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Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Welcome to Shure Foundation Baptist Church. If you take your seats, grab your blue hymnals. Open up to page 276. We're going to sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing, 276. In your blue hymnal, 276. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Sing it out on the first. Everlasting Lord, late in time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin home. Hail, then flesh, the Godhead see, Hail, thine darnant deity, Pleased as men with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel, Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King. Hail, the heaven-born of peace, Hail, the Son of righteousness, Light and life to all He brings, Wished with healing in His wings, While He lay His glory by, Born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth, Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn the last. Our desire of nations come, Fix in us Thy humble home, Rise, O home in the green sea, Cruise in us the surface, And at on likeness now we face, Step by and image in His place, Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in His love, Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King. Amen. All right, go ahead and turn to page 277. Sing Silent Night, 277. Sing an alto on the first. Silent Night, 277. Silent Night, 277. Sing an alto on the first. Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, all is bright, Round yon world and mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent Night, Holy Night, Shepherds quake at the sight, Glories creep from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing hallelujah, Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born. Silent Night, Holy Night, Son of God, Love's pure light, Radiant beam from thy holy grace, With the dawn of evening grace, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth on the last, Silent Night, Holy Night, Wondrous star, Silent Night, When we meet on the sea, Hallelujah to our King, Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born. All right, good singing. We'll now have the announcements. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Shure Foundation. Let's take our bulletins and go through some announcements. We actually have a bulletin this time, so that's great. If you need a bulletin, would you lift up your hands? One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. All right, on our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear his son and shall call his name Emmanuel. That's Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, our service times. Our Sunday morning preaching service is at 10.30 a.m. Our Sunday evening service is at 3.30 p.m. and our Thursday Bible study is at 6.30 p.m. We're starting a brand new book tonight. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter number 1 and our soloing times are listed below. We didn't have soloing. Did anybody get saved today? No? Okay, we had some people out soloing today, and so thank you for your faithfulness, and we will have soloing tomorrow at 3. Are you still planning on that time, Brother Sean? 3 p.m.? And that's over in Gresham, or the outskirts of Portland, East Portland, and then Friday, or, excuse me, Saturday, soloing is done by Brandon. That should be 12.30 p.m., and if you look down, you can see the salvation, baptisms, and attendance from last week and our upcoming events. Of course, we already had Christmas, and we had a great Christmas day. We had the children sing to us, and that was really cute and fun, and we were getting a lot of comments from how great the kids did, and so it was a lot of fun. That's why I like having the kids do it. It's a lot better than the adults. Anyway, we had a great dinner. All the prime rib was really good, and we waited until the very end to slice it all open, and it just kind of made it all that much better, so I don't know who alls I tried. I tried to stab a piece of everyone, but I had this one that had cloves of garlic stuffed into it. I think that was Brother Ramone's. Oh, man. No? Is that yours, Miss Crystal? Big, giant cloves. So I'd take the garlic, and then I'd take a little bite, and then, mm, oh, man, it was good. Anyway, I just want to say thank you for everybody for helping make Christmas Day here a success. I know a lot of work goes into all that, and so appreciate everybody for all the different various aspects of where you serve. Really appreciate that, and we had a candlelight service, kind of. It was still 1.30 in the afternoon, but it was dark enough outside that it still had the effect, so it was really nice. Got to sing a lot of songs, and so it was good, and both my sermons combined were less than probably my sermons are going to be tonight, so... Yeah, lock the bar of the doors, everybody. You're not going anywhere. I'm just joking. You're like, can I leave now? I'm sick. I'm sick. Anyway, so New Year's Eve, we have a game night coming up. That's this Saturday, so we are still going to have sewing on Saturday, and we're going to have sewing on New Year's. Why not? You know, we'll get all the hungover people, but at least they'll hear the gospel if they give us a chance. Friday night, I mean, excuse me, Saturday night at 5 p.m. is when we're going to start, so if you spill into Soul winning and get here early, you know, no problem. That's fine, but nothing will be set up, so we'll probably have to have some people help set up some tables and stuff, but that's not a big deal, but after Soul, it'll probably be, you know, there'll probably be some time after Soul winning if you want to stop by and get a snack or whatever you want to get to bring, but it's kind of bring your own snacks, bring your own drinks, and of course the non-alcoholic kind. I shouldn't have to say that in a Baptist church, but the one time I don't say it, someone's going to bring us some cider that's not exactly non-alcoholic, and that would be bad, so non-alcoholic, we're teetotalers here. We don't drink and do drugs and use alcohol and all that stuff, so anyway, so bring a game, a board game. Obviously make sure it's appropriate. We're not playing Twister here or anything like that, so make sure that, obviously, just think about would you play this, should you play this game at church? Should you play this game at home? You know, if those are questions and you're like no and no, then don't bring that game, but we will have the, we can set the ping pong table back up and we can have the foosball going and you can bring other games. It doesn't have to be board games or whatever, but just again, make sure it's appropriate and there'll be a lot of little kids running around and stuff like that, so we just got to make sure that we're paying attention to our kids even though we're here having a good time and fellowshipping, so just make sure you know where they are and what they're doing and what they're playing and all that kind of stuff, okay? So that's, at 9 o'clock, we're going to pray in the new year. Together I'll have some men. Probably we'll pray around some of the men and then I'll close it off. We're just going to ask God for his blessings for another year at our church, and God always blesses our church, but I definitely don't want to go into the new year without God's blessings, amen? So then January 1st, we're going to have church, but the times are going to be different, so it'll be an 11 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. service. Those have kind of gotten popular. I don't know if you think it's popular or not, but I kind of like it sometimes, but it is kind of a tight schedule. I don't know about the soul wanting then. We might have to bump that other time. I kind of didn't plan on soul wanting for some reason in the years, but I do want to do that. I might change that time, that second time, to maybe, I don't know, 2.30 or something, so I still want to squeeze some soul wanting in there and you'd be able to bring a lunch or something or get lunch somewhere. There's not going to be a lot of places open, so I might end up getting some kind of food for everybody. I don't know. We'll figure it out, but I got a couple more days to figure it all out, so you just come to church, and I'll take care of the rest, okay? And then, let's see, we have the New Testament challenge starting, and that's a 30-day challenge where you read the whole New Testament in 30 days, and I think that the plan is you have two full cheat days, so if you mess up or you don't read enough or whatever it is, then you can catch up, but it's nine chapters a day. That gives you two leftover cheat days. I'm pretty sure that's what the plan is, but if you want to read eight chapters a day, you can just read it eight chapters every single day for the whole 30 days, but then you can't miss anything, and you'll have the whole thing done, and challenge will be won, and with that challenge being won, there'll be a nice prize at the end of that time. Please email me at the church email address, sherifoundationbaptistatgmail.com, and let me know that you did it. We got some guys that are trying to do the Iron Man challenge, the one day, read it in one day, which takes about 15 hours, unless you read it in two times speed. Seven and a half hours, right? I don't know. It's hard to read that fast for a consistent seven and a half hours, though, so you really got to be paying attention to do that, and you have to kind of practice doing that kind of stuff, so anyway, so for everybody else, we're doing the normal challenge, okay, but as soon as you get it done, just please email me, and let me know that you got it done, and then January 15th, we're going