Jeff Miller

December 25, 2022

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Because He is Able to Help.

Jeff Miller

December 25, 2022

Why Jesus

Introduction:

Matthew 1:21 - She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

  
    How Can Jesus Help Me? 
(Hebrews 2:5-18)
Jesus helps me by Recovering my purpose. (Heb 2:5-9)
    
Jesus helps me by Repairing my relationship with God. (Heb 2:10-13)
    
Jesus helps me by Removing my fear. (Heb 2:14-15)
    
Jesus helps me by Restoring me when I sin. (Heb 2:16-18)

Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:47-01:04
Open up with me please to Hebrews chapter two, and while we're turning there, you know, it's so important for us at Harvest Bible Chapel to represent the word of God, whether it's me speaking up here, or Pastor Taylor, or whoever.
01:06-01:08
And we take this very seriously because God does.
01:09-01:20
So let's just pause for a moment, and I'm going to ask if you would please pray for me to accurately represent God's word, and I'll pray for you to have a heart open to receive it.
01:20-01:21
All right, let's pray.
01:23-01:27
Father in heaven, you've told us that you've exalted your word even above your name.
01:29-01:30
That this is very important to you.
01:31-01:34
You tell us that you're watching over your word to perform it.
01:35-01:39
You tell us that your word always accomplishes the purposes for which you send it out.
01:40-01:41
Father, we believe that.
01:42-01:43
That's why we wanna get it right.
01:44-01:54
So I just pray, Father, for the next few moments Because your Holy Spirit is at work in your Word in a very profound way.
01:57-02:07
For those that are sitting here, for those that are streaming, for those that will be watching this later, Father, we trust You to do what only You can do.
02:08-02:11
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
02:12-02:14
Hebrews chapter 2, are you there?
02:16-02:17
Did you open your presents this morning?
02:19-02:24
Are there any cruel parents that are like, "After church, kids, after church." Who are the cruel parents?
02:24-02:25
Oh, okay.
02:26-02:28
The cruel parents are actually smiling.
02:29-02:30
Sadistic.
02:30-02:32
I would have expected better coming out of such a church.
02:33-02:38
But there are some parents that are still making, we gave our kids their presents yesterday morning.
02:42-02:43
And I didn't even wanna wait that long.
02:44-02:54
But last week after service, Joe and Janie Berger came up to me at guest reception and they had a present for me.
02:55-03:04
And they said, "We want you to open it now." And I opened it and this is what it is.
03:04-03:07
It's a leather and there's a heavy weight.
03:10-03:11
And I kid you not.
03:12-03:15
I look at, oh, my initials are on it too, JM, right there.
03:16-03:26
I opened this up and I said, "Oh, you got me a blackjack." I don't quite know what to say about it.
03:26-03:27
Do you know what a blackjack is?
03:27-03:29
Have you ever seen those old mobster movies?
03:29-03:31
The big black leather thing that's,
03:31-03:32
(imitates blackjack)
03:32-03:34
they crack people in the back of the head with it.
03:35-03:38
And I'm like, you know what?
03:40-03:41
I can put this to use.
03:41-03:43
(congregation laughing)
03:44-03:49
But I sincerely thought it was a blackjack and they laughed.
03:49-03:51
They said, "No, that's not what that's for.
03:52-03:53
Do you know what this is for?
03:55-04:11
It's to hold the pages down in my Bible for when the fans blow and I'm up here trying to hold everything down." And I'm like, "What an incredibly thoughtful gift." but I could still use it as a blackjack.
04:13-04:21
But you know, if I did, I guess I'd miss the purpose, wouldn't I?
04:23-04:34
And I thought about that a lot this week because missing the purpose is sort of what Christmas is all about, isn't it?
04:35-04:36
In our culture, right?
04:37-04:39
It's missing the purpose of Jesus.
04:40-04:46
I mean, you know, the big, one of the big Christmas verses, Matthew 121, right?
04:46-05:07
Remember it says, "She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." And people read that verse and they're like, oh, okay, so Jesus is my ticket to heaven.
05:10-05:25
And if that is the sum total of what you think about Jesus, that He's just this ticket to heaven, I want to suggest to you that you've missed the purpose. Like, what are you saying?
05:26-05:41
Jesus doesn't get me to heaven? Absolutely He does. Yes, that, but so much more. And the message of Christmas to just that.
05:42-05:45
Or, we've missed the point.
05:47-05:49
What do you mean?
05:49-05:50
Here's what I mean, listen.
05:51-05:54
It says, "He will save his people from their sins." What has sin done?
05:56-05:59
Sin has done so much more than disqualifies from heaven.
06:01-06:07
Because of sin, we've lost the ability as a human race to do the very thing that God created man to do.
06:07-06:08
Did you know that?
06:10-06:13
We have this broken relationship with God.
06:14-06:23
We live in fear of death and we are destroying ourselves with sin and there's not a thing that we can do about any of this.
06:27-06:27
Good news.
06:30-06:31
Jesus is able to help.
06:33-06:35
And that's what I want you to leave with today.
06:37-06:39
Jesus is able to help.
06:41-06:48
And this passage in Hebrews tells us the glorious, the wonder and the purpose of Christmas.
06:49-06:51
The purpose of the incarnation is this.
06:52-06:53
Jesus is able to help.
06:54-07:01
So Hebrews chapter 2, we're just going to be looking this morning at how can Jesus help me?
07:03-07:03
Right?
07:03-07:04
How can he help me?
07:04-07:06
What can Jesus do for me?
07:06-07:11
Number one, Jesus helps me by recovering my purpose.
07:13-07:14
Recovering my purpose.
07:15-07:16
Look at verse 5.
07:21-07:28
It says, "Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
07:30-07:31
It has been testified somewhere.
07:32-07:37
Not as man that you were mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him.
07:39-07:41
You made him for a little while lower than the angels.
07:42-07:48
You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.
07:50-07:55
Now putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.
07:57-08:04
present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him." Like, wait, let's stop there for a second.
08:04-08:06
What is he talking about?
08:06-08:09
Well, first of all, this kind of cracked me up.
08:10-08:26
In verse six where it says, "It has been testified somewhere." He's like, "I know this is in the Bible and I'm not gonna turn and check real quick, but somewhere it says, it's actually, this is from Psalm eight, verses four through six.
08:26-08:29
And let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
08:29-08:34
In quoting this, the psalmist is talking about man.
08:36-08:38
Why do you care for us, God?
08:38-08:49
Why do you give us this awesome privilege that even though we are made lower than angels, you give us glory and honor and you give us dominion over the whole earth?
08:50-08:51
See, that's why we were created.
08:52-08:53
One reason.
08:54-08:59
But we were made to have dominion over God's creation under God's authority.
09:02-09:07
We were put in charge of taking care of all of this.
09:08-09:11
Let me ask you. How are we doing?
09:14-09:18
How are we doing with our dominion over the earth, what would you say?
09:18-09:20
What's our approval rating? What do you think?
09:21-09:25
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're not doing great, people.
09:25-09:26
"We're not doing great.
09:26-09:27
"God says you're in charge.
09:29-09:31
"Take care of this." And what are we doing?
09:32-09:32
Wars.
09:33-09:34
We're killing each other.
09:37-09:44
Racism, abuse, abortion, corruption.
09:45-09:49
We're not doing great at taking care of this.
09:53-10:00
We kill bugs and weeds with chemicals that poison what we eat.
10:02-10:08
Like, wow, that's a great picture of how we're doing with the whole subdue the earth thing, right?
10:09-10:13
And you're like, hang on a second, Pastor Jeff, you're talking about things on a big scale.
10:15-10:16
You're like, I can't even get my house in order.
10:18-10:18
True.
10:21-10:24
And that's a bad fail on man's part.
10:25-10:26
Look at v. 9.
10:29-10:48
It says, "But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone.
10:51-10:52
You see what he's saying?
10:52-10:58
He goes, man has been unable to fulfill God's purpose in having dominion over the earth.
10:58-11:04
He goes, but Jesus, who is man's perfect God, and he's God's perfect man.
11:08-11:10
He came to fulfill man's destiny.
11:11-11:12
Well, how did he do that?
11:15-11:16
by becoming a human being.
11:19-11:25
Sin and death and curse are all in the way of man doing what we were created to do.
11:25-11:28
And Jesus came to take care of that by dying in my place.
11:29-11:31
You see, it should have been me on the cross.
11:33-11:34
It should have been you.
11:38-11:41
It's our lives that have been wasted.
11:43-11:44
It's our lives that have been ruined.
11:45-11:48
It's us that we've made ourselves completely useless.
11:49-11:52
It should have been us on the cross, killed and discarded.
11:55-12:00
Jesus came to pay that penalty for you, for me.
12:03-12:13
Not only so we can have purpose in this life, but ultimately when Jesus restores all things, the Bible says that we will reign with him, fulfilling the purpose that we lost.
12:13-12:20
everything someday is going to be in subjection to us because we are going to reign with the King of Kings.
12:20-12:21
That's what he's saying.
12:22-12:24
Jesus helps me by recovering my purpose.
12:24-12:28
Number two, Jesus helps me by repairing my relationship with God.
12:31-12:32
Look at verse 10.
12:32-12:56
It says, "For it was fitting that he, "for whom and by whom all things exist "and bringing many sons to glory "should make the founder of their salvation perfect "through suffering." I read that sentence a lot this week.
12:56-12:57
That's a big sentence.
12:58-13:02
And I think the sentence is so long, by the time you get to the end of it, you forget how it started.
13:04-13:07
So, but we can't just gloss over that.
13:08-13:16
Because to paraphrase this sentence, listen, what he's saying is, you know, God wanted to get people to heaven.
13:17-13:21
So God thought it was appropriate to make Jesus perfect through suffering.
13:22-13:22
That's what he's saying.
13:25-13:28
Jesus was made perfect through suffering.
13:28-13:31
You're like, hang on, hang on, hang on, Pastor Jeff.
13:33-13:35
I thought Jesus was already perfect.
13:37-13:41
Like in what sense was Jesus made perfect through suffering?
13:42-13:43
How does that work?
13:46-13:47
Well, think about it this way.
13:49-13:54
Hypothetically, could Jesus have just done this?
13:54-13:57
Couldn't he have just decided, you know what?
13:57-14:01
I'm going to come down and live among man for a week.
14:01-14:02
Couldn't he have done that?
14:02-14:03
Well, sure.
14:03-14:06
He could have walked down from heaven as a man, 33 year old adult man.
14:07-14:09
He could have showed up on a Sunday.
14:12-14:15
And over the course of one week, he could have done like Sermon on the Mount.
14:16-14:20
Healed a few people, walked on the water, feed the multitudes, he could have done that one.
14:21-14:22
Over the course of a week.
14:22-14:26
And then by Thursday, betrayed, Friday, executed.
14:27-14:30
And then by the next Sunday, resurrected, ascended.
14:30-14:34
He could have done his ministry in a week, right?
14:36-14:38
Hypothetically, he could have done that.
14:46-14:48
But instead, what did he do?
14:50-14:51
He showed up as a what?
14:53-14:53
As a baby.
14:56-14:56
Why?
14:57-15:03
so he could live an entire life of suffering.
15:05-15:09
Not just a week, not just a few days, but an entire life.
15:12-15:14
Do you understand the significance of that?
15:16-15:29
Jesus was teaching us how to trust God by living a full human experience from the manger to the cross.
15:30-15:31
Do you understand that?
15:36-15:45
You know, in our day, I don't know how my parents did it without YouTube.
15:47-15:57
But like, I don't know about you, but there have been so many times I've been stuck in a plumbing project, and you just YouTube it, and a guy will show you, here's how you fix this.
15:58-16:01
There have been so many times I'm trying to install or fix something on my Jeep.
16:01-16:03
And I'm like, I have no idea what I'm doing.
16:03-16:11
YouTube, you just put it in the search and it'll give you like a thousand videos of people showing you how to fix it.
16:15-16:17
And you see, that's the point of the incarnation.
16:20-16:22
Jesus didn't just teach us, oh, he did teach us.
16:24-16:26
But the incarnation is about Him showing us.
16:28-16:35
Jesus could have just showed up for a week and said, "Hey, by the way, love each other and be good to people that aren't good to you.
16:35-16:38
And always try to be kind and always put God first.
16:38-16:40
Oh yeah, pray and give and fast and all that.
16:40-16:47
Okay, I'll see you at my second coming." He could have done that and we would have just been like, what does that look like?
16:47-16:51
He spent a life showing us, here's exactly what this looks like.
16:53-16:54
Look at verse 11.
16:56-17:03
It says, "For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.
17:07-17:13
That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers." We've got to stop there.
17:14-17:17
That word sanctify just means to separate, to make righteous.
17:19-17:25
And the profound truth is Jesus made us holy by putting his righteousness on our account.
17:27-17:31
That because of Jesus, God sees us as sinless.
17:32-17:33
Well, how did he do that?
17:36-17:41
On the cross, God treated Jesus as if he lived your life.
17:44-17:49
that God could treat you as if you live Jesus' life.
17:52-17:58
I wish I had so much more time to talk about this passage because this is so profound.
17:59-18:00
But look again at verse 11.
18:01-18:22
It says, "He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified "have one source." The Greek is literally this, "All are out of one." In other words, the Messiah, Jesus, and those He sanctifies all have the same source.
18:24-18:27
Both are from out of God.
18:30-18:36
So we share the righteousness of God with Christ.
18:38-18:45
And that's why, you're like, "So what?" That's why he calls us brothers.
18:47-18:48
We share the same life.
18:49-18:50
We share the same righteousness.
18:52-18:53
We share the same privileges.
18:55-18:57
Wrap your brain around that.
18:58-19:00
Because we all have the same source.
19:01-19:03
We share the same life.
19:04-19:10
And the Messiah, God's anointed, calls us brothers and sisters.
19:10-19:11
You get that, right?
19:14-19:22
I'm sure there were some Jews that were reading this when they first received it and thought, brother of the Messiah?
19:22-19:24
Like I don't think so.
19:26-19:45
Well, the Hebrew writer anticipates any objections and he goes, I'm going to quote you a couple passages from the Law and the Prophets, actually from Psalm 22 from Isaiah chapter 8, and prove that even in Old Testament writings, the Messiah anticipated having brothers. Like really?
19:45-20:03
Well look at verse 12, saying, "I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And We've been made brothers.
20:08-20:18
And I've got to tell you, verse, what was it, verse 11?
20:19-20:21
Says he's not ashamed to call us brothers.
20:23-20:25
to me could be the most profound thing in this whole passage.
20:30-20:32
Jesus would have every reason to be ashamed of me.
20:34-20:35
He would.
20:35-20:43
Jesus would have every reason to be embarrassed to call me his brother.
20:47-20:58
You know, somebody in heaven saying, "Hey, hey Jesus, do you know Pastor Jeff?" And Jesus is like, "Mm, uh, mm, who?" He'd have every reason to be embarrassed.
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The Bible says he's not.
21:07-21:07
He's not.
21:10-21:17
How often, church, do we feel like we have to be a failure in God's eyes?
21:17-21:21
Like, "God must be so disappointed in me." Anybody ever felt that?
21:22-21:24
God must be so disappointed in me.
21:29-21:32
And that's why I love this passage, because it reminds us he's not.
21:35-21:37
Jesus says, I'm not ashamed of you.
21:38-21:45
I died for you, I gave you my righteousness, my father sees you as perfect, I am not ashamed of you at all.
21:51-21:55
This is how Jesus helps you. He covers you with his righteousness.
21:56-21:58
He makes you perfect in God's eyes.
21:59-22:02
And he calls you brother. Sister.
22:03-22:05
Right, how can Jesus help me?
22:05-22:08
Number three, Jesus helps me by removing my fear.
22:13-22:15
Look at verse 14.
22:17-22:43
It says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." Jesus helps me by removing my fear.
22:46-22:50
Look, whether we want to admit it or not, fear is a very real temptation for all of us.
22:54-22:57
Right now there's some people like, "I don't know what you're talking about.
22:57-22:57
"I'm not afraid.
22:57-22:58
"I'm not afraid of nothing.
23:00-23:04
"I'm not afraid." Fear doesn't always manifest as hiding under the covers.
23:07-23:08
Do you know what else fear looks like?
23:09-23:11
Sometimes it manifests as anger.
23:13-23:15
Sometimes fear manifests as despondency.
23:16-23:18
Oh, it doesn't make a difference what I do.
23:18-23:19
That's fear.
23:21-23:24
Sometimes fear shows up as trying to control everything in your life.
23:26-23:28
Sometimes fear shows up as worry about your future.
23:28-23:29
What are we gonna do?
23:29-23:29
What's gonna happen?
23:32-23:38
Specifically, he's talking about the fear of death and you've heard me say it before.
23:40-23:43
That's been my big takeaway from the last couple of years.
23:43-23:44
That's what COVID has taught us.
23:45-23:49
COVID has taught us that people are scared to death of death.
23:52-23:55
And this fear, he tells us, leads to slavery.
23:57-23:57
Like, what do you mean?
23:58-23:58
It's slavery.
23:59-24:01
This fear of death controls what we do.
24:02-24:03
It controls how we think.
24:03-24:04
It controls our attitudes.
24:07-24:10
You know, like, well, what's beyond the grave?
24:10-24:16
Like, I don't wanna find out, but I know that I can't avoid that.
24:21-24:22
It brings fear.
24:25-24:28
We're just not quite sure how to handle the death thing, are we?
24:29-24:33
You know, I'm sure you've heard Franco Harris passed away.
24:34-24:37
And that's been all over the news.
24:37-24:40
and he was such a big figure in this town.
24:40-24:53
But I remember the one interview in particular, I can't remember who it was, but the one interview in particular, the person said, "Franco's passing is unbelievable." And I'm like, "Unbelievable?
24:56-24:57
"Sad, yes.
25:01-25:10
"But was somebody living under the illusion "that Franco Harris was going to live forever?" Unbelievable doesn't sound like the right word.
25:15-25:18
And you see, Satan's weapon is that fear.
25:23-25:24
That's why Jesus came.
25:26-25:29
God became a man to meet Satan on his own ground.
25:31-25:38
Jesus died as a man to defeat death and the fear of it.
25:39-25:51
And if you look very closely at this passage, verse 14, again, it says, "Through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death." And you're like, well, hang on a second.
25:52-25:55
You're saying that he's gonna destroy Satan?
25:55-26:05
It says, "Destroy the one." I'm not sure about this one, Jeff, because I don't know if you noticed, but Satan's still around, he's still active.
26:08-26:12
Well, he's not saying that he's going to eliminate Satan, that's coming later.
26:14-26:19
But what Jesus did was make Satan powerless.
26:22-26:23
Like, well, what does that look like?
26:26-26:28
See, the cross of Jesus Christ gives us new values.
26:30-26:32
We learn that we give up to gain.
26:34-26:36
We learn that we lose our life to find it.
26:38-26:40
We learn that exaltation comes from humility.
26:42-26:44
We learn that greatness is from being a servant.
26:46-26:50
And we learn that living is Christ and dying is gain.
26:52-27:04
Listen, if you live that way, if you live the way of faith in a Jesus-focused life, Death has no power over you.
27:06-27:08
But you're like, "Death, I'm not scared of death.
27:09-27:10
"Do you realize what death is?
27:10-27:12
"It's a ticket to glory.
27:12-27:17
"You can't threaten me with heaven." Jesus removes my fear.
27:19-27:20
That's how he helps me.
27:21-27:25
And finally, Jesus helps me by restoring me when I sin.
27:28-27:30
Jesus helps me by restoring me when I sin.
27:32-27:33
Look at verse 16.
27:34-27:42
It says, "For surely it is not angels that he helps, "but he helps the offspring of Abraham." Angels don't need help, right?
27:42-27:46
They don't have sin or weaknesses, but we need help.
27:47-28:06
And the biggest help we need is with sin and temptation because we are still prone, even as believers in Jesus, We are still prone to this destructive behavior, ungodly attitudes and complaining and coarse speech and lust and hatred and gossip and anger.
28:08-28:08
We need help.
28:10-28:15
Like, well, how could Jesus help me with this stuff if he doesn't understand?
28:17-28:19
And see, that's his point here, as he absolutely does.
28:19-28:38
He said, "Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
28:40-28:52
Because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." Again, he's talking about the human experience.
28:53-29:03
Jesus might become, He became a baby so that He could become that merciful and faithful high priest.
29:06-29:12
Through that human experience, Jesus suffered when He was tempted so that He is able to help.
29:15-29:18
Let me ask you, have you ever been misunderstood?
29:23-29:24
Jesus gets that.
29:28-29:30
Let me ask you, have you ever been slandered against?
29:33-29:34
Jesus gets that.
29:38-29:40
Have you ever been hated for no reason?
29:43-29:44
Jesus gets that.
29:49-29:51
Did you ever have somebody really close to you betray you?
29:52-29:53
Has that ever happened to you?
29:55-29:56
Jesus gets that.
30:01-30:03
Have you ever been falsely accused of something?
30:05-30:07
Jesus gets that.
30:11-30:16
Like Pastor Taylor preached last night, have you ever felt rejected?
30:19-30:20
Jesus gets that.
30:23-30:24
He gets it.
30:25-30:26
I could go on and on.
30:28-30:33
Jesus was tempted and he suffered in every way.
30:35-30:37
But here's the thing, he never gave in.
30:39-30:41
He never gave into temptation.
30:41-30:43
He never gave into despair.
30:45-30:52
And that's that's the whole point of this, he says that Jesus gives us an example of how to trust God.
30:55-31:00
And he gives us an example of faith and trial.
31:01-31:03
And he also provides the strength.
31:05-31:08
To do the right thing, no matter what you face.
31:10-31:15
You're like, "Yeah, but what about when I blow it?" You will.
31:17-31:18
You're going to mess up.
31:22-31:24
But the good news here is He is compassionate.
31:26-31:30
Jesus invites you to go to Him for restoration and help.
31:33-31:36
But if you're going to Jesus for help, you have to have the right attitude.
31:40-31:49
You see, you can come to Jesus defiant and excusing your sin and defending your sin and justifying yourself and you're not going to find any help.
31:52-32:08
But if you come to Jesus humbly, confessing and admitting, you're going to find strength and healing.
32:13-32:15
So, Jonathan and Ashley would make their way back up.
32:15-32:17
You know, I just want to close our time here.
32:18-32:19
We're going to pray in a moment.
32:25-32:33
But with everything else Christmas means, something you can't miss.
32:34-32:38
When you imagine that nativity scene and the baby in the manger.
32:41-32:42
This is the message from God's Word.
32:43-32:44
God gets it.
32:46-32:47
He understands.
32:50-32:58
You see, as a human race, we can never say, "God, you have no idea what it's like!" He knows.
33:00-33:02
He knows exactly what it's like, because he's been here.
33:03-33:04
He came.
33:05-33:06
He experienced.
33:08-33:09
He knows.
33:11-33:17
Like the Hebrew writer tells us today, because of all of that, he can help.
33:21-33:37
That's what we learn about God in the Christmas message, is that he's not some detached monarch living in some ivory tower, looking down at us dirty, smelly little peasants, like, "Glad I'm not them.
33:37-33:39
He was one of us.
33:42-33:44
Because of that, he says, "I get it.
33:47-33:52
And I can help them." So your purpose, it's been recovered.
33:55-33:56
God has a purpose for you.
33:59-34:06
Your relationship with God, Jesus took away your sin and your shame and your guilt, and He calls you his brother.
34:09-34:11
Your fear, there's no more fear.
34:12-34:18
There's no more fear of death because death is just the, it's the doorway into glory.
34:18-34:20
Not scared of death.
34:23-34:27
Temptation, yet we get from Jesus, we get strength to overcome.
34:29-34:30
We have an example to follow.
34:31-34:33
We have restoration when we mess up.
34:35-34:45
So the question this morning, you know, he can help and he wants to help and he absolutely will help, but the question really lands on your lap.
34:46-34:48
Will you go to him for help?
34:50-34:51
Take it about your heads.
35:04-35:10
Part of our pride is thinking that we have the ability to do it all ourselves.
35:12-35:14
and figure it out ourselves.
35:22-35:23
We learn here that He is able to help.
35:28-35:45
So Father in heaven, we come to You not based on our righteousness, not based on our intellect or creativity, or we're not looking at our track record and saying, I've always tried to do the right thing.
35:46-35:55
Father, we come to you because we see how desperately we need what it is you provided through Jesus Christ.
35:56-36:02
And Father, we thank you for the mystery of the incarnation.
36:07-36:13
Father, we know that you don't just understand us because you're God and you're omniscient and you created us.
36:14-36:23
We know, Father, that you understand because for an entire lifetime you were one of us.
36:24-36:44
So I pray, Father, that through what you've accomplished, that you would bring us to you when we need help, not running from you because of our shame.
36:46-36:51
Let us find everything we need, Father, in the person of Jesus Christ.
36:51-36:52
We pray in His name.
36:53-36:53
Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 2:5-18

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Read Heb 2:11 - why is Jesus not ashamed of us? What does this tell us about our standing with God when we receive Jesus?
Why didn’t Jesus just show up for a week, suffer, die, and raise from the dead? According to this passage, why did Jesus come to live a full human experience, from manger to the cross?
In which of these areas do you find that you need the most help? Are you going to Jesus for help?

Breakout
Pray for one another

Taylor Brown

December 24, 2022

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Because He is the Only Salvation

Taylor Brown

December 24, 2022

Why Jesus

Introduction:

Why I Shouldn't Neglect the Message of Salvation:
(Hebrews 2:1-4)

Because this offer doesn't Last Forever . (Heb 2:1-2)
"All you need to do to go to hell is do nothing." - John MacArthur
Because God Himself Said That It's True . (Heb 2:3-4)

Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:47-00:58
Well, thank you so much for joining us at Harvest for Christmas Eve. My name is Taylor I'm one of the pastors around here and before I get started. I want to take a quick poll Who's gonna be opening gifts tonight when they get home?
00:59-01:18
All right, very few of you who's gonna be saving all their gift opening for tomorrow All right. I agree with all the rest of you who raised your hands. All right, so tonight I'm gonna give you an early Christmas present by telling you the most embarrassing thing That has ever happened to me Does that sound like a good gift?
01:19-01:20
I thought so.
01:20-01:22
So travel back in time with me to 2008.
01:23-01:31
I'm a junior in high school, and I went to Eden Christian Academy, and the classes were even smaller back then, so we were a pretty tight-knit group.
01:31-01:34
And a girl in the grade below me was having a birthday party.
01:34-01:38
She sent out all these invitations to the 10th, 11th grade classes.
01:38-01:40
Almost everyone was invited.
01:41-01:43
Emphasis on almost everyone.
01:44-01:47
I was the only guy in my friend group who wasn't invited to this party.
01:48-01:49
I couldn't figure it out.
01:50-01:51
It made me feel so bad.
01:52-02:02
And the day of the party at school, my friend Robert just casually asked me, "When are you going to the party tonight?" And I had to awkwardly share the news that I wasn't invited to the party.
02:03-02:04
He said, "No, there's no way.
02:04-02:06
"That has to be a mistake.
02:06-02:08
"She must have meant to invite you.
02:08-02:18
"You should come anyway." That didn't sound like the best idea to me in 2008, and it seems like it was a bad thing for all of you 14 years later, right?
02:18-02:22
Not the best of suggestions, but he convinced me to go.
02:23-02:25
He convinced me that I would have a great time.
02:25-02:26
Spoiler alert, I didn't.
02:27-02:28
It was one of the worst nights of my life.
02:29-02:42
So I get to the party, I show up that evening, and I get to the girl's house, and the party is in her backyard, and to get to the party spot, you had to walk down these long, long, long wooden stairs.
02:43-02:48
And as soon as I get to the top of the stairs, everyone, I'll never get this mental picture out of my mind as long as I live.
02:49-02:53
It was like everyone turned in unison and looked at me and a hush fell over the crowd.
02:53-02:56
It was like everybody knew that I wasn't invited to the party.
02:56-03:02
And everyone watched me as I walked down those stairs for what seemed like a million years.
03:04-03:08
After I finished this walk of shame, My friend Robert comes running over to me.
03:08-03:10
Dude, I can't believe you came.
03:11-03:12
I said, you told me to come.
03:12-03:14
And he said, I didn't think you were actually gonna do it.
03:14-03:15
I was just messing with you.
03:18-03:19
Thank you all for siding with me on this story.
03:19-03:20
I really appreciate that.
03:21-03:27
I felt so awkward in that moment, but it seemed like it'd be much more awkward for me just to turn tail and leave right then.
03:27-03:31
So I stayed for about an hour, a really long, long, long hour.
03:32-03:34
And then I went home to lick my wounds.
03:35-03:38
I think we can all relate to that story on some level, right?
03:39-03:45
Maybe you weren't as publicly as humiliated as I was all those years ago, but we've all felt left out of something.
03:46-03:49
We've all not been invited to something.
03:50-03:56
But this evening, I wanna assure you that God is not like that girl who didn't invite me to that party all those years ago.
03:57-04:10
He has invited every single one of us in this room to unwrap the greatest gift of all time, the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, and the salvation that he offers.
04:11-04:16
But sadly, many choose to reject this gift and leave it unopened.
04:17-04:21
Maybe some of you in this room right now haven't opened this gift yet.
04:22-04:31
It's been in front of you for months and months, maybe even years, but you've been ignoring it, you've been pushing this decision off.
04:33-04:36
As a church, we're towards the beginning of our study in the book of Hebrews.
04:37-04:42
And the entire first chapter, the author of Hebrews lays out Jesus' divine credentials.
04:42-04:49
He lists off wreath and after reason of why Jesus is greater and more valuable than anything or anyone else.
04:51-05:08
And in chapter two, verses one through four, the author of Hebrews takes a quick break from teaching deep doctrine to make a passionate plea for his readers to accept the invitation of salvation to submit to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
05:09-05:17
And he lays out two reasons why it is a bad idea to neglect the free gift of eternal life that Jesus offers you.
05:18-05:32
And these verses obliterate any reasons, any excuses we could give for pushing off this decision, for ignoring it one day longer, because this is the most important decision of your life.
05:33-05:37
Before we dive into Hebrews, let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask for his help.
05:39-05:49
Father, we thank you for this time we can come together to celebrate your son, to celebrate what he has done for us and what he continues to do for us every single day, Lord.
05:49-05:52
I pray for those in this room who do not know you.
05:53-06:00
They've been moving and working in their hearts, Lord, that you'd be preaching a much better sermon in their hearts than I could possibly preach from my mouth.
06:00-06:09
Lord, I pray that you would draw many unto you and for the rest of us who do know you, Lord, help us to once again be amazed by your gospel, to be amazed by what your Son has done.
06:10-06:12
In Jesus' name, amen.
06:13-06:17
Let's read what the author of Hebrews has to say in chapter two, verses one through four.
06:17-06:24
Therefore, we must pay close attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
06:24-06:36
For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience to receive the just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
06:38-06:52
It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
06:54-06:57
So why shouldn't I neglect the message of salvation?
06:57-07:01
Number one, because this offer doesn't last forever.
07:01-07:05
Because this offer doesn't last forever.
07:06-07:18
As I already said, in chapter one of Hebrews, we were told of the awesomeness of Christ and the inescapable reality that he is superior to anyone else in human history, even angels.
07:19-07:23
Pastor Jeff unpacked these verses and taught us that Jesus is God himself.
07:24-07:27
He is the creator, ruler, and owner of all things.
07:27-07:29
He is the savior of sinners.
07:29-07:38
He is the ultimate prophet and messenger who teaches us everything we need to know about God, this life, and the life to come.
07:40-07:50
The author of Hebrews tells us in verse one that we must pay close attention to Jesus and what we have heard about him, lest we drift away from it.
07:51-07:57
And the Greek words for pay attention and drift away in this passage have nautical meanings as well.
07:58-08:03
To pay attention, the original Greek can also refer to tying a boat to a dock.
08:04-08:10
And drift away often referred to a ship that was out to sea because someone didn't secure it properly.
08:11-08:14
Someone wasn't steering it in the right direction.
08:15-08:16
Please listen.
08:16-08:30
You will be pulled out by the current and storms of life if you fail to tie yourself to the steady and unmoving anchor, the unmoving dock of Jesus Christ.
08:31-08:35
No one and nothing is more secure than him.
08:36-08:44
If you try to tie the boat of your life to anything else, your tether will snap and it will not be able to handle the pressures of life.
08:46-08:49
You can try to go your own way.
08:49-08:56
You can try to swim against the currents of life by yourself, but you'll ultimately fail and not be able to keep your head above water.
08:57-09:01
Jesus reaches out a saving hand and he offers to rescue you.
09:01-09:06
He offers you safe harbor from the power and penalty of sin.
09:06-09:11
He offers you forgiveness from your past, present, and future sins.
09:11-09:16
Without him, you are lost at sea and heading for destruction.
09:19-09:20
Now I know what some of you may be thinking right now.
09:20-09:22
Taylor, I'm doing great.
09:22-09:23
I'm doing just fine.
09:24-09:25
I'm not sinking or drowning by any means.
09:25-09:30
I have a good family, I have a good job, I'm a good person, I do nice things for other people.
09:31-09:33
What you're saying doesn't describe me at all.
09:34-09:36
Well to answer that, let me ask you a question.
09:36-09:37
Who's ever been to the beach?
09:38-09:40
All right, most of us have been to the beach.
09:40-09:41
Have you ever had this experience?
09:41-09:47
You lug all your stuff, your umbrella, your chairs, you find a spot on the shoreline, you lay everything out and then you go into the water.
09:47-09:55
and you're in the water for about 15, 20 minutes, having fun, not really paying attention, and you look back to where you think your stuff was, and what happens?
09:56-09:57
It's not there anymore, right?
09:58-10:01
And you think in your mind, oh my gosh, someone stole all of our stuff.
10:01-10:12
So you run back to the beach, you're searching, you're searching, and you realize, while you're in the water, that whole time, without realizing it, you were drifting, you were drifting, you were drifting.
10:14-10:19
You didn't mean to end up further down the shoreline, but it happened without you even noticing.
10:20-10:25
It takes no effort, it takes no time or attention to drift in the wrong direction and get off track.
10:26-10:32
Satan, sin, and love of self will take you farther than you ever thought possible.
10:33-10:41
A pastor named John MacArthur puts it very simply but bluntly, he says, "All you have to do to go to hell "is do nothing." Nothing.
10:42-10:44
All you have to do is ignore Jesus Christ.
10:45-10:49
All you have to do is trust in yourself and your own goodness.
10:49-10:56
All you have to do is fail to tie yourself to the steady and unmoving dock of salvation in Jesus.
10:57-11:07
If you choose to neglect such a great salvation, this passage tells us you will drift into eternal separation from God.
11:09-11:13
This free offer of salvation doesn't last forever.
11:15-11:16
It has an expiration date.
11:17-11:21
Like an amazing Black Friday deal, it has an expiration date.
11:22-11:24
It's only as good as long as you're alive.
11:26-11:29
And none of us know how much longer we have.
11:29-11:32
None of us know what our expiration date is.
11:32-11:35
That's why you can't afford to push off the decision any longer.
11:36-11:39
This is why you can't ride the fence anymore.
11:39-11:41
This is why you can't keep dragging your feet about Jesus.
11:43-11:50
The author of Hebrews tells us in verse two through three that retribution and judgment are coming for those who reject Jesus Christ.
11:52-11:58
I'm sorry to break it to you, but that statement that deep down we're all good people, it's a lie.
11:59-12:01
And it's not within the pages of Scripture at all.
12:01-12:05
And if you're honest with yourself, that really flies in the face of our daily experiences, doesn't it?
12:07-12:08
But the Bible shoots us straight.
12:09-12:17
The Bible tells us that we are sinners by nature and by choice we have committed cosmic treason against the God of the universe.
12:20-12:22
We fall short of God's divine standards.
12:24-12:30
And God is too holy, God is too righteous to just ignore how we have sinned against him and leave our sin unpunished.
12:31-12:34
Someone has to pay for your sin.
12:34-12:37
Someone has to pay for my sin.
12:38-12:44
It's either you in hell for all of eternity or Jesus Christ on the cross, who experienced hell on our behalf.
12:45-12:48
Those are the only two options.
12:49-12:51
And I ask you this evening, what will you choose?
12:52-12:53
What have you chosen?
12:55-13:00
And to be clear, by not making a decision about Jesus, you have made a decision.
13:03-13:14
Why I shouldn't neglect the message of salvation, number two, because God himself said that it's true, because God himself said that it's true.
13:15-13:17
Now I know what some of you are thinking at this point.
13:17-13:22
Taylor, how can I know this message about Jesus is trustworthy?
13:22-13:26
How can I know he is the only way to God?
13:27-13:30
Well, thankfully, the author of Hebrews answers that question for us.
13:31-13:36
First of all, he tells us that the message declared by angels proved to be reliable.
13:36-13:37
Everyone say reliable.
13:38-13:38
Reliable.
13:39-13:44
For thousands of years, God has used angels to bring his divine messages to human beings.
13:45-13:55
The message that the author of Hebrews mainly has in mind here is the law of God that was given to Moses after Israelites' exodus from slavery in Egypt.
13:56-14:01
As Jeff told us last week, angels were a big part of bringing the law to God's people.
14:01-14:08
And God's law reveals his divine standards, how holy, how righteous, how awesome he is.
14:09-14:15
But by doing that, it also reveals our sinfulness, our brokenness, our need for a Savior.
14:16-14:20
The law points to our desperate need for Jesus Christ.
14:21-14:29
And according to the author of Hebrews, this message delivered by angels is reliable, it's trustworthy, and it cannot be doubted.
14:31-14:38
And God also used angels to deliver other messages, like to Mary, to Joseph, and to the shepherds on the night of Jesus' birth.
14:38-14:44
These angels can be trusted because they simply delivered the mail as God told them to.
14:45-14:49
They didn't write it, they simply delivered these messages from God.
14:50-14:59
Now as trustworthy and reliable as angels are, we are given an even greater and more reliable source, God himself.
15:01-15:03
Listen again to verses three through four.
15:03-15:06
How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
15:07-15:20
It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his word.
15:21-15:28
So Jesus, God in the flesh, came to share this message of salvation to his disciples and everyone who heard him.
15:29-15:37
And then whenever he rose from the grave and ascended into heaven, his followers took this message of salvation and spread it across the known world.
15:37-15:40
And this message was backed up by miracles.
15:41-15:49
Miracles such as the blind being given back their sight, the dead coming back to life, those who were oppressed by demons being free.
15:49-15:56
These miracles were provided by God to prove that the message of salvation is true and uncontested.
15:59-16:03
These miracles were provided to prove that God alone has the power to save.
16:03-16:13
God alone has the power to forgive, and the Lord has preserved this awesome message in the pages of his word, which we can read at any time.
16:14-16:17
So how can we know that the message of salvation is true?
16:18-16:21
Because God himself has said it's true.
16:23-16:25
We live in a time where it's hard to trust anyone.
16:26-16:31
Politicians, celebrities, social media influencers, news anchors, they twist the truth.
16:32-16:33
They say one thing and mean the other.
16:34-16:35
That's not true of the Lord.
16:37-16:38
The Lord always keeps his promises.
16:39-16:40
The Lord never lies.
16:41-16:46
When he says something, it is right and it will never be proven wrong.
16:48-16:51
Now you may be thinking, Taylor, you've just given me evidence out of the Bible.
16:52-16:54
Can't you give me proof outside of the Bible?
16:55-16:55
I could.
16:57-17:08
I could stand up here for hours and go through archeological, logical, historical evidence that backs up the claims of Christ, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.
17:09-17:16
I could have a PowerPoint presentation for you that is so convincing, but you'd still find a reason not to believe.
17:17-17:19
You could still find a reason to reject it.
17:20-17:23
You could still find a way to say, oh, that seems inconclusive and one-sided.
17:23-17:28
At its core, this is a spiritual issue, and it requires faith.
17:29-17:34
It requires you to trust that Jesus is more reliable than anything anyone else.
17:34-17:37
It requires you to trust the word of God.
17:39-17:55
We can always think of reasons and excuses why we shouldn't believe, why we shouldn't follow Christ, and I'm hoping tonight you will lay those excuses and those reasons down at the foot of the cross and take that step of faith and obedience.
17:56-17:56
(baby crying)
17:57-17:59
I know this message has been heavy.
18:00-18:12
I know that some of you were hoping for a light and uplifting message to get you ready for the big day tomorrow, but I know of no better way to prepare you for Christmas than to lay out what Christmas is actually about.
18:13-18:14
Christmas isn't about the tree.
18:15-18:19
It's not about the presents under the tree, the decorations, your traditions, or even time with your family.
18:20-18:25
Christmas is all about the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ.
18:27-18:34
It's about the reality that over 2,000 years ago, God sent his one and only son to this earth as a baby.
18:34-18:35
But the story doesn't end there.
18:36-18:45
Jesus grew up, he perfectly obeyed the will of his father at every single turn, and he carried out the greatest rescue mission of all time.
18:47-18:53
You know, many try to cutesy up the nativity story and just focus on the cute, little, non-threatening baby in a manger.
18:55-19:01
But let us remind ourselves that that baby, Jesus came to die.
19:03-19:06
He came to pay the penalty for our sin.
19:06-19:12
He came to take upon the wrath of God, which you and I deserve.
19:14-19:21
He was sent so that those who place their faith and trust in him might enjoy eternal life with God forever.
19:22-19:24
There is no greater news than this.
19:24-19:29
There is no greater message that I could share with you this evening, and I love you too much not to share it with you.
19:31-19:36
So if you're in this room, and you haven't opened this gift from the Lord yet, what are you waiting for?
19:37-19:42
It's right there in front of you, and all you need to do is open it up by faith.
19:43-19:55
Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you've done in the past, we are all more sinful than we can fully understand, but God's grace and forgiveness is greater than we can possibly imagine.
19:56-20:05
Yes, your list of mess ups and mistakes is long, but the blood of Christ is more than enough to cover them all.
20:07-20:11
Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
20:11-20:14
Submit to him as the Lord, the boss of your life.
20:15-20:18
If you do this tonight, he will change you from the inside out.
20:18-20:25
He will transform you into a new person with a new hope, with a new eternal destiny.
20:27-20:34
I can't guarantee much in this life, but I can promise you this, you will not regret making this decision.
20:35-20:39
You will not regret accepting this invitation.
20:40-20:40
Let's pray.
20:45-20:59
Father, we admit that so often during this time of year, we can just get so distracted with the commercials, the movies, the songs, decorations, Christmas cookies, that we forget what the season is all about.
20:59-21:00
It's about you.
21:01-21:02
It's about what you have done for us.
21:02-21:06
It's about your son and the sacrifice that he has made.
21:08-21:16
And Lord, as I prayed earlier, if there's anyone in this room who doesn't know you, Lord, I pray you'd be softening their heart and opening them up to this good news, Lord.
21:17-21:23
Lord, you would push them to make this decision for you and be forever changed.
21:26-21:48
And for the rest of us, Lord, I pray that you'd restore to us the joy of our salvation, that we would be once again in awe of you, in awe of your gospel, in awe of the reality that you have saved us, you've forgiven us, you've adopted us as sons and daughters and we are a part of your family.
21:51-21:56
Lord, burn this message on our hearts this Christmas, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 2:1-4

