In the sermon 'Christ Is Better' by Paul Carrington, the speaker delves into the theme of Christ's superiority as outlined in the first chapter of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews reassures believers of the sufficiency and preeminence of Christ, especially during times of trial and persecution. The speaker highlights how God communicated through various means in the past, and now, in the last days, has spoken through His Son, emphasizing the singular message of salvation. The sermon explores four key titles of Christ: Heir of all things, Creator, Upholder of all things, and the brightness of God's glory. These titles underscore Christ's divine authority and role in creation, as well as His sustaining power over everything. The speaker encourages believers to shift their focus from worldly anxieties to the magnificence of Christ, who upholds all things by His word and offers peace and reassurance. The sermon culminates in a call for believers to gaze upon Christ, acknowledge His superiority, and find rest and strength in His completed work.

Well, if you would please turn with me in your Bibles to the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. That's what we'll be spending our time here this afternoon. But what a beautiful song to see our Lord face to face on that day. That's going to be the most glorious of things that we can ever experience or imagine. And so today as you as you go to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 to 4 I'm going to be talking to us about just a very simple idea and simple concept, and that is the simple concept that Christ is better.

And one commentator, he summarizes the book of Hebrews in this way, he says that the refrain of urgent reassurance that resounds through this letter is that we have Christ. That is the theme and so as I read this consider that you have Christ if you indeed have put your faith in him if you've trusted in him if you're leaning on him you have Christ And so listen to these words from the writer of Hebrews. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time 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 in 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. Well, the whole purpose of this book of Hebrews, really, is to shepherd these Hebrew believers through a period of intense difficulty.

They were being squeezed on the left. They had the Roman persecution after them and on the right they had their own Jewish brethren that disagreed with who Christ was and were chasing them down and they were losing their goods. They were losing their jobs and so somewhere along the line this pastor, whoever wrote this book, caught wind of the scenario that these people were even contemplating a return to Judaism. And so the God of all comfort comes to the rescue. That's what this book is really all about.

And so with quill in hand the pastor set to work with these encouragements. And really the book of Hebrews is the answer to the question these believers were asking, is it worth it? Is it worth it to follow Christ? Is it worth it to be a Christian? And so the design of this book is to really portray Christ in such a way that the gazer will find all of his fears, his anxieties, his doubts, his temptations to halt, all swallowed up, if you will, in Christ.

And so that's what I hope you're going to be doing with me in the next few minutes, just gazing upon the Lord. And I just have a few things I wanna share with us. One is the superiority of Christ. I wanna talk to you about the speaking of Christ, the titles of Christ, and finally the exaltation of Christ. And so in verse one we read these beautiful words, such authority this letter starts with, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets.

So to set the stage, that's how this author begins. He begins with the idea that the author of the universe has spoken and he has a message that he has to convey to his creation. And you know, you go through the whole of scripture and it's so amazingly varied in the way that the Lord has spoken to us. You can go and in some ways it's so open. You can go to the Old Testament and you read Psalm 22.

And who else could it be but Christ? You go to Isaiah 53 or you read the servant songs and it's so clear that it's Christ. But not only did he speak openly, he spoke through various kinds of people. He spoke through kings, he spoke through farmers, he spoke through shepherds and priests, businessmen like Nehemiah and widows, he even spoke through a donkey. He has all the ways he spoke to us through pictures.

You look at the ark for example and what it depicts of not just how God preserved eight people, but as a type of Christ. Or you could see Isaac on the altar just about to be slain when the angel restrains Abraham's hand. You can see the Passover and what it depicts of the Lamb of God and the entire sacrificial system. You can go to the tabernacle. God has been speaking in so many different ways and of course he's also spoken through dreams, he's spoken through visions and even through angels And so in various times and in different ways, he's been primarily doing one thing, and that is speaking, communicating, and conveying a singular message.

And with this opening verse here in verse one, what you see is really the pastor pointing to something that's so beautiful. There's a continuity in all of the scripture between what was said before and now what has been revealed in the gospel. And so Christ was on every page of the Old Testament and how beautiful it is, but look what happens here. It says there in verse two that he has in these last days spoken to us by his son. He wastes no time and he gets right to the superiority of Christ.

