Well, good evening. It's great to be back with you. I hope that you've had a wonderful afternoon and a good nap. My friend who's been with the Lord for some time, Monroe Parker, used to say to his preachers, no nap, no snap. And I found that to be true. Would that we could take one every day. But it's a wonderful thing. I understand we had a little storm. I slept right through that today. And an illustration of what we had this morning. Tonight, before we get into our text, I want to introduce some folks that are here with me tonight. And I should have introduced my wife this morning. I was kind of waiting for an official time to do that. And then it slipped right by. But someone asked me this morning, oh, you're remarried. Well, indeed I am. And I, a widowed pastor, met a pastor's widow, and we decided to go into business together. And so Carol, my wife, is with us here tonight. You can just wave at him if you'd like, and you'll find her big smile is genuine and a reflection of her heart. and appreciate her so much. And then her son, Drew, is with us here tonight, there beside her. And Drew Graham, Carol's name was Graham before we married, still is, but it has another name after it. And then also my daughter, Becky, is here with us tonight. She's there on the aisle. I believe this is Becky's first trip here to Faith Free Presbyterian Church. I know she's had some friends that go here or have gone here over the years. And so she asked if she could come with us tonight, and I said, well, sure, come on. And so I mentioned this to the bookstore manager. Becky's just recently published a book, and she brought a copy tonight to give to the folks in the bookstore. And if you'd like to get to know her, she is actually, Stephen knows this, a missionary under the auspices of the John C. Vaughan Evangelistic Association. And she can tell you about some of her travels and some of the ministries that the Lord is opening up doors for her to have. And so I want you to meet Becky if you haven't had that opportunity before and give her a word of encouragement and get one from her, okay? And so they'll all be here. Carol will be with me, and Becky will be in and around various places getting settled in with the bookstore people. All right, now we want to turn tonight to a passage in the New Testament, if you would, to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. This morning we talked about the Lord's works, and how we see His might, and that He is King through the mighty things that He does, and how He sends His message of His glory and His power to us through what He does in His creation. The fact that it is His creation is basis enough for us to believe that everything that we see in the world around us is a reflection of His character and of His nature. Unfortunately, because of man's fall into sin, the earth is cursed. and it has problems and difficulties for all mankind. You know that the Lord told Adam after the fall and after he had provided a covering for their nakedness, the shed blood of an animal was necessary to make the skins with which he clothed them. That was a picture of the salvation that would come through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then he told Adam henceforth, in the sweat of your brow, you will earn your bread. And so it has been throughout these many thousands of years of human history. I believe that the one thing that people seek to avoid, perhaps more than anything else, is sweat. We have to work, and work involves sweat. How many of you are still in school? Students, raise those hands. There's a few, here's a few more. Oh, many more over here. All right, everyone who is in school knows this truth, that there are tests in getting an education, and there are tests in life. And here's a principle you would do well to learn early. You will either sweat, in preparation for the test, or you will sweat during the test. And those of us who are chuckling have learned that the hard way, have we not? And so the Lord sends all of these things into our lives in this fallen creation for our own good so that we can learn some things about him. And we focused on that as we analyze that storm that he describes in Psalm 29. Now tonight, we want to look at some specific doctrine from the New Testament that talks about that power and glory and majesty that you and I are to understand, embrace, and reflect in our lives so that Christ can have the preeminence. And that's the theme of these verses we'll read from Colossians chapter 1. beginning in verse 9 and reading through verse 18. So Colossians 1, 9-18. This tells us the practical theology of walking worthy of the Lord. There's even a song that we love to sing about walking worthy of the Lord. And here, by revealing the truth about who He really is, we can walk worthy of the Lord. Beginning 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 ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye 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, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers, or suitable 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 is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence." Father, open this scripture to our hearts. Help us as we focus our thinking and our attention to the truths that you've presented to us here. And I pray, Lord, that these life-changing truths would become real to us tonight and help us as we move closer and closer to a better and more mature understanding of who you are and what you expect of us. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to realize tonight that you never expect anything of us that you will not enable us to do through your power. Help me as your messenger tonight to be clear and accurate in Jesus' name. Amen. There really is nothing more practical in the Christian life than doctrine. Sometimes when people hear the word doctrine, they cringe as though, oh, this is gonna be hard to understand. This is going to be difficult. Doctrine, this is going to be deep. This is going to bore me. I might even fall asleep. And then you set about some sort of campaign to endure the time without nodding off. my friend Les Olala was preaching in North Carolina. And he is a very practical preacher, and he has wonderful illustrations, and he is a master at the use of humor in driving his points home. And he was preaching a passage of scripture, and he was in a church where there's some simple country people, not perhaps too well-educated, but still who love the Lord and love the word of God. And this dear lady came up to him after his sermon was over, and it gives you an idea of what many people think when they hear the word doctrine. She said, brother Les, that was amazing. You didn't preach no doctrine or nothing, you just preached the Bible. Now, some people think that doctrine is some dry, dusty, academic analysis, but it's not. Doctrine simply means teaching. It's the teaching of