Sermon

08 June 2025: Jesus is better (Justin Evers)

The Way Church Podcast

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  1. Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South

  2. Australia. And prepping for this morning, I

  3. have kind of 11 thought it aligns very well with some of

  4. the songs we were singing this morning.

  5. And that's just this idea that when we leave today, we would be

  6. more in love, more amazed, more enamoured, more in wonder of who

  7. Jesus is. Like we've been, we've been

  8. talking over the last couple of months just this how we build

  9. God's church and how we build our lives God's way.

  10. And we were talking that actually all of that stems from

  11. our revelation who Jesus is. Like all of it comes to there.

  12. Because if I have a picture of Jesus as he truly is, then any

  13. adjustment he asked me to make is incomparable to how glorious

  14. he is and the rewards that he has for me.

  15. And when we, when we see him for all he is, man, anything he

  16. tells us to do, any, any adjustment, any decision he

  17. wants us to make, any direction he wants us to go, we're going.

  18. I'm all yours because man, you are so worthy of everything.

  19. You are the centre of it all. And so this morning, that's my

  20. prayer. I hope you guys can join with me

  21. in your hearts that hey, I want to leave this place more in love

  22. with Jesus than when I came in. Because when I leave in love

  23. with Jesus, I'm like, yes, Lord, whatever you have me to do, I'm

  24. going to do it because, man, you're so worthy of my entire

  25. life, of every single thing. Yeah, Amen.

  26. Father, as we gather around your word this morning, may that be

  27. our hearts cry every single one of us.

  28. We want to leave just more in love with you, more amazed by

  29. you, and just more willing to lay our lives down for you and

  30. for your glory, for your Kingdom in Jesus name, Amen.

  31. Amen. Why don't you open your Bibles,

  32. physical or digital, to the book of Hebrews?

  33. I trust you guys can hear this. OK.

  34. It's a bit different being this side the book of Hebrews,

    Hebrews 6 chapter mention

  35. chapter 6 and verse 9. This is the writer of Hebrews.

  36. We're not sure who wrote the book of Hebrews.

  37. Some say Paul, some say one of the other apostles, but either

  38. way, it's written to the Hebrews, the Jewish people, but

  39. it's also written to us. And this is what he writes, or

  40. he, she, whoever wrote the book. Though we speak in this way, yet

  41. in your case, beloved, speaking to us, yet in your case, we feel

  42. sure of better things, things belonging to salvation.

  43. Let's let that sink in. In your case, in my case, this

  44. writer feels sure certain of better things, things that

  45. belong to salvation, things that belong to my union with Christ.

  46. Flick over a few chapters to the end of Hebrews Chapter 11.

    Hebrews 11 chapter mention

  47. Trust you'll see a bit of a theme when we read this verse

  48. Hebrews 11 verse 39 it said in all these it talks about Hebrews

    Hebrews 11:39

  49. 11 is this great chapter of Heroes of the Faith starting way

  50. back in the beginning, journeying through Abel and

  51. journeying through Abraham and Moses.

  52. It journeys right through to David all the way through the

  53. Old Testament. It says in all these, though

  54. commended through their faith did not received what was

  55. promised. Verse 40 since God had provided

  56. something better for us that apart from us, they should not

  57. be made perfect since God had provided something better for

  58. us. My title this morning of two

  59. titles if you can pick whichever 1 you like is Jesus is better,

  60. Jesus is better, or the alternative is the better

  61. things. I'll probably lean towards the

  62. first one. Jesus is better.

  63. And see, I think that's really important when we're talking

  64. about living our lives God's way because as Dave shared last

  65. week, the the prophet Isaiah said spoke on God's behalf,

  66. saying my ways are not your ways, declares the Lord, my

  67. thoughts, not your thoughts. And we need to always remember

  68. that his ways, they're not only higher than my ways, but they're

  69. better than my ways. His thoughts aren't just higher

  70. than my thoughts, they're better than my thoughts.