And you could look at it this way, that for centuries, the day, the new day, had been gradually dawning, little by little, ever so gradual. And the prophets that were mightily used of God, they with their candles, they were walking kind of through the darkness pointing the way saying there's coming a day when the sum will rise in its fullness. And some, Some saw and some understood, but by comparison to the populations of the earth, it was just a small number really, a fraction, a remnant within the nation of Israel. But the day finally arrived when the light came and the son of righteousness, he rose with healing in his wings. It's so beautiful.

And the light of Christ, we learned right from the very beginning of John, it was impossible to smother. All of the powers of darkness, they conspire together to smother Christ. But we read in John that the darkness did not overcome his light. So beautiful. And I love this way that the writer says, he's spoken to us by his son.

There's such an affection that's being conveyed right here. You see, what this means is this, is that God sent heaven's best to do only what God could do. And I just want to ask you a question at the outset. Have you reckoned, Even if you're a believer, maybe you're an unbeliever, but have you reckoned with the value of the gift given? Because all of us are gonna stand before him on that final day to give an account.

What did you do with Jesus Christ? So worth thinking about. And so it's true that God spoke through the prophets, but the messenger of the new covenant is none other than his own dear son. And So I want to talk to us here because it says here that God, He spoke through these prophets in various ways and in different times. But it says also that He spoke to us through His Son.

And I want to talk to us about this idea of God speaking to us through his Son. You see, the overriding message all the way through the Bible is really a message of salvation, that men can be reconciled to their God. And so he spoke in so many different ways. If you think of how Christ spoke when he was here on this earth, he spoke about his Father. He spoke about himself.

He spoke about the Holy Spirit. He spoke in parables. He spoke of the kingdom of God. He spoke of the judgment to come and warned men to flee from it, from the wrath to come. He spoke of the great hope of eternal life on offer to all who believe.

He spoke of right living and he spoke of holiness. He spoke of grace and he spoke of the law of God. But it's not only the things that he said, there was also a way that he went about his ministry that was so beautiful, and that's really what I want us to weigh, just to gaze upon Christ and the person of Jesus Christ. You know, if you just think about your own experience when you first heard the message of salvation and, you know, most believers, their experience with Christ when they first, you know, saw the light of it is the graciousness of the words that fell from his lips. I was just kind of going through some passages within the New Testament and it seems like the common people heard him so gladly.

There was one occasion in Mark where it says that they were astonished above measure saying he has done all things well. When he had concluded the most powerful sermon ever recorded in history, the Sermon on the Mount Matthew, he records for us these words at the end. It says, And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. And I remember the very first time I ever cracked the binding of a Bible. I was 20 years old and I flipped open the Bible and it happened to land on the Sermon on the Mount.

And I remember, I can still remember exactly where I was, where I was sitting. And I was just spellbound. I said, who is this man? Who speaks like this? How come nobody ever told me there was another way?

I didn't understand all that I was reading, but there's something in the word of the Lord Jesus Christ that is so captivating that if we would pause and give ear and listen maybe maybe listen with new ears and taste and see how good he is you see God he's spoken to us by his dear son And I would just ask you that question. Do you remember the time when he came and he preached peace to you who were afar off? Do you remember that and what it was like? There's so many beautiful accounts recorded for us in Scripture. One of my favorites is in John chapter 7 where the temperatures beginning to rise and the Pharisees are becoming increasingly frustrated with Christ and his success in ministry.

Well, they sent some men to arrest him. Do you remember that account? Go arrest Jesus. And they came back empty-handed. And the Pharisee said, I thought we told you to go and arrest him, and here you are.

Where is he? And what was their response? No one. No one ever spoke like this man. See, they were unbelievers, but even them they were struck with the commanding eloquence of Jesus Christ.

