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Once again, good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. I'll be looking at verses 10 through 12 today. Hebrews chapter 1, beginning in verse 10. And you, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain. And they all will become old like a garment. And like a mantle, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will also be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not come to an end. Well, we're here this morning and rightfully to exalt only one person, and that is Jesus Christ.

You know, as you go through life, you're going to encounter things that start out small and then will become large and then they become small again. Perhaps it's a job or an employer or a supervisor that all of a sudden becomes large in your life or a business relationship.

I can remember. Ones such as in my life, a certain client who just every time I went near that side of town, I would just feel a little apprehension. And certainly, when I got to the building, I would feel a certain amount of unease and driven by my client's desires and impacted a lot.

And then one day that relationship ended, and I look back and it seems so small now. Perhaps it's a relationship that starts out small and right now is a very big thing in your life, or maybe it's a difficult trial. I remember a lawsuit, many of you remember, that I went through, and it was seemingly very large at the time, and now it seems so small, a distant memory.

Even my years at seminary, I had the privilege last week of spending time at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, California, the place where John MacArthur pastored. And one time the place seemed so large to me. And this last time, all my seminary professors are gone. Even John MacArthur now is gone.

And the Place seemed a lot smaller. In fact, do you know that our campus here is bigger than what they own there in Grace Community Church? Yeah, it seems so small. Remember, not long ago, I was in contact with a man in my life who one time was very influential and large and in other people's lives.

And he was eating a sweet roll and shaking. He was old. He had sweet roll all over him. The decline sets in. I could list over and over examples. And I think you know what I'm talking about. There are things that start out small, become large, and then they become small again.

History tells the story of the ebb and flow of great peoples and great personalities that have come on the scene only to go off the scene and be forgotten. Small and great, peoples and nations. But then there are those things that start out small and become large and are destined to become larger in your life.

Like the mustard seed in Jesus' parable. And there are examples of that in my own life. I remember I had a casual conversation with this pretty young lady on a bus on a Russian mission trip. And this led to 30 years of marriage, six children, two grandchildren, a dog and two cats, and a bunch of dead rats that show up on my doorstep from time to time.

She's become large. There are things, and there is one thing that is destined to become the largest thing in your life forever, and that is the name of Jesus. I remember first hearing maybe his name comes across my ear, maybe a parent, maybe I hear his name, celebrate him at Christmas, and then one day I hear the gospel, and this Jesus all of a sudden becomes large.

And as I go through life, he becomes larger and larger in my life. And there is no cease to the increase of his government in my life and in the universe. He is destined to become large and large forever. And one way or the other, no matter who you are today, The name of Jesus is the most significant name in your life.

One way or the other, whether you choose him or reject him, he is the most significant person in your life, one that controls your destiny. And that is why, and it is right, that with all the ebb and flow of peoples and nations and things that come and go, we are here to do one thing and one thing only this morning, and that is exalt the name of Jesus.

Only he is worthy of being exalted. Amen. And that is what the writer of Hebrews is stressing. Look at what he just said in verse 7. He's speaking about how that the Son of God, and he's speaking of Jesus Christ, is greater than all the angels, all the heavenly hosts, and that because he is such, you should be paying attention to him.

And this is what he says in verse 7. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels winds and ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of his. Kingdom, you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.

Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions. That's what he says of the Son. And then he's going to continue that thought in our text this morning. And you, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundations of the earth. So, what has he just said?

His rule is forever. Verse 8: His preferences are forever, that which he loves, he loves righteousness, he hates lawlessness, and that is forever, and also his joy is forever, and that joy comes out of loving what is right. So, we know from right there, it's very clear that this universe is destined for the same kind of joy that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has.

And so are you, and so are me. His rule is forever, his preferences are forever, and his joy is forever because he is forever. That's what our text is communicating this day. You, O Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

They will perish, but you are the fear of the hands. You remain, and they will all become old like a garment, and like a mantle, you will roll them up like a garment. They will also be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not come to an end.

