Ron Dunn Podcast - Preeminence of Christ

Episode Date: April 26, 2017

Ron Dunn preaches a message from Colossians 1:15-22 about the supremacy of the Son of God.

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. Colossians chapter 1, we'll begin reading with verse 15 and read through verse 22. Paul is describing here the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the 15th verse he describes Him as 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 The firstborn of every creature. And 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 sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. And I want to call your attention once again to the last phrase in the 18th verse, the last phrase in the 18th verse, the purpose clause, where Paul says, that, or in order that, that in all things he, that is Christ, may have the preeminence. That in all things Christ may have first place.

I read something in the paper a while back that has haunted me ever since I read it. It was the story of a young secretary who on her lunch hour climbed out on the ledge of the skyscraper in which she was working and said she was going to jump. And immediately fellow workers and others gathered around trying to talk her in, trying to talk her out of what she was planning to do. The fire department came, The police department came. The psychologist came. But she wouldn't let anybody talk to her. She wouldn't listen to anybody.

After a while, they persuaded her to listen to a minister. She said, yes, I will listen to a minister. And so they brought a minister, and he stood there in the window looking at this girl on the ledge, talked to her for two hours. And at the end of that two hours, she jumped to her death. My first thought was, I'm glad I was not that minister. I wonder how he must have felt. I can't imagine a greater sense of failure

than to have two hours given to try to tell somebody something that makes their life worth living. I wonder what he talked to her about. And then I begin to wonder, what would I have said? What would I have said? What would you say? If a friend of yours called you on the phone today and said, Listen, in one hour I'm going to shoot myself unless you can give me a reason I should not. What would you say? What would you say to a person to whom life has become so meaningless, so painful, so intolerable that they prefer death to living. Well, there's over 600 people every day in our country who take their own lives for various reasons. And yet, sociologists, psychologists, people who know these things tell us that number one cause among the

despair of so many, and it's one of the highest causes of death among teenagers, is because of the meaninglessness that people have found in their lives. That life today has ceased to have any real meaning. There is a meaninglessness pervading our society, a loss of direction. We seem to be just wondering. There seems to be no real destination, no real determined destiny. And for many people, life is nothing more than just an accident suspended in space

and means really nothing at all when you get right down to it. What is there about life that gives it meaning? Is there any purpose behind what's going on? Where is our world headed, and does God have anything to do about this? And that's the reason that I want to draw your attention to the passage that I've chosen this morning, because Paul strikes at the very heart of this whole idea of what it means to be alive, the purpose, the destiny. Is there some reason? Is there some purpose behind everything that's happening? When I was a little boy, we used to play a game of pick-up sticks. The kids still play pick-up sticks. But you know what they were. They would have red, yellow, and green sticks and you would bunch them all together like big

toothpicks is what they were like, tall toothpicks. And you would bunch them in your hand and then drop them. And then the purpose, of course, the goal was to see how many you could pick up without making another stick move or shake in any way. And I remember as a child, one night in the living room, trying for I don't know how long to find out a way that you could hold those sticks just right or drop them in such a way so that everything would fall out where you could easily pick everything up. But I never found a way. It was just, well, however it lands, that's the way it is. Just a matter of chance, just a matter of luck. And I sometimes think that we feel that

life's like that, a game of pick-up sticks. And maybe that's what God did when God created the earth and the heavens. And when God gave you and me life, what did He do? Did He just take a bunch of souls in His hand and drop them and say, well, good luck, wherever you land, that'll be it. And when God gave you and me life, what did he do? Did he just take a bunch of souls in his hand and drop them and say, well, good luck, wherever you land, that'll be it. And that's all life really amounts to, just like a game of pick up sticks. And you can't tell where they're going to lie. And they really don't have much purpose at all. It's just a game. Now, Paul says in this passage of scripture that there is a very real meaning and purpose. He gives to us the motive behind everything that God has ever done

and the motive behind everything that God is doing right now in your life personally and in the world in general. In this passage of Scripture, Paul is describing the Lord Jesus Christ and is describing what God has done through Jesus Christ. And he comes to that last phrase in verse 18, and it all dovetails right here. This is the purpose of it all. He says that in all things, he, that is Christ, might have the preeminence. Now here is the statement that Paul is making. Everything that God has ever done in the past, everything that God will ever do in the future,

and everything that God is doing right now at this very moment in your life as well as the world in general, He is doing for the ultimate purpose that in everything Jesus Christ might have preeminence, that He might have first place, that He might be Lord, supreme above all things. That is the ultimate purpose. Now, I confess to you, I cannot give you the immediate purpose for things happening.

