Who Is Jesus? | Part 2

From the Love Worth Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love Worth Finding. Kerry, today Adrian Rogers starts a new series, The Mystery of History. And in this series, there's several messages that I'm looking forward to. A couple of are Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God the Son, and also The Unfinished Story of Christmas.

Which is coming up in a few days. And so what a great sermon, what a great message for this time of year. Well, today's message is part two, Who is Jesus?

We'll be looking at Colossians chapter 1, verses 12 through 21. Adrian Rogers paints this picture, how we can look at Jesus. We need to see him as God of very God, as the old time theologians used to say. See Jesus in his humanity and forget his deity. Or sometimes people see Jesus in his deity and forget his humanity. He was the God-man.

There's never been another like the Lord Jesus, nor ever will be. Love came down wrapped in human flesh. You know, man could never make peace with God, Byron. So Jesus made peace through Calvary. That is the Christmas story. That is the Christmas story, Kerry. You know, the question really we have to ask, do you know Jesus? Who reveals the Father, rules the future, and reconciles the fallen? Does he have the preeminence in your life? That's the most important Christmas gift that we could receive.

Absolutely. Dr. Rogers said one time, Who is Jesus? Jesus is my best friend, right?

And he said, I talk to him more than I talk to you, and I spend more time with him than I spend with you. What a tremendous story. Well, Kerry, we always love hearing from our Love Worth Finding listeners, and I believe you have a comment now.

I do. It says, I have listened to Pastor Rogers' voice every day since 2004. His teachings were absolutely God-sent. I'm so grateful for every moment of every single lesson. You know, we receive these every day, and it's a blessing. It's really just a reminder of what God has called us to do. And so we never know what sermon, what phrase, what verse, what comment, but the Holy Spirit is working through all of that.

Yeah. I'm reminded, Kerry, I think, of the longevity here of this listener and the relationship with Love Worth Finding. And it's that faithfulness of listeners like this dear friend who helps support the ongoing work. And as we move into the year-end, as it winds down in 2021, Love Worth Finding wants our friends to know how much we appreciate their steadfastness. They're, you know, riding along with us in this journey to get the gospel of Jesus Christ out.

Yeah. I mean, there is no ministry of Love Worth Finding without our partners. And so we know that. And so we're very grateful for their giving, where there's an interest and passion for the ministry coupled with the capacity to do something about it.

We see God truly, truly move. And so we just want to say, number one, thank you. Number two, this is the best time of year to give. It's the best time of year to invest in Love Worth Finding. It's the best time of year to really say, I want to go one step higher for the kingdom. Well, with today's message, Who Is Jesus?

Part Two. Here's Adrian Rogers. To explain Jesus Christ is impossible. To ignore Jesus Christ is disastrous. To reject Him is fatal. Understand who Jesus Christ is. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to be radically, dramatically, and eternally changed to be transformed.

The human mind too small to comprehend Him and the human heart can never really, completely, totally absorb who Jesus Christ is. He doesn't want a place in your life. He doesn't wish for prominence in your life. He deserves and demands preeminence. Three reasons I want to give.

They're right here before us. Reason number one, Jesus reveals the Father. You're going to know God only by revelation, and Jesus Christ has come to reveal God to you. You can never fully know God the Father apart from God the Son. Now, look again at verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

Put those two words now. Lock your mind on those two words, image and firstborn. Colossians 1, 15, image and firstborn. The word image is the Greek word icon. If you have a computer, you have icons on your computer.

It means a representation. He is the icon, the express image of God. Do you want to know God?

Friend, Jesus Christ has cornered the market. He has a monopoly on revealing the Father. Would you like to know what the great invisible God is like? Who he is? Would you like to know his heart? Friend, Jesus reveals the Father.

Thank God for that. Secondly, Jesus rules the future. Begin now in verse 16. 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 can consist. And 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. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him. Now watch this, to reconcile all things unto himself.

By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. Now what is this talking about? It's talking about one who rules the universes, one who not only has this whole world in his hands, but he has the past, the present, the future in his hands. People ask, what is the world coming to? Answer, it's coming to Jesus. It is coming to Jesus. All things were created by him and for him, and will all climax in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let me point this out just a little bit. First of all, he says Jesus is the power of creation. Look, if you will, in verse 16. Jesus is the power of creation, for by him were all things created. Adrian, don't you believe in evolution?

Not for a skinny minute. No, I don't believe in evolution. After I've studied, I wouldn't believe in evolution even if I weren't a Christian.

It's the next best guess of those who do not know the Word of God. If evolution is true, you have problems with the Scripture. If the Bible can't tell me from whence I have come, how can it tell me where I'm headed? You have trouble with salvation. If there's no creation, no Adam and Eve, no Garden of Eden, there was no falling to sin. If there's no falling to sin, there's no need for a new birth. Man's just progressing onward and upward.

But Jesus said in John 3, you must be born again. Do you think all of this just happened? Do you think it's just by some random chance? It all came out of some primordial ooze that came out of lifeless matter? Now, in your own body, there are 300 trillion cells in the human body, all of them incredibly complex. And when you look at the simplest part, it is so complex that there's no way possible that just one cell could have come about by evolution because all of the components in that one cell are interdependent. It takes one for the other to be there.

One could not have come out of the other. I want to say again that in your human body, 300 trillion cells. Now, in that one cell, you have rods known as chromosomes. And in these chromosomes, you have genes or your genetic makeup. And that's determined by something today that we call DNA. And they look now at the DNA, and they say there's a mind there. There's intelligence there. There's design there. There's not randomness there. In the DNA, in one cell, there is enough information printed in books.

It would take 600,000 books to write down the code of the DNA that is in one of the trillions of cells in your body that determines your intellect, the color of your hair, your personality, all of those things encoded right in there. Who did all of that? Jesus. All things were made by him. He, friend, is the power of creation.

I'll tell you something else. He is the preserver of creation. Look in verse 17 of this same chapter. He is before all things, and by him all things consist.

You know what the word consist means? They stick together. Jesus Christ is the glue of the galaxies.

What is it that keeps it all from falling apart or coming apart? Jesus. Jesus is the one who feeds the sun with its fuel. Jesus is the one who guides the planets in their orbit around the sun.

Jesus is the one who has set out all of the stars. Talk about natural law. There's no natural law. They're the laws of Jesus that nature obeys. It is by Jesus that all things consist. Look recently at Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 26.

Listen to it. Great verse. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things? Sometime take time on a dark night to go out and look up.

That's what he says. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things? Do you think that everything came out of nothing? You say, I can't believe in an eternal God.

Do you believe in eternal, inanimate matter? Now listen to this. He bringeth out their hosts by number. He's talking about the stars. He calleth them all by names. I was listening to the radio the other day.

They said, you want to give a Christmas present? We'll name a star after you. You choose somebody, and we will name a star for that person, and we'll put it in the book. Friend, too late.

Too late. Every one of the billions and billions and billions and billions, and I could go on till the service ends. Jesus has named every one of them. He is the preserver of creation.

He guides it all. Light travels at 186,282 miles per second. How fast is that? All right, let's hijack a light beam and travel around the earth. Been around the earth seven and a half times, right there, around the circumference. You want to go to the sun? The sun's 93 million miles away. You can be there in eight and a half minutes traveling on a light beam. You want to go to the nearest star? It would take you four and a half years traveling at 186,282 miles per second to get to the nearest star. And, friend, that's 27 trillion miles away. That's the closest one.

The more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy to go from side to side, rim to rim in our galaxy would take you 100,000 light years traveling at 186,282 miles per second. Who did that? His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. He is the one by whom all things consist. He is the power of creation. And, friend, he is the preserver of creation, and he is the purpose of creation. Look, if you will, now in verse 16. Look at it. 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 municipalities or powers.

All things were created by him. Now watch it. And for him.

Why all of this? Did you think it was for you? No, it's for the Lord Jesus Christ. For is a preposition that speaks of direction.

It's a Greek word, ice, moving in the direction. Now, we in America have been invaded by Eastern religions. Eastern religions are circular.

Everything goes round and round and round and round. That's the reason they believe in reincarnation. I've always thought reincarnation was putting the milk back in the can. You'll get that later. They believe in reincarnation.

That is, everything is circular. And so you have to live with good karma. And if your karma is not good, then in your next life, you may come back as a roach. But if you've been good, you might come back as a cow. That's the reason they don't eat meat.

You might be eating your grandmother. Now, you believe this. That it's all circular, but it's not circular. It is all headed in a direction. The Bible is linear. We're moving, we're moving, we're moving to the time when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. That's the reason he taught us to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven.

I can hardly wait. By the way, think of what's going on today in history. Let me give you a verse.

My wife pointed out to me yesterday, I've been living on it. Isaiah chapter 33, verse 22. The Lord is our judge. He, the Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king.

Got it? Judge, lawgiver, and king. What are the three parts of our government? The judiciary, the judge, the legislative, the lawgiver, and the executive, the king.

Did you know Jesus is all three? You talk about a balance of power. He doesn't need any balance of power. He is the power. He is the Lord. He is the judge.

He is the lawgiver. He is the king. And then it says, and this is Isaiah 33, verse 22, he will save us. Friend, it is all headed to Jesus.

It is all for him, for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the key to the mystery of history. I'm told that a young man was taking a philosophy course. He'd studied and studied and studied through the final exam and philosophy professor had a little bit of a sense of humor. Wanted to see how much philosophy these young people knew, how well they could think. The final examination was one word. Why?

A student thought for a while, wrote one word down, and walked out. Because. I would add two more words, because of Jesus. Because of Jesus. Because of Jesus. He is the mystery of history.

Why is it all made? All things were created by him and for him. And by him all things consist. And history has a date with deity. Last thing, not only does Jesus reveal the Father, not only does Jesus rule the future, but Jesus, thank God, reconciles the fallen.

That's why he came. Look in verse 18 now. And he, Jesus, 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. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet hath he reconciled.

That's so wonderful. This Jesus who declares the Father, this Jesus who dominates the future, this is Jesus who delivers the fallen, who reconciles God and man. You see, Christians are not just nicer people. They're not just people who give intellectual assent to certain doctrinal things.

But you have to see the contrast. I mean, what is Paul saying? Look, he's the one who made everything. He made it all.

It all belongs to him. And yet he hung naked on a cross. Think of it. God, the mighty maker, died for man, the creature of sin. You have to get it in its context. You have to understand what he's talking about.

He's set you up. He's telling you how great, how awesome, how mighty is Jesus. And then he speaks of the blood of his cross. He died on a cross. The one who made every seed, every limb, every tree, he dies on a tree. The one who made the oceans and the fountains and the rivers and the streams says, I thirst.

The one who flung that sun out into space is the one who's blistered by the noonday sun. He is dying. His death and his deity are put together. Other people have died. But, friend, it is his deity that makes his death meaningful. And it is his death that makes his deity noble.

The two are together. When Jesus created the universes, he did it with his word. He said, let be.

And it was. And universes sprang from his fingertips. And when he saved us, it took every drop of his blood.

He didn't have to do that. Larry King, he does have a son. He died for you. Peter Jennings, he's not the Jesus of some finger-bumping philosopher. He's the Son of God, revealed in the pages of his Holy Word. He's the one that took my sin, your sin, and to the cross. And there made peace with the blood of his cross.

And on his cross, he took sinful man with one hand, holy God with the other hand, and reconciled God and man. A woman was dying. They didn't know who she was. She was in a hospital apart from friends and family. They said, get a minister. The minister came in, bent down and whispered in her ear, they say you're dying. Have you made peace with God? She shook her head.

They huddled a while and came back and the minister, wanting to press the point, said, dear lady, you're dying. Don't you think you need to make peace with God? She shook her head again in the negative. The third time, they said, you need to make peace with God.

She said, no, I don't. I am resting in the peace that Jesus has already made. I cannot make peace with God. Jesus made peace with the blood of his cross.

And what we need to do is to enter into that peace by faith and trust the Lord Jesus. Now, I come to the end of the message. What is the bottom line? Listen to it.

Don't miss it. That in all things, he may have the preeminence. Question to you, does he have preeminence in your life? Ellis A. Fuller was one of our great preachers of yesterday. Ellis Fuller had a girl that he loved very much and wanted to marry her.

Let me tell you how he proposed to her. He said to her, would you be willing to take second place in my life? Jesus is and always will be number one. Does Jesus Christ have the preeminence in your life?

If not, what right do you have to call yourself a Christian? That in all things, everything, he should have the preeminence. Who is Jesus? Friend, he's the Jesus of this book. Do you know the Jesus that Adrian Rogers was just talking about? Is he number one in your life?

Would you like to give him preeminence today? Pray something like this from your heart. Oh, God in heaven, I know that I'm a sinner and that without you, I have no hope. But because of what Jesus did for me on the cross, he died, he paid my sin debt, and then rose again so that I might have a relationship with you, that I might have new life. So right now, I put aside anything that I've trusted in in my life, my good works, the good things that I've done, and I ask you to come in and change me from the inside out. I believe in Jesus and I believe in his sacrifice for me and I trust in him alone from this day forward.

Make me a new person, I pray, and I believe you will in Jesus' name, amen. If you prayed that prayer just now and you've claimed Jesus as Lord and Savior, we would love to celebrate with you. Go to our website at lwf.org slash radio and click the Find God's Love page. You'll find answers there that you may need about your newfound faith.

We have a response section. Let us know what God has done in your life today. Welcome to God's forever family.

We can't wait to hear from you today. Do you know Jesus who reveals the Father, rules the future, and reconciles the fallen? Make him number one. Give him preeminence in your life. Thank you for studying in God's word and be sure to tune in next time for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding.