Hebrews chapter one this morning, Hebrews chapter one. From now until Christmas, we're kind of. Working our way through this wonderful book of Hebrews, we'll only get through a little bit and then starting in January, we'll begin in the Gospel of John, I can't wait. I'm looking forward to that. You say, why are you doing this? Well, I'm doing this just simply because I'm not quite ready to get into John. I'll be honest with you. It's huge. I'm continuing to study it and continue to get it. I do have it outlined and we're we're ready to go on that. I still some more background stuff that I want to look at as we begin to go bit by bit into the book of John. But I'm looking forward to that. So in the meantime, we're going to visit Hebrews this morning. Hebrews chapter one, we looked at last week. We took time to look at who it was that he was talking about. And it says in verse one, long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. We kind of camped out on that a little bit. But if I were to ask you this morning, just as a way of introduction, take out a piece of paper and a pen and write out all that you know about Jesus. Write out all that you know about Jesus. What would you write? I was in an ordination service or ordination questioning years ago, and one of the men there had kind of a known history that whenever he sat on an ordination council, he was one of the elders there, that he would ask this one question after we got through all of the massive theological ins and outs that that young man was supposed to know. I love this question, he would just look at him and say, so after all this, who is Jesus Christ? And, you know, we can learn a lot about him and really know nothing of him. And last week we saw that he's the word, he's the final word, and God spoke through And he spoke throughout the whole Old Testament through many different ways and through many different people, but all of them were merely a means to the end. They were all getting somewhere, they were all going from point A to point B, all the way to point Z. What is that point? Well, Jesus is that point. The end is the final word, Jesus himself. So it is very logical that we ask this question this morning. Then who really is this Jesus? Who really are you talking about, author of Hebrews? And there are many answers in this world that are floating around. And perhaps you would write maybe something like this this morning. There are several. We see in our world today that there is a religious Jesus. There is a religious Jesus. And perhaps this Jesus is the most popular. This is the one talked about perhaps in many churches today. He's a good man. Maybe even a prophet to some, he is the son of God, much like we are all sons of God. Others see him as a kind of guru who was wise and taught wonderful principles of how to live, how to be married, be kind, love people and reach out to the poor and needy and heal the sick. He is kind of an all size fits all kind of person and fits in just anywhere in the religious scene. You see this religious Jesus floating around in men's thinking, then there's the cultural Jesus, the cultural Jesus. He's the man upstairs, a kind uncle. who loves everyone and has a wonderful plan for their lives. He is a permissive God who wants us to have fun. Just don't hurt anyone and don't get hurt. He loves everyone, so he could never send anyone to hell. We don't know of that kind of Jesus in the cultural Jesus. Everyone always wins with this Jesus. And so there are no losers. With the cultural Jesus, we see him popping up in writings, in how people talk, how people actually live their lives. They love and they live for a cultural Jesus. And then there's the designer Jesus. It seems as though we have everything today, designer everything. We even have designer organic cereal. I saw some of that the other day. I'm like, what what does that mean? I don't I don't get exactly what that means. But this is the designer, Jesus. This is the kind of do it yourself, Jesus. And you conform to your ideals and your plans. He is a great thing to have because he is so flexible. If you don't like something, you simply deny it, pretend it doesn't exist or excuse it because the designer Jesus is always for what you like and how you design things. So be creative. Just kind of make it up as you go kind of living. We see a number of people who bought into the designer Jesus and then perhaps most unfortunate. Depending on how you look at it, there's the American Jesus. The American Jesus, one writer, a fellow by the name of David Platt, writes this in his in his book that's just recently been published. This American Jesus is a nice middle class American Jesus, a Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and would never call us to give away everything that we have. He's a Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all of our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts because, after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream. Convicting, isn't it? And for some, this is the Jesus that you serve. So which is the Jesus that the book of Hebrews is dealing with? Who is this word? Who really is Jesus? An improper understanding and view of Christ's person and work undermines the entire system of the gospel. If you don't have Jesus right, You will not have the gospel. Spiritual growth and Christian discipleship has its basis in a proper understanding of who Jesus Christ is. One writer writes this, true worship derives from a proper view of God's glorious, atoning grace in Christ. And the more superficial we are in dealing with this, the more superficial we will be in our worship. That, my friend, is so very true. Everything goes then back to our view of Jesus Christ. Well, then let's understand who Jesus is. Notice with me this morning that according to our writer of Hebrews, the people who were getting persecuted for living for this Jesus, people who were losing their lives and losing loved ones and getting injured. Yes. Actually giving their lives for this Jesus, he wanted to remind them exactly who he is. And so the first thing that we see is in the second part of verse two, that he is the great inheritor and creator. Notice what he says here. But in the last days, as he has spoken, verse two, by his son. Whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world. Jesus is God's son. We all know that, and as such, he then is appointed the heir of all things. It is reported in history that when kings and rulers wish to honor someone and exalt them to a very lofty position, they would often offer up perhaps one half of their kingdom and would give it back to them to that person in order to honor them. And you catch a little glimpse of this in the life of Joseph. Remember that story with me just briefly for a moment. He was a young man in prison who was able to explain the dreams of Pharaoh when no one else could. And what is he rewarded with? Genesis 41, verse 41, Pharaoh gave him all of Egypt. Did you take everything and you run everything? So when God speaks of Christ there as the heir of all things, these Hebrew people would understand exactly what he's talking about. And when God speaks of Christ as the heir, it is a statement not just of relationship. It's not just an indication that he was God's son, but that God was demonstrating the honor that was due him. He was speaking of great honor. And the immense scope of Christ's inheritance comes from two functions from which Christ lived out. First of all, in this verse that we see that Christ is the creator. He's the creator. Now, what's interesting here is creator of the universe. He sits as natural heir to all things. Everything belongs to him as creator of the universe. But usually I'll think with me for a moment, usually if there's an inheritance, the one getting the inheritance is not the one that's created it. Right. In fact, that is one of the things that Solomon is frustrated by, if you remember, in Ecclesiastes, he says that a man works his whole life and then he gives his inheritance to someone who didn't work for it. Seems odd, doesn't it? But Christ, who is the creator, is also the heir. But this Christ is not just anyone. And we know from many scriptures that this indeed is true. John 1 3. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. All things were made by him and through him. Christ was and is the creator, the creator God. A beautiful picture of who he is. Everything in the universe has its purpose and destiny in the Creator, and He owns it all, and He is heir to all of this. Romans 11, 36 has the same idea as it tells us that everything in the work of creation is by Him and to Him. To Him are all things. It's by Him. He created it, and it's to Him. He's the heir of all things. This is also true, as he is our Redeemer. Not only has he been heir of all things because he's the creator, but his role, his function as Redeemer, Scripture says, that he is heir of all things. And this is breathtaking. Because as Redeemer, Paul says in Ephesians 1.18, that those he has redeemed, listening carefully, those he has redeemed will be his inheritance. Doesn't that just take your breath away to think that this great God, this God would reach down in the midst of our vileness, of our sin, and he would pick us up out of this horrible pit of sin and he would place us upon a rock, which is Christ, but not just as a ruined relic due to sin, but as a treasured inheritance. It's not as though that God just picked us up and dusted us off and said, OK, you'll do. It's not as though He looks at us and He goes in all of our vileness and our wickedness. No, no, no. He reaches down, sets us up, cleans us thoroughly and goes, I cherish you. I treasure you. You are my inheritance. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound, right? But it doesn't end there. Notice Romans 8 17. Listen carefully. He says this. And if Children, if you are Children, then you are heirs, heirs of God. And listen carefully, fellow heirs with Christ. Fellow heirs with Christ. So God didn't just merely pick you up out of your sin, kind of dust you off and place you on a rock and go, OK, you'll do. No, no, no. He picked you up, cleaned you thoroughly, said you're My treasured inheritance and all of My inheritance is yours. This is Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3, 21-23 says, For all things are yours, whether the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours, and your Christ and Christ is God. You understand that? All those treasures, all those things that Christ has in His possession and His heirs, you have them if you're in Christ. You see, Christ's chief joy will be to possess the redeemed and glorified church, which he will present to himself as a glorified church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish, Ephesians 527. And amid all of the awesome universe, Christ treasures most the sinners that he has redeemed. He is the heir, says Calvin, so that he may make us wealthy by his riches. Do you understand today the position that you are in Christ and all that Christ has done for you? Do you not see why it is that Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, we gather together not just to give thanks for his marvelous blessings. It's not just to give thanks for squash casserole or potato casserole or chicken and dumplings, whatever you're going to have. Turkey, I guess it's turkey, right? Turkey and dumplings. No, it's not just for that, but it's for the whole. treasure that we have been given in Christ. Let me ask you a question this morning. Why would you want to give yourself to the nothingness of this world? How does that great treasure that's all in Christ compare? How can it possibly compare to the fleeting things of this world? Look at your life this week. Look how much time you spent giving yourself over to things that really don't matter in eternity. And then take a quick look and look at our Savior and all that He's given to you. And then ask yourself, why would I not give Him all of my life in every area of it when He's redeemed me this way? This is the Christ. That's not a cultural Christ. That's not a religious Christ. This is the one and only Jesus Christ. He