If you'll open your Bibles once
again to Hebrews 1, I'm hopeful that I can get beyond
this first statement. I have many things to say in
this message about our dear Redeemer. I'm trying to learn how to preach. You may smile at that and say,
well, it's too late. You've been at it so long. If
you hadn't learned by now, give up. But I learn every day, and
you do, about your work and the things you do. I'm trying to
learn not to stay David so long in my introduction and get to
my message. I'm trying to learn to not talk
so much about the disease as about the remedy. We need to talk about Him. But
let's look here at Hebrews 1. It says that God spoke. God spoke. He didn't have to. He didn't
have to. God is under no obligation to
us. God is God and we are men. David
said, When I consider the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars,
the things that thou hast made and ordained, what is man that
thou should even be mindful of him? let alone speak to it. God doesn't have to speak to
us. I don't know why we think God's obligated. Well, God ought
to do this, and God ought to do that. Why doesn't God do something
about the suffering? We asked for it, didn't we? We said we'll be like God. We
sent His Son down here, and we said we won't have this man reign
over us, nail him to a cross. We asked for it. We asked for
the suffering. We asked for the famine, pestilence,
earthquake, We asked for the wars and rumors of war. We said,
go on back to heaven. We don't want you down here.
There was one place the Lord went to minister, and he cast
the demons out of this man and left him clothed and in his right
mind. They never could do anything
with him. They chained him. He'd break the chain. They never
could do anything with him. Christ came in and healed him.
Clothed him, left him in his right mind, and what was their
response? Leave our shores and don't come
back. You've interfered with our business. We don't even want
you here. But God spoke. He spoke to our
fathers. How did He speak to our fathers?
It says here He spoke to them by the prophets. Moses, David,
Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah. He spoke to our fathers by the
prophets. He spoke to the prophets by visions. He spoke through the prophets
to the people by types and patterns and shadows and sacrifices and
all these things. The Passover lamb, that was God
speaking to our fathers. The rock in the wilderness, that
was God speaking to our fathers. He spoke by special revelation.
Does God speak today by prophets and preachers? Oh yeah. It said
when our Lord ascended back to heaven, He left. prophets, apostles,
evangelists, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, that we might be
instructed in the things of God. You know, the Ethiopian eunuch
was riding from Jerusalem down to his home in Ethiopia, and
God sent Philip to him. And Philip walked along the chariot,
and he, Philip saw him reading Isaiah 53, and Philip said, Do
you understand what you're reading? He said, How can I? except somebody
show me." And he said, come up here. Philip climbed up beside
him, and Philip began at the same scripture and preached Christ
to him. So God sent that man, Philip.
He sent Lydia, Paul. He sent Cornelius, the apostle
Peter. You see that? He sent Philemon,
the apostle Paul. He sends his people to others. He sent me. I'm convinced of
that. If I weren't convinced of that,
I wouldn't be up here. I'm not looking for a job. I was down
in Pikeville preaching last week, and some man said, well, he's
not a preacher, he's a teacher. Is there a difference? Preaching is communicating. Now,
I know what he meant by preacher. I didn't grab my ear and yell
and holler, you know, and stomp around and throw songbooks and
hoop-de-doo, you know. That's not preaching. That's
entertainment. Preaching is when you're communicating
to the heart from your heart concerning Christ and the Word
of God. If people are not hearing and
being taught and fed, you're not doing any preaching. Pastors
and teachers, so God's faith and God speaks by prophets and
preachers. And I'll be bold to say this,
that if a man hears from God, he'll hear most likely through
a man. That's right, he'll hear through
a preacher. An anointed preacher with the truth of God, he will.
Not a self-sent man, but a God-sent man. You'll hear it. If you'll
even have ears to hear, let him hear. Now, well, when did God
speak to our fathers? It says God spoke at different
times, various times. Now, I may shock you a little
bit here, but this is true. God doesn't speak all the time. Now, there's a sense in which
God speaks all the time, in the sense that there's no voice,
tribe or language where the voice is not heard. Every time the
sun shines, God's speaking. He's declaring his wisdom and
power. Every time the wind blows and the rain falls and the snow
drifts down, and every time the rippling stream goes by and the
wind blows through the pines and a whippoorwill sings God's
song, you say, yes, God's speaking. Well, the little squirrels are
playing outside your door and the birds are bathing in your
bird dust. God's in all this. God speaking. But what I'm talking
about is by special revelation, communication of His Word. He
doesn't always speak. There are times of silence. In
fact, from Malachi to Matthew, there's 400 years of silence.
God didn't send a prophet. Not a one. God was silent. When
Israel was in Egypt, God was silent. There's a man who wrote
a book on the silence of God. David complained, Lord, how long
will you be silent? I'm going mad. I got to hear from
God. I'll read you a verse over here. Don't you turn. Book of
Amos. That's one of those little books
that hides out, you know, when you go to looking for it. So
I cheated. I put a gym clip in here. In Amos chapter 8, verse
11, it says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God. I'll
send a famine in the land. Or we jump up immediately and
say, well, we're going to do it without bread. No, he said, not
a famine of bread. It'd be better to be without
bread than to be without the Word of God. He says, not a famine
of bread. It's not a thirst for water.
I'm going to send a famine of hearing the words of God. Now,
like I say, God speaks. You don't breathe without God
speaking. But I know about God speaking a revelation. It may
be here. I don't know. I ride by a little
church out there between here and Pikeville. It's on the left.
I love that special place there. James, we used to go by there
going up George's Creek. A little Presbyterian church.
A little brick church. The windows are all out of it.
It's sitting out there in the field. Nobody goes there anymore.
And I rode by there. I stopped one day and went and
looked in the window. There were some of the pews still
there. And I thought, you reckon that'd be 13th Street someday.
Somebody ride by here and those windows are all out and it's
dark and these pews are broken down and got holes in the carpet
and mice running around. Nothing coming from here. But
it is out there. I bet you a hundred years ago
somebody used to preach the gospel out there. But there's nobody
there now. And I tell you, God speaks when
He speaks. And he that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. It's good to hear when you can. Because the days
come when you may not be able to hear. He said, today, if you
will hear his voice, hearth and not your heart. Because he said
over here in Proverbs, listen to this, over in Proverbs 1,
he said this concerning having ministered to people and spoken
to people. He said, I call and you refuse. I stretched out my hand, and
no man regarded. You said it not, my counsel,
and you wouldn't listen to my word. So I'll laugh at your calamity,
I'll mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh, there's
desolation, your destruction is a whirlwind, distress and
anguish come upon you, and you shall call upon me, but I won't
answer. I called you, and you wasn't here. You'll seek me,
and you'll not find me. For you hated knowledge, and
you did not choose the fear of the Lord. You would not have
my counsel. You despised all my reproof." God speaks, and
He speaks in all things, but He speaks especially through
His ministers, through His prophets and pastors and teachers and
apostles. He speaks to me. They don't magnify
themselves. It's not a matter of whether
you like the prophet. They're preaching Christ. We're
not here to win friends and influence people. We're here to witness
and preach Christ. You may not like the cup, but
it's the water that's important. If you're thirsty enough, it
won't matter whether you've got a gourd up here or a beautiful
blue glass. It's the water. And it's not
the service not important at all. John said, I must decrease,
he must increase. What does it matter? It's the
gym, not the box it's in. It's the diamond, not the container.
The boy gives the girl an engagement ring. She pulls it out of the
box and lays the ring down and starts playing with the box.
He'll think something's wrong with her. But what she does is she looks
at the ring, just drops the box. Hey, wait a minute, don't do
that. Where's my pretty box? She's not interested in that
box. She's got what she wants. And if I can bring you Christ
in this old clay vessel, in this old pine box, this old pasteboard
container, you can drop that container. I won't be mad at
all, but if you hold that diamond and look to Him and believe in
Him. In fact, I wish you would drop the box. and just hold the
diamond. God spake. Well, it says, what
did God say to them? I want you to turn to this passage,
Acts 10. Acts chapter 10, verse 43, it
tells what he said to them. God spoke to our fathers by the
prophet. What did he say? Well, it says
in Acts chapter 10, let's start with verse 38. The apostle Peter's
preaching here, and he says, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power. He went about doing good
and healing all that were oppressed to the devil. God was with him.
And we're witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land
of Jews and Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. And
God raised him up the third day and showed him openly, not to
all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before God, even to us. who did eat and drink with him
after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it's he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. It's he that
was ordained of God to be the Redeemer. It was he that was
ordained of God to be the Lamb. And to him give all the prophets
witness. Wasn't Moses right about Christ? Whose day did Abraham see? Christ's
day. Of whom did David speak when
he said, The Lord said unto my Lord, Set thou on my right hand,
and I make thine enemies thy footstool? It was Christ. To
him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sin. Our Lord said,
Search the Scriptures. In them ye think ye have life.
There they which testify of me, the Scriptures, are the Old Testament
Scriptures. That's what he's talking about. Oh, that we might see that there's
one God. Oh, that we might see that there's
one gospel in all dispensations. Oh, that we might see there's
one way of life, one sacrifice for sin, to which Abraham looked
as Jim opened his prayers. Thank God that he has provided
for himself a sacrifice, a lamb. Thank God. For that lamb was
provided before the foundation of the world, but he was revealed
in the fullness of time. And he accomplished his work
and his ministry in the fullness of time. And he's now at the
right hand in glory. There's one sacrifice for sin
and one hope of your calling. And while Moses wrote of Christ,
we have a more full revelation than Moses did. I saw the movie
The Ten Commandments and loved it. I'd see it again if I could,
again and again. I'm amazed Hollywood got that
close to the truth. But with all of the glory and
splendor that surrounded Moses and the personal visitation of
God in great power and wonder, we have more information on redemption
than Moses has. You say, you sound silly, preacher.
Moses walked with God. So do we in Christ. But we have
a much more complete revelation than Moses did. In fact, while
Abraham is called a friend of God, Abraham is called the father
of the faithful in the pattern of redemption. Actually, we know
more about redemption than Abraham did when he was walking on this
earth. That's right now. He had it in picture. He had
it in type. We've got it in person. A full
revelation, a complete revelation of God. Aaron, the high priest. Here this poor little preacher
from Alabama up here in Kentucky trying to preach, but now wait
a minute. Aaron would have changed places with me right now, back
then. Oh yes he would. Yes he would. Instead of talking about the
Christ that would come, Abraham would say the Christ that has
come. All of his incense that he broke in little pieces and
burned, showing the intercession of Christ, he would see it and
hear it. All of the robes he had on and
the mitre and the holiness under the Lord and the names on the
breastplate and the sacrifices he brought, he would see the
meaning of those sacrifices, the fulfillment of them, the
revelation of them, the completion of them. In fact, the true Messiah
now appears, the tithes are all withdrawn. So fly the shadows
and the stars before the rising sun. When the sun comes out, you don't
even see the stars, they're there. You'll see. And it's the same
way our revelation, compared to Aaron's knowledge, Moses'
revelation, and Abraham's, is like the sun compared to the
stars. The stars put out some light. But I tell you, I don't
want to drive by them. But the sun fully illuminates
all things. No smoking sweets, no bleeding
lambs, No kid nor bullock slinging. Incense and spice of costly names
would all be burnt in vain. Don't bring any incense in here.
Christ is our intercession. You see, wouldn't you be impressed
if the Pope came down the aisle this morning with his mitered
hat and with his staff and with his, oh, I wouldn't let him in.
Christ is our high priest. Christ is our righteousness.
That sort of thing is done away with. There was a day when it
served as a picture. But who wants to look at a picture
when the person is standing there? That would be kind of silly,
wouldn't it? Carrie Grace and I come in
here to some stranger, and I say, well, I'll show you a picture
of my granddaughter. There she stands right there. Well, she
wants a picture of her. Look at her. And here we are
running around with these pictures, our candles, and our spices,
and our incense, and our uniforms, and our all these things. They're
impressive. I don't care. Christ is more
impressive. He's here. I hear Him in the
Word. Aaron must lay his robes away,
his miter and his rest, when God Himself comes down to be
the offering and the priest. God Himself. Well, you said I
got favor. He took our mortal flesh to show
the wonders of His love. For us, He gave His life below,
and He prays for us above. Why should I go in a little cubicle
and whisper in some fellow's ear and say to him, pray for
me? Boy, on that, I'm going to talk
to the high priest. He can't help himself, let alone
me. Why burden him with my trouble?
Just double his responsibility. Don't feel relieved when you
come out and say, well, I've confessed it to the wrong one.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Oh, we have a... Who is this
one by whom God speaks to us? Look at this in verse 2. He hath
in these last days spoken to us by His Son. His Son. You know that God has spoken. How do you speak? By words. That's
what I'm doing, I'm speaking. I'm speaking words. And Jesus
Christ is so much the Word of God that he's called the Word
of God. He is so much the Word of God
that that's his name, the Word of God. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and
all things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made, and the Word actually was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Who is He? He's the Word of God. He said, He that heareth Me,
heareth Him that sent Me. He that rejected Me, rejected
Him that sent Me. The words that I speak are not
My words. They didn't originate with a
man. They're the Word of God. They're the words from heaven. What else does it say about him?
He's the Son of God. He's the Word of God. Look at
verse 2. He's the heir of everything. He is the heir. I tell you, if you've been cut
out of the wheel, it'd be a good thing to get close to the one
that ain't been cut out. Isn't that right? Mike, if you and I are brothers
and I've been by my rebellion cut out of the wheel, it'd be
a good thing for me to stay close to you and maybe you'd share
with me. You would, wouldn't you? Because you love me. Well,
Christ is the heir. He's the heir of all things.
I've been cut out of the wheel by sin. I'm a son of Adam. But
now if I can get in Christ, I can be a joint heir. Because he's
going to get everything now. That's already settled. He's
the heir of all things. He's the heir of God, but we're
joint heirs with Christ. That's right. He's the heir of
all things. And he says here, by whom he made the world. This
one who speaks to us is the one who made the world. Why he talk
about the sparrow falling? He made the sparrow. He knows
the sparrow's habits. Taught him to it. Why he talk
about consider the lilies? They toil not, neither do they
spend, and yet Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed like
one of these." I painted that lily. That lily is an original. The artist is the master. That's right. The artist is the
master. He painted it, every one of them,
perfectly formed, perfectly made. Yeah, he made all things, and
it says he's the brightness of God's glory, Verse 3, and it
says he's the exact image of God's person. They said, well,
show us the Father. He said, you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. Without Christ, we would be without
a revelation of God. How are we going to know God? He's got to come down here and
speak our language. He's got to come down here and
walk in the flesh so we can know God. Paul went to the third heaven. He came down and didn't say anything
about it. He says, not possible. What I heard up there, you don't
repeat down here. Nobody understands. But if Christ
comes down, not only as God, but He becomes a man. He speaks
my language and talked to me. And the disciples said, well,
show us God. Well, God told Moses, no man can see me and live. Not
in my celestial glory. Not in my central holiness. Even
Moses couldn't see Him and live. But we can see God robed in human
flesh. See that? We can see God robed
in human flesh. And Jesus Christ is the exact
image of His person. And Jesus Christ holds everything
together. He upholds or holds everything
together by the word of His power. And he's the one that by himself
purged our sins. That is, he put them away. God's
justice. You see what a lot of folks don't
understand. They look on the death of Christ
as an example. Well, there's a sense in which
it may serve as an example, but that's not the primary cause
of his death. They look on the death of Christ
as an example. He didn't die as a martyr. He
didn't die because he couldn't keep from dying. He said, no
man takes my life from me. I lay it down. He died as a substitute, and
he died not to win our pity and our compassion. He died unto
the Father, unto God. You see, God And this is what
a lot of people don't understand about the gospel. And Job kept
bringing this up. He'd say, well, how can man be
just with God? Man's a sinner by birth, by practice,
by nature, by attitude. He's a sinner. God's holy. How
can man walk with God? How can man be just with God?
How can God be just and justify us? How can God be who He is
and what He is and have anything to do with us? How can we be
what we are and have anything to do with God? Two can't walk
together except they be agreed. Christ is the answer to that.
And Christ does a work for us. John Newton said the two most
important things you can preach on is the work of God for us
and the work of God in us. Christ does a work for us before
the Father in justifying us, in working out for us. I told
my Sunday school class this morning, you see, Jesus Christ actually,
literally became a man. limited in every sense of the
word to the flesh. That's right. He never performed
a miracle to relieve his own needs. When he was hungry, he
had to ask somebody else for food. You say, but he fed 5,000,
but he couldn't do it for himself, because I can't do that. The
minute he steps out of that character as a man in order to relieve
himself or help himself, he ceases to be my representative. That's
right. Think about that, man. He had
to be born a natural birth from a woman just like I was. Bone
of my bone, flesh of my blood. He couldn't go around that. He
had to do it that way. He had to work in a carpenter's shop.
Well, my soul, he made, he grew the cedars of Lebanon. He grew
the redwoods of California. Why didn't, when he wanted to
make a charity, just say, be a charity? He would have ceased
being my representative out there. I can't do that. You see, he's
got to be a man. He's got to be tempted in all
points as we are, yet without sin. Why did he ask the Samaritan
woman for a drink? He was thirsty. Well, why didn't
he just make it rain and stand there with his mouth open? I
can't do that. Am I getting through what I'm saying? And he became a man. Now, when
he went to the cross, He gave himself to the nails, and to
those that spit in his face, and those that smote him. A fellow
smote him and said, Prophesy, who smote you? All these that
plucked out his beard. Why didn't he resist? He can't
resist. He's bearing a penalty. He's
paying a debt. He's satisfying God's justice.
And I'll tell you this, when he cried, It's finished! Now,
you've got a different person on your hands now. You've got
the Lord on your hands. You have the Lord on your hands now. Satan's
got the Lord on his hands now. He'll do what he will. He'll
turn the world upside down to accomplish his purpose. But now
Jesus, Jesus, as the Christ, now He limited Himself. And He
purged our sins. He did that. He worked out a
perfect righteousness. And on the cross, He purged our
sins. And He submitted Himself to the
grave. They put Him in the grave. But on the third day, he arose,
came forth. And when he wanted to, he appeared
to the disciples. He appeared to them on the road
to the mares. He walked in a room with the doors shut, stood and
talked to them. He ascended to heaven. He did
all these miraculous... He said, if what I say offends
you now, will you see me where I was? May you see me. Well, this is
what Paul is saying in Hebrews 2. Turn over there just a moment.
Hebrews 2, 1. Therefore, we ought, you and I, to give the more earnest
heed to the things we've heard, because we've heard from him
that speaks from heaven. We've heard from God. We've heard
the Word of God personified. We've heard the full revelation,
and we ought to hear it more carefully. lest we let it slip. This is God's last revelation,
His Son, His most complete revelation, and His last revelation. We're
not going to hear from anybody else. You say, well, I want to
see some miracles. You've seen a miracle. God became
flesh. And let me show you something
through this book. I'm just going to hit these four or five things
and let you complete them for yourself. Look at Hebrews 1,
4. Hebrews 1, 4. He is being made so much better
than the angels. Boy, Richard, when I think about
the angels, I think Billy Graham wrote a whole book on the angels.
My friend, Danny Parks, has written a theological study on the angels,
which is quite good. And we are enamored with angels.
And we study angels. And John on the Isle of Patmos
liked to wound up worshiping the angels. Do you remember?
He fell down at the feet of that angel, and he said, see that
you don't do that. Worship God. And here he said, and we think
about angels and their state, they dwell around the throne,
they're servants of the Most High God. I tell you, wouldn't
it be something if an angel walked in here this morning? No, no,
it really wouldn't. It wouldn't do us any good. Because
he's better than the angels. He's better than the angels.
What? The Lord we have and the revelation
we have is better than the angel. Turn to Hebrews 7. Listen to
this, Hebrews 7. Think about that tabernacle now
and the priesthood and the mercy seat. Oh, that must have been
impressive. There's the white fence around
the tabernacle. There's the tabernacle. There's
the altar and there's the laver with the water. You go into that
awesome, awful place, and there's the candlestick, the showbread,
and the incense burning, and that huge veil, and that light
flickering off the walls, the tent, and then go under that
Holy of Holies, and there's the Shekinah glory of God between
the cherubims on the mercy seat. That's impressive. We got something
better than that. Well, glory to God. Hebrews 7.19,
For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better
hope did. Who is our better hope? Christ. By the which we draw
now to God. I don't need that veil. I don't
need that mercy seat. I don't need that atonement.
I don't need that priest. I have Christ. And inasmuch as
not without an oath, he was made a priest. For those priests were
made without an oath. But this one, with an oath by
God who said, The Lord swearing will not repent, you're a priest
forever. After the order of Melchizedek,
by so much, by that oath by the Father, was Jesus made a surety,
a guarantor of a better covenant, a better priesthood. You see,
Aaron, with all the impressive credentials he had, he lived
and died, and it bared his bones. My Lord lives forever. Aaron
ministered in a tabernacle made with hands. My high priest ministers
around the throne. Aaron had a brief priesthood. My priest is forever. Aaron offered
many sacrifices. He only won. Aaron offered the blood of animals.
He offered his own blood. Christ is not entered into the
holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself. And you know,
we go to these places where everything is so impressive. The uniforms,
and the holy water, and the censer, you know, burning with the smoke,
and all these things. Israel had all that and it didn't
do them any good. See, these are pictures. And he establishes a second and
takes away the first. Let it be taken away. Let it
lie buried. Christ is better. And notice
this, Hebrews 8, 6, But now hath he obtained a more excellent
ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant. You see, the promises to Israel
under the old covenant, now listen to me a minute, they were mainly
earthly temporal blessings. God said to Israel, Said, when
you obey, you're going to be blessed with peace and plenty.
Canaan, land of peace, plenty and prosperity. And when you
neglect the worship of God, you're going to be in trouble. It's
all earthly blessing. But this better covenant, He
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.
We look for a better country. See, the word better is all the
way through the book of Hebrews, about ten, eleven times. Better
than the angels. better than Moses, better country,
better sacrifice, better priesthood, all these things. Better covenant. And look at Hebrews 9.22. Here's
a better sacrifice. Hebrews 9.22 says, almost all
things by the law were purged with blood. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission. And it was necessary, it was
therefore necessary that the pattern of things in heaven,
should be purified with ease, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which is a figure of the truth,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
for us." We have three appearances of Christ in this chapter right
here. Now He appears in the presence of God for us. Hebrews 9, 26.
Look at verse 26, the last line. He hath appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. Verse 28, the last line, To those
who look for him shall he appear the second time. Christ appeared
on this earth to put away our sin. He appears in the presence
of God with his own blood to make intercession and a sacrifice,
and he shall appear again. He's coming back. His sacrifices are better. His
promises are better. His covenant is better. And in
closing, turn to Hebrews 12. You've listened well. I appreciate
it. Look at Hebrews 12, verse 24. Hebrews 12, 24. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks
better things than Abel. What's that saying, Pastor? One
of two things, both of which could be true. Abel's blood speaks from the
ground. Abel's blood, shed by his brother's
hand, speaks from the ground. Was it Christ? Christ for vengeance,
Christ for judgment, Christ for wrath, Christ to be recompensed. Well, Christ's blood cries, but
His blood cries not for vengeance and wrath, it cries for peace,
He died for us, you see that? And then it may be that the blood
of Abel's sacrifice is talked about here. Abel's sacrifice,
God had respect to Abel's sacrifice because it was offered by faith.
And it's Abel's sacrifice of a lamb, by faith, by bringing that lamb. Here Abel took that lamb and
slew it and brought the blood, and God was God was reconciled,
God was at peace with Abel. He judged Cain, he had a bad
sacrament. But think how much more the blood
of Christ, if you and I, in our need and inability and helplessness,
can bring not our works, not our tithes and offerings, not
even our bodies, But if we can bring before God by faith and
say, Lord, let Thy blood be propitiation for me on the mercy seat, think
how much better things the blood of Christ will speak for us than
Abel spoke for him. And yet it brought him to God.
It literally brought him to God. Christ is better. And I know
that we're such creatures of the earth, we're creatures of
We like pretty things. We like impressive things. We
like, you know, a fella drives up in a brand new car, whoo,
you know. Somebody shows us a beautiful
big, it's a mansion between here and Pike. I'm talking about,
it's a mansion. And you go by and you, whoo,
look at that, you know. And we go into a church or something
with all this religious to do, you know, it kind of makes you
religious. It's the organ playing just right,
Martha. and the fire humming, and the candles burning, and
the soft drapes, and the house all dressed up here in a robe.
Boy, it makes you feel religious. Well, something better than all
that. Get out by the creek bank. Get away from that stuff. And
look to Christ in your heart. That's right. Believe. He's the
priest. He's the offering. He's the sacrifice. He's the
atonement. He rent the veil in two, said,
get it out of here, and let us come boldly before God. That's
right. Worship. We are the circumcision, Philippians
3.3, who worship God in spirit, not in form and ceremony, who
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and who have no confidence in the
flesh. That's the true Israel. Thank you for your Word. What
a blessing is the Word of our God. We have no other foundation
of faith. We have nowhere else to turn.
We thank you for every revelation of your wisdom, power, and mercy,
but particularly, we thank you for the guideline, the Word.
Thank you for the foundation, the Word. And we thank you for
Christ, who is the Word incarnate. Lord, give us eyes to see these
mysteries, and ears to hear these speak, and a heart to love Christ. Oh, for a heart to love Thee
more. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.