Supporting me through my dissertation process, it was an interesting time, my wife would tell you. And your gifts were a tremendous blessing to us. Your prayers, they helped me have to work a little bit less so that I could spend more time with my family alongside writing my dissertation. We're just so grateful to the Lord for your sacrificial giving. For someone who's never been a member of your church, we're just so thankful for your love, for your care for us over the years. I'm so grateful for the vibrant faith in Christ that you have, that we're so grateful for, your steadfastness of hope, your work of faith, and your labor of love. We've just experienced a small taste of that, and we are very grateful. I do have one thing for, however, to say. I noticed in the bulletin it says Dr. Orrin Martin. I would love if you did not ever call me that. The only person that has to call me that is my sister Shiloh. She deserves it, after what she's done to me over my lifetime. Well, if you would, turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter one. We're going to look, these next few moments together, at the person of Christ. There's a story in the Gospels where Jesus is on the water with his disciples. And interestingly, Jesus is sleep. And as you are familiar with the story, we recite the story to our children often. It's one of their favorites because it allows us to to go crazy and run around like we're in the boat and we're going to drown and storms coming and we can scream and be loud and all that kind of stuff. So you're familiar with the story where Jesus is in the boat with his disciples and a storm comes on and they see the wind and the waves coming on and they get scared and they're fearful. And they're shocked. I mean, you can imagine they're shocked that Jesus is asleep. Right. And what happens? Jesus wakes up and what did he say? Be still. And with those simple words, the winds and the waves obeyed him. Which is that which is an interesting juxtaposition in the passage. Why? Because we just saw Jesus sleeping, which is indication of what his humanity. And then Jesus says, be still. And the winds ceased, the waves ceased, which indicates what he's God, only God has authority over nature, only God has authority over storms and waves and wind. And what was the disciples response? What sort of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him? And that was the right question to ask. Right. They had been with him. They had seen his miracles and yet they had seen him tired and hungry and. In need of earthly, physical things that we need right to survive and to live. So it was the right question for them to ask. And and maybe if Paul had been there in the boat with him, the apostle Paul, he would have said. He's the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in the heavens and the earth, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by him and for him. And he is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the church. And Paul goes on and on to show who this glorious Christ is, or maybe the author of Hebrews. Had he been there, he would have said he's the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. But Paul, the author of Hebrews, weren't in the boat and they weren't there to give the answer. So it was a good question to ask, right? And we're kind of left in suspense as readers in Matthew chapter eight or Luke chapter eight, where these stories are of wondering who this man is and who Matthew and who Mark and who Luke and who John are trying to to give this portrait of right? What person? What kind of man is this? What kind of person is this? And it becomes clear as the Gospels march forward toward. The passion narrative. So this morning, I want to give our attention to focusing on this Christ. How vital, how rewarding, how fruitful it is to consider this glorious Christ, how marvelous to dwell on the person of Christ, the God man, the Lord. Exodus tells us that God's people could not see him and live. Yet in our passage this morning, Paul gives us a glorious vision of the all sufficient, incomparable Christ, God, the son, the second person of the Godhead. But there's other reasons to dwell on and to focus on the person of Christ. Paul says in Romans 8 that those whom God has predestined, whom he's foreknown, whom he's chosen, whom he's justified, whom he will glorify. He's done all these things to what to conform us into the image of a son. And then first, John tells us that we don't know yet what we shall be, but we do know that we won't be like him. Why? Because we shall see him like he is. And Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter three says that as we look on Christ, we are transformed from one glory, one degree of glory to another degree of glory. So, in other words, if you put these texts together, what they're saying is God has saved us to look like Jesus. And the way that we look like Jesus is by looking at Jesus. Why? Because we'll be like Jesus one day. The very purpose for which he has saved us and justified us and will glorify us. But there's also another reason why we should look to Christ. Among many reasons, there's a pattern in Scripture. There's a constant refrain in Scripture that invites us, that beckons us to look to