Well, we have started the book of Hebrews, if you weren't here last week, that was our first introductory sermon to it, we're still really in the themes that he is developing here in the book, the great important theme of listening to Jesus, and we're going to look at Hebrews chapter 1 this morning, beginning at, we'll just read at verse 1 and we'll read the chapter. The text really is verses 4 through 14. Let's give our attention this morning to the wonderful word of the Lord. Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world he is the radiance of the glory of god and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power after making purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs for to which of the angels did god ever say you are my son today i have begotten you or again i will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son and again when he brings the firstborn into the world he says let all god's angels worship him of the angels he says he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire but of the son he says your throne oh god is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning. And the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment like a robe you will roll them up like a garment they will be changed but you are the same and your years will have no end and to which of the angels has he ever said sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet are they not ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation and there we'll end the reading of god's word well the goal of the author of hebrews in chapter one is to have us taken with the supremacy of jesus that's really what he is doing here and what he is developing and he's beginning with this great issue that we raised last time that really is a thread throughout the book that he's concerned about this great overarching theme of listening to jesus hearing Jesus as the father said of the son you remember when the disciples were so distressed and they were worried about many things and then the transfiguration this is my beloved son hear him listen to him that's not a strong suit of ours by the way it's not something that we ultimately love to give ourselves to the natural propensity of our hearts that we know and our lives is to look for Jesus in all the wrong places. This has been the great problem in American evangelicalism to try to find Jesus and find power to all of this everywhere else than what he has set up. And our attitude to it has not always been very good. And as history has showed, looking at the history of Israel is that we are never really quite satisfied with God's ways in this life. We have to live by faith. Living by faith is tough business. And we want to see, we want to touch and handle. We want to see something more glorious. That's why we've had worship wars, by the way. That's the heart of it. We're particularly troubled with how he talks to us. You remember last time that the author here is addressing a people who are apostatizing. They are moving away from this all. It's such an important book for our times. I can't emphasize that enough. They were discouraged. They were weary. They were struggling because they could not see what they professed. They did not see the power, which is a big word in the book of Hebrews. In this hostile world and the antagonism that they were facing for their faith, this Christianity thing, this worship in spirit just doesn't seem to supply what we need for the moment. And there's something that's at least a little more exciting in the old sacrificial system. At least we could see the sacrifice. At least we could practice our religion with more sight and hands-on. And we're given more in that. But this, this is not working, you know? We have a beautiful building here, but really what's remarkable about it is the simplicity of it. There's pews, there are nice pews, there's a beautiful building, but the centerpiece is a pulpit, and the centerpiece holds a word. And here a man is sent to deliver a message, and really, there's not a lot about this that shows us a lot, is there? Well, they were saying, we need to go back to the old covenant. It's better. Old Covenant life had more experience with it. Old Covenant life brought more excitement with it. And at least it's a religion that in Rome, since it had antiquity and Rome valued antiquity, at least it's a religion we're not going to be persecuted for. So they looked on this and they struggled with this. And the issue was, I want to go back to something. I want something better. And we've looked at this temptation. We sort of opened that up last time, this temptation in the church today. When we see in our day thousands dropping out, especially in the West, from Christianity. And it seems to be dying on the vine. Does worship really that we're doing, does it have any real effect or bearing on our lives? We too are very much in our day tempted to look for a better source of power. Tempted to look for something more tangible. Tempted to look for something that will give us more in this struggle. And now at a culture that's turning on us, I think we're going to face this problem even more. This is, I think, one of the reasons the church is struggling today. And the author here is leading us to this first warning in the book. Hebrews comes to us with a series of warnings. And you'll notice in chapter 2, if you have your Bibles open, we're going to get there next week. But the first warning is given in the book. It's a powerful warning. Notice what he's driving to here. Therefore, we must pay. Now listen to this. We must pay close attention. We must give ourselves to pay close attention to what we have heard. Lest we drift away from it. That's a big one. That's a big