your Bibles to Hebrews chapter
1, which my brother just read to us. Hebrews chapter 1. Now, the thing that I was endeavoring to do last week—we
studied the first three verses of Hebrews last week. And the thing that I was endeavoring
to do last week was to show you how that this book, everything
in this book from beginning to end, from first to last, that
the general theme throughout this book, this book is God's
Word, the general theme is Jesus Christ from first to last, that
the general theme throughout God's Word is concerning God's
Son. God the Father speaks concerning
his Son. He's talking about his Son from
beginning to end. Even as Christ himself said,
they are they. He was talking to those Pharisees
one day, and he said, you search the Scriptures, you study the
Scriptures. He's talking about the Old Testament.
He said, you do search the Scriptures, I know you read them and so forth,
but they are they which testify of me. The Scriptures talk and
speak of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is what the Bible is all about. The Bible is not a book to tell
us how to live, necessarily, as a book to tell us where life
is found, eternal life is found. And once that life is found in
Christ, or rather we are found in Christ, then we see some instructions
how to live that life. But the first and primary thing
of the Word of God is to tell us who Christ is, to look to
Christ. Okay? Salvation, in a nutshell,
is coming to know, to worship, to believe in, to trust in this
person, this person I'm going to try to describe to you this
morning from God's Word. Now, I am totally incapable,
unable, weak, helpless, hopeless at this task of trying to explain
or trying to proclaim or trying to describe the Holy Son of God
who is on the throne of God right now. I'm totally helpless at
this task. But God's Word is not. And God's
Word speaks very clearly and describes who Jesus Christ really
is in a lot of people. A lot of people. Everybody everywhere
who is under the name of Christianity is describing or at least talking
about somebody named Jesus. Right? I'm going to describe
to you from God Almighty's Word, from the very mouth of God himself,
what he says about this son of Ed. And you're going to see how
he's quite different from what people are saying about him right
now. Now, the Apostle Paul began in this first of Hebrews. He
began by telling us of the glory and the person and the work of
Christ by telling us in verse one, that God at sundry or various
times and in different ways, different manners, used to speak
in times past to men, to the fathers, to men and women. God used to speak, but he did
it by the prophets. We saw last week how that Abraham,
Moses, Noah, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, the prophets,
all these men of old, God spoke to them, and then they in turn
spoke to the people. And what was their message? What
did they all speak of? Abraham wrote of me, Christ said. He saw my day. Abraham just wasn't
a leader of the people. Abraham pointed to Christ. If you had eyes to see it, you'd
see that. Everything throughout, the journeys of Abraham and so
forth, pictures the gospel, especially when he took that son of his
up to sacrifice him. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Whose righteousness? His own
man's righteousness. Very clearly, Saul's man didn't
have any because God destroyed him. He was a preacher of the
coming righteous one. Who's that talking about? David
continually talked about the Holy One of Israel, talked about
the Redeemer, God's righteousness who was to come. Isaiah, a casual
perusal of the book of Isaiah will show you Christ very clearly.
Jeremiah, just keep naming them. They all spoke of Christ. But God used to speak through
these men, verse 1, in different ways, different manners, different
times. He spoke unto these fathers by
the prophets. But right now, in these last
days, verse 2, he's spoken unto us by his Son. Now God speaks
only through—now, the Gospels were when Christ was here actually,
actually speaking the very words of God. Christ said, the words
I speak unto you, they're of the Father. He actually spoke. Then the epistles were just repeating—you
know what the epistles are? The epistles are just building
upon what Christ already said, but they're just really repeating
what Christ has already said, going in a little more in-depth,
in fact. Okay? Now, God in His last days has
spoken unto us by Son, or in the language of His Son. His Son came down here and spoke
to us, and then went back to the Father, and everything revolves
around and points to Him. His son. Whom? Look at verse
2. His son, whom he appointed heir
of all things. Christ was heir to the Father's
throne, heir to God's throne, by whom he made the worlds. Verse
2. You remember in the beginning
God said, let us make man? Who is that? That's Christ. That's God and Christ and the
Holy Spirit. Let us make man. In the beginning,
John 1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God. OK? The same was in the beginning
with God. And without Him was not anything
made which was made. Without Christ was not anything.
Christ is none other than God Himself. That's what He's saying
right here. And that Christ was with the
Father in the beginning making the world. That very man that
walked upon this earth was God Almighty in the beginning. And
He made the earth. The one who made the earth walked
upon it as a man. The creature became a or the
Creator became a creature. That's who he says Christ is.