  71. What God wants to do in and through his church is better

  72. than what I think he wants to do in and through his church.

  73. What he wants to do in and through my life and through my

  74. family's life and through your life is better than you think.

  75. What he wants to do in and through your life like this is

  76. this is the glorious God that we serve is the fact that Jesus is

  77. better. And the writer of Hebrews, he's

  78. writing to Jewish people and say whatever you've known, whatever

  79. you can see, whatever you experience, just remember this,

  80. Jesus is better. As we said, the more you see

  81. that Jesus is better, the more you're like, yes, toward

  82. whatever you ask. Why?

  83. Because you're so much better than what I think you're asking

  84. me to do this. Well, it's got to be so much

  85. better than what I can see because and what how I'm living

  86. because hey, you're Jesus, you're God, like whatever you

  87. say is always better. And so when I understand that he

  88. is always better, then I'm just saying, yes, whatever you,

  89. whatever you want, you can have whatever you need me to do, you

  90. can have it because you're always better.

  91. Your ways are better, your thoughts are better, your dreams

  92. are better, you're better. Jesus is always better.

  93. And so we're going to dive. We're actually going to do a

  94. sweep all the way through the book of Hebrews.

  95. And we're going to look at every area that Jesus is better.

  96. And I hope that even just one or two of these would just grip

  97. your heart. The fact that hey, Jesus is

  98. better and what you've known what you've experienced or maybe

  99. something of this you've you've placed your trust in something

  100. and I'm just I'm just here just how you walk out cutting a man.

  101. Jesus is better. Jesus is better than nothing.

  102. Jesus has better plans for our life than even we've dreamt up

  103. of and then start in Hebrews chapter 1.

    Hebrews 1 chapter mention

  104. I'll try and give you the references.

  105. We won't read the all of these. The Hebrews chapter 1 verse 4

    Hebrews 1:4

  106. speaks of angels and it compares Jesus to angels and it says

  107. having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has

  108. inherited is more excellent than theirs.

  109. Jesus has a better name. Jesus has a better name.

  110. Yeah, I think this can be just incredibly powerful.

  111. The Scripture and Philippians, Paul writes, he says, and God

  112. exalted Jesus to the highest place, that at the mention of

  113. his name, it's not even a shout, it's not even like a storming

  114. army or anything. It's just just at the very

  115. mention, at the mention of his name, every single knee will bow

  116. and every tongue confess that he is Lord in heaven, on earth and

  117. under the earth. That is the power of the name of

  118. Jesus. You consider this in the book of

  119. Acts in the early church when they came and Peter and John are

  120. walking towards this the temple at the time of prayer and they

  121. said, hey, we don't have any silver and gold.

  122. Like that's what you're asking for.

  123. We've got something better in the name of Jesus.

  124. Get up and walk. And just at this very mention of

  125. the name that the lame man is able to walk, just the very

  126. mention of the name, I think we need to remember that no matter

  127. what name has been spoken over us or spoken over circumstances,

  128. whatever name has been given to any kind of disease or any kind

  129. of legacy or curse of the enemy, Jesus has a better name.

  130. Jesus has a better name. He has a more powerful name, a

  131. more supreme name than any other name you could ever face.

  132. Jesus has a better name. Hebrews chapter 3 verse one to

    Hebrews 3 chapter mention

  133. six compares Jesus to Moses and it says this, Yeah, let me try

  134. and find it. It says therefore, holy brothers

  135. verse one, you who share an heavily calling consider Jesus

  136. the apostle and high priest of our confession who is faithful

  137. to him who appointed him just as Moses also was faithful in all

  138. God's house. Jesus is a better apostle.

  139. Now the apostle means the same one of God, but in the

  140. scriptures we see that the apostle is somebody who also

  141. helps build the church like he he's a foundation layer.

  142. They're building the church and I just this is what I just

  143. wanted to draw out of this is it talks it goes on.

