Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Hebrews, chapter one, Hebrews one. And I would like to read the
first three verses, Hebrews one, and I pray this morning as Brother
Scott was praying, I was thinking, He said, enable the speaker,
grant him God's power, grace to speak that which God has said. I pray the Lord truly, too, as
we read these words, we're reading the word of God. And I, even
as I was preparing and I began to think how easily, because of the frailty
of our flesh in the presence of sin, how easily we read. And these words just pass over
our minds. We just don't grasp them as we
ought. Let's read this morning and pray
God bless the words to our heart. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by 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 on
the right hand of the Majesty on high." I began to look and
to seek after God's message. in these passages right here,
and I had planned at first to speak this morning on the three
verses, and I have decided that I'm going to try to break up
these three verses right here into this morning and this evening.
And so this morning, I want to speak on that portion of this
scripture that says this, beginning in verse 1. God. God. We're not here to prove that
God is. The Scripture declares Him. Genesis 1.1 says, in the beginning,
God. Now, the Scripture also declares
that the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. A man is a believer by nature. A man is not, I'm
sorry, a man is not a believer by nature. In Adam he is an unbeliever
and he is an unbeliever first in his heart. The Scripture declares that the
heart of man is desperately wicked, and it is deceitful above all
things. Who can know it? The Scripture
declares that the fool has said, he says this, he says it, but
he says it in his heart, not outwardly necessarily, Outwardly,
a man may profess words, he may say words that have some type
of consistency. But the fool has said in his
heart, no God. The fool doesn't deny a deity. I've spoken with a lot of folks,
a lot of people, and you know it's hard to find anybody that
will say, I don't believe that there is a God. I believe that
there's a God. That's what they'll say. And
they speak of God in this abstract way. They've got a God that they
have imagined. But the fool, he doesn't outwardly
necessarily deny with his mouth that there is a deity. But he denies the God of this
Bible. He denies the sovereign, ruling,
electing, predestinating God of all creation, God who rules
in creation, in providence, in salvation. The fool has said
in his heart, no, no, no God, only a believer, a regenerated
soul, believes that God is. Only a believer, only a man who
has been given a new heart, only a man who has been given
a new mind to know Him, a new creature, born again. You must be born again. A man
can't birth himself the first time, he can't birth himself
the second time. You must be born again, born
from above, a new creature. John 17, verse 3, our Lord Jesus
Christ praying, and this is what He said, and this is life eternal,
that they, that is, those that God has given Him in eternal
election, choosing grace, and this is life eternal. That they
may know Thee. That they may know Thee. Know
You. Oh, I'm telling you, even as
I say this, I hear these words right here and I think, this
is life eternal. That they may know Thee. I want
to know Him. I want to know Him. I know this. I'm convinced of this. I've said this before and you
know this, this life is but a vapor, just frail, just a moment, passing
moments. There's coming a time when I
will take my last breath. I know that. Closer to that time,
you are too. This is not a funny statement.
This is as close as we've ever been right now to leaving this
world. In that day, what is it going
to matter? What's going to matter? What's
going to matter as far as what you've acquired in this life?
I'm talking about materialistically. What you have, lands, doesn't
matter. In that day, what does it matter? What matters? I'm going to tell
you what. What think ye of Christ? What do you think of Him? I pray
God Almighty speak to me this morning. I want to hear from
Him, and I don't want to hear with just an ear. I don't want
to hear right here. I don't want the Word to be Word
only. May God Almighty bring this Word
to me in power. May God do something, teach me
something this morning, that they may know thee, that they
may recognize and understand what it means. The knowledge
of Almighty God, I'm talking about knowing Him. It's not speculative. It's a practical knowledge. It's not just an intellectual.
It's spiritual. It's more than my little fickle
mind can attain or can comprehend. I understand that. But I do know
this, God's people know Him. I know we know in part. We see
through a glass darkly. But I know we see. My sheep,
He said, hear my voice. They hear it. What is it to hear? What is it to know Him? What
is it to know God? It is to know Him as the true
God. Now, I'm telling you, that's
something more than man by nature can do. He can't do that of Himself. To know the Father, who is the
covenant God. To know Him, to believe Him,
to believe that. To believe that. That Almighty
God, from the foundation of the world, in an everlasting covenant,
chose a people. He chose them. He chose them
in His Son. And to know the Son, the Eternal
Son, who is the redeeming God, who came into this world, the
Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us, walked this earth,
to know the Spirit of God Almighty, who is the quickening God and
the revealing God, that they may know Thee. It's to know Him
as being opposed to the God of our imagination. I know that
there's a time in my life I can remember just as sure as I'm
standing here. I've been in religion all my
life, and I'm sure most of you have too. There was a time when
there was a God that I had in my mind. This is who God is. I thought of him as a deity. I thought of him, he's higher
than I am, but he's a God that I could kind of deal with. It was a God that I had given
my heart to and this God that I had bargained with. God that
wanted to do something for me, and so I allowed Him to, you
know, save me. I gave Him my heart as far as
I knew what giving Him my heart was. I made a few statements. The preacher prayed a prayer,
and I copied what he prayed, you know. You know, he said,
you repeat after me, so I did. And then I got into the water,
and I, you know, was baptized. And I therefore, you know, I
had made my peace with God. I don't know what everybody else
decided to do, but I was okay. And it didn't matter whatever
else I did. Once I was saved, I was always
saved. I just, you know, blasphemous
fool, the fool has said in his heart. That's what I said. As
far as the God of this Bible, God, just the Scripture sets
forth, God Almighty, Sovereign. Just the very words that I speak,
I say His name, God, and I realize as I say it, I can't even, what can I say? How do I set
Him forth? I can't. I can't. Only the Spirit
of God can take the Word and bear witness to the heart. of
His people. When they hear it, it takes Him,
God. Almighty God. Creation reveals
enough of Almighty God to leave a man without excuse. Creation
does. But it takes more than my eye
looking at creation for there to be a new heart right here.
It's to know Him as a just God, a just God and a Savior. Now, this point right here, here's
where man will say, no, no. You ask a man, do you believe
God is just? Oh, yes, I do. Yes, I do. Well,
if you ask a man if he believes that God is just, how is it? then that man by nature can think
that by just saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that that's going
to make it okay. Just saying, I'm sorry, if I
come up and I take, I've said this to some before, if I take
a dagger and I stick it right in your heart and I just pull
it out and I say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, did that make it all
okay? Did that change anything? Oh,
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stick it that
deep. I'm just going to stick you a little bit. I am a just
God. Just. And the soul that sinneth
is going to die. I will in no wise clear the guilty. Almighty God is just. He said,
I'm a just God and I'm a Savior. Man by nature says, I don't believe
you are just. I believe if I say, if I quote
a prayer, if I say a few words, if I say, I give you my heart,
man by nature thinks that Almighty God in mercy, that's what He
says, in mercy, Almighty God is a merciful God and He's a
just God and He must punish sin. Man thinks that God is going
to show mercy at the expense of his justice. And he will not. Man by nature does not believe
that God is just. Almighty God must punish sin. For the believer, he sees and
knows, he knows God. this way, that God, God Almighty,
has taken and charged His guilt, man's guilt, my guilt. For me to know Him, I believe
that God has taken my guilt, my sin, and put it on His Son. He put it and made Him to be
sin. He made Him to be sin. And made Him be sin for me. He
who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of
God in him." Man, by nature, does not believe that. This knowledge of God is to know
that Christ has reconciled His people to God by His blood, and
they rest in Him alone. They know that in themselves
they have and are nothing. That right there is a miracle
of God's grace that God convinced a man of that. That is a miracle. Man by nature wants to believe,
I am doing something. I don't know what I'm doing completely,
but I'm doing something. I'm doing something. Somehow,
some way in there, there's something that I deserve some credit for. No, you don't either. God Almighty
saves His people by grace, by grace, by grace are you saved. Through faith, and that not of
yourself, it's the gift of God. Psalm 910 says, They that know
thy name will put their trust in thee. They that know thy name. I looked up. I just, I read that,
they that know thy name. Boy, I tell you, man, he says,
you know, they that know thy name. I know his name, man says.
