Todd's Earth Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Mattawar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our
website at toddsearthgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor. Not neither. I'm reading from Hebrews chapter
one, and I've entitled this message, God has spoken by his son. I'm so thankful that God has
spoken. We wouldn't know him if he was
not pleased to speak. God has spoken by His Son. Now, let's read this passage
of Scripture together in Hebrews chapter 1. I'm going to read
the first three verses. The writer to the Hebrews begins
with God. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son. God. He makes no attempt to prove
the existence of God. The Bible doesn't demean itself
to prove the existence of God. God is. And deep down, everyone
knows that. God is. There is no such thing
as an atheist. Now, I'm sure if there's an atheist
listening, he's saying, well, I'm an atheist. I'm proof of
that. Deep down. When you go to bed at night,
you know that God is. You can't get away from it. God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake. In times passed
unto the fathers by the prophets, God did indeed speak through
the prophets. He spoke through Isaiah. He spoke
through Ezekiel. This is His Word. He spoke through
the law of Moses. He spake in various ways and
various manners. He spoke with miracles. He spoke
with His written Word. He spoke with His mighty power.
He spoke to our fathers in times past by the prophets. But He
has in these last days, now when are the last days? The last days
are the days between the first and second advent of Christ.
We're living in the last days. Perhaps we're living in the last
of the last days. I don't know. I hope we are, if it's the Lord's
will. We look forward to his return. But in these last days, he's
spoken to us by his son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
messenger of God. He's God's prophet. He's the one who brings us the
Word from God. But not only is He the messenger
of God, He Himself is the message. He is the Word of God. He is what God has to say. He is the utterance of God. Now, what is a Word? A Word is
what's in my mind. Whatever's in my mind, the only
way it can be expressed to somebody else is through words. Christ
Jesus is the Word of God. He's the expression of God. He's
who God is. He is who God says. What's He got to say? My Son.
That is how God speaks. He said, This is my beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased." Now,
in this passage of Scripture, where God tells us that He speaks
by His Son, He gives us seven glorious things concerning the
Son by whom He speaks. And this gives us some idea of
the excellency and the dignity and the glory and the power of
the Son of God by whom God speaks. Now, let's read this passage
together. who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken to us by His Son. And then He gives seven things
concerning the Son. First, whom He hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who, being
the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high." Now first, God the Father speaks
of His Son as the heir of all things. He is the heir of the
Father's incomprehensible wealth and glory. It all belongs to
the Son. He's the heir of all things. You see, what the Father does,
He does that in all things His Son might have the preeminence.
That's God's purpose. That's God's will. It's that
His Son might in all things have the preeminence. That's why He's
the heir of all things. You see, it pleased the Father.
It pleased the Father that in Him, should all fullness dwell. That language is such that we
hear it, we're filled with awe at its majesty and can't possibly
comprehend it, but it pleased the Father that in Him should
all fullness dwell. God does what He does in esteem
for His Son. This is the esteem the Father
has for the Son whom He hath appointed heir of all things.
We read in Hebrews 1, verse 8, but unto the Son He saith, This
is what God says to His Son. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even Thy God,
hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. You see, it pleased the Father
that all fullness should dwell, should reside in the Lord Jesus
Christ because of the esteem He has for Him. And what about
that man? What about that woman that does
not esteem the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, they're in a world of trouble.
If I don't highly esteem Him, I'm in a world of trouble because
all of God's affection, all of God's love, all of God's salvation,
all of God's grace, all of God's favor is in His Son. Next, he says in Hebrews chapter
1, by whom also He made the worlds. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Creator. He is the One who created the
universe. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. He made the universe. He spoke the universe into existence. He willed the universe into existence. He created. He created something
from nothing. There was a time when all there
was was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
in the trinity of their sacred persons dwelling in light with
nothing else but themselves. And He spake the universe into
existence. The stars came, the moon, the
earth. He created something from nothing. He created life. He is the Creator. Now, I love thinking about this.
He created something. from nothing. He didn't create
something from something else. He created something from nothing.
