Genesis 23 is a powerful gospel
message, and I was thinking when Abraham was asking for that cave,
he didn't say, do y'all offer discounts to churches? He said,
I'm gonna pay the full price. I remember when I was in commercial
printing, some dear little old ladies would come up and say,
do you offer discounts to churches? I said, no. In Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. I've entitled the message for
this morning, the sitting Savior. Sit thou at my right hand till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. You will remember in Matthew
chapter 22 when Christ posed this question to the Pharisees
and he quoted this scripture. I think it's glorious to think
of the Lord using the Bible, quoting the scripture. And he
said, in verse 41 of Matthew 22, while the Pharisees were
gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think ye of
Christ? Whose son is he? They said unto
him, the son of David. He saith unto them, how then
doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto
my Lord, this scripture I just read in Psalm 110, verse one. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
If David then called him Lord, how is he his son? And no man
was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that
day forth ask him any more questions. Sit thou at my right hand. The father speaking to the son.
Sit thou at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord has enemies. I want
you to think about that. The Lord Jesus Christ has enemies. If you and I are not for him,
we're against him. There is no neutrality, there's
no non-affiliation. Sit thou at my right hand, the
place of authority, the place of power. Sit thou at my right
hand. When Isaiah saw the Lord, how
did he see him? Isaiah 6.1, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting. First thing he said, sitting. Upon a throne, high
and lifted up, sitting. The sitting Savior. Now, his sitting lets us know
something about his person and his work. He's sitting. He's not pacing back and forth
in frustration, afraid his will might not be done and hoping
things work out all right. He's sitting. He's seated. His work is finished. There's
nothing left for him to do. Now, just in this term of his
sitting lets us know of his person and his work. The sitting Savior. High and lifted up. I want to read some scriptures
with regard to him sitting on this throne. Psalm 45 verse six
says, thy throne, O God is forever and ever. As he sits upon this throne. The throne representing His absolute
sovereignty, His absolute control of everything and everybody and
every event. Sitting the throne of His sovereignty
is an eternal throne. Thy throne, O God, is forever. You see, this seat of sitting
is not something he had to attain to. It's something that's always
been. His absolute sovereignty is eternal. It never had a beginning. It
will never have an ending. It's the place of his rule. Psalm
103 verse 19 says, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens
and his kingdom ruleth over all. Psalm 97 says His throne is a
throne of judgment. He hath prepared His throne for
judgment. Judgment and justice are the
habitation of His throne. I have no doubt that's the same
throne spoken of in Revelation 20 verse 11. And I saw a great
white throne and Him that sat on it. from whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away. This one sitting on this throne. In Matthew 25, verse 31, the
Lord is speaking of a second return. And he says, when the
son of man shall come in his glory, speaking of his second
coming and all his holy angels with
him, Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And thank God this throne that's
the throne of judgment and an eternal throne is also called
the throne of grace. Let us therefore come boldly,
not presumptuously, but boldly, with complete confidence. Let
us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Aren't
you thankful his throne is a throne of grace? Zechariah 6.13 says he shall
sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a priest on his
throne. Don't miss that. We just think
of kings being on the throne and that's well and good, but
it also says, he shall sit as a priest upon his throne. What's a priest do? A priest
represents people like me and you to God. He shall sit as a
priest on his throne and the counsel of peace shall be upon
them both. That's speaking of the glorious
covenant of grace, the counsel of peace, of which David said,
although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things insure, and this
is all my salvation and all my desire, the sitting Savior. We love the closing verses of
Mark. So after that he had spoken to
them, he was received up into heaven and sat down on the right
hand of God. The imagery is so glorious. I know we can't see him physically,
but oh, the power of this statement when he was received into heaven. Oh, how gloriously he was received. And he sat down at the right
hand of God. And he's still there. Would you
turn with me for a moment to Acts chapter 2? This is Peter's
great message on Pentecost, on the day of Pentecost in Acts
chapter 2. Verse 29. Men and brethren, Acts 2, 29. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he's both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher's with us unto this day, therefore being
a prophet. And knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. You see, this is in the first.