So many things happen in your life, my life. You pick up the newspaper, you turn on the television, and it's hard to make sense out of what's going on. Sometimes it is almost impossible to see God in any of it. And most of the time, we cannot always tell what is the immediate reason behind what's happening, but I can tell you what is the ultimate. I can tell you what is the ultimate. I can tell you what is the ultimate. I can tell you what the destination is. Now, we're going to make a few stops along the way that I don't know about, that you don't know about,

but I can tell you where the ultimate destination is. The ultimate purpose behind everything is this. God is working in our life to bring us to the place where Jesus Christ has preeminence in all things, that He might be first place. Paul says basically the same thing, only in a different way in the second chapter of Philippians, when he talks about the great self-emptying of Jesus, when he emptied himself of all the rights and privileges that

belonged to him as God, he humbled himself and became a man and became obedient even under the death of the cross. And Paul says, Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess, whether it's in heaven, hell, or on earth, every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Same thing he's saying here, just using different terminology. There is coming that day, friend. There is coming that day when every knee is going to bow, whether in heaven, whether on earth, or in hell, Paul says, every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You may say, well, I will never do that. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. The question is not, will you confess Jesus Christ as Lord?

The question is, when will you do it? You can either do it here, now, in the day of grace, or you can wait until it's forced upon you at the judgment, and there it'll only bring about your condemnation. But you mark it down. Everybody has it to do. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And that's what God is aiming at.

That's what God is working at in my life, in your life, to bring me to the place where Jesus Christ has His rightful place in my life. And there's an important reason for that. And we're going to see as we go through this passage. I want to make just two very simple comments about this matter this morning. First of all, I want you to understand that the preeminence of Christ or the Lordship of Christ,

however you want to describe it, is unlimited in its outreach or in its scope. Paul says that He might be preeminent in all things, not just some, not even just most, but that in all things, every single thing, that Jesus Christ might have the preeminence. In other words, his preeminence is unlimited. There is no boundary line over which you can step

and suddenly be outside his jurisdiction. It doesn't work that way at all. From every angle, from every view upon Jesus Christ is to be preeminent. And one translation reads like this, that he might from every point of view be preeminent. And that's a very important way of looking at it. Let me describe it for you this morning, illustrate it.

Let's suppose that in this building there are eight windows, four windows on this side and four windows on this side. And you're outside and you're walking around the building and you stop at every window. And every time you look in that window, look through that window, you see the same building, this auditorium you see inside the sanctuary. Go to the next window, you look in, you see the same thing. Go to the next window, look through that, you see the same thing. Come around over here, and in every window you see the same thing, but you're seeing it from different angles, from different viewpoints, but it's all the same thing. Paul says what God is working at

is to bring us to the place where Jesus Christ, no matter from what angle or perspective you look through your life, you see the same thing, Jesus Christ, Lord and preeminent. I look, let me look at your life through the window of your home life. And when I look through the window of your home life, what do I see? Do I see Jesus Christ preeminent? Well, when I look through the window of church a moment ago, I saw Jesus Christ preeminent. Of course, I mean, everybody here knows that as far as religion is concerned, as far as the church is concerned, Christ needs to be first and is first. And so when I look at your life through the window of religion, I see Jesus Christ preeminent. But when I look at your life through the window of religion, I see Jesus Christ preeminent. But when I look at