And he says, "...by whom he made the world," and verse 3, "...he
is the brightness of his glory." Look at this, verse 3. He says,
"...Christ is the brightness of God's glory." That is, everything
God is, Christ is. All of the attributes and power
of God Almighty were in this man, Christ Jesus. He's Lord. What he's saying there is, Christ,
this man, this same Jesus, shall so come in like manner as you've
seen him go. How's that? As high and lifted
up as Lord. He's coming back to show you
who he really is. He's Lord. He's in control over
all things, people, places, and things, especially salvation. Salvation's of the Lord. Okay? Verse 3. He's the express image
of God because he is God. And he, who's that? Christ, upholds
all things by the word of his power. That's how that Christ
could walk this earth, seemingly as a man, but more than a man.
That's how he could walk this earth and show to a dead man
in the grave, get up. Because nobody can give life
but God. That's how he could show to somebody,
a sinner, your sins are forgiven you. because nobody can forgive
sins but God. All right? By His Word, He upholds
all things, by the Word of His power. And, verse 3, when He
had by Himself purged our sins. Boy, is He so significant. And
this is what we dwelled on more than anything. Here in verse
3, Christ by Himself purged our sins. That is, the sins of all
of God's people, all saved people. That is, it wasn't a cooperative
effort between God and man. It wasn't a cooperative effort
between Jesus and man. By himself, he purged our sins. Right? By himself. Christ came down here, sent of
the Father, given a people, chosen before the foundation of the
world, and this is God's Word, given a people, Given to Christ,
Christ came down here and lived the perfect life God demanded
of us as men and women. He lived that perfect life. And
God said, I'm pleased with this man. And then Christ gave that
life that he lived to those people that God had chosen. He gave
that life as if they looked then to God as if they had done it
themselves. They hadn't. But Christ had. And then Christ took their sins
upon Him. He did it. They didn't place
their sin. They were dead and trespassed
in sin. And Christ, through His life,
had to raise them from the grave. All right? Christ did it. He
lived the life God demanded of a man, as a man, then gave that
righteousness. That's called righteousness.
The word is imputed. It's all the way through the
book of Romans. Imputed. He imputed that righteousness.
gave it, accounted it to all of God's chosen people. And then
he took their sin, their iniquity, their judgment, the wrath of
God that was due to those people for sinning against God. He took
that upon himself, went to the cross, and when God saw him hanging
there, he saw every sinner that he sent his love and affection
on, and punished their sins in Christ. punished all the sins
of all of God's people in Christ on that cross. And then Christ
went somewhere. For three days He went down in
the grave. He went somewhere. Where'd He go? Well, nobody knows. Some say He went to hell. Some
say He went—we don't know. But it's like that scapegoat
in the wilderness whom the high priest laid his hands on the
head of that scapegoat and confessed the sins of God's people. You
remember the story? All right. And then he led that
scapegoat out into the wilderness and left it there. And it never
came back. Wherever Christ went, he took
all of God's people's sins with him. Whether it be hell or wherever,
behind God's back, Christ took the sins of God's people and
deposited them. Three days. Three-day journey.
And came back and rose from the grave. It says, now he by himself,
he did all this. by himself. It doesn't say he waits on you
to believe. Salvation is not by our faith. Salvation is by grace through
faith, which is not of yourself. That is the gift of God, even.
Salvation is by the gracious gift of the Son of God's right
hand, coming down here and doing for us what we could not do for
ourselves. And he did it! He purged all
of the sins of God's people, washed them, did away with them,
by himself. Now, faith comes in time. It's
the work of the Holy Spirit upon every single one of God's people
He's chosen. Every one of them will believe.
"...by people shall be made willing in the day of our death." Psalm
19. Every one of God's people will believe Christ. You say,
why preach then, just letting everybody just go as it were?
Because God said, by the foolishness of preaching, they'll believe.
Now, the difference between what we do here and what other places
do is that we don't plead with men to do something for God.
We just preach like I'm doing this morning. Talk about this
sovereign Lord who did all this. We just tell it. We just read
it like it is. And people say, hey, if God the
Holy Spirit works on them, people say, hey, He's Lord. He's the Savior, isn't He? I'm
a sinner. I'm dead. He must save, mustn't
He? The Holy Spirit does all the
work. That's the reason we don't try to manipulate and maneuver
and do all these forms of trickery and guile and so forth to try
to bring all of God's Word, His Gospel. And He had by Himself
purged our sins, and it says He sat down on the right hand
of God. That's the place of acceptance.
You're not going to sit at the right hand of this holy, sovereign
God unless you're accepted and approved, unless you're God yourself.
Nobody sits on the throne but God, right? What he's saying
is that Christ is God, and that what he did, he got finished.
