In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the book of Hebrews, specifically chapter 1. The key theme throughout the chapter is that God is speaking. The speaker highlights four ways in which God is speaking in this chapter: speaking about his son, speaking in his son, speaking for his son, and speaking in the past. The speaker encourages the audience to read through the book of Hebrews, write down all the verses that mention God speaking, and submit their findings in two weeks. The sermon emphasizes the greatness of Christ and how he is described in the book of Hebrews.

All right, now to begin we're going to give you a little bit of background in relation to the book of Hebrews, and in your notes you'll notice the introduction to the book and some very, very brief things there in the matter of introduction. And at the beginning I've said that the person who wrote the book of Hebrews remains anonymous. Now that doesn't mean that you may not have a little bit of secret information in your mind about the fact, well, I think that Paul wrote it, anything like that. And you'll find that there are some people who argue for about three weeks about who wrote the book of Hebrews. And after they finish, they don't dogmatically know. Now you'll notice in some Bibles it says the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews. That's because that the person, when they were translating, they believed that this was the epistle of Paul to Hebrews. And you'll find me making a mistake now and again when I'm speaking to you and I'll say, now Paul says here in Hebrews, it's because of the fact that way down deep in my heart I get the idea he probably wrote it too. But it doesn't say that in the book, see? It doesn't say that. And I think there's a reason for that because you see this book, above any other epistle, is occupied with the greatness of God's Son, isn't it? And the book is saying God is speaking. God spake. And at the very beginning it says God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake. It's God speaking. This is God's word. So we don't dogmatically know who was the human author of the book of Hebrews. Now because of the content of it and some things which are said in it, we may make the suggestion that probably Paul did. I don't know dogmatically. And it's interesting, you know, I don't know, sometimes theologians must have a lot of time on their hands, even back years ago, someone wrote a whole volume on who wrote the book of Hebrews. A whole volume. Must have had a lot of time. Because after they were all finished, I don't know either. But I know this, that God wrote it, didn't he? God was behind it. This book is inspired by the Holy Spirit like every other book in the Bible. So in this book it is God speaking about the greatness of his Son. That's the book of Hebrews. And so the author, the human author, remains anonymous. Now the second thing we've given you there are the people to whom this epistle is written. Now this is one I'm going to have to take a little bit of time on with you for this reason. If you were to read commentaries on the book of Hebrews, you would find a variety of ideas as to who these people were. Now obviously they were Hebrews, right? That's obvious. They were Hebrews. It's also obvious that they were professing Christians. That's obvious in the book. By virtue of fact, turn to chapter 3 and verse 1. Turn to Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 1. And in the chapter 3 verse 1, it makes it perfectly clear that the writer is addressing these people as professing Christians. It says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. And so he's addressing them as holy brethren and partakers of the heavenly calling. Now here's where you've got to be careful. Because they are addressed as professing Christians does not mean that every individual among the Hebrews was genuinely saved. Not at all. Now people sometimes make a lot of this for this reason because it says that in chapter 3 that say, Well now, therefore, all of these people were genuinely saved. Not at all. Because you see, if I addressed you tonight on the basis of your profession, you come to this Bible school, this night school, you put down in your sheet that you're a Christian and so on, you know, and you're coming here to study the Word of God. Now I may address you as beloved ones and I may address you as holy brethren and partakers of the heavenly calling, and I may find out in a month's time that someone here is not saved. Right? That's possible. But I don't know that. And I could warn you of the danger of hearing the Word of God and not genuinely heeding it, couldn't I? Very much so. And this is where the book of Hebrews, what it does is this fact, it that the evidence of what you are is seen that in the fact that your faith continues. The book of Hebrews teaches that. And there was a danger in the book that there were some people who were in danger of having come to the place where they saw the truth. They were enlightened, and you'll get this in chapter 6, and they had the knowledge of the truth in chapter 10, verse 26. And after seeing all of this, they were in danger of not going on to genuine faith in Christ. They were going to fall away from that point even though they professed to be saved. And it was dangerous. Now that same chapter, Hebrews chapter 3, let me show you this, that the profession which is mentioned in chapter 1 is being demonstrated by evidence in the same chapter. Now let's look at chapter 3 again and look at verse 6. Now we're not expounding this chapter at all. I just want to show you that the people who are addressed as professing Christians are being challenged in relation to the evidence of the fact of what they are. What is the evidence that I am something? All right, here it is. Now look at verse 6, "...but Christ as a son over his own house," now notice this next part now, "...whose house are we if," you see that verse, that word? Now here's what it says, "...we are his house, if," right? Okay, now what follows the