Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1, and I want
us to look at the first three verses in this chapter. And I
want to point out that the subject or the emphasis on this particular
book is the excellency of Christ over everything. The excellency
of the Lord Jesus Christ above everything. It keeps saying he's
better. All through the book of Hebrews,
it says over and over again, He is better. Christ is better. Whatever it is, no matter what
it is, He's better. If you look with me at verse
four here in Hebrews, it says, being made so much better than
the angels. So much better. Angels are wonderful. They truly are. But he is better. Verse four says, being made so
much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. He's better. If you look at chapter
seven, verse 22 says, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a
better testament. And they truly were many priests,
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He's better. Hebrews is talking about priests,
all of these Levitical priests, and a man would die, and then
God would raise up another priest, and then he would die, and God
would raise up another priest. But this man, our great high
priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, ever liveth. He's a priest forever. And he's better. That's what
this book continually says all through it. This man is better. He has the excellency over everything. So back in chapter one, knowing
that our Lord must have the preeminence, that means he must be first. Knowing that he holds the excellency. Here's a question I want us to
look at this morning. What does it mean at the end
of verse three when it says, he sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high? What does that mean? That is the question I want us
to get to. What does that mean? That our Lord sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high, knowing he must be first. What does that mean? Well, look
at verse one and let's read down to it. Verse one says, God, who
at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets. Hath in these last days. And that's where we are. We are
in the last days. We've been in the last days since
our Lord ascended back up and said he would return. For the
last 2,000 years, we've been in the last days. These are the
last days. And it says that He hath in these
last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir
of all things. All things. God the Father has
placed everything in the hands of Christ His Son. Everything. He earned it all. He bought it all. And God the
Father has decreed, He has declared that it all belongs to Him. It
is all His. If you look at verse 8, It says,
but unto the Son he saith. God the Father said to God the
Son. Unto the Son he saith. Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. Forever and ever. God the Father gave God the Son
the throne. Christ earned it. He gave it
to him because Christ earned it. Crown him king of kings. He earned it. And unto the Son,
God the Father said, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. God the Father gave Christ the
kingdom. Christ bought the kingdom. That's why God the Father acknowledges
it to Him. Christ bought the kingdom. He gave Him the throne because
Christ earned it. He gave Him the kingdom because
Christ bought it. It belongs to Him. Now look with
me at John chapter 5. This is an amazing portion of
Scripture right here. John 5 verse 22 says, For the
Father judgeth no man. You see that? The Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. All judgment goes to the Son.
That all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. What a verse that
is. Men naturally honor God the Father
but they don't honor God the Son. Not like they do God the
Father. They consider God the Father
to be God, and they consider God the Son to be less than God,
God's helper, God's apprentice. Is that who He is? Oh, God the Father has declared
God the Son to be the heir of all things. all things. God the Father gave
him the throne and then he looked right at him and said, thy throne,
oh God, is forever and ever. God the Father has given him
the kingdom. It's all yours. God the Father
has given him all judgment and authority. It's all his. And if we have Christ, do you
realize what that means for us? If we truly see Christ as He
is, if we see Him to be glorified in the way that He is, if we
see the honor that God the Father has bestowed on Him, do we at
all understand what it means to be a joint heir with Christ? Amazing, isn't it? Now let me just quote to you
what John chapter 1 verse 3 says. This is talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. It says, all things were made
by him and without him was not anything made that was made. You know what that means? It means when Genesis 1-1 says,
in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, that's talking about Jesus Christ.
That's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you
something in Colossians chapter one. If you're turning with me,
you can go to Colossians chapter one and look with me at verse
16. It says, for by him were all
things created. This is again talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. By him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth. visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by Him and for Him." What that means is the one who
was born of a virgin created the womb that he was
born in. Is that not amazing? All things
were created by Him. All things. Everything. This world has an enemy. This
world has an adversary. That adversary was created by
Him. He created. The adversary is
a created being. All of His evil spirits with
Him, they're all created beings. Why would our Lord do that? He did it for His own glory. That's the reason. All things
were created by Him and for Him. It's all for Him. It's all for
His glory. All of it. Back over in Hebrews
chapter 1, verse 3 says, who being the brightness of His glory. And if you have italicized words
in your Bible, you'll notice that the word His is in italics. And that means it was added by
the translators. It was originally written to
say, who being the brightness of glory. He is the brightness
of glory. How do you expound on that? How do you even expound on that? What could we possibly understand
about God's glory? The brightness of God's glory. What could we know about that? Well, whether we understand it
or not, and whether we enter into it or not, we do acknowledge
the glory, don't we? We acknowledge the glory of who
it is. We acknowledge the glory of the
office of our Lord, the brightness of God's glory. He is the prophet,
He is the priest, He is the king, He is the mediator. We acknowledge
the glory of His purpose. It's glorious. For God so loved
this world. That's the foundation of His
purpose in all these things. For God so loved this world. That's glorious. We acknowledge the glory of His
grace. His grace is glorious. For God
so loved this world, He gave. grace He gave. We acknowledge the glory of His
suffering. Oh, the glory of His suffering.
