Good to be with you. Am I on? All right. I'm getting the thumbs up at the back. Had a great drive over from Granberry. Everyone know where Granberry is on the map? The blue bonnets are in full bloom. Fields filled with the Indian paintbrush. Foliage spectacular. The grass is green. There's only one problem with spring in Texas. Summer's coming. Summer's coming. We won't talk about that right now. We're here to study God's Word, and I have been tasked, not a task, given the privilege of opening with you, turning with you to Hebrews chapter 1. My father told me many, many years ago, if you want to know the Lord Jesus, you master John 1, the Word of God. You master Colossians 1, the image of God, and you master Hebrews 1, the radiance of God, and you will know the Lord Jesus. So we're going to consider one of these tonight, Hebrews 1. I invite you to follow along as I read these 14 verses for us, and we pray even now for the Spirit's blessing upon the public reading of God's Word. Long ago at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son, today I have begotten You." Or again, I will be to Him a Father and He shall be to me a Son. And again, when He brings the firstborn into the world, He says, let all God's angels worship Him. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the sun, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?" There's a lot in there, folks. What are we going to do with this? Here's what we're going to do. I have one very, very simple goal stated right at the outset. I just want us to marvel at the Lord Jesus tonight. I just want us to marvel at Him. You'll recall the incident, the story. The disciples are in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, and without any warning, suddenly the wind begins to blow, and the waves begin to beat against the boat. They find themselves in the midst of a tempest, a storm, the mother of all storms. Remember, these are seasoned fishermen. They spent half their lives on the waters, and they are frightened, terrified. They awaken the Lord Jesus, save us. And Christ, with a word, rebukes the wind and the waves. All is calm, all is still, all is quiet. And we read what? The disciples marvel. They marvel. You fast forward some time later, the disciples are gathered in secret, somewhere in hiding. This is right after Christ's crucifixion. They've witnessed what has transpired, they're trying to make sense of it, they're fearful for their own lives. Suddenly Mary Magdalene and the other women burst through the door. He's risen, He's not there, come see the tomb. Peter, flash of lightning, out he runs. And there he goes straight to the tomb, he prostrates himself, he peers inside, he sees the linen cloths there, and he marvels. To marvel, to be shocked, amazed, astonished, to wonder at something that exceeds all expectation and explanation. But I like this one. to have your mental categories shattered. That's what I want to do tonight. I want to try to shatter your mental categories. I want us to marvel at the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm going to give you five reasons why. I'm going to give them to you because the Apostle gives them to us. Five reasons to marvel at the Lord Jesus. They are all packed into verses three and four. Follow along as I read these verses once again for us. You try to identify the five and then we'll break them down one by one. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs." Five reasons to marvel at the Lord Jesus. Here we go. Reason number one lifted right out of verse three. Christ is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. In other words, God's perfections, all that He is, God's perfections, His excellencies, His glory shine forth in the Lord Jesus Christ. His excellencies shine forth in Christ's words. All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. His Excellency shined forth in his miracles. This, the first of his signs, Jesus did and manifested his glory. And His Excellency shined forth in his person. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. Now what is fascinating is this, the Apostle unpacks that statement down in verse 5 by quoting from Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 and 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 14. And so skip down to verse 5 and look at what he says. For to which of the angels did God ever say, here we go, Psalm 2, you are my son. Today I have begotten you, or again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." And so here we have an explanatory word of that statement back in verse 3. Well, what does it mean that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature? We now know it means this, He is the Son of God. He is the eternal Son of God. And so we go to Galatians chapter 4, for example, verse 4, and there we read that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son. Extremely important for us to understand that temporal sendings reveal eternal processions. The Son is sent in time because the Son proceeds eternally from the Father. We are describing their relationship. We are not describing a creative act. We are not describing something that happens in a moment of time. We are not describing something that has a starting point. We are describing who God is. God is eternally this relationship, father, son, these eternal relations. He who is the father, he who is the son. The son is not eternally generated by the father out of the divine essence, but within the one divine essence, meaning the person of the father. begets the person of the Son. Again, let me repeat it and be as clear as I can. This does not happen in time. This has no starting point. We have moved beyond the created order, the created realm. We are describing who they are eternally, relationally, Father, Son. That's why the Son is the only begotten from the Father. Brothers and sisters, this is a reason to marvel at the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you like to see God? Anybody here? Anybody here like to see God? Well, friends, the infinite has become finite. He who made all things out of nothing was born of a woman. He whom the heavens cannot contain. was contained in the womb of a woman. Do you want to see God? No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the right hand of the Father, He has proclaimed Him. We marvel at the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. I'm not sure we always appreciate that as we ought. Do you remember the Antique Roadshow? Is that thing still kicking? Like 20 years ago, I think it probably had its heyday, right? And I remember watching a couple of episodes, I don't remember where it was, somewhere mid-America and an expo center, a city that's long forgotten. But this elderly gentleman walked into the Expo, the Antiques Roadshow, and he had this blanket, this family heirloom. Anybody remember this? It had been in the family for generations, passed down, passed down, passed down. And he brought it in just kind of for a kick, to see if they could dig up anything regarding the history of this blanket. Turns out it had belonged to a famous Navajo chief, and it was worth $250,000. Until that moment, it had been strewned over the lazy boy in his living room. He walked out of there with an armed guard straight to the bank and put it in a safety deposit box. Sadly, at times I fear we do not esteem the Lord Jesus Christ as we ought. We do not value Him as He merits. We are far removed from that experience so wonderfully depicted in the parables in Matthew 13 of that man who finds what? The pearl of great price, sells all to possess that treasure. Well, here we have the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the eternal Son of God. He who is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. All right, that's one down. Are you ready for number two? Okay, here's the second reason to marvel at the Lord Jesus. He upholds the universe by the Word of His power. So let that sink in for a moment. Let your little mind grasp that. Try to get that gray cerebral mass around that truth and reality that He upholds the universe by the Word of His power. In the previous verse, verse 2, the Apostle has said something equally marvelous. In these last days, He, that is God, has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. That's marvelous enough. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things. But now in verse 3, the Apostle is celebrating something slightly different. It's not just that the Lord Jesus is the Creator of all things, but the Lord Jesus, this ongoing, continuous, perpetual act whereby He upholds all things. He is the principle of cohesion, the only principle of cohesion that makes this a cosmos rather than a kingdom. chaos, and He expands on it. Just as He explained that first statement in verse 5, He now explains this second statement down in verses 10 through 12. And there He cites from Psalm 102. And so look at what we read in the 10th verse. You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe. You will roll them up. Like a garment they will be chained. But you are the same, and your years will have no end." This is one of the key foundation stones when it comes to theology. It is simply this, our God who is the eternal creator, the Lord Jesus, the eternal sustainer. He is above and beyond all limitation of time and space. He is not part of this created order. It's what plagues so much of spirituality in Western civilization today, this idea that God is in us and among us and with us, part of our existence. No, He is not. He is other. He is the Creator. Everything else is the creature, and it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who has brought all things into existence, and the Lord Jesus Himself who sustains all things, because this God is above all time and space. James puts it beautifully, one of my favorite verses in the Bible. He tells us that every good and perfect gift It comes from above, from the Father of Lights. It's tricky, get your mind around it. From the Father of Lights, in whom there is no variation nor shadow due to change. It sounds like gibberish. It's actually very straightforward. He's pointing us to our cosmos. And He's forcing us to look at the moon and the sun and the stars and to recognize that all of these heavenly bodies are in a constant state of flux. And we experience shadows on the earth, don't we? Night and day being the most obvious ones. And so we are part of a created order that is constantly changing, constantly shifting, absolutely mutable. But every good and perfect gift comes from above. from whom the Father of these lights, in whom there is no variation nor shadow due to change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There are no processes outside of Him that cause Him to change, and there are no processes active within Him that cause Him to change. He is the great, eternal, immutable I AM. Oh, can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? Friends, there is a reason to marvel at the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you like to know someone who is powerful enough to create this entire universe? Would you like to know someone who upholds the entire cosmos? by the word of His power. He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the waters in His thick clouds. He covers the face of the full moon. He has inscribed the boundary between light and darkness. Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways. And how small a whisper do we hear of Him. We are called to marvel at the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, how many down? Let's see if you're paying attention. That's two. Here we go. Number three. Christ made purification for sins. So back with me then to the third verse. He is the radiance of the glory of God. exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the Word of His power after making purification for sins. For us to get our minds around this, focus in on three Ps. The first P is this, there is a problem, folks. It's the elephant in the room. There is a problem. We are by nature sinners. He has made purification for something. He has made purification for our sins. Yes, sins, that which we do, transgresses, trespasses, our failure to obey God, our failure to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But it's even far more basic, fundamental than that. Sin is simply this power that moves in our mind, heart, and will. It is this basic operating principle which Scripture calls self-love, which I like to call simply being a selfaholic. We are absorbed with ourselves and it corrupts absolutely everything we think, we say, and we do. Even those things that we think and say and do that are right. good in and of themselves, perfectly acceptable in society, but unacceptable in the sight of God because they arise from a polluted fountain. We have a basic fundamental problem that corrupts everything about us. So there you are out on the highway, I don't know, pick one around here, and you're just minding your own business. There you are driving along and you take your hands off the wheel for a moment. Just stay with me. Don't do that, but you take your hands off the wheel for a moment. And suddenly your car, your truck begins to go to the right. What's wrong? Your alignment's off, right? Your wheels need to be realigned. That's us. Our alignment is off big time. We always go one direction. We always, always, always gravitate to self-love. And because of this basic governing principle, the flesh, Scripture calls it, we are condemned in the sight of God, ruined in the sight of God. And so you imagine, for example, there in my home in Granbury, I have a famous priceless painting by Rembrandt or some famous artist like that. I can only name two or three artists, so Rembrandt will say. And there it is proudly displayed on my living room wall. And on a Friday evening, I have a number of friends over, and while my back is turned, one of my so-called friends takes out a pen and begins to scribble all over that priceless painting. And I walk into the room and I'm simply aghast, floored, scandalized. He sees the displeasure on my face. He says, hang on, I can fix it. And he runs over to the magazine stand, pulls out a magazine, rips out a couple of pages, gets some glue and sticks them onto the painting and then turns to me, look, it's as good as new. Is it as good as new? It's ruined. My friends, we're ruined. There's no fixing us. It's not about just picking yourself up by your bootstraps, trying your best, putting your best foot forward, and just trying to be the best guy, best gal you possibly can be. We are ruined in the sight of God. And there is but one help for those who are ruined. That's the first P, right? The problem. The second P is simply this. The person, the Lord Jesus Christ, The eternal Lamb of God. And what has He done? Here's the third P. He has made purification. That when the Lord Jesus Christ hung upon Calvary's cross, suspended between heaven and earth, He experienced two eclipses. There was an external eclipse enveloped by the darkness. It pointed to a far greater reality and torment of the soul and internal darkness. When He experienced what? His own forsaken of his father, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And there we see the Lord Jesus Christ himself becoming sin for us, becoming a curse for us, bearing the wrath of God for us. Why? As an example? No. Simply to tell us how special we are? No. To make purification for sins. that He might cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that He might remove the guilt of sin, that He might remove the defilement of sin, that we might be able to sing, my sin, O the bliss, you know this one, my sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross. I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. If that doesn't make you marvel, friend, I don't know what will. Right there that the Lord Jesus Christ has made purification for our sins. This is a reason to marvel at Christ. Would you like to know someone who can deal with your sin? Would you like to know someone who can offer you forgiveness? Would you like to know someone who can extend to you peace of mind, assurance of salvation? Oh, then listen to him. Turn to me and be saved. All the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other." When I was a boy, I grew up in a church where we basically depended on itinerant preachers. And so sometimes you'd hear the same sermon illustrations. Sometimes you'd hear the same sermon, but I won't go there. Sometimes you'd hear the same sermon illustrations, and there was one I heard a few times, and it really gripped me as a young boy, and it has stayed with me ever since. It's this story told of a young man grows up, a loving home. His mom and dad lavish everything upon him and love him the best they can. And he goes without any need, without any want. But as he hits those ten years, he just kind of grows embittered and hardened towards his mom and dad. And the relationship becomes frayed, the relationship becomes tense, words regularly exchange until finally in a moment of rage, this young man bursts out the front door, slams it behind him and screams at the top of his lungs, I'm done with you, I never want to see you again. And off he travels on a train halfway across the continent, and he indulges in a debauched lifestyle, just gives himself over wholly to sin. And yet the years slowly pass by, no remembrance of home, no interest in what was going on back there, completely forgotten, out of his mind's eye. But as the years passed on, suddenly these cracks began to form, take shape in his heart. And there was this discernible longing for home. And a desire to make things right with his parents. But fearing he had burned all of his bridges, he said, there's no way back. There's no way I can make things right. There's no way I can atone for what I've done. And so he just repressed it and ignored it. More time passed by, the cracks widened, sleepless nights frayed nerves and this longing for home. So finally he took pen in hand and jotted off a few words and a letter to his mom and dad back home and basically told them, look mom, dad, I'm going to be on the train on such and such a day. And the train passes right by the back of the house. And he says, I don't expect you want anything to do with me, but if you could find it in your hearts to forgive me, just hang a dishcloth from the old clothesline. That's all. There's nothing there. I'll stay on the train. I'll just keep going. The appointed day arrived, he boarded the train, crossed the continent, and as he switched trains, finally got on the one that would pass by his boyhood, childhood home, nervous, his palms sweating, his heart pounding, his head aching as he anticipated passing by the yard. And as he sat there with his head in his hands, thinking on the last time he had seen his mom and dad, overwhelmed with a sense of his guilt and a sense of foreboding, hardly daring to look as he knew he was now passing the yard. Finally, he took a peek through the fingers of his hand, and there to his wonder and astonishment, what did he behold? The whole clothesline was covered with dishcloths. Every tree in the yard covered with dishcloths. The old swing set still there, rusting in the yard, covered with dishcloths. The barn, the shed, dishcloths. The eaves trough, the chimney, dishcloths. The windowsills, dishcloths, all proclaiming one simple, clear message. Son, just come home. That's our God, folks. Do we understand that? That is our God. You say to yourself, well, how do you know that? I know that because of Calvary's cross, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and He has made purification for sins. Oh, what a reason to marvel at the Lord Jesus. Here we go now, number four, moving on. Back to our verse, verse three. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. That was number one. He upholds the universe by the word of His power, that was number two. After making purification for sins, that was number three. Here now is number four. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Now, the grammar in the original language is fascinating in these verses. There is only one subject, Christ, and there is actually only one main verb, He sat down. We could literally translate the verses as follows. Christ, being the radiance of God's glory, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Christ, being the exact imprint of God's nature, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Christ upholding all things by the word of His power. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Christ, having made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." That statement, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, is the central thought in the verses. Isn't that fascinating? Why? Because it communicates something to us, friends. What does it hint of? He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Completion? What else comes to mind? Perfection? Certainty? Exaltation? Assurance? All of it packed into this very simple statement. And then the Apostle expands on it, he elaborates on it, firstly in verses 8 and 9, where he quotes from Psalm 45. But of the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." And even further, he expands on it in verse 13, quoting from Psalm 110, and to which of the angels has God ever said, sit at my right hand? until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." The Lord Jesus Christ rules over all things. He reigns over the devil. He reigns over all human governments. He reigns over wars and terrorism. He reigns over the weather. He reigns over heart attacks. He reigns over cancer and every other ailment. He reigns over all things. He reigns right now and he reigns forevermore because the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, has been installed in majesty at the right hand of the Father. Christ, this is a reason to marvel at him. Would you like to know the King of the universe? Would you like to have the Lord Jesus, the King of the universe, ruling and reigning over all things for your eternal good? Do you want the assurance that nothing can separate you from God's love? Do you want conclusive evidence that your sins really are put away? Look at the Lord Jesus. Look at Lord Jesus who sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. That is a fourth reason to marvel. And quickly now the fifth reason. It brings us into verse four. Look at what he says there. as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs." And this is a thought that captures the apostle's attention right from verse 5 through to the end of the chapter. And so look at the question he asks in the fifth verse. This question, it's the same question, it serves as bookends, if you like, around the entire text. You have it there in verse 5, for to which of the angels did God ever say? And then you have it again in verse 13, to which of the angels has he ever said? And in between then you have this contrast, if you like, between the angels on the one hand and the Lord Jesus on the other. And the apostle is proving and demonstrating beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Lord Jesus, surpasses in worth and excellence and majesty than the angels. Because when we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are speaking of God Himself, and even the angels are commanded to worship Him. And here we see His supremacy, here we see His superiority, here we see His surpassing excellence. That the Lord Jesus Christ is superior not only to the angels, He's superior to all your enemy, superior to the world, superior to the devil, superior to the flesh. He's superior to all your fears. There's something that keeps you awake at night. I guarantee it right now, Christ reigns supreme over it. He's superior to all your problems, parental, marital, financial. And He is superior to all your sins. God's acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ guarantees God's acceptance of me. He receives me because He receives Christ. He welcomes me because He welcomes Christ. He is well pleased with me because He is well pleased with Christ. Oh, to marvel at the Lord Jesus. And to marvel at His surpassing greatness and goodness. Whereby He becomes the all-encompassing impulse of our lives. I end with this. There was a veteran of the war of 1812. A long time ago now, sad to say, on the wrong side of that war, from your vantage point here in the United States, on the right side of the war, if you are British, he was decommissioned from his naval responsibilities at the end of the War of 1812. His name was Alan Gardner, and he went off as a missionary. And he served firstly in Southern Africa among unreached people's groups. And then he moved from there to South America and targeted the islands off the most southern tip of South America, seeking to reach unreached people's groups with the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus. Sadly, on one occasion, he and several companions, they were shipwrecked on an island No one on the island. They did not have the provisions for a prolonged stay. They could not sustain themselves on the island. And slowly, one by one, over a passage of some months, they slowly starved to death. Eventually, some time later, I think it was a year, a search party finally discovered them. And they came across the body of Alan Gardner on the beach beside one of the boats. And there was his journal right there beside him. And they flipped open the pages to the last entry where they read the following. I am overwhelmed by a sense of God's goodness. I am overwhelmed by a sense of God's goodness. How could a man say such a thing? Because there was a man who marveled at the Lord Jesus Christ and marveled at the grace of God toward him in and through Christ Jesus. Oh, may the Lord give us but an inkling of that. May He reveal His glory to us in the face of Christ, and may we see His surpassing excellences, and may our hearts be drawn out to Him in greater love, greater service, greater faithfulness, for our good and ultimately for His glory. Our Father, this we do pray, this we do ask, this we do plead of You. As we have opened Your Word, as we have heard it, as we have unpacked it, we pray that by Your Spirit You might apply it. and truly you would be glorified in us as Christ is formed in us. May it be for the furtherance of your kingdom in our lives among us and through us, and again may it be for the glory of your name. We ask it of you in that name that is above every name, that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.