Audio Transcript

There’s a massive sun that belongs at the center of the universe of our lives and, by its weight and glory and mass and beauty and power, holds the orbits in place. And therefore my prayer — as much as I believe in practical strategies for fighting sin — my prayer is that you would know, that you would press on to know the supremacy of Christ:

• the supremacy of his deity, equal with God the Father in all his attributes — the radiance of his glory and the exact imprint of his nature, infinite, boundless in all his excellencies

There is a massive sun at the center of our lives, meant to hold all the planets of our existence in orbit — press on to know the supremacy of Christ.

• the supremacy of his eternality that makes the mind of man explode with the unsearchable thought that Christ never had a beginning, but simply always was; sheer, absolute reality while all the universe is fragile, contingent, like a shadow by comparison to his all-defining, ever-existing substance

• the supremacy of his never-changing constancy in all his virtues and all his character and all his commitments — the same yesterday, today, and forever

• the supremacy of his knowledge that makes the Library of Congress look like a matchbox, and all the information on the Internet look like a little 1940s Farmers’ Almanac, and quantum physics — and everything Stephen Hawking ever dreamed — seem like a first-grade reader

• the supremacy of his wisdom that has never been perplexed by any complication and can never be counseled by the wisest of men

• the supremacy of his authority over heaven and earth and hell, without whose permission no man and no demon can move one inch; who changes times and seasons, removes kings and sets up kings; who does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth so none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

• the supremacy of his providence without which not a single bird falls to the ground in the furthest reaches of the Amazon forest, or a single hair of any head turns black or white

• the supremacy of his word that moment by moment upholds the universe and holds in being all the molecules and atoms and subatomic world we have never yet dreamed of

• the supremacy of his power to walk on water, cleanse lepers, and heal the lame; open the eyes of the blind, cause the deaf to hear and storms to cease and the dead to rise, with a single word, or even a thought

• the supremacy of his purity never to sin, or to have one millisecond of a bad attitude or an evil, lustful thought

• the supremacy of his trustworthiness never to break his word or let one promise fall to the ground

• the supremacy of his justice to render in due time all moral accounts in the universe settled either on the cross or in hell

• the supremacy of his patience to endure our dullness for decade after decade; and to hold back his final judgment on this land and on the world, that many might repent

• the supremacy of his sovereign, servant obedience to keep his Father’s commandments perfectly and then embrace the excruciating pain of the cross willingly

• the supremacy of his meekness and lowliness and tenderness that will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick

• the supremacy of his wrath that will one day explode against this world with such fierceness that people will call out for the rocks and the mountains to crush them rather than face the wrath of the Lamb

• the supremacy of his grace that gives life to spiritually dead rebels and wakens faith in hell-bound haters of God and justifies the ungodly with his own righteousness

• the supremacy of his love that willingly dies for us even while we were sinners and frees us for the ever-increasing joy in making much of him forever

• the supremacy of his own inexhaustible gladness in the fellowship of the Trinity, the infinite power and energy that gave rise to all the universe and will one day be the inheritance of every struggling saint

We must know — this is what we were made for! — to press on to know the Lord. We are made to know Christ. We’re not made to do little things; we’re made to know Christ. This world — this little two-second slice and then forever with him or not — it’s what we were made to know.

If there is anything admirable or praiseworthy anywhere in the universe, it is summed up supremely in Jesus Christ.

And if he would grant us to know him like this, it would be but the outskirts of his supremacy. Time would fail to speak of the supremacy of his severity, and invincibility, and dignity, and simplicity, and complexity, and resoluteness, and calmness, and depth, and courage. If there is anything admirable, if there is anything worthy of praise anywhere in the universe, it is summed up supremely in Jesus Christ.

He is always infinitely admirable in everything and over everything supreme:

• over galaxies and endless reaches of space

• over the earth from the top of Mount Everest 29,000 feet up, to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean 36,000 feet down into the Mariana Trench

• He is supreme over all plants and animals, from the peaceful Blue Whale to the microscopic killer viruses

• over all weather and movements of the earth: hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, earthquakes, avalanches, floods, snow, rain, sleet

• over all chemical processes that heal and destroy: cancer, AIDS, malaria, flu, and all the workings of antibiotics and a thousand healing medicines.

• He is supreme over all countries and all governments and all armies

• over Al Qaeda and all terrorists and kidnappings and suicide bombings and beheadings

• over bin Ladin and al-Zarqawi

• over all nuclear threats from Iran or Russia or North Korea

• He is supreme over all politics and elections

• over all media and news and entertainment and sports and leisure

• and over all education and universities and scholarship and science and research

• and over all business and finance and industry and manufacturing and transportation

• and over all the Internet and information systems

Kuyper: “There is not one square inch in the whole universe over which the risen Christ does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

As Abraham Kuyper once famously said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’” He rules with absolute supremacy.

And though it may not seem so now, it is only a matter of time until he is revealed from heaven in flaming fire to give relief to those who trust him and righteous vengeance on those who don’t.

This clip is from Sex and the Supremacy of God, Part 2, John Piper’s closing sermon at the 2004 Desiring God National Conference.