Crowning Christ as Lord of All, Part 2

We often hear Bible teachers tell us that God is everything we need.

And that's a comforting statement, to be sure. But what are the tangible outcomes for those who have a relationship with God? In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul unleashed a powerful sequence of benefits. He began by saying Christ is supreme over all. He is first in all.

He is first in everything. Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll will help us celebrate these amazing attributes as we continue our study in Colossians chapter 1. Chuck titled his message, Crowning Christ as Lord of All. To you, our Father, we owe our life and breath and all we have. For your Son is the one who conquered death, and through him so shall we. We do not fear the grave nor the sting of death because of Christ. We do not fear what tomorrow may bring because of Christ. We are not concerned today, Lord, over the events that surround us because Christ is sovereign.

He is at work. He is living and moving among us. He is making known the truth of your book in a million different ways this very day. In Christ alone, we have assurance and hope and forgiveness and grace and clear direction and the hope of eternal life. We thank you, Father, for the joy of worship in this land in which we are living, still free, able to worship. And we are grateful, Father, for your hand over us as a nation, though we do not deserve it. Watch over those who keep us free, who carry heavy weapons of war and are in dangerous places this day, places we will never be. Protect them, comfort their families, bring them safely home. For those who have been injured and maimed in the war, we pray that you would minister to them deeply through the love of family and through caring physicians and nursing staffs who care for them. Thank you, our Father, for this church, how grateful we are for this place of ministry, for those who represent us on the staff and those who serve you in faithful places around the world as our missionaries. Use them, protect them, make their service effective as they represent you in the places where they serve. We give our offerings today, Lord, that you may use these gifts in a special way.

Watch over the use of these funds. May they be handled with integrity and wisdom. May our giving be marked by joy and generosity. In the name of Christ, of course, Christ the Lord, we pray, and for His sake alone. And all God's people said, amen.

You're listening to Insight for Living. To search the Scriptures with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck called, Crowning Christ as Lord of All. The cults are very subtle. They come with great charisma, and little by little, they hack away at your trust in Christ and your faith in the Son of God as deity.

Paul rolls up his sleeves in verse 15 and takes on the cults without once calling them by name. Declares Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. To prove that He is deity, he adds, He existed before anything was created. He is supreme over all creation because through Him, that's Christ, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together. Now, having said that about His role in creation as being supreme, He goes to the church and He says, Christ is the head of the church.

That's what Scripture says here and elsewhere. He is the exalted one. He is the one who is to be worshipped. The Apostle Paul, one of the things that made him so great was a man who was consumed with adoration for Christ.

Oh, to be like that. When it says here that He is first in everything, along with being supreme over all who rise from the dead, as we read at the end of verse 18. First in resurrection, read 1 Corinthians 15 for verification of that, takes the sting out of death.

Why? Because He's been raised. He's supreme over death. You don't have to fear dying. If you're in Christ, you have Him and He's led the way and you just follow Him into victory beyond this life. And then he says He's first in everything. That's a pretty good list, huh? Everything.

Maybe you need a little help. Track with me. In every decision we make, Christ is to be center of it. In everything we do, in every word we say. In everything we eat and whatever we may drink, Christ, Christ is to be exalted. In every place we live, in every home we buy, in every apartment we rent, in every car we may lease or buy, may Christ be honored. In the way we manage our money, in who we marry and when, in how we live as married partners, and in our singleness, may Christ be magnified. In the way we rear our children, in the hidden motives we never speak or reveal. In our academic pursuits, as we achieve one degree or another, may Christ be magnified. In our occupation, our calling, our profession, Christ be exalted. The way we spend our time, what we do in our leisure, how we treat our own bodies, how we relate to one another, may Christ be supreme. What we watch and what we read, in the way we carry out our goals and the priorities we choose, in the art we enjoy, music, in worship, architecture, in response to people in times of testing and trials, in illness and health, in prosperity and adversity, in promotions and demotions, in everything he is to have first place. Think of it.

Think of how that would revolutionize your whole frame of reference. You would never begin a day with the words I'm worried about. If Christ is supreme, he's got the world, he's got the day, he's got the very moment you're sitting on the side of your bed in his hand. He's leaving you. You're his child if you've come to Christ. You belong to him.

He's protecting you, if nothing to fear. When I travel, I tend to get a little bit blue around evening time. The sun goes down and Cynthia may not be with me and I'm missing her.

I've already called her four times. One day that ought to be enough, but it's not the same without her in the room with me. And my thoughts sometimes go to you who live alone. Without Christ, no wonder you're so lonely. But with Christ, you have an eternal partner.

You have a friend whose arm never leaves your shoulder. You have a savior who will be right there with you when you get that chest pain. And you're buckled to your knees and you fear death is coming. There's nothing to fear. I fly somewhat frequently and I sometimes look over and I see people going through their beads and they're all worried. And I want to go, you know, you know, I'm not attacking that religion.

I'm just saying you don't need to do that. We have a savior. And when it's our time, you can have a plane full of beads and it's not going to help you get to that that sudden landing. So I don't worry. I see some people fly. You think you almost want to go, I got to help this thing in the air. I got to get it up there. I'm reading about all.

Please. If he's first in everything, he's first in your travels. He's first in your scheduling. Cynthia and I have learned never fight with the schedule. When they reschedule, you accept it.

Christ is involved in all of those disappointments. He's changing the schedule for a reason. You say, oh, no, Chuck, you get a little weird now. Really? You like what you do better than what I'm describing?

No. If he's first in everything, there is nothing he isn't first in. Bad sentence structure, but it's true. Verse 19. God, in all his fullness, was pleased to live in Christ. That is a slap in the face of the Gnostics. God, the supreme God, pleased to live in Christ and through him.

Look at this. Look at this great doctrinal word. God reconciled everything to himself.

What does that mean? What does reconciliation mean? It means the bringing together of two or more parties that are in disharmony and removing what caused the disagreement and bringing back harmony. Christ reconciled the world to himself. God did it through Christ.

And what's the what's the thing that separated us? Sin, sin. It's our sinfulness. God is holy and we are not.

And there is this great gap between us. How can I know that God will accept? He has reconciled us to him. Get this really clear in your mind when you start thinking theologically, teach yourself correctly. God has not reconciled a man. We are the ones reconciled to God. God's done nothing wrong. He reconciles the world to himself, everything to himself.

Look at it. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. Don't let anyone tell you that the blood isn't important. It is the divine detergent that washes away the sins of the world. Without the blood, you have no hope of having your sins washed away. But because he gave his blood on our behalf, God acknowledges the blood is that which will bring reconciliation. And now we are right with God.

Rather than living fearful of him. Following the first service, I had a brother come by to talk to me. And he was from another particular church. I'll not name the church.

That's not important. But he said, as I was growing up, all through my early years as a child, I was taught you can never, ever know if you're saved. Because, you know, you may have done something that is really bad and then you'll be lost again. And he said every night I would just pray, Lord, I asked Jesus to come into my life. And he said night after night, every church service, I was coming down an aisle to give my heart to Christ. Because I never knew if I was really, if I really had the assurance of salvation.

And he said, you know, every once in a while it plays on me. I was reared in that context. I mean, when your mom and dad teach you that, they're sincere, but they're sincerely wrong. Because we know from here, as we will see in a few moments and from other passages, we are secure in Christ. I heard of an old revivalist who said, if I really believe you could lose your salvation, everybody who came to faith, I'd shoot them on the spot so they would go to heaven. Of course, he's got other issues to deal with if he plans to carry a gun with him and he presents the gospel. But how tragic it would be if I offered you from the scriptures the hope of eternal life and then to say, but you know what, you've got to really watch it, because if you do something really bad tonight, he's throwing you out.

You know what? That's heresy. There is an eternality connected with our security. And since we are born into the family of God, we can't be unborn. My son, my daughter will always be my sons, my daughters, regardless of what they do or the lives they live. They will always have my blood. They will always be in my family.

I will always love them. How much more our Heavenly Father will love us. So when he gets to the cross, I love it that this particular translation in verse 21 says, this includes you. Isn't that great? But in case you think I'm talking to your husband or to somebody sitting near you, this is you.

This includes you. He's writing to the Colossians, these who were being drawn away by the Gnostics. He says, you who were once far away from God, they are mainly Gentile. They didn't know the Lord from the lizard.

I mean, they're living their life in all the mythology and heathen world of their times and coming from all of that. You were once far away from God. You were his enemies.

I track this. You were separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Remember the sin that came between us and the holy God?

It's true. And yet now look at this, because these Colossians are believers. Now he has reconciled you to him. So you don't reconcile God to us. You reconcile us to God. He has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body.

As a result, watch this, this is positional truth you rarely hear. He has brought you into his own presence. You are holy. You are blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. You hear that and it sounds so strange. You think, I'm not there.

I got lots of faults. That's not what he's talking about. Talking about theoretically in God's eyes, in his plan, when you trust his son, you are into his presence and you are set apart. The word holy means set apart. You are without blame as you stand before him.

You are without a single fault. That's why when you die, you have heaven as your home. Now in the meantime, we need to live like it, which is his whole point when he gets to verse 23. He says, you must continue to believe this truth. Stand firm in it.

Now he has the cult in mind. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the good news. The good news has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it.

And I'm declaring it to you today. I have the privilege to announce to all of us that if you come to Christ, you will be in God's eyes as perfect as his own dear son. You are faultless.

Jude ends his letter with the wonderful doxology, now to him who is able to guard us from stumbling, and get this, and to present us faultless before his presence with exceeding great joy to the only wise God, our savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power. Faultless. You, you rascal. Me, rascal.

The one who does wrong rather regularly. When I step into the Lord's presence, he'll say, come on home, child. You're mine. I remember the day when you were a little boy and the Lord Jesus came into your life. And he has now given you the fulfillment of your faith.

Regardless of how you were raised, this is the hope you could have through Christ. Reminds me of a man you probably have never heard of. He lived his life in England. His name was Edward Mote.

Born 1797, died 1874. In his home, his parents did not allow anybody in the family to have a Bible. There was no place for the scriptures in that home.

Father and mother lost. He grew up in that world, became a cabinet maker. Before he entered that responsible calling that God had for him, through some means never revealed in any source I can find, Edward Mote heard the gospel. He was a teenager and he turned to Christ.

It changed his whole perspective. As a matter of fact, around middle age, he was led to write a poem that later, thanks to William Bradbury, was given a tune that is still with us in the church today. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. He entered the ministry. And following that, entering the ministry, he wrote over 100 more hymns and songs, poems that would find their way. Many of them into the church. He came to the day of his death and he said to one standing close by, the truths I have preached, I am now living upon and they will do to die upon.

He wrote to conclude his song when he shall come with trumpet sound. May I then in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ, the solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand. You hear that, you might think that's pretty narrow, Chuck. Yeah, I love it. I love it. You're not given an option.

Or try one of these seven things, maybe one of them will work for you. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Paul wrote, there is one God, one go-between, one advocate between God and men. The man Christ Jesus, there's one, there's one. Don't let anyone ever tell you that there is a plurality here and you can take your choice on whichever God you want. You choose anyone other than Christ, you're lost, you're lost. You will not know assurance of salvation. You will not fall asleep at peace, but forever restless. And when you are in that last bed you'll be on, you will have peace in your heart knowing on Christ, the solid rock, you stand.

All the other ground is sinking sand. Isn't that great? Oh, I love it.

It's so great. Bow with me, will you? You know what I'm going to say to you, you who have been here before. What on earth is keeping you from Christ?

Since he is to have first place in everything, everything else you're hanging on to is way down the line. You're missing the one main thing. Your sin has separated you from the holy God. You must acknowledge that, not hide from it, not deny it. And in acknowledging it, say to your Father in heaven today, Lord God, while I don't understand a lot of the things that are in the Bible, I understand that I am lost. And I understand that you save the lost. And Jesus is the one who makes it possible. I take him now.

I trust him now. Don't dare go on through this day without Christ. It is in the supreme name of the Lord Jesus Christ we have met. It is for his glory alone we have sung the songs of the faith. It is because of Christ we live and move and have our reason for existence. And therefore, dear Father, may you bring Christ to the heart of anyone who this day is without him. Keep them restless until they find a peace with him whom to know is life everlasting. In his magnificent name we pray. And all God's people said, Amen. Maybe Chuck Swindoll said something today that prompted you to take your next steps. Perhaps you're ready to acknowledge, as Paul said to the Colossians, that Jesus Christ is first place in everything.

And we'd love for you to learn more about what those next steps are when you visit us online at insightworld.org. Now the title of today's message is Crowning Christ as Lord of All. And it's message number three in a ten-part study called Jesus Christ, Our All in All. When we started this teaching series, we heard Chuck reinforce his deep convictions about the relevance of this ancient book for our times.

And Chuck added this. He said, It's not my job to make Colossians relevant for our audience. The Bible is relevant.

My job is to present the truth and get out of the way. Well, those convictions are evident in a helpful book Chuck's written for you. And as a complement to this new study, I'm pleased to point you to his Living Insights commentary on Colossians.

This book, which also includes his commentary on Philippians and Philemon, can be purchased right now when you go to insight.org slash offer. Or call us if you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. You often hear me say that Insight for Living is made possible not through the purchase of resources, but the voluntary contributions of our monthly companions and all those who give one-time donations. We're always pleased to add more monthly companions to our team because nothing will accelerate the mission of Insight for Living more effectively than the consistent support of our monthly companions. To join the team, call us if you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888 or sign up online at insight.org slash monthly companion. Or to give a one-time donation today, go online to insight.org slash donate. I'm Dave Spiker, inviting you to join us again Tuesday when Chuck Swindoll continues his brand new study in Paul's letter to the Colossians, right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Crowning Christ as Lord of All, was copyrighted in 2014 and 2022 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.