Remember how I said last week how the high priest of old had
these bells on the hem of his garment, and how he went in there,
holy of holies, and did all these things, and those bells were
always heard, and there's no chair in the tabernacle because
his work was never done. He never finished his work. He
couldn't sit down. It was never finished, never
finished. After the morning sacrifice, there was evening sacrifice,
and then woke up the next day, and then there was another, and
another, and another, and another, and another, until this man, until this high
priest came, this one high priest came, And it says, he did all
this work. He by himself purged our sins. He made this sacrifice of blood,
but not of just the lamb, his own precious blood, and presented
it to the Father. And he said after that work was
done, he sat down. He sat down. Finished. That means there's no more works
to be done. You mean by the believer, no more works to be done? Not
in salvation. So a man's got to believe. You don't do that. It's the gift
of God. Even that faith, you see, like
I'm trying to say, Ephesians 2 verse 1, you have he made alive
who were dead in trespasses and sin. You, a dead sinner, cannot
believe unless Christ who is life, the Holy Spirit who gives
life, faith, repentance, gives it to you. Gives it to you. So what's the point in all this?
The point is, to God be all the glory in salvation. God Almighty must get all the
glory. He is the author and the finisher
of what? Our faith. To God be the glory,
that's what you were praying, great things He hath done. Not that I have great faith and
I maintained and I persevered to the end and I prayed through. No! It's that he prayed through. Christ in that garden prayed
through, prayed for his people. To God be the glory. His Son
came down by Himself. Do you read that? If you don't
get another word, I'm going to go all the way through this chapter.
But if you don't hear another word I say this morning, you
hear this. The Son of God came down here sent by the Father
with a job to do. Salvation to procure. Salvation
to accomplish. A work to do. Did He do it or
did He not? According to God's Word. According
to man, there's something left for us to do. We ought to make
our decision for Jesus. You've got to decide, you know,
you've got a free will. It does not say that in the Bible. It
says he works all things according to his will. And the armies of
heaven, you know, the people of earth. And none stays His
hand. And it says, He came down here
with a particular people He loved, that the Father loved and gave
to Him. Read John 14 through 17. Read it. The Father gave
Him a people and He came down here with those people, like
the high priest, with their names on His breastplate, with a job
to do, to pay for their sins, to establish righteousness, and
He did it. Bless God. He did it. And that's my hope. Now, you
can have a hope in your will and your decision and what you've
done for Jesus if you want to. Not this old boy. My hope is
in nothing less than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. And I
dare not trust the sweetest frame, that is, my faith, my prayers,
my works, no matter how good I look or appear, I dare not
trust the sweetest frame but holy lean upon that person's
name. His power, His will. It's a shutdown. It's finished. Nothing left to
be done but to preach this gospel, and everybody that God chooses
will believe this gospel. You say, why don't you just preach
to the elect? Is there a big E on your head? Huh? If there is, everybody else out
but the elect. I'm just going to preach to the elect. No, there's
no big E. It does say sinners, though.
Are you a sinner? I mean, well-deserving, wretched, vile, rebel, like you
said, hating God. Don't want God, this absolute
sovereign God, to reign and rule over you. Is that what you feel
by nature, that you're a sinner in that respect? Every man by
nature is that way. 1 Corinthians 2 said he won't
receive the things of God. They're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. Now, are you that sort of sinner
who, unless God Almighty arrested you, stopped you, convicted you,
stopped your wild career? Me? Ain't you a spoiler sinner? Fifteen, I don't know how long,
fifteen years ago or so, twenty years ago, what time is it going
by? When I was a young teenager, I was wild. I looked the part
and acted the part. I was. Until God stopped me one
day, sometime or another. I don't know when it started,
but it started in God's good time. He stopped my wild career.
Stopped now, and no further. You're not going to go any further.
You're not going to destroy and kill yourself. I'm going to save
you. I wasn't looking for it. I wasn't looking for God. I wasn't
wanting it. But bless God, He was looking
for me. This is salvation. And he stopped me and changed
me, at least in his eyes. I look different to him. Like
I said, by the work of Christ, I look different. I'm in Christ.
He sees me in Christ. Pretty much, fairly much cleaned
me up on the outside. But on the inside, I feel just
like the same person I was when I was 18 years old. I still have
the same problems. I still have the same lusts and
sins and iniquity and also just vileness. I still have it. Why? Because I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. But He's a Savior. He came not
to call the righteous. Why do God's people, why does
He allow them to stay all torn down with sin, the rest of it. Why didn't He give them victory
over some sin? Well, He does, to a degree. I'm
not the outwardly immoral person that I was. I don't hang out
at the bar and get drunk and all that drugs. I don't do that
anymore. No, by God's grace. But Christ is my life now. When God sees me, He sees Christ. He sees Christ, what He has done. But on the inside, on the inside,
I'm still a sinner. And why does God allow His people
to keep going through these things, these awful, sinful thoughts
and so forth? Why did He give them total victory
over these things? Because He said, He came not
to call the righteous. He didn't come to call goody
two-shoes, holier than thou, perfectly righteous, pious, never
done this or that, and you never will, people that think they're
righteous." He said He didn't come to call them to repentance,
but sinners. Sinners. That's the reason He
lets His people remain sinners. He could give us the victory
totally overseen. He has in Christ, judicially
speaking. But you're supposed to remain
a sinner, Terry, to Him anyway. You're supposed to know and continue
to know you're a sinner. Why? Because you don't need a
saviour. If you ever cease to be a sinner, you don't need a
saviour anymore, do you? Like the Pharisees. We've arrived.
