I'm only going to look at the
first three verses this evening. I want us to see the excellency
of the Son of God. It is set forth so brilliantly
in these first three verses. You know, when someone writes
a book or they tell a story, They start out slow and they
build up to some great climax for the ending. But the writer
of Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is moved
to begin with the excellency, the excellency of the person,
of this God-man, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is the subject
of this whole book. He's the subject. He is the heir of all things. He is the upholder of all things. And from here, He makes a big
splash. He makes a big splash. And sets
forth the glories of the man, Christ Jesus, who is seated right
now at God's right hand. A man in flesh and bone is seated
by the majesty, that word is translated greatness, by the
greatness of the one on high. Now notice here how the writer
begins. He starts out and he says, Not
trying to prove that there is a God, just declaring God that
is. He says God. He began with God
like Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. True religion starts here. It
starts with God first. It doesn't start with man first
and go up. It starts with God and comes
down to a man. But also in the book of Genesis,
here's something interesting that stood out to me today. God
spoke and things happened. God spoke on different days,
six days, six days. God spoke on six different days
and each day revealed something new, something different. One day he created this, the
next day this, the next day and the next day for six days. It
says God who has sundry times and is in different times throughout
the ages through the prophets. You know, there was 2,000 years,
let's see, from Adam to Moses and 2,000 from Moses to Christ.
And so at different times, God spoke in different ways, manners
in time past to the fathers by the prophets. This is what happened. When God spoke to the fathers
by the prophets, each time He spoke through the prophets to
the father, There'd be a little more light given. A little more
light given. A little more understanding would
be given. Another type, another shadow,
another picture. A little more understanding was
given. Just like in creation. Each day brought forth something
a little different. And that's what happened here. He spoke
in time past to the fathers by the prophets. And he spoke to
them in his types and pictures and shadows. And all this spoke
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. It spoke of his redemptive
work and God's redemptive will in Christ throughout these times
through the prophets that God spoke. God never left himself
or his people without a witness concerning the Messiah, concerning
his redemptive will. And this also shows that the
Old Testament scriptures are the word of God. God spoke through
the prophets. The prophets did not speak on
their own. God spoke through the prophets. It was God speaking
through the prophets. They did not speak of themselves
or by themselves. They spoke as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit of God to the fathers. And we have that
written down here. We have the actual word of God. There's no error in this book.
It's the word of God. But how does God speak now? How
does He speak now? Well, He says in verse 2, Hath
in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. He spoke to the
fathers by the prophets. He spoke to them through the
types and the pictures and the shadows and dreams. And these
prophets would speak to the fathers. But now, in these last days,
He's spoken unto us by His Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things." That's incomprehensible. He is heir of all that belongs
to God. That's of God. This one is. "...by
whom also he made the worlds. God used frail, sinful men to
speak in times past to the fathers." But now, in these last days,
He has spoken one more time. He has spoken one more time, and
He has spoken to us by His Son. This is My beloved Son, God said. Hear Him. Hear Him. Christ is the final spokesman. He is that prophet that Moses
said should come. He's the final spokesman. He's
the one that Moses said would come. And we are to hear Him. This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. He is the Word of God
incarnate. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Christ is, listen, Christ is
the utterance of God. He is the utterance of God. When
our Lord came into this world in the flesh, He said, As I hear,
I speak. The words I speak are not mine,
but the Father's who sent me. And Christ is the messenger now
of this new covenant that we will see all the way through
this book. He's the messenger of this new covenant. Listen
to this in Malachi 3. Behold, I will send my messenger,"
and that's speaking of John the Baptist there, "...and he shall
prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant."
You see, he's the messenger of the covenant. "...whom ye delight
in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts." Christ is both the messenger and the message
of the New Covenant. It's the messenger and the message
of the New Covenant. As the messenger, He revealed
the New Covenant. It is through Christ, through
knowing Christ, that we understand this New Covenant. It is through
Him that the New Covenant has been established and ratified
by His blood. It's through Him. The prophets
knew parts of it. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all these
prophets, they knew it in part. They knew parts of this covenant.
