In Hebrews, the first chapter,
the Holy Spirit is showing us the preeminence and glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to look together this
evening at verse three, and I want to call your attention to just
two words. This will be our subject this
evening. Hebrews chapter one and verse three. Lord Jesus Christ,
being the brightness of His glory, the brightness of the glory of
God, 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, now hear the two words, sat down, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Now here is an astounding statement. There is a man in glory, a man,
a risen, exalted man. seated on the right hand of the
majesty on high, accepted and approved of God. I wonder if
you realize what this means. The word of God raises the question,
how can a man be clean that is born of woman? We read in the
book of God, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment, but here, The Holy Spirit declares that
there is a man in glory, a man who, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high because
it was right for him to do so. There are other places in the
scriptures that declare that our Lord Jesus was received up
into heaven. In this same chapter, the apostle
tells us that the father said to the son, sit down on my right
hand. But here, as the text opens, we're told that our Lord Jesus
just sat down. He sat down in heaven's glory
on the right hand of the majesty on high because he, this man,
has every right to be there on the right hand of God, every
right. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is no ordinary man. This man is the God man. He became a man. I know God did not become man
in the sense that God didn't change in any way. But God did
become a man in the sense that he assumed into union with himself. in the person of his son, all
that man is. He assumed divinity, or he assumed
humanity, took humanity into union with his divinity forever. And he is the God-man because
he desired to and purposed to redeem and save us from our sins. He took into union with himself
what we are. He became a man. He lived in
this world as a representative man, the representative man of
God's elect. He lived in the full age of manhood. That is, for 33 years, he walked
in the world as a man. the full span of a man's life
in absolute perfection. He lived in complete compliance
with and in complete obedience to all the will of God, both
that which he knew because he is God and that which is revealed
in the word. He said, lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God, and he did it. He lived in complete obedience
to the will of God, not for himself, but for us. He didn't need to
do it. He lived in obedience to the
Father as our representative to establish the righteousness
of God in the earth as a man. And now, having fulfilled all
that the Father requires of men in perfect compliance to the
Father's holy will, Jesus Christ has, by His obedience, brought
in everlasting righteousness. And then, when he had finished
the work of righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ, this man who
is God, took on himself our sin and was made to be sin for us. He died upon the cursed tree
as our substitute because he was made to be sin for us, the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And now
this man, who as a man has put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself, is seated upon the throne of glory, accepted as a man with
God. This man who once was the object
of God's wrath, this man who once was the object of God's
burning justice, this man upon whom God poured out the fire
of his unmitigated wrath because he was made to be sin now, sits
on the right hand of the majesty on high. Can you imagine what
that means? Hear the good news. Since there
is a man in glory, accepted with God, then there can be another,
and another, and another. Maybe you, maybe me. A man who
was made to be sin is now seated in glory without sin, accepted
of God. That means somebody else can
be. Because this man, the God-man is in glory, he is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. All
right, let's read this text again. Hebrews 1-3. Who the Lord Jesus
Christ, 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. Many times the most
profound mysteries are revealed in simple, simple statements.
And here we have before us three things which are the ABCs of
Christianity. These are just basic. They're
just basic things. These are the things which are
the fundamentals of the faith. These are the things without
which there would be no gospel. These things are essential, and
yet they are the most profound mysteries of the faith as well.
In this passage of Scripture, the Holy Spirit answers for us
three basic profound questions. They are these. Who is the Lord
Jesus Christ? What did he do? And where is
he now? Let's look at it. First, who
is he? Who is this one whom we worship,
whom we call our Savior, this one before whom we bow, this
one to whom we give our homage, this one to whom we have given
ourselves? Here the Spirit of God tells
us that he is the brightness of the glory of God Almighty
and the express image of his person. Christ Jesus is both
God Himself and the singular revelation and expression of
the glory of God. He who knows God must know Christ. He who comes to God must come
to Christ. He who believes in God must believe
in Christ. And those who would bypass Christ
to get to God shall never get to Him. He said, I am the door. He said, I am the way. He said,
I am the truth. I am the life. He said to Philip,
he said, have I been so long a time with you and you've not
known me? He said, he that has seen me has seen the Father.
