Jesus: Preeminent in all Things

It's wonderful to be here this morning and I appreciate your pastors and their kindness towards me and I bring greetings from our elders at the Reformed Baptist Church in Riverside. For those of you who were in the old building off the Lyndon, we were Caddy Corner, Iowa and Blaine right next to where Starbucks was. And in fact, if you were around a lot longer, you remember that was just an empty field and then they built the Starbucks right next to us. So we didn't even have to have a coffee cart, we just walked next door.

But, it's, my, my pastors wanted to extend their greetings to you that it is a real privilege to have two churches that are like-minded as I leaned over to my wife as we were singing. Every single song we sang this morning, we sing at our church and it's just wonderful to be in a church that is focused on the gospel. That is, is proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, and is focused on grace, that, we, we no longer seeking to, save ourselves. We can rest in Christ alone through faith alone, all because of grace alone and God gets the glory for that.

Amen. this morning, we're going to look at Colossians chapter one, so feel free to turn your Bible there. Pastor Mike asked me to share a little bit about Haven today and that's where I've been working for the last 6.5 years. It's a Christian radio program and some of you may remember a name Haven of Rest.

It began in 1934, right in Los Angeles and has continued to this day. It's known as Haven today. but it is in, in March we'll be celebrating our eighty-fifth anniversary as a continuous daily radio program and there aren't many just radio programs in general that have that legacy, let alone a Christian one. So it's a real privilege to serve there and to work there and my boss is Charles Morris.

I believe he's spoken here a couple of times in, in the past and actually he's just I think he's heading back from a tour in Israel tomorrow. So, we, I know he extends his greetings to you as well. And the tagline that he brought with him when he took over almost 20 years ago was, it's all about Jesus. And I love working for a ministry, that has those three simple words and yet in it, it's so profound, all about Jesus.

And this morning as we look at Colossians chapter one, You're gonna see that Paul was all about Jesus. Jesus was so important to him. In fact, he's gonna say he is preeminent in all things. But it leads us to a good question.

That we should ask ourselves and that we should be asking everybody that we have contact with, who is Jesus. In fact, Charles at the end of an interview often with all sorts of people. He'll interview authors, artists, politicians, anybody who is walking with the Lord, missionaries who are doing unique things in different parts of the world, and at the end, he always asks the question, who is Jesus to you? and they, all the answers are always so unique and profound and, often it comes down to he's my savior, he's my redeemer, he's my Lord, and, those are precious things to Christians.

But who is Jesus? Why do we admire this person who was born in some podunk town 2000 years ago? Why do even other religions such as Islam hold him in high regard? Why do you, you've asked the most secularists, about Jesus, they're gonna go, he had some really good things to say.

But who is Jesus? Why do we still admire him some 2 1000 years later? And I really do believe that this is the most important question that we can ask ourselves and ask others. More than what is life all about, more than why am I here?

Who is Jesus? Because when we have Jesus in focus, when we see who he is, when we understand Why he came and what he has done, that then has a ripple effect over all of our lives. And then that's how we're able to say my life is all about Jesus. In every sphere, in every aspect.

It's not that Jesus is integrated into my life like some app, like oh, I download. Did the Jesus happen? I'm now 10% more productive. No, that is not the reality we're talking.

We're talking about Jesus being integral to every aspect. The way that we live, the way that we think, the way that we interact with each other, the way that we are husbands to our wives, the way that we treat our children, the way that we go about our work. Because we're gonna see here in a moment that if Christ is preeminent in all things, that means all things. That means how you feed your dog.

That means how you are sitting around the Thanksgiving table here in a few days. That means how you're putting gas in your car and talking to the attendant. In all things, Christ is preeminent. And so Paul in this epistle is taking some time to remind these dear saints about who Christ really is and what we're gonna read here in a moment.

And he believes it's crucial. It's crucial for their faith. It's crucial in their worship, and it is so crucial in their eternal destination. We live in an era, a postmodern era, where we can take words and redefine them however we want.

And you can meet many people today who say, oh, I'm all about Jesus. I like Jesus. Jesus is good. In fact, probably one of those dreadful ones I've ever seen is Jesus is my homeboy.

He's more than just a homeboy. He's more than just your buddy. And we're gonna see here how important it is to know who Jesus truly is. And so for the sake of time, I wish we could read all of Colossians together to get the context.

