The sermon delivered by Jason Dohm focuses on the exalted nature of Jesus Christ as presented in John 1:1-5. It emphasizes Jesus as the Word, existing with God from the beginning and being integral to creation, highlighting His divine nature and the importance of understanding Jesus's role as the creator before His incarnation. The sermon explores how John and other Biblical authors, like Paul and the author of Hebrews, describe Jesus's role in creation, underscoring His authority and preeminence. It examines the theological implications of Jesus being the creator and sustainer of all things, emphasizing the need for believers to exalt and revere Him. The sermon also stresses that creation demands exaltation and that believers must yield themselves to their Creator, understanding their place and the transformative power of recognizing Jesus's divine role. Parallel biblical texts, including Colossians and Hebrews, are discussed to provide a deeper understanding of Jesus's divine nature, His role in creation, and His ultimate self-revelation as God. The sermon concludes with a call to exalt Christ in our lives and to recognize the Creator's right to guide and shape our lives.

The sermon text will be from John 1-3. For context I will read 1 through 5. Read along with me. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the Life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Let's pray. Lord we thank you for your great majesty.

Lord this is a reality for you, that you are God. Lord, help our feeble, finite minds to understand a little more today how awesome you are. God, may we tremble when we hear these words read. God, may this not just be words on paper, thoughts in our brains. May this be a truth that rocks our world.

God, may this transform us. Lord, These five verses today, may it shape the course of our lives. God, would you bend our wills, bend our knees Today, Lord, through the preaching of Your Word, may it be done with great power and authority. In Christ's name, Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is, Jesus Christ Exalted Creator.

It's hard to imagine five verses, meaning chapter 1, verses 1-5, that would exalt Christ more than He has exalted in these five verses. He's God. I don't know how many times James said that last week to just press it on us. Jesus is God and now we come to Jesus acting as God in creation in our verse. The whole point is just to have an exalted view of Jesus Christ.

It's really to lift up the Lord Jesus and have us marveling and exalting him. John begins with Jesus as God. In contrast to beginning with Jesus as man, John doesn't even identify the word as Jesus until verse 29. Let that sink in. John doesn't use the name Jesus until verse 29.

He says things that will link people who are familiar to the Gospel so you know who he's talking about. But he's not going to utter the word Jesus until we're way, way into chapter 1. Why is he doing this? Because John wants us to know the Jesus of Genesis 1 before he says the word became flesh. He wants you to know Jesus as God before God puts on flesh and becomes a man in verse 14.

He wants you to know the Jesus of Genesis 1, not the Jesus of Matthew 1. He's going to get to the Jesus of Matthew 1 When God takes on flesh and he becomes the Jesus that we are used to studying, but he is not anxious to skip to that. He wants you thinking of the creator God from Genesis 1, that this is who Jesus is before you see Him in His humble form. He wants to make sure that you don't have wrong thoughts about Jesus as if He's just another man or even as if He's just a Superman. Jesus is not a Superman.

Jesus is God. He was there in Genesis 1 making all things. So that's why the Gospel of John begins with the words, in the beginning, because it's a hyperlink to Jesus in Genesis 1, as the exalted creator God. And that's why John reveals Jesus as the exalted creator of all things. Without Him, nothing was made that was made.

Think about the flow of verses 1-5. This is a history. This is really the history of the world leading into the incarnation. Even beginning before the world, verses 1 and 2 are before the foundations of the world. In 1 and 2 there is no world, there is nothing created, and there are the Word and God.

And they are distinct, but they are one. That's what we studied last week. Distinct but one. Multiple persons but yet having the same essence, being one at the same time. Already in the first two verses our brains are bending.

That's okay. John is not put off by that. He does not mind. He wants you to know that we're studying a transcendent God here that is bigger than your little brain and my little brain. He wants to set before us a glorious God that our minds can't quite get there.

So verses 1 and 2 are before the foundation of the world. We're in the beginning, but there are already people there in the beginning. Where did they come from? He doesn't even get into that. We might not even understand it if he tried to explain it, if John even knew.