the Bible. And the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture is given unto us by inspiration of God and is profitable, first, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Those four things illustrate the effect of the word of God in the heart of man. Doctrine, that means he tells us what's right. Reproof, he tells us what's wrong. Correction, he tells us how to get right. And instruction in rights, he tells us how to stay right. Now what more could we need than to know what's right about the truth and to know what's wrong within us and then how to get that right and how to keep it right. If we have that, we can grow. And so he tells us here some doctrinal truths in verses 9 through 13. Now, sometimes we're talking about the race, running the race, and there are those times when we're racing. But here the word walk is used, that steady step upon step, day after day, growing and moving forward in our relationship with the Lord. This is how to live, and this is why. So he gives us the objective, and then he gives us the means and the route that we are to follow. Since the fall of man, the focus of human experience has been the cross of Christ. Prior to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, all history looked forward to that event yet to come. Believers in that period looked ahead to the redemption that God would provide through his son. Since the cross of Christ, all human history reflects back on the cross of Jesus Christ. It is the pivotal point in all human history on earth. Looking forward to it, resting on it, and looking back to it. We are in that era where we look back to it and rejoice in it. And what God accomplished for us, as surely as he had promised, even to Adam and Eve, in the seed of the woman would come her hope. Speaking of the devil that you know, he would bruise the heel of the Lord, but he would bruise his head in other words Satan would attempt to harm and hinder God's work in the earth, but the Lord Jesus would defeat him once and for all It's an amazing thing that the Lord used even his enemies to accomplish his promises As he was hung on that cross He prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You suppose that they would have crucified the Lord if they had known they were accomplishing the very purpose for which He came? They thought they were overcoming Him, when indeed they were actually helping Him to give His life as the Savior of the world. So, the plan of redemption and restoration to a perfect state has been the focus hinged on the cross of Christ. And in spite of salvation, it's amazing how the believer wrestles with the old nature and still struggles along. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 53 and verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. That phrase, own way, is an interesting term in the Bible. If you have a Bible concordance and you look up the phrase, own way, you'll find that it appears in the Bible 61 times. And 60 times, it's a bad thing. Wanting your own way instead of the Lord's way is a problem that even believers struggle with. And sometimes churches are overwhelmed when they see masses of young people, especially, leaving their ranks. And churches have come to a point, and this is not the first time in history when it's happened, they've come to a point where they're actually marketing themselves as offering means of satisfying, often, your own way. In other words, what do you want? What are you looking for? We've got it. That's sort of the approach that people take. When the emphasis should be on come and learn what God wants from you and how God will enable you to fulfill his calling for your life. Sad is the person who has no concept that God has a plan for him. God is not only the creator of the universe, he made you too. And he has a plan for you. And he knows what that plan is. And when you line up your will with his will for your life, you'll find everything coming into a better harmony, a perfect harmony, than you ever imagined before. I had a plan for my life. My dad was a preacher, and I wanted none of it. And so I went my own way, joined the military. I actually learned to enjoy part of it. And I found myself for the second time in Southeast Asia within a three-year period. And I felt, shall we say, somewhat boxed in. And while I was there, that second time, I came to the Lord Jesus Christ and gave my heart to him. And so many things happened to me, but two very significant things that were so evident to me. Number one, it was as though a great weight was removed from me, and a sense of freedom and purpose. And the second was this deep desire to know, why am I here? And what is my purpose? And what does God want me to do with my life? And so I began to tell others what was happening to me. And I became a witness almost by accident, I suppose. The Lord began to put circumstances in my life where the only proper response for me was to explain what had happened to me. One of the fellows in the crew that I was working with on the midnight shift on these airplanes asked me, what's happened to you? And I said, well, I got saved. You got what? and I began to explain it to him. And several times this happened, and often when that would happen, it would lead to a conversation, and the end of that conversation would be the desire of that individual to know the Lord as well. And after about two weeks of this, I actually, the first time I, of talking to people, the first time I actually saw a man receive Christ standing there in front of me, I realized. This is why God put me on the earth. He wants me to give this message to as many people as will listen to it. And so I told the fellow that had led me to the Lord, I believe God's calling me to preach. He says, how do you know? And I said, well, I don't know if I can give you anything. I can't give you any verses right now. And all I can tell you is somebody needs to do it, and I really want to. And so he said, well, go for it. And here we are. But I realized not only that God had made me, but I began to realize why God had made me. And I found out that if I would align myself with his plan for Things would be a lot smoother for me, a lot more effective for me, a lot more joyful for me. Now, I'd love to be able to tell you that at that moment, all of my problems were over. You know better than that. The problems continue. And the difficulties of life on earth continue. And they will, as long as we're here. But this is not all there is. If in this life only we have hope, the Bible says, we are of all men most miserable, but this isn't all there is. There's something so far better than this yet to come. So with those things in mind, let's see how we can take our own way and set it aside and focus on His way, that He can have the preeminence, not just in general, but in us, in our lives, and in our will. And I just have two points tonight. The first one is that this worthy walk