one. There is always the temptation to drift, to become drifters. There's always a temptation when life gets hard and we've heard this word and we're not feeling or experiencing the power of it or there's nothing but discouragement and weariness to drift away. I'm going to come back to that next week. I'm really looking forward to that text. It's really an amazing text. But before we get there, the author is setting and helping us with something that's big. Something that would address this big problem. He addresses an issue by taking us, at least in our eyes, to the most glorious, to the most glorious beings, created beings that God made, the angels. what have we seen in our time with angels? Well, we've seen a lot of fascination with angels, haven't we? When they used to have Christian bookstores, the whole thing was decorated with figurines of angels. And we were so taken by angels, and we've been so... It's amazing how many series I've heard on Hebrews 1 talking about angels and what angels do, and I thought they've missed the whole thing. Colossians would even warn about the worship of angels So obviously it was a first century problem that people were having. They were so fascinated by angels. But imagine this scenario. Imagine if I said I was able to announce in San Diego County that on 5 p.m. tonight, the angel Gabriel is going to come preach at the Escondido URC. This place would be packed, wouldn't it? Imagine that. Gabriel's coming. And he's going to deliver a word from Jesus. well I think you see the temptation right there what do we really believe Jesus is doing and what if Jesus himself were speaking to us tonight at 5 o'clock oh well wait maybe he is what have we seen well that's what the author addresses in dealing now with angels and his point is very simple you are all wrong Jesus is superior to the angels Jesus is superior to the angels and he wants you taken with that great truth he wants to develop that great truth he took the created beings that we are the most fascinated with a powerful beings that he made for the great purpose and he's going to drive this point home is that you would understand who speaks to you in the ministry of the word that we would know that we have a greater voice than that of the angels and what a voice it is and in hearing him the whole goal of hebrews is to keep you with endurance to keep you persevering so that you don't drift in the christian faith there are drifters and he's once you so captivated with the word of god that it would have the effect of trusting him and believing him and upholding you through these times so that's what we're looking at this morning the author is summarizing this here in these wonderful ways to say a few things to us today first that jesus is superior to the angels as god's only begotten son and then he will say jesus is superior because he's reigning over all and then he will conclude with this powerful point that jesus is superior because he's unchanging he's unchanging so give yourself to hear him you've got to pay really close attention in a world given over to all kinds of of electronics and devices and screens it's even more challenging for us all the more do you need to hear this call today give close attention to what he is saying to you so his voice is powerful and it's a voice that will deliver you it's a voice that will deliver you and uphold you and a voice that will persevere you through these times imagine if this gets worse like i said last week imagine if the lord decided in reigning overall to drop the black plague on us right after covid can you imagine and yet his voice is so powerful that it would uphold you that's what he's saying to us the structure here is fascinating you have seven citations and again that just shows the coherence of the word the beauty of the word that the spirit inspired this word that there are seven the number of perfection quotations from the old testament to make this great case to you to show jesus that's why we sang psalm 45 the first group uh grouping here really is making the case that this is god's divine son second is showing his exaltation and the third is to show that he is the one to look to because he's not changing let's begin here with this important point you'll notice the rhetorical question here in verse 5 and again it's obviously important to him because he adds the question again in verse 13 to which of the angels did he ever say in other words god the father never spoke like this about angels never did he speak like this about angels and the first thing he wants to impress upon us is the divinity of the son that he's truly and eternally god look at verse 15 to which of the angels did he ever say you are my son today i have begotten you or again i will be to him a father and he shall be a son to me that's taken those two quotations are put together from psalm 2 a very important psalm to the writers of the new testament and it's also taken from second samuel 7 14 when the kingdom was promised to david an everlasting kingdom and a king who would sit on that throne forever the author here is doing what um jesus did in the resurrection and and it really shows what christian preaching really was like in the first century because this is a sermon it's not a theological treatise it's a it's a it's a sermon it's a pastoral sermon and and it's showing what they did and how they thought about preaching that what their great goal was in preaching was to take the old testament and show jesus from him in fulfillment and how that applies to us in the new covenant by doing this he does something unique here jesus he says and we know this from all the scripture was always eternally God's son but he wants us captivated with something verse 3 said that when he made