is the great inheritor and creator. Notice, secondly, this morning, as it kind of builds, there's great momentum in this passage. In verse three, he is the radiance of glory and the exact in the exact representation of God. Notice what he says. He's the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. The sun is the revelation of God's glory. He's the radiance that shines forth from the source. And this word radiance is the word brightness or effulgence. Effulgence. We don't use that word much anymore. But effulgence means the radiance shining forth from the source. Radiance is different from reflection. The moon reflects. The sun radiates because it is the source. If you want to know the Father and you want to know what He's like, you look at the Son. Because as one theologian said, quote, in God, there is no un-Christ likeness at all. It's another way of looking at it. In God, there is no un-Christ likeness at all. When you see Christ, you have seen what God is like. And the author of Hebrews wants us to be impressed by that. He wants us to underscore that in all of our lives, in every area of our lives. That Christ is the very revelation of what God is. He's the radiance of his glory. He also is the exact imprint or the exact representation. This is a remarkable statement taken both words, radiance and representation. You have a clear understanding of the father and the son. You say, what are you talking about as the radiator, the radiance of God's glory? Jesus is the source one with the father. And this is what John emphasizes when he says the word was God in John one one. The word was God. He's one with the father, but also as the representer. The imprint, the exact imprint of his being Jesus is distinct. Much as John also emphasized when he said not only the word was God. But the word was with God. This, my friend, is beautiful. Because Jesus is all God. Very God of very God. And when you see Him, you see the Father, but He's also a very distinct Person. This is all bound in the mystery and the ministry of the Trinity that we talk about and that we dearly love. He radiates God's glory because He is all of God. But as God, He is Jesus. The Word. And he was with God. Notice thirdly this morning, he's the sustainer. Look at verse 3. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. This is better worded. Just as the earth then was created by God's spoken word, as we talked about last week, our Christ sustains the world. He keeps the world going by his spoken word. The word used for here is the word is not Logos meaning revelation, but it's the word Rema, which is spoken word. It's not the written word here. It is his spoken word that keeps things in existence. So as the radiance of his glory and goodness, he is all powerful. And as the all-powerful being, as He speaks, He holds all things together. The writer of Hebrews points to this Christ because there were people that He was writing to that were very fearful people. There's nothing in your soul that is beyond the creative power of God. You are not an exception to His creativity, no matter how unique you may imagine yourself or your problem to be. Because God gave us Jesus Christ and this Christ is the great sustainer. He can sustain the universe. And He can sustain the struggling person who is full of fear, full of anxiety, full of I don't know what to do. He is your final answer in all of those things, as He's the great sustainer. Jesus is adequate for everything. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5 says, Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. Understand that sin brings a lot of insecurity for people. Much of our anxiety, much of our stress, much of our fear, our fear of man. What does man think of us? We want man to think well of us. So often what we do, we often do in such a way that we would form an image of ourselves in front of man so that man would look at us and go, wow, I'm impressed with that guy. I'm impressed with that lady. Look what all she is. Look what all he does. He is impressive. That's nothing but the fear of man. We want people to like us. And so we'll squirm and wiggle and manipulate life so that we will find some source of security. Something that we can grab our life onto because the rest of our life is just filled with insecurity. We don't know how to be the parent we ought to be. We don't know how to be the spouse that we ought to be. We don't know how to be the boss or the worker that we ought to be. We don't know how to live life. And so we look for escapes. We look for things that we can grab onto and we look for anything outside of Christ. And the writer of Hebrews says, don't worry. Don't stress. Find your security in the great sustainer, Jesus Christ Himself. And so often, so often, we're serving other idols in our lives. What idol did you serve this week? The idol of self? The idol of, I just have to feel good about myself? I just have to find security somewhere. Maybe it's in my 401k. Survey says, wrong answer. If my wife would just love me more, I would be so secure. If my people at work would just respond to me, I'd be so secure. I'd be so much better. I'd be so much happier. I'd feel so much relief because life is all about me. And who I am. And if people would just like me and never say anything evil about me. No, no, no. My friend, put down your self-righteousness. And find Christ. The great Sustainer of all things. And reach out to Him. But there's more. He's not only Sustainer. But verse 3 tells us He is the Purifier. Notice what he says. He is the purifier. I love this. And I'm so thankful for this. He not only upholds the universe by the word of his power, but after making purification of sins. This is better worded, Christ. Listen carefully. Christ purged our sins. Christ purged our sins. Literally, Christ carried out a cleansing. You know exactly what this means if you've ever been a mother. If you've ever had the opportunity to work in the nurseries, you know exactly what this means. We have a few elders who hate the idea of having to change a diaper. And you see this mess that this child has made. And you understand this. And you come and as a mother, you take that child in his mess and you clean that child. You kind of catch a glimpse of what Christ has done for us. The child can't clean himself. The child can't take care of himself. The child needs an adult. The child needs a parent. The child needs a nursery worker to come in and help clean themselves up. This, my friend, before we were born again, this is our condition. We're in a very lost, filthy, dirty, sinful, corrupted way. And Christ comes and works a cleansing. in us. Beautiful picture. The purpose and the effect of the work of the atonement was the removal from his people of all stain of sin so that they stand before God in their utter purity. And they stand before God and any of us who have been born again today stand before God only because of the perfect purity of Jesus Christ, because of his cleansing. There's a beautiful picture of this in the Old Testament. The fellow of the minor prophet, Zechariah, illustrates this beautifully, where he looks at Joshua. The high priest, not Joshua, that's actually the book of Joshua, but this high priest named Joshua and Joshua standing before the Lord and scripture says here that he was clothed with filthy garments. And the Lord said, take away the filthy garments from him, you get the picture. See, he says to Joshua, see, I have removed your iniquity from you and I will clothe you with rich robes in Zechariah three verses one through five. Now, catch what's going on here, because this is part of the song that we sing this great hymn. His robes for mine. This is the picture. So Christ removes our sins by his virtual death. But he does not leave us naked. He clothes us with this rich apparel of His own perfection. The garments of salvation that Isaiah 61.10 talks about. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, He, Christ, was made to be sin for us. He took upon Himself our filthiness. He took upon Himself our dirtiness. That we might become the righteousness of God. That we might be made pure. This could only be done by Jesus himself. Salvation is the work of Christ alone. Neither angels nor saints nor other intercessors nor rituals of whatever kind can help Christ redeem a single soul. Redemption is not a cooperative effort between God and man, nor can the sinner himself assist Christ in the working of purging of sins. Do you understand that no one can help you? Only Jesus Christ can purify you. I love the hymn by Augustus Toplady. I never have been able to figure out his name. Toplady? What? I just never figured it out. I was like, who is that guy? But he writes these just fabulous words that we sing often here. It's an old song. It's an old hymn. But he says this. Not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no respite know? All for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and Thou alone. He understands the atonement. He understands justification. And he understands that Christ is the purifier. Oh, my friend, do you have something to be thankful for this morning? that you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. You have been made clean this morning. But it doesn't stop there. Look at the end of verse 3. After making purifications of sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And I thought and thought and thought, now how could I qualify this Wonderful picture of Christ that he puts here. And I came up with three words. OK, you probably can come up with something better. But I came up with three words. He is all. Because this is what he's talking about here, there's so much in this brief little statement and we move then to his functions as a redeemer, he purifies. But now we see that he has done it all and he is all. Two things I want you to see. First of all, he is final. He's final. Christ sat down. He did his work, died, buried, rose again, went to heaven, sat down. It's done. It's finished. His mission, planned from before time and all eternity, is finished. Nothing else needs to be achieved. Oh, my friend, buy into that. Grab onto that. Hug that truth. John 17, verses 4-5 says, I glorified you on earth. Having accomplished the work that you gave me, this is Christ speaking to God. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Christ is about the glory of God and he lived this out, but later in Hebrews, we read this man. After he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10 verses 12 through 14. The finished work of Christ is the very most precious doctrine. It bids men abandon their religious works and self-effort and flee to him for justification. Christ has left nothing to be done in this matter of salvation. And to realize this is to embrace the Gospel and find complete peace in God. This is the place of privilege. The right hand of God is the place of privilege for our Savior. It's the place of authority For our king and the place of esteem is our high priest. This is our Savior. He is all. He's final. This gives the believer confidence then to live out Christ in the realm of the church as Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. Do you understand? Because he sits there today. Everything that he went through, everything he did for you, you can live the righteousness of Christ in any environment. In any wicked situation, in anything this life has to offer, you can live confidently. Why? Because Christ is all. And he's final. But notice secondly, and finally, Not only is He final, but He's exalted. The majesty on high. The right hand is the place of highest honor. Paul says this in Ephesians 4.10, He who descended is the very One who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. Higher than all the heavens in order that he would fill the whole universe. And again, he says, therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Pretty well covers it all, doesn't it? In Philippians 2, verses 9-10. This is our Christ. The Exalted One. Which means, folks, that we don't have to exalt ourselves. In fact, it's quite wrong for us to exalt ourselves. It means that we don't have to push everybody down around us in order that we might know ourselves. Nowhere in scripture are we ever told to know ourselves. We're always told to know Christ. Die to self. So as we come into this Thanksgiving season, I ask you the question this morning, which Jesus? Do you serve this morning? The Jesus that we studied this morning here is not the religious Jesus. It's not something that you tag on to everything that you do in hopes that somehow this Jesus would somehow like you. And you will get to heaven because, oh hell, I do good things, don't I? I mean, I go to church. I'm here, aren't I, Pastor? No, that's the religious Jesus. That's not the one we're talking about here because he's done it all for you. And you actually contribute nothing. Because he alone is God. This is not the cultural Jesus. This is the one who never changes. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. He's not one that you can kind of bend and tweak and kind of make it palatable for you. No, this is the king. This is the one. Eternal. Holy. Jesus. This is not the designer, Jesus. Nowhere in scripture does God ask you to be creative about who he is. Why? Because he's the creator. He's the great God who initiates all things, who does all things for His own glory. And when we create, when we think we're designing things and we're trying to bend them so it fits us, what we're doing is saying, God, You don't quite know what You mean. And You don't quite know what You're doing. Let me help You. This God doesn't need our help. So put down your works of self-righteousness. Put down your own ideas that you can somehow contribute. Put those things away and live out the one true Christ. He's not the American Jesus. He's not just hovering around the 50 states. He doesn't help us become better and more prosperous. It's not his goal. This is the one who sits at the right hand of the father. You see what I mean when even as you look at our website, you say that all of life is all about God. This is what we mean. That really life here is not about living in Columbus. It's really not about living in the United States. It's really not about how fortunate we are, frankly. I say that on one side, but really on the other side, I know that there are people who love him much more passionately than we do, and they are living and they're meeting in homes secretly today because they don't have the freedoms that we do. And you go and you listen to their vibrancy. There's nothing old hat to those people. There's nothing run-of-the-mill to those people. And when they would come and sing songs like this, they would die to be able to have their children come and sing songs to their Savior like this. And we come and we kind of yawn. We kind of go, OK, that wasn't too bad. Pretty good. Good job, Sarah. That was good. No. No, no, no. We're speaking about our King. And it wasn't that they were good, it was our King is good. And He's Lord. And let's be thankful for Him this morning. This is the one true Jesus. The one and only Redeemer King. Is this who you serve this morning? My friend, if you're here today and you do not know this King, if you do not know this Savior, oh my friend, please, please, please, don't leave here without getting to know this King. And it's not that He loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That's not what we're trying to sell you on. What we're trying to sell you on is He has given to you what you cannot get yourself. And certainly that is a wonderful plan. But that plan doesn't include all the things that you want. What He does is He changes your heart and your mind and He changes your wanter. So that the things that you begin to want are the things that glorify him. And then at that point, you begin to do what you want. Why? Because your wanter is in line with who he is. And you begin to live life more abundantly. If you do not know him as Lord and Savior, I would beg you this morning, don't leave here until that matter is settled. And we'll be glad to help you with understanding this Savior and King this morning. Let's pray. Great Father, What a joy and a privilege it is to think that you have given to us this Savior and King. What a joy and a privilege it is to be born again. To have our filthy, wicked robes exchanged for pure, righteous robes. So, Great Father, Stir our hearts, stir our passions, stir our very beings to be people who are living out the righteousness of Christ. God made this morning, we go home with a renewed view of our savior, of our king, who is this final word? He is our authority. He is our king, but he's also our high priest. But he's also The lamb that was sacrificed. He's the remedy. He's our only hope. And Father, if they're truly here this morning, people who are without hope, people who are wondering about their own. Salvation experience, oh, God, would you, by your grace, remove from them their robes their vile robes and give them your pure, clean robes of righteousness. Remove from them that heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh that they may know you this season and grant them this repentance so that they might believe and trust in you and begin to understand what thanksgiving really is about, what gratitude we ought to have for you. Father, would you move within our hearts, do that which we cannot do, and bring change into our own beings? Father, for that teenager that would be here this morning struggling in their own wills, Father, would they put their wills down and embrace Christ this morning? The one that's filled with fear. Oh God, fill them with your peace. May they no longer look at something out there in life, be it pain, be it relationships, be it hurt. And may they no longer look at those things as if somehow those things are much bigger than you are, God. May they realize that your greatness has remedied those situations. has given peace, has given grace, has shown mercy. And will they, in fact, show mercy to those around them? Will they, in fact, show love and grace to those around them? O God, be God to us in every way today. We pray and ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Stand with me this morning.