Well, as I said in the end of
the prayer there, we are in the book of Hebrews, chapter 1. And we've come through the first
six verses where our Lord is declaring to us that this Jesus,
the God-man, now remember, Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He has not always been God in
the flesh. He's always been the Son of God,
yes. He is the eternal Son of God. But He had to be made flesh. And so when we see that He was
being made so much better in verse 4 than the angels as He
hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they,
it's because He was God in the flesh. He was better than the
creation. He is the creator of all things.
Christ the God-man, God in the flesh, that's what it says over
there in verse 4. Being made so much better than the angels.
God manifested in the flesh is the eternal Son of God. God the
Son is eternal, yet He had not always been so. I'm sorry, He
had not always been flesh. He had to be made flesh. That's
what we read in Galatians chapter 4 verses 4-5. But when the fullness
of time was come, when the fullness of THE time was come, God sent
forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. In John chapter 114, these well-known
words, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and
we beheld his glory. The glory is the only begotten
of a father full of grace and truth. Turn over to the book
of Acts. Mark your spot here in Hebrews. Actually, you know what, before
we do that, before we do that, let's read
our text. In Hebrews chapter 1, read with
me if you would, verses 7, 8, and 9. Three verses. And the
angels, and of the angels, he says, who maketh his angels spirits,
and his ministers a flame of fire. Now we read that last week,
but we need to read that again to lead into what this next verse
says. But unto the Son. Remember, our
Lord did not say to the angels, He did not say to the angels,
thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, but he did say
it to his son, the Lord Jesus. So here in verse 8, but unto
the son he saith thy throne. This is God the Father saying
to the son, not only did he call him his begotten son, he saith
this, he says, thy throne, your throne, the throne of the Lord
Jesus Christ, O God. Now, you talk about mind boggling. How often do we say, I can't,
I can't explain this. I can't explain how Jesus Christ
was made sin. I can't explain to you how God
was manifest in the flesh. But we see over and over and
over in scriptures where Jesus Christ himself is called, Oh
God. And here we see the Father, but
unto the Son, he said, God the Father saith, Oh God, is forever and ever. Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. And then it says these words,
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Verse
9, Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee. and the oil of gladness
above thy fellows. Now, if you would, I want you
to turn over to Acts chapter 1. Remember, we just talked about
how Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. We just see it here in
verse 8, O God, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. That's what
God says under the sun. Now over here in Acts chapter
1, we're going to read in verses 9 through 11, And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
towards heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven, This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen Him go into heaven. Now turn over to Acts chapter
2. Just a page over to the right there if you would. I want to
look at just a couple of verses in Acts chapter 2. Peter is preaching
a message. He's been preaching to these
ones. And I want to look at verses 22 through 24. He says, Ye men
of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs. Now you
remember, remember the Pharisees came to him one day and they
said, how long do you make us to doubt? And the Lord says,
I've told you who I was. I've told you who I was, but
you're not my sheep. My sheep, the works that I did
in my Father's name, they prove who I am. But you're not of my
sheep. My sheep hear my voice. So here
we see here, God among you, which God had approved, approved of
God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God
did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel, Folks, that's a council
that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
had determined before the world was. And for knowledge of God
ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Whom God, whom God the Father, hath raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
beholden of it. This is whom the Hebrew writer
is talking about. This very Jesus that we're reading
about here. This one that God the Father
hath raised up. Raised up to sit at the right
hand of God the Father. This is the one this Hebrew writer
is talking about. Look with me again in our text.
Verse 8 again, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God,
is for ever and ever. A 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." If I should title this morning's
study, it would be a scepter of righteousness. I want to consider
this word scepter for a moment. It's only used twice in the New
Testament as the word scepter. And we'll look and see a little
bit at how it's used there. In the Old Testament, the word
is shebet. That's of the Strong's Dictionary.
