1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Thank you, you may be seated. 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:11,360 If you have your Bibles, we're in Hebrews chapter one. I think you're already there. 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:15,360 Esop, 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:17,520 the 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:23,120 ancient storyteller told this fable. Who here has heard of Esop's fables? Yeah. 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,000 He told this fable 7 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,360 at least by tradition it says this. 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,400 Once upon a time a 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:34,800 donkey found a lion's skin. 10 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,120 He tried it on, 11 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,400 strutted around and frightened many animals. 12 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,320 Soon a fox came along and the donkey tried to scare him too, 13 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:50,560 but the fox hearing the donkey's voice said, if you want to terrify me, you'll have to disguise your prey. 14 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,240 You know what a prey is, right? 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,240 He aww. 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,640 Esop's moral clothes made the skies a fool, but his words give him away. 17 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:10,560 You know, we live in a culture where a lot of people are saying a lot of things. If you 18 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:17,680 like, if you live in a time where you like to hear people talk, you live in a great time in human history. 19 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:22,240 We have talk radio, we have podcasts, 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,240 we have YouTube, 21 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:26,560 we have 22 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,560 24-hour news. 23 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:35,000 If you like to hear people talk, you have a wide selection to hear from. And in some ways, 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:41,600 that's an incredibly good thing. There are people out there that are teaching about any number of disciplines and expertise 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,680 they have. Anybody ever learn how to fix something on YouTube? 26 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:47,320 If you haven't, 27 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:53,480 literally you can be as specific as you want to be. Probably someone has. We had a Toyota Sienna van, a 28 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:59,000 2004 Sienna van, and the handles kept going off, and I didn't know how to replace the handle, although I thought 29 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,440 it would be way too much to do at the dealership, and so I typed in 30 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:04,520 replace the 31 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:08,280 handle on a 2004 van, and then I showed it to Megan and she went and fixed it. 32 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:16,440 You can find out a lot on YouTube, amen. Praise the Lord for handy wives, amen. 33 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,360 You can find all kinds of things out. You can really get an education 34 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:29,720 through the spoken word. If you don't even like to read, you can learn a lot from just the spoken word, and that's an amazing thing. 35 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,800 Through books and podcasts, all kinds of online and offline media, 36 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:40,600 we can learn so much and integrate so much into our lives. For the first time in human history, 37 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,240 the spoken word is as 38 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,240 distributable as the 39 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:47,240 written word has been. 40 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:49,240 Think about that. It's pretty amazing. 41 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,920 But along with that reality has come something else. 42 00:02:55,160 --> 00:03:02,440 There's a real problem that has always been a problem that I believe has been made more evident and it's been exacerbated now. 43 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,880 That problem is the problem of trustworthiness. 44 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,960 Who do you trust? You know not everything on the internet is true. 45 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,080 Abraham Lincoln once said, not everything on the internet is true. 46 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,080 Not everything on television is true. 47 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,600 In our culture, there's a shared, 48 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:37,560 there's a shrinking amount of shared values, and as a result there are shrinking amounts of shared facts. 49 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:47,960 Truth and trust, as the bible says, really is dying in the streets, and as a result so is the concept of authority. 50 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:55,880 Respect for institutions and authority are at a low point in our country in my opinion. 51 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:57,880 It's hard to know who can be trusted. 52 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:01,880 Have you guys felt that? 53 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:03,880 Who do you trust? 54 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:11,880 There was a time in our country where the news cycles were limited to newspapers being distributed in the morning and in the evening. 55 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:17,880 And then you had the evening news from two or three channels at night that had about an hour worth of news. 56 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:23,880 And there was an attempt at such a thing called journalism to only publish facts when there are verified sources. 57 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:29,080 But now we have 24 hour news cycles that are often driven by money. 58 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:40,440 We have a social media as a place where so many people get their news and the idea of so many people online becoming journalists themselves. 59 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:45,480 Everybody's got a phone in their pocket and they editorialize on all kinds of things. 60 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,520 Everyone can have a platform and everybody can make claims. 61 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:54,520 And as a result it's difficult to know who to trust. 62 00:04:54,520 --> 00:05:00,520 It's in this cultural context that we come today to begin our study in the book of Hebrews. 63 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,520 I believe we're going to be in it for some time and I'm super excited about it. 64 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:12,520 Because God's word is so, this book of the Bible is so rich and we're going to try to mine everything we can out of its pages. 65 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:20,520 And it starts out, this book of Hebrews starts out with this incredible claim. 66 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:26,520 It starts out with verses one through four which are one sentence in the Greek. 67 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:32,520 Our translation, the King James translation that we are reading from today puts it in one sentence too. 68 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:34,520 Some translations put it in several sentences. 69 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,520 But in the original language it starts, it's one sentence. 70 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:46,520 So it's just, he starts out right from the gate just putting all kinds of truth, 71 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:52,520 compacting it into one sentence and I'm only going to get to preach about half the sentence today. 72 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:58,520 And it's all kind of centered around basically this clause, 73 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:08,520 God spake and God hath spoken. 74 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:14,520 Can you say that with me? God spake, God hath spoken. 75 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:18,520 What an incredible truth. 