if? What shows that I am his house, that we are his house? If, and notice the next part of the verse, "...if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the," what? "...the end." Now the confidence is the faith with which you begin the Christian life. And he's saying this, that that faith is something which continues not just for three weeks, or for three months, or for three years, it continues to the what? To the end. That doesn't mean you can't backslide, not at all. But it does mean this, that there is a confidence of faith which you exercise in Jesus Christ which continues in your life. Otherwise some of us wouldn't be saved tonight, isn't that right? If it ended in three weeks, or if it ended in a month, or if it ended in three months. But I'll tell you this, if I would ask all of you in this class tonight, do you still have the faith that you exercised the night you were converted? What would you answer? Sure, wouldn't you? Aren't you still related to God through Jesus Christ? All right, now wait a minute. If I were to ask you this, have you always been faithful to Jesus Christ since you got saved? Now you won't be nodding your head this way. You'd never be nodding it this way. Or have you ever become backslidden in heart since you trusted Jesus Christ? You'd have to say, sure, certainly. But you see there was something that continued, wasn't it? There was that confidence which brought hope into your life in the beginning, and it continues to the what? To the end. Now that word, if, is not a conditional word. It's an evidential word. In other words, it's saying this, whose house are we? And we could use the word since. Because, here's the evidence, this continues to the end. And to me the evidence of a genuine Christian is this fact, that their faith in Jesus Christ is not something that lasts for a month, it lasts forever. Now this is what you've got to know when you're studying the book of Hebrews, that the writer is seeing among the Hebrews some who were giving evidence of the fact that the faith which they professed to have, they hadn't come to in reality. But they knew the truth, and they were enlightened, and they saw all of this, and the Holy Spirit had worked in their hearts, and they were brought to the place of repentance. But they were in danger of falling away from that point. Now we'll get to that when we get into the warnings. When we come to chapter 2 we'll talk about neglecting salvation. When we come to chapter 4 we'll find that the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. When we come to chapter 6 we'll find people who were enlightened, and he says, if they shall fall away it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Now I know all of you sitting here, that if you've done any discussing about salvation with believers since you were saved, about the fact as to whether you're saved forever, or whether you can lose your salvation, you're all acquainted with Hebrews 6, 4, 5, and 6. Isn't that right? People have come to you and said, hey, have you read Hebrews 6, 4, 5, and 6? And they'll make you shake in your boots and say, look at that! Look at those people! But here's the thing. You've got to understand Hebrews chapter 6, 4, 5, and 6, and 7, 8, and 9, 10, 11, and 12, and 13, 14, 15. There we are. Good. Good to see you folks. Could we take some notes with you there? Could one of you get this group of notes for me please? Just one. I don't want to walk down there because I'm hung up in a rope here. Okay, thanks. Give those folks some notes there. There we go. Fine, thank you. But those are chapters which are difficult, or those are verses which are difficult in the book of Hebrews, right? They're very difficult. Now we're going to handle them, and we'll be doing it in the context where you find them, because you'll be going right through. Now this year, we will only get, now that's got that out of its system, and for another hour, I hope. The buzzers ring here because they ring in the dorm, and the students are just starting study period, and there'll be perfect quietness after this for the next hour or else. I'll begin upstairs. Now let's get back to this again. So let's go back to the people now. You got to get this in your mind because you're going to understand the book of Hebrews. You must understand this. These are Hebrew professing Christians, all right? They found it hard to leave Judaism. They found it hard to leave the temple, and leave the priesthood, and leave the animal sacrifices, and leave the feasts, and so on, because God gave them, didn't he? They found that hard. All of them found that difficult, but there were some who were in danger of turning away from Christ and going back to animal sacrifices, and that was a terrible sin. We'll get to that sin when we study the book. So we know they're professing Christians. However, the writer to the Hebrews has to set before them, if you're saved, there's the evidence of being saved, isn't there? There's the evidence. And if you don't have the evidence, then you don't have the what? Salvation. We'll get to that later. So they're professing Christians and they're Hebrews. Now that's why when you're studying the book of Hebrews, there are times you're going to have to think like a Hebrew. People with a Jewish background, they were acquainted with many of the scriptures which are used in this book that we don't, we're not acquainted with at all. They were acquainted with the tabernacle, and with its vessels, and with its sacrifices, with its priesthood, all of that. They knew them. They lived in it. We've got to think that way and put our minds into it. So these are people with a Jewish background. They were people who found it hard to leave Judaism. Do you know what the writer to the Hebrews then has to do? He has to show that Christ is better than all of Judaism put together. That's what he's going to show in this book. And from the very beginning, that's the argument of the book. Now let's just move on a little bit here and we'll talk about the period in which it was written. Now I