Now, Hebrews chapter 1, I had
Brother Ronnie read the first chapter and then the first part
of the second chapter. I may have planned more than
I can produce, but I want us to look at this scripture tonight
and rejoice in something better. That's the title of this message,
Something Better. Rejoice in something better. As you know, the book of Hebrews
is the one epistle which does more to bring together
the Old Testament and the New Testament than any other book
in the Bible. Every book serves that purpose,
I know, but especially the book of Hebrews brings together the
Old Testament and the New Testament better than any other book I've
found. The book of Hebrews is God speaking
unto us through his Son. God speaking, look at verse 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." The book of Hebrews is God speaking
to us by his Son and about his Son. That's what the book's all
about. It's about his Son. Well, that's
what the Old Testament is about. The Old Testament is Christ in
promise, Christ in prophecy, Christ in picture. The New Testament
is Christ in person. It's all about him. To him, you
have all the prophets' witness. And the book of Hebrews tells
us how he fulfills himself, in himself, all that has been written
and all that's being written. He fulfills, he filleth all and
in all. He's the fulfillment of all that
has been written. And how he fulfills every promise,
all the promises of God are in Christ. There's nothing for you,
me, or anybody else from God that's not in Christ. In him,
all the promises of God are yes. And amen. Forever, so be it. He fulfills everything that's
written, and he fulfills every promise made, and how he fulfills
every ceremony, every washing, every type, every ordinance,
every sacrifice. These were ordained to reveal
him. And when he came, he said, I
didn't come to destroy these things that are written. I didn't
come to destroy, the Lord came to fulfill it, totally fulfill
it, to the satisfaction of my Father. And then this book tells
us how that he puts all of those ceremonies away, all of them. You don't keep a type when you
have the fulfillment. You don't keep a ceremony when
you have the person. So he fulfills them, every ceremony,
every type, every picture, and then he puts them away. Folds
them up and puts them away. He taketh away the first to become
the one object of our love and of our faith. It's Christ. He is my Sabbath. He is my righteousness. He is my holiness. He is my redemption. I'm complete in Him. That's what
this book's about. And here in verse 1 of chapter
1 of Hebrews, God, like Brother Ronnie said appropriately, that's
the way it begins. That's the way the whole Bible
begins, in the beginning God. And God who at sundry times and
in divers manners, there was times of silence. There were
times when God didn't speak, but there were times when He
did. And when he did, he spake to our, in times past, unto the
fathers by the prophets. God spoke to the fathers by Abraham
about Christ. He took Abraham up in a mountain
one day, had Abraham take with him his most precious possession,
his only son, by Sarah, and told him to go to that mountain and
bind that lad and put him on an altar. and sacrifice him as
a burnt offering. Kill him and burn his body and
shed his blood as a sacrifice. And on the way up that mountain,
the son said to the father, Father, here's the wood and here's the
fire, where's the lamb? And his father, believing God,
said, My son, God will provide himself. God will provide. Himself a Lamb. He'll provide. He named that place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. He'll
provide the Lamb for Himself. He'll provide the Lamb Himself.
And He'll provide Himself the Lamb. He will. So they got to the top of the
mountain and Abraham obediently bound his son, and he believed
that God would raise him from the dead. You say, how could
Abraham do that? Well, I don't know. Except to
say he believed God. But Abraham knew deep in his
soul that God couldn't lie. And God had promised that in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That's a promise. And it has
to be fulfilled. And Abraham knew that. And Abraham
knew in his heart if he slew that boy, God would raise him
from the dead. He had already slain him in here,
and he had already received him from the dead in here. It was
already done. It was just a matter of going
through the motions. But God stayed his hand. When
Abraham raised his hand to slay his son, God said, Abraham, touch
not the lad. He looked behind him, and there
was a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. And Abraham then,
took Isaac from off the altar, and put the ram in his place,
and slew him. And the scripture says, Abraham
saw my day. Abraham saw the cross, substitution. The blood shed, and the sinner
stayed. The ram died, the son went free. The ram took the knife, and the
son went free. And Abraham Our Lord said, He
rejoiced. He rejoiced to see my day. He
saw it, and He was so glad. He was so glad. God spoke to
Him. Well, there were other years
