Join us now for Call to Worship, dedicated to presenting the truth of God's Word. Call to Worship is sponsored by Zion Chapel. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Saviour divine. Now hear me when I pray, Take all my guilt away, O let me from this day be wholly Thine. My great love's song to Thee, Thou Lamb of Galilee, Savior divine! Thou hear me when I pray, Take all my guilt away, Oh, let me crown this sacred holy night May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart, my healing spark. As the last sight for me, obey my love to thee. Therefore man changes to be a living God. While life's dark days I tread, and griefs around me spread, be thou my guide. With darkness turn to day, white sorrows tears away, far let me ever stray from thee, our sight. When ends life's transient dream, when death's cold, silent stream, would army roam, blessed or dead in love, fear and distrust removed, A fair mistake of God, a ransomed soul. Reading from Hebrews chapter 1. God, who in sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times 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 worlds, who bring the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person, and the upholding of 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 they, from to which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, and again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son, and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirit, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. They all shall be waxed old as doth the garment, and as the vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand until I make thy enemies thy fostool? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? So far we read God's Holy Word. that's come before Him in prayer, giving thanks for what is written, and especially we may have access to it freely, and also that we might have understanding of it. Our Father, we come to Thee through Christ. We come giving thanks in His name for every blessing given. We acknowledge that we cannot even give thanks without having His Spirit, without Him being divine, and we the branches. As thou hast said, Lord Jesus, without me you can do nothing. We must abide in thee, and thou must abide in us. We pray that we might have that right beginning of abiding in thee, coming to thee, and thou in us, and coming to thee in thy death, coming to thee at thy feet, dying for us, and shedding thy blood. That is where life begins, as thou hast said. Until we eat of thy body and drink of thy blood, we have no life in us. We give thanks for Thy giving Thyself that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. We give thanks not only for Thy death and shedding of Thy blood, but also, Father, we give thanks that Thou hast raised Christ from the dead, that we might also look to Him, the risen Savior, for what we need in the present time. As Paul could say, that I might know Him and the power of Thy resurrection. And we pray, Father, that we might have more of that in the Church, that the Church again will be a salt and a light. We fear that we have become a salt that have lost its savor. We are not acknowledging and defending rightly that Thou art our Creator, and Thou art our Sustainer, and Thou art the Lawgiver, and above all, that Thou art the Redeemer. We pray that these things might again be made known, as they were in the time of Paul's preaching, when he was accused of turning the world upside down, but he was turning it right side up, and today the world is upside down, but there's so little to turn it right. and so little of the true call to repentance, and the call to faith, and the call to obedience. When we are openly acknowledging the lie of evolution, and we are so terribly murdering the unborn, and not acknowledging thy holy law, thou shalt not murder. Help us to see our guilt in all those areas. not acknowledging Thee as Creator, we have put ourselves in darkness. Thou art the One who is in the light, and when we do not see Thee, we have no light in our life. It must come from Thee. We are told by the pen of John that the light has come in the world, but the world did not comprehend it, and we are, I'm afraid, there today. and we pray that thou would give us awakening, thou would give us reviving in the church, that it may again itself repent, and then obey, and then call the homes, the schools, the nation, and each other, that we might have awakening, reviving, that we may have that yet again. We fear, Father, we are in line for judgment, especially in murdering the unborn, but we pray there might be a time of repentance, a time of humbling, a time of the lessening of the abortion, that there might be grace for a time. We do fear that judgment will fall. And we pray, Father, that we might rightly recognize it in humbleness now. We pray it for the blessing needed again, that we might see how far we have removed from the faith of our fathers when we do not acknowledge Thee as Creator and Lawgiver. and rightly come to thee as Redeemer. We pray that we may know that our fathers held these things much more than we do, and we might come back to the faith of our fathers, especially going back even further than those in our own country, going back to the faith of Abraham. and that we might be children of Abraham by faith in Christ. We pray in his name that thou will lead us and thou will send thy spirit to lead us into all truth, the truth that humbles us and the truth that will lift us up in Christ. Amen. As we look at the book of Hebrews, we have looked at two of the churches in our recent message, the church at Ephesus and the church at Colossae. And now we look at him who is the head of the church. Paul speaks of that to this Hebrew church here, Hebrew Christians, not any individual church like the one at Ephesus or Colossae, particular cities. As we can see toward the latter part, that he speaks of the Hebrews in general and what they had suffered, and calling them especially to the right place and the right relationship with Christ. And we can see that toward the end of this letter to the Hebrews. where he exhorts them in chapter 12. For consider him that endures such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest ye be worried and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. You have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son to whom he receiveth." We have that here to the Hebrew Christians. We also have that same statement to the church at Laodicea. When Christ says to them, as many as I love, I chasten and