A Good Foundation
- Details
- Sunday Morning Service
- Pastor Jeremy Richards
- Copalis Community Church
- 12 April 2026
One of the things that young men consistently deal with is how to overcome the evil one. It says in First John, chapter 13, I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. One of the primary aspects of being a young man is learning to overcome the devil and the hold that sin has on your life. And praise God that we have young men engaged in that battle with rather than just succumbing to the influence of the devil. Okay, we're going to be in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter one.
So we have been looking at the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is attempting to give the Jewish people during the first century a correct perspective on, on the life of Jesus. Still, this question is the most important ones you will encounter is who is Jesus Christ? Is he just a good teacher, someone that should be respected? Is he just someone that influenced society?
Or is this biblical perspective of him the one that is true? And so we're going to look at this today in verse 8. So we compared last a couple weeks ago the difference between him as a person and that of other spiritual entities, namely angels. And now we're going to speak directly to who the Son is. In verse 8, chapter 1 of Hebrews, verse 8, it says, but to the Son, he says, the Son of God, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. Here we have a short section brought to us that describes the nature of who Jesus Christ is. This is extraordinarily important to us in our culture and in our personal lives.
We are going to see who Jesus is as a judge. As a judge sitting on the throne. I'm sure that you have heard a version of the claim that supposedly brings some sort of attack on Jesus throne, on God's throne. And it says something like this. How can a good God allow bad things to happen to good people?
Anyone ever heard that before? This is supposedly some sort of attack that shows that God can't really be who he is. We've all heard variations of this, I'm sure. Remember Jeshurun just the other day said, I would never want to spend eternity with a God that says sent good people to hell because they didn't believe in Jesus. But there's some things that are very wrong about this foundational thinking that people have very wrong.
It is very important that you and I, in building houses, have a good foundation it's very important. Bad foundations make bad houses. But foundations are important in every area of our life. It's good to have a good foundation in marriage, in finances, and how you raise your children in all sorts of areas. Bad foundation make for a bad product.
I unfortunately, as a contractor who does not always do things right, I'm not trying to sell my services, but instead I'm going to tell you how bad I am that at times have not dealt with the foundations before we did all the finish work, that's not smart. And then you go when you go back to the finished work and you're wishing the whole time, if only I would have started on the foundation. And so in recognizing who Christ is, we need to come up with the correct understanding of who he is as a foundation. Job in the book of Job started off with the wrong foundation.
In job 31, after more than a whole chapter speaking of his own goodness and the injustice he is receiving at the hands of the Lord, he says in chapter 31, verse 35 oh, that I had one to hear me. Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me that my prosecutor had written a book. Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and bind it on me like a crown. I would declare to him the number of my steps.
Like a prince. I would approach him. I would come directly, as Job is saying, right into the presence of God and tell him how good of a person I am. I wouldn't flinch. I would come right up to his throne with a book on my shoulders and I would make my statement known to the King of Kings.
There are good foundations and bad ones. Job recognize that Elihu spends. I don't know if it's five chapters searching Job out in this answer. It ends up if we go back to back to Job, the finishing part of Job. Job, after being revealed the correct nature of who God is, he after seeing correctly, he says in chapter 42, verse 1.
Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything, and no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You asked, who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak. You said, I will question you, and you shall answer me.
Verse 5 I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, repent in dust and ashes. A correct perspective of who God is in reality enabled Job to take and lay a foundation that would be beneficial for his future spiritually, we see physically in a family way. Also, you and I may at times look at skeptics and feel some sort of anger or resentment towards them for asking questions like this. But the truth is, is to some degree that you and I are always asking these questions.
Has anyone ever been upset at the Lord?
When we put ourselves in the judgment seat and put God on the stand, there is a perspective that is not correct. There is a foundation being laid that doesn't lead to life. Here we're going to look at the foundation of God's throne. How is it? Do we really need to approach God?
What is the correct perspective? Should we really barge into God's presence and make him come in line with how we see things? In verse eight, back in Hebrews chapter one, it says, but to the Son, he says, there is something that the Son possesses spiritually in reality that you and I need to take notice of if we are to even survive spiritually, if we are to thrive, if we are to endure and benefit in our lives. This fact does not change, it says, but to the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. First of all, just something we need to look at before we get into this is that Jesus, without a doubt, is called God.
