Turn to Hebrews chapter 1, if
you would. And we're thankful to be here. I know I said that last night,
and we're more thankful today. And I'm thankful for these men
that the Lord has raised up to preach the gospel to us. You
know, it's... It's a rich blessing that the
Lord gives His church, isn't it? Gospel ministers. This is
something that is just a great concern for us in the ministry
on the mission field. You know, as the Lord, in His
grace, saves His people and draws them together in bodies of believers,
well, you look for the Lord to appoint men, don't you? And that's
always a an ongoing concern and an ongoing burden. And so it's
just always a delight for me to come to a conference like
this and see men who've been called to the Lord into the ministry,
who love Christ, preach his gospel. It's just a rich blessing. And I hope you treasure it for
what it is. I know I take so many things
for granted. And I'm thankful to be here and
thankful to hear the word preached, thankful for the fellowship that
we have as the Lord's people. Well, I think, let me begin by saying that a
whole lot that Drew just said is so true with respect to us
as gospel ministers. You know, I've, let me just say
something about message preparation. I found, you know, I haven't
talked to other men, but I found that, you know, at times you
have to struggle for a message. You know, you feel you have a
message, but, you know, if I could put it this way, it's like the
Lord wrestling with Jacob, you know. He wanted Jacob to wrestle
and get that blessing. At times, as you're preparing,
that's what the Lord purposes. He wants you to wrestle for that
message He has for you. At other times, He just pours
it out. Isn't that true? He just pours
it out, and it's like you're just a vehicle, which is all
we are anyway, all the time. Just a vehicle for His truth,
and anything that anything else is of us, and it's all going
to be burned up anyway. But at those times, you know,
the Spirit just brings the thoughts to your mind, and when you preach,
you might even just have an outline, but it's just, He just, He already
has a message, and you're just preaching it. And then, too,
there's times where you at least I find. You struggle and struggle
and struggle and you have a message and that's
the problem. It's my message and I'm just
struggling and sometimes I don't learn, you know, and I feel that
I've got this message and And sometimes the Lord lets you get
up there with that message by yourself. And He teaches you
a lot of things. But it's not the place you want
to be. And it's not the message you want to hear either. And,
you know, I prepared, I spent many days and many hours preparing
a message to bring here tonight. And I think the Lord showed me that
it wasn't the message that I should bring. And so in these last few
days, I've looked at the message that I brought to the folk there
at Lincolnwood, and I trust that it'll be a blessing, that it
is the Lord's purpose for you to hear this message tonight,
that it'll be His word and His message and not mine. So here in Hebrews 1, We have in these first three
verses of Hebrews some of the most magnificent verses in Scripture. They're full of Christ. They're
full of the Gospel, full of glory, full of grace and truth. This is His Word spoken to us. The Word of the Almighty God
in Heaven, God who is Spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable
in his being. Full of wisdom and power and
holiness, justice, goodness and truth. His word spoken to us
upon the earth. Sinners, miserable sinners, sinners
like you and me. And that's a wonder, isn't it,
when you consider that? That He, God, would speak to
us. How precious His Word is. Now,
this epistle is written to Hebrews, as we know. Jewish believers
who had heard the Gospel, and they'd believed in Jesus as the
promised Messiah. But as you read through this
epistle, you find that They were facing numerous trials. In chapter 10, it seems, trials
which are very great. And false teachers had come in,
too. False teaching abounded. And
as time went on, they began to draw back into that old way of
worship. And some, it says there, it implies
that even fallen away, turned away, to destruction, to perdition. And so anxious is the writer. And so urgent is the situation
that there's not even an introduction in this epistle, unlike all the
others. And that's purposeful, isn't it? That's purposeful to
show the urgency of this message. Why? Because these Hebrew people
were turning away from the only way of salvation. How important
it is to be conscious of what we're hearing.
Are we hearing the truth? Are we hearing the gospel? The
message matters, doesn't it? And this writer is concerned
for the souls of these people. And he begins this epistle. Begin there with me in verse
1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in
time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days
spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all
things, through whom also he made the worlds. who, being the
brightness of his glory and the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels,
as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."
Now, the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews, we can see without
question, is to extol and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. In these
verses, we see he wants to portray Christ before these Hebrew believers
as the full, final, and complete revelation of God himself, fulfilling
all prophecy, all promises, and all the types and shadows of
worship given by God to the people of Israel. He's so anxious to communicate
these truths that it's as if he wants to pack all of this
into those first three verses. I read four, but into those first
three verses. Look at this man. How could we
possibly mistake the authority and the surpassing excellence
of this person? What do we read? Here is Christ
Jesus, the final prophet. He's the son of the eternal,
invisible God who dwells in transcendent glory. He's the brightness of
His glory and the express image of His person. He's the heir
of all things. He's the creator of the worlds.
Not just this world, but all worlds. in the heavens and on earth,
everything seen, visible and invisible, everything physical
and everything immaterial, the creator of all things. And not
only that, all things sustained by the Word of His power. The word of the king has power,
doesn't it? We read that in the Old Testament.
And not only that, in these verses he's the great high priest who
by himself purged our sins and sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high. Now, we're not going to consider
all that tonight. We couldn't possibly, could we?
What I'd like to do for the most part is look at this statement.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time
past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken
to us by his son. That'll be enough. That'll be
more than enough. We read here, God spoke. He spoke
in time past. And He has spoken in these last
days. Now, the first thing to note
is it's all His Word. All of it. All of it. The Old
and the New Testaments. Divinely inspired and revealed
by the Holy Spirit. Or as Peter says, breathe down. God breathed. We read that God spoke in time
past to the fathers of these Hebrews. He made himself known
to them. He made his will known to them.
He made his will known to the people of Israel by the prophets. He didn't speak to any other
nation. No other nation in the entire world. He spoke to the
fathers of these Hebrews. He spoke only to the nation of
Israel. And the period spoken of here
in time past is the period, when did this occur? It's a period
beginning with Moses, where the people of Israel were constituted
a nation under law, given out Mount Sinai, and that was the
inception of the children of Israel as a nation state. That
was the beginning, through all the prophets, until Malachi. This is the period spoken of,
that the father spoke to their fathers, to their fathers in
time past. And this word was given in parts. God, who at various times and
in various ways, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. The word was given in parts.
The first five books of the Bible, these historical books, historical
stories, or narratives, we might say, that God gave to Moses,
who wrote those books. The Psalms, the Song of Solomon,
the books of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah,
Habakkuk, all of these prophets that God delivered His word to. And those prophets took that
word delivered to them by God and spoke it to the people of
Israel. Not their words, but His words. And it was given in many different
ways, wasn't it? The spoken word of God, allegory,
songs. We look at the Psalms, prophecy
spread throughout visions, types and figures. And this was given
through many different prophets over a period of over a thousand
years. Think of that. That alone is proof that this
is divinely inspired word of God, isn't it? Think of that. All of these different men, in
all of these different ways, in all of these different times,
in all of these different places, and yet all perfectly joined
together is one unifying message of the Gospel of God concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's marvelous, isn't it? But
two, This was indicating that it was an incomplete revelation,
wasn't it? That a prophet would deliver a message, but prophets
followed. Prophets followed. It was an
incomplete message. But the writer wants these Hebrews
to understand that the revelation spoken of by God to the fathers,
by the prophets, is the same message. the same message God
has spoken to them through His Son. This is what they couldn't
see, isn't it? They just could not see this.
God has one message, and this message is His Son. We read in 1 John that there
is a witness of men. Yeah, there is, isn't there?
There's a witness of men, and there's many messages of men.
There always has been, always will be, And there is today. Yes, there is a witness of men,
but what do we read? The witness of God is greater. And what's the witness of God?
Who does God testify of? He testifies of His Son. And He testifies of His Son throughout
this delivered Word, doesn't He? The writer, beginning in verse
5 of this chapter, through chapter 2, quotes 10 Old Testament scriptures
which speak of his son. To emphasize this point to these
Hebrew believers, to show them, no, this word delivered by God is a message about this man,
about this man, his son. that God has spoken to us by. Psalm 45 is a prophetic psalm
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for this reason, look in verse
8 and 9 of this chapter, it's quoted. And that psalm begins
in this way. This is how this psalm begins.
