Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Who was this baby Jesus, lying in a makeshift bed made for animal feed? The Christmas song, Sing We the Song of Emmanuel, lays out the mind-bending beauty like this. Helpless He lay, the invincible, Maker of Mary, now Mary's Son. The Creator Himself became one of His own creation.
Why? In order to catch us up out of the grasp of the enemy, to free us from the debt of our sin and the separation from Himself. That is very good news. In this message titled, The Infinite Creator, Pastor Rich takes us to Hebrews chapter 1. Let's listen in. Our scripture reading this morning is from Hebrews 1, 7 through 14. Hebrews 1, 7 through 14. Of the angels, He says, He makes His angels winds and His ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son, He says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
And you, O Lord, lay the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe. You will roll them up like a garment, they will be changed.
But you are the same, and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has He ever said, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Let's bow our hearts in prayer. Lord, these words about you are just so amazing. As our pastor comes and unpacks this for us this morning, Lord, we are just overwhelmed with who you are. Lord, we in our hearts would be the type of beings that would want to try to get to you, but it would never work. You, O God, have come to us. Thank you for being the God who dwelled among us. So Lord, right now, we just, as it were, would like to just hand you a check with our name signed at the bottom, but everything else is blank.
You fill in the blanks. You're God, we are not. We submit ourselves to you. We want right now to hear what you have to say.
We have not come to play games. We have not come to go through motions. We have come to hear from you. Thank you for Pastor Rich, which you've laid upon his heart, what he studied. Thank you, Lord, for what we're going to hear. And Lord, as we just see you from your word right now, we just anticipate what you're going to do in our own hearts and lives. May we leave here changed because of your precious word and because of your presence. Thank you for loving us as we are. And thank you for coming into our life to change us. Use this time, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Thank you, Skip, Mr. Furrow, Debbie's husband. And so today we conclude our series through the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. As we've been studying it, the theme of this whole series has been the supremacy of God's Son. And first, we looked at the radiance, Christ Jesus, Son of God, second person of the Trinity. He is the radiance of God's glory. Secondly, he is the one who brings us to God. Thirdly, he is the one who is worthy of worship. Fourthly, he is the benevolent sovereign.
Both of those words key. Today we're going to focus on the fact that he is the infinite creator. He is the infinite. That baby that was lying in a manger made Mary and now he's Mary's son. Isn't that mind blowing? Nothing else like it.
Nothing else like it. It says in verse two of this chapter, but in these last days, he, God, has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, now watch this, through whom also he created the world. Through whom he created the world. In other words, Jesus Christ was the appointed agent of creation.
He spoke and it happened. We see the Trinity at work in creation. God the Father, God the Son, as it's revealed here in Genesis 1, it talks about the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. So the Trinity is at work in creation. John chapter one, verse three, the apostle John writes, without him was not anything made that was made.
Pretty straightforward. Interestingly, as we see here in verse two, through whom also he created the world, you would think that word world would be the word cosmos, but it's not. It is the word ionos, which means age or forever, is how it's commonly translated in the Scriptures. So what he is saying is that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is the creator of the entire scope of the time-space continuum. What is the expanse of the known universe? It's approximately 94 billion light years. You and I can't even begin to fathom that distance. But what does the Scripture say about him?
He measures that with what? From here to here. That God in a manger grew up to live a perfect life so that he could spread his hands and say I love you this much, and die, and be buried, and rise again, and ascend. Let's not forget who he is. We're here this morning in this chapter as we bring this to a conclusion.
Let's just remember who we're talking about here. In other words, we need to get beyond the baby in the manger. It's a wonderful story that God became flesh, and yes, he was born of a woman, but he's a whole lot more than just a baby in a manger. He is not a part, he is not a part of the created order, he is the creator of it.
Something to remember. And it also says here then, if you continue in verse 3, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and here it is, upholds the universe by the word of his power. Upholds the universe by the word of his power. This is a statement of administration. He administers the universe.
We're lucky just to make it to the moon, we're trying to make it to Mars. And this one upholds the universe by the word of his power. He is the law giver, in other words. There are laws that govern the universe, and he is the law giver, and his law is what administers the universe. As Paul writes in Colossians 1 17, in him all things, what, hold together. In him all things hold together. So the word word here is not the word logos we might think it is, it's the word rhema, which means command. He commands the universe to hold together.
He's the law giver. And the word of his power is the word dunamis, one of my favorite words in the New Testament in the Greek. Dunamis is dynamic active force.
It's the same word we find in Acts 1 8 where Jesus said, you shall receive dunamis after the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Think about that. That's pretty awesome. The same power that upholds the universe is the same power that is available to us to become and to do what God has designed us to become and do. Psalm 33 verses 6 through 9 invites us to stand in awe. Stand in awe.
Why? Because he spoke and it came to be. In other words, when God speaks, something happens.
Now think about that. What do we have before us today? We have a copy of the word of God. This is God speaking. When God speaks, something happens. You are encountering God through his word even now.
God is speaking and when God speaks, something happens. It is a powerful word. It is a command.
It is a powerful dynamic command. He commanded, Psalm 33 says, he commanded and it stood fast, meaning what? He didn't have to keep juggling like this. No, he established laws.
He established the laws of nature. So when we think of, you know, upholds the universe by the word of his power, you might think of the Greek mythical god Atlas, right, holding up, you know, the world on his head. No, that's not what it is. That's very static.
This is a dynamic, dynamic carrying on toward the goal. All of the universe and in focus in the universe is the solar system. In focus is this third rock from the sun called earth that has on it people.
What's so special about these people? They're created in God's image and he created them so that we could know him and enjoy him and delight in him. That's why we exist. And so he is the one who carries on the universe and all that is in it toward the goal that God has this goal, which then we see in the purpose of the incarnation as he is, you know, Jesus carried the weight of the world. We could say that figuratively speaking, he did when he was on the cross.
He's what did he cry out? My God, my God, what, why have you forsaken me? 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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