Hebrews chapter 1. And we're going to continue the series that we just started here in the book of Hebrews. We'll pick up in verse number 4. Hebrews chapter 1. And verse 4, the Bible says, Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. From to which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire? But unto the sun he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. And they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstools? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, help us as we look at this portion of scripture tonight. I pray for the Holy Spirit's enablement to preach and teach your truth, and I pray you give all of us wisdom to understand in hearts that are willing to obey the principles that we learn about tonight. Lord, bless this service, bless any that are still on their way, get them here safely, and just give us a greater love and devotion to you, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Tonight I'm preaching on Christ better than the angels. And as we go through the book of Hebrews, that's going to be the theme, that Jesus Christ is our superior Savior. In fact, when you go through the book of Hebrews, the key word is better. Jesus Christ is better. And I think as Christians, every day, we need to remind ourselves of that. Just fill in the blank. Jesus Christ is better than filling in. The money the world can offer you, the praise of man, even good things, the relationships that we have in this world, the good things that we enjoy in this world, Jesus Christ is superior. He's better. And we must always be reminded of that. And when we go through Hebrews, what we see the author doing is, what's a good way to study something that's superior is to compare it. And so if we're going to say Jesus Christ is better, well, let's look at some things. Let's contrast some things to see how valuable Christ really is. And last, or two weeks ago, we looked at Jesus Christ better than the prophets. We looked at comparing Christ to the prophets, how in the Old Testament, God revealed himself. He spoke through the prophets. But the verdict came in, Christ is better than them. And now we go to the angels, and we're gonna look at how the angels, God has used them, and He's still using them, but yet Christ is better, He's superior. But let's consider tonight the ministry of the angels. You know, a lot of people have a lot of unbiblical views when it comes to angels. I think most people get their angelology from Hallmark cards or from movies. And so we've got to make sure we have what we believe about angels comes from the Bible, because that's what's true. Everything else is just speculation. OK? So there's a lot of misunderstandings. For example, one of the most popular misunderstandings is that Christians become angels when we die. That's not in the Bible. Man is one being. Angels are a separate being. And so we do not become angels when we die. So when you hear someone say, well, they earn their angels' wings, they mean well, but that's not in the Bible. We don't see that in the scriptures. In fact, the only angels with wings are the cherubim and the seraphim. So the other angels don't even have wings. So just want to mention a few of those things that the Bible specifically mentions. Other than that, it's just speculation. So angels, we can definitely say this, angels are God's ministering spirits. Look at Hebrews 1 verse 14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? So they're ministering spirits. That means they are servants. They're God's servants. That means they do not their own work, but God's work. It's a great lesson for you and for me, because we should be ministers also. We should be God's servants, following his beck and call. But angels are the servants of God. And when we look at angels, it lets us realize that God rules supremely over this universe, because he has this orderly system of governing, and he uses the angels to accomplish his work of governing the universe. That's because God is a God of order, not a God of confusion. He's a God of order. And so he uses angels to accomplish his work. Angels are created spirit beings. So they're not like God, where they have no beginning. No, they had a beginning. God created them. The Bible talks about that in the Psalms and other scriptures. And if you look at the Bible, it presents angels as higher in order and rank than man. In fact, go to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 7. This is referring to our Lord, it says, Thou has, I'm sorry, Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crowns him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. That's referring to the incarnation, when God the Son became a man and he became a little lower than the angels. But however, The Apostle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 3, that in eternity, redeemed man will be superior to angels. He said, hey, you're going to judge the angels. Know ye not that we shall judge the angels? So that's pretty interesting. Angels were created by God, and they were created holy in their nature. But sadly, we know many fell in disobedience and followed after Satan and his rebellion. And before Satan's rebellion, before the fall of man, apparently angels had the ability of free will. They had the ability to choose to follow God or disobey God. And sadly, there was a portion of the angels that rebelled against God and following Satan. Now, after the fall, I believe the Bible teaches that the angels are now confirmed in righteousness or confirmed in wickedness. In other words, the fallen angels are fallen. They're demons, and that's that. And the angels that remain with God, that's that. Their fate has been sealed. So there's no more of that rebellion going on, in other words. The word angel in our Greek New Testament is the word angelos in Greek, and it's a simple word that means messenger. That's all it means. It means messenger. It means one sent with a message, a being who comes from God. And the important thing about angels in the context of scripture is the Jews, they believed it was one of their greatest privileges that the law of Moses was given to him through these messengers, through these angelic beings, sent directly from God's throne. That was one of their greatest privileges, that the angels helped us to give us the law. In fact, go to Hebrews chapter two, verse two. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 2 says, For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense or reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? So it's talking about, hey, first we received the law spoken by angels, but how much more can we not neglect our salvation that we've received from Christ? Go with me also to Acts, the book of Acts, chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, and let's look at verse 37. Acts chapter 7, verse 37 says, this is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, or you could say in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles given unto us. Skip down to verse 53. Verse 53 says, who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. Ah, so look at that. And Stephen's message here, he's saying, hey, we received the law by the angels. How great, how wonderful. But you haven't kept it. And so he's rebuking them there and preaching to them. Angels were seen as the go-between or the mediators for Moses when he received the law from God. It's mentioned throughout the scriptures. And so the Jewish people, they had a high reverence for angels. And they thought it was a special thing that they were involved in giving them the law. Angels are great angelic beings. They're wonderful beings when you consider all that they were able to accomplish in God's work. They proclaimed the birth of our Lord. So they were there at the birth of Christ. They assisted and ministered to Jesus throughout his public ministry. They were there at his crucifixion. They were there at his resurrection. They were there at his ascension. And they're going to also accompany him when he comes back the second time. So angels obviously have a very important place in the scriptures. But yet as great as the angels are, they're just a creature. They're not the creator. Jesus Christ, the Bible presents him as our creator. And so certainly he's far superior, he's better than the angels. And back at our text in Hebrews 1, we see the ministry of the angels, but let's consider the more excellent name of Christ. The more excellent name of Christ. Think about this, in the Bible, we read a lot about angels and how important they are, but we're only given the names of three angels. in the bible we only know three of their names and one of them is lucifer right so he's not even one that we want to count right and so then there's michael the archangel and gabriel so those are the only names of angels that we know but we know ultimately the more excellent name is jesus he's far superior he's far better and in hebrews chapter one verse four that's what the bible says The Bible says in Hebrews 1 verse 4, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. The more excellent name of Christ. Throughout the old covenant, the old covenant came by the hands of Moses, but yet there's a better covenant, a new covenant that came by a greater being, and that's Jesus. The gospel came by Jesus, who is far superior than the angels. I mentioned the Jewish people had a great reverence for the angels, and many of them even started to worship angels. This became a problem not only for Jews, but also for the early church. In the early church, they still had these traditions of worshiping angels. And you know what? There's people today that they still worship angels, rather than worshiping only God. Or they'll worship saints, or they'll worship Mary. But the only one who deserves our worship is God. And we're gonna see that tonight. But there was this tendency to worship angels. And this came from the Jews who were in great awe of them. But interestingly, it crept into the church. And when you read the book of Revelation, you know who else was tempted to worship an angel? The Apostle John. Yeah, the Apostle John was tempted. The angel was giving him the message and he bowed down. He was in such great awe and wonder. But angels are not to be worshipped. Only God is to be worshipped. Now even throughout the church age and even to our day, there's also the heretical idea that Jesus himself is only an angel. Most popular group today are the Jehovah's Witnesses. They believe him and Michael the Archangel are the same person. But throughout history, there have been people that believe Jesus Christ is himself a created being, an angel. But that's not how the author of Hebrews presents it. He's far better. He's superior to the angels. He's been given a more excellent name than they. He's superior simply just by his name. Simply just by his name, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He's superior because his name is a title, but his name is also a description of his character and his nature, who he is. Philippians chapter 2 it says wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and Given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee Should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Okay, so he's given this name. It's above every other name and interestingly The Bible tells us here that he has this more excellent name, but verse four says, being made so much better than the angels. In other words, it says he became better than the angels. And that's kind of interesting, because we could say ultimately, from eternity past to eternity future, he's always been greater than the angels. However, I think what that verse is teaching is that he's become better than the angels in a sense of public recognition. Now everyone will recognize Jesus Christ, superior, the son of God, is superior to the angels. And let's study that out, how Jesus Christ is the son of God, the sonship of Christ, we call it. Verse five says, for unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. Now, this is very interesting. First and foremost, we understand as Christians, as Bible believers, the Bible teaches that God is a trinity. He's a triune being. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, one God. Now, I wish I could break it down scientifically and explain to you how that works, but guess what? Our minds can never comprehend how that works. There's been illustrations and attempts given But ultimately, this is a doctrine that we believe by faith. The Bible teaches it. We believe it by faith. God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. So when the Bible talks about Jesus being the Son of God, what does that mean? He's superior to the angels, the Bible says, because he is the Son of God. And God is speaking and says, you are my son. So he calls Jesus his son, and that's the more excellent name. And think about this. There have been many angels throughout the pages of scripture, and really, throughout the scriptures, angels are called the sons of God. If you read Job 1, verse 6, it calls angels the sons of God. There's only one that's called the Son of God, and that's Jesus. No angel has ever been given that title individually. So what we have to understand here is the book of Hebrews is written to Jewish believers. And so the book of Hebrews uses many Old Testament references to show that it's pointed to Christ as God. Christ is the fulfillment of some of these scriptures. For example, when it says in verse 5, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. The author is quoting from a few scriptures. First, let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and let's start at verse number 13. He shall build a house for my name. This is the Davidic covenant. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chase him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. Now this is God speaking to David, promising that he's going to have an eternal dynasty. And first and foremost, when you come to the scripture, it's talking about Solomon. Right? David's going to have a son. It's going to continue. It's ultimately fulfilled in Solomon, but the Holy Spirit takes the scripture and also further applies it to Christ. that the Holy Spirit here is referring also to Christ. That's why the author of Hebrews uses it in Hebrews 1 verses 4 and 5. Again, I will be his father and he shall be my son. By the way, when you read the Old Testament, it's very clear that the Holy Spirit was the divine author behind the scenes. Because you see throughout the Old Testament writings that point to Jesus Christ. Sometimes the writings aren't very clear. It's just a seed. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit definitely unfolds it, but it's referring to Christ. And the Spirit of God takes this scripture here in 2 Samuel 7 and applies it directly to Jesus. Let's look at another scripture. Let's go to Psalms 89. Psalm 89. Psalm 89, and let's look at verse number 23. Psalm 89 verse 23 says, and I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand to the rivers. He shall cry unto me, thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also, I will make him my firstborn higher. than the kings of the earth. So if we compare that with Hebrews chapter one, and verses five and six, it's very similar to what the author of Hebrews is getting at here. This fact that God will have a begotten. And verse six, again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world. Let's go also to Psalms chapter two. Psalm chapter two. Psalm chapter 2 and verse 7. Psalm chapter 2, verse 7. And again, at first Psalm 2 seems like a regular psalm, but then you realize this is a messianic psalm. It's talking about Christ. And Psalm 2, verse 7 says, And so it's clear that the author of Hebrews is using those scriptures and applying it directly to Jesus Christ. So in the first part of Hebrews 1, verse 5, he quotes from Psalm 2. He quotes that, the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Now this is what you could say a great mystery that God has a son and uses words like begotten. First, we have to understand the doctrine of eternal sonship. The doctrine of eternal sonship. This means we believe that Jesus Christ is a second person of the Godhead. And from eternity past to eternity future, he's always existed as the son of God. I say that because some people believe Jesus became the son of God. Sometimes they say, well, it happened at his baptism, or it happened at the incarnation, or at the crucifixion, he became the son of God. No, he eternally existed as God's son. Because the Bible always refers to him as that title. So it's not a title that happened. So he eternally existed as the son. There was never a time where he was not the son. There's always been that father-son relationship within the Godhead. The Bible has always presented it that way. Now, when it says, this day have I begotten you, the word begotten doesn't refer to begotten in the way you and I would use it in the natural sense. For example, you could say, me and my wife, we begat our daughter, right? And that's not the way it's used in the scripture. Begotten means he's of equal nature. I mentioned that a little bit two weeks ago, that with that title, that phrase, the son of God, doesn't mean that's his literal seed. It means he's of the same nature as God. He's of the same essence of God. He's eternal. He's omniscient. He's omnipotent. He's omnipresent. He's God. That's what that phrase means. The son of God means he is God. So it speaks of the equal nature between the father and the Son. When the Bible uses that word begotten, it helps us understand in a small way the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. There's a union there. We know there's great love there. The Bible gives us that description that God has a great love for His only begotten Son. But that word begotten means He's unique. He has no peer, no equal. So it's not in the normal sense of begetting children. Go with me to John chapter 5 and verse 17. Gospel of John chapter 5 and verse 17. And this is an interesting scripture where Jesus Christ refers to himself as equal with God, as the Son of God, and he is almost killed for it. John chapter 5, verse 17, Jesus answered them, them being the Pharisees and these persecutors here. He says, my father worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father. And notice this next phrase, making himself equal with God. See, the Jews in that day understood when he said God's my father, that he's making himself as equal with God, not less than God. So what I tell groups like Jehovah's Witnesses is that how come even Jesus' enemies recognize what he was talking about? They recognize that he was claiming to be God. Verse 19, then answered Jesus and said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeeth the father do, for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the son likewise. So there's union there. For the father loveth the son and showeth him all things that he himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. Skip down to verse number 30. Verse 30, I can of mine own self