said just sometime before AD 70 for this reason. When the book of Hebrews was written, it was just before the time when the visible evidence of everything that was associated with the Old Covenant, that's the Old Testament, was ready to disappear. Now, I gave you a verse there, a text, a reference I want you to turn to in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 13, the last verse of Hebrews chapter 8. And you'll find it in the mind of the writer, as he writes this epistle, he sees that all of the things associated with the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, have served their purpose. He calls them waxing old and decaying. And he says they're ready to vanish away. Now look at verse 13 there. And before we look at verse 13, let me just explain to you what's in that 8th chapter. In the 8th chapter the writer has said this, Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises. And then he gives us the details of that new covenant in contrast with the old. And then he says, now in that he saith a new covenant he hath made the first, what? Old. That is, the Old Testament had fulfilled its purpose because that purpose was fulfilled in one person, and that one person was who? Jesus Christ. All the details, and the types, and the shadows, and the tabernacle, and the temple, and the priesthood, and the sacrifices, all had served their purpose when Jesus came. He fulfilled the whole work. And he says, listen, that which waxes old and decayeth, and all of the visible evidence of that was the temple, wasn't it? That's where they did their worshiping, that's where their priests were, that's where the animal sacrifices were, that's where the feasts were celebrated. There was the whole evidence, and the Jews found it very difficult to believe that the old covenant was finished where that temple stood. As a matter of fact, when Jesus died, do you know what happened? The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the writer wrote this epistle, they had gone back and they must have put the whole thing back together again. Something with an accident must have happened, put the veil back together again. They hadn't seen that Christ had come and opened the way into God's presence. And they were still trying to hold on to the Old Testament with all of its ritual and all of its sacrifices. But in A.D. 70, that temple was destroyed. And Titus, who was the leader of the Roman army, came into Jerusalem, and Titus told his soldiers, he said, listen, you can touch anything here, but don't touch the temple. There's a lot of precious things in that temple. They disobeyed his orders. Do you know why? Because Jesus had said, you see this temple? There'll not be one stone left on top of another. It's going to come down. And he prophesied that. And God's word was kept, and the temple fell. And the last visible evidence of the Old Testament sacrificial system disappeared. That's why when the Jews have their feast today, they've got to invent something. They have to put a substitute on the table for the lamb, don't they? They can't go to Jerusalem and celebrate it because they've nowhere to celebrate. That's why they go to the wailing wall and they weep, don't they? See? There's nothing there. Why? Because in A.D. 70, it vanished away. And Paul says in Hebrews 8, 13, he says, it's ready to, see? It's ready to. It's ready to vanish away. So this epistle was written just before the temple was destroyed when? Together? A.D. 70. That's the time it was written. Now, the purpose of the epistle. In this book there are two covenants mentioned, two agreements. Now a covenant is an agreement. Now as we go along, I know I've given you some typewritten notes, but you want to jot some things down as we go, you can do so in your own notes or on your own paper, and there's a space at the end of those notes there in the last page you can jot things on. But a covenant is an agreement. That's what a covenant is. A covenant is an agreement. Now in this book it speaks about two covenants, the first one and the new one, or the old one and the new one. The old covenant is in the Old Testament and the new covenant is in Christ in the New Testament. Now in the book, the purpose is to prove or to show that Christ in the New Covenant is better than anyone or anything in the Old Covenant. That's why you'll find, for instance, in the beginning he speaks about God speaking through the prophets, now God speaking in His Son, and showing that Christ is better than the angels. Angels were messengers in the Old Testament. Christ was better than Moses. Christ is better than Joshua. Christ is better than Aaron. Christ is better than Levi. Christ is better than all the priests and all the people and all of these great men of the Old Testament. Better than Abraham, better than them all. And anything, all of the sacrifices and so on. And he shows therefore that the covenant which is brought in by Jesus Christ, through His blood, is better than the covenant which was through animal blood in the Old Testament. So when you go through this book, I know there are warnings in it, but forget the purpose. The purpose of the book of Hebrews is to show that the New Covenant in Jesus blood is better than the Old Covenant in animal blood, and that Christ in the New Covenant is better than anyone and anything in the Old Covenant. So that what's happening is there's a contrast being made between the Old Covenant and the what? New Covenant. Now in the Old Covenant there are many men, many sacrifices, many rituals, many priests, many things. But in the New Covenant there's only one. And that one is who? Christ. See? Just one. There's only one sacrifice. There's only one high priest. See? Just one. There's only one mediator between God and men. Christ is being set forth. And so you have Christ over here in the New, and you have all these others in the Old. You have the angels, and you have the prophets, and you have Moses, and you have Joshua, and you have Aaron, and you have Levi. You have all of the sacrifices, and you have all the vessels of the tabernacle, and all of the rituals, and all of the feasts over here. You're saying Christ here is better than anything or anyone over here. That's the purpose of this book. And it's stated at the very beginning of the book. Now look at chapter 1 just for a moment, the opening verses. And we'll never get away from this. That at the very beginning of the book, the purpose is revealed. And so when you're studying a book, you'll find as you look at it, that in it you'll find the key. And it is, of course, stated here that in the past. Now look at verse 1 of chapter 1. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake. When? Time past. Now of course, here's the writer writing this in the early New Testament days, and he says this is time past. Now time past refers to the Old Testament period. Now it says, God in time past spake unto the fathers. That's the Jews back in the Old Testament. By the prophets. That's all of those people who spoke for God back then. So there you have it. There's the Old Testament. What was God doing in the Old Testament? God was speaking unto the fathers by the prophets. It's at sundry times in diverse manners, right? That's what he was doing. Now there's the first thing. Now here's the contrast. Next verse. Half, the same God who spoke back then, now God hath in these last days. Now here's the period which is in contrast with time past. It's these last days. Now I'll explain what that means when we get to it. And God has spoken in these last days, not at sundry times and in diverse manners. God has spoken by his, what? Son. We'll explain what that means when we get to it too. There's a lot in that. So you have this now. Look at it. Over here you have God at sundry times and diverse manners in time past speaking by the prophets unto the fathers, right? Over here you have God speaking just one way, and that is by his Son. The purpose of the book of Hebrews is to show how much better his Son is than all of this. That's what it'll show you. And if you come out of this class rejoicing in the greatness of Jesus Christ, you'll have spent your time with one. You see how great he is, how unique he is, how wonderful he is, how effective he is, how perfect he is, how glorious he is. You've got to hear with a spring in your step and think this, he's my Savior. That's great. That's why you study the book of Hebrews, to see the greatness of Christ and the greatness of his covenants and the greatness of his blood and the greatness of his priesthood, a greatness of it all. That's the purpose of the book of Hebrews. It's stated at the beginning. The warnings are all related to that. Now listen to me carefully, you see. You notice at the end of that little fragment it says there, the warnings in the epistle are to those who deliberately turn away from this revealed truth and commit the sin of apostasy. Now apostasy, if you want to jot a little note on that, a definition of apostasy, apostasy is deliberately turning away from revealed truth. That's apostasy. Apostasy is deliberately turning away from revealed truth. So when we're dealing with an apostate in the book of Hebrews, it is not just the person who hears the gospel once and rejects it in ignorance. No, no. We're talking about a person who has heard. He's not ignorant. We're talking about a person who is enlightened, exceeds. He can see the truth. We're talking about a person who has the knowledge of the truth, and you'll find all of these phrases, those words are used. In Hebrews chapter 2 it says, therefore we ought to give them more earnest heed to the things which we have what? Heard. Hebrews chapter 6, it is impossible for those who are once enlightened. In Hebrews chapter 10 it says, if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth. In all of those chapters you have the fact that the person heard, they saw, they knew, and they fell away. That's apostasy. Get it? It is not a person coming to a gospel meeting and hearing me preach the gospel and going out in darkness and they haven't really heard, and they're not enlightened yet, and they could come for weeks and months and even years and remain in ignorance and then get saved, as long as they're in ignorance. But you know what you're gonna learn in the book of Hebrews? That when a person is no longer in ignorance, when a person is completely enlightened, and when a person hears and they don't heed, they've had it. That's what we need to warn people about, you know. You realize that outside this building tonight there are thousands of people who are trying to make a convenience of God. They go to church every week and listen, never get saved. You know what they think? They think, I can get saved when I please. That's what they think. And the sad thing is that even some Christians will tell them that. Sure, you can get saved anytime you want. That's not true. That is not true. Do you know when you got saved? You got saved when you were enlightened, isn't that right? That's when you got saved. You got saved when you heard. You got saved when you knew. And the Holy Spirit brought you, didn't he, to the place where you really accepted Christ. As long as a person's in ignorance, they're a candidate for God's salvation. But when they deliberately harden their neck, and they deliberately turn their back on the truth, and like these Jews were going back to animal blood and tramp along their foot the blood of Christ, and do despite to the Spirit of grace, that's not backsliding. You know that? That's what? That's apostasy. That's different. As we go along, I'm going to explain to you the difference between a backslider and an apostate, which is very important for you to understand. But get that in your heart. See, he's saying that the warnings relate to that. Apostasy. Now let me show you just the verse here. I mentioned a moment ago that people who get saved, get saved because preceding their enlightenment they were still in ignorance. Okay? They were still in ignorance. There was hope for them. Now turn to 1st Timothy chapter 1. 1st Timothy and the first chapter. Now in this chapter Paul gives his testimony, and he talks about the fact of the Lord calling him into the ministry and giving him that wonderful blessing of teaching and preaching the Word of God. Now in 1st Timothy chapter 1, now look at verse 12. 1st Timothy 1. Now Paul here is testifying to the grace of God in his life what the Lord has done for him. He says, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank the Lord. Why? Who hath enabled me. Why? For that he, in that he, for they counted me faithful putting me into the ministry. He says, I thank the Lord that he gave me the enabling to be in the ministry. What a blessing. Well you think of what I was before. Every one of us that's run the ministry looked that way, don't we? We say, I thank the Lord that he's enabled me to be in the ministry. When I think of what I was before I was saved. I've got to pinch myself to know what I'm here teaching. It's crazy. Thank the Lord for that. Why do you thank the Lord that way? Notice what it says next. Verse 13 says, Who was before a what? Blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. That means he says, I injured Christians. I even delivered them to be put to death. Did all of that. But listen, but I obtained mercy. Listen, after he injured Christians, after he persecuted Christians, after he turned his back on the gospel for all of those years and so forth, after he was a blasphemer, he was against the way of salvation. He says, I obtained mercy. Here's the reason, to the next part. Because, now notice now, because I did it what? Ignorantly and in unbelief. You should underline that in your Bible. Because you see, he's saying this. Here's the reason, after all that I did, blasphemed, I persecuted, I injured, I was against Christ. He says, I got mercy. You know why? I did it in ignorance and in unbelief. That's the reason. So you see, in the book of Hebrews, he's talking about people who are no longer in ignorance. They're no longer that way. In the book of Hebrews, it's always those who have heard, those unto whom the gospel is preached in such a way that the message is indelibly clear in their conscience and in their hearts. We get that in chapter 4. It's the people who have been enlightened through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who gives the light. It's the people who have the knowledge of the truth. And in each case, he's talking about neglecting it, not being mixed with faith, falling away, sinning willfully. See, all those are warnings, and all of the warnings relate to the same sin, same sin. And they're all related to the New Testament message. You see, he says, here's the Old Testament message. Now, here's how much better the New Testament message is. Now, if you get the knowledge of the truth of this New Testament message, which is Christ and His greatness and His perfect salvation, and then you deliberately, willfully turn away from that and go back to animal sacrifices, you have had it. It's impossible to renew you again unto what? Repentance. Now, I'm saying all of that to you before we start the book. For this reason, when we get to those difficult portions now, see, then we've got this background. So, I'm explaining all of this. We get to those difficult portions, we'll see what it actually says, and you don't have to be worried about the fact that you say, well now, doesn't it say we in chapter 2? Yes, it does, and we'll talk about that when we get to it. So, I'm not going to try and avoid any difficult issues in the book. We'll face them all head-on with the Scriptures, and see the context of what it says. Who are these people where it says we, and when it says they, and all of that, we'll get to that. But you must understand this, the purpose of the book of Hebrews is not just to warn people who are in danger of apostasy, it's to fill the hearts of believers with the greatness of Christ. He's better. Now, the key word of the book is better. That's the key word, and you've got that in your notes there. The key word is better, better, better, better. You'll find it mentioned in chapter 1 there, it says that Christ is so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Now, that's just by way of introduction, and I want you to, while we're at that point, take this assignment for the next class. Now, next week there will not be a class, next Monday night. Next Monday night is Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving, so we're taking a vacation, not the day school, night school. Day school is full of classes. But next Monday night there will not be classes in night school, but the week after that they'll continue. There'll be nine classes this semester altogether, but for the next class I want you to do an assignment for me, okay? And the assignment is this, I want you to read through the book of Hebrews twice, okay? Read through the whole book twice. Now, in that way you'll get the whole flow of the letter. This is a letter, when it was written there were no chapter divisions, there were no verse divisions, it was a letter. It's the letter to the Hebrews, that's what the word epistle means. And then I want you to do this, that as you read the book, I don't want you to use a concordance. I usually say that to our own class, because it's not the first thing that jumps to your mind if I say, now many times when you find the word letter in the book of Hebrews, you can find it easy, just get a concordance and look it up. That's easy. But I want you to find them when you're reading them. I want you to write out on a sheet of paper, as you read through the book, I want you to write out on a sheet of paper every verse with the word better in it, okay? Write out every verse with the word better in it. And you're going to see that all the way through the book, you have better, better, better, better, better, better from start to finish. And when you're finished, you'll come to this conclusion, something or someone must be better. That's why it's repeated. And so that's what you're going to do. So read through the book