to have Pastor Dave Berzins here preaching for both services on Sunday. That is Marxist Lucifer King Holiday Weekend, so anyway, Pastor Berzins is a great friend of mine. I've been wanting to have him out here for a long time, but he's on the East Coast. It's about a four and a half hour flight, so it just has never really worked out, but very excited to have him come here. He's a great preacher. He's a great man of God. He knows the Bible really well, and so we're very excited to have him here, and February 11th, we're going to have the Married Couples Sweetheart Banquet, so key words there are married and couples, so if you're not married, then it's not that we don't like you. We just are having this for married couples, okay? So if you're a married couple, we're going to have a banquet, and I'm still deciding on the food. Me and my wife are fighting about this, so we might be fighting until the last day. No, I'm just kidding, but I have my ideas, and she has her ideas, and I'm the man, so it's going to be whatever I pick. No, we're just still trying to figure it out. That's all, but it's going to be a good time. Pastor Bruce Mihiel will be here from First Works Baptist Church down in Los Angeles, and he'll be here preaching that banquet, and he's also going to be preaching for us on the 12th, which is the next day, which is Sunday, and so lots of exciting things going on. I got pretty much my whole calendar planned for next year, so it's a pretty busy year for me, and that means it's busy for you, but not as busy as it is for me. So anyway, we have a lot of great things. Me and Brother Robert have been working on a video for the King James Conference, and so we're almost got it all nailed down, but we're getting close, so we'll probably be releasing that what, maybe tomorrow or something. Sometime tomorrow, maybe the day after, maybe. If I don't keep messing with everything, then obviously we've got a trip to Detroit planned in April, just lots of different things going on, and I'm also trying to get a spot where we can watch the new King James documentary in a theater. So we're trying to get that figured out, so we'll see what happens, but we'll see if anybody will let us. It's been a long time since we got to see a movie in a movie theater, right? So I'm excited about that. Hopefully we can get something going. Anyway, we're a family-integrated church. That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please utilize the mother-baby rooms and dad-baby room for your convenience. Please make sure that the back rows are for families with young children, and the rockers and gliders are for pregnant nursing mothers and elders only. Please no dads in the mother-baby room, no mothers in the dad-baby room, and no unattended children in any area of the building. Please just keep foods and snacks out of the assembly area, which is this area where we're all congregating, and silence your cell phones or place them on airplane mode for the rest of the service. If you wouldn't mind, escorts to your vehicles are available by the ushers, and they would be happy to walk you to your car if you need assistance. They're the guys with the jackets, and they have a pen that says Usher on them. The guys that also look like they work for the CIA, they have the little earpieces in and stuff like that. So they're here for your protection, and they're a great bunch of guys, and if you aren't 100% sure that you're going to heaven when you die, please just make sure before you leave today that you know for sure that you're going to heaven. If you need to be baptized, I believe I ran the baptismal. Did somebody turn that off tonight when they first got here? Anybody? Yeah, brother CJ. So it is probably still really warm. If you have never been scripturally baptized, I'd love to baptize you. We can do that right after the service. I would just need to talk to you for a couple minutes right afterwards or one of the ushers. But also, if it's your first time visiting here, we're very happy to hear, and we appreciate you coming. And we do have a gift packet that's on the other side of that little partition wall, and if it's your first time here, please grab one of those on your way out as a token of our appreciation of you being a first-time guest. And it's just got some information about our church. It's got some nice Christmas-themed pens in it now, some DVDs and stuff like that. So we appreciate you being here, and we thank you for coming. And let's see. I think that's all I have for announcements. It was kind of long. Let's sing another song. We'll receive the offering. All right, go ahead and turn in your blue hymnal to page 291. Singing, What Child Is This, 291. 291. Sing it out on the first. What child is this who laid to rest on Mary's lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet when then comes sleep of shepherd's blood for keeping? This, this, this Christ, the King whom shepherds guard and angels sing, pays taste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary. Why lies he in such need a stake where oxen has a feeding? Good Christian, fear for sinners here, the silent word is pleading. This is Christ, the King whom shepherds guard and angels sing, pays taste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary. On the third. So bring him ancients gold and merkle as the King to all. King of kings, how patient, brave, the lovely heart is broken. This, this is Christ, the King whom shepherds guard and angels sing, pays taste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary. All right, brother Sean, would you pray for the offering? Thank you, Lord, for this day. Thank you, Lord, so much for coming out. Thank you, Lord, for coming out. Thank you, Lord, for coming out. Thank you, Lord, for coming out. Thank you, Lord. The book of Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. In Hebrews chapter one, the Bible reads, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 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. 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 son, 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 footstool. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Father Timo, would you pray for us? Amen. Alright, we're in a new book and that is Hebrews chapter one as you just read through. And Hebrews is one of my favorite books of the New Testament. I really like it. Of course, when I start thinking about every book of the New Testament, I'm like, that one's my favorite too. So the New Testament's great, right? So I just want to do a brief overview of the book of Hebrews, which is very brief. But the title of the sermon tonight is The Supremacy of God's Son, The Supremacy of God's Son. So just a brief overview, like I said, there's no writer, as you noticed, ascribed to the book of Hebrews. It doesn't say Paul, who at sundry times, or it doesn't say Peter, who at sundry times. So there's no author attributed to this book. And that's rare for the New Testament. But I believe personally that it is the Apostle Paul that wrote this book. That's my personal belief. I know a lot of people agree with that. Can I say it definitively 100%? No, I can't say it definitively 100%. But I can give you some reasons why I do believe that. So I believe it was written by the Apostle Paul and it does make sense considering the fact that he is very in-depth in the knowledge of the Scriptures. He was a Pharisee before he got saved. He understood the law very well. But obviously he was unsaved. He held his degrees and all of his Master of Theology and all that stuff in very low degree and said he counts it but dung. But it doesn't stop the fact that he probably knew the Bible pretty well before he ever got saved. And so Paul understood the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament very well. As you can see by his other writings which we've done a lot of Bible studies that Paul wrote for sure. And the other thing is obviously Paul has an in-depth knowledge of the Hebrews themselves. So he knows a lot of things that are Hebrew. He said he would count himself a curse for his brethren in the flesh. He loved the Hebrews a lot. And we're talking about according to the flesh, his kinsmen, he loved them a lot. And I believe that he didn't put his name and attach his name to the book because he wanted people to read it that were probably Hebrews. Because who needed to understand this book? It's the people that were probably either not saved and then maybe got saved and need to understand how the New Testament has changed things. Obviously there's no more Levitical priesthood. It's now the priesthood of Melchizedek which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's just lots of different changes. There's no more carnal ordinances. There's no more sacrifices of animals and things like that. And no more Sabbath day keeping. We don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore. The Bible's very clear about that. But this whole book lays out a lot of different things. And here's a principle that we need to understand before we start studying this book is that if the New Testament changes it, that's the only thing that makes it change from the Old Testament to the New. So like the moral laws are still in effect. People act like just the whole law is thrown out. We don't have to worry about any of that stuff. Now we've never had to keep the law to be saved. Obviously. We believe that salvation is by faith and it always has been. But there are certain things that were put into place because, you know, of transgressions. God gave Moses the law. And so basically Paul's just showing you how the New Testament converted, you know, everything kind of converted over to this New