[0:00] Turn in your Bible to the book of Hebrews.
[0:18] Hebrews was definitely the book that he drew me to.
[0:37] And I think part of the reason for that is just the misconceptions that there are about Jesus, who he is, and what he's done.
[0:48] And how many people in our society, people who call themselves Christians, are getting that wrong. And if you get that wrong, you're going to get everything else wrong. And so, as we go through the book of Hebrews, my hope and my prayer is that you will see, if you haven't before or maybe for the first time, that Jesus is greater than everything.
[1:12] And we've got to know who he is in order to understand what he's done and why that is such good news. So, Hebrews chapter 1, verses 4 through 14 will be the text that I'm preaching on this morning.
[1:24] But I'm going to read verses 1 through 3 just for the sake of context. Those first three verses are really important in understanding verses 4 through 14. If you don't have a Bible, there are Bibles in the pews that you can use.
[1:35] If you don't own a Bible, please take that Bible home with you today as a gift from our church to you and our hopes that you'll continue to be reading the Word of God. Would you stand with me? Reading, again, Hebrews chapter 1, the whole chapter.
[1:51] Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
[2:03] He is the radiance of the glory of God in the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
[2:24] For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son, today I have begotten you. 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.
[2:39] Of the angels, he says, He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of a brightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
[2:52] You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And your Lord laid the foundation of the earth and the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
[3:07] They will perish, but you remain. They will 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.
[3:19] 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? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
[3:33] May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Would you please be seated? Angels interest us. Angels are woven through the biblical narrative, appearing from the dawn of creation in Genesis to the final pages of Revelation.
[3:49] Rather than only witnessing a burst of angelic activity in the New Testament during Jesus' life, we find their presence throughout the entire sweep of redemptive history.
[4:03] Angels have also drawn the interest of the irreligious. Secular culture has reimagined angels in nearly every art form.
[4:17] Movies, television, music, paintings, and even in cartoons. Unfortunately, those portrayals have muddled the truth about angels, who they are, what they do, and even what they look like.
[4:33] For instance, angels are frequently shown in those art forms that I mentioned with halos. And I'm about to burst some of your angelic bubbles here, but Scripture never describes angels with halos.
[4:54] Halos first appeared in Christian art around the 4th century, and there's an interesting reason for why that is if you want to dig deeper into it, but angels don't have halos. Angels are also commonly portrayed as having wings.
[5:09] But the only angelic beings in the Bible described as having wings are the four-winged cherubim and the six-winged seraphim.
[5:21] Contrary to the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, which many of you maybe watched over this Christmas season, angels do not earn their wings by serving humanity.
[5:31] Angels serve God and do His bidding, which benefits humanity. Another misconception about angels is that people become angels when they die.
[5:45] And I blame Looney Tunes for this misconception. Remember, if you've seen those cartoons, some character like Elmer Fudd blows himself up trying to kill Bugs Bunny in the next scene, they're in heaven with a halo and with wings, floating on a cloud, playing a harp.
[6:07] Revelation 5.8 does at least describe angels as holding harps, so that part is somewhat true. All this to say angels fascinate us, but that fascination has produced a lot of misconceptions about who angels are and what angels do.
[6:29] And if we aren't careful, our fascination with angels can serve as a distraction from the one who should be the true object of our fascination, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
[6:44] Such was the case for the audience that the book of Hebrews was written to. There's about a 400-year gap of time between the completion of the Old Testament and the writing of the New Testament.
[6:57] And scholars, theologians call this the intertestamental period. It's also called the 400 years of silence because there was no prophetic word from God during that time.
[7:12] But during that period, Jewish rabbis were producing literature. Which contained their theological reflections on Old Testament scriptures.
[7:23] Some of it was good. But it was also mixed with errors, which embellished Old Testament teachings about angels and confused the Jewish people's understanding of them, who they are, and what they do.
[7:38] Many Jews believed that angels acted as God's senate or as God's counsel. And that God didn't do anything without first speaking to the angels and consulting with them before he did whatever he decided that he was going to do.
