God Has Spoken • 01.22.23

Nick Lees   -   January 22, 2023

God Has Spoken

Hebrews 1:1-2:4

Arguments for heeding Jesus’ message

1. The Son is a proven, superior revelation
2. There is a real danger of drifting away
3. The evidence for the message is tremendous

God Has Spoken
Hebrews 1:1-2:4

Good morning church family! Welcome to any visitors who are here with us today. My name is Nick Lees and I have the privilege of studying God’s Word with you this morning. We’re jumping into our verse-by-verse study of the book of Hebrews today.

How do you respond when life is hard? Where do you turn for hope and help in time of need? Have you ever faced the temptation to doubt or despair?

The reason I ask is the audience of this letter would know what that is like. They appear to be undergoing trials and persecutions. It’s very likely that these have been going on for quite some time. It’s possible they were living in a city or country where Christianity was looked upon poorly. Likely, their governing authorities didn’t respect their faith. The Roman Empire was actively growing in suspicion and distrust of Christianity around the writing of this letter. In fact, in 64 AD the Roman Emperor Nero led the first persecution of Christians after the Great Fire of Rome. He blamed the fire on Christians. If the audience of this letter was the Christian church in Rome, as some suspect, then you’d better believe life was hard for them.

What would you do if many of the people around you were now turning against you? Would your faith in Jesus endure? Or would you be tempted to walk away?

These are the types of questions and scenarios with which Hebrews invites us to wrestle. Frankly, this entire book (sermonic letter) highlights that God has a message for his people, that message is focused on the person and work of the Son, and everyone would do well to listen up!

As you’re about to read and hear, the author begins his sermon by launching into a beautiful reflection on the identity and work of the Son in verses 1-4. Out of this flow the argument that Jesus is a superior revelation. He is better than the prophets and the angels who were servants of God and messengers of previous revelation. We’ll also see and hear that it is necessary for you to repeatedly consider what you’ve been taught by Jesus for your own spiritual growth and wellbeing.

Ushers + Bibles (Hebrews, page 1187)

Let’s read the Word of God, starting in 1:1. Try to imagine you’re on the receiving end of this letter as I read it aloud…

Hebrews 1:1–4 (ESV)

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

In the Greek, these 4 verses form a single sentence with multiple clauses built around the main emphasis “God has spoken…” What an incredible beginning to this sermon/letter. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke…” and… “But in these last days he has spoken…” Before you notice anything else, please notice that God has spoken! And he has been speaking to his people for a LONG TIME. This is not a new revelation, but an old revelation revisited. And yet, it should instill wonder and awe in us anew, just as it would have for the original audience. We serve a God who speaks.

God has spoken… Long ago God spoke to their fathers (their ancestors – the Israelites) by the prophets, referring to the messengers God had sent in the Old Testament times. But in these last days he has spoken to… WHO? Us! This is incredibly personal – God has made truth known to the audience – how? By his Son.

Before we go any further, I want you to know the direction the sermon is going. We’re going to be hearing…

Arguments for heeding Jesus’ message

God has spoken to us through his Son, and we need to hear and respond to his message! The first argument we have from this text is…

1. The Son is a proven, superior revelation

The Son’s revelation is superior to that of the prophets of old.

After declaring that God has now spoken by his Son, the author goes on to share a snippet of the Son’s incredible identity and work. Let’s discuss these now:

• He is the heir of all things
• He is the agent of creation
• He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature
• He upholds the universe by the word of his power

The author is driving home the reality of the Son’s power, authority, and glory. He is the exact image of God. We are reminded that every single one of us are under the Son’s authority. He is the one who sustains our life, not to mention all of the Universe! As the author is making such incredible claims, he is drawing upon themes that are present in other Old and New Testament texts. He is calling his audience to a very exalted view of the Son.

This Son is the one who made purification for our sins. Meaning he made a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to God through his death on the cross. And, if that wasn’t enough, then he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Meaning he is in the place of power and honor and authority and that his work was effective. You don’t sit down when there is still work to be done!

These reflections on the incredible identity of the Son are going to lead to the calls to action found later in the sermon of Hebrews. The author is cementing his people’s faith in sound doctrine before calling them to sound living. You might remember that phrase from our series in the pastoral epistles last year. “Orthodoxy must lead to orthopraxy.” That’s a fancy way of saying, “Right belief must lead to right action.” Or as I just said it – “Sound doctrine must lead to sound living.”