76 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,520 There is a God. 77 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:22,520 There is a God. 78 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:29,520 And this God has revealed himself in the past and this God has revealed himself to us. 79 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:35,520 It's an important claim to know that God has spoken. 80 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:45,520 Now human beings, we live in a world that's limited to time, space and matter. 81 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,520 Okay? 82 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,520 Don't lose me on this. 83 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:53,520 I'm going to get kind of heady but I want you to think about this. 84 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:58,520 We experience everything naturally. 85 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,520 We exist inside of time and space and matter. 86 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:04,520 We experience time. 87 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:10,520 We can only go to the past in our memories and we can only go to the future in our hopes and dreams 88 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,520 and sometimes we go to the future in our worries. 89 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,520 Anybody ever do that? 90 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,520 We all only truly experience the present. 91 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:28,520 We exist as matter and live in time and space and I'm not saying there's not something spiritual to us. 92 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,520 I believe there absolutely is something spiritual to us. 93 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:33,520 Everybody knows it. 94 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,520 The Bible says God has put eternity in our hearts. 95 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:38,520 He has. 96 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,520 And so we know that there's something that exists outside of time, space and matter. 97 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:42,520 We know that. 98 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:45,520 We feel that. 99 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,520 But we exist inside that box. 100 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,520 Just imagine a box. 101 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,520 We live in this box of time and space and matter. 102 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:58,520 And inside the box you could label that natural. 103 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:00,520 This is the natural box. 104 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,520 Now, we cannot get outside of that natural box. 105 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:08,520 With the evidence that's being observed now that shows that the universe is expanding. 106 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,520 Many scientists are confirming, although many of them confirming reluctantly, 107 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,520 that the universe, because it's expanding, 108 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:21,520 it makes you think that if it's expanded, then if you go back in time, 109 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:27,520 the universe must have had a beginning. 110 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:36,520 If you, for our universe to exist, time, space and matter had to begin all at once. 111 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,520 Okay, am I going too fast? 112 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,520 Time can't exist outside of space and matter. 113 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:45,520 Matter can't exist outside of space. 114 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:47,520 Are you with me? 115 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:49,520 That's what's going on. 116 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:54,520 For there to be time, space and matter, something must have caused these things to come to be. 117 00:08:54,520 --> 00:09:01,520 But whatever created time and space and matter must be timeless, 118 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,520 spaceless, and immaterial. 119 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:06,520 Don't lose me. 120 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:10,520 Whatever created wood, whatever brought wood into existence, 121 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:14,520 couldn't itself be made out of wood. 122 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:15,520 Okay? 123 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,520 So whatever created time, space and matter had to be timeless, 124 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,520 spaceless, and immaterial. 125 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:30,520 It also must be wise, powerful, personal, and bigger than what was created. 126 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:35,520 Do you know what the Bible reveals about the beginning of time, space, and matter at once? 127 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:36,520 It does. 128 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:41,520 It reveals the beginning of time and space and matter at once by a timeless, 129 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:47,520 spaceless, immaterial, powerful, personal, and all wise pre-existent being. 130 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:55,520 It does this in the first verse of the first chapter, in the beginning time. 131 00:09:55,520 --> 00:10:01,520 God created the heavens, space, and the earth matter. 132 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,520 Amen. 133 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,520 Am I blowing anybody's mind this morning? 134 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:08,520 It's pretty cool. 135 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:12,520 So we as created beings are bound to the natural world that God created. 136 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,520 We are in this natural box with no way to get out of it. 137 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:21,520 We cannot get to the eternal on our own in this life. 138 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:28,520 Religion is an attempt to get outside of the box, to get to the supernatural, to get to the eternal. 139 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:32,520 That's what religion attempts to do. 140 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:39,520 Mankind has always been trying to get to God and to get there on His and His way. 141 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,520 You guys remember the Tower of Babel? 142 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:44,520 Genesis 11, one says, 143 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,520 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 144 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:52,520 And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, and they found a plane in the land of Shinar, 145 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:54,520 and they dwelt there, and they said one to another, 146 00:10:54,520 --> 00:11:02,520 Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly, that they had brick for stone and slime for mortar. 147 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:07,520 And they said, Go to, let us build a city and a tower whose top may reach under the heaven, 148 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:13,520 and let us make us a nameless we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 149 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:15,520 What were they trying to do? 150 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,520 They're trying to get to God. 151 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:24,520 They're trying to escape that natural box to get to heaven in some kind of human effort, 152 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:30,520 and the truth is, we can't get to God, not on our own. 153 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:37,520 For mankind to connect with God, a supernatural, eternal being that exists outside of time, space, and matter, 154 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,520 He had to come to us. 155 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,520 We cannot get to Him on our own. 156 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:49,520 And what I want you to know today is that right here in the first two verses, 157 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:54,520 God tells us that that's exactly what He did. 158 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,520 God has gotten to us. 159 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:08,520 God communicating to us, God commuting Himself to us is called Revelation. 