Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Crowning Christ as Lord of All Msg 310 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Crowning Christ as Lord of All Msg 310 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Now we're involved in a study of a little letter
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: that many have never read even one time. It's the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: letter Paul wrote to the Colossians in a little church
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: that had been formed because of a man named Epiphrats,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: who took the Gospel to them. He himself, no doubt,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: having heard of it, heard the gospel through Paul, who
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: is the one who writes this letter. We find ourselves
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in the first chapter, verses fifteen through twenty three, which
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: is one of the great sections of the letter, as
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: it focuses full attention on Christ. I call it crowning
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Christ as Lord of all, and you will see why.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: As I read this section for you, I'll be reading
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: from the Living Translation. If you have a copy of
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the Scriptures, please open to Colossians one, beginning at verse fifteen,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and as you do, please stand for the reading of
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: God's words Colaussians one point fifteen. Christ is the visible
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and is supreme over all creation. For through him God
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: made the things we can see and the things we
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for him.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Christ is also the head of the Church, which is
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: rise from the dead, so he is first in everything.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: For God, in all his fullness, was pleased to live
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: in Christ, and through him, God reconcile himself, reconciled everything
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: This includes you, who were once far away from God.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: thoughts and actions. Yet now He has reconciled you to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: himself through the death of Christ in his physical body.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: As a result, he has brought you into his own presence,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and you are holy and blameless as you stand before
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Him without a single fault. But you must continue to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don't drift
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: away from the assurance you received when you heard the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: good news. The good news has been preached all over
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the world, and I Paul have been appointed as God's
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: servant to proclaim it. And aren't we grateful for what
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: has been preserved for us through the centuries. Please be seated,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: so easy to let our minds wander when someone prays.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: It's difficult enough to remember needs as the one praying,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: but to have us in it together is a mutual effort.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: So as I pray for various things than you represent
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: before the Lord, whatever it may be that's heavy on
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: your heart, or perhaps a word of praise to him
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: for his favor upon you, may we bow together to you,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: our Father. We owe our life and breath and all
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: we have for your son is the one who conquered death,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: and through him, so shall we. We do not fear
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the grave nor the sting of death. Because of Christ.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: We do not fear what tomorrow may bring. Because of Christ,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: we are not concerned today, Lord over the events that
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: surround us. Because Christ is sovereign, He is at work,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: He is living and moving among us. He is making
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: known the truth of your book in a million different
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: ways this very day. In Christ alone, we have assurance
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and hope, and forgiveness and grace and clear direction and
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the hope of eternal life. Thank you, Father, for the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: joy of worship in this land in which we are living,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: still free, able to worship, and we are grateful, Father
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: for your hand over us as a nation, though we
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: do not deserve it. Watch over those who keep us free,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: who carry heavy weapons of war and are in dangerous
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: places this day, places we will never be, Protect them,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: comfort their families, bring them safely home. For those who
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: have been injured and maimed in the war, we pray
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: that you administer to them deeply through the love of family,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: and through caring physicians and nursing staffs who care for them.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you, our Father, for this church. How grateful we
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: are for this place of ministry, for those who represent
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: us on the staff, and those who serve You in
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: faithful places around the world. As our missionaries use them,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: protect them, make their service effective, as they represent You
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: in the places where they serve. We pray today for
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Ben and Anda. Thank You for their lives and for
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: their presence in Romania. Watch over them and work through them.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: As Ben proclaims Your truth to the people of his homeland,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: not only through the pulpit of the church, but through
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the words that will ultimately be over the radio, many
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: in that land turn to Christ. We give our offerings today, Lord,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: that you may use these gifts in a special way.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Watch over the use of these funds. May they be
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: handled with integrity and wisdom. May our giving be marked
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: by joy and generosity. In the name of Christ. Of course,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Christ the Lord, we pray and for his sake alone,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: and all God's people said Amen. I've always loved the hymns.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: I've sung them since I was a little boy, and
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I can remember singing them in the churches where I
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: was reared. I have my mother to thank for that love,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: which was cultivated early in my life. I've sung the
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: hymns so long that without trying to, I've memorized most
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: of them. And when I thought of founding a church,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: this church, one of my goals was to make sure
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: that we would be a church that sings the hymns.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Not just the hymns. There are other okay, there are
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: other great songs that are written, not just those of
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the early days, because we know today there are some
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: still being written, and we love singing those as well,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: as well as great choruses of worship that resound to
