The Centrality of Christ in Creation

Please turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one, and we are coming to this second message in our series, the centrality of Jesus Christ, the centrality of Christ. We already began last week looking at the centrality of Christ in eternity past. We'll finish this entire series by looking at the centrality of Christ in eternity future. But in between these two points, we're looking at various things. You see most people and most Christians concentrate on the centrality of Christ at the cross, and that's good that they do. Thank God that they do, that they make much of the cross, that they emphasize the work of Christ on the cross. Others take a broader view and look at the 33 years of the life of Christ on the earth. Others go back further and look at Christ the creator. But last week we went back further to look at the eternity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that in eternity past, that he was there ordained of the father. There was nothing done in eternity past that wasn't through him. So we've looked at Christ, the centrality of Christ in eternity past. Here this morning, I want to deal with the centrality of Christ in creation, not just at the cross, not just in his lifetime, not just in his birth, not the cross and the crib, but as the creator of all things. Reading from Colossians chapter 1 and verse 9 here this morning, for this cause we also, since the day that we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto the patience and the long-suffering with joyfulness, given thanks unto the father, which has made us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Listen here as I read this, 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, by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence, praise God. For it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell, 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, that you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you wholly and unblameable and unprovable in his sight. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, will you show us the centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things, that you don't answer any prayers apart from in him, nor God, that we can't approach you unless it's in him, that you have done nothing throughout time and eternity unless it was in him. You placed in him the covenant, the promises, the provisions, the blessings. There's not one thing that we could desire from you that we don't find in Christ. We find joy in him. We find peace in him. We find forgiveness in him. We find mercy in him. We find grace in him. Lord God, we find all the blessings of God in him. If we find the son that we have all the blessings, all the blessings, all the promises are amen in Christ Jesus. Lord God, you choose us in him. You predestinated us in him. You forgave us in him. Lord God, you desired us and knew us in him. Lord God, thank you, oh God, that from all eternity, Lord God, you only looked upon us in love because of the Lord Jesus Christ. You could never have loved us outside of him. You could never have drawn us. You could never have had us, but Lord God, because Christ became the Christ of Calvary, the Christ of the crib, the Christ of creation, the Christ of the covenant, Lord God, you have raised him up to be all things unto us. Lord God, save us, sanctify us, set us on fire, fill us with your Holy Spirit. My God, I pray that we become a Christ-centered church, Christ-centered Christians. Lord God, that this preacher would be a Christ-centered preacher. Lord God, not obscuring Christ, but making him real, revealing him, preaching him, making him known, showing that it's not religion, it's not tradition, it's not churchianity, it's not morality, oh God, but it's the bleeding lamb. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord God, give us a victory in this meeting, and Lord God, everyone who listens to this message today, Lord God, make them to overcome by the blood of the lamb. Show them their sin, draw them to Christ, make Christ mighty to save them, oh God. And Lord God, not only is the Christ of Calvary, but of all of creation, we bow the knee. Nothing was made that wasn't made by him and for him and through him. We love you, Lord Jesus. You are amazing. We love you. We are in awe of you. We are stunned by you. We are astonished by you. We stand in awe of you, Lord Jesus, for all that you've done, for all that you are, for who you are this morning. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen. My message, the second part of our series, the centrality of Christ in creation. I had an old friend many years ago, and he's gone to be with the Lord now, David Greenough. He preached a message once, and he told me many other times about the three greatest miracles that we read of in the Bible. Creation, the incarnation, and the new creation. Well, I'm going to tell you about a great miracle and a great miracle worker here this morning. If he hasn't created all things, he sure cannot heal your sicknesses, I want to tell you. But we are preaching in this series, the centrality of Christ in creation. We've looked at his centrality before creation, before there was anything physically made. In eternity past, he was set up as being central between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But we're moving a stage now to the beginning of things. There was a beginning of time, a beginning of creation, a beginning of that which is visible, or physical, or natural. I've got several points for you here this morning. Listen, my first point, as we come to look at Colossians chapter 1, Christ preeminent. Christ preeminent, what a statement. It says in verse 18, and he, that is Jesus, is the head of the church. Notice he is writing to the church at Colossae. He is speaking to an actual church, and he is saying Christ is the head, you the church, or the body. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the local church. Listen to what he says, who is the beginning. So this one who is the head of this church. I'm not the head of this church. No preacher is the head of the church. Jesus Christ is the head. He is the authority of the local church. He is in control of the local church. He is the mind of the local church. That's who the Lord Jesus is, but he is also the beginning. In other words, when you begin to deal with Christ, he takes you right back to the beginning. He is the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So look at this Christ who is the head of the church. He was the beginning of all things. He is the firstborn from the dead, but he, that he might be in all things, might have the preeminence. Notice the place that Christ is given. First of all, in Colossians chapter 1, the place of preeminence over all things. This word in the Greek preeminence means the first place, the foremost place, the place that is unequaled, a position that is unrivaled. Jesus Christ, the head of the church actually has a position that is utterly unrivaled. No religion can rival it. No church leader can rival it. No teaching can rival it. No dogma, no theory, no ideology. He has a place of utter unequal. He's not in competition with the devil. He is not fighting against all manners of religions. He has an unequal position in the body of Christ. He is in charge of all things. He is in control of all things. He is supreme over all things. Look what's written, being written to the Colossians here, that Christ might have the preeminence in all things. Do you know what the Bible teaches in our New Testament? That Christ is to have the preeminence in your life in this room. Can I ask you here this morning, is Christ preeminent in your life? Is he first? If he's not first, then he doesn't really have a place. You can't put him in second place. He's not going to compete with all of your loves, all of your ambitions, and all of your desires. Either Christ is first or he's nothing in your life. Either you give him the place of utter preeminence. You see, if you don't make him first, you don't know who he is. You don't know who he is. You've got no concept of who this Christ is if you do not make him preeminent. Colossians chapter 1 is about Christ being preeminent, having the first place, the central place, the foundation. He is the head. He is everything. He is the Christ of Calvary, the Christ of eternity. He is the Christ of creation. He's the Christ of individual Christians. He is the Christ of your salvation. He'll forgive you. He'll save you. He'll change you. He'll radically move in your life. He is Christ preeminent. I ask you again, is Christ preeminent in your personal life? Is he really preeminent in this church? Not the theology about him, not a structure in around him. Is the person of Christ preeminent? I ask those who preach here, is Christ really preeminent in our preaching? As a young preacher, I'd preach and go to bed at night, and I'd go, oh, did I preach the cross? Did I preach Christ? I couldn't sleep at night. I'd wake up in the middle of the night going, oh, God, did I really preach your son? Did I really reveal him? Oh, for years, years, you may say you shouldn't have went through that. Oh, yes, I should, because we live in a generation of Christless preachers, Christless churches of worship teams that don't even point to the Christ anymore. It's about their style. It's about their song. It's about the atmosphere of the church. It's about the ministry or the eloquence. What about the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he first in the church? Is he first in the preacher? You can criticize me about a thousand things. Feel free. Please, I invite you. But if you tell me that I don't preach Christ, that I don't emphasize him, I'm a broken-hearted preacher, that would devastate me if I'm not a Christ-centered preacher. That isn't my ambition and my desire. This first point that Paul reveals in this chapter, Christ is preeminent. He must be preeminent. He ought to be preeminent. He is preeminent from God's perspective. But is he preeminent in you? Here in this church in Colossae, the church in Colossae that he's writing to here, this short letter, was a hundred miles inland in Asia Minor, or Turkey today, 100 miles inland from the city of Ephesus. Ephesus, the church at Ephesus, began out of Paul's second missionary journey. When revival came to Ephesus, Colossae was later affected as a result of that revival. Colossae is actually found in a small valley called the Valley of Lycos. There's two other towns or cities in that same area within a 10-mile radius. One of them is Laodicea. The other one is Hierapolis. So Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis are all in this small area within the same valley, all within 10 miles of one another. It was a very small town. It was an unnoticed town. It was an insignificant town. It was actually a town that was going downhill economically, size-wise, and in a place of influence. Yet God notices this little town. God actually has a church there. Paul didn't start this church. He never went to Colossae, and he only knew two people actually from the church. One of them was called Epaphras, and the other one was called Philemon. Philemon, the letter that got sent there by the apostle Paul, these two men Paul knew personally. Now this man Epaphras was the main preacher or leader in the church at Colossae. Just listen. I'm just laying a foundation here for a moment. In Colossians chapter 1 and 7, it says that Epaphras was a faithful minister of Christ. He was a preacher. He was a leader. He was a soul winner. He was a pioneer. He actually went into Colossae and began to preach the centrality of Christ. You must be born again. There is one who died on the cross for you. That's what Epaphras actually done. He also ministered in the other two towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis. He pioneered three churches in these small insignificant towns. He was a man of God, a man of passion, and a man of fire. It says in chapter 4 verse 12 and 13 concerning his zealous ministry in these places. The second man is Philemon. There's a letter written to him as well. It talks about the church that is in your house, Philemon. It was in Colossae. The church met in a house. It was a small church within a house. It was an insignificant town. Here is the letter to the Colossians being written to them. They are real believers. They are genuine born again Christians. It is a real church meeting in a house. They didn't need a great building. They didn't need great numbers, but I assure you it was a small church with a big Savior. It was a young church, maybe only five years on the go, and yet their Savior was eternal. Do you begin to see why Paul wrote such a letter to this small insignificant church? Well, if you put the Bible together, you realize that when Paul was in Rome in prison, a captive, waiting to stand before Caesar, that this man Epaphras, who had raised up these works, traveled to Rome and went in and seen Paul chained in his own hard house. You know what? He came with a message. He came with questions. He said, in Colossae, we've got problems. I mean, we've really got problems. We're a real church. We're a