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Message By John Duke

Scripture Reading Hebrews 1:1-14

In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways.
But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
He became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited in his superior to theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son, today I have become your Father.
Or again, I will be his Father and he will be my Son.
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him.
In speaking of the angels, he says, He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.
But about the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the sceptre of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by appointing you with the oil of joy.
He also says, In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain. They all went. They will all wear out like a garment.
You will roll them up like a robe, and like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same, and your years will never end.
To which of the angels did God ever say, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
Are not all angels and ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Start of Message

Good morning one and all. It's lovely to be here this morning.
Now I'm a bit emotional, because it's a long time since I've preached here.
And the Lord was gracious in saving my soul through the ministry of this place.
So I trust the Lord will bless you this morning as we look at his Word.
I want to say something before we start.
Way back when Hilt, Ronnie and quite a lot of other young people were in the church.
And there was one fellow that always had a new chorus for us to sing.
Now you remember this? This bloke here.
Now I know that at the time Hilt didn't realise, but he was ministering to us young people.
And every couple of weeks he'd have a new chorus.
And they were exalting what the Lord Jesus had accomplished for us.
And there was one that we used to sing. The fruit salad.
Now I can't even remember it, but I remember it was a blessing.
Now this morning I want to speak on Hebrews and the first three verses of Hebrews.
Although we read the whole chapter.
And that was to give you a bit of an idea about the book of Hebrews.
Now I want to say something to you.
There's many people, say they're Christians, but they haven't got the assurance of their salvation.
Now to love somebody, and obey somebody, and respect somebody, and honour somebody.
We have to know who they are, and what they have done, and what they are doing.
And especially the Lord Jesus, what He is doing for us at this moment.
Now before we start I want to have a word of prayer.
Father we come into your presence this morning.
And Lord as we look at your Holy Word, I pray Lord that you would bless it to each of our hearts.
Speak to us Lord, lead us in the paths of truth and righteousness we pray.
And above all else, glorify your great and your holy name.
We thank you for our salvation in Christ through all He has accomplished to save our souls.
And Lord we praise you and thank you.
Now continue with us Lord, help this old preacher Lord I pray.
To honour and glorify your great and your holy name. Amen.
As I said there's many people haven't got assurance of their salvation, although they believe in the Lord Jesus.
Now I know Stuart, I can't think of his last name.
Oh Stuart Buckett, I know him well, preached here about sin.
And about Paul and what he said about sin and how he struggled.
And dear friends if we're true and faithful before the Lord, we must admit that we all have a trouble with sin.
We're tempted and tried every day.
And the devil comes along and says well look at you, look at you, you've fallen into sin again.
And we look back at when we first made our decision and we look at that.
But we're looking in the wrong place dear friends.
To have assurance of salvation we've got to look to Christ every moment of every day.
And we've got to abide in Him by faith every moment of every day.
Because our salvation is because of what Christ has done to save us.
Now I don't want to go on about that.
We'll look at the Word of God and see what it has to say to us this morning.
And these first three verses, and this is from the New King James Version.
God who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets,
as in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things,
by whom He also made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory.
And when it speaks here of the brightness of His glory it's speaking of the Father's glory.
Christ is the brightness of His Father's glory and the expressed 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.
Now let's look at these verses.
God spoke in times past to the prophets in dreams, visions, by angels.
And then He sent the prophets to speak to the children of Israel.
And it was generally because of their idolatry, because of their sinful lives, because of adultery,
because of how they were denying God and He spoke to them by the prophets.
But in these last days God has spoken unto us by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whom, who being the brightness of His glory and the expressed image of His person
and upholding all things by the word of His power.
When He by Himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of God.
Now here in this last verse, this third verse, it says who purged our sins.
You know this is speaking about Christ's perfect work.
It's speaking about what He accomplished upon the cross when He died in our place and in our stead.
But it's also talking about His resurrection.
Because His resurrection proved that God the Father had accepted His sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary for our sins.
