HEBREWS 1:1-14 BELIEVE IN THE SUPERIORITY OF JESUS2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Hebrews 1:1-14 Believe In The Superiority Of Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Doctrine changes behavior. Doctrine changes behavior. It's something I would ask you to consider this morning as we begin the book of Hebrews. It's really a doctrinal book.

All about the doctrine of Jesus and the superiority of Jesus over specifically the old covenant and the system that had been established by God in the sacrifices, in the priesthood, and all of those things that came before. Here in the book of Hebrews, we have reiterated the superiority of Jesus over all that came before.

It's a doctrinal book, but not meant to just be doctrine for information, but doctrine so that, well, behavior would change, so that lives would be changed, so that activities would be changed. Thirteen times in the book of Hebrews, you find the word better, as the writer of Hebrews compares Jesus to the things that previously existed under the Old Covenant.

establishing the superiority of Jesus. And he's calling the audience, he's calling the recipients. These are Hebrews, that is Jewish people who had become believers, but were being tempted to go back to the old covenant.

At the time that this was written, the temple was still standing in Jerusalem. And there was a great temptation, both for cultural upbringing, both for persecution, for a variety of reasons. There was great temptation for the people, the Jewish people, to go back to the sacrifices, back to the Levitical system. And so the author of Hebrews is writing to say, look, Jesus supersedes all that came before.

And so he's talking about

the superiority of Jesus. And this morning, I want to encourage you to believe in this message. Believe in the superiority of Jesus. That's the title for the message this morning. Believe in the superiority of Jesus. But again, I want to encourage you not to just believe it in a way that you understand it, that you acknowledge it, that it's in your mind, or that you can quote it or, you know, refer back to it, but

Let the doctrine change your behavior. Let the doctrine influence your life and make an impact in the decisions that you make and the things that you do on a daily basis. The doctrine of the superiority of Jesus should change the things that we do and the way that we live. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, the book of Hebrews exalts the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

When you realize all that you have in and through him, you have no desire for anyone else or anything else. When we appreciate who Jesus is and how superior he is to all that came before, we won't seek to substitute. We won't seek to replace. Instead, we will immerse ourselves in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, for the recipients of this letter, they were tempted to go back to Judaism. That's probably not you, although there are those who, you know, believe in Jesus and then go back to the old covenant and hold fast to the old covenant and seek to be right with God and have better access to God through the old covenant. There are those, but there's many other ways for us to try to substitute Jesus in our life.

And let the book of Hebrews remind us this morning and as you read through it in the coming days, let it remind you and refresh you in all that we have in Jesus and how much he fulfills our every need.

And so again, I would encourage you to believe in the superiority of Jesus. Now, as we look at these few verses, there's five responses we'll see to the superiority of Jesus. Five ways for us to respond to this doctrine and put into practice different things as a result of who Jesus is and how superior he is. And so the first thing we'll find is here in verses 1 and 2 is

I want to encourage you to accept Jesus as the Father's final word. Here's our first response as we understand the superiority of Jesus. That is that we accept Jesus as the Father's final word. Let me read these verses again. Verse 1 and the first part of verse 2, it says, "...God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets."

The author of Hebrews begins the focus on God, begins the focus on the Father, and reflecting on how the Father has spoken and worked and moved and done different things in different ways throughout the history of humanity. But he makes a distinction between the past and the present.

He says, look, in the past, God has spoken at various times in various ways in the past, but that's the past. And now in the present, it's not this same idea. It's different now. In these last days, that is the present, he has spoken to us by his son. Today, we live in the last days.

And there is one means of communication from God. One means of revelation from God. That is by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. One means, one method, one way, one revelation, one communication. This is important for us to understand for a few reasons. But to just kind of simplify it, I'll put it this way. Jesus refuses to be your backup plan.

Jesus refuses to be that thing that you add like just in case. There are those who try to add Jesus to their life as a just in case, just in case my good deeds are not good enough. Then I want to make sure I have the Jesus card in my wallet so that if that ends up being the truth, then all right, I'm set, I'm okay. Just in case I'm wrong about Buddhism.

or some other religion or some other philosophy or practice, just in case. But I want to have the Jesus card, but I'm also going to be pursuing and focusing on these other things, just in case I'm wrong about this or wrong about that, or I don't reach this, or eternity is real, just in case I'm going to grab hold of Jesus. Here the author of Hebrews is saying, look, God has spoken.

