The Unrivalled Excellence of Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about the divinity of Jesus Christ?

The Bible asserts that Jesus Christ is divine, being the creator of all things and the brightness of God's glory. The apostle Paul explicitly points out in Colossians 1 that Christ created all things and holds everything together. In Hebrews 1:3, it states that Jesus is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. This clearly affirms that Jesus is not merely a created being but God Himself, possessing the same nature and attributes as the Father. John 1:3 further reinforces this by proclaiming that ‘all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.’ Thus, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, is fully divine, equal with the Father in essence and glory.

Q: How do we know Jesus is the creator of all things?

Scripture confirms that Jesus is the creator, stating that all things were made by Him and that He upholds all things. The New Testament provides clear evidence that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things. In Colossians 1:16-17, it declares, ‘For by Him were all things created … and by Him all things consist.’ This acknowledges not only His role in creation but also His sustaining power over all creation. Additionally, Hebrews 1:2 highlights that God made the worlds through His Son, signifying that every aspect of creation is attributed to Him. This is further bolstered by John 1:3, stating that ‘without Him was not anything made that was made.’ Therefore, the entirety of Scripture presents Jesus as the sovereign creator who has authority over all that exists.

Q: Why is it important to affirm that Christ is God?

Affirming Christ's divinity is crucial for recognizing His authority and the efficacy of His redemptive sacrifice. Understanding Christ as God is foundational for the Christian faith. If Christ is not God, then His atoning sacrifice loses its significance, rendering salvation and hope for humanity unattainable. The sovereignty of Christ as God implies that His will cannot be thwarted, and His redemptive work is secure for His people. In denying His divinity, one undermines the entire gospel message and the assurance of salvation. As Hebrews 1:3 states, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high after purging our sins by Himself, illustrating that only God could accomplish such a monumental act of redemption. Thus, recognizing and affirming Christ as God instills a proper reverence and reliance on His power and promise.

Q: What does it mean that Christ is the express image of God?

Christ as the express image of God signifies His full divinity and perfect representation of God's nature. The phrase ‘express image of His person’ from Hebrews 1:3 highlights that Jesus is the perfect representation of God’s nature and essence. This means that in Christ, the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, as stated in Colossians 2:9. He reveals God to humanity in a form we can comprehend, embodying divine attributes such as justice, mercy, and love without diminishing His deity. This concept emphasizes that there is no inferiority in Christ compared to the Father; rather, it illustrates the unity and equality in the Godhead while acknowledging the distinct roles within the Trinity. The express image reveals that to know Christ is to know the Father, which underscores the significance of Christ's teachings and actions as a direct revelation of God's will.

