As always, thank you so much
for your love and kindness, hospitality, generosity. I remember years
ago, many years ago now, I was 26 years old and I had gone to
preach for Brother Mahan at Ashland, spent the night with he and his
wife Doris. The next morning, this is back
when I was a good-sized fella. And Doris liked to cook for good-sized
fellas. She can cook. And we were having
breakfast. Doris's biscuits and gravy and
crêpes. I'll make you hungry. Eggs, sausage. Brother Mayhem was telling me
about the first time B.B. Caldwell came to preach for him. And Caldwell was at that time
the age I am now. He was 69 years old. And he came
downstairs, and Doris was in the kitchen, puttering around
doing what she was doing at breakfast ready. But Caldwell said to Doris,
he said, Sister Mahan, you're going to have a lot of preachers
in your house for the rest of your life, and you're going to
have folks telling you all the time, please don't build any
extra trouble for me. But I'm an old man. And anything
extra you want to do for me will be greatly appreciated. So I
greatly appreciate the extra effort. Folks telling Bobby,
Shelby's going to tell you all to get those baskets over there.
Don't do that. You just keep it up. It'll be
just fine. Thank you. Thank you. And let's get the
white elephant out of the room. I know many of you are very concerned,
and I appreciate you being concerned for my health. So far as I know,
I'm not dying anytime soon. I've got this probable cancer
to deal with. For my wife and family and friends, it's a terrible
ordeal. For me, it's just a bump in the
road. It's no more than having the flu or a cold. I haven't
changed my plans about anything. My commentary on Exodus is due
out any time. I hope to finish Leviticus in
a few weeks. I'm working on Ephesians and
Jude through 1 John. Maybe Isaiah, but that'll take
a while. But I'm doing just fine. I haven't made any change in
plans. I plan to leave here and have a few meetings between now
and 1st of September. And I'll go over to England and
Ireland. I still have several churches who look to me as their
pastor. I have found pastors for them
in Ballymun in North Ireland and Osceola, Alaska. And I try
to continue ministering to them. For you who don't know, the folks
in San Diego just called Kevin Thacker as their pastor. So he'll
be moving out there. And I learned something a week
or so ago that I didn't realize before. I thought maybe I had,
over the years, lost a little bit of an intimidating factor.
And I had asked a preacher to go out and preach in San Diego
a year or so ago. And he told his wife, I'd ask
him to go out there, and she said, but you're Scared to death
to fly. He said, but I ain't near scared
to fly in the name of Don Fortner. So I had lost everything altogether.
All right, turn with me, if you will, to the Gospel of Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. Just hold
your Bibles open right here at this first chapter of the Gospel
of Hebrews, and may God, the Holy Spirit, speak to us by his
word. God, who at sundry times and
in divers matters spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name Then they now in those four
verses of holy scripture God the Holy Ghost informs us that
our Lord Jesus Christ God the son our mediator is superior
to greater than and exalted above all things He is superior to
greater than and exalted above all things in fact A key word,
as you read through the book of Hebrews, is the word better. The apostles writing to a group
of men and women who were Jews by birth physically, who had
been converted by the grace of God, believe in the gospel of
God's free grace. But just like you, who have been
converted out of other forms of will worship religion, have
continual struggles with those things that you learned Those things that were contrary
to the gospel, religious baggage you carried all your life long.
So these Jews had those struggles. And the purpose of this epistle
is to demonstrate that everything about Christ Everything about
the gospel of God's free grace Everything about the revelation
of God in the person and work of his dear son everything about
God's salvation in Jesus Christ is superior to better than everything
in the Old Testament types and pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ
He is the sum and substance of it all. And without him, without
his person, without his work, without his accomplishments,
without his redemption, without his salvation, all of the Old
Testament would be nothing at all. Just ink and paper, nothing
else. Nothing else. Jesus Christ is
better. He's better than all the prophets.
