We pass through the Thanksgiving season and we are entering into the Christmas season, at least as the world celebrates these things. And I'm sure you've noticed, like I did, that a lot of people jumped the gun on Christmas and I've seen Christmas trees up even long before Thanksgiving. Whatever you think about the celebration of Christmas, whether good or bad, whether we ought to or not, ought not to. It's always appropriate to focus upon the truth of the incarnation. And that, of course, is what the Christmas season is supposed to be about. So often in the world, that truth is lost amidst all of the gala and gifts and parties and celebrations that have very little to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. But those who know the Lord have reason all throughout the year to rejoice in the truth of the incarnation and maybe special incentive at this time of year to focus upon this great and wonderful doctrine. My own mind turned this year to the book of Hebrews, which has a great deal to say about the incarnation of Christ. A book that you recall, because we actually preached from chapter 10 of Hebrews last Sunday night, a book that is written originally to Jews, to Hebrew Christians, those who had embraced the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and yet were under pressure to leave Christ behind and go back to their Old Covenant style of worship. Hebrews was written to stop these people from making such a tragic mistake that so dishonors the Lord and so jeopardizes their own faith and to remind them that in Jesus Christ they have everything that is superior to the Old Covenant. It may not have the trappings, it may not have the ceremonies, it may not have that which is as visually or as aesthetically appealing. But in truth, it has the reality that the Old Covenant merely could foreshadow and speak about. And so the theme of the book of Hebrews is Jesus, the Christ, Jesus, the Messiah, the culmination and fulfillment of all that the Old Covenant promised. A common emphasis throughout the book of Hebrews is Jesus as superior to everything that relates to the Old Covenant. He is superior to Moses. He is superior to Aaron. He is superior to the temple and to the sacrifices and all that that spoke of. He is superior to everything that is related to the Old Covenant. Chapter 1 divides into two parts, actually. The first three verses set the theme for the entire book. And then verses four through 14 begin teaching us that Jesus is superior to the angels. That's where the writer of Hebrews begins. He's going to show Jesus as superior to many things, but he starts with his superiority to the angels. Evidently, there was a strong connection in the minds of the Jews of that day between the old covenant and the ministry of angels may be a connection that has dimmed somewhat to us in our day, but nevertheless was evidently very strong in their day. And therefore, this is the place to begin. If Christ is superior to the angels, these beings that seem to be so superior to man, then obviously he's also superior to any man, whether it be Moses or Aaron or whoever it may be in the old covenant scriptures. Originally, I had intended to summarize chapter one in my message for today and then move on to chapter two. And over the next three Lord's days, glean from the second chapter. But as I got into the first chapter, there's just so much I couldn't figure out a way to to skip lightly over chapter one. And so I've decided to hunker down a bit and just take the first three verses of the opening chapter today. And then we shall see where we shall go in the days to come leading up to Christmas. But even in Hebrews chapter one, verses one through three, there is so much truth that I'm going to have to move very, very quickly in order to even unfold a little bit of all that is contained here today. What we want to see in the first part of Hebrews is who is this Jesus? This Jesus that the world makes some reference to at this time of year, the Jesus that the world primarily thinks of as the babe in the manger. At this time of year, who is this Jesus? This babe in the manger, the Son of Mary, this Galilean teacher, this amazing miracle worker, this one who invoked such love and loyalty from his followers and such hatred and antagonism from the Jewish religious leaders. Such paradoxes in the life of this one, this Jesus. Who is this Jesus? And we would like to see the true nature of Jesus, the Son of Mary, in Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1, 2, and 3. And here we read, God, who at sundry times and in divers 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, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Who is this Jesus? Six things we'd like to glean out of these three verses. Number one, who is this Jesus? He is God's ultimate revelation. This Jesus is God's ultimate revelation. The writer begins by setting the backdrop of past revelation. How it is that God has revealed truth to mankind in the past. God with sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. Here's one of those places in the King James Bible that reminds us that it is helpful to have modern language translations because most of us don't speak today in terms of sundry times and divers manners. But nevertheless, these are important words to understand what the Holy Spirit is communicating to us here. God who at sundry times, which means more literally, in many parts, in many portions, it speaks of the segmented nature of the revelation of the Old Covenant. In many revelations, each one setting forth only a portion of the whole, God, who in times past spoke to the fathers in segmented revelations, sundry times, and in diverse manners, that is, in diverse ways, many ways, different ways of communicating and different styles of written revelation, God who in different segments and in different ways communicated His truth to the fathers in the past. And we know that's true. We study the Old Testament and we find a myriad of ways that God revealed Himself and His truth. To Jacob, God spoke through angels. To Ezekiel and Daniel, by dreams and visions. To Abraham, in human form. He came as a man and spoke to Abraham in that way. To Moses, face to face. and also in thunder and lightnings. In fact, in many of these that I have mentioned, God spoke to them in more than one way. To Elijah in a still, small voice. Indeed, it was in diverse manners and in different ways. And furthermore, the revelation that came to the prophets, to the fathers by the prophets, that is, to the fathers, that would speak of those saints who came before the time that the writer of Hebrews is penning these words. And by the prophets, prophets would speak of anyone that God revealed himself through. God revealed himself to man by means of prophets, and God spoke to the prophets in various ways, and anybody that God spoke to was a prophet. And we see the various ways that God spoke to these Old Testament prophets, and we see the different form that the Old Testament revelation took. Some of it is narrative, some of it is poetic, and some of it is historical, and there's just all kinds of different forms, literature forms that are found in the Old Testament Scriptures. That is the way that God revealed Himself to men in times past. That's the former revelation. The old time revelation. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath, we are told in verse 2, in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. The past revelation is one thing, but the present revelation is something else again. And there is something new here and something obviously superior here. God has now spoken in a different way. God has now revealed himself in a different way through something new. We see that in God's new way, there is a new era. There was time past, verse one, there is last days, verse two. This is a contrast. And what, by the way, are the last days? The last days are not necessarily those final days before the second coming of Jesus Christ, but again and again in the Scriptures, you see the same pattern, and you can realize that the last days are the days starting with the first coming of Christ. In days gone by, God revealed Himself in this way, but now, in the last days, He's revealed Himself to us by His Son. The coming of the Son was the beginning of the last days. In fact, the Bible divides the days of time, the days of the world, basically into two eras, the former days, the last days, the old days, the last days, the previous days, the last days. And we live in the last days and the present. So it is a new era. Furthermore, there is a new vehicle of revelation before God spoke to the fathers by the prophets in these many various ways. But now he speaks to us through his son, hath in these last days spoken unto us by a son, by son. It is, of course, his son, as we understand as the chapter unfolds. But the emphasis here is upon a new category of revelation. Before it was revelation by prophet. Now it is revelation by son. That's a whole new category. That's something very different, very superior to what was given during the Old Testament era. So we have a new era, last days, as opposed to times past. We have a new vehicle for revelation, sun revelation, rather than prophet revelation. And we have also a new fullness because now there's a new clarity. There's a new expression. There's a new fullness of the revelation of God in all of this. He hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, and the Son now becomes a fuller, greater revelation of God than anything that went before. In fact, we read that the Son is the brightness of His glory, verse 3, and the express image of His person. This is the new fullness, the brightness of His glory. This speaks of rays of light. If God is the sun, S-U-N, then His sun, S-O-N, are the rays of light that emanate from the sun. It's hard really to separate the one from the other. How can you have a burning, shining sun unless you have rays of light that communicate the light of the sun? And really, it's very difficult to separate the two. And that's, of course, when you're talking about the Godhead, when you're talking about the Trinity, when you're talking about Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it is difficult to keep in mind the one God, the three persons. We have unity. You have separateness. It's hard to separate. You have to be careful not to separate too much, but you have to be careful not to amalgamate too much. But here's the picture that is given to us by divine revelation. If God the Father is the Son, then God the Son, S-O-N, are the rays of the Son that reach us and reveal to us what the Son is like and give us the benefits of the Son. The brightness. The brightness of His glory. And we read the express image of His person. The very image of His substance. I tried to think how to illustrate this and again, no illustration is perfect because when you're talking about God, all illustrations break down. But the idea here is of a an exact reproduction of an original. We all know something of what it means to have a work of art, a beautiful work of art, and then to have a reproduction of that work of art. Now, the reproduction is not the original. But the reproduction is, if it's a good reproduction, is so much like the original that if you study the reproduction carefully, you know everything about the original. In fact, reproductions can be so close that sometimes it takes experts to study them for a long time before they can be sure, is this the original or is this the reproduction? Because a good reproduction will communicate to you everything that the original was intended to communicate. It can truly be said, if you have seen the reproduction, you have seen the original, though in a real manner of speaking, of course, you've only seen the reproduction. But so much information is communicated to you by the reproduction that it can truly be said, if you have seen the reproduction, you have seen the original. And didn't Jesus say something like, if you have seen me, you have seen the father? You see, he is the express image of the father. He is the manifestation of the Father. If you see Him, you see God. God who is invisible. God who cannot be seen. God who told Moses, nobody can see the Lord and live. Nobody has seen God. And yet, if you see Jesus Christ, you have seen God because He is an exact reproduction of the Father. Is the Son the Father? No, the Son is the Son and the Father is the Father. But if you've seen the son, you've seen the father. Is the son God? Yes. Is the father God? Yes. Is the father the son? No. You see, a lot of times the cults will try to come along and they make fun of the doctrine of the Trinity. How can how can the son be his own father? How can the father be his own son? He's not. The Son is the Son, and the Father is the Father. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father. But the Son is God, and the Father is God, and the Spirit is God. It's a triune God. It's a Godhead. Three persons, one God. But so exact is the manifestation of the Father in the Son that when you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father, the express image. And we're talking about God's ultimate revelation. Jesus, this babe in the manger, this one that the world worships or doesn't worship really, but makes mention of at Christmas time, this one is the revelation of Almighty God. Very God of very God is revealed in this Son. What, by the way, is the purpose of divine revelation? What's the purpose of the Bible? What's the purpose of divine revelation? It is to reveal God. That's the reason for it. It's not so that you can study it and say, I know all this. I know all that. I've got all this down. That's just a vehicle. That's just an avenue to get you to understand and know God. If you stop short of the goal, then it's just so much knowledge that puffeth up. But if it brings you to God and brings you into a vital living relationship with God, a heart relationship with God, then this revelation has accomplished its purpose. That's the purpose of the Bible, to reveal God to you. That's the purpose of divine revelation, to reveal God to you. That's the purpose of God the Son coming to earth, to reveal God to you. Who is this Jesus? He is God manifested to men. Who is this Jesus? He is Emmanuel, God with us. That's who He is. That's who He is. But number one, He's not only God's ultimate revelation, but number two, He's God's only heir. God, who spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom we read in verse 2, He hath appointed heir of all things. Whom He hath appointed heir of all things. He's the heir. And that is to teach us the honor that goes to the Son. He is the heir. What is an heir? Well, we have an earthly concept of an heir. An heir is the one who inherits that which belongs to the Father. And we read here that the son in typical fashion inherits from the father. He inherits everything that belongs to the father because he is the son of the father. In fact, he's the only son of the father. That is the only son of the father in this particular way. Now, we recognize that there are sons of God by creation. Anyone that God created directly, the Bible refers to as a son of God. The angels are referred to as sons of God because they were created directly by God. Adam is referred to as a son of God because he was created directly by God. Now, we who were born into the family of Adam were not born sons of God. We were born sons of Adam only by the new birth. Can we who were born sons of Adam be made sons of God? And so there are a couple of other categories of sons of God. There are created sons of God, and then there are adopted sons of God. Believers in Jesus Christ are adopted into the family of God and are made sons of God in that way. But God only has one son who is truly his son by nature. And that's the son who inherits everything. Now, this son doesn't wait until the death of the father to inherit everything because God never dies. And therefore, his inheritance comes to him At some time, some appointed time by the father, he doesn't have his full inheritance yet. The work of redemption is going on now. His inheritance is being gathered. But one day, all of the father's riches, all of the father's goodness, all of the all that belongs to the father is going to be deposited into the ownership of the son. The son is the one who inherits everything from the father. The wonderful thing about it is the Son is very generous, the Son is very loving, the Son is very unselfish, and He's going to share His inheritance with all of His children. And that's how we become joint heirs with Jesus Christ. He is the one who by right inherits it all, but all those who are His by faith are going to share in His inheritance by His love, by His grace. We're going to have a portion of the Father's inheritance too, because the Son is so generous, He's going to just gladly share it with His own. But don't forget, who is this Jesus? He's the Father's beloved Son in the point of the air. Honor the Son. Worship the Son. The ultimate crime is for someone to Deny the son, someone to spurn the son, someone to reject the son, someone to disbelieve the son, the one that God Almighty thought enough of to give everything to, to set him upon the highest throne and to give him all of his inheritance. And then puny man comes along and says, well, I'll take a look at him, but I don't think so. No, thank you. Is there a hell hot enough for someone who would willfully reject the Son in such a way, dishonor the Father's Son in such a way as this. When you see pictures of the babe in the manger, when you hear carols about the babe in the manger this Christmas season, don't forget who this one is. He is God's ultimate revelation. He is God's appointed heir. He is, number three, God's creation agent. God's creation agent. Not only has God appointed Him heir of all things, verse 2, but we read, by whom also He made the worlds. By whom also He, that is God, made the worlds. Now that tells us a number of things about this One called Jesus. It tells us, number one, that He had to be with God before time began. This creative work is a little further unfolded when we get down to verse 10, where the writer is comparing Christ with the angels. And he quotes from the Psalms, and he says in verse 10, And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. In the beginning. What does that remind you of? Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Before time began, before anything else was, in the beginning, the beginning of what? The beginning of time. In the beginning, the beginning of what? The beginning of anything material, anything created. In the beginning, when there was only the eternal God, the changeless God, the God who has no beginning and has no end, at that time, the Son was already there. and was partner with the Father in the creation of everything that was made. He's God's creation agent. He was with God before time began. He made everything that exists. Without Him, Paul says in the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verse 60, without Him was not anything made that was made. You point to anything that is made, and I can tell you who made it. This one, this son of God made it. This one that we worship at Christmas, this babe in the manger, he made it. Some have said now you realize that. God first created his son really was Michael, the archangel, say some of the cults, and then God teamed up with his first creation and made everything else. But that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible doesn't tell us that he made everything that was made except himself, that God the Father made him, and then the two of them together made everything else. But the Bible is explicitly clear that God the Son made everything that was made. There are only two categories of things in all the universe. Category number one, things unmade. Category number two, things made. Now, there aren't too many items in category number one. You start looking at the things in category number one, things unmade, and your list is pretty short. God. If you want to enumerate, you can break it down into three parts. God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. And that's where your list ends. There's nothing else. You can't find anything else that fits into that category. Then there's category number two, everything that was made. Now, this is a long list. You could start working on this list the day you're born and not be done the day you die if you want to enumerate in detail everything that fits into that category. But there are only two categories in all the universe, things unmade and things made. And this tells us which category Jesus fits into. Which category the Son is in? He's in the category of things unmade. He made everything that was made. So He fits into category number one. And all the rest of the universe fits into category number two. That's who this One is. He's God's creation agent, or we might say God's creation partner. Because He, with the Father, made everything that exists. And therefore, He's obviously co-equal with the Father. He's the Father's equal partner. Because He is God. That's who He is. Who is this Jesus that was born of Mary and laid in a manger? He is the Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, Isaiah tells us. Isaiah 9.6. That's who He is. Who is this Jesus? Number four, He's the sustainer of the universe. Verse three, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and notice this, upholdeth all things by the word of His power. Upholding all things by the word of His power. This tells us a lot about the Son of God. It tells us something, first of all, about His presence. He not only created, past tense, but He also sustains, present tense. The work of creation is done. That's a work done in the past. It was completed. And then God rested on the seventh day from everything that He had made. But the work of upholding all things, sustaining this created universe, is an ongoing present work and that must go on until the universe of material things is no more. This material universe doesn't hold together by itself. This material universe is held together moment by moment, microsecond by microsecond, by the active Word of Christ's power. As scientists dig down, dig down, dig down into the smallest particles of the universe, they get down there. What do they find? Basically, energy. What holds that atom together? I'm not a scientist, I don't understand all this, but I've come to the conclusion that scientists don't understand it all either. So let me venture forth. What have you got? You've got a little atom and it's basically, let's see here, you've got the Proton, you've got the neutrons and the electrons, and they're kind of revolving around it. It's just like a miniature sun with the planets revolving around it, except they're going around at amazing speed. But what you really find here is that this seems more than anything else to just be a bundle of energy. If you can split the atom, you can see some of that energy, boom. We call that the atom bomb. We don't want to do that. We don't want to break up this this energy force, the amount of energy in that one little atom is just incredible. Boom. You see that energy. But you see, the whole universe is made up of billions upon billions upon trillions upon trillions of these little particles. And all of them are as much as anything, just little little little spheres of energy that are all held into place by something. I mean, if they if they if they lose their grip, if they lose their power, boom, it's all gone. Now, what's holding all that together? Scientists says, I don't know. Seems to be some force there. Maybe the neutron is kind of like, you know, kind of like gravity. It's holding holding these things in place. Well, I tell you, they're going around there pretty fast. I don't know why they don't just spin off. And I can tell you, I can't give you the scientific details, but I can tell you, I can tell you how how it is and why it is that all these little atoms are holding together moment by moment. We read it right here in Hebrews. They're held together by Jesus Christ. That's why by whom He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, end up holding all things by the word of His power. The power of the word of the Son of God is what is actively holding the universe together moment by moment. If He ever quit holding us together, boom! We'd all be gone. The quadrillion smithereens of particles flung out into nothingness, gone. And he does it by the word of his power. Is his word powerful? He does it by the word of his power. That's what's so incredible. It tells us something about his presence, he's not only He was not only present at the beginning of creation and brought all these things into existence, but he is actively, moment by moment, present in his creation today. Thank God he is. He's not a God who wound things up and went off to a corner of the universe to forget about what he'd done. He has to sustain everything moment by moment or it all flies apart. So he's active in creation at every moment of every microsecond. In other words, he's the center of the universe, the one upon whom everything depends. That's who he is. This babe in the manger, that's who He is, the Son of Mary. That's who He is, this Galilean teacher. That's who He is, this miracle worker. That's who He is, this prophet from Nazareth who spoke words that had strange meaning, wonderful meaning to some who believed and terrible meaning to those who rejected Him. But that's who He is. He is the one who holds the universe together. He is the active, present, involved God of the universe. This babe of the manger holds the universe in His hands. That's who He is. the sustainer of the universe. Who is this baby? Number five, he's the savior of mankind. Again, verse three, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when, and notice this phrase, when he had by himself purged our sins. When he had by himself purged our sins. What does this tell us about this one? It tells us he's the one and only effectual sacrifice for sin. This begins to contrast with some of the things that are unfolded later in the book of Hebrews about the Old Covenant. You see, all those animal sacrifices, they couldn't really purge sins. Only one could purge sins. The Son of God, He had to become a man in order to do it. That's why He was incarnate. He had to take upon Him human form and then offer His life in payment for man's sins. He was the only sacrifice that could be acceptable before the judgment bar of a just and holy God, because He's the only sinless one. He had to be a man to pay for men's sins. He had to be a sinless man to pay for the sins of sinners, because all other men are sinners and no one else could pay for the sins of another. Therefore, he's the only one who could make an effective sacrifice for sin. No one else in all the universe could do it. Michael, Gabriel, the archangels couldn't do it. No one else could do it. He's the only one who could do it. And in doing that, he was all alone. He's the lone sufferer. He had to suffer alone when he had by himself purged our sins, which speaks not only of the fact that he's the only one who is qualified, but that he had to go through that deep, dark valley alone. He cried out from the cross, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? He had to do all this alone. No one could be there with him. But when he came through the other side of that crucifixion, when he arose victorious from the grave, he was the victorious accomplisher. What he had by himself purged our sins. He did it. He purged our sins. And he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But he purged our sins. He accomplished something when he died 2,000 years ago. What did he do? He purged our sins, says the writer of Hebrews. writing of himself and all others that he's writing to have trusted in Jesus Christ, some of whom perhaps weren't even born at the time when Christ died on the cross. But nevertheless, he writes that Jesus, when he died, he purged, past tense, our sins. I'm telling you, he accomplished something when he died on the cross, when he cried out, it is finished. It was finished. He had accomplished something for time and for eternity. This one accomplished something with his vicarious death. Listen to me carefully now. I want you to understand something. This is fine-tuned. This is slicing it very narrowly, but it's important that you understand this. Jesus did not die to make salvation possible. He died to accomplish salvation. He didn't die simply to make salvation possible if and only if we would complete the work. And if we would not cooperate, The work would not be accomplished, but if we would cooperate, then the work would be accomplished. But that's not what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us that He accomplished something when He died on the cross. He accomplished it then and there. He's not waiting for the accomplishment of it. Now He's waiting for the fulfillment of it, because the accomplishment of it has ramifications that have gone on and on and on and on for 2,000 years. And now the Holy Spirit is going to work and applying the benefits of that death that accomplished death, He's applying it to all of those for whom Christ died. But when Christ died on the cross, He accomplished something that was done for time and for eternity. He died to accomplish salvation for all of His elect people. He's the Savior of mankind. He's the Savior of mankind. When He had by Himself purged our sins, He accomplished something, you see. Now, how do I have a part of that? By faith. By faith in Him. Hear the Word of God and believe it. Say, how can I be sure I'm one of God's elect? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt find out that thou art one of the elect. Oh, but how can I know I can believe in Him if I don't know I'm one of the elect? If you believe, you are. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. That's election. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. That's invitation. That's solemn invitation. And there are no exceptions to that. All who truly come to him will never be cast out. There are no exceptions to that. The question is not, are you one of the elect? The question is, will you believe? The question is not, are you one of the elect? The question is, will you acknowledge yourself a sinner? Will you repent of your sins? Will you trust Jesus Christ and him alone for your salvation? Will you embrace this all sufficient Savior? And if you do, then you will come to realize either now or If you're a little dense, maybe not until you get to glory, but you will come to realize that you were chosen by God before the foundation of the world. And Christ accomplished your purging, the cleansing from sin when he died upon the cross two thousand years before you ever came along. He is a victorious accomplisher. But don't. Presume it's interesting that The writer of Hebrews begins here by writing to those that he evidently takes for granted that they are Christians. He writes to those to whom he can say that Jesus Christ, when he had himself purged our sins, he's including himself and all those that he's writing to. And yet there's probably no book in the Bible that has more searching warnings directed to professing Christians to be sure that they are really in Christ than the book of Hebrews. It's filled with searching warnings. Don't presume that because you've made a profession of faith that you are in Christ and that he's purged your sins. Don't presume because your mother led you in a prayer that you are in Christ and he has purged your sin. You say, how can I be sure? Well, if when God does a work, when God does a regenerating work in your soul, there are certain evidences that follow. These aren't things that you do in order to be saved. They're not even things that you do in order to prove that you are saved, though they do become tests for you to examine. But they are just the natural result of what God has done in your life. These are evidences of divine life. This is evidence that a new birth has occurred. We know there's certain evidences when a baby is born. If that baby is born alive and doing well, then we can be certain of several things about it. We can be sure that it's going to breathe. We're going to be sure that it's going to cry in some way or another. It's going to make its presence known. We can be sure that it's going to eat. We can be sure that it's going to do some other things, too, that we have to clean up later. There are certain evidences of life, and as that child continues to grow and develop, there's other evidences of life. The child doesn't do those things in order to be born, or to be a child, or to be alive, or even to prove that he is necessarily. That's kind of foolish. He doesn't have to prove himself alive necessarily. But these evidences are there. If he is alive, if he is a child, then certain things will naturally and inevitably follow. If you are a child of God, If you have been made spiritually alive by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in your soul, then there are certain evidences that will follow. You need to get in the book and find out what they are. And if they're not there or you're not sure, then what do you do? Well, you go back to the beginning. Lord, help me. Lord, show me. Am I? Am I not? I prostrate myself before thy throne. I wait upon thee. Lord, help me. Lord, show me. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Lord, I need your help. I'm totally shut up to you. There's nothing that I can do to ensure my salvation, my laying hold on Christ except to believe. And if I'm not sure I've believed, then I've got to turn to you to help me with that. And it just keeps pointing you back to God, pointing you back to Christ, pointing you back to the throne of mercy, pointing you back to the eternal, powerful God. And you can take encouragement in the fact Given you concerns like this, where did you get those? There are millions and billions of people in this world who have no such concern. They're not begging God to show them. They're not concerned about whether they're saved or lost. They're not interested in these things at all. How come you are? How come God has put you in a family where people are concerned about spiritual things or in a church where people are concerned about spiritual things? How come you're hearing messages like this? Don't you see all these evidences of God's working in your life and circumstances, but don't? presume, don't presume, make your calling and election sure. You see some of the warnings in the book of Hebrews. Chapter two, verse one. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? How shall we escape if we treat these things lightly? How shall we escape if we presume upon an empty profession and are not concerned about real evidence of genuine conversion in our lives? How shall we escape if we take all these spiritual advantages for granted? and don't really treat them seriously, don't really pursue them with any degree of energy or concern. How shall we escape if we take all these things and just neglect them and think that everything's okay because we were born into a certain family, because we attended a certain church? We'll not escape. You better be serious about these things. Who is this babe in the manger? He's number five, the Savior of mankind. Who is this Jesus? A perfect Savior, an effective Savior, a never failing Savior, the only Savior. Go to Him and go to Him now. Who is this Jesus? Number six, He's the sovereign ruler. Look at the last phrase in verse three. When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. That speaks of an accomplished work. He did accomplish something. And when he went back to heaven, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, that was a signal that the work was done as far as his part of the work is concerned. Now the Holy Spirit is going throughout the whole earth and he's doing his drawing part to finalize that which the Savior accomplished upon the cross. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, it's a royal honor. In the presence of God, on the throne of God, there are many personages. Some stand, some bow. But this One sits upon the throne. This One sits at the position of honor. This One sits at the Father's right hand. Who is this One? He is obviously Sovereign Ruler. Who is this Jesus? He is Prince of Peace. Who is this Jesus? He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Who is this Jesus? He is the One that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things present and things to come And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's who this one is. Think of this at the Christmas season. Star of wonder, we sing. Yeah, this is wonder for sure. Maybe you never thought about the depth of wonder and we've only scratched the surface. But you think about the wonder of all of this. And as you do, examine your heart. Have you any room for Jesus? That's the real question. Maybe this is good. and evidence of your relationship with the Lord is anything I know. Is all of this that I've talked about today, is all of this Jesus stuff just so much information, so much ceremony, so much religion, so much something outside of you? Or is this something that truly, by the grace of God, has been made real to your soul? It's part of your very fibrin being. You know the Lord. You desire the Lord. You seek the Lord. You desire to know the Lord better. You hunger for the Lord. You hunger for Him and His Word. You have an interest in the Word of God because God has created an interest in your soul. Who is He? He's the sovereign ruler. But He's a sovereign ruler who can be approached at His throne. His high and holy throne is a throne of grace for all those who approach through the merits of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is this One? He is the Sovereign Ruler. He is the Sovereign Ruler who can be sought and found. As the trite saying goes, wise men still seek Him. And He is One who can be sought and found. Who is this One? This Babe in this manger, the Son of Mary, the Galilean Teacher, the Miracle Worker who walked upon the dusty roads of earth. He is the Lord of Glory. Rejoice in who He is. Rejoice in what He has done. And seek Him for yourself. Seek Him for your salvation. Seek Him for your satisfaction. Seek Him for your joy. Seek Him for your fulfillment here in life. Seek Him for your prospects of eternity. Come to this One. Get to know this One. Cast yourself upon this One. Humble yourself before this One. And learn who this One is that the world gives some passing attention to. at the Christmas season. Shall we pray? Lord God, by Your Spirit, make us joint heirs with this great heir of God. Make us joint rulers with this great ruler of the universe. Make us brothers, maybe we should say half-brothers, adopted brothers with this one who is the eternal Son of God. O God, by Your mercy and grace, do that which only You can do by Your Spirit. In the hearts of those who know You not, make everyone who is in this building today, we pray, O Lord, we plead, make everyone in this building today a son of God, a seeker of Jesus Christ, one whose sins have been purged. When Jesus Christ did His work upon Calvary and sat down, at the right hand of God. And Lord, help us to worship You for who You are at this Christmas season and every season of the year. For we ask it now in Jesus' name, Amen.