My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine,
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior, art Thou,
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, it is now.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow,
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, it is now.
In mansions of glory and in less delight,
I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright.
I'll sing with a glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, it is now.
It is now.
He is born, He is risen from the dead,
And He is born. Every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess the Jesus.
O God, I love Thee, I love Thee,
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
I'm going to sing about Jesus, I'm going to sing about Jesus, I'm going to sing about
Jesus, I'm going to sing about Jesus, I'm going to sing about Jesus, I'm going to sing
about Jesus, I'm going to sing about Jesus, I'm going to sing about Jesus, I'm going to
In the end we are blessed followers of every God-born Son.
Who had an macabre child rich since hisони Limits and has won His honor.
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am
the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am
the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the
disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple
of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of
Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus,
I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am
the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am
the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the
disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple
of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of Jesus, I am the disciple of
familiar realm that is true also in the religious realm.
I talked to a friend of mine who is a member of the largest
Protestant denomination in the United States,
a former pastor in that group, and he told me
that as of a few months ago now,
there were several thousand of their churches
that either had or were in the process of getting rid of their pastors.
Now there may have been some good reasons for that, I don't know.
But I know that there is upheaval going on within that group and it only represents
what's happening in many places.
It's not only true in Protestant churches, it's true in the Roman church.
Who's the authority in the Roman church? Is it the Pope?
Or is it the U.S. Council or Conference of Bishops?
Or in fact is it the will of the majority of the Roman Catholic people
because they disagree with what Rome says?
And are we seeing a rebellion coming against papal authority
in the Roman Catholic churches in the United States? I think we are.
It is a day of rebellion against authority.
I believe the decline in an institution or in a civilization
is always characterized by a breakdown of authority.
Some other things too, but certainly that,
decline is characterized by a breakdown of authority.
Can we not say that the inevitable failure of human authority
in whatever realm it is,
is actually humanity's failure itself to recognize its ultimate authority?
I think that is the case.
Man is in rebellion against his maker.
And until that is corrected,
no institution of human authority is safe
because man in his heart is in rebellion.
And therefore when civilization begins to decline,
man's rebellion will be expressed in many different ways.
Indeed a man cannot even rule over himself.
Fowing out of Paul's prayer for the Ephesian Church, and for us by extension,
is a remarkable statement regarding ultimate authority.
It is a statement regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.
He presents the Lord Jesus as supreme authority in every respect.
Now when we speak of someone or something as being supreme,
what we are saying is that that person or thing is the highest in rank or authority.
There is nothing greater than that which is supreme.
So when we talk about the supremacy of Jesus Christ,
what we are asserting is that he is the ultimate authority.
He is the highest of rank.
There is no authority that is over him.
There is no rival to his power.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority.
He is supreme in every respect you can think of.
Notice with me Paul's words beginning in verse 19, the last part of the verse.
These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might,
which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
far above our rule and authority and power and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
And he put all things in subjection under his feet,
and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all.
I believe that there is no authority in this world that is secure
until Jesus Christ is acknowledged as the final authority.
When he is recognized rightly and supremely,
every other proper authority is then established.
The problem with the rebellion in our age is that Jesus Christ
is not acknowledged and recognized as supreme.
But notice with me the realms that Paul speaks about
in which he is supreme.
In the first place, Paul suggests to us that the Lord Jesus Christ
is supreme in the realm of death.
He says regarding him that God brought about his power in Christ
when he raised him, Christ, from the dead.
Death was unleashed at the fall.
The record of that is found in Genesis chapter 3.
God warned Adam and Eve that disobedience would bring death.
And when they disobeyed, they began to die.
Death is a judgment upon sin. Practically speaking, I believe that God
instituted death as a judgment in order to limit the impact
any one person could have in leading rebellion against God.
There have been some notable rebels against the Lord, but inevitably death
has taken them. And I believe one reason that God
instituted death as a punishment was to limit
the impact any one person could have. Death reigned as king,
as the king of terrors, as Job calls it, until the time of Jesus Christ.
Finally, death sank its fangs into the sinless Son of God
and it pumped its venom into him at the cross.
