Christ: The Superior Revelation

[0:00] Those of you involved with Little Church are dismissed at this time. Those of you not involved and sticking around, please open in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews.

[0:14] For several months I have known that we'd be getting to. I've been praying and prepping for it. I'll be honest with you, I've never actually preached through Hebrews.

[0:27] I may have preached a message or two from it. But I'm really excited about this book and what we can take from it moving forward. And I think I didn't realize how smoothly the transition would be, having just completed the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus, through Christmas, which was a supernaturally directed, miraculous event, took place in Bethlehem and was thousands of years in the making.

[0:58] God had informed his people about the coming Messiah for hundreds and even thousands of years before he came. He was very specific in detail.

[1:10] And we know that based on what we studied the last few weeks, that the birth of Jesus and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, it's the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, where all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

[1:27] And we know that it was in Abraham and in his descendants and ultimately in the Messiah, in Jesus Christ, that all the earth is blessed.

[1:38] All the families of the earth are blessed because salvation is extended to all people, all who choose to trust in Jesus and his work on the cross.

[1:51] As we transition to this new year, having completed our study in James already, and ultimately what faith looks like when it's fleshed out, I was really blessed by our study and our time in James and really challenged to have a faith that is real and that is really working and being worked out.

[2:12] I'd like to focus on the supremacy of Christ in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews. It seems kind of odd. Like, why are we talking about the supremacy of Christ? Don't we already know he rules all and he's above all?

[2:24] And yeah, we do know that. But I think it's helpful to go through the text, go through the scriptures, and find some areas where we may be challenged to know or challenged to learn or challenged to apply.

[2:38] And I can assure you there's a lot of that in Hebrews. Hebrews is a book that appears to be a letter, but no recipient is named, nor any author.

[2:51] It's the question of who wrote Hebrews. A lot of people think Paul did. Some people think of Paulus. And, you know, honestly, we have no idea. And it doesn't matter.

[3:02] God didn't see fit to let us know who wrote this book or this letter. It doesn't open with a greeting, but it closes with well wishes. So, you know, it's like it jumps right into it at the start of this book.

[3:17] But at the end of it, you see, you know, that there's like kind of well wishes and hopefulness, naming people individually, much like Paul does in his letters in the New Testament.

[3:28] I was most likely given the title to the Hebrews because it's heavy allusion to the Old Testament law and Levitical duties. There's a lot in this letter related to the law, related to Levitical duties and what took place and expectations in the earthly temple and tabernacle.

[3:48] And a lot of comparison to that to the heavenly one in Jesus. And I'm just going to settle like Hebrews doesn't necessarily mean he makes the coffee.

[4:00] That can certainly be a shared duty in the household. So don't don't take that false teaching from the letter here. So without any further delay, I'd like to begin our trek through the book of Hebrews in the opening verses, which present Christ as the superior revelation, the superior revelation.

[4:22] Let's go and read verses one through three and we'll dig in a little bit. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

[4:35] But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

[4:50] And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[5:03] Lord, we pray and ask for your help and understanding. And give us understanding as we move forward. And as well as how we can apply and take what we know from this.

[5:17] In Jesus name, amen. Amen. The first section here, long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

[5:31] In order for any of us to know anything about God, he must choose to reveal it to us. We cannot hope to work our way to discovering him or knowing him.

[5:43] No amount of creation or creature worship or amazing discoveries or attempts of our own volition will cause us to know or understand God.

[5:56] Our efforts to know God, apart from him revealing himself to us, are fruitless and blind. The creature cannot have any depth of knowledge of the creator unless the creator chooses to come and speak to us.

[6:11] And he has. At many times and in many ways. The many times shows that God revealed a little bit at a time.

[6:23] He did not give us everything all at once. Could you imagine the shock and awe that would be had by his people if God just dropped the Bible, the book of everything we know right now and have about knowledge of God all at once?

[6:40] There you go, guys. Good luck. That would be so overwhelming. I mean, we're talking about an infinite being, all powerful, all knowing, who is working in and through his creation.

[6:56] And that's what we see in Scripture. That's why we have the entire Bible. That's why we have the Old and New Testament. It's ultimately showing God's working among his creation.

