In this sermon, the speaker begins by describing a journey up a mountain and the importance of perseverance in the Christian faith. He emphasizes the need to prioritize the spiritual over the physical, highlighting the significance of being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. The speaker then references Hebrews 1:3 and Hebrews 8, emphasizing Jesus as the image of God and the purger of sins. He also discusses how Jesus not only dealt with our sins but also separated us from the influence of Satan, offering deliverance from generational bondage and sin.

See you all this evening. A very warm welcome to those of you who have joined us, not only from the Boca but from elsewhere. If you're just a visitor I'm sure that on behalf of Gary and all the others who facilitate this conference you receive a very warm welcome from everyone. Peace on. Now if you have your New Testament with you tonight I'd like you to turn with me into the epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians. I'm going to read in chapter 1 from verse 9 down to the end of the chapter. For this cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you 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 long suffering with joyfulness giving thanks unto the father which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who have delivered us from the power of darkness and 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 or thing all things were created by him and for him for he is before all things and by him all things conscious he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness grow and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him i say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven where i fall and made a minister who now rejoiced in my suffering for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church wherefore i am made a minister according to the dispensation of god which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of god even the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his faith to whom god would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles which is christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in christ whereunto i also labor striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily amen and how i would love to read on and on as they would have originally done when they received this letter from the pen of the apostle via the hands of a messenger from the papacy who were the two postmen who carried this letter along with the epistle to philemon and the epistle to the laodicean church all written at the same time from the same place where paul was a prisoner in rome as far as we know he never visited colossi his main contact there was through the papacy and he was obviously familiar with philemon the master of an estimate and had a real heart earned for the people who lived there and fellowshiped together there in christ he had a great longing in fact he expresses the same longing for the ephesian church and the philippian church it's at the end of verse 10 he says in the context of his prayer increasing in the knowledge of god that was his great concern that they should increase that they should grow that they should develop in their knowledge and understanding of jesus christ and he wasn't talking about intellectual information he was talking about that knowledge that would find incarnation within their own flesh and blood and out working in their daily living that's what the apostle understood by knowledge insight understanding appreciation of the person of god and all that you and i will ever know of god beloved has been revealed to us in the person of jesus christ and it's through jesus christ that you and i will know and understand all that there is to know of god that's why jesus when he came into the world was called the son of god he came to reveal god he came to display god he came to show us what god was really like in terminology that we could understand in a form that could be felt and touched and handled and known glory to his name and of course jesus prayed about he said this is like eternal but you might know him and jesus christ whom he has sent and it's your knowledge and my knowledge of the all jesus christ beloved that gives us the most profound insight into god that any man or any woman can ever know and again going about by the inspiration revelation of the spirit this is why later down in the chapter at the end of verse 18 he says this that he might have the preeminence modern translation of that of course is that he might have the first place that he might have the preeminence that he might have the first place that coincides with the lovely exultation of the lord jesus at the end of the sixth chapter relating to the sermon on the night when he said seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and the kingdom of god beloved is all about god in christ revealed and displayed to ordinary men and women like you and me that in all things he might have the preeminence i love that word because it has wonderful associations for me some of you heard me share it before i had a dear elderly clearly owned friend in liverpool came to our wedding i used to go and visit him he was in the parish where i worked and i was an anglican minister and i used to go and he used to mend my shoes and make me tea bring me up in desperation when his wife who was always collapsing was rushed into hospital he was one of the loveliest people i've ever known his name was mr golly amen mr golly what a lovely name he had a lovely black face and white curly hair always wore a big red rose or formation on a sunday night when he went to church in his frock coat amen had terrible voice couldn't sing but loved singing in fact he was thrown out of church because he wrecked the choir he wouldn't start singing and sometimes he'd have his book upside down not at the page of the hidden that had been announced but the page beloved that happened to fall open and inspire him at that moment in time and he'd open his mouth and he'd sing ruin any singing beloved but he sang from his heart unto the lord and when he joined up i said golly sing sing golly sing golly and he'd sing he'd sing he had one big tooth and a big pink lovely pink tongue and every time he prayed he said and let the lord have the pre-eminence and his tongue would do a sort of dance around this one remaining tooth he said whenever i read this word this this this verse beloved i always remember god he's in heaven tonight glory to his name and that was his one great desire beloved the lord should have the pre-eminence amen is that the desire of your heart and my heart tonight that we might know him that he should have the pre-eminence that's the proof that we know him amen that takes us beyond into the realm where everything becomes real blessed be his name