If you would turn with me in
your Bible to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, let me say while you're turning,
everything in the life of a believer, everything in the life of a child
of God, providentially works together for one end. Did you hear me? To one end. That one end is for God to cross
their path with a man, a servant, a voice, a preacher who has the
message of the gospel. There's just one message and
there's just one gospel and by which that sinners are to be
saved. And this is by the means by which
God is pleased to save them that believe the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified. Preaching. Preaching. Paul told the church at Corinth,
he said, for after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom,
that being man's wisdom, knew not God, it pleased God by what
the world calls foolishness. the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe." Paul wrote to Timothy and he said,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And then Paul
added, of whom I am chief. And God revealed that to Paul
and he's got to reveal it to you and I as you so well heard
last evening. So we know according to the Word
of God that sinners are saved, sinners are reconciled to God
through true gospel preaching. The beloved John wrote this then
as the message that we've heard of him and declared unto you
that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Simply
put, that means that God is holy and we're not. And the question
of all questions is, how can a God who is glorious in holiness
and ungodly sinners be reconciled together? That's the issue. There's
only one answer and only one way. Christ coming and doing
for you what you cannot do for yourself. That being true, every
sinner would have to agree that the preaching of the gospel is
the most crucial, most urgent and vital thing in the world
today. Then, why in most religious denominations
and churches is that not the case? Why isn't the message of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified given the preeminence that God says
it should have? Isn't that the message of this
holy book? Is that not the words from the
mouth of God himself? I so appreciated your prayer,
brother. This is serious business that we're doing here. And I
love conferences more than anyone, I do, because I get to hear good
preaching, I get to see people that I love, but this is why
we're here. To hear once again how wretched,
ungodly sinners can be reconciled to God Almighty. Why has gospel preaching taken
the back seat to so many insignificant things? Can someone explain that
to me in a way that makes good sense? No, you can't, because
it doesn't make sense at all. Joseph Hart wrote, a sinner is
a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. What does that mean? It simply
means that very few men and women ever truly see themselves as
sinners. And what a blessed and sacred
thing it is when they do. And it's God that has to show
it to them. It's God that has to reveal it to them. Man-made
religion is out to do away with God. Have you figured that out
yet? And they do so by doing away with wretches and worms. Harling preachers are to blame.
What do I mean by that? Well, a few years ago, I got
a modern-day hymno out, not like the one we use. It was a newly
published hymn book. And found that the wonderful
words of John Newton's Amazing Grace had been changed. The words,
God saved a wretch like me. And that's what we are, we're
riches. That's being kind, really. God saved a rich like me had
been changed to God saved and set me free. Isaac Watt's words, for alas,
and did my Savior bleed, had the words changed? Would Christ
devote His sacred head for such a worm as I, for such a one as
I? The world's religion is trying
to remove all the wretches and the worms out of their doctrine, out of
their hymn books. And this is one of the many reasons
that men and women put everything else before the Lord Jesus Christ. They really don't believe that
they're sinners. They don't really believe that they need a savior.
They'll say, how many times have you heard this? Well, I'm not
perfect. But I'm not all that bad. But they're wrong. They're
worse than what they think they are. God requires perfection. That's our dilemma. That's what
Paul told the church here at Colossae. Look at verse 12 with
me. He said, "...giving thanks unto
the Father which hath made us meat." You know what that word
meat means. fit, it means suitable, it means
worthy, it means relevant. In order for us to be fit, suitable,
worthy, and relevant, we must be made perfect. Only God, God
only accepts perfection, nothing less. And that's something sadly
that we don't know much about, or anything about I should say.
I've often said, you know, we see a newborn baby and we go,
oh, she's just perfect. Or he's just perfect. No. No. Verse 13. Who hath delivered us, that being
God Almighty, from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us and to the kingdom of God's dear son, Jesus Christ. In whom,
speaking of Jesus Christ, we have a redemption, we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now that'll mean something
to you if you're a sinner. even the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature, for by Him, Christ, 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. Who's that talking
about? The same one that he's talking
about through this whole book. The Lord Jesus Christ. And He,
the Lord Jesus, is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. What a God He is. Jesus Christ
is God, dear friends. And He, Christ, is the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead. That in all things, He, Jesus
Christ might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in Him, that again being Christ, should all fullness dwell. That means that Christ should
always be the preeminent one. Now what does preeminence mean?
Well, it means supremacy. It means importance, greatness,
prominence. Preeminence means the fact, the
truth of surpassing all others. He's number one. That's what
that means. His preeminence should be and
it must be number one. The most important thing in the
life of every professing believer. Bar none. Without exception.