that we read about, and we read about a moment ago, that worthy walk is the obligation of the believer. It's not an option. It's not just a suggestion. If you're a believer, not just in God, but in Jesus Christ, God, who came to earth and died for us, if you're a believer in him, and you've been saved by him, You have an obligation to live for Him. This worthy walk is your obligation. And the second thing we want to bring out is that the exalted Lord, or lifting Him up, instead of seeking to find a way that He can lift us up, when we lift Him up, then we are following the object for which He saves us. He has something in mind. He has a plan. He wants us to fulfill our obligation so that we can exalt Him in the way that He deserves to be. So this first point about our obligation is in verses 9 through 13. Here in verse 9, we see the foundation of this worthy walk. How can we walk worthy of the Lord? The devil would love for us to think that we have absolutely no business trying to do anything for God. And he will remind us of every failure in our lives, and every weakness in our character, and every deed we've ever done that has brought reproach to his name. He'll do that to us. You know that. He does it to you. He does it to me. He does it to every believer. And when we fail the Lord or when we willfully rebel against him, the devil is right there to remind us of how unworthy we are and how we ought to just give up and quit. And that's a defeating battle that most of us fight. But the foundation of the worthy walk is given here in spirit and in truth, as we read in John 4, 24, when he says to us, for this cause. Now, here's the reason. Paul says since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you In other words, we've heard a testimony about your love in the spirit That's the previous verse and from the day. We heard that that you love Jesus and you want to live for him We have not ceased to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding Paul says, when I heard that you got saved, I began to pray for you that you would know more and more about the Lord and His will for your life. And that's why I'm coming to you tonight. I know that you're believers and I know that you love the Lord and therefore I'm going to do what I can to encourage you tonight to learn more and more about the Lord's will and to have wisdom and spiritual understanding about what he wants from you and who he has placed in you to help you accomplish what he has for you. So that worthy walk is given there and that's the foundation. It begins with human prayer. And here Paul says he's praying for these believers. Now there's an obligation that you and I can accept, that if we have someone that we're burdened for, the best thing we can do for them is to pray. Pray for them and desire that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. If we would help another person, we must pray that God will open their eyes. that God will give them an understanding of who He is and how much He loves them and what He has in mind for them and the plans that He has placed in His divine superintendence of the creation so that they will take up their position and walk worthy of the Lord. God made every one of us for a reason. He has a place for you and something for you to do. And He wants you to accept that call, accept that enablement, and take up your place and fulfill your purpose in His divine plan. So the first thing that we can do for someone or even for ourselves is to pray, not only for salvation, but also for sanctification. And when we use the Word of God to encourage people, we have the promise of the Lord in 2 Peter 1, verse 4, that God has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. That life means eternal life, and godliness means the Christian walk and sanctification. So we are promised in 2 Peter that God has given us in His Word everything necessary for salvation and everything necessary for sanctification. So we're without excuse. We have available to us, here in the word of God, everything that we need, not only to become a Christian, but to become a godly, growing, strong Christian that will give God the glory and make sure he has the preeminence in our lives. Now, it's based on this simple request, that you would be filled. That word filled is in the passive voice. That filling is not based on anything we do, it's based on what God promised to do. Pray that God would fill them, he says, with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now where does that come from? It comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man. Christ promised when he was on his way back to heaven, he said, I will send another comforter to you. And He will give you or lead you into all truth. He will help you to understand what the Bible says. In fact, actually, that is a promise that He's going to send the New Testament. But He's going to give them an understanding of it and to know what God is saying in it so that they can grow and have the strength that they need. that plan of redemption to save you from sin, but also to restore you to his original plan for you before sin entered this world. So the specific request to be filled with knowledge and wisdom, wisdom of what we are, understanding about ourselves and our need, and also understanding that is what we do. So wisdom gives us the guide and the understanding, and then this word understanding is the experience of it, as we put it into effect. With all you're getting, remember the proverb, get understanding. So he shows us what's right, remember the verse in 2 Timothy, but he also shows us how to get right and how to stay right. So what's right, what's wrong, how to get right, how to stay right, that's what the word of God brings to us. And Paul is praying for these people to have that experience. And that's the foundation of the worthy walk, what the word of God has to say to you about your life and your obligations. But then we see the marks of the worthy walk as they are explained to us here in verses 10 and 11. that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Here's how you please the Lord. Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. In other words, bearing fruit from what you know and then increasing your knowledge to what end? More fruit. Bear fruit with what you already know. Use what you have. Do what you know is right. I like to say it this way. Take the next right step. or do the next right thing. Have you ever been bewildered? You're facing a challenge and you just don't know what to do. I mean, you just don't know what to do. You look at your checkbook or you look at your obligations financially and you maybe don't have a job or you're sick and need to go to the hospital and you have more things coming on you and you just don't know what to do. and you wish somebody would just come along and take you with a hand and say, come with me and I'll show you. Well, that's what the Holy Spirit does. He comes alongside you and he puts his arm around you and he says, come with me and I'll show you. Let's go. Let's take the next right step. The tendency of fallen man, when he's overwhelmed by his surroundings, sometimes is either to fight frantically until he's exhausted or just sit down and give up. The Lord wants you to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work. Do what you know is right. If you don't know ultimately what God wants you to do, or you don't know ultimately where God wants you to be, just take the next right step. I did much preaching during my ministry at Faith Baptist Church on discerning and doing the will of God. And I always would encourage the people, always seek the will of God in the word of God. That's a good principle. One of the men came to me and said, you know, I always want to do what you taught us to do about seeking the will of God through the word of God. I said, well, wonderful, wonderful. How's that working out for you? He said, well, the other day I was deer hunting, and I didn't have any success all day, and I thought, just a few more minutes, just a few more minutes. I know that deer's gonna come walking through here, and I'm gonna get that deer, and I'll have meat in the freezer. And so he stayed beyond his plan, and realized how quickly it gets dark once the sun goes down. And suddenly he found himself in the woods, in the dark, turned around, unaware of which direction he was supposed to go. And he said, pastor, I thought, oh no, I'm going to have to spend the night here in the woods. And when the sun comes up, what if I can't figure out which way to go? I've got to get to my car. And he said, pastor, It was too dark to read my New Testament that I had with me. And I wasn't sure which passage I would turn to anyway. And so I just prayed, oh, Lord, where's my car? How can I get back to my car? And he said, honestly, preacher, I couldn't think of a verse. I couldn't have a promise to claim, but I just pleaded with the Lord to lead me to my car. And so I just said, well, I'll go over this way. And I went over that way, and there it was. And I understood his point, and I said, yes, absolutely. The Lord can lead you outside of the word. He will never lead you contrary to the word. And he was merciful to you, and he protected you. You know, folks, sometimes we're only able to utter a word when we need the Lord. Have you ever prayed one of those prayers where just about all you could say was, help! Lord, help! And he hears you, and he responds. You don't have to be too sophisticated when you're crying out for help. When I was a boy, I went everywhere on my bicycle. If you have a bicycle, you know, you can get where you need to go. And so I would ride my bicycle from our house down this little gravel road winding up the hill to this little shed that one of the local dairies had put out there where we could stay out of the weather until the school bus came. Some of you may remember those days. And so I was riding down the hill. I had everything the way it was supposed to be, had my bike, had this hand on the bike, and in this hand, I didn't have the other handlebar. I had my ball glove on my hand, and I had my books inside my ball glove. So that wasn't a real steady way to be riding. But that's the way I was riding. And I was bumping along on the old road there. And all of a sudden, I hit a rock and my wheel turned to the side. And the next thing you know, my front wheel was off the road and on the grass down the hill. And it took me a second to realize, ah, I'm in trouble. I should have thrown the ball glove down, gotten the grass stains on my books, and answered for that later, and get my bike under control and protect myself. But I didn't. And I began to accelerate rapidly. and I hatched this crazy plan. There's a tree. I'll go near that tree and when I get close to it, I'll reach out and grab it and slow myself down. It didn't work that way. I increased in speed and I hit the tree head on, bent the fork of my bike, slammed my face up against the tree, severely cut my leg on the pedal, and did indeed drop my ball glove and my books in the grass. And when I looked down and saw the bleeding of my leg, I was terrified. And I thought, I'm in trouble. I need help. Now, I would take my little nicks and scratches and bee stings to mom. But when I see the blood flowing, it was time to call on dad. And so I let out a yell. And all the way up the hill inside the house, I got his attention. And I hollered for my father. And he came flying down the hill and scooped me up and took me back up the hill. And he was having to go to work himself. And so he instructed mom to put me in the car and take me to the doctor and get me sewed up. I tell that story because there are times when we get ourselves in such a case that all we can do is call out for our father. I was saying, and he heard me, and he came. There are times when you need to call out to your Heavenly Father that way. I don't think I've ever referred to my Heavenly Father as Dad, but the principle is the same. to call on Him when you need Him, and to get His help when He's there. If you are intending to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, you need to know that He wants to help you. that He is available to you and that He will answer your specific requests, indeed, that He's identified here. Have a fruitfulness. Now, that's in an active voice. To be filled is in the passive voice. That's His work in you. But to be fruitful is in the active voice. That's your responsibility. To take what He's given to you and what He's done for you and to make something of it. And in order to do that, you've got to have some knowledge of who he is and what you can expect from him. And that's why he says in the last part of verse 10 that being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. We should know more about God today than we did yesterday and more about God tomorrow than we do today. Now that growth will come slowly, like a plant growing. You can't actually watch it happening for the most part, but you'll come back day by day and see that growth taking place. And the more solid the growth, the slower it is. Some little trees will grow quite fast and they grow very weak, but other trees grow slowly and they grow tall and very, very strong. And if you would become a strong and durable Christian, you'll need to realize that that growth will take place throughout your life. A dear lady, some of you probably would know her if I called her name, who went to be with the Lord at the age of 95. She would always sit right down here in our church, and I was preaching one night, and I gave the invitation, and she came forward. And I went down to meet her, and she says, oh, I need to learn that. Oh, would you pray with me that I'll learn that? And I thought, what a testimony at 95 with a burden to learn something. Wasn't that amazing? Some