He's better, better than the tabernacle, better than the temple,
better than the altar, better than the priest, better than
Aaron, better than Moses, better than Joshua, surety of a better
covenant. He is Christ the King, God the
Son, our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. I want to speak,
God enable me, as plainly, as forcibly, as clearly as I can. about the unrivaled excellence
of Jesus Christ, our Lord, for one reason. I want you to know
Him. Oh, I want you to know Him. You've
got to have Him. You've got to have Him. Without
Him, you'll go to hell. I don't care what your religion
is. Without Him, you're under the wrath of God. I don't care
where you grew up. Without Him, you have no hope. I don't care what you've experienced.
You must have Jesus Christ the Lord. You must trust the Son
of God. And if God enabled me, I want
to make Him as glorious before your eyes as I possibly can through
His Word. You who are gods, join with me
in the adoration of our blessed Savior in all the superior excellence
of his being, his character, and his work. God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, in these last days spoken to us by son He spoke in other ways and days
gone by but now he speaks son wise He spoken to us by his son
whom he at the pointed air of all things by whom also he made
the world's who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down
on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better
than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they. If you are ever tempted to imagine
that there might be some similarity between the weak, frustrated,
helpless Jesus of this idolatrous generation and the exalted Lord
of glory, Jesus Christ our Savior, just reread these four verses.
There is no similarity. There is no likeness, none whatsoever. The Christ of God is not at all
alike the Christ of this religious world. The gospel of God is not
at all like the gospel that's being perpetrated by men today
in the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ, our God, is great. exceedingly, infinitely greater
than all the idolatrous imaginary gods of men that men call Jesus. Let's see how. Number one, our
Lord Jesus Christ is unrivaled in his excellence as the word,
the revelation of the invisible God. God, in days gone by, spoke
to men and women in different ways. He spoke by the prophets,
in visions, in types, in shadows, by dreams they gave to men, by
the laws and commandments he gave in the Old Testament, by
the ceremonies he established by which he was worshipped symbolically
and ceremonially in the Old Testament. Now God has spoken once with
finality by his son. The Lord God spoke with Adam
in the garden. He spoke with Adam after the
garden. He walked with Adam in the cool
of the day in the garden. He spoke to Adam's son Abel.
He spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He spoke to Enoch and
Noah. He spoke to Job. He spoke to
them in different ways. He spoke by the various laws
and commandments given at Sinai. All of those things were given
pointing to one thing. Pointing to one thing. There
is one coming who is the woman seed. One coming who is a man
without an earthly father, one coming who is God in the flesh. And that one coming, God in the
flesh, will crush the serpent's head. He will undo everything
the serpent messed up in the garden. He will crush the serpent's
head and save his people from their sins. Do you know one of
the reasons why women in the Old Testament all were anxious
to bear children? There was no such thing as a
Jewish woman who didn't want any children. There was no such
thing. We have such foolish women these
days, but there was no such thing in those days. And there was
a good reason. Every one of them who believed
God knew there was a man coming who was going to be a woman's
seed and he was going to save his people. Every one of them. When Eve was pregnant, She said,
God promised he's coming. Behold, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. She was mistaken, but that was
the hope. When Boaz took Ruth to be his wife and Ruth bore
a son, Ruth had anticipation that maybe this is that one of
whom Naomi told me way down yonder in that pagan land when I lived
her first love. And indeed, through Ruth and
Boaz, the Lord Jesus came into this world. Everything in the
Old Testament pointed to him. Everything pointed to him. It
was just like arrows pointing in this direction. It pointed
in that direction. He's coming! He's the Messiah,
the Christ of God, who will save his people from their sins. Our
Lord Jesus is the full, final, complete revelation of God. He's called the Word of God. In the New Testament there are
two different Greek words, translated word. When you read the word
as is written by the Apostle John, and this word Logos is
peculiar to John's writings. You don't find it anywhere except
in John's writings. It's referring not to the written
word, or even to the spoken word, but rather to the living word
of God, Jesus the Christ. He is the word by whom, in whom,
through whom, alone God speaks to sinners. He's the revelation
of God. Hold your hands here, turn to
the first chapter of John's Gospel. John chapter 1 In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God now if you are
at home sometime with some Religious looking fella comes up and carrying
a little satchel with him and knocks on your door they call
themselves Jehovah's Witnesses and they want to come in have
a Bible study with you if you fool enough to let them in your
house and the first thing to go to is John chapter 1 and they'll
tell you there is really a better translation than this in the
beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word
was God really would better be read in the beginning was a word
the word and the word was with God and the word was a God because
there's no definite article there in front of the word God. Well,
I had one come to my house one day, just had one time, just
once, a long time ago, came to the house and wanted to have
a Bible study with me and I said no and he wanted to ask me a
question and this is where he went to and I spoke plainly to
him and he decided he had come to the wrong house and turned
around and he started to pick his shoes up. I knew it was his.