young church. We're a small church. It's a small community, but we do have problems. As a result of him coming to Paul, Paul lifted up the pen and with a chain on his hand, began to write this letter to the small church at Colossae, and I assure you he was preaching about the centrality of Christ. He majored on the preeminence of Christ. This entire letter is about Christ. Everything is in Christ. Everything is by Christ. Everything is for Christ. Everything is through Christ. You can't read Colossians without looking to the one that's the Lord Jesus Christ. What was the problem this church was facing? Colossae and its position was the meeting point of east and west. Roads pass through there. It was a place where everybody traveled past and traveled through. You know what the problem was? False teachers and teachings had reached the church at Colossae. In fact, there was a combination. It was such a remarkable smelting pot of teachings and ideologies that this little tiny church was being overwhelmed by a thousand different ideologies, but there were three main ones. The first one was eastern oriental philosophy, which is basic paganism that goes all the way back to Nimrod and Babylonianism. It was eastern religions were hitting this little church and this little community. Second of all, there was Jewish legalism. There were those from the Jewish faith or Jewish families who were trying to bring into the church various Jewish teachings. They said circumcision makes you more spiritual, might make you more clean, but certainly not more spiritual. There were dietary laws that you ought to keep. If you eat right, you'll be closer to God. You ought to keep holy days, special months. You ought to study the moon cycle and begin to keep the ancient feasts of Israel. You ought to keep various Jewish laws and regulation. In fact, this little tiny young church was being bombarded by these Jewish half-breeds and that's what they were. They were claiming to know Christ, claiming to be in the church, but they were coming into the church and saying, what about the new moons? What about Leviticus? What about the feasts of Israel? And these young Christians were there saying, I just met Christ. I know he's forgiven me, but where do I go from here? There was a third area of teaching, which was early Gnosticism. If you know anything about the Gnostics, it was a remarkable teaching that swept through the world after the early church arose. It was a mixture of mysticism, secret knowledge, hidden knowledge that only they could give to you. As you begin to study Colossians, you see that they worshiped angels or they copied the worship of angels. In other words, they say, we've got special awareness of angels. We're aware of the angels and there ought to be a teaching in the church to worship like the angels, to worship with the angels, or to worship the actual angels. These false teachers coming in talked about humility. Have you ever met people? Candace heard one of the bishops, our Cardinals of Limerick, he was on the radio a few years ago and he come on, he got angry on the radio. I still didn't think these cert were around, but he got angry on the radio and he says, I don't like these people who say they know their sins are forgiven or who have the assurance. He was mad. He was raging that anyone would say, I know Christ has forgiven me. He was angry. And do you know what? He sounded very humble. I'm so humble. I don't know Christ has forgiven me. I'm so humble and I'm so educated that I would never say I've got eternal life. What did John do when he wrote his letter? I write onto you that you may know that you have eternal life. You know what? That can sound like humility, but it is rank heresy. It is Antichrist. It is against scripture to say that you can't know your sins are forgiven. You see, there's some people educated beyond truth. They know so much that they neglect the truth for it. As you read this letter, you realize all the problems that even in a small church, certain Christians weren't getting on with each other. Paul had a deal with that. There were those saying, don't touch, don't eat, be careful what you eat or you'll be less spiritual. What a remarkable thing. Do you know what Paul's answer? I'm talking about an answer here. This little church Colossae is like a 21st century church. Do you know what? We're being bombarded by East and West. We are being bombarded by half-baked Judaism, by Eastern mysticism and philosophy, and also by new age Gnosticism. We live in an hour where astrology is all around us. A fascination with angels. Talk about disciplining the body to be more spiritual. Being caught up in visions and dreams and spiritual ideologies. Oh, how dangerous. You know what Paul preaches? Listen, this is my first point, that Christ might have the preeminence. What's the cure for all of this? That Christ might have the first place. Don't listen to all these theories. Don't listen to all these ideologies. Find Christ. Make sure that he is first. Make sure he's absolutely supreme. Listen, in relation to the universe, in relation to society, in relation to the church, and in relation to religion. You see, I believe that when we come to Christ the creator in Genesis 1, and Colossians chapter 1, and Hebrews chapter 1, and Revelation chapter 1, and all of these chapters in the Bible, do you know what I believe it destroys? All the heresies and false teachings of this hour. If Christ isn't first, then he's nothing to you this morning. You see, I believe when you see Christ as the creator, it destroys atheism. In the beginning, God created. You see, when you go back to the Bible and see who Christ is, that Christ created all things. If you believe this Bible, if you don't believe this Bible, you're not a Christian. You can't be a Christian and not believe the Bible. You can't choose what to believe. That is a man-made religion. If you're molding your picture of Christ according to your thoughts, that is not the real Christ. You say, I like that bit and I don't like this bit. I'll keep that bit and I'll leave that aside. Well, I accept this part of the Bible and I don't accept the other. You know what? That is a man-made religion. If this God is the God of the Bible, he created all things. Do you know what coming and seeing Christ as the creator does? It destroys atheism. There was a God and it was Christ Jesus. It destroys pantheism. What's pantheism? Everything is God. God is everything. He's in everything. We're all one. That's what pantheism is. But do you know what the Bible says? God created all things. It destroys pantheism. You cannot believe in Christ and believe in pantheism. Christ annihilates pantheism. Christ isn't in all things. He's not in all persons. He created all persons. He died for all persons. He wants to come to live in all persons. But do you know what? We're not all the same merging into one mass of divinity. No way. You're a sinner. God help us. The people I've met who thought that they had the divine in them. If that's divine, I want nothing of it. I assure you. You see, Christ created all things. It destroys polytheism. You say, what's that? Polytheism is all of these religions because he is revealed as the one true God. You can't say all religions are the same. Mahatma Gandhi, he said, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, Christianity, they're all different ways to the same God. Really, they all contradict each other. They all contradict. They challenge one another. They teach opposite things. That's schizophrenia at its very best. You cannot believe the same things and get to the same God or the same destination. If I give you all different maps to all different times and say, we'll all get there in the same way. If I give you different transport and different directions, I assure you, we will not end up the same place. We'll end up everywhere. It destroys materialism. God created the earth. Why would you live and stake your eternity on this world, the physical world, if there's a God who created all things? How would you make a God out of mammon, possessions, sacrifice to it, live for it, and yet you deny God. If Christ is preeminent, it'll destroy materialism. It'll also destroy humanism. What is humanism? Man is the center. You know, you get it in the church as well. It's all about me. No, it's not. No, it's not. This church is all about meeting the needs of people. No, it's not. Oh, this Christianity is about making me happy. No, it is not. You know, preeminently the gospel is all about God. God getting his way. Humanism puts man at the center. It can be in religion, in society, or in the church. But if you see Christ preeminent, high above all else, it destroys it. What about evolution? It blows it out of the water. God created. He manufactured. He made all things. Oh, I think we can merge evolution with creation. No, you cannot. You need to throw the Bible out. You need to deny Colossians 1. You see, Colossians 1 shows that Christ the creator is preeminent and must be central. If Christ did not create all things, then how could he die for your sins? How could he be God? How do you know you can trust any of his words that he says, I forgive you? If you don't believe he created all things, you can't believe he shed his blood for you or that he loves you. What sort of God do we believe in? You see, there's those in the church of our day who believe in theistic evolution. Oh, science has proved Genesis 1 to 3 wrong, that it's not true. You say, I'd never fall for that. Yeah, but you listen to the people who preach it. Pat Robertson, the 700 Club, in recent days has got angry with those who believe in creation or in a 6,000 year history of man. He gets angry, angry over it. He says, you can merge evolution with creation. No, you can't. And a real Christian believes that Christ is a creator. John Stott of England wrote his books, very famous, come into loggerheads with Lloyd-Jones. You know why? He believed in evolution, that in Genesis, God just evolved, chose out an ape and made him a man. I want to tell you, that's the denial of Christ the creator. Now, you can go and believe evolution. You can go and believe polytheism. You can go and believe anything you want, but it's a denial of Christ the creator as preeminent. My second point, Christ the creator. You say, you've already preached that. Oh no, I'm only getting going here. Christ preeminent, Christ preeminent. Second of all, Christ the creator. Look at verse 16, for by him, speaking about Christ, for by him were all things created. Either this is true or it's false, but you can't separate it. If you deny this, you deny Christ of Calvary. You deny Christ the healer, Christ the savior, Christ the deliverer, Christ the eternal one that will accept you into heaven. For by him were all things created. Do you see that everything that was created was by the Lord Jesus Christ that are in heaven? It's talking about the cosmos. Go to Genesis 1, the heavens, the planets, the cosmos, the universe, the entire creation. That is the heavens, not God's heaven. That isn't created, but the heavens is the whole realm and dimension of the physical creation. Who created the universe, the galaxies, those areas and dimensions that man's eye has never yet seen. Saints, do you realize the entire universe was created by him and it was created for him? You say, well, haven't even reached those areas yet. Oh, we will one day. Do you know that this entire universe is going to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you realize it was created by him? He knows every star. He knows every galaxy. He knows every planet. That's why in Job, there's information there written 4,000 years ago. Exact information about planets, about stars that they've only recently discovered. They couldn't have seen with human eye and yet Job could write by the Holy Spirit. How did he do that? Well, the same Christ who created all things showed Job how the planets and the stars moved and gave him that information. For by him were all things created in heaven and in earth. Everything in earth was created by him. The trees, the mountains, the hills, the waters, the seas, the landmass, man, animals, the elephant, the giraffe, all of these, even beagle dogs. Well, I think someone messed with them along the way, but the original dog before they started all the breeding and leaving her was certain problems that if they left the thing alone, it wouldn't have happened. It said he created all things. Get off her quickly. But he created all things visible and invisible, visible and invisible. Do you know there's invisible things created by God? The angels, the cherubims, the seraphims, all of this was created by God. The visible world and the invisible world was created by Christ. Do you see when you only start at the cross, you can go wrong. When you only see the crib and Christ being born in the crib, you can go wrong. This is far bigger. I'm showing you the one that was born of Mary's virgin womb. I'm showing you the one that stretched out his hands and died at Calvary. Do you know who he is? He's the one that stretched out his hand and created the planets, created this earth. He is the very same Christ. Don't tell me he doesn't have power. You see, do