I'm just going to read these
first two verses. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners in time past spake unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by son, whom
he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the words. Now I want to talk about two
revelations here. Two revelations. And that's what
we see. God has two revelations. In one,
verse one, he has one revelation. In chapter two, he has another.
And then when we read God's word and study God's word like we're
doing now, we have to take it line upon line, precept upon
precept, as the scriptures tells us to.
Line upon line, precept upon precept. Sometimes we even have
to take it by words, just words, and just deal with them one at
a time. And without fear of me repeating myself, the great design
of the book of Hebrews, as the apostle wrote it, is to set forth
our Lord Jesus Christ's superiority over everything in which the
Jew, the Hebrew, gloried in and trusted in. And Paul, that's
what he said, everything that I trusted in, everything I hoped
in, everything I believed in, I count it all but done that
I may win Christ and find Christ and be found in Christ, having
his righteousness. And that's what he's showing
them here, that whatever they glory in, whatever they trusted
in, Everything under the law, everything, every ceremony, every
ritual, every priest, everything they trusted in and gloried in.
Paul says, the Lord Jesus Christ is so far above it, that it's
not even comparable, not even comparable. And in the beginning,
he contrasts these two revelations, the Old Testament revelation
and the New Testament revelation. And look how it says here, he
says, God who at hundred times and in divers manners spake,
God spake, and he spake to the fathers by the prophets. Now
the fathers, the old patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the old patriarchs in the
Old Testament. And what this is, it says God
spoke, God done it. God spoke, God's not dumb, God's
not speechless. In fact, in Genesis 1-3, you
see where it says, and God said, Let there be light, and there
was light. Psalm 33 verse 8 says, This let
all the world stand in awe of him, let the whole world fear
before him, for he spake, and it was done, and he commanded,
and it stood fast. And so God is not done. God's
not speechless and He speaks. And God said, let me show you
something over in Psalm 115. This is the difference between
people's gods and the God of the Bible. Now there's people
that say God speaks to them and God gives them revelations and
God speaks to them in tongues and speaks to them in visions
and you know, God gives them all kinds of signs and that.
But we'll see that that's not so. But here's what He's saying
here down in verse 4. Our gods are not like this. Their
idols are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have
mouths, but they can't speak. The eyes they have, but they
can't see. They have ears, but they don't hear. Noses have they,
but they don't smell. They have hands, but they don't
handle anything. Feet have they, but they can't walk. They speak,
neither speak they through their throats. And they that make them
are like unto them, so is everyone that trusts in them. So you see,
there is gods in this world that can't speak, that can't do anything.
You know how many people have got idols sitting in their homes,
sitting in their gardens, and sitting on their porches? And
how many people that bow down before idols, bow down before
pictures, bow down before crosses, and there's not anything in the
world that they can ever get out of them. And here it says
that God spake. God's not like those idols. And
He's not like the philosophers say, that He's an impersonal
law of nature. What He done, He wound up the
clock and walked off and left it go. No, that's not the way
He is. God's not a spectator in His
own universe. He's active in this world. And
He's active on His throne. And He's not, you know, like
some people say, we all have just a little God in every one
of us. If there is a little God in every
one of us, I've never seen Him in anybody yet, have you? Not
even come close. And then God spoke to men then,
and He speaks to men now. And the cross, He speaks to men.
And because He does speak, we ought to be very, very thankful
that God does not leave us without a witness. God does not leave
us in our darkness and blindness and deafness like He left those
people there in Psalm 115. And the same God who revealed
Himself to the fathers that we just read about is the same God
who reveals Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what it
said here in verse 1. It says, who has sundry times. It's God that does the speaking.
It's God that gives the revelation. That's where it starts with.
It starts with God. And that's where the gospel always
starts. Everywhere the gospel starts in the scriptures, it
always starts with God. It was God who has from the beginning
chosen us. Beloved, know your election of
God. And everything in this Bible,
and especially our salvation, the gospel starts with God. And
the revelation starts with God. And He says, God who has sundry
times. That means not in once, but many
times, by many parts, in different portions. He came and he spoke
to the fathers by the prophets. He spoke at one time and then
he spoke to another. And God spoke to these fathers
through these prophets. He revealed himself through them.
His will was made known over a period
of 1,500 years. You see, this is the thing about God's revelation.
