Let's open our Bibles again to
Hebrews chapter one. This morning, we'll begin verse
by verse study through this great book of Hebrews. I'm sure you're
well aware the theme of this book is Christ is better. Christ is better than the angels.
He's better than Moses and Joshua. He's better than Aaron. He's
better than the Sabbath. He's a better rest. He's a better
covenant, better covenant than the covenant of the law. Christ
is better than the tabernacle and the sacrifices and the ceremonies.
Christ is better. He is better than anything in
every way that we can possibly imagine. Now, we don't know who
wrote the book of Hebrews. Many people think it was the
apostle Paul, and they think that Paul did not put his name
on it because you remember his past and In his past life, he
persecuted the Jews. And this letter was written to
the Jews, and he didn't want them not to read it because they
knew he wrote it. They're prejudiced against him.
But I don't know if that's so or not. We don't know who wrote
it. But we do know who wrote it, don't we? This is written
inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author
of this, and that's better. This book, this book of Hebrew,
well, the whole Bible, but we're talking about the book of Hebrews,
is a message from God. A message to us. And the title
I have this morning is a sobering title. God has spoken. Have we listened? I took the
title from verse 2 where the writer says, God hath in these
last days spoken unto us by His Son. I'm thankful He's spoken. And what I want to know is, are
we listening? I still remember this crystal clear. Years ago,
Henry was preaching, and I don't remember the title, but this
was like a cattle project, and I remember this. He looked up
at me, Janet, and he said, Frank, you've been here a long time,
you and Janet. Have you learned anything? And I thought, oh,
I hope so. I hope so. Because I know this,
God has spoken. Have I been listening? Have I
learned anything? But what is it that God has told
us by His Son? Number one, God has told us this.
God has told us that the whole Bible is written about His Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's every verse of Scripture.
If you read any verse of Scripture and you do not see Christ as
its primary meaning, you've missed the primary meaning of the verse.
I'm telling you, go back and read it again and again and again
and pray. and read it and pray until God
shows you Christ in the verse. If we preach any text and Christ
is not the whole subject of the text, we have not preached God's
message from the text because every verse of scripture is about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us that in verse one,
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in
times past unto the fathers by the prophets. Now, I love how
this book of Hebrews begins. It begins like the Bible begins.
God is. God, who at sundry times, and
just like in the beginning God, that's how the Bible begins.
That's how this book of Hebrews begins. There's utterly no attempt
to prove that God is. God just is. And here's what
he's done. In times past, God spoke to men
in many different ways and diverse. When I was a little boy, I thought
that meant deep ways, Sea diver, you know, it's diverse. It means
different, different ways. God spoke to men in many different
ways. God spoke to them audibly. Abraham
heard God speak. Abraham, get out of your father's
house, go to land. That's God speaking to him. God
spoke to Joseph in a dream, didn't he? He spoke to men by angels.
And when God spoke, you know what he always spoke of? He always
spoke of Christ. He always spoke of mercy in Christ,
forgiveness in Christ. Deliverance in Christ. God spoke
of Christ in prophecy. He prophesied the seed of woman. He prophesied of the line of
the tribe of Judah. That's Christ. Isaiah gave us
a clear prophecy. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And
his name shall be called wonder. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting father, the prince of peace. He gave us a prophecy
of Christ. God spoke of Christ and all the sacrifices. Abel's
sacrifice, the Passover lamb and all the sacrifices offered
on the day of atonement all picture the same person. The Lord Jesus
Christ, his sacrifice that put away the sin of his people. God
spoke of Christ in type. The smitten rock, the tabernacle,
the brazen serpent are all types of Christ. All of the Old Testament
scriptures speak of Christ, gives us prophecy concerning salvation
in him. Now, that's how God used to speak.
How is he spoken now? Well, he says in verse two, 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. Now in these
last days, these last days are all of the days since Christ
ascension back to glory until his second coming. Now many people
think that the history of the world is going to be 6,000 years.
divided up into three 2,000-year periods. There's 2,000 years
from creation to Moses, 2,000 years from Moses to the time
of Christ. And they say, they think there'll
be 2,000 years from his first coming to his second coming.