He's revealed himself throughout all history. He's always reached out to humanity and spoken to us and sought to bring reconciliation between God and man. It's always been God who has been doing the reaching out. And he's used a variety of methods in a variety of ways in the past. But now in these last days, he's got one channel. It's the Jesus channel. He's got one means, one avenue, one path.

means of reaching out to humanity. It's through Jesus. Now, God does continue to speak in a variety of ways, but at the same time, I would suggest that all of these ways that God speaks are through the channel of Jesus, that there is nothing apart from Jesus that God has for you, that God wants to say to you, that God wants to deliver to you or reveal to you.

If you think about the various ways and different times that the author of Hebrews is referring to, you can go back through the Old Testament. You can think about creation. And even as Paul talks about creation in Romans chapter 1, that creation itself reveals God. And God reveals himself through one means of communication, and that is creation. God reveals himself through the conscience that he has built into each and every one of us.

At times, God revealed himself directly. You can think about Noah or Abraham or Moses. God revealed himself to the nation of Israel through the law. Later on, through the prophets. At different times, God has used angels to bring forth messages and revelation. He's used visions and dreams in a variety of ways and a variety of different times. God has spoken and he continues to speak through angels.

These means, on many occasions, but what's different now is these all are tied back to Jesus. Jesus is the final word. And everything now, everything that comes afterwards, all points back to Jesus. Creation points back to Jesus. When the Lord speaks to us directly, it's attached to our relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. When God sends forth a prophet, the prophet speaks of Jesus. When the Lord sends forth a prophet,

and so on and so forth, that it's all attached to Jesus. He is the final word of God, the last message. The 10 commandments are not God's final word. And there's a big difference there. You can't just think, okay, all I got to do is keep the 10 commandments. That's the word of God. That's the final word. And that's all that's necessary. Now, the 10 commandments are not God's final word. Jesus is the Father's final word. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way.

Jesus Christ is the Father's last word. In him, divine revelation is seen and heard in its fullness. And in him, God's revelation is complete. Jesus is the final word, not just chronologically, but he's the final word in fullness, in completeness. All the words spoken previously and all the ways that God has moved and worked and the covenants that he has made, they were partial words.

But the covenant in Jesus, God's covenant with man, it's complete. It's full. Jesus in that upper room talked about the new covenant. And this is not a new covenant in addition to older covenants. This is a new covenant in replacement of the previous covenant. All other agreements are void. It's like the difference between a refinance or a second mortgage.

There's a difference. The refinance, it cancels out the first mortgage, replaces it with a new one. It's not in addition to. Jesus is the final word from the Father. He's not one word in addition to all other previous words or other alternative words. He is the one word. He is the one revelation. He is the one way that God speaks. So much so that if an angel were to show up today,

It's kind of hard for us to picture and imagine, but try to do that. What would your response be? Here, just boom, right in front of us, an angel appears in glory, and it's amazing. If an angel were to show up and offer a different message, Jesus is the final word, so much so that if it's different than the message of Jesus, no matter what experience we may have,

no matter what encounter we may have, no matter, you know, what may happen or what that angel may say or any lesser being may say, that it would not change the truth, the reality, Jesus is the Father's final word. Paul tells the Galatians in Galatians chapter 1, even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you, then what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Even if an angel appears,

Even if something radical happens, this is the truth. And do not be deceived by any other word claiming to be from God because Jesus is the Father's final word. And so again, accept Jesus as the Father's final word. Doctrine changes our behavior. That is, we need to hold fast to Jesus and accept Jesus as the full message from God.

The complete message, the complete word, the complete revelation of God to us is found in Jesus Christ. And everything that God has for us is found in Jesus Christ. Everything that God wants to do in our lives is found in Jesus Christ. It all comes back to Jesus. Well, the second response to consider this morning as we believe in the superiority of Jesus is to trust Jesus to work it all out. Again, when we believe in the superiority of Jesus,

It impacts us. It changes us. It gives us a faith and a trust that he's got all things under control and he will work it out. Looking at verse 2 and 3, it says this. He has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom he also 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.

