Dennis Tuuri

# Reformation Covenant Church Sermon Transcript
## Pastor Dennis Tuuri

The father imaged in the sun. This is what we read about in Hebrews. We begin today, or sort of return to what we started in December. I cheated and did the first four verses of Hebrews before we would enter the series, but today we begin a series preaching through Hebrews—not an epistle, more like a sermon. And we read of the Lord Jesus Christ being the express image of God the Father in today’s text. I’ll be preaching beginning at chapter 1 verse 5 going into chapter 2.

But I think I want to start by reading at verse one. So please stand. You can follow along in the outlines. The second page shows structure in which the text will be addressed today. So if you want to, you could follow along in that sheet or reading your scriptures.

Hebrews 1:1 through chapter 2:4. “God who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things. Through whom also he made the worlds. 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 at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

“For to which of the angels did he ever say, ‘You are my son. Today I have begotten you, and again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.’ But when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all the angels of God worship him.’ And of the angels, he says, ‘Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire?’

“But to the son, he says, ‘Your throne Oh God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.’ And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will fold them up and they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will not fail.

“But to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool?’ Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

“Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will.”

Let’s pray. Father, we pray that you would minister your word to us. Exhort us, Lord God. Challenge us. Give us the gospel again, Father, of the Lord Jesus Christ—his incarnation, resurrection, ascension, and glorification at your right hand. His present rule, the blessings of that gospel, but also remind us Lord God of the dangers of it today. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen.

Please be seated.

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Hebrews is not an epistle. It doesn’t read like an epistle. It doesn’t claim to be an epistle. It is a sermon—a sermon made to be read amongst various parties at the time it was written and now a sermon that we can read in the context of our homes or in the church.

It’s sermonic, but its theme is rather obvious from the beginning of it: the absolute supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why we chose the song today: “Let us of Christ our Lord and Savior sing.” The supremacy of Jesus Christ. It is the person of Jesus with whom we have to do. This is the central issue of our lives. This is the one litmus test of who we are—our relationship to Jesus Christ.

This is a sermon of warning to those who are being tempted not to persevere. It is an encouragement to persevere in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and very specifically to persevere in the worship services of the church. People were prone to forsake the assembling of themselves together. This was becoming their habit. This is what they were drifting away into in terms of chapter 2 of those few verses we read. We have to be careful that we don’t drift away.

Well, they were drifting away from observance of church services and they were drifting back to Judaism. And this sermon, rather, is a great warning to them. And it’s a warning to us not to take our faith lightly, not to think that somehow everything’s cool and we can just drift along life stream without paying diligent heed.

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We have tremendous gospel in this text, don’t we? Those first four verses, that introduction, I preached on that before. Beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I taught Hebrews to the Sunday school class last year—and Chris W. is teaching it coming up in a few months here to his Sunday school class—these four verses are the memorization verse for that part of our Sunday school classes. And it is so important and vital. It’s such a rich piece of text.

This whole book of Hebrews is a rich sermon very carefully composed and put together and just beautiful. And the first four verses are that beautiful statement that while in the past God communicated truth, there’s no opposition of what Jesus Christ is or does or says to the old covenant truth. There’s no opposition to it. But there is tremendous magnification of it because now the real thing—the exact image—and that phrase means the Greek word there for express image in verse three is the root word for our word character.

The idea is that the emperor’s image would be carved on something that would then prove as a die. They would stamp metal with the exact image, you see, of the emperor. And so we have here a representation of God through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s something close, sketchy. The exact image—the express image of God the Father—has arrived. And so the great culmination of 4,000 years of history comes in the advent of Jesus Christ.

I think it’s kind of nice the way that song we just sang, based on Philippians, “Let us of Christ our Lord and Savior sing.” You notice it starts by going down, down, down: “Let us of Christ da da da”—the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, his descent, as it were, to earth is what is stressed there. And this is the focal point of history. This is the central litmus test that men have to be evaluated by. What do they do with Jesus Christ?

He’s the express image. He’s kind of what we would say these days a 4D impression. You know, there was a special on TV a month or so ago about these 4D images of life in the womb. They call them 4D because they’re 3D—they have depth to them. And then they’re moving through time. So time is the fourth dimension. One way to think about what’s going on here in this superiority of Jesus Christ to all the revelations that have gone before: it is as if God had sent sketches, drawings—things that, you know, were certainly a reflection of his character—two-dimensional. But now we have the three-dimensional, though even four-dimensional work of the Lord Jesus Christ in the incarnation expressing exactly who God is.

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And so the text before us is the introduction and then it gives us the first portion of this sermon as well. Now, this first portion has to do with the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ over angels. And in our particular context today, we have a lot of books being published by various people about angels. The culture sort of getting, you know, enchanted by angelic beings and what are they? And so this section that we begin today—really section two of the sermon after the introduction—shows the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ over angels.

Now the specific thing that angels are said to have done in this section is to bring the revelation of God. So what we want to make sure that we see is the primary use of angels here is not that people are worshiping angels so much, but they’re returning—the Hebrews are returning to the 2D images, the sketches of Christ in the old covenant and in the law which was mediated through angels. You see, that’s the whole way angels are being used here.