Just listen, you don't need to turn there. It begins, My heart
is overflowing with a good theme. I recite my composition concerning
the King. My tongue is the pen of a skillful
writer." Who is this whose words are like words which flow from
the pen of a skillful writer? Who is the composer of this masterpiece? Well, the writer is the Spirit
of God. He's the author of all the scriptures.
He's the skillful writer who composed this glorious composition
over a time period as I said, which spanned over a thousand
years. A masterpiece unlike any other,
incomparable in its nature. Why? Because this is the Word
of God, breathed out by the Holy Spirit into the hearts and into
the minds of these prophets, men who wrote the scriptures.
Well, who's this composition about? He says right there, his
composition is concerning the King. His composition is concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look there in verse 8 and 9.
Here he's quoting it. He says, but to the Son, he says,
your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has
anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions."
No wonder the heart of the psalmist was overflowing with a good theme.
This is the great work of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? It's to
reveal Christ, such that we look upon Him and we behold His glory. This is what Jesus told his disciples
when speaking about the promise of the Holy Spirit. He said,
He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare
it to you. Now, that tells us a lot, doesn't
it? Particularly today, when we see
there's churches all over, who glorify the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is all you
hear about. And they say that they worship the Spirit. But
is that the work of the Spirit? No. It makes you wonder what
Spirit is there, doesn't it? Because if it's the Spirit of
Christ that's there, then what's He going to do? He's going to
glorify the Son. He will glorify Me, for He will
take of what is Mine and declare it to you. This is the theme
of all the Scriptures. There isn't any greater theme. There's no greater subject. God,
who spoke to the fathers, now speaks to these Hebrews. God,
who spoke in times past, has now spoken in these last days. God, who spoke by the prophets,
has now spoken by His Son. It's one message with one subject. Now, we read there that it says
that God has spoken in these last days. The words of the Holy Spirit
could have been, God, who at various times and in various
ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has
now spoken to us by his Son. But he doesn't say that. He says,
God in these last days has spoken to us by his Son. And so when
we read, in these last days, what What time period is this
in reference to? What is it that the Holy Spirit
is emphasizing and seeking to bring our attention to when he
says, in these last days he's spoken to us by his son? What's
the significance of this? Well, the first thing to note
is that the words in the context tell us that the writer is writing
to these Jewish believers and that they're living. in these
last days." They're living in these last days. The second thing
is that the revelation of God through His Son has already been
given. Note, He has spoken by His Son. He's not speaking by his son. It's not he will speak by his
son. He has spoken by his son. And again, how relevant this
is today, isn't it? Where there's all sorts of religions
with prophets who are claiming to receive new revelation. New revelation. I just wonder,
what do they think they can add? to the revelation delivered by
the Son of God. He has spoken by His Son. Now, according to the Word of
God, spoken by God to the fathers, the people of Israel lived in
one age which would continue until the coming of the Messiah. And when the Messiah would appear,
he would appear in the last days of that age. In that day, the
Messiah would usher in a whole new age, a whole new kingdom,
a whole new world. And the first age would end,
and the new age would begin, and it would have no ending. That's what they looked for.
That's what they believed. And in some respects it was true,
wasn't it? In some respects it was true, but they always looked
for these things in solely a temporal sense. God had chosen them as
a people out of all the peoples of the world. And it was to this
people alone, as Paul writes, to them pertained the adoption,
the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service
of God, and the promises. It was to this nation alone that
God sent his word and his prophets, constituted them a nation and
a kingdom, and gave them all the ordinances for the worship
of God under this old covenant. But one of the greatest failures,
or the greatest failure, of the nation of Israel is that, as
a whole, they never believed the Word of God and the promises
of God in a spiritual sense. They never did. They never did.
