Hebrews chapter 1, title of the message, None Compared to Jesus Christ. You would think, after preaching for a number of years, several years,
since I was 23 years old, I guess, when I'm 23. That's awful young
to me now. But you would think it would
get a little easier, wouldn't you? But it doesn't. It really doesn't. Not for me,
it doesn't. It may for somebody else, but I find, and this is
one of the things that I find, I find it harder to find words
to describe Jesus Christ. I find it harder to try to express
what we have in Christ and what awaits us in the Lord Jesus Christ
in just a little while. when I sit around now more than
when I was young and meditate on these things. I do meditate
on these things and think about them much more than when I was
20 years ago or 30 years ago. And I just think, wow, how can I
express this? How can I put this into words? It's like when Paul, when Paul
went to the third heaven and he came back, he said, I saw
things that was not lawful to utter. And what he's saying is
we don't have, and Paul's saying he did not have in his vocabulary,
and we do not have in our vocabulary, Paul's saying to express what
I saw. I don't have it. He said, I just
can't put it, I cannot put it into words, what I saw. And I
feel something of that, the more, the older I grow and the more
I preach, I feel a little, not like Paul felt it, but I feel
a little more of that. It's hard to put this into words. But let's
look at this and let's try. Now the Jews, to whom most of
this is written to, it's written to all believers, but you know,
it's to the Hebrews, among the believing Jews, they were very
aware of angels. Far more than we are, but they
were very aware of it. And they held them not only in
high esteem, but in too high esteem in some cases. They knew that angels could take
human form. They knew they came to Abraham.
There's three angels that came to Abraham. One of them is the
Lord. And they ministered before the throne of God. They knew
this. And they knew that angels were
used to reveal the law. They knew that angels were used
to move along providence. God used them for that. So the writer of Hebrews here,
makes it clear, he's going to make it very clear, he already
made it clear that Christ is greater than the prophets, and
that Christ is the living God. There in the first three verses,
He is God. But he's making it very clear that angels, even
though they are superior in power and glory to us right now, are
not to be compared to Jesus Christ. Not to be compared. There's none
that can be compared to God's Son. There's none like Him. He
has no equal. Except the Father. That's all. But He has no equal. He surpasses
absolutely everything and everyone. That's why He said, Take my yoke
upon you and learn of Me. You cannot exhaust learning of
me. Now, you could take time and
you could study me. In about less than an hour, you'd
know me. You'd probably know everything
you need to know about me in less than an hour. But Jesus Christ
is such a person that throughout eternity, I do believe this,
throughout eternity, we'll be learning of Him because He's
God. We can never exhaust the knowledge
of God, even throughout eternity. We can't exhaust that knowledge. Christ is on a level all His
own. God. God. Being, it says in verse
4, being made so much better than the angels. It's written
in Isaiah 46, 5, and this is concerning our Lord. To whom
will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we
may be alike? Who can you compare me to, that
we are alike? None. He's on a level all his
own. And it says here, as he hath by inheritance attained
a more excellent name than they. He has a more excellent name
because He has a more excellent nature. He has the nature of
God. That's why he has a more excellent
name. And this better name is his by natural right. We have
it by adoption. We have it by election. We have
it by new birth. Christ has it by an eternal generation,
co-equal with the Father. He truly possesses all power,
all glory, and all honor as the Son of God. As the Son of God. Angels are created spirits. But Jesus Christ is not a created
spirit. He's God. As I've gotten older,
that point just sticks with me more and
more and more. When I think upon Christ, I do
not just think of a man who walked on this earth, I think of the
God-man, never separating them. He's the God-man. He's God in
the flesh. He is my Creator taking my place. And no one better to do that
than Him. He is the Messianic Sovereign. That's who He is. He's the Messianic
Sovereign. That's who Jesus Christ is. And
there is no name to be compared to Jesus Christ. There is no
name to be written beside of Jesus Christ. His name is there
alone. The Scripture says that... Turn over to Philippians chapter
2. In Philippians chapter 2, look
in verse 9. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven,
things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the sovereign
ruler. He's the sovereign potentate.
