love to us that led Him to die
in our stead and led the Spirit to draw us to Christ and love
that will lift us up to God. So thankful. Would you go back
with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5 It is the wonderful intent of
the writer of the book of Hebrews, whoever that human writer was,
we're not sure. It could have been the Apostle
Paul. But we know for certainty it was the Holy Spirit. It was
the intention of the Spirit of God to in these 13 chapters to set before
us the vast greatness, the wonders and the glories of Christ Jesus,
our Lord. He is superior to everything. God has done many wonderful things
in this world, certainly creation, But there is one who is greater
than creation itself, and that is the Lord Jesus. For the scripture
says, by him all things were made. The Lord's everlasting
providence is magnificent. Say, what is providence? It is
God directing all things to the end that he himself has ordained.
And the Lord Jesus is doing that. He said there in his great commission
in Matthew chapter 28, all power, all authority is given unto me
in heaven and in earth. I told the Bible class this morning,
I said, that's the vastness of his reign. He reigns not only over his people
and not only over all of mankind, But He reigns over all the universe. That's His greatness. And He
who reigns over all things, He has to therefore be vastly superior
to all of His creation, to all the things that He rules over.
And He governs all things by the Word of His power. Indeed, creation is marvelous. Providence. is magnificent. His reign today is ongoing. Of that we have no doubt. And it is the goal of the writer
of the book of Hebrews, indeed the goal of the Holy Spirit of
God, who said before us in all of this book, that the Lord Jesus,
our Savior, our great high priest, That one who came according to
Hebrews 10, he came to do the Father's will. He is great and
he is glorious. He reigns absolutely supreme
over all things and he is himself superior to everything. Indeed, in the very first chapter,
The writer sits before us that the Lord Jesus is himself superior
to angels. Now we're thankful to God for
angels. Angels, it says in Hebrews chapter
one toward the end of the chapter, that they're ministering spirits. And they come to help us. They
minister to us. They aid us. And we're so thankful
for the angels of God. The angels of God, they guard
over our souls as they did of Lazarus on his deathbed. And
they escorted his soul back to God. We're thankful for angels.
Angels who minister to us. Angels who in some mysterious
way protect us, and guard us, and encourage us. We're so thankful
for angels. But you've got to understand,
as great as angels are, they're not nearly what the Savior
is, because they are creatures. He's the Creator. Go back to
Hebrews 1. Look at Hebrews chapter 1. You
see, the Lord Jesus, He's the Son of God. They're created beings. In this day, there's a bunch
of people who are very infatuated with angels, and they've got
to have statutes of angels, and, you know, just a matter of several
weeks, they'll be putting an angel, perhaps, on their Christmas
tree, and things of that nature. Don't do that. Don't make statues
or idols of anything on earth or anything in heaven. Indeed,
they are real and they are beneficial to the people of God, but they're
not to be elevated above the Son of God. They are ministering
spirits and they are the servants of Christ. And they wait before
the Father's face, in order to receive orders and commissions
to come to us and do whatever it is that God would have them
do for us. I'm fully persuaded that in this
room this morning, there are a multitude of spiritual beings,
invisible beings. The angels don't have bodies.
They're invisible. But nevertheless, they are among
the people of God and they're here this morning. As are, I'm
persuaded, demons of hell. There's a great host gathered
in this building, a host beyond the people who are in here and
they're spirit beings. They're angels of God and they're
angels of the devil. And the angels of God are here
to enable us, to help us in some mysterious way to worship. And
they guard over us. Somebody says, well, I believe
I have a guardian angel. Oh, I'm persuaded you have many
of them. You have many angels who guard
over you. They receive whatever the commission
is from God. and they come and they minister
to you. They watch over you. Perhaps
they whisper into our unconscious, into our subconscious minds of
the things of God. I don't know. Nobody knows exactly
how they minister to us, but they are indeed commissioned
by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is their King. Who is their creator? Notice here in chapter one, verse
one, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake
in time past, unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son. Who is Jesus Christ? He's
God's messenger. No wonder John identifies him
as the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And the Word, he goes on later
to say, was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. In these last days, He's spoken
unto us by His Son. The Lord Jesus is the revelation
of God. You want to know God? Know Christ
Jesus. You want to know what God's like?