[7:10] And it would be so overwhelming if he just said, boom, here you go, good luck. But he gave us little bits and pieces. A little bit at a time and then a little more that was built on existing information that gave greater depth.

[7:24] He gave a little bit. Okay. Now you guys understand? Yep. Gives a little bit more and a little bit more. Now this is known as progressive revelation because there's progressively more being revealed about God and ultimately his plan for humanity.

[7:43] When you read in the book of Genesis, you don't get the answers to what takes place in the Gospels in Genesis. You have a story.

[7:55] You have a progression of God working with his people. He's making promises and he's going about preparing the world to receive those promises.

[8:05] And the fact that there's progressive revelation, there was a little bit, then a little bit more, a little bit more, doesn't indicate that there was any error in the initial.

[8:17] There was no error that needed to be corrected in each subsequent revelation. Rather, it went from the incomplete truth to a more complete truth until the completion of the New Testament.

[8:29] What's amazing about this is the fact that you can read through the Bible over and over and over again. People do that. Some people make it their, it's their Bible reading plan to get through it in a year.

[8:43] God bless you if you do that. That is an amazing feat. I applaud you. I have set out on that trek many times over the last 20 years and I have never completed the Bible in its entirety in a year.

[8:59] It takes immense discipline. But the more you, the more you read and the more you can read through it, the more you can read of it, the more you begin to understand and learn about God.

[9:14] And even after people who have read it for 40 years, I've heard this from an individual who for 40 years read through their Bible every year.

[9:25] They say there's always something more. There's always something new. You can never exhaust the knowledge of God. You can never exhaust the scriptures and what you can take away.

[9:40] So there was no error. He was just, he was giving, going from incomplete truth to more complete truth. And the progress is ultimately from God's promises, which we have in the Old Testament.

[9:53] Genesis 3.15, the proto-evangelium, the first gospel. The promise of deliverance from the effects of sin. To the fulfillment of those promises found in the New Testament.

[10:05] In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

[10:18] Jesus recognized as the Messiah. He is the fulfillment of promises that God had been giving for hundreds of years to his people. And you can understand why maybe his people kind of turned their back on him.

[10:33] Because it's like, man, we are waiting a really long time. I remember my great-grandfather telling me about the Messiah and how God has promised him and all that. And it still hasn't happened.

[10:45] And they grew weary with the waiting. And they grew weary with waiting. And they grew weary. And he eventually turned. And God would send a prophet. God would send a reminder.

[10:57] Don't lose hope. And that's what this word is. That's what the Bible is. It's God's progressive revelation.

[11:07] Just a little bit more. A little bit more. A little bit more. And you know, at least maybe you don't know. Maybe I'm just assuming you know. At the time that Jesus was born, when the announcement about John the Baptist's birth and Jesus' birth, from that time to the last prophet spoke in Israel, was a period of 400 years.

[11:27] It's known as the 400 silent years. So imagine God's people have all the promises. And they're waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. And now 400 years later, there's something finally happening.

[11:38] And what was happening was, it was the fulfillment of the promises God had been making. So not only did he increase the revelation, not only did he give more information many times, but he did so in many ways.

[11:55] I was thinking about this. What ways has God revealed more about himself and his plan to his people? Well, ultimately, there's creation.

[12:08] Creation. In Psalm 19, we're told that the heavens declare the glory of God. In Romans 1, creation is the reason given why nobody has an excuse not to know that there is a creator God.

[12:24] Creation is known as general revelation. It's given to all people. But it's one way in which God has revealed his existence to his creation. You look at the trees, the stars, and the clouds, and everything that goes on.

[12:40] It's amazing. It all points to a creator. There are ways in which he revealed himself through what are known as theophanies, or believed to be theophanies.

[12:52] These are believed to be appearances of God, of the pre-incarnate appearances. So we're not talking about Jesus when he was born. Oh, yeah, this is God. We know that.

[13:03] That's given to us, right? We understand that. But it's instances in the Old Testament that speak of the angel of the Lord. And the things that the angel of the Lord does and knows and says are believed to be, that's believed to be like God taking on a human form.

[13:21] The one example that pops into mind right away is in Genesis 18, when Abraham is shading himself, is relaxing a little bit in the day. And three guys come up to him.