But we are at the beginning and there already existing the Word and God and the Word was God. They are with each other. And then in verse 3 we have creation. Out of nothing, you have the Word who was with God and was God in the beginning. Nothing is created.

And then they speak. And there starts to be light, and a world, and water, and land, and plant life, and animal life. And then finally image bearers, human beings. And then in verses 4 and 5, we are given the context of the incarnation. What is the context of incarnation?

That Jesus came to bleed for Adam's helpless race, in the words of my favorite hymn, and can it be? Jesus came to bleed for Adam's helpless race. So you see where John is bringing us. Before the foundations of the world, they're already there. It doesn't tell you where they came from, we don't know.

But they're already there in the beginning, they're already there, they're already existing. And then creation, God speaks out of nothing and makes everything. And then we are given the context of the incarnation. In other words, Why in the world would God take on flesh? Well, to bleed for Adam's helpless race.

There's darkness and light has to shine into the darkness to give life where there's nothing but death. This is what John is doing in setting up his gospel. As we go to the text, brief as it is, let's go to the text praying. Jesus, you are exalted. All things have been made through you.

Without you, nothing has ever been made that was made. Expand our view of you, Lord. Give us the great gift of an expanded vision of yourself. So that the Matthew 1 Jesus is joined with the glorious creator God of Genesis 1. I thank you for this gospel.

I pray that you would press this great truth that you have made all things on our hearts, and that it would change the way we view the Lord Jesus Christ. He would be exalted in our thoughts and in our lives. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Well there's no point in breaking the verse up much, is there? I really have sort of two phrases that we're working with here.

So I want to begin by just making the point that All means all. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's just all, all. All means all. There's nothing tricky here, friends. The text means what it seems to mean.

It means what it says. Everything that has ever been created from eternity past through eternity future has been made through the Lord Jesus Christ. There simply are no exceptions. This verse answers a very fundamental question carefully and emphatically. The question is this, was the Word created?

Now ask that question, Was the Word from verse 1 created? Is the Word that we'll get to being Jesus in verse 29, was He created? And you have to come away from verse 3 and say That question has been answered carefully and emphatically. There is a resounding NO. The Word was not created.

He is creator. Not created. Creator. This is the wonder of the incarnation. This is what should blow your mind about the incarnation.

God who was not created, who is eternal, who has existed in eternity with God the Father, God the Son, took on flesh and became a man. You don't have to turn here and it probably won't help you because I'm going to move fast but I'm going to read from what we've already studied in Philippians chapter 2. Just listen to this again, what we studied in Philippians chapter 2 through the lens of Jesus creating everything. Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 8. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men, verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

This is what separates Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, from every other servant who came before Him to do His will and to be an instrument of God in a certain way. Jesus isn't like that. Jesus himself is the creator God. It was not robbery to be equal with God for Jesus. I think the NASB and the ESV render that phrase a little more helpfully.

There's nothing wrong with the translation. Did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But I think this is even better. The NASB and the ESV said, he did not regard or count equality with God a thing to be grasped. That's where robbery comes from.

Jesus did not think, did not regard equality with God, which He had, a thing to be grasped. The rightful place of honor that was his from all eternity past. He was with God. He was God. But that place of honor was not a thing to be grasped a hold of to Him.

He willingly, joyfully relinquished His rightful place of honor in order to humble Himself and die for sinners. This is what should blow your mind about the incarnation is what He was from all eternity. This fits together perfectly with what Jesus says in John 17 verse 5. This got quoted last week and it will get quoted for many weeks. In John 17 verse 5 Jesus says, And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

He didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he let go of it. He didn't grasp it. He let go of his place of honor that he had enjoyed from eternity past with God in order to take on flesh and humble himself and to die for sinners. But even then he was longing for a return to the place that he had enjoyed alongside his father. That's where he is now, sitting at the right hand of his father in glory at the place of honor which he always had.

So in the verse it's stated positively. All things were made through him. And then This truth is repeated and clarified by stating it negatively, by coming at it from exactly the opposite direction. Without Him, nothing was made that was made. If anything at all has come into existence, it is because the Lord Jesus Christ has brought it into existence.

