The Supremacy of Christ

Introduction

Last week we saw how John the Baptist’s last testimony began by his lifting Christ up.

His disciples were incredibly jealous of Jesus’s growing ministry.

But John was overjoyed that his ministry was growing smaller and Christ’s was flourishing.

He knew that it had to be this way.

The Messiah had come, He must take the forefront.

The Baptist in fact was His forerunner, preparing the way for Him.

We saw how in our own lives Christ must be first place.

We must humble ourselves before Him.

In so doing, we are in the strongest position against Satan and his minions in spiritual warfare, and against the sin in our own hearts.

1 Peter 5:6–11 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

John 3:31-36.

In this text, we are going to see John the Baptist’s understanding of the doctrine of the Supremacy of Christ.

What does the word “Supreme” mean?

If Christ is the Supreme One, or the ultimate one, what should that do for our lives?

John shows us the Supremacy of Christ in three ways:

Christ is supreme because He is from God.

Christ is supreme because He is immeasurably filled with God.

Christ is supreme because He is ruling as God.

1. Christ is supreme because He is from God (v. 31).

In thinking about how Christ is Supreme, and measuring the ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist (and any other human ministry for that matter), one simple thing should come into play: Where did this messenger come from?

I am not saying that we accept the Lord’s words in the Bible as the only ones that are infallible. The entire Bible is without error. I AM saying though, we do not worship the Apostle Paul or Peter or John the Baptist. They messages solely point to Jesus. Any other pastor, preacher, or minister that points you to their self is not to be trusted as they have supplanted the ministry of Christ.

This is what John the Baptist is bringing out in his message here in John 3:31.

Interestingly, “from above” are the same words in Greek that are translated “born again” in John 3:3. This emphasizes the divine origin of both.

Salvation is from God and Christ is from God.

By saying “He is above all” is showing our Lord’s sovereign authority over all creation.

Notice, “he who is of earth is from the earth and speaks from the earth.”

This is speaking of the earthly wisdom that man can attain

Here John is emphasizing the heavenly nature of Christ and His message

John 3:32 “He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.”

Christ bears witness of what He saw in heaven, and the plan of redemption that the Godhead planned and implemented in eternity past, and yet he is still rejected.

John 1:9–11 “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

Any message or messenger that does not accept or teach the message of Christ rejects God altogether (v. 33).

A wax seal.

Remember John 1:18?

If Christ has explained, exegeted, or made him known, and we reject Christ, we’ve lost God.

It may not seem like it now, but when you go off to college and into adulthood, there will be all sorts of pressures to reject what you know of Jesus Christ now.

Currently, you are shielded under your parents, by their loving discipline, sometimes feeling like that drag you to church.

There are all sorts of false teachers and false teaching out there that is going to try to lure you away from Christ by twisting his words, or by causing you to doubt what is actually true.

Please study the Bible for yourself, and allow the Holy Spirit in you to convict and challenge your heart.

1 John 4:1–6 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

2. Christ is supreme because He is immeasurably filled by God (v. 34).

This verse can be quite difficult to understand.

It is true that God gives His Spirit to man, and we are indwelt by Him at salvation. “Yet”, as one commentator put it, “the Spirit’s ability to empower them [is] limited by their sinful and fallen human natures.”

You and I, indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit, can still grieve and quench the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the Spirit.”

Christ, who was and is unable to sin, did not have that problem.

2 Corinthians 5:21.

Hebrews 4:15.

Therefore, Christ, as “the exact representation” of God and “immeasurably filled” of God had no limit to the Spirit’s working through Him.

Colossians 1:19 “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”

Colossians 2:9 “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,”

3. Christ is supreme because He is ruling as God (vv. 35-36).

The Father has given all things into His hands.

John 10:17, 18.

John 17:2.

We see even in the great commission:

Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Its on the basis of Jesus’s authority that we are commanded to go and make disciples, not our own.

Therefore, let us get out of the way and let Jesus work, by humbling ourselves, and pointing everyone to Jesus.

Why? (v. 36).

With the last words that John the Baptist says in the Gospel of John, we see the reason why.

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

The Gospel is a command.

Romans 1:5.

But it is not a “works salvation”.

We are saved based upon the Works of the Son of God.

Ephesians 2:8-9.