The Pre-eminence of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Pt 2)

Q: What does the Bible say about the preeminence of Christ?

The Bible teaches that Christ holds preeminence in all things as our mediator, Savior, and the central figure in God's eternal purpose. The preeminence of Christ is a central theme in Scripture, particularly emphasized in Colossians 1:18, where Paul states that Jesus Christ is the head of the body, the Church, and that in all things He might have the preeminence. This preeminence is not merely a title but a God-ordained position, where Christ is recognized as the mediator, surety, and redeemer of His people, deserving of honor and worship. God the Father has decreed that all things should be done for the glory of Christ, reflecting His unique role in both creation and salvation.

Q: How do we know Christ's mediatorial role is true?

Christ's mediatorial role is affirmed through His unique life, death, and resurrection as recorded in Scripture, coupled with the eternal decree of God. The mediatorial role of Christ is underscored in both the Old and New Testaments through prophecies and their fulfillment. He is not only our Savior but also the one appointed by the Father to redeem His people, as seen in Isaiah 53 and manifested in the New Testament through His sacrificial death and resurrection. Christ assumed humanity to be our perfect mediator who fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law and provided atonement for sin through His blood. This divine arrangement is declared in Ephesians 1:11, where Paul highlights that all things work according to the counsel of God's will in Christ.

Q: Why is Christ's role as our Savior important?

Christ's role as our Savior is crucial because it is through Him that we have redemption, forgiveness, and eternal life. The importance of Christ’s role as our Savior cannot be overstated, as it encompasses the entirety of our salvation experience from election to glorification. In John 14:6, Jesus asserts that He is 'the way, the truth, and the life,' indicating that no one can come to the Father except through Him. Through His substitutionary death, He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, and His resurrection confirms our justification and hope for eternal life. As stated in 1 Corinthians 1:30, Christ has become for us wisdom from God—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Understanding Christ's role deeply enriches our faith and understanding of God’s grace.

Q: Why is election a vital doctrine in Christianity?

Election is vital because it affirms God's sovereign choice to save sinners, underscoring grace as the basis of salvation. The doctrine of election is foundational to understanding salvation in a sovereign grace context. As stated in Ephesians 1:4-5, God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, demonstrating that our salvation is not based on our choices but solely on His sovereign grace. Denying election leads to the belief that salvation is achieved through human will, which undermines grace. Election illustrates God’s love and mercy, showing that He has appointed a multitude of sinners unto salvation through faith in Christ, confirming His justice and holiness in the process.

All right, let's turn again this evening to Colossians chapter 1 and verse 18. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 18. The Apostle Paul is describing our Lord Jesus Christ in his glorious person and work as our Savior, our Mediator, our Substitute, and our Redeemer. And he, the Son of God incarnate, the Son of God who assumed our nature, the Son of God who is our mediator. He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.

It is the purpose of God that in all things Jesus Christ, our Savior, His Son, have the preeminence. Now, preeminence of necessity must belong to only one person. Two people cannot be preeminent. God the Father, indeed, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all three of the divine persons, have determined that the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-man, our Mediator, Surety, Substitute, and Savior, shall have all preeminence in all things.

" Now, it needs to be stressed in our understanding that this universal preeminence has been given to Christ not as God. Understand this now. Nothing has been given to Christ as God, the Son, the second person of the He is in all things equal with and one with the Father and the Spirit, possessor of all things from everlasting. So nothing has been given to him as God, but as our mediator, as the God-man, as the one whom the Father gave to be our Redeemer, as the one who volunteered to assume our nature, to live, die, rise again, and reign to save us, It is as our Mediator and Servant that the Lord God has given his Son all preeminence and appointed him as heir over all things.

Now understand this, and it will help you in understanding the Scriptures. Christ has this preeminence now. He had it from everlasting, and he shall have it forevermore. It is his by indisputable right. That's what I want to show you in this message this evening. In all things our Lord Jesus Christ is and forever must be the one preeminent one. His father decreed it, he fully deserves it, his saints desire it, and his satisfaction demands it.

Now I hope by reminding you again of our Lord's preeminence, you who trust him will be inspired to greater confidence in him. led to worship him, and moved of God the Holy Spirit to commit yourselves to him with renewed devotion and zeal. And I pray that you who are yet without Christ may be brought this evening to see him preeminent, and be brought to faith in him, committing yourselves to him, who alone is able to save your souls, and who alone is worthy of your trust.