For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. We see the mercy of God in Him,
don't we? We see God's mercy, we see God's
grace in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If we want to see the brightness
of God's glory, all we have to do is look at His Son. Just look at the Son of God. Verse three says, who being the
brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person. God is three persons. When we
talk about God, people say God and think about God and refer
to God. And when we do that, we are referring
to three persons. God is a trinity. There is the Father of God, and
there is the Son of God, and there is the Spirit of God, and
they are equal. One is not greater than the other. And these three persons, the
Godhead, are all fully expressed in one man. God became a man. If you wanna see the purpose
and the will and the love of God the Father, then look to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, if you've seen me, you
have seen the Father. If you want to see the character
of God the Holy Spirit, then just look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's all we have to do. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. All the fullness of the Godhead.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what
2 Corinthians 4 verse 6 says. Verse 3 right here in Hebrews
1 says, Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express
image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His
power." That means if something happens,
He's the doer of it. That's what it means, no matter
what it is. Whether it's a big thing, whether
it's a small thing, If it happens, He's the doer of it. He upholds
all things by the Word of His power. If it's something we see
to be a horrible thing or something we see to be a wonderful thing,
either way, He's the doer of it. Either way. Nothing happens outside
of His command. the Word of His power, nothing. Hurricanes don't move without
the Word of His power. They don't form without the Word
of His power. They don't destroy outside of
the Word of His power. A leaf doesn't fall to the ground
outside of the Word of His power. A sparrow does not die and fall
to the ground outside of the Word of His power. Verse 3 says, who being the brightness
of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself, by Himself. Let me ask this question. Who
helped God in salvation? Who helped God in salvation? People are always saying, well,
now you have to do your part. Wait a minute. Who helped God
in salvation? When he had by himself, people say, well, now, yeah,
he'll do it. Yeah, he's the one who does it.
But the only way he'll do it is if you say yes. You have to
agree to it. You have to give him the go ahead. This verse of scripture says
when he had, he had by himself purged, he
did it when he blotted out, He didn't ask anybody if He could
purge their sins. He blotted them out. He smeared
them over with His blood. He got rid of the sins of His
people by Himself. There's a song that says, and
I love this song, and it says, Up Calvary's mountain one dreadful
morn, walked Christ my Savior weary and worn, facing for sinners
death on the cross, that He might save them from endless loss,
when He had by Himself purged our sins. As soon as that was finished,
He ascended back up to where He came from. He came from glory. He came from His Father and He
ascended back up. And He sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on High. What a salvation! Hallelujah! What a Savior! What an accomplished Savior. Now I want to take just a couple
of minutes and close this message seeing what it means that when
the Lord Jesus Christ was finished with His work, finished with
this salvation, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. What does that mean? David penned, the Lord said unto
my Lord, and this is in Psalm 110, he's saying, God the Father
said to God the Son, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at
my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The disciple Stephen said as
he was being stoned to death, he said, I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians
1 verse 20 that God raised Christ from the dead and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places. Now what does that mean? What does that represent? What
is God the Father saying concerning God the Son? What seat has the
father placed his son in? First, it's the seat of honor. That's what it means. It's the
seat of honor. Let me show you something in
1 Kings chapter 2. This is the story of Solomon
being crowned king and his mother who was Bathsheba comes to him
and she's coming on behalf of a man named Adoniah. And she is about to be the mediator
between the king and his brother, is who it is. But it's the king's
subject, no matter who it is, it's the subject of the king.
And Bathsheba comes to him on Adonai's behalf and it says in
1 Kings 2 verse 18, Bathsheba said to Adonai, I will speak for thee unto the
king." Verse 19 says, Bathsheba therefore went unto King Solomon
to speak unto him for Adoniah. And the king rose up to meet
her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne. and
caused a seat to be set for the king's mother, and she sat on
his right hand." It's the seat of honor. It's the seat of reverence
and honor. He bowed to her. And God the
Father has given His Son the highest honor. He sat him on
his right hand in the seat of honor. The right hand of the
majesty is the place of honor. Secondly, it's the place of power. Look with me at Matthew 26, verse
63 says, but Jesus held his peace And the high priest answered
and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou
tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto
him, Thou hast said. Nevertheless, I say unto you,
Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand
of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." For Christ to be
seated on the right hand means the Father has acknowledged His
Son to hold all power. It's the place of honor. It's
the place of power. Lastly, it's the place of pleasure
and delight. Over in Psalm 16 verse 9 says,
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh
also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. For God the Father to seat Christ
at His right hand means He's well pleased. This is my beloved
Son in whom I'm well pleased. He's better. He's better than
everything. Than everything. That's the theme
of glory. That's the theme of eternity.
He's better. And all glory is gonna cry, Amen. Every soul that God redeemed
back to Himself. Every soul that Christ earned,
paid for, died for, throughout all eternity, they're gonna be
crying, Amen. Amen. All honor. All power. All glory goes to
Him. And the reason is because He
by Himself purged our sins. We didn't help Him. Christ accomplished
that work alone. Therefore, all the glory goes
to Him. All honor, all power, all glory. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord bless His Word to our hearts. You have been listening
to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.