They looked upon all of these things in a holy, temporal sense. They were looking for a messiah
to come to be a king like their father David. A king, a warrior
king, a mighty king who would defeat all their enemies and
usher in this golden age of glorious prosperity and dominion which
would never end. And it would be good if they
started right now with these Romans who ruled so harshly over
them. And so they were looking for
a king, a temporal king, who would deliver them and defeat
all their enemies round about and restore Israel to this glorious
kingdom as it had been in the old days. And not only that,
he would be a king like Solomon, a wise king who would rebuild
that temple to its former glory. They were looking at all of these
glorious gospel promises in solely a temporal sense. But how different were the fathers
of the faith? Look, just turn over to Hebrews
chapter 11. Let's look at a few verses which
we're so familiar with. Hebrews chapter 11. And look there in verse 8, where
We read of, by faith, Abraham. Now, Abraham was so highly esteemed
by the Hebrews, wasn't he? He was their father. This was
their great claim, that they were children of Abraham. Well,
look at what the Word says about this father. Was he looking for
these temporal things in these promises of God so powerfully
delivered to him? You know, have you thought about
it? Who preached the gospel to Abraham? God did. God did. Galatians tells us that,
doesn't it? God preached the gospel to Abraham. And Abraham believed. By faith,
Abraham obeyed. when he was called to go out
to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went
out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the
land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." Now,
that's speaking both of the spiritual and the temporal promise. And
here they were in this land. You remember, Abraham was promised
a land. A literal land, that land of
Canaan. This was a promise, and not only
that, that he would have a multitude of descendants. And he went out. And what do we read? Did Abraham
receive that land in his lifetime? No. How about in the lifetime
of Isaac? No. How about the lifetime of
Jacob? Well, no. What did they do? They dwelt in tents, not having
received the land. They did through their descendants,
yes, the promise was fulfilled, but not themselves. Were they
concerned? Were they worried? What did they
look for? Well, we read, for he waited
for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
That's what he waited for. See, Abraham always had the faith
of God's elect. He was always looking for that
promised Redeemer who would bless all
nations that would come through him. What a wonder. That's what
he was looking for. That's what he was waiting for.
He wasn't concerned at all about these temporal promises. But
the nation of Israel came to be concerned only with that.
Only with that. Look further down. Speaking about
the fathers, the fathers of these Israelites, the fathers of these
Hebrews, these all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off or short of them, embrace them
and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For
those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which
they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
has prepared a city for them." No, they never looked to all
of these temporal promises, did they? They looked for this better
country, this heavenly country, this spiritual country. Now the nation, the nation, the
state, the temple, the sacrifices, the service of God were all designed
and set apart, set up by God for one purpose. One purpose,
one major purpose. And what was that? What He'd
promised to Abraham. That from him would come the
promised deliverer. that from him would come the
Savior. It was all set up to bring forth
the Savior and to typify him. Think of this, the foundation
of the existence of the nation of Israel was built upon the
temple and temple worship. The temple was the central point
of the entire life of the nation. Isn't that so? It had everything
to do with the existence of the nation. All the law of the nation
flowed from where? From the one who dwelt in that
holy of holies, above the mercy seat, in that light, evidenced
by that light, the Shekinah glory. He was the lawgiver of this nation. Israel had no parliament, no
Congress passing laws. The temple was the foundation
of the nation of Israel. The holy place signified the
dwelling place of the Holy One of God in their midst. The temple typified the One in
whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The worship
and service of the temple typified His work as the Great High Priest.
