Jesus: The One and Only

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth, Simply Stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. I want you to take God's Word and find Colossians chapter 1. We're talking on this subject, Jesus Christ, the one and only. Let me tell you why I'm preaching this. There's so many people today who want to make Jesus just one among many.

He's just one of the ways to heaven. A while back, Bryant Gumbel on television was interviewing Larry King the other way around. And Bryant Gumbel said to Larry King, and Larry King's a Jew, Larry, if you could ask God one question, what would you ask him? He said, I would ask him if he has a son.

It's a good question. Now, let me tell you something. Folks, of all of the people, of all of the people who have ever lived on this terrestrial ball, ever since creation to this time, scholars estimate there have been about 60 billion, about 60 billion, about 6 billion on earth right now. And I can tell you that out of the billions and billions and billions who've ever lived, only a handful of people have really made a lasting, dramatic imprint upon society. But there is one person who stands head and shoulders above all the others and his name is Jesus. Out of all 60 billion, I want to tell you that this man, Jesus, who is more than a man, as we're going to see in a moment, has received more attention, more devotion, more criticism, more adoration, and more opposition than any of the 60 billion who have ever lived. Every recorded word that Jesus Christ ever said has been studied, scrutinized, analyzed, dissected, thought about, compared, every word that he's written. And today, more than 20 centuries after Jesus Christ was here on this earth, there is not a moment, not a moment, 20 centuries later, where literally millions are studying his word.

Not one second they're thinking about the significance of his words and his actions. Now Jesus Christ lived in a tiny little place called, today we call it Bethlehem. He lived there about 2,000 years ago and yet his very birth divides all history.

This is 2001 AD, Anno Domini, the year of our Lord. BC is before Christ. Listen, he never wrote a book that we know of and yet the books that have been written about him fill the thousands and millions of volumes that fill the libraries of this world. He never painted a picture that we know of, never did a sculptor that we know of, and yet he has been the inspiration behind the greatest art of this world.

Go into the great art museums of this world and you're going to find out that Jesus Christ has been the progenitor of the greatest art. He never wrote a song that we know of, but just think of the songs that we have sung this morning adoring the Lord Jesus Christ. And around this world today millions and millions and millions are singing the songs of heaven based in Jesus. He never raised an army that we know of, certainly didn't, but he has an army of followers, not who are willing to kill others for him, but who are willing to die for him, to live for him, to share his love.

His travels were limited. So far as we know he never in his earthly travels went outside the circumference of that little land of Israel. And yet around the world, around the world today the sun will not set on people worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He only started with a handful and yet today friend over 30% of the world's population say they believe in Jesus Christ. He only taught for three years and for 2,000 years. We're still studying every word that the Lord Jesus said.

He had no formal education. And think of all of the universities, think of all the seminaries that have been founded in his name. The noted historian Kenneth Scott Latterette said this, listen to this quote, Jesus has had more effect on the history of mankind than any other of its race who ever existed.

Can you say amen to that? Listen, to explain Jesus is impossible. To ignore Jesus is disastrous.

To deny him is fatal. Oh, we need to understand who Jesus Christ is. And as I try to preach this morning, I understand that my speech is too limited, my mind is too finite, and my heart is too small to tell you what I want to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. But in Colossians 1 verse 19, look at it. This verse would sum it up, for it pleased the Father that in him, in Jesus, should all fullness dwell.

It pleased the Father that in Jesus should all fullness dwell. And we're going to find out that Jesus is not to be prominent in our lives, Jesus is to be preeminent. Jesus doesn't just show the way, he is the way. Jesus doesn't just give life, he is the life. He doesn't just tell the truth, he is the truth.

Now, the three things I want you to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ today, and look if you will now in Colossians chapter 1, and I wish I just had more time to tell you what the book of Colossians is about in its entirety, but we're going to have to cut to the chase and you're going to have to listen in a hurry if we get these three things said. We're talking about Jesus the one and only. Let me tell you this, Jesus alone reveals the Father. Jesus alone reveals the Father. Look in verse 15, it speaks of Jesus, we're going to break right in the middle, it speaks of Jesus who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Now, God himself is invisible. God in his essence is spirit. God is unseeable, unknowable, unapproachable, unless we have some way to come to him, someone to bring us to him, someone to reveal God the Father. Reason is not enough. Friend, religion is not enough.