I said you dust your feet off here and I'll kick your butt
across the street. And he took me at my word. I
meant it at my word. I'd have kicked him across the
street. This is how the text reads, quite literally. In the
beginning was the word. And the word was with God. With God. Now, when my wife and
I go out shopping, I used to try to keep up with her. Like
the other ladies, she'd go to the store, and she and my daughter,
We could go to Pigeon Forge, and here's the dress. That's
the one that's looking for, right there. I'm talking about first thing,
we walk in, first thing in the morning. That's just what I want.
Shop all day long. Here it is over here. At the
end of town, next to it, same dress. It's 50 cents more. Guess
where we're going. We'll go back here where we first
saw her and get 50 cents less. Spend a dollar and a half in
gas to get back there, but we'll go back here where it was 50
cents less. That's just the way women do. That's how they think.
That's all right. But when we go shopping, I'm with her, but
I ain't really there. I'm a few steps behind her. I'm
just a few steps behind her. Never with her. Sometimes we
do some things. Not anymore. We used to be. I'd
be a few steps ahead of her. Go somewhere, I mean a tool shop,
buy some tools for the garage or something. She's there, but
I'm a few steps ahead. This word with is distinct. And the word was with God. Face to face with God. Equal
with God. Parallel with God, but more than
that. And God was the word. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was face to face with God and this God was the
Word. He's the revelation of God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
him and without him was not anything made that was made. Verse 14,
the Word was made flesh. God the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. When He dwelt among us, we beheld
His glory. We saw Him like other men couldn't
see Him, because God, the God of this world, blinded their
eyes. But God, the God of this world,
the God of all grace, gave us light. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. This is He of whom God spoke
back in the garden. We beheld His glory. The glory
as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth
verse 18 No man had seen God at any time God is spirit Now if you think you saw a spirit
last night you were smoking something pretty good I Drink him something. Maybe you're not been drinking
Because you can't see a spirit God is spirit. No man's ever
seen God. God is incomprehensible, pure
spirit. No man's ever seen God. You can't
speak to a spirit. A spirit can't speak to you.
God is spirit. No man's ever seen him, approached
to him, come to him, or been visited by him, except by the
word. No man has seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.
He's standing here on this earth, but he's in the bosom of the
Father. He hath declared Him. That word
declared is the word from which we get our word exegesis. Back
in Nehemiah chapter four, chapter eight, I think it is. Yeah, Nehemiah
chapter eight. Nehemiah took the law of the
Lord, stood on a pulpit of wood and he read the law of the Lord
distinctly and gave the sense of what he had read and caused
the people to understand. That's called expounding scripture. The word declared here is the
word from which we get our word exegesis. What's that mean? If I properly, honestly, truthfully
handle scripture, I take what's being said here in Hebrews chapter
1, verses 1 through 4, and I find the meaning of the words, and
I bring them out and show them to you. And you look and say,
well, there it is. I don't see why I didn't say
it before. It's always been there. The Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate
the word is he who steps into humanity in our flesh and says
here's God look at me this is God all of God there is all of
God you can ever know all of God you need all of God you'll
ever have the embodiment of God is Jesus Christ the word You
and I cannot see God, know God, speak to God, be spoken to by
God, or come to God, except by Jesus Christ. And God will not
speak to you, or be spoken to you, or spoken to by you, except
by his son. But he don't. Hebrews chapter
1. The Lord Jesus Christ is unrivaled in his excellence as the word
of God. And as the heir of God, the appointed heir of all things,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Now wait a minute.
