For this hour, we're going to
be in Hebrews chapter one again. And I mentioned this first hour,
but I guess I'll have to mention this every time I stand for the
next three or four times. It's kind of a series that we're
doing here. Hebrews one, one through five
on seven distinct truths of the Lord. Last Sunday, we saw that
Jesus Christ is the word of God and he is the only way that God
speaks through and by him. He is the message and he is the
messenger. First hour this morning, we heard
that God appointed Christ Jesus heir of all things because of
who he is, because of what he accomplished. And in his death,
that inheritance was given unto his people and his resurrection
ensures that that will is going to be carried out This is all
by his doing. His people are now heirs of God
and join heirs with Jesus Christ. Third thing that we find here,
Hebrews chapter one, verse two. is that he is the creator. That's
what I've titled the message. The creator of all things. All
things. Let's read our text. Hebrews
1, verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son,
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,
being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of
the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a
father and he shall be to me a son. We read that every Sunday
for the next seven Sundays. I guess we'll be able to quote
it, but that would be okay. That's a good portion of scripture
to memorize. Now here in chapter one of Hebrews
in verse two, he says that he made, whom also he made the worlds. Now, what does he mean the worlds?
Anytime we see Something in the scripture, it's very important
that we don't just jump to a conclusion, that we don't think, okay, well,
that must mean this, or that must mean that. What does he
mean by the worlds here? Well, the Jews, the customary,
they had three worlds that they described. The first world would
be heaven. That's where God resides. That's the eternal realm. That's
the first world. The second world would be what
we call the sky. And we call that the heavens
also, but that's the second world. And the third is earth, everything
earthly. And by the Lord Jesus Christ, he made all of those.
He made all of those. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one that is the creator of the upper world, the middle world,
and the lower world. This is also given to us to further
confirm the fact that in John chapter one, verse three, he
says these words, all things were made by the word of God.
And without him was not anything made that was made. Boy, that's
simple. And that's clear, isn't it? Without
him, not anything was made that was made. Then he goes on to
say, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth it not. The scripture says, anything
that was made was made by him. What does anything mean? The
first hour, I think we stopped on the word any, we stopped on
the word all, and this time it's anything. What does he mean without
him, not anything made that was made? Well, that's everything,
isn't it? Without exception. Without exception,
everything was made by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the creator. Without him, there is no life.
He is life, and he is life eternal to his people. He is the creator.
He is where all life comes from. He is the reason for all things
living, why they exist. In Him is life. He is life to
us and to everything that's alive. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. Verse John 5 20 says, and we
know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true. And we are in him. We are in him that is true. Even
in his son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God. And this is
eternal life. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He is life eternal to his people,
to his elect. He is the creator. Now without
him, there would be no eternal life. They would just be eternal
death. That's all that you and I can merit. That's all that
you and I can accomplish by what we do. That's all that you and
I deserve is eternal death. But by the creator, he secured
eternal life by the sacrifice of himself. In Him is all light, not just
life, but light. Think about the sun. God created
the sun. I love that. He created everything
that has light. I think about the stars at night
and the moon. The moon has no light in and of itself. It completely
relies on the sun. Well, what if the sun stopped
shining? Well, there goes our heat source, and there goes our
light source. What's going to happen to the
earth? If the sun solidified today, how long is life going
to be able to sustain on the earth? Without the sun, there
is no vegetation, there's no food. Without vegetation, there's
nothing for the animals to eat. We would die, wouldn't we? We
would die without the sun. Now that's just physically speaking.
What about spiritually? It's the sun, S-O-N. You know
the scripture, we preached a message some time ago on the sun of righteousness.
The Lord calls the sun of righteousness to arise on our hearts, on these
cold, dead hearts. And if he does shine the light
forth, what happens? Life happens. See, he is where
all life comes from, as the creator. If he doesn't shine forth his
light, we'll just, we'll just dry, we'll stay dead. We'll stay
dead. But thanks be to God, He does
shine forth His light unto His people that we may live. What would happen if Christ Jesus
stopped shining His light? What would happen if the Lord
stopped shining His light? Well, we would be dead. we would
remain dead. There would be no hope of eternal
life. There would be no salvation whatsoever. Everything about
our salvation is completely 100% dependent upon who Jesus Christ
is and what he accomplished on the cross of Calvary. If his
spirit does not blow, if his spirit does not shine forth the
light, if his spirit does not say live, we have no hope of
eternal life. The scripture is so clear that
it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us. What does that mean? According
to his mercy, he shone forth light. According to his mercy,
he said, live. Aren't you glad he did? He chose
to do that. This. Wretched sinner would remain
lifeless had it not been for God choosing to shine forth his
light. What did the very first words that the Lord recorded
that the Lord said, let there be light. Let there be light. That's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ shining forth into darkness. Darkness has to flee. It can't comprehend the light.