Ritual is not enough. Jesus Christ himself is the one who makes the invisible God knowable. He is the image of the invisible God. I'm telling you, you can never fully know God the Father unless you know God the Father through God the Son. Jesus, the Bible says, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Now, I want you to think with me about those two words.

Those two words are very, very important in verse 15. Look at the word image. Do you see it? Colossians 1 verse 15. Who is the image, the image of the invisible God? Now, underscore that word image. It's the Greek word icon and what it means is the exact representation. Jesus is the express image of the invisible God. Jesus is God in human flesh. Now, go back again to Colossians 2 verse 9. For in him, in Jesus, dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily. What do we mean by the Godhead?

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, Jesus, listen, he has a monopoly on revelation. Jesus has cornered the market. The only way that you can know the Father according to the scripture, truly know him, you might know about him, you might know he exists from creation and conscience, but the only way that you can know God as Father is through Jesus Christ. Put this verse in your margin. Matthew 11 and verse 27. Jesus said, All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save or accept the Son, and he to whomsoever, listen, he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Black print on white paper. Now, I submit to you that what Jesus said is either true or false, and if you don't like it, if you think that I'm narrow-minded, don't argue with me. Just take your Bible, read Matthew 11 verse 27, the words of Jesus, and take it up with Jesus, okay? Jesus said, You cannot know God unless I reveal him to you, unless I introduce him to you. Other than that, you're worshiping the God of your guesses. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

He has cornered the market. The only way that you can know God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the story of Jesus going to the temple when he's a 12-year-old boy. I wish I could have been sitting in a corner, and all of the wise doctors there, the learned theologians, were questioning the Lord Jesus Christ. They might have said to him, Well, son, how old are you? He could have said, Well, on my mother's side, I'm 12 years old. On my father's side, I'm older than my mother and just as old as my father, because there never was a time when Jesus was not.

He always has been. On his mother's side, he got thirsty. On his father's side, he created the oceans and every brook and every lake and every spring. And on his father's side, he said, I am the water of life.

If you're thirsty, come to me and drink. On his mother's side, he got hungry. On his father's side, he fed 5,000. He said, I am the bread of life. On his mother's side, he lived in poverty and was homeless.

On his father's side, he created the universe and owns the cattle on a thousand hills. On his mother's side, with a broken heart, he wept at the tomb of Lazarus. On his father's side, he said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus came out of that grave.

And so the first word I want you to see is the word image, icon. He is the express image of the invisible God. He could say, he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. But also he's called in that verse, firstborn.

Do you see that again? Look in verse 15, he is the firstborn. Now I want to slow down here and talk a little bit about the word firstborn because that might seem to some people that he was created. But the word firstborn here, be very careful, listen to it, it does not refer to time.

It refers to position, to status. It doesn't mean that Jesus was the first being ever created. We know already that he's the one who created all things that we're going to see in verse 16, for by him were all things created. Well, he couldn't be created if he's the one who created all things. So firstborn certainly doesn't mean that God one day created him. By the way, our friends, the Jehovah's Witnesses will tell us, they'll use this verse to say, well, Jesus had a beginning.

No, he never had a beginning. There was never a time when Jesus was not. Jesus is before all things, above all things, whether things in heaven or things on earth, principalities or powers, we're going to see this. The word firstborn refers to his status.

It means that he is over everything. Let me give you a good verse in your margin. I gave you this before when we preached on this passage. Psalm 89 verse 27, God says, also I will make him, my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

It speaks of status. So what do we see in verse 15? That Jesus Christ is the exact representation. He is the visible image of the invisible God and that the Lord Jesus Christ is higher than all the kings of the earth. He is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords.