But if you look here in Colossians chapter 1, just in verse 9, you can see that Paul issues a very sweet prayer for these people. he, he says there in verse 9, And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Paul wants them to know God's will in their life, and that they would have all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And that this is so important, as he says in verse 10 here, so that, so that you are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of the Lord.

Knowing that it is impossible to please God in our own flesh. Paul reminds these precious Christians in verses 13 and 14, that God transferred them from the from delivered them from the domain of darkness, and transferred them to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And it is on this note that Paul comes to the most, well, comes to a very important aspect of who Jesus is. He is more than just a spiritual guide.

Jesus is the king, and God the Father had transferred these dear Colossians from a dark, dark world, a dark domain into his Son's kingdom. They had been born again. And it is this king who redeemed them and forgave them of their sins and makes it possible to please God in all that they do. Let's read, starting in verse 9 again, and then we're gonna go up through verse 20.

And so from the day we heard, the day that we heard of your salvation, the day that we heard that there was a group of people who were gathering together and, and claiming the name of Christ for their own, the day that we heard this, we have not ceased to pray for you. Asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in this inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.

He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation, for by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether it's thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he, Jesus, is before all things. And in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be. preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Say law, we have to pause and, and, and allow that to sink into sometimes our, our hard hearts.

This is so rich, it is so meaty. I'm guaranteeing you there are thousands of books that have attempted to expand upon this, and we will for all of eternity be pondering this reality of who our savior is. So before we go any longer, let's ask the Lord to help us, to, to comprehend who Christ is and to come and meet with us even this morning. Father God, we come to you so grateful for your mercy, so grateful that in your providence, you transferred many of us in this room from our dark, dark world that we were living in.

A world that was all about us, a world that was all about our pleasure and, and seeking to find substance in this life. But Lord, you were so gracious to extend salvation and to transfer us to, to move us into your Son's kingdom. Oh, Holy Spirit, we pray that you would come and work in our hearts. Lord, those of us who have been saved and called Jesus our Lord and Savior, Lord, would you just deal with our hearts this morning.

Lord, those of us who are troubled, would you come and be the comforter that you are? Those of us who are hard and Lord, who are callous due to our own sin, our flesh, the pressures of this world, would you come? And in your gracious way, use the jackhammer of your word to crack up the pavement of our hearts into the beating flesh that is there, that only you can sustain and keep and Lord, and may we all the more worship you for what you've done. And Lord, we pray for those here who aren't sure who is Jesus.

Lord, would today be the day of their salvation, would today be the day that they see Jesus for all he is, for all that he is. worthy of praise, and Lord, would you change their hearts into a beating heart of flesh that beat for Christ and wanna bring glory to our Father's name. We ask this, we ask that you would meet with us today. Speak through your word today, use whatever humble means that are being presented here, Lord, the cracks in this earthen vessel with your glory shine through.

We ask this your name Jesus. Amen. It has been such a privilege to meditate on this passage of scripture again. And we really only have time to look at verses 15 through 20, but there's so much here.

You'll see in verses 1516, and 17. That Paul presents Christ as the Lord of creation, and we're gonna look at that here in just a moment. He is Lord of creation. And then from verses 18 through 20, we're gonna see that he is Lord over recreation.

You put it in other words that Jesus is preeminent over all things. Everything created, which is everything that we know. And he is Lord over redemption. Lord, over the recreation of mankind and one day, the redemption of this world, where he will make all things new.

We look at verse 15. We see that Jesus is the image of his father and the firstborn. And in many ways, this is probably one of the verses that's been so misused. You go all the way back to the 4th century, as the, ancient Aryans arose, and there was a great debate about who Jesus truly was even back then.

And Athanasius stood up, he was a, an Egyptian bishop, and he he had another Egyptian bishop by the name of Arenius. And Arenius began to use this scripture and twist it and say, oh, well, Jesus must have been created by God and then through Jesus. All things were made and Athanasius stood and said, no, that is not what the scriptures teach. We see it all the way back to the 300s that Scripture was so important to know who Jesus was.

There's a great debate and the Aryans tried to make him out that he was lesser than God. Even today, the descendants of those Aryans are still around us. There are various cults that would claim that, oh no, Jesus is important, Jesus is special, but he's not God. But oh how we need to remind ourselves and to remind these people, scripture interpret scripture.

You can't just go and take this one verse and say, well, there you go. There it is right there. Jesus is in the the firstborn of God and so he wasn't God. No, verse 19, for in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

We can even go to chapter 2. Paul, wanting to make sure it was clear, for in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. We see over and over and over scripture that points to Christ being divine. Let's first look at Jesus as the image of the Father.