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: the glory of God and carry a message that has
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: meaning and depth. The music of a church is not
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to be entertaining, it's to be edifying, it's to lift
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: up our understanding of the truth. A characteristic of the
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: hymns is that they are Orthodox and they are Christocentric.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: They center on the person of Christ, and not just
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: on Christ, but on the Godhead, God the Father, as
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: well as God, the Holy Spirit, and the doctrines of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the Church that have been continuing for centuries all emerge
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: in the singing of these great songs, these great tunes,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: these great hymns. Pliny the Younger, as far back as
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: AD one ten said to the Roman emperor Trajan, the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Christians sing a song to Christ as a god. When
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: that appears in literature, the word god is a little
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: g to Pliny, Christ was another of the many gods.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: But it troubled the emperor as well as those around him,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: that the Christians sang to Christ as the Lord, not
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to Caesar. Interestingly, whenever cults come on the scene and
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: invade the church, which is what they pray on, invariably
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: they introduce information that decreases the significance of Christ. Check
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: it out. Cults do not exalt in Christ as God.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: They question his deity, They call into question his role
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: in life, certainly as Lord of our lives, certainly as
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the creator of the world. Hymns are deep and worshipful.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: They remind us of the great truths of the faith.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: They communicate a definite message, and when written well, they
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: have singable tunes where there is a progression of truth
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: that is taught through the hymns. Now, it may surprise
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: you to know the section we're looking at, at least
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: verses fifteen through twenty of Colossians Chapter one could very
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: well have been one of the ancient hymns a him
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Paul wrote under the direction of the Spirit of God,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: or a hymn known in those days of the first
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: century that Paul puts words to as he writes these
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: words that appear in this passage, you would miss that
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: if your Bible is not written in the metric verse,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: as though you were reading a poem. By the way,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: it occurs to me when I talked about early on
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: about starting this church and we would be a hymn
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: singing church, I don't know how many people said to me,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: lots of luck, that's not gonna work in this generation. Well,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: that's like telling sickam to a bulldog. I was more
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: determined than ever to prove it can work. It does work.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know how many people who visit our church
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: stop by the front where I stand following the service
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: to say, we didn't know there could be a church
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: like this. We haven't heard songs or hymns like this
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: for years. We thought they were all lost or gone.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Perhaps in Paul's day it was just the beginning, the
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: emergence of the expression of faith in a hymn style.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: When you read of this, you see how Christo centric
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: it is. I've taken the time to underscore and read
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: in verses fifteen to twenty in my Bible the references
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: to Christ by name or to pronouns referring to him.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: He him himself fifteen times in six verses there is
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: a reference to Jesus Christ. Obviously, he is the theme
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: of what Paul is writing in this ancient hymn. Look
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of it, and you will see immediately
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: his desire that the reader understand that Christ is God
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: begins with the name Christ. Christ is the visible image
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: of the invisible God. You can stop right there, and
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: you have a mouthful, You have a headful of things
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: to think through. God, though invisible has made visible his attributes,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: his characteristics, his power, his knowledge through Christ. And because
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Christ has a body as a result of his birth
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: at Bethlehem, conception in Mary's womb, and birth in the
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: town of Bethlehem. Because he has a body, he is
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: in visible form the truth of the invisible God. Look
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: at chapter two and verse nine you will see a
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: reference to this. For in Christ lives all the fullness
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: of God. The Greek word fullness is play roma play roma.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: He is the pleroma of God in a human body.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: In other words, the summation of all God's attributes can
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: be seen in the person and in the work of Christ.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: This is a slap in the face of the cult
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: known in that day as the Gnostics. The Gnostics came
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: with their false teaching that there is a higher knowledge,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: there is a greater learning, and it comes from the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: philosophical realm, and there are hundreds of emanations from that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: higher learning. One of them, yes, was Jesus, but he
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: is among the lesser gods. They were teaching, and some
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: of the Colaussians were swept up in that false teaching.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: We sit in this place and we think I would
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: never I would never get sucked into teaching like that.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Don't talk too fast, don't say that too quickly. The
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: cults are very subtle. They come with great charisma and
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: incredible logic, if you will, a very appealing message winsome.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: They have a following, and little by little they hack
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: away at your trust in Christ and your faith in
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the Son of God as Deity. Paul rolls up his
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: sleeves in verse of fifteen and takes on the cults,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: without once calling them by name. Declares, Christ is the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: visible image of the invisible God. To prove that he
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: is Deity, he adds he existed before anything was created.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Don't go any further, think about it. Go all the
