Come with me in your Bible to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. We're coming close to the end of this letter written by the Apostle Paul from prison in Rome to the Christians that are in Ephesus in many ways facing hardship, in many ways facing difficulty in the task of ordinary day-to-day life as a Christian. But more than that, in the proclaiming of the gospel in an environment that is unfriendly to the gospel. We know nothing of that yet. No one is going out preaching the gospel and dying because of it. You can go back and read in the addresses that the Lord makes to the seven churches in Asia Minor, and he speaks of a brother that had already been martyred for the cause of Christ. And someone that was all known to them and beloved in a local assembly was making Christ known and not long thereafter met Christ face to face. Now obviously that would have an effect upon church life and evangelism, wouldn't it? And so that's some of the difficulty that these Christians were facing. And Paul writes them from his own difficulty and struggles. He's imprisoned in the city of Rome. He's not under the most favorable of circumstances, but yet his mind is not upon his miseries, but upon the bride of Christ. His mind is upon brothers and sisters that he knows and loves. You know, these were people that he had spent much time with over the years. We're gonna be looking at verses 20 through 23 this morning, and my title of my sermon is The Supremacy of Christ, The Supremacy of Christ. So let's read this text together, and then we will work our way through it. Which he worked in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Let's pray together. Lord, we ask of your grace in a time such as this where we come underneath the authority of the Word of God. Lord, preached by a fallible man, but Lord, the message of the cross is not fallible. You've inspired every word of these verses we've just read. They're profitable for doctrine. They're profitable for reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the child of God might be thoroughly equipped unto every good work. Lord, these verses have been breathed out by the Lord. So Lord, help us in our understanding, help us in our alertness, grant us the understanding of these truths that we might, because of them, live in a way that brings honor and glory to your majesty. Lord, help us to put on strength, help us to have the mind of Christ. And we ask this in Jesus' wonderful name, amen. We're thinking about the context that this is written into, and Paul knows that there's nothing that strengthens the church more than a profound revelation of the greatness of the church's head, Jesus Christ, an exalted view of Christ. You know, in times past in history, it was this transcendent, exalted view of Jesus our Savior that gave strength to the church in moments of weakness and moments of peril. It's a God-sized view of Jesus. They gave power to the church in moments where they felt so weak. Grace Life, listen to your pastor that Christology is the apex of theology. Christology is the apex of theology. Even in Paul's writings, that Christology is preeminent. That Jesus is the diamond in the ring of God's purposes. That Jesus is the diamond in the ring of God's purpose. In verse 10, you can look at it with me. In chapter 1, it says that the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things on earth in Him, that all things surround Jesus Christ. The late Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote, the body of divinity to which I would pen and bind myself forever, God helping me, is Jesus Christ. who is the sum and substance of the gospel, who is himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious truth, the all-glorious personal embodiment of the way, the truth, and the life. And I say amen, Brother Spurgeon, that in Christ is the embodiment, the sum and the substance of all theology. And I give a hearty amen. Now, mind you, Ephesus was not a Christian city. Ephesus was the pagan capital of the ancient world. It was a hotbed of insurrection against the gospel truth, a culture that was inundated with idolatry. The people, the citizens of that city were sold out lock, stock, and barrel to paganism. Even the economic system was fueled by illicit proceeds, especially from the sale of idols. But through the Apostle Paul and the power of the Holy Spirit, the gospel exploded into this environment of idolatry. Many were swept up into the kingdom of Jesus Christ through the faithful preaching expositions of the Apostle Paul, insomuch, in Acts 19, you can read of this, that there was an uproar because of the success of the gospel. The crafters of those idols from which proceeds were derived." It says in Acts 19.26, this Paul has persuaded, this is the people that make money by idolatry, this Paul, this dude has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd saying that things that are made by hands are not gods. The crowd then became hostile and were on the verge of a riot. Why? Because the gospel had crippled the industry of the illicit. Many people were bringing out their books and their idealisms and their sorceries and burning them because they had come to know the power of God. There were many of them that had become Christian, and because of this, the tension in Ephesus could not have been worse. I've quoted this statement from Pioneer Missionary, a wealthy man who abandoned everything to go to Africa to win souls. C.T. Studd said that some want to live within the sound of a chapel bell. He says, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. and Ephesus was a yard from hell. That's the culture. That opposition and