do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. So there's a unity there within the Godhead. And when you look at this chapter, you study it out, it's very clear that Jesus Christ referring to himself as the Son of God, as God as his Father, was saying he was equal with God, that he was equally God. It's a great mystery, but the Bible teaches us that. So we could say that word beget is almost like a metaphor. It's a picture trying to hold, I think, two truths together. One, that God the Father is distinct from God the Son, right? So we don't believe that some people teach this, that God the Father became God the Son, and then he became the Holy Spirit. No, they're distinct, right? So three distinct persons, one God. So God the Father is not God the Son. God the Son is not God the Father. They are distinct persons, yet they are not two distinct gods. There's only one God. So that's an important thing to understand. Let's go back to our text in Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1, verse 5 says, For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." Verse 6 says, and again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. Now that phrase, that word, first begotten, is another important word that, again, has been misunderstood. You could say it means firstborn. And this does not mean that Jesus Christ was the first created being. That's not what it's saying here. Firstborn is a metaphor in the sense of the firstborn son who was first in line to receive an inheritance, first in line to receive a position of honor and favor. And so firstborn is like a title of someone holding the highest position. You could say it means first in rank, not necessarily first born, literally speaking. In fact, many times in the Bible, that word first born is used when it's not really talking about a physical first birth. For example, David is referred to as God's first born, but he wasn't the first born in his family. In fact, he was the last born, right? Ephraim. is referred to as God's firstborn. But again, he wasn't the literal firstborn. Go with me to Exodus chapter 4. Exodus chapter 4. Verse 22. Exodus chapter 4, verse number 22. says it, and now shalt say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And now ultimately we do know that Israel, or you could say Jacob, was not God's firstborn, Esau was. He was not the literal firstborn, Esau was, but he's God's firstborn. And so that phrase is used to mean first in rank, in honor. And so When it talks about Christ being the first begotten, or in Colossians 1, verse 18 says He's the firstborn from the dead, it's referring to His honor, His rank, His position of authority. That's what that means. Go with me also to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, verse 17. Some have been tripped up by when the Bible uses those words such as first begotten or only begotten son. And we see that these are phrases or titles given. For example, in Hebrews 11, 17, it says, by faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. Now, Isaac wasn't Abraham's only son that was born. No, there was Ishmael. There were other children born. But again, this is talking about the sense that he's Abraham's unique son. Unique in his position, that he's the son that would continue the covenant. He's the son of the covenant, right? So this word, begotten, means that he's unique. And that's the way I believe it's used in reference to Christ. Not that he was literally, physically created, because he's God. So the author of Hebrews is presenting Christ as God's only begotten. In other words, he's unique. He has no other equal because he's God. He's God. So of course, he's greater, far superior than the angels. And I believe that these verses refer to Christ as the firstborn in rank, and also his work on the cross and the resurrection, which we're going to celebrate this coming Lord's Day, because oftentimes you read that phrase, firstborn, in reference to the resurrection. I mentioned Colossians 1.18 calls him the firstborn from the dead. In Acts chapter 13, we see the author talking about Christ being raised from the dead as God's firstborn. And I believe, again, that means it's the public recognition that this is God's son. This is my beloved son. So, when we come to Hebrews chapter 1, verse 5, it says, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. This is referencing to that fact that God is a trinity, that the son is equal with the father, but yet there are distinct roles within the Godhead. It's clear that Jesus has a role, and God the Father has a role, and the Holy Spirit has its role. That's what we have to understand. Then verse six says, and again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. Notice Jesus is superior because he is the object of angelic worship. He doesn't worship the angels, they worship him. And so we worship him also. He's the object of our worship. Why? Because he is God. When we understand that Jesus and how Jesus is better than the angels, it helps us to understand that Jesus is better than anyone or anything in our lives. And he should have the preeminence in all of our lives, every day, every moment. And in one sense, the book of Hebrews continues to reveal Jesus in this way. You could say it's like the transfiguration. It's like that moment where the glory of Christ was revealed before the disciples there and they got to see his glory. They realized he's not just a man, he is God. And that's what Hebrews tries to do. It's like a transfiguration pulling back the covers to reveal the glory of God's son. And so we can cry out just like the Bible says, this is my beloved son, hear ye him. Angels, can tell us what God is like. Angels can bring us messages from God and tell us about the life God wants us to live and God wants us to have. But Jesus Christ is the very life of God. He is God himself. He is the express image of God, the Bible says in verse 3. And we have him dwelling within us, the Bible says, as Christians. The Spirit of Christ dwells in us. And so we have the very power of God, access to that. May we never forget that. May we never neglect the superiority of Jesus Christ in our everyday lives. He is better than the angels. Lord willing, we'll continue with the next few verses that clearly talk about the fact that Christ is God, the deity of Christ. We'll look at that next week, Lord willing. Let's pray together.