["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening.
Find the seats and find a song book close to you
and turn to page number 211.
Song number 211.
And we will open the service with
Whosoever meaneth me,
song number 211.
Go ahead and find a seat, find a hymnal,
and turn to page number 211.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
I am happy today and the sun shines bright.
The clouds have been rolled away.
For the Savior said,
Whosoever will may come with him to stay.
Whosoever surely meaneth me,
surely meaneth me,
oh surely meaneth me.
Whosoever surely meaneth me,
whosoever meaneth me.
Song number 211, sing it out on the second.
All my hopes have been raised.
All his name be praised.
His glory has filled my soul.
I've been lifted up and from sin set free.
His blood hath made me whole.
Whosoever surely meaneth me,
surely meaneth me,
oh surely meaneth me.
Whosoever surely meaneth me,
whosoever meaneth me.
All are singing while let's finish on the last.
Oh what wonderful love,
oh what great divine,
that Jesus should die for me.
I was lost in sin for the world.
But now I am set free.
Whosoever surely meaneth me,
surely meaneth me,
oh surely meaneth me.
Whosoever surely meaneth me,
whosoever meaneth me.
Amen. Great singing.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church here on our Wednesday evening service.
We are glad to see everyone here this evening.
Let's open the service with a word of prayer.
Dear Heaven and Father, Lord, we love you and thank you again
for the opportunity to come to church this evening, Lord.
Thank you for sustaining us, Lord.
Thank you for all that you do for us.
And thank you for the dear people, Lord, who would come and sing praises to your name.
We pray, Lord, that you would bless the service.
We pray that you would bless the singing, the prayer time,
the preaching and the fellowship to come, Lord.
We love you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
All right. Turn to page number 175.
Song number 175.
And we will sing it just like this great love.
Song number 175.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
A friend I have called Jesus,
whose love is strong and true.
And never fails, however,
has tried to matter what I do.
I've sinned against this love of his,
but when I knell to pray,
confessing all my guilt to him,
my sin clouds roll away.
It's just like Jesus who wrote.
It's just like Jesus who gave me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way.
It's just like his great love.
Sing it out on the second.
Sometimes the clouds of trouble
meet in the sky above.
I cannot see my Savior's face.
I doubt his wondrous love.
But he from heaven's mercy seat
beholding my despair
in pity burst the clouds between
and shows me he's there.
Sing it out.
It's just like Jesus who broke the clouds away.
It's just like Jesus who gave me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way.
It's just like his great love.
Sing it out on the third.
When sorrow's clouds overtake me,
break upon my head.
When life seems worse and useless
and I will bet a dent,
I take my grief to Jesus and
nor do I grow in vain.
For heavenly hope he gives at cheers
like sun shines after rain.
It's just like Jesus who rolled the clouds away.
It's just like Jesus who gave me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way.
It's just like his great love.
Let's finish all on the last.
Oh, I could sing forever
of Jesus' love divine,
of all his care and tenderness
for this poor life of mine.
His love is in an overall
and winds and waves obey
when Jesus whispers,
please be still
and rolls the clouds away.
Sing it out.
It's just like Jesus who rolled the clouds away.
It's just like Jesus who gave me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way.
It's just like his great love.
Amen.
We're going to welcome you
to the midweek service here at Ready Baptist Church.
We're glad you're with us.
Let's go ahead and take our bulletins.
We'll look at some announcements real quickly tonight.
If you do not have a bulletin,
just raise your hand
and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up
and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Psalm 133,
behold how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell in unity.
And that's a good verse there.
We like that.
If you open up your bulletin,
you'll see our service times
Sunday morning service 1030 a.m.
and of course we do invite you to be with us
on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for church,
Sunday evening service at 6 p.m.
and we're glad you're here tonight
for the midweek service.
If you look at our soul winning times,
our main soul winning times
on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
and then we have additional soul winning times
on Thursdays and Fridays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
So if you'd like to go soul winning tomorrow,
there'll be an opportunity for you to do that.
We of course are a family integrated church.
What that means is that children and infants
are always welcome in the service.
We do not separate children from their parents
for any reason.
We do have mother baby rooms
and daddy rooms available for your convenience.
All of the rooms have comfortable seating.
They have monitors set up
so you can watch the service and listen to it.
So if you have a child that's been distracting
during the service, so if you need some privacy,
we would encourage you to use those rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized, please let us know.
We'd love to baptize you
and you can just let us know
on the back of the communication card.
We'll follow up with you
and talk to you in regards to that.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events,
on Sundays we are going through a sermon series
called Wilderness Wanderings
and on Wednesday night, last Wednesday night,
we started a brand new study in the book of Hebrews,
a verse by verse study.
We're gonna continue that of course tonight.
And in your bulletin,
you should have one of these little half sheets
and the main thing I want to bring your attention to
is a couple of things.
First of all, we have a work day this Saturday
at the new church building, the new property,
and it's just gonna be a day of cleaning
and getting junk out of there.
So we want to invite all of you to help us with that
this Saturday, September 30th at 1 p.m.
There'll be dinner for you, no lunch, there'll be dinner.
So if you go soul winning, just plan on going soul winning,
grab a quick lunch,
and then if you want to meet at the new church building
at 1 p.m., we would really appreciate the help
and there's just a lot of cleaning that needs to be done.
So we need the men to help carry all the junk out.
We've got several trailers that are gonna be there
and we're gonna be loading up trailers
and taking them to the dump.
We also need the men to help.
We're gonna try to move those pews
to be able to get some work done in the future
in the auditorium.
And then ladies, we could use a lot of help with cleaning.
I mean there's, I don't even know how many rooms
there are over there, but there's lots of rooms,
lots of different areas that need to be cleaned.
There's 10 bathrooms, so we could really use the help
and if you could show up and help us with that,
that would be great.
After the first two or three weeks of this,
you know, it's gonna be real limited
what the ladies can help us with.
We're gonna need the men to really help us
with the construction.
But right now, ladies, it's your time to shine.
We could really use your help
just getting that place cleaned up
and we'd appreciate you showing up.
And then you men, we need you to let us know
and you need to commit to coming to a work day, all right?
So I keep saying these statements and nobody says amen,
which really worries me that we've got,
I know we don't have a church full of lazy men,
but I don't know if they're afraid of work right now.
But we've got a sign-up sheet in the foyer, a clipboard,
and we're trying to figure out for the month of October
what days are gonna work best
and when we can get the most guys there
to get some big projects done.
So if you would not mind going by there
and letting us know, you know, write your name,
your phone number, and then when you are available.
Just let us know when you are available,
if you, you know, have the evenings off
or maybe have the mornings off
or maybe, you know, you have Saturday off or whatever.
Maybe you have a day off in the middle of the week.
If you could let us know when you're available
and we'll try to figure out
when we can get groups of guys together
because we've got lots of work to do over there
and we could be there every day,
but we need to know who can show up on what day.
So please go by there and help us with that.
And when I talk about work, maybe say amen,
pretend like you are a hard worker.
That might just help, might help some.
Okay, all of you are gonna sign up, right?
All right, nice.
They're like, ah, oh my.
So, all right, good.
Homeschool group, they've got PE tomorrow,
Thursday, September 28th, so don't forget about that.
