Would open your Bibles with me
to Hebrews chapter 1 Hebrews the first chapter Remember brother
Eric Floyd. He's preaching in Williamsburg
this morning. Pray Lord bless him and preaching Probably everybody
knows this in case you do not these are the arrangements for
Ben Thompson Visitation will be tomorrow from 5 to 8 p.m.
The funeral will be 1 p.m. on Tuesday and that will be at
the Steens on 13th street. We want to remember that family. It's very, very difficult time.
All right. Hebrews chapter one. God, who
at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, 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, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, This day
have I begotten thee. And again, I'll be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in
the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire. But under the sun, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest,
and they all shall wax old as doth the garment. And as a vesture
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou
art the same. and thy years shall not fail.
But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Are they not all
ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall
be the heirs of salvation? All right, let's stand together
as Chris is gonna come lead us in our call to worship. He graciously
has volunteered to lead the singing so you don't have to be led by
me in singing. So let's stand together and sing. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God, I knew not my danger and felt not my load. Though a friend spoke in rapture
and Christ on the tree, The whole world's a kingdom and nothing
to me When free grace awoke me, I lied from on high No refuge,
no safety, I'm self-good, I see. Jehovah's second, You my Savior
must be. I'd never the fretting before
his fleeting. My guilty fear's vanished with
boldness I came. ? To drink at the fountain, life
given and free ? ? Jehovah's a kid who is all thanks to me
? Be seated now, and if you would, at this time, take your hymnal
and turn it to page 256. It is well with my soul, 256. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, has taught me to say it is well,
it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, no
trial should come. Let this blest assurance control
that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and has shed
his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought, My sin, not in part, but the whole, ? To the cross and I bear it no
more ? Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ? Oh my soul, it is
well with my soul well with my soul. And, Lord, haste the day when
my flesh shall beside the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. ? The Lord shall resound ? And
the Lord shall be seen ? Even so it is well with my soul ?
It is well with my soul Let's open our Bibles now to
Colossians chapter 1 Colossians the first chapter We'll begin
our reading in verse 9 For this cause, we also, since
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire
that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might
according to his glorious power and all patience and long suffering
with joyfulness. giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions 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. And 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.
For it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell.
and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable. in his sight. We'll end our reading
there. Let's bow together. Our Father, we bow before you. We bow before your throne as
your children, as your little children, and how thankful we
are that sinful men and women like us can come before your
throne and call the God of all glory, our Father. Because if
you're adopting love, you're regenerating power and love,
you've made us your children. Father, we're thankful. How we
thank you for everything that you've given us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That in Him, we have everything. Everything that we need to stand
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in your sight. Father, how we
thank you. How we thank you for the redemption
that's full and free in our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, I pray
that this morning you enable us to magnify the name of your
son, that you enable us to magnify and exalt the name of our Savior,
that he get all the glory, that he have all the preeminence in
everything that's said and done, in our singing, in our prayers,
and especially in the preaching of the gospel, and in the minds
and the hearts of all that are gathered here May Christ be preeminent,
that we fully and completely trust him as our all and in all. Father, it's a great blessing,
we ask. We recognize this is such a great
blessing, but how thankful we are that your grace is great,
that you're rich in mercy unto all that call upon you. And Father,
we're calling, we're begging for mercy and grace from the
God of all grace this morning. Father, we pray You'd bless us
in our worship. We pray You'd bless Eric as he's
preaching in Williamsburg, and Your people everywhere who are
meeting right now. Father, bless Your Word in this
dark, dark day. Cause Your Gospel, the light
of it, to shine forth in our day, that there might be a revival
in our day, like it's been in days past, where You call out
Your people in a marvelous, marvelous way. Father, we dare not sin
against you in forgetting to pray for your people, especially
those that are in such trouble, heartache, and sickness, those
who need you especially. We pray a special blessing for
the Thompson family at this time of sorrow and loss that, Father,
you'd comfort their hearts, that you'd be with them, that you'd
cause them to find their rest and hope and peace by looking
past this veil of tears and looking to Christ. Father, that you might
take them up in your arms and comfort them as only you can.
