Sermon Brief
Date Written: June 27, 2012
Sermon Title: Christ is Superior
Sermon Text: Hebrews 1:1-14 [HCSB]
CIT: Jesus is superior to the angels
CIS: Jesus is superior to anything this world has to offer
Main Idea: A proper view of Jesus is critical for any church body or individual believer be what God has called them to be.
Introduction:
In this world there have been many famous men. Aristotle, Plato, DaVinci, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Columbus, Washington, Jefferson, George Washington Carver, Lincoln, McArthur, Martin Luther King Jr, Regan and the list could go on and on and on…
There have been other ‘famous’ men whom we may wish never had been… Ghengis Kahn, Ivan the Terrible, Rasputin, Henry 8th, Louie 14th, Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Sadam Hussain, and most recently Osama Bin Laden.
The difference between these two groups of men are what they were famous for… one group was famous for putting others first and serving humanity… the other group was famous for putting themselves first and abusing humanity. One group was considered heroes and the other evil and cruel.
But the common thread among these men is that they are all in the history books and they have all left their mark on human history. If you ask 100 people who was the most famous man in the world… you would get almost 100 answers.
But here is another question, “who was the most influential man in the world?” Who would YOU answer? When asked this question in the election campaign in 2000, George W. Bush answered, “Jesus Christ!” and he went on to share how Christ was his hero and role model.
The fact of the matter is this, there is NO other man in all of human history with as much written about him as Jesus. Jesus was a man that actually has divided history. Historical record now falls into one of two categories, known now as the Common Era (CE) or Before the Common Era (BCE)… it used to be known as BC – before Christ and AD or Anno Domini which is Latin, translated as in the year of the Lord, or speaking of every year since the birth of Christ. Jesus literally has SPLIT history!
Jesus is the most popular person ever to set foot on our planet, and He is the most influential… but Scripture affirms that Jesus was not just a great man, but Jesus is superior to all things and is our great High Priest who intercedes for all humanity before the throne of God.
The writer of Hebrews caught onto this theme and Scripture confirms that Jesus is the central core to the Christian faith and that Jesus is central to all faith in God.
Jesus himself said, “I am THE way…” indicating/ implying a unique and exclusive vessel through which one must pass to get to the Father. Jesus also said, “I am the DOOR…” Jesus knew His role as the only perfect sacrifice, and He was fully obedient to the mission of the Father to give His life for the sin of the world.
Jesus suffered and died according to God’s plan and the Bible tells us that God then exalted Him with a name above ALL names… Peter proclaimed in Acts 4:12 that there is NO other name by which humanity can be saved!
Jesus! Name above all names! Songs, books, movies and countless other media are out there about this man who lived a simple life some 2000yr ago… who died a criminal’s death… who lived a life of austerity and had no earthly possessions!
God spoke thru Jesus (v.2)
…and now in these final days, He has spoken to us thru His Son…
God has always been a communicating God. In the Garden it was face to face, but after the fall it was thru prophets and divine appearances. Up until Jesus, God’s messengers had not revealed God’s complete word or message!
But when Jesus came He became God’s voice/word here in this world and THRU Jesus God spoke his message of Love to the world.
God gave His word to the world through His son Jesus as the NT is about Jesus the man, and the OT is about looking fwd to the coming of Messiah, Jesus!
God gave access to His kingdom to this world through His son Jesus Christ. We know Christ came to save the world and that through Christ men and women would come to salvation and forgiveness. God opened heaven’s doors in his Son Jesus.
God gave the life of the created order (perfect, innocent/justified before God) through His Son Jesus Christ. What humanity had bungled 1st in the garden and ever since in their mere existence, Jesus changed and repaired. His atoning death on the cross heals the rift and brings the lost who accept Him, into a relationship with their creator.
Jesus speaks FOR God (v.3)
…the Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God…
Radiating the very glory of the creator Jesus came and showed the world WHO God is and what He is like… Jesus came and drew a picture of God for the world to see. The world had a picture of a God who was vengeful and fearful and needed placating. The world pictured God as a spiteful creator who sought our destruction because of our sin. Jesus came and revealed that God was not spiteful or malevolent, but that even though he was just and holy, he was also loving and desired his creation to know his love. Jesus radiated the love of God in the way he interacted with all of society, reaching and touching the outcasts and downtrodden of society… Jesus’ life spoke volumes about the glory of God and revealed that God was a loving God.