[13:33] And he goes and he takes them in and has hospitality towards them. Two of them are angels. The other one is the angel of the Lord. And it's believed that is believed to be God taking on a human form before Bethlehem.

[13:49] These are known as theophanies, or appearances of God. God has spoken directly to somebody in Scripture. You see that? The burning bush with Moses.

[14:01] God spoke directly to Moses. There's that direct communication. In the Levitical system, the priestly system, the high priest had Urim and Thummim.

[14:13] There were special stones. I used to think they were like dice. I don't know why. I just think of like different colored dice, white and red dye. It wasn't quite that, but it was what God used to reveal his plan or to give direction to his people through the high priest.

[14:30] He uses dreams and visions for both believers and non-believers. Those who are his people and those who aren't his people. You see that a lot in the Old Testament, even some of the New Testament.

[14:40] And dreams and visions going about God revealing himself to his creation. And of course, I would be amiss if I didn't mention what we've already gone over in the last five weeks in the Christmas account.

[14:52] Angels. God has used angels to reveal to his creation his plan, his expectations, and to communicate with them. And of course, Mary and Joseph being visited by the angel to inform them about Jesus' birth.

[15:09] Because, well, they needed a little information. They needed to know kind of what was going on, a little explanation. And so God sent an angel. So it's amazing, like, the ways in which God has revealed himself to his creation.

[15:26] And he has done so for thousands of years since the beginning of creation. He has always sought to have a way in which we can have a relationship with him.

[15:39] He has always sought a relationship with mankind. And you only have to go back to Genesis 3. In reading through there, where Adam and Eve, they were naughty.

[15:53] They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They weren't supposed to. They were told not to, but they did. They put their hand in the cookie jar before supper. Bad, bad, bad, tsk, tsk, tsk.

[16:04] But what do we see after that? They hide themselves from the Lord who was walking in the garden. They had a direct face-to-face interaction with God.

[16:15] They walked with God. They had a relationship with him that was uninhibited by anything. But once sin entered the picture, that's when the separation happened. Because at the end of Genesis 3, you've got Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

[16:29] And at the gate of the Garden of Eden, the way to get in, there was an angel. There was a cherubim placed there with a sword of fire that prevented Adam and Eve from going in and eating from the tree of life.

[16:43] That is when the separation took place. But even from that point forward, God has always been seeking to establish that relationship once more.

[16:54] And obviously, ultimately, that comes about. The opportunity for us today is through his son, Jesus Christ. In the Bible, the final act of special revelation given to mankind, there's no, since the completion of Scripture, there is no expected new revelation.

[17:15] We have people in the world today who claim to hear from God, and they have a new word and a new revelation to give and something new. And I'm telling you, there is nothing new.

[17:28] We have everything God has intended for us to have in his word. The only exception I'm willing to give is in Revelation chapter 11, when the two witnesses of God will prophesy for 1,260 days during the tribulation.

[17:47] And even then, we don't know if their prophesying is anything new, or if it's simply repeating what has already been stated. What we have as what we call the canon, the completed canon, the Scriptures, the Bible, this is God's revelation final to us until he comes again and takes us up with him.

[18:12] Or we die and we're with him. And the Bible, I mean, the Bible is an impressive work. Think about it. It was written over the span of 1,500 years.

[18:23] There were 40 different human authors from different geographical settings and backgrounds. The authors include Joshua, who was a military general, Daniel, who was a prime minister, Peter, a fisherman, Nehemiah, a cupbearer to the king, the king, a very trusted confidant to the king.

[18:41] And the books were written in different places. Moses wrote in the wilderness. Paul wrote in prison. It seemed like that's when he ever wrote. John wrote, while in exile on the island of Patmos.

[18:55] And the biblical writings were composed on three different continents, in Africa, Asia, and Europe. And in three different languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. And yet with all these varieties and all these differences and all these ways in which God, all these channels that God used to reveal himself, the word of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is consistent.

[19:20] It never contradicts itself. And it is always pointing people back to the promise of the Messiah and the opportunity for a relationship with God.

[19:37] John MacArthur, I was reading in his commentary on Hebrews, said it's so foolish for people to say, it doesn't make any difference what you believe or what religion you follow. You ever heard that one before?

