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. This is part two of a message first preached on December 29th, 2024 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. When he was on the cross, what did he cry out?
My God, my God, what? Why have you forsaken me? And that moment, in that instant, all the sin of the world had been placed upon him. And he then absorbed the necessary holy wrath of God that you and I deserve. So that through faith in him, we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.
That is awesome. Think about that. This one who upholds the universe by his dynamic, powerful command. That is the purpose of the incarnation. He came to rescue us. He came to reconcile us because our sin had separated us from God. And that's what he says, after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So we see also then, farther on down in the chapter, verse 10, the Lord is speaking, and this is quoting the Old Testament, Psalm 102 to be exact. You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. Now, in Psalm 102, this is attributed to God, Jehovah God, right?
And here it is quoted in the New Testament, and it is applied to Christ without qualification or the need for justification, because he is God, okay? Now, look at what he says here. They will perish. What is he talking about? That 94 billion light years of universe, okay?
What is he saying? They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe. You will roll them.
Read that again. Like a robe, you will roll them up. And he says, like a garment, they will be changed. You know what you did this morning? You go into your closet, most of you. You went into your closet, and you got a hanger, and you got out some clothes, and you know what? You said, nope, not that one, and you got another one, right?
If you're a man, your wife probably did it for you. And look, it's describing the known universe and all that is in it, and what's Jesus doing? The Son is dealing with them as with clothing. He's dealing with them as with clothing.
That's awesome. He created and he commands the laws of nature. He created and he commands the laws of nature. In other words, what the writer of Hebrews here is saying is everything that science can study, Jesus commands all that. The material of the time-space continuum is under his command.
All of it, no exceptions. Let's have a little bit of fun with that, because there are many people today that just don't believe that, but they also don't offer a good alternative. For example, and I'm getting this from John Lennox's book Can Science Explain Everything?, Stephen Hawking was a well-known, brilliant physicist, and he claimed that God is not necessary to explain why the universe exists in the first place, why there is something rather than nothing. He believed that science could supply the answer, and here was his answer.
Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Okay, I'm not here to make fun of him, okay? This is where most people are today, because they suppress the truth of an infinite personal creator being. Okay, so if you suppress that, then you're left with this.
This is a brilliant person saying this. Here's the problem. It's not a scientific statement, okay? The statement looks scientific, and it was certainly written by a scientist, but not only is it not scientific, it is not even rational. It's self-contradictory.
What do I mean by that? The theory, or the idea that theory or physical laws bring the universe into existence might sound impressive, but it does not actually make sense. Because the laws have to exist in order for them to create.
So it's self-contradictory statement in itself. Let me just give you an example of where information comes from, and this is why we need revelation. Before I've given the example of Aunt Matilda's chocolate cake sitting on the table.
You walk into the room and you can study it scientifically, right? Well, let's take another scenario. You walk into the kitchen and there's a pot of water boiling on the stove, and you might ask, why is the water boiling? Well, there's a couple different kinds of answers to that. Both of them can be true.
You might say, well, the heat energy from the gas flame is being conducted through the copper, the copper base of the kettle, and is agitating the molecules of water to such an extent that the water is boiling. Is that a correct answer? Yes, there's another answer too.
You could just say, I want a cup of tea. That also gives information that's necessary. Why is the water boiling? You see, that required what kind of information? Special revelation from an intelligent being. The why of the universe. And so, for there to be an intelligent, the Lord knew this was necessary, particularly in our day, that he upholds all things by the word of his power. He laid the foundations of the earth, meaning it's his creation. And because it's his creation, he is the one who established meaning and purpose. And until you acknowledge the Creator and His meaning and purpose, you will not know meaning and purpose in this life.
Not in the sense that will give you any sense of fulfillment or life hereafter. But it says here, after he says, you laid the foundations of the earth, he says, but you are the same. And again, speaking of the Son, the second person of the Trinity, the one who came to us, who set aside all his glory and came born of a woman, born as a baby, an infant. But you are the same.
Some of you are, I know what you're thinking right now. How can he be the same if he set all that aside and came as an infant and took on a body? It just simply means he chose to limit himself. He's still infinite God. His nature, his essence is still infinite God. But he chose to limit himself. And why would he do that? So he could communicate with us. So we could see him, so we could walk with him, so we could live with him, so we could see him, touch him, feel him, hear him, literally. That's why. You see, an infinite being is complete.
Think about that. An infinite being is complete. And there is no need for change. There's no capacity for change. If you're an infinite being, the Lord does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews says that, right?
Not only is there no need for change, there's no need for time or space. And so he is a transcendent being. As I've said before, everything that there is to know, all that has happened, all that is happening, all that ever will happen, all of it, he knows it right here, right now, perfectly, completely, absolutely. It's mind-blowing.
And it ought to be. Because you and I are finite creatures. We can't comprehend that. But God is infinite. And this one, whom we celebrate during this season, this Advent season, he is the one who not only measures the universe with the span of his hand, he upholds all of it by the word of his power.
He laid the foundations. He is the one that's carrying on the purpose of his Father to reconcile us to him. All of it focuses on that.
All of it does. And that is why it says, back in verse two now, look at verse two once again with me. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the, what? Heir of all things. The heir of all things.
This is speaking of an allotted share. Often deals with land, okay? And he is the heir of all things.
Translate that for me. It's all his. You think you have stuff? It's all his. And what does that lead us to? That leads us to a sense of reality. And that ought to lead us to a sense of humility, which then ought to lead us to a practice of stewardship. It's all his.
All of it. He's the heir of all things. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-09 10:13:01 / 2025-01-09 10:17:34 / 5