Jesus drained the power of death into himself and then willingly gave
himself to death's authority, said it was finished, gave up his spirit,
and chose to die at that moment.
The Lord Jesus Christ, three days later, on that first Easter
morning, took up his life again. He defeated death who thought he had
gained the victory. What a shock it must have been for Mr. Death
on Easter Sunday morning the first. As we sing in the hymn that is often
sung around Easter, Death could not keep its prey,
Jesus my Savior. He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he
arose with a mighty power for his foes.
The Lord Jesus Christ is supreme in the realm of death.
As the Apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in the second chapter of
Acts, he mentions this blessed truth and he
says in the 24th verse of that second chapter,
and God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death
since it was impossible for him to be held in its power.
The Lord Jesus Christ submitted himself to death.
He willingly entered the realm of death,
and then came back from the dead to let us know that death had indeed
been conquered, that he was the victor. It was impossible for death to hold him
in its power, and when he came back he put an end to the agony
of death. Not just the agony of death for he himself, but the agony of death
for us. Because he lives, we too shall live.
The Lord Jesus Christ alone today possesses the keys
to death and Hades. I'd like you to turn over to the book of Revelation in that
first chapter where we see a vision of the glorified Christ.
And notice with me what the Apostle John sees and hears.
He heard a voice and turned around and describes to us
in verses 13 through 16 what he saw, and then in verse 17 of Revelation 1 he
says, when I saw him I fell at his feet as a dead man,
and he laid his right hand upon me saying, do not be afraid,
I am the first and the last, and the living one, and I was dead,
and behold I am alive forevermore. And then he says, and I have the keys
of death and Hades. What did Jesus mean by that?
Well the idea behind his possessing the keys is that he possesses the authority,
the authority over it. As surely as the Lord Jesus Christ was
raised, so he will raise every child of his.
If in fact the Lord Jesus Christ is supreme over the realm of death,
if in fact he has conquered our greatest and last
enemy for us, what else need we fear all of our lives?
We already have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What other enemy is so fearsome to us that we should quake before it
if he has conquered that last, that ultimate enemy, death on our behalf?
I submit to you that because he is supreme in the realm of death,
there is nothing that should make us fearful. We can lay down our heads
in peace at night knowing that our Savior is Lord of death and of Hades.
We can face dangerous days. We can walk to the stake of martyrdom
unafraid because our Savior is the Lord of death. He is supreme in that
realm. He possesses the keys to death and Hades.
As we move on through the next verse in the first chapter of Ephesians,
we see that he is also supreme in the realm of the heavenlies.
It says he brought about in Christ his power when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
places far above our will and authority and power and dominion.
I submit to you tonight that the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Lord of
death, but secondly he is supreme over the
heavenlies. The heavenlies is of course a phrase
that is found in the book of Ephesians exclusively,
but it's found several times in the book. We've seen it already in the first
chapter. The heavenlies refers to the realm of
spiritual privilege for the child of God. Or to put it a different way,
the heavenlies is the realm of ultimate reality. Follow with me if you will.
Several years ago when I was pastoring in Kentucky, the man who was responsible
for the greater Cincinnati airport attended our church.
He invited me to come out to see what he did and how the control tower
worked. And so I gladly took him up on that
opportunity. One day went out there, went up into that tower and watched
the controllers as they handled the airplanes.
It was amazing to me to watch the computers
keep track of those airplanes that were 40 and 60 and 100 miles away.
Little blips and dots on the radar screen.
And these skilled men would speak over the microphone after that pilot
and they would follow a certain course on that radar scope.
And finally at last after several minutes
you could look in the distance and see a little dot
and it would get closer and closer until finally down before as the
airplane would land on the runway. That tower was the control central for
the airplanes. That's what controlled those airplanes
flying out those 50 and 100 miles away so that they would not collide. So that
they would come to the right place and land there safely. That was control
central. I want to suggest to you that that's
a picture of what the heavenlies is. The heavenlies is control central
for the events in this world.
We look at the events that take place and we wonder
why does this happen? What is behind this scheme of things?
Why does it happen this way? The answer is that the events that we see
are controlled in another realm.
Control central, the heavenlies, is actually in control of the events
in this world. History
actually gets its course from the supernatural realm
which is called in the book of Ephesians the heavenlies.
