I want you to look there in verse
18 with me, where it says, And he is the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all he might have the preeminence. It
says here the Lord Jesus is head of the church, and that's what
I want to talk about today, Christ being head of the church. being
head of the church. Now, some see the church as the
local assemblies of believers only. And it is true, the church
is a local assembly. That's what Paul, when he wrote
to Colossians, what he says there in verse 2, he says, to the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae. That's
the local church he wrote to. He's only writing to the saints
and the faithful brethren. And so, you know, that's according
to Scriptures. We're a local church here. We're
a local assembly. We're not no part of a denomination
or any organization. We're a separate body of believers
called together by the Spirit of God and believe the gospel
and taught the gospel by God. We're a local assembly. That's
according to Scriptures. And if Paul was writing to us, he'd
say, to the saints and faithful brethren at Lantana Grace Church. That's what he'd say, local assemblies.
And then there are some who see the church both local, like we
are, and universal. The church everywhere. And this
church everywhere is made up of all believers of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. Every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. Now, if you've got this local assembly, then you've
got this universal church. There are churches meeting local
assemblies meeting all over the world. Down in Mexico, they're
meeting. In China, there's people meeting.
Wherever God's people are, they meet. But how could you ever
get all these people, all these local assemblies, all this universal
church, how could you get them all assembled together? Well, I've got news for you.
They're already assembled together. Where at? At the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're assembled together at
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament saints, those
who have gone before us, they're in this church. The church started
before the day of Pentecost. You know, I talked about the
church in the wilderness. But the Old Testament saints,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Abel, Noah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, these
dear saints of God, Ruth, Naomi, and then you've got John Newton.
Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther, and then those that we love that's
gone on before us. They're in this church. They're
in this church. Some of them are in heaven right
now. The names of the church written in heaven, Paul called
those whose names are written in the book of life. And they're
all in the same church, whether they're there or whether they're
here. And Christ is head over there as he's head over here.
And that's why he says, upon this rock I'll build my church,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That means
the gates of hell is coming at it, but they don't prevail. And
our Lord Jesus Christ said He loved the church and gave Himself
for it. Now won't you look over here in Hebrews chapter 2 and
verse 12 with me just a moment. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 12. Chapter 2 and verse 12, talking
about Christ being head of the church. But it says here, and this is
what Christ says, and He's talking about Him and His brethren, saying,
I will declare thy name, the name of God, Hebrews 2.12, saying,
I will declare thy name, unto my brethren in the midst of the
church, will I sing praise unto thee." Right in the midst of
the church, that means the church universal, wherever God's people
are. Christ makes the name of God known to us. Hebrews 12,
23, you don't have to look it up, I'll read it to you. Paul
talked about, we've come to the General Assembly and Church of
the Firstborn, which are written in heaven. Church of the Firstborn,
which are written in heaven. I'm going to tell you something
else about this church. Local of this church of, universal
church, this church of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
This church, of whom Christ is head, has no unbelievers in it. Not an unbelievers in it. It
has no tares in it. Has no hypocrites in it. Has
no false professors in it. Now the local assembly does.
But the Church of Christ head over, it don't have any of those.
Is that not right? Would you not agree with that?
Now, the local assembly, it has hypocrites. It has false professors. It has unbelievers. It has terrors. In fact, our Lord Jesus said,
have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Didn't
Paul say, Alexander the coppersmith, give me much evil, and the Lord
reward him in that day? And John says this, he says,
they went out from us because they were not of us. If they
were of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. And everyone,
I'm going to tell you something else about this church that the
Lord Jesus had over. Everyone in this church knows
the Lord Jesus Christ, knows Him. More than anyone knows some
things about Him, knows Him. And every single one of them
will be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ someday.
And the church is the assembly of those whose names are written
in heaven. Now, when did this church start assembling? When
did this church assemble? This is a church that has no
hypocrites, no tyrants, no unbelievers, no false professors. When did
it assemble? Well, it assembled in the mind
and purpose and will of God before the world ever began. You know, that's why the Lord
Jesus, it says about Him, He was the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And before Adam ever sinned,
Christ was made our Savior. Before Christ ever came and assumed
flesh, God gave Him a people. And Christ came into this world
to redeem those people. He called them sheep. He called
them vessels of mercy. He called them mine elect. He
called them my chosen. He called them my vineyard. He
called them his beloved. He called them his children.
He called them his sons. But there he is, and they were
given to him. All that the Father giveth me.