All right, let's turn to Hebrews
chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. When I was much younger, I used
to be a pretty good swimmer. And I liked to just dive in deep
water and swim, knowing full well that the deeper the water,
the less likely I would ever fathom its depths. But I loved
to swim in deep water. Well, tonight, I want us to dive
into deep, deep water. We're not about to even skim
the surface, much less fathom the depths. But I believe the
passage before us is one of the most glorious declarations of
the excellence and glory of Jesus Christ our Lord to be found in
Holy Scripture. And I want us, oh my soul, I
want us to see something of his glory. God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed Heir of all things." Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is that Word by which God makes himself known to man,
singularly and distinctively. He is the Word of God. He is
the Heir of God, the Heir of all things. By virtue of having
redeemed us, having obeyed his Father's will, the Father has
given to the Son all things. Put everything in the hands of
Christ our Mediator, giving him dominion and power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father has
given him. All right, read on. By whom also
he made the world. who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things with the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high, being made much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. All right, let's
begin right there at the end of verse 2. Here we see something
of the excellence and glory of Christ, unrivaled excellence,
unrivaled glory, in the fact that he is the creator of all
the worlds, by whom he made the worlds. Hold your hands here
and turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. There is an obvious reference
here to the distinct divinity and personality of our Lord Jesus
Christ as God the Son. John tells us here in verse 3,
all things were made by him and without him was not anything
made that was made. Jesus Christ is God. We worship one God in the triunity
of his sacred persons. He is one with the Father and
one with the Spirit and yet distinct from the Father and the Spirit.
One God in three glorious persons. And Jesus Christ is here set
before us as that one who as our mediator is the one through
whom and by whom the worlds were made. Everything the triune God
does, everything he does, He does through, by, and for Jesus
Christ, our Mediator. God does not speak to men, neither
in mercy nor in judgment, but by Christ. He made nothing but
by Christ. The measurements of the universe
were laid down by the Son of God. The power of the Son and
the brilliance of every star is energized by His sovereign,
almighty, irresistible will. Christ is the creator of all
things. Look back where we read in Colossians
1 for just a moment. Colossians 1 verse 14. This one
who is the creator of the worlds is that one in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Now when he
speaks of him being the firstborn of every creature here, contrary
to the opinions of those who would jump at every chance to
deny the divinity of our Savior, he is not suggesting that somehow
Christ was the first creature of God. John's already precluded
that. He declares that without him
was not anything made that was made. He is the creator of all
things. And when it says here he's the
firstborn of every creature, the language of the Holy Spirit
is simply designed to show us that he is that one out of whom
all creation springs. He is the creator himself. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him. And he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. The Lord Jesus Christ
is not the great spectator of the universe. He's the great
creator. He is not the great evolver of
all things. He is the creator of all things. And when the Holy Spirit tells
us that our Lord Jesus is the creator of all things, of the
worlds, He is not suggesting at all that there's some possibility,
maybe there's, you know, some kind of ET creatures living on
other planets, there's some kind of other extraterrestrial beings
in other worlds, nothing of the kind, nothing of the kind. What
He is telling us is this. Jesus Christ is that one who
created every realm of existence and rules every realm of existence,
the heavenly world, the upper world, the lower world, the world
beneath. He rules in that place where
God's throne sits above all worlds. He rules in the vast expanse
of the heavens above us. He rules in all the habitation
of man upon the earth, and Jesus Christ rules in hell just as
much as he does in heaven. He rules all the worlds. Christ is the Lord of all. Behold
God's vast creation, in all its orderly splendor, beauty, and
majesty. And know that Jesus Christ is
the great Creator of all things, and the Ruler of all things. Now you might think, well, Brother
Don, why is this so important? Why do you lay such heavy emphasis
on the fact that Christ is really the creator of everything, and
place great emphasis on denying the foolish notions of evolution? And I mean foolish, foolish. I've read with a little bit of
interest, very little, Some of the articles in the paper recently
about educational systems arguing and fussing about teaching evolution
in the schools, and the scientists, you know, they don't want these
poor children to miss out on the theories of evolution. They change every couple of years.
How come? Because they're without basis.
Because they're without foundation. They're just theories. And we're
not worshiping a god of theories. Jesus Christ is the creator of
all things. To deny that he's the creator
is to deny that he's God. To deny that he is God is to