And it was to typify him, too, as the sacrifice for the sins
of his people. But once Christ had accomplished
the great work of atonement, what use were all of these things? All of these things in their
entirety had no further purpose, and they were to cease. That
was God's purpose. The scriptures give a dramatic
demonstration of the exact place and time in which the purpose
of God with respect to the old covenant, the law, the sacrifices,
the nation, as constituted by God at Mount Sinai, gives a powerful
demonstration of when, the exact moment, when all this came to
an end. We read in Matthew 15, And Jesus
cried out with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Then,
behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now, we know that that signified
the entrance into the presence of God, accomplished by his great
work of redemption, don't we? But we know it signified, too,
the tearing and the end of that whole kingdom that God had established
to bring forth this Savior and this Redeemer. In Hebrews 9, we read last night,
But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come. with
a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is,
not of this creation, not with the blood of bulls and goats
and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the most holy
place, once for all having obtained eternal redemption. And from
that time forward, all the types and all the shadows were fulfilled
in him, perfectly, forever. and they cease to have any further
function. Now we know this spiritual reality
didn't become a visible reality until the destruction of the
temple in 70 AD. We have numerous Old Testament
prophecies which speak of this, how could it be described, a
cataclysmic event. And on several occasions, Jesus
himself made reference specifically to these things. Look, turn over
to Matthew 23, and let's just look at a few verses quickly,
texts that deal with this. Matthew 23. And here is Jesus in that well-known
passage where he approaches Jerusalem and he is broken. hearted as
he considers this people and this nation and this city. This
great city, the city of the Lord in which the temple was. And
what does he say there? And what is it? Verse 38. Oh,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather
your children together. as a hen gathers her chicks under
her wings, but you are not willing. See, your house is left to you
desolate, for I say to you, you shall see me no more till you
say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Then
Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples
came up to show him the buildings of the temple." As I said, the Temple was the
foundation of the nation. It was the central point of everything
having to do with the existence of the people of Israel as a
nation-state. And the Temple was revered so
greatly by the The people of Israel, and here they are, they're
at the temple, and the disciples, they want to show Jesus. These buildings, they're so marvelous,
they're so wonderful, and the spectacle of all that is going
on in the temple. Listen to what Jesus says to
them. what chapter 24 now in verse
2, and Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things?
Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here
upon another that shall not be thrown down. Utterly leveled,
utterly destroyed, not one stone left upon another. Turn back
a few pages to Matthew 21. Matthew 21, and in this, chapter, we read a parable, which
were again is a very familiar parable. It's the parable of
the wicked vine dressers. And in this parable, Jesus makes
specific reference to this day. But let's, let's look, let's
just remind ourselves of this parable that Jesus speaks. He
says here, verse 33, Matthew 21, in verse 33, and he says,
hear another parable. There was a certain landowner
who planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it, dug a wine
press in it, and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers
and went into a far country. Now when the vintage time drew
near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers that they might
receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his
servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Then again,
he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did
likewise to them. Then last of all, he sent his
son to them, saying, they will respect my son. But when the
vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is
the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. So
they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. And Jesus asks, therefore, he
asked these Pharisees, therefore, when the owner of the vineyard
comes, what will he do to those vinedressers? Now, they said
to him, he will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease
his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits
in their season. And Jesus said to them, have
you never read in the scriptures The stone which the builders
rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's
doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." Now, we know this
whole parable has to do with the nation of Israel, and God
establishing this nation, this vineyard, and He sends His workers,
doesn't He? He sends the prophets. And what
does the nation of Israel do? They kill them. They stone them.
They reject them. He sends other prophets. What
do they do? They kill them. They stone them.
They reject them. If you want an exposition, not
of a parable, but exactly of all of this, turn to the message
of Stephen just before he was stoned. This is what he's speaking
about. It's not a parable, but he goes
through and he speaks, And what was the response? Well, they
rose up in anger, in hatred, in animosity to the message that
he was preaching of Christ and stoned him. Well, this was the
nature of the state of Israel. And Christ asked them. He says,
then lastly, he sent his son. And they did the same, and they
killed him. And he says that, I think it's
one of the most quoted Old Testament scriptures in the New Testament,
the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief
cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and
it's marvelous in our eyes. Now look, verse 43, this is where
we're coming to. Therefore, I say to you, the
kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation
bearing the fruits of it." This was with respect to Israel. Christ was saying because, specifically
because of their rejection of the Son, the heir, their killing
of Christ, that the kingdom would be taken from them, and given
to another nation, bearing the fruits of it." Well, what is
this other nation? Well, turn over to 1 Peter. Peter
speaks about it at length. Hebrews 1 Peter, chapter 2. You know, these are all, well,
we know all these texts, don't we? But it's so good to, again,
look at them and consider, what is the Word spoken by God to
us teaching us? Christ was teaching those people of Israel. The writer
was writing to those Hebrew believers. But we know that this word, too,
is to us. Well, what's he teaching? Well,
what is the nation that the kingdom is delivered to? That's what's
important, isn't it? Look here, Peter writes about
this in verse four. Let's begin there. Here we find
this new nation. He says, coming to him as a living
stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are
being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained
in the scriptures. And here he quotes this text
again, doesn't he? Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will
by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe
he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone
which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone
and a stumbling, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And they
stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were
appointed. But now listen, but you are a
chosen generation. A royal priesthood. a holy nation,
his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Who once were not a people of
God, but now are the people of God. Who had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. Here's this chosen people. this holy nation, the people
of God, a spiritual house being built up into a holy priesthood,
offering spiritual sacrifices to God. This is the nation that
it's given to, a nation bearing the fruits of it by the work
of this stone, this foundation stone, this temple that's in
their midst. God has spoken to us by his son."
