It's good to see you again. Been
a while. A lot of new faces. Some old faces. Can I say old? I heard someone say the other
day, you know you're getting old when you visit an antique
shop and they won't let you leave. I'm glad to be here. July, last July, I preached in
New Jersey with David Edmondson. I'm preaching tonight with David
Edmondson, Saturday night with David Edmondson, and then we'll
be at Gabe's at the end of September preaching with David Edmondson.
I told someone the other day, I said, you know, they're going
to call us twins, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. I said, you know we're going
to get tagged with that. I told David in New
Jersey, I said, you're comfortable to preach with. Turn to Colossians chapter 1. I thought about how to start
my message. for this conference, and the
thought kept coming to me, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ is first. He's our all in all. He's the
reason we are here. He's the reason we exist. We
don't exist for any other reason other than for Jesus Christ.
And I titled this The Preeminence of Christ. And I took that title
from verse 18 in Colossians, where it says that, 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 I'll pick up on a few verses before this, but that's where
I took the title from. Now, it's written in verse 19
that it pleased the Father. Now, when we read it pleased
the Father, we need to find out what it's talking about. Because
if it pleased the Father, I want to know about it. It pleased
the Father that in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Son,
should all fullness dwell. That's where it is, all fullness.
The whole Bible is about the fullness of Jesus Christ. That's what it's about. In Christ,
the scripture says in Colossians 2.10, we are complete. Only a
fool would add to that which is complete. You'd have to be
an absolute fool to do that. In Him, we lack nothing. Nothing. He has provided everything. wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, everything we need to stand before God we have in
Jesus Christ, provided by the grace of God. That's such good
news. Now what does preeminence mean?
Well, it means extremely distinguished. Does that not fit him? It means
outstanding. What manner of man is this? Does
that not fit him? It means superior to all others. There's no name like his name.
You know that every knee is going to bow. Right now there's about
8 billion people in the world. Not counting the billions that
have already lived. and however much longer this
earth goes, every knee is going to bow to Jesus Christ. And they are to confess he's
Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee is going to
bow down and confess, willingly or unwillingly. I want to do
it willingly. Lord, make me willing. Make me
willing to bow to your son and kiss the son. You enable me to
do that. He's superior to all others.
There's no other name like His. No other name given under heaven
whereby we must be saved. He said whatsoever you ask in
my name, whatsoever you ask in my name. No other name. We don't ask in any other name
but His name. That's the only name recognized in heaven is
His name. And we use His name by His permission. Use my name. You know, it says in the Song
of Solomon, what is your beloved more than other beloveds? What's
so special about him? And I want to try for the next
few minutes to talk about the preeminence of our Lord in all
things, in all things. And to do that, I have to start
with his person. If we don't get that right, none
of us right. None of it's right. There's no
one like him in his person. It says in verse 15, who is the
image of the invisible God. He's the visible of the invisible. When the disciple said, show
us the father, he said, you're looking at him. You're looking
at him. When you see me, you see the
father. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God walked on this earth in the
flesh. Over there in the Middle East,
over there in Jerusalem, God in the flesh walked those streets
about 2,000 years ago. God did that. God came into this
world and became a man. A man. He didn't take on him the nature
of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham. He became a
man, a real man. He's truly God in the flesh. We see his preeminence in verse
16 in creation. For by him were all things created. that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominion,
principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and
for him. For him. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the one in Genesis that said, let there be light. That's the
same one. That's the same person. Everything
we see was created by Jesus Christ. Everything we don't see was created
by Jesus Christ. There's a lot of things we don't
see. We don't see the angels, but they were created by Him.
They were created by Him. You know, the scripture says
in Psalm 24 1, the earth is the Lord's, the fullest thereof,
and they who dwell therein. It's all His. It's all His. And all things were created by
him and for him and we exist. And I thank God he enabled me
to realize this. We exist for him. I don't exist
for myself. I do not exist for myself. I
exist for the glory of Jesus Christ. That's why I exist. I breathe because of him. That air is his air. The life
I live is the life he's given me. I exist for him. I have no
reason to exist apart from him. Nothing has evolved. Nothing
has. Everything was created by him.
You know, several years ago, I realized this. I realized why
evolution, how it got a foothold. You see, it's easier to look
at a monkey and say, oh, how far I have come, than to look
at God as he's revealed in the scripture and say, oh, how far
I've fallen. It's easier to look at a monkey and say, oh, glorious
man I've become, than to look at God and say, oh, wretched
man that I am. That's the only reason evolution got a foothold.
It gives man room to boast. But when you look at God as God
is, and as He revealed Himself in this book, God in His holiness,
that's when you see what sin is. You don't see what sin is,
you can't see who you are until you see who He is at all. And then verse 17 gives us another
look at His deity. It says, He is before all things. Here's His eternality. Before
Abraham was, I am, and it threw him for a loop. They said, you're
not yet 50 years old. How can you be before Abraham?