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What are some reasons/excuses people give for neglecting the free gift of salvation in Jesus? Why do none of these reasons/excuses hold any water?
Reread Hebrews 2:1-4: How can we know that the message of salvation is trustworthy and reliable?

Breakout
Pray for one another

Jeff Miller

December 18, 2022

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Because He is Greater Than Angels

Jeff Miller

December 18, 2022

Why Jesus

  
    Introduction:

Angelology 101

What Makes Jesus Greater Than Angels?
(Hebrews 1:4-14)

Jesus' Relationship to the Father. (Heb 1:4-5)
Jesus receives Worship from angels. (Heb 1:6)
Jesus is God . (Heb 1:7-12)
Seven Proofs that Jesus is God:
1. Jesus is called "God" by God the Father. (Heb 1:8a)
2. Jesus is the forever King . (Heb 1:8b)
3. Jesus is perfect in Righteousness . (Heb 1:9)
4. Jesus Created everything. (Heb 1:10)
5. Jesus will Burn it all down. (Heb 1:11-12a)
6. Jesus is Unchanging . (Heb 1:12b)
7. Jesus is Eternal . (Heb 1:12c)
Jesus' Job title. (Heb 1:13-14)
2 Kings 18:4 - He [Hezekiah] removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:48-00:49
Hebrews 1.
00:50-01:00
Last week's message was just really a preview of the rest of the book of Hebrews, because really it tells you everything you need to know about Jesus.
01:01-01:03
That He is the ultimate prophet.
01:04-01:05
He is the High Priest.
01:05-01:07
He is the Eternal King.
01:07-01:10
And He is God Himself.
01:12-01:20
And the rest of the book of Hebrews that Pastor Taylor and I are going to be going through these next several months is really just unpacking all of that.
01:21-01:31
To show us why Jesus Christ is worthy of our allegiance, why He's worthy of our trust regardless of any trial that we go through.
01:32-01:34
So I want you to bow your heads with me please.
01:34-01:38
And we're going to pray as we approach God's Word.
01:38-01:45
I pray that your hearts would be open to receiving what God wants to speak to you through His Word.
01:45-01:50
And I ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to accurately communicate the Word of God.
01:51-01:51
Let's pray.
01:54-01:58
Father in Heaven, we take Your Word very seriously.
02:00-02:17
We just ask right now, amidst all the possible distractions that You could tune our hearts and our minds in, it is you want to say to us through this portion of your word.
02:18-02:24
We pray in Jesus' name, all of God's people said, amen.
02:25-02:26
Hebrews chapter one, are you there?
02:27-02:33
Today, we are going to talk about angels.
02:36-02:45
It's an interesting subject because for a lot of us, We don't really think about angels at all.
02:46-02:46
Right?
02:46-02:54
It's sort of in our minds this kind of secondary thing in the Bible we don't understand, so we kind of shelve it, right?
02:54-03:00
And for others, there's a lot of superstition that surrounds angels.
03:01-03:03
A lot of myths that have come in.
03:03-03:05
We're going to talk about that in a few moments.
03:05-03:13
And some people, honestly, are overly fascinated with angels.
03:15-03:24
And I've shared with you before, unfortunately for me, a lot of my views on such things came from music that I listened to growing up.
03:25-03:29
And you know, there are a lot of songs about angels.
03:29-03:30
Are there not?
03:32-03:44
I mean, this time of year, you can turn on your TV And you see the commercial with the poor dogs, you know, log chain to the tire, and the song that played, you know the song, right?
03:45-03:48
Sarah McLachlan, sing it with me if you know it.
03:48-03:54
♪ In the arms of an angel ♪ Nobody.
03:56-03:57
Just gonna leave me up here.
03:58-03:59
Thanks for that.
04:01-04:10
I see Rich violently nodding like, "Yes, we're gonna leave you up there." Well, I thought it'd be fun to do a little sing-along.
04:11-04:12
From the songs about angels.
04:12-04:14
You wanna do a sing-along this morning?
04:16-04:16
Sure you do.
04:17-04:19
You know the Black Crowes song, right?
04:20-04:29
♪ Yeah, she talks to angels ♪ ♪ Says they all Nobody knows that song.
04:32-04:56
Says they all know her name ♪ heard that song? This is gonna be fun. How about U2? Have you ever heard of the band U2? Remember the song? "Angel, angel of..." Yes, thank you Jane Auer! "Angel of Harlem..." Where have you people been?
04:57-04:59
You don't know this song?
05:01-05:02
Oh, did you hear that?
05:02-05:07
Somebody Jesus juked me, like we only listen to Christian music, Pastor Jeff.
05:07-05:10
My whole life, I've never heard a secular song.
05:13-05:17
Well, listen, this is the introduction that I wrote down and this is the one we're going with.
05:19-05:20
What about Aerosmith?
05:20-05:21
Surely you've heard this song.
05:22-05:29
Surely you've heard, ♪ Baby, you're my angel ♪ Come on.
05:30-05:31
(audience laughing)
05:33-05:34
No?
05:35-05:41
Come and save me tonight ♪ All right, I got a bunch more, but I think I'm just gonna move on.
05:42-05:42
(audience laughing)
05:44-05:45
No, there is one more.
05:45-05:47
Come on, you have to know this one.
05:47-05:49
You have to know Juice Newton.
05:50-05:51
Do you know Juice Newton?
05:53-05:59
Just call me angel of the morning, angel ♪ Come on!
06:01-06:02
Yes!
06:03-06:03
Yes!
06:08-06:11
I'm going to go ahead and mark this one down as a success.
06:15-06:17
You knew that one, but you didn't know Aerosmith.
06:21-06:33
So I'm preparing all week to preach a message about angels, I was studying and my wife Erin, she goes, "I don't know why you're spending so much time reading and studying." She goes, "Just observe.
06:34-06:46
You've been living with an angel for more than 20 years." That gets a response.
06:50-06:52
Well, today's passage is this.
06:53-06:55
Jesus is greater than angels.
06:58-07:01
And look, I know my audience.
07:03-07:05
This isn't going to be a hard sell.
07:06-07:06
Right?
07:08-07:19
But really, we have to understand the audience that the Hebrew writer was addressing to understand why right out the gate, he goes into talking about angels.
07:21-07:28
But before we do that, we need to understand So on your outline, this is angelology 101.
07:28-07:30
Yes, angelology is a word.
07:30-07:36
I think it's a really lame word, but it's a word that described the study of angels.
07:36-07:40
So how much do you know about angels?
07:41-07:47
Judging from your knowledge of angels appearing in pop music, I'm guessing none.
07:48-07:53
So, and I'm not talking about the myths, right?
07:53-07:55
What are some myths that surround angels?
07:55-07:56
Go ahead and shout them out.
07:56-07:58
What are some myths that surround angels?
08:00-08:03
Okay, so they get the halo and they're constantly playing the harp.
08:04-08:04
What else?
08:05-08:09
Okay, how about the naked babies with the wings?
08:09-08:11
That's how angels are often depicted.
08:12-08:15
What else do we know from mythology?
08:15-08:15
What's that?
08:17-08:20
Oh yeah, it's a female in a white robe, right?
08:20-08:27
And I guess that's sort of the image with all these cheesy songs that talk about angels.
08:27-08:28
That's the image.
08:28-08:30
It's a female in a white robe.
08:30-08:31
What else?
08:32-08:33
Here's a big one.
08:34-08:40
Even in the church, there's the myth that when we die, we turn into angels.
08:40-08:42
And that's not true.
08:44-08:47
Let's talk about what the Bible actually says.
08:47-08:48
All right?
08:48-08:51
So this is "Angeology 101." There's a little Sunday school class.
08:51-08:55
So if you're timing the sermon, this little chunk doesn't count towards sermon time.
08:55-08:55
All right?
08:56-08:58
So what are angels?
08:59-09:00
What are angels?
09:00-09:06
Angels are powerful supernatural spirits that serve God.
09:08-09:10
Created sometime before the earth was created.
09:13-09:18
They don't procreate or age, and there's no new ones being made.
09:18-09:26
Now, biblically, angels are a higher creation than man, but they minister to man.
09:29-09:41
And we studied this when we went through the book of Revelation, but Lucifer, an exalted angel, rebelled against God, along with a third of the angels, and we call them demons.
09:43-09:48
Some of these demons, because of their sin, are imprisoned in a place called the abyss.
09:48-10:08
We talked about that, Jude 6, Luke 8, among many other places in Scripture, there's this prison that's called the abyss where some demons are imprisoned and they will be freed in the end as God brings judgment according to Revelation 9.
10:10-10:22
But there are still demons active in the world today, often trying to derail Christians in their walk with Christ according to Ephesians 6.
10:24-10:32
Now, angels are often invisible to unaided human vision.
10:34-10:44
2 Kings 6 But angels can appear in a form that God chooses, often looking like a man.
10:45-10:50
Genesis 18, Genesis 19, Mark 16, Acts 1, etc.
10:50-10:53
Angels never appear as female.
10:53-10:58
They're not sexual beings the way God created man and woman to be.
10:59-11:02
But when they appear, they always look like men.
11:03-11:08
So, how many types of angels does the Bible name?
11:08-11:09
How many types are there?
11:10-11:10
I brought a guess.
11:12-11:12
How many types?
11:15-11:16
There are four types.
11:19-11:23
You're like, "I was just about to say that." There are four types.
11:23-11:25
There's what we would call the ordinary angels.
11:26-11:30
They don't have any special designation other than they are angels.
11:30-11:35
There are cherubim, there are seraphim, and there are archangels.
11:35-11:37
And they are innumerable.
11:39-11:42
So who are the three angels that are named in the Bible?
11:43-11:43
Do you know?
11:43-11:44
Shout them out if you know.
11:44-11:47
Who are the three angels that are actually named?
11:49-11:50
Got that one right out.
11:51-11:51
Good on you.
11:52-11:57
Yeah, Lucifer, the aforementioned Lucifer, there's Gabriel and there's Michael.
11:57-11:59
Those are the three that are named.
12:00-12:02
So what do angels do?
12:03-12:03
What do they do?
12:05-12:06
Well, they do a lot of things.
12:08-12:13
First of all, they worship, according to Isaiah 6 and Revelation 5.
12:13-12:15
Angels guard gates.
12:16-12:22
An angel was guarding the gate to the Garden of Eden, and angels guard the gates of heaven, the Bible tells us.
12:22-12:24
Angels wage war, Revelation 12.
12:24-12:27
Angels rule nations, Daniel chapter 10.
12:27-12:31
Angels execute judgment, Genesis 19, Matthew 13.
12:31-12:34
And angels ultimately will bind Satan.
12:37-12:42
But what's especially relevant to us is how angels minister to man.
12:43-12:44
Like, well, how do they do that?
12:44-12:46
How do angels minister to man?
12:46-12:50
Well, I think in general terms you could say that angels are part of God's providence.
12:51-12:56
That God carries out His will, oftentimes, through angels.
12:56-13:02
In fact, the Bible says sometimes God uses angels to answer prayer, according to Daniel 9.
13:05-13:09
Like, well, specifically, what do they do for us?
13:10-13:13
Well, here's a few things. Again, this list is not exhaustive.
13:15-13:26
If you are really interested, if you're like, "Man, I really want to know about angels." I have this book I read this week, it's just called "Angels, Systematic Bible Doctrines." You can have that. I'll leave it right there.
13:26-13:30
If you want to know more, that's a quick read, but it tells you everything the Bible says about angels.
13:31-13:33
But here's some things. What do angels do?
13:34-13:36
They are present in the church.
13:36-13:37
Ephesians chapter 3.
13:37-13:38
They protect.
13:38-13:39
Psalm 34.
13:40-13:46
They lead sinners to gospel workers according to Acts chapter 8 and Acts chapter 10.
13:46-13:50
Angels rejoice when a sinner turns to Christ and repents.
13:50-13:51
Luke chapter 15.
13:52-13:56
Angels escort deceased believers to heaven.
13:56-13:57
Luke chapter 16.
13:58-14:01
Angels will gather God's elect in the end.
14:01-14:02
Matthew 24.
14:03-14:34
will separate the saved from the unsaved, Matthew 13. And even now, we entertain angels unaware, according to Hebrews chapter 13. Now while you're studying angels, I do go to insert this. Often times in the Old Testament, you'll hear or read of "the angel of the Lord." Now, when you see that, I believe that is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.
14:35-14:39
You see that Genesis 16, Genesis 22, Judges 6, Judges 13.
14:40-14:43
I don't believe that that's a regular angel in those cases.
14:43-14:44
I believe that that's actually Jesus.
14:45-14:48
The reason I believe that is because He accepted worship.
14:48-14:50
He accepted sacrifice.
14:51-15:01
And worshiping angels was forbidden the people that encountered THE angel of the Lord, very specific, THE angel of the Lord, they called Him Lord.
15:03-15:11
But when you study the life of Jesus, it's amazing how His whole life involved angels.
15:12-15:20
That's why, for me, it's hard to sort of dismiss angels as this non -important thing to consider.
15:21-15:24
I mean, just think of the life of Jesus.
15:24-15:29
how much angels were involved in everything in his life.
15:31-15:35
They predicted his birth, Matthew 1, Luke 1.
15:36-15:39
They protected him as a baby, Matthew 2.
15:40-15:43
They ministered to Jesus after his temptation, Matthew 4.
15:44-15:51
And in Gethsemane, Luke 22, angels announced the resurrection of Jesus.
15:52-15:53
That's in all the Gospels.
15:54-15:57
Angels were there at the ascension of Jesus, Acts chapter 1.
15:59-16:01
And angels will be with Him at His second coming.
16:03-16:05
Matthew 25, 2 Thessalonians 1.
16:07-16:15
And this is a big one here, because this is going to take us right into our text, after what is probably the longest sermon introduction ever.
16:16-16:18
But angels gave the law.
16:19-16:23
Somehow God used the angels to mediate His law.
16:24-16:27
That's in Acts 7, and that's in Hebrews 2.
16:29-16:45
And because of that, and all that they do in the Old Testament, and because of all of the myths and weird beliefs that developed about angels, they became objects of worship for the Jews.
16:47-16:58
You see, we probably don't give angels enough attention or thought, but many of these Jews in this passage gave them way too much, and actually worshipped angels.
16:59-17:15
So the Hebrew writer here, in exalting Jesus, kicks off by showing that if Jesus is a mediator of a better covenant, then He has to be superior to who mediated the first covenant.
17:17-17:19
So this is the sermon today.
17:20-17:22
Jesus is better than angels.
17:23-17:26
And he proves it from seven Old Testament passages.
17:28-17:31
So in your outline, what makes Jesus greater than angels?
17:32-17:36
Number one, Jesus' relationship to the Father.
17:39-17:44
And here he's quoting Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel 7.
17:46-17:59
But picking up where we left off last week, he says, speaking of Jesus, "Having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
18:01-18:21
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." You know, when I was a kid, walking home from school, I would walk past this bank.
18:22-18:25
It was the Citizens Bank, the blue Citizens Bank.
18:25-18:26
I think it's next to here now.
18:27-18:31
But oftentimes when I would walk home from school, I'd just walk right into the bank.
18:32-18:38
I'd walk right by the tellers, into the offices, and I'd go into the bank manager's office, and I'd sit down.
18:39-18:41
I'd take a handful of candy from his desk.
18:41-18:43
I'd sit and talk to him for a while.
18:43-18:44
Then I'd get up and leave.
18:45-18:46
Out the back door.
18:47-18:48
You know, nobody else could do that.
18:49-18:51
Nobody else could get away with that.
18:51-18:52
Just walking right in.
18:54-18:55
You know how I was able to do that?
18:57-18:58
Because I was a son.
18:59-19:04
You see, I had a special position that other people didn't have.
19:04-19:08
And you see, that's the point of the Hebrew writer here.
19:09-19:15
Angels are messengers and angels are servants, but Jesus is the Son.
19:17-19:20
And yes, Christians are called sons of God.
19:20-19:28
Angels, biblically, are also called sons of God, because we were created, but we are not the begotten Son of God.
19:28-19:34
You see, Jesus has a relationship to God the Father They are unlike any angel could ever have.
19:37-19:38
Now look, if you have kids, you get it.
19:39-19:40
If you have kids, you get it.
19:40-19:42
Sure you love other kids.
19:42-19:43
Sure you do.
19:45-19:49
But parents, you will never love any kid the way you love your own kid.
19:50-19:51
You just don't.
19:54-20:01
And angels are excellent creatures, but Jesus is greater by virtue relationship with the Father.
20:02-20:04
So what makes Jesus greater than angels?
20:04-20:07
Number two, Jesus receives worship from angels.
20:08-20:11
Here he's quoting Psalm 97, look at verse 6.
20:11-20:29
He says, "And again, when He brings the firstborn into the world, He says, 'Let all God's angels worship Him.'" Firstborn is a title of position.
20:30-20:33
A lot of cults have tried to hijack this.
20:34-20:36
Look, it says here that Jesus was the first created.
20:37-20:38
That's not what firstborn means.
20:39-20:39
It's a title.
20:41-20:47
Now, often times in a family, the child born first had the position of firstborn, but not always.
20:48-20:51
The word just means having the highest position of prominence.
20:54-21:03
I think it says, "Let all God's angels worship Him." That's how it works with worship, isn't it?
21:03-21:11
Worship is always directed at one deemed greater than the one who is doing the worshiping.
21:13-21:16
So, the point is pretty clear, right?
21:16-21:22
Jesus must be greater than angels Angels are called to worship Jesus.
21:25-21:31
It's a sin to worship anyone or anything other than God.
21:32-21:43
But here, these angels are commanded to worship Jesus, so, Jesus must be greater than angels.
21:45-21:46
I love this.
21:47-21:56
Because in verse 6 it says, "Again," when He brings the firstborn into the world, that word "again" is huge.
21:57-22:05
You see, when I read this, maybe like you, I always thought, He's making this point, so He was like, "Again, I'm telling you something else.
22:06-22:11
Again, I'm building my argument." But that's really not what He means by the word "again" here.
22:13-22:22
Because the sentence should be structured this way, when God again brings His firstborn into the world.
22:23-22:24
See what he's talking about?
22:26-22:28
He's talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ.
22:30-22:32
When He again brings His firstborn into the world.
22:33-22:33
Here's the point.
22:34-22:38
The Bible tells us that angels are marveling at what God is doing.
22:39-22:40
They're watching what God is doing.
22:41-22:44
man, transforming people, this whole thing of redemption.
22:44-22:48
The Bible says angels are watching this, just marveling at what God is doing.
22:49-22:50
And they're just like worshiping God.
22:50-22:51
Look at what he's doing.
22:51-23:03
And that's what the Hebrew writer here is saying, that at the second coming of Jesus Christ, when he comes in power to judge and to ultimately bring the fulfillment of his promise, the angels are going to be blown away again.
23:04-23:06
And they're going to have this whole new reason to worship him.
23:06-23:13
They're just going to be like, "Whoa, we thought we knew everything about worshiping God, but There's a whole new reason to worship Jesus Christ.
23:14-23:15
That's what he's saying.
23:17-23:20
Jesus receives worship from angels, so He has to be greater than angels.
23:21-23:24
Number three, what makes Jesus greater than angels?
23:24-23:25
Here's one.
23:25-23:33
How about "Jesus is God." Here he's quoting Psalm 104, Psalm 45, Psalm 102.
23:35-23:37
Jesus is God.
23:37-23:37
Look at verse 7.
23:38-23:47
of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.
23:49-24:00
Angels are called, they're described as winds. Why winds? Well, winds are invisible, they're fast and they're powerful. That describes an angel. They're also described as fire.
24:01-24:33
biblically is usually associated with judgment and angels are heavily involved in judgment. God uses them as we discussed to carry out judgment. So winds and flames. He's like that's how you would describe an angel. But to describe the Son you would have to say He is God. Look at verse 8. He says, "But of the "The Son," He says.
24:33-24:38
Now look, this is what God the Father is saying about God the Son.
24:38-24:42
He says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
24:42-24:51
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom." That's the overwhelming testimony of Scripture.
24:52-24:56
That Jesus Christ is God who became a man.
24:57-25:00
That's the whole celebration this time of year.
25:02-25:12
And just here in this little tiny chunk, these few verses, I'm going to show you quickly seven proofs that Jesus is God.
25:13-25:15
Alright, seven proofs that Jesus is God.
25:15-25:22
Letter A. Jesus is called God, by God the Father.
25:22-25:23
Do you see that?
25:25-25:32
It says, "But of the Son, He says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.'" God the Father calls God the Son, God.
25:34-25:36
I love this verse.
25:38-25:41
Because when Jehovah's Witnesses come after me, this is the verse that I take them to.
25:43-25:44
It happened a couple of years ago.
25:44-25:48
I had some Jehovah's Witnesses come to my house, and I said, "Well, we're going to have slightly different beliefs.
25:48-25:58
I believe that Jesus is God." And they're like, "Well, the Bible doesn't say that He's God." I'm like, "Well, actually," I said, "In Hebrews 1.8, God the Father calls God the Son God.
25:59-26:09
So if God the Father calls God the Son God, what do you think I should call Him?" And they said, "Have a nice day." I'll go with what the Father calls Him.
26:09-26:10
The Father calls Him God.
26:11-26:12
I'll call Him God.
26:13-26:15
Letter B, what...
26:15-26:18
In 7 Proofs of Jesus is God, Letter B, Jesus is the forever King.
26:18-26:19
You see that?
26:19-26:22
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
26:22-26:27
Who else but God can rightly be called the one who is King forever?
26:30-26:30
No one.
26:31-26:32
No one.
26:33-26:36
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
26:37-26:38
Jesus is God.
26:38-26:44
Letter C, third reason, third proof rather, that Jesus is God, is Jesus is perfect in righteousness.
26:44-26:45
Look at verse nine.
26:46-26:49
It says, "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
26:49-27:05
Therefore, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." Do you realize what Jesus loves and hates motivates what happens in the universe?
27:06-27:08
There's no angel that can say that.
27:10-27:17
In the incarnation of Jesus Christ, specifically His crucifixion, We clearly see the motives behind God's actions.
27:19-27:20
Jesus is perfect in righteousness.
27:23-27:24
Fourth proof, letter D.
27:25-27:26
How about this one?
27:26-27:27
Jesus created everything.
27:28-27:28
Look at verse 10.
27:30-27:31
He's just piling it on.
27:31-27:33
Jesus is God, Jesus is God, Jesus is God.
27:34-27:47
Verse 10, he says, "And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands." You know, Scripture is crystal on this.
27:48-27:57
From the very first verse in the Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
27:57-28:05
And then we read the New Testament, the New Testament gives us more revelation, specifically Jesus Christ is the Creator of everything.
28:07-28:08
That makes Him God.
28:09-28:10
Next reason.
28:12-28:14
Next proof. Fifth proof. Jesus is God.
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Letter E. Jesus will burn it all down.
28:18-28:22
He'll burn it all down. Look at verses 11 through the first part of verse 12.
28:22-28:30
It says, they - talking about the earth and the heavens - He says, "They will perish, but you remain.
28:30-28:34
They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe.
28:34-28:36
You will roll them up like a garment.
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They will be changed.
28:40-28:41
Jesus will burn it all down.
28:42-28:44
He was there in the beginning to create the world.
28:45-28:47
We saw that in verse 2 last week.
28:48-28:50
And Jesus is going to be there to end it.
28:50-28:54
2 Peter 3 says He is going to burn it up.
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It's like an old shirt.
28:58-28:58
Right?
29:00-29:03
This is the time of year that men are especially excited.
29:04-29:09
You know, those undergarments that you've been hanging on to all year, they're on the final stages of leprosy.
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You're getting new ones next week.
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And what are we going to do with the old ones?
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Roll them up and throw them into fire.
29:20-29:24
The Bible says, that's the terminology that Jesus is going to do with the heavens and the earth.
29:24-29:26
He's just going to roll it up, into the fire.
29:27-29:27
Done.
29:28-29:29
He's going to burn it all down.
29:32-29:35
Who else could you ascribe that activity to other than God?
29:36-29:36
Jesus is God.
29:37-29:39
You're like, I'm still not convinced.
29:39-29:40
Alright?
29:40-29:43
Here's a sixth proof that Jesus is God.
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Letter F, He's unchanging.
29:45-29:46
Jesus is unchanging.
29:47-29:48
Look at the end of verse 12.
29:49-29:55
It says, actually near the end, it says, "But you are the same." You are the same.
29:56-29:57
Only God is unchanging.
29:58-30:12
God revealed himself as the "I am." You realize that to Moses, God says that his name is "I am," not "I was." Like God was like, "Oh Moses, you should have seen me in high school.
30:13-30:23
I was awesome." No, he didn't reveal himself as the "I was." God didn't reveal himself as the "I will be." Like guess what, Jesus?
30:24-30:25
I'm doing keto.
30:26-30:27
I'm training.
30:28-30:30
I'm going to be something someday.
30:31-30:32
I will be.
30:32-30:33
God's the I am.
30:33-30:34
He never changes.
30:35-30:38
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
30:38-30:41
There is no shadow of turning with Him.
30:42-30:43
Jesus is unchanging.
30:47-30:52
Again, it's a concept that's uniquely ascribed to God.
30:52-30:56
And here it's ascribed to Jesus, which means Jesus must be God.
30:57-31:00
And then finally, Jesus is eternal.
31:01-31:03
Jesus is eternal.
31:04-31:05
Look at the end of verse 12.
31:06-31:18
He says, "And your years will have no end." All of these things, this whole list, all of these things are true about Jesus, and they always will be.
31:20-31:21
It's not going to expire.
31:22-31:23
He's not in a term limit.
31:26-31:29
All these things are always going to be true about Jesus, because Jesus is God.
31:30-31:32
So what makes Jesus better than angels?
31:33-31:38
Number four, Jesus' job title.
31:39-31:44
Here he's quoting Psalm 110, look at verses 13 and 14.
31:44-32:02
He says, "Now 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 all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
32:04-32:07
So you see the question on the front end here.
32:08-32:13
Verse 13, "To which of the angels has God ever said, 'Sit at my right hand'?" What's the answer?
32:14-32:15
What's the answer?
32:16-32:16
None.
32:17-32:19
God's never said that to an angel.
32:19-32:22
Why? Because that position belongs to Jesus.
32:25-32:35
So Jesus is also greater when you compare their ultimate destinies and job detail, comparing Jesus and the angels.
32:36-32:41
Angels are and always will be servants of God for the sake of man.
32:41-32:42
That's who they will always be.
32:43-32:54
But, everything is going to be subject to Jesus, because He is the eternal, triumphant, resting His feet on His enemies, King of kings.
32:56-33:02
So, that's the message that the Hebrew writer comes out the gate with.
33:02-33:06
Jesus is greater than angels.
33:08-33:12
And obviously it was a message that this church needed to hear.
33:13-33:18
And frankly, it's a message that this church needs to hear.
33:21-33:24
And you're like, "Well, maybe you kind of lost me there, Pastor Jeff.
33:24-33:32
I just don't understand why you think we need to hear this, because I don't think anybody here is worshipping angels.
33:33-33:34
So what are you talking about?
33:34-33:56
You're like, "I don't worship angels, Pastor Jeff." And my response is, "You probably don't." But, even in the church, we can be guilty of the same type of sin, and that's worshipping something other than Jesus.
33:59-34:05
Now, when we think of idolatry, what do we think of?
34:06-34:15
Well, immediately we think of like, you know, the statues and things like that, some of the, you know, pagan things and, and worshipping the hunk of rock or whatever.
34:16-34:19
And then we're like, you know, no, idolatry is really a heart issue, right?
34:21-34:24
It's it's, and you're like, yeah, yeah, it's, it's worshipping bad things.
34:24-34:25
That's what idolatry is.
34:25-34:27
It's worshipping bad things, right?
34:27-34:34
It's like when, like you talked about, when we went through that series on addiction, that addiction is a worship disorder.
34:34-34:35
Addiction is idolatry.
34:36-34:41
It is drugs and gambling and pornography.
34:41-34:46
And we think of these bad things when we think of idolatry.
34:46-34:48
And that is all true.
34:51-35:08
But like these Hebrews, church listen, as people we have this tendency to elevate and and worship even good things.
35:10-35:19
Even things that come from Jesus, like angels, instead of Jesus himself.
35:21-35:27
In other words, we have this tendency to worship the gifts rather than the gift giver.
35:28-35:31
The things God's given instead of God himself.
35:32-35:34
We are just as guilty of that, church.
35:36-35:37
We are just as guilty.
35:38-35:48
You know, one of the most, I guess, telling verses of the Old Testament that speak to this is 2 Kings 18.4.
35:50-35:52
Talking about Hezekiah's reforms.
35:52-35:53
Look at this verse.
35:53-36:06
It says, "He (Hezekiah) removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah." It says, "And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made.
36:07-36:12
For until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it.
36:13-36:18
It was called Nehushtan." Do you see what went on there?
36:19-36:25
You know, flashback, rewind, go back to the wandering through the wilderness.
36:25-36:33
Remember, Israel persistently sinning, and as an act of judgment at one point, God sent these fiery serpents that were biting the Israelites and they were dying.
36:34-36:49
And as an act of grace, God told Moses to put this bronze serpent on a pole so that when somebody was bitten by one of these snakes, they were to look towards this serpent and they would be saved.
36:49-36:52
And actually Jesus talked about that being a picture of Him.
36:52-36:59
When He's lifted up and people look to Him, it was kind of a preview of Jesus, so to speak.
36:59-37:09
So, God designed and gave this thing to Moses to teach the Israelites to put their eyes on God.
37:09-37:11
And what did Israel start doing?
37:12-37:14
They were worshipping the thing.
37:14-37:15
Do you see that?
37:16-37:21
They were worshipping the thing that God gave, not the God who gave it.
37:23-37:32
We start ascribing power and significance to the thing, instead of to the One who gave it.
37:34-37:40
They took something from God and began to worship it.
37:41-37:46
A good thing can become a bad thing when we make it the main thing.
37:48-37:53
You're like, "Does that really happen in churches?" Oh, oh yes.
37:53-37:55
Oh yes it does.
37:56-38:01
I come from a fellowship of churches where some people had this exalted view of baptism.
38:02-38:04
Baptism was the thing that saved you.
38:06-38:12
And I have seen pastors and church leaders at each other's throats over baptism.
38:14-38:17
This church baptizes. We believe in baptism.
38:18-38:35
Yes, it's an outward demonstration of what Christ has done inwardly, but for so many it has been elevated to this position of exaltation of, "Unless you're baptized, you can't be saved." It's Nahushtin.
38:37-38:41
Something that God gave, elevated to a place it shouldn't be.
38:43-38:44
Church, we can be so guilty of that.
38:44-38:47
You know another thing in the church where we get guilty?
38:49-38:50
Just in case I didn't offend anybody yet.
38:51-38:51
Here's one.
38:52-38:53
How about type of music?
38:56-39:02
I have a pastor friend who he was part of this church that had this yearly tradition at Christmas.
39:03-39:04
I'm not making this up.
39:05-39:07
You're going to think I am, but I'm not.
39:08-39:10
This church had this yearly tradition at a Christmas.
39:11-39:42
sang Feliz Navidad. You know that song? Feliz Navidad. You know it's like half in Spanish, half in English. You know the song I'm talking about? It's horrible. It is a horrible song. But the church, they sang that every year. And one year the pastor was like, "I think that song is kind of, I think it's kind of taking too much of a prominence in our fellowship. But this year we're not going to sing it." It was like he was suggesting throwing the Bible out.
39:42-39:47
People were like, "You can't do that!" And there were people, my friend told me, there were people literally in tears.
39:49-39:51
Like crying over this.
39:51-40:05
"I can't believe we're not going to sing this song!" "We should have all these others down in here!" Like, "Really? That song?" Elevating things that shouldn't be elevated.
40:06-40:08
In other churches, it's the pastor.
40:10-40:10
Celebrity pastor.
40:12-40:13
Celebrity pastor.
40:14-40:18
You exalt some man to a position that only Jesus should have.
40:19-40:20
Gag.
40:22-40:23
That's what we do in the church.
40:23-40:29
But you know, even in our personal lives, we have this tendency to take things from God.
40:30-40:32
Gifts from God.
40:35-40:36
You make them idols.
40:38-40:39
They become nehushtan.
40:41-40:41
Money.
40:43-40:44
Your job.
40:46-40:46
Another person.
40:47-40:48
Your kids.
40:49-40:49
Sex.
40:50-40:50
Entertainment.
40:51-40:52
None of these things are bad.
40:53-41:03
In fact, all of these things biblically are given to us as gifts by God for us to enjoy.
41:05-41:06
according to 1 Timothy 6.17.
41:09-41:21
You see, the problem is when we, like these Hebrews, take something that God gave and put them in a position that they were never intended to have.
41:22-41:28
This is hard, because I feel like right now the sermon is just starting, and you're like, I feel like it's wrapping up.
41:33-41:33
I just want to say this.
41:36-41:46
We have to watch that the object of our worship is the person of Jesus Christ, not something that He's given us.
41:49-41:50
So how do I know?
41:51-41:54
How do I know that something has become an idol in my life?
41:54-42:01
Boy, I could do a whole sermon series on this, but for today's purposes, just give me a couple minutes here.
42:02-42:05
How do I know if something has become an idol?
42:06-42:13
Because look, it's not like I'm bowing the knee to something or burning incense to it.
42:13-42:16
So how do I know that something in my life has become an idol?
42:19-42:21
I just want you to ask yourself four questions.
42:24-42:24
Alright?
42:25-42:26
This is between you and the Lord.
42:27-42:27
Alright?
42:28-42:29
Nothing legalistic here.
42:29-42:30
This is between you and the Lord.
42:31-42:32
I'm going to sort this out.
42:33-42:35
First question is what has my mind?
42:36-42:37
What has my mind?
42:38-42:39
What consumes my thoughts?
42:39-42:47
Where does my mind go when I'm not thinking about anything like work detail or something specific I'm focused on at the moment?
42:47-42:49
Where does my mind naturally drift?
42:50-42:51
What consumes my thoughts?
42:51-42:52
That's the first question.
42:54-42:56
The second question is what has my time?
42:57-42:59
What has my time?
43:01-43:35
I'm just staggered by people that call themselves followers of Christ, that have no time for church, they have no time for small group, they have no time for serving, they don't have any time for that, but they have time for sports, they have time for Netflix, they have time for all According to Jesus, by the way, Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
43:37-43:41
You're like, "I'm just not sure where my heart is, Pastor Jeff." I would say, "Show me your checkbook.
43:41-43:48
I'll show you where your heart is." Because Jesus said where your treasure is, that's where your heart is.
43:50-43:53
So what has my mind, what has my time, what has my money?
43:55-43:57
The last question is what has my joy?
43:59-44:01
What do I pursue to make me happy?
44:02-44:04
Here's the thing, again, this is between you and the Lord.
44:05-44:05
You've got to sort this out.
44:06-44:16
Here's the thing, if you're asking yourself these four questions and it seems like the same answer is coming up repeatedly, there's a good chance that that thing might be an idol in your life.
44:19-44:28
And you have to ask yourself, am I looking for something to provide There's something for me that only Jesus can provide.
44:31-44:36
And the message for this church is the same message that the Hebrew writer gave this church.
44:36-44:40
Listen, there is nothing in Jesus' league.
44:42-44:42
Nothing.
44:44-44:48
As our worship team comes forward, I just want you to bow your heads.
44:50-44:56
I just want you to bow your heads, and I just want to ask you with your heads bowed, This is just introspection time.
44:57-44:59
This is coming before the Lord time.
45:00-45:03
This is letting His Word and His Spirit examine our hearts time.
45:05-45:07
I just want to ask you, is there something that you want more than Jesus?
45:10-45:13
And if that's the case, there's always a lot of work that needs done.
45:15-45:17
But today, I just simply want us to confess that.
45:20-45:22
Today, I just want it to be It's a matter of confession.
45:23-45:23
Alright?
45:24-45:29
As we went through those questions, was there something that came up in your mind that you're like, "Yeah, you know what?
45:29-45:38
This is becoming an idol in my life!" It'll do you a little good to tell me, but it'll do you a lot of good to confess this to the Lord.
45:40-45:43
And if that's you, I just want to encourage you to pray something like this.
45:46-45:50
God, I know that You have given me things to enjoy.
45:53-45:59
But God, I have been pursuing things, or people, rather than pursuing You.
46:02-46:05
Father, I need the power of Your Spirit and Your Word to renew my mind.
46:08-46:14
I want to allow Jesus Christ His rightful place as the only one in my life Receiving true worship.
46:17-46:31
Father, I pray for this church today, as we consider the superiority of Jesus Christ, even over these awesome creations that You made called angels.
46:34-46:41
I pray, Father, that You would give us the grace and the faith to go into full Hezekiah mode this afternoon.
46:44-46:53
Maybe there are some bad things that have become idols in our lives that we need to tear down, but maybe there are some things that came from you that we have turned into an idol like that bronze serpent.
46:56-47:12
Father, let us tear these idols down so Christ can have His place As King and Lord in our lives, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 1:4-14

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What was something you learned about angels that you never knew? Anything come as a surprise to you?
What are some things that have become idols in the church? How do we address it when we see the church exalting something other than Jesus?
How do you know the difference between “enjoying a good thing from God” and “this thing has become an idol in my life”?

Breakout
Is there anything in your life that you’ve wrestled with the question “Is this an idol?” What is it?

Jeff Miller

December 11, 2022

Why Jesus

Why Jesus? Because He is God's Last Word.

Jeff Miller

December 11, 2022

Why Jesus

Introduction:

How is Jesus God's Ultimate Spokesman?
(Hebrews 1:1-3)

As Prophet , He has my Ear . (Heb 1:1-2a)
As God , He has my Worship . (Heb 1:2b-3a)
John 1:18 - No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

John 14:9 - Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
As Priest , He has my Love . (Heb 1:3b)
1 Corinthians 16:22 - If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.
As King , He has my Obedience . (Heb 1:1-2a)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:48-00:50
Open your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, are you there?
00:51-00:59
In case you're wondering what kind of a church is this, we are a church that proclaims the authority of God's word without apology.
01:01-01:04
We are a church that lifts high the name of Jesus in worship.
01:05-01:08
And we are a church that believes firmly in the power of prayer.
01:09-01:13
And we are a church that shares the good news of Jesus with boldness.
01:14-01:20
So to that first one, and proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology, that is what we are about to do.
01:21-01:22
So let's just bow our heads for a moment.
01:23-01:26
I'm going to ask that you would pray for me to be faithful to do that.
01:27-01:35
And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive whatever it is God wants to share with you today from His Word.
01:36-01:36
Let's pray.
01:37-01:45
Father in Heaven, as we come to Your Word right now, We believe that this is the book that You gave us.
01:47-01:55
We believe that You have revealed who You are, and You've revealed who we are in the pages of this book.
01:58-02:04
Most importantly, Father, You've revealed the atoning work that Your Son accomplished.
02:07-02:07
That's why we're here.
02:09-02:14
Father, we know that Your Word will do Your work.
02:14-02:22
We just ask that we would be faithful to proclaim it, and we would be faithful, Father, to receive it.
02:23-02:24
We pray in Jesus' name.
02:25-02:42
And all of God's people said, "Amen." Several years ago, it was around this time of year, heard my son Cade playing with his toys. And this was the line that I heard.
02:44-02:59
"Not so fast! Batman and baby Jesus will stop you!" So I had to stop and see what was going on, and I had to take a picture of what I found. There it is.
03:01-03:06
Cade had his Batman toys in the nativity scene.
03:08-03:14
And if you can see there, Batman apparently traded the Batmobile for the cart behind the donkey.
03:14-03:17
And right there, right there beside Batman, there's baby Jesus.
03:20-03:25
And I thought, I can't believe somebody hasn't made that a movie yet.
03:28-03:33
The Batman and baby Jesus versus the bad guys.
03:36-03:37
That's adorable, isn't it?
03:39-03:40
It is adorable.
03:42-03:44
Until we do that as adults.
03:47-03:48
Like, what do you mean?
03:48-03:56
What I mean is we're entering the Christmas season right now and if we're honest, even in the church, where does our focus go?
03:58-03:59
It's we're gonna buy the right gifts.
03:59-04:02
We have the office party, right?
04:02-04:06
We decorating and cookies and that elf on the shelf.
04:06-04:08
And then we're like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:08-04:11
Let's make sure that we tack Jesus onto that.
04:12-04:17
And Jesus is reduced to a sidekick as he was for Batman.
04:19-04:23
And that's why we're starting this series in Hebrews called "Why Jesus?" Why?
04:24-04:27
Why do we so passionately worship Him?
04:29-04:31
Why do we talk about Jesus so much around here?
04:32-04:37
Why are we so adamant about preaching His Word accurately?
04:38-04:39
Why Jesus?
04:41-04:46
Now in the book of Hebrews, the author and the audience, they're not mentioned by name.
04:48-04:51
But it's obvious that the author knew his audience well.
04:52-04:56
And you're going to see as we go through Hebrews, he's obviously writing this to Jews.
04:56-05:07
There's so much Old Testament Jewish imagery, like the tabernacle and the priests and the sacrifices, and some people from the Old Testament.
05:09-05:13
But specifically, this is written to Jewish Christians.
05:15-05:16
And why was this written?
05:17-05:31
Because these Jewish Christians were drifting into doubt because of hardships and persecution that they were experiencing because of following Jesus Christ.
05:35-05:40
You see, in the first century, following Jesus meant you could lose your job.
05:42-05:44
Following Jesus meant you could lose your income.
05:45-05:47
Following Jesus meant you could lose your family.
05:49-05:50
You could lose your freedom.
05:50-05:55
And actually, following Jesus meant you could lose your life.
05:57-06:06
And these Jewish Christians were starting to experience some of these persecutions, and they were starting to sort of drift away from their faith.
06:06-06:09
And they're like, "Does God really care?
06:10-06:12
We're losing too much.
06:12-06:15
I mean, is it really worth it to follow Jesus?
06:18-06:23
And trials have a way of doing that, don't they?
06:26-06:29
Trials have a way of making us wonder if God's really in control.
06:31-06:35
Trials make us wonder if God's really for us.
06:35-06:55
Trials make us wonder, "Does God really care about me?" And I've got to tell you, church, in my own life, my personal struggles in the faith, my struggles with doubts, they haven't come from some atheist attacking the Bible.
06:56-07:01
They haven't come from some cult undermining the Word of God.
07:01-07:04
I've never had any faith issues regarding them.
07:07-07:14
But when it comes to the health of my own son, that's where I've struggled.
07:17-07:17
How about you?
07:20-07:27
Have the trials of life made you wonder, "Is it really worth it following Jesus? I mean, does God really care?
07:27-07:33
Is He really listening to me?" So the Hebrew writer gets to the real root.
07:35-07:38
That's why we have one theme that we're going to be tracking down over the next few months.
07:38-07:41
It's why Jesus...
07:41-07:45
How does knowing Jesus enable me to overcome any trial?
07:45-07:50
And the writer doesn't placate, he doesn't offer some shallow pep talk.
07:51-07:57
He takes us straight to the superiority of Jesus Christ in all things.
07:57-08:04
The worthiness of Jesus, His promises, His presence, the peace that only He can give.
08:04-08:08
It overcomes any trial that we're going to experience.
08:10-08:12
Jesus is not a sidekick.
08:14-08:19
Hebrews 1, that we're looking at here today, says that He is God.
08:23-08:24
He's God's last word.
08:28-08:32
You could say that Jesus Christ is God's ultimate spokesman.
08:33-08:35
That's really where this book starts.
08:39-08:40
Think about a spokesman.
08:40-08:43
If you had a company, just imagine you own a company, I know some people here do.
08:44-08:54
If you owned a company, you would want a spokesman who would represent your company positively and accurately, right?
08:56-08:59
If you're putting a spokesman out there, you want them to represent you, right?
09:00-09:01
Or think of it this way.
09:02-09:05
You wouldn't go to an unhealthy fitness trainer, would you?
09:08-09:12
You wouldn't hire a contractor whose own house is falling in around him.
09:14-09:17
You wouldn't go to a financial advisor who's broke as a joke.
09:19-09:31
And in the same way, God's ultimate spokesman, His final word to man, would have to be someone who perfectly represented everything that God is.
09:32-09:36
So on your outline today, how is Jesus God's ultimate spokesman?
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That's where we're starting in Hebrews.
09:39-09:41
Number one, write this down.
09:42-09:45
As prophet, He has my ear.
09:48-09:51
As prophet, He has my ear.
09:53-09:58
Now listen, the only way you could know anything about God at all is if He told you.
09:59-10:03
And the good news is throughout history, God did.
10:03-10:04
Right? That's what He says.
10:05-10:17
Verse 1, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets." All right, so let's break that down.
10:18-10:21
"Long ago," what's He talking about? Old Testament times.
10:21-10:28
He says that many times he's talking about the books of the Old Testament, different chapters in history.
10:29-10:32
He says in many ways.
10:32-10:34
You know, you read your Old Testament, right?
10:34-10:38
God shows up in visions and in dreams and in symbols.
10:39-10:41
So many different ways God showed up.
10:41-10:46
To who? To our fathers, to the Jews, through the prophets.
10:48-10:57
You see, your Old Testament, you have 39 books written over 1,500 years, and what you have is progressive revelation.
10:58-11:00
All right, that's a systematic theology term.
11:00-11:01
What that means is simply this.
11:02-11:08
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God didn't immediately send Jesus at that moment to die on the cross.
11:09-11:10
Why not?
11:12-11:17
Because they wouldn't have really grasped what all that meant.
11:17-11:30
So over the period of history in the Old Testament, God was revealing truths about holiness and sin and sacrifice and forgiveness and faith.
11:31-11:34
He was teaching that throughout history.
11:35-11:36
That's progressive revelation.
11:37-11:48
So your Old Testament does not have error in it, But it is incomplete because none of the Old Testament prophets ever got the whole story.
11:51-12:02
Until... no one got the whole story until look at verse 2, it says, "But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son." Now, "last days," what do you mean "last days"?
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Well, the Jews who would have been reading this totally knew what the word for the phrase "last days" meant.
12:08-12:13
That was a Jewish term describing the times and the events of the Messiah.
12:16-12:16
The last days.
12:17-12:31
In other words, in the Old Testament, you had all these different kinds of writings, you know, from Moses and from Daniel, you had Psalms, you had poetry, you had narrative, and you had Proverbs, and you had all these different voices in the Old Testament.
12:31-12:37
And in the New Testament, all these voices merge into one voice.
12:38-12:40
And that voice is Jesus Christ.
12:41-12:44
And that's why the New Testament is so singular in the subject matter.
12:46-12:50
The New Testament is purely focused just on the person of Jesus.
12:52-12:53
The Gospels are about the life of Jesus.
12:53-12:56
Acts is about the church that Jesus is building.
12:56-13:04
The epistles give a teaching on the significance of the death and resurrection and life application of Jesus.
13:04-13:08
And Revelation talks about the return of Jesus.
13:09-13:13
Jesus is the full and final revelation of God.
13:15-13:16
He's the ultimate prophet.
13:17-13:19
So He should have your ear.
13:21-13:28
Listen, in the last days, that means the final phase of history.
13:30-13:34
But something else this means is there's no more redemptive work to be done.
13:37-13:39
Because Jesus accomplished it all.
13:39-13:49
And something else the Hebrew writer is telling us here, is in these last days there's not going to be any big new revelation from God.
13:53-14:01
In other words, there's no more Bible to be written, because it is complete.
14:06-14:09
But church, there are so many false spiritual leaders that try to add to the Bible.
14:11-14:17
as if God is still saying things and teaching us things after Jesus.
14:19-14:38
And I look at Hebrews 1 and I say, "Well, not according to this." Like, "What do you mean?" "Well, what I mean is Muhammad rolling around in his cave, getting information from God." No, he wasn't. Not from God.
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Or Joseph Smith with his magic stone in his hat, getting the Book of Mormon from God.
14:49-14:50
No, he wasn't.
14:52-14:58
Or the Pope speaking ex cathedra, which carries the authority of the Word of God.
14:58-14:59
No, it does not.
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God isn't giving new material.
15:05-15:09
In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.
15:13-15:16
Even in a church like ours, you've got to be careful.
15:17-15:21
As though we don't have magic stones and hats or people rolling around in caves.
15:21-15:23
You know what does happen in a church like ours?
15:23-15:40
Is you have the guy or the girl that says this, and you always got to watch out for the person that says this, "Hey, God told me to tell you something." You don't have to raise your hand, but have you ever had somebody even in a church like this say that to you?
15:40-15:58
"Hey, the Lord told me to tell you something." "The Lord told me some things." "The Lord told me some things." And my response is, "Yeah, the Lord told me some things too." And He was so kind that He wrote it all down, so that I could reference it, and check it, and study it.
15:59-16:06
But you've got to watch out for the guy that says, "God told me some things." No, He did not.
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I love this quote from John Owen.
16:11-16:17
He says, "If private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless.
16:18-16:25
And if they disagree, they are false." God's not giving you revelation. There's nothing more that needs to be said.
16:26-16:29
Jesus is God's last word.
16:32-16:35
He's the ultimate prophet, so He should have your ear.
16:37-16:38
He's spoken to us by His Son.
16:39-16:41
Number two, as God, He has my worship.
16:43-16:45
As God, He has my worship.
16:47-16:49
I was Jesus, God's ultimate spokesman.
16:50-16:51
As God, He has my worship.
16:51-16:52
Look at verse two.
16:52-17:02
It says, where we left off, "Whom He appointed the heir of all things." Jesus possesses the right to everything.
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Like, well, how so?
17:04-17:07
Well, here's a reason, because He created everything.
17:07-17:14
Keep going, it says, "Through whom also He created the world." Oh, and it doesn't just end there.
17:14-17:23
Look at verse three, it says, "He's the radiance of the glory of God." that word gradients literally means Jesus is the brightness of God.
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Jesus is the shining of God.
17:29-17:33
In other words, Jesus is the manifestation of God to us.
