Well take your Bibles and open up with me this morning to Colossians chapter 1. Next week we will be returning back to our series in Jeremiah. We will meet for prayer meeting on Wednesday if you're available to join with us. The first day of a new year, what better way to start than gathering with God's people to pray. But to conclude this series through December, our great Savior, we have looked at our Savior promised, our Savior prophesied, our Savior's way prepared, our Savior provided, and this morning from Colossians 1, we're concluding the year with the message, Our Savior Preeminent. When we talk about Christ being all in all, and looking here at Colossians 1 in verses 15 through 20, these are actually two stanzas of a hymn from the early church. The hymn emphasizes Christ's supremacy over all of creation in one of the verses, one of the stanzas, over the universe, all of the created expanse. And the second, His supremacy over the new creation, that is the church and the hopes of the new heavens and the new earth. I had posted earlier this week online this statement, and this will be the driving theme to what Paul is telling us. Jesus is not just the reason for the season. Jesus is the reason for everything. We need to think higher of Christ than we do, to know who He is, to know what He's done. And that's what Paul is expressing in this hymn of praise written out for the church at Colossae, a church that was battling false teachers. Teachers who taught that Jesus was not fully God and fully man, that he was just a man filled with the Spirit. You understand, it's when the New Testament church began, the beginning did not exclude the New Testament church from heresy. In fact, most every letter we have in the New Testament was written to correct heresy and error already creeping into the new church. Well, that same is true at Colossae. Questions about Christ and His deity. Just as old a heresy as we can imagine. Here it is. And as Paul is addressing that, he does it in two ways with this passage. He talks about the supremacy of Christ and He repeats it so often, just like we often see in music. He repeats the same phrases in the same lines over and over and over again to drive home the point about who Christ is, the fact that He is truly God and truly man, that He is the fullness of God dwelling in this human body. This is the incarnation, the God-man, God with us. So he starts with this statement, in fact talking about Christ who rescued us from the authority of darkness in verse 13, transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Now he's going to talk about Christ. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation? For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him were the things on earth or things in heaven. Paul starts by telling us that Christ is the image of God. He is the image of the invisible God. He is God revealed. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, in whose case the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Christ, as He appears, is God. He is God's image for us. He is indwelt with the fullness of God as a man. The word for image here is the word, the Greek word, icon. It's not quite spelled how we spell it in English, but it has the same meaning. When we talk about icons, an image or an appearance or a form of something, We usually think of this either in a Catholic context or in idolatry, where there is some object that is created, that is made, and that is bowed down to, revered, adored, and worshipped. Well, here we're told that Christ is the icon of God, and the word icon means literally the stamped impression. You remember when the kings would have their signet rings and you'd have the wax on a document and they would press their stamp into that. That seal and that wax image, that appearance on that paper certified it as authentic. This was true. It carried the authority of whoever's stamp that was. Well, Jesus is the express image of God. If you want to know what God looks like, first off, understand God the Father, invisible, immortal. We've sung the hymn. He dwells in invisibility. He is spirit. No one has seen the Father. If we have seen God, it is because He has manifest Himself, He has revealed Himself through His Son. Even before the incarnation, when God appears in the Old Testament, you understand that every one of those appearances of God in the Old Testament is the pre-incarnate Christ, because Christ is the image of God. He is the representation of God to us. He is how God reveals Himself to us. If we were to look at the LXX, the Septuagint, in the translation from Hebrew to Greek of Genesis chapter 1, where we're told that we are created in the image of God, the Greek scholars use that same word, icon. Then God said, let us make man in our image. In other words, let us make God as our icon. Here is the Trinity Putting together the plan of creation, and in the plan of creation, man was to bear the image of God. He was going to do that by having dominion over the creation. He was created in his own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth. Adam and Eve created in the image of God as are all of their descendants created in the image of God. But we understand that something happened at the fall. That fellowship was broken and that image was marred. We do bear the image of God now, but we bear it imperfectly. We bear it sinfully. Yes, we're created in the image of God, but now Christ had to come. He had to shed His blood so that we could put on a new man. In fact, Colossians 3.10 says, "...and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a full knowledge according to the image of the one who created him." Christ's work on the cross was to restore the image of God in fallen mankind. As Christ is being presented here, we have Him as the image of God at creation and the image of God now in the new creation. The creation that we marred by our sin and the creation that He is restoring by His death, burial, and resurrection and ascension. Now all of creation is waiting for redemption. All of creation is waiting to be remade for all of the stain of sin to be completely removed. That'll happen in two ways. First, the lost, those who are not redeemed, will be cast into the lake of fire. And secondly, the creation itself at an elemental level will melt in the fires of the wrath of God and be reborn as a new heavens and a new earth, completely refined and freed from the stain of sin. So that now those who bore the image of God and then the new image of God in the new creation now will not be able to sin. Can you imagine not even to not be able to sin? It's not even a lack of temptation. There will be in the new heavens and in the new earth no ability to sin. Now, some have said, well, why didn't God do that in the first place? Well, that wasn't His purpose. His purpose was the cross. His purpose was redemption for the glory of His name. So God put Adam and Eve in the garden, gave them a free will as much as was determined by their nature, and they chose almost immediately to rebel against God and to serve themselves. Christ has come to rectify that. As a result, we're told not only is He the image of the invisible God, He is the firstborn of all creation. Now this is where we get into difficulty because the word usage here has changed over time. And the way this is translated, even though this is a good translation of the word for firstborn, this creates confusion because people say, oh, Jesus is a created being. No, that's the heresy that Paul is writing to address. They said that Jesus was not divine. He was a created being. He was only a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, what does Paul mean when he says he was the firstborn of all creation? That does not mean he was created and then creation was created. It means before creation was, he was. Before creation ever came to be, Christ already was. The word firstborn there does not refer to birth order. Now, how many of you are the firstborn? Are there only just a few firstborns here? You don't have to ask a firstborn, they tell you. Now, how many of you are second born? Oh, never mind, you don't matter. How many of you are third born? Right? You know, you've got the birth order and you know all the... This is not what the word means. The word here literally means existing before. This had the priority spot. Now, the way to look at it, to understand the word firstborn is that before the second born was born, the firstborn had to be born. Otherwise the second born would not have been second born. So the firstborn simply means the one that was existing before. So Christ existed before. Now, does the Bible back this up? Well, yes. Thank you for asking. It does. John 1.1, in the beginning was the word. What does that mean? When the beginning happened, when God said, Let there be light, in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, when time and space began, the Word was already there. Now what we see is not only was He already there, not only is He over all of that creation, He's the one who did the creating. We see here, He is the firstborn of all creation. That means He is over all of creation. Paul expresses it this way in 1 Corinthians 15, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. but each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ at his coming. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and all power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when He says all things are put in subjection, it's evident that He is accepted who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. God is ruling and reigning even now in creation. He is in the work of redeeming all of that creation and one day He's going to bring that redemption to finalization and it's going to be all in all. God is all in all. Christ then is the stamped image of God, the express revealed person of the Godhead. He existed before creation was and He rules over all of creation. There are those who would tell you that Satan, as the prince of the power of the air, rules over the earth. No, he does not. Jesus reigns. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Whatever the devil does, he does under the sovereign control of God. Period. R.C. Sproul said it. The devil is God's devil. And we think the devil is horrible, and we think there's this big battle going on. Is the devil to be feared? No. We need to be aware of his tactics, but understand this is not a fight good against evil as if good might lose. When Satan fights against God, he's not on equal footing because Satan is a created being. That's why Michael, the archangel, captain of the hosts of the Lord, when he fights against Satan, he as a created being can't defeat him. So what does he say? The Lord rebuke you, because the Lord is the Creator, can and does rebuke the devil and will defeat him. We're told in verse 16, For in Him, in Christ, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. to say that all things were created in Him, through Him, and for Him. That kind of makes Jesus a big deal, doesn't it? All things were created in Him. Now, that's an interesting discussion because the commentaries immediately get off track and get distracted by this, and they say, we think there's a wrong preposition here. This would make more sense if it said all things were created by Him. But that's not the word used. It is the word in, E-N in the Greek. And it means in, I-N in the English. What does that mean? All things were created in Him. That means that everything that is created, that we see and even that we don't see, everything visible and invisible in all of the created universe was created in relationship to Christ. Everything in the universe relates to Him. either as family or as foe, all of creation. It was all created in Him. It was all created through Him, meaning He was the means of that creative power. When God said, let there be light, that was Jesus speaking. That was the Word speaking all that is into being. And it was all created for Him. All of this creation exists for Jesus. In Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, that is, all of the known universe, visible and invisible, all of the material and immaterial things, all of the physical and spiritual things. And then He breaks it down, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities. So all of the universe, everything material and immaterial, everything physical and spiritual, everything temporal that is here and what will be everlasting, Christ has created it. The last list here is thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. The word throne means literally a seat or a chair of power. The word dominion refers to the power or the authority to rule. The word rulers means those who are first. It's the word arche, arch, as in archangel is the highest order of angels. These are the highest order of those put in charge in the spiritual realm, both fallen and elect. And the word authorities refers to spiritual and earthly rulers. That means that Christ has created everything. He's created all power, all authority. He's put the people in charge who are in charge. This is what Romans 13 tells us, isn't it? That all authority comes from God. To obey God is to obey authority. Now, if that authority misuses that authority and demands that you disobey God, then you obey God rather than men and you have to be willing to pay the consequences under men. That was the apostles. They said, don't preach in this name. And they said, we ought to obey God rather than men. So they were going to preach and they asked for boldness because they knew they were going to preach and probably suffer for it. But this also refers to spiritual powers. to angels and demons, to the spiritual world and the physical world. Christ has created it all, and He rules over it all. Hebrews chapter 1 is devoted to the theme that Jesus is better than the angels. Now, what could be better than an elect holy angel? The one who created those elect holy angels from where they derive their glory and their power. but understands demons have powers as well, for a time until it's taken away. How do we defeat the devil? We submit to God first. Resist the devil. We're told in the book of Revelation, we overcome the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, by looking at what Christ has done. You see, Christ is all in all. He has created all that is. He's done it in Himself, through Himself, and for Himself. It tells us there He was before all things in verse 17. He is before all things, preexistent. and in him all things hold together." Jesus is even now holding all things together. Douglas Moon, his commentary says, the universe owes its continuing coherence to Christ. It's no surprise when you study science, you study physics, everybody's searching, you're using these colliders, they're looking for what they have named the God particle. That smaller-than-atomic particle that holds everything together. You know what those scientists are looking for, don't you? Jesus. He holds it all together. It is the power of His Word and His person that's why everything coheres. If Christ were to, for a moment, stop holding it together, we would all be beside ourselves. Poof! Disintegrated. That's why when we look at it and we say that God's gracious to give us the next breath, oh, it's even deeper than that. The only reason your body's hanging on as good as it is right now is because Jesus is holding you together. He's got us. And this is not just us, this is all of creation. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Verse 18, He is the head of the body, the church. Here we shift gears in verse 18. First we're talking about the created order. Now we're talking about the new creation, the head of the body, the church. And Paul uses this throughout the book of Corinthians and in Ephesians multiple times. It's the reminder that if anyone is in Christ Jesus, He is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now I know if you were lost and you are saved, You're changed, but do you feel new? Do you feel like a new creation? I feel like a wearing out creation. Yes, here and now, but one day when we're glorified, we'll understand and see the final redemption of all of us, the redemption of our body, soul, and spirit. But for now, we understand that Paul addresses the new man. We have a new heart, we have a new mind, we have a new nature. We are a new man on the inner man. And that process of sanctification is conforming us outwardly to that inner new man who is modeled after the image of Christ. And as we are conformed more and more into His image, finally at glorification, we will be like Him. He will see us, we will see Him, and we will be like Him. That is the end result and the goal. when we talk about the body of Christ, and when he labels this as the church, we understand that the head is the life source of the body. If you cut your head off, your body's not gonna go much further. unless you're a chicken named Hank. Not that Hank is a chicken, but there was a chicken named Hank, and if you haven't looked up the story, look up the story. Hank the chicken got his head chopped off and lived for years after the fact, and they put him at carnivals and all sorts of stuff. They fed him down his little neck hole, because he didn't have a head, and he just did it just like a chicken. People say sometimes you feel like a chicken with your head cut off. More often than not, I feel like a head with my chicken cut off. Well, what happens if the body loses the head? The life source, the direction for the nervous system, all of that comes from the head. Have you ever seen any of those science fiction movies from the 1950s and 60s where they did the head transplant? It's not gonna happen. Here is what leads to the life source of the body. Now let's look at the church. It is the body of Christ, and He is the head. The body serves the head. The body finds its life source from the head, and this body is the church. Colossians 124, Paul says, Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of Christ's afflictions in my flesh on behalf of His body, which is the church. Colossians 2.19, he repeats the theme, not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. And