Let's turn together to Hebrews
the 10th chapter. Hebrews chapter 10. The law having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of those things, can never
with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually
make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Wherefore, when he, when the
Lord Jesus, the Son of God, cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offerings, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come, to do thy will, O God. He taketh
away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will? by the doing of God's will, by
the accomplishment and performance of that will which he came to
perform, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once. Verse 11, And every priest standeth
daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. Look at our text this evening,
verses 12 and 13. But this man, here's a priest
altogether unlike those priests. Here's a priest altogether superior
to those priests. They were many, he's one. They
had many sacrifices, he offers one sacrifice. They offered sacrifices
continually, he offered sacrifice one time. They could never put
away sin with their sacrifices, he has put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. This man who is himself God Almighty,
this man who is God incarnate, who came here for the purpose
of redeeming his people from their sins, this man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins, one sacrifice for all the
sins of all his people, one sacrifice for all the sins imputed to him,
One sacrifice for all the sins of God's elect from the beginning
of time to the end of time. One sacrifice for all our sins. What a sacrifice it must have
been. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins,
forever sat down on the right hand of God, forget it now, from
henceforth expecting, expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Now in this passage of scripture
the Holy Spirit is showing us the superiority and excellence
of our Lord Jesus Christ as he has from the beginning in the
book of Hebrews. He's showing us how that Jesus
Christ has fulfilled and fully fulfilled, fully established,
fully completed all things typical and representative and prophetic
of him given in the law. So that those things are no longer
needed, no longer useful, except as they are instructive pictures
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that high priest who was
represented in the Levitical high priest. He is that sacrifice
represented in those sacrifices offered oftentimes for sin, which
could never take away sin. He is that altar which was represented
in the altar in the Old Testament. He is the true mercy seat represented
in that mercy seat in the holy place. And in this passage we
have three things clearly set before us. You can remember three
words, you can remember my outline. First, the scripture here speaks
of expiation. And secondly, it speaks of exaltation. And thirdly, it speaks of expectation. Alright, first in verse 12, The
Holy Spirit here assures us of the expiation of our sins by
the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Our Lord's work of redemption
is done. His atonement is complete. The
sins of God's people are forever purged away, completely atoned
for, and entirely removed. All that Jesus Christ came here
to do, all the will of his father, which he came here to accomplish,
has been fully, perfectly, completely done, and now we have evidence
of it because this man is seated on the right hand of the majesty
on high, seated at the right hand of the triune God in heaven. Here's proof then. proof positive
that his work is done. He could never have been accepted
in heaven. He could never have been seated
at the throne of God had he not fully put away the sins imputed
to him. He could never have taken his
seat at the right hand of the majesty on high had he not satisfied
the justice of God by which he suffered as our substitute at
Calvary. When the scripture speaks in
1 Timothy chapter 3 of our Lord Jesus being justified in the
Spirit, this is what it's talking about. When our Lord was raised
up from the dead, he was declared to be the Son of God with power
by his resurrection from the dead. And by his resurrection,
the Spirit of God has declared that he now is freed from that
sin which was imputed to him. And so he finds his place back
in heaven's glory, seated at the right hand of the majesty
on high. Let me show you three or four things concerning our
Lord's sitting in heaven. First, this is a posture of rest. Sitting. You get tired and you
just come in and fall in your chair. Sit down. Well, our Lord
Jesus is resting on his throne in glory. He has entered into
his rest. He's resting because his work
is finished. A man doesn't rest until his
work's done. The Lord Jesus came here to fulfill
his Father's will. And we're told here that it is
that will by which we are sanctified. And our Lord would never have
rested had he not completely, perfectly fulfilled what he came
here to do. Christ sitting in heaven is our
assurance then that everything required for the saving of our
souls, everything required for our everlasting acceptance with
the Father, he has done. Come back to Romans chapter 8
for a moment. Romans 8 chapter. I've told you many times in the
Old Testament There was no chair in that holy place, that holy
of holies where the high priest went with the blood of a paschal
lamb once a year. There was no chair there because
he could never, ever, ever put away one sin. His work was never
done. But when our Lord Jesus entered
into the holy place with his own blood, the veil of the temple
was rent in twain and he sat down because the work's done. Look at Romans 8 verse 33. The
Apostle Paul writes here, raises this bold challenge of faith.
