All right, well, good morning, everybody. Well, I'll have you go to the book of Hebrews. Begin the exposition of that book. The book of Hebrews, this will be an introduction of sorts. I'll tell you this, if you have ears to hear what the Spirit will say to you as a church, what the Spirit will say to you as an individual Christian, then the theme of the book of Hebrews will come into greater clarity to you. And the theme of the book of Hebrews, I think the overarching theme is the supremacy or the superiority of Christ. The supremacy or superiority of Christ. If there was a verse that I was to, if I were to apply an overarching verse, I would take it from Hebrews as, there's a couple, but I would pick Hebrews 12 and verse two, where Jesus, where the writer of Hebrews rather says, looking unto Jesus, the author or the originator or the first cause and finisher of our faith. Looking unto Jesus, the author the finisher, the completer. He's the one. It's God that hath begun a good work in you, and he will perform it until the day of Christ. And this book, beloved, exalts the Lord Jesus Christ in every way. So let's bow in prayer, and let's ask the Lord to help us this day. Father, we thank you for your grace Father, I thank you for being able to sing the songs of Zion, every one of them, Father, and I rejoice to be able to learn another one. I look forward to the day, Heavenly Father, when we will gather with 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands of every tribe and kindred and people and nation. and we will sing a new song unto the lamb who was slain and has redeemed us to God. Oh, Father, I pray for that time. I look forward to that time. Oh, Father, it is our blessed hope. And Lord, I pray that you will give us a little taste of heaven as you already have. Father, what a joy to be in your house and to be gathered with your people. I thank you for every soul. that is in this little building right now at this point, Father, and I pray that you would speak to each soul as only you can. Do that which, Father, I cannot do, and that is to speak to the hearts of everyone here today. Father, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I'm just going to read verses 1 to 3, and we'll kind of leave that for a moment. But I want to have the introduction into the book, and then we will begin to have an introduction of who's the author, who's it's written to, what's the theme. We've already talked about the theme, what was the time period of when this book was written. But if you look there, it doesn't begin like a typical epistle or a typical letter. The writer says, God who at sundry times, or God who in many ways, and in divers or with many methods, God who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. And so, hence Jesus gets the superiority, the supremacy from the start. whom he, that is God, has appointed heir of all things, by whom he also made the world, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, that is of the Father, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. What a wonderful beginning to this book. In the book of Hebrews, back to the theme of the book of Hebrews, beloved, you should see Christ as far superior to any prophet, to every prophet, you should see him as far superior to the angels. and you should see him far superior as our great high priest, far superior than the Levitical priests of the Old Covenant. And that's one of the larger portions of this book. And then you should see the Old Covenant, the Levitical priests of the Old Covenant, if you remember that the Levitical priests, tongue-tied, Christ is far superior to the Levitical line or the Aaronic line of priests because those priests in the old covenant would go in once a year and with the blood of the atonement and they'd offer that offering for the sins of the people of Israel once a year. Well, Christ entered in once. And he made an end of sins, the sins of his people. He entered in one time. And so he didn't enter in with the blood of bulls and of goats, but he entered in with his own blood. And like the Aaronite priests, or the priests after the line of Aaron, they had to make an atonement. They had to offer blood for themselves first. So this was a sinful high priest, or a high priest that was a normal man. And he had to make an atonement for himself, and then he went in. and he went in with the blood of bulls and of goats, and he went in out of their sight. And so Jesus, beloved, he was a man who was without sin. And so as the priest, the Levite priest would enter in and make an atonement at the cross, Jesus entered in and made an atonement, beloved, for our sins, and he offered his own blood for the salvation of all of his people. After he rose from the dead, he appeared alive to many. He walked up on the Mount of Olives, and then he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. The Aaronic priesthood has ended, but the great high priesthood of Christ continues, and Hebrews teaches us that. And so Christ, he's far superior than the prophets, he's far superior than the angels, and he's far superior to any priesthood before, and specifically to the line of Aaron's priests. In fact, look at Hebrews 4.14, Hebrews chapter four and verse 14, The writer of Hebrews tells us this. He says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched, or we don't have a high priest that doesn't sympathize with us in our infirmities, because he can. He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and he was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. And so there's the key component, beloved. He is our high priest, and he is a sinless high priest. And he says, since we know that, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so the theme of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of Christ over the prophets, over the angels, over the priests of Aaron. Next, who wrote it? Well, if you look down in your laps there in the on the first page, what do you see? You see the epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. So that's what you see, right? Interesting. So Paul's the author, right? I mean, that's what the Word of God tells us, right? I mean, he's the author. I have never seen a book in the Bible in all of my life that is so rife with opinions on who wrote the book of Hebrews. Here we have the scriptures tell us that Paul wrote