Good evening, everyone. Once
again, it's good to be here, good to be together. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
chapter 1, continuing our journey through Colossians, first chapter. It's been marvelous so far. Tonight we come to a verse. which once again speaks of the
preeminence of Christ, the supremacy of Christ, magnifies our Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 18, we'll be at tonight,
and the name of the message is Christ, the Head of the Church.
Christ, the Head of the Church. Now throughout this study, we've
seen Paul combating the error of Gnostic teachers, by exalting
the supremacy and the preeminence of Christ, by putting Him at
the forefront. Now, gospel preaching, this is
what should be done. Christ should always be at the
forefront. Christ should always receive
the preeminence. And that's what true gospel preaching
is, is preaching Christ and Him crucified, exalting Him to His
rightful place, His sovereign King and Lord. Now we'll be looking
at verse 18. It says, "...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."
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. Now in verse 16, we saw where
Paul was showing us that Christ is supreme or preeminent over
creation and over everything in the universe, both visible
and invisible. 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. So He's supreme. He's supreme
and He's preeminent over all of creation. Over it all. And look at verse 17. It says,
And He is before all things. He's before everything. He's
King. He's Sovereign. And by Him all
things consist. Every one of us here breathed
because the Lord Jesus Christ gives us breath to breathe. It's
incredible. It's amazing. And so verse 17
shows that He's preeminent over all things, and that by Him all
things consist. So we see Him preeminent over
creation in verse 16. Then we see Him preeminent over
everything. Everything. And the fact that
all things by Him consist. So He is preeminent over creation.
And then in our verse here, in verse 18, we see that He's preeminent
over the church. He's supreme in the church. 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. He must have the preeminence.
Again, Paul once again is combating the Gnostic error. And he's combating
the error that God is not a far off being in verse 17 who spun
everything into existence and just left it all alone. Our God's
not like that. He watches over everything. Scripture
says not even a sparrow, not even one of them little birds
that land in a tree, not even one of them fall to the ground
without Him knowing. That's a God who watches all
and watches over all. And think of this, the very one
who feeds the sparrows and takes care of every one of His church. We are secure in Christ. We are
secure in Him. So now tonight we come to another
verse which exalts the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ and
shows us that He is supreme over all things in the church. In
the church. Paul, as I said, has declared
the preeminence and glory of Christ in regards to creation.
And now he proclaims the preeminence and glory of Christ in the church.
In the church. And He is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence."
So our Lord Jesus Christ is the root, the foundation, the cause
of the church. There would be no church without
Christ. We're chosen in Him. See, everything
centers. Again, the spokes all go to Christ.
He's the hub. He's the center. This book is
about Christ. It's about Jesus Christ. From
Genesis all the way to Revelation, it's all about Him. It's about
Him. He has the preeminence in this
book. He has the preeminence in the church. We're chosen in
Him. We don't choose Christ on our
own. We're chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
From Him all spiritual life flows to the church. Notice the verbiage here too.
And He is the head. There's no doubt. He is. The verbiage is He is. It's not
up for debate whether or not Christ is the head of the church.
Now there's preachers who think that they're the head of the
church, and they're not. They're not. You've got false preachers
out there too that think that they are all that and a cup of
tea, and they're not. They're nothing. Christ is preeminent
in God's church. In grace churches, He is the
one we speak of. He is the one we come here every
Sunday to worship Christ. We just get the blessings of
being together. and enjoying sweet fellowship with one another.
But we come here to hear about Christ. We come here to sing
about Christ. To give Him all the glory. To
give Him all the honor. He is the head of the body. There's
no doubt. It's not up for debate. And this
speaks of His headship. Remember, we all fell in Adam,
right? In Adam we fell. He was our federal head. We fell
in Him. We have no head now. Oh, in Christ we have the one
who we are made alive in. He is the Supreme Head. The Supreme
Head. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now look
at this. These two little words here,
and he is, right? And then the head of the body.
This destroys the papacy. This destroys Catholicism. Which
exalts the Pope to the place where he is head of the church
supposedly. No. There is only one head of
the church. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Timothy 6. This is a death blow to the Pope
and a death blow to the papacy. There is only one potentate,
and it's not the man in Rome. It's the Lord of glory, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Timothy 6, verses 13-16. I give thee charge in the sight
of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who
before Pontius Pilate, witnesses a good confession." Verse 14,
"...that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He
will show who is the blessed and only potentate." There's
only one. The King of Kings. The King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. Who hath immortality, Christ
hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach
unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and
power everlasting. So these verses here absolutely
show us that Catholicism is a false religion. Now that's a hard thing
for people to swallow that are in it, but it's true. My family
are in it still. I pray for them all the time.
