The Supremacy Of Christ | Pt 1

Guest (Male): Today, on the Dwelling Place.
Al Pittman: We've all fallen short of the glory of God. And therefore, redemption, this redemption Paul is talking about here, that we've been delivered through the redemption of his blood, is essential for the eradication of the debt that we owe through our willful disobedience and rebellion against God. And how are we redeemed? Well, the blood was the remedy.
Guest (Female): Dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place. You are my dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place.
Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this ministry financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That's alpittmanministries.com. Your donations keep this radio ministry going. Thank you for partnering with us. Now, here's Pastor Al.
Al Pittman: Colossians chapter 1, if you have your Bible, we're going through Colossians, the book of Colossians. We're in chapter 1, and last week we finished left off at verse 12 and and now we're going to pick it up from verses 13 to 20. This is part one of a message I've entitled the supremacy of Christ. And I know a lot of this you're going to hear today is just, you know, stuff you've already heard before, but it's good to be reminded of who Jesus Christ is. It puts our giants in perspective. Amen? That we serve a mighty God. Sometimes, you know, our problem is not the problem that we're facing, but really how big is your God? How big is he? And it's good to be reminded as Paul the apostle gives the church in Colossae a refresher course on the preeminence, the superior the supremacy or the greatness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So, I pray that God will bless you today. We saw last week after the Paul talked about the motivation and the manifestation of the high life for or the abundant life in Christ. Now, he turns their attention toward the object of our affection, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. People often wonder who Jesus was and or who he is. And every year, you know, around especially around Easter, they talk about who Jesus was and all of this and all sorts of speculation. But Paul leaves no doubt here within our text that Jesus indeed was not only Savior, but he was also God. Amen? Supreme over all. And I think this message for us as believers, it challenges me. I don't know about you, but it would challenge challenges me in relationship to who my God, who our God truly is. It gives us also the reason for our rest in the Lord. You know, you can rest in the Lord this morning. Amen? You can rest in him. Why? Well, Paul is going to tell us why. Because of who Jesus Christ is. We can rest in him and have confidence in him. I don't know about you, but there's things that I'm facing even in my own life right now. The Lord, I've got to have confidence that you're going to come through, but he hasn't failed me yet. Amen? And he didn't bring me this far to leave me. Amen. And so we it this it it really encourages my heart as I consider the supremacy of our Lord and Savior. And I pray that it would encourage your heart as well this this morning. There are seven aspects of Christ's supremacy that we find here that Paul gives us and today we're only going to look at four. This is part one of a two-part message. We'll finish it up, Lord willing, next week. But I want to go over those four with you. And again, it's things that maybe you've heard before, but it's they're great reminders for us as we consider the greatness of our God. The first one that Paul gives us here is he reminds the church in Colossae that Jesus Christ delivered us. He has delivered us. Verse 13 says he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom, verse 14, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Amen. There's a whole there's a lot of great theology just right there. But he has delivered us. That we're delivered literally means he has rescued us from danger. From what danger? Of spending eternity separated from God and hell. Amen? I know people say today and even some churches say, oh, hell is not real. But Jesus talked about it. It is real. It's a real place. That those people are going to be sent who have rejected Jesus Christ, God's son, the son of his love. And they're going to spend eternity separated from God. But God so loved the world that he sent his son so that he might deliver us from danger of being separated from him for all eternity in a place of torment. We are in danger of spending eternity there because we were unable to save ourselves. We could not save ourselves. And thus we labored as many are doing even today. And maybe some in this congregation who do not know Jesus Christ. I pray or you're watching online, I pray that you will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ today. But because before we come to him, the Bible tells us that we were like dead people. You know, we're like the living dead, if you will. And uh we're living, but we were dead, separated from God. And we labored hopelessly under the power, under