Take your Bibles this morning and open with me to Hebrews chapter 1. We're gonna be looking later this morning in our worship service at Jeremiah 31, verses 27 through 40, at the introduction of the new covenant. We're gonna see there that the only place in scripture in the Old Testament that the word new covenant is used is in Jeremiah 31. And we know the covenant is referenced to several other places in the Old Testament, but this is one of the major texts for us in the Old Testament. that revealed to us God's plan, His unfolding plan for redeeming His people and for bringing about full forgiveness for sins, not just through the Old Testament sacrificial system that had to be done over and over and over again, but through the one-time final sacrifice of His Son. That passage in Jeremiah is quoted in Hebrews. We'll get there in Hebrews 8 and 9 and 10. And as that happens, actually, we know that in Hebrews 8, that it is the longest Old Testament quotation that appears in the New Testament, is the restatement of the reality of the new covenant. So as we are looking at and have been looking at the covenants, as we're looking at Jeremiah, We're going to start now through Hebrews, looking at this letter that was written to Jewish believers who were being tempted to go back under the old covenant, to go back into the shadows and forsake the substance, which was Christ, to go back into the form of rituals and traditions that they were finding to be more comfortable than the reality of the truth of the simplicity of the gospel, of walking by faith in Christ. Now, as we do that, we're actually going to be using two commentaries that I'll be referencing. The first and the main one will be The Holiest of All written by Andrew Murray. And in the notes I sent you, I've got a link where that's available in PDF form online. And I'm also using the commentary on Hebrews by Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon actually only wrote two commentaries. He wrote a commentary on Psalms. and on Matthew. But several people have come back and they've gone through his preaching because of course all of his sermons were recorded by hand. Spurgeon had three people in the congregation that would take notes as he preached. They would turn that into him on Monday. He would go through all three of those notes and distill out of that what would then be published. And the way it worked, he had a system that was so efficient that his sermons would be published that he preached on Sunday would be published and available to the public that Friday. one of the most published preachers in the history of the world. And so they've gone through and taken his sermons on Hebrews and laid it out in a commentary format. So not every verse is covered, but the majority of the thoughts of the text and the chapters are, because of course he had such a lengthy ministry preaching. So we'll be using Spurgeon and Murray. Now as we use Murray, he has got several books that we referenced in our series on prayer. I had his commentary on Hebrews and so wanted to use that just as a launching point for a study through Hebrews for us in Sunday school. Andrew Murray was born May 9th, 1828. So he just would have celebrated a heavenly birthday because he went home to be with the Lord January 18th, 1917. He was the son of a Dutch reformed missionary from Scotland who had been sent to South Africa. He was born in South Africa while his parents were on the mission field. He went back and attended the University of Aberdeen and earned his master's degree there. And while there was influenced by the Scottish revival meetings of Robert Murray McCheney, Horatius Bonar, and William Burns. And you've heard several of those names through studies that we have done. He was ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church. He was involved in an international revival ministry. He returned to South Africa in 1848, got married in 1856. He pastored several churches around South Africa, was influential in the South African revival of 1860, and he and his wife Emma had eight children, four boys and four girls. As we look, I will tell you that there are going to be things in his commentary that we disagree with. And if you find a commentary that you agree completely with, you're wrong. We're not all going to agree on everything. Now, part of that is that in the influence, and I appreciate the influence of revivalism on Murray, coming from, and you really don't get much more truly reformed than the Dutch Reformed, and if you don't believe them, ask one of them. These are seriously reformed people in their doctrine and in their practice, but being influenced by the revivalism gave him a heart for aggressive, enthusiastic evangelism and discipleship. Now in that, he is a little different than we would be in that Murray still believed that all of the apostolic gifts were in use. If he were here today, we would consider him likely charismatic in his approach to things. His writings influenced what became known as the deeper life movement. that there was a deeper life available for Christians that in the day and age because of liberal