Hebrews 1:4-2:4 • Jesus > Angels • Joel McCarty

So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he

inherited, is more excellent than there's four to, which of

the Angels did he ever say you are my son today?

I have become your father or again, I will be his father and

he will be my son. Again, when he brings his first

born into the world, he says, and let all God's angels worship

Him. And about the Angels, he says he

makes his angels winds and his servants, a fiery flame, but to

the sun, your throne, o, God is for ever and ever.

And the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of Justice, you

have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.

This is why God, your God has anointed you with the oil of

joy. Beyond your companions and in

the beginning Lord you established the earth and the

heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish but you will remain.

They will all wear out like clothing and you will roll them

up like a cloak and they will be changed like clothing.

But you are the same and your years will never end.

To, which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool or not?

They all ministering Spirits sent out to serve those who are

going to inherit salvation. For this reason, we must pay

attention all the more to what we have heard.

So that we will not drift away for.

If the message spoken through Angels was legally binding and

every transgression and Disobedience, received a just

punishment. Moment, how will we escape if we

neglect such a great salvation, the Salvation had its beginning

when it was spoken of by the Lord and it was confirmed To Us

by those who heard him. And at the same time, God also

testified by signs and wonders various Miracles and

distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his

will Earlier this month January 2nd, I celebrated my 35th

birthday. Yeah well whoop it's past

enough. I can say it now and you won't

sing. Happy Birthday to me.

Don't get started. And Andrew might be thinking of

trying to do that, I don't appreciate that.

But I told my wife that I realized after one day in a 35,

that I am now closer to 40 years old, then I am 230 and my wife

doesn't like that because she's about six months behind me, five

months, something like that. But anyways, so the fact I'm

getting older, right? The fact that it's Falls around

New Year's, I feel like every year around this time, I begin

to reminisce a little bit the other day.

Me and my wife were laying in bed and we were just kind of

scrolling through like old photos of her kids.

And the great thing about iPhones is that those just

transference we've got old videos and photos that go quite

a ways back. And so we're just reminiscing

about what life with young kids is like.

And so I got a couple videos that I want to show you guys and

I feel like it just kind of covers the gamut of what life

with young kids is like, so, The first one is for my daughter,

Everly. This is almost 6 years ago and

it illustrates how awesome, and amazingly fun kids can be this

the stuff we share on social media.

So watch this. There you go fun, right?

Sit in the van hanging out with my wife's inside shopping but as

is the case with any body that you live with and you have deep

relationship with. It's not always fun and Roses.

So here's a video of Everly, just a few days later in the

same car and this time she is not vibing with the song.

She is worried about her older brother KJ.

Hopefully you guys were distracted by that clip and

didn't actually listen to the lyrics of that song.

But and then here's the worst sound ever.

If you've ever been in a parking lot, waiting on your significant

other to come out and the kids aren't happy.

Here you go. Yeah, miserable, right?

Let's just a 10, second snapshot, right?

That's life. Filled with young kids.

I know that many of you are in that season, it's filled with

ups and downs. The reality is, though, when you

are investing or building anything of value over the

course of a long period of time, it doesn't have to be, you know,

raising young kids. It can be raised.

Teenagers. It can be getting married.

It can just be having deep relationships with your

community, it can be starting a non-profit or a mission or a

business, every season of life has its Joys.

And its pains, it has its gains and its losses.

And the reason I bring this up is because I think many times

that can be our journey of following Jesus, it can be very

similar. Now, by God's grace, we will

have moments of great joy and God is gracious to give us those

and it's amazing when we went our hearts, feel what?

We know to be true in our minds and we really begin to believe

it and we're just on fire so to speak.

Is people saying which is kind of weird if you think about it.

Maybe not, I don't know. Anyways, sorry my brain goes

crazy places. We might even experienced during

those Seasons like Supernatural healings or signs, the gospel

begins to take root in our heart and Community but that's not all

of what following Jesus is. If you have Follow Jesus for any

length of time. We understand that that can also

bring with it. Great sorrow.

