The Incomparable Superiority of Christ, Part 1

[00:00:00] Please be seated. [00:00:23] Please stand for our prayer for illumination. [00:00:32] Let's pray. [00:00:35] Almighty God, as we now come to the reading and preaching of your word, help us not to rely on our own flesh for truly understanding this, it truly penetrating deep into our hearts, ministering Christ and the good news of the gospel, and ministering hope to us. I pray that your holy spirit would take your word and make it penetrate deep, open our eyes, that we might behold wondrous things from your law. O Lord God, encourage us by the magnificent truths which your holy spirit inspired the author of Hebrews to pen. [00:01:20] And I seek your spirit's unction in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Here now the reading of God's word from the book of Hebrews. You'll be reading the first four verses. [00:01:33] Long ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. [00:01:41] 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. [00:01:51] 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. [00:02:02] 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. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. [00:02:19] You may be seated. [00:02:31] Well. For the jewish Christians to whom the book of Hebrews was written, we have to understand something about those christians. [00:02:41] Their faith in Christ was costing them dearly. [00:02:48] They had been excluded from jewish society, which they had grown up in for their faith in Christ. Some had had their property confiscated. [00:02:58] Some have experienced violence, and some have even had even been imprisoned for their faith in Christ. And as a result, some of those Christians to whom, those jewish Christians to whom the book of Hebrews was written, well, it appears some of them were rethinking their profession of faith. They were rethinking their allegiance to Christ. [00:03:24] Some were wondering if it was really in the light of the persecution. They were wondering if it was really worth following Christ because of the hardships, because of the suffering which they were experiencing. [00:03:41] Richard Phillips really captures the situation and really what the book of Hebrews, the author is getting at. You see, Richard Phillips says, in light of this persecution, it had to be worth it to believe upon Jesus Christ. [00:03:58] And this is what the writer of Hebrews is seeking to impress upon these christians. It's worth it to trust in Christ. [00:04:08] In other words, the author of Hebrews is demonstrating here in the Book of Hebrews, especially in the first major portion of Hebrews. He's demonstrating that faith in Christ really is worth whatever you may experience from the world as a result of your faith in Christ. [00:04:32] The author is doing this by presenting us with the incomparable excellencies, the incomparable superiority of Jesus Christ, his superiority to whatever you may be seeking, your hope, your life, whatever in so the book of Hebrews is declaring, yes, Christ is worth whatever you may have to go through, insults, loss of your property, job, prison, even if it comes to it, to death. [00:05:06] Jesus Christ really is worth sticking with in his incomparable person, in his incomparable salvation, in his incomparable revelation, which is what our text is getting at here, as well as his incomparable benefits, his salvation to all who believe he is worth it beyond your wildest dreams. [00:05:32] And this morning we're going to see eight ways in which Christ really is worth it. And I know that's a lot of sub points here, but there's just so much here we're going to see eight ways in which Christ is worth it. He's superior to anything anywhere else you might look for hope and help and life and salvation. [00:05:56] He's building that case. [00:05:58] You really do want to stick with Christ. [00:06:01] He's worth it. And this really is gospel good news to share. [00:06:08] So let's begin with the first superiority of Christ. I get this idea of superiority right here from the text. If you look at verse four where he says, regarding Christ having become as much superior to angels. Now, we're not going to talk about angels here, but having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs, and really just goes on showing how Christ is superior, especially to Moses in the Old Testament, and so forth. [00:06:37] So let's look at verses one and two here. [00:06:41] The first superiority of Christ, which makes trusting in Christ worth it, even if your faith in Christ brings ridicule from the world around you, from peers, from friends, whatever. Long ago and in many times and in many ways, God spoke. [00:07:00] I don't want you to miss those two words. God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, and in his last days he has spoken to us by his son. [00:07:14] We live in an age, as you know so well, in which it is widely believed that there is no God. [00:07:22] Or it is believed that if there is a God, that you can neither be sure that he exists or that he's so detached that you can't know him. [00:07:32] But these two verse, excuse me, these first two verses blow such false assumptions away, because these two verses declare a truth which we've tragically lost touch with. [00:07:47] You see, it's that God in Christ has actually bridged the gap between heaven and earth. He's even bridged the gap between his spiritual existence and our physical, earthly