The title of the message, the
excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the superiority of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the book of Hebrews
is about. It sets up Christ as superior to the old priesthood,
the old covenant, to Moses, To all the Old Testament,
Christ is superior. All the types that pointed to
Him, He's their fulfillment. He is superior to all of them.
The book of Hebrews sets forth the excellency of Jesus Christ. And we must see His excellency. We must see it. His superiority
over all things. If we are to worship Him, if
we are to give unto Him the glory that's due unto His name, we
have to see Him for who He is, God manifested in the flesh. Now, the writer of this epistle,
I think it was Paul, it's got his name there, but
some think it's some others, but I believe Paul wrote the
book of Hebrews. And he starts out here with God. God. God Almighty, who at sundry
times, and in diverse, different manners, spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets. He begins with God, like Genesis
1.1, in the beginning, God. Someone said true religion starts
here with God. There is a true religion. It's
a religion of grace. It's one of righteousness. And
it sets forth, as we saw this morning, God in all his character. Also in the book of Genesis,
it says that God spoke and things happen. When God speaks, Something's
going to happen. Something's going to happen.
God never speaks idle words. I do. He doesn't. Jesus Christ
never spoke an idle word. The Lord Jesus Christ is said
to be the wisdom of God. And nothing came out of His mouth
that was not infinite wisdom. Nothing. And when God spoke, things happened.
He spoke on different days. God spoke on six days, and every
day when God spoke, something else was revealed. Something
else happened. And this is what happened when
God spoke to the fathers by the prophets. Every time He spoke
to them, every time He spoke by the prophets to the fathers,
something else was revealed about Christ, another tide, a picture,
something else that pointed to the Messiah happened. God has never left Himself. He
has never left His people without a witness concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. He's never left us at all. But this also shows that the
Old Testament Scriptures are the Word of God. It was God speaking
through the prophets. It was not them speaking on their
own. It was God speaking through them. And that's how God does
today. God speaks through His preacher
to the people. He takes His preacher, puts him
in a pulpit, opens His Word, then speaks to the people. If
we are going to hear from God, we are going to hear from God
through a man. Last week, we saw the eunuch. God told Philip, go down to the
desert place. There's a man down there in a
chariot, reading the Word of God, And God sends His man down
there to preach Christ to him. And that's the way it will be
until God winds all this up. That's the way it'll be. You're
gonna hear from God, you're gonna hear through a preacher. Now, how does God speak to us
now? He spoke to the fathers, Paul said, by the prophets in different ways at different
times. But hath in these last days,
however long that's going to be, I don't know, but we are
in the last days. There is no other revelation
to be made. Jesus Christ is the revelation. He is the One. Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son or in His Son. God, it says, was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself. whom He hath appointed heir of
all things, and by whom also He made the worlds. God the Father
has never acted separately from His Son. He's never done that. He's never acted separately.
God used frail, sinful men to speak in times past to the fathers. But now, in these last days,
God has spoken to us by His Son. By His Son. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the final spokesman. There's no one else to come.
We're not waiting on someone else to come and tell us something.
