1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. 3 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, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.[1]
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Greetings Sojourners!
It is my pleasure today to introduce you to David Miller. He went to be with the Lord last week, but thanks to recordings and videos, his sermons still proclaim the gospel after his death.
Bro. David called himself a “Country Preacher at Large” because, at his core, he felt that no matter how far God allowed him to travel to preach that a humble country preacher was what he was made to be. To those who knew him and were blessed to be discipled by him, well, we knew he was much more. I could go on and on about him – from the role he played in the Conservative Resurgence or in the shift of Southern Seminary to orthodoxy or the over 1,500 pastors like myself who were able to be taught by him, but I will leave that for now.
His ministry was called Line Upon Line, based off of Isaiah 28:10 – “For it is precept upon precept…, line upon line…”, which was a testament to how he preached, taking texts of Scripture and preaching them line by line and breaking down the precepts so that they can be understood. Because of his disability, peroneal muscular atrophy, he was in a wheelchair for decades even by the time I met him sixteen years ago. By that point, he could no longer hold a Bible or write out sermon notes – hadn’t been able to for a long time. What I called a disability, God used to strengthen his mind by giving Bro. David a gift for memorizing long passages of Scripture and sermon notes and a singular gifting to preach with clarity like no other I have ever met. And it is that preaching that I want to share with you.
What follows is a sermon Bro. David preached at the G3 conference several years back[2] on Hebrews 1:1-4 on “The Excellency of Christ”. Just as he would not want himself proclaimed as excellent but to have people pointed to Christ, my effort here is to allow others to benefit from the preaching that has been so beneficial to my spirit.
So, with no further ado, let us be in awe of the excellent Christ, King Jesus, and dive deep into His Word today.
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Turn please to the New Testament Book of Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one, beginning at verse one.
The title for my sermon now is “The Excellency of Christ”. The writer in the book of Hebrews has for his theme the excellency – the superiority – of Jesus Christ. In this book, he tells us that Jesus is better than the Old Testament prophets, better than the Old Testament priests. He’s greater than the angels. And the new covenant in His blood is far superior to the Old Testament covenant.
He will argue his theme along two lines: 1) He will argue on the basis of Christ’s person – who He is, and 2) he will argue on the basis of Christ’s performance – the things that He has done. And the bottom line in the Book of Hebrews is this: there is no other one like Jesus and no other one has ever done the things that Christ has done. And these two items, the person, and the performances of Christ, will form the two items in my outline.
Have you found our text? Let’s begin at verse one.
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 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; 3 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; 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.[3]
The Person of Christ
I call your attention to verse three first. Here, we have two statements regarding the person of Christ. He begins by telling us that Christ is the brightness of God’s glory. That is, He is the effulgence. He is the radiant splendor. He is the shining forth of the glory of God. Jesus is to God what the rays and the beams are to the sun; the rays and the beams are that by which the sun is seen and known. Its warmth, its beauty, its brightness are experienced through the rays and the beams. Now, in a far greater way, Jesus is the one in whom and through whom the glory of God is seen and known. He’s the brightness of God’s glory.
But not only that, He is the “express image” of the person of God. This phrase “express image” has in mind an engraver’s too, upon which there is an insignia and when placed down upon the wood and the wax it leaves there an exact duplication, a precise reproduction of the insignia. We get our English word character from this idea. Do you see what he’s telling us about Jesus? In His essential nature, Jesus Christ possesses the exact same character as deity. Here is a biblical affirmation of the deity of Christ.
What do you folks think about when you think about God? Do you think about the eternal, pre-existent one?
Well, I would remind you that before the sun had ever shone upon the face of the sea, before there was any gold in California, before there were any bulldogs in Georgia {congregation laughs}, before there were any razorbacks in Arkansas, before there was any coal in Kentucky, or any all in the Middle East, Jesus Christ was already living in eternity past dwelling in unapproachable light enjoying the fellowship of His Father.
What do you think about when you think about God?
Whatever characterizes the nature of God also characterizes the nature of Jesus. He is the express image of the person of God. Now put that aside. That’s the first half of my sermon.
What do you think? I expected resounding “Amen” to that question if for no other reason it was brief. However, if you thought that was half of the sermon chronologically, you have greatly erred in your judgment {congregation laughs}. That’s the first half of the sermon outline. Here’s the second half.
The Performance of Christ
I want you to see the excellence in His performances. There are four of these.
One, I want you to see the excellency of Christ as the inerrant revelator.
Now in verse one and the first half of verse two, we have four distinct ideas regarding God’s revelation of Himself to man.
- He begins by speaking of the fragmentation of the Old Testament revelation. It, the Old Testament revelation, was at “sundry times.” It didn’t come all at once. It came in stages. It came in parts. And it was in “diverse manners.” God didn’t use the same method. He didn’t employ the same means every time He made Himself known in the Old Testament.
