Good morning. Thank you, Adam. A wonderful, wonderful hymn. Pray the Lord will answer that prayer this morning and cause the light of the gospel to shine in our hearts in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're gonna be in Hebrews chapter one this morning. Hebrews chapter one.

And let me just go ahead and say this now. If I seem distant or unfriendly this morning, please don't take it personal. You don't want what we have. I know there's a lot going around, and it has, in the Lord's good providence, visited our homes. Hebrews chapter one. Don't know if we'll get out of these first few verses. Let's pray together first.

Our heavenly father, thank you for the revelation that you've given us of thyself. Thank you for the gift of eternal life in thy dear son. Lord, how hopeful we are in coming to this place this morning that you would be pleased to open our hearts or that you would enable us to set our affections on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Lord, we confess that so much of our efforts and so much of our attention has been on earthly things. Lord, in these in these moments of time, we pray for glimpses of your glory would deliver us from the from the things of this world. Lift us into heavenly places. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would send him in power and open our eyes. Open thy word. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

In verses 2 and 3 of Hebrews chapter 1, we have such a glorious revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ made in so few words. The Lord has inspired the penman of this letter to summarize and and reveal Christ in his inheritance, in his power, in his being, in his accomplished work, and in his exalted glory. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times passed unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, the Lord Jesus Christ being the fullness of the Godhead bodily has left his exalted placing glory and come into this world in order to reveal to us the nature, the grace, and the glory of God Almighty. What a blessing. Notice the last part of verse two.

Whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Moses in Exodus chapter 15 in worshiping the Lord said this, who is a God like unto thee, glorious in holiness and fearful in praises and doing wonders. Our God is knowable only in the glimpses of his glory that he's pleased to reveal. Otherwise, he is beyond finding out. His greatness is beyond any imagination that we could possibly have. And yet Jude Jude finishes his epistle by saying to the only wise God, our savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now and forever. Amen. Amen.

What we what we hear in these in these verses is that God, the father has honored his son by appointing him heir of all things. John chapter five, verse 23 says, he that honoreth the son, honoreth the father who has sent him. God has revealed himself in the person of his son.

And if God the Father has such an exalted view and such a glorious honor of his own son, how much more ought we? How much more ought we? Reminded of what Philip asked the Lord in John chapter 14 when he said, Lord, just show us the Father and it would suffice with us. Oh, Philip, have I been with you so long that you don't know that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father? For I and the Father are one, are one. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He has appointed him heir of all things, of all things.

A couple of Wednesday nights ago in Micah chapter 1, the Lord tells us that we have an incurable disease. This disease of sin is a disease that man cannot cure. And then he goes on in Micah chapter one to say to us, don't try to solve this problem with the arm of flesh. Don't go to your friends, don't go to your neighbors, don't go to anything.

And then the Lord says this, yet will I send an heir. It's a prophecy of what the Lord will do in curing this otherwise incurable disease in sending the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who will inherit from his father all things. Now, God has one begotten son, the only begotten son. In the Old Testament economy, if a man only had one son, that one son inherited everything. The inheritance wasn't divided, it was all given to the one son. The only hope that anyone would have to enjoy the benefits of that inheritance and take part in the things that were given to the son from the father was to be married to that son, to be the wife of that son.

And here we have a glorious picture of the church, of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have all the riches of God in heavenly places in our husband, in the only begotten Son of God, in the one who himself is the heir of all things. And we often think about the Lord Jesus as being the heir in terms of the benefits that come to us as a result of Him having everything. All that we would ever have will come in and through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed truth that is. But I want us to see something little different this morning in terms of the Lord Jesus being the heir who has inherited all things. Not what is it to our benefit that he has inherited all things, but what is it that that he glories in as his inheritance?

What is it that the Lord Jesus Christ glories in as his Inheritance. Turn with me, if you will, to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, verse 15. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, No man has seen God at any time except the Son. All that we're going to know about God will be in the revelation that the Lord Jesus makes of him. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

For 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 all things were created for him. So the inheritance now that the Lord is speaking of is everything, all things. Whether they be visible or invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, everything that was created was created by him and everything that was created was created for him. Surely the Lord Jesus glories in that. And surely we ought to glory in that everything he has inherited. the demonstration of His glory, the firmament shows forth His glory, His handiwork is seen in creation. In everything we see the glory of our God and it all belongs to Him.

Those things, according to what the Lord has revealed to us, pale in comparison to the one thing that he glories in the most. And this is a truth that is beyond our comprehension, particularly when we look to ourselves and think, how can it be? How can it be that a glorious God like this would glory in me? Turn with me, if you will, to Ephesians chapter one.

