You're listening to audio from Hardin Baptist Church. For more audio content or other information about our church, please visit hardinbadness.org. If you have your Bibles, go to Hebrews chapter 1. I've wanted to say that for a while now.
So Hebrews chapter 1, put a bookmark in it. We're going to be in Hebrews for a year and it's going to be such a great study. I cannot wait to go to Hebrews. But before we dive in, I do want to tell you about what happened to me last Saturday.
So last Saturday, I walked into my kitchen and I said, Katie, I'm not sure, but I think I need to repent. And Katie's like, it's like 10 a.m. So what did you do already? Like, what's happened?
I said, well, let me tell you about what just happened. So I'll tell you guys what had just happened. So it's time to know the yard and so I'm going over to Mom and Dad's to grab the mower. And Dad's in Brazil.
Mom's gone. And so I get the mower. I'm pulling out the driveway and a van pulls in. And so I'm already kind of like guard dog alert.
Like, who's pulling in here? It's just my mom, Dad's gone. Who's coming? What if I wouldn't have been here?
Like, I'm sort of a guard dog. So I pull the mower over. The van stops, turn the mower off. I'm like, hey, can I help you?
I said, yeah, we're just out in the community talking to you about the Bible. I go, OK, all right, that's great. And I say, yeah, we're just a homeless witness wondering if you are religious in any way. And so I said, actually, I'm the pastor of Hard Hold out.
Let's go. I need to mow. We got a lot of things to do. It's hot.
They're pulling up. Let's just get to the chase. I don't you know about that. So let's get to that, OK?
And the next line. Well, actually, you may not believe this, but we're actually a lot more similar than you think we are. I said, well, I believe Jesus is the one true God to you. Like, let's just get right to it.
We're going to argue. Let's go to the punch line. And well, we believe that he is a great witness. We believe he is our Savior.
So we have a lot in common. I said, yeah, but is he the one true God? And you can tell me really want to kind of say no or yes. And I kind of pushed in.
Here's the issue. Like, let's talk about what we're disagreeing about. And they said, no, he is not the one true God. There's only one God, Jehovah.
And Jesus is witness. And I said, OK, here we have the argument. Let's get to this. This is where we disagree because I believe he is not just a witness.
He is the one true living God. I went to Hebrews one. I'm studying. I'm thinking about it.
It's kind of went through Hebrews. Here's why I believe that. Here's the Bible says. And we just we got to that.
OK, so we got a good discussion about Jesus. Is he God? Is he not? And we got to sort of the end because you can tell it's not going to go anywhere.
And I knew it wasn't probably going to go anywhere. So we get towards the end, hey, he's our Savior too. And we can't be your Savior unless you're God. Well, we're going to disagree on that.
I know. But let's disagree on it. And let's talk through it. Try to give him a few more scriptures.
Think about it. And then so they could tell weren't getting anywhere. So they said, hey, we're going to go over to the next neighbor. But let's just leave, both agreeing that we're both Christians.
And we believe similar things. No, we're not going to part like that. I said, I believe Jesus is the one true God. That's what Christianity declares.
So if you're right that he's not, then I'm an idolature. I'm worshiping a false God. And there is big trouble with that. So I'm either a heretic or I'm right.
But if I'm right, you're not honoring the sun and you are in big trouble. We're not both on the same team. We're not most Christians have little differences. No, I'm saying he's God.
You're saying he's not. So that is miles apart. So let's all get there. And then I was like, well, I know.
And I said, let me just in the plane like this. I said, not only is he my God. He is my Savior who finished work on the cross, saved me from my sins and brought me to God the Father. Here's what I want.
You know, when I go to bed at night, I put my head on my pillow and I sleep like a baby because I know all my sins are forgiven. And I don't have to do anything else to earn God's favor. When you put your head on your pillow, can you say the same thing? And it was just a little bit of like awkward pleasantries.
They pulled off. I got on the mower, cranked it. My heart's racing. My heart beating.
I drove and I'm like, I probably should handle that a different way. I probably should have got a lot of things different. So I go into my house and say, Katie, I think I might need to repent and I'm still working that out. Maybe you can help me to see whether or not that's true.
But here's what I do know. It really matters what we really believe about Jesus. It really matters what we really believe about Jesus. And I wanted to make sure in that moment we're talking about the right thing because we have to get Jesus right.
So we're dealing with Hebrews, which I think was a sermon or likely preached to a people. So most scholars would agree that the audience is Jews that have converted out of Judaism to Christianity. They believe Jesus is our Lord. They're following Jesus.
Now it's getting messy. They're getting persecuted. Being a Christian is actually costing them a lot. So some of them are tempted to go away from Jesus back into Judaism, back to their mom and dad's religion, back to the temple, back to sacrifices because that seemed to work too.
And so the router of Hebrews is going to say, whoa, whoa, whoa. Jesus is better. He's better than temple. He's better than sacrifices.
He's better than the old way. He is the full and final revelation of God. So this question of who is Jesus, it is a very important question because they need to see a bigger vision of Jesus. They need to remember who he was because once you get Jesus, you can't go back to something else.
You have the full and final revelation of God. You have the full and final Savior. And if you leave Jesus, you have nothing else to go back to. So he's saying, hey, Hebrews, I know it's hard.
But I want you to remember who Jesus is. And if you remember who Jesus is, continue in your faith. What does it land with us? Like it's people today.
Most of us haven't converted from Judaism into Christianity. But I think some of us might feel a pull to go back to cultural Christianity, to go back to safe Christianity where we don't really believe the Bible. We don't really say all the things that Jesus really said. We make it nice because we can live in a culture where Christianity maybe used to have been really cool, but now it seems dangerous to some people.
We can go back when Christianity or following Jesus gets hard. And I think what the writer of Hebrews would say to us is, I know it might get hard following Jesus, but Jesus is better than whatever hardship you're going through. This is better than cultural Christianity or just being religious or going to. He is better.
And if you have him, don't ever go back. So keep holding on to Jesus. And to do that, the preacher is going to show us who Jesus is. So let's get into God's word Hebrews, chapter one, and let's begin reading in verse one and we'll read through verse four.
If you have your Bibles, I'd love for you to stand up for the word of God. The words in my screen if you didn't bring your Bible, if you're not able, you can stay seated, but let's do it out of reverence for the Lord. Here's what the preacher says. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he uphold the universe by the word of his power. After making purifications for sins, he's set down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Let's pray together.
Yeah, amen. Father, we love you so much. What an amazing introduction to us, Arman. Let us see and feel how great Jesus is, and that he truly is better.
We pray this in Christ's good name. Amen. You guys may be seated. So I know one of the big questions is who wrote Hebrews?
It is a little bit of different. It's classified as an epistle, but if you look at Philemon, for instance, right by Hebrews, you see it's Paul, Timothy. Paul says, hey, I wrote this. In Hebrews, there's no author.
Nobody says who preached it or who wrote it. I think it's a sermon because in chapter 13, it's an word of exhortation. I think it's a sermon preets that then you have some added pleasantries at the end. But I'm just going to say, I have no idea who preached or wrote Hebrews.
I'm not even going to guess. I just don't know. So, origin, one of the early church fathers in the third century, he said, only God knows, and I'm taking that path and saying the same thing. Only God knows.
I read so many commentaries and so many speculations. And the point is, God intended us not to know. God wrote Hebrews. That's your own Hebrews.
The Holy Spirit preached Hebrews through a guy that has long been forgotten. And I think that's kind of cool that we don't know who preached one of the greatest sermons ever preached. We don't know who it is because we're not supposed to know the person we're supposed to know the person of the sermon. Who is that?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we're going to go with that. We don't know who preached it. We don't know if we're going to offer.
We don't know this is a recognized scripture by the other church, and we know this is a Holy Spirit speaking to a people who are tempted to go back. So, what does this preacher say? When in the beginning he says that Jesus is God's final Word. So, the further we go, Jesus is God's final Word.
Notice what it says in verse one, long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. And then there's going to be a contrast. But before we get there, let's just start out the opening. I love the opening long ago.
I think I like some most good or my favorite movie. Long ago in a galaxy far, far away. But this is better than sorrow, I promise. I've read the whole sermon.