[19:48] It seems to be the common phrase anymore, the default response when you talk to people about the gospel. He says it's foolish for people to say that.

[19:59] It makes every difference. Every religion is but man's attempt to discover God. Christianity is God bursting into man's world and showing and telling man what he is like.

[20:13] Because man by himself is incapable of identifying, comprehending, or understanding God at all. God had to invade the world of man and speak to him about himself.

[20:25] And initially he told us he would be coming. I was just taken by that paragraph. I was like, you know, I've always had the idea and understand that religions were man's way of trying to make sense of the world and trying to understand God.

[20:41] And that's why there's so many religions that are polytheistic. And you have the fire God and the rain God and the tree God and the sand God and the ocean God and the sun God and the cloud God and so on and so forth.

[20:52] You have all these gods or all these different types, all these different experiences in nature. Because surely somebody put that there and somebody's not happy with me when the fire's consuming my crops or when there's no rain for months on end.

[21:06] Oh, we got to appease a God somewhere to make sure it happens. People from the beginning have understood that there is a supernatural influence. There is something greater than themselves out there.

[21:18] And all these different religions, hundreds, thousands of different types of religions in the world are man's attempt to understand that. Christianity is the only one where God kicks in the door and says, I'm here.

[21:30] Let me tell you something a little bit about yourself and me and who you are and what you need to do to get right with me. Oh, by the way, I'm on my way.

[21:46] I'm coming. And that coming is what we celebrate every year at Christmas. And it's what prompts the writer of Hebrews to transition from the Old Testament revelation, the many times, the many ways that God spoke to the fathers through the prophets.

[22:00] He transitions from that and he says, in these last days, he's spoken to us by his son. In Jesus, all the fragments of divine revelation come together and they meet their fulfillment.

[22:13] He's the fullness of God in human form. He's the most complete revelation God could have given of himself, is God himself. Colossians 1, 19 and 20 say, for in him, that is in Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

[22:40] From the very beginning, when man messed up, God had a plan to make it right again. And he said, I'm coming, just wait. I'm coming, just wait.

[22:53] And then he came. And what did his creation do? Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. And it was through that death, the blood shed on the cross, that he provides the forgiveness of sin.

[23:13] He provides reconciliation to himself. We can have a relationship with him because of what our creator has done for us. Isn't that great?

[23:23] The creator makes something great. The creation messes it up. All you got to do is give man an opportunity. They'll screw something up. But yet, the creator has made it right.

[23:40] I've seen some impressive things of art. And you have too, I'm sure. Sculptures and paintings. It's absolutely gorgeous and beautiful.

[23:51] And I'm blessed to know people in my family who are great artists and do a tremendous job. I can't imagine how they would feel if somebody just came and just ripped it, put a black mark across the painting, or broke the sculpture or whatever.

[24:07] They'd probably not be happy about it. Right? Well, God obviously wasn't happy about it. But the thing that God is able to do that they can't do is to make that perfectly right again.

[24:19] You can try to get the mark off the painting, special ways to do that. But there's always going to be an imperfection. If you shatter a sculpture, I don't think you're putting that together again.

[24:34] Maybe. I mean, possibly if you spend many, many, many years doing it. But then you're probably going to miss that. There's going to be that one missing piece. It's like when you drop a plate in the kitchen and you get them all together.

[24:47] You put the pieces back together and there's that one chip that's still missing. There's always going to be that imperfection. But God came to provide perfect reconciliation with himself.

[25:01] In Jesus, he's God's ultimate revelation. So these verses here in Hebrews, they establish the preeminence of Jesus over all previous revelation given by God.

[25:12] The Old Testament was very important to prepare people for Jesus. No, but Jesus himself, he's greater than the prophets. He's greater than what God had given to the prophets to give to his people.

[25:23] And he's greater than any revelation recorded in the Old Testament because he embodies the truth. And I love this. I didn't even realize this until I got to counting this. Here in verses two and three, there are seven truths about Jesus that make the case for his superiority, being the superior revelation.

[25:42] Seven. Seven different truths in these two verses. First, we're told in verse two, these last days he had spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all, the heir of all things.

[26:01] The heir of all things. Jesus, the heir of all things. That's a reflection of Psalm two, verses six through eight, where God is speaking through the psalmist.

