Christ, the Better Word (Hebrews 1:1-2a)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Amen and let's take the word then and open up

to the New Testament book of Hebrews Hebrews

Hebrews 1:1

chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 Really really what we're

gonna look at is chapter 1 in the first half

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

of verse 2 if you're looking for Hebrews, it's

in the New Testament following the letters of

Paul. And so as you're turning, you'll probably

see 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus and Philemon.

If you see James or 1st and 2nd Peter or the

Johns, you've gone too far. Hebrews chapter 1

Hebrews 1:1

verse 1 and the first half of verse 2. And this

is the beginning of our new sermon series through

this wonderful book. Would you follow along with

me? Long ago, at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But

in these last days, He has spoken to us by His

Son. The grass withers and the flower fades,

but God's Word stands forever. Let's pray together.

Oh Lord, as we now open up Your Word, we pray

that the eyes of our hearts would be illumined

so that we may be able to comprehend with all

the saints what is the breadth and the length

and the height and the depth, and to know the

love of Christ which surpasses all. It surpasses

all knowledge. So Lord, would You be our guide

through this book. We pray for Christ's sake.

Amen. If you could ask God one question, and

indeed you can in prayer, but if you could ask

God one question specifically related to the

faith, related to something in scripture, related

to some doctrine, maybe you might ask, well,

Lord, really, who are the Nephilim? Or maybe

you would ask, Lord, Truly, what's going on at

the end of the book of Daniel? Or maybe you might

ask God, when is Jesus coming back? I know that

we have questions that we want to see answered.

But if you could just ask God one question and

be assured of the answer, I wonder what it would

be. R .C. Sproul had a question that he wanted

to ask God in glory. And his question was this.

Who wrote the book of Hebrews? That might be

your question as well. Who wrote the book of

Hebrews? Throughout church history many have

sought to answer this question and many have

landed upon the Apostle Paul. Indeed the 1611

King James Version says the title of the book

the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews.

Many fine theologians and pastors and just disciples

of Christ have said the Apostle Paul wrote this

book. To me that's a little bit like when I ask

my children where do you want to go to dinner

tonight and they just Shout out, we want Mexican

food. Because what we do is we gravitate towards

the things that we know. And we've got all of

these letters from Paul that precede this. And

so we might be inclined to say, well, I think

the apostle Paul wrote this book. And indeed,

there might be some good reasons to think that.

After all, the end of this book is very Pauline.

Certainly the author of Hebrews knew his Old

Testament Bible very well. It was written, it

appears, by someone who was Jewish. And so for

these reasons, we might say, yes, it was the

Apostle Paul. But at the same time, there are

other just elements of this letter that don't

sound like the Apostle Paul. For one thing, he

doesn't say that he wrote it. Meanwhile, the

letters of Paul he does. assign himself as the

author. Additionally, there's not really an introduction

to this book like you find in the other letters

from Paul. It just jumps right into this kind

of action going on, right? And maybe even more

convincing is that I think it's in chapter two

where it seems that the author of the book of

Hebrews is a second generation Christian. He

says that he learned of Christ through the Apostles.

Now we know this about Paul. He didn't learn

of it firstly from the Apostles, did he? No,

the Apostle Paul had a direct encounter with

the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road. You

remember that he is blinded by this light. He

falls to the ground and he hears these words

from Jesus, Saul, Saul. Why are you persecuting

me? And thus, Saul becomes Paul, just like I

said last Sunday. Saul becomes Paul. The persecutor

becomes the preacher. And with that encounter

with the Lord Jesus Christ, he lays claim to

being an apostle. So it doesn't come through

other believers. It comes through Jesus. And

so for these reasons many have said it's got

to be somebody else. And so other people have

suggested throughout history the following names

as authors of Hebrews. Luke, Apollos maybe, Barnabas,

Clement of Rome, Apaphras, Silas, Philip. But

I think ultimately where I land on the authorship

of Hebrews is with the Church Father origin who

ultimately said, but who wrote the epistle? In

truth, God knows. God knows who wrote this, even

if we're not entirely sure. But isn't it interesting

that in a book, that has drawn so much curiosity

about authorship, the beginning of the book is

all about divine authorship, isn't it? The beginning

of this book is all about how God speaks. And

so here's what I want you to see today. The author

of Hebrews contrasts the time, the recipients

and the means by which God speaks. that we would

look unto Jesus as the Son of God and know of

His preeminence. And so that's kind of the theme

of this book. But some other themes that people

have suggested, we're going to see this as we

go along through this book. But ultimately all

of the themes center around the second person

of the Trinity. The big theme of this book is

Jesus Christ Himself. The way this is written

is to connect Jesus to the Old Testament to show

that he is the fulfillment of the promises and

the events of the Old Testament that Jesus is

the yes and the Amen to all of the promises of

God But who needed to hear this Certainly we

need to hear this but let's think of the original

audience here The original audience was likely

a mixed bag of Jewish Christians and Gentile

Christians. But but where this letter is going

to what church we are not entirely sure on that.

