Jesus is Lord: Affirming His Divine Authority

The New Testament was rarely written in order to establish and to assert this point. I think that oftentimes we fail to understand many of the things that we are told in the New Testament because we forget the background. Why do you think the New Testament was ever written? Why were the gospels ever written? Why were these Epistles ever written? [00:28:22]

They were written to establish and to confirm the faith of the Believers. Here was the difficulty, as it's always been: the apostles had gone around preaching the gospel, and people had believed, and churches had been formed. But false teachers began to arise, and they began to say things in the name of Christianity and of the church which were not true. [00:28:48]

There were false gospels which were being written, apocryphal gospels claiming to be quite authentic, setting out ostensibly to teach the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ but saying fantastic things, things which were not true. And the result was that the Believers were Disturbed and Confused. Not only that, the message of the church was becoming confused. [00:29:14]

These documents that we have and which we call the New Testament were primarily written to correct that, to show that these apocryphal gospels and others were false and that they mustn't be believed, and that these false teachers were false apostles who were teaching a lie and were misrepresenting the truth concerning our Lord and concerning his great salvation. [00:29:38]

The Apostle writes to them and he puts it like this to them: he thanks God for them, for the Hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel, which should be translated like this: for the Hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the true gospel. [00:33:03]

He says there is a true gospel, but there are false gospels. He says I know you've been troubled by these people. He mentions them in particular in the second chapter where he warns them in particular against the danger of being misled. Beware, he says in verse 8, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. [00:33:28]

Listen, who is the image, the exact likeness of the invisible God? That's who he is, this Jesus. He is the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in Earth, visible and invisible. You see, it's all about this person. It isn't what you feel. [00:35:24]

By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or Powers. All things were created by Him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body of the church. [00:36:05]

He is the firstborn of every creature, which means this: that he has the Primacy over all created things, or a better translation would be born before all created things. In other words, he wasn't created; he was born before anything was created, the one, if you like, who has priority to and over all creation. [00:39:17]

It is through him that everything was created, exactly as we get in the first chapter of The Gospel According to St John. The word implies priority and sovereignty. He existed before all created things and all was therefore created by Him and through him. And then this tremendous statement in the 19th verse: it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. [00:39:55]

By him all things consist, which means this: that he holds everything together. Now Hebrews 1:3 is a good commentary on this, where he puts it, you remember, by putting it like upholding All Things by the word of his power. Here it is: all things consist. It's the most interesting term. What does it mean? [00:43:27]

It is through him and by him that God is going to restore this whole Cosmos to the condition in which it was originally when God made it and from which it has fallen as the result of man's sin. Now this is Ephesians 1:10. Or let me read verse 9 first: having made known unto us the mystery of his will. [00:46:17]