Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter one. The last time that we. Met together, we continued in
our study. of how the Scripture sets forth
that the Lord Jesus Christ is greater than the angels. It never ceases to amaze me of the mercy of Almighty God
that would set forth that which we desperately need The Apostle Paul is speaking
to Jews, converted Jews. Well, we've got to realize, as
I've said before, that these Jews, like all of us, carry a lot of grave clothes. And how merciful is the Lord
to teach us of the grave clothes that we are going to have shed. These Jews thought much of angels. It was by the avenue. of angels, the Scripture
says, that the law was given. The dispensation of angels. They
looked upon angels. These are God's creatures. Now this evening, we want to
pick up where we left off, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of Him that the Apostle
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, sets forth. May God be pleased to teach us
tonight. The first scripture we'll begin
with is verse 10, Hebrews 1.10, And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of vine hands. Now here's the first truth that
we're going to be reminded of tonight. Almighty God is who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. You know, we think so lightly
of Him. Men will say, oh, not me. No,
I think of him as I ought. No, you don't. No, you don't. And thou, Lord, this is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. I think on that, Gary, and I
can't grasp hold. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. This is Almighty God. And Thou,
Lord, in the beginning. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14 of John 1 says, And
the Word was made flesh. in which we trust the one who
according to his word is here. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name. And as I've truthfully thought
together, surely there's two or three here. Surely there is. He said, I'm in the midst of
you. How respectful that we ought to think of him. I stand here this evening and
I think about the responsibility of standing and preaching, speaking to many, no doubt, that
Almighty God is everlastingly loved. He has given His preachers a
commandment, you comfort my people. for desire to do tonight. It
should be a comfort. I need some comfort. Thou, Lord, in the beginning,
in the beginning has laid the foundations of the earth. Only God was in the beginning. We see the eternality of Him
who is our surety and our hope Peace. Our comfort. This is the One. The Lord Jesus
Christ. The One who ever was before Him. The One who stood before the
Father as wisdom Himself. God before God. These things are way too high
for us, but we do enter into them by faith. We do believe
them. This is our comfort. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. He laid the foundations of the
earth. He had been given a people before the foundation of the
earth. He was the one in whom the Father first trusted. Here is the blessed servant of
God, the chosen of God. He was God's elect and we, the
elect of God, chosen in Him. The elect. before the foundation of the
world. This is the one that was slain. The Father saw the atonement.
Before anyone ever viewed anything, God saw Him. And God trusted
Him. And God chose us in Him. And
the Father who first trusted in the Son gave unto Him the responsibility
to redeem the elect. And the One that was given the
responsibility to redeem the elect, He laid the foundations
of the world. He made all things for Himself. And His counsel is going to stand.
He's going to elect. He's going to save His people.
He made all things according to His own will. He has ordained
all things. His people are going to be saved. Thou, Lord, in the beginning,
laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works
of Thine hands. Wonder of wonder, He who is our
Savior He who said of us that He was
our friend, we don't refer to Him like that.
He said that He was our friend. We say, You're our Lord. We don't
speak disrespectfully. We refer to Him as Scripture
has revealed. We refer to Him. talking about
him just calling him Jesus. The Spirit of God called him
that. But you look and see how the apostles referred to him,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus. He who is our Lord and our Savior
and our Representative. He laid the foundations of the
earth. This is the one who Brother Scott
read just a moment ago. That 40th Psalm. Someone said,
well, I think that that 40th Psalm was one of the Messianic
Psalms. They are all Messianic Psalms. They all speak of Him. Go back
and start in verse 1 of chapter 1 of the Psalms. And consider all of those psalms
written of Christ. As I spoke with Brother Scott
this afternoon, I asked him, I said, Would you please read
that psalm? I said, I was reading it today
and I just taken back at the humility of our Lord. Go back
and read that psalm again when you get a chance and see how
he spoke. as the Son of Man, as our representative, made Himself of no reputation,
humbled Himself, a servant, referred to Himself. He said, I am a worm. The Scriptures set forth things
that God's people often would never dare say. Had they not
read them in the Scriptures, you'd never come up with that.