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: way back as far as your imagination can take you
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: into eternity, past before there were the galaxies, the planets,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the world as we know it, before there was matter,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: before there was time. Go back all the way as
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: far as you can go, and you arrive at the
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Godhead and the eternal counsels of the Godhead. Christ is
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: among the Godhead, the Father planning the redemption that would
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: follow on this earth. The Father with a plan for creation,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and then the Son was chosen to implement the plan.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Many people don't think of Christ as the creator more
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: than once we read here. In fact, he was the
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: one whom the Father had create all things. He is coequal, coeternal,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: coexistent with the Father and with the Spirit, and in
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the form of the Godhead. Before any of what we
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: call today's world or the surrounding galaxies around us existed,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: he was there. He existed before anything was created. And
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: he adds, he is supreme over all that's been created.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Not only was he there, but he is supreme over all.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And why would he say that. The little letter or
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: the little word four that begins verse sixteen is an
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: explanatory connective, if you'll allow me, It's an explanatory connective
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: that says, this is the reason I'm able to write that.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: So let's use the word because middle of verse few
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: he existed before anything was created. He is supreme overall
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: creation because through him, that's Christ, God created everything in
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: we can see and the things we can't see. In
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: other words, he made the things that are in the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: expansive stellar's faces, as well as the matter that is
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: about us. He made it all, as well as the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: microscopic cells and organisms we can't see with the naked eye.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: He made it all, put it together in a way
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that would honor and please him. After all, he's supreme
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: over all of them. He made things we can see
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: in the things we can't see. And then he names
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the realm of the thrones and the kingdoms, and the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Perhaps you didn't
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: know that existed. Satan dwells in one of these realms,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: his demons in one of those realms. Activity goes on
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: in the unseen realm of the unseen world about us.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: The influence of it is certainly felt. But you do
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: not see the thrones. You do not see who reigns
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: over them, for they are invisible, which makes them all
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the more insidious in the temptations and in their approach
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: to us in life. Everything, however, he adds at the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: end of verse sixteen, was created through him and for him.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Understand that accept that in creation he is supreme. He
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Isn't that a statement? Gravity doesn't hold it all together,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Mother Nature doesn't hold it all together. In case some
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: of you were still thinking of Mother Nature. She's gone,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: she's not around. The Earth is not to be worshiped.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: The creator of the earth is You see how everything
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: has become twisted in this post Christian era which we live.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Paul takes us right back from the solar spaces right
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: down to the microcosms. I found this last week when
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I was doing studying the small things, that there are
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: eight hundred thousand cataloged insects. Do you know that most
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: of them were in our home in Houston when we
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: lived there? As I recall, my mother turned the light
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: on at night and looked like a rodeome was going
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: on on the floor, all kinds of that, but they
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: were mainly one species. That reminds me of a joke.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Do you know what cowboy Boots had pointed toes to
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: kill the roaches in the corner. That's why you need them.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Every one of those feces, every one of those insects,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: even the cells of every one of them, shells of everything.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: He has made it. He has made it a guide
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: I read took a group of people through an atomic
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: moving electric particles. The tourists study the models of molecules
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: and amazed to learn that matter is made up primarily
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: of space. During the question period, one of the students
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: ask if this is the way matter works, what holds
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: it all together? What keeps it from disintegrating? The God
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: had absolutely no answer, no answer. That's what makes the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: end of this verse so significant. End of verse seventeen,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: he holds all creation together. Now, having said that about
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: his role in creation as being supreme, he goes to
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the church and he says verse eighteen, Christ is also
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the head of the church. It isn't interesting when you
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: get to it. In contact, it's not as difficult to
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: believe until you get there. People are taught the pastor
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: is the head the church. The pastor is never called
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a head of the church. That's heresy. The pope is
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: not the head of the church. It's heresy. Christ is
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the head of the church. That's what scripture says here
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and elsewhere. He is the exalted one. He is the
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: one who is to be worshiped. No man, no woman
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: is ever to be worshiped. No office that's held in
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the church is ever to be in office of worship.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: It is all about Christ. That takes all the politics
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: out of the church, which ruins many churches. There's no
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: place for politics, there's no place for competition. We're not
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: competing with each other. We're exercising gifts for the glory
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: of Christ and for His purposes alone. When you begin
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: to see this, it is remarkable how much of life
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: reminds you of Christ. Across a magnificent poem I have
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to memorize by Joseph Plunkett, it goes as follows. I
