It's my intention this morning
to preach Christ to you. That's the only message that
will ever comfort the hearts of believing sinners and save
the souls of lost ones. None of us can do anything to
be saved. None of us are able to provide
the perfection that God requires in order to be pleasing to Him
in any way. It's futile to tell me that I
must do something to be saved when I can do nothing to be saved. Friends, if our redemption is
not by sovereign grace, and I'll say to you as you've heard me
say and others before, I heard Brother Todd Nye, that's where
I got it from. He said, there's no grace but sovereign grace. But we put that word sovereign
in front of it to distinguish from what others in religion
today call grace. What they call grace is no grace
at all. It's dependent somehow in some
way upon you doing something. making the decision, you walk
in and out. Sovereign grace requires nothing
but the sinner to bow at the feet of Christ and beg for mercy. And when a sinner does that,
God is behind it. God's already done a work of
grace in his heart. And what a sinner truly thinks
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing, now listen, it's
the only thing that will truly matter in the salvation of souls. One day we are all going to go
out to meet God Almighty and the question that He will ask
is, what think ye of Christ? There's no other message to preach
but Christ and Him crucified that will benefit the soul of
a sinner whether saved or lost. No other message. That's the
subject that God the Holy Spirit delights to bless. Christ is
truly our everything. And those of you that know Him,
you know that. And those of you who are still
in spiritual darkness and don't know it, it's still true concerning
you. If you're ever to be redeemed,
dear friend, made whole, God will reveal to you that Jesus
Christ is all you need and He's all that God requires. Salvation
doesn't have anything to do with your works of righteousness.
You know why? You don't have any. You can't do any. Your righteousness is filthy
rags, and God don't want it. Only a perfect righteousness
grabs His attention, and that's in His blessed, blessed Son. They came to Him one day tempting
Him, hoping to find fault against Him. And one asked Him, said,
Lord, what's the greatest commandment? And He said, well, there are
two. One is to love God with all your mind, soul, and spirit.
And the second one is to love your neighbor as yourself. Now,
it's easy to love your neighbor. But it's not easy to love Him
as you love yourself. We love ourselves way too much. Can any man or woman, now I'm
being serious here, can any man or woman, saved or unsaved, professing
Christian or non-professing, can they love God with all their
mind, their soul, and their spirit? Can they? Well, I'd say there's
just too much love for self. Now, I strive to love Him with
all my being. I desire to love Him with all
my being. But friends, I fall way short
of filling these two commandments, which our Lord Himself said hang
all the law and the prophets. And yet, I can't even do those
two things if I'm honest. If I'm honest. And if you're
honest, you'll say you can't either. You desire to, you want
to, but you can't. But that is why we preach Christ. In Christ, this perfect love
for God is accomplished. Christ loved His Father enough
for all His people. And His unselfish love covers
and fulfills our selfish love. In Christ, dear friends, I love
God as I ought. And we can instruct men on how
to be good people, good parents, good spouses. But in and of ourselves,
we'll never attain to what God requires. Do you know why? Because there's none that doeth
good. There's none that doeth good.
There's none that's righteous. We're all gone out of the way.
What way? We're all gone out of God's way.
Preaching Christ alone is the only profitable message to no
good, unrighteous, hell-deserving sinners. Now the question is,
are you one of those? That's what the gospel is. It's
good news for the no good. And this is what the first preachers
of God did. They preached and taught the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is salvation. Knowing him
is the only way to life eternal. That's why he's our only message. Acts 5.42, let me just read you
a few verses. What was their message? Jesus
Christ. In Acts 8, verse 5, Philip went
down to the city of Samaria and preached what? Christ unto them. He didn't hold a seminar on this,
a series of teachings on that. He preached Christ unto them.