And so there’s the supremacy of Jesus Christ in terms of the revelation. It’s what we’ve said before: the whole Old Testament is great and wonderful, but it all culminates in the gospel accounts, in the incarnation of Jesus and then the gospel accounts of that. And these epistles and sermons and the rest of the New Testament are a reflection, a meditation on the application of who Jesus is to the situation in history. So there’s the focal point given to us here.

But section two is primarily about that. But it also is useful in a day and age when people are enchanted with angels, angelic beings. You know, the author of this sermon is saying, “Well, you know, angels are wonderful things, ministering spirits and all that, but Jesus is far superior to them. Don’t get enchanted by angelic beings. Get enchanted by this wonderful jewel, this reference, this shining forth of the glory of God, the express image of his person—prophet, priest, and king—the Lord Jesus Christ.”

So it’s useful in our day and age as well when people are tempted to fall away into somehow thinking that angelic beings are what it’s all about. No, Jesus Christ is what it’s all about.

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And in a minute, we’ll talk about this opening—this, uh, after the introduction, the opening section. But first, I want to give you a brief overview of this sermon of the Hebrews. And so, hopefully you have your outlines with you. And there’s a seven-part structure to the book of Hebrews. And I think this will be helpful.

We’ll see today in a little bit how this structure is useful for reinforcing a central theme of this first—or literally the second section of the seven-part structure of Hebrews. Chapter 1 verses 1-4 is the introduction, but it brings up all the great themes that will resound throughout the book as a good introduction to a book does. It strikes the theme of the greater revelation that comes through Jesus Christ as opposed to the prophets and the angels.

Right? So, one thing that’s going to be said over and over again is that Jesus is superior to the Old Testament revelation. But to do that, it also says that Jesus Christ is king. In the structure that I’ve given you on the handout from the text, the B sections—that God has appointed Jesus heir of all things and after he purged our sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God. This is messianic kingdom sort of language. And so the idea that Jesus Christ is Messiah, is king now and ruling at the right hand of the father, this is a big theme throughout the book of Hebrews as well and certainly in today’s text.

The C-sections of the first four verses really refer to the creation of things. But that creation is linked in its matching pair by the purging of our sins. Now there’s no direct reference in the first four verses to the work of Jesus as priest. Doesn’t use the word priest. And that will be a major thrust of what this book is all about: the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ to the Aaronic priesthood. And I’ll spend a lot of time on that at the center of this sermon.

And here the theme is begun to be sounded by talking about the purging of the sins by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is of course both priest and sacrifice. And it’s important to see here two things. One, that redemption of us—the purging of our sins, the priestly work of Jesus Christ—is related to the creation of all things by Jesus Christ. Structurally here there’s a relationship.

And as we’ve said before, the Ten Commandments are an example. In Exodus, the fourth commandment is tied to creation. In Deuteronomy, the second statement of the law, the fourth commandment is tied to redemption. Over and over again in the scriptures, redemption and creation are tied together. And so redemption is this new creation. So the priestly work of Jesus—notice how, as well, this creation aspect to Jesus Christ in verse 2—”through whom also he made the worlds”—comes immediately after the statement that the father has appointed Jesus heir of all things. The kingdom theme. So kingship and creation are linked in the introduction. And we’ll see that played out in today’s text as well.

That the superiority of the name of Jesus Christ is related to him being king of kings, Messiah, but also related to him being creator. Maybe you notice that as we read through the text. So you see, the rest of Hebrews takes these themes that are set up by the introduction and then expounds on them and expands them out into broader and broader sections.

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And so all these things are set up. Now the other thing that Hebrews does—I think this is quite important for understanding the book—and I made a brief—I made a little mistake on your outlines. Do you see going back to page one now that I’ve got chapter 1 verses 1 to 4, “the father’s final word the bright and shining son,” and then I say “link to Roman numeral one.” Well, that’s wrong. You should make that link to Roman numeral 2.

Do you see in your outlines under the book the overview of the book the first of the seven sections and under “the bright and shining sun” I say “link to one, chapter 1 verse 4,” and then I cite it here or quote it—that actually is the link to 2. Now here’s the way to think of it. Look at me now. Don’t look at your outlines for a minute. We’ve got seven sections. We’ve got an introduction. We’ve got a benediction at the end which should be quite well known to us. We used it for years at the end of our meal together and now we use it frequently at the end of the announcement time.

But there’s a benediction at the end and then there are five chunks to this sermon in the middle. So really it’s kind of a five-part sermon but it’s got an introduction and a benediction which gives it a sevenfold pattern. Now these five chunks in the middle—and actually, yeah, the five chunks in the middle—are all introduced at the conclusion of the previous section. Okay, so it’s like a chain. The seven lengths at least the first six are linked together with these statements. And that’s what I’ve tried to show you here on the outline.

So look at Roman numeral one. Again, the link to Roman numeral 2 is verse four. Now verse four belongs in the introduction. Angels are mediators of revelation. The prophets are mediators of revelation. That’s the introduction. So it does that. It forms an inclusion of those four verses. But at the same time, it gives us the introduction to the next section beautifully done. And it says this: “Having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” And this is what his theme is going to be in the next section. The first major exposition of this sermon is going to be the better name of Jesus as opposed to the angels.