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: see his blood upon the rose and in the stars,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the glory of his eyes. His body gleams amid eternal snows,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: his tears fall from the skies. I see his face
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: in every flower. The thunder and the singing of the
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: birds are but his voice, and carved by his power.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Rocks are his written words. All pathways by his feet
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: are worn. His strong heart stirs the ever beating sea.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn. His
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: cross is every tree. Whoever Joseph Plunkett was, his life
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: was chrystocentric. I know a man who came to Christ
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: out of a pagan background, and he fell in love
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: with the Lord, and he said, I want every waking
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: thought to be of Christ. I want everything I do
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: to remind me, he said. You know what I've learned, Chuck,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I've learned every time I get to an intersection, I'm
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: able to think of the Cross. Isn't that great? So
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Christ centered that even north south east west intersection with
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: traffic lights, I focus on the Cross, the Cross, the
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: apostle Paul. One of the things that made him so
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: great was a man who was consumed with adoration for Christ.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Oh to be like that. He can write of it
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: in such a way that you can't miss it. He
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: puts these doctrines together so that you can understand them.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: All of the things that happen in the church are
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: for the glory of Christ. Every musical instrument played is
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: to be played for the glory of Christ. Every voice
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: that sings is to be sung for the purpose of
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: magnifying Christ. Never to display one's own voice or one's
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: own skills. Every sermon preached is to magnify the person
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: of Christ. In fact, I made a list. When it
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: says here that he is first in everything, along with
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: being supreme overall who rise from the dead, as we
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: read at the end of verse eighteen, first in resurrection.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Read First Corinthians fifteen for verification of that takes the
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the fear out of the grave, takes the sting out
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: of death. Why, because he's been raised, He's supreme over death.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: You don't have to fear dying if you're in Christ.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: You have him and he's led the way, and you
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: just follow him into victory beyond this life. And then
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: he says he's first in every thing. That's a pretty
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: good list. Huh everything. Maybe you need a little help
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: track with me. In every decision we make. Christ is
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: to be center of it in everything we do, in
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: every word we say, in everything we eat, and whatever
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: we may drink Christ. Christ is to be exalted in
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: every place we live, in every home we buy, in
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: every apartment we rent, in every car we may lease
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: or buy. Make Christ be honored in the way we
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: manage our money, in who we marry and when, in
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: how we live as married partners, and in our singleness.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: May Christ be magnified in the way we rear our children,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: in the hidden motives we never speak or reveal. In
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: our academic pursuits, as we achieve one degree or another.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: May Christ be magnified and our occupation, are calling our profession,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Christ be exalted. The way we spend our time, what
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: we do in our leisure, how we treat our own bodies,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: how we relate to one another. May Christ be supreme?
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: What we watch and what we read, in the way
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: we carry out our goals, and the priorities we choose,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: in the art we enjoy, music, in worship, architecture, in
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: response to people, in times of testing and trials, in
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: illness and health, in prosperity and adversity, in promotions and emotions.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: In everything, he is to have first place. Think of it.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Think of how that would revolutionize your whole frame of reference.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: You would never begin a day with the words I'm
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: worried about. If Christ is supreme, He's got the world,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: he's got the day, he's got the very moment you're
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: sitting on the side of your bed in his hand.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: He's leading you. You're his child. If you've come to Christ,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: you belong to him. He's protecting you. If nothing to fear.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: When I travel, I tend to get a little bit
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: of blue around evening time. The sun goes down, and
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Cynthia may not be with me, and I'm missing her.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I've already called her four times one day. That ought
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to be enough, but it's not the same without her
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: in the room with me. And my thoughts sometime go
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: to you who live alone without Christ, Oh, no wonder,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: you're so lonely. But with Christ, you have an eternal partner.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: You have a friend whose arm never leaves your shoulder.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: You have a savior who will be right there with
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: you when you get that chest pain and you buckle
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: to your knees and you fear death is coming, there's
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: nothing to fear. I fly somewhat frequently, and I sometime
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: look over and I see people going through their beads
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: and they're all worried, and I want to go. You
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: know you don't. And I'm not attacking that religion. I'm
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: just saying you don't need to do that. We have
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: a savior, and when it's our time, you can have
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: a plain full of beads and it's not going to
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: help you get to that that sudden landing. H So
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: I don't worry. I see people find you think almost
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: want to go. I gotta help this thing in the air.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I gotta get it up there. I'm reading about all. Please,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: if he's first in everything. He's first in your travels.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: He's first in your scheduling. Since and I have learned,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: never fight with the schedule. Would they reschedule? You accept it?
