Greater Than the Angels

Well good morning everybody. So glad to see you this day. I am grateful to be with you this morning. I think I could say this relatively fairly and nobody would particularly argue with it, but angels play a significant cultural role in our Christmas imaginations. I'm not even talking about the narrative of scripture at this point, but like angels just show up in some of our Christmas traditions and the things that we do. Maybe you think about It's A Wonderful Life and Clarence Odbody, the angel that's in that. Some of you're going, wait a minute, are you bringing out like black and white photos? Like how old are you man? Well, It's a Wonderful Life been around a long time and Clarence Odbody is just a fantastic name. I just wanna keep saying it. Clarence Odbody. Nonetheless, maybe we think about that or some of you may put on the top of your trees, angels, how many of you are angel tree toppers? Raise your hand. All right, how many of you are like star tree toppers? Raise your hand. Cool. How many put pictures of yourself on the top of the tree? Good 'cause that would be really stupid. Angels are everywhere. You start thinking about the Christmas carols that we sing, right? You hear about angels all the time, right? You can start walking through them. Hark the herald, what? Angels sing or angels we have heard on high or angels from the realms of glory or the first noel the angel did say. I mean this makes sense, right? That this is a part of kind of our collective cultural imagination because the true story of Christmas certainly orients us and to the presence and the work of angels. I mean, before we even get to the conversation about an angel showing up to Mary, we've got an angel showing up to Zachariah. Zachariah, who would be the father of John the Baptist. And you read about that in the gospels where the angel Gabriel shows up to speak with Zachariah about who his child is going to be and what he's going to name him. And then of course Gabriel also shows up to Mary, the mother of Jesus and then also likely Gabriel, even though the text doesn't tell us specifically, but probably was Gabriel that showed up twice to Joseph, two different times in two different dreams or visions that Joseph had. It's interesting when a personal appearance of an angel like to Zachariah or to Mary occurs, what happens is they usually the interaction starts this way. The angel says, don't be afraid. Right? Well that starts to make sense when you realize what angels are. You can imagine why an angel would show up and say, don't be afraid because we're not talking about your little Ricky Bobby little naked baby Jesus angel kind of thing. That's not what we're talking about, right? We're talking about beings that are from another realm that show up in our earthly realm. And it could make the most courageous cower in fear. Angels are not just the little, you know kind of things that we talk about. They are relatively awe inspiring to see. And I think that may be why in part the writer of Hebrews writes what he does in the opening chapter. There was a danger that he was actually dealing with and that danger was that maybe the people he was writing to could overestimate angels and underestimate Jesus. This was the danger that was really there. And by the way, I'm not guessing here, history actually bears this truth out. In fact, for one, we know that the Apostle Paul, when he was writing to the church at Colossae, which was one of the earliest books written in the New Testament canon when he was writing to the believers in Colossae, here's what he told them. Watch this. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen. They're puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. Now Paul, as you might remember, Paul was generally writing at that time to the believers in Colossae. And those were mostly Gentiles. Gentile means that they're not Jewish, right? But the writer of Hebrews is writing to Jewish Christians, thus the name of the book, Hebrews, they're Jewish, right? But they're Jewish believers and he's trying to encourage them. Now, Jewish background believers didn't really think about worshiping angels, so to speak, that would not be consistent with Judaism, right? But they might very well have gotten to a place where they were over esteeming and overestimating angels and under appreciating and under esteeming Jesus. And this was a problem. And not only did Paul address it, but there was a particular group of Jews that were around during the time of Jesus and they were called the Essenes. The Essenes lived in the Dead Sea region. The Dead Sea region is like a region around Qumran. And maybe you've heard of Qumran before because the Dead Sea Scrolls were located in Qumran. The Essenes had a lot to do with those Dead Sea Scrolls when they were writing those out. Now if you're wondering, Jerry, , are you nerd enough that you have read The Dead Sea Scrolls? What do you think the answer to that question is? Yes, I am nerd enough to have read the Dead Sea Scrolls. I took a course on the Dead Sea Scrolls, but I've read the whole thing. What's interesting about the Dead Sea Scrolls is that not only are there some of them where they are copying beautiful copies of some of the Old Testament literature, but they also write about some things that they were thinking, the Essene community at that time. And here's what we learned when we read the Dead Sea Scrolls, we learned that the Essene community, which were Jewish people who'd kind of