This is the inheritance that the Lord Jesus glories in more than all those other things. Ephesians chapter one, verse 18, that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."

The riches of the glory of his inheritance. God has given him the inheritance of everything. But to him, the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the saints. It's in his bride. This is the inheritance that the Lord Jesus came to get to himself.

The scripture tells us that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the apple of his eye. In the Song of Solomons, the Lord Jesus as the groom, the bridegroom is speaking to his wife and he says, thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. There is no spot in thee.

That this would be the inheritance that the Lord Jesus would glory in. More than anything else, This is his bride. This is what Adam was referring to when he saw Eve and said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And the two shall be made one. The Lord Jesus glories in his bride as its inheritance because he has given to her his comeliness, his beauty, his glory. He says, there's no spot in you. There's no spot in you. What a glorious, what a glorious bride you are. You're there in Ephesians. Turn with me over just a couple of pages to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five. Verse 25, husbands love your wives. Oh, I want to love my wife. Every believing husband wants to be sacrificial and giving as the Lord Jesus was. Husbands love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it or for her.

Look, verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And we see that glorious bride of Christ in the book of Revelation. robed in the white robes of his righteousness, and he glorying in the inheritance that he earned and that he got from his father. The father elected a particular people for his son. Hebrews chapter one is telling us that the Lord Jesus got from his father that inheritance, and that he glories in her.

He glories in her. Say, what real difference does this make? Oh, if we could believe what God says, about how he sees us and how he loves us. What a difference it would make in our hearts. What a difference it would make in every part of our lives. What a difference it would make in our gratitude, in our worship, in our love. that he would have this sort of love for his people.

Is it not the love of Christ, not my love for Christ, but the love of Christ that constraineth me? Constraineth me how? Constraineth me to love him. Constraineth me to worship him. Constraineth me to follow after him. Constraineth me to to avoid those things that would grieve him, that would dishonor him. It is the love of Christ.

This is what he glories in as his inheritance. This is what he came to inherit. Everything belonged to him, principalities and powers, things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, it all belongs to him. All of creation belongs to him. But that's not why he came into the world, to inherit those things. He came into this world and he did what he did to inherit for himself a beautiful bride. A bride that he has loved with an everlasting love. A bride that he has laid down his life for. Go back with me to our text. He has spoken to us, God has spoken, by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also he made the worlds. All his, his power. He is the creator. of all things.

We can't create anything. We talk of being creative or creating something. All we do is move things around. The literal definition of create is to make something out of nothing. God didn't start out with raw materials like you and I do and move them around in order to create something.

He created them by the power of His spoken word. Let there be light. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And all things were created by Him, and there was not anything made that was made without Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, spoke into existence by the power of His Word. I suppose we could get more technical and say that all that He created, He created out of Himself, which He did. Even God doesn't make something out of nothing. He makes everything out of Himself. out of himself by the power of his word. What a glorious God. What a powerful God, by whom the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom he has also made the worlds.

Notice in verse three, so few words, if the Lord is pleased to reveal by these words, a glimpse of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, we will know it because our response will be to worship him, to fall at his feet and to bow in submission and in worship and in faith and in love. Who being the brightness of his glory, Now, as you know, the writer of Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is comparing the new covenant to the old. He's revealing the excellency of the better covenant to that old covenant accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ. This reference to the brightness of his glory is a reference to those Old Testament manifestations of God's glory made by fire and by light and by radiant cloud. You remember the burning bush? That was the brightness of his glory. You remember the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day? That was the brightness of his glory.

You remember when the priests went into the Holies of Holies on the Day of Atonement and made sacrifice and put the blood on the altar, that the Shekinah glory of God would come down, the manifested glory of His presence, that's what that word means, would come down. And God would say, here, I will meet with you. Here, where this sacrifice is made. Here, where this blood is shed. I will meet with you.

And all of those appearances, all of those manifestations were pre-incarnate appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And now, the Lord's telling us, the brightness of his glory has come. Those were just shadows and types and physical pictures, but now the fullness of his glory has come. As the light that emanates from the sun floods the earth, with light and warmth and life.

So the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't look at the sun. You can't gaze at the sun. You'll go blind. But oh, how we depend upon and enjoy the light that comes from the sun. And here we have a The Lord Jesus in Psalm 19 is likened to that sun that rises in the morning and sheds the light of the brightness of God upon the earth. And every day as we watch the sun come up, may the Lord remind us of the brightness of his glory and shine the light of the gospel in our hearts. The Old Testament The believers and the unbelievers saw the manifested glory of God in the fire and in the smoke and in the cloud and in the light that shined forth in these events. But in the new covenant, in the new covenant, this is a miracle of grace that only God can do.

