We looked at this passage of
Scripture last week. I'm going to look at it a little
further, and I'm going to begin there reading in chapter 1. 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,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and 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 at the right hand of the majesty on high. being
so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. Now if you never got anything
else out of the book of Hebrews than these first four verses,
you would have the essence of what the book of Hebrews is about
because this is the sum total in reality, not just the book
of Hebrews, but this is the sum total of the gospel message. And if this is not the message
that is preached when we seek to declare the gospel, then we
are preaching another gospel and not that which is true. For
God, who has spoken in times past in many ways as we can find
throughout the Scriptures. And he's speaking here, of course,
specifically to the Jews, so he is reminding them of the fact
that yes, indeed, God did speak to Moses. God did speak to Abraham. He spake to the prophets, to
the nation of Israel in times past. But in these last days,
he has spoken unto us by his Son. Now, there's only two times
known of in the Scriptures, the former times and the latter days.
And this is the last time. That's what John said. He said,
Brethren, this is the last time. There's not another time coming.
This is it. And this is the purpose for which
the world was created that God might manifest the glory of His
grace in the revelation of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ
in the behalf of those whom He loved. And that is what God,
who spoke in times past, now is saying. He has made it clear. Now, He has actually been saying
this from the beginning, but He has made it very plain in
the present time. Because all of the Scriptures
from the beginning to the present time are for the purpose of the
magnifying of Jesus Christ, sending Him forth. There is no other
way that a man has ever known God or ever could know God except
through Jesus Christ. The Lord is not known in any
other fashion. And so anybody that has ever
known the Lord has known Him in Jesus Christ. And so He has
who He was, the brightness of His glory, the express image
of His person. Now we talked about that last
week. If somebody is the express image
of someone that they are that person. You can't be the express
image of someone without being them. If I see you, I'm seeing
you. I'm not seeing somebody else.
And that's what he's saying here. When you've seen Jesus Christ,
you've seen God. You don't need to look any further.
You don't need to find out more about Him. He is the express
image of His person. If you would know God, then you
must know Jesus Christ. Now, that's what he meant when
he told his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father
but by me. Now, some people picture that
as, well, here's the Lord Jesus Christ over here, and here's
the Father over here, and the only way that you can get from
over here to over where God the Father is, is for the Lord Jesus
Christ to take you by the hand and lead you over here to Him.
No, that's not what he means. What he means, he says, if you're
going to come to the Father, you've got to come to me. Because
did he not clarify that when he answered Philip? When Philip
said, well, show us the Father and it will suffice us. He said,
Philip, I can kind of sense you know, exasperation. Now, we know
that he was not exasperated because he knew what was in Philip's
heart from the beginning. But I can imagine, you know,
at least as a man, there was some thought of that. Philip,
if I've been so long time with you and you've not known who
I am, he says, I am God. He says, I am the Father. He
said, he that would come to the Father has got to come to me.
If you come to Me, you come to the Father. And so that's what
he's saying here. He's the brightness of His glory.
The express image of His person. And He upholds all things by
the Word of His power. And when He had by Himself, not
with the help of any other, not with the fulfillment of somebody
else doing something, He had purged our sins. He sat down
at the right hand of the Father. If Christ has purged our sins
by Himself, then what is it possible that a man could do to come along
and add to that or help that situation out in any sense? Not a thing in the world. He
has by Himself purged our sins. Now that is the preaching of
the gospel. You see, the preaching of the gospel is the preaching
of what Jesus Christ has accomplished. The preaching of the gospel is
not trying to get people to do something. It is declaring that
Christ is the salvation of sinners, that He is that one that has
purged our sins. And he has sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high. Now is the majesty on high sitting
over here and Christ sitting over here? No, he is the majesty
on high. And when he has sat down at the
right hand, it means he is the right hand man. He is the man. He is that one who is sent into
the world according to his own decree to redeem his people. And the matter of him sitting
down just indicates the fact that he finished that work that
he came to do. There is nothing left to be done.
And then he says something, and here is where I want us to center
our thoughts. "...being made so much better than the angels,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."
And then he goes on to say, which of the angels did he at any time
say, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. He didn't
say that to any of the angels. He didn't take an angel and appoint
him to be the Son because he is the Son. He said, This day
have I begotten Thee. Unto the Son, he saith, Thou
Thorn, O God, is for ever and ever a sceptre of righteousness,
a sceptre of Thy kingdom. He said, but to which of the
angels said he, down in verse 13, but to which of the angels
said he, at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool? He never said that to any angels because that wasn't his purpose.
Are they not all ministering spirits? You see, the purpose
of the angels is simply to minister. They're servants. They're powerful
servants, but that's their function. That's all they can do. Now they're
glad to do that. Why? Because God made them that
way. You know, isn't it a glorious thing that God makes people what
He wants them to be and He makes them happy to be what they are? Now you take an old reprobate
sinner out here that hates God and hates the way of God, apart
from God changing his heart, he's just going to go on his
way and he's going to have a big time, isn't he? He doesn't care if you're preaching
the gospel. He doesn't care if you're telling
him what he is. He isn't even interested in that.
He doesn't have time for it. He's got his own thing and he's
happy with it. And he goes right on down his
way. The Scripture says the simple
pass on and are punished. I mean, they just go on their
way. They're happy. They're satisfied. They don't
need anything you've got. And the man whom the Lord's heart
has changed to love the way of Christ, he loves the way of Christ. I mean, he's just in that way.
That's just what he desires. He doesn't have to have somebody
trying to get him to love Christ. See, most churches today, that's
what they're trying to do. They're trying to get some people,
trying to make the gospel appeal out here so that folks will want
to follow Christ. Listen, men won't want to follow
Christ unless the Lord changes their heart and causes them to
want to follow Christ. And then when they want to follow
Christ, that's what they want to do. They want to follow Christ. They're happy to follow Christ.
They're not somebody twisting their arm to get them to follow
Christ. They want to do that. So apart
from the grace of God changing a man's heart, but you see the
Lord makes men to be what they are and He makes them happy.
I'm glad to be a follower of Christ. I rejoice in that. That's a glorious thing. Nobody
has to persuade me to do it. And so it is, the angels, their
ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall
be the heirs of salvation. That's why He created the angels,
so that they could minister to those who would be the heirs
of salvation. Now who is the chief heir of
salvation? The Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
how do I know that? He's the heir of what the Scriptures
say? All things. So he's the heir of salvation.
Now wait a minute. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
need to be saved. No, but he's the heir of salvation
because salvation belongs to the Lord. It's his salvation.
See, people get caught up in, do you have your salvation? Well,
dear brethren, you don't need your salvation. What you need
is Christ's salvation. You see, you need the salvation
that's in Christ. That salvation that belongs to
Him, that salvation that He gives to men freely. You see, that's
the glorious truth of the gospel, is that Christ is the Savior
and He actually saves sinners. I mean, he doesn't just put out
something out here and say, well, now, here it is, like putting
a bunch of feed in the trough and says, well, now, here, all
you hogs, come up here and there's as many of them as you want to
to eat at the trough. No, that's not it. You see, he
saves men. He seeks men out. He calls them
by grace. I was thinking this week of that
song, there were ninety and nine that safely lay. in the shelter
of the foal. But he was out on the hills away,
far off from the streets of gold. And he sought out the sheep that
had gone astray. He sought that One whom he loved. And dear brethren, you see, that's
what the glory of salvation is and the magnification of Christ
as the Savior of sinners is that He goes out seeking those that
are lost. And He saves them according to
the good pleasure of His will. And what do the angels do? They
minister to those who are theirs of salvation. Now we know they
ministered unto Christ, did they not? It would seem very clear
to me that he is the heir of salvation because they ministered
to him. They ministered to him whenever
he was tempted by the devil. The 40-day scripture says that
the angels ministered to him, and they also ministered to him
in the garden when he was weak. And they held him up. And that's
their purpose. But as great as that purpose
is, it's a secondary purpose. Now listen to what he says here.
Now what he's done here is he has contrasted Christ and the
angels and he has said, now don't you make any mistake. And he went over it more than
one time. He said, don't ever confuse this. There is no comparison between
Christ and the angels because Christ is the creator of the
angels. He's the one that made the angels to be what they are.
And he is that one through whom the truth of God has come to
us. But he has used angels. And so
he makes that contrast very plain. And then he says this in chapter
2, Therefore, we ought to give them more earnest heed to the
things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them
slip. And listen to what he says here. Four, if the word spoken
by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received the just recompense of reward, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation? Now, keep in mind who he's writing
to here. He's writing to the Jews. And
what did the Jews have as that which they held up as the This
is what their religion stood upon, was Moses' law. Now, if you go over here and
look just for a minute at something Philip said, all right, so they
received the law by the disposition of angels, and then in the book
of Galatians in chapter 3 verse 19 it says, Well, let's read 18. For if the
inheritance be of the law, it is no more promised, but God
gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law,
it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in
the hand of a mediator." So the law was ordained by the angels.
The Lord calls the Word, and this is that which He is speaking
of here, And in this second chapter, first verse, this is what he's
speaking about, or the second verse, for if the word spoken
by angels was steadfast. Now he says, look, if the law
could not in any wise be overturned, If every word that Moses spoke
by that which was ordained by the angels, that which the angels
spoke, that which was sent down from heaven, if that cannot be
overturned, then how much less could it be if we should despise
that which God has given to us in Jesus Christ? That is what
he says right here. be spoken by angels, was steadfast
in every transgression, received a just recompense of reward,
how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Well,
what is the salvation? It is Christ. He said, if that
which was given by angels was steadfast, how much more is that
which God who at sundry times and in divers manner spake in
times past unto the fathers by the prophets? Now He has spoken
in times past by the prophets, by the angels, by various messengers,
but He hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. Now
how can we escape if we neglect that, if we turn aside from that? Because if we believe God gave
the angels the Word of the Law and we received it by the disposition
of angels, how much more so that which has come to us through
the only begotten Son of God. Now this is a true thing, and
that is that men always like to make things complicated. They're not satisfied with something
that's simple. when it comes to religious things. That is where they think they
would serve the Lord. They think that it has to be
something complex. Cain is a good example of this.
He brought of all the fruits of the ground which the Lord
had gave him. He said, I know that the Lord
is going to like some of these cucumbers, and He'd like some
of these radishes, and He'd like some of this type of vegetable
over here, and He said He brought all the things He labored. I
mean, He worked in His garden from sunup to sundown. He said,
Well, I know the Lord will be pleased with the dedication I've
got. And He brought it there to the Lord, and the Lord wasn't
pleased with His offering. All that Abel brought was the
blood. of a sacrifice. It was a simple thing, wasn't
it? He didn't do anything. He didn't say, Lord, you look
at all this I've done. He just bought the one thing
that the Lord was pleased with, and that was the blood. Now,
men make serving God far more complex than it is. Now, of course,
you hear people say, oh, well, it's simple. Just believe. That is simple when God gives
a man faith. But you see, there is an error
in telling men you can believe any time you get ready. Because
you can't. Because you won't. Because a
man who is under the working of the power of the Spirit of
God, he knows that he has no faith of his own. And he cries
out to the Lord. He says, Lord, I believe. Help
thou my unbelief. You see, there is a time and
a place when a man comes to the place where he wants to believe.
Now, a man usually thinks as he's going along, well, he'll
just believe when he gets ready. Well, I'm not ready yet. I mean,
I kind of halfway believe that the gospel is true, but you know,
I've got too many things to do. I'm going down my way. And so he just figures in the
back of his mind, well, you know, the day will come I'll get ready.
No, you'll never get ready. A man can't get ready because
it's not something a man can prepare to do. But you see, God
who is rich in mercy is the one that gives men faith. And when
He gives men faith to believe, they believe. Now that is very
simple, is it not? Because it doesn't require any
effort whatsoever on the part of the man. But you see, men
want to make it more complex than it is. The Jews said, well,
when they heard the Gospel, that Christ was the Savior. As soon
as they said, well, that's okay, but brother, I tell you, this
thing, the law still says that men ought to be circumcised.
And not only that, but they need to keep Sabbath day. And not
only that, but they need to tithe. And not only that, but they need
to do this. And not only this, but they need
to do that. And so that's the way that...
that men describe what it is to follow Christ. They make it
a very complex issue, when in reality it is a very straightforward
issue. God, who at sundry times in divers
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. This is the
last time. There is no other messenger that
is coming. There is no other revelation
of God that is going to be given unto men than that which has
already been given in Jesus Christ. He is the Savior. Now, those
whom the Lord has given a mind to seek, that is a sweet and
precious message because they are those that recognize they
do not have anything to give, do not have anything to bring. bring up faith because you know
the man that doesn't have faith, he thinks he does. And the man
that has faith, he can't find it in himself. He says, man,
this little old piddling thing here, there's got to be more
to it than this. But you see, if you'd have asked the publican
if he had faith, boy, what would he have told you? I ain't got
a lick of faith. I mean, I don't have any faith
at all. And yet, of the two men, and
if you'd ask the Pharisee, what would he have said? Well, I'm
a man of faith. Oh, I might not always do exactly
everything that I should, but buddy, I'm trying. I'm doing
good. I mean, God is going to be pleased. I mean, He's blessed
me according to how faithful I am. Yes, sir. You see, that's how men think
about it. But the old publican, he said, I do not have any faith
at all. Lord, have mercy on me. I need
faith, but I do not have it. But the Lord said he went down
to his house justified. Now you tell me how a man can
go down to his house justified without faith. Because a man
is justified by faith, is he not? Because you see, it is not
the faith that the man has that justifies him. It is the faith
that the man sees. And who is the one that he sees?
It is Jesus Christ. He is our faith. You see, that
publican, he knew he had no hope of saving himself, but he knew
that there was salvation in that one who sits upon the throne.
And it was to him that he made his plea. And yes, he was a man
of faith, but if you'd asked him, he'd have said, no, he didn't
have any. And so you see, the man that's
lost is the one that thinks he has faith. And the man who has faith is
the one who often sees no evidence of it at all in himself. But
he knows the one who is the Savior of sinners. And it's to Him and
Him alone that He flees and can turn aside to no other. And so being a follower of Christ is
not a complex matter, but it is a work of grace that is brought
to pass. by the power of God, how shall
we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began
to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them
that heard him? If we turn aside from the gospel,
the declaration of Christ as the Savior of sinners, where
are we going to find salvation? There is not going to be any.
There is no other place. God also bearing them witness,
both with signs and wonders, divers miracles, gifts of the
Holy Ghost according to His will. Now, again, He is speaking to
these Jewish Christians, the Jews in general, but the Christians
specifically. But He is pointing out to them
the superiority of the message of the gospel to the message
of Moses' law and how it came to be, and the superiority of
Christ over all things. And he says, these things weren't
done in a corner, they are magnified before you. The preaching of
the gospel is set forth there. For unto the angels hath he not
put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. Now what
is the world to come? Well, it is, but what is the
world to come that he's talking about here? This is the world
to come. You see, this is the world. This
is what the prophets of old prophesied. They said there's coming a world
where in blest righteousness there's coming a world where
a man won't teach his neighbor every man know the Lord, but
they shall all know me from the least to the greatest. Now, how
did that come to pass? You see, the Jews thought that
all religion can be taught from one generation to the next. You
see, there is a religion of Christianity that can be taught from one generation
to the next. Now, I'm not necessarily warring
against that. I'm warring against the consideration
of relying upon that as the hope of our salvation. But there is
a teaching from one generation to the next of the tenets of
Christianity. We see that this day and the
holidays that people have. There's a certain level of the
teaching of the tenets of Christianity. I mean, even people that don't
believe, they'll say, well, this is the day when men remember
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now you see, they learn that. But you see, the world to come
that he is talking about here, you cannot learn it like that.
Somebody cannot teach it to you. Because it is one thing to know
that Jesus Christ rose from the dead on a particular day and
set that day aside and say, well, this is the day when we remember
that the Lord rose from the dead. But it is quite another thing
to be brought to stare into that empty tomb by the grace of God
and say, Oh, praise God. Christ is risen from the dead.
Now you see, no man taught you that. Now you might have been
taught from this high that Jesus rose from the dead, and that's
a good thing. But oh, when the day comes that
you can look into that tomb and you can see that it's empty.
And you can rejoice in Spirit and truth and the heart and soul
of your body and mind and say, Oh, praise God. Jesus Christ
is risen from the dead. Now, dear brethren, you see,
that's that which no man can teach every neighbor. And no
man can teach his neighbor. And they won't need to. Because
you see, the Lord teaches His people those things. And He writes
the law in their heart. For one in a certain place testified,
What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that
thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands.
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet." metaphorically here, he's speaking
of the fact that of the creation, as Brother Al has been speaking
to us here, that God created man in this way. But this is
prophetically and was prophetically speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ as that man, the man Christ Jesus, that has put all things
in subjection under his feet. Now, in the creation sense, all
things are in subjection unto man in a general sense. I mean, we are the masters over
the world in that way. And don't let any of the tree-hover
type people tell you different. The world is put here for our
use. If you see a tree and you need some lumber, cut the thing
down and saw it up and use it. If you see something running
through the woods and you're hungry, shoot it and kill it
and eat it. I mean, the Lord put these things
in subjection under our feet. But he's speaking prophetically
here of one greater. end up a greater thing than that.
Now some people take that to an extreme and say, oh man, you
know, we're going to get back to nature and we're going to
do things like that because we're lords of creation and all of
that stuff, over creation. But that's not the point of it. You see, again, you can teach
people that. But you see, when the day comes
that the Lord teaches a man that Christ is the head of all things,
that He is the Lord of all creation. And all things were put in subjection
under His feet. For in that He put all in subjection
under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But we
see not yet all things put under Him." Now what is he speaking
about? He is speaking about death. Now we know that the power of
death is destroyed. Death, where is our sting, O
grave, where is our victory? But death itself, the scripture
says, is the last enemy that shall be destroyed. There is
still death in this world. Not because the Lord didn't have
power to do it, but because it wasn't His timing. But He has
demonstrated His power over death. And in that world which is to
come, which is now, you see, we live in this world, but what
did Paul say? We are not of the world. You
see, we are sojourners through this world. This is a low land
of sin and sorrow. But yet at the same time while
we dwell in a low land of sin and sorrow, we are seated in
heavenly places in Jesus Christ. We rejoice. in Christ. And in the midst of this, you
see, we confess that we have a city which has foundations
whose builder and maker is God. And even though we mourn and
weep and all the sadness and sorrow that comes along in this
world, yet that world which is to come of which we've already
been made a part, we rejoice because we see that all things
are put in subjection under Him. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man. You see, man could not do a thing
in the world about death. Now, they are trying, and if
you listen to some of these Different scientists and stuff, they'll
have you believing, well, you know, people's going to be living,
be seven, eight hundred years old here for long. Now, is man
capable of living seven, eight hundred years in this world?
Well, of course he is. Methuselah did. I mean, all of
the older guys, they lived. You know, the human body is capable
of it. But so what? What if a man lived
to be 962 years old? Or 976, I think was what Methuselah
was. I don't know how many it was.
It doesn't make much difference, but it did to him, I guess. But
you know, if you look at Methuselah, he died in the year of the flood. Now, I don't know if he drowned
in the flood or if he just died before the flood came. But his
name means in the year of the flood. And if you look at his
lineage, you see that he died the same year that the flood
came. But I'm going to tell you, what I get from that is this,
the same thing that's being taught right here, is that Methuselah,
as old as he was, he still died. He was still subject to the death
of this world. But in Christ, dear brothers,
What that empty tomb does indeed bear witness to us of is that
Jesus Christ has conquered death. So that we might say with the
Apostle Paul, even if we stand over the open grave of a loved
one whom we have placed within there, and yet knowing our own
mortality, we can say, Where is our sin? O grave, where is
our victory? Because Christ Jesus the Lord
has conquered death, and He is that One who, by the grace of
God, should taste death for every man. For it became Him from whom
are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many
sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. Now, did the Lord Jesus Christ
need to be perfected? Well, if you understand what
He means here, He was made perfect in that He became exactly what
He came into the world to be. Now, had the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we're thinking... I can't think of the word. If we were thinking of this in
just some thought process, if the Lord Jesus Christ had come
into the world and He had not gone to the cross, He would not
have been a perfect Savior, would He? Now, we know that there was
no way that He was not a perfect Savior. But He was perfected
in the things that He suffered. That is, He was made what He
was by what He did in our behalf. And He has demonstrated that
to us. Now, we can teach somebody that.
We can teach our kids what He did. But only the Spirit of God
can teach a man in such a way that he says, Oh, thank God.
In such a way that a man falls down on his face and brings glory.
And you see, that's what it is that the writer of Hebrews is
writing to the Hebrews about. He's saying, look, Jesus Christ
is the Savior. He is the message of God for
the present hour. We're not waiting for some prophetic
revelation. We're waiting on Christ. He is
our salvation. give us mind and heart to believe
those things that the Lord has taught us.