Jesus The Judge
- Details
- Sunday Morning Service
- Jeremy Richards
- Copalis Community Church
- 26 April 2026
The Son of God, Jesus Christ has a unique voice based on who he is as a person. Because of who he is as a person, there is a responsibility you and I have to question to discern the things that he says. Because of his unique characteristics, his voice should stand out above the noise of our society as one that needs to be listened to. We're going to look just really quick as we go to Hebrews at some of those things that defines the differences between him as a person and other voices that might be speaking. So let me get there.
In Hebrews chapter one.
Okay. In Hebrews chapter one, we see that he is different. The difference between him and other spiritual voices is very clearly described here. Starting in verse five, we see that Jesus is God's Son. That he said to Jesus, you are my Son, today I have begotten you.
He possesses a unique relationship to the Father that no other spiritual entity has, no other spiritual voice has. Again, we see that the angels, their flames of fire, they minister, they do God's will, either fighting against him, some or others worshiping and walking in obedience to Him. We see the Son is different. We see that the Son possesses all authority. He rules everything by his power.
He has a scepter of righteousness. We see that the Son is the creator of all things he planned and they are based on who he is. He is before time and after time. These are unique areas that the Son possesses that no other spiritual entity possesses. We're going to get to a spot that basically says, then why are you listening to the other voices?
If he possesses all these things, if in truth he is this person, then why would you give credence to anything else? But we're going to look at one more area of Jesus nature here. Jesus is not just have all authority. He is not just the Creator of all things. He is going to use that authority, authority to judge.
One day, he is going to use that authority to judge. And then we're going to look one more, just quick time at angels before we get really into the ministry of this individual, the Son of God, what he actually does. But first, in verse 13, it says, in Hebrews 1:13, it says, it says, but to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? This is a scripture out of Psalms, of course. If you remember three days before the Passover in which the Passover lambs were to be slaughtered, they were to be held separately to see if there was any defect in these lambs, any sicknesses because you didn't want to offer an animal to the Lord that had a defect.
So for three days they were to be held separate to make sure there were no sicknesses. In those three days, Jesus also appeared in the temple and was questioned. He was examined by the nation of Israel, by the religious authorities, to see if there was any defect in him. So they brought out their best people, the Sadducees, the Scribes, the Herodians, to question Jesus, right? Remember, they asked him questions, Is it legal to pay tithes to Caesar if a man died?
And had this woman had seven husbands, whose wife would she be in the resurrection? And which is the greatest commandment? They put these hard questions to Jesus. Jesus didn't seem to be put off his position much by their hard questions. He didn't have to think and study a whole lot.
But then he asked them a question. The Messiah, the son of whose son is he? They asked him, or Jesus asked the religious authorities. They said, the son of David. Jesus brought up a psalm, I believe in 110, and said, if he is David's son, how could David, by the Spirit, call his son Lord?
They had no answer. They didn't know. David obviously did not call his son Lord. So who was he calling Lord? And so this scripture out of Psalm 10 has become something that puts these skeptics to a place of having no answer, who is he?
And the writer of Hebrews is bringing up this scripture in verse 13. Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Speaking of the Messiah, Sit at the right hand of God, signifying that they have equal authority, equal power, equal ability to be worshiped. They are the same. Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies my footstool.
I began to think about that for a minute. I wonder what it's like to be God's footstool.
Some people think there's levels of heaven, right? There might be levels where you sit next to Jesus or, you know, you're a little bit farther away and you can kind of see him. But there might be a position of heaven called the Lord's footstool. And that's where some people go. And I came to the conclusion that I don't think so.
Sometimes the Bible speaks in ways that we have to kind of dig into it to look at what it actually means, kind of. The other day I spoke about Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison after he had died. And some people were like, oh, man, not another sermon. Maybe I was. But I don't think these Spirits were bored when he was preaching.
I think they were terrified. And it was a message that they would never forget that he went and he did something in hell. He struck them. He took all power and authority that they had unjustly robbed from human beings. And Jesus took it back and now offers it as gifts to the individuals that follow him.