But now, but now the Son of God has come and He's revealed it
in His fullness. He's revealed it to us in His
fullness. Now we understand the types and
the shadows, don't we? We understand the Passover lamb,
what it means. We understand who it is. Not
just what it means, but who it is. Christ, our Passover, is
sacrificed for us. We understand the tabernacle
in the wilderness. We understand all those tides and shadows now.
We understand them because the messenger, the messenger of the
covenant has come and revealed them to us. He's come. Christ is the real. He's the
real. He came to reveal the new covenant. He came to dedicate that new
covenant. And He came to enforce the new covenant. But now listen,
He's also the message of the new covenant. You know what that
message is? It's the gospel. The new covenant
is the gospel. That's it. It's the gospel. Our message is Christ and Him
crucified. That's why he said, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. Learn of me. To learn of Christ
is to learn the gospel, is to learn of that new covenant. Learn
the gospel and you've learned the new covenant. Christ is God's
messenger, message to sinners. He's his messenger and message
to sinners. He's the way that God can be
a just God and a Savior. He is the way of satisfaction.
He is the way of justification. He is the way of sanctification.
He's the messenger of the new covenant, and he is the message
of the new covenant, which is the gospel. So don't go looking
for any other message or any other way. He's the only one.
Christ is the final revelation of God. He's it. Scripture says, in him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. No prophet could say
that. Moses could not say that. Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel could not lay claims to that. But this
prophet, this one, the man Christ Jesus, it is said of Him, in
Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are
complete in Him." Now, notice here also, he says,
"...whom he hath appointed heir of all things." Heir of all things. Jesus Christ, this man who was
so despised who was so hated, as we looked at this morning,
hated without a cause. This man is heir of all things. All things seen, all things unseen. This goes beyond our comprehension,
I know. Now, if God the Father so honored
His Son, how much more should we honor Him? How much more? Should we honor the Son if God
the Father has made Him heir of all things? Think of what
He will inherit. He inherits all of heaven. If we've not been there, we can't
even begin to comprehend what that is. He's inherited this
world right now. It's in His hands to rule and
reign over. He will inherit the new earth,
the new heaven and the new earth. He inherits the universe. You
look out in the vastness of the universe, all of this belongs
to this one man. It all belongs to him. It's given
to him. But that which he counts his
most treasured inheritance is the saints. Listen to this in
Ephesians 1.18, 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. Listen now, his chief joy in
all of this and all that he shall inherit from God. I mean, this
is beyond comprehension. But that which will be his chief
joy will be to possess the redeemed." It's you. You who believe. You are his chief joy of all
the inheritance. That's amazing. That's what the Scripture teaches.
Now, it's by him, he says, by whom also he made the world. Then that word means, translated
in another were ages. It's not like there are other,
and I saw this on TV this morning, I was getting dressed, there
are other life forms out there. And this one scientist said,
I'm confident. Well, there are other life forms.
Yeah, there are angels and demons and God and Christ and the saints
above. Yeah, they're there. But there's
not another world out there. He said, I'm just confident we're
going to find another world of intelligent beings. Well, it'll
beat this one. Guarantee it'll beat this. You notice how, if
you ever notice how they, when they make a movie on aliens,
they're always weird looking, but they're always smarter. They're
always trying to, you know, come down to check us out, figure
us out, and you know. No. He made the ages. Ages. All this time it rolls by, he
made them. They're of him. He's the ruler
of it. He's the sovereign of it. He's
the creator of it. It belongs to Him. Listen, Frank Redding, Colossians
1.16, For by Him were all things created. God the Father never
has, never will operate independently of the Son. Never will. It'll never happen.
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,
principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. This gives me so much comfort
because you know what this tells me? He's the sovereign. He's the potentate. He's the
ruler over everything that rhymes, rules, and wiggles, moves. It's in His hands. It's in my
Lord's hands. That man is seated at God's right
hand. Probably not much bigger than
me. It's in His hands. But He's God. And that's a lot
bigger than me. He made the world by him. He
who is the heir of all things is also the creator of all that
he is the heir of. Everything that God does, he
does through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything
that has its existence is ruled by him. Politics, demons, The
devil, things seen and unseen, angels. You know, it says he
was made a little lower than the angels. I wrote out in my
Bible, a little for a little while. He was made a little lower,
but he was made a little lower for a little while for the suffering
of death. He's not lower than them down. They are at his beck
and call. He says, come, they come. He
says, go, they go. He says, Gabriel, do this. Michael,
do that. And they do it. at the command
of that man seated at God's right hand that was so despised and
so hated. Who being the brightness by whom
also the worlds were made, who being the brightness, in verse
3, who being the brightness of His glory. You know, the Scripture says
in Isaiah 53, there was no beauty that you should desire Him. But
if God ever saves you, he's altogether lovely, fairest among ten thousand. He gives you eyes to see other
than this flesh, fleshly eyes. He's altogether lovely. Who be
in the brightness of his glory. You know, here's what this means.