Now, the author of Hebrews makes this point. He's citing Psalm 102, specifically verses 25 through 27. Psalm 102, 25, 27. And so, flip with me, if you will, to Psalm 102. You just thought this was going to be a sermon in Hebrews. One of the things you have to understand is that the writer of Hebrews absolutely loves the Psalms.

And so he is constantly preaching from the Psalms. And so it's very important that we spend time in Psalm 102 because that is the text that he is using. And we want to understand what Psalm 102 meant when it was originally written, because you know why? That's what it still means today.

That's what it meant in Hebrews 1 when the author of Hebrews quotes it. The word does not change. The meaning does not change. The word of God can never mean what it never meant. And so it's important. Important for us to understand what is being communicated in Psalm 102 so that we can understand what was being stressed in Hebrews 1 so that we can understand how it applies to us today.

There is an audience in the psalmist world, and it's very explicit who he writes his Psalm to. Then there's an audience in Hebrews and who he's writing to, and it's very clear who that is. And then there's an audience here today. And the Word of God hasn't changed.

God doesn't change. The message is the same. It will find application in the Psalmist world, in the world of the Hebrew author of Hebrews, and in our time. But in Psalm 102, we encounter, let me just show you where we're going. We're going to look at our time this morning.

I usually don't like to put so much on the PowerPoint because I feel like I'm taking away from the preaching. But this is necessary this morning. We want to look at Psalm 102, and then we want to look at how it relates to Hebrews 1, and then we want to look at how it relates to us.

So in Psalm 102, Psalm 102, we encounter a man who finds joy in the midst of his despairing, and I mean very despairing circumstances. It's a journey. It's a journey that a man goes from the The valleys of his depressing circumstances to the peaks of heavenly joy, and then he has to come back to his present circumstances.

Has anything like that ever happened to you? Where you've been in a low point in your life that maybe caused you anxiety or depression or a sense of hopelessness, and then for some reason you're temporarily transported out of that. Maybe you go to youth camp, maybe you go to a conference, maybe you take a vacation, but you have some sort of mountaintop experience where you get away and for a moment you forget your circumstances and you are in, you have fellowship with the Lord and you have a good sense of rejoicing, and then you have to go back to your present circumstances.

Has that ever happened to you? I remember in early high school, I went to go live with my grandmother, got in trouble. I lived a life of honoriness and had some friends, people that did not love God at all. And then I went, I was transported out of that situation.

I went and I lived with my grandmother, and it was there in Hope, Arkansas, that I met the Lord. And I had that mountaintop experience. I never wanted to go back because I so loved my time with the Lord and the time with the church. I didn't want to go back to this place.

And yet, that's exactly where God wanted me to go. I felt like the demoniac in Mark 5, who God had delivered, and then he just wanted to go on with Jesus. And Jesus said, no, go back and tell of what God has done in your life. Maybe you've experienced something like that.

Well, that's what this psalmist experienced. And there are three distinct movements in this psalm. And I want you to see this. I want to walk through this journey that the psalm went through so that you will know where joy comes from and how that joy can characterize your present circumstances no matter who you are, no matter what you are going for.

There is a joy that transcends our present. And as we walk through, you'll see this is what the psalmist experiences. So three distinct movements. We'll walk through this. First of all, we encounter a fainting spirit of the psalm. Look at the psalmist. Verses 1 through 11. I'll just read the first couple verses.

Look at verse 1. A prayer. So we're talking about a prayer here. A prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Lord, and let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me.

In the day of my distress, incline your ear to me. In the day when I call, answer me quickly. He describes it as a day of his distress, like the narrow strait. Something has seized him, has gripped him, and laid him low. A prayer. He's afflicted and he's faint.

And what are we talking about here? It's a day of destruction in Jerusalem's history. And that'll become evident as you go through. A day of destruction. In verse 14, it talks about the pity of the dust of Zion. In verse 21, it's very clear that Zion he's talking about here is Jerusalem.

This may very well be a lament that comes after the destruction under Babylon. It's not clear which one it is. There's several that could fit the bill of times when Jerusalem was laid low. But as you go through, you realize this person, this psalmist, has personal problems. He has vicious enemies, but his greatest concern is for his countrymen, for his nation, and the miseries that they are facing.

