not switch off the organ or our pianist desert the piano because I envy the song leader. He's got such a good choir and I don't see why he should have it all to himself. So we're going to sing when you've gotten your breath. But since this is my second visit to Park of the Palms in capacity as a conference speaker, I'm expected of course to say how happy I am to be back. Now I can say that most sincerely, and it's a sort of, it's like old Home Week because I see so many folk here that I see in other places. I remember an occasion when a man who was an Englishman too, and he lived on a very beautiful little island off the south coast of England called the Isle of Wight. That's spelled W-I-G-H-T. And there are some very lovely spots on the Isle of Wight. One of them... from which the huge yacht Regatta is run every year is called Cowes, C-O-W-E-S, the town of Cowes. Well, this Englishman lived in Cowes, and he lived there for many years. But eventually he was transferred by his business away from the Isle of Wight and had to go to live in some other part of the country, and he was away for a number of years. Eventually he decided to go back and visit his friends on the Isle of Wight, And so he was immediately invited to take some part in the service. He was rather nervous because this was not his bailiwick. He wasn't used to talking to crowds. He looked at them rather nervously, and then he said, it's such a joy to see so many old cow's faces. Now, he didn't really mean it the way it sounded. I'm delighted to see so many friends. I'm not even going to say old friends. So many friends I've known for such a long time from so many different places. And all put together you sing far better than you do at home. And so we're going to have an opportunity to sing again number forty-one, which means I'm going to have to shorten my sermon. However, I don't think, saying it's the first one, and I make no promises about those that follow, it might be creating a good impression. No, it may be a false one. Number forty-one. Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. I know you know this without your book. That's the reason why I chose it, because we're going to sing it crusade style. And when we come to the chorus, we're going to give it everything we've got. But you have to watch me. Painful as that may be, because we're going to deviate from the time that's written in the book. And because you want to be the best choir possible in a moment, we're going to stand again to sing. First of all, the introduction. Number forty-one, let's stand up for you, shall we? and keep the time and watch me for the radiation. Sing it now. Bless this assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what is your name? The glory is divine. Let's hear it now praise the truth of God. Oh, in this spirit. Don't sing it. This is my song. This is my watcher, praising my savior, over and over. There, there, my story, this is my song, praising my savior. The last verse. Well, thank you. my song, raising my way down, over it all. This is my story. This is my song, bringing my way And all the people said, Amen, and you may be seated. Can I read to you the very first words you sang with the opening of the service this morning? They were the opening words of the hymn number eleven, everlasting glory unto Jesus be. Can I read some of the words that you sang next? Come let us sing the matchless worth and sweetly sound the glorious force which in the Saviour shine. To God and Christ our praises bring, the song with which the heavens ring, now let us gladly join. How rich! the precious blood he spilt, our ransom from the dreadful guilt of sin against our God. How perfect is his righteousness, in which unspotted, beautious dress his saints have always stood. Great are the opposites he bears, and bright his character appears exalted on the throne. In songs of sweet, untiring praise, we would to everlasting days make all his glories known. In our opening prayer, Mr. McKay used an expression like this, he thanked God for all of thy gifts concentrated in the gift of gifts, thy well-beloved Son. And when Mr. Graham sang, the chorus was, Hallelujah, I have found it. Let's read together from Hebrews chapter one. And if the Lord will this week, we're going to spend our time in this epistle. It unfolds for us and explains for us some of the mysteries that down through the ages have been wrapped up in the Old Testament economy and religion. God has so many lessons to teach us through the way he led his ancient people, Israel, the things that he demanded of them, the instructions that he gave to them, the experiences through which they passed, and so on. And since the epistle is an unfolding of God's way, an explanation of God's dealings with his people under the old economy, it's not at all surprising that it turns out to be an unfolding of the Lord Jesus himself. In fact, there are thirteen chapters here, and I hope that you will now avail yourself of a pencil or a ballpoint pen. Make sure that it writes... And I want you to put a little mark, if you will, after a verse in chapter ten, because this is where the epistle is divided. So we're going to begin our studies with this morning hour. If you will put a little mark after verse eighteen of chapter ten, and that's a long, long way past the halfway mark, The last verse there, that verse eighteen reads like this, Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Now that brings us to the end of the first section of this thirteen-chapter epistle, which means to say that nine and a half chapters are taken up with the theme, the first theme of the epistle. And that only leaves us a half of chapter ten and three more chapters to deal with