Arius vs. Anthanasius

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In this cage fight, who will win?

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the
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Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Mike Abendroth, Michael Lee Abendroth.
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I'm gonna try to get my wife and kids over there. We'll see what happens, get on the bus, and go to the next site in the
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Reformation. I have been thinking quite a bit about the deity of Christ, Arianism, Trinitarianism, Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs, that is to say, in Hebrews chapter one, you see the deity of Christ.
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I call Hebrews one, the Arian's worst nightmare, and positively, the
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Christian's greatest praise. The writer, underneath the inspiration and through the inspiration of the spirit of God, writes about Jesus and highlighting his greatness over prophets and over angels, and showcasing the deity of Christ, that Jesus is
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God. The eternal son, second person of Trinity, added humanity in the womb of Mary, was born and lived a perfect life as a man.
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I know he's more than a man, but it was a man's life empowered by the Holy Spirit. And then in chapter two of Hebrews, you see the humanity of Christ.
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So we've got the deity of Christ, humanity of Christ, Hebrews one and two. And today on the show, we're gonna talk a little bit about the deity of Christ in light of Hebrews chapter one.
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I've been studying the book of Hebrews because I've been preaching it on Sunday mornings at bbcchurch .org.
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And I've been studying the book of Hebrews because it's really an exhortation as 13th after 13 says, which ends like an epistle in a sense.
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It is sermonic, it is oratory based, it is essentially a sermon in written form.
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And you can learn a lot about that. If you look at Paul's sermons in Acts, or if you look at Peter's sermons in Acts, you will see the tenor of evangelism.
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These are evangelistic sermons. But what does a sermon look like? What does it sound like for one of the apostles or those closely related to the apostles to preach a sermon?
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What are the highlights? What happens? What do they do? What don't they do? And when you study the book of Hebrews, it helps you understand that.
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I'm going to be teaching a class at the master's seminary for the doctoral students there and preaching this
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July 12th. And I'm going to talk a lot about the book of Hebrews. Years ago, centuries ago, there was an edict by Constantine.
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He was the emperor and here is the edict of Constantine. In addition, if any writing composed by Arius should be found, it should be handed over into the flames so that not only will the wickedness of his teaching be obliterated, but nothing will be left even to remind anyone of him.
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And I hereby make a public order that if someone should be discovered to have hidden a writing composed by Arius and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed in the fire, his penalty shall be death.
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As soon as he is discovered in this offense, he shall be submitted for capital punishment.
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Edict by emperor Constantine against the Arians. Yikes. Now, if you don't read stuff by Matt Slick, he gives you good summaries of theological concepts.
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And I just went and saw his Arianism article and I thought he's got a good synopsis here about Arianism 320 -ish around the
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Alexandria, Egypt area. And this guy,
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Arius of Alexander, he was not
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Trinitarian. He would not say Nicaea council, I could agree with that.
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And he would say things like God, the Father is eternal and he is holy and he is lofty and he is transcendent and he is pure and he is infinite.
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And therefore he can't come to earth. So how do you have communion with creatures that you've made if you can't come to earth?
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So then the Father makes Jesus out of nothing. And since he's the first thing that he created, it's he,
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Jesus is the most wonderful thing. And then Jesus, the first of creation makes the rest of the galaxies and the universes.
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And as Slick would say, the relationship between the Father and the Son isn't ontological, that's my word.
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Well, it's not my word, but I'm using it here. It's not the article. Not by nature, it's by relationship of adoption.
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Jesus is adopted by the Father and he has authority, he has position.
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He could be kind of God -like and there's a bunch of basically mumbo -jumbo of subordination, not just in function, but in essence.
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And that's where he goes wrong. The question I guess you ask in Arian, did the
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Father and the Son coexist, exist together from all eternity?
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That's a good question to ask because you're gonna get to the bottom of things right then.
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And of course, the Arians are gonna say, oh, the Father is greater than I, so said Jesus in John 14 and around you go.
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Well, as St. John would say, there are no Unitarians or Arians in heaven.
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Well, because you have to believe in God as he reveals himself, that's what faith is, faith in the object that God, as God has revealed himself.
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But everyone's worshiping Jesus. How can that be? Worshiping Jesus when the
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Father will not give his glory to another, yet he's given his glory to the Son. And the Son is glorified by receiving worship.
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The Son is receiving worship and the Father's getting glory through that. And it becomes very difficult if you're not a
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Trinitarian. Well, the Athanasian Creed came out and there's another person who lives in Alexandria and he is the
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Archbishop, 4th century. And he had a lot of influence teaching the
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Trinity. Most people would argue, hey, did Athanasius really write the
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Athanasian Creed because of timing and stuff like that? So maybe Ambrose did, but whoever wrote it was with Constantine -like invectives against Arianism.