He is in the highest spot of all. So number one, Jesus alone reveals the Father. Say amen. Number two, Jesus alone rules the universe. Begin now in verse 16. For by him, Jesus, were all things created which 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. Now friend, not only does he reveal the Father, he rules the universe. You see, Jesus is the power of creation. Jesus made everything. That little baby in Matthew 1 is the mighty God of Genesis 1. That little baby on his mother's breast is the same God who created it all.

That's the reason I said that Jesus, when he was born, was older than his mother and as old as his father. I don't believe in evolution, not for a skinny moment. Now when I was younger, I didn't believe in evolution because the Bible taught against it. Now I've gotten older. I wouldn't believe it if I were an atheist.

I really wouldn't. I mean it is absolutely stupid to believe that out of that nothing times nobody equals everything. Think about it.

Friend, I will tell you, you can't have it both ways. You can't say it all just happened and you believe in Jesus. No, it all didn't just happen. He created it all and if you don't believe in the creation by the Lord Jesus Christ, you've got three problems. Number one, you've got a problem with the scriptures. If you can't believe the scripture and the scriptures tell you from whence you've come, how can you trust the scriptures when it tells you where you're going? You know, we need to be worried not only about the origin of the species but the destiny of species, amen.

I mean where are you headed? And not only are you gonna have trouble with the scriptures, you're gonna have trouble with salvation. You see, if you believe that man just slowly emerged and came out of some primordial ooze and kept on going up and up and up, then you don't believe in a creation. You don't believe that man was made perfect and he fell into sin. You don't believe in a Garden of Eden.

You don't believe in a fall. Well, listen, if Genesis 3 is a myth, then John 3 that says you must be born again is a farce. If you don't believe in a direct creation, you're gonna have trouble with salvation.

And then I'm going to tell you something else, you're gonna have trouble with society. When we teach young people that they just sort of came from animals, we ought not to be surprised when they begin to act like animals. An animal lives for three things, self-gratification, self-preservation, self-propagation. That's what most people are living for today because they don't understand that they are made in the image of God. And we see today sort of an animal's right movement, like animals have the same rights as human beings.

They don't. Animals are distinct. God gave man body, soul, and spirit. He gave no animal a spirit. Animals don't know God. They can't worship.

They cannot pray. Certainly we don't believe in cruelty to animals, but don't ever get the idea that man is just an intelligent animal. He is made in the image of Almighty God. We need to understand that. And friend, random and impersonal chance is not going to create complexity and design. If you want a good book to read, and it's not a real hard read, but you can't just dash it off, I want you to read Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe, B-E-H-E. And he has a principle that he calls irreducible complexity. You know, in the day of Darwin, they didn't realize how a complex just, for example, a cell is, just one cell. For example, in a cell, a human cell that you have to put under a microscope to see. And folks, I want to tell you that in the human body, we have about 300 trillion cells.

I counted them last night, so I'm sure of this. 300 trillion cells in the human body. Now, you have to put them under the microscope. But in these cells, if you look inside the cell, you'll find some rods. And these rods are known as chromosomes. And in these chromosomes, we have what we call the genes. And in those genes, encoded in those genes is what we call DNA. And that DNA is a detailed description for every part of your body. If you were to take the DNA, the code that is in your cell, one of those cells, just one of those trillion cells, 300 trillion cells, and take the code that is out there and put it in a book, it would be a book of 600,000 pages.

Now, that's one of the most minute parts of that minute part called the cell. And what Michael Behe says is this. He says, if you reduce it down till you cannot get it more simple, irreducible, then he says it is so complex that in the cell, not one part could exist without the other part.

One cannot come from the other or it can't come by steps. It all has to come together. And I'm telling you, he's been going around debating, evolutionists now, till they don't want to debate him anymore. And this man is a brilliant man.

Get the book. Listen, folks. Jesus is the one who created it all. He is the power of creation. Secondly, Jesus is the preserver of creation.

Look again in verse 16. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things.