He says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Who's going to charge God's elect with sin? Who? Now multitudes
do. People all the time charge us
with all kinds of things. Some of it's true, some of it's
not. But folks charge us with sin all the time. But not before
God, Bob. Not before God. It's not going
to happen because it's God that justifies. God has already declared
us just before him, and nobody is going to disannoy what God
has done. And this is the basis of it. Look at verse 34. Who
is he that condemneth? Who's going to bring us back
under the curse and condemnation of God's holy law? Can't happen.
It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God. Now notice his argument. He progresses
from one great thing to another. He says Christ died. He paid
for our sins. To prove it, he rolls from the
dead. to show us that he's accepted, he's sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, and he has power now, power, because
he sits there as the king of glory, who also maketh intercession
for us. That means that righteousness
is established, atonement is made, sin has been put away,
and God's elect are now made to be perfectly righteous, complete,
sanctified in his sight. Now here's the second thing.
Our Lord being seated at the right hand of the Father implies
that he enjoys great pleasure. You remember back in Psalm 16
when the psalmist spoke of the resurrection? He spoke of our
Lord Jesus ascending up into heaven. He said, at thy right
hand are pleasures forevermore. Back over here in Hebrews chapter
12 verse 2, the scripture speaks of the joy set before him. for which he endured the cost,
despising the shame. What's this talking about? The
pleasure which he now enjoys. How could our Lord Jesus enjoy
pleasure at the right hand of the Father? Were there any possibility
that one of his sheep were in jeopardy? How can he enjoy pleasure
at the Father's right hand were there any possibility that his
bride should yet perish? How can he enjoy pleasure were
there any possibility that those whom he came to save might be
damned at last? Oh no, the saving of our souls
is the joy set before him for which he endured the cross despising
the shame. When the scripture talks about
our Lord having joy set before him, it's not talking about The
Lord Jesus somehow having his death at the cross mitigated
so that he did not really feel and experience the horror and
wrath of God Almighty, nothing could be further from the truth.
He endured the horror of the crucifixion, the horror of substitution,
because he had this joy. As a result of his bloodshed,
he'd have us with him in glory, and that's his pleasure. He sits
today in pleasure upon the right hand of the majesty on high because
he has fully accomplished and forever secured the salvation
of his people. Here's a third thing. Not only
is Christ seated in the posture of rest, in the place of pleasure,
but our text tells us that he forever sat down on the right
hand of God. Christ our surety has undertaken
to save all of God's elect. It was for this cause that he
came into the world. He has now sworn to bring everyone
of his own with him safe into glory. And that which he swore
to from eternity, that which he said as he was coming into
the world to do the will of God, he will not cease from until
the work is done. Now, he's seated because the
work is finished. And he's seated at the right
hand of the majesty on high in the position of glory which the
Father gave him. He said, now, Father, give me
the glory which I had with you before the world was. And he
sat down. This is the place at the right
hand of God. What does that mean? It means
that God Almighty who cried awake, O sword, against one that is
my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd, no longer has any quarrel
with him. No longer. God's anger, his wrath,
his justice awoke against his son. But God's anger, his wrath,
his justice was swallowed up in his son. And now he has no
quarrel against him because there's no sin. Understand what I'm saying. Understand what his book declares.
God Almighty has no quarrel and no cause for quarrel with any
of his people because Christ is seated yonder at his right
hand. And as long as he's seated there,
there's no quarrel. No possibility of war. No more
warfare. The warfare is over. That's what
the prophet says for us to declare. The warfare is over. It's done.
