It's good to be back in God's house this morning, and I ask that you would continue to pray that God would be with us this morning, that the Word may minister to your hearts, that it may bring forth fruit and grace from each word that is spoken. If you have your Bibles, please turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. The prophets have 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. Verse 10 And thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest, and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." The book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians. A group of struggling Jewish Christians. Maybe some of these Christians had been there in the time of Christ. And maybe they had even witnessed His death. Maybe they had witnessed some of His miracles. Maybe they had witnessed the resurrection. Maybe they had seen the glorified body of Jesus Christ. And they had seen the holes in His hands. They had seen the piercing through His side. They had witnessed Jesus Christ. Like so many others who witnessed Christ, they saw Him not with just only the natural eye, but also God had given them faith, and they believed in Jesus Christ. And they knew not just from their head, they knew in their hearts that this is the true Messiah. For all these centuries, for all these generations, our forefathers have looked for the Messiah, and finally He has come, and His name is Jesus of Nazareth, and He has died, and He has risen again, and now He sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high. And oh, what an exciting time that must have been to see the glorified Savior, to see Jesus Christ walking among people on earth. But now a few years have passed and Christ is gone. And they don't have the experience of seeing Christ and walking with Christ and seeing the things that Christ did and hearing His teaching and hearing His wisdom. They don't have the privilege of having that anymore. And it's not quite as exciting anymore. And times have grown difficult. And although the gospel spread in some amazing ways, along with the gospel being spread was intense persecution. As much as the gospel spread, the obstacles increased. For every time they would try to go and preach, there would be someone standing in their path trying to stop them. People like Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughters, and his main motivation, his one desire was to destroy Christians. Because if he could destroy Christians, he would destroy Christ. He couldn't do it, could he? Because as long as the hearts are changed, as long as life is given, as long as Jesus speaks the Word of Life into the heart of a dead soul, the story of Christ will go on. It won't stop. But it got difficult. You're in a community with other Jews. People who you are friends with. but they haven't been given the gift of faith. And although they believe there will be a Messiah, and they believe in the Messiah, they don't think that the Messiah was this One called Jesus of Nazareth. And you've changed since you believed in Jesus. You've changed. The things you do have changed. The same sacrifices you used to make, you're not making those anymore. You're not living according to the law to please God anymore. Things have changed. You live a life of faith in Jesus Christ now, and they don't like it. They don't like it at all. Maybe you walk into a grocery store and you see a person who you went to school with, the grocer, and you grew up with, and your children have fled together, and you walk in the door to buy groceries and he says, I'm sorry, we don't serve your kind. We don't serve you. What pain, what trouble they must have experienced as they experienced being ostracized, as they experienced persecution. as they experienced criticism. Maybe members of the same family, they gather for a meal, and yet one family member refuses to sit with the other family member because that family member has embraced Christ and said that he is a messiah and is infidel. They've embraced him and said, we can't eat dinner with you. I'm sorry. And so the pressure was great upon the Hebrew Christians, upon these people that the writer writes to. The pressure was great. The pressure was intense. To what? To compromise. To compromise. Yes, you can still serve Jesus. We can still believe in Jesus as all of us are going through their minds. But let's keep it on the hush hush. Let's not make it so evident. We could just get along much better in our community if we would just not be so outward and manifest with our worship of Jesus. We can have Jesus, but maybe we'll go ahead and participate in the ceremonial law too. Maybe we'll participate in the synagogue. Maybe we'll participate in the Jewish customs as well. The pressure must have been great to do that. The pressure must have been great also, not just to compromise, but just to turn completely from the faith. And so the writer of Hebrews writes this book to establish the superiority of Jesus Christ over everything else. He goes through the story of Moses, the great one they look to. The great hero, the one who had led them out of captivity, the one who had led them out of bondage, their great hero, Moses. And he shows how Christ is superior over Moses. How Christ is superior over the angels. How Christ is superior over Joshua. How Christ is superior over Abraham. How Christ is superior over everything. In an effort to fortify their faith. In an effort to get them to not compromise. In an effort to get them to not turn away. In an effort to get them to see Christ and through Christ to have boldness. To live and live victoriously. You say, well, this is a story to the Hebrews. This is a story to people who lived a long time ago. We're not in that same culture anymore. We don't have the same customs anymore. We don't have the same pressure anymore. My friends, the message to the American church is the exact same message. It's the exact same situation. The pressure is great. Maybe you only feel it yourself, but the pressure is great to compromise. And we see compromised lives all the time throughout Christendom. Well, let's look at these first few verses of Hebrews and see how God paints Christ as superior to everything else. And I pray that this will not just be an exercise. You say, well, of course, we know that Jesus is superior to everything else. We know He's God. We know He's the God-man. We know He's the one that sits on high. But let me tell you, my friends, let this be not just an exercise where we establish Christ as being superior. Some of you say, we believe in a superior God. But let this ring in your heart that you may see Christ as more lovely, Christ as more capable. Christ is more desirable than anything else that tempts you and that tries you and that gets you to turn aside in your life. He says here in verse 1, that God who at sundry times and in daubers manners spake in time past unto the fathers of the prophets. Just think about one phrase there that says that God spake. That's pretty incredible just in its own light. God speaks. The great God of heaven. The great God who is a self-existent One. The great God who needs nothing. Who has all. He deigns. He condescends. In Psalm 113 it says that God condescends. He humbles Himself. to behold the things that are in the earth." That's not all it says, though. It says that God humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and that are in the earth. My friends, Christianity, the worship of God, the revelation of God, how we live, is not just a set of principles. It's not just a set of standards. It's not just an impersonal set of things that we do to please some impersonal God. but it says here that God speaks. The Holy God of Heaven speaks to His people. How humbling is that? And in diverse manners and in so many ways, a long time ago, before Christ came, God spake to the fathers by the prophets. It's wonderful to turn to the Old Testament and see the many diverse manners and the many different ways that God would speak to His people. Remember the story of the burning bush when Moses saw the burning bush? And God said, Moses, take off your shoes from your feet, for the ground whereon you stand is holy ground. God reveals a little bit of Himself there in that story, doesn't He? In the story of the burning bush, God shows that He is a holy God. Think of the story of the plagues and the exodus from Egypt. God speaks through the flies. God speaks to the lies. God speaks to the angel of death, saying that I will not put up with sin. I will not put up with stubbornness. I will not put up with those who reject me. And I will deliver my people. See, the faithful God, faithful to His promises, faithful to faithfully delivering. God spake in many different ways, wonderful ways. But it was in bits. It was in pieces. It was at sundry times. It wasn't a constant revelation. He was revealing Himself little by little, piece by piece, fragment by fragment. And there were wonderful ways that He did it, but it was still only in bits and pieces. They didn't see the full revelation of God. God would speak to the prophets, men like Isaiah. We see the beautiful prophecies of Christ, where He would reveal Himself to the prophets. He would be called the Wonderful. He would be called the Counselor. He would be called the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Beautiful language that is, but again, only in bits and pieces. He will be the rejected servant. He will be the suffering servant. He will be bruised for our iniquities. He will be wounded for our iniquities. He will be bruised for our diseases. By his stripes we will be healed. Oh, it's a great hero coming to the scene, but still only in bits and pieces. The prophets could only tell what they were told. They didn't fully understand even what they were saying. Only tell what they were told. It says that God has spoken in diverse manners and in sundry times to us through the prophets. Then it says this, but now He has spoken in another way. He hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. Usually when we hear the term, the last days, it makes us a little bit discouraged, a little bit depressed. We see all the sin in the world and all the iniquity that seems to abound and abound. And the verse says, where iniquity abounds, the love of many shall wax cold. We see terrorism and we see evil and we see evil man-fishing itself with much more boldness all the time. I think the last days were a scary time, but we're in the last days, a time when evil seems to wax worse and worse. My friends, this verse paints the last days in a different light. The last days here are spoken of as the time of Christ. This is a glorious time. My friends, you and I live in a glorious day. We live in a day when God has revealed Himself to us in the fullest way through His Son. The Old Testament time was a wonderful time. It was a great time. But I will tell you, you live in a better time today. There is more reason for you to live a life of faithfulness. There is more reason for you to live a life of confidence in Christ. There is more reason for you to live a life drawing near to God Almighty, because you have seen something that the Old Testament people had never seen and could never see. These people hadn't seen the promises, but they died in faith. What will you be? What will you do? This is a glorious time. You live in a glorious time. Be encouraged. You live in a good day, because this is the time of Christ, when Christ has been revealed. God has spoken unto us in these last days by his son. I might want to know something about Brother Jimmy. And so I asked Brother Jimmy's neighbor, what kind of a man is Brother Jimmy? He would say, well, he seems to be a pretty decent fellow. Seems like he goes to work every day and he leaves at the same time, so he must be a punctual person. And he comes home every night, so he's not out gallivanting with his buddies. And he goes to church, so that's him in a suit and a tie on Sunday mornings. And he keeps his yard in pretty good condition, so he's a pretty good fellow. And I might see a little glimpse of Brother Jimmy through his neighbor, but if I want to really know something about Brother Jimmy, wouldn't I be better off to ask his son, Daniel, what's your dad like? He would say, let me tell you something. Every night he gives me a hug and he tells me that he loves me twice as much. And every day he gets up even when he's tired and he goes to work because he wants to provide for my mother and provide for me. And when I'm hurting, when I'm crying, when I fall down, He picks me up. And when I do wrong, He's faithful to spank me because He loves me and wants the very best for me. If I want the best for me, where do I go? I go to someone who is close to Him. I go to His Son. My friends, the prophets could say, this is what He said, so we'll write it down. His Son can say, this is what I know, because I know my Father. In these last days, He has spoken unto us by His Son, the messenger that knows all, because He has an intimate relationship, an intimate knowledge, a perfect knowledge of His Father. You live in a good day. He has spoken unto us by His Son. And Jesus Christ says in John 15, I think verse 24, somewhere in there, He says that all that the Father has shown me have I made known unto you. Everything that you need to know about God, you see it within Jesus Christ. He's made it all known unto you. Well, Jesus Christ is not only the messenger, but He is also the message. He's the messenger and He is also the message. When He's revealing God, He is revealing what? He is revealing Himself. God has spoken unto us in these last days by His Son. And then in these next two verses, he lists seven traits about Christ that make Christ superior to everything else. I love how God does this. Remember now, he's speaking to struggling Christians, people who are wavering in the faith, people who may have already slipped somewhat, who may have already had episodes where they knew that they were ashamed of Christ. And yet, although they had great grief about it, the next day they were ashamed of Christ again because of the pressure, the outside pressure of the worldly influence and the community influence and maybe even the family influence. And so how does the writer, inspired by God, how does he work to motivate them, to encourage them to turn their eyes back to Jesus Christ? Well, it makes me think of a time that I played a game with my children. It was a silly little game called Chutes and Ladders. It's a board, if you've never seen it, it's a board that has numbers 1 through 100 written on there, and the goal is to get from 1 all the way to 100. There's a little spinning wheel that you spin, and if it lands on 5, you get to move 5 spaces. If it lands on 3, you move 3 spaces. And you try to work your way up the board. It's a rather dull little game sometimes. There's ladders that, if you land on a ladder, the bottom of a ladder, you can go all the way up to the top of the ladder. If you land on the top of the chute, you go all the way down the bottom of the chute, back to where you started at. And so sometimes it's kind of frustrating. And in this game, Scarlett and Sophia, they're quite competitive. And Scarlett was just, she was having absolute perfect success. Every time she needed a three, she would get a three. If she needed a five, she would get a five. And she was making up her way steadily up the board. Sophia was the exact opposite. Every time she needed a three, she would get a two. And she would go right back down the chute. And she could not win for anything. And Scarlett was getting all over the board. And Scarlett was on about number 84. And Sophia was down about number two again. Finally Sophia landed on that. I think it's number 11 and number 11 Has a ladder that goes all the way up from 11 I think it is all the way up to number 9 or something like that and Sophia landed on 11 and here she goes at 90 She is past scarlet and she's almost certain of victory and she can't contain her excitement And she says, ha, ha, ha, Scarlett, I'm going to beat you. She had been full of tears and not tears, but she'd been full of just a dour expression on her face the whole time. And now she's finally so excited and she just holds it and says, ha, ha, ha, I'm going to beat you. And I said, Sophia, don't do that. I said, Sophie, if you don't do that, if you keep acting in that way, I know what's going to happen. You're going to land on that chute that next one over and you're going to go all the way back down. And then I thought about what I said. I thought, what am I telling her? It's not that you don't want to do it for the consequences that you might get. It's that you don't want to do it because it's not the right thing to do. And you want to do the right thing. You want to love your sister and be sweet to your sister. God could have told us, listen, don't turn from me. Don't compromise because of the consequences. Although sometimes He does that. And there are consequences. And you know what He says here? He says, don't turn from me because of how great my Son is. Don't turn from me because of how awesome my Son is and how glorious my Son is and how much more desirable my Son is if you can only see the right comparison and the right light. And so he puts before us seven beautiful, glorious traits of Christ that make Christ more excellent than everything else in all the world. After these last days spoken to us by His Son, I'm going to remove my coat if you don't mind. I'll feel at home that way. The first trait, he says, is whom he hath appointed the heir of all things. Whom he hath appointed the heir of all things. This speaks of Christ and His role as the Son of God, where He voluntarily submitted Himself to the Father and came down to earth to pay for sin in the flesh. And as a reward for His voluntary humiliation, God has appointed him as the heir of all things. He says in Matthew 28, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. In Psalm 2, he says it this way. He says in Psalm 2, verse 7, I will declare the decree. Oh, let's read verse 6. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou art my Son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. It all belongs to Christ. Everything, earth, heaven, sea, it all belongs to Him. For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. My friends, because Christ is the heir of all things, He is superior to everything else. He is excellent above everything else. But let me tell you, it's not just possessions. It's not just things. It's not just tangible things that have been given to Christ. He's the heir that He is the heir of. He is the heir of the unfolding of all of history. All of history is for what? It was for Christ. Let's just think about a few events in history. Think about the man Pharaoh. Pharaoh, he wanted those Israelites, he wanted those children of Israel because he could make some money off those people. If he could work them and he would stay subservient to him, they would produce great things for him. He would be a great ruler. And yet, when they began to turn, it made him angry because his empire was at stake. He would get scared that they would overtake him and he would no longer be in charge. And so you know the story of Pharaoh and the bondage and the cruelty and the heaviness that he wreaked upon the children of Israel. What a mean, horrible person. What an evil person. And you know what it says in Romans 9? It says in Romans 9 of Pharaoh, God speaking to Pharaoh, for the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, verse 17, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Why was Pharaoh raised up so he could be a great ruler? No, he was raised up, my friends, so that the name of God might be declared throughout all the earth and that the power of God might be shown in Pharaoh. Oh, what a beautiful thing. All things are for Christ. And so today, even today, we rejoice. Our children rejoice to read about it. We rejoice to read that. Oh, that as God split the Red Sea and they went across on dry ground and Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the mist. All things. or for Christ, His power, His name still spread abroad throughout the earth because of Pharaoh. Alexander the Great, he was going to be the great ruler, the great conqueror. He had conquered all the known world. He was an ambitious fellow, conquering, cruel fellow. What did he do though? He spread the language of Greek. And guess what? Guess what? That's the language that our New Testament is written in. He had no intentions of working for Christ. He had no intentions of helping Christ. His intentions were purely selfish. I'll make my name great. What happened? He was just working on behalf of Christ. The Polish Romano, the peace of Rome, where Rome ruled all the world. Making a way where you could freely move from place to place and drive from place to place. Building, this expression says, all roads lead to Rome. Building a highway system. Building a way where people could move and traverse about. What? For the glory of Rome. No, for the glory of God. So that the men of God, Paul and Peter and these evangelists could go and spread the gospel throughout all the world. Telling people about Jesus Christ. Again, all things for Christ. Herod says, I hear there's a king of the Jews and he was jealous. This baby that had been born had been called King of the Jews. He thought, oh no, if this is really a king, he will turn the Jews away from me and we will have a divided kingdom and they may overcome me. And he's jealous and he says, I want every male child under two years old, I want them to be killed. So what happens? Joseph and Mary and Jesus go to Egypt. Herod is working against Christ, right? His one goal is to destroy this one called the King of the Jews, right? That's not what the Scripture says. The Scripture says the reason he did that was so that he could be fulfilled the prophecy which said, out of Egypt shall he come. Caesar thinks, you know what? I need some more money. If I had some more money, I could have built some greater things. So Caesar makes a decree that there should be a tax go throughout all the world. Wow, so Caesar could get more money so he could get richer? That's what he thought, but not really. Why did He go? Why did He make the decree? So that Jesus could be born from Bethlehem, so that the prophecy again would be fulfilled, that He would come out of Bethlehem of Ephrathah. All things for