Now obviously my subject is infinitely bigger than I am, and I've said all that I can say about it. There will be much, much more to say, so I'm not going to even think about epicting to exhaust the subject matter. The preeminence of Christ is considerably bigger than my puny brain. But I want to show you from the Word of God seven aspects of our Lord's preeminence, so that you will grasp the reality of this thing that Christ, by divine decree, is preeminent universally. He's preeminent in all things.

We'll begin with the purpose of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent in the eternal purpose and decrees of God Almighty. Turn to Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46. Now we can just look at just a few scriptures as we go along. You can jot them down and listen, or you can return to them and read along with us if you'd like. God Almighty, the one true and living God, the God of heaven and earth, is a God of a purpose, eternal, unalterable, absolute purpose, a purpose that cannot be defeated, overturned, frustrated, or hindered to any degree by anyone or anything. I understand that.

The God of the Bible, not the God of this religious age, not the puny pygmy God of this world, but the God of the Bible is a God of sovereign purpose. He purposed everything that comes to pass.

In Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 9, we see that the scriptures are explicit and clear. Clear as crystal in teaching the universality of God's purpose. Isaiah 46, 9, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

Now, when you read the scriptures about the pleasure of God, the will of God, and the purpose of God, Mark, it's all talking about the same thing.

Now, with us, that's not the case. With us, there are many things that give us pleasure that we have not caused by determination. With us, there are many things that we will, which shall never come to pass, because our will is incapable of governing things.

But with God Almighty, that which pleases him is that which he has purposed and that which he wills, and his will, his purpose, and his pleasure extend to all things from everlasting, those things having been ordained by him.

In Acts 15 verse 18, the scripture says, known unto God are all his works from the beginning, known by him because he ordained them. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8 and verse 28 tells us that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

And then in the following verses he tells us that his purpose is the saving of his people for the glory of Christ.

Now look in Ephesians 1 and verse 11. Ephesians 1 and verse 11. The apostle Paul, writing here to the church at Ephesus and to us, tells us that in Jesus Christ we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Do you see that? God Almighty is a God who works everything after the counsel of his sovereign, eternal will, and we have been predestinated by him to obtain an inheritance, and we have obtained it in Jesus Christ the Lord, according to his purpose.

His eternal purpose, which he purposed in himself.

Now, according to the In all the purpose and decrees of Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ is central, primary, and preeminent. In other words, everything that God has purpose to do, and everything that he does, is for the glory of Christ as our Savior.

Listen to this passage here in Ephesians 3 and verse 11, where the Apostle Paul tells us that everything, everything, everything is according to the eternal purpose which God Almighty purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Everything. Everything.

The Lord Jesus Christ was the Father's elect. chosen and set up by the Father's decree from everlasting to be our mediator. The Lord God speaks by his prophet Isaiah and says, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. But in that same sovereign eternal decree, God Almighty determined that a great multitude of sinners would be saved by his grace, and thus he chose us unto salvation. The Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians says, for God hath not appointed us to wrath. He's not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him.

All who have been, all who are, and all who shall be saved by the grace of God are saved because of God's election of them unto salvation in Jesus Christ before the worlds were made. Apart from God's election, there is no salvation.

Now I hear folks pray, I don't hear much anymore, but I have. over the years, and I once in a while hear from folks who've heard a tape or heard me on the radio or something, and they object to election. I don't believe in election. I don't believe that damnable doctrine of election. Let me tell you something. Damnable doctrine is doctrine that denies it. It's doctrine that denies it. You deny election, you deny salvation. You deny election, you deny grace. You deny election, you deny every aspect of salvation, because God's salvation, Larry, is according as he chose us in Christ. It's according to divine election that God's grace runs to men's souls in saving grace. All who are saved are saved because of God's election.

The Lord God purposed and resolved to save us by the substitutionary sacrifice of his It was appointed and ordained of God that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the fullness of time, should assume a human body and soul, work out perfect righteousness for his people by his holy life of perfect obedience to God as our representative, and then lay down his life, pouring out his life's precious blood as our sin-atoning substitute, and thus redeeming us from the curse of the law by satisfying God's justice for us. and so it came to pass. For as much as you know that you're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but by the precious blood of Christ.