Maybe, I don't know. But I'll tell you where they
take that from. Look at 2 Peter chapter 3. That sounds good. I hope it's true, but we don't
know, do we? 2 Peter 3 verse 8, here's where they take this
from. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years and a thousand years as one day. And we know God took
six days to create the heavens and the earth. So they say those
six days equate out to the 6,000 years of human history. Like
I said, that sounds good, but nobody knows if that's so. Nobody
knows when Christ is going to return. But we know these are
the last days. And the last days could last
for thousands. They've already lasted for 2,000.
They could last another 1,000. We don't know. I thought of this
as an illustration. I was running a 5K one time,
5K race, three miles. And it was hot, hot, hot. It's August, hot. The course
was hilly. I got to the two-mile mark, and
that was the only water stop on the whole course. And a good
friend of mine, the man in the water stop, I asked him, is this
about over? Am I about there? He said, you're
right about there. The finish chute starts right
here. It's just a mile long. That's the last days. They could
last a long time. We don't know. But the issue
is this. The issue is not when will Christ
return. Brethren, this is the issue. We believe him. Do I believe
him? Have we listened? God's spoken
to us by son. Have we listened? Now, what does
it mean that God has spoken to us by son? Well, none of us have
heard the Lord Jesus speak audibly when we read his words or the
words of the man, Jesus of Nazareth, but this whole book is his word.
So we haven't heard him speak audibly. So what does it mean?
What means this? God has spoken to us by his son.
It means that God has showed us everything that he is by showing
us his son. That's how God spoke to us. That's
how God revealed his whole will of redemption is by showing us
his son. We see the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see God, God in the flesh, manifest in the flesh. Verse
three says he is the express image of God's person. Now, you
children understand what that is. You take clay or Play-Dohs,
things you play with, and you've got a mold and you press it down
into clay. And when you pull the mold up,
you've got an exact image of what you pressed down in. That's
Christ. He is the exact image, like a
stamped image, the exact image of God. In everything we know
about God, we only know by seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. We know
that God's holy. by seeing the perfection, the
holiness of the Lord Jesus. We know God's holy because when
sin was found on his son, the father killed him for it. We
know God is love. Now that's not just some gushy
feeling. No, here's how we know God's
love. He sent his son to die for sinners. Greater love hath
no man than that. We know that God is just. because
He sent the sacrifice that enabled Him to be both just and justifier. We know God is wise because we
see the utter brilliance of salvation through Christ, our substitute.
God has spoke to us and He showed us everything He is by His Son
and He told us everything that we are by His Son too. You know
how, why a person will believe in total depravity? that everything
I am is totally depraved, ruined in sin. You know when a person
will believe that? When they see Christ as their hope. Then
we'll believe. We see ourselves in light of
who He is. When we see Christ, we'll know this. I need Him.
I can't save myself. He can. I need Him. And God has
spoken by His Son. He told us everything about salvation
by showing us His Son. Whoever sees the Son shall be
saved." We can understand what salvation is, how it's accomplished.
It's all accomplished by and through and in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll understand that if God
will just give us a sight of His Son. Jesus Christ is everything
God has to say. Absolutely everything. We'll
never hear anything from God other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the only way we can know God is by seeing his son, by hearing
him and believing him. God has spoken by his son. God
always does things the best possible way, doesn't he? He sends trials
and tribulations and the storms of this life, and we don't understand
what he's doing, how he's working things that way. But I do know
this, whatever it is that God has done was the best way. Isn't
that right? Same thing applies to God speaking
to us by his son. It is the best most clear way
God could speak to sinners. I'm glad that I didn't live in
the times of Moses. There's times I think, man, I'd
like to see the Red Sea part. I'd like to see some of it. But
you know, I'm glad I didn't. I really am glad I didn't. Because I know
this about myself. I wouldn't have seen Christ in
the post. I'd have been one of those fellows saying, oh, I'm
an ancient. That's odd stuff. I'm glad I didn't live in the
times of the prophets. You know, you think, well, I do. I think,
man, I would like to hear some of these prophets preach. But
I'm telling you, I know what I'd do. I'd think Elijah was
a crazy man and wouldn't listen to me. I'm glad I didn't live
during our Lord's earthly ministry. Because I know this about Frank
Taylor. I'd have shouted crucifixion. I'd have said this so hard so
you can hear it. I'm glad I live today when the
gospel is fully revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's revealed
in all of the Word of God, both Old Testament and New Testament.
And when we see Christ, we hear him, we understand who he is.
If you hear him, if you understand who he is, you will have the
key to understanding every page of this book. You really will,
because he is everything that God has to say to sinful men. All right, second, God has told
us everything that he has ever done, everything that he is doing,
he is doing for the glory of his son. The writer says here,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Father, you know
why he spoke, or well actually we'll get to this in his Christ
who spoke, but you know why everything is created? Everything was created
for the Lord Jesus Christ so that God's son could have the
glory. As a matter of fact, the Lord Jesus Christ is the glory
of God. Remember Moses asked God, show
me your glory. The Lord said, all right, I'll
show you. But my face you can't see. I'll
put you in the cleft of the rock, put my hand, and I'll pass by
you. I'll take my hand and you can see my back parts. Well,
whose back did he see? The Lord Jesus Christ. When God said, I'll show you
my glory, He showed Moses the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only
place we can see the brilliant glory of God, His greatest glory
and mercy to sinners, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose
of everything in creation is not us. Joe Terrell told me one time,
when we have babies, we have children, he says, you know,
the first thing you got to teach them and you got to teach them
this all their life long. We're born thinking I'm God,
that the whole world is centered around me and we got to teach
it. We got to be taught otherwise.
The purpose of all this creation is not us. It's not for man. God didn't create the world so
you might have a place to live. God created the world and he
put men in it for this purpose, so Christ would get the glory
and save the men out of it. That's exactly why he did it.
You know why God allowed Adam to fall? Now you reckon God created
this world, he created Adam, put him in it, and he took a
rib out of him and made a woman. Do you imagine for a minute that
God did not know they're going to fall? Well, of course he knew
that. Matter of fact, he'd ordained
it. And you want to know why? So when men fell into total ruin
without any hope of life, his son could come and get the glory
and giving them life, saving them out of it. That's why God
did it. And the gospel that we preach, if it's the gospel now,
is all about the glory of Christ. The gospel is not how God can
take you immediately. The gospel is not how God can
give us more stuff. The gospel is not about how I
can live a better life in this world. The gospel declares the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things. The gospel is
not the gospel if it has not compelled us to look to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, look to
Him. He is the only perfect man to ever live. That's glorious,
but you wanna hear something, can I say more glorious? His
people are made righteous in him. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the only man God has ever or will ever accept. And he's accepted
his people in the beginning. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only man that God loves. The father loves the son and
has given all things into his hand. The father loves the son.
And He loves everybody with the exact same love wherewith He
loves His Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only high priest who ever offered a sacrifice that pleased God.
You think of the glory of Christ's sacrifice. By one offering, by
one sacrifice, He has perfected forever them to believe. It never has to be offered again
because it's a perfect sacrifice. God created this world for the
glory of His Son, and I can tell you when God's going to wrap
it up. When it's time for all of God's creation to praise and
glorify His Son for eternity. Eternity will be all of creation
praising the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what everybody in hell's
going to be doing. They're going to be praising Christ eternally.
They're going to be praising God eternally for His justice
in Christ. And everybody in heaven's going
to be doing the same thing. They'll be praising God for His grace
and for His justice in Christ. They're going to praise God for
His grace because the only reason they're there is God's grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ. How we will love to sing His
praises. And they'll also praise God for
His justice. The only reason they're there is God's just.
Christ made them fit to be there by His sacrifice. Everything
God's done, everything he ever will do is for the glory of Christ. If there's anybody here who lost
and knows it, desires to be saved, I tell you this, God will save
every sinner. Christ can get all the glory
and save them. Can Christ get all the glory and save them?
You're so worthless, you're not even worth Him thinking about
you. that you can't do anything to get God to save you. That
if God's going to save you, it's just got to be purely because
His grace is giving you something you don't deserve. And He'd get
all the glory in doing it because you didn't contribute anything
but sin to this equation. God will save that person because
Christ gets all the glory in saving them. Thirdly, God has spoken. Spoken
by His Son, and this is what He's told us. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Creator. End of verse 2, By whom also
He made the world. Genesis 1 tells us that God,
in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, doesn't
it? God said, let there be light, and there was light. Look back
at John chapter 1. Everything that was created was
created because God said, let it be so. I mean, everybody knows
that. But you know that that was the Lord Jesus Christ speaking,
let there be light. Look here, John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the word.
