Hebrews the first chapter. Our text will be verses 4 through
14 and the theme of this book of Hebrews is found in the opening
line of verse 4 where the Apostle writing by inspiration tells
us that Christ being made so much better than the angels. The purpose of this book appears
to have been this. It seems that this epistle was
written because some of the Jews who had professed faith in Christ
were being seduced by legalists, by work mongers. They were being
enticed to go back to the law of Moses, to go back to the yoke
of bondage, to go back to the legal ceremonies and rituals
of carnal worship. As in our day, so it was from
the beginning of the gospel age, we find it throughout almost
all the epistles, There were many who professed faith in Christ,
who tried to mix law and grace, their own works with the work
of God, who tried to mix spiritual worship with the worship of Christ
by carnal means, and those things simply cannot be. Therefore,
the Holy Spirit gave us the book of Hebrews, and the purpose is
to show us that Jesus Christ is in all things superior to
every covenant, every ordinance, every ceremony, every priest,
all the angels, and everything else revealed in the Old Testament,
which were given primarily under the law as types and pictures
of Christ Jesus the Lord and of our redemption and salvation
in him. The angels are mentioned first
because the law was given to Moses by the mediation of angels
on Mount Sinai, and the Jews had a special veneration for
angels. Many of them even worshiped the
angels, and that was totally contrary to God's purpose and
to God's revelation. So the title of the message this
evening is Christ Better Than the Angels. These angels of God,
creatures of our God, high and holy they are, but they are simply
the creatures of God and not to be worshipped as God. Now
hold your Bibles open in Hebrews chapter one, and let's look at
these verses together. I don't think it would be wise
to begin at verse four without reading the opening verses, because
the first word of verse four is a connecting word. And the
last line of verse three, you will notice it doesn't end with
a period, but rather it ends with a semicolon or a colon. Here in verse one then, let's
read what Christ has done and who he is. God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners, spoke 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, 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 on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now look at verse four, being
made. being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. The words made or being made
need to be understood. Our Lord Jesus Christ was and
is naturally better than the angels because of his eternal
divinity, his eternal Godhead. But here the apostle is writing
to us talking about that which Christ as a man was made to be. As a result of his accomplishments
as our mediator, as the result of his accomplishments as our
surety, the God-man, Jesus Christ, was made higher than the angels
and better than the angels. Though for a while he condescended
to be made lower than the angels, in that he took on himself human
flesh, now this man is made to be higher and better than the
angels. Turn to Philippians chapter 2
for a moment. This is the reward of our Lord's
success as our mediator. Having put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself, the Son of God in human flesh has accomplished
everything he agreed to in covenant grace before the world began.
He has accomplished everything required for the everlasting
salvation of his people and has obtained eternal redemption for
us by the merit of his blood. Therefore, we read in Philippians
2 verse 9, wherefore, that is, since Christ took on him the
form of a servant, since he became obedient unto his father, obedient
even unto death, wherefore, as the result of this, God also
hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. We'll read in a little bit in
John chapter 17, the Lord willing. Our Lord said, now father, give
me the glory which I had with you before the world was. You
give it to me not as your son who is your equal, but as the
surety, the mediator who has redeemed your people, who has
finished the work you gave him to do. He says, God has highly
exalted him and given him a name that is above every name. that
at the name of Jesus, this one who came to be our savior, this
one who of whom it is written he shall save his people from
their sins, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. One of
these days Everything that is and has been and shall hereafter
be. Every angel in heaven and every
demon in hell. Every regenerate man called of
God and every damned man who would not believe the gospel.
At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. Of things in heaven
and of things in the earth, and things under the earth. Everybody
is going to bow to Christ the Lord. Everybody. God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucified, Peter told the Sanhedrin, to
be both Lord and Christ. And one of these days you're
going to bow to him as such. Every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now that's
God's purpose, ultimately, which shall be fulfilled. Every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ, the man, is
Lord to the glory of God. This fourth verse of Hebrews
1 was written particularly to discourage the worship and adoration
of the angels. You see, the scriptures clearly
forbid. We must not worship either men or angels. Worship is reserved
for God alone. Every time an angel in the New
Testament or the old was bowed to and worshiped, a reproof,
a stern reproof was given. even when there was a mistake
made. For example, in the book of Revelation, when John started
to bow down and worship an angel, presuming that angel, I'm certain,
to be the Lord Jesus, who was often revealed as an angel, the
angel said, now wait a minute, don't worship me, worship God
alone. We don't pray to, we don't worship,
we do not give veneration to any man or any angel except the
God-man, Jesus Christ, the angel of the covenant. Christ is in
all things better to, superior to, and more excellent than the
angels by an infinite degree. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. He's the creator, their creatures. He's the master, their
servants. He's the king, they're his subjects. Christ is God, independent, immutable. They are dependent creatures
of God, always subject to mutability, except God himself hold them
as he has reserved them in their holy estate, those who fail not. Christ is the one who is worshiped.
