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[0:00] Would you open up your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1, it's on page 1187 of your pew Bible. I'm going to read through 5 through 14, but I'm going to start in verse 4.

[0:12] Hear God's Word. Regarding the Son, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my Son, today I have begotten you?

[0:37] Or again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son. And again, when He brings the firstborn into the world, He says, let all God's angels worship Him.

[0:52] Of the angels, He says, He makes His angels' winds, His ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son, He says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

[1:05] The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

[1:17] And you, Lord, referring to the Son, you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain.

[1:29] They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe. You will roll them up like a garment. They will be changed, but you are the same. And your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has He ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?

[1:47] Are they, the angels, not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? May God bless the hearing of His word.

[1:58] I have an iPhone, a smartphone, I'm guessing you do too. And it runs an operating system.

[2:12] And that operating system, it runs all the software hardware and all the applications. That operating system in your smartphone is the controlling center of your smartphone.

[2:26] And just like a smartphone, every human being has a central operating system, a controlling center that governs all that we do.

[2:40] Prior to becoming a Christian, everyone has one of two operating systems. You're running one of these two.

[2:52] It's either hedonism, which is also known as lawlessness. It's a person who's being ruled by their passions and desires.

[3:04] Whether that's something sexual or something you just have a passion to shop to, you drop. A passion to please people, it rules you. It's a man-centered operating system.

[3:17] There's no life in it. It's a brutal taskmaster. The other side, if it's not hedonism, it's legalism. And if hedonism is a lawlessness, legalism is a lawfulness, but not in a good sense.

[3:36] It's when a person who is being ruled by keeping rules, they have the sense that their security and that their acceptance is dependent on their ability to keep rules, to keep in between the lines.

[3:55] If you're a perfectionist, chances are you're a legalist. It's another man-centered operating system. So whether you're a hedonist or a legalist, you know what you have in common.

[4:09] You have in common, you are the controlling center of your life. And that's what the gospel calls us out of. The gospel gives us a new operating system.

[4:23] It's the good news of Jesus Christ as the controlling center of your life. Because he is life. It's the son OS. The Jesus operating system.

[4:35] And once you start living with Jesus as the controlling center of your life, there's just no going back. Hedonism, legalism, it just doesn't have it anymore. You've been set free.

[4:47] Don't go back. Don't go back. But, we are prone to wander. In 1758, a 22-year-old young man named Robert Robinson penned, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

[5:10] Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Prone to drift from the God I love.

[5:22] Christians, the blood-bought, called out of these idolatrous operating systems, we tend to drift back to them.

[5:36] The book of Hebrews was originally written to a church. And they had suffered for Christ. And they had become spiritually dull to Christ. And with that, they were starting to stray back into a religious legalism.

[5:52] They were so familiar with Judaism, they wanted to go back. There were just rules. It was safe, or so they thought. But the old covenant that was mediated by angels, there's no salvation in it.

[6:06] There's no Christ in it. Maybe you're not tempted to go back to Jewish sacrificial systems and strict dietary laws.

[6:18] But you're definitely tempted to drift back to pleasure-seeking or rule-following. The book of Hebrews is one long exhortation to hold fast to God's exalted Son, who is high and lifted up on His throne.

[6:40] Hold fast to Him. Don't drift to the things you've been called out of. Jesus is greater. Greater than any other operating system.

[6:53] And what we have before us this morning, verses 5 through 14, is an argument. You can look at it in your Bibles.

[7:05] Do you see all the Old Testament quotes? There are seven. One scholar calls it a chain quotation. One after the other.

[7:16] And what you're going to see is there's actually a little bit more nuance. They're set up in pairs. Verse 5, there's a pairing. Verses 6 through 7, there's a pairing.

[7:30] Verses 8 through 12, there's a big pairing. And verse 13, a stand-alone finale of the whole passage. And it's there to show you that Jesus is greater than the angels. Don't drift from Him.

[7:47] Don't go back to the old ways. Hold fast to Him. So let's walk through this. Let's start with the first pair.

[7:58] It's in verse 5 of chapter 1. And don't forget, verse 5 is following verse 4, where we've been introduced to this son who is superior to the angels because he has a name that is more excellent than theirs.

[8:19] It's the name son, the title son. What is beautiful about this passage is that it takes all these seven Old Testament quotes and the author is going to convince you that this son is none other than Jesus.

[8:41] So let's look at this first pair. It starts with a quote from Psalm chapter 2. For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son, today I have begotten you.

[8:54] That's Psalm chapter 2, verse 7. And if you're not familiar with Psalm 2, it's about the coming king, a Messiah, the Messiah of God. The nations rule, the nations rage against God.

[9:07] But as John read, just to start the service, God's in heaven. He laughs. And he is going to set up a king who will be enthroned in Zion.

[9:23] And what you're going to learn from Hebrews, it's the heavenly Jerusalem. Verse 7, I will tell the decree, the Lord said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you.

[9:35] Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage. When you hear the word begotten, that might make you a little uncomfortable.

[9:47] Because when we talk about begottenness, we typically talk about it in terms of biological conception or birth. Not in chapter 2, not Psalm 2.

[9:58] Psalm 2 is talking about this begottenness. Today, today you're my son, I've begotten you. It's the day that God sets his Messiah on his throne in Zion.

[10:12] It's an enthronement moment. He's been appointed. And in the New Testament, that moment of appointment is when Jesus is, after his crucifixion, he's raised from the dead, he ascends to high and he sits at the right hand of God.

[10:29] Enthroned. What we have going on in chapter 2 is this introduction of the son as being a king enthroned.

[10:43] And he's been given a worldwide dominion. The second of the pair, the second in this Old Testament quotation chain is 2 Samuel 7, 14.

[10:59] It says, Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. 2 Samuel 7, if you're not familiar with it, it's when God makes a covenant with David.

[11:13] And he says to David, David, I am going to raise up someone from your line who will sit and reign from your throne forever.

[11:26] It wasn't Solomon. It's Jesus, David's greater son. 2 Samuel 7, 13, 14, read this.

[11:39] He shall build a house for my name. And Les is going to preach on this in a couple weeks. The Messiah is building a house. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

[11:51] I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And so again, you have this kingdom, kingship. You have a throne, but here it's being kind of connected to David from the line of David.

[12:04] It's the Messiah that's going to come. It's one from David's line who will be established on God's throne and he will establish a forever kingdom that has worldwide dominion.

[12:20] What these two Old Testament quotes have in common is the word son. You are my son. Today I begotten you. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.

[12:33] What the argument is, is hey, Jesus is greater than the angels because God has never called an angel this son, the Messiah, sits on the throne.

[12:53] Do you know who Charles III of England is? Real question. Do you know who Charles III of England is? Let me maybe introduce him.

[13:09] He's over 50 years old. I'm over 50 years old. He's 5'10". I'm 5'9 1⁄2". You can just say I'm 5'10".

[13:19] He speaks English. I speak English. He speaks British English. I speak American English. Still English. He loves polo.

[13:32] I could probably get into polo if they have good snacks. The major difference between Charles III of England and yours truly of Kenosha is King Charles is the enthroned king of Britain.

[13:49] I am not. And what the author of Hebrews is doing here is he's showing us that the son is greater than the angels because he is right now the enthroned king of all.

[14:04] I'm not. You're not. There's no angel that is. So the argument will go through the book of Hebrews is why would you go back?

[14:19] Why would you go back to the law of the old covenant mediated by angels who are lesser than the son? No. Hold fast to the son. Hold fast to the one who's established a new covenant by his blood and is now exalted seated on his throne.

[14:37] Don't go back to old operating systems. Your old hedonism or your old legalism that there's no life in them. They don't sit on the throne.

[14:49] There's no Christ in them. In Psalm 2, verse 12, the psalmist lands that psalm by telling of the kings of the time to kiss the son, to pay homage to him, to affectionately declare loyalty to him, to come under his reign, to delightedly bow your knee to this son.

[15:30] And that's true for all of us. Hey, brother, sister in Christ, did you kiss the son this morning? Did you declare your loyalty to him?

