Jesus Is Greater Than | Downtown Campus | September 13, 2026

Well, good morning.

I'm Bill.

I'm the downtown campus pastor.

It is great to be with you.

It has been a while since I've actually been the pastor to preach.

I feel like I've done seven weeks of announcements in a row, so it's really good to be back and preaching with you today.

When you were a kid, did you ever have an argument with somebody about what the largest number is?

Like, what's the biggest number in the world, right?

And one kid would be like, it's a zillion.

And then another kid would be like, no, it's infinity.

And another kid would be like, no, it's infinity times infinity.

And then there would be a kid who's like, no, it's infinity times infinity plus one, right?

And you'd kind of have that argument.

And there would always be the kid who would be probably like a little bit older, and they'd be like, that's not how math works.

Well, that kid just needs to shut up, doesn't he?

Right?

Because that's not the point.

The point is always a bigger number.

And so whatever was said, one of the kids was gonna add something to it, a number to it, and make it more.

Well, today we're beginning a series in the book of Hebrews called Greater Than.

And we're gonna hear this idea over and over again.

Jesus is greater.

He's greater than affinity.

Infinity times infinity.

Infinity times a million or a billion or a zillion.

And Hebrews is gonna show us that because Jesus is greater, we can truly trust him with our lives.

But before we jump into the passage today, let's talk a little bit about the background of Hebrews.

Now, we actually don't know uh definitively who wrote the book of Hebrews.

There have been people who have suggested that it was Paul, that is actually a sermon from Paul.

Some people believe that.

Um, other people say maybe it was Apollos, he was a leader in the early church, but we can't say for sure.

Actually, we don't even know uh the church that received it.

We do know that it was written to Jewish Christians who knew the Old Testament well.

It spends a lot of time talking about Moses and the priest and the sacrifices and throughout the book of Hebrews.

We're gonna be coming back to the Old Testament to understand what the writer is actually showing us about Jesus, how it all points to Jesus.

But what's interesting about the book of Hebrews is it actually reads a lot like a sermon.

Next time you open the book of Hebrews and you're in it for your study, think of it as a sermon.

It'll help you understand what's going on here.

In fact, the writer of the book at one point actually calls it a word of exhortation.

And he's urging the people who are receiving this to keep following Jesus.

And that's important because here's why he does that.

You see, the audience of Hebrews, for them, following Jesus had already cost them something.

We actually find it in chapter 10.

It tells us that the people who were receiving this book had faced public insults, they had faced suffering, that they had actually had to go stand alongside people who had been put in prison who they knew because they were followers of Jesus.

And it even says that they had their possessions taken away from them.

And so imagine losing what belongs to you solely because you decided to follow Jesus.

Imagine waking up the next morning and having to decide how you're going to live now under that type of persecution.

Well, apparently, some of the believers, because they were in that situation, had begun pulling back on their faith.

They had stopped gathering with other believers.

And so the writer actually is gonna warn them later about drifting away.

But it wasn't just meeting together.

Under that same pressure, it seems that the familiar life of the old covenant and the law and Moses and all of that began to look appealing to them again.

Uh, things like the priest and the sacrifices, things that were part of their culture in their life.

Now, we're not given like a transcript of their conversation back and forth, but you can imagine the feeling amongst these believers, because we know their situation.

They're asking questions like, you know, should we go back?

Like maybe we should go back.

Maybe we were wrong to put all of our hope in Jesus, all of our eggs in that basket.

Maybe there is something better.

And actually, that helps explain some of the comparisons in Hebrews.

For instance, the author talks of angels.

And so, why is he comparing Jesus to angels?

Well, in Hebrews 2, it connects angels with the giving of God's law.

They were his messengers.

And so the question for them is whose message should we trust?

Should we trust the angels or should we trust Jesus?

And so the question for them is that question, do we trust this?

And the writer points them back to Jesus because he is the Son.

We're gonna talk more about that in another sermon.

Or think about the priests and the sacrifices and their temptation to go back to that.

Those were familiar ways to them of approaching God.

You can understand the pull, like it was something physical.

Like you could actually go and see the priests.

You could see the physical priest in front of you.

You could take your sacrifice and have it sacrificed on the altar.

And so the point is that for them, following Jesus had become really costly.

And so going back, it could feel reassuring to them.

But actually, what we're gonna see is that all of those things, the priests and the covenants and the angels and all of those things were actually meant to point them forward to Jesus, to the Son.

And so the real question becomes this if they turn away from Jesus, where will they go to find something greater?

And that's why this book keeps bringing them back to Jesus.

It's saying, look at who he is.

You can keep trusting him.

And the truth is that we are actually faced with the same temptations.

Maybe following Jesus has felt a little harder than you expected.

Let me say what I mean.

Like you've prayed and yet you're still waiting on something.

Doing right has cost you something.

Standing up for what you believe in has cost you something.

Or maybe you've gotten busy and you've kind of stopped paying attention to him.

It's hard to follow Jesus in our world.

There's so many distractions.

Maybe you stop coming to church so often, or you've stopped pursuing Christian community, or you stopped reading or praying, you stopped reading your Bible or praying.

See, it's entirely possible for us to say Jesus is greater on Sunday and then live the rest of our life as though it all depends on us, not Jesus.

And so as we begin, I want us to take a fresh look at Jesus and the Jesus that we are called to trust.

And today we're gonna look at Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 4.

Hebrews 1:1–4

And actually, as we go through this this morning, I want to challenge you.

I want you to sit with a question for this whole sermon.

And here's the question I want you to sit with.

If this is who Jesus is, if Hebrews is right in describing who Jesus is, then what would it look like for me to trust him with what I'm facing right now?

That's the question that I want you to ask.

If this is who Jesus is, what would it look like for me to trust him with what I'm facing right now?

If you haven't already, you can open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1, 1 through 4.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

You can follow along on your phone, or you can actually see it, it'll be on the screen as well.

But before we jump into the passage, I would love to pray for us.

Let's pray.

Lord, we come to you, and um we're so thankful that you are greater than.

You are greater than our problems.

You are greater than our deficiencies and our weakness.

Lord, thank you so much that you are greater than our sin.

That actually you're greater than the distractions of this world, that you're greater than our possessions, that you're greater than our problems.

And Lord, I pray that you would make it really clear this morning to our hearts and to our minds who you are.

And that it wouldn't just be a truth we walk around with, but it would be a truth that finds its way into how we live our lives.

We pray this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said.

Amen.

Here's what Hebrews 1, 1 through 4 says.

It says this in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory in the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

And after he provided purification for sins, and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven, so he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

This is God's word, amen?

Well, today, in these four verses, we're gonna see three distinct ways Jesus is greater.

The first one is this Jesus is greater than every messenger.

Go back to the top of the passage.

In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son.

Now, if you look at that right off the bat, some of you might think this well, God used to speak through the prophets and the Old Testament and all those things, and now we have Jesus.

And so maybe the Bible or the Old Testament is really not all that important.

No, that's not what this is saying.

Right off the bat, this is not what this is saying.

Because throughout Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews he keeps going back to the Old Testament and he doesn't really specifically to show who Jesus is.

In fact, he's building his whole case from the Old Testament.

And Jesus himself, in Matthew 5, says that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets, not to delete it.

But really, the topic here is actually God's revelation.

Now, I don't mean the book of Revelation.

We already did that series.

You can go back and watch it on YouTube, okay?

But more so, how God makes himself known to human beings.

You ever sit and think about this?

Like, how does God actually communicate with humankind and make himself known among us?

How does he communicate to humanity?

How does he reveal himself?

And what we find is that actually, when you read the Bible, he's been doing it all along.

He starts with creation.

You look at the night sky, and Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare God's glory.

The creation tells us about who God is, that he exists, that he's real, that he's amazing, that he's a maker.

But here, Hebrews focuses on how God spoke through the prophets, and it says at different times and in different ways.

There were spoken messengers and there were words written down in Exodus 24.

Moses tells the people what God said, and then it gets written down.

God's people could hear those words, they could read them, they could pass them on.

There were dreams and visions in the Old Testament.

There were signs and mighty acts.

God spoke through real people throughout history, revealing himself.

And those weren't bad, they weren't wrong, it was really God speaking, but his revelation was unfolding.

It was in process.

There was more to come.

And so when we say it's not complete yet, we don't mean that God needed to correct what he said.

He was leading his people towards what he would reveal one day in and through Jesus.

I want you to think about it this way.

Imagine someone you love has been away for a really long time.

And they happen to be in a place in the world where they don't have Starlink internet, right?

Or any sort of cell service.

And so what do they do?

They write you letters.

That's so romantic nowadays, isn't it?

Writing letters to your loved one when you're away, okay?

And you read those letters, you get them, and you read them and you read them over and over, and they tell you, those letters, they tell you how much they love you, and they tell you about coming home to you.

I can't wait to see you.

I can't wait to be there, and this is when I'm gonna come, and all these things.

Now, those letters probably mean a great deal to you.

In fact, you might keep them forever.

They're a testament of that person's love for you.

But then the day comes and you're standing at the airport and you see them walking towards you, the physical person, not the letters, but the person.

You don't look at them, hold up your finger and say, just a second, hang on, let me hug these letters really quick.

Right?

Like you would, that's weird.

You wouldn't do that.

No, you put the letters down and you go and you hug them.

But here's the question: did those letters become untrue then?

Do we throw them away?

Did they stop mattering?

No, the person who told you they were coming home is actually now standing right in front of you.

You're experiencing in that moment what those words were preparing you for.

And just like that, God had been revealing himself through the messengers and the prophets of the Old Testament, but now he's revealing himself through his son, his own son, Jesus.

The point is, is Jesus is far more than all the previous messengers.

John 1 tells us that the word, Jesus, became flesh and he lived among us.

The Son has made the Father known.

In Jesus, God has come near.

In Jesus, we see God's holiness and his compassion and his faithfulness at the cross.

We see the cost of God's love for us.

And so, as people who follow God, of course, we keep reading both the testaments, the old and new, learning how their promises and their commands and their stories fit into the fullness of who Jesus is as God's son.

And I want you to think back about that original audience who is receiving this letter and how they were tempted to pull back.

The question for them is this if this is all true about Jesus, about who Jesus is, why would you turn away from God's own son to another messenger?

Why would you look to the angels?

Why would you go back to the prophets alone?

Why would you do this?

You need to look to Jesus.

But it's not just for them either.

That's for us.

That's a message for us.

Because we can spend a lot of time wishing that God would make himself clearer to us.

I remember this as a kid, I was like, like, God, why don't you just show up in my bedroom?

Like I need you right now.

Like I need I need a sign, like right now.

Maybe if I had a sign, maybe if I had some incredible experience, then I'd really be able to trust God.

That's the moment.

But are we paying attention to what he's already shown us in Jesus?

Are we paying attention to who Jesus is before we ask for more?

We need to listen to Jesus.

We need to open the gospels.

God's word that he gave us to reveal who he is.

We need to pay attention to what Jesus says and does in Scripture.

Bring the thing that you're facing in your life, the problems and the hurts and the pain and the good things even, and take seriously what he's already asking you to do based on what you know from God's word.

Also, church, you need to hear this because this is a thing now.

We should always be suspicious of somebody who comes into Christian circles and claims a new special revelation.

This happens from time to time.

People claim prophecy or special insight from an angel or God Himself, and I want to be really clear.

I'm not denying spiritual gifts, and I'm not saying that God doesn't sometimes work through human beings.

But we have to test every claim against God's word.

And even if someone predicts something that actually happens, that doesn't give them permission to contradict what God has already said in his word.

Somebody confidently saying that they have a word from God cannot replace real discernment in anchoring what we believe in God's word and in Jesus Himself.

You know, I had a guy one time, he told me that the Holy Spirit talked to him to show him where to get drugs because he needed drugs.

Listen, I don't deny that that guy got a word, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't from God, right?

But let's keep on going because the next part of this passage cuts to the chase of how much greater Jesus truly is.

And so Jesus is greater than everything created.

This is point two.

Jesus is greater than everything created.

It says this, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, who is apparent he who he's appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

The sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by the power of his word.

Okay, this is so incredible.

These words are actually meant to leave you in awe.

You know, sometimes we open our Bible and we're like, hmm, that's that's nice.

You know?

No, like, no, stop right here.

This is major, this is huge.

Remember who's hearing this, okay?

Remember the original audience.

These are people who are suffering and they're wondering if they can keep trusting Jesus and f because following him has made their life much harder.

And here's what this is saying: look at who you're putting your faith in.

This is Jesus.

First, Jesus is heir of all things.

He's heir of all things.

Now, for us, when we think about inheritance, we might think about a house, we might think about money, a garage full of tools that nobody knows what to do with.

But look at the scope of this inheritance.

It says all things.

All things.

The Father appointed the Son heir over all of creation.

Everything belongs to Jesus.

Imagine hearing that when somebody has taken away your possessions because you are a follower of Jesus.

They can take away material possessions from you, but at the end of the day, they cannot take anything away from you ultimately because it all belongs to Jesus.

All of it.

In other words, the people making your life miserable, Hebrews, don't get a final say over it because Jesus does.

And then he says, this everything was made through him.

This is the second thing.

Everything was made through him.

Think about this for a second.

Through Jesus, God made the whole universe.

The author is telling them and us, this is the same Jesus that right now you are tempted to walk away from, to forsake, to stop meeting together, to do all of these things.

This is the Jesus, Jesus, the creator of every galaxy, every star that you can see, and all the ones that you can't see.

The ocean, the mountains, the ground underneath your feet, all of it.

Colossians 1 says everything was created for Jesus and through Jesus, including rulers and authorities.

And so whatever power they feared is still just created power.

The author is saying Jesus is greater than everything created because he created all of it.

And then it goes on further.

It says that Jesus is the radiance of God's glory.

This is the third one.

Radiance is this idea of like the shining out of light.

Think about sunlight pouring through a window and warming up and lighting up a room.

In Jesus, God's glory shines out, his goodness, his holiness, his majesty.

If God Himself is light cutting through the darkness, Jesus is the radiance in the splendor of that white light, as well as the light itself.

Fourth, Jesus, Jesus is the exact representation of God's being.

Exact.

We will look at kids sometimes and we'll be like, that's definitely your kid, right?

I can see his dad in him.

I can see his smile, his walk, the thing he does that drives everyone crazy.

We clearly see it, right?

But this goes so much deeper than a family resemblance because the Son fully shares God's divine nature.

Jesus is fully God and shows us perfectly who God is, the exact representation of his being.

Jesus' compassion that we read in the Gospels shows us God's compassion.

When we see when Jesus confronts sin, we see God's holiness.

God Himself, His holiness is on display.

When He welcomes those who trust Him, we see God's heart.

For people who are hurting or broken or being persecuted, that's so significant.

Because suffering can leave us wondering what God is like.

Does He care?

Has He forgotten us?

The answer is no.

Look at Jesus.

Look at how He comes into this world.

Look at how He gives Himself to the world to be sacrificed, to bring us into the family of God.

He has made God known.

And fifth, Jesus sustains all things by His powerful word.

You ever think about this?

Right now, in this moment, this is what He's doing right now.

Like in this millisecond of time.

When I read this, I just keep on concentrating on these two words.

All things.

Like the universe as we know it continues to exist because the Sun in this moment is sustaining it.

Colossians says that in him all things hold together.

And how does he do that?

It says by his powerful word.

Let's be honest, we have days when keeping track of the calendar feels like more than we can handle.

But Jesus is sustaining the universe by the power of his being.

Every star out there, every breath we breathe in this room, in fact, we are depending on him right now for the fabric of our existence.

And again, think about the audience's situation.

Their circumstances might have looked completely out of control, but Jesus had not stopped sustaining the creation.

That doesn't explain every part of their suffering or pain.

It doesn't even promise an easy tomorrow.

But it gives them a reason to keep trusting.

The one they belong to is still Lord, even in their situation.

And church, you need to hear this too because when the phone rings with the news you didn't want, you need to know that Jesus is there.

He's sustaining all things.

He's over all creation.

He is all powerful.

When the conversation goes badly, you need to look to Jesus.

When you lie awake at night figuring out what to do, you need to run to Jesus.

Come back to Jesus and who he is.

Run to who he is.

He is heir of all things.

Not just some things.

He's heir of all things.

He is the maker of our universe.

He is the radiance of God's glory.

He is the exact representation of who God is.

He is actually right now, in this moment, sustaining all things by the power of his word.

That's who you're bringing your fear to.

That's who you're asking for help.

Go to Jesus, know him as that, and tell him how hard it is.

Ask him to help you to trust him.

Take the next step of obedience, even if you have questions and doubts, because the Jesus you are trusting is greater than everything.

Times infinity plus one.

Times a zillion.

We could keep going, right?

And that brings us to our last point.

Jesus is greater than our sin and every power.

It says this after he had provided purifications for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven, so he became as much superior to the angels as the name he had inherited is superior to theirs.

Now look at where the writer goes next.

Jesus, he made the universe, he sustains it all, and now we read that he also provided purification for sins.

The one who created and sustains the very universe is the same one who gave himself to us to save us.

Church, this is where we see why his greatness is actually such good news for us.

First, Jesus provided purification for sin.

Purification means cleansing.

Fancy word for cleansing.

Something unclean has now been made clean.

And the thing that here that actually needs to be dealt with is our sin.

Like humanity sin, but also personally our sin, our very own sin.

The thing that you've done wrong, the good that you refuse to do, your rebellion against the God who made you and loves you, the lies, the words we wish we could take back, the thing we keep hiding.

And sometimes, let's be honest, we get so used to our own sin that we stop calling it sin at all.

But here's the truth: God sees it.

And the truth really is this, that we cannot on our own make ourselves clean before God.

You see, purification, when the Hebrews read this, the audience, they would, it would have brought to mind for them the priests and the sacrifices.

But Hebrews later explains this: that those repeated animal sacrifices could never finally and truly and completely take away sin.

And so what does Jesus do?

Creator and sustainer of the universe, what does he do?

He offers himself.

Jesus lived without sin, and at the cross, he gave his life for sinners like us.

He bore our sin, he took on our sin and the judgment we deserve so that we could be forgiven and we could be brought back to God.

And then he rose from the dead.

The one who died for us is alive.

That's the gospel, that's the good news.

And maybe you immediately think of something you've done, something that makes you wonder if you could ever truly be right with God.

Like, no, what I've done is too bad.

Well, just look back to Jesus.

Hebrews is gonna do this over and over again, so get used to it.

Look back to Jesus.

Look at the one who provided the purification.

Jesus knew your sin when he went to the cross.

And what this is trying to get across is this is that Jesus, his sacrifice, was sufficient for everyone who comes to faith.

You can stop hiding.

You can confess all your sin and come to him for mercy and grace.

And then look what happens after he provides purification.

It says that he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

He sits down.

Hebrews 10 explains that priests, they had to stand up.

Day after day, they stood up and they were offering sacrifices repeatedly, but Jesus, he offers one sacrifice and then he sits down.

To say it another way, his sacrifice was total.

It was complete.

He will never again have to offer himself.

Let that settle in.

Because sometimes, you know, we try to pay back God, don't we?

Maybe if I'm good enough this week.

Maybe if I feel guilty for my sin long enough.

Maybe if I do enough good things, God will finally accept me.

But listen, you cannot add to a perfect sacrifice.

Jesus has already offered that perfect sacrifice.

And so salvation is God's gift and it's received through faith.

Obedience or following God well comes out of that forgiveness and grace that you've already received because of Jesus.

Don't get that backwards.

But did you also notice in here where Jesus sits down?

Jesus sits down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

Majesty really speaks of God's greatness and his glory.

His right hand is the place of highest honor and authority.

This is royal language.

The risen Jesus is reigning right now.

And sitting down doesn't mean he stopped caring.

Romans 8 says that Jesus who died and rose, he's interceding for us right now at God's right hand.

He speaks on our behalf.

He says, look at the sin this person did.

I died for that.

He's doing that over and over again.

And so when you're suffering, remember the one reigning now in heaven, he gave himself for you.

In other words, you can bring your needs to Jesus.

And third, Jesus is superior to the angels with a name that's greater than theirs.

Now you might ask, well, what name?

Well, if you keep reading, um, beyond what we read this morning, it points to the Son.

That's the name.

Angels are God's servants, but Jesus is the Son.

Angels worship Jesus.

Became superior doesn't mean that Jesus was an angel and then finally became God.

Remember, the universe was made through him.

He's always been here.

No, the reality is that the eternal Son became human, suffered, and died, and now he's risen and he's exalted and he reigns as king in supreme honor.

Again, this is the author of Hebrews saying, why would you look to an angel?

Why would you look to an angel for something greater when you have seen God's Son?

Why would you return to repeated sacrifices when Jesus has sat down after giving himself for all of us?

This is the hope underneath everything we've been talking about.

The one with all authority is the one who died for us.

The one who can cleanse our sin is alive in his reigning.

And so we can trust him with our love and we can trust his power.

Now the truth is, these people would still suffer.

Following Jesus could still cost them, but their suffering couldn't actually undo his sacrifice.

Their enemies could not remove Jesus from the throne.

In fact, that's what Romans 8 brings together.

It's super important for us to know.

Will trouble or persecution or death separate you from the love of God?

No.

Nothing can separate you from God's love.

And that's the exact hope that we have to live by because Jesus died and rose again.

Everyone who belongs to him has a future beyond death.

And so here's what I want to say to you, church.

If you have never trusted Jesus, I implore you, turn to him today.

Turn from your sin.

Put your faith in Jesus, ask him to forgive you and lead your life.

And if you do belong to him, but there's something that's making it hard to trust him right now, you don't have to pretend that it doesn't hurt.

You don't have to have every question answered before coming back to him.

Because Hebrews is saying this: remember the one to whom you're praying to.

Remember who Jesus is, the Son who cleanses all sinners, the King who reigns right now, the Savior who gave himself for you.

Jesus is greater than our sin in every power, and because of him we have ultimate hope.

Amen, church?

So let me come back to the question we started with.

If this is who Jesus is, what I described this morning from Hebrews, if this is who Jesus is, what would it look like for me to trust him with what I'm facing right now?

I want you to take a moment, just a really brief moment, and name that thing.

In your mind, in your heart, close your eyes, name that thing that is making it hard to trust Jesus or the thing you're facing right now.

I'll give you just a couple seconds.

Okay, you got it?

A lot of us that was easy.

We're like, yeah, but I know the thing though.

And now what I want you to do is keeping in mind who Jesus is from this passage, I want you to bring it to him.

I'll give you a few seconds for that.

Just bring it to him.

Okay, church.

Now, as you go into this week, here's what I want you to do.

Take the step that Jesus is asking you to take.

I know, I don't know what your thing was.

I don't know the step you're supposed to take, but I do know the one who does.

And his name is Jesus.

And so this week, take the step that Jesus is asking you to take.

And church, remember this Jesus is greater.

The one who gave himself for you is worthy of all of your trust, all of your surrender, all of your life.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, would you just help us to remember very simply that no matter what it is, you are so much greater than.

For all of the reasons that we saw in Hebrews 1 this morning, you are so much greater than that thing.

And I pray, Lord, that you would give us leaps and bounds of faith to trust you because of that.

We pray this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said.

Amen.