[7:58] They believed in passages like Genesis 1.26 when God says, let us make man in our image. that that us and that our refers not to the Trinity, the other members of the Trinity, but to the angels.
[8:13] Many Jews also believed that 200 angels governed the movements of the stars while there was a unique angel known as the calendar angel who oversaw the progressive days and months of the year.
[8:27] They believed that there was an angel who managed the seas and other elements, the dispersion of snow and rain and hail and thunder and lightning. One rabbi suggested that angels were so numerous that every blade of grass had its own angel who superintended over it.
[8:46] The main reason, though, for the high view the Jews during this time had of angels was their work as mediators of their covenant with God.
[9:00] Stephen's sermon in Acts chapter 7 alludes to this belief. As Stephen indicted those Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah, he says in chapter 7 verses 52 through 53, which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
[9:17] And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.
[9:29] In Galatians 3.19, the apostle Paul says, why then the law? It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
[9:43] Later in Hebrews 2.2, the author says, for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. What these verses are saying, what they're teaching, is that angels in some way were involved in giving the law, but the Bible doesn't provide specifics about how they carried out that role.
[10:07] Rabbinical speculation during this period about angels' role in giving the law led many to hold angels in the highest regard and develop an unhealthy fascination with them.
[10:21] This preoccupation ultimately clouded their understanding of the person and the work of Jesus. And they may have been thinking as they were hearing the gospels, they were hearing about Jesus, how does Jesus fit with the angels?
[10:38] Is he an angel? Is he a servant of angels? And so the author of Hebrews writes about the person and the work of Jesus Christ to clear up all of this confusion.
[10:52] The purpose of Hebrews is to demonstrate from Old Testament scriptures that Jesus is the fulfillment of them. He is the promised Messiah, the divine son of God, the mediator of a new and better covenant.
[11:04] He is the greater prophet. He is the greater priest. He is the greater king who fulfills all these roles and who grants us access to God the Father through faith in him, not through religious rituals.
[11:21] The main theme is that Jesus is superior. He's better. He's greater than anything. He is the final revelation of God.
[11:32] He is the exact imprint of God. He is the eternal word of God. He is the mediator of a new covenant, a superior covenant, which has made the Levitical priesthood and the temple and the Old Testament sacrificial system unnecessary.
[11:50] The author of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, begins in chapter one by establishing who Jesus is, his person, before explaining his work, which established the new covenant.
[12:09] And recognizing the high regard his Jewish audience held for angels, the author draws from Old Testament scriptures to establish Jesus' supremacy over angels and over everyone.
[12:23] If the author of Hebrews was to persuade his audience that Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant than the one given to Moses, he needed to show, among other things, that Jesus Christ is superior to angels who were considered by the Jewish people to be mediators of the old covenant.
[12:43] And so the main idea for this morning's message is that Jesus Christ is the eternal word of God and is superior to all things he created, including angels.
[12:55] Jesus Christ is the eternal word of God and is superior to all things he created, including angels. And now maybe you're thinking, Pastor Mike, you had my interest when you were talking about angels, but then you started talking about covenants and mediators, and now I'm confused or maybe less interested.
[13:19] Hold on. There will be more about angels in this passage, but better than that is what you'll learn or remember maybe about Jesus in comparison to them.
[13:38] I've prayed this week that if it's not already the case, that your fascination with our Lord will grow along with your worship and your devotion to him.
[13:50] Because sometimes we don't truly appreciate what we have until someone else reveals it to us. Last weekend, there was a gun and knife show in town and as we were going to the different booths, Jack, my son, noticed that one of the vendors had a dagger from World War II that was pretty much identical to the one I was gifted by my father that belonged to my grandfather.
[14:17] And so I went home and did some more research on that object, which I appreciated, but after I found out and learned more about it, I grew to appreciate it even more, this thing that I had.
[14:31] If you are in Christ, you have something more precious, more glorious, more awesome than anything in this world. And I hope that today in the days to come as we go through the book of Hebrews, you will have a greater appreciation for how great Jesus is and how awesome it is for you to personally know him as your Lord and Savior.
[14:56] This sermon also matters because of the misconceptions that continue to abound about the person and the work of Jesus, especially in our culture amongst Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.
[15:11] Understanding this passage will help you share the gospel with them instead of thinking, oh no, when you see them on your street walking towards your house, I hope that after you hear this sermon and you see them the next time, you'll say, oh yes, Lord, bring them here.
[15:29] I have a truth that they need to hear. This sermon matters because no one matters more than Jesus and nothing matters more than knowing him and making him known in this world.
[15:45] And the better you understand the supremacy of Jesus, the more supreme Jesus will be in your life. This passage contains five truths about the superiority of Jesus Christ.
[15:59] And I'm sorry to burst another bubble, but these points aren't alliterated. My streak comes to an end today, but that's okay because as we'll see from this book, there are customs and traditions that need to be broken.
[16:15] So the first truth about the supremacy of Jesus is his superior name, the superior name of Jesus. A few weeks ago, again, I preached on the first three verses of this chapter and how the author of Hebrews, right at the very beginning, at the outset of this long letter, which is really a sermon, presents Jesus as the complete revelation of God who came to purify us of our sins.
[16:40] Jesus is presented in the first three verses as our divine and eternal creator and our redeemer. Verse four transitions to Jesus's superiority over angels.
[16:52] And we now know why that is given the high view that the author's audience had of angels. Verse four communicates Jesus's superiority over angels by first addressing his superior name.
[17:09] Again, verse four says, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Verses five through six state that that superior name that Jesus has inherited is son.
[17:28] Our culture doesn't put much stock in the meaning of names. Most people typically choose names for their kids that sound good with their last name or they'll choose a name that will make it harder for other kids to pick on them growing up.
[17:44] Our middle names that we give to our children generally have more meaning attached to them than their first names. In the Old Testament, God often chose specific names that related to the character or some other aspect of what that child would one day be or one day do.
[18:06] The author of Hebrews as well as his audience were aware of this, the significance of names. And so he asks a rhetorical question in verse five using scripture to interpret scripture.
[18:19] More precisely, what we have here is the Holy Spirit providing his own inerrant commentary through the author of Hebrews on the Old Testament that he inspired, which is pretty cool.
[18:31] Verse five says, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I've begotten you? Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. The two verses quoted come from Psalm 2, 7 and 2 Samuel 7, 14, which refer to God's promise to send a greater son who would establish the throne of David forever.
[18:54] No individual angel is ever called by God as his son. Now there are times when they are collectively, along with believers, called children of God or sons of God in the sense that they are created by God and in some way reflect him, but no single angel has ever been called the son of God.
[19:20] This verse continues to point out the awesome truths communicated in verses one through three that Jesus is God's incarnate son. He has a relationship to the father unlike any other.
[19:31] And now you might be thinking, well, how did Jesus inherit this name? Didn't Jesus always have a more excellent name? Yes.
[19:43] Jesus has always been God. John 1, 1 through 4 is one of many places where that truth is clearly communicated. Let's look at that passage and then verse 14 of that passage.
[19:54] In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men.
[20:05] Verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory. Glory as the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Jesus has always been God but at his incarnation when he added a human nature to his divine nature Jesus became son.
[20:26] That's his incarnational title. God. Eternally Jesus is God but only after his incarnation is he called son in the Bible.
[20:37] This is important. This is important to understand when a Mormon or a Jehovah's Witness shows up again at your door and says something like this. Since Jesus is called son of God that means he is eternally inferior to God the father which means Jesus is not God but is a lesser God.
[20:55] Jesus has always existed. eternally as God but in his incarnation he entered into our time. He put on our flesh in submission to the father's will for the sake of our redemption as the son of God.
[21:15] Look again at verse 5 and quoting Psalm 2-7 we see the word today. This means that Jesus' sonship began at a point in time which we now know as his incarnation.