To put it simply, in Christ, we see God in flesh. It is impossible for us to see God right now in our sinful state, even in our saved state to see God would be to die. The Bible says over and over and over. But Jesus is the image of God.

In fact, Jesus told Philip, when Philip said, could you show us the Father? We want to see the Father. In John chapter 14, Jesus said, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say then, show us the Father. I like how Matthew Henry summarized it, Christ in his human nature is the visible discovery of the invisible God, and he that hath seen him, Has seen the father. Truly, in this, in this sense, Jesus is also, the fulfillment of the prophecy that Isaiah gave several 100 years before he even arrived. Isaiah chapter 7 said that he would be Emmanuel, God with us.

Matthew picks up in his gospel right at the beginning, he was Emmanuel, he was God with us. And all over the New Testament, we see this proclaimed. In fact, keep your fingers here in Colossians one and turn back to John chapter one real quick. In fact, I think last time I was here, we even, I even was going through John chapter one.

But it is worth looking at what the apostle John. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote. About Jesus John 1, we're just gonna look at the 1st 3 verses. Look at how John describes Jesus as being the image of God.

John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus It was in the beginning Before creation He was with God, and he was God. There's no amount of linguistic gymnastics that you can do to get around that. Oh, I have some people at my front door. They'll try to explain it to me a different way.

And I am never Ever going to present myself as a Greek scholar, but I do have a little Greek interlinear ear and I can sit down and say, listen, this is what it says in the original language. all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. The logos, the word, the expression and communication of God. In fact, John in verse 14 explains this a little more by saying this logos.

Became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So, the apostle John. Writing at a different time in a different place. But under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says exactly what Paul just said.

What Paul is explaining to the Colossians. But it gets better. Turn over Hebrews chapter one. Towards the end of your Bible there, those of you who are just new to the faith.

Hebrews chapter one, verse one. There's debate amongst scholars, and I'm not one of them. Who wrote Hebrews. And there's some good people who really believe it was Paul, and that very well could be.

Then you read some others and you're like, well, that's a good argument why it might not be Paul. In God's providence, he didn't allow somebody to sign their name on this document. But we know it's the Holy Spirit. And we know that it was written at a completely different time and place than John and Paul were writing, and yet, listen to what Hebrews 1 verses 1 through 4 say here, very similar.

Long ago, At many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophet. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, who he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He, Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint on his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Having become so much superior to angels as the name he had inherited, it is more excellent than theirs. A whole sermon can be preached on this, a whole series can be preached on this. But I think it's important to look in, in Colossians one, in John one, in Hebrews one.

We see Christ being presented exactly as he is. I love even how Hebrews begins like a story. A long time ago, as many times in many places there were prophets who were foretelling something. But in these last days, God sent his son.

To tell of these things. This is where we can see that Christ is not only king, he is prophet, and Hebrews goes on and it proclaims him as priest as well. It's so beautiful. But in these last days, Jesus came to speak and to share.

And and the whole world was created through Jesus. And the glory of God radiated from Jesus. That's the same thing that John describes, like we beheld his glory. You can get the, the almost like the, the passion that John had like, listen dude, I was there and I saw it, and it was beyond anything I have ever experienced in my life.

So let me try to write it down for you so that it, so you can at least understand. Peter says the same thing in his epistles. I was there, I saw it, these eyewitnesses seeing the glory of God resonating from Jesus. And I like how Hebrews puts it, the exact imprint of God.

So the image of God, the logos of God, the imprint of God. Yes, God's essence is seen in the incarnate Son of God. His name is Jesus. And remember, for anybody who might debate this with you, maybe you're struggling with this this morning.

God does not share his glory with anyone. If you read through the scriptures over and over and over, that is one thing he is jealous of, because it is right that he alone is to have glory. He alone is the most preeminent in all of the universe. So he shares his glory with no one.

And yet here we see. That the very glory of the Father is the same glory of Christ. The Son had this glory from all eternity. It's marvelous, isn't it?

It's thought provoking. Now, how do we deal with the first born? The image of God, that is, we can explain this and talk about it. The firstborn, what is Paul talking about here?

Well, when we think about Christ as being the firstborn of all creation, we have to look at even in the structure. Some even believe that verses 15 to 20 may have been a hymn that Paul wrote or it may have been a hymn that was being sung by the church and Paul was, as he's writing his epistle, just like, oh this is, I'm putting, I'm including this in here. That's, that's, debatable, but it's very poetic. And Paul being a Jew himself, having read the Psalms, probably having most of them memorized.

