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"AWESOME! Just AWESOME!"
Sunday Message
by Pastore Wayne Clabaugh
ITGM RADIO
Scripture
Text: "Who
being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high; " Hebrews 1:3 (KJV)
Well Good morning and WELCOME to this edition of
the Sunday Message!
Our text for today speaks of something far more
powerful, far more significant than a temple
made with hands. Our text speaks of the "glory"
of the Lord.
When was the last time you thought about the
GLORY OF THE LORD? When was the last time you
thought on THE AWESOMENESS OF HIS PRESENCE? When
was the last time you experienced HIS ABSOLUTE
HOLINESS AND POWER? When was the last time you
bowed to HIS MAJESTY and REALIZED HIS GRACE?
We're going to talk about today, but before we
do, listen to this song entitled GLORIA by the
Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and I'll be right
back after the song with today's message.
(Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir - Gloria)
As I said at the opening of today's program, our
text today speaks of something far more
powerful, far more significant, far more
magnificent than a Temple made with hands. Our
text speaks of the "GLORY" of the Lord.
I want to break this down into three main
headings today and they all come directly from
this wonderful verse found in Hebrews 1:3. We
begin with
"Who being the brightness of his glory,"
Hebrews
1:3a
The Bible tells us in Hebrews the first chapter
. . .
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners
spoke in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us
by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds;"
Then
today's text...
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high;" Hebrews 1:1-3
So what is the brightness of His Glory exactly?
Is it in the sun, or the moon, or the stars? Is
it in the whisper of the wind as it cools the
evening twilight, or in the gentle lift of a
sparrow in flight? Is it in the vastness of the
ocean, or the moonlit horizons which signify the
awesomeness of the eternal everlasting arms of a
mighty Creator? What is the brightness of His
Glory exactly?
Is it in the magnificent excellence of His
preeminence, dignity and Grace? Is it in the
Majesty of God alone - a kingly majesty which
belongs to Him as the supreme ruler, and the
absolute perfection of Deity? Is it in that most
glorious condition, that most exalted state with
which the Father has raised Him after He had
achieved His designated, and chosen work on
earth? Is it the Glorious condition of
blessedness into which He has appointed and
promised that true Christians shall enter after
their Savior's return from Heaven? What is the
Brightness of His Gory?
"The brightness of His Glory", has always been,
and always will be in the "expressed image" of
the person of God the Father. Hallelujah
To His Name! The Great I AM! What is the Brightness of His Glory? It is in
the fullness of the Father, in man, through
Christ Jesus! Now Go ahead and dance in the
spirit! Hallelujah!
In the early stages of the Tabernacle, the glory
of God was always veiled as even the priests
would be consumed to look on the face of God's
glory. The high priest had to go through weeks
of preparation, preparing himself to be holy
enough to enter into the veil and stand in the
midst of God's glory. He would even have the
other priests continually read the Word of God
to him for hours before the sacrifice, as he
knew that even one impure thought would not be
tolerated in the presence of the GLORY OF THE
GREAT I AM.
This "presence" - this "fullness of God the Father",
could not be expressed in man before Christ. It
would consume him. So God the Father took the
WORD that was with Him even in the beginning,
and He dropped Him by the "seed of creation",
and the power of His Holy Spirit into the womb a
virgin, and and declared throughout the Heavens
the glorious news that Emmanuel "God with us"
had come. Oh My Lord is this awesome or what? Then, to further His wondrous plan,
He
SACRIFICED His ONLY Son Jesus, so that the
whosoever will might enter boldly into that
throne of Grace, that Holy of Holies, inscribed
upon the walls of man's heart.
"Thou hast put all things in subjection under
his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
under him, he left nothing that is not put under
him. But now we see not yet all things put under
him.
But we see Jesus, (MY,MY,MY...) who was made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor; that he by the
grace of God should taste death for every man.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings." Hebrew
2:8-10
In light of what we have learned so far today -
how could one NOT fall prostrate before God, and
just cry Holy, Holy, Holy? Oh friend He is whatever you
need Him to be today! Are you out of money? He
is your finance - call on him. Are you sick of
body, and need a healing? It was by His stripes
that you and I were made whole. Are you sick in
your spirit, and need to be set free? God has
provided the sacrifice, and is Name Is Jesus.
Praise His Name!
But Wait... move wit me now from the brightness of His Glory
into
The Express Image of His Person!
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person,"
Allot of emphasis is placed on the "image" that
we present on a daily basis. Nowadays, many men
spend as much time in front of the mirror as the
ladies do, and in some cases think they are
prettier. What ever happened to the rugged "Old
Spice" kind of guy that seemed to swoon the
ladies in a natural way? Anyway, you get the
picture.
The image we portray is the image that is
received. Often our image is one painted from
the recesses of a sin-sick mind, or a
dysfunctional background. It's not a pretty
picture my friend.
But what's worse are the ones who have created
their own image out of the makings of what they know
someone wants them to be. For the rest of their
natural lives they will be trapped by the status
quo "cage of hopes", that never seems to amount
to anything. Every step they take, every answer
they give, is determined by the fictitious
"mind-meld" rehearsed over and over as to the
response that they think the hearer will
favorably acquiesce to. It doesn't matter what
they really think . . . it's what is acceptable
to their "image-maker" that counts.
It has been said, that 90% of the world's
population doesn't really feel that they have
the right to create their own image. To be a
Winston Churchill, or a Teddy Roosevelt, a Jimmy
Carter, or a Ronald Reagan takes intestinal
fortitude. At the whimsy of the Politically
Correct awareness groups, touted by the main
stream media as the direction all should secede
to, most have put their true feelings on the
back-burner. Many Americans, living in a land
which banners the slogan "One Nation Under God",
have accepted preconceived notions contrived by
journalists, and playwrights, that paint the Gay
lifestyle as just another life-form to be
embraced. All the while working at us through
sitcoms, (supposedly good family entertainment)
trying to make promiscuity, and sleeping around
"acceptable", as long as everyone is a
consenting adult. This is the image that many
are subscribing to today, and carry with them a
faultless retort of "I'm only Human."
The Bible tells us in John 1:14 that
"...the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth."
It goes on to say in our text today that Jesus
"Was the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person,"
While that means that when we come to Him, and
ask for His forgiveness that we are not only
saved, but we have the mind of Christ, and
therefore have the exact representation of God
the Creator living within us . . . there is also
a responsibility to
"...work out our own salvation with fear and
trembling. For it is God which works in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all
things without murmuring and disputing: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a
crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine
as lights in the world;"
Philippians 2:12-15 (KJV)
Oh my friend -
God will keep for himself a HOLY SEED!! When most of those that have a place and a
name in Zion, and in Jerusalem, think that they
have arrived, they shall be cut off by their
unbelief. Those only that are holy shall remain.
When the Son of man shall gather out of His
kingdom every thing which offends, sinners will
be destroyed and consumed; but they, by the
Spirit of grace that are reformed and converted
- in "His Image" will be saved.
"The brightness of His Glory, and the express
image of his person" attends man as a Spirit of
burning, quickening and strengthening the
affections. . . making men zealously affective
in a good work. "The brightness of His Glory,
and the express image of his person" gives one
an ardent love for Christ and souls, and an
impassioned zeal against sin, that will
challenge men "on" with the resolution to turn
away ungodliness from their heart's door; and
accept every affliction to serve as a furnace,
to purify them from dross; and to allow the
convincing, enlightening, and powerful
influences of the Holy Spirit, to gradually root
out their lusts, and render them Holy as He is
Holy. This is the only image that will stand the
test of time. How does this happen?
By The Word Of His Power
"and upholding all things by the word of his
power...,"
The Story is told of a young father who was
walking in a field with his two young sons when
a bee from one of his hives made a beeline for
his oldest boy Richard and stung him just above
the eye. Richard quickly brushed it away and
threw himself in the grass kicking and screaming
for help. Then the bee went straight for Marvin
his youngest boy and began buzzing around his
head; and the next thing the young father knew,
Marvin was also lying in the grass, yelling at
the top of his lungs. But his dad picked him up
and told him to stop crying. "That bee is
harmless," he assured him. "It can't hurt you.
It has lost its sting." Then he took the
frightened lad over to his elder brother, showed
him the little black stinger in his brow, and
said, "the bee can still scare you, but it is
powerless to hurt you. Your brother took the
sting away by being stung."
That is what the third part of verse three is
telling us here today.
" ...upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high". Hebrews 1:3c
In doing a word study on this particular
passage, I found that it referred to Christ's
sufferings of enduring the cross. Not just
because He was ordained to do so; not just
because He was the only one that could; but
because of the "all things" of the verse. The
"all things" referred to men and women of every
nationality and race. Men and women who were
dead to rights and headed for hell, in danger of
eternal flames, and punishment. The "all things"
had specific names etched into the very heart of
God, of which the writer of this devotional was
one, yet out of His Goodness and Mercy - He
declared it to include "the whosoever".
When He left the Garden bound - it wasn't
because they had overpowered Him. It certainly
wasn't because Judas or the High Priests had
contrived such a clever plan that Jesus was
"caught". It had everything to do with the
"upholding of all things" mentioned in this
verse.
Jesus himself said it in Mt:26:31
"All ye shall be offended because of me this
night: for it is written, I will smite the
shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be
scattered abroad."
He knew that the "all things" were still in sin,
and so it was for the "all things" (you and me)
that He endured the Cross, and by the Word of
His Power - purged us of our sins.
What was the Word of His Power that afforded us
redemption? What gave Him the assurance enough
to say "it was finished", and to sit down at the
right hand of the Father?
He had taken the stinger! Just like the
illustration a bit ago ... Christ had taken the
sting of death in our place, and the bible tells
us That God has given us the Victory through our
Christ Jesus our Lord.
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is
thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of
sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ." I Cor. 15:54-57
That "Word of His Power" became the
"anchor of
the Soul". That Word of His Power became a
residing virtue inherent within the child of God
that prompts them to "dare to believe". That
Word of His Power became the catalyst to
performing miracles, and wonders that are not
derived of the works of man, but stir from the
"sat down at the right hand of God" AUTHORITY!
Oh dear child of God - do you get it? By
accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have
not just accepted the Son of God - but you have
embodied within you the combined authority of
the Godhead!!
The Bible says that when you arise every
morning, that His Grace and mercies are renewed
toward you. Everything He did on Calvary that
applied yesterday - applies double today. There
is nothing you cannot do in Jesus Christ, for
the very spirit of God that hovered over the
waters, and began to stir at God's command, is
the same spirit that resides within you today.
The Very God that said let here be light, and
systematically created the earth and all that is
on the earth, and the heavens, and all that is
therein, resides within you, and will be what
you need Him to be for you today. The Very
Christ that has conquered sin and the grave, and
has had all things put into subjection under Him
walks your journey with you today, and there is
nothing, nothing that is too big for Him to
handle. There is no sin too great that He has
not covered it. There is no stain too deep that
He cannot wash it white as snow.
"By the Word of His Power" We LIVE and MOVE, and
HAVE OUR BEING!
Hallelujah!
Let's
pray:
Oh
Father God:
How I praise you for your redemptive work at the
cross of Calvary. How I praise you that you sent
your Son with my name on His lips, and how
unworthy I feel that He said "For Wayne . . .
for the ' whosoever will ' I do this." It is
Finished. O Hallelujah! I give you Glory Lord
Jesus - and I worship you this morning for your
"living power" that flows through me. I praise
you for the blood, and I praise you for the
deluge of your Precious Holy Spirit, which fills
me with healing, and blessing, and power to
great and mighty works in your name. I praise
you for your anointing that you have placed on
my life, and I only ask that you would take more
of me Holy Spirit. Fill me to the brim, and make
me "hot" with your fire of passion for souls.
Let this stirring within me burst forth in
celebratory witness of what you have done in my
life in such power, that all who I come in
contact with will say, " I want what he's got."
I will not forget to give you the Praise and the
glory, In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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