17:36-17:42
You realize, I'm about to say something now and it's gonna change the rest of your life.
17:43-17:46
You're never going to be able to think about this in the same way.
17:48-17:50
but you have never seen the sun.
17:51-17:52
Do you know that?
17:53-17:54
You've never seen the sun.
17:56-18:01
Like I think pastor Jeff's been off too long because I've seen the sun all the time.
18:01-18:02
No, you have never seen the sun.
18:04-18:12
Many, many, many times in your life, you have seen the light coming from the sun, but you've never seen the actual sun.
18:13-18:14
You never have.
18:16-18:18
The only thing you've seen is the brightness.
18:20-18:21
And you see, that's the point here with Jesus.
18:22-18:24
No one's ever seen God the Father.
18:27-18:31
Only Jesus who radiates from the Father.
18:32-18:37
John 1:18 says that, "No one has ever seen God, "the only God who is at the Father's side.
18:37-18:39
"He has made him known." That's the point.
18:39-18:42
Jesus is like the light coming off of the sun.
18:43-18:44
That's what we see.
18:45-18:47
not the actual son itself.
18:49-18:50
Isn't that trippy?
18:51-18:52
Some of you are still processing that.
18:53-18:53
You need a minute?
18:55-18:55
And I'll give you a minute.
18:57-19:00
He goes on, look at the next phrase.
19:01-19:07
He says, "And the exact imprint of his nature." Imprint, the exact nature and essence of God.
19:07-19:11
Jesus is everything that God is.
19:12-19:13
That's what this means.
19:14-19:19
So Jesus is both God and He's the radiance of God.
19:19-19:23
He's distinct, but He's indistinguishable.
19:23-19:26
He is the Son of God and He's God.
19:26-19:36
Somehow Jesus, to use our earlier analogy, Jesus is the Son and He's the brightness of the Son at the same time.
19:38-19:40
You're like, "Can you explain that to me?" And I cannot.
19:42-19:46
He is far too awesome and majestic for me to explain.
19:47-19:48
That's just what it says.
19:48-20:00
He goes on, he says, "And upholds the universe by the word of his power." Jesus actively sustains everything in the universe.
20:01-20:11
You know, there's a fabric that makes up atomic elements that holds it all together that scientists can't identify.
20:12-20:17
Because you can't really see it, and you can't really measure it, and you can't really test it.
20:17-20:20
But there's something that holds every atom in the universe together.
20:20-20:25
And scientists are like, "I don't know what it is." You know what the problem is? They've never asked me, because I know exactly what it is.
20:26-20:34
It's Jesus. He literally holds every atom in the universe together by the Word of His power.
20:36-20:38
He's the full revelation of God.
20:39-20:42
He's God manifest as a human.
20:43-20:46
And I guess that would make Him God's perfect spokesman, right?
20:47-20:48
Because He is God.
20:49-20:52
That's why Jesus said, "Whoever has seen Me," as what?
20:54-20:58
"Has seen the Father." That's exactly why He said that.
20:59-21:02
So the awesomeness of Jesus moves us to worship.
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Yes, but there's something that we often miss regarding our worship.
21:10-21:14
I just want to encourage us, church, we need to worship regardless of what our circumstances are.
21:16-21:20
We need to worship regardless of what our circumstances are.
21:21-21:22
Like, what do you mean by that?
21:23-21:48
Look, I see the prayer requests, or in our small group, right, Chuck, we share prayer requests, we talk about answers to prayer, and when somebody shares an answer to prayer, what do people say? Like, "Praise God, praise God." And absolutely, we should, that is right, and that is appropriate.
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100% we should always be pouring out our thanks and appreciation when God answers prayer.
21:56-21:56
Absolutely.
21:59-22:05
But you know, we don't often hear that response when something bad happens, do we?
22:06-22:10
You know, we went to the doctor and we got our test results back and they don't look good.
22:13-22:15
Or a loved one is involved in an accident.
22:17-22:21
or the healing that we've been praying for for years didn't happen.
22:23-22:25
What's our response to those kinds of things?
22:28-22:34
There's a couple of men in the Old Testament that have a lot to teach us.
22:34-22:38
You know, Job, he lost his children and his wealth.
22:40-22:44
And when he found out about everything that he lost, how did he respond?
22:45-22:50
Job 1.20 says that he fell on the ground and he worshiped.
22:52-22:55
What about King David? His newborn baby died.
22:57-23:01
Despite all of his fasting, all of his praying, his baby died.
23:02-23:03
And how did he respond?
23:06-23:14
The Bible says in 2 Samuel 12 20, that he went to the house of the Lord and he worshipped.
23:17-23:21
Job and David were two men who knew God. They were two men who got it.
23:23-23:26
Listen, worship isn't just for when I'm happy.
23:29-23:35
Worship isn't just for when I approve of everything that God's doing in my life.
23:38-23:41
Do you know when else we worship? We worship in our darkest days.
23:42-23:44
We worship when we're hurting.
23:45-23:48
We worship when we don't understand why God would allow this.
23:49-23:50
We worship.
23:53-23:54
Why?
23:55-23:58
Because Jesus is just as sovereign.
23:58-24:10
His promises are just as true, and He is just as worthy of my worship on my best day and on my worst.
24:12-24:15
That was Jesus, God's ultimate spokesman, number three.
24:15-24:17
As priest, He has my love.
24:19-24:21
As priest, He has my love.
24:23-24:33
Look at the next phrase. It says, "After making purification for sins." Purification for sins. Well, that's a very Old Testament phrase.
24:34-24:36
That's a very Old Testament way of putting it.
24:37-24:40
That's what the priest did under Mosaic law. They made purification.
24:43-24:49
See, in the Old Testament, the priest would offer the sacrifice for sin on behalf of the person making the sacrifice.
24:51-24:54
And this is the glorious thing we're going to talk about as we go through Hebrews.
24:55-25:04
That Jesus Christ, when He was on the cross, He was at the same time the high priest offering the sacrifice, and the Lamb of God the sacrifice itself.
25:07-25:11
In reality as church, our sin puts us in a position where we deserve God's wrath.
25:12-25:16
We deserve hell because of our sin, our rebelliousness.
25:16-25:24
But on the cross, Jesus took our sin upon Himself, and God poured out His wrath on His Son.
25:26-25:29
God treated Jesus as if Jesus committed my sins.
25:31-25:38
And on the cross, Jesus experienced all of the pain of hell on your behalf.
25:40-25:41
Do you understand that?
25:43-25:49
I mean, do you really grasp the gravity of what Jesus Christ did for you?
25:51-25:56
Because you can't really embrace that and not love Jesus.
25:57-25:58
You just can't.
25:59-26:00
It's impossible.
26:01-26:10
For you to understand what Jesus did, and not love Him with every cell in your body, it's impossible.
26:12-26:24
That's why 1 Corinthians 16.22 says, "If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed." Do you see that? If anyone has no love for the Lord, that's the test.
26:24-26:29
You must love the Lord. It's the only appropriate reaction to somebody who knows Jesus.
26:29-26:32
If you know Him, you love Him.
26:32-26:36
And if you don't love Him, you're accursed because you don't really know Him.
26:38-26:41
And I thought, you know, it would be a fun exercise this morning.
26:42-26:43
I really thought about doing this.
26:44-27:10
If we lined everybody up and just brought you up, and let you give testimony to say, "Do you love Jesus?" And just let people give testimony, "Do you love Jesus?" But I thought, you know, in this church, with this group, in this setting, I think we'd probably get a hundred percent response of, "Yeah, I love Jesus." Maybe just because of the peer pressure or whatever.
27:12-27:16
So I thought, "Maybe I'm not going to do that." So I got to thinking about it.
27:17-27:22
I'm like, "You know, what if I did this?" And I can't do this.
27:23-27:39
"But what if I could talk to Jesus face to face about you?" And in talking about you, I said to Jesus, "Hey Jesus, does this person love you?" What would Jesus say about you?
27:42-27:58
I mean, what if I asked Jesus, "Hey Jesus, does she love you, Jesus?" And then I asked Jesus, "Well, how do you know?" I mean, besides being omniscient, besides being God.
28:00-28:05
What does that person do to show that they love Him?
28:07-28:11
And I just want to ask you, what would Jesus say about you if I asked Him that question?
28:12-28:21
"Hey, Jesus, what does this guy do to show that he loves you? Does he do anything?" "I don't see him outside of church that much. What does his home look like?
28:21-28:26
How does he talk and act at work? Does he witness for you?
28:26-28:31
Does he share your Word? Does he love people?" How is he with his neighbors?
28:33-28:36
Does he show love for you?
28:37-28:39
How would Jesus say you show love for Him?
28:41-28:44
Because Jesus clearly demonstrated His love for you.
28:45-28:47
Are you clearly demonstrating your love for Him?
28:49-28:51
Because if you know Him, you love Him.
28:53-28:57
And finally, number four, as king, he has my obedience.
29:00-29:02
As king, he has my obedience.
29:03-29:04
Look at our last phrase for today.
29:05-29:25
It says, "After making purification for sins," look at this last one, it says, "he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." And I know it's easy to read through this quickly and miss the impact of this statement.
29:27-29:30
But it says that Jesus sat down and that's huge.
29:31-29:38
Because in the Old Testament, you know, the tabernacle, the temple, there's all these furnishings and different things.
29:39-29:47
You know something they didn't have in the temple were chairs for the priests, because they were never done.
29:48-29:53
They were constantly offering sacrifice for sin because people were constantly sinning, have you noticed?
29:55-30:07
So it wasn't like the priests were sitting down and somebody came in one day like, "Hey, how's it going?" Like, "Well, I've just been sitting here for two hours, apparently nobody's sinned today." They were constantly offering sacrifice for sin.
30:07-30:08
It was never over.
30:10-30:21
But Jesus, when He offered His sacrifice, He sat down because he was finished.
30:23-30:27
And after he finished his priestly work, he took his position as the king of kings.
30:30-30:33
And you know, that's really the same application as the last point.
30:35-30:43
Because Jesus said, "If you love Him, you will keep His commandments." Listen, you obey Jesus.
30:44-30:46
You just simply obey Jesus Christ.
30:46-30:50
You're like, "Why should I?" I'll give you three reasons why you should obey Jesus Christ.
30:50-30:53
Number one, it's because that's how you show that you love Him.
30:54-31:00
John 14, 15, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Number two, because His commandments are for our own good.
31:00-31:01
Did you know that?
31:02-31:09
Jesus doesn't become any more or less God based on how obedient you are to what He's commanded.
31:10-31:12
His commandments are for our good.
31:14-31:20
And frankly, why should I obey Jesus? Because He's in charge of everything.
31:22-31:25
As king, He has my obedience.
31:28-31:30
This is just the introduction to Hebrews.
31:32-31:38
And we're setting the stage with concepts about Jesus that the writer spends the rest of the book unpacking.
31:40-31:45
That Jesus is the only way that your sins can be forgiven by a holy God.
31:48-31:50
Jesus Christ is the only promise of heaven.
31:52-31:57
Jesus Christ is the way sinful people can be transformed into new creations.
31:59-32:03
Jesus Christ is the reason for the existence of this church.
32:06-32:10
Jesus Christ is the theme of every worship song that we sing.
32:10-32:14
He's the motivation for every good work that we do.
32:16-32:19
He's the value behind every dollar that we give to the mission.
32:20-32:24
And He's the subject of every sermon that we preach.
32:26-32:28
He's God's last word to man.
32:30-32:33
He's the high priest who offered to sacrifice for sin.
32:34-32:42
He is Himself the sacrifice for sin, and He is the King who reigns forever, because He is God Himself.
32:44-32:54
And if all this is true, then there is no one who could speak for God the way this one does.
32:56-33:02
Jesus is the ultimate spokesman for God, because He's God's last word.
33:04-33:07
I'm gonna invite the worship team to make their way forward.
33:08-33:10
And our elders who will be serving communion.
33:11-33:23
And I thought as we take this time to consider that Jesus Christ is the ultimate prophet, He's God in the flesh, He's the priest and He's the king.
33:24-33:57
I thought there was no better way than to close our time here together than by gathering around the Lord's table and celebrating everything that the King of the universe did for us through His sacrifice. I'm going to invite you to stand and I'm going to pray, but what I'm going to ask you to do is come down the center aisles, receive the elements, return to your seat from the outside aisles, and I'm going to ask that you hold on to the elements that everyone has received will receive the Lord's Supper together.
33:58-33:58
All right?
33:58-34:00
Will you bow your heads and pray with me, please?
34:02-34:15
Our Father in Heaven, we are just embarking on this journey through this incredibly profound book in Your Word.
34:18-34:26
Father, it's easy for us to just sort of tack Jesus on, to make Him the sidekick.
34:29-34:33
To try to remember that He's the reason for the season.
34:34-34:39
Father, I pray that You would shift our thinking that Jesus Christ is no add-on.
34:41-34:43
He's not something that we should try to remember.
34:44-34:46
He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
34:49-34:57
He's the one who owns it all, because He created it all, and He literally holds it all together right now.
35:00-35:03
And Father, there are some people in this room right now that are going through some trials.
35:06-35:10
Health issues, tests being run, recent surgeries.
35:12-35:16
Maybe concern for loved ones that are going through the same.
35:18-35:28
for those that are facing holidays, loneliness, for those that are struggling financially because of everything that's happening in our economy.
35:30-35:44
Father, I pray that we fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, and that we would find He truly is the answer for every single trial that we go through.
35:47-35:49
as we gather around His table now, Father.
35:51-36:00
Bring our heart back to the place where just as You pronounced that Jesus is everything, might He be everything to us.
36:02-36:04
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 1:1-3

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians who are weakening in their faith due to trials. Why do you think trials make us struggle in our faith in God?
How exactly does God speak to people today if He’s not giving new revelation (Heb 1:1-2a)?
How would you encourage a brother / sister in Christ to worship the Lord in the face of trials or a tragic circumstance?
Why is obedience absolutely essential to a follower of Christ? How are obedience and love tied together?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Why Jesus? Because He is Able to Help.

Introduction:

How Can Jesus Help Me?
(Hebrews 2:5-18)

Why Jesus? Because He is the Only Salvation

Introduction:

Why I Shouldn't Neglect the Message of Salvation:
(Hebrews 2:1-4)

Why Jesus? Because He is Greater Than Angels

Introduction:

Angelology 101

What Makes Jesus Greater Than Angels?
(Hebrews 1:4-14)

Seven Proofs that Jesus is God:

Why Jesus? Because He is God's Last Word.

Introduction:

How is Jesus God's Ultimate Spokesman?
(Hebrews 1:1-3)

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

How Can Jesus Help Me? (Hebrews 2:5-18)

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Why I Shouldn't Neglect the Message of Salvation: (Hebrews 2:1-4)

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Angelology 101

What Makes Jesus Greater Than Angels? (Hebrews 1:4-14)

Seven Proofs that Jesus is God:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

How is Jesus God's Ultimate Spokesman? (Hebrews 1:1-3)

Audio Transcript

How Can Jesus Help Me?
(Hebrews 2:5-18)

Why I Shouldn't Neglect the Message of Salvation:
(Hebrews 2:1-4)

What Makes Jesus Greater Than Angels?
(Hebrews 1:4-14)

How is Jesus God's Ultimate Spokesman?
(Hebrews 1:1-3)