Don’t lose sight of what the author is claiming. The Son of God is the superior revelation and has been given to us by the Father. This universe we inhabit was created by God through the Son, and the Son continues to uphold it. There is a serious problem in humanity, namely sin (rebellion against God), that requires purification or cleansing. As we say with our young children, “Sin makes your heart dirty, and we need Jesus to give us a clean heart.” The Son is the one who provides that purification because he is the only One who was able to accomplish it. All of these incredible themes and truths will continue to be unpacked in the remainder of the sermon to the Hebrews.

And you’d better believe they call for a response. The response of faith. We’ll hear more about that soon. For now, I hope you have a better grasp at the argument of the passage. The Son, who is God, is a greater revelation than the prophets, who are mere men. And he is worthy of your worship and obedience. But if you noticed, it didn’t stop there… In verse 4, the author also tells us that the Son is superior to angels, even as his name is more excellent than theirs. This reminded me of our Christmas Eve service, when we studied Philippians 2 and heard that Jesus inherited the name of God. He has been given the most excellent name! He is far above the angels. And with that, lets read vv5-14 and hear the author’s argument for ourselves:

Hebrews 1:5–14 (ESV)

⁵ For to which of the angels did God ever say,

        “You are my Son,

today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

        “I will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son”?

⁶ And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

        “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

⁷ Of the angels he says,

        “He makes his angels winds,

and his ministers a flame of fire.”

⁸ But of the Son he says,

        “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,

the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

  ⁹     You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

        therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

¹⁰ And,

        “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

and the heavens are the work of your hands;

¹¹     they will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment,

¹²     like a robe you will roll them up,

like a garment they will be changed.

        But you are the same,

and your years will have no end.”

¹³ And to which of the angels has he ever said,

        “Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

1. The Son is a proven, superior revelation

First, he is superior to the prophets, now he is superior to the angels. And the author lines up Old Testament after Old Testament passage to prove it. This was a way of convincing others of your argument by literally presenting so much evidence that they couldn’t help but agree. He quotes from seven different passages in the book of Psalms.

Something that I found incredibly helpful as I was studying for today was realizing that the author pairs up these quotes from the Psalms along three different avenues. Each pair drives home a particular way that the Son is superior. This is just another example of the author’s skill in rhetoric.

• Verse 5 – He has a better position as the Son (Psalm 2:7, 89:26-27)
• Verses 6-7 – The angels worship and serve the Son (Psalm 97:7, 104:4)
• Verses 8-12 – The Son is the eternal, righteous, unchanging God (Psalm 45:6-7, 102:25-27)

The final reference is to Psalm 110:1, which is a passage the author will use multiple times in his sermon. It becomes a reminder of the supremacy of the Son and his position of authority. In the final verses of chapter 1, the author is reiterating that the Son has been exalted above the angels, who are servants of God for the accomplishment of his purposes.

The question we have to ask is – “Why?” Why does the author bother to compare the Son to the angels? What is his goal in doing so?

This is revealed in his exhortation that comes next in 2:1-4. Let’s read it now.

Hebrews 2:1–4 (ESV)

2 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. ² For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, ³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, ⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

The reason why the author compares the Son to the angels is to help his readers understand their accountability before God. As he stated in the beginning of his sermon, long ago, revelation was given to their ancestors by the prophets – often this came at the hands of angels sent as messengers of divine revelation from God. And their message was reliable, and God held those people accountable for obeying it. If they did not obey, there were real consequences for their disobedience! You only have to think about the generation of Israel that wandered 40 years in the wilderness to make the point.

If that is true for the angels, who are inferior to the Son, then how much more will the Son’s message need to be heard and obeyed! In fact, look again at verse 3 to see how the author speaks about the Son’s message. “A great salvation!” The message the Son has come to deliver is a message of great salvation from our sin and back into right relationship with our God. This is an incredible message that we must heed or to which we must pay much closer attention! Why? Lest we drift away from it…

This is our second argument for heeding Jesus’ message…

2. There is a real danger of drifting away

From what we’ve ascertained, the audience appears to be undergoing some real struggles and persecutions. The author, who clearly loves them, is concerned for them. He knows that if they lose sight of Jesus and fail to pay close attention to his message, then the circumstances of life may overwhelm them.

What happens to you when you take your focus off Jesus? If you turn your attention to the noise of this life and that is your focus, what kind of fruit does it produce in your life?