And Pharisees, the boat. So they don't sin. They've arrived.
Well, what further need do they have of Christ then? Huh? But are you a sinner? I mean,
still a sinner? Yes. You still need a saviour,
don't you? to keep you every day, every
hour I'm leaning upon the Lord Jesus. Every day, every hour. Right? All right. He by himself
purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of God. Now
look at verse 4 with me. Paul goes on to proclaim or loudly
describe who this person is. Now look at it with me. Hebrews
1 verse 4, he goes on to explain or describe who this person is.
He says he's much better. The theme of the book of Hebrews,
the book of Romans is like, somebody said the book of Romans is Christ
in the courtroom. God's showing us the law of God
and the strictness of his law and how Christ met the requirements
of that law and justified his people on the basis of what he
did. So he's Christ in the courtroom, Romans. The book of Hebrews is
Christ in the temple. Christ in the temple, pleading
his blood and his righteousness before the Father. Christ in
the temple. And the theme of the book of
Hebrews is this. Christ is better. He's better. Turn over with me
to Hebrews 10, verse 9. This is the key to the whole
book of Hebrews. Hebrews 10, look at this, verse 9. Hebrews 10, verse 9. Then God
said, after He said so many things, He said this, Lo, this is what
Christ said. Christ said, Lo, I come. to do
thy will, O God." Now, listen to me. Listen very carefully.
Look at the Scripture and listen. Will the will of God be done? Does God will things and then
leave it up to man's will? No. That's blasphemy. That's
blasphemy. The will of God will be done.
Will be done. He worketh all things according
to His own will. I will do this, I will do that,"
he says, all the way through the Old Testament Scripture.
And Christ said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, and this
is the will of God. Look at it. He takes away the
first that he may establish the second. Now, what's he talking
about there? What's he talking about? He's
talking about taking away that law. Taking away that old covenant
between Adam and God. Remember when God said, if you
do this, you'll live. Remember that? You can do all,
do this, obey me. Don't do it and you'll die spiritually. Okay? Now that covenant is binding
upon every human being since that time. All people are born
under the law of God, which says, This do and live. All people are born under that
law, Romans 3, under the law of God. So whatever the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law. Why? That every mouth
may be stopped. What's your standing on the law?
Some legalist asked me, What's your standing on the law? Well, where do you stand concerning
the law? Guilty as charged. I've broken it off. Ask me if
I stand on grace. I stand on Christ, who fulfilled
it all. Is that good news to you? He
takes away that first commandment that says, now you best be doing
this or you're going to die if you don't. Perfect thought. Word and deed. Perfect. It must,
it shall be. Start doing it again. It shall
be perfect to be accepted. Leviticus 22. He takes that away,
Henry. He says, now I've done it. Now,
he establishes a second. What is it? Called a covenant
of grace. Come to me. I've done it all
for you. Just believe me. Trust me. I've already done all that. I
take care of that law. I fulfilled it perfectly. I did it! And God
looked at me and said, You've done it! And he says, Live righteous,
approved, holy, acceptable unto God. Amen! And he says, Now you come to
me, I'll give you this. How do we come? How does anybody
come to Christ? The Holy Spirit draws them. See,
that's not even our work. He did it all by himself. All
right. He takes away that first to establish
the second, a better covenant. The first was weak. The law was
weak. Paul's saying Romans ended through
the flesh, the weakness of the flesh, because we couldn't do
it. Why was the law weak? Not in
itself, but through the flesh. We couldn't, the flesh can't
do it. The Son of God could and did. And grace now reigns through
righteousness. I tell you, I'm hitting on the
gospel right here. This is the gospel of your salvation. He came down here, and what the
book of Hebrews now says, all the way through the book of Hebrews,
is Christ is better! Better! He's telling this to
these old religious Jews, and I say this to us old religious
Americans. Everybody in America, my fellow
Americans, are religious. Everybody's religious. They've
got some concept of God. They've got a Bible in front of them.
They've got the name of Jesus on their lips and so forth. Everybody's
religious in America. And what Paul is saying to these
religious Jews and what he's saying to us now is, Christ is
better than your religion. Infinitely higher above your
old religion. Much better. Much better. Said he's made much better than
the angels, the angels. Look over at Hebrew, Revelation,
the book of Revelation, chapter 22. Keep your place here in Hebrews
1. We'll turn right back real quickly.
Revelation 22. Every time, if you look into
scriptures, nearly every time that an angel appeared to men,
nearly every time, that man fell down on his face and started
worshiping that angel. Nearly every time, look at that,
every time. Jacob, Abraham, just keep, look, every time angels
appeared to men, they, because these creatures were so glorious,
just, well, I can't even describe them. These glorious, angelic
beings of light and beauty come from the throne of God. I don't
know if they had wings or what, but they come to men, and men
see these creatures and, oh, and they fall down and start
worshiping angels. This is what old John did in
the Isle of Patmos. Look at it. Revelation 22, 8.
And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I heard
and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of that angel
who showed me this thing. And look what the angel said.
The angel said unto him, Don't do that. Get up! I am your fellow servant. and
of your brethren the prophets." Now this could have been old
Moses himself or whoever. Isaiah could have been, at one
time he was just a man. This could have been Abraham
or Jacob himself. Don't worship me, and this is
what I say to our generation. Don't put a name of a man on
your church. Church of Memorial, Memorial
Church of the Blessed Sister, Saint and Sister, Holy Mother
of our, you know, whatever. Or St. Matthew, Menongahelia. There's some name on your church.
St. Matthew, St. John, St. Mark, St. Jude, don't wear it around your
neck. Don't put anybody's name on your church or whatever. This
is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's made much better
than even angels. You see how these people, they
bowed down to every appearance of the—because they were supernatural,
powerful, glorious, mysterious beings. And every time they style
these angels, they bow, oh my, so, and everything that happens
in this world, people worship it, you know? And what's this
book is saying, don't worship these things, or men, worship
Christ. Christ, who's better, much better,
much higher, much higher. Why? Because he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than that. His name ain't St.
John. as glorious as that name may
be. As much as Christ himself described the Apostle John, or
John the Baptist, his name isn't John. His name is Jesus Christ,
a name which is above every name, the Scripture says. He's obtained an inheritance, a more excellent
name. than that. He, because of who
his father is. John was the son of Zebedee,
or what was his name? I forget his name. John, he was
the son of a man, but not this one. Not this one. Zechariah. Not this one. This is the son of God. The son
of God. And he's got a much more excellent
name today. What's his name? God with us, Emmanuel, Jehovah. Jesus, the name means Jehovah,
our Savior. He has a much more excellent
name than that. And verse 5, And unto which of
the angels, anyway, which of the angels did he say at any
time, You're my son, this day have I begotten you? Unto which
of the angels did he speak and give this glorious tithe of son?
None of the angels heard this. None of the people heard this.
Only one man was ever approved by God Almighty, and God couldn't
even contain himself from heaven. And God from heaven had to say,
this is my son. I love him. I'm well pleased
with him. Everybody hear him. He said it twice from heaven. This is my son. My son. You know, in much the same way,
listen to me, this will bring it home to you, what I'm trying
to say. in much the same way that we
constantly speak of our children and our grandchildren. Some of
you down right are obnoxious with it. You speak of your children
and your grandchildren, constantly talking about them, showing pictures,
right? You just happen to have 143 pictures
of your grandchild in your wallet. Because you're always speaking
of and talking about your children and grandchildren, waiting, just
waiting for an opportunity for them to come up in a conversation.
Aren't you? Come on, Nancy. Aren't you? Here
you are, waiting for an opportunity to show a picture or tell us
something, what they did. Let me tell you what my boy did,
or whatever. God, from the beginning, began telling about his son. From the very outset, why? He
adores Him. He delights in Him. The Son of
His love, the Son of His bosom, who dwelt with the Father from
the beginning. And He showed pictures all the way through
the Old Testament. Let me show you my picture of
my Son. That's what Genesis is all about. Exodus is all about.
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, George, Ruth, all of
it. Pictures of Christ. God says, let me show you my
Son. That's what the Old Testament's
all about. Even the law! The law doesn't say, thou shalt
not, so that you'll be able to not. The law shows us, thou shalt
not, because we can't do it. And it shows us Christ. Can't
do it, can you? The scripture says, the law came through Moses. Moses brought that down from
the mountain. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not.
And the people said, oh, woe is us! We've done these things! Right! But grace and truth came
through Christ. Christ didn't do them. He lived
perfectly. Moses said, you've got to keep
them to live. People said, wait a minute, we can't do it. Okay. The law came through Moses. But
Christ being better than Moses, being better than the law, he
magnified the law, made it honorable. And now he says, I've done it.
