Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews, chapter 1. We're looking at verse 10 through 14. And the Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you remain, and they all will become old like garment.

And like a mantle you will roll them up, like a garment they will also be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not come to an end. But to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who inherit salvation? I've already prayed, so I'm just going to jump in. The text that we're looking at, obviously, is an ongoing message of putting Christ first. And as I've mentioned earlier in the previous sermons, that the goal of the study of the book of Hebrews is not simply for us to get Christology correct.

So if somebody asks you, or if you have a debate with a Jehovah Witness about the identity of Jesus, that you have a go-to text to go to and exposit and say, "This is what the Bible says." That is not our ultimate goal. Because you can get all the answers right.

You can be the best expositor of Scripture and completely miss the point. Because the greatest commandment in Scripture is not to know theologically who Jesus is. The greatest commandment in Scripture is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the reason why the glory of Christ is being magnified in the book of Hebrews is to get us to that end, so that we would not drift and put our hopes and confidence in anything else but Christ.

So for eleven chapters, Harry predicted it's going to be taking me three years, right? So for eleven chapters, for three years, we're going to be exalting Christ. And our goal is the same goal as the author book of Hebrews. Is that the more and more we see who Jesus is, that less and less, that whatever it is that we are tempted by to drift toward, will become rubbish in light of this surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ.

It's always challenging to see young couples and young families move. Every single one of us who have children who are worried and concerned every single day that we're not providing what is best for our children, and to have a young family say, "You know what? Jesus is better. Jesus is better.

And I trust him more than I trust myself. I trust him more than our bank account," is a visual testimony of what he's really trying to do, to not to drift. Again, because we, many of us, have been to church for so long that when that question is asked, "Do you love Jesus?" It's like, "Yeah, of course I do." "Do you believe in the inerrancy of Scripture?" "Yeah, of course." "Do you believe in the Trinity?" "Of course." It's a knee-jerk reaction without really serious thought, until you get challenged.

So if you ask somebody who's outside the church, "Do you love Jesus?" They'll think about it. They don't go to church. They don't do this and that. So I wasn't baptized, so they'll say, "No, I don't, because I don't do these things." But how do people who are in the church, who are engrossed in church activity, who go to small groups, maybe even leading, who are so engrossed in religious activity in the church?

And again, when I say religious, it doesn't automatically mean something negative. It's just we're engaged in these activities. How do we examine ourselves? How do we answer that question, that it's not just a knee-jerk reaction that, "I'm serving the church. I'm sacrificing. I'm giving. And I'm doing this, and I'm doing that, and I'm paying my offering, and so therefore, of course I do." But you know, when that question is asked, that Christ looks beyond all of that.

That He can see all throughout our superficial activities that we're engaged in and know exactly where we are with the Lord. And so you could easily drift as a Sunday school teacher, as a worship leader, as an elder in the church, and even as the pastor who preaches every single Sunday.

I can do this. I can exposit, and I've been doing it long enough where I can say what I need to say while my heart is completely drifting away from God. So if I can do it, I know you can. So the question is, where do you stand with Christ?

I'm not asking you what you are doing. I'm not asking you what theology or how much of the scripture have you read this week. I'm asking you, who do you say Jesus is? What is your confession outside of the church, outside of the small group? Will your co-workers know what Jesus means to you?

Do your family members know what Jesus means to you? Do the people who know you, around you, and watches your life, and watches who you are, do they know what Jesus means to you? Or is it only just your small group people, or just the church people? Have we drifted?

Have we made the focus about something lesser than Christ? And that's exactly what He's been dealing with, and He begins at the top of the list, the angels. And Jesus is greater than the angels, and we went through four of them, so today is the fifth one. We're looking at verse 10.

Jesus is greater than the angels because Jesus is the eternal creator. Verse 10, "And you Lord, in the beginning, lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hand." This is a direct quote from Psalm 102, verse 24 through 27. What's interesting about that verse, it is clear that it's in reference to God the Father.

And yet, the psalmist is using that, saying that this is in reference to Jesus. Some people may look at Jesus' identity, and they say, "Well, you know, when Jesus started saying, 'Before Abraham was I am,' I mean, no wonder people got confused, because there's no evidence of Jesus in the Old Testament." So when we look to the New Testament, it's obvious.