Jesus Christ is the preeminent one. Christ is the preeminent
one of whom David said, thou art fairer than the children
of men, grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath
blessed thee forever. He's the preeminent one of whom
Saul had said, is the cheapest among 10,000, in his head the
most fine gold. Christ is the one of whom Isaiah
declared, shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. In
other words, He shall have the preeminence. Christ is the superior
one of whom John the Baptist declared, He must increase, I
must decrease. We've got to decrease. I wish that every time we stood
and preached, we could get ourselves out of the way. He must increase. We must decrease. John said,
he's the preeminent one of whom the father loves and has given
all things into his hand. He's the exalted one of whom
John the beloved said, who in the beginning was the word and
was with God and was God. He is the one with whom we have
to do. In our text, He's the One in
whom all fullness dwells. Jesus Christ, in whom all the
fullness of the Godhead is found. The Supreme One of whom Paul
declared, the One in whom must reign till He hath put all things
under His feet. The One who is head over all
things, the fullness of God that filleth all and in all. This
is what God says about His Son. Yes, He's the Son of God, but
He's God the Son. The one of whom the father proclaimed,
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. He's the one
that's able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him. The one of whom heaven sings,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made
us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
He's the one that does that for sinners like you and I. That's
why we preach Christ's preeminence. That's why it must give number
one priority in all that we do. It's the reason for the urgency
of preaching. After the Lord knocked Saul of
Tarsus off his high horse into the dust and ashes and saved
him by his grace, he had but one purpose. It's evident throughout
his writings. He had one purpose, and that
was to preach. And wherever he had the opportunity
to preach, he had but one subject. Just one subject. That's all
there is. Just one subject. This week,
you'll hear six messages. You've already heard two. You're
hearing one now. You're going to hear another one in a minute,
two tomorrow. And every one of them is on the same subject from
a different text. But it's the same subject. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. How are sinners saved? Through
Jesus Christ, the preeminent One. The One who loved us and
gave Himself for us. That's the message. That's what Paul meant when he
said, I determine not to know anything among you save or except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Whatever opportunity, whatever
ability or power the Lord allowed Paul to have, he focused it all
on one singular desire. Preaching Christ. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. He told the church at Galatia,
God forbid that I should glory, save, or accept in the cross
of our Lord Jesus, by whom the world is crucified unto me and
I unto the world. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16,
Paul added, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to
glory of. For necessity, necessity is laid
upon me, yea, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. Preachers have nothing to glory
or take pride in. They preach because God laid
the necessity to preach upon them. And every one of these
six men, plus your pastor, will tell you that. And there's nothing
but woe if they do anything else. Woe unto me, not if I preach,
but woe unto me if I don't preach the gospel. That little three-letter
word means great sorrow and distress. They won't be happy doing anything
else. They must preach the unsearchable
riches of Jesus Christ. God's servants preach Christ
out of necessity. And beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things to sinners. my pastor, who is now gone, whom
I love dearly. Earlier in life, he had lost
one of his big toes in a lawnmower accident. And he never tried
to hide it. He'd often be barefoot there
in his house. And he was so endearing, he would
always tease about it. He'd say, how do you like my
big toe? And you'd look down there, and there was no big toe.
And when he lay in the hospital bed dying, that foot with the
missing toe kind of slid down out of the bed out from under
the covers. And I was sitting there. He wasn't conscious at
the time. But I looked at that foot with that big toe missing,
and I thought to myself, Paul, that's the most beautiful feat
I've ever seen. Why? Because they brought to me the
good tidings of great things, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Paul said, For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ,
which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful. It's necessary for you. Necessity
is laid upon me. Friends, preaching is not our
career. Preaching is not our job. It is a necessity that's been
laid upon us. Speaking of preaching, Brother
Mahan told me one time, he said, David, if you can do anything
else, do it. And you know, I understand now
what he meant. What Henry meant was, if God has called you and
laid the necessity to preach upon you, to preach Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, you cannot do anything else. You can't. It will be absolutely necessary
for you to preach the gospel. Now turn with me to Acts chapter
28. I don't want to get into Gabe's time here, but I want
you to see this. Acts chapter 28, here we find
that the Apostle Paul had been arrested for preaching the Gospel. That's what we find him doing.
He was doing the very thing in jail that he got arrested for.