I've done it. Come to me. Come to me. Just appeal to me. His Son, the
Son of God, showing pictures, pictures, speaking to us about
His Son. That's what the Bible is all
about, to show us not what to do, but who did it. The difference
in our religion and what this world is saying is in two letters.
The world says D.O. Do. All of these preachers, most
of these preachers, and Christianity today says do. You got to do,
you got to do, you got to do, you got to do. You know what
we say? We add two letters to that. N-E. Done. D-O-N-E. You got to love God with all
your heart, mind, soul, and strength. All your body, all your soul,
thought, word, deed, got to it. It's what God says to do. Yes,
He does. And I love that. I like that.
I can't do it. That doesn't keep me from trying.
It doesn't keep me from being obligated to do it anyway. But don't do it for salvation,
because you can't. Christ did. Christ did. Honor your father
and mother. I can't honor God like I should
my father. I can't honor even my father
and mother like I should respect them. I've rebelled against them
from my youth up. Christ didn't. He honored his
father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.
I can't wish I could. I'd like to. I'm trying, but
I can't. Christ did. Christ did. You see? That's even what the
law is about. The law does restrain people,
though, from evil and sin to a certain degree. God did give
that holy law for restraining purposes. and his wisdom and
so forth, and all the ceremonies and types and this and that and
the other for restraining purposes. It goes much deeper, but principally,
the law is to show us our guilt. Yes, it is. The law is what the
Scriptures say in Romans, is our schoolmaster teaches us something. What? To bring us to Christ. You see that? You see that? John, you see that? The law is
a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, not to live by. But to
bring us to Christ who is our life, I'm telling you, this is
salvation. This is salvation. I'm not shunning
right here to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I'm
not keeping back anything that's profitable unto you. I'm not
laying heavy burdens on you like the Pharisees used to do. I'm telling you, burdens are
laid on Christ. I'm telling you, if you're a sin-bitten sinner
like those people of Israel, bitten by the snake, the serpent
seeing himself. So you just look to that blood
on the pole. All right? And you'll live. Oh, there's got to be more to
it than that. No! Moses didn't say that, did he?
He said, look! A blind man could have looked. Just look. Have somebody point
him in the right direction. Right? Look, that's all I'm saying.
You know, the pole lost its usefulness if it wasn't holding up a serpent. And a preacher is only as good
as long as he holds up Christ, points men to Christ. All right. Verse 6, look at this. Well, verse 5, he says, you're
my son this day as I've begotten you. He didn't say this to any
angel. He said, under his son, I've begotten you this day. Now
listen to me. Please listen. Over and over,
throughout the book of Hebrews, he mixes the deity of Christ
with his humanity. And you've got to have a little
bit of discernment whenever he's talking about separating these
two things. They weren't separated. Christ was God and man, inseparably
connected. Yet at times he's talking about
his position as a man on this earth, and at times he's talking
about him as God. And you've got to have the discernment to
see that here. And throughout here, when he talks about this
day of my begotten me, well it's as if he says a child is born,
but a son is given. He begot us a child, a son, a
human being, but a son was always with the father from the beginning.
Scripture says you never had that beginning. Right? OK. And he said, I'll be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son, an obedient child. Verse 6, and again, he says it
again, again, again, again. Do you see that? Oh, God, again,
again, again. Let me tell you about Christ.
Let me tell you about the Son. Again, again, again. Let me tell
you. Oh, boy. Again, when Christ appeared,
when he brings in the first forgotten into the world, he says, let
all the angels—and this was his command when Christ came into
this world—let all the angels worship him. Did they do it? Do you remember the story? And suddenly there appeared a
light that shone from heaven, and with the angel a multitude
of heavenly hosts cried out, To God be the glory!" You remember
that? Worshipping Him. Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. For unto you is born this day
a Savior. Right? Christ, God told the angels,
said, now you, my son, I'm sending my son down there. Y'all go worship
him. Go worship him. And they did. They did a multitude
of heaven and earth. And they do right now. Verse
7. And then angels, he says, he makes them, you be his ministering
spirits. See that? Verse 7. Every time
Christ made a move on this earth, God sent his angels to minister
to him. Of his angels, he says, he makes his angels spirits and
ministers a flame of fire, but unto the Son he says, O my Thy
throne, O God. What does he say about the angels?
They're your ministers, your servants of my Son. What does
he say about the Son? You're me. You're God. You're not just an angel. You're
not just an angelic. Religion today would have him
as just another powerful angel, wouldn't it? Who wants to and
can't. Who tries and can't because men
won't let him. Oh, no. He's God. He's God. Do him as he will,
as he pleases. God, thy throne, O God, is forever,"
he says, under the angels. Now, y'all are going to worship
him forever. You're going to be bowing down before him on the throne.