He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This, he said, is
my son. Hear him. Hear him. And in verse 5, "...for unto
which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son." At
any time? Did God ever say to an angel,
Thou art my son? No. No. God the Father has never
spoken to any angel and said, Thou art my son. In the Scriptures,
when angels are said to be sons of God, they are spoken of always
collectively. as the sons of God, spoken of
collectively. But when Christ is spoken of,
he is spoken of singularly, the son, the son, the only begotten
son, the well-beloved son. This is my beloved son, in whom
I am well-pleased. And he said, This day have I
begotten thee. When the Son of God came into
this world, it is written, A body hast thou prepared me. The son is given, child is born. The human nature of Christ, that
body that he possessed, was created of God. It was begotten of God
in the womb of a virgin. He assumed our nature, except
for sin. The Son became flesh, the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory as
of the glory as the only begotten Son of God. This verse, but this verse has
more to do, I believe, in reference to the Lord's resurrection from
the dead. this day have I begotten thee, I have raised thee from
the dead." It has more to do with His resurrection. When He
was raised from the dead and declared to be the Son of God,
it says in Romans 1-4, declared to be the Son of God with power.
Power. And all that we're going to look
at here tonight, every time we go through this, He just keeps
setting him forth as superior. Just constantly setting him forth
as superior. And He says here, I will be to
him a father, and he shall be to me a son. That's our relationship. There's
one God. There's one God. But in that Godhead, there's
a father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There's the Trinity. I'll be to Him a Father and He'll
be to me a Son. And it's the Son whom the Father
sent into the world to become incarnate and to take the place
of a multitude, to be the substitute of a multitude of sinners, no
man could number. And to think now, Especially
as you get older, and you're getting closer to the grave.
I'm 62 years closer to it than when I started. And when I sit and I think about
that, I think God in the person of His Son literally came into
this world and was made to be sin for me.
Made to be what I... God did that. God did that. No angel did that. No angel. That's God. God did that. Our Lord's preeminence was set
forth right from the beginning of His incarnation. It says in
verse 6, and again, when He bringeth in the first begotten to the
world, He saith, God commanded, this is God the Father speaking,
and let all the angels of God worship Him." Christ's incarnation. Now listen.
I want you to get this. You can mark this down. Our Lord's
incarnation did not make Him no less God. It made Him no less the Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth. But this is also another proof
of His deity, because the angels are commanded to worship Him. And I've told you this before.
If He were not God, that would be idolatry. And God Almighty
now, God Almighty would not command the angels to worship anything,
anyone less than God. Nothing is to be worshiped other
than God, period. And He would not have commanded
the angels to worship Him if He were not Almighty God. The
angels are not commanded to just help Him like they help us. You know, we'll see this at the
end, but we don't realize what goes on minute by minute in this
life. You and I walk around, we're
just kind of sometimes just bebopping along. And we don't realize the
angels that are protecting us. And it's real. And this is exactly
why the writer of Hebrews is setting forth Christ as above
the angels, because the angels are not to be worshipped. Over
in Revelation, remember, John fell down before one of them,
and he said, Don't do that. Don't do that. That angel said,
Don't do that. Don't you fall down and worship
me. You worship the Lamb. You worship God. You worship
the Lord Jesus Christ. But don't you worship me. Don't
do that. And of the angels, you know all
these Scriptures that I'm reading to you here, they're all being
quoted from the Old Testament. Like verse 7, that's Psalm 104,
4. And verse 8, that's Psalm 45, 6, and 7. All these, I haven't
been giving you references to them, but he's quoting Scripture
from the Old Testament. If you go back and look at Psalm
104, 4, and of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels
spirits? And his ministers a flame of
fire. Who made his angels spirits? Who did that? Who made them who
they are? Who gave them the glory and the
power and the strength that they have? I'll tell you who made
them. Jesus Christ. That's who made them. Although angels are great in
power, they attend God's presence, they do God's bidding, they are
still just created spirits. We don't pray to them. We don't
pray to that angel. We don't pray to departed saints.
We don't pray to Mary. We pray to the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray to God our Father in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They may be high-ranking officials
of heaven, but that's all they are. That's all they are. But unto the Son he saith, unto
the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God. Now this is God. Here's where you have to sit
back. This is God speaking to God, and yet there's only one
God. There's only one God, but it's
God speaking to God. It's the Father calling the Son,
God. And there's probably not a greater scripture that sets
forth the deity of Jesus Christ than verse 8. But unto the Son,
God the Father is saying, Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. It's not going to end. There's
no end to His reign. There's no end to it. A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. The Father speaks
to the Son and calls Him God. What honor! And what glory! The Father gives His Son. when
He calls him God. And He says here, Thy throne. Thy throne. That proves His deity. He's on the throne. He's on the
throne. Here's His dominion and power.