Christ in suffering and in hardship. You think of Hebrews, for example, right? These Jewish Christians who were tempted to go back to the Jewish flavor of their faith and to neglect and forsake Christ. And what does the author of Hebrews do? There's this constant refrain, consider Jesus. The author and the high priest, consider Jesus, fix your eyes on him. Or you look through revelation, you have these these glorious kind of kaleidoscopic portraits of the triumphant Christ who took on a human nature like ours, suffered, died, was raised from the dead so that what so that he might destroy death and the devil and reign triumphant from his glorious throne where myriads and myriads of angels worship him in song. And we will join them as well. So it's as if in the midst of suffering for the altar of Hebrews and John and revelations, and it's as if in the midst of suffering, just looking to and considering Jesus. Would cause Christians to persevere and faith. Maybe you're going through something this Christmas. Maybe you're going through difficulty or hard. Maybe there's conflict in your marriage. Maybe there's difficulty in raising your children. Maybe you have an unbelieving child who you so desperately want to come to faith in Christ. Maybe you're struggling with cancer or, you know, a loved one who is dying of cancer or sick in some other way or suffering in some other way. What's the best thing that we can do as Christians? Look to Jesus. So we're going to take this time this morning. I want to take this time this morning to consider one of the most lofty, high, majestic pictures that God has given us in words as he reveals to us his glorious son. Let me read the passage and then we can pray together. Colossians 1 verses 15 through 20 say. And he 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 thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he's the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so 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 through the blood of his cross. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, your word says that the voice. Of the Lord is over the waters. The God of Glory thunders the Lord over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf and Syria on like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare and in his temple all cry glory. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. The Lord sits enthroned as king forever. May the Lord give strength to his people. May the Lord bless his people with peace. Father, we're so grateful that you not only speak and trees are made bare, animals give birth, the earth shakes. We're so thankful, Lord, that we can hear your voice in your word. Your revelation to us that you have so graciously given us. You have not left your people without a witness. We don't have to spend our lives groping in the dark. Because you have given us both your written word and you've given us your living word, Jesus Christ, so that we can know you, we can hear you. And I do pray this morning that you would speak powerfully to us through your word. I pray that you would guard me from error. I pray that you would strengthen me to be faithful to your word and that you might use your word to sanctify us in truth because your word is truth. So Lord, we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word and we give you thanks in advance because we know that you send out your word to accomplish the purposes for which you send it. And we ask that you do that this morning in a way that would encourage us, convict us, and at the end of the day, make us more like your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. So I want to consider two truths this morning from Colossians 1. Number one is that Christ is the Lord of creation. And the second truth is that Christ is the Lord of the church. and of redemption. So Christ is the Lord of creation and Christ is the Lord of the church and of redemption. So we see in verses 15 through 17, it says that Christ is the image of the invisible God. Now, when we hear these words that he is the image of God, what should be kind of echoing or ringing in our heads? We should be thinking of Genesis one, right, where it says that that Adam and Eve were created in God's image, right, that they were created to reflect God in his rule over the earth. They were commissioned to be his vice regents who reflected God's rule on earth and were tasked with subduing and exercising dominion over creation. But as we know from the rest of the story, Adam and Eve failed in their task. Right. Instead of hearing the voice of God, they listen to the voice of the serpent. They disobeyed God, they rejected him as their king. And what happened, they brought the consequences of sin and the curse into creation so that work would now be hard now to reflect God's glory and to reflect God's image and creation as his vice regents, as his rulers, as his people. would now bring hardship instead of blessing. But here it says that Christ was not just in the image of God, it says Christ is the image of God. So there's gospel here, right? Instead of God having every right to wipe away his people, to destroy his image bearers, what does he do? He creates more image bearers. We see Noah. and his sons, and