Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through
6, and the title of the message this morning, Christ the more
excellent Savior. Christ the more excellent Savior. Now, in this first chapter of
Hebrews, the Apostle Paul begins this by reminding the Hebrews,
reminding these Jews who were believers in Christ, of the excellency
of Christ. The excellency of Christ. If
you were to go through, I believe the word, better, is over thirteen
times used in this book. One for each chapter. It's better. That's the idea of Hebrews, that
Christ is better than the angels. Christ is better than Moses. Christ is better than the covenant
of works. Christ is better than the sacrifices
of old. Christ is more excellent than
them all. You see, because Christ is the
manifestation of all of those things. All of those pictures,
all of those types and shadows in the Old Testament, Christ
is as the day dawns, the sun arises and the shadows flee. Scriptures, we just sang that
song, Earth's vain shadows flee. And I'll tell you, when Christ
is revealed to us, to our hearts, what happened to the shadows?
What happened to the darkness? It fled away. Christ is more
excellent than anything. Let's read this together in Hebrews
chapter one, verse one, said, God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past under the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, 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 on
the right hand of the majesty on high, being made much better
than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they." A more excellent Savior. First of all, I want
us to see that the Apostle here begins by the Word of God. He begins by telling us that
God, at different times and in different places, spoke in different
means by the prophets to his people. He spoke in different
ways. Friends, Christ is a more excellent
word than what God has spoken and given to the prophets. That's
the point here. He says those prophets spoke
in different ways. But now a more excellent word
has come. It is the word of the Son of
God, a more excellent word than the word of the prophets. In
the Old Testament, we see that God in grace has purpose to reveal
grace only by his word. You can see that at the very
beginning of the book of Genesis, how that God and the beginning
created the heavens and the earth, which is a picture of man. He
created man holy and upright and good. And yet when man fell,
he fell into what? Darkness. Darkness covered the
face of the deep. Darkness covered our hearts.
What gave light? To the darkness. What made the
darkness flee? It was the Spirit of God and
the Word of God. The Spirit of God moved on the
face of the waters, and God said. You see, the Spirit and the Word.
God, in the beginning, revealed this. And all the way through
the Scriptures, He gives more light and more light concerning
this. God has purpose to reveal His
salvation. only by His Word. God said, Let there be light,
and there was light. And so it is with every sinner
saved by grace. When God says, Let there be light,
when His Word comes in power, light comes in the soul. Life comes in the soul. A new
creation. Religion. Religion thinks the
Word of God changes this flesh. Religion supposes to bandage
up the old man, to somehow take this old flesh and make him moral,
to make him do good. That's what religion does. You
see, we're not talking about religion, we are talking about
the Word from the only true and living God who must speak into
the souls of men to save them, to create in them something that
was not there at their birth. A new life, a new heart. He said,
a new heart I give unto you. When you read your bulletin later,
you'll see that Moose said this is that God doesn't. He said
people boast about I let Jesus into my heart. I let Jesus change
my heart. Well, he doesn't want your heart.
Matter of fact, he's got to take it out and he's got to put a
new one in. That's what salvation is, it
is creation. It's not just some decision. It's not some choice that we
make. It is something God does in us
by his own voice, by his own word. It's powerful. The Scripture tells us that the
word of God is powerful. Powerful. And God spake to us. and showed
us that we are empty of any hope of saving ourselves. God sends
his word and power, and he saves his people from their darkness. He says, let there be light. And there's light. It happens
immediately. There was no delay. Do you suppose
there was any delay between the Word of God and light appearing
in the universe? I tell you, there was not a nanosecond. And so it is when God saves a
sinner, when God says, let there be light, there's light. And
this light reveals what? Isn't that what light does? I
mean, it's just simple. These concepts are not hard.
When it's very dark and you cut on the light, what does that
do? It manifests what's already there, doesn't it? Now, when
the light goes off in this building, these pews do not disappear.
