it was because
my Lord's grace was growing and showing me the difference between
what I used to do and what I should be doing. Just a Closer Walk with Thee
is a song we all sing. Lord, You know this is my plea,
just a closer walk with Thee. Let it be, O Lord, let it be. Read on if you would, verses
11-18. Strengthened, remember we're
talking about that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge
of God. Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious
power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Folks, I'll tell you, there was
a time when I wouldn't have even thought about being a little
more longsuffering. If you messed with my family,
we'd be after you. Those of you who have a lot of
brothers in your family, you know what I'm talking about.
We had three brothers down the street from my house when I was
a little kid. I got stupid one day and messed with one of them.
By the end of that day, I hurt really, really, really bad because
all three of them came down and took care of John Reeves. Long-suffering with joyfulness,
giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light. who
have delivered us. You see, this is important that
we're reading here because this is telling us that we don't act
that way because of anything I've done in us. We haven't changed
our mind or anything. Our Lord is doing it for us.
How am I willing now where I was unwilling before? It's because
my Lord made me willing in the day of His power. In the day
of His love. who have delivered us from the
power of darkness as they tracelated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions." Listen to the list here. Listen
to this list. He's God of all things. He's above all thrones. He's above all dominions,
all principalities. Why do you think that apple falls
from the tree? Because God thought it should do so. That's a principality. 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
of the church, who is the beginning of the firstborn from the dead,
and all things that He might have pre-eminence." Pre-eminence. What does that
word mean? That's a big word, isn't it?
Pre-eminence. It means to put Him first. It
means to hold Him up before all others. In John 3.14 we read
these words, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Have you ever thought
about that for just a moment? You've got a brazen serpent,
snake. There's a whole bunch of serpents moving around out
in the middle of the people, biting them and killing them.
And the Lord says, look to this serpent. Don't believe. Look to. Look to the one who is above
all, the very one who is An emblem of those that are going about
killing. The very thing that's going about killing them. You
see, the serpent is sin. Our God had to be made sin. He had to suffer the consequences
of sin for His people. And that's exactly what He did.
When we talk about our Lord going to the cross, we're not just
talking about God Almighty dying, we're talking about the Lord
laying down His life for His people, for His sheep, for you
and I. Being made sin for us, taking
all of our sins upon Himself, that when He went into that grave,
and then arose again on the third day, He left all that in the
grave. He paid the price. It was done. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
This is what we do as children of God, praising our Lord for
all things. Turn over to Philippians chapter
2 if you would, please. That's to the right. Just a couple
of pages, Philippians chapter 2, and while you're turning there,
allow me to read from 1 Corinthians 2 where Paul is saying these
words. He says, For I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now consider this if you will.
The Apostle Paul is expressing the knowledge of Christ. I wish
to know nothing of you save Jesus Christ, the knowledge of who
He is. He's expressing that He wishes
to know nothing of them save the knowledge of what the Lord
has done. And that's when He says, of Him
crucified. It's more important than anything
else about you. Folks, I love that you consider
me a pastor and come to me for certain things, whether it be
just to go over and help you move your car out of the dirt,
or to cut down wood, or whatever it is you might need of me. I
love the fact that I know you all in a personal way. But what
blesses my heart is I know you in the sense of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Have you ever thought about what
Steve Doyle and I have in common? A biker, a man who worked in
the White House. That's a pretty big difference
between cultures. But we were brothers. The same
in Christ. And what a joy that gave both
of our hearts. The Apostle Paul, in saying those
words, is expressing the knowledge of Christ, the knowledge of who
He is, the knowledge of what He's done. And that's the most
important thing, is to know Christ, is to know where He is right
now. Where is Christ right now? He's
on His throne, above all. Look with me if you would at
Philippians chapter 2 verses 1-11. If there be for thee any
consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy,
fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same
love, Being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness. Lowliness of
mind. Remember I told you about the
progression of God's saints. Do you know where the Lord says,
don't let the right hand know what the left hand is doing?
You know why? Because all it takes is for me
to figure out what my hand is doing, and I'll start saying,
see what a good guy I am? Maybe you don't do that, but
I do. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in a fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him." That word exalted, raised up, put on top,
above all, and given him a name which is
above every name. that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven." Now get a load of this.
You see, it's not just humans. It's not just mankind that bows
to the Lord. He's Lord of all. He's Lord of
things in heaven. All the angels, whatever God
has in creation in the heavens is all His. And things in the
earth, everything that you and I can see, everything that turns
around this terrestrial ball that we have, everything that
turns around us in the sky that we see, He is the Lord of it
all. And get a load of this. Oh, oh,
oh, oh, here we go. And things under the earth. He's Lord of everything. We saw in our Bible studies on
Friday nights the story of the Gadarene, who was filled with
devils, filled with demons. And the Lord just... come out
of him. He had no choice, because He's
Lord of them. He's Lord of it all. He's above
all. Now look at verse 11. and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. Christ Jesus is Lord over all.
He has all power on His throne of glory. Turn over to Ephesians, again
to the right, just a couple of pages. Look at Ephesians chapter 1, verses 17 through 23. Paul's prayer for the people
at Ephesus is this, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and the revelation and the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, being illuminated, the eyes of your heart being
opened to see the truths of God's words that ye may know what is
the hope of His calling. And what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints. And what is the succeeding greatness
of His power to us who believe according to the working of His
mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand
in heavenly places. far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all." Folks, we worship the Almighty.
He who is above all things and this is what the world will know
of us. Our God is in the heavens and He doeth what pleases Him.
We worship Jesus Christ as our sovereign creator. He was before
the world was. Jesus Christ has always been
Jesus Christ. He just wasn't a man. He wasn't
flesh. But He has always been God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Let us make
man in our image. That's in Genesis 1. The great three in one have always
been presented in the Word of God. We worship Christ Jesus
as our perfect righteousness, our spotless Lamb of God. We
worship Christ Jesus as our High Priest. He's the one who went
into the holiest of holies and shed His blood on the mercy seat
for you and I. It's His blood that God the Father
looks down upon and sees when He looks upon you and I and sees
us as white as snow. Perfect. It is us who are perfected
in Him. We worship Jesus Christ as our
King on His throne right now. People come to you and say, how
can you have such a peace with all the turmoil in the world
around you? Because my Lord is ruling it all. How can you deal
with this guy that we don't want in the White House anymore? How
can you deal with that? Because my Lord put him there. He would have no power at all,
just like Pharaoh, if it weren't for God Almighty putting him
in that position. To know the Lord Jesus Christ
is to know Him where He is right now, Lord of lords, King of kings. To be born again is when the
Lord removes the old unregenerate heart. The black stony heart that says,
I will not have this one to rule over me. The heart that is blinded
by our sin. The heart that loved our imaginary
power thinking that it is my decision. I will exercise my
will. When he's removed the old stony
heart that desired to be as God. That's exactly what free willism
is. It's man putting himself above
God rather than where he should be as a worm. Removing that old heart that
would not turn to the true and living God. The heart of deceitful
lies. The heart that deceitfully lifts
man above what he truly is. To be born again is to be given
a new heart. A new heart that's willing. Willing
in the day of His love. Willing to come to Him and lift
Him up. Willing to declare unto all who
we cross paths with, this is my Lord, He who is God. I am not my own. I was bought. Purchased. by the blood of Christ. Now I
belong to Him. But even greater, He belongs
to me. Would you look with me at the
front of today's bulletin? Psalms 1914, we read these words. Oh, how I pray this is a prayer
in your heart. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my redeemer. This is what we declare We declare,
folks, this one who is my strength. We declare this one who is my
redeemer. And one day, one day soon, returning
to this earth to gather the remainder of his elect and to judge the
wicked. Turn, if you will, to Revelations
chapter 1. Revelations chapter 1. While
you're turning there, allow me to read from Acts chapter 1.
Our Lord has come. He has laid down His life for
His sheep. He has paid the price with His
own blood. And He has arose from the grave. And He has spent some time proving
it to His people, revealing Himself to His true sheep. And now it's
time for Him to ascend into heaven. And as the apostles stood there
and watched Him ascend, and when He had spoken these things while
they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out
of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
towards heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in wide apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing into heaven? Why are you standing there looking
up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have
seen him go into heaven. Are you with me in Revelation
chapter 1, look at verses 4 through 8. John to the seven churches,
that's the complete, the completion. The Lord completed creation in
seven days. Just a little side note to you.
You know what 666 is? Right now, there's a whole lot
of people talking about the mark of the beast. Don't take the
vaccine, that kind of stupid stuff, because it's a mark of
the beast, some way to put something in you. The mark of the beast
is 666. It's the mankind itself. It's imperfection, because it
comes up short of perfection, which is the Lord's creation,
the number seven, the God's church, the seven churches of God. To
the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and
peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come,
and from the seven spirits. And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and
the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us,
and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory
and dominion forever. Amen. Behold. Behold, look, grab a hold of
this truth. He cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see him. You ever stop to wonder how that's
going to be? I'm going to see him in the clouds. You know, I just thought of this.
I wonder if this is one of those things the flat earth people
use. Yeah, it just came to my mind. But imagine that. I'm on this side of the earth,
and I'm seeing the Lord. He's coming in the clouds. And the
guy on the other side of the earth, exactly on the other side of
the earth is me. He's seeing the same Lord coming in the clouds. Pretty neat, huh? He's above
all. Behold, He cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see
Him. And they also, which pierced
him, and all kindreds of the earth, shall wail because of
him, even so, O man. Amen. And our Lord says, I am
the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. The Almighty. Notice the Holy
Scriptures have the word italicized. Lifted up. Raised up. Raised up above all
else. I ask you again, is Jesus Christ
your Lord now? If He has revealed Himself as
Lord to you, there is no need of anything else. As we grow
in grace and the knowledge of Him, the world will become strangely
dim. as we sing in that song in the light of His glory and
grace. Amen.