Abraham, and his family, and Israel, and now Jesus. So instead of God punishing ultimately and finally, which he had every right to do in his justice and righteousness, and starting anew, what does he do? He continues the line of the human race through which would come the image of God. And it's only Jesus Who is the image of God? He is the perfect representation of God to us. And in fact, Jesus tells us in John that if you want to see God, what? Look to Jesus. Why? If you've seen me, you've seen the father. Now, I love to look at my kids, not only because I think they're adorable and cute, even though they're sinners, they're cute sinners. And I love them to death. But what especially brings me joy is when I see them smile in a certain way or look at me in a certain way that reminds me of my wife, Cindy. Why do I love that? Because I love my wife, Cindy. And when I see my children and I see the image of Cindy in them, it brings me joy because my prayers have been answered. Please, God, don't let my children look like me. Let them look like Cindy for the world's sake. Please do it. But I love to see my children. Why? Because I see them little image bearers of their of their mom. And I love their mom. And we see here that that image reflects the original, right, the reality. And the image is intended to provoke awe. For the original, right? Just as we see a copy of a painting, right? And we have all. Why? Because it reflects an original, whether it's a Monet or whatever kind of art people like to look at. I have no idea. When we see Jesus, we see the visible representation of the invisible God and what we are led to worship. John Calvin says this. Concerning Colossians 1 Paul calls the son the image of the invisible God meaning by this that it is him alone that God who is otherwise invisible is manifested to us in accordance with what he said in John 1 18. No man has ever seen God but the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father has himself manifested him to us. For Christ is called the image of God on this ground that he makes God in a manner visible to us. The sum is this, that God in himself, that is in his bare majesty is invisible and that not to the eyes of the body merely, but also to the understandings of men and that he is revealed to us in Christ alone, that we may behold him as in a mirror. For in Christ, he shows us his righteousness and goodness, wisdom, power, and in short, his entire self. We must, therefore, beware of seeking him elsewhere, for everything that would set itself off as a representation of God apart from Christ will be an idol. So what's his point? If you want to worship God, look to Jesus, who represents God to us, who reflects God to us. As I said before, Hebrews one says something similar. He's the the radiance of the glory of God, meaning what I take that to be who Christ is in himself, in his nature, in his divine person. But he's also the exact imprint of his nature. What's an imprint? That's that's the incarnation, right? That's Jesus come in the flesh. So that what so that Jesus in the flesh is a God in space and time. Now, the Muslims, Jesus is the great prophet. In fact, for Jesus to be God and to die on a cross is ridiculous. It is something to be mocked. To Mormons, Jesus is the highest of all created beings, but he is not God. To Hindus, Jesus is another God, along with their millions of other gods. Maybe to others, Jesus is a myth or a fable, kind of like Santa Claus. And all of these, it's something far less than how Scripture presents him. For Christians. The deity of Christ is perhaps the greatest doctrine in the Christian faith. All stars shine, but some stars, particular stars, shine far greater and brighter. And Jesus shines far brighter than all other stars, all other doctrines, whether it's salvation or baptism or the nature of the church or of last things. Why? Because we would have none of these glorious doctrines. Apart from the person of Christ. Philip Melanchthon said, we do better to adore the mystery of deity than to investigate them. Now, by this, I don't mean I don't think he means that we should not investigate the mysteries. Right. And then there are certainly mysteries when we investigate and think about and contemplate and meditate on the glory of Christ. Right. But if we fail to worship the glorious and majestic Christ, the eternal son, the second person of the Godhead through whom all things were created, who laid aside his royal position and status at God's right hand to humble himself, right, that though he was rich, he became poor. How? By taking on a human nature, to be born as a helpless and frail baby, to grow in wisdom, to endure every kind of temptation as we endure yet without sin and suffer to the point of death. Yes, even death on a cross. Then we fail to see him rightly, and thus we fail to worship him as he demands to be worshipped. Why? Because to know Jesus is to worship Jesus. Now Paul goes on and he says that Jesus is also the firstborn of all creation. Now this might seem strange to us, right? Does this mean that Jesus is created? I mean, this is certainly what the heresy are areas believed in the Aryan heresy of denying that Jesus was eternal, that he was a created being, right? There once was a time when the sun was not, as they said. No, if we look back to the Old Testament, firstborn refers to sovereignty or rule. Just as Israel was God's first born, doesn't mean that Israel was the first nation to ever exist, right? We know there are other nations before them. After after all, they were saved out of Egypt, right? The Egyptians were a nation before Israel because it wasn't until after his deliverance of Israel that Israel was actually called a nation by God. Also, Psalm 89, 27 says that God will make David the first born. Well, we know that David wasn't the firstborn. Why? Because he had other brothers, right? And he was picked last in line to be God's king. So what does he mean by this? He means that David is the supreme king above all other kings. He's God's king. Now, in the same way, but in a greater way, Jesus is the highest of all kings. In fact, he's the son of David, right through whom the nations would be blessed. So Jesus is the first born, the supreme and sovereign one. Which indicates that Jesus is the ruler and the king over the entire universe. We saw this in our story in the introduction, right? Jesus says, be still and the winds and the waves obeyed him. Now, this reality is true in the universe. But is it true in your life? Is it true in my life? What reigns in our hearts, as Calvin says, right, where our hearts are, are idle factories, always thinking something to worship other than Christ. What what occupies and rules your thoughts and your desires? Is it popularity? Is it intelligence? Is it success? Is the comfortable life? Is it a boyfriend or a girlfriend? Now, these may be good things, but they are not to rule our hearts. They are not to sit on the throne of our hearts and occupy. Our thinking, our desires, our affections. More than Jesus does. So the question is, how can we replace them? And I would argue, along with Apostle Paul, it's good to agree with him. We do it by being captured by the glory and supremacy of Christ. Listen to Paul's words in Philippians three. But whatever gain I had and he had a lot of gain, he was of the tribe of Benjamin, right, circumcised on the eighth day, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, a Pharisee, he had a lot of gain in his life. But whatever I had as gain, what I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish. In order that I might gain Christ, so whatever Paul put value in had been replaced with something or should I say someone far better. And that someone was Christ. Now, to give you an example, it was easy for me to forsake my single life when I met Cindy, why? Because she far outshines my miserable life as a single man. My life got so much better when she came into it, and it was easy for me to forsake my selfishness and my pursuit of things that I wanted and spending money on myself and buying the things that I wanted, these kinds of things. In the same way, but in a greater way, it becomes easy for us to forsake the things that that bring us temporal. Joy and satisfaction and worth. When we see Jesus, why? Because we see things in a lot of his picture, the big picture. And we see that that our lives and Christ and fixing our eyes on Christ is far greater than anything that we could ever have or experience in this life. But why is he supreme? But verse 16 tells us. It says, for by or in him, all things were created. All things were created through him and for him. Now, I have to confess, I don't know exactly what that means, just because they award you with a degree. Degree doesn't mean you know everything. I actually found out after getting these degrees that I think I know less than when I began. So I don't know exactly what it means that all things were created through him. Did the father commission Jesus to create? Is Jesus the means through whom God the father created? Or is it like a father and a son working in a shop together? Whatever it is, we know at minimum that Jesus is the agent of creation, that all things were created through him. Which I think is significant here, because if we look back to the Old Testament, say, for example, Isaiah 40 through 48, what sets God apart from the idols? One of the things is that God created, right, as opposed to those dumb idols who were made right and have no power to create and have no power to do anything. But God is set apart from idols because he alone creates. He speaks words, let there be. And there are things, stars and moons and universes and humanity. But now Paul says Christ is the creator. Everything was created through him. Hebrews one says something similar. So what is he saying about Christ here? What should we take away about Christ? Christ is God. Only God creates. And Christ is indeed God, because all things were created by him. and for him. But not only is he the agent of creation, he's also the goal of creation. He's not only at the beginning of the universe, he's at the end as well. So from beginning to end, the universe was created in reference to Christ. Does this amaze you? That everything was created to glorify Christ is created for him. I've been reminded in these past six months of living in the North Pole of Wisconsin of the intricacies of creation. We dig outside for bugs and there's all kinds of crazy bugs. You think Houston's crazy. They