That's you and I, we can't comprehend the light. But the Lord commanded
light to shine out of darkness into the heart of his people,
saying, live. That's what he does. This is the work of the
creator. This is the work of God that cannot lie. Now, question
I have for us this morning. If you could create anything,
would you share that glory with anybody? I want to take my time
this morning as best we can and enter into these few little thoughts
that the Lord's given us. And I hope by the time this is
done, we see the Lord's face. That's my plea. That's my prayer. That's my hope every time we
stand here. If you could create anything, would you share any
glory with anybody else? Would you give credit to another?
Would you say And would you give any credit to the creation? Think
about that. Would you say that the creation
is better than the creator? No, it's you created it. They
say Thomas Edison created the light bulb and gave us, I mean,
we have lights in here right now, so we can appreciate Thomas
Edison and the Lord giving him the knowledge to be able to make
a light bulb, but Thomas Edison didn't create that. He took objects
that were already in existence and put them together in order
to attempt to duplicate something that God made called light. Am
I right? What about Benjamin Franklin?
He invented the bifocals. And I'm not gonna give us any
more but the two, don't worry. He invented bifocals. Now, did Benjamin
Franklin invent sight? Or did he figure out that you
can take pieces of sand and you can melt them at a very high
temperature and they become glass? And he probably didn't even figure
that out. He just knew glass existed, but he knew he could
contort the glass. He says, hey, I can read again. I can read
again. I can see again. It's not as
blurry as it used to be. Benjamin Franklin never walked
up to a man that was dead in trespasses and in sin. Or Edison
walk up to a man and say, live. Never walked up to someone that
was blind and say, receive your sight. Those things are of God. See, Benjamin Franklin didn't
invent sight. He just invented a way that our
vision wouldn't be as blurry. But he didn't create it. No,
he took objects that were already in existence. All things were
made by Jesus Christ and without him was not anything made that
was made. What about a computer? A computer is a device that calculates. That's all a computer does. It
computes. Input, output. That's all that
it is. Calculated algorithms based upon probability and statistics
and it comes out with information. Did you know that's exactly what
you and I are as computers? We take information by the senses
that God gave us, all five of them. How do you know something
tastes good? It's because of the electrical impulses that
God has designed your body to send to your brain that says,
Hey, that tastes good. God's created all things. Man
just discovers new things and think that he's becoming, he's
arrived. He's becoming greater and greater.
God's the one that made all things. Nothing's going to be made. That's
not that Jesus Christ did not made. It's already in existence.
And yet the Lord allows us to figure out some of them a little
bit at a time, doesn't he? Every time man finds out something
else, they think they're bigger than they are, that we've, now
we're better than we, we're really not progressing, we're digressing.
The more information that we obtain, the worse society gets. You know it's true. Men become
more puffed up. They become more self, self-righteous. Look what
I have done. Look at me. Nebuchadnezzar's
an example of that. Look at this great statue of
myself I've made. Bow down and worship it. That's
what men do by nature. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one that created all things and he deserves and will get all
glory for all things. No one will be able to stand
in his presence talking about spiritual things or physical
things. But Lord, I invented the bifocals. No, you didn't.
No, you didn't. I prompted that little pea thought
in your head that caused you to be able to think that. God
gets all the glory. But we're just talking about
physical things. What about the spiritual things? Lord, I've
done all these wonderful works in your names. I've cast out
demons. I did this. I did that. No, you didn't. No,
you didn't. Not in my name. I've never knew
you. Not for righteousness, you didn't. Now we have but one hope
and it is the creator. That the creator would create
in us a clean heart. That the creator that made all
things would say unto us, live. That the creator who, you remember
the winds and the seas obeyed his voice. He said, peace be
still, did they argue? Did they continue to blow? I
love the thought that instantaneously, it wasn't, we can't, I'm trying
to say three sentences in a row and I can't get it out. Instantaneous,
that's the only word I know to use. They say milliseconds. How
can you calculate her time? The moment he said peace, it
was instant. It wasn't a delayed reaction. That's what I'm trying to say.