Just like we don't know the author, we don't

know exactly where this letter was meant to go.

Some have said Rome. Some have said Jerusalem

and others have. sought to explain other places,

right? But we can also say this, that the individuals

receiving this were undergoing persecution. And

we're gonna see that as we go along through this

book. The recipients of this letter, some of

them were being tempted to depart the faith.

Some of them were being tempted to deny Christ

as the Messiah. Some of them were being tempted

to return to the old covenant system amidst this

persecution. maybe that persecution is a help

to us in understanding the dating of this book.

So as we look at this book and we want to know

when it was written, there is no mention of the

destruction of the temple in AD 70. We might

expect that in a book that has to do at least

on some level with persecution, but there's no

mention of the temple's destruction. There's

also no mention of the Apostle Paul and yet there

is mention of Timothy. And so in light of these

things, I think we can say that this is before

AD 70, but this is after the time of Paul's death.

And so some have said early into maybe the mid

60s here. Let's dive a little bit further though

into the time. Because this is one of my main

points. Look at the first words of this text

I'm reading from the ESV. You might be reading

from something else But I think they're all gonna

say about the same thing mine begins long ago

Right the first words long ago. And so what this

what this is doing is contrasting what happened

long ago with the present time of this letter,

right And all of the action that's happening

in just this verse and a half, all of it has

to do with God speaking. And so let's understand

how God spoke long ago. Many of the most pivotal

moments in scripture are when God speaks. Indeed,

all of scripture is God speaking. God spoke the

world into existence, didn't he? Or think about

how God speaks when he cuts a covenant with his

people. We can look at this through the covenant

of grace, the administration of the covenant

of grace, to see how God structures things, the

speaking of his word to his people in this covenant

of grace. We'll start with Adam and Eve. You

remember that after Adam ate the fruit, Adam

and Eve disobeyed and they plunged all of the

world into sin in Genesis chapter three. We also

know what else happens in Genesis chapter three.

God speaks and he speaks sharing the promise

of the Son. He speaks of the promise of the Redeemer

to come. And so this is the first administration

of the covenant of grace. the promise of Christ.

But what else happens within the covenant of

grace? The promise spoken to Noah. You remember

the flood. You remember what happens after the

flood, right? There is the promise of common

grace, never to destroy the world again by a

flood. God speaks that, and then he shows it

in the rainbow in the sky. What about Abraham?

This is the promise of offspring too numerous

to count, right? You can read of this in Genesis

12 and 15 and 17. And if you'll let the New Testament

interpret the Old Testament, you'll see that

those who truly are the offspring of Abraham,

these are the ones who are truly the offspring

of God, right? What's next in the covenant of

grace? You've got Moses. You've got the giving

of the law, right? God chooses a people for himself

and then he gives them rules, laws, by how they

should live, right? But they must live it in

faith, again, part of the covenant of grace.

And then finally, to David, the promise that

exists in 2 Samuel 7 of a king. to be enthroned

forever, a greater king beyond David, King Jesus.

And that's actually a very important point, friends,

because as you read the book of Hebrews, we might

say it like this. Hebrews is kind of a commentary

on Psalm 110. Psalm 110 begins like this. The

Lord. And that in your Bibles probably in all

caps meaning Yahweh says to my Lord to David's

Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies

my footstool. Again Hebrews acts like a commentary

on that because you see that passage quoted four

times and alluded to five other times all referring

to Psalm. 110. Now, again, we're talking about

timing here. And so the contrast is long ago.

But look in verse two, long ago. And then here

we have in these last days, in these last days.

So we need to think, how would the original audience

have understood these last days? How do you interpret

it? How do you understand this? Well, a Jewish

audience, at least if not the Gentile Christians,

would have understood that this is talking about

the present age. And I can prove that to you

if you'll allow me to. Consider Acts chapter

Acts 2:17

2 verse 17. It's a very important moment in Scripture

because Acts 2 17 is quoting Joel 2 when it says,

In the last days it shall be, God declares, that

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Did you

catch that? The last days. It was predicted in

the past, in the time of Joel, and it comes to

fruition at Pentecost. Also, here's another one.

Second Timothy three, verse one. Understand this,

that in the last days, there will come times

of difficulty. Paul is writing to Timothy, and

is he saying, Timothy, there's something that's

going to happen way off in the future, or is

he saying there is something that you are in

the midst of right now? Friends, the last days

began when Jesus ascended up into heaven and

the church began at Pentecost. But also notice,

if we can go just a tad bit deeper, how it words

this in verse two, in these last days. Again,

you may have a different translation, but this

is going back to the Greek, and I believe this

is an accurate translation, in these last days.

