so so So, So, We welcome all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to Dayspring Fellowship. We are delighted to have you with us on this Lord's Day. We always thank the Lord for this day of rest and delight in the Lord Jesus and worship of God our Father. Today is a special day because we're celebrating the 45th anniversary of this local congregation that the Lord established through our founding pastor, Jackson Boyette, 45 years. And so we're glad that you are here and you're able to celebrate with us. We want to welcome visitors and encourage you to sign our guest register out on the hall table before you leave today so that we can have a record of your visit. And while you're there, please grab one of these booklets. We want to give this to you as a free gift, just a token of our appreciation for you joining us for worship this morning. It's titled Ultimate Questions by John Blanchard. stack of these out on the hall table. So be sure to grab one before you leave here today. And you are cordially invited to stay after and join us for our potluck celebration. We're going to have a barbecue meal in the fellowship hall immediately following this worship service. I want to mention more about that in a second. But I do want to have you notice inside your bulletin that our website is dsf.org. This is a place where you can go and learn a little bit more about the history of our church, our distinctives, what we believe, and also find... uh... sermons and resources uh... and uh... uh... a lot of uh... just good uh... helpful information about who we are and then down the page there you'll see that uh... on wednesday night of this week we're going to be gathering at six thirty for our small group in jonathan and elissa cantrell's home uh... we do ask you to let them know that you're going to be there so that they can uh... be expecting the right number of people have the right number of uh... seats provided for us so you can let them know that by word of mouth today or text them or call them. during the week and we always look forward to these times on Wednesday nights just to gather midweek and reflect on the word that was preached the previous Sunday and allow that to continue to shape us and press into our lives and then just enjoy fellowship and a time of prayer and carrying one another's burdens and just getting to know one another better. So I encourage you to be there for it. These are wonderful times of fellowship. And then also down the page, you'll see that our sermon passage for next week will be resuming where we left off in the Gospel of John, next Lord's Day. It will be in John chapter 8, verses 12 through 30. And as always, I encourage you in your private devotions, your family worship time, just to be reflecting on this passage as you prepare your heart for worship next week. Across the page there, we have a number of announcements, so this will be my final Sunday to wave this big book and encourage you to read it. The works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 8, which they've titled his Ethical Writings, contain charity and its fruits, also the ends for which God created the world, and the nature of true virtue. So hopefully you've been reading through this with us throughout the quarter. We've come to the end of it now. If you have been unable to dig into this book, I would encourage you to read just the one sermon from Charity and Its Fruits that Dr. Nettles mentioned yesterday on heaven as a world of love. Just a tremendous edifying sermon from Charity and Its Fruits, which is the first work in this volume. And just a reminder, you don't have to buy this. This is all available for free online at the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale. And so you can search for that and pull this up. All the introductory notes, footnotes, everything is included for free online. Also, you'll see that we are celebrating our 45th anniversary, as I said. And as we have been celebrating that anniversary this weekend, Dr. Tom Nettles has been with us, speaking to us on the life and theology of Jonathan Edwards. And the messages that were so rich that he gave us yesterday, a treasure, we were able to capture that and have that available to you. They were recorded. So we have it on sermon audio for free, and I've put the link in your bulletin so that if you were providentially hindered from joining us yesterday, you can go listen to that during the week. And then we hope that you will stay afterwards and enjoy the fellowship barbecue meal in the fellowship hall as we celebrate God's sovereign love and work among us these past 45 years. If you didn't bring any food with you, don't let that be a hindrance for staying. You're welcome to stay and help us to to eat, we have plenty of food. And then I want to point out that since we have been focusing on Jonathan Edwards, I went back and I found these two videos of Jonathan Edwards sermons that you can watch and listen to online. The first is by our founding pastor, Jackson Boyette, from the 1980s, preaching the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. You can find that on the link to YouTube that I've put there in your bulletin and be edified by one of the most remarkable sermons Jonathan Edwards ever preached being performed by Jackson. And then I also included a sermon that I did on the admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Christ Jesus. I preached this as we were going through our Revelation series on Sunday mornings. I took a Wednesday evening once we got to Revelation chapter 5, which is where Edwards is drawing this admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Christ Jesus from. That was back in 2017. So it's been a while, but it is also as a video available for you on the link there. The ladies are hosting a wedding shower for Jen Hoffman, who is engaged to be married to Ryan Meiring. Jen and Ryan are here this morning with Jen's three children. I encourage you to meet them. We are glad to have you all with us, and we welcome you to Day Spring Fellowship today. The shower that the ladies are going to put on is going to take place in the fellowship hall on Saturday, October the 21st at 11 a.m. Sandra asks for you to RSVP to her if you plan to attend, and we have the registry information for you there in the bulletin. The annual Dayspring Retreat is coming up. So, you know, many churches have youth retreat or a women's retreat or men's retreat or elders retreat. We just do a whole Dayspring Retreat, a church-wide retreat where we all take off and go out to the beautiful hill country. of Texas together for the weekend in a resort called the River End Resort in Hunt, Texas. We've been doing this for decades and it is just a magnificent time together in a beautiful location. So I just want to ask you to mark your calendar for that weekend. Plan on being there. I'll have sign-up information next week so we can sign up for our rooms. Don't let cost be a hindrance to you. If you need financial assistance, we will provide that for you. We want you to be there. This is the one weekend of the year where Dayspring Fellowship on Sunday morning is not worshiping here at Dayspring Chapel. Our doors are locked because we are out there in Hunt, Texas, worshiping God together. in the Hill Country, so we want you to be there with us for it. Dayspring Library's extension. So we're excited. The elders have curated books from the library here that we want to just recommend to you. So where we used to have the bookstore, we decided we don't want to be in the bookstore business selling books. We just want you to be able to take books for free home and bring them back when you're done. And so we have, out where the bookstore used to be, those shelves are now filled with books that we are just currently recommending for you to peruse and see if you want to take one home. You just write your name on the card, leave the card here, take the book home, and then whenever you're done, bring it back. Finally, Handel's Messiah is coming up. The Austin Symphony is going to be doing just one performance of Handel's Messiah on Tuesday, December 5th