And that way we'll leave a lot to be discovered. So I hope tonight when we're through you're left longing for more. And so when we come back together you'll get a little more, a little more as we go through this topic. Now let's note that this passage here in Colossians chapter 1 is one of the pinnacles of Scripture when it comes to Christ. Beautiful. is this passage in full of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Let's read verses 13 through 23. It says, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Now just that, isn't that good? in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you, who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister." Isn't that good? That's good. Let's take note here of verse 18, where we get this, that he is preeminent. In the ESV, verse 18 says, and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. might be preeminent or have the preeminence. Now, the Greek word there for preeminence means to be first or to hold first place. An English definition of the word is the fact of surpassing all others. The fact of surpassing all others or superiority. When we think of this word, we might think of a premiere, preeminence, premiere. And a premiere is what? The first showing of a play or a musical or something of that. It's something that's first. Therefore, drawing from all of this, we can say that Jesus is the first of something. What is Jesus the first of? Everything. Everything. This is the Holy Spirit's emphasis here through the Apostle Paul, that Christ is king, that Christ is head, that Christ is first, that he is indeed preeminent. surpassing all others. He's superior over all. Now we think of being first or holding first place. This definition makes us think of competition, right? If someone's first place, then that means someone must be second place. And if you're second place, you're what? The first loser, right? The point here is not that. There's not a second place. There is no one else in the game. There's no one else in the competition. He is the only creator. There are and there were no competitors in the creation game, because there was no game. He is preeminent. I throw the rock and the first hit of the rock on the water, we will see that Christ is the firstborn of creation. The second is that he's the head of the church. And the third is that he's the firstborn from the dead. We saw those three in this passage. So he's firstborn of creation. Verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." Now, that's a…it sounds weird that he's the firstborn. Now, Jesus was born of a virgin. But before creation, he was not born. He was not created. He is eternally begotten of the Father. He has always been. He's eternally been. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's the firstborn of every creature. We know that this does not mean that Christ was born before the creation. He's eternally begotten, not born, because he's the image of God, and in him all the fullness of God dwells. This means that he has rank, control, headship over all creation, every creature, because verse 16 says, by him everything was created. In heaven and in earth, visible, that which we can see, and invisible, that which we cannot see, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by him. He is the creator. From him all that is came to be. He spoke and things came to be. I like what one said. He said that he stepped out, that Jesus stepped out from nowhere onto nothing. and spoke and said, let there be. He is before all things. And not only did he create it all, but he also as well sustains it all. He didn't just create everything and set it in motion and step back and let's see what happens. No, by Him all things consist. By Him all things are held together. By His preeminent power, by His preeminent person, by the Word and the wisdom of God, everything that is, is being held together by the Lord Jesus Christ. By Him all things consist. Don't pass over that. We say, yeah, that's true. We know that's true. Right? We know that. But we shouldn't just say, yeah, we know that's true. We ought to say, wow. Wow. We know that's true. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the creator. of everything. Everything that is, is because of Him. And everything that is is because of Him and everything continues to be because of Him. He's created it, He's sustaining it, He's upholding it. Ponder that. Meditate. upon our great preeminent Christ who is preeminent in creation. He's preeminent in creation. Now, second, he's preeminent in the church. Verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church. who is the beginning, He is the head of the body, the church. Just as He created all things and is sustaining all of creation, there's something more. He's He's even more intently set upon his bride. He will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against her. You see, creation is groaning, awaiting, the revelation of the sons of God. While everything around us is falling apart, his church is getting better and stronger. He's doing a work in her. He is the head of The church, he's building her, he's sustaining her, he holds his church together by the bonds of his great love for her. When we think of the church, we should think higher than we think. It's not a business. It's not an organization. It's not a social club. We are the bride of Christ and he shed his own blood for