twice and write down all the verses and put the reference beside it. Put the reference in, write out the verse completely, okay, the verse with the better in it, and then turn it in two weeks from tonight. That'll be one assignment that you'll have, and then we go on from that in the exposition of the book. Now that's by way of introduction. Now I'm going to go into the exposition. We're going to start tonight in Hebrews chapter 1, and we just have a short time here tonight. But in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1, exposition-wise, the key in chapter 1 is the fact that God is speaking. And in your notes there, you notice I've put a title there on the chapter, which is God speaking, God speaking. And that's in chapter 1, and that's very obvious all the way through chapter 1. And when you're reading this epistle, and you're studying any book in the Bible, look for repetition of phrases, or what's the key thing in a chapter. And you'll notice as you go down this chapter, God at sundry times and diverse manners speak. Verse 2, hath in these last days spoken, you see? And verse 5, unto which the angel said he at any time. And again it says, of the angels he saith, verse 7, but unto the Son he saith. God is speaking all the way through this chapter. Now there are four ways in which God is speaking in chapter 1. Number 1, and we have it down for you there in your notes, God speaking about his Son. Now that's verse 1. God is speaking about his Son. That's the Old Testament. Then God speaking in his Son. That's verses 2, 3, and 4, where it says, God in these last days has spoken unto us by his Son. God is speaking in his Son. Then God speaking for his Son. That's found in verses 5 through 7, where it says, he said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Why did God raise Christ from the dead? Why did he say, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son? Well it's like this. That's why I've used this phrase. For instance, if I have my Son here, he's mine by birth. But if my Son has been rejected by men, and I want to vindicate him, and I want men to know this, then I'll say to the universe, or I'll say to men, listen, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. In other words, I'm going to act in that capacity, and you're going to see it. See? He's speaking for him. Do you know why? Because man spoke against him, didn't he? He said, we don't want him. God says, I'll raise him from the dead, and you're going to have him. He's my son. And we'll get to that. That's God speaking for his Son. Then God speaking to his Son. Begins with verse 8. That's very obvious, but it says, but unto the Son he said, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. And this will take us to the end of the chapter. So you have God speaking. We got it now? God speaking. Let's say it together. God speaking about his Son. God speaking in his Son. God speaking for his Son. God speaking to his Son. You could always sing that, couldn't you? That's right, that's what he's doing. And there's a key word all the way down there. It's his Son, isn't it? His Son. His Son's the subject of this whole book. His Son. Now, let's look at the first one. God speaking about his Son. Verse 1. Okay. Now obviously the person who is doing the speaking is God the Father. It says, God, who at sundry times in his divers manner spake in time passed on to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. So if it's the person who has his Son, then it's God the Father, isn't it? That's obvious. So he's saying it was God the Father who in time past spake unto the fathers by the prophets. He was speaking. And he was speaking about his Son. One of the keys to understanding the Old Testament is this. The reason why God gave us Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2, Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, and Esther, and Job, and Psalms, and Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and Psalms of Solomon, and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel, Hosea, and Joel, and Amos, Obadiah, and Jonah, and Micah, and Nahum, and Habakkuk, and Zephodiah, and Haggai, and Zechariah, and Malachi. The reason why he gave us them all, he was telling us about his Son. That's why. And if you read the Old Testament just as a history book, you've missed the point. All you've got is history. You've missed the point. Because there's some parts of it hard to read, aren't there? We were talking about that last year when we were talking about types. Some parts of it are hard to understand. But when you look at it this way, Genesis to Malachi is all about his Son. Then you look for his Son. Is that right? You look for him, and you'll find him in Genesis 1, and you'll find him in Genesis 2, and you'll find him in Genesis 3, and you'll find him all the way through. You'll find Christ. You can find him. The reason why a lot of Christians don't find him is because they're not looking for him. You know that? Read books in the Old Testament like Chronicles. You only get the Chronicles, all those names. You can't even pronounce them. Really, it's hard. I know that, because in the first place, you have to stop some time. Do you ever stop when you're reading Chronicles or some of those books and try and pronounce some of those names? Or you look up the words where they're divided up to give you the pronunciation, and even you've got the pronunciation, it's still uninteresting. It's terrible. You know, it's funny. In the old country one time, we had a young people's group in a little place called Hillsborough, and there were a bunch of characters. Of course, I was in it, so there had to be a bunch of characters. But they'd do this, you know. When we'd have meetings, we'd say, well, so-and-so had to read the Scripture, and some character was going to speak. He may not have been speaking on this at all, but he'd pick a Scripture reading with all these names on it, purposely, and give it to the guy who was going to read the Scripture just before the meeting. He'd say, where do you want me to read? Well, I'll read Nehemiah chapter 3, verse 10 verses. And he's talking about names. Well, do you know what happened to one young fellow one night? He didn't have very much education at all, and they gave him one of these Scripture readings of the Old Testament with all these names on it. And he got up, and you know what he did? He just stood there, and as he read, when he came to a big name, he just said, hallelujah. And then he read on and said, hallelujah. Read on a bit, hallelujah. He didn't give him a Scripture like that again, I'm telling you. Because he came up afterwards, he says, I wasn't trying to pronounce all of those. You may as well say hallelujah and forget it. You couldn't do it. But you see, they're uninteresting for this reason, that now you may not see it readily, but you see in the names even, in all of these things. You know, when you take, for instance, the cities of refuge, you have those cities which mean holiness and exalted and joy. And there are cities of refuge, and Christ is our refuge, and in Him you find holiness. In Him you find exaltation. In Him you find joy. When you relate them to a person, it makes a difference, doesn't it? But you see, that's what he said. He said that God the Father in the Old Testament was speaking about Him. Old book, Old Testament. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 10 for a moment. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 7. Now in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 5, you have the Lord Jesus talking, and He's talking about coming into the world, or after He came into the world, and says, Wherefore when He, that is Christ, cometh into the world, He saith, here's what He said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, now this is Jesus speaking, Lo, I come. Now notice this next part. In the volume of the what? Of the book it is written of who? Me. Now what was the volume of the book? It was Genesis to Malachi. And he says in that whole volume of the book it is written of who? Me, me, me. So whether you're reading in Genesis or reading in Malachi, you'll find that God was writing about His Son. God the Father was writing about His Son. That'll make a difference for you, because when you're reading what's in the Psalms, or you're reading in Song of Solomon, or you're reading back in the book of Exodus, or Leviticus, or Numbers, and those books which some of them are very difficult to get through, when you look and say, Well, where is His Son here? What is God portraying about His Son? That'll make a difference. You'll find Christ. So God was speaking about His Son, God the Father back then. Now back in Hebrews chapter 1 again, says, God who at sundry times in diverse manners spake. Now that's the procedure by which He spoke in time past. Now sundry times and in diverse manners means in many parts and in many ways. That's the meaning of the phrase. And here's what the writer is doing. He's saying that God did not give all of His revelation in one man back in the Old Testament. You couldn't say, for instance, God gave all of His Word back then to Abraham, or He gave it all to Moses, or He gave it all to Noah, or He gave it all to Elijah, or He gave it all to Isaiah, or gave it all to Jeremiah, or gave it all to David. He did not. He gave part to one, and part to another, and part to another, and part to another, right? That's how He did it, in many parts. And He did it in many ways, many, many ways. Why, listen, you go to one part of the Old Testament, you've got to see the Son. How are you going to see Him? In pictures, isn't that right? Types. How are you going to see Him? Because those Old Testament sacrifices were shadows of Christ. You've got to see Him in pictures. That was a way in which God revealed Him, and we've got a right to do that and say, well now, can we see His Son in that way? That was a way of God. Sure. He showed Him in pictures. When you see an animal with hard blemish and with hard spot being placed on the altar and going through the fire and the blood being poured out, and it's called a burnt offering, then you'll see His Son. God is picturing His Son, because He was a lamb, wasn't He? Without blemish and without spot. His blood was poured out. He went through the fire of God's wrath and judgment. He was a burnt offering as a sweet savor to God. You see Him in picture. That's one way. You'll hear Him spoken about in promises. The very first promise back in Genesis 315, when God said to the devil, He said, listen, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, thou shalt bruise his heel. God was promising a Redeemer, wasn't He? You'll see Him in promise. That was another way in which God revealed Him, spoke about Him. Promise. You'll find Him in psalms, devotionally presented in the psalms and also prophetically. You'll find Him in Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes in poetic language and so forth. What wonderful descriptive phrases poetically you'll find in Song of Solomon. You'll find Our Beloved there, won't you? Set forth. He's there. You'll find Him in prophecies. That was a way God revealed Him. When He says in Isaiah chapter 53, Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness. When we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not and so on, right to the end of the psalm. It's all prophecy. But here's the thing. It was many parts and many what? Many ways. It was the Old Testament. God the Father spoke in many parts and in many ways. All right. So you've gotten verse 1 now, and when God was speaking about His Son, who did the speaking? God the what? What was the procedure? It was by what? In many parts and in many ways. One part given to one man, another part given to another, and many ways in which that revelation was revealed. All right. Now, after you've got that, then it says, speak in time past. Now there you have the period in which God spoke about His Son. Time past. Now, time past simply refers to the period preceding Christ, the Old Testament period. All of that period of time which God spoke back from the beginning right through to Christ. That's time past. That was the Old Testament period. And so He's simply saying this. When you stand here, as it were, before Christ came—Christ is behind us—and you look all the way back, and you see all of the revelation that was given in many parts to different men and in different ways all the way down through the centuries right to that time. See, that was time past, and God the Father was speaking about His Son. And He did it in many parts and in many ways. But now there's a new period coming, see? There's a new period here. And God has spoken in a new way, and the greatest way that has ever been spoken and so forth, and the greatest way that has ever been revealed, we have it. So, time past refers to the Old Testament period. All right? The people to whom God spoke in time past, it says, unto the fathers. Now, that term is used simply to say this. These people were what? Together? This is the epistle to the what? Together? Hebrews. So, if it was their fathers, then what were they? They were Hebrews. And so, He's simply saying this, that the ancestors of these people to whom this epistle was written were the people, were the fathers of the nation to whom God spake in time past about His Son. They were there. So, He says, God spoke to your fathers. He spoke to your ancestors. He spoke to the Jewish nation in the Old Testament. He spoke to them about His Son in pictures, in promises, in psalms, in poetry, in prophecies. In many ways, He spoke to them back then. So, that was the people. So, keep in mind, He's saying this, there was the old revelation in many parts, many ways, which was given to the Jewish nation. Now, there's a new revelation which has come to us, and keep in mind that these people were Hebrews in God's Son. And not only came to them, it came to us eventually. You always remember this, folks, that it didn't come to us till they rejected it. Isn't that right? It was first of all to the who? To the Jews, and then also to the Greeks. And you know, many, many times we talk about the Jews, and they can really get under your skin now and again, can't they? Jews. Really good. Really good to you. But I'll tell you this, we can thank God for the Jews. Really can. And we can say in one sense that we've got to thank the Lord that salvation came to us because they rejected it, too. It says in Hebrews chapter 11, through their rejection, salvation came to the Gentiles. Through their rejection. And we don't want to get too proud about that. Paul says, don't get too high-minded about that, because God's going to graft them in again, isn't he? And the Gentiles, their time will come to an end, too. But we can thank the Lord for the Jews. He says, but those Jewish fathers were the people to whom God spake in time past to Barth his son. All right? Now, it says, by the prophets. The prophets through whom he spoke. Now, let me give you something about the word prophet here, which is important for you. Every time you read the word prophet in the Bible does not mean that the person that's called a prophet is going to prophesy something in the future. See, there were two kinds of prophets. There were predictive prophets, and they spoke the Word of God in relation to the future. Then there were preaching prophets, and they simply proclaimed the Word of God. Sometimes it was present tense, warning people and so forth. So simply, the prophet simply means this, God's spokesman. One who spoke for God. That's a prophet. Now, some of them were predictive prophets. Others were not. So that when we use the word prophets, we're talking about any person who spoke for God in the Old Testament. Now, they weren't all like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or Daniel, and so on. They were not all predictive. But there were men, for instance, you know something? Abraham was a prophet. Don't think of it that way. David was a prophet, wasn't he? There were others who spoke for God in the Old Testament who wouldn't be classified in the minor or major prophets, but they were God's spokesmen. He's saying this, God had a variety of spokesmen through whom he spoke in many parts and in many ways in time past unto the fathers. He's telling us all about to say this, now listen to this, the same God who spoke in time past, in many parts, in many ways, unto your fathers by many spokesmen has just got one spokesman now, just one. And he's only got one way in which he's speaking. He's only got one message, and it's the last one, and that message is Jesus Christ, see? And now he's going to start and describe him. Now we'll get to that the next class. God speaking in his Son, and you're going to see who he is, what he is, what he did, where he is, how great he is, and how to thrill your heart, because the thing that thrills me is he's my Savior. Greatest message that's ever been heard is in my heart. Greatest person there is in the universe is my Savior. And that thrills my heart, I'm going to go ahead and live for God, because you've got no apologies to make. You have the greatest message, and the greatest person, most glorious individual has ever lived, and he's in your heart. The book of Hebrews is going to describe him in that way. Now, the time is gone because it's exactly 7.59, and we go to the second verse the next time we get to it, and then as we move along, you're going to see we'll be developing this whole business from here on how great, how much better Christ is in the way in which God has spoken in the past. Let's bow in prayer, please. Father, we thank thee for this time together. Thank thee, Lord, for every man, every woman that has come to this night school. Lord, whether we're teaching or listening, during these classes in Hebrews, help us to experience this great thrill. Christ is better, not only better to the universe, not only better to the church collectively, but better to me, better in me, better for me, better with me, because he's my Savior. I want to thank you for him tonight, and for your Word, in Christ's name. Amen.