[26:12] He says, as for me, I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I'll tell the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I've begotten you. We've heard these phrases that are brought up in the gospels.

[26:28] Jesus, at the time of his, of being baptized, comes up. And, you know, and God is saying, you're my beloved son. In you, I'm well pleased.

[26:40] Well, that's Psalm two. Today I've begotten you. Ask of me, and I'll make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. The promise of the Messiah to be the heir of all things, being given to him.

[26:54] Jesus is the one who will receive all things at his second coming. We're told in Revelation 19 and 20 that he will return for judgment and to establish his kingdom, which is when all nations and people will be subjected to him as king.

[27:11] So Jesus is the one who's appointed the heir of all things. We're told in verse, excuse me, the end of verse two of Hebrews one, through whom also he created the world.

[27:28] Christ is the agent through whom the world was created. John one, verses one through three. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Spoiler alert, the word is Jesus.

[27:42] He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. The word created all things.

[27:53] Jesus created all things. Without Jesus, nothing would have been created. Colossians 1, 16, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

[28:12] He created all things, and all things are his. This kind of points back to the first point, that he's the heir of all things. Verse three, he's the radiance of the glory of God.

[28:27] This word for radiance literally means to send forth light, to emit light. Thus, Jesus is the one who shines forth the glory of God. Oh, I'm sorry, John one again, verse five.

[28:40] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John one again, verses 14 and 18. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we've seen his glory.

[28:51] Glory is of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

[29:02] Jesus is fully God who has made God known to his creation. He's the one, as the ultimate revelation, who makes God the Father known to all creation.

[29:14] He's the light of life. Bear with me, we're almost done. We're told that he's the exact imprint of his nature. The exact imprint translates the Greek term used for an impression made by a die or stamp on a seal.

[29:31] The design on the die is reproduced on the wax. Makes sense. You understand how a seal works, right? I didn't know too much about it, but like I know ladies sometimes like to address their wedding invitations.

[29:44] They like to seal it with a wax and they've got the letter of maybe what their last name's in the B or maybe what their first name is. I don't know what that was for you because it's B.B. anyway. But they seal it.

[29:58] They seal the wax. They put the imprint in and there it is. And that's the idea of the exact imprint. The word is that he's the exact replication. He's the perfect representation of God.

[30:11] And this word used for image, it's the Greek word icon. Icon. Where we get our English word icon. So Jesus Christ is the reproduction of God.

[30:25] He's the perfect personal imprint of God in time and space. Go back to Colossians 1.15. He's the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. It's amazing.

[30:38] Jesus is superior to all that God has done up to the point of him being born to reveal himself. God revealed himself a little bit, a little bit, a little bit. We can learn a lot about God in the Old Testament, reading the Old Testament.

[30:51] But we know even more perfectly about God because of Jesus. We're told that he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

[31:03] He not only made all things and will someday inherit all things, but he holds them all together in the meantime. And we base our entire, think about this, we base our entire lives on the consistency of laws, right?

[31:17] On the constancy of scientific laws and such. And when something like an earthquake or a tsunami comes along and disrupts the normal condition or operation of things, even a little bit, the consequences are disastrous.

[31:31] Think about that. Like in California, don't know why they did this, but they did and they continue to do it. You know, they build buildings and houses and such and people live right there where there's this enormous fault, like not far, well, very far under them, but you get to the point, you know, that rubs and there's huge earthquakes every now and then, billions of dollars in damages, and yet what do we, we don't move away from that, we just rebuild, rebuild, rebuild, rebuild.

[31:59] It doesn't make any sense. But as long as that's not happening, as long as there's not an earthquake, things are fine. Because everything's consistent, there's constancy in our expectations and our experience in life.

[32:12] Can you imagine what would happen if Jesus Christ relinquished his sustaining power over the laws of the universe? He'd go out of existence. If he suspended the law of gravity only for a brief moment, we'd all perish in unimaginable ways.

[32:30] Gravity. We take that for granted until the cup falls off the table. Stinking gravity. But the reality is, even just for a moment, he takes it away.

[32:44] Like, we're done for. We'll spin off the planet or whatever. I mean, I have no idea what would happen. And I'm glad that I don't have to worry about that. Because Colossians 1.17 says he's before all things and in him all things hold together.

[32:59] Here you go. The last two points seem to run together. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[33:12] After making purification for sins. It's amazing that Jesus created and sustains the world, but even greater still is our creator's action to purge mankind of sin.

[33:23] What he did. To take on flesh. To experience pain and suffering and separation from God for our benefit. Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

[33:39] Romans 6.23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Though we deserve death and eternal separation from God in a very real place called hell, because of our sin, Jesus humbled himself by becoming a man and taking the penalty of our sin upon himself on the cross.

[34:04] Can I tell you something? I mentioned it, I just mentioned it and stopped for a second. Hell is a real place. I came across just scrolling through Facebook because that's what life is all about anymore.

[34:17] I was scrolling through Facebook and saw somebody that I am acquainted with said, even though I don't believe hell is real, and then they posted a meme about not wanting to, well, it was another bad theology.

[34:32] Anyway, I was just, I was completely appalled because this is an individual who identifies as a Christian. I know what church they go to and the more I learn about the individuals that go there, maybe, anyway.

[34:44] So, I thought I knew the church, anyway, and their doctrine to some degree, but if this is what it's producing, then I don't know the church's doctrine and I'm concerned about it. You know, but the idea that, like, this person doesn't believe that there's a literal hell.

[35:01] But, you read in the New Testament and the Gospels, Jesus' teaching, there is a literal hell. You read in the end of Revelation, there is a lake of fire for those who are not written in the book of life.

[35:13] Hell is real, folks. And we need to be concerned for those people who, if they died today, that is their eternal destiny. Separation from God.

[35:27] But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. What an act of love. And finally, this last truth about Jesus here in verse 3.

[35:40] He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. The right hand is considered the power side and it's also a position of honor. Acts 7, 56, when Stephen was being stoned to death, he looked up into heaven and he said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

[35:59] He was acknowledging that Jesus, they understood what, they understood what Stephen meant when he said the Son of Man. They understood that he meant Jesus. And he was saying, I see Jesus at the right hand of God.

[36:10] That was appalling to the Jewish leaders who then stopped up their ears, covered their ears, rushed at them, and killed them for proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.

[36:23] The fact that Jesus sat down indicates something that could not be true for a priest in the temple of God on earth and that was that his work is finished.

[36:34] Colossians 3, 1, If you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

[36:45] Jesus came to this earth, was born, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, shed his blood for our sins, and he is now seated at the right hand of God because he doesn't have to do anything more to provide deliverance for sin.

[37:00] But if you read in the Old Testament, in the Levitical law, what the priests were expected to do, every year there was a day of atonement. Every day there were sacrifices being made to cover sin.

[37:13] And Jesus said, I've been there, I've done it, it's over, I'm sitting down, and now he intercedes for us to the Father. All of man's attempts to know and understand our Creator and all the religions that there are in the world to figure it out fall very short in this endeavor.

[37:33] God has chosen to reveal himself to us through his word, the Bible. And Jesus is God's superior revelation of himself to mankind because Jesus is God.

[37:47] And since that is the case, we cannot take lightly our relationship with him. And we must follow his words. It's a worthy and difficult challenge for the new year.

[38:00] If you're one of those people who like to disappoint yourself with New Year's resolutions, I used to be one of those people. I stopped years ago because I was just too depressed. Here's one for you.

[38:12] Read the word and get to know the God who has chosen to reveal himself to you and obediently follow him. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

[38:25] I end with this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

[38:57] Lord Jesus, I thank you that you came to the earth. You are the epitome. You are the great revelation of God. And yet you are humble and compassionate and loving and you gave yourself for our sins.

[39:12] Lord, I pray that as we go from here, we recognize your superiority over all revelation. Your superiority over all attempts for man to understand and know God.

[39:25] I pray, Lord, that you'd give us conviction and opportunity to get to know you and to live obediently. Help us, Lord, to take in these verses we're going to be studying in the coming weeks from the book of Hebrews.

[39:41] Help us to understand the things that are difficult and maybe we don't fully comprehend. And I pray, Lord, each and every day, each and every moment, we take every thought captive for Christ and seek to live for your glory and honor.

[39:55] In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.