[15:42] He's on his throne. So this first pair is dealing with the son. Now the second pair of quotations, third and fourth on the quotation chain, the focus shifts.

[15:59] And again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels wins and his ministers a flame of fire.

[16:11] So this next pair of Old Testament quotes shifts from focusing on the son to focusing on angels in order to help us see the relationship between the son and angels.

[16:27] The first quote is from Deuteronomy 32, 43, and it's dealing with worship. By the way, as you look at verse 6, and again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, the firstborn is another way of talking about the son.

[16:44] And it might throw you a little bit because you hear firstborn and you think in terms of birth order, that's not how it's being used here. Psalm 89, 27 talks about the firstborn, but it's talking about David as the king of Israel.

[16:59] Does anybody know where David fell in the birth order with Jesse, his father? Number eight. But he's described as the firstborn in Psalm 89. He's the king who reigns over all.

[17:13] And again, when he brings the firstborn son, the king, into the world, that could be his incarnation, that could be his return. I think it's probably talking about his exaltation. He says, let all God's angels worship him.

[17:27] The author of Hebrews is saying, when he was exalted, all of God's angels, when he took his place on the throne, there was a roar in glory.

[17:39] All of the angels worshiped him. You've got to get the relationship straight. the firstborn isn't worshiping the angels.

[17:51] The angels are worshiping the firstborn. That's why he's greater than them. He's worshiped by them. The second quote is from Psalm 104, verse 4.

[18:09] And of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire where the Deuteronomy 32 quote talks about worship. This is talking about service.

[18:22] A minister, his ministers is talking about serving this exalted king. He makes his angels.

[18:34] He's the creator of them to be his servants. If you look at verse 14 at the end of chapter 1, speaking of the angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

[18:51] You see, the Son, who is also the creator, created the angels to serve his glorious salvific purposes.

[19:08] The Son doesn't serve the angels. The angels serve the Son. Do you remember in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus is in the wilderness, is tempted by the devil, and Jesus does what the first Adam could not do.

[19:23] He resists the temptations. He holds to God's word, and after 40 days of fasting, after these temptations by the devil, do you know what you read in chapter 11?

[19:34] The angels came to him in the wilderness, and they ministered to him. They served him. These two Old Testament quotes are making it clear just exactly what is the relationship between the Son and the angels, and they worship him, and they serve him, because he's greater than them.

[19:55] Now, in Revelation chapter 22, this is not the only account of something like this in your Bible.

[20:11] We read this in verses 8 and 9. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.

[20:23] What is that angel going to do? But he, the angel, said to me, you must not do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and your brothers and the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book, worship God.

[20:41] If you went into the heavenly throne room right now, and you started to bow down and worship the myriads of angels in there, they would all tell you, stop it! Worship the one on the throne!

[20:56] He's greater! Now, maybe you're sitting in your pew and you're like, hmm, I don't have a problem with worshiping angels. This feels a little irrelevant.

[21:09] Okay? What do you worship in the place of the sun? Maybe it's not angels. What is your choice operating system that you drift back to?

[21:26] What is the idol that is the default controlling center of your life? If you neglect the sun, are you a pleasure seeker?

[21:41] If you neglect the sun, are you a rule keeper? Thinking that life is in either of those? Thinking that salvation is in either of those? Jesus is in neither of those.

[21:53] the king is not there. The sun is greater than the angels. He's greater than your pleasure seeking.

[22:09] He's greater than your rule keeping. He's greater than you. Don't drift from the sun. kiss the sun.

[22:25] Hold fast to him. Which now brings me to the third pair of Old Testament quotes. Number five and six on this quotation chain.

[22:37] And we shift back to the sun. Now, I just want you to notice something. If you're looking at your Bible right now, the first two pairs, they're just single quotes.

[22:50] These next two pairs, they're expansions. It's because the argument's building. It's because the author wants you to feel the weight of who this sun is.

[23:05] And where the word sun, it holds those first two quotes together. And angels holds the second two quotes together. What holds these next two quotes, these next two psalms, are the word you and explicit claims of divinity for the sun.

[23:26] Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Verse 10, you, Lord, lay the foundation of the earth in the beginning. This is building to a climax.

[23:41] This is building to a finale. And so, let's look at each one of them. Verses 8 and 9 is quoting Psalm 45, 6 and 7. Again, it gets at enthronement.

[23:53] Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. It's alluding back to 1-3 where the sun sat down at the right hand of majesty after making purification.

[24:03] salvation. This throne is forever and ever. 2 Samuel 7, 13, and 14.

[24:15] The nature of this reign of the sun exalted on high. Well, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

[24:25] A scepter was this kind of fancy rod and it was a symbol of a king's authority and reign. And what this rod is is a rod, it's a scepter of uprightness.

[24:37] It characterizes the reign of the sun, his rule and his authority. In verse 9, you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Do you know what this means?

[24:47] His reign is a holy reign. His kingdom is a kingdom of saints. The New Testament speaks of Christians as saints, as holy ones.

[24:59] Christ. Because our king holds a scepter of uprightness. He loves righteousness. He hates wickedness. And we're to love and hate what he loves and hates.

[25:15] But the feature of Psalm 45 that stands out is your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

[25:26] It's an explicit claim to the sun being fully God, totally God. It goes back to what we read last week in verse 3.

[25:37] He, the sun, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. This one on the throne, this king who's exalted, he's God.

[25:49] God, there's no angel. There's no angel called that. The second, the next pair is in verses 10 through 12, and it's a quote from Psalm 102, 25 through 27, and it starts with you referring to the sun.

[26:11] Lord, you, Lord, laid the foundations of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. And so now what's added is that this sun is the creator of all.

[26:26] The earth, its foundations, and the heavens. This goes back to what we read at the end of verse 2 last week. Through whom also he created the world. He upholds the universe by the word of his power.

[26:41] He is the creator of all, and he's sitting on the throne. He creates angels. But there's more.

[26:55] Look at verse 11. Speaking of the earth and the heavens, they will perish. Look at the end of verse 12. Your years will have no end.

[27:05] Here's a contrast. Between the temporary nature of the heavens and the earth and the everlasting to everlasting nature of the sun on his throne.

[27:21] He's eternal. But there's more. But you remain. They will all wear out like a garment.

[27:31] Like a robe, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will be changed. But you are the same. Unlike the created order that will change, that will be brought to a close and recreated by this sun, this sun does not change.

[27:53] He is what theologians call immutable. Maybe you're familiar with Hebrews 13.8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

[28:06] That's who the sun is. Who would you rather have on the throne? Someone like yourself, who's changing daily, or the creator, who's eternal and unchanging, life giver, and he gave himself for you and me.

[28:29] Jesus is greater. He's greater than the angels. He's greater than you and me. What we see going on here in this last pair of Psalm 45 and 102 is that this sun is greater than the angels because he's the king of an eternal kingdom forever and ever.

[28:56] He's the king of a holy kingdom, scepter of uprightness. He's exalted. He's been anointed. He's God's son, the creator, eternal, unchanging.

[29:16] He's got the whole world in his hands. Jesus. What I find absolutely striking about these Old Testament passages is that they're all being fulfilled in some way in the sun.

[29:34] Jesus. Any football fans in the room? A couple. A couple. During the Super Bowl, at some point, I believe, there was a quarterback comparison.

[29:51] Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, yards passed, completion percentages, TDs, interceptions, QB ratings. What this quotation chain does with all these pairs is it's a comparison between the sun and the angels.

[30:12] The sun is the creator. The angels are the created. The sun is to be worshipped. The angels are the worshippers. The king tells people what to do.

[30:24] Angels serve. This is the king on his throne. He's God. Angels aren't on the throne, and they're not God.

[30:37] This king made purification for our sins. Only he, in his eternal nature, could bear all the fullness of God's eternal wrath to forgive us of all of our sin.

[30:49] There is no angel that could have done that. there is no angel that could have life in pleasure seeking.

[31:08] There's a way to enjoy God's good gift, but don't make an idol out of it. And rules serve a purpose, but man, there's no life there. There. Don't drift back.

[31:23] Fix your eyes on the one on the throne. Hold fast to him. Kiss the risen, exalted king.

[31:37] And if you find yourself a little stuck, you can always compare yourself to him. He's the creator. You're the creator. You're the created.

[31:50] He's the savior. You need saving. He's a life giver. We're in constant need.

[32:04] The last of the quotation chain, number seven. This is the finale. Verse 13.

[32:19] Can I just point something out? For you nerds in the room. In verse 13, it starts, and to which of the angels has he ever said?

[32:33] Look at verse five. For to which of the angels did God ever say? It's verbatim, virtually verbatim. It's called an inclusio. And what it is is a book-ended unit.

[32:46] And what it is is it tells you this is the beginning and the end of this particular line of thought. It's all to go together. But what makes this last quote unique is it stands alone.

[33:05] And to which of the angels has he ever said? The other way to say that is only of the son has he ever said this. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

[33:20] It's a quote of Psalm 10.1. Did you know that Psalm 110 is the most often quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament? Over 20 times?

[33:32] I think it's over 25 times. In fact, Psalm 110.1 has already been alluded to in verse 3. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[33:48] What the author is doing is he's bringing together his argument. This one on the throne. This son. God's king.

[34:00] The creator. Who's eternal. Who's unchanging. Savior of all. He is on his throne right now. All of these seven Old Testament quotations are pointing to Jesus.

[34:17] God's exalted son reigning on high. Seated on his throne. On my iPhone. I have this really interesting option to see where my daughter and wife are at any given moment.

[34:33] Technically, I can see where their iPhones are at any given moment. But you know what it does? It assures me.

[34:44] Oh, I know where they are. Do you know what Psalm 110 is doing? It's locating for us where our king is right now to assure us of who he is and what he's doing.

[35:12] So that we would draw near to him, not drift from him. King Jesus is on his throne right now reigning over all things. All things have been put under his feet.

[35:24] And he is reigning as all things are being subjected to him. We'll look at that in two weeks. This past week, I was swapping texts with a beloved brother who has been waiting to hear some very significant news.

[35:43] And at one point, he texted me, the Lord is on his throne. It was both focusing and assuring because our king Jesus who's been raised from the dead is on a throne of grace.

[36:07] His unchangingness, his immutability means his love for you, Christian, doesn't change. It's not dependent on your obedience or not.

[36:18] He loves you unconditionally. An angel is not sitting on the throne of David right now.

[36:35] You are not sitting on the throne of David right now. There's no pleasure sitting on the throne of David right now.

[36:47] There is no rule sitting on the throne of David right now. Our risen king is sitting on the throne of David right now.

[36:58] And it is to locate him for our wandering hearts. It helps us to see him, to fix our eyes on him. He's totally God, totally man.

[37:12] You know what you do? Kiss the sun. I'm all yours. I will follow you anywhere.

[37:24] I won't drift to the left or to the right. I will stay on your way wholeheartedly depending on you because you are my risen and reigning king. It's what the Old Testament points us all to.

[37:38] And it also means this. You've got some dethroning to do, I'm guessing. Dethrone your hedonism. Dethrone your legalism.

[37:52] They're idolatrous counterfeits to the one true God who is reigning on the throne right now. The true controlling center of your life who alone brings fullness of joy and life everlasting.

[38:08] What hedonists and legalists don't remember is their paths that lead to destruction. There's no life in them.

[38:21] We find grace to endure from the throne because of the one who sits on it. This morning locate him.

[38:37] Fix your eyes on him. Do you remember the words of that 22-year-old prone to wander? Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave, drift from the God I love?

[38:51] Don't go back. This afternoon, don't go back. This week when things get hard and you lose sight of Jesus, don't go back.

[39:06] No, locate him on his throne. Remember who he is. He's greater than the angels. Fix your eyes on him. Hold fast to him. Kiss the son.

[39:20] Hold fast to him and find joy. Joy in enduring. Joy in being faithful to him.

[39:33] Joy in even suffering for him. He's worth it. God in heaven, we are so grateful that Lord Jesus, you are on your throne.

[39:48]  When we slept last night, whether it's for eight hours or three, you were on your throne. No matter what we're facing this week, whether it is an unknown or einerhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhr