Some of you here this morning will remember Robbie Pyle of Cleveland. He came down to the Dominican Republic a number of times to visit us. And once he came down with a companion, they were staying in a hotel. And they weren't very happy with the hotel. And they phoned and talked to Grace. And Grace said, well, pack your bags and come over to our place. So they came over and spent the rest of the time with us. And just like Park of the Palms, there always seemed to be teas and biscuits and cakes and so on. So when we took them to the airport, at that time it was right in the center of Santo Domingo. And the planes came in very close. It was all open. And we watched them go out. And as Robbie and his friends went up the stairs into the airplane, he stopped and he turned around and he waved to us. And he said, till we eat again. And I think all of the good things you've shared with us, that would be a suitable salutation. We have spent the morning sessions thinking about the Lord Jesus and realizing there were serious problems in the church in Colossae. We are amazed at the way Paul so beautifully brings that congregation to the place where they have to face the Lord Jesus. and though they are hearing about angels and festivals and diets and no doubt many other things that detract from His uniqueness and His glory, each one in that church had to ask the question, who is He really? And at that moment, Paul explodes in this beautiful hymn of honor to the Lord Jesus, to His uniqueness and to His glory. I'd like you to go to Colossi in your mind just for a few moments We've mentioned it is a small community, and you are active in that community. Even though it's not a large city, there will be a number of temples, and you are very familiar with all of the gods and the religious ceremonies. Now, my question to you this morning is, why would you make a commitment to Jesus Christ? He would be different than the gods you had heard about. He would not be surrounded by so many myths and things that you knew were not true. But you believed them because it was the tradition of your community. And a man, no doubt Epaphrodes, comes and he begins to talk about Jesus Christ. And my question is, why would you believe in him? Now I think you have to, for a moment, analyze this question and wonder, what was it that caught your imagination and made you renounce all of those gods you had followed and make this pledge to Him permanently for the salvation of your soul? I think the question I'm trying to raise is, why did you look to Jesus when you thought about your sins and you thought about the end of life and what happens after you die. There are many other stories, many of the gods, their priests would give you lots of ideas. I'm going to emphasize once more, I think you would know that most of it just falls in the realm of fables, but I come back to my question. And I think probably one of the most important reasons why you would listen attentively and then make that personal decision for the Lord Jesus is because of the resurrection. Now, this was something unknown in the world two thousand years ago. If you find something like it in some of the myths related to the gods of the Greco-Roman world, it is not in any way related to this factual declaration about Jesus Christ. who was crucified by the Romans and died, as a result, humanly speaking, of a prolonged agony. And then three days later, he rose from the dead and was gloriously alive. You never heard anything like that. Even the philosophers in Athens, who were always looking for something new and different, When they heard Paul talk about the death of the Lord Jesus and his resurrection, that message stopped them dead in their tracks. And they looked at that man, and they said, You better come with us and share this message in that special council in the city of Athens. Now, Paul did that, and as you know, when he spoke about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the elite of the city, the educated people of the city. Those who were the philosophers of the world two thousand years ago, they laughed at Paul when he spoke of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. But these men spoke about it based on the testimony we have today in the New Testament. The New Testament was not written. but these truths were well known and they were part of the fundamental message that the missionaries preached. Here are some examples that this Jesus God has raised up, Peter said this, of which we are all witnesses. Now not just the apostles but many others And I'm not dogmatic on this. There's even the possibility that Paul was in Jerusalem when this happened and knew about it, though he would not believe it. There were people who were there when it happened and they are still alive when you're in Colossi. They may not be in Colossi, but you know there are people who say, we saw him die and we saw him alive after the resurrection. Then you have the words of Paul, pardon me, of Luke, as he writes to his good friend, probably up in Rome, and he says, The apostles, to whom he also presented himself alive after his sufferings by many infallible proofs being seen by them. And one other illustration from the writings of Paul, Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and that He was seen. In that little summary in Corinthians fifteen, I think Paul picks up one of the earliest Christian creeds or statements of faith, and it really consists of only four lines. And it reads like this, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That's the first line. The second one, that he was buried. The third one, that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And the fourth line, and he was seen. Now the first and the third sentences are the most important sentences. This takes you into the very heart of the Christian message. Christ died for our sins. not a novelty it is according to the scriptures it's all outlined in the Old Testament is it true well you have that supporting phrase and he was buried now in the Dominican Republic when someone dies according to our laws he must be buried within a short time if he dies in the morning that person must be buried by the late afternoon If he dies in the late afternoon, he must be buried early in the morning. And you will understand we have no alternative in the Dominican Republic. When someone dies and you live in a very warm climate, that person must be buried. Now the Lord Jesus, he died. He really and truly died. And it is supported by this fact he was buried. And then you come to the third phrase, which is the second most important phrase, and he rose again from the dead according to the Scriptures. Now there's where you really ask the question, is this true? And then you have the supporting phrase, and he was seen. And then Paul adds to that phrase a whole list of people who saw him, and he ends up with five hundred at once who saw the risen Christ and who heard his words. So when you have a message like that, two thousand years ago in the world, this is something unknown, and it catches your imagination, and you realize there is something special here. and you begin to believe what you hear, He is God's Son, and He was sent into the world to be the Savior, He died for our sins, and He was raised again from the dead. Now, many ordinary people accepted that message. There are even secular scholars who have written books in recent years, and they comment on the quick increase in the Christian community. You find women despised in the societies of that time, and they flock into the community that is known as the Christian congregation. It's there they find their worth and their dignity. They did not have that in the outside world. You find slaves. They come in and they're welcomed, and they sit down even with their masters and their brothers in the Lord. And then you find people who are so different one from another. You have the barbarians. I think you understand that term. It doesn't mean you're uneducated. It doesn't mean that you have no preparation and that you have no talents. You might be a very bright and educated person. But if you do not speak the Greek language and you're not part of the Greek culture, you're a barbarian. Paul says you're welcome into the Christian community. The Scythians. who came from way up north of the Black Sea. One scholar says they were outlandish in their dress and in their language. They were different from everybody else. Paul says you're welcome into the congregation. And it grew the Christian church and it grew. And one of the fundamental messages was this Savior died for us and he rose again from the dead. Now, as in that world, two thousand years ago, the educated people like the philosophers laughed at this message, in our world today we are saddened by things that are happening. I'm only going to share two of them with you this morning. One of the American writers who is very well known and his writings are widely read in North America and other parts of the world, Gorvidal is his name, and one journalist says he lives today in angry and glorious exile in France. He wrote a book some years ago called Live from Golgotha. You might think by the title, it'll be a spiritual book, but you would be mistaken. He attributes to the Lord Jesus improbable and even scandalous activities and behavior. If you were to read it, it would break your heart. Things that are said about the Lord and His disciples. He was interviewed in France by an American journalist, and he spoke about his book, and he spoke about Christianity. And he said of Christianity, it is a very silly religion. So many excuses, so much fundraising, and still he hasn't come. He ridicules the whole message of Christianity and, of course, especially the thought of the resurrection. I happened to be in the United Kingdom when the book came out and I read an editorial in the London Times and the editor said these words. He said, Vidal acts like a smutty schoolboy shouting rude words across the playground. Well, you do that when you reject the wonder of the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Some tend to make fun of it, and they ridicule the whole message. But come with me to Australia. There is a brilliant professor, a lady, in the University of Sydney, and her specialty is the Dead Sea Scrolls. She lectures on this subject, and she writes on this subject. And she also writes about the Lord Jesus. And this is what she says in one of her recent books. Jesus lived in Qumran. Now some of you will be familiar with that term. That's where they found back around nineteen forty-seven, forty-eight, some of these ancient manuscripts, they had been conserved in the caves. There's even one scroll with the complete prophecy of Isaiah. And if you go to Jerusalem, there is a special museum built where a replica of that scroll is on display. There's nothing in the Bible that ever suggests that Jesus lived in Qumran, but this is her conviction. He was married and had three children. He later divorced his wife. He did not die on the cross. That is simply a myth. He traveled with Paul on his missionary journeys, and it was in Philippi that he found and married his second wife. Now, this