Colossians 3.15, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. So he is not only the head over all of creation, he is head specifically of the body, the church. It goes on to talk about Christ, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. He is the beginning. Revelation 3.14 says, "...To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, This is what the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God says." Jesus multiple times says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Now, we need to understand, that's not just a description of His power or of His glory, of His being. Jesus created all that is, and Jesus is going to end all that is. He created by saying, let there be light. He's going to end it when in Revelation finally we hear from the throne, it's done. We hear another declaration, it's finished. And at that point, all of the elements dissolve and the new heavens and the new earth are created. So you understand, this is not just a title. When we say He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, He is the beginning of creation. Creation began in Him, through Him, and for Him. All that exists, exists for Him. Jesus is the reason for everything. We are so full of ourselves that we think this creation is all about us as created beings. No, it's not. You understand our salvation is not even about us. It's about the finished work of Christ on our behalf to the glory of the Father. It's what He has come to do. John again, John chapter 1 reminds us, "...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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that is come into being." all that is, has been created by Him in the earth, in the universe, in the heavens, and in the new heavens, in the new earth, and between the two, in the church. We're told there He is the firstborn from the dead. This, of course, is His resurrection. Now, again, people say, well, wait a minute. He raised people from the dead before He was raised, so how can He be the first? We understand He was able to raise those who He did raise based on the virtue of the fact that He was going to be raised and His resurrection was so certain that the salvation that that death and resurrection provided could be applied to Old Testament saints before Jesus ever died. To say, well, they were resurrected, but then He was resurrected, so He wasn't first. No, it was because His was the preeminent resurrection. Without His resurrections, no other resurrection is possible. when we understand what He set into motion. Jesus, in His death, burial, and resurrection, initiated the new order of those who are raised from the dead. Without Him, there would be no resurrection. Without Him, death would not be defeated. He came and submitted Himself to death so that He might overcome it. And in being the firstborn, and here the word literally could be translated, the founder of the resurrection, Because He was raised, now others have been, can be, and will be. And here's the power of the resurrection of Christ. When He comes back, all of the dead in Christ are going to be raised. We who are alive and remain are going to be changed. We are going to experience a standing, living, breathing resurrection. We're going to be raised and given a glorified body without having to die. Even so come Lord Jesus. But what about the lost? We've talked about the dead in Christ and we've talked about those who are alive and raised. What about the lost? They're going to be raised as well. They're going to be raised so that they might stand before the judgment and be cast into the lake of fire. And whatever kind of bodies they're going to be given, those bodies are going to be able to endure the flames of God's wrath for all of eternity without being dissolved and annihilated. Now what that means is because Jesus was raised, everyone will be raised. This is when we preach the doctrine of the resurrection. It's not just believers, it's everybody, every living being who has ever existed. Because Jesus was raised, everyone will be raised, the righteous to glory, the unrighteous to wrath. We're told that He did this through the resurrection so that He might have the first place in everything. Several translations translate that phrase, first place, that He might have the supremacy. I like it that it was translated here, first place, because we can understand that when we talk about supremacy. We understand there are levels of supremacy and one might be supreme. We have the Supreme Court. And then we find out there's balance of power. So they're really not all supreme because there really is balance of power when it works like it was set up to work. But when we look at this, we see that because Christ is the beginning, because he is the founder of the resurrection, he himself will come to have the first place in everything. First place. Now, contrary to this current generation, when you compete in life, not everybody gets a trophy. You remember field day at school? You remember the fair, the science fair, and you had the blue ribbon? That was first place. You had the red ribbon for second place. You had a green ribbon, usually for third place, usually a yellow ribbon for fourth place. And then there was a white ribbon that everybody else got. And that was a runner up. That was a good try. But you weren't first, second, third or fourth. We're ranked. Well, Jesus, Jesus is going to be first. everything else subservient to him. He will have the first place in everything. First Corinthians 15 20 tells us, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. This is why he had to come in the first place. It goes on in verse 19, "...for in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things to himself." In him the fullness was pleased to dwell. This directly refutes the heresy that the Colossians were fighting. that Jesus was just a man and not divine. No, Jesus was the God-man, God in human flesh. We know this from John 1.14, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. What was His glory? The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh. This