GOD HATH SPOKEN
Hebrews One
Sermon of the Week #200622 – June 9, 2006
God hath spoken twice to the human race; once in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament. When God spoke to the human race He did not unload the whole load at one time but He spake in divers portions—He gave a little bit here and a little bit there. When God appeared to Adam in the Garden of Eden did He hand him a Bible and say, “Adam, I have a present for you. Here is a copy of My Bible. You will notice that it has two Testaments, an Old and a New? This Bible has sixty-six books; it has one thousand one hundred and eighty nine chapters, and thirty-one thousand and one hundred and seventy-one verses. Now Adam I would like to point out to you that as you read my Bible you will notice that some of the letters are written in red; some of the letters are written in black. Now don't get all hung up on those red letters. You see, Adam, the red letters were spoken by My Son, Jesus, and the black letters are spoken by Peter, Paul, Moses and others. But actually it is all the words of My Son, Jesus. You see, when Jesus was about to go to the cross He reminded the Apostles that the Holy Spirit would come and bring to their remembrance all things that He spoke unto them. So actually when you read the words of Peter and Paul you are reading the words of My Son, Jesus. The words of Peter and Paul are just as important as the words of Jesus. They are all inspired and they are all equally true.”
That is not the way it happened. God did not unload the whole load on Adam at one time. He spoke unto the fathers in divers portions and in divers manners—a little bit here and a little bit there. In fact the Bible that Adam had access to contained only six verses. One of those verses contained the whole gospel story when God said to the Devil, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Later on God added some more of His revelation to Moses when He gave to him the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt make no graven image. Thou shalt not take name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep holy. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet.” However, the Ten Commandments were not the full revelation of God either. It was only a portion of what He had to say to the human race. Jesus never told the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the Ten Commandments to every creature and throw in the Sermon on the Mount for good measure. He told them to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is immersed shall be saved. God having of old time spoken unto the fathers in divers portions—He gave a little bit here and a little bit there.
But not only did God speak in divers portions, He also spoke in divers manners. Sometimes He revealed Himself one way and at other times another. One time He spoke through the handwriting on the wall. At this point Daniel, the prophet, came in and preached a sermon that was really right off the wall.
Belshazzar first called in the astrologers to read the writing on the wall and they could not do it. Astrology does not have the answer to anything. Actually, astrology is the bible for those who have rejected the Word of God. Actually, this was the sin of ancient Israel. Stephen said they took up the star of the God Rephan and God said, “I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”
On another occasion the Lord spoke through a dream to young Samuel. He said to him in that dream, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel thought that Eli, the priest, was calling him. He ran into Eli’s room and awakened him and asked what he wanted. “Eli said, “I did not call you”. This was done three times until Eli cued him in on the fact that it must be the Lord speaking to him. The next time, Samuel said, “Speak Lord thy servant heareth.” Some today say, “Listen Lord, our preacher speaketh.”
How about the time that He spake through Balaam’s donkey? Balaam was going on a mission where he had no business. An angel stood in the way with a drawn sword. Balaam did not see him, but the donkey did. The donkey ran off in the field. Balaam whacked him one good and got him back on track. The next time the donkey ducked the avenging sword of the angel and ran into a wall and crushed Balaam’s foot. Again, Balaam whacked him one real good and got him back on the track. The third time the donkey just hunched down and after the third whack the donkey looked back over his shoulder and asked Balaam why he had been hit three times? He told him he had always done a good job before, he could not understand such behavior from his master. At this moment Balaam saw the angel too.
Some folk don’t believe a donkey could talk. I don’t know why not. A donkey has a tongue, teeth, mouth and lungs. A greater miracle is the fact that you are listening to me right now from a thin metal disc a few inches wide. So what is the big deal about a donkey talking?
In the book of First Kings God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice. But when He gave the Ten Commandments, there was the sound of the trumpet and His voice shook the mountain and Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake and the people who heard entreated that no more be spoken unto them for they could not endure the sound that was heard.” If they could not bear hearing the voice of God when He gave the law, what will they feel like when they hear God’s voice asking why they broke His law? Remember, it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. God spoke in divers portions and in divers manners.
It wasn’t until Jesus died on the cross, arose from the dead and ascended to Heaven that the Apostle Paul could say that all scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, unto every good work. The Word of God is now complete. God has no further revelation. And Peter tells us that His divine grace hath granted unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that can be added to the revealed will of God for fallen man.
The Bible is the only inspired revelation of God on earth. Paul said, “If any man preach any other gospel than that which we have proclaimed let him be accursed.” He said, not only any man but even if an angel preach any other message he would be damned also.
Now what did God have to say in Hebrews chapter one? God had a lot to say and we can’t notice all of it, but here are a few of the things He spoke about in this chapter.
THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN RACE
For one thing He had something to say about the origin of the human race. In the fifth verse God the Father said of Jesus, “Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee.” In the next chapter Peter, speaking of the birth of Jesus, said that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor. Jesus was not made a little lower than the human race; if He had He would have been an animal. Jesus was not an animal and I am not an animal either. People are concerned about life in outer space. While I do not know anything about who or what is out there, I know that it is not superior to us, because we are just a little lower than the angels and you don’t get any higher on the creation hog than that. We are it! Man is the biggest thing in the cosmos.
There are some scientists falsely so called who seem to think that it took God about six billion years to create mankind. I am not equipped to debate such a position and must rely on the scholars to help me out. I have consulted two renowned scholars whose qualifications are impeccable. I am referring to Doctor Moses and Doctor Paul. Doctor Moses and Doctor Paul had four things to say about the creation of man and they agree on all four counts.