  144. It talks about how Moses was faithful as a servant in God's

  145. house. We're all faithful servants

  146. inside God's house, but this actually speaks of Jesus as a

  147. faithful son over God's house. Jesus is a better apostle.

  148. And then what I mean by that is the fact that we we, we kind of

  149. have an idea of how we want to build this church.

  150. He's got a better idea. Jesus way of building his church

  151. is always better his his way of building the his church.

  152. He knows exactly what he's doing here.

  153. We are trying to figure it out as we go along.

  154. He knows exactly from the beginning that he instituted the

  155. church. He was the great apostle kind of

  156. going. I know exactly what I want this

  157. thing to look like. I know exactly what it's going

  158. to be in the end of time in the Book of Revelation.

  159. It's going to be a bride spotless without wrinkle or

  160. blemish. It's going to be a glorious

  161. wedding day. I know exactly what I'm doing.

  162. I think we can rest in pure confidence that Jesus is a

  163. better apostle. You know, so often we can look

  164. at the church potentially. I know I have.

  165. And I've looked at the church and like, well, why isn't this

  166. happening and why isn't it like that?

  167. Why is it like that? Guess what?

  168. Jesus is a better apostle. He knows more about what he's

  169. doing than we know what we're doing.

  170. He knows more about what we're doing in the church than I know

  171. what we're doing. And we're just trying to figure

  172. out what he's doing and do what he's doing.

  173. But we need to remember Jesus is the better apostle.

  174. We put our trust in Jesus to build his church, not in men to

  175. build the church. We God has gifted people with

  176. gifts and abilities, but they're faithful servants in God's

  177. house. He's a faithful apostle,

  178. faithful son over God's house. He's got it all under control.

  179. The church is in God's hands, not in men, Not in man's hands.

  180. This thing will last because it's birthed by Him.

  181. He is the great apostle, right? Hebrews 3.

  182. It also speaks in Hebrews 5. It talks about Jesus being a

  183. better high priest. He has a better high priest.

  184. The high priest in the Old Testament was the one who went

  185. into the Holy of Holies, representing all of the people,

  186. all of the nation of Israel. He's entering the holy of Holies

  187. once a year to offer a sacrifice to redeem and pay penance.

  188. And Jesus is a better high priest.

  189. There's so many cultures today say that you still have to go to

  190. a priest to be represented before God, and yet the

  191. Scripture tells us Jesus is a better high priest.

  192. Man, you don't need to come to a leader or a priest or a

  193. confessional. Jesus is your better high

  194. priest. Jesus is your better high

  195. priest. You go through Jesus, he he is

  196. greater talks of these high priests could only enter once a

  197. year and they'd still have to do a sacrifice for themselves as

  198. well because they they weren't worthy.

  199. But Jesus is always worthy to always go before the Father.

  200. It says he's he's there every single day interceding for us.

  201. It's not once a year. It's not like you've you've come

  202. to Jesus today and you've now got to wait a whole year or a

  203. whole week for Jesus to, you know, go intercede on your

  204. behalf again. He is constantly there in the

  205. presence of God. He is a better high priest.

  206. He is our better representative. And I am not your I'm really,

  207. I'm really glad I'm not your representative before God.

  208. He is, He's my representative before God.

  209. And I don't have to stand there on my own feet and say, hey,

  210. look like, you know, I've done mostly stuff, known that Jesus

  211. is my better high priest, Say hey, he's my representative.

  212. Who do I pick? I pick Jesus every single time.

  213. Every single time. He's my high priest.

  214. He's a better high priest. Hebrews 719.

  215. Jesus is our better hope. And there's nothing like

  216. misplaced hope. Nothing like misplaced hope.

  217. When we put our hope and our trust in different things,

  218. people put their hope and trust in leaders, in leaders in the

  219. church and leaders in the world. People put their trust in

  220. economies, in housing markets, in education.

  221. Jesus is our better hope. He is a hope that never

  222. disappoints. The Bible talks about hope

  223. deferred, making the heart sick. Jesus hope is never deferred.

  224. Jesus is a better hope. He's our anchor of hope.

  225. Like when everything is going wrong, you look to Jesus because

  226. he is the better hope. He is our better hope, Amen.

  227. Like no matter what is going on, we can look at the world, we can

  228. turn on the news and we can say, man, there is so much war and

  229. disease and everything, but Jesus is our better hope.

  230. Jesus is our better hope. So we could walk in confidence,

  231. in full view of everything and kind of going, yeah, but I know

  232. a better hope, I know a better hope, and I know who's going to

  233. carry me through. And his name is Jesus.

  234. His name is Jesus. Jesus is our better hope.

  235. Hebrews 8, verse 6, it talks about a better ministry, a

    Hebrews 8:6

  236. better ministry. Jesus has a better ministry.

  237. You know, we can often chase ministry like you can come and

  238. you know a leader can pray for you and that's good and we

  239. should be doing that. The Bible tells us to do that.

  240. But you know what? Me preaching here or me praying

  241. for you, or Dave praying for you is a good ministry.

  242. But you know who has a better ministry?

  243. Jesus. And that's why I'm trusting

  244. today as much as I'm ministering, that Jesus is

  245. ministering to you. Because if it's just me

  246. ministering, it might be OK, but it's not going to be his

  247. ministry. Jesus has a better ministry.

  248. And you know, that's why when we're at home on our own and

  249. we're seeking God in the secret place, we don't need to say, you

  250. know, pastor or somebody, hey, could you please do this for me

  251. Because I can go to Jesus and Jesus carries a better ministry.

  252. Jesus has the ability to reconcile families.

  253. Jesus has the ability to heal the sick.

  254. Jesus has the ability to bring hope and, and peace into your

  255. life. We can counsel, we can provide

  256. advice. We have some very wise people in

  257. this room. But man, you know, who's got a

  258. better ministry, who's got better wisdom?

  259. Jesus every single time, every single time.

  260. And that's why whenever we gather together, whenever we

  261. seek to to gather and and encourage each other, we want to

  262. make sure, hey, this is Jesus ministry.

  263. This isn't me trying to make a platform a minister on my

  264. behalf. This is hopefully this is Jesus

  265. ministering to your heart because he has a better ministry

  266. than I could ever offer you. He has a better ministry than

  267. Dave could ever offer you better ministry than Bianca or Hilary

  268. could ever lead us in. He has a better ministry.

  269. And so our desire as a people is whenever we gather together, we

  270. we have Him ministering through His Spirit to us, to our hearts.

  271. Amen. Jesus has a better ministry.

  272. In Hebrews 7 and Hebrews 8 it talks about a better covenant, a

  273. better covenant. Jesus introduces a better

  274. covenant in the Old Testament. We see different ways that

  275. people covenant is, is this way that we relate to God, right?

  276. We the anchor in a marriage covenant.

  277. It's it's kind of defining the way that we relate to each

  278. other. It's it's not a contract, It's

  279. not based on terms and conditions.

  280. We're in a covenant relationship.

  281. And throughout the the Old Testament, there was different

  282. covenants. There was the the covenant of

  283. Abraham. You had to be born in Abraham's

  284. line. That's how you related to God.

  285. That's how you knew you were God's people because you were

  286. part of the line of Abraham. That's what distinguished the

  287. Israelites from everyone else. Hey, we, we, we belong to

  288. Abraham. And then along comes Moses and

  289. there's a new covenant, what we refer to generally as the old

  290. covenant. It's now based on as long as you

  291. do the right thing, now you relate to God.

  292. God blesses you because you do the right thing.

  293. And there's various other covenants that are through

  294. there. There's a Davidic covenant about

  295. how God related to David. But then Jesus comes along and

  296. he's going, now you no longer relate to me based on the fact

  297. that you belong to Abraham or based on the fact of how well

  298. you do that. If you do well, God blesses you.