I pray for them all the time. But He is the head of the body,
the church. Who is the beginning? The firstborn
from the dead, and in all things He might have the preeminence.
Now look at where it says the church. The Greek word for church
is ekklesia. It means a called out assembly. Those of us who believe are a
called out assembly. We're called out of the world.
We're called out of the world. We're a called out assembly.
And He is the head of that group. He is the head of that people.
Otherwise known as the elect in Scripture. The elect of God. God's people are called out of
the world by the Holy Spirit of God. Remember where you were
before the Lord saved you? The Lord called you out of that,
didn't He? It's incredible. It's amazing. We didn't want to come out of
it on our own, but He called us out of it. And we ran. We
ran to Christ. God's people are called into
the world by the Holy Spirit of God with an effectual, irresistible,
invincible calling. This is why we can have confidence
when we preach the Gospel that if God's going to save a sheep
or save one of His sheep, He's going to get them. We're on the
trail of God's sheep. That's why we put the messages
out. We're on the trail of God's sheep. We pray God the Holy Spirit
would make people willing when they hear the message. But God's
people are called out with an effectual calling, regenerated
and born again by the Holy Spirit of God. They are called out of
assembly. They're given a new heart. And
that heart hungers and thirsts after Christ. It hungers and
thirsts after righteousness. They believe on the called out
assembly, the ecclesia, the church. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the head. And in Him, they have a vital
union. A vital union with Him. With
Him. And He becomes their everything. He becomes their everything. Oh, and just like a body needs
a head, or else it's a corpse, the church needs a head. And
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the head of the body, the
church, the ecclesia, the called on assembly. Now from eternity
it was determined by our Heavenly Father that all things That in
all things Jesus Christ would have the preeminence. And that's
evident right here in verse 18. And He is the head of the body.
He's the preeminent one. The church. Who is the beginning? The firstborn from the dead.
That in all things He might have the preeminence. The Lord Jesus
Christ is preeminent in rank. And He's preeminent in power,
beloved. He's preeminent. He's supreme.
Another word for preeminent, you could say He's supreme. He's
the supreme Lord. He's the God. And He is supreme
in rank and power. And He is the only one who receives
all the preeminence, not the preacher, not the teacher, not
the church, because He purchased us with His own precious blood. He purchased us. And every one
of us, preacher, teacher, saint, we're all saints of God, we're
all purchased by the same blood. the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His
blood that shed us, or that was shed for our salvation. Therefore,
He gets all the preeminence. He gets it all. He is preeminent
in power and rank. He's the one we are to look at.
He's the one we are to worship. He's the one who has redeemed
the church with His own blood. He is supreme. Supreme. He's the head, the head of the
body, the church. And he gets all the glory, and
all the honor, and all the praise. So Paul here is speaking of the
one who is sovereign over all the church, the one who is sovereign
over all creation, and the one who is sovereign over everything.
And He is the head of the church. God incarnate in the flesh. Our text in verse 18 tells us
that Christ is the head of the church. Turn, if you would, to
Ephesians chapter 5. Christ is the head of the church. The body. Every one of us have a body which
is preeminent or a head which is preeminent over a body. Every
one of us. Now the church here is the whole
body of believers in verse 18. The whole body of believers all
the elect of all the ages, all who were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And in Ephesians it's the same.
For the husband is the head of the wife, verse 23 of chapter
5, even as Christ is the head of the church. And He is the
Savior of the body. He's the Savior of the body.
His blood was shed for the sins of His people. Therefore, as
the church is subject unto Christ, So let the wives be to their
own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that
He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word. But look, for the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church,
and He is the Savior of the body. Christ, again, is the head of
the church. And then look at verse 27 of
Ephesians 5, that he might present it to himself a glorious church.
Now, we're talking about sinners here, right? Not having spot. No spot. Or wrinkle, or any such
thing. but that it should be holy. Oh,
beloved sinners that we are, let this just sink in, we who
are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, holy and without
blemish, pure, spotless in the eyes of God. Christ Jesus our Lord is sovereign.