persecution for the cause of Christ wasn't simply a possibility for a believer, it was an ongoing reality. Now that it's into this context that Paul's writing and praying, he's using towering theology, not discussing it in Starbucks, not that that's wrong, but that's really not where the battle is fought. Listen, he's given to this supreme view of Christ into a community of cosmic conflict. He's giving them this transcendent view of Christ because what they're facing in their day-to-day life was hard and tumultuous and difficult and dangerous. And it's an exalted view, a transcendent supreme view of the reigning monarch of the universe that will carry you through in that kind of a life and environment. Paul has been praying for the Christians that they might know, that he might have knowledge of the surpassing greatness of the power of God. Now, he prays for the Christians at Ephesus to realize the supremacy of God's Son in this pericope. He's praying that their eyes be enlightened to know the majesty and the glory of the Son of God. And that's my prayer for us. That's my prayer for my own heart. In other words, what this embattled group of people needed was not deliverance from the evil that was plaguing them. No, that's not what they needed. They needed a revelation of the greatness of Jesus Christ that would equip and sustain them as they navigated the trenches of day-to-day life within a yard from hell. That's what they needed. And that's our great need in our anti-Christ culture today. You know, the coming days may be some of the darkest in the history of our country, but the mission of the church is not to be put on hold, is it? That in our darkness, in our culture, the gospel light is to shine all the brighter, that in danger, And in hostility, the bravery of grace causes Christian people to press on forward, that in hardship that we might face, that the salt of truth is to be spread and sowed faithfully. And like Ephesus, the strength that we need for a day like that is garnered by a biblical view of the supremacy of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of the supremacy of Christ is not simply ivory tower theology. It's a robust worldview that underwrites our valiant exploits in the face of hardship and in the face of danger. I'm a five-pointer today. First of all, my first point is that Jesus Christ is supreme over the grave and death. Look at verse 20 with me, which he worked in Christ. Talking about the power, he gives those four dynamic power words stacked one on top of another. In the previous verse, he talks about the dunamis power, the energeia power of God, the glorious power of God, the power that God has within himself, the iscus power of God. He displayed and he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Church, I want you to listen to me, please. I fear that because we hear of the miracle of the resurrection of Christ over and over again, that we lose the significance. That we say, so what? What a conquest it was for the Lord Jesus Christ to champion death. Mind you, Jesus is the only one to conquer the grave once and for all. The friend of Jesus, Lazarus, died and was raised to life, but he died again, so he didn't conquer death. The widow at Zarephath's son was raised by Elijah from the dead, but he too died a second time, and we see in 1 Kings 17, 22. In every instance of a resurrection from the dead in the Bible, everyone has died again except Jesus Christ. that Jesus conquered death once for all time, that he championed over this feared fate, the power of death that we all fear. We read about in Hebrews 2, 14, and 15. We understand in the resurrection of Christ that the grave had no power to claim him, that after three days, John 10, 17 says, he took his life up again. Paul wrote in Romans 6, 9, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, that death no longer is master over him. Now we see Jesus speaking to John in the Revelation in chapter 1, verses 17 and 18. Do not fear, I am the first and the last, the living one. I was dead and behold, I am alive forever and ever. The Scriptures teach us that he's the firstborn, prototokos, he's the firstborn from the dead. He's the first in rank of all who have been raised, that Jesus was raised from the dead never to die again. He's the firstborn from the dead, verse 5 of Revelation 1, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Paul wants the Ephesians to know the resurrection power of God is toward them. This is the power that is at the disposal of the church. In a grammatic sense, more literally, it would read, to know resurrection power, that this power is not only toward them, but literally in the Greek, it is eis ego, it is into them. It's not simply toward them as God's pointing it and shooting at you as if you might or might not catch it. That's not the idea of the Greek. The idea of the Greek is that it is into them. The power of God is given to us as believers. And Paul wants the church at Ephesus to know this power that raised Christ from the dead, this transcendent Christ is within us. Death is the end of all men, isn't it? Some die young. I've lost friends in their youth. I've lost friends that worked with me in law enforcement that have died young. I've lost friends that have died in their older years. But death is the end of life as we know it here. Death cannot be cheated. Death cannot be avoided nor escaped. Hebrews 9, 27, it is appointed divinely determined for all men to die once, and then the judgment. Ever since that dark day in Eden, all men have been subjected to decay and death. We died in Adam and that we go to the graves. Then we're talking about their bodies and that none can arouse