Well, there's only one way, God. This is God. This is God. You see, we have to start with
his person as God for this reason. It's not our faith that makes
what he did effectual. My faith does not make what He
did effectual. Who He is makes what He did effectual. That's what makes what He did
effectual. If faith makes what Christ did effectual, then faith
becomes my Savior. Christ is my Savior. I have room
to boast if it's my faith that makes what He did effectual.
It's who He is that makes it effectual to me. He died for
me before I ever knew him. The faith that I have is what?
The faith you have is what? The gift of God. It's the work
of God. It's his work. Listen to these
scriptures concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 1, 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel. Who would dare call their son
Emmanuel? Which being interpreted is God
with us. God is with us. Todd read in Hebrews chapter
one, he 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 world. who be in the brightness of his
glory, and express image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins. Only God could do that. Only
God could purge our sins. Nobody else can. No one could
purge away sin but God. We'll see this in just a little
bit here. Well, here in the next verse.
Listen, I'm gonna read this to you. Because our God, listen,
our God is our Redeemer. Our God is our Redeemer. Listen
to Acts 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood. Who purchased the church? God
did. How? With his own blood. God
is God, has no blood, God is spirit. But when God became a
man, he now has blood. He now has a sacrifice to offer
himself, himself. Then he has supremacy and power. It says all thrones, dominions,
and principalities and powers were made by him, all of them. You know, it says in John 17
too, He's speaking to the Father. This is his high priestly prayer.
He said, as thou hast given him power, speaking of himself, thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. I thank God he has power over
all flesh, especially mine. I did everything I could not
to be saved. Everything, not to be saved. But God Almighty
gave him power over my flesh. He conquered me, made me willing
in the day of his power. Oh, I thank God he has power
over all flesh. We're no challenge to him. We
are no challenge to God's power. You know, whatever you may be
going through, whatever difficulty you may be, it's not a challenge
to God's power, it's a matter of His will. It's a matter of
His will, not a matter of power. You and I are not hard enough
to crack. God has the power to bring us to our knees, just like
He did Naaman. He said, you go down there and
you dip seven times. And what did he do? He went down
there and dipped seven times after fussing. Carrying on, he
finally went down and did what he's told to do. He has the power
to break us. He has power over our flesh.
There's no throne or principality or power that Jesus Christ did
not create and is not over. I go to sleep at night because
my king's on the throne. The king of glory is ruling and
reigning heaven and earth right now, not later. Not later, he's
doing it right now. The heart of the king, every
king, every president, every dictator is in his hands. And
they are doing exactly as he purposed them to do. Everything
that's going on right now is fulfilling the eternal purpose
of God that he purposed in Christ before the world began. And he's
bringing this thing to a conclusion. Jesus Christ right now is subduing
all powers unto himself. And in a little while, I don't
know when, but in a little while, he's gonna deliver up the kingdom
to the Father, and this is gonna be over. And he's gonna have
a world, an earth that's filled full of sons and daughters like
his son. You're gonna love what he loves,
and you're gonna love it, you're gonna love what he loves perfectly
just like he does. I can't wait till that happens.
I can't wait till the temptations will be no more. I can't wait
till I can worship God with a perfect heart, with no sin. Wouldn't
that be something? Well, that day's coming. It's
coming. And it says that all things,
listen, are held together by Him. By Him, all things consist
that are maintained. I'm not worried about this world
blowing up, falling apart, or some meteorite hitting it. It's maintained. And it's going
to be maintained, and it's going to produce until He's done with
it. This world is the stage upon which God is accomplishing His
chief glory, His redemptive glory. This world is the stage upon
which God is putting away this thing called sin. And He put
it away by the sacrifice of Himself and sin will be no more. Satan
will be no more. Death will be no more. That's
amazing, and he's doing it right here on this earth. It's been
accomplished here. And when he's done, he's gonna
wind this thing up, and this'll be over. And we will be forever
with the Lord, those who believe. Then he has the preeminence in
the church. It says in verse 18, and he's the head of the
body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that he, in all things, he might have the preeminence.
He's the representative head of the church. The church began with him. As
Eve was taken out of Adam, so the church is taken out of Christ.
The church is taken out of him. His own bride is taken out of
him just like Adam's bride was taken out of him. No one is above him or equal
to him in the church. No saint, not Mary, not anyone. No one is equal to Jesus Christ. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. The devil's, you know, when you
listen to Arminianism, they got God on this side, wasn't you?
And devil on this side. Somewhere before you die, you
gotta make a decision. No. You're born lost. You're born
under condemnation. You're born under condemnation.
And if he doesn't save you, you're in trouble. And it saves nothing
more than a pit bull on a chain. Heard someone say one time, the
devil's God's devil. He can't do a thing without permission. He can't even look at you without
permission. He can't even think of you without permission. He's our head. The church takes
her leadership from her head, just like my body takes its leadership
from my head. Listen, there's no other government
or authority that supersedes his. None. None. And then he's our economical
head. We have in Christ all we need. He gives us our daily bread. You know, this whole world is
fed today. All those who are fed today were fed by him. You
know, he fed 5,000 one time. 5,000 didn't believe on him,
but he fed them. Those women and children, there's
probably 10,000 more. He fed them. He feeds this world
every day. Every day He feeds it. He's the
one who does it. And the world is just like those
nine lepers that were healed and they left and they never
returned thanks. There's only one that returned thanks, and
that's the one He saved. Whatever you and I need, whatever
we need, we go to Christ for it. We go to him for it. As Pharaoh said, go to Joseph. You want corn? You want fed?
