It just brings forth the supremacy
of our great God. It just brings forth His supremacy.
And that one verse there, I remember Donny Bell preaching a message
on this, verse 10. Be still. That means just to
stop. That means just to sit, like
repose, in a chair. Just be still. Don't move. That
means no work. Be still and know that I am God. Oh my! My I will be exalted among
the heathen I will be exalted in all in all in the earth And
he is isn't he's exalted by his people of every tribe kindred
tongue and nation Oh my turn if you would to Colossians chapter
1 Colossians chapter 1 Today we will look at the supremacy
of Christ the supremacy of Christ Colossians chapter 1 These verses
bring forth our great God's supremacy, our Savior's supremacy. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the true and living God incarnate in the flesh.
And he came here to save his people from their sins. And he
did it, beloved. Praise be to God. He did it.
He did it. And now he's in glory, seated
at the right hand of the Father. And he's our mediator, the only
mediator between God and man. And that's Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Colossians chapter 1. Let's read verses 15 to 23, speaking
of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven. Now note that, all things, all
things, every molecule, every single thing in this world, every
atom. every speck of dust, every insect, everything visible and
invisible. All things were created by Him,
by the Lord Jesus Christ, that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or power, all things were created by Him and
for Him. They are all subservient to Him.
Everything is subservient to our great God, to the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior, our Savior. It goes on, and he is the head
of the body, the church. He's the head. When you get family
pictures taken, we don't take pictures of our feet, do we?
Right? We take pictures of our head.
The head always gets the preeminence, right? He is the head, or the
body. He gets the preeminence in everything,
in everything. My he's the head of the body
the church Who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that
in all things he might have the preeminence? Oh, he might get
all glory beloved. He might get all the honor and
all the praise Look at this For it pleased the father it pleased
Jehovah that in him should all fullness dwell and heaven made
peace through the blood of his cross and Now, he was already
at peace with God, Christ was, right? Because he's God. Who
did he make peace for? He made peace for us, we who
are chosen, redeemed sinners. God himself made peace with himself
for us. God the Son did that. And having
made peace, How? Through the blood of his cross.
This shows his humanity. This shows us his humanity. He
was a real man. The blood of the cross, by him,
and only him, to reconcile all things unto himself. By him,
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.
And you, now he's writing to the born-again, blood-washed
saints at Colossus. He's not writing to the whole
city of Colossus, but he's writing to the saints there. And he says,
and you. And you, this was our state before
the Lord saves us, that we're sometimes alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. I
remember someone telling me, well, I was never an enemy of
God. That's someone who used to sit in the Grace Church. I
was never an enemy of God. And I said, well, if you were
never an enemy of God, then you weren't born again. Because when
you're born again, what do we realize? We were enemies with
God in our nature, don't we? And that's not my words, right?
That's the words of the scripture, isn't it? That's what the scripture
declares. So really, that person was arguing with God, weren't
they? I was just the messenger, but they got mad at me. But really,
they're bucking the word of God is what they're doing. Because
the word of God right here says, look at this. And remember, this
is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and you that were sometimes
alienated. We were dead in trespasses and
sins and enemies in our minds. Now, did God know who we were?
Did he know we were his lost sheep? Of course he did. But
in our minds, by wicked works, we were enemies with God. And
I know that. I just have to look back at how
I was before the Lord saved me. I wasn't saved till my 30s. I
know how I was. I know in my mind I was an enemy
with God by wicked works. I was shaking my fist at God
the whole time. And then I had the audacity to
say, when someone called me a sinner, what? Well, that guy over there
is a real sinner. See, full of self-righteousness. No, we know what we are as believers,
don't we? We know we were alienated enemies
in our minds by, look at what it says, by wicked works. That's
by our sins. That was our state, by wicked
works. But look at these marvelous words. Oh, look at these. Look
at these marvelous words. Yet now hath he reconciled. So the believer can say, I am
reconciled to God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in him
alone. Hallelujah. We're the most blessed
people in this world, beloved. We who are the people of God,
we're the most blessed people in this world. Look at this.
