God Has Spoken

And then finally, God begins to speak. And with a voice like thunder, he declares the Ten Commandments. He says,

I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the house of slavery.

And then in effect, this is how you must live as my holy people. And then it says,

when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled. And they stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us lest we die.

So great was the power and the authority and the sheer majesty of this revelation from God. And so understandably, for the next 1500 years, I mean, this left a lasting imprint in the minds and the consciences of the Jewish people. I mean, surely they thought this was the greatest revelatory act of God. Nowhere had God spoken so clearly, so solemnly, so definitively than in the giving of the Ten Commandments and in the establishment of the Mosaic Covenant. I mean, if there was ever a word that absolutely must be heeded and obeyed, Surely this was it. It was a message from God written with his own finger on tablets of stone. It was delivered by the hands of angels.

God has spoken climactically through his son

What could possibly compare with that? Well, today we turn our attention to the opening verses of Hebrews. And here we're told about a revelation that's even greater. We're told that all that came before, including the giving of the law, can be summed up with,

long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

And then that's contrasted with,

but in these last days, God has now spoken to us through his son.

Those were the past days. These are the last days. Those were the days in which the revelation was mediated through prophets and angels. This is the revelation from God that comes through his own son. God has spoken to us through one who is as far superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. By one who is no mere prophet, but the very brightness of God's glory and the exact imprint of his nature. And by one who is not merely contributing yet another word in an unending succession of new revelations, but by the one who has spoken the final word. which supersedes and concludes it all.

God has spoken climactically through his son. All that came before were types and shadows. All that came before was incomplete and fragmentary, like pieces to a puzzle that had yet to be fit together. All that came before, as glorious as it was, has no glory in comparison with this. God has now spoken by the one who eclipses and supersedes all.

And brothers and sisters, therefore, the question that God's word presses on us today is this. Will we listen? Will you and I receive and believe and obey God's revelation to his son? Will you and I trust in the son alone for salvation? Will we cling to his word and his way? Even when it's the way of the cross, even when all manner of trials and temptations come, pulling us and pressuring you to give up the race, will you listen to His voice above every other, above every other promise, above every other truth claim? Because you recognize that God has spoken through His Son. That's the main point this morning. God has spoken to us climactically through His Son. Now, before we dive into these verses more deeply, I'd like to give you a brief introduction to the book of Hebrews as a whole.

An exegetical sermon

We don't know who wrote it. We know from chapter 13 that the author knew Timothy, and many throughout church history have believed that it was written by the Apostle Paul. But I don't think that's right. Primarily because of chapter 2, verse 3. Because there the author places himself in the second generation of Christians.

Meaning those who did not hear the gospel directly from Jesus, but who heard the gospel from those who heard Jesus. And I just don't think Paul would say that. Because in Galatians, for example, he says,

I did not receive the gospel from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

So Paul's always emphasizing that he was given the gospel, and he was appointed to be an apostle directly from Jesus himself. So if Paul didn't write Hebrews, then who? Well, many other names have been suggested. Barnabas, Luke, Clement of Rome. Martin Luther suggested Apollos. I think that's an intriguing option.

But at the end of the day, we don't know. And it doesn't really matter because nothing Hebrew says is predicated on the authority of the author himself. He doesn't say, listen to me because I'm an apostle or listen to me because I have this new prophetic revelation to share or some special insight that's unavailable to others. Actually, nothing that Hebrew says is new information. If it's new to us, it's only because we failed to put the pieces together. You see, everything that Hebrews says is based on the basic facts of the Christian message, such as the coming, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, and then careful, disciplined, Old Testament exegesis. All the author does from there is apply logical reasoning to put it together. None of it involves any new or special revelation.

It's actually an exegetical sermon. You see, the author doesn't speak as an apostle or a prophet, but as a preacher. He is basically doing the same thing that I'm doing now. And just as I don't expect any of you to leave here today believing what I tell you because I'm the one who said it. I expect you to leave here today believing what I tell you because I've helped you to see that it's what God says in his word. Well, in the same way, the author of Hebrews doesn't say, listen to me. because of me, listen to me because I'm an apostle or a prophet.

He says, listen to God. Because at various times and in various ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, and I can show you how all of that was pointing forward to one greater. And now, we know who that is. Now, in light of what Jesus has come and done, we can say that God has spoken climactically and conclusively to us through his Son.