160 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:13,520 God has revealed Himself to us in our time and in our space. 161 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,520 Now, Hebrews begins and reads in large part like a sermon, 162 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:20,520 and it makes this claim so crystal clear to us. 163 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,520 God has revealed Himself to us. 164 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:28,520 God hath spoken. 165 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:33,520 We know that God did reveal Himself to us through creation, right? 166 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:40,520 Psalm 191 says, the heavens declare the glory of God and the earth showeth His handiwork. 167 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:42,520 The firmament showeth His handiwork. 168 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,520 The heavens are declaring, there is a God. 169 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:48,520 There's a God. 170 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,520 Why is there something rather than nothing? 171 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,520 There's a God. 172 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:58,520 Paul makes this argument that the created world declares God's existence in Romans chapter 1, 173 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:06,520 where it says in verse 20, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen 174 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:14,520 being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. 175 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:19,520 When you come into the world and you look around and you see the order that's there, 176 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:25,520 when you see the water cycle, the sun warming us, the moon controlling the tides, 177 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:33,520 all the things we could talk about, somebody, listen, anybody have kids? 178 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:39,520 Who knows that kids teach us that stuff doesn't stay clean on its own? 179 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,520 We're not going from order to disorder, right? 180 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,520 That's what we're doing, we're going from order to disorder, not disorder to order. 181 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,520 You don't blow up and make a F-150. 182 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:54,520 You don't blow something up and make a Ford F-150, right? 183 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:59,520 When stuff blows up it, we call that entropy, right? 184 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:01,520 It goes from organized. 185 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,520 If there is organization, if there is design, there must be a designer. 186 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:06,520 If there's painting, there must be a painter. 187 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:07,520 We know that. 188 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:12,520 And so when we see design in the world, we realize there must be a designer. 189 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,520 That's all Paul's saying. 190 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:20,520 We understand that from the things that are made that there is a God. 191 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,520 We know that God's existence has been made known by the natural world. 192 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:30,520 He has written His law on our hearts so that we know innocence right from wrong by our conscience. 193 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:33,520 But God did not stop His revealing there. 194 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,520 Aren't you glad for that? 195 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:42,520 Paul is out the case in Romans chapter 1 that just that amount of revelation, the created world and the conscience, 196 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:47,520 His law written on our hearts is enough to condemn us. 197 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:52,520 Because we don't know, we don't do even the things that we know we ought to do. 198 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:58,520 That's His argument, but I'm not here to preach Romans, I'm here to preach Hebrews. 199 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:06,520 I want you to know not only did God reveal Himself naturally, God has revealed Himself supernaturally. 200 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:10,520 He has revealed Himself authoritatively. 201 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:20,520 And I want you to see something unique about this supernatural revelation that is made clear in the first two verses of Hebrews chapter 1. 202 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:22,520 Here's the sermon in a sentence. 203 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:27,520 It's essential that we understand how God has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind. 204 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:33,520 He has supernaturally revealed Himself in these two ways that we're going to read about today. 205 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:37,520 Hebrews 1, chapter 1, let's read it again. Here's what it says. 206 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:50,520 God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in time's past unto us by the prophets, will stop there. 207 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:56,520 Let me say this. The first way God revealed Himself to us is God's partial word. 208 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaking of the Old Testament. 209 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:06,520 The first way that God revealed Himself is ascribed here in verse 1. 210 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:14,520 In both of the ways that God has revealed Himself to mankind supernaturally, we're going to see four aspects of this supernatural revelation. 211 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:19,520 This part is not in your bulletin notes, you'll have to take it extra. 212 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:29,520 In both the first point, God's partial word, and then the second point that I will yet reveal, there are four aspects that He talks about. 213 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,520 He talks about the era. 214 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,520 If you're writing it down, I'll give it to you slowly. 215 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:44,520 The era, the recipients, the agents, and the means. 216 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:49,520 Here talking about God's partial word, let's talk about the era. 217 00:16:49,520 --> 00:17:04,520 He says here, God who at sundry's times and in diverse manners, spake, here's what it says, in times past. 218 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:10,520 Do you see it? In times past. 219 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:18,520 The main thought here, like I've said, is God spake, God hath spoken. 220 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,520 In times past, supernaturally, God spake. 221 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:24,520 Spake here is in the past tense. 222 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,520 If you weren't clear about it, it says in times past. 223 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:35,520 The writing of the book of Hebrews happens after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as we shall see. 224 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:40,520 So it's pretty clear that He is speaking of the Old Testament itself. 225 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:51,520 You'll clearly see that not only in this era of God's partial word, you'll also see it in the recipients of God's partial word. 226 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:56,520 He says, He spoke in times past unto who? 227 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:58,520 Under the fathers. 228 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:03,520 The fathers here speaks to the patriarchs of the Jewish nation. 229 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:08,520 God spoke to Moses and Abraham and David and Solomon and Isaiah and others. 230 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:13,520 He spoke to the nation of Israel and even at times spoke to other nations in the Old Testament. 231 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,520 He spake in times past unto the fathers. 