I mean, it's understandable that the Pharisees, when Jesus began to say, "I am God," that they would have rejected him. If you examine the Scriptures carefully, you'll find that God had left such strong imprint of who Jesus is, that there's no way that they could have missed it. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, when Jesus appears, a messianic prophecy is declared, and it says this, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and a government will rest on his shoulders, and the name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." How can you possibly read that and say, "Jesus is a lesser God," or "a God"?

He says, "No, Jesus himself is God." In every way, it was made very clear that the Son of God who is coming is God himself. He is the creator. In verse 11 and 12, he says, "And they will all become old like garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up, like a garment they will also be changed, but you are the same, and your years will not come to an end." Again, I want you to understand the point of what he's saying, because we can look at that and say, "Well, Jesus is eternal, Jesus is the creator, he's the God." But why does he say that?

Why is correct Christology important and practical in our life, and not just knowledge? Because the reason why he quotes this passage is not to simply say, "God, Jesus is so great." He's saying everything else that you know will change. And he uses one of the most fundamental things that people can relate to, is their garment.

You have to understand that at that particular time in history, the majority of the people did not own more than one garment. So when Jesus said, "If they ask you for your inner clothing, give them your outer clothing," basically he's saying, he's basically exaggerating, hyperbole, "Give them everything." So it's not like asking somebody who has a wardrobe of clothes and say, "Hey, let me have a shirt," and say, "No, give him a shirt." You have to understand what it meant to them was, if they want that, just give it to them, right?

Give it to them freely. He's talking about somebody who would be naked if he gave. He's using this fundamental thing that they had for survival. He says, "Like garments, no matter how pretty, no matter how nice," he says, "Eventually, it will grow old." And then secondly, he says, "If you happen to be wealthy and you have more than one garment than you have many in your closet," he said, "Eventually, they will change.

The style will change. You might lose some weight. You might gain some weight." Maybe being tight was in one year, and then being loose is in the next year. And you look at fashion, it's just so crazy because people make holes in their pants and it becomes more expensive.

So you were, you know, that same pants would have been trash one year, you know, you add another, you add a couple of holes and then it becomes more expensive. So he's using something fundamental and he's saying, "Like a garment, it can just change." Like every single one of us.

How many of you were walking out of your house and you looked at the shirt that you wore and you just didn't like it and then you changed it? You just changed it. You didn't sit there and think about theology. You didn't think about like how difficult. You just changed it.

It's just that simple. Right? The weather changes, your clothes changes. Your age changes, your clothes changes. Your weight changes, your clothes changes. Style changes, your clothes changes. Right? And so he's using these fundamental things that people had and he's using that as an illustration that everything that we know, eventually, they drift and they change.

I mean, that's just science. That's not deep theology. You don't need to be a Christian for 15, 20 years to understand that. Everything you know, eventually, will fade. You know, a brand new car six, seven years ago that you loved and adored, took care of and waxed, got dents all over it.

Now it's used. It's not worth as much. A brand new house that you moved into that you're so proud of, eventually, it'll creak. It'll have plumbing issues. You have critters walking in and it's no longer new. So that's what he's saying, like everything you know that has been created, no matter how fundamentally you need it, eventually, it fades.

And obviously, this isn't just goal about clothing. It's food, human relationships, government, what we value was so important 20 years ago. It's no longer important today. It was trivial 50 years ago, has taken center stage. That's why you hear politicians and they're making promises 25 years ago and they completely contradict themselves now.

That's not a Republican-Democratic problem. That's a human problem. Because at that time, that was the issue. That was important. That was going to get them elected. But if you say that now, you can never get elected because times have changed. Everything that we pursue in this world, eventually, will change.

So the purpose behind why he mentions Jesus Christ as the creator, he's saying all of it will change. And the only steady thing throughout history and throughout eternity is Christ. In 2 Peter 3, 10-11, it says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away, with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up." Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people are you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

That's the point. Since everything else is going to be destroyed and Christ is the only remaining consistency, how should we live? What is it that we value? What is it that we're pursuing? Are we pursuing empty things? Are we valuing something above Christ that you know 100% is going to perish?

Not it might perish, not you might not. Every single person, you don't have to be a Christian to acknowledge that. Every single human being acknowledges everything will fade. And that's what it says, 1 Peter 1, 24-25, "For all flesh is like grass and all of its glory like the flower of the grass.

The grass withers and the flowers fall off, but the word of the Lord endures forever." And this is the word which was preached to you. Isn't the heartache and the pain in this world is loving something that can't love you back? Loving something that you cannot hold on to, that's great pain.

Whether it's friendship, whether it's a girl, guy, your own children, a job, security, that you love it so much, but they don't love you back. It doesn't have to be a person, it can be material things. He said all of it will fade away. Only the word of the Lord.

That's why it says in Hebrews 13, 8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Yesterday, today, and forever. You know, this Psalm, Psalm 102, we don't know exactly who wrote it. But when you read Psalm 102, it's clear that something horrible was happening in Jerusalem. This is a man who's watching the destruction of Jerusalem and he's grieving for God.

So if you look at Psalm 102, it is divided into two parts. The first part is grieving. Where are you God? Why are the enemies coming in and destroying? Why are the people being... So everything that he knew is dying and being destroyed. So many commentators and scholars believe that it could have been one of the kings or one of the prophets and they saw the Assyrians coming and attacking Jerusalem and they were falling.

It could have been the Assyrians, it could have been the Babylonians or the Persians, any one of the superpowers who came in and they're watching the destruction of Jerusalem. And they've been waiting for decades, for centuries, that God would restore Israel because God made a covenant with them. I'm going to bless you, I'm going to multiply your descendants and the whole world is going to be blessed through you.

But that's not what they're seeing. They're seeing the destruction of their cities and their capable men and women being dragged away to foreign land. And as they are watching this, they are grieving. But the second part of that, it says, but you oh Lord, even though everything is dying, everything is being dragged away, but you oh Lord are the same.

The garments fade, they will be changed, they will be rolled away, but you oh Lord are the same. The purpose of this, again, is not to simply say, look at Jesus, how eternal he is. But what does that mean to you in your life? If everything fades and only Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and all the glory that we covet is found in Christ and Christ alone.

What does that mean to you? How does that affect you practically? How does that affect what causes you joy? How does that affect your values and the things that you hope for? What causes you to be sad? Where you live, how you spend your money, how you raise your kids, what you desire of a church, how does that affect every practical aspect of your life?

I can give you an example of that, the man who wrote the song, "It is Well with My Soul." I know many of you know the background story behind that, but a man named Horatio Saper is a very successful businessman in the late 1900s. In fact, we would say he wasn't just an average successful man, he would be what we would be considered a multi-billionaire.

He had buildings upon buildings in Chicago, and at the peak of his success, their fire breaks out and destroys most of his property. And you have to understand, at that time, you know, there wasn't a good insurance, and so if it burned, it burned. And so his, a good chunk of his wealth is burned up, and he's just recuperating from that.

But soon after, he decides to send his four children and his wife overseas to take a vacation out in Europe. And then he gets a mail from his wife saying they had an accident and they lost three of their children, four of their children, and only their wife remained.

And so his life, his biography looks exactly like Job's life. He was a man of great success, he was a man who loved God, but as a result of that, you know, whatever the reason, he lost everything. When he's on his way to see his wife on the boat, he wrote this, the lyrics.

He didn't write the music to it, but he wrote the lyrics to it. It is well with my soul. Now if you don't understand the context of this, it's still a great song. You know, it is well with my soul. But when you understand the context in which this man wrote it, only a Christian who knows the Lord would understand what he is saying.

How can it be well with your soul, you lost everything? How can it possibly be well with your soul? You lost all your children and you're on your way to go comfort your wife. How can these words be coming out of your mouth? When peace like a river attendeth my soul, when sorrows like sea billows roll.

You can imagine the pain that he was in when he wrote that. For my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, lest the blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul.

It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. And the reason why he has this hope and joy in Christ in the midst of tremendous suffering, he said, my sin, oh the bliss of the glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. These words sound like a crazy man. If you do not understand the God behind these words. Talk to a man who has experienced what he has experienced and say, it is well with my soul. Those sorrows like sea billows roll.

It is crazy words. Unless you know the Jesus that the author of Hebrews is talking about. Unless you believe that Jesus is greater than whatever success that you've had. That Jesus is greater than your wife, your husband, your children, and safety, and hope, and a bank account, whatever that may be.

Unless you know this same Jesus as this man. See, Psalm 102 was written in the context of great tragedy, but it is quoted here as a reminder to us that though everything fades, even the heavens, though they fade, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That is the encouragement that, again, we encourage the tongues with.

I was thinking about it even just yesterday, just thinking like, that is a strong move. That is a tough move for this family. Two young children. Had a great job, great paying job, and they are moving. The greatest fear is not the fear of China. I think Harry can handle that.

