Now let's turn to Hebrews chapter
1. I'm sure all of you here have
heard somebody say before, don't preach to me. Just don't preach
to me. In other words, don't yell at And I know it gets a little tiresome,
gets a little tiresome to have someone continually grinding
an axe and reminding you of what you shouldn't do, what you aren't
doing, or what you ought to do, what you ought to do, what you
ought to do. That's what to me, don't preach
to me, don't preach to me, don't keep reminding me of what I ought
to do. But let's allow the voice of
the Lord God, let's don't get weary of his word, let's allow
the voice of the Lord God to speak to us concerning something
very important that we ought to do. This is what he says in
chapter 2 verse 1, we ought, therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed
to the things which we've heard. We ought to. We ought to. Some of us are not going to,
but we ought to. That's what God says, we ought
to. Now, what I want to do this morning
is put in practice what I've exhorted you so often to do in
reference to interpreting any scripture, especially and especially
when a scripture begins with the word, therefore. Therefore. And that is to go back, you see,
if you will, go back and find out what is said before, prior
to this verse. Therefore we ought, I ought,
you ought, to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've
heard. We ought to. And let's go back and see what
it says before that. Now, back at Hebrews 1, let's
look at verse 1. God Almighty, the eternal who
at sundry times and in different manners spake in times past. God spake. God Almighty spoke. How did God speak? To whom did
God speak? Well, he spoke to our fathers.
How did God speak? He spoke to the prophets. That's
how God spoke to men in Old Testament days. He spoke to men by the
prophets. He appeared to the prophets in dreams and visions. He taught the prophets and the
prophets taught the people. These prophets were Moses, Jeremiah,
Isaiah, Daniel, Elijah, and others. God Almighty spoke to our fathers
by the prophets. Well, what did He speak to them
about? Well, turn to Acts chapter 10. Now, something, if you'll
learn this, it'll help you. It took me a long time to find
this out. But these two words, when it
talks about the prophets, You remember it says they have Moses
and the prophets? If they're here, not the prophets.
When it talks about the prophets, it's talking about the Old Testament
prophets almost every time. Almost every time. Now, the Lord
Jesus Christ gave to the church prophets, apostles, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers. The prophets were in the Old
Testament days. And the apostles were following
Christ. There are no apostles today.
The apostles' credentials were these. They had seen the Lord,
and they received their gospel directly from the Lord. We're
not apostles. We're not apostles. They say,
well, Paul did it this way, and I do it this way. Well, do it
as far as you can, following the example of Paul. But you're
not Paul. Well, Paul raised the dead, but you're not Paul. You're
not an apostle. We're missionaries, evangelists,
we're pastors and teachers. But when the Scripture uses the
word prophets, it's talking about those Old Testament prophets.
And in the New Testament, when it talks about the Scriptures,
He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that the Scriptures
might be fulfilled, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,
it's talking about the Old Testament Scriptures. That's what it's
talking about. Now in Acts chapter 10, verse
43, it says, give all the prophets witness."
Now, God spake to our fathers by the prophets. What did he
speak to them about? About Christ? About Christ? That's exactly right. "...to
him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever
believeth in him should receive remission of sins." That's who
are the prophets? The prophets are the Old Testament
writers. and preachers, Elijah, Elisha,
Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah. I'm telling you the truth, the
prophets, and to Christ gave all these prophets witness. They
all witnessed of Christ and His redemption, His blood. Let me
show you that here, if you will, turn to John chapter 8, verse
56. Now listen to it. Somebody says,
well, Christ is not in the Old Testament. You're not in the
Old Testament if you don't see Christ in the Old Testament and
you haven't been in it yet. You need to get in it. If you
can read the Old Testament and not see Christ, you haven't read
it right. That rock is Christ. Our Passover
is Christ. That brazen serpent is Christ.
That art is Christ. In John 8, 56, listen, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. You see, that's what the old
Pharisees claimed, that Christ wasn't in the Old Testament.
