Well, good evening. It's good to be here. Turn with me to the book of Hebrews. I asked to have 110th Psalm read, because of that portion where it says, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Thinking that probably I'd like to start in chapter seven of Hebrews, but since then I've come to a new conclusion, which I do from time to time. I'm gonna begin chapter one. And, I'd like to get to chapter 8, but not tonight. I'd like to get to chapter 8 for several reasons, and I hope I can work it into three sermons. Not all the chapters in between, but some of those that stir my soul.

So let's begin in Hebrews chapter 1. God, Jehovah Elohim, who at sundry times in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. He spoke in different ways at different times over a period of about 1,500 years, scattered here a little, there a little. And if you read in Isaiah, chapter 28, he speaks some to that and the reason for it.

But I'm going to get into that right here. Hath in these last days spoken unto us in his Son, or by his Son, God the Son, the Creator of heaven and earth, came into this world and did us the great privilege of speaking to us. Us who had broken his law who had slighted his glory and the dignity of his person and had maligned his prophets and those whom he sent to us, even God sent his own son, his only begotten son into this world to speak to us who are in such a terrible shape. He did us a great favor by speaking. It's a wonder that God would speak to such a thing. His grace is magnified in that he would speak to us.

Hath in these last days spoken unto us in or by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, in order that he might freely bequeath all the gifts of his grace unto his church, which under the administration of the covenant of grace, which is the eternal covenant, under the administration of law, was unable to deliver to the recipients, to those that he intended as his recipients, all the grace that God would bestow upon them. It couldn't be done by the law. So he reposed everything in a third hand in the Lord Jesus Christ and through him to give us all things that belong to eternal salvation.

By whom he hath made the worlds. Look at Colossians chapter one. Colossians 1, 15. Speaking about our Lord Jesus Christ here, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, both visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created by him and they were created for him. He's Lord of all. Verse three, who being the brightness of his glory. If you would see the brightness of the glory of God, you can only see it in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians four six.

That's the only place he told Philip. He said, Philip, have I been so long with you and you haven't known who I am? He that has seen the Father, he that has seen me has seen the Father. How sayest thou unto me then? Show us the Father, and it suffitheth us. He'd looked him in the face when he looked at the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the complete and total manifestation of God. But He had been always in the bosom of the Father and had been in all of His counsels from everlasting. Look at John, John chapter 1.

John 1.14. And the Word, God the Son, was made flesh and tabernacled among us. He pitched His tent among us, His human body. And we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Down to verse 18, And no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him unto Christ Jesus is the manifestation of God. He is the complete and total expression of God, of all that God is, to us. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He's the brightness of his glory, and he is the express image of his person. He is the image of the invisible God, and he upholds all things by the word of his power. By his power, this world consists. By his power, and by the atonement that he made at Calvary, the blasphemer draws his breath.

I do not mean to say there's one thing for the atheist to have a morsel of bread to put in his mouth. That's by the power and gift and grace of God. But that's one thing, and it's another thing altogether, to deliver the children of the covenant from death, because they are children of the covenant, because they are children of God. Because God hath loved them from everlasting as he hath loved the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 17, 23. 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. He purged our sins. He didn't purge us from our sins. John 1.8 says, we say we have no sin, we deceive ourself, and truth is not in us.

Look at Isaiah 1.18. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." What? Your sins? White as snow? Made as white as wool? Yeah, that's what the Bible says.

What it means is that the condemning power of your sins, the guiltiness of your sins, is removed from you by God taking them off of you and placing them, excuse me, placing them on His Son, charting His Son with them, letting the guilt rest upon Him, and Him bearing those sins up on His cross and paying the last farthing. and putting them away forever.

Yeah, we're still sinners, only a sinner saved by grace. But sins have no condemning power under us. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh in trying to justify themselves by their works, but after the Spirit. When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now, that he got the job done, that his work was proved efficacious is proved in the fact that, first of all, that God raised him from the dead. If he hadn't put away our sins forever, to the satisfaction of God, not to our satisfaction, Because we have sins of ignorance, sins that we don't even know that we've committed, and God put those sins, along with our known sins, away according to his own estimation of how it must be done.

I'm glad he didn't leave that up to me. To try to devise a plan whereby my sins get put away, I could never do that. But God put away the sins of his people according to his own will and purpose and mind. If it hadn't been that way, there'd always been that nagging question. I'm satisfied. The church may be satisfied. Everybody knows me, but is God satisfied?

God ordained the death of his son, 1 Peter 1.20. Christ was ordained from the foundation of the world for that purpose, to fulfill the will of God in putting away the sin of his people. Look at, let me get off of the subject just a minute, and I've got to hurry along.

Acts 3.25.

Acts 3.25. Now ye who believe. What a marvelous thing.

Now ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our father, saying unto Abraham, in thee and in thy seed shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed. It is the power of that covenant, that everlasting covenant that is sealed by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That power has made you a believer by God dispatching His Holy Spirit and putting it with the Spirit of Christ and putting it within you with His fruits. And the fruit of the Spirit, of course, is love, joy, peace, faith, all of those things. Everything that God requires of us in a way of duty, He freely gives us in a way of grace by putting His Spirit within us. And you cannot separate the spirit from his fruit. Wherever he is, his fruit is. So if you have repentance, it's the gift of God. Well, do you have to repent?

Yeah, but you're not able to do it. You can't do that. You're too stubborn and rebellious, leaving you to your own nature. You would never repent. Man is too proud. He's too heady, too high-minded. But God gives you repentance. Do you have to believe? Why, you do. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So everything that God requires from you in the way of duty He freely gives you by grace, not because we deserve it, not because we worked it out, not because we asked for it, but by his own free purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.

God has saved us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 1 Timothy 1.9.

Isn't that amazing? God has saved us just because he would. He chose us, he selected us, he picked us out, not because of any good thing that's in us, but according to his own purpose and mind, and saved us. Well, how did he save us? First of all, he wrote our names in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. When God determines to do something, it's as good as done. He calleth those things that are not as though they were. But then not only that, He sent His Son into this world to redeem us. And our Lord Jesus Christ absolutely, no ifs and buts or maybes about it, He got the job done. He redeemed us. Let's move on. He sat down on the right hand of God, having completed the work that the Father gave him, John 17 4. Being made so much better than the angels.

Now the Hebrews, the Hebrew Christians were continually under the assault of the nation to return to the law. And to go back to the mosaic institutions of the law. And so they were continually assaulted and had problems because of that. Well, Paul in this, and I believe Paul was the writer of this epistle. It's neither here nor there who wrote it, but it's spirit inspired. Paul has given these folks all the reasons why they should cling to Christ and reject the law as a means of justification and as a means of approach unto God in holy worship.

So he takes, they held in great esteem angels. because the law was given in the hand of the major through the administration of angels. So they held angels in high regard, and Paul had to compare then the Lord Jesus Christ with these angels. And he said, well, he's so much better than the angels. Being so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, for unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son.

Well, they were called sons of God by creation, but not by generation. Not a natural son by being begotten of a father, as the Lord Jesus Christ was. For unto the witch of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, Psalms 2 7. And again, I will be unto him a father, and he shall be unto me a son, 2 Samuel 7 14.

He said both of those things to Christ, but he never said those to any angel. And again, when he bringeth the first begotten into the world, He saith, and let the angels of God worship him. He's worthy of the worship of the angels, so much better than the angels. And of the angels, he saith, who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.

But unto the sun, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. He saith, who saith? God the Father saith. Who's he talking to? He's talking to God the Son, but he's talking to God the Son as he is a man in office. But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. And a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved lovest righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God."

Now, here's another thing that proves that it's God the Father talking to God the Son. And he's talking to him as he is the man, Christ Jesus. God the Son God the Father is not the God of God the Son. God the Son is equal with God the Father. Everything that is in the Father is in the Son. Everything that's in the Son is in the Father. I and my Father are one.

But what he's saying here, thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. He is speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ as He is the mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace. Therefore God, God the Father, acknowledged this man as God. Therefore God, thy God, He's talking to him as the mediator, not as God the Son. God the Son doesn't have a God, He is God. But as He is the mediator of your covenant, if you're a believer, of the covenant that God has brought you into, into the bonds of that covenant, God the Son is your God, and the man Christ Jesus is your God.

He is God, and he's man. He's 100% God, and he's 100% man. Two natures in one person, but they never mix. That part of him that's God is God. That part of him that's man is man. And there can never be a mixture, because if they mixed, the man would be something more than we are, so he wouldn't be able to help us. But if they mixed, then God would be something less than he would. He is, and there could be no help for us there. So they remain distinct. And he's our mediator. believers have an advocate at the right hand of God, and it is the man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. They shall wax old as gusts of garment. And as a vesture, thou, Christ Jesus, shalt fold them up."

He's so much better. than the angels. That rejoices my heart that he's on my side. When I come before God, I come in him because I was chosen in him before the foundation of the world and I was crucified at Calvary with Him. And I was dead with Him. Galatians 2 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me. And in Romans 8 6 he said if we be dead with Christ.

We're dead with Christ. We're dead to the law. We're dead to the law. We're dead to sin. We're dead to condemnation, judgment, and hell. God has saved us. They shall perish, but thou remainest. They shall wax old as death of garment. And as a vesture, thou shalt fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Thy years shall not fail.

But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool. Never said that to any angel. Never said thou art my son. He never said you sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. But he said those things to his dear son. Our Lord, our Redeemer, our elder brother. He said all those things to him.

Are they not all ministering spirit sent forth to them who are children of the covenant? Or are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation, the elect of God? I do agree with the Catholics in one thing. Everybody has a manager. No, not everybody. All the elect of God has a And if you look back over your life, and if you could look back over your life, and see what really happened, I think you'd probably see many of the times when God delivered you by his angel.

God will not allow his elect to perish till they're brought to Christ. He simply will not allow it. And he can do that because he's God and he ain't trying to do anything. He does exactly as he will, when he will, upon whom he will. All right, let's go on to verse two. And in chapter two, he's still talking about the angels. He's still talking about how much better Christ is than angels. And he says in verses one through four is a parenthetical expression.

We said we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip or leak out or leave, gradually depart, because we don't give diligent enough thought to them. For if the word spoken by angels, let me see here, where am I at? For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, let me back up here, I've got ahead of myself. For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak.

But one in a certain place testified, saying, what is man that thou art made for him? Now, I don't know what your eschatology is. I don't know, and I ain't particularly worried about it. But he said he's not put into subjection the world which is to come whereof we speak. It's not angels that will rule whatever that world is that he's talking about.

Well, who is it? Well, we know who it is. It's the Lord Christ. And I'm not going to get into into eschatology this evening, but it's pretty plain in the scriptures, if you read it, that he's put man, it's going to be in subjection under man. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the man who is going to be put under.

But anyway, Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the work of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all things in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

But what we do we see. We see Jesus. We see our Lord, who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. He came into this world. He took on our human nature in order to have a sacrifice that could atone for our sins. Made a little lower to the angels in order that he might die for us, that he might pay our debt, which we owe to God. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste of death for every. Man is not in the original. For every what? Now the word is Panta, and it means every or every one. And every one of what? Well, it's every son In verse 10, for it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory. He tasted the death for all of the sons.

In verse 11, it is for them that are sanctified. Being of the same nature with the Lord Jesus, He that sanctifies For both He that sanctified and them who are sanctified are all of one, are all of the same nature. We are of the same nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a man, we're a man. By man came death. By man came also the resurrection of the dead. Verse 12.

Taste of death for all his brethren. Verse 13, for all the children, I, on that glad morning, when the Lord Jesus Christ presents us to his father, he said, behold, I and the children that you gave me before the foundation of the world. And he'll present us in his holiness, in his righteousness, in his perfection, unto the Father.

Forasmuch then as the children are made partaker of flesh and blood, who was made partaker of flesh and blood? The children were. They were children before they took flesh and blood. They were children and they took flesh and blood. Thy children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of thy children. It's the children that gets taught. Isaiah 54, 13. Galatians 4, 4 through 6 says, and because you are sons, because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart, crying, I have a father. Who does he do it for? Those who are sons. And because they're sons, he gives them a spirit.

And with the spirit, faith, joy, peace, love, all of those things that he requires of us in a way of duty. For as much as His children are protectors of flesh and blood, He Himself took part of the same, that through death He might destroy them that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels. He didn't come to save angels. He came to save man. And He came to save the seed of Abraham, in particular, all of those that God had ordained eternal life. in eternity past. Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor or help them that are tempted.

God's not trying to save anybody. You know, I've heard preachers say, well, God wants to do this. He's not a wannabe anything. He is what he says he is. He's not a wannabe priest. He's not a wannabe savior. He's not a wannabe God. He is God, the Savior, and the great high priest of our profession.

And he does exactly as he will, and whatsoever comes to pass in time is ordained of God, for he worketh all things after the counsel of his will. If we could understand our position in Christ Jesus, We'd never worry about a thing. We wouldn't worry about what's going on in Iran, or down at the bank, or at the tax office, or anywhere. Our Lord Jesus Christ worketh all things, good, bad, and ugly, as we perceive it, according to his own will. According to infinite love, wisdom, power, and omniscience, he works everything for our good. We know that all things work together. We know. People who believe know that God worketh all things for the good of them that love him.