When Philip sat with that Ethiopian eunuch in his chariot, Acts 8.35
says, "...he preached unto him Jesus." As soon as Paul was converted,
Acts 9.20 says, "...straightway he preached Christ and the Son
of God." The very one that he had persecuted, the very one
that he had literally had people stoned and thrown into prison
for preaching, he himself, after conversion, preached Christ. everywhere he went. That was
his message. He said in 1 Corinthians 2 verse
2, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That means Paul's only determination
was that they might see Christ. Someone not long ago asked Pastor
Greg Elmquist down in Orlando, said, what are your goals for
your church? He said, I only got one. I only
got one goal. One goal? He said, to preach
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all it is. It's the only
thing profitable to a soul, saved or lost. I read to you a moment
ago in Philippians 3, the writings of Paul, and he said, what things
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. He said, I count
all things but loss. for the excellency of what? The
knowledge of Christ. Knowing Him. Who He is, what
He did, where He is now. He said, I suffered the loss
of all things. I count them as just manure. That's what the
word dung means. That I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Oh, to be found outside of Him,
not a good place to be. Death and destruction await you,
my friend, if you're outside of Christ. And Paul said, which
is of the law. That's where men's righteousness
is trying to keep God's law, trying to do something, trying
not to do something. You never get it done. But Paul
says, but I'm talking about that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know Him. Salvation is in a person. We
say that all the time. Because it is. It's not in how
much Scripture you know. It's not in how many facts you
know about Him. It's knowing Him. That's what
you preached last week. Pastor, that's what I'm going
to preach next week too. I may know Him. The power of His resurrection. The fellowship of His suffering.
being made conformable unto his death. In Matthew chapter 16, one day
our Lord asked his disciples, he said, who do men say that
I am? You know this story. And they
said, well, some say that you're John the Baptist, and others
say you're Elijah. Well, I heard a fellow the other
day say that you're Jeremiah, reincarnated, or one of the other
great prophets. And he said unto them, Whom do
you say that I am? That's the question of all questions.
Who do you say that He is? What do you think of Him? Whose
son is He? It doesn't matter who everyone
else says He is. It matters who you say He is. Will you answer like the enlightened
apostle? Oh Peter, oh bless his heart.
Who do you say that I am?" And Peter said, Thou art the Christ! And that's a title, that's not
a name. You're the Christ. You're the God-man. You're God
who came down and humbled Himself as a man and became sin for me. That's who you are. You're the
Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and He said,
You're a blessed man, son. If you know that this morning,
let me tell you, you're a blessed man. You're a blessed one. You
know why? You didn't learn it on your own.
Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but God in heaven
has shown you this blessed truth. The preaching of Christ, the
divine revelation of Christ is a sinner's only hope. Without
God, you're without Christ, you're without hope in this world. And
with these things said, I ask you a question. Why would we
preach anything but Christ? Now, if you'll turn with me to
Hebrews 1. I want to look at three verses here this morning.
And again, by the grace and mercy of God, preach Christ unto you. Hebrews 1, verse 1. And may God again enable us to
see the beauty and the only one who truly is life eternal. And I'll tell you, this blessed
truth cannot be believed if it's never preached. Preaching Christ
is God's means to salvation. Christ is the bread of life.
You protect Him, you never hunger again. He is the water of life,
whereof if a man drink, he shall what? Never thirst again. Verse 1, God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake and time passed unto the fathers
by the prophets, But he hath in these last days spoken to
us by his Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds." Now, first let me
say what a blessing it is that God today speaks to His people
in a new and more blessed way than before. In the past, God
spoke at certain times and in different ways to His people.
Formerly, He spoke by the prophets. But now, He speaks by the Son,
the Word of God. But what would you say if someone
said that they heard Jesus in an audible voice and they spoke
to Him? I'd say he's a liar. God speaks
through His Word. He may have heard a voice, but
it wasn't Christ. God formerly spoke to the prophets,
but now He speaks unto us. unto us. In times past, God spoke
at various times, and now He speaks at the end of times. Verse
2 says we're in these last days. How does God speak to sinners?
It's only through Christ. His Holy Word, by His Holy Spirit,
according to His sovereign purpose and grace. And notice that this
Blessed One, Christ, who is God's Son, the second person of the
Godhead, has been appointed heir of what? All things. We talked about that in Sunday
school. I love those two little words. All things. If he wasn't
in control of all things, and you've heard me say this, I'd
be scared to death. I'd be standing in the one spot
that he wasn't in control of. And you would too. But he controls
all things. There's not one square inch on
this planet that He is not sovereign over, dear friends. My, what
comfort there is in those things. This great Heir is the same One
who made the worlds. God's appointed Him Heir of all
things. And that simply means that all
things are subject to Him and all things are under His authority. Men don't like that. Men want
to be in control. Men want to have something to
do with their destiny. They want to be self-made men. I'm going to tell you something.
I do not want to be a self-made man. I don't. That leads to nothing but destruction. No good, no good can be found
apart from Christ. You know why? Because He alone
is the heir of all things. That includes all good things.
Christ is not the heir of some things and then the rest is divided
and distributed among His creations. No! He's the heir of all things. We are miserable and destitute
of all things unless Christ supplies all things for us. Now, I'm telling
you, friends, this is a good hope. Everything belongs to Him
by right. He possesses all things. You
know why? He made all things. Is that unreasonable? All things
are for His people's good because He alone controls all things.
He's going to show His people mercy, grace. He's going to cause
all things. A lot of times, all things are
uncomfortable for us. Because they're not our things,
but all things work together for good. You know, I look back
on some things in my life that were hard trials, great sufferings. And I thought to myself, how
could this be for my good? And now I see it was for my good. that he did it. It was for his
glory that it was done. Why do worthless grasshoppers
that we are feel as though we deserve something or have a right
to something that belongs to him? Our Lord said, is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with my own? If He created all
things, then that must mean He existed before all things. And
that must mean that He is God. He's God. Look at the Gospel
of John, chapter 1. I know most of you can quote
this, but look at it with me. John 1. Let's look at the first
3 or 4 verses, 3 verses. In the beginning was the Word. Notice that's capitalized. This
ain't just some word. This is the word. And the word
was with God. And the word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And all things, how many things? All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. What are we going to do with
that? We're going to bow to it, aren't we? Who better? Everything
belongs to Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. Now back in Hebrews, look at
verse 3 with me of chapter 1. Still speaking of His Son. He
says, "...who being the brightness glory. That word his is italicized,
but it means that he's the brightness of God's glory. He's the express
image of his person. Whose person? God's. and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, set down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high." Now notice here the words are, who being. This is
important. It doesn't say who was made.
It doesn't say who was appointed. It says who being. Now what does
that mean? It means that He is God. He was and He is and He will
always be God. That's the beauty of preaching
Christ. Preaching Christ teaches us that God Himself died for
sinners. He's the brightness of God's
glory. He is God's glory. Did you know that that is the
reason for the gospel? God's glory. God gets all the
glory in the saving of sinners because only God can redeem a
sinner. If man can save himself. Now
listen, I mean this. I was taught this pretty much
my whole life until God saved me by grace. If a man can save
himself, then man gets the glory. And I can assure you that those
who think that man can save himself are going to take the glory for
it. You don't have to talk to them long to find out. They're
taking the glory for it. The man cannot save himself.
Only God can save. Christ is the express image of
God's person. What do you mean by that? I mean
when you see Christ, you see God. He's the second person of
the blessed Trinity. God in three persons. God the
Father, the Son, the Spirit. And He upholds all things. There it is again. By the word
of what? His power. Of course it is. We don't have any power. Let
me show you the power of God. Look at the last part of verse
3. When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down. He sat down. He sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high. Now let's consider these
words just briefly. By Himself. By Himself. Listen, salvation is not a cooperative
work between God and man. I don't know when that started,
but it was wrong. It's not a cooperative work. Christ by Himself. How plain is that? Died for sinners. You can't add anything to what
Christ did. It's by Himself. Well, don't
I have to exercise my free will? Don't I have to make a decision?
Don't I have to walk in hell? Well, let me ask you this. Does
this verse say, by himself? Is that what your Bible says? If it does, and it does, then
the answers to that question is a resounding no, as far as
adding anything to what Christ did. He did it by himself. What
did he do by himself? Well, he purged our sins. You
know what that word purged is? It has a very simple definition. It means removed. Removed. By Himself, Christ removed our
sins. Why do you think Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ? He said, it's the power
of God unto salvation. To everyone that believe it.
Do you believe? Do you believe? Now, what can
I see and learn from these three verses in Hebrews chapter one?
And I've heard a lot of sovereign grace preachers, many of them
that you know, that I've heard personally, and in some way in
their message, and I referred to it a minute ago, they always
deal with these three things. First is, who is Christ? Second,
what did he do? And where is He now? And this
answers all three. We've pretty well already answered
who He is, haven't we? He's God. He's God. When we preach Christ, we preach
God. And how could any sinner benefit by preaching man? Man
cannot save himself. We've established that. Christ
Jesus is God, and being God there can be no impossibilities. There can be no difficulties
with Him. While He spoke the worlds into
existence, is there anything too hard for the Lord? He's able
to save whoever you might be. You know, there's not one sin
that will keep you out of His grace and glory and salvation. You know what will keep you out?