It was instant. When he says live unto you and I, it is instantaneous. It's not a delayed reaction.
It's not that we are dead and then he causes us to start twitching
a little bit. No, it's instant. We're alive.
He says, let there be light. There's light that shines forth.
At his word, it happens. He's the creator. He's the creator. He's the one that created light.
He's eternal. Christ is the light. He's the
one that created sight. Christ is eternal. He is. He
is our sight. Without him, we have no sight. God is the only one that can
create something because he's the only one that can take something
out of nothing and make it so. You and I can't create anything
in that regard. Everything that's ever been made,
as far as man's concerned, invented, was not really created, it was
taking something and making it into something else. And if you
have an example that contradicts that, see me after service, but
I couldn't think of anything. Everything men make, they take something.
We took a tree, we chopped it down, we made this podium. Am
I right? We dug up metals from the earth, that's where the wires
come from in this, and we made it into something else. Everything
man makes comes from what God has already made. Nothing new
that man can make whereby they can glory in and say, I have
taken this nothing and I have made something. Everything God
creates is not dependent upon man. He takes nothing. He takes
a bunch of nothings, a bunch of sinners, a bunch of nobodies,
a bunch of hell deserving individuals based upon our nature and makes
us into something. And that something is glorious.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ's righteousness. That's what he
makes his people into. Only God can say, let there be
light, and the darkness runs away and hides. Only God can
say, let there be an earth, and the earth appears. Only God can
cause the land to appear and the sea to part ways, just like
he did the Red Sea. It obeyed his voice, just like
he said, peace, be still, when he was on the The sea with his
disciples that winds and waves obey him. He's the creator. He's
the creator. He secured salvation. Without
him, there would be no salvation. Now, as the creator, the question
I asked to start this was, if you were to actually create something,
would you share glory for it? You go look at any of the exhibits
and we go to museums. I'm sure some of y'all has been
to museums. I got to start saying you guys, use guys more instead
of y'all, you know, really own my, my geographical location. I'm going to keep saying y'all,
I guess. But anyways, you've been to museums, you know that
in those museums, everybody, whenever there's an art piece
in a gallery, whether it's a invention of some time, some place, is
the name of the person on there, is that not the person that invented
it? Is it shared with anybody else? You had the Wright brothers
that came up with the airplane, and I understand that they shared
that title, or at least that's what our history tells us, whatever.
You understand what I'm saying, though. They didn't share the
idea with Benjamin Franklin and say, well, if he hadn't have
come up with the canvas, or if so-and-so hadn't have done this,
I would have never been able to do this. No, it's I've made
this. Is that not true? The names on
the The plaque, that's whatever the invention is. God's not gonna
change, God's not gonna give his glory away if we think men
are gonna hold on to their glory. How much more salvation? God's
gonna hold on to all the glory, deserving of every bit of it.
It was accomplished before we were even in existence. It was
accomplished before we were born. Christ Jesus accomplished salvation.
He started out by making everything in order to do it. If everything
hadn't have been made, there would have been no salvation
to be had. Started out by the Lord himself making everything
so that you and I could be redeemed back to God. As the creator, everything is
subject to his will for that reason. What does the word everything
mean? It means everything. The more
I preach, the more I realize that these words that the Lord
give us, if we stop on those words just for a little bit,
it really answers a lot of questions. If everything is created by Him
and He gets all the glory, that means everything was created
by Him and He gets all the glory. That's not complicated. The problem
is with you and I, we want to complicate things by nature,
don't we? We want to try to add our two cents. Not whenever we
hear the truth and the Lord reveals it to our heart, we just listen.
We just rest, don't we? As the creator, everything is
subject to his will, his authority, his sovereign right as God to
rule and to reign with the inhabitants of heaven, with the inhabitants
of the earth, with the inhabitants under the earth. Why? He created
it all. He created it all. It's his. He owns it. If you created all things, We
don't create anything, but if you created all things, would
you share glory with your creation? Would you share glory with your
creation? No. No, neither will he. He created
all things as the creator for his purpose, all for his glory,
all by his power. This, we're talking about calculations
again, it's God plus and minus us at all, zero. It's just God. He's the creator, period. He's
the one that did it all, period. It's all for Him's promises to
be kept. The mystery and the glorious
news of the gospel is that He created all things for one glorious
purpose, for one glorious purpose, to redeem His people back to
God. That's amazing to me. You mean
that little creek out back that we pass by when we leave here
was created? by God for a purpose, everything
was created by God for a purpose. The tree that's right here beside
the building, God purposed that. The grass that you and I walk
on, the wood that's on this floor, the walls that are here, why
did he do all that? In order for him to get all glory in all
things. Did you know that only the Lord's
people really recognized that even the benches we're sitting
on, Lord, Never really thought about this, but you created the
tree that I'm sitting on so that I'd be able to sit here to hear
the gospel that you created so that we would be saved. You get
all the glory. Only God's people think that
way. I thought I was crazy when I first heard the gospel, because
I was thinking of a thing, trying to talk to people about it, and
they thought I was nuts. I said, no, you don't understand. That
bench you're sitting on right now, God made that for His glory. And they were just like, well,
yeah, but so what? I'm like, well, you mean so what? It's
amazing, everything. I mean, look around you. The air you're
breathing, the tree that's giving off oxygen. We couldn't have
came up with that. God did that so that you and I could breathe
and God could say unto us, live spiritually. If he didn't make
oxygen, we'd be dead. But he allowed us to live, allowed
us to breathe his air, allowed us to drink his water, allowed
us to eat his food. God did that. That's just the
physical. What about the spiritual? God
calls his son to be born of a woman, the bread of life, the fountain
of living water, to give us the food necessary for life, to sustain
us spiritually, to allow us to have everything needed that we
would be made the righteousness of God in him. He did it all. He's the creator. He's the creator. Now, all false religion without
exception says he created everything. Then he gave man all the power
over him. Now I want to think about that just for a second.
Here's God who created everything. Every droplet of water, every
little ant that runs around and picks up, takes back to the nest,
all the bees going around pollinating the trees. He thought it would
be an amazing part. He didn't think it out, did he?
He purposed it. You and I have to process and God don't calculate.
I love that. He just purposes all things.
But then after he was finished and he sat down, the work was
finished, he said, OK, I've done my part. It's up to you. That's
what all false religion says. That's well, that's that's ignorant
of his truth. It's it's foolish thinking, isn't
it? Now, it's not dependent upon
you and I. He didn't create it all and then hand it to us and
say, well, do your best. I've done my part. Now you do your
part. No, he sat down when he was finished. By his own blood,
he purged our sins. He sat down on the right hand
of God. That's number six and number seven that's in here in
our text. He, by himself, without any contribution
to any man whatsoever, He, by Himself, purged His people's
sins, and then He sat down because it's finished. That's what the
Creator did. That's what the Creator did. It's interesting that men really
believe that He left salvation up to you and I, but He didn't
leave the creation up to you and I. When did he remember Job? Job was having a bit of a pity,
but not a bit. There's like 30 something, maybe 42 chapters
of Job where there's a pity party Job's having for the most part
until God speaks and says, okay, Job, since you think so highly
of yourself, he didn't say that, but he says, where were you?
when I laid the foundation of the world." Now, if the Lord
would have stopped right there, that would have been enough for
you and I to be like, I should not have spoke. And that's what
the Lord does for his people. He calls, shuts us up, doesn't
he? He shuts us up. But you can read the two chapters
that the Lord continually asks him the question, where were
you when I divided the sands from the sea? Where were you
when I hung the stars in the heaven? Where were you when I hung the earth
on nothing? And Joe, by the time he's done, he said, Lord, I'm
only answering you this time because you told me to answer
you, but I'm going to put my hands over my mouth, and I'm
not going to speak ever again. See, he's the creator. When you
see him as the creator, when you see him as the successful
redeemer, we have nothing to say against him, nothing to bring
into his sight to say, Lord, I deserve salvation because of
this. He owns it all. He owns it all and he did it
all, all for his people. Now, if the Lord was going to
look to you and I to do something, it would have been in creation because
how much greater is the salvation of his people, the sacrifice
of his darling son upon the cross of Calvary, then the waters that's
in the stream. I mean, I understand that that's
necessary for life, but get what I'm saying. That's just physical
life. He would have, if he would have been looking for us to do
something, it would have been in creation, not on the cross of Calvary.
