Well, let's put our hymnals down and take our Bibles up. Turn to the book of Hebrews. We'll begin reading in the first verse of the first chapter. Down through chapter 2, verse 4. Our text will be 1.4 to 2.4, but just for the sake of context, Hebrews chapter 1. The sermon title today, Jesus is better than angels or the angels. Hebrews one beginning in verse one. This is God's word. Please give careful attention to its reading. Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down. at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs." Verse 5, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you? Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. Of the angels, he says, verse 7, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the sun, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And you, Lord, laid the foundations of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed, but you are the same. and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Chapter two, verse one. Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? 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 the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Thus ends the reading of God's word. May he add his blessing to it. Please be seated. Let's pray and ask God to bless our time in his word. Heavenly Father, this is your word. We do pray that the same spirit that inspired scripture would come and help us understand, bring illumination, understanding, and application. Lord, apply it to our hearts so that we might live out the truth that we understand, that we might see Jesus more clearly, that we might trust him more fully, that we might worship him more consistently. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Well, there's a scene in the book of Revelation, last book of the Bible. Right at the very end of Revelation, where John the apostle, John the revelator, John the one that would lay with his head in Jesus' bosom at one point in time, which Seems a little bit awkward to me, but I mean, he knew the Lord Jesus Christ well. Best friends with Jesus. There's this scene in the book of Revelation when John sees an angel and he feels compelled to fall down and to worship. In fact, it didn't happen once, it happened twice. And the book of Revelation actually ends with John confessing, the great apostle John confessing, this is what I did. Don't make the same mistake I made. This is what I did. Whoops, don't do the same thing. Worship the Lord. And it raises the question for me, what would I do in a similar situation? What would you do? in that kind of environment when you saw an angel. I think the thing that we want to understand as we get started here this afternoon is that angels are impressive beings. They are not to be messed with. They are not to be undervalued, underappreciated. The scriptures indicate in many places that angels are magnificent beings. That the angels were present when the law of God was given in the Old Testament times at Mount Sinai. The angels were there, and this passage actually bears that out. It kind of makes that point, as well as other passages in Scripture. And the people of God never forgot that. They never forgot that. Apparently, as we read through Hebrews, we come to understand that they actually sort of struggled with that, in elevating angels to too high a level. And I think it's important for us to understand and remember the context of the book of Hebrews. We're talking about New Testament believers that were coming out of Judaism, that's the name of the book, Hebrews. You're talking about Hebrew people that are coming out of Judaism, leaving their upbringing behind, leaving their families behind, leaving the teaching that they understood from the fact that they were knee high to a grasshopper, whatever that means. You know, from their youngest days, they're walking away from the understanding that they had heard and received, and they've trusted in Jesus. And as a result of trusting in Jesus, they've lost friendships. They've lost family. They've been forsaken by those that they used to spend their closest time with. Their businesses have been boycotted. Their homes have been ransacked. They've lost seemingly everything, and the temptation now is to go back. The temptation is to walk away. And the author of the book of Hebrews, we don't know exactly who it is, probably a friend of Paul, we know it's ultimately the Holy Spirit inspiring this author to write, is saying to these people, probably in a house church in Rome, maybe in several house churches in Rome, house churches, 20, 25 people, smaller than this group here today, and he is urging them, he is encouraging them, do not walk away. Do not. turn your back on King Jesus. And so he's going to make this series of comparisons and contrast over and over again, Jesus being better than anything, Jesus being better than everything that there is. And there is no one, there is nothing in the entire universe that measures up to Jesus. And you might say in your head, you might say amen, but with your feet, you might be marching to the beat of a different drum. And what's really important for us is to keep those two things in alignment in lockstep. What we think here, what we think we believe in our hearts, what we do with our lives, these things are in alignment and they match up. And so the author here is going to show us over and over and over again that Jesus is superior. And he