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And maybe this was a song, maybe it was part of worship. Maybe it's a creed that you would sing with other
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Christians celebrating one God subsisting in three persons.
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And the Father's not the Son and the Son's not the Spirit and the Spirit's not the Father. Trinity, God in Trinity, Trinity in unity.
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44 rhythmic lines, the Athanasian Creed. And I don't know if I'm gonna read all those or not.
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I mean, this is no compromise radio. You get what you pay for. As we have the little, we have a lot of slogans around here from Heno to forget you, to other things.
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But we don't ask that you give or donate on the site unless you're a millionaire, then you're forced to.
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Then you have to. If you're a billionaire, I need some help. If you're a billionaire,
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I don't care if you give out of your riches. If you're a millionaire, you can give out of your riches. I wish you'd give according to your riches, but you can give out of your riches even.
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Athanasius Creed, whoever will be saved before all things, it is necessary that he hold the
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Catholic small C, universal faith, which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
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And the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.
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For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son and another of the Holy Spirit. But the
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Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, notice the definite articles, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co -eternal.
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Now, even though I haven't read a bunch of Bible verses, I've alluded to Deuteronomy 6, and you could think about one name, the name in Matthew 28, 18 through 20, baptizing them in the singular name of the
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Father and the Son and of the Spirit, with the direct articles there, one God subsisting in, not manifesting in, not modalizing in, just made up some civilian words.
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This is great language. I have this creed on my phone, a little app, a creed app.
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See, Dr. Clark would like a creed app. Maybe he made the creed app. Creed app sounds funny, doesn't it?
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Creed app, that is a great sentence, great phrase.
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But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co -eternal.
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Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the
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Son uncreated, and the Spirit, Holy Spirit uncreated. Trying to make sure we expose, corner, encircle, trap these people that use words to fool immature
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Christians, that they're worshiping the same God. The Father incomprehensible, the
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Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the
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Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
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So likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
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Three in one, see that? So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is
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God. And yet they are not three gods, but one God. So likewise, the Lord, excuse me, the
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Father is Lord, the Son Lord, the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet, what do you think is gonna be said next?
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They're not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by a Christian, the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be
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God and Lord. So we are forbidden by the Catholic small C religion to say there are three gods or three
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Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the
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Father alone, not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the
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Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one
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Father, not three Fathers, one Son, not three Sons, one Holy Spirit, not three
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Holy Spirits. That sounds funny, my three sons. Did you like that show?
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Athanasian creed continues. And in this Trinity, none is a for or after another. None is greater or lesser than another.
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But the three, whole three persons are co -eternal and co -equal. I'm not talking about incarnation stuff here.
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We're talking about essence. So that in all things, as Aphor said, the unity in Trinity and the
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Trinity is unity, and unity is to be worshiped. He therefore that will be saved must think of the
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Trinity. Did you get that? Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Think of first John language. Think if you don't believe that spirit of the
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Antichrist, you've got to believe that Christ, second person of the Trinity, God of God, light of light, very
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God of very God, begotten, not made. That's from my Lutheran days. Is the
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God man, you must rightly believe that. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our
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Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God is God and man. God of the substance of the father, begotten before the worlds and man of substance of his mother born in the world.
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Perfect God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
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Didn't say manifesting. Equal to the father as touching his Godhead and inferior to the father as touching his manhood.
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Who, although he is God and man, yet he is not two but one Christ. One not by conversion of the
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Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
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For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ. Suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
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He ascended into heaven. He sits on the right hand of the father, God almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
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At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account of their own works.
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And they that have done good, is Romans two language, shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
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This is the Catholic small C universal faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
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Could there be anything better than that Athanasius Creed? Okay, got me.
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Hebrews chapter one. While I love the Athanasius Creed, while I love the destruction of false ideas, idolatrous thoughts like Arianism, think modern day
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Jehovah's witnesses. I more especially love the book of Hebrews as it talks about the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And with the word that is there in Hebrews one, with its elegance, with its alliteration, with its styles, with its listing of old
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Testament passage, all shouting clearly, Jesus is God. Yes, he's more than God.
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He's the God man, but he's God in chapter one. It starts off with this great affirmation of Christ's substitutionary work, his exaltation to the right hand of the father.
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And then the list of seven old Testament passages that all tell you Jesus is better than the angels.