God was doing business with God there. And he didn't look to
us in creation, nor did he look to us in salvation. You know
why? Because we're impotent in both. We're unable in both. He's
the creator. He's the sovereign. He's the
supreme ruler. And when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down. It's finished. Now he didn't
make man from the dust of the ground and say, I want to be
Lord of your life. That's just, I don't even know the right word
to put on that. It'd be condescending, whatever the word would be. He
didn't make man out of the dust of the ground and breathe into
his nostrils, make him a living soul and then say, okay, now
all I want you to do is choose me. All I want you to do is make
me Lord. He's the creator. He's already
Lord. He's not looking to you and I
for anything, for anything, no contribution. I'm so thankful
I'm not a factor in salvation in regards of my response or
my action or my obligation to him. He's the creator. I can't
mess it up. Because you know as well as I
know, if the Lord's shown you that you're a sinner, you'd mess
it up if you could. We would, wouldn't we? We'd fall flat on
our face. We're so unworthy. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. What's the word
all mean? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. But Al, you read it there just a bit ago, why we were yet
sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. You and I are unstable in all
of our ways. He's the rock of ages. He's the cornerstone. He's
the sure foundation whereby salvation was built. You and I are creatures
of vanity. He's not, he wasn't created.
He's always been. He is the self-existent, self-sufficient,
self-sustaining, non-dependent creator of all things. That's
who Jesus Christ is. You and I are self-righteous,
aren't we? We're self-absorbed. We self-inflict
damage, don't we? We do. We self-admire subject
to our sin nature, not him. He humbled himself unto death,
even the death of the cross for his people. Now, now you and
I don't think so highly of ourself if he's shown us the truth. If
he's created in us a new heart, we don't think so highly of ourself.
Matter of fact, we loathe ourself. We really see and understand
what Paul said when he said, who shall deliver me from this
body of death? We really see that the flesh
that's on our back is just a dead corpse that we're carrying around.
We really see that. We feel that, don't we? Lord, I don't want
to do the things that I do. I find myself doing them. Deliver
me from this. That's what Paul said. The things
which I would do, I do not. But that which I would not do,
that's exactly what I do over and over again. Why? Because
of our nature. But oh, his nature, being the creator, being God.
Not him. He did all things well. He did
all things right. He does all things well and right. The Creator, and I say this humbly
with fear and reverence, the Creator became dust. He didn't take on the nature
of angels. He took on the seed of Abraham.
Think about the condescension of God becoming a man. We say
those things, but it just goes in one ear and out the other.
I mean, really enter into the fact that He had to become the dust
that He had created to redeem a bunch of dust. Think about
that. That's what He did for His people. Did he, at what time
did he confer with that dust and say, well, what do you think
I should do? Or what is your opinion that
I may do this or I may do, at what point did he confer with
dust? He didn't. No, when he had by himself purged our sin,
he did it all by himself. God the just, the creator, the
sustainer of life, died for man, the creature's sin. Now I have,
well I had four places to turn to. We did start a little bit
late, but I'm not gonna turn to four places. I do wanna look
at a couple, so turn with me if you will. You're in Hebrews,
just turn over a page, Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two, verse five.
For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to
come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified,
saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him? We understand
that, don't we? What is man that thou art mindful
of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? And here is
Jesus Christ right here. Thou hast made him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crowns him with glory and
honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou has
put all things, there's that word again, all. Thou has put
all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put
all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him. He's saying, you might not see
it, but all things are under him. All things are, we can't
see it with this natural eye All things are in subjection
to him. The next time you have fear because you turn on the
television set and you see the news and everybody's talking
about wars, rumors of wars and everything's like, remember that
the scripture actually said in the end times there'll be wars
and rumors of wars. But remember, all things are still subject
under his feet. All things. Even though you can't
see it, believe it. By faith, all things are subject
under his feet. What does all things mean? All
things means all things. I can rest in that. I love the
simplicity of that, all things. But here's who we see. By faith,
we see Jesus, verse nine, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man. For it became him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. Look at verse 17. Wherefore,
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
God, the just, the creator, the sustainer of life became a man.
It behooved him, the scripture says, it was necessary for him. If he hadn't, there'd have been
no eternal life, but he chose to do so. He died for man the
creature's sin, the elect before time, so that by his death, by
his death, you and I might be found righteous. By his death,
you and I could live. By his death, our sin was put
away. I've seen in Hebrews 1 through
5, and we've seen the seven things, and as I keep reading through
Hebrews, I'm like, he just keeps echoing the same things over
and over again. He just elaborates more and more about them. He
just talked about the angels again being subject unto the Lord.
We're going to look at that soon, but it's the same message. He's the creator. We're not.