And then the field trip is on Tuesday, October 3rd
and they're going to the Oakland Zoo.
And please make sure you see my wife
and get a flyer from her if you've not yet done that.
Ladies Weight Loss Accountability Group,
there's a meeting, everyone's at 615.
They meet in the Mother Bay room closest to the front entrance.
So if you'd like to be a part of that meeting,
you're welcome to do that.
Other things there for you to look at,
please don't forget to turn your cell phones off,
replace them on silent during the service
so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin,
birthdays and anniversaries for the month of September.
In September this week, we had Lainey Ussher's birthday,
it was yesterday, September 26th.
Today is Ezra Nellitescu's birthday
and Josh Run Indigo Jackson's birthday.
Tomorrow is brother James Bahamundi's birthday, September 28th.
Ms. Connie Ramirez's birthday, September 28th.
Genevieve Rosenberg's birthday as well.
Brother David Nellitescu has a birthday tomorrow, September 28th.
On a Friday is brother John Reed's birthday, September 29th.
And Scarlett Lee Wilson has a birthday on September 30th.
Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at.
And I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So we're going to go ahead and take our song books
and let's go to page number 281.
Page number 281.
And we're going to sing,
Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,
as we prepare to receive the offering this evening.
281, sing it out on the first.
Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Savior, Savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Good, 281, sing it out on the second.
Let me at a throne of mercy
find the sweet relief
kneeling there in the contrition.
Help my unbelief.
Savior, Savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Good, sing it out on the third.
Trusting only in Thy merit,
would I seek My face,
heal my wounded, broken spirit.
Save me by Thy grace,
Savior, Savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Good, sing it out on the last.
Now the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me.
Whom have I on earth beside me?
Whom in heaven be?
Savior, Savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Amen.
Good, sing and we'll have the guys come up
and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love You.
We thank You for allowing us to gather together tonight.
Lord, we pray You bless the offering,
the gift and the giver.
We pray You bless the rest of the service.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, well, let's go ahead
and take our prayer sheets tonight.
If you did not get a prayer list on your way in,
just raise your hand
and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a prayer sheet,
just put your hand up
and we'll get one for you.
And, of course, just want to remind you
that the way you add a request to the prayer sheet
is through your communication card
on the back of the card.
It's a place for you to write down a request.
Make sure you mark whether it's private or public.
If it's private only, I will see it.
If it's public, we'll put it on the prayer sheet.
If you don't mark it,
we'll do our best to figure it out.
We usually don't add those.
They are added on the prayer sheet
in the order that they are received
and they are removed after a couple of weeks.
So if you'd like it to be there longer,
you'll have to fill out another card.
Let's go ahead and take this request to the Lord
and I'll pray out loud
and I ask that you would follow along
in your mind and your heart.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you tonight
asking for these requests from our church family, Lord,
and we begin with these requests regarding salvation.
Ms. Natalie praying for the salvation
of her husband and family.
Ms. Brandy Barrett praying for her friend Kaylee's salvation.
Ms. Amy Cortez praying for her son's salvation
and also salvation of her daughters and family members.
Jeffrey Love praying for his friend Annie
in China to get saved
and also Ms. Christine Ortiz praying for her family's salvation.
Ms. Dogma praying for her daughter and her family's salvation.
Lord, we ask for all these individuals.
We pray that you would work in their hearts, Lord.
We ask that you would help them to come to the place
that they would be willing and able and ready
to receive the Gospel
and that someone would communicate the Gospel clearly to them
that they might be saved.
Lord, we also pray for these that are asking for family members.
Ms. Brandy praying for her brother, Dylan.
Ms. Amy Cortez, again, praying for her son
for his social security to be processed
and for his court date.
And Brother Allen praying for favor
for his brother to be transferred to a closer prison
and also Ms. Irma Lisa praying for her family
to get closer to God.
And Lord, we ask for all these individuals.
Brother Salvador, we pray for his family as well.
And we ask that you would help all these individuals
and be with them, guide them, Lord bless them,
help them in the requests that they're asking for,
help them to draw closer to you.
We also pray for these that have health requests.
Ms. Cricket praying for healing for Ms. Sharon Hack
who suffered a third degree burn.
And also David Puris praying for his mom, Ruth,
and healing for her health issues.
Ms. Irma Lisa praying for the health of her family
and herself as well.
Ms. Christine Ortiz praying for her sister, Judy's health
as she battles cancer.
Brother Salvador praying for his health.
Ms. Dogma praying for relief for her pain.
Of course, we continue to pray for little Uretzi
that she would continue to just be healthy and strong,
Lord, and help her.
We pray for our missionary, Dave Camontala's wife, Angel,
who's undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
Lord, we ask for all these individuals.
We pray that you would put your healing hand over them,
help them to recover, help them to feel better,
help them to heal.
We pray that you'd give wisdom to the doctors
and nurses dealing with them.
Lord, we ask that your will be done in their lives.
We also pray for the ladies in our church that are expecting
for Ms. Selena, Ms. Melody, Ms. Victoria,
Ms. Julissa, and Ms. Krista,
asking that you would give them all healthy pregnancies
with no issues and no complications
regarding their pregnancies.
Lord, we pray for Brandon, who's praying for traveling mercies
to Sacramento.
And then we have some just financial prayers,
Brother Allen praying for God's provision
for help with the finances,
and Jeffrey Love praying for upcoming job possibilities,
Ms. Christina Ortiz praying to find her own place,
Brother Salvador praying for finances and work as well.
Lord, we ask for all these individuals.
We pray that you would help them and that you would be with them.
Lord, we pray that you'd open up the right door
of opportunity for them as well.
And then, Lord, we pray for Ms. Christina Ortiz
and Brother Salvador as they pray for their faith
and their walk with you.
We pray that you'd continue to strengthen them.
We pray for these that have unspoken requests as well,
Ms. Natalie and Brother Nate both having unspoken requests,
Brother Salvador and Ms. Dogma as well having unspoken requests.
Lord, you know what their petitions are.
You know what they're asking for.
Lord, we just ask that you would answer according to your will.
Lord, we ask for our church and several requests here for our church.
Of course, we pray that you continue to bless the prison ministry
and the families being affected there.
We pray for this building situation.
And, Lord, we pray for the workday.
Noah Deakins actually has a request,
praying for the work at our new church building to go well.
And, Lord, please help us to be able to get everything done
that we need to get done
and help us to be able to work hard
and have a mind for work over at that new building.
Lord, we pray for our church plants in the Philippines, Manila, Pampanga, Bicol,
that you keep these places growing and thriving.
We pray for Pastor Stuckey and his family.
We bless them.
And, of course, we pray for our church here in Sacramento.
We continue to bless our church, help our church, guide our church.
Lord, we pray that you'd meet with us tonight
as we open up your word and as we study the Bible together.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Please open up to Hebrews 1.
Hebrews, chapter 1.
If you need a Bible, please put your hand up.
And I'm not sure if you can come by and bring your Bible.
Hebrews, chapter 1.
Just keep your hand up and a shul come by.
Hebrews 1.
We will read the entire chapter as our custom.
Hebrews 1, beginning in verse number 1.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners,
spake in time 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 bring the brightness of his glory
in 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, and this day have I begotten thee?