They're still there. I can testify to this because
when the light's out and I'm leaving very late, I have ran
into these pews. when the light was out. I have
tripped over this platform here. So it doesn't disappear in the
dark. I know that. I know that. When the light's
on, though, I can avoid it. I can see it. When the light
comes on in the soul of a man, he only sees what's there. His
sin. Now, his sin has always been
there. But now he sees. Whereas before,
he was blind to the holiness of God. God's holiness was always
there. But now he sees. Christ had already come, and
already died for our sins. Matter of fact, God purposed
it before the foundation of the world, and promised it in Christ,
and the Spirit agreed to bring the Word to us. Even before the
world was created, it was always there. Salvation was always there. We just weren't around. And when
we were, we weren't able to see it until God said, let there
be light. There's word, the word. And friends,
this word, this word of God that gives light is Jesus Christ. He is light. And in Him is no darkness at
all. He is light. He is perfection. You want to
know what a perfect man is? Christ is the perfect man. He's
the only perfect man. Do you imagine that we would
have understood Him when He came? I don't imagine that in a million
years. Because I've never seen a perfect
man. I've never experienced and touched and felt a perfect man
in that he is holy and righteous and just and good and kind. I've never seen anyone like that.
I'll tell you what, I know you put your best face on for me
and I definitely try to put my best face on for you. But I know this, we're sinners. And when God reveals Christ to
us, He reveals that He is the life. Light and life are the
same thing. Light and life go together. If
you're dead, you can't see light. You're dead. But when you have
life, you can see the light. They go together. Well, guess
what? Christ is both the light and the life of men. That's what
John said. He said, in Him was life. He
is life, and life was the light of men. Jesus, the Son of God,
is the foundation and sustainer of life. So then, we who see the gospel
of Jesus Christ that was spoken from the beginning, now, now,
the Word of God has been made very clear to us. by His Son. The Old Testament is not going
to be clear to you unless you can see Christ in it. It's going
to be a vague, empty, historical, dead, dry books unless you can
see Christ in the Scriptures, because it all testifies of Him. Now, when He came, guess what? Every one of those things that
were spoken of him came to pass. Every one of them. There's not
one thing in the Old Testament that was spoken. This is how
we know he's the Christ, is by the Word of God in the Old Testament
as it spoke concerning him. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. Now, let me ask you this. Was he not born of the virgin?
He's the only virgin-born son. He's the only one. None of us were. Scripture says,
in sin, my mother conceived me. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Flip over to Hebrews chapter
13. I want you to see this. He reveals
this to us clearly here. I'm in Hebrews chapter 11. Sorry.
Hebrews chapter 11. And verse 13, he's talking about
these Old Testament prophets, how God spoke to them in times
past, gave them his word in time past. And he spoke of all these
who who were faithful men who believed in God, he said, these
all died in faith, verse 13, not having received the promises,
but seeing them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced
them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
earth. You see, they believe like we
do. They just didn't have a full
understanding. They didn't have a full revelation
like we do. God's come. He's already fulfilled these
things. How much better is that? People always are asking, well,
why doesn't God speak to me? in an audible voice. Well, I'd
just be a better person if he'd just come down and talk to me.
No, you wouldn't. Well, you know, if somebody would
just come back from the dead, I know that I'd believe. No, you wouldn't. What did Abraham
say to the man in hell? He said, they have Moses and
the prophets, and if one were to rise from the dead They would
not believe. It's not about miracles and signs
and wonders, friends, it's about the word of God. And Christ is
that word, if you don't hear Christ. If you don't hear Christ. It's because you have no light
and no life. He is a excellent word. Don't you like getting a word
directly from the source? Because I don't like getting
word from, I usually get word fifth hand. If something, you know, something
happens to Kathy or Mike, and then next thing you know, that
goes to Annie, and then it'll go to Nancy, and then it goes
to several other people, and then I call Joanne, and it finally
gets to her, so now it's blown so big, out of proportion, you
know, I'd much rather just, you know, get it from her. That's
the way it is. It's OK. I usually decipher when
I'm going through the conversation, but it's the way it is. We want
directly from the source. Christ is directly from God himself. He has the word of God as to
how sinners are made righteous before God. Is that not a word
that we need to hear? Is that not an excellent word
that we need to hear, how God can be just and justify the ungodly? Well, I'll tell you how. In his
son. Believe on his son. Believe his word. Second of all,
we have a more excellent prophet. Not only does we have a more
excellent word, we have a more excellent prophet that spoke
the word. Look at this. God at sundry times
in diverse manners spake. In time passed unto the fathers
by, the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son." The prophet simply is a mouthpiece. That's it. When you take one of those bullhorns
and you speak into the bullhorn, what you speak in is what comes
out. Now, it may come out louder. And it goes out to several people
at once. But I'll tell you this, it's
the exact same word you speak. And that's what it is. The prophets
only were to speak God's word. And that's all. They weren't
to add anything to it. They were to speak directly what
was spoken to them of God. Now, these prophets, they were
given various miracles, amazing things. that God did through
them. That man Elijah, he prayed and
God withheld the rain. Isn't that something? That God would hear a man and
stop the rain. It's what the Scriptures tell
us. Moses lifted up his rod and the sun... I'm sorry, Joshua. And the sun stood still so that
they could have more light during the day. It's amazing. God spoke to men audibly. He
spoke to them in visions and dreams and prophets had the word
of God, but it wasn't the miracles. It wasn't the miracles. It was
the message. They were just a mouthpiece.