Father, we thank you for bringing so many of our brethren back
to us who have been sick and hurting. Pray you continue to
be with your people. All these things we ask, and
that name which is above every name, the precious name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. What'er my God ordains is right,
wholly His will abiding. I will be still, whate'er he
doth, and follow where he guideth. He is my God, though dark my
road, he holds me that I shall not fall. Wherefore to Him I
leave it all. Wherefore to Him I leave it all. Whatever my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me. He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me. I take content what He hath sent,
His hands can turn my grief away. Patiently I wait His days, Patiently
I wait his day. What e'er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all untruth. My God is true, each morn anew. Sweet comfort yet shall fill
my heart. Pain and sorrow shall depart. Pain and sorrow shall depart. What e'er my God ordains is right,
here shall my stand be taken. Though sorrow, grief, or death
be mine, still I am not forsaken. My Father's care is round me
there. He holds me that I shall not
fall. So to Him I leave it all. So to Him I leave it all. So true and so well done, thank
you. I'd open our Bibles again now
to Colossians chapter one. I titled the message this morning
A Description of the Redeemer. It's my prayer this morning that
we see such a clear description of the Redeemer. That those of
you who are here who do not believe in him might see him. that you might be so overwhelmed
with His glory that you trust Him, that you come to Him and
that you trust Him. And I want us to see this description of
Christ so that you who do believe will find your joy and your comfort
and strengthen your heart by trusting Him, trusting your soul
to Him. Now all throughout Scripture,
I touched on this Wednesday night, all throughout Scripture we're
told to look look to Christ. And when our Lord was talking
to Nicodemus, he explained what that look is, is to believe.
We're told all through scripture to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, to trust all of your salvation to him and him alone.
You know, that's the reason that we preach Christ. We only preach
Christ so that his people will trust him so that they'll know
him and that they'll trust him. Well, this might be a fair question
to someone, asked by someone that doesn't know the Lord. What
is it that makes the Lord Jesus Christ so special that I should
trust him alone? What about him is so special?
Well, the answer is because of who he is. And the whole Bible
is written to tell us who Christ is. That's the subject of every
line of scripture, to tell us who Christ is. The whole Bible
is written to show us the glory of Christ, His sufficiency. He's
sufficient. He's all you need. That's why
you should trust Him. The whole Bible is written to
show us He's trustworthy. And when you see Christ and you
know Him, you'll trust Him. You won't be able to trust Him,
but you'll want to. I mean, you'll be glad to trust
all of your soul to Him. I can't tell you all who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. I can't tell you the description
of Him from the whole Bible in one sitting or in one lifetime.
But in our text this morning, I see four descriptions of the
Savior given. And if we'll see these descriptions
and understand who He is, I'm confident of this. We'll trust
it. Now the first thing is this. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. It's not like He's God. some
special, you know, weird manifestation of God. He is God. Look at verse
15. Who is the image of the invisible
God? Now Paul says here is the image
of the invisible God. He means that the Lord Jesus
Christ is God. The Lord Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth
is God in a human body. He's completely man and he's
completely God. Two natures. in one body, in
one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over at verse 19. For it
pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Everything
that God is fully dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, this man, Jesus
of Nazareth, he's full. He's full of righteousness. He's
full of holiness. So that that is all he is. He's
full of grace. He's full of truth. He is full
of God's love. He is full of God's power. He
is God. Now he is full of everything
that we need. We need righteousness. Christ
is full of it. We need mercy and grace. He's the fullness.