existence. So please, let this reality sink in with all of its incredible implications. [00:08:11] God spoke. [00:08:14] Verse one. [00:08:16] God spoke. That is huge, especially in the world in which we live. [00:08:26] How can I express just how desperately modern, skeptical, doubting, lonely, afraid, confused modern man needs to hear this and grasp this? [00:08:39] So let the reality of this sink in and bring hope into your life. God has spoken to us by his son. God has communicated with us. [00:08:54] God has closed the gap between fallen, sinful, drifting humanity and himself in his son, Jesus Christ. And what this means is that Jesus Christ truly is utterly superior in his revelation of God and of divine truth. He's superior. [00:09:15] Part of what underlies so many of the battles that are currently taking place in our society. The white hot emotions, the heated words, the accusations, the anger, the desperation. [00:09:33] I forget the phrase shutting people down, closing them. What's the phrase? What's that? Cancel. Cancel the. Cancel culture. What's behind so much of this, these heated battles with such powerful emotions, whether it's in the universities or the workplace or in politics and even in our homes and families, the tragic reality that we can no longer sit down and have a civil discussion and listen to the other person's views and so forth. Part of what underlies these troubles, now I'm speaking way deep down, sort of hidden, way deep down under the surface. Part of what's going on, I believe, is that people are running scared, people are desperate, you see, because we as a society don't believe that there is a God, that there's a creator, someone who, who is keeping the world running and operating and so forth, because they don't believe there's a God. And thus they reject this incredible announcement here that God has spoken to us. The fact that they don't have any communication from above declaring what's really true, what's really wrong with us, the way of grace and mercy and salvation, because they have no word from above which offers substantive hope and light and guidance and solid footing in the midst of the ignorance of this world. In the midst of this scary, scary world. Well, the experience might be illustrated in this way, what people are experiencing, and I'm saying they're scared deep down underneath. It's something like the ship that you've been on has sunk and you're treading water and you're desperately trying to keep from drowning. And I think that really does describe a lot of people in our society. They're treading water trying to keep from drowning in a vast ocean. And so even when just a small piece of driftwood comes floating by in your fear and your desperation, well, you're going to fight off, even ferociously, anyone who threatens that little scrap of driftwood, that little scrap of hope to keep you from drowning. And this is part of why we can't even have civil discussions because I strongly suspect civil discussion threatens what people are holding to, what they're clinging to for life and hope in a world in which they believe there's no God. [00:12:12] And so we're so desperate in our fears for that little piece of driftwood to be our salvation that we can't allow any threat that our slim threads of hope are clinging to. Again, in a world in which there's no God, in a world in which again, deep down people realize it's just so much chaos. [00:12:35] When there's no God, there's just so much chaos. [00:12:40] As Richard Phillips says, secular society having removed God, well, there no longer is a heavenly voice to speak with clarity and authority. The price we have paid is the loss of truth. And with the loss of truth, we've lost hope. [00:12:59] And this is where verse two now enters into the mess of our world. God has spoken to us by his son. [00:13:09] The result is that we actually do have guidance and hope and truth and reality. We have something real. We have something solid, not just an opinion or an idea. We have reality. We have something solid, something with substance to base life upon. We have what really is good and true and beautiful through the revelation, the communication which we have received from above. And this makes Christ Christianity, the word of God, clinging to him and to his word and to his truth, makes it worth it. [00:13:53] It makes Christ worth it. These realities elevates God's revelation in Christ to the supreme value and worth in a world lost in darkness. And really, this makes the gospel good news to share. And I don't mean just good news. I mean good news. An announcement that is needed. This world needs this announcement. God has communicated. God has spoken. God has revealed the way of salvation. God has revealed truth and reality and all those things that we need as the people of our world and society are fearing, drowning in the midst of all the chaos. [00:14:35] And so the good news is that there really is light and communication from God beautifully, gloriously shining into the darkness of our hurting, fighting, confused, sin infested world. [00:14:51] 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. [00:15:02] Do you see there in this last part of verse two? He appointed the heir of all things through whom he created the world. [00:15:08] He's in control of this world. [00:15:11] You know, we're not adrift. [00:15:15] So consider further that this communication is in fact from the very creator of the universe, the