If you take your Bibles now,
turn to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. Look at
the first three verses here this evening. The title of this message, Jesus
Christ, the word of God. Jesus Christ. The word. Of God. Scripture says God. who at sundry times and in divers
manners, in different times and in different ways, he spake in
times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken to us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of
all things and by whom also he made the worlds. who being the
brightness of his glory and the express image of his person,
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. Now this book of Hebrews, this
book, the purpose of the book of Hebrews, was to express the
superiority of Jesus Christ and the new covenant over that which
the Hebrews had adored and loved for so many centuries, the old
covenant. The superiority of Jesus Christ
and his covenant that he by his person is better than the angels,
better than Moses, better than the priests, better than the
sacrifices, better than the tabernacle. And his covenant, a covenant
of grace, a covenant of mercy, the new covenant is better than
a covenant of works, the covenant of the Mosaic law. Now all these
things then he is telling us. God at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. All that is contained in the
law and the prophets and all the kings and psalms and proverbs,
God spoke to these men. It is indeed the word of God. It is indeed the word of God. But we have to understand that
all that God spoke in time past in different ways to these prophets
speaks to us of His Son and His covenant. Of His Son, Jesus Christ. God in grace was willing to make
Himself known. How? In different ways and in
different times. In time past He spake. The first
time we hear God speak to man is after the fall. Adam failed,
ran from God, hid from God, sought to cover his own sin. And when God came and exposed
him, Adam even blamed God. He said, the woman you gave me,
It's your fault. But how rich is the mercy of
God not to destroy Adam? Instead, He spoke to Adam. He spoke to Adam. What did Adam
hear? What did God speak to Adam the
first time God spoke to man after the fall? What were His words
concerning? It was concerning His Son. The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent and he shall bruise his heel. And from
that time forth God began to speak to men. He spoke to men concerning His
Son in different ways and at different times. He came to Adam
personally. He spoke to Moses audibly. He came to them in dreams and
in visions. He spoke to the prophets by angels
and signs and wonders and miracles. And all that was spoken is the
word of God. All we have in the Old Testament
is just as infallible and necessary as that which is written in the
New Testament. Because they both have the same
theme and subject. the same object. Friends, all
of the law and the prophets and the Psalms spoke concerning Christ. They spoke concerning God's redemptive
plan to save his people from their sin. In Acts chapter 10
and verse 43 it says, Paul says to him, gave all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sin. Did you hear that? All that he
spoke to the prophets was concerning Christ, faith in Christ. After our Lord rose again from
the dead in Luke 24, he tells us these words, these are the
words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you. that
all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. So everything God spoke in time
past under the fathers and the prophets, no matter how he spoke
to them, no matter what he used, he always had the same message. Jesus Christ, his son. And I like that in the next verse
in Luke 24 he said, then he opened their understanding. You see,
I can tell you that. You can go to the Old Testament
and try to find it. But to tell you the truth, only
God can reveal this to a man. He must open our understanding
to see that all the scriptures speak of Christ. In John 5 and verse 46, Jesus
said, for he for had you believed Moses, you would have believed
me or he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings,
how sure you believe my words, not see that they're the same.
God spoke to these men different ways and in different times,
but he always spoke of Christ. And if we are to study this word,
we're to look in the Old Testament scriptures and we're to look
for anything but Christ. You miss what the Father said.
You miss what the purpose of Scripture is. It is to point
men to Christ. Now the Old Testament, we may
see there then is what we call a progressive revelation in the
Old Testament. Not everything was revealed right
away. It was very cryptic in his language. The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent. You know what happened? As soon
as she had Cain, she was happy. She said, I've gotten a man,
child of the Lord. What? She thought that was the Savior.
She didn't quite understand. It was not yet fully revealed.
But as you go along in scripture, the scripture, the prophecies
become more clear. They become clearer. You think
of Moses and the Passover lamb. Speaking of Christ and his offering.
All of the law the priest, the tabernacle, the table of showbread,
the laver, the candlestick, the Ark of the Covenant. All of that
was picturing Jesus Christ. Every part of the furniture. When Moses smote that rock, who
was the rock? It was Christ. And as the time grew closer,
to the coming of Christ, the pictures grew brighter. The prophecies
became clearer. Consider that we just went over
in Isaiah chapter 53. In Isaiah chapter 53, how clear
is that prophecy? It was much clearer than the
one Adam had. Much clearer than the one Moses
had. It grew brighter and brighter.