And we know that Christ was sinless.
And we know that we're told over in Ezekiel, we're told in Ezekiel that the soul that sinneth shall surely die.
And Christ died in our place and in our stead to pay the consequences of our sin.
Now let's look here.
He spoke to us by His Son and He speaks to us today by His Son.
And how did He do that? Through the word of God.
Now the word of God tells us about God's Son.
It tells us how He was promised hundreds of years before He came in the Old Testament.
And how when He came it was a fulfillment of those Old Testament promises.
And so Christ came into the world.
But now He's arisen and is seated at the right hand of the Father on high.
And what's He doing there?
Well friends we're going to look at these verses now and we're going to find out.
It means the brightness of His glory and the expressed image of His person.
And upholding all things by the word of His power.
And this is what the Lord Jesus is doing now.
The Lord Jesus is the expressed image of God, person.
What does this mean?
That the Lord Jesus displayed the character of God.
He revealed God's love, compassion and power over death, demons, sickness and even over storms.
Remember when they were out in that dower in the middle of the ocean.
And the waves were breaking over it and the Lord Jesus is asleep on the cushion in the back.
And they cried out the Lord, Lord we perish.
And He said, O you, you of little faith.
And He stilled the waves and the storm.
And it tells us in the scriptures that both was at their destination where they were going.
What did the disciples say?
What sort of a man is this?
Who was He?
God the Son.
He created these things.
And we'll see from His word that He did create these things.
The Lord Jesus is the expressed image of His person, I just explained that.
It means that Jesus displayed the character of God.
Jesus has all the attributes of God the Father and of the Holy Spirit.
And we see this as He walked the earth and the things He did.
How He was compassionate to the sick and the suffering.
How He healed the lepers.
And you know a leper came to Him full of leprosy one day.
He cried out to Him, Lord if you will, you can make me whole.
And what did the Lord Jesus do?
He said a couple of words, I will.
But He reached His hand and put it on that leper.
It didn't worry Him.
We couldn't have done that.
We probably would have called it leprosy.
But that didn't worry the Lord Jesus, I will be their whole.
And immediately, immediately the leprosy left Him.
Now this was the Lord Jesus' great compassion and love towards those that were sick and suffering.
And not only that, He was compassionate to the poor people.
And He often spoke of the poor people.
And He often spoke about people that were robbing them and treating them badly.
Why? Because of His great love for sinners.
His great love for men and women.
And not only that, He had power over death.
You know it's recorded in Scripture that He healed three people.
And when we look at the Scriptures, we see there in Mark 5.41, Jairus, who was a ruler of a synagogue,
daughter, a 12 year old lass, was very ill.
And he went to see Jesus and asked Him to come, Lord come and heal my daughter.
And so the Lord Jesus said I will and He started off.
And there was that many around Him and a woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years touched Him
and was healed and the Lord Jesus knew and turned.
And she fell on her knees and confessed at what she'd done and He said go in peace, your faith has made you whole.
And then a servant of Jairus came and said don't bother the Master.
Your daughter has died.
And the Lord Jesus said do not worry, only believe.
And He continued on to the house and when He got there, all the people that were meeting the death of this dear child,
crying as the Jews did and making a terrible noise.
And the Lord Jesus said don't do that, the child's not dead, he's sleeping and they laughed at the Lord Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus went in and took John and Peter and James with Him
and He went into the room and took the two parents and He came to the lass and He took a foot by the hand
and He said young maiden arise.
And He gave her back to His mother and father and told them to give her something to eat.
Now this was the power and authority of our Lord Jesus.
And then He was travelling through the country and He came to a city called Nain.
And as He was going into the city there was a procession, a funeral procession.
And these people were carrying this open casket and this young man laid in this casket.
And the Lord Jesus looked and He was the old widowed mother, crying, broken hearted.
And the Lord Jesus looked at her in compassion and love and do you know what He said to her?
Weep not, weep not.
And He went towards the casket and put His hand upon the casket and it tells us in scripture that they stopped.
Then He reached His hand in and took the young man by the hand and said young man arise.
And the young man stood up, sat up and He gave Him back to His mother.
Now from deep broken hearted sorrow to wonderful joy at having her son given back to her.
See there was no other to care for that dear lady.
And the Lord Jesus in His great love and compassion gave Him back to His mother.
And then we have Lazarus.
Now the Lord Jesus often went to Bethany where Martha and Mary and Lazarus was.
That was one home where He could lay His head.
You know He said to one man that said He would follow him, foxes have holes and birds have nests but the man of God has nowhere to lay His head.
But in Bethany the door was open to the Lord Jesus. They loved Him.
He had cast seven demons out of Mary and they appreciated what the Lord Jesus had done for that dear girl.
And remember that the Lord Jesus put off going to Bethany, He knew that Lazarus was sick and He put off going until he had died.
When He had got there to Bethany, Lazarus had been in the grave, well I don't know how long but he had been dead four days it tells us.
And the Lord Jesus said where have you laid Him and they took Him to where He was and it's tomb.
And they said roll away the stone and Martha said to Him, Lord if we roll away the stone there will be a stench, He's been dead for four days.
And He said to Martha, didn't I tell you if you believed you would see the glory of God?
Previously to that both these women had said to the Lord Jesus, Lord if you'd been here my brother would not have died.
And the Lord Jesus said to him, He will rise again.
Martha said yes Lord I know, on the resurrection day who will rise again, He said I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me though he died yet shall he live.
And he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Now we know that this is not talking about our physical life, this is talking about spiritual life, being with the Lord.
And then he told them to roll the stone away and Martha told him about the stench and they rolled the stone away.
And what did the Lord Jesus say? He lifted his eyes to heaven and said Father I know that you heard me but for these people I'm praying this.
And then he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth.
And he come forth bound hand and foot.
What did the Lord say? Loose him and let him go.
Now why am I bringing these things out?
Well I want to show you from the word of God, Christ's compassion and love.
And yet his great power and authority, he was God the Son.
And so there's a few verses that I want to quote to you about the Lord Jesus.
In Colossians it speaks about the Lord Jesus and also in 1 John.
And it tells us there in John chapter 1 and verse 3, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made.
And then we read here in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 10.
And the Father speaking to the Son here and it says in verse 8, but to the Son he says, and this is God the Father speaking to the Son.
And in verse 10, you Lord in the beginning laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of your hand.
And so we see that the Lord Jesus laid the foundation of the work of the earth and the heavens were the works of his hand.
Also it tells us in Colossians 1 verse 16, for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible.
Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.
So we see today and we hear a lot about the big bang, creation.
And these evolutionists say, oh it just happened, it just happened.
There was a big explosion, there was dust and gases and everything and there was a big explosion.
And the earth was formed or whatever they believe.
But the scripture plainly says, not only in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, what does it say?
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And then we have here in John 1, the first chapter of John, not John 1, the first chapter of St. John.
How the Lord, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made.
And so we see that the Lord Jesus is God the Son.
And then there's other verses that tell us also about the Lord Jesus.
Oh dear, oh dear, what am I doing?
I'm out of sequence.
I told you halfway through instead of starting at the first.
But anyhow, yes it tells us about the Lord Jesus.
And John wrote about the Lord Jesus in chapter 1 and verse 14.
And it tells us there, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.
The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
And John in his gospel, he teaches the divinity of the Lord Jesus.
And he shows through what the Lord Jesus did that he had to be God the Son to do the things that he did.
And so one day Philip said to the Lord Jesus,
Lord would you show us the Father and that will satisfy us.
And the Lord said to Philip, and this is from John 4 verses 9 to 11.
And this is what the Lord Jesus said to him.
Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me Philip?
He who has seen me has seen the Father.
So how can you say show us the Father?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority.
But the Father who dwells in me does the work.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me.
Or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.
Remember he said in John 10 and verse 13,
I and my Father are one.
Remember the Lord Jesus saying that?
And in the middle of this verse, verse 3,
it says upholding all things by the word of his power.
Now this is talking about the Lord Jesus.
Upholding all things by the word of his power.
What does this mean?
Well it means that the Lord Jesus Christ is a maintainer
and sustainer of the universe and of this world that we live in, the earth.
And that makes me think about the old song that we used to sing,
Great is your faithfulness, great is your faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
But the second verse says this,
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest.
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above.
Stands with all nature in manifold witness.
To your great faithfulness, mercy and love.
And this is true.
The Lord Jesus is the maintainer and sustainer of our universe.
And yet we hear people saying today,
about we can alter the climate by cutting down on carbon emissions.
It's not man that alters the weather.
It's the Lord Jesus that brings the weather.
I want to turn over to,
and I'm digressing to what I've got written here,
over to Genesis chapter 8.
Now this is after the flood, chapter 8.
And let's look at the last two verses.
That's 21 and 22.
Now this is what God said here.
And this applies today too.
Especially verse 22.
And,
Nor after he got out of the ark, he made sacrifices.
And the Lord smelt a soothing aroma.
Then the Lord said in his heart,
I will never again curse the ground for man's sake.
Although the imaginations of man's heart is evil from his youth,
nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
Now listen to this verse 22.
And this applies to us today.
While the earth remains,
seed time and harvest,
cold and heat,
winter and summer,
and day and night shall not cease.
So what's it telling us?
The Lord, he's going to sustain the climate.
That's the Lord that makes a difference to the climate.
If we have hot days, that's his will and purpose and plan.
If we have cold days like we've had in the last week,
that's his purpose and plan.
He is sovereign.
Our God is the omnipotent God,
the all powerful one.
And he does his will
in the armies of heaven,
and we read this in Daniel,
and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And there is none who can stay his hand
or say to him,
what are you doing?
Why?
Because he is omnipotent.
And dear friends,
there's going to come a day
when the Lord Jesus comes again,
and then
there will be absolute truth
and righteousness
and judgment
based on absolute truth and honesty.
No excuses.
No excuses.
Let's look more at the Lord Jesus
upholding all things by his mighty word of power.
Ever evolved,
he, our Lord Jesus,
has maintained
and sustained this universe.
In Colossians 1 17,
and he is before all things,
and in him all things consist.
And that Greek word means
cohere,
hold together.
And it's the Lord Jesus
that sustains and maintains this planet.
Now here this morning we're sitting
at main mission hall.
You know,
this planet earth is flying through space
at 66,000 miles per hour.
Now forgive my old British standard
because I'm an old man.
Why don't we fly off the earth?
Tell me.
You know?
Gravity.
Right, that's exactly right.
What is gravity?
It's the magnetic pull of the earth.
That's why you throw a stone up and it falls back to earth.
Who created it?
God.
I just read to you where the Lord Jesus made everything.
Without him was not anything made that was made.
God, full stop.
And so we see his great mighty power.
This is our Lord Jesus,
the one who died.
He said,
I and my Father are one.
He who was without sin.
We used to sing the old song here
all the way to Calvary.
He went for me,
he went for me,
he went for me,
all the way to Calvary.
He went for me,
he died to set me free.
But on the third day
he arose from the dead.
Death couldn't hold him.
Why?
He was a sinless one.
But not only that,
it shows us his victory
over sin,
so that sin as it shall die,
over death,
and over Satan.
Satan was defeated that day.
And we're told
in Hebrews 4
that we're all
I'll read it to you.
I didn't mean to do this
but anyhow
the Lord's led me this way
so this is the way we are.
Um
No
No, I cannot find the word.
But anyhow
it says that
Christ defeated Satan
because all of our lifetime
we were frightened of death.
But because of this
and because of his resurrection
we have the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let's look at this last portion
of this third verse.
Who he by himself
purged our sins
sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high.
You see, no other person
could purge our sins away
and bring us sinners into a living
loving relationship with God.
Who and who only
could bear away my sin
and your sin
he took upon himself our humanity
lived in total perfect
obedience to God's law.
It takes a holy man
to keep a holy law.
I want to ask you something
can you keep the law?
You're Christians, can you keep the law?
Try as we may, we cannot.
That's why we need a wonderful Saviour.
And the Lord Jesus
is that wonderful Saviour.
And this is what he said.
You know
I've been told by
people that come around to the front door
that God couldn't die.
God the Son couldn't die.
If he's God he couldn't die.
But my Bible tells me different to that.
This is what it says.
Therefore my Father loves me
because I lay down my life
I lay down my life.
No man takes it from me
but I lay it down on myself.
I have power to lay it down
and I have power to take it again.
So he laid down his life.
He let those Roman soldiers
drive their nails through his hands
through his feet.
But it was his great love
for lost souls
that helped Christ to Calvary Street.
And so friends we have a mighty Saviour.
You know Paul wrote
in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 19
God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself.
As like the Lord said to Philip
do you not know that I'm in the Father
and the Father in me?
And God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself.
And you know this wonderful Saviour
you know what he says?
In Matthew 11 and verses 28 and 29
he said come to me.
Come to me.
He didn't say go to the priest.
He didn't say go to the preacher.
He didn't say go to the Sunday school teacher.
He said come to me
and I will give you rest.
Come to me all you who labour
and are heavy laden.
Dear friends if there is any here
who are laden and heavy laden with their sins
come to Christ
and he will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
What's that mean?
That means submission.
That means submission.
You see two bullocks
and they've got to push them up together
and they put the yoke over the top
and they put two things up
that go through and hold them to that yoke.
And the load that they're pulling
is fastened to that yoke.
Now one auction
couldn't pull the load
but two could
because they're working together.
Take my yoke upon you.
Be united to Christ.
There's salvation in no other
for there is no other name under heaven
given among men
whereby we must be saved.
Come to Christ.
How do we do that?
Well we get on our knees
and we confess to God that we're sinners
and that we need a saviour
and ask the Lord to come into our hearts
and change our lives.
And we turn in our mind from sin
and ask the Lord to be Lord of our life.
And you know what the wonderful thing is?
He says and I will give you rest.
And dear friends
this book of Hebrews is a wonderful book
because it tells us
how great the Lord Jesus is.
He's greater than angels.
He's greater than Moses.
He's greater than the Aaron's priests.
He is a greater sacrifice
than all those cattle
that those Jewish people slaughtered
for hundreds of years
because the blood of bulls and goats
cannot take away sin.
But this man, the Lord Jesus
after he had offered one sacrifice
for sin forever.
No more sacrifices.
One sacrifice for sin forever
sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high.
So what's the Lord Jesus doing for us today?
Well he's keeping our world operating.
He's keeping this solar system working.
You know dear friends
if the earth moved one degree
further away from the sun
we would freeze.
If it moved one degree closer to the sun
we would fry.
But it travels that orbit
and it's been doing it since the Lord started it
in that fashion.
He created it.
And it is a wonderful thing.
And these people
that deny the creation of God
that God created this universe
and NASA is sending these rockets into space
and these spacecraft
and they're landing on all these different planets.
Tell me dear friends
do they ever find forests there?
Have they found water there?
Are they trying to find water?
No.
They will never find another earth.
There's only one planet
that has human life upon it
or any other life.
The earth.
And Christ sustains our earth.
And He is our Lord and Saviour.
And like I read from the Word of God
He says,
All you who labour and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest
take My yoke upon you
and learn of Me
for My yoke is easy
and My burden is light.
And that light is not l-i-t-e
light in weight.
It's light.
It's spiritual illumination.
And dear friends
as we read this
we grow in grace
and as we come and hear messages preached
we grow in grace
and the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And dear friends
when Satan tempts you and tries you
look to Christ.
Look to the portions of Scripture
that tell us
you know
My sheep hear My voice
and I know them
and I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish.
Amen.
May God bless to us
the study of His Word.