criticism and because of worldliness the church was missing out on the vibrancy of the Christian life. I appreciate Murray because his works on prayer were some of the first that I'd ever been exposed to and coming from a reform background as a teenager And growing into that through Bible college, through my training, looking at also being influenced by A.W. Tozer, by Andrew Murray, by Leonard Ravenhill, by those on the revivalistic side, I can appreciate Murray's approach and his zeal for balance. In fact, he reminds me some of Martin Lloyd-Jones that some people will read Martin Lloyd-Jones and think that he was just dry. and that he just used so many words. A pastor friend of mine, Lance Johnson, joked that if Martin Lloyd-Jones really studied really hard, he would get up on Sunday morning and he would say, the text for our sermon this morning is John. And he didn't mean the book, and he didn't mean the man. He meant the one time where John appeared one time in one verse, and he would take that and preach an entire sermon on John because he was so thorough. But if you listen to the recordings, Lloyd-Jones preached with conviction and with passion. There was a zeal. And his famous line that I have appreciated in my ministry, he had people on the charismatic side that were shooting at him because they thought he was too reformed. There were those on the reformed side that were shooting at him because he believed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And they said, oh, he's a nut. He's a charismatic. And they asked him, how do you deal with the fact that people on both sides are shooting at you? And he said, that's how I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be. to be seeking balance between these things, and to know that we can have some disagreements on secondary and third order issues, and it doesn't affect our agreement on the gospel. Well, as he began his study of Hebrews and as he had written the commentary on Hebrews, in the preface to the commentary, Murray wrote, the great complaint of all who have the care of souls is the lack of wholeheartedness, of steadfastness, of perseverance and progress in the Christian life. Many of whom one cannot but hope that they are true Christians come to a standstill and do not advance beyond the rudiments of Christian life and practice. And many more do not even remain stationary, but turned back to a life of worldliness, of formality, of indifference. And the question is continually being asked, what is the want in our religion? What is lacking in our practice? That in so many cases, it gives no power to stand, to advance, to press on, and to perfection. and what is the teaching that is needed to give that health and vigor to the Christian life that through all adverse circumstances it may be able to hold fast the beginning firm to the end. The teaching of the epistle is the divine answer to these questions. In every possible way, it sets before us the truth that it is only the full and perfect knowledge of what Christ is and does for us that can bring us to a full and perfect Christian life. The knowledge of Christ Jesus that we need for conversion does not suffice for growth, for progress, for sanctification, for maturity. And the great object of the epistle is to show us that if we will follow the Lord fully and yield ourselves wholly to what God in Christ is ready to do, we shall find in the gospel and in Christ everything that we need for a life of joy and strength and final victory. What you learn in ministry, especially if you pastor at one church for very long, it was always very odd to me. Thankfully, I had the same pastor from the nursery to my ordination and going off into my first pastorate. It was always odd to me, pastors that were only at a church two or three years, maybe five years, and then they got called somewhere else. I was always convicted to be where God put you until he made it so absolutely clear that it was time to leave and to go somewhere else. That we get in and we know the people, we're among the sheep, we're actually shepherding. I say that most pastors are not even at their churches long enough to truly even know their people. by any means. But as you're there for a long time, what you experience, and John MacArthur has talked about this, W.A. Criswell did the same. Criswell pastored the First Baptist Church of Dallas for 55 years. To see those kinds and those lengths of ministries, you see a lot of people come and you see a lot of people go. Now, some of that is just life. It's people moving, it's jobs, it's retirement, it's life changes. Others, it's those that are there that you're convinced are committed and growing and suddenly they grow cold and they disappear. You'll have those in the church that will tell you that you're the greatest preacher and pastor they've ever had. And in six months, you are the devil incarnate. And they are warning people to flee the cold. Get out, they're crazy. You see some of this backsliding and some of this lukewarmness and some of this apathy, you see worldliness creeping in and it's this constant fight to be stirring one another