Well, good morning to everyone! It's good to be back. I've been on a couch for about eight or nine days with the flu. So thank you to pastor for preaching last week, and I'm better now. But I still feel a little weak and have a little cough now and then, so we'll do the best we can here this morning. 

But it's good to be back on a nice sunshiny morning. We had about two below this morning at the farm; I was a little shocked when I went out there. But it was pretty with the sun coming up, and everybody's doing well, so spring's around the corner. I hear it's coming this week, and that's good — at least a taste of a little melt.

All right, we're looking at Hebrews 1:1-3 again this morning. We're kind of spending some time in these first few verses to really get the essence of the book and kind of a summary of what the author is talking about. Last time we were together, we began our study in the first three verses looking at who Jesus is. 

Now, we've emphasized in our study thus far the importance of understanding the distinction between the Old and the New Covenant and how much better, how much more complete, and how much more effective the New Covenant is, which is built on better promises. At the heart of these truths is the mediator of this New Covenant, the high priest, our advocate Jesus Christ. 

The main theme—the main point of the epistle—is that Jesus is better, better than each and every facet and aspect of the Old Covenant of Moses. Jesus is the completion and the fulfillment, and we will see as we continue through this letter that He has brought a better covenant built on better promises, as we saw in Hebrews 8. 

What we have in these first three verses is an amazing summary statement of this truth, telling us who Jesus is. Let's look at our text again. It says, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoken in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through 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 at the right hand of the Majesty on high."

But we have five points on our outline. First, we see God's revelation; second, heir of all things; third, creator of all things; fourth, sustainer of all things; and fifth, Savior of all men. We made it through the first three points in our last study a couple of weeks ago, and we're just going to review those briefly this morning. Then, we'll move on for the bulk of the message to the last two points.

First, we saw that Jesus, in these last days, is God's revelation. In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself in many various ways—in all kinds of ways, in many portions or books. The author says He gave direct revelation, visions, dreams; He spoke through the prophets, through poetry, and people sometimes even through animals. God used all kinds of ways to speak to us to reveal Himself to man.

But the point here is that since the first coming of Jesus—what we call the last days—God speaks to us solely through His Son. Jesus is God's prophet; He is a better prophet than any before Him. He is the full, complete, and perfect revelation of God. We saw this last time in passages like John 1 and Colossians 1 and even in our text this morning, where the author says that He is the express image of His person. 

Jesus is God; Jesus is the revelation of God. We saw in John 14 last time that if we want to know the Father, we must look at the Son; for he who has seen the Son has seen the Father. Jesus is the fullness of God, and it is through Jesus that God now speaks in these last days. This is an amazing and important truth for us to know and to understand.

Well, next we saw that Jesus is the heir of all things. God has appointed Jesus heir; He will inherit the whole world, all of creation, all things. We looked at that fascinating passage in Revelation 5, where we see that only the Lamb who was slain, the Redeemer, is worthy to open the scroll and take the title deed of the earth. 

We see in chapters 6 to 19 of the book of Revelation the process of Jesus taking back what is rightly His—His rightful inheritance, which the Father has appointed to Him. The great and encouraging truth that goes along with that for us, as we saw in all those passages speaking of that time, is that we are in Him. We are in Christ, and because He is heir of all things, we are co-heirs with Him. 

We see over and over that we will reign with Him, that we have become priests and kings to our God, and that we will be with Jesus forever in our glorified state. We will rule and reign with Him on this earth for a thousand years. These things are truly beyond comprehension, my friends, but they are truths that we can rest on, that we can look forward to, that we can take encouragement from. Jesus is the heir of all things, and we are co-heirs with Him.

Our third point in these short verses about who Jesus is is that Jesus is the creator. Again, I feel like we should spend several messages on this truth, the importance of this truth. It says through whom He also made the worlds. In John 1:1 it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made." 

Jesus is creator God. This is such an important truth to know and believe because it goes to the authority of the Word of God. God says that He created the world and all that is in it in six literal days in the book of Genesis. He speaks throughout the scripture that He is the creator God, that He made the heavens and the earth and all that are in them. In the New Testament, we see that God makes heavy weight of the truth that it is through Jesus Christ that He made the worlds—that Jesus is the creator, that nothing was made that was made without the hand of Christ. 

And, my friends, this includes all things—not just the material world, but the visible and the invisible, the processes of time, space, matter, force, all that is in the design of the system—the created beings as well as the material world. Jesus designed, conceived, and created all that there is. It tells us who Jesus is, and we do well to believe Him, to believe God's revelation of how He created the worlds. 

Jesus said, "If you do not believe the writings of Moses, how can you believe my words?" Because Jesus is creator of all things, because He is the heir of all things, and in Him all things consist, then Jesus is the rightful judge of all things as well, and men must make account with Jesus Christ. Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

So, we see that Jesus is God's revelation of Himself in these last days; He speaks to us through His Son. We see that Jesus is the heir of all things, and that all things will find consummation in Him. We see that Jesus is the creator God who will judge all things which He has created. 

Now, our fourth point in our text is that Jesus is the sustainer of all things. Verse one again: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoken in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, and look at this, and upholding all things by the word of His power." 

I wonder how many of you have heard of Higgs boson? It's also sometimes called the God particle, and it has up until recent years been a theoretical particle in the basic understanding of physics. In 2013, in a $10 billion project, scientists were able to isolate and observe this particle and prove the theory. Basically, this particle is what holds all things together in the universe. It is the glue that keeps the universe together; in the universe, it is the glue that keeps everything from flying apart at the atomic level.

I just want to read from an article that I found on this. It says, "The Higgs boson is about 126 billion electron volts or about 126 times the mass of a proton. This turns out to be the precise mass needed to keep the universe on the brink of instability. But physicists say the delicate state will eventually collapse, and the universe will become unstable. That conclusion involves the Higgs field. The Higgs field emerged at the birth of the universe and has acted as its own source of energy since then. Physicists believe the Higgs field may be slowly changing as it tries to find the optimal balance of field strength and energy required to maintain that strength." 

Now, he goes on with all kinds of language here explaining how there's going to be a bubble formed, and they quote Stephen Hawking's in this, and he says it's going to be the end of this—always the end of the world. You know, it's gonna be the end of the world; it's gonna be the end of the universe, and a bubble is gonna form, and there's gonna be a vacuum, and this vacuum is gonna travel at the speed of light, and it's going to consume everything. 

In an instant, before we know what hits us, it's going to be the end of the universe. Well, let me give you a little more—I want to read just the last line. He says, "Either all of space-time exists on this razor's edge between a stable and unstable universe, or the calculation is wrong. If the calculation is wrong, it must come from a fundamental part of physics that scientists have not yet discovered." 

I always love the concluding statements of these worldly wise men. All this existential pontificating about physics in the end of the world, and then they say, "Or it could all be wrong; we don't really know." 

Let me put this in a little bit simpler form for you this morning, my brother and my sister in Christ: Jesus holds all things together by the word of His power. Call it Higgs boson if you like; call it the God particle. But the truth is that Jesus is the sustainer of all things. He holds all things together by the word of His power. He sustains all life and matter and everything in this universe by His word. Does that tell you something about who Jesus is? And when He says the word—when He withdraws His sustaining power, then it will all go 'boom,' as Stephen Hawking said in that article.

Turn over to 2nd Peter 3:7 with me, please. 2nd Peter 3:7. Peter describes this time. He writes, "But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with a fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." 

You see, all of these atheistic, evolutionary-minded scientists are placing their faith in the processes that they have designed and created. The hope of Stephen Hawking was that one day the Higgs field would form a vacuum bubble, and all things would come to an end, instantaneously wiping him out with everyone else unto annihilation. 

Well, there will be a withdrawing of the sustaining word of Jesus, but my friends, this will not be the final end for unbelieving man; it will only be the beginning of judgment, and all men will stand before God to give account to be judged. And far from being annihilated, there will be a conscious torment in the lake of fire for all men who will not believe Jesus, the sustainer of all things. 

And not only is He the sustainer of all things, He is the Savior of all men. This brings us to our final and most glorious point in our text this morning. Verse 3 says, "When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." 

There are a couple of vital truths in this verse that we must understand and believe concerning our salvation in Jesus. One could be called completion, and the other consummation. Notice that He says, "By Himself purged our sins." This is such an amazingly important truth that Jesus completed the work of salvation on the cross. 

It's clear that man, in Adam—every man born in Adam—has a real problem. He's separated from God; he's an enemy of God, the scriptures say. God is his enemy. The question for all of mankind is, how can he be reconciled to God? How can he be brought back into a right relationship with God? How can he be justified in the sight of a holy God? 

There are many answers, my friends—many schemes and systems, religions of men that try to answer this question, try to bring a solution. But there are really only two types of solutions—only two answers in essence. One is that somehow man can redeem himself; somehow, man can do some good, something to make himself righteous before God. This is the stride of the religions of men. Religion tells man to do, to do this ritual, to do this right, to do this practice, to do this good, and God will accept you. 

Where do these ideas come from? Where’s the logic behind that? Have you ever witnessed to someone and tried to just appeal to them on the basis of logic, and the breaking of the law, and the whole idea that man could do enough good to make up for his bad and that kind of thing? 

Well, let's look at Romans 1:20 together, please. You're familiar with this passage in Romans 1:18, where it talks about man suppressing the revelation of God, holding down the truth. In verse 20 it says, "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." 

Now, here's where religion comes from. Verse 23 continues, "and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." 

This passage tells us that God has revealed Himself to all of mankind through creation. And Romans 2 tells us also that God has given every man a conscience; but man has chosen to suppress, to hold down this revelation, even the understanding of His eternal power and Godhead. 

How can you look at this creation and not see the eternal power of God? The wisdom, the systems, the design is profound, telling us about God. But God says, since you choose—even though you know Me, even though you know what's right, even though you know I exist by creation—man chooses not to glorify God. For that reason, man is without excuse.

But man will not come to God because He’s just and holy and judge, and man is accountable. And so he invents his own way to a right relationship with God, and has invented gods that are like him, that will wink at his sin—not judge according to truth. Man has made religions fashioning gods like the beast, the creeping things, even gods in religion like himself, in order to try to solve his problem. This is one way, but it's not a way; it's not good news, it's not possible for man to climb out of the natural into the supernatural and work his way to God.

I'd like for you to look at Romans 3:19 with me, please. This is one of the clearest passages on this truth: Jesus has, by Himself, purged our sins. Romans 3:19: "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 

The Bible tells us that there is no law given which can bring righteousness. There's no religion, no works or rites or rituals that a man can do or participate in that will make him right with God. The fact is that the law was given to us to show us our sin, to show us our need for a Savior—to lead us to faith in Christ. And so the law can only bring wrath; it's a ministry of death, of condemnation, not a means unto righteousness, as every works-righteous, man-centered religion teaches.

This is man's way; it's a false way, and it's a lie, but God has a way. He has an answer; He has a solution that works. In Romans 3:21 we see the contrast: "But now, the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe." 

Isn't that good news, my brothers and sisters? "For there’s no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." I tell people, "We’re vile, wretched sinners," and that's good news! Because what if only rich people got to go to heaven? What if only good people got to go to heaven? 

"For there’s no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Now look at this: "whom God set forth as a propitiation—a propitiation—what a great word! A full satisfactory payment by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness." 

Because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness—look at this—that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. You see, there's only one way that sinful man could be made right with God, could be redeemed—brought back into a relationship with Jesus. 

And man could have never conceived of such a plan. Only God could design a way to be just, punishing the sins of men, and the justifier of the one who places his faith in Christ. The supernatural had to come to the natural. 

I remember a story Billy Graham told of walking down a dirt road and he scuffed an anthill with his shoe. He looked down at all those ants and he saw some were dead and some were scrambling around, and their little mound of dirt was messed up. He lamented that he wished he could become an ant and go down and help with the injured, help repair their home, save some of them. 

My friends, God became one of us. Jesus came and took on flesh and tabernacled among us in order to rescue us, to redeem us, to save us. This is God's way, and this is through the propitiation, the full satisfactory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That is the completion that Hebrews 1:3 speaks of when it says, "He by Himself purged our sins." 

In John 19:30, Jesus said, hanging on the cross, "It is finished." And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. When Jesus offered Himself on the cross as the Lamb of God, as the perfect and full sacrifice, when He took the wrath of God for my sins and yours, and when He died in my place, it was finished. It was complete. He, by Himself, purged our sins. 

And only He could do it; only God could be the perfect sacrifice. Only Jesus could take on flesh and become a man and die a death He did not deserve and pay a debt He did not owe, so that I might receive His righteousness by faith and be justified before a holy and righteous God. You see, God had a plan—a promise to provide a full and perfect sacrifice for the sins of men, so that by faith alone and Jesus alone and what He finished on the cross, man can be made righteous. He can receive God's righteousness.

And this truth—this salient truth of completion—is at the heart of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Notice the verse says, "He sat down." What a revelation for the Jews. What a truth for them to see. There were no chairs in the tabernacle, my friends. No chairs in the temple in the Holy of Holies. Because in the Old Covenant, the work was never done. The work was never complete. 

Look at Hebrews 10 with me, please. Hebrews 10:1: "For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered, for the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." 

Therefore, when He came into the world, He said, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come. In the volume of the book it is written of Me to do Your will, O God.'" 

Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law." Then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God. He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 

Jesus, by Himself, purged our sins. He completed the work. He accomplished our salvation. He sat down. In His high priestly prayer, in verse 4 of John 17, He says, "I have finished the work which You have given Me to do." 

We've established already that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that God has chosen to speak to us only through His Son, that there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. 

Let me ask you, what does this mean for all the Hindus in India? What does it mean for all the atheists in Sweden? Many of my friends that are there right now—I just talked to Anders in Stockholm a couple of days ago. What's it mean for the agnostics, the myriads of religions, which do not include Jesus? 

My brothers and sisters, it means that if these billions of people do not hear the saving truth of Jesus—a message about Jesus, a clear presentation of the gospel—and they do not turn to Him in faith alone, then they will perish. This is our passion; this is our purpose; this is our calling—to bring that message to men so that they might believe and be saved. 

What about all those who claim the name of Jesus, but by their doctrine and works deny His one-time sacrifice and completion of that work? Most of the world's population who claims the name of Jesus do not believe that He has finished the work. They believe we must add to His work, accomplishing what He was lacking by adding our suffering, our religious participation, our good works in order to piece together a full salvation. 

That too is a lie. And we must understand this, my friends. You and I, believers at Living Hope Church, must be clear in our own minds about what the gospel is, what it means that He, by Himself, purged our sins and sat down, what it means that He completed the work—that it is finished—because if our hope, our faith, is in anything besides Jesus, anything plus Jesus, then we deny the very truth of His atoning work, His propitiatory redemptive sacrifice which fully satisfied the Father. 

And as Paul says in Galatians 1, if we add anything to Jesus, if we preach another gospel, it is not another—it is not good news; it is heteros, a different way that leads to death, and Paul pronounces an anathema on anyone who would preach such a lie. This is the very issue in the book of Hebrews, my friends—the danger of going back to the law, of adding religion to righteousness in Christ. This was always the issue. Everywhere Paul went, listen to just a few words in Philippians 3: "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but safe for you. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." 

We worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and look at this: we have no confidence in the flesh. And I ask you, my friend, where is your confidence? Is your confidence in the completed work of Christ? Or do you have confidence in your baptism, in your sacraments, in your own goodness, your religious works? Do you have confidence in the flesh—in yourself—in any way, for your justification, for your sanctification? 

Paul says those who are true Christians—the true children of God—have no confidence in the flesh. We who are in Christ through faith are safe; we are secure, because God is satisfied with Jesus. Jesus' work is completed; He sat down; and now He is waiting, we are waiting for the consummation. 

You see, the victory's already won; sin, Satan, and death have been defeated at the cross; our salvation is secure. We're now waiting for this truth to be manifest—for the glorious revealing of the sons of God. We have eternal life today; we are saved and secure forever if we have no confidence in the flesh; but rather, our confidence is solely in the Savior. 

And we live in this world as witnesses to these truths—that others might come, as we wait for the day when Jesus will come, just as He promised. He said, "If it were not so, I would have told you," as He comes to take us to the Father's house, give us new heavenly bodies, release us finally from the presence of sin, and we will spend eternity with Him, my friends. Not because of what I did. Not because of what I did and He did together. But only because of what Jesus accomplished. He, by Himself, purged our sins and sat down, waiting until His enemies are made His footstool.

What are you trusting in? The author of the book of Hebrews, right here at the beginning, wants to make sure that your faith and mine, your hope, is only in Jesus Christ. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You for the plan of salvation. We thank You for sending Your only Son to die in our place—to take on flesh, become a man, and accomplish the work that You've given Him to do. Thank You that it's finished. Thank You that You have told us the truth that through faith in Him alone, we can receive Your righteousness and be justified. And those whom You justify, You sanctify; and those whom You sanctify, You glorify, Lord. 

Thank You for that truth, that promise, and help us to be witnesses in this world of these great things to bring others to You for Your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.