Well, to be God's footstool. I am under the impression at this point in my life that to be an enemy of God and made his footstool is not a pleasant experience. I have a sofa at home and it feels pretty good, right? I like to put my feet up. I tell my other kids, you know, when we're reading at night, you know, sit still, put your feet down.
But me, I just crank that thing back and I lift my legs way up and it feels real nice. But I don't think this is talking about a good experience that God has planned for his enemies, that being an enemy of God and being made his footstools is not a place you want to be.
There is in my mind the understanding that to be made a footstool is not a pleasant experience. That to be God's enemy places you in a position of being made a footstool. Here it says, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. This goes back, of course, all the way to the beginning, in which, of course, the old adversary, that dragon, the devil, deceived, tempted and brought the curse upon us through our ancestors, Adam and Eve. As a result, there was a curse placed upon Satan.
And the last of it says is, you will strike his heel, but he will crush your head. There is, in the end of time, one place that has been reserved for God's enemy, the devil, that he says that in the end he will take that serpent, that dragon who has deceived the nation, who has wrought destruction and killed, stolen and deceived people for thousands of years, and that strong man who used to be strong until Jesus came, he will take and throw into the place prepared for him from eternity.
That place is worn, a footstool. If you remember in the Old Testament, when Joshua was beginning to possess the land of Israel, and he had made peace through the subterfuge of the Gideonites with one small place in Israel, and that the Gideonites were attacked by a coalition of a few kings led by a man named Adonibezek, and they defeated these kings. The kings fled because they defeated them because of a miraculous attempt, a miraculous sign that they said was written in the book of Asher that the sun stood still for a whole day and allowed a defeat of this unified army. The kings, after the defeat, because of the long day, hid themselves in a cave. Joshua came and at the end of defeating their armies, came back and took them out of the cave.
And he said to his elders, put your feet upon their necks. This is the end result of individuals who are the enemies of this nation of Israel walking in obedience to God. Put your feet upon them. Their end is destruction. And then they were killed in a similar way.
This is a picture of what will happen to God's enemies.
We know that Satan, from the beginning, because of his heart lifted up in pride, has made it his goal to strike at his enemy. Every possibility he had. He's made it his focus to undermine and destroy the kingdom of God. He hates God, he hates God's laws, he hates God's people, and he wants to destroy God's kingdom as a result. It says, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
In Revelation we see that he is thrust into a place where the fire never goes out and the worm never says enough. A place fitting for for those who would rise up and fight against God. This is a place where God's enemy will go eternally, where he is made Jesus footstool the Son of God. It is interesting if we go to Matthew in Matthew 25 in a picture describing Jesus authority and his ability to judge everyone. If you remember, in John, Jesus said that all authority for judgment had been given to Jesus, that he possessed the right to rule over and judge everyone.
We see a picture of that in chapter 25 of Matthew, verse 31.
It says chapter 2531 of Matthew. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on his throne of glory and all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides sheep from the goats. Again, I was in Syria just a little bit ago and the mixed flocks were interesting to behold. And to a common observer, you might not know the difference. You might think it's a flock of goats or a flock of sheep and not know that there's goats and sheep.
And so to you and I's discernment in the field that you and I live in, it's not easily discernible between sheep and goats in the world we live in today also. But to the Son of Man, to the shepherd, he possesses the unique ability to divide absolutely correctly. Every time a sheep from a goat he knows the difference, and this is how he separates them. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come, you, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared from you from the foundation of the world.
This world in which we live in was made in six days. That world which you and I have the opportunity to live in has been being built since then. It surpasses in every way that which we live in that was made to six days. It's beautiful. It's a nice day.
It feels like this is almost like paradise in Kapelis beach, when we have sun and no wind, It's a beautiful place. It's great. If this is your first day in Kapelis, 300 days a year, we get this.
In verse 41. Then he will also say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, because God has made the devil Jesus footstool. There is a possibility that individuals would go to the same place as the enemy of God. You say, how can that be? How could God take good people and allow them to go to hell?
How is it possible that my neighbors, people that I know, maybe do kind things? How could it be possible that they would be sent to hell in a place specifically designed for the punishment of the devil? The truth is not very hard to find. First of all, we need to look and actually go just to where Jeshurun was today. To start with, in James, who is is the enemy of God?
Who would be willing to become God's enemy? Who would fight against God hip and thigh with the strength and the motivation of the devil. In James 4 is where Jeshurun was reading.
It says in verse 4, chapter 4 of James, verse 4, it says adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity against God? Friendship with the world is enmity against God. This is the reason. This is is because of what the world enjoys, puts into practice, loves to hold dear to their own heart.
They will not give up something no matter what. They hold onto it at all cost. They are unwilling to turn from it because they love it so much. It says adulteress is an adulteress. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity against God?
In a similar way of Sodom, they love something so much that they refuse to hear the repenting message of Lot? They would not turn from it. I find it so amazing that people, because of some sort of feeling in their heart would rather engage in a lifetime of misery breaking God's commandments. They would rather spend a whole lifetime far away from God, experiencing the damage that comes of certain kinds of activities that they know are hurtful. They would rather spend their entire life there than turn to Jesus, who will save them and give them hope.
What would cause a person to. To be so unwilling to turn to God?
It says it's enmity. It says that they hate God because they hate him so much, they refuse to turn to him and engage in a lifestyle that is an attack upon his kingdom. It says that in John. It says sin is lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.
The experience that you and I get when we break God's commandments leaves our carnal nature feeling a certain way.
It is falsely called pleasure.
There is a lying part of our nature caused by the curse that deems breaking God's commandments as pleasure. Think about the things that individuals like to do. Why do they like to do it? They think they like to do it because it makes them feel good. But the real reason we like to break God's commandments, whether you're willing to listen to me or not today, is because we have joined forces.
We have aligned ourselves. We've come into contact with joined forces, with. We have taken sides with, taken up the tools of an individual who has determined at all costs, no matter what, from the beginning of creation all the way to the end, to rob, destroy, and hurt the kingdom of God as much as he can. You and I love to break God's commandments only because the devil likes to break God's commandments. There is no pleasure in breaking God's commandments in a spiritual sense.
Anybody could tell me, okay, the things they like to do in secret, the things they like to do. If they think it brings them pleasure, all you got to do is trace the trajectory. All you got to do is look at where a young man who starts in that kind of activity where they end up as an old man. And, you know, it doesn't bring you pleasure. It brings destruction.
It brings turmoil. It brings a horrid, empty, ungodly, festering hole in the heart of a person. I used to love to steal. I remember when I stole my first pack of, you know, cards, and I came to my oldest brother John's here, not John. And I was so excited.
I stole my first cards from the store, My first pack of baseball cards. I'm like, two Justin, you know, if we do this every time we go to the Store. We're going to be rich. We'll be able to sell them.
Everyone traces that. A person who steals doesn't become rich. When you found your first bit of pornography, you thought, oh, this is wonderful. But everyone recognizes that a lifetime of investing your enemy in that doesn't lead to satisfaction. And so every commandment that God has, if you trace out the trajectory of a life spent breaking it, it never ends up in pleasure.
All it ends up is you sided with a force that one day will be made God's footstool. One day at the end of time, the devil and all those who fight with him, everyone who's taken up arms against God's son, everyone who has deceived, decided by nature at all cost. I am going to rebel against the force on high. I am going through my whole life, no matter what the consequences, going to maintain my life in sin. I will absolutely not turn from the way I have started on, and I will fight against God the entire life.
We were talking about good people. I'm not entirely sure there's such a thing. You and I, by nature, if we can look honestly at our own lives, can only say that you and I have also taken up arms against God's son. But there exists for you and I, in my opinion, what the scripture says, an opportunity for clemency. That individuals who have spent their entire lifetime fighting against God have an offer to escape to a city of refuge where a high priest exists to offer his own life as a substitutionary atonement for you and your sin load.
That individuals who without doubt, who would one day be condemned with the the general that they served throughout their life fighting God, now have an opportunity to respond to that offer. We're talking today about that work of Jesus Christ. We're going to be getting into it a little bit more. What it looks like I'm going to finish off. In Hebrews.