Now watch this. And by him all things consist. That means they all stick together. He is the glue of the galaxies. He is the one who preserves creation. Now, a lot of times you'll hear people spout about natural law. There's no natural law.

None. The laws of nature don't exist. They're God's laws. Nature obeys them.

By Jesus all things consist. He's the one who fuels the sun with power. He's the one who veils the moon with beauty.

He's the one who keeps the stars in their courses. I wish I had studied astronomy when I was young because I'm so enthralled by it. I think of the speed of light, 186,282 miles per second. That, friend, that means that a light beam will travel around the earth in eight and a half, I mean in about seven, it'd go around the earth seven times in one second.

If you could turn on a flashlight and shine it around the earth, it'd go around the world seven times before you could turn it back off, traveling 186,000 miles per second. Traveling at that speed, a light, it would take it eight and a half minutes to reach the sun, which is 93 million miles away. It'd take it four and a half years to reach the nearest star. Traveling at the speed of light, four and a half years to reach the nearest star. If you were to look out at Centauri Proxima and see that star, know that the light you're seeing has been four and a half years getting here traveling at the incredible speed of light. And you just think, friend, that's just in the Milky Way. The Milky Way, our galaxy, there are a hundred billion stars in our galaxy.

In our galaxy, they tell us, is just one of billions of galaxies. Who did all that? What's his name? Jesus. Who is it that keeps it all running together? Probably heard the story of a nuclear physicist who was traveling, going from the one grand university to another, lecturing on the complexities of the universe and nuclear physics and all of the dynamism in nuclear matter.

He had a chauffeur that drove him from school to school. Finally, the chauffeur said, listen, you have given that speech so many times. I've listened to it so many times. I've memorized it.

I could give it. And the learned doctor said, well, tell you the truth, I'm getting a little bored. I'll tell you what, let me put on a chauffeur's uniform. The next university we go to, you stand up there and give the speech and and I'll sit out there in the audience and act like the chauffeur.

They thought it'd be jolly good fun. So the chauffeur got up there in this great university and gave this lecture on nuclear physics. And he was brilliant.

He had it down to Nat's eyelash. But he spoke a little faster than the learned professor. And so the Chancellor of University said, well, I see.

We finished 20 minutes early. We have time for some questions and answers. And so one student stood up and he said, sir, he said, you know in the center of the atom there are these protons and both of them have a positive charge. And we know that positive charges normally deflect and resist one another. But these seem to cohere. These seem to hang together.

Sir, can you tell me why the nucleus of the atom does not disintegrate? This chauffeur said, I have traveled for a long time. I've been to many universities. But that beyond the doubt, beyond any doubt, is the dumbest, most stupid question I have ever heard.

I can't understand how you even got into this university. He said, even my chauffeur could answer that question. Brought his chauffeur up to answer the question.

Friend, I want you to know that chauffeur and that learned doctor, neither one can answer that question. What keeps the whole thing from flying about, from flying apart? I can answer it. His name is Jesus. Friend, he is the glue of the galaxies. He's the one who holds it all together. Now listen, it was all made by him.

It is all controlled. He is the creator. He is the preserver. And friend, he is the purpose of all creation. Look in verse 16 now, the last part.

All things were created by him and for him. What's this world coming to? It's coming to Jesus.

What's this universe coming to? It is coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Eastern religions have come into America and the Eastern religions teach that life is cyclical. That is, it goes around in a cycle. And so they believe in reincarnation. That you keep getting born until you get it right.

You just go round and around and around. Now if your karma is good, you may make progress. If your karma is bad, you may not make progress. So if you've been a bad boy, you may come back as a roach. Or maybe a little higher, you may come back as a cow. That's the reason they won't eat meat.

They think they're eating their grandmother maybe. And so that's what they believe. That life is cyclical. No, that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that life is linear. That history is linear. That we're moving toward a climax and I believe we're getting close to the climax of history where Jesus Christ is crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I can hardly wait.

We are moving toward that. It was all made by him and it was all made for him. It is controlled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let's come to the third thing about our solitary Savior, the one and only Jesus Christ. Friend, Jesus alone reveals the Father. Jesus alone rules the universe.