your life through the window of your home, do I see the same thing? And when I look at your life through the window of school, do I see the same thing? When I look at your life through the window of your business, do I see the same thing? Or is it only when I look through the window of church that I see Jesus Christ preeminent? But if I look from the other viewpoints, if I look from the other angles, I don't see that same thing. Oh, I may see a little bit of Jesus, but he's almost obscured by everything else. No, what Paul is saying is that God wants to work in my life and your life in such a way that no matter, no matter from what angle you look at me, you see the same thing, Jesus Christ, Lord, and preeminent in every area of life, in all things, in all things. Now, the apostle goes on to describe some of these

things, and I want to say just a word about them. First of all, he tells us that Jesus Christ is preeminent when it comes to revelation. If you look again at verse 15, Paul says that Christ is the image of the invisible God, the image of the invisible God. Now, when he says this, he's telling us two things. First of all, he's telling us that God is invisible. That means you can't see him. But when the scripture describes God as invisible, it doesn't simply mean that he cannot be seen. What it signifies is that he cannot be known, that he cannot be touched, that he cannot be approached. God is invisible in the sense that he is inaccessible to man, unapproachable, unknowable. There's no way you can know him. There's no way you can see him. There's no way you can touch him. He's invisible, but he has become visible in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the expressed image. He is the exactness of God. And if you ever want to see God, you see him only in Jesus Christ. He is preeminent in

revelation. That simply means that Jesus has a monopoly on revelation. I want to tell you something, folks. The only way anybody can ever know God as Father is through Jesus Christ. That's the only way. That's the only way. I think one of the most important statements our Lord ever made is found in Matthew chapter 11, verse 27, when he says, no man knows the Father except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Now, what a staggering statement. And it's hard for us to accept it because we like to think, well, if these people out here are sincere and in these other religions, if they're sincere, then they can know God. No, that's not what Jesus said. Jesus is very narrow-minded. He said, I am the way. I am the truth. No man comes to the Father except by me. You try to know Jesus or try

to know God without Jesus Christ, and it's impossible. It's impossible. The only way you can ever come to know God and worship God and love God is through Jesus Christ. He is preeminent. He is preeminent. He is preeminent. You see, I have found that the world doesn't mind talking about Jesus as a good man, even as a son of God, as one of the sons of God. But I found that when you begin to narrow it down

that only through Jesus Christ can a person be saved. Only through Jesus Christ can a person know God. That's when they begin to back off. And that's when they begin to call us narrow-minded and fanatical. But the truth of the matter is, that's what Jesus Himself said. He is the image of the invisible God. He's preeminent in revelation. But not only that, Paul says it's also preeminent in creation. And this is a beautiful statement he makes, if you'll notice there in verse 16, Paul says, 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. And in verse 17,

And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. This is a tremendous truth. All things were created by Him. God created everything through His Word, through the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice He says, whether visible or invisible. That means when I look out here, everything I see was made by Him. And everything I don't see was also made by Him. It was all made by Him, whether they be thrones or powers or principalities. I was watching television the other day, and I had gone to the refrigerator to get something to eat and drink

and I heard a commercial come on. And it was talking about our psychic friends. And there were these phone numbers you could call and have your horoscope read to you and determine. And, you know, if the stars of the planets were favorable, and so if this was a good day to do this and a good day to do that, you know, you'd be amazed how many people there are in this sophisticated, highly educated world of ours today that literally

believe that. And that somehow their life is determined by luck or fate or the position of the planets or what sign I was born under. I want you to know something this morning. Jesus Christ is Lord and preeminent over all dominions, all powers, all authorities, all principalities. Everything that's out there that you can see, everything that's out there that you cannot see is subjected to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I tell you, my life is not determined nor directed by unseen powers and unseen forces, directed by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is preeminent in creation. But you know what I like? He says there, and by him all things consist.

By him all things hold together. He is the glue that holds this whole thing together. Now you take this universe, this vast universe. You know what holds it together? You know what holds it together? The mind of Jesus of Nazareth. God spoke and it came into existence. And He upholds all things by His arm.