gospel message delivered after the resurrection of Christ and
the ascension of Christ. He, seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God
raised up whereof we are all witnesses, therefore being by
the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this whom you
now see and hear, for David has not ascended into heavens, but
he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my
right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Here we have this
in the very first gospel message after the ascension of Christ. Sit thou on my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool, the sitting Savior. Now what inspired this message
for me was reading Hebrews chapter 12, verse two, that glorious
verse of scripture, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame and to set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. Now there are four verses of
scripture in Hebrews that deal with the fact that the Lord sat
down. And I want us to look at all
of those together. We see what a significant I don't
know if the word concept is the right word, but this is so significant
to the message of the scripture. The Lord setting down on a throne. Now turn with me first to Hebrews
chapter one. The last part of Verse three,
Hebrews chapter one, when he had by himself purged our sins,
what did he do? He sat down at the right hand of the majesty
on high. Who is this one who sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high? Well, look in verse
one. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days. Now, we're in the last days right
now. Ever since the Lord went back to heaven, it's been called
the last days. Now, when is the Lord gonna return?
I don't know. I hope today. I hope today. But whether it's today or in
a thousand years, this is still the last days. Time is so fleeting. Time is so fleeting. And these
are the last days. And in these last days, he has
spoken unto us by his son, the second person of the Trinity
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He has spoken
to us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things. That means He owns everything.
That means He owns me. That means He owns you. You are His property. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. You are his and he said, can
I not do what I will with my own? He's the heir of all things. By whom also he made the world. He's the creator. He is the one who spaked the
world into existence. He's the creator, this one who
sat upon the throne. He owns everything because he
made everything. He is the creator. Verse three,
who being the brightness of his glory. He's the brightness of the glory
of God. I don't know how in the world I'm able to make a comment
on something like that. I can't. He's the effulgence. He's the brilliance. He's the
brightness of the very glory of God, the shining forth of
God's glory. And next it said, he's the express
image of his person, this one who sat upon the throne. He's
the express image of the person of God. He is the image, as Paul
said, of the invisible God. And all we will ever see of the
triune God is Jesus Christ. He that has seen me hath seen
the Father. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Scripture next says in Hebrews
chapter three that He upholds all things by the word of His
power. You know what that means? That last breath you took, it's
because He willed it. And the last breath you will
take, It's because he willed it. He doeth according to his
will. In the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? This is who he is. He upholds
all things by the word of his power. He is in control, absolute
sovereign control over everything and every body. Now it says in
verse three, this one, who owns everything, who created the universe,
who is the very brightness of God's glory and the express image
of his person, the one upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins. He did this by himself. What does that mean? He had no
help from his father in this thing of purging sin. He did this by himself. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from
helping me? And the words of my roaring,
he was doing this by himself. He had no help from his people.
They made no contribution in this. He did this by himself. If you think there's something
you need to do or must do before he can do something for you,
stop. He did this by himself. when he by himself purged our
sins. Now listen to this. If your sins
are purged, he did this before you were even born. That's how
little you had to do with the purging of your sins. You weren't
even around. When he had by himself purged our sins. The hour represents everybody
whose sins are purged. All of the elect, all who believe. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down. Why? Because the sins were purged,
put away. Made not to be. Believer, listen to this. Your
sins have been purged, put away. There is no sin for those for
whom he died. Right now, he sat down. No work left to do. The sins of all of his people
have been purged and put away. Hebrews chapter eight, verse one. Now the things which
we've spoken, this is the son. That's quite a statement, isn't
it? This is what everything's been leading to. Now the things
of which we have spoken, this is the sum, this is the summary.