the second theme in the epistle. Now again, this is not a surprise because the whole of the first nine and a half chapters deal with the person of Christ. And the last three and a half chapters deal with the practice of Christianity. And when God wants us to live right, and act right and deal right, he exhorts us to gaze upon the person of his son. Because beholding the Lord Jesus affects behaving. Looking affects living. And so the Spirit of God in the first nine and a half chapters holds up before our gaze the Lord Jesus in a threefold fashion. Before, in the last three and a half chapters, He tells us how to live in view of all that the Lord Jesus is. Now we're going to see that in the first nine and a half chapters, the Lord Jesus is brought before us, first of all, as a revelation of God, in chapters one and two. Then we're going to see that the Lord Jesus is presented to us as a Savior from God. in chapter three and the first thirteen verses of chapter four. Now you're writing feverishly some of you. I'll go over this again so that you can come back and fill in the spaces. And then from chapter four and verse fourteen, all through what is left of that first section, that is to chapter ten and verse eighteen, we have the Lord Jesus presented as a high priest before God. Now this all sounds rather strange to you and hard to understand. I hope it's going to be a little easier as the week goes on. Let me give to you the outline again of this first long section which takes us from chapter one and verse one through chapter ten and verse eighteen. In that section we have first of all The Lord Jesus presented as a revelation of God, chapters one and two. And then as a Savior from God, chapter three through verse thirteen of chapter four. And then thirdly as a high priest before God, and this takes us from chapter four and verse fourteen through chapter ten and verse eighty. I'm not going to say anything about the second section at this point. I hope that we'll have time during the week to come eventually to that. Let us think about these first two chapters and see what there is said about the Lord Jesus as a revelation of God. I'm reading from the first verse. God, who at sundry times... and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, having these last days spoken unto us by or in his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. Now we are going to read a little further if we have time. But let's think about these first two verses and the first one particularly. I know that you know, because you've read the Bible for a long time, and you've studied the Bible, many of you, and if I were to ask you what is the key word of the epistles of the Hebrews, some of you would immediately respond with the word better. And of course, you would be quite correct. The word better is the key word to the epistle to the Hebrews. Because here God is saying, good as the old economy was, good as the old order was in Israel, and it must have been good because God gave it in detail, the new economy or the new covenant, along with its new sacrifice and its new sanctuary and so on, They are infinitely better. Everything is shown to be under the new economy better than under the old economy, though that was vitally important in its day to teach the lessons that God intended the people to learn. Now in our first two chapters where the Lord Jesus is presented as a revelation of God, we're going to see him first of all better than the prophets and then secondly better than the angels in what ways is the Lord Jesus better than the prophets will you notice concerning the prophets in verse one we read they were God's first word while he according to verse two or according to the same verse is God's final word. Listen. God who in sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past under the fathers by the prophets have in these last days spoken unto us in his sons. I repeat. The prophets were God's first word, but the Lord Jesus was God's final word. Oh, how infinitely better he than that. God has no more to say to this old world. If you're listening for the voice of God to the world, if you're listening for the voice of God in some great catastrophe to the world at last, some great cataclysm, some way in which God will unmistakably speak to the world so they'll know it to be the voice of God, I've used for you. God has already spoken in these last days his last word and spoken that word in his Son. That was the word of sinality. If you are not prepared to have dealings with the Son of God, then God is not prepared to have anything to do with you. No man, said the Lord Jesus, and no one could accuse him of untruth. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I'd like to think, as I look into your faces, that every one of you has a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus as your Savior, has been born by the new birth into the family of God, and is as sure of heaven as if you had already arrived. But that would be presumption on my part. There may be someone here and you're not saved yet. The Lord Jesus still stands outside your heart's door knocking because you have never personally and deliberately and intelligently received him into your heart. You haven't even wanted him, perhaps. The Lord Jesus is better than the prophets because while they were God's first word, he was God's final word. But let's go back again to those first two verses. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, having these last days spoken unto us in his son. Now the prophets were God's word to a nation. But the Lord Jesus was God's word to a world. Nobody is left out when we read God is spoken unto us. So if you felt left out because of God's dealings in the past with the Jew, with his chosen people, you don't have to feel left out any longer. In speaking to us, God has spoken to every one of us, you and me, along with his ancient people. The prophets were God's word to a nation. But he, the Lord Jesus, was God's word to a world. Again, how much better then? He than they. But let's go back to those first two verses again. God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken unto us in his Son. They were God's servants. He was God's Son. Again his superiority is obvious in the very language that is used here. But there's something else. Let me read those two verses or part of them to you again. 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 in his Son. Now through them, through the prophets, God spoke deviously. But through the Lord Jesus, God spoke directly. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. This was the testimony of the Lord Jesus. And there could have been no more direct word from God than that which fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus and that which was expressed by his life. Deviously God spake through the prophets. Directly God spake through his Son. Let me sum all of this up. and say in a word that while they the prophets were God's mouthpieces, he the Son was God's message, and there you have the difference in a nutshell. They were God's mouthpieces, he was God's message. And will you please notice the plural in the first instance and the singular in the next? God spoke through the prophets. God spoke through his Son. There was only one Son. There were many prophets. But the Christ of God stood out absolutely alone and unique. There never has been one to compare with him. Here then is the Lord Jesus presented as a revelation of God better than the prophets. But now I want you to see him presented as being better than the angels. Let me read from verse four. being made, or a better translation, having become so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Better than the angels. For unto which of the angels said he, That is God 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. The superiority of the Lord Jesus, over the angels. Verse six, and again. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. Is he, or is he not better than the angels? Of the angels, he saith, who makeeth his angels' spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But under the sun, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Let me just very quickly touch on some of these things. If you will read on into the second chapter as well, you will find that the superiority of the Lord Jesus over the angels is shown in a twofold fashion. First of all, there is a positive and a fourfold positive, and then there is a negative. God shows to us the ways in which the Lord Jesus is superior in the positive, and he shows us the ways in which the angels are inferior in the negative. Listen to the positive, will you? Verse four. He is better than the angels, in that his name is more excellent. Having become so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. He must be, then, better than the angels, because his name is more excellent. Without losing your place in chapter one, would you turn to chapter eight, please? You know, there are some people who are very anxious to get rid of the King James Version or the Authorized Version, as it's called. They are so anxious to get hold of a modern translation. Why don't we read modern translations from our platforms and so on and do away with this Bible that contains so much Old English? Now, don't so readily reject the King James Version. It is not incidental, it is not coincidental, that this version has lasted for so very, very long a time occupying a place of eminence among the translations. Now here is a one reason why I believe the King James Version is still a very, very vital book to us. Will you notice in our verse four of chapter one the expression, a more excellent name? You notice that? Now look at chapter eight, will you, and verse six. But now have he obtained a more excellent ministry. Now here you have the same expression in the Greek, very carefully, meticulously carried over into the English, and put alone in these two places. That's important, because the Greek expression that is used is only used in these two places and nowhere else. Yet I have not found a modern translation that brings this truth before us. King James does. A more excellent name, a more excellent ministry. And here it is, a unique Greek expression which means particularly and especially eminent. And it seems very, very striking to me that God has reserved in the original language in the Greek a particular phrase to speak of the ministry and the name of the Lord Jesus. There isn't a ministry to compare with it, and there isn't a name to compare with it. And so God has set aside this particular expression in the Greek that we might be thrilled with the realization of how eminent, pre-eminent this person is with both his name and his ministry. So he is better than the angels in that his name is more excellent. Verse four. Now look at verse five. He is better than the angels in that his relationship is more intimate. Unto which of the angels said, God, 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. Do you sometimes get a little disturbed when you find this expression, this day have I begotten thee? come into contact with some of your Jehovah's Witnesses neighbors, or some of these folk who come and knock at your doors. And they say when you're reading John, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. It's really the word was a God. And so they try to deny, to undermine the deity of