Hebrews chapter one, verses one
through four, let me read it to get the context. God, sovereign,
supreme, majestic, ruler over all, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past, that'd be the Old Testament,
unto the fathers by the prophets. He spoke to the prophets, the
prophets spoke or preached to the people. However, in these
last days hath, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His
Son. The language of God the Father
is the language of Christ. If you want to get to the Father,
if you want to understand anything about the Father, if you want
to understand anything about yourself, your sin nature, you're
going to have to go through the Son. You're going to have to
see the Son as He's revealed. spake unto us by his son, whom
his son hath, God hath appointed heir of all things. He owns it all. By whom also
he made the worlds. It wasn't a big bang theory.
It was God who made the worlds. who, Christ being the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of his person, this is
the second person in the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, and upholding all things, not some
things, all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself, this is Christ, purged our sins, sat down, on the right
hand of the majesty on high. When he by himself, by himself
purged our sins. That's what we're interested
in. That's what we're interested in. Verse four, being made so
much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. In this early portion of Hebrews,
we see the absolute supremacy and sovereignty of Christ Jesus
our Lord, heir of all things, by him the worlds consist. He's
sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high. God himself
was to highly exalt Christ and give him a name above all others,
no rivals. The God that's preached today
has a rival. You. You can rival God. You can accept Him, or you can
reject Him. You can, as they've even got
things called, what they've had forever, when I was in college,
the Roman's Road of Grace. And if you walk down this road,
God is obligated to save you. And of course, if you allow Him.
That's not the God of the Scriptures, and that's not the God we preach.
We notice here in verse two, God's language is that of Son. In Christ and by Christ and through
him, he says in another place, are all things. And Christ will
have, must have, and does have the preeminence. That means he
has the first place above all. All things to do with godliness,
righteousness, and holiness. This mediator, The anointed one,
as he's called in another place, has been appointed heir of all
things. We see that in verse two. Whether in the earth or beneath
the earth, the universe, he's heir of all things. There's no
name higher or more exalted. than his, I think we get that
in the first four verses. And it is through this man, Jesus
Christ, through his name preached and believed upon that we receive
the proper and only forgiveness of sins. You have to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Not Buddha. not Joseph Smith,
not the Pope, not any of these figures, Christ is the one that
has the keys, it says in Revelations, of salvation. And he now sits
upon a glorious high throne, high above all principalities
and powers. Then in verse four, our God,
through the inspiration of some say Paul was the writer here,
he begins to compare Christ to the angels, and the angels pale. in comparison but what I want
to look back particular phrase that got my attention as I said
I don't think I think about this I don't think we think as believers
think about this thought this concept a particular phrase a
single line spoken in regards to our kinsmen Redeemer and that
would be in verse 3 verse 3 and upholds, who? Christ upholds
all things by the word of his power. He upholds all things
by the word of his power. All things, not some things. Not some things. Emmanuel Our
God in Christ Jesus is so sovereign, he's so in charge, he's so in
control that he upholds all things with everyone, everything, not
just his darling people. He upholds all things by the
word of his power. And we're gonna look at several
scriptures. I wanna show this because I believe a proper understanding
of who God is will give us a proper understanding of how far down
we are and how exalted the Lord Jesus Christ is and I hope and
I pray will cause us to cry for mercy because we're everybody's
in this in his hands. Everybody is in his hands. I
don't know who the elect are. That's not my Privileged to go
and say well, I think that person is elect. I'm gonna talk to him
and I don't think they are so I'm a no No, we've preached the
the gospel goes out to everybody everybody Turn to Psalms 145. We're gonna be in Psalms quite
a bit here Psalms 145 Psalm 145 verses 15 and 16 Psalms 145 verses 15 and 16,
the eyes of all, who would that be? Fish have eyes,
snakes, animals, birds, humans. The eyes of all wait
upon thee, thou give us them their meat in due season. Thou openest thy hand and satisfies
the desire of every living thing. And when we go home today and
we have something to eat, we need to thank God. He could shut
it. The grocery stores, in my lifetime,
just this one time, the COVID, I'll be careful, COVID. That's all I'm going to say about
that. The shells got empty. You couldn't find a bunch. That's
never ever happened in my life, ever. It could happen again. It could very easily happen again.
The eyes of all, even the creation, understands God is sovereign
and in control. The animals, All these creatures
wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Now openest thy hand, what a gracious hand, what an omnipotent hand,
what a sovereign hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Every creature, large or small,
two-legged, four-legged, young, old, male, female, sinner or
saint, Now I know a man, he thinks he's going to develop a product
beyond, one place it's called Beyond Meat, and there's no meat
in there. It's just all, it's in central Missouri. It's a big
old warehouse and they produce this food. They got us, we're
smart. I don't have any doubt about
that, but I think we're too smart in the ways of spirituality.
We're blind. We don't acknowledge God. We
go home and we open a closet. It's there. Who gave you and
who gave me the breath to be able to work? We could just go down this line
is what I'm trying to say is every creature, everything must
own. They will own either in wrath
or in mercy. Every knee's gonna bow one day,
every knee's gonna bow. And then they'll say, well, oh,
you did give me my meat. You did give me my bread. You
did give me that. What does the scripture say about
promotion? Some of us know promotion says promotion comes from thee.