They were even odd to the point of restraint. Their arms were paralyzed from actually doing the task that they were sent to do because of the authority and the way and the manner in which he spoke. And so when these men came back, inadvertently they're giving glory to Jesus Christ, aren't they? They said, no man. They're saying not the lawgiver Moses Not the sweet psalmist of Israel David no not the wise Solomon Not Isaiah not Elijah or some other prophet.

He's in a category altogether different. No man. No one ever spoke like this man. It's such a beautiful thing and I just want to ask you, have you heard the voice of God as he speaks to us through his Son? There's no better thing to hear in all the world.

Those grace-filled, helpful words of authority coming down from heaven offering peace but also offering warning to us. And so that's the way that the Lord conducted himself here on earth. I want to talk to us a little bit also as you go to the back half of the second verse. It speaks of this idea, the titles of Christ that this writer heaps upon him. There's really four that I wanna talk to us about here.

It says, God in these last days has spoken to us by his own Son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the worlds. So the first title that he's given here is that he's the heir of all things. And that's his just due. The Father's given him the nations for his inheritance. I think we read that this morning in Psalm chapter 2, and the ends of the earth for his rightful possession.

But not only is he the heir of all things, he's the creator of all things. It says it right here. He, Christ, made the world. Not only the world, but all the worlds. In fact, we read in John that there's nothing made that he didn't make.

There's nothing out of existence that he did not make. And I wanna just talk to you children just for a minute if you give me your ears for a second, just some amazing things about the creation of God. Did you know that there are more stars in the universe than there are leaves on trees? That the next time you walk through a forest and you look at the oak trees and all that is around you, or you fly on a plane over some vast wilderness and you look down you see all those trees there are more stars in the heavens and guess what the Bible says he knows them all by name you know how many there are one septillion That's the best that man can come up with. You know what that means?

That's one followed by 24 zeros. Our minds would just disintegrate trying to conceive of that number, but he knows them all by name. It seems like you're standing still right now, doesn't it? Here you are sitting, you might even have a drink in your hand. But did you know that right now, at this very second, that you're careening around the sun at 67, 000 miles per hour.

So if I, for example, wanted to go back to Turkey right now, it would take me 4.8 minutes to get back at that pace and at that speed versus however long it takes us normally. But yet you're sitting there. And to add to that, not only are we going that fast, but the earth is spinning at the same time at a thousand miles an hour, as though to add more complexity to that. And you're not even spilling your drink or your coffee. How does God do this?

God is amazing. The Lord is amazing. And to top it all off, the earth is hung on absolutely nothing. This is our God who has done these things. Our brains really can't conceive it.

You can see why the Bible just says so plainly, the fool says there is no God. God is so good. And so he's the creator of all things and this God is communicating to you through his son, the heir and the creator of all things, but it doesn't stop there. He's not only the heir and the creator, but this is where I find probably most of us need the most help and the most encouragement. Did You see what it says there?

It says he is also the upholder of all things. This is so beautiful. Not only did he make everything as the creator, not only does he own all things as the heir, but he upholds all things by the word of his power. And I just want to spend some time here, because remember who's being addressed. Here we have some Hebrew Christians.

They were wavering, and they needed to be established in the truth. They were on their way to almost being overrun with anxiety, and they were looking over their shoulders. Is it worth it? Is this, what's gonna happen next? We've lost this, are we gonna lose this next?

Maybe we should just consider going back to the way things were. And for most of us, the reality is this. As amazing as all the things I just shared, you know, the creations, the marvels of all that God has done, anxiety really has to do with the nitty-gritty, doesn't it, of our own lives. If you think about your own life, in other words, if I were to say, let's have a show of hands of anyone who doesn't suffer with anxiety, probably wouldn't have that many or they would probably be under five years old. But not very many of us don't have anxious thoughts about things going on.

We worry about our health, we worry about our investments, we worry about our future, maybe a lot of smaller things, varying levels and different degrees, but behind the scenes many of us are plagued with anxiety, if we're honest. And so this particular title, the Upholder of All Things, it's calculated to do something to bolster you and give you a bigger, broader view of a personal Savior and a personal God. The one, the same one who upholds the big things like the planet that you're currently sitting on that is spinning through space at that speed is also the one who upholds the small. And that's what these Hebrew believers needed to know and needed to understand. And I ask you that question, do you know personally that you are upheld by the Lord?