is what we've been celebrating for the month of December, the Incarnation. the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, Emmanuel, God with us. In Him the fullness was pleased to dwell." Meaning, He was fully God and fully man. He was truly God and truly man. He was a divine human being. He was the express image of the Father. And by the way, I say was, He is, He remains as such, unchanged, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He did this so that through Him He could reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him were the things on earth or things in heaven." Through Him, reconciling all things to Himself. Now, we look at this too, and Spurgeon made the point, we have to be careful because if He reconciles all things to Himself, we tend to think that that means everybody's going to be saved. And in case you didn't hear it, by the way, it's been announced again. There was a high-ranking cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church that actually said that at the end of the day, everybody was going to be saved, that God was going to save everybody. Now, that kind of causes problems with the history of both their doctrine and the doctrine of the gospel. The Bible does not present universal salvation. So this can't mean that he's going to reconcile all things to himself and that therefore means that everyone's going to be saved. To reconcile all things to himself means all things are going to be put in right relationship to himself. Now what is the right relationship for one who is justified? is to be blessed and to inherit eternal life. What is the right relationship of one who rebels against Christ and rejects Him, who blasphemes the Spirit and will not accept the testimony of the Holy Spirit about who Jesus is? Their right relationship to God, to Christ then, is as an enemy. I want you to understand that because of who Christ is and because of what Christ has done, I've seen this, people post this all the time. I need to create a meme to answer to it and just post it every day. And they're saying that if people in hell had one more chance to come and talk to you, they would tell you to believe in Jesus. No, they wouldn't. People in hell know they're there because they're supposed to be there. They're in the relationship to Christ that they are supposed to be in. And they are there because they hate Him. You understand their hatred for Him does not stop because He is judging them. I love it MacArthur explained it this way. He said, the truth is, if you want to know why hell goes on forever, number one, it's because of the depth of our sin. Number two, it's because the fallen human being never stops sinning. You say, well, how are they going to be sinning in hell? Gnashing their teeth at God. hating God. They hate Him. That's why they won't bow the knee to Christ now, so they'll be forced to bow it then. And do you think that's going to be a willing, joyful thing when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord? If we confess that now in this life, it's a confession of faith. If you confess that after you've died, it's a forced confession of truth. that Jesus is right to judge you because your knee has to bow to Him because of who He is, because He has the preeminence. To reconcile all things to Himself mean all things will be where they are supposed to be. For those of us who He's made peace with God, we're told He's made peace through the blood of His cross. having made peace through the blood of His cross through Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Colossians 2, 13 through 15 reminds us you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive with him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us. He has also taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed the rulers and authorities. He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them in it. stated throughout this series from Colossians 2 here when we say that Christ has disarmed rulers and authorities. These are demonic powers. He makes a public display of them, triumphing over them in it. The question is, how does Christ do that? Every time a sinner is saved, the devil is mocked. Every time a sinner is saved. The demons have to confess the truth. Ask the demons. You know, the demons actually have pretty good testimony. Demons provide a pretty good witness. They know exactly who Jesus is. And they believe and tremble. But of course, it's not a saving faith. They simply know who He is. Now, He's reconciling all things to Himself through the peace that was brought in His cross. This is God with us. You understand now why the temple had to be done away with because now God dwells with us in Christ. Now we look at it and we see that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that the church is the dwelling place now. But understand, the true temple of God, it's Christ. where there was a building where his Shekinah glory was shown, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, in that old order, now in the new, God dwells with us, not in the physical temple, but He dwells with us in the person of Christ. That's why Jesus said, tear this temple down, and in three days, I'll build it back. Not referring to the temple temple, but to Him as the temple. You're gonna try to put me to death. You're going to put me to death. You're going to try to destroy the temple, but it's not gonna see decay. I'm gonna be raised And then all those who are in Him are now in the temple. In the Old Testament, this is what it would look like. You had to be in the ark. If you weren't in the ark, you weren't going to survive. And the ark points to Christ. Now, don't worry about the ark. Don't worry about the physical temple. Don't worry about a church building. Don't even worry about a church congregation. You know who you need to be in to be in the temple? You need to be in Christ. And when we are in Christ and have all things in common with Christ, this is what I'm convinced. Those who are in Christ love those who are in Christ. If you run into somebody that has a problem with the church and they're always bad-mouthing the church, always talking bad about the church, a preacher friend of mine, my favorite response I've ever heard to that. He said, does Jesus hear what you're saying about his wife? Who condemns? Who can bring a charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies. We need to leave the justification to God. We need to judge our motives, not other people's. And we need to be quick to forgive if somebody sins against us. Because you know most of the time when we think somebody sinned against us, they don't even have a clue we think they sinned against us. That's why if you come to the altar and realize your brother has something against you, if you even think your brother has something, go and be reconciled. Why? Because we're in the temple together. We're worshiping together in Christ and He's brought peace through the blood of His cross. God, then we're told here, has reconciled all things to Christ. Everything will be what and where it is supposed to be because of Christ. Again, Jesus is not the reason for the season. He's not just the reason for the season. Jesus is the reason for everything. We need to be reminded of that because too often we think the world revolves around us. If you want to be technically accurate, you would say that the earth revolves around the sun. If you want to be biblically accurate, you just change the letter U to the letter O. You and your whole world should revolve around Jesus Christ. Every day He should be first, in first place, preeminent, supreme. Every thought, every conversation, every action, every relationship, it should be lived in submission to Him because of who He is, because He is preeminent. 1 Corinthians 15, 28 again reminds us, When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. Philippians 2, 10 and 11 says, So at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now here's a point of application. How do we apply this truth that God who became flesh, Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus through the incarnation, how is it that that affects our everyday life? Simply in this way. Every day for the believer, our knee should bow and our tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And then we should strive to live that day in the power of the Spirit so that our life demonstrates that that confession was true. That Jesus is my Lord. I am His and He is mine. And whatever the world or anybody else thinks about it, their problem is with Him, not with me. And I just hope they see enough of Him in me that they react. You want sinners to react against you? Yes, then I know who the mission is. You see, when Christ is all in all, it's not now about wrestling against flesh and blood and finding the enemies of the church and combating the culture and trying to subdue it. It's about preaching the gospel and living the gospel and loving the lost enough to tell them the truth. And what is the truth? We tell them that Jesus is all in all. Come to Christ for Christ. And if you resist that, you know what I'm going to tell you? Come to Christ for Christ. And if you're His, I'm going to persist. I'm going to pray. I'm going to preach. God's going to send other people to water that seed that's been planted. And eventually it's going to grow and there's going to be an increase. It's the story of the man sitting at the back of Spurgeon's church. I can't stand a word that comes out of that preacher's mouth. I'm never coming back. Where was he the next Sunday? A few rows closer to the front, and he stormed out again. I don't agree with a word he said, I'm never coming back. The third week, he was a little closer down to the front. Spurgeon had noticed by this time, this is his account, that he saw this angry man. And trust me, I know when some of you were here on Sundays and you're angry. I know it. If you could see what I could see, oh man, we just need a screen back here of you seeing yourselves. You can see conviction. You can see. Spurgeon noticed the next week he was down a little bit closer and still angry. The fourth week, he was on the front row with tears in his eyes the whole time and ran to embrace Spurgeon at the end of the message and told him, I hated every word that came out of your mouth until Jesus caused me to believe every word coming out of your mouth. That's the power of the gospel. If Christ is all in all, then what in the world should stop us from making this daily confession and living it? And not just witnessing when it's convenient, not just witnessing when we have opportunity. People say, I pray you have an opportunity today. You have opportunities today. How do I know that? You're going to come across lost people and backslidden Christians who need to hear the gospel so that you can tick them off so that the Holy Spirit can convict them and bring them back. Go live it, be salt and be light, and understand that what you need to hear and what I need to hear every day is that same gospel, to bow the knee and to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Remember, Jesus is preeminent. Live like it. He is, so live like it. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for your son who has revealed you to us. We thank you that in him, the fullness of deity dwells bodily. All authority belongs to Christ. We know he has the first place in our hearts. We know he will have the first place. He will reconcile all things to himself. And He is preeminent. He is our all in all. Remind us of that as we close out this year and look back and potentially see things that we regret and have sins to confess. And as we look with hope to the new year, remind us that we still need to be mortifying the flesh, fighting the sin that resides in us. We thank you that because of the finished work of Christ and his resurrection, we have power over sin and over ourselves and over death. And we thank you that we're being conformed to his image and that his will will be done in our lives. Make us willing by your spirit. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.