It was also purposed of God from eternity that each of these elect redeemed sinners should be saved through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. They find that clearly written in second Thessalonians and verse 14. Sanctification of the Spirit simply means this. God has ordained that his people be saved through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and through the preaching of the gospel. That's the means by which God saves sinners. These days, sinners, by the merit of Christ's blood, by the sanctifying, regenerating power and grace of the Holy Spirit, apply to the heart, through the preaching of the Word, causing you to believe the truth. So that sinners are saved, not apart from the Word of God, but by the instrumentality of the Word of God, and that by divine purpose.

Not only is that so. But God Almighty ordained that Jesus Christ should preserve and keep every one of his chosen redeemed called people by the power of his grace. And so our Lord Jesus says concerning his sheep, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish and it shall never come to pass. that one of those for whom Christ died, one whom the Father has given him, should perish at last. For this is the Father's will which hath sent me, our Savior said, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day." So our Lord Jesus Christ has preeminence in all the purpose and decrees of God the Father.

Second, our Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent in all the works of creation and providence. This is what we saw this morning in chapter 1 of Colossians, in verses 6, 8, and 17. 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

Now remember, this passage of scripture is not talking about Christ in his essential deity as God the Son. It's not talking about that. The object of the passage is to show us that Jesus Christ, the man, who is himself God the Eternal Son, is both God and man in one glorious

And Paul is telling us that as our God-man mediator, not that Christ was from everlasting a man, but from everlasting he agreed to assume our nature and was looked upon by the Father as our God-man mediator, so that from everlasting our mediator is the creator of everything. He's the creator of everything.

Why did God Almighty create this world? through our Mediator. Why did God Almighty create everything through the Word without whom was not anything made that was made? He did it to make us understand that the Mediator shall be glorified in everything and everything was done for the purpose of the Mediator's honor for the saving of our soul. His name shall be called Jesus. Rex quoted it in his prayer. For he shall save his people from their sins. There could never be question about this. That's the reason the world was created. God created it by the mediator, Jesus Christ our Lord.

So that everything that has been proclaims the wisdom and power of Jesus Christ our Savior, he who is our mediator, he's our creator as well. Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands. Not only is Christ the creator, he's also God in king of providence. He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written king of kings. and Lord of Lords, that this universal dominion is Jesus Christ's right by virtue of having accomplished redemption for his people.

Our Savior's disposition of all things in providence is specifically designed for the salvation of his people. God the Father has made his Son as our mediator, the sovereign monarch of the universe, trusting to his hands the reins of universal government that he might give to every chosen redeemed sinner eternal life. And that's what he does. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."

Let me see if I can put that in shoe leather for you, so you can get some good out of it. Everything in the universe, everything in the universe, is under the sovereign rule of Jesus Christ, and comes to pass and is disposed of by him for the saving of his elect. And he sovereignly manipulates the affairs of the world. To bring chosen redeemed sinners to hear the gospel, and hearing it, to believe it, according to the purpose which he purposed in Christ before the world began. I was thinking this afternoon as I was looking over my notes, Jerry desires to confess Christ and believe his baptism. Been a long time. Crooked load. Here we are. And our Redeemer has brought it to pass because his name is Jesus.

He Did you hear that? He shall save his people from their sins, and hell can't even cause him to pass. He rules in heaven, earth, and hell as the ruler of providence, holding all things together, disposing of all things as he will, to bring his elect at last unto glory.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent in the book of God. I want you to turn with me to John 5 for a moment. Just hold your hands there. In John 5 and in Luke 24. I want us to look at these very familiar texts one more time.

How I wish that I could get every man who claims to be a preacher to see this. your men who have occasion now and then to teach classes and preach here and preach in other places as God gives you opportunity, hear what I'm telling you now, hear what I'm telling you, and see to it that you understand.

This book is not a book about morality. It teaches morality, but it's not a book about morality. And to use it, Larry, just to inspire morality is to misuse it. That's exactly right. This is not a book about science. It teaches certain things about science that are absolutely certain, but it's not a book about science. This book is not a book about politics. It's not a book about politics. It's not a book about philosophy. This is not even a book about church dogma. or prophecy or theological concepts. None of those things. This is a book about him. It's all about Jesus Christ the Lord.