We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in the heavens. We have this great high
priest sitting on this throne. And if you'll remember, in Psalm
110 when I was reading that, In that same psalm, he said,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now we have this priest Melchizedek
sitting on the throne. Now you perhaps remember Melchizedek. He's mentioned only in two places
in the Old Testament. In Genesis chapter 14, after
Abraham had delivered Lot from Sodom and the kings of Sodom,
or the five different kings where that was battled, he delivered
Lot and he came back and King Melchizedek, the priest of the
Most High God, met him and he brought him bread and wine. I
think that that symbolizes the Lord's table and it represents
the fact that the work had already been accomplished. And this priest
who brings him bread and wine, the scripture says Abraham paid
tithes to him. Now, he's not mentioned for another
thousand years. And the only other place he's
mentioned is in Psalm 110, the priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now look in chapter seven, verse
one. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. To whom also
Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation
the king of righteousness, and after that also the king of peace."
Now this is Melchizedek. He's the king of righteousness.
After that, he's the king of peace. You see, righteousness
has been established for every believer. Peace. Nothing but
peace. Look at this description of him
without father, without mother, without descent. Having neither
beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God, abideth the priest continually. Now consider how
great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave
the tenth of the spoils. This is Jesus Christ. He is Melchizedek. He's the only one who can fit
this description, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life. Now look in verse 11. If therefore perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, Aaron and his sons, for under
it the people received the law, what further need was there that
another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and
not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood
being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of
the law. For he of whom these things are
spoken pertains to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance
at the altar. There wasn't any Levites here,
for it's evident that our Lord sprang out of the tribe of Judah,
of which tribe Moses gave nothing concerning priesthood. And it's
yet far more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek,
there arises another priest who's made not after the law of a carnal
commandment, but after the power of an endless life. This priest
was never born and will never die. He's eternal. For he testified thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is verily a disannulling
of the commandment going before, for the weakness and the unprofitableness
thereof. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of the better hope did, by the which we draw
nigh unto God. And insomuch as not without an
oath he was made priest, for those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, the
Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
One high priest would die. Then they'd raise up another
one. He would die another one. He would die another one, but
not this priest. Verse 23. And they truly were
many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death. But this man, This priest, notice the word man is
in italics, but this man, priest, God, divine being, perfect Savior,
all of those are true. But this, like the writer couldn't
even come up with a proper name to give this glorious one, but
this, Because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood,
wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners and
made higher than the heaven. Who needeth not daily as those
high priests to offer up a sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the sins of the people? For this he did once when he
offered up himself. In that one sacrifice, the sins
of the people became his sins and he put them all away by the
sacrifice of himself, this once. For the law maketh men high priests,
which have infirmities. But the word of the oath, which
was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated forevermore. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the Son. We have such an high priest who
is sat on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Now look up in verse 11. This is talking about the Levitical
priesthood, the Old Testament priests. And every priest standeth. He's not sitting, is he? He's
standing. Every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. Now, In the Levitical priesthood,
in the courtyard of the tabernacle, you had the brazen altar for
the sacrifice. You had the labor for washing.
And let me point this out. What this lets us know is that
it's the sacrifice of Christ that continually cleanses us.
You can't separate the laver and the altar. It's the sacrifice
of Christ that cleanses us. And then in the tent, the tabernacle,
the standing building, you had in the holy place the altar of
incense, the candlestick, and the table of showbread, all representing
the work of Christ. And in the holy of holies, you
had the mercy seat over the Ark of the Covenant, And in all of
the paraphernalia of the tabernacle, one piece of furniture is conspicuously
absent. A chair. No chairs. Why? The work of the
priest was never finished. But he did what no man could
do. He finished the work. Look in
verse 12. after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever. This is eternal. It's not something
that ever needs to be repeated. It's not something that ever
needs to be done again because it's complete. But this man,
after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering, and listen
to this, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. That's what he accomplished.