It literally means a stick. for punishing, writing, fighting,
ruling, walking, etc. or figuratively, a correction,
a dart, a rod, a scepter, a staff. Look with me over, if you would,
at Genesis chapter 49 and let's look and see how the Lord uses
this word scepter in the Old Testament. I found it interesting
that If you think about the staff
the shepherd uses to herd the sheep along. I thought about
the rod of correction. Oh, how I pray the Lord will
use his rod of correction upon me. In Genesis chapter 49, of which
I'm not quite there yet. Here we go. We read in verse
16 these words. Look with me in verse 16. Dan
shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. That
word tribes, that's a scepter, that's the same word. He shall
rule as one of the staffs, as one of the rods. I forgot to tell you that tribe
is also the same word as scepter. That's the exact same word there,
shebet. So we see in the Old Testament,
our Lord speaks of Dan. Dan, the son of Israel, of Jacob,
shall judge his people as one of the tribes, as one of the
staffs, as one of the rods of Israel. Now, if you would. The Old Testament meaning is
rod of authority, rod of guidance, the staff of a shepherd, the
scepter of authority, sovereign rule. In the New Testament, the
word is rabdos, a stick or a wand. a baton of royalty, a rod, a
scepter, a staff. Now over in Mark, turn over to
Mark chapter 6 verse 8, we'll see where it's used there. In
Mark chapter 6 verse 8, we'll see how the word, and it's not
the word scepter. I meant to write that down, which
word it was here. Over in Mark chapter 6 verse 8, staff. And the Lord commanded
them that they should take nothing for their journey. Now remember,
the Lord was sending out his disciples two by two. And they were only to go out
with what? Their staff. Folks, that's what you and I
go through this world with. When we walk out these doors,
that sign that's over that door says, you're now entering into
the missionary field. We're going out into the world.
We're not taking any clothing of our own. We're not taking
any righteousness of our own. But we are taking the scepter
of righteousness with us. We're taking the staff that God
has told us to go out into the world. What is that staff? It's
Jesus Christ. That's our story to the world,
is it not? Is that not what we share with
the people that we are given the blessings to come across
with? My Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that's my staff. That's the scepter of righteousness
that I carry with me. That's the scepter of righteousness
that all of God's children... We don't go out into the world
and tell people how great we are. We tell them how great our
Savior is. He commanded them that they should
take nothing for their journey, save a staff only, save a scepter. The Webster's definition of that
word scepter is a staff or a baton borne by a sovereign, in other
words carried or held by a sovereign as an emblem of authority. We
picture in our minds kings that would sit on their throne and
they'd always have that staff or that scepter in their hand
with a bowl of gold and jewels on top of it. A sign of authority. With that in mind, we can clearly see that this
scepter is none else than Jesus Christ himself. the sovereign
of all that is, and all that is yet to be, the highest of
all that is, the Lord of all things. Look with me at Acts
chapter 2, verses 32 through 36, Acts chapter 2. This is the
scepter of righteousness. In verse 32 we read these words, This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." And to confirm
that our text tells us he is the scepter of righteousness,
to confirm that this is Jesus Christ, this scepter, this one
who is the authority of God, this one who is the power of
Almighty to prove that He is the scepter. We see the scriptures
tell us that He is the scepter of righteousness. Folks, there's
only one righteous. There's only one righteous one
in all of creation. And that's God. God Almighty
and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior is excellent. His
glory and His superiority are once again set before us. in
an ever-increasing tone as we have seen so far in this book
of Hebrews. The words, thy God, that we see in verse 9 refer
to both the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to
God the Father, for the Father is the God of Christ, as we read
over in Ephesians chapter 1. Let me turn over there real quick
and read that for you. We know that the great three in one is
three distinct persons. We know that Jesus Christ prayed
to God the Father as we see in John chapter 17 verse 1. But
over here in verse 3 it says this, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. So we know that It's talking
about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because what
Christ has accomplished is talking about that as our mediator. He
was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Look
over at Colossians. Colossians chapter 1, right after
Philippians. Thy God, it says in verse 9 of
our text. It's talking about our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as our mediator. In Colossians chapter
1 we see in verse 14, in whom, speaking of Christ, in whom we
have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him, verse 16, Colossians
chapter 1 verse 16, For by Him 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. And He is the head of
the body of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. So we see our Lord exalted here back in our text
one more time. And I'll bring this to a close.
Not only is He made better than the angels, not only is our Savior,
why is this important to you and I? Why is it so important
that we exalt our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we declare Him who
He is? Because the world doesn't know
Him. The world doesn't even want to know Him. They want to run
from the light. Why is it important that we raise
up our Savior before the world and ourselves? Because that's
where the promises, that's where the assurity of His promises
I'm not seeing that right. Let me see if I can try this
again. That's where, that's the foundation that his promises
are sure and amen and amen. His promises shall be fulfilled
because it was God Almighty who was making those promises. He
cannot fail. His purpose shall not be thwarted. A 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. Amen.