It's progressive. You know, God, when He started
out in creation, the first two people He spoke to was Adam and
Cain. Both of them, both of them came
under the curse. And the first two people He spoke
to, He spoke to Adam. Adam, where are you? What have
you done? And then he says, Cain, what have you done? Your brother's
blood's crying unto me. And both of those end up being
under the curse. And then you start going through
the scriptures and he spake to Enoch. Then he comes and spake
to Noah. Then he comes and spake to Abraham.
And you go through the scriptures. And you go on and on and on and
on. And as he spoke to Abraham, Abraham knows more about him
after Abraham walks with him for years. And then Moses and
the revelation progresses. And that's what he done over
1,500 years. He revealed himself, his will,
and his purpose, and his counsel, and his revelation progressed.
Now he done it not just once or twice, but lots of times,
and maybe a part here, a part there. That's why we have to
take line upon line, precept upon precept. To some he spoke
an awful lot to. No, God spoke to nobody like
he spoke to Moses, except his own son. Do you know how many
times the Lord spoke to Moses? How many times did He talk to
Moses? He said He kept Moses on the
mountain 40 days and 40 nights, twice! Telling him what to write
down. And the scriptures tell us the
first time that God done it with His own finger and He was speaking
to Moses out of a burning bush. So you see, they revealed Himself
in a miraculous way, supernatural way. Then he spoke to Abraham. You know how many times he came
to Abraham and spoke to Abraham? I think there are 17 times that
he told Abraham, I will. And Abraham just stared there
and kept his mouth shut because he knew if the Lord didn't do
it, it wouldn't get done anyway. He said, I will. And Abraham,
you know, he, when he first spoke to Abraham to come out of there
of the calvaries. And then when Abraham went up on that mountain,
he knew it. He thought more about God when he went up on that mountain,
when he told his son, God will provide himself a lamb than he
did when he told him to come out of there of the calvaries.
And that's the way we are. We get a little revelation and
it comes on and on and on. He spoke a lot to some people,
spoke very little to others. And what Paul is doing here,
he says, yes, yes, yes, yes. God gave the Jews a revelation. He gave them his word. It was
a revelation from God Himself, but He said it's incomplete,
it's not perfect, it's not complete yet. And even the prophecies
of the Old Testament tells us that the revelation wasn't complete. Genesis 3.15 says, you know,
He said, I'll put enmity between the seed of the woman and the
seed of the serpent. I'll put enmity between them.
And he shall curse the serpent's head, but the serpent will bruise
his heel. Now that's got to happen way
out in the future. So that tells us that it was
incomplete. And a virgin shall bear a son,
and thou shalt call his name Immanuel. That tells us that
the revelation wasn't complete. Isaiah 53. Everything that Isaiah
53 says about it. tells us that the Lamb hadn't
come yet. That the one that was to be made
a soul as offering for sin wasn't here yet. And there wasn't a
virgin yet that bore a son. So all these prophecies tells
them, Jews, that the revelation they had was incomplete. And oh, and you know, the son
of David, that's why they asked him one time. He said, if you're
from heaven, And how then say the prophets that the son of
David will sit on David's throne forever? Are you the son of David?
And he said, well, he told them this. He says, my Lord said unto
my Lord, set thou my right hand, for I will make thee enemies
of your footstool. And not thou the son of David?
He says, thou sayest. And I tell you what, and how
in the world is the son of David going to sit on the throne when
David's been in his tomb for centuries? So it was incomplete. And what about Psalm 22? Oh my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So you see, it was an incomplete
revelation. And then there would come the
messenger of the covenant. Who's the messenger of the covenant?
So God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake, and
then He spake in time past, and He spoke, and look what it says,
not only at sundry times and in portions and by parts, but
He said He'd done it in divers manners. He'd done it in different
ways. Done it in many, many different ways. He manifested His will,
His word to the prophets, but He didn't do it always the same.
Sometimes He'd speak to them directly. Then he'd speak to him through
an angel. Then sometimes he'd give him a vision. Lots of prophets
had visions. In Mount Sinai, he gave the law.
He gave dreams. Jacob, he gave dreams. Joseph
was an interpreter of dreams. Daniel was an interpreter of
dreams. He spoke out of a burning bush.
So you know, God speaks in different ways. Lots of different ways. Jacob was laying on a rock. Had
a rock for his pillow and he was laying there and there's
this ladder came to him in the middle of the night and he saw
this ladder going up and down and angels going up and down
on that ladder. And our Lord Jesus said later, He said, you
think that you saw the angels descending up and going down
with Jacob? He said, they're going to let you see what they
do for me. And I tell you, so he's thinking
different, different ways. And his revelation, when God
spake in time fast unto the fathers by the prophets, the letter's
revelation sometimes was typical. That means, you know, it was
a type, like the Day of Atonement, when they took those two goats.
That was typical. One died, one got to go free.
The Passover, that was just typical. That Passover lamb, that was
telling us that since Christ is our Passover, tells us that
it was a type. Sometimes he'd speak by emblems.
He'd say, go down to the potter's house. He said, go down to the potter's
house. Watch what that potter does. He said, that's the way
I am. He talked about Ezekiel. And
in Ezekiel, he talked about a great river that you'd walk out into.
And you'd start out just walking in, put your toe in, and then
get in just about ankle deep and go on and on and on. Sometimes
you'd have a prophet do something and then to show what he's gonna
do You know, he and you go through the scriptures and I don't know
how many prophets done things but I tell you there's one that
God told Isaiah to go naked and barefoot for three years. I Want you to take every stitch
close you off and walk around this country barefoot for three
years naked Isaiah never questioned him. He just took off his clothes
and went around walking. Then after he said, what in the
world is this all about? He said, that's the way people
are before me. That's the way Israel is before
me. That's the way I see everybody. They ain't got nothing on. I just see them in their bare
nakedness and they can't hide nothing from me. And that's the
way they walk before me. And if they ever have clothes
on, I'll have to be the one to clothe them. He spake to them
in parables, spake to them in plain language. He used poetic
language through the Psalms, through the Song of Solomon.
He used figurative language. He'd
often talk about how he himself had eyes and ears and hands and
things and a heart. And God don't have any of those
things. And when he reveals himself,
shows us that God is sovereign in how he does things, what he
does. He don't confine himself to one method of what he does. Old Balaam, he's gonna go for
his third time to get him some money, you know. He kept saying,
you go over there and curse Israel, go curse Israel. They paid him
a big price, away he went. God wouldn't let him curse. Went
back and said, we'll pay you some more, away he went. Third
time he said, now, oh, listen. He went through there and while
he was in the way, an angel was standing there with a sword right
in front of that Balaam's ass. Balaam's ass says, don't you
see that angel there with that sword? I ain't going nowhere. God, that's what I mean, God
does not confine himself to one method. Then he said, he spoke
through that to that prophet to that prophet he said he was
mad crazy and you know how he saved him by speaking to him
through him and Nathan and David oh my David's the king how would
you like to have to go for the king a king like David that I
mean he had he was he'd killed so many people slew so many people
so much blood was on his sword And he had to go tell David,
said, David, God knows that you took a woman, another man's wife,
you killed her husband, you lost a child, and everything you've
done is sinful in this. You committed adultery, you stole
a wife, you killed a baby, and you murdered a man. And how would
you like to be the prophet had to walk up and tell the King
that? But you know how God dealt with it? He said, there's a man,
had a lamb, He loved that lamb. That lamb
stayed in his house. He loved that lamb. And a man
who had everything, had a bill full of shit. He had somebody
come stay with him one night and he said because he had the
money and the power and the strength, he went and took that lamb out
of that little man's arms, that poor man's arms, and took it
and slaughtered it and fed it to his company. David said, oh
my, tell me where he at, tell me who he is, and I'll, myself,
I'll go and I'll destroy him. Nathan looked him right in the
eye and pointed his finger in his face and said, that's you,
David. God gave you anything you wanted in all of Israel,
but you took somebody else's property, somebody else's love,
somebody else that loved her, and you done it, David. You did
it. So God spoke and He gave revelations. And He spoke in different languages.
And this shows that He is sovereign in how He speaks. And He spake
to the fathers. He said here in times past He
spake unto the fathers by the prophets. He spoke to the fathers
through the prophets. He gave them promises. He gave
them predictions. He spoke through them in tithes.
He spoke through them in symbols. He spoke through them in commandments
and precepts and warnings and exhortations. But I tell you
one thing, every one of those prophets had one subject. You
know why we know he had one subject? To him, Acts 1034, to him all
the prophets gave witness. Our Lord Jesus Christ says you
have Moses and if you believe Moses you believe me. You know
why? Because Moses wrote about me. Moses wrote about me. And our Lord Jesus Christ He
says, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad. They
said, well, you're not even 50 years old. And you say that you've
seen Abraham. He said, before Abraham was,
I am. And Abraham saw my day centuries out and saw my day
and rejoiced in it. So all the prophets and all the
scriptures speak of him, talked about him. And then look at,
so God, it's God who had this originated. God spoke to the
fathers in so many different times and did it in different
portions and many different manners. But He spake. And then look what
He says in God's final word. This is God's final word, God's
final revelation. It says, Hath in these last days
spoken unto us by son. The same God who spoke to the
fathers has spoken to us, has spoken unto us. As God is one, the revelations
have to be in harmony. They can't be against one another.