It means he is the outshining. He is the outshining of God's
glory. Like the rays of the sun shining
out. That's Christ. That's Christ. Christ reveals the glory of God
in His person. You've seen me. He said, Philip,
you've seen me. You have seen the Father. You've seen God. You remember that in the tabernacle,
in the wilderness, shined the Shekinah glory. of God and it
filled the inner sanctum of the tabernacle. We don't need that anymore. We don't need that anymore. Christ
himself is the outshining of God. He is the outshining of God.
He is the visible of the invisible. He is the visible of the invisible. If we would see God's glory,
if we would see it, we must look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
the only place it can be seen. It's the only place it can be
seen. Not with these natural eyes, but with the eye of faith,
which is a gift of God. To see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, God's glory is seen
in that man. In that man. And he's the express
image of his person. If a person wants to know what
is God like? God is. What's he like? Study
Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me." He is the express image, it says, of His person. The Scripture says, no one has
seen God at any time. That's what it says in John 1.18.
No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. He hath
shined Him forth. He revealed Him. He is absolutely God in every
way. He is. You see Him feeding 5,000. You see God. You see Him having
compassion on them. That's God. You see Him receiving sinners
and eating with them. That's God. That's who He is. That's what He's like. Study
Christ and you'll know who God is. Know Him and you know God. He is God in every way. He is
God in His person. He is God in His attributes. He is the one and true God of
heaven and earth. This is Him. This is Him. For in Him, Colossians 2.9, For
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and upholding," now listen, he's
expressed image of his person, and upholding all things by the
word, and you can translate that by the command of his power. This is in the present tense.
This is in the present tense. Upholding all things. right now. We talk about providence. Providence
is the unfolding of God's purpose in the hand of Christ, commanding,
commanding moment by moment everything that is, everything that happens. Don't think, you know, listen,
at this very moment Christ is commanding all things. Now get
a hold of this. He's commanding all things to
do as He wills them to do. He's commanding them to do it
right now. God did not create, through Christ, this world like
a wind-up toy and then let go. Not like that. God created all
things by His Word, that is, His Son, and turned it over to
Him to run moment by moment. Right now, Christ is commanding
everything that happens. He's commanding the angels like
a military general who marshals his army and commands his army
to come and go and do. That's what our Lord is doing.
Seated at God's right hand, He's commanding. He's the chief commander. And He's doing it. He's doing
it. This thing is way too above us.
I don't care what president you put in the White House, it's
way above us. It's way above our intelligence.
But there is a man that is not above. There is a man right now
seated at God's right hand who is commanding everything that
moves to move. He commands the wind to blow.
See, Santist calls it They call it the laws of nature. That's what scientists call it,
the laws of nature. But you know what it really is? It's Christ
commanding everything to work together for our good. They say certain things have
to come together to make snow. You know, the weather has to
be just right to make snow. He commands it at that time to do
it. This man, seated at God's right hand, commands it at that
time for these elements to come together to snow. Governor Joe
says he gives the horror frost. He doesn't just say, well, it's
frosted tonight. He gave it. He sends the snow. He sends the rain. He rules the
hearts of men. He controls the governments of
nations. He may do it just to bring them
down or to lift them up. It's one way or the other. For
judgment or for blessing. It's in His hands. It's in the
hands of this man seated at God's right hand. This glorious man
by whom God created all things, who's the heir of all things,
and He's running all things. Now go to sleep tonight. Because He won't. He doesn't get tired or weary.