rebuke. And how we need that chastening brings us to a revival of repentance and a revival then of obedience. We need to know who is speaking to us today. That comes out in the second verse. The first one was by the Fathers, by the Prophets, and that was sufficient to make Christ known. We can read of how Paul, from the Scriptures that he had up to that time, the Prophets, not the Gospels, not the Epistles, but the Prophets Moses and others, and he showed from them that Jesus was the Christ. Paul preached from the Prophets. And now he is here declaring to us, Father Light of the Gospel, he says, God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, by whom he hath appointed heir of all things. by whom also He made the world. God spoke directly by His Son in the Gospels. We have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John recording many of the words of Christ, not all of them. John says, We have these, that we may know that Jesus is the Christ, and knowing Him, that we have life through His name. But John also writes, if all the things that Christ did were written, the world itself could not contain the books. So, we have what God wants us to know in the Scriptures, particularly in the Gospels. But also, Christ, after he ascended back to heaven, speaks through the apostles. They are, as he said, his witnesses. Paul was one of them, called after the other eleven were called, and he was truly a witness. As Christ said, he would be that. He said to Agrippa, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. He was the spokeman for Christ, a witness for Christ. Christ is actually speaking through Paul, as well as he did directly himself. And here, when he does call us to acknowledge that he spoke to us by his Son, He makes reference also to the fact that His Son is the Creator. And we must realize that that is not being acknowledged today. We are, by and large, denying the story and the message of creation as it's given in Scripture, as it can be seen in nature itself, that the heavens declare the glory of God. And as Paul says in Romans chapter 1 has power and wisdom, and Godhead can be known in creation, and we are without excuse. So, promoting the lie of evolution is a terrible thing today. We are foolish. We are wicked in doing so. And we must say, Christ is the one here, as Paul writes, by whom also he made the worlds. That is a fact. That is the truth. He made the worlds by himself and by Christ. They were together in that. We have it twice in this chapter, being a creator. We also read in verse 10, And thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands." There we have the same message as we do in Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth. He spoke them into existence. He is the creator, and we must believe in the fact that the creation that we see and know is of God, not of evolution. Doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense with the seasons, and we also said before, but it bears repeating because so many lie and give the lie of evolution and teach it. It taught to our children all kinds of lies and all kinds of ideas of how old the world is. My oldest grandson was taught that the world was 16 million years old. My younger grandson was taught that it was 5.4 billion years old. And I know I've repeated these before, But have you believed the lie? Or do you continue to believe in the lie of evolution? If you believe in the message of creation, as we have it here, of Christ, by whom He made all the worlds, Thou, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, as we read in verse 10, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. He made both the heavens and the earth. He made the seas and put it in the bounds, and it's all there. We can see his faithfulness throughout the years in our times of seed time and harvest of all the four seasons of day and night. All of that is the change that God brings about every 24 hours of light and dark. That is not the way of evolution. It is the way of God's creation. He made the day. He made the night. He made the spring. He made the summer. He made the fall. He made the winter. He made the seed time. He made the harvest. All of that is there. We must make it known if we believe it. Because so much of the church, and so much of the professing church at least, I don't know if they can be a true church by believing the lie or not. But many in the church, many in the seminaries, many in the universities, are teaching that lie of evolution. And right here, we need to be stopped. We need to hear the voice of Christ, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. The Father and the Son did it together. That must be believed, and it must be made known. We must call the rest of the nation that doesn't believe it to repentance. And if they're not called to repentance, they will be found dying at the time of Christ's return, believing the lie. Believing the lie all liars go to the lake of fire. And we need to see that in concern for God's honor, in concern for our fellow man. Then further describing Christ, verse three, hoping the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and the upholding of all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. What a message! The brightness of His glory, an express image of His person. Christ is that in relationship to the Father. We can see that in Colossians chapter 1, where we read in verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. And then also referring to Him there as Creator, For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is the creator of the world. He is the creator of you and I, and especially He is the one who paid for our sin on the cross. One Creator, One Savior, One Lord, One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We need to see that from this here, and we need to see it from other places as well. When we see these things here, we need to see them giving God glory. Not only do we read in Colossians that he is the express image of the invisible God, also we can read it in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, God shows himself in the face of Jesus Christ. God also refers to himself there as the one who is the creator of the world. In that fourth chapter, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is talking about in this third verse of chapter one, hoping the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, the glory of God is seen in the Lord Jesus and upholding all things by the word of His power. He not only created Him, but He also upholds all things. He makes everything continue in existence. It not only began it, but He is the finisher of it as well. And the same thing of our faith, and we'll see that a little later. Here we see after He has created, then He came down to earth and lived as a man and died on the cross. And then it says, when He had Himself purged our sins, paid for them on the cross, paid for them by His death, paid for them by shedding His blood, And after he had done that, he did that great work here on earth, humbled himself to the death of the cross, as we will see a little later about his name, why he has been given a name above every name. And after he did that, humbling himself, going to the cross, dying, shedding his blood, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. He is there in the place of majesty. He has the majesty with the father, and then described father in verse four, being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. And as I just said, one of the races has given the name that is above every name. is because he who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, took on the form of a man, went to the death of the cross, was willing to be made a curse on that cross to bear the curse that you and I deserve. And we would have that curse if he did not bear it. He became a curse for us as Paul writes to the church at Galatia. Here we read that he has that name and we must honor that name. We must honor Him in every area, but especially in His death and shedding His blood. That's where we must be, at His feet, and eat of His body, drink of His blood. As He said, except we do that, we have no life in us. Read it in the Gospel of John, chapter 6. There Christ spoke those words, and He calls us to that place. Here we read, He hath obtained a more excellent name than the angels. And for the description of Him, in verse 5, For unto which the angel said at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." There, Paul is quoting from Psalm 2, where God says, he is a son, and this day by begotten name. Some want to interpret that as to his birth, but it is really a reference to his resurrection, as Paul speaks of it in Acts chapter 13, where he is referring to the same words that are given there in Psalm 2. We read from Acts chapter 13, and we declare unto you glad tidings, how the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he hath raised Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou wert my son, this day have I begotten thee. And so we can see there, referring to the resurrection, that God begot him on the resurrection day, we must believe in the God who raised him from the dead. That is part of the message of the gospel, that Christ died for our sin, according to the scripture, that he was buried, and that he rose again, according to the scripture. Part of the scripture that tells us about that, David tells us in other ways, but also the psalmist in Psalm 2, this day have I begotten thee. Verse 34 of Acts 13, and as concerning that he raised him from the dead, now no more to seek corruption. He said, On this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to seek corruption. And those were words of David in Psalm 16. We read further about David in the next verses. For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell unasleep, and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. but he whom God raised saw no corruption. And then the wonderful words that we can call to believe in the next verse, verse 38 of Acts 13. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, the man, Christ Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, who died and God raised him from the dead, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, through this man, has preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore lest that come upon you which were spoken by the prophets. Behold, you despisers in wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. We need to beware of that. That is a warning to us as well. Behold ye despisers. Isaiah writes in Isaiah 53, before he gives the message of the gospel of Christ, he said he was despised and rejected of men. That is a broad statement of all of us. We can despise him simply by neglecting him, by not seeking him, by not hearing his voice, not coming to him in repentance and coming to him in faith for salvation. and again coming in that way that I quoted of him before, and I quote it again, except you eat of my body and drink of my blood, you have no life in you. How true it is, and a blessing it is. Going back here to Acts 13, verse 39, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. In our relationship to God and to Christ, by the law, and even by our neighbor, we cannot be justified. We only add guilt to guilt, because there's none that doeth good, no, not one. All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We must have the righteousness of Christ. By believing on Him, we can be justified. By believing in Him, our sins can be forgiven. What a wonderful thing. all those sins, more than we can count. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Our sin against God, our sin against our neighbor, our sin in what we should do that we don't do, and what we do that we should not do. Sin, sin, and more sin. And especially now in our time, we need to realize it, and we need to repent of it, and the church has to again be revived, awakened, and brought back to God and to Christ in awakening and reviving, and each one of us individually as well. Are you one that is repentant? Are you one that is humbled before God, not acknowledging God as Creator? lawgiver and redeemer as we should. The church is not as salt as it should be. We must come back to God through Christ. Looking again at the song that was sung, May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire, as thou hast died for me. O may my love to thee, pure, warm, and changeless be, a living fire. We are in danger of losing that first love, pure, warm, and changeless may. If it has changed for the worst, it must come back to the better. To God be the glory, great things He hath done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son. Thanks for listening to Call to Worship. If you have questions or comments regarding today's program, you can write to Zion Chapel, 937 Royce Avenue, Holland, Michigan, 49423. Or their email address is worship at calltoworship.org. For more information on Call to Worship and its ministry, visit their website at calltoworship.org. Listen again next week at this time for Call to Worship, sponsored by Zion Chapel.