up to love and to good works. And Murray, in looking at the church where he had written this and had begun with this ministry and with this teaching, he saw that there was truly a need to stir people up, to show them the sufficiency of Christ, to see what Christ was all about, to know him beyond just trusting him for salvation, but to grow in grace. And that's what he is taking and using the book of Hebrews for because one of the theme words in the book of Hebrews, if you're familiar with it, is the word better. The word better appears all over the place. And usually it's being applied to Jesus. that he is better. Now the reason for that contrast is because the writer to Hebrews is dealing with a group of people within the church that are about to go back under the old covenant. They're about to forsake the gospel. similar to what had happened with the Gnostics at the churches in Galatia. They were being tempted to turn away from the gospel, from the truth, from the reality of the sufficiency of Christ. And so the writer of Hebrews is presenting Christ for who he is so that we might see him with fresh eyes of faith. Murray does break down the book of Hebrews into two parts. the first eight or 10 chapters as doctrine and the remainder as application. He starts here in the first part, looking in chapter one, especially here at the son of God, who's the mediator of a better covenant. That's where we start in chapter one and end in chapter eight and nine. Something that's interesting that I noted when I preached through Hebrews many years ago now, this letter is not formatted as a letter. It doesn't begin like one of Paul's letters. It doesn't begin to the Hebrew Christians. We assume and get that implied through what is written in the text, but it really doesn't even sound like a letter until you get to the final paragraph, which is a conclusion where there's a sign off, a mention of a few people's names, but we don't know who wrote it. And it's not really a letter. In fact, the conviction is from what we read in chapter 13, verse 22, that this was a sermon that was transcribed and preserved. Somebody preached this sermon. And we actually scholarship would point to the fact that it might have been Luke and it might have been Luke who wrote it as well. The Greek and the phraseology seems to be in line with what Luke said. Calvin said he was convinced this was not Paul. that it does not follow Paul's line of thought or the way that he taught and he approached. Now, when we look at Spurgeon's commentary, Spurgeon attributes Hebrews to Paul. There have been many who have. Church history has also suggested that maybe Apollos was the one who preached this sermon. And in that case, Luke or someone else among them would have written it down as it was being preached so that it could be shared with those who needed to hear it. As we look at it, what we understand is there is no contradiction to the rest of scripture. This actually is one of the greatest applications of Old Testament truth to the reality of the new covenant and to the church and to the gospel in the New Testament. So we don't have a problem believing that this is inspired, that it is rightly included in the canon. And ultimately what we know about Hebrews, which is true of any book of the Bible, Whether we know the name of the man who wrote the words down, we know that it was the spirit that inspired it. This is God's word preserved for us. And the theme of this sermon is the absolute superiority of Jesus Christ in all things. Those who are being tempted to go back to the old way, we're going back to the shadows. What did the shadows point to? They pointed to Christ. And so this is just a reminder. The preacher here is saying, do you not realize just how great Jesus is? And he's calling the people to remember by contrast to the angels, to the old covenant, to the priesthood, to demonstrate how superior Jesus is. Again, a key word that appears throughout is the word better. The recipients are warned about the danger of falling away, of apostasy, of rejecting Christ, of going back into the shadows of Old Testament Judaism. And Christ is the substance. He's greater than all the shadows that pointed to his coming and to his work. And what we find is that after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the old covenant was done away with. It's gone. It does not exist anymore. Now we have the old Testament, but the old covenant is no longer in force. It has been replaced by a new covenant. And that's gonna be much of the meat of what we find in the message here of the letter to the Hebrews. We start in the first two verses. God having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days spoke to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the worlds. We continue reading verse three, who is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power, who having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they. But we're focusing this morning on the first two verses. God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. Murray begins by saying that the writer to the Hebrews starts with a