themselves from death. Death holds sway. Death holds power over all men. Like you and I, we are the children of Adam. We're under its sway and that we will be conquered and held until in that resurrection and that last day when Christ in the resurrection calls us up from that grave and we'll be given a new body. But the sinless Christ was not held in the grip of death. This is the point. This is the power that is being spoken of. This is the supremacy of the name that is in Jesus Christ. And by the way, that name is given to you and that's why you're called a Christian. You're in a covenant with him. My wife is no longer Stacey Couch, she is Stacey Melton. It's her covenant name. We're no longer called by our old name, we're called Christians, that we are in Christ. Christ conquered the grave. The curse of death was powerless. Whenever Jesus said at the cross, it is finished, in John 19, 30, the father at the empty tomb said amen. And he raised his son from the dead. The stone that was against that tomb was rolled away. The indictment was overturned. The curse of death was conquered. The justice of God was satisfied. And listen, and like Jonah was spat out by the great fish, the grave spat the Christ of God out. It couldn't hold him. Acts 2.24 says, he triumphed over the grave, that it was impossible for death to hold him in its power. 1 Corinthians 15.55 says that Jesus stripped death of its power by saying, oh death, where is your sting? Oh death, where is your victory? Hebrews 2.14, it says that Jesus conquered the one that had the power of death, that is the devil. In Colossians 2.10, it says that He made a show and a display of Him publicly, triumphing over Him in it. This is the Supreme Christ. The death does not hold Him as it holds other men. That the grave could not, it was powerless. Why? Because He's the Son of Almighty God and that He's supreme in who He is. That He is not only the Son of God beloved, He is God the Son. He took His life up again because He is God incarnate. He's God robed with human flesh, and that he is supreme, and that he is supreme in his championing of the grave, and he is risen from the dead. Secondly, I want you to consider that he is supreme not only over the grave, but the spans of heaven. Look at verse 20 with me in the second part. By raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Christ in death visits the lowest part of earth, and now in the resurrection, in the ascension, he ascends into the highest of his ascension, and he is there coronated. You see that language in Psalm 24, especially verses 7 through 10. Now listen, language fails. to accurately portray the beauty and the dignity of what these words reveal in this text. That the Lord Jesus delves into the lowest humility, Philippians 2.8, that he robes himself with human flesh and he humbles himself to the death of a cross. Now we see him, in our text, exalted to the highest position of honor, and that is at the Father's right hand. The Hebrew writer in chapter 1 verse 3 and 4 says, having accomplished cleansing for sins, that Jesus sat down at the right hand of majesty on high, having become so much better than angels, as he inherited a much more excellent name than they. Listen, the position at the Father's right hand is a position of authority, but more than that, it's a position of honor. to be at the right hand of the Father. We think naturally of Joseph's plight in Genesis 37-50. We all have read and studied and enjoyed the story of Joseph, the boy that had the coat of many colors, his father's favorite. We know that because of crimes he did not commit, that he was cast into the lowest dungeons of the penal institution of Egypt in the ancient world. He was suffering there innocently and he is a type of Christ. He was not guilty of the crime that he was accused, but by God's providence and God's power, he was liberated from the prison and that he was exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh in sovereign authority over all of Egypt. Here we see in the text that Christ was raised from the dead because of his innocence, and God exalted him, and now we see that he's at the right hand of the Father in a position of authority, in a position of honor, in a position of majesty. Philippians 2.8 through 11 says, being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Listen to this. Therefore God also highly exalted him, supreme, and bestowed on him the name, there's the definite article, the name that is above all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, those who are in heaven and those who are on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It's from his throne in heaven that he rules the nations, it says in Psalm 22, verse 28. It's from this exalted position at the right hand of the Father, Hebrews 1, 3 says, that he upholds all things in sovereign majesty, in supremacy, that he is the object of heaven's awe and glory. Jesus is the one that is worshipped and adored in heaven. We read an account of this in Revelation 5. Verse 13 says, and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and they worshiped. He's saying, I heard the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, blessing and honor and glory and might, that Jesus' name is hallowed in heaven, this transcendent supreme name, that he is the Lord, the supreme one over all of the spans of heaven and that in the future, what will we do in heaven? Well, we're not gonna fish on the edge of the moon. We wanna worship ceaselessly, endlessly. There's no night, there's no sun, there's no need because the illumine of the glory of God illumines heaven. And that we will tirelessly, passionately, ceaselessly