Romans 16, Paul says this, now to him that hath power to establish
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret
since the world began. But now, but now is made manifest. Aren't you grateful to live in
such a time when the scripture is plainly revealed to you. It's now made manifest by the
scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting
God made known to all nations for this purpose, the obedience
of faith. It's what it was made known for. This gospel was hid in a mystery
and types and shadows. But now that Christ has come,
the light has shined out of a dark place. The day star has now risen. And even now has the son of righteousness
risen with healing in his wings. The Messiah has now come. There
is no more need for pictures. There's no more need for types
or visions or miracles. No more need for these things.
Why? Because Christ is plainly, clearly
revealed. I remember when one time Cheryl
and I were separated for a while, she had to go back to Tennessee
and I had a picture of her. That picture meant a lot to me. But when she came back, I didn't
need the picture anymore. I put it on a mantle, put it
in a frame, put it over there somewhere. I didn't need that
anymore. This is what God has done to those shadows and pictures
of the old covenant. God spoke in different times
to the fathers by types and pictures, but in these last days, look
what he says, hath in these last days, spoken unto us by his son. Now these words, the last days,
when they were spoken to the Jewish mind, it had reference
to the days of Messiah. If you're reading the Old Testament,
the last days or the last times, it often, they knew that this
was speaking of the times of Christ. When the Messiah was to come,
all the governmental and ceremonial law would end and would usher
in the time of his reign. Genesis 49, it said the scepter
shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet
until when? Until Shiloh comes. Those law, that law and the prophets
and the ceremonies and the rituals should stand until Shiloh come. And after that, they knew in
the last days, those things would be forever removed. Go to Daniel, Daniel chapter
nine. Cheryl, would you give me water,
please? Daniel chapter nine, look at
verse 24. talking about these words, the
last days. It says, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people
and upon the holy city to finish the transgression, to make an
end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in an
everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and the prophecy,
to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
build Jerusalem under the Messiah, the prince shall be seven weeks
and three score and two weeks. The streets shall be built again
in the wall, even in troublous times. And after three score
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, not for himself. And the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. and the end thereof shall be
with the flood. And unto the end of the war,
desolations are determined. He shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week. In the midst of the week, he
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for
the overspreading of the abomination shall he make it desolate, even
unto the consummation. That determined shall be poured
upon the desolate. What is he saying? Hey, the time
is drawing near. Christ is going to come. He's
going to accomplish salvation. He's going to do away with sin
and transgression and iniquity. How? By being cut off. And when
he is cut off, he determines that all of that Old Testament
dispensation is going to be wiped away. And he did. He did. He sent in the Romans
and they tore down every stone of that old dispensation. And
right now today, it is never coming back. You wonder why there's a mosque
right on top of the Temple Mount? You ever wonder why? Because
it ain't coming back. I've heard for saying I've heard,
you know, for decades, idiots running around telling me they're
going to reestablish those Temple Mount worships. Did you not just
read what he said he's going to do? He's going to make a desolation
of it. Why? Because it fulfilled his
purpose. Christ, of whom those things
were spoke, spoke of him. He has now come and they are
done away with. They're done away with. Shiloh
has come. Now that Shiloh has come, the
veil has been rent. In two that separated God from
man. He has, by his coming, brought
peace and restored fellowship with God. I tell you what, I praise God
for his word. I praise God for these Old Testament
scriptures. They're very refreshing to me
because I see I see Christ clearly in them. I see clearly that they
were pictured Christ. Praise God that he spoke to Adam,
you know, man was made in peace and in fellowship with God, but
after he disobeyed God, he could no longer fellowship with God.
Man by nature is corrupt. Our mind is carnal. We are at
enmity against God. Our mind is not subject to God.