It is full in him. We need forgiveness. The fullness
of that's all in Him. We need power, untold power to
put away our sin, to pay for our sin. He's full of power. Now, since everything we need
is in Christ, He's the fullness of it. Where do you reckon you
ought to go to get what you need? Go to Christ. Go to Him. He's
the fullness of everything that you need. Trust Him to have the
power and the mercy and the righteousness and the holiness and the compassion
to save you. Trust Him. The Lord Jesus Christ
is fully God. He's fully God. And you know,
He is the only sight of God we'll ever have. He's God in a body,
and that's the body. That's the person that we'll
see in glory. Now, believers, See Christ by
faith. There we're going to see him
face to face. There's one God. We're going
to see one God in glory. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the only vision of God that we'll ever have. Now, since the Lord
Jesus Christ is God, there's several things that are true.
First of all, he's to be worshiped. You can only worship God. If
you worship anything else, you're worshiping an idol. Well, since
he's God, The Lord Jesus Christ is to be worshipped. I know that
Christ is the friend of sinners, but our Savior is not a buddy
to be joked around with. He's God to be worshipped. The
Savior is not our equal. We can decide to accept Him or
reject Him. We can do some things on our
own and then we find ourselves in trouble. Just like pulling
out your lucky rabbit's foot and rubbing it and getting some
help along the way. He's not our equal that we can
decide to accept Him or to reject Him. He's to be bowed to. He's
to be obeyed. He's to be trusted at all times. He is the one against whom we've
sinned. I mean, we've sinned against
Him. He is the one we are to beg for mercy. He's God. Since the Lord Jesus Christ is
God, he's to be believed. You know, if I tell somebody
something and they say, I don't believe you, that hurts my feelings. You know, they think, well, you
think I'm lying to you? You think I'm not trustworthy, not being
honest with you? The Lord Jesus Christ is God,
so he's to be believed. God cannot lie. Does anybody
doubt that? God cannot lie. Then why don't
we trust Him? Huh? Why don't we trust Him?
Why don't we trust Him to do what He said He'd do? And this
is what He said He'd do. He's going to save sinners in
a way that completely delivers the sinner from their sin. Completely
delivers them from the penalty of sin, all while God satisfies
His holiness and His justice. Now why don't we believe Him?
Why don't we trust Him? He can't lie. Since the Lord
Jesus Christ is God, He's to be trusted to save our sinful
souls. If He's God, He's got all power,
doesn't He? That He's got the power that
it takes to save me. He's got the power to put my
sin away. We can trust Him. He's got the
power to do what He said He'd do. We don't understand it. We
don't understand how it can be done, but we don't have to. Just
trust Him. He cannot lie. He's got the power.
He'll do what he said he'd do. And every attribute of God is
most clearly seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the invisible
characteristics of God are seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
know God is love, don't we? You know where that love is seen?
Most clearly it's seen in the Lord Jesus Christ when God sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. You wanna see the
love of God? Look to Christ. It's all there. We know God is
merciful and gracious. Grace and mercy and truth all
came by Jesus Christ. You wanna see God's grace? You
wanna see God's mercy? Look how he punished his son
to save his people. In Christ, we see the justice and the holiness
of God. You look to Calvary. Is there
any doubt God's just? The father made his son sin for
his people. The father spoke from heaven
and said, I love my son. I'm pleased with him. He never
did that by anybody else. And he was made sin. What did
he do? He wouldn't spare him. He slaughtered him because that's
what justice to me. That's the only way God's people
could go free. That's the only way God's elect
could have mercy and grace is through the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And God died to put away the
sin of his people. Is there any doubt he did it?
Can God fail? Oh, he did it. That's so glorious. I'm so thankful to trust all
my soul to him. Aren't you? He's God. Second,
the Lord Jesus Christ is King. At the end of verse 15 says the
firstborn of every creature. Now, you know, in the days of
the Old Testament, the firstborn inherited the birthright. The
firstborn inherited the leadership of the family. He got the lion's
share of the inheritance from his father. Well, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the firstborn. He's the only begotten of the
father. And since he's the firstborn,
that means that the Lord Jesus Christ is king and he's ruler. Like I said a minute ago, he's
king. He inherited everything. He's the king, the firstborn. So he has the right to forgive
sin. He has the right and the power
to put away the sin of his people. Since the Lord Jesus Christ is
king, he has the right to have mercy on whom he will have mercy.
He has the right to be gracious to whom he will be gracious.
He's not being unfair. He has the right to be merciful
to whom he will be merciful. And thank God he's chosen to
be merciful. That mercy is all I need. I'm
so thankful to trust that to him. The firstborn is king and
the firstborn also inherited everything. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the firstborn of the father, the only begotten of
the father, full of grace and truth. And since the Lord Jesus
Christ is the firstborn, he's the heir of everything that the
father has. Now what is it that the father
has? God the father, what is it that he has? Everything, isn't
it? Everything. The cattle on a thousand
hills are his. Everything belongs to him. It's
all his. And the father put all of that
into the hand of his son. so that he could give eternal
life to as many as the father had given him. He inherited it. The father gave it to him because
it's right. He's the first begotten of the
father, the only begotten of the father. On top of that, Christ
earned the right to have everything. He earned the right to have everything
in creation by his obedience and by his death that satisfied
the justice of his father. By his blood, he bought the right
to own everything. He is doubly his. He inherited
it because he's the only son. He bought it by his blood, by
his obedience. Now, scripture, it all belongs
to Christ. And here's the amazing thing,
and God's mercy and grace, you and scripture calls God's elect,
those who believe Christ, joint heirs. Joint heirs with Christ. That means that the believer
has everything that Christ has. Now, please the Father, all fullness
dwell in him. Everything God has, it's all in Christ. Everything
God has, he gave to him by inheritance. Everything God has, he gave to
the son because he bought it, he earned it. It's all in Christ. Every spiritual blessing is in
Christ. Matter of fact, every physical
blessing, every physical thing, it all belongs to him. I don't know what the Lord would
be pleased to do physically. What He might give us, what He
might not. You know, when someone's sick, I pray the Lord will heal
them. I do. I pray because I know He's
got the power to do it. I don't know if He will or not.
I mean, I don't know if He'll be pleased. I mean, He can. It's
His to give. It's His to withhold. Somebody
doesn't have a job and, you know, they're not able to pay the light
bill and the gas bill and not have enough food to eat. I mean,
you know, we would help them. We pray, Lord, give them a job.
I don't know if Lord would do that or not. I simply do not
know what they'll be pleased to do. But this I know. Our God is pleased to give every
spiritual blessing he has to every one of his children. I
know he's pleased to do that. And I pray that God save his
people and he give them all these blessings. He give them life
in Christ and he forgive their sin for Christ's sake, that he
make them righteous in Christ. I promised you this. Lord, do
it. Because he's made his people
joint heirs with Christ so that by God's grace, but by him joining
his people to Christ, he makes it right for them to have everything
Christ has. If mom don't spend everything
you got, whatever you give me as inheritance, belongs to Janet
too. We're one. I mean, there's no difference
between me and her. She joined to me. Everything
Christ has is yours if you're joined to Him. Oh my goodness
sakes. I mean, just think of the...
I can do without a lot of stuff physically, fleshly, can't you?
I can't do without anything in Christ. And to think I have it
all in Him? That thrills my soul to think,
gotta do that for the likes of me. Not because of anything I've
done, but because of who Christ is. See that? That's why we trust
him, because of who he is. He's the heir, he's the heir.