That's very interesting in light of the fact that our intelligent and enlightened
age denies that there is a supernatural.
But the events in this world actually ultimately are controlled by the
supernatural realm, by that dimension of spiritual reality. That can be
proven over and over in the word of God. Most clearly as I've seen in the book of
Daniel.
The heavenlies is furthermore our place of citizenship.
That is, it is where we get our essential identity.
We are citizens of heaven, says the apostle.
That's not true of the unsaved. Those who are outside of Jesus Christ are said to
find their citizenship in this world. Words like that are used over in the
second chapter of Ephesians where Paul speaks
to us and he says, in which you that is in your trespasses and sins
you formerly walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,
that is those who are not saved. He says, among them we too all formerly lived
in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires
of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath,
even as the rust. What about the unsaved? Well they walk according to the course
of this world because this is where they find their
identification. This is where they plug into their reality.
Jesus calls the unconverted in Luke 16 8, children of this world.
But not so the child of God. Of us it is said in Colossians 1 13 that Christ has
delivered us from the domain of darkness
and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.
We have had a transference of our citizenship.
We are no longer citizens of the realm into which we were born.
We are part of a new kingdom, a new reality, a new dimension,
which is called in Ephesians the heavenlies.
The heavenlies is the realm, the place of our identification.
That is why the apostle further tells us in Colossians
the third chapter, seek those things which are above.
In other words he says that is where your identity
is rooted. Therefore seek those things which relate to above to the heavenlies.
He says to us in the next verse, the second verse in the third chapter of
Colossians, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Why? Because that's where your citizenship is.
Jesus Christ reigns as supreme over the kingdom of our citizenship.
You and I may have nothing of significance in this world as far as
it's concerned, but beloved we are richly endowed
in the real world, the real world. This is not the real world.
The real world is the heavenlies. That's where our citizenship is and that's
where we have what he says in chapter one verse three,
every spiritual blessing in Christ. We may be as poor as church mice as they
say in this world, but when it comes to heaven,
when it comes to the real dimension, there we are richly endowed because we
are princes. We are the royalty of that world,
of that reality. The challenge for us of course
is to live in light of that isn't it? Is to keep in mind
who our citizenship really is and to really set our affection on those things
and to enter into our riches in our experience
in this world and we can do that.
The word Jesus Christ is supreme in the realm of the heavenlies.
It says here in Ephesians chapter one that he is seated at the right hand of
God in the heavenlies. The right hand of God by the way
refers to the place of ultimate favor, the place of greatest power,
designated power. All that has been given to the Son
in the heavenlies. Now there's a third realm that I want to point out and that
is found in the next verse when it says that he is
seated far above all rule and authority and
power and dominion. Now as I mentioned last week, what we
have here is a series of titles and ranks
which belong to angels. Sometimes these words are used
of human authorities but it's clear since he is
speaking of the heavenlies that in verse 21 he first has in mind
the angelic realm. So I suggest to you that Jesus Christ is supreme
over the angels. Let's think about that for a moment
then we'll close for tonight. In the first place the Lord Jesus Christ
created the angels. Just flip over to Colossians with me and
look at the first chapter in the 16th verse
where we have some of these same words used.
It says in verse 16, for by him all things were created
both in the heavens and on the earth. Notice the distinction
visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities and there you have those titles and ranks again.
Now whether those titles and ranks apply to the visible or the invisible, to the
earth or to the heavens, it makes no difference because Jesus
Christ created all of them. It says in summary all things have been
created by him. Literally it says through him. He is the
word, the agency by whom everything was created
and it was also created for him. That is ultimately it is his possession
and he will stand in judgment over all of his creation.
So the Lord Jesus Christ is supreme over the angels because
he created them. We read in Job the 38th chapter that they, the sons of God as
they're called there, were present of creation. That is the
rest of creation. And so we would learn from that that the
angels were the very first thing that God created.
That they were present then when the creation of Genesis
took place and it says they sang for joy. They rejoiced when they saw
the magnificent power and wisdom of God displayed in his work in Genesis
chapters one and two. These angels are spirit beings who have
individual personalities. They are named and it says in Hebrews 12 22 that they
are innumerable. There are myriads and myriads of them,
thousands and ten thousands of them. Among the angels there are two groupings.
There are those who are called the holy angels.
Luke 9 26 uses that term. Obviously these are the angels who serve God.
These are the angels who are unfallen.
The second group is called demons or fallen angels.
That term is not used but they certainly are mentioned right here in the book of
Ephesians in the sixth chapter where our warfare is described in verse 12
as being not against flesh and blood but against rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness
and notice where it is.
He's referring here to the fallen angels to the demons.
You see sometime before Genesis chapter three
pride was found in Lucifer who apparently was the very guardian of the throne of God.
Having found pride in him, God cast Lucifer out of heaven
and with him went a host of angels who were with him in his rebellion against
God. Those are the ones which the Bible calls
demons or fallen angels.
Now whichever grouping you wish to speak about whether the holy angels or the
demons, these angels are highly organized
and the purpose of their organization is that they might fulfill
every wish of their leaders. Of the fallen angels the leader is none
other of course than Satan.
In Matthew 12 24 he is called the ruler of demons, the ruler of demons.
You say is there really a personal devil? The answer that is absolutely there is.
There is a personal being in the invisible world in the heavenlies
who is called Satan and Lucifer. He is the devil. He is the accuser of the
brethren. He is at the top of the pinnacle.
His is the organization of spiritual wickedness. It is called this world's
darkness and with unbelievable cruelty and wickedness he designs a plan for
the course of this world. How does he carry it out?
Through the angels that are under him. Being highly organized and the
organization being suggested by the terms that we see
there in verse 21 of Ephesians 1. Being highly organized and
they carry out his every wish. Now apparently not all of these beings
are free to affect the world history
right now as they shall be someday. Turn over with me to Revelation once more
and to the ninth chapter. In this part of Revelation there
is a series of judgments that are poured out upon the earth.
First we recall there are seals that are opened.
The seventh of the seals on the scroll opens to another series of judgments
which are called trumpet judgments because of trumpet sounds with them.
Now in verse 1 of chapter 9 it says the fifth angel sounded
that is with his trumpet and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the
earth and the key of the bottomless pit was
given to him. Now there is obviously symbolic language
here but we're not really left in the dark
as to what it's referring to. There is a personality in view in fact
it is a masculine form that is used there in verse 1.
Him, to him the star that had fallen from heaven was given the key.
Now what do we say the key refers to? Authority.
And it says he opened the bottomless pit and smoke went up out of the pit
like the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened by the
smoke of the pit and out of the smoke came forth locusts
upon the earth and power was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have
power and they were told that they should not hurt
the grass of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree.
Now this is obviously not a natural locust because that's what they go
after. It goes on to say but only the men who do
not have the seal of god on their foreheads.
That is the worldlings those who are unregenerate in this time of the
tribulation. And it says and they were not permitted
to kill anyone but to torment for five months
and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man
and in those days men will seek death and will not find it and they will long
to die and death flees from them and the appearance of the locusts was
like and remember again John is using language here as best he can to describe
what he literally saw. He says it was like horses prepared for
battle and on their heads as it were crowns like
gold and their faces were like the faces of men
and they had hair like the hair of women and their teeth were like the teeth of
lions and they had breastplates like breastplates of iron
and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses
rushing to battle and they have tails like scorpions and
stings and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five
months. Now there are some people and I
I think you probably have read some books which would suggest that these
these things may be helicopters and there is I can understand why
that might be said but I don't believe we're looking here at some instrument of
human warfare. We're looking at something that comes out
of the bottomless pit. We're looking at creatures that live they
have power given just for five months
when they might normally be thought to eat green things they
actually torment people who are unregenerate that is their purpose
and then furthermore in verse 11 it says they have a king
over them the angel of the abyss his name in hebrew is abaddon
and in the greek he has the name apollyon
well we believe that these are the other names given for satan
who is the ruler of the demonic world
as it is true the world of darkness the angelic world of darkness so it is
true of the holy angels they too have a leader one who is
supreme and that one is jesus christ
he is supreme over the holy angels they do his bidding
turn back with me a few pages to hebrews chapter one
we will not follow the whole argument of the author although it is
a fantastic argument in this chapter regarding the superiority of jesus christ
but regarding him it says that he when he had made purification of sins he sat
down at the right hand of the majesty on high
verse four having become as much better than the angels
as he has inherited a more excellent name than they
by the way that name is son s o n capital s o n
and then he argues concerning this to which of the angels has god ever said
about my son or to which of the angels god said i'll be
a father he shall be my son to him he goes on down and talks about the
superiority of christ and then in verse 14 it says are they the
angels not all ministering spirits set out to render service for the sake of
those who will inherit salvation so just as there is
organization to the realm of satan so in the angelic realm over which christ
rules there is organization the ministering spirits are organized
into archangels and angels they are sent forth to carry out the
bidding of god in the affairs of the world
they struggle against the spirits of satan
in the realm of the heavenlies in control central
and according to the battle in control central
so it falls out in this world read about it in the book of daniel
the lord jesus christ when he comes back from heaven will come with an army
of angelic angels he the general will bring with him
a vast army of angels who will defeat the armies of the antichrist christ will
subdue completely all wicked angelic powers as well as
wicked men in revelation chapter 12 we find recorded
for us the fall of satan and his angels from their present habitation in the
air there is some sense in which while they
are affecting the events of the world they don't have to dwell in the world
they they have access to the air and to the
heavenlies but in revelation chapter 12 which
seems to be about the midpoint of the tribulation they are cast out of heaven
to the earth and satan is extremely angry at that
action of god read about it there in that chapter
and then ultimately when we come to the end of the book of revelation the 20th
chapter we read of the lord jesus christ taking
satan the serpent and casting him into the bottomless
pit for a thousand years and then when he is released so that a
purpose of god can be established and carried out he is taken once more by
the lord jesus christ and this time cast into the lake of fire where it says he
will be tormented day and night forever and forever the lord jesus
christ is supreme over the realm of the angels
and though there is a rebellion against his authority by some of the angels and
their leader one day they will be completely vanquished
and overthrown by the lord jesus christ the point is this there is no realm where
jesus is not supreme there are some more things pointed out
here in the book of ephesians but we're going to leave it at that point tonight
you know there are some people who are terrified of the powers of darkness
no christian should have any cause for experimentation with them let me
emphasize that we should not have anything to do with
astrology with games with television shows including
cartoons that have to do with the the powers of darkness
they are very subtly woven right into to saturday morning you know that don't
you parents we should avoid those things stay away
from those things that are weird that are far out and perverse even toys
that are offered for our children to play with because you see all of this is
preparing the way for the overt exercise of the power of these wicked
beings in the tribulation period we believers should have nothing to do
with those kinds of things but on the other hand
we do not have to tremble in fear before them either
we must respect their powers
we must respect the cynical wisdom that is satan's the evil wisdom that is
his and understand that he is far more
intelligent than we are as mere men and possesses greater power than we have
but what's the verse of course greater is he that is in us than he who is
in the world so remember that the lord jesus christ
is supreme over that realm
i'd like for you to take your hymnal and turn with me to
number 240 as we sing all hail the power of jesus name
then notice the next line let's sing in response of worship tonight to the
supremacy of jesus christ about his power we'll pick it up word
willing next week there in ephesians chapter one let's stand together as we
sing
blah
And the fourth verse, please.
O that with yonder sacred throne, we at his feet may fall,
We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all.
Let's bow together, please, in prayer.
Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is supreme.
Over death, supreme over the heavenlies, supreme over angels.
And let's make him supreme likewise in our lives.
Sing with me, will you, a cappella, in closing prayer.
O come, let us adore him.
Christ the Lord, for he alone is worthy.
For he alone is worthy.
Christ the Lord.
As we bow together in prayer, my friend,
what does the supremacy of Jesus Christ mean to you tonight?
Heavenly Father, we bless you for the Son,
who has ascended back to the glory and is seated at your right hand.
We bless you for his supremacy, his Lordship over every realm.
Tonight our hearts have been encouraged as we see specific realms.
May that all-important personal realm of our lives likewise be fully submitted to the one
who is our Savior and our Lord.
We pray this in his name, the name which is above every name.
Amen.