How many times in John 17 does he say those that the Father
giveth me? So this church was assembled
in the mind and purpose of God before any of us ever existed.
And secondly, when does it assemble? It assembles at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It says at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Some of the church is already
in heaven. Some are still left here on the earth. Though they're
in different places, it makes no difference in their unity.
I mean, what we believe here will not change when we get there.
Us being in the church of Christ will not change when we get there.
No more than it does here. I'm at one with those in glory.
I'm at one with those on the earth. But you know why that is? Because
the Lord Jesus Christ is the head. He's the head of it. It's
like a child. When you have a child and that
child dies, he doesn't cease being your child. You don't cease
being his parent. You still think of them as your
son or your daughter or your granddaughter, your grandson.
You know, it doesn't keep them, even though they go someplace
else, from being yours. No more than it does if they
move to another city that you cease to be their parent. We're
always their parent. We'll always be their parent.
They'll always be our son, always be our daughters, no matter where
they are. Is that not right? Mary won't cease to be Ethel's
daughter, and Ethel won't cease to be her mother, just because
they dwell in two different places. Do you know why that is? Because Christ is the head. So it doesn't matter where the
Lord Jesus Christ sheep are. They're one, for they're in Him.
The time don't make any difference whether it was from Abel to today. The place doesn't make any difference
whether they're in glory, whether they're on earth, whether they're
in China, whether they're in Mexico, whether they're in Tennessee.
Time, place doesn't make any difference. Distance doesn't
make any difference. This does not create a separation
for they're one in Christ. And that's why Paul said, is
Christ divided? Well, of course not. And that's
why he says Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And he said, Husbands, love your
wives even as Christ loved the church and is head of the church. Now, I want to tell you, this
is my first point. It's my first point. Christ is the head of
the church. As the head of the church. Represents the whole
body. Gary had it in his hymn today.
He represents the whole. As they are, so as he is, so
are we. Right? You know, beloved, Christ
as the head represents the whole body. It's like, you know, they
say we need to start counting heads. When they start talking
about counting heads, they start talking about counting people
because the head represents a person. Is that not right? When they
say let's count heads here, that means let's count the persons.
Every head represents a person. And Christ represents a person.
That person is his body. The church that he gave himself
for. And here I want you to understand this, and I know you understand
it, and I've told it so many times, that the whole human race
was represented by one head, and that was Adam. And because
he represented us, what he did, we did. When he sinned, we sinned.
When he fell, we fell. We became sinners by one man's
sin. Is that not right? For by one
man's sin entered this world, and death passed upon all men
because of all sin. Where did we sin at? We sinned
in Adam. And then, beloved, and that's why you know it says over
here, look at 1 Corinthians with me just a moment. 1 Corinthians
15. And you know here, the Lord Jesus
and the Scriptures make such a distinction. 1 Corinthians
15 and verse 21. You know, God in order to save
son of Adam's fallen race, He instituted a federation, he instituted
a people which Christ is the head of. As Adam was the head
of a fallen race, Christ is the head of a redeemed race, of a
holy race, of a peculiar race, a particular race. And Adam was
a fallen man, Christ is the perfect man. Adam could not give us life,
Christ can give us life. Adam brought death on us, Christ
brings life to us. Adam brought disobedience, Christ
brought obedience. Adam lost righteousness before
us, Christ gave us righteousness. Adam brought death and darkness
to our minds and understanding, Christ brought life and enlightened
our understanding. And here in 1 Corinthians 15,
21, look what it says, For since by man came death, Oh, listen
to it. By man came also the resurrection
of the dead. Resurrection of the dead. Do
you know what he's talking about here? First of all, us being
quickened from death and trespasses and sins. Secondly, when we go
to the grave, Christ is the only one. He is the firstborn from
the dead. As other people have been raised, Christ raised people,
the prophets raised people, but he was the first one who ever
came out of his own will and power. Everybody else came by
the will and power of God. And oh, look what else it says.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. And look over here in verse 47
with me just a moment. So you see there's two different
races of people there. One will die, one will be made
alive. One will sin, one we have our life from. And look what
he says in verse 47. The first man is of the earth,
earthly, fleshly, down to this earth, worldly. The second man
is the Lord. Where'd he come from? He come
from heaven. He didn't come from the dust.
Huh? And as is the earth is such are
they also that are earthy. As that, I mean, we come from
dust and we come from Adam, we're going to be like Adam. And as
is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. As we
are in Christ, as He is, that's the way we are. And as we born
the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly. Bless His holy name. And that's
why, beloved Adam, what we lost in Him, Christ is the head of
the church. God gave Him a people, and He
restored everything Adam lost. And let me tell you something,
beloved, God deals with the whole human race by and through their
head. Now that's right, God only deals
with people in this world through two men, Adam and Christ. And
the only man that was ever created, now listen to me, the only man
ever created was Adam. The only man ever created was
Adam. God made Adam out of the dust
of the earth and every one of us is descended from Adam. There's
four ways God made people. I hope I get this right, I hope
I remember. First of all, He made a man without a woman. Made
him out of the dust of the earth. Second, He made a woman out of
a man. Is that not right, Eve, out of
Adam? Secondly, he made a man with a man and a woman. Third. Fourth, he made a man
with nothing but a woman. Christ Jesus, not a woman. And on, God deals with us, and
through Christ our head is how God deals with His church. He
dealt with us through Adam, now he deals with us through Christ. Oh, and ain't that what it says
here in verse 19 of Colossians? I've left it, but I'll go back
over there, over here in Colossians. Colossians chapter 1 verse 19,
ain't that what it says? For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. Colossians 119, all fullness
dwells in him. God deals with his people now
through the head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me tell you this, not
only is Christ head of the church and he represents the whole body,
the head represents the whole body. When I look at you, I see
your face, but I see a person sitting there. I look at your
head, but I see your person. And that's what God does when
he sees Christ, he sees the whole body. You can't separate the
body and the head. And secondly, Christ as the head
of His church is the life of the church. Now, I'm going to
tell you something. We see this all the time. You
can't live without your head. You lose your head, you're just
gone. But you know you can lose every other member of your body
and still live. But you can't live without your
head. People come from wars all the time. Both arms gone. Both
legs gone. And you see them all the time.
Nothing but a trunk left. And they still live. But boy,
if they get wounded or shot in the head and they die, you can't
live if something happens to your head. And that's the way
Christ is. We can lose any member of our
body and still live. But if we lose our head, we can't
live. And so is there any danger of
anything happening to our head? Huh? Look here in Colossians
3, 3. Look what it says here. Oh my,
that's what our Lord Jesus says, because I live, ye shall live
also. But here in Colossians 3, 3,
it says what it says, for you are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God. Now listen to it, when Christ,
our life, Christ our life. Christ our life. Paul said, I
live, yet it's not I that liveth, but Christ liveth in me. When
Christ our life shall appear, watch what happens. When He appears,
because we're one with Him, He's heaven above, we'll appear with
Him too. He's going to appear in glory, we're going to appear
in glory. He's coming in glory, He's going to come and give us
glory. That's what he said in John 15. He says, I'm the vine.
You're the branches. And I mean, every thought of
our life comes from Him. Comes from Him. We have no life
apart from Him. And I'll tell you, you know,
folks say we need to make Christ our first priority. We need to
make Christ first in our lives. We need to make Him Lord in our
lives. We need to make Him of this and the other. I've got
news for you. God already made Him that. We can't make him something he's
not. He's already alive. Can I live without Christ? No
more than I live without my head. I cannot live without Christ.
Where am I going to get life out of if I don't get it from
Him? I got death from Adam. I know what it is to be dead.
I know what it is to feel that corruption. I know what it is
to feel that body of sin, that body of death. But now I also
know what it is to have life flow through my body. Have life
flow through my soul. Have life flow through my very
being. And that life is Christ Himself
flowing through me. I know what it is to live now. I know what it is to trust, believe,
embrace, and rejoice, and know that I have a life from someplace
else. Do you know that? You feel that? And I'm going to tell you something
else. Third thing. Our Lord Jesus is head of the
church. He's the chief glory of the church. He's the chief
glory of the church. You know, when you take a picture,
most of the time it's a portrait, it's a head. Most of our pictures
on our walls and in our wallets is of the head. And when you show somebody a
picture, you know you looked at them, and there's a head.
And see, beloved, and Christ has all the premise, all the
glory, and all the beauty of the church is their head, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? You ladies, what do you
do? And well, us men too. What do
we do to our heads before we come to meet? We get our hair
just right, get it sprayed, get our makeup on just right, get
our hair combed, we put our smellamon. We want to present ourselves
nice, good looking, as best as we can. And we love it because
people's going to look at us. Look at our hair. Is my hair
all right? How many husbands? wives, do they say, does my hair
look okay? How's this dress look on me?
And you know, beloved Christ, if you want the beauty and the
glory of His church, He is that. He's altogether lovely. Oh, beloved,
All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him, Lord of all. You know, when you get the crown
out and you're going to put it on somebody's head, you don't
go over here and lay it on his knee. Do you? No, no. You don't stick it on his hand.
What do you do with it? sits on His head. And Christ gets all the glory.
Christ has the crown on His head. Christ is our monarch. Christ
is our king. He's the one, beloved, that senses
the ruler, the reigner, the sustainer of everything. And oh, beloved,
when the Father... And you know, over in Revelations,
it talks about on His head are many crowns. You know why they
say many crowns? I'm going to tell you why. Because
every crown He gives His children, the crown of righteousness, the
crown of life, they turn around and give it all back to Him and
say, to Him be the glory. We got the crown of life? He
gave us life, so I'm going to give Him the crown back. He gave us the crown of righteousness?
I'm going to give it back to Him because it's His righteousness.
He gave it to me. It's His, and that's why He has so many crowns.
On His head are many crowns. We give them all back to Him.
And when the Father sees the Son, beloved, He sees us, because
He looks at the head. You can't look at the head and
not consider the body. And you know, we'll look at a
picture and say, here's my son, here's my daughter, my granddaughter.
But the head shows the person. You say, boy, how pretty they
are. You look at the head and say, oh, how pretty. They just
look wonderful. How young. And you know, when
we talk about the church, We say, oh, look at the glory of
the church. Where does it get its life from?
Where does it get its beauty? God sent me over to Ezekiel.
He says, you're made perfect. What through? My comeliness.
My comeliness. And let me tell you this. The Lord Jesus, as head of the
church, is Lord, is King, and is absolute sovereign over the
head of the church. Now, I know we're fixing to go
to vote here on November 2nd, because we live in a republic
and one vote for one man. But the church is not democratic.
There's no voting that goes on in the church. What would we
vote over? Who's going to be the head? Who
are we going to get our life? Who are we going to get our righteousness?
Who gets in, who gets out? Huh? Oh my, the church is not
democratic. We have one head, and the head
directs the body, and the body does the will of the heaven.
The head, and you know, this is the thing about it, our body,
we just do things just, my hands move constantly when I'm preaching,
you know that. But I, you know, I can't help that, that's what
my head tells me to do. And I'm not even conscious that I'm doing
it. My head just automatically tells
me where to move, where to go, what to say. And I look at things
and my head tells me what to do. And that's the way it is
with the church. We get our life and direction
and purpose and goal and aims and objectives from Christ our
Savior. We're not going to vote over
anything in this congregation, except maybe one of these days
when I'm gone you might have to vote over a preacher. But
I hope you don't. But I tell you, we get our light,
light, our understanding, the eyes that we see the Scriptures
with, the eyes that we see Christ with. We get our light, our understanding,
our revelation. We get it from Christ the head,
don't we? And I look, when I see with these eyes right here, I
see with it, and then where do I get the light from my eyes
head now, from my understanding? I get it from Christ. Huh? And commandments. My head tells
me what to do, just constantly, continually. And that's where
we get our commandments. How do we know what to do? How
do we know how to live in this world? We look to see what Christ
said. He that loveth me keeps my commandments. Ain't that what He says? And
this is the commandment I've given you, that you love one
another even as I've loved you. Huh? And our doctrine. Where are we going to get our
doctrine? I just see me, see us, you know. Well, let's wait
and see what the church is going to decide for us to believe.
They're going to have a synod up in Missouri. They're going
to have a synod up in Colorado. They're going to have a meeting
down in Nashville, and they're going to decide what we're supposed
to believe for the next year. They're going to decide whether
we're going to ordain women. They're going to decide whether
we're going to let homosexuals in the church. They're going
to make all these decisions for us, and they're all... Could
you imagine? Where does Christ get the glory at? Where do you
get it? You wait for somebody to tell you what to believe?
When Christ is there and He teaches our doctrine? It's called the
doctrine of Christ. He said to Himself, He said,
He that heareth me and receiveth me, he understands that my doctrine
is not mine, but the Father's. What I teach, my teaching comes
from above. And oh, beloved, we get our doctrine
from Christ. I never went to a school. One time somebody asked Don Fortner
where he went to school, and Henry Mann popped up and said,
well, the only school I know where he went to is reform school. Of course, Henry was just joking.
He said, where's school again? I said, just reform school. But you know, how can an uneducated
man How can common people like us, not a lot of college degrees,
not a lot of education, how can we understand these great Bible
doctrines, these great truths of Adam, lost in Adam? How do
we understand that Christ was made of a woman and took upon
Him flesh? How do we understand this business
of being a sinner and being righteous at the same time? How do we understand
where faith comes from? How do we understand that Christ
is the head of the church? Christ taught us. He's the head.
He taught us these things. He taught us the body of these
things. And oh, beloved, and we get our authority. What authority
do you have for what you believe? That's what they asked Paul.
Where did you get this? They asked Christ. Where did
you get this authority? He said, you tell me by what
authority. John Dunn said, oh, hell, we can't tell. We get our
authority from Christ. Where do I get my authority?
I get it from Christ. The church gets its authority
to exist. That's why when we went up to
borrow money for this building, we just went up there and told
the fellow we wanted to borrow some money. He said, you've got
to have some minutes. You've got to have the whole
church decide on this thing. So two or three of us men back
there wrote up Some menace took him to the bank and said, all
right, here we are. And he couldn't understand. You
know, he just couldn't understand it. The whole church can be one
in one way. We didn't need somebody's authority. We get our authority for what
we believe, what we do from Christ our Head. Now look over here
in 1 Timothy with me just a moment. Two books to your right. Two
books to your right. 1 Timothy 6. In verse 13. Oh my. And I'll tell you something,
beloved. He's the absolute ruler and sovereign
over His church. He's the only Pope and Tate.
The one that's got all power. He says here in verse 13. 1 Timothy
6. I give thee charge in the sight
of God who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who
before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, good profession,
that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this. Which
in his times, people don't believe it now, people don't enjoy it
now, which in his times he shall show Who is the blessed and only potentate,
and that's one of his titles, see how that's capitalized? The
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. People talking about this fellow's
got this power, that fellow's got that power. They're going
to one of these days find out who has all the power. In his
times he's going to show it. These fellows say, God and Christ
ain't got no power except your power. God ain't got no hands
but your hands, no feet but your feet. You know, and He can't
get by without your money. Listen, God has existed before
we ever did, and He'll exist long after we're gone. And the
church will exist throughout all eternity. And Christ will
continue to be the head over it. We'll still get our life.
We'll still get our direction. We'll still get our will. We'll
still have our authority. One place, from Christ, even
when we get in glory. Is that not right? And oh, what
he went on to say here, who only hath immortality. Who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom the honor everlasting and everlasting.
Next time you see somebody talking about all the power they've got,
some have got some power in this world. But Christ is going to
show them who all power belongs to. We know it now. We understand it now. And oh,
ain't you grateful that you know that? Ain't you grateful you
know that? What could we change if it wasn't
like that? What could we change about ourselves
in Christ? We can't by thought, by thought,
change our stature. He is so powerful and so glorious
and such a He's got such rule and such affection for his people
that he counts the hairs on the top of their head. I'll run my
hair through my head now, and I'll pull out handfuls. I can't
even count them. But he counts them before there's
there. He counts every one I take out. Now, he takes them out. I wouldn't take them out if I
could help it, but I can't help it. Oh, let me tell you this.
Fifthly, about Christ being the head, who but Christ can be head
of the church? Who but him could be head of
the church? Could the Pope be head of the church? Could he
know every member of his body? Could he know every member of
the Catholic Church? Could he save every member of
the Catholic Church? Could he make every member of the Catholic
Church holy? Without blame, without spot,
unreprovable in God's sight? So who but Christ could be head?
Could some denominations be head over the church? No. That's why he said, I set my
king upon my holy hillside. God has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as God
has given him. He has all power and authority
given unto him in heaven and earth. And John 3.35, one of
my favorite verses of Scripture, The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given, given, given, A-L-L, all things into his hand. That means me, that means you,
that means His church. And oh beloved, who could, but
Christ could be head of the church. God said He's the head of the
body, the church. The Father decreed it, that He'd
be head of the church. And that's why we're going to
do what He says, that's why we believe what He says. Christ,
God designed it that He'd be head over the church. And when
Christ prayed, do you know when He prayed, He said, I pray not
for the world, Who did he pray for? I pray for those that Thou
hast given me. I pray for them. I don't pray
for the world. I didn't come to save the world. I came to
save those that Thou hast given me. And he says this, and when
the head says something, the whole body says it too. The whole
body is involved in it. My head can't make a decision
that my body won't be involved in. And when Christ, beloved,
sits at the right hand of God, and He says, Father, I will, that they whom Thou hast given
Me be with Me where I am. Guess what's going to happen?
We're going to be with Him where He is. And He says that they
may behold My glory. Will we see His glory? We see
it here and now. Wait till we see it in glory.
If you think it's glorious to us now, imagine what it'll be
like in glory. What principalities could be
head over the church? What angels? How many angels
would it take to govern the church? Who has the wisdom that Christ
has? Who has the power that Christ
has? Who can govern such a huge church, a church that a multitude,
no man can number, and yet Christ governs it, saves it, keeps it,
teaches it, puts people in it, and takes people out of it. When
He takes them out of it, He takes them to glory. When He puts somebody
in it, He adds to it daily, such as should be said. He does that. How can He do that? He's the
head. And, oh beloved, let me tell
you this in closing. He deserves, not only can he
as the head of the church, who best, who but Christ could be
it, but he deserves to be head of the church. Don't he? He deserves
to be head of the church. For no one else, no one else
can do for the church what she needs to be done every day. Now,
when we talk about the church, the church is made up of individuals,
made up of local assemblies, made up of all believers of all
ages for all time. What needs to be done for us?
As a local assembly, Lantana Grace Church, what needs to be
done for us? What needs to be done for us
as individuals? Well, only Christ can do for us what needs to be
done. Nobody else can. The scripture says, Abraham believed
God, that he was able to perform that which he promised. I believe
God's able to perform what he promised, don't you? Oh, I believe that Christ is
able to save to the uttermost. To that uttermost means, beloved,
from the uttermost from the day you're saved to all the way in
the glory. Saved to the uttermost. Them,
them, them that come unto God. Where at? By Him. And I believe,
beloved, and I know this, that He deserves to be head because
He's able to keep you from falling. and to present you fall-less
before him that is coming, able to keep you from falling. How
many of John Newton said this, if a soul should fall away, I
should fall a thousand times a day? But a soul can't fall away. Why? Because Christ is able to keep
you from falling. And oh, beloved, He has the power,
and He's the only one who does, to quicken the dead. Ashes, come
forth! Sashes, come down out of that
tree! Daughter, I say arise! There's that young man in his
casket. Christ stops him on the road.
Get up! Go home with your mama. He's
got the power to quicken the dead. Has He ever quickened you? He's the only one with the power
and He's the only one with the right to give life to dead men. I don't have it. You don't have
it. If I could give life to anybody, I'd go to every one of my children
and give them life just like that. I'd go to Riley right now. I'd go back there and say, Riley,
you've got life. God will give you life. I'm going
to give you eternal life. I'm going to give you salvation.
I'm going to give you forgiveness of sins. I'm going to put you
in the body of Christ. I can't do that. Only the head can do
that. Christ has got the power to do
it. And look over here in Ephesians 1, and I'll wind this thing up.
Ephesians 1. Our Lord is not only head of
the church, but He's head and He's ruler over all things. It says here in verse 20, talking
about the power works in us, the power that raised Christ
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places. Now watch this. Far above all
principality and power and might and dominion, and every name
that's named, not only in this world, but also in that which
is to come. There's been some awful big names
in this world. Look at all the Caesars. They
had all that in His power. Kings could just Here you just
say dead. I want him dead. And you just
go. They told him to go. I want John the Baptist's head
in a charger. Go get it. Bring it here. There are some
people, there are some big names, some big power in this world.
But he says Christ has over every name that's named, not only in
this world, but also in the world to come. That's the name that
we give reverence to. That's the name that we give
glory to. That's the name that we say has got all the rights
and authority and power. and hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be head over the church in all things,
which is his body, the fullness of them all in all. And in Colossians
1, real quick, let me show you this. That's why Paul said in
Hebrews 1.8, he says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever talking
about the Son. And that's what he says here
in Colossians 1.12. Giving thanks. unto the Father,
who hath made us able worthy to be partakers of the inheritance
and the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power
of darkness, translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."
Now watch this, "...in whom we have redemption, the payment
price of our sins through his blood." Now watch this, "...he
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."
Now listen, "...for by him were all things created." Everything
that's in heaven, He made it. Everything on earth, He made
it. Everything you see, He made it. Everything you can't see,
He made it. If there's a throne somewhere,
He made it. If there's dominions, He gave
it. From sea to shining sea is what we say about America. He
gave America that dominion. Principalities and powers, all
things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist. Now this is who God
made to be head of the church. Everything is under His power,
under His rule. Ain't you grateful? Bless His
holy name.