a more excellent name than they.
Now, as we talked about last week, you know well the theme
of this letter to the Hebrews is Christ is better. And the
lesson today, we'll see that Christ is better than the angels.
Now, you know that ought to go without saying. Christ is better
than angels. That just ought to go without
saying. The Creator always is greater than the thing created.
But human nature being what it is, it's sad to say, We need
to say it. It needs to be said, Christ is
better than angels. Now, angels are glorious beings,
no question about it, but they're not to be worshipped. They're
not to be bowed down to. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
sole object of worship. He's to receive all of our reverence
and worship, not angels. But you know, the world is just
fascinated with angels. I mean, you see them everywhere.
People are just fascinated with angels. And that's just a comment
on human nature. Why is it that we're not more
fascinated with Christ, who's far better? It's the dead nature
we're born with. That's why. So that's why it's
necessary for us to say that Christ is better than the angels.
Look over in chapter 2, in verse 7. Speaking of Christ here, Thou
madest Him a little lower than the angels. And I've got written
in here, I remember Henry saying this years ago. Thou madest him
for a little while a little lower than the angels. But now thou
crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works
of thy hands. Look at verse 9. But we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for a little while,
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. But now he's crowned with glory and honor. that He
by the grace of God should taste death for every man or every
son. Now the Son, Christ the Son, God the Son has always been
recognized as being higher than the angels. He's more excellent
than the angels. But now as a man, the Lord Jesus
Christ as a man because of what He accomplished as a man for
His people has been exalted high above the angels because of the
redemption that He accomplished for His people. He's obtained
a more excellent name than they have because of what He's accomplished.
He accomplished something not even the angels could ever begin
to accomplish. They could never begin to accomplish
the redemption of God's elect, but Christ did. So He has a more
excellent name. One of the writers says Christ
has a more excellent name because He has a more excellent nature.
He's greater than the angels. In verse 5, 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." Now, the father says
things to the son he'd never say to a servant. The father
talks to his son in a different way than he'd ever talk to his
servant. He doesn't talk to his servants
as a loving father. He talks to them as a master.
But he talks to the son as a loving father. He says, you're my son.
The Father would never tell a servant, come sit on the throne with me.
That's reserved for the Son. He tells the servants where to
go and what to do. Now, like I said, the angels
are glorious, but they're still servants. They are the servants
of God. Christ is God. All the difference
in the world. The servants, they are the servants
of God, but Christ is God. Christ is Thee. Son of God, the
only begotten of the Father. Now we, God's people, we are
sons of God, aren't we? We're sons by adoption. We're
sons by the new birth. We're sons by God's grace. But
Christ is the Son of God by nature, the only begotten of the Father.
He is the eternal Son. Long before Christ was ever the
Messiah, before He ever came as prophet, priest, and king,
He was the Son. He's the Son. And the Father
talks to Him in a special way. He's got a special love that's
reserved for His sons that the angels don't know anything about.
They don't experience that. They're servants. So the Father
talks to the Son in a different way than He talks to the servants.
And in verse 6, He goes on. And again, when He bringeth in
the first begotten into the world, He saith, And let the angels
of God worship Him. Now the angels. They always worship
God. When we see the angels, that's
what they, they're worshiping God. Look in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah saw these glorious seraphims
and what did he see them doing? Worshipping God. In Isaiah 6 verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory." Those glorious seraphims we see worshiping
God. And they wouldn't worship anyone
but God, would they? And the Father certainly would
never tell them to worship anyone but God. Well, when Christ came,
when He came incarnate as a babe in Bethlehem's manger, what did
the Father tell the angels to do? Worship Him. You worship
Him because He's God. That baby that laid in that manger
was none other than God Almighty. God in human flesh. And the angels
came to worship Him. Look over in Luke chapter 2. Here it's getting to be this
time of year where people begin to think about the birth of Christ. And before long, everybody's
going to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas tree or Christmas story, and
this is what they're going to remember. Linus is reading this,
but now this is wonderful. In Luke chapter 2, verse 8. And
there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel
of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto
them, Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
is with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, goodwill towards men." That heavenly host is angels
that came and worshipped him at the Father's command. And
they worshipped him because the inferior always worships the
superior, don't they? And they came to worship Christ
because He's far greater than the angels. And Christ is called
the first begotten. He's the first begotten of the
Father. But you know, we're born again in Him. In Christ we're
born. We're made just like Him. Made
partakers of the divine nature. But there'll never be a Son like
Christ is the Son of the Mother. He's the glorious Son of God. So that's what the Father says
about the Son. Angels sent to worship Him. But now what does
He say about the angels? Well, verse 7 He says, "...and
of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers
a flame of fire." Now God made the angels. They're created spirits.