Here, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Later on, we're going to see that he is called, he says in verse nine, therefore, God, your God. Whenever we look at Jesus the Son, we always see two natures being represented. Scripturally, we see him receiving worship as God, claiming the rights of God, and all through Scriptures, we see Scripture treating him as God, and yet we see him relating to the Father as his God. Now we, because of the confusion, because of the difficulty in understanding how these things could possibly be, some people have been led to the conclusion that he cannot be both at the same time, that he must be one or the other.
Christians, though I have not heard a real good explanation of how it can be possible, choose to believe that both natures are present in the same person, that he is fully God and fully man. As God, he receives the worship of man and deserves it. As fully man, he worships the Father and relates to him as God. How both can be true.
The mind that you and I have is extraordinarily small, but one day believe that we will see him as he is on this earth. We have to believe it because this is what it says and because it has worked in the lives of many millions of people in relating to him this way. But first we're going to see. Excuse me. About the throne of God, this foundation.
In verse 8, it says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. First of all, we have to recognize that the throne of the Son is from everlasting to everlasting. The world and the spiritual arena that you and I live in is not a democracy.
It is a kingdom in which an individual, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, claims to reign from one end of eternity all the way to the other. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the first and the last of all creation. And there is nothing that can change that fact. If you and I are to operate successfully within this kingdom, it has to come with the idea that Jesus reigns, that he is the Lord of all.
It says in John that He will judge, that all judgment has been committed to the Son, that He is the One responsible for determining right wrong. It says in Job, were you present at the beginning when I laid the foundations of the earth? Where were you when I set the bounds of the sea? Did anyone ask your counsel when I made the sea like the sky like bronze, or I made the clouds float on the heavens? Where were you?
Did anyone ask your opinion, Paul, when they set up the heavens?
No. No one seemed to care what I thought.
But God set Himself on the throne and he judges. I hate to lay this out so meanly to you. It is not based on on what you and I feel, but on his truth of who he is as a person. When we judge him in our smallness, we come from a perspective that ultimately ends in failure, that he, his throne lasts forever. It says in Matthew 25 that he sits on the throne of his glory and he will separate the sheep from the goats.
We were just in Syria and some of the Syrians had mixed flocks. And to us as we walked around the town, it's not super quick, it's not super easy to tell the difference between the sheep and the goats in a mixed flock. But Jesus knows the difference. And as judge, he will divide one for the other. It says in the last days that he will judge all men according to their works.
And then a book will be opened and those who are in the book will have eternal life. We see that he is the ultimate judge. It is in the life of people absolutely important if you're going to walk in this kingdom of which he is king, to recognize that all authority belongs to him.
If you don't, you're going to find yourself on the wrong side of that authority. Now we're going to Look a little bit on how he reigns in chapter one. Again, verse eight. This throne of God works in a certain way. We are not at the hands of a revengeful and capricious group of godlike entities fighting among themselves for authority on the earth, which almost every cultural group has accepted at one time.
We live under the reign of one God who reigns in a certain way so that we can accurately expect something from Him.
It says he reigns a certain way. It says in verse 8 in the second part, a scepter of righteousness, the scepter of your kingdom, the way in which he rules, which the scepter is a picture of, that is based on righteousness. Righteousness. You and I in our culture today would love to see a king reign on how we feel, don't we? We as evidence in the courtroom, all the way up into the Supreme Court and to the Congress of the Great United States of America.
The most effective witnesses at turning the hearts of the highest legislative branch in the United States are people who go and cry and tell a sob story. Isn't it amazing that the direction of, of our country is largely affected by who can tell the sorriest story about their feelings getting hurt? That is going to lead people a certain direction. If we as a country are directing the direction for our future based on a certain group of people's feelings, there's a danger involved. Can anyone see that?
If you ruled your family based on who could cry the loudest? Can anyone think about what might possibly happen in your home?
My dad had that figured out.
Oh, you're going to cry about, really? We'll see what happens there, right? It says that Jesus reign. His throne, the way he rules is not based on how you feel about things. It's about righteousness.
It says that his scepter always works in the way of righteousness. If we're to understand, if we're to comprehend God's kingdom and his throne, if we're to lay a foundation, it is important to know that. That he reigns with righteousness, that his view of righteousness is always how he acts. He is always consistent in his motivation. There never has been a time in which he operated in a way in which righteousness was not the supreme motivation of his decision making.
That is very important. You want people, you want the King of kings to be moved on how much you cry. But God only wants to be moved whether or not your cause is just and right.
If it were any different way and he chose a motivation for his rulership that was not based on righteousness it would have to be based on something else.
It would have to be based on lawlessness. Here we see in Revelation, in the scripture previously mentioned, that he judged everyone according to their works, that it is a fair estimation. People are not judged and sent to hell because they do not believe in Jesus. They're judged because they broke the laws that all of us have been aware of. In whatever culture you and I have found.
We are condemned already because of decisions that you and I have made willingly against our conscience to break the rules that the Father has set for us here. This scepter is one of righteousness. I would just say to you that it may be harsh. It may feel to you that it is austere. It may bring hurt at times to us, in our soul, maybe even our feelings.
But there is no better way to rule. There cannot be any way that would rather be welcomed. Anything else is a breakdown in what's right. This Son of God, his throne, lasting forever. His scepter, the way he rules is always with righteousness.
That leads us to verse nine. It says, you have loved righteousness, hated lawlessness. This individual who rules with righteousness always has a perspective that comes from his nature. It says, you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. The things that the Lord loves is righteousness.
That which pleases him is righteousness. That which he hates is lawlessness. I'm going to go to Psalms I believe in 86, 85, It says, I believe regarding that ministry of Jesus Christ and the work that he accomplished on the cross. In chapter 85, verse 10, it says, Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed.
Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good. Righteousness will go before him and shall make his footsteps our pathway. If we're to understand this king, his throne and the way he rules and what he wants for us as people, if we belong to him, if he really rules in heaven, what does he expect from us? What are the things, the two forms of glasses that he looks for us?
What does he want for us? Sometimes I believe that what we want for ourselves is not exactly what he wants for us. And we end up in a conflict. What do you want for yourself?
A tailgate in my pickup.
Now, the one side fell off. And so every time I open it, it falls down. And sometimes that's consuming, you know, I just want a tailgate in my pickup. That works, right? You know, it's a small thing, but the Lord wants to something Different.
He's not necessarily concerned about the small things that we are. He is concerned about righteousness. You and I are concerned about a lot of things.
That is not necessarily what Jesus is concerned about. You, you may be concerned about the fiery trials that you are encountering. You may be concerned about the lack of resources, but the Lord is concerned about righteousness. What he wants to see in your life is righteousness spring up and begin to bear fruit that will affect all of your life and spill into your neighbor's yard. He wants righteousness and he is willing to do things to you to accomplish that.
Everyone know that God is not necessarily nice.
That is not his concern. Even at times he has been mean. Even at times he's led his people through desert experiences. He's allowed them to suffer persecution. He's even seen people put to death.
Because his focus is not in their personal pleasure, but in the righteousness that he can develop in their lives. First of all, if you want to know that God reigns and that he has a scepter, he has a motivation to impact your life and it is based on his idea of righteousness. And blessed is the person on that day who gets to experience something better than you and I carnally desire. When you see real fruit begin to develop in your own life. Who wants the trinkets of the world anymore?
Who goes back?
Oh yeah, he wants righteousness. But he not only loves righteousness, he hates lawlessness. He hates those things which are against the laws of his kingdom. We live in an unfortunate time. Maybe it's always been this way, I don't know.
But lawlessness has disguised itself as pleasure. That is a most unfortunate thing to happen. When the breaking of God's commandments begins to be associated in our mentality that the performance of that law breaking activity is actually one that brings pleasure to our beings. That's a bad scenario.
Of course. I don't know about you, but I have some sons. And they began to think that the road where you drive was actually made to have as much fun on as possible. They thought they made these smooth roads. They made them in a way that someone can go really fast on them.
It must mean therefore that it is for me to go really fast on. Obviously that has repercussions eventually when we as a people begin to meld the ideas or they begin to become murky. Where sin is lawlessness. But Satan has foisted the idea upon a corruption group of people to tell them to join with them in the activity of sin, feeling that it brings them pleasure. When it is really only lawlessness.
This has a direct impact on the relationship that you have with God Almighty. When you begin to think it is fun and the source of fun in the sight of God, before we are all naked and there is no hiding, when we begin to feel that what brings me pleasure is actually the thing that God hates the most. There's a real problem in my home. In your home. This kind of mentality can't exist very long.
You must think. You have to think. You have to be at least somewhat of a reasonable creature to say that both can't exist under the same roof. So it is even more so that there cannot exist a breaking of God's law underneath his own authority. It says that he hates lawlessness.
Back to Hebrews in chapter nine.
As a result of this, as this foundational stone, as this throne established forever as the scepter of righteousness, as this correct view of his creation, we see in verse nine his relationship to God. It says, therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. Without a doubt, this has to apply to that life of Jesus Christ, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross. He pleaded, let this cup pass from me. But yet the intense desire to see God's throne set up that so scepter of righteousness instituted and the goal of seeing righteousness sprout in the earth.
He willingly endured the cross because of the benefit that came on the other side of that cross. For you and I, it is the same way a correct biblical view of the throne of God, its scepter and what he desires, gives you and I the ability to experience life to its fullest.
People, human beings who walk under the authority of God experience more pleasure, more joy, more satisfaction than those who resist the authority of God. I have been young and now I'm a little bit older, and this is what I've seen, that those who run after the way of the world abandon biblical rationale and engage in things that is an activity that is against the authority of God do not do. Well, let me just try that one more time. What I am trying to say is that what the Bible teaches and what I personally have experienced, that those who fight against the living God with the their sin do not prosper. They might be rich.
Yeah, I hear you. They might have a lot of stuff. Correct. They might not experience the difficulties in this physical life that you and I have, but they do not inherit the physical pleasures that God has for us now here and eventually in heaven.
It says, therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companion. The spiritual person is one who experiences more of this physical earth and the goodness in which God has for us and heaven after. You might be poor, you might have a short life, but that short life is worth much more than a long life serving the devil. It says, therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. If you want your life to be different on this earth, if you want to graduate with more than a boat and a car when you die, then you have to recognize that there is is a biblical authority in heaven that reigns from eternity to eternity that cannot be changed, that his scepter is the same and it rules on earth.
That he loves certain things and rewards those who walk in those things he loves. My promise to you because as a young man I believe the promise sought after it. And now after 30 years, if I had a message that it would be young man, put your face in the dirt if it's heavy upon you, if that's what it takes, turn to the Lord, accept His authority over your life and serve him.
I wouldn't tell you anything differently. We have a boat and after about three years we don't even use it.
What else could you have? I don't know. But serving the Lord brings pleasure evermore. Accept the authority. When you attempting to complain, when.
When you're ready to bring your own wisdom in a lawsuit against God, if you're ready to come before his throne with the book you have written and you're ready to put him in his place, remember his throne is an everlasting throne. When your view of righteousness is different than his, there is a point in which we can say, lord, I repent in dust and ashes in it made sense in here. But you have a mind that's different than mine. When our sense of right and wrong is different than what the Bible says, it is our duty to submit to his own. And I believe that when the correct view of authority that you and I will find ourselves placed as his servants in a place of blessing.
I hope that you will remember this. I pray that you will be moved by this scripture and you will submit to the King of Kings as Lord of your own life. We're going to close there. We're going to shift right to communion. Communion is a physical act of taking the bread and the juice or the wine.
But it is also a symbol of being under the authority of the one that called us into this place. It is a correct understanding that I have brought myself under his authority. Recognize it as one that that is valid for my life. Willingly submit to it and want it for myself. And so I pray that as you take communion, that you weigh that strongly.
You can't come to Jesus and follow him unless he is your authority. He didn't call you into his boat because he needed a navigator.
He called you into his boat because you need a navigator. And if you're willing to submit to that in all areas of your life, don't wait. Just because your boat's a mess does not mean that it doesn't need Christ in it. He prefers messy boats. Try to say that one again.
If he could choose between a clean one and a dirty one, he would choose the dirty one. If that's you, then don't wait. Come today, let's pray, and then we're gonna have Communion. Oh, Father, we do come to you. Thanking you, God, though it hurts like hell.
Thank you that you're an authority. Thank you that it's your scepter running this universe and not mine. Thank you for your preferences, for what is right and wrong. Forgive us when we rail against you. And thank you for blessing your people, Lord.
May it spring up out of hard rocky ground and bear beautiful fruit. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.