GOD STILL SPEAKS

(INTRO) I WISH I COULD HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD!

[1][2]WELCOME: Good morning church family! So glad to be with you and worshipping Jesus together. If you’re new with us this morning on campus or joining us online, we’re glad you’re here. My name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here at Cornerstone. We are in week 2 of our…

SERIES: on the book of Hebrews, called Anchored. That title comes from chapter 6:19 where the author of Hebrews says that “19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.” [Heb. 6:19] The writer of this letter is telling us, we can deal with the uncertainty of this life because of who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

Do you ever find yourself wishing that you could hear from God in the middle of all the craziness of the past couple years? That in the middle of the chaos and confusion, you could hear from him and find a sense of peace and calm, and get some direction. This is what the Jewish Christians were looking for when this book was written. So, if you’ll turn in your bibles to [Heb. 1:1-4] in your bibles, we’re going to see what God has to say to us today. Or if you want to follow along in our app with the sermon notes you can open our app. We’re going to see that God wants to speak to us, that he is trustworthy, and that what he has to say will help us live anchored in this world as it shakes. Before we dig in, let’s pray!

(TEACH/APP) GOD HAS SPOKEN AND STILL SPEAKS! (God)

GOD WANTS TO SPEAK TO US: From the very opening of this letter, we’re told that we have a God who wants to speak to us! I’m a bit of a comic nerd and Marvel has a series out right now called “what if” and it has a character called the Watcher. The Watcher is this cosmic being that is powerful and observes the universe, but never intervenes. When things go badly or humanity needs help, they simply will not step in and very rarely reveal that they exist! I think many people have this picture of God. He’s the powerful but distant and hands off God. And that’s simply not true! When we look at the first half of our bibles, we see a God that speaks repeatedly. He reveals not only himself, but he reveals his plans and gives instructions. We’re told that…

· GOD HAS SPOKEN TO US IN THE PAST: [v. 1:1] says God has spoken to us “at many times and many ways.” We see that God spoke audibly and directly to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We see God sending angels with messages and speaking through dreams. We see God showing up and revealing himself in a burning bush, or a flaming pillar of smoke and fire. We even see God speaking through a donkey. Which gives me great hope that he can speak through me. This is no God who silently watches from a distance. This God wants us to know him, to know his voice, and to know his will! Now as miraculous as these instances were when God spoke in the past, his most prominent way of communicating with his people was by…

o SPEAKING THROUGH PROPHETS: A prophet is someone who listens for the voice of God, and when God reveals his will and desires to them, they proclaim it to others. They listen, they hear, then they speak. A pastor named John Piper calls them “human go-betweens.” These individuals would then speak and write down what God wanted them to say! This is how we got our bibles! Moses, Joshua, David, Samuel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, and many others heard from God and wrote down what he wanted them to say. We live in a day where many people are skeptical that the bible is a record of God speaking! I don’t have time today to go into all the reasons why we believe that the bible is reliable, trustworthy, and accurate. Even if I did, I don’t think it would change many people’s minds. Most people who say the bible isn’t true, aren’t saying it because of evidence or study, but out of negative experience and personal preference.

§ NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES: They struggle with the bible because they’ve had negative experiences with Christians who say one thing and quote the bible, but do another thing and don’t live the bible. So, this morning if you struggle with the bible because of people, join the club, and then look at Jesus! Just because his followers are flawed, doesn’t mean he’s not God and isn’t the ultimate authority, King, and Savior of the universe. At least be honest enough to look at the life of Jesus and decide for yourself if he’s truly God. Read the gospels and see if he’s the kind of human being we all long to be but can’t. Read the gospels and see if he’s unlike any person who has ever walked the earth because he’s not like any other person, he was also God. I’m a Christian, not because of other Christians, but because of Christ!

§ PERSONAL PREFERENCES: Secondly, if the Bible tells you something you don’t like, it’s probably the voice of the true God and not the God you invented, or wish didn’t exist. Let me give you an example. There was a movie in 2004 with Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick called the Stepford wives. It was based on a novel. In this movie, there is a town where the men of the town have taken their wives and turned them into Robots. They do whatever their husbands want, and never disobey their desires. Yet, that’s not a relationship. A real relationship is where the other person can have their own desires. A real relationship is one where they can disagree with you. You must learn to respect them and relate to them as they are. You must accept their desires and boundaries. And we have a God who has real desires, and disagrees with the way his creation has chosen to live. As our creator, he gets to tell us things that we don’t like. But he doesn’t force us to agree either. We must be careful, not to write off the bible or things in it because we don’t like what it says. Otherwise, we risk ignoring God’s word because he refuses to be our robot! WE ARE MADE IN HIS IMAGE, WE DO NOT GET TO REMAKE HIM AS WE WANT HIM TO BE. As Christians, it is our fundamental belief that the bible is God’s word, it is a record of how he has spoken to humanity, and it is true and accurate no matter how uncomfortable it may make us. But the letter goes on to say, as amazing as that is, it gets better. We’re told that…

· GOD HAS SPOKEN AND STILL SPEAKS TO US IN JESUS: [v. 2] says “in these last days he has spoken to us by his son.” In the original language of Greek that this was written in, it literally says “God spoke to us IN his son”. When Jesus speaks, it is God speaking. You know what it doesn’t say? It doesn’t say, in these last days, God has spoken through his prophet Jesus. The writer of Hebrews is very specifically making two categories. This is how God has spoken in the past. This is the way God has chosen to speak to us in these last days. In the past we got bits and pieces of God’s plan from prophets. In these last days, we got the best and full picture of God’s plan in Jesus. God himself spoke when Jesus spoke. This is where we look at Muslims and Mormons and say we’re not the same. God didn’t give us any deeper or final revelations of himself and his plans than Jesus. When Jesus speaks, God speaks. There is no other Gods, no other revelation in the Quran or the book of Mormon, and no other way to get to God. Now, let’s get both deeply theological and practical at the same time.

