Lessons In Lordship Part 1
Jesus Is God
Introduction: This morning I am going to begin a series of messages on the Lordship of Christ. Much of this series is based on the series of messages that I gave during the Spiritual Emphasis Week at Jim Elliot Christian High School. I have been waiting for an opportunity where I could take a few weeks and share with you the principles that I share with the school and that’s what I would like to do with these weeks between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
Today we are going to continue by establishing the foundation for the Lordship of Christ. You may wonder why I am making such a big deal about this Lordship thing. Here’s a good reason: Jesus is called Lord more than 700 times in the New Testament. In the Book of Acts Jesus is referred to as Lord more than 90 times while along being called Savior only twice (Acts 5:31; 13:23). It seems to me if there is that big of an emphasis made in Scripture that we ought to be looking at as well.
Here is the most important building block in understanding the Lordship of Jesus Christ:
Jesus Christ is God
Turn with me to Colossians 1. I hope that you have your Bibles with you to follow along. We will be putting the reference up on the screen but we will not be putting up the verses themselves.
The Apostle Paul clearly revealed that Jesus is God. He was God before He came to earth. He was God while He was on earth. And He is still God today! Jesus was, is, and always will be God.
Colossians 1:15-20
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; 16because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Jesus is God. He reveals God to us in human form, but that does not diminish His deity in any way. Jesus is revealed as the Creator, and the Head of the Church, as the Savior of the world, all of those are expressions of the fact that He is God. The Lordship of Jesus Christ is built on this foundational truth: Jesus is God.
Turn to Hebrews 1. In the opening verses of the Letter to the Hebrews we see a powerful expression of the deity of Jesus Christ in connection with both His Lordship and His saving work.
Hebrews 1:1-3
1Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the universe.
3He is the radiance of His glory, the exact expression of His nature, and He sustains all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Jesus is the exact expression of God’s nature because Jesus is God in human flesh. Again we see Him revealed as Creator, Sustainer, Savior, and the Heir of all things, enthroned in Majesty which clearly portrays His Lordship.
Jesus identified Himself as God, a fact that was not lost on the Religious Leaders who hated in so much. In John 5:18 it says: the Jews began trying all the more to kill Him: not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
Jesus didn’t leave any doubt when He boldly proclaimed in John 10:30--I and the Father are one. Because He was God, Jesus had authority over all things. In Matthew 12:8 he responded to the assaults of the Religious Leaders by saying: The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.
Jesus’ sovereign authority as God can be seen powerfully displayed in two other passages from the Gospel of John. Turn first to John 10. Jesus has just portrayed Himself as a Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep, and then He gives this powerful statement. Look at what He says in verse 17:
John 10:17-18
17This is why the Father loves Me, because I am laying down My life so I may take it up again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.
Jesus didn’t have to answer to the Religious Leaders! He didn’t have to answer to anyone. Jesus had the authority to give His life for our sins, but He also had the authority to let us die in our sins. As Sovereign God He could have given us what we deserve, instead He chose to give us what we need.
Let me show you a passage that provides an important connection to this one. Turn with me to John 19.
Jesus has been arrested and is standing before Pilate who becomes frustrated that the prisoner won’t answer him. Look at what Pilate says in verse 10:
John 19:10-11
10So Pilate said to Him, "You’re not talking to me? Don’t You know that I have the authority to release You and the authority to crucify You?"
11"You would have no authority over Me at all," Jesus answered him, "if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin."
Pilate may have thought he was in control. The Religious Leaders who handed Jesus over may have thought they were in control. But the fact is Jesus was in complete control throughout the whole ordeal. He willingly allowed Himself to be delivered up to death, and then He willingly died for the sins of the world.
To understand the Lordship of Jesus Christ we must see that He is God!
The opening lines of the Gospel of John say it so well:
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
And then John declared:
John 1:14
And Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
A few verses later as the story of Jesus begins to unfold in the Gospel we here John the Baptist proclaim:
John 1:29-30
29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me."
Jesus is the Lamb of God because He is God in human flesh. Jesus existed before John the Baptist because He is eternal. He was, is, and always shall be the Son of God. But saying that Jesus is God, or stating that He is Lord isn’t enough. Knowledge alone will not suffice. Even the demons know and admit who Jesus is.
Turn with me to James 2. Listen to what James writes about what demons know and believe:
James 2:19
19You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe and they shudder.
His point was that a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ is more than just a mental image more than just knowing the facts. Demons know the facts about Jesus which is proved on more than one occasion during Jesus’ earthly ministry.
Turn with me to Mark 1 and let’s look at one of those encounters. Jesus has just begun His preaching ministry, and He is already making an impact.
Mark 1:22-24
22They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He was teaching them as one having authority. 23Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out, 24"What do You have to do with us, Jesus Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are the Holy One of God!
As we wrap things up today I want you to notice two things from these verses in Mark 1. First, that Jesus taught with authority which is a basis for His claim of Lordship. And second, that even an unclean spirit could clearly identify that Jesus was God, that He was the Holy One of God.
Conclusion: This morning I want you to ask yourselves if you truly believe that Jesus Christ is God. Because if He is, then He has the divine right to your love and obedience. And if He isn’t God, then all of this is nothing more than religion, and religion cannot guarantee you life in heaven when this life is over, only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God can do that.
There are so many more things we have yet to cover in our study on the Lordship of Christ, but it all begins here. Do you believe that Jesus is who He said He is, and that He did what only He could do, so that you could receive what only He could give? Jesus Christ is God and as God He became man and paid the price for your sins on the cross and then rose again to offer you eternal life. What are you going to do with the offer?