Know Christ Jesus. Our Savior said to Philip in
John chapter 14, when Philip said, would you show us the Father
and we will be satisfied. And our Lord Jesus said, Philip,
You've been with me all these many, many months, and don't
you understand, he that hath laid eyes on me has laid eyes
on the Father. He's a revelation of God, and
he's the revelation who came from God. Now, it says here,
God's appointed him heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. He's the creator. 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. Who helped him? Nobody. Nobody
could help him. He ventured to do a work none
could do but God himself. But God himself can't suffer. God himself can't die. God himself
cannot bear the penalty for the sins of his people. And so God
joined himself to flesh. God manifested in the flesh. That's our Savior. That's our
Redeemer. He's God manifest in the flesh. And He by Himself purged our
sins. What did He do? He washed them
away. He washed them away in the bloody
cross death of Calvary. And having done that, God exalted
him. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the
angels. Now it's interesting when you
get to the second chapter, it says that he was made lower than
the angels. Lower than the angels. For what
reason? For the suffering of death. Angels
cannot die. Angels cannot feel pain like
we do. Angels cannot get hungry. Angels
cannot get thirsty. Angels cannot bear the burdens
of others. And angels cannot cease to live,
but our Savior did. He laid down His life to purge
us of our sins. He's made so much better than
angels. Be thankful for angels, but don't
be infatuated with them and don't worship them. In the book of Revelation, an
angel of God came to John and told him wonderful things. And
John was so in awe of this angelic messenger that he just fell down
before him to worship him and the angel said, get up! Get up! I'm just a servant of God like
you are. I'm doing what my master sent
me to do to encourage you and to give you a message and you're
doing what your master called you to do to preach the gospel.
Get up! We're just serving the king.
Just serving the king. Verse four, being made so much
better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. A more excellent name. What is
the name? Jesus. That's his name. Jesus. And God has exalted him
because he was obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God has exalted him
and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus,
the Savior. Jehovah who saves at the name
of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. He has
that name. He's got a name more excellent
than they have. And he goes on to say this, for
unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he said, who
maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire? But unto the son of God he saith,
thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness,
is the scepter of thy kingdom. God has exalted his son. He hasn't
exalted an angel. Thank God for the things that
the angels do for us that are beneficial to us and help us
and aid us. Thank God that they minister
to us right from the throne of God because they're ever watching
the face of the Father. That's what the Lord Jesus says.
They behold the face of the Father. And as it were, just some kind
of change in the expression of the face of the Father, the angels
can interpret and understand as they've just received a new
commission. But these are just servants of
God. They're servants of our Savior. And so in chapter one, the Holy
Spirit has gone into great detail as to how the Lord Jesus, our
Savior, our great high priest, he's more excellent than the
angels. He's vastly superior to the angels. And then we get into like the
third chapter. And he sets forth that Jesus
Christ, our Savior, he is superior to Moses. And we're thankful
to God for Moses. He was a great man, used of God. In himself, there was no greatness. But God gave to him the abilities
to do the things that God would have him to do, to lead Israel
out of their captivity to Egypt, to lead them across the Red Sea,
to lead them through the wilderness all the way to the, just to the
river, to the river Jordan, and he could look over into the promised
land. He couldn't lead them there,
but God used him all of those many, many years. 40 years he
was in Egypt, 40 years he was on the backside of the desert.
God was preparing him for the ministry that he had for him.
And then 40 years in leading the children of Israel. 40, 40,
40, he lived 120 years. God took him up on the mountain
and said, there's the land that the children of Israel's gonna
have, and I'm gonna give it to them, and now it's time for you
to die, and he killed him. And God buried him somewhere
and nobody could find his body. We're thankful for Moses. He
was inspired of the Holy Spirit to write the first five books
of the Bible, the Pentateuch, the law of God, and also perhaps,
perhaps the book of Job and certainly at least two of the Psalms. So
we're thankful for Moses. But wait, there is one who's
vastly superior to Moses. That's the Lord Jesus, our Savior.
Note here in Hebrews the third chapter, where for holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, literally we're partners. Consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,
who is faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful
in all his house. For this man, this man was counted
worthy of more glory than Moses. Notice, for this man, and the
word man is inserted, but rightfully so, this one of whom the writer
is speaking. This one was counted worthy of
more glory than Moses. Thank God for Moses. Thank God
for his ministry. Thank God for his writings. Thank
God for his leadership. But he's not the Savior. No mere
man can deliver us from our real troubles. And we're grateful
to God for those ministers that He has given to us down through
the years. We're thankful for all the prophets. We're thankful for the apostles. We're thankful for the evangelists.
We're thankful for the pastors. We're thankful for the missionaries.
But listen, there's only one Savior. There's only one who
can bring you and bring me to God. A preacher can't do that.
Moses couldn't bring the children of Israel to God. He could take
them up to the verge of the promised land. He could lead them. He could tell them the truth.
He could illustrate what Jesus Christ was going to do when He
came into the world. He would sacrifice Himself for
the sins of His people. He could illustrate and preach
the necessity of sacrifices, of offerings, of the shedding
of the blood, of the killing of the innocent animals. He could
do all of those things, but He couldn't bring anybody to glory. He couldn't even bring Himself. Be thankful for the men that
God uses to preach to you the truth. But remember, every preacher
of the gospel, be it Moses or the Apostle Paul or me or any
other preacher, we're just sinners saved by grace. I have no ability
to convey to you any spiritual life whatsoever. I can only tell
you what I know. I'm trying to be a faithful witness. I tell you what I've seen by
faith and I tell you what I've heard by faith. I've heard the
voice of God in the gospel. of how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. I've seen the beauties and the
glories of King Jesus. There is no other Savior, there
is no other Prophet, there is no other Priest, there is no
other King, there is no other Mediator who can bring you into
the presence of God and bring me into the presence of God except
Jesus Christ the Lord. Don't dare elevate a preacher
above the position that he has as a sinner saved by grace, one
who declares the gospel of Christ in him crucified. Don't exalt
him. I know we can get so caught up with a man. It's easy
to do. And be thankful. I'm not saying
Don't be, be thankful and be grateful. Submit to a man's ministry,
all that's true. But remember, every preacher
who stood behind this pulpit has clay feet. Nobody's perfect. Preachers make mistakes. Preachers
don't always do things right. You've had three pastors. Men
saved by the grace of God, but sinful men. Endeavoring to do right, yes.
And wanting to exalt the Lord, yes. But still, in ourselves,
just fallen flesh. You make a big mistake if you
put me on some kind of pedestal. And you also endanger me. because
God's gonna have to do something to me to show you, hey, that
guy's just flesh, that's all he is. Do we not read in the
book of 2 Corinthians chapter four, we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the power might be of God and not of us. It is a most amazing thing. It
continually astounds me that a man who drinks iniquity like
water, a man who is a fallen son of Adam, can get up before
people and open the Word of God, and God will speak through that
vessel of clay and present to the people to whom he speaks
a marvelous treasure, a marvelous treasure, worth more than all
the silver and all the gold and all the diamonds in the mines
of God's earth, present to you the glorious gospel of Christ
Jesus the Lord, and convey to you this message
This is how God remains holy and just and yet embraces us
in loving kindness and mercy through the doing and the dying
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then God uses that message. It isn't the power of the preacher.
It's the power of the message. It's the Word. It's the Word
that has the power. It's the Word that is the power
of God unto salvation. Is that not what the Apostle
Paul says in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16? He said, I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ. Why not? It's the power of God
unto salvation. And here's one worm speaking
to other worms of this power of God, and it may very well
be that right this moment, that power of God will go to work
in your heart. Wouldn't that be wonderful? And
God take the message that I'm trying my best to preach, and
He puts it in your heart. He quickens you by His grace. and he gives you faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ and he gives you repentance. You repent, oh,
I'm an ungodly man, I'm an ungodly woman, oh God, I'm sorry, I can't
do anything about it. You know, we love to quote that
passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, by the grace of God, I am
what I am, while the birth of nature, I am what I am too. I can't do anything about it,
and you can't do anything about it, but I know who can, the one
who has all power. So this is what the writer of
the book of Hebrews is doing, he's showing the vast superiority
of the Lord Jesus over the angels, over Moses, and he goes on and
on, over Joshua, over the, our Lord Jesus is our Sabbath, He's
vastly superior to that earthly Sabbath because that earthly
Sabbath, that only gave the people a physical rest. Christ gives spiritual rest.
He gives a rest for the soul. Are you tired of laboring under
sin and misery and guilt? Your conscience cries out, I'm
guilty, I'm guilty. Everything he's saying, I know
it's true. The Lord Jesus says, come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Wouldn't that be wonderful to
get rest? Rest, rest from the weight of
sin. The pilgrim went to the cross. Pilgrim's Progress by Brother
Bunyan. And he was at the cross that
he lost his burden. It rolled away. The Lord took
it away. You say, I'm so guilty, is there
forgiveness for me? There's forgiveness for the vilest
of the vile in the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to Him. Well, who is
He? Well, in the book of Hebrews,
in addition to setting forth His superiority over the angels
and over Moses and Joshua and Aaron and everybody else, and
His covenant is superior to the Old Covenant, His offering is
superior to the Old Testament offerings, He set forth Himself
as being the the author of eternal salvation. Nobody else is. And
that brings me down here to verse nine, being made perfect. It's
one who is the high priest now. It's very obvious, and I won't
take any time to to read these verses, but those of you who
are students of the Scripture, you would do well to go back
and read in the second chapter and in the third chapter that
this subject of the high priesthood weighed very heavily upon the
mind and upon the heart of the writer of Scripture by the power
of the inspiration of God. you'll remember that the book
of Hebrews is written to Hebrew professing believers. Men and
women who profess to believe the Lord Jesus Christ and their
Hebrew people. And He's showing them the vast
superiority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth over everything of the
Old Testament, all the priesthood, all the prophets, all of those
things. And he shows that Christ himself
is the high priest who ministers to God for us. And ministers to us for God. And do we not read in the book
of 1 Timothy chapter two that there's one God? How many gods?