Neither indeed can be. I tell you this, I could man could
have never found out how to restore fellowship with God had God not
come and spoke to him. could not find how to restore
fellowship, not by reason, not by his obedience. So it is with us all men by nature. No, there is a God, but they
cannot know him. They cannot understand him. They cannot know his nature by
their feelings. Every man is going about blindly
trying to know God. Some rely on visions and dreams. Others try to know God by their
own intellect. Some think they can know God
by nature or religion. Men think that if they're just
sincere enough that they can know God, but listen, God, you
cannot know God apart from his word. You cannot know God apart from
his word. And what is his word? His word
is Jesus Christ. You cannot know God apart from
the son. I want to point out the only
way then that God will ever speak to man concerning himself, and
that is by his son. The only way God will ever reveal
himself is by Jesus Christ. If you ever desire to know God,
if there's any longing to know his person and his character,
If any will know how a sinful man can be reconciled to God,
if any will know joy and peace and have eternal life, it will
only be revealed by the person and the work of Jesus Christ,
of whom God has spoken from the beginning. And now that Christ
has come, he has revealed himself plainly. God has revealed himself
plainly through Jesus Christ. He is God's final word. He is God's final revelation. Why don't we add to this book
anymore? Because it's not necessary. God
has revealed everything we need to know of Him speaking about
His Son, Jesus Christ. John said this in John 1, 8,
No man has seen God at any time. Anybody tell you they've seen
God? Don't listen to him. I haven't. The only begotten son who is
in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. Now this passage, I want to see
three things. Go back to your text and I want you to see three
things that God has revealed concerning Jesus Christ. First
of all, I wanted to see the person of Christ. the person of Christ. Secondly, the work of Christ,
and thirdly, the place of Jesus Christ. He hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom he hath made the worlds, who is the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person, upholding all things
by the word of his power. The only way man may know the
invisible God is that God manifest himself. And he did. He did. I was speaking to another pastor
this week about some men desiring to know God through reason, logic. And he had encountered a man
who kept asking for proof If there's a God, where's the
proof? Evidence. No, he don't want evidence,
he wants proof, right? Not evidence, there's plenty
of evidence go around. He wants proof. And the more I read this
passage, the more I understood this, God was manifest in the
flesh. If you want to know if there
is a God, behold, Jesus Christ said that. I'm God. I'm God. The only way for a man to know
the invisible God is that God visibly reveal himself. And he
did. He did visibly reveal himself. So then God, before the world
began, we know this according to the word of God that he has
chosen to save a people. And he's also devised the means
by which they should know him and be received of him. And that
is only by his son. The Old Testament, he gave visible
law, visible types. But now he has put those things
away. They only spoke in part. If you want to know who God is,
you must look to Jesus Christ. He is the full revelation of
God. How can a man know the invisible
God except God reveal him? The glory of this, that Christ
not only was not created in the image of Adam, consider this,
that Adam was created in the image of Christ. When God made man, whose image
did he make him in? He made him in his own image.
He said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. He
who is before all things is here said to be heir of all things.
He is appointed. He is spoken to us by a son whom
he had appointed heir of all things by whom he made the worlds. Consider that Christ is the heir
of all things. Now this is speaking not as the
son of God, but rather the God man. The God man. Consider that he made everything.
Who owns it? By divine right, he who made
all things is Jesus Christ, and by divine right, it's not his
inheritance, it's what he owns. It is his. But not only was he
purposed to make all things as God, he was determined as the
God-man to be heir of all things. To be heir. And he was to do this, obtain
this inheritance by his obedience as a man. This is one of the
promises of Romans chapter eight, that if the children then heirs
and heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. He is the
heir of God's inheritance of everything. Consider the one
that God chose, appointed to be the Messiah. He is heir of
all things. You know what the most peculiar
and special prize of all his inheritance is? His elect. The scripture tells us that we
are his inheritance. Is that not astounding that he
who made the world, sees His people as the jewels of His inheritance. The most precious thing He has
inherited is His people. It was God the Father who chose
these people, and it is God the Father that gave them to His
Son, so that Jesus Christ, who is the true essence and nature
of the invisible God, equal with the Father and Spirit, Yet he
being the heir of the elect must have took upon himself our nature. It says later in Hebrews, it
behooved him to take upon himself not the nature of angels, but
the seed of Abraham. Consider who he is. He is God. And in order to save his people,
he became man. He became man. Philippians 2,
6, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. Anybody else say that? It was no robbery for him to
to think himself, he was equal with being in the nature. You
see Jesus Christ as he walked upon the earth, he had the nature
of God. but made of himself no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and being made in the
likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Consider that the greatness of
the invisible God was manifest in human flesh. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
as of the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. When you consider the person
of Christ, you consider that He is the express image of the
invisible God. Do you desire to know God? Do
you long to see the character and nature of God? Do you long
to have God reveal Himself to you? Then there is none other
way that God reveals this to man but by the person of Jesus
Christ. You won't know God but by the
Son. Listen, if you get the Son wrong,
you've got it all wrong. You get the son wrong, you've
got it all wrong. Behold, the Jesus who created
all the world and all the things were created by him and notice
they were created for him. Everything was made by him and
everything was made for him and by him, Paul says in Colossians,
all things consist It's the same as our text, you being the brightness
of his glory, the express image of his person, upholding all
things by the word of his power. Who upholds all things right
now? Why doesn't everything, the laws
of nature just disperse? Who holds these things together?
That little chair you're sitting in, who's holding it together?
Who's holding it together? He's holding that together by
the word of his power. Everything is upheld by him.