As long as we have an ambassador seated in Moscow, there is peace
between the United States and Russia. Now, if the ambassador
is expelled, or the president takes him out, then there's trouble
brewing. There's something wrong. As long as our great representative
is seated in heaven, there's no possibility of a quarrel between
God and his people. No possibility. Listen to this. Since Christ is seated forever
in heaven, it is no assumption but rather a matter of infallible
certainty that our peace with God can never cease. And that
the atonement for sin is both complete and effectual. God Almighty
made Christ to be seen for us as a sinner. so that he could
not enter into heaven until our sins were put away, washed completely
away forever in the fountain of his own precious blood. This
man then, being our substitute, could not enter into heaven without
two things. He had to have two things. He
had to have perfect righteousness and complete satisfaction. Our
sins were made to be his sins. So that the Son of God was made
to be sin for us. And as such, he must render unto
God Almighty as a man what we must render to him. Perfect righteousness,
perfect satisfaction. He fulfilled the righteousness
of the law by his obedience. But justice must be satisfied.
The sins imputed to him must be punished. Our sins must be
punished to the full satisfaction of justice. And that's what he
did. And now he enters into glory with his blood, with the merit
of his blood, with the virtue of his blood, with the power
of his blood, with the worth of his blood, and obtained eternal
redemption for us. The hymn writer put it this way,
"'Tis done, the great transaction's done, Christ died and did for
sin atone, and everlasting righteousness with Christ brought in, this
is our dress." Now here's the second thing, exaltation. First,
our sins are expiated. But our text also speaks of the
exaltation of our Savior. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Now, let me remind you again,
clearly I'm talking now about the man, Christ Jesus. Always when you read scripture,
anytime you read scripture that talks about the Lord Jesus in
any way being subordinate to the Father, in any way being
obedient to the Father, in any way seeking something from the
Father, in any way receiving something from the Father, it
must be understood with reference to him as our covenant surety
and mediator as the God-man, not with reference to him in
his essential character as God the Son. Jesus Christ, as the
eternal Son of God, is forever in all things equal with the
Father. He possesses all things in equality
with the Father and the Spirit. But as our surety, as our mediator,
as our substitute, the Lord Jesus voluntarily subjected himself
to the will of his Father. And before the world was, he
struck hands with the Father as our covenant surety and pledged
to redeem us. And the Father said, all right,
you do it. And ask of me and I'll give you the heathen for
your inheritance. So when it was done, our Lord Jesus said,
now Father, Give me the glory which I had with you before the
world was. It's done. I finished the work. And now
the father has said to the son, sit thou on my right hand. Not
as his son, but as the God-man, our mediator. Now this exaltation
of our Lord Jesus Christ tells us several things. First, it
speaks of his preeminence. I'll say nothing more concerning
that. I've preached on it several times
in the last couple of months. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
that one to whom the triune God determined from eternity to make
preeminent. So that Jesus Christ is seated
today in the place of preeminence at the right hand of the majesty
on high as the Lamb of God, our substitute. Do you remember how
John saw the picture we looked at Sunday morning or Sunday evening
in Revelation chapter 5? He saw the throne. And he saw
one sitting on the throne. And then he said, I saw one standing
in the midst of the throne. Quite literally, he said, I saw
one rising up in the midst of the throne. It looked like a
lamb that had been slain. The center of everything. The
center of everything. That lamb who's been slain, given
all preeminence. This is not only a preeminent
exaltation, it's a real exaltation. Turn to Acts chapter 2. There
are a good many folks who seek empty, meaningless titles. Titles which give them a name,
but have no power or authority. Preachers love to be called by
high-sounding titles, you know, Dr., Reverend. I like the story by Reverend
Twiddle. He got him a D.D. so they called him Reverend Twiddle
D.D. Just meaningless titles. But our Lord doesn't have any
meaningless titles. When he's said to be Lord Wes,
that means he's Lord. He's Lord. Look here in Acts
chapter 2, verse 33. God gave him power, dominion,
authority over all flesh, everything. For this purpose that he should
give eternal life to as many as the Father's given him. Acts
chapter 2 verse 33, Peter says, Therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which you now see
and hear. The Lord Jesus, when he ascended
up into heaven, was crowned king of glory, king of Zion. His inaugural
act was the outpouring of his spirit as Joel had prophesied. Peter says this is what it's
all about. Look at verse 34. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord
and Christ. The Lord God Almighty not only
has used you as instruments to accomplish the redemption of
his people, but he has used you in your malice against his son
to set his son on his throne exactly as he ordained from eternity. The Lord Jesus upholds all things
with the word of his power. Everything. He's able to say
to the uttermost all who come to God by him, He is able to
work all things together for the good of His own elect. He's
able to subdue all things to Himself. And He's able to preserve
His people and present us faultless before the presence of His glory
because He's Lord. He really is. He really is. Now, you can put all kinds of
titles on any man, but that doesn't change the man. That doesn't
give him anything. If he doesn't possess what the
title represents, the title is just an imp to show. Jesus Christ
is the sovereign monarch of the universe because he redeemed
us and he rules to save us. This is also a deserved exaltation. The Lord Jesus, we're told in
Philippians 2, became obedient, humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. And then the apostle
writes by inspiration, wherefore, for this reason, because of this,
God also hath highly exalted him. given him a name that's
above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow of things in heaven things in the earth every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father should
the Lord God put it to a vote and he's not going to but should
he put it to a vote throughout the universe whether or not his
son should have all exaltation and glory it would be carried
by universal acclamation The whole universe will shout, it
would and it shall shout, crown him with many crowns, the Lamb
upon his throne. All the angels of God would gladly
bow before him and acknowledge he's Lord. All the saints of
heaven bow before him and say it's right, worthy is the Lamb
to be Lord. Every believer on the earth will
have Christ exalted, every one of them. Every child of God wants
him right where he is, sitting on the throne, every one of them.
Anybody who doesn't want him there doesn't know him and doesn't
worship him. Every believer on the earth then
would have him exalted. Every creature of God will in
time acknowledge that he is right to be exalted. Everything that
moves will one day confess that he's Lord. Yes, you and me. We will all acknowledge that
he's Lord by right. Sooner or later God's going to
fix it so that everything gives praise to him and acknowledges
that he's right exactly where he ought to be. The angels are
kept by his grace and we are kept by his grace. No one has
right to rule except Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, understand this. Turn back to Ephesians chapter
2 for a moment. Our Lord's exaltation is a marvelous
representative exaltation. He entered into heaven as our
forerunner, as our representative. Again, not just in name. But in reality, he sits in heaven
and we sit with him. He's crowned and we're crowned
with him. He's honored and we're honored with him. Look at Ephesians
2 verse 5. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath he quickened us together with Christ, by grace are you
saved, and hath, not shall, but hath. raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. Now in the
passage, the Holy Spirit is explaining to us the doctrine of the new
birth. He's telling us that we were dead in trespasses and sins.
He's telling us how that God has by his grace called us from
death to life. But our resurrection spiritually,
listen now, our resurrection spiritually, the new birth, comes
as a result of our resurrection representatively in Christ our
Lord. He has raised us from spiritual
death because he raised us up from death legally as our representative
and seated us with him at the right hand of the majesty on
high. We really and truly are one with Christ. I can't begin to explain that.
I don't understand it. I acknowledge it in a heartbeat.
I don't understand it. But we're more really and truly
one with Him than these parts are members of this body and
of this head. More really so. In Ephesians
5, when Paul talks about husbands and wives, and he talks about
husbands leaving father and mother and cleaving to their wives,
and they too shall be one flesh. Now folks get all excited. They
write books and have seminars and send out tapes and have schools,
all kinds of stuff on counseling and marriage and all that stuff.
And Paul says, that's not what I'm talking about. Read the chapter. He says, but I'm not talking
about that. That's not the point. I'm talking about Christ and
the Church. We're members of His body, of His flesh, and of
His bones. We really are what? We really
are. So that when He lived on the
earth, in obedience to God, doing the will of the Father, perfectly,
perfectly meeting every demand and requirement and delight and
pleasure of the Holy Lord God. Oh, wonder of wonders, I lived
in Him. And I fulfilled everything that
God Almighty could, and did, and would, want, desire, demand,
and take pleasure in. Did it all. When he died, under
the curse of God's holy law, Don Fortner died in him. I suffered the full penalty of
God's wrath and justice as my substitute died, so died I. And when he arose, I arose in
him. And now I live in him. I don't
just live by naming him, I live in him. He's the vine, we're
the branches. I'm joined to him, joined to
him vitally, so that I draw life from him. This is what he's talking
about. Our Lord arose representatively, was exalted representatively.