And if He were to remove that arm, then everything that's been created would vanish into its original non-existence. He holds it all together. As someone has said, he makes this a cosmos instead of a chaos. Now, a significant thing about this is this. If the Lord Jesus Christ can keep this crazy planet

and this crazy universe together, I believe he could probably hold my little life together too. And maybe that's the reason it looks like sometimes our world is flying apart, because Jesus Christ is not Lord and preeminent. You see, where Christ is not known, where he is not recognized, where he is not given his rightful place, life has a tendency to come apart at the seams. And that's why I think so many marriages are breaking up, so many homes are coming apart, so many lives are coming apart, because the glue that God has given to hold it all together has

been rejected by and large by most of us. He created it all. He holds it all together. And it's all heading back towards Him. It was made by Him and for Him. He is preeminent in creation. He is preeminent in life. First of all, the Lordship of Jesus is unlimited in its scope. There is nothing that lies beyond the boundaries of His preeminence. But there's a second statement that I want to share with you, and it is this. The Lord Jesus Christ, His preeminence, the right to be preeminent is undisputed. He has the right.

He has the right to be preeminent. I want you to think about this for a moment. One of the things that has always impressed me about the Lord Jesus as His life is given in the Gospels is that Jesus Christ never hesitated from making audacious demands upon people. Have you ever noticed that? Have you ever noticed that? Over John 21, when Jesus, remember, has that little after breakfast talk with Simon Peter, and what he's really doing, he's already forgiven Simon for denying him. And what he's doing now is reestablishing him in the ministry. And he says to Simon Peter, he said, Simon, right now while you're young,

you go where you want to go and pretty much live the life you want to live. But I want to tell you something. If you follow me one of these days, somebody's going to take you where you don't want to go and going to do something that you don't want to do. This he spake signifying by what death he should die. And then Jesus said, follow me. No, thanks, Lord. I don't think so.

If it's going to mean, you mean if I follow you, it's going to mean my death? Yes. I always thought that was poor psychology on Jesus' part. I mean, boy, that's a poor way to sell something. And if you're wanting somebody to commit themselves to you, you're going to mention the benefits. Did you notice that Jesus didn't say, Peter, if you follow me, listen, I'll make you the preacher of Pentecost. If you follow me, I'll put the Holy Spirit in you and on you so

great that everybody will know your name. Why, if you follow me, I'll even make you a part of the scripture. I mean, you'll write part of the Bible. As a matter of fact, if you follow me, you'll be so well known that there'll be a whole bunch of people will think you were the first pope that ever lived. Pretty good deal. Something to be considered. But Jesus didn't say any of those good things. He simply said, Peter, if you follow me, one of these days they're going to take you and nail you to a cross, just like they've done me. And the remarkable thing is Peter followed him. Jesus would say to people who would come to him, and Jesus would say, listen, if you don't love me more than father, brother, mother, sister, husband, wife, you're not worthy to be my disciple.

He didn't say you won't make a very good one. He said, you won't be one at all. A rich young ruler came to Jesus one day and he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And I've often thought, what would I have done? I mean, you know, if I'd been the pastor of the church and this young man came, wanted to say what I had to do to join your church, and here he is, he's a young ruler. I mean, he has a lot of political influence. He's a wealthy young man. He's a real catch, by the way. And I would say, well, I mean, you know, you just come right on in. It won't make room for you. Are you comfortable here? Just sit down right here. But Jesus didn't do that. Jesus said, oh, you want to follow me? Okay, here's what you do. You go and sell everything you have. I mean, you sell out

lock, stock, and barrel. Give it all away and come and follow me. That's not the way you and I would have handled it, would it? We'd say, get his name on the line. Then later on, we'll bring up that other stuff. But Jesus never hesitated, never backed off. He never tried to ease somebody into the kingdom of God. He never said, okay, let's sit down and negotiate this. We can come to some agreement where we'll both be pleased. No, he never did that. He keeps coming around and keeps coming back. And even today, he says to you and he says to me, I want your full commitment. And I say, why, Why? What right? What right does Jesus have to demand my faith? And there are two that Paul tells us. Two reasons. First of all, Jesus has a right to be first in your life because of who

he is. Because of who he is, because of his deity. If you'll notice there in the 19th verse, Paul says, For, or because it pleased the Father, that in Him should all fullness dwell. First of all, he says, this is what God wants, that Jesus in all things might be preeminent. Why? Because it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Because of who He is, because of His deity. If you'll glance across the page to chapter 2 in verse 9 and 10, you'll find a similar statement. For in Him, that is in Christ,

in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And notice the next verse, and you are complete in Him. Or as one translation reads, and you are filled with it too through Him. For in Jesus dwells, and the word means to live permanently, to settle down. It means a permanent abode. For in Jesus Christ permanently dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.