232 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:29,520 This would include everybody who was under the Old Covenant and anyone else that were included in the reach of the revelation that God gave to the Jewish people. 233 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,520 Folks, the Old Testament is the word of God. 234 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:33,520 It is. 235 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:37,520 There are some that would say we ought to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament. 236 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:41,520 Listen, you can't believe, write doctrine if you don't understand the Old Testament. 237 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,520 If you don't get anything from Hebrews, you're going to get that. 238 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,520 The study in Hebrews is as much a study in Leviticus as it is in Hebrews. 239 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:51,520 So this is a big deal. 240 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:53,520 We're going to have a lot of fun doing this. 241 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:54,520 At least I will. 242 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,520 Will you stay awake and come with me? 243 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:57,520 It'll be fun. 244 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:04,520 So the era of God's partial word is in times past and who did he give this to? 245 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,520 He gave it unto the fathers. 246 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:13,520 Now we're going to talk about this next week, but Hebrews is written largely to a Jewish believing audience. 247 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:14,520 Okay? 248 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:23,520 And so when he says unto the fathers, he's referring to those who got God's revelation in times past specifically the Jews. 249 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:30,520 He's talking to Jews about the Jews that received God's Old Testament revelation. 250 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,520 Who were the agents of God's partial word? 251 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:37,520 Well, it says here he's spaking times past under the fathers. 252 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:38,520 What does it say? 253 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,520 By the prophets. 254 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:43,520 By the prophets. 255 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:51,520 When the Bible uses the word prophets here, he's speaking of all those that spoke on his behalf in the Old Testament. 256 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:56,520 And only God did God speak to Moses, Abraham, David, Solomon, Isaiah, and many, many more. 257 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:01,520 He gave them messages to give to the fathers. 258 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,520 God used human means. 259 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:12,520 We'll talk about this later, but he used often human means to declare his revealed word to those in times past. 260 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:17,520 God revealed himself by these men and they spoke for him to the people. 261 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,520 You know what the main message of the prophets was? 262 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:26,520 Thus saith the Lord. 263 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:27,520 But look at the means. 264 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:28,520 Here's the last one. 265 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,520 We've talked about the era. 266 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,520 We've talked about the agents. 267 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:34,520 We've talked about the recipients. 268 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,520 Now let's talk about the means. 269 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:48,520 This Hebrew letter starts off with two words in the Greek. 270 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,520 I'll tell you them in a second. 271 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:56,520 Here we come to this idea for which I said the Old Testament is God's partial word. 272 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:03,520 Here he says at sundry times and in diverse manners. 273 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:10,520 There are two words here that rhyme in the Greek language, Polymeros and Polytropos. 274 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,520 And that's literally the first two words of the book of Hebrews. 275 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,520 If you go look in the Greek, it starts out. 276 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,520 Polymeros, Kai, Polytropos. 277 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,520 Polymeros, Polytropos. 278 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,520 What is he saying? 279 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:29,520 The prefix poly, we know even in our language, means many or diverse, right? 280 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:38,520 If you're polytheistic, you follow many gods, right? 281 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:41,520 So poly means polytheistic means many. 282 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:42,520 Poly means many. 283 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:44,520 Theistic means gods, many gods. 284 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:49,520 Here you have here Polymeros, Paulos and Meros. 285 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:58,520 Poly means many and Meros means divisions or portions. 286 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,520 You have also Polytropos, Paulos and Tropos. 287 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:08,520 Tropos is translated in the Scripture as ways or manners or means. 288 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:10,520 It literally is translated in other places. 289 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,520 That smaller word, Polytropos is two words. 290 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,520 Tropos literally means ways or manners or means. 291 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:25,520 The idea here is that God spoke in fragmented, incomplete and varied ways and portions. 292 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,520 It was partial. 293 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,520 It was fragmented. 294 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:36,520 It was scattered and it was diverse. 295 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:42,520 Now that isn't to say, please don't hear me say that God wasn't doing it on purpose. 296 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,520 And also don't hear me say that it wasn't true. 297 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,520 It was true. 298 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:55,520 There are many portions in the Old Testament, aren't there? 299 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,520 Anybody know how many books there are in the Old Testament? 300 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:00,520 39. 301 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,520 You get a bend book. Very good. 302 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,520 39 portions in the least. 303 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:11,520 God chose to reveal himself progressively over that time. 304 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:16,520 And there are various means in which God revealed himself to the fathers by the prophets. 305 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,520 Many believe that the first written Scripture was the book of Job. 306 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,520 That contains narrative and poetry. 307 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,520 You have the Torah, the Pentateuch. 308 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,520 In it you find historical narrative. 309 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,520 You find law, right? 310 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:32,520 That was written by Moses. 311 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,520 You have in the Old Testament all kinds of literature. 312 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:43,520 There's narrative and law and wisdom and wisdom literature and poetry and prophecy and apocalyptic literature. 313 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:49,520 So you have God revealing himself progressively. 314 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:55,520 A little bit here, then a little more there, then a little more here, then a little more there. 315 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,520 And you have him doing it in a bunch of different ways. 316 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,520 You have God revealing himself through dreams and visions. 317 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,520 I mean, you guys remember a story in the Bible of God coming to people and dreams and visions. 318 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:09,520 You have God speaking audibly to men. 319 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:17,520 You have God revealing himself in all kinds of different ways. 320 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:22,520 We also know that God moved everything that is recorded in the Scripture through the Holy Spirit moving men. 321 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,520 Second Peter chapter 1 verse 20 says this, 322 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:31,520 knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. 323 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,520 For the prophecy came not in the old time by the will of man, 324 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:44,520 but holy men of God were moved as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 325 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:45,520 You know what that means? 326 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:50,520 God wasn't up in heaven looking at what Moses happened to be writing down and going, 327 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:51,520 you know what, that's good. 328 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,520 I think I'll include that in my word. 329 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,520 These men didn't come and put this on their own. 330 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:04,520 They spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 331 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:06,520 You know what that means? 332 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:11,520 This right here is supernatural. 333 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,520 If you let it, it'll change your life. 334 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:19,520 God hath spoken. 335 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:24,520 And in times past, he did it under the fathers by the prophets. 336 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:32,520 Every word that they uttered out had their source in God, the Holy Spirit. 337 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:37,520 God chose the very words that he breathed out, the anus stops. 338 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:42,520 And in the times past, he did this in many portions and in many manners. 339 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:48,520 So in the time of the Old Testament before Christ, God revealed himself progressively. 340 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,520 But here we, what I say, this is so important you get. 341 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:58,520 The Old Testament does not progress from less true to more true. 342 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,520 It's all true. 343 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,520 It does not progress from less true to more true. 344 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:07,520 It does not progress from God's kind of God's word to fully God's word. 345 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,520 No, it's all God's word. 346 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:11,520 It's all true. 347 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,520 It does not progress in truthfulness. 348 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,520 It progresses in completeness. 349 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,520 You see the Old Testament and God's revelation of himself. 350 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:24,520 It is God's revelation of himself, but it was incomplete. 351 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:25,520 There are types. 352 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,520 There are shadows. 353 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,520 It's pointing to something that's coming. 354 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:37,520 There are prophecies, some that are, have not been fulfilled, many that have been. 355 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:42,520 There are pointing to something that was yet to be. 356 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:48,520 And so the writer of Hebrews starts out with a bang. 357 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:55,520 He said, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners, 358 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,520 spake in times, pass unto the fathers by the prophets. 359 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:00,520 Here's the cool part. 360 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:14,520 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, by his son, whom he at the point of error of all things, 361 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,520 by whom he also made the words. 362 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:17,520 World. 363 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,520 So we go back to the same thing. 364 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:26,520 Era, recipients, agents and means. 365 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,520 Do you see it in the verse? 366 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,520 The era of God's final, God's final word. 367 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,520 Here's the second way that God reveals number two, God's final word. 368 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,520 God's partial word is the Old Testament. 369 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:45,520 God's final word is the person of Jesus Christ. 370 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,520 That's amazing. 371 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:50,520 What was the era of God's final word? 372 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:57,520 He says, hath in these last days. 373 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:03,520 The era in verse one, speaking of the Old Testament, is in times past. 374 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:08,520 The era here is in these last days. 375 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:10,520 Well, there's a couple ways to interpret this phrase. 376 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,520 Did it happen in recent history to the writing of this book of Hebrews? 377 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:15,520 Of course it did. 378 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:20,520 This book of Hebrews clearly was written after Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. 379 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:27,520 So these last days could mean he's talking about, it just happened. 380 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:29,520 Which is amazing. 381 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,520 Could you imagine living back then? 382 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,520 I think it would have been incredible to be a part of the early church. 383 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:40,520 Short of all of the killing of Christians, it was awesome to be able to... 384 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,520 Who thinks it would have been cool to be able to see Jesus? 385 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:45,520 To experience his ministry? 386 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:47,520 To hear and preach and teach? 387 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:48,520 That would have been amazing. 388 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,520 And I think we'll have an opportunity for that one day. 389 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:56,520 I believe that with all my heart. 390 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:03,520 I believe though, here, that the phrase, these last days, sparked the interest of the Jewish audience to which the book is addressed. 391 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:09,520 They would have understood that this word of these last days, 392 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:15,520 that was a common phraseology talking about the future coming of the Messiah. 