This is The Encouraging Word, and we're here for you, to encourage you, online at tewonline.org. Remember that website, tewonline.org, a great place to sign up for the daily encouraging word from Dr. Wilton and discover more about who we are and why we're here to lift up the name of Jesus. And now, today's Bible-based teaching from Dr. Don Wilton.
The Encouraging Word. Now my friends, this morning, I hope that you are ready with your Bibles open, because we are going to be studying something today that defies human understanding. Let's turn in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1. I submit to you that when you present the Son concerning the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've learned a great deal. We've learned that He is the image of the Father. We know that the Son is the one through whom all things have been made. We know that He sustains all things by the power of His Word. Amongst many other things, we've also come to understand that Jesus Christ is the exact image of God. We know that He is the radiance of God's glory. I believe that before we get into verse 4, there is a sense in which we're coming to the crescendo of the announcement concerning Jesus Christ. And I want to read to you just one short statement right at the end of verse 3 of Hebrews chapter 1. Here's what God's Word says, Jesus Christ sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.
What a statement. After He had made purification for sin, we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ took a seat. Several things just looking at that without even beginning to try to understand it, we know that we are talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. We know number two, that He sat down. We know number three, that He sat down at the right hand of majesty, which somewhat perplexes me because I know that this one, the Lord Jesus Christ is God. Interesting that the one who is God would take a seat beside Himself.
He sat down at the right hand. We also know that this is the throne room because He took a seat at the right hand of majesty. We also know that this took place in heaven.
We know where it is. And so it is that there is a seventh attribute that God makes in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is simply this, that Jesus Christ is the right hand of God, like the right hand of God. Or He becomes the right hand of God. He is the right hand of God.
And this morning, beloved friends, what we are going to do is quite simple. I have asked a question today and the question is simply this, why did Jesus sit down? We must understand here that we are talking about the Son of God. Why was it necessary for the Lord Jesus Christ to sit down?
What is this all about? What possibly could God be trying to teach us and to say to us? Would you join me as we pray for a brief moment? Father, we have come once again to a passage that we have many times quoted. We love to talk about this when we pray and we ought to do so. We believe it. Father, we do not question the fact that Jesus sat down at your right hand.
We take you at your word. And Father, we also recognize that it is not necessary for us to understand everything about you or that we could ever understand everything about you because you're God. But if you would be so pleased, would your Spirit open our hearts and give us spiritual understanding today? Beginning with this pastor, Lord, help me to be able to share very clearly the things that you have put in my heart because some of them are very difficult to understand. And then, Lord, for the things that we still do not understand, give us spiritual acceptance.
And may our spiritual acceptance strengthen our faith because we have put our trust in you, asking these things because of the one who is seated at the right hand of the majesty in heaven, the Lord Jesus, amen. Why did Jesus sit down at the right hand of God? Now, I'm going to give to you this morning five reasons why He did this, and I am no doubt that we will find probably a number of others, and I certainly will after today, and I'll keep saying, why didn't I see this? I'm not going to submit to you that we're going to cover all bases today, but I'd like us to have a closer look today at why Jesus sat down at the right hand of God. Number one, number one, because it was a sign of honor.
It was a sign of honor. I don't know if you've ever been in the company of famous people. I've had a few occasions in my life to meet very important and even very famous people.
It's quite an awesome thing, really, to be in the company of very famous people. I remember one time, many years ago, I was in Edinburgh, Scotland, and I was on Princess Street, for those of you that know Edinburgh, Scotland, and just walking there, minding my own business, and all of a sudden, here come all the police cars in Scotland Yard and come and stop right in front of me. I thought, this is it. This has to be my big day, big old black car, right there, boom, boom, right there in front of me. The door opened, and out hopped Princess Diana. I thought, coming to talk to me, I can't get over this.
I remember just standing there, of course, there were people running everywhere and trying to get there, and the security were trying to stop everybody, and I just stood my ground. I said, if only the rest of the people knew here that she had actually come to see me, they wouldn't be bothering themselves. She walked straight toward me, and when she got right here, as far as this pulpit away, I said, hello. She said, hello, Don. No, she didn't, she just said... She said, hello, I said, how are you?
She said, very well, thank you. And she was gone, into the shop. There was a shop right behind me, and it had all kinds of curtains and stuff in it, and lace things and everything hanging all over the windows.
The police didn't try and stop the people who are in there, they didn't usher them out, but they wouldn't let anybody else go in. And so I stood there for about 40, 45 minutes, right there where I was, never moved. There was security at the door, and I watched her through the window. She went, looked at stuff like my wife does, and held this up, and she talked to people, and I thought how fortunate the people were that were actually in the store, got to spend 40 minutes with Princess Diana. And then after she was done, she came out.
When she walked by me, I said, toodle-ee-doo, hi, do you know something, folks? If she had stopped and said to me, would you like to come and have a good old cup of tea with me? I probably would have gone, folks. I would have called my wife first, just to check up if it was all right.
I wasn't worried about Charlie, it was my wife I'd be worried about. Have you ever been in the presence of someone who is just important? Do you know what it is when you come into the presence of someone who is important and they invite you to take a seat? It's one thing to stand and to talk to someone that is important.
It's another thing entirely for that person to invite you to sit down. Now I want to show you something here in Scripture. Let's turn in our Bibles to John's Gospel and chapter 5. Everybody turn there very quickly, John chapter 5. Jesus had one of those encounters with the Sadducees and the Pharisees and everybody else who were trying to discredit Him.
They obviously were trying to accuse Him of blasphemy because of all that He said concerning God the Father and His relationship to Him. But in John chapter 5 something interesting happens. Verse 17, Jesus said, my Father is always at His work to this very day and I too am working. Now I'm going to carry on in a moment in verse 19, but I do want to say this to you my friends at this point. Jesus made it very clear when He said, I and my Father are one. If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father.
Now watch what happens here in verse 19. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He can do only what He sees His Father doing because here it is, whatever the Father does, what's the next statement? The Son does also.
Just watch, keep your finger on there. If the Father says yes, what does the Son say? Yes. If the Father says no, what does the Son say? No. If the Father says come, what does the Son say? Come.
If He says go, go. That's what Jesus Christ is trying to say here. Now I love the Lord Jesus Christ and I understand that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three in one. If you do not understand the triune God, you're going to have great difficulty trying to understand that the one who is God became separated from God, took upon himself the sin of the world, even made the statement, my Father, why have you forsaken me, then conquered death and the grave, rose, ascended, and when He came back into heaven, He was seated at the right hand of majesty.
Now I want you to hold onto this. Look what happens here next, verse 20. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. However the Father is working and so am I too, Jesus said.
Yes to your amazement He will show Him even greater things than these. Just as the Father raises the dead, gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.
Here's the key verse. That all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
Why do you think Jesus sat down? It was a sign of honor in two respects. First of all, it was a sign of honor from the Father to the Son. It was a sign of honor from the Father to the Son.
But second of all, it was a sign of honor from the Son to the Father. There is something remarkably special and deeply spiritual that is occurring the moment Jesus Christ enters back into heaven. Now what did Jesus say or what did God say of Jesus when He was baptized? The Spirit came upon Him and God said, speaking from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Now by the way, you're going to be interesting to know there that that statement there is quite literally the conferral of God's honor upon the Son. So what is happening in heaven? The work is finished, the ministry continues, but the honor of God is climatically established.
Isn't that incredible? Number two, number two, it was a sign of authority. Now I want you to go to 1 Peter in the New Testament, 1 Peter and chapter 3.
Not only was this a sign of honor, but it was a sign of authority, 1 Peter chapter 3. And I'm going to look at verse 22, the latter part of verse 21 and then verse 22. Thank you for looking in your Bibles with me. God is about to say something here through His Spirit. Peter puts it like this. He says it is the Lord Jesus Christ who has saved you by virtue of His having conquered death, by virtue of His resurrection, who has gone up into heaven and is at God's right hand with angels, authorities and powers all in submission to Him. You see my friends, number one, the right hand of God symbolizes His authority.
The seat at the right hand of God symbolizes the absolute authority of the Godhead with all the honor that creation pays and is due to majesty. I want you to just think about this for a moment. It's remarkable. I grew up in Africa amongst the Zulu people. The Zulu tribe in Africa is some of the finest people you've ever met. And if you go back and you look at the history of the Zulu people, you cannot but help study about the great kings of the Zulu nations. They were people like King Dingon, Shaka, Fetchwayo, Lobun Gula, and I'll stop right there, otherwise you'll think I'm starting to speak in tongues in a moment. Great kings, but they were ruthless. If you want to use the word authority, you'd have to talk about these Zulu kings.
I mean, Shaka Zulu just for example, would parade all his warriors every morning and just to establish his authority, he would just kill a few of them. There's a place called Shaka's Rock that I have been to. It's a massive rock, very high. It's called Shaka's Rock and we are told that there was many occasions when Shaka would take his royal entourage and they would just walk up on top of this rock and he would just pick people out and he would just hurl them over the edge of the rock. Preface his little days activities by saying, I just want you to know that I'm the king around here.
Come over here, young man. Just throw him over to his death. Because frequently we'd just hurl scores of young women over the rock, just would throw them over. He wasn't sacrificing them or trying to appease the gods or do say he just did it. He just simply did it because he was totally in power. He had authority over life and death. People were nothing more than just clay and putty in his hands.
I want to tell you something, friends. When Jesus Christ arrived back in heaven, if you will beg my pardon for putting it in such simplistic terms, when God seated the son at his right hand, it was a sign of his absolute authority. It was a magnificent announcement and it meant two things. It meant, number one, that all were subject to him, all of creation, all people, all nations. The Bible here in 1 Peter says, even the angels and the authorities and the powers, everything that you could possibly imagine were placed in subject to him. But second of all, it meant that all power was vested in him.
God was saying for all time and for all eternity, may I present to you my son. He has done it all. You need look no further. You need ask no other questions.
You need not try any other method. Just look to my son. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message, but Dr. Wilton has a number of resources that many are asking about, especially the one called, Is This the End?
Here are the details on how you can get your copy. Believers around the world are asking these questions. Is Jesus about to come back? Is this the end of the world? Join Dr. Wilton as he answers these questions straight from God's word in his message, Is This the End? Also, as a bonus, you will receive The King is Coming by Erwin Luxor, renowned theologian and friend. Both of these ministry resources will greatly bless, motivate and encourage you in anticipation of our Lord Jesus's return. Be assured, God has everything under control.
He is our living hope. Call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 and request, Is This the End? In the bonus book, The King is Coming for yourself or your friend today. Thank you for listening and thank you for supporting the encouraging word. Now it's time to spread the gospel. It's a powerful resource. I hope you'll get your copy this week, but there are also multiple resources on our website at www.tewonline.org including the book from Dr. Wilton called Saturdays with Billy about his time with Billy Graham.
Again, everything's online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. Number one, it was a sign of honor. Number two, it was a sign of authority.
Number three, I submit to you today, it was a sign of rest. Now I want you to look with me at Hebrews chapter 10 very quickly this morning. Hebrews chapter 10.
Right there in the book that we are studying, Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going to go back to verse 11 of Hebrews chapter 10. By the way, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 11 is talking about the Old Testament. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12 is talking about the New Testament. If you ever wanted to, if somebody said to you, what in the world is the Old Testament? Say Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11, it's the Old Testament. Well, what's the New Testament? Hebrews chapter 10 verse 12, there's a summary of the Old Testament and of the New Testament.
Just simple as that. Let's have a look at it. All right, the Old Testament, chapter 10 and verse 11, day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again, he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. All right, if you'd watch me for a moment.
Can you feel the exhaustion level here? Go down to New Orleans, Louisiana with me at Mardi Gras time. You have Fat Tuesday followed by Ash Wednesday. Fat Tuesday, everybody goes berserk. Ash Wednesday, they go to church, paint themselves black, confess their sins, talk to the priest, do whatever they can, pay money, penance, do anything they possibly can to be forgiven. Then the next day, they go back to Fat Tuesday again, go and do it all over again, go back to the priest again.
Next day, go out and do it again, go back to the priest again. That's the Old Testament. Bible says it doesn't work. It's not God's way. That's the Old Testament.
That's why we're dealing here with the superiority of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at the New Testament, verse 12, but when this priest, who is this priest? But when this priest, the Lord Jesus Christ had offered for all time, one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
Now I'm full of a lot of questions today. Do you not suppose that the Lord Jesus was awfully busy when he came down to earth? Now friends, I'm going to tell you that he was.
He was the God man. He understood busyness. Do you know that Jesus got worn out? Many times he just got in the boat.
He said, take me on the other side there. I'm worn out. Do you know that Jesus got so worn out, he laid his head down and went to sleep in the middle of a big storm on the Sea of Galilee. He became weary in his soul. Do you not suppose that Jesus became awfully busy when as God himself, he took on the form of a fetus? Do you not suppose that Jesus Christ became awfully busy when he allowed himself to be pushed down a birth canal and be born in Bethlehem's manger? Do you not suppose that Jesus Christ became awfully busy when he went through the rigors and demands of childhood, when he began to go through puberty and became a teenager? Do you not suppose that Jesus Christ became awfully busy when he allowed dust to form upon his feet, when he went around healing the sick, making the lame to walk again and the blind to see? Do you not suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ became awfully busy when he trudged around those mountains and broke bread and fed 5,000? Do you not suppose that Jesus Christ became awfully busy and exasperated in trying time without number to explain who he was to his disciples? Do you not suppose that Jesus became awfully busy and exasperated when he butted heads continually with the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Do you not suppose that Jesus was not awfully busy when those soldiers came and took him so harshly in the Garden of Gethsemane? Do you not suppose that Jesus became awfully busy and exasperated as he marched down the Via de la Rosso, carrying the cross of man's sin upon his shoulders? Do you not suppose that this same Jesus became awfully busy and exasperated when they put nails into his hands and his feet and put him into a horrible place called a Roman execution? Do you not suppose that Jesus Christ became awfully busy when he looked up to the Father and said, my Father, my Father, why have you forsaken me? Do you not suppose that Jesus Christ became awfully busy when he came walking out triumphantly from the grave and when he ascended?
And can you just not see the picture as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, obedient even unto the death upon the cross, came back into the presence of the Father, and the Father looked at him and said to him, Son, please take a seat. We've heard from Dr. Wilton preaching from the pulpit, but now as he steps into the studio, I pray you'd open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.
This is exciting news. If you just gave your life to Christ with Dr. Wilton, or perhaps throughout the program God's been stirring in your heart, let us pray with you about what's next in growing in your faith. Dr. Wilton has free resources he wants you to have if you call 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673. We stand ready to connect with you 24 hours a day and online as well at www.tewonline.org. Let's get connected.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-08-22 10:16:28 / 2023-08-22 10:27:04 / 11