Let's open our Bibles to the
book of Hebrews, chapter one. Hebrews, chapter one. And the
message is entitled, The King of Righteousness. The King of
Righteousness. And I took the title of this
message from verse eight, which is a quotation. The writer of
Hebrews was inspired by the Holy Spirit. To quote Psalm, Psalm
45, when he says, but unto the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
saith, the Father saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom, the scepter of righteousness, and
the scepter speaks of a king. The scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. So this is the king of righteousness. That's who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. Now we dealt with this last week
in the first three verses of the book of Hebrews on how the
theme of this book is that Christ is so much greater, so much better. than anything a human being could
imagine. And he mentions very specifically
that Christ is so much better than, for example, the angels
here in chapter one. The angels who were ministering
spirits of the old covenant law, the law of Moses, and those whom
the Jews held in high esteem. And of course, you know, there's
so much myth, mythology, so many erroneous ideas about angels
and many people do worship angels or think that angels have some
sort of a power that they don't have and so look at what he says
in verse 4 of chapter 1 he says Christ being so much better than
the angels Christ is the Son of God the unique Son of God
by nature the second person of the Holy Trinity It says here
in verse four, being made so much better than the angels as
he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
That's because of who he is by nature, as I said, the Son of
God by nature, the second person of the Holy Trinity, very God
of very God, equal, co-equal in the nature of his divinity
with the Father and the Spirit. He has a name by inheritance,
naturally speaking, because of who he is in his divinity. But
he also has a name, which is above every name, a name that
was given to him by God, in his mediatorial glory, which is his
glory as God, not only as God absolutely considered, but God-man,
God in human flesh without sin. And that's based upon the work
that he accomplished on Calvary to save his people from their
sins, to satisfy the justice of God for their sins, to make
an end of sin, to finish the transgression, to make reconciliation
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to secure and
guarantee the salvation of all for whom he lived, died, was
buried, and arose the third day. And that's what the book of Hebrews
begins with in verses one, two, and three. That Christ, he purged
our sins, washed our sins away by his blood. That's a symbolic
way of describing that His death was the payment of the sin debt
that our sins imputed to Him, charged to Him, and therefore
we have His righteousness imputed to us. And so God exalted Him. in that way. So he says he has
a name that is much, much better, much greater than the angels.
Verse five says, for unto which of the angels said he at any
time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, and again
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And
verse six, and again when he bringeth in the first begotten
into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship
him. You see, we don't worship angels.
Angels are messengers, and that's all they are. That's what God's
preachers were, messengers. You don't worship preachers.
We don't worship men. We worship God, and we worship
Christ in God. He is the manifestation of God. And so this is setting forth
both his divine and his human nature as the son of God. As
God absolutely considered, he couldn't have been made any better
than what he was because he was better by nature. But the Jews
would have been shocked to hear that any mere human being was
superior to angels. And so when he talks about, look
down at verse seven, he says, and of the angels he saith, who
maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.
In other words, he's talking about Christ who gives life to
the angels and who gives power, the flame of fire, the power
of their message as they minister. But being the brightness of God's
glory and the express image of God's person, Christ participates
also in the divine nature of the Father and the Spirit. So
he's God, ma'am. He's the son of God. He is God,
and he's our savior. So the angels, see, he talks
about in verse eight, he says, but unto the son, he said, thy
throne, O God, is forever. Now, the angels are sons by creation. Believers are sons by the grace
of adoption and redemption and regeneration. But Christ is the
only son by nature, the only begotten son of God. That means
the unique son of God by nature. He's called the first begotten
in other places. And that's not time, but superiority
of his nature, the first begotten of the dead, that speaks of his
resurrection. And so the angels themselves,
they know who gives them life and who gives them power, it's
Christ. So here, we come to the greatness of his throne, his
kingdom. Let's just read these verses
and then I'll come back. He says in verse eight, but unto
the son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A
scepter of righteousness, we'll be talking about that, is the
scepter of thy kingdom. See, again, the issue of righteousness
comes forth. Verse nine, thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. And that's so. He says, therefore,
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows. Speaking of his humanity again,
he has no fellows in his deity. But he was made like unto his
brethren, the scripture says. And thou, Lord, verse 10, in
the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens
are the works of thine hands. He's the creator. They shall
perish, but thou remainest. He's forever and ever and ever,
never changes. And he says, and they all shall
wax old, grow old as doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Verse 13, but to which of the
angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make
thine enemies thy footstool. This is the earned position that
Christ earned as God-man, as the mediator between God and
men, as the Savior, as the Redeemer. And it says, verse 14, are they
not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation? Now where does that put the angels
in the scheme of things? Well, they're servants. And they
minister under the sovereignty and the power of Christ. to minister to those who are
heirs of salvation, and that's God's elect. That's his people. Now, let's look at this issue
of a scepter of righteousness, the king of righteousness. He
says a scepter of righteousness establishes his kingdom forever.
