I invite you to turn this morning to the book of Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. We shall begin reading at verse one. God who has sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world. Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance, obtained a more excellent name than thy. May the Lord bless the reading of his words. Let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the person of thy dear Son. We thank you that he is worthy of everything that the choir sang about this morning. He's worthy to receive riches and glory and honor and blessing and all the other things that are there mentioned. And we praise you for it, O God, for who is like unto thy beloved Son. And this morning we read in thy precious words that he is your final revelation to man. And we pray, O God, that we may take this serious what the writer to the Hebrews says, in order that thy name will be glorified and that we'll know what we believe, why we believe it, and we'll know whom we believe, and we'll know for certain that we are truly the sons of God. and that we are indeed marching to that beautiful city of Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth. And therefore, our Father, we commit ourselves to you. Bless us. Speak to our hearts for Jesus' sake. Amen. The last two series of messages that I brought here dealt with the person of God, dear Son. We dealt with the subject of his humanity, the fact that God is a man, our Lord Jesus. Not that God is a man, but God became a man in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then we examined for four Lord's day mornings, our four sessions, the temptation of the Lord. What he endured at the hands of the enemy. It's of great importance that we examine the unique person of our Lord. For here, in the opening verses of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we find the spotlight going directly to him. The book of Hebrews stands alone among all the other books of the New Testament. No human name is connected with the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Holy Spirit and the human author, whoever it was. Now, I believe it was the Apostle Paul. Very few scholars believe that today. I'm not a scholar, so... But I believe it was the Apostle Paul, and I have my reason to believe it. But nevertheless, there are those who... We don't know who the author was, and all sorts of names of persons have been brought up by various people. But the message of the book of Hebrews is that God has spoken in times past. That's what we read first of all. That gives credence to the Old Testament scriptures. But it also tells us that in these last days he has spoken again. And that he has spoken finally in his son. So today and next Wednesday morning I want to dwell on the subject of God's final revelation to man. And when we read these opening verses to the Hebrews, we find that this is God's final revelation. It is his final revelation to man. In Hebrews chapter one, we are introduced to this. And the final revelation is a person. It is a person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the person of God's dear Son. In the close of this epistle, we're confronted with a warning. And I invite you to turn to chapter twelve. Hebrews chapter twelve in verse twenty five. We read, see that ye refuse not him that speaketh. How important is this final revelation of God? We come to the close of the epistle and we have a warning, see that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escape not, who refused him that speaketh on earth? Much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he hath promised saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but the heavens also. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. And that's a warning given to those who take this epistle seriously. enisode warning to all to take the epistle to the Hebrews seriously in other words this book the epistle to the Hebrews is filled with many statements from the Old Testament but never mentions its author the avoidance underlines the fact that it is God himself who is speaking and that's what it is important now look at the opening verses of chapter two In the opening verses of chapter two we read, therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. And the word there, lest at any time we should let them slip. The meaning of those words is simply this, that we should let them just pass before our eyes and not pay attention to it. And that's a thought. There are many things that pass before us day by day, but we don't pay attention to it. But God's word here says, We should not let them slip. Why not? Verse two, For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense and reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord. and was confirmed unto us by them that heard them. It's easy to just permit things to drift by and not pay attention. But God's word is God's final revelation to man. It is the person of Christ. And so in verses one and two, we have two revelations. Two revelations. And you see, the one that came by the prophets in verse one. God who has sundry times and in diverse manners, spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. The second revelation is given to us in verse two. After these last days spoken unto us by his son. Now the second revelation is far superior to the first. And if you'll notice in verse one, it says many times. That's what he's meant. by God who at sundry or many times refers to the periods of Israel's history when God revealed himself to man and it has a reference to many periods of time. God who at sundry times, many times. In other words, during the days of the patriarchs, God revealed himself. He revealed his message to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. More and more we have the time of Moses when God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaking with his friends as we read in Exodus chapter thirty three and then during the days of the theocracy when God spoke to various men he appeared to Gideon God spoke through Samson God spoke through Jabta and to Ophaniel and other of the judges during the days of the theocracy and of course The judges were still Samuel. And the message that God gave to Samuel the prophet was exceedingly good. And then, of course, we have the kingdom. God certainly spoke during the days of the kingdom, when Saul was king, and especially when David was king, and when Solomon was king. And, of course, in those days, the prophets also witnessed very definitely. And then, of course, during the days of the captivity, When Israel was in captivity in Babylon, God had Ezekiel there. He had Ezekiel there before the main deportation from Jerusalem came to Babylon. He already had Ezekiel there by river, ministering to the people of God. And then, of course, and they returned from the captivity. So we can take the whole of the Israelite history that's given to us. And we can say God spoke in various times by the prophets. But he also not only spoke many times in various times, but he also spoke in various ways. And it refers to the modes of God speaking, how God revealed himself to the Old Testament people of God. In other words, there were prophets who prophesied, like Nathan prophesied to David. like Samuel prophesied to King Saul and also to David. And there were not only prophets who prophesied, but there were priests who taught for the work of the priests was to teach the people of God. And because the priesthood failed in Israel during the days of Eli and his two sons, Hophany and Phineas, who made themselves vile before the Lord, God raised up a prophet by the name of Samuel. And he raised him up. Where? In the very tabernacle. Veraphne and Phineas despise the message of God. There were prophets who prophesied. There were priests who taught. And there were kings who ruled. But also prophesied as David did. And Peter tells us that in Acts chapter two. David as a prophet spoke concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But sometimes God gave to these men, prophets, priests, and kings. He gave them visions. He gave them dreams. He gave parables, as you have in Isaiah chapter twenty-eight. He gave various signs. Sometimes he spoke face to face as he did in Moses. Sometimes he spoke by institution, the things that he gave to Israel. as a tabernacle. The tabernacle was a witness to the person of our Lord Jesus. And it was a great witness to the way of salvation. Sometimes he spoke as he did in the Exodus. For the Exodus became the standard for measuring the power of God under the Old Testament economy. Micah chapter seven in verse fifteen. So that which was partial or partial and piecemeal under the Old Testament became final now in the person of our Lord Jesus. It became complete in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And amid all the diversity of the Old Testament, we have New Testament revelation. And there is continuity and there is unity. between the two. There is a definite continuity from the old to new, but it becomes a final thing in the person of our Lord. For the same God who spoke through the prophets continued to speak in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the diversity of the Old Testament prophets may be captured by paying attention not only to the prophets but to the message that the prophets gave. Think of the prophets for a moment. What was the message of Isaiah? The holiness of God. Isaiah stresses the doctrine of the holiness of God. What was the message of Amos? The message of Amos. Amos was a prophet who cried for social justice. The injustice of the people of Israel. What about Hosea? Hosea became an object less than himself and a witness to the unconditional love of God. All the love of God that is manifested in the book of Hosea, the man who was commanded by God to marry a harlot. And then when she bore children to name the children, God named the children, and the names of the children taught as they were, every time they were called by their parents, it reminded those about them of God's relationship to Israel. And the time came that Gomer left Hosea. She followed her harlotry. And finally she was sold as a slave on the auction block. And Hosea bought her. He brought her back. He paid the price there. And this is showing forth the love that he manifested toward Homer. And more than that, the love of God that's manifested concern toward us by the person of our Lord Jesus. He saved us from the bondage of sin and from the terrible crippling corruption that it brings to the human family and to the human life. So, Hosea spoke of the unconditional love of God. Now, when I called attention to just three, Hosea Amos and Isaiah, they're just a small fragment of the truth that was given to them to proclaim. I like what A.T. Pearson said concerning the Old Testament scriptures. He said the Old Testament is like a large canvas. And each writer is a painter to whom God has given paint and a brush. And he blindfolded them as they went to the canvas. They couldn't see what the other had done. And there they painted. And when Malachi lays on his brush at the close of the Old Testament scriptures, there's a perfect portrait of the one who is coming, our Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes the final revelation of God to man. I like what Marcus Dodd said about them. Marcus Dodd said this, it's like men listening to a clock striking. I remember my wife and I were on vacation and we stayed with a dear sister up north and she had a chime clock. And if you ever slept in a room with a chime clock, you know what I'm talking about. Every fifteen minutes. We slept like babies that night. Every fifteen minutes we were awake. But anyway, you couldn't tell what time it was. It was dark. And of course, as you hear, the quarter hour is chiming. That's all you hear. I wonder what hour it is. Is it two o'clock? Is it four o'clock? Is it six o'clock? I want to tell you, when the hour struck, you knew exactly what time it was. And when our Lord Jesus came, the Word of God says, our Lord speaking to the Father in John seventeen, Father, the hour... is come. Throughout the Gospel of John, we read his hour had not yet come. But when you get to John seventeen and the high priestly prayer of our Lord for his own, he says, Father, the hour is come. In other words, as we heard every quarter hour, that clock go off. You see, every quarter hour we Knew we were getting closer. We knew we were getting closer. But the time came that the hour struck. And beloved in the history of the world, the time came when the hour struck, God's Son appeared at a final revelation of God. And the ninth part about it, he's coming again. And you and I, as we look over world events, we hear the quarter hours chiming away. And one of these days the hour is going to come. It's going to strike. For he who shall come will come and will not perish. And I'm so afraid that many are going to be like the foolish virgins of Matthew twenty five. When the bridegroom came, they had no oil for their lamps. They had a profession, but they had no oil. All beloved, as we consider the first advent of our blessed Lord, we cannot divorce it from a second. For every time we have the Lord's Supper, every week we're one week closer to the coming of the Lord. As that great preacher and hymn writer, Horatius Bonar wrote, feast after feast, thus comes and passes by, yet passing point. To that glad feast above. It's pointing forward to it. And the scripture says as often. As we eat this bread and drink this cup. We show forth his death. At his first advent. Till he come. At the second advent. And thus the church of Jesus Christ. Proclaims this glorious truth. every time we partake of the Lord's Supper. And one hears a quarter hour striking in the middle of the night. We don't know what hour it is until it strikes. And the Old Testament authors, they never really knew the prophetic time until he, the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, came. And come he did. And now I want you to notice the unique agent of the revelation. This is the final revelation of God. Notice the unique agent of it. When we read the words by his son or in his son, it is a character of the revealer that is most important. In this revelation we could say it's a son-wise revelation. It is not so much what he said. It's what he did in the New Testament, friends. As you read the New Testament, the emphasis is far more on the redemptive work of Christ than on his teaching that he gave while he was here. Well, we appreciate his teaching in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For never man spake like this man. The epistles. deal with his redempting work. You see, and much of our Lord's ministry of what he spoke. He spoke concerning what? His coming death in Jerusalem. His rejection by the high priest and his resurrection from the dead. That's what he spoke about. You see, the revelation then that he's speaking about as a final revelation here in Hebrews chapter one, verses one and two. is a revelation of the Son of God. And there is continuity in the revelation, for it is God who speaks, both in the Old Testament and in the New. It is the eternal Son of God, who is God's decisive and climactic word. All centers in him. Now, Turn with me to Hebrews seven and verse twenty-eight for a moment. Hebrews seven and verse twenty-eight. When we say that all centers in him and that this is the final revelation of God's command, notice what this passage says. For the law make us men high priests which have infirmities. And the matter whether it were a prophet, a priest, or a king, who God used, under the Old Testament economy. The emphasis here is that God has spoken unto us in his Son, and his Son had no infirmity. He was holy, harmless, undefiled. But notice, that word, but, is a word of contrast. It is a conjunction of contrast. But the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh a Son, who is consecrated forevermore. God's final revelation to man. He's consecrated forevermore. Now, we read more than verses one and two this morning, Hebrews one. And now I want to call your attention, though I won't deal with them. So verses three and four. For in these verses, there are relative clauses that follow their three. that follow the expression by his son. They follow the phrase by his son. And it tells us in verse two, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Number one. Number two, by whom also he made the world. Number three, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power. So great is our Lord Jesus Christ. These three, these three clauses that we find here in Hebrews one set forth a series of facts about the Son of God that illustrate his supremacy and his ability to reveal the Father. So that when our Lord is here in earth and he's teaching ministry, In John fourteen he said to Philip, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. When you read the epistle to the Colossians chapter one and verse fifteen, I think it is, or verse sixteen, where it says that he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. It reminds me of a man who attended his fiftieth High school graduation reunion. My fiftieth is coming up next year. I can't imagine it's that long, but it is. But nevertheless, he changed so much, this man. And he went there and nobody knew him. Nobody knew him. And everybody was trying to guess who this father was. He says, I belong to this class. Nobody knew who he was. He said, I'll prove to you that I belong to this class. And he went out and he brought his son in. And when his son came in, everybody knew who the father was. The father is revealed in the son. And so it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the final revelation, friend. All that God is. is revealed in the person of our Lord Jesus. He's the image of the invisible God. And these clauses show forth the fact, the reality of the fact. He can reveal the Father. And in fact, these three clauses, when you examine them, they move from His essential glory as a Son to His incarnation, to His death, to His present exaltation at the right hand of the Father. three short clauses in English. In the English language, the spirit of, we use so many words. The spirit of God just uses a few words to take us through the whole revelation of the person of Christ, his death, his essential glory, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his present exaltation. at the right hand of God. In other words, when you examine these clauses, they manifest and they accent his greatness and his qualification to do the work of redemption, to accomplish the redemption of a sinful people on behalf of the triune God. Now this is great truth, but I need to apply it. Application number one. Our Lord is God's final revelation to man. This is proven by the term the last days, and it has reference to his first advent, but this blessed one is coming again. In the first advent, He gave meaning to everything the Old Testament scriptures said. Therefore, when you read through the Gospel of Matthew, you read according as it is written, according as it is written, according as it is written, and you find that not only in Matthew, but you find it in John also, as it is written. Now, God doesn't need to give us any further revelation. God has spoken in His Son. May I ask you a question this morning. Are you satisfied with the revelation God has given you? You don't need a miracle. You don't need a fear miracle. You don't need any other sign. You're totally satisfied with the revelation that he's given you. Like I said a few months back, Do you believe everything you read in the newspaper? Oh, no. You don't believe everything you read in the newspaper. Do you believe everything you read in the Word of God? Yes, we do. Now, we say that. We shake our head yes. Tell me, which one do you read the most? Let me ask you another question. When it comes to the discipline of your children, who do you believe? What God's Word says or the psychiatrist? psychology. God has spoken. There's continuity between the Old and the New Testament. There's continuity. And God has spoken finally in the person of his son. And beloved, we only refuse to hear him who speak us on our own peril. We can say, I don't believe God's right when it comes to child discipline and child training. I believe the psychologists have a little more common sense. All you need to do is look at their products. It's not by their gift that ye shall know them. It's by their fruit that ye shall know them, is what the word of God says. We only refuse to hear him that speaketh. on our own peril. And you and I are living in a day when God's revelation is set aside and man's wisdom is taking its place. See, this revelation is final and God's call to repentance is always in the present tense. Today, if you will hear his voice. Not tomorrow, not next week, today. What makes it important is the coming of order these closer week after week, moment after moment. When I graduated from high school, forty-nine years ago, I thought it would be a long time till we get to our fiftiest wedding, or not wedding, but high school reunion. It'll be a long time. I'll tell you this, it has come a lot quicker than I thought. The coming of the Lord draws now. Application number two is in the form of a question. What could God add to the revelation He's given? What could He add to it? We sing that hymn, How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent word. What more can He say than to you He has said, to you who have refused, to Jesus have prayed. Therefore, in the warning of Hebrews twelve, twenty-five, refuse not him let's begin what is your relationship to him have you refused him no longer trust the Lord today while it is called today let's pray together father in the precious name of I dear son we thank you for him To whom you've spoken, to whom you've given to us this final revelation, and what a glorious one it is. He's the brightness of your glory. He is the express image of your person. He upholds all things by the word of his power, and we would not refuse him who speaks. We would say to thee from the depths of our being, Lord, I love you. and you have loved me, and my love for you is because of your love for me. Therefore, our Father, we commend this company to thee and to the word of thy grace, which is able to build him up and give them an inheritance among all that are sanctified through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.