have these flies that are about the size of your head and they like to camp out on your hair when you like to go run. But I've been digging outside with my five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. We've found massive doodle bugs and worms and centipedes and Something actually one day when I was outside running came out of the sky. It was about as big as my eyeball and it just hit me in the face and stung me and my eyes swoll up and it was tons of fun. These are very ugly and annoying bugs at times, but they're amazing to think about the complexity, right? The intricacies of these little creations. Are you amazed at these seemingly pointless creatures, right? Creatures that are still being discovered, for example, at the bottom of the sea. We can say that each one of these was made for Christ's glory. All things were created by him and for him. And his glory is magnified in the complexity and the complementarity of these seemingly pointless and annoying creatures. And if these don't invoke all, think about human beings, think about the complexity of the human body, the brain and the nervous system, every organ and muscle in its place, the complexity of the eye and everything that has to work together perfectly for it to work. Each part, as it fits into the whole, has been created by and for Christ. And by virtue of His creating them, Jesus has ownership of them. It's created for Him. So we can apply this, I think, in at least two ways. Because Christ created you and you were created for Him, He has rights over you. Do you live with this sense of ownership over you in the moment of temptation? First Corinthians six says that you've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your body. How are you building this this creator creature framework into your children? Into their world, how they think about life. Do they do they feel the sense that they've been created for a purpose and God owns them and they were made to make much of God in their thinking, in their words, in their actions? Do we present this truth when we share the gospel with unbelievers? Do we understand that even in the moment of our anxiety and fear of speaking a right word or even speaking a word to an unbeliever, knowing that here goes my reputation again? Do we recognize that in that moment, Jesus is Lord, not only over me, in my words, but over that person and over that person's heart so that when we speak that word, God will use it to accomplish his sovereign purposes. So so we must keep in mind this rulership, this ownership that Christ has over us, over our families, over our children, over our church. Secondly. We must constantly remind ourselves that Jesus created those in our lives so that we might view them and treat them accordingly, right? Do you look at women as creations of Christ, not as objects of desire or a means to our fulfillment? Do you live with and treat your wives as creations of Christ, not as someone who simply runs your home or raises your children? Does it grip us? Do we live with the weight that our wives were created by Christ and for him? Moreover, God has graciously given them to us. for our sanctification. Right. They're not obstacles to our joy. They're God's graciously given means for our joy. Right. To make us more like Jesus. Let's go on to the passage, look what Paul lists under all things. heaven and earth, visible and invisible, with the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. Now, from the context here in Colossians, Paul has in mind angelic beings. They were replacing the worship of Christ, putting them on, giving them special status. The angels are good and created beings. But Paul's point throughout Colossians is that angels were created by and for Christ, and Christ alone is worthy of their worship. For the Colossians, they were looking to other things, in this case, angels to supplement Christ. Christ alone was not their sufficiency. Now, we may be more sophisticated in our day and not look to angels. Maybe some of you do, but we certainly are good at looking at other things right to complete us. Spirituality, money, vocation, status, recognition, a comfortable life, physical pleasure and so on and so forth. But in these things, Christ is no longer central in all sufficient. So that we deny Christ when we look outside of him. Or someone or something to complete our joy, and so the question we have to ask ourselves is, is Christ enough? Paul goes on to verse 17 and he is before all things and in him all things hold together. Paul goes even further to show Christ's supremacy. All things he says, not some things, all things. You may be thinking, Paul sure is being repetitive and redundant here. And he is. He wants to make the point that Christ is supreme over all things. He is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. Meaning what? This universe at this very second is being held together in Christ. You breathe right now because he is holding you together. Science may have its explanations from their observations, but through this passage, we know the fundamental and more ultimate reality that what that Jesus sustains the very existence of the universe. Jesus sustains you and me. And our existence. Doug Moose says this, what holds the universe