Christ is Better Than Angels: Part 3

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1 is a phenomenal chapter and I am so thrilled today to preach to you a message entitled "Christ is Better Than Angels Part 3." Today's message is going to lean into this idea: "The Obedient Have Joy in Jesus." The anointing that Jesus Christ gives you is He Himself. As you obey Jesus and His Word, you will be anointed with the joy of gladness, and the holier you are, the happier you will be. You will see that in the text today.

It is an amazing thing to be a Christian. He does not remove all of our trials. In fact, He grants suffering to us for a purpose, to mature us oftentimes, and it is not only about us—oftentimes our suffering is about others. At the same time, we have joy. This season, remember that this is a truth that is coupled with in Christianity: joy and suffering. It is actually fellowship with Jesus. As you go through Hebrews, you will see that those who are drifting are incurring some sufferings, some sufferings that they should not have to endure because they have drifted away from Jesus. Those are unnecessary sufferings. You can call them trials of correction. Rather, if you are walking with the Lord, you will go through trials of perfection because He is maturing you. That is found in James chapter one, verses two through four.

Let us read the text today and see how Christ is better than angels, part three, leaning into the idea of the obedient have joy in Jesus as we mimic Jesus. Hebrews chapter one, verses eight to fourteen.

Let us start with verse eight. The Bible says, "But of the Son, He says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.'" So I ask you the question: do you, as well as Christ does, love righteousness? Do you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? This is an act of self-denial. It is not self-centeredness. It is selflessness. As we seek Christ, it requires us to deny the self and take up our cross and follow Him. In every area of our life, we get better and better at this spiritual skill set—how we are thinking, what we are thinking about, how we are managing our feelings internally, and how we are guiding our actions to be in alignment with Christ. Everything in our life is to be pointed toward righteousness in Christ. If you love righteousness, then you love God's law and you hate wickedness.

Remember what we learned in the spiritual warfare passage in Ephesians chapter six: we do not look at people as the enemy. The enemy is the enemy. We are to hate sin. But you do not hate people caught up in sin. You die for them. You sacrificially love them like Christ has loved us. To love righteousness and to hate wickedness is a Christ-like attribute that we get better at in every area of our whole life.

Verse nine says, "You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness." This is speaking of Christ, and by way of application, it is speaking of Christians when we do the same. "Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you." So for the purposes for which He has accomplished loving righteousness and hating wickedness, He has been rewarded with something. You too will be rewarded with the same reward if you do the same loving of righteousness and hating of wickedness. What is that? It says, "Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions." We will dive a little bit more into this phrase as we go through the message.

In verse ten it says, "And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth. And the heavens are the work of your hands, and they will perish, but You remain. And they will become like an old garment and like a mantle you will roll them up like a garment and they also will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end." Here you see a comparison between Christ and the world and the heavens in that everything you see is temporal but Christ is eternal. He does not change. Everything else changes. But Christ remains. He is the unchanging one—the doctrine of the immutability of Christ. This is what is being proclaimed here. Christ remains the same.

In verse thirteen it says, "But to which of the angels did He ever say, 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet'?" That has never been said of the angels, but of Christ it has. In verse fourteen it says, "And they are not—are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?" This is simply to say that this has happened for Christ, and being on the throne, angels are not on the throne. They are servants. Are they not all ministering spirits to render service for the sake of those who inherit salvation?

As we continue in this verse, I want you to notice point number one: Jesus has always existed and angels have not. Back in verse eight, it starts this doctrine of the immutability of Christ. For the Son, He says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever." This forever throne can only be fulfilled by the unchanging one. He is on the throne forever and ever. This is a reference to what is past, present, and future. He is the Alpha and the Omega and everything beyond. The eternal Jesus sits on this eternal throne. Christ is better than angels, according to verse eight, because He is on this forever throne. He rules, and it is contrasted to angels who do not have a throne. Angels have not been given a throne.

Everything that angels could represent by way of application in your life—just as Israel venerated, maybe even worshipped or aspired to know more about angels than Christ, to the extent that they put angels above Christ—is the same extent to which you in your life, me in my life, could put anything above Christ in our thoughts, in our motives, in our heartbeat, in our pursuit, in our love, whatever it is. By way of application of angels to your life, whatever you put above Christ is to be recognized as wrong and needs to be put in its right place. For example, angels, as awesome as angels are and as strong and wonderful, they are still servants. Yet they have never been given a throne, but Christ has a throne. This is amazing. Christ is on the throne. The point in the text as well is that angels do not rule and reign, but Christ is the Ruler and Reigner. He is on the throne and He is to be served forever by the angels. So do not worship the servant; worship the Savior.