Now, what in the world does that mean? All the fullness of the Godhead. Literally, you could translate it like this, the sum of all sums. For instance, let's say you take all the love there is in the world, all the love there is in the world, and you pile it over here. That's the sum of all love. And then you take all the mercy there is in the world. You gather every scrap of mercy you can from the universe and you put it in a pile here. There's the sum of all mercy. You do the same thing with forgiveness. You do the same thing with knowledge.

You do the same thing with wisdom. Here is the sum of all wisdom. Here is the sum of all knowledge. Here is the sum of all forgiveness. Now, here's what Paul is saying. You take the sum of all these sums and they're in Jesus. Very simply, he's saying that everything that all these sums and they're in Jesus. Very simply, he's saying that everything that is good and godly is in Jesus Christ and everything outside

Jesus Christ is neither good nor godly as far as God is concerned. All the fullness of the Godhood, everything that is good, everything that is good comes from God. Every perfect gift comes from above. And the fullness of the whole is found in Jesus Christ. Why? If I am complete in Him, then He has a right to demand my surrender to His Lordship. We are complete in Jesus. You don't need to add anything to it. I remember some years ago,

I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, preaching a meeting and a woman came up to me after the service and she said, here, I want you to take this, read this. Earlier I said it was a Koran, but it's the book of Mormon. And I asked her, what is this? She says, it's the book of Mormon. I want you to read it. I gave it back to her. I said, I've read it. She gave it back to me. She said, read it. There's some good stuff in it. I gave it back to her. I said, I've read that. She said, that's the trouble with you, Baptist. You're so narrow-minded. And she said, there's some good stuff in here. I said, well, I'm sure there is, but you can find good bread in the garbage can too, but you don't need to have a garbage can. Why do I need this?

Why do I need this? Why do I need this? If all the fullness, if all the fullness of God is treasured up in Jesus Christ and I am filled with it too by union with Jesus Christ, then why do I need this other? He has a right because of who he is.

I love it when Jesus asked his disciples. You remember there was one occasion when some of the people began to drift off, not follow him any longer. Jesus called his disciples and he said, well, what are you going to do? Will you also go away like these others have? You know what they said? They said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life. I confess every time I read that, I think that maybe if they had been another alternative, they might have considered it. It sounds like there was nothing else to consider. You say, well, where else is there to go? You want to know if we'll go away? Lord, to who would we go?

You have the words of light and life. You see, we sometimes say, well, this person turned away from Jesus to this, and he rejected Christ because he wanted this. But I say to you, when you turn from Jesus, you don't turn from Jesus to something. You turn from Jesus to nothing because outside of Christ, there's nothing out there. He has a right because of His deity, because of who He is. And then secondly, He has a right not only because of who He is,

but because of what He's done. Not simply deity, but also because of His death. In verse 20, He tells us that Christ made peace with the blood of His cross. In verses 21 and 22, He says that God in Christ has brought us back to him, has reconciled us to him in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.

What right does he have? Because he died for me. Because he died for me. I belong to him. He purchased me with his blood, paid the ransom for me. I belong to Him. He purchased me with His blood, paid the ransom for me. I belong to Him because He bought me and therefore He has a right to expect from me

my faith, my trust, and my commitment. Jesus Christ preeminent in all things. Paul makes a comment on this over in chapter 3, verse 17. And in closing, I want to just call this to your attention. Verse 17 of chapter 3. Paul says,

And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Now the question is, how can I know whether or not Jesus is preeminent in my life? How can I know? If I'm a Christian, I know He's present. And I may be a pretty good Christian.

He may be prominent. But is He preeminent? Does He have first place? How do you decide that? How do you detect that? Very simple. Whatever you do, whatsoever you do, eat or drink, brush your teeth, go to work,

whatever you do, do it all, brush your teeth, go to work, whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whether in word or in deed, you do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now, to do something in the name of another person is to do something that they approve of and that is consistent with their character and their purpose. Why, if I stood up here this morning and said that your pastor wanted me to announce that tonight, after the evening service, we're all going to his house for cocktails and we're going to get pie drunk tonight.

Some of you don't seem surprised at that announcement. I may be preaching the wrong message, I don't know. But I want to give Michael the benefit of the doubt. I make that kind of announcement. Well, you say, oh, no, sir. Our pastor would never approve of that. And that is inconsistent with his character. You are not speaking in his name.

You see, to do something in the name of Jesus means that what I do, what I say, is consistent with his character and his purpose and has his approval. It's something that Jesus Himself would approve of. In the Old Testament, the book of Zechariah, there's a very strange prophecy, prophesying of the coming of the Lord, not the second coming, but the first coming of the Lord. And it goes something like this. It says that in the day when the Messiah comes, that on the bridles and the reins of the horses will be carved these words, holiness unto the Lord.

And on every pot and pan in Jerusalem, there'll be these words, holiness unto the Lord. Now that's a strange little prophecy, isn't it? I mean, a farmer goes out to plow his field and even the traces on the horse, they've got carved into that holiness unto the Lord. A woman begins to prepare a meal in the kitchen, and the pots and pans she uses has inscribed upon them holiness unto the Lord.

Well, if you know your Old Testament pretty well, you'll know that there was only one place where you found those words, holiness unto the Lord. They were worn on the forehead of the high priest. And when he went into the Holy of Holies, there to meet God and atone for the sins of the people, brother, he went in with holiness unto the Lord, because if he walked into that place without holiness,

God would kill him. And they had to go through a very deep and detailed purification ceremony, and he wore a pier on the forehead, holiness unto the Lord. In other words, everybody knew, everybody expected that, brother, a priest had to be holy. But here's what Zacharias say. He's saying when Jesus Christ comes, he will so change life,

he will so transform everyday life that that which at one time was the exclusive province of the high priest, it'll be true of everybody. That when a man plows his field, he is to do it with the same degree of holiness that the priest has when he goes into the holy voice. That when a woman prepares the meal, she should do it with the same degree of holiness

as the priest has when he goes into the holy of holies. Isn't that something? Jesus comes to sanctify the secular and makes every act and every deed and every word an act of holiness. Here's the test. Can you take everything in your life and write across it, holiness unto the Lord

and have it not look out of place? Can you take every word that you speak, every deed that you do and sign it Jesus Christ and know that Jesus would not be ashamed to have his name associated with that.

That's the test. It's really very simple. Can I do what I'm doing in the name of Jesus? I sit down on the phone and I'm going to rip up somebody's character with gossip and evil speaking. Can I say, now, Lord Jesus, all these terrible things I'm about to say about this person, I just want you to know I'm doing them in your name and I'm giving you

thanks for the privilege of doing it. That's exactly what he says. Do everything in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to the Father by him. When you fill out your income tax and you shave a little bit here, can you say, now, Lord, I'm doing this in your name. I'm cheating on income tax in your name, and I'm thanking you that you've given me the opportunity to do this.

Ridiculous. Several years ago, our television set died. It was a real grief in our family. It had been sick for many days and we had taken it to many doctors, but it was none the better and was even worse. And one day it just gasped and gave up the ghost. A friend loaned us a black and white TV, which to my family is what we call roughing it, black and white television. That's almost barbarianism now. Well, I knew we were going to buy a new television set. And so I found myself doing something that I hadn't done before. Started listening to those obnoxious commercials. Have you ever noticed when you're in the market for a product,

suddenly you start paying attention to the commercials that otherwise, you know, like if you're in the market for a new car, you start listening to all those commercials. Well, I began paying attention to those commercials about televisions. That's because we were going to have to have one. You know, I wanted to, I wanted to get a good one. I was very much impressed with the advertising slogan of Zenith Television. Do you know what their motto is? Do you know what their advertising slogan is?