You'd never say that. Refer to Him as a worm. And He
said that of Himself. Here He is, the One that laid
the foundations of the earth, the heavens, the works of His
hands. He's the One that prayed in the garden, sweat, as it were,
drops of blood. This is the one the Scripture
says that an angel came and ministered to Him, strengthened Him. A creature, one of His creation,
one of His creatures came and ministered to Him. Can you enter
into that? I can't either. Here is the One that was despised
and rejected of men, laid down His life for the sheep, made
sin. Made sin. That we might be made,
the elect of God might be made the righteousness of God in Him. In the beginning, this is the
One that laid the foundations of the earth. How did He do it? Well, go back and look in Genesis. He spoke it. In the beginning, Genesis 1-1,
God created the heaven and the earth. Verse 3 of chapter 1 of
Genesis says, And God said, Let there be light. And there was
light. God said, Let there be a firmament
in the midst of the waters. that it divide the waters from
the waters. Hebrews 1.3 says that He is upholding
all things by the Word of His power. This is the Word Himself who
upholds all things by His Word. Scripture sets forth concerning
these heavens He made the works of His hands, the foundation
of the earth. Here's what's going to happen
to them. Verse 11, they shall perish. Sin entered this world
and this earth, this world was cursed by the fall. The ground
was cursed because of sin. This is what's going to happen.
They shall perish. 2 Peter 3, 3, We according to His
promise look for new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. How very soon these things shall
be. You say, well, it's been thousands
of years, you know. Think about how many years have
taken place, have gone past These words were penned by men under
the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Here we are. We're a whole lot closer right
now than a day that you think not. That's when the Scripture
says He'll come back. 2 Peter 3.10, The day of the
Lord will come as a thief of the night, in which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up, But for Him, everything that
we see, everything we see, everything that you can't see, the elements,
the things, the little microbes, everything concerning this earth,
the Scripture sets forth, they shall perish, but thou remainest. the eternal God. And thanks be
to God, all in Him shall remain secure." All men are going to
remain. There is no doubt about that.
But where do they remain? Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. The Scripture sets forth that
His people shall reign with Him They shall perish, but thou, Lord, you are going to remain. And what is the Lord going to
do with these things that are going to perish? Well, the Scripture
says in the latter part of verse 11, they shall wax old as doth
a garment. This body is failing, passing
away, getting older. The effects of sin are taking
its toll. We see it. It is on this earth
too. They shall all wax old as doth
a garment. And as a vesture, verse 12, shalt
thou fold them up They shall be changed, but thou
art the same, and thy years shall not fail." This whole creation,
this whole earth, what we know, what we see is like a garment. The Scripture says God is just
going to fold it up, burn it up. It's going to perish. In this creation that we see
right here, His power is veiled to the natural eye. Now by faith
His people, they see Him. By faith they know Him. They
see through a glass darkly, but they see. They know in part,
but they know. And right now in this creation,
man by nature, he doesn't see. He doesn't see the power, the
glory of Almighty God. There's no respect of God. There's
no fear of God. I can't help, I've said this
before, but every time I hear someone leaving this earth, the
first thing that goes through my mind is this, I wonder where
that That person stood with God. That's just a natural reaction
that a believer is going to have. To an unbeliever, they're always,
always in a better place. How is it that they can always
be in a better place? How's that? But for a believer,
that's the first thing they think. This world doesn't see the glory
This creation veils Him to the natural eye. But in that day,
in that new heaven and new earth, all that Almighty God has everlastingly
purposed to show mercy to, they're going to know it. And all that
He's left to themselves, they're going to know it too. Thou art the same. Thy years
shall not fail." We know this. Almighty God does not change. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He
who was made flesh, His years shall not fail. He will eternally
as the Son of Man. God Almighty. in human flesh,
He who was made like unto His brethren, yet without sin, He
will forever be our Redeemer, surety, representative,
in human flesh. We will forever behold Him who
came into this world. As a vestige, you are going to
fold everything up. They are going to be changed,
but not you. Not you. If we could behold Him right
now, if our eyes were Not holding. I'll tell you how He is. He's
just like those apostles saw Him when He ascended up into
glory. Those angels said unto Him, You men of Galilee, why
stand you here gazing into the heavens? This same Jesus that
you see shall return in like manner. Just like that. It's been said before, there's
a man, the God-man, the Son of Man, the holy man, the worthy
man, God Himself that took upon Himself flesh, never changed,
deity in human flesh, and He sits on the throne of God. This is our Redeemer. But to
which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Which angels did he say that
to? None. This One who took upon Himself
flesh, humanity, never relinquishing at all. You know that, His deity. This was the one that was made
a little lower than the angels for a while, that He might suffer
death. Angels don't die. But He took upon Himself that
He might suffer for His people. But to which of those angels
did He say? Sit on my right hand till I make your enemies. Concerning
these angels, what does the Scripture say about
them? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Now, right now, the order of angels Obviously,
they're a great order. They're an amazing order. They're powerful. They're these
created beings that Almighty God has created for Himself,
no doubt. But according to this Scripture,
this is who they are. Right now. Right now we are lower
in the sense we're created. They're created. But we're lower
in the sense of we're lower in power and maybe even some knowledge. But I will tell you this, just
like a young child that's born into a royal family. I read something today. It was about Arthur Pink wrote
this. He was talking about Princess
Elizabeth. And he said, Princess Elizabeth,
who obviously later became queen, but he was talking about Princess
Elizabeth. And he says, here's a young child. She's in the castle. There in England and she's got
servants. These lords and these ladies
and they're older than her and they're larger than her and they're
stronger than her and no doubt about it. And for right now,
she appears as though that she's much weaker. But the rank that
she holds because of who she is, In time, it's going to be
proven that she was the superior to those other lords and ladies
and stuff like this. Angels. I can read these accounts in
the Scripture. There were some angels that we
talked about last week or so that delivered, surrounded, Elisha
and his servant. Remember that? And here's the
servant of Elisha. And he came out and he saw these
Assyrians. And he said, Alas! Master, what
are we going to do? And Elisha asked the Lord. He
said, Lord, would You open my servant's eyes? And the eyes
of the servant was opened and he saw. that round about the
Assyrians. There were chariots of fire,
angelic beings. And Elisha said, they that be
with us are more than they that be with them. I think about those angels that
went into Sodom and Gomorrah. Two angels went in there. They
weren't men. They took on the form of men.