393 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:20,520 They would have understood the Messianic tone to what he's saying when he talks about these last days. 394 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:24,520 And the truth of the matter is folks, we live in the last days. 395 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,520 We do. 396 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:31,520 Since the coming of Jesus, even till now, these are the last days. 397 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,520 Jesus could come back at any time. 398 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:43,520 So they would have understood it as talking about the last days that we are now currently in. 399 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,520 That's how the woman of the well saw it. 400 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:52,520 Remember what she said to Jesus before she even understood him to be the Messiah? 401 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:59,520 John 4.23 says, she asked Jesus, some say that Jerusalem ought to be the place we worship. 402 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,520 Some say she was a Samaritan. 403 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,520 My forefathers say on this mountain is where we ought to worship. 404 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:10,520 And Jesus said, the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, 405 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,520 for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 406 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:18,520 God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 407 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:23,520 The woman saith in him, I know that the Messiah cometh who is called the Christ, 408 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,520 and when he is come, he will tell us all things. 409 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,520 She said, hey, he's coming in those last days. 410 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,520 Here he comes. 411 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:38,520 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. 412 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,520 Jesus certainly has changed history, hasn't he? 413 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,520 The writer is telling us that the Messiah has come. 414 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:52,520 God has revealed himself now through the Messiah, through his son. 415 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:58,520 Jesus Christ coming has just happened, and this is what is so monumental about what he is saying. 416 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:07,520 Jesus Christ, a man that did not live beyond 33 years and that left his earth with 120 assembled in the upper room. 417 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,520 This is the man. 418 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,520 This is the God man that splits history. 419 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,520 Whenever you write a check, anybody ever still do that? 420 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:16,520 Who writes checks anymore? 421 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:20,520 But when you write down that date on that check and you write down 2022, 422 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:25,520 you're saying something went down 2,000 years ago. 423 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:30,520 We're still telling time by him. 424 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:37,520 The era of these last days, the recipients, who did he come to? 425 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:46,520 In times past, he came to the fathers, but in these last days, he's come to us. 426 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,520 Isn't that what it says? 427 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:57,520 Hath in these last days spoken unto us. 428 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,520 The recipients of God's partial word were the fathers. 429 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,520 The writer proclaims something incredible here. 430 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,520 God has spoken unto us. 431 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:09,520 If you're here today and it's your first time in church or first time in a long time, maybe you're not believing. 432 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:15,520 Even if you are believing, I want you to know God wrote a book and he wrote it so that you could know him. 433 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:23,520 He's revealing himself to you and he's revealed himself to you through his son. 434 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:25,520 The writer proclaims something incredible. 435 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:27,520 God has spoken unto us. 436 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:33,520 The audience, including us, gets to understand his revelation, not just as prophecy in times past, 437 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:40,520 but as history in these last days and we get to see it. 438 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:41,520 So you have the era. 439 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:42,520 You have the recipients. 440 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,520 The era is these last days. 441 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:46,520 The recipients are us. 442 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:52,520 The agents of God's final word, he says, by his son. 443 00:32:52,520 --> 00:33:00,520 The agents of God's partial word in the Old Testament in times past were the prophets, but God has spoken. 444 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:02,520 God hath spoken. 445 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:10,520 God hath spoken by his son. 446 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:16,520 He is the full end of all of God's revelation. 447 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,520 And the means here is assumed. 448 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,520 The means is assumed. 449 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:30,520 In the Old Testament, it was in various portions and in various ways, at sundry times and in diverse manners. 450 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,520 Here it's just one way. 451 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,520 How did God reveal himself? 452 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:39,520 Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 453 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:46,520 No man comes to the Father but by me. 454 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:51,520 You guys are going to get a short message today, but I want you to go to one more passage. 455 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:52,520 Are you ready? 456 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:53,520 Go to Matthew. 457 00:33:53,520 --> 00:34:01,520 Matthew chapter 17 and look at verse one. 458 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:13,520 This is pretty incredible. 459 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:18,520 Matthew 17, one. 460 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:29,520 And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringing them up into a high mountain apart. 461 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:33,520 This is something Jesus did at least a few times. 462 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,520 You know, he spoke to crowds at times. 463 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:37,520 He had the hundred and twenty at the end. 464 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:39,520 There were more than the twelve that were there. 465 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,520 Then there were the twelve that he poured his life there. 466 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:46,520 He ordained the twelve that they would be with him and that he might send them forth to preach. 467 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:50,520 But there's times where he just included the three, Peter, James, and John. 468 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:52,520 It happened four or five times. 469 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:58,520 This is one of those times. 470 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:03,520 So it says that Jesus takes Peter, James, and John and they go up to this mountain apart. 471 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:08,520 And he, talking about Jesus, was transfigured before them. 472 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:18,520 And his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was as white as light. 473 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,520 Here you find Jesus taking his inner circle up on the mountain. 474 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:31,520 And in a moment that we can only imagine, the veil of his humanity was pulled back in the sense that all of who he actually was in his deity, 475 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:38,520 or at least some of it, was radiant, showing in his glory as light. 