pulled away 'cause they thought the Pharisees were too liberal and they pulled away into kind of the Dead Sea region and spent time there. They had a really, really high estimation of the Archangel Michael. You can read it in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In fact, what they believed is they believed that Michael, the Archangel, was going to lead the army of God into the earth to establish the kingdom of God and watch this. And Michael was going to rule in that kingdom. This is where some of them were at that time. So what the writer of Hebrews is arguing against is any and all of these influences that would undervalue or under esteem the Lord Jesus by overly elevating angels. Now some of you're thinking to yourself, is that really a problem? I can tell you this, I found as I reflected on it, 'cause I asked the same thing, I was like, I don't know, but I reflected on it and I thought to myself, I can see how even I could slip into that. I'll give you an illustration. I've been to Israel, led teaching tours in Israel. 10 times I've been there. And each of those times we go to Bethlehem, if not into the city of Bethlehem. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. It's Muslim controlled generally. So sometimes we can get in, sometimes we can't. But almost every time, excuse me, almost every time I'm in the shepherd's fields of Bethlehem, that's pretty cool, isn't it? Yeah, I'm standing in the shepherd's field and I remember one of the first or second times that I was in Israel, I was standing in the field and I was thinking to myself, man, like angels showed up in this field to shepherds. And I was kind of going, whew, that's unbelievable. And by the way, it is pretty cool. I mean when you start to think about it, you're like, that's a pretty awe inspiring thought. But it could, if we're not careful, lead us to deprioritize the person of Jesus if we're not careful because whether we realize it or not, what we can slip into is thinking about how awesome it is that angels showed up in this field when we forget that the angel showed up to worship the child who was born in that city. The angels showed up to worship the second person of the eternal Godhead who put on flesh and came to dwell among us. So instead of just thinking to ourselves, man, it's pretty cool to be in a place where angels were and it is, we might want to stop and think about how awesome it is to think about God putting skin on and moving into our neighborhood because Jesus is very son of God. See, I think this is the line of thinking that can lead us to aberrant kind of new agey types of beliefs about angels. And if you're thinking, do we really have that kind of stuff? Have you been in a bookstore? I know that not a lot of people go into bookstores anymore or whatever, but have you been in a bookstore? If you go into a bookstore in the new age category, you're gonna find book after book, after book, after book after book about all these angel things. You know why? Here's why, because I think all the new agey types, Jesus just isn't enough. He's not enough. We don't see him as greater or superior to these majestic beings from another realm. Jesus is too earthy. He's too much like us. And so we think we need more. We look for it in other places. Sometimes that's looking for it in beings that are outside of our realm like angels, but forgetting exactly who Jesus is. Well, the writer of Hebrews, he's not gonna let us do that. And he's gonna correct our thinking by showing us a simple but a glorious truth. And it's this, that Jesus is greater than the angels. It's really simple. Jesus is greater than the angels. The bulk of Hebrews chapter one and the beginning of chapter two makes this case. And here's how the writer does it. The writer of Hebrews makes this case by making the claim boldly then backing up his claim by seven passages of Old Testament scripture that he's gonna reference. And then he tells us why we need to pay attention and heed this truth. So the bold claim that he makes is that Jesus is greater than the angels. And as you remember from last week, pastor Dan's message, when we open up Hebrews chapter one and we see Jesus being revealed as the heir of God, the one who's the inheritor of all things. He's the agent of creation. He's the radiance of God's glory. He is the provider of redemption through his death and resurrection. After the writer of Hebrews says those things in the first three verses, then watch what he says in verse four. So Jesus became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. Jesus is greater than the angels. That's the bold claim that the writer of Hebrews is making. But how exactly is Jesus greater than the angels? Here's what the writer does. The writer lays out seven passages of the scripture from the Old Testament, mostly through the Psalms. And then I kind of categorize four or five characteristics where we can see that Jesus is greater than the angels. Lemme walk you through those briefly. First is this, Jesus is greater than the angels in name. Lemme show you what I'm talking about and we're gonna find it in verses four and five of our text that Jesus is greater than the angels in name. Watch what the writer says. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son. Today I have become your father. Or again, I will be his father and he will be my son. Jesus here is given the name Son and it is a name that no angel has ever been given. This is a precious name. It's not just superficial, it's actually about Jesus being named the king in the line of David. Because what the writer of Hebrews does is he quotes from Psalm chapter two verse seven, which is a messianic psalm and it's obviously connected to David. And then he quotes from 2 Samuel chapter seven, verse 14, which is also about the promise that's made to David. Both of these passages that he quotes here are about David. You see what God did is he promised a ruler of the nations from the line of David that neither David nor his heirs would actually ever be able to fulfill. Remember the promise was this, the promise that was made to David. When you read about it in 2 Samuel chapter seven, the promise to David was there's gonna be one of your descendants, one of your line that is going to rule in the kingdom and it's going to extend for forever. This was the promise. But here's the challenge. After David came Solomon, after Solomon came Rehoboam and Jeroboam, right? And that the kingdom split. And then you've got this chronicle of kings through the life of Israel in the separation of Israel and Judah in the split kingdoms. So within 400 years you get to Zedekiah 400 years after David. Zedekiah is the last king in the line of David. And then Israel is taken into Babylonian captivity and the temple is burned and all of that stuff happens. And that's basically functionally the end of the line of David. But here's the thing, the promise that was made would only be fulfilled when the son talking about the king in the line of David when the son came, there would be a kingdom without end. In fact, the reason I bring this up is because this is a part of the Christmas story. When you see Gabriel speaking to Mary in Luke chapter number one, listen to his words. In the second month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, you found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. This is the reminder here that the angel Gabriel is clear. Watch this. The angel Gabriel is clear that Jesus bears a name that no other angel bears, son of the most high who will rule as the promised Davidic king over all nations. Only Jesus bears this exalted and kingly name, not any angel. So if you get a knock on your door from some Jehovah's witnesses, you're like, oh, he's just going in today. We're just going in today, pastor, they knock on your door and then you have a conversation with them and they wanna tell you that Michael the archangel is who Jesus was before he came. And after Jesus left the earth, he went back to being Michael the Archangel. You just walk 'em right into Hebrews chapter one and you remind them that none of the angels have the title of Son, only Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is greater than the angels in name, but he's also greater than the angels in honor. This is what begins to unfold in Hebrews chapter one. Now we pick up in verse number six, it says this, and again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. In speaking of the angels, he says, he makes his angels spirits and his servants flames of fire. So what the writer does here is he quotes from two different places, Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 43. But he's using the Septuagint version when he quotes it. Some of you're going, I don't even know what you just said. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. That's what the Septuagint is. Okay? So he quotes from that and from Psalm 104, verse four, to show us that not only do angels worship Jesus, but they actually do his bidding. Jesus tells them what he wants them to do. You do realize friends, that the one who is worshiped is the one who holds the honor. The one who is worshiped is the one who has the preeminent honor and that is only Jesus. And the angels know this. You know that we see in scripture sometimes where angels show up to a human being in the earthly realm and they're freaked, right? That's why they usually start with don't be afraid and they're totally freaked out. Do you know what humans have a tendency to want to do when they run into an angel? Worship. That's what they have a tendency to wanna do. And listen, I'm not judging either. 'Cause you get an angelic being from the heavenly realm that shows up to you in all of its radiance and glory, you're probably gonna think, oh man, like I need a diaper, right? It's a frightening and kind of awe inspiring thing. And you might be thinking you're just gonna fall to your face. Even the Apostle John when he was receiving such a great revelation about the new heavens and the new earth and the angels showing him all of this stuff in the book of Revelation, you remember that in Revelation 22, I John am the one who heard and saw these things and when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But the angel said to me, don't do that. I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll worship God. You see why. Because the angels are really clear that they are not the ones that are supposed to be worshiped. They point that worship to the one who deserves it. Realize this friends, that when someone tries to worship an unfallen angel, the angel will resist it and will point them back to God. But when people fell down and worshiped Jesus, he never told them to get up. Why? Because he's worthy. Because he's worthy to be worshiped, because he is God the Son. And he receives honor that the angels cannot receive. Why? Because he's greater than the angels in name and in honor, but he's also greater than the angels in power. And watch how the writer of Hebrews unfolds this beginning now in picking up in verse eight, but about the son. He says, your throne, oh God will last forever and ever. A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You've loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. He also says in the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens or the work of your hands, they will perish but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You'll roll them up like a robe, like a garment. They will be changed, but you remain the same and your years will never ever end. You see, when we talk about the power that Jesus demonstrates here, it's very different than the angels. And the writer pulls from both Psalm 45 and Psalm 102 and he's ascribing to Jesus. Watch this. He's ascribing to Jesus what was previously only ascribed to Yahweh. Now he's talking about the son of God being divine. Did you catch his phrase? Watch this. But about the son, he says, your throne, oh God, about the son. He says, your throne, oh God lasts forever. And he also points out that Jesus is the agent of creation itself. For him and through him and by him are all things. Nothing that has been made has been made outside of his agency. And since Jesus will endure for all eternity, his power is such that angels can't hold a candle to it. They just stand back in awe. They know they are the created. And Jesus who is superior is the creator. By the way, even angels that have fallen, they know this too. I could take you to Matthew eight or Luke chapter eight. Same story just told in a different way. You remember when Jesus was on the lake of Gennesaret, Sea of Galilee, as we call it, and he was going over to the other side and there was a man in the town of Gadara, two, in fact, that were filled with demons and Jesus comes and do you know what demons are? Fallen angels. That's what they are. And Jesus shows up and there's these demons that are possessing these men, right? And the demons start having a conversation with Jesus. And do you remember what they said? I'm not gonna show it to you, I'm just kind of talking about this 'cause it came to mind in the last worship gathering. Here's what they said. What do you want with us Son of God? What do you want with us Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the appointed time? Friends, listen carefully. Even the fallen angels, they know what's up. They know that Jesus alone is the one with power and he can do with them whatever he chooses to do. And they even know what their outcome's gonna be. Why? Because Jesus is greater than the angels in name, in honor, in power and in authority, and in authority. Watch how the writer of Hebrews unfolds this in the next two verses. And then I'm gonna pull a verse from chapter two as well. Here's what it says in verse 13. To which of the angels did God ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? And then chapter two, verse five says this, it is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking. You see in a final quote from Psalm 110 to make it now seven times that the author has quoted from the Old Testament to reaffirm and buttress his argument. The author asks if angels were ever told to sit at the right hand of God. You know the answer to that, right? No they weren't. They were never given that opportunity. Do you know what it means to sit at the right hand? It's an indication of authority. It indicates authority and power. And the angels were never given this power. They were never given this authority. Only Jesus. Instead, what angels are, is they're ministering spirits on behalf of the children of God to do what Jesus tells them to do, on behalf of those that are Jesus'. I know that sometimes we talk about like our guardian angel, you guys ever mentioned that before? I get it. But we don't actually have in scripture a reminder or an emphatic statement that it's singular. You see what Jesus has is he has ministering spirits, angels that do his bidding on behalf of his people. For some of you I imagine that it's probably more than one 'cause I know some of you and you probably need that, right? Probably true of all of us. What's gonna be an interesting thing is that when we get on the other side into eternity and we then have an opportunity to glimpse into all the ways in which Jesus commanded his angelic hosts to minister on our behalf that we have never really fully been able to understand or embrace. Because angels, they're not Jesus. They're just servants of Jesus. In fact, the rulership of the world to come, even though angels right now have a reminder of where they are and what they do, you can actually see some of that when you look back in the book of Daniel. You can see some of this where angels are like in geography so to speak, where they're kind of representing places that they're looking after and looking over just like the Archangel Michael does for the people of Israel when you read about it in the Old Testament. But the world to come, it's not for angels. They won't have any rulership there. As Hebrews two five tells us. Who has that? Jesus. Jesus has that. And do you know what Jesus does? He actually shares with us his redeemed people, an opportunity to share that rulership and that authority under his of course. But he gives us that opportunity. Paul dropped this gem on the church at Corinth. He dropped this just and I, you just kind of go, wait what? He's talking about working out your stuff among people and like you're having arguments and you need to be able to figure that out in the church as opposed to going to. And then notice what he says 1 Corinthians six. Do you not know that the Lord's people will judge the world? And if you're to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life? That word judge can also mean rule. Jerry, what is that gonna look like? I don't know. I don't fully know. Is it gonna be us agreeing with the Lord Jesus with these fallen angels when they are finally led to their own destruction and we are together affirming with him that they're going where they belong? Maybe, yeah. Does it have to do with the new creation where angels are still ministering spirits and they are sent to do the bidding of Jesus, but yet we have some sense of rulership and authority in that? I don't know. Yeah, maybe. I'm not sure. Now I'm starting to talk about things that I just don't know. I just don't know. But it's a glorious thought. But it's because Jesus is the one with all the authority. So like I said, what the writer does is makes a bold claim. The bold claim is that Jesus is greater than the angels. And then he backs the claim up seven different passages of scripture that he's taking from the Old Testament to kind of say, look at this. Jesus is greater than the angels in name and in honor and in power and in authority. And based on that, lemme just ask you a question based on that. Is Jesus enough for you? Is he enough for you? You may try to find more in other places, maybe like the new agers. You're trying to look to angels since they're otherworldly and kind of mystical but even the angels would reject that. That's what you have to understand. The angels themselves would reject that. Jesus is greater, Jesus is enough, Jesus is superior. Jesus holds all power and authority and honor, and he's the only true son of the most high God. And there's none like him, there's none to compare him. He's enough. He's more than enough. But I also told you that the writer of Hebrews not only makes a bold claim but backs that claim up with seven different passages of scripture. But that he also wanted to give us a reminder for why he's telling us all this. He wanted us to pay attention to something. Notice how chapter two begins. We must pay the most careful attention therefore to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment. How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. You see, what's that something that the writer of Hebrews is trying to help us pay attention to? Let me offer this to you, that Jesus is greater than the angels in salvation. Jesus is greater than the angels in salvation. Here's what the writer of Hebrews is doing. The argument here is this, if angels were the intermediaries that brought the law to us, and they were, by the way, not because I can read about that in the Old Testament, but because two New Testament people actually tell us that, Stephen, in Acts chapter seven, when he's preaching a message, he talks about angels being the intermediaries of the law. And Paul in Galatians chapter three also references angels being the intermediaries of the law. So listen to this. Think about this is the argument that the writer's making, if there were repercussions for not obeying the law that was brought by angels, what do you think will be the outcome for those who reject the good news brought by the one who is so much greater than the angels, the very son of God. How can so great a salvation be ignored? Angels themselves know that they can't save. And by the way, angels are stunned by the work of salvation, on behalf of humanity. Dumbfounded, can't comprehend it. Just looking around going what? The second person of the Trinitarian Godhead, the eternal Son of God who has existed from eternity past, decided to become an embryo, born of a virgin, born like us, putting on human flesh. This is what we talk about at Christmas, the incarnation that means to put on flesh, that Jesus, the eternal son of God, became one of us, fully human and fully divine at the same time. And angels are like what? All they've known in eternity past is the glory of the Son of God who now leaves heaven and enters into our earth realm as a baby, to do what? To save us. Born to die because our sin had broken us and broken the world. And so Jesus came to be able to pay our sin debt as we sing about a few moments ago, that he would, in his perfect life, take upon himself the justice of almighty God against sin in the place of sinful people that could never pay that off. And he rose from the grave conquering sin, hell and the grave. And by faith in him, we can be saved, changed, forgiven, made new, have an eternal life. Angels, no idea. Why do I say that? I'm not just making that up either. Peter tells us, watch what he says in 1 Peter, concerning the salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the spirit of Christ in them was pointing. When he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, watch this. Even angels long to look into these things, they long to look into it because this salvation is so great, so awesome that they can't even comprehend. Here's what they realized. They can't accomplish this work. Only the Son of God through his death and resurrection could accomplish the redemption of humanity. That's why I wanna remind you of something, excuse me. That's why I wanna remind you of something. When we die in Christ, we don't become like the angels. You don't get wings. You become like the one who died for you. And angels did not do that. The Son of God did that. And so when he returns and he raises us up with him, it means that we get what he's got. An immortal, incorruptible, resurrected body because only Jesus can accomplish so great a salvation. This isn't about what angels have done. They couldn't do this. This is about what Jesus has done. That's why the writer of Hebrews is saying this, be warned, don't drift away. 1976, there's a canyon in Colorado between Estes Park and Loveland, Colorado. Those of you who know Colorado, the big Thompson Gorge or the big Thompson Canyon. There's a river that runs through it. And in 1976, they had a really, really awful, terrible flood that happened. And as the rain was coming and the river began to rise, there was a man named Gary who was an engineer who was there on vacation with his family. He had some friends that were there too. They were staying in a different motel. And he could tell when he looked at the rising of the river and the narrowness of the canyon, that there was about to be potentially deadly trouble. And so what he did is he told his wife, he said, hey, I'm gonna go warn the motel operator and I'm gonna warn some of our friends and all that stuff. And here's what I want you to do. If I'm not back in 30 minutes, I want you to start climbing up the mountain as high as you can go 'cause this is about to be ugly. And so she did that. He wasn't back in 30 minutes, he went back and did all that stuff. She started climbing up the mountain. He said, I'll meet you there. And he did, he met the family there, his wife and children I assume, and met them halfway up the mountain. And he had gone to try and warn a bunch of people, but the motel manager didn't pay attention to the warning. And so many of the other people that he had tried to warn did not pay attention to the warning. And eventually a 19 foot wall of water engulfed the town. And 144 people tragically lost their lives. And many of them have been warned. The writer of Hebrews is warning us. He says, if there's no escape from law breaking based on the law that the angels delivered, understand that neglecting so great a savior and so great a salvation, it has eternal costs associated with it. So what I'm trying to say to you this day, friends, is this, this Christmas season, do not underestimate Jesus. Do not overestimate everything else and under esteem and undervalue and underestimate Jesus. God didn't send us an angel at Christmas. He sent us the very Son of God. He is so much more than an angel, so much greater than an angel. And he's enough. He's more than enough for any and every need you have. And only he can save you. Let's bow our heads together for prayer. We're dismissed in just a moment. If you're here and you haven't entrusted your life to Jesus, I wanna remind you of something and I want you to listen carefully and closely to me. I'm giving you an invitation because the scripture itself gave us a warning. A warning in scripture is an invitation for us to be able to obey. The invitation is this, is that if you haven't put your faith and trust in Jesus, turn from your sin and found his forgiveness and hope and new life, then today you can. That's the great news, today you can. Some of you're like, you know what? I've been kind of playing around the periphery of church and you know all this stuff and kind of, I made it. It's like a part of my life. I come some, you know, whatever. I just kind of do that. No, no, no. Jesus is not asking to become a part of your life. He is your life. You have no life outside of him. You have existence, but you don't have life. Only Jesus gives that. He says, I am the way, the truth and the life. He is himself the life. And if you've never found that, if you've never bowed your knee and your heart to Jesus, if you've never turned from your sin and put your faith in him, then man, I can't think of a better place than here and a better time than now to be able to do that. There'll be some men and women that'll be right down front when we dismiss in just a moment. And if you need to entrust your life to Jesus, they would love to talk to you about what it means to put your faith and trust in him. They're even coming right now. They'll be standing right down front. You can just simply take one of 'em by the hand and say, I'd like to entrust my life to Jesus. Or maybe you need somebody to pray with you or pray alongside of you because you've realized that you've under esteemed Jesus and you've over esteemed a bunch of other things. Maybe you just want somebody to pray with you about that, they're here. They'd love to take a moment and be able to do that. So whatever it is that God has asked of you, I just want you to do what he asks, do what he asks, and receive the warning as instruction in love to be able to know Jesus. Father, thank you for the goodness of your word to us. That even when you are by your spirit warning us, you are doing so in an effort to turn us back to you. So Lord, I pray that you would turn people's hearts back to you in these moments for those that need to respond by faith to receiving so great a salvation from so great a savior. I pray that you would give them everything they need to do that. And Lord, for those of us who may be gotten to a place where we have under esteemed and undervalued and maybe thought that we need more than Jesus, I pray that you reorient us, that we turn from that way of thinking and we trust who you really are 'cause you're worthy, you're glorious. We trust you to do this now in Jesus' name. Amen.