Okay, good evening everybody, welcome. It's wonderful to be here in such horrible conditions and weather, but I pray that the Lord has been blessing you this day. It's such an important day to be focusing upon what the Lord has for us, what the Lord has for us to do, to meditate upon his word, to love it, to see it as more important than our daily food. When we come before the Word of God, we should always have a sense of reverence and awe. That we would never, ever misrepresent or mishandle His truth. It is so easy, especially as I'm learning, preaching and trying to develop and trying to learn from men who know much more than I ever will. that it is so important that we never lose sight of it. Doesn't matter how long we're saved for, we need to know God's word. May we come with this spirit this day. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, O Lord, I thank you for your blessed truth, for thy holy word. O Lord, may we tremble before it, may we love it. May it be a joy to us as we learn more about you, that it would make all the idols of the world seem not at all interesting to us, Lord. Father, feed our inner man. That the old men Lord would not be fed Lord father. Just help us this they enable me Lord For thy glory sake for thy great name's sake in Jesus name. I pray amen Today we're going to continue our study in the book of Hebrews. This is the fifth message from the book of Hebrews for anybody who hasn't been following the other messages. The other messages, I believe, can be found on Sermon Audio. For the context, we're going to read from Hebrews chapter 1, verses 3 to 9. Verses 3 to 9. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 3 to 9. The verses we're going to look at is verses 8 to 9, verses 8 to 9, under the title of Christ's Everlasting Reign of Righteousness. Christ's Everlasting Reign of Righteousness. who being the brightness of his glory, and express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth the first begotten into 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 the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. The verses again we're focusing on is verses 8 and 9. verses 8 and 9. I think it's so important also when we look at the book of Hebrews, realizing the book of Hebrews is going to seem a very strange book to those who are not familiar with the Old Testament. It's very, very hard to get excited about the book of Hebrews if, like much of the modern church, you dwell only in the New Testament. The comparisons that are there with Moses, with the angels, and so on and so forth, are there to exalt Christ, but it's so hard. We are not going to know anything about those comparisons if we don't know anything about what they're being compared with. If we have very little knowledge about Moses, if all we know about Moses is, well, he was back in Israel sometime. If you know little bits about Moses, it's very hard to get excited about the comparisons and the contrasts that are being shown. Now, in these two verses, Christ's throne, His kingdom, His righteousness, and His anointing are being brought into view. Having established, having in the previous few messages looked at His superiority and excellence over the angels, it now turns in verse 8 to the Son. Verse 7, just to give context, And of the angels he saith, Who maketh these angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire? The comparison has been made between Christ and the angels. These angels, the greatest of all created beings, are but ministering spirits before the throne of God. They are there to worship and to serve God. So He declares unto the angels, who make of the angel spirits and His ministers of flame and fire, but unto the sun He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. He has an everlasting throne. So, already when we have the context, He's dealing with the contrast with the angels, and now He turns to the sun. Also, another thing to take into account with the context is this. Verse 3, and I state this because many in the modern church would place Christ being on His throne in the future. In verse 3 it says, and I'll just read the second half, "...when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Within that same context, it goes on to say, "...but unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." The outline for today's message is this, and we'll look at verses 8 and 9. I especially want to look at Christ's kingdom, because this term has so been abused in the modern church. The outline is His position, His scepter, His kingdom, His good pleasure, and His anointing. His possession, I know, his position, sorry. His scepter, his kingdom, his good pleasure, and his anointing. Five points. First one, his position. But unto the Lord he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. His throne, he sits today, as it says in verse three, when he had by himself purged our sins, when he paid the sin debt for all of his people, He then, afterwards, returned triumphantly to the right hand of the Father. Now, the Father says unto the Son, Thy throne, O God. Interesting how He calls Him God, because He is God. And the flesh is forever and ever. What is His throne? If you briefly look at 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 to 14, 2 Samuel, chapter 7, verses 12 to 14. When speaking to David, it says the following, when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son." Now, literally, in a very immediate sense, it is speaking about Solomon, David's son. But figuratively, typologically, fulfilled prophetically, it's speaking about Christ. I will set up thy seat after you. I will establish his kingdom Look at the language being used here. He shall build a house for my name. Christ said in Matthew 16, 18, upon this rock, I will build my church. Another name for the church in the scriptures is the house of God. When we are added to the church of God, we are building blocks in that church. Christ being the chief cornerstone. And it says, I will be his father and he shall be my son. Notice it says forever. I really want to emphasize this forever because we'll look at it a little bit later. They don't believe everlasting righteousness has been brought in. Which I think is a tragic robbery of the great glory of God. This throne, unlike Solomon, is forever. It has no end. It is everlasting. And it is not. As it is not, we have to pitch it. We have to, a lot of times when we get to these passages, and it's so easy, and I know for myself, when you come to certain passages you have preconceived notions. We must allow scripture to interpret scripture. And when we come to these everlasting kingdom, Now we must ask ourselves, what throne does the Son of God now occupy? He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, verse 3 in Hebrews chapter 1. It says in Psalm 110 verse 1, sit thou, I'll actually just get it out in front of me, Psalm 110 verse 1. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou in my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou in my right hand. His position is most exalted. Christ sits on the right hand of the Father with all honor and all glory due unto Him because of this. I just want to look at one other verse before I make another point. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 22. Sorry, verse 23, we'll read from 22 onwards. But as for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall put down all rule, all authority and power. And this is the key point here at verse 25. He must reign. For He must reign today. Until He hath put all enemies under His feet. Verse 25. He reigns today. Also take into account with other verses that are there. He reigns today. He's taking possession of His throne. He reigns today. And He will reign until He's put all enemies under His feet. And it says, verse 26, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. He will reign until that point. For He hath put all things under His feet. For when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things unto him, that God may be all in all." A number of things can be taken from these verses. But Christ's kingdom will advance, it will subdue, and it will give God the glory. Until he had put all enemies under his feet. It is not, what you don't picture here, regardless of your eschatological view, it does not picture a church that is retreating constantly throughout history. I don't see that in the scriptures at all. that He put all enemies under His feet. We must think, He reigns today, He has the most exalted position. And I want you to picture this, and I want us to see at this point, from His position, from His throne, the severity of sin. Historically, if you rebelled against a king, tried to overthrow him, to defy the will of the King. Whenever we sin, we say this, God's not on the throne, I am. You make the same mistake or pride and arrogance of the devil in Isaiah 14, I will be like the Most High. I will exalt above the stars of God. Unfortunately, We still have the old nature. Those of us who have been saved and those of us who have not been saved are still children of the devil. They still do the works of their father. What... In... I'll give you one historical example. November 5th, 1605, there was an attempt on the lives of the British Parliament and also on the King of England. It was called the Gunpowder Plot. What happened to those people who are caught in an attempt of treason to dispose of the king? The death penalty. This is the severity of our sin. Whenever we say, my will here is an act of treason. This is why it says in Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. Is it any wonder? but the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We would expect nothing less than the charge of treason. Paul Washer stated the following, when man sits sins against God, he betrays the one who is worthy of his greatest allegiance, loyalty, commitment, and duty. For this reason, sin is the worst of treacheries and the highest form of treason and evokes the penalty of death. Why does sin evoke the death penalty? Because it is rebellion against the king. It is trying to topple the king. Yet another reason why it evokes the death penalty. Number two, his scepter. Returning to our verse, scepter. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. A scepter of righteousness. Now, what is a scepter? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as an ornamented staff carried by rulers on ceremonial occasions as a symbol of sovereignty. Basically, a staff being held in the hands of rulers, kings, queens, and various monarchs throughout history have used various scepters. Webster's 1828 Dictionary describes as one of the descriptions uses royal power authority, sovereignty, sovereignty. God is sovereign. A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. His rule. This is a concept that, again, does not seem to register with many modern professing churches. God rules. He does not just reign in heaven for the happiness of men. He does not do all these things just so this person can escape the fires of hell. There's a bigger objective than all of that. His scepter is a scepter of righteousness. This is how He rules. And we know His throne is everlasting by this. This is what, and this is what I'm gonna focus on here. Daniel 9 24, when it talks about Daniel's 70th weeks, one of the things it says we brought in within those 70 weeks is everlasting righteousness that came in cross and He sits at the right hand of the Majesty and I. His throne is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of His kingdom. Everlasting righteousness. One of the biggest stumbling blocks, I believe, in the modern church is some of the eschatological views that are out there today. There's no doubt about it. We could fill a conference I believe our brother Mark made this point a number of times. You could fill a conference in the morning about Daniel's image. Pretty easily probably. But if you talk about the holiness of God, if you talk about who Christ is, what the severity of sin, you'd have real difficulty finding anybody interested. And this is what fascinates us. But I would just say, look at Daniel 9.24. I don't want to go off in that direction. All of those things have been fulfilled. All those things have been fulfilled. We must interpret scripture with scripture. C.H. Spurgeon stated that, he is the lawful monarch of all things that be. His rule is founded in rice. Its law is rice. Its result is rice. Our king is no usurper and no oppressor. Righteousness, he rules by righteousness. One of the most beautiful pictures I believe in scriptures is in Ezra chapter 5. I'm just going to briefly look at the picture that is shown here to get a glimpse of this scepter. And I believe as much as possible when we try to explain to others about biblical truths, we must explain them to use what I heard one time when I was hearing John MacArthur preach. explain biblical terms in their biblical dress. To explain them in the analogies that are already used in scripture. If you go through John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, one of the wonderful things about that book is he uses biblical pictures, not from his imagination. This is what we must do, and this is what I love about this. Esther, during the Medo-Persian Empire, to give you some of the background, has to appear before the king. We'll focus on Esther, chapter five, verse two. She has to appear before the king in hopes of saving her Jewish brethren, who, without a petition, would undoubtedly be slaughtered. In order to intervene, she must appeal to the grace of our King. If, as it states in chapter 4 verse 11, it says that when Esther replies, all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces do know that whatsoever, whether man or woman, shall come into the inner court who is not called There is one law of his to put him to death. So anybody who enters into the inner court of this king will be put to death unless he is called, unless he or she is, unless that person finds grace in the eyes of that king. He or she should be put to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out, and I love this, the golden scepter. that he may live. Reading from chapter 5. Now it came to pass in the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel. Again another beautiful picture of salvation. how we put on our royal apparel when we are saved. Christ closes with righteousness. And stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house, and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house over against the gate of the king. And it was so that when the king saw Esther, the queen, standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight. She found grace in his sight. It says also in a previous chapter, chapter 2 verse 17, the king loved Esther above all the women. It was a special love the king had for Esther. She obtained favor in his sight and the king, because of this, held out the golden scepter. The king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand, so Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. All I want to picture is here, she would have died had she not been shown that grace by the king. Likewise, we would deserve death. We do deserve death. We are dependent upon the grace of our King. And here's the thing, we must also realize He is King whether we bow to Him or not. He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe whether we bow to Him or not. There's such a, there's a Lordship Salvation debate that's gone on for decades and it's very, very simple to resolve it. Unfortunately, there's so many debates whether we make, Christ Lord now or later, He is Lord. You don't make Him Lord and you don't make Him Saviour. He is Lord whether you bow to Him, whether you love Him. If you have been changed by Him, you are His, you are His purchased possession. It's that simple. We need that grace to come into the inner court of our King. Now, how does it align with grace? If you find grace in righteousness, I want to leave you with one more thing before I go on to the next point. Romans 5.21. Romans 5.21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, Even so, my grace reigned through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Before we were saved, those who are truly saved, before that point, sin hath reigned. Unto the fruits of that is death. Even so, my grace reign. How does grace reign? Through righteousness. Unto eternal life with Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the thing we have to ask ourselves before we move on, are we servants of that righteousness? Do we serve His kingdom? Because if we do not, we can have no assurance of our salvation. Point three, his kingdom. It talks about his kingdom. Return to our text verse again. A scepter of righteousness, verse eight, Hebrews chapter one, verse eight. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Briefly, let's look at a few verses just to establish what is this kingdom because often unfortunately if you read the writings of reformers from a couple hundred years ago you realize pretty quickly that this was a pretty commonly known among the reformers it's really in modern times mainly due to classic dispensationalism that you have, especially Charles Ryrie dispensationalism Jane Darby, not as popular anymore but that this view that the Kingdom is just this political reign of Christ on this earth. This is why we have to re-teach and re-publish because when Christ goes out preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, what is he talking about? Just to give you an example of one of the views that is permeating out there for some who may not know, Charles Ryrie stated that, after the second advent of Christ, the millennial kingdom will be set up in fulfillment of all the great promises, of all the promises given in both testaments, and particularly those