It is so easy for us to allow things in this world to usurp our commitment to Christ and His purposes. It is so easy to allow ourselves to get too busy. Some of you have this acronym written in the beginning of your Bible. To the extent we get too busy, you are being too busy. Sometimes it could be attributed to being under Satan's yoke: Busy, B-U-S-Y, being under Satan's yoke. If you are too busy to be in God's Word, if you are too busy to pray, if you are too busy to keep the purposes of Christ first in your life, then you are too busy. Satan will distract you with good things and keep you from the great—the greatness of Christ, the greatness of His glory and serving and worshiping Him and His first plan, by the way, the church in and through.

Point number two, if you are taking notes, is this: God brings us joy when we love Him. Verses eight and nine make it clear. But to the Son, He says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. And you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions."

I would simply like to tell you that holy living will make you happy. Living a holy life brings tremendous elements of happiness. This is an anointing of Jesus. It is symbolically portrayed to us as this ceremony in the Old Testament when Old Testament saints were anointed or selected to pour oil on them for them to be smothered over, which symbolizes the blessings of God upon their life. This is to be overflowing in joy, overflowing in blessings. It is the anointing of the oil. Jesus loved righteousness and He was anointed with the joy, anointed with the oil and gladness. When you too, by way of application, love the Lord your God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind, one of the rewards is inner joy. No matter what is going on, you are happy in Christ because He is your stability. He is your rock. He is your fortress.

When your love for Christ seems to become a bit wayward, when your commitment to Christ being in Him and knowing Him and His Word seems to drift a little bit, when you allow even good things in this world—Satan will tempt you with doing a lot of good things at the expense of what is great—if you get distracted and you start to drift, then your love for others will be diminished. Your joyometer will be diminished. Your love for church, your love for the brethren, your joy throughout the day, the unspeakable joy where you just look at it and you are like, "Man, this is a great day"—being filled with Christ seems to be diminished when you focus too much on the earthly and not the heavenly. When you focus too much on the problems in this world rather than being focused on Christ, when you focus upon other things other than Christ, when you get distracted, your love and your life and your light start to diminish. The light of Christ through you starts to get diminished. Your love for others starts to get diminished. This is the whole book of 1 John, by the way. Read the book and see it for yourself.

Your life—this is how God gets our attention, by the way—your life and things in your life start to diminish. How so? Well, things that you love and cherish, if they become a god in your life, they will be diminished. God's way of getting a hold of you is to diminish or to bring these things down, to get your attention, to say, "Hey, realign. Come back." He will diminish the joy on purpose. The sorrow and the regret and the agony of heart will set in sometimes if we are drifting from the Lord. There are manifold reasons for suffering—this is not just the one way. But in the text here today, joy is in Jesus. He is our stability. He is our life. He is our peace. He is our comfort. When you see peace and comfort leaving you, then the first thing that we should do is respond by being regular repenters and run to Jesus.

Indicators that one has begun to drift away from Jesus are these: a lack of joy, a lack of inner stability, a lack of vibrance and filling of Christ, a lack of peace. You know what the Bible says in Colossians 3, 15? "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." If you are not letting Christ be your Ruler and the Lord of your life, then you are out from underneath His lordship and you are seeking other things. He is God, but you have to yield to His lordship and His guidance in your life. If you have a lack of comfort in your hearts, remember 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 5 says this: "Our comfort is abundant through Christ." The comfort that we have inside of our hearts and the peace that we have—it is all centered in Christ. Christ is the center peace. Hence the reason why the Bethlehem scene is centered here in the worship center. To God be the glory, He worked it out so that it is in the middle. We have the Word of God as a center part of our worship. We have our Word as a center part of our lives. This is important to keep Christ first in your life because the result is joy in Jesus.

Have you ever seen someone, perhaps on the mission field, who has nothing but they are the happiest people on earth? You are going through extreme sufferings, but they are the happiest people on earth. How is that? The secret is Jesus. He is the mystery. When you embrace Jesus in every way, shape, and form, the rest of it just seems to work out.

How does He rule and how does He reign? I said He is Lord. He is Lord. He is God. The Bible describes Him as God. Therefore, God, you are God, right? Jesus is God. He proclaimed to be God. But how does He rule? He is on the throne and He has a symbol for us to learn from. It is called a scepter in the text—scepter, staff. It has two parts: it has a crook and it has a rod. God will gently guide you with the crook, the curved part of His staff. If you yield, then you can learn God's lessons through your ears instead of your tears. Because if we do not yield, then God has a rod as well. And He will flip that thing up and swack you.

That is a really good word, by the way. Swack. I looked it up. I will prove it to you. By the way, did your father swack you? Did you grow up getting spankings? Yeah. Fathers are commanded to discipline their children. Mothers too, okay. Our heavenly Father disciplines us as well. This word, swack, S-W-A-C-K, is a Scottish term and it means to take a heart below—it will take a really good swack, a heart below, okay. It means to be whacked. When sheep learn God's ways, they have two choices. They can learn God's lessons through their ears or through their tears. They can be guided and directed through His gentle love and care, or they can be corrected, right? The Word of God does that for us as well in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. We can learn God's ways by submitting without getting swacked, or we can learn God's ways the easy way or the hard way. Those who are guided by God are glad, but those who stray from God are sad.

Very simple, very elementary, but difficult to do because we have wandering minds, irrational feelings, and feet that rush into evil. We have to discipline ourselves for the purpose of God in this in every way, shape, and form—verse Timothy chapter 4 verse 7b. "Discipline yourselves for the purposes of godliness." Enjoy God's gentle guidance. I am telling you that the Holy Spirit of God can guide you gently if you are in tune.

If He troubles your spirit, then perk up your ears. At that point to where He is perhaps reducing the peace in your heart on purpose to get your attention, and you respond, good for you. You will not need to be swacked, right? But if we continue perhaps to be stubborn like the Israelites were, hundreds and hundreds of years of being rebellious toward God, and yet God was still patient and kind, still guiding, still swacking, and still reaching, still loving. This is our Shepherd. He is filled with joy that is not diminished and He wants you to have that as well.

Now we are going to learn in today's text that not only does He have joy, but He also carries sorrow as well. That is part of being a Christian: managing both your sorrow and your joy at the same time. This is what it is to have the joy of Jesus. In verses eight and nine, you see that Jesus is anointed with the oil of gladness because He was one who hated wickedness and loved righteousness, and the result was the anointing.

In the Old Testament, prophets and priests and kings were anointed. It was a sign of them having been appointed to an office. This is particular. You could think of redemption as particular. You could think of even anointing as particular. It is selective. God chooses these things. In Luke chapter four and verse eighteen, it records Jesus proclaiming His anointing to those in a worship service. Jesus entered into a synagogue in Nazareth and He read from Isaiah 61 verses one and two and then fulfilled the Scripture that day. That is in Luke chapter four. Turn with me if you would to Luke chapter four and verses 16 to 20.

I want you to see as well the word anointed and how He has been appointed. The word anointed could be a very similar concept as being appointed. You have an appointment. You have been selected. This is seen as well in Luke chapter four verse 16. "And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as it was the custom, He entered into the synagogue on the Sabbath and He stood up to read. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him and He opened the book and found the place where it was written. And here is the quote: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor and He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recover the sight for the blind and to set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.' And here is the drop-the-mic moment as if they had electricity and a microphone. But here it is: 'And He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down in the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him and He began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"

To them, an average rabbi comes into an average synagogue and they had no idea that God was in their presence and the Scripture from Isaiah 61 would be fulfilled in their very presence. What an amazing thing. I bring this up because this is a particular anointing for Jesus, and He is the Ruler. He is anointed. He has a scepter. He is directing and He is correcting and we follow Him.

Back to Hebrews chapter 1 and verses 10 through 12. "And You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth." So here you see a reference to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. "And the heavens are the works of Your hands." You have a reference here that is also testified to Jesus being the creator in Colossians chapter 1 verse 16. "For by Him, being Jesus, all things were created both in the heavens and on the earth." So this passage in Hebrews is talking about Jesus. Now Jesus is being ascribed as the means for creation. Now He, as the eternal God, is compared to the creation. In verse 11 it says, "They will perish." So heaven and earth are going to perish. They are going to be remade, redone. They are going to be heaven on earth. They will perish.

"And You will remain and they will become like a garment and like a mantle. And they will be changed." We look to Christ above anything else because He is the unchanging one and everything else changes. Simultaneously, we are expressing the fact that Christ is King and He is the unchanging one and everything else diminishes. Are not you tired of trying to manage the diminishment of things? Are not you just tired and weary of your clothes wearing out and having to buy new ones? Or maybe your body is diminishing and for that reason you have got to buy new ones, new glasses. Everything in this world is in decline. We are cleaning, we are fixing, we are replacing, but Christ is forever. Our hope and our glory and our peace and everything is in Christ. All of this diminishment should be a reminder for us to look to Jesus as the unchanging one.

How many times have you seen someone get their eyes on the things of this world? These diminishing things that are going to not pass the test of fire, they are going to rust out, they are going to erode and go away, they are going to decline and buy even our bodies. How many times have you seen gods and idols made of things of this earth? Do not be like them. Israel constantly was looking for an idol to worship. Israel constantly was wanting a priest instead of God as a priest, their priest, their God. Israel constantly was grabbing on to something that they could see, but God wanted to be their God.

For us, the same is true. We cannot value stuff over souls, the things of this world over the things of God. We have got to be careful not to think about what we see all the time. We have got to think about what is invisible, like peace, love, joy, God, things to be. We have got to think and set our heart and mind on things above. In this season, it is easy to set your mind on things that are below. That is not what Colossians chapter 3 verse 2 says: "Set your mind on things above." Listen, they will perish. In verse 11, look with me: they will perish. Do not focus on the things that are going to perish. In the Greek, this means abolished. In the Greek, this means uselessness. In the Greek, this means ruined, destroyed, and lost. Everything in this world that you see is going to be gone. If we set our hearts and minds and allow our heart to be jerked up and jerked down about the things that perish, it is an idolatrous mistake.

We cannot worship the things of this world. We have to stay in the words that are mined and our heart and the things of Christ. But Christ, in verse 11, He remains. Look with me: they will perish. But You, Jesus, remain. In the Greek, remain means to stay permanently. It means to continue without interruption. This is a perfect continuance. Christ does not change. He is who we have to stabilize our evil feelings, our changing thoughts, and our lives that change. He is our rock. He is what we need to focus upon.

Just by way of observation, I noticed in the Bible that King Herod built buildings, but Jesus built the body of Christ. Oftentimes, we make that mistake in church. We focus on buildings and not the body. Sometimes we focus too much on attendance and money and things that are just going to perish. It is a huge error to love the church building that you go to more than the body. I have dealt with that. God is more interested in people than the pews. God is more interested in the body than the buildings. The things of this world are going to perish. Set not your heart and mind on those things. Because if they do, I guarantee you, you are going to have an emotional train wreck because God wants people as a priority. Most of our effort goes into people. We have got to maintain these things so that we can continue to worship God. But these are all tools. The chairs, the buildings, these are all tools for reaching souls and training souls and for these souls to worship.

When we set our mind and our heart on things that are earthly, the things that are going to perish, it is an idolatrous mistake and I guarantee you it will rob your peace, it will rob your joy, and it will be at the expense of relationships and people. The way it is, it happens over and over and over. If it has happened to you, I pray that you would just simply repent and run to Jesus because everything can be restored. There is nothing that God cannot fix. He can restore anything. He is wonderful.

Psalm 102 is the backdrop. Turn there with me if you would. Psalm 102, verses 25 to 27. Guess what you are going to hear? You are going to hear everything that I just said in Hebrews chapter 1 again. Here we go. Psalm 102, verse 25, 26, and 27. "Of old You founded the earth." We just talked about how Christ founded the earth in Hebrews 1. "And the heavens are the work of Your hands." We just talked about that. "Even they will perish." We just talked about that. "But You endure." We just talked about that. "And all of them will wear out like a garment." We just talked about that. Like clothing, we just talked about that. "And You will change them and they will be changed, but You are the same." We just talked about that. "And Your years will not come to an end." This is the heart behind the preacher of the sermon of Hebrews. He knows this Old Testament Scripture. I am so thrilled for those of you who find a thrill in seeing the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Because this is thinking with the author's intent. This is finding the why behind the what. This gets to motive. This gets to heart. This gets to purpose. This gets to the heart in what we do when we get it. This perfectly portrays what the preacher of Hebrews is saying.

Back to Hebrews chapter 1, verses 13 and 14. There is a contrast here of Christ's ruling over the angels serving. In verses 13 and 14: "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'?" That is really funny if you think about it. Satan's destination is becoming a footstool. The imagery is kind of like a footstool. So kick your feet up on him and just be at rest. That is great.

In verse 14, "Are they not all ministering spirits?" Okay, yeah. So the angels, they are servants. Verse 13 again is a quote from the Old Testament. In Psalms chapter 110 and verse 1, it says, "My Lord, sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." So not only is the enemy going to be a footstool, but also the enemies are as well. Basically, no honor, no glory, no peace, no privilege of such a throne has ever been given to an angel. That is to say for you by way of application: nothing that you can worship other than Jesus measures up to any glory, any honor, anything worth your praise. So sit. This is to say or to signify that Christ's work is done, okay. He made propitiation for sin, and now that His work is finished, He is sitting on the throne. His work is done—you rest after you work. His work is done. He said it. He said it is finished. So now He is sitting on the throne.

Now, Christ, interestingly enough, quoted Psalm 110 in this whole wonderful way with all these ideas packed into one psalm. He quoted this to befuddle the Pharisees. I mean, He totally messed with their minds at this point. He made them so confused, so frustrated. I want you to see that. Matthew chapter 22 is where Christ utilized Psalm 110 to rebuke the Pharisees. This is great because when we use Scripture as the authority in the face of our enemies, it befuddles them. It frustrates them, and it causes them to deal with the truth. In Matthew chapter 22, verses 41 to 45:

"Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question. What do you think about Christ, whose son is he? And they said to him, the son of David. And He said to them, then how does David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying," and here is the quote from Psalm 110, verse 1, "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?" No one was able to answer Him a word. See, He befuddled them. Nor did anyone dare from that time on ask Him another question. That is fantastic. Jesus basically saying, Jesus is God. How can God be God if Jesus is God? I am God. I am right here in front of you. You are missing it.

When your minds are on the wrong things, perhaps religious things even like a Pharisee, you can miss Jesus right in front of you. These perhaps befuddling statements, these things that boggle the mind, these things that seem to be like confusing in the heart and mind, if it is of Scripture at that point, I beg you, go home and study it and figure it out. It is a point of growth for you. Jesus spoke in parables for a purpose, to draw you in closer to Him. He did not make it easy for you to know the things of the kingdom of God. He wants you to seek Him, to study Him, to align with Him. He said these things to get their attention and to draw them in. It is up to them as to where they want to be guided with the hook or the rod. Be schwacked or not.

Basically, Jesus is proclaiming here that He is God. In theological terms, it is called the hypostatic union. Dual-natured. That is what we believe as Christians. Jesus is both God and human at the same time, not compromising either. Fully God, fully man. The God-man. This is essential for us to believe that because it required a full man to pay the full price on the cross. Without the hypostatic union, the crucifixion is voided. The substitutionary death does not add up. We need both God and man to pay the price. Nobody could do that except for Jesus Christ. He is the perfect representative. He is the perfect sacrifice to bridge the gap between sinful man and a holy God. We could not do that. God is holy. He could send a Son, incarnate Himself. He did it for us.

See just how beautiful this is. It is the call for you to believe in this as these Israelites back in Hebrews were drifting from Jesus. He is the Author of this book, very concerned about their drift. In Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1, He says, "Do not drift." The whole underlining push of the book of Hebrews is so that you do not drift from Jesus. Neither angels, nor the law, nor Moses, nor the priests, the priesthood, nor the tabernacle, nor your own life should cause you to drift from Jesus. This is the heartbeat for why it is being written. Do not drift from Jesus. That is the reason why around here we love John chapter 8 verse 31. We continue in the Word and so prove that we are disciples of His. So we just remain faithful. No matter what is going on, remain faithful. That is the main thing as a Christian. John chapter 15, "Abide in the vine." He is the vine. Abide, obey, continue. Press on, endure. Just love Jesus.

So angels, they are not worthy of your worship. Do not get caught up in ascribing anything more glory or anything more honor or more time than Jesus. Your whole life you have seen hobbies that usurped God's house. Your whole life you have seen people, maybe even yourself in prior days—I hope it is not a condition that you are dealing with now—maybe you have seen golf usurp God. Right? You have seen all these different worldly things. Fishing usurps our fellowship time. You just go on and on and on and on about the things of this world usurping what should be placed first. Last week we talked about calendaring Christ first in your life. Break out the calendar. It is just hogwash and empty words until you break out your calendar and make it a part of your routine. You can say whatever you want. I will not believe you until you do it. Until you actually vote with your feet. Until you actually show up and continue in Christ. Until you actually really truly persevere through the hardships.