simple statement. The introduction to the text is God has spoken. We've heard what God has said. He writes, speaking is the vehicle of fellowship. It is a proof that the speaker considers him he addresses as capable of fellowship with himself, a token that he longs for that fellowship. Man was created for fellowship with God. Sin interrupted it. Nature speaks of God and his work, but of himself, his heart and his thoughts of love towards us as sinners, nature cannot tell. God calls man back to fellowship with himself. God has spoken. We're told he had spoken in times past by the prophets. We're even told that in the Old Testament that angels preached and proclaimed the truth through visions, through dreams, through prophecies. We know several examples of this. We know with Jacob, we know with Daniel, that there were angels. Gabriel came and had to fight his way to get to Daniel to bring a message and said, it took me 21 days to get here, fighting the Prince of Persia, fighting against Satan to get there. This was spiritual warfare to bring the word of God to Daniel so that Daniel could proclaim the truth to those who were in exile in Babylon. There were visions, there were dreams, there was prophecy, there were proclamations, including the written records of the prophets. As we're looking at Jeremiah, Jeremiah preached and then we believe that right at the end of his ministry, he went and wrote down what he had been preaching for all of these years. And that's why we have his prophecy preserved. And Daniel got a copy of that. And from the writings of Jeremiah, Daniel figured out how long the exile was going to be and gave the people their hope that it was soon to come to an end. We have the prophet starting with Moses and giving to us the first five books of the Bible, ending with Malachi and then true to the last old covenant prophet, John the Baptist. Well, now in these last days, beginning with the incarnation of Christ, the writer says he's spoken to us by his son. Spurgeon notes, saving the best for last is always God's rule. Prophets are a very blessed means of communication, but how much more sure is it for God to speak to us by his son? Now, what the prophets spoke was what God told them to speak. What they wrote was what the spirit inspired them to write. It was the word of God. But now we have God himself in human flesh, Jesus, the God man, speaking the words his father gave to him to tell us what God wants and what God was going to accomplish. Murray says, God has spoken in his son. God, the infinite, incomprehensible, unseen one, hath spoken, and that in his son. Oh, the joy and the glory, who can measure it? Hear, oh heavens, and give ear, oh earth, for the Lord hath spoken. When man speaks, it is the revelation of himself to make known the otherwise hidden thoughts and dispositions of his heart. When God, who dwells in light that is inaccessible, speaks out of the heights of his glory, it is that he may reveal himself. He would have us know how he loves us and longs for us, how he wants to save and to bless us, how he would have us draw nigh and live in fellowship with himself. God has spoken through his son to reveal himself to us. In the son, we see the father. Philip asked him, show us the father. What did Jesus say? If you've seen me, you've seen the father. The son is how the father reveals himself. Every interaction with creation from the Godhead is coming in the representation of Christ. Who we'll see next week is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. That phrase there is that Jesus is the stamped icon of God. The exact representation of him. As we look at what Spurgeon said, Spurgeon tried explaining the deep truths about Jesus being the son of God. He said, if I were to try to explain it and to talk about the eternal affiliation, that relationship of father and son, I would only conduct you where I would soon be entirely out of my depth. And very likely I would drown all that I could tell you in floods of words. Get this, virgin, this needs to be a bumper sticker or a sign over the church door. Deity is not to be explained, but to be adored. When we learn the truth about who Christ is, it should motivate us to worship. The sonship of Christ is to be accepted as a truth of revelation, to be apprehended by faith, though it cannot be comprehended by the understanding. We will never fully comprehend God. It's impossible because he is the creator and we're the creature. If we, the finite, could understand and comprehend fully the infinite, he wouldn't be infinite. He is beyond us. His ways are beyond our ways. His thoughts are above our thoughts. We know him, we understand him. He's revealed himself to us, but we will never completely comprehend him. We will have eternity to try to figure it out. but we will never completely comprehend. We can't. He is in that regard incomprehensible. Such is his greatness and his goodness. In Ephesians 2, we're reminded about the prophets and the apostles. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being joined together is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. We have the work of the prophets and the apostles, the Old Testament and the New Testament. And Christ himself is the living word, is the cornerstone of that revelation. All of it points to him. The prophets were here to prepare us for the coming of Christ and the last days. The apostles were here to tell us the Messiah has come, here he is, here's what we've seen and heard, and we're testifying to you so that you might believe that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is the son of God, and in believing you might have life. Murray notes, the living Jesus come forth from the fiery furnace of God's holiness, from the burning glow of everlasting love, he himself is the living word. That's where John began, wasn't it? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. You realize he says they're all things that came into, all things came into being through him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. Do you realize that everything outside of God has come into being? Meaning there is a time that it was not. God has always been. That's what he reveals to us even by his name. I am. He always has been, He always will be. He has no beginning, He has no end. He tells us for us, He is the beginning and the end. Because He was and we weren't. And then He spoke and we were. And there He is at the beginning. Let there be light, creating the heavens and the earth. And now we're waiting for Him to meet us at the end. If you'd like, your mind's blown just a little bit this morning. If you want another cup of coffee, here it comes. He was there at the beginning and he's there at the end. Not he will be there at the end. He's there at the end. He inhabits eternity. He inserts himself into time. He is not bound by time. Think about that. Time and space, all of creation, all of the created order, all of created history. He was there before it, he's there after it already. So he was there at the beginning and he's waiting for us at the end. and he's leading us to that point when it's finished. As the eternal living word, Jesus is greater than the prophets. He's given us a more certain word than visions and dreams. The words of the prophets are the words of God mediated through men by the Holy Spirit and are therefore inspired and infallible. These words pointed to and prepared the way for the coming of Christ, God's final word. This is the reality, we don't need dreams and visions anymore. We've been given the living word revealed to us on the pages of the written word. John Owen said it this way, if God has given you a special word outside of the scripture and you share that word and it's contrary to scripture, it didn't come from God. And if it matches the scripture, it didn't come to you from outside of scripture because the way God communicates with us is his word. Paul Washer said, if you want to hear God speak, read the Bible. If you want to hear God speak audibly, read it out loud. This is his word to us mediated through his son. The final more sure word. Murray says, the law and the prophets make us more deeply conscious of our own impotence. and the strong desire to be found in the full revelation of Christ is to be able to save completely. When these two lessons are learned, the lesson of the despair of self and hope in God alone, the soul is prepared, if it will yield itself in faith to the leading of the Holy Spirit, to enter truly into the New Testament life within the veil. in the very holiest of all, as is set forth in the epistle. That's where the name for his commentary comes. That by the work of Christ applied to us by the spirit, we can enter into the holiest of all. We are ushered by the blood of Christ, by the life given for us. We are able to be ushered into the throne of grace. We can't even comprehend what that means. Sometimes we take prayer so lightly and so flippantly. We are given an audience with God Almighty because of the finished work of Christ applied to us by the Holy Spirit. We can come to Him. We can approach Him who dwells in inapproachable light, and we can fellowship with Him because that's what He desires. When we look at this, then all He says is, This is all set forth in the epistle where Christians through defective instruction or through neglect and sloth do not understand God's way for leading them on to perfection, on to maturity. The Christian life will always remain full of feebleness and failure. So much of Christianity today is so weak and double-minded, frail and confused and fearful Some of it that's so enthusiastic is so zealous, but without any doctrinal truth at all. Too much worship today is a circus. Matthew Everhart wrote a book, I just got a copy of, just started to read, called Worshiptainment. The idea that in the church, worship has become the need to be entertained. I've heard preachers in my day say that you've got to be relevant in your preaching to where people are because they have short attention spans. And we have to dumb it down for children because of TV and movies, entertainment, cartoons, they just can't pay attention that long. You know, when the word is preached and the Holy Spirit is present, I'd like you to get distracted. Try. If we are being distracted, we need to repent. This is not a measure of human attention span. It's a measure of the power of God through His Spirit applied by the Spirit as He illumines our mind to the truth. And that's why you can hear a scripture-soaked, Spirit-anointed sermon go on for an hour or more. And when it's done, you wish there was more and you think, boy, that wasn't very long. And you can hear dull sermons where people are dumbing it down and trying to entertain and you just wish he would get through already. I loved it that one time a family of our church went on vacation and they visited a reformed church and the sermon was only 25 minutes. And the kids came out and got in the car and they said, man, I feel like we hadn't even been to church. Pastor Phillip would have just got warmed up at that point. As we look at the work of the Spirit, as we look at this fullness that is available to us, when Jesus says he's come to give us life and life more abundantly, that abundantly is not stuff. The term literally is a greater capacity for living. I think sometimes we miss that capacity. We're selling ourselves short of what has been made available to us as disciples of Jesus Christ. In the text in verse two, He tells us in these last days, he spoke to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things. Spurgeon says, now what does he mean but that Christ possesses all things as an heir possesses his inheritance? that Christ is Lord of all things. Christ is Lord of all the angels and the fallen angels too are obliged to bow before his omnipotence. As for all things below, people regenerate or unregenerate, God has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as his father has given him. He has put all things under his feet. All must willingly or else unwillingly submit to his sway for his father has appointed him heir of all things. Spurgeon sums it up and he says, this is the reality, God's will will be done. Christ is Lord, he rules and he reigns, and his will will be done. Murray adds to that, the son is the final cause, the end of all things. He's the beginning too. Verse two continues, through whom also he made the worlds. Murray says, he is the origin. The efficient cause of all that exists. Without him, nothing was made that was made. The place the son had in the divine being was such that God's relation to all that was outside of himself was only through the son. Of all that exists, the end and the beginning meet in him. You realize all of the relationships that matter in the world are do you know God because you are in Christ or are you being judged by God because you don't know Christ? In fact, when the scriptures talk about ethnos, ethnicity, we talk about racism and all the races. You know, there's only one race. It's the human race. That's it. Everybody born after Adam. There's one human race. That word for ethnicity, when we look at the New Testament, applies to two groups of people. The church, which is a holy ethnicity, a new nation, and the world, which is lost. We in the Holy Nation are ambassadors and ministers of reconciliation to those who are not. The only thing that we should do based on ethnicity is to find out if you're family in Christ or not. If you are, let's worship together and make disciples. If you're not, let me introduce you to Jesus. Let me tell you how great he is. Now, when we do that, at first the world is gonna argue with us. You did when you were lost, didn't you? We hate God. We repress the knowledge of God, even though we think we're seeking him. Someone has been known to say that every person has a God-shaped hole in their heart, just waiting for Jesus to fill it. No, you don't. There is no God-shaped hole. You have a heart of stone that needs to be removed so that you would give it a hard flesh. You need a new heart, not just for Jesus to fill a hole that's lacking. Colossians 115 tells us of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. As creator and controller, Jesus reigns over his creation. The word of God came to the prophets, and now he, the living word, has come to us. The foundation for the beginning of this letter is that God has spoken in the past by the prophets in various ways. Now he has spoken to us finally in his son and he's appointed heir of all things to whom he also he made the worlds. Paul sums it up in Romans 11, 36, for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, how we do thank you for your word preserved for us, inspired by your spirit and infallible. We thank you for the work of the prophets and the apostles, especially knowing that Christ himself is the cornerstone of this written word because he is the living word that is revealed on every page. How we thank you this morning for the revelation of the superiority of Christ, knowing who he is, that through him you have spoken and your word is clear. We thank you for the work of your spirit to illuminate to our minds so that we might understand it, so that we might believe it, so that we might trust that Christ is who he tells us that he is. We pray these things in his precious name. Amen.