And I'm gonna tell you something else about him. Jesus alone reconciles the lost. Jesus alone reconciles the lost.

No other way to be saved. Look, if you will, in verse 20 of this wonderful chapter here. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him, Jesus, to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And let's go to verse 21. And you who that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. Oh, hallelujah. Glory to God. This one who created it all. This one who preserves it all. This one who is the icon, the express image of Almighty God. This one is who is the firstborn, the highest of the high, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.

Can you believe it? He stepped out of heaven and died on a cross. When you see his deity, then you'll understand the greatness of his death. Now listen folks, his deity makes his death meaningful. His death makes his deity knowable. His deity, his deity makes his death meaningful.

Other people may die, but oh, we sing that song that God, the mighty maker died for man, the creature sin. That he would die for me. That the blood that was poured out at Calvary was the blood of the very Son of God. That Jesus, who was the God-man, God in human flesh, as much man as if he were not God at all, as much God as if he were not man at all, not half God and half man, not all God, no man, not all man and no God, but the God-man, the God-man came to this earth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was nailed up on a cross with a broken heart, dying for me. The one who created every seed, every shrub, every tree, every limb was hung on a tree, on a cross. The one who scooped out a place for the seas, the one who created every lake, every pond, every brook, every spring, he was the one who said, I thirst. The one who flung out the sun and ignited the sun with a word was the one who suffered under that broiling, noonday, Middle Eastern sun. He was the one who had flung it into space.

Let me tell you something, folks. When he created the universe, you know how he did it? With a word. He just spoke and it was so. He said, let be.

And there was. And universes dripped from his fingers. He just spoke it into existence. A college student asked his pastor, do you think there's life on other planets? And the pastor said, no, I don't think so. He said, you mean all those billions and billions and billions of planets out there?

Don't you think there's life out there? He said, no, I really don't think so. He said, then why did God go to all that trouble to make all that stuff? The pastor said, what trouble?

No trouble. He spoke and it was so. The only trouble that God ever had was bloody Calvary. Oh, when Jesus died, he didn't just speak and say, be forgiven. No, by the blood of his cross, he paid the sin debt and became both just and the justifier of those that believe in Jesus. He never overlooks sin. One half of one sin will never be overlooked. Sin must be paid for or punished. Your sin will be pardoned in Christ or punished in hell, but it'll never be overlooked. God is a holy God. He's the thrice holy God of Israel and God knew in order for you to be redeemed, for me to be redeemed, for us to be reconciled.

Without the shedding of blood is no remission of sin for the wages of sin is death. And over here on this side is his deity. Over here is his humanity.

We're on this side. We're humans and we're sinful. Over here is Almighty God and he is holy and he is righteous and between a holy God and sinful man there's a chasm of sin and man is separated from Almighty God by sin. Jesus is going to reconcile and he's going to build a bridge that will span this chasm and over here the Lord Jesus Christ puts down the foundation of his deity. He is God. And over here he puts down the foundation of his humanity. He is man. He is taking our place.

He's dying for us. And then with the rough-hewn timbers of a cross he reconciles God and man. Hallelujah! What a Savior. Friend, I'm telling you he is Jesus, the one and only. He is the one who reveals the Father.

He is the one who rules the universe and he is the one who reconciles the lost and I am so glad that I can tell you he is my Savior and Lord and I love him with all of my heart and I want you to love him. I want to lead you in a prayer. If you want Jesus, pray this prayer or pray something like it. Dear God, I'm a sinner.

I'm lost. I need to be saved. I want to be saved. My sin deserves judgment but I need mercy.

I want to be reconciled. Thank you that you died for me. Thank you for paying for my sin on that old cross.

I turn from my sin to you. I receive you by faith. I receive you by faith right now like a little child. I don't look for a sign.

I don't ask for a feeling. I just stand on your word. I receive you, Lord Jesus. You're now my Lord and Savior and help me never ever to be ashamed of you. In your name I pray. Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.