THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: COLOSSIANS 1:14-19



INTRODUCTION:


  1. Some times we hear preachers talk of how difficult it is to win souls today with all of the cults and isms and schisms and false religions and so on.
  2. But when we start to think like that (and I have to admit that sometimes I am guilty of it too), we need to remember that it has never been easy, and that there were plenty of false cults and false religion around in the apostle Paul’s day.
  3. The apostolic church had to battle the Gnostics, a cult that erred on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are plenty of people around today with this same devilish way of thinking.
  4. For example, I read that Marshall Applewhite (aka "Do" or "Bo") claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ!
  5. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians was written to warn believers of this type of error. There are several cardinal doctrines set forth:
    1. the eternal deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
    2. the physical reality of His incarnation
    3. His direct creation of the entire universe
    4. His death and resurrection
    5. Christ is the head of the church
  1. I have entitled today’s message, "The Preeminence of Christ," and I would like to set forth five reasons why He is preeminent:
    1. He is the Redeemer (vs. 14)
    2. He is the Revealer (vs. 15)
    3. He is the Creator (vs. 16)
    4. He is the Sustainer (vs. 17)
    5. He is the Head of the Body (vs. 18)
  • Let me stop at this point and emphasize that Christ and Christ alone is the Head of the Body, not the pope of Rome! I was preaching one night in our church and was pointing out that if Peter was the first pope of Rome it is rather strange that there are no popish doctrines taught in the great book of Romans – no purgatory, no prayers to Mary, no prayers for the dead, and so on. Instead of popery, we learn justification by faith, and salvation through Christ alone. Next, I asked my congregation to turn to Romans 16 (please turn there also) and pointed out that if Peter was indeed the first pope, isn’t strange that there is no mention of him in Romans 16. We see greetings to Phebe, Priscilla and Aquila, and about 25 other people, but no Peter. It seems rather rude to write a letter to a church and greet over 25 people and neglect to say hello to the pastor – especially if he was the "pope," the so-called vicar of Christ. Then I said something that surprised my audience. I told them that while it was obvious that Peter could not be found in Romans 16, the pope was. People were looking puzzled and confused and so I directed them to Rom.16:20. Well, let me move on!
  1. CHRIST IS PREEMINENT BECAUSE HE IS THE REDEEMER (vs. 14)
    1. In case some of you are unaware of this, the blood of Christ is omitted here in most of the modern translations. I just had a dear brother, Rudy Schenkenberg, install some carpet for me and we had some good fellowship (we managed to get some work done too!) He told me that when he was a teenager (he must be in his `60s now, he remembers hearing I. M. Halderman preach) he had a Sunday school teacher named Everett Fowler at the First Baptist Church of NYC. I went down to my library and found one of Bro. Fowler’s books, Evaluating Versions of the New Testament. In this excellent book, he notes that "through His blood" is omitted in the WH text, the Nestle text, the Bible Society texts (with the exception of the Trinitarian Bible Society, all the Bible societies are in cahoots with Rome), the ASV, NASV, NIV, RSV, and the NEB.
    2. I’m convinced that they are not trying to put out a Bible they can understand – they’re trying to put out a Bible they can swallow!
    3. So, my first point is that Christ is our Redeemer and "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (vs. 14).
    4. I heard about a preacher who was just installed as the pastor of a church and a lady walked up to him and said, "Pastor, I hope you are not going to preach too much on the blood of Jesus – our last preacher preached much too much on the blood!" He said, "Ma’am, I won’t preach too much on the blood. That’s because one cannot preach too much on the blood!"
    5. we are living in a day when these modern-day gnostics have taken the blood of their hymn-books, and out of their Bibles and out of their preaching. As fundamental Baptists, let’s not lower the blood-stained banner – let’s stick to the old paths!
  1. CHRIST IS PREEMINENT BECAUSE HE IS THE REVEALER (vs. 15)
    1. The Bible plainly states that Christ is "the image of the invisible God" (vs. 15).
      1. We know Jesus said that God is a Spirit (John 4:24).
      2. We also know Jesus said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).
      3. Paul referred to Christ as "God manifest in the flesh" (I Tim.3:16) – that is also changed in the modern translations.
      4. The JWs and other cults have a real problem with this (Col.2:9). I recently moved to Cedarhurst and sure enough, the JWs came visiting! Where are the independent Baptists?
    1. Christ is also "the firstborn of every creature" (vs. 15b); not "first created" but "firstborn" which refers to His supremacy or preeminence (cf. Ex.4:22).
  1. CHRIST IS PREEMINENT BECAUSE HE IS THE CREATOR (vs. 16)
    1. I am so glad that my Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the Creator. I am so glad that my children do not have to go to a government school and be brainwashed into thinking that they have evolved from monkeys (cf. John 1:1-3,10).
    2. The Gnostics taught that an angel created another angel, who in turn created another angel, and so on. Finally, the last angel created the world! You might be thinking – what crazy nonsense! Yes, just like Mormonism, Russelism, Christian Science and all of the new age hogwash that is selling like hotcakes down at the book store.
    3. The evolutionists (really "devil-lutionists") teach that creation is a process of continuous change from a lower state to a higher, more complex state (they cannot explain who or what started this "change"). But in reality, things are actually going from better to worse – this universe is running down! I don’t need to brush up on my science, I just need to read Romans 1!
  1. CHRIST IS PRREEMINENT BECAUSE HE IS THE SUSTAINER (vs. 17)
    1. "He is before all things" (vs. 17).
    2. I like to give away little Gospels of John, because John starts out by declaring that Christ is eternal, He is before all things (John 1:1).
    3. Then, we have the testimony of John the Baptist: "He was before me" (John 1:30), though John was older, humanly speaking.
    4. In John 8:58, Jesus said to the Jews, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."
    5. And of course, there are many other Scriptures which affirm His pre-existence and eternality (e.g., Micah 5:2).
    6. He is before all things, "and by Him all things consist" (vs. 17b). "Consist" = to hold together – isn’t that comforting. I ‘m not worried about WWIII or Armageddon. (If I was not saved I would be).
    7. Christ is the "preserver" or the "sustainer" of creation. Hebrews 1:3 says that He is "upholding all things by the word of His power."
    8. Harry Ironside used to say, "What makes gravitation gravitate? Christ!"

 

  1. CHRIST IS PREEMINENT BECAUSE HE IS THE HEAD OF THE BODY (vs. 18)
    1. As the Head, He directs the body. He is our only Head – as Baptists we must reject all manifestations of popery. Romanism is gaining great strength in these days of apostasy. I heard a RC apologist on Andy Andersen’s program, PK, etc.
    2. Too many Baptists are sleeping while the church of Rome is moving in for the kill. It wasn’t always like this. A.J. Gordon said the true pope was the devil himself and the real cardinals were his demons. Spurgeon called the pope the vicar of antichrist. But today, we have Baptists like Billy Graham, and Jack Van Impe, and Jerry Falwell saying how wonderful the pope is! Who has changed? Rome hasn’t!

CONCLUSION:

  1. Our goal as believers is to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must have the preeminence in our lives, in our worship, in our preaching, in our churches, in our homes, in our marriages (Col.1:18b,19).
  2. I read an interesting story about Leonardo de Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper. When de Vinci was 43 years old, the Duke of Milan asked him to do the painting. When it was finished, de Vinci asked a friend for his opinion. The friend said, "It’s beautiful, I cannot take my eyes off that cup, it looks so real!"
  3. De Vinci took his brush and changed the cup. He said to his friend, "Nothing should detract from the figure of Christ!"
  4. Brethren, let’s not allow anything to detract from Christ, His shed blood, His resurrection, and His second coming. Let’s preach the preeminence of Christ!

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