476 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:40,520 It must have been incredible. 477 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:47,520 I'm sure it wasn't fully what he could have been displayed as because if it had fully been it, they'd all been dead. 478 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:49,520 They'd all been dead. 479 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:56,520 Matthew here describes Jesus' face shining like the sun. 480 00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:00,520 And the disciples, can you imagine being one of those disciples? 481 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,520 I mean, they had seen them do some supernatural things. 482 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,520 They had seen them heal the sick. 483 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,520 They'd seen them teach like nobody had ever taught. 484 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:16,520 They'd seen them, I don't know exactly, I didn't look at it where this is in Matthew at this point, 485 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:21,520 but certainly the disciples saw Jesus do all kinds of things like calm the storm. 486 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:29,520 They're calling into discipleship was, hey, throw your nets on the other side because you haven't caught fish all night. 487 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:37,520 So they throw their nets on the other side and through that draw to fish that came up that weighed their boats down, 488 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:44,520 Jesus financed his training of them for the next two or three years by all those fish. 489 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:46,520 Isn't that amazing? 490 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:50,520 So they had seen Jesus do some incredibly supernatural things. 491 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:55,520 But here now they see him in this incredible way. 492 00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:00,520 He's shining like the sun. 493 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:02,520 But look at who else was there. 494 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:03,520 Look at verse three. 495 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:11,520 And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 496 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:19,520 Now I'm not the first to point out that Moses wrote the law, the first five books of the prophets of the Old Testament. 497 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:27,520 And Elijah was that great prophet and his representative of the prophets. 498 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:36,520 The people in times past, the fathers in times past would refer to the canon of the Old Testament as the law and the prophets. 499 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:47,520 The law and the prophets, the law meaning those first five books, the Torah, the Pentateuch and the prophets being the rest of the Old Testament. 500 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:58,520 And here you have Jesus radiant in his glory and then you have the representatives of the law and the prophets standing there. 501 00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:09,520 In times past, do you get the point? In times past, prophets in these last days, the sun. 502 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:11,520 You get it? 503 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:17,520 In times past, prophets in these last days, the sun. 504 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:23,520 You have it here in a moment. 505 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:27,520 Who's glad for Peter? 506 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:33,520 I'm glad for Peter because I think he makes all the mistakes that I would have made. 507 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:44,520 And if you sit and read the New Testament and you're like, those disciples were dumb, guess who you are in the story? 508 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,520 You ain't Jesus. 509 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,520 Are you with me? 510 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:56,520 Verse four, then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, 511 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,520 it is good for us to be here. 512 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:03,520 No problem there, right? How cool it would have been to see that. 513 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:08,520 If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles. 514 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:15,520 One for thee, one for Moses and one for Elijah. 515 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:22,520 Let's honor Moses and Elijah. Let's honor you. At least he got the order right. He put Jesus first. 516 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:28,520 But let's do it in a way, Jesus, I got a plan. Let's honor all three of you. 517 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:33,520 And let's do it in a way where you're all equal. 518 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:41,520 Let's do it in a way where we're honoring you and we're honoring Moses and we're honoring Elijah. 519 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:48,520 Let's do it in a way that's equal in its recognition. Three tabernacles, one for each. 520 00:39:48,520 --> 00:40:00,520 And in that moment, while he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, 521 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:06,520 while he's saying the phrase, do you get it? I just woke somebody up. 522 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:14,520 While he's saying the phrase, God begins to speak from heaven. 523 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:22,520 What does God's voice sound like? Probably not like Mike Tyson. 524 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:31,520 And God said, like, no, are you with me? 525 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:35,520 This is a big deal. 526 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:40,520 A behold a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved son 527 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:48,520 and whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. 528 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:53,520 This wasn't a moment to recognize the Old Testament prophets like this. 529 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:59,520 God's voice was clear and unmistakable. And if you don't get anything else from this sermon, get this. 530 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:06,520 Jesus is greater. Jesus is greater. 531 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:13,520 Jesus is greater. Jesus is greater. 532 00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:21,520 Look what happened. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face. 533 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:31,520 Man that we would fall on our faces with an understanding of who Jesus really, truly is. 534 00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:40,520 They were sore afraid. And Jesus came, I love this, you have the glory of God and the majesty of God. 535 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:46,520 And then you have the glory of Jesus and the authority of Jesus and how much better he is 536 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:50,520 than even those Old Testament prophets. But then you have the love of Jesus. 537 00:41:50,520 --> 00:42:00,520 Look at what happened. Verse 7, And Jesus came and touched them and said, arise, be not afraid. 538 00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:09,520 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. 539 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:20,520 This really is the point of the book of Hebrews. Jesus is greater. Jesus is better. 540 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:25,520 I told you that two words function to sum up the book of Ephesians. Do you remember what those two words were? 541 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:26,520 In Christ. 542 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:33,520 Do you remember that? Well, one word seems to sum up the book of Hebrews and that word is better. 543 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:43,520 Better. Jesus is greater. Jesus is better. He is better than the angels. He's a better priest. 544 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,520 He's a better sacrifice. We have a better covenant. We have a better revelation. 545 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:53,520 The Old Testament came in fragments and pieces. Each part true. Micah tells us where he would be born. 546 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:58,520 Daniel tells us when he would be born. Malachi tells us about the forerunner that would come before him. 547 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:08,520 But when Jesus comes, he is so much better. He doesn't just tell us about God. He is God in the flesh. 548 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:13,520 He is greater than any prophet of the Old Testament. He is the embodiment of all truth. 549 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:18,520 Now some might say, but didn't the other people prophesy after Jesus? What about the apostles? 550 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:24,520 They spoke. Yeah, but you know what they spoke about? Jesus. 551 00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:30,520 They spoke about Jesus. All of their prophecy, all of their revelation centered around Jesus. 552 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:36,520 Just like Jesus said it would. In John 16, 13, he says to the disciples, 553 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:42,520 how be it, he says, I'm going, how be it when he, the spirit of truth, has come. 554 00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:46,520 He will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself. 555 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:51,520 But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. Hear from who? Hear from God the Father. 556 00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:56,520 Hear from God the Son. What will he speak? He will show you things to come. 557 00:43:56,520 --> 00:44:02,520 What is he going to talk about? He shall glorify me. 558 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:08,520 He shall glorify me talking about Jesus. What's the spirit going to talk about after I leave? 559 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:15,520 He's going to talk about Jesus. Isn't that what we find in the rest of the book? 560 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:19,520 The New Testament is, the Old Testament is about Jesus. 561 00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:26,520 It's in fragments and portions and then God shows up in the human flesh. 562 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:34,520 And he reveals to us all that he is. Jesus said, he'll glorify me for he shall not receive in mind 563 00:44:34,520 --> 00:44:39,520 and he shall show it to you. And then he says, he's not going to speak of himself. 564 00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:46,520 He's not going to speak about me. And you know what that means? 565 00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:55,520 That means that you cannot afford to neglect taking a position about Jesus. 566 00:44:55,520 --> 00:45:02,520 A lot of people say, I believe in God. That's great. The devils believe in tremble. 567 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:08,520 What have you done with Jesus? What have you done with Jesus? 568 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:17,520 He is the embodiment of everything that's true. He came to earth and died for you so that you could be made right with God. 569 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:24,520 And what it comes down to is this. Do you believe this? Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. 570 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:29,520 Declare that now. 571 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:41,520 God who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in times past unto us by the prophets, 572 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:49,520 hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. 573 00:45:49,520 --> 00:46:02,520 And you know what Jesus said as the reason he came? He said, I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. 574 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:10,520 The Old Testament reveals to us our need for a redeemer. It reveals to us God's standards, God's law. 575 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:19,520 And what we find about God's standard and God's law is that it's a school master teaching us that we cannot keep the law. 576 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:27,520 We can't keep it. I was talking to Melana last night. We were having kind of a deeper conversation. 577 00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:39,520 And I was telling her about what the Bible says about forgiveness and that the Pharisees, oh, she's in here. Sorry, Melana. 578 00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:44,520 I'm warning if you're a pastor's kid, you could end up in an illustration. 579 00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:49,520 But I told her that the Pharisees taught that you had to forgive somebody three times. 580 00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:58,520 And you know what she said? I thought it was hilarious. These guys obviously didn't have kids. 581 00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:07,520 That's like one day's worth of forgiveness is what she said. I thought that was hilarious. 582 00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:13,520 Where was I going? 583 00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:21,520 Jesus said, if you think about it, on the cross, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. 584 00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:32,520 See, Jesus came. The Old Testament, that's where I was headed. The Old Testament tells us God's desire, God's law. 585 00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:38,520 And like Melana says, we can't keep any of His law for a day. We can maybe keep some of it. 586 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:42,520 But the Bible says if you break one of His laws, you've broken them all. 587 00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:51,520 So this Old Testament that comes in portions and in fragments, but what it does reveal to us is our need. 588 00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:56,520 We cannot keep the law. The law tells us you're not good enough. 589 00:47:56,520 --> 00:48:08,520 But even in the beginning, God, there's a scarlet thread that runs through that whole Old Testament that says, hey, God's going to provide Himself a redeemer. 590 00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:17,520 Isaac says, I see the fire. I see the sticks. I see the stone. But where's the lamb? 591 00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:25,520 And Abraham says, God will provide Himself a lamb. 592 00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:32,520 God says to the serpent, the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent. 593 00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:43,520 The serpent will bruise his heel, but the seed of the woman, Jesus, is going to crush the head of the serpent. Satan. 594 00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:49,520 Have you read the back of the book? He wins. 595 00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:57,520 The whole book's about Jesus. At sundry times and in the divider's matters, He spoke unto us by the prophets. 596 00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:07,520 In these last days, He's spoken unto us by His Son. Jesus came and lived a perfect life and died on the cross as a perfect sacrifice 597 00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:15,520 and rose from the dead to prove that because He can rise, He can raise us as well, that His sacrifice was approved by God, 598 00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:23,520 and that because He lives, we shall live also. This is what God supernaturally spoke to us. 599 00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:35,520 And so the question for us today is this, what will you do? What have you done with this Jesus? 600 00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:44,520 Would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me? 601 00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:56,520 Who's thankful for the scripture today? Amen. 602 00:49:56,520 --> 00:50:10,520 God loves you. God loves you. He knew that you're in that box and you can't get to Him on your own. 603 00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:18,520 You can't. You can't take care of your own sin yourself. 604 00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:27,520 You need a righteousness that's alien to you. You need a righteousness that only Jesus can provide. 605 00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:33,520 And God loves you so much that He knew that although you could not keep that law, He could. 606 00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:40,520 And He sent His Son to keep the law on your behalf and then to die the death that you and I deserve to die, 607 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:48,520 so that if you would place your faith and trust in Him, if you would repent and turn to Christ for forgiveness and sins, 608 00:50:48,520 --> 00:51:04,520 He says this, whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved.