of Colossians chapter 1, Colossians
chapter 1. We began speaking in our morning
service about the preeminence of Christ revealed. Look with me and the first chapter
of Colossians in verse 18. And he is the head of the body
of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. It is the purpose
of God the Holy Spirit in giving these words to the Apostle Paul
that the Lord Jesus be exalted in both who He is and in what
He does for sinners by His work of redemption to show the exaltation,
to show the preeminence over all things to these brethren,
these believers of Colossae and also to show us that He has the
preeminence over all things. He is first in rank over all
things. He's first in honor. He's first
in salvation. He's first in everything that
has to do with God. It's the Lord Jesus who makes
us fit for God. Go back and let me just show
you a few things in these verses that were read to us this morning
Look at verse number 12, He is our fitness, He is our worthiness
for the inheritance, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made
us meet or fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. What is our meateness? What is
our qualification? What is our fitness? to stand
before God accepted. Each of us must stand before
the Lord. We know that. We know that there
is a judgment we must face. We must stand before the judgment
seat of Christ Jesus. In the book of Revelation, it's
called the great white throne. Well, we've got to have a meekness.
We've got to have a fitness in order to stand before God and
abide in His presence. The Lord Jesus is our fitness. He's our meekness. You see, we've
got to be righteous in the Son of God before we can stand accepted
before the Lord. He is our meekness. He is our
righteousness. In the book of Jeremiah, He is
said to be the Lord, our righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness.
Of us, the scripture says, all of our righteousness is there
is filthy rags. We've got to have the righteousness
of the Son of God freely imputed to us. It's a glorious doctrine,
this doctrine of imputation. In the scriptures we find that
the sin of Adam has been imputed to us. We find that our sins
are imputed to the Lord Jesus and He bore them away when He
died on the cross and His righteousness has been freely imputed to all
of His people. We have a fitness for glory. We're qualified to enter in and
abide in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is our qualification. And
then in verse 13, Paul tells us that our Lord Jesus is the
King, and He has a kingdom, He has a spiritual kingdom, who
hath delivered us, or rescued us, and make no mistake about
it, salvation is nothing less than a divine rescue. It's the
rescue of the perishing. Every once in a while, or at
least years ago, we used to sing that song, Rescue the Perishing,
Care for the Dying. Well, we really can't rescue
anybody. We preach the gospel, but I can't
rescue you, I can't save you, I can't bring you to the Lord,
but I know who can rescue you, and I know who saves sinners.
For the Lord Jesus, He came into this world to seek and to save
that which was lost. And so it says here that He hath
delivered us, He has rescued us from the power, from the authority
of darkness, and He hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son. Our Lord Jesus is the King, and
He has a kingdom. He doesn't want to be king. He's
not going to be king someday off in the future. He is the
king now. He is the king of kings and He
is the Lord of lords and He is king over the kingdom of grace. He's king over the kingdom of
salvation. And by His Spirit we're born
into that kingdom. The Savior said to Nicodemus
in John chapter 3 that nobody can even or enter into the kingdom
of God unless they're born again. He said, you must be born again. And that's by the power of the
Spirit of God. And being born again, we are
indeed translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of God's dear Son. In the next verse, He tells us
of redemption. He says, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Our Lord Jesus is the
Redeemer. And where there is redemption
by His blood, through His blood there must be the forgiveness
of sins. It is absolutely an impossibility
that He would redeem a people and then those people's sinfulness,
their iniquities still be charged to them. All of our sins, all
of our iniquities, all of our transgressions, they were charged
to Jesus Christ and He paid the infinite debt to the justice
of God for us. We're redeemed by His blood.
We love to sing. We love to lift our voices unto
our God in praise and exalt the blessed Redeemer by whose blood
we have been redeemed from our bondage, our bondage to the law
of God. Wherever there is redemption
through His blood, there is the forgiveness of sins. He tells
us in verse 15, He tells us that this One who died for us, who
redeemed us, He is the image of the invisible God. He is the
exact likeness of God because He is God. He is the firstborn
of every creature, that is the firstborn in this sense. It's the Lord Jesus who gave
birth to everything. And then he goes on to elaborate
upon that in verse 16 where he speaks of the fact that the Lord
Jesus is the one who created all things, 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 in verse 17, He says, and
He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He's
the one who holds everything together. And then in the 18th
verse, He tells us He's the head of the body. He is the beginning,
He is the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might
have the preeminence. God has given to the Lord Jesus
Christ all preeminence over all things. Now, as God, as the second person
of the Trinity, He's always had all preeminence. He's always
been God. Well, in what way did he receive
preeminence? Well, he received preeminence
in the fact that he stooped to this earth, he joined his deity
to humanity, and as the God-man, As the God-man, He met every
stipulation for the salvation of His people, and as the God-man,
He has been given all preeminence. You see, God cannot give all
preeminence to God that is the First Person of the Trinity.
can't give all preeminence to the second person of the Trinity,
or the third person of the Trinity can't give all preeminence to
the second person of the Trinity, that is, as He is considered
to be purely God. Because He's already got all
preeminence. Isn't that correct? He's already
got all preeminence. Let me show you a couple of Scriptures
here. If you would, go back to John
chapter 17, and let me see if I can establish this in your
minds and in your hearts. John chapter 17. I'm going to
give you three or four passages that I want you to look up with
me and read along with me as we consider the preeminence of
Jesus Christ. Now, as He is God, As He is the
second person of the Trinity, there's no way He can be given
preeminence. He's already got it. He's already
got all power, all authority, all exaltation. There's none
higher than God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
But as the Mediator, as our great High Priest, as our Savior, as
that One who left heaven's glory and joined His deity to our humanity,
thereby becoming bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,
and by His obedience unto death, by His redemptive work, by the
removal of our sins, by the shedding of His blood, As our great high
priest, by His sacrifice, He has earned the right to have
all preeminence. It's been given to Him. Look
what He says here in John 17 verse 1. And this is the Lord's
prayer. This is the Lord's prayer. These
words spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour is come. glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power,
authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him." Now notice this, as thou hast
given him power or authority over all flesh. Now wait a minute,
as God. He already had power over all
flesh. Isn't that right? He already
had all power over all flesh. All dominion belongs to the Son
of God, to the second person of the Trinity, as well as the
first person of the Trinity and the third person of the Trinity.
The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, they have all authority
over all flesh in order to give eternal life to poor undeserving
sinners. But as the God-man, as the God-man, having fulfilled
the Father's will of redemption, He's been given, He's been given
the mediator. Our great High Priest, that One
who's the surety of the everlasting covenants, He's been given all
authority over all flesh. And even this evening in heaven,
there is a man. He's the exalted man. He's the
glorified man who sits at the right hand of the Father and
all authority, all power has been given to that God-man by
God the Father and God the Spirit. He has all preeminence. Let me
give you another reference. Look at Acts chapter 2. Acts
chapter 2. This is Peter preaching on the
day of Pentecost. He addresses these folks who
crucified God's Son. And he finishes up the message
this way in verse 33. Acts chapter 2 verse 33, Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted. Now if you consider
Him as purely God, God can't be exalted. To be exalted is to be raised
even higher. Well, there's none higher than
God. That is correct, isn't it? There's
none higher than God. So if you consider Him purely
as the Son of God, He can't be exalted. But as the God-Man,
as that One who was faithful to do the work that the Father
gave Him to do in covenant love and grace, that work of saving
His people from their sins, that work of redemption, That work
of satisfying divine justice, that work of being our substitute,
dying in our stead, in our room and in our place. In that capacity,
having humbled himself to do that work, God the Father has
indeed exalted him. Exalted him. Watch this. and
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David
is not ascended into heaven, but he saith himself, The Lord
said unto my Lord, Set thou on my right hand, until I make thy
foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus That
is the one whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now we
know He was already Lord. He's always been the Lord. He's
always been the Lord. There's never been a time in
which He wasn't the Lord. Back before He made the world,
He was the Lord. That's when the Father, the Son,
and the Spirit dwelt in everlasting unity. One in power, one in will,
one in purpose, one in essence. These three are one, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. But the Son of God, according
to God's purpose of grace, He left heaven above. And He came
down here to do what had to be done to save our poor souls.
He Himself had to be made flesh. He had to dwell among us. He
had to face the law of God and be obedient to every precept.
And then he had to die unto the wrath of God, because the wages
of sin is death. And having finished that work,
he's been exalted. As the God-man, he's been exalted. As the God-man, the Father said,
I've made him Lord. I've made him Lord. Let me give
you another reference. Philippians chapter 2. Let me
give you this one and one more on this point. Philippians the
second chapter. Philippians the second chapter.
Look at verse 5. 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. Just like us, sin was the exception. No sin. He became Jehovah's servant
and being found in fashion as a man. This was what was required
of a servant, obedience. Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted God exalted him and God gave 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
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. God made him Lord. God exalted him. And then here's
the The other reference I want you to look at, and that's back
in Hebrews chapter 1. John read this to us a few moments
ago. But I want to read it again,
Hebrews chapter 1. Verse 1, 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,
he is God's messenger, 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 didn't try to purge our sins.
He didn't put forth an effort to purge our sins. He has purged
our sins. He has put our sins away. He
put away the sins of all of His people. He put away the sins
of His elect. He put away the sins of all the
sheep that the Father gave to the shepherd in covenant grace.
Having purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high, being made so much better. Watch the language.
Being made so much better than the angels. as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they." Now wait, He made
the angels. He made the angels. They are
His servants. How could it ever be said He
was made so much better than the angels? Only in this way. He stooped down from glory, became
the servant of God's people. to save us from our sins and
having finished redemption, having finished reconciliation, God
exalted him. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high and God said he is so much better than
the angels. It is only in his capacity as
being the God-man that he could be given preeminence. Go back
now to Colossians chapter 1. So He has been given preeminence
over all things, preeminence over all things. I said this
morning He is preeminent in the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus said
to the Jews, search the Scriptures, for in them you think ye have
eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me. He's preeminent
in the Word of God. Do you remember when the Apostle
Paul stood before King Agrippus recorded in Acts chapter 26?
He said, having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto
this day, witnessing both the small and great, saying none
other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say
should come, that Christ should suffer and that He should be
the first that should rise from the dead and should show light
unto the people and to the Gentiles. He's preeminent in the Scriptures.
When you read the Word of God, look for Jesus Christ. He's preeminent
in the Scriptures. He's preeminent in the ordinances. God has left us two ordinances. That's all. That's all. The Lord's
Supper, Believers' Baptism. You know who has the preeminence
in them? Jesus Christ the Lord. In Baptism, When I took these
men into the water, when they went under the water and came
back out of the water, that teaches us of the death, the burial and
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This ordinance
of baptism, it's not about removing your sins. It has nothing to
do with that. It has everything to do with
being a symbolic picture of the death of our Savior. You see,
He is supreme in that. He is the preeminent one in baptism,
in the Lord's Supper. We take the bread, we take the
wine. There is no transubstantiation. The bread never literally becomes
the flesh of our Savior, and the wine never literally becomes
His blood. It's symbolic of the Savior,
of the Savior of His flesh and of His blood. And as we eat the
bread and drink the wine, so we receive the Lord Jesus into
our hearts. We believe Him, that One who
shed His blood for the remission of sins. He told His disciples,
He said, to take the wine, He said, this is the blood of the
new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
So the ordinances, He is preeminent in the ordinances. I said this
morning, He's preeminent in the covenant of grace. Back in old
eternity, that covenant was made with our representative. With
that one who stood for us. He is the mediator of the New
Covenant. He is the surety of the New Covenant. He is the messenger of the New
Covenant. And His blood is the very seal
of the New Covenant. And then He is preeminent in
the purpose of God. You see, before God ever made
the world, He purposed everything that ever would be. That sure
does give me comfort. I'm thankful to know that everything
that happens in this great big world happens according to God's
eternal purpose and will. There's no chance, there's no
luck, there's nothing that happens because, well, fate brought that
about or this is something the devil did and God had no control
over it. God has absolute control over
all things. That's the God of the Bible.
He's preeminent in the purpose of God. Look with me in Ephesians,
the third chapter. The scriptures are absolutely
clear. in teaching this, in all the
purpose of God, in all the decrees of God Almighty. Jesus Christ
is central. He is the preeminent one in the
purpose of God. Everything God has purpose to
do, everything He has determined to do, He does for the glory
of His only begotten Son, our Savior, the mediator of the new
covenant. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
11 says this, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Everything is purposed in him.
He has the preeminence in the purpose of God. And then he has
preeminence in creation. We all know this verse in Genesis
chapter 1, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Well, the book of God says that
Christ Jesus is the one who did the creating. He's the one who
made all things. Go back there to Colossians chapter
1 and see if this isn't what's said. Colossians chapter 1, look
at verse 14 first. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, verse 15, who is the
image of the invisible God. He's called the image of the
invisible God because it's in Him alone that God, who is otherwise
invisible, is manifested to us. And as I said this morning, and
some of you weren't here, I'll just say this again, that all
of God you will ever see, all of God you'll ever know, all
of God you'll ever worship, is the Lord Jesus Christ. We worship
the Father and the Spirit through the Son, our Savior. You draw
near to God through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior. Apart
from Him, there is no drawing nigh to God. You can't come to
God some other way. The Lord Jesus Himself said,
I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by Me. Now if you come to God through
Jesus Christ as He's revealed in this book, God will accept
you. But if you try to come some other
way, He's not going to have anything to do with you. It's just no
way. Because like I said this morning,
and I've said this many times, and I've said many times again,
as long as God gives me breath, God's not going to speak to nor
be spoken to by any son or daughter of Adam except through a mediator.
Every time God is seen in the Old Testament, it's Jesus Christ
the Lord. Every time God speaks in the
Old Testament, it's Jesus Christ the Lord. When God went after
Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve didn't go run into God. After they fell,
they ran away from God. It's the Lord who pursued them
in forgiveness and in grace. And they heard the voice of God
in the cool of the day. The voice that they heard was
the voice of? the Son of God. Because our Savior
said back over in the book of John, nobody has ever heard God's
voice, nobody has ever seen His person, nobody has seen the fashion
of His countenance. All of God you'll ever see, all
of God you'll ever know is in, through and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I wish I could tell the world
that. I wish that people would listen
to that. I wish people would know that
He's all preeminent in the Bible, He's all preeminent in the things
of God, and you can't come to God except through Him. You come
through some dead saint, you'll perish in your sins. If you've
got one of those little necklaces and you've got some dead saint,
an emblem of a dead saint, I recommend to you just rip that thing off
your neck, throw it in the trash can. Because that's just an idol. That's all it is. It is in competition
with Jesus Christ the Lord. There is no other Savior nor
the Mediator between men and God except Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh, He's preeminent. He's preeminent
in creation. It says here He's the firstborn
of every creature. That doesn't mean He's the first
one created because He was Himself the Creator. It simply means
He's the one who gave birth to everything. I like to think about that, that
my Savior, my Redeemer, He's the one who gave birth to everything.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, 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. And watch this, the preeminence
of Jesus Christ is seen in the providence of God. What is divine
providence? It's the Lord bringing to pass
that which He predestinated back in eternity past. Well, what is providence bringing
to pass? Everything. Everything. And I don't know too much about
the trials that some of you are going through, but I dare say
all of you are going through some kind of trial. If you're
not going through a trial, you're coming out of one. If you're
not in one now, you're getting ready to go into one you don't
even know anything about. That's about the way life is,
isn't it? Either in one, you're coming out of one, or you're
going into one, you don't know about that. But I'll tell you
this, I know who governs every trial. I know who governs every
sickness. I know who governs every disease.
I know who governs our health, and I know who governs our sickness.
It's King Jesus. King Jesus. He is preeminent
in the providence of God. It says here in the last statement
of verse 16 that all things were created by Him and for Him, and
He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And that word consist means by
Him all things are held together. I'm glad He's holding all things
together. It just looks to me like, with these eyes, and with
my natural understanding, and I look at the thing going on
in this world, and I don't see much of what's going on in this
world, but most of what I see I don't like. And most of what
I see upsets me. That is, it upsets me until I
remember that by my Savior all things consist. He's governing
everything. Divine providence is our Savior
bringing to pass that which He has predestinated. And He's predestinated
all things. He's marked out the end of everything
from the beginning. And by His almighty will and
purpose and power, He's bringing everything to pass. I'm so thankful He governs. Somebody said to me one time,
wouldn't it be something if somebody in our family was to rise up
to be like the President of the United States, have the highest
office in the world? I said, I can do you one better
than that. We do have somebody who's risen far above presidents
and prime ministers and kings. It's our friend, the Lord Jesus.
It's our Savior. And He sits on His sovereign
throne. And everything that happens,
happens according to His will. He knows what He's doing. I can't
understand it. Of course I can't. I'm not God. I'll tell you what, I believe
Him. That is when I'm thinking straight. Don't you believe Him
when you're thinking straight? That's when we have peace and
when we're thinking straight. But I tell you, it seems to me
like a lot of times I'm just not thinking as straight as I
ought to. Sometimes I'm not walking by faith and I say, shame on
me for that. That's my problem. That's a problem.
That is sin. Unbelief is a sin. We'll make
any excuses for it. Whether we believe or whether
we don't believe, He abides faithful always. Governing everything
for His glory, to bring about that which He has purposed, and
is making all things work together for the good of His elect. That gives me some peace. That
gives me some comfort. There is the pre-eminence of
Jesus Christ in Providence. Look with me in Daniel chapter
7. Let me read these verses to you. I'll go quick here. Daniel chapter 7, and look at
verse 13. 13 and 14. Daniel chapter 7, verses
13 and 14. Here's what brother Daniel said,
I saw in the night visions, and behold, be amazed. Pay attention. In Daniel 7.13,
I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man
came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days,
and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him
dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and
languages should serve Him. Everything is serving Christ
Jesus. Did you know that? Everything
serves His purpose. I know people aren't knowingly
serving Him, but they're absolutely serving Him. That's what the
book of God says. It says His dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed. And we read there in John 17,
as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Several years ago up in Almont,
I read that passage of Scripture there in John 17, and I said,
are you flesh? He had been given power over
all flesh. I said, are you flesh? And I
said, you pinch yourself. Are you flesh? He's got all power
over you. And after the service, a mother
came to me and her little girl had drawn a picture of somebody
pinching their hand like that. Are you flesh? He's got all power
over you. He's got all authority over you.
Everything that moves or exists in this world or any other world
as far as that is concerned is under the sovereign authority
of King Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. In Revelation chapter 5, John
watches as the lion of the tribe of Judah, he takes the book,
the book of divine predestination out of the hand of him who sat
upon the throne. All the fates of men and angels
are written in that book, written within and without and on the
backside and sealed with seven seals. And our Lord Jesus begins
to open, to loose the seals thereof. He is executing God's eternal
purpose. Let all the people of God rest
easy. Let's don't be anxious. No wonder
the Savior said, be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. And then the preeminence of Jesus
Christ is seen in the salvation of sinners. What about election and salvation? Jesus Christ is preeminent because
we are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. What
about predestination? Oh, He is preeminent there too
because we are predestinated to be conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ. What about redemption? He is
the one who redeemed us by His blood. What about justification? He's the one who justifies us.
What about forgiveness? He's the one who forgives us.
Our Savior forgave that lame man. They say, who can forgive
sins but God alone? Yeah, that's right. Who can?
He's God. He's God. And He forgives the
sins of His people. Regeneration, the new birth is
having Christ formed in you by the power and the grace of His
Spirit. He is supreme. He is preeminent
in regeneration. In sanctification, He's our sanctification. He's our holiness. We have no
holiness but the holiness of Jesus Christ. That's all the
holiness you want to have now. We're not growing in holiness.
We're growing in grace but we are a holy people. We've been
set apart by God Almighty for His eternal purpose according
to His grace. In preservation, oh, He's preeminent
there because He keeps us. He keeps us. He says none can
pluck us out of His hand. In resurrection, when our Savior
comes back, we shall be raised up from the dead by the power
of our Savior. He's preeminent in the resurrection. He's preeminent in glorification.