Wait a minute. He's God. How can he be the heir
of anything? He's God. He made all things. How does he inherit anything?
He's God. How can he be the appointed heir
of all things? He is God the man, our surety. Our Redeemer
accepted as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of
the world, and as that one who has come as Jehovah's righteous
servant. He has earned and shall have
everything. He's the heir of all things. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hands. Being heir of all things,
our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, our mediator, has the absolute
right to do exactly what he will with all things. And he always
does. He always does. He has the absolute
right to do what he will with all things. That includes you. And he always does. He says,
I make peace and I create evil. I make light and I create darkness. I am Jehovah, God, heir of all
things, and I hold everything in my hand. None can stay his
hand or say to him what do is now Nobody's gonna slap him on
the wrist and say I've got a better way of doing things. It's not
gonna happen. He's God Rules everything listen to what he
says to his church He sends us out to preach the gospel with
these words Jesus came and spake unto them saying all Power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth Now that's the basis of
all evangelistic effort. All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. I was sitting in my study one
night when Brother Darwin Pruitt was a member of the church in
Danville. He came in before the other men had this on their mind.
He said, Brother Don, that word power, does that mean might or
authority? I said, yes sir, that's what
it means. All might. authority the triune Jehovah
has put in my hands all power thou has given it power
over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou has given him now let me tell you something listen
close you won't get it listen close brother Gabe if he has
all power That means nobody else does. If he has all power, nobody else
got any. Nobody else got any. Nobody else
got any. If he has all authority, nobody
else has any authority. All power in heaven and earth
is in my hand. to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given me. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
appointed heir of all things personally because he's the firstborn
of every creature, the firstborn son. When Elisha prayed that
he might receive a double portion of Elisha's spirit, he wasn't
praying that he might be twice as good and twice as well-known
and twice as powerful a prophet as Elijah. He's saying, let me
have a double portion of the firstborn. Let me have what belongs
to the firstborn. That's what the firstborn has,
the double portion of everything. Christ is the appointed heir,
the firstborn. He's the appointed heir of all
things personally and representatively. He took his seat in heaven on
the throne of grace as a forerunner. a forerunner, a representative. He ascended back into heaven
and sat down as a forerunner. That means there's something
following me. There's somebody following me. I sit here, but
there's a whole train of redeemed ones coming to sit here with
me in my kingdom and in my glory. And he who is the heir of all
things is the dispenser of all things. When Pharaoh put everything in
the hands of Joseph, and folks got hungry, and they needed corn,
he said, go to Joseph. And they needed grains, he said,
go to Joseph. And they needed seed for this
or that, he said, go to Joseph. I've given everything to Joseph,
the Lord God Almighty. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has
put everything in the hands of the God-made mediator, our Lord
Jesus. Behold your God, Jesus Christ,
unrivaled in his excellence as the appointed heir of all things.
Here's the third thing. He's unrivaled in his excellence
as the creator of the worlds. By whom also he, that is the
triune Jehovah, made the worlds. Now there's an obvious reference
here to the distinct persons of the Holy Trinity and our Savior's
distinct divinity and personality as God the Son. John tells us
all things were made by him and without him was not anything
made that was made. And yet it's equally obvious
that our text speaks of Christ as our divine mediator, one by
whom the triune God performs all things. Everything God does,
he does through the mediation of his son. Even the creation
of the world through the mediation of his son. The measurements
of the universe were laid down by Christ. He is that man the
prophet saw with a measuring stick in his hand. He is that
man the prophet saw with an acorn in his hand. The power of the
sun and the brilliance of every star is energized by his sovereign
decree. Listen to this. in whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,
for by him 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 made by him,
created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and
by him all things consist. He's the one who holds it all
together. He made it. He holds it all together.
