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Amen. Colossians chapter one, here we are again. So this is our third sermon out of Colossians chapter one. So we've looked first at the first part of Colossians chapter one and the witness of a church and how important it is for a church to have a solid witness. We looked last week at the blood of Christ in Colossians chapter one. And this evening we're going to start out in verse 15. But the reason that we're taking so long going through sometimes just a couple of verses in Colossians chapter one is because Colossians is, I think in my opinion, probably the most detailed account in the new Testament of the person and work of Jesus Christ. So we're going to leave no stone unturned and we're going to look at every single verse that Colossians talks about. It's a short book, but we're going to look at every single verse that it talks about and find out all the detail that the Bible is telling us about Jesus Christ. So this evening, we're going to start out in verse number 15. So we looked at the blood of Christ last week and in verse number 15, let's begin reading. And we're only going to get to verse 18 tonight, but let me just read these verses for you. And then we will study them from the Bible. Who is the image talking about Jesus Christ? Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. So here we see another idea that is presented to us here that Jesus Christ is the first born of every creature. It says in verse 15, for by him were all things created that are all that are in heaven, that are in the 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. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first born. Again, we see that word from the dead that in all things, he might have the preeminence. So tonight we're going to look at this idea of Christ, the first born. So I want to tell you, first of all, there's a lot of, you know, false representations about what Christ, the first born means. Turn to Hebrews chapter seven. Let me just take just a couple of minutes. We're not going to spend a lot of time on this, but let me tell you, first of all, what it doesn't mean. What it doesn't mean was Jesus was created. Okay. That's not what Christ, the first born means. It doesn't mean that Jesus came into existence, you know, when he was born 2000 years ago. That's not what Christ, the first born means. Look at Hebrews chapter seven and look at verse number three, Hebrews chapter seven and verse number three. We were just in these, these chapters looking at, um, the blood of Christ and how Jesus Christ is the eternal priest, how he represent, how Jesus in Leviticus 16 and the day of atonement, we had the priest, we had the five animals, we had the blood, we had the garments. And we saw last week when we looked at the blood of Christ, how Jesus, he's not just the priest. He's not just the garments. He's not just the bowl. He's not just the goats. He's everything. He's the scapegoat and the sin offering. We talked about how Jesus basically encompasses everything that we see in the day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16. So look at Hebrews chapter seven and look at verse number three. This is comparing Jesus with Michael Zadek, which was the, the, um, you know, an appearance of the son of God in the old Testament without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God, abideth a priest continuing. So Jesus is the eternal priest. He always existed and he has no end. It's just like God. He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The Bible says in Colossians chapter two in verse number nine, Jesus is all God. He is all God. He is not, um, a pie cut of God. He, he is, he contains all of God inside him and he was fully man at the same time. So being all of God, he is from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus was not created. Okay. He's actually, um, the one who is by whom all things were created that we'll see in a little bit. So he's just like, you know, he's got the fullness of God with him. He's the everlasting father. The Bible says in Isaiah, he's the fullness. He's eternal. He was just begotten as a man 2000 years ago in the person of Jesus Christ, not created. Go to Romans chapter eight. Let's look at this idea of what it does mean. So it doesn't mean that Jesus was created. That's easily disproven from the Bible. Jesus is eternal, um, in both directions. Um, that's, that's God. Look at Romans chapter eight and look at verse number 26. Now Romans chapter eight and verse 26 through about verse 29 are, you know, there's some pretty deep doctrine in here and you really have to, I actually have notes in my Bibles, you know, that when I read these verses, you know, Romans eight 28 is a fridge magnet, right? People like to just repeat that all the time and they don't even really know what it means. We looked at that a couple of weeks ago as well. Well, let's look at what Romans eight and verse 26 through 29 is actually saying here. Now there's the word he, I think that comes up here six times or so, and you have to, you have to understand what, which he, the Bible is talking about in each of these verses. So let's just begin to read it. Look at verse 26. Let's get the context. Likewise, the spirit that's capital S. This is the Holy spirit we're talking about here. Also help with