begins, really the first thing that he talks about Jesus being superior to, and he spends a couple of chapters, chapter one and chapter two, is that he's better than angels. And as wonderful and seemingly glorious as angels are, they are not the sun. They are not our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is better. And so you think back to the introduction, the first three verses, you can think about Jesus having prophetic supremacy. He's the final word of God. God has spoken in all these ways, various times, in various ways, through various people. But in these last days, he's spoken to us in his Son. Jesus is the final word. He's got that prophetic supremacy. He's got that cosmic supremacy. He's the creator and sustainer of all things. He holds the world together by the word of his power. And now he is superior to the angels. And so three things we're going to think about. today. The angels themselves briefly talk about them. Jesus' superiority to them as there's these seven Old Testament texts that compare and contrast the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and angels. And then a severe warning about turning away in chapter two. So first of all, the angels themselves. It's interesting as you think about angels, you know, you can go to Christian bookstores or something like that where they still exist, and you can still see little angel trinkets and they're kind of little cute things. And there's been a lot of shows about angels. But as far as like the biblical understanding of angels, we don't hear a lot about it. We don't think a lot about these sorts of things. But the angels are all throughout the scriptures. Like there are angelic encounters all throughout, from Genesis to Revelation. Angels are mentioned nearly 300 times in the ESV translation of the Bible. Over 100 times in the Old Testament, over 100 times in the New Testament. And I want us to think about the fact, what are angels? Who are angels? Angels, first of all, let me just start by saying a few things. They are created beings. as seemingly wonderful and marvelous as they are, they are created beings. And one of the distinctions that we make that I think is incredibly important and helpful for us is the distinction between the creator and the creature. The creator-creature distinction. There is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and then there is everything else. And there may be different levels of kind of greatness or whatever among created things, but at the end of the day, there is God, and then there is everything else. And this chasm between our creator, our triune God, and the created realm and created things is massive, right? I mean, just start off with the fact that nothing created exists apart from the will of God in this moment, saying that it exists. Like nothing has life if God doesn't will it. You don't have life right now as a created being unless God wills it to happen like right now. You don't have breath in your lungs. You don't have a brain that functions. You don't have a heart that beats. You don't have any of those things unless the creator says so. Like now. And that's a massive difference. We could go down a whole list of different things, but angels are created. And they were created upright, and a massive number of them, we don't know how many, decided to rebel against God. And in their rebelling, the difference between humans, men, women, us, and angels, is there's no redemption. There's no grace. There's no mercy. There's no forgiveness. There's no way back. So you have this separation. You have the righteous angels and the unrighteous angels, and then that's it. And the righteous angels will be in glory and serving for all of eternity. The unrighteous will be judged. Hell was created for what? The devil and his angels. They have a place, those that rebelled against God. There's no way back. So angels are created. Angels are not omniscient. They're not omnipresent. They're not omnipotent. They don't know everything. They're not everywhere. They're not all powerful, although they seem to be very powerful at times. Think about angels killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. That's powerful. There are many of them, countless, myriads, thousands upon thousands, 10,000s upon 10,000s of angels. But angels are created to worship. Angels are created to serve God and His people. Angels are servants, as we see in this passage. And so think about some of the encounters. As you think about some of the interactions, encounters that people have had with angels in scripture, there always seems to be some form of mental or emotional agitation, some form of fear, even loss of composure or even consciousness. when they're seen in angelic form, not just human form. Sometimes Hebrews itself says that sometimes they appear like people, like humans, and you should treat them right is the idea. But think of Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah is brought up, and he sees these angels, and Isaiah is brought into the presence of God, and the angels are there all around, and he's impacted there. Think of Judges 13, when Manoah and his wife see an angel as they offer a sacrifice, the angel ascends up to heaven in the flame. Like, what's that all about? Consider 2 Kings 6, where Elisha and his servant are encircled by the bad guys. There's no way out. And Elisha, when his servant is afraid, Elisha prays to God, and he says, give