  299. Now I introduce a better covenant.

  300. Jesus, when he took the cup and he gave it to his disciples of

  301. the Last Supper, says, Hey, this is my blood of a new covenant.

  302. This is this is going to completely change the way that

  303. you relate to God because it's no longer based on you.

  304. My relationship with God, thankfully, it's no longer

  305. dependent on me. Thank goodness.

  306. Thank goodness. Because if it was up to me, I'm

  307. sure I'd blown it way too many times.

  308. Jesus has a better covenant. He introduces us to a way better

  309. way of relating to God, and that's through him.

  310. But I don't have to try and earn my way.

  311. I don't have to make sure that I do the right things from the

  312. right family. Like we, all of us, no matter

  313. where we come from, have exactly the same covenant with God, and

  314. that's through Jesus. If we put our faith and trust in

  315. him, we all have exactly the same relationship with God, and

  316. that's through a better covenant, a covenant through

  317. Jesus, through the cross. Through the resurrection, that's

  318. how we relate to relate to God. Amen.

  319. He is he has a better covenant and tied very much into that is

  320. Hebrews 8 verse 6 where it talks about better promises.

    Hebrews 8:6

  321. See a better covenant comes with better promises.

  322. Second Corinthians tells us that all God's promises, no matter

  323. how many promises God has made, no matter how many, all of them

  324. find their yes, not in what I do, not in where I'm from, all

  325. of them find their yes in Jesus. And through us we say Amen to

  326. the glory of God, right? This, this new covenant has

  327. better promises. Jesus is the qualifier for the

  328. promise, right? He introduces a better covenant

  329. with better promises. I can now lay claim to the

  330. promises of God because of him. And there there are some stuff

  331. that we can do to make sure the promises actually flow into our

  332. life, but ultimately the promise is not dependent.

  333. I didn't qualify for the promise.

  334. I can. I can allow the promise to flow

  335. in my life, but I didn't qualify for it.

  336. Jesus, this new covenant carries better promises.

  337. It doesn't even just carry the promises of the old.

  338. It carries better promises into the future.

  339. Jesus comes with a better covenant and better promises.

  340. Amen. So Jesus is a better name, he's

  341. a better apostle, he's a better high priest, a better hope, a

  342. better ministry, a better covenant, better promises.

  343. Hebrews 9 talks about a better tent and this word tent refers

  344. to the Old Testament Tabernacle back in back in Moses day.

  345. Again we get my timelines. They had a Tabernacle, a tent

  346. that was where you went to meet with God.

  347. You went to a physical location. That's where God, God's presence

  348. was in this physical location. And then you come along Solomon,

  349. he builds a temple. You still have to go to a

  350. physical place, a physical tent. But when Jesus comes, he says I,

  351. I didn't go to a physical tent. I went to a better tent.

  352. Which tent did I go to? I went to the spiritual tent.

  353. When we would come to Jesus, we have access to a better tent.

  354. It's not about whether I come here on a Sunday or whether I go

  355. to a building on a Sunday. I have access to a better tent.

  356. The tent represents the presence of God.

  357. It's where God dwelt. And when I come to Jesus, I have

  358. access not to a physical tent anymore.

  359. It's not like he's a security guard.

  360. Security guard for the doors here.

  361. He gives me access to a spiritual tent, the presence of

  362. God. Wherever I am, through the

  363. Spirit of God, I have access to a better tent.

  364. Wherever I am, the presence of God is there.

  365. I can access wherever I am because of the Spirit of God

  366. that's inside of me, because of Jesus.

  367. Jesus gives me access to a better tent, right?

  368. He allows me access into the spiritual tent.

  369. He went in. He cleansed that tent.

  370. He made a way for me to now access that whenever I need it.

  371. Jesus has a better tent. In Hebrews 914 it speaks of

  372. better blood, better blood. It talks about the blood of

  373. bulls and goats that could redeem sin and cover sin.

  374. But they could never wash away sin.

  375. They could cover it for a time. But aren't you thankful for the

  376. better blood of Jesus? The better blood of Jesus that

  377. doesn't just cover our sin, it washes our sin away.

  378. It makes us white as snow, the better blood of Jesus.

  379. Aren't you thankful for the better blood of Jesus?

  380. Then when we come and we take communion, we must remember this

  381. blood is a better blood. This blood now makes me white as

  382. snow, past, present and future. It has paid for all my sin for

  383. all time. It's a better blood.

  384. It's a more powerful blood than the blood of bulls and goats

  385. that was offered in the Old Testament.

  386. This blood makes me whitest. And this blood is so powerful.

  387. We must remember this blood is a better blood.

  388. Hebrews 9 verse 25 ish through to chapter 1014 talks about

    Hebrews 9:25

  389. Jesus being a better sacrifice. You know, so often we come and

  390. we talk about what we can do for God.

  391. You know, I can sacrifice a lot for God and I can say, man, you

  392. know, I'm sacrificing so much trying to earn or trying to make

  393. something of myself before God. And I need to remember, hey, you

  394. know, Jesus is a better sacrifice than I could ever be

  395. then if even if I gave absolutely everything for the

  396. King and the Kingdom and laid everything down and that is our

  397. desire. I looked to him and said this,

  398. that's a better sacrifice. And as we were talking earlier,

  399. like the more that I see that his sacrifice was so great,

  400. unlike man, I could sacrifice everything.

  401. I can sacrifice everything because the sacrifice he made

  402. for me was far beyond anything I could ever comprehend.

  403. The sacrifice he made for me was huge in comparison to the

  404. sacrifice I'm making for him. I come here on a Sunday morning

  405. or I'm getting up early, you know, with putting time aside to

  406. pray and be in his presence and all of that kind of stuff.

  407. And whenever I get tired and I'm like, man, you know, is this

  408. worth it? Is this?

  409. And I really want to get up. Do I really want to put time

  410. aside to read my Bible? And I just look back and say,

  411. man, Jesus had a better sacrifice.

  412. Man, when it comes to just like looking at Jesus and kind of any

  413. sacrifice, Ioffer is like totally worth it because of what

  414. his sacrifice for me, anything I could do, anything he calls me

  415. to do is absolutely worth it because of the sacrifice he made

  416. for me. You know, we need to have this

  417. wonder of our salvation every single day to look at and kind

  418. of going, man, what you've done for me, Jesus is far beyond

  419. anything I could ever do for you.

  420. And so I give you everything. And even that would be a drop in

  421. the ocean for what you've done for me.

  422. And we just stand there and we just kind of go, wow, wow.

  423. Look at what the Lord has done. Look at what the Lord has done.

  424. And it makes every sacrifice worth it.

  425. It makes every sacrifice. We have 4 kids, young kids.

  426. It makes every sacrifice worth it.

  427. When I realized the sacrifice he made, I'm sure some of the guys

  428. in this room they would talk about travelling to different

  429. countries and spending countless months overseas.

  430. You guys could correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you

  431. would say it is worth it because of the sacrifice that he made.

  432. Like all of it is worth it because of he offered a better

  433. sacrifice. It is all worth it.

  434. Hebrews 11/16 and 12/14 speaks that Jesus is leading us to a

  435. better country. Hebrews 11 is again that chapter

  436. on great faith and it talks about these people who were not

  437. settling and even though when they when God told them to go to

  438. a different country, it says that they weren't actually fixed

  439. on the country because they knew that God had prepared something

  440. better for them. And that's Hebrews 11/16 as it

  441. is. They desire a better country,

  442. that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to

  443. be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.

  444. Jesus has a better country for us.

  445. We are pilgrims on this earth we are journeying through and this

  446. to me just helps me keep my eyes up.

  447. So man, Jesus has a better country.

  448. He has an eternal country. For me.

  449. When I, when I drop my gaze and I start looking at the world and

  450. start trying to do things to maybe leave a legacy here and

  451. focus on setting things up here, I must remember Jesus has a

  452. better country. Like this is not my home.

  453. This is not where I will live out all of my eternity.

  454. Jesus has a better country. And when we talk to people who

  455. don't know Jesus, we're going, hey, Jesus has a better country.

  456. It's not the when you die, that is not the end.

  457. There is a better country on the other side because of Jesus.

  458. And through Jesus there is access to a better country, any

  459. a heavenly country. And that's what that's what it's

  460. talking about. All of these people, it talks

  461. about them journeying through different lands and different

  462. nations, but their eyes were always up saying, hey, Jesus has

  463. a better country for us. God has a better thing for us.

  464. On the other side of our obedience.

  465. God has a better country. Through Jesus we have access to

  466. a better country. It's the eternal hope that we

  467. have. So it's our view of eternity.

  468. And it says Jesus has a better country, a four more.

  469. Jesus is our better reward. Jesus is our better reward.

  470. It's from Hebrews 11 verse 26. You know, when God comes to

    Hebrews 11:26

  471. Abraham, he says I am your very great reward.

  472. I am your very great reward. And when he, when Jesus calls

  473. the Levites, one of the tribes of Israel out, he says all you

  474. other tribes, you will get an inheritance.

  475. You get the blessing, you get the blessing of the promised

  476. land. You're going to have houses and

  477. cities and fields and all that. But he calls the Levites out.

  478. He says, you guys don't get anything.

  479. That seems really unfair, right? You're the priest of God and you

  480. don't get anything. But he says, but I will be

  481. theirs. I will be their reward.

  482. You know, we can, we can do so much to get the blessing of God,

  483. and I think we do. And that's fine.

  484. Like we can seek God's hands. You know, he has something way

  485. better than his hands. And that's him himself.

  486. You know, we can say, Jesus, if I do this, then I get the

  487. blessing of God. I'm telling you, there's a

  488. greater blessing and that is God himself.

  489. He is our reward, not just the stuff he does, not just the

  490. blessings him, he is the better reward.

  491. But we, this, this puts obedience right, right into

  492. perspective, right? It's like if we kind of go, you

  493. know, if I obey, then God will do XYZ, right?

  494. And if XYZ doesn't happen, what happened with my obedience?

  495. But you know, you put that into perspective.

  496. You say, if I obey, I get Jesus as my reward.

  497. XYZ is a bonus. But ultimately my obedience

  498. leads me to him as my reward, Not the stuff.

  499. I think when we do that, man, we just, we're willing to say yes

  500. to anything. He's going to.

  501. I'm, I'm living for a better reward here because people like,

  502. well, yeah, but God didn't come through.

  503. And you're like, yeah, yeah, but I've got a better reward.

  504. And that's Jesus himself. That's God himself.

  505. I obey so that I get to meet him, so that on that day I get

  506. to, I don't care about all the stuff.

  507. I care about him saying, hey, well done, good and faithful

  508. servant. Jesus is our better reward.

  509. He leads us to a better mountain.

  510. In Hebrews 12, he leads us to a better mountain, compares it to

  511. Mount Sinai, which was it talks about dark clouds and lightning

  512. and Thunder. Mount Sinai.

  513. It talks about the Israelites being so afraid of Mount Sinai

  514. that they didn't even go anywhere near it.

  515. So Moses you go, God, God invited them all up and said,

  516. all of you come near. And they went, no, no, no, no,

  517. we're not going. We're not going near that thing.

  518. We are so filled with fear and yet Jesus has a better mountain

  519. for us. Not a mountain of fear anymore,

  520. not Mount Sinai. We come to Mount Zion.

  521. It's a completely different mountain.

  522. We don't come and approach this mountain now with fear, with

  523. like and, and coming with an afraid spirit.

  524. No, no, we come, come to Mount Zion, a mountain of rejoicing, a

  525. mountain of singing. We come to a better mountain.

  526. So Jesus leads us to a better mountain.

  527. Hebrews 12/24 speaks of a better word.

  528. It says we come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, the

  529. better covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, better blood

  530. that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

  531. Jesus speaks a better word. Yeah.

  532. It doesn't matter. The words of people.

  533. Yeah. I think the words of people can

  534. often trap us or cause us to live a particular way because we

  535. become so conscious of what people think.

  536. It becomes so like all of us, all of us included.

  537. The words of people, the words of circumstance, the words of

  538. what how people describe us can become something that traps us

  539. so well. And yet Jesus speaks a better

  540. word. Jesus speaks a better word.

  541. Yeah. The marvellous thing about this

  542. word here, when it speaks of Abel, Abel's blood spoke of

  543. vengeance. Yeah, Jesus.

  544. Blood speaks of mercy and grace, speaks of forgiveness.

  545. Jesus speaks a better word. When I think about the words

  546. that potentially have been spoken over me or to me,

  547. negative or otherwise, I kind of say, man, Jesus, you speak a

  548. better word. You speak a better word.

  549. But I think about all the stuff that maybe people have tried to

  550. put on me, then I seek him and say, yeah, but what's your word?

  551. Because your word is a better word.

  552. Your word is a better word. You know, even even the

  553. prophetic words of people speaking to our life, they are

  554. great things and they encourage us in God.

  555. And I say, hey, God, this is a better word.

  556. This. I'm going to cling to this

  557. because this is a better word, because Jesus speaks a better

  558. word over my life than even I think my life is going to look

  559. like Jesus speaks a better word. And Hebrews 1225 verse 29,

  560. Actually we will skip down to 28.

  561. We'll just read 28. It says, therefore let us be

  562. grateful for receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus

  563. let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe,

  564. for our God is a consuming fire. We have a better Kingdom.

  565. The Bible speaks of us being rescued from a Kingdom of

  566. darkness and brought into the Kingdom of light.

  567. And this which spoke about the better country being on the

  568. other side of eternity. But this better Kingdom, it says

  569. here we are receiving a better Kingdom.

  570. This isn't a one day Kingdom that we experience on the other

  571. side of death. It says we are receiving now a

  572. Kingdom that can never be shaken.

  573. Jesus brings a better Kingdom. He spoke all the way through his

  574. ministry. His, his title, or if you like,

  575. his emphasis was the Kingdom of God is at hand.

  576. And he started doing incredible things.

  577. He's going, here's a better Kingdom.

  578. Let me show you a better Kingdom, the Kingdom that you're

  579. thinking. And they had all these

  580. perceptions. It was funny because they were

  581. like, we believe in the Messiah coming back as a king.

  582. We believe, but we've got our idea of what that kingdom's

  583. going to look like. And Jesus comes here and goes,

  584. Hey, I've got a better Kingdom. I've got a Kingdom that's better

  585. than what you think my Kingdom looks like.

  586. I've got a way that's better than what you think my way is

  587. like Jesus has a better Kingdom. And so Jesus has a better name

  588. in Hebrews one. He's our better apostle in

  589. Hebrews 3A, better high priest in Hebrews 5, our better hope in

  590. Hebrews 7. He brings a better ministry in

  591. Hebrews 8A, better covenant with better promises in Hebrews 8.

  592. He brings us to a better tent in Hebrews 9 with better blood.

  593. He offers a better sacrifice that leads us to a better

  594. country. He has a better reward.

  595. He leads us to a better mountain, speaks a better word.

  596. It brings a better Kingdom. Jesus is better.

  597. Jesus is better. Thank you for joining us for

  598. today's message. For more information about The

  599. Way Church, please visit [email protected] dot

  600. AU. Have a blessed day.