purification for our sins that's a big theme in this book we're going to be spending some time with that he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become as much superior verse 4 to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Jesus was always eternally God's son equal with the father but when he came down here and he endured the cross for you and he came on this mission to endure the cross and knowing you personally paying for your sins he atoned for them he covered them and then when he endured that cross and he was ascended into heaven the father declared him in the resurrection with the great name a great name the name that's what he's saying here he's saying that something very special happen through the completion of this work for you that the father revealed his son to the ends of the earth that the father declared his son to the ends of the earth and in that victory he has been given the name that is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that he's lord he is yahweh and everything's being put under his feet remember what he said in the first few verses he's the heir of everything he owns it all he reigns over it all he's seated over all the cattle on a thou all this is his that little earthquake that happened that came from him it's all his he sends his thunderous voice throughout the earth and everything's going to be put under those feet already is happening isn't that just what's happened today isn't it remarkable that this name has been proclaimed to the ends of the earth what name ever has been throughout time not shakespeare what do they say with printings shakespeare had a lot of printings of his works nobody's name has been declared to the ends of the earth. Here's why this is so important for this first point. Do you know who you are coming before? Look carefully at verse 6. And again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. When he says firstborn, he's not talking about something created. That's how we think. That's not what he's saying. He's saying that this one who is exalted overall has a status like no one else. But I want you to understand what's being said in verse 6, because I think we missed this in the reading. It's an important point. When it says in verse 6 that he brought his firstborn into the world, the word that he chose there is not what we would think he would choose. He did not use cosmos. The word that he chose here means the inhabited world, the land. The context is really clear from this. He came to the cosmos first, our world first, and then he made atonement, and then he entered into the other world. And upon entering into the other world, can you imagine this scene, by the way, in the ascension? When he entered into the other world and took his seat, all the angels of heaven bowed down before his throne and worshipped him. Now it was not to angels. I want you to look over at verse 5 of chapter 2 to make this point. Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we're speaking. See, it's the world to come he's talking about. He's not talking about this world. He's talking about the world to come. Jesus went ahead, John 14, to prepare a place for you and he entered into the world to come and when he sat down, the angels all bowed down and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. In verse 6, that's what he draws on. Let all the angels, let all God's angels worship Him. You know where that's taken from? It's taken from Deuteronomy 32. Listen to that verse. Rejoice with Him, O heavens. Bow down to Him, all gods. For He avenges the blood of His children and takes vengeance on His adversaries. He repays those who hate Him and cleanses His people's land. That's the land he's prepared for you. The land Abraham looked for. He's got it already ready for you. Do you know that? It's already waiting. It's already prepared. And he took his seat there. And it's not done till we're all there. The angels worship him. Now why is that so important? Well, when every time an angel showed up on earth, What did people do? They fell down as dead. And they worshiped them. This is captured in the book of Revelation. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. Worship God. Who's God? Hebrews is making it really clear. This is the greatest chapter to demonstrate the divinity of the Son of God, that he's true and eternal God. Everything's bowing to him, beloved. And when the angels spoke on earth, what happened? Oh, did the people listen. Oh, did the people listen. This shows the complete difference between how God spoke in the Old Covenant versus the New, by the way, which is one of the points of Hebrews. For he will later say, for the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. When angels spoke, judgments came. The law was mediated through who? Angels. Well, who's mediating in the new covenant the very word of God? And here's the beauty of this. God is saying to you, I sent my closest family member to come down, save you, and come back up who now speaks to you from heaven. My closest. It's intimate. This is special. This is powerful. It's beautiful is what he's saying. And I think the whole point that he's making here is he's tying together the worship of Jesus with hearing him. Are we hearing him? Well, that's just not a little superfluous question. There's a reason Jesus, when he was on earth, was constantly testing people with this and calling, take heed how you hear. Take heed what you hear. Are we coming with the same awe and reverence that we would give if Gabriel was here tonight preaching? See, that's the point. Do you know who's speaking to you in the ministry of the gospel? The closest family member of God. His beloved, eternal, only begotten son. That when you come and worship, think of this great truth, You are being joined by the angels in heaven who are constantly at this moment because the Spirit bridges the gap. Who are constantly bowing down and doing His will and praising Him with sincerity of heart and worshiping Him. I think this gets to my point now of why I pushed a little bit last week on how easily people are dropping out of church today. Why? i mean did the hardship of covid and i'm not talking about the importance of being wise and um being thoughtful in a pandemic i'm talking about is all it took was a little virus to drive so many out of the church permanently that's what we're seeing it's happening every church is describing it. Is that all it took? You see, I think the reason for this is because we've not communicated in the church what is actually happening when we come, that we are to come with holy reverence and awe because of who we are actually coming for. But we don't really believe that. I mean, the marvel of the book of Hebrews is really chapter 10, what I read to start this book. You get to come with boldness before who? The throne of grace. Of your king who's seated right now. He's not saying that's coming when you enter into glory. He's saying that's the benefit of worship right now. What a privilege, beloved. What's our attitude to the worship of God? It must make him sick. When people are saying, I just want a better show. I want to feel better. I want this or I want that. Are you listening to the voice? The author moves to his enthronement to push this point. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the sun, he says, gird your sword on high, on your thigh. Think of the imagery of Revelation 19. He rides like a mighty warrior. Heard your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty. In your majesty, ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and righteousness, meekness and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. The peoples fall under you. Your throne, O God, here it is, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of righteousness. You've loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, here's another proof of the divinity, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Who is this? It's Jesus. All these passages that are quoted here really come in the context of Jesus defending you from all enemies in this life, including death look at all the worries that we have um today in america united states and all the claims for justice and all the claims for righteousness and all the claims for truth look at look at the wickedness that fills this nation this should be the most overwhelming truth you belong to the one who seated over everything and came down and purchased you. It's all his. It's all his. He has a been appointed heir of everything. And you can see now the pastoral implications of this book. What are you fearing? What are you fearing? Notice everyone right now is disgruntled over government. Everyone. Everyone. did you see the line of truckers heading into canada even canada's up in arms nobody gets excitable in canada who's your governor who's your king who's your leader the all governments rest on whose shoulders you know i love our heidelberg that the eternal father of our lord jesus christ who made of nothing, made heaven and earth and all that's in them, who likewise upholds and governs the same by His eternal counsel and providence is for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my Father, on whom I rely so entirely that I have no doubt what's He going to do? He's going to provide for me with all things necessary for my soul and my body, he says, and further that he will make whatever evil he sends upon me in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage. He's able to do this. Why? Because he's almighty God. That's who you're coming to. He set it up all over this world today. That's happening. when the saints gather. That's who set this up. Again, I would have never set this up. You would have never, apart from the Lord, chosen me to do this. Trust me. And through this foolishness of preaching, he speaks to you. It's amazing. And all he does constantly in this is comfort you and give you words of encouragement and give you words of peace because he loves you. And he gives you love and gospel, good news and favor and reassurance. He's constantly doing you to this. You're so used to it, you take it for granted. And the general attitude of the people's apathy and drifting. Rather have a show. Give me the lights. Give me something to see. I think that's why the author's going after angels here. People are so fascinated with angels. Do you know what they are, he says? Have you even know what angels are? Angels are winds and flames. What's that? They're just ministering spirits. That's all they are. They are sent from the throne of heaven to minister to you Jesus' love. That's all. They are sent, verse 13, the very end of this, 14, they are sent to minister salvation to you who are inheriting, to be ministering spirits to you who are inheriting salvation. That's all they're doing. And the angels, if you were to have a talk with Gabriel today and say, hey, you know, this is pretty neat. You're doing all these great things. Man, I don't understand why God doesn't take out the sword on you. I'm ready. I'm marveling at this that this God of heaven and earth would come down through his son and love you and die for you I don't get it why you would do that that's the angels why he doesn't take you out but instead we were sent to minister his love to you and that's all from him a marvel the son of God died for you you have some time today go to Ezekiel 1 he describes Jesus on his throne and his fire he's on fire in resplendent glory and the angels are standing there and their wings are up and their wings are covering their feet and they formed a firewall around the throne so that the glory that is so consuming would not escape outside of those wings and incinerate everything else. And as soon as there's a mention of what to do, those angels turn and that throne moves. He's riding through the skies, administering justice and truth, and they do exactly what he told them to do for you. It's overwhelming. Leads me to the final point. He is superior to the angels? Number one, because he's God's eternal son been declared throughout all the earth. Number two, because he's reigning over all. Number three, because he's unchanging. He goes right to Psalm 102. The psalm begins with one of the deepest laments in the Bible. Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come to you. Don't hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke. And my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and is withered. I forgot to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I'm like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. I'm like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All day my enemies taunt me, and those who deride me use my name for a curse, for I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink. All we are experiencing in the world today is death and decay. Nothing certain in this life, except they say death and taxes, right? But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever. You are remembered throughout all your generations. you will arise, listen to this, and have pity on Zion. It's time to favor her. The appointed time has come. Hebrews grabs this. I know all the affliction, describing really Jesus. I know all the hardship. I know all the sorrow. I know all the death and sickness and pain and twistedness of evil. I'm coming. I'm going to roll all this up like a garment. I'm going to make this all brand new. The power of quoting this is to say the one on the throne, the solution in the psalm is this, but you, O Lord, are enthroned forever and ever. You never change. The time has come. They're at the end of Babylon. God's about ready to bring them back. And the point is to say that of all the sorrows and afflictions, God's going to bring reversal to all this. He will restore Zion in mercy. He's asking that God would make good here on the promise and renew everything and fix everything and bring us all back together again in worship with the angels around the throne in the other world. You will see again. There'll be no more tears. There'll be no more sorrow. The set time has come. Don't you want that set time to come now? Don't you feel like right now it's time? Fulfill your word. But the temptation, beloved, in all this weariness, is to lose heart. And in your losing of heart, and in all of your pains, and in all of your struggles, and the weariness of this all, you begin to look for some other answer. That's what Hebrews is going after. We've been oppressed. We've been afflicted. And the Bible says, yeah, you have no home here. You have no enduring city here. You can't run away from it to another part of the country and think you're getting away from anything. I've got another world for you. Invest there. It's time, says the Lord. I'll gather you again in mercy. And the psalmist, what he's celebrating here is because God is unchanging his promise to help us. Psalm celebrates that he will hear the groans of prisoner to set those free who were doomed to die, and that's what the gospel's all about. We need release from sin and sorrow. And Jesus, when he came, says, that's why I arrived, to set people free. God promises you help. so in all this distress what is he saying to you everything's under his feet beloved verse 13 he's the one that does not change his throne is forever and ever he's the same yesterday today and forever that's gonna be a big theme in hebrews he's lord overall he will fulfill his word all the rebellion and evils coming to an end why are you discouraged why are you downcast oh my soul put your hope in God, Psalm 42. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. He came down here. He forgave your sins. He's reigning over all. He's promised you help. He cares for you. He rules you with great wisdom and skill. He watches over you. he's got a glorious future planned for you all your enemies including the great one of death he has put under his feet so what's the question he's leading to are you listening are you hearing does your life demonstrate that you believe when you come up here you're listening to the voice of Jesus hey guess what Jesus is speaking tonight at 5 or does every other voice captivate us Does our approach to worship demonstrate you're listening to Him? Or really, are you more fascinated with anything and everything else? He's your Lord. He loves you. He cares for you. He's a God who will never leave you nor forsake you. That's the essence and promise of the covenant of grace. Do you hear Him? In all the voices of this world today, the Father says to you, this is my beloved Son. He's installed. I've declared Him. Listen to Him. Listen to Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for Your wonderful Word and thank You for being so faithful. We confess, O Lord, why the problem of the church is emptying out today because we just don't have this confidence. And we need to repent of it. And therefore, we must give the most earnest attention to the things we heard, we have heard, lest we drift away. Endure us by your grace. Give us perseverance through the word. And let us hear the powerful voice of the Son of God who lives and reigns forever and ever, does not change, and who is seated over all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.