You know what a scepter is. It was a staff. It was a rod
used by a king. It was a symbol of his authority
and his power. The use of the scepter originated
in the idea that whoever was king over a nation, he was to
be a shepherd to his people. A shepherd, one who would guide
them, one who would protect them, one who would treat them justly.
Now, of course, obviously human kings have failed in those ways
many, many times. But Christ, the king of his nation,
And his nation is his church, his redeemed people, the elect
of God, his sheep. He never fails in that area.
This thing of the scepter, back in Genesis chapter 49 and verse
10 when Jacob was on his deathbed, he was blessing his sons and
he came to Judah. Genesis 49, 10, and it says,
the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the
gathering of the people be. That's Christ, that's a prophecy
of Christ who came in his humanity through the tribe of Judah, through
the seed of David, the kings of Judah. And he was from that
royal line as to his humanity. And it says here that the scepter
will not depart from that nation until Christ comes. And then
it would be over as far as that. Christ is the eternal king. There's
no king to follow him. And it says, unto him shall the
gathering of the people be. That's a picture of Christ, the
great shepherd. The shepherd king, you might
say, gathering his sheep unto himself. Remember he said in
John 10, 11, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep,
and he said, the shepherd knoweth his sheep, and his sheep knoweth
him. He calls them, they won't come to, they won't follow another.
In the shepherd's Psalm, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. In verse seven it says, thy rod
and thy staff, Comfort me, the rod and the staff, that's like
the scepter. In the Bible, a broken scepter
is a symbol of lost authority and position. Over in Isaiah
chapter 14 and verse 5, it speaks of the king of Judah and his
scepter. It says, the Lord hath broken
the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. That's
human kings. The main use of the scepter,
of the term scepter, is to set forth the very nature of the
authority of the Lord Jesus Christ based on the righteous work that
he would accomplish in the Old Testament in the future and in
the New Testament that he's already accomplished to save his people
from their sins. Again, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah until Shiloh come. There's another prophecy
in the book of Numbers, chapter 24 and verse 17. which is a prophecy
of Christ, and listen to this. It says, I shall see him, but
not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh,
not near. In other words, not in my lifetime,
Moses is writing. There shall come a star out of
Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite
the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheol. It's
talking about Christ coming to save his people. He'll rise out
of Israel. and he'll save his people and
he'll pass judgment on the ungodly. And then in Psalm 45 and verse
six, where we see quoted there in Hebrews, thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. That's the king, the king of
righteousness. Isaiah 32 and verse one is a prophecy of Christ. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment. Well, let me
give you several issues to consider. about the king of righteousness,
the scepter of righteousness. What does it show us? What does
it tell us about Christ in the glory of his person and in the
accomplishment of his redemptive work to save his people? Well,
number one, it shows us the nature of the king himself and his kingdom. Turn over to Philippians chapter
two, And the Apostle Paul, as inspired by the Spirit, gives
us a sort of a commentary of both the nature of the king,
who is Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, and the nature of his
work to save his people. You see, it speaks of Christ's
establishment and rule as king over his kingdom, his people.
And look at verse five of Philippians chapter two. It says, Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
He's the exact express image of the person of God. That's
what it's saying. He's the exact likeness of God.
There's nobody else that that can be said of. Somebody said,
well, when we're saved, don't we become godly or godlike? Not
like this. We don't become little gods.
There's no divine nature in us. We have human nature. And we're
either spiritually dead or spiritually made alive. We have spiritual
life within us, which is life from the divine. But we're not
made divine in any way. But Christ, and to say so would
be robbery. He says he thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. For any human being, to speak
of himself as a divine nature, or having a divine nature, is
robbery, because you're seeking to rob God of his glory. But
when Christ spoke of himself as, for example, I am, that was
a term that could only be used by one who is equal with God
in nature. Christ is God. It's not robbery
for him to do that, because he is God. He's the Son, he's the
God-man. And so it says in verse seven,
he made himself of no reputation. Now this is showing the onset
of his redemptive work. Made himself of no reputation.
Think about that. One who is God made himself of
no reputation. We spend our lifetimes trying
to build our reputation. But in order to save his people
from their sins, he made himself of no reputation, took upon himself
the form of a servant, the exact likeness of a servant. He was
made a servant, servant of the covenant. He was made of a woman,
made under the law. See, the sins of God's people
were charged, imputed to him. And so he was made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. and he was made
in the likeness of men, without sin, the scripture tells us.
And so he had a human body, every bit human, every bit God, every
bit human, without sin. And then verse eight says, and
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient, here's his work, obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Why did Christ die? He died to
satisfy the justice of God and bring forth an everlasting righteousness
of infinite value that would secure and demand the salvation
of his people. That's the establishment of righteousness,
see, the foundation of his kingdom. And it says in verse nine, wherefore
for this reason God also hath highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things in earth, and
things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." That's the nature
of the king and his kingdom. It's built upon righteousness.
But you see, the establishment of righteousness is what enables
God to be just and justify the ungodly. It's what enables God
to be gracious to his people in their salvation while at the
same time retaining the honor of his glory and justice. Romans
521, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
And that's the nature of the king. He's the king of righteousness.
He has a scepter of righteousness. Secondly, here's the second thing.
It shows us the nature of God's salvation. Now, I've already
talked about that, but if you'd look over in the book of Jeremiah,
and I could show you so many scriptures in the Old Testament
and the New on this. I've already quoted one, Romans
521, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. God is gracious to his people,
but not at the expense of justice. God is merciful to his people,
but not at the expense of truth. He loves his people, but his
love is founded upon a just ground, which is the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God doesn't love everybody. His wrath abides on many, because
his justice must be satisfied. And so the nature of his salvation,
look at it here. This is a prophecy of Christ
in Jeremiah 23 and verse five. And here's the nature of the
salvation that comes from the king of righteousness. And he
says, behold, the days come, verse five, saith the Lord, that
I will raise unto David a righteous branch. That speaks of his humanity. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. And he says, and a king shall
reign and prosper. That speaks of the success of
his obedience unto death, his death as the surety, the substitute,
and the redeemer of his people. You see, nobody for whom Christ
died will perish. They can't, because he satisfied
justice, he brought forth righteousness, he washed away their sins, he
purged our sins. The sins of God's elect cannot
be imputed to them. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
is risen again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living, to make intercession for us. So a king shall reign
and prosper, and how's he gonna reign and prosper? Upon this
ground he shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. That
speaks of his death as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer
of his people. Verse six, in his days Judah
shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. Remember Judah
and Israel, they were divided kingdom. Israel at the time of
Jeremiah's prophecy was already destroyed and scattered. That
happened to them hundreds of years before, or about a hundred
years before or so, under the Assyrian Empire. And so, but
here he speaks of spiritual Judah, spiritual Israel, united under
the headship of Christ. And he says, and this is his
name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And then over in Jeremiah 33,
verse 15, this name is applied to his people, his church, his
kingdom. Look at that, Jeremiah 33, 15.
In those days and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness
to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness
in the land. See, the same prophecy, basically.
Verse 16, in those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called the Lord our righteousness." Now, how
can she be called the Lord our righteousness? Because she's
the bride of Christ. And she takes the name of her
husband. And that's the nature of the salvation that Christ
has worked out as the King of righteousness. He prayed about
that in John 17. Let me just read a little bit
of that to you. In his high priestly prayer,
In John 17, he says in verse one, these words
spoke Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify
thee. This is his exaltation as the
mediator, as the savior, as the redeemer, as the king of righteousness. Verse two, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, so that he should, what? Give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. You see, as the king
of righteousness, as the servant, as the scepter, holding the scepter
of righteousness, he has to give eternal life to all whom the
father gave him. Because he died for them. All
that the father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out, he said. And he says this
is all, look at verse three, this is life eternal that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. And it's all based upon this. Look at verse four.
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. Now that's it. So there's the
nature of the king and his kingdom. There's the nature of the salvation
that's brought about by the king. And here's thirdly, We see in
this king of righteousness, scepter of righteousness, the nature
of his calling in the gospel when he brings his people under
his rule. Now the king summons his people
and there's no choice. It's like a summons. It's the
power of the king. It's the authority of the king.