Do you sense that, that you're upheld by Him and strengthened by him, that he's carrying, you know what that word means? Uphold, it means exactly that, to carry to the point that if that carrier ceased, everything would drop and collapse. But he upholds all things by the word of his power. When the pain is chronic, when you feel vulnerable, or when depression threatens, or when you're downcast, or when you failed again, or when you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, what can you do? Well, this is what the author of Hebrews is saying.

He's painting this big picture of Christ. I read something the other day and it stuck with me. I actually wrote it down and I think about it every so often. But where do you look? You see, this is what the man wrote.

He says, worry is glancing at God while gazing at circumstances. Trust is glancing at circumstances while gazing at God. And that is our task for each and every one of us. If we could get better at doing that, taking our eyes a little bit more off of our circumstances and gazing, holding, and focusing on God, you know how much better each of us would be? How much more at rest and at peace.

Well, seeing as so much of this book, it's geared to these Hebrews that are suffering with anxiety. I do wanna talk about anxiety just for a minute here and talk about specifically how Jesus dealt with this. And Earlier in, just as we were talking, I was mentioning the Sermon on the Mount. And did you know this, that the greatest amount of time in the greatest sermon ever preached is actually dealing with the subject of anxiety and worry? So in chapter 6 of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord devoted 16 verses to this singular matter of anxiety and worry.

He speaks about treasures in heaven. He speaks about moths and rust and he speaks about thieves and the two masters that are there, God and mammon. The things that we eat and drink, the things that we wear, the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, he brings all of these things in. All of these things, if you think about it, what he's dealing with here, he's attacking our most basic question that we often ask, but what about this? Or what if that?

And the words of Jesus are right there for us. He says, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life. So why do you worry about clothing? Therefore, do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink? And the idea here is to not be so perpetually uneasy, to not be so troubled with care and overcome with anxiety.

And so, why does he say this? Because this is how the Gentiles think. Somehow the world is out of control according to the Gentiles. Or that the gods are being capricious. They're out to get you.

To sabotage you. Or even here in the south, people will pay lip service to the man upstairs. What a derogatory way to refer to God, but he's a distant God that, you know, he's watching all your steps and he might get you one of these. They have no concept of who he is. And Scripture tells us the story of the God who is there.

It's entirely different. He's actually present and this is what it means that he is upholding and that he's sustaining, he's carrying all things by the word of his power. It's beautiful. If you think about all the things that are upheld from the beating of your heart right now, from the grass that will be growing later on in the season, to fill in the blank with a thousand other things. All of these things are being upheld by the word of his power.

What a God, what a great savior. And so therefore, Hebrew believers, don't let your hearts be troubled. But it doesn't stop there. He's the heir of all things. He's the creator of all things.

He's the upholder of all things, but the last title that we have is that he is also the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person. And so what is the solution to wavering, anxious, fractious believers? It's a glorious view of Christ by faith. By faith you see him as he really is. In earlier this week I was doing some reading.

I was actually reading about Christopher Columbus and we all know the story you know in the late 15th century he reached the islands of the Caribbean and he named the natives that lived there, he called them Indians. And the reason he called them Indians, it was because he mistakenly was under the impression that he had discovered the shores of South Asia. The word he uses Indian it actually means a person from the Indus Valley. Well the Indus Valley is in India. He had crossed the Atlantic That was a great feat.

He had reached the shore, but he just hadn't reached South Asia. He was nowhere near India at all. He was nowhere near it. And there was no one to just come over and tap him on the shoulder and tell him, whisper in his ear, we're not even close. In fact, there were continents and even oceans between him and his goal where he was intending to be and he knew nothing about any of it.

He just rested on that assumption. His great error, it really boiled down to one thing with with all of his calculations he assumed that the world was smaller than it really was and I wonder how often I'm like that when I think of God you know he's smaller in my mind than he really is but what Hebrews is doing it's he's exploding these views to give them a broader view of Christ as he really is. I love this way that he's described. He is the brightness of his glory. You know what that means?