Turn back to Hebrews chapter 1. God has spoken to us by his
son. In the past age, in that Jewish
period of revelation, God spoke through many different prophets.
But the writer says, in these last days of the Jewish economy,
all revelation, for now and for eternity, is fulfilled and complete
in this one person, His Son. Let's consider that. Words reveal God to us. He's purposed that it be that
way. Have you thought about that?
Words reveal God to us. Jesus is the full and complete
revelation of God because He's the eternal Word. This is the
reason we have such great emphasis upon this truth, particularly
in the Gospel of John. How does he begin his Gospel?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Who can reveal the eternal, immortal,
invisible God who dwells in unapproachable light? Who can tell us about
Him? Only one who has seen God. Only
one who knows God. Only one who has been with Him
from eternity. Only one who knows the mind and
the will of God. In that first chapter of John,
we read, no one has seen God at any time. the only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father. He has declared Him in the bosom
of the Father from eternity. He's declared Him. Only one could
bring to earth the complete revelation of God, the Son of God who is
in the embrace of the Father from eternity. He will declare
Him. Think of this. The prophets knew only what was revealed to
them by the Holy Spirit individually. This was all they knew. And that's
all they could speak. And they did. Praise God. And they did. But they only knew
parts of the mysteries of the gospel. And that's the reason we read
that these prophets searched and inquired diligently. They
looked at the other prophets that had come before them. What
did God reveal to them? What specifically did He reveal
to them, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow.
They had what was delivered to them, but that's all they had.
That's all they had. But the Son, who was sent forth
from the Father, was given the Spirit like no other prophet. In the third chapter of John,
we read, For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit
by measure." No, there is no prophet like this prophet. There's
no prophet who's spoken like this prophet. There's no prophet
that's revealed God like this prophet. In Him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. John declares, we beheld His
glory, the glory of the only begotten Son of God, full of
grace and truth. He was full of the truth of God. All the mind, all the will, all
the purposes of God, all the counsels of God, known to the
Son. from all eternity. For in him
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He alone,
who came down from heaven, can testify of the Father. To him
alone the Father shows all things. In John 5 we read, then Jesus
answered and said to them, again being harassed by his enemies. And he answered and said to them,
most assuredly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself. But what he sees the father do,
but what he sees the father do, for whatever he does, the son
also does in like manner. Perfect unity, perfect harmony.
Perfect understanding, perfect knowledge of the Father. Whatever
He sees the Father does, He does exactly that. Just like it! Perfectly! For the Father loves the Son
and shows Him all things that He Himself does. He's the one
that can reveal God, isn't He? Turn over to John 17, and we'll
just finish up there. John 17. And as we read these words. So, you know, they are the great
prayer of Christ to his father as he's approaching this work
of atonement on Calvary. Let's just begin there in verse
six. And as we read these words, consider in your heart the rich
blessing and the abundant grace of God demonstrated towards us,
towards you and I, that God has spoken to us by
his Son. Verse six. This is what Christ
is praying to the Father. He says, I have manifested your
name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They
were yours. You gave them to me, and they
have kept your word. Now they have known that all
things which you have given me are from you, for I have given
them the words. I have given them the words which
you have given me, and they have received them and have known
surely that I came forth from you, and they have believed that
you sent me." In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus prayed
to the Father, This is eternal life, that they may know You,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. In this man, the Lord Jesus Christ
has revealed to us that we would know Him and that we would have
eternal life in His Son. what marvelous grace it is that
God has spoken to us by His Son. Amen.