Please open your Bible to Hebrews
chapter 1. It's a wonderful privilege to be with
you again, and we have been trying to work it out so that we could
come for a few months now. And had I known that Brother
Marvin was already ahead of me in going through the book of
Hebrews on Wednesday night, I don't know if I could be as
sure about another passage, but I think I probably would knowing
myself. I would not dare this close behind
this young man. I wouldn't do that for the world.
But I've been working on verses 2, 3, and I've actually been
working on 2 and 3 for the last three weeks at home, and you cannot exhaust what is in
these statements. It is just wonderful, wonderful
indeed. Let's just read these four verses
to refresh our minds, and for those that have not heard this,
that they could join us in this glorious, glorious statement
about our Savior, the Lord Jesus. God, who at various times and
in different ways spoke in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son," or
literally, by Son, "...whom he has appointed heir
of all things." This cannot be be spoken concerning the Lord
Jesus as purely the Son of God. But it can only be spoken of
Him as the Christ, the God-Man. For as the Son of God, these
things were already His and can never be anything but His. But in His human nature, united
to His divine nature, making just one person with two distinct
natures, It can be said, whom God, that's Jehovah, the triune
God, has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made
the worlds. And then this glorious, glorious
statement in verse 3, who being, not being made, who being, not
even being appointed, who being. Being is an eternal word when
it comes to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
It cannot know any change. It cannot know a beginning or
an end. Who being the brightness of God's
glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all
things by the word of His power, when he, Christ, had by himself,
by himself, by himself, purged, atoned for our sins. What happened then? Sat down
on the right hand of the majesty on high. Why did he sit down? No priest in the whole of the
Old Testament ever sat down. There was not a chair in the
tabernacle or the temple, but the Lord Jesus sat down for one
reason. It is finished. Glorious word, finished. Now the first thing I want to
do is to ask you to return to the 2nd Psalm for a moment because
in the 2nd Psalm we have an Old Testament picture of what we've
just read about in the New. And sometimes we can see things
when looked at from an alternate angle that we miss in the very
plainest language of Holy Scripture. Now I can't reread Psalm 2, I
just want to point out some things to you that I hope will give
you a sense of what this psalm is all about. It's all about
Christ from start to finish. And the problem is this. Mankind,
poor people, rich people, kings, rulers, governors, presidents,
senators, congressmen, and anybody else, no matter where they go
on the ladder. Every man with Adam's nature
has defied God to make His Son our Lord. And the first three verses tell
us of this rebellion, the kings, the rulers, and the common people,
both Jew as well as Gentile. This is a a psalm of four stanzas
with three verses in each stanza. So beginning at verse four, well,
let me read to you verse three. Here's what we said. These are
words that belong on my tongue and yours. Let us break their
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us. We refuse, for God to rule
over us. Now what's the Lord going to
do? The next three verses, the second stanza, describe what
God sees. They said you can't do this.
Look what happened. He that sits in the heavens shall
laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in
his sordid pleasure." And here's what he said. Yet have I set
my King, King Jesus, upon my holy hill of Zion. You say I can't. I already have. It's already done. It's been
done, in effect, all the way from eternity. But now it's been
fully and completely accomplished, and Christ is literally sitting
at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Then if you'll look
in verses 7, 8, and 9, these are the words of the Lord Jesus. But His words are to quote the
promises from the Father's Word. Beginning at verse 7, 8, and
9, I will declare the decree. Here's the decree. The Lord, the Lord God Jehovah. Notice the difference in spelling
there than the regular word Lord with just a capital L. This has
all letters capitalized. It's the Lord God Jehovah, the
triune God. The Lord has said unto me, you
are my son. This day have I begotten you.