It is not enough, it is not enough just to preach the book. That's not enough. That's not enough. Just open the book so I preach the book. That's not enough. A man can quote Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 and preach the book and preach the truth and not tell you a thing about Christ.

I listened to a series of tapes a few weeks ago driving down the road on one of the trips I was taking. Someone had sent me the tapes by a reputable, reputable theologian, a man whose doctrine would be very much in line with our doctrine. A man well known in his day, well known. A man whom I respect. I'm not going to call his name because I respect him. But I listened to five sermons that he preached on what men call Calvinism. I listened to all five of them. And in all five sermons he flat out told the truth. He flat out told the truth. But he didn't present the gospel. He did not preach Jesus Christ. Not in one of them.

I heard him preach on particular redemption. I thought, sure, he's going to get it now. But he preached on particular redemption. And he defended liberty and atonement. He preached it right. He preached it crystal clear. But he preached it merely as an abstract point of theology, not as the glory of Christ the Redeemer. And there's all the difference in the world. All the difference in the world. It is not enough just to preach the book, or even the truths of this book. It is our responsibility, as God gives us opportunity to speak in his name, to preach the message of the book. And the message of this book is Jesus Christ and him crucified.

There's not a page in this book, not a page, that does not speak of him. The Son of God tells us plainly That He is the message and theme of all the scripture. He is the living word of whom the written word speaks. When you read the scriptures, look for Christ. Look for pictures of Christ. Look for words of Christ. Look for direction to Christ. Look for the honor of Christ. Look for the truth of Christ. And when you preach the scriptures, preach Him. When you teach the scriptures, teach Him.

Listen to what our Lord says in John 5 and verse 39. Search the scriptures. Satchel. He's talking to the Pharisees, who knew the book. They knew the book, they could quote it. Word by word, they could quote it. But they didn't know a frazzling thing about it. They didn't understand anything about it. He said, search the scriptures. For in them, that is, in your knowledge of them, you think you have eternal life. You think by your knowledge of Scripture, by your Scripture memory, by your Scripture history, you think you have eternal life. But you missed the boat. These Scriptures are they which testify of me.

Isn't that clear, Meryl? This is the book that speaks of me. in Luke 24. Our Lord is walking with the disciples on the road to a base. After his resurrection, they didn't know who he was. He had hidden himself from them. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets. I wonder why Luke was moved by Matthew to put it just that way. I wonder why Luke didn't just write down beginning at Moses. He expanded unto them in all the scriptures things concerning himself. I wonder why it isn't just put down there, he expanded to them how the Old Testament spoke of him. I wonder why he was not moved to the Spirit of God simply to say the scriptures testify of me. But rather here in verse 27, beginning at Moses and in all the prophets, all the prophets, he expanded unto them, look at it now, in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.

I know why it's written that way, because it means for us to understand, buddy, that all the scriptures speak of him. All the scriptures speak of him. Down in verse 44, He said unto them, These are the words which I have spoken to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms. That is written in the law, written in the prophets, and written in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding. O God, open the understandings of men, that they might understand the Scriptures. And he understands the Scriptures alone, who understands that Christ is the message of Scripture. Christ is the message of Scripture.

The Apostle Paul considered the preaching of Christ to be synonymous with the preaching of all the counsel of God. For Christ is all the counsel of God. He said to the church at Ephesus, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And yet, he said, I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. I want so much for you to see this. The Bible, the Word of God, is a book with one message. And that one message is redemption, righteousness, and eternal life by Jesus Christ.

Let me refresh your minds a little bit. The Old Testament scriptures speak of Christ. They point us to Christ. They call us to faith in Christ. That's the object of the Old Testament. I frequently observe that men preach seldom from the Old Testament. I think it's because they don't understand the Old Testament's talking about Christ. They really do think we've got two different Bibles, Old Bible and New Bible. This is one Bible. This is one word from God, one message from God. And the Old Testament Scriptures don't present one way of salvation in the New Testament, or another way. Oh no, the Old Testament calls us to faith in Christ, and was given prophetic, speaking of Him who was to come. That means that Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, and all the prophets spoke of Christ.

