There are two phrases, scripture, that I would like us to consider tonight. Though we'll consider a number of scriptures, I want us to keep in mind these two phrases. The express image of his person, and the other one is, by himself purged our sins. The express image of his person, by himself purged our sins. Now the second commandment says in part, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them." I would say, what does that have to do with us in the 21st century? People bowing down to idols? Sadly, it is all too prevalent for men to make God in an image that man wants God to be in. even in our 21st century. Paul addresses this issue in the book of Romans, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man. Men have made images of all sorts of things. Men worship the sun. Men worship the moon and the stars. Men make gold images and silver images and worship them. A friend that I spoke with this morning told me that he works for a man. I haven't seen him and this friend in quite some years now, but we caught up recently. We talked a little while on the phone and the man that he works for has a little plastic elephant and he offers sacrifice of rice to this elephant every day. The worship of images, of making God an object, sadly. is very much alive and well in this 20th century, 21st century. Now in Hebrews chapter 1, these two phrases of scripture that I want us to consider, where they're found, God, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, by whom also he made the worlds. who be in 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." Jesus Christ is the express image of God. As I say, men make a God out of all kinds of images. Sometimes they make an image and they call that image Jesus Christ. But God is made known to us through His Word and the person of Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah takes up this issue in Isaiah chapter 40. In Isaiah 40 we read, to whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? Men will take an image of a man and say, this is God. God is challenging that practice. To whom then will ye liken God? To whom then will ye liken me, he says, or who shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Who is like me? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, the express image of his person. It is he. that sitteth upon the circle of the earth. It is the Son of God who is the express image of His person that sitteth upon the earth, and the inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who is like unto Him? He stretcheth the heavens as a curtain. Go over to the blinds. Curtain drawn. Keep the sun out in the heat of the day. Evening comes along and want to let some of the air in from the cool of the evening and you pull the curtains back with just a sweep of the arm Roll out the windows and the windows open up and the fresh air comes in and who is like? the Son of God That sitteth upon the circle of the earth that stretcheth the heavens like a curtain His hand stretches out and there's the glory of the heavens. We can't find the end of it to his like him, he bringeth the princes to nothing, maketh the judges of the earth his vanity. The men who it would appear as though they're making the decisions on the earth, the mighty and the powerful, the leaders of armies, the judges of men who say guilty and not guilty over a man's life and he's off to prison or he's put to death based on a judge's word. He makes them as nothing as vanity. The might and the power of his glory. Isaiah says, of the express image of his person. He says, lift up your eyes on high. Behold, who hath created these things? Look at the heavens. Who made them? Bringeth the host out by number. He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might. Men can't number them, much less name them. And he calleth them all by their names. This is the express person of God, the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth. He thinketh not, neither is weary, neither is there any searching his understanding. The writer of Hebrews said, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, by whom he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and of all holding all things by the word of his power, would all collapse into chaos and ruin. if the living God stopped doing as he does at this moment. And yet, he had by himself purged our sin. Sin. Sin is one thing that's common to each one of us. Some men enjoy great wealth upon this earth. And the greater the amount of wealth, the smaller of number of men there are that enjoy that wealth. Some men enjoy very good health. Some are well-educated and others not so well-educated and they don't have much of any, you would say, opportunities in life. Some parts of the world, people live in abject poverty and oppression all of their lives long. There's one thing, this one thing I can say we all have in common, and it's sin. Ye comparing yourselves among yourselves are not wise. Look upon someone else and say that person's sin is worse than mine. or that person's manifestation of sin is greater than mine, or my sin is not so bad as somebody else's sin. We can look about us and see these things, but the reality is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. We have these things all in common, that we are sinners through and through. Of course, some do take the opportunity to lay bare the ugliness of their sin. Some keep their sin hidden away more in a smug self-righteousness. But sin is common to every one of us, and the penalty for that sin is death. It's true for what everyone deserves. And the soul that sinneth shall die. The Lord Christ, he says himself in Mark chapter 7 and verse 21, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts. This is from within. There are those who say, well, if a man's environment is cleaned up, then man will be better, a better sinner, I suppose. But that's what is said by some. But from within proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, lust, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, All these things come from within and defile the man. The result of that is that your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. we don't have a remedy for our sin. Within ourselves, within society, men trying to better one another, trying to help each other, man working for man's well-being only brings ruin for man is a sinner and all of his efforts to try and improve himself from within himself or to improve others from within himself always ends up with more sin leading to more sin. But we read of Jesus Christ, the express image of his person. He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, that we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He had done no violence, neither was deceit in his