The law can't be against the promise. That's what Paul said. He says,
you know, if the law could have given righteousness, then Christ
wouldn't have died. But he says, you know, we were
kept under the law as a schoolmaster to bring us to faith in Christ.
And after we've seen Christ, we don't need a schoolmaster
any longer. And I tell you what, the Old Testament revelation
is against the new and the new is not against the old. I think
this is the way it's supposed to be said. The new was in the
old concealed. And the old is in the new revealed. I think that's right. The New
Testament was always in the Old Testament concealed. And the
Old Testament in the new is revealed. And I tell you, so God hath,
and then to what he says, God hath in these last days spoken
unto us in his Son. I tell you the difference here.
The gospel revelation is complete. That revelation wasn't complete.
This revelation is complete. It's perfect. It's done. Theirs
was done in different ways. The gospel is just one way. God
done it in sundry times, get it in portions. I tell you, God
revealed all that He's gonna say to all men and all of will
and all time and eternity, one time, and that's in His blessed
Son. No man has seen the Father, save the only begotten Son, who's
in the bosom of the Father, and He hath declared Him, hath told
Him out. And there's such a great contrast
between the prophets and the Son. Oh, what a contrast. That's what he's talking about.
God spoke to the prophets, but now He's spoken by His Son. What a contrast. They said we
have Moses and the prophets. That means there was lots and
lots of them, but there's only one of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They lived in many different periods and done many different
things, but our Lord Jesus Christ was eternal and came into time. And they gave out God's revelations
in all different ways, similitudes, visions, symbols,
types, and pictures. And every prophet had his own
particular gift and character. You go through the Old Testament,
Moses had his character. And if God didn't say that he
was the meekest man on the earth, you read about Moses, and you'd
never say Moses was a meek man if God had said it, would you?
You would have never thought Lot was a just man if God hadn't
sent him. But all those prophets, they all had different... Daniel,
look at how Daniel was. And Isaiah, they called Isaiah
the Gospel of Isaiah. Elijah, he's the thundering prophet. He's the one that caused the
fire down from heaven. They called Jeremiah the weeping
prophet because he had such dire predictions all the time. They
had their particular gift and character. And one thing about
every single one of them, that every one of them was sinful
men. Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm a nun. Daniel said, my comeliness
has turned into corruption. And our Lord Jesus Christ, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, higher than the heavens. He's the one who knew
no sin. And they didn't possess the Spirit
continually. And the Scripture said, our Lord
says, the Father gives me the Spirit without restraint. He gives me the Spirit fully,
completely. I have the Spirit of God in me,
powerfully, completely. I'm full of the Spirit all the
time. But the prophets wasn't like
that. Spirit come upon them maybe once or twice in their whole
life. And that Word came to them, but
they didn't possess the Word. And Christ Himself was the Word
and is the Word. And I'll tell you another thing
about the prophets and our Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't understand
the height and the depth of their own message. Peter says that
these prophets, they searched diligently by what time and what
manner the Spirit was in them when the Christ in His glory
should appear. They didn't know what they were
talking about. Oftentimes, I know we're talking about somebody,
but when will they come? When will this happen? What will
be when this thing comes to pass? The Spirit of God in me tells
me something's going to happen, but when and where and what will
it be like? That's what they searched diligently
to know. And they themselves didn't even
comprehend the whole of God's revelation in the Old Testament.
That's why our Lord Jesus Christ, it says, He opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures, the things concerning
Himself, and Moses, and the Law, and the Prophets, and the Psalms.
So He says, all that Old Testament was about Me. But now it's complete. The revelation's finished. The
revelation's final. And everybody after our Lord
Jesus Christ came and all that before him, outlays like John
the Baptist, they had to testify, I'm not that light. I'm not the
light. I'm only sent to bear witness
of that light. I'm only sent to tell about the
light. I'm only sent to tell about that one that's to come.
Look with me over in John chapter 4, with me for just a minute.
John chapter 4. Look in verse 25. They all had to testify, oh listen,
I'm not the light. I'm only sent to bear witness
of that light. I don't have no light except
what I'm sent to bear witness of. This is the woman that our
Lord went to the well and talked to the woman at the well. The
woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is
called Christ. Now listen to this. When He has
come, not when the prophets come, not what the fathers say. When
He has come, look what she said here, He will tell us all things. Not just parts and bits and pieces.