He uses parallelism a lot. And so you can see in verses 15 to 20, this parallel as I just presented. Christ is preeminent in all of creation. Christ is preeminent in creation.

And so, we're gonna in a moment here see that Christ is the firstborn from the dead. And so Paul is explaining he's the firstborn, he is the son of God. But we can't think about this in biological terms because we are talking about God. It's not God the Father having a child in a physical way.

If that was the case, then who was the mother? Jesus wasn't conceived by the Father. The Bible talks about him being eternally begotten. Back to the Aryan debate and Athanasius in the council of Nicaea in the early and mid, there were two councils, 4th century.

This was the big debate. How do we describe Jesus? What does the scripture say about Jesus? And the wonderful thing about the Nicean Creed.

is that it is so rooted in scripture. Athanasius did not want to go beyond what scripture was saying. He didn't want to get into philosophical debates of how does this work. They wanted to present what does the Bible teach and sometimes that's what we have to do.

But sometimes we just have, because we're so finite, we just have to get our minds around, I don't fully understand it, Lord. But this is what your word teaches. Help me to embrace it and help me to, to, to love it even and to enjoy it. Because my friends, my brothers and sisters, we are not dealing with a God who is like us.

This is where every cult, this is where every heresy goes wrong. They wanna bring him down. Let me get him down here, get him on my level, squish him in this box so I can better understand him. You look at the Jehovah's Witnesses, that's exactly what, what Charles Russell did.

I can't get my mind around him, so let me bring him down to a level I can understand. You look at Joseph Smith, that's exactly what he did. Let me bring him down so I can then comprehend him and in doing that, We end up In a damnitable place, because we've redefined who God is. We've redefined who Christ is.

And the good news is that we don't have to bring him down. He condescended to us. There's such a mystery. The Creator, the triune God, the most glorious preeminent entity in all the universe, beyond the universe, eternal.

Condescended. To come and rescue sinners like us. It's, it's mind baffling. But the Nicean Creed, describes Jesus as begotten, not made.

And I think that's a, a healthy way of describing Christ. It is a biblical way. So in a sense, we're using analogous terms, terms that we can understand because he is the Son of God. But it's different than the way I begat my humanity to my 3 children.

God begat his divinity to his Son, but his son was not made. His Son is eternal. And remember, this is, these are human terms that we're using here. We're reading a moment that Jesus was not created.

Paul helps the Colossians, he helps us by defining this further for us. But rather, he was the creator. We'll look at that in a moment. But the important point to remember is that because Jesus is God's only begotten Son, he shares exactly the same divinity of his Father.

This is why he can share exactly the same glory of His Father. In fact, Jesus often talked about, I and the Father are one. Remember when he said that in John chapter 10, in front of a group of Jews that he was preaching to? When he said this, what did they do?

Did they high five him? No, they picked up stones to stone and they knew exactly what he was saying. This is where it's good to know the context, the historical context of things as I continue to study the Bible like, oh this was a, an inference, this was a, a euphemism of the day, this was, this is why it wasn't expounded upon as much because they know what Jesus is talking about. When he's in the synagogue teaching and says things like, I am the bread of life.

I am the, the, the water you will never thirst for. He didn't have to go back to Moses and read it. He knew exactly what he's talking about. They they the context was there.

And so in the same way, Jesus, when he says I am the Father of one, they all blasphemous. How dare you say that you're God. And also, a quick point here, firstborn is Old Testament language as well. In the ancient world, the traditions that the firstborn is the one who is heir to everything, that his father owns.

You think of, Esau trading his birthright. Giving his firstborn status to Jacob. It wasn't that Jacob all of a sudden was able to hop up in years past Esau. It was that it was a title.

It was of importance. The my firstborn son. I like how I was listening to the sermon a while ago. Pastor Robert Rayburn, he's a, a Presbyterian minister up in Washington.

He described it this way. The firstborn son was always the father's heir, and Jesus Christ as the firstborn of creation is its heir. It all will come to him. It is his by right and as Paul goes right on to say, Christ is not a part of the creation, but the creator himself or as Athanasius once again put it, the creator of the creatures.

The term first born then expresses sovereignty and supremacy of rank, not of chronology. And think about it in this way, this was the, the, the where the Nicean Creed concluded, and this is what has been held by every Orthodox Christian since before it, but continued to articulate it this way. Christ is fully God and fully man. He's not 50% God and 50% man, making a 100% of, of, of some new entity.