And what that name is going to be is son of God and son of man. That’s the name that’s going to be talked about in what we read today and what we’ll preach on again next week. So, but that’s set up. We’re told the next section is going to be about this: the name of Jesus superior to the angels.

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Now, in the section here in chapters 1 and 2, in this first section—section two rather—the word angels is talked about all the time. That’s what we’re going to hear for a while now is how Jesus is better than the angels. But when section two ends, angels go away and we don’t hear about them throughout the rest of the book until the matching sixth section at the end which matches up with section two. And angels will come back.

We’ll look at that in a little bit as we get to our exposition of this section two. So you see it sets up the next section. The name of Jesus is better than the angels. We’ll talk about why that is today in a few minutes.

Section two of the book—you know, the first formal section after the introduction, Roman numeral 2—goes from chapter 1 verse 5 through 2:18. And the summation I’ve given you here is a better name than angels—son of God and son of man. Jesus is the mediator between God and man. And because of that, he is fully God and fully man.

So his name better than the angels is son of God, son of man. And then at the end of that section in verse 17 toward the end of it, we read this: “that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.” This is the link to the third section of the epistle. So the third section of the epistle is going to address these specific topics. See, so he’s telling us as we work our way through it what’s coming next in summary fashion.

That’s very useful. This is a long, complicated sermon. And yet it’s not so complicated when you look at the structure—that I’m not pulling out of it, but that the text itself tells you. This is the way this is to be structured. These are the major points that you’re to remember as you work your way through this long, somewhat difficult sermon particularly for us not knowing our Bibles as well as these Hebrew Christians did.

So what’s he going to say? The third section is going to be about how Jesus is merciful and faithful. And then he’s actually going to address those in reverse order. First he’s going to talk in section three about the faithfulness of Jesus Christ—more faithful than Moses. And then after that he’s going to talk about the merciful, compassionate nature of Jesus Christ. Okay. So important for us to see those two emphases.

Don’t get so lost in all the details of chapter 3 verse 1 through 5:10 that we don’t see the big picture because this is what we’re to remember. This is the third section of the outline.

Now, we’re talking about chapter 3:1-5:10. A better high priest—source of faithfulness, rest, and compassion. Now, I throw rest in because in between the discussion in the third section of Jesus’s faithfulness and his compassion is an exhortation to rest in Jesus. So Jesus brings us rest and he does it in the context of us believing that Jesus is faithful and merciful.

Now that links back to the section we’re going to talk about today—section two of son of God, son of man, faithful, merciful. See, son of God, son of man. Jesus is God. He is faithful. He is all faithfulness. He is God’s revelation. But if that’s all we know about Jesus, we’re frightened and it doesn’t do us any good. We have to know that he loves us, that he’s compassionate, that he came in the incarnation to suffer for man.

So, son of God, son of man—he’s faithful and he’s compassionate. Section two, and then section three moves right ahead through this thing. And it’s all set up as I said at the end of section two, the link to three: “he might be a merciful and faithful high priest.” Understand these things are set up.

So this is the structure. I’m not writing the structure. All we’re doing is looking at what this text says the structure is itself.

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Well, at the end of the third section, we have a link to the fourth section. In chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, we read: “And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him, called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” So he introduces the theme of Melchizedek. He’ll expand on that in the fourth section. In the fourth section, he’ll tell us that Jesus is a priest, not like Aaron, not of the Aaronic, Levitical order, but a Melchizedekian priest. And as that, he is the high priest of good things to come. That’s the very center of the book, I believe. High priest of good things to come in the fourth section.

So, we have the introduction. Jesus is the bright shining forth of the image of God. Jesus has a name better than angels—son of God and son of man. Because of that, we’re to see Jesus as faithful and merciful in the third section. Okay? And he calls us to be faithful and merciful. And then in the fourth and central section—the longest section of course, by far—is all that stuff about Jesus Christ, a better priest than the Aaronic priesthood because he’s a priest like Melchizedek. He is a priest king.

You see, at the very center of the book is the declaration that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Melchizedekian type. He is the completion of these things. He is priest and king. And because of that, he is a high priest of wonderful good things to come. The future now has definitively changed because of the incarnation and work of this high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He has been perfected. He is the author of eternal salvation. He’ll expand on that theme in the middle section. And again, he’ll do it in reverse order. He’ll start by saying that Jesus is like Melchizedek. He’s the author of eternal salvation and he is perfected. All that’s set up at the end of the third section.

So the fourth section: Jesus Christ a priest like Melchizedek, high priest of good things to come. And then at the end of the fourth section, we have the link to the fifth section—the last substantive part of the sermon before the actually, it’s not the sixth, it’s the final one—but link to fifth section in verses 36-38: “For you have need of endurance. So after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise for yet a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

That’s still in that section about Jesus as Melchizedekian priest. But it says the next section will comprise be comprised of two things: faithfulness and endurance. And in the fifth section then we’re exhorted to live first—again, it kind of addresses them in reverse order. It starts with faith. We should live with faithfulness and we should live with endurance. So it sort of builds upon. Okay, if Jesus—all the presentation of who Jesus is—climaxes at the middle and then the more strictly speaking applicational stuff starts in section five.

