Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / Christ, the Better Word (Hebrews 1:1-2a)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

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Christ, the Better Word (Hebrews 1:1-2a)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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Amen and let's take the word then and open up
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to the New Testament book of Hebrews Hebrews
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chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 Really really what we're
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gonna look at is chapter 1 in the first half
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of verse 2 if you're looking for Hebrews, it's
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in the New Testament following the letters of
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Paul. And so as you're turning, you'll probably
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see 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus and Philemon.
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If you see James or 1st and 2nd Peter or the
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Johns, you've gone too far. Hebrews chapter 1
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verse 1 and the first half of verse 2. And this
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is the beginning of our new sermon series through
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this wonderful book. Would you follow along with
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me? Long ago, at many times and in many ways,
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God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But
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in these last days, He has spoken to us by His
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Son. The grass withers and the flower fades,
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but God's Word stands forever. Let's pray together.
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Oh Lord, as we now open up Your Word, we pray
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that the eyes of our hearts would be illumined
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so that we may be able to comprehend with all
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the saints what is the breadth and the length
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and the height and the depth, and to know the
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love of Christ which surpasses all. It surpasses
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all knowledge. So Lord, would You be our guide
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through this book. We pray for Christ's sake.
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Amen. If you could ask God one question, and
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indeed you can in prayer, but if you could ask
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God one question specifically related to the
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faith, related to something in scripture, related
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to some doctrine, maybe you might ask, well,
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Lord, really, who are the Nephilim? Or maybe
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you would ask, Lord, Truly, what's going on at
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the end of the book of Daniel? Or maybe you might
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ask God, when is Jesus coming back? I know that
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we have questions that we want to see answered.
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But if you could just ask God one question and
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be assured of the answer, I wonder what it would
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be. R .C. Sproul had a question that he wanted
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to ask God in glory. And his question was this.
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Who wrote the book of Hebrews? That might be
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your question as well. Who wrote the book of
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Hebrews? Throughout church history many have
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sought to answer this question and many have
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landed upon the Apostle Paul. Indeed the 1611
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King James Version says the title of the book
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the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews.
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Many fine theologians and pastors and just disciples
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of Christ have said the Apostle Paul wrote this
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book. To me that's a little bit like when I ask
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my children where do you want to go to dinner
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tonight and they just Shout out, we want Mexican
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food. Because what we do is we gravitate towards
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the things that we know. And we've got all of
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these letters from Paul that precede this. And
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so we might be inclined to say, well, I think
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the apostle Paul wrote this book. And indeed,
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there might be some good reasons to think that.
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After all, the end of this book is very Pauline.
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Certainly the author of Hebrews knew his Old
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Testament Bible very well. It was written, it
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appears, by someone who was Jewish. And so for
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these reasons, we might say, yes, it was the
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Apostle Paul. But at the same time, there are
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other just elements of this letter that don't
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sound like the Apostle Paul. For one thing, he
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doesn't say that he wrote it. Meanwhile, the
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letters of Paul he does. assign himself as the
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author. Additionally, there's not really an introduction
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to this book like you find in the other letters
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from Paul. It just jumps right into this kind
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of action going on, right? And maybe even more
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convincing is that I think it's in chapter two
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where it seems that the author of the book of
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Hebrews is a second generation Christian. He
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says that he learned of Christ through the Apostles.
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Now we know this about Paul. He didn't learn
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of it firstly from the Apostles, did he? No,
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the Apostle Paul had a direct encounter with
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the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road. You
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remember that he is blinded by this light. He
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falls to the ground and he hears these words
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from Jesus, Saul, Saul. Why are you persecuting
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me? And thus, Saul becomes Paul, just like I
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said last Sunday. Saul becomes Paul. The persecutor
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becomes the preacher. And with that encounter
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with the Lord Jesus Christ, he lays claim to
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being an apostle. So it doesn't come through
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other believers. It comes through Jesus. And
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so for these reasons many have said it's got
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to be somebody else. And so other people have
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suggested throughout history the following names
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as authors of Hebrews. Luke, Apollos maybe, Barnabas,
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Clement of Rome, Apaphras, Silas, Philip. But
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I think ultimately where I land on the authorship
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of Hebrews is with the Church Father origin who
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ultimately said, but who wrote the epistle? In
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truth, God knows. God knows who wrote this, even
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if we're not entirely sure. But isn't it interesting
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that in a book, that has drawn so much curiosity
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about authorship, the beginning of the book is
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all about divine authorship, isn't it? The beginning
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of this book is all about how God speaks. And
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so here's what I want you to see today. The author
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of Hebrews contrasts the time, the recipients
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and the means by which God speaks. that we would
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look unto Jesus as the Son of God and know of
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His preeminence. And so that's kind of the theme
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of this book. But some other themes that people
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have suggested, we're going to see this as we
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go along through this book. But ultimately all
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of the themes center around the second person
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of the Trinity. The big theme of this book is
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Jesus Christ Himself. The way this is written
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is to connect Jesus to the Old Testament to show
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that he is the fulfillment of the promises and
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the events of the Old Testament that Jesus is
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the yes and the Amen to all of the promises of
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God But who needed to hear this Certainly we
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need to hear this but let's think of the original
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audience here The original audience was likely
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a mixed bag of Jewish Christians and Gentile
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Christians. But but where this letter is going
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to what church we are not entirely sure on that.
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Just like we don't know the author, we don't
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know exactly where this letter was meant to go.
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Some have said Rome. Some have said Jerusalem
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and others have. sought to explain other places,
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right? But we can also say this, that the individuals
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receiving this were undergoing persecution. And
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we're gonna see that as we go along through this
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book. The recipients of this letter, some of
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them were being tempted to depart the faith.
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Some of them were being tempted to deny Christ
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as the Messiah. Some of them were being tempted
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to return to the old covenant system amidst this
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persecution. maybe that persecution is a help
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to us in understanding the dating of this book.
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So as we look at this book and we want to know
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when it was written, there is no mention of the
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destruction of the temple in AD 70. We might
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expect that in a book that has to do at least
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on some level with persecution, but there's no
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mention of the temple's destruction. There's
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also no mention of the Apostle Paul and yet there
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is mention of Timothy. And so in light of these
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things, I think we can say that this is before
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AD 70, but this is after the time of Paul's death.
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And so some have said early into maybe the mid
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60s here. Let's dive a little bit further though
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into the time. Because this is one of my main
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points. Look at the first words of this text
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I'm reading from the ESV. You might be reading
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from something else But I think they're all gonna
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say about the same thing mine begins long ago
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Right the first words long ago. And so what this
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what this is doing is contrasting what happened
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long ago with the present time of this letter,
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right And all of the action that's happening
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in just this verse and a half, all of it has
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to do with God speaking. And so let's understand
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how God spoke long ago. Many of the most pivotal
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moments in scripture are when God speaks. Indeed,
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all of scripture is God speaking. God spoke the
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world into existence, didn't he? Or think about
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how God speaks when he cuts a covenant with his
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people. We can look at this through the covenant
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of grace, the administration of the covenant
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of grace, to see how God structures things, the
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speaking of his word to his people in this covenant
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of grace. We'll start with Adam and Eve. You
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remember that after Adam ate the fruit, Adam
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and Eve disobeyed and they plunged all of the
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world into sin in Genesis chapter three. We also
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know what else happens in Genesis chapter three.
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God speaks and he speaks sharing the promise
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of the Son. He speaks of the promise of the Redeemer
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to come. And so this is the first administration
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of the covenant of grace. the promise of Christ.
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But what else happens within the covenant of
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grace? The promise spoken to Noah. You remember
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the flood. You remember what happens after the
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flood, right? There is the promise of common
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grace, never to destroy the world again by a
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flood. God speaks that, and then he shows it
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in the rainbow in the sky. What about Abraham?
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This is the promise of offspring too numerous
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to count, right? You can read of this in Genesis
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12 and 15 and 17. And if you'll let the New Testament
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interpret the Old Testament, you'll see that
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those who truly are the offspring of Abraham,
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these are the ones who are truly the offspring
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of God, right? What's next in the covenant of
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grace? You've got Moses. You've got the giving
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of the law, right? God chooses a people for himself
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and then he gives them rules, laws, by how they
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should live, right? But they must live it in
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faith, again, part of the covenant of grace.
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And then finally, to David, the promise that
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exists in 2 Samuel 7 of a king. to be enthroned
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forever, a greater king beyond David, King Jesus.
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And that's actually a very important point, friends,
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because as you read the book of Hebrews, we might
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say it like this. Hebrews is kind of a commentary
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on Psalm 110. Psalm 110 begins like this. The
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Lord. And that in your Bibles probably in all
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caps meaning Yahweh says to my Lord to David's
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Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies
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my footstool. Again Hebrews acts like a commentary
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on that because you see that passage quoted four
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times and alluded to five other times all referring
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to Psalm. 110. Now, again, we're talking about
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timing here. And so the contrast is long ago.
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But look in verse two, long ago. And then here
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we have in these last days, in these last days.
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So we need to think, how would the original audience
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have understood these last days? How do you interpret
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it? How do you understand this? Well, a Jewish
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audience, at least if not the Gentile Christians,
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would have understood that this is talking about
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the present age. And I can prove that to you
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if you'll allow me to. Consider Acts chapter
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2 verse 17. It's a very important moment in Scripture
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because Acts 2 17 is quoting Joel 2 when it says,
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In the last days it shall be, God declares, that
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I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Did you
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catch that? The last days. It was predicted in
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the past, in the time of Joel, and it comes to
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fruition at Pentecost. Also, here's another one.
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Second Timothy three, verse one. Understand this,
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that in the last days, there will come times
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of difficulty. Paul is writing to Timothy, and
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is he saying, Timothy, there's something that's
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going to happen way off in the future, or is
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he saying there is something that you are in
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the midst of right now? Friends, the last days
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began when Jesus ascended up into heaven and
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the church began at Pentecost. But also notice,
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if we can go just a tad bit deeper, how it words
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this in verse two, in these last days. Again,
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you may have a different translation, but this
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is going back to the Greek, and I believe this
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is an accurate translation, in these last days.
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And so the recipients of this letter would have
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understood they were in the last days. And these
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last days are everything in between the first
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advent of Christ and the second advent of Christ.
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Theologians have called this the church age.
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And friends, what that means is that as this
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book was written to people in the last days,
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so it is written to you in the last days. You
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are in it right now. And as the recipients of
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this letter now, let's understand it again, contrasting
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the former recipients of God's word and the recipients
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here and the recipients now. And so look here
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as it says, God spoke to our fathers. God spoke.
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To our fathers, our ancestors, our predecessors,
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we are reminded that God took a people for himself.
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Even before they were a people, God made a people
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out of them. But then the contrast is this. Something
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new has happened in these last days. Now, God
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speaks to us. Now, God speaks to us. He is reminding
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them, they, these people here, they're sending
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us a letter, are God's people, but they're not
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a God's people simply because they're Jewish,
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they're God's people because of Jesus Christ.
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Perhaps you remember 1 Peter chapter 2, verses
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9 and 10, and it reads, but you are a chosen
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race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
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for his own possession, that you may proclaim
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the excellencies of him who called you out of
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darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were
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not a people, but now you are God's people. Once
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you had not received mercy, but now you have
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received mercy. How are they God's people? Because
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they have been adopted into God's family. by
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Jesus Christ. How have they received mercy? It's
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in Jesus Christ, isn't it? And so we see this
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word of Christ is for all who would believe in
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Him. The word of Christ isn't simply for the
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smartest people or the best -looking people or
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the most talented people. The word of Christ
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isn't for just a people over there or a people
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over there. It's not for just one type of people.
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It is for all who would believe in the Lord Jesus
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Christ, who would repent of sin and trust Him.
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And ultimately, when I see these words to us,
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I can't help but think of the promise of the
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incarnation in Isaiah chapter nine. To us a child
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is born and to us a son is given To us is everyone
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who believes in Jesus That is for you and that
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is for them But also let's look at the means
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by which God speaks Okay, it says long ago at
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many times and in many ways The King James Version,
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I like how it puts it. It says, at sundry times
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and in diverse manners. Talking about how God
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speaks, what are these diverse manners? Well,
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you'll remember how God spoke to Moses through
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a burning bush. You might remember how God spoke
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to the prophet Elijah through a whisper that
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came after a storm. You might remember how God
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spoke to the prophet Ezekiel through visions,
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or how God spoke to Daniel through dreams. These
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are the ways in which God used to speak, but
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also secondly, look at this, God spoke to our
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fathers by what? By the prophets. God spoke through
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the prophets as they delivered oracles or by
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his spirit as his word is recorded. And this
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is where we return to this discussion of authorship.
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We don't know who humanly penned Hebrews, but
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we do know this. The primary author of all of
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Scripture is God Himself. For evidence of this,
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if you want to, flip ahead. To Hebrews 3 Hebrews
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3 7 through 11 For it reads Therefore as the
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Holy Spirit says Today if you hear his voice
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Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion
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on the day of testing in the wilderness where
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your fathers put me to the test and saw my works
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for 40 years Therefore, I was provoked with that
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generation and said, they always go astray in
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their hearts. They have not known my ways. As
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I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my
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rest. Friends, this is citing Psalm 95. But who
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is the primary author of it? Did you catch verse
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seven? As the Holy Spirit says. And so, yes.
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Yes, this is all written by God Himself, and
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this should give us great encouragement to press
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on, trusting Scripture, knowing that it is literally
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God breathed. Many of you know that before I
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went into pastoral ministry, I used to work for
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different newspapers in the area as a reporter.
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And one time I was in the newsroom of one of
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these newspapers and we are all talking about
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the authority and the authenticity of scripture.
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And so it was the writers, it was the photographers,
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it was the page layout people, we're all having
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this big great discussion on the Bible. But some
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of the staff were having trouble understanding
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how God could speak through people to deliver
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His Word. I reminded them of the unity of God's
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Word. That even though we've got 66 books by
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like 40 authors or so across a myriad of years,
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authors who differed in all sorts of ways and
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yet at the same time there is this unity, this
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consent of all of the parts of Scripture that
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as you read Genesis, or as you read Esther, or
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as you read Zephaniah, or Matthew, or Titus,
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or Jude, there is this unity that exists all
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throughout as God is telling us the story of
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redemption in Christ alone. The Westminster Confession
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of Faith says it beautifully. We may be moved
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and induced by the testimony of the Church to
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an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture,
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the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy
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of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the
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consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole,
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which is to give glory to God, the full discovery
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it makes of the only way of man's salvation.
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and the many other incomparable excellencies
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of the entire perfection thereof are arguments
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whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to
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be the word of God. There's an excellency about
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it. There's a majesty. There's that unity that
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I was talking about that runs all throughout.
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But friends, it's incomplete. without the Son.
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The Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the complete
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and final word. Sadly, though, there are many
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who call themselves Christians who intentionally
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ignore parts of the Bible. There are what are
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called New Testament Christians who completely
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disregard the Old Testament. They scrap it and
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they only read the new. It's not a new heresy.
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It actually is an ancient one, but it's not logical
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because if you don't have the Old Testament You
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don't know the problem and you don't have the
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promises of the Sun to come But if you don't
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have the New Testament What don't you have? You
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don't have the solution and so the Old Testament
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is pointing us to Christ and the New Testament
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is showing us Christ and promising us that Christ
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will come again. Friends, we need the entirety
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of Holy Scripture. We need all of God's counsel.
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And now that we have Jesus, we have the final
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word, and you must trust in the whole thing.
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This text reminds us that God spoke through prophets
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like Moses and Isaiah. and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel,
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and Daniel, and the minor prophets who aren't
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really minor at all. The Word of God came through
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them. And if it came through them, how much more
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are we to trust the fact that it came through
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God's one and only begotten Son, who according
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to John 1 .1 is the Word. Listen to this from
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Martin Luther. If the word of the prophets is
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accepted, how much more ought we to seize the
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gospel of Christ, since it is not a prophet speaking
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to us, but the Lord of the prophets, not a servant,
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but a son, not an angel, but God. You see, formerly
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God's word spoke of the son, but now God's word
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speaks the Son. In the incarnation, suddenly
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there was the Son, just as promised and right
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on time. And since God has finally and fully
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spoken in His Son, there is no need for further
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revelation. You remember from last Sunday, Ecclesiastes
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chapter 12, one of those verses says, of the
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making of many books, there is no end. It's telling
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us to trust. God and His Word. Friends, we have
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the Word, and the title is Christ. Now, as Reformed
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Christians, we have a high view of Scripture,
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don't we? We have a very high view of Scripture.
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But does our practice line up with our beliefs
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here? Think about it this way. How would your
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life look different if you trusted the Bible
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completely as the Word of God? How would your
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life look different if you trusted the Bible
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completely as the Word of God? And how would
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your life look different if you recognize Christ
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as the final word? Friends, we can admit this
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about ourselves that sometimes we don't give
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ourselves fully or very much to the reading and
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the studying of Holy Scripture. But what if we
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did? How would our lives look different? Five
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very brief points of application. One, we would
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read it. And if our eyes have grown too dim to
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read it, we would love to hear somebody else
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read it or have somebody explain it to us. Friends,
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we would hide it in our hearts in times of need
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and in times of prosperity. Secondly, we would
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share it. How many of you just within the last
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week have read an article or seen a mean meme
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or a gift or whatever they're called Online how
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many of you have shared within the last week
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something that you read online. I See some hands
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going up and that's that's proper. Okay How much
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more should we share the Word of God than those
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memes or gifts that we see online? thirdly we
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would trust it. Hebrews 6, 18 says, it's impossible
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for God to lie. And yet if we know this about
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ourselves, sometimes we're not truthful in everything,
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are we? How much more should we trust God's word
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that is truth at all times? For we would repent.
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We would repent. For God's word shows us again
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and again how how central to prayer and repentance
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these things are in our lives. It shows us over
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and over again that we would go to God in prayer
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and say, God, I have grieved you by my actions
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or my words or my thoughts. Please forgive me
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and turn me back to Jesus. And so we would repent
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regularly of sin. Five. Lastly, we would worship.
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We would worship. If we truly gave ourselves
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more and more to the study, to the reading of
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God's Word, just studying it privately, but also
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with others, we would be moved and induced, as
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the Confession says, to worship. We have been
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placed here for the glory of God, and so we would
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seek more and more to do that in corporate worship
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and just in our lives during the week, for He
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alone It's praiseworthy. Friends, I don't give
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this to us to guilt trip us. I give this to us
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in order to encourage us. You all have people
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in your lives that you trust. You got a brother,
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a sister, a friend, maybe a grandparent, somebody
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that you just love to talk to when you're in
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need. God's word is even greater than those people.
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And it's totally trustworthy. And so let this
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be encouragement to you to read, to listen, to
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study, to memorize God's word and to appreciate
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because it is perfect in everything that it says.
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And friends, the way that I'm framing this with
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these comparisons, these contrasts, this is actually
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how the entire book really kind of goes. The
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way these two verses are written is a pattern
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throughout the book to show us that Christ is
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supreme. Christ is greater. Christ is better.
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Donald Guthrie says, this is the real theme of
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the letter. The past has given way to better
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things. And that's why this sermon series is
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called The Preeminence of Christ. Christ is before
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all things. Christ is above all things. And Christ
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is authoritative over all things. This book will
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say that Christ is greater than the angels. Christ
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is more excellent than Moses. Christ is greater
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than Joshua the high priest. And Christ is a
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better and final sacrifice for us. Christ is
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greater. Because Christ is to take first place
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in our lives for he is the image of the invisible
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God John 1 1 says it best in the beginning was
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the word and the word was with God and the word
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was God You see not only is Christ above and
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beyond all things Christ Jesus is the better
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word Let's pray Father, in heaven, we give you
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great thanks that you've given us this word and
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that you have given us the one who has called
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the word. Father, would we give ourselves more
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and more to the studying of Christ by your word,
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to sharing of the word? Father, to even praying
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and singing of the word, we thank you for this
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word. and we thank you in Christ's name. Amen.