of silence, and then God spoke to Moses. And He said, Moses,
I've spoken to Pharaoh again and again, and he'll not let
my people go. He will after tonight. He said,
because I'm going to pass through the land of Egypt. I'm going
to pass through the land of Egypt. God said, myself. I'm not sending
an angel. I'm coming through. That's what
He said. Check up on it. I'm coming through. And every
home, from the cattle on the hillside to Pharaoh's palace,
the firstborn son is going to die under judgment. But Moses,
take a lamb, without spot or blemish, the first thing of the
flock, and put it up, keep it four days, four days. He didn't say that night, he
said certain night I'm coming through. He said put him up,
observe him, and then slay that lamb, a lamb for a house, and
put the blood on the door. And when I come through in judgment,
and I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And I'll tell you,
when Moses saw that lamb, he saw Christ. And when he saw that
lamb die, He saw Christ. And when he saw that blood on
the door, he saw Christ's blood on the door of our hearts and
on the mercy seat of glory. He saw the blood between the
sinner and the judgment of a holy God. And the sinner lived. And Christ said, Moses wrote
of me. These religious folks in the
New Testament, they said, we have Moses. We have Moses. Christ
said, you didn't believe Moses? You didn't believe Moses. If
you'd believe Moses, you'd believe me. Moses wrote of me, Christ
is our Passover. Christ is our rock. God spake
sundry times and in different manners about Christ, but always
about Christ, always about the blood. He sent fiery serpents
among the people of Israel. They murmured, complained, and
found fault with his good providence. And he sent fiery serpents among
the people and they were bitten and so many of them had died
and were dying. And Moses said, Lord, the people,
people are going to perish. People are going to perish. All
of them. I pray for them. The Lord said,
all right, Moses, take a serpent of brass in the likeness of the
serpents that have bitten the people. and put it on a pole
and lift it up between heaven and earth. And it shall come
to pass that whosoever shall look shall live." That's Christ. This sin, flesh, had bitten us
in Adam. We died. We're a race of dying
people, dead people. Christ came down here and was
made in the likeness of our sinful flesh. The very thing that is
destroying us, He became. The very thing that had afflicted
us, he became. In the likeness of sinful flesh,
he was lifted up on a cross, the crucified Lamb of God. And all who looked to him and
believed on him, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so, he said, must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth. will never perish, but have life."
God spoke. God spoke when Moses smoked the
rock. God spoke to Jonah in the belly
of the fish. He said, down here in the darkness,
imagine that place. He said, the iron bars closed
about me forever. Maybe that was the The ribs of
that great fish closed about him, darkness, seaweed all about
his head. And Jonah was down in the belly
of that fish. And he said, I was helpless.
But I turned my face again toward thy holy temple. Not that there
was any salvation in Jerusalem or in the temple, but that's
where the mercy seat was. That's where the atonement was.
That's where the blood is. on the mercy seat. And I looked
one more time, and he said, Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is
of the Father by His gift and grace. Salvation is of the Lord
Jesus by His sacrifice and blood. Salvation is of the Lord. And that old fish just vomited
him out on the ground. And Jonah, he saw Christ because
our Lord said, He saw him not only in substitution and deliverance
and salvation, but he saw the Lord Jesus in resurrection. Jonah
was resurrected from the dead. Do I believe he was living? No, I believe he was dead down
in that fish. And God gave him life. You don't
live in the belly of a fish. He was dead, dead. And God sent that fish a message,
let him go. Let Him go. And that's the message
here. God, at sundry times and in divers
manners, and I could go on the rest of this night, and every
night this week, talking to you about all these Old Testament
pictures and prophecies and types, every single one of them points
to Christ. To Christ and His substitutionary
works, person, satisfaction. But God has spoken to us, listen, by His Son, who is He, listen,
whom He hath appointed the heir of everything." Christ Jesus
owns all things. "...by whom also He made the
worlds, who being in the brightness, who being in the very brightness
of God's glory..." Where do you see God's glory? In the face
of Christ Jesus. The glory of God is revealed
in the face of Christ Jesus. That's where it's revealed. And
a man that hasn't seen Christ hasn't seen God's glory. A person
that has not seen Christ Jesus, our Savior and Substitute, has
not seen God's glory. That's right. And he's expressed,
he's exact image of his person. And he that has seen me, Christ
said, has seen my Father. Because I and my Father are one.
