Now while you're turning to the
book of Hebrews chapter 1 again, I want to request your prayers. I'll be
speaking tomorrow night on the television taping. I'll be preaching Tuesday, or
rather Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Florida,
and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Alabama. And
I do covet your prayers for these special services in these special
places. Now the title of this message
is, God hath spoken to us. God hath spoken to us. Unlike the books of theology and other religious publications,
The Bible does not try to prove the existence of God. Unlike the books on theology
and other religious publications, the Bible does not try to prove
the power, might, and glory of God. The Bible just starts this
way, In the beginning, God. And the writer of Hebrews, some
say it's Paul, others say it's someone else. The writer of Hebrews
does the same thing in the same fashion. He begins chapter one,
verse one, God. No effort to prove his existence,
no effort to prove his power, he just says God. Now there's one thing I do not
need, one thing I do not need, and that is a God who can be
explained. I just don't need a God who can
be understood by a natural mind. Brother D.J. Ward, pastor of
Mount Zion Baptist Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, had an
article in his bulletin I don't remember exactly what
it said, but something to this effect. And a God who can be
explained and understood and comprehended by a natural man
or a human mind is no God at all. After the service, there
was a man came to him and said, you had an article in your bulletin
that has me upset. He said, what is it? He said
that article that a God who can be explained, proved, comprehended,
or understood by a human being is no God at all. He said, that's
a problem. I understand my God. I can explain
my God. My God only does what I enable
or permit Him to do. And he said, I'm in trouble.
I'm in trouble. Well, the scriptures tell us
this. Now, you don't need to turn to these, but I'll turn
and read them. I can find them probably more
rapidly. In Job 11, listen to this. Job
11, verse 7, Can you by searching find out God? Can you find out the Almighty
under perfection? Well, it's high as the heaven.
What can you do? is deeper than hell, what can
you know? We're talking about God. The
measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the
sea. Listen to Psalm 139. Listen to
the psalmist in Psalm 139. He's talking about the greatness
and majesty and power of God, the glory of God. He said, O
Lord, thou hast searched me and known me, Thou knowest my down
sittings and my up rising and you understand my thought afar
off. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It's high. I can't attain unto
it. Today's God is explainable. Did you know that? Where David
said, Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Such knowledge
is too wonderful for me." And the Apostle Paul, writing
on this same subject in Romans chapter 11, says this, Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Does this sound like the God
you're hearing preached today on television and other places?
God wants you to do this and God wants you to do that and
God has no hand but your hands and
no feet but your feet and no eyes but your eyes. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out? Who hath known the mind of the
Lord? Who hath been his counselor?
Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to
him again? God swap off with you? Does God bargain with you? You
give to him and he gives to you? You plant the seed and he makes
it grow? of him, and through him, and
to him, and by him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Listen to the wise man in Ecclesiastes,
and I believe it's chapter, Ecclesiastes chapter eight. Listen to this,
chapter eight, verse seventeen. Therefore, then I beheld all
the work of God, that a man cannot find out the
work that is done unto the Son. Because though a man labor to
seek it out, he shall not find it. Yea, father, though a wise
man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. God said, My ways are not your
ways. And this is the thing that troubles
me. God is not who we think He is. Wouldn't it be horrible to
come to the end of your journey in life and find out that you've
had the wrong God? You've been worshiping the wrong
God. You've been promoting and supporting the wrong God, another
God. God is not who we think He is. God is who He is. Let that be
established. God is who He is, whoever He
is. He's not who I think He is. The
idea of God was not born in this head. God is not who some preacher
says He is. There are a lot of preachers
saying who God is. There are a lot of opinions about
who God is and what God does and how God does it. But God
is not who we say He is. God is who He is and who He says
He is. We got to hear Him speak. That's
the reason this is so important, since God spake to our fathers
through the prophets. God spake concerning Himself
and His purpose and His work and His glory, character, the
way to Him. You see, the heathen, the heathen
builds a shrine of gold or silver or marble. He builds that shrine
so carefully, he makes it very impressive. And he says, here's
God. Here's God. And then the Romanist,
the Catholic for plainer terms, builds a Vatican City, an impressive,
powerful, monstrous Vatican City of political power. He builds
great cathedrals, paints beautiful paintings on the ceiling, he
dresses up He has leaders in fine uniforms and presents a
vicar of God. And he holds crosses and symbols
and crucifixes and sprinkles holy water and builds statues.
And he says, here's God. Now what is it? Here's God. You want to come
to God, come to us. You want to worship God, come
to our monstrous, mighty, majestic buildings. Here's God. The ritualist,
he has holy days. He'll set aside a day. He has
his ceremonies. He has his duties imposed upon
men. And all of these duties and ceremonies
and sacraments and ordinances and rituals, he said, here's
God. You want to get in touch with
God, you get in touch with God on a day when God has office
hours. You see, God has office hours,
9.45 Sunday morning, 7.30 Sunday night. And his office is down
at the local church of our particular denomination. You want to meet
God, you come down. Here's God. The legalist draws up a code
of conduct. He has his duties and dos and
don'ts for men and women. He has his laws and rules of
religion, his regulation of dress. of style of hair, mustaches,
and beards, what you're to eat, what you're to drink, what you're
to wear, the duties you're to perform, and the daily Bible
readings you're to read, and the devotions you're to pursue,
and he says, here's God. God's founded these things. If
you don't dress like Him, you don't know God. If you don't
live like Him, you don't know God. If you don't have a certain
social activities like He has, then you're heathen. If you don't
vote for the man He votes for, You vote against God. Here's
God. Here's God. Fifty stars. A man
held up his Bible one day, a preacher, and says, here's the United States. No it isn't. No it isn't. It was before the United States. But they're saying, here's God.
That's what they're saying. Here's God. God lives here, and
God works here. If you want to get in touch with
God, you've got to come here. The theologian surrounds himself
with books. All manner of charts and pictures. You ever seen these charts? They've
got arrows pointing up and arrows pointing down, flames coming
down, flames going up. Different circles. They've got
world and people and Adam and Christ and all these different
charts. And his creeds and catechisms and confessions of faith and
his old books and dusty parchments, and he says, here's God. Here's God. And the experientialist has a
feeling. He has a feeling. He sees a vision. He dreams dreams. He hears a
voice. He professes a superiority. He learns a heavenly language
of gibberish, and he says, here's God. Here's God. Let me tell you about my experience
with God. The fundamentalist talks of the
terrors of hell and the riches of heaven. Then he calls for
a public decision for Jesus, and he says, come to the front.
Here is God. Here is God, right down here.
Come down. All of you gather around the
front. Come down here and meet God. Now, my friend, I'm not making
fun. I'm not ridiculing. I'm crying
and weeping. I don't believe my generation
knows God. I think that, and I say it with
a broken heart, they've got a pygmy God. They've got a peanut God. Old Paul said there on Mars Hill
or in Athens, He said, God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and
earth, He dwells not in temples made with men's hands. He is
not worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything,
seeing He giveth to all life and breath and all things. And He hath made from one blood
all nations of men. for to dwell on all the face
of the earth, and he determined the times before appointed and
the bounds of their habitation. Our Lord said to the religious
people of his day, they had their temples, they had their offices,
Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes, lawyers, chief priests, Sanhedrin,
they had their schools of theology, They had their ceremonies and
rituals and ordinances and special days. They had their laws. And
he said, you don't know me or my father. You don't know. And these men
were sincere men, dedicated, enthusiastic, zealous men. But he said, you don't know me
or my father. David cried, oh, if we could
just cry this cry of David, maybe God would hear us. He cried out,
as the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul
after thee. Oh God, my soul thirsteth for
God, for the living God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. I don't want to play church anymore. I don't want to listen to these natural religionists and smile
at them anymore and say, well, he means well. He's an instrument
of the devil. When shall I come and appear
before God, the living God? Our Lord, in that awesome prayer
of the high priest, he prayed This is eternal life. This is
life eternal, if they might know thee the only true God. Worship's no good if you're not
worshiping God. Faith's no good if it's not in
God. Devotion's not worth the snap
of your finger if it's not to God and for the glory of God.