of you are gonna figure out who I'm talking about. But we had a campaign going on to do some building in our church, and it was one of those three-year deals where people would make a promise of, I'll give so much for three years, and so on. And one day I came in there, it was right after she had turned 95, and she motioned for me to come down during the handshaking time, and I did. And she gave me a little envelope. and her little wavy writing on it for Pastor, personal and confidential. And so I put it in my pocket. And after the service was over, I opened it up. And inside there was a little note card and a nice check. And it said, Dear Pastor, this is my gift for the campaign. This is all I will be giving. I'm 95 years old. I shouldn't be making any three-year commitments. Oh, God love her. She's so precious. But the thing I loved about her so much was that she continued to grow throughout her 95 years. If you and I should live to 95, we should be learning every day, something new, some new step. As we step heavenward, that should be our focus, getting closer, getting stronger, getting better every day. Now, that worthy walk that's given to us is a walk that leads us on a path of growth and obedience and fruitfulness. And the marks are fruitfulness and the knowledge of God constantly increasing in the power of the word and understanding what he has given to us and what he will do for us. And you will have strength as you do that. As you enter onto this walk, you will be strengthened, it says in verse 11, with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. God tells you that you will have strength for your journey. If you commit yourself to this, you'll have strength along the way. You'll have what you need. You take the next right step, and then you take the next right step, and then the next after that right step, and keep taking the next right step, and you'll find yourself strengthened for each step along the way. Yes, there'll be times when you need to rest and stop and reflect and think and nourish yourself, of course. But if you start a journey, This journey, in this way, in obedience to the Lord, you'll always have the strength that you need to complete that journey. You've already been made suitable to be in the presence of the Lord. He tells us in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet or suitable to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. By God's grace, at the moment of salvation, you are accepted in the beloved. You are acceptable before God. When he looks at you, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That exchange that's taken place is the basis of your security. It is as though I stand here in my sin and God looks at me and sees my sin. And then the Holy Spirit of God introduces me to Jesus Christ, absolutely righteous before the Father. And He offers to come and take my place and lets me take His place. So when I step over here into the place where Jesus has been, so that when God the Father looks down, He sees not me in my wickedness, but me in the righteousness of Christ. And Christ steps over here into my place and takes upon Himself all my sin. And then He takes that to His cross pays the penalty, suffers death, which that's the wages of sin. And he makes nothing of it anymore, it's gone. So now, when God looks at me, he sees me covered by the shed blood of Christ, righteous before God. The devil wants you to think that even though you've been washed in the blood, figuratively speaking, by the Holy Spirit of God, the next time you sin, you've blown it. That's what he wants you to think. God doesn't love you. God won't accept you. Look at you, disobedient, rebellious. You don't have a good heart. You have nothing to take with you to God. You know full well that God wants nothing to do with you. That's what he tries to convince you of, and that's a lie. He hates you because he hates God. He can't hurt God, so he tries to hurt God by hurting you. But your Heavenly Father sees you redeemed when you're in Christ. He doesn't see you and your rottenness. He sees Christ and His righteousness for those of you who put your faith and trust in Him. You've been made suitable. You've been delivered, verse 13, who have delivered us from the power of darkness. We've been delivered, rescued. He's come and taken us and pulled us out and given us a new life and new hope. And he has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. We're no longer here under the slavery and oppression of sin and evil. Our bodies were made of this earth and will eventually go back to this earth, but our souls have been redeemed. Sometimes folks get a little confused about this, and if I'm confusing you now, I leave it to your pastor to correct my error, okay? But when you think of a human being, think of the material and the immaterial part of that being. What we see here tonight are bodies, but our bodies are merely the place of residence of our souls. I personally believe that there is a distinction to be made between the soul and the spirit. Some would hold that the immaterial part is all a unified whole, and the truth is, a human being is a unified whole. But people will often say, well, you know, man has a soul. I would say, I don't think you're saying that correctly. I think you should say, man is a soul. He has a body. Because your soul, from the moment it came into existence, will live forever somewhere. Your body won't, your body will die. And it'll return to the elements. Now somehow in the resurrection, the Lord will have no problem recovering you and getting all that back together for you, glorified and your soul reunited. So I believe that the body is that with which we're conscious of the elements around us. And the soul is that with which we are conscious of life. Your soul is your life. It's you, a living being, and your spirit is that part of you which is conscious of God. Since the fall of man, all men have been born into this earth with a soul that is separated from God because they are spiritually dead. What does it mean to be spiritually dead? All these forms of death are separations. To be physically dead is for your soul to be separated from your body. To be spiritually dead is for your soul to be separated from God. because the Spirit is that which connects us. But at salvation, the Spirit of God enters into us and animates our soul and gives us a relationship with God. So it's not I but Christ that liveth in me. My spiritual life is His life in me. Your spiritual life is His life in you. Now you still have a soul, but your soul is now redeemed and animated by the Spirit of God. I don't know if that helps you, but it sure helps me to think of it that way. Once you have the Holy Spirit of God reanimating your spirit, enabling your soul to have a relationship with God, your soul is safe. And someday when your soul is separated from your body, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Now, I