Anything at all. Nothing has ever been created from eternity past through eternity future. Nothing, nothing, nothing has ever been created that Jesus Christ didn't bring into existence. That's the language of the text here. It says, all things were made, the Greek word behind what's rendered made here, genomai, if you look in the Greek lexicon, here's what you see is the primary meaning.

To come into existence, to begin to be, to receive being. So all things came into existence through the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. All things began to be through the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. All things received their being through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word. The language is designed both to be understood and to prevent misunderstanding.

This is glorious about this text, particularly with how twisted and warped The doctrine of the Trinity and particularly the place of Jesus Christ in the Trinity, in the Godhead, has been throughout the centuries. God gave us words here that are both crafted to be understood and to prevent misunderstanding. What a gift to the church. How in the world would you fight off the false teachers unless you had the precision of John chapter 1, stating it positively and then reiterating the truth and clarifying the truth by coming at it also from the negative side to make sure that there's no misunderstanding about what's being taught. Here's what J.C.

Ryle says, it is not perhaps too much to say that not a single word could be altered in the first five verses of St. John's Gospel without opening the door to some heresy. I think Ryle is exactly right on this. Did you hear what he's saying? He's saying if you alter one word in these first five verses, you opened the door to false teachers and false teaching.

Every word matters. Every tense matters. Every verb tense matters in 1-5. If you don't understand the precision that is given to us here, you're opening the door to false teachers and their false teaching. Before we move on, what does it mean that all things were made through Jesus?

Matthew Henry says something that I think is very helpful. It helps us to understand what is actually meant by the creation of all things through the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry says this, not as a subordinate instrument, but as a coordinate agent. I'll repeat that And then he's going to give an example of what he means, because I don't understand just from that either. Not as a subordinate under instrument, but as a coordinate agent.

So here's his example that drives home what he means. Not as a workman cuts by his axe. Matthew Henry is saying, the creation being through Jesus Christ is not like Jesus is the axe and God the Father is the workman. It's not like that. He says, but as the body sees by the eye.

Not like a workman in his acts, but like a body and its eye is how the creation is through the Lord Jesus Christ. What we have here is the plan of the triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, their plan, one will. This is called the doctrine of divine simplicity, meaning the triune God, the Holy Trinity has one will, not three wills. And the Triune God has determined that Jesus is to be given the privilege of creation. Jesus is appointed a privilege to exalt him by the triune God.

By the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have a single will and they have determined that this joy and privilege of creation would go to Jesus. So this isn't like you give a chore to your kids. This is an honor bestowed. That the worlds were created through Jesus ought to make you think more of Jesus, not less. It is an honor, a privilege conferred upon Jesus by the triune God among which Jesus is one.

We have to wean ourselves off of thinking of the Trinity as three guys who happen to work really well together. That gets the distinction, but it doesn't get the unity. It doesn't get the one part of three in one. They are unified in their determination that the honor of creation goes to Jesus. Now I'd like to take us to two important parallel texts.

What is a parallel text? A parallel text is another portion of scripture that is on exactly the same topic, but it gives you more detail. It unfolds the text that you're studying. And the point is, the best commentary on the Bible that you'll ever get doesn't come from J.C. Ryle.

Did you ever think you would hear me say those words? Probably didn't. The best commentary that you'll ever get on a text of scripture is other texts of scripture, these parallel texts of scripture that fill out the teaching and unfold the truths of God. The first one I'd like you to turn there is Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1.

I know James was in Colossians chapter 1 last week. We'll spend a little more time there today. I'm actually going to back up to Colossians 1 verse 13, and I'll read 13 through 17, and then I'll spend some time saying what I believe is the bearing on John 1 verse 3, which is our text for today. Hopefully you're in Colossians 1, find verse 13, and follow as I read through 17. If you look up in verse 12 you can see we're talking about the Father.

So verse 13 starts with He. He is the Father. He the Father has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. So verse 13 and 14 talk about the saving of sinners. He, now we are talking about the Son, whose blood redeemed us, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things 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 may have the preeminence. So in John chapter 1 verse 3 we only have the one verse, but here a different Bible author, the Apostle Paul, really unfolds what we have in John 1 verse 3 and gives extra detail and gives more texture to it and unfolds the meaning of it for us.