Oh, but I gotta pat myself on the back, hard work. You should,
that's good, and I hope you do. We shouldn't be sluggards. But
in everything, acknowledge. That's why we're in Philippians,
that's why we rejoice. I say rejoice, why? God's on
the throne. Let your requests be made known
with thanksgiving, why? Everything we have, everything
we have is not our own, it's a gift. It's a gift. And in this country, and it's
all I can speak of from this country, we forget that. We forget
that. Do we see what God is saying
here? Every person is in our Lord's
hands, whether for judgment, for mercy, for the precious,
or to separate in the vial. In Matthew 5, he says he sends
the rain on the just and the unjust. And the sun, he, the
sun, he shines upon the just and the unjust. Well, I need,
I need food and that sun and that rain is going to produce
it. Seeds going to grow. How do I know that farmer's a
believer? It doesn't matter. God's going to take, he's, that's,
that's how benevolent our God is. Turn to Psalms 148, 148. Listen to this, verses one through
eight, Psalms 148. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye
the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. Praise
ye him, all his angels. Praise ye him, all his hosts.
Praise ye him, sun and moon. Praise him, all the stars of
light. Praise him, ye heavens and heavens
and waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the
name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. Sounds
like he's on the throne to me. Sounds like he's sovereign over
everything. He hath also established them forever and ever. He hath
made a decree which shall not pass. Praise the Lord from the
earth, ye dragons, and all deeps, fire and hail, snow, vapor, storm,
wind fulfilling his word, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees
and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying
fowl. Sounds like to me, animate and
inanimate objects. I'm talking everything. He upholds
all things, all, that A-L-L, all things by the word of his
power. If he stopped upholding, governments
would fall, fruit trees would quit bearing, roses would quit
blooming. That's what I'm saying. That's
how sovereign and how omnipotent and full of dominion our Lord
has. and we serve Him. That is amazing
grace. That is amazing grace. Oh, if
we could see this by faith, we would bow down in humble adoration
and or we should fear greatly before Him. Turn back to Psalms
104. Psalms 104, verse 29. Thou, this is God, hides his
face, they are troubled. Thou takest away their breath,
they die, and return to the dust. I'd say we could live for a little
while without, you know, if we're gonna go science, you know, something,
the sun's only got so many more years and it's gonna burn out,
we could live for a little while. And water, we'd live for a little
while. But if the breath, if he takes the breath away, couple minutes. Do we not see
how we are in his hands and he can do with us as he pleases? He has every creature's breath
in his powerful hands. Acts chapter 17 says in him we
live and move and have our very being. Now
I know we think we wake up in the morning and we go to work
and we don't affect anybody. We affect a lot of people, but
in our own minds, I'm doing my job, I'm doing this and that.
But we're doing that in Him. Whether we acknowledge it or
not, we're doing these things in Him. Turn to Acts chapter
17. That's where I'm getting this.
This indeed is the apostles argument. Acts chapter 17, verse 27, that
they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after
Him and find Him though He be not far from every one of us.
That's what he's saying. Seek the Lord. Knowing that he's
over you can crush you or can have mercy on you. Seek the Lord
for in him we live and move and have our being. As certain also
of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.
He is the creator. We are the creatures. And he
says the same thing in Romans, potter in the clay. Who are we,
our clay, to say anything to the potter, to rail against the
potter? He's formed us. We bow to him,
we worship him. Psalms 75. Psalms 75 and verse
seven. But God is the judge. He puts
down one and sets up another. That's what's going to happen
in November. It's exactly what's going to happen in November in
state, local, federal levels. He's going to put up one. He's
going to set down another. The powers that be are ordained by
God. How can he do this? How can our
savior, our redeemer, our kinsman redeemer, because he upholds
all things and throws down others, all by the word of his power.
Psalms 107. This is how powerful he is. Even
his word. Look at this, Psalms 107 and
verse 20. Speaking of God, and obviously
through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, he sent his word
and healed them and delivered them from their destruction. He didn't even, he sent his word.
Well, this makes sense because he spoke and the worlds were,
right? He spoke and they were. Who has
that kind of power? Our God, who upholds all things
by the word of his power. Psalms 33. Psalms 33 verses 6
through 11. Psalms 33 verses 6 through 11. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of
his mouth. He gathered the waters of the
sea together as a heap. He layeth up the depths and storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him." That's what we get when we look at how
he upholds all things by the word of his power. It ought to
have a reaction in us to be in awe, for he spake, and
it was done, he commanded it, and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of
the heathen to naught. He makes the devices of the people
of none effect. The counsel of the Lord stands
forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations, lest
it be the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom
he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Salvation Damnation, righteousness,
justification, regeneration, all is in his hands with whom
we have to do. The food we eat, it didn't have
to taste good. Why does it taste good? Why? He's ordered it. He's ordered
it to meet our palates. Just the very basic, some of
the most basic things, this is what I'm thinking of when I'm
looking at this. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. By the word of His power. Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 and verse 7. I form light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Drop down ye heavens from above.