There's three things I want to look at here in this point. And the author of Hebrews says that Jesus is the heir of all things. He says that Jesus made the worlds. And he says that Jesus is upholding all things. And so we're talking about the past, the present, and the future this time. The past, Jesus made the worlds. The present, Jesus is upholding all things. And the future, Jesus is the heir of all things.

Jesus is the creator. He is the sustainer and he is the heir of all. Now, we don't have time to get into all of the details about each of those designations about Jesus. But instead, I would just ask you to consider what do you need that is bigger than the task of creation? What's going on in your life? What need do you have that is a greater task, a bigger task, a more difficult or complex task than the creation of the heavens and the earth?

what's so big in your life that Jesus would have a challenge tackling that, working that out after creating the heavens and the earth? Of course, the point is there is nothing. There's nothing that compares. As you look at what God has done in creation, the marvel that is there. A few nights ago, Kim and I

took off for like a one night quick getaway and we pretended to be kids for a little bit and we stayed up all night looking at the stars because there was a meteor shower that was happening. So we went out to Joshua Tree where it's all nice and dark and man, it's amazing to see the stars that we never get to see around here, right? I think there's like four stars you can see in Corona. Yeah.

But in Joshua Tree, there's like 4 million or billion. I don't even know. But we were watching these meteor showers and these shooting stars and they're going all different directions. And oh man, it's just amazing to consider and to think about the billions of light years of space and creation that God has made. What's happening in your life that would require more

than what was required to create the heavens and the earth. Jesus is the creator and he's the sustainer. He's the one who is upholding all things. He's holding it all together. Paul talks about this in Colossians chapter one as well. In him, all things consist. He is the creator. It was created by him and for him and through him. And he's the one who maintains it and holds it all together. He's upholding all things. Pastor Thomas Constable.

Talking about the idea of Jesus upholding all things, says it's not so much that Jesus upholds the universe like Atlas shouldering the world, right? That picture of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. He says rather it's that Jesus carries all things forward on their appointed course. Jesus's word has tremendous power and authority. It is the greatest force in the universe.

Jesus is the greatest force in the universe. His word is the greatest force. He is moving all things along on their appointed course. And it reminds me of Romans 8, 28, the promise that God works out all things together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. What do you need that's bigger than this?

the holding together of all things, the upholding of all things, the moving things forward in the plan and purposes of God, you can trust Jesus to work it all out. No matter what happens in our lives, we can trust him. He really is in charge. He really is on the throne. He really will work things together for good. When we understand the superiority of Jesus, it gives us a security and a rest and a trust in him as the foundation of our lives.

Well, the third thing to consider this morning as we think about the superiority of Jesus and what believing in Jesus means in our lives, here's the third response. Learn all about the Father through Jesus. Looking again at verse 3, it says, Here we get some hints to the deity of Jesus, the fact that Jesus Christ is God.

And it speaks to and alludes to the triune nature of God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, saying that Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father, the perfect representation of the Father. He is the brightness of his glory or the outshining of his glory. It's like the rays of the sun in relationship to the sun.

You can't separate the two in the same way the Father and the Son are connected. They are one God and yet triune. There's a great mystery there. But we need to understand that Jesus is the outshining of the glory of God and the express image of his person, he says in verse 3. Now that idea of the express image, it means to be identical to the, well, the New International Version puts it this way, the exact representation of his being.

The English Standard Version translates it this way, the exact imprint of his nature. Jesus is the exact imprint, the exact form, the exact representation. He perfectly represents the Father. That's what Jesus said, right, in John chapter 14, talking to Thomas. He says, look, if

You've seen me. You've seen the Father. Jesus perfectly represents the Father. Now, you and I today, we haven't seen Jesus physically, but we have everything that we need about Jesus in the scriptures. His life in the gospels, the rest of the scriptures, which Jesus said all speak about him, and our own personal relationship with the Lord because he is alive and

And he works in our midst and he speaks to us by his Holy Spirit. And so through Jesus, we have access to understanding about the Father. There's no further revelation needed for God's nature, his character, what he's like. It's all found in Jesus. He exactly and perfectly represents to us the Father's ideas, his ideals, his thoughts, his attitudes, his word, his promises, his

Jesus is the exact representation of the Father. Sometimes in our mind, we develop this distinction between the Father and Jesus and how they're different. And perhaps we picture the Father as kind of angry and upset and judgmental. And then Jesus here, he's the nice soft one. And so you want to hang out with Jesus because he's a lot easier to hang out with. But Jesus perfectly and exactly represents the Father to us.