i want him to have pre-eminence beloved as we gather together these days not just in the meetings but in our conversations in our communication one with the other in our living he should have the pre-eminence that he should have the first say is he your waiting thought beloved is he the last thought at the end of the day as you lay your head down on the pillar having cast all your care upon him you don't lay there wrapped with worry and anxiety over this and that and the other you've relinquished it all unto him but you can't handle it do you know it you try just it baffles you again and again it's beyond you but you can pass it all over onto him beloved so that your final thoughts at the end of the day are all focused in him glory to his name i knew another lovely lady she was welsh maybe not african welsh i remember once creeping down in a place called mustang in the south they are in a place where the jeffrey brothers originated from bless god this little lady had sat incarcerated in an oppressive here in church for years years stroke beloved locked in at the end you got in they locked doors and they went straight lines and one night i was there ministering god came and met that woman she was so ecstatic i thought over the view and the end of the meeting but i mean she didn't know what to do with herself and the next morning she rang me up and said please will you come and see me i was disdained i was a visiting preacher and i went to see her and there she was she was crying crying she said i'm not sad i'm not sad she said in fact i'm so happy i don't know what to do with myself she said god is some time later i visited that place again and preached again and again she asked me if i would and she said is there something wrong with me i said what do you mean well she said when i get up all i think about is jesus she said when i'm cooking my hubby's breakfast all i'm thinking about is jesus she said i'll go out to the bread with the bread down to purchase bread and she said all i want to talk to the man about is jesus what's wrong with me i said you're the first right person i've been for a long time glory to god she'd become so preoccupied so obsessed so enveloped beloved in the glory and the wonder of jesus not only what he's done for but what he was and it's because of what who he is beloved that he's able to do what he does life has just become full of jesus he wasn't just an appendage he'd been an appendage for her for years but he sat in that queue and endured sunday by sunday she was a good religious woman not many people like that beloved mary was talking about it you know this is sort of enduing it putting up with it going through with it just gritting your teeth when it should be joy to use the words of peter it should be joy unspeakable and full of the lord that which emancipates you beloved and sets you free blessed be his name that in all things he might have the pre-eminence but he had the pre-eminence in the heart of the apostle he was absolutely obsessed with jesus to read the philippian epistle oh you keep i used to think that the philippian epistle but it was punctuated with the word rejoice an amazing letter it's all about rejoicing and of course he didn't have anything to rejoice about did he he was in jail with hanging over his head but all he could do was rejoice why the explanation beloved is the word that predominates over against rejoicing that was the explanation that he rejoices and that was christ he mentions the name of christ in the philippian epistle 38 times amen and the colossian epistle beloved is very similar he mentions the name christ 27 times there's one little letter he's saying christ christ christ he was obsessed with him if you look down in the third chapter of the colossian epistle this is what it says this gives you the indications i've heard that he he was giving christ the pre-eminence it says there is neither group nor jew circumcision nor uncircumcision barbarian scythian bond or free but christ is all and in all is that wonderful again we've been reminded as we were this morning beloved that all the barriers come down in christ that's neither greek nor jew that's neither gentile nor jew that's neither irish or english or any other person beloved we're all one in christ jesus blessed be his name christ is all and in all he's as much in your pocket beloved as your heart as that famous preacher chinese you could discern the state and condition of a man's spirit by examining his attitude to his pocket he was a realist a dreadful realist of course he had to be i don't know how many years he was in prison watchman dean do you know almost a lifetime friend of mine met his nephew in exeter some years ago and said did your uncle could escape would he he said he would never because he believes that the powers that be are ordained of god even commodus he said yes he does he'll never run away they could let him free but he wouldn't run away because he believed god he believed his word his life wasn't centered in anyone else or anything else but christ glory to his name but there's the proof in the life of a man that something's taken all hold of him beloved that's expelled virtually the effects and influence of anything else no matter how powerful he might seem to be he believed god his trust was in christ christ in all to him amen look at this lovely scripture in chapter 2 verse 10 no in chapter 2 verse 9 for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead body everything that god was was in christ you don't need a few isolated texts beloved in the bible to prove the glorious reality of the triune nature of the godhead from the very beginning god addresses himself as we we will read it in the genesis he keeps referring to himself as we plural not singular hallelujah jesus was all the fullness of the godhead bodily father and holy ghost found their embodiment in him that's why you read in the first chapter the following verse verse 19 it pleads the father in him should all fullness dwell and the miracle it is beloved that all that was in christ by the holy ghost each to come and live in you and me all the fullness of the godhead bodily by the holy ghost desires to come to live in you and me and that's the only way beloved whereby he will get the pre-eminence in our life it's not us reading this scripture and trying to live up to this magnificent standard of life that is set for us page on page upon page not just the sermon on the mount although that is a ten-fourth rate of normal christian living not a state in heaven but a state down here on the earth to be realized and lived in in by the grace of god but the only way that that's possible amen is that all the fullness of the godhead personified in christ by the holy ghost should come to live in you and me now that's the mystery spoken of in verse 27 to whom god would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles which is christ in you the hope of glory all that god is in christ jesus by the holy ghost coming to live in you and me beloved that's the mystery that's the wonder that's the secret amen and he kidneys what the wise and prudent beloved it says in the scripture let's reveal the month of babe unless you're prepared to become a babe beloved you'll never know it because the game beloved is violence to the intellect you can't work it out all that you can do about it is open yourself up to it and believe god to the answer the prayer is possible of his possible that you might increase in the knowledge of god through jesus christ blessed be his name that in all things he might have the preeminent that he might have the first place amen is he first in your life but he's not first beloved worshipping an idol you've allowed something or someone to his place that place of supremacy that belongs to him and him alone you don't have to create an image beloved and bow down before it you're an idolatry that's the one place that god comes in your life and my life and in order to obtain it for that he was prepared to extend the life of his son to deal with everything that would obstruct it and prevent that from being the truth in your life and my life and this first step i want to look at some of the great definitions of this glorious man christ jesus amen and as we contemplate him beloved we'll know what he's done for us here's the first lovely truth i'll stop when our time runs out at a reasonable time amen verse 13 says he has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated it into the kingdom of the son of his love now the word delivered here beloved means rested there are many translations of the word delivered from the original hebrew and greek and this particular one beloved is the word rescued he has rescued us from the power of darkness in other words he's rescued us from the clutches of satan he's delivered us from the prince of the power of the air the spirit that works in the children of disobedience and has translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love he's our great deliverer isn't that wonderful he uses exactly the same word in the second epistle to the clintons in chapter 1 verse 10 where he says he has delivered me he is delivering me and he's going to deliver me is that magnificent past its present and its future nothing static he has delivered me he is delivering me and he will deliver me all the doctrine of salvation beloved takes that position it's not just a static experience praise god for that and it must happen there must come a time when you and i know that god has come in the person of his son and delivered us he set us free glory to his name but we must know the ongoing continuity of that glorious position maintaining us and sustaining us in the reality of it he has delivered me he is delivering me he will deliver me the only proof that he has is that he is and the only proof that he is that he's going to is that he is his present moment he supports it he's delivering me he's delivering you resting you that's why you need never capitulate him there jesus that is delivering you he's pushing you up out of the kingdom of darkness and translating you into the kingdom of the son of his love it's not having once done it but everybody's going on doing it he's forgetting we live in a evil and a perverse generation we need deliverance all the time so many people rather latch on to a past experience and trust in it and that becomes the theme that you usurp beloved the supremacy of jesus they're trusting you know they're trusting in experience something that happened once upon a time you ask them to give their testimony it sounds like a fairy story once upon a time and the tragedy of the often but it doesn't end happily ever after because there's deterioration because the moment you start trusting brother in a past blessing you move subtly from that glorious position where he is having the preeminence it's not what he's done for me but it's not what he promises to do for me it's what he's doing for me now a pleasant relationship with him in the ongoing wonder and glory that he's my rescuer isn't it wonderful to know that you're rescued beloved and he's going to maintain you in that position he's the great deliverer when he presented his credentials for his own public ministry this is the one one of the things that he reiterated he uses a slightly different word what conveys the same lovely truth he's quoting from the prophet isaiah in luke chapter four the spirit of the lord upon me isaiah could say that it was true for isaiah it was true for jesus glory to his name it can be true for you and me the spirit of the lord is upon that's not presumption that's faith believing that it is relevant for you and me as it was for the lord the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind to set the liberty or to deliver the same word them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the lord and he closes the book and gave it to the minister and sat down and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue passed on him and he began to say unto him this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears marvelous beloved this day not yesterday not tomorrow this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears he said i'm here to rescue i'm here to deliver you i'm here to set you free i'm here to take you out of the clutches of satan and translate you into my own kingdom and of course he brought that all to perfection beloved when he mounted the hill of calvary and dealt with the imposter satan bruised the serpent's head fulfilling the first great prophetic metaphoric absence but i've been recorded in genesis chapter 15 verse 15 chapter 3 verse 15 where it says the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent's head and also bring you to perfection of the great doctrine of circumcision when jesus was cut off out of the land of the living you know so often when you hear people ministering in this realm of deliverance they talk about cutting people off from their ancestry cutting them off from their parents cutting them off from their influence and that it's the language of circumcision beloved the doctrine of circumcision was brought to perfection at calvary that was the most magnificent act of circumcision that ever took place in the flesh of a man beloved in the flesh of jesus god cut him off as he hung there beloved is your great substitute and mine not only in dealing with our sin beloved but separating us from the cause of all sin the intrusion of satan into the lives of men and women that held them and bound them fettered them and enslaved them for generations upon generations many people beloved have been enslaved for generations and they live beloved in the slavery of what they've inherited and that's compounded by their own willfulness and sinfulness beloved that's essential in the thing that they were born into he's our great deliverer isn't that wonderful give him the pre-evidence beloved he's triumphed gloriously hey one do you want to be delivered beloved the deliverer is here tonight not in me yes in me but not me that's what i meant to say not me but in me praise god the deliverer is here and he's not confined to me but the good deliverer is here by the purity if you know that you're in bondage if you know that you're still trapped with satan if you know that you're still a victim beloved of the malicious manipulation of a wicked one you can be free that's a part of the great doctrine of salvation glory to his name men and women don't have to go on in bondage but there are people who've endured it suffered it all their lives some people love it they trust it to them they're comfortable with it they don't want to be free they can't bear the thought beloved of placing up to the responsibility being normal men and women they love their sin they love their bondage ah that's why houses said apart from deliverance but it shouldn't be too attractive they'll get settled in you know that's why when they built workhouses in days gone by that they made them those dreadful places on earth it was a sort of the last place of last rewards you didn't want to go to the workhouse to live they'd made them palatial and comfortable beloved people would amen they would have been full of the squatters glory to god god's here to set us free he's our deliverer his glorious jesus in verse 15 it tells us tells us that he's our redeemer in whom we have redemption through his love even the forgiveness of sin he's our redeemer oh glory to his name now when jesus died upon the cross he provided redemption for the whole human race that doesn't mean to say beloved that everyone's saved you can say i'm redeemed without knowing that you're saved what jesus did at calvary brother was total and absolute and sufficient to deal with and pay for the sin of the whole world no one can say that wasn't enough for them redemption peter talks about it doesn't he in his lovely first epistle chapter 1 verse 18 for as much as you know that you will not redeem with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain manner of living doesn't matter how much money you put in the offering beloved or how many offerings or sacrifices you bring let all be to no avail no virtue in anything that man does that's the great emphasis of the apostle paul but also the apostle peter it's not what you do it's not what i do it's what he does and he comes to do for us but what we can't do for ourselves you cannot redeem yourself you cannot deliver yourself you cannot redeem yourself not by silver nor by gold from your vain manner of living received by the tradition of your father but with the precious blood of christens of a land without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world and was manifest in these last times for you now at that point beloved i'd like to go back to the room and look into everyone's eye and say for you brother for you brother for you sister this is the application the personal application of this wonderful provision of redemption peter says it's for you glory to his name and the currency beloved that purchases purchases your redemption is the precious blood of the lord jesus isn't that magnificent it's the only currency beloved that's valid at the throne of grace that's why jesus went there and presented it and when he presented it and the father's thought he said i'm satisfied glory be to god it has all been done in heaven before what we read in the seventeenth chapter of the book of the revelation he was the land slain from the foundation of the world it's all done in heaven brother nothing took god but surprise however he wasn't an afterthought in the economy of god to deal with our sin blessed be his name is lord danny heaven but then for the benefit of you and me beloved it was done down here on the earth at calvary and then it was all reenacted again in heaven and then by the spirit brother it comes down out of heaven again and is applied to your life and my life individually it goes round and round and round isn't it magnificent done in heaven done on earth done in heaven done on earth i love that scripture but it's all settled in heaven you read it in psalm 119 verse 89 it's settled in heaven the word of god is settled in heaven of course it has to get settled in our heart and the word of god settled in heaven brother means that god has made provision for the redemption of the human race and everyone who responds to that and receives beloved knows that they are redeemed and on the basis of the redemption comes into the great salvation those of you who are familiar with the writings of it's the foundational stone it's the foundation stone of all of his theology he keeps saying on the basis of redemption on the ground of redemption it's a phrase beloved you find almost in every page of his writings on the ground of redemption because of redemption he's on safe ground but he knew that it was total he knew whether it was absolute he knew that it was sufficient glory to his name he knew that it was all inclusive and all embracing god didn't want to leave anyone out peter says that doesn't he they may argue about god's integrity he said god is not snack concerning he promises some men counts that much but he's long suffering to us we're not willing that any should tell us that it all should come to repentance glory be to god he's our redeemer turning to the corinthian epistle beloved the first one in chapter six verse 19 what know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you but you have a god and you are not your own for you are bought with a price therefore glorify god in your body and in your spirit which are gods and so important he reiterates it in the seventh chapter verse 23 he says you are bought with a price amen now you know how valuable we are don't god doesn't bargain bless the lord god brought an end to all bargaining doesn't bargain beloved god has paid a price a fair price the price that he paid for you and me was the price of the life of the son of god now you know how valid you are now you know what redemption is really all about beloved doesn't only redeem you from what you were and deal with your sin blessed be his name but it puts a value on your life that is inestimable god has to bring you and me to a place where we realize that we're nothing but if you stop there but it's all descending to despair but rising up under your despair beloved with your eyes fixed on him giving him the preeminence you will see for the first time in your life how vital how essential how precious your life is to him god was prepared beloved to spend the life of his own son in order to redeem you so in order to redeem me that's why you can't mess about with your do what you like with it but you're not sure most people like to think that they're on my life i can do what my life it's my time it's my money it's my clothes my house you want to go out east but if you couldn't get dealt with on that level amen nothing's your own in india or nepal you'll ride in in nepal and you open your box and it's not yours anymore it becomes common property especially if you go and live with the nepalis of course if you live with europeans they're far too respectable to interfere with your belongings amen but you go and live with a group of colleagues i once went to and shared a little room with five nepali lads it was an amazing little room it wasn't much bigger than this area amen and there were two beds about that wide in it there were already five residents and i was six you can use your imagination how six people slept on those two beds but we did you have to know a nepali or an indian how to sleep in that sort of position amen there was one table and there was one chair when i arrived i was my box and what was in my box was beer as much as it was much when we went away into the hills brother we took one little rucksack one toothbrush one change of clothes one towel the beer is going to be 140 kilometers walk up over the mountains because the roads disappeared down the club that's on the hillside during the monsoon lots of people say i'd like to carry your luggage but when they know the implications of it it's amazing how quickly they drop out glory be to god you're not sure oh you've been brought with a price therefore glory by god in your body and in your spirit which i've got and i love the spirit and then in your body he's in your body and then in your spirit he's a realist that's why paul says present your body you know we talk hypothetical nonsense beloved and spiritualized truth right out of existence when we give him preeminence it includes our body amen glorify your god in your body and in your spirit which i've got you're not your own we like to think we are we like to think that little nest egg which we put away for a rainy day is ours brother watch it might disappear very quickly did god put these things on this and you do know it all belongs to god don't you the earth is the lord's and the fullness there are so if you think that you own something brother you better have another thing that nice new car that nice new house that nice new suit that nice little nest egg that you've got so it's so the way for a rainy day that i want to tell you tonight is not yours if you are christ or you're fiddling around with the truth of giving him the preeminence you're saying that that's more important to you than that than him amen that's why there was an equality in the early church beloved that's why they had all things in common these were not theories that they messed around with and theorized about and preached about these were things that they lived because by the coming of the holy ghost have been put a radical transformation in their life but they knew that they were not their own they weren't playing the fool with truth most of us do we speak to one thing but we live another glory be to god he's our redeemer he's our deliverer he's our redeemer he brought you beloved you're precious in his touch you see keep finding that word in the writings of the in reference to jesus it says he's precious he's precious he's precious and he talks about the lifestyle of women he says that's precious you better read the context that spirit of god applied i made reference to that scripture beloved in italy and a woman laid into me like a viper afterwards amen because her dunglums beloved were having preeminence in her life and she wasn't prepared to part with it. You know what dunglums are, don't you? Amazing. No he doesn't Mr. Farnell doesn't know what dunglums are. Amen. The jewelry beloved which was weighing her down to the ground glory be to god and some people really do get upset when you press the claim for the preeminence of jesus you talk about this and talk about that and talk about the other but i do admit jesus i tell you people will sooner or later get very hot under the collar and take great exception beloved for many of the things that relate to him and his claims and the outworking of those claims on their line because they're not prepared for it he's our deliverer he's our redeemer he's the one beloved who's come to conform us to his own image and likeness therefore it says in 2 who is the image of the invisible god the firstborn of every creature you've already read another quote of that beloved that statement in the first chapter of the hebrew epistle where he's described as the image of the invisible god the firstborn of every creature hallelujah here it is hebrews chapter one very wonderful beloved when in verse two it says he has in these last days spoken unto us by most of us put the word in his son well that's true but the word his is not there he has spoken unto us by son and it's when you believe him believe under him believe him beloved to speak unto you by son you will give preeminence to the son your life and my life beloved is to speak as he is like me that's the proof that you believed in the son and that you've adhered to the speaking of the son his son amen verse three who being the brightness of glory and the expressive image of his person of upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high and then you can do a great leap beloved to the eighth chapter of the hebrew epistle where the whole progressive ascent to the pinnacle of revelation beloved comes glory to his name he's the image of god you'll find the same lovely truth in the second epistle to the printings and chapter four verse three but if our gospel be hidden he said to them that are lost in whom the god of this world had blinded the minds of them that believe not less the light of the glorious gospel of christ who is the image of god should shine unto them glory be to god and then you've only got to go back by the preceding chapter and you'll read this now the lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty but we all with open faith beholding the glory of the lord are changed into the same image most of you know but of the word change there means transfigured transformed into the same image into the same likeness blessed be his name from one degree of glory unto another he's the one who's come to conform us to the likeness and image of his son to reproduce the nature of jesus in you and me that's why peter says we'll make partakers of the divine nature and your nature will define the manifestation of the life that emanates from you that's why paul could write declarations and said you receive me as an angel of god even as christ jesus that's why at the end of the first chapter of the epistle of the glacians he said you they glorified god in me but that was the reality jesus was having the preeminence but in his life it wasn't just a theory a wonderful idea in the bible that could trace from text to text to text but it become a reality in his life that is wrought upon him by the power of the holy ghost where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty there is deliverance blessed be his name making a way for for redemption to effect the great work of regeneration brother that will make you a new creation let any man be in christ he is a new creation not a rehash of the old being but a new creation a brand new life we sometimes think i'm a brand new creation i'm a brand new person don't we it's a chorus we sing i'm hopeless at choruses i can't remember a single chorus until someone else starts it because i don't remember the things that i hear i only remember the things that i see i'm a brand new creation another man you've heard me say before i'm not the man that i was born praise god that's wonderful it's wonderful to realize that you're not the victim of your natural inheritance you don't have to go around beloved with the legacy of what your forebears were praise god if you had godly parents but in this realm that does you no good either not really we all have to come to that place where we know him for ourselves westley praised god for godly parents had an influence of his on his life but he could never allow that to become a substitute for jesus and then we get that lovely scripture in romans chapter 8 following the verse that i quoted this morning verse 29 for whom he did foreknow he did predestinate conformed to the image of his son and the words to be beloved that push it over into the future are not in the original isn't that wonderful you see when people beloved have introduced things that are not in the scriptures in the original language they also the emphasis of truth and this is in the king james bible which we all love well many of us do amen forgive us the reason why i use it the reason why i use it because the people who translated it were men who were godly that was the criteria of their of the choice not because they were intellectual there are lots of people who translate modern versions of the bible who are not godly they're not even christian they just have qualifications in in natural learning degrees and then you can't doesn't matter how modern your version is but you still won't understand let the spirit of god come and illuminate it amen that doesn't mean to say that we should be obscure and that's one of the responsibilities of the preacher to explain what things really mean i want to explain to you that tonight beloved that the words to be are not in the original language let me read it again for whom he did for now he also did predestinate don't argue about it but believe it conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren we'll come to the latter part of it before but he has predestinated you and conformed you he's not waiting to do it beloved he's already done it if you believe him that's the proof that you're giving him the pre-evidence beloved you're glorifying him for what he's accomplished to make such a miracle possible in you you are a new creation you are another man you are another woman you've got another nature and therefore the ability beloved to cultivate a new pattern of behavior you don't have to go on living as you formerly lived you don't have to be beloved the victim of your inherited trait i hope you're not trusting in your natural inheritance hope my boys are not beloved they don't corrupt you amen glory be to god we've been made heirs of god and joint heirs with jesus christ that should keep you busy for thinking about it for many many hours heirs of god and joint heirs with jesus christ wonder of wonders but is that the way in which you and i are giving him the pre-eminence tonight we believe that he has the ability to take up you take up me and all that we were and all that we done and work such a miracle of grace beloved that we're a new creation we're another person literally and then you're going to take it on from one degree of glory unto another that's how jesus it says jesus was perfected by the things that he suffered now how is perfection perfected by going on the moment you stop beloved make it an experience and cling to it and start polishing your own halo and keep working out how good you are it's going on it's ballooning in the perfecting ability of god to take you on from glory glory we've been changed in the same image from glory unto glory you need all the time beloved you'll need all of eternity to explore the possibilities of what it means to be conformed to the likeness and image of jesus christ blessed be his name now listen to this and this coincides with a lot of what gary was saying at the introduction when he was reveling in the fiery heavens above all right i'm poetic artistic i was born in the country where you can really appreciate the stars live in a place like liverpool you don't even know that they exist you go to cutland do these days love and you can scarcely believe there are any mountains anymore because they're all obliterated by the smog and the pollution all these things have been blotted out of the the glories of the creation listen to this 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 for and he was before all things and by him all things go on existing the great eternal god but this was christ he was before all things he created all things and he maintains all things in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god the same as in the beginning with god all things were made by him without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in the darkness and the darkness overcame and not glory to his name read that on the moon beloved not there was any great deal about that amen but it was a declaration to the whole world for every almost everyone heard it was a man beloved who from earth to moon and believed it is the number of men beloved who've been involved in those great scientific feats who've come to the realization that god and god alone beloved is the creator of all things he was before all things by him all things were made amen and by him and for him all things go on existing glory to his name beloved you've got to be a fool not to believe in god that's what the psalmist said a fool has said in his heart there is no god great arguments of the apostle bull and writings of the romans his first argument was look at the creation and if you don't respond to that nature of revelation then you're without excuse the whole creation speaks there's an artist i know that an artist only conveys and communicates what he is within he reproduces that's why you how you don't have a clever beloved discern the stated tradition of many modern artists they can convert they convey their confusion they convey beloved the squalid despair of their love i went to a john moore exhibition art exhibition in liverpool some years ago though and there was a mammoth canvas all the size of this here it was one great your castle now i don't know how much paint he'd used colossal amount of paint and then he must have put his fingers in it has gone like that and it was called a bomb site in liverpool eight and he got the first prize beloved 500 pounds in those days and that's a long time ago i said i could have done it blindfolded it's called art madness beloved and all that gets in the expression of the madness of the heart beloved devoid of god i'm an artist i know until god took art out of my life beloved because it challenged the place of the preeminence of christ and i've never lifted a brush to a palette a brush to a paper or canvas from the day that he spoke to me florence in his name i wouldn't dare but unless he gave me permission there's nothing wrong with being an artist but i tell your art or your music or whatever it is beloved come to competitor with the supremacy of christ in your life you're an idolater no matter how good the thing is and often it's the good beloved that challenges the place of the best the greatest competitor and the most subtle one at that oh man look at the creation beloved it's magnificent especially at this time of year when it's all becoming mellow seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness close to them friend of the maturing sun confiding with him how to load and the bless the tachys the vines which ran the tachys run hallelujah you know that don't you that's where i get stuck i didn't remember anymore but i love the first part of it wonderful isn't everything featured with god it's all soft and warm any of you read any of lilius trotter's books well they're not so much for reading they're the books for looking at their picture she was a remarkable artist she laid it all down but i would have done a pioneer missionary amongst the muslims in morocco she was a friend of the socialist reformer artist john ruskin who lived in the late district he wanted her he took her to florence beloved he saw the potential in this woman her ability to paint and draw beloved she could have been one of the most outstanding artists in her day she wrestled and god won she laid it all down glory be to his name but then she produced a number of books all are based upon that lovely scripture except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die the fibrous alone but if it dies it will bring forth much fruit and they're all symbols pictures taken from nature they are magnificent i wrote the mission beloved to find out if we could reproduce the books because they'd been years and years out of the print they're called the parables of cross the parables of the cloud amen and the tragedy is all the original plates plates have been destroyed and to reproduce them would cost far too much for the limited circulation that such a book would have but she was a woman who saw the tremendous potential in the creation and she wasn't uh anxious but she didn't worship the creation that's hinduism refined and called new age you do know that the new age movement movement is only a rehash of classical hinduism that seduces men and women in the most subtle forms amen and even christians got it fall into the trap of it wearing things around their neck around their arms little tags on the back of their lots of children beloved i see christian children with these little knobs of hair sticking at the back they had a little knob of hair that dead line straight line hinduism beloved the hindu believes that if he leaves a little bit a bit of hair there the gods will catch him up and bring him to heaven read read the book what is it the life of them amen it's subtle beloved it seeps in these bands that young people wear around their arms beloved they are hindu saffron things we could put on beloved hindus especially brahmans and have tremendous characteristics we think of them beloved as decorations that's why many professed christians in india beloved the women wear these tikka marks they say oh it's just it's just adornment it's just uh like in the west women wear lipstick or false eyebrows or false fingernails this is just an adornment it's not an adornment beloved i'll tell you when the prince of wales went to india and allowed them to put a tikka mark on him but he went wrong never been right since up until that time there was every indication he was seeking hard after the lord mainly through the influence of his grandmother the queen mother who was a godly woman whose heart must be broken and i believe it all coincided when he paid a royal visit to india and allowed himself to become involved with hinduism loving he ended up wearing his great tikka mark on his head and never been right since you don't know what they let them himself in for beloved lots of foreigners go out to india but they go to the temples again and you want to see them you know that there's a ward in cutland do beloved set aside for tourists many of them elderly american tourists who've just gone overboard because they can't cope with it they think that they're doing antiques they're not beloved they're dabbling in the realm of the occult without knowing it and down they go they have to end up by paying five first-class tickets to get back to america so they have a doctor a nurse and three seats for themselves to get back home the only people can handle them above christians the medics have given up on them you can't be saved by worshiping the creation you should admire beloved and recognize that behind it there's a god who created it and that god has revealed himself in the person of his time without him was not anything made that was made in him was lost and the life was the light of men and the light has shined in the darkest praise god as he shined in the darkness of your life and opened your eyes and caused you to see praise god for the creation that you have to go beyond the creator and worship him and give him the pre-eminence amen he was before all things by him beloved all things exist and go on existing worship him love him with all your heart you're the subject of his creative endeavour amen isn't that wonderful heaven above is bright blue earth around us sweeter green something lives in every hue christless eyes have never seen birds with gladder songs or flower flowers with deeper beauty shines since i know as now i know i am his and he is mine amen god open your eyes love you see things that you never saw before hallelujah look at this lovely truth down in verse 20 and having made peace with the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him i say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven in you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by which it works yet now has he reconciled in the body of his authority his name he's our great reconciler turn into the ephesian epistle chapter 2 where paul takes up this same lovely truth in ephesians chapter 2 and verse 13 which opens but now that's the word beloved that complicates complements the phrase at the beginning of verse 4 but god but god but now isn't it wonderful present again but now in christ jesus you who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of christ for he is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of praying one new man so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto god in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you that were afar off and to them that were nigh both the jew and greek beloved breaking down the great middle wall of addition between man and man and between god and man amen he's our great reconciler turn to 2 corinthians chapter 5 again sorry if i'm wearing you out by turning over the pages you should wear your bible out beloved instead of resting at rust and rock amen it's worth buying a new bible every year as long as the war the old one out therefore if any man be in christ jesus he is a new creation old things are passed away behold all things are become new and all things are of god who hath reconciled us to himself by jesus christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation really reconciliation to wit that god was in christ rest reconciling the world unto himself not intuiting their trespasses unto them and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for christ as though god did but teach you by us we pray you in he reconciled to god amen reconciled he's our great reconciler he is our peace he's broken down every wall amen in all things you can have the preeminence he's your reconciler and the proof beloved that he's reconciled you to god is that you'll find yourself reconciled to every other one amen isn't that wonderful reconciled to every other person who has been reconciled to god once hallelujah breaks down all the divisions all the barriers all the cultures we saw this morning brother we have wonderful individuality uniqueness tremendous diversity within the body of christ but we're all one because of the great reconciliation are you reconciled to god are you reconciled beloved reverie brother and sister you overcome all the barriers that naturally divide men and women and separate them and have an ability to identify and be at one glory to his name our time is gone i'd missed out one thing i wanted to say but i want to conclude in verse 22 reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblame unblameable and unreprovable in his sight compounds it with superlative upon superlative holy unblameable unreprovable amen come to sanctify that's the word beloved that defines that position holy come to the word sanctify come to make us holy amen unblameable did you know that you live a blameless life if you live a blameless life beloved there will come a day when he will present you faultless you can't live a faultless life on the earth but you can live a blameless life that's the great there are two great words in the new testament that will help you to stand the doctrine of christian perfection you'll be faultless when he presents you in his presence you'll read it in the epistle of jude that lovely little letter that precedes the book of revelation in verse 24 unto him that is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before his presence the presence of his look with exceeding joy wonderful that's the day when you will stand before him and see him face to face and discover what he's really like until your amazement discover and find out that you're just like him amen but you can only anticipate that lovely if you live a holy blameless holy blameless unreprovable life now step by step to live a blameless life means to stop beloved to the hilt of the revelation that god has given to you by the holy ghost to believe beloved that you can be sanctified holy and if you don't believe that you can it tells you in the word that you can in the first second epistles of the pestilonians and this is where i will stop in verse 23 the very god of peace sanctify you holy and if you have qualms about what that means it says i pray that your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our lord jesus christ faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it beloved he has the pre-evidence it's not what you do it's what i do but what he said he will do if you will believe him they said how shall we work the works of god he said believe on me and then i guess they felt like trumpeting him when he said that they wanted to know what they've got to do he said believe on me believe in me believe what i've done believe the provision that i've made believe that i go on doing it i will do it indeed holy the very god of peace sanctify you holy the french have a terrible problem with this word they haven't got it in the french which i had my interpreter standing on their head trying to find a word when jesus said to the man at the pool of bethesda he said do you want to be made whole he didn't say do you want to be healed do you want to be delivered he said do you want to be god is concerned about the whole person spirit soul and both there is no word in french that does justice to the concept oh aren't we lucky beloved to have a language that has such a vast vocabulary that really substantiates what the original says the whole person the complete person this is why we wrote a chapter of this lovely colossian epistle he's all the books are complete whole amen you are complete in him who is the head of all principality lots of people feel half faithful of an incomplete paul says you couldn't be complete in him if you will give him the preeminent he will sanctify you holy spirit soul and body faithful is he that calleth you true or so will do it he's our deliverer he's our redeemer he's the one who's come to conform us to his own likeness and image he's the head of the church he's the creator of all things before after amen he's our reconciler and he's our great sanctifier and what he promises us he will has he rescued you has he redeemed you has he conformed you and is he conforming you to his likeness and image has he opened your eyes beloved to realize that he's the creator of all things the eternal one who was before and will be after he's the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end he's our reconciler broken down every barrier every tradition amen and made us one in him and one with each other to sanctify us but the great promise beloved that in that great day he will present us heartless faultless outspot or blemish or any such thing where the perfection of all that he is amen will find it's out working glory to his name let's go