They don't die. They're created spirits. And
they were made to be the servants of God. That's why He made them
to be His servants. And their sole purpose They spend
all their time waiting to go do God's bidding. When He says
go, they go. When He says do this, that's
what they do. And they came and ministered to Christ at His birth.
We just read how they announced His birth and worshiped Him at
His birth. In the garden before our Lord
went to Calvary, they came and ministered to Him. At His resurrection,
there they were announcing His resurrection. He's not here.
What do you seek the living among the dead for? He's risen. And
they'll be with him in his second coming. They'll come with him
and they'll come as servants, because that's their office,
as servants. And they're called here a flame of fire. There's a lot of thought about
that, why they're called flames of fire. Could be because they
have a burning desire to please God. Their burning desire is
to please God. Could be because they have a
burning love for God. Now, whatever else you want to
say about angels, I wish I had more of that. I wish my soul
just desire, with a burning desire, to please Him. Just to consume
with a burning love for Him. And that could be why they're
called flames of fire. And they could also be called
flames of fire for their power and for their swiftness. Look
over in 2 Kings 2. You know, we read and see angels. frequently made out to be, you
know, these wispy creatures are just, you know, just fuzzy and
soft and wispy. These are powerful creatures,
those seraphims we read about are powerful creatures. They're
not just, you know, the only other way to say it, they're
just powerful, they're flames of fire. In 2 Kings chapter 2,
this is when Elijah and Elisha are walking before Elijah is
taken into glory. In 2 Kings 2 verse 11. And it
came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold,
there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted
them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."
And most people think that chariot of fire and horses of fire are
angels who came and parted them and took Elijah into glory, God's
servants sent to do his bidding. Now, the office of an angel is
a servant, a servant of God. Now, without question, there
is a certain amount of honor that goes with that, to be a
servant of the highest. That's an honor, isn't it? But
the office of Christ is Son, is King and Ruler, and there's
far more glory with that, isn't there? Look at verse 8. But unto
the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A
scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Now the
Father calls the Son God. That He must be God. The Father
calls it what it is. He calls the Son God. That He
must be God, co-equal with the Father. And that's a good thing. It's a good thing that our Savior
is God. Because only God could have had
the power to save His people from their sins. To save us from
our sins took the power of God. Only God could have produced
a righteousness that made us accepted to the Father. Only
God could have kept the law and produced a perfect righteousness
that He would give to us to make us accepted by the Father. That
took the holiness of God. Only God could have been a pure,
sinless sacrifice. They had blood to atone for our
sins, to put them away. Only God could have done that.
So it's a good thing the Father calls Him God, because that's
who He is. He's God. Now look back in Psalm
45. Here's where this quote is taken
from in Psalm 45. I was reading this this week,
and I thought, well, this is a good thing for us to just read. In Psalm 45, verse 1, now this
is not talking about Solomon or David. This is talking about
a king who is far greater than them. He says in verse 1, My
heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of things which I have
made, touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is
poured into thy lips. Therefore God has blessed thee
forever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty, and
with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously,
because of truth and meekness and righteousness. And thy right
hand shall teach thee terrible, great things. Thine arrows are
sharp in the heart of the king's enemy, whereby the people fall
under thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. And if there's any doubt who
he's talking about here, he removes it. He's not talking about Solomon.
He's not talking about David. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter
of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. It's
easy. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
eternal King. Eternal. His rule is never threatened. His rule will never weaken. You'll
never read a book about the rise and fall of this King. He's eternal. And He's got an eternal reign
and eternal kingdom because He's God. And it's so important for
us to understand and appreciate and love the kingship of Christ. He's King. He is sovereign in
all his ways. Nebuchadnezzar said it, none
can stay his hand or ask him, what doest thou? Because he's
sovereign in every aspect. And he has the sovereign right
to do with us, with you and me, as he will, because he's king. Whatever he does with us is right. However he deals with us, whether
he deals with us in mercy or whether he deals with us in judgment,
It's right because He's King. He's Sovereign. Now where does
that leave us? All men are as mercy beggars
before Him. And that's a good place to be
because this Sovereign is merciful. Oh, He's merciful. He delights
to show mercy to sinners. But we've got to start with Him
as King and us as mercy beggars at His feet. And like all kings,
Christ has a scepter. And that scepter is an emblem
of royalty, of his kingship. In the Old Testament times, if
the king would extend his scepter to you, you'd come into his presence
and speak. But if he didn't extend his scepter,
you can't come in. That's his emblem of royalty.