He shows us the character and the nature of the Father. You can learn everything about the Father through Jesus. Now again, this is important because, well, if you want to know about God, where do you go? Who do you look to? How do you understand God? How do you understand what he thinks and what he says? We can look to a lot of sources. We can pursue a lot of things and try to understand God

In our own minds and imaginations, we can try to understand God through different philosophies and different courses. But here, the author of Hebrews brings us back. Look, if there's anything you need to know about God, you will find it in Jesus. If there's anything you need to know about God, his will, his plans, his purposes, his thoughts, what he wants, you're going to find that in Jesus. Learn all about the Father through Jesus.

Learn everything that is to know about him, all about his character and nature. It's found in Jesus. It's not found in other places and other sources.

Now, God uses a variety of means to minister to us, but you need to make sure then, all right, so there's someone up here talking about God. Is he referring us to, is he in line with Jesus? And if there's a difference between what I'm being told and what Jesus says, or the way that Jesus reflects the Father, then, well, I need to hold fast to what Jesus says and not to what this person is saying.

Everything about the Father that I need to know, that should be known, it's found in Jesus. He perfectly reflects the Father. Well, the fourth response to consider this morning as we believe in the superiority of Jesus, fourth response is to receive forgiveness only from Jesus. To only receive forgiveness from Jesus. No other source. Not to seek forgiveness some other way or some other means.

And verse 3, kind of jumping into the middle, it says, Jesus by himself purged our sins. Now here in this introduction, in these introductory verses, the author of Hebrews is kind of giving some sneak previews of what he's going to be addressing throughout the rest of the book. And here he's giving a sneak preview of the priestly ministry of Jesus.

It's a big subject throughout the rest of the book and the priesthood of Jesus, the order of Melchizedek and some fun things that we'll get to read about over the next few days. But the priestly ministry of Jesus primarily was for the forgiveness of sins, to wash the slate clean for his followers so that they would have right access to God. And there's some parallels between what Christ has done and the day of atonement

that God instructs the Israelites about in Leviticus chapter 16. That was the day that all of sins would be forgiven through these particular sacrifices that only the high priest could offer. And there were these sacrifices that the high priest was instructed to do by himself. There's a lot of work, these sacrifices.

And the rest of the year, there was sacrifices that were done and different priests would be involved. But on this day, for the forgiveness of the sins of the nation, only the high priest could do the sacrifices. And he had to do it by himself. In a similar way, Jesus here offered the sacrifice and by himself purged our sins.

Now, the fact that he purged our sins by himself, you know what that means? That means that nothing else was necessary for the purging of sin. It means that nothing else can help with the purging of sin. It means that nobody else can help with the purging of sin. And it instructs us to not look anywhere else.

You're trying to have right relationship with God. You're trying to be right before God, to be relieved of a guilty conscience or to be delivered from the wrath of God. Don't look anywhere else. Look to Jesus. Do not seek forgiveness through any other means. Don't try to earn forgiveness from God. Don't try to deserve forgiveness from God. Don't try to

Pay God in order to get forgiveness from him. Don't try to negotiate with God or follow some strict thing in order to receive forgiveness. Jesus has purged our sins. As a believer in Jesus, you are justified. You have right standing before God and it means that you stand before him just as if you had never sinned. You already stand before God in that way. There's nothing that you can do to add to the purging of sins.

He, by himself, without your help, without anybody else's help, nothing further is necessary for the purging of sins. It's all taken care of in Jesus Christ. Receive forgiveness only from Jesus. Look nowhere else for forgiveness. Well, finally, the last thing to consider as we finish up in verses 3 and 4, here's the fifth response, and that is to draw near to the Father by Jesus.

It says, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

He sat down at the right hand of the Father. And there's some great significance to that placement, the right hand of the Father. It's a position of equality, a position of authority and prominence and power. As opposed to, and the author of Hebrews will go on to compare Jesus to angels, they're in the position of servants, where Jesus is in the position of servants.

equality, authority, power with God, the right hand of the Father. For the Jewish people, angels were held in high esteem, and that's why chapter 1 here is really devoted to contrasting Jesus and the angels. In verse 13 here of Hebrews chapter 1, the author of Hebrews says, He's quoting there from Psalm 110 verse 1.

And he's saying, look, there's nobody else who has this position, who has this standing that sits at the right hand of the Father, that position of equality and authority and power. Throughout the New Testament, we find over 18 references to Jesus at the right hand of the Father. It begins at his ascension. Mark chapter 16, verse 19. It says, when the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

After his crucifixion and resurrection, he ascended to heaven and he is now seated at the right hand of God. And we see that in the book of Acts. We see that in the letters of Paul. We see that in the letters of Peter. We see it all throughout the New Testament. Jesus is seated there at the right hand of God. And that's important to understand his position, his authority, his power, his equality with God. But there's another aspect to it. It's important to understand his priestly ministry.

And the author of Hebrews will tell us in chapter 8 verse 1, the author of Hebrews says, This is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. There again referring to his position right there at the right hand of the Father. But the position is not just about his equality and his nature and the deity of Jesus. The position there also speaks to us about our access to God.

We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. We have a high priest who is seated right there next to the father. Now the priest's job was to bring people into the presence of God, to connect people to God, to address the issue of sin so that there could be fellowship and reconciliation between man and God.

And now we have the great high priest, the far better superior high priest, Jesus, right there at the right hand of the Father in heaven, our permanent high priest to give us access to the Father. Drawn near to the Father by Jesus. You have full access. You have that permanent opportunity because Jesus is there, seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding on your behalf, bringing you into the presence of

of the Almighty. Believe in the superiority of Jesus. You don't need something else. You don't need another path, another avenue. There's no greater path or avenue to get to God, to draw near to the Father. If an angel were to show up and say, follow me, I can give you better access to God. By the authority of the Word of God, we would say, no, that's a lie.

If the Ark of the Covenant is found and people say, hey, go spend some time with the Ark of the Covenant, you can get closer to God. You can, by the authority of the Word of God, say no. Jesus is the high priest. He's on the right hand of the Father. He's the one who opens the way and gives me access to God. I can draw near to the Father. I can have a very real relationship with the Father, with the Almighty, by faith in Jesus Christ.

He is better than any other avenue, than any other religion, any other philosophy, any other person, any other idea. Believe in the superiority of Jesus. Don't just believe it in the intellectual sense, acknowledge the truth, but let the doctrine change your behavior. Accept Jesus as the Father's final word.

And let everything you believe, everything you know about God, everything you find, let it be found in and rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Trust Jesus to work it all out. You're joint heirs with him. I didn't get to cover that part, but he's the creator, he's the sustainer, and he is the inheritor, and you're a joint heir with him. So he's got a vested interest in working all things together for good because you're right there connected to him. You get to participate in that.

Learn all about the Father through Jesus. Don't try to explore knowing God in any other avenue. You come to know God through Jesus Christ. And everything you can know about God is found in Jesus Christ. Receive forgiveness only from Jesus. Don't try to compensate God for sin with your payments or your good deeds. Don't try to earn forgiveness. By faith in Jesus Christ, you can be completely forgiven immediately.

guilt washed away, the slate wiped clean. You have full access to God and you can draw near to the Father by Jesus Christ. You have everything that you need to know him because of the superiority of Jesus, who he is and what he's done for you. Let's pray. Lord, I lift up our hearts to you this morning and I pray that you would help us to really believe in who you are and your work and your ministry and how far superior it is

to anything else that it could be compared to. Lord, we thank you that you loved us so much that you were willing to die on the cross for our sins, to be the sacrifice and to become our high priest, to wash us, to work in us, to give us access to the promises of eternity, the promises of fellowship with God.

Lord, you're incredible and amazing and far superior to anything else. Help us to trust in you, to believe in you, to walk with you, to not sway, to not swerve, and not to be deceived by anything else. But help us to fix our eyes on you, the author and the finisher of our faith. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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