Christ. And they say, look, it says here of Jesus Christ. this day have I begotten thee. If he was begotten of God, then there must have been a time when he didn't exist and he was begotten. Now let's clear this up once and for all, shall we? Let's go back to Acts chapter thirteen and see what the Spirit of God has to say about this. Acts chapter thirteen in verse thirty-three Speaking of the promise made unto the fathers in the thirty-second verse, we read this in verse thirty-three of Acts thirteen, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Now this matter of being begotten of God does not refer to the birth of the Lord Jesus at all. It refers to his resurrection and the Spirit of God proves it by using that verse in Acts chapter thirteen in verse thirty three. So please make a note of that somewhere and when you come into contact with the problem realize that there isn't a problem at all. When God says to his son, this day have I begotten thee, he is referring to the resurrection and it has nothing to do with the incarnation or the birth of the Lord Jesus. So there isn't any problem here and there is no grist for the Jehovah's Witnesses mirror here. Here then is the one who is better than the angels in that his relationship is more intimate. He is the Son of God. And mark you. Just in passing we might note that while in our authorized version we read the phrase concerning God the everlasting Father, in the original language that is the eternal Father. Now what's the difference between an everlasting Father and an eternal Father? I'll tell you. The difference is this, you can have a man becoming a Father and then continuing forever and so being an everlasting Father. But an eternal father is one whose fatherhood goes back into eternity as well as forward into eternity. And if God is an eternal father, that means to say there never was a time when God was not a father. If that's true, there never was a time when God did not have a son. If there is an eternal father, then the son is as eternal as the father. It's so very, very logical. And this is the thought here. Look at verse six, will you, and you will see that the Lord Jesus is better than the angels in that his future is more glorious, obviously. And let all, A, double, L, every one of them, let all the angels of God worship him. Now, obviously, he must be the superior one if they, all of the angels, are to bow and to worship him. He's better than they are. in that his future is more glorious, and in verses seven, eight and nine, in that his position is more exalted. Listen. Unto the Son, he saith thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is a 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. I was very interested to notice the W.E. Vine translates this. Therefore, O God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Now let the Jehovah's Witness get away from this one. Therefore, O God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Here then is the positive. The Lord Jesus is being presented as a revelation of God, better than the prophets and better than the angels. On the positive side, better than the angels in that his name is more excellent, his relationship more intimate, his future more glorious and his position more exalted. Now let's go to chapter two and take a look at the negative. Look at verse five here, will you? chapter two. Unto the angels have he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. Now here is the thought of dominion. Denied the angels, but given to him. Listen, one in a certain place testified saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madeest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. Now mark you, will you? The angels are inferior to the Lord Jesus in that they lack dominion. They never had it. Man had it. Man lost it. Man is going to regain it in the God-man to whom it verily belongs. So the angels are inferior to the Christ in that they lack dominion. Verses five through eight. But look at verse nine. The angels are inferior to the Lord Jesus in that they lack experience. But not he. We see Jesus. who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man." Did you notice the fourfold experience of the Lord Jesus here? First of all, his incarnation, made a little lower than the angels. That's a reference to his becoming man, his incarnation. Did you notice the reference to his crucifixion? made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Did you see the reference to his exaltation, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor? But did you notice his experience of substitution, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man, not an angel, had any one of those four experiences? incarnation, crucifixion, exaltation, substitution. And yet all of these the Lord Jesus knew so very, very well. They are inferior to him are the angels because they lack experience. And before we leave that verse, if you're sitting in this meeting and you're unsaved, can I remind you that it was for your sake that the Lord Jesus came down here? It was for your sake the Lord Jesus hung on the cross there. It was for your sake that God satisfied with his work raised him from the dead. And since he tasted death for every man, he tasted death for you, for your sake. I don't wonder that the prophet asks the question, is it nothing to you or ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. wherewith the Lord have afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. The chorus writer wrote, How greatly Jesus must have loved me. How greatly Jesus must have loved me to bear my sin, to bear my sin in his body on a tree. The angels then are in theory to the Lord Jesus, in that they lack dominion. Verses five, six, seven, and eight. in that they lack experience, verse nine, and in that they lack saving power, verses ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen. Can I read those to you? And I'm almost true. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons, notice that word unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation, notice that word, perfect through suffering. You know, the angels couldn't save, but Jesus could and did, and many of us are sitting in this meeting this morning saved by the grace of God, and the word sons applies to us. Look at verse eleven. for both he that sanctify us, notice that word, and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Sons in verse ten, brethren in verse eleven. Look at verse twelve. saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church. Notice that word, will I sing. And notice that word, praise unto thee. We have sons in verse ten, and the word is linked with the word salvation. We have the word brethren in verse eleven, and it is linked to the word sanctification. We have the word church in verse twelve, and it's linked with the thought of song, and we're still not through. Verse thirteen... And again I will put my trust in him, and again behold I am the children which God hath given me. If in verse ten we have sons and salvation, and in verse eleven we have brethren and sanctification, and in verse twelve we have the church and song, in verse thirteen we have the children and security. Not only did the angels lack saving power, while the Lord Jesus had that saving power and exercised that saving power, but it was so sufficient, so absolutely adequate as to make a sinful son of man the son of God. It was so adequate and so sufficient as to enable that man, upon the authority of the Lord Jesus, to use of himself the word brethren. Peter said, I will build my church, and mark you. This was so important a structure that God did not consign the building of it to Peter. He didn't say, John, this is your responsibility. He didn't look at Gabriel or Michael and say, I want you to get busy and build my church. He said, I will build my church. Why? There are people who say that a man can be saved and then he can be lost again. I find it impossible to believe because Jesus said, I will build my church. Now I've seen men building, you never built before, and before they finished what they were building it fell down around their ears. Like the two Irishmen who tried to build a wall, they'd never built a wall before. They laid the first course and the second course and they kept going until at last they got to the ceiling, dividing one room into two. One said to the other one, Mike, you go around the other side of the wall and let's see if it's soundproof. So Mike goes round and the first fellow says, Mike, can you hear me? He says, here you love me, I can see you in five places. Now that was the kind of wall that they built. Now if that wall didn't endure... If that were all toppled down around areas, I wouldn't find that surprising. They weren't really builders. But if the Lord Jesus had said he's the master builder. Now if there's one thing the master builder does, it's put his blocks into his building to stay. And that's why Jesus said, I will build my church because once he builds a block into that spiritual building, it is there to stay. You can't be saved and lost again because Jesus has built you into the church. and he's not a Jerry builder. He's a master builder. Then I love that thought of the children, because once you're born into a family, you can't be unborn. And here we have the parent as guarantor for the family. You know, God wants all his children at home with him one day, and it's going to happen. And all the demons in hell cannot prevent it. Here then is the Lord Jesus presented as a revelation of God. It's been a very sketchy study. But we can see that he is obviously in these two chapters brought before us as being better than prophets and better than the angels. And we're going to find that what he said of him gets better as we go along. Shall we bow in prayer? And while our heads are bowed, if there's someone here saying, why is it that you talk so much about Jesus? Why is it that you talk so much about Christ? There's a reason for this. Christianity rests upon him. Every Christian is dependent upon him. We are saved by his grace and through his work upon the cross, and what is more. We know that there isn't any other way that you can be right with God. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Following the prayer, we're going to sit very quietly for a moment and meditate. And then our service will be over. Our Father, we look to the... And all how we thank thee that thou hast not rewarded us after our sins or our iniquities. Thou hast not given to us what we so very much deserve, judgment for our iniquity. For in mercy and grace thou hast sent this wonderful Son of thine, down from thy bosom, into a world that should hate him, and finally nail him to a tree. But we thank thee today that we are among those who have found beauty in him, because he has become our own personal Savior. And having been received into our lives is proving himself to be every bit as wonderful as this word that we have read about him today. We thank thee for him, and all how we long to share the joy that we have in him with those who may be sitting in thy presence who know it not. To this end bless thy word we pray thee, cause that it might draw each of us just a little closer to thee, and make us just a little more appreciative of thee, and a little more ready to put everything we have and are into thy capable hands. Lord Jesus we pray for thy name.