Now, if I'm saved, the only way I'm going to be saved is if He
makes me something from nothing. I'm going to have to be a nothing
before I'm ever going to be a something. And until I'm a nothing, I can
forget ever being a something. That's the way God saves. He created the universe. And then we read next, who being
the brightness of God's glory. Now, what we're talking about
now is something we just believe and don't really comprehend,
the glory of God, the Shekinah glory of God. Glory is essential
to God's person. That's not essential for me or
you, but it's essential to Him because He's God. Oh, the glory
of God. Everything He does, He does for
His own glory. Now, most people think, well,
God's first cause is the happiness of His creatures. No. His first
motive for action is His own glory. Now, I'm thankful His
creatures are benefited by that, but His glory. What is the glory
of God? Well, Moses asked that question
once. In Exodus chapter 33, he says, I beseech thee, show me
thy glory. Now, he'd seen a lot. He'd seen
a whole lot, but he said, I haven't seen your glory. Show me your
glory. And here's how God answered in
Exodus 33, 19, I make all my goodness to pass before Thee. The glory of God is His goodness,
His capacity to save unworthy sinners. He said, I'll proclaim
my name before Thee. His name is not simply audibly
pronouncing His name. His name is His attributes. When
He proclaimed His name before Moses, He started speaking of
His attributes. Long-suffering, just, by no means
clear of the guilty, merciful, gracious, compassionate. His
attributes. His name is His attributes. And
He said, I'll be gracious. Well, Moses said, show me your
glory. God said, I'll make my goodness pass before you. I'll
proclaim my name before you. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. His sovereign grace, giving grace
to whoever He's pleased to give it. You know, men have been told
for so long that salvation's in their hands, it's up to them,
but it's not. It's up to Him. As to whether or not you'll be
saved, it's up to God. It's not up to you. You don't
have any control in this thing. And this is God's glory. Now,
would I be demeaning this text in any way when Moses said, show
me your glory, if God said, I'll make Christ to pass before you?
I'll proclaim Christ. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious for Christ's sake." You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the glory of God. And then next it says, He is
the express image of His person. He is the exact representation
of the Father, the visible sight of the invisible God. the exact
representation of the person of God so that he can say to
Philip, he that has seen me has seen the Father. Did you hear
that? He said, he that has seen me
has seen the Father. All you and I are ever going
to know of God the Father is Jesus Christ His Son. In Isaiah
9, verse 6, we read, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Now, I've just given the Scriptures
as they are stated. Can I explain how He could say
that? No, I can't. But I believe. He is the express
image of the Father. And next it says of Him that
He upholds. all things by the word of His
power. That means He controls providence. Providence is everything that
happens in time. He controls it all. The one who
lived upon the earth and the one who died upon a cross and
was raised from the dead, the man Christ Jesus, is also the
sovereign ruler of the universe. That's who He is. That's the
one by whom God has spoken. You know that he controls the
weather. He controls nature. He controls
history. It's actually his story. He controls
everything that's ever happened. He controls the political affairs
of men and nations. I know who's going to be our
next president, whoever he has decreed to be the next president. God is in control. There's nothing
outside of His control and it's all in the hands of the man,
Christ Jesus. He controls the personal experiences
of people. The Scripture says, the lot is
cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Whatever happens to you today
is all according to His will. Whatever happened to you yesterday,
it was all according to His will. Whatever's going to happen tomorrow,
it's all according to His will. He controls the destiny of all
people. As to whether or not you or I
will be saved, it's up to Him. Like that leper came to the Lord,
he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He didn't
say, I'm going to make myself clean or I'm going to let you
make me clean. He knew he was totally in the hands of the sovereign
Christ. If you will, you can make me
clean. He controls everything and it's
not hard work to him. I love what Daniel said. He said
in Daniel 4, 35, 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? He is in control. And look what it says next in
Hebrews 1, 3, When He had by Himself purged our sins. Now, before I go on with that
passage of Scripture, when He had by Himself purged our sins,
You have to ask, who is the hour? Did he purge everybody's sins?
Well, if he did, everybody would be saved. So the hour is not
referring to all men without exception. The hour is talking
about the people he died for, the people whose sins he purged
away. He's talking about his elect,
when he had by himself purged our sins. You see, if your sins
are purged, that means they're put away. I hate that teaching. It's so contrary to God. It's
so contrary to Gospel. It says that Jesus Christ died
for all men without exception. Because if that's the case, and
some of them wind up in hell, then His blood didn't actually
purge sin. But if He died for His people and purged their sins
so that their sins purged, it's put away. Oh, there's my only
hope. Now it says when He had by Himself purged our sins, when
He did it single-handedly, with no contribution from men and
with no contribution from angels, He by Himself purged our sins. Now that's what He was doing
on the cross. The sins of all who believe were placed upon
Him, and He was purging them. He purged them. He washed them
away so that they are no more. He paid the debt to God's justice. God's justice was satisfied.
The law was honored. Sin was punished. Paid for, God
is satisfied with what He did when He had by Himself purged
our sins. He didn't make this available. He purged our sins. He didn't leave us naked, but
He made us righteous in purging our sins. If I have no sin, I'm
righteous before God. When He had by Himself purged
our sins. Not the labor of my hands. can
fulfill thy law's demands. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no respite know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and thou alone."
And that's what He did on Calvary's tree. He by Himself purged our
sins. By one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And then we have the position
and the place of His exaltation. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, being made so much better than
the angels as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. He sat down because His work
was finished. He said in John 17, verse 4,
I finished the work that you gave Me to do. He finished the
work in time, and He finished the work in accomplishments.
He saved all that the Father gave Him, and now He is set down
at the right hand of the Father, the place of all authority, the
place of all glory, the place of control, ruling and reigning. Now God has spoken by this one. this One who is heir of all things,
this One who is the Creator of the universe, this One who is
the brightness of God's glory, this One who is the express image
of His person, this One who upholds all things by the Word of His
power, the One who is in control right now. The One who by Himself
purged us of our sins. This One who is right now seated
at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning. God has
spoken by His Son. And by faith, I want us to go
back and see in the present This One, who is all these things
described in this passage of Scripture, nailed to a cross. The psalm writer said, stricken,
smitten, and afflicted, see Him dying on the tree, tis the Christ
by man rejected. Oh my soul, tis He, tis He. Now see that One who is the Heir,
the Creator, the Glory of God, the Upholder of all things, nailed
to the tree. The earth quakes. The sun refuses
to shine as the Creator is nailed to the tree by His creatures. Now remember, He's Almighty. He could have prevented this.
He was no evictor. He allowed all of this to happen. Now, what does God say? All God has to say is in Jesus
Christ being nailed to a tree. You know, Paul said, I determined
not to know anything among you, said Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's the only thing worth talking about. Everything has to find
this as its end. Christ crucified. What does God
have to say in His Son being nailed to a tree? First, here
He speaks of the evil of sin. Ye who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly,
here its guilt may estimate. God saw sin on His Son, and He
killed Him. Do you hear that? God saw sin
on His Son, and He showed Him no mercy. He killed Him. His only begotten and well-beloved
Son. Now that lets me know how evil
sin really is. He spared not His Son. Oh, the
justice of God. When sin is found on Christ,
God kills Him. He forsook Him. He refused to
help Him. And He put Him to death. Now
that gives us some idea as to how evil sin is. that even when
it's found on Christ, His Son, God kills Him. Now, what else
does the cross have to say? What does God tell us by the
cross? Not only do we see how evil sin is, we see how evil
we are, me and you. When God left men alone, when
He removed His hands, and let men to their own will to do what
they wanted to do, they murdered His Son. And you and I would
be right there with them. If it was in our power, if God
left us to ourselves and it was in our power to do what we wanted
to do with God, His throne wouldn't be safe for a second. Now, it's
not in our power. Thank God for that. He rules
and reigns without a rival, but He knows what we'll do. You see,
don't look within your heart to find out how bad you are.
Don't look at the bad things you've done. And I've done, no
doubt, we've done many terrible things, transgressing God's law,
but that doesn't give the story. The story of just how bad you
and I really are is the cross. If God left me and you to ourselves,
we would murder His Son. That's what He has to say to
us. Oh, the evil of sin and the evil of those who commit the
sin. That's what God says by His Son. But see that one on the cross?
Here is God's Word. Here is God's revelation of Himself. When I see the Lord nailed to
a cross, I see the justice of God. He's not going to let sin
go unpunished. He's utterly impartial. Even
if sin is in His Son, He'll kill Him. The sins of God's elect
became His sin, who His own self bear our sins in His own body
on the tree. Oh, how just, how holy God is! But yet, how gracious God is
that He would give His Son for sinners. He took the sins of
His people and placed them upon His Son. How must He love sinners? What grace! What favor! Oh, I see the wisdom of God.
He's so wise that He's made a way to remain just and yet justify
an ungodly sinner through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Man couldn't come up with that. Oh, the wisdom of God. Oh, the
power of God. His power is such that He actually
put away sin. That One who created actually
made something to be no more. He put away the sins of all God's
people. They're no more. We see the full
revelation of the character of God. God says by the cross, this
is who I am. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. We will not know God apart from
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, this is who I am. See that one hanging on a cross?
This is God's salvation. This is how God could save somebody
like me or you. Here we have a firm foundation. Here's the refuge for the lost.
Christ, the rock of our salvation. His the name on which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded. sacrifice to cancel guilt, none
shall ever be confounded, who on Him their hope have built."
There is my salvation. That's what God says. There is
my salvation. Now, what does God say by the
cross? By the cross, God says, here
is mercy. Here is grace. for the vilest
sinner this side of hell. I don't care how bad you are,
there's mercy for all who come to Him." That's what God says
by the cross. You come as an empty-handed sinner,
bringing nothing, and you'll be received. You try to bargain
with God, you try to buy your salvation, He'll reject you.
But if you come empty-handed, looking to Christ alone, crying
for mercy for His sake, God will receive you. Here is what the
Son says, ìAll that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and
him that cometh to Me I shall in no wise cast out.î There is
mercy for anyone who comes. ìIf any man thirsts,î our Lord
says, ìlet him come to Me and drink. Come unto Me, all ye that
are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My
yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.
You'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light." This is what the church says in the light of the cross. And the Spirit and the Bride
say, Come. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. There's mercy for the vilest
sinner this side of hell. That's what the cross tells us.
For everyone who will come pleading only what Christ has done. God has spoken by His Son. And we have this message on CD
or DVD. If you call the church right
or e-mail us, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Knipers,
praying that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you.
That's our prayer. To request a copy of the sermon you have
just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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