Speaking through the Son

The Old Testament was God's layaway plan. Dr. Tony Evans says until Christ there was no permanent solution to the problem of sin. But when Jesus died on the cross it is finished, paid in full.

So now you can claim it. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. While the author of the book of Hebrews remains unknown its central theme is crystal clear.

Don't give up. Today Dr. Evans encourages us to press forward in faith as he reveals the key to avoiding spiritual stagnation and defeat. Let's join him in the book of Hebrews as he gets started. Throughout this book you will find many quotes of the Old Testament, some 40 different quotes of the Old Testament. The reason why he spends so much time quoting the Old Testament is that these are people who were raised on the Old Testament because they were Jewish.

And so their background was Old Testament. So he has to spend a lot of time bringing the Old Testament, even though they're living in New Testament days as Christians as part of the church, in order to help them understand that what they are living through is really the fulfillment of the Old Testament. His concern is that they do not wonder from the faith.

For example, we'll come to it but chapter 2 verse 1. For this reason we must pay closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. He's concerned about them drifting away. He says you will drift if you're not progressing. So he wants them to be moving forward. He knows for that to happen they are going to have to persevere in their faith. Throughout the book he will give a series of warnings.

These warnings—the first one is given in chapter 2 verses 1 to 4—these warnings are designed like in basketball or football they'll call a timeout. He says timeout. This is serious. We need to we need to get together and and have a little powwow cuz this is serious. So he'll be making a strong point and he'll say timeout.

Let's let's convene over here on the side make sure we're on the same place cuz this is serious. So they are throughout the book these serious moments to really grab your attention so you'll find these warnings throughout the book. So let's begin with chapter 1 which sets the foundation for the book. We have what is called the prologue. We'll call it the introduction in the first four verses.

So let me read them. God after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom he also made the world and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and oppose all things by the word of his power when he had made purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become as much better than the angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they. So we are now introduced to Jesus Christ, the author of the book of Hebrews wants to set the the focus of this book on Jesus Christ and his uniqueness but not in the way you may think. He starts off by saying long ago that is in the Old Testament God spoke through the fathers the fathers of the faith and he spoke to them in a whole lot of different ways he used the prophets the Bible says he used angels to speak he had donkeys talking you know I mean God had a lot of different ways of communicating divine revelation revelation is where God discloses something about himself otherwise unknown it's when he pulls back the curtain so you can see what's behind the curtain that's called revelation God is invisible so whatever you get to know about God is what God reveals he says in the Old Testament he did it a lot of different ways to a lot of different means but in these days the days since Jesus Christ he has spoken to us through his son we call this the special incarnate revelation revelation in life John 1 says the word became flesh and dwelt among us John 1 verse 14 and he goes in Saint John verse 1 verse 18 and says and the only begotten of the Father Jesus Christ has explained him so the goal of Jesus was to put flesh on God so that we could see God as God wants to be seen in these last days so you have two periods of time you have former days Old Testament days you have latter days the last days these are the New Testament days or the days until Jesus is returned so you got former days latter days now he says in these latter days God has spoken to us to his son then he begins to spend a little time on his son so we can discover a little bit about Jesus here when he describes him first of all Jesus is the revelation of God first two says because he's spoken to us by his son so he reveals so now whereas God used a whole lot of different things back then he's funneling everything now through one thing his son okay so that's number one he has appointed him heir of all things now this word will come up a lot as we go through the book of Hebrews and that's the concept of inheritance heir of all things God hath bequeathed to Jesus Christ creation all things have been bequeathed to him so like a will that's written out God has the Father has willed everything to Jesus Christ the Son the whole creation has been willed to Jesus Christ so he's the revelation of God he's the heir of God through whom he made the world the Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and earth but John 1 1 says that in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was God so Jesus Christ being the word was made equal with God through whom all things were made so so let's follow this he's the revelation of God he's the heir of God and he's the creative power of God so when the Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth the means by which he created it was God said right Genesis chapter 1 and God said and God said God said but if Jesus is the Word of God then when the Bible says God said Jesus is doing the talking so God said but Jesus is talking so and then it says and the Holy Spirit was hovering over God's creation so you got the whole Trinity in the first couple of verses of the Bible just that name Jesus it just says God said but Jesus is the Word of God in the beginning was the word here it says it a different way through him all things were created how were they created Genesis 1 God talking so God was talking which means Jesus was talking the Holy Spirit was overseeing implementing and that's how you are going to experience God even today God the Father speaks through his son and the Holy Spirit makes it happen in your life okay so the same thing happened in Genesis is the way works today he is now working through his son so he's the revelation of God he's the heir of God he's the creative power of God then in verse 3 he's the exact representation of God and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature Jesus Christ has all the exact attributes of deity now you can't be the exact representation of God without being God okay people say well I represent God well you may but you don't represent him exactly okay in other words perfectly you can't be a perfect representation of God without having divine attributes and if you have divine attributes your deity and if your deity your God so that's where we have the deity of Jesus Christ who Philippians 2 existed in the form of God okay so Jesus Christ bears all the attributes of deity so he's the representation of God as you see there's a lot here by Jesus Christ then we are told and he upholds all things by the word of his power so he's not only the exact representation of God he is the sustaining agent of God okay it says he upholds everything by the word of his power but he keeps things from unraveling the reason why the universe doesn't unravel is because of the word of his power dr. Evans will return shortly with more on how God speaks to us through his son but first I want to let you know that today's lesson is the first in a two volume 13 message collection from Tony called don't ever give up this sermon series is a deep dive into the theologically rich New Testament book of Hebrews that teaches us so much about the central teachings of Jesus Christ the foundations of our faith and the victorious Christian life through these lessons you'll be encouraged to remain steadfast in your faith as you trust more deeply in Christ's perfect sacrifice for you you can get the complete series on CD or digital download as our gift when you make a donation to the Ministry of the alternative and as a special bonus we'll also include a copy of Tony's helpful paperback can God be trusted in our trials it'll give you the courage you need to press on in the face of hard times but more importantly you'll get a look behind the scenes at what God is up to in your life and discover how today's trials prepare you for tomorrow's victories just visit us at Tony Evans org or call us at 1-800-832-22 make your contribution and let us send you as our thank-you gift the Hebrews audio series don't ever give up and Tony's book can God be trusted in our trials I'll have our contact information for you again after part two of today's lesson here's dr. Evans so we've discovered already without going too far that he is the revelation of God he is the heir of God he is the representation of God he's the staining force of God when he made purification of sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high now that is deep after he had finished his work of redemption purification for sins dying as our sin bearer substitute he went to the majesty on high the father and he sat down in the Old Testament when the priests came on the Day of Atonement for the sins of the people and went into the Holy of Holies in order to shed blood on the mercy seat you will not find in the description of the tabernacle or the temple a chair okay there was no place for him to sit down why because his work was never done this is something he had to keep doing every and to keep doing it keep doing it keep doing it keep doing it once Jesus died on the cross a chair entered into the holiest of all because this did not ever have to be repeated again let me put it another way the Old Testament was God's layaway plan y'all remember layaways it's coming back a little bit okay when you pay a