together is not an idea. It's not a force. It's not a virtue, but a person, the resurrected Christ. Without him, electrons would not continue to circle nuclei. Gravity would cease to work and the planets would not stay in their orbits. All things were created by and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Now, this is approaching Christmas. We're thinking much about Christ, right? Putting him at the center of our homes and of our family devotions as we celebrate Advent, those kinds of things. What's amazing to me is this is not only true, it's easy for us, I think, to see Jesus as a man, the God-man, right, as he goes through the Gospels healing people and raising Lazarus from the dead and raising the lame to walk and giving sight to the blind. It's easy for us to see Christ as sustaining the universe there. Or maybe that's even difficult because he was a man and he's showing us human portraits of Jesus here. We can think of Christ as holding the universe together now as he sits at God's right hand as he ascended and now he reigns from on high. That's easy for us to think about, but think about this. Jesus Christ did not stop his cosmic functions when he was in the womb of his mother Mary. It doesn't say here that by him all things were created. But actually these things ceased when he was at the moment of conception. No, actually Jesus still, for by him all things were created. In him all things hold together. That was true before the incarnation. It's true certainly after the incarnation, now that he's resurrected and ascended and sits at God's right hand. This is true, this was true at the moment of conception. I mean, think about this for a moment. At the moment of conception, when Jesus was in the womb of his mother Mary, it was Jesus who was holding the universe together. He was sustaining all things as a weak and a frail baby. If that doesn't just blow our minds that a helpless baby could be sustaining the universe and that apart from his sustainment, everything would cease to exist. I don't know what will move us to worship. This has got to grab our hearts and our affections that this very Christ is the one who holds us together and gives us our very existence now so that what so that we can make much of him and our thinking and our words and our actions, our marriages and our parenting. Christ is before all things and in him all things hold together. Do we realize the implications of this truth? Do we believe that Christ has more power over your sin than sin has over you? Do you ever think after the thousandth time that you give in to that temptation and you get back up and you confess to God and you repent of your sin? Do you ever think, will I ever have victory over this? Well, if we have a right view of Christ, we have to say yes. Jesus has more power over our temptation and over our sin than our temptation and our sin has over us. This is why we must return to scripture again and again to remind ourselves that Jesus Christ is king over all things. Over my weaknesses, over my shortcomings, over my failures as a husband and as a father. Jesus has authority over all things. He was tempted for us and died for sin once for all so that what so that we might be freed and have victory over sin, maybe not in this life, but in the life to come, which is why we hope. And what hope? Furthermore, Christ's sustaining of all things extends to every evil and evil act. Whether it's Hitler, whether it's cancer, whether it's depression, whether it's loneliness. Everything, all things are sustained by Christ. And he is not unaware of these things, this evil. These things are happening to you. You're being persecuted at work for standing up as a Christian, your depression, your loneliness, your conflict in your marriage. Jesus Christ is not unaware of these things. He knows it because he is holding it together. But not only does he know it. And this is even more glorious, he's with you in it and through it. Are you struggling this morning? with a particular kind of sin or a temptation or a conflict or despair. Know this, you and I are being held together by and in Christ at this very moment and he is with you, right? He's Emmanuel, God with us. Go to him in faith and entrust yourself to him. This Christmas as we gather with our families and maybe some of you like me have unbelievers in your family, those who are not Christian, not trusting in Christ. We can have confidence in sharing and proclaiming the gospel with them. Why? Because Christ is preeminent and in him all things are held together. Even that unbelieving family member, even that unbelieving co-worker, even that unbelieving person that God has put in your life. We have confidence proclaim this gospel because Jesus is holding these things and these people together. Secondly, and quickly, Christ is Lord of the church and of redemption. So in verses 15 through 17, Christ is supreme by virtue of who he is in relation to God and of creation. Now, in verses 18 through 20, we see that Christ is supreme by virtue of who he is in relation to the church and his reconciling work. So verse 18 says that Christ is the head of the church. Which means what will later on in Colossians, it will become clear that the Christ nourishes and rules over his church. This