This is it. You and I are in the last days,
and Jesus Christ is the final spokesman. He is that prophet
that Moses said should come. Look over in Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3. In Acts chapter 3, look in verse
22 and 23. Oh, I've been jumping. Hold on a second, I'll
get there. Acts chapter 3. And Moses truly said unto the
fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass
that every soul which will not hear that prophet, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is that prophet, He is the messenger come from God,
shall be destroyed from among the people." Jesus Christ is
that prophet that Moses said should come and that we are to
hear Him. He is the Word of God incarnate. Christ, listen, Jesus
Christ is the utterance of God. He's the utterance of God. Turn over to John 1. Go over
here to John 1. Let me show this to you. He's the utterance of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. Look in verse 14. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He is the utterance of God. When
our Lord came into this world, He said this, As I hear, I speak. The words that I speak are not
mine, but He has sent me." He's the utterance of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ is both the messenger and the message of
the New Covenant. As the messenger, He revealed
the New Covenant. He's the one who... The prophets
of old, they would reveal parts, part here, part there. But when
Christ came, He revealed the whole. He revealed the types,
what they meant. Without Christ, we wouldn't know
what they meant. He revealed what all the shadows
and the types were. He's the messenger of the covenant,
and he's the message also of the covenant. He's also the message. Christ is our message. Our message
is Christ and Him crucified, is what Paul said to the Corinthians. He said, I am determined not
to know anything among you except this. We're gonna get this settled
first. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul was not saying that he wasn't
interested in them, but he said, I want this established first,
who Christ is and what He did. Let's establish that first. Our
Lord said this, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. To
learn of Christ is to learn the gospel. It's to know the gospel. It's to learn the new covenant. God said back in the Old Testament,
I have given him as a covenant to the people. Our covenant, this new covenant
of grace, is a person. It's a person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ is God's message to a
dying world. Christ is God's message to sinners.
He's the way to God. And he's the only way God can
be a just God and a savior. He's the only way that God can
have anything to do with me and still be God, still remain God. He's the only way. Christ is the rightful heir of
all things, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Jesus Christ
is the appointed heir of everything that exists. Everything that exists, all things
seen and unseen. There's a lot more going on unseen
than what we see. There's a lot more going on.
A whole lot more. But he's going to inherit that
heaven, that new heaven, that new earth, the universe. All of it's his. It's all his. Do you know what he counts, though,
as his most precious inheritance? You know what that is? You. It's you. You who believe the
gospel. Listen to this in Ephesians 1,
verse 18. He's redeemed. It is redeemed. And then he tells us here, and
it just keeps climbing, it just keeps climbing. Christ is the
creator of all things. He's the heir of all things and
He's the creator of all that He's heirship to. He created
everything that He will inherit. By whom also God made the worlds. The word world here means ages,
ages. Turn over to Colossians 1. Colossians 1. Verse 16. For by Him, that is by Jesus
Christ, were all things created that are in heaven, 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, and He is before all things. And by Him all things
consist." All things, everything that you can see and the things
we cannot see, they are held together, at work consist, means
held together by Him. He holds the stars in their place. He holds this earth in its place. Everything, everything is held
together by that man that is seated at God's right hand. Everything. God made everything that exists
by Jesus Christ and then turned it over to Him as the mediator. As the mediator. And all things
are ruled by Him. You think it looks chaotic out
there? You turn on the news, does it look chaotic? Look like
chaos going on. That's orchestrated chaos by
Him. He is manipulating, controlling
absolutely everything to bring about the purpose of God in all
this. In all this. And then we have His person here
in verse 3. Who be in the brightness of His glory. The word brightness here means
outshining. Outshining. It's like the rays
of the sun. You know, they just shine out
from the sun. The same nature as that sun.
And the light just comes out from the sun. Jesus Christ is
the outshining of God. He is the full expression of
God. That's why he said, if you have
seen me, you have seen the Father. If you want to know who the Father
is, study Christ. Know Christ, if you want to know
who the Father is. He's the brightness of His glory,
of all the glory of God, Christ is the brightness of it. He's
the chief end of it. As the sun is seen in its own
light. You know, you can't see the sun,
but in its own light, that's how you see the sun. You see
it in its own light. Even so, God is only seen in
the light of Christ. Christ himself said, I am the
light. We saw in 1 John, God is light. Christ said, I am the light.
The only way you and I will ever know God is through Jesus Christ. That's the only way. There's
no other way to know God. There's no other way to see God
except in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, in the tabernacle,
in the wilderness, there was the Shekinah glory that filled
the inner sanctum of the tabernacle. Christ is that Shekinah glory. He's that shining. He's that
outshining of God. And he says here, and the expressed
image, he is the expressed image of his person. I was someplace here some time
ago, and someone knew the family, and they saw me, was talking
to me, and the lady said, she said, you have become the spitting
image of your dad. She said, you look just like
your father. She said, it's amazing. No one, no one has seen God at
any time. It says in John 118, no man has
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. To look
at Him, It's to look at God. It's to look God in the face. It's to see God. He's the visible expression of
God Almighty. That's who He is. He is God in every way. He is
God in His person. He is God in His attributes.