Now, please don't misunderstand me. I don't suggest that you
go out here and litter the highways, throw trash out your window.
I just don't do that. It's a good idea. I like things
neat and clean. But I'm not even a little bit
scared of the earth burning up too soon or freezing out too
soon. I'm just, I'm not at all inclined
to think, folks over, the science, the science and research is over
about that. It's over because you're too dumb to read the word
of God. That's all. Christ is not the spectator of
all things. He's not the evolver of all things. He's the creator of all things. And by him, all creation consists. He's the glue that holds it together.
Those things that men call laws of nature, are the laws of God
our Savior. He is that one who created the
worlds. John's not talking now as if
there were multiple worlds created and little green men coming flying
down here and flying saucers. It's laughably sad. Smart men will believe it. It's
just laughably sad. Have any idea what I'm talking
about? Every now and then on the television,
the Washington News, they're going to have a special report
about where unidentified flying objects have been spotted. And
they're going to that place out in Nevada. We're expecting millions
out there. A few weeks ago, a few days ago, I think maybe 200 or
300 showed up. But they were just, oh, the world's
just crazy about this nonsense. No, it's talking about the heavenly
world. He created that. The heavenly
world, the habitation of God and his holy angels. The upper
world, the vast expanse of space. The lower world, the habitation
of man. The world beneath, the prison
of the damned. Christ created all. He's the absolute sovereign creator. Ruler, sustainer of everything. Brother Don, why do you insist
so much that Christ is the creator, that he's God in charge of everything? Because to deny that he is the
creator is to deny that he's God. To deny that he is absolute
sovereign is to deny hope to anyone. To deny his dominion
is to deny that he's to be worshipped. To deny that he holds everything
in his hands. All power is His. In heaven,
earth, and hell is to deny that He has the ability to save. He denies all hope to men. Jesus
Christ is God our Savior, ruling everything all the time as sovereign
creator. He sits yonder on His throne. in the ease and serenity of total
sovereignty. Oh, how easy it is. How at peace he is. Everything,
even the devil himself, under his absolute control. Satan and
God are not rivals. He's God's devil. on God's chain
doing God's bidding. Read the first two chapters of
the book of Job. It wasn't Satan who came and took up the issue
between God and Job. It was God who took up the issue
between God and Job. It was God who instigated the
whole thing for his glory and Job's good. And Satan only did
what God said go do. That's all it is. That's all
it is. Everything is ruled by our God, our Savior, the Creator. The Creator. I look out in the
world around me, and I can't see much, but my soul, to imagine,
to imagine that this stuff just boom, it got started. And this thing decided to become
a sun. And that thing decided to become
a star. And that thing decided to become a moon. And that thing
decided to become a big mud hole and a ball circling around. And
we'll call it Earth. And men decided to come out of
the water and start walking. That's brilliant, isn't it? That's
just, oh, that's just brilliant. Years ago, I used to watch Y'all
remember Phil Donahue? When I wanted to get really pumped
up in the mornings, I'd turn him on. And one morning, he had
this scientist from up at Cornell University in New York by the
name of Carl Sagan. Brilliant fella. I mean brilliant. He was smart. Oh, he was smart. And he was talking about how
men began to walk on earth as men. And Donahue said to him,
he said, now I'm telling you almost exactly what he said here.
He said, we know that all life came from the waters, but how
did creatures first start walking across the earth? And Mr. Sagan stood up on national television
and he I don't know how big he was. He looked skinny as a rail.
I looked like I could blow him over, but he stood up, had a
coat on, and he said, he said, the fishes in the seas began
to flop. And they flopped. And they flopped
for four or five million years until they started walking. And
Donnish, you said, oh. And they're smart. And neither
one of them in a nut house. Neither one of them. And people
believe that nonsense. Or you can believe God. You can't
believe both. One or the other. He's the creator of all things.