We then are to live with faithfulness and endurance—all set up by the structure given to us at the end of that section.

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In verse 13 of section five, we read: “Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” And then in the sixth section, we’re told what straight paths look like. Strong hands, straight paths, living in heavenly community on earth. This is all introduced at the end of the fifth section and becomes the subject of the sixth section, which then concludes and we have the final benediction.

So that’s how Hebrews moves along. Those are the sections we’ll be emphasizing as we go through them. Now, there are subsections we’ll talk about. That’s good. But, you know, you really ought to try to learn this sevenfold outline of the book of Hebrews. Again, this was required in the Sunday school class, the curriculum that I used in writing for Chris W.’s class. And you know, it’s not tough because guess what? It’s a seven.

And guess what? You can think about it very much like the seven days of creation. How does it start? “Let there be light.” How does Hebrews start? Jesus is the bright shining forth glory, the sun, right? He is the light of God. He’s the Shekinah shining forth from God. So, we have light and light.

Second day, there’s a firmament created—a mediator thing between heaven and earth. The waters above, the waters below. Heaven and earth with a mediator in between. And what do we see in the second section of Hebrews? We have Jesus as the son of God and he’s the son of man. He is the mediator. He is the firmament. You see, and the name—the twofold name—son of God and son of man—matches with that second day of creation, reminding us that Jesus Christ is the firmament. He’s the mediator between heaven and earth, and he’s come to make them one.

On the third day of creation, the first fruits are brought forth that will later multiply and grow. And in the third section of our Hebrews outline, Jesus Christ is the high priest—source of faithfulness, rest, and compassion. We’re going to be like him. But in the third section of Hebrews, the focus is on Jesus Christ. We don’t get to the application till later, but he’s the firstborn from the dead, right? He’s the beginning of everything that we are. He’s faithful and compassionate. We’re supposed to be faithful, have endurance, and be compassionate to others. He’s the first fruits showing us what it’s like to be truly man, you see, and his faithfulness and his compassion. That’s the beginning of restored humanity in that third section.

The fourth day of creation, the sun is made to reflect the light, and rule and authority. Sun, moon, and stars—the glory of God ruling in the context of the earth. And in the fourth section of this, the major section, we have the priest, king—the one like Melchizedek—high priest of good things to come. We have the bright shining glory of Jesus now reflected as Melchizedekian king priest on the earth. He’s the ruler. That’s the point. He’s the sun. He’s the stars and moon, the ruler over all things, Jesus Christ. And in the fourth section of this book, that’s what we have.

In the fifth section, we have multiplying things teeming forth in the day of the fifth day of creation. And in the fifth section of Hebrews, we become like Jesus is. We’re to have faithfulness and endurance. He’s the first fruit of renewed humanity. We’re to be like him. And it tells us how we’re to do that. The application section, so to speak. There’s some peppered throughout the book. We’ll talk about that in a little bit. But the true applicational stuff that we think of begins in section five. We’re supposed to live with faithfulness and endurance. We’re the team. We’re the completion of things that Jesus started on the third day.

The sixth day matches with the second day. Jesus is that mediator between heaven and earth. And the sixth section have instructions to us: how to have strong hands, straight paths, how to live in heavenly community here on earth, how to treat one another in very specific ways and in specific relationships. We’ll return to six here in a couple of minutes because it’s the match to the second section that we’re going to deal with here today. And it matches up with that. Jesus is the mediator, the firmament between heaven and earth. And his people are to pray that the will of God might be done on earth as it is in heaven. And how do we accomplish that? Well, we live the way Hebrews—the sixth section of the sermon—tells us we’re supposed to live.

And on the seventh day, we have Sabbath rest and enthronement for God’s people. And the benediction of God is placed upon us, a completeness unto every good work in the seventh section of the sermon to the Hebrews.

So, we have a divinely inspired and revealed structure of this book very carefully constructed and very clearly pointed out as we’ll see as we continue to go through this in these five central parts of the sermon with an introduction and a benediction. And these links are quite obvious all the way through it. You see a divinely inspired and revealed outline of this book is given to us.

And again it tells us what we’ve known all along, what we’ve said over and over again: that Lord Jesus Christ comes to affect a new creation and to change the face of the world.

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So that’s an overview of the book of Hebrews. And we’ll be using this as our outline as we go through this series of sermons on Hebrews. And today we’re not going to take up all of section two of the sermon, but we’re going to take up the first two-thirds of it.

You notice on your outlines again that today’s text on page one is section two of the sermon, chapter 1 verse 5 through 2:18—the title of this is “a better name than angels: son of God and son of man.” And under that I’ve got a very brief outline of this section. First, Jesus is declared to be the son of God. And at the end, Jesus is declared to be the son of man. But in the middle is an exhortation to hear him. That’s the three-part structure of this second part of this sermon that flows out quite naturally from the text.