No, he's a 100% God and that 100% God is eternal, always has been as John once said, always was with God and always was the Son of God. And then there's this unique moment in history, 2000 years ago when this logos, when this sun came and took on flesh. And lived as a human. Paul explains this further to the Philippians in chapter 2, doesn't he?

It didn't cost Jesus any less of his divinity. He was always God. But as a man now, we're dealing with something new, something unique, something special. So this title firstborn is not taking away from Christ's divinity.

Rather, it explains his unique role in creation. And his unique role in recreation. This is what allows him to be our mediator, and that's what Athanasius argued. If Jesus is not God, then what are we doing?

We have no hope. How can we be reconciled to God if we are not coming to God through a mediator? So let's continue moving on. In verse 16, Paul pushes deeper into the sovereignty of Christ.

For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. Everything that we are experiencing at this very moment, You and I included. are involved in this creation.

Every atom and molecule. Every living creature, the air that we breathe. Everything Created By Christ I'm sure this caused people to pause, right? Especially those coming to Christ, coming to the Messiah.

And seeing who Jesus was. Must have been exhilarating and mind blowing at the same time. And this is why Peter will say like, these people of old yearn to see how God was gonna do it. And now these people in the first century got to see the Messiah, the Godman come and live and, and, and to, to know that it is he who is the creator.

Jesus made everything, physical and spiritual that we are experiencing here. That's why he pushes on talking about these entities, the, the thrones, the dominions, rules and authorities, not just referring to the emperor of the day or the king of the day, talking about the spiritual realms as well. Paul is directly addressing also an early form of Gnosticism that was going on here. This heresy that was beginning in the first century began to teach that only the spiritual is pure.

And everything physical is evil. And they began to teach that the goal of humanity is try, try to get ourselves out of the physical and into the spiritual. And I tell you, brothers and sisters, that lie is still today. There's still some evangel evangelicals who are like, oh I just want to get rid of this world and get to heaven.

And he said, well, be careful. Heaven's intermittent, it's, it's an intermediate place. Cause we're gonna see in a moment here, the end of Revelation paints a greater picture. That heaven.

Now don't get me wrong, heaven is going to be wonderful. My dad passed away 3 years ago and I often wonder what he has experienced in that 3 years of being in God's presence. It's beyond anything we can imagine, and yet it goes even deeper than that. The point is, God created everything that we know, both physical and spiritual.

He made you and I, physical and spiritual. That's why it's OK to not only pray, Lord, please protect my faith, but also protect my body. Sometimes the Lord allows our bodies to come into pain and the suffering. The Lord uses that for his good, but it's OK to say, Lord, please meet my needs.

Jesus reminds us of this, right? In Matthew chapter 6, he talks about how our Father knows our needs. He knows what we need every day. Don't be anxious about tomorrow.

Trust in him today. He will provide for you physically and spiritually. Paul is addressing this evil, evil heresy. But he's also reminding these dear saints.

to trust in Jesus, that he is the creator and the sustainer, for in him he holds all things together. Think back to Genesis, recall the creation narratives. Everything was made good, wasn't it? There wasn't one thing that wasn't made that was bad.

But now we look at creation, it looks far different than it was back in the day, as they say. Things are broken, things are breaking down, sin has ruined this world. The world is in spiritual darkness and it's very clear. That though creation was good, the fall was bad.

And Jesus though, is still on his throne. Paul's reminding them. Jesus is still king over creation, and he's still king over this fallen world. And the very reason that this world has not gone to hell in a handbasket, as some people would like to say.

The very reason that the fires in Northern and Southern California just don't continue to sweep across this world is because God, Christ is still holding things together. He's still holding back the wrath to come. And I believe God allows these things to happen. My heart breaks for Northern California right now.

I, I had a great aunt, I learned lost a home. 8, 84 years old. My uncle died a few years ago. She had a home.

This was gonna be it until the Lord took her home. It's all gone. She's alive, praise the Lord. One of my good friends, grandfather lost his home there in Paradise.

It's tragic. We don't want to make light of it. We don't want to use that as an example like, well, hell's gonna be a lot worse. Yes, it's true, but we have compassion for these dear people.

How can the Lord use the church to to reach out and to and to build hope into these communities? But the wrath to come is being held back because Christ is holding it all together. And in this era of grace, in this gospel time that we live in, it's being held back so that the good news can go out and so that people can come to know Jesus, come to worship him, come to be rescued from him. But not only is he holding back the wrath.