Testament belief that, you know, just from the first verse where it says, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past by the fathers, by the prophets, unto the fathers by the prophets. So that's how God spoke to people in the past. But it says in verse 2, Hath in these last days spoken unto his son, by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. So how does God speak to us in the last days? By his son. So now did he still use prophets? Obviously he did. He used apostles. Also, of course, we got the book of Hebrews here that we're studying. He did use, you know, he used people to speak through, but it's through his son. So when Paul, you know, got saved, he went up by revelation. Who taught him the Bible? I mean, who taught him the New Testament principles and the mysteries of the things of God? It's the Lord Jesus Christ telling those things. It's very clear for the book of Galatians. But the other reason I believe that, you know, Paul is the writer of Hebrews is the writing style of Hebrews. Because there's a lot of things that Paul says that are similar in other epistles, and if you kind of look at some of these terms that he says, like go ahead and turn to Hebrews chapter 10, but the terms that Paul uses, you know, if you did like a search of that phrase, when you look in the phrases in the New Testament, you can see that, number one, he's quoting things from the Old Testament, because you'll see a lot of Old Testament of him saying that exact thing, of, you know, the Old Testament references, but then you'll see in the New Testament Paul the Apostle saying those in different books like Corinthians and Romans and Philippians and things like that. So I believe that the writing styles are different. So, but the book of Hebrews, before I get into that, the book of Hebrews is written for us to understand the responsibilities of former Old Testament Israel under the New Covenant, and to explain the fulfillments that Christ made under the law, it explains some of the laws that are done away in Christ, I already mentioned that, but also there's a lot of great doctrine, there's a lot of great admonition, and a lot of great exhortation in this book for us to do great things, like to go to church, Hebrews 10.25, and about not falling away from the faith. Things like that, basic doctrines is also taught in here, and helps us to understand the difference between, you know, milk and strong meat. But I'll give you, so in Hebrews chapter 10, I'm going to give you a little example of Paul's writing style here. So, and some of these words, or phrases you'll see in other parts, if you just do, you know, at home, when you have your own time, just plug some of these in, but verse 32 says, but call to remembrance the former days, so the former days, if you look that up, you'll see Paul says that a lot in his other epistles, or he says it multiple times, in which after you were illuminated you endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst you became companions of them that were so used. So that term, whilst, Paul uses that a lot too. And then here's another term he uses, for he had compassion of me in my bonds. So who do you think that that's talking about? Like who's, this is Paul's, I mean this is things that Paul said. You know, that you had compassion on me in my bonds. You know, he's obviously known, there's epistles that are called the prison epistles, you know, that Paul is attributed to writing. So like, obviously a lot of the apostles probably went to jail and things like that, but this is just something that Paul would say. And took joyful, joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. That's another term right there that Paul would use a lot. For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Another term that he uses, receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now, here's another term. Think if you've ever heard Paul say this, or read this in the New Testament. Now the just shall live by faith. Isn't that something that Paul says a lot? He says it in Romans, he says it in Galatians. But if any man draw back my soul, shall have no pleasure in him. So, obviously I believe it's Paul by the writing style. I believe it's Paul for various different reasons, but, you know, and maybe, you know, here's the other thing he doesn't do in this epistle. He doesn't do the ultimate, you know, the salutation of Paul. Usually Paul has a salutation where he says Paul an apostle to the church in Smyrna, or whatever, you know, whatever church he's addressing, to the church at Ephesus, the church of Philippi, or whatever. He always says that and then he always signs off and makes sure you understand that it's him that wrote the letter. He doesn't do that in this book. And I think that the reason why, again, is he doesn't want to alert the Jews that it's him writing it. And I'm going to have you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 16. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 16. And, you know, last week we kind of finished up our study in 2 Peter, and Peter says that Paul says a lot of things that are hard to be understood. He kind of writes in a way that sometimes, you know, and obviously if you're not saved you're going to have a lot of difficulty understanding anything that the Bible says, but Paul does say some things and he words things differently. He's obviously an educated man. But 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse number 16, if I can ever get there. So, this is something I added. I was just thinking about this. But, you know, he doesn't give that salutation. He doesn't give the ending that he normally would give. But, you know, I think that he's doing this because he's trying to catch them with guile. Now, guile is not always a bad thing. In general it's used as a negative term. But what guile actually means is cunning intelligence. So, cunning is something that someone's skilled at. Like they're a cunning, you know, swordsman or, you know, a cunning sower or whatever. But cunning intelligence is what guile is. Now, look at the verse that I had you turn to. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 16. The Bible says, But be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. So, normally the term being crafty and being caught with guile isn't a positive thing. But Paul is using it because he was doing it in a way to be positive with them. And the clue is given to us in verse 15 where it says, And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I did not burden you. So, how did he get to where they would trust him a little bit more to hear the word of God, to hear the preaching of the word? Well, he did that because he didn't ask for a love offering. He didn't accept any money from them. Because in reality, people, you know, think with their pocketbook a lot. So, there's a stigma where preachers are just out for people's money and stuff. So, what is Paul talking about here? He's like, well, I was being crafty and I caught you with guile. That just means that he was using his cunning intelligence to kind of draw them in so he could preach what he wanted to preach to them and they wouldn't think, well, he just wants my money. But he didn't accept their money, right? So, that's what it says in verse 16. It says, I did not burden you. What's he talking about? He's talking about going back to verse 14, Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be burdensome to you. I seek not yours but you. So, he doesn't care about the money. He wants to make sure that that's not what his focus is on so that they'll listen to what he has to say. Because, and that's why I think that he doesn't address himself as Paul, an apostle, you know, of the tribe of Benjamin or whatever. He doesn't say that in this book because he wants to draw those Hebrews in and have them listen. Because, I mean, if you've watched Marching to Zion, you know that the modern day Jews hate the apostle Paul still to this day. They hated him then. They were trying to kill him in the book of Acts and every place he went, they were having people trying to murder him and turn people against him. And, you know, even in the Marching to Zion, the guy was like, it's Paul, it was Paul's preaching. You know, he said that we, you know, we killed Jesus. And it's like, that's what the Bible says, that they killed Jesus. But anyway, I digress. But that's why I think, you know, I had that big old build up just because I wanted you to understand that I believe that Paul didn't say, hey, this is a book written by Paul so that he could draw them in with guile. You know, that's my theory. That's the Thompson theory on this. But why else would he not do it? Because you can tell that the writing style is all the same. Now let's move on to the rest of the sermon. And point number one tonight is Jesus Christ reigns supreme in all things. Jesus Christ reigns supreme in all things. Let's look back at verse number one in chapter number one here in our text. And we're going to move back and forth, but we're always going to come back to Hebrews chapter one. And Hebrews chapter one verse one says, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners. So different ways, different times, spake and time pass by the Father, or unto the Father, excuse me, by the prophets. So how did God talk to people in the Old Testament? Through the prophets. In different times, in different manners, but he still spoke to them by the prophets, right? Hath in these last days, so are we living in the last days? We are living in the last days. And Jesus came about two thousand years ago, more than two thousand years ago. And so are we still in the last days then? Well we're probably more in the last days than we were when this was written. Right? So it might seem like two thousand years is a long time, but as I preached last week, a thousand years to God is like one day and a day is a thousand years. Meaning time means nothing to God. It might seem like a long time for us, but it's not really that long of a time. But anyway, he hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. So there's a lot of great doctrine in this first chapter. I mean obviously it's the last days. He's spoken to us by his Son. So everything in the New Testament, you can just kind of have it attributed that God's Son spoke these things to us, whether it was through the Apostle Paul, whether it was through Peter, whether it was through Jude, whether it was through James, or the Apostle John, the Apostle Matthew, Luke, or Mark, or any of these other people. It's through Jesus Christ the Son. The Son is speaking to us, and the main message of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ died so that he could reconcile sinners to God. I mean that's the main point of it. So God wants us all to be saved. And he sent Jesus, his only begotten Son, into the world to reconcile the world through Jesus Christ. And he's appointed him the heir of all things. I preach about this a lot, but we are also heirs with Christ because if you're saved today and you're born again, then you're either a son or a daughter of God by faith. And that means you're adopted into the family of God. You're not the only begotten because God has many sons and daughters, but only one only begotten Son. And so it says by whom he made the worlds. So Jesus Christ made the worlds. Isn't that what it says? Now turn to Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 and keep your finger here in Hebrews. Turn to Colossians chapter 1 verse 15. So the first point is Jesus Christ reigns supreme in all things. He's above all things. He made all things. All things were made by him. He's the heir of all things. He made the worlds. And it says in verse 15 in Colossians 1, it says, Who is the image of the invisible God? So what does these first statements here tell you? Well, an image is something that's tangible that you can see. Obviously, a graven image is an image of, it's like a picture of something that exists, right? So, but if you're an image of the invisible God, to us that doesn't really make sense. But if, you know, the Bible is saying here that God is invisible. And even if you could see God the Father for who he was, you would die instantaneously. But Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, okay? So if God, you know, he's what God would look like, right? So Jesus looks a lot like the Father. They look very close and similar to each other. But it says, The firstborn of every creature, for by him, that's talking about Jesus, were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. So the Bible's not stuttering here. It's telling us exactly who made all things, you know, whether it's something visible or invisible. There's a lot of things that we can see in this world, isn't there? But there's also a lot of things that are invisible. You can't see certain even, you know, microbes and bacteria. You have to look under a magnifying glass or what do you call those things? Huh? Microscope. To look at certain things because they're just naked to the human eye. But Jesus made all those things too. I mean, we don't even think about the things that we can't see. But, you know, they can see you when they go down your throat and give you an infection. But all things were made by him. They were created by him and for him. And he is before all things. But what does that mean? He's number one, right? And by him all things consist. So the fact that you're here, breathing air, taking up my oxygen tonight, is because God allows you to consist. You know, you think about like the consistency when you're like, you know, making mashed potatoes, for instance. I mean, that's kind of something that's been on everybody's mind. Mashed potatoes, how good they are, right? But don't you have to blend them up or however you do it, chop them or whatever. You know, use the smasher. I don't know what they're called. But you know what I'm talking about, right? You skin them and then you mash them with the masher thing or whatever. But don't you try to get your mashed potatoes to a certain consistency to make it more palatable or whatever. So, I mean, we all pretty much know what consist means. The fact that we're together, the fact that we consist, that we exist, is by him. So all these atheists out there that curse God's name and call him the Magic Sky Daddy and just say all kinds of blasphemous things, like literally they don't realize that their very life and their existence is only allowed because God allows them to breathe air. God allows them to take that breath and use that tongue that he created many, many years ago to sit there and use it for the most wicked purposes that they possibly can. And they use it to try to turn other people away from the faith and to try to get people to not believe, try to make all kinds of false science so that people will, you know, the devil has all kinds of tricks and things that he wants and he uses men for and one of them is science falsely so called where he'll sit there and try to get people to believe some of the dumbest things ever. I mean, because in reality, the Bible says, the fool has said in his heart that there is no God. So a fool means someone that's stupid. Some people don't like that word stupid, but that's what fool means. And so if you believe that there is no God, you're an idiot. You are stupid. You are a fool. Now, you can get mad at me all you want, but that's what fool means. So if the Bible says that the fool has said in his heart there is no God, I mean, that's a pretty stupid thing to believe that there is no God, but yet there's people out there saying it. You know, a lot of people out there say it. The school system is preaching it. The school system and all these different history channels and stuff, I mean, the history channel actually used to have history on it when it first started and now it's always a woman reading the Bible scriptures. It's always casting doubt upon who Jesus was. It's casting doubt upon all the Bible stories and then they bring in ancient aliens as if that's a scientific fact. Even though all over the place where you see these different megaliths and all these different things, you can see the rope marks where it was pulled by some sort of an animal or slave labor or whatever was used to move it, but it's pretty weird that an alien technology needed a rope to drag something into place. But anyway, I don't know why I'm going off on that, but it's just all the stuff that people believe is garbage. In reality, the reason why we consist, the reason why we exist is because God made us. He made this earth. He made the heavens. He made everything and everything was made by him and for him. Verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. And that means, that word preeminence means first place. So, that in all things. So he is supreme above all beings. He made everything. So, isn't the maker better than the thing that's made? I mean that's just, it's like, he who built the house is, you know, is the builder, right? And the people that live in it are just the people that it was made for. So, he made everything and so let's look back in our scriptures at Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3. It says, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. Now again that word image there, it says express image. So, we're talking about this is what he looks like. He's the brightness of the glory of God. He is the image of the invisible God. The express image of his, look at that word, what's it say there? Person. People will judge our belief on the trinity and say, you know, because we say that God is three persons, it's three persons, one God, right? So, God has three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Well, where do we get that? Well, it says express image of his, notice it says his person. So, God is not a woman. I know that, you know, some people in the, you know, the government can't figure that out, but, you know, when they say a man, a woman, what in the world? Anyway, but God is masculine. You just have to get over that. The fact is he made man in his own image, and then he made woman from a man's rib. So, but he's the express image of his person, so God is what? He's what? A person. He is a person, and he reveals himself in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, right? So, and the definition of a person is someone regarded as an individual. So, the express image of his person, so he's the image of the person of God the Father, isn't he? He looks like God, you know, he talks like God, he does the same works as God, I'm talking about Jesus Christ here, but he is the Son. You know, the Son didn't pray to himself, he prayed to the Father, okay? The Holy Spirit is also God. So, now it's like, well, you're separating them. Yeah, I understand that, but at this church we just believe that the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, all three are one God. So, I still, I believe in one God that reveals himself in three persons, okay? Why do I believe that? Well, that's what the Bible teaches. So, I mean, it doesn't matter if it makes sense to you. You're like, that doesn't make sense. One plus one plus one doesn't equal one, it equals three. But, you know, God is above your math equations, isn't he? So, we might think we understand, where does God come from? I don't know, he always has been, he always will be. How do you understand