this morning I'll read two different passages from the book of Hebrews starting first in chapter 1, I'll read verses 1-4 and then I'll turn to chapter 3 I'll especially be concentrating on how Jesus comes as our great prophet, our perfect prophet Hebrews chapter 1 beginning in verse 1, listen to God's word God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Be concentrating in this passage especially the comparison between Moses and Jesus. The whole passage directs your attention to how Jesus reveals the Father. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who is faithful to him who appointed him as Moses was also faithful in all his house. For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward. but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested Me and tried Me and saw My works forty years, Therefore, I was angry with that generation, and said, They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Now with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Over the last two months, I've directed your attention to the Incarnation. to God becoming flesh, the person of Jesus Christ. The New Testament records several statements about the purpose for the incarnation. I've been concentrating on those. Today I'm directing your attention to Jesus coming to be our perfect prophet. There are many passages that I'll be relating to this subject, but especially Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2. where it says, in these last times God has revealed himself through his son. In our confession and in our catechisms we've come to talk about this as Jesus exercising or fulfilling the office of a prophet. He does so, says the shorter catechism, in revealing to us by his word and spirit the will of God for our salvation. My purpose then to meditate on the coming of Jesus Christ to be this perfect prophet, to reveal the will of God for our salvation. And we'll all drive to the point of impressing upon you, therefore pay attention to the words of Christ. Let those words of Christ dwell in you richly, which we find in the Bible. I'll start by looking at Jesus as what he calls a foundation. Jesus as our foundation. In Ephesians chapter 2, 21, Paul says that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. In the language of architecture, Jesus is called a chief cornerstone. the key part of a building's foundation. When men build something, they will lay down a foundation first. And they'll lay down a cornerstone as the point of reference for all of that foundation. The rest of the building has to line up with that for it to be a solid building. Those who worked last summer on this shed that we built for the tornado victim might remember that we spent quite a bit of time laying a foundation. It was a very simple shed, but we found that it was somewhat complicated to get up and all square. We were told by the man who was managing us that that the hard work that we put in to putting down the foundation secure made the bringing up of the walls an easier process. You might think of it this way. Think of a building this big. Imagine someone starting that building over in that corner and another one over in that corner and another one over here and another one over here and they build their walls and they hope that they meet in the middle but more often than not if you start that way it comes off crooked and then you're in trouble, right? the cornerstone sits as a point of reference. The rest of the foundation flows from there. In this case, Paul points to the apostles, to the prophets, the words that they wrote as the foundation for the church, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone. It's the point of reference for all of our belief. We build everything on Him. In the parable of the house built on the rock, Jesus compares his teaching to the solid foundation of a rock. The house built on that foundation stands firm even though the wind and the waves rise up and crash against it. But what happens to the building whose foundation was built on sand? The waves came up and the wind blew And the walls came tumbling down. Jesus compares that to the one who hears his words and believes them. The one who hears his words is like a man whose house is built on the rock. There's a foundation there on which all of our belief rests. A belief that can meet any type of storm. whether it be the debates of science and creation, or whether it be the unbelief of the world, or whether it be the tragedies of this life. Foundation of Jesus' teachings give us a strong foundation. Why is this? Why is the work of a prophet foundational? Well, it's because a prophet reveals God. God alone has authority to reveal himself. And he chose to do so through the work of prophets. They spoke authoritatively for him. Peter describes this in his letters to the church. He says in the Old Testament, men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. He uses words there to describe a sail that is filled with a wind. The Spirit