It's real neat. The quality goes in before the name goes on. Isn't that good? The quality goes in before the name goes on. Isn't that good? The quality goes in before the name goes on. What they're saying is this, that before we ever attach our name to a product, we're going to make certain that the quality has gone into it.

And if you see our name on it, you can rest assured the quality there. That's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying Paul is saying before you ever attach the name of Jesus to anything you better make certain the quality has gone into it

because you see as a Christian everything you and I do or say is done with the name of Jesus attached to it when my son was in seminary I found that he had some of my old teachers that I'd had 25 years before. Some of them were still there. I said, have you, you know, have you told any of the professors, you know, who you were that, you know, that they taught my dad. He said, no, dad, I haven't told anybody yet. I said, why not?

He said, well, I'm waiting to see how I do in their class. And he said, if I do well, I'll tell them that I'm your son. If I don't do well, I won't tell them. And you know, I appreciated that. You know what he was doing? You know what he was doing? He was saying, Dad, I don't want to use your name

if I'm not doing good in their class. As far as I know, he never spoke to one of his professors. But I have to tell you this morning, that made me feel good. That made me feel good that my son thought enough of my name that he didn't want it associated with inferior work. And I know how I felt, proud and relieved.

I can only imagine how the Lord Jesus Christ must feel today when I say, oh, I don't want to say or do anything that would embarrass Jesus or cause anybody to think less of him because they think less of me. What God is after is that in every area of my life, Jesus Christ may be first. Would you bow your heads with me now for a moment? We're going to have a word of prayer, and then the choir is going to lead us, and we're going to stand together and sing a hymn of invitation. I said a moment ago that every Christian, of course, has Christ present in his life.

And if you're not a Christian, if you've never been saved, if you've never had that experience of salvation where you know your sins have been forgiven, then Jesus Christ is not even present in your life. But he wants to be, and he will be. He says, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him. And maybe this morning, even as you sit with your heads bowed, you know that Jesus Christ is not in your life. Oh, you may go to church and be religious,

but you know that you've never been born again. You've never had that personal experience with Jesus. Did you know that sitting right there, right now, right where you are with your heads bowed, you can simply pray, ask Jesus to come into your life and he'll do it? He will. And you say, I'd like that. Well, when we stand in a moment,

there are going to be ministers here and counselors here that'll be happy to talk with you. All you have to do is just to move out from where you'll be standing and make your way down here to the front. It'd be wonderful this morning if every one of us allowed Jesus Christ to be preeminent in this time of invitation. Would you say that? Could you say that? Could you say, Lord, I want to be able to write your name across what I do during this time of invitation. And if there's not anything you want me to do, that's wonderful. But if there is something you want me to do,

I want to make certain that I do exactly what you ask. I want him to be first. It may mean that the Lord wants you to come and put your life in this church. Maybe you've been visiting and you feel God's presence here. You feel at home here. This is where you can worship.

It may be that for you, the preeminence of Christ demands your fellowship and this larger fellowship. Maybe you've been saved, maybe in your home, maybe watching Billy Graham on television or something, but you've never been baptized, you've never aligned yourself in the church. Then naturally, for Jesus to be preeminent,

you need to handle that, take care of that. And there may be other things in your life today. Maybe you want to come and just kneel here at this altar and deal with some issues that the Lord has spoken to you about. But let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I give you thanks this

morning that you loved us enough to send us your Son. And that He loved us enough to come. Knowing it cost His life, dying in great agony, and yet rising again, and living today,

and even with us here this morning. And I pray that we would be confronted by Him, that we're not meeting a preacher or a church or a denomination, but today we are encountering none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Lord, how can we do anything else except fall at His feet and say, Lord, You first, first place, preeminent. Have Your way with us during this time.

We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible,

please visit rondunn.com.