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Even in the book of Hebrews, sprinkled throughout, heir, firstborn, pioneer, perfecter, sanctifier, apostle, builder, source of eternal salvation, forerunner, guarantor, minister, mediator, the coming one, great shepherd of the sheep.
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There are titles that highlight how great Jesus is. And might
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I say, how dare people say Jesus isn't the eternal God? How dare people lower
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Jesus? For what reason? I think it's a moral reason, but for whatever reason they do it.
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I will do all in my power to make sure that along with the books of the new
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Testament and the old, of course, but highlighted here in the book of Hebrews, that while angels might be great, while prophets might be great, while Moses might've been great, while Aaron might've been great, while the old
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Testament, while the old covenant might've been great in its majesty and the smells and the tactile and sensual, sensual, senseless, sensual, that is sight and smell and touch and those things, different senses.
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Jesus is better. And how many times does the book of Hebrews say that? Better, better, better, better, better, better, best.
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No, it just says better. Doesn't say good, better, best, just better.
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The splendor of angels, it's not knocked. They're not knocked.
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They're elevated. How great the prophets were? Not knocked. Moses, you don't see the writer of Hebrews in chapter three.
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Yeah, Moses wasn't too good and hit the rock and didn't do the right thing and was complaining back to God in Exodus four with the stutter issue.
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You know, I can't talk. No, the writer of Hebrews doesn't do that. Moses was great.
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Angels are great, but Jesus is better. Jesus is greater. And what happens is when you look at Hebrews 1, 5 through the end of the chapter, verse 14, from, so I'll see if I can do it from memory, from Psalm two to 2
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Samuel seven to Deuteronomy 32 to Psalm 104 to,
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I wish I could remember. Psalm 102 and Psalm 110.
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Did I give you a seven? How many did I give you? Did I say
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Psalm 45? Okay, I just checked. I just cheated.
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I just looked. Jesus is the great God, the creator, a sustainer, a redeemer.
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He is the one to receive honor. And the father is talking about the son.
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It's like we're eavesdropping on the father in verses five and following as he talks about how great the son is.
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To the son, he says, he talks about the angels. Isn't that fascinating? He talks about the angels.
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Oh, they're great, but they don't have the superior place. The angels, while not not by deduction, they are inferior because of the elevation that Jesus is given because of his person and his work.
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He is the eternal son and he has made purification for sins and he has sat down. And the royal coronation language of what went on when
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Jesus finished his work at Calvary and then went back up to heaven on the third day. That must've been quite a day.
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And the father says in verse six to the angels, just worship Jesus. And how can this be?
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Isaiah 48, for my own sake, I will do it. For how shall my name be profaned?
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My glory, I will not give to another. And now he was saying, give glory to the son.
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He's telling the angels to do that. When you study the book of Hebrews, lots of things rush your way.
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Christology is key. Jesus, son, Jesus, priest.
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He is the son and he is the high priest. And those two themes, as you see them in the book of Hebrews, will help you understand the direction of this very book.
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Whether it's angels, prophets, Moses, Aaron, old covenant system, while that might be great,
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Jesus is the one to be worshiped. Jesus is greater. To the language of Hebrews, he is better.
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Of the angels, he says, and say to the angels, it says he talks about them.
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Fascinating. I mean, that just made me think this week. Here in Hebrews one, God of the father talks to the son, but he talks about the angels.
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That is all the difference in the world between creator, Jesus, creation, not
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Jesus. Like you Aryans might believe. Like the Aryans. I don't think we have many Aryans listening.
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Any Aryans listening to the show? Get the podcast, download them. I don't think so.
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I don't think Aryans would like the show. That's actually a good sign. That's a good sign when you talk so much about the son and him being
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God and how you're a fool not to believe it. You've got a sin issue, probably trying to cover some sin in your life.
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But I would like you to believe. I would like you to say what the father says of the son, I want to say of the son, that he is creator, sustainer, redeemer, and he has been coronated to the place of honor and majesty and authority.
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That is the right hand of God, the father. When he talks to the son, he says to the son.
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When he talks about the angels, he talks about the angels. But of the son, he says, your throne, oh
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God, is forever and ever. That is the Aryans' worst nightmare right there. And they try to do all kinds of, that's not evocative, it's nominative and all that.
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We're gonna have to talk about another show. Can you believe that was 24 minutes? 24 and a half minutes went by so fast.
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Evangelical White Lies, amazon .com. You can get the new book through Amazon. We're gonna have them ship them instead of me shipping them this time.
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You can still get Sexual Fidelity No Compromise on a line. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.
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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
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