In the body of his flesh, through death, when he died for us on
Calvary's cross, to present you. Now think of this. We are sinners
by nature. We're sinners by birth. We're
sinners by choice. And look at what this marvelous,
marvelous verse says. To present you and me. Right? And remember, Paul's writing
to born again, belong to our saints, and to present you holy. Holy? All we are is sin. But it says holy. Who are we
holy in, beloved? Christ. Amen, sister. We're holy
in Christ. We're holy in Christ, in Christ
alone, aren't we? Look at this, to present you
holy and unblameable. Who are we unblameable in? Christ. He's forgiven us of all our sins,
beloved. And look at this, and unapprovable in the sight. He
don't see a blemish in us at all. God the Father doesn't see
a blemish in his people at all. Why? Because they're clothed
in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. Oh my. Now, we know our sins, don't
we? We know what we've done. We know them. They're all forgiven
if you're a believer. Every single one. And in God's
sight, even though we're sinners still while we're on this earth,
right? He sees us in Christ. My! I can't get over that. I'll be honest with you. I cannot
get over that. That Christ sees me. And if you're
a believer, He sees you. If you're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, if you've been granted faith to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, as Sister Kathy says, if Christ is your
all in all, right? When she sang that song, if Christ
is your all in all, then we will one day be presented holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight because of Christ
and Christ alone. That's good news for sinners,
isn't it? That is the best news for sinners. And it says if you continue in
the faith, well, who keeps us? God? He keeps us in the faith,
doesn't he? We're kept by the power of God,
Peter wrote. If you continue in the faith,
who's our faith? In the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one object
of our faith, isn't he? He's the object of our faith,
beloved. Look at this. Grounded and settled. We're grounded
and settled on the Lord Jesus Christ and in him. be not moved
away from the hope of the gospel what's the hope of the gospel
salvation in and through Christ alone that he's made peace with
us that he's reconciled us to God by his precious precious
blood which you have heard now what
he's writing there to think of this they haven't just heard
like you hear my voice they heard the shepherds voice as Paul wrote
to the Thessalonians the Word of God came with power and much
assurance. And that power is the power of
the Holy Spirit of God. You are not the same as you used
to be. We're not what we're going to
be, but we're not what we were. Praise be to God. And the only
one who's made us to differ is God and God alone. He's the only
one. He's the only one. Think of all
the people you know in your life. He's the only one who's made
us to differ one from another. which you heard, we've been given
ears to hear, which was preached to every creature. That's why
we preach the gospel to all. We don't know who the gods elect
are. We don't have any idea. Therefore, we preach the gospel
to all. Out it goes. Out it goes. Through the internet,
here and well, I'm preaching here. Later on through the internet,
out it goes. And to God be the glory. Lord,
use it for however you will. In some, he uses it. To some,
it's a life under life. In others, it's death unto death.
Some he softens with it and grants faith. They're regenerated by
the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And some are hardened. Who made the difference there? Only God. He's the only one who's
made the difference there. Look at this. Preach to every
creature which is unto heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.
Paul was put into the ministry. Every gospel preacher will tell
you, We did not seek the ministry, God put us in it. He put us in
it. It's incredible. He saves us,
and He gives us a message to preach and proclaim, and then
He gives us a place to go to, to preach and proclaim. And it's
all by His glory, and for His glory. It's absolutely stunning. Oh, so I'd like us to look from
these verses I gave you half a message there, that's okay
though. I'd like us to look in these verses here on the supremacy
of Christ. And I pray that the Holy Spirit
will illuminate these scriptures for us and just comfort our hearts,
comfort our hearts. You know, because Christ is the
only one who's worthy of our glory. He's the only one who's
worthy of our praise. He's the only one. Now we're
taught as humans in our natural state to glorify ourselves, aren't
we? And it comes natural. It doesn't
take much. It comes natural for us. It does. But I was reading this week,
and for tonight's message actually, and I love what one preacher
said. He said, we are to pour out our
lives for the glory of God. I like that. Just pour it out
for the glory of God. You know you're living the pizzles?