this guy a vision of what's going on. And God opens his eyes to see the angelic beings that are all around in this warrior form. And that is kind of an overwhelming sight. It was encouraging for him, but think how overwhelming that might be to just see angels all around fighting in the spiritual realm. Again, I mentioned the angel that killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. But Jesus is better. I think the point here is that we want to understand that Jesus, angels aren't like lame. They're amazing, they're awesome, but they're created, they're finite. And Jesus is better than they are. And so the author here, look at verse four, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Like Jesus is superior. He's better than these awesome beings. His name is better. His name is superior. Their name means messenger. We already learned that his name means the message. He is God's final message. He is God's final revelation. So Jesus is the best. John Owen puts it this way. The Lord Jesus Christ, the revealer of God's will in the gospel, is exalted above preferred before, made more excellent and glorious than the angels themselves, all or any of them who ministered to the Lord in the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. He's better. And so now he's going to make his argument using seven Old Testament scriptures. And we'll just go briefly through this. But I want to point out that when the author, under the Holy Spirit's inspiration, wants to prove that Jesus, the Son of God, is better than angels, he goes to the Old Testament scriptures. Let me just do this for a second. When we think about Jesus, we typically think right here, New Testament. If we want to see Jesus, we go here. This is the sliver of the Bible that we look at. But I love the fact, and I love to point out the fact, that Jesus is as much in this portion of the Bible as he is in this portion of the Bible. He is all over the Old Testament scriptures. There's not one scripture in all of the Bible where God wasn't thinking of Jesus Christ. There's nothing. The Bible was written by the Spirit. It was penned by authors, human authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it was the Word of God, the Father, thinking about Jesus Christ throughout. I think I mentioned it last time as we looked at the first four verses of Chapter 1. But when Jesus, after his resurrection, went and met with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he just started opening up the scriptures of the law and the prophets, all these stories, and he started teaching them before they even understood the things concerning himself. And I love that the author here goes to the Old Testament scriptures and just says, boom, this scripture is about Jesus. This scripture is about Jesus. This scripture is about Jesus. This proves Jesus is superior. He just knows that's the case. And so when we read and study the Old Testament scriptures, we need to understand that Jesus is present. He's there. Jesus is throughout the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. In the volume of the book, it is written of him. And so, verse 5, having become, verse 4, as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs, verse 5, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you? This is a quote from Psalm 2, verse 7, and if you read that psalm, I would say, as I've taught through this and preached through this sermon, through this psalm a few times, it seems to me that ultimately, Psalm 2 is a messianic psalm, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all speak at different times in the psalm. And the verse that he's quoting in verse 5, Psalm 2 verse 7, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you, is actually the son saying, I will tell of the decree. Like he's saying, Father, I will say what you said to me. You said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. That's what the father decreed. That's what the father said about Jesus the son. And it's written a thousand years before Christ came. Now, what should that do? The fact that the Old Testament is about Jesus Christ, what should that do to our faith? If books that were written a thousand years, if Psalms that were written a thousand years before Jesus even came, are about the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, should that not buttress our faith? Should that not make us feel stronger, sleep better, rest more fully in the God that we serve? This is not some man-made book. This is not some disciples scattering and trying to figure something out when the Savior that they tried to worship died and didn't rise again. Like, let's put together a plan. Let's make some things up. Ridiculous. Jesus is throughout Scripture. And as you wrestle with at times, as you go to those places in your life at times where you're questioning, where you're struggling with your faith, think about these realities. Think about the fact that God has never struggled with knowing who He is, or even more, what He's doing in the world. Consider Psalm 2. It's written at a time of struggle and it's written at a time of turmoil where David's writing, ultimately, fully and finally about the triune God. And that Psalm says in there, the nations rage and the people are plotting a vain thing. As you read Psalm 2, the world's in chaos and turmoil and disarray. And what is God's response in Psalm 2? If you're aware of the Psalm, and if you're