Read them. The Lord Jesus is unrivaled in
His excellence as the brightness of the glory of the triune God. Christ is the glory of Him who
is glory. In him dwelleth all the fulness
of the God-hidden Fatherland. You mentioned Peter, James, and
John on that transfiguration, Paul. He glowed like the sun
in brilliance at man. Glowed like the sun in brilliance. They saw Christ the man in his
transfigured glory as the resurrected man. They saw on the Mount of
Transfiguration the risen Christ before ever he died in all his
glory of that glorified body. The brightness of the Father's
glory. The brightness. The brightness. I can't look on the sun. You're smart not to try. I had
a solar eclipse a couple of times in my lifetime. Well, just recently,
I was smart enough to get me some special glasses to look
at it like that. Well, you can't see much like
that, but you can see something bright. And God doesn't say to
stay away from it, but the light that you saw was just the brightness. It was just the brightness. It
was just the shining of the sun, the brilliance of the sun. It's
the sun, and you can't separate one from the other, but it's
just the light of the sun. And Christ is the brilliant,
dazzling, life-giving light of the triune God, the brightness
of the glory of God. He dwells in a body God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost dwells in the body. We worship God, one
God in the Trinity, the sacred persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and these three are one. The scriptures are as plain as
they can be, but that one triune God is seen only in the bright
light of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And then we're told, that our
Lord Jesus is the express image of his person. The express image of his person. Christ is unrivaled in his excellence
as the image of God. But the Spirit of God uses a
very good word, the express image of his person. You remember when
The Lord God spoke to themselves back in Genesis chapter 1 and
God said to God, let us make man in our image and after our
likeness. Now I know the theologians tell
you man was made in the image of God in the moral image. He
was made intellect, emotion, and will. And that's true. That's
true. But don't be so foolish to say God made man in the physical
image of God uprightly so that he walked up on two legs unlike
animals on the earth. Yes he did. Man was created in
the physical image of God, but God's spirit, but God's spirit,
how could that be? Jesus Christ is the eternal God-man
mediator. And though his humanity was created
in time, he stood in eternity as the God-man crucified and
accepted. And God made man in his image. He made him just like Christ.
Romans chapter five, verse 14 says so. Adam was made to be
a type, a representation, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. So
that when the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit made Adam in the
garden, He made him in the perfection of humanity. Holiness, perfection
of it. Righteousness, perfection of
it. I have no problem with that at all. He made him in the perfection
of humanity. He was made Brilliance. Oh, the brilliance of that man.
Do you know where all the animals got their names? Do you know
where they got them? Adam, what do you call that?
I call that a lion. What's that over there? That's a cheetah.
That's a different kind of lion. No, it's a cheetah. Try breeding
two together, you'll find out they're different. What do you
call that? That's an elephant. What do you
call that? That's a mouse. What do you call
that? That's a roach. He named them
all. He named them all. Every creature
brought to Adam and named by him. A brilliant man. A brilliant
man. A man who understood the covenant
relationship in which he stood before God. A representative
man. A man who represented the whole
human race. Adam understood that what he
did in the garden, all humanity did in him. And Adam understood
what he was doing. When his wife Eve was deceived,
and she took the fruit of the tree, that forbidden fruit, and
she ate it. And the book of God didn't tell
us one thing happened to her. Read it. She didn't represent
anybody. She ate that fruit. The covenant
wasn't made with her. The responsibility wasn't hers.
She ate the fruit. She said, honey, have you tasted
this? Take a bite. And Adam looked
to the heel. A new death is the result. Judgment's
the result. Wrath is the result. Alienation
from God is the result. And Adam said, honey, give me
that. And for love of Eve, he willingly
plunged himself under the wrath of God and made himself sin and
a curse and death. Like another man, the last Adam,
Jesus Christ our Redeemer willingly rather than be separated from
us. He is right. Willingly took the
curse and the sin and the death and plunged himself into death
and curse and alienation from God that he might have us forever. blessed of God and accepted of
God and righteous in Him. Freedom. He is the express image
of the person of the triune God. And then we're told that Christ
is unrivaled in His excellence in the fact that He's the upholder
of all things. Upholding all things by the word
of His power. Again, again in the inspired
volume of Holy Scripture, God the Holy Spirit tells us that
our Lord Jesus Christ governs the universe and all things in
it absolutely. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
I preached to our folks one time last week, I forgot when it was,
One of the services last week was preaching from Isaiah 33.
And it's a strange thing. You get down toward the end of
the chapter, and the prophets, clearly speaking about heavenly
glory, the final triumph of God's church in and with Christ, and
he says, they'll look back at their enemies, and they'll say,
I was afraid of that? That was what bothered me? And
they'll look back at their trials and say, That's the reason I
was afraid to take the next step. Look at that. And they will laugh
at those things that once terrified them. Why is that? Because He
who is God my Savior upholds everything and He rules everything. And if Shemai comes out and starts
to cuss and call me everything except white man from North Carolina
and Brother Chris comes on and says, Brother Don, you want me
to go over and shut him up? I said no, leave him alone. God
said cuss Don or he couldn't do it. Just leave him alone. How are you going to respond
to that? Well, if you catch me on my good days, I won't. You
catch me on my bad days, I might be another story. What do you
do with them? Leave them alone. Leave them alone. What are they
going to do? God will bless me. because of
his cursing or he wouldn't have cursed me. You know what David
said about Shema? Live in love. This is God's doing.
This is God's work. Read on. Our Lord Jesus is unrivaled
in his excellence in all his person, in all his work, in all
his glory. Most distinctly, he's unrivaled
in his excellence as our Redeemer. He has by himself purged our
sins. He has by himself purged our
sins. I love that word purged. I only wear white shirts in the
pulpit and there's a reason for that. My sister asked me a few
weeks ago, I was having dinner with her when I was preaching
for Brother Linwood down in North Carolina and she said Would you
preach like that? I don't wear a shirt. I said,
no, not even in a frosty day in July, no. And she said, I
didn't think so. Gene, honey, things are getting
so casual these days, you're liable to see me wearing a tuxedo
from now on. The more casual other folks get, the more formal
I'm going to get. It ain't happening in Danville. It ain't happening.
I just wear these shirts. And sometimes I'll forget to
roll that roller ball back in. Do you know what a little bit
of black ink can do to a white shirt? It can mess them up. And that dear lady sitting there,
she'll take these white shirts, and she'll soak them, and she'll
put Clorox on them, and she'll get spot remover and other stuff,
and she'll scrub, and scrub, and scrub, and scrub, and scrub. Look here. Where's the spot? It's gone. It's not that we pretend it's
not there. It's gone. It's not that you put a post-it
note on it and say, it's been taken away. It's gone. It's gone. The Lord Jesus Christ, by himself,
by the sacrifice of himself, when the year of his redeemed
came, when the vengeance of God must be poured out, He, by the
sacrifice of himself, purged our sins. And they're gone. They're cast
into the depth of the sea of God's forgetfulness. They're
cast behind the back of him who has no back. They're gone. So thoroughly gone that God says,
I will not remember thy sins. I will not remember thy sins. I can't forget them and don't
want to. I need to remember them. God can't remember them and refuses
to. How can that be? Christ by himself
purged away our sins. We're justified. Somebody said,
it's just as if I'd never sinned. Not quite. I never sinned. I never sinned. Ask God. Ask God, what does he say? I
know whom I've forgiven. I'll look for the sin of Jacob,
but I can't find any. I'll look for the iniquity of
Judah, I don't see any. None shall be found, for I know
whom I pardon. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you're free. They're all taken away. Read on. Christ Jesus, our Savior,
is unrivaled in his excellence, in his glorious exaltation. When
he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. What can that mean? He sat down to receive because
his work was over. There was nothing else to be
done. He sat down. He sat down at the right hand
the place of authority, power, might, and dominion, at the right
hand of the majesty, the triune Jehovah. On high, he sat down,
the God-man, having finished his work. My wife works with
me all day long. We still put in a good 60, 65
hours a week at the office. Cut down a little bit in recent
years. She's got a lot more energy than I do. When we go home, she's
still got supper to cook, clothes to wash, houses to clean, clothes
to iron, all that stuff you ladies have to do. When I get home,
I walk in the back door, and I have a good-sized blue leather
chair that's well-worn, sitting right there. And when I squeezed
all the air out of that cushion, my day's work is over. That's
all you're getting out of me. There's nothing else happening.