our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself make an intercession for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered. So here, this is a super important verse for the Christian who's sealed by the Holy spirit. Who's in dwelled by the Holy spirit here. I mean, this should make you happy tonight. If you were in a bad mood and you're saved tonight, you should be in a good mood now because the spirit that dwells inside you, it's not just hanging out there doing nothing. The Bible says here that the spirit within you, the Holy spirit, it actually intercedes for you. The Bible is saying that many times, you know, it helps you with your infirmities, your troubles, your sins in your life. It says many times you don't even know what to ask for. You don't even know what to ask for. So the Holy spirit makes intercession for you in your life. I mean, that's super good news. Now look at verse 27. The Bible says, and he, now this is God, the father right here. This, he is God, the father, and he that searches the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the spirit. So we see that God, the father, so you have the Holy spirit that's interceding for you in verse 26. And then you have God, the father knows what is in the mind of the spirit. So God, the father is listening to the spirit as he intercedes for you. So that he is in verse 27 is God, the father, because he now that's the spirit right there. So we have two different he's here. You see what I'm, you see what I'm getting at. You have to kind of recognize if you want to completely understand these verses, which he, you know, what he is, you know, what part of the Trinity these he's are talking about. So let me read it for you again. And he that searches the hearts, that's God, the father knoweth what is in the mind of the spirit. That's the spirit in the Trinity, because he that's the spirit maketh intercession as that matches verse 26 for the saints, according to the will of God. So the Bible says here that as the Holy spirit inside you makes intercession to God, God listens to the spirit and the spirit knows the will of God. So as you pray for stupid things, the Holy spirit intercedes for you and goes to God and says, no, he didn't really mean that what he meant was this because the spirit knows the will of God because the spirit is God. Okay. Look at verse 28. And we know, and this is the famous verse that everybody has on their fridge. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. So that of course, we talked about Sunday morning. That's a great promise that God gives us. That's a great promise that God gives to save people that love him, that follow him, that no matter if, even if bad things happen to you, he will work those things for the good. And I talked about Sunday morning, how the most extreme and obvious example of Romans 8 28 is a prophet that is tortured and killed for the, for the cause of Christ or somebody that would be persecuted and killed for their faith in Christ. Because why? Because that's a powerful witness to the rest of the world. So that's the good that God uses that comes from such a bad thing. Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 12. That's why God had the prophets go through such hard times. So that's a witness for the rest of us throughout history. Look at verse 29 for whom he did for know that's God, the father, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he, now that's the son right there might be the firstborn of many brethren. So I just wanted to explain verse 26 through verse 29 for you. You have to know which he, in order to really understand those verses, you have to really be thinking about which part of the Trinity is represented by each he there. So he, the last one is the son is the firstborn. That's our study tonight. So he might be the firstborn amongst what amongst many brethren. So what that means is that we are supposed to be, we look, it is our, I really don't understand how people have such a hard time with this idea of predestination in the Bible. What this is saying in Romans 8 29 is that if you are saved, it is your destiny. You are predestinated to become, to be conformed to the image of Christ. That's what that means. Look, it's your destiny. That's what it means to be predestinated. So God, every single person that gets saved, God has predestinated you to be conformed into the image of his son. We are supposed to be like Christ. Is this is what this is saying. Now look, is there free will? Yes, there is. So this predestination doesn't mean we're all turned into robots and like all of a sudden we get saved and now we will always do the right thing. Always. That's ridiculous. No one thinks, look, just think about the word destiny. Just think about the word destiny. What does that mean? It's my destiny to be this. Does everyone always realize their destiny? It doesn't happen. What this means in Romans 8 29 is that Christ is the firstborn and he has to be the firstborn of many brethren, meaning all people that get saved are supposed to become like Christ. That is God's plan for you. You are to be conformed to the image of his son. Just think about destinies. Think about predestinated destinies, if that's even a way to say it, of people that didn't make, how about Eli's sons? What was their destiny? Shouldn't they have been priests and prophets and godly men? Think about king's sons. If you were in the kingdom of Judah and you were the son of a king, it's your destiny to be the next king. Did all sons meet that destiny? How did it work out in the northern kingdom of Israel? Did all sons meet the destiny of becoming the next king? It didn't happen. Think about every father's plans for his son just in this life. Think about dads tonight. Think about the ideas that you have for your kids. Look, that's your predestinated plan for them. And look, I hope you can realize those plans, but is it a hundred percent that it's always going to work out that way? So this idea that this, I don't understand how people cannot understand this. Look, you're predestinated to be many brethren of which Christ is the firstborn, meaning we are to be conformed to him. That's what that means. Okay. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. But we have free will. We looked at that. I mean, we looked at that on Sunday morning. We have free will in this life. God wants us to come to him willingly. No husband would want a wife that was forced to be married to him. No wife would want a husband that was forced, you know, at the point of a gun to be married to them. We have free will. We are supposed to do these things, but you know, we fail. We come short every day. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 in verse number three, back to Christ, the firstborn to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect. So Christ, it says in Colossians chapter one, that Christ is the firstborn of every creature. Turn to John chapter one, turn to John chapter one. Let's look at some backup of, of, um, Colossians chapter one. Look at John chapter one. It does not mean he was the first created. We know that Christ is, is God. He was from everlasting to everlasting. Look at John chapter one and let's look at what it means that he's the firstborn of creation. Look at verse number one of John chapter one in the beginning was the word and the word was with God in verse 14. We know that the word was made flesh. We know that Jesus is the word. The word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God and look, all things were made by him. So Jesus and without him was not anything made that was made. Look, Jesus created the world. How? Because he was God's word and God said, and God said, that is literally how creation came about. God spoke it into existence and Jesus was the word and the word became flesh in verse number 14 of John chapter one. So look, go to Matthew chapter 28 and let's, let's kind of put a wrap, a wrapper around this. Go to Matthew chapter 28. So Jesus, he's the firstborn. We're supposed to be like him. We're that we're supposed to be the many brethren of which he is the firstborn. The Bible says that he created everything. He created everything. Look at Matthew chapter 28. Look at verse 18, the verse right before the great commission. Look at verse 18 of Matthew 28. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Now turn to Hebrews chapter one. Look, what this is saying is that Christ had, he not only, he not only made the creation, he not only created the entire universe, everything in the heavens, everything in the earth, but he has the preeminence over creation is what this is talking about. Look at Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one. So Jesus Christ, this is what Colossians one is telling us is that Jesus has the preeminence over everything in the universe and on the earth is what this is saying. Over all the creation, Jesus has been given the preeminence. Look at Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one. God who at sundry times in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed. What does it say here? It says heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds. There's that creation again. So we see in John chapter one, Jesus was the power behind the creation. He created the worlds. We see in Hebrews chapter one, Jesus is the creator. And we see in Colossians chapter one, Jesus is the creator. All this to say that Jesus has the preeminence over creation. That's what this is saying. Now this is interesting. We're going to rabbit trail the sermon here for a little bit, and I'm going to predict the end of the world for you. Look at verse number two. I've always thought that this was interesting considering that Hebrews was written by Paul, of course, you know, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but it was written by Paul. And, you know, I think that the new Testament was completed sometime before 70 AD. I'll give those reasons in a sermon in a couple of weeks, but look, look what Paul says. Look what Paul says as he, Paul is writing Hebrews through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says, he's talking about God who hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. So Paul is referring to the time that he is living in presently, say it's 50 AD, for example, as the last days, these last days he's referring. Have you ever thought about that when you read that now turn to, um, I haven't got a theory on that. And if we actually, we have to make some assumptions here, but let's go ahead and calculate, you know, when the world will end by Paul's comment here. So Paul says that he's in the last days. Now that was 2000 years ago that he said that he was in the last days. How could that be possible? Turn