And what His prayer is. Charles Spurgeon says this about this psalmist. He's a patriot and he's mourning for his country. He has faith in God and, open quote, looks for the resurrection of the nation through the omnipotent favor of the Lord. This causes him to walk among the ruins of Jerusalem and to say with a hopeful spirit, No, Zion, thou shalt never perish.

The sun is not set forever. Brighter days are in store for you. So in the next few verses, this fainting spirit is described. This fainting spirit, I'm sorry. Let me show you the three movements real quick. We'll be looking at a fainting spirit, then we'll be looking at a joyful rapture, and then we'll be looking at the return to the reality of his present circumstances.

That's where we're going. So, first, we'll look at that fainting spirit. It's described. In verse 3, he's spiritually dehydrated. Look at this. Verse 3. For my days have been consumed in smoke, my bones have been scorched like a hearth, and my heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away.

Idea of smitten. He is struck down. Something has trampled his heart. He is spiritually dehydrated. There is no vitality. What was once green and full of energy and vitality and fresh, and there was joy is like a dried grass. We know what that's like around here in Texas.

I mean, there's not much vitality, and then you step on it, what happens? Powder. But not only is he spiritually dehydrated, have you experienced something like that, times like that? Where is God? There's nothing to live for. That's where he's at. But not only is he spiritually dehydrated, he's physically famished.

Look at the end of chapter verse 4. Indeed, I forget to eat my bread. Because of the loudness of my groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I resemble a pelican in the wilderness. I have become like an owl in the waste places. So he's so faint, so discouraged that he's forgotten to eat his bread.

Grief will suppress an appetite, won't it? Which further weakens the person, further sends him in a downroar spiral. But such is the effect of intense grief. And those who experience such grief, they refuse consolation, don't they? They even refuse nourishment for their body. My bones cling to my flesh.

This guy's lost some weight. Listen, you don't want to look like a pelican in the wilderness. There's not any food out there. Or an owl in the waste places. It's a very graphic picture. A man who's physically famished. But not only that, he's socially isolated. Look at verse 7.

I lie awake. I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop. My enemies have reproached me all day long. Those who deride me have used my name as a curse. So he is the object of ridicule, he and his people. He lies awake. His mind is cycling, wakeful, apprehensive.

He's reproached day and night, all day long, continuously and constantly taunted and publicly defamed. But he's also emotionally wrecked. Not only is he spiritually dehydrated, physically famished, socially isolated, he's also emotionally wrecked. Look at verse 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread. Mingled my drink with weeping.

What is his bread? Ashes. What are ashes? The residue after a fire. Get the picture of a man who's face down in the aftermath of fire, ashes. His drink is his tears. Imagine that, flowing down the face into his mouth. Ashes and tears combining with mouth. It's a very deep picture of a man who is fainting, afflicted, and at a very low point.

And then in verse 10, we get the cause. The cause of his fainting spirit is revealed. Look at verse 10. Because, here it is, because. Why? Is he spiritually dehydrated, physically famished, and socially isolated and emotionally wrecked? Because of your indignation and your wrath, for you have lifted me up and cast me away.

Your indignation, God, that's the cause of this. Your righteous displeasure, your rightful disappointment over our nation's conduct has brought all this about. Your indignation, your righteous displeasure, and your wrath. The indignation is God's displeasure. The wrath is the expression of his anger. And what is his expression? You have lifted me up and cast me away.

That's a very, it's like you have picked me up and hurled me and my people away from you. It's a very graphic image. And then in verse 11, all this takes him to the dismal outlook for his future. So he's psalmist has described his fainting spirit and the cause.

It has to do with something that God, I mean, there's nothing that will ruin a person quicker or bring a person low than think that God has turned against him, that God will not accept him, that God is against him. And so his future outlook is articulated in verse 11.

My days are like a lengthened shadow, and I wither away like grass. From where he's standing, that's what he sees. My days speaks of his remaining time on earth like a lengthened shadow. What's the lengthened shadow? That comes at the twilight of the day when the sun is setting, when shadows soon disappear into the darkness.