it. And so there's the opinions who wrote it, who didn't write it. Well, many theologians in the church fathers of old believed that Paul was the author. Jerome, I think he was in the third to fourth century. He was also known as Eusebius. He believed that he was a historian. He was a translator. He was trying to get the word of God to the people. And he believes that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. Clement, who was the Bishop of Rome, also believed that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. But then Clement of Alexandria, let me make sure I got my notes right, he believed that it was a work of Paul and that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews in the Hebrew language, but then afterward Luke translated it into Greek. And he believes that's the case because it reads kind of like the book of Acts and like the book of Luke. And he believes the writing style is Luke's writing style. So according to Clement, the similarities in the book of Hebrews and the book of Acts and the book of Luke, he thinks that that tends to lend it towards Luke translating it from Hebrew. Now, Jerome accepted it as Paul's work, but he also thought it was not right to cast the opinions of those that thought it was not written by Paul. And so he thinks that Paul suppressed his name from the book because he didn't want to get out of his lane. And he was the apostle to the Gentiles, not to the Jews, specifically, though he preached to the Jews many times. Martin Luther, he didn't think it was Pauline because of verse three of chapter two. And you can look there where the writer Hebrews says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. In other words, not a direct witness. So listen, I could go on and on. Some think Barnabas wrote it. He's actually a candidate that gets a lot of attention on it. But I said all that to say this. That's why when you hear preachers, you've probably heard me say that. You've already heard me say that. That's why you hear preachers say, the writer of Hebrews, instead of saying Paul, in Hebrews, said this. And so I'll tell you right now, I don't think it's wrong. to believe the authorship to be Paul. I don't think it's wrong to say the writer of Hebrews. I tend to believe it is Pauline and Many don't think it is because it doesn't open in a typical Pauline fashion with a salutation. Grace and peace be multiplied to you from the Apostle Paul, servant of God, like all of Paul's other epistles. But you could say the same thing about 1 John. 1 John doesn't open up with a salutation. And you know, people don't make a big deal about many of the Psalms. Randy even preached one the other night, and he says the author is unknown. I think you said that, right? So we don't know who the authors of some of the books are, some of the Psalms, and so it's not really that big of a deal because we know who the real author is, don't we? We know that the author is God, and so we know it's the Word of God. Now let me just read to you that the Pauline benediction. Look at Hebrews 13 in verse 22. And I believe this is a Pauline style benediction, I believe, in verse 22 to 25. He says, And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, for I have written a letter unto you in a few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy, and some say, no, it's not Pauline because he always called Timothy his son. But setting that aside, I believe it's Pauline. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. Salute them that have the rule over you, and all the saints, they of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen. And so, beloved, we know who the ultimate author of the book was. It was God. Now, when was Hebrews written? Well, I believe it was before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And here's the principal reason why, because when you go through the book of Hebrews and you read it on the whole, for the most part, the priesthood is spoken of in the present tense, as if it was still happening. I think in the latter part of the epistle, Paul begins to... See, I said Paul. In the latter part of the epistle, he begins to cite how it's no more and that we have an eternal priesthood in Christ. Now, let me just show you a few of those verses in Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 26. Hebrews 7 and verse 26. Notice, for such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, speaking of Christ, who needeth not daily, present tense, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity." In other words, the Aaronic line. But the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the son who is consecrated evermore. Now I'm just reading a few of the passages. There's more, but we won't look at them all. But look at Hebrews 8 and verse 3. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. He's writing in the present tense. Wherefore, it is of necessity that this man have also or have somewhat also to offer. So you see he writes in the present tense. And then verse 11 of chapter 10, verse 11 of chapter 10 of Hebrews. And every priest standeth or stands daily, ministering and offering, oftentimes, the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. And so the writer seems to write in the present tense about the priesthood. And think about this, even after, we know what happened at the death of Christ, right? We know what happened specifically in the temple at that partition, which was the veil, which was between the holy place and the most holy place, which only the high priest was allowed to enter in. And the high priest, when he entered in, he went in with that blood of atonement. And he went in year after year. He had to go in every year. And the writer of Hebrews actually says that. He says, in those sacrifices, in that system, there was a remembrance of sins year after year, but not in Christ to the Christian. And so even after the death of Christ, and even after that miraculous tear from top to bottom, And historically, if you look at that veil, it wasn't just some thin veil. It was a pretty thick veil that they had to go through. It veiled the holiest of all, the holy place. Only the priest went in there. So it tore it. And God was signifying the end of the old covenant system, the end of that old covenant economy. Now Jesus had entered in with his own blood, the perfect sacrifice for