to Mark chapter 10 in verse number 31. Let me show you some interesting things about, you know, how, how the Bible uses is when it uses the words first and last, we can kind of get an idea. I think of what Paul and I'm not saying Paul knew this. I think that most of the apostles probably thought Jesus was coming back pretty soon with, which would a lot of the language that Jesus used, but God, um, you know, he just didn't reveal it to them, but let's look at a couple of things in the Bible. Look at Mark chapter 10 and look at verse number 31. So, uh, you'll see the same thing in the book of Matthew. When you see the householder, you know, with the vineyard, send people out, you'll see the same type of language. I'll just read you this verse here, but the Bible says, this is talking about how things will be different in the kingdom of heaven. Things will be ordered different is what it's saying in the kingdom of heaven than they are here. Meaning people that may seem like they're, they're really important and they're really ahead and they're super special. You know, when it comes to who's going to be important in heaven, it's going to be flipped on its head is what the Bible is saying here. So look at Matthew chapter 10 in verse number 31, it says, it's just talking about somebody who left everything for Christ. Let's go back to verse 29. Jesus answered and said, verily, I say unto you, there's no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels, but he shall receive 100 fold. Now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life. And then he talks about how it's just going to be flipped on its head. You know, you may, you may have hard times now, but then he says, but, but many that are first shall be last and the last first. So follow my, my stupid engineer logic here for a minute. Okay. But what he is saying is he's talking about a group of people and he's saying, some people are going to be first and some people are going to be last. He is clearly not talking about who's going to be the very first and who's going to be the very last. He's just talking about the order of things. He's saying some people are going to be in the first part. Some people are going to be in the last part. He's talking about the order of things. Think about a gas tank that only has two readings. You know that a gas tank only has two readings. It either says empty or full. So where do you think the line would be on dividing the gas tank between empty and full? If you only have two readings, you divide the whole tank in half. Are you with me? So the last half would be empty or the last and the first half would be full or the first. So the Bible here is just dividing, you know, this section of people into the first and the last is all it's doing. The first half and the last half. So let's apply that to Paul saying that he's in the last days. Look, it makes sense because clearly Paul was not in the last days, meaning the last couple of weeks or the last 75 days or whatever. So Hebrews was 2,000 years ago. How old is the earth? The earth that we know from the Bible is about 6,200 years. Let's just round it down to 6,000 years. So at the time that Paul made this comment that we're in the last days, the earth was about 4,000 plus or minus, you know, plus a hundred years is about 4,000 years old. So Paul, at the point of 4,000 years, he was listing this as now we're in the last days or the last part. You could look at it that way. So all we have to do is all we have to do is take 4,000 or let's take, you know, 4,100. Let's just round down to 4,000. Let's say it's right at the 4,000 year old mark when Paul made that comment. And we just take it times two. And we know that's the maximum time that we have left on earth if Paul, if my theory is correct. Okay. You've got to make a couple assumptions, but I mean, I'm liking it so far. So basically we have about 1,800 years left is what I'm getting at. Okay. You know, give or take, but the point is if it goes past 1,800 years, it would be, it would be kind of weird that Paul would say he was in the last days because he couldn't have been in the last half. He still would have been at the beginning half of time. So, I mean, look, I know that this, you know, saying that, you know, the end times is probably, according to this logic, going to come in the next 1,800 years or sometime before that. That's probably not going to get me a cult following. You know, I know, but that's what I'm comfortable with right now anyway. But that's, that's my, that's my estimation on how Paul could have said, you know, these last days. Okay. Because we're entering into the last half, basically, if that makes sense. So I've always kind of thought about that and I wanted to give some of that twisted logic to you this evening. All right. Let's go back to Christ, the firstborn. Now we know, you know, that's probably not, like I said, that's probably not going to get me any book sales or anything like that, but at least it makes sense of the statement is what I'm trying to get at. Okay. Cause Paul said, you know, these last days, look at verse number three of Hebrews, where we were just at verse number three, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself, purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, and then go to verse number six, Hebrews chapter one in verse number six, it says, and again, he bringeth in the first begotten into the world. He said, and let all the angels of God worship him. So there's the first begotten. Okay. Instead of the first born in revelation chapter one, five, it says the first resurrected again, or, you know, that same, you know, resurrection from the dead. Look, there's going to be more resurrections. Jesus was the first. Jesus was the first resurrection. So all that to say this, okay. Jesus created the world. Jesus, according to Hebrews chapter one and many other places in, in, uh, Colossians chapter one Hebrews, he redeemed the world. He advocates for the world. Turn to Psalm chapter 89. He advocates for the world and look at Psalm chapter 89, Psalm chapter 89. Look at verse number 27, Psalm chapter 89, verse number 27. He has the preeminence over the world. And what does that mean? What does the brass tax of Jesus having the preeminence over the world? Look at Psalm 89 and verse 27, the Bible says, also, I will make him my firstborn. There it is again, higher than all the Kings of the earth. He will one day rule the world is what the Bible is teaching here. Turn to revelation chapter 20. He advocates for it. He created it. He redeemed it. One day he will rule it. He will rule it. Look at revelation chapter 20. Look at verse number four. This is talking about the millennial reign of Christ. One day, Jesus will literally rule the earth. Look at verse number four. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. So all that to say this, Christ has complete sovereignty over all of creation. And one day he will physically rule it. That's what Colossians chapter one is talking about. When it talks about Christ, the firstborn, the firstborn over creation, the firstborn, you know, from the dead. So the question is tonight, the question is tonight, since Jesus has sovereignty over everything in creation, Jesus has sovereignty. He will one day rule the world. He will one day sit on the throne and rule the earth for a thousand years. Does he rule you? Is the question tonight. Does he rule your life? You know, somehow this idea of Christ ruling our lives has been turned into an actual false doctrine somehow. I'm going to read that for you, and then we'll get back to this idea of Christ, you know, being the Lord of your life. But he should be the Lord of your life. Let me give you, you know, a quotation from the statement of faith from Grace Community Church, which is John MacArthur's church, who, you know, he teaches a different salvation than what the Bible teaches. It's very subtle, but it's not really that subtle. But I want to show you, you know, just the dangers of this doctrine. It's called lordship salvation. Okay. Let me read you the first part. It may sound good at first. This is straight from their website. The Bible, or not, not the Bible. The Grace Community Church website talks about salvation in this manner. It says, Jesus is Lord and Savior. The New Testament reveals it was Jesus himself who created everything. And they say, you know, they quote Colossians 1 16. Agree. Therefore he owns and rules everything. That means he has authority over our lives and we owe him absolute allegiance, obedience, obedience, and worship. I don't disagree there either. Romans 10 9 says, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, did that hurt to hear that for a minute? This is the important part. I didn't realize how bad, you know, the new Bible versions were on Romans 10 9. It's messed up. Romans 10 9 in the King James Bible says, confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, meaning like, you know, King Jesus, it's a title. And instead it says Jesus as Lord in all these new different Bible versions. And it just twists them, meaning you have to recognize him as Lord or take him as Lord. And they turn that into a part of salvation. It's very subtle, but let me, let me continue reading. If you confess, this is the false version here. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe, see how they just added works to salvation right there and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead. You shall be saved. Even though God's justice demands death for sin. His love has provided a savior who paid the penalty and died for sinners. Christ's death satisfied the demands of God's justice and Christ's perfect life satisfied the demands of God's holiness, thereby enabling him to forgive and save those who place their faith in him. So what they said in the last sentence was different than they said in the two sentences before that in the false version of Romans 10 9. Now here's where it gets really bad. The character of saving faith. This is what it goes into now. True faith is always accompanied by repentance from sin. Repentance is agreeing with God that you are sinful, confessing your sins to him and making a conscious choice to turn from sin and pursue Christ and obedience to him. It isn't enough to believe certain facts about Christ. Even Satan and his demons believe in the true God, but they don't love and obey him. True saving faith always responds in obedience. Ephesians 2 10. Turn to Ephesians 2 10. Let's look at Ephesians 2 10 because he says this statement, true saving faith always responds in obedience. Ephesians 2 10. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter two and look at verse number 10. We read constantly out soul winning Ephesians chapter two, verse eight and verse nine. Maybe we're missing something. Look at Ephesians chapter two and verse number 10. Actually, let's read eight, nine and 10. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. How stupid would it be to, for the Bible to contradict itself? Literally one verse after. I mean, think about that for a second. I mean, if I, if you were going to mess with the Bible, you know, contradicted a few books later or something, but they're literally saying that true saving faith always responds in obedience. Look at verse number nine, not of works. That's complicated, lest any man should boast. For, look at verse 10. And I've had Catholics quote this to me as well when I'm out soul winning. Oh, you got to read verse 10. Let's read verse 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Isn't that what we just studied as Christ, the firstborn of many brethren. We are to be conformed to him. Agree. We are created. Look, it is your destiny. It is your predestined. It is God's predestined plan for you when you get saved to go on to good works and to be like Christ. That is absolutely God's plan for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God has before ordained that we will for sure walk in them. This is why you have to have a King James Bible. It says that we should walk in them. This is Romans over and over and over. You get saved. Now you should be many brethren to Christ. You should be conformed to his son. You should, or you're in sin. You should. It doesn't say you will for sure. I mean, it doesn't say you will turn into a robot and do everything that turn to Romans chapter four. Turn to Romans chapter four. This is such a terrible heresy. You say it's so subtle. How can it be such a big deal? It's the difference between heaven and hell folks. Look at Romans chapter four and verse number four. Romans chapter four and Romans chapter four, verse four and Romans chapter four, verse five. We're talking about two different people here. We're talking about two men. And this is super important that this is understood. And this is a great one to use out soul winning as well. You're talking about two people here. Verse four. Now to him that worketh, this guy, we would look at this guy in verse number four and we say, that guy's a great guy. That guy is Christ-like. This guy's doing the works. He's out there and he's walking the walk. He's doing what he should. Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But he was working to get himself to heaven. See, he was working for his salvation. And the Bible says he'll have nothing but debt. But now look at verse five, but to him, now here's a different guy that worketh not. This guy's a jerk. We would look at this guy and be like, this guy's a jerk. That guy's not Christian. That guy's not doing any works. He worketh not. It says, it doesn't say he worketh a little. It says he worketh not. He literally is just a jerk. He's not doing anything that he should do, but he believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. Look, this guy believes on Jesus. It means he trusts in Jesus. That's what believe on means. It means he has trusted in Jesus. His faith is counted for righteousness. The guy in verse five that is a jerk is going to heaven. And the guy in verse number four that is a nice guy, that's doing all these wonderful things. He is the Matthew 7 guy. He's the guy that's going to go to Jesus and say, look at all my wonderful works. And Jesus is going to say, I never knew you. That is how important this doctrine is. Look, we should do good works. We should be being conformed to Christ. We should be of many brethren of the firstborn. We should be looking more and more like him every day. But when you tie this to salvation, you're going to send people straight to hell because they're not going to get saved. Because they're going to be trusting on themselves. Just look, changing the gospel just slightly destroys it. You think about these people in John MacArthur's church. Why go soul winning? These are the people that they would not want to go soul winning. We got a couple hundred people saved last year. We're a small group. We get all these people saved. John MacArthur and his church are the type of people that say, where are all those people? If they got saved, why aren't they getting their lives together? Why aren't they getting in church? Because they should do those things. It doesn't mean that they will. Look, we want to encourage people. We want to do that discipleship. And we want to do that and get people into church. But it has nothing to do with whether or not they're going to heaven or not. Because going to heaven is just trusting, is just believing on. That's why, why go soul winning? If you have a works-based belief, even a little bit of works, it destroys soul winning. Because why would you go? Because you're sitting here thinking that those people didn't get saved, is what the John MacArthur's would think. Thus, it's just a waste of time, is what people would think. You know, that's why people with false gospels that go to churches with false gospels, that's why they don't go soul winning. That's a good measure of, you know, a church's gospel right there. Do they go soul winning? Look, it's not just the Calvinists, folks, that don't believe in soul winning. It's the lordship salvation people, because they don't believe that somebody that doesn't change their life. And this is a cousin to repenting of your sins, by the way. This is a first cousin to repenting of your sins. That you have to turn from your sins to be saved. What does that even mean? I mean, how many of my sins do I have to turn from? How many can I keep? Do I have to become sinless? It doesn't make any sense. So look, this, this, Jesus being Lord of your life has been used in a very bad way. Now, here's what it does to us. We hear these, we hear a, you know, a sermon on Jesus should be, have preeminence over your life. Jesus should be the Lord of your life. And right away, we hear that Jesus, the Lord of my life, and we're like, because we've like met so many people that believe, you know, like same thing with repent of your sins. Look, you should repent of your sins. Whatever definition you want to use for repent, whether that means feel bad for your sins. We know in the Bible to repent means to simply change your mind. God repented again and again and again in the Bible. Does that mean that God sins? No, God simply changed his mind about what he was going to do in Nineveh and other places in the Bible. But the point is repenting of your sins, turning from your sins. That's a good thing to do is nothing to do with your salvation, but it is a great thing to do. Confessing your sins, a great thing to do. Making Jesus Christ Lord of your life is a great thing to do. You know what we're doing actually? Week in and week out when I get up here, because what does that mean making Jesus the Lord of your life? How do I know, how do I know I've succeeded with making Jesus Lord of my life? Well, here's the thing. Every time you do something in your life that is against what the Bible says, you have not made Jesus Lord of your life in that area. You're like, that sounds hard. Yeah, it's like impossible. You're never going to get there, but that's why you come to church. That's why you come to church and I scream at you three times a week and tell you what the Bible says and say, this is wrong. This is a sin. I don't care what the culture out there says. All this fornication, all this drunkenness, all this garbage, all this godlessness, all this perversion is, you know, it's all wicked and bad and you should have nothing to do with it. That's what you're doing. And you're sitting there and you're drinking it in and you're like, yes, that's right. And you're thinking about, oh, I got this in my life. I got this trash. I got to get out of my house. I got this. I got this internet in my house. That's not under control. I need to get this trash out of my house. You know what you're doing? You're making Jesus, the Lord of your life in those areas, but you need the word of God thrown at you, preach to you. You need to be reproved, rebuked, exhort each other. And that is how you make the, you know, Jesus Christ, the Lord of your life. You're like, man, there's so many things I just thought about just now where Jesus isn't the Lord of mine. See how stupid it is that if it would have to do with salvation, you would never get there. You would never get there. Repent of your sins, please. Stop. Turn from your sins. Recognize your sins. But you know what the Bible does? You know what happens when you read the Bible? When you read the Bible, you study the Bible and you listen to preaching from the Bible, it makes sin just pop out in your life. So you can recognize it. Because you know what happens if you go to work and you quit going to church, you start hanging around a bunch of worldly people, you know what happens? You stop recognizing sin. It just kind of blends in. Maybe you don't realize it if you're in church and you're in your Bible, but here's the thing. If you get out of church and you get out of your Bible and you just get out in the world and you start doing everything, you will literally not know that you were sinning. You'll literally be doing things that you just think are okay. Your conscience will start to become seared and you will just think that you will just become desensitized to sin. The Bible, preaching, church, your fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, it does the opposite of all that. And that is how throughout your entire life, folks, look, this is a process from the time you get saved to the time you go into the ground and go to heaven. This is a process. This is the process. Making Jesus the Lord of your life is a process. Repenting of your sins is a process. It's a process of maturing as a Christian is what it is. And that's why we have a midweek service. So you don't have this big span in your life where you're just getting melded into everything. It's to just give you a dose of the Bible. It's to give you a dose of the preaching and what you need to hear. So you can make Jesus the firstborn Lord of your life, in your home life, your work life, your marriage, your kids. Some people make their kids the Lord of their life instead of Jesus. Basically anything that you do that is contrary to the Bible for reasons other than Christ is an area in your life that He is not Lord. So Jesus Christ is the firstborn and we're to make Him Lord of our life. We're to recognize the areas in our lives. And that's by, you know, beholding our natural face in the mirror of the Bible. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.