Jesus- God is Worshiped, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You cannot read the biblical account about Jesus and remain neutral. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S.

Lewis points out that based on the things Jesus said, you cannot simply call him a great human teacher. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. Jesus demands a response. Our text Hebrews 1 5-14 reminds us that he is ever worthy of our worship.

Let's listen in. This is the second part of a message titled Jesus God is Worshipped. It was first preached on April 22nd 2012 at Grace Bible Church. What is the Jewish songbook all about?

Two things. Number one, it's about God's redemptive plan. Secondly, it's about who Christ is from three perspectives of time.

The three perspectives of time are the past, the present, and the future. The Psalms are chock full of messianic messages, messianic prophecies, and the Psalms, the Hebrew songbook, tells us about God's redemptive plan. It tells us about who Christ is from the past, from the present, and from the future. From the past in that it was God's foretold plan. This was God's plan from before the world began.

God set this in order. The Messiah would come and he would redeem his people. And then secondly in the present the writer of Hebrews was writing this in the sense that this one whom God planned and foretold, he has come to us and he walked among us in this generation.

So we can talk about it in the present. He walked among us. He lived, he worked, he accomplished in our time. And then from the future in the sense that this one is certified by the outcomes of his work.

The proof is in the pudding. What he will accomplish and God's plan for the future that has not yet come to pass. And so we're going to put together a hymn. We're going to take the Jewish songbook and we're going to redact a hymn. And what is a hymn? Let me define a hymn for you, okay?

It's very simple. A hymn means a song of praise. A hymn is a song that exalts an individual.

It's kind of like a eulogy to speak highly of a person, to exalt them and to praise them. That's what a hymn does. And so this is the Jewish hymn book, the Psalms. And so the writer of Hebrews says let's go to the Jewish hymn book and from that we're going to pull several verses together and we are going to make a five verse hymn that exalts Jesus Christ. So that you can know who your hero ought to be and that this one Jesus Christ is far greater than any of the angels.

He's not just another messenger from God. And we're going to show it from the scriptures. So this is a hymn of Christ in the first chapter of Hebrews. Here's the first verse of the hymn and it's about sonship. The first verse of the hymn is about sonship and it's in verse five.

And verse five takes from the Hebrew songbook in Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel 7. Sonship. For to which of the angels, this is Hebrews 1-5, for to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.

There's Trinity in this. This is a verse about sonship. This is a verse that speaks of the unique relationship unlike any other. This son, this one who said, who do you say that I am, has a unique relationship with God. He knows God in a way that nobody else does.

Why? Because he is God. He has been in eternal fellowship and communion with God from eternity.

He has that unique relationship. Now some may look at this and say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Does that mean he became God? Are we like the Gnostics then? Was the writer of Hebrews a Gnostic who believed that the historic Jesus became the Christ?

No, it's not what he's saying at all. He's taking this from Old Testament prophecy. He says, when he says, today I have begotten you, he is reiterating what Paul said in Romans chapter 1 verse 4, that he was confirmed, he was declared to be the son of God by the resurrection from the dead. What that means is this, when he says, today I have begotten you, Jesus Christ walked among humanity in history and he looks just like an ordinary man. He walked and lived among us just like an ordinary man, did all the same stuff.

Probably worked as a carpenter and then he became a teacher. He made claims. He went through a trial. He was betrayed and he was crucified and then what?

He rose again. That very miracle was the certification of all that Jesus Christ is and was. No one's ever done that.

No one could ever have done that. Besides him, he says, I lay my life down and I take it up again. So in that sense, that resurrection was a certification that in the eyes of all people now, from now on, no one can say that Jesus was just a man. It is intellectually dishonest to just say he was just a man.

Why? Because he walked out of the grave, that's why. He is the son of God. He is God as he claimed to be because he walked out of the grave.

And so from this point on, we cannot think of him, we cannot perceive him as just a man. He is God in human form and he had a very special relationship with God, a unique relationship unlike any other human being. Alright, second verse of the hymn. Second verse of the hymn. And this is in verses six and seven in Hebrews chapter one. And the second verse of the hymn speaks of his deity, that he is in fact God. And we find this second verse, we pull it down from the Hebrew Songbook of Psalm 97 and then also with compliments of Deuteronomy 32. And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him.

The firstborn is a term of rank and honor. When the son came into the world, Jesus came to mankind, born of the Virgin Mary. He will be called the son of God because the Holy Spirit will overshadow her. Alright, and so here he is the son of God and he comes to us in human form. But just because he came to us in human form, doesn't change who he is.

His context doesn't change his essence. He is deity. How do we know that? Well, because the angels worshiped him. We don't worship the angels.

We don't serve the angels. The angels worship him and they serve him. Jesus left his glory to come into our context. And he looked like us and lived among us. But just because he was in our context didn't change his essence and who he was.

I'll give you an example. Joshua Bell is an accomplished master violinist. And he plays in world-renowned symphonies and locations. And for example, he sold out the Boston Symphony Hall where seats went for, on average, $100.

One day, Joshua decided to put on jeans, tennis shoes, a long-sleeve t-shirt and a ball cap. And he took his violin, and by the way, his violin was a Stradivarius that is valued at somewhere around $3 million. And he took this to the D.C. metro, the Washington, D.C. subway. And he took this and he went to the entrance.

There was a thousand people pouring back and forth. And what he did is he stood there in his normal everyday clothes. He put his violin case down, opened it up, took out his $3 million Stradivarius, and he played beautiful, beautiful songs. Very few people even recognized the beauty and the value of what he was doing.

He was there for four hours and in that time he made $32. People didn't understand who he was. How do you think it would have been different if there had been a video up there showing him as the master violinist that he was in the Boston Symphony Hall playing these beautiful melodies on his violin? It would have been something entirely different for them, wouldn't it? But you see, just being in the context of the D.C. metro in normal everyday clothes, it didn't change who he was. It didn't change what he could do.

It just changed what people knew of him and how they perceived him. And this is why the writer of Hebrews is telling us this, that this one Jesus, though he walked among us and he lived among us, he was God. The angels worshiped and served him. And just him being in our context didn't change his essence. He is one that even the angels worshiped. Who is he? Yeah, he looked like us and he walked among us, but you know what he is? He is awesome God.

That's who he is. The angels are pretty impressive. Verse 7, he makes his angels, his spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.

Whoa, that's impressive. But you know what? They're not equal to the son.

They don't measure up to his stature. The second verse is that he is deity. The third verse of the hymn, the Christ exalting hymn, we find in verses 8 and 9. Verses 8 and 9. To the son, he says, your throne, O God.

The son, Jesus Christ, is referred to as God in this verse. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. What is this verse about? This is the third verse of our Christ exalting hymn. This verse is about sovereignty.

This verse is about his sovereignty, that he reigns. His commands and purposes stand, period. He doesn't alter them. He doesn't change them. He doesn't adjust them.

His thinking doesn't get adjusted because of circumstances. He is sovereign. He is God. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word 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.