If you will, turn back with me
to Hebrews chapter 9. I primarily want to focus on verses
24 through 28. Hebrews chapter 9 shows us in
plain language the superiority of Christ over the old priests. and his sufficiency to satisfy
God on the behalf of chosen sinners. And my hope and my goal, my earnest
prayer to God is that I might preach to you this morning about
a man in glory. That's what this book is telling
us about. There is a man just like you,
just like me, a man in glory. When God saves a sinner, Colossians
112, he makes him meet to be a partaker of the inheritance
of saints in light. What's he talking about, saints
in light? Enlightened saints. Saints who know the truth. They know who Christ is. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed. I don't speculate about it. I
know whom I have believed. I found him in God's word. I
found him in the gospel. I found him. I found him. And I found him because he found
me. He found me. Believers are not just a professor
of grace. Believers are enabled of God
to lay hold of Christ, to lay hold of eternal life. It's not
just a doctrine to them. In John 1 12, he tells us he'd
been given power to become sons of God. Wow. What's that word power mean? Is it talking about ability or
permission? Yes. Talk about both. Talk about both. And these men
who have power to become sons of God are born of God. That's what it tells us in the
very next verse. Born of God. Not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. And my friend,
when God saves a sinner, he sends the Holy Ghost to abide in him. to take up residence in him. In 1 Corinthians 3.16, Paul said,
know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you? Now here's a picture Paul uses
by which to see how the Holy Spirit dwells in us. How did the spirit dwell in the
temple of God? He said, ye are the temple. Don't
you know how? If you're the temple of God,
do you know anything at all about the temple? How did the spirit of God dwell
in the temple of God? Well, his presence was made known
by what the old writers called the Shekinah glory of God. Now you won't find that word
in the scripture, but it's an English word that's translated
to best describe the glory, when he talks about the glory of the
Lord in the tabernacle. The word shekinah is an English
translation of a Hebrew word which means dwelling or settling. The shekinah was a glorious light
that filled the tabernacle and filled the temple. And this light
is the light of revelation. Everything in that tabernacle
was a figure for the time then present. Figures of things and
havens, patterns, things that we could look at and God could
communicate his truth to us. It's the light of revelation,
the light of divine favor, the light of the presence of God
sanctifying that place where he dwells. And Paul said this,
if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not. Now listen, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. unless
God should shine that Shekinah glory. Settle on them. Abide in them
as he did in that tabernacle. For we preach not ourselves but
Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Is
he talking about the sun? No. No, he didn't do that for
several days in creation. But this light is the light of
the glory of God, which he shines on even his creation. And God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. where ministers, Paul said, of
the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for
the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. And we know God's
presence is in us by the revelation of Christ in us. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. It's the hope of glory. Peter
makes a great statement in 1 Peter 1, verse 8. He's talking about Christ and
he said, whom having not seen, ye love. In whom though now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice, with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. And then one more verse before
I get into the message. In John chapter six, verse 37.
He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. What are you trying to say, Preacher?
I'm trying to say this, salvation's in a person. That's what Paul,
he just keeps saying. He said it in chapter one, he
said it in chapter two, he said it in chapter three, he said
it in chapter four, and he just keeps going all through the book
of Hebrews, preaching a person. Through this man, he told him
at Antioch, he has preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
Forgiveness of sins is in a person. Knowledge of God is in a person.
He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. A real and living person. And
that's what I want you to think about this morning. There is
a real and living person seated at the right hand of God. A man
in glory. Some I preach to are like Jews
of old. They search the scriptures, for
in them they think they have eternal life. They search the
scriptures, the doctrines, the mysteries, the history, sound
theology, clear interpretation, sit down and write books. But
Christ said, you will not come to me. These are things that
testify of me, but you won't come to me. You go to the things. I'll never forget when I, when
my kids was little and their first Christmas. And I, you know,
you want it to be special for them. And so I bought them all
these presents. You know what they did? They took what was
in the box and threw it down and played with the box. That's
what I'm talking about. That's what our Lord's talking
about. These are they which testify me, but you won't come to me.
You go to the box. You won't play with the empty
box. You have a form of righteousness. I'm righteousness. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. You won't come to me, he said.
You won't come to me. You won't trust me. You don't
rejoice in me. You search the scriptures. Your
doctrines are sound. You got sound theology, clear
interpretation. But you won't come unto me that
you might have life. He said this is the record that
God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son.
It's in His Son. And our text speaks of a man,
Hebrews 10 verse 12, but this man, this man, not another, this
man. So let me give you five things
this morning that believers are enlightened of God to see when
they look at this man. First of all, they see him as
a real and living man. He's a man. Those disciples walked
with a man. They ate with him, talked with
him. John said he leaned his head on his breast. He loved
him. He was a man. He walked with
him, he talked with him, communicated with him, healed their diseases. He was a real and living man.
Our Lord said to Thomas when he appeared, Thomas doubted what
he was looking at. And the Lord said, give me your
finger, Thomas. Put it right there. Stick it
in that hole. Now give me your fist. Run it
into my side. And be not faithless, but believing. Believing he's a real man. A real man. We see Jesus, Paul said, who
was made a little lower than the angels for suffering of death,
but then crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of
God, should taste death for every man. That is, every man given
to him of God. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham, the promised seed. To Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds
as of many, but unto thy seed, which is Christ. Which is Christ. He's a real and living man. Christ
came into this world made of a woman. Made under the law. to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And salvation comes to chosen
sinners by way of substitution and representation. There's no
other reason for Christ to take on himself the form of a man
except to represent men. Had to be a man who died on that
cross. Had to be a man born under that
law to live under that law and brought out of righteousness.
Had to be a man like you to be able to understand your sufferings.
He had to suffer just like you do. Listen to this. He being in the
form of God, back yonder in eternity in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God. What a statement. but made himself, Russell, of
no reputation. Can you imagine? The God of glory,
the infinite, eternal God of glory made himself without reputation. People walk by and look at him
and say, who's he? Who's he? He came into the world, and the
world knew him not. He came under his own, and his
own received him not. Who's he? He ain't got no reputation.
He didn't graduate from our schools. He don't have a diploma. He don't
have on phylacteries. He don't have on our gown. He made himself of no reputation,
and he took on him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto death. Even
the death of the cross. The life he lived was not for
himself, but for us. The death he died was not for
his sin, but for ours. His being raised from the dead
was not to show his inability to rise, but to show God's satisfaction
with what he did. And all for whom he did it. What are you saying? I'm saying
a man rose from the dead. They came out to see him, to
lay some flowers by his tomb. When they got there, that great
big stone them Romans put there, the seal was broken, the stone
was rolled back, and the tomb was empty. The angel was standing there
and he said, what are you looking for? He ain't here. Who ain't
here? He ain't here. He, the man. He ain't here. He's risen. Just like he told you. He's risen. A man rose from the dead and
a man showed himself risen for nearly a month. And a man stepped
onto a cloud and ascended back into glory. And they stood there. You can read about it on the
book of Acts. They stood there gazing. I would have, wouldn't
you? Huh? This man that you walked
with for three and a half years, you walked with him, you knew
him, you knew his brothers and his sisters and his friends,
and you walked with him, and all of a sudden he steps onto
a cloud with the angels and starts to ascend back into glory. And
they just stood there with their mouth open watching the Son of
God ascend back into glory. And these two men appeared to
them. And they said, why you stand there gazing into heaven? This same man that you see goin'
up there, he comin' again in a like manner. He's comin' back. Who's comin' back? The man, Christ
Jesus. The disciples stood speechless
lookin' up into heaven. And I preach and pray in the
name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. One mediator between God and
me and the man, Christ Jesus. And then secondly, what kind
of a man is he? He's the God man. He's a one
of a kind. One of a kind. Deity and humanity
rolled up into one person. What kind of man is he? He's
a victorious man. He's a victorious man. This man
being come a high priest of good things to come. by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, but that body, a body hast thou
gave me, he said. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place. Now watch it, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Who did? The man. The man, Christ
Jesus. Eternal redemption, he possesses
it. He possesses it. Redemption's
not a work in process, it's a work accomplished. Colossians 1 20
says, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him,
by this man, to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I
say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you, that was sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. So much so that
when he sat down at the right hand of God, God said we sat
down with him. Huh? Now, if there's blame to be put
on you, you can't sit with him. If you can be reproved, you can't
sit with him. But we're seated with him in
the heavens, representatively. Well, how did I know he did this
for me? Well, he goes on in Colossians 1, and he said, if you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which you heard. What is the hope of the
gospel? Christ in you. Do you see what I'm talking about?
All God's elect are seated with Christ in heavenly places, and
his presence there is the presence of our guarantor. Our guarantor. He's a real man. He's a victorious
man. And then thirdly, he's seated
at the right hand of God. He's not sitting on a chair. I came up here and sat down on
a bench a while ago. He ain't sitting on a bench.
He ain't sitting on a chair. Where's he sitting? On the throne.
On the throne. Way back yonder in the back of
my mind, I would just think what a privilege it would be to be
somewhere in glory. Just to be somewhere. Just to
be there. I don't want the chief seats. We're seated with him on the
throne. Paul said, you're down here groveling over this. Don't
you know the world is yours? The world? The world is yours. Don't you know that you're going
to judge angels? Don't you know that? You're gonna sit with Him
in glory on His throne. That's where we're at right now. All God's elect are seated with
Christ in heavenly places in Him. He's sitting upon the throne
of glory. In Revelations 5, 6, John said
they opened the doors of heaven and let John peek in, let him
see what's in heaven. What's gonna be in heaven? Listen
to this. John saw the Lamb in the midst of the throne. That's the only place you can
see it, because that's where he's at. God ever reveals Christ
to you, he's gonna show you the Lamb's in the midst of the throne. He's in the midst of the throne.
And you've never seen the lamb until you see him on the throne.
All the heavenly multitude cried with a loud voice, salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne. Who they talking
about? Talking about Christ. And what about his church here?
He said for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them. And shall lead them. unto living
fountains of waters, and God himself shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. The Lamb on the Throne. We're
not resting in a lamb that's still trying to save, but in
a lamb who sits on the throne. He's the reigning victorious
potentate. In his day he shall show who
is the only blessed and only potentate. Lord of Lords and
King of Kings. And providence is arranged by
Him, creation is ordered by Him, and salvation will come to pass
according to the counsel of His own will. And God and man sitting
together as one on the throne of glory. They're one in purpose,
they're one in person. They're one. They're one. And then fourthly, I see by faith
a watchful, caring, loving, merciful intercession at the right hand
of God. This man. This man who can enter
in. I can talk to him about pain.
He knows what pain is. I can talk to him about illness.
I can talk to him about suffering. I can talk to him about persecution.
And he understands what I'm saying. And then think about this. Paul
said, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that it's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. Not crying and begging
his father not to cast a bunch of rebels into hell, or begging
him to give us another chance. That's how religion portrays
the intercession of Christ. No, he's seated at the right
hand of God. By his person as our representative,
his presence at the right hand of God is his intercession. He came to accomplish the redemptive
will of God, and having accomplished it, fully satisfying God, he
ascended into glory, and us with him, and sat down with him at
the Father's right hand. And now John said, If any man
sin, somebody said that should read like this, when we sin,
we're gonna sin. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have no standing of our own,
we stand in him. His sitting is our standing.
Our life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ who is our
life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. I am, he said, the good shepherd
who giveth his life for the sheep. His sheep hear his voice and
they follow him. Who do they follow? This man.
They follow him. And he gives to them eternal
life and they'll never perish, neither so any man plucked him
out of his hand. This man, this glorious God-man,
this blessed potentate watches over us and keeps us. In Jude,
verse 24, he said, now unto him that's able to keep you from
falling. You can fall. Be careful, he said, because
when a man thinks he stands, that's when he's going to fall.
But he's able to keep you from falling. and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. And then
lastly, Paul tells us that unto them that look for him, who are
they looking for? They're looking for that man.
They're looking for that man, that same Jesus that you saw
ascend up into glory, coming again, coming again. Unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. All of his
humility, suffering, persecution, and death was brought about by
sin. By sin. First Corinthians 15.3
tells us that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. He bore our sins, the scripture
said, in his own body on the tree. He put away our sins by
the sacrifice of himself. And through this man, Paul said,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. When Christ came into
this world, he came as a substitute. He came bearing our sins, liable
for our sins, died to pay for our sins. God laid on him the
iniquity of us all. And by His precious blood, by
His death on the cross, our sins and iniquities will be remembered
no more. He put them away, away. And where remission of these
is, Paul said, there is no more offering for sin. And all those
who look for Him, for His coming, for His appearance, He's gonna
appear the second time without sin. He's not coming back this
next time as a substitute. His substitutionary days are
over. His being a sin bearer is over. He's going to appear without
sin. He's not coming as a substitute, but as the glorified redeemer
and savior of his elect. The scripture said, for he must
reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, and the last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. No more death. No more death. May the Lord give
us grace to look for Him. As I was reading through there,
I was thinking there's three looks. We look to Him, don't
we? We look to Him. And we look for
Him. Unto them that look for Him.
We're looking for Him, looking for His return. And the last
thing that we're gonna do is look at Him. He's going to appear
and tell what the scripture says. He's gonna appear. You're gonna
see him face to face. Face to face. May the Lord give
us grace to understand these things, be reminded of them constantly,
and look for him. All right, thank you.