Your righteousness. Your goodness. That will keep
you out. But not your sin. And though
each and every one of us has gone to the very edge of eternal
ruin. We've went right there and just
looked over the edge of eternal ruin. Every one of us. I'm going
to tell you something. You've not gone beyond the reins
of God's omnipotence. Not His power. He hasn't gone.
Now if you're still the sight of glory and breathing, there's
still hope. Who can save me but God? Oh,
dear friends, rejoice in this wondrous truth. He that was a
babe in Bethlehem was God incarnate. Man, I can't wrap my mind around
that. Boy, I, by His grace, wrap my
heart around it. He who was weary and sat on that
well at Sychar was God. give me to drink, thirsty. It was God incarnate. He that had no place to lay His
head was God. He who created everything for
Him, through Him, to Him, all things, had no place to lay His
head. It was God. God. And it's He who has undertaken
this astonishing labor. The salvation of men is God,
and therefore men may have hope and trust in Him. This is no
ordinary man, dear friends, that your salvation depends upon.
This is the God, man. This is God. What did Christ
do? Well, we've pretty much covered
that, haven't we? Christ effectually purged, removed our sins. Now if you're a sinner, that's
good news to hear. That was the greatest task ever accomplished
since the beginning of time. The Holy Christ, God in the flesh,
who was incapable of sin, stooped to purge our sins. Now I want
you to meditate and as one old preacher said, I want you to
chew on that for a minute. God stooped. A God who knew no
sin was made to be sin. And there was a reason that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Oh, what a wondrous
thing that Christ purged our sins. And in one sense, He purged
our sins before we had ever committed them. He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, was He not? And there they stood,
all our sins before the sight of God and all their hideousness. But Christ came and He purged
them. He took them away by Himself. By Himself. By offering Himself
as a substitute. There was no purging away of
sin except by Christ bearing the burden of it. And friends,
He bore all that was due to you and I. And it was on our account
a violation of His law. And God accepted His sacrifice
as payment in full. We used to have a stamp when
somebody paid the bill. Paid. Paid in full. That's what Christ did for His
people. He paid it in full. Nothing left to pay. Debt's paid. Filed away. Now, I'm almost finished,
but hear me. Did He not come to do something
by which our sins might be purged? Yes, and He purged them effectually,
actually, really, and completely. This isn't a fable, dear friends.
This isn't storybook stuff. This is a matter of life and
death. How did Christ do it? Was it by His preaching? No. Was it by His doctrine? No. Was
it by His Spirit? No. It was by Himself. We preach Christ and Him crucified. What's the teaching of Scripture?
He, His own self. His own self. Did you hear me? His own self. Bear our sins in
His own body on the tree. 1 Peter 2.24. But by His own
blood. Did you hear that? Own blood. His own blood. He entered in
once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for
us. And if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashens of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify
through the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?" He gave Himself. Now let every believer,
if he wants to, look for his sins. You look for them. You look up. You won't see them
there. You can look down. Will you see
them there? No. You can look all around.
Will you see them there? No. If you look within, will
you see them there? Not really. Where are you going to look then?
You can look wherever you want. You'll never see them again if
you're in Christ. They're gone. Removed. As one old writer said, he threw
them. behind his back, and God never goes back, always forth.
In those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none in the
sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon
them whom I reserve. Jeremiah 50, 20. So I'll tell
you where your sins are. Christ purged them. They're gone.
Third thing, where's Christ now? Look at it in verse 3. He sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now when the
high priest went within the veil, the holy of holies, he didn't
sit down. He stood with holy trembling. You know why? He was bearing
that sacrificial blood before the blazing mercy seat. But our Savior now sits at his
Father's right hand. The high priest of old never
finished his work. He get through it this year and
here He come again the next. Another atoning sacrifice was
needed. Year after year after year after
year. But our Lord has completed His
atonement. And now the scriptures say there
remaineth no more sacrifice. There remaineth no more sin to
be purged, friends, but this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand
of God, henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Four by one offering. Did you hear that? Four by one
offering. He, Christ, hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Now why do we preach Christ?
That's why. That's why. He is our salvation.