Like you and I, we get, you know, we get tired, weary, we get aggravated
because things are not going right. Wrong person got in office,
whatever. All upset. I'm telling you, He
is ruling and reigning. He's lifting. Does not the Scripture
say He lifts up and brings down? Does He not sit on the throne
whom He will and take off the throne whom He will? This is my Father's world. And
it's in the hands of this mediator, Jesus Christ. He upholding all
things by the word of His power. One writer said this, the universe
derives its integrity from Christ. I thought that was good. And when he had by himself, this
is the one who created all things. This is the one who is the heir
of all things. When he had by himself purged
our sins. Here is the heart of the gospel. It's the atonement. As one writer said, he literally
carried out a cleansing. When he went to the cross, was
nailed to that cross, shed his blood, he literally, actually
carried out a cleansing, a purging of our sins. God can't find them. They're
gone. They're gone. He bore our sins
in His body on the tree. This One who was with the Father,
this One by whom all things were created, this One who rules all
things, came into this world, bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh, and bore our sins in His body on the tree. Sins of His
people. He was made to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And the effect of this work was to remove all sin
from us and present us before God spotless. Spotless. You reckon he got the
job done? You reckon you're going to be
spotless? Let me show you what happened here. Let me read something
to you. I've already got it written down here. Zachariah. Chapter 3, verse 1 through 5,
And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel
of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan,
even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not
this a brand plucked out of the fire? Am I not looking at some
brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments, and he stood before the angel,
and he answered and spake unto those that stood before him,
saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee." I've taken
it away. Joshua, I have taken your iniquity
away. Oh, that God will say that to
my soul. I have purged your sins. I have removed your iniquity.
I can't do it. I cannot undo what I've done.
But God can put it away. He can put it away. And listen,
he didn't say, Joshua, put off those dirty rags and go get you
something else to put on and come back here. No, he said, he even when he
told him to take it away, he didn't tell Joshua to do it.
He told the angel, he said, take it away. Take away the filthy
garments from him. Unto him he said, Behold, I have
caused that iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe
thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head, and clothed him with the garments." Do you know what
they clothed him with? What's Isaiah call it? The garments
of salvation. That's what I'm clothed with.
That's what you're clothed with. If you believe the gospel, that's
what you're clothed with. The garments of His salvation. And the angel of the Lord stood
by. Christ could not cleanse His
people without becoming their substitute and His blood being
shed for them. He had to do this in order to
purge us from our sins In order to remove these filthy garments,
in order to make us clean, he had to become unclean. He had
to be made sin. And God dealt with him in my
place, in my stead. Hebrews 9.22, And almost all
things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding
of blood there is no remission, no forgiveness, there is no cleansing. without the shedding of blood.
But his blood's been shed. His blood's been shed. Oh, that
I could get the ears of a filthy sinner. I say there's blood. There's cleansing. There's a
fountain open. There's a fountain open. And notice here, he did it by
himself. No one could help him redeem
his people. He must tread the wide press
of God's wrath alone. The top lady said it best, not
the labor of my hands can fulfill thy law demands. Could my tears
forever flow? Could my zeal know respite? No. All for sin could not atone.
Thou must save, and thou alone. And after he did all this, he
created the heavens and the earth. After he did all this, all things
put in his hands, he's made the heir of all things. He came into
this world, the heir, the heir came into the world and purchased
what he's heir to. Go figure that one out. Purchased
what he's heir to. And after he did all this, he sat
down. He sat down on the right hand of the majesty. your majesty
on high." Having finished his work that he was sent to do,
he sat down, now listen, enthroned on high. He didn't just go up
and sit down on a chair like this. He sat down in a place
of power and authority, enthroned the Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world is enthroned at the right hand of your majesty. That's where he is. That's where
he is. The one who humbled himself to become a servant, even to
die the death of the cross, is now seated enthroned in glory. A man. God-man, but no less a
man. A real man. The Lamb of God that
hung on the cross is now enthroned at the right hand of the majesty
on high. This means he got the job done. And he's seated there running
and ruling and commanding all things and expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool. And they will. They will. Now
in closing, if we could get a hold of this, it will comfort our
hearts It will assist us in worship. It will help us to truly worship
Him. And it will help us to give Him
the glory that's due unto His name. We worship, we trust, we love
the enthroned Christ of God who is worthy of all glory. And all praise. Worthy is the
Lamb. Okay, Mike.