Now, that's to declare that everything God is, Jesus Christ is, and
he is the revelation of God. He said in John chapter 10 in
verse 30, I and my Father are one. Now, theologians debate
and wrangle about that all the time. The Jews understood exactly
what he was saying. He said, I and my father are one. They
started gathering up rocks. And they're gonna kill him because
he being a man made himself God. That's exactly what he did. He
who stood before them in human flesh, just like I stand here
in front of you, declared to those Jews who stood in front
of him, this man is God in human flesh. Now that's what he is
or he's a liar. That's what he is, or our faith
is a hoax. That's what he is, or we have
no hope before God. The reference here, as I told
you last week, I believe, is to the sun and its rays. The
Father and the Son are the same, just like the sun and its rays
are the same. One is not before the other.
They cannot be divided or separated from one another. He is the perfect
revelation and the exact image and character of the triune God,
for He is God. All right, now that's who He
is. In order to be our savior, this man must be God. That can't be said often enough,
forcefully enough, that can't be said with enough clarity,
with enough definition. In order to save us from our
sins, he who is our substitute, he who bears our sins in his
body, he who takes upon himself to satisfy divine justice, must
himself be God of infinite worth. His righteousness as a man would
be nothing for us if he were just a man. His death as a man
would be nothing for us if he were just a man. But because
this man is God, his righteousness is of infinite worth before God
Almighty for all his people. His death is of infinite value
to God Almighty for all his people. We declare that our Lord Jesus
Christ died specifically for his elect, and we call that doctrine
limited atonement. But don't ever get the idea.
When we talk about limited atonement, that there is a limit to the
merit of Christ's death. Not at all. Our Lord Jesus, if
he would redeem us, must make an infinite satisfaction to infinite
holiness and justice. And when we declare that he died
for a specific people, we simply declare that though the number
of people for whom he died is limited, not that the worth of
his death is limited. Had he died to put away the sins
of all the world, the price would have been the same. It's infinite
satisfaction. But when we declare that Christ
died and made atonement for our sins, declaring that he actually
accomplished redemption is to declare that he died for somebody
in particular. He put away the sins of those
people for whom he died because he satisfied the justice of God
being himself God in human flesh. One of the old writers a long
time ago put it this way, God could never suffer and man could
never satisfy, but the God-man has both suffered and satisfied. That's who Christ is. All right,
secondly, what did he do? Now, the scriptures are abundantly
clear. We won't turn back and look at
them tonight. We know what he came to do. The scripture tells
us when he came, He will magnify the law, make it honorable in
Isaiah. The scripture tells us he shall save his people from
their sins. That's what he came to do. He
said he came to do the Father's will. What's the Father's will?
That of all which he's given him should come to him and he
would lose nothing but raise it up at the last day. Well,
let's see if he did it. What did he do? There's a lot
could be said concerning what Christ did as our substitute.
But let's just stick right with the text and see what it says.
What does this text say he did? The Lord Jesus Christ has by
himself purged our sins. Purged our sins. They're gone. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you are free. They're all taken away. They're gone. They're gone. How
many ways can we say this? How many ways is it put in the
scripture? The Lord God has cast our sins into the depths of the
infinite sea of His forgetfulness. He's cast our sins behind His
back. I love the language of Scripture.
When you can find the back of him who has no back, you can
find my sins. He's removed our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west. Not as far as the north
is from the south. I can get you a map and show
you the north and south pole. Find me the east and west pole.
He's removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the
west. He's purged our sins. They're gone. The Lord Jesus
Christ, of himself, by himself alone, by the sacrifice of himself,
made such an effectual atonement for all the sins of God's elect
that he took our sins upon himself, bore them in his body, died under
the penalty of God's holy law against sin, and thereby abolished
them completely. Our Lord came forth from the
grave. The tomb was empty. How come? Why did he go to the
grave to start with? What put him there? Rex, he went
on the cross under the wrath of God bearing your sin. And
he was buried as a dead man punished for sin. Let's see if that's
enough. Let's see if God will accept
his sacrifice. Let's see if our sins are indeed
put away. On the third day, the angel says,
he's not here, he's risen. That's what the message of the
empty tomb is. That's what the message of the resurrection is.