worship because heaven is where Christ and all of his glory is revealed to you and I as image bearers. We see him in part through the eye of faith, but we will see him face to face, and we will see his supremacy. But we're to see it through the eye of faith even now. It helps me in my plight. It helps me in times of difficulty, whenever I'm in a hard place, whenever I am hurting on the inside, whenever I'm frustrated with life. or whenever I feel weak, or it seems that the gospel mission seems to be stifled and it's going nowhere, to remember that He is supreme over heaven and earth. He is. Third, I want you to note He's supreme over angels and demons. In verse 21, in the first part of it, It's been talking in verse 20 that he's been, he raised from the dead, he's been seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places. Now note this, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Not a little above, far above. This is the supremacy of Christ that he transcends all others. You know, the Bible speaks about angelic beings. There are elect angels, and then there are non-elect angels. There are faithful, and then there are fallen angels. The Bible speaks of demons, evil spirits. We know the Bible is clear upon the activity of the unseen spiritual forces in the heavenly places, and they're as real as those forces that are seen. And by the way, they're powerful. We know this by reading an account of Jesus' ministry that evil spirits would oftentimes overtake men and women and children alike. Some would be thrown into convulsions and seizures. Others would have insanity as the madman Gadara. and others were mute and unable to speak because the demonic powers would have authority and power over their tongues. But here we see in the ministry of Jesus and his condescension, glorious power at work and the freeing of those that have been deranged and bound by these evil spirits such as these. And by the way, these spiritual forces have not gone somewhere else. They're at work as much now as they were then. Paul speaks about them in chapter 6 if you want to turn a couple of pages to your right and look at verse 12 with me. He says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers and against the authorities. There's the same idea, the same words, and the world forces of this darkness and against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. But Jesus is the creator of all life. He is the creator of all living beings, and that includes angelic life. They are the result of the handiwork of our Lord. Apart from Him, nothing that has been made would have been made, it says in John chapter 1. But yet, listen, friends, they are subject to the power and authority of Jesus Christ. And we're not talking about a bunch of weenie demons. We're talking about powerful forces, and these angels are powerful. We read in 2 Chronicles 32 of an account where one angel in one night destroyed 185,000 elite forces, military forces, one of them, one. It's very interesting that in the churches in the Lycus Valley, these churches were facing a lot of different kinds of false doctrine, but one of them was that they focused on the worship of angels. We studied that in our study of Colossians. We see that in chapter 2, verse 18, that they had given themselves over to the worship of angels. And it seemed that there was a fascination with these beings, and that was prevalent in the churches as it was being spearheaded by those proponents of Satan that would always strive to take the glory and majesty away from Christ. We know that this fascination began to morph into adoration of angels and that this doctrine was probably lingering also in the church at Ephesus. But here Paul's praying and says to them that Jesus is far above all of them. Far above in the Greek, the Greek term, huperano, it literally means to be in a position above another. It means to have a status high above another. So he wants them to know that the supremacy of Christ is not on holds. Jesus isn't waiting to be supreme, that he is in his supremacy now. He is supreme above all now. Not only in this age, Paul says in our text, but also in the age that is to come. And not only in the age that is to come, but in this present age. in this age, the church age, but also in the age of glory. So we understand that the reign of Christ and the sovereign and cosmic supremacy of Jesus Christ is not on hold, it's not in wait, that He is supreme in His lordship now. He is supreme in His sovereignty now. The psalmist would say in Psalm 110 verse 1, Yahweh says to my Lord, set at my right hand until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet. He is supreme even now. The prophetic picture that's given to us in the end book of the Bible, the Revelation, describes angelic beings in the eschaton, in the kingdom, the fullness of the kingdom that angels are worshiping Christ. Moreover, they're subject to Him. They're inferior to Him, accountable to Him. He's supreme over them that fallen angels, Revelation chapter 20 verse 10 says, that Jesus will ultimately destroy them forever and ever. This has practical implications, doesn't it? Listen, if Jesus' supremacy stretches from eternity past to eternity future, if His supremacy is for this present age, then our gospel advance in the name of God's Son, Jesus Christ, is an undefeatable advance. That the church cannot be conquered. The supremacy of Christ, beloved, look at your pastor. It's not simply a title. It's a cosmic reality. Paul had just unpacked, as I mentioned in my introduction, four glorious terms to describe the power of Christ, and that power is eis ego, into us. Into you and I. Grace to life, please understand