From the time that our Lord God gave promise to that fallen pair in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, that he would send the seed of the woman to crush the serpent's head, all the prophets kept looking for him. All of them. Every, every, every believing heart was turned looking for him. Even when Eve had her firstborn son, and she called his name Cain, she said, I'll call him Cain, because I've got the Savior. I've got the man from the Lord. She wasn't, she wasn't, she misunderstood what had happened. But she thought since God had promised the Savior, this man had now come who is the Savior. And she recognized that the seed spoken of who would crescent the serpent's head is one who would come to seed a woman by divine operation. And so our Lord Jesus Christ is that one of whom the scriptures speak.

Let me show you. Abraham, when he took Isaac up over Mount Moriah, that was about to sacrifice him, and then God gave a ram, called it the thicket, and told Abraham to sacrifice the ram instead of his son. Abraham lifted his eyes, He said the name of this place is Jehovah-Jireh, for in the mouth of the Lord it shall be seen. And prophesied how that Christ would come.

In Genesis 49, as Jacob was blessing his sons, he said in verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet. That is, the civil government of Israel shall not cease until Shiloh shall come, and unto him the gathering of the people shall be. The Lord God was prophesying by Jacob that when Judah's tribe was established and Israel was established, civil government would not end in that nation until the Messiah, the Redeemer, had come.

In Deuteronomy 18, Moses told the children of Israel, the Lord God has sent you a prophet just like me. Throughout the Psalms, David spoke of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said concerning him, the Lord will declare the decree. For the Lord has said, and I will declare the decree, the Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And the apostle tells us, that was all about Christ.

In Psalm 22 he cries, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And the whole psalm is talking about Christ. In Proverbs 8, Solomon speaks of Christ under the personification of wisdom as our servitude, set up and possessed from everlasting. In Isaiah 53, he was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken, saith the law. The scriptures are full of prophecies concerning Christ.

In Micah 5-2, Micah prophesied of our Lord's incarnation and death to him. In Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 12, the prophet tells us how that Christ is that one lifted up before us, whom seeing, we are brought to repentance and faith in him. And then in Malachi chapter 3, behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall certainly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold pictures to foreshadow his coming.

Now the types are so numerous that I can't begin to name them all. But let me mention just a few. And they may be divided into three different categories. We can divide them lots of ways, but for our purposes this evening, we'll look at them under these three categories. Typical people, typical things, and typical places.

Now, when you read the scriptures, I remember when I was a boy, when I'd go to church, I'd hear folks tell these Bible stories, you know, and they told about the crossing of the Red Sea, and they told about Noah and the Ark, and they told about the miracles of our Lord. But when they told them, they only told them like they were fairy tales with good morals. That's not the way to present scripture. We're not here just presenting a tale of the moral. These things happen as types and pictures of redemption and grace through Jesus Christ the Lord.

There were many typical people, that is many people in the Old Testament who represented and typified our Lord Jesus. Paul tells us in Romans 5 that Adam was a type of Christ. Noah built an ark for the saving of his house, and thus was a type of Christ. Melchizedek, that one who met Abraham when he returned from the slaughter of the kings to whom Abraham paid tithes, he was a type of Christ. The Prince of Peace, he was a type of Christ, that one whose generation is without beginning and without end. He's the King of Salem and the King of Rochester. Moses, was a prophet like Christ, Aaron, a high priest like Christ, Joshua, a deliverer who brought us into the land of rest, Boaz, a kinsman-redeemer, the picture of Christ, David, and Solomon, kings and Israel, who were both eminent types of Christ.

And certainly there were many typical things in the Old Testament. That ram caught in the thicket, John said, in John 151, this was a picture of Christ. The angels of God ascending and descending on it. The brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness. The Paschal Lamb slain on the Day of Atonement. The scapegoat, the manna, the smitten rock, the altar of sacrifice, the mercy seat. All these were pictures of Jesus Christ and redemption by Him.

And there were many typical places as well. The tabernacle was a picture of Christ. Scripture says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That word dwelt, Rex, is tabernacle. God Almighty, God Almighty pitched a tent in human flesh and dwelt. I hear God Almighty tabernacled with us, and the tabernacle in the wilderness, in all of its design, in all of its fabric, in all of its structure, in all of its service, is a picture of Christ in God Almighty coming human flesh.