hope that makes it more simple. So don't let the defeat of this clay pot in which you live tear down your soul because your spirit is there to reanimate and strengthen and advise and help and encourage and convict every day of your life. You say, well, I've never experienced that, my friend. Study the gospel. Understand how simple it is to be saved from that and to have that kind of new life in Christ. You've been made suitable, you've been delivered, you've been translated taken out of one place and put in another place, taken out of the slavery to your body and its appetites, and placed into fellowship with God and His wisdom and righteousness and understanding. So, everything about the Christian life begins and ends with Jesus Christ. Life and godliness we saw from 2 Peter. When we see Christ for who He is, we're saved not only from the penalty of sin, But we are being saved from the power of sin. And someday we will be saved from the very presence of sin. And when you trust Christ, you get it all. It's in sequence, but you get it all. It's all promised to you there. So we come to the second point in verse 14 and following, that the exalted Lord or the Lord being exalted by us is the object he has in mind all along. Our obligation is to receive what he's offering and to live the way he leads and then exalt him and praise him in the process. He talks to us here about our relationships, first to sin and then to God and the creation, and then ultimately the church. The preeminence of Christ has already been demonstrated. Now, the eminence of Christ is evident, nobody can deny that, and there are two different words that are pronounced eminence, and this word eminence here has to do, or preeminence, has to do with his ranking. He is above all. So, that's a fact. But it's our responsibility to ensure that through us, He has the preeminence in us and through us. And that's where He's headed in this passage of Scripture. The preeminence of Christ has been demonstrated, we see in verses 14 and 15 in this way. In whom, His dear Son, from the last verse, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. Now, it's because of Christ's shed blood, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, we learn in the book of Hebrews. And even from the story of creation and the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. In chapter 3, right at the beginning, when the Lord killed the animal, made the coats of skins for their sins, at that point we began to realize that shedding of blood was God's way of showing how we could be redeemed from our sin. Why shedding of blood? because the life is in the blood. And when the blood leaves the body, it dies. So what's happening here is that a life is being given to pay for the sins that would cost the life of the sinner. So it's not just his dying, it is his bleeding, his blood that purchases our redemption. And redemption, another word for salvation, means to be purchased back or to be bought back by paying the price of our sins, you see. And that's why we trust in what Christ accomplished on the cross. In redemption, He is the Redeemer. We are set free because our sins have been released and no longer held to account to our charge. In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. Now, if you've been redeemed, it's because of the blood of Christ, having paid the price and the penalty of your sin. And then he says in verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. So he's not only the redeemer, he's the revealer. We know God because Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to know God. He is the express image we learn in John chapter one. He is the one who shows us the Father. When you read your New Testament, look to see who is Christ. And when you see who Christ is, you will see that Christ is showing you who God the Father is. That's very difficult for the human mind, especially for the unredeemed human mind to understand the concept of the Trinity. The word Trinity never appears in the Bible. The word Trinity is a doctrinal word to explain what the Bible teaches about God who eternally exists in three persons. You say, how's that possible? He's God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, one incredible being. And then to complicate it a little bit more for the unsaved person who can't understand it by the grace of God, Christ, one of the three persons in the Godhead, Christ has two natures, human and divine. How can that be? It's unique. So how do you explain that? I can't. I can give you illustrations. I can explain it over and over and over. That is spiritually discerned. We don't receive that into our intellect. We receive that into our spirit. I can promise you this, though I can't explain it to you. The Holy Spirit of God will give the teachable heart enough understanding to believe it and obey it. And if you have a predisposition to obey what the Bible says, you will never wonder what it says. you have to come not with a suspicious, guarded view. Okay, Lord. All right, you explain this to me and then I'll decide whether I want to believe it. Forget it. God doesn't play that game. You go to him and say, Lord, I believe you're God, and I believe you're speaking to me, and I don't understand this. Would you help me understand it? And he will give you all the understanding that you need to rest in the glory of his promise. And everybody in who has ever done that knows that's true. And if you've never experienced that, we pray that you will. We're not talking about some blind leap in the dark. Sometimes people will define faith as a blind leap in the dark. Faith is no such thing. Faith is taking God up on His Word. It means believing what He said. And he said to us right here that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Now that word firstborn is very important because it's used a couple of times here in this text. And the word firstborn here does not refer to an order of birth. Jesus Christ, prior to the incarnation, was not born. He is eternally existing as God. His body was born and God the Son took on human flesh and was born in a body which is now glorified and he lives in that body to this day and will throughout eternity. When it says firstborn, it's referring to his rank. You know that in the Hebrew culture, the son who was the firstborn inherited the father's possessions, and the father's position, and the father's privileges. He was the firstborn. You remember the story of the patriarch, where the firstborn, in fact, had no respect or appreciation for it. And so his brother, who was actually the secondborn, said, well, if you don't want it, I'll take it. And so he began to trick Jacob. And he had all these little schemes that he was going to play to try to get the blessing from his father. And he did. And when he met the Lord and the Lord said, no more Jacob, you shall be called no more the trickster, but you should be