You see, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is non-negotiable. We are called to do this. When you do love righteousness and when you do hate wickedness and when you do continue in Christ, the reward is the oil of gladness, the joy. You can restore you—I mean just like this right here. If you are down and out, be restored just like that. The switch inside of you could be flipped from sorrow to joy. It is amazing.

Now, there are things in this world obviously that cause us deep sorrow. Paul had deep sorrow for the rebelliousness in Israel and He even likened them to Himself as one whom He wished could pay the price for them so that if they could possibly be saved.

Take home truth number one is this: enjoy life and manage sorrows. Let me get to this point. The author of Hebrews has extensive knowledge of the Old Testament. As I take you to the Old Testament and say what the Old Testament says and it matches with Hebrews chapter one, you can see that what we are reading here is a brilliant document. An amazing mind who knows the Old Testament. The author of Hebrews is a scholar, an Old Testament scholar. I personally believe it is the Apostle Paul. I believe that Hebrews was written by Luke in Greek. So it was preached in Hebrew and recorded in Greek, and there are variances on that opinion. That is my opinion.

I am telling you the author of Hebrews by way of factual observation is an Old Testament scholar. He deeply loves perhaps his own people, the Jews. He loves them and he knows them and he is able to identify with them and know that angels is a problem. So he brings that up. He knows that loving the law over the Lord is a problem and so he is going to bring that up as we get to it. He knows them. He knows his audience. Perhaps if it is Paul loving and reaching toward Israel, it makes sense in my mind. I would say to you that it is consistent with Romans chapter 9 and verse 3 where he deeply wished that he could die so that they could live. It is an amazing passage of Scripture.

Romans chapter 9 and verse 3 says, "For I wish that I myself were accursed, separate from Christ, for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." If you, like me, have plenty of room to grow spiritually, then you have not yet arrived to Romans chapter 9 and verse 3. I do not desire to die that others would live. Like literally. I do not want to go to hell so they go to heaven. I am not there yet. Paul was. I am not. But I do desire to sacrificially serve no matter the cost. I am there. Are you there yet? I may not. You can say whatever you want to say about me. It has been said in our life: you can do whatever you want to me, just do not touch my family, right? Well, maybe that is your point of growth.

Literally, we have got to stretch ourselves and know that God is God. He is in control and these sufferings are not meaningless. They are meaningful. Listen to the text here. Christ was anointed with joy. In Hebrews chapter 12, because of the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. Sometimes we have to look a little bit farther down the road as we are enduring the cross. Why are we taking up the cross and following Him while we are suffering? Sometimes we have got to look a little bit forward and continue to have this joy while we manage our suffering. Even while Paul perhaps is enduring the agony of loving those who were like family to him while they were drifting, Paul's agony and his love for them consistently, even while they were drifting, the audience of Hebrews or the drifters away from Christ, drifting away from Christ, had the joy of Jesus while carrying the sorrow at the same time.

Welcome to Christianity 101. It is hard to get to the next level to manage both joy and sorrow at the same time.

So take home truth number one is this: enjoy life while you manage your sorrows. We see that Paul demonstrated that because not only did he carry the sorrow and the agony of wanting to die for those whom he loved, but He also said in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice." He also said that to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16, 17, and 18. Rejoice. And again, I say rejoice. This is a repeated theme in Paul's life. He was not one without suffering. He was shipwrecked, battered and bruised, all that type of stuff. Yet, at the same time, he was able to enjoy the joy of Jesus and manage sorrow and suffering.

Point number two in your take home truth is this: holiness increases happiness. Holiness is what increases your happiness. In verse 9 of Hebrews 1, "You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions." It is important for us to know that your love must be sincere. Abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. That is Romans 12, verse 9. If you truly love Jesus and you love righteousness, then it is coupled with hatred. We are not people that hate anything, right? We do not hate. Well, there are things who absolutely abhor and that should detest you. Sin should be detestable. Our sins are like grenades. When we sin, there are innocent people who get hit. There is destruction. The evil one comes to steal, kill, and destroy. If he works through us, through our words, through our actions, he divides the brethren and destroys people. It is a destroyer. It hurts. It is harmful. Sin will steal your joy. Sin will make you to suffer.

This is tough. But if you would hate sin and run to Jesus, your joy will increase. The anointing will strengthen. Christ in you, the hope of glory, will become more and more vibrant. This is what you want to keep Jesus at the center of who you are.

Point number three, last point: live as ones who have already won. Verse 13 in Hebrews chapter 1. I want you to live as ones who have already won. This is great. "But to which of the angels did He ever say, 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet'?" This is great. The destination is already done. All right. It is as good as done. Satan and his enemies, footstools. I want to see him annihilated. So live that way. Do you believe that Christ is the Victor? He is King. He is on the throne. He is ruling. He is reigning. Then live that way. Sometimes it is a matter of telling your face what you know and live it out. I am going to be happy today and I am going to serve Christ today. I am going to do this because Christ is on the throne. Guess what? Your feelings will catch up. If you do what is right, they will catch up. Feelings are so flippant and futile and they will lie to you. Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9.

Listen, if I hear this one more time, oi. This is what I feel like red flag, red flag, red flag. I feel like I need to do this. It is so soft and so subjective. Feelings are subjective. Feelings are futile. Feelings change. Christ does not change. So you submit your feelings to the Word of God.

I will end with this illustration and I will probably say it a million more times for me and for you. Think of the facts that God exists and His Word is true as the beginning of a train. That is the first car, and the second one being your faith. Your faith needs to be in the facts, trailing the facts. Your faith, who you are in Christ, needs to be second. Your feelings can trail behind as the third car, train car. What happens if this third car gets in front of the first or the second? It is called a train wreck. If your feelings get in front of your faith or in front of the facts of God, the Word of God, then you will have an emotional, a mental, or a life train wreck. Thank the Lord. The Lord can fix trains. He can fix lives. He can help us. You just stay focused on Jesus no matter what. The oil of gladness will be what characterizes you in your life.

Lord, we love you and thank you for demonstrating for us how to love righteousness and hate wickedness and then have the benefit of having the anointing of joy. That is truly You Yourself. This symbol is a symbol of who You are in us. Thank you, Father, for anointing us first with salvation, choosing us and saving us. I pray, dear Jesus, as we continue to learn more about You and submit to You, I pray that we do that through Your crook, through the staff, through the scepter that You have, by way of gentle guidance. I pray for us that we are all humble and moldable clay. I pray, dear Jesus, that we all die to ourselves and take up our cross and follow You. I pray, dear Jesus, that You are able to guide us gently and lovingly and that we are pleasing to You. You know that we are not perfect. We know that we are not perfect. We will need to be corrected by Your Word over and over and over again before we receive a glorified being. We thank You for this comfort that You guide us gently. Thank you for this picture from the 23rd Psalm and how You are able to put us at peace and put us at rest because of Your rod and Your staff and how they comfort us.

Dear Jesus, I pray that if any dear saint here is not at peace today, that by the power of Your Holy Spirit, I pray like Paul prayed for the Ephesian church in Ephesians chapter 3, that You would strengthen them inwardly, stabilize them according to who You are in them. May Your Holy Spirit do this mighty work and make them to be able to enjoy You through the hours, through the days, no matter what comes in this world. Father, I pray for the saints that they would not only continue in Your Word, but they would be able to spread Your glorious Word to those who do not know You.

If anyone here does not know You truly and has not been saved, that they would hear what the Hebrew writer has said over and over and over again: today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. He said it a third time: today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Hebrews 3:8, 3:15, and 4:7. Today, dear Jesus, if anyone is away from You and does not know You personally, I pray that You would repent of their sin and place their faith and their trust in the fact that You came, wrapped in flesh, lived a perfect life, went to the cross unjustly and were crucified on behalf of those who would repent and believe. You paid the price for our sin. You died for those who would believe. I pray, dear Jesus, that anyone here who so ever will come to You and believe that they would be saved, gloriously saved. We know that this salvation is a new heart with new motives that changes things. Their life would be more and more characterized by what the Word of God says as one who is bearing fruit as a true believer.

Father, I pray that for us who are already saved and walking with You, that we would be kind and loving and gentle with others as You have been kind and loving and gentle with us. I pray, dear Jesus, that this message has been encouraging for us in this busy season. Now as we refocus upon the reason for this season—that You came incarnate, that You came born of a virgin, that You came to seek and to save that which was lost, to be a Savior—that You would help us to focus on You this season and not get distracted by too many other things, to be weighed down by other things, but to be free in You. It is for freedom that You set us free. Galatians 5:1. God, we love you and we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.