is not a novel. This comes from a brilliant professor, and writing in the academic world, she creates her own story of Jesus. So our world is not that different from the world of two thousand years ago. The philosophers ridiculed the whole question of the resurrection. The Jews found it an intolerable thought that God's Messiah should die, crucified by the Romans, and then be raised again from the den. That was an obstacle to them. In our world today, we face similar things. The point is, who is right? And when you come to the Bible, the Bible carefully, accurately reveals who the Lord Jesus really is. Now we go to our portion in Colossians chapter one, and I want you to go and read this morning again verse fifteen. If you're reading the King James Version, it reads like this, Who is the image of the invisible God? the firstborn of every creature. Now let me read it to you from the new King James Version. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Now image, and we dealt very briefly with it yesterday, it refers to Christ's relationship with God. He is the exact likeness. He is the full and perfect revelation of who God is. The phrase that we will look at this morning, firstborn, the firstborn of every creature or the firstborn over all creation, refers to Christ's relationship to the cosmos, to the universe. And the basic significance of firstborn I think you'll find this as you've checked the scholars, is pre-existence and supremacy. I'd like you to remember those two words, pre-existence and supremacy. We will begin then with pre-existence. Now we've read the firstborn of every creature, the King James Version. You'll find that in some of the other translations, the Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Version, the Jerusalem Bible, the firstborn of all creation. But the grammatical construction in that phrase, and those of us here this morning have not mastered the Greek language, nor are we scholars like those we consult, but those who know this language, they speak to us very clearly, and they tell us that the genitive phrase literally cannot be understood in the sense that Christ is the first of all created beings. Now, it might look like that when you read the phrase that He is the firstborn of every creature. There are those who would take it this way. He is the first created being. And then all other creations flow on. But the phrase grammatically cannot be understood like that. So you must look for something else, and you'll find in some of the translations different ways that they try to capture the concept of pre-existence. Here is one. He is the firstborn before all creation. That is, He exists before there was a creation. And there is no doubt that this is supported in Colossians one and in other parts in the New Testament. For instance, verse sixteen in Colossians one, all things were created through him. That is a dogmatic and absolute statement. All things were created through him. Verse seventeen, and he is before all things. Now, Paul shares this with the Colossians when he speaks of the honor and the glory and the beauty of the Lord Jesus. In a sense, you'll pick it up in Proverbs eight, and I would suggest to you it is not a prophecy that is fulfilled in Christ. I don't think the New Testament authors treat it that way. If you treat it that way, you'll have some serious problems in the exposition of Proverbs chapter eight. But there are things they pick up. For instance, phrases like this, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. When He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master craftsman. And you have wisdom, personified, standing present in the very moment of the beginning of the creation. When you come into the New Testament, I think that is supported by the phrases that you have here in Colossians and other places. All things were made through him. John says, and we've read the portion already here in Colossians, all things were created through him. In verse sixteen, and I think I would suggest the translations would concur and this thought, all things were created in him. All things were created by or through Him, and all things were created for Him." In other words, in that first phrase, all things were created in Him, it does give the suggestion that the Father does not act outside of the sphere in which His Son is recognized and glorified. The whole creation is brought into existence within that sphere. It's brought into existence through the Son, and the whole created order is brought into existence for Him. Those are beautiful, strong statements about the Lord Jesus. Now, the author of the Hebrews, he has his own way of explaining this. God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has anointed heir of all things through whom also He, God, made the worlds." So we go back and listen to some beautiful echoes from Proverbs eight, but when you come to the New Testament, it is very dogmatically stated that the Lord Jesus existed before there was a creation. Now you'll find pre-existence in other forms in the ancient world. Wisdom itself, for the philosophers, existed before the human race. Or you go into idolatry, and the gods existed before human beings, and you have the sense of pre-existence. But there is nothing, nothing. in those worlds that compares to what the Bible says about the Lord Jesus. There is only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom, all things, and through whom we live. And then again, you have reference to the fact that when The sons of God are finally glorified and brought into the presence of God. The whole creation will be renewed and it will be renewed by the Lord Jesus. So we have wonderful thoughts about the Lord Jesus and his pre-existence. I'm going to leave them now, but as I do, please remember that one of the controversies that shook the church to its foundation at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century, was when a very educated man, Arius by name, who lived in Alexandria in Egypt, penned the words, Once he, the word, was not. It's referred to as Arianism. It led to the first great meeting of the church leaders to deal with the issue of who the Lord Jesus is. Because Arianus, with that brief, concise statement, was telling the world Jesus Christ had a beginning. Once the Word was not. That Aryan movement mushroomed and it lingered for a number of centuries before it eventually disappeared. But it has been revived in our generation. And in our world today, one of the most active and popular religious movements is a modern expression of Arianism. And they will tell you that the Lord Jesus was a God with a small G. He had a beginning. They reject the full deity of the Lord Jesus. Now, the other thought is the thought of supremacy. One is priority and time. The other is supremacy. Listen to some of the translations. The firstborn over all creation. the primacy over all created things, superior to all created things. And the Jewish Christian scholar who translated the New Testament and it was published after his death, he translates as follows. He it is who takes precedence over everything created. So it is used of the Lord Jesus in the sense of supremacy. Now you go back to the Old Testament and you remember some phrases like this. In the Psalms, God says about David, I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Firstborn is linked to supremacy. And all through the Old Testament, God himself is referred to as the Most High. Again, The thought is supremacy. Going back to David, some of the translations read, the greatest of all kings, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. Well, David is simply a lesson, a figure from ancient history. But here you have now, in connection with the Lord Jesus, he's the firstborn over all creation. He enjoys that primacy. You go back and remember Melchizedek. He refers to God as the God most high. And you can come down through so many portions in the Old Testament. It speaks of exaltation and supremacy. In Colossians one, we would suggest to you this is the meaning when it comes to firstborn over all creation. The Lord Jesus is the one that some call the Lord of the universe. and it is an accurate title. He created it. He brought it into existence and it was created for Him. He then is the Lord of the creation. Now I'm sometimes nervous when I talk about Lordship, even when I talk about Lordship in connection with the Lord Jesus, because we often tend to interpret things from our own history. Grace and I lived and still are linked to a country that had one of the longest dictatorships Latin America ever saw. Rafael Leunidas Trujillo Molina, that was his name, it was followed by paragraphs of titles. This man governed our country with a rod of iron for about thirty-three years. He only had to raise his finger or nod his head in your direction, and you died. We lived in that type of dictatorship for over fifteen years, and probably in our circle of friends we did not have even one family that had not lost some time in those years some member of the family. So when you talk about lordship and supremacy, you cannot interpret that from the history of the world. If you do, you end up with some horrendous concepts. So you come back to the Bible and you want to know what type of supremacy this is, what type of lordship it is. And there is a beautiful example that is given to us in the New Testament Maybe I should tell you a story from the Dominican Republic to help you understand this. The dictator, they celebrated his birthday officially on October the twenty-fourth. And every October, the beginning of the month, They send out the army trucks throughout the country. You weren't invited. You were picked up if you were a young man and you were brought into the capital city and you were taken out to one of the army bases and you were instructed how to march and keep in line with others. And then you were given either a real rifle or a wooden rifle and you learned how to carry it. And then near the twenty-fourth you were given a uniform. So you have thousands of young men all dressed as soldiers carrying a wooden or a real rifle, and they've learned how to march. They would be lined up early in the morning. And then, of course, the sun comes up in the tropics. It is a very hot sun. And there they stood, waiting for the dictator to arrive. Sometimes he didn't come until eleven o'clock in the morning or twelve o'clock noon, and the young men stood there, and it was very common if you were down in that area, one would topple over, fainted because of the heat, the lack of liquid, the lack of motion, and they'd be picked up and taken away. But finally he would come. Now when he came, there was a special place for him. There was a platform, comfortable chairs. There was a roof, and there were fans. and in relative comfort he would sit there and then they would march by. Now and then he would stand up and salute back, but he stayed there really in a place that was relatively comfortable. The young men, they bore the heat of the day. Now with that in mind, there is a beautiful portion in Revelation, and it reads as follows. They are before the throne of God and serve him night and day in his temple. and he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger any more nor thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water, and God will wipe away every tear from their ears, their eyes. Now listen to our Spanish translation. By saying it in Spanish, you won't understand it. So let me pick up one of the English translations that follows our Spanish translation. And it reads like this. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Now go back and think of the Dominican Republic. The dictator, the Lord, he sits in comfort. with fans and attendants and comfortable chairs. His army, they bear the heat of the day. In the old world, they would see that two thousand years ago, many, many times. Picking that up, the basic thought is the one who is Lord, Lord of the universe, the Supreme One, who sits under His tent. with his people before him he takes the tent and he spreads it over them they will enjoy the blessings that he enjoys they are his people and they will be with him forever and ever so this is our Savior the firstborn overall creation pre-existent and supreme and there has to be a practical lesson for us in this as we bring our meditation to a conclusion When you think of the Lord Jesus, you can think about Him over the congregation. You can think about Him in His place among the Lord's people in general around the world. But finally, you come back and you remember the Bible says that in all things He might have the preeminence. Now it's easy to talk about the local congregation. And it's easy to talk about the universal church, but you have to bring it down to your own life and to my own life. And in our lives, he not only deserves, but he should gratefully be given that supreme place. And it is not easy sometimes to put that in practice. I've mentioned already this week that Paul only once refers to the Lord Jesus as My Lord. He speaks about the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. That word excellent is a powerful word. It means the ultimate worth, the supreme advantage, the great blessing. And you say to Paul, what are you talking about? Well, he goes on, the excellency of the knowledge Now, knowledge is a very formal word. Maybe we should say the excellency of knowing. That participle is warmer. It speaks of personal relationships. And he's telling us there's nothing in my life that compares to the wonder, the excellency of knowing that Jesus is the Messiah. Or you can turn it around that the Messiah is Jesus. And then he adds on, My Lord. He never used it lightly, only once, but he opens his heart and he takes you right in. He says, I've met him. I know him. There's nothing more important in my life just to know him. And he has become My Lord. Well, we all have to make that decision in our lives, our relationship with the Lord Jesus, and it is a beautiful thing when we make the right decision, and we honor Him and cherish Him as our Lord. I was a young man once, would you believe it, a long time ago, and I was asked in my home church by a man who came from Scotland, rather gruff, and he said, Jim, I want you to prepare a message. And I want you to give that message a month from now, and it mustn't be longer than four or five minutes. Scared the life out of me. One of the longest months in my life. And I worked on that message and I wrote it out. And the night finally came and I stood up in my home church, a young man. And there was my father right on the aisle. And when I looked at him, his head was down and his eyes were closed. I didn't know if he was praying or he was somewhat embarrassed. And I gave my little message. And I came to the end. And I remember I kind of raised my voice, a young voice. And I said, Jesus Christ is the best Savior in the world. And my dad's head came up and he looked me right in the eye. And I knew I had said something wrong. And when I got home, he took me into a study, and he said, Son, He is not the best Savior. He is the only Savior. If you refer to Him as the best, you put Him among many, and you're saying, He's the best. He is the only Savior. And when you meet Him that way, and you know Him, He is the only one. who merits a place in our lives as Lord, and His Lordship is tender. It is gracious, and it's kind, even in your life. Whatever the circumstances are, He'll take His tent. He'll stretch it over you. And in the turmoil of life, you'll enjoy His presence and His love day by day. You may have heard the old song, A Bridge Over Troubled Water, Well, we've talked about the Lord Jesus, and it was a great Bible scholar from our circles who reminded us, if he is only gone, he's anchored there in deity, and as a bridge he stretches towards us, but he would never reach us. And if he's only man anchored over there in our humanity, he would be a bridge reaching towards God, but He would never, never reach God. But when you meet the Lord Jesus, you find you've met the one in the words of the Old Creed. He is very God of very God, and He is perfect man, anchored in deity and in humanity. And when you know Him and love Him and serve Him, You're on the bridge that will take you safely home into His presence forever. Our Father, bless us now as we conclude our meditation this morning. You know our hearts and our minds. You know that even the one who spoke this morning tremble sometimes in view of these truths. We thank you that we have the privilege and the honor of knowing your Son. and recognizing Him as Lord in our lives. And we pray that You will give us the grace, not just to do it in theory, but by day by day to live for Him and according to His will.