One God. Everybody here can understand
there's one God, not many gods. Acts chapter 11, Paul saw all
these idols and monuments to the gods. But they're just idols. Idols can't do anything. There's
just one God with whom you have to do. One God who gave you life. One God who sustains that life.
One God before whom you must appear someday. One God to whom
you answer. There's one God and one Mediator. Thank God there's one. But there's
only one. There's only one who can introduce
you to God. There's only one who can bring
you to God. There's only one who can take
you by the heart and bring you effectually to God. And that's
Christ Jesus himself. He is the great high priest. The high priest of the Old Testament.
They prayed for the people. as indicated by burning incense
for them, and they offered sacrifices for the people. They offered
sacrifices of thanksgiving, but they also offered sacrifices
for sin. And our Lord Jesus, He came into
this world to offer Himself as the sacrifice for sin. It was a one-time offering. By
one sacrifice, He perfected forever His people, those that were sanctified,
those that were set apart in old eternity. And He's the one
way by which we come to God. And He's the one way by which
God comes to us. See, you don't have to be a theologian
to grasp that idea. You don't have to understand
deep doctrines of the Word of God. You're in a mess. You've
got to answer to God. And you're not fit for God's
presence. But He sent a Savior who saved
His people. He redeemed His people. He reconciled
His people. He made His people righteous
in Himself. And He sends His Spirit to reveal
to them Christ and what He's already accomplished. That's
not difficult to understand, is it? But it's absolutely beyond your
ability to believe, to truly believe it, apart from the Spirit
of grace. It'll take the Spirit of God
to convince you. To convince you Christ is the
high priest, and that He is, in verse 9, He is the author
of eternal salvation. It says in verse 9, and being
made perfect, having finished the work that God gave him to
do. That's the idea there. He became
the author. He became the one who conveys
this salvation to us. He's the origin of salvation
because it all originated with him. In fact, you go over to
Hebrews chapter 12, it says, He's the author and the finisher
of what? Our faith. It all started with
Him. This salvation, it began with
Christ Jesus. Indeed, at the cross of Calvary,
He saved His people. He is revealing salvation during
this life. And He is the one who will consummate
salvation in everlasting glory. He's the one who will present
us to the Father without spot, without blemish, without any
such thing. Behold, Father, I am the children
thou has given to me. Here they all are. And of all
the ones that you've given me, I've lost none of them. He's
the author of eternal salvation. The author of it. It all started
with him. This was not man's idea, it was
his idea. Hidden in his mind and in his
heart from old eternity, revealed in time. He's the author of Eternal Salvation. What kind of salvation? Eternal.
Not one you can have today and lose tomorrow. It's an eternal
salvation. Just like damnation is eternal,
so is salvation. It's forever. Who's it unto? Now get this last
thing. All them that obey Him, that
is all those who believe Him. How do you know this salvation's
yours? How can you say this is mine?
This is my salvation? I'm going to be talking about
that tonight. You know it this way. You've
obeyed from the heart. You believe from the heart on
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed the author of eternal
salvation. Eternal deliverance. Salvation,
it presents the idea of being absolutely whole, being well. We know what it means to be sick.
There's not one of us in here that hasn't experienced some
sickness and some people experience very serious sicknesses and you
come back from it. Well, when we talk about, when
the Bible talks about salvation, it includes the idea of being
spiritually well. We were sick in sin, diseased. But God, before the world began,
came up with a remedy. And the remedy is the bloody
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. And He is the Great Physician.
And He comes to us and He convicts us of our sins. He does that.
He troubles us. We're bothered. And in the midst
of our misery, oh God, I'm such a sinner. Oh God, is there any
hope for me? The Great Physician comes to
us Himself. In this matter, He doesn't send
an angel. No, He comes Himself. And He
administers the healing medicine of His own blood and righteousness. And the Scripture says in Isaiah
53 and also again in 1 Peter chapter 2, by His stripes we're
healed. He healed us by His stripes and
He makes it known to us in regenerating grace. Isn't that wonderful?
Well, let's sing a song. Number 359. My faith looks up
to Thee. Thou Lamb of Calvary. That's
who my faith looks up to. I hope yours does. 359. 359.
Let's stand together and sing.