Standing Firm, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Today we begin a new series through the book of Hebrews titled The Supremacy of Christ. Pastor Rich will be in chapter one, one through four, as we look at God as the great communicator. Verse one tells us that God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. God did not speak from afar, but drew near to us through the person of Jesus Christ.

Let's listen in. So the letter to the Hebrews, and we begin with the first four verses this morning. And so, Father, it is with great humbleness and yet delight that we bow before you in honor, acknowledging you as our benevolent sovereign, our infinite Father. We thank you, Father, that you have made yourself known to us in such a way that we can know you and walk with you and serve you with delight. So, Father, I pray that as we come to your word this morning that indeed you will speak to us from your word through the power of your spirit, Father. Open our hearts and our minds that as your word goes out that it will do a work of transformation in the hearts and minds of the hearers. For it is in Jesus' name that we pray these things.

Amen. I got another email communication, which I get several of them through the course of the week from members of the congregation, and the subject matter of this particular email, one of the notes in it was, ain't communication grand? And often it is. It is quite a challenge many times. And I know as a husband, as a dad, as a pastor, that oftentimes there are communication gaps, and we recognize that. And sometimes they cause great stress and trouble. And if you're an employer here today, or if you're an employee, which probably covers most of us, or a teacher, or a coordinator, you know that there are communication gaps, and those gaps are frustrating.

They are a very real, frustrating part of our human existence. For example, there were two men out in the woods. They were hunters since yesterday was opening season, or turkeys anyway.

That is being hunted, not the ones hunting, you understand. But there were two hunters out in the woods, and all of a sudden, one of them just falls to the ground. And he's not breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head, and his partner that is with him is frantic. And he whips out his phone, and he dials 911. And he says, I think my buddy is dead. He says, I don't know what to do. And calmly, the 911 operator says, okay, just be calm. He says, I'll help you out here.

First of all, what we need to do is make sure that he's dead. And he says, I can do that. So there's silence for a moment, and then there's a single shot. Brings out, and he comes back to the phone. He says, okay, now what?

Folks, what we have there is a royal communication gap, right? So you're sitting in church, right, and you read the bulletin. And oftentimes, there are cute quips and statements that are made in the bulletin. And you like to read them, and inviting people to events, and ministries, and things like that. And one bulletin reads, don't let worry kill you, let the church help.

Thursday night potluck supper, prayer and medication to follow. And here's one with just a simple syntax problem. You know, we try to be spiritual with our lingo, and all that, and formal. And this one just, you know, it says, remember in prayer, the many who are sick of our church and community. Communication gaps. What we learned from Hebrews chapter one, is that God is a communicator. God is a communicator, and he pursues genuine and loving relationship. God is a communicator, and he pursues genuine and loving relationship. God has closed the greatest communication gap that ever existed.

Where there are broken relationships, there are also assumptions and misinformation. George Bernard Shaw said, the single biggest problem in communication, is the illusion that it has taken place. So, God has spoken, and in the past, when this was written, in the past, the writer says, God has had his spokesman. Many people have spoken for God, and he has communicated through people, but this time, it's different. This time, God speaks through a person that he calls son. God speaks in son as well.

Son. God speaks in son as the text reads. But this one's different, and there are four things that are mentioned that are unique about this one that is communicating, and we see that in the text. Has in these last days spoken to us by his son, and four things that he mentions that are unique about this one who is speaking, 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, end up holding all things by the word of his power.

That one, that's pretty unique. Four things. Number one, he is owner. Look all around, everything you see around you, everything you've noticed and admired and enjoyed about nature. God owns it all.

Look up in the sky, the stars, the moon, the sun. God owns it all. It is his.

This one who is speaking is the owner of it, because he is the heir. It's his. It's all his.

Not only is he the owner, but he's the creator of it. He made it all. Look at it all. Look at the wonder of creation, the majesty of creation. What you see in that reflects the majesty of the one who made it. This one who speaks is the one who made it all.

And that takes us to the third point then. This one who speaks, this one who is communicating, he has awesome majesty. He is awesome majesty. The brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. You look at the sun and you see, you can't look directly at the sun, but we see the sun by the rays that come from the sun. So not only do we see the sun, but by the sun we see everything else.

That's who this person is. Awesome majesty. And the fourth thing is that he is a sustainer. You look around and what's holding it all together? The universe, the cosmos. He, this one speaking, is the one who holds it all together. He upholds all things by the word of his power.

He's not sitting there grasping it with his hands. He just speaks and his words hold it together. That's a pretty unique communicator. That's this one that is speaking.

God has spoken to us in his son. This one, there's a unique quality about this one. As far as him being the sustainer of all that is, let's assume that the distance between the earth and the sun, it's about, give or take, 93 million miles, right? Let's assume that that distance is the thickness of this paper. The thickness of this paper, 93 million, that's 93 million miles, okay? If that's the case, then the distance between the earth and the nearest star would be a stack of papers 70 feet high. And the diameter of the galaxy then would be a stack of papers 310 miles high. Now, that kind of scrambles your brain a little bit, doesn't it?

310 miles, that is 100 miles beyond where the International Space Station orbits. A stack of paper, 310 miles high, representing the diameter of the galaxy. Understanding this, the galaxy is just a speck of dust in the universe. And yet Jesus holds the universe together by the word of his power. As one of Pastor Tim Keller's Sunday school teachers once said, now this, is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your assistant? I don't think so.

But that's this one. The one speaking, the one communicating, is God. God has shown up in person to speak, to communicate. This is what the writer is communicating to us in this inspired word. You see, there is something particularly unique and unforgettable when someone important shows up in person to communicate a message. He might have spokespersons and he might present written media, but when he shows up in person to communicate a message, there is something unique and special about that.

And this is what the writer of Hebrews is telling us. For example, in 2003, over in Baghdad Airport, there were 600 soldiers who were fed a Thanksgiving dinner. And the soldiers were gathered for what they thought would be a speech by the chief US administrator, Paul Bremer.

Paul Bremer, I'm sorry. And Bremer told the troops that he would read a Thanksgiving proclamation from the president and then paused and noted that it was customary for the most senior official present to read the president's proclamation. Is there anybody back there who's more senior, he asked. At that moment, President George W. Bush himself emerged from behind the curtain and the soldiers climbed on the chairs and tables to yell their approval. What a surprise. The president showed up in person. Why did he show up in person?

It's got to be lonely for them, said President Bush. I thought it was important to send that message that we care for them. And he came in person to do it. You see, that made it unforgettable and special. In a similar way, God, who formally delivered his message through others, prophets, made a personal visit to the world. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. To show that he cared, he came in person. There's something important about personal communication like that.

Face-to-face communication. Joe Torre was the manager of the New York Yankees. And when he first became manager of the New York Yankees, one person said to him, you know, maybe managing could be done better at a higher level. Maybe if you were up at the level of the announcer or something like that, you could manage your baseball team better. And Joe Torre says, you know, from up there, you can't look at him in the eyes. Folks, that's just what God did. He came down to us so that we could look at him in the eyes and he could look at us. The very purpose for which you were designed. Seven words that can change your life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.