Jesus is Enough to Know God

This is Anne Graham Lotz. God says, Jesus is my unique son, and there's no one like him. He stands in the unique solitude of himself. Jesus is the Son of God, and he is also the Savior of the world. You're listening to Living in the Light, a weekly study in God's Word with Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz in her series, Jesus is Enough to Know God Exactly.

Today, teaching from the book of Hebrews chapter 1, here's Anne. Jesus is enough to know God exactly because of his deity, but also he's enough to know God exactly because of his humanity. In his humanity, he is the Son of God. In verse 4, it says he's superior to the angels, and angels, we don't know enough about them to satisfy all of our curiosity, but we know they don't die. We know they don't get married. We know they don't have children. We know they are incredibly strong. We know they are the highest of the created intelligences in the universe. We know they live the closest to God's throne of anybody. We know they're covered with eyes, which means they're very alert.

They have lots of wings, meaning they're very quick, and they're strong. They've been created by God, and they live to serve God. They're the ministers of his who do his pleasure. They're organized. They have emotions. Verse 4 says that the name that he has inherited is superior to theirs, and I was trying to think of their names. What does that mean? I thought of the names of three angels in scripture.

Only three I know of. Maybe somebody here knows more than that, but I know that Michael is an archangel, and Michael we associate with war because he's the commander of the heavenly host and the armies of heaven, and we think of him in the military. And then there's Gabriel who's the messenger of God.

You remember he brought the message to Mary to tell her that she was going to conceive and have a son, and we associate him with the word of God. And then there's Lucifer, the one who was like the son of the morning, the bright star, the most fabulous angel that had ever been created next to God himself. Strong, capable, and Lucifer wanted to be God. And in the pride of his heart, he lifted himself up and rebelled against God, and you know the story where God threw him out of heaven, and Lucifer was thrown out of heaven. He took one third of the angels with him, and we think of that one third as the fallen angels. Lucifer of course is Satan, and the fallen angels are the demons that are at his disposal.

And why God would allow him to land on planet earth I don't know, and when we get to heaven we'll ask him about that. And I know it has to do with God's purpose in our lives and all of that, but he's the prince and power of this world. And Lucifer rules and reigns here, but under the authority of course of the one who is overall even Jesus Christ. And the writer of the Hebrews is saying that Jesus is superior to any angel you can name, including Lucifer. And so when we think of the devil and maybe in particular, all the little gremlins and the goblins and the ghosts and the demons, and I was watching some of those talk shows last night and they're interviewing witches and people like this, and it's incredible the credibility they give people like that.

And no matter who these people are and what they can conjure up and whatever they do, whatever they say, none. And no power they can call on is greater than Jesus. When God raised him from the dead he seated him at his right hand and put all authority under his feet.

So it doesn't matter how far you go in the universe, what black hole you fall into or how far down you go, depths of hell, how far out you go, doesn't matter what the power, visible or invisible. Jesus Christ is superior to any and all of them. And he's the son of God.

He's greater. And verse 5 says, For which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son? Today I have become your father, or again I will be his father and he will be my son. Jesus has a unique relationship with God. And when we think of the devil, he's not the equivalent of Jesus. The devil is not omnipotent, he's not omniscient, he's not omnipresent. He's not like you have a good one and that's Jesus and a bad one like that's the devil.

The devil is a fallen angel. He's not the son of God. Jesus has a unique relationship with God. And to be God's son doesn't mean he's less than God, sort of like you have an older one and a younger one and a lesser one.

It means that he's of the same essence, the same personality, the same power, the same character. Jesus is God just in a different form, so to speak. And he's the son of God and people say we're all sons of God.

No, we're not. Jesus is the unique son of God. We're sons of God in the sense that we're created by God in his image to know him. But we're not sons of God in the sense that we are little gods. And the New Age people will tell us that we all have little gods inside ourselves and, you know, they just have amnesia, I guess.

You have to wake them up through meditation and yoga and some other sort of techniques. But that's not true. We're not all little gods. There is one son of God, unique son of God.

And we might ask, well, who says so? This is God's testimony. Verse 5, God says, you are my son today.

I've become your father. Or again, I will be his father and he will be my son. Verse 6, and again, God says, let all God's angels worship him. Verse 7, speaking of the angels, God says he makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire. But about the son, God says, look at this, your throne, O God, will last forever and ever. All right, you see that God is speaking about Jesus and saying, your throne, O God, calling him God. Verse 10, God also says, in the beginning, O Lord. Speaking of Jesus, referring to him as Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth. Verse 13, to which of the angels did God ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Satan tried to climb on God's throne and he got thrown out of heaven. God invites Jesus to sit there because it's his right. Jesus is the son of God. And so when people today say, even within the church, that Allah and Mohammed and Buddha and Jesus are all on an equal plane, and they're all sort of the same thing, then you're contradicting God's own testimony because God says, Jesus is my unique son and there's no one like him.

He stands in the unique solitude of himself. Jesus is the son of God and he also is the savior of the world. Chapter 2, verse 1, we must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we don't drift away. And I believe this is a verse for you and me today. In our almost polytheistic, pluralistic, politically correct society, we need to pay more careful attention to what we've heard.

And listen, what have we heard? We've heard that all of sin comes short of the glory of God. We've heard that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life because God so loved you and me that he gave us his only begotten son. That when we place our faith in him, we would not perish, but we would have everlasting life. And Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, the life, no one.

Hey, that means nobody. No Buddhist, no Baptist, no Muslim, no Mormon, no Methodist, no Presbyterian, no Hare Krishna, no Catholic, no charismatic, no one will come to the Father except they come through me. Because Acts 4-8 says there's only one name given under heaven among men whereby you can be saved. And it's the name Jesus.

Jesus is the Savior of the world. Pay more careful attention to what you've heard. You're paying careful attention.

This is what we've heard, isn't it? It's our Bibles, Genesis to Revelation. Pay more careful attention that we can learn how to read it for ourselves and study it for ourselves and teach it for ourselves and saturate ourselves in it that we would pay more careful attention so that we don't drift away. Most people I know of who are going to hell don't intend to go there. They're just drifting there because they're not paying more careful attention to what God has said and what we've heard. You have a problem with the exclusiveness of the Gospel? Sometimes when I do interviews with some of these secular programs, they try to pin you down on it. You mean that the only way to God is through Jesus? Isn't that narrow?

Isn't that exclusive? You mean Jews aren't going to heaven? You mean a God-fearing Muslim is not going to heaven? And again and again I say, you know, this isn't my idea. This isn't what I've said. This is what the Bible says. And for myself, and I don't say this necessarily on a talk show, but for myself, you know, God created us because He loved us and He wanted us to know Him in a personal, right, love, permanent relationship. And we're the ones that rebelled against Him.

And we're the ones that said, no thank you, we don't want that. And it's our sin that separated us from God. And to me the wonder of wonders is that He's even provided one way back. He didn't have to provide even one way, did He? And it's His grace and His love for us that would provide a way. And so I don't have trouble with the exclusiveness of the gospel.

I'm just so grateful that we have a way. And that God in His grace for whatever reason has revealed that way to me. And by God's grace I've responded and claimed Christ as my Savior.

And with all of my heart, not only do I want to know Him, but I want to make Him known so that other people can find the way too. He's the Son of God. He's the Savior of the world. Verse 2, if the message spoken by angels was binding, and that's just speaking of the Old Testament law, if you'll take my word for it, and every violation and disobedience received is just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation which was first announced by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. And that's speaking of the apostles. And the apostles wrote our New Testament. And it's the New Testament that confirms all that we've been saying. And so pay careful attention to what you've heard, which is the rest of the New Testament and the Old Testament too. And God won't make an excuse for us. How can we give an excuse to God for not paying attention to what He has given us? The people in this day didn't have a written Bible like this.

Not something they could easily turn to and read and apply. What a privilege you and I have. And we need to pay more careful attention so that we don't drift away. And if they were severely punished when they didn't have access to something like this, wonder how God will hold us accountable. It's a solemn thing to think that He holds us accountable for what we have opportunity to know. And in our country we have opportunity to know so much, so much available to us.

Pay careful attention. And He has so much to say to us. We don't want to doubt it or disobey it or dilute it or disregard it. It's confirmed by the apostles and it's confirmed by the Holy Spirit. In verse 4, God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles. And gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. In my personal devotional time I've been reading Acts. And it's been so wonderful and I've loved going back and seeing the way God confirmed all of this in the early church when the Jews that had been the way you'd come to God is through the ceremonies and sacrifices for 1,500 years and all of a sudden Jesus of Nazareth comes on the scene and says He's the fulfillment of the law and He's crucified and dead, buried, He rose from the dead, He went back to heaven and now the whole system has changed.

A revolution has come. And we have Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is given to the disciples and the believers and then they preach the gospel but it's a phenomenal thing, isn't it? That 1,500 years is being sort of turned around and now you can come into God's presence and know Him personally through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as you repent of your sin.

It was phenomenal. And so it's such a radical change that God needed to confirm it in a spectacular way and so He gave the signs and miracles and all of that to confirm that what the apostles were saying were the truth, that Jesus is the Son of God. And I love that scene in Acts chapter 3, right after Pentecost. Peter and John are going back into the temple and this man who's been paralyzed since birth is being carried out so he can beg. And the man looks at them and asks for silver and gold and Peter and John look at them and say we don't have silver and gold but what we do have we're going to give you.

In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. And the man did. And in the name of Jesus the miracle was done and it just electrified Jerusalem and 5,000 people were brought to Christ that day and it was incredible how God used signs and miracles and wonders to confirm what was said in the early church. And I know God does things like that today, not quite in that fashion.

That was a unique period in church history to confirm the gospel, to confirm the teachings of the apostles but He still does miracles today. I was in Cardiff, Wales. A girl wrote me a note after having come to our revival there and she was a young girl about 18 years of age and she said for several years now I've been filled with anger and rage. So deeply depressed her mother told me she didn't speak. She said I was on drugs and she said I came to just give me Jesus.

I didn't know what to expect. She said I thought maybe a thunderbolt or maybe God would strike me dead and she said I sat there and she said I never was so overwhelmed with the sins of love. And she said when you gave the invitation she said I came to the cross and I brought my sin to the cross and I asked for forgiveness. I know I've been cleansed and she said I cannot tell you the joy that's in my heart. She said every day I can't wait to get up and deny myself and take up my cross and follow Jesus.

And she said thank you for answering the cry of my heart. Just give me Jesus. Now that's a miracle. That's a miracle. And Jesus, the fact that He died on the cross, He's risen from the dead, He's ascended into heaven, He sits at the throne of God. The confirmation of that is not only the word of God and what the apostles have told us, which is in our New Testaments, in the truth of God's word, but it's in what we see in life change and people's lives that are dramatically changed and alcoholics who are able to break that habit and marriages that are reconciled and a little girl like this who hasn't spoken for several years to now be speaking praises in the name of Jesus.

That's a miracle. And the only reason for it is because Jesus is alive. And He's confirmed it through the New Testament, confirmed it through the miracles He does around us when He changes people's lives in response to the gospel. He's the Savior of the world. He's the Son of God and He's the Lord of all. He's crowned with glory, verse 7. You made Him a little lower than the angels and you've crowned Him with glory and honor. And He's been crowned with glory. He's crowned with authority. You've put everything under His feet. And in putting everything under Him, God left nothing that is not subject to Him. Listen to me, that means nothing.

That means there's no government, no ruler, no problem, no crisis, no disaster, nothing that's not under His authority. I think it's appropriate for you and me to respond and say, God, do you have something to say to us through this? Are you trying to get our attention? I want to listen to you this time.

I don't want you to have to repeat it in some stronger fashion. So He's been crowned with authority and we know these things have been allowed from Him because everything is under His authority. All things. Nothing is not subject to Him. Crowned with glory, crowned with authority, crowned with humanity. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. And bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. And the One who's the Creator of the universe, the Sustainer of all things, knows what it's like to be tired and weary and hungry and thirsty. And He knows what it's like to pray all night and to sing and to enjoy the company of others and to be in solitude, to know what it's like to be criticized and persecuted and maligned.

He was crowned with humanity and crowned with victory. Verse 14, Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy Him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Jesus has been crowned with victory over the devil and the greatest weapon the devil had was sin that leads to death and separation from God.

And Jesus has taken it from him. I was sharing with a young friend this past week, someone who's going through spiritual warfare and who's just terrified, so terrified tears were coming down his cheeks. And I told him, you don't have to focus on the enemy. Keep your focus on Jesus who's been crowned with victory over the enemy. And one of the things that came to my mind to share with this young friend was when the greatest victory that the devil ever had, his greatest most shining moment was the cross. When he manipulated those people to crucify the Son of God and Jesus allowed it and Jesus gave his life and Jesus died on the cross and then Jesus was buried in that tomb and Satan did everything he could to keep him in that tomb.