But they're not humans. They're angels. And they took
on this form. And they went into Sodom and
they had one purpose. To get Lot and his family out
of there. And while Lot and his family
lingered, the Scripture says they took them by the hand. Took
them out. These ministering spirits Waiters,
that's what I've told you. That's what that word means.
They're waiters. How many times do you imagine
that we've been helped by these ministering spirits? These unfallen
creatures waiting upon the fallen but redeemed people of God. In a few weeks, in the second
chapter of Hebrews, I'm not going to show you. It's in the book
of Ephesians. I can tell you that. But I can tell you this.
Angels know what they know concerning the hidden secrets of God, concerning
His elect. You know how they know it? By hearing the gospel preached.
That's how they know. Here are these ministering spirits,
the Scripture says, sent forth. This is their obligation. This is their calling. God sent
them to minister, to wait for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Helping. Helping. I wonder how many times Only
the Lord Himself knows this. How many times has God, it's
the Lord, by angels that has delivered His people. If He's
not purposed for something to happen to you, it's not going
to happen. Peter was in the jail, bound up, chained up, doors were
locked, Roman soldiers, The scripture says an angel just walked in
there, the chain just fell off of him, the doors just opened
up, and he just walked out. Angels. I want you to turn to Luke chapter
16, verse 22. Luke 16, 22, and I'm going to
end with this. Now let's start in verse 19.
These angels of which the Lord Jesus Christ, now I will make
only as much as the Scriptures makes much of, but talking about
these ministering spirits, here is these creatures created by the Lord Himself.
He hath made all things for Himself. And He made these creatures for
Himself, ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. In
that day, that glorious day of redemption, these ministering
spirits, while we see and know ourselves to be, for right now,
We're flesh. We're perishing creatures. But God's elect are the heirs
of salvation. Oh, the grace of God that would
pass by one order to redeem another. He took not on Himself the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Let me tell you what the Scriptures
set forth. concerning these ministering
spirits. I told you how they got Lot out of Sodom and Peter
took him out. Luke 16, 19, there was a certain
rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared
sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus. This is not a parable. This is
true. This is what happened right here.
And Lazarus was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to
be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. It came to pass that
the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried. These ministering spirits sent
forth to minister, to wait upon servants to the heirs of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ in His
humility to suffer for His people and to die for His people He
was made a little lower than these angels. If you'll look
and just look at the Word, it means for a while. He was just
for a while a little lower that He might suffer. If He suffered
not, we have no hope. But here in His humility, we
behold the wonder of God's grace in the redemption of His people. And here these ministering spirits
sent forth to minister. And while we go through this
life right now, we get up, we go to bed, God's angels ministering,
watching over, protecting, doing just exactly what Almighty God
has sent them to do in watching over His people. Just realize it, that Almighty
God said, well, why would He do it that way? Because it pleased
Him. How about that answer? It pleased
Him to do so. And in the day of God's appointed
time when it's over, When He's done with His people upon this
earth, they will not stay here one second. You won't leave one
second before the appointed time. But in that day, according to
these Scriptures right here, God's people will be ushered
into the presence of Almighty God by these ministering spirits. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. May God be pleased to bless our
hearts just beholding the wonder of His mercy and compassion to
us for the glory of His blessed Son. Amen.