And it's hard because we're joint heirs with him. All right, thirdly,
this is a good reason to trust the Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the creator. 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. Now, scripture can't make this
more plain. It's God the Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is called the Word of God. Christ is the one who
spoke everything into existence in Genesis chapter one. By him
were all things created. By him, he did. that is in existence
in this universe was created by the power of the word of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Space was just a vast emptiness,
not one blessed thing in it. And he spoke and things start
appearing. He didn't take his hands and make something. He
just spoke and it appeared out of thin air. It just it was created. Matter was created at the power
of his word. Don't you ever buy into this
notion that scientists try to tell you that things evolved,
that something evolved into something totally different over the course
of time. Never happened. Never happened. God created everything
by the power of his word. God never took something in existence
and remodeled it into something else. You know, when we build
a house, you go buy wood Whatever else it is you buy, nails and
things, and you take what exists and you make it into something
else. That's not creation, that's building. God created. He created something from nothing.
Everything in creation got its substance, its existence, when
God spoke it into existence. Before that, there was nothing,
just empty space. Now, why do we make such a big
deal of that? Why is it that God being the
creator, and God creating everything from nothing, why is that such
an important point that we just hammer on? I guess it's in... I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't
say things I don't know for sure are true, but I think I've heard
that a lot of states won't let teachers teach the story of creation
from the Bible, that you absolutely have to teach evolution and stuff.
Don't you kids buy it? Don't you buy it? It's a lie.
It's just, it's a lie. It is made up by blind people.
But now, why is that so important? Let me give you two things. Number
one, it's important because God says so. That's enough, isn't
it? God says so. We're not going
to bend on it. We're not going to compromise
on it. But it's also secondly important for us to believe that
God is the creator because creation is a picture of God's salvation,
of how God saves his people. You'll notice that it says here
that all things were created by him and for him. For him. You know why God created this
world? You know why he spoke it all
into existence? He knew Adam was gonna fall. He knew Adam
was gonna mess it all up. He knew how horrible the world
was gonna turn into all these years later. He knew man was
just gonna keep finding more and more and more ways to display
his horrible sinfulness. He knew man was never gonna get
any better. He knew man was going further and further and further
away from God. God knew that before he created anything. You
know why he created it anyway? for him, for the glory of his
son, so that his son would save a people out of Adam's fallen
race and do something that's so marvelous in our eyes, human
language can't explain it. That's why God created everything,
for his son, so his son could get the glory in saving his people
out of him. And creation's a picture of that.
Remember, when God created the heavens and the earth, he didn't
take something that existed and repurpose it. You can tell I've
heard Janet watching her shows on HGTV. He didn't repurpose
it. He didn't repurpose it. He created it from nothing. And
God uses that very same power of creation when he saves his
people. He creates a new man who never
was there before. There's nothing. In God's people,
there's nothing for God to work with. There's no righteousness.
There's no goodness. There's no life. There's nothing
solid. All it is is sink and sand. It's
the mire and muck of Adam's sin. There's nothing there for God
to work with. And that's just fine. He don't need nothing.
By the power of his word, God doesn't remodel his people into
a new man. God doesn't remodel His people
into somehow the flesh has some sort of light and life. No, when
Adam died, the flesh died. God doesn't remodel His people
because there's nothing there to work with. God speaks and
creates a new man who never existed before. And since that's true,
quit trying to make yourself more savable by your works. Now, I know what I'm talking
about here. Quit trying to make yourself more savable, thinking,
well, I'm going to make myself more savable, and then I'm going
to ask God to save me. No, sir, don't do that. That's
trying to give God something to work with. Quit trying to
make yourself more savable. Quit trying to make yourself
more acceptable before you ask God to save you. God doesn't
need anything in you to work with. Just come ask God for mercy. Just come ask God to give you
life. God doesn't need anything in you to work with and He won't
accept it either. Just leave whatever it is you
think that you've done good that might make you more acceptable
and leave it at home and come to God naked in your filth. Don't even try to wash up. Just
come in your nakedness and your filth and your need and your
stench and everything that sin is and come to God begging for
mercy. Come to God begging for life.
God will never accept our works. but he'll accept his son. He'll
accept the work of his son. Then come to God in faith, believe
in Christ is all you need. Ask in mercy for Christ's sake.