May it liken to Him someday. And I'll tell you, the preeminence
of Christ will be seen in eternity because all judgment's been given
to the Son. I don't know whether you believe
Him or not. I don't know whether you've been brought to bow to
Him or not. But if God, by His gracious Spirit,
through the hearing of the gospel and through the work of the Spirit,
if He doesn't bring you to bow to King Jesus in this life, you'll
be forced to bow by the rod of His power, the rod of His wrath
at the judgment. Because He's going to have all
preeminence in eternity. And when we get to heaven, those
of us who are his children, saved by God's grace, our sins washed
away in the blood of Christ Jesus, the Savior will have all the
preeminence. I know what people's ideas of
heaven are. It's something like it's going
to be a great family reunion. It wasn't so long ago, somebody
told me, when their loved one had died, said, well, I'm sure
glad mom and dad are together again. and soon the family will
be there and we'll all enjoy one another forever. Heaven is
not about a family reunion, an earthly family reunion. Heaven
is about exalting Jesus Christ the Lord. Heaven is a place of
worship. That's where we adore him. And
oh yes, it will be a great reunion, but it's a reunion of the people
of God. There's a family, it's the family
of God. We're brothers and sisters in
the Lord Jesus. God is our Father, the Savior
is our Redeemer and the Spirit of God, He's our abiding Comforter
and someday we'll be in glory and all of God we'll ever see
will be Jesus Christ the Lord. Well, let me just say this and
then I'll close. I call upon all of you to honor
the Son of God who has the preeminence of all things. Preacher, how
can I honor God? How can I honor Jesus Christ? Well, could I give you just a
few things and then I'll let you go. I want you to think about
these things tonight. How can I honor Him? How can
I honor God? How can I honor Jesus Christ
the Lord? Number one, admit before God
your miserable state of sinfulness. That's honoring to God. In other words, agree with what
God says about you in this book. That's honoring to God, isn't
it? Because that's believing what He says. And then honor
Jesus Christ by believing the record that God has given of
Him. Of who He is. And what He did. And why He did it. And where
He is now. And you honor Jesus Christ when
you bow to and you surrender to His eternal Lordship. That
is, you worship Him. You honor Him when you confess
Him in believer's baptism. You honor Him when you associate
yourself with His servant and with His people, when you gather
to worship. As a preacher, I honor and give
Him the preeminence whenever I preach Him. Alan, whenever
you preach him, you give him the preeminence, don't you? That's what preaching is all
about. It's not about making you feel good. I'll tell you
this, and I've heard this so many times, people think that,
well, we come to church so we'll feel better. First and foremost,
this is not even for you. This is for the Lord. We're here
to worship. It is an honor to be here. We
ought to be thankful. Bless the name of God that before
He ever made the world, He ordained that on April the 10th, 2016,
He would gather us together in this specific building to hear
this specific message from this specific preacher. He did that. Thank God He did that. Thank
God He ordained to put us under the sound of the gospel, not
error. but truth. And you honor Christ as a believer when you seek to do His revealed
will in this word, and you walk by faith, believing Him. You know, for a people who believe
grace, and we, most all of us, profess to believe sovereign
grace, For a people who profess to believe sovereign grace, we
sure do complain and fuss a lot, don't we? May God forgive us. We sure do worry a lot, don't
we? That anxiety, give me a nerve
pill, let me calm down. Well, keep your nerve pills and
study the scriptures and may God give you grace to lean on
Jesus Christ, kind of hug up to the Savior. That's where rest
is. This world of trouble, this world
of conflict, it's a vile world out here. Immorality, it's everywhere. Where are you going to find any
peace in your heart? Where are you going to find any
joy? Out there? No. I'll tell you where you find
it. in this one that God has made to be preeminent, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's where rest and peace is
to be found. And nowhere else. Nowhere else. Well, let's sing a closing song,
number 509. The sands of time are sinking.
And when we get to this last stanza, where is Jared? Rick,
everybody there. On the last stanza, you fellows
come down. I don't ask people to walk the
aisle very often. But on the last stanza, I'll
ask you to walk down the aisle and come down here because people
want to greet you and welcome you into our church family. So that's on the last stanza.
If you'll come on down and I'll be the first one to greet you.
Let's sing 509. Would you stand with me? Let's
exalt the Lord and sing this song. ? A chance of time forsaken, the
dawn of a new day ?