It's better because this is true in reality. But he's calling us back to an older story. It's the story of the older testament, right? And here's what we find that should blow our minds.
God speaks. Just think about that. God speaks. Because here's what we say, long ago in many ways and many times God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
God spoke. So we have a God that speaks. You know what that tells us about God? He wants you to know him.
He communicates to us. He speaks to us. He's not shrouded in mystery up on a mount somewhere. I've created the world and I'm just gonna stand back and let him figure it out.
No, he's spoken. He's told us who he is. He's told us how he acts, what he's like. His moral order for his creation.
He has spoken to us. Therefore God desires a relationship with his creatures. That's pretty profound. I wanna say it in a different way.
God desires a relationship with you. You, you like it? You talk about this guy? No, I'm talking about you and that guy.
God desires a relationship with you. God wants to speak to you. God wants to communicate to you. Here's my question.
Since God is a speaking God, are you a listening creature? Like God speaks. That's reality. The question is do you listen?
This week have you listened to God? This week have you been a listener? Have you listened to his word? Have you listened to what he's been saying to you?
God speaks and knows how he's spoken. So long ago, older testament, and many times in many ways, you can think about burning bush. You can think about like mountains that are lightning and smoke and all the ways and donkeys and different things that God has used to speak from. But primarily it's been the prophets.
He spoke to our fathers. He spoke to our people long ago through the prophets. He would give the prophets what he wanted to say. The prophets would speak it.
The prophets would write it down. We have most of those writings from the prophets so we can know what God spoke to his people in the Old Testament. We can get to know God. We know how the world was made.
We know how the world was fallen. We know this gospel thread of a story because God spoke through the prophets to those people and also to us. So long ago, God's been speaking. But notice this contrast verse two.
But there's a contrast. In these last days, that's the days of the Hebrews, that's all the way to the days of us. We are in those last days. How is God speaking in the last days?
In the last days, he has spoken to us how? By his son. How does God speak now through the person of Jesus Christ? If you wanna know who God is, if you wanna know how God acts, if you wanna know how God speaks, if you wanna know how God interacts with people, what do you do?
You look at the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the full and final revelation of God to us. And can I say, we don't need anything else. We don't need any other revelation past him. He is the full revelation of God.
How God speaks to us is through the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you don't know who God is, I would encourage you to read the gospel of John. You know why? Because you're seeing God walking in flesh and blood.
When you see Jesus, that's what Jesus was saying in John 14. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen God the Father. Why?
Because I and the Father are one. Jesus would say, and so Jesus is the full and final revelation of God to us. If you want to know God, look at Jesus. When you're looking at Jesus, you're seeing God.
Not only that, but notice the title. Who is Jesus? He's God's son. So what does that mean if Jesus is God's son?
Well, just in the title, now next week, he's gonna spend, he's gonna go all throughout the Old Testament to show how the title's son means he's better than the angels, means he's divine. He is the one true God because he's the son. So come back next week if you don't believe me and we're gonna see that spelled out. So sorry, my friends in the van.
He's not an angel. He is the one true God. It's gonna be clear next week. But notice that title's son.
What does that mean? Well, I have three sons and those three sons, last name coming in, they belong to me. And because they belong to me and Katie, do you know what that makes them? They're my sons.
So it means they are human, right? Because they're my sons, they're human. Well, if Jesus is God's one and only son, what does that make Jesus? It makes him divine.
It makes him to also be God. And so we see Jesus, his title is even hinting and making it clear. That's why the Pharisees, when he said on the Son of God, they wanted to stone him. They were not happy with him.
So Jesus is the full and final revelation of God. So in times past he spoke to the prophets, now he's speaking through Jesus. Like I want you to imagine if you have a young man who marries a girl and then he goes off to war. And now he's off the war fighting battles and he's writing letters to his new bride.
He's sending messages through friends to his new bride. He's sending postcards. He's drawing pictures. He has a picture taking himself and sends it to her.
He does Morse code. He communicates to his bride all the time he's gone. But then all of a sudden, there's a knock on the door and his wife opens the door and it's him. Flesh and blood standing in front of her.
Which is better? The letters and the Morse code or her husband, flesh and blood before him where she can grab and hug and kiss. Of course that's better. Do you hear what he's saying?
Hey, we used to have God communicating to prophets. Now we have God, flesh and blood, he knocked on her door and revealed himself. Don't go back to that. Stick with the Lord Jesus, the full and final revelation of who God is.
So he's the former final revelation of God. Who else is Jesus? He's the heir of all things. Notice what the preacher says.
Whom he appointed the heir of all things. Now who's an heir? Well, an heir is someone that gets everything, right? He wants like nothing to have any of those shows.
Like you have these biggest eight, these big lands. Who gets them? The kids of the people who have them. Right?
That's how it gets passed down. That's who it gets to be. If you're in like who gets to be in Buckingham Palace? Well, it's the right kids.
The right son, the right daughter gets to be king or queen. It happens through the heirs. There's an inheritance. What does it say about Jesus?
He is the heir. He's there who gets all of the things. I think it's an illusion probably to Psalm 28 where God says of this son who is a king in Psalm 2. He says this, ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance the ends of the earth your possession.
So with the prophecy someone's coming who's gonna be a sign who's also the king, who's gonna rule the nations. And God's gonna say just ask of me and I'll give you all of the nations and all of the earth. And now we see who that is. It's the son Jesus.
He doesn't just get places, he gets people. He gets you and me. He gets the nations. We are part of the inheritance that Jesus gets and is a beautiful thing.
And notice, he's appointed of all things. Do you know what all things means in the original language, the Greek? It means all things. All of it.
There's nothing outside of the inheritance of Jesus. It's all for Jesus. It's all going to Jesus. That's includes you and your life.
You are part of his glorious inheritance. He's appointed the heir of all things. Not only that, he's also the creator of all things. Notice what it says, through whom also he created the world.
And just check that out for a moment. So through whom, God the Father created the world, how through the Son Jesus Christ. Now we can see hints of this even the older testament, right? Because Genesis one, God creates the world, how?
Through words, he speaks the cosmos into existence. And then we have John one in the beginning, was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God. So how did God create the universe?
God the Father spoke and that Logos, the Son, creates through the Son all the things that we see. So we see the Son is uncreated. The Son has always been with the Father, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, uncreated, but he's the agent by which all of the world was created through. So you know what you can say?
Jesus, he's not just my Savior. Like we all probably know that. You know what he also is? He's your creator.
That Jesus created you. And think about that for a moment. Jesus, the one he died on the cross is also the one who you were created through. And you're just created through.
You were created for, as we're going to see in just a moment. So if I could just ask, are you living your life as surrendered to your creator, the one who gave you life, have you given that life back to him? That's the only reasonable thing to do. But you might be asking, well, this world is a little bit broken.
I don't know if you did such a good job. Well, we now have Jesus who creates, but we also have Satan who corrupts. And we see that in Genesis 3, there was a corruptor. We have Satan who whispered lies to our parents, got them to sin.
And now we have the full and corruption. And so God, who creates, we have an enemy who corrupts. And you know what we get to do as people who are created by God? We can either live out our lives under God's good creation or we can surrender our lives to Satan's corruption.
But you have an option. You can live for your flesh, in your sinful passions, and live a selfish, sinful life that's part of corruption that is going to fall in the end. Or you can decide to live for King Jesus, and the Holy Spirit comes to live in you. And now you can walk by the Spirit and live according to God's creation, God's plan, God's vision for the future.
So I just ask, where do you find yourself living in right now? Is it more under corruption or creation? Because man, Jesus is your creator. And if you follow him, you're going to live under his good creation of the world.
Notice next, Jesus, he's God in the flesh. He's God in the flesh. And I think the preacher is trying to say that every way he can. I mean, it doesn't say exactly like, do you remember Thomas in John 20 when Thomas says, hey, Jesus, you're my Lord and my God.
Pretty straightforward. He's God. All the disciples thought he was God. They all worshiped him.
You can't worship anybody, but God, they worship Jesus. But I think the writer, in a very poetic way, is trying to use language to show Jesus is the one to your God. Notice what he says. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
Who is Jesus? He is the radiance of the glory of God. Imagine if I said that about one of you. Imagine if I said, hey, Joshua Bell over here is the radiance of the glory of God.
He's like, no, dude, don't say that about me. Swipe that from the live stream. That's not a good meme. That's completely untrue, right?
No one wants to be that said of you because it's not right. It's said of Jesus and celebrated. That Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God. What does that mean the radiance of the glory of God?
That radiance, the glory of God, the Shekinah glory of God in the Old Testament. That light that just shows from his holiness, his public going forth, and his holiness, which is his glory that makes it sort of seep, run from. That's glory. What does he say?
Hey, Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God. The only see Jesus you're seeing and be holding the glory of God. What does that make Jesus? It makes Jesus God.
This morning I get to watch the sunrise. Anybody see the sunrise this morning? It was pretty. You're like, we're in second service.
No, we did not see the sunrise. Got a lot more hands the first service. I got to get up early because I got to speak to all of you guys. I'm like, five o'clock in my chair and I get to watch the living room come to light and I get to that night and we look at my window and I get to see over a farm just all of a sudden there's orange all over the horizon.
What am I looking at? Well, I'm looking at the sun, right? It's the sun that's doing that. I'm looking at the sun.
Though I'm only looking at the radiance of it right now, just the spilled over glory of it right now. But then as it keeps coming up, I finally saw it over the trees. I could actually look at the sun. And I didn't look long, but I just looked right at it.
You know what I'm seeing? I'm not just seeing the sun. What I'm seeing is the radiant light that's coming from this. That's all you can see, right?
It's a long way away. I'm seeing the glory of it. But what am I looking at? I'm looking at the sun.
That's what he's trying to say about Jesus. Jesus is the radiant glory of God. When you see Jesus, you are seeing and beholding the one true God. I love what George Guthrie says.
He says, one cannot separate the experience of looking at the brightness of a light from seeing the light itself because they are too closely associated. When you look at a bright light, you're looking at the light. You can't associate the light from the thing where it's coming from because they are together. When you see Jesus, what are you seeing?
You're seeing the glory, the radiance of God. Why? Because they are closely together. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God in three person.
You're seeing and beholden the radiance, the beauty. So when you see Jesus, you're seeing God. I think that's what the nice thing Cree was trying to capture. When it would say, who is Jesus?
He's very God from very God, very light from very light. He's the very light from the very light. He is the one true God and we're seeing and experiencing Him. But not only is he the radiance of the glory of God, he's also the exact imprint of his nature.
Now what does that mean? The exact imprint of his nature. Well, it's a word picture. So for the Greeks, extra Greek word is where we get our word character.
So okay, what about character? The exact imprint of his nature. Well, the Hebrews would have got this word picture because the word picture from seals and coins. So if you have a seal, right?
So if you have a Caesar seal, it would have his image on it. And you have a letter that's from Caesar and they would take some wax and heat it up and it would take the seal and they would press it down. And what happened is whatever's on the seal would be exactly imprinted on the letter so that now you could look at it and you could see, yeah, that's the seal of Caesar. That's the exact imprint.
It can't be forged. Like if you're drawing a picture of it, you can't get it exact. It has to be an imprint to be exact. The same thing for a coin.
They would have a die and they would take softer metal and they would press it into a die. And what happened is on the coin would be the image of Caesar. And if you ask a kid, hey, who's that? It's Caesar.
You can see it's exactly Caesar. This is who he is. This is imprint. So what's the preacher trying to say?
When you look at Jesus, you're not just seeing character. You're not just seeing the imprint. You're seeing the exact imprint of his nature. And notice this is not a coin.
This is a living, breathing, walking person. So what do you see when you be all Jesus? You are seeing God in the flesh. Everything God is.
You can look at Jesus. That's him. That's what God would do. That's how God would act.
Why? Because he is God, the exact imprint of his nature. Again, you can't say that to me. What else?
Like I mentioned, Charles Palmer, the exact imprint of God's nature. No, you can't say that about anybody, but Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is the unique son of God.
An angel can't bear the exact imprint of God's nature. It does not work. A lesser God cannot bear the exact imprint of God's nature. Only God can.
Only God the son can. That's who Jesus is. The radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature. When you see Jesus, you're looking and beholding God in the flesh.
God who shows up and knocks on the door and says, here I am. I've sent letters to you. Now I'm here. Behold me.
That's who Jesus is. He is God in the flesh. The NLT would say the son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God. That's who the Lord Jesus is.
He's the very stamp of God's nature. But all that, he's also the sustainer of the universe. So we're not even done yet. You're like, okay, we get it.
We get it. He just is. The preacher's not done. The introduction's still happening.
This is one beautiful sentence in the original language. Notice what he says. He's the sustainer of the universe. It says this.
And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. He upholds the universe by the word. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. Again, if I said that about anybody in here, that would be just crazy.
Right? If I said, oh, you uphold the universe by the word of your power. We all know that I'm lying because you can't do that. This is a God thing.
This is something only God could do. He can only uphold the universe by the word of his power. So that means Jesus, not only the agent of creation, but he's also sustaining all of creation. He is sustaining your life.
Now I want to point out something that George Guthrie pointed out to me. It says this. I'm sorry, not to George Guthrie. This is O'Brien.
It says this. The immediate context here suggests the additional nuance of the son's carrying all things. So he's not just holding it together. He's carrying it somewhere.
Mueller would say he's not just creator. He's also the tealios. He's the purpose. He's where it's all going.
So Jesus, not only is holding it up, he's pushing all the history forward to where it's supposed to go. In other words, the goal is also Jesus. The goal is the kingdom of God. And he is carrying it forward towards his purposes.
Not just holding it up. He's moving it forward. And that's also true for your life. He's not just holding you up.
He's moving you forward more and more into the image of Christ. That's what God is doing in your life. He is moving. He is working his purposes out in your life.
So when you don't know what's happening, you don't know what's going on. You've got persecution. You've got hardship. That's these people.
So what's the preacher saying? Hey, don't leave Jesus because Jesus is where everything is going. And if you leave him, you're going to be left behind. So we see Jesus as holding it and he's moving all things forward towards his great purposes and great goals.
He has the sustainer of all things. And also, this is so beautiful. He's also the Savior. Notice what he says.
After making purifications for sin, he's set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. That is beautiful news, folks. That Jesus, the one who is the full and final revelation of God, the one who is the creator of the world, the sustainer of the world, the goal of the world, the one who is the son of God. You know what he also is?
He's the one who makes purification for sins. This is good news because you know what we need? We need our sins purified. We need our sins cleansed.
We have shirts that are stained that tide can't take care of. It can't wash it away. Only the blood of Jesus purifies our sin. It's only him.
It's only his work on the cross. And this is one of the themes all the way through Hebrews. Hebrews is going to lavishly show us based on the Old Testament sacrificial system, how Jesus is a better sacrifice. The better priest, how he truly cleanses our sins.
Just want to pause for a moment and just ask you to think about, have your sins truly been cleansed by Jesus? Has Christ really purified your sins? Have you given him your sin? That's the repentance and belief.
You repent. You turn. You say, okay, Jesus, I'm a sinner. I've blown it.
I need to give you my sin. And I want you to put it on the cross. And I want you to take my sin and buy your resurrection, forgive my sin. Because I want to be cleansed from it.
I want to believe in you as my Lord and Savior. The one who forgives sin. Have you done that exchange where you gave Jesus your sin and he gave you your righteousness? And if you have it, maybe you're thinking, my sins are just too great.
You don't know what I've done. You don't know how I've lived. You don't know what I'm thinking right now. You don't know how sinful I am.
If you guys knew, y'all would all run for me. And so maybe you're thinking you have too many sins for Jesus to clean you from them. And that's kind of like saying, you're too sick to go to the doctor. Well, that's kind of funny, right?
Because when you get really sick, where do you have to go? The doctor. Why does the doctor exist? For when you're really sick.
That's the point. So some of you are thinking, man, I've got too many sins to go to the Savior. If you have a lot of sin, it doesn't repel the Savior. It actually draws him to you.
That's what he came to do to save you from your sins. That's what Jesus was saying, Luke 5. I didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners.
It's not the well people that need a doctor. It's the sick. So if you're a sinner who knows you're bad and you think Jesus can't handle your sin, I promise you he can. He's God and King.
What he did on the cross, dying in your place for your sins, is enough to purify you of your sins. That's the gospel. That's the good news. Jesus, the very son of God came to save you from your sins so you could be reconnected to God.
That is the good heart of the gospel. But notice he didn't just make purification for sins, after which he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on how he was just God. Now, Hebrews didn't get it all into this, but it's just a little preview of where we're going. See the difference in Jesus?
He's a high priest who sat down after his work. No high priest could do that because the work is always continual. And some of you have grown up in religion. Maybe you're in it right now where you think the forgiveness from Jesus has to be an ongoing thing.
You've got to keep doing something to keep getting forgiven. And Hebrews just trying to say, you don't got to keep doing anything to be forgiven. Forgiveness was a one-time finish thing at the cross. And Jesus said it's finished.
He sat down. Game over. Nothing else to do. See, some of you think your sins are too big for Jesus, and that's not true.
Some of you also think that his work on the cross dealt with your past, but it doesn't deal with all the stuff you're doing right now. So every time you mess up, you think God doesn't love you. Every time you mess up, you think God is mad at you. Every time you mess up, you think God's abandoned you.
And I want you to hear that that is not true. That Jesus Christ forgave you and he's sat down and it's done. Your relationship is now son or daughter, and nothing can change that if you're in Christ. Your sins can't separate you from the love of Christ.
Now sin does break fellowship? Like there's a fellowship and God is saying, hey, repent, come back, but there's never a relationship break. You're never not a son or not a daughter. You're always a son or daughter, even though we mess up because the work of the cross is a finished work.
Jesus sat down and he sat down in the place of all authority at the right hand of God. And so Jesus, he didn't just create you. He also came to save you. And then lastly, what we're going to see is Jesus is better.
He just is. Jesus is better. This is a preview for next week. Here's what it says in verse four.
Having become as much superior to angels as the name he's inherited is more excellent than theirs. We're going to do with all that next week and why that matters so greatly. But I want to point out four words. The four words are this.
Much superior, more excellent. That's beautiful. You know what Jesus is? He is much superior and he's more excellent than what?
Then everything. Hey, Hebrew people, don't abandon Christ because he is more excellent. He is much greater. He is the greatest.
Jesus is greater than your old religion. He is greater than all the revelation past. He is the full and final revelation of God. He is the one when you have him, he's better than everything else.
And so just one asks, do you have Jesus as your better than everything else person? Maybe some of you think you have the best right now and your best is a relationship. Your best is a job. Your best is your full and okay.
Your best is your retirement. Your best is your future plan. Your best is that lake house. Your best is that vacation spot.
I've got my best and all of life is those things and I just want to say those things are good but they're not the best. Jesus is actually better. He's better than our lives. He's better than everything else.
And when you get him, then you have the best. So I just want to ask you, do you have Jesus as your better, as your best. And when you're tempted to go back, when you're tempted to let go, when you're tempted to do something else, the preacher of Hebrews would say, there is no better. There is no place to go outside of Jesus.
He is the one where everything is going. So hold fast to Christ. I'm going to have a band come back up and we're going to sing our last song about Jesus is better. I want us to sing that as a declaration that we do believe that Jesus truly is better.
You know, I'm still trying to work out whether I need to repent or not. I don't know. I probably didn't handle it the best way. So I probably could repent of some things.
But you know what I don't need to repent of is knowing who Jesus really is. Because it really matters who Jesus really is. It really matters that we know. He's the full and final revelation of God.
He is our creator, sustainer, and Savior. And He is better than everything else. So I would ask, do you have Jesus as that? Do you have Jesus as your better than everything else?
And if you don't, it's an invitation to come to Christ this morning. You can repent and believe in your seat as we worship. You can come and talk to me or another counselor at the front. We would love to help you put your faith and trust in Jesus.
To say, Jesus, you're better and I want you to be my better. Give me your righteousness and let me live with you forever. So for the rest of us, let's sing about Jesus better. I'm going to pray and then we're responding.
Let's pray together. Father, we love you so much. Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you that He is better than everything else.
Now pray. The study through Hebrews would continually tell us that Jesus is better than our sin and our loves and our lives. Jesus is best. So let us follow and love Him forever and pray this in Christ's good name.
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