contained in the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. He sees this in the future, and according to him, Christ does not sit on David's throne anymore. And it is obvious that this is not a fringe view at all. It is one of the most divisive issues in the church, among many. So he sees this as the future, and Christ does not sit, and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, and the Davidic covenants have not come to pass. And he says also in the future, he says this, the Lord Jesus Christ who will personally take charge of the running of the affairs of the world during that age, I find an astonishing statement, will be the chief personage of the dispensation. Is that not already true? One of the clearest verses, and it was the verse that me, speaking as a former dispensationalist, had to radically change my view of the Kingdom of God, turn to Mark 9, verse 1. When I studied this verse, I don't want to spend a lot of time on the nature of the kingdom, but just to show in a few verses that it is spiritual in nature. It is not some political him coming just to reign in this earth. Yes, he will reign in the new heavens and the new earth. We have to emphasize that. There's often a lot of straw men set up against all millennial points of view and post-millennial points of view of my own. In Mark chapter 9 verse 1, Jesus says unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you that there be some of them that stand here. Now let's picture this. There's some of them that stand here which shall not taste death till they've seen the kingdom of God come with power. Now we've been asked by a lot of people to read things literally. I like taking that challenge up and I will read this literally. Till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. The kingdom of God came with power within many of their lifetimes. That there be some of you standing here shall not taste of death. He's not talking about some fictitious future generation. There's also another interpretation I've been aware of as well that is talking about transfiguration. It doesn't need refuting, in my opinion. Acts 1, verses 6-8. I've often heard this being quoted in a various way, and I'll give you the way I've heard it a lot. Acts chapter 1 verse 6, When they therefore were calmed together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Now, the typical way when somebody hears that question and thinking, Aha! When is the millennium coming in? When will geopolitical Israel come back? Is this definitely talking about ethnic Israel? And I have to admit, at times in the Bible, and times in the New Testament, it does talk about ethnic Israel. Not a lot, but there are times. Now, let's listen to Christ's answer. Verse 7, And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. That's all that gets quoted usually. So, they got their answer, they're not gonna know when he comes back. That's what I've heard from a lot of people. I'm not saying everybody preaches like that. But the next part, I believe, tells a lot. But ye shall receive power. When shall, at what time shall, again, shall the kingdom of Israel be restored? It says not for you to know the times. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the utmost part of the earth. Now which makes more sense? That he's answering the question about the Kingdom of Israel or he's talking about a different subject? The Kingdom came with power at that point. and just the last verse I will look at in relation to this. Revelation 12 verse 10, Revelation chapter 12 verse 10. And I love Revelation 12 verse, I've used Revelation 12 a number of times to show that I believe Revelation is often when we think about the apocalypse, we always think about the end of the world, thanks to, well, Hollywood. Apocalypse, or apocalupso, literally means to be the unveiling. It does not mean the very, very, very, very end of time. We've been told that by Hollywood. we have to always compare scripture with scripture. Chapter 12, verse 10, and I believe chapter 12 is an incredibly encouraging chapter about the history of the Christian church from its times in the Old Covenant unto its birth, chapter 5, all the way up to its persecution and its victory through the testimony in Christ Jesus. Verse 10, And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of the brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day. and night. The power of His Christ. Christ, the Kingdom of Christ came. You can also compare this with Colossians chapter 1 verses 12 and 13. We who have been saved have been translated into the Kingdom of Christ Jesus. What to take away from this is this, the Kingdom is spiritual. It does not mean, don't get into this whether it's literal or spiritual. Just because something's spiritual doesn't mean it's not literal. The question is whether it's figurative or whether it's literal. You must compare scripture with scripture, you must, there is figures in scripture, scripture tells you this. Fourth point, His good pleasure. His good pleasure. Hebrews chapter one verse nine. To be in His kingdom, let's make this point, to be in His kingdom, you must be changed. To serve in His kingdom, you must be changed because your own greatest works are but filthy rags. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. This is what is pleasing before God, His good pleasure. You have, if you are in His kingdom, if you are in the kingdom of Christ Jesus and not still of the devil, you have been changed and regenerated to do His good pleasure. You're no longer your own. Loved righteousness. Righteousness pleases Christ. Sin displeases Him. Might seem like a very, very simple concept. But every time we sin, in thought or in deed, it's an affront to Him. He loves righteousness. He does all these things, including our salvation, for His good pleasure. It's repeated in Ephesians chapter 1 in verses 5, 9 and 11. Talks about why does He do these things for His good pleasure. I just want to quote one of these verses. I absolutely love Ephesians 1. Having predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Why is anybody saved? It pleases the Lord. Psalm 5 verse 8, Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies. Make thy way straight before my face. Psalm 7 verse 17, I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness. I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. If you have no idea about the LORD's righteousness, how can you praise and worship Him? How can you understand? We need, when we come before Him, worshiping Him, we must have the knowledge of God. Anything else is superstition and idolatry. It's a different Christ, it's a different God. This was the characteristic. When we talk about righteousness. To love righteousness is to love the very characteristic of Christ's life. He met the standard of the law to be deemed righteous before the Father. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He did righteousness. It isn't just Unfortunately, I think we think of righteousness as something as just the slate being wiped clean by the blood of Christ. And that is a wondrous thing. Something we scarcely deserve, purged from our sins, purged from the curse that would justly damn us. The fact is, unless we have been declared righteous, unless we have the positive righteousness of Christ's life imputed to our account, we cannot enter, as with the allusion to Esther in chapter 5, we cannot enter the inner court of the King. We would surely die. C.H. Spurgeon said, Christ Jesus is not neutral in the great contest between right and wrong. As warmly as he loves the one, he abhors the other. What qualifications for a sovereign? What grounds of confidence for a people? He comments on in Psalm 45 verse 7. If you love Christ, you hate sin. There's no two ways about it. If you love sin, you hate Christ. What does that look like? And you see, the thing is, many people will say, even on the streets, who truly hate Christ, who truly are not regenerated, will say, I don't hate Christ. Will, by their lives, declare what the true fruit of their own heart is. What does it look like? The world doesn't fascinate you. That's what it looks like. Actually, as time goes on, the world more and more sickens you. It leaves more and more of a bad taste. Yes, we will fall down, and actually the scriptures talk about this, but the just man gets back up again. Christ will not leave you to yourself. He, as a loving father, as we read in Hebrews 12 verses 5 to 8, a loving father chastises his children and keeps them in the narrow path. Just as a loving father. You are not addicted or dedicated to worldly entertainment. There are times when we all languish into worldly entertainment. But there's two reactions we can have to it. Oh, boy did I waste a lot of time there. Or, whew, I want more. It shows a lot. In Exodus 20 verse 6, another verse I absolutely love. And again, I just want to show you this. What does it look like in a Christian's life to To be in Christ's Kingdom, you also love righteousness. And what does that look like? You obey God. In Exodus 20 verse 6 it says, And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me. Not because they love Me, because none of them loved Him until they were regenerated. and keep my commandments. These both go together. Them that love me and keep my commandments. Because in 1 John 5 3 it states, what is love? Love is commandment keeping. Another tragedy of why the deck log being thrown to the side of the Ten Commandments being thrown under the bus. Because what is love? Well love is commandment keeping. We get told, well, love is obeying God. Well, how do we know what obeying God is? Well, it ends up in this kind of funny circular argument. Psalm 55, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity. And from Matthew 6, 24, we know we cannot serve two masters. The final point, his anointing, his anointing. Even thy God, we'll just read all of verse nine. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Let's just think about this first before we, always at this point it's very easy to steamroller over points in verses. Therefore God, even thy God, God the Father, hath anointed him with the oil of gladness. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The oil of gladness, not just any oil, the oil of gladness. Oil in the old covenant, this is the importance of studying the old, all the scriptures. This is why I always encourage people to read all of the scriptures as much as possible, cover to cover, in whatever order, but make sure it's all of the scriptures. Because it is only then you can get excited about these kind of verses. Thou hast loved righteousness, okay, therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness. Anointing, typologically, represented many things. God's equipping in the ministry. Setting aside, choosing between David and Saul. The evil spirit descending upon Saul while anointing David as his chosen vessel. God's good pleasure. The work of the Spirit of God. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don't mean that in a Pentecostal way. on the modern understanding of the word. But there is a baptism in the Holy Spirit that takes place at salvation. Not any later than that. And that God was well pleased. The oil had a certain aroma or odor. It was sweet smelling and it was wonderful to God. Until we are in this Son of God, this King, this King of Glory, until we are under His protective wings, until we rest in Christ, we have not this aroma of this oil of gladness proceeding from us. Actually, Scripture declares we are spiritual lepers. And the first thing you'll notice about a leper is his stench. We are a stench and a front before God until we rest in Christ Jesus. And it's only because of the merits of Him and in Him alone can we enter into that inner courts of His great majesty. But when we trust Christ, we are well pleasing to God. Acts chapter 10 verses 34 to 38. Acts chapter 10. This is when Peter was preaching and then Peter opened his mouth and said, But in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. Notice again how it ties us together. Those that love him, fear him. Those that fear him, work righteousness. Those who love him, work righteousness. Not because of these things have they been saved. But this is the characteristic of a person who has been saved. Feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. That word I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and again, remember we talked about the Kingdom of God coming with power in Revelation 12.10. how God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power, equipping Him. And He went out doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil and God was with Him. When the Kingdom came in its fullness, in Acts chapter 2, 1st Christian Pentecost, the Kingdom of God came with power. Satan was defeated. He was cast down. This is not something we have to get this right for. We cannot see this as something that's in the future. We cannot. We almost see Satan as the sovereign and not Christ Jesus. We almost see in salvation, I've heard this analogy used so many different times where Satan was grappling over me and Jesus grappling over me and I chose Jesus. That's blasphemy. And I've heard it so often. Satan has been defeated by Christ at the cross. Christ has the name Messiah from His being anointed. God's anointing of Christ signifies both His qualifying Him for the office of the Mediator and with the Holy Spirit and all His graces. Likewise, His inauguration of Him into the office as prophets, priests, and kings were by anointing. God, even thy God, imports the confirmation of Christ in the office of mediator by the covenant of redemption and peace." Matthew. Henry. Just to conclude what we've just discussed here. God is sovereign. If you take out nothing else from this, God is sovereign. Christ Jesus is on His throne. He sits on the throne. You do not. Seems like a very simple concept. But he gets to make the rules. All of them. Whenever we complain, does it really say to give up that? That seems a little tough. Do we really have to surrender that? Who's on the throne? We serve him, not the other way around, and his kingdom is everlasting. And before you leave here, are you, are you resting in this savior from the one the Lord, from the Father is well pleased? From the one whom comes this fragrance that is well pleasing to the Father? Or are you a stench before God in your own righteousness? which is nothing but filthy, filthy rags before holy God. A lot of these verses were quoted from Psalm 45 verses 6 to 8, but I'll just conclude with a quote from Spurgeon on verse 8 from that psalm in Psalm 45. The divine anointing causes fragrance to distill from the robes of the mighty hero. He is delightful to every sense, to the eyes most fair, to the ear most gracious, to the spiritual nostril most sweet. The excellencies of Jesus are all most precious, comparable to the rarest spices. They are most varied, and to be likened not to mirth alone, but to all the perfumes blended in due proportion. The Father always finds a pleasure in Him. In Him is well pleased, and all regenerated spirits rejoice in Him. For He is made of God unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Note that not only is Jesus most precious, or most sweet, sorry. But even His garments are so. Everything that He has to do with it, do with, is perfumed by His person. Can we imagine that picture? Have you ever... The worst... We have never been around lepers in this day and age. But that picture in Leviticus, when we go through Leviticus, when we see the stench, when they had to cry, unclean, unclean. And until they were purged, the high priest could not declare him clean or unclean. Has the high priest, the captain of salvation, declared you clean? Or are you still a stench? Pretending, maybe, that you're in the kingdom of Christ, but not surely knowing. The three people I talked to in the three groups, There is the group that know they're saved, they must warn others. There is the group who are saved, but have not grown to full assurance. And there are those who are deceiving themselves, trusting in the decision they made one time. There is such consequences of such reading. Are we pleasing before the Father because He does of His good pleasure? And He does it and He rules it according to His righteousness. May God bless all who hear this message. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you Lord for who you are. For what you have done for thine own people. Lord for people who do not deserve the least of thy mercies. Oh Lord, that we would continue to warn and to labor for reformation in the church. Oh Lord, help us never to become complacent. Oh Lord, may we never drop the bar to the lowest common denominator. Father, I just pray that we would first labor to cast away the idols in our own lives, and then labor to warn lovingly, graciously, with the utmost concern, with tears if necessary, just like the Apostle Paul, when he warned night and day that grievous wolves would come in among the flock, drawing disciples after themselves. Father, that in the same manner we would lovingly warn the flock, but also warning those who are perishing. and the outside. Father, may we exalt your name in your church, in the kingdom of Christ made, Vance, in this day. Lord, bring revival. Bring an outpouring of your spirit. Bring a restlessness in our souls until we see it. Father, may we never settle for the least goal, Lord, but just all things that are pleasing toward you, all things that give you glory, all things that exalt you. Father, I just pray that you bless our conversation for the rest of this evening. Bless all those things that we shall receive and bless us, Lord, that we will grow in unity. with the mind of Christ dwelling in each and every one of us in this building. In Jesus' name I now pray. Amen.