And again, I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son.
And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten unto the world,
he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
And of the angels he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.
But unto the son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is a 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.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the works of thine hands.
They shall perish, but thou remainest.
And they all shall wax old as death a garment,
and as the vesture shalt thou fold them up,
and they shall be changed.
But thou art the same, and thy ears shall not fail.
But to which of the angels said he at any time,
sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Are they not all ministering spirits
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening.
God, I thank you for our church, Lord, and for your word.
I ask that you please give us a hall of tender hearts
at the message tonight.
I ask that you please be their pastor.
Just strengthen them and fill them with spirit.
We love you.
In Jesus' name, pray.
Amen.
All right.
Well, we're there in Hebrews chapter number one.
And of course, last week, we began a brand new Bible study
in the book of Hebrews.
And last week, we didn't get very far into the first chapter
because the sermon last week kind of served more
as an introduction into the book of Hebrews.
And so you're still right at the beginning of this book.
And if you did miss last week's sermon,
I would encourage you to check it out on our website
and get caught up.
Tonight, we're going to go through verses two through 12.
Last week, we only got to verses one and two.
And like I said, we spent a lot of time
in the book of Hebrews.
But we were kind of doing an introduction to the book.
Tonight, we're going to look at verses two through 12.
And we're going to look at seven statements that
are made in the book of Hebrews in this chapter, in this passage
regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'd like you to maybe jot these down
if you're able to on the back of your course of the week.
There's a place for you to write down notes.
Or maybe you brought a notebook and you're
taking notes with us.
David, would you mind just turning me up just a hair?
I'm having trouble hearing myself,
and it's messing with me.
You have to be able to hear yourself when you're speaking.
I appreciate that.
Thank you.
As we look at these statements tonight,
I want to just be upfront with you
regarding the sermon tonight.
It's going to be a very doctrinal sermon, very
theological sermon.
What we're going to see tonight is really the theology
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're going to look at some theological aspects
of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is important.
The apostle Paul, who I believe wrote the book of Hebrews,
or the writer of the book of Hebrews,
felt that it was important to start with this
because, number one, Jesus is the number one character
of the Bible and of all universe.
So if we're going to study anybody,
it should be the Lord Jesus Christ.
And tonight we're going to look at seven statements
that the writer of Hebrews made regarding the Lord Jesus
Christ.
But there's a reason for this.
If you remember, we talked about it last week.
The intended audience for the book of Hebrews
is people that were ethnically Hebrew people or Jewish people.
And, of course, they are people who
grew up in what we might call Judaism.
And they got saved.
And they're having to be taught and learn
how they can correlate the Old Testament to the New Testament
and really how to become a New Testament believer,
how to transition out of the Old Testament into the New Testament.
And the writer of the book of Hebrews begins here
with this idea of who is Jesus.
And they need to understand who Jesus is.
They need to understand what the Bible teaches about Jesus
so that they can comprehend because the entire Bible,
the entire Old Testament, and the New Testament
all centers on this one individual, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that about him all the prophets speak.
So it's going to be a theological study.
And it's good for a Wednesday night.
But I think that this is important.
It's important for you to know this.
It's important for us to review these things.
And it's important for you to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is
because there's a lot of people who attack the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the deity of Christ, and all sorts of different things.
So we'll get into it tonight.
And I'd like you to notice there in verse number one,
again the Bible says,
God, who at sundry times and in diverse matters
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.
And that's the context and that is the theme of the next 12 verses or 10 verses or so.
He has spoken unto us by his Son.
And then what the writer of Hebrews does is he begins to give us
these seven statements about the Son.
And I want you to understand the context.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.
And then I want you to see that word whom.
Whom he hath appointed heir of all things.
The reason I want you to see that is because the whom is connected to the Son.
The subject, the one we are speaking about, is the Son.
In fact, that word whom, just as a rule of English,
can be replaced with the word him.
If you're ever not sure whether you're supposed to be using the word whom
or whether you're supposed to be using the word who,
and I know that most of you don't care about that just based off how you speak,
but if you ever worry about whether you should be using the term whom or who,
one of the rules is that the word whom can be replaced with the word him.
So here when it says whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
it could say him he hath appointed heir of all things.
And here I want you to see the first statement that we see regarding the Son of God,
regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, and maybe you can write these down.
Statement number one is this, that Jesus is the heir of all things.
And the writer of the book of Hebrews felt the need to express to these Hebrew believers,
these Jewish believers, these people who were transitioning out of the Old Testament
into the New Testament trying to understand how it is that these things fit together.
He felt the need to explain to them some things regarding the Son,
regarding the Son of God.
And the first thing he points out is that he is the heir of all things,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things.
And again, I want you to see the way that phrase is structured.
Whom, again, could be him, and the he there is referring to God.
Because remember God who has sundry times and divers manners spake.
So whom he, God, hath appointed heir of all things.
Now keep your place there in Hebrews chapter number one.
That's going to be our text tonight.
Go with me if you would real quickly to the book of Matthew.
First book in the New Testament should be fairly easy to find.
Matthew chapter 21, and let me just start by giving you some cross references here
and things that you can jot down for your notes.
First thing I'd like to point out to you is this, that Jesus referred to himself as the heir.
And he did this in the parable of the vineyard.
If you remember, he gave this parable of the vineyard to the Jews.
And the whole point of the parable of the vineyard is that God had given a vineyard to these Israelite people
and because of their rebellion and because they were unwilling to be fruitful in the vineyard
and because they mistreated the prophets and the different messengers sent by God,
that God took the vineyard from them.
And again, if you consider the fact that the book of Hebrews is about how we transition Hebrew people
into New Testament Christianity and the entire book of Hebrews is about the New Testament versus the Old Testament
and how the New Testament is better than the Old Testament and how the New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant.
That's the whole point of the book of Hebrews.
It makes sense when you consider that the writer of Hebrews begins.
The first thing that he's going to say about the Lord Jesus Christ is this,
that he, God, hath appointed him or whom he hath appointed heir of all things.
That God appointed Jesus the heir of all things.
And again, you might think that's not where I would start.
I mean, that's what I thought when I was outlining this.
I thought I would start with the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I would start somewhere else.
But the writer of Hebrews felt the need to start here with this idea that he is the heir.
But when you consider the fact that there's really only, there's lots of verses about heir and being an heir,
but there's only really one place where, other than Hebrews, where we see Jesus being referred to as the heir,
and it is Jesus himself, and it is in the parable of the vineyard.
So it's just this interesting thought when you consider the writer of Hebrews begins,
hey, let me tell you something, Jesus is the heir.
And the only time that that was taught was in a parable of the vineyard,
which the whole point of the parable is that the vineyard is going to be taken from those to whom it was given
and is going to be given to another nation.
So it's just kind of interesting how the mind of this individual is working and he's connecting these dots.
Look at Matthew 21, verse 37.
We're not going to read the whole parable of the vineyard. I've preached on it many times.
Matthew 21, verse 37. Notice what the Bible says is, of course, Jesus giving the parable.
He says, but last of all, he, this is God, sent unto them his son.
In the parable, he's already talked about how he sent messengers that represent prophets,
and they wounded them and killed them.
And he says, but last of all, he sent them to him his son, saying they will receive my son.
So the parable is saying that last of all, God sent unto them his son, saying they will receive my son, verse 38.
But when the husband men, the husband men represent the Jews, the nation of Israel, saw the son,
they said among themselves, this is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance.
And the idea is this, that the children of Israel and really in the New Testament,
the Jews had gotten to the place where they had made the inheritance more important than the heir.
The inheritance, which they saw as the land of Israel, the nation of Israel, the covenant that God made with them,
they thought, hey, that's of more value than the one who's going to inherit all things, the heir, the son.
And here in this parable, they even thought, we can kill the heir and seize on his inheritance.
But the writer of the book of Hebrews is going to show us that the most important thing
is not whether or not you're living in a certain land, but the most important thing is what do you do with the heir?
What do you believe about the heir? What do you think about the heir?
And he begins by saying Jesus is the heir, not just of the covenant of the Old Testament,
not just of the land of Israel, but he is the heir of all things.
Now, that's why it's being brought up regarding Old Testament believers.
Now, why would we here as New Testament believers go to Romans chapter number 8?
If you're there in Matthew, you'll go past Mark, Luke, John, Acts, into the book of Romans, Romans chapter number 8.
This is why we would carry as New Testament believers, and this is what the Jews missed.
What the whole parable of Enyard teaches is this, that they thought they could kill the son and seize upon his inheritance.
They thought they could kill the heir and take his inheritance.
What they did not understand is that the inheritance, of course, is connected to the heir.
And what the Bible teaches for New Testament believers is this, Romans 8, 16.
But the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Aren't you thankful for verses like that?
And if children, look at verse 17, and if children, then heirs.
Now, are we talking about Jesus here? We're talking about us.
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And if children, if we are children of God, then heirs, notice, heirs of God, and, notice the words, joint heirs with Christ.
If so be that we suffer with them, that we may also be glorified together.
See, the Bible teaches that we, being accepted into the Beloved, that we, being given the spirit of adoption,
that we, in our ability to cry to God the Father and cry, Abba Father, that we are the children of God.
And as such, we are heirs, heirs of God, and we are joint heirs with Christ.
See, the most important thing for us is that because we are with Christ, we are joint heirs with Christ.
And what the Jews did not understand is that the inheritance was given to those who were in Christ.
They thought they could kill Christ and take the inheritance.
We, Gentiles, didn't care about the inheritance, believed on Christ, and got the inheritance as a result.
We are heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.
Go to Galatians chapter 4. If you would, you're there in Romans. Go past 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and then the book of Galatians.
Galatians chapter 4. Do me a favor when you get to Galatians, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there,
because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it, and I'd like you to be able to get to it quickly.
Galatians chapter 4, look at verse 6.
And because you are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father,
wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
And I can put your whole sermon on this, and I'm not going to, because there's so many things to go through here.
Keep your place there in Galatians. Go back to Hebrews if you would.
Keep your finger in the book of Galatians and go back to Hebrews chapter 1.
Let me just say this. If you study this idea of inheritance and heir, there's a lot there.
First of all, our inheritance is salvation itself.
And the fact that, see, the Jews, they thought they could kill Jesus and get a physical ground.
We believed on the crucified Christ, and we received an eternal country in heaven.
So you have salvation, you have heaven, but then all of the rewards of the judgment seat of Christ,
all of these things are things that we are heirs to.
The word heir is defined as a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another person after their death.
And we are joint heirs with Christ.
And the idea is this. You say, I've never heard of a joint heir with Christ.
I mean, of course there's this idea that you would share an inheritance with somebody.
But to be a joint heir is a little different because, see, the definition is that an heir is someone who is a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person's death.
Usually, of course, this would be like a parent, a father or a mother, maybe a grandparent.
When they die, they leave an inheritance. What we got is the inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
See, he died. But we're joint heirs with Christ because he resurrected.
So when he resurrected, all things were given unto him. Remember the resurrected Christ in Matthew 28 said,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
And because he resurrected, all things were given unto him.
And because we are in Christ, we are joint heirs with Christ and we are entitled to everything that he has.
And he will share it all with us.
So we see the first statement. Jesus is the heir of all things.
And you might think that's not that big of a deal or that's nice that we're going to get that in heaven.
But this being taught to Jewish believers would be a big deal because in the parable of the vineyard,
Jesus taught that they thought they could kill the heir and seize upon the inheritance.
And the writer of Hebrews is explaining to them that the inheritance is given to you through the heir.
You're joint heirs with Christ. So we see that Jesus is the heir of all things.
And I'd like you to notice the second statement is there in verse number two as well.
Had them these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things.
Here's statement number two. By whom? Remember the word of whom can be replaced with him.
And of course referring to Jesus. By whom also he made the world.
It could be said this way. By him also he made the world.
And the second statement is this. The first statement is that Jesus is the heir of all things.
The second statement is that Jesus is the creator of all things.
By whom? Look at what it says. Last part of verse two.
By whom also he. Who's the he? God the Father.
By whom? The whom is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. The him is the Lord Jesus Christ.
By whom also he, God the Father, made the world.
If you get your place in Galatians, I'd like you to go to the book of Colossians.
If you're in Galatians, you're just going to go past Ephesians, past Philippians, into the book of Colossians.
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
Do me a favor. You can lose your place in Galatians and keep your place in Colossians.
Because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it.
And we're going to go back and forth from Colossians throughout the night.
So I'd like you to be able to find it. Colossians chapter one.
Remember the whole theme of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is better.
We talked about that last week. He's better than Moses. He's better than the old tabernacle.
He's better than the old law. He's better than the old priesthood. He's better than the old covenant.
His blood speaks of better things than that of Abel's. He's better.
So the writer of Hebrews has to explain, look, you need to understand some things about Jesus.
And you and I need to understand some things about Jesus as well.
Jesus is heir of all things. But number two, Jesus is the creator of all things.
What does that mean? It means that Jesus is God.
And today there are those who teach that Jesus was just a teacher or Jesus was just a prophet.
The cults out there want to attack the deity of Christ and say that Jesus was not, that was not God.
The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus is not God.
And all sorts of different cults out there will teach the same thing.
But the writer of Hebrews and New Testament Christianity says this,
that by whom, or we could say by him also, he, God the Father, made the world.
Colossians 1, if you would, look at verse 14. We see the word whom again.
This is why I think Paul wrote it. Colossians 1, 14.
In whom we have redemption through his blood.
Now the context of the whom here is the same as the context of the whom in Hebrews 1.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. You should be able to pick up on that even without reading for context
because it says in whom we have redemption through his blood. That's obviously Jesus.
Even the forgiveness of sins who is the image of the invisible God, the first begotten of every creature.
We're going to come back to that later. Look at verse 16.
For by him, Jesus, were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
Look at it. All things were created by him and for him.
The Bible is clear. I always think it's silly when people say,
Oh, there's no clear passage in the Bible that states that Jesus is God.
I'm pretty sure when it says for by him were all things created, that's telling you he's God.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
The Bible tells us how God did that. He did that through his word.
He did that through his son by whom also God the Father made the world.
For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him. And then don't miss this part.
All things were created by him. That's the deity of Christ.
But don't miss the last part of verse 16 and for him.
We were created for his pleasure.
Keep your place there in Colossians if you would. We're going to come back to it.
Go to John chapter 1. John in the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
Now I've said this a couple of times tonight, but I'm going to say it again and this will be the last time.
Keep your place in John. Keep your place in Colossians. Keep your place in John.
We're going to go back to those two and then you don't have to keep your place anywhere else.
Obviously, we're in Hebrews 1. Keep your place in Colossians and keep your place in John.
Look at John 1.1. I know you're familiar with these verses, but it's good for us to see them from time to time.
John 1.1, the Bible says, in the beginning. It's interesting because Genesis 1.1 begins, in the beginning, God.
John 1.1 begins, in the beginning was the Word.
We know from other passages in Scripture that Jesus is the Word.
John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Notice the deity. You say, how can the Word be with God and how can it be that he was God?
This is a reference to the Trinity. The fact that God exists in three persons.
God exists in the person of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The Word is the second member of the Godhead. 1 John 5.7 tells us that the Trinity consists of the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost.
So we see here that the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Look at verse 2. The same was in the beginning. With God, verse 3, all things were made by him.
By who? The Word. And without him was not anything made that was made.
Look at verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him.
So look, you and I just need to have this and I know that the vast majority of you believe these things, but it's good for us to be reminded.
To be reminded of these things is needful and we need to be reminded of the fact that Jesus is not only the heir of all things, but he's the creator of all things.
Jesus is God. He's God in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. He is deity.
He is the creator of all things. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
And later on in John 1, it tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So we see the second statement here that Jesus is not only the heir of all things, but he is the creator of all things.
Keep your place in Colossians. Keep your place in John. Go back to Hebrews, if you would, Hebrews chapter 1.
Look at verse 3. Let me show you the third statement.
We're looking at these seven statements that the writer of Hebrews made to these Hebrew believers.
And really, it's good for every New Testament believer to understand who Jesus is and how he correlates between the Old and the New Testament.
And he's explaining to them, look, you want to understand how Jesus correlates between the Old and the New Testament, but here's what you need to understand.
Jesus was before the Old Testament. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
And I don't have time to go into this detail, but let me just say this.
The Bible tells us that God spoke the world into existence, that he created through his Word, but it also tells us that he created through his Son, but then the Bible also tells us that Jesus is the Word.
So all these things connect. Jesus is the Word. He is the Word of God. He is the living Word of God and he is the creator of all things.
Now I'd like you to notice, thirdly tonight, we'll see statement number three in verse number three. It says who.
Now why don't you notice, it doesn't say whom anymore. If you remember whom can be replaced with him, who can be replaced with he.
So when it says who being the brightness of his glory, we could say he being the brightness of his glory.
The he there, the who there, of course referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus, who being the brightness of his glory, whose glory, God the Father.
I want you to notice what the Bible says here.
Who being the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person, of whose person, of God the Father's person.
The Bible says that Jesus is the brightness of God the Father's glory and the expressed image of God the Father's person.
So here's statement number three for you for those of you taking notes.
Number one, Jesus is the heir of all things. Number two, Jesus is the creator of all things.
Here's statement number three, Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
He is the brightness of God's glory, God the Father's glory and the expressed image of his, God the Father's person.
Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
Now let's run several verses to develop this and help you understand this.
Go back to John if you would, John chapter 14.
John chapter 14. Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
John 14, 8 says this, Philip saith unto him.
This is of course the Gospel of John. We're jumping into a story where Jesus is having a conversation with his disciples.
And Philip, one of the disciples saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us.
They asked the question, Philip asked the question, Lord, referring to Jesus, show us the Father.
Show the word, there of course is how we would, we wouldn't spell it that way, but is a reference to let us see.
We want to see, show us the Father and it suffices us.
Verse nine, Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you and yet has thou not known me, Philip?
Notice this phrase, he says, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
And how sayest thou then, show us the Father?
Let me just pause here for a second and say this.
There are some people who are heretics who believe in a doctrine called oneness who go crazy right after reading this verse.
Because Jesus says, the question is, show us the Father and he says, the answer is, he that hath seen me has seen the Father.
And what oneness heretics will teach is that there is no such thing as the Trinity.
That there is not the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one.
That God does not consist of three persons or exist in three persons, but that really the Trinity is just really one guy playing three different parts.
And they'll use this verse as a proof text and they'll say, see, Jesus is saying that he is the Father.
Now, I want you to understand something. The Bible in John 14 does not say, Jesus did not say, I am the Father.
He said, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
Now the oneness heretics will say, well that's because Jesus is the Father.
And there's only one guy who has these multiple personalities and sometimes he's the Father, sometimes he's the Son, sometimes he's the Holy Ghost.
But here's the problem with that. The problem is that you should never, and I've taught you this in the past, you should never arrest a verse from its context.
And the problem with that idea is that there's more verses to read.
So how about we just read what Jesus said or notice what he said?
Because he said, he that has seen me has seen the Father and how sayest thou then, show us the Father.
And then Jesus in verse 10 explains what he means by this.
He explains why it is that he can say to Philip, he that has seen me has seen the Father.
And the answer is not because I am the Father, the answer is this.
Verse 10, believeth thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me.
The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that, notice it, dwelleth in me.
Is Jesus saying, I am the Father? No.
He's saying, the Father dwells in me.
He says, I am in the Father and the Father in me, the Father dwelleth in me.
And he says, for that reason, he that has seen me has seen the Father.
You say, well, I don't understand it.
First of all, you don't need to understand it, you just need to believe what the Bible says.
But let's look at some other verses to help you understand this.
Go to John chapter 1, go back to John 1, look at verse 18.
John 1, 18.
John 1, 18 says this, no man hath seen God at any time.
The word God there is referring to God the Father, the first person of the Godhead.
No man has seen God at any time.
God is a spirit, he is invisible.
No man has ever seen him.
The closest person ever got to seeing God the Father was Moses,
and he just saw the glory, his glory as he passed by, and he saw his backside.
But no man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
So, Jesus said, he that has seen me has seen the Father.
He says, the reason for that is not because I am the Father,
he says, but because I am in the Father and the Father in me.
He says, the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
He says, the Father is dwelling in me.
So, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
In John 1, 18 we're told no man has seen God at any time.
Go back to Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians chapter 2.
Let's make sense of all this.
Colossians 2 and verse 9.
Colossians chapter 2 and verse 9, the Bible says this,
For in him, the him here is referring to Jesus.
And again, I won't take the time to read all the verses,
but you can study it on your own and you see that the context is the Lord Jesus Christ.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Now, the word Godhead there, if we were to look at the underlying Greek word that translated Godhead,
and obviously we don't go back to the Greek to correct the King James Bible.
The King James Bible is perfect, it's inerrant, there's no problem here with the word Godhead.
But sometimes we can look at the underlying Greek word and see how that same Greek word is translated other places.
And the same word that's translated Godhead here correctly is translated deity in other passages of Scripture.
So, here's what the Bible is teaching.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, meaning all the fullness of the deity bodily.
Here's what Colossians, the writer of Colossians Paul, means by that.
He's saying, if you were to take everything that is God, if you were to take everything that is deity,
if we could quantify everything that was God, he said all of it would dwell inside of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
You see, in his body dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead.