Jesus Christ. And he said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. He saw it and was glad. And they
said unto him, Well, you're not fifty years old. Have you seen
Abraham? He said, Before Abraham was,
I am. Turn to John chapter 6, John
chapter 5, verse 46. My friends, this is such an important
point I'm making here. I wish I could enforce it like
it ought to be enforced. John 5, verse 46, they said,
they said, we have Moses. And he said, verse 46, had you
believed Moses, you would have believed me. Moses wrote of me. That's what I'm saying. Turn
to Luke 24. If you get hold of this, it'll open up the Old Testament
for you. If you never get a hold of it,
the Old Testament will stay closed for you the rest of your life.
The Old Testament is not a book of Proverbs and history of the
Jewish nation, a love story and so forth. It's a message of redemption
in Christ. That's what it's all about from
Genesis 3.15 to Malachi. That's what it's all about. In
Luke 24, listen, verse 44, and he said to his apostles, will
you hear it? These are the words which I have
spoken to you while I was yet with you, that all things must
be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets
major and minor, in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he
their understanding that they might understand," what did I
say? The Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures. Up to that
time they didn't understand them. They had them, but it was Saul
of Tarsus who memorized them. Those old scribes who transcribed
them, those old Pharisees who taught them didn't understand
them. And people in America in the pulpit who've carried them
in their hands and gone to seminaries and colleges, they don't understand
them. You don't understand the scriptures until you see Christ.
Christ is the scriptures. that they might understand the
Scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it
is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to die,
to rise from the dead the third day, that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem." That's what the Scriptures teach. Turn to I Corinthians
15. I Corinthians 15. Listen to this. And this means nothing unless
the word scriptures refers to the Old Testament writing. 1
Corinthians 15, one more, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to Moses and Daniel
and David and Jeremiah and Elijah in the scriptures." That's what
it says, according to the scriptures. And that he was buried and rose
again the third day according to the scriptures, the Old Testament. All right, let's go back to our
text, Hebrews 1, verse 1. God spake to our fathers by the
prophets. What did he speak? Redemption
in Christ. God hath, verse 2, in these last
days. Now, my friends, you say, are
we in the last days? We have been in the last days
since Christ died on the cross. The Apostle Paul and all of the
writers of the New Testament refer to the past 2,000 years,
1,900 years, as the last days. When you come across the last
days in the New Testament, it's talking about since Christ died
to this present time. That's the last day. There were
2,000 years from Adam to Moses, approximately 2,000 years, very
close. From Moses to Christ is 2,000
years. From Christ to 1983, they're
almost 2,000 years. Do you believe we're in the last,
last days? I don't have any reason to believe
otherwise, but I don't have any proof of it. I believe we're
in the last, last days. But when you see the last days,
it's talking about these days since the scriptures were fulfilled
in the coming of Christ. Now, to whet your appetite a
little bit, if you want to go to 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 3,
you may be interested in this. I am. And this is no new thing. Most of the prophetical writings
are of recent days. especially those that have all
the different events and advents and so forth, like premillennialism
and postmillennialism and these things. But I read an old writer
of many, many years ago, I forget how long ago, but he brought
out this before the days of the teachings of the rapture and
the tribulation and the times, time, time and a half of time
and so forth, you know. But here in 2 Peter 3, it says
in verse Three, knowing this first, that there shall come
in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lust, and saying,
Where is the promise of his coming? His coming, his second coming.
Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation. All right, we're talking about
his second coming. That's what Peter's talking about. Stay with
the context. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the
word of God the heavens were of old. The heavens and earth
were created by the word of God. We know by faith the worlds were
created by the word of God. And the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out of water and in the water, whereby
the world that then was being overflowed with water, that's
the flood of Noah, perished. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word of God are kept in store, they're
preserved. Reserved under fire against the
judgment, the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
In other words, God's not going to destroy the world by water
again, but by fire. It will be destroyed at his coming.
But beloved, and this is interesting, I've quoted this scripture a
hundred times. But this scripture is right here in an exhortation
on the return of Christ. And on when it'll take place.
That's the way this discussion started. When is he coming? Back
here in verse 3, it says, scoffers will come saying, well, when's
he coming? When's he coming? When's he coming? Everything
continues like it is since the beginning of the world. Since
our fathers fell asleep, everything's going along like it is. Here
are thousands and thousands of years. Thousands of years and
he still hadn't come back. When's he coming? And Peter says
they ignorant of this fact that God by his word spake the world
into being God by his word Destroyed the world by water and God by
his word will destroy it by fire. But Beloved be not ignorant of
this one thing Concerning the return of the Lord that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as
a day What this old man said that was writing on this subject,
he said, when God created the world, he created it in six days,
rested on the seventh. And a thousand years is a day,
and a day is a thousand years. And it may be that we'll receive
the return of our Lord at the end of this 2,000 years period,
2,000 years from Adam to Moses, 2,000 years from Moses to Christ,
2,000 years in the last day. A day is 1,000 years. I'm not
teaching that as Church doctrine now, but I'm saying there's something
there, there's some reason that right in the middle of a discourse
on the return of the Lord, that the Apostle Peter should say
they're ignorant of this fact, that 1,000 years is a day, and
he'll rest a seventh, another 1,000 years. But let's go back
to our text in Hebrews 1. God hath in these last days,
since Christ's coming, spoken to us by his Son. God has spoken by his Son. Now,
in the following statements, he gives us the identifying marks
or characteristics of his Son. Who is this by whom God has spoken
to us? He says, number one, whom he
hath appointed heir of all things." Everything, I've said this so
many times, has been put in the hands of Christ. Everything's
been put in the hands of Christ. Turn to Hebrews 2 verse 8. Listen
to this. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
unto him, he left nothing that's not put unto Christ." And that's
you and me, and that's the rebel and the repentant. That's the
believer, and that's the man who doesn't believe. Everything's
unto Christ. Our Lord said, Father, thou hast
given me all authority over all flesh. But it says in verse 8
here, but now we see not yet all things put unto him. We don't
see the fulfillment of it, but in the purpose of God it's been
done. We still see a lot of rebellion around the world. Satan's still
out there somewhere and all the demons of hell, but they're still
under Christ. God's put everything under Christ.
He's made him the heir of all things. All right, notice the
next mark of this man called Jesus Christ. It says, God has
spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all
things, by whom he made the world. 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 next line says, And He's
the brightness of the Father's glory. Father, glorify me with
the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. Let me
show you a beautiful scripture about Christ. Turn to Proverbs
8. Proverbs 8. You'll want to turn over there
and read this. You say you're going back to
the old Bible. Well, I've already told you that this, I don't like
to call it the old Bible, the Old Testament, is the scriptures
regarding Christ. In Proverbs chapter 8, of whom
can this be said if it's not Christ? Listen. In Proverbs 8,
24, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there
were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were
settled, before the hills was I brought forth. while as yet
he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part
of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens,
I was there. When he set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea his decree, that
the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by him, as one brought
up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always
before him." Who is that? Well, that can't be anybody but
Christ. That can't be anything better than Christ. He's the
brightness of the Father's glory. And then the next line says he's
the express or exact image of his person. Scripture says, under us a child
is born, under us a son is given. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. And then in John chapter 10, I want you to look at this
scripture, verse 30, our Lord Jesus Christ said this, and they
took up stones to stone him, but he said in John 10, 30, I
and my Father are one. I cannot explain that, how God
can become a man, how the Father can be in heaven and the Son
in a body on earth and yet both be one, but they are. Turn to
John 14. John 14. And the disciples said,
one of them said in verse 8, Philip said, Lord, show us the
Father, and it sufficeth us. And Jesus said, Have I been so
long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father. All right, back to our
text. Now listen, as this develops,
the seriousness of it, the importance of it, God spake to our fathers
by the prophets. He spake of his redemptive purpose,
of his redemptive work, of his redemptive glory. He spake of
Christ. He hath in these last days, we're in the last days,
he hath spoken to us directly, not indirectly, but directly
by his Son. And who is this Son? He's the
one who's been appointed heir of everything. Everything's in
Christ. He's the one who made the world,
by whom God made the world. He's the brightness of the Father's
glory, eternal glory. He is the exact image of the
Father's person. All right, notice the next line
now. When he had, now watch this, by himself purged our sins. That's who he is. Now this is
what he did. By himself purged our sins. There's a two-fold
meaning here. Now get it. This is very simple but very,
very important. He purged our sins by the sacrifice
of himself. That's what that's saying. By
himself, by the sacrifice of himself, by giving of himself,
he purged our sins. When Abraham and Isaac were trudging
up that hill and And Isaac asked, where's the lamb? Abraham said,
God will provide himself a lamb. He will provide himself as the
lamb. So Christ, by the providing of
himself, by the giving of himself, by the sacrifice of himself,
purged our sinners. But there's a second meaning
to that statement. He did it by himself. all by myself. That's what it
says. See what I'm saying? I'm saying
that Christ purged our sins by himself, by the sacrifice of
himself, by the obedience of himself, by the giving of himself,
but he did it by himself. He did it without the aid of
any creature, angels or men. Our Lord walked the winepress
of God's wrath night alone. What is it to purge our sins?
Now, some people, this may not seem a lot to you, it may seem
a light thing. People who do not understand,
and most people don't, most religionists are in the dark on these two
subjects. To the man here, when I say Christ by himself, and
Christ by himself alone, purged, purged, put away, canceled our
sins. To you, that's a light thing,
but I'm telling it to some here who have a little understanding
of the infinite holiness of God, of the awesome righteousness
of God, and of the distance between us and God, and of the guilt
and corruption of our souls, of our best thoughts, of our
best righteousness. to think about all our sins and
all our iniquities and all our transgressions being purged,
that is, put away, remembered no more, cast into the depths
of the sea, separated as far as the east is from the west,
to be remembered no more, our sins totally, completely purged. To you, that's an amazing declaration. But he by himself, by the sacrifice
of himself, and by himself alone, hath purged, put away, counseled,
annihilated all our sins, and in Christ there is no sin. And
when he had done that, when he had done that, now watch this. This man, when he had done that,
sat down. Where did he sit down? Well,
he sat down in the highest chair of ecclesiastical position. No, sir. Well, he sat down in
the headquarters of the largest denomination. No, sir. Well,
he sat down in the angels' room to be admired by angels and men.
No, sir. He sat down on the right hand
of God. This person who is a man, the
man Jesus Christ, this person who's numbered with the transgressors,
this person who bore our sins, this person, this man who was
born of a woman and worked in a carpenter shop and walked this
earth in flesh and bones, who died under the wrath, under the
judgment of God, who died under the wrath and judgment of God,
for God the Father turned his back. This man who was buried
like every other man in a tomb, this man sat down, this man entered
into the very holiest of holies, and on the right hand of God
he sat down, permanently installed on the right hand of God. Think
about it. I tell you, I think sometimes
that we read scriptures like this and we read it like we're
reading a fiction magazine or story. Oh, I've read that before.
Have you now? Wish you hadn't, so it'd be new
and fresh. I wish you hadn't. I wish you
hadn't read it so many times. I wish you hadn't read it without
reading it. I wish you hadn't read it without meaning, because
evidently it doesn't mean anything. God, God? God who spoke to our fathers
for the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by His
Son? Jim, you read that before? Yeah,
I read that before. Is it amazing to you? Breathtaking. Who is this Son? He's not a son
like I am. He's a Son who's the heir of
all things, by whom God made the worlds. who is the brightness
of God's glory, who had glory with God before the world was,
whose exact image of His person, who by Himself purged our sins. And as our representative and
mediator and intercessor, He'd gone right in, boldly, right
into the throne room, into the courts of glory, that man, and
walked up on the right hand of God and said, and sat down." Boy, I tell you
now, that's something. He sat down. And God said in verse 4, He's
made so much better than angels. He never said to any of the angels,
aren't my son this day have I begotten thee? He never said to any of
the angels, verse 8, I throw no goddess forever. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hath laid the foundations of the earth," and verse 11, "...they
shall perish, but ye shall always be the same." Even the world,
one day, like you have this old suit, not too old now, but one
day it will be, and I'll just fold it up and I'll put it in
the trash and they'll cart it off. God's going to take this
old world, old heaven, fold it up and put it away. But not Christ.
Thou art the same. Thy years shall never fail."
He never said to an angel, sit on my right hand till I bring
all your enemies to bow before you. And then in chapter 2, verse
1, he said, therefore, therefore, in the light of all this, we
ought, oh, how we ought. And that's putting it mildly. My, my. It's hard. I know most
preaching is just a ranting and raving and yelling and a screaming
and a, I don't know, entertainment. Most preaching is entertainment.
Not much entertainment either. But I see them walking up and
down with their microphones yelling and screaming and people cheering
and clapping, but all the solemnity of this, the awesomeness of it,
it takes your breath away. God spoke has spoken to us by
his Son. And I tell you what we ought
to do. We sure ought to listen. You know what he's saying today?
We sure ought to listen. In the light of all this, we
ought to give the more earnest heed to what we've heard. And
you've heard. You've heard this morning. If
you've never heard before, you've heard this morning. He's the
firstborn of every creature, and he's God's last messenger.
This is my beloved Son. Our Lord was transfigured before
the disciples, and our God said, This is my Son. Hear Him. Hear
Him. And I'm not saying you have to
come here to hear Him. You could open this Word and hear Him. You could open this Word and
hear Him. It's a serious thing, I know,
with so many folks playing games. They're in between getting mad
and pouting and quitting and coming and going and playing
church. Oh, how we need to hear him. He said verse 2. Verse 1 says
there, we need to hear him lest at any time we let them slip.
Let me tell you something. Let me warn you here. Will you
listen a minute? Lest at any time we let them
slip. These things which we've heard
from his sons, how do they slip? Well, there can be a hardening
of the heart. People can get gospel-hardened.
I've seen folks get gospel-hardened. Like Pharaoh, you know, he heard
Moses, and he heard him again and again and again and again,
and each time he heard him with a little less interest, a little
less concern, a little less fear. His heart was hardened. Gospel
heart. I'll tell you another way that
you can let these things slip, and that's being removed away
from this gospel. Satan can take you away, by God's
permission, take you away from this gospel. He can take you
away for a lot of reasons. Or he can remove the messenger.
He did that back One time in England, when the old established
church and king, who was that king? Joe, you know the king
that emptied all the churches of their pastors. 250 is the
great closing of the church door. They put 200 and some odd preachers
out of their pulpits one Sunday, among those from the greatest
preachers of all time, and closed the doors. Closed the doors. And then by judgment, turn to
Proverbs 1. Let me show you something here,
Proverbs chapter 1. What I'm aiming for on this particular
point here, I'm trying to generate or cultivate or create or some
way, on your part, an interest in hearing, not just hearing
the Bible as a as a religious book, but hearing it as God speaking
through his son, God speaking, and hearing a message, not just
to be entertained, well, the preacher said there's some good
things this morning, you know, and hallelujah time, you know,
hearing God speaking. He says in verse 24 of Proverbs
1, I have called, and you refused. I stretched out my hand, and
no man regarded. You said it not all my counsel,
and you wouldn't listen to my reproof. I'm going to laugh at
your calamity, I'm going to mock when your fear comes, when your
fear comes as a desolation and your destruction as a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you, then shall you call
upon me, but I will not answer. You'll seek me early and shall
not find me." That's slipping away. Let's go to the text and
I'll quit. Hear these things, lest at any
time you let them slip." Those folks back yonder, the words
spoken by messengers and prophets, angels, were steadfast. And every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of
war. Here's my question. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a message,
so great a gospel? which was spoken to us by the
Lord himself." Who would you hear? The disciples
said one day, our Lord said, will you go away? And they said,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Who are you going to hear? And honestly, here at 13th Street
Baptist Church and in this morning hour and again tonight, And we're
trying to preach what Christ said in his Word. And I ask you,
to whom shall you go? But I wish you'd hear him speak.
I wish you'd hear it. Walk in the light God's given
you. Bow to Christ. Receive Christ. Believe on Christ. Follow Christ. Trust in Christ. Look to Christ. Confess Christ. Identify with Christ. For he
is our Lord and our Redeemer. Our Father blessed the Word this
morning. May we leave this place with
a deeper appreciation and love and regard for your Word, for
the gospel that you've given us. You've not left us in darkness.
You've warned, you've spoken, you've exhorted, you've invited,
you've called. and taught us by his Spirit,
we're grateful. And everything's revealed, everything
that we need to know or to have or to possess is in Christ. Give us eyes to see him, ears
to hear him, a heart to love him, a mouth to be his witness. Lord, don't take this gospel
from us, or us from this gospel, or cause our hearts to be hardened
by the things of this world and our own temperaments, personality,
hardened against the voice of our God, not being moved by the
things that we've heard. Don't let them slip away. Crown
them in glory with our presence. We ask these things in the name
of Christ our Lord and for his sake. Amen.