And so the recipients of this letter would have

understood they were in the last days. And these

last days are everything in between the first

advent of Christ and the second advent of Christ.

Theologians have called this the church age.

And friends, what that means is that as this

book was written to people in the last days,

so it is written to you in the last days. You

are in it right now. And as the recipients of

this letter now, let's understand it again, contrasting

the former recipients of God's word and the recipients

here and the recipients now. And so look here

as it says, God spoke to our fathers. God spoke.

To our fathers, our ancestors, our predecessors,

we are reminded that God took a people for himself.

Even before they were a people, God made a people

out of them. But then the contrast is this. Something

new has happened in these last days. Now, God

speaks to us. Now, God speaks to us. He is reminding

them, they, these people here, they're sending

us a letter, are God's people, but they're not

a God's people simply because they're Jewish,

they're God's people because of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you remember 1 Peter chapter 2, verses

1 Peter 2:9

9 and 10, and it reads, but you are a chosen

race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people

for his own possession, that you may proclaim

the excellencies of him who called you out of

darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were

not a people, but now you are God's people. Once

you had not received mercy, but now you have

received mercy. How are they God's people? Because

they have been adopted into God's family. by

Jesus Christ. How have they received mercy? It's

in Jesus Christ, isn't it? And so we see this

word of Christ is for all who would believe in

Him. The word of Christ isn't simply for the

smartest people or the best -looking people or

the most talented people. The word of Christ

isn't for just a people over there or a people

over there. It's not for just one type of people.

It is for all who would believe in the Lord Jesus

Christ, who would repent of sin and trust Him.

And ultimately, when I see these words to us,

I can't help but think of the promise of the

incarnation in Isaiah chapter nine. To us a child

is born and to us a son is given To us is everyone

who believes in Jesus That is for you and that

is for them But also let's look at the means

by which God speaks Okay, it says long ago at

many times and in many ways The King James Version,

I like how it puts it. It says, at sundry times

and in diverse manners. Talking about how God

speaks, what are these diverse manners? Well,

you'll remember how God spoke to Moses through

a burning bush. You might remember how God spoke

to the prophet Elijah through a whisper that

came after a storm. You might remember how God

spoke to the prophet Ezekiel through visions,

or how God spoke to Daniel through dreams. These

are the ways in which God used to speak, but

also secondly, look at this, God spoke to our

fathers by what? By the prophets. God spoke through

the prophets as they delivered oracles or by

his spirit as his word is recorded. And this

is where we return to this discussion of authorship.

We don't know who humanly penned Hebrews, but

we do know this. The primary author of all of

Scripture is God Himself. For evidence of this,

if you want to, flip ahead. To Hebrews 3 Hebrews

3 7 through 11 For it reads Therefore as the

Holy Spirit says Today if you hear his voice

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion

on the day of testing in the wilderness where

your fathers put me to the test and saw my works

for 40 years Therefore, I was provoked with that

generation and said, they always go astray in

their hearts. They have not known my ways. As

I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my

rest. Friends, this is citing Psalm 95. But who

is the primary author of it? Did you catch verse

seven? As the Holy Spirit says. And so, yes.

Yes, this is all written by God Himself, and

this should give us great encouragement to press

on, trusting Scripture, knowing that it is literally

God breathed. Many of you know that before I

went into pastoral ministry, I used to work for

different newspapers in the area as a reporter.

And one time I was in the newsroom of one of

these newspapers and we are all talking about

the authority and the authenticity of scripture.

And so it was the writers, it was the photographers,

it was the page layout people, we're all having

this big great discussion on the Bible. But some

of the staff were having trouble understanding

how God could speak through people to deliver

His Word. I reminded them of the unity of God's

Word. That even though we've got 66 books by

like 40 authors or so across a myriad of years,

authors who differed in all sorts of ways and

yet at the same time there is this unity, this

consent of all of the parts of Scripture that

as you read Genesis, or as you read Esther, or

as you read Zephaniah, or Matthew, or Titus,

or Jude, there is this unity that exists all

throughout as God is telling us the story of

redemption in Christ alone. The Westminster Confession

of Faith says it beautifully. We may be moved

and induced by the testimony of the Church to

an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture,

the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy

of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the

consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole,

which is to give glory to God, the full discovery

it makes of the only way of man's salvation.

and the many other incomparable excellencies

of the entire perfection thereof are arguments

whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to

be the word of God. There's an excellency about

it. There's a majesty. There's that unity that

I was talking about that runs all throughout.

But friends, it's incomplete. without the Son.

The Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the complete

and final word. Sadly, though, there are many

who call themselves Christians who intentionally

ignore parts of the Bible. There are what are

called New Testament Christians who completely

disregard the Old Testament. They scrap it and

they only read the new. It's not a new heresy.

It actually is an ancient one, but it's not logical

because if you don't have the Old Testament You

don't know the problem and you don't have the

promises of the Sun to come But if you don't

have the New Testament What don't you have? You

don't have the solution and so the Old Testament

is pointing us to Christ and the New Testament

is showing us Christ and promising us that Christ

will come again. Friends, we need the entirety

of Holy Scripture. We need all of God's counsel.

And now that we have Jesus, we have the final

word, and you must trust in the whole thing.

This text reminds us that God spoke through prophets

like Moses and Isaiah. and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel,

and Daniel, and the minor prophets who aren't

really minor at all. The Word of God came through

them. And if it came through them, how much more

are we to trust the fact that it came through

God's one and only begotten Son, who according

to John 1 .1 is the Word. Listen to this from

Martin Luther. If the word of the prophets is

accepted, how much more ought we to seize the

gospel of Christ, since it is not a prophet speaking

to us, but the Lord of the prophets, not a servant,

but a son, not an angel, but God. You see, formerly

God's word spoke of the son, but now God's word

speaks the Son. In the incarnation, suddenly

there was the Son, just as promised and right

on time. And since God has finally and fully

spoken in His Son, there is no need for further

revelation. You remember from last Sunday, Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12, one of those verses says, of the

making of many books, there is no end. It's telling

us to trust. God and His Word. Friends, we have

the Word, and the title is Christ. Now, as Reformed

Christians, we have a high view of Scripture,

don't we? We have a very high view of Scripture.

But does our practice line up with our beliefs

here? Think about it this way. How would your

life look different if you trusted the Bible

completely as the Word of God? How would your

life look different if you trusted the Bible

completely as the Word of God? And how would

your life look different if you recognize Christ

as the final word? Friends, we can admit this

about ourselves that sometimes we don't give

ourselves fully or very much to the reading and

the studying of Holy Scripture. But what if we

did? How would our lives look different? Five

very brief points of application. One, we would

read it. And if our eyes have grown too dim to

read it, we would love to hear somebody else

read it or have somebody explain it to us. Friends,

we would hide it in our hearts in times of need

and in times of prosperity. Secondly, we would

share it. How many of you just within the last

week have read an article or seen a mean meme

or a gift or whatever they're called Online how

many of you have shared within the last week

something that you read online. I See some hands

going up and that's that's proper. Okay How much

more should we share the Word of God than those

memes or gifts that we see online? thirdly we

would trust it. Hebrews 6, 18 says, it's impossible

for God to lie. And yet if we know this about

ourselves, sometimes we're not truthful in everything,

are we? How much more should we trust God's word

that is truth at all times? For we would repent.

We would repent. For God's word shows us again

and again how how central to prayer and repentance

these things are in our lives. It shows us over

and over again that we would go to God in prayer

and say, God, I have grieved you by my actions

or my words or my thoughts. Please forgive me

and turn me back to Jesus. And so we would repent

regularly of sin. Five. Lastly, we would worship.

We would worship. If we truly gave ourselves

more and more to the study, to the reading of

God's Word, just studying it privately, but also

with others, we would be moved and induced, as

the Confession says, to worship. We have been

placed here for the glory of God, and so we would

seek more and more to do that in corporate worship

and just in our lives during the week, for He

alone It's praiseworthy. Friends, I don't give

this to us to guilt trip us. I give this to us

in order to encourage us. You all have people

in your lives that you trust. You got a brother,

a sister, a friend, maybe a grandparent, somebody

that you just love to talk to when you're in

need. God's word is even greater than those people.

And it's totally trustworthy. And so let this

be encouragement to you to read, to listen, to

study, to memorize God's word and to appreciate

because it is perfect in everything that it says.

And friends, the way that I'm framing this with

these comparisons, these contrasts, this is actually

how the entire book really kind of goes. The

way these two verses are written is a pattern

throughout the book to show us that Christ is

supreme. Christ is greater. Christ is better.

Donald Guthrie says, this is the real theme of

the letter. The past has given way to better

things. And that's why this sermon series is

called The Preeminence of Christ. Christ is before

all things. Christ is above all things. And Christ

is authoritative over all things. This book will

say that Christ is greater than the angels. Christ

is more excellent than Moses. Christ is greater

than Joshua the high priest. And Christ is a

better and final sacrifice for us. Christ is

greater. Because Christ is to take first place

in our lives for he is the image of the invisible

God John 1 1 says it best in the beginning was

the word and the word was with God and the word

was God You see not only is Christ above and

beyond all things Christ Jesus is the better

word Let's pray Father, in heaven, we give you

great thanks that you've given us this word and

that you have given us the one who has called

the word. Father, would we give ourselves more

and more to the studying of Christ by your word,

to sharing of the word? Father, to even praying

and singing of the word, we thank you for this

word. and we thank you in Christ's name. Amen.