He'll tell us all things. Look what our Lord said to her.
Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee am. That he's added
there. What he's saying is, I am. I'm
the great I am. That's who I'm talking about.
And so you see, he said they're going to tell us everything when
he gets here. And if the revelation come by them, how greater is
the sum. And the revelation of God in him and by him. And as
He has the Son of God, as He spoke to us by the Son, the Son
has the same nature as the Father. It's just, I have my Father's
nature. Oh, you all have your Father's nature. Well, the Lord
Jesus Christ got His Father's nature. Holy, righteous, gloriously
holy, immaculate, eternal. Everything that the fullness
of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily. It says there in verse 3, He
was the brightness of His glory and expressed image of His person.
And he says, hath in these last days. Oh, it's God's final, final
spokesman. Hath in these last days. All
the prophets in times past. Ain't that what it says? God
spake in time past under the prophets. Now we're dealing with
the last days. These are the last days. You
know when the last days started? When our Lord Jesus Christ came
to the earth. That's when the last days started.
That's the last days. This is the days of salvation.
This is the days of God's judgment. This is the days in which the
only gospel and the only way God will ever save a man is through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And ah, these are the last days.
And they keep talking about, you know, the clock's getting
here and getting here and getting here. They was expecting, there
were people expecting the Lord Jesus to come back in two or
three years. And he may come back just any time, and he may
not come back for a hundred years. In fact, our Lord told him, he
says, you know, he said, the Son of Man cometh not with observation.
Just look, look, look, look. He's not going to come that way.
He said, like lightning strikes out of the sky. He said, that's
the way I'll be. I'll just appear like that. And
he says, when will it be, Lord? He says, no man knows the hour
of the day, only my Father. But I do know that these last
days, this revelation is final. There's nothing else for God
to say. The prophets predicted this. It says, when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman. And
He said all the way through the Old Testament, He'd come through
a woman and be the seed of the woman. And when the time was
come, there He come through the seed of a woman. And I tell you, God don't have
nothing in reserve. He don't have no further revelations.
If you ever find anybody that says, God said to me and showed
me this revelation, that revelation, mark them down as a false prophet.
Say they're lying on God. And they're a liar from the start.
They're father of the devil. God has no further revelation.
The Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is the final spokesman for the
Godhead. And this written Word right now,
His written word is complete. There's nothing else going to
be added to this. It's never going to change. Heaven
and earth will pass away, but not more than what jot or tittle
will come out of this word. And you know our Lord, when He
came, history became divided because of Him. Do you know that? Everything before Him looked
forward to Him. Everything looked forward to
Him. Now all history looks back to Him. And that's why they call
it B.C. Before Christ. And A.D. After Christ. After Dio. After Domina. After God come. And now we say in the year of
our Lord. Now, 2000 April to April the
22nd, 2015. If you go get your deed made
or will made in the year of our Lord. That's what they'll put out.
And he's the sinner of all. The history's marked by him.
And then it says there in these last days, he's spoken unto us, the Jews of that age, and for
all and every age to whom the gospel is preached. Our Lord
Jesus himself said, Philip said unto him, show us the Father,
that will be sufficient, we will not bother you again. He said,
Father? I mean, Philip, have you been
such a long time with me and you've not seen the Father? He
said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And he looked
him square in the eye. He said, except you believe I
am, you shall die in your sins. I say you shall die in your sins. If you don't believe Christ,
trust Christ, and believe that He is God's final spokesman,
that God is God's salvation, everything God has for a man
is in Christ. If you don't believe that, you'll
die in your sin. Bad enough to die. We're all
going to die. But to die in your sin, Well, let me hurry up here. Then
look what else it says here. The blessings of this revelation. What a blessing that God reveals
Himself. He spake. He spake unto the fathers
and He did it by the prophets back in times past. But now in
these last days He's spoken. He spake and He's spoken. God
is speaking. A silent God is an unknown God. God is speaking and He's expressing
Himself, revealing Himself. And ain't you grateful He does?
I'm grateful He reveals Himself. And He does it in His Son. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for allowing us this time this
evening. I know that if anyone gets anything from what's been
said or done, it'll be by the Spirit of God. And I ask that
the Spirit of God would be pleased to take what's been said and
use it, use it to your glory and our good. We ask these things
in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. There is a name I love