Now then, get this. Look at verse 13. And understand that which is
expected. Here the Holy Spirit shows us
the expectation of our Savior. This sovereign God, our Savior. This sovereign king, our Redeemer,
this sovereign Christ, Lord over all, sits upon the throne of
glory, having accomplished redemption for us from henceforth expecting,
expecting, what a word, expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. How on earth can he expect that? Well, several reasons. He's God. He's God. He's not going to be disappointed.
The Father promised it to him. Your enemies will be made your
footstool. Every enemy. It's being done now. I saw Nathan come in just a little
bit ago, and I happened to just think. I spent my life, a young man, with my fist shoved in God's
face. And before I was your age, Nathan, he took an enemy and made him
his footstool willingly. That's what conversion is. Conversion is not saying I believe
in Jesus. Conversion is not having a little
religious experience. Conversion is not getting in
the water with baptism. Conversion is not joining the
church. Conversion is not changing your life. Conversion is bowing
to the dominion of Christ gladly. He's Lord and I want him so. He has already, already taken
the God of this world. He said so, John 12, 31. Cast
him out. He's that angel described in
Revelation 20 who comes with a long chain and binds Satan
a thousand years so that he deceives the nations no more. You see,
Satan is not a rival to Christ. They're not in competition. There's
no competition there. Now the fiend of hell may think
so, but he's not a rival to the Son of God. Satan's God's devil. He's on God's chains, and he
doesn't wiggle except God give him permission. He doesn't roar
except God decree it. Our Lord Jesus Christ has bound
him, and one day going to cast him into hell. And the Lord Jesus
has all men serving his will and his purpose. as willingly,
I mean as really and as truly as the most diligent angel of
heaven willingly serves him. Every man on this earth does
his bidding. Every one of them. Shemite doesn't
cuss David except by him saying so. Doesn't happen. Saul doesn't
persecute his church but by him saying so. Doesn't happen. Satan
doesn't roar against us, but by him saying so. No evil comes
to pass in this world, but he has ordered it for good for his
people, so that even those who are described as false prophets
in 2 Peter 2, says they deny the Lord. They're sovereign despots. who bought them, bought them
in the sense that he bought the right to rule over them and use
them and dispose of them as he will. Well preacher, what are
you saying? Are you saying that everything
and everybody is absolutely under the control of Jesus Christ our
Savior? Yeah, that's it. That's exactly
right. And by the word of his gospel,
He subdues sinners to himself now. Oh may he do so. Constantly subduing our hearts
to him and subduing you who yet know him not. Turn to 2nd Corinthians
chapter 10 for a moment. I'll wrap this up. This is how our Savior conquers
his enemies by grace. Paul says in verse four, the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not carnal. Ron and I were chatting this
morning, preaching the gospel. I told him, I said, just go down
there and preach Christ to those folks. No need in trying to convince
them of everything they're wrong about and everything you're right
about. Just preach Christ to them. Because you see, the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. Not in the sense that we, or
this certainly is true, certainly the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal in the sense that we don't take the sword and try to get
folks to bow to Christ. It won't work. We don't legislate
folks and try to get them to bow to Christ. It won't work.
It won't work. We don't even try to twist the
minds of men with psychology, logic, and learning and get them
to bow to Christ. It won't work. But what do you
do? The weapons of our warfare are something bigger than this.
They're mighty through God. To the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations. Men have their high imaginations.
Christ is preached and God the Holy Spirit reveals him in your
heart and he casts down your imaginations. And every high
thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought, every thought unto obedience
of Christ. That's what conversion is. When
God takes the word of His grace, the gospel of His Son, and cast
down your higher thoughts of yourself and your imagination
and your high-minded opinion and your rebellion and brings
every thought in subjection to his son obedience to his son
that's what conversion is and when our Lord comes he is going to sure enough put
all his enemies under his feet manifestly Everybody, everybody
will then praise him either in his justice or in the wonder
of his grace but praise him they shall and all shall acknowledge
that he is Lord. How come? Because he by himself
purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high because he's Lord Rightfully so. God Almighty is going to
seek to it that everything and everybody acknowledges him so. Amen.