He's the out-beaming, he's the out-raying of the glory of God. That's Jesus Christ. I love the way that word just conveys who he is. He's got life in himself, he's got light in himself. And so the glory of God is primarily just seen in one place and that is in the face of his Son.

And it's from him that we receive all the light and not only the light but the warmth that we need in order to live. And he goes on to say this, that he is the express image of his person. What a beautiful way to describe Christ. You remember the time in John where Philip boldly spoke, he just said, Lord, show us the Father. And it is sufficient for us.

And what is the Lord's response? He says to him, he who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? See, he's the express image of his Father. Different persons, but He's the express image of his father.

Different persons, but he's the express image of his being, of who God really is. And so all of these titles are heaped upon Christ. They're not exhaustive, This is just an introduction. This is just how the letter begins. But the pastor, he then points to the exaltation of Christ.

There as we read, mission impossible has now become mission accomplished. You see in Christ and nowhere else you have infinite mercy meeting with infinite justice in Him, and it says this, speaking of the purging of our sins by Himself, not by any other means, but by Himself, and then he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. There's nothing else for him to do in the sense of a task to accomplish. He's done the thing that he was sent to do. A seated Christ is calculated to give us peace in the time of the storm.

He's seated, he's done everything, and if he has done everything and I am in him, I should have great peace as a result of that. Just behold your God. What would you do with a Christ like this? And so he goes on, he says this, the pastor as he's writing, speaking of Christ, he says having become so much better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." See his prescription against the temptation to draw back to wavering, it's to remind the flock that he's writing to that Christ is just so much better. See in Hebrews, 13 times the word better is used to describe Christ.

He's superior. Oh, when I read that, I think, better? Is that the best word that could be used? I mean, better just seems like there's a comparison, but really it's this idea of excellence and superiority. He's in a category altogether different.

That's what Hebrews is really saying. He's not like the angels, he's not like Moses, he's not like this, he's not like that, he's like this. He paints this beautiful portrait. This is the ballast that we need to have during the storms of life. Because of him, just think about it for a moment, because of him, you are part of a better covenant.

Because of him, You have better promises. He's a better man. He's a better thing, a better person than Moses. You have a better mediator in Christ. And he is better because in his death, he dealt a death blow to death.

There's no one like him. And so the great antidote to the battle-worn, to the tired, discouraged, anxious saint is really just found right here. Look at him afresh. Gaze at him. Sometimes we live in a world that so our attention is taken that we don't know what it is to gaze.

And I confess I wish I was better at meditating and gazing how much better it would be for me. But gaze at him and glance at your circumstances. But lock eyes with him, he is the creator. He is the air, he is the upholder. He is the brightness, the outbeaming of God's glory.

And he has something to say to you in these last days. That's how Hebrews begins. And so I just want to ask you one practical question as we close. What would happen to you as a believer? What would happen if just one of your cares that load you down, these things that you have on you this very moment that you're anxious about, what would happen if one of those things were to actually be cast upon the one who cares for us.

If you were to put it down and get such a big view of Christ that that thing is just swallowed up in the glory of the Son of God. Well, he is worthy and he is altogether lovely. He's sitting there, he's ruling, he's reigning, and he's coming again. So let's spend ourselves for his glory. There's nothing better.

Spend yourself. Spend yourself. Look what he did. He spent himself for us. Let us spend ourselves in the service of our great King.

Let's pray together. Lord, we come to you here this afternoon and we give you praise and glory and honor. Oh Lord, I confess how little I see of the glories that are all there in Jesus. I wish I could see more, oh Lord. I pray you would help us all as we go through this life, Lord, to make it our aim and our ambition to know you more, to look upon you more, to trust you.

Lord, to just be taken up with such a picture of you that it just overflows the banks of our hearts and runs out into the world, oh Lord. We all say with one voice here this afternoon, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Thank you Lord for such a great savior, for such great salvation as you say later in the same book, that he is higher than the heavens. Oh Lord, we give you thanks and we give you praise. In Jesus' name, amen, amen.