Sermon #2 Hebrews Notes

Title: “SAT DOWN!”

Text: Hebrews 1:3

Readings: Larry Criss & Bobbie Estes

Subject: Christ Taking His Seat in Glory

Date: Tuesday Evening – October 12,1999

Tape # V-49a

Introduction:

Hebrews 1:1-3 "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, (2) Hath 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; (3) 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;"

There is a Man in glory! There is a Man, risen, exalted, and seated upon the throne of God. Do you realize what that means? Does not the Word of God ask, “How can he (a man) be clean, that is born of woman?” We read in the Book of God, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Yet, the Holy Spirit here declares that there is a Man in glory, a Man who, “when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high!”

This Man is no ordinary man. This is the God-man. He became a man that he might redeem men. He lived in this world as the Representative Man, the Representative of God’s elect. He lived the full age of a man in perfect obedience to the will and law of God, to establish righteousness for men, even righteousness of God, by magnifying the law and making it honorable.

Then, when his hour had fully come, this Man, the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, died upon the cursed tree as our Substitute, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” Now, this Man, who as a man put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, is seated upon the very throne of God in glory, accepted as a man with God! Hear the good news of that fact. -- Since there is a Man in glory, accepted of God, there can be another, and another, and another! Because this Man, the God-man is in glory, “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him!”

Now, look at verse three again.

Hebrews 1:3 "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;"

There are three things in this verse I want you to see. These three things are both the bare basics and the greatest wonders of our faith.

I. WHO IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?

Here, the Holy Spirit tells us that he is “the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of his person.” Christ is both God himself and the singular revelation and expression of the glory of God.

“The reference is to the sun and its rays. The Father and the Son are the same as the sun and its rays. One is not before the other, and they cannot be divided or separated. He is the perfect revelation and the exact image and character of the Father (Isa. 9:6; John 1:1-3; 10:30; 14:8-10; Matt. 1:21-23).” – Henry Mahan

II. WHAT HAS CHRIST DONE?

Much needs to be said in answer to this question; but we will stick with our text, and simply declare that which is the essence of all our Savior did as the God-man, our Mediator. The Lord Jesus Christ has “by himself purged our sins!”

The Lord Jesus, of himself, by himself alone and by the sacrifice of himself, made atonement for all the sins of God’s elect. He took our sins upon himself, bore them and died under the penalty of them, thereby abolishing them completely (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26; Col. 1:19-22; Isa. 53:4-6).

2 Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Hebrews 9:26 "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

Colossians 1:19-22 "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; (20) And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (21) And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (22) In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:"

Isaiah 53:4-6 "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

III. WHERE IS OUR SAVIOR NOW?

Look at verse three again. He is that yonder in glory, there, two thousand years ago, “he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.” The “Majesty on high” is God the Father, to whom majesty belongs and who is clothed with majesty.

His right hand is the place of power, greatness, acceptance and glory. There sits the Man, Christ Jesus, and all his elect in him. We have been made to sit down with him in heavenly places!

Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he had finished all the work which his Father gave him to do upon the earth as our Substitute, Surety, and Mediator, “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high!” Let me show you something about what that means. Here are seven reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, our Mediator and Substitute sat down upon the throne of grace, on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

1. He sat down because his work was finished (John 19:30; Rom. 8:33-34; Heb. 10:10-14).

John 19:30 "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

Romans 8:33-34 "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."

Hebrews 10:10-14 "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (13) From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. (14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

2. He sat down because God the Father accepted his sacrifice as our sin-atoning Substitute.

The Lord God sees of the travail of his soul and is satisfied. The law and justice of God, the righteousness and truth of God, the holiness and purity of God cannot demand more than Christ paid for the sins of his people! Now, God can be and is, both just and the Justifier of all who believe on his dear Son.

3. The Lord Jesus Christ sat down in heaven, as our great High Priest upon the throne of grace, because he is now, as the God-man our Mediator, the sovereign Monarch of all the universe (John 17:2; Rom. 14:9).

John 17:2 "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."

Romans 14:9 "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."

4. The Lord Jesus took his place in glory, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, because this Man is himself God.

The throne of God is his throne! He was given this place as a man; but it was always his as God; and he took it, he “sat” down, as the God-man, our Savior!

5. The Lord Jesus Christ sat down upon the right hand of God, as the Representative and Forerunner of his people (Heb. 6:20; 1 John 2:1-3).

Hebrews 6:20 "Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

1 John 2:1-3 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (2) And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (3) And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."

Yonder, in Glory Land, upon the very throne of God is a Man, A Man who is himself God, who incessantly pleads our cause with the Father.

6. The Lord Jesus Christ sat down in heaven, because he has now opened the way for sinners to come to God (Heb. 10:19-22).

Hebrews 10:19-22 "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (21) And having an high priest over the house of God; (22) Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

7. The Lord Jesus sat down in heaven as a mighty Victor, a Conqueror whose enemies shall never rise again, whose enemies must and shall be put under his feet (Phil. 2:8-11).

Philippians 2:8-11 "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Because Christ sat down in glory, as the mighty Captain of our salvation, our salvation is a matter of certainty. We are now more than conquerors in him (Rom. 8:28-39).

Romans 8:28-39 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

(31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

(32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

(33) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

(34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

(35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."