Jesus Christ. Head and Pontius Pilate. Enemies, and yet they became friends for one goal. To destroy Christ. Right? To destroy Christ. To hurt Christ. To foil Christ. to stop the name of this One called Jesus of Nazareth. They will destroy Him. They will defeat Him. They will defeat Him if they can only kill Him. Right? Herod, Pilate wants to please the people. Herod, an evil man. And so they meet together and they agree together to destroy, to defeat this One called Christ. But is that what happened? Not at all. In Acts 4, the preacher says, Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why do the heathen rage? Why were these Jews so angry? Why was Herod so angry? Why did Pilate agree to kill Christ? It was clear that Barabbas was the one that should have been taken. It was clear that Barabbas was the evil one. Christ was the innocent one. It was clear. Why were the heathen raised then? Why do people imagine these vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. For the truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both head and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to defeat Christ." Right? That's not what it says. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. It was just played into Christ's hands. They had no idea. Their goal was to defeat Christ. What did they do? They glorified Christ by fulfilling what God had determined before to be done, and Christ would come as a lamb slain, and the sins of His people would be placed upon Christ, and He would be glorified by carrying the sins of His people away from them, paid for, and He would be able to bring His possession back and present them before the Father saying, Behold, I am the children which thou hast given Me. All things For Christ, he's the heir of all things. He's excellent, my friends. The second phrase that he gives, by whom also he made the worlds, it says of Christ that by him all things consist. All things were made by him and for him, it says in Colossians 1 verse 16. He made the worlds. This presents Christ, His excellence, His brilliance, His brilliance and wisdom as the great designer and the creator of all the world. This establishes the deity of Christ. Let me tell you, my friends, only God, only God can create. Only God has the power to create. We can mess up things. We can build things. We can put things together. But we cannot create, can we? Only God can create. And there's two things that always happen when you think about creation. When you acknowledge the Creator, there's two things that always happen. It tells us what happened in Psalm 8. It says, When I consider thy heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained. When you really consider those things, consider their majesty, consider their beauty, consider their consistency, consider their glory. But if you consider the heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon, the stars, which thou hast ordained, two things happen, right? The first thing that happens is you say, what is man? What is man that thou art mindful of him? You're humbled before the excellency and the glory of Christ. And the second thing that happens is this, you utter, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. Christ is established as being superior by his role. as a Creator of all the worlds. In Psalm 19, it says it this way, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Listen to these next words. Day into day uttereth speech, and night into night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words are the end of the world. In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun. Let me tell you something, my friends. I can't go to China and tell people by myself about the glory of God. By the same token, a Chinese man can't come to me and tell me about the glory of God. Do you know why? I don't speak Chinese. He doesn't speak English. I can't go to Africa. I can't go anywhere and by myself without an interpreter tell people about the glory of God, about the excellency of God, about the design, the brilliance and the wisdom of God. You know what, though? I don't need to. I'm not saying I don't need to spread the gospel. But I'm telling you this. It says here that every single day, day into day and night into night, the creation screams out to people in any language. There is no speech. There is no language where the voice of the excellency and the glory of God is not heard. You say, I didn't know. My friends, look at the hour. Look at the creation, look at the water that's always there, look at the sun that always rises, look at the rain that always comes, look at the seasons, look at the times, look at the sustenance of life. There is no speech, there is no language where the voice of the excellency of the glory of God is not proclaimed, the heavens declare it, and the earth showeth forth his handiwork. By the way, I am not saying I don't need to go to China. I need to go to China and spread the gospel. I need to find me an interpreter or learn the language, but I'm telling you the excellence of God, the glory of God is shown through creation. He's the creator of all the world. Number three, it says, who being the brightness, who being the brightness of His glory. The sun is the brightness of the glory of God. Look at the sun outside, and you cannot distinguish the essence of the sun from its brightness, can you? When you see the sun, what do you see? You see its brightness. And although the sun and its brightness are distinct, yet all you can really see is the brightness. You see, the glory of the sun is the brightness of the sun, right? The glory of the sun is the brightness of the sun. Distinct things, but you still see, when you see the sun, you notice the brightness. Of Christ it is said, He is the brightness of the glory of God. What is glory? Glory is value. Glory speaks of value. How valuable is God? And it says the Son, Jesus Christ, reveals the value. He reveals the excellency of God. The brightness of the glory is like saying He is the excellency of the excellency. The glory of God is all the straits together that show His full and complete value. We sang the song last night, The Love of God. We all know that third verse. Could we with ink the ocean fill? And were the skies of parchment made? Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade? to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky." What is that person saying? He's saying if every single blade of grass was a pen, and every single drop of water, which is the earth, which is 97%, was ink, And every single person, not just in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, but every person in the whole world, in every generation, in every age, if there were one duty in life, was to sit down there and inscribe the love of God. He says there that it would drain the ocean. The scrolls wouldn't be able to contain the whole of it. The whole sky was a parchment. The scroll could not contain the whole of the love of God. And you think that was a very emotional person. Very sweet, but a little emotional. Very sweet, but a little bit of exaggeration there. Is that right? But that person was excited that day about the love of God. And so he wrote this, or she wrote this song, maybe overstated the case a little bit. Well, in Ephesians 3, listen to what it says in Ephesians 3. that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and the length, and the depth, and the height, and to know the love of Christ." They want you to be able to comprehend everything that you can. Everything that your puny mind can grasp, I want you to get it of the love of Christ. The height, the depth, the length, the breadth, I want you to get it of all the love of Christ. And then he says this, which passeth all knowledge. I want you to spend all of your years learning about the love of Christ, but you'll never learn it all because it's too much for your mind to comprehend. It's too much for your mind to contain. You can't do it. It's passive all knowledge. I tell you, that writer was not overstating the case. He had it right on target. But guess what? Guess what? The love of God is only one attribute of who God is. It's a wonderful attribute. But it's only one of many, many, many attributes. And if you get all those attributes together, there you see the value of God. And so it says Christ is the brightness of His glory. If you want to see the value of God, if you want to see the excellency of God, my friend, I tell you, place your eyes upon Jesus Christ. He is the glory. He is the value. He is the excellency of who God is. God says, look at my son. Look at my son. God said that because of the next phrase, which says, he is the express image of his person. He's the express image of his person. He exactly, perfectly expresses who God is. He is the imprint, he is the engraving of his person. I was trying to show my children this, trying to teach them about who God is and why it's hard to do. I don't even know who God is completely. And so I took one of those stamps, you know, that says your name and address. You put it in the ink and you stamp it there. The children in Christ is the express image of God. So let's take this stamp. So we put it in the ink and I pressed it on the paper. And every time it never came out right. Either I would push too hard on the left side and it would be more dark there. It never came out exactly like the stamp. Never did. Never worked. They got the point, I think, hopefully. It was kind of a long devotional. But hopefully they got the point. But I never could get it exactly right. But God says, My son is the express image of who I am. In the Ten Commandments, God says, Thou shalt make no graven images. And I always thought, you know, that's talking about these bad people that worship false idols. They have Buddhas in these these just all kinds of false idols that we read about and we see. That's talking about those, and maybe that is talking about those, that's part of it. But I believe, my friends, that includes pictures of Christ, images of Christ. You know why? You know why I think he said that? It's because no matter If we do it in great sincerity and in great love for Christ, trying to conjure up in our minds and on a picture, what does Christ look like? You will never, ever, ever, never be able to capture the perfection of who God is. And God says there's only one thing, there's only one thing that can capture perfectly who I am. That's my Son. That's my son. So the reason that we don't make graven images, because we can't do it justice, we can't do God justice. Only Christ, only Christ, He and He alone can do God justice. And that's why God the Father would come down and speak from heaven, not just once, but twice, once at the baptism of Christ where He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is my Son. This is my Son. This is my Son. Look at Christ. If you want to see God, look at Jesus Christ. He reveals Christ to us in His Word, Christ came to earth, that we may be able to see who God is. My friends, it's a scary thing to see who God is. 1 Timothy 6 says this, He dwelleth in a light that no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be it power and glory or however it finishes up. He dwells in a light that no man can approach unto. He's the Holy God. Moses wanted to see the glory of God. God said, Moses, I'm going to have to hide you by the cliff of a rock. And I'm going to have to put my hands here. And when I walk by, you're going to glance at my underparts. It's a scary thing to see God. He's a holy God. My friend, you can see God. He's concealing himself, and yet he's revealing himself in the person of Jesus Christ. He's the express image of God. He is the image of the invisible God, it says in Colossians 1, verse 15. That's why Christ is superior. He's the express image of God. He's God. The next phrase, the fifth phrase, is upholding all things by the word of his power. Here's the One to whom has been given all things, including history. It's all being done for Him. Here's the One who created all things. His brilliance and His wisdom and His honor are just screaming out from all of creation. Here's the One who is the brightness, the value of the excellency of God, the glory of God. Here's the One who is the express image of the person of God. And this One is upholding all things. By the Word of His power, by His powerful Word, He is upholding all things. This speaks of not only sustaining all things, He is preserving all things. My friends, the reason that you are here today, the reason that you are still breathing, the reason that you are still existing, It's not by your great diet. It's not by the many vitamins you take. You exist because by Him all things consist. It is God that is preserving this world. It is God that is keeping this world. It is God that is sustaining this world. He is the one who sustains all. He sustains you. It's in Him we live. It's in Him we move. And it's in Him we have our being. So this speaks of His sustaining power. This also speaks of His governing power. God is in the business, Christ is in the business of governing over all. Praise God, my friends, that not just some tyrant, not just some crazy ruler, not just some dictator, not just some Herod, not just some Hitler, but the God of heaven and earth, the brightness and the glory of God is governing all things by the word of His power. In Matthew 24, He describes a very scary time when there's going to be trouble. And He says this, He says, Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Oh. You'll hear of wars. You'll hear of rumors of wars. And listen to the next words that he says. See that ye be not troubled. That verse doesn't go with that. It's talking about wars. What happens in wars? People die. The fathers don't come home. Brothers, young men don't come home. People die. Wars are horrible things. And he says to you that you be not troubled. Is this man crazy? Is he delusional? Has he lost his mind? Is he an angry and cruel, mean God? No, he's a God. The only person that can say that and we can rest in him and we can fully agree to not be troubled is if the good God is governing and ruling over all, upholding all things by the word of his power. He's excellent. He's superior because He's upholding all things by the word of His power. Two more. Then it says, when He had by Himself purged our sins. Why is Christ superior? Well, he's superior because he's the heir of all things. He's superior because he created the world. He's superior because all things are upheld by him. He's superior because he's the brightness of the glory of God. He's superior because he's the express image of God. But now all that glory that we just described, those five glorious, beautiful things, that great glory, guess what it does? It comes down to this sinful, stinky earth. The brightness of the glory of God. The express image of this person. This great, brilliant designer just spreading out the stars, tossing out the stars, creating, sculpting the mountains, digging out the oceans. This great, glorious God says He came down to earth. Don't turn there, we don't have time, but in 2 Chronicles 6, I have a bookmark. David is amazed. I'm sorry, I think it's Solomon speaking here, but regardless, he says, Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. Listen to this. Listen to the amazement in his voice. Listen to the awe in these words as they are dedicating the temple here. He says, But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house that I have built. Will God come and dwell with men on earth? Heaven can't contain Him. Will this glorious God come and dwell on earth? My friends, the story, the revealing of God in the person of Jesus Christ is that yes, God will and God did come down to earth. Not as I expected. Not to be this shining, glorious person. But came down to earth, my friends, to lay it all aside and to serve. To live a life of obedience, to live a life of subservience, to live a life of pain, to live a life of toil, to live a life of suffering, to live a life of persecution, to live a life of all these things for your sake, for your sake. For our sakes we are killed, it says. He was killed all the day long. It was by His wounds that we were healed. It was by His bruises. It was by His stripes that we have peace with God. It was because this glorious God, this glorious Christ, agreed, this superior One, agreed to come down to earth, not to shine, that He came down to die. In this story in Hebrews 1, we see the heights of glory and we see the lowest depths of abasement as He agrees to be abased. for you, if you are one of His, if you are a lover of Jesus Christ this morning. Oh, my friends, I love the words of our song, our hymn book, My Sin. My Sin, oh, the bliss of its glorious thought. My Sin. Do you mourn for sin today? Does sin bother you today? Is sin an abstract thing that happens, that just kind of happens? Sin happens. We hate it, but it just happens. It happens to other people a lot more than it happens to me, too. I think it happens a lot more to you right now and not much to me. But it says my sin or the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross. Well, who was on the cross? Who was on the cross was the glory of glory, the express image of the person of God, the brightness of the glory of God, stood upon the cross. I was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. So let's go ahead and compromise. Let's go ahead and just live life on Sundays and live life our way the rest of the week. Let's keep it on the hush-hush that we serve Jesus Christ. Let's not tell anybody about this. Praise the Lord, he says. Praise the Lord, O my soul. He can't keep silent when he's thinking about the depths of abasement that Christ submitted to. I love what it says here, when he had by himself purge our sins. My friends, he was the only one who would do it. And he was the only one who could do it. He had by himself purged our sins. Not by your might. At least think of all the good people in the Old Testament. People that are heroes. People like David. Well, he couldn't even live right. He sinned against Sheba. Think about Abraham. A great father of the faithful. But he gave up his wife under pressure. Think about the great leader Moses. struck to rock in anger. My friends, no one could. No one could. And if you could, would you? I might for my family, but I probably wouldn't for you. I wouldn't want to endure the wrath of God put upon me for people that are different than me. I couldn't. I wouldn't. My friends, Christ could and He did. He did. He's the only one who could. The blood of bulls and goats, they would paint a perfect picture, but they could not take away one sin. Yet Christ can take away all the sins of all of His people. What a beautiful, beautiful scene. My friends, He's superior. We look up at Him in awe for His glory that we spread about in the first five. But we must see Him as superior as well for His abasement for what He did for us upon the cross. He's the Excellency. When He had by Himself purged our sins, here's the seventh one, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. My friends, he is superior because he is at the right hand of the majesty on high. He is sat down. He is sat down. That's because of the finished work of what he came to do. It's because of the settled work of our sins being placed upon him. It's because of his majesty, of his glory, that he is sat down. He is the majestic one. He is the one that the seraphims cry, holy, holy, holy is the word God has host about. He is the one that they cry worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive honor and power and glory everlasting. He's the one we sing about. Because He is the Great God. And I love that last phrase. He is sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. That phrase, on high, is nowhere else used in the Scriptures. What it speaks of, it is the highest height. It is the most elevated position that could ever be attained or could ever even be conceived of. Did you hear that? He is sat down at the highest position that could ever even be conceived of. In closing, let's read the verses 10 through 12 quickly. And these verses describe the lifeblood of most Americans. Earth, things, the creation. God created the world and it was good, but it's cursed by sin and we have consumed it and we are consumed by it. These vexations describe the things that grab most of your attention, that grab most of our thoughts, that grab most of our fears, that grab most of our desires. Right here in the earth, the earthly, this is what consumes us most of the time. Things transit, things on earth. Listen to what it says about them. We just read seven beautiful, wonderful things. Listen to what it says about this thing that consume you, that you are most interested in most of the time if you are a typical American Christian. And thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens with the works of thy hands. They shall perish. But thou remainest. And they all shall wax old as duff and garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up. And they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." You buy that new, beautiful garment, that dress, that suit, and you wear it and you're so proud of it. But then you get down on your knees and you're carrying it like a horsey, and you rub a hole in the knee of your pants, and you throw it out. Give it to the goodwill. You throw it in the trash. You use it to check the oil in your car with. And it's no more. It's a vesture. You fold it up, put it in the drawer, and it's no longer used. And God says, Lord, I'm going to fold this thing up. It's going to perish. It's going to wax old. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. Listen to this. Therefore, because of the superiority of Christ over everything, 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 the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompensive reward. How in the world shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard them. My friends, there is no escaping if we neglect this great salvation. If we can see the glory of Christ and then turn and compromise and turn away, there is no escape. That's what he's saying. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. It's no comparison. Jesus wins in a landslide. He knocked the guy out in the first seconds of the first round. It's over. It's a skunk. It's done. He's superior. Now what will you do with him? May God bless you.