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Christ is involved in all of those disappointments. He's changing
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: the schedule for a reason. You say, Oh, no, Chuck,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: you're getting a little weird now. Really you like what
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: you do better than what I'm describing. No, if he's
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: first in everything, there is nothing he isn't first. In
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: bad sentence structure, but it's true Verse nineteen, God, in
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: all his fullness, was pleased to live in Christ. That
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: is a slap in the face of the gnostics. God,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: the supreme God, pleased to live in Christ and through him,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Look at this, Look at this great doctrinal word. God
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: reconciled everything to himself. What does that mean? What does
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: reconciliation mean? It means the bringing together of two or
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: more parties that are in disharmony and removing what caused
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: the disagreement and bringing back harmony. Christ reconciled the world
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: to himself. God did it through Christ. And what's the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: thing that separated as sin? Sin? It's our sinfulness. God
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: is holy and we are not And there is this
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: great gap between us. How can I know that God?
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: God will accept He has reconciled us to him. Get
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: this really clear in your mind when you start thinking theologically,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: teach yourself correctly. God is not reconciled a man. We
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: are the ones reconciled to God. God's done nothing wrong.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: He reconciles the world to himself, everything to himself. Look
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: at it. He made peace with everything in heaven and
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Don't let anyone tell you that the blood isn't important.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: It is the divine detergent that washes away the sins
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: of the world. Without the blood, you have no hope
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: of having your sins washed away. But because He gave
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: his blood on our behalf, God acknowledges the blood is
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: that which will bring reconciliation. And now we are right
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: with God, rather than living fearful of him. Following the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: first service, I had a brother come by to talk
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: to me, and he was from another particular church. I'll
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: not name the church. That's not important, but he said,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: as I was growing up, all through my early years
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: as a child, I was taught you can never ever
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: know if you're saved, because you know you may have
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: done something that is really bad and then you'll be
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: lost again. And he said, every night I would just
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: pray Lord, I asked Jesus to come into my life.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: And he said, night after night, every church service, I
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: was coming down an aisle to give my heart to Christ,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: because I never knew if I was really if I
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: really had the assurance of salvation. And he said, you know,
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: every once in a while it plays on me. I
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: was reared in that context. I mean, when your mom
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: and dad teach you that they're sincere, but they're sincerely wrong,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: because we know from here, as we will see in
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: a few moments and from other passages, we are secure
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: in Christ. I heard of an old revivalist who said,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: if I really believe you could lose your salvation, everybody
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: who came to faith, I'd shoot him on the spot
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: so they would go to heaven. Of course, he's got
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: other issues to deal with if he plans to carry
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: a gun with him and he presents the gospel. But
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: how tragic it would be if I offered you from
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the scriptures the hope of eternal life, and then to say,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: but you know what you got to really watch it,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: because if you do something really bad tonight, he's throwing
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: you out. You know what, that's heresy. There is an
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: eternality connected with our security. And since we are born
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: into the family of God, we can't be unborn. My son,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: my daughter will always be my son's my daughter's regardless
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: of what they do or the lives they live. They
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: will always have my blood. They will always be in
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: my family. I will always love them. How much more
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: our heavenly father will love us so when he gets
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: to the cross. I love it that this particular translation
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: in verse twenty one says, this includes you. Isn't that great?
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: In case you think I'm talking to your husband or
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: to somebody sitting near you, this is you. This includes you.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: He's writing to the Colossians, these who were being drawn
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: away by the Gnostics. He says, you who were once
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: far away from God. That they are mainly gentile. They
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: didn't know the Lord from a lizard. I mean, they're
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: living their life in all the mythology and the heathen
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: world of their times, and coming from all of that.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: You were once far away from God. You were his
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: enemies attract this, You were separated from on him by
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: your evil thoughts and actions. Remember the sin that came
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: between us and the Holy God. It's true. And yet
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: now look at this, because these Colossians are believers. Now
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: he has reconciled you to him. So you don't reconcile
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: God to us. You reconcile us to God. He has been.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: He has reconciled you to himself through the death of
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Christ in his physical body. As a result, watch this.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: This is positional truth you rarely hear. He has brought
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: you into his own presence. You are holy, You were
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: blameless as you stand before him, without a single fault.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: You hear that, and it sounds so strange. You think,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not there. I got lots of faults. That's not
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: what he's talking about talking about. Theoretically, in God's eyes,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: in his plan, when you trust his son, you are
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: into his presence and you are set apart. The word
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: wholly means set apart. You are without blame as you
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: stand before him. You are without a single fault. That's
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: why when you die, you have heaven as your home. Now,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, we need to live like you, which
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: is his whole point. When he gets to Verse twenty
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: three says you must continue to believe this truth, stand
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: firm in it. Now he has a cult in mind.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: heard the good news. The good news has been preached
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: all over the world, and I Paul had been appointed
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: as God's servant to proclaim it, and I'm declaring it
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: to you today. I have the privilege to announce to
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: all of us that if you come to Christ, you
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: will be in God's eyes as perfect as his own.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Dear son, you are fault less. Jude ends his letter
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: with the wonderful doxology. Now to him who is able
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: to guard us from stumbling and get this and to
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: present us fault less before his presence, with exceeding great
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: joy to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: and majesty, dominion and power. Fault Less you you rascal,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: me rascal, the one who does wrong rather regularly. When
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: I separated the Lord's presence, He'll say, come on home,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: child your mind. I remember the day when you were
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: a little boy and the Lord Jesus came into your life,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: and he has now given you the fulfillment of your faith,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: regardless of how you were raised. This is the hope
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: you could have through Christ. Reminds me of a man
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: you probably have never heard of. He lived his life
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: in England. His name was Edward Mote. Born in seventeen
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: ninety seven died eighteen seventy four. In his home his
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: paris did not allow anybody in the family to have
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: a Bible. There was no place for the scriptures in
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: that home. Father and mother lost. He grew up in
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: that world, became a cabinet maker before he entered that
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: responsible calling that God had for him through some means
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: never revealed in any source I can find. Edward Mote
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: heard the Gospel who was a teenager and he turned
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: to Christ. It changed his whole perspective. As a matter
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: of fact, around middle Age he was led to write
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: a poem. Later, thanks to William Bradbury, was given a
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: tune that is still with us in the church today.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: holy lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. He entered
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the ministry, and following that entering the ministry. He wrote
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: over one hundred more hymns and songs poems that would
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: find their way, many of them into the church. He
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: came to the day of his death, and he said
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: to one standing close by the truths I have preached
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: I am now living upon, and they will do to
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: die upon. He wrote, to conclude his song, when he
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: shall come with trumpets sound, may I then in him?
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: He found, dressed in his righteousness alone faultless to stand
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: before the throne on Christ. The solid rock I stand
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: all on the ground is sinking sand. You hear that,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: You might think that's pretty narrow. Chuck, Yeah, I love it.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: I love it. You're not given an option or trial
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: one of these seven things. Maybe one I'm gonna work
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: for you. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: the Life. No one comes to the Father but through me.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: Paul wrote, there is one God, one go between one advocate,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: between God and men, the man Christ, Jesus. There's one.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: There's one. Don't let anyone ever tell you that there
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: is a plurality here, and you can take your choice
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: on whichever God you want. You choose anyone other than Christ.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: You're lost. You're lost. You will not no assurance of salvation.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: You will not fall asleep at peace, but forever restless.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: And when you are in that last bed you'll be on.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: You will have peace in your heart, knowing on Christ
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: the solid rock you stand. All the other ground is
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: sinking sand. That great. Oh, I love it, It's so great
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: that would me? Will you? You know what I'm going
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: to say to you, You who have been here before
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: on earth is keeping you from Christ, and He is
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: to have first place, and everything everything else you're hanging
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: on to is way down the line. You're missing the
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: one main thing. Your sin has separated you from the
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Holy God. You must acknowledge that, not hide from it,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: not deny it. And in acknowledging it, say to your
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Father in Heaven today, Lord God, while I don't understand
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of the things that are in the Bible,
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: I understand that I am lost, and I understand that
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: you save the lost. And Jesus is the one who
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: makes it possible. I take him now, I trust him. Now,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: don't dare go on through the day without Christ. It
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: is in the supreme name of the Lord Jesus Christ
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: we have met. It is for His glory alone we
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: have sung the songs of the faith. It is because
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: of Christ we live and move and have our reason
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: for existence. And therefore, Dear Father, may you bring Christ
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: to the heart of anyone who this day is without him,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: keep them restless until they find a peace with Him,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: whom to know is life everlasting. In His magnificent name,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: we pray, and all God's people said, Amen, Amen, Amen.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: The preceding message, crowning Christ as Lord of All was
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: copyrighted in twenty fourteen and twenty twenty two, and the
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty two by Charles Arswindahl, Inc.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.