called. Israel, prince with God, because you've prevailed with God. And he wanted the blessing, and he was even wrestling with the Lord to get the blessing. But he wanted it so bad, and God honored him. And then, of course, his brother had some blessings, but he didn't get the real blessings that God would have given him had he obeyed, but the Lord knew and understood all that. The firstborn is the one that has the privileges. And when Jesus is called the firstborn of all creation, He's talking about his rank, that over all creation, that's everything in the universe, Jesus outranks everything. In fact, he was the agent of creation. And it explains that to us here in the very next verse. For, here's how he can be the firstborn of the highest in rank, for by him were all things created. that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, that means places of authority, or dominions, that means realms of authority, or principalities, that means heavenly authorities, or powers, angelic beings, and all the rest, all things were created by Him and for Him. Now, you think about that. The Bible tells us in the Gospel of John, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning, God created by His Word. Jesus was present. The Son was there. He was the agent of creation. The Spirit brooded on the waters. God spoke. But now you say, well, wait a minute, I thought the Father did that. No, God did that. Well, who's God? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So when you think of the three persons in the Godhead, don't think of them as separate individuals to the exclusion of the concept of Trinity. Tri-unity, three persons in one. That's hard for the human mind to comprehend. But this tells us here that Jesus was the agent of creation. I read a book some years ago by a man named Richard Swenson called More Than Meets the Eye. It's been out for a number of years. It might be hard for you to find, but it would be very well worth the effort to locate it and read it. He's a physician. And one of the most wonderful chapters that he has in that book is a description of the human eye. And as he provides that description of the human eye, you come out with the conclusion there is a God There's a creator who designed the human eye. And the human eye, of course, is but one tiny little piece of God's creation. And there he speaks about the creation. And he talks about the four forces. in nature. I'm sure there are people who've studied science far more than I have, who will not only struggle through my stumbling explanation here, but could explain it to all of us far better than I can. But as I understand these four forces that he's talking about here, he is describing gravity, which is one of the forces which pulls things together. And then electromagnetism, which creates all electricity and all attraction and that sort of thing. And then in addition to gravity and electromagnetism, we have the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. Anybody in here know what I'm talking about? Have you ever heard of these four forces? All right, there's the man to talk to after the service is over. He knows more than I do, I'm sure. But if you studied science or physics especially, my father-in-law, Carol's father, who's almost 90, still goes to work every day, Rocket scientist. That's what he is. Worked for NASA for years. And he could stand up here and explain all these things to you and give you all the math to explain it. But we know what gravity is. It's what causes the little things to be attracted to the big things, like something that drops and falls to the Earth. And then there is electromagnetism, which is a force which has control over other things. But the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force is something inside the atomic structure of the universe. It's the force that causes things to hold together, but it's also the weak nuclear forces, that thing which sort of causes them to want to get away from each other. Boy, that's a pathetic explanation. But you've read about or seen pictures of a nuclear explosion when this whole thing is interrupted and some of that potential that's inside the atoms of this fuel are released and you see what happens. as a result of it. Now there are people today who would describe the beginning of the physical world or the physical universe as some sort of a nuclear explosion writ large. The one thing they cannot explain is if something happened within those forces that caused this central mass, which they say that all matter was compressed into something somewhat larger than a basketball, and all of a sudden, the big bang, and all these tiny particles were flung out into the vastness of space, whatever that is. Here's the question. How did any of that manage to get back together? There's no explanation in that kind of science. First off, to describe how it could have ever been in that form in the first place, then what kind of a force there might have been that would have caused it all to explode like that, and then what kind of a force would even have drawn two atoms back together. So what's the key? What's the glue? What holds it all together? What keeps it all from flying apart right now? Now, you'll think I'm being naive if you don't listen with ears of faith. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. It's Jesus Christ. God, our Savior, is the great Creator. We sing it, the great Creator became my Savior, the one who made us. It's amazing to me how a human being could attribute some power to God but then defy the power they know of. His power is so far beyond anything that we could possibly begin to imagine. What holds the universe together? He does. Now that sounds like some primitive pagan answer that man invented to explain what he cannot understand. Really? What do you think then? Well, there was the Big Bang. Really? I was on an airplane some years ago. I was returning from a conference in Puerto Rico. I got an upgrade. And so I was up front, meaning I'm going to get food. And so I was sitting there, and the guy next to me was working on his papers. And he was scribbling around with different things. And I thought, well, I have no right to interrupt him. And so I left him alone. And then they said they were going to bring us some food. OK, time to put everything away. And maybe we'll have a little conversation here. And so while we were eating our meal, I said, so are you on your way out to work or are you coming back? And he said, I'm coming back. And I said, down here on business? He said, yes, we have a research facility down here. And I said, oh, really? What kind of research facility? Well, we have a telescope, a radio telescope, out of Cebo, Puerto Rico. And I said, I've been there. That's an acre in size. And I said, whose is that? He said, well, I'm the chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell. And I said, oh, wow, am I going to learn some