Harry is a man. He can handle it. He is a soldier. The tough part of it is leaving what you know. But Jesus Christ is the same. We may not see them physically, and we will see them. We will visit, and they will come visit us. But Jesus is the same.

In fact, when you live in life in obedience, Jesus is much greater. It is like going to look at a waterfall from a distance. It is beautiful. It is a completely different experience when you are right there. See, that is the point that he is trying to get at.

It is not just, get the Christology right. If you see the glory of Christ, what does that mean? How does that affect your life? How does it affect where you live? How does it affect how you spend your money? Sixth and finally, he says, "Jesus is greater than the angels because Jesus sits at God's right hand." Again, this is a direct quote of Psalm 110.

In fact, this is such a prominent Bible verse, Messianic verse, it is quoted 25 separate times in the New Testament. Because it is clear. It is a prophecy about a great, great, great, great grandchild that is coming from the David's line and how his throne is going to be established.

So the Jews clung to this text, waiting for the Messiah to come. "The Lord says to my Lord," and this is David speaking, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." Again, this is a direct quote from this passage. "The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion saying, 'Rule in the midst of your enemies.

Your people will volunteer freely in the day of your power. In holy array from the womb of the dawn, your youth are to you as the dew. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." So again, the Jews memorized this text.

Kind of like we memorized John 3.16. For God so loved the world that... Right. So most of you can just recite that. Whether you memorize it or not, because it's such an important part of the text. You go to a football stadium, you'll see John 3.16. If you grew up in a church, you probably memorized that in Sunday school at VBS or Oana.

This is one of the texts that the Jews had the kids memorize and recite. Because it was the promise of the Messiah that was going to come. But the way they applied it was, "He's going to come as a mighty king who's going to rule over everybody. He's going to dominate the Romans and we're going to be the superpower." But then when the Messiah came, they didn't recognize him.

Because Jesus began to say some stuff that didn't make a lot of sense to them. Jesus quotes this passage in speaking to the Pharisees, Matthew 22, 41 through 46. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?

They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "Then how does David in the spirit call him Lord?" Saying, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.'" If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?

He's taking this text that everybody knew and recited and Jesus said, "Let's go back to that text. Let's go through John 3, 16. Let's see if you really understood. If David is speaking of the Lord and he calls the Messiah the Lord and it's his grandkid and if he's just another man, why is he calling his great-great-grandkid my Lord?

So who is this Messiah? He's using this text that was clearly implanted in the Old Testament that they recited, that everybody knew and he said, "He's not just a man." And the point of all of that is that Christ came to conquer and he says God's going to exalt him until all of his enemies are put under his feet and that is explained to us in 1 Corinthians 15, 25, 26, "For he, Jesus, must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last enemy that will be abolished is death." The Jews at that time thought that the Romans were their enemies.

Prior to that they thought it was the Persians. Prior to that they thought it was the Babylonians. Prior to that they thought it was the Assyrians. Prior to that they thought it was the Canaanites. In different periods of time, they had different things that they needed to conquer, but Jesus Christ came to conquer the universal enemy of all mankind, which is sin, which ultimately causes death.

And he says, "He will reign until death is done away with and the gospel is spread to the remotest part of the world and when they have heard the message of the cross," he says, "then he will come." And that's what that reference was referring to, the age of the church to spread the gospel, to go.

Now, to go doesn't necessarily mean that every single one of us pack our bags and move out to China or India, but what it does mean is to stop living for ourselves, for something that's temporary, that's going to perish, that's going to be ruined, it's going to be changed.

How many of you who have best friends in high school are the same best friends today? A few of you, many of you not. How many of you who had a group of friends six, seven years ago are the same group of friends that you hang out with today?

A few of you, many of you not. Everything changes. The weather changes, political climate changes, what we value change, politicians will change. Right now it's the Republicans, next time it might be the Democrats. We don't know what the government is going to look like. Whatever it is that we put our hope in, eventually it will perish.

But Christ, he's here to reign. And you and I, as the body of Christ, is to carry out his mission. So our primary goal, the primary mission in life, until he comes, and so when we are glorified with him, this glory that we are seeking in this God forsaken world, it is just so foolish when you take a step back and look at the things that causes us grief.