Had he not put away sin, Bob, he'd still be in the grave. But
he put away that which was the cause of his death and the cause
of our death. And now, yonder he is. on the
right hand of the majesty on high with no sin, with no sin. For he who was made to be sin
for us who knew no sin has now himself been made again perfectly
righteous and he's made us to be the righteousness of God in
him. He has been justified in the spirit and we're justified
in him. Look in Hebrews chapter nine,
verse 26, Hebrews 9, 26. Remember, as you read through
this book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit is here showing us the
preeminence and superiority and excellence of Christ over all
things with regard to all forms of religion revealed in the Old
Testament scriptures. And he's telling us that Christ's
sacrifice here in Hebrews 9 is an infinitely, indescribably
superior sacrifice to all those sacrifices in the Old Testament.
He says in verse 26, then must he often have suffered since
the foundation of the world. But now, now, once in the end
of the world, one time, one time, in this the end of the world.
That's, I better not pass by that. In this day, we're fixing
to go to the turn of the new century. If the Lord doesn't
come beforehand, and folks ask all the time, what do you think
about Y2K? It means year 2000, that's what I think about it.
That's all I think about. It's just gonna be another day.
It's gonna be another century. Be just nothing else. Oh, but
surely this is the end of the world. The end of the world,
Larry, began when Christ came the first time. See right there?
Now, once in the end of the world. John said this is the last time.
The last day began when Christ came in this gospel day and there's
no other day. This is the day of God's final
revelation. Now, once in the end of the world hath he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Turn to Isaiah 53. Larry read this back in the office
a little while ago, Isaiah 53 verse 4. Let me ask you something, right
where you sit right now, can you believe God? Right where you sit, can you
now trust the Son of God as your only all-sufficient substitute
and Savior? Can you now trust Him and Him
alone for righteousness and propitiation, for righteousness and atonement,
for righteousness and satisfaction before God Almighty? Dare you
hang your soul on Him alone? All right, read the text as personally
as you possibly can. That'd be all right. He hath borne Don Fortner's griefs. Bless God, I put my name there
with confidence, can you? Surely, he hath carried Don Fortner's
sorrows. Yet, I must confess, I did. Don Fortner did, so did you.
Esteem him stricken, spitting of God, and afflicted. Every unbeliever looks at Christ
and says, well, that's good enough for him. Every unbeliever sees the crucified
Son of God, and by his unbelief, he says, that's all right, that's
good enough for him. But he was wounded for Don Fortner's
transgressions. He was bruised for Don Fortner's
iniquity. And all the chastisement of Don
Fortner's peace was upon him. The wrath of God spent itself
on his back. And with his stripes, Don Fortner
is healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
That's our nature. We've turned everyone to his
own way, some to the high way of morality and respectability
and position and rank, and some to the low way of drunkenness
and fornication and adultery and theft and robbery and murder,
but everyone to his own way, the way of his lust, and ain't
a flip of a nickel's difference. Not a bit of difference. Not
a bit of difference. Oh, but the Lord, laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Whose? Whose iniquity was laid
on him? Every sinner in this world, Lyndsey
Campbell, who believes on his son. Every one of them. Every
sinner in this world chosen of God. Every sinner called of God. Every one of those whom he came
here to save. All right, now then, where is
he? Where is our Savior today? Look
at this third verse again. He is yonder in glory. There 2,000 years ago, he sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. The majesty
on high is God Almighty. to whom all majesty rightfully
belongs, the one who is clothed with light and majesty and immortality. His right hand is the place of
power, the place of greatness, the place of exaltation, the
place of acceptance, the place of glory. Now there sits the
man, Christ Jesus, and all God's elect. set yonder in him. What does
the book say? He hath made us sit together
with him in heavenly places. Now, buddy, that's not future.
That's past tense. That's past tense. When he died,
we died. When he arose, we arose. When
he sat down, we sat down. Because in him we have every
right to be there just like he does. You can't be there otherwise. Nobody's going to glory except
folks who deserve to go. Nobody's going to be accepted
of God except folks who deserve to be. Nobody's going to enter
into life everlasting except folks who deserve life everlasting.
Who deserves it? Jesus Christ. What did you read
earlier? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart and has not
lifted up his soul to vanity. That's who's going to enter into
glory. Only those who have clean hands and a pure heart and never
lifted up their souls to vanity. That's Jesus Christ alone. And
with Him, all who are in Him. We in Him now are worthy, meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Well,
what on earth does this mean? He sat down. He sat down. Well, let me tell you what it
means, and I'll wrap this up. Number one, it means He's done. He's done. all the work which
he came here on this earth to do, he has finished. It doesn't
mean he's done in the sense that he's done best he can, he gave
up. Oh no, he sat down because everything he came here to do
is completely done as God himself would have it. In the Old Testament,
in the Holy of Holies, where that high priest went once a
year, and then only with the blood of a sacrifice representing
him. There was no place to sit down,
because that high priest must enter into that place every year. Makes atonement, come back out,
he said, boy, meet you here next year, we'll do the same thing
all over. And he goes in, makes atonement, comes back out, says,
boys, we'll meet here again next year, do the same thing all over.
Every year, every year. No place to sit here, because
there was no atonement made by the sacrifice, only a symbolic
atonement. But Jesus Christ, who is our
mercy seat, Jesus Christ, who is our high priest, Jesus Christ,
who is our perpetuatory sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who is our Paschal
Lamb, entered in once into the holy place with his own blood,
having obtained eternal redemption for us, He said, yeah, because God said
that's enough. Because God said that's accepted. Because God smells the sweet
savor of his sacrifice and is well pleased. In the Old Testament,
all of the sacrifices were brought to the altar and they were consumed
by the fire of the altar. Here is a sacrifice. who comes
to the altar and consumes the fire of the altar when he was
consumed by the fire, so that there's no wrath left. What does
it mean, he said to him? It means that he's accepted by
God Almighty. This is my beloved son. I love
the language of scripture. Don't ever pass over it lightly.
This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. In whom? He didn't say with whom. He said,
in whom? In whom? If he'd been talking
just about his work, he'd have said, I'm well pleased with what
he did. If he'd have just been talking about him personally,
he'd say, I'm well pleased with him. But he's talking about you
and me who are in him. And he said, I'm well pleased
in him. That means, Bobbi Estes, God
Almighty smiles with approval at you in his soul. Oh, my soul. God Almighty incessantly
smiles with approval on his people. Even when he takes out his rod
and bares our backs and chastens us for sin, his approval never
changes. Because we're accepted in the
beloved, in the beloved. All right, what else does it
mean? He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high,
the place of supreme monarchy. That man, yonder in glory, sits
on the right hand of the majesty on high because he deserves it
as God. And he sits there because he
deserves it as a man. He earned it. He earned it. He
said, I finished the work which you gave me to do. Father, glorify
me with your own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Set me right where I was in the
beginning, in the place of power and dominion, that I should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. That's what he
does. Jesus Christ holds in his wounded
hands the reigns of the universe. and rules the world in absolute
sovereignty to give eternal life to as many as the Father's given
him. Everything that is, has been,
or shall hereafter be is not just allowed by him, it's brought
to pass by him because he has a people whom he's determined
to save and save them he will. Because Christ is in glory This
man, seated in glory, is seated there with the blessed promise
to his people that we shall also be seated with him. Because he's
seated there as a representative man. In Hebrews 6 verse 20, turn
over there for a moment if you will. The apostle was talking about
that place within the veil. whether the forerunner is for
us entered. The forerunner. Well, let's get us a concordance
and look up the Hebrew or the Greek word and find out what
all that means. Or just ask a kindergarten boy.
Whichever way you want to do it. What does that mean, forerunner?
That means somebody who goes before. And somebody who goes
before means there's somebody coming after. The Lord Jesus
has before us entered into glory and said, and the fact that he's
seated there declares that we shall soon enter into glory and
sit down with him at the right hand of the majesty on high. How come? Because he by himself
purged our sins. Oh, blessed be His name. Amen.