Revealing the character of God with His miracles and teachings, Jesus touched the lives of those whom the world had discarded… The character of God is revealed by the way Jesus was willing to share the love of God in touching the lives of strangers. We see time and time again where Jesus touches the life of one who has been literally cast out of society with no hope of coming back. Jesus sees them, has compassion on them and changes their lives! Jesus came to reveal the character of a loving and caring God who desires to see all saved.
Revealing the power of God in His miracles, he altered the natural state to reveal God’s power over nature. Calming the storm, altering the chemical consistency of water, ridding sickness and restoring people to sanity… The power of God was on display in the person of Jesus Christ
He restored the created order that had been lost in sin… his sacrificial and atoning death on the cross paid the price for all humanity! Accepting Christ today brings you into the family of God!
Jesus is God’s final Word on Salvation (v.4)
…just as the name God gave Him is greater than their names…
Jesus was God’s answer to the sin of the world. The system of the law and even the angels could not remedy what sin had mucked up… Jesus was the only sacrifice… the only force strong enough to overcome and conquer sin!
Peter in the book of Acts proclaimed in 4:12, “…there is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” God provided complete and total deliverance from sin and bondage through the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane over His role in providing humanity with salvation, but Jesus surrendered in obedience and gave Himself for YOUR sin!
The angels had interceded for humanity on behalf of God for all of human history up to Jesus. But never has any angel provided eternal salvation for any human. In the 1st century angels (like today) were revered and many people had begun to worship the angels instead of God. Paul deal with this sort of worship in some of his letters to the churches he was dealing with…
The writer of Hebrews wants to let the readers know that Jesus IS greater than the angels… Angels had been known to save, to rescue, to deliver people… but here Jesus is saving, rescuing and delivering people from eternal danger and destruction! Angels could not do this… Angels cannot do this…
Conclusion:
Jesus must be the centerpiece of any believer’s foundation! Jesus must be the cornerstone that grounds our faith! For any church to be healthy, for any Christian to be fully in tune with the will of God, they must have a proper focus on just WHO Jesus is… they must have a correct view of Jesus! An incorrect view of Jesus will produce an incorrect view of God. If Jesus is viewed incorrectly then salvation cannot be realized and eternity is lost.
But not only is it imperative for the lost to have a correct view of Jesus, the body of Christ must also have a proper view of Christ! Until the church (or on a personal level, until the Christian) has the correct view of Jesus it will not fulfill its role in the Kingdom of God. For a believer to be a healthy believer they must have a proper and correct view of Jesus.
What is the proper view of Jesus? Jesus is the perfect Son of God! Jesus is 2nd in the Holy Trinity. Jesus is the Lamb of God and the perfect sacrifice for the sin of humanity! Jesus proclaimed and still is the Good Shepherd! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life… Jesus is exclusive! Jesus and the Father are ONE! Jesus is God! As finite creature, we will never fully understand the infinite Triune God we serve! We may never understand the relationship of Jesus to the Father or to the Holy Spirit… but what we can understand is that Jesus is SUPERIOR to all things here on this earth! What we can understand is that Jesus is central in all facets of Christianity and without Jesus all is useless!
What has Jesus done for you? Well, Jesus has conquered Death! Jesus has conquered the grave! Jesus has put to death the sin that enslaves us! So, when we surrender to Jesus, we will receive eternal forgiveness, grace and mercy that leads to instant salvation. We will be instantly justified and made at peace with God, not because of our actions, but because of the awesomeness of Jesus! He is fully superior and fully able to save!
Jesus is superior to anything this world has to offer… fame, $$, power, position… all pale in comparison to Jesus! Today you have heard the message of the superiority of Christ, I urge you to surrender your heart to him today and allow him to come in and save you from your sin! Turn to Him and live eternally! Won’t you come!