deny that he accomplished anything upon the earth. It is to make
a mockery of his name. It is to blaspheme his name.
To deny that he's the creator is to deny that he has the right
to do as he will with all creation. and thus to deny that He is the
Creator, denying that He's God, denying that He's Lord, denying
that He owns everything, gives no hope to anybody. It robs us,
not only would it rob Him of His glory, but it robs helpless,
needy sinners of any hope at all. You see, only one who is
an absolute God Absolute sovereign, absolute monarch can save us. Only one who is absolute God,
absolute sovereign can be trusted. Only one you can trust is He
who is absolutely in control of everything, who absolutely
disposes of everything as He will. None but an absolute sovereign
will ever be worshipped by anyone. The reason men and women in this
day and age have such Irreverence for God is because the God they
pretend to worship is not worthy of reverence. The reason they
can compare him to Pepsi-Cola is because he's not much more
powerful than Pepsi-Cola, not even shaken up. Just useless,
just useless. Men speak lightly of God because
the God they worship is a light God, a useless God. But those
who know something of Him who sits on the throne in whose hand
your breath is will fear Him and worship Him. All right, look
at this next line, verse 3. Our Lord Jesus Christ is here
described as that one who is the brightness of the glory of
God. who being the brightness of his
glory." Now Bobby, that's just more than I can get hold of.
He's the brightness of his glory. Christ is the glory of his glory
who is glory. He is God. having the same glorious
name, nature, attributes, and being as the Father. And therefore
He rightly claims the worship, homage, and glory from men and
angels that is due to God alone. He is God in all the fullness
of His Godhead. And He is the glory of God revealed. The brightness of the glory of
God. The statement. is one which simply
exceeds the limits of my puny brain. Someone suggested there's
an illusion here to the sun and its rays. None of us has ever dared, never
dare look directly, directly into a eclipse of the sun. You
don't dare do it, or it'll burn your eyes. And that's just its
rays. That's just its rays. All we
see of the sun, just its rays. We wouldn't dare be able to even
think about standing face to face with the brilliant sun set
in the skies by the hand of God. And yet the rays of the sun are
one with the sun. And Jesus Christ our Lord is
that one through whom we see the bright glory of God. But
we couldn't stand to approach to God himself. That's the reason
the apostle tells us in 1 Timothy, that he is that one whom no man
has seen nor can see, whom no man can approach unto. But in
Jesus Christ now, God has revealed something, as we're capable of
handling it, of the glory of his being. He shows us the nature,
purity, brilliance, and splendor of the perfections of God. And
yet there's more than that here. When the apostle tells us that
he is the brightness of the Father's glory, he's telling us that Jesus
Christ is himself the glory of the triune God. He who is God
in human flesh is the unrivaled, excellent God, the brightness
of his glory. Understand this. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. I tried to touch on this a few
times in the last few weeks and I haven't grasped it yet, much
less been able to declare it to you. But in his human being,
in his human existence, in his body and soul and spirit as a
man, in him resides all the fullness of God Almighty in What on earth can that mean?
More than we can ever grasp on this earth, perhaps in eternity.
But our Lord Jesus Rex sits on the throne of glory in a body
just like you're sitting in right there. Same kind of body, only
glorified. And while he lived on this earth
before he was glorified in a body just like yours, only no sin.
Same kind of brain, same kind of heart, same kind of thoughts,
same kind of passion, same kind of weaknesses, same kind of infirmities.
As a man, sin alone excepted. In that man resides permanently
all that God is. He's the brightness of the Father's
glory. All right, look at the next line
in verse 3. The apostle here tells us that he is the express
image of God's person. The express image of his person. Not only does Christ reveal the
brightness of God's glory, as a ray of light beams out the
source of light, he also is essentially one with the Father. The same
in substance, though a distinct person from the Father. There's
absolutely no inferiority of any kind in the Godhead. This is so very important. When
we think about the persons of the triune God, understand that
all that which is looked at as being inferiority in Jesus Christ
or in the Holy Spirit is a voluntary covenant inferiority. It is simply
a voluntary subjection. It is a willing subjection to
the will of the Father in this covenant relationship. Jesus
Christ said, therefore doth my Father love me because I laid
down my life for the sheep. This commandment have I received
of my Father. Not in any way because He could
not resist the Father's commandment. Not like I would give a commandment
to my daughter under my roof. Not like you might give a commandment
to your son under your roof. Expecting by virtue of your superiority
that they obey you. Not at all. Not at all. But rather,
like a man would give an expression of his will to a loving wife
who knows and honors her place as a woman, and she looks at
the will of her husband, whom she loves, as the commandment
she wants to obey. That's what it is. Our Lord Jesus
Christ looks to the Father as the Father makes known His will