The temple, that temple was a picture of our Lord. When our Lord spoke of the temple being destroyed and built again in three days, He was talking about His body, which is the temple of God. And those cities of Ephesus, to which a manslayer may go, appointed by God, three on this side of Jordan and three on the other side of Jordan, so that any man in Israel could be within the city of refuge within a day's march. And the Lord appointed those cities in strategic places so that everywhere in Israel there was a way to refuge. God Almighty has Jesus Christ to refuge for sinners so that you can go to Him right now. You can flee away to Him in your heart without moving a muscle. Come to Him by faith. That's the only way you can come. But you flee to Him under wrath and under guilt, knowing your sin, knowing your guilt, knowing you're condemned without Him. But as you come to the city of refuge, there's no possibility of wrath taking place on you because you've entered into Him. He is the ark of salvation, the city of refuge, and the wrath of God has expended itself in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The list could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned the instituted ceremonial types, the Sabbath days, and the other instituted types of the Old Testament. All of them pointed to Christ, but now we don't observe any of them anymore. We don't observe a Passover, and we don't observe a Sabbath day, and we don't observe them for the same reasons. For the same reasons. Because they pointed to Christ, and he's the substance. He's the substance, and when you've got the substance, you don't need the type. As a matter of fact, to return to the type is to imply that the substance hasn't come. That's dangerous.

Why don't you observe Sabbath day? Same reason we don't observe a Passover. The same reason we don't kill lambs anymore and offer them to God. Because Christ is our Savior! We must eat him. Let no man therefore bring you into judgment, or judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ.

I certainly don't need to remind this congregation that in the doctrine and message of the entire New Testament, Jesus Christ is central. He's more than central, he's everything. As he was preeminent in the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, so he is preeminent in the New. The four Gospels give us four views of Christ. I have read a number of books on why four Gospels. Why do we have four different narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, given by divine inspiration, and one of them records one thing, another one another, a third another, a fourth another. So all of them record certain things, but each of them records specific things that are indigenous just to that book.

I think one reason is so God Almighty can sit in heaven and laugh at the intellectuals who imagine that they've got everything figured out and they stumble over something like that. They simply don't understand the book. But they were given also to give us four different views of Christ. Matthew presents him as the promised king. Mark presents him as the servant of God. Luke presents him the physician. He presents him as the son of man. John presents him as the son of God.

In the book of Acts, We have a demonstration that our Lord Jesus Christ was the singular subject of preaching in New Testament Christianity. And I'm here to tell you that he is the singular subject of preaching in Christianity today. The words preach, preached, and preaching. I looked them up this week, again. They're used 37 times in the Book of Acts. Preach, preached, and preaching. Every time they're used, Every time they're used, the subject preached was Christ and the resurrection. Every single time.

But what do you conclude from that? If the book of Acts is to be taken for our standard, and it ought to be, it must be concluded that unless Christ has been preached, no preaching has been done in the New Testament sense of the word. no preaching has been done. That man who pretends to be a preacher, but does not preach Christ and him crucified, mocks the people who hear him, and rather than serving their souls, serves to the destruction of their souls.

The epistles reveal and explain the mysteries of Christ and the gospel. Let me give you a summarization, just a sum. The great theme of the book of Romans is justification. That's the great theme of the book. In the fifth chapter, the Apostle Paul shows us plainly how that we are justified by Christ's obedience.

The great theme of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of Christ for the sanctifying of his people over all the priests and sacrifices of the Old Testament. In Hebrews chapter 10, he tells us plainly that we are sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The great theme of the book of Ephesians is to demonstrate the universality of God's mercy, love, and grace in Christ. That is to declare to us that God's grace, God's mercy, God's love is for chosen sinners of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue throughout all the world, not just for the Jews. And so in Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul speaks of the length and breadth and height and depth of the love of Christ that passes all understanding and knowledge.

And the book of Revelation is a declaration of the sure triumph of Christ and his gospel and his church in the end. I was speaking to a young man last week who was asking me about the things in Revelation, prophecies in Revelation. And I said to him, I said, I don't want to be, I don't want to cut you off too quick. I just want you to hear what I'm saying. The book of Revelation is not a book about prophecy. It's not a book about prophecy. Fellows, somehow or another, somehow or another, the nuts have got the idea it's a book about prophecy. It's not about prophecy. The Apostle John tells us by divine inspiration in the first verse, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's who it's about. It's about the triumph of Christ through the gospel. In the end of time, everything shall be given to his glory.