He's the sustainer of life. We have no life in us. We can't
give life. He can. Not eternal life. He
can, and he does to his people. Those who he died for are found
spotless before God's holy law. I love this, this thought. We
are found innocent before God's justice. We're innocent. What
price are you going to put on innocency? If I was to give us an allegory,
and I think I did this recently, but it's necessary again. If you were on death row for
a murder that you were guilty of, and somebody came in and
they said, I'm gonna take your place so that you can be set
free. Now, I remember handing out tracks with this analogy,
and that's where I got the analogy from, so I'm kind of embarrassed
to tell you that, but it's not true regarding the gospel, and
I'll tell you why in just a second. But what I'm saying is if you
were guilty, truly guilty, found guilty, And they were going to
put you to death, and they took you. That day, you were going
to be put to death. Somebody stepped in and said, no, I'm going to take your
place. I'm going to take your place, and you'll be set free.
And you got set free. Would you still be guilty of
murder? Yes. Would you still be guilty of
the crime? Yes. Not so with God's law and God's justice because
he took the sin. He took the guilt. He took the
shame. The creator took all of that
into himself and he put it away. He cast it as far as the east
is from the west so that now whenever the law comes to be,
comes to announce itself, comes to say, are you guilty? The answer
is no. No, you're completely innocent
of the crime. You've never sinned one time.
That's what the creator accomplished on the cross of Calvary. Not only can man not create something
because we have to take something that's already in existence and
make it into something else, that's called inventing, but man cannot
take something and make it completely disappear. Did you know that? You can burn something up with
fire, there's still residue from that, ashes, there's still what
they call it carbon and all that other stuff you hear about in
the news. Can't make it disappear completely,
can we? You see magicians on stage, they alakazam, they make
something disappear. No, it didn't disappear, they
moved it somewhere else. It didn't disappear, did it? We know better
than that. God made his people's sin disappear by the sacrifice
of himself. They're gone. He's the only one
that can do that. He's the only one that can make
something out of nothing. And he's the only one that could
put away our sin. And he did, he put them away.
He cast them as far as the East is from the West. Why did he
say the East from the West? You've heard me talk about this
before. If you go North far enough, you'll eventually start going
South again, but you can go East as long as you want to on a compass.
And it'll never say that you're going West. You'll never find
West going East. Think about that. cast him in
the depths of the sea, never to be remembered again, never
to be remembered again. Christ Jesus put away the sin
of his people. Well, how sure is his hope? How
sure is the hope that his people have in him? How certain is salvation? Turn over two more pages, Romans,
I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter four. Look at verse three. How certain is this salvation?
Verse three says, for we which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, as I have sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. That's how sure
salvation is. From the very reason the world was created was for
the salvation of God's people, all for his glory. Verse four,
for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day, on this wise,
and God did rest from the seventh day. God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some
must enter therein, and they to whom it was preached entered
not in because of unbelief. Again, he limited a certain day
saying in David, today, after so long a time, as it is said
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart. Now, how
is it you and I are not going to harden our heart? The scripture
tells us very clear that we're born with a heart of stone. Now
you can, I guess, how are you going to harden stone is the
point I'm making. You can't. It's we're dependent upon the
creator. Lord, you're going to have to
take out the heart of stone. What did David say? Create in me a
clean heart. Oh, God. David didn't say here's
my heart. Lord, take it. Take it. Take my heart and and I'm gonna
let you come in. That's not what the prayer is.
I'm not gonna let God do anything. I'm not offering God anything.
Lord, you're gonna have to give everything you require. You have
to create a clean heart. Verse eight, for if Jesus had
given them rest, they would not afterward have spoken of another
day. But here it is, brethren, there
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that
has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own
works as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. There's a rest to the people
of God in the creator. There's a rest knowing that all
things were made by him and without him not anything made that was
made. Does that include the salvation of your soul? He said all things.
Nothing was made that was not made by him. Without him there
was not anything made that was made. He successfully achieved. He successfully accomplished.