me, the supremacy that we're speaking about of our Lord Jesus Christ is a present and constant rule and reign both now and forevermore in His supremacy. He's with us and He's with us in our mission even to the end of the age. Look at verse 22, He has put all things into subjection under His feet. That gives me strength for the mission. That gives me strength to preach. It gives you strength to preach to Thunderbird boys and girls that may be here only for the candy that they get or the break from push-ups. I know that in my under-shepherding labors, and I am an under-shepherd, he's the chief shepherd, that I have an undefeatable head. Jesus is the head of the church. thinking in terms of missions. As we prayed for this brother earlier, and I pray we pray for him throughout the course of our week, that for the global cause of Jesus Christ, I have confidence that not one of God's people will be ultimately lost. And why is that? Because my Savior, Jesus Christ, is supreme over time and over space and over eternity. And I know that even within the context of my leadership in my home, that my Lord Jesus Christ is supreme in his mission, that I cannot fail because his mission is undefeatable. Now listen, this matters whenever you're in the fray, whenever you're in warfare. battling, facing adversaries. It matters whenever you're backed into a corner and you wonder if any advance forward is even possible. It matters whenever the culture that surrounds you and I is rabidly hostile against the name and mission of Jesus Christ. We're in an anti-Christ age. It mattered whenever these believers in Ephesus were confronted by idolatry and paganism. They were greatly outnumbered, they were greatly outfinanced, they were greatly favored in the eyes of man, but yet Christ was supreme. That's what matters. We find in Acts chapter 19 that God's power was unfettered, that the garrisons of the throne that surround Satan were overthrown there, and that the gospel set Ephesus on fire, that their idolatry and the industry that supported it all tumbled, the shrines were broken down, and that people responded to the gospel, and that they were radically changed. And let me ask you the question, why? And the answer is this, Jesus is supreme. That's why. The problem we have in the church today is that our view of man is too high and our view of Christ is too low. We need this kind of a view of Jesus Christ if we're to get up out of our pews this morning, if we're to walk through those doors and realize that I'm more than a conqueror through Him who loves me. that I have a purpose on this earth. There is a mission for the glory of God and I've got strength in the midst of the battle that I have a name given me that is above all names and that his church will not be overrun. His church will not be overcome and I am in his church and Christ liveth in me. Yes, yes. Fourth, I want us to consider his supremacy over world leaders. There's a very short statement here in verse 21. He's far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. And by the way, look at me, that word far above, it applies to this too. He's far above every name that is named. Not only in this age, but in the one that is yet to come. Jesus said in Matthew 28, 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. All authority. Old school Princetonian Charles Hodge said, Christ is above every creature bearing such a name as prince, potentate, ruler, or whatever title there may be. Christ is above every creature. Every name that is named. It's talking about the powers that exist that tout their own supremacy in this world. So supremacy is not only over angels or spiritual beings, it extends over authority figures in the present world like Nebuchadnezzar, who buckled underneath the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a world leader that learned the mighty power of Christ in a very explicit way. For many years he was stricken with madness and he ate grass like a cow because he claimed glory for what Christ had done and Christ crushed him. In Daniel chapter 4, we read in verse 34 and 5, these are very familiar to you. But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, by the way, he was a potentate of one of the most powerful dynasties in the world, I lifted my eyes towards heaven and my knowledge returned to me and I blessed the Most High and I praised and honored Him who lives forever for His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom endures from generation to generation and all the inhabitants on the earth both great and small, by the way, listen to what he says, are accounted as nothing. But he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can strike at his hand or say to him, what have you done? This is a passage about a world ruler. He was a ancient day Kim Jong-un. The power and sway of this Nebuchadnezzar was immense, but Jesus' supremacy transcended him, far above. Let that sink down into the morrow of your soul, that God raises up world leaders and God crushes them. We see that in Daniel 2, verse 21, it is God who puts men on their thrones and it is God who removes them. And by the way, in light of the tragedy of this last week, it is God who puts men into pulpits and it is God who removes them. It's God. The power of men, even powerful men, is a limited power, a borrowed power, a loaned power. God grants it, all authority and all power belongs to God, and then God in His purposes removes it, but they're in those places doing the bidding of God. It says in Proverbs 21, 1, listen to this, that the heart of the king is like a channel of water in the hand of Yahweh. Yahweh turns it wherever He pleases. And I've heard people mock and say, oh, we're nothing more than a puppet. It is not that. It is the supremacy of God over His creatures. It's the activity of God over time and in eternity. It is the demonstration of the majesty and the might of God that God will accomplish His will and nothing within humanity or within man will be able to thwart what God has purposed and planned. It's God putting his foot down saying, listen, you may think that you're all that and then a little bit with some whipped cream on top, but take that for a moment and let me show you who is sovereign and who is supreme. Underneath all that whipped cream is nothing but a wicked, filthy sinner that means nothing. God is the one that means all in all. He's supreme over all leadership. That means that no world power is exempted. That means that no rogue is detached from the oversight and power of God, that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, Revelation 19, 16. We see in the second Psalm some very striking imagery about world leaders and the triumph of a supreme Christ. Listen to this. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers, take their counsel together against Yahweh and against his anointed, saying, let us tear their fetters, that is the binds of the gospel, we don't want him to rule over us, we will not have this man rule over us, and cast away their cords from us. Listen to this. This is sovereign supreme Christ. He who sits, where's Jesus? Seated at the right hand of the Father, he laughs. The Lord mocks them. He speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his fury. But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, the church, my holy mountain." Listen, world leaders and world governments have largely been portrayals of wickedness throughout the ages. The leaders in Ephesus was surely no different than that. The Roman Empire, we remember, was no friend to the Christian. Nero and Domitian and others were violently opposed to Christianity. Pastor Jason and I were discussing this this morning before the Thunderbird service began, that they would actually use Christians as torches to light them and they would be burning to light the streets and the gardens of Nero. These were men that were powerful men, they were enemies of the Lord, enemies of His church, but I want you to know that where are they now? He's supreme over them. Remember, their power is only but limited, and His is not. His is unlimited. Their power is partial at best, but His is omnipotent, meaning without restraint. Read the revelation and remember poor old John that was banished there for the gospel's sake to this penal colony, this labor camp for the sake of the gospel. But it didn't restrict the supremacy of Christ because the gospel fire kept burning and the advance of the kingdom was unstoppable. The revelation was given to the apostle there on that place in that time. And why do I mention that? Because the world that you and I live in has become less and less accommodating to the Christian message. Believe it or not, when I was a little boy in the public schools, we had missionaries that came to our public school to preach the gospel to every child in the school. And by the way, the same missionaries evangelized my mother when she was a little girl. And she's old enough to be my mom. Moody Bible Institute sent out Miss Helen and Miss Norma, and that they would travel around to the schools in a circuit and present the gospel of Jesus to children on a flannel board. Remember those days, Vern? And teach us about Jesus. She taught me my first Bible memory verse, Luke 19, 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Miss Norma and Miss Helen taught that to me. They were welcomed into our community until they weren't. The tide has changed. We've become less and less accommodating in our culture to the Christian message that world powers, we all see this, have become more and more allergic to the gospel, even in the United States, that we know that there are political powers, and we hear this and we see this, that have a desire to eradicate Christianity from America. that their idea of a utopia means to them the absence of any moral restraint that is imposed by the Christian faith and gospel message. And that's just what blind eyes see, that you remove moral restraint and you can have a utopia. Whereas we know that our triune God has given to us in Scripture that if you remove the moral restraint, you do not have utopia, you have hell. And beloved, I don't want to be a negative Nancy, but it's going to get worse. One of the president candidates is very outspoken against objective divine truth, outspoken against the true church, not religion, but the true church of Jesus Christ, outspoken against life, outspoken for killing our babies, outspoken against the message. And so let me ask the question to you, what if that person is elected into the highest position of authority in our country. Here's the proper question. What if Christ still reigns supreme? What if the supremacy of Christ supersedes any political power, supersedes any military power? We have an anchor for our soul, both sure and steadfast, one that has gone in behind the veil in Jesus Christ. We are anchored to this Supreme Christ. Come what may, come what may in November, come what may down the pike, we are anchored to the Supreme Christ that saw Ephesus through, that will see you and I through, that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, that the mission of Christ is unstoppable. He's still seated upon his regal throne. His enemies are still a footstool for his feet. You think in terms of Moses and the Exodus, whenever he marched under the command of God