[0:00] Got into the beginning of chapter 1, after giving you all the background and everything. Hebrews chapter 1, and we began with the fact that Christ is superior in His majesty as the Son of God.
[0:24] And we talked about the fact that, as we go through this, it's going to talk about He's better than the angels, He's better than Moses, He's better than Joshua, He's better than a lot of things.
[0:35] And we're going to talk about the fact that Christ is superior, He's better. And so the chief purpose of the book of Hebrews is to demonstrate that Christ and the New Testament and the truths of the New Testament go beyond the Old Testament and the things that were founded there.
[0:53] God gave them the Old Testament, but He kept telling them there's a Messiah coming. And now Jesus has come, and they're going to show how Christ is superior to everything else.
[1:04] We said, first of all, that His expression of the Sonship of Christ, He is showing us who God is. He's showing us all kinds of things about God.
[1:15] We said, first of all, He expounds on the mind of God. How does God think? What does God do? How does God, you know, what's His way of doing things?
[1:28] We look at Jesus and we learn what God's way of doing things is. We look at other people, but He says that these people did different things.
[1:42] The prophets did different things. But, verses 1 and the beginning of verse 2 says, God, who at sundry times and in divers' manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.
[1:59] So the Son has been telling us about the mind of Christ. He executes God's will. Look at the last part of verse 2. It says, Who He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world, 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 in the right hand of the Majesty on high.
[2:28] What is God's will? God's will is that we all know Christ. God's will is that we all get to spend eternity in heaven with Him. God's will is our salvation. He wants us all to know.
[2:38] How are we going to do that? We talked about the fact that He was appointed heir of all things. He created the world.
[2:49] He's not only heir of all things by decree, but He's the creator. It says there in the last part of verse 2, by whom also He made the world. So it belongs to Him because He made it all.
[3:03] And then we talked about the fact that verse 3, it talks about His glory, His person, His power, and our sins.
[3:16] Jesus Christ came, and by His glory, His person, His power, we are purged from our sins. He had the power to do all that.
[3:28] He had the power because He is the Son of God. Then we said also He expresses the heart of God. The heart of God.
[3:39] We talked about that fact that those verses right there, they go from creation all the way to Calvary. He created the world. The world man fell.
[3:50] He came to Calvary to pay the price for that sin. All right there in one sentence that He's done. So He expresses the heart of God. God's heart was to win us back, to get us to come back to Him, to make a way for us to be saved and be saved from our sins.
[4:07] Then we gave examples of the sonship. We talked first of all about His excellent name. He says there in verse 4, being made so much better than the angels.
[4:19] And we talked about the angels. The angels are some great angels. We talked about Michael. Michael's the captain of the host. Michael is mighty.
[4:32] But Jesus is almighty. We talked about Gabriel. Gabriel who brought the messages to people. But we talked about the fact that Christ is the message.
[4:43] We talked about Satan, Lucifer. He wanted to take over the throne. But Christ is actually sitting on the throne. So Christ is so much better.
[4:55] And why is Christ so much better? Because of the name that He has. Son. He is the Son of the living God. He is the heir of all things.
[5:08] Therefore Christ is better. That's where we left off last week. So let's have a word of prayer. And we'll pick up. Dear Heavenly Father, just thank you for this time to be together here today, Lord.
[5:18] And to look at your word. Lord, I pray that you would help us to understand. Help us to learn. Help us to grow in our faith, Lord.
[5:29] Realizing that Jesus Christ is so much better than anything we could possibly come up with or think of ourselves. Lord, I thank you that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
[5:41] Jesus Christ is God Himself. Lord, I just thank you that we have the privilege of knowing Jesus Christ. Lord, just help us in this time to learn, to grow, have a closer walk with you.
[5:57] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So Christ has an excellent name. He also has an earthly name. Earthly name. Look at verse 6 and 7. It says, And again, He bringeth in the first begotten into the world.
[6:15] He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels, He said, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.
[6:28] Did you notice what it said in the last part of verse 6? The angels worship Him. You think about the beginning when Jesus Christ came to the world in Bethlehem that night.
[6:42] What happened with the shepherds? The angels appeared to them, gave them the message that Jesus had come, gave them the message that He was going to be there for taking care of the sins of the world.