at 8 p.m. at the Riverbend Center. And we want to encourage Day Springers this year to think about all going, maybe carpooling, invite your neighbors, invite others to come with you. to hear this marvelous musical rendition of the Gospel. The lyrics to this performance come straight from the King James Version of the Bible, and one of the reasons we're encouraging you to go this year is because our Advent Sermon series is going to be based upon the passages of scripture that Handel arranged for that particular piece of music. And I always look forward to it every year. I hope you all can make it. And then one thing that's not in your bulletin that I want to mention is that today after the fellowship meal, Allie and Lily and I believe Sarah are talking about going out to share the gospel publicly as Dayspring Evangelism. And so if you want to join them in spreading the gospel to the lost here in Austin, just see Allie or Lily and say you want to join. And they will give you all the details on how to participate in that evangelism effort this afternoon. Well, as we begin our worship service now this morning, I want to invite you to take a red hymnal you'll find on the rack in front of you and turn in that red hymnal to hymn number 57. 5-7 in the red. And please stand together for our call to worship. Our traditional anniversary call to worship comes from Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, his second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter four. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Let us sing together. Alleluia, praise Jehovah! O my soul, Jehovah, praise! I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days. Put no confidence in princes, nor for help on man depend. He shall die, to dust returning, and his purposes shall end. Happy is the man that chooses Israel's God to be his aid. He is blessed, whose hope of blessing on the Lord his God is stayed. Heaven and earth the Lord created, Seas and all that they contain. He delivers from oppression, Righteousness He will maintain. Food He daily gives the hungry, Sets the mourning prisoner free. Raises those bowed down with anguish, Makes the sightless eye to see. Well, Jehovah loves the righteous, and the stranger he befriends. Helps a fatherless and widow, judgment on the wicked sins. Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah, O my soul, Jehovah, praise. I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days. Over all, God reigns forever, through all ages He is King. Unto Him, your God, O Zion, joyful hallelujah sing. Let us pray together. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is to join with your saints in heaven this morning with the angels and archangels in praising you. And we thank you, Lord God, that you have made us a part of that multitude that no man can number in heaven and on earth that gives praises to the Lamb and sings to you joyful hallelujahs. We thank you, Father, that you've redeemed us by sending your own and only Son to die for our sins. We thank you that you have bought us with his precious blood so that we are not our own but belong to you. Help us this day to forgive all of those who have sinned against us, just as you have forgiven our sins against you. We pray, Lord God, that you would work by your spirit in this service to remind us of your character, of your goodness, to remind us of how glorious and excellent you are. We pray, Lord God, that you would meet with us as we sing and as we take communion together as one body, that you would hear our prayers and that you would speak to us in the reading and the preaching of your word. In all things, Lord God, we ask that you would see to it that you get all the glory and that you would go forth by your spirit into every heart here doing your sovereign work to the praise and honor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. You may be seated. All right, good morning, everyone. Please turn to hymn number 457. Come thou fount of every blessing. On the fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of God's unchanging love. Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God, He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood. To grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be. Let Thy grace now like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. O Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, Glory to the God who reigns on high. O Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, Glory to the God who reigns on high. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of God's unchanging love. Oh, glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high. Oh, glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high. Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. O glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high! O glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high! Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God, He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood. O glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high! O glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high! O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy grace now like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. O glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high! O glory, glory, hallelujah, glory to the God who reigns on high! ♪ Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it ♪ ♪ Prone to leave the God I love ♪ ♪ Here's my heart, O take and seal it ♪ ♪ Seal it for thy courts above ♪ ♪ O glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Glory to the God who reigns on high ♪ ♪ O glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Glory to the God who reigns on high ♪ ♪ O glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Glory to the God who reigns on high ♪ ♪ O glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Glory to the God who reigns on high ♪ Amen. We are a charismatic church, aren't we? All right, please turn to hymn number 55, To God Be the Glory. To God be the glory, great things He has done, So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life and atonement for sin, And opened the life-gate that we may go in, ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the earth hear his voice ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the people rejoice ♪ O come to the Father through Jesus the Son ♪ And give him the glory, great things he has done ♪ O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood ♪ To every believer the promise of God ♪ The vilest offender who truly believes ♪ That moment from Jesus forgiveness receives ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the earth hear his voice ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the people rejoice O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He has done. Great things He has taught us, great things He has done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son. But purer and higher and greater will be Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He has done. Amen. Now we have the reading of God's Word. Our reading is from Romans chapter 8, verses 29 through 39. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestinated, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not with him, also with him, graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that who was raised. who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, for I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The word of God. We celebrate that love of God in Christ Jesus every Lord's Day here at Dayspring as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we are a word-centered church, but we're also a table-centered church, seeing the pattern in Acts chapter 2 of gathering often to break the bread together. We want to encourage visitors to partake of the supper with us if you belong to the Lord. This is the Lord's table and not Dayspring's table. And so we want to make it clear as to who is invited to partake of the supper. And if these things don't apply to you, we welcome you. We are so glad you're here. We just ask that you pass the elements along as they come by if these things three things that we ask if you don't apply. So three things we do ask, and the first one is the foremost of them all. We ask that you are a sinner who is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. So you're not looking to a prayer that you prayed, or an aisle that you walked, or even to your own baptism. You're not looking to any goodness in yourself, to any works that you've done. But you are today, this very moment, trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. You're looking to His perfect life lived in your place in obedience to the law of God and His death on the cross taking the penalty for your breaking of that law so that you are one who has been saved by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. to his glory alone, no boasting. And then secondly, we ask that you be a baptized believer, but we do leave the details of your baptism up to your individual conscience. And then finally, we ask that you not be under church discipline from your local congregation so that we might respect the work of King Jesus as he sovereignly builds his church here in this world. As we prepare ourselves to partake of the Lord's Supper together, I want to invite you to take your red hymnal once again and turn to number four hundred and ninety nine four nine nine as we remind one another there is nothing in our hands that we bring let us sing rock of ages cleft for me Rock of Ages, clad for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood, and from Riven's side which flowed, be of sin the double cure. Cleanse me from its guilt and power, Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands. Could my zeal no respite know? Could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone, Thou must save, and Thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress, Helpless look to Thee for grace. Fell I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die. While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyelids close in death, When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on my judgment throne. Rock of Ages, clap for me, let me hide myself in Thee. You know, it's fitting with the scripture reading that we just had, kind of tails into what I had prepared to say today, and it's also fitting for our church anniversary, because I want you to think this morning about your definition of a word as we prepare for the Lord's Supper. That word is commitment. How do you define commitment? A wise commander once said to me, when you attack, you must hold nothing back. You must commit yourself totally. In battle, there's a danger that fear will outweigh the action necessary to accomplish the objective. I had a phrase that I constantly told my soldiers. My wife's probably heard it too many times. My boys certainly heard it when they were playing football. It was six words, move fast, hit hard, never quit. You see, there's commitment and there's total commitment. And when lives are at stake, partial commitment at best is costly, and at worst, it's tragic. Our Lord saw degrees of commitment during his ministry. As we saw early on in Greg's masterful series in John's gospel, at the end of chapter two, beginning in verse 23, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name. when they saw the signs and what he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people. And later in chapter six, we see the multitudes following him because of the signs and the miracles and the food he provided. But when he explained to them what true commitment to him was, What was required, they turned away. They believed initially, but it wasn't belief unto salvation. They weren't totally committed to following Him. Beloved, being a faithful follower of Christ demands total commitment to Him and His Lordship. Grace grants us the faith to believe and turn from our sin. and turning from our sin totally. As I said when I last preached, passing through the narrow gate requires you to leave all your baggage, all your sin behind. You can't hold on to any of it. There are no half measures when it comes to pursuing righteousness. We are not perfect, and we all fail and struggle with sin, but we press on toward the goal of becoming more like him until the day he calls us home. Look at the example he set for us. The Lord Jesus was totally committed to fulfilling the Father's plan to redeem sinners. The elements submitting are, The elements symbolizing that commitment are before us now. He remains totally committed to preserving us and helping us grow to be more like him until the day we are finally with him. We should likewise be totally committed to obeying and following him. So what do you do now that you have counted the cost of total commitment to Christ? Again, from John chapter six, Do you want to go away as well? The only right answer, the answer of total commitment, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. And so I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Brothers and sisters, let's take a moment to examine ourselves. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the mercy that you have shown to us through the provision of salvation for wretched sinners through the blood of your only Son. We thank you that he is our example, he is our Savior, he is our Lord and our King. Because of the adoption into your family, we also call him brother. Lord, we struggle to be like him through the power that you give us alone, not of ourselves, but because your Spirit moves us. You convict us. You perfect us for your service. Lord, this place has been an embassy for your kingdom because of the commitment of those who have been here. and because you have sustained it. We pray that you would continue to sustain and preserve this place as long as we are faithful, and keep us faithful for your service, dear God. For your glory alone, in the name of Jesus we pray, amen. For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is the body of the Lord which is given for you. This cup is the covenant of the new covenant in Christ's blood, shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sin. Please take the insert in your bulletin. This is a hymn written by our founding pastor, Jackson Boyette, based off of Psalm 90 that we sing every year at our anniversary. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains I was born, For you brought forth the earth and the world From everlasting you are God Throughout all generations You turn us back to dust and you say Return to me, you children of men A thousand years to you is a day throughout all generations. Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. You set our sins in the light of Your face. All our days are under your wrath Our length of years is threescore and ten Throughout all generations Who can know the power of your wrath? Only one, the son of your love He will pardon those who believe throughout all generations. Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. So teach us now to number our days, that we may wisdom gain in our hearts. Take our work, establish it now, throughout all generations. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Amen. I thought this might be the year I'd get through that one without weeping. I just picture Jackson with his guitar leading us in that. Well, it's a remarkable idea, that biblical idea of God being our dwelling place, which has us longing for what we lost back in the garden, but also has us looking ahead to what God has promised. And this idea of God being our dwelling place, it's picked up in the last chapter of the Bible. In Revelation 21, we read, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning. nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." We have a foretaste of that now, and just imagine the consummation of that day. Well, please turn with me in your red hymnals to page 816, 816. Now that we have sung Jackson's version of this psalm, I think it's fitting for us to recite it together. We're going to read responsibly Psalm 90. Please stand together. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born, for you brought forth the earth and the world. You turn men back to dust, saying, return to dust, O sons of men. For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that is just on by, or like a wash in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death. They are like the new grass of the morning. But when the morning springs up new, by evening it is dry and blue. We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath. We finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is 70 years, or 80 if we have the strength. It expands with a trouble and sorrow. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, O Lord, how long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us. Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. Let us pray. Our dear Father in God, we pray, Lord, that you would always set you before us and that you would always set your favor upon us and establish the work of our hands. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have conquered death that you have taken our sins upon yourself and know fully the wrath of God against them. We thank you that you have been raised from the dead for our justification. And we thank you, Heavenly Father, for this great mercy that you have shown us, which was rooted and founded in your sovereign election before time and creation. We thank you that we were chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. We thank you that you have raised Jesus into heaven, have seated him there in the heavenly places, and have given him glory and honor and all power, all authority in heaven and on earth, and have seated us with him in the heavenly places. We thank you, Lord God, for being our dwelling place throughout all generations. We pray, Father, for your mercy to those in our congregation who are ill and we lift them up before you, Lord God, we lift up to you Larry Wessels. We pray that you would heal this hole in his heart and allow him to return to us, that you would be with the heart surgeons as they perform that surgery. We pray, Lord, that you would be with our sister Jackie VanQuart this Tuesday at her double mastectomy, that you would provide excellent care through the surgeons that you would allow this surgery to bring complete and total healing of her body, that she would no longer require any more treatments, no radiation, but would be able to live out her days cancer-free. We lift up our brother Daniel Thompson to you, Lord, and pray that you would minister to his body, provide him relief from his and continue to give him patience and a desire to continue to know you, to learn from you, and to teach others. Lord, we lift up to you Margaret Nettles and pray that you would be ministering to her body as she battles Parkinson's, that you would give her great strength and be with Tom as he cares for her and loves her as Christ loved the church. Lord, we pray for this local church that you would continue to bless Dayspring as you have in the past. We thank you, Lord God, for providing our every need. We pray that you would continue the work that you began here among us 45 years ago and continue to shape us by your holy word to conform us to the image of your dear son. We pray that this morning you would fill Pastor Juan Sanchez with your Holy Spirit as he proclaims your word at High Point Baptist Church, and that you would build up our brothers and sisters there in the faith this morning, just as you build us up in our faith. And I pray that you'd fill our brother Tom Nettles with your spirit as he proclaims your word and points us to Jesus through the proclamation of that word. We thank you, Lord God, for the work of all of our missionaries, and we pray especially for wisdom and direction for Ken Barber as he explores ministry opportunities in the central Guyana prison. We pray for Governor Abbott and for President Biden and all of our earthly leaders that you would, for the sake of your elect in this nation, that you would guide them in wisdom, that they would do your sovereign purposes. We pray for the spread of your gospel throughout the whole world by which you are adding to your church daily as many as are being saved. And so we pray for the fullness of your elect to come in so that all Israel might be saved. We pray that Jesus, our King, would return quickly to set all things right, to usher in the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells, in which the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. In Jesus' name and for his sake we pray, amen. You may be seated and our children may go out to Children's Church at this time. And as they go, I want to introduce our guest preacher to you this morning. I spoke about him yesterday, but for those of you who were providentially hindered from joining us in our Jonathan Edwards Conference yesterday, I just want to commend to you our speaker today, Dr. Tom Nettles. Dr. Nettles is one of the foremost church historians and a great blessing to not only Southern Baptists, but to evangelicals across the world. He has done a tremendous work of scholarship and writing articles and books. He graduated with his MDiv and his PhD. right here in Texas at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, where he taught for a number of years. And he taught at Mid America, and he taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. And starting in 1997, he taught at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as the church history professor and historical theology professor. I had the great benefit of studying under Dr. Nettles in 2005. But Dr. Nettles goes way back with this church and our founding pastor, Jackson, to the early days of trying to spread Reformed theology here among pastors in Texas. And so we are delighted to have him to come help us celebrate the 45th anniversary of this church and to preach the word of God to us this morning. Come, brother. Thank you. Well, it's been a beautiful, wonderful time of worship today. I have enjoyed being with you and hearing the word and hearing the prayers and participating in the partaking of the symbols of our Lord's body and blood, showing our union with him and showing the perfection of his redemption for us. So thank you for inviting me. Thank you for letting me share in this. I want you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1. I'm so accustomed to turning on a mic and everything. I'm not supposed to have a mic right now, am I? Okay, okay. I'm going to focus on verses 1 through 4, but I want to read the entire chapter because I believe that beginning with verse 5, we have the writer giving us something of an exposition of what he has spoken about in verses 1 through 4. So Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son or by a son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Or again, I will be a father to him and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the sun, 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, Lord, laid 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 never end, will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said, Sit at my right hand till 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 pray. Father, we do thank you for this word. We pray that the glories that it speaks of of our Lord Jesus Christ will become clear as we think about these things together. Help me as I seek to proclaim your word. You have chosen that through the lips of fallen men, men who have experienced the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that it is through their lips and through the gifts you have given that people shall hear these wonderful truths of the gospel. So we pray that you would bless your calling and bless your gifting and bless your people in these moments that we have together. For we pray it in Jesus' name, whose glory we simply cannot comprehend, whose power and majesty transcends all that we can imagine. whose loveliness will never be exhausted by our view of him, even in heaven, for we shall continually see the unfolding of his power and his might and his wonder and his love and his reflection of all of these things related to you by the work of the Spirit. So we pray that you would bless us now as we look at your word in Jesus' name. Amen. I think that probably the hymn was selected on purpose, that second verse begins, O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood to every believer, the promise of God, the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus, a pardon receives. Because I told Greg I wanted to preach on O perfect redemption. And that's what this passage is about. talks about a perfect revelation. That would be the first point that I deal with. The revelation that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is a perfect revelation. We're going to talk about this revelation and this redemption comes in a perfect person. We look at him as both God and man. And then we're going to talk about the perfect work that he has done. So let's look at the text and see how the writer unfolds these things for us. He says, Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. Now notice that the word here says that it was at many times and in many ways. We know that there were dramatic effects that some of the prophets had. Jeremiah was told certain things that he should do. Isaiah was told certain things he should do. There was drama involved in what they did. There was weeping. There was proclamation. There was isolation. All of these things were the many ways in which God spoke. There was the direct confrontation of the Word. There were warnings. There were promises of great blessings of salvation at many times and in many ways. These prophets spoke all the way from the town of Enoch the seventh from Adam all the way through John the Baptist who was the last of those pre-messianic prophets who himself saw the one that they had been talking about and was able to announce above all the other prophets as he laid his eyes on him, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's the reason that Jesus said that of all those born among women there's none greater than John the Baptist because John the Baptist was the prophet appointed by God who did not merely see the future and speak about Christ as coming in the future and talk about the things that he would do, but he saw Christ himself, he pointed to Christ himself, He said this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was the one involved in showing that this message of repentance was a message that was a message of salvation. He baptized the Lord Jesus Christ showing that he would give himself unto death and he would be raised from the dead. All of these things John the Baptist did. When we have Enoch, the record that we have of what he said, it was a message of absolute fallenness. It was a message of great perversity. It was a message of what had happened to the world since the fall of Adam and Eve and before the flood. And that he announced these things. But we also then had prophets that came that would announce not only do we see the world in a perverse state, not only do we see it fallen, but we have prophets who would talk about one who was coming, that would talk about redemption, that would talk about our sin being laid on him. As Isaiah says, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity. of us all. We have Jeremiah talking about the new covenant that will come where the law is written on our hearts. We have Ezekiel talking about taking out the heart of stone and putting in the heart of flesh. And so there were many times and in various ways and we have an increasing amount of material that is given to us, increasing clarity about what this Messiah will do, how this world that is so fallen and so perverse, which Enoch talked about, all the way until the time when this Messiah comes and he will turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children, He will bear our sins, and He will be seated at the right hand of His Father who sent Him." All of these things were proclaimed, and now we have the One who has come. The prophets spoke in this way, many of them, various times, various ways. But we also know that they often were not very confident of their calling. They were not confident of their qualifications. We have Habakkuk wondering how in the world God can do what he's doing and questioning God, saying, oh God, aren't you too pure to behold evil? How can you punish your people through these Chaldeans that are going to come? And then he challenges God. In chapter 2 of Habakkuk he says, I will set myself and I will wait for him to answer me and he'll tell me why he's doing these things this way. And we have Jeremiah saying, oh, I'm just too young. I cannot do this. And God tells him, no, I've called you. I've ordained you before you were in the womb. This is what you're going to do. I'll make your forehead like flint. And then we have Jeremiah having these lamentations all the way through. We see that he is wondering why and lamenting the of various sins of the people, and the rejection of his message, and his being put down in a pit, and then his being taken out of that land during the invasion, and taken down to Egypt, and all of the turmoil that comes to these prophets. And we have Jonah who is told to go, and Jonah does not want to go. Jonah tries to escape, but in this one through whom the Lord has spoken now. We do not have this partial way of revealing. We do not have just an incremental gaining of knowledge about him. We do not have any kind of insecurity about his message. We do not have any kind of weak and perplexed man who does not understand what is happening, but we have one who proclaims himself to be God himself. He is one who knows the Father. He is one who is absolutely confident of His knowledge, confident of His work, confident of His victory. He is one that is called a Son. In these last days, He has spoken to us by a son. It's a word that does not have an article with it, and so it usually carries the idea that he is one who is of the nature of a son. He is not a created being. He is not one who has come simply as solely as a children of man, although he was born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law, but he is one who is of the very nature of God. He is a son. He partakes of the nature of his And since his father is eternal, his father is omnipotent, his father is immutable, his father is holy, his father is righteous, his father is powerful, he partakes of the nature of his father and he himself is all those things. He is the prophet who is not insecure, who is not lamenting the call that he has. who is not resisting it in any way, but he is the one who has absolute and perfect confidence in his standing before God. We remember that when Jesus was talking to his disciples in the book of John in the 14th chapter, and he talks about he's going away, and they ask him, Lord, where are you going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, he says, you would have known my father. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. And then Philip says, Lord, show us the Father. It is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long that you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, that there is a vital union between myself and the Father, that who the Father is in himself and all of his attributes I am. I am that because eternally I am proceeding from the Father. Eternally I am generated by the Father. Eternally the Father is my Father and I am His Son in that I share His nature. The Father is in me and I am in the Father. There is an unbroken union between the Father and myself so that when you see me you see every attribute of the Father. When you see me, you see one who possesses all the power of the Father. Haven't you seen this when I fed the 5,000? Haven't you seen this when I walked on water? Haven't you seen this when I cast out demons? Haven't you seen this when I healed those who were blind and those who had leprosy and those who could not speak? Haven't you seen this? Haven't you seen that I control all things, that I am the unique moral power of the universe, that I am the one who has created all things and I control all of nature by my own hand and by my own word? Haven't you seen this? Do you not know that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? How can you say, show us the Father? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the father who dwells in me does his works. Both my words and my works are from the father. He dwells in me. What the father does through me is what I myself would do because I am of the nature of my father. The words that I speak, in fact, my very being is itself an expression of who the father And so in these last days, he has not spoken to us through one like Jonah. He has not spoken to us through one like Enoch. He has not spoken to us through one even like Moses, except that he was the one that Moses, to whom the promise was given, about whom the promise was given to Moses when he said, a prophet will arise like you, but this prophet will speak the words, this prophet will be eternal. He is not one like Jeremiah who said, I'm too young, I cannot do this. He was not one like Habakkuk who questioned how God could do some of the things he did. He was a son. He was not like those prophets. He was in the father. The father was in him. If we've seen him, if we've heard him, the words that he speaks are the words of the father. In times past, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, he's spoken to us by a son. Now, we see that he is the perfect revelation. All that he says and all that he does is an unvarnished, unmistakable, infallible revelation of who God is, who the Father is. And this is also manifest to us through the work of the Spirit. who came upon the Lord Jesus Christ and who worked even within his humanity to bring him to a point of righteous perfection so that there was a perfect operation of Father, Son, and Spirit in the work that Christ had done. So he is a perfect revelation. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ went back, his revelation was not complete. He told his apostles that I have yet more to say to you, but you cannot bear these things now. But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will lead you into all truth." And so Christ, in his ascension, we learn that he gave gifts to the church. And we have these gifts spoken of in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and Ephesians Ephesians 2.20, Ephesians 3.5, Ephesians 4.11, throughout this, that these apostles that were given, the apostles who were to receive the words of God, these apostles who were to be inspired by the Spirit to recall these things of Christ, to recall His words and to interpret for us what Christ's work is, the apostles were to carry on the work of Christ. They were an extension of His own prophetic ministry and when their work was done, when they had said what they had to say, then Christ's prophetic work was perfect. It was complete. All that He was going to say to us about His person, about His work, about redemption, about the future, about resurrection, about forgiveness, about justification. All that he was going to say about that, he had lived within himself and he has revealed and explained to us then through the apostles. And so we have a perfect revelation. We can rejoice in this. We can worship God with great joy because he has not left us in darkness, even more than we can absorb, more than we can know. More than we can understand has been told us by the Lord Jesus Christ himself is recorded in the pages of scripture as given to us through the apostles that he gave to the church He revealed these things these things that were hidden from before the foundation of the world the mystery is Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3 was revealed to God's holy apostles and prophets through the spirit the apostles were given this, the prophets in the various churches where apostles could not be, they were given revelation and then the revelation was complete. A perfect revelation that is the foundation of this perfect redemption. The second thing we see in this text is that it is the perfect person who brings this redemption about. We learn very quickly that this person is in fact God. We see his deity. The text tells us he is spoken to us by a son, one of the very nature of God. And then an exposition of this, he says, whom he appointed the heir of all things. We learn more about that later. Why is he the heir of all things if all by his power and by his glory and by his dominion he already owns all things? How can he be appointed the heir of all things? Well that is because of his work of redemption and it is right that he be appointed the heir of all things because his redemption was wrought in his deity as well as his humanity. So he is appointed to this by God the Father because of a work that he has done that is complete and this work that he has done is possible only because of the person that he was. He has been appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world." God's power, God's rationality, God's beauty, God's purpose was manifest perfectly through the power of the Son in bringing the world into existence. All of the power of God was manifest in this. The revelation that we have that we have spoken about is something that actually began in the creation because the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. We learn from moments one that even his eternal power and Godhead are revealed to us through the things that are made so that they are without excuse. God's work of revelation and the Son's work of revelation was begun in the time when He called these worlds into existence. The Father, the Spirit, all manifest their power through the Son as He speaks and brings the world into existence, through whom He created the world. He says then also that He upholds the universe by the word of His power. The same Word that brought the world into existence is the Word that sustains it. The same Word that called all things to be as they are, that put within them all the mechanisms by which they operate, that caused the perfect symmetry of the world, that caused all things to work in accordance with perfectly rational laws, but things that go far beyond our ability to grasp and understand. We will spend our entire lives in the lives of all the scientists, in the lives of all the philosophers, in the lives of all those who do experimentation, discovering the secrets that are in the world, learning more and more about how to subdue the earth. And all of it, in reality, is an exploration of the beauty and the power and the wonder and the excellence and the infinite knowledge and perfect rationality of the speaking of the Son. He upholds all things by the power of his word. He upholds the universe. He called it into being, and that same being that created it is the being that holds it into existence in that very way. Jesus is the one who speaks to us through the universe because he is God. He has brought it into being, and he sustains it in its being. He created it, he upholds it, and he is therefore the heir of all things, as we've already seen. Well, we know he is God not only because of his creative power, but because the words that are describing a hymn or words that are very powerful indeed. It says, in these days he's spoken to us by a son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. the radiance of the glory of God. consist of the very essence of the one through whom they are coming. He is the radiance. The sun is a powerful source of energy and the rays that come from the sun have all the same elements, all the same power in them and shed their light upon the earth and give everything that the energy of the sun is designed to give to us. He is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of his nature. This is why Jesus could say, he that has seen me has seen the Father. If you've heard my words and you know that they are words of wisdom and words of truth, then you've heard the Father. If you've seen my miracles and you've seen my power, then you have seen the work of the Father. If you have heard my prayers and understand my absolute dependence upon the Father, my perfect submission to His will, and you realize that the confidence I have that I have been sent by the Father and I will be sustained by the Father because the glory of the Father Himself is bound up in the work that I'm doing, then you know that I am the perfect representation of the Father. He that has seen me has seen the Father. He is the exact imprint of his nature. And so his deity is something that makes him the perfect person. But also it is his humanity. Notice what it says in verse four. It says, having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs." Well, wasn't his name as son already more excellent than theirs? Wasn't his position as son, as being God, already more excellent? What does the writer mean? Has he made a mistake? Has he gone back on his own word here? Is he trying to fool us? Is he trying to move us from one position and say, ah, fooling, this is what I really mean. No, he's talking about the same person. When he says having become is much superior to the angels, then he has in mind that there is something that caused him to be below those glorious creatures. And we learn, as the writer goes on and explains these things, we learn exactly what that is for. And so he doesn't waste any time getting to it. In Hebrews, the second chapter, when he's talking about the promises that God had made to humanity out of Psalm 8, when he said, you've made him a little while lower than the angels. You've crowned him with glory and honor. You've put everything in subjection under his feet. And then he goes on to say, but It's clear that now when he promised you put everything under his feet, nothing is left that's not under his feet, but we do not yet see man in that position. So what happened? Well, there was a fall. The world was under a curse. Thorns and thistles infested the ground. Animals became wild. Humanity was turned against itself. Nature was turned against humanity. Humanity now only makes its living through great toil and sweat and fighting the curse of this world. And so the text tells us, but we see him, in verse nine, we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus. crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. And then he goes on to say in verse 10, for it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all come from one origin, or all have one nature, or all are of one. He's saying that this one shares our nature. He is like us. So we have this strong affirmation of the deity of the one who is the revealer, the perfect revelation. And we also have an affirmation of the humanity of one. Look at what he says in verse Verse 10. You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth from the beginning, the heavens 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. Your years will never end. To which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." He had come. In a sense, he had made enemies. Psalm 2 tells us that the kings of the earth have risen up against him and warns the kings of the earth to turn to the sun lest he be angry. And so this exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the point at which he has become as much superior to the angels, this exaltation comes after a great victory he has won. And this great victory he has won not only is in his deity, but in our very nature. It is in the nature of those who need redemption. It is in the nature of those who have fallen. It is in the nature of those who are experiencing the curse, not only in themselves, but in the fallen world. And he has come and has absorbed all of that into himself. And because he has done this successfully, having made purifications for sin, at that point, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty, having become as much superior to angels. as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. And so we see one who for a little while was made lower than the angels, taking our nature upon himself, winning a victory that we could not win, having completed it, perfected it, so that it is now a reflection of the holiness and the righteousness, the beauty, and the intelligence and creativity of God, a perfect manifestation of it, and so he is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. But we see also Not only is he God and not only is he human, but he is not these two things in separate persons. That would do us no good if he were simply separate persons, if he were God who is inhabited by a human or if he is a human that is simply inhabited morally by God so that God controls his mind and controls his morals, but he is one person. He is mysteriously this one who is God-man. He has a full divine nature. He is the Son of God. He is one of the nature of a son. He has a full human nature. He is one with us. He was born of a woman, born under the law. He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit at the same moment that the power of the Most High overshadowed him so that the holy thing conceived in her was to be called Son of God, Son of the Most High. That one person at the moment of conception without any fragmentation of time at all, the eternal generation of the Son absorbed to himself that human nature that was a result of the impregnation of Mary by the creative work of the Holy Spirit so that that single person is to be called Son of God. That single person is the only one who is qualified to do the work that he was called upon to do. He must do a work that is honoring to God, that is infinite in its excellence, that has a perfect understanding of the mind of God and the will of God and the purpose of God, so he must be God. He must share everything about God, everything the Father knows, everything the Father is, he must be. but he also must represent us. That single person must take to himself all of the burdens that we had, but he must not have to pay for himself in any sense. He must not be liable to God's wrath. He must not be liable to any kind of punishment, but he must be able to take to himself the burdens of another. And he can only do that if he is fully human, if he shares our nature. And so this one was the perfect person. We see verse six says, and again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. So in verse five, we have an affirmation of the eternal deity. in exposition of what he has said when he says that he's revealed himself to us by a son. He says, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you? Well, that is a quotation out of Psalm chapter two, when he says, after he has talked about all the things that the son is going to do, he says, verse seven, I will tell of the decree. In other words, I'm going to tell something that was decided by decree before the foundation of the world. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. This happens in eternity. These are the words of the father to the son, speaking of the fact that he is in reality the begotten son of God, the one begotten of God. First John five says very clearly that the one begotten of God keeps him, keeps those who believe in him. And this is the generation of the Son in eternity. I will tell of the decree, the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession. And so this is confirmed then when he comes into the world it says, let all God's angels worship him. So this is one who eternally was in the nature of God. This is one who was born of a woman. This is one who shares our nature. This is one who can perform a perfect redemption because he is infinite in power and glory. This is one who is unified in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The third point, this leads us then to our third affirmation, is he has done a perfect work. That is, a perfect work of redemption. He has done everything that needed to be done because he is the perfect revelation of God. He is the perfect person in which these things can be done. And he accomplishes it with absolute fidelity. So he has done a perfect work. Notice what verse six says. Going back to verse four, having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He had performed his work. He had done it. It was complete. It honored the father so that now he is put in the position of the redeemer king. the one who reigns over the world after the curse has been removed, after everything that relates both to the justice of God and the mercy of God has been accomplished in him. He is the one who will show the power and wonder and justice and righteousness of God in condemning the unbeliever. He is the one that will show the grace and the mercy and the righteousness of God and the loving kindness and the patience of God by redeeming the elect and ushering them all the way into heaven. In verse 8 says, of the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever. 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. What does it mean that he loved righteousness and hated wickedness, and as a result, he's been anointed with the oil of gladness? What does it mean that he has become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs? It's because the work that he was sent to do was to live a life of perfect righteousness, to be tested in every point like as we are, yet without sin, He was the one who offered up loud cries and tears to God to the one who could save him from death and he was heard because of his reverent submission and being made perfect, Hebrews 5 tells us, being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all of those who obey him. He is set down at the right hand because he loved righteousness and he hated wickedness. He gained a perfect righteousness in himself. He showed the horrible nature of wickedness by becoming a propitiation for us. Hebrews 2 again tells us. Beginning with verse 17, therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. So he became a propitiation. He was a substitution because he took our nature He loved righteousness. He hated wickedness. He showed it by his life of righteousness through being tested. He became perfect and therefore the source of eternal salvation to all who trust him. And after that perfected righteousness was his, he went and he showed further the power of righteousness by becoming a propitiation for our sins. And then he showed that this sacrifice was fully accepted because God raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand. because he has loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. He has become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs." We have the affirmations of his perfection in chapter 2 verse 10. It was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Then chapter 5 verse 9, in being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Chapter 6 verse 20, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever. after the order of Melchizedek. His being forever the high priest means a perfect sacrifice has been offered. Chapter 7, verse 28, where the writer of Hebrews again emphasizes this, for the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, But the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever." And Jesus knew the very moment in which this perfection came when he said, it is finished. He was given the wine and he said, into your hands I commit my spirit. It was over. It was finished. The propitiatory work was done. He completed that which other things could not make perfect. Chapter nine, verse nine says, according to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper. Chapter 10, verse one, for since the law has, excuse me, has but a shadow, of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. And then verse 14. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." So this is a perfect offering, a perfect propitiation, offered by one who had perfect righteousness so that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow. He's been given the name that is above every name. Joseph was told, you will call his name Jesus. for he will save his people from their sins. Mary was told that you would conceive of the Holy Spirit and the child would be named Jesus. In chapter 2, when they carried him and circumcised him, they named him Jesus. Philippians 2 says, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Peter preached, there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. This is the perfect person who is the perfect revelation, who brings about the perfect work in order that we might have a perfect redemption. He has overcome the curse. Enoch's prophecies about the wickedness in the world was a true prophecy that set forth Great perversity that comes shows the depths of how those that are made in the image of God can express their rebellion, express their immorality, and express all kinds of perversities. But then we begin to see that one is going to come because of a covenant relationship that was established immediately, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, and that this covenant would continue through Abraham, and then it would be set forth in Moses, and then it would be set forth to David, and to all of his posterity, and finally, it would result in a covenant relationship in which not only a perfect redemption would be offered but the work of the Spirit to make us see that and receive that and want that the covenant in which the heart is changed and then Jesus Christ himself comes and he consummates in himself all of these prophetic words. He overcomes the curse that is in the world He subdues the earth to himself. He redeems a people for himself. He rescues this people from not only the curse of this world, but because there will be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, but he redeems them also from the curse that is on them because of their sin. So the writer of Hebrews is speaking to us about something that we desperately need, the most important thing in the world, the thing that transcends all political wisdom and all scientific wisdom and all philosophical speculation, the thing that transcends all artistry and all beauty that we can manufacture as we try to copy the things in this world, that transcends all of these because it is a perfect redemption. So let's thank God for the redemption that he's brought about in the one through whom he spoke the world into existence, the one who is the heir of all things, the one that he continues to uphold the world by, but the one who is now, because of his work, sat down at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Let's bow for prayer. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for the redemption that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that we would see him as our only hope, that we would flee to him. We pray that we would see him, in him, all the beauty of perfect deity. We pray that we would be able to sing with great conviction of heart, fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O thou of God and man the Son, thee will I cherish, thee will I honor, O thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. Amen. Wow. Y'all can't see it from your vantage point, but affixed inside the pulpit is a gold plaque that says to the person who's in the pulpit, usually me, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And this morning in Hebrews 1, I certainly saw Jesus. Thank you very much, Dr. Nettles, for that great blessing. What a blessing it is to have this day that God has given us to be with God's people It's like a foretaste of heaven, isn't it? And we're about to enjoy a feast together. So I'm gonna pray for the food now so that we don't have to wait for me to get back there and do it later. And then I'll give the benediction. But before I do that, let me just give some instructions. I'm gonna ask if Dayspringers will hold back and let our visitors, Dr. Nettles and those who are visiting, this morning to get first in line as we get our food, and then our more mature day springers can go next, and then the youngest will wait back and go last in deference to our elders. Please stand together. Don't forget that we have a small group this Wednesday night at the Cantrell's, and what a delightful time we will have in processing that message and those glorious truths together this Wednesday night. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, how we thank you for your Son, how we thank you for your Word, and how we thank you for this day of worship, of delighting ourselves in you, of gathering together with your people