And it happens privately and secretly in the heart. We're not going about looking for some manifestation of the glory of God. We're looking for Christ. And he can only be seen by faith. Through faith, by grace. Through faith, by grace. What a miraculous work of grace it is in the heart when God creates the need for us to see Christ, and then he answers that need. He creates in our hearts a fear of God, a fear of God. The Bible tells us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

No man seeketh after God at any time. Oh, man might seek after the God of his imagination, but that God is always a God that he can control, a God that he can manipulate, a God that he depends upon to give him something, but a God who is subservient to him. The God who is, the God with whom we must do, the holy, sovereign, omnipotent God of creation, no man seeks after him. He's the one who has to seek us. And what a miracle of grace it is when he creates in our hearts that God-given fear of him. We sing it in amazing grace, do we not? "'Twas grace, "'twas grace that taught my heart to fear."

I've got an incurable disease. And this life is short. And if I have to stand in the presence of a holy God with one spot of this disease on me, I'll receive my just due. God will have no choice but to judge me guilty and separate himself from me for all eternity.

T'was grace that taught my heart to fear. T'was grace that taught me that I was a sinner and that God was holy and that I had a problem that I could not fix. And then what's the next line in Amazing Grace? "'Twas grace my fears relieved. "'How precious did that grace appear "'the hour I first believed.'" A proper fear of God will not cause us to try to cover our sin with fig leaves and hide from God in the trees like Adam did.

No, to cause us to bow before him and say, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Lord, if I'm going to be saved, it's going to have to be by the accomplished work and the glorious person of thy dear son. There's no other way for me to be saved. No one has ever come to God like that without their prayer being heard and without them being saved. That's a work of grace in the heart. that God would cause us. T'was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved."

The Lord reveals to us the glory of His Son. We beheld His glory. This is the, look, who being, this is the being of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is his being. His being is that he himself is the brightness of the glory of God. The full radiance of his person is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what did John say in John chapter one? We beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and full of truth. If we behold the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will see our need for grace. And we will see that only in him is truth, truth. Lord, I need to be saved. The brightness of his glory. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. That's a reference to creation.

The earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. That's a description of you and me without Christ, without form, no direction, no order, and void, empty, no peace, no salvation, no comfort, no love, no grace. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. There was no way for us to see anything of the truth of God or the radiant glory, the brightness of his glory, without him taking the initiative to say, let there be light.

Let there be light. 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. In the face of Jesus Christ. Moses had been on Mount Sinai. The radiance of the glory of God was seen on Mount Sinai. That whole mountain was on fire. That was the brightness of the glory of God that Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 is referring to. That was the presence of Christ himself. Moses came down from that mountain.

They had to cover his face with a veil unless the reflected radiance of that bright glory should blind the eyes of those who were around him. And yet Moses says, After having that experience, Lord, show me thy glory. Show me thy glory. What did God say?

No man can see my face and live. Moses, I'm going to reveal to you, I'm gonna cause my goodness to pass before you. I'm gonna hide you in the cleft of a rock. And I'm gonna show you my hind parts. How does God reveal the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts? How does he do that? Same way he revealed himself to Moses. He hides us in Christ. He puts us in the cleft of a rock. He covers us with his hand. We cannot look to the works of our hands for the hope of our salvation, only his hand. was able to accomplish that work. He covers us with his hand. Who shall stand in his holy presence? They that have clean hands, and they that have a pure heart, and they that have never lifted up their thoughts to vanity or spoken deceitfully. We have to be found in him.

And then I'm gonna cause my hind parts to pass by you. I'm gonna show you through the eye of faith what I have accomplished in the past. And you're gonna look back to Calvary. You're gonna see me suspended between heaven and earth, bearing your sins in my body upon that tree and putting them away by the sacrifice of myself. of myself. You participated not in it. I did it all and I get all the glory.

He shines in our hearts by the power of his spirit and by the revelation of his word, the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, like Moses, what do we long for? What is the evidence that I, though looking through a glass darkly now, Though I only catch glimpses of His face and of His glory and of His grace, and with each one I want to see more. And though we see in part now, then shall we see Him in His fullness, face to face, and be made like Him.

What a glorious day. That's faith's heart's desire to see the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I've tasted of the heavenly gift, but I've not yet sat down at the banquet table of the bridegroom. I've not yet feasted like I want to feast. I've not yet been able to worship Thee like I want to worship Thee. Lord, the brightness of the glory of God I know is all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Shine in my heart.

We can't look anywhere else. If you seek God, if you seek to know God, Anywhere other than the Lord Jesus Christ, you're on a fool's mission. You will not find him. God will only be found in the person of his son. God has glorified his son. He has exalted his son.

If we try to find him in the law, we'll be will be cursed by the law. If we try to find him in our works, we'll be judged by our works. If we try to find him in our experiences, we'll be deceived by our emotions. We cannot find him anywhere else. We find him, you know, people, this God that men are looking for, they're looking for a counselor, they're looking for a philosopher, they're looking for a historian, looking for a moral teacher, but only God's elect are looking for a savior.

Looking for a savior. Lord, I need to be saved. I need to be saved. Saved from what? Saved from the wrath that is to come. Lord, I can't bear the weight of my sin. You're gonna have to put it away. You're gonna have to save me. I cannot save myself. This is my need.

After John the Baptist baptized the Lord Jesus, he said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. I must decrease, he must increase. And the Bible says that a couple of John's disciples started following Christ. One of them's name was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.

And the Lord Jesus turned and looked to them and said this, what seeketh thee? Why are you following me? What do you want? What are you looking for? Andrew said this, Lord, where do you abide? Where do you abide? We just wanna be where you are. We've got to, if you're the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, we've got to be with you. We're not seeking anything else but you. Where do you abide? And what the Lord Jesus say, come and see. Come and see.

This is a work of grace in the heart done by the Spirit of God. Lord, I just need to be where you are. I need to be saved. I need to have my sins put away. And if you're the brightness of the glory of God, I need to see your glory. Lord, would you cause the light of the gospel to shine in my heart in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ?

And give me a glimpse of your glory and keep giving me more and more glimpses of your glory until that glorious day when I will see you as you fully are. Turn back with me to our text. Hebrews chapter one, verse three, who the Lord Jesus being, this is his being. His being is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person.

Now, I don't know if we still use these things or not. I haven't seen one in a while, but years ago, we used to use a rubber stamp, put black ink on it and then stamp it on a piece of paper. And if you ever take that stamp and turn it over with it covered in black ink and all the writing being backwards, you can't read it. But as soon as you put it on a piece of paper, it's absolutely clear what was on that stamp. You can read every word of it perfectly. That's the picture here, the express image of His glory, the stamp.

There's nothing but darkness and blackness if we try to find God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus is the express image of His person. We can read it perfectly. We see exactly who He is. He's revealed himself. And not only did he create all things, look at the rest of this verse, but he upholds all things by the word of his power. Not only did he speak everything into existence, physically and spiritually. Physical creation is a representation of our spiritual creation, recreation. And so it is with physical upholding.

I'm a little amused at these brilliant, and I mean that, I mean these men are brilliant. These astrophysicists, they've got minds that think and things, I have no idea what they're talking about. And guess what they're all doing right now? They're looking for the God particle. They're looking for that one thing that has yet to be discovered that holds the universe together. Because as I understand it, from what is observable in the physical universe, it should not be able to hold itself together with what's observable. So there must be something else out there that's holding it together. and trillions and trillions of dollars and the most brilliant minds in the world are out looking for the God particle. It's what they call it. Dark matter. They'll never find it. Not in a laboratory, not under a microscope.

He upholdeth all things by his power. and by his hand and no attempt on man's part will discover that God must reveal that to us in our hearts. Not only did he say, let there be light when he first shined the light of the gospel in our hearts, but he is the one who holds all things together. who keeps us from falling and who will one day present us before his glorious throne with great rejoicing. He's the one who does it and he gets all the glory. Notice the last phrase. When he had by himself purged our sin, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

I'll just conclude this message with a brief illustration. As I've already indicated, we've got a microscopic bug in our house that it's amazing how those things can lay you out. So yesterday I ordered some hospital grade disinfectant wipes. And on the package it says, guaranteed to kill 99.9% of all viruses and all germs.

If God only cleanses us of 99.9% of all of our sin, that .1% left will send us to hell. He hath by himself purged our sin. He took every sin of every one of his people on his body upon that tree, and he put them away by the sacrifice of himself once and for all, never to be found again.

He did it all by himself, and he gets all the glory. My dear brethren, we are his inheritance. The one that he did it all for, his beautiful bride that he loves with a perfect, everlasting love. What a God. Who is a God like unto thee? that pardoneth iniquity. There is no other God like Him. Amen.