But that was his greatest moment. And Jesus, who knew that that would be the devil's shining moment, when he was having dinner with his disciples the night before he was betrayed or the night he was betrayed, you remember? He took the cup that represented his suffering and his death and Satan's shining moment and he took the cup and he gave thanks to his Father because he knew his Father would use even Satan for his own purpose and allow Satan to manipulate that and bring Jesus to the cross because it was God's own purpose that Jesus would go to the cross and Jesus would give his life. And in giving his life on the cross and rising from the dead, he would snatch the victory from the devil and the sting from the grave and he would be crowned with authority over everything. So when something dreadful comes into your life, has the devil been knocking at your door? Has he attacked in some way?

I'll tell you what, if he hasn't, I sort of wonder what you're involved in because I think he's just pulling out all the stops. You talk to people in ministry, people really trying to live for Christ and it's never been so hard and the attack is so fierce. But we can take it from our Father's hand because nothing comes into my life as a child of God, that God doesn't allow for a purpose. All things work together for good.

That doesn't mean my comfort, my health and my wealth. That means my conformity to Christ. The ultimate good for me is that I be conformed to the image of Jesus and so all things work together for good when I'm in God's purpose. Even the things that Satan throws at me. And God teaches me, we're going to learn that in Hebrews, that he uses those things to teach us and train us and to conform us to the image of his Son. So get your eyes off the devil.

Put your eyes on Jesus. He's the Lord of all. He's been crowned with humanity and glory and authority and victory.

He has victory over that devil. Up here in the mountains I was raised right across the valley and from time to time when I was growing up, just because we're in the mountains, we'd kill snakes. I think we have the four most poisonous snakes in the country right here in North Carolina. And I can remember when we'd run over the head of a copperhead or a rattlesnake or we'd kill him in some way. It was the most interesting thing and the mountaineer people would have a saying, which I know is true because I've seen it, that you can crush a serpent's head and you can kill him, but his body twitches until sundown. And I've seen that happen and you sort of stay away from that snake and he's dead but the body still twitches.

And Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, God promised Adam and Eve that he would send the seed of a woman, do you remember? Whose heel would be bruised but who would crush the serpent's head and it was a prophecy of Jesus whose heel would be bruised. That wasn't a mortal wound but thinking of the cross. But when he rose from the dead he would crush the head of the serpent. He would utterly destroy the power of the devil. And Satan has been crushed. You and I are just putting up with a body twitch.

Pretty powerful body twitch. But he's a defeated foe. He's like a toothless tiger.

He's like a puff of smoke. Jesus has the victory. He has authority over the devil. So put your eyes on Jesus. He's the exact representation, the exact revelation of God and he is man in his humanity. He's the Son of God and the Savior of the world and the Lord of all.

Chapter 3 verse 1, Therefore holy brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling, and what's the heavenly calling? To know God and to make him known. Fix your thoughts on Jesus.

Why? Because Jesus is enough. He's all you need to know God.

And how can that be? It's because of his deity. He's the exact representation of God's glory and God's grace and God's greatness. He's the exact revelation of what's on God's mind and in God's heart and on God's hands. And because of his humanity. He's the Savior of the world and he's the Son of God and he's the Lord of all. If you want to know God, Jesus is enough. Would you fix your thoughts on Jesus?

Now here's Ann with this final word. John 1.18 says, Although no one has ever seen God, God, the one and only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. I love the story of the mother who tucked her small son into bed. He began to whimper and cry. When she gently inquired what was wrong between sniffles, he explained he missed his daddy. Knowing the boy's father would not be back for several days, the mother hugged the little boy, telling him to wait just for a minute. She slipped out of the room and returned with a picture of the little boy's father in her hand. She placed it beside him in the bed and told him that when he was especially lonely for his daddy, he could just look at the picture and be assured his father loved him and was coming back soon.

The little boy gazed at the smiling face of his father staring out at him from the framed photograph. Then the tears began slipping down his cheeks once again as he said simply, I wish daddy would just step out of the picture. Our father, in his mercy and grace, has stepped out of the picture. His name is Jesus. Listen to me. Jesus is enough to know God exactly. He is enough. Living in the Light is a weekly study in God's Word with teacher and author Anne Graham Lotz.

Learn to listen to his voice. Then start making the choice to keep on going and believing and trusting who God is. Go to AnneGrahamLotz.org. Take advantage of the many helpful free resources to get you started. Join us again for Living in the Light.