Let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it. He spoke it. He upholds all things
by the word of his power. And this ties in with everything
I can think of. For example, you don't have to
turn it, but in James chapter four, why are we as believers,
why before we do something, we are to say, if the Lord wills. because he upholds all things
by the word of his power. We go to him for breath, life,
happiness, unhappiness, food, rainment, clothing, all. We don't say, and this is where
I was, and I got, this morning, I woke up, I had all this extra
stuff to write down. I just was thinking, things came
over me. Why is the believer different
than somebody else? because he knows God's on the
throne. He knows, because he's on the
throne, he knows that he's a sinner and walk away in a minute if
God doesn't hold him up by his grace. If God doesn't give us
breath, we will walk away. And a believer acts accordingly.
The people, where are you going? I'm going to go shopping. I'm
going to go do this, I'm going to go do this, I'm going to do
this. The believer steps back if the Lord wills. if the Lord
wills. That's what I will do. And the
older you get, you'll realize this, I'm going to do this, and
then you pull out a back, something happens and you can't do it.
You can't do it. We're frail, we're weak. Deuteronomy
32 Deuteronomy 32 and verse 39 Deuteronomy 32. He says, see now that I, even I
am he, and there is no God with me. I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal, neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. By reading just that verse, we
ought to fear and tremble. and say, Lord, clothe me like
you did Adam and Eve. Clothe me outside of myself. Deuteronomy 32, 39. Clothe me,
for you have my life in your hands. I might not make it tomorrow. I might not make it the next
day. My time, says David, my times are in your hands. If we'd
start living like that and walking by faith, Oh, how we would be
a testimony. He would be so honored and glorified
by our lives and things that we do and things that we say.
Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 2. 1 Samuel chapter 2. We'll start
in verse 1, I prayed and said, this is a
believer, she's a believer, my heart rejoices in the Lord, my
horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over my
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is
there any rock like our God. Talk no more exceeding proudly,
let not arrogance come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a
God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed, because
he upholds all things by the word of his power. This is the
believer understands this. We're careful when we go into
the house of God, put our hand over our mouth, don't vow a vow
you can't keep. The bows of the mighty are broken,
verse four, and they stumbled or girded with strength. They
that were full have hired themselves out for bread, and they that
were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath born seven, and she
hath many children as wax feeble. The Lord kills, the Lord makes
alive, he brings down to the grave and brings up The Lord
maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up.
He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggar
from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them
inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. Our God's
on the throne. He rules and reigns. In a passage of scripture that
I've quoted a little while ago, I used to quote it all the time,
in Proverbs chapter 3, lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him. In all thy ways. Why? Because we want his will done.
Even if it doesn't go how we think it should go, all our ways,
submitting to His ways. Now, the end of knowing all these
things about our great God, that He upholds all things by the
word of His power, that He's over everything, the end of knowing all the above
and trusting that He will do all these things, submitting
to His right and authority to do with us as He pleases, The
end of all this is for us to cry unto him for beggars mercy. It's like one man said years
ago, I don't remember who it was, it's like you're in a wrestling
match and your uncle, uncle, uncle, and I used to wrestle. quite a bit, and the place you
didn't want to be was on your back, because when you're on
your back, you're looking up at the lights, which is not, you shouldn't
be looking up at the lights. Uncle, that's where we need to
be. It doesn't matter if we're just
now, by God's grace, coming to Christ, or we've been coming
to him for 20 years. He resists the proud and gives
grace to the humble. beseech him for full pardon for
all of our sins and transgressions. He says, seek me and you'll find
me. This God who upholds all things by the word of his power,
who can snap, who can speak, who can look. Peter, Peter denied
him. He changed his language. He tried
to be like an unbeliever. Did he not? He changed his language. He started cussing because they
said, well, I know you're one of those that it was with Christ.
So what does he do? He's like us. He was weak. He
has the fear of man, like we all do. So he changed his language. And what did Christ do? He didn't
have to say anything. He just looked. And the love
and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ broke him. And that's a good
place to be, is to be broke. Yes, he is supreme. Yes, he is
kingly. Yes, he has total dominion over
all the works of his hands. Yet he voluntarily humbled himself
so we might have life. In closing, turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 2. I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter
8. And verse 9, 2 Corinthians chapter
8, and verse 9, For you know, do you, do I know, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be
rich. Do we know this? I didn't ask,
are you religious? I didn't ask you how long you've
been going to church. I'm asking, do I know, do we
know this right now? If we do, let us then live and
breathe all things Christ. He'll take care of your clothes.
He'll take care of your needs. He'll take care of your food.
He's promised that. David said, I'm young and now
I'm old. I've never seen the Lord's people baking bread. But
we got to have, kind of like the Mormons, was
it a year's supply of food? Trust Him. Me. Me first, and
then you, because I'm just as weak as anyone here. I need the
grace of God. I pray that I know the grace
of God. I pray that you know the grace of God. May the Lord
be pleased and add A blessing to his preached and reading of
his word. Bruce, would you close us?