[21:29] Remember what the angel Gabriel said to Mary when he brought her the news that she would miraculously conceive a son? Let's look at that passage in Luke 1-31-32.
[21:40] And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.
[21:58] See that? He will be called the son of the most high. The second Old Testament quote in verse 5 is from 2 Samuel 7-14 which also emphasizes a future period in time when the eternal word of God would enter time and space adding a human nature to his divine nature as God's son to live the sinless life we couldn't live to die sacrificially in our place on the cross for our sins and rising again in the flesh on the third day as the first fruits of what we who are in Christ one day will likewise experience by faith in him.
[22:40] No angels could accomplish this. They are awesome. Angels are awesome beings but like us they are created beings. In his incarnation Jesus was declared to be the son of God and in his resurrection Jesus Christ demonstrated that he is the son of God as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1-3-4 concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord.
[23:18] Now there's at least a couple of applications for us to make at this point. The first one is to use scripture to interpret scripture. That will keep you from falling into error and will help you keep others from falling into error.
[23:34] Dig in dig deeply into God's word. Second when we talk about Jesus with unbelievers we should start by talking about who Jesus is before we start talking to them about what Jesus has done.
[23:53] That's what the author of Hebrews does here. Who Jesus is sets him apart from everyone else. and every other major religious figure.
[24:05] Jesus is the eternal word of God who became the son of God to do what we couldn't do to save us from our sins. People need to know who Jesus is so they better understand what Jesus has done and why he could do what he did.
[24:21] He has a superior name and thus he alone is worthy of our worship. That's the second truth. The superior worship of Jesus.
[24:33] Verse 6 says and again when he brings the firstborn into the world he says let all God's angels worship him. Here the author of Hebrews quotes Deuteronomy 32-43 which in its original context refers to angels bowing down in worship of Yahweh whom the writer of Hebrews identifies with Jesus.
[24:57] And so the argument is clear. Jesus doesn't worship angels. Jesus is God. Angels worship him. Since angels worship him Jesus is superior to angels.
[25:12] What may be less clear to us is the reference to Jesus as the first born into the world. Again Mormons and Jehovah's witnesses and other cults will use this verse and the one in Colossians 1-15 where Jesus is referred to as the first born of creation as proof text to support their heretical belief that Jesus is a created being.
[25:39] But the Greek word translated as first born is protokos and it has more to do with rank than someone's position in time.
[25:51] It conveys the idea of priority and supremacy. This concept was often associated with the first born son during this time because usually the oldest son in the family was the heir to all that the father had to his entire estate.
[26:11] But in the Bible the first born son was not always the first born in the sense that they were not the superior one or the one with priority.
[26:22] For example Isaac Jacob Ephraim David Solomon are all examples of younger sons who rose in rank above their older brothers.
[26:34] To be the first born had to do with their position their rank not their birth order. In verses 1-3 the author talks about the eternal nature of Jesus.
[26:45] So we know this is what he meant by first born. The point is that Jesus has a superior rank over angels. The angels know that and as a result of that they worship him as they did when they announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds in the fields.
[27:04] Let's look at that passage Luke 2-9-14 And an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them do not be afraid for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
[27:25] That name Lord communicates deity that's the covenant name in the New Testament used for God and this will be a sign for you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased the glory of the Lord shone around them as they announced the birth of Jesus Christ the Lord and then they worshipped!