He's the one true God of heaven and earth. He's no less God than
God. He's no less God. It says in Colossians 2.9, for
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All of
God, all that God is, is in him. It's in this man, this one person. And because of who He is, He upholds all things, it says,
by the word of His power. And upholding all things by the
word of His power. Now, brethren, that's real power.
That's real power. When you say something, and it
happens. When you give a command, and
it happens. That's power. He commands the
demons that come out of a man, and He came out. He commands light, and there's
light. He commands creation, and now
we have all this. He commands the moon and the
stars and puts them in their orbit and tells them to stay
there. He commands the ocean. That hurricane that's going through
right now, that's His. That's his hurricane and he's
sending it up the coast or up through Texas there. That's not mother nature. Nature does not have a mother.
Nature has God. And Christ is directing that storm
right up through there. It's His. He hath, it says in
Scripture, He hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm. He's commanding it like a general. He's commanding it. He commands
all His forces. Everything serves Him. Absolutely
everything serves Him. He's the commander-in-chief.
He really is. He's the captain of our salvation.
And our captain is head of all this. And he's the one who's
doing the commanding. He commands the troops. Well,
back in Egypt, he commanded the plagues. Where's all those locusts
coming from? They're coming from him. He's sending them. He's commanding
them. He commanded the frogs to go all over that place. And lice, you go back and read
all those plagues. They are under his command. This is our God. This is our
Savior. You would think we wouldn't worry,
wouldn't you? You'd think we wouldn't worry at all. Upholding all things by the Word. By the Word of His power. Oh, if we could get a hold of
that. We think we have problems. He can just give a word. And
I know that, Lord, You can just say the word and I can be made
whole. Just give a command. When they
was going to take Him there in the Garden of Gethsemane, He
said, I can call 12 legions of angels. Our captain could call
12 legions of angels and wipe that place out. They are at His beck and command. Every angel. I mean, we're talking
about numbers that can't be numbered here now. We can't number how
many angels there are. Every last one of them is under
the authority of Jesus Christ. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. Let every angel, Michael, Gabriel,
bow down to Him and do His bidding. And you know what? They're glad
to do it. They're glad to do it. If He sent one angel down
here to sweep the streets, and He sent an angel down here to
sit on a throne, not one of them would be jealous of the other.
They wouldn't be jealous of the other. They're doing their Lord's
bidding. That one sweeping the street
would not be offended, that's sweeping the streets, while the
other one is sitting on a throne. I can't wait till the day comes
when we have that same attitude. Right now, we're so sinful, we
get jealous, we get envious. But someday that'll be gone.
Someday that'll be gone. This is in the present tense
and upholding, upholding all things. bearing them up,
holding them up. He's commanding everything to
do His will. God did not create, now listen,
God did not create the world like a wind-up toy and then turn
it loose. Let's see what happens. God created all things by His
Word, that's His Son, and He turned it all over to Him to
run moment by moment, second by second, it's ran by
Him. Aren't you glad He's on the throne?
I get concerned about things when I see them on the news and
the things that go on in this world we live in, I'll tell you,
I lay down at night and I go to sleep. I go to sleep. I know that he, the scripture
says, that keepeth Israel shall never slumber nor sleep. So while
I sleep, he's on watch. And can you think of any better
person to be on watch than God himself? David said, thou only makest
me to dwell in safety. Thou only makest me to dwell
in safety. He's like a general commanding
his troops. Tell this one to do this, this
one to do that. Go here, come here. Oh, that's our Lord. In Daniel 4,
35, listen, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven. He's got an army with him. I know that the United States
has a great military might, but it would look like a pea shooter
compared to what he's got. That's truth. That's the truth. He does according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou,
or what are you doing? He's like, I don't answer to
you. How many times did they ask Him questions that He didn't
give an answer? Pilate said, don't you know I have the power?
Because he wouldn't open his mouth and say anything. Don't
you know I have the power? to release you or crucify you. And that's when the Lord spoke.
He said, hold on now, hold on now. You have no power at all
except to be given to you from above. You can't even move your
arm unless God gives you the strength to do it. You can't
do it. Christ said, without me, you
can do nothing. Nothing. Like I said, what men call the
laws of nature is nothing more than Christ commanding everything
to work together for our good. All this that we see going on, it is actually working together
for our good. It is. One writer said this,
the universe derives its integrity from Jesus Christ. I thought
that was good. It derives its integrity from
the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we have His work. We
have His person. All things are created by Him,
for Him. He's the Word of God. He's the expression of God. He's the utterance of God. And
now, when he had by himself purged our sins. Here is the heart of the gospel. It's the atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He purged our sins. Someone said he literally carried
out a cleansing. He actually carried out a cleansing.
He really and truly bore our sins in His body on the tree. He put them away. He put them away. The effect of His work was to
remove all sin from us. All of it. To make us spotless. Unreprovable. in his sight. Has he done that? Yes, he has. He has. If not, he would have never come
out of that grave. He would have never come out
of the grave. He is our substitute. He is the
one who has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. It is His
blood by which atonement has been made. Atonement has been
made. Satisfaction has been made. I'm not trying to satisfy God.
The Lord Jesus Christ did that for me. And note here, when He added,
it says, by Himself. This is one time He had to go
it alone. This is one time he had to go
it alone. It's written in the scriptures,
he must tread the winepress of God's wrath alone. No man was
with him. God forsook him. I'll never know. You who believe the gospel, we
will never know ever what it is to be forsaken of God. No one ever died as alone as
Jesus Christ. He cried out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I'm looking at why. And I'll not be forsaken because
God forsook him who was my substitute. That's such good news. That's
such good news. And Augustus' top lady wrote,
Not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands. Could
my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no respite know?
All for sin could not atone. Thou wast saved and thou alone. By Himself. What a mighty Savior we have.
Now, did he do it? Did he do it? Did he accomplish
redemption? Well, it says here, he sat down
on the right hand of the majesty on high. You know, in the Old
Testament, the high priest never, ever sat down. You know why? Because they never, ever finished
the work. It was never finished. But when
Jesus Christ came, when He went to the cross, when He died, He
cried right before then, it is finished. It's done. It's done. And having finished His work
that He was sent to do, He sat down, and right now, the man
Christ Jesus is enthroned on high. He's enthroned on high. The one who humbled himself to
become a servant, to die on a cross, is now seated. The work is finished. That's
why he says, come to me, all you laboring, heavenly laden,
I'll give you rest. The Lamb of God that hung on
the cross is now enthroned at the right hand of the majesty. Majesty. I just like to say that. Majesty. Your majesty. On high. You know what that means? That means he got the job done. That's what it means. John 17,
4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. It's done. The work is done. Redemption accomplished. Mission
accomplished. That's what it was, mission accomplished. If we can get a hold of this, it will comfort our hearts, It
will assist us in worship. It will enable us to worship
Him. It will enable us to give unto Him the glory due unto His
name. We worship and trust an enthroned
Christ. We worship the living Lord, not
a dead one. Barnard said a dead Christ can't
save anybody, but the living Lord can. He died, that's right, but He
didn't stay dead. John said, I saw a lamb as it
had been slain standing right in the midst of the throne. He's
alive and well. Jesus Christ is alive and well. He's no failure. I read that
to you in Isaiah 42. My servant shall not fail. He
came to redeem and He redeemed. He came to save, He saves. He came to reveal the Father,
the Father's been revealed. He got the job done. I pray that God will enable us,
as time goes on, to see more and more of Christ's excellency,
and that you and I will become more and more obsessed. I want
to be obsessed with the Lord Jesus Christ, my God, my God
and my Savior. Okay, Craig.