you restrict him or do you see his sovereignty, his absolute power? It says whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. You know, all of creation was created for the Lord Jesus Christ. Men don't worship him today. Men don't bow before him. Men don't give him glory and honor. One day they will. The Bible actually says all nations one day are going to come and worship him. They're going to come and bow down before him. In fact, every single person one day is going to bow the knee and call him Lord, eternal God. That's what they're going to do one of these days. It says in verse 17, and he is before all things. Jesus Christ didn't begin in the virgin birth. He was eternal. He is God. He is the creator. He is before all things. There's nothing you can point to that he wasn't before. And by him, all things consist. They're in their place. They're in their situation. They're held in position. All of these things are held by Christ. Listen for a second. You know it well. If you talk to a JW or a Mormon, they will deny. They don't believe the same Christ as us. Neither do the religions out there. They don't believe in the same Christ. A man might say, I believe in your Christ. I'm reading a remarkable testimony right at the minute of a man called Bank Singh, an Indian. He grew up in a Hindu family. He was radical. He was high caste, a very devout man. And his parents as well, very, very devout, very upright. And they prayed for him fervently. But you know what? There was an hour he met with the Lord Jesus Christ. No one preached to him. No one witnessed to him. He never read the Bible. In fact, he got given a Bible. He pulled all the pages out. He hated the Bible. He hated Christianity. He didn't believe it at all. But in one second, when you read his testimony, he got utterly transformed on his knees. He fell in love with Jesus Christ. And he'd become one of India's greatest preachers evangelists. He went everywhere preaching, seeing miracles, seeing the sick healed, seeing tens of thousands turn to Christ wherever he went. You see, I believe this Christ, he's not only the Christ of the cross, he's the Christ of all things. But do you know what? When you talk to the JW Mormon, they'll say he's not God. He was a created being. Listen very carefully. John chapter one, Revelation chapter one, and Hebrews chapter one. If you read them, you cannot separate divinity from Christ. You cannot deny that Christ created all things. It says it very clearly. Listen to what it says in John chapter one, verse one. In the beginning, there was a beginning. You see, last week we dealt with Christ in eternity, before the beginning, before the world. You say, you know, how many sinners have I met in the street? They said, so who created God? They think they've caught you out. If he is created, he's not God. You cannot be God. The Mormons believe we're all going to become God. They believe that their God was a man once who evolved into God. That's what they believe. All these cults always take Christ and make him something little. But I tell you, the Bible says he's preeminent. He is the creator of all things. The entire physical world, my Christ created it. The one who died on the cross created it. The one who I worship this morning, he created all things. No one created him. What does it say? In the beginning was the word. That was his name. That was Jesus's name at the beginning. He's called the word of God or the logos. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The word is a name for the Lord Jesus Christ. The same was in the beginning with God. Listen, all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. The word logos means the thought of God, the mind of God, the expression of God. Jesus Christ was the entire expression of God. He is eternal. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is divine. He is God. If he was a man, I wouldn't worship him. Hebrews chapter 1 says, all of the angels worship him. Angels don't worship a man, a created being. They only worship the sovereign Lord. No angel will worship a man. And I can tell you, the man Christ Jesus, he didn't begin at the crib or the cross. He began there at the very beginning. He was the creator of all things physical. All things were revealed. It says in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 9, concerning Christ, he said, who created all things by Christ. Everything was created by him. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 2, it's speaking about Christ again. It says, by whom also he made the worlds. It then goes on to say he is the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power. Do you know everything, the planets, the universe, is upheld, held in its place by the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. He holds all things. Christ is the creator. Since if you aren't gripped by the reality that Christ created the physical universe, if you think you can compromise and sacrifice on a literal creation in Genesis 1 of six days, literal 24 hour days of God's sovereignly, supernaturally create man, you will slowly or quickly fall into terrible error that will lead you away from salvation in Christ. If he is not a supernatural creator, you won't believe that he died for your sins on the cross. Show me someone who begins to doubt creation, they begin to doubt the cross, or they begin to doubt the crib. I can't believe, I can't understand how he could be born of a virgin. That's because you don't believe he created all things. That's why you doubt that. If you knew he created all things, when you begin to entertain that we could have evolved, come from monkeys, what a disaster. You say, do you really believe he created all things? Yes. You believe that he created, Christ created Adam in the garden. Yes, I do. On the sixth day, he created him perfect. No sin, no sickness, no disease, none of that. He created him perfect. You see, look at the lie that swept our world in a short period of time. When men begin to deny Christ the creator, they began to worship the creation. You see, if you don't worship Christ, you'll worship man. It's all around us. When you throw a sovereign God who created everything, you will worship other things. You will, you're made to worship. You are going to worship something. But what is it you worship? You see, we were made in God's image. We desire to worship something. In 1859, Darwin published his book, The Origin of Species. He didn't have any evidence, no science, no archeology. He had no hard facts. It was built on the thesis. One of these days, we're going to find the missing link. One of these days, we're going