He is the sovereign ruling authority over the church. as well as the
source from which we, His body, derive all spiritual strength
and power. All spiritual strength and power
comes from Christ. We can't muster any of that up
ourselves at all. It all comes from Him. And remember
too, this church is God's church. This church is His church. I
have the privilege of pastoring and leading, but this is the
Lord's church. And we are the Lord's people.
He's the head. We're the body. We're the body. And He exercises sovereign control
over the church. And we are ever and always dependent
upon His abiding influence and presence. If the Lord's not here,
oh my. We pray that God the Holy Spirit
be present with us every time we meet. Every time we meet. Oh, and remember this too. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
representative head of the church from all eternity and all time.
We're chosen in Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the political head in the fact that He rules and reigns over
this whole universe and everything. Everybody is underneath Him. Underneath Him. And think of
this, too. He's the economical head, too,
in the sense that He provides every need. Every need. I was thinking that as we were
eating tonight and we went over and got one of them pot pies
from Vinker, they're so good. But I was thinking, you know,
here it is, you got this pot pie and I'm eating it and I'm
thinking, someone picked them potatoes, delivered them to the store,
someone peeled them, got them all together, put it all together,
and God by His providence had all that done so it would be
right there on my table. He provides for His people. It's incredible. It's amazing. Turn, if you would,
to 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. Everything the believer needs
is found in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is a vital union
between Christ and the body. A vital union. He's the head
and we're the body. Without Christ, we would be as
dead as a body without a head. Look at this in 1 Corinthians
1.30. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
So without Christ, we'd have no wisdom. Without Christ, we'd
have no righteousness. Without Christ, we'd have no
sanctification. And without Christ we'd have no redemption. But
praise be to God, in Christ we have all that and more. Much,
much more. In Him we have life. In Him we
have redemption. In Him we have hope. In Him we
trust. In Him we rest. In Him we have
forgiveness of all our sins. In Him we live and move and have
our being. In Him we have eternal life.
all in Christ and much, much more. Acts 17.28 says, For in
Him we live and move and have our being. Now just as our bodies are physically
subject to our head, so the church is subject to Christ. We're subject
to Christ. We are all under We are all under our head at
all times as a body. Christ rules over all His church. And I'm not just talking the
local church, I'm talking the church universal too. Oh, He is the Sovereign One. He is the Sovereign over the
body, the Preeminent One. And do we not just marvel in
this wonderful truth? The Church of God, both universal
and local, have a total dependence upon Christ. We are totally dependent
upon our King. A hundred percent. A hundred
percent. Not just when we're here either. But when we're at home. We are
a hundred percent dependent upon Christ at all times. At all times. For our daily life. If a body
does not have a head, if you take a head off a body, it cannot
survive. It cannot survive. We are absolutely
dependent upon Christ. Absolutely dependent upon Him.
We're dependent upon Him as a church for His care and His direction.
He must lead us or we wander all over the place. Oh my. And this is why it's vital for
we as a church body and for the church universal to keep Christ
preeminent. Keep Him preeminent. Keep looking
to Him. Because He is the head of the
body, the church. Now there's many members that
are placed into the Lord Jesus Christ by the regenerating power
of the Holy Spirit. Every one of us here are different,
personality-wise. But we who believe, we who are
believers are one in Christ. But yet we each are individuals
with different personalities. Oh, there's many members that
are placed into the body. And placed there by the regenerating
power of the Holy Spirit. We don't place ourselves in there.
You must be born again. He must do a work in us. So there
are many members. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter 1. Many members. But He is the Head over all things
to the church, which is the body. He is the fullness. Look at Ephesians 1, verses 22
and 23. And hath put all things under
His feet, and give Him to be the Head over all things to the
church, which is His body. The fullness of Him that filleth
all in all. Now think of this, the head commands,
right? And the body obeys. The head
commands and the body obeys. Our brain, and it does it so
fast, tells us to pick something up and we pick it up. The member
picks it up because the head is telling him to do that. Any
action that we do, our brain is telling it to do it. Like
I say, we do things without even thinking in a sense, right? But
your brain's working and sometimes we don't even think about it. Oh, the head commands and the
body obeys. So it is in the church. Christ
is the head of the church. He commands and we obey. Whatever
he commands. And again, the body, Now think
of this, our body is made up of many members, right? We have
fingers and toes and arms and legs. It's incredible. But each of these members, I
was talking to Matt about this, he really helped me a lot with
this, and he said that each of our members are connected to
our nervous system. Have a direct nerve contact with
the brain. So in the church, we may differ
in our function and in our calling, but we have a direct connection
to the head. To the head. Think of this, let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. That's where
our head sits. and the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The one who sits upon the throne of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the head of the church. Now again, as I said earlier,
a body cannot live without a head. It can't live without a head.
You can lose limbs, you can lose your arms, you can lose toes,
you can even lose sight, you can lose senses, but if the head's
gone, it's over. It's over. The brain or head
controls everything in the body. And it's all connected with nerves
that run through the body. Matt, help me again with this.
The brain's connected to the spinal cord. Down it goes. And
all these nerves come out from on there, all different portions
of the body. And it goes through. All goes
through our body. It's incredible how intricately
made we are. It's absolutely amazing. And the head or brain sends commands
and the limbs and members obey those commands. What a picture. What a picture. Now Matt mentioned something
that I didn't know about. The brain sends signals, right? But you know the members also
send signals back. Through the nerves, that's why
we get pain. We touch something hot, take your hand off it. I had no idea about that. So
it's a two-way, it's a two, turn if you would to Acts chapter
9. It's a two-way. The head or brain sends commands
and the limbs or members obey those commands. But the nerves will send back
a signal when we touch something, such as you burn your hand, or
something's hot or cold, or something causes pain, send signals right
back to the head. So signals go out from the brain
and signals go back to the brain, the head, which controls everything. Now think on this as we read
here in Acts 9. And I know we looked at this
Sunday, but this totally ties in with what we're looking at
here. In Saul 1, "...Yet, breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest
and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem." And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven." Now remember, remember the head and the members,
right? Christ is the head of the church,
right? And we're members. Remember the
nerves, too. The command goes out, signals
come back, too. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto them, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me?" Saul, again, is persecuting Christians, isn't he? Members
of the body. He's the head and we're the body. Saul's persecuting the body. Signal's going right back to
the head, isn't it? And he's, think of this, when
our hand, when we hurt our hand, our brain lets us know we're
in pain, doesn't it? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. He's persecuting Christ. How? By persecuting the members of
the body. He's the head and we're the body. Is it hard for thee to kick against
the pricks? And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. And the man which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man."
Look at that verse 4 though. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? The union between the body of
Christ and the head who is Christ. When Christians are being persecuted,
Christ is being persecuted. What an amazing union between
the body and the head. Back to our text, it says, And
He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead. In all things He might have the
preeminence. Now here, Christ is the beginning.
He's the root, the foundation, the cause of the church. We're
chosen in Christ in all our spiritual life, all spiritual blessings,
everything comes in and through Christ. Nowhere else. Do you
see how we're just receivers? Do you see how this is all pure
grace? It's 100% grace and mercy. Because we're undeserving. We
don't deserve any of this. But yet God bestows mercy upon
His people. The body. The body. The head. It takes care of the
body. It takes care of the body. Adam was in Eve and so the church
is from Christ. As I said, Christ is the head
of the church. He's our life. He's our strength. He's its power. And it's to Him that we're united. He is the ruling, guiding, sustaining
power of the church. Both universal and both local. It's both. The only reason we're
here tonight is because it's by God's sovereign decree for
a church to be in Almonte, Michigan. He chose the place's name here.
And if you're a believer, He chose the place's name with you.
It's incredible. Absolutely amazing. And He is the preeminent One.
Nugget says, the firstborn from the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ
rose for our justification. He was the first to rise from
the dead by His own power to immortality in life. And because
He lives, we live. And we will live when we die. I remember reading a book, It's
Not Death to Die. It was all about a famous missionary
who believed the doctrines of grace like we do. And when he
died, he said, it's not death to die. I'm going home to be
with the Lord. That's the first day of really
living. Oh, it's wonderful. Jesus Christ is the firstborn
from the dead. He is the resurrection and the
life. Turn, if you would, to John chapter 11. John chapter
11. He's the first to rise from the
dead to immortality in life. And as our resurrected head,
He is the assurance of the resurrection of the just. The assurance of
the resurrection for His people. Look at John 11, verses 25-27.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the
life. Now look at the verbiage there. I am. This is certain. He that believeth in Me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. There's only life in Christ,
nowhere else. These folks who preach justification
by death, where a person who has hated God their whole life
and dies, and all of a sudden they're preaching Him into heaven,
is a lie. It's an absolute lie. There's
no such thing as justification by death. There's only justification
through faith, and that's in the Lord Jesus Christ in Him
alone. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in Me shall never die. And we'll die physically, but
we'll never die eternally. Believest thou this? There's
the question. Do you believe this? Believest
thou this? And here's the answer of a believer.