sinners. I love this book already, The Absolute Superiority of Christ. He enters in with his own blood. God the Father was never satisfied with the blood of lambs, of goats. He was never satisfied with the blood of animals. But when Christ entered into that veil with his own blood, God was finally satisfied. And that's the satisfaction, if you're lost today, that's the satisfaction that you need as an atonement for your sins, as an atonement for your soul. That's what you need to be brought into a good standing with God. If that blood is not applied to you, if you don't trust in the atoning blood of Christ, the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ, then you're still antagonistically outside of the veil. you have no access to God. And so that, my brethren, is so important. But when that veil tore, and remember, this whole section is when was the book of Hebrews written? Well, I believe it is written before 70 AD, before the destruction of Jerusalem, because it seems they were still going through the old covenant economy. So God, tore that veil, signifying that every believer in Jesus Christ was now granted special access. You ever see those passes like people get and it says special access? Huh? It's kind of cool. You go to a show, you got special access. Well, you know what? By faith in Jesus Christ and by his blood, you have the best special access that anybody could ever have. You have access to God the Father. You have access to the throne of grace, my friends. And that, listen, that is a rich pasture for you to soak in and plant that good seed deeply in your heart. So the veil tears. And when did it tear? when Christ died at the point when he gave up the ghost. He cried with a loud voice. He cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then he cried, I believe, in the order of those words that he spoke on the cross. He said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. And the earth quaked, and the rocks tore, and the graves opened, and the veil tore. And so now, beloved, I often imagine that the priests were in there and they saw that. You know they saw it. But now, what did the Jews do? What did those that refused to believe Christ, what did they do? What did those Jews do that had eyes but they could not see and ears but they could not hear, what did they do? Well, they sewed the veil back up. And they pushed the people back out into the outer court. That's what they did. And Hebrews is all about opening the minds of the Jewish Christians who were waning back into old covenant ways. And so the book of Hebrews is meant to bring them fully into the new and living way, the new covenant, and to realize that their salvation was in Christ and in Christ alone. No more priesthood, no more sacrifices, no more works, beloved, faith in Jesus Christ and in His name alone, in His name and in His blood. Look at chapter 10, you're right there. for the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Remember that word, perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance, again, made of sins every year. And of course, this was before Christ came. And the people that came and brought those sacrifices were to bring them in faith, looking forward to the ultimate, perfect, unblemished sacrifice, which would be Christ Jesus, the Messiah. So their salvation was just as ours is, but it had not yet been accomplished in time. But the fullness of time came, and Jesus came, made under the law, born of a woman, born of a virgin. And he would die for the sins of the world. And when a sinner believes in Christ, no more remembrance. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee, saith the Lord. And so God has blotted out. And he says in verse four, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. So there it is. And if you just slip down to verse 10 and think about this, Why? And listen, you need to ask yourself this question because there's some bad theology out there. You need to ask yourself the question, why would God bring back the sacrificial system of offering the blood of animals, a system, beloved, that never took away sins? It never took away sins, the sins of the people of Israel, and it never satisfied God. It never did. Why would God bring that back to the forefront? Why would he bring the sacrificial system back after the perfect atonement of Christ? What it really does is it diminishes Christ and it casts out the new for the old. Now look at verse 12. He says, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God forever, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Now remember, I talked about the word perfect. Notice, for by one offering, One offering, he has perfected them forever that are sanctified. And you notice back in verse one, it says, those sacrifices that were brought year after year could never make the comers perfect. whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, and this is written in Jeremiah. It's also quoted in Hebrews 8, we won't go there, but he says, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. That's glorious, beloved. That's the salvation that we possess in Christ. Hence, the supremacy of the priesthood of Christ over the priesthood of Aaron. And this is one of the main themes of the book of Hebrews. No more Old Testament sacrificial system. No more earthly high priest who must first contend with his own sins in his ministry before he brings the blood of the atonement in for the people. And so back to the point here though, when was the book of Hebrews written? And I believe it was written before 70 AD. I actually believe around between 63 and 66, a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem. Now, who was it written to? So who was it written to? Well, Jewish believers in Christ. It was written to the Hebrew believers in Christ, who had professed faith in Christ, who were born again into the new covenant. And listen, there's an application here for us. They were born again into the new covenant, but who were holding onto and being tempted into falling back into old covenant ways. Now listen, there's an application to us. we are in danger of falling back into the world, aren't we? Or we are in danger of falling back into the way we were wired as lost religious people, and that is that God will only be pleased with me in my good works. So they were falling back, these Hebrew Christians were falling back into the old ways of the old covenant, the old ways of Judaism, and into the drudgery of trusting in their own works for salvation. That's what they were doing. They were seeing that they had to do to please God. And we know that because the writer of Hebrews begins to warn them, and he warns them in the first few chapters. Go back to chapter 2 and verse 1. So who was it written to? And listen, it was written to the Hebrew Christians, but I'll tell you it has an application to you as a Gentile Christian, and that's what I want you to see. Remember, we said in the beginning, in fact, Bryce read this in his reading. He that has ears to hear. And Christ spoke to the people in parables, and the apostles asked him why. This is in Matthew 13. He says, why do you speak to them in parables? He says, because they don't have ears to hear. And listen, we often think about that phrase as speaking to the lost. those that don't have eyes to see and ears to hear. But let me tell you, brethren, when we come and our heart's not ready to hear from the Lord, there's times in our own lives when we don't have ears to hear. There's times in our own lives when we don't have ears to hear. That was the danger that the writer of Hebrews was warning the Hebrew believers. Notice in verse one of chapter two. He says, therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed, means pay attention, to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. means to run out from a leaky vessel. He says, for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape? Because listen, it's not angels speaking. What did he say in the first verse? It's Christ speaking. In the last days, in previous days, he spoke to us by the prophets. Now he's spoken unto us by his son. So how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. And so the writer of Hebrews is warning these Jewish believers from slipping back into their old ways. Look at chapter three in verse one. Chapter three in verse one, he says, wherefore holy brethren, and that's why we know he's talking to believers, and partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the capital A, Apostle, and the capital HP, High Priest, of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses." So you see the supremacy of Christ over Moses. inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor than the house. He that built the house hath more honor than the house. Chapter 4, verse 1. Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest Any of you should seem to come short of it. So we can see in these passages that the writer of Hebrews is warning the Hebrew Christians. He says, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. And then finally in Hebrews 5.12, in Hebrews 5.12, Remember, we're talking about who this letter was written to. It was written to Jewish Christians who were in danger of slipping back into Old Covenant Judaism. Now, in Hebrews 5.12, He was teaching in that chapter about Melchizedek and how we have a great high priest, not after the Levitical line, but after the line of Melchizedek. And he says this to them. And listen, this is a reproof. He's reproving them. He says, for the time you ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as need of milk and not strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is inexperienced, unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." And he's telling the Jewish Christians, he said, you shouldn't still be here. You should be moving on in Christ. You should be learning Christ. but they weren't. And he says, but strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised, their spiritual senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So again, you can see in these passages, the writer of Hebrews is admonishing. He's warning the Jewish believers of that day that we're slipping back into their old ways, the ways of works and not of faith. Listen, we need to be careful, beloved, that we don't slip back, slip back to the ways of works and not be living in the truth of faith. Hebrews 10, and we'll move on. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 38. Look there. This is one of three places in which this passage is cited in the Word of God. Notice he says, now the just, actually four places, now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. So the theme of Hebrews, and we'll We'll start just briefly here and look at verse one and two. But the theme of the book of Hebrews is that Christ is supreme over all. He's supreme over the prophets. Christ is supreme over the angels. And God is supreme as high priest. And then we see it appears that this book was written prior to 70 AD. Prior, that's important because in 70 AD, Jerusalem was destroyed. And then finally, it was written to Hebrew believers. So back to chapter one and just a few comments and we'll be done. It's good to have an introduction so you can kind of get your feet on the ground, stick a flag in the ground so you can understand the intent of the writer and who he's writing to and the time. So Hebrews chapter one and verse one, let's just look at that again. First, Christ superior to the prophets, superior to the prophets. God who at sun-dried times and divers' manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his son." And so it's clear that the writer of Hebrews was intent on bringing the Jewish believers into the new and living way of faith in Christ alone for their salvation. They were drifting back into the religion of works, into old covenant Judaism. But for now, they were reverting back, and we see that. Listen, nothing, and this is for us in our Christian lives, nothing and no one, beloved, should detract from the supremacy and the superiority and the exaltation of Christ in your own mind. No preacher, no priest, no religious system, no confession, no creed, nothing must take supremacy past our Lord Jesus Christ, brethren. And that's to be remembered by all of us. Listen, every word of God, and we'll finish on this point, every word of God in the Old Testament pointed the people away from their sins and pointed them to Christ. We may not understand every word of the Old Testament, but every word of the Old Testament was pointing to the time when the Messiah would come. Christ is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets. And I call your remembrance to the