Everything, not one thing, can uphold itself. The same Jesus, who is the servant,
was the maker and sustainer of all creation, so then all things
were made by him, and all things are made for his glory. You get
that question a lot. Why does God allow this? Why
does God do this? If God is, then why is this?
Let me give you the simple answer. Everything's for his glory. Everything. Things that are happening now,
they seem chaotic, don't they? They seem horrible. They seem
evil. But I'm telling you that God
is using all of these things for His own glory. There was
a man who was a atheist, a professed atheist, he believed, he kept
saying this, you know, well, if God is, then why do children
suffer? Why do people get sick? You know,
if there's a God, then, and He has all power, wiser, You know
what the problem with that man is? He wants to be God. He wants to be God. I don't have to explain God. God does whatever God pleases
to do. And so then all things are made
by him and for him who is the brightness of his glory, the
express image of his person. Here's the proof of God's existence,
the person of Jesus Christ. It's like the sun and the rays
of the sun. You cannot separate the sun from
its rays. You cannot know the sun exists
in the sky except the light shine down and reveal it. Even so it
is, you cannot separate God from Jesus Christ. As the rays of
the sun bring light to the world and warmth is experienced, even
so does the sun, who is one with the Father and Spirit. He brings
to light the character and the person of God. So if anyone shall
know God, they must know him by Jesus Christ. If anybody knows
God apart from Christ, they don't know God. Listen to what Christ
said in John 8. He said, if God were your father,
they kept saying, well, God's our father. God's our father.
And he said, no, if God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. All things are
delivered of me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but
the father. Neither knoweth any man the father
save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal. If anybody
is to know the father, the son must do it. Consider this, God
was manifest in the flesh talking to these Pharisees. And yet they
still did not see God in flesh. Why? Because it was not revealed. If Christ were to, if it were
possible for him to come down and be right in this place, if
he were to speak directly as the risen Christ to men, that
would not convince him. Unless he opened their understanding. They will never know him. But
I also know this, that they're never going to know him apart
from Christ. This is why we preach what? Christ and him crucified. Because this is the means God
has chosen to reveal himself to his people. Secondly, the work of Christ.
God expressed to us, his person, by the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we who cannot know God, But by seeing Jesus Christ,
the expressed image of God, God has manifest him to us. 1 Timothy
3.16, without controversy, great as the mystery of godliness,
God was manifest in the flesh. Even so in the work of Jesus
Christ, God is expressing to us something of himself. He's
expressing to us his justice. He's expressing to us his love,
his mercy, and his redemption. This is all contained in the
work of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his disciples, he
said this, if I had not come and spoken to them, they had
not sinned. Now, what does that mean? If he had not spoken to
them, they had not sinned. Now, they had sinned, but they
had not known they had sinned unless what? He spoke. Is that
true of you? Had Christ not spoke to you and
revealed himself to you, you had not known you had sinned. But now they have no cloak for
this sin, and he that hateth me hateth my father also. The work of Jesus in speaking
the word of God and in performing the works of righteousness, he
does what? He exposes sin. When you look
at Christ, what do you see? You see the perfection of God,
don't you? You see the standard by which God judges man. In order
to be accepted, how holy do you have to be? As holy as Jesus Christ. There's the standard. As holy
as the Son of God. So when Christ reveals himself,
he reveals himself as the holy and righteous son of the living
God. And if any man desires eternal
life by the works of the law and then looks to Jesus Christ,
he knows this, he can't attain it. Jesus told those fair men, he
said, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall have no wise. entered the kingdom
of God. But behold what Christ came to
do. He came to fulfill righteousness. As a man, he came to accomplish
righteousness for those gems, those jewels in his inheritance.
He came to accomplish for us what we could not accomplish
ourselves. And as a man, as a representative,
he did obtain for us everlasting righteousness. So then without Christ, there
is no hope. There's no knowledge of God or fellowship with God. You that are without Christ,
you have no hope of life. In fact, I know this, those outside
of Christ hate it. You hate it. You defy the living God. Peter
says, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last
days scoffers walking after their own lust, saying, where's the
promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning. But I'll tell you this, if Christ
ever comes to you, he'll reveal your sin and your need. And then look at the work of
Christ in redemption because he not only reveals our sins,
he also reveals that he by himself has accomplished our redemption. Look at that in your text. Who
being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person
upholding all things by the word when he had by himself purged
our sins. The Son of God came not for the
righteous, but for who? For sinners. That's who he came
to save. He came to expose sinners, but
he also came to save sinners. He said, they that are whole
need not physician, but they that are sick. So the Word of
God says He came not to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. That's who Jesus Christ came
to save, but how did He do it? Here it is. By Himself. He purged our sins. This is the work of the Son of
God. That God could not accept us
as we are. Our sins must have been purged,
punished. The law demanded blood. The law
demanded blood. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission of sins. You know, how worthless is a
bloodless religion? You realize that free will works
religion is a bloodless religion, right? Because salvation doesn't,
isn't accomplished by blood, it's accomplished by will. The
blood had its part. Christ died for the sins but
yet man must exercise his will or the blood has no power to
purge. It's a bloodless religion. Salvation by the will of man.