to dig up the evidence for what I'm teaching. That's what he taught in his book in 1859. He says, I know this is true. We'll find the evidence. Well, a few years later, Ernst Haeckels, a German, he created the teaching of the evolution of the embryo. It was a fraud. It went through all the colleges, the pictures of the little embryo of animals and humans being the same. It was an utter fraud, but yet it took 30 to 40 years for him actually to be revealed. During that time, the idea of evolution spread in Europe, but there was no missing link, no evidence, no booms, nothing. In 1892, Eugene Dubois was in Java and found an ape's tooth, the skull of a small monkey, and the leg of a human. He joined it together and said, I found the missing link. He sold it to a generation. It took years before they found out it was a hoax. Charles Dawson, 1912 in Sussex, England, he found a human skull cap, the lower jaw of an orangutan. It took 41 years before it was exposed in 1953. In 1913, Marcelian Buell brought forth the skeleton of a Neanderthal. He changed the jaw. It had records which he never said about. It took 44 years before it was exposed in 1957. P. Kingman was found in the 1920s by someone who was involved in the other hoaxes. It disappeared into thin air. They don't have it today. In 1922, Harold Cook found a single tooth in the USA. He said it was six million years old. He sent it to a library. He sent it to an archaeologist, and they said, yeah, six million years old. Well, they found out five years later it was a pig's tooth in 1927. Do you realize all of these marked the universities, the schools, national curriculum from Ireland all the way through to South America? Do you realize all these molded the pictures, the diagrams, the teachings of schools and universities that they mock Christ the creator? You see, you can get tricked out of the truth. You either believe the word of God and find that Christ who died on the cross created all things, or you will fall for a monkey. You will be made a monkey. If you begin to believe that your ancestor came from an ape or out of a swamp, that's what you become. That's why we've got a generation. They don't know if they're a man or a woman. They don't know what they are. They don't even know what they want to be anymore. They've lost their identity. You know why? They lost Christ the creator, the Christ of all thing. Huxley, who was Darwin's sidekick, called the bulldog. His grandson worked for the United Nations, coined the term transhumanism, the union of humanity, biology and brain with computers. In the 1950s, he created that. It come out of the lie of evolution. Now we're on the brink. All over the internet, you see it. The World Economic Forum, the World Banks, all of them want the internet joined with the human brain. Fact. Fact. They want to do it five years' time, ten years' time in our generation. Do you know what? Evolution has led us to transhumanism and what the Bible calls the mark of the beast. It's just around the corner. We're going to take your mobile phone and we're going to put it in your body. All the great leading experts, all the rich men, the scientists, the World Bankers, the politicians, the UN, the World Economic Forum saying this is what it's going to be. Get used to it. We are going to create the next stage of evolution. This is serious where we are. Do you know who's behind this? The devil. There's a real devil. I can assure you. You know the only people who walk different are those who believe in Christ, the creator. You say you believe all that old stuff but do you believe in those old bones, monkey, apes, teeth? You call that science? You call that science? I'm sticking with the Word of God that shows that Christ created all things 6,000 years ago. He created man in his image and he's got a plan. Third of all, Christ the revealer. It says in verse 15, speaking of Christ who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Notice here he says Christ is the image of the invisible God. God is invisible. You can't see him. Nobody in this room has seen God. I have not seen God. You couldn't see God and live. You know what? But there's one who's come to represent him. He comes in the image of the invisible God. You can't know God. You can't approach God unless it's through Christ. He's not only the creator. This one that created all things, this one who is eternal, who is God himself. Everything is created through him. Christ is the revealer of God. He is the only one who can reveal God. I can't do it. No church can do it. You know what? Only Christ. He is the image of the invisible God. The word image there is the word icon where we get the word icon. You know what an icon is. They begin to worship it. The Catholics had little icons. They made images. They made portrayals. This is Jesus. This is Mary. This is the angel Michael. You better bow down and worship. This is holy. This is spiritual. I assure you that's a denial of the preeminence of Christ. You see Christ the person living of Christ. That's why we've got no images of Christ in here. How could you have an image of Christ? I don't need that to help me to worship. All I need is to get that piano going. That helps me. Let's start singing. I see him by faith. I worship him. I experience him. You know what? I don't need these things to help me really. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. This image was the mark put on a coin. It shows you the face, the image, the manifestation. But it means more than that. It means a perfect reflection or manifestation of the person. When Jesus come, he not only created all things, but he came into the creation to reveal the invisible God. Not one of you have heard the audible voice of God, I'm sure. Not one of you have seen the physical face of God the Father. You cannot. That's impossible. But you know what? You can experience the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, all things are revealed. You can be forgiven, receive mercy. You can see that God loves you, that God desires to save you, that God has a plan for you, that God is real. Only in Christ can you actually see that. This word image is used in Matthew 22 when Jesus talked about the coins that had the face or the image of Caesar on them. That's what it means here. The image of the invisible God. Also in Revelation 13, we read of the image of the beast or of Antichrist. What is it? It is an image, an idol, a statue of the politician, the beast. That is the same image. That is an image of the beast. Well, this is the image of the invisible God. How do you experience someone who's invisible, eternal, unapproachable, who