The honest answer is that when this happens, and we put other things on the throne of our heart and front and center in our lives, then chaos abounds. Fear, anger, despair, and doubt creep in and wreak (reek) havoc. Why does that happen? Because we’ve forgotten the one who has provided a great salvation from our sin. In those moments, we are so focused on our circumstances of suffering or sin that we forget the wonderful Savior who bled and died for us. Often, we live like functional atheists, who say that we believe but then live as if we don’t.

So, we turn to food, or entertainment, or pleasure for escape. We try to take control or numb the pain. We fixate and fear and worry about things that are not ours to control. There are a whole host of responses to life that come pouring out of our hearts and subsequently our mouths when we are failing to pay close attention to Jesus and his message of salvation.

There is a real danger of drifting away from the faith. We all know people who have slowly stopped serving, slowly stopped attending church, checking out of relationships as they drift away for one reason or another. We all know or perhaps have been people who have taken our commitments to read the Bible, pray, serve, or make disciples lightly. To say, “I’ll get to it tomorrow, there is just so much to do today…”

The author is warning the 1^st century audience, and us today, that there is real danger for disobedience or dereliction of duty. God does not take this lightly. In fact, he provides a just retribution for it! Retribution means punishment and just means that it is righteous/right. As the perfectly just Judge, God knows how to appropriately respond to disobedience. The author’s argument is known as a lesser to greater argument. He is saying that even disobeying the angels’ message had consequences, and with Jesus being so much greater than the angels the consequences for disobeying his message will be even greater!

Now, he doesn’t get into the details of what that punishment might be. It doesn’t behoove us to speculate on it either. In the Old Testament there were some incredible acts of judgment upon the nation of Israel for their disobedience. The point the author is trying to make is that this is a serious matter, and they should respond accordingly. Sin is a big deal! You can’t mock it or make light of it. AND, ULTIMATELY, YOU MUST PAY MUCH CLOSER ATTENTION TO THE MESSAGE OF JESUS!

What would it take for you to do that? What would need to change in your life, right now, so that you value the Gospel and the teachings of Scripture to the level of authority and glory they deserve?

Christians in the room, don’t overlook this warning. The author was writing to a predominantly Christian audience. Of course, he couldn’t know the spiritual state of everyone who would hear his letter, just as I don’t know the spiritual state of everyone who attends our church. It is entirely possible for some to be in the gathering of the church who are not taking the message of Jesus seriously.

If that’s you, then Hebrews is speaking to you. You’re playing a foolish game that will not end well. No one can outwit the Creator. He knows the hearts of men/women and understands exactly who you are. Teens/kids, you need to listen to this too. This is not just for the adults. Faith is not a game.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and he has come down and lived among us. He lived a perfect sinless life and went to the Cross to die in our place. On that Cross he bore the wrath of God for our sins, so that we might be forgiven and saved through faith in Him. This calling of faith is also a call to pick up your Cross and follow him. It is a call to come and die as you live for Jesus. To die to selfish ambition. To die to self-will of doing whatever you want whenever you want.

This is an intense calling that gets harder the more suffering and persecution that you face. That is why we must pay much closer attention to the message we’ve received. It is in the darkest and hardest moments of life that we need to cling all the more tightly to the life preserver that is Jesus.

• When your friends mock you for your faith. Pay much closer attention to Jesus.
• When your job asks you to cut moral corners to make a buck. Pay much closer attention to Jesus.
• When lust or greed or gluttony or laziness or pride tempt you to turn to them. Pay much closer attention to Jesus.
• When your kids are disobeying, and you’re tempted to blow up in sinful anger. Pay much closer attention to Jesus.
• When you are stuck in patterns of sin. Pay much closer attention to Jesus.
• When you are spiraling into despair. Pay much closer attention to Jesus.

Brother and sisters, as your pastor and brother-in-Christ, one of my greatest concerns for us as the church is that we would live a life of mediocrity for Christ. It is far too easy to expect to be served rather than to serve. It is far too easy to say, “Someone else will meet that need or greet that guest… I’m too busy. I’m doing enough.” Living for worldly pleasures and treasures is all too enticing and it is easy to get sucked into the desire to have more and do more. And the cost of such living is high – we no longer prioritize Christ or his call to pursue godliness and make disciples.

This is the path to drifting away. As the old Casting Crowns song goes:

It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away

It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid

When you give yourself away

People never crumble in a day

It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade

Choices are made over time that either draw you nearer to the Lord or take you away from him. And the author of Hebrews will continue to exhort his audience to choose to draw near to God! The path of drifting away is fraught with peril and many have shipwrecked their faith along the way.

Now, if this is a warning written to believers, then you’d better believe this is also something that should be heeded by those who do not believe! For those of you who may fall into that camp, I leave you with this question: where will your hope be on judgment day if you have neglected God’s salvation in Jesus Christ? That is one component of the author’s argument that you cannot afford to ignore. And verses 3-4 really drive home the tremendous evidence for this message.

Look with me again at verses 3-4.

Hebrews 2:3b-4

It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, ⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Our final argument for heeding Jesus’ message is…

3. The evidence for the message is tremendous

First, you have Jesus, the Son of God, coming down and dwelling among us. Willingly enduring the humiliation of the limitations of finite humanity. Willingly enduring the scorn and mockery of the people whom he came to save. Going to the Cross and dying in a most excruciating and humiliating manner. Bearing the wrath of God for the sins of many, though he himself was without sin. He endured incredible hardships throughout his life and died a miserable death for the sake of THIS GREAT MESSAGE OF SALVATION THROUGH FAITH IN HIM. Along the way, he performed incredible miracles through the power of God to validate and confirm the message.

Throughout his lifetime, he had many eyewitnesses who would later attest to the veracity of Jesus’ claims and miracles. Even his own siblings, who originally rejected his claim to be the Messiah, came to faith in him. Of the eleven disciples, excluding Judas the betrayer, ten of them endured martyrdom for the faith. And the eleventh died in exile for his faith! Why would they endure such suffering if the message they were promoting was a lie!? Clearly, they were convinced it was true!

I love the reminder of the tremendous number of eyewitnesses to just one of Jesus’ miracles, albeit his most significant one, the resurrection:

1 Corinthians 15:3–8 (ESV)

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Over 500 eyewitnesses of the resurrection! And that’s just one of Jesus’ miracles!

Not only are there tremendous amounts of eyewitness testimonies for the message and ministry of Jesus, but there were also miraculous signs from God as he bore witness/gave evidence to the truthfulness of the message! If you were to survey the Gospels or the book of Acts, the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the days of the early church were marked by miracle after miracle as God confirmed their message. These were things that could not be faked (feeding of thousands of people, people publicly speaking in languages they had not been taught, dead people raised to life, the blind/deaf/mute being restored!)!!

The evidence for the truthfulness of Scripture is tremendous! What will it take for you to believe it and give your life to knowing and obeying it?!

This opening to the sermon of Hebrews and initial excursion into the superiority of the Son ought to drive us to our knees in humble adoration and worship. He is the one who made all things, he is the one to whom all things belong, he is our glorious God, and he is the one who gives us life and breath at this very moment. He is worthy of your worship. He is worthy of your allegiance. He is worthy of your daily pursuit and obedience.

There are no good reasons to drift away from him. You’re not too busy, you’ve just got wrong priorities. You’re not too far gone, Jesus died for sinners. You don’t have better things to do, those better things will pass away with time while Jesus remains for all eternity.

This text flies in the face of our pluralistic, relativistic society. It confronts us with truth. An exclusive truth. That there is a God, and he has a specific message for us. He communicates that message in his Word and chiefly through his Son. This message cannot be ignored without dire consequences.

Therefore, it is not unloving to tell your neighbor/friend/co-worker/classmate about Jesus and their need for him. In fact, it would be incredibly unloving NOT to tell them. To leave them in the darkness of sin that leads to death would be disastrous. So, let’s commit to paying much closer attention to Jesus and his message. First for our own lives and personal pursuit of godliness. But also, for the sake of others along the way.

We started our year with a reminder of our mission and the pillars we believe in to accomplish it. Let’s commit to being bold in preaching, courageous in evangelism, fervent in prayer, passionate in worship, purposeful in discipleship, and compelling in the community we create. This is who God has called us to be and this is how we say we’re seeking to carry out the mission he’s given us. Join us in the pursuit of this mission this year. May we fix our eyes on Christ and run the race together!

Jesus is superior to the prophets. He’s superior to the angels. And he’s worth your pursuit. Whatever is hindering your growth this year, make it your aim to lay it at his feet, get the help you need, and run the race hard after him.

Soli deo gloria. Glory be to God alone!

Let’s pray.