Well, Christ's scepter is a scepter of righteousness. He has it rightfully. He didn't get it by hook or crook,
or he didn't get it by assassinating the former king and having a
bloody coup and taking over. It's right that he be king. And
he rules in righteousness and justice. And he's holy and righteous. Everything he does is done in
holiness and righteousness. And he came to fulfill all righteousness. He came to bring righteousness
into his people. That's his name. Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness, with that righteous scepter. And because
of what Christ, our Savior, Jehovah Sidkenu, what He's done for us,
He always extends that scepter of righteousness to His people.
You're always allowed now into the presence of the Most High
in His name and be heard. We can always come because of
Christ and be allowed to worship and bask in the presence of the
King, because He brought righteousness in for us. In verse 9, He goes
on describing this King. He says, Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Now, we know God's chief attribute is holiness. God is holy. Whatever else you start with
about God, you must start with He's holy. He loves holiness
and hates iniquity because He's holy. Scripture says even the
heavens aren't pure in His sight. He's holy. And He showed how
He hates iniquity when He cast Adam out of the garden for just
one transgression. He wouldn't even overlook one. And He showed how He's holy and
hates iniquity when He wouldn't even spare His own Son. When
God's own Son is only begotten, the Son of His love, was made
sin for us. When our sin, the sin of His
people, was laid on Him, God went and spared His own Son.
He killed Him for an injustice because He's holy. He hates iniquity. And He'll show this world how
He hates iniquity one day. When He'll come, He judges this
world in righteousness. Now, God's holy. He loves righteousness. He hates iniquity. But how can God love a sinner? like you and me. If He hates
iniquity and all I do is iniquity, I drink iniquity like water,
how can He love me? That's the question. Well, the
answer is Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, if God's going to love us, He's got to make us what we're
not. He's got to make us righteous because He hates iniquity but
loves righteousness. So if He's going to love us,
if He's going to accept us, we've got to be made righteous. And
God's a son. So how much he loves righteousness.
When he came to this world to live as a man, he produced a
perfect righteousness that he imputes to his people, that he
gives to us and makes us righteous. Now we're clothed in his righteousness. Like Brother Scott taught us,
this is not a pasted on righteousness, is it? You're not just covered
with iniquity. He covers you over with his robe
of righteousness and leaves that iniquity in there. God's not
going to leave that iniquity there. He hates iniquity. He's
going to do away with it. He's going to eradicate everything
that He hates. He puts that iniquity away under
the blood of His Son and makes us righteous. He gets rid of
everything He hates and makes us what we're not. He makes us
as righteous as God Himself. Now, the Son here is said to
be anointed with the oil of gladness. The Son. God's the Son. He never
had to be anointed king, did he? He's born king. That's who
he is. He's king. He's the eternal king.
But as a man, as the Messiah, he came and he was anointed priest
and king. The Old Testament kings and priests,
they were anointed to be kings and priests. Well, Christ came
as a man and he was anointed. But not with oil that somebody
poured on his head. He is anointed with the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is pictured in the Old Testament by order.
But he's anointed with the Holy Spirit a whole lot more than
those Old Testament prophets were. The Holy Spirit did come
to them, didn't he? He came, he moved them to write
the Scriptures. The Spirit came to them and gave them the message
for the people for the time. But he just stayed with them
for a time. And they died. But the Spirit came to Christ
without measure. So that he's anointed above thy
fellows, it says. Above thy fellows." Now here
men are called the fellows of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's
grace. That is unspeakable grace. I
thought about that this week. How far did this Son, this glorious
King have to condescend to be a fellow of you and me? Oh, that's grace. That's grace. So when you think of that, that's
why he says it's the oil of gladness above thy fellows. The gospel
is glad tidings. That's what the angels said.
I bring you glad tidings of good things. This gospel is glad tidings. Matter of fact, there's no reason
to be glad outside of Christ. But in Christ now, there's gladness. And this is this gladness. It's
going to last. It's not just a silly, goofy
grin or some acting silly. This is a gladness that's in
the heart. And it's independent of what's
going on around you. It's in Christ. This gladness
is going to last. It's Him living in you. That's the oil of gladness. Now,
verse 10, he says, And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid
the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works
of thine hands. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is the creator of
this earth, and we know creation is an act of God. Here he is
showing himself as God. He's the one that created the
world. He himself is wisdom. So he has the wisdom to lay the
foundations of this earth. Now you step back far enough
and you see the earth as a globe, as a ball hanging in space. There
it sits, just spinning, hanging there. Where's its foundation? God laid those foundations. You
can't see them, but God laid them. They're there, sure and
eternal. He laid the foundation. That's
what the earth sits on, the foundation God laid it on. And He made the
heavens. He made the sky and atmosphere
above us. He made the heavens, the starry
skies we see, and He made the heavens, the third heavens, where
God dwells. All that's a creation of Christ. See, He has the wisdom and He
has the power. The Word of He spoke those things
into existence with the Word of His power to lay these foundations
to create the whole creation by Himself. No angel was around
helping in this. They had to be created. Gil says
the angels were created in those first six days. They were created. So as the creator, Christ has
the royal rights to reign over his creation. That scepter rightfully
belongs to him because he's the creator. And I'm glad our king
has both the wisdom and the power to rule well. He's a good king. And not only did He lay the foundation
of the earth, He laid the foundation for the church too. But He didn't
just come and pour concrete foundation. Christ Himself is the foundation
of the church. He's the chief cornerstone that
the whole church is built on. The solid rock that we built
on. Now verse 11, this creation,
they shall perish, but thou remainest, and they shall wax old as doth
the garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and
they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail." Now this glorious creation that the Lord
has made is getting old. Sin is just wearing it out. The
songwriter said, death and decay and all around I see. O thou
that changest not, abide with me. All this creation is losing
its beauty because it's under the curse because of sin. Paul
said that in Romans 8. In Romans 8, verse 19. For the earnest expectation of
the creature, the creation, waited for the manifestation of the
sons of God. For the creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, But by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope, because of Adam's sin, this creation was
made subject to vanity. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
they, not only the creation, but ourselves also, which have
the firstfruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan within
ourselves. waiting for the adoption, to
quit, namely, the redemption of our body. That's what we're
waiting for, and that's what this creation's waiting for.
So it's not subject to vanity, to sin anymore. And the creation,
because of sin, is getting old. Just like an old work shirt is
getting old. But the Creator isn't getting
old. He's not getting feeble and wearing out. And one day,
the Lord's going to fold this creation up and put it away. He's going to make it new. He's
going to create a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells
righteousness. And that creation will be eternally
beautiful. It'll never wear out because
there's no sin in it. There's no sin in there to decay it and
wear it out. And it's going to be beautiful.
Sin has changed this world for the worse, hasn't it? Christ
is going to come and change it for the better. Make it perfect
eternally. And this is what we need to keep
in mind about this. Everything that we love in this
world is going to go away. It's going to wear out. It's
going to get old. It's going to die. Whether it's family or
friends or places that we love, even this flesh is going to get
old and fail us and go back to the dust. Now that being true,
undeniable fact, don't cling to it. Don't cling to something
that's crumbling and decaying and is going to be It's gone.
And it's gone. Don't cling to it. Cling to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He'll never fail. He'll never
get old. He'll never get weary. And the
love and the care that He has for His people will never fail. So cling to Him and Him alone. And don't let yourself get fascinated
with anything else. Put your mind and heart on Him.
Now, verse 13. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
like footstool. The father never told an angel,
sit down and rest. Much less to sit on a throne
that's reserved for the son. The son sits on the throne and
waits till his enemies be made his footstool. Servants don't
rule. Kings rule. And isn't it obvious
the king is greater than the servant? Always. Now, the gospel
is a message of gladness, isn't it? The gospel is a message that's
full of grace and mercy for sinners. But the gospel also warns of
judgment. The enemies of Christ will be
made His footstool. They will. They will be defeated
and put under His foot. And my prayer is, Lord, break
my heart now. Break that stony heart. Take
it out of me and give me a heart of flesh. Break me, so I'm not
your enemy anymore. Make me a son, not an enemy,
so I'm not that one day put underfoot. Because He will put His enemies
under His feet. God, give me the grace to surrender. Surrender now. And verse 14 says,
Are they not all ministering spirits? Sent forth to minister
for them who shall be the heirs of salvation? Angels aren't told
to sit. They're told to go and minister
and minister to God's people. That's what he says here. Look
over Psalm 91. It's Psalm 91 verse 11. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone." Now, I don't necessarily like the term guardian angels,
but that's the way he says it. Gives his angels charge over
thee. You don't know how many times an angel held you up in
their hands and kept you from harm some way. And I'm not going
to go looking for them, but I know they're here. Because they're
here doing God's business. Sent to minister to the heirs
of salvation. And I read this this week. This
is good. I thought it was. The elect are
called heirs of salvation. You're not called an inheritor.
You're called an heir. Children are heirs. Not inheritors. They're heirs. And we're made
God's children. That's what I said earlier. Children
by adoption. Children by the new birth, children by God's
grace. If children, then heirs, heirs
of God, and joint heirs with Christ, heirs of everything that
he's purchased for us, everything that God's given him. God hadn't
given angels anything. Our inheritance is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's far greater. All right.
Well, I hope that's been a blessing.