is exclusive? You've got no access to. There's only one way. Jesus came to reveal him. Jesus came to show you who he is. Jesus came to bring him into this world and to show men that they can actually have an experience of him. It also says that he is the firstborn of every creature. The word firstborn there means the one who has priority. It's the Greek word prototokos. It means position. It means in rank. It means in priority of time or supremacy or to be first in the line. So Christ is not only the image of the real God, he is the firstborn. He is the very first one in the line to show you who this God is, that he is eternal. You see on Christ, Christ is the stamp of God. He is the full, the final, and the complete revelation of God. He is perfect. No man could reveal God perfectly. I preach by the grace of God. I tell men what the Bible says. I can tell you of what he's done in my life. He saved me at four and a half years old. He healed my knees miraculously one night. I needed an operation. I had diarrhea and vomiting for one entire year. I was sick as a dog and in one prayer, God healed me. Do I believe in him? Yes, I can tell you all these things, but it's an imperfection. Do you know where it's perfect? In the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the centrality of Christ in creation. When we lose that Christ created man and his image, created the universe, created the planet, it was created by him, through him, and for him. It's for his glory. If you take all of these things and use it for yourself, it'll be a mess. I promise you. He could bless you with money and you abuse it. He could bless you with health and you could abuse it. You could take whatever he gives you and you use it for yourself. It's not for his glory anymore. You know what? You won't be happy. You won't be satisfied. That man I told you, Bank Singh, he went everywhere seeking for peace. He would ask people, he said, do you have peace? I mean real peace, deep peace, abiding peace. He said, I never found it. He said, I went to all those that I grew up with, the religions. I sought for a man who really had peace. When he become a Christian, he found that peace. He experienced the peace of God. There were those that started to mock him from his old religion. They were attacking him. And his father stood up who still hadn't become a Christian and said, the first one of you that really has peace, you can carry on attacking him. The rest of yous go home. They all left and went home. You know why they could mock, they could reject, but they don't have peace. They've got no message to give. Fourth of all, Christ the Redeemer. He's not only Christ the creator, Christ the revealer of God. He's Christ the Redeemer. Saints, in Colossians 1, remember the little church that's under attack. All the ideologies, all the theories, all these things coming from east and west, all the teachings of Judaism, philosophy that are pointing to man. You know what the answer is? Christ the creator. Christ the revealer of God. He reveals who God is. He's also Christ the Redeemer. Look at verse 13. It says, who had 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. In Colossians 1, Paul knew the answer to these Christians. You're fighting all these ideas. You're young, you're small, you've got a lot of enemies, a lot of ideas, a lot of intelligent people coming down the road. He said, see the Christ who created all things. He redeemed you by his blood at the cross. Never separate redemption at the cross from Christ the creator. Never separate that. If you start to doubt he created heaven, one of these days you'll not believe his blood was shed for you. Here in Colossians 1, Paul is very clear. Christ is the Redeemer. The one who created all things. Who was it died on the cross? It was the creator. It was the one who was there at the beginning. The word manifest in flesh. The one who took on him the form of a man. The one through true humility who laid down his life on the cross. It says in Colossians 1 verse 20, and having made peace through the blood of his cross. Notice it's not through the cross, it's through the blood of his cross. There's popular teaching today, some prominent good men, and they'll try to say it's not the blood, it's the cross. I'm going to tell you that's dangerous. That's against scripture. You know what it says? You're redeemed through the blood. It's not just his death. It's not just the death of the cross, but it is the blood of his cross. If he hadn't have shed his blood, you could not be forgiven. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness, no redemption. You can try and be moral. You say, well I'll try my best. I don't need the blood of Jesus. Go ahead, try your best. Try your best. You go and try to be moral, and when God searches your heart, he'll reveal to you, you need the cleansing of the precious blood of the lamb. It says in Revelation 13 verse 8, concerning Christ again, and about all of the saints who have been saved, whose names are written in the book of life of the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. That's why you can't separate redemption from creation, the cross from the creator. You cannot separate these two things. You know why? When Christ created all things, the Bible says that he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Not before, but from. In other words, God didn't even create anything until in his own heart and mind, Christ was slain. It was in the plan, not plan B. God didn't offer his son to die because man sinned. It actually was in the plan that Christ would suffer as a lamb from the beginning. It is by the blood of Jesus Christ. Fifth and finally, Christ the satisfier. I'm showing you the answer to the 21st century. Go back and rediscover not only Christ before eternity, not only his centrality, but everything was created through him. He created you for a reason. You know out there in this world, they're seeking for an answer. All the DNA, all the genealogy sites, I want to know who I am. They've got entire programs now on television. I've always wanted to know who I am. I don't know who my mommy is. I don't know who my daddy is. I've got no identity. I feel like I'm a child lost. All these adults, 40, 50, 60 years old, in search of their origin. You know what? I want to tell you, you can only truly be satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fifth and finally, verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning. Do you see that the one who created all things is the head of the church? Aren't you glad that the head of this church, of the worldwide