Transfiguration, if you remember that. In the Transfiguration, Christ took Peter and James and John up into that mountain apart, and Jesus was white and glistering, the Bible says. They saw the glorified Christ. They also saw Moses and Elijah talking with him. And you remember what Peter said in that time. Peter said, let's build three tabernacles for you. One for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for you, Jesus. Moses represented the law. Elijah represented the prophets. What did God the Father say? It's the theme of the book of Hebrews. He said, no, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. So Moses and Elijah in him, in Christ, is fulfilled all of the law and the prophets. And so that's what God was speaking to them. More than 2,800 times in the Old Testament scriptures, we see the words, thus saith the Lord. And so God revealed through his prophets the word of God so that we may read it and know the truth of God's word. Here's the difference, and I'm gonna finish on this. The Bible says, in times past he spoke to us by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. The difference is the prophets spake, and the apostles even spake divinely, inspired by God. But when Jesus spake, it was God speaking directly. The Lord Jesus, when he spoke, he was speaking directly to them. The prophets of the Old Testament, they spoke and God gave them pieces and portions of the truth. And when you put it all together, it's fulfilled in Christ. So none of them had the whole picture, but God spoke to them in many ways. and in many methods, and we see that in verse 1. But when Jesus came, He was the fulfillment of all that was spoken through the law and through the prophets. And I'll just show you two passages, and then we'll be through. Deuteronomy 18, just to show you that point. Deuteronomy 18 and verse 15, the book of Deuteronomy. Here's where Moses In verse 15, he said, God's gonna raise up a prophet like me, Moses said, but he's gonna be far superior to me. Notice there in verse 15, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, you notice the capital P, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me, unto him you shall hearken. According to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb in that day of the assembly, saying, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire anymore that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, they have well spoken that which they have spoken. Verse 18, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." And so he's speaking of Christ when he would come. And this is several thousand years before the advent of Christ, and then finally Acts chapter 3 in verse 22, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 3 in verse 22. 322 to 24. Acts 322. For Moses truly said, unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet, that is Jesus, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken and likewise foretold of these days. And so Jesus is that prophet. Next time when we pick up, we'll see those passages. When Jesus saw those men on the Emmaus road, the Bible says that he spoke to them and their eyes were closed and they didn't know who he was. And they said, you're fools and slow of heart to believe all that was written in the law and the prophets. And then he opened the scriptures, not the New Testament, the Old Testament, and he expounded in all things in Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, and it says twice in the book of Luke in the latter part of chapter 24, the things in those scriptures concerning himself, concerning himself. He is the absolute supreme one, brethren. Let nothing diminish him from the frontlets of your eyes. Let no system, let no man, let not angels, let no prophets, let no preacher take the glory and the superiority that Christ should have in your life. And so, beloved, I pray that that would be in you. I'll close with Hebrews 2.9. Bible says, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Listen, if you're outside of Christ today and you've not believed in Christ, you need that man who went into that veil and went into the presence of God and offered himself for the sins of all who will believe in him. If you're outside of Christ, turn from your sins to Christ. Believe in Jesus Christ. He is the exalted one. He is the one that deserves all the glory and the honor. He is the one that took upon Him the sins of a fallen world. And He is the only one, beloved, that we may trust, that He will forgive all of our sins. and he will cast them as far as the east is from the west, and he will say to you, Your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more. But that must be by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and faith in him alone. If you're not saved, the urgency is upon you. The gospel has been set before you. And I pray that you would humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and believe it today. Amen. For us who are in Christ, beloved, make sure that Christ is the one that gets the supremacy in your mind, in your life, in your every day. Let us exalt him today, and let's dismiss in prayer. Father, thank you for this book that you have given us, Father, of which, Lord, we know that you are the author. It was given by divine inspiration, and I pray that you would speak to us through it I pray that you would help us, Father, to be ministered to in our souls. I pray that we would understand more and more of the mystery of godliness. We would understand those things, Father, that you taught the Hebrew believers in that day. And Father, that you would make application in our own lives and that it would be to your honor and your glory. And Father, for the lost, I do pray. And I know that you're a hearer. of our prayers, Father, and so we come to you and we cry out for our lost beloved ones. We cry out for the lost that are here, Father, and that you would send your spirit to them and, Father, arrest their souls. Father, we would not try to cause any to do anything that they didn't want to do, but I am assured of this, Father, when you give someone a new heart, They will do what they want to do, and what they will want to do is to come unto thee and to believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Help us, Father. Help your people this day. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.