In Christ, there's no further perfection to attain. He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified, set apart by His
grace to do this for them. You know what that means? If Jesus
Christ died for you, you're perfect. Perfect. And that's in God's
sight. I'm not perfect. If you're in
Christ, you are perfect. Chapter 12. Verse one, wherefore,
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, Speaking of everyone mentioned in Hebrews chapter
11, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us. Now is that talking about a constitutional
weakness? I'm not saying there's no such
thing, but the sin that does so easily beset us is unbelief. Let us lay aside every weight
and the sin that does so easily beset us and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our
faith. Who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising, counting as nothing,
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Now, as I said, reading this
verse of scripture is what made me want to look into this thing
of him sitting down on a throne, the sitting Savior. Now, when
he says, looking unto Jesus, You know that's the only time
in the New Testament where this particular word looking is used. To turn the eyes away from all
other things and fix them on Him. Looking unto Jesus. You know what that means? You're
not looking in here. You're not looking down at your
feet. You're not looking at somebody else to see how they work. You're
not looking behind you to see if you can see any proper evidences
that maybe you're saved. You fix your eyes only on Him. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. Now, when I look to Him, I look
to him as the author of faith. He's the author of faith. If
you have faith, he's the author of it. It didn't come from you.
He's the originator of faith. And he's the finisher of faith. He's the completer of faith. looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of faith. Now, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of God. looking unto Jesus who for the
joy that was set before him, the joy of knowing that when
he went to the cross, he was going to completely glorify his
father. And he got such joy from that. I'm going to glorify my father
completely. What I'm going to do is going
to be give him all glory. And that gives me joy. Not only the joy of glorifying
his father, but the joy of saving everybody who was in him. The Lord's got a people in him. Him has got somebody in her.
When she walked in that door, somebody came in there with her.
And this relationship is a relationship that is so close, closer than
any relationship there is. The relationship with a mother
and the child in her, the Lord's got a people in him. His elect. And he received joy from knowing
he was going to save them. by this act on Calvary's tree. And this is what amazes me beyond
anything I can think of. He had joy about thinking about
saving Todd Norbert. He received great joy from that. Saving everybody in Isn't it no wonder Paul said,
oh, that I'm going to win Christ and be found in Him? That's the
only place I want to be found, is in Him. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of faith, who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross, the horror of the cross, He endured
the cross. Scott, I think that's yours. Well, while Scott's getting to
that, we can think of He endured the cross, the horror of the
cross, despising the shame, setting count as nothing, the shame.
Now, this lets us know to some extent of how truly He bore our
sins because He bore the shame of them. He was ashamed before
His Father. Now, we know He never committed
a sin, but our sins so truly became His that He was ashamed
of Himself before His Father. And He counted that shame nothing. Why? because he knew what he
was accomplishing. The complete glory of his father
and the complete salvation of his people. And look what it
says. He is set down. There it is again. He's set down
at the right hand of the throne of God. The sitting Savior. And according
to Revelation 321, every believer will sit with Him on His throne. As a matter of fact, as He's
seated there right now, the scripture says we're seated together with
Him in the heavenly seat. I'm in heaven right now in the
person of my blessed sitting Savior. Now remember this concept
of sitting. This speaks of His person and
work. He's sitting because He's not
worried. His will's being done. He's not pacing back and forth
in frustration, hoping somebody will let Him have His way. He's
sitting in regal splendor as the sovereign of the universe.
He's sitting because he has completed his work. Sin has been purged,
the sitting Savior. But I think it's interesting,
there's one place in the scripture where he is described as standing. It's when his martyr Peter, I
mean Stephen, And Acts chapter seven was being stoned to death.
And before he died, Stephen said, behold, I see the heavens opened
and the son of man standing on the right hand of God. Standing,
standing to meet his faithful martyr. He had been sitting,
now he stands up to receive Stephen unto himself. And my dear friend,
I have no doubt that every single one of his people, he stands
up to meet them when they enter glory, loving these people, honoring
these people, standing up. Can you imagine this one? When
I enter heaven, he's going to stand up to meet me. Yep. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you. That your son. Is the sitting
savior. How glorious he is. How we thank you for what his
sitting tells us, that he is Lord of all, and he's sitting
because his work is finished and our sins have been purged
away. We thank you for who he is. Lord,
I ask in Christ's name that everybody in this room, by your grace,
would be enabled to trust to believe on, to rest in the
sitting Savior. In His high and holy name, we
ask these things. Amen.