Today I’ll deal with parts A and B and reserve C for next week. So next week we’ll begin at chapter 2 verse 5 and move through the end of chapter 2. But today we want to look at this text. It talks about Jesus Christ the son of God. And then the immediate application of the text—you know, we can kind of draw a correlation to the sixth section. That’s good and proper to do. But in the immediate application of the text today we have very specific things told to us what to do, which is to hear Jesus Christ.

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So, let’s now turn to the page that has the text itself, if you’re doing that, or follow along in your scriptures, and we’ll work our way through these verses fairly quickly and then get to the inspired application at the end of the text.

Now, as I said, I discussed the first four verses. I made the case in December when I preached on those four verses that the structure that I’ve given you here, I think, is very clear and obvious from the text. Change of verbs, change of focus of who’s doing the action. There is both a focus and a change at the center of those first four verses. I love these four verses. I could go on and on about them today and next week and the next week, but I won’t.

But if you weren’t here for that first sermon, you may want to go back or log on to the internet and listen to it. It’s quite important. And without that, you probably won’t understand all the things that I’ve outlined and bolded here. I’ve done these things—underlined certain things, bolded certain things—to help you to see how the text works. I’ve underlined specifically the verbs. And this is to make the case that the verbs go past, present, present, past, or present two in the middle. So there’s a focal point. And then the verbs are important because God, you know, by implication, God the father is doing the action in the first four. But when we get to the D section, Jesus now is doing the action.

You see, “even through whom also he made the worlds”—God is making the world through Jesus, it’s the father doing the action. But in the D section, “who being the brightness of his glory”—now it’s Jesus doing the action. Okay? And through the rest of those four verses, Jesus is the one doing the action. So we have both a focus at the middle and a shift, and it’s a shift that tells us the whole message of Hebrews. It tells us the preeminence now of the Lord Jesus Christ who has come as the express image of God the father.

So the father focal point in the first section now becomes subsumed in the obvious work of the Lord Jesus Christ in his word and his works that he does and that becomes the focus throughout the rest of the first four verses. And as we’ve said, these verses tell us that Jesus Christ is prophet—better than the prophets and the angels, the mediators of the law. He is priest—he purged our sins as a second creation. And he’s king—two references, Psalm 2, Psalm 110, given to us in these first four verses, focusing on the messianic work of Jesus Christ.

So the offices of Jesus Christ are pictured for us. His supremacy. The whole focal point of all history is Jesus Christ, and these four verses make that case in spades.

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Now moving on to the second part—the first formal part of this sermon after the introduction—”a better name than angels, son of God and son of man.” Now here also I provided you a structure. I hope it doesn’t get in your way of understanding the text. My intention, at least, was that as you look at this structure, it kind of helps to make a little sense out of what could just be seen as a whole series of statements about Jesus and the angels. There’s some definite subjects being portrayed here.

If you look in verse five: “For to which of the angels did he ever say,” this is the beginning of the section. And then drop down to verse 13: “But to which of the angels has he ever said.” This kind of is the inclusion of this as a section before then the exhortation that begins in verse one of chapter 2. So it’s a section. You see, it’s giving us some markers to kind of tie it off. But there’s an opening section too because it says “to which of the angels did he say” and then when the word is used again in the last half of verse six, “let all the angels of God worship him.”

So the first little section is talking about angels and angels. There’s the inclusion. And in the midst of that inclusion, we have some statements: “You are my son. I have begotten you. I’ll be your father. He is the son. He shall be to me a son.” So you see angels—Jesus is better because he has this name of son. And there’s a little structure there where we see that this name comes from the father: son, begotten, father, son, son.

And then the next B section: “But when he again brings the firstborn into the world he says.” So the firstborn. Okay, so first of all the supremacy of Jesus Christ over the angels is: we see this little unit here is that Jesus is the son of God. That’s the point here. He’s the son of God by virtue of these obvious and overt statements where the father has eternally begotten the son and he has created the newborn human nature in Jesus Christ in the incarnation.

So the first exposition of why Jesus is better than the angels is his name is son. He’s the eternally begotten of the father. And they are not. They are not.

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It was funny this morning. I had the kids from my Psalms class coming in one at a time reciting Psalm 1 to me in the final exam for Psalms in their Sunday school class today. And I don’t know what it is—getting old, my vision, I don’t know what’s going on—but I see your family reflected in every member of it these days so much. When I look at children and when I look at parents, I’m seeing this familial lace that I never quite saw quite so much until the last six, maybe nine months. It’s quite delightful.

You know, it’s delightful to look at Samuel L. and see Michael L. and see Howard L. and maybe even a little of Valerie thrown in. It’s delightful. It really is. And the son and the daughters, they bear this impression of the parents. Well, here Jesus is that. You see, he bears the impression of the father, but he’s not sort of like it, sort of different. He’s the exact representation of the father.

So, the text, the sermon begins by asserting the supremacy of Jesus over angels because he’s the son. He’s the son of God.