They weren't nothing. They weren't anything. They were just men. But they were men that spoke
God's word. God's word, no matter how it
is spoken or revealed to man, there is no doubt that whatever
God speaks will come to pass. So then, how do we know a false
prophet? Anyone who does not speak according
to the word of God is a false prophet. Make no mistake about
it. He is a false prophet. And God
says, I will not benefit false prophets. Jeremiah chapter 23,
I've not sent them and I will not bless them. That's what God
says. Prophet, a true prophet is one
that speaks in the stead of God. Well, Jesus has come to speak
in the stead of God Almighty. You see, we've no idea. what God is or what God is like,
because none of us have ever seen Him. How then can we know
God? Because the Son hath made Him
manifest to us. If you desire to see God, you'll
see Him only in Christ. If you desire to know God, you'll
only know Him by the Word of Christ Jesus the Lord, because
He is He is God, manifest in the flesh. God sent his prophet. His son has come. He has fulfilled
all that the prophets spoke about this great prophet. Remember
what Moses said. He said, there will be a prophet
like unto me. Hear ye him. Hear ye him. Now, I'll tell you, Jesus Christ
was from eternity appointed to this office. He was always the
most excellent prophet. One thing about God's prophets
is God doesn't hold back their sins, does he, from us? When you read the Old Testament
prophets, you'll hear that they spoke with the voice of God.
When Elijah called down and prayed and fire was sent from heaven
and he killed 400 prophets, next thing you know, he turns around
and runs from a woman. runs and hides in a cave. You
see, God's men are just weak. Even though they spoke the word
of God, they're weak. Oh, but this man, this man was
not weak. This man was meek, but he was
never weak. When do you read in the scriptures
that Christ feared them at all? I'll tell you what, I get it.
You get some people after you and you'll be afraid. Christ
was never afraid. of them. He always spoke the
truth no matter what they thought of the truth. He always spoke
it. And what was his message? I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man, no man comes to the Father but
by me." Is that not plain? How will you approach the Father?
The prophet of God says you will not approach the Father but by
me. There's only one door. Christ. Enter in by faith. I'll tell you what, if you stand
outside the door in the middle of the rain and you don't go
in, what good does the door do you? No good. Now, you can have all the shape
of the door. You can measure the door. You can always see
the beauty of the door. You can tell people about the
door. But if you haven't entered in the door, what good is it
to you? You must believe! And all who believe, the prophet
of God says, you are my sheep. Is that not great? We are under
his protection. He has taken away our sins. And this leads me to the next
one. He is the most excellent priest. Friends, we need a priest,
not some earthly sinful priest. We need someone to intercede
for us. I'll tell you, if God were to
judge us based on our worship in the last 10 seconds, every
one of us would go to hell for eternity. Our best deeds are
nothing but rags and fill. We need someone to intercede
for us, someone to stand between us and God. And Christ has become. Our high priest. Look at this
in verse three. who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person." This has the idea
of the rays of the sun. You see the sun? Could you see
the sun without rays? Is that possible? If there were
no rays from the sun, we would not know there was a sun. We
would not have heat if there were not rays from the sun. Yet
the sun and the rays are distinct from one another. And that's
what he's saying. He is the brightness of his glory, the express image
of his person. As God is the sun, so is Christ,
the ray of the sun that reveals the sun. Is that not wonderful? And yet he came. I'll tell you, sometimes I don't
like being a man. I see my dog, and I watch him
jump up on the couch, and he just sits there, and he gets
fed, and he gets cared for, and he gets petted, and he's taken
care of. And I'm the one doing all the
taking care of. I'm taking care of him. Sometimes the burdens of life,
and you look around and see the dog, and you say, man, what a
life. God just sits there. I don't even want to be a man
sometimes. But I'll tell you this, how much
did he condescend to become a man who is the very express image
of God? Only a man could be our priest.
Only a man who understands our suffering offer a sacrifice to
God. Only him. That's why he's the
most excellent high priest, because he's the only one that takes
away sin. His sacrifice was the only one
that ever took away sin. How many people do you hear about
sacrificing things for God? Oh, I fasted this week. Oh, I sacrificed. Not accepted. Oh, I give my money and my time
and effort and I come to church, I do well, I try to do good.
Not accepted. No good work of ours will ever
be accepted outside of this sacrifice that this high priest had made,
and that sacrifice was not just any sacrifice. He sacrificed
himself. You suppose if there was another
way for us to be saved that God would have done it? There's no other way an infinite
and holy God could accept such vile sinners as we are, except
by an infinite sacrifice. But God himself is the only infinite
being! Therefore, God must give himself
a sacrifice. When Abraham offered, was going
to offer his son Isaac as a type of Christ. Isaac said, Father, here's the
wood, here's a fire, here's a knife, but where's the lamb? You see,
he knew. that in order to approach God,
he needed a sacrifice, a substitute. And this is what Abraham said,
God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide himself as a
lamb. In Acts, it tells us that God
shed His own blood for His people. All of the sins. Now, sin is
worthy of infinite death. One sin. We don't understand
this, but people, this is true. One sin is worth an infinite
hell. One sin. And yet, think of the
multitudes of millions of sins that we have committed against
the Holy God. And all those sins were heaped
on Christ so that they became His own. He who knew no sin. Now, I'll
tell you what. I don't like sin. I hate sin
in myself. Oh, but what did the Son of God
endure who is holy and righteous when he bore our sins in his
own body on the tree? When God poured out hell on him? In Lamentations it says, what
sorrow, view that passed by, what sorrow is likened to my
sorrow? I have no idea what He did, what
He endured on that cross, but praise God that I know He did
it, and that He did it for me. Where is my sin? Gone. Where? I don't know, but it's
gone. Wherever God cannot see, that's
where my sin is. It's nowhere to be found. God
says that I searched for their iniquity and it is not found. Friend, God doesn't see me as
if I never sinned. God sees me because I've never
sinned. Now that's how he's always saw
me. Isn't that? That's amazing, because
that's not our full experience. But I'll tell you that, that's
exactly how God saw me in Christ before the foundation of the
world. And that's how I am. John says, as he is. How is he? Scripture says he sat, he purged
our sins and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. How is he? He's righteous. He's holy. He's given the scepter
of righteousness in his hand. And God, as God rules over all
things, as he is, so am I in this present world. That's how
I am. Sometimes you ask me how I'm
doing, I'm not doing so well. Ask God how I'm doing, and God
says, it is well with thee. Well, I'll just hear him. I'll
take his word. I believe him. Christ purged
our sins by his own blood. And lastly, he is the most excellent
king. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. Friends, is there anything that Christ Jesus is not fully
in charge of? He who loved me and gave Himself for me, now
moves all things according to His own will. And yet I mourn my sin to think
He would ever do anything that is ill for me." Everything He does is for my
good. Is he not absolutely worthy of
our life? Is this most excellent King not
worthy of us to bow our knees and our hearts every second of
every day of our lives until we meet Him in glory? Is He not
worthy of that? Yes. He's the most excellent
King because He is a loving King. Democracy is not the best form
of government. A benevolent monarch is. And friends, only Christ is the
most excellent, benevolent monarch. See, His glory surpasses all
things. His wisdom, His graciousness,
His kindness, His gentleness, the way that He does everything
so kindly to us. As I said this morning, He doesn't
expose all of our sin at once and kill us. But thank God, He
just exposes it little at a time, and He shows us the magnificence
of His sacrifice. God did speak in the Old Testament
by His prophets. But we have obtained a better,
more excellent word than they have. You don't need to hear the voice
of God from heaven speaking audibly to you. You have God's full revelation
in your hands. Right here. This is all God needs
to say to you. All He has said. is all we need. You don't need
any other revelation. He has given us the most excellent
priest to offer the most excellent sacrifice that removed all our
sins so that God himself cannot find them. And he has given us the most
excellent king, the benevolent, loving Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you know Him? Do you believe
on Him? Oh, man, what a blessing God
has bestowed upon us who believe on Christ. I pray that God would richly
bless this to your hearts. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed
in prayer.