And he upholdeth. All things by the word of His
power. He not only made all things by
His power, by His word, but He upholds all things by His power. Now watch this. What did He do? When He had by Himself, that
is, alone without any help, the royal bath of mercy was drawn
from the veins of the Son of God. And nothing else has polluted
or entered into that stream. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanses the sinner and makes him whole. The banquet of mercy
is ordained of the Lord and prepared by the Lord and served by the
Lord, and He's the bread and He's the wine by Christ. When He had by Himself, and not
only alone, but He had by the sacrifice of Himself, purged
our sins, purged them, put them away, Satisfied them. Paid the debt. Made them not
to exist. He'll remember them no more.
Where is he now? He sat down, having finished
his work on the right hand of the Majesty on high. That's who
he is. And that's what he did. And that's
where he is. And the hymn writer said, the
true Messiah now appears. The types are all withdrawn,
so fly the shadows and the stars before the morning sun. Just
like when the sun comes out and the stars just disappear, they're
still there. Gone. You don't even see them
in the light of the glory of the sun. The moon is still there,
but it's gone. It can't stand out in the presence
of the sun. And even so, the true Messiah,
now appears, and the types and shadows and pictures are all
withdrawn, just like the shadows and the stars flee before the
morning sun. No smoking flax, no bleeding
lambs, no kids nor bullocks slain. Incense and spices of costly
name would all be burnt in vain. Don't do it. Don't light a candle. Don't burn incense. Don't do
these things because it's all in vain. Christ is our altar. Aaron must lay his robes away,
his miter and his rest, when God himself comes to be my offering
and my priest. He took our mortal flesh to show
the wonders of his love, and for us he gave his life below,
and even now prays for us. My, my, my, my, isn't that something? Verse 3, "...who being the brightness
of his glory, and the exact 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." Now look at verse 4, "...being made so much better." So much better. Here's the key. So much better. I want to show
you something now. So much better. Number 1, verse
4 says he's so much better than the angels. We read about the
angels of the Lord. I just read you from the book
of Revelation. Would you turn back there again?
And you know men are in awe in the presence of angels. When
the angels appeared to the shepherds, they were so afraid. When angels
appeared to different ones, they were so fearful. And here even
the beloved John in Revelation 19 verse 9, when the angel appeared
to him and said, Write, Blessed are they that are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of God, And I fell at his feet to worship
him. Even John, you know, was awed, smitten by the awesome
presence of an angel of the Lord. And he would have fallen. And
the angel said, don't do that. Don't do that. I am thy fellow
servant. Worship God. Worship God. Verse 5, go back to my text.
Hebrews 1 says, He's so much better than the angels, as he
hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
For to which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son?
This day have I begotten thee. And again, I'll be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son. Which angel do you ever say that
to? And again, when He bringeth the
first begotten into the world, He said, let all the angels of
God worship Him. You know, we're all cut out of
the same clay, and it might be of such importance to us to have
an angel come and bring us a special message, but I'm telling you,
on the authority of this book, You have in your hand something
more certain and sure than if you saw an angel tonight and
heard him speak. That's right. You, through your
life, might remember having seen that angel and having heard him
speak, but it will always be in your mind a glimmer of doubt.
Was he from the Lord? Did God send him? Did I really
see Him? Was that a dream? Or was that
an experience? I know this is not a dream. I
know this is from God. I know God gave me this. I know
this is so. And I don't matter how old I
get, or frail or infirm I get, or forgetful I get, this is ever
the same. Let me show you something in
II Peter. Chapter 1. This is better than angels. This
is Christ. This is His Word. In 2 Peter
1, Peter is talking about when he and James and John went with
the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Verse 17 of
2 Peter 1 says, He received from God the Father honor and glory,
when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And this
voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him
in the holy mountain. But I want to tell you something,
he said in verse 19, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. where unto you do well that you
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts, knowing
this first, no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy didn't come
in old time by the will of man, but the holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." This is better. Christ
is better than angels. His Word is better than visions. His Word is more sure and more
certain and a better foundation than any feeling or experience
you could possibly have. Rest in the Word. Let me show
you something else now. Hebrews 7. Remember that word,
better? Better than the angels. Now look
at Hebrews 7 verse 19. Hebrews 7 verse 19. He's better
than the law. He's better than the Old Covenant.