Dry grass. There he uses again. My days. That are remaining are few and miserable. And so, from his perspective, his future is hopeless. Ever been there? You feel like God is against you. And there is no hope for your future, except only a dreadful expectation of what the future holds.

That's where many live life long enough. They see the evil in the world. They experience it. They're hurt by it. They're touched by it. Maybe they have been the cause of it. And they feel that God has abandoned them, that God's judgment is against them, and that there is no remedy, and that that's not going to change.

And then they have this dismal outlook for the future. That's the fainting spirit. But there's good news for this psalmist. Because just as he articulates his fainting spirit, he is catapulted in a joyful rapture. First of all, what raptures him is the understanding that God exists forever. Look at verse 12.

But, but you. He's just articulated his fainting spirit, his condition, his outlook from his. Perspective, and now he turns his attention away from himself to God. But you, O Lord, abide forever, and your name to all generations. Lord, in contrast to me, you abide forever, Yahweh. You continue forever as Yahweh.

The name of Yahweh. What is his name? You're not supposed to say that word, Yod Hebhei. It's supposed to be ineffable. It's supposed to be too holy to announce, indicating that there's yet a name to be revealed. What is his name? The whole psalm is about Yahweh. It's not about the Son, per se.

And yet, when we're reading Hebrews, he attributes this whole Psalm to the Son. And not just the Son, but to Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews unequivocally connects the name Yahweh to Jesus. Jesus is Yahweh. God exists, but you, O Lord, abide forever, and your name is going to abide to all generations.

Joyful rapture. Second component is that not only does God exist forever, but compassion and grace are scheduled on his calendar. It's like God has a calendar and he marks down a time of grace, time of compassion. Look at verse 13. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time has come.

Surely your servants find pleasure in her stones and feel pity for her dust. Look at what he's saying. You will arise. There is a time on your calendar when you will take a stand. You will arise with an intention to act. The Lord will, at some time, by the way, it's not explicitly stated here.

You will arise. It's in the future and have compassion. Some translations say, for it is time, as if it might say in the present, it is time now to be gracious. But there is no verb there. It's literally for time to be gracious. For there is a time, there is time, or there will be time.

There is a time set. There's no verb there. But it's clear it's in the future. You will arise. Be gracious to her. For the appointed time has come. Same thing. For the appointed time is come. And it's clear he's speaking to a future generation here. We'll come to that in a moment.

But it's clearly not in the psalmist day. And notice what's scheduled on God's calendar: compassion. Compassion. Compassion for Jerusalem. There is compassion and grace for Jerusalem. For the appointed time has come. You will have compassion on Zion and be gracious to her. The idea of compassion is to be soft toward, to show affection for, to forgive, to have pity.

It's the idea of bending down to pick up. Well, you do that a lot when you have little ones. You bend down and to pick up. Not to pick up and throw and hurl away, like that happened in Jerusalem's past or what the conditions were happening at the psalmist time, but to be cared for.

You know, you ever wonder? Oh, well, look at second, to be gracious. There's a Time scheduled for Jerusalem for God to have compassion on her and be gracious to her. And that means to be favorably inclined, to provide for generously. The very opposite of being picked up and hurled out.

Going to be picked up to experience God's grace. You ever wonder why Bible-believing Christians are favorable to Israel? Look at what it says. Surely your servants find pleasure in her stones and feel pity for her dust. It's interesting, it's not Islam that has pity, it's not secularism that has pity on Jerusalem, it's not even Eastern Christianity under Orthodoxy.

It is not Popish Christianity under Rome. They have replaced themselves in the line of God's people, so-called. It is not liberal Christianity, but it is evangelical Christianity. Why? Because as verse 14 says, they are the servants, the ones who have received God's testimony, who have received his word, who have been born from above, who worship God.

That's the idea of service, worship. They are his worshipers. They are his slaves. Listen, it's one of the biggest things going on in the spiritual realms. There are many throughout history and continue in our time to want to deny Jerusalem the compassion and grace that is spoken about in this psalm.