Number one: Doctor Moses said that God made man from the dust of the earth. Doctor Paul agreed. Doctor Paul said on Mars Hill that God made of one all the nations that dwell on the earth.
Number two: Doctor Moses said that God breathed into his nostrils breath. Notice that Doctor Moses did not say God breathed into the nostrils of a tadpole. He breathed into the nostrils of the man He had made from the dust of the earth. Doctor Paul agreed. He said concerning the one man from whom all the nations come that he gave him breath.
Number three: Doctor Moses said the man God made and gave breath became a living soul. Doctor Paul agreed. He said the one man that God made was given life.
Number four: The fourth thing that Doctor Moses and Doctor Paul agree on is the fact of the name of this first created man. Doctor Moses said that the man made from the dust of the earth was named Adam. Doctor Paul agreed for he declared that the first man Adam became a living soul. But then Doctor Paul carried that thought to a further dimension. He said not only did the first Adam become a living soul but also the second Adam became a life giving spirit.
Sometimes through the years my faith has been shaken. I saw a beautiful Buick convertible back in the fifties on a downtown street of Cincinnati, Ohio. The top was down and as I came up from behind I saw a young couple with their backs to me and they seemed to be talking to what appeared to be an infant in a car seat between them. I heard the man say something like, “Itchy kitchie koo, papa’s little baby” and then the woman said, “Iitchy kitchy koo mama’s little baby.” As I passed by I turned around to see this marvelous sight and there hanging between them on the car seat was a monkey. I thought to myself, “Maybe there is something to this evolution thing.” We have come this far and now we are starting back in the opposite direction.
It must be comforting to believe in the theory of evolution. If you can believe that you are an animal, and you know that God will not have a judgement day for animals, as an animal you can disclaim all responsibility to God. I am not an animal. You may be the son of a blue-blooded baboon but I am not. I am a human being. I am just a little lower than the angels, at least for a little while, and before long I shall be equal even to them. GOD HATH SPOKEN. What else did God have to say in Hebrews chapter one? He had something to say about His hatred of sin.
GOD HATES SIN
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. God hates sin. We need, as Paul said, to learn to hate, despise and abominate that which is evil. Would that we could hate sin the way that Jesus does. It seems that in general we have a love affair with sin. We flirt with it. We like it. We hold it close to us like a poisonous rattlesnake. We pet sin and laugh at it.
One example of the degradation of the modern mind was when a young woman on the subject of Aids was interviewing a doctor on television. One of her questions was, “Doctor, if you and I were going to bed together what advice would you give me?” She was not the slightest bit embarrassed to ask such a stupid question. The doctor replied, “I would like to say first of all that you and I are not going to bed together.” The young woman was slightly put down by such a remark; surely anybody would want to go to bed with her. She said, “What’s wrong with me?” The Doctor said, “I have been married for forty-nine years and that is not my life style.” And then he repeated about four times that statement again, “You and I are not going to bed together.” America today both out of the church and the majority in the church love iniquity and hate and despise righteousness. Anyone who has not been blinded by the Devil can see it. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. GOD HATH SPOKEN. What else did God have to say in Hebrews chapter one?
THE FINAL WINDUP
He speaks of the wind up of human affairs. Speaking of the universe God says, “The heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish but thou continuest, they shall wax old as doth a garment, they shall be rolled up as a mantle and changed as a garment.” The message of God in Hebrews chapter one is that the world is not going to remain as it is forever.
People are concerned about the day after. Personally, I am not concerned about it at all. If they ever drop atomic bombs on this country, I know where I will be on the day after. I have the hope of meeting Jesus in the air. There have been a lot of great meetings in the history of the Lord’s work. It would have been great to be at that meeting when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount to a great multitude. It would have been great to be present at that great meeting on the Day of Pentecost when the Church was born. It is always a great meeting when the body of Christ assembles for the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day. But the greatest meeting of all will be that day when the Lord comes again. What a meeting that will be! Those who miss that meeting will miss it all. Peter says that we ought to look for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of the Lord. Paul says that we should look for the blessed hope and appearing of the great God our Saviour Jesus Christ. John prayed the last prayer in the Word of God when He said, “Even so, Come Lord Jesus.” And what else did the Lord have to say in Hebrews chapter one? He had something to say about ministering angels.
MINISTERING ANGELS
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the sake of them that inherit eternal salvation? These ministering angels were all created. Paul tells us in Colossians 1:16, “In Him were all things created in heavens and upon the earth things visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.”
The angelic population of Heaven must be greater than the population of humans on earth. In Hebrews 12 they are referred to as an innumerable host of angels.
Angels minister to God’s people today. We cannot see them at this time because we walk by faith and not by sight. They are ministering spirits. You cannot see a spirit. How many ways they have worked in our lives, we will not know until we reach the other side of the mystic river. There are some ways that we are told where they minister.
One way is at the time of the death of a Christian. Jesus told the story of a man whom at death the angels carried away. What a great thought. Those glorious creatures surround the deathbed of the Christian, at the ready to escort him safely through the air filled with demons to the Father’s House.
O precious cross, O glorious crown, O resurrection Day
Ye angels from the stars come down and bear my soul away.
CONCLUSION
And now this final word. Back in Bible College days there used to be a song that we sang with great gusto. It was a song about the Word of God:
Mid the storms and doubts of unbelief we fear;
Stands a book eternal that the world holds dear.
Through the restless ages it remains the same,
‘Tis the book of God and the Bible is its name.
The old book and the old faith are the rock on which I stand.
The old book and the old faith are the bulwark of the land.
Through storm and stress they stand the test,
In every clime and nation blest,
The grand old book and the dear old faith,
Are the hope of every land.
GOD HATH SPOKEN UNTO US IN THESE LAST DAYS.