If God, and he does, has the power to speak this creation
into existence from nothing, I'm real sure of this, he has
the power to speak and create a new man in me and in you. I'm
just confident of that. And that gives me such comfort,
Confidence to trust God, to trust Christ to be my Savior and trust
Him to do all the saving. Trust Him to do it all. That
gives me the confidence to trust Christ. And then to keep trusting. Don't just trust Him and go on
your merry way and forget about it. Trust Him and keep trusting. Don't trust Christ and then think
you're going to improve things by your works. Trust Christ and
keep trusting Him alone. Trust Him to save you and to
keep you saved. Because look what he says in
verse 17. And he is before all things, and by him all things
consist. Now God created this world and
he created everything in it. And he's the one that holds it
all together. How can a ball, many balls actually, hang in
space on nothing? And not just crane into each
other. How is it that the ball of earth can stay close enough
to the sun to keep us warm and not so close we burn up? How
is it possible? How is it possible that the earth
doesn't just fall apart? How is it the ball just doesn't
fall apart? Everything is held together by him, by Christ. It's all held together. And listen
to me. Everything that happens this
creation, everything happens by his will. He holds it together. He purposes it. If he doesn't
purpose it, it won't happen. Now, I can't explain why God
does what he does. I can't explain everything that
happens in this creation, things that are they're evil, things
that are that causes such grief and sorrow. I cannot explain
it, but I do know this. God did it. It's not an accident. God did it. That applies to principalities
and powers. They're all there by God's doing,
by His will. They're there by... That's political
rulers of the earth. You know, those rulers are there
in power by God's appointment. I watch the news and I see about
different rulers all around the world. And boy, I'd like to go
pluck them out and put somebody else in, wouldn't you? But... I can't do that. And you know
why that fellow's there? God put him there. They might have their finger
on a nuclear button. I don't know, it doesn't make
me all that comfortable, but God put him there. God put him
there. That applies to our political
rulers. And we need to remember that. Unless they come telling
us what we can and cannot preach, just obey them. Just be a good
citizen. To expect them to do anything
real wise and just, you know, in agreement with the sense of
morality and right and wrong that we get from this book is
not going to happen, more than likely. Unless they tell us what
to preach or what don't, just obey. To disobey them is to disobey
God's authority, because God's the one that put them there.
God's the one that put them there. Just pray for our leaders. Pray
God give them wisdom that they don't have, because you can rest
assured of this, they need it. But I'm saying that just to say
this. Don't get overly concerned about how this world and this
country is being governed and run. Be a good citizen. Be a good citizen, but don't
spend too much time railing on what they're doing. People have
always done wrong, and they always will do wrong. Just remember
this, everything that's happening is happening according to the
will of our God. I mean, you just say that's God's
will. And also remember this, a believer
doesn't have citizenship in this world anyway. We're looking for a country,
a better country, a heavenly country. We're going home. A
believer just passing through this place, we're going home. Let the people of this world
take care of this world. Let the people that God puts
in authority of this world take care of it. And let's look at
going home. Because while we're passing through
this place, God's the ones holding it all together. And here's why
that's so important. It's a picture of salvation.
Christ, our creator, has the power to hold a ball in space
with no visible means of support. And there it stays. There it
stays in its orbit. God put a sun. There it stays.
I mean, all the planets. If He's got the power to do that,
and He showed He's got the power to save His people from their
sins. He's got the power to make you believe what the flesh cannot
believe. I believe He's got the power
to keep us saved, don't you? He doesn't need our works, just
like He doesn't need something for us to... some good works
and some goodness in us for Him to work with in order to make
a new man. God doesn't need anything to
work with from us in order to keep us saved either. Since that's
true, quit. Quit trying to make yourself
better. Quit trying to make yourself more accepted. Listen, because
even believers fall into this. Quit trying to make yourself
more accepted. Quit trying to make yourself
more likely to be blessed because you've done all these good works.
