Only Christ Remains

0:00Good morning. Grab your Bibles, open them up to Hebrews chapter 1. Before I jump right into that, I want to say that the wild providence of God is once again showing up this morning. The high school science class and the co-op that Michaela teaches, one of the topics, or maybe the topic they studied this past week, providentially aligns exactly with kind of the main point and thesis of our text today. And then the ending, kind of closing of this sermon just again, providentially aligns with the whole theme of Reformation, Reformation Week that we're entering into. Halloween being Reformation Day, or October 31st being Halloween is not Reformation Day, October 31st is Reformation Day. Again, I'm just always amazed at God providentially reinforcing these truths and just continually pressing upon His good news to us. So any any uh any of that uh connections that is made in the lives of our people and in and in the sermons is is purely unplanned. Um it is it is purely uh God's grace that is doing this for us. So I'll just say that as we begin. So we're gonna uh finish the first chapter of Hebrews this morning, covering verses 10 to 14. To this point in Hebrews we have seen that Christ is the appointed heir of all things. Uh and that is uh facilitated by the fact that Christ is the creator of all things. Okay? We also saw that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God in the exact imprint or the visible replica of God's nature. Even more, Christ upholds the universe by his sustaining word and has made purifications for our sins by his atoning work. Christ is to be worshipped and served because of all of that, and because he is the mediator of a better covenant, one that saves us and promises us eternal life. The author of Hebrews, as he concludes this section, which is the rest of chapter one, summarizes once again the reality of who Christ is. And to do this, he opens to us Psalm 102, which we read a little bit of this morning, to illustrate not only that the psalmist was talking about Christ, but to show the full extent of Christ's deity. I won't give too much away at the beginning, but seeing that you all know more or less where we're going, the point the author is making here is that in the whole of the universe, there is only one person or one thing that is everlasting. Christ, by nature of him having created all things, is the only thing to have no beginning and no end. And I use the word thing to describe Christ, not out of disrespect, obviously, of course, but because I'm not sure that we have any word that is sufficient to address him. He is a person, but also eternal and infinite. He is a man, but also God Himself. What do you call the infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, creator, heir, and sustainer of all things? How do you even describe and articulate one of this magnitude? No language could ever have the words to describe him, which is why I believe that the majority of the words used here in Hebrews chapter 1 to frame Christ are Old Testament quotations. How better can we explain Christ than with the Spirit-inspired words about him throughout the ages? So we will look at Psalm 102 as given to us in Hebrews to flesh out the fullness of Christ's deity. And in that effort, and in connection, of course, with what the co-op is doing, where there'll be a little bit of a science lesson this morning in the discussion of this principle known as entropy. Entropy is a scientific term used to describe the observable reality that things tend toward disorder. It might be better stated that everything is slowly degrading, or everything slowly degrades. We as humans must confess that we all at some point in our lives have become aware of the fact that we are degrading, right? All plants and animals and everything else in creation, including all the heavenly bodies we can see in the night sky, are presently degrading. All the energy that was created by God during creation is slowly dissipating back into the vacuum of space. And this observable reality would be terrifying if not for the one thing in the whole of the universe that sits above entropy. While all else around us and we ourselves are slowly degrading, God in his word gives us a beacon of hope in the person of Christ, saying, Do not fear. And do not be dismayed, because he is with us. And when we are hurting, we need a comforter, right? And he is a lamb. When we are being threatened by the enemy, we need a defender, and he is a lion. When we are stricken with grief and fear, because we see that everything around us is changing and degrading, we need stability. And he is everlasting. The one who doesn't entropy. So that's where we're going this morning. I pray the Lord uses these words to bless and encourage us. So let's stand together as we read once more Hebrews 10. Sorry, Hebrews chapter 1, starting in verse 10. 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 have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word again. Please, Lord, we ask that you would speak for Christ's sake. It is in his name that I pray. Amen. The bulk of our text this morning is a quotation from Psalm 102. Uh, so we need to look at that a little more closely in the context of Psalms. So you can turn if you want. I'm gonna turn because just because I'm gonna read, it's in my notes, but there's something about reading it from the word. Um I should have been more prepared with that. Okay. Um I'm gonna read 1 to 11 of Psalm 102. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Let me let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and is withered. I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl in the of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places, I lie awake. I am like a lonely sparrow on the house top. All the day my enemies taunt me. Those who deride me use my name for a curse, for I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink. Because of your indignation and anger, for you have taken me up and thrown me down, my days are like an evening shadow. I wither away like grass. How often do we feel similarly to the way that the psalmist feels? I would contend that it is quite often, because such sentiments are echoed not only in Psalm 102, but many of the other Psalms, as well as in the Ecclesiastes and Lamentations and Job and many, many other places. To return again, then where we started, we all feel the weight of entropy. Whether or not we have ever called it that, that's what we feel. To put it more poetically, as the psalmist does, we feel our days like an evening shadow and we wither away like grass. Blow out a candle, and watch a momentary wisp of smoke rise and then quickly dissipate into the surrounding air to be seen no more. Doesn't that feel much like our lives? A wisp, and then we shall dissipate back into the stardust from which we came, supposedly. If that was the end of the Psalm, if it ended there after verse 11, I contend then we should close our Bibles and go and eat and drink, because tomorrow we die, but that is not the end, is it? It is under the heavy burden of entropy where Christ meets us and reveals to us his immutability, unchangingness. The one in whom there is no change, there is no dissipation, he reveals himself. And all his stability and infinitude, declaring, Behold, I am making all things new. And the appearance of chaos, the observation of entropy doesn't have the final word. The unchanging, immutable Christ has the final word, and what is said of him. But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever. In the midst of your uncertainty, the psalmist says this let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. That he looked down from his holy height. From heaven the Lord looked at the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord. What is the one thing that can offer comfort, real comfort to the decaying and the destitute? 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. The unchanging Christ, the universal stability, the one who holds all things together is not going anywhere. And because of his great mercy, he has promised to give new life, eternal life to all who trust in him. And just imagine a day when entropy begins to run in reverse. There's probably a word for that, maybe, I don't know. Creation, I suppose. But a day when each passing hour does not degrade, but each passing hour everything becomes richer, more real, deeper, wider. A day in which everything isn't dissolving into nothing, but rather everything is becoming more real, more tangible than we could ever imagine. Life isn't slipping away. But each day you will have more life and more joy than you ever knew was possible. This seems almost unbelievable. But this is the biblical implication of Christ's immutability, and why it's so important to hear the word when it says that, says to us that Christ is the same and his years will have no end. There is a danger, though, to immutability, the immutability of Christ, and to his infinitude, and that is in his judgment. Consider Genesis 7. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground, or Isaiah 13, 13. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. Just as Christ preserves all and will renew all and will restore the heavens and the earth, he will also judge the wicked in his anger. His anger will be kindled against those who turn away from him. Psalm 83, 17 through 18, let them be put to shame and dismayed forever. Let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is Lord, are the most high over all the earth. Christ's immutability and everlasting judgment offer a warning to all who deny him and turn away. Christ gives and he takes away. He preserves and he can destroy. The immutable one is the sovereign one who does what he pleases. Again, though, we must not let this bring us back to fear, but actually to further comfort. Hebrews 6, 9 through 12. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things. Things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have a full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who faith and patience inherit the promises. So we let the immutability of Christ and the warnings that go with it be both to us an eternal comfort and an encouragement to continue running the race to win. Not becoming sluggish or complacent, but all the more earnest to serve the immutable Christ who is making all things new. He is further showing that God in Psalm 102, as we just read and as we read this morning, is calling Christ Lord. If you read Psalm 102 without Hebrews, you would assume that the whole of the Psalm is from the perspective of the writer taking solace in his affliction, in that the Lord is enthroned forever and has laid the foundation of the earth and so on. But if we read Psalm 102 now, in light of Hebrews, we see that there is so much more to this Psalm. What is fully being communicated then by way of the Spirit's inspiration to the Psalm writer is that the one in whom we find solace in our distress is Jesus Christ. God the Father, through the inspiration of the Spirit, was always talking about Christ. Christ is Yahweh. Christ is Lord. Christ laid the foundation of the earth. The work of the heavens are the works of Christ's hands. Everything perishes, but Christ remains. Everything will wear out, will change, will pass away, but Christ is the same, and his years have no end. We shall dwell secure when we rest in him. And how would we ever know the fullness of God's intent and meaning in this text without this further revelation giving us the full meaning and intent? How would we ever know that without Hebrews? In theological terms, this is called the analogy of faith. Simply stated, it's the understanding that Scripture interprets Scripture for us. Culture doesn't interpret Scripture, nor do your ideas and your inclinations interpret Scripture. God interprets Scripture for us in Scripture. And this is incredibly important for us to grasp, not only so that we read the Bible for all its worth, but also so that we form a correct understanding of the character and nature of God. And one of the worst offenses or offenders in this area pertains to Christology and more specifically the deity of Christ. We can conclude from Hebrews and the insight that we're given in Psalm 102 that Jesus Christ is God, was always God, and will always be God, right? Again, Hebrews is saying that in the Psalms the Father is calling the Son Christ Yahweh, Lord. So Christ did not earn his deity through a perfect life, as some might teach, nor did he forfeit his deity when he took on flesh, as others might teach. Neither of those things can be true because such ideas would directly conflict with both Hebrews and Psalm 102. Do we see this? It's on the basis of that interpretation that we can formulate doctrines like the impeccability of Christ. And many teach that in order for Christ's atonement to be valid, he needed to have the potential to sin. I'll say that again. Many teach that in order for Christ's atonement to be valid, he needed to have the potential to sin. That Christ needed to surrender his deity so that he had the ability to sin and resist it, and that he only earned righteous, or perhaps that he only earned righteous deity when he fully resisted the sin that he had the potential to engage in. Church, these are gross inaccuracies at best, and it's intentional deception at worst. Christ is impeccable because Christ is God. He could not sin because God cannot sin. And when Christ took on flesh, he did not become any less God. He was fully God and fully man. Why is that important concerning our text? Because, as we have said, the point of this book, the point of Hebrews, is to give struggling and wavering people something on which to stand and rely on. Someone which to stand and rely on. And the truth of Christ's deity, the real biblical truth of Christ's deity, gives us that. When Christ took on flesh, there was no possibility that he wasn't going to succeed in his work. No chance. Failure was not an option. Because Christ is God. I have been blessed such that I haven't had many days where I was lost to desperation or overcome by despair, as was described to us in Psalm 102, the first half there. But in those moments, whether conscious or subconscious, what I need more than anything, what we all need more than anything, is a rock that cannot fail. A foundation that cannot shift, cannot. A Savior in whom there is no change. A Lord who will win against sin and despair and temptation because he cannot lose. This is Jesus Christ. He is someone worth relying on, someone worth giving your life to. Conclude with this grand picture of Christ seated on the throne, with all in subjection to him, right? His footstool. And we have seen this picture back in the first, I think it might have been the second week actually, through Hebrews, but it's certainly worth returning here because we do see this from a slightly different perspective. Previously, the seating Christ was a picture of his rest after having completed the work that he came to complete, right? He made atonement for our sins, it says, and then he sat down at the right hand of the Father. Here, though, we see the Father seating him as a picture of authority and lordship. The throne on which Christ sits was not taken by him, nor was his authority taken by force. The throne was given to him by the Father. So even in the triune nature of God, we see power in humility. Power in that everything is in subjection to Christ. And Christ will reign until every enemy bows to him and they will. Every knee will bow to Christ willingly or otherwise, and this is a display of his grand and unmatched power and authority. All things, angels included, are presently working towards that end. Then what? What is next after the day when all of the enemies of Christ are made a footstool for his feet? Then what? To go back where we started. On that day, he will finish what he has begun. He will make all things new. The unchanged and unchangeable one seated on the throne will fully reverse entropy. Disorder will be reformed. Death will be reversed. The curse will be forever broken. Unchanging, unending paradise will be restored, and he will be our God, and we will be his people. We will be like him, not equal to him, but forever more sinless, and most importantly, without decay. This has been maybe a little bit more application than normal, but let's consider a few things as we close. First, because of the unchanging nature and deity of Christ, his mediation will never cease or change. Because of the unchanging nature of Christ and his deity, his mediation will never cease and it will never change. Psalm 110, 3 and 4. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. Amen. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. We can rely on the power of Christ's atonement and his continued intercession for us because he has chosen you. And he will not change his mind. He has saved you, and he will not revert on his salvation. If you are in Christ, you are in his hand, and nothing will ever snatch you away. Secondly, because of this immutability and his deity, our faith can and must be strengthened in all other areas, specifically as it relates to his promises and salvation. O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old. You with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted. You afflicted the peoples, but you set them free. For not by their own sword did they win the land, not by their own arm, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. The hand of God has always done the winning and the saving. And such realities will never change. His promises will never fail, his salvation will never fail because it never has. And because Christ cannot change, it never will. So we need to let our faith be strengthened then in the light of that reality. And finally, the immutability of Christ directs us on how we as individuals and collectively as the church are to be like Him. What are we to do? Well, we should be constant, consistent, and stable in our promises and our words and our work. It also compels us to long for and to strive to be reformed into his image. Reforming ourselves and the church until the day of that final reformation when all is made new again. And in that regard, and in connection with all the other topics that we've read this morning, and again, looking forward to this week where we celebrate the Reformation. I'm going to read a poem by Jeremy Johnston titled Ecclesia or Ecclesia Reformanda. It goes like this. From together to alienated, cut off. Things fall apart. Like a new car fresh off the lot, already worth less, rusting, decaying, and depreciating the inevitable entropy. But chaos seems so dramatic when describing again aching bodies or old batteries bleeding energy or stars burning out, or even the church growing cold, losing her love, or her fire, losing her first love. Ecclesia semper reformanda. The church is always reforming. The church must always be reformed. Not reinvented, not reimagined, but reformed, put back together, always retuning, always returning to Christ. His word, his gospel, his truth, Him. When walking the wrong path, the fastest way forward is to turn back. Ecclesia reformanda. The glorious hope that I pray that we all see this morning with respect to the deity of Christ is that He is the only immutable, infinite Lord of all. Though all else wears out, He is the same, and His years have no end. And He is calling each of us to bear witness to and to be a part of His final work. The reforming of all things. The turning back to paradise. The reversal of entropy. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you again for your word. We thank you for the truths that you give us in our scripture, Lord. We thank you that you are turning back the hands of time, so to speak, Lord, and returning us to paradise. Where you will be our God and we will be your people, Lord. Let us be a people that continually is reformed by you, Lord. Let your church be continually reformed into your image, Lord. Let us not go cold cold or lose sight of our first love. But let us be remade and renewed into your image. We thank you, Lord, for your salvation. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.