It can bring with it great suffering and it can bring with

it. Great pain, great loss.

And so the question I have for us today is what is it in those

times that will sustain us? What is it that will keep us

going because if our ultimate hope is in maybe keeping it up,

With our spiritual disciplines enough or maybe trying to regain

that past emotional experience, that I might have had some great

conference, right? Which might have been a great

conference or if my hope is in my level of theological

knowledge, or my level of passion that day, We will not be

sustained. However, as our text from

Hebrews, will remind us not only this week but throughout the

entire book, if our hope is In Christ Alone.

We will be sustained for the journey ahead through the

disappointments, through the panes, through the joys and the

Gaines. Because as great as moments of

joy and all and wonder are in, there is nothing wrong with

enjoying those Seasons when we're given them by the father,

nothing wrong at all, but as great as they are, the person of

Jesus is even better. Good morning again church and

welcome to this Gathering of new Eden Church.

I introduced myself earlier. If you haven't met me, my name

is Joel and I have the privilege of serving as the pastor for

preaching and oversight here alongside Kevin, our pastor for

shepherding and on the Elder team.

And so, as always, I'm just grateful to be gathered with you

all. I mean, that is something again,

I'm not always in, as nobody is we come in sometimes crawling,

but we're glad to be here gathered with the saints of God

and being encouraged. So as you can see, we're

continuing our Series today through the book of Hebrews.

If you're looking for it in your Bible, it is towards the end of

the New Testament. And today, we're going to be

covering it as you heard read. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 4, all

Hebrews 1:4

the way through, 2:4 I was trying to figure out where to

cut this off and I think that will give us the best

understanding of the text. So if you want to find your way

there, Keepers, 14 is where we'll start either in your

scripture notebooks. If you have those or on your

phone, or in your copy of the Bible, will also have it on the

screen for you if you'd like to follow along that way.

As we typically do, I'll be reading from the csb version for

the bulk of our scripture as we go through it.

So quick, super quick review from last week because it's

pretty simple. We introduced the book of

Hebrews last week by understanding first that we

think most likely it was a sermon and so it's kind of

written in that style. Verses 1 through 3, essentially

server 1 through 4 depending on who you ask serve as the

introduction to the sermon and so it's this flood of truths

that will set up the rest of The book and so that's what's going

on in verses 1 through 3. The big main idea is pretty

simple. Jesus is better, and you say

better than what? Period, fill in the blank, Jesus

is better. And so the rest of the book will

be our author, our preacher, whatever you want to call them,

making the case, that Jesus is better than certain things.

Okay? And so he starts this week, Week

by making their first case, by comparing Jesus to angels.

And so the entirety of the rest of chapter one, you just heard

red is devoted to this idea that.

However, great you think angels are Jesus is superior.

Most of the texts are going to look at is just a bunch of Old

Testament quotes just thrown at you.

If you're following along in the csb, you might not know this but

the csb bolds anything in the New Testament that is a quote

from the Old Testament. It molds the quotes.

And so, when you see the Bold there, and if you look at

chapter 1 verse 5, all the way to the end of the chapter, it's

basically a bunch of bold text because it is quoting the Old

Testament. What the author wants to do is

make his point about angels rooted in the authority of the

scriptures. This isn't just some good idea

that Jesus has better, it's not one person's opinion, it is

rooted in the ancient history of the scriptures and their

Authority. It has validity and so he's

going to quote a bunch of scripture to make.

His point and then chapter 2 verse 1 through 4.

Remember in the original, there wasn't chapter breaks and so he

kind of applies if this is true. Then this is how we should

respond. And so we're going to kind of

just work our way through the text looking at three different

truths. The first truth we're going to

see is simply this. If you had a title to the

sermon, it would be. This Jesus is better than the

Angels. Jesus is better than the angels.

now, I feel like for most of us when we hear that our first

response is, Duh like okay big deal like, why does that matter,

right. Most of us actually don't tend

to think too highly of angels. I would probably argue and for

our context, most of us probably swing the pendulum the other

way, where we ignore some of the supernatural realities taking

place around us or we have like a complete misunderstanding

about angels, our culture has sometimes Twisted, the idea of

angels, I think the most common eye here Is that when someone

dies, they become an angel, that doesn't have biblical basis.

And the reality is the truth is actually way better because when

those in Christ died, we actually become fully and

resurrected in body body mind soul.

Humans that reflect and display the image of God without sin to

get, in the way of that way. Better than floating around

sitting on a cloud like playing a harp and flying around with

little wings, you know, as a chubby little person right like

that's that's that's kind of the vision we have and it might make

us feel better in the moment. But again, the truth is far

greater, okay. So let's let's get into the

context of the book and I think we will understand that though

our Tennessee might not to be put angels on a pedestal above

Jesus. There will be things that we do

have a tendency to worship if we're willing to understand and

admit that over Jesus, okay? So I think it'll make sense how

this text is still extremely relevant for us.

So little quick context during this time when this book was

written. This message was preached,

Angels had become revered in many ways as Gods, especially,

In Jewish thought there was a lot of Fascination and study

around angels we can read and compare text around this time.

There were those who even tended to worship angels and if you

think about it, it actually makes a fair amount of sense.

Most of us in here, haven't seen a vision of an angel or know,

someone who has, however, it was pretty common during that day.

We just went through the Christmas story and we saw a

Zechariah and Mary both had Angels appear to them and

Angels, when they show up the first thing they have to say is

don't be Afraid. Why do they say that?

Because people are scared, right?

And it's not because what I saw a tick tock was how beautiful

they were, it's because how terrifying they were, you know,

I saw that on Tick-Tock and then they put together this, you

know, the vision of Ezekiel, of these, like rolling eyes and

these wills. And it was kind of a vision of

that. And it's not very pretty so.

But it is terrifying. Okay.

And I'm sure different angels, look different in some of that.

Yeah, got off-track. Anyways, Angels played a big

role in key development parts of the story of God and there was

something about out angels that had captured the attention of

the here's of Hebrews message. And so our Rider wants to make

sure that things are kept in their proper order.

So he's going to make plain as great as you think angels are

Jesus is far better. And again, as I said, he does

this by unleashing this flood of truth, about Jesus from the Old

Testament scriptures. He actually doesn't say much

about angels. He talks a lot about Jesus, and

so he starts away right away in verse 5, Actually verse 4 and he

tells us that Jesus is better because he inherits this name

that makes him the exalted Sun. There is something special about

the name of Jesus. That is given Something Superior

and he proves this by quoting a couple different Old Testament

passages, second Samuel, 7 and Psalm 2, most of our passengers

come from Psalm, he'll pull from a couple other places.

So the context of second Samuel, when we, when he quotes that is

that David was the king over Israel and God is making this

Covenant with David. And this is what he tells them.

Look at second, Samuel chapter 7, verse 12, I have it on the

screen. He says, when your time comes,

God is telling this to The dance, David.

Sorry, I'm saying Daniel and I we just preach through.

Daniel, it's David King David. And if I said Daniel King,

David, he says, when your time comes and you rest with your

ancestors, I will raise up. After you your descendant, who

will come from your body or your line and I will establish his

kingdom. He is the one who will build a

house for my name and I will establish the Throne of his

kingdom forever. I will be his father and he will

be my son. Okay.

Now, there is some temporary and partial fulfillment, and King

Solomon, who builds a temple right for Yahweh.

But ultimately, this was always pointing forward to Jesus.

Who is the true Temple, who will build a spiritual House, made up

of people from every nation tribe and tongue?

He is God's son. The same ideas talked about in

Psalm Chapter 2 Verse 6 through seven.

Psalms 2:6

Here's what it says here. I have installed my king on Zion

my Holy Mountain I will declare Are the Lord's decree.

He said to me you are my son today.

I have become your father and so this is God, the Father speaking

to God, the son and our author is building on these passages to

make the case that Jesus is superior to Angels.

Did anybody ever tell the angels that no?

You can try to elevate Angelic beings to Gods, but the truth is

that Jesus is the only one who is exalted and elevated to the

rightful place of sonship. And we see this because later in

Acts, the Apostle, Paul is preaching a sermon, and he

quotes these same passages, look at Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Verses 32 through 3833, this is Paul and he says we ourselves

Proclaim to you, the good news or the gospel of the promise

that was made to. To our ancestors.

God has fulfilled this for us. What is he fulfilled?

You are my son today. I become your father.

He fulfilled it by raising up Jesus.

As it is written in Psalm 2 or the second Psalm you are my son

today. I have become your father and so

to me on biblical Authority, it seems clear.

The exaltation of the sun is in reference to the raising up of

Jesus from the dead and also ascended to the father's right

hand. Now if All.

This is true that Jesus became the Son of God.

That's what our scripture is telling us.

Does it mean that he was not we're getting to a little bit of

like theology here. Okay.

Does it mean that he was not the Eternal son one with the father

because we saw that last week and we're actually going to see

it this week. That is not Jesus always has

been one with the Father. The scriptures have no problem

holding, both of those things for us.

We might seem like it's intention intention but for God.

It is what It is Jesus is always been God the son but in a sense

he is also the one who becomes the rightful Heir.

When he takes his place by the father and receives the

inheritance of Nations that the father has promised him.

And so because of this, our author says in verse 6, that the

angels are the one who worships who worship God, not the other

way around. Jesus is the son who became the

son, and he is deserving of all praise.

Is not the angels and if your minds are a little bit like I

don't understand that maybe that's the point because we turn

that to worship and not just trying to figure it out, okay.

Jesus is better than the Angels because he is the exalted Sun

but not only, that Jesus is better than the Angels because

he is the Eternal one. And when I say Eternal, I mean

both future and past, we're told in verse 8 referencing Jesus,

that the Throne of God is for ever and ever.

This is a direct quote from Psalm 45 and it's in the

original context, reference in Yahweh.

But the author has no problem applying that to Jesus because

Jesus is God, he is the one who is Anointed by God to be the

chosen Messiah. We're also told in verse 10,

that it was Jesus, who in the beginning established, the

heavens and the Earth again, a direct quote, we're not going to

look at it but that's from Psalm 102 if you want to write that.

It down Psalm 102, we're actually going to look at it in

a minute, but right now, we need to understand that the Angels

were created beans, not Jesus. He is the one who created all

things. He's the alpha, he's the Omega.

He's the beginning and the end, there has never been a time

where the sun has not existed in Union with the father.

These passages make it clear that Jesus is God, the son who

was there before creation. It's also interesting that these

quotes from our preacher, all of the quotes in verses 8 through

12 are clearly talking about Yahweh when we read them in

original context, and he has no problem interpreting that as

them talking about Jesus, because Jesus is one with the

father. It's why Jesus has no problem

saying when he's here, Earth bringing the good news of the

Kingdom. He says, if you've seen me,

you've seen the father We talked about that some last week here

at new Eden. There's a lot that we're not

rigid about. There's a lot, we say we hold

with an open hand, but one of the things that we are a little

bit rigid about and if you ever come to our preaching team,

you'll see this. We believe that the point of all

the scriptures is Jesus and I would argue that we have

biblical authority to make that important text.

Like these make that plane our primary hermeneutic which

hermeneutic simply Needs how we interpret the scriptures, the

primary hermeneutic of the way we read.

The Old Testament is by looking through the lens of Jesus.

I would argue, there is no other faithful way to read the text.

If you want to be in line, with the way Jesus interpreted the

Old Testament, you want to be in line, with the way all of the

authors of the New Testament, interpret the Old Testament.

Then Jesus is the point, and if you interpreted all in Miss

Jesus, we've missed it. We've just created a new

religion. And I don't say that lightly.

It's kind of a side note but I think we can learn a lot about a

trip, the Old Testament from Hebrew, so I mention that.

But the larger point stands that Jesus is the Eternal one, who's

always existed and always will. And that cannot be said about

the Angels, but not only that Jesus is also better than the

Angels because he's the immutable, 1K immutable.

Again, theological word that simply means on changing in

verses 11 and 12 of Our text, our author is going to quote,

Psalm 102 verse 25 through 27. So instead of reading it in our

Psalms 102:25–27

text because we always heard it read, already heard it read.

We're going to go back to Psalm 102 and look at it there, it

says long ago, you establish the Earth, our author applies, this

to Jesus and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish but you will endure.

All of them will wear out like clothing.

You will change them like a garment and they will pass away

but you Are the same and your years will never end and the

psalmist uses. This poetic idea to help us see

that. Jesus is the one whose character

cannot change. Unlike a third of the Angels who

rebelled against God and fell Jesus never will he can be

trusted. He can be counted on and so all

of this is kind of rolling us. To a climax of this argument

about the superiority of Jesus, when we get to verse 13, it's

like it just is gonna slap Us in the face.

Now, look at what he says in Hebrews 1:13 now, to which of

Hebrews 1:13

the angels, has he ever said, sit at my right hand, until I

make your enemies your footstool?

It's a direct quote from Psalm 110.

And this is proving that Jesus is better than the Angels.

Not only because he is the exalted one.

He is the Eternal one, he is the immutable one but also because

he is the rightful King. It's interesting that same Psalm

110 where it says, sit at my right hand until I make your

enemies, your footstool is the same song that is quoted in

three of the gospels by Jesus himself when he is making the

argument, that he is the Messianic one who is coming to

redeem the world and he is the Messiah who will rule over all

as Lord. And King Jesus is not, just

another created Heavenly being who showed up and did some cool

tricks and perform some miracles.

He is the rightful King who Reigns over the entire universe.

I didn't say Cosmos, and I really wanted to there.

I was told I say Cosmos a lot and I do.

So I still said it though now. So now I'm account starts over.

It's like, how many days since Joe last said Cosmos, all right,

at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.

There we go. Been here, excited.

All right, all the inside jokes. Get them all out.

All right. Someone also told me this shirt

look like doordash. I was really proud.

Out of it. So, I don't know, whatever.

Thank you. Everyone's going to by one until

I said that it's all good. All right, we're talk about the

bigness of God right back to it but every square inch is God's

everything. We can see and everything we

can't see and I get it, it doesn't always look like it.

Hebrews is going to address that in the future it later in the

book, but Jesus is Lord over all his power is unmatched.

There is none who can stand against him.

He loves Righteousness, were told the scepter of his kingdom,

is a scepter of Justice. His kingdom is the only place

where there is flourishing for all, and our writer asked a

rhetorical question. Now, tell me again, I can almost

hear the sarcasm, in his voice like to, which of the Angels,

did he say this? About the rhetorical answer is

none. That's the obvious answer.

It's only sad to Jesus. And so as we work our way

through chapter 1 by reading these He's coaching the Old

Testament, we just breathe through it.

We could have spent a lot more time on it, but it's

interesting. As we read these quotes that are

fulfilled in Christ, the idea of angels actually begins to just

kind of like Fade Into the background.

They're only mentioned a couple times, like what they do?

I think that's kind of the point.

This leads us to the second main truth.

We see from our text and it's this angels exist to serve God's

plan. What is the purpose of angels?

It is not so that they are adored.

It is not so that they are worshipped.

It is simply to serve God's plan.

The in goal is not to see angels and being all and worship them.

It is to, they are just means of Grace to help us see.

God's glory. The goal is worship of Jesus,

revelation, 22, the author. John sees this vision and this

is what he says, revelation 22. He says, I John, am the one who

heard and saw these things when I heard and saw these huge

apocalyptic Visions. I fell down to worship at the

feet of the Angel who had shown them to me.

But he said to me the intersect don't do that.

That's not what we're about. I am a fellow servant with you,

your brother's the prophets and those Those who keep the words

of this book worship, God. These supernatural beings exist,

not for their own purposes, but to serve God's purposes in

verse. 7 of our texts were told that the angels are like winds

and they are like a fiery flame. It is similar to forces and

nature how they simply go where God tells them to go.

And as we as we think of angels, there's nothing wrong with

thinking about angels but I think it's important for us to

think rightly about them so quick, little sidebar.

One extreme would be to make too little of the supernatural

world. The scriptures are clear that

there are principalities at work in the Unseen Realm.

Both good and evil one. Third of the Angels fell before

humans were created. Those are called demons.

The leader of that is the prince of the power of the air, the

evil one, the Satan, the devil, whatever you want to call them.

And they are making war against God and his people, they are

active and they are at work. However, the Other Extreme would

be thinking too much about Their power making too much of it any

time, angels and Heavenly beings are mentioned.

It's as an aside to what God is doing in the world.

It is not the point. It is serving the point.

Jesus has won the war against the enemy and we know that soon

he's going to take the evil one and he's going to cash them into

an eternal spit where the smoke goes up forever and ever which

signifies the final Eternal destruction of all evil.

So so we don't want to walk in fear of demons.

Or in all of angels but instead Walk In Christ, I would argue

that even the fallen angels exist to serve the purposes of

God and show his wrath and his power.

But not only do angels serve the purposes of God, angels exist to

serve the people of God. Our author says, this clearly in

verse 14, look at what he says, he says so.

So we didn't get that angels. Have their, you know, foot feet

on the next of their enemies. That's the son.

But he says, are they not all Angels.

Ministering Spirits sent out to serve those who are going to

inherit salvation. Angels would love to be human

Angels longed to look into the saving Graces of God.

But ultimately they serve God's people.

All those who are in Christ are being served and minister to By

Angels for the purpose of inheriting eternal life.

It's just like what Jesus when the Angels Came and ministered

to him. But here's what I need you to

see, right? We have this idea of everyone

having a guardian angel and that might be true.

I actually can't say one way or the other.

Some of you can make a case for that but I can say that if You

have a guardian angel, his primary aim is not to get you to

your house safe. It is to get you to your Eternal

home safe. The Angels could have got Jesus

out of suffering on the cross, but there was a bigger plan and

so they minister to him so that he might stay faithful and be

the perfect son. Who learns?

Obedience has Hebrew. Says, But angels are a means on

your journey towards the Eternal Kingdom to make God's glory

known. Not to help you win your next

sporting event, right? Angels, in the Outfield was a

great movie. I loved it growing up.

I could quote it, that's not reality though.

I would take some angels on my fourth grade basketball team

right now because we would love to win some games.

I told my son, the other day we were playing a team that we've

lost two like three times don't play them three times twice in

overtime and once by like two points, and I told him We were

playing them and I said, hey, we're going to get this win, I

was trying to be positive, so I was making up stuff like parents

do. We're going to get this win.

The bounces are going to go our way, it's going to work out, and

he told me he was shooting a free throw towards the end of

the towards end of the game. And he's time to this later and

he shot and it kind of rolled in and went out.

And he said, I thought my dad said the bouncers were going to

go our way and he was like, yeah, didn't happen.

So I'll take you can pray for some angels for me and my

attitude as well during that. So, here's my point though,

angels are Serving the purposes of Eternal salvation.

Not just making your life more safe in the here and now, okay,

nothing wrong with asking Jesus to the liver us temporarily but

ultimate salvation and your sanctification is the end goal.

Angels are a means of Grace. So don't Elevate, the means of

Grace above the grace Giver, Jesus himself.

So our preacher lays this entire groundwork and then he begins to

apply it to the hearers at the beginning of chapter two.

So I'm going to read verses 1 through 4 One More Time.

For us now that we've kind of set context, maybe this will

make a little more sense for us for this reason, because all

these things are true. We must pay attention all the

more to what we have heard. So that we will not drift away

for. If the message spoken through

Angels was legally binding and every transgression and

Disobedience, received a just punishment, how will we escape

if we neglect such a great salvation?

And this salvation had its beginning when it was spoken by

the Lord and it was confirmed To Us by those who heard him.

At the same time, got also testified by signs and wonders

and various Miracles and distributions of gifts from the

Holy Spirit, according to his well, and so the readers and we

are encouraged to hold fast, and pay attention to the supremacy

of Jesus. To hang on to Christ and him

crucified that our boast would be that alone that we would not

be distracted. And get our eyes fixated on

things that may seem to be fascinating and shiny.

But instead on Jesus and his work, We've seen that Jesus is

better than the Angels. We've seen that angels exist to

serve God's plan and the last truth will see, is this God's

ultimate plan is salvation through Jesus as this book will

do it starts with Jesus and it ends with Jesus.

The preacher makes this comparison, he gives this idea

of message spoken through Angels, you can see it in the

way he used and then the message that is spoken by Jesus himself.

Okay? So the message spoken by Angels,

what does that mean? Well, the Israelite people

understood that angels and One Way Or Another We're used to

help deliver the law at Mount Sinai.

Okay, this is only kind of hinted at in the Old Testament,

but both Paul, the Apostle Paul. And then Stephen, they allude to

this, This and their sermons and their letters, very explicitly.

And the people that this book was written to knew and

understood this, they also knew in their stories history, that

Mount Sinai, was one of the most powerful displays of God's glory

smoke fire, big thing, the laws being delivered And the argument

here is that, that if the law being delivered there with, with

all the bells and whistles in this powerful display of God's

glory, it was binding, it had teeth.

It had consequences that wasn't just a good idea.

The argument here is that, if that message, delivered by

Angels was a big deal, how much bigger is this message of

Salvation that Jesus came and spoke and lived himself?

God, with us Emmanuel work? Word made flesh.

So you think the old Covenant is a big deal New Covenant, boom.

Right in your face. The message of the law delivered

by Angels was that it had to be kept or Consequences were in

order. But the law at its best could

only reveal sin. In fact, when they agree to the

terms of the Covenant God himself says, you ain't going to

keep it because he knows how humans are But the message

delivered by God himself through Christ, was that there is a way

of Escape. There is a way of Salvation

there is hope. And so the author proposes this

question, how would we escape if we neglect such a great

salvation? We hear that.

And the tone we think that's kind of scary and it is meant to

like calls us to take Serious. It's the weight of if we are in

Christ but it is not meant to scare us.

It is meant to drive us to Jesus alone.

How Can You Escape? If you neglect this?

There is nothing better. There is nothing else it is

Christ and him crucified. That's it.

That's the only message we have to give you the law.

Had its run. Humans tried to keep it and they

failed, Israel tried to keep it and she failed.

The whole Old Testament is story. after story of the

failure of humanity until God himself in Christ, comes to

bring a better way. So yeah, Mount Sinai.

The Angelic appearances there and later in scripture, they

might be powerful and flashy. But what really matters was the

work of Christ. It was so upside down.

Isaiah tells us we there was nothing in him that we would

desire him from an Earthly standpoint.

His Incarnation was unimpressive.

Yes, there were some Miracles here and there but he was

largely despised and rejected by men.

It wasn't seemingly flashy. You Don't See Jesus saying,

don't be afraid. But he was also the one who bore

our iniquities, the one who was pierced for our Rebellion, the

one who sin was laid on his back and he was crushed.

And so when the spirit begins to give us eyes to see that moves

from something uncomely, and almost repulsive to see this man

hanging on a bloody cross instead, it becomes the most

beautiful thing we could ever fix our eyes on There is nothing

more beautiful. You can search, you can look in

the whole world, but there is nothing better.

He was the perfect lamb who proclaimed salvation with his

life and with his lips he lived a life of righteousness and

Justice. He brought his kingdom to bear

on the world in a way like no one had ever done.

And like, no one ever has done since he loved even his enemies.

He invited in the outcast, The Foreigner, those that weren't

enough the center and he says, come dine.