The Father said to the Son, ask of me, and I shall give you the
heathen for your inheritance, the Gentiles. Hallelujah. Thank God for your inheritance in the uttermost
parts of the earth, for your possessions. You shall break
them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And the final three verses
apply to God the Holy Ghost to give us wisdom, us smart aleck
sinners who think we know more than God. He says, Be wise. And here's the wisdom. Verse
12. Kiss the Son. Here's God's wisdom. Kiss the
Son, lest He be angry and you perish from the way when His
wrath is kindled but a little. And that final statement, Blessed
are all they that put their trust in Him. Oh my, what a statement
indeed. And then to find these words
amplified by those words. How glorious, how glorious indeed. All right, back to Hebrews chapter
one. Now that was the first introduction. This is the second one. I'm half
joking and half serious. But I want to point something
out to you that you might miss. I missed it until somebody pointed
it out to me. I forget what writer I was reading,
but he rung my bell with it. The Lord Jesus, as our mediator,
as the Christ, has three major offices in his mediatorship. Three. Prophet, priest and king. And here they are in the second
and third verses. Here's the first one. God has, verse 2, Hebrews 1,
God has in these last days spoken unto us by Son. speaks through Christ alone. Christ is the Word of God. He is the subject of the written
Word, and He is yet the living Word. But He is God's voice,
His mouthpiece to humanity. No matter the generation, no
matter the century, no matter the country, the language, these
things have nothing to do with it. If God ever speaks to a sinner,
it'll be in His Son. There, my friend, is the glory
of Christ, is our prophet, our prophet. And from this point
to the end of Hebrews, there's one word that can be found, if
not in actual existence, yet in everything that is said in
the 13 chapters that make up this book, and it is the word
better. Did I say that right, Marvin? We had a language lesson at supper
tonight, and I'm a bit confused, frankly. But better. Christ is better than prophets. He's the prophet. He's better
than angels. He's better than Moses. He's
better than the priest, better than the tabernacle. better, glorious word better, an infinitely,
infinitely better prophet. In spiritual matters, as in the
creation of the world, the Lord Jesus simply speaks and it is
done. That's how sinners are saved.
We're recreated the very same way we were created by the Word
of God. He simply speaks and it is done. All right. The second thing,
and here's where I want to spend most of my time, but right now
I'm just going to comment on it and catch the third one. Then
we'll come back and work on this. In the third verse, we have this
expression. Beginning with the word when,
that's about two thirds, three fourths of the way through the
third verse. Now, there are a lot of things in verse three, but
you just can't deal with all of them at one time. But I wanted
to get this in. Christ is not only our prophet,
but listen to this statement. Look carefully at this one. We're
coming back to this one. When he had, that's past tense,
right? Where's the English teacher in
here? when He had by Himself purged, put away, atoned for
our sins, that, my friend, is the high
priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a glorious, glorious
work indeed. It's all His. It's His from start
to finish. and the glory belongs to him. And then the third one. Prophet
and priest and king sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. King Jesus. He is not waiting
to be king. He is king. Even in the second
psalm the Lord says, I've already made him king. You say, I can't.
I have. He has been forever. But now
he sits and reigns on his throne. People speak of Christ as though
sometime way out in the future, whenever that is, a thousand
years or more from now or whenever that he's going to begin to reign.
No, my friend, he reigns right this moment. His reign is so
complete. So absolute that you find a statement
like this tucked away even in the Old Testament, Psalm 76,
10. Even the wrath of man shall praise thee. Even things that
we cannot see in ourselves with any stretch of our imagination.
We cannot possibly see how this could bring honor and glory to
our Savior. But I'm telling you, if it happens,
it does. Because the rest of that statement
in Psalm 76, 10 is, and the remainder of wrath, whatever of man's wrath
cannot be used to the glory of God, God will restrain. It won't ever happen. It will
not come to pass. That, my dear friends, is a statement
of grand proportions. Now let's come back to this little
word. Little phrase here in verse three. I just feel helpless when I look
at this statement. When Christ had by himself purged
our sins. Now this word purged our sins
is to clear from guilt by atonement. Atonement. And this atonement
must extend so that it will not, the charges, the penalties, will
not be imputed on us, nor shall we be punished for them, because
He's endured it all. It is indeed. Purged our sins. This atonement. There's only
one atonement. How many years they celebrated
the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament Scriptures, I couldn't
begin to figure out. But that was all a type, a picture,
a shadow of Christ who is to come. When the Lord Jesus went
to the tree, That atonement was done. Done one time and done
forever. So it is indeed glorious. Oh, so wonderfully glorious. Here's our problem. Here's what
we must guard against. We must not tolerate nor even
think in our minds of adding or mixing anything of our own
with the Savior's precious, blessed, finished work. Nothing, nothing
whatsoever can be added to what He's done. The work is done,
and we want to tack on some little thing that we do. Oh, preacher,
I know all this, but you still have to be willing No, God saves
the unwilling, thank you very much. Not the willing. To make us willing is nothing
for God, but it's impossible for you and me. We can't make
ourselves willing. You've got to be alive first,
and we're spiritually dead. And all around us, Any state
in the union, any country in this world, and religion is telling
its followers, God's done all he can do and now it's up to
you. This is just downright awful.
Marvin and I were talking about the blood of Christ and the death
of the Lord Jesus, particularly in John 3.16. And a statement I read on a church
sign in Fayetteville just recently. In fact, as far as I know, it's
still there. Let's see. It may not come to me now, Marvin. When God first saw you, it was
the time of love. Yes, it was love at first sight.