that, how do you wrap your mind around that? Because you had a beginning, didn't you? How do you understand that? Because we're not, we might have eternal life, but it starts from a certain point. But then we're also, you know, Christ died for us and he was slain before the foundation of the earth. How does that, how do you understand that? How do you understand that we're right now seated in heavenly places? You're like, no, I'm seated down in my seat. Well, I don't know. But, that's what the Bible says, you know what? At this church, we believe the Bible's true. So, I know that a lot of churches don't believe that, but that's what we believe at this church. So, anyway, it says that he's the express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power. God's word is so powerful, it upholds all things. You know what, I don't think God has to think about holding everything together at the same time, 24-7. It's easy to him. It's not hard. Is anything too hard for the Lord? No. Is it hard for him to save people? No. Is it hard for him to make things? No. Is it hard for the earth to go around in circles and spin and all of the stuff that it does? No. Is it hard for him? I mean, nothing is too hard for the Lord. And yet, he loves people that he made and wants to have, you know, a special relationship with that person. You know, he does want, I mean, people will say, well, Jesus isn't a religion, you know, Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship. Now, I would just say it's both. It is a religion and it is a relationship. So, we do have a relationship just like a mother has a relationship with her children, a dad has a relationship with his children. You know, God made things so that we can understand the things that are and the things that he is. How do we understand what sons and daughters are? Well, he made sons and daughters, okay? And so, when we say, well, how to explain the son and the father relationship, why do we have to explain it? We understand it. You know, there's a father and there's a son, right? It's not that hard. But anyway, so it says that he, upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself, purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. So, he purged our sins by himself. He did it. He did all the work. So, all these people that teach a workspace salvation are wrong. He's the one that paid for our sins. He's the one that purged our sins and he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Once he completed everything he needed to do, he placed the blood on the mercy seat, he took his seat next to God the father on high, right? So, and then it says, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than name. So, there's a lot of things that Hebrews, the book of Hebrews dispels, and one of the things is that Jesus is an angelic being. Jesus is not an angelic being. It says that he's made better than the angels, doesn't it? So, does that mean he's better than them? Yeah. I mean, I know that this seems pretty elementary, but that's what the Bible says. You know, he's better than them. So, yeah, you know, God's not always fair with everything, is he? In some people's minds. Well, what do you mean he's better? He's better. The maker is better than the thing made. Jesus Christ made all things, so why wouldn't he be better than an angelic being? Anyway, let's sort of, let's see, let's turn over to Acts 4, verse 12. So, he is so much better than the angels, he's obtained a more excellent name than they. Now, the Jehovah's false witnesses will say, well, Jesus is Michael the archangel. I thought he was better than the angels, though. How is he Michael the archangel? See, people just don't understand that there's differences between angels in the Bible, and I'll get into that here in a minute, but his name is more excellent than any angel's name. His name is better than any name. Acts 4, 12 says, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. His name is so excellent, so much better than anybody else's name, that it's the only name under heaven that you can be saved by. So, anybody that says, well, I'm saved, I believe in God. Okay, well, sometimes I'll ask, well, what God do you believe in? Because now you just never know what people are going to say. I mean, you really have to get down to the specifics. And most people act like, you know, we're asking a dumb question when you ask that question. They're like, uh, Jesus, you know. But it's like, sometimes you've got to nail people down, because they could be saying Thor or Odin or whatever, all these pagan false gods or whatever. But if they haven't been saved by Jesus Christ, they're not saved. If they haven't called upon the name of Jesus Christ, they're not saved. When the Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, you're not calling on any other name besides Jesus, unless you're a Spanish speaker, then you call on Jesus, or whatever. Whatever language you speak, and however Jesus' name is translated in that way, then that's the name you got saved by, right? So, Jesus is supreme. He's, you know, the first point is Jesus Christ reigns supreme in all things. So, Jesus is supreme and power and name and majesty and works and creation. Jesus Christ reigns supreme. I pretty much nailed all that down, that he consists, he's better than everything, including the angels. Number two, tonight Jesus is not a created angelic being, he is the God-man, Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is not a created angelic being, he is the God-man, Christ Jesus. Look at Hebrews 1-5, it says, For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? So, people say, oh the sons of God in Genesis chapter number six, those were, you know, the bad angels that came down and married fair human wives, and then had these offspring called the Nephilim. You know, Nephilim, they like to just use these words that just seem like, ooh that's really cool, the Nephilim. And they make all these videos, there's all kinds of videos online about the Nephilim. And really Nephilim just means giant in, you know, it's the Hebrew word for giant, Nephilim. Okay? But, the doctrine that, when it says in Genesis chapter six that the sons of God came in unto the daughters, saw that the daughters of men were fair and they made wives of them or whatever, and then they had these children, well they're trying to say that the sons of God it's talking about is angelic beings. But, if they're fallen angels, how are they the sons of God again? Because, is he going to call, first of all, this verse here just puts that to bed where it says, For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? I mean that just should lay the whole argument to rest right there. If it says sons of God in this book, anywhere from Genesis to Revelation, it is not talking about angels. Of course I'm talking about angelic being angels. Okay, let me make sure that's clear and I'll explain that here in just a second. But, that's what the Bible teaches. So, there's no human hybrid, you know, giant race that was 450 foot tall and all this other stuff. I've preached about this before. You can just look at a sermon where I talk about the Nephilim or whatever, the false Nephilim doctrine. But, you can look at those because I don't really have time to get super into that tonight. But, you know, the Bible says what it says. And, if it says that he's never called one of his sons, you know, an angel his son. You know, and it's talking about the Son of God here. It's not just talking about rando sons. It's talking about the Son. And it says 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 of the world, he saith and let all the angels of God worship him. So, he's not something that worships God. Angels worship him because he is God. Jesus Christ. Okay? And it says, and of the angels he saith, who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. So, this is obviously talking about angelic being angels. Okay? And it says, but unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. So, this is God the Father saying to the Son, thy throne, O God. Here's a really good proof text of Jesus the Son being called God. By God the Father himself. It says, but unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God. He's calling the Son God. And so, you notice that's a capital G right there, right? So, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. So, it's not talking about, you know, some judge or something. It's talking about the Son of God being God and his throne is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. So, the Jehovah's false witnesses will also say and other people that Jesus Christ is not God. But that verse there lays that waste by saying, you know, by quoting God as calling, God calling the Son God, okay? So, now turn to John chapter 1 verse 1. John chapter 1 verse 1. Jesus Christ is not an angelic being. He is the God-man Christ Jesus. So, he's not created. Now, when he came down in Bethlehem's manger and was born of the Virgin Mary, he's the offspring of God. He is the Son of God. So, he has God as his father and a human being as his mother, Mary. So, John 1 once says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Of course, everybody knows that the Word of God is Jesus Christ. It says the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. So, Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is God. All things were made by him. All things were made for him. And look at verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So, the Bible says God's never called an angel his son. Right? Isn't that what it says in verse 5? And God the Father in verse 8 calls the Son God. So, that means that he's also God. So, the Trinity, there's