is why pastors of Providence work hard, and I know Tommy and Bruce and the other elders work hard to proclaim the whole counsel of God at every gathering year after year after year. Why? To nourish you on his word. Why? Because all the scripture points to God's great reconciling work that he's accomplished in and through Christ. That they want to point to the reality that Jesus is the head of his church. Jesus nourishes his church. But he's also the beginning, Paul goes on in verse 18, the first born from the dead. So Christ is the first and only one, what does this mean? That Christ is the first and the only one at present with a glorified resurrection body, right? Death, where is your sting? Christ has defeated sin and death by being raised from the dead. Therefore, Christ is the beginning of the new creation. He's the first born from the dead. He's the first one raised from the dead with a glorified, risen, perfected body to die. No more. No longer succumb to the temptations of sin and the old age dominated by sin. So here is both sovereignty, right? Jesus reigns over these things, but also it's temporal priority because Christ is the first one raised from the dead. Then those who are in Christ will also be raised is the argument of first Corinthians 15. So Jesus is sovereign over death because he defeated it, but also Jesus is the first one to be raised from the dead. Now to reign over death. So that what so that we don't have to fear death anymore. Christ has begun a new creation by being the captain of our salvation, right, by leading the way to the new creation. And he guarantees that you and I will be new creations as well. The certainty of this truth fill you with hope and joy in the midst of your sickness and cancer and miscarriages and all the things that fill this creation. In Christ, those who are in Christ will be raised from the dead, never again to grieve over sickness and death. I mean, it's this glorious picture in Revelation 21 and 22, right? No more sin, no more sickness, no more death. Sorry about that. We don't have to be afraid of those things, right, because Jesus reigns over them. And what's the purpose of these things that go on in verse 18? So that's what Paul tells us, so that in everything he might be preeminent. There is no other preeminent one in the church besides Christ, the pope is not sovereign over the church. Even pastors, I think it's sometimes, no, not here. Pastors can even assume a kind of authority and forget who's the true king reigning over his church. No, it says that the Christ is preeminent over his church. But but notice here. And from the rest of Scripture, how Christ uses his authority. Mark 1045 says that Christ did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. So even though Christ is the preeminent one, the sovereign one who reigns and rules over all things, Christ didn't abuse that authority, rather what? He humbled himself, taking on the nature of man and becoming man, suffering and dying on a cross, which is instructive for us, right? Those of us who whom God has given authority and responsibility, maybe it's as a husband or a father or a wife and a mother, maybe it's as a student, older brother or sister or an employee or employer or a church leader. Do we look to Christ and work to mirror his authority, the kind of authority that that serves others rather than. Mose over them. And an authority that protects right when Christ protects his church, he preserves her to the end, an authority that initiates right. It wasn't a man that initiated to God our salvation, no, rather God. And Christ, the authoritative one over all the universe, he initiated salvation for us because we were helpless. Do we seek as fathers and husbands to mirror that kind of authority? So why is Christ preeminent? Verse 19 tells us it's because in Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Have you ever thought about the fact that it pleased God for His fullness to be made known in the person of Christ? All of His attributes, love, mercy, grace, holiness, wrath, justice, perfect knowledge, perfect power, and so on and so forth. Every attribute, every perfection of God is in the God-man Jesus Christ. It pleased Him that His fullness would be possessed by and made visible in Christ. And if that's not astonishing, later in chapter 2, Paul says this, that in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And listen to this, and you Christians have been filled in Him. I mean, do you capture the play in words here? It actually carries over into the English. That in Christ, the whole fullness of God dwells. And you have been filled in Him. We let this land on us just for a minute. If all deity dwells in Christ and we have been filled in him, then why would we need to go anywhere else to experience the fullness of life and salvation and forgiveness and reconciliation and joy and peace and contentment? We are complete and free in him. In Christ, we have been made complete. That there is nothing that we need to grow spiritually and to prosper, that we cannot find in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because we have been made full in him. So the point is that. We have a new identity in Christ because we are in Christ and in Christ, the fullness of deity dwells. So just by way of application in relation to sin, in relation to God, in relation to others, the determining factor of our existence is no longer our past. Or anything we've done or anything we'll ever do, the determining factor of our existence is Christ's past, his death, his life, his obedience, his resurrection. May God strengthen us to go to Christ to live out all of the resources that he has given us in him. And finally, he's supreme in his great plan of redemption. Verse 20 says that through him to reconcile him to himself all things. And through Christ to reconcile to himself all things. As you and I both fully are aware of the most powerfully destructive. Force in the universe. Or power in the universe is sin and its effects. Sin has radically blown apart our relationships between us and God, between husband and wife, between parent and child, between friends, churches, But how is this brokenness restored? Paul tells us reconciliation comes through the cross, through the blood of Christ. I mean, just I'm sure we can think about in our lives times where we experience great conflict in our lives, brokenness, relationships between spouses or children or friends or you name it. And we can also think about maybe situations in our lives where reconciliation was brought about in our lives. But think about this for a moment, as great as this reconciliation was, and it's great. It in no way compares to the reconciliation that God has brought about through the crosswork of Christ, through his blood. This is the most powerful work in history. I mean, a people who rejected God as king and deserved in his righteousness, deserved his punishment and wrath to be poured out on us forever. God was just and right. And God is just and right to punish us for disobeying him, for failing to keep up his standard, for failing to glorify him, for failing to make much of him in our lives and our thinking and our words. God is just to punish us for eternity and to pour his wrath out upon us. Yet. God has made reconciliation with him possible, how instead of pouring his wrath out on us, he pours his wrath out on his son. So that when we trust in Jesus Christ. God now counts the wrath that we deserve to his son, Jesus Christ, and what and credits us with the righteousness that Christ deserves because of his obedience. So that what? So that now we are declared righteous and adopted into God's family and heirs of every gift and blessing of being in God's family. All of this has been brought about through the blood of Christ. Isn't this amazing? And yes. There will even come a day, not only has he reconciled those who trust in Jesus, in his death, in his resurrection, there will even come a day when Satan will be finally and definitively taken care of, no longer to tempt us, no longer to allure us to settle for things less than what God has given us in Christ. God has, through the cross of Christ, began that work and he will definitively and finally do that in the new creation where there will be no more sin, will be no more sickness, will be some more death, will be no more Satan prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Yes, Jesus is Lord now over his people, but he will one day universally be Lord over all things. We don't yet see all things are subjected to his feet. Right. Hebrews 2 tells us Hebrews 2. But what do we see? We see him. Who is subjecting all things and we look forward to that day when all things will indeed be subjected to him and we will reign with him for ever. Are you astonished at the person of Christ as we approach Christmas Day? Are we astonished at this person of Christ? Who, though, had every right to reign at God's right hand, gave up his status and position at that right hand to become a man and to suffer. and to die in our place so that God might reconcile us to himself, that he who was rich became poor so that those of us who are poor might become rich through trusting in Jesus. Are we amazed at Christ's supremacy? Do we marvel at his lordship not only over the universe, but over our very lives? Do we give ourselves regularly to meditating on who Christ is and all of its supremacy and sufficiency? Maybe if you're not trusting in Christ now for the forgiveness of your sins, for the hope of eternal life, maybe this is the time where you can. Today is the day of salvation. John Owen says this. If you don't see Christ as glorious, you have not the eye of faith. This is a good indication of where our hearts are. If you are not gripped and led to worship Christ because of who he is, it's not a problem on Christ's part. It's a problem with our hearts, right? So trust in Jesus, worship him today, be found in him and marvel at who he is. Let's pray together. Father, we ask that you would. Capture our minds and our affections today, even a new. With a fresh vision of the all sufficiency, the incomparable, the supreme Christ. Who has effectively and definitively worked through his death, through his suffering to reconcile us to himself and now reigns as Lord over us, over Providence Baptist Church. And would You lead us to marvel and worship Him more wholeheartedly with our minds, with our words, with our actions? Would You do this for our good and for Your glory in Christ? Amen.