And remember this, the Savior doesn't need our help. The Creator
doesn't need our help. Just rest in Christ. Just rest
in Christ. The Savior doesn't need us to
do something to make ourselves more acceptable. More acceptable
than our brethren, other believers. I'm talking about believers now.
The Savior doesn't need our help. How are we accepted? In the beloved. In the beloved. The Savior doesn't
need our help in holding this creation together. And he don't
need our help in holding his church and his people together
either. He's going to save them and keep them saved by his power. And that makes me so glad. Just
rest in Christ. Just rest and not worry. Isn't
that glorious? That's so glorious. And here's
the fourth thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
head of the church. Verse 18. And 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.
Now Christ is the head. He's the head of the church and
scripture describes his people as his body. Now I know it's
a mystical body in the sense that it's a spiritual thing that
we can't see with fleshly eyes. But really, it's not all that
mystical. Not if you have faith in Christ. You see, he's the
head and we're the body. The body gets everything from
the head. The brain is in the head. The control center of the
body is in the head. Think, actively think. I've got
to breathe in and out. I've got to breathe in and out.
I've got to breathe... No, your body just does it. Because your brain
just tells everything that has to happen for your lungs to take
in a breath of air and push it out. The control center just
does that. The brain tells the body when
to move, when to do everything, how to do everything. The body
can't do anything unless the brain's working properly. Well,
the believer's control center is Christ our head. He's the
head. We come to Christ by His power. When He says come, we come. We have faith in Christ by His
power. We try and try and try to believe
and we can't make ourselves believe. And when He says believe, we
believe. And we can't quit believing.
We even rest in Christ by His power. It takes His power to
make us rest. We keep trying to work and work
and work and work and we can't have rest until He says, peace
be still. And he gives us rest. He gives
us his rest. We finally see we can rest from
our works like he did from his because he finished the work.
There's nothing after me. I rest. But I can't do that till
he speaks to me and says rest. We worship by the power of Christ. We can't worship unless Christ
comes and gives us the power, the ability to worship. When
I think about preaching, I think of this All the time. Who's sufficient
for these things? Well, that doesn't just apply
to the preacher. It applies to those who listen to who's sufficient
for them. Who's sufficient to hear? Who's sufficient? Nobody. Not unless Christ our head gives
us the power to do it. See, the body gets everything
from the head. And you think of the joy of getting
everything that you need from Christ your head. That just gives
us rest, doesn't it? Such rest, I don't have to get
anything from myself, from my works, from anything about me. It all comes from Christ. Then
a body is identified by its head. You know who somebody is, but
when you look at their face, when you look at their face,
the believer is identified by Christ, our head. This is, we're
called by his name. The body is called by the name
of the head. This is the name where with she shall be called.
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. You think what
a blessing it is to be called by the name of Christ instead
of the worthless name of Adam. To be known by his name. And
the body is made just like the head. Whatever the head does,
the body does. You know why the body's living?
Because the head's living. Our Lord said, because I live,
you live also. The body does everything the
head does. When Christ obeyed the law, so did the body. When he established a perfect
righteousness, so did the body. When Christ our head died to
satisfy the law, to satisfy the justice of the law, the body
did too. See, because I'm joined to Christ,
I'm free from death. I'm free from the penalty of
the law. The head suffered it. And when the head suffered it,
the body did too. We suffered it in Christ. When Christ arose
from the grave, so did the body. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
first one to rise from the dead by his own power, never to die
again. And you, the body, will too.
Everybody in the body must rise again. They must rise again spiritually. They must be given spiritual,
eternal life in the new birth. And they must rise again from
the grave. Now that gives me confidence. That gives me confidence
to rest in Christ He's the one that gives me life. He is my
life. I get it from him. And when the
time comes for me to lay down on my deathbed, I can't tell
you how many deathbeds that I've stood by. Someday, somebody like
you are going to stand by my deathbed. And when that time
comes, this is the confidence and the peace that I have. Knowing
that time's coming, this is the confidence that I have. All I'm
going to do is go be with the Lord. You're going to put this
body in the grave. And it's just going to wait there
till he returns and calls it out of the grave. It's just resting,
just waiting for his return. The body will be there in the
grave. I'll be with the Lord. To quote a great American, I'll
be doing handsprings and rejoicing. I'm sorry y'all had to stay,
but I'll be with you. See, God did this, this is salvations
of the Lord. He did it all through his son
so that his son would have the preeminence in everything. Christ is all. He's all. He has all the preeminence. That
means he's the most important person. He's the most important
thing in everything. Christ has the most important
place, the preeminence in the gospel. Because he's all of it. I mean, the gospel is not just
about Christ. The gospel is Christ. It's nothing
but Christ. Anything else is not true. It's
not the gospel. Christ has the most important place in righteousness.
He is our righteousness, the Lord, our righteousness. None
of my righteousness comes from my works. It's all Christ. Christ
is the most important place in holiness. He's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, holiness. He is our holiness.
He has the most important place in forgiveness, the forgiveness
of our sins. Where is it found? It's all in
Him. It's all because of Him. Christ has the most important
place in the thought and the mind of the believer. Because
Christ is all. He's all my salvation. He's all
I need. And knowing Christ. This is why
I want to give you these descriptions of the Redeemer. So that you'll
know Him. This is who He is. And knowing
who Christ is just thrills me. The thought of leaving all in
the hand of Christ. And leaving none of it in my
hand. Nothing for me to do. Nothing
based upon my works of the law. Nothing based upon all my religious
activity. But leave it all in Christ's
hands. because He has the preeminence. That just thrills me to think
I can leave it all in Him. Because listen, I leave all the
responsibility to Christ the Redeemer. It's the Father's will,
He has all the preeminence. He has all the glory. Now and
in eternity. And when the day of judgment
comes, that last trumpet sound, and Christ returns, He judges
the earth takes his people to glory, presents them to the father.
Father here for the children, I and the children that you've
given me. And the father says, come on in. Earl, if there's
one empty seat, if there's one empty place, Christ has lost all the glory.
He lost the preeminence. He lost one that the father gave
him. He died for one who went to hell anyway, was condemned
anyway. Christ's suffering for them was not enough to satisfy
God's justice. He lost one. Well, 99.99999%
is pretty good, but not for the perfect Redeemer, it's not. No,
if he loses one, he loses all the preeminence. And he's not
about to do that. See, the Father's will will be
done. And this is the Father's will that Christ have all the
preeminence. So when all, everything is done,
all the whole shooting match is done, you know what's going
to happen? Everyone, the father gave to
the son, you see, is going to appear in glory. Every last one
of them. It's not possible that one would
perish. Whoo! I like a sure thing. I like a
sure thing. To be able to rest in Christ,
gives absolute peace and confidence to the heart. I pray God will
make that so with you and me. Let's bow together. Our Father,
how we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, how we thank you
for your will of redemption, that it's all in you. What a
Redeemer we have, what a Savior. Father, I pray that you would
give us, each one of us, the faith to believe him. He's trustworthy,
make us trust Him. He is cannot lie, make us believe
Him. Cast all of our soul on Him and
to rest in Him, in Him alone. It's in His precious name, for
His glory we pray, amen. All right, Chris. All right, in closing, if you
would take your hymnal and turn it to page 442, and we'll be
standing as we sing, Praise Him, Praise Him. ? Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer ? Sing, O earth, His wonderful love proclaim
? Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangel in glory ? Strength
and honor give to His holy name Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
his children. In his arms, he carries them
all day long. Praise him, praise him, tell
of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. He our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus, who
bore our sorrow. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portal, loud with hosanna
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world
victorious, power and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. you