not a chapter on the Trinity where it's like, well, here's the Trinity chapter that explains the Trinity to us. That's not in the Bible, but there's many verses that back up the belief of the Trinity. So, because the Holy Spirit is called God in the Bible. Because when Ananias and Sapphira, they dropped dead because they lied to who? The Holy Ghost. They lied to the Holy Ghost about how much money they were going to bring and donate or whatever. And he says, you haven't lied unto men, but unto God. So, why did they drop dead? Because they tried to lie to God and hold back a price of the money. So, if he said, why'd you lie to the Holy Ghost? And then he says, you haven't lied to men, but to God. That means the Holy Ghost is God. Right? So, you also see a picture of the Trinity. When Stephen is stoned, you see God the Father, he sees the Son, and he was filled with the Spirit of God. So, you have the Trinity in that picture there. Lots of different pictures. You have Genesis 1, 1-1 through 1-3 that obviously have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in there. In the beginning, God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God was on the face of the waters. So, why am I making such a big deal about this? Well, the Scripture is helping us to understand who Jesus is. And it's right from the get-go, he's smashing, you know, because the Jews will say, well, he was blaspheming because he made himself the Son of God. Isn't that what they said? But Paul is laying this out, or whoever the writer of Hebrews is, is laying this out and saying, no, he's not, you know, the Messiah, who is Jesus, was not just, you know, he wasn't just an angel, he was God himself. And they had a really hard time with that. They picked up stones to stone Jesus to death because he would say things like that. But, now let me help you understand something, too. Now, when the Bible uses the word angel, it's not always talking about an angelic being, okay? Sometimes it's talking about a human, and sometimes it is the angel of the Lord, which is sometimes a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. Because Christ wasn't just created the day that he was born in the manger. Christ has always existed. Christ made everything. He was in the beginning. I mean, the Bible stresses that. I've read so many Scriptures, hopefully you understand that. But the reason why I'm saying that is because the caveat of all this is that, you know, Jesus is called the angel of the Lord sometimes in the Old Testament, but the word angel just simply means messenger. It's translated as messenger when it talks about John the Baptist. And so, it's also, so you have times when it is an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament, but also a literal angel from heaven. And then you have, you know, so basically depending on the context of what kind of angel it is, because sometimes it's a man. And I'll show you just a few examples of that, but let's turn to Genesis chapter 32. Everybody knows who did Jacob wrestle with? Who did Jacob wrestle with? But yeah, everybody will say angel. Jacob wrestled with the angel. But the Bible doesn't say that he wrestled with an angel in this verse. Look at Genesis 32 verse 24, it says, And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day. It says it was a man, doesn't it? Now skip to verse 29. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. So, it says it was a man. Well I see, it's a man. Okay, well is it really a man? Because then he asked what the name of this man is. Okay, obviously he looked like a man, doesn't he? But in verse 30 it says, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. So he did see someone who looked like a man, it says he was a man. But then he says he saw God face to face and lived. How do you explain that? Well see, you could see Jesus Christ and you won't die. But if you see God the Father, you will die. And Jesus Christ the Son is still God. So, how could people see Jesus as God? Well, he was in the form of a human being. So, I'm just trying to help you understand, that obviously it never says right here that he's an angel. But you know it's not just a regular man, right? So sometimes you have to pay attention to the context of things and what's being said. Because people try to use those as gotcha things. Well, the Bible says that no man can see God and live. Well, you can't see God in the form of the Father. You can't see the Father and live. The Bible is very clear about that. When Moses said he wanted to see God, he said well I'll pass by and you can see my hindr parts. So basically, God the Father allowed him to see his form, but only the back parts of him. And he put his hand over his face so that he wouldn't see God's face because he said he would die if he saw his face. And he saw the hindr parts of God and then still glowed for what, 40 days or something like that afterwards? Turn to Judges chapter 13. Judges chapter 13. Judges chapter number 13. Here's another instance of an angel appearing in the Old Testament. Now, again, the word angel and messenger mean the same thing, okay? And I got taken to task by someone in the YouTube comments when I preached a sermon about being an independent Baptist. And they're like, you're trying to make the King James, you know, you're trying to say that the King James is wrong and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because I said that I believe that the angels in Revelation chapter 1 and Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3, that those angels are men. Well, I have very good friends that are pretty steady in the word of God and they believe the same thing. Because angels, last time I checked, no angelic beings have preached sermons to you. So why are these letters being written to angels, you know, of these churches if the angels aren't getting up and preaching what's being said? It's like, here, this is to this church, this church, there's seven churches of Asia, but I'm going to give them to these angels but they're never going to read them in front of the church. They're never going to preach them in front of the church, like that's just a weird thing to believe. But look at Genesis chapter 13 verse 17, it says, And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name? And when thy saints come to pass, we may do the honor. And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it as secret? So he's basically saying the same thing that the man said in Genesis chapter 32. And here's the thing, that the name of Jesus was hidden to us in the Old Testament. It is not given until the New Testament. And, you know, obviously not every single time an angel of the Lord appears is it, I believe, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, but I think that you just kind of have to know what's going on, what the context of the story is. And it says, So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord, and the angel did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked upon it, or looked on it, excuse me. But, so I believe that this is probably also a pre-incarnate appearing of Christ. Now, let's turn to Mark chapter 1 verse 2. And here's where they were saying like, here's, because I mentioned that John the Baptist is called the messenger. But, and because I said that the same Greek word for messenger is used for angel in the New Testament. So I'm going back to the Greek and I'm saying that the King James is wrong or whatever. That's not what I'm saying at all, I'm just saying it's just the same underlying Greek word. But, it says, As it is written in the prophets, behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee. So this is talking about John the Baptist, okay. He's called my messenger. He's a man, isn't he? So the same word, the Greek word for messenger is the same word for angel. It says, So obviously it's talking about John. He's a man, but he's also, you could say he's an angel, right? In the sense of he's a messenger of God. So, turn to Revelation chapter 2 verse 1. Revelation chapter 2 verse 1. Revelation chapter 2 verse 1. The Bible says, So, you know, Revelation is written for these seven angels. And the angel of the church of Ephesus, right? So, my point about this is that this is not talking about an angelic being. This is talking about the pastors of the churches probably who were the pastors at that time. But why would you write a letter to someone that never communicates with us? Who's communicated with an angel? Don't raise your hand please. Who's communicated with an angelic being in here? I'm not talking about when you're on acid or whatever. I'm talking about in reality, okay? You probably have never communicated with an angel and you know what? There's never been a message that I thought an angel from heaven needed to preach to you guys. An angel besides Eli has never gotten up, or CJ. They don't get up and, you know, angelic beings don't get up and read the scriptures or preach to us. Does that make sense? I mean, hopefully you understand what I'm trying to say here. That it's depending on the context of what type of angel it is, okay? So, look at Psalm chapter 78 verse 25. I just got a couple more of these and I'll move on to the next point. Psalm chapter 78 verse 25. While you're turning there, I'm going to read Psalm chapter 8 verse 5. It says, For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. That's where the quote comes from in Hebrews chapter number 1. Psalm chapter 78 verse 25. The Bible says, Man did eat angel's food. So, who ate the manna? Men, right? So, they ate angel's food. So, what type of angels is it talking about here by the context? Talking about angels that are celestial angels or whatever you want to call them. He sent them meat to the full. So, you see what I mean? So, like the context is going to depend on what kind of angel you're talking about. Look at Luke chapter 2 verse 15. That's the last one I'll have you turn to. Not for the rest of the sermon, but here. You're not getting off that easy. So, in Luke chapter 2 verse 15, of course, you know, we just had Christmas and so this is kind of fresh in our minds, but it says, And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. So, these types of angels, what would you say they are? Men, a pre-incarnate thing of Christ, or actual angels that live in heaven that God created? Yeah, the third one, right? So, I just wanted to show you some examples of how there are different types of angels. Depending on the context, that's what type of angels they are. A lot of the times it is talking about angelic beings. Even in the book of Revelation, it talks about angelic beings. But, when it's talking about writing letters to these seven churches, angels have never gotten up and preached sermons in churches that I know of. I've never seen that doctrine in the Bible. Maybe I missed it the multiple times that I've read the Bible, but I don't think so. So, the reason why I just want to make sure you understand that, that there are pre-incarnate pictures of Christ in the Old Testament where he appeared and he's called the angel of the Lord, but he's not an angel as in an angelic being. So, if you want to say he's a man, well, the scripture in Genesis 32 does describe him as a man, but it also says that he's God. But, we also know that Jesus Christ is the God-man. He's man and God at the same time. This is what the Bible teaches. And so, people can say whatever they want, but the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God and that he is man. He's better than the angels and he has a greater name than the angels. Now, number three tonight, God wants us to be like himself and love righteousness and hate and equity. This really doesn't have much to do with other than the fact that God, you know, he isn't the God that everybody thinks he is sometimes. I know that's kind of a weird way to say that, but there's a lot of people out there in this world that think that God is a certain way. The limp-wristed, long-haired, pot-smoking, dress-wearing hippie, that's not the Jesus Christ of the Bible that I read. So, people don't like the Jesus of the Bible. They hate Christianity for the most part. They hate, you know, most people say they love, you know, Islam's a great religion, all these other religions around the world are great, but they never say that about Christianity, do they? They always have negative things to say about Christianity. But, you know, that's because people say, well, he's the vengeful God of the Old Testament. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's not just the vengeful God of the Old Testament. He's also the loving God of the Old Testament. You know, God loved people in the Old Testament, too. He still loves people today. He loved people so much that he sent his only begotten son to be tortured and humiliated in front of people so that everybody could be saved. That's pretty loving. But, again, explaining this from, I think I explained a little bit of this on Christmas, that people have free will. You have a choice in whether you want to be saved or not, and so people that don't want to be saved, they want to just run down the God of the Bible because they know that he's the one that's going to judge them. They don't like that. They don't like being accountable for the things that they do. They don't like being accountable to an all-knowing, all-powerful God that's going to throw them into hell at the last day. They don't like that. But look at Hebrews chapter 1, verse 9. So God wants us to be like himself and love righteousness and hate iniquity. You know, as a Christian, we should hate sin. Right? Look at what it says in Hebrews 1, 9. It says, Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And this is talking about Jesus, isn't it? So it says he's loved righteousness and hated iniquity. So God, the Lord Jesus Christ, hates sin. He hates iniquity. And therefore, there's a clear scripture where it says that Jesus hates things. But a lot of people's Jesus wouldn't even break a branch. He wouldn't even kick a dog. He wouldn't, you know, he wouldn't malign a puppy. He wouldn't pet a cat backwards. I mean, their Jesus wouldn't hate anything. You know? But that's just not how God is. But the Bible says because he hates iniquity and he loves righteousness, that he was anointed with oil of gladness above thy fellows. What is this talking about? Well, the Bible says that he was filled with the Spirit without measure. So Jesus Christ was the most Spirit-filled man that ever walked the face of the earth. And so, you know, a good way it seems to gain God's favor is to love righteousness and to hate iniquity. Sin. Lawlessness. And maybe we can't get past some of the sins we commit because we don't hate it enough. Maybe you don't hate it at all. Maybe you have a secret love for that sin and the reason why you can't get past it is because you don't hate it. But see, Jesus hates all iniquity. Not just some iniquity, but see, he is the one that had to die for all that stuff. So, I mean, all the filthy things that people have thought, all the wicked and evil things that people have done, all that was placed upon him on the cross. And so, you know, he hates that stuff. Wouldn't you hate something that you are being pegged with that you didn't do? Everybody hates to be falsely blamed, right? But all that stuff that Jesus suffered through, he didn't deserve. He didn't deserve to go to hell for three days and three nights. But, you know, God's favor is upon those that love righteousness and hate iniquity. And so that's why it was Jesus blessed because of how much he hated iniquity. How much he loved righteousness. Turn to Amos chapter 5 verse 14. Amos chapter 5 verse 14. And, you know, sometimes if you want to get past the sin, maybe you should just pray to God that you can have a hatred for the sin that you're committing that you want to stop doing. Because I'm sure every one of us in here has a besetting sin of some sort. That you, no matter how long you've been saved, it's still just gnawing at you. You're still having a problem with it. You're still holding on to it. Maybe you kick it for a while, but then you come back to it. You know, because a besetting sin is something that's very easy. It sets you to the side. It sets you in a way that you don't want to be. Because, you know, no matter how much you think you got it conquered, it always comes back and you always end up doing it again. But see, if we had learned to hate things the way God hates things, maybe we would be able to conquer that sin. Look at what it says in Amos chapter 5 verse 14. It says, seek good and not evil that you may live. And so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you as you have spoken. Hate the evil and love the good and establish judgment in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Let love be with that, oh I'm sorry, I skipped forward. Turn to Romans chapter 12 verse 9. But, so Amos is, his advice here to people that are, you know, God's punishing and he's, you know, taking out his ire on and he's clouding up and raining on. He's saying, hey if you just seek good and not evil, then maybe God will be gracious with you. Maybe he would, if you would just learn to hate evil and love good and establish some judgment in your life, then he would be gracious to you. Look at Romans chapter 12 verse 9. It says, let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. So, you know, we don't want to be in dissimulation where we're just like, hey I love some sin but I don't want to tell anybody about that sin but I love this sin and I'm just going to kind of still just keep doing it even though I know it's bad. We got to get to the point where we realize that we're being beset by certain sins. And I know it's easy for me to get up here and say this. I understand that but we all have something that we struggle with, don't we? And so, you know, the Bible, what's the Bible is going to help us to discern how we can get ahead and how we can stop being punished and how we can stop being in these pitfalls that we get into our life by, hey, just, you know, abhor means to hate, doesn't it? So if the Bible says, let love be without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, that means hate it. You know, people say that, you know, hate the sin, love the sinner or whatever and that might be true but Gandhi's the one that said that, it's not in the Bible. But it is true we should love sinners, right, isn't it? Jesus loves sinners, we should love sinners, that's why we go and try to convert them and get them saved. So, but as far as our life is concerned though, how we live our daily life, we should learn to hate things that God hates and love things that God loves. I mean, it sounds simple but it really is how God feels about things. Let's go back to our text in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 10. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 10. I'm almost done here. I only have one more scripture to have you turn, no, I'm lying. But it's only a couple more, okay? I'm almost done, I'm on the last page, I'm on the last stretch here. Alright, so Hebrews chapter 1 verse 10 says, 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 thou, or excuse me, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. So here's again another statement of the angels which rolls us into point number four. You know, angelic beings are made to be ministers of the saved. So when I'm talking about angelic beings, I'm talking about the created angels that are in heaven, not men, not a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, I'm talking about the actual angelic angels here, because I think that's the context of chapter 1 anyway. The whole context of Hebrews chapter 1 when it's talking about angels, it's not talking about men, it's not talking about, you know, pre-incarnate pictures of Christ, it's talking about the angelic beings that God created. You know, and Lucifer and his little minions are all created angels, but they're not sons of God, because they're devils. They're not called the sons of God, they're called devils. But anyway, so look at verse 14, it says, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them whom shall be heirs of salvation? So what is the purpose, why did God make the angels in the first place? Well it says, are they not all ministering spirits? So ministering is what? Helping people, serving people, right? And they're sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Who's heirs of salvation? Well, Jesus Christ is an heir of salvation, he's the first heir of salvation, right? But who else is heirs of salvation? Anybody that's saved, right? So anybody that's saved is an heir of salvation, so why are they made? What are they supposed to be sent forth for to minister to us? So you're like, well, do you believe in, you know, guardian angels? Yeah, I do. Now I don't know how many I have, maybe I need a lot, I don't know, maybe I only have one. But, you know, I believe every single person that's saved probably does have a guardian angel. Now, it's not like they appear on your shoulder, and then the devil appears on this one, and they're fighting over, you know, I mean, it kind of seems like your flesh is like that, though, doesn't it? It's like, do it, no! Do it, no! Ahh! You know. But they're ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. So, you know, it says, even if you back up one verse, But to which of the angels said he at any time, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. So God is making a difference, you know, and obviously God probably loves the angels, too. But he made them for a specific purpose. The purpose is to be ministers. You know, God has a throne. You know, Satan was the anointed cherub that covered his throne, right? He was one of them, at least. Because if you think about the picture of the Ark of the Covenant, there was two angels that covered the throne with their wings, right? So, one of those was the devil. I'm not sure who the other one is, but they minister to God. They minister to humans that are heirs of salvation. Turn to Matthew chapter 4, keep your finger, just, yeah, you don't have to keep your finger there. We're done with that, with going back to Hebrews chapter 1. But Matthew chapter 4, here's a really good picture of where angels came and ministered to somebody. Where it actually says that, Matthew chapter 4 verse 11, so the devil just gets done tempting Jesus. He's, you know, fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. And then, you know, the devil's like, here, make some bread. He's like, you know, he obviously passed the test, no problemo. Now, if you fasted for 40 days and you had the power to make a loaf of bread appear in your hand, you'd be like, yum, yum, yum. Let me get some of that jalapeno bread and some butter. You got any soup with that? Anyway, but he passed the test, right? But look what it says. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. So, what do you think they did? They probably fed him. They probably, you know, nourished him to whatever extent. It says they came and ministered unto him. They helped him out. So, obviously Jesus is the heir of all things, and we get to be heirs of salvation with him because of what he did for us. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13, and then I'll just have you turn one other place and we'll be done. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 1. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 1, the Bible says, Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. So, you know, be nice to people. You never know when it could be, you know, the Bible says, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Think about Abraham when the three angels came to him, but one of those was the Lord, right? But he was like, kill the fatted calf. Honey, make some food. She's like, yes, sir. Yes, Lord. And then they make the big spread for him or whatever, but he took care of them, right? Because he was good and entertained strangers, but we should be that way too. It's a picture for us to not be forgetful to entertain strangers. Now, some rough-looking drifter knocks at your door, and I mean, obviously, you know, be careful. Don't just let any person walk in your door. It's a little scary these days, but anyway, we should be good to people. Let brotherly love continue. We should treat people well, right? Because you never know when it could be an angel that you're ministering to, and then I don't know if that's some kind of test you have to pass or what, but it kind of sounds like it to me. Last scripture, Matthew 18, verse 10. Matthew chapter 18, verse 10. So, and then you're like, well, how do you know that you have a guardian angel? Well, the ministering spirits are sent forth to minister to them who will be heirs of salvation. If you're saved today, then you have someone who's probably ministered to you in a way that you don't even know how they did it or what they did. Maybe it's the tree branch that you stopped on your breaks for that went across and crashed right in front of you. You're like, I was just about to walk out, and then you stop or whatever. I don't know. I mean, I'm sure that we're guided in our steps by the Lord. The Bible says that's true. So, you know, is it really so weird that we would think that, you know, angels don't help us and protect us in certain situations? I think they do. I mean, there's some situations that I've been in, and I'm like, there's no way that I should still be alive after that. Like, I'm sure anybody's kind of stepped out on a busy street one time, and right before you stepped out, you're like, whoa, and then like some car whizzed past you. I don't know. Maybe I'm alone in this. Has anybody ever had some weird things, and they're like, well, I don't even know how that happened. I'm not saying that's always it, but maybe it's just to comfort you. But, you know, Job had to be allowed to be attacked by the devil. He had to have permission. The devil had to have permission to attack Job. He says you have a headset about you. So somebody's protecting us, and God sends his angels down to be ministers to us who are heirs of salvation. Look at Matthew 18, 10. We'll be done. Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven. See how it says their angels? That's talking about the little children, right, and the context, despise not these little ones. It's saying not to hurt little ones, not to offend little ones, little children. And it's saying why? Well, because in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven. So that's kind of a strange thing to say if we don't have some kind of guardian angels. Obviously, you know, the angels are reporting to God like this person offended a child, and then obviously God's going to cloud up and rain on that person, right? So, you know, this whole chapter really does focus on angels a lot, but the main focus is the Lord Jesus Christ, right, and how much greater He is in power and glory and majesty and supremacy than all created things, and it really takes focus on the angels. And I don't know why it's such a main focus, but I think that, again, part of the reason why is because the Jews did not want to believe that Jesus Christ was God. And so here this sets up the rest of the book. You know, number one, we've got to get this out of the way. He's not an angel. He's not just a regular man. He created all things, and, you know, you just better deal with that in the first chapter because the rest of it is going to dogpile on all their stupid doctrines that they try to hold to, these Hebrews, right? So obviously the whole Bible is for us, but obviously the focus of the book is what? Hebrews. But see, us as Gentiles, we get to learn all the lessons that was written to them also. So let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the doctrine of the Trinity Lord, the doctrine that Jesus Christ is God and that he is above all things and he created all things for his power and glory. And, Lord, he's ahead and above all principalities and powers and government forces. And, Lord, I'm just so thankful to know that we have angelic beings that minister to our needs, and we might not know when that happens. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to entertain angels unaware and that we would be good. And, you know, to those people and, Lord, that our attitude would be that we'd be pleasant to all people as much as lies within us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Turn in your blue hymnal. Turn to page 270. 270. We're going to sing Joy to the World. I know you kids know this. I want to hear you guys. 270. Joy to the World. Sing it out on the first. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, heaven, nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns. Let men their song employ. What fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground, his blessings flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness, and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love. All right, Brother Timmo, would you close this in a word of prayer?