The angels worship him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who sins. They are the ones sent by him.
He is the one who blesses and they are blessed of him. All
right, look at verse five. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time? Unto which of the angels did
God Almighty ever say, 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 God never called one of his
angels his son. Never did he do so. He calls
Jesus Christ his son, and he did so on specific occasions.
Let's look at them. Turn back to Matthew chapter
three. Matthew chapter 3. Our Lord Jesus
came to be baptized by John the Baptist, and John forbade him. He said, oh no, I need to be
baptized by you. And the Lord said, suffer to
be so now, for so it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. That is, by his baptism, our
Lord Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry declared
in symbolic fashion how that righteousness would be fulfilled
by his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And this is
what takes place in Matthew chapter 3 verse 16. And Jesus, when he
was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. He didn't stand
by the seashore and have John dip a little water in his hands
and sprinkle it on his face. He was baptized, the word would
better be translated, dipped or immersed. And he came up straight
way out of the water. And when he did, at his symbolic
resurrection, when he had symbolically been raised from the dead, lo,
the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of
God descending like a dove and lighting upon the Lord Jesus.
And lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Never did God say that to an
angel. And he said it to his son particularly because of this
picture in which he shows the fulfilling of all righteousness
by his obedience as our substitute. We see the same thing again in
Matthew chapter 17 at our Lord's transfiguration. The Lord Jesus
was taken up into the mouth of transfiguration. Peter, James,
and John were there with him. Moses and Elijah came and spoke
to him as he who is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets.
Spoke to him concerning the death which he would accomplish at
Jerusalem. And when they did, look at this,
Matthew 17, verse five, about to get ahead of myself. While
he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And
behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Again, the picture
is Christ accomplishing righteousness, accomplishing redemption of which
Moses and Elijah spoke concerning him. Now look at Romans chapter
one for a moment. The text that we have read here
in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 5 is really a quotation from Psalm
2 and verse 7. You can look at it later. But
there was a prophecy given of Christ the King and God commands
all men to kiss the sun lest he be angry when his wrath is
kindled but a little. Here in Romans chapter 1 verse
4, the Apostle Paul is again telling us how that God declares
Jesus Christ to be his son. How that God specially points
out his son in human flesh and says, this is my son. Look at
Romans chapter 1 verse 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh. and declared to be the
Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead. When Jesus Christ arose from
the dead, God Almighty says, this is my Son in human flesh. And he gives him a name that's
above every name. Christ is the Son of God by nature,
for he is God. The angels are the sons of God
by creation, and in a sense, all men are. We who are born
of God, God's elect, are his sons by adoption, but we do not
in any way become gods when he saves us, nor are the angels
gods because they're his sons, but rather we who are the creatures
of God are infinitely lower than him who is God by nature, God
the Son, the second person of the Trinity. Our Lord's office
as Messiah and mediator is not the foundation of his sonship
as many these days would teach. There are, and I say these days,
it's always been this way, there have always been heretics in
what's called Christianity and what's called Christendom who
have denied the eternal deity of Jesus Christ. There's one
very popular A conservative radio preacher known all over the world
writes a lot of books who got in hot water because he denied
the eternal deity of Christ and began to cost him a little bit
so he retracted it. God's people, God's people recognize
and acknowledge and confess and worship Jesus Christ as our God. He is either God or he's an imposter. He's either God Almighty or our
faith is just a joke. Jesus Christ is indeed God. The angels worshiped him as God.
He demanded that men worship him as God. He made himself equal
with God. That's the reason the Jews in
John 10 picked up rocks and were going to kill him. Because he,
being a man, declared himself to be equal with God. And his
disciples all through the days of his pilgrimage on this earth,
in his earthly ministry, worshipped him as God. Thomas said, My Lord
and my God. And that's the confession of
all true faith. Look at John chapter 17. I said
we'd look at it in a moment. Beginning at verse 1. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. You remember how often the Jews
tried to take him and kill him? One time they wanted to take
him by force and make him a king. Next time they wanted to kill
him. And our Lord escaped out of the midst. He passed through
the midst of them. How come? Because he said, my
hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. The
hour in which I should finish my work. The hour in which I
should redeem my people. The hour when I should ascend
back to God. in glory as God, the God-man,
our mediator. But now, he says, the time's
come. It's here. The hour has come.
Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou
hast given him power, dominion, authority over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Now as God the Son, God the Father never gave him anything. He never
gave him anything. But as God the man, as the God-man,
our mediator, he has given this power, he's given this authority
over all flesh. Verse three, and this is life
eternal. I have a brief article in Sunday's
bulletin. These days, folks, many have gone the way of the
Gnostics and imagined that knowledge is salvation. Knowledge is not
salvation. They know all the right doctrine
and not know Christ. But there's no salvation apart
from knowledge. And what is salvation? That they
should know Thee. the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Now nobody is saved until they
know God in the person of Jesus Christ whom God has sent. To
know God, that's life everlasting. And look what it says in verse
four. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do. This is the basis of his
petition. He's made much better than the
angels. God Almighty has given to him
power and dominion. This one who is our Savior, God
speaks to this man and says, thou art my son. This day have
I begotten thee. Look at verse six, Hebrews chapter
one, verse six. And again, when he bringeth his
first begotten into the world. Now he goes back before the time
when Christ had finished his work. When he brings his first
begotten into the world, even as an infant, even as that, can
I say it and be understood, that helpless baby? Lindsay, as a
man, he was physically just as helpless as a baby as your two
were when they were babies. He's a real man. He's God, yes,
but he's a man. He required the milk of his mother's
breast, though he is God who creates milk in the breast. He's
a man. Now, here's this infant, this
weak infant. He grows up as a tender plant,
as a root out of dry ground. A tender plant. Man, you get
those plants next spring, you put the seed in the ground and
you water it and the sun comes out and you keep waiting and
just a little shoot comes up. That first little blade of corn
comes up. And you don't dare step on it. And if some animal
of any size comes by and steps on it, it's gone. It's a tender
plan. That's the description here. Now, the angels of God
worship him as God. Even this little babe. Let the
angels of God worship him. Look at verse 7. And of the angels
he saith. This is what God says concerning
his angels. Concerning his son, he says, thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. But concerning the angels he
saith, who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a
flame of fire. The angels of God are created
spirits. Now this is so hard for us to
fathom. But the angels don't have any
physical form. They're spirits. They're spirits. They often appeared in the Old
Testament and in the days of the apostles in the form of a
man. But the angels are spirits. They
swiftly fly to do His will here and there. The angels, however,
have no physical, material body such as we have. These created
spirits are made the ministers, the servants of God. That's what
the word minister means here. They are servants. As a matter
of fact, that's what the word minister always means in most
In English-speaking countries, wherever someone is given a department
head in a nation or in a state, they are called the minister.
We have secretary of defense. In most places, it would be called
the minister of defense. It simply means servant, the
servant of defense. Here, the angels are made the
servants of God Almighty, and He makes them to be a flame of
fire. What a picture they are. You
remember when Elisha asked God, Lord open my servant's eyes that
he might see. And God opened his eyes and Elisha's
servant looked and behold the mountains were covered with chariots
of fire, angels of God. When Elijah died, actually he
didn't die. When Elijah was translated to
heaven, the chariots of God carried him up to glory. The angels of
God. They're called a flame of fire,
perhaps because of their burning love and zeal for God. Perhaps
because they're the executioners of the wrath of God. But they're
his servants, ever burning to do his will. Look at verse eight.
But unto the Son, he saith. He goes back now to the Son.
And he goes back now to the Son in his exaltation and glory.
Thy throne, O God. What a word. What a word. God Almighty says to this man,
thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Do you get the picture? As we
read through these verses, the Holy Spirit moves this man who
writes the epistle to give us ever-increasing pictures of the
glory of Christ. If this were a musical cantata,
and you folks who could read music, you'd read it and the
scales would just be moving rapidly, rapidly to a crescendo, until
finally we see him sitting on the throne who is God. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. To the Son, Jesus Christ, the
Father says, Thy throne, O God, is forever. Again, we're here
told that the man, Christ Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior, is himself
God. God sitting upon an everlasting
throne. His throne's fixed. Fixed in
the heavens. Nothing moves it. Nothing shakes
it. Nothing causes him to tremble.
And the scepter of his kingdom is now, always has been, and
shall forever be a scepter of righteousness. Turn back with
me, if you will, to Psalm 45. This is the passage to which
the text refers. Psalm 45, verse 6. Are you there? Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom, the
rod by which you rule, that's what the scepter means, that
the scepter in the king's hand is the symbol of his authority,
it's the rod in the king's hand. The rod by which you rule is
a righteous rod, a righteous scepter. Thou lovest righteousness
and hatest iniquity or wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Now this takes us down to verse
9 of our text. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Jesus Christ, our God and Savior,
loves righteousness and hates iniquity. He loves righteousness and hates
iniquity. The psalmist said this is the
reason why he punishes all workers of iniquity. He loves righteousness
and hates iniquity. He says this is the reason why
he saves his people. He loves righteousness and hates
iniquity. Same reason. God showed this
clearly when Adam and Eve had sinned, he drove them out of
the garden and set a barrier lest they should find their way
back to the tree of life. The Lord God brought judgment
against man. When he saw the wickedness of
man, the wickedness of his heart was only evil and that continually,
he destroyed the world in the flood of his wrath. When he beheld
the perversity of the Sodomites in Sodom and Gomorrah, he destroyed
the city in a fire of his wrath. The Lord God came down at Sinai
and declared himself to be one who loves righteousness and hates
iniquity and said, if even the hand of a beast touched this
mountain, he'll be put to death. You put your hand to that which
symbolizes God's holiness and you'll die for it. The Lord God,
throughout the days of the Old Testament, in judgment, one after
another, displays that he hates righteousness and loves iniquity.
Oh, but when God made His Son to be sin for us, He displays
plainly that He loves righteousness and hates iniquity. Therefore,
in order to redeem and save us, He lays our sin upon His Son
and establishes righteousness, and He satisfies justice for
the putting away of sin, that He might be just and the justifier
of all who believe. The Lord thy God here is described
as being the God of Christ. Because as a man, God the Father
is the God of Christ just like he's our God. He said, I go to
my Father and to your Father. Jesus Christ in all things identifies
himself with us and we're one with him. Because of what Christ
has accomplished as the God-man, our mediator, He has been anointed
with the oil of gladness above his fellows. And it pleased God
that all fullness dwell in him, that he be the head of the body
of the church, the beginning of all things, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
All right, look at verse 10. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thy hands. Who's your savior? Well, he's
the one who describes himself as wisdom by whom God made everything. He is the word without whom nothing
was made that is made. Look at verse 11. They shall
perish. Oh, God, teach me this. Everything
in this world and the world itself is marked for burning. Philip
Dottridge, the Puritan, said, don't build your nest in any
of the trees of this forest. They're all marked to be burned.
And they are all marked to be burned. Learn to cherish nothing
in this world more than you will cherish it when you watch it
burn. Nothing. They shall perish, but
thou remainest. Nothing changes him. He's forever. They shall wax old as a garment. They're gonna wear out, just
wear out. I don't know how the Lord's going
to destroy this world, but I know he is. This present heaven and
earth shall be destroyed with fire by one means or another. And when it is, God will purge
the world of all wickedness and sin, all the results of sin,
all the curse that's in it. And he will create all things
new in perfect righteousness. And he never changes. Look at
verse 12. As a vesture thou shalt fold
them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, thy years
shall not fail. I don't know why we have such
a tendency to want to hang on to everything, keep everything,
hold to things. You get done with a pair of trousers,
knees are worn out, seat's gone. and your wife can't patch them
anymore, can't sew them up anymore, well, maybe I'll hang on to these
little ones. No, you just fold them up, throw
them away, just throw them away, and go buy you something to replace
them. Well, when this world has served its purpose, it will wear
out according to the purpose of God. He's going to burn it,
and he's going to replace it with something indescribably
better, indescribably better. a new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Verse 13, but to which of the
angels said he at any time, set thou on my right hand, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool. None of them, but Bobby Esther's
one of these days, he gonna make all Christ's enemies his footstool. His footstool. I love the picture.
I go home in the evenings, I sit down in that big overstuffed
easy chair, and I about always throw my feet up on the stool.
About always do. How come? Because it's the most
relaxed position I can get in. Just relaxed. And I'm telling
you that Jesus Christ shall rule forever with all of hell under
his feet with perfect ease and satisfaction. What are the angels? Why, verse 14, they're ministering
spirits. sent forth to minister to those
who shall be the heirs of salvation. That's their job, and they do
it well. But he who is our salvation is
no angel. He's the Christ of God, the Son
of God, our God-man mediator. Amen. Our Father, bless your
word now to the hearts of your people. We thank you for Christ,
our Redeemer. And we thank you for the blessed
success of his work by which we are made righteous before
God and forgiven of all sin. Amen. Let's sing number 443. There is no name so sweet on
earth, no name so sweet as that of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer
and Savior.