He rules. He rules over all creation. Everything is in the hands of
Jesus Christ. The creation of the universe,
the creation of the world in Genesis 1 is Jesus Christ. In the beginning, God. And that
God is Jesus Christ. His throne is His by right and
no one can take it from Him. It's forever and ever. You know, men are anointed kings. Monarchs, and time rolls by, and they die. And then another one gets it,
and they die. And another one, and they die. He just passes
one, and then sooner or later, it's all gone. Where are all
those monarchs and their families now? They're gone. They're gone. But notice here what the son
loves, and this is one of the reasons his throne is forever
and ever. He's God. And secondly, thou hast love
righteousness. What do you really love? What
do I really love? I have to sit down sometimes and
think, John, what do you really love? Do you really love righteousness? equity truth thou has loved righteousness
and hated iniquity you know I say I hate it but and I we do we
do hate it but not like we ought to hate it we love righteousness
but not like we ought to love it but I tell you what he loves
righteousness exactly how you ought to love it and he hates
iniquity exactly how you ought to hate it Thou hast loved righteousness
and truth." Listen, he doesn't just believe in righteousness.
He embraces it. When the Word of God uses the
word love, it means love in the fullest, perfect sense of that
word love. He absolutely loves righteousness. The Scripture says the righteous
Lord loves righteousness. Satan tried to get him to let
it go when he tempted him in the wilderness, but he would
not let it go for he loved it. He loved righteousness and hated... The word in the Nicodemus there
is lawlessness. He hates lawlessness. The scripture says, he hateth
the workers of iniquity. He doesn't just hate iniquity,
though he does, it says it here, but it also says he hates the
workers of it. God loves everybody. Well, it
says he hates the workers of iniquity. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated, but I tell you what, Esau hated God too. He hated
God. Everyone outside of Christ, everyone,
every last person that's not in Christ hates God. I told that to a man one time.
I told him, I said, you hate God. And this guy didn't even
profess, he didn't profess anything. I mean, he didn't make a, he
just rotten as could be. And I told him that one day. I was working, we worked together.
But he got upset. I do not hate God. I said, oh
yes, you do. You just don't know how much
you hate God. You're so dead, you don't even
know it. That's what's sad. You're so dead, you don't even
know how much you hate Him. But everyone outside of Christ
hates God. They hate righteousness. They
hate the true righteousness of Christ. They hate it. That's
why they won't submit to it. And listen here how he attributes
creation to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's in Psalm 102, verse
25 and 27, verse 10 and 12 are. But it says here, And thou, Lord,
and let me read it like this, And thou, Lord Jesus Christ,
in the beginning, in Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, hast laid
the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works
of thine hands. Everything we see, He made, and
it's proof of His deity. It's proof of His Godhead. I tell you what, if He's not
God, we don't need to go any further. We just need to shut
the book and go home, if He's not God. David said, God has
become my salvation. But look here at verse 11. He
says here, all these things that he's created, they shall perish. They shall perish. The earth
is growing old. It's growing old. Sin is wearing
it out like an old garment. Sin is wearing it out just as
it does us. You know, I've watched my dad,
you know, he's 87, but I've watched dad go from a strong, I can use
myself, but I've watched him go from a strong, young man,
working on that farm, and now he's feeble and just barely getting
around. What's wrong? Sin. That's my mother. My mother, she was telling me
here the last time I was in, she goes, he's not feeling very
good. She goes, I don't know what's wrong with him. I said,
Mom, 87 years is what's wrong with him. I said, you all are
going to have to realize this. I said, what's wrong with you
is just age. That's what it is. Sin ages us. You take sin away and we don't
age no more. We don't. They shall perish. Sin's wearing
the earth out, it's wearing us out. But listen, sin does not
wear out the sun, but thou remainest. Here's his eternality. They shall
wax old as doth a garment. I thought today when you hear
the earthquake, and the storms roll through.
I thought, you can hear the death rattle in earth's mornings. You can just hear the death rattle
in creation. Sin has just wore it out. But
it has not wore out Christ. But thou remainest. Thou art
the eternal God. Thou art Jehovah, the self-existing
one. And to realize this, to understand
this, ought to teach us what really is important. What's really
important? We ought to sit down at least
once a week and do a check. What's really
important? I'll tell you what's really important. My relationship with Jesus Christ. My union to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I miss that, it will not matter
if I gain the whole world. I'll lose my soul. And I'll tell
you what, Solomon said, as the tree falls, so shall it lie.
There's no do-overs. There's no do-overs. You know, when I read that scripture
and it gives me just chills. When He says to them, depart
from Me, I never knew you. He doesn't argue with them. And
there's not one thing, not one thing they can say to stop it
and reverse it. And let me go back and, oh, when
He says depart, that's the end. That's it. There's no changing.
No changing. That's why it's so important.
Oh, it's so important to know the Lord Jesus Christ. But thou remainest, and they
all shall wax old as doth the garment, and thou shalt fold
them up. Notice who folds them up. The
one who created them, Christ. It's just like a garment that
you wrap yourself up in, and it's grown old and tattered.
And it says that He's gonna just roll it up someday and put it
away. That's the idea. Like as a vesture, shalt thou
fold him up, and they shall be changed. But no one folds him up. His
years shall not fail, but thou art the same, and thy years shall
not fail. Thou art the same, yesterday,
today, and forever." Christ never changes. Never changes. But to which of the angels, and
I'm going to close, verse 13, and this is quoted out of Psalm
110, verse 1. But to which of the angels said
He at any time, Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool." See, at once it says, "...to which of the
angels said he, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee."
Now it's saying, "...to which of the angels has God ever said,
Sit down beside of me." That place is reserved for one person,
Jesus Christ. And you know what? In Christ,
we are seated right there. And the angels are not. They're
not seated right there. But we are in Christ. We are
in Christ. to which of the angels said he
at any time, sit out, sit on my right hand until I make thine
enemies a place to put your feet, to rest your feet on. That's
what you do with a footstool, isn't it? You sit down and you
just put your foot upon it, put your feet upon it. That's what
he's gonna do with the enemies of Christ. God never said that
to any angels. It was not given to them to reign,
it was given to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his inheritance,
he's the son. Now, as far as angels go, he's
saying, here's their ministry. They have a ministry. Now, the
angels have a ministry. Let's not just throw them overboard
now. They have a ministry. Are they not all ministering
spirits? And that's what they are. They're
created spirits. They are not trapped. And I don't
know a better word to say used, but they're not trapped in a
body like we are. We are in a body. We're in a body. And we, you
and I, are very, very limited. They are spirits. They can take
the form of, they can come into this world, God can send them
into this world, and they can take upon them human form, they
can take whatever form God gives them. Are they not all ministering
spirits? Their job, their responsibility is to minister, to take care
of us? To watch over us? He's given his angels charge
over thee. That applies to Christ first, but it also applies to
us. It applies to us. And they are sent forth. They
are commanded. Now listen, they are commanded. He commands them, he says, take
care of Tommy. Take care of Earl. He sends them
to take care of, I mean directly. It's not just go out there and
see if anybody's in trouble. No. You know, when the Lord talks
about offending one of His children, He said, their angels always
behold the face of their father which is in heaven. Their angels. I have no doubt, I have no doubt
that there are specific angels assigned to everyone of God's
elect. I have no doubt about that. To watch over them, protect
them, keep them, Because your life, if God allowed
it, your life would be snuffed out before you get out of this
room. It would be snuffed out before you get out of this room.
But you have an appointed time on this earth, appointed time
to live. You have a purpose, a work, gifts. And until that's accomplished,
you're immortal. Nothing can touch you. Nothing.
I don't care if you're in the hottest battle on earth. I don't
care if you're standing out in the middle of the hottest war
going on. I know I told you, I'm going
to tell you things over and over. That's all right. Paul said,
to write the same things to you indeed is not grievous to me,
but for you it's safe. So for me to repeat things over
and over, it's all right. You probably don't remember me
anyway. But Cecil Roach, He was an elder
at 13th Street. He flew the first mission over
in Germany. He was a pilot. He flew the first
bombing mission in Germany. He came back from that first
mission. He said that plane was totally riddled with bullets,
just bullet holes all through it, and they never lost one person. One man got his foot hurt. He
dropped ammunition on his foot. He said that was the only injury
that would happen. And he said that thing was shot
full of holes. Shot full of holes. You're immortal until God's finished
with you, then he makes you mortal and takes you home. Angels are spirits created for
the good of God's elect. They were created to take care
of us. When God made Adam, and when God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, he created angels to take care
of us. And if you really want to know
the power of angels, go over in the book of Revelation and
read. One angel opened up a valve and
wiped out one-third of the earth. One angel. They protect us, they assist
us, but they are never worshipped by us. Never worshipped. We always pray to Christ. Lord,
help us. Help us. And He does. And most of the
time, we don't even see it. It's invisible. It's invisible. But Jesus Christ is greater than
the prophets. He's greater than the angels.
Jesus Christ is to be worshiped. Because He is God. And He's our
God. Alright.