Now that word, word there is capitalized, capital W. That's
speaking of a proper person. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The word, we use words to talk to one another, don't we? Well,
God does too. You know the word he used to speak to us? His son. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the word. The word was with
God. The word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
creator. Everything is made, He did it. Now whoever the creator
is, is God. Is that right? Only God can create
matter. Only God can do these things.
So whoever the creator is, is God. And you and I must bow to
Him. We must submit to Him. People
are not going to go to hell because they're sinning. People are going
to go to hell because they are so self-righteous. They are such
rebels that they have refused to bow to Christ and they refuse
to submit themselves to His righteousness. Lord Jesus Christ is God and
we must bow to Him, submit to Him. But this point goes deeper
than that. This is not just a point to tell
us that evolutionists are wrong. There's a deeper meaning here.
And we've got to hear this. Brethren, we've got to hear this. Christ is the creator. He's the
creator of life. He's the giver of life. That's
true both physically and spiritually. Christ is the spiritual life
of His people. If you're still there in John
1, look at verse 4. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. Christ is the life of His people. We can only have spiritual life
in Christ. He must give it to us in the
new birth. He's got to create a new man,
a new spiritual man who's never there before. Because we're dead. He's life. We're darkness. He's light. We've got to go to
him for everything we need. Only Christ can cause the new
birth in the heart of a sinner. And the new birth is creation.
The new birth is the creation of spiritual life that never
was there before. It's not the fixing up of the flesh. It's
not teaching the flesh some things. It's not giving the flesh some
light. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It will never be flesh. So if we're going to have life,
God's got to create new life. Only God can create life. And
that's exactly what Christ does for all of his people. Look at
John chapter 17. He gives all of his people spiritual
life in the new birth. It's up to him to give it. John 17, verse two. As thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. That's this life. This life is
given by Christ and it's all wrapped up in Christ. Look at
verse three back in our text. 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, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. Life can only be given because
Christ is the sovereign creator. He's the creator. Now that means
that the Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign in salvation. He's
sovereign in all things. Look at Colossians chapter one. Verse 15, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn, the king of every creature for
by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things and
by him, all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, firstborn from the dead, that
in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now Christ created
all things and he rules over all things. He orders everything
that happens in his creation. Everything. And he holds it all
together. Sometimes you wonder, why doesn't
this world just implode and fall apart? Christ told me to do it. That's why. Same reason I don't go off the
deep end and utterly deny the gospel. Because Christ told me
all to do it. That's exactly why. Oh, I love
that. I find such peace and such assurance
in that. And it's all done by His Word. That's what He says here. He
upholds all things by the Word of His power. Lord Jesus Christ
is sovereign since he's God. He's the creator. He's sovereign
in everything. We know he's sovereign in providence. He says it and
it's done in his providence. You and I don't have any right
to question. Things don't go our way. We have no right to
question God. I read an article earlier this
week by Marvin Stoniker. He said when his children were
little, He said, they didn't have the capacity to understand
what I was doing as their father. And he said, I felt no need to
explain myself. He said, you know what I told
him? Because I said. If you knew Marvin, you know
what he'd say? Because I said. End of story. We don't have any right to question
what God does. He's done it because it's right. It's right because he did it.