There are only two ordinances of worship prescribed in the New Testament, and there are only two. Only two ceremonies that we observe, and we observe them only because God has ordained it. Our baptism in the Lord's Supper. They're designed to focus our hearts upon Jesus Christ.

I'll take a moment to speak to Jenny, but I speak to everyone concerning baptism. Next Sunday morning, you'll be buried symbolically with the Son of God. Testify your faith is that when Christ died, you died in and justice has been satisfied for you. When he was buried, you were buried with him. And when he arose, you arose with him. And now, rising up with him out of the watery grave, you make this public declaration, and honey, don't you dare do it unless you're dead serious. You make this public declaration, I'll walk with him henceforth in the Oh, that's what it's all about. Makes baptism serious. Makes baptism serious. It's a confession that all my former life was rebellion against God and death. Now, I listen to walk with Christ in the deeness of life.

We will once more this evening, in just a few minutes, observe the Lord's Supper in the breaking of the bread, in the drinking of the wine, we do show forth our Lord's death until he come. As often as you do this, I say, you said, do it in remembrance of me. Remember when you eat this bread, we are one body in Christ, just as a loaf of bread is one. And remember this bread symbolizes the body of Christ broken for us, bruised, crushed to death under the wrath of God. This wine is his blood in the New Testament, shed for us for the remission of our sins. And every time you eat the bread and drink the wine, remember him. Remember him. Fourthly, the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior is preeminent in the whole affair of salvation. This too needs to be stressed. Don't ever think, don't ever think of salvation just as being limited to your experience of salvation. That's a mistake. That's a mistake. Salvation is everything God has done, is doing, and shall do to bring us at last rest into the presence of God.

unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. And in salvation, Christ is preeminent. He's the only one who is. God fixed it so that he's preeminent. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

I'll come back and preach on this another time. There are many, many aspects to salvation. Let me give them to you in brevity here. Let me give you these ten things. I want you to see that Christ is preeminent in everything.

In election, we were chosen in Christ to salvation. Scriptures are clear. In predestination, God Almighty in love predestinated us to be conformed to the image of Christ. That's what predestination is all about. In redemption, we have been ransomed from the curse of the law by the blood of Christ, which guaranteed our deliverance from the dominion of sin, death, and the law. In justification, we are justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that's in Christ.

In forgiveness, redemption, justification, and forgiveness, after all, go hand in hand. It's impossible to have the one without the other two. being redeemed and justified, God's forgiven us of all our sins. Regeneration, the new birth, is Christ being formed in you by God the Holy Spirit. Regeneration, the new birth, is not you walking down an aisle saying, I believe in Jesus. Regeneration, the new birth, is not accomplished by your decision, is not accomplished by your free will. It's accomplished by God Almighty planting the nature of His Son in your soul. Only God can do that. Only God can. I can't. I can't.

We don't play games with men and women. And we don't try to trick folks into the kingdom of God. I preach to you. And I hope, my brothers and sisters, you join me in praying for those who hear the word. Because the only way anything good is going to come of it is if God stretches out his hand of mercy and plants his song in you on the way.

Sanctification. Christ is our sanctification. We were set apart to be made holy in him in election. We were declared to be holy by his blood in redemption. And in the new birth, we are given a holy nature by his nature being implanted in us. Christ also is our preservation. He keeps us. He steals us by his spirit in grace and life. But then there is a resurrection coming. When our Lord comes again, we shall be raised up together. These bodies, these, these bodies, these mortals, shall put on immortality.

And one more thing's coming. We're going to be glorified. That means, Moral Heart, you and I, when he's done with us, are going to be exactly as Jesus Christ is in holiness, in righteousness, in purity, in glory. And we will possess all the glory that he possesses.

were all the same thing. He preached Christ crucified. Christ crucified is the message we preach. And to preach Him, you must preach Him in all the fullness of His redemptive grace and saving glory. To preach Christ crucified and not just stand up here and tell folks Jesus died, is to tell folks who He is, what He did, why He did it, where He is now, what He's doing, and what He's going to do in the future. The preaching of Christ and Him crucified. with the power of God the Holy Spirit is the effectual power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.

I was talking to a chemist, a chemical engineer, this past week. I met him while I was down in Tennessee. He works over at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Plant, and there were make all that stuff they don't want you to know anything about. But I asked him a question. I said, do I understand what a catalyst is? He said, what do you understand a catalyst to be? I said, a catalyst in chemistry, is it not something that is absolutely necessary to a reaction, and to the continuance of that reaction, and yet never enters in to the reaction? He said, that's exactly right. I said I wanted to be sure the illustration was right. That's what the preaching of the gospel is. It is the catalyst of salvation. It is the catalyst of salvation. It never enters into the work. Oh no, my preaching, my preaching, oh, my preaching do something for man's soul. Never! Never, never. But if God's pleased to speak my name, lends you the preaching of the gospel, is that which is necessary to God and the sinner coming together to the saving of a man's soul. Never enters into it, but God doesn't do it without it. He doesn't do it without it. That's the difference between us and hardshells. We recognize that the preaching of the gospel is vital to the saving of men's souls. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes

Well, what about believers? What do you preach to them? Same thing. What reproves your sin, Bobby Estes? Like a fresh knowledge of what Christ paid for your sin. What inspires you to holiness, godliness, and devotion? Like a fresh reminder that you're not your own, you're bought for the price. What inspires in you commitment and consecration like a fresh realization of Christ's commitment and consecration of himself to you? What ministers comfort to your soul like the doctrine of Christ crucified?

We preach Christ and him crucified always, everywhere, to everyone because this is what God has sent us to do. And Christ shall be preeminent in the day of judgment as well. In that day when the great white throne is set and the books are opened, I'll tell you what Christ will be. He'll be the judge. And he'll be the standard of judgment. And he'll be the executioner of justice. And he'll be something else too. In that great and glorious day, he will be our advocate, our righteousness, our plea, and our salvation.

What right do you have here? You, sir. What right do you have to enter into the Father's glory? You, sir. What right do you have to inherit everlasting life? You, sir. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

And one last thing. Our Lord Jesus Christ shall be preeminent in the glory of the eternal world to which we are going. I'm speaking now specifically to you who are my brothers and sisters in Christ. The preeminence of Christ will be our happiness and bliss in the glory world. search the scriptures, in those places where we're allowed to peek in behind the veil and see, we recognize that in eternity, Jesus Christ has been given the highest place that heaven affords. In the world to come, Christ shall be the object of endless, universal adoration and Now I'm going to tell you some things I can't begin to explain, but I know they're so. I know they're so. You can drop them down and meditate on them, and maybe you can get a little more out of them.

When we see Christ in heaven's glory forever, we will see in him all the fullness of the perpetually revealed to our astonishment. I think sometimes I have great views of God until I begin to realize something of who And I'm convinced that when we see him perpetually revealed in the fullness of his being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in Jesus Christ the Lord, we shall be forever astonished at the greatness of his being, the glory of his character.

In Christ, we will see the purpose of God in all its wisdom and goodness. All the pains and heartaches that we've never been able to understand, never been able to address. All the things that we just, we stop and say why and move on. We stop sometimes with aching, bleeding hearts and cry, God, why? And we just move on. But in that day, we will see the purpose of God in all its wisdom and goodness fully accomplished.

In Christ, we will see all the mysteries and wonders of redemption and grace made manifest. In that world to come, our Savior's great prayer of intercession shall be answered, perpetually answered. Throughout the endless ages of eternity, it shall be answered. to the inexpressible gladness and joy of our souls.

Here it is. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me. thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.

God the Father has purposed that in all things he shall have preeminence, and he shall have it. He will have it. He must have it, for and we will rejoice and say amen and may be that in all things he might have

The Pre-eminence of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Pt 2)

What does the Bible say about the preeminence of Christ?

How do we know Christ's mediatorial role is true?

Why is Christ's role as our Savior important?

Why is election a vital doctrine in Christianity?

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The Pre-eminence of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Pt 2)

What does the Bible say about the preeminence of Christ?

How do we know Christ's mediatorial role is true?

Why is Christ's role as our Savior important?

Why is election a vital doctrine in Christianity?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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