things here? And so I picked his brain about everything. And he explained black holes and binary stars. And I thought, I'm going to get a free course in astronomy here. And so I listened to him. And he explained what they were doing on that radio. And they're not listening to see if anybody out in space is talking to us. They're actually listening to the radio signals from the stars and things like that and determining what they're made of and how far they are. It was really, really fascinating to hear this man talk. And after a while, we were finished with our meal, and he said, so what do you do? And I said, well, I'm sort of a teacher. And he said, really, what do you teach? And I said, the Bible. The Bible. He said, you're a preacher. I said, yes, sir, I am. And he, so he said, well, you know, you seem to be a relatively astute person. Would you be one of those young earth creationists? And I said, in fact, I am. He said, well, look, you seem like an educated person. How can you possibly believe that? And so we began to chat and talk and we talked for a long, long time till our flight was almost over. And finally I said, do you have any faith? Do you have any religious training at all? Yeah, when I was little, I went to Catholic schools. I said, well, surely you've heard about sin. Oh, yeah, yeah, I heard about sin. I said, do you believe it's real? Well, you can't live on this world and not believe in it. And I said, well, where do you think that all came from? And he would talk to me by that time about how he might be willing to acknowledge that God was involved in the creation, but that he used the natural process of eons and eons of evolution to accomplish it, and the fossils. He wanted to talk to me about the fossil record. And I says, what is the essential truth about the fossil record? He said, what do you mean? I said, what is the common denominator of all the fossils? And he says, well, I never thought of it that way. And I said, how about this? They're all dead. He said, well, I'll give you that. And I said, okay, where did death come from? And the reason that those of us who believe the Bible story of creation are unwilling to accept this other process as how we got here is if you have that record of death before you have sin, you can't make the connection between sin and death. And if you can come to understand that death comes by sin, then you can put all of that together and it makes more sense. He said, well, all right. I said, now can I ask you a question? And he said, sure. I said, are you remotely curious of what was going on in the creation one second before this big bang? And he thought for a few minutes and he said, well, I suppose that's your department. And you know what? He's exactly right. Because whether you sit here tonight believing in the Big Bang or whether you believe the Bible story of creation, you believe whatever you believe by faith. And you would be well advised to put your faith in the message that comes from the one who knows, rather than put your faith in the one who does not know. Because if you put your faith in anything other than what God revealed to us in his word, you ultimately have to admit you're putting your faith in a man-made explanation. You say, yeah, but what if this is wrong and that's right? Well, if you pick the wrong one, your eternal soul is on the line. You do have to choose. Where will you put your faith? For by him were all things created, and by him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church. He's not only over the church, he's the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead. That means the first in rank from all those who've died. He died too, and he's the first one that conquered death, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Eminence is an aspect of the attributes of God, but our text doesn't call for His eminence. He's always had that. This text calls for His preeminence in your life, putting forward His eminence. That's what it means. Taking His eminence and exalting it, holding it up in your life and in your testimony to this world. My friends, God is not diminished by the shaken fist of any sinner. He is who he is. And our resistance to him, like the little child who covers his eyes so he cannot see what he cannot understand or what he cannot control and what he fears, God is still there. He's still watching and waiting. for you. Ignoring Him or denying Him will not make Him go away. I think there's something in every one of us that knows how desperately we need Him. He loves you. He gave his life for you. He has a plan for you. He wants to redeem you. He wants to change you. He wants to use you. He wants to bless you. All he wants is for you to trust him and love him and let him bless you. What does that mean? Give him the preeminence in your life. Lord, I can't do this by myself. I need you. I want you. I come to you. And I bow the knee in your presence. It's always been the same problem. Man wants his own way. There's a part of me that wants his own way. There's a part of you that wants his own way, too. Some of us have lived long enough and learned the hard way that wanting your own way is always a bad idea. Now, if your own way is to want the Lord, fine. But if you want your way in defiance of the Lord, life is going to be hard. The Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard. And if things are going hard for you, and you're aware of some transgressions in your life, denying truth, having no interest in truth, not seeking the will of God from the Word of God, and knowing God to help you in your problems, life might continue to be hard until that awakening comes to you. My prayer for you tonight, if that's where you are, is that you would be filled with the knowledge that's necessary for this change to take place. And for all of you who know the Lord, that you would not only be filled with the knowledge, but with the understanding of how to use that knowledge to become what God wants you to be. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the patience of these dear people as they've listened to this message and considered the things that have been said. And I pray, Lord, that the truths that reflect what the Bible teaches will permeate the hearts of all the people who've heard them and that they would be helped by their reflection on them. In any illustration that I have given or any words that I have said that muddy the waters and confuse the truth, Lord, I pray they would fall to the ground. Help every person who's here. Help me. Help us all in our walk here on this earth that we might be worthy, worthy through faith to live by what you've given us in salvation. And if there's anyone here, Lord, who's not absolutely sure of their own salvation, Lord, do a mighty work in their life tonight and in the days ahead that they might see and understand your goodness and your grace and your plan for them. In Jesus' name.