I'm looking at living the pizzles here before me. Living epistles,
the scripture says. People read you every day. Isn't
that amazing? We're living epistles. We who
are the born-again, blood-washed people are living epistles for
the Lord. That's absolutely incredible. And we don't know it. Someone
may hear us talking about our faith and hear us talking about
giving God the glory. And you don't know how that's
going to affect them. You have no idea. No idea. So just keep living your life
before the world in Christ. That's all we can do. That's
all we can do. Pray for our loved ones, praying
that God, if it be His will, to save them. But live your life
before your family, your friends, the world, in Christ. Just trust
in Him. And rest in Him. Because he alone,
again, is worthy of all the glory, honor, and praise. Now, the Book
of Colossians here, it was written to combat an error called Gnosticism. And the Gnostic error had sprung
up among the Colossian church and also among other churches. And it was being promoted by
false teachers. And they taught that one had
to obtain a more excellent knowledge, which, of course, they alone
can only impart. They're the only keepers of it.
There's a problem right there, isn't there? There's trouble
right there. So they were the ones who could
impart this knowledge, and they believed actually in a hierarchy
of angels, and Christ was just one of the angels. But again,
only they could impart this secret knowledge. Well, we as born-again
believers, when we hear that, we run right out the door, don't
we? But that's what they did. And they had crept into the church.
And again, they taught that there was other mediators between God,
which we know, though, the scripture says there's only one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself
a ransom for all. So there's only one mediator,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what Paul's doing, he's
bringing forth the supremacy of Christ. He's setting Christ
ever before them, which gospel preachers do, right? Ever set
Christ before our hearers. And he's showing them in these
verses the supremacy of Christ. And we saw that as we read that.
He's over all. There is nothing. There's nothing
that's not under his dominion. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. Now we have leaders in this world,
and they lead over their country, right? But they don't have dominion
over other countries. Now they may militarily have
dominion over another country, but I guarantee you the people
that live in that land still see themselves as citizens of
that country and not of the country that's invaded or whatever, come
in to even help them. They still see themselves as
their own citizens. But with Christ, he has supremacy over all things.
And Paul is writing about the supremacy of Christ to directly
come against that error. He's combating the error that's
crept into the Gnostic church. And you know what? It's still
around today. People say, well, I have this
knowledge that you can only get from me. No, I'm sorry. This book is where I find all
truth right here. This Word of God is where all
truth is. Let's look at Colossians 1.15,
and we'll see the supremacy of Christ here over creation. Scripture
declares of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of every creature. For by him, that being Christ,
were all things created. So in the beginning Elohim created
the heaven and the earth. The sun was there. And this scripture
declares to us He created the heavens and the earth. Elohim,
remember in the Hebrew, is plural. In the beginning, God, Elohim,
created the heavens and the earth. It's plural. Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, beloved. Look at this. For by Him all
things were created that are in heaven and that are in earth.
So everything, the stars, the beauty of the stars at night,
When you look up and see that, if you're in a place where there's
not much light, and you look up, I'll never forget in the
mountains of Oregon, looking up and seeing the Milky Way.
It took my breath away. I'll tell you that. And you just
see the glory of God. You just see the glory. Just
look at these giant lakes we have. Just look at those. Do they not magnify the glory
of God? He just spoke it all into existence, beloved. And it all, you know
those, the oceans have boundaries. I've mentioned this before, and
it's worth repeating. The oceans have boundaries that the Lord
has set, and the ocean cannot pass that boundary. Because he's set a boundary,
beloved. Oh my. It's wonderful. Now look at this.
So in case anybody thought, well, maybe things visible were created
by the Lord. But what about invisible things?
Well, you know, the Holy Spirit takes care of that in this scripture,
too, doesn't he? All things visible and invisible. Things we can't even see with
the human eye. Angels, princes and principalities,
the cherubims, the seraphims, Things which we cannot see, all
created by him, and all under his dominion. He has supremacy
over them all. He's the creator. See, that's why in Romans, when
it talks about the potter and the clay, you see the contrast
there. Does the potter say, or does
the clay say to the potter, well, make me this or make me that?