And we find that in the preaching of the gospel. Paul wrote in
Romans 1 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just
or the justified shall live by faith. Scripture speaks of those
who are believers, who are brought by God to faith in Christ, are
those who are brought to submit to the King of Righteousness,
because He has held out His scepter to them and bid them to come. And it says in Romans 10, 4,
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. There's an interesting picture
of this in the book of Esther. Find the book of Esther, it's
right before the book of Job. And you know, Esther was a Jewess,
a woman who was a Jew. She was part of the Jews who
were brought under the rule of the Medo-Persian Empire. And
by the providence of God, Esther became a wife to the king, And
it says here, for example, that Esther, the queen, could only
approach the king's throne when the king held out his royal scepter
to her. And listen to this in Esther
chapter four in verse 11. It says, and all the king's servants
and the people of the king's provinces do know that whosoever,
whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner
court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him
to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden
scepter, that he may live. But I have not been, Esther's
saying, but I have not been called to come in unto the king these
30 days, Esther the queen. Well, if you look over in chapter
five right down there in verse two, Esther came and she put
on her royal apparel and she stood in the inner court of the
king's house. And so what happened, look at
verse two of Esther five. It says, and it was so when the
king saw Esther the queen standing in the court that she obtained
favor in his sight. There's a picture of grace. God's
grace is obtaining favor. And it's not based upon anything
in us. And it says, and the king held out to Esther the golden
scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched
the top of the scepter. And that's a picture. And then
over in Esther chapter eight, and I believe, yeah, it's verse
four. We see another picture of this. It says, I may have
the wrong reference there. Esther 8 and it said the king,
oh yeah, verse 4, that's right. I got it. Then the king held
out the golden scepter toward Esther, so Esther arose and stood
before the king. and said, if it pleased the king,
and if I found favor in thy sight, and the thing seemed right before
the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to
reverse the law that Haman, that wicked Persian, had devised to
kill Mordecai. So the key that I want you to
see there is the king holding out the golden scepter. Well,
what is the spiritual application of that? Well, it's when the
gospel is preached to God's elect, the golden scepter is held out,
and they're called to come unto Him. Over in 1 Corinthians 1,
it speaks of that. that the gospel is to those who
are perishing foolishness, to the Jew he requires a sign, to
the Greek he requires wisdom, but unto them which are called,
called by the Holy Spirit, not the general call that men by
nature will reject, but the effectual call of the Holy Spirit to bring
sinners to Christ. To them which are called Christ,
both the power and the wisdom of God. So it shows the nature
of his calling. Now what that tells us is this,
God does not, the king does not call his people, his subjects,
unto him under the preaching of a false gospel. I hear so
many people, you know, they come to a knowledge of sovereign grace,
but they believe they were called under the preaching of freewillism
or conditional salvation or work salvation. The king does not
hold out the golden scepter where the gospel of the king of righteousness,
his blood and his righteousness to secure the salvation of his
people upon a just ground, where that is not held out in the preaching
of the gospel. A corrupt tree will not produce
good fruit. The corrupt tree there is a way
of salvation by man's works, the broad road that leads to
destruction. A good tree, that's the gospel of Christ, who is
the tree of life. That's who produces good fruit.
And then lastly, this scepter of righteousness, the king of
righteousness, shows us the nature of his judgment. Over in the book of Acts, chapter
17 and verse 31, where Paul's standing on Mars Hill and preaching
to the philosophers and the religionists, and he tells them that God commands
all people everywhere to repent, in verse 31, because God has
appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained in that he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. That's
the nature of the king's judgment. That's the scepter of righteousness
brought down in judgment. And when we stand before God
at the judgment, we will either stand on our own based upon our
works, and be judged, condemned by the King of righteousness,
that scepter will be a scepter of judgment to break us down
and pronounce us guilty, or we'll stand before God in Christ, the
Lord our righteousness. Having our sins washed away by
His blood, just as satisfied, the payment made, and standing
in the righteous robe of the King, the God-man, His righteousness
imputed to us. And standing in Christ, there's
no condemnation, there's no guilt, there's no sin charged, there's
only life. And that's what Paul was talking
about in Philippians chapter three, beginning at verse seven. When the king called him, when
the king held out the golden scepter to Paul, and called him
by the power of the spirit unto faith in Christ, here's what
Paul said. He submitted to the king's rule
in the gospel. And here's how he put it, Philippians
3 and verse 7. That's repentance. You say, faith
in Christ and repentance. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ, and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith.