Greater Than Spiritual Beings | Downtown Campus | September 20, 2026

Well, good morning.

It's good to see everyone out here today.

I'll tell you what, sometimes that love for Jesus has got to be greater than the desire to sleep in on a cloudy day.

That's a little breezy.

I just want to thank you all for being here because I know it is.

It's a weather shifts, and this time of year you can see it on people.

Sometimes when they walk in the building, it's like I just I'm in zombie mode.

You know, Pastor Pillow, Brother Sheets, we uh wouldn't mind hanging out at that church for a while this morning, but we're here to study God's word together.

I pray it's an encouragement to you as we continue in this study of Hebrews and this bigger picture of realizing that God is greater than.

Jesus is greater than.

Last week we started with the first four verses in Hebrews, and we talked about the fact that Jesus is greater than any other messenger that's ever come.

Secondly, we saw that Jesus is greater than any created thing.

We saw that actually Jesus was the mode, he was the hands-on of creation.

And then lastly, we saw that Jesus is greater than any other power.

And we're gonna continue with that theme of greater today and seeing Jesus' superiority.

I want to start with an illustration.

Uh, a few years back, I got invited to a Packer game, which is always fun.

Uh, and it started at a tailgate eating raw meat.

So you know it was gonna be a great game.

Uh, carnivore sandwiches at eight in the morning are a great way to start today.

So we're we're getting kicked off there.

And not only did I get to go to the game, but I was invited into one of the boxes.

Hadn't done that before, so I went, and of course, you eat more.

And it just meeting people and before the game got started, getting to talk to people, it was a lot of fun.

And then the entire environment shifted.

And you could hear around the room, he's here, he's here.

They weren't talking about me, he's here, and I had no idea what was going on.

And a guy entered the room, very nonchalant, just kind of walked in, and everyone changed.

The entire environment in that box changed.

And I walked up after a while and just got talking with him.

Of course, he's there, so he enjoys football.

We talk football.

Uh, our children at that point were very similar in age, so we talked family structures.

And it was uh in a season, probably about 2022, so a lot of stuff was still catching up from COVID.

And I explained to him, yeah, you know, we we've had some COVID back, you know, backups too.

We were at that point looking for new speakers, some in here and some issues in Bellevue and some chairs.

And he goes, Yeah, I understand what you're saying.

He said, We've had trouble at our production plants in South Africa and the Philippines.

He goes, and it's affecting our production and our sales in Europe.

And in that very moment, I realized we're not talking about the same things.

And I texted my brother, my brother's more in the business world.

I was like, hey, I'm in this conversation with this guy, and I sent him his name, and my brother was like, Oh my goodness, that guy's business influence and income is the size of a small country.

And quickly you see you get around people, and he was still a person, and he was still like just walking around.

He had to cut out to make a call to the to some Indies island that had already started business on Monday and it was still a Sunday afternoon, but you realize, oh, there's something different about him.

When he says something in the room, people are listening.

And the author of Hebrews, in a very practical sense, what what that man lived out in that space, the author of Hebrews spells out in our passage today that the same principle applies to Jesus in regard to any spiritual beings.

Any spiritual beings.

And there's gonna be a video online, we don't have time to watch it today and go into it, but there's a video online by uh a group called the Bible Project that will talk about spiritual beings and what this means.

So you can go on the uh the website or on UVersion Bible app and watch that later.

But let's start by reading Hebrews chapter 1, beginning at verse 4.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

Uh beginning at verse 5.

It says, For to which of the angels did God 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.

And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him.

In speaking of the angels, he says, He makes his angels spirits and his servants flames of fire.

But about the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever.

A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore, God your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

He also says, In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you will remain.

They will all wear out like a garment.

You will roll them up, like a robe, like a garment, they will be changed, but you remain the same, and your years will never end.

To which of the angels did God say, Sit at my right hand?

Just a quick note here, because I'm going to come back to this.

The right hand is the place of power and relationship.

Whoever sits at the right hand is the person who has authority and highest level of relationship.

God never says this to the angels.

He says to Jesus, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Quick question: Who are the ones who will inherit salvation?

Us! We are the reason God sends angels, they are there to serve us, not to be worshipped by us.

More on that later.

Chapter 2, verses 1 through 4.

It says, We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?

The salvation which was first announced by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

God also testified to it by signs, wonders, and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

So while we're in a culture right now that has this kind of ethereal view of let's just throw everything out to the universe and see what happens, or maybe an angel will show and we'll call on the angels and we'll worship or pray to.

And it's important to remember because if you go back and study history, you will be amazed at how many cults start by saying, I was visited by an angel, and they gave me this secret information.

Over and over again, we are to remind Hebrews tells us Jesus is greater than any angel.

We're gonna see this today.

Jesus is greater in relationship to God than any spiritual beings.

Jesus is greater in nature, in other words, Jesus is greater power and status than any spiritual beings.

And then finally, we're gonna see that Jesus carries even a greater message than any other spiritual being, and we need to be cautious and pay attention to it.

One last note on this, we're gonna see a lot of Old Testament references through the passage today.

I'm going to highlight them for you, but you can dig into them on your own or watch the follow-up on Monday because we're gonna talk more about that.

For time's sake today, though, we're going to reference them, but move on.

The first thing we see is that Jesus is greater than the spiritual beings in relationship to God and in relationship to us.

Jesus is greater than the spiritual beings.

We see that in verses five and six.

For which to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son, today I have become your father.

That's a reference to Psalm chapter 2.

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

Or again, I will be his father and he will be my son.

That's 2 Samuel 7, 14.

It's a picture of God's view and relationship to the Father.

And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all the angels worship him.

Think about this.

In any religion, when you worship someone who is not God, what are you doing?

You're practicing idolatry.

And yet, what does God say here?

Angels, you're gonna worship Jesus.

Angels, you're gonna bow down before him.

Why?

Because Jesus is God.

Jesus is greater in relationship to God.

He's the Son.

Not only that, the word here used is the supreme son, and it's a shared authority with the Father.

In the New Testament, this is a reference to Christ in his supremacy and created order and in the church.

His resurrection is proof of his status.

The oldest child was always the one who carried the most responsibility and the most authority.

They were known as the supreme child.

Jesus is the supreme son.

All angels are nothing but servants in the household.

They do the dirty work.

The Son is in a different status and standing with the Father.

Let's move on.

So not only is Jesus greater in relationship to God than the angels, he's also greater in nature.

That's the second thing we see in the passage.

Jesus is greater than the spiritual beings in nature.

Verse 7, it says, in speaking of the angels, he says he makes his angels spirits and his servants flames of fire.

That's Psalm 104, verse 4, if you want to look it up.

Psalms 104:4

But about the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever.

A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved right uh righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore, God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

That's Psalm 45, and it's a picture here of an inauguration of a king.

A scepter is what goes in the hand of a king to lead a kingdom.

You have loved righteousness, hated wickedness, therefore you are set above your companions, and you have been anointed.

When someone was anointed king, they would bow down before a previous king, and the oil would be poured over them.

The oil was a sign of anointing.

The anointing was the power and the presence of God.

And it says, Jesus has been anointed with the oil of what?

The oil of joy.

What's the trademark of the kingdom of God?

The oil of joy.

What's the trademark of being under the authority of the king?

He says, You'll have my joy.

The joy of the Lord will be our strength.

He's joyful.

Do we lean into it?

The angels, we're not bowing down to them.

We're not subservient to them.

He says, the angels are there to do the bidding of the king.

So who's in authority?

Help me out.

Who's in authority?

Jesus.

Jesus is the one in authority.

Who are the servants?

All right.

The angels are the servants.

Spiritual beings are the servants.

They're secondary.

Jesus is the king.

Psalm 1 uh verse uh Hebrews 1:7 quotes Psalm 104 to show that the angels are messengers, they're servants.

Hebrews 1:7

They're lesser in rank and authority than the Son whom they serve.

Also, in the Old Testament, angels were associated.

They showed up in wind and fire, which is why they're tied to the Lord's uh kingship over nature as well.

Psalm 45, 6 and 7, it's verse 8 and 9 in our passage.

Proclaim the Son is divine, an eternal, an anointed king, not out of a place, not of a country, not even of a globe, but of the universe.

When you listen, I'm telling you this from experience.

When you hear someone say, I'm gonna just throw this out to the universe and see what happens.

Anyone ever heard that?

I'm being very serious.

I'm not joking, I'm not belittling.

This is such a common statement now.

I heard it yesterday at a place I was at.

It's such a common statement.

We are above, and we serve a God who's above and in authority above the universe.

So what we're saying is, I'm gonna put a cap on all my prayers and pray to planets.

I'm gonna throw it out to spiritual beings, which when you read scripture, you're gonna see there's all sorts of spiritual beings.

And keep my fingers crossed.

We serve a God.

We serve Jesus who is above the universe and above any created being.

1 Samuel chapter 10, it says, Pour out the oil of joy.

1 Samuel 10 · chapter mention

And olive oil was used for anointing kings.

God has anointed Jesus the king.

Now I want you to put this in the back of your mind because we're in the era when this is written of the Roman Empire.

And if you said anybody was king other than Caesar, you were put to death.

Or if you were lucky, like John, you were sent out at an island and left to die, which, if you remember in our study in Revelation, this goes back a little bit ago, John was sent out to the Isle of Patmos into exile to die because he said, Jesus is our king.

Caesar said, Not having it.

Jewish people, they were allowed, and under Pox Romana, the peace of Rome, they were allowed to go worship because it was all in the temple, but when they came out of the temple, they would serve Caesar.

Christians were causing problems because they had a king that they would listen to above Caesar.

Let's read on, verse 10.

It says, He also says, In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain.

It's a picture from Psalm 102 of God.

They will wear out like a garment, you will roll them up like a robe, like a garment, they will be changed.

Another way of saying they will continue to wear out.

But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

Psalm 102, it's the quote from verses 10 through 12, is a picture of what David wrote of all things wearing out like old clothing.

And the sun will discard them.

Let's be real, I'm gonna speak for myself, but men have this ability to not get rid of any clothing whatsoever.

It will go from what I wear on Sunday to what I wear during the week, to what I wear working in the yard, to what I wear when I'm laying on the couch watching TV.

Can anyone say amen to that?

Any other men?

All right, thank you.

The writer of Hebrews here is saying, everything wears out.

Everything needs to be rolled up and thrown away.

Wives, this is when you can elbow your husbands.

Everything needs to be gotten rid of at some point.

It's just gonna wear out like a garment, like something that's just done.

But he says, Jesus is never done, never worn out.

The Bible tells us his mercies are new every morning, his faithfulness is new and fresh every day.

Everything about Jesus remains the same throughout time and eternity, past, present, future.

He doesn't wear out, he doesn't get old.

Do we get bored sometimes?

We do.

But it's because we lose sight of the importance and the glory of God.

So we've got this Roman crowd, this government that's been offended because they're calling Jesus a king, and now we've got the Jewish crowd who sees that the Christians are coming in and rejecting worship in the temple, even though the Jewish crowd has been waiting for a Messiah as well, they're not ready to hear Jesus is greater than the temple.

Jesus is greater than created beings, Jesus is the one who is to be worshipped.

This is begging for these early Christians to be persecuted from both sides.

And if you remember the message last week, that's exactly what's going on.

The writer of Hebrews is taking his life in his hands, both in a practical, a political, a social, and a spiritual sense, because he's laying it on the line, and basically what he is saying is everybody is wrong who doesn't claim Jesus as king.

And today we read that and we go, ooh, that's kind of dangerous.

But you know what Hebrews is telling us to say?

Everybody is wrong who doesn't claim Jesus as king.

There's no way around that statement.

He is greater in relationship to God the Father.

He is God the Father.

He is greater in character and integrity and in nature because he is God.

And thirdly, he's greater than spiritual beings in status.

In relationship, in nature, and in status.

Verse 13 and 14.

It says, To which of the angels did God ever say, Sit at my right hand?

What did we say that meant?

Right hand?

Power and authority.

Power and authority.

Sit in the place of power and authority until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Are not angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

It's back up to verse 13.

I never got the full picture of this.

Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool under your feet.

So the Roman practice, and this was very common in war, was to bring the enemy armies back to your city, many times naked.

The whole goal was to embarrass them as bad as possible.

You would take the king of the foreign land or one of the generals, you would lay him down in front of all the people, and your king would put his foot right on his neck.

And the entire city, the country, would cheer.

And many times there was a sword involved.

We'll stop there because it got gruesome.

Other times they would let him stand and live in embarrassment.

It's a picture of total domination and authority.

God says here, all the enemies of Jesus are going to be placed under his feet.

They're going to be placed in a position of being dominated and losing the battle.

Jesus is won.

He is the victorious king.

Angels are servants.

And once it's restated again, God sends out angels to care for his people who will inherit salvation.

I read this this week.

I like this quote.

Jesus is preeminent and not just prominent.

In other words, he's in authority forever, and he's not just something in the moment.

Angels were revered in Jewish tradition as mediators of the Mosaic law, but Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus is in a category all his own.

He's not a created spiritual being or a glorified angel.

He is the eternal creator and creator and rightful Lord who receives angelic worship.

Angels exist to serve believers.

God's love for us honestly releases angels to be in service to what his call is and his purposes are in our life.

Verse 1 through 14, uh 114 says the role of angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.

So if he's greater in status, then we need to make sure we pay attention to his message.

Because Jesus is greater than spiritual beings in his message.

It's a challenge to pay attention.

Chapter 2, verses 1 through 4.

It says, we must pay most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we do not drift away.

This wording drift away here is a boat that gets caught in a rip current.

It's silent.

If the pilot or the captain doesn't pay attention, you don't even realize it's happening.

The author of Hebrews is saying, pay attention so you don't get sucked away.

You don't just drift away.

Jesus just doesn't become average.

Verse 2.

For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment.

Anybody remember what happened to those who disobeyed the Ten Commandments?

Verse 3.

How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?

This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

God also testified to it with signs, wonders, and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Jesus' message, we go back.

Let's go back to the angel's message.

In the Old Testament, we saw angels speak.

They would speak for God, the Ten Commandments.

We're given, we read, by an angel at the command of God.

We look at Moses in dealing with Egypt and the charge and the protection and the direction of the angels through all of that.

God guided, he provided.

And the scripture says, stand still and see the salvation of our God.

In the Old Testament, when the angels spoke, God provided and the way was led to salvation.

You were in bondage in Egypt, now you're in freedom in the promised land.

Fast forward.

Jesus' message just doesn't take us out of a land for a moment.

He takes them out of takes us out of a kingdom of darkness and completely changes our address to a kingdom of light.

Before I moved to Wisconsin, I lived in Florida.

I had an address in Florida.

I sold that house.

I moved to Wisconsin.

None of my property is tied to Florida anymore.

None of my taxes are paid to Florida anymore.

None of my mail is supposed to go to Florida anymore.

Why?

Because I don't live there.

Jesus' message brought us from that place, the kingdom of darkness, to the kingdom of light.

This is where I live now.

This is Jesus' message to us and where we're to live now.

Salvation refers to God's acts on behalf of his people through Exodus and now in the New Testament through the work of Christ, rescuing people from the penalty of sin and giving them new life by his sacrificial death on the cross.

Now, so what?

What's the big point, the big takeaway we're supposed to have in this?

And this is what it is.

It'll be on the screens.

It's this Jesus is greater than the angels, so pay attention to the salvation he has revealed.

Don't get caught like that shift, uh ship in a shifting water and get sucked off path or sucked downstream.

Jesus is greater than the angels, greater than any spiritual being, so pay attention to the salvation he has revealed.

You're not just praying to a universe, you're not just praying to a star or an angel.

You're praying to the king of the universe, to the king of glory and all beyond.

Jesus is greater than the angels, so pay attention to the salvation that He has revealed.

Would you bow your hands with me, please?

Now you hear all of this and it sounds heavy and it sounds harsh, but I want you to remember what kind of king we serve.

We serve a king whose oil, his anointing, is that of joy.

1 John 4, 7 and 8 tells us that God is love, therefore let us love one another.

This is a king who came with an upside-down kingdom to be the servant, even though he's worshipped.

This is a king whose kingdom is marked by as John chapter 3, verse 16 says, For God so loved the world, not dominated the world, not wanted subservience from the world, who so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.

John 3:16

My challenge to us is to remember, number one, the king we serve and what type of king he is.

I want to close by reading Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

It says, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.

This is your king talking.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I don't know about you, but that's the type of king I'm so grateful to have and to bow a knee to.

Father, we thank you for this time together.

We thank you, Lord, for the big picture reminder of who you are and what you've done, for the reminder of whose kingdom we live in.

And God, as Christians, we should live it differently.

I pray, God, for us when we get wound up in anxiety or emotion or fear, that we remember whose kingdom we're part of and who the great ruler is.

And the fact that your anointing, the mark of your kingdom, is the fruit, the presence of your spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and mercy.

Lord, may we live in that kingdom, may we dwell in the fruit of that spirit, and may we reflect into others.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.