church, I mean the head of it, the boss, the government, the authority, the controller, he is the creator of all things. He's the one who died on the cross, but he is also the head of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence, the first place. Verse 19, for it pleased the father that in him all fullness should dwell. Do you realize it's in Christ? God has put all fullness in him. God doesn't have anything for you. I mean the real God, the only God, the single God, the God of all creation, the God we hunger to know. Do you realize that it says here in Colossians that it pleased God the father, that in him Christ, the creator, the one who died at Calvary, the one who's the head of the church, that all fullness should dwell. The word fullness there means completeness, right up to the brim. There's no room for anything else. In Christ is all fullness. Everything is in him. What are you seeking for this morning? I mean as a Christian, what are you seeking for? What do you think you lack this morning? I'll tell you where to go. You can find joy in Christ, peace in Christ, forgiveness in Christ, restoration in Christ. He can baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire this morning. He can heal your sick body this morning. There is salvation in Christ this morning. He can forgive your sins. You can have a second start. You can wake up in the morning and start as if you'd never committed one single sin. You see all fullness dwells in him. Verse 9 actually says, for this cause we also, since the day we heard of you, the church, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will. All fullness, I mean absolute fullness is in Christ since it's all there for you. You don't need to go look in this world. You go, if I can only get to the right meeting or the right conference or the right revival, I'm seeking for a bigger church, a better church, a better preacher. Keep searching, keep searching. I assure you, I'm not here to entertain. I'm here to tell you that the answer is in Christ, the centrality of Christ. All fullness is in him and Paul is praying for them that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will. I'm praying that this morning. Oh, that you'd be filled with knowledge. Impossible. Yes, it is. It doesn't mean you've used up all his knowledge. It just means your small cup is filled. Maybe your little cup will grow a bit over this next year, but your little cup and you go, I'm filled with the knowledge of God's will. You think, well, is it about doing this job or marrying this person? Don't you know God's will is far greater than that? See, if you think of God's will like that, you're looking at it as a small thing. God's will is to be sanctified in Christ, conformed to him, living for him, understanding him, walking with him. That's God's will. All the other things flew out of that. It says in Colossians 2 and 3, as I close, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You're seeking wisdom. I'll tell you where to find it. I want to become wise. I need wisdom in this hour. I need knowledge. I'll tell you where to find it. It says, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. You're looking for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, answers to your questions. I'll tell you where to find it. You know, and Paul says, I write this that it's in Christ. All the treasures of God are in Christ. Why did Paul say he wrote it? Lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Evolution has beguiled our entire world. Generations now, there was a Scottish man. He was a university lecturer, a brilliant man. As a young teenager, he heard the preacher D.L. Moody and got born again, put his faith in Christ, had a real experience. Then these evolutionary lies come out. One of them that was a fake. He heard the report and he said, it's all a lie. My Bible's a lie. Creation's a lie. The cross is a lie. Christ is a lie. He became an atheist. Do you know, after he was dead, they proved it was a hoax. What turned him away from Christ. You see when Paul writes, all fullness is in Christ. And I write this, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. What are enticing words? They sound very wise. They're very cunning. They have an influence on you. You say that person's too good to go to hell. They're a nice person. Let me tell you something. None of you are nice. I'm not nice. Apart from Christ, there's none that is good. That's what the Bible says. You know, I've met lots of people. They think they're nice and good. You say, so you don't lie. Oh, well, we all lie. You don't have any immoral thoughts. Oh, well, you come on. You never get drunk. You never blaspheme. The Irish are more guilty of blasphemy than any other people in the entire universe, nevermind the world. They blaspheme more times in one minute than most soldiers will, English soldiers in a lifetime. I assure you, there's blasphemy, all manners of sin. How do you want to measure sin? I'll show you how to measure sin by the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll find out what you are. Listen, this is my final, finally, Colossians 2 and 8. Beware, lest any man spoil you. Paul's writing this little church that he'll never go to, but he writes this letter and he says, I'm telling you, it's the preeminence of Christ. Christ the creator, Christ the revealer, Christ the satisfier. It's all in him. Beware, lest any man spoil you. You can be spoiled. Do you know you could be spoiled? Spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all fullness of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Do you want to be complete? You'll find it in Christ the creator. You can be complete in him. Christ is full. He is the fullness of God. He has a fullness of the revelation of God. And if you find Christ, you'll be complete. You will be satisfied. My life isn't always easy. I'm not always laughing. I'm not always happy, but I tell you, I'm satisfied in Christ. I have never been dissatisfied, not for one second since I was four and a half years old, not for one single second. I can only be honest. Now that's a few years. Okay. That's a few. That's more than 10 years. I'm going to tell you not for one second. Can I honestly say I've been dissatisfied with Christ? He's never once failed me. I've been dissatisfied with me, with the church, with other people, with life, but never with the Lord Jesus Christ. In him, you are complete. Stand with me here this morning. Thank you, God. We praise you. My God, make him everything to us this morning. Open our eyes. Open our eyes in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah.