Title: A Verse by Verse Study of Colossians.
Lesson 12 – The Preeminence Of Jesus Christ.  (Part Four)  “The Beloved Son” 

Text: Col. 1:19 – 20  

1. Introduction.
   1. We saw the Preeminence as Saviour.  Verses 13 – 14
   2.  We saw the Preeminence as Creator.   Verses 15 – 17
   3. We saw the Preeminence as the Head of the Church.   Verse 18
   4. This final lesson on His Preeminence as The Beloved Son Verses 19 – 20

2. Christ is the Beloved of the Father.
   1. We saw in verse 13 the Lord call Him His Beloved Son “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”
   2. We see Him called the beloved in Ephesians 1:6 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
   3. We see them put together when Jesus was Baptized Matthew 3:17 “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
   4. We see in Colossians 3:12 the Lord call His elect His beloved “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,” We are “beloved sons” because of the Preeminent Son.

3. Verse 19 “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”
   1. We want to define two words, “fullness” and “dwell”

a.       The word fullness means the sum total of all Divine attributes.

b.      The word dwell means to be at home permanently

c.       It is only in Jesus Christ that any human can possess this things because it only in Him that we find fullness and dwell.

d.      He (Jesus Christ) is God and since fullness is in Him we receive it from Him. John 1:16 “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”

e.       Jesus Christ did what no other man could ever do; reconcile a lost sinful people to a Holy God. V. 19 “For it pleased the Father that in him should the sum total of all Divine attributes be at home permanently.

f.        The natural man is at war with God even it they are good moral people and are very sincere and religious, they are still at war with God. Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”      

2. Jesus Christ in whom these things belong is preeminent because without Him there is no reconciliation.

a.       The only other way to reconcile an unjust people and a Holy God is for God to lower His standards or to close His eyes and compromise with the unjust man, and that will never happen.

b.      God must be consistent in maintaining His own Holy Law.  

3. V. 20 “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.”

a.       We have made peace through Christ, the Beloved Son. V. 21 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”.

b.      Many today as the teachers of Gnosticism taught other means of reconciliation however that took the preeminence away from Christ. 

4. V. 20b “by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”

a.       While everything reconciled in the entire universe is reconciled by and through Him this does not involve “Universal Restorationism” This is a teaching that all beings even those that reject Jesus Christ will in time be saved.

b.       There is no doubt anyone who does not trust in Jesus Christ as their Saviour is doomed for hell, NO DOUBT,  2 Thessalonians 1:8 “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:”

5. Everything we need is in Christ the preeminent Beloved Son.

a.       He is complete and in Him we are too. Colossians 2:10 “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: “

b.      All preeminence and glory belong to the Preeminent Son Jesus Christ.