And so what God has actually provided for us in the book of Hebrews is an inerrant and infallible model of how to do Christian preaching and Bible study. Kind of like the book of Psalms is a God-inspired book of songs and worship. Hebrews is like a God-inspired sermon so that we might learn how to read and study God's Word and see how it all fits together. And my hope and prayer would be, as we go through this series in the book of Hebrews, that we all would be encouraged to read and study God's Word more deeply and more carefully. Because everything Hebrews says should actually be obvious by simply reading the Old Testament carefully. in light of the basic message of Christ and what he's done.

And I think it exposes for us how slow of heart and dull we can often be. How lacking in discipline, study, and rigor we can be when we read the Bible. And I hope and pray that this will inspire us to read our Bibles more carefully, being eager to mine out all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that God has for us in his word.

Now, another key question about the book is who was this written to and why? We don't know much about the author. And again, there's much we don't know about this. We don't know where the recipients lived, though my best guess would be Rome, because the author sends them greetings from those from Italy. We also don't know when the letter was written, though it does seem pretty certain that it must have been sometime before AD 70, because there's no reference to the destruction of Jerusalem or the temple, which you would think, given the content of the letter, would have been mentioned otherwise.

But we can be pretty sure that this letter was written to Jewish Christians. Early manuscripts begin with, to the Hebrews, indicating a Jewish audience. And of course, the use of the Old Testament throughout seems especially appropriate for a Jewish audience. In fact, probably the reason why the letter was written is because these Jewish Christians were facing some sort of pressure to abandon Christianity and return to Judaism. Maybe this was because of some particularly persuasive Jewish teachers. who are making them fear that they were being unfaithful to God's revelation from the Old Testament. Maybe they're wavering their faith due to mounting pressure from Jewish friends and family who viewed them as traitors, who had abandoned the ways of their forefathers. Maybe they missed the sense of assurance they'd previously felt when they brought physical sacrifices to a physical temple. and had earthly priests that they could look at and see mediating on their behalf before God. But whatever the case, something seems to be tempting them to abandon Christ and return to Judaism. Because throughout the letter, the author repeatedly contrasts the old with the new.

He argues that Jesus is greater than angels. He's greater than Moses. He's a better high priest than Aaron or the Levitical system. He's offered a better sacrifice than bulls or goats. He's instituted a better covenant than the one at Sinai. And again and again, the implication is, why would you abandon the new for the old? The old all along was meant to point forward to the new, and the new is so much better.

And so again and again, the author says,

hold your original confidence firm to the end. Do not neglect such a great salvation. Hold fast your confession. Don't shrink back and be destroyed, but have faith and preserve your souls. And run with endurance the race that is set before you, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.

See, the point is, don't reject Christ and return to the Old Testament, but continue on.

And ultimately, the author wants to bring all of this back to the Word of God. It's all about listening to him. It's about faith in what God has said. That's why the argument ends in chapter 11 with the hall of faith, right? Because it's always been about faith in the word of God. And it's why it begins here in chapter one with what God has said.

In these last days, God has spoken to us through his son.

And so again, the main application from beginning to end is this, will we listen? Now, as we turn our attention to these opening verses of the book, there are three main reasons given about why we must listen to the Son. And all of them have to do with who the Son is. In other words, we can be sure that God's revelation through the Son is final, climactic, and greater than all that came before. because of these three realities about who the Son is.

Greater than prophets or angels

Number one, he's greater than prophets or angels. Number two, he's the man Christ Jesus. And number three, he's God himself. Greater than prophets and angels, the man Christ Jesus, and God himself. So let's look at each of those in turn. Number one, the Son is greater than prophets or angels. Verse one says,

long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son.

And then verse four says,

the son has become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Now, why am I connecting these two verses from the beginning and the end? And why does the author suddenly bring up angels seemingly out of the blue?

Well, to understand that, we need to first understand something important about this passage's structure. Because the author is using a literary device that is probably a bit unfamiliar and counterintuitive to many of us, but which would have been quite familiar and expected by Jews. And this literary device is called a chiasm. A chiasm is sort of like a sideways V, where the ideas in the text are presented in an order that goes something like A, B, C, C, B, A, right? So the beginning and the end go together, and then the, you know, Each pair goes together until you get to the middle, and often the emphasis is placed in the center. And hopefully, as we go along, it will become increasingly clear why I say that the author's using a chiasm here. But for now, we just need to see that the reference to angels and prophets are meant to go together, and the author's making the point that the sun is greater than both.

And the reason why this matters for his overall argument is because prophets and angels were the vehicles or messengers of Old Testament revelation. And this is obvious in verse 1, where he specifically mentions God speaking to the fathers through the prophets. But it's also the main reason why angels are brought up in verse 4. Because you see, from a Jewish perspective, they might concede that, oh yes, God spoke in many times and ways by the prophets.

But Sinai, they would say, is different. At Sinai, God delivered the law by angels. You know, Stephen mentions this in Acts chapter 7. He says,

you received the law as delivered by angels, yet did not keep it.

Paul mentions it in Galatians 3.

The law was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

And so you can almost imagine or hear the Jewish rabbis objecting. You know, you say that God has spoken in these last days by Jesus, but God gave us the law by angels. And so when this Christian message comes saying, well, the sacrificial system has come to an end, and we have a great high priest who's not even a Levite. I mean, this would just seem preposterous to many Jews. I mean, what could have been more final or definitive and unchangeable than the law handed down by angels?

And so look at where the author of Hebrews goes next. For the rest of chapter 1, verse 5 through 14, he has this extended argument for why the Old Testament itself says that the sun is greater than angels. And then in chapter 2, he comes back to the point that he has begun here in verses 1 through 4, and he says,

therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels,

that is the Old Testament law,

proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

If we neglect this even greater word through an even greater messenger who is God's own Son? It's a greater revelation because Jesus is greater than prophets or angels.

But how is that exactly? You may ask. I mean, it's all God's word, right? So whether it comes through the mouth of a prophet or directly from God, there can be no gradation in power or authority. Any word that's God's word is equally true, utterly authoritative, perfectly suited to accomplish whatever God intends for it. So what exactly is it that makes this revelation through the sun better? Well, it's not a difference in quality, but in completeness and clarity.

Look again at verse 1. He says, So we could think, for example, of God speaking to Abraham in a vision of the night. Or God speaking to Joseph through dreams? Or God speaking to Moses in the burning bush? Or to Gideon through a fleece? He spoke to the people at Sinai in thunder, and he spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice. He even spoke to Balaam through a donkey, and then used Balaam to speak his word to the king of Moab. And the point is, God used all sorts of means to speak to his people in all sorts of ways throughout history.

But that also means that instead of coming in the form of a singular, comprehensive revelation, it came piecemeal. God gave a portion of revelation here and a portion of revelation there. It was fragmentary and incomplete. And that's why it kept coming and coming and coming. That's why even the prophets themselves were searching and inquiring diligently to try to understand more. It's why the angels wanted to peer in to these things. But now, in these last days, the author of Hebrews says, God has spoken, finally, climactically, and conclusively, by his Son. And to give you an illustration, imagine being given the pieces to a puzzle. But some are missing, and you don't have the box cover that gives you the picture they're supposed to make.

I mean, just think about how hard it would be to do the puzzle. Well, it's sort of what the Old Testament's like on its own. It's fragmentary. It's incomplete. It's clear that it's meant to paint a bigger picture, but it's hard to put it together when you don't have all the pieces and you don't yet know where the big picture is supposed to be. Well, the coming of Christ is like being given the missing pieces. It's like being given the cover to the box.

Now we can see how it all fits together. Now we can see what all along it was all about. As others have said,

the New Testament is in the old concealed. The old is in the new revealed.

So the new is the greater revelation because it explains and concludes all that came before it. And it's also the final word. Hebrews says,

God has spoken in these last days by his Son.

Because there's nothing more that needs to be said. I mean, in the New Testament, the words of Christ are recorded and the works of Christ are explained.

And so to try to add to that some new prophecy or some new revelation would be like trying to add pieces to an already completed puzzle. It would be like being at a wedding and jumping up to say something about the bride and the groom after the best man has just given the final toast.

The man Christ Jesus

Jesus is the Son, He's greater than the prophets, He's greater than the angels, and He has now come as the great final messenger, the very Word of God Himself to deliver the final message. So will we listen to the Son? But secondly, let's take a look at the next layer of this chiasm. So point number two, he's the man, Christ Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the son who's greater than prophets and angels because he is also the Christ.

He's the anointed one, the king promised in the Old Testament. Look at verse two, where it says,

whom God appointed the heir of all things.

And then verses three and four,

after making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become superior to angels.