You will recall that on one occasion He spoke to Moses in a burning Bush on the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-6). Unless of course, you had read Dr. Roy Honeycutt’s commentary in the old Broadman commentary series on the Book of Exodus. There in Chapter 3, Dr. Honeycutt says there are three possible interpretations of this text. Number one, it could have been a burning bush. Imagine that. {congregation laughs} Number two, it could have been the sun reflecting upon the orange foliage, giving the appearance of burning. Or number three, it could have been an inner experience that only Moses had, and if you and I had been there, we would not have seen any burning Bush nor heard any audible voice. And then he adds, “For the present writer, the latter seems more probable.” Well, for the present country preacher, the former seems more probable. God spoke to Moses in the burning bush.
On another occasion, He spoke audibly to Moses on Mount Sinai as the mountain trembled and smoked (Exodus 19:18-19). Later, with His finger, God wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of stone (Exodus 31:18)….
He spoke through a donkey (Numbers 22:28-30). Do you remember that occasion? He spoke to Isaiah in a vision (Isaiah 6:1-4) – to Daniel in a dream (Daniel 7:1-2). The Old Testament scriptures did not come all at once, nor did they come in the same way (v. 1). It was a fragmented, incomplete revelation. - Now, I want you to see the fullness of the New Testament revelation in Christ. God hath spoken unto us by His son. I am addressing a highly privileged class of people this morning. You and I, who live on the post- side of the incarnation of Jesus, have a full revelation from God. We know more about faith than Abraham. We know more about the Law than Moses. We know more about salvation than Isaiah. We know more about the end time than Daniel. We know more about how and why to worship God than David We have a full revelation from God in Christ.
- Number three, I want you to see the finality of the New Testament revelation in Christ. Listen to it: God hath in these last days, in these last days of revelation, God hath spoken fully and finally in His son Jesus Christ.
Now I don’t know about you folks, but it makes me nervous to be around these saints who seem to have a fresh word from God. They make me nervous. I sat in a midweek Bible study and prayer time in a Baptist Church in my hometown several years ago – make a note of this, it was more than three years ago. The pastor and some of the laymen were having a share time relating what all they had learned from a seminar on prophecy at the local charismatic church on Monday and Tuesday evening of that week. It seems that the leader of the seminar had received a vision from God. And in his vision, God had told him that there was going to be a nuclear explosion south of Heber Springs, about fifty miles, within the next three years. And our area up through Heber Springs was going to be a refugee camp for those who escaped the explosion. Now, immediately upon hearing such news, my attention piqued. I live there.
And one of the layman spoke up and said, “This corroborates what I’ve been telling the body,” and he reminded them how that a few weeks earlier he had had a dream and in his dream God had told him there was going to be a nuclear explosion south of Heber Springs in the near future. “But,” said he, “what I did not know until this week was that our area would be a refugee camp for those who escaped the explosion.”
“But,” said he, “that’s the way God speaks today. To one member of the body he gives a dream, to another member of the body a vision, to another, a word of knowledge, and the body of Christ comes together and each member shares what he or she has received from God and the church synthesizes – puts all of that together. And there you have God’s word to man today.”
What do you think?
Well, I sat there for an inordinately long period of time, being long-suffering and forbearing. But after a while, I said, “Brethren, since this is the share time, I’ve got something I’d like to share with you. I’d like to share with you that it makes me nervous to be around folks who have a fresh word from God that the rest of us don’t have, because we’re limited to just the Old and New Testaments.” That makes me nervous. And I, like the apostle Paul, I’m a premillennialist…. {congregation laughs} I’m keenly interested in the second coming of the Lord. I think it’s profitable for the Saints to get together and contemplate all of those complex and intricate details of the second coming of the Lord. However. I want to caution you. You must make a difference between the exposition of Holy Scripture on the one hand, and the supposition of some dude’s mind on the other hand. Those two things are not the same.
Hereby shall you know a prophet if what he says comes to pass (Deuteronomy 18:21-22). That’s good, strong evidence that he’s spoken for God. However, that – even that – if what he says comes to pass, that is not proof-positive that he’s spoken for God. You want proof-positive? If what he says does not come to pass; that’s proof positive (Deuteronomy 18:22). Now, that’s been much longer than three years ago. And I know that I’m the last one to find out, but I believe if there had been a nuclear explosion south of Heber Springs – 50 miles or 500 miles – I would have heard about it by now. What does that tell us about the leader of the seminar? Beloved, that tells me that he must have heard a jackass braying and thought he had been called to preach. He was as bogus as a $3 bill. And the Baptist who went to the seminar and gave money deserved to lose every dime.
Beware, when a person says God told me. Oral Roberts once said, “God told me to raise $8 million, or he’s going to kill me.” I wondered why God didn’t kill him for saying that. {congregation laughs}
God hath spoken fully, and finally, in His son Jesus Christ.
Now, I want to show you a fourth thing. I want you to see the father of both revelations. Now this is audience participation time. Straighten yourself up. Now get your shoulders back, your chin up. Some of you are a little more comfortable than you ought to be in church. {congregation laughs} Here’s the question who was it? Who spoke in time, passed unto the fathers by the prophets? Who did that? {God did.} Now, who was it who had spoken unto us in these last days by His son? {God.}
This is an above average congregation. Now, sophisticated academic credentials are not required at this point. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading in the Old Testament, something the prophet said, or if you’re reading in the New Testament, something Jesus said, you are reading the Word of God. He is the Father of both revelations. No man ever spoke like Jesus, He is the inerrant revelator.
Now here’s the second item: I want you to see the excellency of His performance as the infallible regulator.
Now look at verse 2, the last statement: “by whom also He made the worlds”. Now look at verse three, the third statement: “and upholding all things by the word of His power.” Here we are told that Jesus Christ was the agent in creation. And He is currently involved in maintaining the order, the unity, and the balance in the created order. He governs it by the word of His power.
I appreciated the recitation from Colossians [1:15-20] earlier this morning. Didn’t you?
He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature, for by Him were all things made that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things and by Him all things consist – they cohere – they are held together.
Do you have any idea how big the created order is? Let me illustrate it for you. If at the dawn of creation, you could have caught a light beam and put a saddle on it, mounted up and commenced to ride from one end of the Milky Way galaxy toward the opposite end. And you had been riding at the speed of light, 182-186,000 miles per second – that’s zipping right along – and you had been riding non-stop from the dawn of creation as we know it, this morning, you would only be about one-tenth of the way across the Milky Way galaxy. And yet the scientists tell us there are other galaxies, many of these larger than the Milky Way. I don’t know about you, but in my country-boy way of thinking, that is big time stuff. That’s Major League. And here the Bible affirms not only did Christ create the universe, He maintains the order and balance and unity of the universe by the word of His omnipotence.
Hallelujah!
I don’t think I’m out of line this morning if I tell you that you can bring the broken pieces of your life and lay them at the feet of Jesus in humble submission to His lordship, and have every confidence that He is able to put them together and make something beautiful out of your life. He’s the infallible regulator.
Do you want some peace? Do you want some tranquility? Do you want some order? Do you want some balance in your own existence? Come to Jesus, bend the knee, and bow the heart. He’s the great, infallible regulator.
Number three, I want you to see His performance as the incomparable redeemer.
When He had by Himself purged our sin, notice three things:
- One, the sovereignty of the redeemer. He purged our sins (v. 3). Now to hear some of the brethren preach, you’d think the Lord had been morally obligated, bound by some solemn moral responsibility to leave heaven’s glory, condescend to Earth’s shame, and die a substitutionary, vicarious death on behalf of sinners. But let me ask you this: did God owe us anything? Why did He come? He came because in His heart there is grace and mercy (Ephesians 2:4-5). He came because he wanted to, not because He was obligated (John 10:18).
- Notice the sufficiency of the redemption. He purged our sin (v. 3). Grammatically, it is a fact accomplished in the past, but having perfect and continuing result throughout the future (Hebrews 10:14). “’Tis done! ‘Tis done! The great transaction is done!” (John 19:30) There’s never going to be any more work done regarding our redemption (Hebrews 9:12).
- Notice the singularity of the Redeemer when He had, by Himself, purged our sin. “Jesus paid it all. All to Him. I owe Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”
Now, item number four: I want you to see His performance as the indisputed ruler.
Look at verse three. Look at that last statement. Have you ever seen one verse that had more good stuff in it? When “He had by Himself purged our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”
You hear some of the brethren preach, you would think the Lord and the Devil were locked in the death throes of a spiritual battle out in space, and the outcome had not yet been determined. But listen: Jesus is not going to be Lord; He is Lord already! He’s not Lord because He’s risen from the dead; He was Lord before He ever died. He’s King Jesus!
There’s a line that’s been drawn through the ages, on that line stands an old rugged cross. On that cross, a battle is raging for the gain of man’s soul or its loss. On one side march the forces of evil – all the demons and the devils of Hell. On the other, the angels of glory, and they meet on Golgotha’s hill. The earth shakes with the force of that conflict, and the sun refuses to shine. For there hangs God’s son in the balance.
But then from the darkness He cries:
It is finished – the battle is over.
It is finished – there will be no more war.
It is finished – the end of the conflict.
It is finished, and Jesus is Lord! Hallelujah!
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 1:1–4.
[2] He preached on “The Excellency of Christ” twice at G3 Conferences over the years. The one I have transcribed is from 2014. Here is the more recent version of the sermon from 2021.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Heb 1.
Just Keith Harris 