THE PREEMINENCE OF JESUS

I. INTRODUCTION

Hebrews 12 : 2

2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. AMEN!!!! Now, we live in a time in which new discoveries are being made daily.

·         New Medicines

·         New Technologies

·         New Astronomical Phenomenon

·         New Methods of Doing Things more efficiently and precisely

·         New Truths and Ideas

Our society loves to discover new things, but just as fun as discovering new things is discovering the truth about something or someone we already know. We are, today, going to attempt to reveal more truth about who Jesus is.

From time to time, you stumble across television programs where the guests and host try to explain who Jesus is, but most of these attempts do little to reveal the authentic, real, genuine Jesus, the Son of God. Can I tell you something? To explain Jesus is impossible. To ignore Him is disastrous. To reject Him is fatal. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him, and to trust Him is to be eternally changed. Jesus does not want prominence in your life. He wants preeminence. Today, by answering who Jesus is, I am going to tell you why Jesus deserves and demands preeminence in our lives.

II.        WHO IS JESUS?

A.        Jesus is the One who reveals the Father

Colossians 1 : 15

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God. God is spirit: invisible, unfathomable, unapproachable.

So how can we know God? Through Jesus who is the image of the invisible God. The visible Jesus makes the invisible God known. Reason cannot make God known to you. Religion cannot make God known to you. Ritual cannot make God known to you. You are going to know God by revelation, and Jesus Christ came to reveal God to you.

You cannot know God the Father apart from God the Son. Image in verse 15 is used the same way we use the word icon on a phone or computer screen. An icon is an exact representation. Jesus is the exact representation of God. Look how Paul says it.

Colossians 2 : 9

9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

Who was in the manger in Bethlehem?          GOD!!

Who was on Calvary’s Cross?                        GOD!!

How are you going to know God?                 Through Jesus who is God.

Matthew 11 : 27

27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

This is either true, or it is not. Look at Colossians 1 : 15 again.

Colossians 1 : 15

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Firstborn does not imply a beginning; Jesus had no beginning because He is God. He did not begin at Bethlehem. There was never a time when Jesus did not exist. Jesus is the great I Am. If that is true, what does firstborn mean? The term speaks of honor and privilege.

Psalm 89 : 27

27 Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

Jesus was before all things. He could not be created. Why? Because all things were created by Him. Who is Jesus? He is the One who reveals the Father, but He is also the One who preserves Creation.

B.        Jesus is the Preserver of Creation

Colossians 1 : 16 – 17

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

The word consist in verse 17 means to stick together. In other words, Jesus Christ is the glue that holds the galaxies together. Paul says in verse 16 that by Him all things were created. Jesus is the power of creation. DO you think creation just happened? Do you think creation happened by chance? Did everything just come out of some swampy ooze?

Many people embrace just that. Well, can I tell you this? There is no randomness in creation. Jesus did it. In our bodies, we have trillions of cells. In just one cell, there is enough information that it would take 600k books to write down the DNA code in just that one cell, and there are trillions of them in our bodies, but some idiots would have us to believe that the process for cells developing started in some swamp somewhere. I am here to tell you that is WRONG. Jesus is the Preserver of creation. It is Jesus who fuels the sun. It is Jesus that keeps the planets in orbit. It is Jesus who with a snap of His fingers lit the twinkle in every star as far as the eye can behold.

And Jesus knew you before you were even formed.

Jeremiah 1 : 4 – 5

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; Before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Dear friend, God does not know us in the womb. He knows us before we are formed in the womb, and He has a purpose for us before we are even formed.

Why is abortion such a tragedy? Because God planned for that child to be formed in the mother’s womb, and He had a purpose for that child, and dear friend, there is going to be a payday someday when those sins stack up to Heaven. Abortion is just another in a long line of man’s ideas to do things the way man wants to do them instead of what God has ordained and established. I am here to tell you banned as political speech or not. God Almighty has personally known each of those 60 million American babies that were murdered, and listen to what He says:

Romans 12 : 19

19 Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Dear friend, what I could do to those money-grabbing doctors performing abortions is nothing compared to what the God of the Universe is going to do to them. God tells me not to worry about vengeance because it belongs to Him. That’s all I got to say about that.

People talk about the laws of nature, natural law. There is no natural law. There are the laws of Jesus that nature obeys.

Matthew 8 : 23 - 27

23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying,  “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Dear friend, I do not care if that had been a category 12 hurricane with a blizzard and a F12 tornado. When Jesus rebuked the storm and said stop, the storm was over. It is unfortunate that we are like the disciples when it comes to the storms we face in life. AMEN!!!!

Isaiah 40 : 26

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing.

Have you done that lately? Have you gazed at the stars, marveled at the moon, and proclaimed boldly my God did that? When the fall colors were so vibrant, did you raise your hands to the heavens and praise God for His artistic brilliance? Who is Jesus? He is the One who reveals the Father, and He is the preserver of creation, and He is also the purpose of creation.

C.        Jesus is the Purpose of creation

Colossians 1 : 16

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 

Everything was created for the Lord Jesus Christ. For speaks of direction. It means to be moving in the direction of. Do you see what Paul is saying? Let me give you an example of what he is saying. Over the last 50 or 60 years, America has been influenced by Eastern religions. What do I mean by Eastern religions?

·         Zen

·         Karma

·         Reincarnation

·         Hinduism

·         Yoga

·         Yin

·         Yang

Eastern religions are circular, teaching that everything goes round and round. That’s why a Hindu will not eat a cow because he or she is afraid that the cow is his or her grandmother. In Eastern religions, you strive to live in good karma. If your karma is not good, in your next life, you may come back as a roach or even worse, a politician.

But if you have good karma, you might come back as a cow, and that is why they do not eat meat. Can you imagine saying this in a Hindu restaurant? “I will take grandma medium well?”

Dear friend, they have it wrong. Life is not circular. The Bible is linear. We are moving to the time when the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord. That is what for by Him all things were created means. Time is moving toward the settled reality that the kingdoms of this world will become His Kingdom one day. That is why Jesus taught us to pray this:

Matthew 6 : 10

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

DO we realize that the kingdoms of this earth are coming to Jesus? BY the way some of us treat government, it does not appear so. Too many focus on government as the answer. I want to share with you an incredible verse that quite frankly caused me to pause. And it will you too if you are one of these people that think government is the solution.

Isaiah 33 : 22

22 (For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King;
He will save us);

Do you see it? You should if you know anything about our three branches of government. Jesus is Judge, Lawgiver, and King. What are the three branches of our government? Jesus is all three. He is the perfect balance of power, but the difference between Jesus and our system of government is that Jesus can save us; government cannot. Who is Jesus? He is the On who reveals the Father, He is the Preserver of creation, He is the Purpose of creation, and He is the reconciler of the fallen. AMEN!!!

D.        Jesus is the Reconciler of the fallen.

Colossians 1 : 18 – 20

18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Jesus reconciles God and man. Think of it like this: God, the Mighty Maker, died for man, the crowning achievement of what He made. The One who made every seed, limb, and tree also died on a tree. The One who made the oceans, fountains, rivers, and lakes said I thirst so that you could never be thirsty again.

The One who flung the sun into space hung in darkness bearing your sin. His death and deity are woven together. Other people have died, but it is His death that makes His deity meaningful, and it is death that makes His deity knowable. He is the Son of God revealed in the pages of His Holy Word. He is the One that took my sin, your sin, our sin to the Cross, and on that cruel cross, He made peace.

On His cross, He took you by one hand, Holy God with the other and reconciled you to God if you will only accept the reconciliation. Jesus made peace for us with the blood of His cross. Our peace is contingent on us placing our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus as the One who is the reconciler of the fallen.

Does Jesus have preeminence in your life? If not, why not?

Christian friend, Jesus should be preeminent in your life. He is waiting on you to give Him is proper place. How are you ever going to know God? Only through Jesus, the One who reveals the Father.

If you have not trusted Jesus as your Savior and asked Him to forgive you of your sins, there is only ONE WAY to God, and that Way is Jesus.

John 14 : 6

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Will you accept Jesus today? You know in your very soul that you need to follow His Way. It is so simple. Just pray to Him in this manner.

“Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I have complete faith in what you did for me on Calvary took care of my sins. Will you forgive me of those sins? I want to follow the Way. I do not want to live in sin. Jesus, I know you came to this earth to die for my sins, and I believe that you were raised from the dead. Jesus, will you save me and become Lord of my life?”

Dear friend, you can do that with no one else around. If you need any help with making that decision, there are so many that can help you. I will help you. If you would like to talk to me about getting saved, I will attempt to answer any question you have. Just drop that question and your contact information in the comments section of this blog, or email me at jclendenin37@yahoo.com

When you invite Jesus into your life, it will be the greatest day in your life, and after you do that you need to confess it publicly, follow through with believer’s baptism, and become an active, vibrant member of a local church.