[27:56] God for the first advent the first coming of his son look at the beginning of Hebrews chapter 1 verse 6 and see where it says and again when he brings the first born into the world angels worship the Lord at his first coming but I believe this verse looks forward to Jesus second coming when they will worship him as well Revelation 5 talks about the time when Jesus is getting ready to come back to the earth and as we heard Pastor Tyler sing today I hope that that day is today or someday soon but in verse 1 of Revelation chapter 5 God the Father is pictured with the title deed to the earth and those who are around the throne are asking who is worthy to open the book and break its seals and no one is found who is worthy and John is seeing all this and to stop weeping and to look and to behold the lion of the tribe of
[29:06] Judah who has conquered the lamb of God who was slain the one who is worthy Jesus Christ and he takes the scroll and all of heaven erupts in worship at the one who is worthy including the angels Revelation 5 11 through 12 then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands in other words a whole lot saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and glory and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing Jesus is superior because he receives superior worship and thirdly we see the superior position of Jesus in verse 7 of the angels he says he angels wins and his ministers a flame of fire Jesus is superior to angels but have no doubt that angels are awesome beings throughout the bible they are described as appearing in dazzling awesome blinding light when they appear to people people say oh they don't say oh cool an angel no they're terrified because they're terrifying to behold they're awesome to behold in
[30:30] Matthew 28 the angels at Jesus tomb are described as having appearance like lightning and lightning can be terrifying can't it it's awesome I remember years ago I was driving north on 75 highway back to Bartlesville and it was about to storm and it was out there in the country still and everything was pitch black and then suddenly there was a bolt of lightning that just fell from the sky and lit up everything as if it was day have you ever seen that it's awesome and then everything went black again it's awesome but it's also terrifying maybe drove a little bit faster to get home when people see angels in the Bible their reaction displays how awesome they are far from looking like chubby little infants in Victorian paintings are described as awesome and terrifying to behold we often again hear them saying fear not to the people they've been sent by God to send a message to the Bible talks about spiritual warfare that they are engaged in they are powerful ministering servants of
[31:41] God but they aren't God Jesus is verse 8 speaks to Jesus' exalted position over angels again that verse says but of the son he says your throne O God is forever and ever 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 verse 7 talks about God making angels verse 8 says that Jesus is God going back to verses 1 and 3 he is the one who created all things angels may surround the throne of God but only the son of God is worthy to sit on that throne angels are sent but Jesus is the anointed one who was sent at first to redeem the world through his sinless life his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection and he will be sent again he will return in his second coming as conquering king and all created beings will kneel before him worshiping him and declaring his superior position for the fourth truth is the superior existence of Jesus we've already hit on this but let's look at it again verses 10 through 12 and you
[33:04] 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 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 have no end revelation 614 talks about the future time of the tribulation when the sixth seal is broken revelation 614 says and the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island were moved out of their places this describes the heavens the universe as being stretched to their limits and the corners then cut and everything rolls up like a scroll the stars will fall islands and mountains will be moved and everything will be shifted but all of this will happen under the sovereign rule of our sovereign Lord who never changes and whose redemptive plan which he ordained at the very beginning of time reaches its culmination with a new heaven and a new earth as the old pass away maybe you know this we've got a lot of smart people in this church but the universe is expanding outward it's stretching outward do you guys know that it's awesome it's terrifying as well it was
[34:30] Edwin Hubble who discovered this many of you guys know that name from the Hubble telescope which is named after him in 1929 he discovered that the galaxies around our galaxy are moving away from us this discovery shattered the theories of men like Albert Einstein who believed that the universe was constant that it always has been this revelation proved that the universe had a beginning and is expanding outward all this to say that the Bible written thousands of years ago before these discoveries isn't being contradicted by science but proven by science there was something before the universe that something is God who created it Jesus the eternal word of God who became the son of God in his incarnation to redeem sinners purifying us of our sins makes us righteous and fit for this new heaven and this new earth that will no longer be plagued by sin let's read about it
[35:31] Revelation 21 1-6 then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God he will wipe away every tear from their eye and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning!
[36:08] and he who was seated on the throne said behold I am making all things new also he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true and he said to me it is done I am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment praise God this brings us to the final truth now about the superiority of Jesus which is his destiny his destiny over this new glorious sinless place verses 13 through 14 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 are they not all ministering spirits speaking of the angels sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation the destiny of Jesus is to reign the angels destiny is to eternally serve those who are heirs of salvation that's pretty awesome if you think about it in addition to being in God's presence our destiny as believers is to in some mysterious way be served by angels but this is what we see angels doing throughout the
[37:35] Bible Elisha and his servant for example were once menaced by the king of Syria and they had no way to defend themselves but Elisha had faith and he prayed to God and asked God to open the eyes of his servants to see the myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands of angelic warriors there to protect them they were the angels sent by God to protect his prophet angels were sent by God to protect his people from earthly danger angels got down inside the den with Daniel and closed the mouth of the lions angels set Jesus' apostles free from prison for preaching the truth of who he is and what he's done angels ministered to God's people then they do it today and they'll do it in the future that's awesome but not as awesome as Jesus who is superior to angels who in the first chapter of Hebrews 1 is presented to us with the divine names son lord and God he is attested to us with divine works creating sustaining governing redeeming and purifying us of our sin he is presented to us as one with divine worth who is worshipped by angels and all creatures in the universe he is the eternal unchanging king of kings and lord of lords he is the alpha and the omega he is the beginning and the end he is the lion and he is the lamb he is the superior priest the superior prophet the superior king and since
[39:22] Jesus is all these things how then should we live and that's the question I want to leave you with when it comes to how we should adjust our lives to what we've heard in God's word in what ways should Christ's supremacy shape your daily life and decisions think about that Jesus is superior to all things he's the eternal word of God he entered our time he added a human nature to his divine nature to live the sinless life that we're incapable of living and who humbled himself by going to the cross to die for the sins that we've committed against God that separate us from him and he rose again on the third day as proof that all the things that he said that he was is who he was that's a big claim to make and that's a big thing to do that no one else could do but God he is the way the truth and the life he is the only way to salvation he's supreme but do you treat him that way in your life
[40:30] I think a lot of times we treat Jesus more like a buddy and he's our friend but he's more than that in some ways we treat Jesus like a therapist and he wants to hear our prayers but he's more than that in some ways we treat Jesus like a guidance counselor and he'll give us guidance through his word but he's more than that he's lord he's lord of lords and what he says what he commands he actually expects you to obey them and his ways are good and his ways are right but do you treat Jesus as if he's supreme in your life i'm going to close by letting god's word have the last word which is where we'll be next week in hebrews chapter two one through three with this warning for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away for if the word unspoken through angels proved unalterable and every trespass and disobedience received a just penalty how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation that salvation first spoken by the
[41:45] Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard if you're here this morning and and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior he's brought you here this morning to hear about who he is that you would understand what he's done for you and being a Christian isn't about going on some kind of pilgrimage some kind of journey doing a bunch of good things cleaning yourself up before you go to the Lord for salvation it doesn't work that way because there's nothing you could do to ever earn his salvation it's about knowing that you're a sinner knowing that your sin is committed against your Holy Creator and understanding in Jesus is the only way for you to be forgiven for you to have eternal life and if you confess your sins and repent of them and you turn to the Lord in faith you will be saved you will be transformed you will have eternal life and you will know the hope that is only had through knowing Jesus and how awesome he is let's pray
[42:47] Lord your word is clear not just in this passage but all throughout that you are superior that you're awesome that you're the only one worthy of our praise you're the only one worthy of our obedience and forgive us Lord that sometimes there are things in the Bible like angels they fascinate us and that's not a bad thing if we don't watch ourselves and we become confused about who they are and the role that they play and who we are in relation to you and so God I pray that through your word this morning you've cleared!
[43:27] up any confusion! that there might be in anyone who's heard and Lord we live in a community we live in a nation where unfortunately we see Jehovah's witnesses and Mormons being more passionate to push their heretical views than we as Christians who have the truth are willing to do and so Lord I pray that as we go through this book that we would be just more enamored more fascinated!
[43:59] Lord we couldn't help but tell people about Jesus and who he truly is and what he's truly done Lord for anyone here this morning who does not know you savingly I pray God that having heard the gospel having heard the truth of who you are Lord that you would save them that you would change them and that they would know the hope that can only be had in knowing Jesus and Lord may we live our lives communicating to all who are around us that Jesus is better he is supreme he's lord of our lives he's lord of all in Jesus name we pray amen