You think about it, when you're in your twenties, you look back at your teens, while puberty was going on, and your world was a mess. Why that boy's attention was so important to you, and why that girl's one careless word destroyed you, and you look back at it now, look at your hairstyle, the shoes that you wore, and you say, "Oh my gosh, thank God God delivered me from my teens." You woke up.

You say that in your twenties, and I know you college students want to erase everything on your Facebook from three years ago. You get to your thirties, and you look back in your college life, foolish children. I remember when I was in my twenties, the foolish things that I desired, and the list of things that I wanted in a husband and a wife, and you look back at it now, and they all look foolish to you, and when you see the younger college students, they're children.

And then those of you who are in your forties, look back in your thirties, and the things that you value in your thirties, it was so important to you in your thirties. So committed, "I'm going to do this with my kids, I'm going to do this with my kids." Then you look back in your forties, and you look back and say, "Man, all of that stuff, foolish thirty-year-olds.

You don't know life yet. Just wait, give it another decade, and you open your eyes and see what happens." I just crawled into my fifties, so I'm not there yet. But forties sounds so foolish. I'm not in my sixties yet, so I'm sure the sixty-year-olds are looking at me, it's like, "Fifty, come on." It's our whole life.

We wake up in the next generation, and everything that we pursue that was so important to us, that we were willing to sacrifice everything for, just looks so foolish to us. But ten years later, God is speaking to us from eternity, and He's watching all of it from generation to generation, and He places in His scripture, "There is nothing new under the sun.

Everything is vanity. Everything that we pursue is vanity under the sun." That's the point that He's trying to get to. These angels, these things that you're tempted to drift back to, the safety, the comfort, the glory of men, all of that will soon perish. But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And then finally, He says in verse 13, "But to which of the angels have you said, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?' Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?" In other words, angels are just a gift to you.

And that is our tendency for all of us, to take the gift and celebrate the gift rather than the giver. We get, God gives us money, you know, we thank God for the money, and the next thing we do, we idolize the money. We love the money. And we soon forget about the giver.

God gives us a family. We thank you for the family. And soon we take our eyes off of God and we idolize our family. And we take the gift that God has given us, that was given us to serve us, and then we begin serving it. That's what legalism looks like.

God gave us righteousness, and then He said to live up to it. Live up to what has been given to you. And then we take this walk with God, and we make that our pursuit, we make that our badge of honor, and it becomes a burden. Instead of righteousness serving us, we are serving righteousness, and then it's become burden.

That's exactly what the Pharisees did with the Sabbath. God gave them the Sabbath so that they can rest, and the word in itself means rest. Because nobody worked as hard than the Pharisees to make sure that they got the Sabbath right. And so that's the thing that they couldn't see with Jesus.

They said, "Well Jesus, why is He doing this? Why is He feeding people? What is He doing?" And remember what Jesus said? "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath." And He says, "Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. It was given to you to serve you, not to burden you, not to make it difficult." He says, "The angels were given to you, given to serve me to serve you." And you're taking a gift that has been given to you, and you're turning it around, and you're idolizing it.

That's a tendency for every single one of us. The very gift that God has given us, when we forget the giver, we end up starting to worship it and idolize it. That's the point that He's trying to get to. They're here for us. Live up to the calling that we've been given.

Jesus says in John 14, 6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." So our goal through the study of the book of Hebrews, whether it takes three years or five years, I don't know yet, right? The goal of the book of Hebrews, the study of the book of Hebrews is to exalt the name of Christ so as we gaze upon His glory, that everything else would truly become rubbish.

So that we can confess with all conviction, with all genuineness, with all truth, that I love Jesus with all my heart, soul, and strength. The goal for the reason why we are going to spend the next few years in this book. Let's take some time to pray as we ask our worship team to come up.

And as we pray, again, I want to ask you guys to focus your prayer specifically on the Tong family. And again, as they go, we want to just wave goodbye from a distance. Those of you who do know them, do your best to keep in touch with them. Let them know that we're praying for them.

And those of you who don't know, get to know them. Even if they're there, say, "Hey, you know, we haven't met, but I'm encouraged and challenged and we want to keep you in prayer." And just email them, right? Just don't say foolish things on there, because it's getting screened, right?

But just let them know. And take some time to really pray for them so that at least in our hearts, in our prayers, that it will go with them and engage. And so all the things that they go through, that we're not just going to watch them like we're just reading some newspaper, right?

That we would be able to participate in it. So let's take some time to pray for ourselves and take some time to pray for the Tongs as they go.