He is still, as we sang as kids, King of kings and Lord of Lords. I heard it. Felt like John Crist there for a second. so you, what.

We saw him a few weeks ago and he sang a song and everyone finished and I'm like, oh boy, there are a bunch of church people here tonight. But he's the king of kings. He is the Lord of Lords. There is no emperor, there's no king, there's no president, there's no mayor that is outside of his authority.

It is all under him. And Christ looks at it all and says it's mine. It is mine. He is the king.

He is the Lord. And this is why it was really so laughable for Satan to take him up on top of the temple and to show him all the kingdoms of the world and say, hey, if you bow down and worship me. All the kingdoms of the world and their glory will be yours. It just shows you how mistaken Satan is of even who Jesus is.

Not that he doesn't know he's not powerful. Not that he doesn't know right now. That he is the savior, he is the Messiah, he is risen, that he has, Satan has no hope, but he was such a fool because Christ had established all those kingdoms. Remember what Pharaoh told Egypt, or I'm sorry, what God told Egypt, oh my goodness, what God told Pharaoh in Egypt.

What did he say? He said, I raised you up. I gave you all this power. I gave it to you.

So that the world might know my power. And we saw that in the Exodus story, this miraculous moment in time, when God rescued his people from a dark kingdom. And delivered them to the promised land. Such, isn't the Bible wonderful?

I, I am a fan of stories. I'm a fan of narrative. And every time I read the Bible and, and study and look at, I just go, wow, Lord, you are a master storyteller. All these, these shadows and hints of things to come, being fulfilled in Christ.

The real, the, the, the, the, the true, the, the, the redeemed Moses, not the redeemed Moses, but the, the Moses who was able to actually finally deliver his people from their sin. God raised up Pharaoh to to show his power. Pharaoh had no power of his own. And Paul's not saying that evil evil is established.

We know there's some evil, evil kingdoms that have existed in this world. Some really tyrannical leaders, some horrible things done. That is all sin. That is not of Christ.

But what Paul is saying is, dear Christian, do not be afraid. Jesus is sovereign over all. He is sovereign There's no president, no king that has ever been or ever will be who is outside of his authority. And there's always a purpose, ultimately, that we know will lead to God's glory being done.

And the establishment of his kingdom. And Paul, of course, is referring to the spiritual realms here as well. Both the faithful angels and the fallen angels. I like how William Hendrickson in his commentary describes it.

Here it must be borne in mind, however, that the apostles very. Emphasis in this letter, is that the son too is fully divine. Hence, there is absolutely no justification for trusting in, seeking help from, or worshiping any mere creature. It is Christ alone.

We don't need another mediator. Mary was a servant of God, but we don't need her to talk to God. We don't need icons, we don't need saints to go and pray before us. Now, Paul even addresses this in the next chapter, challenging them, do not worship angels.

You have Jesus. And that's the point. Don't fall for it. Christ is more than a creature.

He is your creator. He is above all things, even the angels. And this brings us then into our next section. If Christ is Lord of creation, he is also Lord of recreation.

He is Lord of our redemption. In fact, if you look at verse 18, he says that he is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. Christ is not only The one who created things, he is. The redeemer.

And he is the head of his church, the first born from the dead. There's no Pope, no superstar pastor, no earthly king or emperor, and believe me, all have tried to say they are the head of the church. No, Jesus is the head of the church, and he alone is the rightful leader. He created the world, so he also creates the church.

He is the king of the world, and yes, he is the king of the church. And though this world has fallen, though we were once dark in our own thinking, ruled by sin, Now we have been transferred from this realm into his kingdom, and he is a most benevolent king. He's a good king. He's a good shepherd.

And this plan was put in place before the world was even created, wasn't it? In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul tells that church that the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of world that we would be holy and blameless before him. Paul told Timothy and Timothy, in the 2nd epistle to Timothy, that God had saved his people for his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the age began, which now he has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.

This passage reveals that Jesus existed before the creation of all things, and that he is the center of God's plan of redemption.

And it is in this very purpose. that the Father and Son had covenanted together before the world had begun. That he would give him a people. For his own possession Very special people and elect people.

And that they would be his people and that he would be their king, their savior, their Lord. We see in this too that this redemption established before the world began. It was even before the first Adam fell and died, and that's important. Because Paul's talking about here in verse 15, teaches that Jesus was the firstborn of creation and now once again we see in verse 18, he is a firstborn of the dead.

Adam died. He was not able to resurrect himself, but Jesus did. And because of this, all who were raised in Christ. Will never truly die.

Yes, Paul talks to the Thessalonians who were worried as time was going on, people were dying. What's gonna happen? He says, they're merely sleeping. It's only going to be a moment.

They are not dead and gone. And we have great hope. We do not weep like the world weeps when someone dies in the Lord. For those who are in Christ shall live again.

There will be a resurrection one day, and our bodies will be resurrected and made new and glorious ways that are far beyond our imagination. Will be spirit and body once again in the new world. And Jesus at the head of the church will make sure that this completely happens. And Jesus as the head of the church is watching over us even now.

He has justified us. He is sanctifying us now through grace. And we can rejoice with great hope and great assurance that he who began a good work will be faithful to complete it. This is the glorious point.

Because of who Christ is and what he has done, he is preeminent in all things. He is preeminent in all things and deserves our worship. Look at verse 19, for in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Paul had already shown very clearly Christ's divinity, but he wants to clearly remind the Colossians that the fullness of God was pleased to dwell on him.

As I said, he says the same thing again in chapter 2. And if we look at this as a hymn, if we look at this as a, as a song, Paul brings it to an end in verse 19. By saying Christ is working to redeem all things through His blood. That brings peace with God.

As the head of the church, Christ is our mediator between us and God. We are no longer at enmity with the Father. We now have peace with the Father. If we allow that to sink in, that will help you through the worst of days.

For when we deserved wrath, we have been given grace. When we were once vessels of wrath, that very well in that imagery had wrath poured out and that vessel would never be consumed for eternity, just being wrath poured out this horrible vinegar wrath. And yet Paul paints towards the Romans and Romans 9 that no, we're now Vessels of mercy for in Christ. And so the sweetest of wine is being poured out.

If you don't like wine, how about the sweetest of grape juice? It's being poured out and it's being filled up in these cups that are overflowing. Oh my soul overflows and over and over the Old Testament pictures, is that now it's mercy poured out on us. It's no longer vinegar, and it is, it is sweet and it is delightful and it is good.

No longer wrath Only peace, only grace, and it's only through our mediator that this happens. And it is Christ who is redeeming us. It is Christ who is at this work. And we know that the apostle John at the end of his revelation in Revelation 21, Gives us an insight of what this will look like, doesn't he?

In fact, in Revelation 21, you can turn it if you'd like, it's the last one that we'll look at. But in verse one, he talks about how he, he sees a dwelling place of God with man, and he dwells with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore for the former things of, of have passed away.

And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Jesus will be on his throne. Jesus is on his throne. He is working to recreate.

Humanity right now. There is a new way to be human. And that is through Jesus Christ. Fallen humanity in all of our striving and efforts, no matter how many self-help books you can pick up at Barnes and Nobles or Amazon, you will never be rid of the brokenness that resides inside of you.

Some of us hide that brokenness really well. We put on great facades, and those are the ones that Jesus called out, you whitewashed tombs. What benefit is it to, to look so good on the outside but be rotten to the core. Jesus is recreating right now.

Some of us here can testify to that. We can say amen. One day I hated him. One day, I didn't care about him.

However, it manifested at the core, it still was enmity. It was still hatred. It was still, I wanna be on the throne. And then something changed, didn't it?

Something changed. We could all take the rest of the afternoon through a, through the Thanksgiving feast and come up one by one and say, I'll tell you how it happened to me. And there's such precious stories. Whether it's a sweet kid growing up in a home, hearing the gospel, one day at 15, the light goes on and goes, wow, I am a sinner.

I thought it was pretty decent. I need Jesus. And for the rest of their lives, walk with the Lord, not without struggle, not without battle but walks to the Lord. Or the guy who didn't care about him at all and was living for himself, hedonistically, partying, never heard the gospel, didn't care about it.

Only time he ever heard about Jesus was using it in vain. And then someone takes the time to share the gospel with them, he didn't care. And then one day, You see Christ for who he is. As, as Wesley sings in his hymns, the light goes on, my chains fell off.

Oh, amazing God that he is. For each one of us, it was at a different time in a different place. But he recreated us. He took those hearts of stone and made them to beating living hearts of flesh that beat for Christ.

And that was the promise of the new covenant, and now we're in that era. How beautiful is that? How wonderful is it? And Jesus Himself.

is over all this, and he is in the midst of recreating, and one day he will come and recreate all things. So, verses 15 to 20, Jesus is the Lord of creation. Jesus is the Lord of recreation, and I'll just ask you this question as we wrap up. Is Jesus Lord of your life?

I hope in these few minutes together you've seen. It is right that he is worshiped. It is right that we gather every Lord's Day. That's what the ancients called Sunday.

And worshiped our Lord. It is right that he is preeminent in all things, as I said at the beginning, in our thoughts, and our actions, and our words. How could we not worship this amazing God? Remember As it wraps up here in verses 21, 23, we won't read it for the sake of time, we were alienated, we were hostile in mind, we were evil in our deeds.

But Jesus came. And he rescued us from our sins. This is the good news of Jesus Christ. And this is the good news that Paul was sharing with those Colossian Church.

He wanted them to know who Jesus was. He was not just someone to be trifled with, who was just not some average Joe. He was the Lord of all. And this is why I'm so thankful for the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

This is why I'm so thankful for the Messiah, the Creator and the re-creator who came and who gave me faith and sustains my faith. So dear brother and sister, if you're wavering today, if you're struggling today in your faith, If you're worried about philosophies or teachings that have crept in and that are causing you trouble, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Go back to him, spend time in his word. He is our North Star, for lack of better words.

He is the one that we can recalibrate our lives with. Cry out to him. As John tells us in his epistle, he's faithful to forgive you of your doubt. He's faithful to forgive you of your unfaithfulness, and we all struggle with that from time to time.

And it's a grace that it. It would not be grace to just continue to exist as you are and be like, oh well, I think I'm OK. It's grace the Holy Spirit convicts you of unfaithfulness, of, of, of unbelief. And it's grace that there are times when he gives us those seasons of refreshing, of, of just joy, of just, oh Lord, you're so worthy.

I love you. I thank you. Please don't ever let me go back to that stale bread the world has to offer, or let me feast with you forever. That is grace.

A Christian living with hope, empowered by grace and confident in the peace won by Jesus' death is a force to be reckoned with in this world. There is no hope in this world. There is no grace in this world. And it's not because we are powerful, it is the one that we serve is powerful.

So that was my encouragement to you brothers and sisters, but I asked the question knowing that very well in our midst this morning, there could be someone who just does not know or has not heard, or perhaps you're one of the young people that didn't go off to the, the, the children's church, and you have struggled with these things. You've wondered, but maybe the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes this morning. Maybe the, the light has shined and you go, whoa. Jesus is a lot bigger than I ever expected.

He's a lot more amazing than I had ever thought, and that's not because of my words. That is because of the word of God, and that is because of the gift of the Holy Spirit opening your eyes. Do you see him in his glory? Do you see that he's worthy of praise?

Are you repenting and turning and trusting in Him? If not, then let today be the day of salvation. Repent and trust in Jesus. And he will be faithful As it works in that Trinitarian way, the Father transferring you into His kingdom.

Jesus, the son, abiding over his kingdom, shepherding over his flock, keeping his, his children safe, bringing them until the end. That's what he says there in verses 23, 24, and 25, that he will present us. There's a confidence there. There's a question though, if you continue in our steadfast, that's not a question of salvation.

It's just saying, where are you? Do Jesus? The more we turn to him, the more we look to him, the more we spend time in God's word. As Martin Luther said, the more that we repent daily of our sins, repenting just simply turning to Jesus.

Confessing that we do fall from time to time, that we do need him every single second of our lives. the good news is that he is faithful to save and to, maintain and to keep us until the end. So who is Jesus to you? It's the greatest question ever asked of mankind.

I pray today we would all leave here thankful for Jesus, thankful for what he has done for his church, what he is doing for his people. And that we are Encouraged. And, and reinstilled with the hope that one day he will come. And the old will pass away, and he will make all things new.

As John writes, even so, Come, Lord Jesus, let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you did not leave us orphaned, and you sent us your spirit to make your word alive in our hearts. And oh Lord, we thank you for this great plan of redemption, written out before the world was created.

And Lord, that we sinners, called by you, rescued by your Son, empowered by your Holy Spirit. Get to be called children of God. Behold what manner of love you Father, have given unto us that we might be called children of God. Lord, be with us today, work in our hearts today.

And Lord, I pray for those who do not know you, break through today, change their hearts, make them into lovers of Christ, followers of the gospel, proclaimers of the good news, Lord. We ask all this in Your name Jesus. Amen.