(JC) WHAT GOD SAYS TO US THROUGH JESUS

Have you ever heard that phrase, actions speak louder than words? That someone’s life and their actions is their message? Well, that’s what the writer of Hebrews is saying about Jesus. He’s saying, God wanted you to get his message loud and clear, so he sent someone to live it out. THE LIFE AND ACTIONS OF JESUS ARE THE MESSEGE GOD WANTS YOU TO HEAR TODAY AND EVERYDAY! His life and actions are my message to you! They still speak as loudly today as they did in the beginning. Then he gives a list of seven major things that Jesus did and is still doing.

If I were to write this in my own words, it would sound like this. MY SON OWNS IT ALL, HE CREATED IT ALL, AND I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE HIM. HE SUSTAINS THE UNIVERSE AND LOVED IT ENOUGH TO DIE FOR IT. HE’S NOW SITTING IN COMPLETE AUTHORITY OVER IT ALL AND IS CALLED BY MY NAME. The writer of Hebrews is going to unpack all these statements in the rest of the letter. So, I’m only going to hit two of them today. God’s message to us through Jesus is…

I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE MY SON, AND HE’S JUST LIKE ME: [v.3] says that Jesus is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being”. When we talk about glory, we’re talking about what becomes visible and is felt when the overwhelming brilliance, beauty, majesty, and power of God’s presence enters our space and awareness. Anytime this happened in the Old Testament it was absolutely terrifying! In Exodus when God’s glory appeared as something like a giant pillar of smoke and fire that guided his people, the massive fierce Egyptian army was chasing after them. The pillar came between his people and the army, and it scared them and stopped them dead in their tracks. When it descended on Mount Sinai it shook the mountain and no one would approach even though God invited them to. And the writer of Hebrews says, that when things get hard, the Jesus that you look to, the Jesus that you pray to, the Jesus who loves you, is filled with the very same glory.

· This is the Jesus who tells a fierce storm to shut up and stay shut up and the winds obey. This is the Jesus who, when demons see him coming, cower in fear and tell him not to destroy them. This is the Jesus who reaches into death and pulls people out. This is the Jesus that is coming again at the end of the age with lightning and thunder, and an army of angels, and puts all things right. A pastor and theologian named N.T. Wright says this about the glorious Jesus. ““How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human, that fire has become flesh, that life itself became life and walked in our midst? Christianity either means that, or it means nothing. It is either the most devastating disclosure of the deepest reality of the world, or it is a sham, a nonsense, a bit of deceitful playacting. Most of us, unable to cope with saying either of those things, condemn ourselves to live in the shallow world in between.” When things are out of control and you begin to wonder and doubt, listen to the message spoken to us through Jesus. Either he’s the glorious God, or he’s not. And God is telling us in Jesus, YOU CAN TRUST THAT JESUS CAN HANDLE IT! ANY OF IT! ALL OF IT. And when His power isn’t enough to calm your heart, then…

· REMEMBER HE LOVED YOU ENOUGH TO DIE FOR YOU: It says that “he made purification for sins.” The world didn’t get this way on it’s own. It’s because of human sinfulness that it’s as broken and dark as it is. Humanity turned its back on God and how he told us to live. Each one of us has places where we say, God, I know you said this, but I want this. And we have acted like Kings instead of servants. God committed himself to us and we cheated on him with other gods. We loved money, power, affirmation, accomplishment, things, and people more than him. And instead of punishing us, this glorious, all powerful, God who could destroy us with a single world, or cause this world and this universe to cease to exist, uttered the words, father forgive them and chose to be punished for us. Jesus took our place on the cross. God is telling us in Jesus, KNOW THAT YOU ARE LOVED AND ARE MINE, EVEN WHEN IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT. YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING TO EARN IT, SIMPLY ACCEPT IT AND REST IN IT. That’s just 2 out of the 7 different messages that God speaks to us today through Jesus! So, let’s jump back to our original idea…

(NEXT STEPS) GOD STILL SPEAKS, HOW CAN I HEAR HIM?

The writer of Hebrews is pointing us to two practices that go together in order to hear the voice of God speaking. The first is DEVOTION TO GOD’S WORD and MEDITATION ON GOD. We read the bible to know what he has revealed about himself. We must dedicate ourselves to knowing God has he has revealed what he is like, and not what we want him to be like. Then secondly, we sit with the truth that we’ve read and focus our attention on God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Like watching a sunset, paying attention to its colors, how it paints the sky, the ground, and the trees. How its beauty affects our minds, our hearts, and souls. We do the same thing with the truth of God. Jesus owns it all. Jesus created it all. What does that mean in your life right now? How does that make you feel? Sit with it. Ponder it. Chew on it. We’re going to do that together today, for about 5 min, and then we’ll move into our discussion time.