the authority of darkness that is burdened by guilt and condemnation and shame under the penalty of sin. Under the penalty of sin. The Bible tells us here that Jesus indeed has delivered us from that power, that power of darkness. That word darkness literally means shadiness or obscurity, state of being unknown, separated from God, not known by God and not knowing God. But then Ephesians 2:4 says, but God. I love that. But God. Well, that changed everything for me. Changed everything for all of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ. But God who is rich in mercy. Aren't you glad for his mercy this morning? Hey, remember it's a reminder, but his mercies are new every morning. Amen. Great is his faithfulness. Thank God for his mercy. Blessed are those who hope in his mercy, the Bible tells us. God in his mercy made the difference. He conveyed us. He transferred us. Carried us away. That's what it means. He carried us away to the kingdom of the son of his love. One commentator, theologian, translates that phrase son of his love as the blessed object of the father's love, the supremely beloved one. Did you know you're in the kingdom of his love? Amen? He's not going to harm you in the kingdom of the son of his love. And the same privileges and all, the same love the father has for his only begotten son, he has for all adopted sons and daughters in Jesus Christ. The same love. We're in a new kingdom. Your citizenship is not the United States of America, it is in heaven, the Bible says. We are citizens of glory. And you know, you need sometimes we need to pull the passport out every now and then. Amen. Here's the passport. And remember who you are. Amen. And where you're going, where you're from, where and where you're headed. That you're of the kingdom of the son of his love. And having been transferred to the kingdom of the son of his love, we are no longer obligated to live under the dominion of the kingdom of darkness. That comes as a news flash to a lot of believers that we are not committed. Before I came to Jesus Christ, I had no choice. I lived in the kingdom of darkness and I lived there constantly and faithfully. Amen. And that's all I knew. You know, I mean, you know, you look around and you know, for some of us that's what your daddy did, that's what your granddaddy did. That's what I'm going to do, you know. And we didn't know anything. We didn't have a choice. But when we came to Jesus Christ, here's the deal. You actually have a choice now to walk in the kingdom of the son of his love. The Bible tells us this and reminds us in Romans chapter 8 verse 12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors. We are debtors, obligated not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die separated from God according to our own flesh. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. As we walk in the spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body. Why? Because now we have a choice because we're in the kingdom of the son of his love. Our citizenship has been transferred, has been changed. We're in another kingdom. We no longer have to walk obligated to our flesh. Our body tells us to do something. Well, I guess I got to do it. Amen. We're no longer slaves that and have you ever noticed and it's true, I mean, Bible tells us it's true, but when you're obeying the word of God, how the flesh has no control over you. But if you, you know, obey the flesh, you know how you you are struggling many times. But as we walk in the spirit, we put to death the deeds of the flesh. We have to walk in the spirit. And that is in obedience to the word of God. Romans chapter 6 verses 12 to to 18. You can go back and read it, not during my message. Amen. I worked hard on this. Amen. No, I'm kidding. But in Romans chapter 6 it tells us that that to whomever you give yourself to, your members to, to serve, that you will serve. If you give yourself to sin, you're going to serve sin. And you give yourself to righteousness, you'll serve righteousness. Again, it just confirms what Paul says in in in Romans 8 verses 12 and 13 that if you live according to the spirit, then you put to death the deeds of the flesh. How do we do that? Submit to God, James said. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Amen. Amen. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Submit to God. Three steps. Resist the devil and he will flee. The devil is afraid of you. He's scared of you. Amen. He's scared of you. That you would submit a life submitted to God he will flee from. And so if we become slaves of righteousness recognizing that I no longer am in the kingdom of darkness, but I live in the kingdom of the son of his love and I start living according to my new citizenship. Amen. The devil has no dominion over me. Darkness has no dominion over me. Didn't say there wouldn't be times that you may struggle, but it has no dominion. Stop believing the lie that I guess I just have to give up. No, you don't. In Jesus you have a choice to walk in righteousness, to submit your members. Yes, all your sexual your sexual organs too. Amen. When it says all your members there in Romans chapter 6 is is including that too. It's not your thing. You can't do what you want to do. Amen. Amen. That's an old song. I was going to go further with that, but I better stop right there. And so everything belongs to God because you've been bought at a price. You're not your own. That's what he says. Know you not that your body is the temple of the Lord? We belong to the Lord. We start thinking it's it's ours. And that I I just can't help it. You know, I mess with that's what the world tells you. I mean, the world says well, you just give on in because, you know, you can't help it. But the Bible says because of our new citizenship in Jesus that we have a choice. We can choose to walk in righteousness, to be a slave of righteousness. And the more you are a slave of righteousness, the less of of the flesh the flesh will be able to control you. Amen? Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Amen. He has delivered us so that we can walk in deliverance. That we can walk in deliverance. And how has he conveyed us to this kingdom of the son of his love? By redeeming us, verse 14 says he has redeemed us. He has we have redemption through his blood. The Greek word for redemption literally means to release a prisoner by the payment of a ransom. We were held hostage. We were imprisoned by sin and Jesus has redeemed us. The Bible says for the wages of sin is death. Many of us know that. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 6:23. I was reading an article the other day or actually I saw the headline. I I didn't read the whole article. I got to be honest with you. But I saw the headline that really attracted but uh it got my attention. It was from in Christianity Today. And uh it said this and I quote, two-thirds of Americans admit they are sinners, close quote. I thought spoiler alert, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Amen? We all have sin. Two-thirds are willing to admit it. That's that's great. But we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In fact, the Bible says there is none righteous. No, not one. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. And therefore, redemption, this redemption Paul is talking about here, that we've been delivered through the redemption of his blood, is essential for the eradication of the debt that we owe through our willful disobedience and rebellion against God. And how are we redeemed? Well, the blood was the remedy. The blood was the remedy. I I think in American culture we preach the message of Christ and the blood and we don't really understand it. With a Jewish a Hebrew a Jewish background background in Judaism, you understand how important the blood was. God set up this institution of sacrifice of animals in the Old Testament. We go, why would he kill the little lambs and stuff to show you how severe sin is and to temporarily appease uh our sins or the sins of Israel back in the day in the Old Testament. But it was never meant to take away the sins completely because it never could. The blood of lambs and the bulls and of goats and all that could never take away eradicate our sins. The Bible tells us that God was speaking to us even in the Old Testament and reminding us as it says in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22 that without the shedding of blood, this is why he died on the cross. There is no remission. That word means forgiveness of sins. And the word translated the Greek word for forgiveness means to send away or to cancel a debt. Our debt was canceled, not by just any blood, not by just, you know, so Jesus thought, oh, I love these people so much. I'm just going to go to the cross and he shed his blood. Oh, wasn't that wonderful Jesus? No, it wasn't just any blood. It was divine, sinless, proven blood of Jesus Christ. Sinless, proven blood, perfected blood, the Bible calls it. In Hebrews chapter 7 verse 8, Hebrews 7 verse 8 says that Jesus was perfected for us forever that our sins might be forgiven for how long? Forever. Now, we forget that sometimes as believers that, you know, the the atoning of uh of the redemption by his blood that Jesus had to be perfected. And when I read that in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 8 I thought, what is Jesus being perfected for? Isn't he already perfect? Well, get out of your mind the notion that he walked on this earth 2 in off the ground and didn't struggle and go through hunger and different things and temptations just like you. But the Bible says he was tempted and yet without sin. Why did he have to go through that? To be perfected that his blood that he shed on the cross was completely pure cuz he was tempted like us and yet without sin. Amen? And he was perfected for on our behalf fulfilling all righteousness that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Amen. Oh, I'm talking to somebody. Amen. That's what he has done for us. So, don't don't don't just read over that. Oh, yeah, okay, we have redemption through his blood. He went through hell.
Guest (Male): Yes.
