Jesus Is God (Sermon 1)

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