little bit a little bit a little bit a little bit till you paid it off and could claim it all right so it was a layaway plan there was no permanent solution to the problem of sin in the Old Testament that was just temporary solutions but when Jesus died on the cross what was his word to tell us that it is finished which means paid in full okay so now you can claim it and Jesus went and sat down because he is finished so watch this now he is the revelation of God he is he is the one who's the heir of God he's the representation of God he's the sustaining force of God and he is the satisfaction of God having satisfied God through his sacrifice God made man lower than the angels now what does that mean that means constitutionally inferior angels can disappear you can't angels can fly you can't angels live on goingly you don't in other words you are not are finite limited to time and space so we are inferior to angels yet he says you have crowned him with glory how did he crown man with glory because when he created Adam he said let them rule he gave man the rule of the earth even though they were constitutionally inferior and even though angels lived here how do we know cuz Satan shows up in the garden which is why Satan attacks Adam in the garden to get that earth back Satan duped man into coming under his rule and so Adam fell and the creation fell with it which is why the devil is called the god of this world how did the devil get to be the god of this world when it was given to man man handed it back over to him by rebelling against God so the world needed to be reclaimed Adam had a sin problem so it has to be reclaimed by somebody who doesn't have that problem but it not only had to be somebody who didn't have that problem it had to be somebody who didn't have that problem that was also human because it was handed over to man to rule not to angels to rule so we needed a sinless man who would be made a little lower than the angels but who would be given the right to rule in other words we needed another Adam first Corinthians 15 calls him the last Adam referring to Jesus Christ somebody who was sinless yet human so the thing that marked off Jesus Christ from every other human from from the human side of him was his righteousness which gave him rights to reign a right that the first Adam would have had apart from yielding to the devil and sin therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions now this is a Greek word called pronounced meta Choi this is a word that will show up a number of times in the book of Hebrews and the companions or the partners it can mean partners are those who've been called alongside to participate in your rule with you you and I have been given the opportunity and the option if we so choose you'll understand as we go along to rule with him okay now that is a choice you make subsequent to salvation your accepting Jesus Christ as your sin bearer gives you entrance into the kingdom but it does not automatically grant you inheritance of the kingdom your obedience determines your inheritance your trust in Christ determines your airship air is your position inheritance is your responsibility you enter into God's presence through faith in Christ you participate in God's presence through adherence to Christ so you have to understand something as we close all Christians on equal okay now all we're equal in terms of being children of God but you probably eat within your own family your child of God if you born again but that doesn't mean you relate to all of them the same Jesus is now seated and there's a gap there is a gap he was seated as you'll see next time due to the resurrection there is a gap between when he was seated and when his earthly kingdom will be established that's a gap of time that gap of time is called this age we're living in the last days or the church age there's a time gap between the seating of Jesus Christ and the inauguration of the kingdom during this age he is identifying his crew from among his people so it is Jesus has companions and these companions are participants in this coming kingdom that we are being prepped for now which is why we're told to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness it is preparation for something so big it will blow your mind I'm talking about something that will literally blow your mind which is why the Bible does not want us to be too tethered to this world because you're being tethered to a lesser thing now we gotta live in this where we gotta function as well but don't get don't get overly excited about this because because you ain't seen nothing yet dr. Tony Evans wrapping up the first message in his 13-part series on the book of Hebrews in today's sermon he talked about Christ but wanted to make sure listeners realize that having a relationship with Christ requires a deliberate act he's back now to explain you're not a Christian because you're religious or because you go to church or even because you believe in God you're a Christian because you've accepted Jesus Christ as your personal sin bearer being religious doing good works that's nice but it's not sufficient when God demands perfection second Corinthians 521 says he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him so what God has said is he placed your sin on the cross on the Christ and then judge Christ for your sin if you will go to Christ he will take Christ righteousness which is perfect and he will credit it to your account so you will stand before God as though you've never sinned not because you're sinless but because you've got a sinless credit on your account if you will receive Jesus Christ right now if you will invite him into your life believing that he died for you and rose for you personally he will credit your account with perfection because he's already credited your sin on the Jesus Christ so go to Christ right now and get this free gift of salvation that he's offering to all who come to him for it find out more about what it means to be a real Christian visit Tony Evans org and follow the link that says Jesus you'll get a straightforward explanation from Tony and some free resources to get you started off right again that's Tony Evans dot o RG and while you're there don't miss out on your chance to take advantage of that resource package I mentioned earlier all 13 messages from both volumes of Tony's current audio series Hebrews don't ever give up along with the insightful paperback can God be trusted in our trials they're yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener supported program coming your way just visit Tony Evans org to make the arrangements or call our Resource Center at 1-800-832-22 where team members are standing by to assist with your request that's 1-800-800-3222 or online at Tony Evans org with Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season just around the corner we're already seeing holiday specials rolling out to TV and streaming services amongst your family viewing choices this year don't miss the Christ centered stories from the storyteller animated Christmas episode in the incredible Christmas dream cam hatches a secret plan to recapture the true meaning of Christmas with a little help from his parents and the friendly caretakers at the local Christmas tree lot cam's plan unfolds with more magic and meaning than he could muster on his own put the incredible Christmas dream on your kids viewing list this year find out how to watch stories from the storyteller at Tony Evans TV comm that's Tony Evans TV comm well next time on the alternative dr. Evans dives into the second chapter of Hebrews revealing how we can find strength and purpose in our journey when we recognize the significance of Christ's salvation be sure to join us for that