us. We should be willing to shed our blood for her. We should fight for her. We should defend her and hold her in highest regard. He's the head of the church. Just as He's the head of creation and created it all and is sustaining it all, He's the head of the church. He's supplying us all that we need. He is working with us. Be careful what you say about the church and how you treat the Lord's bride. He's making her ready. He's removing every spot and blemish from her. And he will present her to himself without either. No, dear believer, God is making you ready for himself. Quit kicking against the goads, quit kicking against the pricks, and submit yourself to His ever-loving hand as He works in you His works of righteousness. You see, the things we're going through, everything we go through is for this purpose. to make us ready for Him, to conform us to His image, to make us like Himself. He will wash you and He will clean you. He will cleanse you from all your uncleanliness. From all your idols, he will cleanse you. He will put his spirit in you and cause you to walk in his statutes. And you will be careful to obey all his rules. Why? Because he's changed your heart, right? He's taken out that heart of stone. He's removed that and put a sensitive heart of flesh. in its place. We're not who we once were. We are new creatures in Christ. He's making us ready. It's tough sometimes, isn't it? Sometimes He does the hard work to get us to where we need to be. Have you not remembered your evil ways and your deeds that were not good? Have you not loathed yourself for your iniquities and abominations? Says the Lord. Listen. It's not for your sake that he has done this. It is not for your sake that he is doing this, declares the Lord. Let it be known to you that it's not about you, that it's about him. Be ashamed and confounded of your ways. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name be glory. It's for His namesake. It's all for Him. Did we not just sing that? He is the preeminent one. He is making His church ready. Great is the Lord and worthy to be praised. He's preeminent in creation. He's preeminent in the church. And He's preeminent in the resurrection. Look at verse 18, and he is the head of the body of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. He's preeminent in the resurrection. He died. He rose again, the firstfruits. Just as Christ died and rose again from the dead, so too those who are in him will follow suit. The grave will not hold you because it could not hold him. Our representative, our federal head, marched into the grave and he marched out of the grave because there was no sin in himself that death could lay hold of. You see, the wages of Sid is death. He had no wage of his own to pay. But in that act, he paid for hours. He paid for your sin and he paid for mine. The wages of sin is death. He took our sin upon himself and he died for our sins. Therefore, the grave has no claim on us. Oh grave, where's your victory? Death, where's your sting? We will die. We will put off this old body of flesh, but because he rose, so will you glory. And hallelujah to the lamb, amen. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the preeminent one because of his finished work, because of who he is and what he's done. He is preeminent, supreme, king, Lord of all. Because of who he is and what he's done, He is the only reconciler. He and he alone can reconcile us to God. Because of our sins, we are at odds with God and God is at odds with us. But he has reconciled us to the Father. Verses 19 through 22. 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. And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him." Is that not what we've said? Notice the warning in verse 23. If you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, am made a minister. If you quit, it's on you. If you continue, It's all to his glory, all to him. And that's why I speak these things tonight, to prod you on for our great preeminent Christ and King. Let me close with verse 28. Listen to this. The first three words. Him we proclaim. Him we proclaim. Oh, may we proclaim Him in our next meetings on Wednesday nights. Of course, we do Sunday mornings as well, don't we? Proclaim Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. Why? That we may present everyone mature, perfect, complete in Christ. He's worthy. He's worthy to be praised. He's worthy to be honored, to be glorified, to be made much of. He's our everything. He made us. He created us. He's given us the mind and the abilities that we have. Now He is preeminent. He is preeminent. Every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess. He is preeminent. But is he in your life? Let's pray. Oh, Lord. Christ. when we set our minds upon him. Oh, the glory. Oh, the beauty. Oh, the fame. What a name. What a name. is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and Savior. All power, all glory, all might, all wisdom. What a Savior. Oh, what a Savior we have. Oh, what great things he has done. Oh, Lord. He is preeminent. over all creation. He's preeminent in the church. He's preeminent over death in the resurrection. Oh, Father, help us think upon these things. Help us think upon our perfect Lamb. Father, we look forward over the next several meetings together as different ones will preach and uplift our Savior, proclaim His supremacy, proclaim His preeminence. Lord, would you meet