Al Pittman: Tempted by the devil and stuff. And yet because of his love for you did not lower his standard, never sinned. And he was perfected on our behalf. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for the reminder. It was sinless blood that was shed on Calvary. It wasn't Buddha's blood cuz it would his blood wasn't perfected. It wasn't Muhammad's blood. His blood wasn't perfected. Or any other guru you may think about so-called Messiah, their blood is not perfected. Jesus was the only one who could come back from the dead because his blood was the only blood that was acceptable in the sight of the father. And all the rest of me so, well, how you know, Buddha, Muhammad, their blood wasn't perfected cuz they didn't come back. They ain't here. They didn't come back from the dead. Jesus rose from the dead. Amen? Because his blood was accepted. Thank God by his blood we've been conveyed, transferred from death to everlasting life. Paul reminds the church in Colossae, listen, the the that motivation, the hope that you have in Christ and the manifestation of a life of that's being lived through him, an abundant life, is because of who he is. He's our deliverer. And not only that, he is the very image of God, verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. The image of God, the Greek word for image is icon. A likeness represents a likeness, a representation, resemblance. It's where we get our word icon. Jesus is the icon if you will of God, the very expressed image of God. I want to give you some verses here. You can write them down and uh go back and check them out later. Or uh but I want to just share with you why. You know, a lot of people say, well, Jesus Christ, you know, wasn't really God. Yes, he was. He declared himself God. And the word declares that he's God. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 says that he's a very expressed image of God. We'll talk about the fullness of what that means, the fullness of God in a message next week. In John chapter 1 verse 14 it says that the word that was in the beginning, the word was with with God, the word was God. John John chapter 1 verse 14 said the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Amen. God himself. And Jesus said also to his disciples, if you've seen me, you've seen God. You've seen the father. John chapter 14 verse 9. Amen. He is the manifestation of the invisible God. No one has seen God but Jesus. John chapter 1 verse 18. Amen. The son is the only one who has seen the father. He knows what the father is like. He's a very expressed image of God. And he came to earth in flesh, God in flesh, the God-man Jesus Christ, that God might be personal to us and that God might be touchable. Amen? I love that. They were able to touch him. You want to know what God is like? Look at his son. Jesus, the very expressed image of God on earth, the image of God, Paul reminds him. You need to look some place else in some book or whatever, look to Christ. Look to him. I love the fact that God is personal, that he is touchable. Say, well, I've never touched him. But we touch him cuz he touched us. Oh, the song he touched me. Oh, he touched me. Know the joy that floods my soul. Something happened and now I know he touched me and he made me whole. Something happened to me 40 some odd years ago. Amen? And I've never been the same since and it wasn't I joined the church. It wasn't because I got religious. But Jesus touched me. And that blows my mind that he came to earth that we might touch God, but that God tore the veil from the top to the bottom in the temple when he was hanging on the cross, when Christ was hanging on the cross. Speaks to my heart that God wants to touch you. Why would God want to touch the likes of me? Shows us the love of God. He wants to touch you today. You're watching online, you're upstairs and you're overflowing in this auditorium, you don't know Christ. Pastor, you don't know what I've done. That's he know, he knows. Amen? He knows. And despite what he knows, he's willing to touch you if you will open your heart to him today. He's a very expressed image of God that we might touch God, that we may know God personally. Now, some people say and, you know, it's it's it's it's well known that it it's also promoted by the Jehovah Witnesses. I'm not trying to beat up on them. Just it's a fact that what they're teaching is is incorrect and that they take verse 15 and a lot of part and say, well, Jesus was the first born after creation. And that's not the correct reading of the text. You go back to the original Greek, the word firstborn is the word it means first in time, place, order, or importance. If Christ was the first created, the Greek word would be different. It would be a Greek word and it means the act or the product. Well, what's the difference? Well, Jesus was not the product of creation. He wasn't a product. He was the producer of all creation. Amen? He wasn't a product of it, but the producer. Amen. He proceeded the whole creation and he is sovereign over all creation. God revealed in the flesh which leads us right into our third aspect, the third aspect of his supremacy. He is not only our deliverer, he's not only the image of God, he is creator. Verse 16 for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on that are on earth, visible and there's in in uh invisible for the thrones or dominions and principalities or powers. Every demonic power he is sovereign over that and the creator of it, not the demonic activity, but creator of the even the fallen angels. All things were created through him and for him. Amen? And you think, well, what's my purpose in the world? You were created for God to have fellowship with God, not, you know, to you know, win the applause of people or to be, you know, promote yourself. But as a believer, as a disciple, follower of Christ, I was created that I might know God. And that is when I'm my most alive when I'm in fellowship with God. That's when life makes sense. That's when life has meaning when I'm one with God. And that can only happen through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen? But he is creator, creator. Now, listen, this is important that Paul describes to Jesus Christ the title of creator because only God can create. There again, for those who say that he never said he was God, he calls him creator. Only God can create. The devil can't create anything. He only imitates. He imitates joy. He imitates peace. He imitates power. He imitates life. And the things you're living for is not real at all. Amen? Cuz none of those things that the devil imitates or produces has any eternal value.
Guest (Female): Dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place. You are my dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place.
Guest (Male): Learn more about Pastor Al and his ministry by visiting alpittmanministries.com. Also consider supporting us financially. You can send a check to Al Pittman Ministries at PO Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80949. Or visit us online. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Your generosity keeps this radio ministry going. Lastly, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing [email protected]. That's [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time on the Dwelling Place. God bless.