And here's how we've said it through the years. Jesus is all God, but he is also all of God.
In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, which is why he could say, the Father is in me.
And because the Father is invisible, no man has seen the Father at any time.
And because Jesus is the expressed image of his person, and he is the visible representation of the Godhead,
Jesus says this, look, you want to see God? He said, look at me.
Because the only part of God that you're ever going to see, he's telling Philip, is me.
He says, in me dwelleth the Father. He said, in me, or the writer of Colossians said,
for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
By the way, this is why the Bible could say in other places, you don't have to turn here, I'll just read these for you.
In 2 Corinthians 5.19, the Bible says this, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
Why would it say that God was in Christ? Because the Father was in Christ.
Because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
But let me just say this, because Jesus said it in John 14, he said, I am in the Father, and the Father in me.
You say, how does that work? So, in Jesus dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
but if you were to look at God the Father, which you can't look at God the Father, because God the Father is invisible,
but if you were to look at God the Father, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
If you're able to look at the Holy Spirit, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
You say, well how can all the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwell and dwell in three different persons?
Hey, that's the mystery of the Trinity, I can't explain it to you, I can just tell you that's what the Bible says, and we believe it.
We believe it because it's the Word of God. And this is why, you say, well in the Holy Spirit dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily?
Yes, that's why, it is the Holy Spirit that indwells you, it is the Holy Spirit that seals you,
yet there are verses in the Bible that say, Christ in me the hope of glory.
You say, well is Christ the second member of the Godhead, is he in me? No, but the Holy Spirit is,
and in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So what we learn is this, that Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
Which is why the Bible can say that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
Which is why the Bible can say in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Go to Colossians 1, look at verse 15. You're then in Colossians 2, just flip back, Colossians 1, 15.
Look at Colossians 1, 15. Who, again, referring to Jesus, you can look at it in the context.
Notice what it says, who is the image of the invisible God?
The firstborn of every creature. He is the image of the invisible God.
Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
By the way, let me say this, and I'm not trying to confuse you, but I know you guys are a smart crowd.
In the Old Testament, you have these things called Christophanies, where you have God appear in the form of a man.
You say, well who was that? That was Jesus. Because he is the image of the invisible God.
So when Jesus appears in the Old Testament and wrestles with Jacob, and Jacob later on says,
I have seen the face of God. He didn't see the face of God the Father, no man has seen the Father at any time.
He saw the face of Jesus. Which is why, again, 2 Corinthians 4 says,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
See, if you want to see the face of God, you would have to see the face of Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead, not because he is the Father,
and not because he is the Holy Spirit, he is the second member of the Godhead,
he is the physical representation of the Godhead, but in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So what Jesus is telling Philip is, you want to see God? Look at him. Look at me.
No, no, I want to see the Father. Well, the Father dwelleth in me. Jesus is all God and all of God.
We do not believe that Jesus was part of God, or partially God, or just a third of God.
No, no, he was all God, and he had all of God, all of deity, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So we see that Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
Go back to Colossians, excuse me, Hebrews chapter 1. Keep your place in Colossians.
Keep your place in John if you would. Hebrews chapter 1.
And look, these are important things for us to understand.
Because somebody might try to confuse you.
Well, Jesus said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Well, keep reading, because he tells you why he says that.
He doesn't go on in the next verse to say, because I am the Father. He says, the Father dwelleth in me, and I in him.
He said, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. You say, well, how can that be?
Because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and because he is the image of the invisible God,
because he is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.
Jesus, the second member of the Godhead, is the visible representation of the Godhead.
And look, obviously, we oftentimes try to use analogies and examples to help people understand.
No analogy is going to work 100% when it comes to the Trinity, so they're not going to work.
But here's an analogy that is even used by the Bible itself, and it's this idea, it's not 100% the same thing,
but we understand this, that we as human beings are made in three parts.
Now, God is not made in three parts. He's made in three persons.
The being God exists in three persons. The being human exists in three parts.
Okay, he's more complicated than we are. A human being exists in three parts.
God, the being God, exists in three persons.
But we can use the three parts of a human being to kind of understand the fact that we are made body, soul, and spirit.
And if somebody said, well, show me your soul, I would say, look at me.
And you say, but you're not showing me your soul. Well, I'm showing you my flesh.
But my flesh is the visible representation of my soul.
You can't see my soul. My soul is invisible.
You can't see my soul, but here's the thing. You want to see my soul? Take a look at me, because my soul is dwelling in me.
That's what Jesus said. The Father dwells in me.
So if you want to see the Father, just look at me, because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead Bible.
See, I still don't understand it. Well, just believe it, because it's in the Bible.
And that's what we should approach. By the way, everything in the Bible we should approach.
If it says it, it's true, period, end of story.
But I think all these verses, when you connect them together, you get the picture and you understand
that Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
Go back to Hebrews chapter one. I think you're probably already there. Look at verse three.
Let me give you the fourth statement.
Who being the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person,
and, the word and here is connecting us to a different statement,
but you need to understand that the subject is still the who, which is Jesus,
and upholding all things by the word of his power.
So number one, Jesus is the heir of all things. Number two, Jesus is the creator of all things.
Number three, Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
Here's statement number four, Jesus is the sustainer of all things.
Not only is he the creator of all things, but he's the sustainer of all things,
and upholding all things by the word of his power.
And the word there is not used flippantly. Jesus is the word.
And God is upholding all things by the word.
In the beginning was the word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The word of his power.
Go back to Colossians 1, if you would. Colossians chapter 1, look at verse 16.
Colossians 1 16.
We saw Colossians 1 16, but I want you to notice verse 17,
but I want you to read it in its context. Colossians 1 16.
For by him, we know that's Jesus, were all things created that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him, and for him, verse 17,
and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
He's not just the creator of all things, he is the sustainer of all things.
I saw an article entitled Exploring the Universal Glue.
Here's what the subtitle said. I'm not going to read the article to you,
but it just said this.
Our visible universe is built mostly of glue,
which generates roughly 98% of visible mass.
Now an experiment is gearing up to study novel manifestations of that glue.
If you go on to read the article, it talks about atoms and splitting them and energy,
and it talks about the fact that science is finally understanding
that there is a force out there that is keeping the universe together.
They call it this universal glue, and they're going to spend a lot of money,
a lot of taxpayer money.
They're going to spend a lot of money and a lot of time trying to research
and figure out what this force is, what this thing is that keeps everything together,
what this universal glue.
But look, I can save them a lot of time and energy,
and they wouldn't have to pay me all the millions of dollars they're going to pay
a bunch of idiot scientists to try to...
In fact, if they just gave me half of what they're going to give them,
I can just tell them right now, it's Jesus!
He is the sustainer of the universe.
By him consists all things.
You say, how does this apply to my life?
Here's how it applies.
If you woke up this morning, you woke up this morning because Jesus willed it,
because Jesus allowed it.
Whatever you have is because Jesus allows it.
He is not only the creator of all things,
he is the sustainer of all things.
By him all things consists,
upholding all things by the word of his power.
Let me go back to Hebrews 1, verse 3, let me give you the fifth statement.
Then he says this, Hebrews 1, 3,
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power.
Here's statement number 5.
When he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
Here's statement number 5.
Jesus is the redeemer of mankind.
When he had by himself purged our sins.
Go back to Colossians if you would real quickly, Colossians 1, 14.
Colossians 1, 14, look at what it says,
in whom, to whom there is Jesus by the way,
Colossians 1, 14,
in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus is the redeemer.
When he had by himself purged our sins.
By the way, it says, it says it the way it's meant to be interpreted.
When he had by himself, that's salvation.
Salvation is not when Jesus had with our help.
He died on the cross but then I had to repent of my sins.
He died on the cross but then I had to speak in tongues.
He died on the cross but then I had to get baptized.
He died on the cross but then I, no, no, no.
When he had by himself, that's salvation.
It's all Jesus.
Plus nothing, minus nothing.
Your faith is in Christ and the finished work that he did.
When he had by himself purged our sins.
Then it says this, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
That phrase, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high,
is a testimony to the superiority of Christ.
Because remember, the theme of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is better.
So when Jesus had sacrificed himself, died on the cross, been buried and resurrected,
took his blood as the great high priest up to the holy of holies in heaven,
and sprinkled the blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel on the mercy seat of Christ.
Hey, when he had done everything that needed to be done to purge our sins,
he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
And that is a reference to God the Father.
He sat down next to God the Father and it speaks to his superiority that Jesus is better.
No prophet, no priest, no angel, no one can just walk up and sit next to God the Father.
But Jesus can.
Because he is the redeemer of mankind.
And then, in verse 4 and through 8 begins what I think is the climax of this whole passage.
And to be honest with you, if I was the writer of the book of Hebrews,
which obviously God didn't pick me maybe for this reason,
here's where I would have started.
I would have started right here, the next statement, statement number 6.
The writer of the book of Hebrews chooses not to start here, in fact he leaves it almost to the end,
and I think that's better because he's building this idea of who Jesus is,
and he leaves the sixth statement for the climax statement.
I'd like you to notice it.
The first statement is that Jesus is the heir of all things.
The second statement is that Jesus is the creator of all things.
The third statement is that Jesus is the visible representation of the Godhead.
The fourth statement is that Jesus is the sustainer of all things.
The fifth statement is that Jesus is the redeemer of mankind.
And then we have the sixth statement.
Now, because obviously the writer of the book of Hebrews is an intellectual, if you haven't noticed.
He's a smart guy.
And he writes in a very eloquent way, but in some ways it can be easy to get confused
because he's speaking about some deep, complicated things.
So if it's okay with you, and some of you are probably going to throw tomatoes at me or something,
but I'd like to start at verse number 1
and just guide you through the passage as we get down to the verse I want to get to
because I want you to understand the context, this whole big dialogue that the writer of Hebrews is giving us.
Okay, so I just want you to understand it. It won't take too long, but I'd like you to look at it.
Look at verse 1.
God.
Who's the context?
God.
We know it's God the Father. That will become clear here in a minute.
But for now it's just God.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake.
Who spake? God spake.
In time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken.
Who hath in these last days spoken? God.
God in these last days has spoken unto us by his Son.
Now we know it's God the Father because God has a Son.
So God has spoken unto us by his Son, whose Son? God's Son.
Whom he? Who? God.
Whom he? Whom God the Father hath appointed heir of all things.
Who has God the Father appointed heir of all things?
God the Father has appointed him, Jesus, heir of all things.
By whom? By who? Jesus.
By whom also he? Who's the he there? God.
God the Father. By whom also he made the world.
Who being the brightness of his glory. I want you to look at it.
Who's the brightness of whose glory?
Jesus is the brightness of his, God the Father's glory and the express image of his, God the Father's person.
And upholding all things by the word of his, God the Father's power,
when he, Jesus, had by himself, Jesus, purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the majesty, that's the royal personage,
the God the Father of the majesty on high.
Look at verse 4. Now verses 4 through 7, I'm just going to read to you.
I actually haven't preached through them yet. I'm going to preach verses 4 through 7 next week
in a sermon called, Jesus is Better Than the Angels.
And if you want to learn about the angels and what the Bible teaches about angels,
we're going to be looking at a lot of passages about angels.
So I'm not going to preach this to you, but we're going to read it just so you can get the context.
Verse 4, being made so much better than the angels.
Who was made so much better than the angels? Jesus was made so much better than the angels.
And by the way, the word made there is not referring to created.
It's referring to in his position.
We're going to read later in the book of Hebrews that in his position,
he became a man who is lower than the angels.
So after his resurrection and ascension, he was made so much better than the angels.
The point is this, who was made so much better than the angels?
Jesus was made so much better than the angels.
As he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Who obtained a more excellent name than who?
Jesus obtained a more excellent name than they, than the angels.
Are you following?
Look at verse 5.
For unto which of the angels said he?
Who's the he here? God the Father.
Now he's asking this question and proving this point that
Jesus was made so much better than the angels and he was made higher than the angels for unto,
and he gives us this proof.
For unto which of the angels said he? God the Father 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.
He's saying, when did God ever say that to an angel? Verse 6.
And again, when he, God the Father, bringeth in the first begotten.
Who's that? Jesus.
Again, when he, God the Father, bringeth in the first begotten, Jesus, into the world,
he, God the Father, saith, and let all the angels of God worship him.
This is proving that Jesus is made so much better than the angels.
The writer of Hebrews in verse 6 is telling us that when God the Father brought the first begotten into the world,
God the Father commanded the angels to worship him, to worship Jesus.
Verse 7.
And of the angels he saith, God the Father saith, who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.
Now look at verse 8, and look, I want you to get this.
In verse 7.
And of the angels he saith.
Because remember, in the context, we're going to look at it next week,
it's all about Jesus is better than the angels, being made so much better than the angels.
So in verse 7 and in verse 8, there's two quotes, and there's two Old Testament quotes that God makes.
Verse 7 is a quote about the angels, and verse 8 is a quote about the Son.
Now the writer of Hebrews is telling us this because he's trying to tell us that Jesus is so much better than the angels.
But he says in verse 7, and of the angels he, God the Father saith.
So he's saying, here's what God said about the angels.
Quote from the Old Testament, we'll look at it next week,
who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.
So the point is this, what God has said about the angels is that they are spirits and they are ministers.
But unto the Son, who's that? Jesus.
He, who's that? God the Father saith.
So what did God the Father say to the Son?
We saw what God the Father said to the angels.
He called them spirits and ministers a flame of fire.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God.
Did you just catch that?
Who's speaking? He saith. Who's the he? Who's been the he this whole time?
God the Father. God the Father speaking unto the Son.
What does God the Father say to the Son?
Unto the Son he, God the Father saith.
Here's what God the Father said to the Son, Thy throne, O God.
You know what we just saw in Hebrews 1a?
God the Father called Jesus God.
You say, why would God the Father call Jesus God? Because he is God.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
By the way, this is a quote from Psalm 45 and verse 6.
If you'd like to jot it down for your notes.
Hebrews 1a is quoting Psalm 45, 6.
Hebrews 1a is quoting Psalm 45, 7.
I'll read it for you. You don't have to turn there.
Psalm 45, 6. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter.
But that's God the Father saying to his Son, Thy throne, O God.
Verse 7. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore, God,
thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Look at verse 9. Thou lovest, loved righteousness.
Again, this is, I just read it to you from Psalm 45.
But now it's being quoted by the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 1a.
Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
By the way, I'm not preaching on this subject, but let me just say it.
Love hates. You can't love without hating.
People are like, oh, we should love everything. That cannot happen.
If you're going to love flowers, you have to hate weeds.
If you're going to love children, you have to hate pedophiles.
It's just the way it works. Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
So when people say to me, oh, well, I love everyone. Here's what I think.
You love no one. Because you can't love anything without hating that
which would hurt and destroy that which you love.
Love hates. Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
Therefore, God, notice, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Now, if you look at Hebrews 1, 8 and verse 1, 9 together,
you see the Trinity. Because unto the Son, He, God the Father, saith,
Thy throne, O God. But then, in verse 9 it says,
Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God.
So, He called the Son, God, but then He told the Son, thy God,
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness.
So that the Father not only called the Son, God, but He also called Himself, God.
The Father said to the Son, Thy throne, O God.
And then He said, But your God, thy God, which is God the Father,
hath anointed thee with oil of gladness.
The Son's God, the Father's God, yes, it's called the Trinity.
God exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness, notice these words, above thy fellows.
And remember, this is the theme of the book of Hebrews, that Jesus is better.
He's above everyone. He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
He has anointed Him above thy fellows.
But then here's the last statement, verse 10.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning, does that sound familiar?
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, in the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the works of thine hand.
So now the writer of Hebrews is telling us, Lord, in the beginning you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heaven are the works of thine hand, verse 11, they shall perish.
Who's the they? The earth and the heavens.
The foundation of the earth and the work of the heavens is the they in verse 11.
And they shall perish, but thou remainest, and they shall all wax old as doth a garment,
and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed.
But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Notice what he's saying. He's saying, look, heaven and earth are going to perish.
They're going to wax old as doth a garment, like a vesture.
They're going to change. He says, but thou art the same.
Here's statement number seven. Jesus is immutable.
That's a theological term. It means this, unchanging, unable to change.
You say, well, I would have started with the whole, you know,
unto the son he saith, thy throne, O God. That's where I would have started.
But he doesn't start there because the intended audience of the book of Hebrews is Jewish believers.
So he starts with the idea of the heir because they're really into this idea of the inheritance.
And then you might say, and I might say, well, at least I would have ended with thy throne, O God.
And he did his best to end there. He brought, it was the sixth statement.
But he doesn't end there because the last statement, the statement that Jesus is immutable,
thou art the same and thy years shall not fail, is important for these Hebrew believers.
Go to Hebrews 13, look at verse eight. We're going to be done in two minutes. Hebrews 13, verse eight.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse eight. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.
See, not only is he trying to tell them, hey, Jesus is better, he spent this whole time telling them Jesus is better.
Jesus is better. And we're going to go through Hebrews and we're going to see that theme.
He's better than the angels. He's better than Moses. He's better than Abraham.
He's better than the Levitical priesthood. He's better than the temple. Jesus is better.
But there's another theme that the writer of Hebrews wants to bring out.
And it's not just that Jesus is better, but that Jesus was before. Before Abraham was, I am, Jesus said.
Jesus is better and Jesus was before. He says, they shall perish.
In the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hand.
They shall perish, but thou remainest. They all shall wax old as doth the garment, but thou art the same.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
See, the Hebrew believers needed to understand that Jesus was before their Old Testament.
And that's how Jesus can be about the Old Testament and the New Testament.
You say, he's all about the, the Old Testament is all about Jesus. Yeah, because he is God.
He is the heir of all things, creator of all things, a visible representation of the Godhead,
sustainer of all things, redeemer of mankind, God in the flesh, and immutable.
You say, well, why do I need to know this as a New Testament believer?
Here's why you need to know it, because every once in a while we need to remember that the creator of all things
and the sustainer of all things became flesh and died for us.
That he might be the redeemer of all men.
Every once in a while we need to remember that Jesus is God in the flesh.
And another theme that we're going to see in the book of Hebrews,
and I don't have time to develop because I'm out of time, but I'll just say it quickly,
is that Jesus not only being better, Melchizedek, who's better than Aaron in the Levitical priesthood,
and not only is Jesus before Melchizedek, who was before Abraham, who Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek,
not only is Jesus better than Jesus before, but because he is better, and because he is before, he is the suckerer.
He is the helper of us.
Because we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but is what in all points tempted like us, we are, yet without sin,
and because of that, we get to therefore enter into the throne of grace!
That we might obtain help.
So remember this, Jesus is the creator, he's the sustainer.
He's God in the flesh. He died on the cross for your sins.
If he can do all that, he can help you with whatever you're dealing with today.
He can be the great high priest that can be the great sucker of our souls.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, Lord, we love you.
We thank you for these books of the Bible, these passages of Scripture.
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to learn these things.
I know tonight's sermon was more doctrine, maybe more teaching than preaching, heavy on theology.
Lord, help us to remember these things.
Help us to learn these things.
Jesus is God, but he is also man.
God became man. He died on the cross for our sins.
He's the creator and he's the sustainer.
Lord, help us to always remember that he's worthy of our devotion and he's worthy of our praise.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
We're going to have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
I just want to remind you that we have a work day, a cleaning day on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the New Church property.
If you don't know where the New Church property is, ask someone. We'll let you know.
But if you just go over 80, if you know where the Starbucks is, right across the Starbucks,
there's a big church property, four acres. You can't miss it.
And we're going to be there 1 p.m. Saturday.
We would really appreciate your help if you could show up and help us.
We've got a lot of things to clean, move, dump, get rid of.
So if you could help us this Saturday, 1 p.m., we would appreciate your help with that.
And then also you men, if you could go by the clipboard and let us know when you're available.
Saturday is meant to clean up and get rid of some stuff so that we can start working in there.
And we could really use your help. We don't expect any of you to show up every day.
I mean, that would be great if some of you could.
But if you would say, hey, I can commit two evenings a week or I can, you know, I'm off in the middle of the week,
I can commit a day's worth of work or whatever, let us know. Please, we'd really appreciate it.
We need to figure out who's available when so we can get crews together.
And if you could go by the clipboard and sign up and let us know when you're available,
we would really appreciate your help with that.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
We'll have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
Amen. Let's grab our songbooks and turn to page number 238.
Song number 238.
We will end the service with Christ liveth in me.
Song number 238.
Once far from God and dead in sin.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Once far from God and dead in sin.
No light my heart could see.
But in God's word the light I found.
Now Christ liveth in me.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
Sing it out on the second.
As rays of light from yonder sun.
The flowers of earth set free.
So life and light and love came forth from Christ living in me.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
Sing it out on the third.
As lies afar within the seed.
As in the combed the tree.
So praise the God of truth and grace.
His spirit liveth in me.
Sing it out.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
Y'all are singing well.
Let's sing it out on the last.
With longing all my heart is filled.
That like Him I may be.
As on the wondrous thought I dwell.
That Christ liveth in me.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this,
that Christ liveth in me.
Amen. Great singing.
Before we leave here, if anyone here has questions about salvation,
church membership, or baptism, pastor will be at the door.
We'd love to talk to you.
We'd like to direct you to someone who's trained to do that as well.
Can I have Brother Nate, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer?
Amen.