Go to Joseph. Go to him. And our father says,
go to Christ. You need mercy? Go to Christ. You need forgiveness? Go to Christ. There's forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. Psalm 130. You need righteousness? Go to Christ. Everything you
need to stand before God, go to Christ. It's all bound up
in Him. All of it. Then He has the preeminence in
the believer's heart. He has it because He's God. He
has it in creation, all things created by Him. He has it in
the church as His body, and He has it in your heart who believe.
He doesn't take second place. He doesn't take second place. Someone said second place is
first loser. He didn't take that place. Colossians 3.11, where there
is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. In our affections,
he's first. Is he not first in our affections?
He that loves mother, father, sister, brother more than me
is not worthy of me. My dad said to me when I moved
to North Carolina, they were old. They got old. He said, you going to move away
in our old years? last days, and I quoted that
to him, because I knew he knew what it meant. I said, Dad, the
word of God said, he that loves mother, father, sister, brother
more than me is not worthy of me. I said, we got four sisters
and two brothers back here. You'll be all right. And he knew
that. He just didn't want to see me
leave. In our thoughts, in our thoughts, he's first. He's first. Are we not told to bring every
thought into subjection to Him? We are to bring our thoughts
into subjection to Him. In our thoughts, He's altogether
lovely, isn't He? He's all I need. He's all I live
for. I have no reason to live apart
from Him. Paul said, for me to live is Christ that dies again.
I have no reason to exist or to live except for Him. In worship,
In worship, he's first. There's no other God before him. There's nothing that rivals the
Lord Jesus Christ in worship. Is that not why we are here?
We are not here because it's that time of year again. We're
here to worship Jesus Christ. We're here to honor Jesus Christ.
We're here to give all glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why we are here. And then there's no one like
him. There's just no one like him. In sonship, he's the only begotten. In election, in election, he's
the first elect. You know, when you start to talk
about election, start with Jesus Christ. Don't start with me.
Let's not start with each other. He's the elect, and then we were
chosen in him. He's the elect, that's what it
says in Isaiah 42. Behold, mine elect. So when you're
gonna talk about election, start with Jesus Christ. In the covenant of grace, he's
the covenant. I will give thee as a covenant
of the people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
embodiment of the covenant. He's the covenant. In redemption,
he wrought it and he bought it. We are redeemed by the blood
of the lamb, bought and paid for. I'm bought and paid for,
I'm his. I'm his bond slave. Speak, Lord,
your servant heareth. What would you have me to do?
Don't we get up in the morning and say, what am I gonna do today?
Where am I gonna go? Why don't we get up in the morning
and say, Lord, what would you have me to do today? I'm yours. I'm your bond servant. Lock,
stock, and barrel. There's nothing about me. There's
nothing I have that's not yours. He can take anything I have.
He can take my children. He can take my home. He can take,
he can take any, and you know what? He won't even ask me if
he can. If the Lord's gonna take something
from me, he's not gonna ask you if he can do it. He will do it. And if he does it, it'll be for
your good and your eternal glory. His eternal glory, and you're
good. I am not my own. Boy, the day I realized that
was a blessed day. I'm not my own. I'm glad I'm
not my own. I'm glad. In life, he has life in himself. He's the giver of life. He said,
because I live, you shall live also. In death, he conquered death,
hell, and the grave. He took the sting out of death.
We don't have any reason to fear death. Death is the end of our
dying. We'll quit dying when death finally
takes over and we get to go home. We're going home. Home is there. It's not here. We're pilgrims
here. We're journeying. We're on a
journey. We're headed for home. You know it says in Psalm 116.15,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. If my death is precious to him,
it ought to be precious to me. It ought to be precious to me. Because it's the day that I will
drop all the troubles of this life and I'll finally realize
the fullness of salvation. Finally realize it. In the resurrection,
he says, I'm the resurrection and the life. You know the resurrection
is a person. Martha said, I know my brother
will rise in the resurrection. He said, Martha, I am the resurrection. You're looking at the resurrection. I'm the resurrection. The resurrection
has a name, Jesus Christ. You know life has a name? You
know eternal life has a name? Jesus Christ. Let me read you
something here. Listen to this. John says, that
which was from the beginning, over in 1 John chapter one, that
which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes. We've seen life. which we have
looked upon, we've looked upon life. And our hands have handled
of the word of life. For the life was manifested and
we've seen it. And bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. And his name is Jesus Christ.
Life has a name. It's not just a consciousness
you have, it's a person. It's a person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the first and he's the last. It began with him and it ends
with him on the throne. He's the alpha and he's the omega. He's the beginning and he's the
end. I thought I wanted my first message
here to be on the preeminence of my Lord. He's first and foremost
in absolutely everything and every way. And I pray God that
just grows stronger and stronger in me. I recognize that more
and more. And more.