Now tell us something. Preaching the gospel. I want
you to observe three things in Paul's preaching that are vital
to true gospel preaching today. These three methods were needful
among the people of Paul's day, and they're still needful. Still
needful. Urgent. Critical. Look at verse
23. Acts 28. And when they had appointed him
a day, there came many to him and to his lodging, to whom he
expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning
Jesus. That was his message. Both out
of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till
evening. I wonder, Brother Darwin, if
folks would still love us if we did that. Morning to evening. And the first
thing that Paul did to those who God crossed his path with,
and I said that on purpose. If you're here today, it's not
by accident. No such things as accidents with
a sovereign God, is there? The first thing he did was to
expound the gospel to them. That word expound means to explain,
to declare, to set forth a subject. And as you heard last night,
Christ must be the subject of all our preaching. Paul explained
to them from the scriptures the nature of Christ's kingdom and
the glorious purposes and the signs of it. He explained to
them from the Scriptures that God's kingdom is a heavenly and
a spiritual kingdom, not a fleshly and carnal one. You didn't enter into Christ's
kingdom through a physical and outward work of righteousness.
Christ's kingdom is not one of ritualism and religious ceremony
that men wind up glorying in themselves. The salvation of
a sinner is determined by the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I love to think about that.
He did everything for me that God requires of me. Isn't that
good news? Because God requires perfection.
I sure can't provide it. But Christ did. So-called preachers today, they're
not expounding the truth about Christ. They're telling sinners
they can be saved by a work of righteousness that they themselves
do. If you do this and you don't do that. But God declares in
His Word that sinners are saved according to the mercy of God
in Christ keeping and fulfilling God's law perfectly for them. Paul expounded to men and women
how Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul explained
how Christ died the just for the unjust to bring them to God
and reconcile them to God. Paul persuaded sinners how God
the Son was crucified in the place of His people that He shed
His own blood to wash their sin away. Paul declared how that
Christ was the way, the truth, the life, and that no man, no
woman, no sinner comes to the Father but by Him. That's what expounding and preaching
the gospel is, telling sinners what God himself has done for
them. And I've heard your pastor preach,
and that's what he does. Thank God for him, and thank
God that God sent him. The second thing Paul did after
expounding the gospel of God was to testify of it. You see
that? Some might say, well, isn't expounding and testifying the
gospel the same thing? No. No, you cannot testify to
something that you have not personally experienced. If you're called
into a court of law to testify or to be a witness in a case,
you're called to give an account of your own personal knowledge
or experience of that case. And if you're called to be a
witness in a court of law, you cannot truly witness to something
that you didn't see, hear, or experience. And when we tell
others the gospel of God's grace in our lives, we testify. We bear witness to the effect
which the gospel has had upon us. And it's the grace in which
God has laid upon our hearts and upon our lives. And how can
one testify to the grace of God who's never truly experienced
God's grace? That's what it is to testify.
Paul often told of his own conversion. On many occasions he told the
story of how the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
how God knocked him off his high horse of pride into the dust
of humility. And indeed, it was a tale worth
telling since others knew quite well who Saul of Tarsus was and
what he had done to believers as a zealous enemy of Jesus Christ. His testimony gave great validity
to the grace of God. He was a witness of the grace
of God. No man can do that if he hadn't
experienced God's grace. The testimony of Paul's conversion
didn't glorify himself, it glorified the One that saved him. That's
what true preaching does. It glorifies the Lord Jesus who
chose him and called him and did for him what he couldn't
do for himself. The testimony of every believer's conversion
is the same. We did to send Him. God did to
save Him. Men and women get excited when
they hear about a medicine that brings about a sure cure. But
the first thing they want to know is whether or not you yourself
have been cured by taking that medicine. When you and I can
truly testify to the love and the mercy and the grace of God,
it gives some validity to others as to the fact that what we're
expounding and preaching is true. Let me tell you what God did
for me. He had mercy upon me. It doesn't make what we've experienced
true. Christ said, Thy Word is truth.
It's truth already, but we can say with some assurance that
God saved us through the preaching of His Word. We can't speak of
something we hadn't seen or heard or witnessed any more than we
can come back from somewhere we've never been. Now I've never
been to Paris, France, but I have been to Paris, Tennessee. And
I can tell you a little bit about it. But I can't tell you much
about Paris, France other than what I've read in the books.
Paul expounded, he explained the gospel when he testified
from personal experience the truth that he proclaimed. But
that's not all Paul did. The Apostle Paul was not satisfied
simply to expound and testify, his heart being full of love
for others, he therefore persuaded them. Persuaded them. When was the last time you endeavored
to persuade one that you love, who's yet without Christ? Lord,
help us. Serious, serious business. Serious
business. Again, verse 23, did you notice
how Paul persuaded his hearers? He persuaded them both out of
the law of Moses and out of the prophets. He persuaded them from
the Word of God. That's what that's talking about.