And it was contrary to my flesh. And it hurts my flesh. And it
hurts my feelings. I can tell you this, God's still
God. And we're still to bow to Him and worship Him, even though
we don't understand, because He's God, He's sovereign. And
the Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign in salvation. He has mercy on
whom He will have mercy. He saves whom He will, when He
will. You know, that's not just, that's
not restrictive saying, well, God has mercy on whom he will
have mercy. Oh no. Is it, I don't know, is
inclusive the right word? God has mercy on whom he will
have mercy means nobody can stop his mercy from pulling his people
out of the muck and the mire to bottom of the pit because
he saved them. And you know, that's exactly
the way it should be. Christ should be the one to give salvation
to whom he will because he's the heir of all things. It all
belongs to Him. Well, then it's just right He
gives it to whoever He will. Then I have a will. And we've
given stuff. I mean, most of it's worthless
stuff. But you know, whatever. Some of them might have some
sentimental value. But you know who's going to get what, why
they're going to get it? Because we said it's ours. We can give
it to whoever we will. Now, everybody understands that
about a human will. This is God's will. Christ gives
it to whoever He will because it's His to give. Second, this
is right because salvation was all done by Christ alone. It's
His. He by Himself purged our sin. Salvation is all the doing. It's
all the righteousness. It's all the obedience. It's
all the life and it's all the death. It's all the sacrifice
of Christ alone. He earned it. then he has every
right to give it to whoever he will. Now, men think they have
that right. I mean, you go out to work and
you earn a paycheck. You get a paycheck. Here in the red state, you know
what we think? We think I got the right to do what I will with
my money. Nobody's got the right to tell me what to do with my
money. I earned it. It's mine. Well, we think that
about ourselves. Why do we think God can't do
that? Christ earned Him. It's His to give. And He does. He gives liberally. Oh, how He
saves His people from their sins. Completely and utterly. And you
know what? The story's not told yet. He
is still yet saving sinners. Wayne prayed for our children.
People who don't know the Lord. Be wise to pray that. You know
why? God's still saving sinners. Let's be like that old leper
of all. Lord, if you will. It's up to you. I don't know.
I don't know if you will, but I know you can. Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. You can save my sorry soul. Let's
beg the sovereign to save us because he's the only one who
can. He's the only one who's able. He's the only one who's
got the right to do it. Let's beg him for it. He's the
creator. He's sovereign in salvation.
He can create life. And you and me, if he will. Thank
God that's his will to do it. All right, fourthly, God has
told us this. He's spoken. He's told us this.
Now, are we listening? Salvation is all in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The end of verse three says,
when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. Christ did this by himself. And then he sat down. Now, what
does it mean that Christ sat down? Why did he sit down? Well,
number one, Christ sat because he had accomplished all of salvation. When he cried, it is finished,
salvation was all done. It was all finished and it was
finished perfectly. Well, what's left for him to
do? Sit down and just sit down. I was going to say sit down and
rest, but no, he didn't sit down because he had to rest. I do
that. You know, I'm out there working and doing something,
you know, and I think I'm going to sit down. No, the work's not
done. I just sit down because I'm tired. Or I sit down because
I don't have the skill to do that. No, he didn't sit down
so he could rest. He sat down because he had nothing
left to do. He finished salvation for his people. So what's our
reaction to that? Christ finished the work. Why are you trying to recreate
the wheel? Why do you think we've got to
do all these religious works for God to save us? Just rest in
Christ, who already finished the work. The gospel never says
do. If you hear somebody preaching,
they're telling you to do, I'm telling you this, that's not
the gospel. The gospel never says do. The gospel always says
done. Now rest in Christ. Whatever it is you do in the
service of the Lord, you do it out of thanksgiving. Not because
you have to. Not because there's something that needs to be done
because you love the Lord. But the gospel never says do.
It always says it's done. It is finished. Second, Christ
sat down. because he did the job that he
came to do. There's no more left work left
to do. No more sin left to purge. There's not another offering
needs to be made. You only sit down when the job
is finished. And that's exactly what he did.
The Old Testament priest, all they were was I told this early,
God spoke and those priests and priesthood of Aaron to give us
a picture of Christ. But they're just pictures. They're
just flimsy pictures. Those Old Testament priests were
pictures of Christ. But one thing they never did
in the temple or the tabernacle, they never sat down, of all the
furniture in that tabernacle, one of them not a chair, because
the priest's work was never done. There was always another sacrifice
to offer. Christ came as a better high
priest. This priest finished the work
that the Father gave him to do. And he sat down because he's
the successful He sat down in complete and utter satisfaction. Look at Hebrews chapter nine, verse 24. For Christ has not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are figures, just pictures
of the true, but he's entered into heaven itself now to appear
in the presence of God for us, nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now, once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. It's done. And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them to
look for him. So he appeared the second time
without sin unto salvation. Christ sat down in complete satisfaction. Job's done. The blood of Christ
purged the sin of God's elect, made it to not exist anymore.
The scripture talks about the blood of Christ blotting out
our sin, but he didn't blot out our sin with just a bunch of
black marks. And you look and see, well, I
can't tell what was under there because the blood blotted it
out, but something bad must have been under there. Look at all
that blood. That's not how He blotted out our sin. Christ blotted
out the sin of His people by making it to not exist anymore. It's gone, washed away by His
blood. So rest in Christ. Resting in
Christ means I quit trying to do stuff to make up for my sin,
to try to cancel out some of my debt. And I just come to Christ
and beg him, purge me from my sin. That's what David, David's
a man after God's own heart. You know what David said? Purge
me with hyssop. The hyssop was what they dipped
in the blood and applied to the doorpost on the Passover. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. That's what Christ accomplished
for all of his people. And he sat down. Just in complete
satisfaction of a job well done. Thirdly, Christ sat down as the
sovereign Savior. He sat down as king. He didn't
sit down as a sacrifice. He didn't sit down as a reformer.
He didn't sit down as somebody I ought to feel sorry for. He
sat down on the throne of heaven as king. The Savior sits on the
throne of glory, ruling and reigning over everything for one purpose,
the salvation of His people. And He will arrange all the events
of providence, all the events of history, all the events of
their life to bring them to the point that they hear the gospel.
He's going to give them faith. He's going to grant them repentance
and they'll turn to Christ and believe on Him and never turn
away from Him. Now that salvation cannot fail
to happen. It cannot fail to be brought
to its ultimate completion because Christ the King is ruling. Our
sacrifice lives and He rules as King and guaranteed. Fourth
one, Christ sat as the mediator of his people. He sits on the
throne of glory ever living to make intercession for his people.
So the father will never punish his elect for their sin. Because
the mediator sits at his right hand. The mediator always sits
in view. It's not that Christ is always
having to say, oh father, forgive him for that one, forgive him
for that one, forgive him for that one. He didn't have to say a word
to make intercession for us. He sits in full view of the Father,
the evidence of His sacrifice, the scars on His body, always
in full view as the constant reminder. The debt's paid. The debt is paid. It's paid in
full. Come to Him. Come to God by Him. He's the only mediator between
God and me. You see, God's spoken at me.
God's spoken to us by His Son. And if I don't hear, there are
one of two reasons. Either I'm not listening, or
I don't want to hear. And I've shut up my ears so I
can't hear. How many times did the Lord say, he who has ears
to hear, let him hear. Let him hear. My prayer is this. Lord, give me ears to hear. So I take heed to the things
that I've heard. Less than any time. They should
slip away. Wouldn't that be heartbreaking?
To have heard from Almighty God, to have heard from his darling
son, the good news of the gospel. Let's slip away. Oh God, deliver
us from that. God, make us healed. Let's bow
together. Our Father, we humbly bow before
you. hearts that are full of thanksgiving.
How can we ever thank you enough for condescending to speak to
us by your son? How can we ever thank you enough
for your son, the prince of glory, humbling himself to appear in
human flesh like we have, to speak to us, to show us salvation
in him, to show us the accomplishment of all your will and purpose
of the redemption of your people, to show us all the glory of God
and how you save sinners through your perfect son, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, how we thank you. Father, I beg of you that you'd
make us hearers, that you'd enable us to hear and be doers of the
word. Father, give us faith to trust
Christ, to look to Christ, cause us to cling to him and never
let go. Father, don't ever let us go,
we pray. We thank you for speaking to us. And father, I pray you
continue to speak to us. Don't ever let us alone. Don't
let us fall into the trap of just going through the motions
of religion, using the jargon of religion. But father, we beg
of you your continued mercy, your continued grace. You continue
to speak to us through your word. Speak to us by your son, reveal
your son to us. Father, continue to cause Your
Word to be preached here, that Christ would be preached in this
place, that Your people would be fed, that they'd be comforted,
that their hearts would be strengthened and assured in Him. And, Father,
that You continue to call out Your sheep. You know well that
You only call out Your sheep through the preaching of this
Word. Father, call them out, we pray. Save those that are
lost, our loved ones, those in this community. Father, continue
to speak. for your glory. We don't ask these things for
our good. Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thee belongs
all the glory, all the praise, all the honor. Lord, do this
for your name's sake, for your glory's sake, that people would
see there's still a God in Israel and all the glory belongs to
him. It's in his precious name we pray and give thanks.