In verses 13 and 14, we see the Father and Son colaboring again. Do you see that in verses 13 and 14? Except this time, instead of colaboring in creation, they are colaboring for the salvation of sinners. It says in verse 13 that God the Father has delivered us from the power of darkness. And then it says in verse 14 that The Son is in whom we have redemption through His blood.

They are working together. God has delivered us, but it's the blood of the Son that has actually purchased our redemption. So if the question put to verses 13 and 14 is, who saves you? Is it the Father who saves you or the Son who saves you? The answer is yes.

Yes. Yes, it is the Father and the Son who are working together for the salvation of sinners. In verse 15, it's teaching us that in the incarnation we have been given a visible image of the invisible God. Now think of what a gift that is. No one has ever seen God, but now in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as we get our visibility to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are given a visible image of the invisible God.

How helpful is that to the Lord's people? What kind of a gift is that? This God who has never been seen, now we have a visible image of. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. Jesus says that himself in John 14 verse 9.

Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. He is the visible image of the invisible God. Now we have a difficulty because here Jesus is called the firstborn over all creation and in other translations it actually says the firstborn of all creation and False teachers and almost every century have grabbed hold of that to see he's the firstborn Okay, he's born of all Creation he is a created Thing And I don't have time to interact with all that Foltz teachers have said through the ages, but I'll say two things to hopefully put that to rest. First, The first thing is that this has to do with the headship of Christ as the second Adam in the incarnation. This does not have anything to do with Jesus being a created being, the fact that he is the firstborn over all creation has to do with Jesus Christ's identity as the second Adam.

Sin and death come into the world through the first Adam, grace and truth and life come into the world through the first Adam, grace and truth and life come into the world through the second Adam. Jesus as the firstborn over all creation is just identifying him as the second Adam through whom life comes. That's all that means. The second thing I'd like to say about that is an important principle of Bible interpretation. What is that?

That the unclear is interpreted by the clear. Does that make sense to you? That makes a lot of sense to me. Unclear things should be interpreted by the clear things. In other words, we start in the building of our theological propositions with things that are clear and can't be misunderstood because of the precision and the clarity with which they're stated and taught.

You begin with those things and those then, the clear things, form a boundary of meaning for the unclear things. If you do that with this text, what you find is lots of space given to Jesus as the creator of all things and even a list of all things that makes it plain that all things means all things. Lots of space given to that. And so That then forms a boundary through which you understand the unclear thing. What is the unclear thing?

What does Paul mean by Jesus is the firstborn overall creation? You got a boundary there. He is the creator of all things, therefore he can't be a created thing. Now go understand this unclear thing within those boundaries. Verses 16 through 18 answers the question, what was created by Jesus?

And again, we hit the same phrase that we're given in our text, John 1 verse 3, all things. But we're not left just with that. Paul expands it. Paul, what do you mean by all things? Well, the things in heaven Jesus made.

Does that mean He didn't create the things on earth? No. And the things on earth. And The visible things Jesus created. Does that mean he didn't create the invisible things?

No. The invisible things too. He created the visible and the visible. He created the things in heaven and the things on earth. How about the things that are in authority?

No. He created all kinds of powers and authorities. You have a list of them here in Colossians 1. So Paul is laboring so that you don't get away from the idea that all means all. He gives you something that sweeps everything up of the created things.

Three things here are said about Jesus as the creator of all things. It says that all things were created by Him, through Him, for Him. In our understanding of John 1 verse 3, our text for today, tie this to that. Meaning, this fills out your understanding of all things were created through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. All of it made by him and through him and for him.

This makes it impossible that he would be an inactive agent in creation. If all things were made by him and through him and for him, it is impossible that he was an inactive agent. That he was the axe in the hand of the woodcutter. It must be that he was the eye in the body that's seeing. To put it in the terms that Matthew Henry brought to us.

All things were created by the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus here is given to us as the exalted Creator. In that, the purpose of all this creating is given to us. Right here in the last phrase of what I read. What is the purpose of all these things being created by and through and for the Lord Jesus Christ that in all things he may have the preeminence." What does it mean to have the preeminence?

It just means to have the place of honor. That in all things the Lord Jesus Christ might enjoy the place of honor, therefore all this creating of things. I believe that The value of this parallel text is threefold. Let me give you the three things that I think we get that help us out of this parallel text. This commentary on our text in John 1 verse 3.

Number one, It shows the Father and the Son co-laboring again, working together again, side by side, this time in salvation. Yes, a conspiracy has been hatched within the Holy Trinity for the blessing of sinners. For the salvation of sinners, There has been a conspiracy hatched. A co-laboring in order to save sinners. God the Father determined it and it is through His blood that sinners are redeemed.

Number two, Paul expands on and hammers home all things. Things in heaven, things on earth. Invisible things, visible things. All kinds of authorities and powers. All things created by him.

And three, we are given the purpose. Why all this creating that in all things the Lord Jesus Christ might have the place of honor, the place of preeminence. Our second and last parallel text is Hebrews 1. So turn to Hebrews 1 please. Hebrews 1.

I'll be reading verses 1-4. Eventually we'll get over to something that James read last week which is verses 10-12. But We'll start in Hebrews 1, verse 1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than he. Now there's a lot there and our time isn't devoted to an exposition of this but I'll draw out some points that I think are relevant for us.

In Hebrews 1, 1-4, Jesus is set forth as the ultimate self-revelation of God. I'll say that again because it's really important. And it actually reaches back into last week's text, Jesus as the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews 1 is set forth by the author of Hebrews as the ultimate self-revelation of God. God has revealed Himself in time past, at various times and in various ways, but now Christ is the ultimate self-revelation of God.

We should be thankful for all the other revelations, but Jesus is better than all of it put together. This is why the title, the Word, belongs to Jesus, and nothing could be more fitting than that title for him He is the ultimate self revelation of God God revealing himself to mankind He is the word in fact John Calvin when he translated that instead of the word and John Calvin's personal translation of it, he calls him the speech. The speech. God's speech to mankind is Jesus. You can think of it that way.

In the beginning was the speech. And the speech was with God and the speech was God. That's how Calvin translates it. It just comes at it from a different angle and also sets forth Jesus as the ultimate self-revelation of God. God has spoken at various times and in various ways throughout history, but now he has spoken through the air of all things, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." This is just like Paul saying that Jesus is the image of the invisible God in Colossians 1.

The writer of Hebrews is saying the same thing as the writer of Colossians. Does that mean they have the same author? Yes, the Holy Spirit authored both Hebrews and Colossians. In verse 2, it says that God the Father has made the worlds through his Son Jesus. So in our other text it says Jesus is the creator of all things.

The writer of Hebrews expresses it this way, he made the worlds. The worlds were made through him. And then in verse 3, we see that not only is the Lord Jesus Christ the creator of everything, but that He upholds all things. There's that phrase again. All things.

Everybody using the same phrase. The writer of Hebrews is using the same phrase that John is using in John chapter 1. Paul is using in Colossians 1. Jesus not only created all things but He upholds all things by the Word of His power. This just weaves together wonderfully.

Just as God spoke into existence, you saw in Genesis 1 last week, all the times where God said and there was. God said and there was. God said and there was. Now God says and all these things are upheld. In my brain, when I approach these things about the Trinity, it feels as small as a garden pea, doesn't it?

It's like a garden pea sized brain. But in that brain, I sort of imagine the Lord Jesus at the beginning of every day saying, keep going. Just like sustaining everything, upholding everything by the power of His Word, and then creation salutes every morning. We keep going today. We are upheld by His Word.

This text has a difficulty too in verse 4. It says, having become so much better than the angels. The Lord Jesus Christ, having become so much better than the angels. Which begs the question, when was Jesus Christ not better than the angels? This I think is easily explained if you look at the immediate context.

This is the exaltation after the humbling of himself in the incarnation. This is Jesus Christ sitting down at the right hand of God, having done His work of redemption and being resurrected. And just to go back to Philippians 2 and picking up right where I left off, Just listen to Philippians 2 since we've already been there. We'll go there again. I'll just read verses 8 and 9 now.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name." This is what the author of Hebrews is speaking about. Jesus is, I'm going to call it a re-exaltation after humbling himself in order to purchase redemption for sinners. Coming back into the glory which he enjoyed with the Father, to put it in his own words from John 17. And why the angels?

From John 17. Why the angels? Why does it mention that Jesus has become so much better than the angels? Well, I think it's because the angels are the greatest of the created things. The might that you see employed by the angels in Scripture is breathtaking.

And the author of Hebrews is making the case that Jesus is better than everything. That describes the early chapters of Hebrews. Jesus better than the angels. Jesus better than Moses. Jesus better than the old covenant.

He just knocks them off, one after the other. Jesus better, Jesus better, Jesus better. He's giving him the place of preeminence, just like Paul in Colossians. And so, right after what we read in 1-4, you see in verse 5, for to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son today, I have begotten you. Of course the answer is, God never said that to any angel, He only said that to the Son in the Trinity.

And then again, but he says in verse 7, and of the angels he says, they're his ministers. But, Now in verse 8, but to the sun he says things that he would never say to any angel, including verse 10. Now look, this is something he says to the sun. Again, like what was said last week, this is a quotation from Psalm 102, and the writer of Hebrews is saying, this quotation from Psalm 102 is about Jesus Christ. This in verse 10-12, about Jesus Christ, You Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain. And they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will fold them up and they will be changed. But you are the same and your years will not fail." That was said about Jesus Christ according to the author of Hebrews. Because he was not only with God, he was God.

So the value of this parallel text, I think there are three of them. Let me give them to you. I probably missed something, but at least these three are valuable in helping us understand John 1 verse 3. Number one, it helps us to understand Jesus as the Word, because he appears here, really as the Word, as the ultimate self-revelation of God who is sustaining all things by the Word of His power. Number two, We learn that not only did Jesus create all things, that he sustains and upholds them.

He didn't create and step back. He's intimately involved with what is happening today. You are sustained in your life today. Every creation of God is sustained in its place in its creation by God today actively. We learn that.

And three, we are given Jesus in His re-exalted state. We are brought right back to Genesis 1, Jesus. And I do think that we are harmed by an inordinate focus on Matthew 1, Jesus. If you are inordinately focused on Matthew 1, Jesus, praise God for Matthew 1, Jesus, Jesus in the flesh, Jesus in his humbled condition to teach us what honoring God looks like, but heaven forbid that our thoughts never go beyond Matthew 1, Jesus. Genesis 1, Jesus is what Jesus has been throughout all eternity except for 33 years.

Do you understand that? From eternity past through eternity future minus 31 years, the all-glorious creator God in Genesis 1 is who Jesus has been. In Revelation 1, Jesus is who he will be seen to be with his face shining like the sun and a two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. Important implications for me in 2017. If you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's implications.

Important implications for me in 2017. This is where we come to John chapter 1 verse 3 and say, So what? All things were created through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. So what? I said that irreverently, but we actually want to ask that of every text that we come to reverently.

God show us. How should this form me and shape me and change how I live this week. I want to give you two. Turn to Psalm 148. Psalm 148.

This is our last stop. Psalm 148. Somebody doesn't want the sermon to end. It'll be okay Cedar. I'm preaching again next week, brother.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights. Praise Him all His angels. Praise Him all His hosts.

Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him all you stars of light. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever, and He made a decree which shall not pass away.

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures in all the depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind fulfilling His word, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and heaven, and he has exalted the horn of his people the praise of all his saints of the children of Israel people near to him praise the Lord the title of the sermon is Jesus Christ Exalted Creator. And the implication is, creation demands exaltation. That's the implication for me this week.

Creation demands exaltation. This is actually an instruction to angels and hosts and sun and moon and stars and the heavens and the waters and the hills and the fruit trees and the kings of the earth and all peoples to praise God because He commanded and they were created. Just look again at verse 5. Let them praise the name of the Lord for He commanded and they were created. The fact that God has created demands that we exalt Him for having done it.