No, it's just clay. All things to our Lord is just
clay. And He's created them for His
pleasure and for His glory, to manifest
His glory. You look up at them stars at
night. You can't but help look at those and think, my gosh,
look what the Lord's done. And does it not manifest His
glory? Absolutely. And then it says this. Whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers,
all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist." Now look at verse 15,
it says, "...who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature." The Lord Jesus Christ is the image of
the invisible God. He is the express image of God. If you've seen Him, you've seen
the Father, remember? He said that to his disciples? Here we see Paul, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God, because remember again who the true author
of these words are, it's the Holy Spirit of God. He begins
to combat even more attacks by the false teachers against Christ
being the preeminent one. He presents Christ here, he presents
Christ's preeminence so clearly here that it's unmistakable.
That he's preeminent over all things. He presents Christ as
the image of the invisible God. And note the verbitues here.
It's not a question of, well, he might be this, or, well, he
might be that. There's no question. It's a stated
fact. He is. He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. It's a stated
fact, beloved. There's no room for debate or
arguments. See, God silences any critics.
Doesn't he? He just pronounces a fact. In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. That's
a fact. It's not up for debate. So Christ's preeminence, the
supremacy of Christ here over creation is a fact. It's a fact. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He is the image of God who is invisible. and is manifested
to us. My, it's so clear, isn't it?
Here's a good illustration. The scriptures declare before
us that Christ is the image of the invisible God. And now we
must set our eyes of faith upon him, don't we? And he told us,
he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. Now think when a man looks into
a crystal glass. That crystal glass does not reflect. It casts no reflection of himself. But if you put steel behind the
back of the glass and look in it, it will cast a reflection
of he who is looking through the crystal. If God the Father were to look
through the crystal glass with steel behind it, it would reflect
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible
God. He is God incarnate in the flesh. Remember the three are one. They're
three distinct personalities, but they're one God. Oh, my. And the Lord Jesus Christ
does not just bear a resemblance to the invisible God. He is the
express image of the invisible God. Scripture says this, God, who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto
us by the fathers, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds. who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, hallelujah, sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high. He's finished. Notice that text
in Hebrews 1, verse 3, it says he's the express image of his
person. He's the express image of God. Our text continues, look
at verse 16, 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. Everything. Everything
was created by him. So this verse continues to show
the supremacy of Christ. Paul continues to bring the supremacy
of Christ before the Colossian believers. All things were created by Him.
He is supreme over all things, everything, visible and invisible. That's our Savior. I ask myself,
why do I ever stress? Why do I ever worry? Why do I
ever doubt? And the answer is what Paul said,
oh, wretched man that I am. Who can deliver me from this
body of death? Oh, Lord, help my unbelief. That's
my cry. And I'm a preacher. That's my cry. Lord, help my
unbelief. Help me when I start doubting. Just help me to focus
on your supremacy. I was telling Vicki this week,
I got down about something. And it wasn't the election. I
got down about something else. And I was down and all this.
And I started working on Sunday night's message. Man, I come
downstairs, I was lit like a Roman candle, I was lit right up. See,
that's what it does. Get my mind focused back on Christ,
get my mind focused back on Him, and everything's fine. I don't
know if it's so for you, but for me, when I get my eyes off
Christ, I'm in trouble. I start to get worked up. And it don't take long to wind
me up. Remember those spinning things we used to get with the
strings on when we were kids? Those things that just spin around
the whole room, bouncing off everything? That's what happens to me when
I stop looking at Christ. I'm like that little spinning
top, bouncing off of everything. Oh, my. Out of control, right? You hit something, boom, you
go somewhere else. That's how it is for us when we stop looking
to Christ. Oh, Lord, keep our eyes focused
on you. Keep our eyes focused on you, Lord. So these verses
just bring forth the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonder
of wonders. Think of this. Wonder of wonders.
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, God incarnate in the flesh, died
on Calvary's cross to save us from our sins. Oh, my. He's the people's substitute.
He's God's people's substitute. He's the substitute for all God's
elect as he dies on that cross. And think of this, too. He's
supremal for all things in heaven and earth, whether they be thrones,
or dominions, or princes, and principalities, and powers. It
doesn't matter how powerful these invisible powers are. They have
no power. before our Lord. He's supreme
over all. Even Satan had to come and ask
permission with God whether he could do what he did to Job or
not. And what did the Lord say? You can do that, but you can't
take his life. Well, Satan couldn't pass that bound, could he? Not
at all. Oh, my. And Paul here, again, he's speaking
against the Gnostics, which is angel worship as well. And several
people thought that angels had power. People still, unfortunately,
in this world, in certain religious sects, still think that statues
and other things have power. They have no power at all. They're
just dead idols. Or as one commentator said, they're
just dumb idols. And how do we know that? Well,
if there's a fire in the building, do they sit there and scream
and say, get me out, get me out? Now somebody's gotta carry him
out, right? They can't do nothing. They can't do nothing. There's
only one true living God, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he came to this world to save his people from their sins.
My question to you is, are you trusting Christ? Has God given
you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Because the scripture
says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Remember the Philippian jailer? He said, what must I do to be
saved? What can I do? Now, would that not be a perfect
opportunity? Would that not be a perfect opportunity,
if it was true, for Paul to say, well, you need to walk this aisle,
you need to come over here, and you need to repeat this prayer
after me that I'm going to repeat from Romans chapter, whatever
they use, the Romans road, that I'm going to do this, and then
I'm going to declare that you're a child of God. Did Paul do that? He didn't. He said, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, period. My, isn't that wonderful? Just
believe on him. Believe on what he's done. Trust
him and him alone. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
May God give you faith to believe on him. If you don't have faith
in him, may God give you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because our faith to believe on Christ is a gift from
God. Our people shall be made willing in the day of His power.
And you cannot stop God's people who've been made willing from
fleeing to Christ and then from holding on to Him for the rest
of their lives. Oh, my. He's our all. He's our all in all, Paul wrote.
Oh, my. So there's nothing. There's nothing
that God's not supreme over. Nothing. Nothing at all. He's supreme over all things,
all created things we see here. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. John 1, verses
1 to 3. He made it all. And by Him all
things consist. Everything. You and I consist,
we breathe our breaths because of God. And how merciful is God even
to the unsaved who curse his name and he gives them breath
to breathe. How much more merciful will he be to we who are the
children of God. Oh my. And he's manifested his
great mercy to us, hasn't he? in the fact that Christ came
and died as our substitute on Calvary's cross. Oh, it's wonderful. In verse 16, it says, by him
and for him. In the latter part of verse 16,
well, all things were created for his glory, beloved. You and
I were created for his glory. Scripture declares there's some
that are vessels of honor and some that are vessels of dishonor.
Some to manifest the glory of God, and some to manifest the
wrath of God. I don't know who they are. Therefore
I proclaim the gospel to all, praying, all praying, and I know
you pray too, praying that the Lord would use the gospel to
save his lost sheep. So why? So he can get all the
glory. So he can get all the glory.
And the Lord Jesus Christ created all things for His glory. This
magnifies the deity of Christ, doesn't it? We saw in the text
that the shedding of His blood manifests the humanity of Christ,
but these verses here manifest the deity of Christ, by Him,
by His power, by His almighty power. He created all things. for him
and by him. And the false teachers in Colossus
also taught that there was a power in heaven through various degrees
of angels, and Christ was just one of them. But we see that
Paul quickly disposes of this error right before us, doesn't
he? There's only one mediator between God and man. The man
in Christ Jesus. All things are subject to him.
He's not subject to anybody or anything. God's not up there
wringing his hands. Oh please, I hope you choose
me. That's a God of people's imaginations, brother. That's
not the God of the Bible. Now think of this. Think of this. God, by His almighty power, created
all things, visible and invisible. And if you're a child of God,
sitting here today, He, by His almighty power, And by His almighty
mercy and grace, chose you to be a vessel of honor." My! That's incredible, isn't it? And chose to send Christ. Christ Himself willingly came.
The creator of all things. Think of how much He humbled
Himself. Think of that. Think how much He humbled Himself.
the creator of all things, by whom all things consist, came
down to this earth, lived a perfect life as a great substitute, and
then went to Calvary's cross and redeemed every single one
of his sheep by the shedding of his own precious blood. that
they might be with Him forever in glory, and that they might
praise His mighty name and give Him all the glory and all the
honor and all the praise. And why? Because it pleased Him
to do so. Now bring that home. If you're
a believer, you are saved. I am saved because it pleased
God to do so. And who's the one who keeps us? One who has all power. The one
who all things are subject to. Next, let's look quick, the supremacy
of Christ in the church. Look at verse 18. And he is the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Look at that. Notice the verbiage. He is. It
is not up for debate. God doesn't debate anybody. He
just pronounces who He is. Isn't that wonderful? Now, we have people who want
to debate us all the time, right? Just take them to verses like
this and say, well, this is what God declares. I ain't going to
go nowhere else. Number one, we can't prove that
God is to other people. The Holy Spirit has to reveal
God and Christ to us, doesn't He? Now we declare what we know. We declare what the scripture
says. He is. He is God. He is the head over
all things. There's not a pope, right? There's not all these hierarchy
of leadership, is there? He is the head. He's the head. We're all on level ground, beloved.
Remember what Scott used to say? Right? I've repeated it so much. Man, that's one thing I'm going
to hold on to for a long time. The ground at the foot of the
cross is level. It's like this. We all stand
on the same ground before Christ. That's how it is. He's supreme
over everything. He's supreme over all of us.
And he is the head, and we're the body. He's the head, and I have the
privilege of preaching, but I'm just a saved sinner with a message.
God's given me a message to proclaim Christ. He's the
head. He's the one who gets all the
preeminence. He's the head of the church. He's the supreme
one. I remember years ago I listened to a sermon by Brother Henry
on this very verse, and he mentioned that Again, when we take pictures
of ourselves, we take pictures of our heads. We don't take pictures
of our feet. We don't take pictures of our hands, right? Sometimes
people take pictures of their hands and put them on. But as
a family portrait, could you imagine a family portrait with
a bunch of feet? You'd not even know who was her, would you?
Right? Unless there's a few little ones.
Well, OK, we know that's Junior there. We know that, right? But
otherwise, right? So we get pictures taken of our
heads, don't we? He's the head, beloved. He's
the preeminent one. Him and him alone. In the church, we are the body
and Christ is the head. And again, he gets all the preeminence.
He gets all the honor, all the glory. And the church is just
a building, isn't it? I'm sorry. This building is just
a building. The church is you and I in Christ. It's the people. We love our building. We're thankful
for it. But it's just a building. But we're one in Christ, aren't
we? He's the head, and we're the body. When Adam fell, all
the human race fell on him because he's the federal head. Do you
notice we didn't fall when Eve took the fruit? We fell when Adam took the throne,
because he's a federal head. Well, Christ is the second Adam,
beloved, and all who are in him are secure. All who are in him are forgiven.
In Adam, we're condemned, but in Christ, In Christ, God
sees us as unreprovable, holy, blameless. That's a miracle. That's a miracle. So the church
is made up of all the believers of all the ages, all the elect
of all the ages. Oh, my. And we are one in Christ. He
is the preeminent one. Without Christ? We would be as
dead as a body without a head. What happens when you chop a
head off a body? The person's gone. That's how we'd be without
Christ. Think of this, in Christ we have
all the forgiveness of all our sins. And I mean everyone. Everyone. Worst sins that we can think
of that we did, and I know there's many for me, and I'm sure there's
many for you. Washed clean by the precious blood of Christ. Washed clean! And God says, I'll
remember them no more. No more. They're gone. How? How? By the precious, precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. There's no other way. Look at verse 14 here. Let's
go up to verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness. You know how dark that darkness
is. We were dead in sins, weren't we? We were absolutely dead in
sins, beloved. And we've been delivered. We've
been delivered from the power of sin, the power of darkness.
And it translated us. You're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. He's translated us. We're new
creatures now in Christ. Now we still struggle in this
body, right? This old wretched man that I am, who can deliver
me from this body of sin. But praise God, we have peace
with God in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. It says, "...who had delivered
us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son." And then look at verse 14, "...in
whom we have redemption." How? Through His blood. We are a purchased people. We're purchased by the blood
of Christ. We're a purchased bribe. And think of this, it pleased
God to do this. It pleased Christ to come to
this earth, to go to Calvary's cross, to shed his precious blood,
to purchase us, to ransom us from all our sins. It pleased
him to do that. And remember what the scripture
said? We were enemies in our minds. And he did that for us. If someone was your enemy, would
you do that for them? I mean if someone was really your enemy,
they just hated you without a cause even. Without a cause, right? Was Christ not hated without
a cause? Did we not in our natural state hate Christ without a cause?
We did, didn't we? Would you or I give our life
for someone who hated us to the core? Well, I know what the answer
is. I don't really even have to ask
the question, do I? Because we all know the answer to that.
And here Christ, because we are His beloved chosen people, because
He's loved us with an everlasting love, He's driven by that love for
us. Now think of the person you love the most in this whole world.
Think of the person you love the most. Your love for that person does
not even compare. The love that Christ has for
his people. So let's bring it home. We can say as believers, Oh,
what wondrous love is this. That Christ that Christ has delivered
us from the power of darkness. Oh, how deep that darkness was.
And has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now
we have redemption, forgiveness of all our sins through His blood. His blood, His life, His life
blood. The life of the flesh is in the
blood, the scripture declares. We lose our blood, we die, right? You bleed out, you're gone. Look
at that. Through His blood, even. And
then look how that verse ends in verse 14. Even. Now, to be
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ is absolutely incredible,
isn't it? And then the Holy Spirit adds
on even more sweetness to the verse. Even the forgiveness.
Even the forgiveness of sins. How many? All for the belief. It doesn't get any better than
that, does it? I'm going to close there, because you can't get
any better than that. That's wonderful, isn't it? I have a
lot of pages left, but I'm just going to finish right there.
To God be the glory. To God be the glory. Heavenly
Father, we thank you for your mercy, your goodness, and your
grace to we who are your people. Oh, Lord Jesus. We thank you
that you left the glories and splendors of heaven, you who
are supreme over all things, you who have everything subject
to you. And yet you humbled yourself
and became a man, came to this earth, was spit upon, was beaten,
was rejected, was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And yet
you did all that for we who are your people. Your everlasting
love for us is so manifested in your life and your death.
All we can say, Lord, is thank you. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Thank
you for the sacrifice of yourself. And thank you that in you and
through you, we have the forgiveness of all our sins. And we are clothed
in the perfect spotless righteousness, your righteousness, Lord Jesus.
And because of that, oh Father, we can be in thy presence. Glory
be to you, Lord. Glory be to God the Father. Glory
be to God the Son. And glory be to God the Holy
Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Oh, let's sing number 514. You know, every day we're getting
closer to heaven. We who are God's people. Every
day. And I like the song we're going
to sing called, We're Marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful
Zion. Remember, heaven will only be
heaven because of Christ. Because of Christ. Let's stand
up and sing 514, We're Marching to Zion. Come we that love the Lord, and
let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord, and thus
surround the throne. And thus surround the throne. I'll sing it out. We're marching
to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful city. Who used to sing? Who never knew
our God? The children of the heavenly
King! Their joys come wrong, miss me,
their joys come wrong. We're marching to Zion, beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. ? And the will to sing of God
? ? The hill of Zion is ? ? A thousand sacred streets ? ? Before we
reach the heavenly gates ? ? Before we reach the heavenly fields
? ? Or walk the golden streets ? ? Or walk the golden streets
? ? We're marching to Zion, dear to my heart ? We're marching
upward to Zion, a beautiful state of God and man. Then let our songs abound, and
every tither be tried. We're marching through Emmanuel's
front. We're marching through Emmanuel's
front. To fairer rules on high, to fairer
rules on high. We're marching to Zion Beautiful,
beautiful Zion Amen. You know that verse there,
verse 3, where it says, a hill is iron, yields a thousand sacred
swings. I couldn't help but think, I
have not seen nor heard the things that God has prepared for those
that love him. We can't even imagine.