And you know, I can just see Paul talking to these men, and
I see him have spread out on the table the books of Moses. and the various scrolls of the
prophets. I can just see Him do that. I can hear Him say,
see that ark of Noah? That's my Lord and Savior. He's
a shelter and refuge for His people in a time of storm. All
who were in the ark were safe and spared from the rain of God's
wrath. I can just hear Him say, see
that serpent of brass that Moses made hanging upon that pole?
Look to Him and live. Christ must be made in the likeness
of that serpent of sin. But there's no poison, no sin
in Him. He must be lifted up and all
who look to Him shall be saved from that venomous bite of the
serpent's poison of sin. Look to Him and live. He who
knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. That's our message. Look to Jesus
Christ. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
He must be. Paul must have persuaded men
to look to those cities of refuge where a guilty man could flee
for safety. Now if you're guilty, that's
precious to you. Those cities pictured and represented
the Lord Jesus who died to be the refuge for wretched, guilty
sinners. And salvation for the sinner
is found in fleeing unto Christ and being made safe and secure
from the blood avenger of God's holy wrath and judgment law. Paul persuaded them. I'm sure
he did from that Passover blood over the door and lentils. And
I'm sure he did from that manna that fell in the wilderness and
from that rock which from flowed living water. These things should
persuade every sinful man and woman to trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Won't you trust in Him? There's
no one else worthy to be trusted. He's the only one who can do
for you what God requires of you. The mercy seat, the morning
and evening sacrifices, the paschal lamb, the scapegoat, they were
all pictures and types of the One who was to come. And I can
just hear Paul say, can you see? Are you now persuaded? I can hear him discuss the two
covenants between Sarah and Hagar and the electing love of Isaac
and the passing by of Ishmael. I can see Him clearly explaining
God's mercy and compassion in His electing love for Jacob and
in His hardening of Esau's heart. I can hear Him persuade them
from all the sacrifices, reminding them that without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission for sin. So I persuade you this
morning, those of you that are yet without Christ, I persuade
you to think on Christ. Look to Him. The Lord's anointed. He's the Savior of sinners. Nowhere
else to go. Nowhere else to look. He must
have the preeminence. I'd have you to read about Him
and study His person and His work and His character and turn
to the Law of Moses and to the Psalms and to the Prophets and
see the one of whom the Old Testament foretold. He is the one of whom
we expound and testify and persuade that the New Testament reveals
the King. Know who He is and why He deserves to be trusted.
Incline your ear, saith the Lord, and come unto Me. Hear, and your
soul shall live. God has sent forth Christ to
be a propitiation for sin. That means payment for sin. He voluntarily became sin's propitiation. And that's why we must trust
in Him. We must. Some things are an absolute must.
The Scriptures must be fulfilled. You must be born again. Christ
must in these have suffered, and He did. The things written
in this book must be accomplished, and they're going to be accomplished
in Him. So will you trust in Christ? Is He not worth trusting? Who else can you trust? The moment
you trust in Him, you're saved. But, I don't feel saved. Away with your buts and away
with your feelings. Away with them. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth on
Him hath everlasting life. Salvation lies in the simple
act of trusting in your Savior. Oh, how I wish I could persuade
you of that. But God has to reveal it to you.
And I pray this morning that He will. Shouldn't we love the
one who first loved us? He died, ever drop of the blood
of the Lord Jesus, ever sigh and cry from Calvary's cross,
is argument that none should neglect His salvation. that all
should come and believe upon Him. Why will you tarry? Why
will you linger? Why will you die in your sin?
Sin's been paid for in full. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one that paid it. He must have the preeminence. So let me say this in closing.
Those of you who are yet without Christ, today's the day of salvation. He said, well, you know, I've
got tomorrow. No, no promise for tomorrow. Today is the day
of salvation. So I persuade you with all that's
in me, come to Christ. Come to Christ. And dear fellow
pastors, may we also be encouraged every time we stand to preach
to do as Paul did. Expound, testify, and persuade
sinners. It's not our job. It's not our
career. Necessity had been laid upon
us to do so. There's eternal life and no other.
And yet today it continues to be as it's always been. Look
at verse 24. I wrote it down. I'm glad because
I closed my Bible already. It says, And some believed the
things which were spoken, and some believed not. Of which group
are you? Will you believe or will you
not? Jesus Christ is the preeminent
one. There's salvation in no other.
God gave him the preeminence and so must we. May God be pleased
to make it so for his glory, our good, and for Christ's sake.
Thank you.