not, I would encourage you to study it. I would actually encourage you to memorize it, but that's a whole nother level. What is God's response in Psalm 2? Does he wring his hands? Does he say, I hope things work out? I'm hoping for the best. No, it says he laughs. It says he laughs. It's a laugh of derision. It's a laugh of if a two-year-old came up here to me on the stage and said, I want to fight you, and started punching me in the kneecap. I would laugh. It wouldn't be a laugh of derision, but it would be ridiculous. It would be ridiculous. I mean, I do have a bad knee, actually, so they could take my knee out. But that would be ridiculous, right? It's infinitely different with God. What can a created being, even a rebellious created being, do to God? How could a created being thwart the plans of the Almighty God? Again, let me apply something I was saying a few minutes ago. If God didn't put breath in your lungs, or make your heart beat, or give you the ability to think your next thought, you wouldn't be able to. So isn't God able to, the rebel, stop them in a moment's time? I mean, now you start getting into, well, why would God do? Why would God allow? Why does God And now you're getting into the area of mystery. And as Christian people, we have to be able to rest in mystery. Some people really have a hard time with that. You have to rest in the sense that God knows what he's doing. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that he's revealed belong to us and to our children that we may do them, Deuteronomy 29, 29. Our problem is sometimes we like to delve into the things that God said are hidden and secret. And we like to just kind of forsake the things that God says we should be doing. We like to flip it around on its head for some reason, I think because of sin. But to which of the angels did God ever say, you're my son today, I begotten you? The answer is none. He's begotten of God. I think it's a metaphorical way of describing the son's appointment after his resurrection as he ascends and sits in a new position in a new way. on the throne of God." Or again, 5b, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And we could go in and talk about this being the fulfillment of the Davidic, right? Ultimately, it's interesting. In 2 Samuel 7, 14, I was looking at this verse. The verse goes on to say, basically, I'll punish him when he sins. So here, this verse, this quote is about Jesus and the rest goes on to be about Solomon. Right? So he takes this verse and says, this verse, this part of 2 Samuel 7, 14 is about Jesus. It's the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. And then again in verse 6, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. So remember when Jesus came into the world? Remember when in the incarnation the angels showed up to the shepherds? Right? Out there in the middle of the night, the angels show up to the shepherds, and they say, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. The angels were not jealous. The angels were not vying for attention. They were worshiping and singing about their God. Go forward to Revelation chapter 4, Revelation 5, the end of the Bible again. What do you see? The angels surrounding the throne of the Father and the Son, worshiping Jesus in heavenly glory. That's what the good angels do. That's what the righteous angels do because they say He's worthy and deserving of our worship. And the angels, if you think about the angels, they're all over, they're all around the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. They were there before He came. They were serving as He was growing up, as He was in the world and suffering and dying and rising. They announced His resurrection. They rolled away the stone. from the tomb to say he's not here, he's risen. They told the apostles, go tell, you know, Peter and the others. They did all of these things. And here's my question. What do you suppose these angels that know the Lord before he came into the world were scratching their heads when he did come into the world? Why is he taking on human form? Why is he coming as a baby? They see him dying on the cross and then rising again and ascending back to the Father's right hand, back to where he belonged. What do you suppose they think about people in this world when they think about forsaking the Lord that they've come to know? They've tasted and seen that the Lord is good, but then they think about drifting away. They think about going away. What do you think they think about such behavior? Again, in verse 7, of the angels, he says he makes his angels, winds, and ministers of ministers, a flame of fire, just serving His purposes, doing His bidding, doing whatever God wants them to do. He just moves them around from here to there to do His bidding. But on the other hand, the Son is different, verse 8, but of the Son, He says, Your throne, O God. Jesus, again, has a throne. He's seated on the throne. He is God. But of the Son, the Father says to the Son, You are God. forever and ever. And you have a scepter, right? It speaks of His rule. It's a righteous rule, a scepter of uprightness, the scepter of your kingdom. The Son loves, verse 9, righteousness. He hates wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And if we had time, I'd go into the fact that he was the suffering servant, in a sense, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. But at the same time, he was the happiest and most joyful man that's ever lived because he was the most righteous man that's ever lived. Sometimes we have the impression, we have the notion that to live righteous, upright lives is no fun. It's not satisfying. It's not the best way to live our lives. Just to be, you know, life insurance and kind of do the things, do the minimal things, check the boxes that we need to check and then kind of do, because there's better ways to live than to follow the Lord closely. That's an abominable thought. And if you find yourself thinking that way, rebuke yourself. Repent of your belief because it's wrong. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, loves righteousness and hates wickedness, and he is glad and joyful beyond any and all others. And then it goes back, and for the sake of time, just quickly, remembering the fact that, verse 10, He laid the foundations of the earth. Our God, Father, Son, and Spirit created the world. In the beginning, the heavens are the work of His hands as well. The heavens will perish, but you will remain They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe. You'll roll them up like a garment. They'll be changed. But you, Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ, are the same, and your years will have no end. Sometimes we think this created order will last forever. It looks so permanent. It looks so stable. It looks so fixed. And we feel temporary. We feel like the world, if anything is stable and fixed and permanent, it's the world. But in contrast to Jesus Christ, he's just going to roll him up like a worn out garment. You know, that old shirt you had that you wore a thousand times and you just finally had to throw it away because it was worn out. That's what this creation will be like. But Jesus is the same and he lives forever. Don't trust in this world. Don't trust in the things that you find here. Trust in the Savior who changes not. Trust in your relationship with him that is the same forever. The Savior you know now will be the Savior that you know throughout the eternal ages and just better and better. To which of the angels, verse 13, has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Yes, the Lord Jesus has permanent enemies, and they will be dealt with in the last day. Grace and mercy do not last forever for the unrepentant and unregenerate. And so angels are ministering spirits. They're sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. We could think of Elijah in the wilderness at the end of his rope, an angel appearing, Daniel in the lion's den, or Joseph when he wants to divorce Mary, Jesus himself in the wilderness or in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter when he's in prison, Paul when he's facing shipwreck. Angels appeared to minister. And there are many other situations as well. This is awesome, praise God. As Raymond Brown said, angels were sent by God to release prisoners, instruct preachers, encourage believers, judge blasphemers, and help travelers. These things are all true. But listen, as we finish up by looking at the last four verses, ever so briefly, I want to ask you this question. So what? Who cares? I really want you to hear me ask that question. What does it matter in your life? How does it change the way that you live that these things are true? Not just that you know and you give assent to the fact that they're true, but how does it change your life? And chapter 2 verse 1 to chapter 2 verse 4 really hammer that point home. The tone changes and there's this severe warning in these last four verses. The author knows what's at stake. The author knows that everything is at stake, that the Lord, the Word of God, the truth of God, the gospel of God is not to be trifled with. Sometimes people say, you know, the Bible is irrelevant. That is the Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no statement that I could think of that could be further from the truth. The Bible is the most relevant document in the history of the world. Scripture covers the topics of life and of death, of heaven and hell, blessing and cursing, and how to think and act, how to live in light of these realities. And so notice in chapter two, verse one, therefore, what's the therefore, therefore? It's built in light of chapter one. Therefore, in light of all these things, we have to pay much closer attention to what we've heard, lest we drift away. The imagery of drifting here is of a boat, okay, that's pulled up near safe harbor, but hasn't pulled all the way in, hasn't anchored up at the shore. And the boat that got near Safe Harbor started to drift, started just making its way down the river. And it never got to where it was intended to go. I heard Sinclair Ferguson say, imagine a man in outer darkness. And he's asking himself. He's in the Lake of Fire. He's in outer darkness. And he asks himself, after the judgment, how did I get here? What did I do to get here? And the man comes to himself and says, I did nothing. I did nothing with the truth of God's word. I did nothing with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I went through some motions. I played some games with some folks. I did the things that people told me I needed to do, but I never got serious with Jesus Christ. I never actually repented of my sins and trusted, rested in the finished work of Christ. We must pay much closer attention to what we've heard, lest we drift away. For since the message declared by angels