back to Egypt, which, by the way, was a death sentence for him. Think about when Moses ascended the steps into the palace, that he did so in the name of the Lord. As I come to the pulpit, I'm coming in the name of the Lord. He went and confronted Pharaoh, the most powerful dynasty of the day, and confronted him in the name of God, and God buckled it. that the supremacy of Christ won the day. You think in terms of Acts chapter 7, what about poor old Stephen who was martyred? But yet, beloved, he was not. The supremacy of Christ was shown because the heavens were opened up and he saw Christ standing at the right hand, not seated, but standing at the only place in the whole Bible that he's dying in the will of God with glory surrounding him and it was at the end roads and was a mark of Saul of Tarsus' conversion and that God used his blood for the saving of that wretched saint called Saul. Christ was still supreme in his death. May we be that kind of faithful. May we see Christ supreme as Stephen saw Christ supreme, that whenever we're standing against difficulty and we're standing at the precipice of death, whenever we're looking evil in the eye, that we will not buckle because we know that all things work together for the good of those that love the supreme Christ, the called ones, the church. The supremacy of Christ won the day in Egypt. The supremacy of Christ won in the day of the martyrdom of Stephen. Jesus has not relinquished his supremacy. It's impossible. Even now, he's seated upon his throne than he ever lives because he is a high priest. After the order of Melchizedek, he has no beginning and he has no end. And guess what he's doing? He's interceding for his church. Why? That his church will not fail because he cannot fail and he cannot be separated or divided from the church. He is the head and we are the body. And listen, he has affection for his bride. Finally, I want you to note his supremacy over the church in verse 22 and 23. Look at it with me and this is where we will come to an end. And he has put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Ian Hamilton, the sweet, dear Presbyterian scholar, says that Christ exercises his cosmic sovereignty for the good of his church. The supremacy of Jesus Christ is not an enthronement solely for the enjoyment of Christ. It's a supremacy that is shared with the church. The imagery that is given here is that of a body and a head, isn't it? And that the body and the head here in this image are one organic whole. The idea being presented is that Christ is supreme over all things, all things are in subjection to Him, all things are under His feet, and He is the head of the church. This is speaking about the vital union that exists between the church and her Lord. He is the vine. We are the branches. We abide in him. He abides in us. A branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine. Neither can we unless we abide in Jesus. Listen, the victory of a believer is a derivative of the supremacy of her Lord or his. That our union with Jesus, beloved, is where the authority and the ability is granted and issued out to us as His church. It's the supremacy of Christ that guarantees the efficacy of the mission of Christ, the mission of the church. That we're to go into the world and make disciples and what is it underwrites and guarantees the mission that we've been given by our Lord, that He is with us, Matthew 28, 20. I'll be with you to the end of the age through troubles and toils and snares. We have already come, but he is faithful and he is supreme." The church is organically united to Jesus, our head, in so much, listen to this, in so much that whenever Saul of Tarsus was persecuting believers, Jesus says to Saul when he confronts him in Acts 9, 4, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He was persecuting men and women, but they are organically connected, indissolubly connected to Jesus Christ, their head. It wasn't Jesus that Saul was imprisoning, it was people. but he was imprisoning Jesus' precious people, which are his body, and he is their head. And listen, look at me, Jesus was offended by that. The union that exists between Jesus and his church is not simply a legal status, it is that. But in its ultimate sense, it's a vital and intimate union. Jesus loves His church, Ephesians 5. He gave Himself up for her. He shed His blood to purchase the church in Acts 20, 28. That the church is His purchased possession. You are not your own. You've been bought with a price, Paul says to Corinth. So not only do we march under the orders of Jesus, we march under the authority and supremacy of Jesus. Whenever we evangelize the world, we understand that world is a footstool for his feet, that it's underneath the sovereign power and supremacy of Christ, that all things are subject to him and in that he's head over the church. And listen, if you are not connected to the Lord's church, you are not connected with Jesus at any meaningful level. I had one baby say amen. His church is his body. The church is his hands and feet. The church shares in his redemptive purpose. And this is no small thing, beloved. It is not a small thing. He rules the universe in the interest of his church. When you feel weak, remember his strength. When you feel threatened, remember his victory. When you feel weary, remember his rest. When you're persecuted, remember his vindication, that he is supreme over his church. The Lord told Israel, which is the type of the church, he who touches you touches the apple of his eye, Zechariah 2.8. This last statement, look at it with me in verse 23, his body which is the fullness of him who fills all in all is one of the most