mouth, there was one man who walked and he walked without sin. There are many astonishing miracles that we read of in the scriptures. We read of Moses at the Red Sea, and the Red Sea is parted on either side, and the Hebrews go through the Red Sea on dry land, and the Egyptians sought to follow after them, and the waters returned to their place, and all the armies were drowned, and the Hebrews were delivered on that occasion. Read marvelous things in the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus touches a man's eyes, and he can see. of Peter taking a lame man by the hand and lifting him up and he walks, a man lame from birth and he walks. We read these marvelous accounts in the scripture. Jesus Christ lived amongst men for thirty-three years and he lived without sin. Neither was there deceit in his mouth. There is no greater miracle recorded in the Scripture. I know He rose from the dead. I know of other astonishing events. But there is none greater. How can one miracle be more than another, greater one than the other? But we walk amongst each other. How readily, how easily it is to offend one another, how easy it is for the very best of people for a lie to roll off the tongue. A little while, I didn't mean to say that, but it just slipped out. A word that wasn't a proper word or a suitable statement or in telling a joke just got carried away and said something entirely inappropriate. How easy these things are to do. But this one, there was no violence, there was no deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief. But God looks upon him and he sees the travail of his soul and the Lord Christ cried out on the cross and he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And God looked upon him and he was satisfied with the travail of his soul. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify men, for he shall bear their iniquities. He had by himself, by himself, purged our sins. If you grasp how offensive it is for a sinner to come and say, well, I think I'll get to heaven if my good outweighs my bad. Well, I don't think I'm such a bad person. I think God will allow me on into his heaven. Are you thinking, I don't know that I'm speaking to you personally or somebody here that would say something to that effect, but do you think that this is not offensive to the God whose Son by Himself purged sin, purged, cleansed, cleansed sins by Himself? It is his glory, it is the glory of the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who sits upon the earth as a circle. You look up at the stars and you see that he numbers them all by name, such a glorious heaven. And to say, I can take care of my sin myself and affront to the love of God. The Word says, by Himself purged sin. You'll not purge your sin. You'll not cleanse your sin. There's not one that ever has. There's not one that ever can. Men will say and they'll make God in an image they want God to be. But God has an image of himself and it's found in the person of his son. And there is no one else that can purge sin. He had by himself purged sin. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission. I'll do the best I can, or maybe my church attendance will do me. I've heard it on many occasions over the years. When I was baptized, I've heard others say somebody in my family was a preacher. I've heard mother and uncle and grandmother and grandfather, and I've heard a whole variety of them. It's an affront, an offense. for the glorious Son of God was the one whom God was pleased with. He bore the iniquity of all those who would trust in him. So we read in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 28, he that despised Moses' law died without mercy. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. If somebody broke the law in the days of the Old Testament, when Israel was a nation in those days, the rule was, the command of God was, the death penalty could not be carried out unless there were two or three witnesses to bear witness against the penalty that was a death penalty. Now, if that happened without mercy, it was to happen, and it was to happen without mercy, God commanded this is the way it was to be. of how much sorer punishment, how much greater, how much more intense, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. Oh, his blood's not of that great an account. A man spills his blood on the ground in an accident, perhaps in a fight of some sort, and the blood's only value is to him. But to him, it's a great value. If it goes very fast or there's very much, it's not long and his life's expired. It's a value, but it's only a value to him. There's transfusions, I suppose. There's some times when another man's blood is valuable to someone else. But this is the blood of the uncorruptible God, a God who cannot be corrupted. And men who count His blood an unholy thing. How much sorer punishment. How much worse than those who are condemned to death, the witness of two or three in the Old Testament era. How much sorer punishment those who say, well, I don't think it's all that important a matter. You don't have to think the thought, just don't consider the thought. Go on the way. Without the blood, the everlasting, the everlasting Son of God, by Himself, He purged sin. Cleansed sin. Men try. Men have their self-help classes. Government programs get set up time and time again. Dictators rule. The whim of their imagination, whatever they think is going to make their country great or world power or secure their power or their authority, off they go to do these things. But to cleanse sin. And we all have this in common. rich or poor, smart or not so smart, educated, uneducated, life of ease, comfort, wealth, life of hardship, hard work, and difficulty. We all have this in common, we're all sinners. And the only way to take care of sin is through the image of his person and the blood that he shed across Calvary. God looked upon his son and he said of his son, shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He'll justify men. He'll bear their iniquities. He would take the penalty for their iniquities. What relevance does this second commandment have in the 21st century? It's the image that we have of God that depends, that determines our eternity. If it is any image, but the image that God has set forth in his word, the image will take you to an eternal hell. Oh, the glory, the glory of the Holy One of God, who now is sitting down at the right hand. of the majesty on high. He has purged our sins by himself. Is this what you're resting your soul upon? Is this the place that you have come to in your life, that you have given up all hope of tending to your sin yourself? You lean fully and completely upon the promise of his word and the glory and the work of Jesus Christ, his son.