Demands it. Nothing is more fitting than that the creature would exalt the Creator for his creation. Nothing is less fitting than that a creature would let a day go by without exalting His Creator. This is the terrifying phrase from Romans 1. They did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.

The death spiral that is Romans 1 starts there. It doesn't start with homosexuality and murder and lying and all those things. It starts here, not glorifying God as God and not being thankful to God for life and breath. In Him we live and move and have our being. Creation demands exaltation.

That is the great crime in Romans 1. Here's your assignment this week. Take 15 minutes. Watch the clock. Don't cheat the clock.

Give it a full 15 minutes. And pray through this psalm. God, you've made these things. This would be a piece of cake. This is such an easy assignment.

You will not have an easier assignment this week. You'll have a hard time getting through it in 15 minutes. There's so much here that's been created that deserves his exaltation. So you take 15 minutes and who's exempt from this? Well let's see.

Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children. If you didn't get collected up there somewhere, you can take the week off. Do we have any pets in here? What could it be? That's your assignment.

Number two. In Romans 9, verses 20 and 21, the apostle Paul says this. Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor. Paul puts in front of us an absurdity.

And the absurdity is that clay being formed talks back to the potter. Paul says that's unthinkable. Clay doesn't have rights. The potter has rights. If the potter wants to smash the lump and start all over again to make this or that.

The potter is operating with the right of Creator to dispose however he sees fit to dispose. So the implication of John 1 verse 3 that all things were made through him, The implication of that is that I must understand my place and yield myself to my Creator. The point in Romans 9 is specifically election and Can God still be wise and just and elect? And Paul, rather than satisfying our curiosity on that, says, don't talk back to God. Don't talk back to God.

You're just the clay. He has the right to dispose of me because every breath I've ever taken was a gift from Him. I've never had my own breath to breathe. He has the right to bring anything into my life he wants to bring into my life in order to make me into what he wants to make me into. He can bring anything and be just and good in it because he's operating under the rights of the Creator, who has every right to dispose of his creation in any way that he sees good and fit.

Thankfully, the Bible tells us that God is good. That God is good. So that shouldn't be as frightening a thought as it might be if we didn't have confidence that God was good. But this will help us to understand our place in the world and that God has made all things. We were made by God.

He has the right to bring anything into my life. It helps us to know that God doesn't exist for my pleasure, I exist for His pleasure. It helps us when hard things are brought into our life to know not only is God good and wise, and committed to His own glory, But God has the right to dispose of me any way that He wants to. So I'm going to yield myself to that. I have not been as yielded to my Maker as I should be.

This is, To think of the Lord Jesus Christ as the creator of all things is a great time to just stop and say, am I the clay that is talking back to the potter? Heaven forbid. Understand your place. Yield yourself. There's no better potter than this potter.

He knows exactly what he's doing. We'll give the last word to Matthew Henry. This isn't related to number two, it's just a good last word, because it makes us consider the Lord Jesus Christ as the exalted creator. Matthew Henry says this, This shows how well qualified he was for the work of our redemption and salvation. Help was laid upon one that was mighty in deed, for it was laid upon him that made all things.

And He is appointed the author of our bliss, who is the author of our being. Jesus Christ is appointed the author of our bliss. The author, the one entrusted with our welfare, is the one who was appointed the author of our very being. So you can know that he can save to the uttermost. The one who made all things can save you.

The one who made all things, believe it. He has not only the power to break the penalty of sin in your life, he has the power to break the power of sin in your life. He can deliver you. He can save you to the uttermost, not only from hell, but also from all this rebellion that we still find in our hearts. He can break the power of sin in our lives.

He is breaking the power of sin in the lives of His children. Help was laid upon one that was mighty indeed. God, thank You for Your goodness and Your kindness. We want to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts as the Maker of all things. Without Him, nothing was made that was made.

Thank you for your word, the precision, the carefulness with which we've been delivered such important truths. Let us love them, Lord. Let us love the truth of your word in Jesus name, amen.