Today we're reading Hebrews chapter 1, but please note, the schedule I put together for reading through the New Testament does not go consecutively through the New Testament books as they appear in your Bible. Instead, it moves around so that there's some variety in our readings. So that's why we're not starting Mark today, even though we finished Matthew yesterday. Again, we're reading Hebrews chapter 1. On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful Word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So he became as far superior to the angels, as the name he has inherited is excellent beyond theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son, today I have become your father. Or again, I will be his father, and he will be my son. And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him. Now about the angels, he says, he makes his angels' winds, his servants' flames of fire. But about the sun, he says, your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, and justice is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy. And, in the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe, like a garment they will be changed, but you remain the same, and your years will never end. Yet to which of the angels did God ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit eternal salvation? And this is God's word. One of the challenges to our faith comes in the form of pluralism. The idea that every religion leads to the one and only God. Jesus said, however, no one comes to the Father except through me in John 14 6. So we believe that Christianity is the exclusive way to God. That's not a popular idea, as you know. Even Christians sometimes have speculated that God might save people outside the realm of Christianity, in nations or tribes where there is no Christian witness. Hebrews 1 provides some important information that explains why pluralism is wrong. It is true that God has spoken throughout human history in various ways, as verse 1 puts it. The writer of Hebrews, though, wants us to know that in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. He said that in, wrote that in verse 2. Christ, the Son of God, is uniquely qualified to reveal God to us because He is, according to verse 3, the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, being God Himself. Jesus could reveal God to us as no other person or angel ever could, and we saw that in verses 5 through 14. Furthermore, Christ has provided purifications for sins, according to verse 3, something that no other man, religion, revelation, or spirit being can do. It is impossible, then, for any other religion to save someone or to reveal God to anyone because there is only one God and Christ is the only one capable of revealing Him and reconciling us with Him. Despite the pressures we feel from pluralism in our world, We must maintain our conviction that Christ is the only way to God. If we give up or just get careless about this truth, it will weaken every conviction we have as Christians and kill our motivation to spread the gospel message. So don't be seduced by the lies of pluralism. There is only one God, and there is only one way to Him, through Jesus Christ, His Son, who gave Himself, dying for our sins, so that we might be saved. Praise God for that reality today, and hold fast to it for all of your life. May God bless you and give you a great day, and we'll see you next time.