But God has spoken and said when Christ by his blood hath purged
our sins, this expresses to us the truth that Christ did not
Purging did not make salvation possible. He didn't possibly
purge our sins. He had purged our sins. Your sins have been purged. Behold then the accomplished
salvation of Jesus Christ. He has purged the sins of all
his people. He had purged and even now is
calling those whose sins are purged. This is the good news
of the gospel that Jesus Christ by himself bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. And as his blood flowed, it was
a payment for all our sins. All the sins of all his people
of all time by his work he had purged, washed perfect by his
one offering. Isn't this what Hebrews 10 is
going to tell us? He's setting this up at the very
beginning. This is what he's going to tell us, that by his
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. See then that faith does not
have power to wash away our sins, but faith only realizes what
God has done by Christ. That's what faith does. You better say, when were your
sins purged? Your sins were purged at Calvary's
tree, when he by himself purged our sins. Whose work is it to
purge sin? His, completely his. By our obedience
do we purge sin? No. My sin was already purged. I do seek to put it out. I don't
want it. I don't like it. I despise it.
But all my despising and all my righteous works and all my
good deeds never purged one sin. Why? They've already been purged.
And he did it by himself. And praise God for his words
upon Calvary Street. The three words that we adore
so much. He is finished. He's finished. He's done. That's what Paul is expressing
here. He had by himself purged our sin. And how do we know he
was successful? Next part of that phrase, sat
down. Sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high. This same Jesus who came to reveal
God, to reveal sin, to be the atonement for sin after accomplishing
this redemption. He was risen from the dead and
then what? He sat down. What does this conclude? It's finished. It's done. This is something that the old
dispensation we're going to read later on. that those priests
never sat down. They never were done. Listen,
work's religion's never finished. Enough is never enough with those
people. But according to the word of
God, Christ's work is enough. It's more than sufficient to
save His people from their sin. Behold, the Lamb of God His work is now accomplished. Here God spoke and said, this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And notice where
he sat down. He sat down on the throne of
God. What is this telling us? That all power is given unto
him in heaven and in earth for the singular purpose of calling
his people. all power is given to him in
heaven and earth that he should give eternal life to as many
as the father gave him. However many or few or one or
all the earth, it doesn't matter, they will be called. Why? He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty. And he gives those scriptural
references of him being better than the angels. Why? Because
he says, thou art my son. He says in verse 8, he said,
but to the son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. Thy scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore,
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows. the comfort of this to everyone
who is called God, who is called to faith in Christ. That Jesus Christ is working
all things together. I don't have to apply reason
to that. I must apply faith to it. I don't
have to understand how all things are gonna work together for my
good. I simply just must believe that all things are working together
for my good. Why? Because he sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. And so now then, we see this
by the text, that all the scriptures speak of Christ. God spoke in
those Old Testament prophets about his son. But now that His
Son has come, all things are made clear. The Word of God is
Jesus Christ. It speaks to us of His person
who is the express image of God. Express image and glory of God.
And no man can know God but by Jesus Christ. No man. And how
do we know this? By His person. He is God manifested
in the flesh. We know this by his work. He
has accomplished righteousness and redemption for all the elect
because he by himself has purged our sins. I like that, that salvation
is not a cooperative effort. You didn't choose, you didn't
call yourself, you didn't redeem yourself, you didn't even give
yourself faith. and you're not gonna be able
to keep yourself. All of this is done by himself. That's why we call him the Sabbath,
right? He is our Sabbath. How much better is this Sabbath
than that one they rested on Saturday? How much better is
this Sabbath? It's the eternal Sabbath. Rest. He by himself purged our sins,
sat down right in the majesty of God. Jesus Christ is the Word
of God. I pray God will keep this close
to our hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
and pray. Father, by your grace, I pray
you reveal your Son to your people. to open the word to their hearts
and minds that they might see Him. He who is the express image of
the Father, the brightness of His glory, that we might see
by Him His person has accomplished our righteousness, and by His
work, by His death, He's accomplished our redemption. And now that
He sits upon the throne, let us see Him who is ruling all
things after the counsel of his own will to bring us to himself.
Comfort our hearts with these things, I pray in his name.