Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. What's the best form of government? As Americans, we hold high the flag of democracy as well we should. It doesn't take a deep look into history to see how quickly power corrupts. We can find a long trail of injustice and oppression wherever we find a single ruler who held control over a nation. But what if that ruler is the benevolent sovereign of the universe? The very one who lowered himself to become one of us, to be born in a dirty animal pen, born into poverty.
The one who would take the savage death of the cross for us, who would be rejected and punished for us. What if we lived under a monarchy where the high king was Jesus? The Bible teaches that a day is coming where Jesus will indeed govern the people of heaven and earth. Listen as Pastor Rich shares the hope of the coming reign of our beautiful and gracious king. This is part two of a message first preached on December 22, 2024 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem from Hebrews chapter 1. He will never die again and Paul bears it out very clearly in Romans chapter 1 verse 4 that the resurrection declared Jesus to be the son of God with power.
How? By the resurrection from the dead. He will never die again. So what we're used to, kingdoms come and kingdoms go. We're used to that, right?
But not this one. It is coming and it will be our permanent state. There's such hope in that. The writer of Hebrews brings this out in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28. Let's read this verse together. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe.
Isn't that good? That defines us, that defines our identity, our purpose, our future, all of that. We're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Because the king over this kingdom will be this benevolent sovereign. The second attribute is righteousness.
First of all, it will be forever, it is eternal. Secondly, it will be a kingdom of righteousness. A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Two aspects of this righteousness that I want to point out as it bears out in the text here. First of all, it speaks of the enemies as footstools. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstools. What does it mean enemies as footstools? It brings out quite a picture, doesn't it?
You're sitting down on a chair and you've got your feet propped up. What is the significance of that? This comes from Psalm 110, verse 1, which, by the way, is tied for the most quoted messianic psalm in the New Testament. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Feet on the neck of the vanquished is what this is about. For example, if we were to look back at Joshua chapter 10, let me read it for you. When they brought those kings out to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war, come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.
Then they came near and put their feet on their necks. You have been vanquished. I rule over you. Is the significance of this, all right? So, are there enemies of Christ today? Yes.
Talk about that here in a few minutes. You're in Hebrews. Move ahead to chapter 2. Look with me at verse 8. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 8. Putting everything in subjection under his feet, now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside of his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
You might say, Rich, how can you say he is the benevolent? How can you say Jesus is king over all and Lord of all? Hebrews bears out, I think, pretty clearly that not everyone is in subjection to him.
It doesn't mean he's not Lord. Take, for example, you look back in Exodus, when the people of Israel had been in Egypt now for over 400 years, and a new pharaoh arose, and he didn't know who Joseph was, and he became afraid of the Israelites, of the Hebrews. And so, he put them in subjection.
And he made life hard for them. That's why they needed Moses to rescue them, and God brought them out in the Exodus. So, Moses and Aaron, let's try this again. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh. Got that out? Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh.
I did that just for my wife's sake, because that's exactly what she would do. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh. And Moses says what?
Let my people go. What did Pharaoh say? He responded with a question, and here's his question. Who is the Lord that I should obey him? That's a good question. And the Lord said, I'm glad you asked, let me show you.
Right? But see, this is the history of mankind also. Pharaoh represents, now he's a historic figure, don't get me wrong, but very truly, he also represents the whole of humanity. Who is the Lord that I should obey him? That is a question that every one of us needs to ask and answer according to what God has revealed, because he will show you why you should obey him. All resistance to God's holiness and goodness will be subjected to God.
Everything that counters his character and his purpose, which by the way is what sin is, any thought or behavior that counters his character and his purpose, all of that will be placed under his feet. Which is why I say so many times there is only one appropriate response to sovereignty. What is it? Surrender. We are celebrating here this morning the birth of the benevolent sovereign. And he is. And there's only one appropriate response to him.
And that is surrender. You are called to that this morning. But we see, if you want to, you can turn in your copy of scripture back to Matthew, otherwise I'm just going to read it here for you.
Let's look a little bit later on in the life of Jesus. And here he is. He's been arrested. He's been betrayed. He's been arrested. He's before Caiaphas and the council.
Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said, you have said so. But I tell you, from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. It's a bit enigmatic, isn't it? But we know what that means. And the high priest did too.
You know why? Look what it says. Then the high priest tore his robes and said, He has uttered blasphemy. What further witness do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.
What is your judgment? And they answered, He deserves death. Then they spit in his face and struck him and slapped him.
Imagine this moment. The one who made these men and came to redeem us spit in his face and slapped him. They will become his footstools. The footstools of the benevolent sovereign. God will, what this means, He makes all of his enemies his footstools. It just simply means this. God will make all of Christ's enemies utterly powerless.
Utterly powerless. What does this mean for us? We who are in Christ, we who are followers of Christ, let me tell you what it doesn't mean. It does not mean that we should be proudful and arrogant. Because if we become proudful and arrogant over something like this, we have utterly missed the point.
Because we're followers of Christ, we're called to be followers of Christ, and Christ came in what? Humility. Humility. So for us, this does not mean pride or arrogance, but it means that we should gain confidence from this.
We should gain hope from this. It should bring us a sense of perseverance. That one day we will be under the righteous rule of the benevolent sovereign.
Not only we, but all of creation will be. So a scepter of righteousness, the attribute of righteousness of this kingdom of the benevolent sovereign, first of all, is the enemies as footstools. Secondly, it's a scepter of uprightness. So enemies as footstools, that's the negative. Where evil is vanquished, okay? Evil is put in its place. That's a hopeful statement, isn't it? Evil will be put in its place. But let's remember something. This is why we need the grace of God.
You with me? Because that evil runs right through every one of our hearts and minds. So the judgment of God is a scary prospect. Unless you are covered by the grace of God.
That's why he came. And so this kingdom that he is setting up, it will have a scepter of uprightness. The scepter is a symbol of leadership and authority, right? What does uprightness mean? It's how this kingdom will be described.
Uprightness. In other words, it will be a kingdom where everything is characterized by all that is good and true and beautiful. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on Weekdays at 10 a.m.
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