Next thing I do is bed. That's it. I'm done. The Lord
Jesus finished everything the Christ of God, the prophet said,
would come here to do. He magnified the law and made
it honorable. He brought in everlasting righteousness. He put away iniquity, transgression,
and sin. He magnified, glorified, honored
the triune God in the totality of his being and he satisfied
divine justice and he sat down. The work done, completely done
as God himself would have it, but he don't. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is unrivaled in his excellence in his name. The name he has
obtained. Being made so much better than
the angels as he hath obtained a more excellent name than they. What does that mean? He has obtained
a more excellent name than they. Brother Paul, so properly, last
night gave warning and I want to reiterate it as forcefully
as I can. When you think and speak of the
name of God our Savior, do it with reverence. I hear people
use the name of God, oh Lord, oh my God, gosh, golly, gosh,
lordy, lord this, lord that. I'd rather hear you cuss using
anybody else's name. It's horrible. It's horrible. She didn't mean
anything by it. Well, it means something good
by it. Worship God. But what's this talking about?
He has obtained a more excellent name. His name is Jesus the Christ. His name is the Lord Jesus the
Christ. His name is Christ. His name
is Jehovah. What does this mean? He's obtained
a more excellent name than all the angels of God. than all the
prophets of God? What does that mean? Our Lord
Jesus Christ, by His resurrection from the dead, was declared the
Son of God with power when He raised Him from the dead. This
is the Christ, the Savior, the Redeemer, the woman seen, God
the Son, who has accomplished redemption. See Him yonder, He's
risen from the dead. This is the one you must have.
This is the one you must trust. This is the one to whom you will
bow. He is Lord. He is Lord, and you're gonna
bow to Him. You're gonna bow to Him. You're gonna bow to either
now willingly, delightfully, because he graciously bows you,
or in the day of judgment, as he pronounces your everlasting
damnation, you will bow to him, screaming and cussing with every
breath, but bow to him, you will, because he is Lord, and he is
God, our Savior. Now, believe. on his name and you have everlasting
life. Come to God in his name and ask
what you will. Ask what you will, he'll give
it to you. Well, you mean preacher, if I need a new car, I just go
ask him for a new car and he'll give it to me? You can go across
the street and hear that crap. I meant to say it. What it is,
it's just horse manure. You hear that on television.
You mean if I got myself in financial trouble and I need a million
dollars, he'll give it to me, just ask it? In Jesus' name I
ask it! No, no. I mean, you ask God to sanctify his name. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Is that what you want, John?
Is that really what you want? The honor of God? It's yours. Thy kingdom come. Is that what
you really want? You want God to save his elect?
Is that really what you want? I want him to save my children.
But what is it you want now? What is it you really want? Thy
kingdom come. I bow my will to you. It's yours. Thy will be done. Right now. Right now. Oh my God. Thy will be done. On earth. Just like you do it
in heaven. Right now. All of that. Is that
really what you want? That's really what I want. That's really what I want. It's
mine. It's mine. Ask what you will
in my name. Believe in me. Father, give me
today my daily bread. Give me today what I need from
your hand. Is that really what you want?
Or do you want something else? What was it you wanted? That's really what I want. It's
yours. It's yours. Father, give me grace. Oh God, give me grace to forgive
my enemies. Just like you forgive me, your
enemy. Give me grace. to walk with you
today. Give me grace sufficient for
the day. Is that really what you want,
Gary? Is that really what you want? It's yours. God's given him a name that's
above every name, above every name. And he gave me his name. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. But it doesn't stop there, does it? And beloved, now are
we the sons of God because of the unrivaled excellence
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.