one who has brought it all into existence and even sustains the existence of the universe. In fact, this communication is from the one who truly is good and benevolent. That means he does good things. He gives good things to us. [00:15:45] This is good news from the one who is powerful and who is able to give order and real meaning and purpose to our lives and even is able to save us beyond our wildest dreams. And this makes Christ worth it. [00:16:01] And this makes proclaiming the gospel, even if people what, sneer at us and oppose us, it makes proclaiming the gospel worth it as well. [00:16:11] And so with this in mind, let's go deeper with a few more relevant passages to kind of draw this out here gleaned from John's gospel. That's where I'm going to draw a lot of the following points here. [00:16:27] Recently we looked at John, chapter one, verse one, which declares in the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God. As you may recall, the very first verse there in John's gospel where John speaks of the word, well, that's the greek word logos. [00:16:47] And you may recall that the word or the logos meant back in those days when John's gospel was written, well back in that greek world, in greek philosophy, some vital questions about existence had been raised. And here's the questions that was being discussed and debated and so forth. If everything in the world is constantly changing, and it is, isn't it? It's actually a profound observation. [00:17:19] If everything in life is constantly changing, then how can there be any order? [00:17:25] How can there be anything stable in the world if everything is constantly changing? And that's what we're experiencing, isn't it? And I think that's part of where even more of where this fear that I believe is deep down underneath people. [00:17:39] We face these same questions then today, don't we? And the answer that one of the greek philosophers came up with to solve these huge problems of living, if everything's always changing, how can there be anything stable or whatever? He came up with the idea of the divine logos or the divine word. He said, it's this logos. Now, for him, it's a philosophical idea. But he said it's this logos. It's this word that brings order and meaning and purpose to everything in life. [00:18:10] Now, what John did under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was pick up on this greek philosophical idea of the logos. [00:18:20] And he takes this idea of the divine word, the divine logos, which gives meaning and order to life. And we can even, maybe even can say his communication from God. And he declares, this logos, which gives meaning and order to life, is in fact Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven to earth. [00:18:44] You see, Jesus Christ is a logos. He's God come to earth. He came to our world as the divine word of God to communicate words of. I think it was last week we saw this light and life which gives order in the midst of the darkness of our sin infested world. [00:19:06] And so since we have Christ, we have the logos, we have that which gives order and meaning, God himself come to earth. Well, that makes Christ not only superior to anything we might look to, philosophy or whatever, or hallucinogenic drugs or whatever. It makes Christ not only superior to anything else we might pursue, but it makes Christ worth whatever cost we may face from a hostile world. [00:19:36] Moving just a little bit further there, in John chapter one, we come to verse four, which in him was life, and the life was the light of men. We just covered this as well. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. This should remind us of our main text for this morning. Hebrews one. One. But in these last days, he spoke to us by his son. In other words, Christ really is life and light. [00:20:04] His very words communicates the source of life and light into the darkness of our despair. Christ's superior communication is light. [00:20:16] It's life for us. This is something our world desperately needs, rather than all the fighting and the conflicts taking place. [00:20:30] We need life. We need light in the darkness. And again, this makes Christ worth it, whatever the cost may be for following Christ. [00:20:42] Going further, John, chapter one. Now we're at verse 14 in John's gospel, and that tells us that this divine communication himself actually entered into our world. So it's not like God was up there, maybe with a megaphone, you know, kind of, this is truth. This is God speaking. Listen up. It's something far, far more personal. [00:21:07] John 114. And the word the logos became flesh and dwelt among us. [00:21:17] Let that sink in. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten son from the Father full of grace and truth, boy. We need that grace, truth. [00:21:34] God coming to earth, dwelling among us. [00:21:38] Again. Hebrews one two. But in these last days, he is spoken to us by his son, not a megaphone from heaven that actually became enfleshed, took on our flesh and blood and dwelt among us. And so here's part of what Hebrews one and John 114 is getting at in terms of the sheer supreme superiority of Christ's revelation from the Father. Well, consider Jesus words to Nicodemus in chapter three, verse 13, where Jesus said to Nicodemus, no one has ascended into heaven. None of us has ever gone upwards, have we? [00:22:18] Except he who has descended from heaven, the son of man. So here's further, the idea of God coming to earth to communicate the light, the truth, the hope, the grace, the mercy, the gospel, the salvation that we so desperately need. [00:22:37] Jesus revelation is incomparably supreme because he not only came down from heaven into our chaotic, confused world to reveal truth and the father and the way of salvation in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. [00:22:59] And then one more verse from John's gospel, John 812. [00:23:05] Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. [00:23:10] Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. [00:23:17] Why is it that we Christians are not walking in darkness, whereas fallen humanity is? Well, Hebrews one, verse two. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. That's huge. [00:23:33] He has spoken to us. He's communicated. We have revelation. [00:23:39] Doesn't this make Christ worth it, whatever our faith may cost us? And isn't this gospel good news that the world so desperately needs? [00:23:52] Again, John 14 six, I am the way and the truth and the life. [00:24:00] No one comes to the father except through me. Now combine that with Hebrews one, two. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. You see, Jesus communicates the way to us, the way out of the darkness and plagues of our world. Christ communicates the way to salvation. In fact, he is our salvation. [00:24:25] And in a world of lies and serious doubts that there even is truth. And part of where we're at right now as a culture is we're creating our own truth in our minds. [00:24:39] And one of the big battles out there, political battles, whatever you want to call it, one of the big battles out there is to support people who are kind of just creating their own false reality in their minds. And whatever they're creating in their minds, we're supposed to support. And if you don't support them, when it's really insane, what they're concluding, then you're in all kinds of trouble and the whole world is against you and all of that. But if it's not real, if it's not true, if it's really insane, then why would we support that when instead we have revelation, we have light, we have life from on high. [00:25:17] Why would we give that up? In these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. There's something from outside of our inner turmoil, our inner confusion, to give us clarity. Do you see why Christ's revelation is superior to anything else? [00:25:31] Absolutely anything else. He communicates the way to us. He communicates the truth to us. Can you imagine how many of the current illnesses of our society could be dealt with and could be resolved if only we could accept Christ's revelation of the way and the truth and the life? [00:25:50] So many of these problems would be dealt with. Oh, pray for the Holy Spirit to bring many, many to Christ. [00:25:57] So is following Christ really worth it? The price? There's a cost to following Christ, right? Well, who else can compare to such supreme excellence? [00:26:13] Who else can even hold a candle to the life giving order, giving, placing our feet on solid ground, communication that Christ brings. [00:26:26] Words of life, words of true truth, words that show the way, words that are light shining in the darkness, words that give hope, words of salvation from all that is wrong with us, our hurts, our pains, our confusions, our turmoils, words of life beyond the grave, words of everlasting life, words of reconciliation with our heavenly Father in whose image we have been created. You know, this makes Christ worth following, no matter what it may cost us. [00:27:02] Do I hear an amen? [00:27:05] Amen. [00:27:06] And then one final point as to why faith in Christ is worth it, keeping in mind that the original audience of Hebrews was tempted to return to the Old Testament Judaism. [00:27:23] Judaism. Never sure which way to pronounce that. I think it's Judaism. Anyway, they were considering, these hebrew Christians were considering returning to the Old Testament religion to escape the persecution for their faith from their fellow Jews, you see. And so verses one and two again, long ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. One of the huge appeals that the author of Hebrews is seeking to make to those jewish christians is something like this. Please, please do not return to the Old Testament religion. Please don't forsake Christ and God's glorious revelation in Christ, whose revelation is superior even to the old Testament prophets. [00:28:16] But why not return to the Old Testament and even to its laws and sacrificial system in order to find relief from the hardships of persecution. And later in the book of Hebrews here the author goes into why you don't want to return to the law and why you don't want to return to the priests and the sacrifices and all of that stuff. But that's a whole other sermon, isn't it? As to why not there later in the book of Hebrews. But remember verse one in Hebrews, one here does say, God spoke to us by our fathers. God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. And so you might be thinking, well, see, that's good enough. God spoke to us, to our fathers by the prophets. The problem is, is that the Old Testament, well, it truly is the Holy Spirit inspired word of God. And it's useful, it's profitable for teaching, rebuking, instructing in righteousness, for study, for devotions. The book of acts, Paul and others, uses the Old Testament to show Christ and show the gospel. It's good for all of those things. What you have to understand is that the Old Testament is partial, it's incomplete. [00:29:32] It's meant to prepare people for the coming of the messiah, Jesus Christ. And so, yes, God did communicate truth through the Old Testament prophets. And these were truly great men of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. [00:29:48] But the revelation that came through these men was partial, incomplete, fragmentary, it contained shadows, right? But Christ, on the other hand, is the one to whom that whole Old Testament was pointing forward towards saying, he's the one, he's the ultimate trust in him. So don't go back to the shadows. The partial. Christ is the greatest prophet who fully reveals God's word and makes so much of the Old Testament make complete sense because he is the fulfillment of it, all of which the Old Testament was just shadows. [00:30:27] Christ absolutely towers above the Old Testament prophets. In his revelation, he's the consummation of it all. Christ is God's son come to earth from the Father. Christ's revelation is final, it's complete and it puts everything together for us. [00:30:51] Christ fulfills everything that the Old Testament prophets were pointing the Jews towards. He's the consummation, he's what they were looking forward to. His message is complete, his message is superior. Why go back to the partial? It's part of what the author is arguing. Christ is God come to earth. And you can have no better, no clearer communication than God coming to us. [00:31:17] And Christ in his saving work, Christ in his death on the cross as a full payment for all of our sin is superior. [00:31:26] The author of Hebrews labors that point his death on the cross, his full payment for all of our sin. It's finished. It's complete. It's superior to any Old Testament sacrifice. If you continue going through the book of Hebrews, you'll see the author labors the point that those Old Testament priests had to offer sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. That priest died. Another priest came along. He offered sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice, generation after generation, Old Testament priests offering sacrifice after sacrifice. Why so many sacrifices? Because they were shadows. They weren't the ultimate real thing, Jesus on cross sacrifice, was it? Jesus declared, it is finished. So why go back to the partial? Why go back to where you have to have priests continually offering sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice when they're not the final thing? It's part of the argument, the book of Hebrews. [00:32:24] So you've got Christ in his saving work, his complete work, his death on the cross, a full payment for all of our sins. It's superior to anything in the Old Testament. And furthermore, Christ's resurrection, his resurrection from the grave to newness of life towards God, the sheer power of his resurrection is incomparably superior to anything the Old Testament might offer or the world might offer. He is incomparably superior to absolutely anything found in the Old Testament, in any other religion, in any philosophy or approach to life. He's superior. And this makes Christ worth following after and even suffering for your faith than anything else. He's worth it. That's the point here. [00:33:11] And so what was happening to those hebrew Christians to whom this book was written was they were suffering for their faith. They were hurting. [00:33:23] Many of them were probably dazed and confused in the persecution. And as a result, they were tempted to escape their suffering by going back to the jewish religion so the Jews would stop persecuting them. [00:33:39] In other words, they were asking, is it really worth it to keep following Christ? Enter the book of Hebrews, declaring, it is. [00:33:49] It really is. [00:33:51] And maybe you're wondering if coming to faith in Christ, or even if your present faith in Christ really is worth it, if it's actually worth all you might potentially lose or might undergo for the sake of Christ. And so what the book of Hebrews here is doing, even right here in just these first two verses, is revealing this great truth in the most glorious of ways, Christ is worth it. He's worth if you lose a friend or friends, if you lose your job, if you end up in prison, even if it comes to death, Christ is worth it all. [00:34:32] He's worth it. In his incomparable revelation, in his incomparable person, in his incomparable salvation benefits to all who believe Christ is worth it beyond your wildest dreams. Oh, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You and your household. Amen. Let's pray. [00:34:56] Lord God, your word is incredible. [00:35:02] Your revelation is astounding. It's superior, it's glorious, it's magnificent. It reveals Christ and the way and the truth and the life. [00:35:16] Help us. [00:35:17] Those who may be struggling in their faith, maybe even wavering in their faith, use this text, use your word. Use the book of Hebrews to strengthen their faith and reinforce their faith. [00:35:34] For those who may in the future be tempted, bring this text back to their minds and their hearts. [00:35:40] For those who may not yet believe, give them the desire to embrace Christ. Even now, even today, this morning. For this is the day of salvation. [00:35:51] Thank you for your word. Thank you for your revelation. In Jesus name, amen.