Lord of All
A Sermon on John 1:16
Originally preached Nov. 10, 1963
Scripture
16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Sermon Description
When many think of Jesus Christ, they think of His life and work, His teaching and His miracles, His mercy, grace, and love? Each of these grant some great blessing to the Christian but in this sermon on John 1:16, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones elaborates on how the Christian receives good from the Lord because of Christ's exultation. Even as Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, He also ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Dr. Lloyd-Jones elaborates that it is from this exulted position that He makes intercession for His people. In this sermon titled “Lord of All,” Dr. Lloyd-Jones recounts the might of human empires that rise and fall. Again and again, nations rage and kingdoms plot in vain, but never does one kingdom seize all power or hold it for very long. Dr. Lloyd-Jones encourages the Christian to take heart when wars arise to know that the Messiah is the one who is seated on the heavenly throne. The one who intercedes is the same that calmed the storms with a word, and is the very word of power by which the wind and waves were created. He is the strong tower.
Sermon Breakdown
- The sermon text comes from John 1:16 which states "And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." This verse reminds us that everything in the Christian life comes from Jesus Christ.
- The Christian life can be described as derived solely from Jesus Christ and governed by him in every aspect.
- Christians think differently from everyone else because they receive all they have from the fullness of Jesus Christ. This manifests itself in their outlook on everything.
- The danger for Christians is to view their salvation exclusively in personal and subjective terms. While salvation is personal, it is not only personal.
- We must be reminded of the more general aspects of Jesus's fullness to see our personal experience in the context of God's greater purpose.
- We must start with Jesus and his fullness. Without understanding him, we cannot understand anything about the Christian position.
- Jesus's fullness led to his exaltation. His exaltation is described in Hebrews 2:9, Ephesians 1:19-21, and Philippians 2:9.
- Jesus's exaltation was the result of his death. His death and exaltation cannot be separated.
- Jesus's exaltation means that he shares the throne with God the Father. He is the King of the universe.
- Jesus's exaltation means that God has given him the glory, honor, position, and power of ruling the world and its affairs.
- Jesus's exaltation brings comfort because it means he is the Lord of history. History is not in the hands of man but in the hands of Jesus.
- Jesus allows some history to happen as part of God's punishment of sin, but Jesus also actively controls history, especially as seen in the church and revivals.
- Jesus has power over his enemies. He allows them to rise and do harm but will ultimately destroy them. No power has been allowed to dominate the whole world.
- Christians should not fear because Jesus holds the keys of death and Hades. He controls death and the afterlife.
- We must crown Jesus as our matchless King.
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.