And this is what's going to lift the psalmist to joy. There are those who want to keep Israel out of the land physically. We see that all the time. Push them into the sea. There are those who want to keep Israel out of the land historically. That is, they have no right to the land.

There are those who want to keep Israel out of the land politically. There are those who want to keep Israel out of the land philosophically. There are those who want to keep Israel out of the land hermeneutically. They would look at this word, Zion, that's speaking of the church.

No, it's not. It's in the church here. Church isn't ground to powder. And then there are those who want to keep Israel out of the land theologically. But it's all part of a satanic enterprise to deny what God has promised would come upon Jerusalem in the future. God will have compassion on her.

God will pick her up and be gracious toward her. That's what's the hope of this psalmist. It is those who know the Lord, they are the ones who take pleasure in the city of the king and the great accomplishment that happened there for humanity. They're the ones who still feel pity for her even today and her dust.

They show pity for her dust. They are the servants. You want to know who the servants of Yahweh are? They're the ones who find pleasure in Jerusalem, what took place there, and have pity upon her current condition of being still hurled out. But this joyful rapture, that compassion and grace are scheduled on God's calendar for Jerusalem, but also for the nation.

For the nations. Look at verse 15. So. So the nations will fear. You see that? There's a therefore there. So. God's going to have compassion. There's going to come a time when he arises and has compassion upon Zion, Jerusalem in context. You'll see that. And be gracious to her.

So that the nations, verse 15, will fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth, your glory. For the Lord has built up Zion and has appeared in his glory. Again, that verb, for the Lord will, just like in that, so the nations will fear, for the Lord will build up, or he will appear.

Same concept here. It's the idea that it's so sure that it's going to happen. Grace, but notice, notice what he's saying here. Grace and compassion are in store for all the kings. All the kings. All nations and their kings to fear. This is what God has on his calendar, a time so that the nations will come and tremble.

Before, well, they will hold God in high regard. So they will stand in awe, stand in awe of what? Of His glory. Your glory. There's a time when the Lord God is going to appear in Jerusalem in His glory. This is not His first advent, not His humiliation.

There He showed up as the sin-bearer. What's being expressed here, this is the hope, this joyful rapture, is that He will appear in glory. It's a time when all the kings are going to see His glory, not just as the sin-bearer. You see, and this is going to be big in the mind of the writer of Hebrews.

The sin-bearer is the Lord, He has come, and He is coming again in His glory. Therefore, pay attention to Him. That's how the writer brings this. But this compassion and grace are scheduled on God's calendar in answer to the prayers of the destitute. Look at verse 17. He has regarded the prayer of the destitute and has not despised their prayer.

Remember, he's praying. This is what he said, this whole prayer, he's laid out. He says, the prayer. Verse 1, he's talking about the prayer of the afflicted. And there's an important lesson here to us about prayer. Sometimes we look at our prayers in a temporal sense. We just look at them, well, God, I prayed today and you didn't answer that.

But we need to be reminded of eternity. It will become evident that God did and does answer our prayers. Now, the psalmist isn't going to see this in his day, he's not going to see Jerusalem resurrected in glory in his lifetime. Even the patriarchs that the writer of Hebrews is going to make much of in chapter 11 didn't realize the promises in their lifetime, but only saw them from a distance.

But God does answer prayer. You'll see. But you have to give eternity its place. But grace, compassion are scheduled on God's calendar, and this is written down for a future generation. Look at verse 18. This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

You see, the psalmist was writing all this down, not for his generation. They had apostasized. They were under the wrath of God, largely unfaithful. Wrote this with joy, seeing what would come, so that they would experience the joy of praising the Lord. This will be written. What I have written is written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

And so then, so you have this, God exists forever. This is his rapture, compassion, and grace are scheduled on his calendar. And then he has a joy. This gives him a joyful outlook for the universe. And verses 19 through 22, it makes it clear that God sees, God hears, God frees, God reveals, and God gathers.

Look at verse 19. God sees, for he looked down from his holy height from heaven. The Lord gazed upon the earth. You have the God who sees. Verse 20, to hear the groaning of the prisoner. God hears. Why? Verse 20, to set free those who were doomed to death, because God frees.

Why? So that all men may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem. Who is this one who sees, hears, frees, and reveals? Look at verse 22, and God gathers. God gathers when the peoples are gathered together and the kingdoms to serve the Lord.

When is this going to happen? When the peoples are gathered and the kingdoms to serve the Lord. And where are they being gathered to? To Jerusalem. That they may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem. That's the time of gathering. And it's not a gathering for judgment here.

It's a gathering when all will serve the Lord. Listen, friends, this is the place of the theocracy. We're waiting for the Lord to return. The place is Jerusalem. It's not Rome. Many good things happen there. It's not Rome. Inevitably, you're going to get a vicar, a human, in charge of this theocracy.

And there have been a lot of claims to theocracies through the ages, through our times, but inevitably, you always have a man, you always have a vicar of Christ somewhere in there. Those aren't theocracies. They cannot be. There will be no theocracy until the Lord Himself returns. When the glory of the Lord comes to the place where he designated his name would be in Jerusalem, then and only then can there be a theocracy.

Every other one is going to have some man-made vicar administrating this so-called theocracy. It's not Rome, it's not Mecca, even Geneva, as great as it was under Calvin's. It was no theocracy. There was a city council. Men. It's not Salt Lake City. That temple will be destroyed. It's not Jonestown, bringing in the kingdom down there.

It's not Moscow, Idaho. Nor any other place on planet Earth. Not even the New World that the later Puritans thought they were establishing, the New World. No, none of those are theocracies. Because the king is not present, but he will come in his glory and his Shekinah glory, as it once was in Jerusalem, will return.

And then they will have a theocracy. The people will gather to serve Yahweh, to worship Yahweh. And this was the psalmist's rapture of joy. As he looked forward, he saw the glorious resurrection of Jerusalem. And that's good news. Friends, if God will restore Jerusalem, those Who crucified him?

Does that not tell you good news about who he is? All the nations will serve Yahweh in joy. Well, then the psalmist got to come off the mountaintop and return to his present circumstances. He experienced a momentary rapture, but then he had to return. And you know what?

His circumstances had not changed. But his outlook on the future was very different. There was a hopeful element to it. And it was driven by three realities. Number one, the brevity of life. He has weakened my strength in the way. He has shortened my days. The psalmist understood that he days were short.

Life was brief. But he was encouraged by the eternality of God. Not only is life short, I was traveling back from California. It's like I had an eight-hour wait, and then I had a three-hour wait, and then I had a four-hour wait. Four-hour wait, and then I had a couple of hour wait, and just to get from A to B, but it seemed like at the time it just seemed like, oh, that's just a long wait.

That's a long wait. But you know what? Sure enough, there was that time when I boarded. Sure enough, there was a time when I got in my car. Sure enough, there was a time when I got home. It was all over. And it seems like it just went by so quickly.

Life is short. The day we only have to endure for a short time. And the psalmist said, I can do this. But then there's the eternal God. God is, life is short, but God is forever. Verse 24, I say, O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days.

Your years are throughout all generations. So in contrast to his limitations, is God who transcends all generations. And the third thing that comforted him was the immutability of God. Now that's a big word, but it rhymes with brevity and eternality. So immutability, what does that mean? God does not change.

And this is what brought him comfort. And this is the portion of scripture that the Hebrew writer lifts up. Of old, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. Even they will perish. They will cease existing. But you endure. That is, you will continue to exist.

And all of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing. You will change them, and they will be changed, but you are the same. I love how this in the Hebrews starts out: toward the face of the earth, as if God was standing, as if Yahweh was standing toward the face, the void space of the earth.

And then he lays the foundation and speaks into the existence, the heavens and the earth. They will wear out. Let me ask you: how many of you guys are still wearing your clothes that you had in kindergarten, first grade? How many of you guys are still wearing your clothes that you're wearing in high school?

All right, we've got one. Wahoo! Not many. Well, what happens is that's how he's, they will perish. Clothes, what saying, the God who spoke into the universe the first time is the God who, just like he will go through several suits of clothes in a life, like we go through several different suits of clothes during a lifetime, God is going to go through several material universes.

That's the picture he's painting here. Because God is and always will be and does not change, his faithfulness continues. Circumstances are destined to change. God is not going to change. And he has promised a good future, and he will bring it about. And this is that, look at how this changes his perspective.

Now he has a joyful perspective on the future. Verse 28, the children of your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before you. Even though he still had to face his current circumstances, he knew that God was going to be faithful to his servants and to the children of his servants and would establish them.

He would cause them to stand upright, to be secure in his presence, despite the fact that Israel had forfeited its inheritance time and time again. God will establish them as a nation in righteousness. Bear with me as I now go to Hebrews 1. I intend to be quick.

We have looked at Psalm 102. Now we need to understand what's going on in the context of Hebrews. The year is about 65 or 66. The Jewish persecution is upon Christians. It's a daily reality. Nero's persecution is upon the Christians, is intensely strong. There are tensions between Rome and Jerusalem.

Escaping, escalating, the Jewish revolt has already taken place, probably. You're having fainting spirits on the verge of going back, abandoning the truth. Some are tempted to go back to Judaism. Some are buckling under the pressure of Roman persecution. And probably many are wondering, where is God in all this?

And in the midst of this, comes the writer of Hebrews, exhorting, pay attention to Jesus. He is greater than all of the angelic beings. And the good news of Jesus Christ, he is more enduring than the material universe, including the angels. All of them owe their existence to the Son.

Just as Christ stood in the face, just as the Son of God stood in the face of the creation of the material universe, so he is going to roll up our present circumstances. He's doing something in us and in the church of Hebrews 1, and he's going to bring forth a new universe.

And all of that is applied to Jesus. Jesus stood at the face of creation, brought it into existence. Jesus stands at the face of the new universal order. Jesus will never be able to do it. Never cease being Jesus. He sees, he hears, he frees, he gathers. Yahweh is Jesus.

Pay attention to him. And the truth that brought joy to the psalmist in his time is the same truth that brought joy to the early church there through the author that the author of Hebrews was writing through. And the same truth will bring joy to you if you will let it take hold.

No matter who you are, no matter what you're going through, or whether it's a mountaintop experience, or whether maybe you're in a deep valley, let the heavenly reality of his joy impact your present circumstances. Look, I don't know who's going to be president in a few years. Neither do you.

Or you better not. I don't know who, what your circumstances are going to be like. I don't know what's going to come up on this earth. But I do know that the Most High is the most joyful in heaven. I do know that His joy is the source of joy in heaven for eternity and will be on earth.

Now, even. He wants you to experience His joy. You can be sure of this. Your life is brief. Your circumstances are brief. They will change. The good news is that Christ does not change. He sees, He hears, He frees. What are you going to do in all this wait time?

So I was waiting for the plane. The thing that hit me was: even though I've got all this wait time, what am I doing with the time? I'm going to get on that plane, no matter what the delays. What am I doing while I'm waiting? Christ does not change.

Good news. The good things that he purposed will soon be upon us. And so you can live. You can live. Our circumstances are brief. The good news of Jesus Christ. And so we can joyfully live for his glory, just as he did for his father's glory. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we come before you, thanking you that indeed you are forever, and because of this, your preferences are forever. Your rule is forever. What you love is forever. What you hate is forever. And the joy that you derive from what you love is also forever. You love righteousness, Father, and you want to share that righteousness with us because, Father, you celebrate what's right and you want us to celebrate what's right.

And so, Father, as we travel through this world, we recognize there are many things that are large in our life right now that may even be getting us down. But, Father, help us, like the psalmist, to be raptured. Into the joy of what's coming, that somehow, some way, you have these circumstances under control and are bringing about a good outcome.

And that outcome is that we may truly celebrate in your presence, Father, even if we have to endure hard times for a while. And, Father, if today we are living on a mountaintop, Father, may this just add to the joy of what we're experiencing in this life to look ahead to what's in all things, Father.

We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.