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Now, look at the next section, verse seven. Of all the angels, he says: “Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.” Now, drop down to verse 14: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation?” You see clearly denoted bookends of a little section there. And this section is going to be important. It’s different than the first section. The emphasis is not son of God in his relationship to the father. Something else is going on.

“But to the son, he says, ‘Your throne, oh God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.’”

And then dropping down to verse 13: “to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool.’”

The second exposition of the supremacy of Jesus Christ in reference to the angels is that he is king of kings. He is the ultimate ruler. He is the sovereign with whom all the created order has to do. They are not. They’re ministering spirits. Jesus Christ is king. And so that’s being made in those two matching sections. Jesus has a throne. He has a scepter—twice mentioned. He has been anointed as the king, you see. And all of his enemies—he sits at the right hand of the father. He’s the king. All enemies be made his footstool.

King, king, king, king, king. So the supremacy of Jesus Christ over the angels is in the fact that he is son of God and as such he rules. He is king of kings and lord of lords.

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Now there’s a very important point here that we must not miss, and I’ve shown it with a little tiny indentation right after verse eight. Look at your outlines. Verse eight: “But to the son, he says, ‘Your throne, oh God, is forever and ever.’” And then indented a little: “‘A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.’ And then back out: ‘Therefore, God has anointed you.’”

What he tells us here is not just that Jesus is king, but he throws something else in the middle of that first statement that Jesus is king of kings and ruler of rulers. What is it? It’s something that’s quite important for us to correct modern views of Christianity. And what it is is that the kingship of Jesus Christ is tied to the punishment and the removal of lawlessness on the earth.

Jesus isn’t king just so you could work out your personal salvation and you can go to heaven. That’s very important—why and where you go. We’ll talk about that in a couple of minutes. But Jesus is king and your salvation is part of a greater plan. You see, that’s revealed to us here. He is a king who loves righteousness and hates lawlessness. That’s the goal of history. That’s the goal that your salvation serves.

The Lamb of God comes to take away the sin of the world because he hates it. He hates lawlessness and he loves righteousness. And this text goes so far as to say that’s exactly why he’s king. That’s exactly why God has crowned him—not just because he’s his son. Now, you know, it’s speaking in terminology here that isn’t to be thought of as a logical progression, but his enthronement is tied directly to his hatred of lawlessness.

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Now, if we contemplate what Christianity is all about in this world, I think this is quite important because it tells us that we should not be content just to have quiet lives. We must also be motivated by a hatred of the lawlessness that motivates our captain. If we’re kings and priests under God and he makes us to reign in the world, it’s to what purpose? It’s to get rid of lawlessness and establish righteousness.

You see, this drives a whole series of missions into the world around about us. In the workplace, in the schoolplace, it is lawlessness and evil to think that education can leave God out and somehow teach anything at its basic level. Lawless, evil. We don’t want it. Our goal long term is to see that not happen. Godless education. Okay? It’s lawless and evil for abortion to go on. We should hate it and be positively motivated against it.

Now, I stressed two weeks ago the ordinary things, but here’s the other thing you got to remember so you don’t fall into the ditch of personal peace and affluence being what your only goal is in life. You’re here to have an action upon the world. Most of it’s carried out through simple little acts of obedience. But you see, we have to understand that the whole purpose of life is not just to make it out of hell and into heaven. The purpose of our existence and our redemption is to be part of the process whereby the Supreme Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is king, removes lawlessness.

We must hate lawlessness because that’s what the captain of our salvation hates. Okay. And then there’s a third.

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Oh, there’s a third. There’s a third. So, we see that Jesus is supreme because he is the son in relationship to the father. He’s superior to the angels because he is the king. And a king is one who loves righteousness and hates evil. And then third is the C-section here of this. And he also says this: “He says, ‘You, Lord, in the beginning lay the foundations of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish but you remain. They will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will fold them up. They will be changed. But you are the same. Your years will not fail.’”

Jesus as creator. You see, and here we have it again—the tying together in the introduction of Jesus as the king and Jesus as creator. Same thing here. They’re wrapped together into one literary section that Jesus is superior to the angels because he is the creator of all things. He exists forever. He is firmly established, more so than the created order itself. The angels split about doing their work for God. That’s all good stuff. But not so Jesus. You see, he is firmly established as the creator of all things.

And so the supremacy of Jesus Christ to the angels—this better name—is certainly the name of son of God, but it has tied to it the fact that it is the son of God who rules, who will get rid of lawlessness. The angels are not king of kings, and the son of God is the creator of all things. He is firmly established whereas all other created things are malleable, movable, etc.

So we have this wonderful exposition of the supremacy of Jesus Christ. Well, that’s interesting. But what does it mean to us? Well, the author immediately says there is a purpose for me telling you this stuff. Before we go on—he says, or could be thought to have said—before we go on talking about Jesus Christ’s name and he will go on to talk that Jesus Christ is the son of man, not just the son of God. He’ll talk about that. But first he wants to drive home something here. First he wants us to give us some application that again will be stated over and over again throughout this epistle.

We know that Hebrews has those scary portions in it, right? The stuff that’s uncomfortable for us to read. And here’s the very first one. It’ll build as the book goes on. But here’s the first one.