He successfully creates all that he requires in his people. And he did it on the cross of
Calvary. Salvation was finished before
the world began. I can rest in that. For it exceeds
time. That means time can't change
it. It already existed. Christ is that salvation, the
creator is that salvation. The songwriter said this, I was
gonna sing this song, but I couldn't find it in my binder. I have
to do it some other time, I suppose, but it said, dark the stain that
soiled men's nature, long the distance that he fell, far removed
from hope and heaven into deep despair and hell, but there was
a fountain open. and the blood of God's own Son
purifies the soul and reaches deeper than the stain has gone. That's what the Lord's blood
did for His people. Because of the precious blood of the Lamb,
because of the Creator, we're no longer dead, but alive in
Him. What hope we have of our sovereign Lord and Creator. What
hope we have in His finished work. I'm glad it's not up to
you and I to create salvation, aren't you? to create some work
that God would be pleased with. We'd be like Cain, wouldn't we?
We'd bring a big pumpkin. We'd bring a, I've said that
enough here where I think everybody understands what I mean by saying
that. Fair, they had the pumpkin competition, and I saw like a
2,000 pumpkin, they got a blue ribbon. Cain brought a 2,000
pound pumpkin to the Lord. It wasn't the scraps, it wasn't
the leftovers, it was the prettiest apples you've ever seen. It was
beautiful, they were beautiful. They had tasted the best. I mean,
he worked hard on this. Not good enough for God. It's
funny because all he could offer God is what God had created,
the fruit that God had spoken to existence. You think God's
pleased with that? No, he's pleased with one, the eternal, the immutable,
the unchangeable man, the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who he's pleased with. That must be our only hope and
desire. And he must give us that hope
and that desire. In closing, I want to I want
to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. While you're turning there, the
scripture says this in Romans chapter 8, that all of nature
groaneth and travaileth together with us, with the Lord's people,
to desire, to desire for that time where the Lord will cause
us to be glorified, where the Lord will purge this place of
sin. The creator, one of these days is, the scripture says,
heaven and earth shall pass away. One of these days, this world's
gonna be dissolved with a fervent heat, and there'll be a new heaven,
and there'll be a new earth. The Lord's gonna make all things
good. It's already finished. I never want to leave that statement. It's already finished, but you
and I are going to experience glorification one day. We were
already there because God's eternal, unchangeable. One of these days,
we're going to get to experience that. And that's what he's talking
about here in first Corinthians. While you were turning, I was
not turning. So hang on just a second. First Corinthians chapter 15. And look in verse 50. Now this
I say, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. What a
thought there is that if heaven was on earth. If it was flesh
and blood, it's not possible for it to be heaven. We would
still have pain. We would still have sorrow. We would still have
suffering. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. Lord did not come to make our
life sunshine and rainbows all the time. He didn't come to establish
an earthly kingdom. The Jews wanted an earthly kingdom.
He said, my kingdom's not of this world. No, I go to prepare
a place. I'm the creator. I'm going to
create a perfect place of peace and rest for you. That's what
he's talking about here. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass." I love that. How many
times you read in scripture where it says, and it came to pass?
And it came to pass, well, here he's saying it again, at this
time, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting?
Oh, grave, where is thy victory? Brethren, God's elect is gonna
be changed into the very image of the creator, that which he
is pleased with. The scripture says, behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should
become be called the sons of God. Brethren, it doth not yet
appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall
appear, we shall be made like Him, for we shall see Him as
He is. God's elect is going to be changed
to the very image of the Creator. All those for whom Christ died
for will be made just like Him. What does that mean? Holy and
perfect and sinless and undefiled. This is what the Lord has made.
You remember in Revelation, whenever they saw the 144,000 that's the represent anytime
you see don't don't think that it means something other than
being the Lord's elect. That's all that that is. It's
glorious. It represents 12. It's divisible by 12. It just
means the elect of God. How were they dressed? They were
dressed in white. They were robed in white. That
represents the righteousness of the Lord. And they were singing
a new song. No man can teach this song, it says. What was
the song? I've been redeemed by the blood
of the Lamb. A man can't teach us that. God
has to. The creator redeemed the creature. Man, the creature. because the
creator chose to create this world and all that's in it, become
a creature himself, holy, sinless, separate from sinners, redeem
his people. God's people are gonna be changed.
They're gonna be changed to his likeness, just like the creator
when we see him face to face. Well, I can rest in the creator,
can't you? I can rest in him. As my righteousness,
can't you? I can rest in him as our redeemer,
our sustainer of life. I'm thankful Lord Jesus Christ
is the creator. Let's pray. Father, we come before
you again thanking you for your Glorious truth, Lord, we we stand
in awe. We marvel at your your glory
cause us to rest in it. In Christ's name, amen. Let's turn to number 268, the
church's one