When God first saw you, it was love at first sight. And this
is a busy thoroughfare and thousands upon thousands of people travel
past it every day. And every Tom, Dick and Harry
reads that sign and says, I believe that. God loves me. He can't
do anything bad to me. He loves me. My friend, if we're
not in his son by the power of God's saving grace and mercy
in the gospel of Christ, we'll find out. God has wrath that
must, must be carried out. If it wasn't carried out on Calvary,
it'll be carried out in ourselves. And that's the truth. That is
the truth. How about turning to Colossians? Let's see, it goes Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. I'll read you a few verses here. the
very last part of Colossians chapter 2, beginning at verse
20. I remember that Paul, in writing
this statement to the Colossian church, is setting before them
the precious honors and glory of our Lord Jesus, and yet here
we are Well, let's just see if we're
in this statement. Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from
the rudiments of the world, the base elements of the world, why,
as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances
such as touch not, taste not, and handle not? All of these
things are to perish with the using. And they are all after,
last part of verse 22, after the commandments and doctrines
of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship. And there's only two kinds of
worship in this whole wide world, God's worship and will worship. That's the only two there is. Which things have indeed a show
of wisdom and will, worship and humility. That's false humility. And neglecting of the body. Somebody
said if you'll punish the body, it'll save the soul. Baloney. Will not. It will not. It'll make you arrogant and proud,
but it won't save your soul. ain't nothing you can do to save
yourself. If God's salvation is not good
enough for you, there isn't any anywhere. Which things have indeed a show
of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting of the
body, but do not in any way honor God, but rather satisfy the flesh. All right, back to Hebrews 1
one more time. Marvin, I forgot to look at my
clock. I don't know what time I started,
so I might be in a little trouble. Let me tell you a little story.
It's really true. It took place back in 2006. little country church where my
wife and I grew up. She married a child bride, and
we moved away when we were 18. They had their 250th anniversary
in 06. That church started in 1756.
That's a long time ago. They're proud of that. Let me
tell you, they're proud of it. Because I'd grown up in that
church, my family was in that church, they had a six-week celebration,
had a different preacher every Sunday. And it was all a gimmick
to raise money. I didn't know that until after
the fact, but I should have known it. Just stupidity on my part
because I didn't know it. But at any rate, I told the folks
at home before I went on Wednesday night, I was going the next Sunday,
I said, The only time I preached in that church since God taught
me the gospel was to do funerals. I don't remember how many, but
oh, five or six in the last 15 years. But I told my folks, I
said, my best guess, if I had to guess, I'm going to step in
that pulpit at quarter to 12, Sunday morning. They're going
to spend all that other time on nothing. Everything under
the sun except Christ. It was 14 minutes to 12 o'clock. And I went there to preach at
least a 45-minute message. And I wasn't planning to leave
until I did. But I didn't want to be rude about it. So I got
about halfway through my message, and I stopped. And the pastor
was sitting one bench behind you right there, Arvin. I said,
Pastor, I said, at home I have more time than
this to preach. I knew what I was doing. I was
setting him up. He can't say but one thing, and
that's take all the time you need. And so I did. I didn't try to abuse it. I think
I finished it maybe 23 minutes after 12, which for them was
unheard of. But the gospel's been kicked
out the back door. Preaching's been kicked out the
back door. The preacher usually steps in the pulpit at 10 minutes
to 12 so he can give a little sermonette. That's all they want. Don't want any more. And I know
I won't get invited back, and that's OK. But I had to say what
I had to say. And so Marvin, I at least didn't
put you in that spot. You're too smart. Yeah. All right. Hebrews 1, 3. Here's
all I got to do now, and I'll be finished. You understand the statement,
when he had by himself purged our sins. I know you do. We understand
it up here. But whether we truly have a love
for it here, that's not my province. I can't accomplish that, not
one single bit, and I know it. I can't even do it for myself.
That's grace, my friend. That's Christ. That's mercy. Two things. Number one, by himself. I just want to talk to you about
what that means, by himself. And the other thing is a little
three letter word that I found out today. I don't pronounce
correctly, hour. O-U-R, hour. So let's work on
by himself. Okay, here we go. If you'll turn
to the book of Exodus chapter 20. Many of you will recognize already
that that's the chapter in which we find the Ten Commandments. Now, I don't know if you've ever
thought about this. At the end of the chapter that
gives us the Ten Commandments, we have instructions from the
Lord on how He is to be worshipped and the altar upon which He is
to be worshipped. It looks to me like the Lord
never expected his people to be able to keep these commandments,
and indeed they cannot. They did not, nor do we. You read the church sign, it
says the Ten Commandments are not optional. Well, it doesn't
matter to me if you put one up there or ten, it's all to the
same end. We can't do it. Never could, and never have. Except as we have done so in
our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. All right, verse 23, Exodus
20. You shall not make with me, not
of me. You see the difference? With
me. Not to make the God of the Bible
an idol. but to put other gods beside
him. You shall not make with me gods
of silver, neither shall you make unto you gods of gold. And
here's the specific instruction. An altar of earth, just plain
dirt. An altar of dirt shall you make
unto me, and shall sacrifice thereon your burnt offerings,
your peace offerings, your sheep, your oxen in all places where
I record my name, I will come unto you and I'll bless you. And if you'll make me an altar
of stone," two things now, an altar of earth and an altar of
stone. Now why those two materials? Because they both picture God's
real altar, which is the Lord Jesus, the dirt represents His
humanity and the stone represents His deity, the God-man. Look what it says. Verse 25,
And if you shall make me an altar of stone, you shall not build
it of hewn stone. The stone cannot be touched By
man's art and craft, it must be used precisely as it comes
from the ground. This ought to teach us some valuable
information about this by himself. It's got to be all Christ or
no Christ at all. There is no in between. You shall
not build it of hewn stones, for if you lift up your tool
upon it, You have polluted it. And if we lift up anything of
our own in the matter of God saving us or our being used of
Him to bring the gospel to someone else, we have polluted the whole
process. And God will not be in it, will
not be party to it. You have polluted it. Neither
shall you go up by steps upon my altar, that your nakedness
be not discovered thereon." Christ is both altar, sacrifice, and
priest, and the God to whom it's offered. All in one. All in one. When he had by himself
purged our sins. One more scripture on this point.
Acts chapter 17. Paul is in Mars Hill preaching. He's in the center of the philosophical
world of his day. And in this place called the
Areopagus, they have gods unbelievable in number. And just in case they
missed one, they have one altar, and it says, to the unknown God. And Paul said, that's the God
I wish to talk to you about. And he makes this statement,
and it's It's germane to what we're looking at in this statement,
when he had by himself, by himself, purged our sins. You want to know the verse? Acts 17, 25. Here it is. Here's
the whole thing. Neither is worshipped. God cannot
be worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything. To suggest that He does is blasphemy. We need Him. He does not need
us. That's the truth. That's the
truth. One more word. When he had by
himself purged, our, O-U-R, our sins. Now whose sins did the
Lord Jesus purge? For whose sins did he give that
one and only atonement that can put away sin? Who? All right. I probably told you
this story before but it's, I'm getting redundant Marvin, it's
germane to the case. Like a defense lawyer putting
on a, you know, trying to keep his client from going to the
electric chair or whatever. If you and I would pay more attention
to how statements are worded in our Bibles, and to whom these
statements are made and whether, in fact, we can say that they
are made to us. For example, in this case of
our, in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, Paul is speaking first of
all of himself and of the persons to whom this letter is addressed.
So then in a secondary sense, it belongs to believers not only
in that generation, but in every succeeding generation. So if
you and I are in Christ and Christ is in us, then that hour belongs
to me. But this word hour is easily. Oh, can I get by with this word
prostituted? OK. Betty and I grew up in the
backside of nowhere in some rural counties in eastern North Carolina.
There used to be a little town called Car Station. It was a
train station. Now, it wasn't a station like
you all think of train stations. I mean, it was out in the boonies,
and there were maybe two stores at that little intersection where
you cross the railroad track. But there was a particular store
at Car Station, K-E-R-R, Car Station. And you wouldn't believe
the name of that store. It was Us's. Hmm. U-S-E-S, if I'm mistaken, not. Us's store. Now everybody's an
us, but I guarantee you one thing, everybody didn't own that store.
All of us fit the word our. That doesn't mean this one belongs
to us. You follow me? And all Bible reading has to
take this into account. I was going to take you to John
chapter 6 and work on a statement there, but let me just give you
one more scripture in the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes. Let's see. I'm scared I'll get
these out of order, but Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Chapter
9. Here's a perfect statement to
conclude our thinking on this statement. When Christ had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High." Ecclesiastes 9.7, chapter 9, verse 7. It reads, Go your way, eat your
bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart." Why? Because God now accepts your
works. Now tell me when that happens.
For that matter, when does God begin to accept our worship? And you know the answer when
Christ is all. when He's everything to us. But
look at it in the light of this verse. And maybe you can see
it from a little different angle. Here it is. Verse 7 again. Go
your way if Christ is my way. Eat your bread with joy if Christ
is made to us the bread of life. Drink your wine with a merry
heart, if Christ is made to us our joy. For God now accepts your works. Marvin, that's kind of rough
around the edges, buddy, but that's it. you know the wonderful thing