" Now, to understand the significance, it's easy to miss what he's saying here, but we need to, one, we're going to look at the Old Testament and see passages he's referencing, and two, I just want to point out to you that there's a couple words here that may be puzzling to us at first.

Why does he say Jesus became superior to angels? Well, why does he say that he was appointed heir? I mean, wasn't he already superior to angels? Wasn't he already the heir? But you see, rather than just jumping straight to talking about Jesus in his divinity, the author of Hebrews wants to first stress what he accomplished according to his manhood as the Christ. As a man, he had to become greater than the angels. He had to be appointed the heir.

As chapter 2 verse 9 will go on to say,

but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

In other words, in his humiliation, Jesus lowered himself beneath the angels. He became flesh. He bore our sin and our shame. He tasted death for everyone. And then through his obedience, through his perfect faithfulness to the Lord, even in the most difficult circumstances, even when it meant drinking the cup of God's wrath and going to the cross, Jesus was faithful. And Jesus earned the highest place and received the name that is above every name. And He did this not simply as God exercising His divine power to make it effortless. He did it as man, as the Christ, on our behalf.

And you see, what the author of Hebrews is doing here is not just in a thin, simple way saying, well, Jesus is superior because Jesus is God, though He will get there next. But he doesn't just jump to that because he knows that most Jews would simply dispute it. I mean, the very concept of a man being God is just so hard to grasp.

So he wants to carefully embed what he's saying in the Old Testament scriptures themselves. He wants to show us that Jesus really is the fulfillment of everything God had promised all along. That yes, the New Testament is greater, but it's not because the Old Testament was wrong. The Old Testament just needs to be interpreted correctly.

And so in verses 2 and 3, he references these two Old Testament messianic psalms. And he's making the point that Jesus fulfills them both. And these psalms are Psalm 2 and Psalm 110. And especially when you read these psalms in conjunction with the rest of the Old Testament, both of these psalms introduce a somewhat mysterious figure.

Someone who's man. Who's a son of David. who yet becomes the eternal king, reigning not just over Israel, but over all nations, who ushers in the last days, the very end of time, who's adopted by God and exalted by God to sit at his right hand as both priest and king.

And so first, in Psalm 2, it says,

you are my son. Today I have begotten you,

or adopted you.

Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

In other words, as my adopted son, I am appointing you the heir of everything. And of course, that's exactly what Hebrews says in verse two.

God appointed him the heir of all things.

And then in Psalm 110, which Jack read for us earlier, King David hears God speaking to someone that David calls Lord. David says,

the Lord, Yahweh, says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

So this Lord is appointed to be enthroned as king. And then God goes on to say to the king,

you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

So he's a priest king exalted to sit at God's right hand. We'll look again at Hebrews verse three.

After making purification for sins,

right, that is doing the work of a priest,

Jesus sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

He is the priest king enthroned at the right hand of God. And so the point that's being made here is that Jesus as a man has become the Christ who was promised in the Old Testament. that through his obedience and faithfulness, even to the point of death, he has merited exaltation to the highest place.

He has been appointed heir of all things. He has become as superior to angels as the name he's inherited is superior to theirs. As you may remember, when Dr. Wellen was here, he said,

he's the son who becomes son.

He's the king from heaven who becomes our human king. And he's the God from all eternity. who humbled himself by becoming man so that as a man he might save us and then be exalted to the position of God.

And brothers and sisters, I hope thinking about this leads you and I to worship Jesus more. I think sometimes we actually underappreciate the greatness of his work because we just jump right to, well, of course he can do that because he's God. So everything must just be easy and effortless to him. It's important for us to remember that He becomes our Christ. He becomes our Savior as a man.

That all the temptations He faced were real temptations. The weakness and the hunger and the fatigue was real. As a man, He was tempted in every way as you and I are. Yet without sin. Not even once. I mean, He is pressed To a limit beyond which we could possibly imagine. And to drink the very cup of the wrath of God. And even still, he says,

nevertheless not my will, but yours be done.

And so as a man, he has achieved what no angel could do. He has endured what none of us could imagine.

And therefore God the Father says to him as man,

you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Sit here at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

And this is also why Jesus can then say to us,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.

He's God himself

You see, he's greater than prophets or angels, first of all, because he is the Christ, the man Christ Jesus, who has become the everlasting King. But this brings us to the third and final thing about who Jesus is. Point number three, he's God himself.

You see, now we're arriving at the very center of the chiasm, the very climax of what the author of Hebrews has to say about the Son. Because if he's greater than prophets or angels, and if he's the Christ seated at the right hand of God, who then is he? Where does he actually come from? What conclusion must we draw about his true identity?

Well, notice that the author of Hebrews gives us four statements about that. The two on the ends are about what the Son does, and the two in the middle are about who the Son is. He says first,

through him, God created the world.

He's the creator. And then verse three,

he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

He's the sustainer. And he's telling us Jesus is the one who does what only God can do. He is the one who is in such a relationship with the Father that all that the Father does, He does through the Son.

And when the Bible tells us from the very beginning that

in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,

that it was the Father who created through His Son. And that just as from the beginning where it says,

God said, let there be light and there was light.

Right. So through God's word, the heavens and the earth were created. Well, the Son of God is the Word of God made flesh. All that the Father does, he does through the Son.

And that includes not only creating the universe, but sustaining the universe. As Colossians 1, verse 17 says, And he, Jesus,

is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

He upholds and sustains creation and the whole universe itself. And just think again about the fact that the author of Hebrews is telling us we must listen to his word. He is the one whose word created and sustained the universe. I mean, how foolish we would be not to listen to him. And then not only does he do what only God can do, but also he is who only God is.

Look at the very center of the chiasm.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.

Now, to be the radiance of God's glory means to be the very brightness and brilliance of God. It means that the clearest, fullest view of God's glory is found in His Son. That the God who dwells in unapproachable light whom no eye has seen or can see, that the very brightness of that glory is in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is truly the visible image of the invisible God. And nothing else could dare represent God in this way. Nothing else is truly like Him. To everything else, God says,

I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another.

But of the Son, he says, you are the very brightness of my glory. Because the Son of God is God himself. And as such, he is also the exact imprint of God's nature. Now an imprint is what you get when you take a dye and stamp it into wax. And the point is that Jesus isn't just similar to God. He doesn't just look like God. He is the exact imprint of God's nature.

He is

God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten but not made, being of one substance with the Father,

distinct in person but identical in nature. He is the one and only great I Am. And friends, recall that when Moses asked God for his name, God can't say, well, I am like this or I am like that because there is no one like him. He's in a category all by himself. He's utterly distinct. He's utterly unique. He's the God that the only way to know him is to know him because nothing else is like him.

And so he says, I am who I am. But now we read in Hebrews that when it comes to the sun, God can say, I am who he is. This is the exact imprint of my nature. This is my eternal son. And brothers and sisters again, this is the one by whom God has now spoken.

This is the one who is greater than prophets or angels. He is the man Christ Jesus and he is God from all eternity. He's the one who has come and tabernacled among us, lived with us, preached to us, done miracles among us, and shown us just exactly who God is and what he's like. He's the one who obeyed for us, who went to the cross for us, who died for us, who rose for us, who ascended for us.

And all this was to show us his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. All this was so that you and I might hear God's voice and receive these glad tidings of great joy, which are for all the peoples, tidings of salvation and peace, this invitation to sinners like us to come to Him and receive salvation. And all of this was so that after all the various times and the various ways God spoke by the prophets, we might now hear in these last days with completeness and clarity, God's climactic word to his son. So will we listen? Now in the time we have left, I want to briefly consider what listening to Jesus practically looks like. And how are you and I responding to what God has said to his son?

Will we listen?

And here are five ways that we might refuse to listen to Jesus. And the first would be to do what the Hebrews were tempted to do, which is to abandon Christ for Judaism. Now, probably this is not a temptation that most of us face, but if, for example, people ever come to you trying to persuade you that coming under the Old Testament law would be what would most honor God, remember Hebrews. To do that would be to miss the whole point of the law, which is to point forward to Jesus and to refuse to listen to God's revelation to his son himself. But assuming that's not the temptation for most of us, what are some other ways that you and I might fail to listen to God in Christ? Well, a second way would be by openly rejecting Christianity. Maybe there's some other philosophy that seems compelling to you, some other religion that you've considered adopting.

Maybe you question if there's enough evidence for God. Imagining that if you were ever to stand before God on Judgment Day, you would ask, like Bertrand Russell,

Sir, why have you taken such pains to hide yourself?

Maybe you think God is just hidden and sort of whispering in secret. Well, friend, I hope you see here from this passage that that God is not hidden himself.

He has spoken clearly and climactically through his son. And if you want to know who God is, if you want to know how you can come to him, look to Christ, listen to Jesus. Jesus himself tells us that

he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.

What we do with Jesus is what we do with God himself. So will you listen to God's revelation through his son? Now thirdly, what about those of us who maybe outwardly profess faith in Christ, but by our works deny him?

Who claim to have received grace, but live in sin? we need to remember that Jesus' preaching begins with

repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And as Martin Luther said in the first of his 95 theses,

when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said repent, he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

In other words, if we are truly listening to what God has spoken in these last days through the Son, then day by day, Moment by moment, we must be ever adjusting our life to conform to his commands. And when we sin, we must confess it and turn away from it.

When it comes to how we spend our money, how we spend our time, how we treat people, how we work, how we parent, how we relate to our spouses, how we keep our word. all of it must come back to listening to Christ. I mean, do not be deceived into thinking that grace could somehow be exploited to live in sin. To thinking that as you read the Old Testament and all the threats and the warnings of the law, that somehow under the New Testament, we don't have to take sin as seriously. And as we will see in Hebrews, no, the argument goes the other way.

We have received an even greater revelation. And therefore there is an even greater accountability for obedience. As Jesus himself said of those who refused to listen to him,

the queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

As Hebrews 2 says,

if the law delivered by angels proved reliable and every disobedience or transgression received a just reward, how then shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

Friends, is our lives characterized by repentance? by listening to the word of Christ. Fourthly, we could refuse to listen to Jesus by seeking to establish a righteousness of our own. You see, you could hear everything I just said about repentance and then think, okay, well, I'm going to be really good. I'm going to keep the law so well that God will love me and God will accept me. But oh friend, what you're doing there is actually trying to establish a righteousness of your own. You are trying to earn your salvation through your good works.

And thereby you are saying that Jesus' death on the cross wasn't necessary. And thereby you're actually not listening to God any more than anyone else. You see, the cross itself is the loudest declaration by God through his son that you and I are both hopeless in our sin and in desperate need of a savior. that our only hope of salvation is through Jesus's blood. When Jesus went to the cross, he prayed,

if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.

And the clear answer from God is that it is not possible. This is the only way.

And so to try to establish a righteousness of our own, to try to earn our justification before God is to express utter disregard for what God has said to his son. is to insult the spirit of grace and to reveal that we have no idea of the severity of our own sin. As a somewhat crude analogy, imagine that someone murdered your loved one. But in the kindness of your heart, you were prepared to forgive them. But then this person, instead of receiving your forgiveness and thanking you with profuse apologies and gratitude, says to you, oh, no, forgiveness won't be necessary.

I'll make it right. Here's 50 cents. Would that not be the most repulsive thing you've ever heard? Would that not insult you by revealing how little they comprehend what they've done? And friends, you see, that's what it's like when we try to earn our salvation with good deeds before God.

It's rejecting his offer of forgiveness. It's rejecting all that that he has spoken through Christ dying on the cross. And it's saying, God, my sin is so light, I can pay for it myself. So friends, God has spoken to his son clearly and finally bidding us to come to him to receive salvation freely and fully by his grace through the work of his son, Jesus Christ. Will we listen to that? And then fifth and finally, we fail to listen to God's final word to us through his son when we go about seeking new revelations, new signs or prophecies, as if that's how we could really trust God and know his will.

As I said before, this would be like trying to add pieces to a finished puzzle. It's like getting up at the wedding after the best man is done. It's like someone has just served you a seven course meal plus dessert. And then you have the audacity to ask for more.

Friends, God has told us everything we need to know. Scripture has been given so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. We do not need new revelations. We do not need more. We need to listen to what God has already said. And we need to recognize that God will not allow this great final climactic word to us through his son to be addended to or distracted from by anything else.

No, all the attention must be on Christ. All our attention, our focus must remain fixed on him because

he is the one whom God has appointed the heir of all things, and through whom God has created the world, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he is the one who upholds the universe by the word of his power. And after making purification for sins, he has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

God in these last days has spoken to us climactically through him. So may we listen. Let's pray. Father, we worship you this morning because of your son. We worship you because of your grace. because of the beauty and the clarity of what you have revealed through him. Oh God, we pray that you give us soft hearts to listen. You give us willing spirits to respond. We pray that you would be glorified, that Christ would be exalted, that you would save many and that you would help all of your people here today to be built up in faithfulness to you. We pray it all in Jesus name. Amen.