[6:55] And then it says that angel had a host of angels. And they praised God. Glory to God in the highest. On earth, peace, goodwill toward men.
[7:07] Glory to God in the highest. They're going to do that again when Jesus comes back again. They're going to worship Him. They're going to leave the worship that we have of the Son of Man, Son of God, being here.
[7:21] Worship is His right. Because He is God. The Son of Him is to be worshipped as God is worshipped. Think about that.
[7:33] He is to be worshipped as God is worshipped. Because He is God. You know, the angels, as great as they are, they're only ministering spirits, the Bible says.
[7:46] You think of the different things that angels do. There are messenger angels. There are ones who have come and talked to men. Gabriel, he came and he talked.
[8:00] Others came and talked. Abraham and Jacob had angels appear to them. Daniel, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, had an angel appear to them.
[8:10] Mary and Elizabeth had angels appear to them. They all had angels. So there are ministering angels that bring messages to people. And then there are ministering angels. Ministering angels.
[8:24] Remember Paul and Peter being in prison? And then both of them got out of prison. Why? Because of an angel. People came.
[8:35] Led them out. Shook the bars. Shook the thing and everything. We talk about children having guardian angels. We have angels around us all the time.
[8:48] Angels came and ministered to Jesus. When he was in the wilderness. Remember Satan came and tempted him. Once Satan was gone, the angels came and they ministered to him and stuff.
[8:59] So they're ministering. Yes? Who would Jared do? Is that something that happens? Is that something that happens? Is that something that happens? Is that something that happens? I don't know. She wants to know what's going to happen if that happens at your jail.
[9:10] Jared's going to stand out of the way and see what happens. There are martial angels. The ones who come and they do battle. Remember Sennacherib in the Old Testament?
[9:26] He came up against Israel. An angel went through his army one night. Wiped most of them out. So there are martial angels who come and they do battle.
[9:38] They're described in Daniel and described in Revelation as well. Then there are managing angels. Managing angels. There are angels who have control over elements.
[9:51] Control over the things of this world. Control over God's creation. Remember Herod? Herod got up and he was saying that he was God.
[10:04] And all of a sudden he's stricken and dies. And it talks about the worms eating his body and all that good stuff. You know, angels who come and they manage things that are taking place.
[10:18] As great as the, I mean, ministering angels, messaging angels, martial angels, managing angels, all those different kinds of angels. But what is their number one purpose? To worship God.
[10:31] To worship God. So he says, here's Christ. He has an earthly name. But even that earthly name, people bow down and worship him.
[10:44] Third, he has an eternal claim. An eternal claim. It's the glory of Christ's person. Think about who Jesus is. Look at verses 8 and 9 with me.
[10:55] It says, But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
[11:06] Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. I want you to see whole things about Christ in these two verses. Notice that first of all it says, thy throne.
[11:20] Christ's sovereignty. Christ is sovereign above everything else. That reference to his throne gives the idea that he is sovereign over everything.
[11:30] Think about thrones and the symbol that they are. The king sits upon a throne. He has all power. He can do anything he wants.
[11:41] I mean, let me rephrase that. They can, they have varied degrees of power. Old days of England. Let's use England as an example.
[11:52] Old days of England. Kings could say, I want that guy dead. And he's going to be killed. I want this guy gone. He'd be gone. Now, you've got King Charles, who's basically a figurehead.
[12:07] Parliament runs everything. Prime minister kind of rules. King Charles is just kind of there. So, they can have varying degrees.
[12:17] But with Christ, his throne, he has all power. He is the Almighty. How about his deity? Thy throne, O God.
[12:28] O God. He is deity. He is God himself. He sits enthroned at the center of everything that takes place. How about his dynasty?
[12:44] Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. This is in verse 8. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. You know, most dynasties, they go for a while, but then they finally die out. China, they had the Ming dynasty.
[12:58] You hear about it and other stuff. In England, again, you had the Tudors. And now you have the Windsors. And you have different dynasties and things. Jesus, yours is forever and ever.
[13:12] It's going to last for all eternity. It's never going to go away. How about his authority? It says, a scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom.
[13:25] He has a scepter. And a scepter is a sign of power, a sign of authority. Jesus has a scepter of righteousness. His kingdom is organized around one thing, uprightness.
[13:38] I'm going to show righteousness to the entire world. He loves righteousness. How about his integrity? He goes beyond all questions.
[13:53] You know, people seek power, and then they try to change things. Not Christ. His power and his authority is upheld by his integrity, which is a personal integrity.
[14:10] It cannot be challenged. He has a throne of righteousness. He loves righteousness, it says. How about his spirituality? God, even thy God, hath anointed thee.
[14:24] He has been anointed by God. You know, people get anointed to different things. Moses anointed Aaron to be priest in Israel.
[14:37] Samuel anointed David to be king in Israel. Elijah anointed Elisha to be a prophet in Israel.
[14:52] So you've got a priest, a prince, and a prophet. Doesn't the Bible talk about Jesus being all of those? And you know what? He's anointed, it says here, by God himself.
[15:05] He's anointed by God. We need to make sure that we understand all of who Jesus is and what he has.
[15:17] How about the glory of Christ's power? Look at verse 10. It says, And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hand.
[15:27] Do you talk about power? Jesus created it all. He spoke. And everything came into existence.
[15:40] Power to bring forth things out of nothing. Power to put the heavens in place and all that is there. He is a God who can do anything.
[15:54] And you think about the fact that he put all creation in place. And then you think about the precision with which he did it.
[16:08] You know, they say, oh, it was the Big Bang and things blew up and things went everywhere here and there and everywhere. But it wouldn't have the mathematical precision that we have now.
[16:20] They can tell you when comets are coming up 80, 90 years from now. They can tell you years in advance when an eclipse is going to take place. There's a mathematical precision to everything that has been done because it had a master's designer.
[16:37] Jesus put it all in place. And then notice the glory of his permanence. His permanence. It says, He puts the sun and the stars in place and they can burn out and things.
[16:50] But look at verse 11. Chapter 1, verse 11. It says, They shall perish, but thou remainest. And they shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up.
[17:02] And they shall be changed. But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail. He says, Look, billions and billions of years from now, the Lord is still going to be sitting on his throne.
[17:17] And you know what? As he sits on that throne, after those billions and billions of years, his energy, his force, has not diminished in the least. He is God.
[17:31] Everything we know about here on earth is temporary. All of you probably sometime in the last couple of years have replaced an appliance. Because they fail.
[17:44] They wear out. Earth is temporary. Earthly things are temporary. But God is not. You know, what he's trying to show them, the sun is not going to fade.
[18:05] And I mean that as the sun, S-O-N. He's not going to fade. He's not going to diminish. He's not going to change. He's always going to be there. And then notice the position.
[18:16] Christ's position. The glory of it. Verse 13 and 14. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
[18:29] Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation? Angels have never been invited to sit on the throne of God.
[18:42] You know, we know Satan tried to set himself up. But that didn't work out too well. He got kicked out of heaven. See, the greatest and the mightiest of angels still understand that they are to worship the sun.
[19:01] The greatest and the mightiest are going to be servants to those who love Christ, to those who are redeemed by him.
[19:14] Christ is superior in his majesty as the son of God. Then notice, Experience the sonship of God by men.
[19:25] What does that mean? To experience the sonship of Christ by men is that we get to experience some things because of Christ being the son. Note this section, Chapter 2, verse 1, begins with the word, Therefore.
[19:39] And as you have learned over the years, whenever you see the word, Therefore, stop and see what it's there for. And the word, Therefore, connects us back to all those things he just taught us in Chapter 1.
[19:53] He says, Therefore, because of Christ being the son, there's some things we should do. Number one is, Appropriate the gospel.
[20:07] Appropriate the gospel. Look at Chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. It says, Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
[20:20] For if the word spoken by the angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape so great salvation?
[20:32] How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by him that heard him.
[20:45] We'll stop there. The word slip, there in verse 1. He says, Don't let them slip. The slip has the idea behind it for something to just kind of float by.
[20:59] You know, we might be by a lake or by a stream somewhere, and we're just watching a leaf falls in the stream, and we just kind of watch it float by.
[21:10] Yeah, there it goes. You know, he says, Look, don't let things just float by. It is an enormous privilege that we have, and a responsibility, to have the salvation that Jesus offers.
[21:25] He says, Don't let that just float by. Understand what you have. Grasp what you have in Christ. You know, there are things of great significance, and he says, Don't let that slip.
[21:40] Make sure you give earnest heed to what's going on. And he says, The claims that the prophets and different ones, the claims of the law, don't let those slip by either.
[21:50] Don't neglect those. Look at verse 2. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward.
[22:01] Stop there. He says, Look, the law of Moses was given to you by God, and it carried with it some precepts and some principles that actually had some judgments, some punishments that went along with it.
[22:24] He says, If those things which were given before Christ were important enough to have these judgments and these punishments and things, don't let those slip because Christ is going to do even more.
[22:40] Throughout history, God has shown his displeasure with the children of Israel. He has shown them that there were times where they were going astray and doing the wrong things.
[22:51] And we don't know always when the punishment is going to be swift or if it's going to be a while in the coming, but we always know as you read through the Old Testament it was always there.
[23:06] There was always a time that they had to pay for the sin that they had done. He says, If they didn't neglect that, if God didn't neglect that and there was no escape from that, don't let the things of Christ slip by.
[23:20] Be very careful. Verse 3 there again, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?
[23:34] Israel had the types and the shadows of things that were going to come. God was showing them this is going to happen, this is going to happen, this is going to happen.
[23:48] You know, the sacrifice, yeah, if I can talk this morning, the sacrificial system is going to be something that's going to show what Christ is going to come and do and sacrifice himself, all those different things.
[24:00] He says, Don't neglect now that you have Christ here. You have seen him. You have heard him. Don't neglect.
[24:10] And then second, we must appreciate the gospel. Appreciate. Why do we need to appreciate the gospel? Well, notice verse 3 there again, Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord.
[24:27] God gave it to us. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. God gave it to us. All the Old Testament teachings were revitalized, were fulfilled in Christ.
[24:41] All the New Testament truths that were given were revealed by him. So all the scripture that we have, make sure you listen to what it is because Christ gave us all of it. Make sure you listen to it.
[24:55] Did you notice how it changed, though? In the Old Testament, we'll take a couple of Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill.
[25:06] Thou shalt not murder. What did Jesus say? Thou shalt not hate. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not lust.
[25:18] See, Jesus took what they had and he took it further. What's your heart attitude? It's not just the action, but what's the heart attitude of what we do?
[25:30] How are we dealing with things in our heart? He says, look, he gave a true witness to his disciples.
[25:41] It was confirmed unto them that heard him. It says there, verse 3. For three and a half years, these men walked with God, talked with Jesus, followed him, got to see his life and his example.
[25:55] And in Acts chapter 1, verse 3, it talks about they had many infallible proofs. They got to see Jesus in action day after day after day.
[26:09] 2 Peter 1, 16, it says this, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
[26:23] We got to see his majesty. We got to see him in action. It's not cunningly devised fables. We saw it. Do you see Jesus working in the things that we do?
[26:40] In 1 John chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, it says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life.
[26:55] For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you the eternal life which is with the Father and was manifested unto us. The gospel was confirmed unto these men.
[27:08] They saw. They heard. They handled. They saw everything that was taking place. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 4, God also being them witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will.
[27:30] He says, Look, God has shown us over and over and over again. He says, Look, signs and wonders. What did the Bible say the Jews wanted? Signs and wonders.
[27:42] They wanted to see things that were happening. The Gentiles, diverse miracles. Christians, moving of the Holy Spirit.
[27:53] He says, All different groups of people, doesn't matter who you are, can see Jesus Christ at work. Christ is superior because of the majesty as a son of God.
[28:07] 2 Timothy 1.10 says, He abolished death and yet brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Jesus gave us life through the gospel.
[28:18] He is superior to everything else. The writer of Hebrews has brought us to a crossroads and now we're going to continue on seeing what Jesus has done.
[28:30] The importance of learning who Jesus is. He's given us the background for that. Now he says, Now, here's what I have for you. Okay? And we'll continue next week.
[28:42] That's a word of prayer.