The reply of Martha is the reply of God's sheep. She saith unto
him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son
of God, which should come into the world. There's a cry of the
believer. Yea, Lord, I believe that thou
art the Christ. I didn't believe before, but
you've made me willing, and I believe. And he said to his disciples
in John 14, 19, Because I live, ye shall live also. Oh, He's
the head. We're the body. Death has no
more power or claim on the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at the
latter part of the verse. It says that in all things He
might have the preeminence. Now, we could spend about a hundred
sermons just on this one word, preeminence. Think of this, beloved of God.
Christ is to be first in our affections, and in our thoughts,
and in our desires. He's to be the praise of our
lips. He's to be the praise of... He's the one who makes our hearts
burn within us. When we talk about Him, when
we think about Him, and think of this, He is first in sonship.
There is no son in the sense that He is. And He is first in
election. He's first chosen and we are
chosen in Him. He's first in covenant. He's
the surety. He's the surety. He's the mediator
and He's the messenger. He's first in redemption. He
wrought it and He bought us. He bought salvation
by His own precious blood. He's first in life as He quickens
whomever He wills and whomever He pleases. Oh, He conquered
death. He's risen. He's conquered hell
and the grave. He has the preeminence. He has
the preeminence. And for us as believers, may
God have the preeminence in our lives. And if Jesus Christ is
the express image of God, which He is, which He is, Then the
one who loved us and gave himself for us must have first place
in our hearts and in our lives. He must be the preeminent one.
We must not allow anything of this world to lure us away, to
lure us away from our first love, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ must dominate the way we think, the
way we live, and the way we govern our lives. Now, we're sinners. I know we're sinners. But, oh,
is Christ not altogether lovely to you? you who believe. Is he not the rose of Sharon?
Is he not the lily of the valley? Is he not the one that when we
look out and we see the wondrous things that he's done, when we
hear the beautiful sounds of the birds singing, is he not
the first one we think of and give praise to? Oh, it wasn't
like that before the Lord saved us. Oh, now, we desire Him to
have the preeminence in our lives. We desire this. And only those
who have been enlightened by God, the Holy Spirit, acknowledge
with our limited understanding, right? Because we have limited
understanding of who God is. The only light we have is what
He's revealed to us. And praise God for the light
that He's given us. But only those who have been
enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God, born again, understand
the importance of making Christ preeminent. Think back before
the Lord saved you. He wasn't preeminent. Now, oh,
we seek to glorify Him. We seek to magnify Him in everything
that we say and do. And God makes us known to every
believer by His Spirit who dwells in us that Christ must be preeminent. He must be the preeminent One.
Remember this too, Jesus Christ is a revelation of God. And absolutely
no one can know Him but by divine revelation. And this is why we
pray, oh God, oh open up the eyes of the blind and give ear
and ears to those who are deaf. We were there. This is why we
pray that too, because we know, we know exactly where people
are. But oh, it can only be known by divine revelation. In all
these wonderful truths of the Gospel, these truths concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, remember that they were all purposed
by God before time began. All purposed by God before time
began. And they were executed by God
in His appointed time. It shows again His preeminence.
Folks are always trying to predict when the Lord comes back. Only
God knows when He's coming back. Because He's preeminent. He's
the only one who knows that. Oh, but we're going to... What a time that will be. What
a day that will be. But remember that all things
are executed by God in His appointed time and made known to God's
elect by divine revelation. Pray the God of the Holy Spirit.
When you read Scripture, pray God the Holy Spirit will give
you wisdom. Illuminate the Scriptures. The old timers used to call,
they pray that, Oh God, illuminate the Scriptures, that I might
know Thee, that I might know Thee more. Oh, He's a revelation. He must
be revealed to us by divine revelation. Jesus Christ, the God-man. And
in the believer's life, after he's been revealed to us. All
we want to do is give Him the preeminence. That's all we want
to do. The preacher doesn't want the
preeminence. The teacher doesn't want the preeminence. The saint
of God doesn't want the preeminence. He wants it all to go to Christ.
He or she, they want it all to go to Christ. He gets all the
glory. He gets all the glory. That in
all things, He might have the preeminence. And we say, praise
His mighty name.