I don't care what the religious leaders say about me.

You can call me a friend of drunkard.

You can call me a glutton. You can call me a friend of

sinners. That's fine, that's what I'm

here for. That's who I'm here for those.

That think they're well, don't need a physician.

I'm here for the sick. And it wasn't flashy.

It was seemingly ordinary over meals hanging out.

As we would say cups of coffee, I don't know that coffee.

That's what it is. And he lives his life, he

displays the father's glory and becomes our atoning sacrifice

through his perfect obedience. And even though he didn't

deserve it, he offers up himself on a cross of wood to die for

the sins of the world. There would be those that would

pass by and scoff him and ignore him as he's hanging on a cross.

Gasping for breath having no idea that what they were looking

at was something far greater than a warrior angel.

They were beholding, the face of Jesus, who was the rightful heir

of all creation, but who had surrendered it all to redeem and

save a bunch of broken. Sinners, that's you and that's

me. And as the cold body of Jesus,

is laid in the Tomb and the stench of death, fills the air.

One might wonder how we could ever say that this Jesus is

better than Angels. How is this possible?

But on the third day, the king proves his power over death,

hell and the grave and it comes back alive.

And and if you read the story, who do we see sitting outside

the tomb, again, serving the purposes of the people of God,

couple of angels. And what are they saying?

Proclaiming the gospel, the best news ever, he is not here for,

He Is Risen. It's the message that Angels

would love To receive. And we have that opportunity.

And as Jesus is exalted to the right hand of the father, he

leaves them something much better than Angelic experiences,

he leaves us himself. The very spirit of God in our

hearts and in our midst as his people that is reminding us and

affirming crying out. Abba Father he will keep you.

He will sustain you for the journey he will bring you home

safe. See the point of all of this is

to bring us into greater majesty and worship of Christ that we

might be hold him because that's the only thing that can

transform. You is seeing Christ.

It's not seen Angels, it's not seen you no more rules and more

regulations and all these other things in the writer of Hebrews

says, pay attention. Look to Christ see, just as the

readers of Hebrews were in danger of being fascinated with

angels, so, we too Can be in danger of being fascinated, with

spiritual things in our culture, but miss Jesus.

We can be fascinated with theology.

We can fill our brains with knowledge.

We can read the thickest books that are out there.

And still miss Jesus. All theology has as its end,

doxology, which means worship of Jesus, and if that's not where

our theology is leading us, it's useless.

We might find ourselves fascinated with Supernatural

healings. We can be fixated on on seeing

our prayers answered, through signs and wonders and maybe find

ourselves thrilled with emotional experiences and God

can use all of that but we can do all that, and still miss

Jesus. All signs and wonders have as

their end, validation of the message about Jesus there.

A signpost pointing toward Christ, not the end goal.

And I don't know what that dangerous for you bunch of

different diverse people in here, right?

It could be music that moves, it could be spiritual disciplines

making sure you check that box every day.

So I feel like a good person. It could be that conference that

gives you the emotional High. We can pursue all that and Miss

Jesus, he is the only thing that saves, that's what the author is

saying. It is so great.

A Salvation that other stuff, our means of Grace to

continually point, you to Christ, don't get them out.

Of order. It can seem scary when we think

of this warning, how will we escape?

If we neglect the great salvation offered?

But when we have eyes to see, there's incredible hope and it's

freeing. Because let me remind you as we

close that you're standing before, God is Not based on how

much you experience, the supernatural.

How much theology, you know, or how faithful and consistent, you

are in your spiritual disciplines you're standing

before. God is based on Jesus and his

life, death, burial. And Resurrection, if you are in

Christ, you are secure the devil, the enemy.

Your A thin has been made nothing more than a freaking

footstool, for Jesus to just prop, his feet up on as he's

reigning and ruling over all creation.

Nothing more. there's nothing that can pluck you out of his

hand, so I Challenge you encourage, you pay attention,

don't be distracted by anything less than the radical and free

Grace of Jesus. It is a great salvation offered

to you by a great savior.