at Mount Sinai, Exodus 20, proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we notice escape?" Listen, he's writing to a church. He's not writing to outsiders. He's writing to people that come to church every Sunday. He's writing to people that hear the Word of God preached and proclaimed. He's writing to people that have contact with and have heard the gospel and the good news about Jesus Christ, and they haven't handled it rightly. And he's making the point, if the message in the Exodus, in the Old Testament, if it was declared by angels and it proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received just retribution, how do we escape if we neglect such a great salvation delivered by the greater than the angels, our Lord Jesus Christ? It goes on to say there at the end, It was declared at first by the Lord, the Son himself, Jesus Christ. And not only was it proclaimed by him, it was attested by, you see that, signs and wonders and miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. They bore witness to it. Sometimes we hear people say, well, it was serious in the Old Testament, but with grace and mercy, it doesn't really matter what we do or how we live. Because there's forgiveness, there's freedom. Well, there is freedom and forgiveness. There's no place where scripture teaches that we can just kind of do whatever we want to do. There's no place in scripture where it says that it doesn't matter how we live. It actually teaches us, friends, that it's more important how we live on this side of Calvary. It's more important that we seek to obey and do what God says in his word than it was in Old Testament times. Our Westminster Confession of Faith talks about in chapter 19 in the section on the law of God, that very truth, that we're called to press in, we're called to press on. And as far as drifting is concerned, and I know I'm going long and I appreciate your patience with me, I really want us to encourage ourselves to look at ourselves. And I know we're afraid of, at times, morbid introspection, looking at ourselves too much. And I would just encourage you, every look you take at yourself, take 10 looks at Christ and look away from yourself, look to the Savior. But sometimes the things can get to us. and cause us to lose interest in the Lord, to drift off. C.S. Lewis asked the question, out of a hundred people, this is years ago, but it's a good point, out of a hundred people who've left the faith, how many have left because they were argued out of it? He says, no, mostly it's just people who drift away. And so sometimes another commentator makes the case that there's ways to drift like the tide of years where we just sort of drift from our better selves. We keep up appearances on the outside, but in our hearts we've drifted away from the Lord. He talks about the tide of familiarity with the truth where the gospel, the word of God, just becomes sort of ho-hum for us. And we no longer really revere, we no longer really honor God's word, no longer worship rightly. He talks about the danger of busyness. There's just other things that are more important. And they crowd the things of the Lord out. And then eventually, we do turn. Eventually, we do just get to the place where in our hearts, we just have no place for the Lord. We have no love for God. We have no desire to worship. And can we sneak in so as by fire? What's the fine line? I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is. Scripture doesn't relay that to us. But here's what I would say to you. Like, don't ask the question, how far can I be from the Lord and still go to heaven? Ask the question, how close can I walk to the Lord? How closely can I serve and honor my Savior? The question, how far can I be and still make it in? That's never the question to ask. Listen, our God is a gracious God. Our God is a merciful and faithful God. And every time we sin and we turn, there's forgiveness. Even if it's been a long time, even if it's been a long path we've gone down, if we turn back, He's there with words of forgiveness. He's there to come out and greet us with open arms. He's there to wrap the robe around us and slay the animal for a feast. If you're playing games with the Lord today, stop. Let me ask you the question, what benefit are you receiving from that? What good is that for you? throw yourselves again and again and again, day after day after day, into the loving arms, the merciful and gracious arms of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. His blood is enough. The cross is enough. God demonstrates his love for you, and that while we're yet sinners, Christ died for us. It is always there. He's always there. Trust in him. Rest in him. Do not ever turn. Do not ever go anywhere else, because Jesus is better than angels and every other thing. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and we are reminded today that when life is hard, there are temptations, but there's no better place to be than with you and near your side. Lord, we are not saved by our works, but we are indeed saved unto good works. We are not saved by our doing, but by the doing of Christ, by His perfect life and His sin-bearing death. But may we rest in Him each and every day, and may we seek to live uprightly, turning from our sins continually and looking into His glorious face, being transformed from one degree of glory to another. Lord, we love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.