difficult, well I think it is the most difficult statement in all of the book of Ephesians to interpret. It speaks of the body as the fullness of him who fills all in all. So that bears a question, does this mean that the body completes Christ? Or does it mean that Christ completes the body? The word fullness there, pluroman, the Greek, it literally means to make something complete. The filling up of the Gentiles in Romans chapter 11, the filling up, the make it complete, a complete number, the elect Gentiles. In other words, the fullness of the body is filled by Christ, or if you look at it the other way, Christ is filled by the union with the body. John Calvin, the brilliant Genevan reformer, takes that option. He says that the bride is incomplete without a husband, the body is incomplete without a head, and that Christ is, this is Calvin's statement, Christ is in some way incomplete without his body. Some of you are cringing. But listen, not in His persons, not in His essence, but in His redemptive eschatological mission. I don't think that's what Calvin's saying. But yet there are other powerful exegetes that think it's Christ that fills His church with His fullness, meaning that it's Christ's life that animates the church. Verse 23, Christ is the one that fills all in all. And the idea is that the church is lifeless without a head, that the fullness of the church comes from its head, from the Great Shepherd, the Great Supreme Christ. In Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Why? Because we're connected to the head. The Great Shepherd is my all in all, meaning that the church will never deplete her resources, that the riches that are revealed in this text are endless because they're in Christ, Colossians Paul says that in Christ is all the wisdom, the riches of wisdom and knowledge and understanding. Christ has all these riches and that the supply in Christ is boundless. And Jesus said that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to him and that he is ruling the universe in the interest of his church. You know, I'll go back to verse 3 and see this whole exposition, both the instruction and the prayer is a response to that statement that we receive the spiritual blessings in Christ in the heavenly places. And I believe that it's right that He's filling the church. Paul's amplifying here the unlimited nature of our provision in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of Christ belongs to the church. And Paul, if you could turn the page over to chapter 3, he will further…or chapter 4, pardon me, he will further unpack this in verse 17 to 19, he says, "'So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being firmly rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up with the fullness of God." Pleroma, same Greek term, the completeness of God. Then Paul breaks into an anthem of praise in chapter 4, verse 21, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. from generation to generation, let that sink in, to Christ be the glory in the church because He fills the church. He fills the church. It is nothing other than ignorance gone to seed when people say, I can be a Christian and not belong to the church. It's like saying that I can be married and not have to have the woman. I can be married, you ladies, and not have the man. That I can have the body but not have the head. It is insanity. It is unspeakable ignorance. Don Carson, a very respected Greek scholar, wrote a piece I want to just close with about the supremacy of Christ. All of our days, he says, fall within the sweep of the sovereignty of the one who wears a human face, a thorn-shadowed face. All of God's sovereignty is mediated through the one who was crucified on my behalf. The heavenly rule is exercised for our benefit and blessing, and God's sovereignty can no longer be considered a dark, ominous threat. but is now a cause for the greatest gratitude and confidence and an incentive to the most expected prayers. He rules the cosmos in his sovereignty, in the interest of the church, that he is the head that fills the church with his fullness, completeness, pleroma, the fullness of him. Paul loves that term, he uses it again and again in his epistles. So beloved, let me end by saying that the supremacy of Christ is our hope, not our danger, if we're in him. It's the surety of our mission, it's the ensign of our strength, it's the bastion for our peace, and it's not been relinquished, not one ounce, not one, here's a booger hauler term, it's not one smidgen. He's not weakened one bit. He fills His church. He controls the universe in the church's interest because she is the apple of His eye. He will never relinquish His supremacy. Lord, we are so thankful for that. I'm thankful for this patient audience who's listened. May Christ be in them. May they have this supreme knowledge of the supreme Savior. Lord, in the daunting days to come, Whatever may come, may we look to you, the author and finisher of our faith. That we not be moved, that we not be dismayed. We pray that the mission of Christ, the evangelizing of the nations, the bringing of your people into your kingdom, will be by the supremacy and power of your name as you go with us into the field of harvest that is white and ripe. Give us wisdom to proclaim. Give us grace to endure. And Lord, may on that day, whenever you call us home, may we see your supremacy as we leave this earth. And may it anchor us. May it anchor us in hope. This hope we have both sure and steadfast, Jesus Christ, the one that has entered in behind the veil after the order of Melchizedek. May we be latched to your supremacy. We ask it in the wonderful saving name of Christ. Amen.