It says, but to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? No angel? No spiritual entity, no special power that you think that you can exist? No.
A beautiful crystal? No imaginary little force you can draw on the wall? No strength of stars? Nothing you could possess? What could you tell me that had the same level of authority attributed to it as the Bible attributes to the Son?
No. Which of those spiritual powers did he ever say, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? No. These spiritual powers, the ones that are. I'm going to look at two real quick in verse 14.
It says they are spiritual things, spiritual beings. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Those angels which willingly today worship the Son of God stand before his throne. They are ministers to help God's people on their way. It's a beautiful thing.
They're powerful, they're wise at times, but their only goal is to help people inherit salvation. There are other spiritual beings who are in rebellion against God and they draw people away from God Almighty. Both together. Neither of them are worthy of following or have the same authority. I'm going to close with chapter two, verse one.
Therefore, because of the true nature of who Jesus is, therefore because of the real view of what angels are, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away because of the reality of Jesus Christ. And I'm a little bit. I'm like a guy holding. I feel like a hundred dollar bill that I believe is the real deal. And I'm just waiting for someone to say, hey, it's a counterfeit.
I'm like, no, it isn't. Hey, look, look at the strip right here. Look at the numbers. It's real. You know, I want people to question.
I want people to look into the Son of God. I want them to look at Jesus, look hard, ask if it's true, maybe it's not true. Look into it, dig and see. Is there any false there? Is any stinky smell there?
Is there any rottenness there? We need to look and see. But if he is who he says he is here, we must give the more earnest heed. There is a heed that people give, right? If someone was saying there's going to be.
I heard a while ago that someone was prophesying that there was going to be a tsunami on the beach here. And they gave the date of the tsunami. And I was encouraged to give heed to that prophecy. Hey, Jeremy, you live in the lowest house in Grays harbor according to sea level. You might be smart to go somewhere else.
And there's an amount of heed you give to what people tell you. But there's an earnest heed that comes from knowing who Jesus is. There's a heed that could come from your friend as they encourage you to take pills or start dieting or, or do certain things to present your health. There's a different kind of heed that comes when we recognize the nature of Jesus Christ and when he's speaking to us. He has a level of authority that should cause us to question carefully what he's saying.
If the voices of angels had an impact and every one of their had a just reward of obedience, how much more? When Christ speaks, what should we heed? How much more? My question in ending today, if Jesus is who he says he is, if Jesus is who the Bible here in Hebrews saying he is, if there is actually a biblical heed that we should give to his message, my question is, is, are you listening? If he is sending out his voice from the farthest parts of the earth, if he is saying, here I am, here is the meat I have slaughtered, the wine I have mixed, here it is, are you listening to it?
My next question is, if you are refusing to hear the voice of the Son of God, if you have set your heart like flint and said there is no way, no matter what happens to me, no matter if my life is drugged down into hell, no matter if I experience the worst kinds of tribulations here on earth, there is absolutely no way that I will submit to that man.
If in your heart you say I will not heed my voice, I am sorry to say has to be one that says to you, you are an enemy of God.
As an enemy, there is only one expectation that one day God's enemies will will be made his footstool. But for every one of us who was an enemy, that God extended a hand of mercy to you and I, and He holds it out still. Come before that time, repent and be converted and turn and you will be saved. My hope today is for you and I. Yes, we need to recognize that we are enemies of God.
It's important. But we need to know in the same way that Jesus extends and loves his enemies. So much so that he died on the cross to save those who hated him. And that is you and me. I appreciate the time in Hebrews and we're going to be going into, as we move forward, what that ministry looks like.
I pray you're excited. How could he save someone like you and me? He can do it. He can do it and he did. Let's pray.
Father. We do thank youk, Lord. I do pray in my heart, Lord, for an earnest heed to this message that would change my life. O Lord, I ask for mercy for those who are committed in a course of path that is contrary to the Son of God. Lord, have mercy on us.
We ask in Jesus name. Amen.