Preaching's not worth the time that you're spending if you're
not preaching the living God. God is who He is. God's who He
says He is, the unchanging God. Therefore, a knowledge, a knowledge
of the only true God must come from Him. It must come by divine
revelation. Turn to Matthew chapter 11, verse
27. Listen to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 11, 27. A knowledge of God must come
by divine revelation. And the worst thing you can do,
the very worst thing you can do, is to try to come to some conclusions
about God through your own natural wisdom and understanding. That's
the worst thing you can do. Because you see, there's a way
that seems right to us, and the end is death. To come to any
conclusions, any conclusions about God. You see, and this
is a mistake people make so often. They say, well, God wouldn't
do that. That's not right. Now, wait a minute. is right because God does it.
You see, God doesn't believe in God. Now, the God of men,
they fit a criteria or pattern that men have concocted and drawn
up in their minds. This is their idea of right and
wrong. This is their idea of truth and justice and mercy and
love, and so God fits it. But you see, God Himself is right. He is love. He is truth. He is the one by whom truth is
determined. He is the one through whom righteousness
is learned. It's what God said. In other words, he told Saul to
go down into that city and kill every human being, even the babies
in their mother's arms. That wouldn't be right for me,
but right for God. See what I'm saying? That wouldn't
be right for me. If I was ruler of a country,
it wouldn't be right for me to order that. But God ordered it
done. In the city of Sodom, God rained
down fire and brimstone from heaven and roasted. The devil
didn't do that. God did that. And God burned
up every living soul in that city, every one of them, except
Lot and his two daughters, and he turned his wife into a pillar
of salt. That wouldn't be right for me to do that. That's not
right. But it's right when God does
it. That's why what I'm saying is that this thing, Matthew 11,
listen, our Lord said in verse 27, all things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father neither knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. He said a man
doesn't even suspect who God is. A human being doesn't have the
slightest conception, the slightest understanding. He doesn't even
suspect who God is by nature. He's got to be revealed. John 1, 18. Turn to John 1, verse
18. The average human being thinks
that by nature everybody knows God. You say, you believe in
God. Everybody believes in God. No,
they don't. Everybody believes in his own idol, which he calls
God. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
Everybody's got some kind of God. But everybody does not believe
in the living God. In John 1, 18, no man, no man
has seen God at any time. And when we say seeing God, we're
not just talking about with the naked eye. We're talking about
they haven't even understood, comprehended, laid hold of in
any measure, the character, attributes, and glory of God. No man has
comprehended or understood God at any time. The only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. Christ hath declared God. One other verse, 1 Timothy 3,
I'd like you to look at this one, 1 Timothy 3. Brethren, are
you trying to, it seems like, 1 Timothy 6, verse 13, it seems like that you're trying
to tear down and destroy men's confidence Yeah, I'm trying to
tear down and destroy any confidence in tradition or custom or heritage
or man-made religion or any natural concept or feelings about God. I want us to look to the Word
and look to the Son and find out who God is. And love that
God, believe that God, worship that God and not have time for
this world's phony religious God. I want to know the living
God. In 1 Timothy 6 verse 13, 1 Timothy 6 verse 13, it says this,
I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and
before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good
confession, That's a pretty good charge laid at the feet of a
young preacher is. I give thee charge in the sight
of God and before Jesus Christ. Verse 14, that you keep this
commandment without spot, unrebukable, unto the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who in his times he shall show who is the blessed
and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He's going to show that in his
time. He's going to show who is the
blessed only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who
only hath immortality. He has no competitor. He has
no rival. He only has immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting.
Amen. That's who I'm talking about. And that's who I long to worship
and to know. I get so tired of this, won't
you come out and hear the word while I'm Catholic. I get so tired of this. Well, we go to our church and
you go to yours. We're your Baptist and we're Methodist. She certainly
lives her religion. I got a lot of faith in his religion. Well, honey, I'm just trusting
the good Lord. The good Lord's going to see us through. The
good Lord made a way somehow. Blessed Jesus. I tell you, folks, that doesn't
sound like this language here. He's the only potentate, king
of kings and lord of lords. Can I not do, God said, with
my own what I will? He said to Jeremiah, come down
to the potter's house, I'll show you something. Old Jeremiah went down to the
potter's house, and the potter was making a vessel, and the
vessel was marred. Then it started over. Now he
said, I'm the potter, you're the clay. Cannot I do with my
own what I will? Cannot I make of the same lump
one vessel unto wrath and another unto honor? And that's the reason this text
I've been working on, Hebrews 1, God, God, God in His omnipotence,
omniscient omnipresence, God in His majesty and might and
power, God in His truth and justice and holiness. God Almighty who
is right. God Almighty who at different
times and in different ways spake. Ain't no use listening to anybody
else. He spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. But who were these prophets? Well, Moses was a prophet. Isaiah
was a prophet. Abraham was a prophet. David
was certainly a prophet. Jeremiah was a prophet. Respect
our fathers for the prophets. That's how the fathers found
out about God, was through the prophets. They didn't just inquire of everybody,
they inquired of the prophets. Everybody didn't make up his
own mind about who God is, the prophets told him. There was a time when every man
did that which was right in his own eyes, and it wound up in
a flood. But the prophets speak. Well,
what did they speak about? Turn to Acts 10. Acts 10. I'll tell you what the prophets
had to say. Acts chapter 10, verse 43. These
prophets These prophets talked about another
prophet. These prophets talked about another
prophet. Acts 10, 43, it says, To him
give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever
believeth in him should receive remission of sin. Now, listen
to this. I won't have you turn. in Deuteronomy
18. Listen, this is what the prophets,
prophets prophesied of another prophet. Moses said in verse
15 in Deuteronomy 18, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee
a prophet. From the midst of thee are thy
brethren like unto me, unto him, unto him ye shall hearken. I
will raise them up, God said, a prophet from among their brethren
like unto thee, and I'll put words in his mouth, and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him, and he shall come
to pass, whosoever will not hearken unto my words which my prophet
speaks in my name, I'll require it of him." And when our Lord
Jesus Christ stood on the Mount of Transfiguration with his disciples,
his robe glistened, And the voice from heaven said, this is my
son, hear him, hear him, hear him. They all spoke of him. God spake to our fathers by the
prophets. And these prophets spake to the
people about that son that would come, to whom God would speak,
through whom God would speak to us. Listen, our Lord said,
Abraham? Well, he rejoiced to see my day.
Moses? You say Moses? You say you got
Moses? Moses wrote of me. If you'd have
believed Moses, you'd have believed me. Moses wrote of me. Isaiah?
You say you got Isaiah? When Isaiah saw his glory, he
spake of him. So you've got the Psalms. Turn
to Luke 24. You've got the major-minor prophets.
Look at Luke 24. In Luke 24, verse 27, and beginning
at Moses, Genesis 1-1, and all the prophets, and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. Look at verse 44. And He said
to them, these are the words, Luke 24, 44, I've spoken to you
while I was with you, All things must be fulfilled which are written
in the law of Moses, in the prophets, in the Psalms concerning me." You see, Christ Jesus is more
than a prophet. He's more than a prophet. Turn
back to Hebrews 1, back to our text. Let me show you. He's more
than a prophet. First of all, He's the Son of
God. He's the Son of God. To the Son,
he said, look at verse 8 of Hebrews 1. To the Son, he said, thy throne,
O God, is forever. But now look at verse 1 again.
1, 2, 3, right down through here. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers with the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by, number
1, his Son, number 2, whom he hath appointed heir, Who is he? Heir of all things. Number three,
by whom he made the world. Number four, he's the brightness
of God's glory. The glory of God revealed in
the face of Christ Jesus. Number five, he's the exact image
of his person. The exact image. I was down at
Tim James's preaching in a meeting one time. He has a little boy
named Joshua. And Darcy and I were sitting
in the living room talking. We'd just gotten there, just
drove up at service that night. We just drove up and came in,
sat down in the living room, drinking a cup of coffee. And
Joshua, we heard him outside playing on the porch. And two
of his little friends came driving with their parents up and walked
up on the porch. And Joshua said, You want to see Henry Mahan in
person? They came in and stood, you know. You want to see God in person? Christ is God. That's what he
said. He's the exact image of his person. That's it. And number six, look
at this. And he upholds all things by
the word of his power. Talking about Christ now. upholds
all things. There's nothing that, as Barney
used to say, that riser wiggles at God that Christ doesn't uphold.
Even the sparrow doesn't fall to the ground, or a leaf, or
a snowflake, or a wind blow. I tell you, these preachers who
talk about Satan and the hurricanes and Satan and the uh-uh, God's
the first cause of all things. He upholdeth all things by the
word of his power. When he had, what says, is by
himself that he purged our sins. This is the one we're talking
about. And he has sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. And look at this. He's greater
than the angels, verse 4. He being made so much better
than the angels, greater than the angels. Turn to Hebrews 3,
verse 3. This man is counted worthy of
more glory than Moses. Turn to Hebrews 4. Now, this
is what the book of Hebrews is all about. The excellency of
Christ above the angels, above Moses. Hebrews 4, verse 8, He
is our Sabbath. For if Joshua, that word Jesus
is Joshua there, had given them rest, then would he not afterward
have spoken of another day? There remaineth therefore a rest,
a sabbath, a perpetual sabbath to the people of God. He that
is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own
works, as God did from his." Oh, my, my, Christ is our sabbath. Christ is our rest. He's greater
than the priest. Hebrews 5, look at this, verse
5 and 6. Hebrews 5, 5. So Christ glorified
not himself to be made a high priest, But he that said unto
him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee, he also said
to him, Thou art a priest forever, after all there are Melchizedek."
Our Lord's not an Aaronic priesthood. He didn't even come from the
tribe of Levi. He came from the tribe of Judah. He's a priest
forever. He's greater than the priest.
He's greater than the temple. Turn to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9,
verse 11. But Christ being come, watch
this. being come a high priest, Hebrews
9, 11, of good things to come by greater and more perfect tabernacle,
that is, his own body, made not with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, he's greater than the sacrifices, verse 12,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. And then he's greater than the
law, turn to Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10, listen to this, verse 8. Above, when God said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not neither had any pleasure therein which are offered by
the law, the Levitical law. Oh, then said he, Lo, I come,
I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, and
he establishes the second. He's greater than the sacrifices,
greater than the law. Now watch this, Hebrews 13, 8.
He's greater than all, for it says here, Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday, today, and forever. You see why I got so excited
about that passage is God had spoken. He had spoken. And He spoke to our fathers for
the prophets. And those prophets spoke of the
Son. But he hath in these last days
fulfilled all that the prophets spake, and all that God promised
in the coming of the sun. Now this is my beloved son. Hear
ye him. Listen to him. And one thing
I want to show you in chapter two. Therefore, he said, we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard.
We've heard from the lips of our Lord Jesus. lest at any time
we let them slip. Why? Because of who has spoken.
Why? Because he speaks better things
than that of Abel. And I tell you this, he's the
final word. He's the final word. For if, verse 2, the words spoken
by angels, or to prophets through angels, Well, steadfast, and
in the Old Testament, every departure, transgression, disobedience from
that which was declared of the prophets received a just recompense
of reward. How shall we escape? How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first
began to be spoken to us by our Lord? O Lord, how excellent is Thy
name! in all the earth, who hath set
thy glory above the heavens. When there were no depths, thou
wast brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills, thou wast brought forth. When he prepared the heavens,
thou wast there. When he laid the foundations
of the earth, then were you by him as one brought up by daily
his delight, whoso findeth thee findeth life, and shall obtain
favor of God. That's my ambition. Whoso findeth thee, O Lord, how
excellent is thy name! The Eternal One, the Ancient
One, the Rock of Ages, the fountain of blessings. He
that sinneth against thee wrongeth his own soul. Those that hate
thee love them." I really call for a seriousness
of purpose and intent on the part of everyone in this congregation,
everyone who hears this message. to know and to love and to worship
the living God who has spoken to us by His Son. Hold Him in
deepest reverence and awe and fear, and wait before Him, cry
unto Him, and cease from playing religion. Our Father, in earnestness and
humility, and Lord, with a desperate need in this
day, we cry unto Thee. Deliver us from this famine.
Speak to our hearts in this dark day. Reveal unto us Thyself in the
person of Thy dear Son. Oh, that we may win Christ and
be found in Him, that we may know Him and the power of His
resurrection. fellowship with his sufferings,
that we may attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Look with favor
upon us. Reveal thyself unto us. For Christ's
sake we pray. Amen.