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So what? Okay. So in this sermon so far, the author of Hebrews has told us that Jesus Christ is superior to the angels as the son, as king, and as creator. So what?

Well, the “so what” is in verse one of chapter 2. Therefore, as a result of this, we must give more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. “If the word spoken through angels proved steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will.”

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An old Welsh preacher in the think the 17th, maybe 18th century, began a sermon by saying: “Men and women, boys and girls, I’m going to ask you a question today that you can’t answer. I’m going to ask you a question that the pulpit, the seminarians cannot answer. I’m going to ask you a question that the angels can’t answer. The question is: how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

How shall we escape? Well, escape what? That’s what the modern world says. That’s what many Christians say. “Well, we want to escape having lives that are sort of not very fulfilled or might have difficulties. We want to escape our mundane work. We want to escape our little lives that don’t seem to have meaning. Our lives of quiet despair.” That’s not what’s being talked about here in Hebrews.

What’s being talked about here is we need to escape the damnation of hell. We need to escape hellfire because this Jesus, the son of God and the creator of you and me—you’re going to be rolled up like the scroll of creation. You’re going to be moved, and something’s going to happen to you. And if you’re lawlessness, he hates you and you will be the subject of that hatred for the rest of your infinite existence. And if you’re righteousness in Christ, then you’re going to be the subject of his pleasure throughout eternity. Heaven and hell. That’s what’s before us here.

And the first application of the supremacy of Jesus Christ: now, we’ve said good news—nothing but good news so far. Jesus is that bright shining guy, prophet, priest, and king. The bright reference of God, the exact impression of him. He’s upholding all things. He’s purged our sins. He’s the son of God. He’s the king. He’s the creator. Yeah. All gospel. But now the response comes, folks.

And it’s a response that we have to enter into. How shall we escape if we neglect this? If we start to fall away, if we drift down the stream—that’s what the word says here, right? We must listen, pay more diligent heed to what we heard, lest we drift away.

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You know, I like to do these little “heart of the matter” sort of things. If you take this whole text—this second section of the sermon where you’ve got son of God and son of man, and in the middle of the exhortation—we’re in that exhortation. What’s in the middle of the exhortation?

Well, it begins by talking about the need to hear. Here—and then it ends by saying that Jesus spoke and then the ones that heard him spoke to us as well, accompanied by the works of the Holy Spirit, right? So that’s kind of the bookends. It’s a prose section. I didn’t outline it acrostically. It’s prose. But it’s got kind of a beginning and end. The beginning and end is listening to the word.

But what’s at the very heart then? The very heart is that in the old covenant, every transgression received a just reward. How much more so today? He’ll repeat this in chapter 10 and chapter 12. “We’ve not come to the mountain, you know, of Sinai. We come to Mount Zion.” And the whole point of that is not “it’s okay now.” It’s worse for us. From one perspective, the New Testament is not easier than the Old Testament. The author to the Epistle of Hebrews says it’s worse for us.

We draw closer to God. We come to the table and commune with the father. You didn’t want to get close to God. Well, you wanted to get sort of close to the Old Testament, but you got too close sinfully, sit on your hands, and you were burned up. He says, “It’s worse for us. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”

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The center of this opening central sermon section—the very heart of it—is judgment. It’s judgment. It’s hell. And the need to escape hell through the work of Jesus Christ.

You know, we live our lives and we try to witness—lifestyle evangelism. I like that. That’s okay. Yeah, people should, you know, see lifestyle changes. But and but somehow our evangelization has left out hell. Now, think of the implications of that. The implication is that—how—I know a lot of you are very frustrated because you’re saying, “Well, my life isn’t much better than the pagans next to me or the people I work with.” Oh. You know some pagans that it is a lot better then. And you know that ultimately it is a lot better. You know that as a Christian you’re fulfilled in life. You’re delivered from sins, etc. But you know if all our Christian message is “look at our life. Don’t you want a life like ours?” it’s not selling because they feel pretty secure in their lives, pagans.

Now the Christian message—ultimately, we don’t win people to Jesus Christ because of the winsomeness of who we are. We win them when we help them to realize there is a judgment that they are drifting toward—that they must need escape, or they’re going to go over that cliff as they’re drifting along. They’re going to go over the Niagara Falls going down their little stream of life. And once they go over that falls, it is too late to turn back. Too late to repent. Too late to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s given: a man is destined to die once and then comes the judgment.

Do our neighbors hear that from us? Do you hear that from me very often? You know, the preaching of hell is not common throughout every page of the scriptures, but it’s there enough. It’s sort of like, you know, if you have—if you go to some places, topography—you’ve got stone underneath soil. We know it’s always there, but sometimes you see the little outcroppings of it, you see. Well, a lot of the New Testament is it. It’s this. It’s the vegetation, the stuff that grows on that. But the doctrine of hell and heaven are at the underpinnings of all of it.

And sometimes, as with our text today and in the matching section, section six, where we’re warned that we come to Mount Zion and God will strike us dead if we’re not careful to heed his words in a worse way than the Old Testament—sometimes you see these outcroppings, you see, of something that’s very fundamental to what we are. It ruins our witness to get rid of hell. It creates a whole different kind of Christianity that’s just a competitor for lifestyles and perspectives and a different way to live your life.

And in many ways, this is what Christianity has become. And witnessing has become. “Come to our church, have a great time. We’re going to really jazz it up. And boy, you know, you want community and we got that. We got this neat stuff.” And you know, there’s a lot of truth to that. There’s a lot of truth to that. I’m not putting down other churches. I’m not putting down our church when we talk about the gifts of glory, knowledge, and worship that God dispenses in the worship service.

But folks, we need to understand that the bedrock of all of this is that if Jesus Christ is God and this word is true, if we and those around us do not pay diligent heed to these things, judgment awaits. Judgment awaits.

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Now, he’s writing to Christians—baptized believers who are just not coming to church much, pulling back from the community, maybe thinking, “Well, you know, we believe in Jesus, and when we go to the temple, we’ll think about him, and we go through the different stuff we do, and when we hear the synagogue—the Bible read in the synagogue—we’ll think about Jesus. That’s okay.” And he’s saying, “You’re drifting away. Drifting away. You know, you could go out on the river. I saw Niagara Falls last year for the first time. You could go on that river, not having gone there ever before, and you get in a raft and just sort of drift away down with your life. Yeah, I still sort of think about Jesus occasionally. I don’t go to church anymore, but I’m kind of there.”

And friends, this text, if it means anything, says you’re drifting away and the judgment is approaching for you. You’re in danger of hellfire. You’re in danger of not escaping if you neglect this salvation. So the doctrine of hell should return to our understanding. And the Hebrews will do that. It’ll drive this home in spades to us. It’ll warn us over and over again of the possibility of our apostasy, of our drifting away from the faith and the pending judgment of God.

This epistle is not comfortable with “once saved, always saved. Everything’s cool now.” And you know, Christians that have been baptized, they drift away for years and years and years. “Well, we heard them make the profession of faith. They’re not having a very good life, but we’ll see him in heaven.” That’s not what this text says. It talks to people like that who are drifting away from Jesus Christ, drifting away from the church, drifting away to obedience, drifting away from hearing his word.

And it warns them: “How shall you escape if you neglect this?”

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It secondly, it tells us that this doctrine of hell is important for us, of course, because what are we saved from? If we don’t remember that we’re saved from the hellfire and damnation and the judgment of God, then where is our gratefulness? “Thank you for a little better life than I had before.” No. “Thank you, Lord God, for taking upon yourself—upon Jesus Christ—all the sufferings of hell that I can be delivered from it.” It increases our thankfulness to focus on the fact that there is this escape that’s been made through the work of Jesus.

And the end result of that is we should hear them more diligently. Hard things in the book of Hebrews, difficult stuff to talk about the next year or two—however long it takes. Okay. But he’s saying right at the get-go: listen up because this is important stuff. This is coming from the final revelation. This is coming from the king. This is coming from the creator. This is coming from the high priest who has purged our sins. Listen hard. It’s going to be tough. Listen.

And I’d urge you as we preach through this book to listen to it, to read it, to study it, to think about it other than just on Sunday morning. And of course, it’s not just this book. It’s not just this sermon. It’s not just at church where you need to hear—to pay diligent heed to the things that Jesus Christ says in his word. It’s in your homes. It’s in your personal reading of the scriptures.

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You know, there’s a story of the guy who’s out climbing along on a ledge and he gets in a place and he’s going to fall and he can’t get out. And so he prays to God, “God, help me, please.” And a bird flies up and says, “Get on my back. I’ll fly away.” “No, I don’t want to do that.” And then a helicopter comes, says, “Come on over. We’ll throw you a line.” “No, I don’t want to do that.” And then a rope comes down from a guy up on top. And he’s not—”I don’t want to do that.” And then he keeps praying to God, “Please save me.” And God said, “I sent you a bird, a helicopter, and a rope. What do you want?”

That’s the way we are. God speaks to us through people—primarily through his scriptures. God always speaks through his word. But that word is then talked to—we’re talked to by our parents, by our friends in different ways. The Lord God is speaking to you. May we hear his voice this week. May we pay diligent heed to what Jesus is telling us through our parents, through our friends, through the proclamation of the word, through our own personal reading in that word. Pay diligent heed. Let’s not drift away. Let’s not be those who drift down the river ever so carelessly and relaxed, but at the end go over Niagara into damnation.

God says that’s a possibility for us. He tells us this is great good news. This book of Hebrews—wonderful things. High priest of great things to come. But at the same time, it’s news that demands response. And the response is in heightened intensity to hear the word of God and to understand that at the heart of hearing that word is the great escape provided for us through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you for the atonement of Jesus Christ. We thank you that he has purged our sins and we can come to you boldly today, Father. But help us never to forget this doctrine of hell in your scriptures—this truth that we are in danger of encountering that very thing if we drift away from you. Help us to pay the more diligent heed to what we have heard in these scriptures and to your voice speaking to us as we minister that word one to the other in our lives.

In Jesus name we ask it. Amen.