He's better than the priesthood and the tabernacle. Hebrews 7
verse 19 says, For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing
in of a better hope did, a better hope, by the which we draw nigh
unto God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath he was made a priest, For those priests back yonder, Aaron
and the sons of Levi, were made priests without an oath. But this, with an oath by him
that sware unto him, the Lord swared will not repent. He said
to his son, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better covenant." Oh my, a better covenant. Think of that
tabernacle in the wilderness. Awesome sight. Awesome sight. That cloud over it during the
day. Some Israelite would wake up
during the night, look out of his tent, and there would be
a fire right over that tabernacle. The glory of God. The kind of
glory of God dwelling over the mercy sea. It must have made
him tremble. And he'd see that old priest,
you know, Averin, dressed in his mitre, impressive, impressive,
white linen, the twelve tribes of Israel on his breastplate,
awesome quiet, as he slew the lamb and walked slowly towards
the Holy of Holies where he would put the blood on the mercy seat
over the ark in the presence of God. All the people, thousands
and thousands of them, standing waiting. Once a year, the high
priest went into the holy place, not without blood, which he offered
for himself before God for the sins of the people. What an awesome
time. But I got something better than that. A whole lot better
than that. I wouldn't want to live there.
I wouldn't want to be in that crowd standing out there watching
that old high priest. These were but men. My priest
is the God-man. These fellows, oh, there were
many of them, just one. He's just one. They had a short
reign. They were priests for a little
while, and then old Aaron's steps got slower, and his shoulders
stooped down, and his wrinkles increased, and after a while
there was a fellow in his place. And Aaron was gone. And then
a fellow in his place. And I get shook up a little bit
now. Here I've got too many priests. And they die. And they ministered
on earth. I need somebody in His presence. And they offered blood sacrifices,
animal sacrifices. I needed someone to offer His
own blood. And their work couldn't save
anybody. But look at verse 23 of Hebrews 7, And they were truly
many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death. But this man, Because he continueth
ever, he has an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able
to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him." I've
got something better. Something better. A better word than an angel's
voice. A better priest than Aaron and
all the sons of Levi. And look at chapter 8, verse
6. I've got a better better promise. It says in Hebrews 8, 6, But
now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant, which is established on better
promises. Oh, I know I hear preachers always
talking about the land of Israel, the holy land. Jerusalem, and
they're over there fighting over these boundaries and all these
different things, and rebuilding the temple and all these things.
Do you know that the promises of God to Israel in that old
covenant consisted, consisted mainly of earthly, temporal,
material blessings? Did you know that? Abraham wasn't
looking for that land. He was in it. He was looking
for eternal land. made by God. And God promised
Israel Canaan, and they got it. And He promised them a land of
peace, and for a while they enjoyed it. And He promised them plenty
and prosperity, which they enjoyed under David and Solomon. And
when they obeyed, they were blessed, and when they didn't, they were
damned. I don't want nothing to do with that. That won't do
me any good. And that's what I hear all these
preachers preaching about today. Do you need financial help? I
always have and always will. Do you need healing? Yeah, and
I'll need it again tomorrow. And one of these days I'll need
it and won't get it. And I'll slip on out of here. Do you need
this? Do you need that? My friends,
I tell you what I need. I need something better than
Canaan. I need something better than
a car. I need something better than a house to live in. I need
something better than food to eat. I need something better
than a well body. I need sanctification. I need
mercy. I need grace. I need justification. I need somebody to bless me with
spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus that do not fade
away and do not perish. Don't you? And that's what this
is. This is a better covenant, the
covenant of His sovereign free grace in Christ Jesus, of which
Christ is our surety. It's a better covenant established
on better promises. God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies
in Christ Jesus, according as He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. That's right. That's right. And Romans chapter 8 says this. I want you to listen to this.
Romans chapter 8 says this, in verse 17, that we're children
of God, verse 17, Romans 8, and if we're children, then we're
heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that
we suffer with Him, we may be glorified together, for I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy, are just
not fit, they're just not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. It's a better covenant. And then
in Hebrews 9, let me show you another word here, better. Hebrews
9, his is a better sacrifice. Hebrews 9, let's start reading
with verse 22. Now, almost all things, well,
back here in verse 20, Hebrews 9, 20, saying, This is the blood
of the covenant which God hath enjoined unto you. And Moses
sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels
of the ministry, And almost all things were by the law purged
with blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. You see that all back in the
old blood everywhere, purified by the blood, cleansed by the
blood, sanctified by the blood. That was the only way that God
could receive these people. was by looking to Calvary where
the blood of Christ was shed. This blood didn't purify them
or sanctify them or make them holy. God never had any true
satisfaction in these sacrifices. He was looking at them with reference
to Christ. It's Christ's blood. So read
on. It was therefore necessary, verse 23, that the patterns of
things in the heavens should be purified with these. But the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. What's our better sacrifice?
For Christ was not entered into the holy place made with hands,
which are figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us. Oh, that's better, isn't
it? His blood. is better. And then
let me show you one other, Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. Something better. Something better. Hebrews 12, verse 24. Look at this. Hebrews 12, verse
24. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh
better things than that of Abel." Old Abel's sacrifice spoke a
lot of comfort. Abel, by faith, you know, there
was his brother Cain. They both came to worship. They
both came before God. But they came different ways.
Abel came the way of God. Cain came the way of flesh. Abel came the way of grace, and
Cain came the way of works. And Cain brought his own work. He built an altar, and then he
put on that altar the things his hands had made, things of
which he was proud. And he really had a right to
probably be proud of what he'd done. There were beautiful fruits
and vegetables or whatever he brought. But man doesn't come
to God by the works of his flesh or the works of the deeds of
the law. He comes by Christ. And over
here, his brother Abel built an altar, and he didn't bring
anything of himself. He slew a lamb and put the blood
on the altar and put the body of the lamb on the altar and
roasted it before God by faith, saying that, I'm a sinner, a
helpless, hopeless sinner. I need someone to die for me.
The law says die, and I can't die. The law demands that justice
be satisfied. Here, Lord, I bring you the innocent
suffering for the guilty. I bring you a Lamb suffering
for me and my sins. And I look to Christ, your Lamb,
who will come someday and die for your people. But till He
comes, this is my hope. It's the Lamb. It's the blood
of the Lamb. It's the grace of God. It's the
goodness of God. It's the gift of your love. Not
of myself at all, but of thy love. And His sacrifice speaks
some good things, but Christ's sacrifice speaks better things
than Abel. Ah, so much better things. Abel's
blood was typical. Christ's blood, his own blood.
Abel's blood only pointed to Christ. Christ's blood points
to the Father and forgiveness. Somebody said, well, that's talking
about Abel's blood himself, which was shed by Cain. Maybe so, I
don't know. But even then, the blood of Christ
speaks better things than Abel's blood. Abel's blood cries from
the ground for vengeance. Christ's blood cries for mercy
and forgiveness. Cain slew Abel, and Abel's blood
cried, kill him, and God punished him. We slew Christ, and His
blood cries, Father forgive them. They know not what to do. He's
something better. No matter how you look at it,
no matter how you look at him, he's better. That's the reason
Paul was so amazed when those Galatians wanted to go back to
Moses. He said, why? That's the reason
he was so amazed when they wanted to keep Sabbath days and holy
days and circumcision, all these duties and things. He said, why,
oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who has bewitched
you? Christ is better." Now, Hebrews
2, let me show you something, and I'll quit. Therefore, all
this that has been said, therefore, in the light of who speaks, God
speaks by His Son, in the light of what He said, a better covenant,
better promises, better blood, better sacrifice, better hope. In the light of the fact that
he's the last messenger, God's not going to speak anymore, except
by Christ. He's the last messenger. He's
the last messenger. In the light of that, you and
I ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, which we've heard here over and over again, which we've
heard again tonight. Give earnest, earnest heed, earnest
heed, lest at any time we let them slip." You know, that word,
let them slip, is run out of a leaky vessel, trying to catch
water in a vessel just full of holes, and the water's gone now,
and it's quit running. You look down, you've got none.
It's all gone through. You've let it slip. Now, we let
these things slip through the hardness of heart. We let these
things slip by being taken up with other things that aren't
of any value at all. We let them slip by sheer neglect. That's the word, Ronnie, you
used down here in verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Neglect it. Not interested enough
to pursue it. to pursue it. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and these things will be added to
you. Don't stop seeking the Lord. Let them slip by just neglect.
Sometimes people let them slip by removing themselves from where
they can be heard. Where they can be heard. They're
not heard everywhere. How shall we escape, verse 3,
if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken
by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him,
his apostles, God also bearing them witness. He gave them signs
and wonders and different miracles. He gave them gifts of the Holy
Ghost according to his will. Here in 1994-95, the Lord has
given us the completed Word. We have the Scriptures. We have
the Scriptures that tell us over and over again about these better
things, something better. All right, I hope that's a blessing
to you. Let's turn in our hymn books
now to number 272.