He ain't going to be sitting on the throne. You, my son, are
God. You're going to sit right here
with me on the throne. Everybody else is going to worship you.
Everybody else. Why? Verse 9. Why? Because he loved righteousness.
Now, look at this with me, please. Because he loved righteousness. They said there in verse 8, the
scepter of righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom. You remember, the old kings,
they had a rod. It was a symbol of their power
and their rule and their authority and their kingship. What did
they do? I dub thee. A knight come in,
you know, he hit him on the shoulder, close by, I dub thee Sir Galahad,
you know. It says here, it says here that
a scepter of righteousness is his scepter. What does that mean? It means that he, and he only,
has this righteousness to use. Do you hear what I'm saying?
He has this right. He's the righteous and the holy
one. We're not. The scripture says all of our
righteousness is filthy rag, floss water, flounder's water. That's our righteousness. Filthy
rag. But he's righteous. As a man,
he was perfectly righteous, and only he can give it. He dubs
with this righteousness. I dub thee. The sinner comes
to him and says, I need righteousness. Righteous. He'll come and say,
I did this, I did that, and liquor never touched my lips, I've been
to Sunday school, I've got pens all the way down, I've never
committed adultery, never done all these things. Now, make me
righteous. No, he says, reject it. Reject it. Like the Pharisee and the public
in his temple. Pharisee, Lord, I've done this, I've done that,
I've never, I'm not like that. Public, reject it. What that scepter then does is
judge him according to that perfect righteousness. See that? Then
that scepter becomes a sword to cut his head off with. You
don't meet up to this perfect righteousness. You didn't live
like I lived. For the sinner, like a publican comes up and
says, Lord, I'm a sinner. I need mercy. Righteous! You see the difference? It's
his to do. He's got it in his hand. He can
dub whom he wills. He raises up, he casts down.
He makes rich, he makes poor, right? He makes alive, he kills. You know what I'm saying? He
wounds, he heals. He's God. He's got this righteous... Do you need it? Do you need this?
Do you need to be accepted by God? Do you feel your guilt,
your sin, your pollution before this Holy God? Come to Him. If you do, the Holy Spirit brought
you. But if you come by faith, He'll dub you righteous. That's
all there is to it. Oh, you say, that's too good
to be true. You're right. It's good. It's good. That's the reason they call it
the good spot. Good news. Because you don't have to do
anything. Now, after that's been done,
you reckon that old fellow that lived a horrible life and so
forth, he was dead righteous, you reckon he'd run out of there
and say, oh, I can see like I want to now. No. He's so thankful
for being accepted in the beloved, he wants to serve this king from
then on. endeavors to live the life of service. Righteousness. Why? Because Christ loved righteousness. He loved it. He loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. And God's anointed him with the
oil of gladness above his fill. That's the Holy Spirit. He has
him without measure. Because thou in the Lord, in
the beginning, he goes on to emphasize, verse 10, how Christ
is God. You in the beginning. You've
laid the foundation of the earth, the heaven of the works of your
hands. You see how he intermingles the manhood and the deity of
Christ? Everybody's going to perish.
They shall perish, but thou remainest, and they all shall wax old like
a garment, as they're for garment, and like a vesture, like a coat. It says, as a vesture, you've
got to fold them up. That word fold means roll it
all up. God's going to wrap it all up. Us and our rags, our
righteousness, everything that has to do with this planet, this
universe, He's going to wrap it all up and destroy it. All flesh is grass, right? The grass withereth, and the
flower of goodness thereof is like the flower of the field.
The grass is withering, and the flowers are fading. But the word
of our Lord, who's that? endures forever. And it says
right here, someday he's going to wrap it all up. Who? This
Jesus, whom everybody says is such a poor little beggar. This Jesus, who is more, is going
to wrap it all up. And say, you thought I was in
your hands, didn't you? Bind them hands and foot and
cast them away. Going to wrap this thing up to show who he
is. And cast it away and change it,
make a new heaven and a new earth just like he did the first time. He made the first one, he's going
to make the next one. But righteous, no more sin ever
again. Now, to which of the angels did
he ever say anything like that? Sit on my right hand till I make
your enemies your foots too. Aren't there angels his servants
too? Aren't the angels and everything on this planet, in this universe,
isn't everything in this universe for the glory and the service
of the Lord Jesus Christ? And minister to them who shall
be heirs of salvation, to God's people. Everything in this planet,
in this universe, is working together for the good of God's
people, too. This whole planet stays together
because there's a remnant according to the election of grace. Read
it. He said, if there had not been a remnant, according to
the election of grace, we'd have been a Sodom and Gomorrah. You
know what this reader said? But there's a remnant. God has a
sheep. He's looking for them. He's going to find them. Read
Luke 15. He'll find them. He said, go
out there and he'll find them. Put them on his shoulder. Bring
them all with him. He'll find them. Now, chapter 2, verse 1,
look. You say, he's going to go through a whole other chapter?
No. But this is one of those chapter
divisions. It doesn't belong there. The
translator put it there. It doesn't belong there. Look
at it. It says, therefore, right? He's
telling us that it's therefore a reason. Therefore. Look at
it. Everybody look at verse one of
chapter two. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed
to the things which we have heard, lest we let them slip by. I wish I could preach this like
it ought to be preached. We ought to be listening to what's
being said this morning. I'm not saying that. I'm just
repeating God's Word here. We ought to give heed, earnest
heed, to the things which we have heard this morning. What
things? This is offering of God's on the throne. He's given all
thanks to this Christ who has it in His hands, salvation, the
gift. And only those are saved and
accepted by God to come to God by him, by Christ, and you'd
best be bowing down to Christ and believe in him and trust
in him. If you do, he'll save you. Now, we ought to give real
earnest heed to these things, because everybody in here is
a sinner, under condemnation by nature. We've got a God to
face, and we best be faithful. Our only hope is in Christ. And
we ought to give earnest heed, shouldn't we, to the things we've
heard? Lest ye let them slip. What is
it to let things slip? It's five minutes after you walk
out of this door, somebody asks you, what was the sermon on today? Somewhere in Hebrews. That's
letting slip. That's forget about it. Or it's to let these opportunities
slip by. You're under the gospel right
now. There's no promise. that you're going to be under
this gospel again. No promise. No promise that this opportunity
is going to be afforded you again. Now, I'm not being like the preacher
this day at Beggin' Pea. I'm not doing that. I'm just
saying that God doesn't have to speak to you at all. He's
spoken this one time concerning his son. Right now, this morning,
he might not do it again. And the scripture says, today
is the day of salvation, right now. Right now, the gospel of
your salvation has been preached. And it requires submission to
it and belief. Right now. Today, if you'll hear
his voice, harden not your hearts. Say, oh, I didn't know. Yeah,
all right. What's for dinner? Or go on down the road, forget
about it, lest you be suddenly cut off. Right? He says he's coming today, when
suddenly, okay, no more. No more gospel. Forget it. No
more. Seal it up. Seal the book. That's
it. Forget it. Christ, angels, destroy the world. Today's the day of salvation,
and gospel's being preached. I urge you. You can believe Christ now, right
now. Say, I can't. You can't. I can't. He can't. Just believe him. Trust him.
Say, Lord, I believe. I don't understand it fully,
but I sure know I'm a sinner, and this Christ that was described
in this gospel is my only hope. Help me. Save me, Lord, or I
perish. All right, let's stand and sing a closing hymn. Number 125. Joe, would you come
up here and lead us in a couple of verses of this? He says here, you know, we've
heard this so many times, this song. Jesus paid it all, but
he says here, I hear the Savior say, listen to the word, he says,
I hear the Savior say, have you heard this? Your strength indeed
is small. In other words, you can't do
what God demands of you. You're a sinner, you can't do,
the best you can do is bad. Right? Like Paul said in Romans
7, I try to do good, but evil's with me. And when I had this
law, this warring in my memory. Is that you? Okay, you heard
the Savior say, you don't have much strength, do you? Well,
child of weakness, he says, watch and pray. And in me, not all
in all. Isn't that a good move? And he
says, but when before the throne some day, if you come to Christ
by faith, Just by faith. I'm saying come to Christ, I'm
not saying move a muscle. I'm not saying get out of your
chair. I'm just saying believe Him right
now. Trust Him. This Christ I preach
to you. I'm not telling you to do anything. Give a sense in your heart, in
your head, to this Christ He is. Submit. Bow to Him. Worship Him. And then when, based
upon that faith, that God-given faith, Some day before the throne,
you stand in Him complete. You're going to go all your life,
you're going to go all your life thinking, I've come short. And you have. You're going to
bow down over a man and you're going to say, I've come short
of the glory of God. I haven't done what's required of me. But
you're going to stand in Him complete, just by faith. And
you're going to say then, as you My soul right now, Christ
died, my soul is saved. That's what your lips will keep
repeating. That's what it's all about. That's
what salvation is all about. In Christ. First and the last.
First and the last. I hear the Savior's way, thy
strength in His law. Now the weak and frail complain,
finding me by all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Him hath left the crimson stain,
He watched it quiet stone, And when before the throne I stand,
Jesus died my soul to save, I live now still with Thee. Thank you and you're dismissed.