I, you know, his name's God. Jehovah. They'll use just words
like this. But man by nature, that's just
like taking that verse that says, if you ask anything in my name,
I'll do it. And man by nature thinks that
Almighty God, that Christ is some kind of like a cosmic, and
I say this reverently, but I'm telling you, this is what man
thinks. He thinks that God is like a cosmic bellhop to him,
that he can just say anything that he wants to say, and that
God is just obligated to him. Not so. God's name. What did God tell Moses when
the Lord told Moses? He said, you go tell. You go
tell Pharaoh that I said, let my people go. And Moses said, well, who shall
I say? And the Lord says, you go and you tell the children
of Israel that I said, that I am. I am. In Exodus 6.3, The Scripture
says, I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by
the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah, I was
not known to them, He said, the Lord, the self-existent. What is His name? I believe that
He is. He is. I mean, even at this moment,
Do we truly believe that He is more than an abstract part of
our imagination? Do you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He said, where two or three are gathered in
My name, I am in the midst of you. I am in the midst of you.
And I think even at this moment, He is in the presence of His
people that are gathered in His name. He is here. He is here.
And I think even now, Lord, as I know you are here, please bless
these words to my heart, to my mind, to these people, your people. He is. He is. Exodus 34, verse
14, he says, For thou shalt worship no other god for the Lord, whose
name is Jealous. He said, is a jealous God. He is jealous for His honor. He's jealous for His glory. He's
jealous. He's a jealous God. How do I
know He's a jealous God? He said, that's my name. I'm
a jealous God. To stand in this pulpit and just
realizing the frailty of my flesh, I think to myself, Lord, please
don't let me dishonor You. Jehovah, Husseinu, Psalm 95,
6, is the Lord, our Maker. God Almighty, who made us physically,
has also made us a new creation. We were made physically, and
He birthed us also. Electing grace chose us. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide to know Him. In Genesis 22, verse 14, just
as the Lord provided a ram as a substitute, you remember when
Abraham laid his son on that altar. What had that boy asked
Him just a little bit before? Here's some wood. Here's some
fire. Where is the Lamb? And he said, My son, the Lord
will provide Himself a Lamb. The Lord Himself is the Lamb. He is God's Lamb, the Lamb of
Almighty God. And just as the Lord provided
a ram for a substitute on Mount Moriah, so He has provided Himself. a sacrifice. That's the way God's
people know Him. They know Him. Not as one who
was hanging on a cross and was trying to make salvation possible. Trying to make salvation possible
to whoever would call on Him. He as the Redeemer. He said,
I came to seek and to save. I came to save that which was
lost. Jehovah Rapha, that means the
Lord that healeth thee. Out of Exodus 15, we are by nature
as putrefying souls, as born in Adam, but Christ has healed
us spiritually. By His stripes we are healed.
By the shedding of His blood, God's people are healed in Him. Nephi, the Lord, my banner in
Exodus 17, 15. This is when the children of
Israel were fighting against the Amalekites. And Aaron and
Hur held up Moses' hands until Joshua prevailed against the
enemy. He held up his hands like that.
He held them up. And even so, Moses You know,
he said, this is the Lord my banner. So as the hands of Moses
lifted up, it was described as the banner. Christ is our banner. He is our priest. He is our altar. He is our sacrifice. And it is
by Him by whom we are more than conquerors through Him. And he
said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men, Jew and Gentile,
unto Me." Jehovah Shalom, the Lord, our peace. Christ is our peace. He is our
peace. Having made peace for us, that
is the elect through the blood of His cross. Man by nature is
enmity against God. But Christ has reconciled us,
made peace. We're at peace with God. I think
about what would it take to make peace with God? What would it
take to be at peace with God? God is going to have to be satisfied,
just God. Christ satisfied Him, satisfied
the demands of the law, satisfied God's justice, satisfied Him. And now, In Christ there is therefore
now, right now, no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
Those that are in Christ Jesus, I'm telling you, they shall know
Him, and they do know Him, those that believe. Jehovah, Reah,
the Lord is my shepherd, my guide. The Lord is the great shepherd
of the sheep. They're His property. He's everlastingly
loved them. Gave His life for them. Calls
them out. Calls them by name. And they
follow Him. He knows them. He loves them. And He's not going to leave them.
He said, I'll never leave you. I will never forsake you. Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, Christ is made unto us righteousness. He is our righteousness. And
we are the righteousness of God in Him. Jehovah Shema. The Lord is there. He is the omnipresent God. What I was talking about just
a moment ago, David said, Where shall I flee from thy presence?
If I send up to heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in
hell, behold, thou art there." Find a believer. The Lord's there. Find a true gospel church. What
we was talking about a moment ago, you find a place where Christ
has been pleased to allow His Word, to allow Christ, to allow
Him I'm telling you, it is an honor, an honor. When I was down
in Mexico the other day, I related that to those people down there. We would go, and I know some
of you have been down there. It's talking about another world. We'd come into this beautiful
city of Merida. Emeritus is a is a very modern
city. But we would go out into these
little places, these little villages, they called them little Pueblos.
And as we would drive out there, just the drive out there was
an adventure. And then you'd come into this
little place. I mean, come into a little town
that was honestly, honestly, if you watch television, and
see some of these places where there's war going on. It looks
like a bombed out place. They had a hurricane last June. It was very devastating, Cody
was telling me. And a lot of these places, I
mean, they're still just, I mean, but in the midst of this little
Pueblo, drive around, drive around, come around, and you can come
on this little street and in the backside of nowhere, You
come into this little building that's probably a quarter of
the size of this room right here. And here's a little place that's
got a few little lights hanging there and that's about it. That's
about all there is to it. And then you've got a group of
people and I listened to what Cody and Walter would tell me.
He said there's some of these folks right here. He said, some
most blessed fellowship that you'd ever have sitting there
talking to some of these people. And I related to him. I said,
do you have any idea how wonderful, how gracious, how marvelous it
is? Words that cannot describe that
Almighty God. And I read these words. I read
these words and it says out of every nation, kindred and tribe
and tongue, You see, he's got a people. And here's a little
group of people, just people that I can't even talk to because
I don't speak their language. And I would say something and
they'd just look at me. And then Cody would translate
it. And when he'd translate what I'd say, their eyes just light
up. And I told him, I said, do you
have any idea how wonderful it is? that Almighty God, I'm talking
about the God of all creation, who spoke this world into existence,
who holds all things together by the Word of His power, that
He would be pleased to reach down in His infinite mercy and
grace and call out out of a little place called Thachibitchan. What
does that mean to you? Seye. What does that mean to
you? What would that mean to me? But
Almighty God, from all of eternity, that saw and chose in His blessed
Son a people out of this little place, out of the jungles. I
looked at one of the houses that one of these people lived in,
and it was absolutely nothing. Nothing. I saw an example of
it. And here was a little hut, and
it was an oval. It was about the shape Just imagine
that. It was about as long as here
to there. Right here and about half that wide. That was it.
That was the whole house in there. A little place to cook in. A
little old box or something to put some clothes in. Facilities were outside. Water
was in a stream. That was it. You know who lived
in that house? In one of the houses? The pastor.
That's where the pastor lived. And I thought to myself, oh,
the infinite mercy of Almighty God, the God of glory that would
give Himself for one such as Him and me. What's His name? The Lord. My righteousness. The Lord is there. The Lord. I am not present. You find a
place where there is a church raised up. The Lord is there.
What is His name? Jehovah Jesus. The Lord will save. The Lord
Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate, has a people, always been His
people. The Father gave them to Him.
in that eternal covenant. And all that the Father has given
Him shall come to Him, and He will in no wise cast them out."
This is the God of whom we speak. This is God in whom the world
was made, created heaven and earth. This is God who we must
know for life eternal. And He is only known in the person
of His blessed Son. He is known only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is revealed and declared by
Christ Himself. This is God that Paul the Apostle
declared to the men at Mars Hill when he saw the inscription,
and it says, to the unknown God. This is God. who works all things
after the counsel of his own will, God, who doeth according
to his will in heaven and on earth." God! God! Oh, that Almighty God might
be pleased this morning to teach us something of Himself for His
honor and for our good. Amen.