to redeem and save His people. And He takes the Father's will
to be that commandment to which He binds Himself voluntarily
to obey. So our Lord is set forth here
not in any way as being inferior to the Father, but rather the
express image of His person. John Gill, I think, gave the
best explanation of this statement. He says this description of Christ
implies these three things. First, an equality between the
Father and the Son. And secondly, a sameness of essence
within the Godhead. And then finally, a distinction
of persons in the Holy Trinity. Turn with me again to 1 John
5. 1 John 5. I'll give you one good reason
for hanging on to your authorized King James Version of Scripture. 1 John 5, verse 7. If you didn't
have any other, here's a good enough reason. Good enough reason.
Every translation with which I am familiar, every one of them,
every modern translation of the Scriptures into the English language,
I don't know of a one where this is an exception, leaves out 1
John 5 and verse 7 without any basis in fact in history, none
whatsoever. How come? Because this has been
a subject of attack from the forces of hell all the way through
church history when men have denied the deity of Christ or
sought a foundation for denying it. But here is the plain statement
and the only plain statement. There are many places where it's
hinted at, many places where it's illustrated, many places
where it's stated in different terms. But here is the only direct,
plain, verbal, undeniable statement of the Holy Trinity in all the
Bible. 1 John 5, verse 7. For there
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, And these three are one. Not just united as one, not just
wed as one, not just welded together as one, but one in essence, in
glory, in existence, in being. Without question then, this expression,
the express image of this person suggests much more than we can
grasp. And yet there's something here
which is commonly overlooked that is clearly revealed. Listen
carefully. The Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator,
the God-man, is that man in whose image our father Adam was made
in the beginning. Now see if you can get a hold
of this. God said, let us make man in
our image. Try to show me the image. of
the invisible, the image, in our image, and
after our likeness. Well, what's he talking about?
If God is spirit, where are you going to see an image of God?
In that one who comes, who alone is declared to be the image of
the invisible God. So that before the worlds were
made, Christ was set up as our covenant surety, as that one
who said in a volume of a book he has written to me, I've come
to do thy will, oh my God. And the father looks on the son,
our covenant surety, as he would come into the world and said,
all right, we'll make Adam just like him. And that's how he made
him. So that he made Adam to be in the moral image of our
savior, intellect, emotion, and will. He made Adam to be in the
physical image of that one who would come as our Savior. There's
no question about that. Adam was made upright. And when
Scripture says he was made upright, it doesn't just mean that he
was made morally upright. He was made physically upright.
So when you hear about, read about, and see these things out
of Hollywood about cavemen and folks grunting around like dogs
and crawling around on their knees and acting like they're
just something slightly above a snail, Don't pay any attention
to it. God did not make man a beast. He made him upright in the image
of his son. More than that, he made Christ
to be in the covenant image, or Adam to be in the covenant
image of Christ. Let me see if I can show you
that in the scripture. Romans chapter 5. When God created Adam, He had already made a covenant
with his son. He had already fixed it, Oscar,
to arrange your everlasting salvation before ever Adam was set in the
garden. Before he ever said, let us make
man in our image and after our likeness. But when Adam was made,
who is the first Adam, the one who comes as the last Adam already
existed. He's called the last Adam in
what sense? Because he is that one who is the first representative
man, but the last one revealed. Adam was the first one revealed,
but the last one created, the last one made. Jesus Christ is
that one who said, my goings forth were from eternity. He
said, I was set up by him as one brought up with him. So that
from eternity, Christ was set up as our covenant head with
a covenant people, with a covenant task, with a covenant purpose.
And God would deal with all the people whom he represented in
him. He said, all right, I'm gonna
make the whole human race to be represented by this man who's
made in the image of Christ. So that Adam was made to be a
type of Christ even as he stood in the garden. Let's see that,
Romans chapter five, verse five. Wherefore, as by one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned, Now skip down, if you will, past
the parentheses. And I don't mean to suggest that
the parentheses is unimportant. But all that is said from verse
13 till you get to verse 18 is explanatory. That's what a parentheses
is. A parentheses is what you put
into the sentence to explain what's gone before and prepare
for what's going after. But you could take it right out
of the sentence and it wouldn't change the meaning of the sentence
at all. Okay, now read verse 12 again. Wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death
passed upon all men For that all have sinned Oh, wait a minute. I wasn't born yet. I know Adam was and he was your daddy. He was your representative. He
was your covenant head Well, I didn't make him that no God
did that takes you out of the picture Well, I don't like that. Take it up with God. That's the
way it is. That's just the way it is. All right, now, you see
the parenthesis mark in verse 13? Move all the way down to
verse 17, right at the end. That's the end of the parenthesis.
Now, here's the rest of the sentence. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, one man Adam, that one in whom we all died, that one
in whom we all sinned, As by the offense of one judgment came
upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness
of one, another man, another representative man, another covenant
head, the free gift came upon all men under justification of
life. Now, folks, look at this. It's
amazing to me how folks can spit out Scripture and think they're
going to prove something that is exactly contrary to what's stated
in the Scripture. Well there you see, everybody's gonna be
made righteous by Christ. Are they now? Oh no, oh no. Better what this means is that
everybody Adam represented was made sin by Adam's sin. Everybody
Christ represented is made righteous by his obedience. That's exactly
what it says. All right, read on, verse 19.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made, Legally constituted,
legally declared sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made legally constituted, legally declared to be righteous. When Adam sinned, we sinned in
him, and God said the whole race is sin. When Christ obeyed, we
obeyed in him. When he died, We died in Him. When He arose, we arose in Him.
When He was justified in the Spirit, we were justified in
Him. And God says the whole race that
said Him is justified and righteous. Stand righteous upon grounds
of law. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. All right,
look at the next line. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who is upholding all things by the word of his power. He upholds everything. Brilliant, brilliant men. Brilliant
men. They talk about laws of nature. He's the lawgiver of the laws
of nature. They talk about the balance of
nature. You know, they're scared to death
that we should happen to lose a blind fish in a gully somewhere
and don't have any more of those. If the wolves die out, we're
going to have a loss in the balance of nature. Christ is the balancer
of nature. He upholds all things by the
word of his power. And you can forget, now listen
to me, you can forget the idea of preserving this globe. It's not going to happen. It's
marked for destruction. And one of these days, he's going
to throw the balance of nature in utter chaos and burn this
thing up. Well, how's it going to happen? I don't know. I don't even care. It doesn't matter to me whether
he does it with Saddam Hussein or he does it with Bill Clinton,
or he does it with the fires of hell. It doesn't matter. He's
just going to do it. He's going to burn it up. Our
Lord Jesus, however, upholds everything, everything. Hung
the earth on its foundations. Those fellows get out and fly
around it, see if they can find any foundations. Now, what you
talking about? His decree. That's the foundation
of the earth, his purpose. That's what holds everything
together. And he continually in his providence keeps the sun
shining and the earth turning and he keeps the stars in place
and he does it all for the saving of his elect, as you read back
there an awful little bit ago. He does it all, he preserves
the whole thing for the saving of his people. All right, now
look at this. When he had by himself purged
our sins. Oh, glory. The Lord Jesus Christ
took our sins upon himself, bear our sins in his own body on the
tree. was made to be sin for us, suffered
all the horror of the ignominious wrath of Almighty God on the
cause of our sins, to the full satisfaction of divine justice,
and bore them away forever. The scripture says here he purged
our sins. Purged them. Purged them. They're gone. If
I should happen to have some of Mrs. Fortner's spaghetti,
I could wrap myself in a bed sheet, three layers thick, head
to toe, and I'll guarantee I'm just soft right here, right here.
Somehow it always happens. But she goes downstairs and she
takes these white shirts and she gets some Clorox and she
gets some soap and she scrubs and scrubs and scrubs and purges
away the stain. Will you hear me? Jesus Christ
the Son of God with his own blood purged our sins from the record
book of heaven and they are no more. He purged them. He purged them by himself. Without our aid, without our
assistance, without us putting our hands to the altar, without
us putting our hands to the ark, without us building anything
for ourselves, he purged our sins and then he sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high. How come? Because there's
nothing else to be done. That's the glory of him. who
is the glory of God Almighty. Amen. Let's sing number 443. Number 443. There is no name
so sweet on earth as that name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our
Redeemer and our Savior.

The Unrivalled Excellence of Christ

What does the Bible say about the divinity of Jesus Christ?

How do we know Jesus is the creator of all things?

Why is it important to affirm that Christ is God?

What does it mean that Christ is the express image of God?

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About Don Fortner

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The Unrivalled Excellence of Christ

What does the Bible say about the divinity of Jesus Christ?

How do we know Jesus is the creator of all things?

Why is it important to affirm that Christ is God?

What does it mean that Christ is the express image of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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